Divine Judgment - Part 1

[fishtie]

"NOW UNITS! CHARGE!!!"

Machal ran forward as the army of the Academy began to move. He watched as first the shield then the barrage of Academy counter attacks began. The sky filled with colors; flashes of red, green, yellow, black, purple, and every other shade of the rainbow flew through the sky like the grandest firework display ever. Machal felt pangs of jealousy that he had so little power to spend in this battle, he had herd plenty of boasting about how many hundreds of angels different students would kill. One of his friends had even begun an illegal betting pool as to how many kills different 'heroes' and teachers of the school would bring down.

Still, Machal had stayed quiet through the talk. He was concerned about taking down more then one himself. Most of the students here wielded incredible mystic energies, enough to power cities for days, Machal on the other hand barely understood his own magic and his powers were paltry in comparison.

Still, as the angelic force descended upon the army Machal charged forward with the throng to do what he could. As the battle was joined in earnest Machal observed many of the other student's successes. The mages plowed through the waves of angels like a stone hurled through paper, most charging right and blasting left as though in unchallenged ground. Could these forces really be angelic? Machal had expected a 'holy' army to be though as well as large, but now the enemy dropped like flies before the initial strikes of the Academy forces.

Machal's heart sored at the small victories, perhaps this fight was winnable, anything was possible. His moral at it's peek, Machal leapt into the fighting and was immediately confronted by an angel. The angel took a swipe at Machal who desided to take the enemy by surprise. Instead of dodging out of the way he raised his arm and blocked the attack with his upper arm. The blade sank in quite deep, but wasn't flaming; so Machal quickly yanked his arm away. The surprised angel was too stunned by the strange maneuver to react before Machal delivered two strong punches to the stomach of the angel. Machal was gratified to see the armor give way and be left with two deep dents that were obviously causing some discomfort to the occupant. Machal quickly grabbed the helmet in his two huge hands and smashed it against his own skull causing his opponent to go down. Machal inspected his arm for a moment,glad to see that the wound had almost completely healed he moved on.

Next Machal faced another angel. This one tried to blast Machal with a holy bolt as he charged, but Machal reacted with split second speed dropping down and smashing into the angel with a highly effective slide tackle. Machal rose up carrying the half stunned angel over head, but found himself confronted by a trio of angels. Machal sucked in a lungful of breath a released it in a mighty shout, boosted by his war cry spell the pure wall of sound stunned the small squad as well as a few other combatants nearby. Machal quickly exploited his advantage by hurling his second foe into the squad in front of him causing them all to collapse to the ground.

Machal turned from his fallen foe to look for another enemy only to see a fellow student fall suddenly, his blood spilling all over. Stepping over the dead student was the one who had killed him. A large archangel, sword in hand, now faced Machal from only a few feet away. Well, so much for being easy.

[The Designer]

Tristan's attack had indeed hit against the Angelic host, and it indeed looked as though a thousand fell before his furry of fire and destruction.... But the truth, however, was far sadder. The Angels didn't die. No, instead they regenerated from the blow, their body's mending the energy blast the Hunter had sent. In truth, only about fifty or so angels were incapacitated from the energy blast, and only half of that number dead. The rest, at this moment, were healing their wounds before rushing into the fray. The Angels to which Tristan fought, however, didn't have such a good living rate. Of those to which Tristan had killed, only half of them truly died. The others were healing, and soon enough rose from their blood pools, their rifles up and aiming at the back of the hunter, who assumed them dead....

Raiden's attacks caught the Attention of a squad of Archangels from the skies, who sensed the Demonic aura of this student. Suddenly, as if from now where, they descended upon the fell being. Their rifles fired shots down upon the demon while others drew swords to strike it. In total, there were a dozen Archangels coming toward the Lighting Demon, all of which wanted to take the creature's head....

Lilium's movements frustrated many Angels... Whose swords could not pierce her scales and whose shields could not stop her attacks. Eventually, the Angels around her fell back.... Only for a trio of Principalities to suddenly rush forward filling this gap, all of their cannons aimed toward the pseudo-dragon. In the back, the regular Angels raised their rifles, firing shots at the beast just as the Principalities unleashed their cannon shots....

Torm has holding his own quite well. The Angels could not seem to pierce his defense, and many died to his offense. It seemed as though this mage could not be taken down.... However, God always finds a way... From the sky, two Archangels who were surveying the battle noticed this, and soon harnessed their energies. Upon Torm they unleashed a tornado of fire, which would burn out the beetles and probably take out a good deal of the surrounding antarctic landscape. Some of the Angels would be killed, but then again so would many of the Arcane Academy soldiers. In short, these Archangels just unleashed a powerful as hell tornado of fire to not only take out Torm, but the surrounding area to make sure he, as well as everyone else caught in this tornado, would not escape...

And to Chephros, who hid behind the Ruins, about a hundred of so Principalities noticed that one of their own was just destroyed with six blasts... Not only that, these Angels sensed the Demonic flare of these blasts, and so traced it back toward Chephros. Quickly all these Angels aimed at the Ruins, firing off hundreds upon hundreds of blasts, taking down the area to which Chephros was vaguely around... Think of it as Spray-and-Pray, but on a Tank-like scale....

And to Michael, who dared face an Archangel alone, it was as though the entire world awaited this duel. The Angel shot out first, it's gigantic sword aiming toward the young mage... Attempting to impale it upon it's cold, holy steel...

....

"The battle is doing horribly" A Tracer said, tension in his voice. "The lines aren't holding Byron... The Angel's are pushing further. Also, there have been reports coming in that states that there are even more Angel-like objects coming this way..."

"Keep calm damn it!" Byron yelled, the first time he yelled in a long time. "We just have to let the line hold. We can't let these ruins fall to the Angels, lest we invite them into the Academy. As it stands, I have sensed that many, many, many students are fighting valorously out there, keeping back this Holy Horde. Second, I also have a plan as well.... But for it, we'll need the students to hold the line and try and kill as many angels as they possibly can..."

....

Meanwhile

Silabus and Sebastian were in the thick of combat, fighting back-to-back as a squad of Angels surrounded them. Their allies had been killed, and so now do they stand alone against this menace. They knew they were dead... There was no way they could be saved now. The angels had so effectively cut them off from the main force that they'll be mincemeat in a moment.... But that didn't stop them... Oh no, it sure didn't. Silabus cocked his gun, preparing for the ensuring fire fight as Sebastian prepared his mental magic. Just as it seemed that the Angels would begin their attack, all of them surrounding the two mages suddenly dropped down, slashes all across their backs....

"Need some help?" Azrael Thantos said, a sneer across his face....

[Tristan Knightrhode]

Tristan continued to hack and slash, sustaining relatively low ammounts of damage considering the horde that surrounded them all. Heads and other angelic body parts went flying left and right as diamond blasted through armor like it was nothing. [This is way too easy, huge numbers yes, but they're dying easier than some humans.] He communicated to his partner who was busy burning and crushing angels with more ease than his Crusnik partner. The dragon had sustained a couple of bleeding wounds, one on the under side of one of his legs, the other in his mouth from biting down on a few too many angels at once.

I know, but they seem to come out of no where at times. Tiny reprieves in the combat that were brought on by wider attacks allowed for the coversation. Tristan spun around again with his blade, hacking a dozen Angels in twaid, when he saw what he never expected. Bleeding angels rising again, their body parts inching toward them and reattaching. Several beam rifles pointed at him then, "Shit!" He yelled, bringing his sword to bare.

The impact sent the man skidding back several feet as his sword deflected the mana from the rifles. A flex of mana called forth metal element and the group with the rifles armorings were crushed in on them. This time, their heads weren't severed, they were solidly crushed, making sure that they couldn't come back this time. [They heal themselves! Check to see if those you crushed heal!] He shouted over the link to his massive partner who was a good distance away, hurling more flame.

The dragon did so, and they hadn't risen. Not yet, but they still might. Being crushed would take longer to recover I'd think. Was the response before the dragon lept and crushed more angels. Tristan then took to the air, seeing two mid level enemies charging their mana. "Your mine!!" He shouted making a swift slash to the closer ones neck and using his remote control to slam the other one into the ground before it could release its spell. Their target would be safe for now, lucky for Torm, Tristan had been nearby.

Flight was then activated to keep Tristan in the air and combating the archangels. Soon he could transform, and he hoped his theory proved true. If the angelic blood was absorbed by the Crusnik, it should make him immune to holy energy, and give him the ability to call forth the blood scythe, though how powerful it would be with angel replacing vampire blood...who knew. Another slash would split the chest plate of that closer archangel in twaid, opening its chest for a spell or slash. It would soon be seen if these higher levels could regenerate as well, if that was the case Tristan had a remote control head crushing in store for this fucker.

[Lilium Kether]

....Didn't Think So....

I didn't think they could ignore me after that one. My carapace proved too strong for their magic swords, and my attacks were too strong for their shields and armor. I had killed four or five before the lesser Ain Soph had backed off, and three Principalities pulled forward. They stopped in front of me. And charged their weapons. For a moment, I felt fear in my mind, then I remembered, they could feel my fear too. And I shook it from myself. I would not die feeling fear, I should be happy to die.

From that point on, I felt Nirvana everytime the enemy tried to kill me.....

I waited for a moment, charging a bolt of unholy lightning. I launched it at the middle Principality, and struck the bastard right in it's little head. The metal imploded, and blood exploded from many a joint. The damned energy consumed the holy warrior and it fell apart before it's weapon detonated, and could do anything to me. Blood stained the snow in a ridiculous quantity. Yet there were two left. And I had still had time.

I stepped into negative existence, then back into positive existence on top of the right Principality. My eight legs embedded themselves within it's armor. My maw gnawed at it's tiny head. My pincers clawed and pinched, and crushed minor equipment. I jammed my stinger into it's belly many times, before it's brother decided that it was a lost Angel, and fired on me while I was still on it. I let myself drop off of the Principality. And watched it explode....

There was one left.. and I was on my back, having trouble getting right-side up....

[Raiden Matsutani]

Raiden killed several more lower leveled angels. So far it didn't seen so bad, but it was definitely not easy. The Angels alone were really tough in hand-to-hand combat. The next bad thing was the more Angels he ran past as he fought...the more attention was being drawed to him. Raiden ended up subsituting himself out for a block of ice, and ended up some where else on the battle field.

Shit!!!

As soon as he reappeared he found himself immediately rushes by Archangels. This was not looking pretty. Shots rang out from every where towards him. Raiden quickly drew his sword and deflected shots. He was utilizing both his sword, and gauntlet too deflect this beams. He even ended up deflect a few at this one Archangel...but it was only one out of many.

Raiden watched that one Archangel fall next to him. Raiden jammed his katana into the small neck region to assure there would hopefully by no hope of resurrection. Raiden's eyes then shot up towards the eleven remaining Archangels with their glowing eyes set on his. With out warning they all charged.
[glow=white,2,300]
"Charge!!! Destroy this vile demon!!!"[/glow]

Raiden at that instant grew angered. They didn't see even him as a person, and more likely the scum of the academy. Raiden wanted to make these guys suffer. As soon as the all dived on top of him with their flaming sabers, Raiden Substituted himself for the fallen Archangel he killed just a minute ago. They must have been shocked to find they mutilated their own and not Raiden. That wasn't the end of the surprised either.

Raiden charged up his Raigou to the size of a monster truck tire jumped into the air. He immediately launched it with two hands at the eleven Archangels and their fallen comrad. The explosion would be huge not to mention there suits many end up being over loaded from the access energy entering their systems. If they even tried to get up from this, it would have to be next to impossible thanks to the sudden cardiac arrest the jolts of lightning induced on them.

Raiden wipe the sweat from his fore-head and looked around. There were still large numbers of all kinds of Angels scattered across the field. In the mist of the battle Raiden's sensitive ears picked up word of more incoming as well. There seemed like there was no end to this on slaught.

Raiden glance across the open plain and spotted Lily. She was in her scorpion form again. He watched for bit as a two Principalities were taken down by her. Raiden wasn't really surprised. In that form she was almost next to invincible. Raiden would applaud but he'd gain more attention than he needs to right now. The bad thing was there was one still remaining. It was standing behind her while she was on her back still.

Assistance?

Raiden did and all out dash using his inhuman speed. He leapt up onto the head and did a back flip landing the monstrosity's blind spot on its back side. Raiden dug his claws into it and then released several lightning bolts into it. The pilot inside would hopefully be fried. With the extra over load of energy in its system it would implode taking its self out.

Raiden jumped down and flipped over the upside down comrad. "..............." Raiden was still silent as ever, but gave her a nod. Raiden didn't wait for an approval or anything like that. Its not like she's onligated to do so. Save that for after the war. For now Raiden needed to keep his focus on the war torn battle ground around him. Most likely more action would be called apon him and his demonic aura which gave away his position easily. Let's see what they can throw at us next...

[Chephros]

((Short, but here ya go Syril)) ((Post note, I was watching Eddie Izzard while reading this, so I tried to think of something comical, but failed))

"XSA!!!"

He didn't have TIME to curse in any worldly language.

No, he was too busy screaming fuck in Demonic to think of how to say it properly in English.

But then again he was also scrambling to move rapidly out of the way of the incoming blasts. How did he know they were incoming? Well when the wall in front of you suddenly starts shaking, and your in the middle of a bloody war, you understand rather quickly that either theres a fricken earthquake, or your enemy is bombing you. So, he knew that since either way he was fucked behind stone walls, he moved!

Stupid move number 1: He moved out of cover.

A blast shot right in front of his head as soon as it came out from the stone cover.

"XSA!!!"

Not this again.

"I am going to die here, because of these damn angels. God I wish I was at least dieing with the rest of the Blood Society."

All the while angelic fire continued to rip against the stone ruins, punching through it like a jackhammer. Sliding his back against the wall, Chephros forced his legs to hold him, even with the blast in the side of his left leg, and thus he was just under the wall. Instead of running farther into the place though, he ran the same way from where he had his head nearly blasted off. The angels had started firing on both sides, but more on the other as they expected him to try that way next. So he got out, but got a grazing blow in his leg wound again, and thus crashed behind another ruined wall.

"....If we take any prisoners for some reason, i'll kill them."

Stupid move number 2: He had ran visibly and then made no attempt to fire at the ships from his side.

So when a shot exploded into the ground next to his leg he made a mad scramble further into the wall. Now he was even more thoroughly pissed and was letting the wall crumble against his back.

"Fuckin' hell..."

[fishtie]

Machal faced down his new foe as it charged towards him. The speed, power, and pure presence of this enemy was far greater then anything he had ever seen before.

Flee! Flee! The voices in his head screamed. Any wolf could tell this was a foregone conclusion and Machal, while only half wolf, was no exception. "No where to run." He growled at himself. Submit! Submit! Was the response. However, Machal knew that that wasn't an option either, these angels didn't need prisoners and didn't seem to be taking them. The thought reminded Machal of something he had once read somewhere. Something about the 4 eventualities of war.

If you can not attack, then you defend.
If you can not defend, then you retreat.
If you can not retreat, then you surrender.
If you can not surrender, then you die.

Machal thought about that for a moment. Was that it? He was out of options, was he going to die? Here on the snows of a dead continent? Perhaps. Machal could almost see his mangled and bloodied body laying inert... lifeless...

HOLD IT! Why was he thinking such things? Machal hadn't even tried to fight, how did he know he would lose? Machal was not a simple wolf, he was a man. All else that he was, he was a man who couldn't give up without a fight.

Even though his mental adventure had taken but a moment in it's entirety, that was still a moment too long. The Archangel was already upon him and there was no time to dodge the huge sword. Instead, Machal wiped his arms up and caught the blade between his two large hands. He wasn't strong enough to stope the blade out right, but he slid back several feet until himself, the blade, and his foe came to a complete stop.

Machal tried to wrench the blade away, but his bad leverage and the pure power of the archangel meant that he couldn't budge the huge blade. The archangel itself observed Machal's efforts for a second before it cocked it's head in an almost... smug... way, a quick flick of it's arm sent the blade plunging into Machal's chest. Machal screamed in pain, which the archangel almost seemed to find amusing, and dropped to a knee, sword still embedded in him.

However, Machal was far from finished. He glared up at the Archangel and opened his mouth. A set of ghostly fangs flew right at the face of the archangel. There was no way to run and no time to block as the spirit attack closed down on the head of the large holy warrior. The archangel stumbled back a few steps, removing his sword from Machal as he did so, before recovering from the shock. Machal's attack hadn't appeared to do much damage, but four pronounced holes were clearly visible where the fangs had landed.

Machal's wound began to close up almost immediately, Machal's ribcage had protected his vital organs so there was no serious damage. The archangel watched for a moment before raising it's sword in both hands. To Machal's dismay the huge blade burst into bright flames, there would be no recovering from any wounds struck now.

The archangel quickly pressed the attack again, speeding toward Machal with blade overhead. This time Machal rolled past and to the side of the blow. A quick backhand was delivered to the archangel's shoulder, but Machal's hand only stung itself as it rang out on hard enchanted armor. Both adversaries found them selfs with their backs to the foe's and reacted quickly. The archangel spun quickly, bringing it's blade in a high arch as it turned to face Machal. Machal himself dropped down below dodging the blow cleanly. As he rose he continued to spin himself and delivered a roundhouse kick right to the angel's chest. Unfortunately, the blow barely knocked the winged commander a step or two with no real damage at all.

As the two were separated for a moment Machal quickly took stock of the situation. The good news was that his chest wound was almost completely restored, even though the blow was no where near mortal it was still causing a lot of pain with all this moving about. By now the bleeding had stooped and the cut was only about an inch deep. The bad news though, was much worse. Machal's martial arts couldn't pierce the armor of this foe at all. In addition; the foe was stronger, tougher, and far more magically potent the Machal had proven to be. True Machal had been able to stay alive this long, but eventually he would tire; then it would be over for good. Machal had to come up with something.

The archangel on the other hand appeared far less perplexed. It raised it's empty hand and pointed lazily at Machal. Machal had only a second of warning as the archangel charged it's mana and let lose with a cone of mystic flames. Machal jumped to the side, avoiding the blast, but the archangel just shifted it's aim a little and charged again. Machal ran about circling the enemy as it blasted burst after burst of flame at Machal.

Machal couldn't do anything but dodge, even thinking about what to do next would take too much focus. However, Machal soon had a chance trust upon him. At one point the archangel fired a Holy bolt instead. The change completely threw Machal off his timing and slammed into his shoulder; the impact only made him stumble a bit, but also caused him to trip over an object. Machal fell to the floor, fine; but unable to dodge the next God Cannon shot that was being charged. In a panic Machal reached for what he had tripped over and held it before him like a shield.

Surprised a moment later to find himself still alive, Machal opened his eyes a looked at what he was clutching. Randomly enough, Machal's make shift shield was... a shield. Machal looked again and saw that what he had tripped over was the body of a fallen angel that must of been killed earlier. In his frantic grab, Machal had picked up the enchanted shield that the angel had fought with. (lot of good it did him) Machal got to his feet unsteadily, a plan forming in his head.

The archangel meanwhile had stopped it's barrage of fire and now watched Machal with a curious stance. Machal, for the first time in the battle, took to the offensive rushing forward, shield before him and screaming. The archangel brought it's sword into thrusting position and paused. As Machal grew near the archangel stabbed forward. Machal's shield shattered under the fiery blow. However, Machal whipped his other hand forward, this one held the sword of the fallen angel and had been hidden by Machal's body until it was too late.

Machal fed his mana into his mussels, the power of the strength of the pack spell flooded through him. Machal knew that even with the spells aid he would barely be able to match the power of his armored foe, but the element of surprise would help as well. Machal's blade clashed with the his foe's, and the sharp blow sent it upward. Before the archangel could react Machal reversed the direction of the swing. Now, aided by gravity, Machal brought the sword down on the archangel's head. He was almost afraid that the blow would be deflected, but was rewarded with the sound of splitting metal followed by metal hitting meat.

Machal let the dead archangel drop to the ground, sword still in head and own sword still in hand. The archangel's blade continued to burn, melting a bit of snow, until it went out a few seconds later. Machal for his own part turned away, that was the first time he had ever really killed anything. True, he had incapacitated plenty of students in training as well as a few angels, but to kill something for the first time, with deadly intent and plan. That was something else. Still... it was in self defense, right? Machal turned away from the fallen foe breathing hard and sweating despite the chilling winds, he gazed over the battle field for his next fight.

[The Designer]

"Lord Sariel, our Angels aren't breaking their line"

"I figured so... The Third Sphere are well known for their large numbers... But I find the Principalities the only worth coming from that sphere. Regardless, unleash the Virtues on the line, with the Powers providing backup for them"

"Yes my lord..."

...

As the battle raged on, one could see far in the distance huge, towering figures.... Easily equaling the size of buildings or towers. Their movements caused tremors all around, and their numbers seemed almost infinite, just as the first angel attack appeared to be. If the Academy and the Angels were having a stalemate for the past few hours or so, then this meant that stalemate was about to be broken. The Virtues rushed into the battlefield, slamming away ranks of Mages as the Principalities gave them covering fire. From the distance, the enigmatic Powers stayed their hand, waiting for the opportune moment to strike....

"All is going according to plan...."

...

Tristan's attack wasn't as lethal as he expected. Of all he killed, only a few were actually killed. Many were incapacitated or merely injured. This could be due to the healing process angels posses, or the fact that most angels didn't just kneel over, expose their necks, and wait for Tristan to kill them. Regardless, these angels got up and continued to fight. Tristan, however, ran into the air... and with it saw as the Virtues slammed against the mage defensive line. Suddenly, as if on cue, four virtues suddenly appeared, levitating in the air. They literally made Tristan feel like a mouse or insect compared to their huge size. When it seemed that all was lost for Tristan, a cadre of flying mages came to intercept this force of Virtues, starving off his possible demise. The flying mages unleashed a stream of fireballs and lighting strikes, all of which they hoped would take down these beasts...

None of these strikes, though, seemed to do much damage...

The Principality Lilium sent that lighting bolt to promptly put up his shield of light, negating the energy blow as Lilium moved to her next victim. She did indeed do a marvelous job of rendering it, but it wouldn't go without a fight. The Angel unleashed a CIWS on the Elohim as she grappled the Principality, as the other and final Principality that had not been attacked unleashed fire onto her.... Not caring for his comrade...

However, Raiden tried to fry the pilot inside the Principality that just opened fire on her, and to his horror he discovered that there was no pilot inside. It was a bio-mechanical being, that did not require anyone to control it. The monster, however, was far from dead... And instead turned it's sights to the Demon. And suddenly, as if from no where, a giant Virtue appeared..... Staring down the small demon....

And finally to Machal he saw what seemed to be in distance to be Azrael Thanatos and two students, walking across the battlefield toward the Angel's side and their Mothership......

[Tristan Knightrhode]

Tristan had been successful in thwarting the two archangels attempts at casting some sort of magic. The one blocked with his blade, however, though the other did get slammed into a couple of its compatriots on the ground. That one was met with several mages and was forced to stay on the ground, though the one who blocked Tristan's blade stayed airborne to fight. It parried and made an insanely quick stab toward Tristan's heart, aiming to kill him in a single swipe.

The blade stopped half an inch from Tristan's chest however, and the hunter grinned. "Not that easy to kill you piece of shit." And off with its arm. Tristan made a quick spinning slash, half using his remote control to manipulate his blade and add more strength. It grunted in pain at loosing its arm, though it knew it could heal so it wasn't all that big a deal. The arm fell to the ground, the heavy blade making it fall blade first into an angel directly below. Tristan then used his Remote Control to crush its head in its own helmet, which was harder than doing so to the lower level of angels.

The head crushing would hopefully end these things, unlike what simply severing the head would do, and the Archangel dropped, incapacitated. In the distance, the battle could be seen raging, as well as huge towering enemies swiping away mages. "What the fuc-" Then four appeared in front of Tristan. Massive towers of flesh were the Virtues. "Oh, fuck." One of them swiped up at the hovering mage, who on split second reaction blocked with his blade, stabbing into the hand.

The tower didn't react at all and simply pushed its hand in the same motion. When the hand came to a halt at the things side, Tristan pulled out his blade and soared up, his flight speed much faster than these things could move. His block had left him rather unscathed, though he'd been dazed by the quick motion, as though he was hit by a semi who's front end was padded by hundreds of cushions. Soaring up to its head, Tristan found its one massive eye. "DIE!!" He stabbed down, activating fire sword. The firey blade sunk through the eye and pierced into the brain of the one virtue.

It roared this time, now under massive pain, and swung up. Tristan wrenched his blade out, as painfully as possible, and let the beast smash its self in the head. All three of the other virtues then aimed their maws at Tristan and loosed huge flame. This time, Tristan didn't move. The flames blasted him full force, but the Crusnik didn't move. Maedallus himself could hit Tristan with a fire ball and it wouldn't do much damage, as such, these mountains of living shit couldn't hurt the hunter with his own element.

Soon, the flames died down, and a cadre of flying mages came as cavalry. "Glad to see you guys," As the fireballs and lightning blasts pounded the Virtues. A couple of mages zoomed over to the hovering crusnik, one offered recovery. "Haro Katsuni, medical sorcerer. At your service." One said, saluting Tristan, recognizing him from the ceremony following Vichy those few months ago. "Ah, good. I could use healing, a few scratches, but mostly energy exhaustion." The other mages whipped out weapons and began opening up holes in the huge beasts, hoping to bleed them dry before they could heal...if they did.

"Actually...I think I'll take my energy from these fuckers, preserve yours for others who are actually injured." The mage saluted and blasted off, throwing more mid-level lightning blasts at the Virtues. "Christan Mills, We're not making much head way. Their numbers are too great and they keep healing." Tristan nodded at the second mages report, charging his mana to release his soul fire spell and take as much energy from these bastards as possible. If he could get them wounded and bleeding, he could transform.

"We have to find what will kill them for sure...Try every thing you can. Crushing their heads seemed to work, though they might still come back from that. Rip out their hearts, seal their mana, do any thing and every thing you can." Was his response. "For now, Lets take these fuckers out!" Then his spirit aura blasted out from his body and he shot off with his flight, getting in close to one of the Virtues, and landing on one of the thorn things on its back, where it couldn't reach.

The cadre of mages that came to Tristan's aid were holding their own for now, a couple fell, soon to rise again, healed by something. Tristan pressed his back against the Virtue, pulling in massive amounts of mana. His eyes shot open at just how much energy these things had. "BLACK CLOUD!!!" He roared and a bare patch of snow was over shadowed by three batches of black arms rose from the ground. "Volley!!" Three hundred darkness arrows launched off, sinking into one of the Virtues, obviously not the one Tristan was standing on.

Reactionary explosions rang out as the entire back of the Virtue was destroyed in an insane fury. "Volley!!" He shouted and the arms reloaded quickly, blasting off another set of three hundred arrows, this time destroying the rest of that one tower. "YES!!" Tristan shouted, his mana quickly coming back up to full again. That one Virtue had been entirely annihilated by the six hundred arrows and the explosions that had ensued from the opposing elements. "Now for a new trick, TEOLUS!!!" He roared, booming his mana again for it to be restored by the beast at his back and beneath his feet. A massive whirlwind kicked up in mid-air. It wasn't as big as the one at Vichy, but it was big enough.

At eighty feet tall and around fifty feet wide, it was an average sized attack for what Teolus was, but it was enough to engulf another Virtue, possibly two, once it was finished with the first one. A telepathic mage communicated with Tristan then, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!? ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED!?

[Then get the hell out of the way, it doesn't have a suck zone, just move off!] Was Tristan's response as his mana began creeping up to full once more. It was moving slowly now, as the Teolus was draining a relatively small amount of Tristan's mana as he maintained it. He pushed it in the direction of the remaining two Virtues, the one he was standing on wasn't counted, until he heard a deafening cry that ensured his spell was ripping the beast apart, bit by tiny bit.

Soon the earsplitting cry stopped as its head was pulled apart and fueled the spell. The Virtue Tristan was standing on then performed its shock-wave spell and blasted the whirlwind apart. "Damn...these fuckers are stronger than I thought." Tristan said to himself, but there was enough blood now to transform. He wouldn't how ever...not yet. Not until he did as much damage as he could by restoring his energy with this damned tower he was standing on. I see your doing some serious damage, what the fuck are those things? Igneus asked from afar, having toppled a couple of principalities and a handful of archangels...which were going to take a while to heal with the damage he'd dealt.

[No idea, but they got some energy to spare. I'm feeding off one now and using that to kill the rest.] Igneus laughed across the link as he knew the tactic well from previous times Tristan had done it...he knocked out one demon, and fed off its energy, using that to blast the rest. It had only been done in more recent times, as it had only been five or six months since Tristan got the spell, but it still had been used quite a few times, even in the Training Grounds. Hell, Tristan had once used it to blast who he was taking the energy from while he had the guy in a hold.

"BLACK CLOUD!!!" He boomed again. The next batch of arms formed. "Volley!!" And they were off, this time out into the mass of angels, [You can call them back now.] The link with that one mage hadn't been broken, and the cadre of mages flew back in, sending more attacks at the two remaining. "Volley!!" To the same exact spot. Six hundred arrows exploded against the angels forces, cutting out a nice chunk of angels, killing hopefully much more than it had done the first time around.

Tristan wasn't done using his ride as a generator...and would suck it dry. If more of these fuckers showed up, he'd use the remaining time on his spell to suck them dry as well, using their own energy against them. The best part about this whole situation was, the Virtue, whether it noticed its energy draining unusually fast or not, had no idea where Tristan was, as it was in the part of its back where few humanoid beings, unless double jointed, could reach.

OOC: not too big a post i hope.

[Cirkel]

Cirkel had long since failed his school, which caused some confusion in his mind as he slept. As far as he knew, he wasn't a particularly weak person. After all, he had a weapon that lived in his body, always working. However, even as the battle began, he had found himself very quickly focusing his shield into his hand and in combat with one of the angels over-top. But still, how did it happen. The shield was strong enough to crumple bullets on impact, it could even stop an armor-piercing round. So how did that attack get through?

The force of the angel's holy bolt had been greatly reduced, and hadn't caused him such damage as to kill (though the angel though it had), but still, how did it get through? Was Cirkel really that weak?

C'mon, you've gotta have more in you than that!

Yeah, I really should, shouldn't I?

It's kinda sad... pathetic even.

It really is, isn't it?

Maybe that's your problem. To other mages, maybe you're just not that talented. You've always been told you're powerful, but when it comes right down to it, you're just the weakest of the bunch.

Yeah.

Cirkel looked around. Everything was so hazy. The sounds seemed distant, and everyone's movements slow and blurry. He couldn't make out where one's leg ended and their chest began. Odd.

"Very odd."

He whispered in an amount of fear that anything else would hurt his head. It made him glad that sound was so distant. He raised his hand up to his head when he found his knees supporting him. Blood. A bit of it too. It was then that he noticed the read streak on the left eye of his vision. He closed the eyes to squeeze the blood out and then wiped the excess around his eye onto his hand. He then did the same with his other hand, though wiped the blood of around his forehead. It was about then that he officially came to.

The sounds all began to rush into his mind as he found his way slowly to his feet. Unfortunately, he wasn't given a whole lot of time to recooperate before someone got a glimpse of him. One with big fluffy wings and a nice metallic helmet. The situation would have reduced someone else to swearing beneath their breath, but Cirkel just looked him in the eye. There was a strange tension between the two opponents. It was only a hair's width of such, but none-the-less, it was there, just floating in the air. And just as quickly, it was gone.

In a way similar to one's imagination of Zeus the angel carved lighting out of the air and hurled it with great haste at Cirkel. He had already reacted by in the space of one's blink he had refined energy into a small drop of blood on his hand. He suddenly let the drop fly upwards as it exploded on contact with the lightning, instantly reducing it to traces of magical energy.

With equal haste as before, Cirkel started running down the snow, quickly picking up speed. The angel, in anger, withdrew a slightly-glowing short sword and began to charge at Cirkel, following him overtop the crowds. It was then that Cirkel saw the snow suddenly darken to a deep grey. As he looked up he saw that giant tower, followed by many as plentiful as the angels, though he wasn't fazed.

The tower, apparently, was a living thing. Cirkel could see it's pink flesh and those two massive hands moving to come down and crush him. They became bigger and bigger, closer and closer. It forced Cirkel to act. He continued sprinting, though at the last moment he raised his hand against one of the slow-moving, powerful towers' own. Suddenly, the flesh crackled in the explosion of the bloody hand-print. It reeled back in silent agony, though by the size of it's mouth, it could let out one hell of a scream. Cirkel just gave off that reassuring, though strangely harmful smile to the creature. It seemed... surprised. Especially when cirkel went ahead and grabbed it's thumb, in the snow, headbutted with a bloody print in the first joint, and suddenly let the joint explode as he let the thumb take the hit of the angel's intendedly surprising stab. Cirkel let the thumb go as the angel's sword was forced down with it. That, and he was so weak that he really couldn't hold it for a lot longer.

Cirkel now pushed himself to place a bloody hand print on the angel's helmet. He kept that frozen smile and the angel's eyes widened in realization of what would come. The ultimate end. Dissapearing into complete nothingness. The darkness. When surrounded by light his entire life, of course he feared it. The dark abyss.

Cirkel turned his back to the angel, looking up at the tower again. Nothing happened. The angel just crumbled to the snow in fear of what was to come. Though the mortal soldier in him knew what to do. He still had a chance. He could kill him. Finish it. Finish it.

Cirkel looked back at the angel and gave that same smile, though this time with such peace that it made his heart melt. How could he...

"I apologize."

The helmet exploded in fiery peace, burning the two giant hands of the tower that were so close to the explosion. Cirkel had been given a task, after all, and the blood could only hold the magic so long. It was a somewhat depressing affair.

Cirkel looked back up at the tower, which looked down at him in fear and anxiety. He spoke those words, warm and so very icy at the same time.

"I suppose I should take care of you as well. Though I think that will be much simpler."

The beast was shocked, unable to move. In those few seconds, the dumb beast had begun to trust Cirkel, though at the same time feared him. Cirkel simply wiped more blood off his forehead and placed the same hand he had used to wipe the blood off on the creatures burn wound. The blood began to enter the beast's circulatory system, though definetely in a trace amount. It wouldn't be long before it closed in on his heart, even as big as the beast was. Not long. No, not long at all.

Apparently catching itself again, the creature swiped at Cirkel with it's unharmed hand, catching him on the head. The power was amazing, throwing the teen to the snowy ground like a rag doll. It forced more blood to poor out of his head as he began to breath heavily. The fatigue, already, was sinking in. Though still, Cirkel smiled. He looked up into that large, towering figure and that inhumanely gigantic eye before speaking.

"Once again, I apologize."

Suddenly the eye went wide and the arms went limp. That large eyelid peacefully closed around the white orb as one could feel the vibrations of the creature falling to it's knees. Cirkel closed his eyes as he breathed a sigh of relief. He took a moment before placing his hand on his forehead, releasing energy at a fair pace out of the wound. He could smell the flesh burning, and it gave him some satisfaction. He burnt the wound in order to stop the blood from flowing out. He then slowly found himself on his feet as he asked himself somewhere deep inside his mind-

I wonder who's next.

[fishtie]

Machal ran along as the new enemies smashed into the school battle lines. Machal had only needed a single glance at the humongous Virtues to know that he stood no chance of doing a thing against them. Instead he ran through the battle field looking for any angels minor or major that he could find. Even if he could tie up one or two foes that might free another, more powerful mage to fight the giants.

But as Machal ran he instead saw something very different. You'd think that a color blind individual would have the devil of a time picking out a small trio of figures in the middle of a raging battlefield, but there was something about Azrael Thanatos that caused him out stand out in any situation.

Machal was insanely inquisitorial as to how he and two students walked through this hell like out on a stroll around the park. He waisted no time in dashing towards the man. Machal recognized the head of security from a few times that he had glanced the man during assemblies.

During Machal's move he was unfortunate to be accosted by a single wayward angel. However, Machal didn't even have time to engage before he looked up with utter fear driven through his face. The angel turned around to see what had frightened Machal so, and was just a little too late to avoid being crushed by the careless footstep of one of the virtues.

Not waisting any more time Machal ran to the previously seen trio and fell in with the pair of students behind Azrael. "So, any idea what he's up to?" He asked of one of the students. Machal was a little surprised to see one of the higher staff in the thick of the field, but was even more surprised that the powerful mage wasn't creating some kind of half mile diameter of personal slaughter.

[Raiden Matsutani]

Raiden after giving assistance to Lily suddenly felt energy building up from behind him. Raiden turned around just as the Principality fired. The beam shot over Raiden's head barely missing. Raiden was shocked to see the thing was still functioning.

I thought...I just killed it...

There was no questioning it was alive. As soon as it finished it turned on Raiden. That's not good... It charged up its double mounted cannons again. Just as it was doing so, Raiden went in for the attack. Unfournately the gigantic Virtue stopped down on the ground with a mighty blow. A shock wave blew Raiden back a good fifty meters into a wall of the ruins. Raiden just barely got up from this one. That attack was devastating... huge tremors started up followed by large gaping holes opening up in the ground.

I can't beat him...

Not even with his great strength could Raiden stop this thing. It was like David and Goliath...except David gets massacred by Goliath. Raiden could only play tactical take down with this thing. Raiden got to his feet and dashed off across the battle field towards the Virtue. The Virtue responded with giant asteroid like fist coming at Raiden. Raiden jumped and landed on the fist and ran up the arm. The Virtue's other hand came around to swat Raiden away like a mosquito.

Damn...they got some quick motor skills...

Raiden substituted just as the giant hand slammed down on its right wrist. Raiden reappeared hovering right in front of its face. "IRIS FLASH!!!" he shouted. It was strange because Raiden never needed to shout to cast his spells. They were all done by his will. For Raiden to shout must have been really something...seeing how the demon seldom talks in the first place. Keeping on task, Raiden glowed brightly to the point of blinding all other light. Raiden blinded the gigantor and then went into action. He needed to do something before the giant came to.

Raiden landed on its right arm and tried to melt it off with his decaying poison, but it proved to be to tough. Raiden then decided he needed to successively do this to poison the giant and decay it from with in. Seeing how it was humanoid and considerably fleshy it should work. Raiden zoomed on over to both of it's wrist and poisoned both ends. He then got around to the top end of the spine and poisoned that area as well. One more are was needed to poisoning was the heart. Raiden jumped and zoomed around to the neck when suddenly the Virtue's giant hand swatted Raiden away.

Thanks to it only being a dull attack it wasn't to devastating to Raiden, but it was still a heave attack thanks to the Virtue's unreal strength Raiden flew in the ground making a small crater where he impacted. Raiden looked up to see he failed at getting to the heart. Raiden needed to finish the heart if he's to get the thing down completely. Raiden lifted a finger and shot off a lightning bolt in a more concentrated style. It looked almost like a laser. The lightning bolt zoomed in right at the heart should be. If all went according to plan KA-BOOM!! Next target...hopefully...

[The Designer]

Raiden's numerous area of effect spells as well as mundane attacks (Stabbing the virtue through the eye to the brains) were indeed powerful...... However, the Angels seemed to not be terribly affected by it. Even as the black tendrils of Black Cloud pierced their bodies, the Angels merely shrugged it off and continued to march. Raising their hands high into the sky, they instead fired not mundane, but Holy fire at Tristan. However, before the shots hit a new cadre of mages rushed in, casting shield spells to protect Tristan as they themselves took the grunt of it. "We're here to help you guys out" A mage yelled, trying to maintain the shield. The Virtues which Tristan thought he had dispatched in close combat then eerily rose from their positions, casting healing spells as they slammed against the mage back up unit, fighting against their crushing power.

"Tristan!" Haro Katsuni yelled out "We need you to help us over here!"

And as they yelled that, the Virtue that Tristan was sucking dry suddenly awoke, raging as it used reversed the siphon process.... So instead of Tristan sucking energy, the Virtue was going to be the one who absorbed the mana.... What an Ironic turn of events.....

Cirkel had turned his eyes away from the fallen Virtue, which now lay rested upon the snowy ground. However, from behind him a cadre of Angels rushed to the fallen Virtue, suddenly curing it out of it's viral problem. Despite the fleshy-ness of the Angel, Virtues were not as weak to diseases and virus as one thought. The Virtue had already expunge the virus from his Holy body, as he as well as his followers turned toward Cirkel, ready to gut the poor teenager. Luckily for Cirkel, the near death experience had weakened that Virtue, making him far less physically powerful than he was before....

"Well" Azrael said as he looked at Machael. "I've come here to kill the leader of these Angels.... Sariel. I was sent onto the field to sneak toward the citadel, but I find that I myself cannot simply infiltrate that accursed place alone......"

With that, he looked over toward the group of Powers resting near the Citadel. "I need you, Machal, to gather as many soldiers as you can and lead a strike against those Powers.... If they're out of the way, I can easily infiltrate the Citadel..."

As the lightning bolt hit the area where the Heart was for the Virtue, Raiden thought he could relax... But that was not the case! Oh no, the Virtues have much more stamina in that losing a hurt is no biggie for them. One has to seriously do a number on them in order to kill them. The virtue slowly got up, injured but still alive, as he used the last of its energy to fire a stream of holy fire at the Demon.....

[Tristan Knightrhode]

OOC: Typo there Auroth. you put Raiden instead of Tristan for the first word on your post.

The hunter knew most of the damage done with his repetitive Black Clouds wasn't going to kill as many angels as any other enemy, though most of them on the ground hardly seemed effected. "Damnit." Then he saw the fires and grinned. Holy flames? That still wont do any thing to Tristan, he was still a human. Not to mention he had his soul fire spell active and they wouldn't even touch him. As the flames came in he was the other mages taking the damage, "IDIOTS!! THEY CAN'T TOUCH ME!!" He yelled, using his metal element to fling aside the shield mages who had metal objects on their person, which was a rather large ammount, and speeding off with flight to push the others out of the way of the flames.

The shield spells were deactivated around his body and the holy fires rushed in. He was correct, the flames didn't even touch him, though his aura began flaring up and his eyes shot open at the huge ammount of mana he was now getting hold of. Then, the Virtue began pulling out his energy as the proximity between the mage and the mountain were still close, "Thanks dumb shit!" And when his mana levels were just over maximum, he pulled away from the Virtue, cutting off the drain. It had taken back a good chunk of energy, but the mana Tristan had absorbed from the holy fires were what it took. Hell if it hadn't, there was a good chance Tristan's reserves would have been over loaded and that would have been far from good.

The medical sorcerrer then called out and Tristan looked over to see the two Virtue's he'd annihilated reforming. "FUCKERS!!" He yelled and blasted off at top speed, blade in a prone position. He blasted forward toward one the Virtue he'd demolished with darkness and as its head was finishing reforming, he flew into the skull, swinging his blade. His Seoligna was pulling life force and Tristan's sword ignited in a brilliant blue and white fury that began ripping apart the brain, severing electrical connections left and right that had the Virtue spazzing out momentarily, before its whole body simply went limp. [Where are the mana cores in these things?] Some think that there is a physical containment place for the mana of a living being, if that was true, Tristan could cut it out and then kill these things the old fashon way, leaving them with no mana to heal.

As the brain tissue began reforming, Tristan cauterized those bits, splaying brain matter out the back of the skull where he'd entered, the healing process on the outer flesh halting to favor the restoration of the brain tissue and motor skills. Thinking quickly, the Crusnik blasted around the skull, dragging his blade along side him. From the outside, someone could see the shining blade erupt from the flesh and moving sideways as Tristan flew around the outer edges of the beasts head, faster than it could heal. Momentarily, the upper part of the skull was totally severed and Tristan blasted up through the brain matter and rammed the upper most part of the head, using all his might to lift the skull off.

What on Earth are you doing in there? Came that same telepathic mage from before, [Removing the skull! Help me out!] And an order was given. Several of the physically strong mages began lifting up skull of the Virtue and exposing its brain to the icey air. That alone was enough to kill any being, but totally removing the brain would cease all possible healing functions. Soon, the skull was off and being hurled at the enemy forces that were still un approached in combat. "NOW!! AIM FOR THE BRAIN, ANNIHILATE IT!!" He boomed at the flying mages who were dodging back and forth of the Virtues who were still mobile and not half brain dead.

Dozens of blasts of lightning began cauterizing off sections of gray flesh. Tristan himself hurled massive white fire balls that practically melted the flesh from that single Virtue, making damn sure that it couldn't come back this time. Hey. If destroying the brain worked on zombies...why not on angels. The other virtues tried stopping the flying enemies, but failed as when a few went down, they just flew back up. The brunt damage of the soft hands crashing into them delivered only small ammounts of damage.

The ambient mana from all the magic, as well as that period of time inside the Virtue's head, had Tristan steaming mana and he did his best to spend it destroying Angels. It would be a while before his spell cut out, and he was going to use every single tiny drop of the mana he absorbed on killing the angels in ways that they can't possibly come back from. Once the spirit spell was over and done with, Tristan would transform, the blood that he was now soaked in would be the first angel blood that his Crusnik wings would absorb, and with all this carnage, he would gain an immense power boost, hopefully allowing him to call forth the blood scythe. The ultimate weapon of the Crusnik.

[Lilium Kether]

"Graaagh!"

The blast struck me, but my carapace absorbed the greater amount of the damage. A deep groove remained in the armor, and I was grateful that it was there. Now I was getting sick of this however. I could puke down their throats for their belligerence. Angels and their self-righteousness.

Skittering quickly, I made use of the time I had, to scramble up the body of the principality, and sink my claws into it's neck. That little mechanized neck. These weren't God's first creations. He would never have made war machines first. And Mankind was his last creation. Ne'er again did he promise to make something with free will.

Like these things had.

I sunk my mouth parts into the thing's head, and chewed, and twisted, and tore the metal apart. To rip it's head off would be to kill it. I had no time to waste. I needed to help my friend.