How Far We've Fallen (SSoDI-N)

[ParamountKeymaster]

The heat hardly seemed to faze Paul, but Lobo's wind spell nonetheless offered the slightest relief. He tensed back up when Lobo planted himself between him and Liderc, and a half-involuntary snarl escaped Paul's throat at the mention of that infernal draconic name again.

Lobo was ranting. Pouring out his soul. Paul let him have the floor, understanding how much he needed it, hoping that some of it might penetrate Liderc's thick skull. All the while, the dragon man stood ever alert, studying the details of Liderc's face, electricity starting to spark around his form until a tangible static filled the atmosphere.

Paul almost didn't react when Liderc tackled Lobo, his spine going ramrod stiff, his breath catching in his lungs.

All that air was released in an inhuman roar as Paul threw himself at Liderc, pushing the green angel away, heedless of the yellow blood that splattered on him in the process. He didn't care. He wasn't really thinking much either. Pure bestial instinct had taken over as Paul pinned Liderc to the ground, a blinding field of white hot lightning bolts encompassing and coursing through them both. Claws dug into a wing as deep as Paul could get them, then swung back in a wide arc, tearing loose flesh, feathers, and a spray of green, tinged with droplets of red-violet. Paul then grabbed the same wing, shot up, spun around, and with all his strength plus a powerful gale, slammed Liderc head-first into the nearest wall.

The dragon reeled back. His eyes glowed like a flash of lightning unwilling to die. His fangs gleamed in the white light. The electricity gathered into a concentrated storm between his hands, charged and ready to fire at the green monster...

[DanteMGalileo]

Lobo ran a hand along his back, coughing up more yellow blood as his hand became soaked in the same substance. Reaching for his wing, he internally swore at what he felt. His deranged brother... well, he was clearly and truly out for his life now, wasn't he? "Fuck..." Paul... dammit, Paul, what were you doing?! You're just gonna give him more incentive to go after you! At least tear off a wing!!

And yet, the yellow angel couldn't commit this to speech. His vision was fading, and he felt his limbs go limp. His eyes slowly closed. He heard and saw the thunder's crash and sound. Heh... Paul had come a long way in such a short time, hadn't he...?

Paul... yer gonna go far, kid, he thought. I'll fly again someday. I will...

Liderc snarled when the dragon man had separated him from his treacherous brother. He let out a piercing shriek when the filthy creature unleashed lightning into his body, causing the angel to spark and twitch. He practically roared when Paul's claws dug into his wing, slammed him into a wall. Pushing his bloody hair out of his useful eye, he instinctively picked up the electricity building up behind him, the vile thing clearly intent on ending him here and now...

His hand twitched, before balling up into a fist. Liderc's head whipped around, blood gushing down the visible side of his face, tossing his cracked circlet at Paul as a momentary distraction.

“Yaiu loaeuk 't loaeqv!”

Paul would feel his heart stop, if only for a moment. With this delay, Liderc opened his clenched fist, unleashing a stream of green fire at the dragon man, steadily turning purple and sickly green. Now wasn't the time to kill the dragon man, no. He would still need Paul later. But now, he might as well leave him an easier mark for the critical moment...

“Tov avoulk daa oulrav!”

The heart stop wasn't going to last nearly long enough. This wasn't going to last long, either; ten seconds, even if Paul didn't try to fight his curse. But it would be enough. Liderc drew the jagged blade, and dashed past Paul, nicking the dragon man's side...

There was a sickening tearing sound, and a scream that ended too early.

A pair of mustard yellow wings was scattered to the side, feathers blowing away in a nonexistent breeze.

Yellow blood stained the jagged blade, its owner turning around, face void of emotion.

Lobo shook, trying in vain to stand up, before collapsing back down. He tried to locate Paul with his failing vision. He couldn't move. He felt a wave of warmth rush through his body. "P... Paul..." His voice was weak. He felt the heat grow inside him. "Please... look after... Fen... Loba..."

Lobo then fell eternally still, an astral fire taking over his body, quickly getting to work...



"... Pathetic." Like his face, Liderc's voice was emotionless. He tried to move the wing that Paul had clawed, finding it stiff, unresponsive. He turned to face the stunned dragon man, who would soon be regaining control. "... Don't be so sad. You'll be joining him soon. Now..."

A series of black runes in a circular shape formed near the green angel, still blooding his bloody weapon, still emotionless.

[ParamountKeymaster]

"HCK..."

Paul choked on his own breath and bile. An unseen force tightly coiled around his heart. For a moment, he felt a void where his phantom second heart beat. The heat raging through him died as his blood went cold and still. The lightning in his hands scattered into the wind and dissolved into a mess of harmless electrons.

The episode ended just as suddenly as it had begun, but before Paul could get his bearings back in order, a new sensation washed over him. His limbs grew weak, then lost any feeling altogether. His body went numb. The world started spinning as his legs gave out. He only barely registered the blade tip brushing along his hip and knocking a scale or two loose, though the exchange of momentum was enough to send him falling onto his back.

He couldn't help the way his head turned as he flopped over. He saw it all front and center.

Paul's vision went yellow. Blood and feathers scattered all around him. He wanted to scream. He wanted to curse. He wanted to stop this atrocity, even if there was nothing he could do now besides repay an eye for an eye, wing for a wing. He wanted to believe this wasn't the end. But he couldn't. All he could do was lie there, his body numb and unresponsive, his face a mask of terror and dismay as he stared at Lobo, his limp and helpless form the last thing his mentor saw.

"..........................."

He could've prevented this... He could've... He had Liderc right where he wanted him... Why didn't he...?

Heavy, shuddering breaths started to pump into Paul's lungs through his gritted fangs. His body started shaking as he regained feeling, and the first thing he felt was a sharp ache in both hearts. Tears silently trailed down his cheeks as his blazing yellow eyes looked up at Liderc. "You sadistic wiekiix..."

Paul slowly climbed up onto his hands and knees, his ragged breathing turning to snarling panting. Electricity coursed through his body, illuminating his deep blue scales, reflecting vibrantly off his wine-colored blood. He scowled at Liderc with nothing less than a bestial, unhinged, unabashed, bloodthirsty, bloodcurdling hate. He sucked in a gasp of air, breathing in the ash, letting its scent fuel his fury, lightning dripping from his mouth like static saliva...

BOOM



Lightning did not strike. It was more like a meteorite.

The ground caved in from the titanic impact, tremors shaking the district's foundations for innumerable blocks. Enormous earthen knives erupted all around from the shaken soil, earning a few pained cries as several of the jagged rocks sliced at or even impaled the surrounding angels.

As the dust cleared, Paul looked up and found a demon standing between him and Liderc...

Kelsey stood tall and firm, her wings erect, her claws bared, her ruddy skin shimmering, her black aura twisting like so many tentacles, her face twisted into an inhuman, fiendish scowl directed at the green angel. For a fleeting moment, her luminescent blue eyes flicked away, scanning her surroundings. Her true vision showed many auras all around her, energy trails detailing a horrific series of events... a lone, spectral light nearly ready to burn out...

Her cheeks split open in one swift motion, her snake tongue wildly lashing out of her gruesome, furious grin. "Filthy kinslayer..."

An ear-piercing shriek rang out in all directions as the wind started to cyclone around Kelsey, pulling everything that wasn't bolted down or directly behind her towards her gaping maw. A pillar of light seemed to ripple from her throat.

At the same time, the ghostly image of a dragon swooped by overhead. A boy in a hooded cape dropped down from atop the specter, slamming down on Liderc's head, flipping away, landing on his feet, and immediately whipping out from under his cape what seemed to be a retractable black staff, which he did not hesitate to point at any and every angel that drew too close. "Don't f*ck with me! I have the power of God AND anime on my side!!!"

Mysterion's brief distraction was enough for Kelsey to do her deed. The winds died down, the light faded, and her sickly Glasgow smile stitched itself back together into a sharp frown. Then, with a wave of her hand, a multitude of lights erupted from her form, gathering around her, forming into individual shapes.

A ghostly angel army surrounded Kelsey and Paul. Each one sported not only blank, lifeless eyes, but a cold and emotionless expression directed at Liderc. Though each one brandished a weapon and took on a fighting stance, there was something off about all of them. Something limp and unpassionate, like they were nothing but puppets on strings, bending to their master's will in clear defiance of their former commander.

Well, all but one...

Or three, rather. Two in the back, one red and one yellow, were more occupied with glancing around at the intense scene than they were with threateningly waving their weapons around.

"Huh..." Kite tilted his head at the other, living angels and gave his broadsword a twirl. "This is different."

"Yeah," Oz agreed with a slow nod, tossing his dagger from hand to hand. "Stupid and terrible, but different!"

Most of those present opted to ignore the salted legume gallery. The angel spirit up front with Kelsey, though...

[DanteMGalileo]

"Hey, ya mind givin' me a shout before ya jump off me?" The purple wyvern descended slowly, keeping himself above the dickhead angel spirits. Flint snarled at the slowly-burning form of Lobo, turning his empty white eyes to face Liderc, one of the few angels that had avoided being skewered on the rocks. "Oh, it's you. Must be the leader. Gotta say, I was expectin' a beefier guy than you, stretch." The wyvern went silent after, cold air leaking from his jagged jaw, waiting for an order to ice this miserable motherfucker.

Liderc merely grunted when the staff whacked him, and simply raised an eyebrow at the kid's declaration. "All the gods are dead. They were more trouble than they were worth, so we simply stopped believing. That killed them." Oh, how he had no use for such a thing even if it actually existed. He looked around, scowling at the mostly-empty faces of his troops. Vakaris, Prithvi, even Kite and Ospery... "So, you think you have an army?" His voice had regained some emotion, taking on a condescending tone. "... And I see you get the powers of anyone whose soul you consume." Of course it wouldn't be her own power. "And you're willing to to consume even your own allies..." With just the slightest hint of concern, Liderc glanced at one particular figure in the crowd...

This figure floated over to Kelsey's side on dark yellow wings, mess of black hair flying wildly even in its usual ponytail, his eyes still seeming sharp despite being pure white. "Shut the hell up." With a flick of his wrist, the spirit of Lobo called a spear composed of lightning to hand, pointing the blade at Liderc. "I ain't sure what the fuck just happened, but I sure as hell ain't complainin' if it means I get another chance t' put you under." The winds around the spectral angel intensified, blowing his hair and clothes about. "Just say the word, Kelsey. I'd love to gut this guy like a fish." He couldn't help but crack a grin at the prospect of quick revenge. "What's wrong, Basan? Feelin' luck- GAH!!"



A white-hot fireball was tossed at Lobo, leaving a sizeable scorch mark in the stones behind him. Liderc's free hand was covered in green flames, bright and painful to look at, his face twisted into ugly, pure rage. "Don't test my patience again, Sampati," he growled. Once he was sure Lobo wasn't going to interrupt him again, Liderc returned his attention to Kelsey.

"My my, I haven't seen you since you ran off to chase the crime against nature," he said in a mock-friendly tone. "You need moisturizer? Or foundation? I have both." Clearly, he had noticed the horns, wings, all her demonic traits. "How many of my troops have you killed and consumed just today?" He used a light, pleasant tone, but there was clear venom beneath. "How long until not even your allies are safe, Kelsey? You've already shown no hesitations in consuming those who fell at the hands of others..." He glanced at the spirits of Flint and Lobo. "So, when will you start killing them yourself? As far as I can tell, the true monster here isn't Paul, the Worcester boy, or even me. It's you."

Liderc looked past Kelsey and Lobo at Paul. "How sad. Even though you put up a good fight when cornered, your first instinct is to hide behind those stronger than you." He gave a smirk, slowly giving way to a grin that bared only teeth. "But it's all for naught. After all..." With a snap of his free hand, a ring of fire formed around the dragon man, growing higher and more intense by the passing second. "Move and that'll be the last time you do, even if you won't be alive for much longer."

With Paul trapped, Liderc turned back to Kelsey, face illuminated by his own flames, red eye sticking out against the green light. "So, what will it be, Kelsey?" The angel looked the demonic girl dead in the eye. "Will you come to your senses and surrender now? Or do we have to do things the hard way?"

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Sorry," Mysterion called to Flint before turning a sharp glare on Liderc. "Oh, believe me, douche face. I've seen evidence to the contrary."

The hooded boy twirled his staff and slammed the end down on the ground. From the top edge came a curved blade with an almost ethereal sheen, effectively transforming the staff into a scythe that seemed to radiate holiness as strongly as it did death.

Paul could barely move as he looked around at the army of angel familiars Kelsey had summoned. Just at a glance, the sheer number of them was baffling, and he honestly didn't even want to attempt counting them. He simply looked away from the spectral crowd and rested his eyes on the one in front. His jaw dropped a slight centimeter as he took in the shining image of the yellow angel. The one that, a mere moment ago, he had witnessed vanishing into the wind, now standing next to the ghoulish image of a girl he cared a great deal about. Both were alive, if not in the most conventional of senses. And for one brief second, the tiniest smile crossed Paul's face.

Kelsey stayed tense and her stare remained focused on Liderc, though her fierce scowl did soften slightly into a mere agitated glare as the Prasino prattled on. She let Lobo say his piece and subsequently got defensive when Liderc hurled fire at him, to which Kelsey responded by raising a wall of partially transparent shadow in front of Lobo as a shield. Defense came first. Vengeance would soon follow.

"Are you trying to make me feel guilty?" Kelsey bluntly asked the angel commander, his calling her a monster seemingly rolling right off her back. "'Cause I'm well past that at this point. I already hate myself too much."

Paul stood up straight, casting a wary, solemn glance at Kelsey's back. Then he looked back up at Liderc with a low snarl, genuinely offended that his moment of shock and awe had been mistaken for cowardice. He very nearly took a step forward and charged himself back up, only for the ring of fire to encompass him. The obstacle may have surprised him, but Paul showed no fear. He wasn't about to let this sucker's tactic faze him. He refused to be a pawn. Not when Kelsey and Lobo still needed him.

An extinguishing blow fanned out from his form in all directions. The fire was snuffed out like a tiny candle touched by a single exhale, flames harmlessly phasing through the spirits and bouncing off Kelsey's wings. From the ash and smoke, Paul marched forward and joined Kelsey by her side, flanking her right with Lobo on her left. His eyes glowed with intense passion and steely grit. Sparks rippled around his claws.

"Paul..." Kelsey murmured out of the corner of her mouth. "You don't have to do this. We can take him."

"And prove him right? No." Paul's scowl tightened. "I promised to look after you. I'm not going back on that now."

Kelsey could only sigh at that response. She nodded to Mysterion; he nodded back, then swiftly and silently ducked into the shadows. Then Kelsey resolutely started forward, her eyes on Liderc, her voice unable to decide if it was directing itself at the angel or the dragon man. "If you say so."

Paul raised his hand. Kelsey raised hers. Every angel familiar on their side raised theirs.

[DanteMGalileo]

When the dickhead angel spirits raised their arms alongside Kelsey and Paul's, Flint's jaw opened up, cold air building up within his gaping maw. An orb of icy energy began to form, chilling the air around him as he charged his energy for the next attack. Oxygen entered and froze, the beam ready to fire on command.

From Kelsey's left, Lobo's hand briefly made a rude gesture at Liderc before green winds picked up around the angel, turning into a miniature storm around the yellow angel's arm. "Say yer prayers to whatever the fuck you worship, Basan." The wind angel scowled, gritting his teeth as the wind and thunder gathered around his arm. He couldn't guard Paul in life. But he could give the kid permanent protection from beyond the grave, at least. And he could fly again, apparently. Best afterlife ever, he thought.



So, it's going to be the hard way. Because it's always the hard way for people who can't see reason. Why did he even bother offering a chance to surrender to these buffoons? Liderc saw Kelsey, Paul, and Lobo build up energy for an attack before his vision lump, assisted by the purple dragon and his former troops. He heard moving around- some of his troops had still survived! "So, who will cave first? The unstoppable force... or the immovable object?" Liderc gave a whistle that terminated abruptly on a high note. "Phoenix Shield, everyone! Cast whatever you can! Guard us all from this onslaught!!"

From around the stones came waves of energy, mostly blue and yellow, forming walls of water and earth around Liderc. The commander scowled and looked around, even as he released a pulse of flames into the ground, forming both a shield and an attack to blunt the earth energy heading his way. "Why are you all focused on saving me?!" Something about his voice was different from the tone he had used for the rest of the night. "If I fall, focus all energy on killing that girl!!" Ah, there's the harshness.

A dome composed mostly of earth and water surrounded Liderc, supplemented by an inner shell of green fire.

And then, the attack commenced against him. Water, wind, lightning, earth, light, shadow, pure energy assaulted the shield, pushing against the defensive magic. Liderc grit his teeth and made a pushing motion from within the barrier, already seeing a crack to his left. This wasn't going to block the entire attack. he would be surprised if this blocked even half of it. The least he could try to do now was get rid of the earth magic, his biggest weakness...

Some of it already punched through the crack, tearing into his shoulder, ripping the fabric. His damaged armour wasn't going to hold out for much longer, he realized, cracks forming in the bronze pieces. It wasn't long before his torso pieces broke off, falling to the ground with a soft clunking sound. His gauntlets followed, and his sleeves were next; fabric wasn't meant to handle these conditions.

And still, Liderc pushed against the attack. He wasn't going to let this worthless pack of rodents beat him again.

When the shield finally cracked, the beam was at a fraction of its power as it slammed into the green angel, who crossed his arms over his face as a defensive tactic. The magic tore into him, causing Liderc to stumble slightly, but he refused to yield to these disgusting, useless animals!! With a sound akin to a cross between a shout and a roar, a vortex of fire built up around him, scattering the final remnants of the attack away.

When the light and flames died down, Liderc stood in the center, panting slightly. His armour from the waist up had shattered and fallen off completely, his sleeves and more of his shirt had been ripped off, his clothes were in tatters... And yet, despite his wounds, despite his sudden shortness of breath... he still stood, glaring at this demon girl.

"Is that all you've got...?" Liderc spat out, spitting out some green blood at Kelsey's feet. "I expected more... more from my troops... more from my famous brother... more from the dragon man... more from one of the feared dragons of Purgatorio..." He glared at each party in turn, before settling back on Kelsey. "But most of all... I expected more from you." No more mocking tone. No more talking as though they were old friends. Just pure disgust at this... thing. "Then again, maybe I was the fool. After all, I am the son of the emperor..." He raised both arms, one still gripping the jagged blade stained with Lobo's blood, the other covered in a dark red aura. He brought his hands together, red energy traveling up the blade, turning the energy in the middle the same colour as his aura

"And you?" Liderc moved his arm, pointing at each of the army before him in a wide arc. "You're just a pathetic little orphan."

He swung the blade in an arc opposite as before, unleashing a wave of dark red energy, phasing harmlessly through Kelsey, Paul, and Kenny, but causing the spirits to stumble.

From the sky, Flint fell, having suddenly found himself back in human form. "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-" He didn't get to finish that statement. Before he could hit the ground, the green-clad man vanished, slowly being sucked back into Kelsey, it seemed.

Lobo snarled, bringing an arm to his face to block the wave of energy. Despite not being truly corporeal, he felt it tear into him, and despite not having true blood to shed, he felt pain nonetheless. "MOTHERFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKER-!!!!"

[ParamountKeymaster]

As the onslaught of the elements receded, dying down from a deafening roar to an equally deafening silence, Paul, Kelsey, and the army of familiars stood completely still, glaring stone-faced at the angel commander. The damage was evident, even if he was still standing, and no one was about to falter in spite of that fact.

Paul leaned back slightly and entered a loose fighting stance, the breeze ebbing around him with a cold but gentle whisper. Liderc's venom didn't affect him; he was done letting the smug prick's mere words irk him. Kelsey barely moved an inch, though her aura continued to writhe with a dark malice. Her glowing blue snake eyes narrowed at Liderc. Was that all she had? "Don't tempt me, you son of a Chamrosh."

Kelsey tensed up and quickly started shaping her shadows, she and Paul readying attacks as Liderc readied his. All around them, elemental and non-elemental magic alike charged up, ethereal blades and astral wings glowing in the dim evening light. They were braced for anything, believing for the best but anticipating the worst, well past humoring this monster and ready more than ever to give him a piece of his own-

"............"

Kelsey's wings twitched. An intense shimmer flashed in her eye.

Did he just call her...?

How did he...?

HOW...?!

HOW?!!

TRI, HOW DID HE...?!!

BOOOOOOM

A thunderstorm erupted directly above the fray. Dark clouds engulfed the angels, diminishing vision to near zero. A torrential downpour of pounding rain struck from above. The winds stirred powerfully in a twisting, labyrinthine monsoon.

Paul tensed up not out of aggression but in fear. The static from the gale coursed through him as naturally as blood, but this storm felt unpleasant and uninviting. Hellishly hot and fiercely fiendish. Entirely not his own.

Though it was almost impossible to see in the dark, the tremor could be felt by all as Kelsey stomped the ground and erected a rock wall.

"FINE THEN! CONTINUE TO TEMPT ME! SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!!"

Kelsey unleashed a banshee scream and charged at Liderc at high speed, pushing the wall in front of her with impeccable strength like an earthen battering ram. At the same time, Liderc unleashed his wave of energy, the red light phasing right through a furiously ignorant Kelsey and a wholly unsettled Paul. The angel familiars took the brunt of the attack, some of them outright disappearing while others braced themselves as best they could.

"FLINT!" Paul rushed towards the downed wyvern, stumbling to a halt the moment Flint dissipated. The ghostly dragon's wisp joined the dozen others that streaked through the darkness like shooting stars before disappearing into Kelsey's still-racing body.

"L-LOBO...!" Paul then hastily turned his attention on his mentor, the Plasmis angel's astral body badly damaged but still intact. Lightning crackled around the dragon man's form, though he was still too stymied by Kelsey's bum rush tactic.

The wall of earth was fast approaching Liderc. The tempest was unrelenting, hindering more than just vision. The demon girl's fiery wrath was practically tangible in the blistering storm. And then...

"ACUM!!!"

The tremors subdued ever so slightly. A feeling of unnaturally cold steel and a delicately sharp razor neared Liderc's wing.

[DanteMGalileo]

"R-Rggh..." Lobo had fallen to one knee, mimicking the motion of coughing up blood, a fluid now not existing within his astral body. "Sonuva bitch..." The yellow angel scowled at the other spirits dissipating and returning to Kelsey's body, before glancing back at himself. His arms and chest were covered in yellow cuts, which, while not bleeding, were bright and painful. He then looked back up at Paul, placing a hand to his sore face. "I dunno what th' fuck just happened..." Lobo looked at Kelsey, before the storm swallowed up his sight of the demonic girl. "... This ain't gonna end well for either of 'em, Paul," he admitted. "Sure, she an' Kenny are gonna hurt 'im real bad, but this is a predictable tactic."



"Oh, did I strike a distress rope?" Despite his wounds and the elemental storm, Liderc couldn't help but smirk at the reaction he had gotten from Kelsey. "I'm just getting started, satan spawn," he purred, a swirl of purple energy building up around his free arm. "Bring it o-"

That taunt was cut off by a scream as something sharp and metallic tore into a wing. He hissed and whipped around at the offender, grabbing the hooded boy with his free hand. “Yaiu loaeuk 't loaeqv!” With his back attacker's heart stopped for a moment, Liderc focused more on the wall enclosing on him. Amateur's tactic. One that he had seen far too many times. Even with a damaged wing, he could handle this. Raising the hand covered in purple energy, he swung it in a fan-like motion. “Cieli da'stiditn en a'tri!”

Kelsey and Mysterion would find themselves unable to move. It wouldn't be as potent as if he had only stunned one of them, but it was enough. With a snap of his fingers, a ring of fire built up around Mysterion, slowly enclosing in on the boy. And now, for satan spawn...

Liderc raised the jagged blade, and sliced through the wall of earth, emerging on the other side, in view of the demon girl. "Hello, murderer," he purred, grabbing her by the arm. Taking advantage of her temporary immobility, Liderc, with some strain, slammed her to the ground. “Briiv a'oin!”

A pulse of pitch-black energy entered Kelsey's body, cutting into her very lifeforce. "A shame. We could've been allies if you had surrendered earlier," he said, walking up to the down girl, blade drawn. "Oh well, that's life, I suppose. Now, time to end your's..."

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Sh*t..."

Though Mysterion was grabbed before a decent cut could be made in Liderc's wing, he at least managed to keep a firm hold on his scythe as his body briefly went cold, then numb, then prostrate on the ground.

Kelsey had immersed herself in shadow as a sort of second shield behind the rock wall. It wasn't enough to prevent Liderc's spell from rendering her immobile –face-planting straight into the stone before rolling onto her back, no less– but it did still take a big enough brunt of the energy that the feeling started to return to her limbs almost immediately. Her loss of concentration on the shadows did leave her open for Liderc's next curse, sending a chill through her body, causing the first sensations she regained to be nausea and weakness.

As if to compensate for this sudden toll to her health, the inferno within Kelsey started blazing hotter than before. Adrenaline filled her to the brim. A raw, primal urge to survive consumed every fiber of her being. A frenzied scowl twisted across her bat face, glowing blue eyes drilling daggers into Liderc, angrily refusing to die.

CRACK

The darkness cast by the storm was engulfed in a blinding white flash as a bolt of lightning streaked across the field and hit Liderc point blank. A blue blur shortly followed as Paul delivered a flying kick, knocking the angel away from Kelsey and onto the cold, hard pavement.

"VORNSBY!!!"

With a simple wave of his hand, his eyes alight with blazing white electric arcs, Paul bent the stormy gale to his whim. The air circled around Liderc's prone form at hundreds of miles per hour. The dark clouds twisted into a tornado, sweeping the angel commander ungracefully off the ground and into the whirlwind like a paper bird in an industrial fan.

As Paul dealt with the green prick, Kelsey steadily started to pick herself back up, still fuming and seething, still pooling over with rage. The first thing she saw when she looked up were two of her familiars, the annoying red and yellow ones in particular, shooting her a pair of coy smirks.

"Well now!" Oz chimed with a chipper nod. "That wasn't half bad!"

"Yeah!" Kite readily agreed. "It was all bad!"

The two angel spirits promptly started hyucking it up and high-fiving each other. Kelsey merely glared into space, sitting up straight with little other reaction to the joke. Then Kelsey snapped her fingers, cutting the laughter short as Kite and Oz's forms immediately poofed into astral mist and retreated back into her soul.

With that distraction out of the way, Kelsey shot to her feet and watched Liderc flop about in Paul's tornado with a fierce scowl. "Tri, I could seriously use some insight right now! How am I supposed to BREAK THIS B*TCH?!"

Not waiting for an answer, Kelsey spread her wings and took to the air, riding the wind rather effectively as she and her remaining familiars started circling around the twister. She hurled a shadow blade into the storm; she could faintly hear an impact, though it was hard to tell what exactly she had struck. The angel spirits started firing off their own magic into the tornado, from boulders to waves to energy bursts. Paul stayed rooted where he was, his hair flapping wildly in the wind, his fangs gritted in intense fury and a blind desire.

The ire in Kelsey's face just barely made way for a twinge of desperation. She could sense something stirring in the eye of the storm, and the silence in her head wasn't quelling those vibes. She wasn't too proud to admit that she had no idea what to do now, a fact that was making her angrier by the second. "TRI, C'MON! FOR GOD'S SAKE, HELP ME!!!"

At about the same time, with nary an audience to notice, Mysterion pole-vaulted out of the ring of fire with his scythe, stumbling slightly upon landing. His coordination hadn't quite returned following the paralysis spell, and it was making him slow to jump back into the fray. Not helping matters was the chaotic scene he was greeted with. Paul was on edge. Kelsey's sanity was clearly on life support. Liderc may have been in a precarious spot, but Mysterion could almost smell the flames getting fanned.

"Balls..."

[DanteMGalileo]

"Balls to the fuckin' wall."

Clearly, Lobo was allowed to maintain his own personality rather than being just another cog in this machine. Which was good. He wasn't up for soaring in the sky in his current condition. Still, it was frustrating be stuck on the ground again. He growled, his nose picking up... "Burning."

Liderc let out a long expletive as the lightning struck him just as he had this demonic bitch right where he wanted her, followed by a flying kick from the breath's owner. He found himself being tossed around in a tornado of Paul's creation, finding himself trying to dodge attacks thrown at him by both Kelsey and his former troops. Of all the times for his wing to be damaged!! "Son of a..."

In-between dodging attacks, he smelled something. The delightful smell of smoke, ash, and things burning in general. Sure, it was dreadful to most, but maybe it was just a fire sadist thing. Ah, yes, of course... The ring of fire he had used to ensnare the child was still alight. And with this wind blowing...

"You know..." The angel's voice projected through the storm. "Wind and fire generally don't mix. It especially ends poorly for the wind. Allow me to demonstrate why..." Finger snap.



The ring of fire passed by Mysterion, barely grazing the boy. It passed by Lobo, lingering for a moment, causing the yellow angel to scream in pain despite his astral body, the flames burning at him, causing parts of him to break off and reenter Kelsey, bit by bit. When he had deemed his brother burned enough, Liderc commanded the flames into the tornado, the green fire slowly turning purple...

There was a cacophony of screams as most of the familiars were rapidly assailed by the flaming twister, with only the fire elementals unaffected by the blaze. "I must thank you," Liderc said from within the flames. "For providing me with a way out. Why, if you hadn't started this storm, you might have had my wings. Now..."

The twister was less wind and more flame now, the fire devouring the wind to grow stronger. Once he deemed it enough, Liderc let out a shout as his feet hit the ground. The fiery pillar honed in on Paul, snaking around anybody else in the area...

[ParamountKeymaster]

"SH*TBALLS...!" Mysterion shouted as he leaped away from the fireball whizzing past. He gripped his scythe in both hands, tense and ready to fight, yet he found himself unable to act, instead staring at the pandemonium taking place before him like he was watching the most gruesome trainwreck ever conceived.

A flash of panic crossed Kelsey's face as she watched the green fireball fly into the tornado, quickly deducing where this was leading. "FALL BACK, FALL BACK-!!!"

The order came too late as purple flames started streaming out of the tornado, burning most of Kelsey's familiars into the simplest astral energy that quickly retreated back into her soul. The intensity of the fire didn't affect Kelsey, though the chaotic winds were starting to mess with her flight pattern, hampered further by the debris that was starting to shoot out of the blazing, writhing pillar like embers from a campfire. Her gaze anxiously darted about in search of the dragon man amongst the dark violet haze.

"PAUL! DROP THE SPELL! DROP THE- UNNFF!!!" Kelsey herself was cut off as a prominent boulder was hurled out of the tornado and struck her in the head, knocking her out of the sky, sending her tumbling several yards across the earth, grinding her to a halt with one wing bent and one arm twisted out of its socket.

Paul blinked his eyes back to their natural yellow state, gazing into the fiery tornado with a heavy amount of regret. Releasing his hold on the wind did little to quell what had already been ignited beyond his control. His brain was screaming at him to cast an Extinguishing Blow. To do something to put out the fire he had unwittingly started. Even his instincts were telling him that this fight was not out of his league. But in that moment, with his vision dominated by purple light, all he could think about was where Kelsey and Lobo were in this blaze. He couldn't see them, and he couldn't figure out what to do about it fast enough.

As the wave of purple flame shot towards him, Paul suddenly felt himself get pushed to the ground. When he looked up, he saw Kelsey standing before him, holding the arm and wing not snapped out of place in front of her, using herself as a human shield as the fire relentlessly pounded against her and fanned out in all directions.

"PAUL!!!" Kelsey shouted over the roar of the flames. "JUST GET OUT OF HERE! MY FAMILIARS WILL GUARD YOU! GO!!!"

"Kelsey..." Paul weakly pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He had been operating on overdrive all evening. His still predominantly human body was having a hard time keeping up, and the draining effects of his unfledged battle tactics were becoming more and more evident. "Kelsey, what are you going to do?? I can't just... UGH... COFF..." Even if the flames weren't striking Paul dead-on, the smoke and the intense convection were clearly taking a toll on him, leading the dragon man's arms to give up and send him falling flat on his face again inside the cone of fire.

Kelsey briefly looked back at him, her expression mortified, her breaths haggard. She gazed forward again; the stream of flames just didn't seem to have an end. She tightly closed her eyes and tried to mentally summon her remaining familiars, but through their bonds, she sensed that most of them had been accosted by living angels, and Lobo, perhaps the only one she could genuinely trust, was only partially intact at this point. For all intents and purposes, she was alone in this hellscape.

"TRI! PLEASE! HELP!!!"

No one answered her. Not Paul. Not Lobo. Not the archdemon that had abandoned her in her hour of need. The silence scared Kelsey. It filled her with contempt. It made her absolutely livid.

"TRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!"

She couldn't take it anymore. She could let this bastard of an angel get the better of her. She couldn't do this alone. Paul couldn't help her. Lobo couldn't help her. Her familiars couldn't help her. There was only one person who could, AND HE WAS GOING TO HELP HER WHETHER HE LIKED IT OR NOT!

"TRIELVY-!!!"

"KELSEY!!!"

Kelsey cut herself off and looked over her shoulder again. She saw Mysterion standing right at the outer edge of the cone of fire, his cape whipping in the sweltering wind, his wide eyes full of panicked fury and locked on Kelsey. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU F*CKING CRAZY?!!"

"I HAVE TO!!!" Kelsey sharply screeched back at him, feeling the flames finally start to recede. "IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO GET THIS *SSHOLE TO BACK THE HELL DOWN!"

"IF YOU DO THIS, YOU'RE GONNA SUBJECT THE ENTIRE ISLAND TO UNGODLY MADNESS! DON'T LET YOUR BEEF WITH THIS DICKHOLE PUT EVERYONE YOU'RE TRYING TO PROTECT AT EVEN GREATER RISK!"

"THERE'S NO OTHER WAY!"

"YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT TRUE!"

"HE'S ASKING FOR IT!!!"

"HE'S NOT WORTH IT!!!"

"I WILL NOT BE CROSSED!!! NEVER AGAIN!!!!!"

"KELSEYYY!!!!!"


"Trielvyr'auvryar."






























The overcast sky itself seemed to shatter, giving way beneath the weight of something greater that existed atop their reality. As it crumbled away, it revealed an infinite darkness. A darkness that made night look like day and black look like white. An all-consuming, all-encompassing, fathomless, eternal darkness.

And the darkness... it was moving. The inky abyss that consumed the atmosphere writhed and shuddered like the murkiest ocean. It dripped down from above, stretching out like shapeless, malevolent flagella, whipping about in the open air, ensnaring and twisting around anything and everything they touched like rapidly growing vines.

In the center of the black, a light appeared. A glowing, ice blue orb with a slanted hole down the middle. An eye like a sentient moon, slinking about in its socket as it observed the tiny creatures beneath it.

Another coldly-glowing eye appeared. And another. A disjointed constellation of cyan irises.

The darkness continued to split open, revealing an innumerable multitude of sporadic pits, each one full jagged teeth and even more writhing, slimy appendages, filling the sky with a horrid, ear-splitting, soul-shattering song like the melodic screams of a thousand universes dying simultaneously.

Directly beneath this unholy storm, Kelsey stood completely still, staring up into the demonic sky with a sort of hushed wonder and stars in her eyes. The tiniest smile spread across her face. A chuckle escaped her throat. It was... beautiful.

[DanteMGalileo]

When the sky falls away,
Your world, your reality
It will all come to an end.

You know this, little prince.
Why resist?
You can't fight it.

Aries!
First of the zodiac!
Embrace your fate!

Submit to the void!
Submit to destruction!
You know it is your destiny!

Why fight?

"... Urk..."

Liderc's jaw hung open slightly as this... this... thing emerged from the sky. This horrid amalgamation of vision lumps, sustenance renders, and semi-autonomous flesh strands. This thing that should not exist, much less be manifesting in their world, and yet defied all logic to do so anyway. he quickly looked away from the sky; any longer and he was sure his thought centre would fry. Instead, he looked directly at Kelsey, for once with true, genuine fear. "S-So, this is the true source of your powers..." The angel sounded short of breath, eye wide. "It... It's abhorrent," he said to the eldritch girl. "And yet... just to get at me..." While the angel still sounded short of breath, some of his bravado was slowly returning to his voice. "You would willingly subject your allies, your friends, even innocent bystanders to this thing!?" Slowly, anger began to creep into Liderc's voice. "You're not just a danger to me or my troops anymore. You're a danger to life itself." The green angel snarled, holding the jagged blade with a slightly shaky hand. "Even if it means my death, I'll take you and that damn hellspawn with me-!!"

When the sky falls away,
Your world, your reality
It will all come to an end.

You know this, little warrior.
Why resist?
You can't fight it.

Aquarius!
Eleventh of the zodiac!
Embrace your fate!

Submit to the void!
Submit to destruction!
You know it is your destiny!

Why fight?

"... Shit."

So, this mass of eyes, teeth, and tentacles was what Tri's real form was. Lobo wasn't the type of person to get scared easily, but this thing, while on their side... yeah, that did the trick. There was something inherently wrong with whatever this fuck this thing was. It shouldn't exist, much less be here now, and yet here it was for all to see. The yellow angel gulped and quickly covered his eyes, hoping that this would be over soon. "Kelsey, what the fuck did you do?" Lobo said this not to the demon girl, but rather to anyone else that was listening. "Is my deranged brother really worth subjectin' every innocent creature on the island to complete madness?" He coiled up in a small ball, opting to try and wait this episode out. "It ain't worth it."

Before Liderc could carry out an attack, something caught his eye. Something that felt otherworldly and ancient, but unlike the abomination above him, this new entity felt soothing. It felt relaxing. It... it was something similar to this thing, but also completely antithetical to it. "... What the hell?"

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Maybe..." Kelsey looked down from the archdemon looming over the island and offered Liderc a gentle, saccharine, but subtly unsettling smile, her head tilted and her eyes half closed as if all true feeling had been completely abandoned. A pitch black tentacle slithered down from the overhanging mass, slowly curling around the demon girl, her allies, and her enemies. "But then again... in the grand scheme of things... who gives a sh*t what you think? Little orphan..."

Paul was firmly rooted to the ground where he lay, his claws digging into the dirt, his muscles locked up, his breaths labored, his insides heating up as his heart pounded faster than it ever had before. He didn't dare look directly into the sky, but the images in his peripherals and the discordant shrieks that echoed in all directions were enough to scare him senseless. Everything was going dark, his mind was racing, an overwhelming sense of dread was consuming every fiber of his being, and it was taking all his power not to lose whatever cool he had left.

Warily, Paul's mile-wide eyes glanced up at Kelsey. His stomach churned at the sight of her reveling in this madness, basically gone completely off the deep end in every way. So this was the extent of her demonic wrath. It was difficult for Paul to conjure an appropriate response with his emotional state growing more and more unbalanced in the presence of this hellish influence, but more than anything else, in that moment, he felt like nothing less than a failure. He could have prevented this. He could've saved Kelsey from herself. And he let her down. He let everyone down. "K... Kelsey..."

With his scythe retracted and stowed away once more, Mysterion curled inward and shielded himself with his cape. He couldn't see the monster, but he sure as hell could still feel its presence. The darkness infected him, ever present behind his eyelids. The great weight of the demonic presence burned him on the outside, while the screams of the damned chilled him to the core. He couldn't move, and yet he couldn't stop shaking. "GRRRRR...! YOU CRAZY B*TCH, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

He tried not to be scared. He wanted to believe there was a way out. For goodness sake, the prepubescent superhero had stared down Cthulhu before. This shouldn't have been any different. But it was. Mysterion had felt a sense of purpose back then. This was something truly beyond him, and even without looking at the archdemon, its sheer presence was enough to completely baffle him. Nearly every emotion known to man was charging through him simultaneously, rendering him unable to act on a single idea or whim. He was completely lost in this chaotic torment.

And then, in the corner of his eye, the darkness turned silver.

Mysterion opened his eye and peeked through his hood, looking up in wonder to find a glowing light standing guard before him. "K-Kendall...!"

The white-winged angel stood his ground in front of the costumed child, his body emanating a heavenly light amidst the suffocating darkness, his intense gaze focused solely on Kelsey. Kendall seemed unfazed by the inferno surrounding him, his mental and emotional state completely stable. He spoke not a single word. He merely raised his hands in a sweeping gesture...

...........................

......................................................

.................................................................................



Kelsey straightened up in confusion. Everything had stopped.

Liderc stood completely frozen before her, not a word, not a twitch. When she turned and looked down at Paul, he too had been petrified in his state of alarm. She couldn't sense any movement from Lobo. Mysterion seemed to have all but vanished into the background. Gradually, the still image surrounding her grew blurry. The darkness brightened into a light haze.

Slowly, worriedly, Kelsey paced in a circle, looking around as the world became a blank white canvas. No signs of her friends or the angels. Not a telltale sign of where she was. She couldn't even sense the passage of time. The only remnant of darkness left in this realm was Tri, his full archdemon form still hovering in the open space above her, seemingly the only other being there with her. Even he could not cast a shadow on the light that had consumed them.

Kelsey stared ahead, quickly discovering that Tri was not the only one. An angel stood several yards away, his pure white wings shimmering in the heavenly glow. He gazed back at Kelsey with a firm frown. He didn't seem angry. Just... disappointed.

"You..." Kelsey narrowed her eyes at the angel, confused at first, steadily growing indignant. "What did you do?"

The angel didn't answer. Irked and unsettled by the silence, Kelsey took a step forward in defiance, fangs bared, claws out, wings erect. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Kendall remained silent. He took a deep breath. He pulled himself inward.

He slowly lifted himself off the ground. Swirls of bright red and white light started to seep through his skin and encircle his form.

"OH CHRIST..." Kelsey felt Tri shudder around her. "KELSEY, DON'T LOOK, DON'T LOOK!!!"

The light burst and expanded. Kelsey stood there in petrified, slack-jawed, wide-eyed awe as the red-orange glow took shape...





She saw the angel, and yet she saw something that she simply could not fathom. A serpentine body pulsing with pure, bright red energy, more ethereal than it was solid. Two enormous avian wings, one crackling with tongues of fire, the other ebbing and flowing like misty ocean waves. A head that looked as if it had tried and failed to split into three; a malformed amalgamation of skulls, one more human than the other two. And eyes... So many eyes... Some staring right at her, others pointed in every direction possible at once... It was actually painful to watch them flicking about inside the creature's head, chest, hands, wings, everywhere that eyes should not have been...

Kelsey choked on her own saliva. The staggering appearance of the heavenly host was a headache in and of itself, but the pure, unfiltered Essence that he emanated was completely and utterly suffocating. Kelsey felt her heart racing. Her blood boiling. Her lungs unable to fill to their full capacity. And yet she could not look away from the angel. From the source of this raw divine power that had quickly caught her in a strangle hold. Every instinct told her to escape, but a force beyond her power held her firmly in place.

Kendall gazed solemnly down at the demon girl, his body relaxing ever so slightly. He spoke, his voice echoing even well before he started, ringing with the weight and the fervor of the ages...

"Kelsey... This isn't what you want."

A sharp wheeze slipped between Kelsey's lips. That harmonic voice was louder than any stadium, pressing against her brain like a red-hot clamp. She couldn't stop staring at Kendall's mouths. The outer two seemed to whisper to each other in strange tongues. The center mouth that the angel spoke with did not contain teeth or a throat, but rather another eye.

"I understand why you've acted the way you have. The armies of the blasphemers must be stopped. I've stood by idly for this long, leaving you to your work, for you and I both want the same thing. Rest assured, this invasion will be halted, and you will play a pivotal role in that victory."

Kelsey's body rapidly weakened. She could feel the holy light penetrating her from every angle, eating away at her from the inside out. Her legs gave out and she fell to one knee. Even then, she did not turn away.

"But I'm sorry... I cannot allow you to inflict this island with a worse fate. Your friends suffer now just the same as your enemies because of your rash decision. You mustn't do this to them. You need them, and you know it. You are not the monster they say you are, Kelsey, and no matter how deeply you surrender to your demonic influence, I know you don't want to be. For your sake as well as the island's, you need to stop pretending that they're right."

Every cell in Kelsey's body felt like it was on fire. The fluids in her stomach boiled and churned. Her gaze finally tore away from the heavenly being so she could release a series of painful, wet coughs. She didn't have it in her to be angry anymore. All she knew was fear. Everything around her, save for the looming shadows above, filled her with a sense that she did not belong here, that she was a sickness to be exuded, and she felt the full force of that sickness slamming into her all at once.

Kendall raised his right hand. From the glowing red eye in his palm came a pillar of white flames. When Kelsey stared into this fire, for a second or two, she went blind. Her vision did quickly return, though it felt as if her retinas had melted and were flowing down her cheeks. Despite this, she could clearly see images in the flames. Two Paradiso angels, both of whom she had seen before...

The fire snuffed itself out as Kendall retracted his right arm and raised his left. The blue eye cried a river of white water, from which arose a mist that further choked off what little air Kelsey could breathe in. New images appeared. She saw herself standing before a dragon, but she couldn't decipher who. It was too big to be Flint, and even at a glance, it looked nothing like Vutezoth...

Before she could figure it out or even ask, the waters receded and the angel continued to speak...

"You already know what to do, and for our intents and purposes, it is the best thing that you can do. I won't interfere with your affairs in this timeline again, but I will provide you with a parting gift. Use it wisely. And... I offer my deepest, sincerest preemptive condolences. This didn't have to be your fate, Kelsey. I'm sorry that it was."

Kendall sadly looked up at the archdemon hanging over their heads. Every eye expressed nothing but sadness.

"Time certainly changes a man, doesn't it, Valac?"

Tri simply retorted with a snarl from multiple mouths, complete with a spray of spittle to the angel's face. Kendall sighed at this response, then he raised his hands and spread his wings to full, enormous length.

Heavenly light poured from the principality angel's eyes, shooting into the sky and striking the archdemon with the combined force of the very concepts of creation and destruction themselves; a simultaneous big bang and big crunch. Tri screeched in absolute, gut-wrenching agony as the pure, radiant energy consumed his entire being, burning away his corrupted essence with a wretched, unspeakable pain. Burning, breaking, tearing him apart at the seams like he was dying, being reborn, and reliving his archdemon awakening over and over and over again.

Kelsey screamed at the top of her lungs. The white light was already an all-encompassing torture, but when the sheer direct torment became too much for Tri, his agony began to transfer to her. She doubled over from the pain, her arms wrapped around her abdomen, her body curled inward as tightly as it could go. She felt the fury of a thousand suns racing through her veins, decimating everything within her in its path. Every memory, every thought, and every emotion she had ever experienced flashed through her mind all at once. Tears, snot, saliva, bile... fluids poured from every orifice as the raw Essence filled her to the brim.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH...!!! STOP IT!!! STOP IT, PLEASE!!!!! LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!!!"

The heavenly light dimmed, but the distress did not recede. The damage was already done. Tri slipped deeper into the infinite whiteness, his horrific echoes fading away, his shapeless black form disappearing into the aether. Kendall allowed himself to relax, staring down at Kelsey once again as she cried and writhed on her knees, his gaze still full of sympathy. He reached out a hand and tenderly brushed a single finger along the demon girl's locks, earning a sharp, terrified wail in return.

"Come find me at the end."

A bright flash consumed Kelsey's vision. Then the world grew dark again. The dim shapes of the residential district returned. The stillness in the atmosphere lessened.

Kelsey collapsed into the grass...

"KELSEY!!!"

Paul shot up onto his hands and knees, mortified by her sudden collapse. He spared only a brief glance at the world around him; in one brief flash, the horrors that had consumed the sky had vanished, restoring the night to its natural calm state. He didn't notice that Kelsey's familiars had all disappeared. He didn't even notice that Mysterion was suddenly gone. Paul's focus simply snapped back to Kelsey as he scrambled over to her in a fit of concerned panic. "K-Kelsey, what happened?! Are you o-?!"

He cut himself off as Kelsey continued to scream in unbridled terror, as if the madness inflicted by the visage of the archdemon upon the entire island had all been transferred to her alone. Her body was shuddering like she was simultaneously hot, cold, and losing control of all her muscles. Tears streamed down her face, tinted with watered-down hints of red. She shakily picked herself up, only to loudly, gruesomely retch a mixture of vomit and blood onto the ground, then promptly fall right into the vile mixture and continue to sob uncontrollably.

Paul couldn't fathom the miserable sight before him. He looked down at Kelsey, then up at the creature standing nearest to them. The angel commander. The primary source of misery. He couldn't imagine what else could have inflicted this upon Kelsey, and so Paul crouched over top of her and shot Liderc a vicious scowl, fangs bared, a murderous glow in his eyes. "You stay away from her, you stay the HELL AWAY FROM HER, I WILL TEAR YOUR HEART OUT IF YOU TAKE ANOTHER STEP...!!!"

[DanteMGalileo]

"This isn't right, and let it be far from me to lecture anyone, but..." Liderc was visibly unsettled by this demon girl not just being unfazed, but actually relishing the hell she had brought down with that affront to everything logical. He wasn't sure if even this blade would deter her. But damn it all to the fifty hells, if he was going to die here, he was going to try and take this abomination with her. "I'd never-"

But then, something happened that was somehow even more logic-defying than the massive black creature in the sky above them.

A glowing white, winged figure had appeared. It wasn't one of his kind, but rather, another type of angel. Liderc would be quick to dismiss this imitator as a threat, but this newcomer was only interested in Kelsey, not him. Lowering his sword slightly, the green angel prepared for the worst. Maybe they'd all be wiped out. Maybe the old tales were actually real. He quickly dismissed that thought.

"... The fuck is that?" Lobo managed to get out, despite losing a good chunk of his body to the purple flames. Whoever this newcomer was, he felt similar to whatever the fuck was in the sky, but also completely different.

In less than the time it took either angel to blink, the sky was clear and clean again.

"MOTHERFUCKERRRRRRRRRRR-" Was Lobo's last words before he began acting as though an invisible force was pulling him towards Kelsey, sucking him inside the demon girl. And then, the yellow angel's form was gone.

"..."

And suddenly, Kelsey was down on the floor, puking up a mixture of her own blood and what seemed to be nutrition extraction chamber reject fluid. Emotional vision lump fluid streamed down her face. For a brief moment, Liderc felt a moment of pity.

This moment quickly ended when the dragon man, apparently the only other living creature in sight, announced an intent to tear out of his heart, whatever that was.

Liderc tore off what was left of his shirt, and with a wave of his hand, conjured a bucket of what seemed to be hardened, cooled magma. Without any further word, he tossed both the bucket and the remains of his shirt at Paul's feet.

"... I have some things to sort out," he finally said, not looking at the dragon man. "Faeuovorr."

Liderc vanished in an instant, leaving behind the mess he had both directly and indirectly caused.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Paul panted heavily, snarling at Liderc as the angel dropped a bucket of... igneous rocks, for some reason, before disappearing altogether. His platoon had promptly fled along with him, abandoning Paul and Kelsey in this barren, decimated field. The dragon man let out another loud growl as he inspected the area, ensuring that they were in fact alone, then he turned his attention back on the demon girl beneath him. "Kelsey...??"

He gingerly turned her on her back, mindful of her wings and the puddle of vomit. The subtle movement elicited a languid moan from Kelsey, interspersed between more heavy, airy sobs. Her face was thoroughly soaked with tears and blood, the latter of which had started to drip from her nose as well. Her ruddy skin, especially around the cheeks, had turned a sickly salmon color. She briefly stopped crying, only to start coughing, rashly, roughly, like the hacking a heavy smoker, spitting up on herself with each exhale.

"Hey... Hey, c'mon..." Paul held the back of Kelsey's head up, brushing his thumb through her hair. "Y-You're gonna be okay. It's fine, th-they're gone. You'll be okay..." He was aware that his assurances where somewhat empty, given that he didn't actually know what was wrong with her, but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to help her regardless.

Taking a deep breath, Paul tucked his arms beneath Kelsey and started to gently pick her up bridal style. He paused briefly, deftly avoiding another round of bloody puke on Kelsey's part, turning her just enough to grant her that relief. Then Paul stood up straight and cradled Kelsey against his chest, nuzzling her forehead with his cheek, his breathing turning choppy, tears starting to well up in his eyes as well. "We're okay..."

"Paul..."

He anxiously looked down at Kelsey, his heart wrenched as her pitiful squeak of a voice reached his ears. "Kels...?"

"Ih... Ih..." For a while, Kelsey just hiccuped, the tears and the bile catching the words in her throat. She pressed herself closer to Paul, shaking as she softly wept. "It's hot... and cold..."

"Shhhhh... I know, I know..."

"Time... repeating... endless... repeating..."

"Kelsey..." Paul slowly swayed back and forth on his heels, rocking the young woman in his arms. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day..."

"Kelsey??"

"Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way..."

Her consciousness seemed to be slipping, if not her overall sanity. Paul quickly decided that he wasn't going to get her attention again anytime soon while she was like this. All he could do was try to fix it. "Shh... Don't worry... I'll get you home..."

"Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way"

As Kelsey continued to murmur to herself in her delirium, Paul took a moment to adjust her into a more comfortable position, then started running headlong down the street and back towards the inner district of the city. The fight had left him utterly exhausted, but he was ready and willing to burn every last bit of energy he had if it meant finding Kelsey a shred of refuge as soon as possible. After how badly he had failed that night... letting Lobo down... letting this happen to Kelsey when he had promised to protect her... it was the least the dragon man could do.

The storm had passed, but the skies were still not clear.