Chapter III: The Fall

Completed chapters of the serial storyline are stored here after completion.
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IamLEAM1983
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Re: Chapter III: The Fall

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The demon's hide was thick and strong, but any gash this deep would've been excruciating. Malphas did what he could to shake Ciaran off, which placed the selkie at the mercy of what effectively amounted to a set of boarding spikes along his flanks. Mary's own attack proved to be quite taxing for the demon, his right leg's tendons having completely given way. One of the bands of conjured muscle even snapped audibly, like a rubber band being broken. Malphas was now hobbled and driven mad with pain, which forced him to put his energy towards frontal attacks. Tom's erected forcefields protected both himself, Aislinn and Eyes, but he couldn't cover the room's perimeter effectively, or attack while blocking shoves of that magnitude. The summons had already exhausted him, to the point where you didn't have to look too hard to see his shirt was utterly damp, underneath his vest.

"If we don't make it," he wheezed, "at least we'll leave good-looking corpses!"

Malphas sensed that Tom offered the weaker end of the line of defense, and did what he could to hammer the warthog's defenses in. By the fourth shove, Magnus had a knee to the ground and his teeth were clenched.

"I'm sorry," he told Eyes, "I should have anticipated more-!
- It's not your fault!" retorted the man. "Keep pushing!"

One last shove followed, and Tom was forced to bring his hands down with a groan of exertion - and to stare death in the face.

Then, a miracle happened.

A pinprick of white light birthed over Malphas' back. The boar's tiny eyes did what they could to look at the new source of annoyance, only to widen in horror as that point of light grew larger and brighter still. Under the group, the circle's dominant color shifted from red to the most striking shade of azure blue - and what felt like blazing sunshine seemed to pour through the white haze. Malphas' back literally sizzled in response, the Duke suddenly parting with squeals of pure, abject agony. A vibrating blade's one-note song could be heard ringing forth from the growing patch of what had to be Celestial light - until a pure length of steel, as bright and as polished as a car's chrome finish, dug deep inside the boar's back, stopping at the hilt.

The light made it difficult to see what had stepped out of that haze, but it certainly was a man. A man whose hands now rested on his sword's hilt, and who carefully twisted it in order to tear the flesh and rend the nerves. In the next split-second, that patch of light seemed to resolve itself as tendrils of light coming forth from the man's back.

Mary would sense that the man, whose features were still obscured, was looking at her like no-one had before. Approval of and confidence in her like she wouldn't have sensed out of anyone seemed to radiate out of him, and his voice was as clear and stentorian as a war horn's battle call.

"Aim your blade behind his right elbow, at thirty degrees upwards! Stab his heart, Marianna!"
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Karl the Mad
 

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Re: Chapter III: The Fall

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Things were going so well, and then they weren't, and now Tom was down for the count? Mary couldn't allow that, and kept slashing at whatever parts she could reach. At least until the light changed.

...was that an angel? But why was he coming from an Infernal summoning circle?

No time to think about it thought. She shifted her grip and stabbed upward, at the spot the angel indicated, and clear on through that spot to the creature's heart! "DIE, YOU WORM!" she screamed in Cantonese, twisting the blade in the wound and jerking it back and forth before yanking it back out to the side.
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TennyoCeres84
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Re: Chapter III: The Fall

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Crying out, the scraping of the boar's armor scraped along his sides, causing the roane to lose his grip on the gigantic demon's back. Ciaran tumbled backwards and fell against the brick wall. He still remained conscious, but his formerly nice suit was bloodied and had definitely seen better days.

Beneath Tom's forcefield, Aislinn had nearly been about to give in what seemed like certain death, until a certain azure light filled the area. "Oh my God..." she breathed, feeling tingles much like she had when Meris had displayed her skills as a cantor.
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IamLEAM1983
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Re: Chapter III: The Fall

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With a final bellow, Malphas' conjured physical form collapsed. It immediately began sloughing, odorless in its burning and rotting away all at once, fabricated bones returning to Hellfire that was neutralized and turned to bare ashes upon contact with Celestial light. The angel rode the collapsing body down, never once raising his own head or pulling his own blade free. Not until only a monstrous outline remained on the floor. He then stood up, his blazing wings gently working alongside his clavicle bones, and sheathed his equally blinding sword. That one note continued to ring, however, rising over what sounded like shocked and panicked gasped from Patience and the Littlest. The note kept rising and deepening for a few agonizing seconds, touching the very point where they would all understand they were hearing an aural representation of the Creator's will. It was beautiful. It was agonizingly perfect - the musical note to end all musical notes. It was almost too much to bear, and - 

It ended abruptly, the note replaced by the sudden flapping of wings. Normal light returned, and they'd barely have enough time for their aching eyes to see the tendrils of light recede behind the back of what looked like a man of advanced years and solid constitution, dressed in the courtroom regalia of a US Army General. His flat cap now was wedged between an arm and his side, and a single word graced his nametag.

Gabriel.

The steely-eyed gentleman tsked, and spoke in a somewhat Midwestern tone. 

"That's a fine mess you've made there, friends..."
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