Eevee pushed off one foot and jinked behind the cover of a stone column down in the flooded suburbs of the ruined city. She hazed away her wings and flattened herself against the smooth stone.

Suddenly there was a loud crack. Eevee's blood ran cold. The crack came again, heavy footfalls splintering the stone underfoot. Then there was a loud double splash as Beelzebub stepped down into a pool of water and looked around. He was looking for Zell, but now he sensed he had found someone else. He growled quietly, his breath misting the cold air.

Eevee closed her eyes and held her breath. She didn't dare try Farsight. She listened hard as everything went quiet, but she was deafened by her own heartbeat thudding in her ears. She wondered if the demon's senses might be sharp enough to pick up the frantic hammering, and figured that this was a very bad time to find out.

The silence continued as a gentle rain began to fall, wreathing the ruins in a light mist. Eevee's eyes darted to one side then the other, her jaw clenched to stop her teeth chattering. Still nothing.

Then Beelzebub stuck his head round the pillar.

Eevee froze as the demon reappeared out of nowhere and looked straight at her, his face twisting into a grin.

"I see you." he sang.

"Frak..."

Beelzebub swung a fist now half as big as Eevee herself. Adrenaline surged. Eevee dived aside as the column exploded into pieces from the impact of the demons fist, tripping and landing on her back in a shallow pool with a loud splash. Beelzebub's fist came down again and she rolled away, coming up facing the demon with water dripping from her hair and clothes.

Beelzebub towered over her, his chest rising and falling in loud, snorting breaths, growing steadily louder as his anger rose. Eevee glanced around at the half-flooded cityscape, thought fast, and acted.
"Shemash Caman!" she yelled, turning and throwing out her hand towards the sea behind her.

The water rippled and boiled upwards with a rising roar, forming a great tidal wave that flew up and over Eevee as she swept her outstretched arm over her head and punched it towards Beelzebub. The spiralling column of water smashed into the demon with the force of a tsunami, knocking him off his feet and carrying him backwards, but though the buildings all around shivered to pieces it still was not enough to stop Beelzebub. He staggered to his feet, clutching his chest in a moment of weakness, but then he laughed defiantly and lashed out at the one still-standing wall of the ruin he had landed in, bringing it down in a small avalanche of stone that slid to a stop in front of Eevee. She stepped back. Beelzebub was still grinning triumphantly, red and purple arcs of loose power orbiting round him.

"Don't waste your magic, Angel - your elven tricks won't work on me."

He leaned back and raised his arms over his head, a spell gathering between his hands. Eevee ran for it, leaping skyward and spreading her wings as twin Black Dragons converged and detonated below her. She rode out the shockwave and groped for her force lance, banking round in a wide arc.

"You can't run from me!" Beelzebub laughed, his hands glowing as he raised them. He opened his hands and long, whip-like beams of black fire shot out and lashed back and forth as they chased Eevee across the sky. She turned over and went into a headlong dive in attempt to evade the double Dark Element Explosions, but one of the powerful beams slashed across her and sent black lightning discharging in all directions. Eevee's hands came up to shield her face but her Dyann Ra counter-spell was no match for the raw power of Beelzebubs attack. Her shield resisted for less than a second before the dark beam punched through and struck her a glancing blow that sent her spinning out of the sky.

Eevee hit the ground hard, tumbled over herself and rolled to a stop amidst a pile of rubble. Her force lance skittered away and came to a stop at the bottom of the debris mound. Guided more by Tritoch's Farsight than her half blacked-out vision, she reached out towards the dropped weapon so that it flew back into her hand. She gripped it tightly, coughed, and clutched at her stomach with her free hand, her head still spinning. Her vision kept sliding in and out of focus, and then she saw clearly something red flying towards her which resolved itself into Beelzebub, propelled by a jet of black energy. He landed next to her with ground-shaking force, and kicked her in the stomach so that she was sent rolling down the rubble mound, coming to a stop at its base where she gasped for air and blinked rapidly to try and clear her streaming eyes as she half-raised her force lance and tried to take aim at Beelzebub.

"I dont think so," the demon growled. He pushed his hand towards Eevee, fingers spread, "DARK PRISON!"

Eevee was immediately immobilised behind a wall of black energy, her arms pinned down at full stretch. Beelzebub laughed and raised his right fist, ribbons of purple light coiling up round his arm and his muscles swelling as he pushed Penance's power to the limit.

With a mighty roar he brought his fist down, cancelling the Dark Prison only milliseconds before impact. Even an attempted Timeshift couldn't save Eevee, and the demon's fist hammered into her before she could even raise herself off the ground, let alone dodge. Beelzebub's downward punch smashed into Eevees solar plexus with pile-driver force so that she curled half-upright with the force of the hit, coughed up blood over Beelzebub's hand, and flopped back lifelessly before she could even draw breath and scream.

"Beelzebub!" roared a voice. Beelzebub looked up and saw Keiji running through the mist towards him, fire and lightning blazing around his knuckle-dusters.

"Ah, there you are..." Beelzebub smiled, bracing his feet. He put up his hands and caught both of Keiji's fists in his, stopping the attack dead. The fire and lightning licked harmlessly around his hands.

"You should know when you're beaten, boy," he growled, then slammed his horned forehead forward to send blood streaming from Keiji's nose and mouth. Keiji tried to twist away from the headbutt but Beelzebub held him fast, and now he began to force Keiji's hands apart, lifting him off the ground as he did so. Gritting his teeth he pulled outwards.

Keiji yelled in pain as the first experimental tug nearly wrenched his shoulders out of their sockets. Then he roared in anger and cartwheeled over backwards, his foot catching Beelzebub square on the chin and snapping his head back. Beelzebub staggered back a pace and released his grip on Keiji, who twisted as he completed the backflip to land facing the opposite direction before sprinting off through the ruins.

His plan to draw Beelzebub away from Eevee worked. Beelzebub forgot all about the comatose Angel and chased after Keiji. His foot caught Eevee as he began running, rolling her over onto her side.

Beelzebub faded into the mist, but his ground-shaking footfalls were still easily heard as he rampaged through the city after Keiji, smashing aside the ancient Atellian buildings as he went. Eevee didn't move. Only the slight bubbling of blood at her lips as she drew weak, shallow breaths showed that she was still alive.

<ooc - My last offering before we go to Italy :D If theres nothing new by the time I get back Ill be very upset :P >

Beelzebub pushed an open hand towards Keiji and black light leapt from his palm to surround Keiji with a Dark Prison.

"You shouldn't pick fights that you can't win." Beelzebub growled, his face twitching with barely-controlled anger. He raised his other hand and balled it into a fist so that dark energy flowed from the air around into his clawed hand, a glow travelling down his arm and causing red and purple lightning to leap and crackle across his skin. The crackle rose to a roar as a blinding light surrounded the demon, his already overdeveloped muscles straining beneath his skin and bulging to ever greater size as he gathered strength for a final blow. Suddenly he staggered and gritted his teeth in pain yet again as he struggled to contain the raw power coursing through him, but then with an angry shout he raised his arm again and forced yet more energy into his body.

"More...MORE! I...AM...POWER!!!!" Beelzebub yelled as he brought his fist down, but the last word turned into a high-pitched scream as purple light blasted from his eyes and mouth and a brilliant flash of light enveloped him. The flash blinded Keiji through the veil of the Dark Prison, but just before his vision whited out he saw a second flash, black against the white, streaking towards him, and then the Dark Prison shattered as a Dispel hit it with irresistible force and he felt a small hand grab his and drag him off the ground just as the world exploded around him.

For a second he was confused, dimly registering the air around him rippling and shattering into a million glowing starpoints of pulverised rock and loose magic, which drifted and whirled lazily around him as he looked up and saw that it was Eevee who had grabbed him and who was blazing a trail through the air with wings outstretched as she tried to outrun the shockwave coming up fast behind them. The air rippled as her power reached its limit, then the Timeshift failed and the shockwave overtook them, slamming heavily into the two and sending them tumbling through the air.

From above Zanarkand, a spiral of purple fire could be seen rising like a great pillar several hundred feet into the air, the expanding shockwave below it a white disc that swept across the ground and tore through the city, leaving only blasted rubble in its wake.

* * *

Eevee landed on her front and skidded to a halt, her wings fading away. Keiji lost his grip on her and was sent sprawling beside Eevee. The roar of the explosion faded to silence, though Keijis ears still rang.

"Thanks," he said after a second, blinking to try and clear the dancing coloured blobs that had seared themselves onto his vision. Eevee pulled herself up onto her elbows, clutching her ribs.

"No problem - I'd like to think you'd do the same for me. Although," she giggled weakly, "If I was ever in that much **** I hope I'd have someone better to call on..."

In spite of everything, Keiji found himself laughing. He pushed Eevee's shoulder playfully, but she winced.

"You alright?"

"Been better," she groaned in reply, still clutching her stomach. She cast a shaky healing spell on Keiji, and then tended to her own injuries until they could both stand under their own power.

"Well that was slightly frakked up..." Fariel commented as she emerged from the smoke, looking out over the huge crater where Beelzebub had been. She carried Eevee's jacket over one arm, which she tossed to the girl, "Okay Neji you're our resident demon expert, what exactly just happened?"

"In his anger Beelzebub tried to draw on more energy than even he could contain," Neji explained with a slight smirk, "He lost control and it destroyed him."

"Aye, him and most of Zanarkand. We'll never be able to get home insurance if they find out this sort of thing happens to every city we go near..."

"Where's Zell?" Keiji interrupted, coughing on the dust still hanging in the air.

"Frak knows, under a stone somewhere? Hey! Zell! Zell, you bastard!"

Fariel jetted off into the sky still calling, while Neji made sure his son and his god-daughter were alright before telling them to wait where they were and following Fariel, leaving Keiji and Eevee alone amidst the now-silent ruins.

"Aeons, it's freezing," Eevee whispered, pulling on her jacket and flopping against a half-collapsed section of wall as a chill wind began to blow in from the sea over the flooded ruins. Keiji too began to shiver from cold and exhaustion, but he turned away from Eevee and began pacing up and down, his thoughts troubled by how close he had come to falling to his demon side; how close he had come to, like Beelzebub, being overwhelmed and destroyed by his own power.

Eevee pushed her hair back behind her ear and watched him walk away from her, a concerned expression on her face. Not far away but still half hidden by the haze of brick dust, and unnoticed by the two Angels or their exhausted Aeons, a slender figure stood watching them, her dark hair rippling in the cold wind.

The second the spell had been lowered, Eevee rounded on Keiji.

"What...what the...?" she spluttered, incoherent in her anger, "Keiji you let her go!"

"I told you Eevee," Keiji replied wearily, "She saved us. A life for a life. If we Angels can't show honour then who can?"

Eevee made her opinion of that statement very clear.
He's being so goddamn stupid! she raged silently to her Aeons, He still loves Tsu in spite of everything, but all it'll do is hurt him!
Tritoch was sympathetic, but Ramuh, while commending her empathy, pointed out that Keiji's excuse was still valid, whether it was the foremost reason for his actions or not. As the Aeon of judgement and order, he agreed that it was noble to honour life-debts.

Finding little support from her Aeons, Eevee hissed her frustration and fixed Keiji with a venomous stare.

"Look Keiji, life-debts or not, next time if you don't ice the bitch then I will!"

"Listen to yourself, Eevee," Keiji snapped back, "Get a grip, for frak sake! This all sounds like personal anger to me. What have you got against Tsunami thats so personal?"
"Aeons' teeth, can you ask?"

Eevee stared at him, seemingly lost for words.

"She's gone over to Penance, Keiji. The sooner you get over that the better."
And who are you to lecture me about getting over things? Keiji thought savagely, but suppressed the outburst before he could voice it. Eevee turned away.

"Keiji," she said, much quieter now, in an attempt to change the subject, "One thing I dont understand - what happened to you back there? You...transformed. Like I've seen your dad do, only different - more scary somehow. What...?"

This time it was Keijis turn to twist away uneasily.

Eevee was sitting in the shade of one of the garden's apple trees, twirling a dagger restlessly in one hand as the sun began to sink low in the sky. She had left her jacket inside and was beginning to feel the cold. She had waited for nearly half an hour in Keiji's bedroom waiting for him to reappear before Neji had told her about the unpredictable timescale in the Demon World and that it would be better not to just stand and wait.

"It'll take as long as it takes." he had said, with no mention of the possibility that Keiji might not come back. Eevee admired her godfather's faith in his son, and it did something to allay her worry. She had passed the time by taking a shower to wash off the dust and grime of the Zanarkand battle, and after putting her own clothes in the wash once again had changed back into the black dress from Stead's collection and gone for a walk in the manor gardens in an attempt to find somewhere quiet. However, the sounds of the restless, besieged city still carried over the walls and now the sky had darkened with storm-heralding grey clouds as if Penance himself had cast a shadow over the city. The sun was setting in a blaze of fire, reflecting red off the approaching bank of thick clouds, and left alone with her thoughts in this oppressive atmosphere, Eevee's anxiety returned so that the nails of her other hand not toying restlessly with the dagger were bitten jagged and raw.

You're worried about Keiji? asked Tritoch quietly inside Eevee's head, a smaller version of his bird-like form appearing in the air before her as an outline of glittering Pyraflies.

"Is that a question or a statement?" Eevee countered, her tone flat. Tritoch looked at her impassively.

"Yes, I am," she admitted, "How could I not be? He's risking his soul in the Demon World and theres nothing any of us can do to help him."
"He will prevail," Ramuh said, materialising beside Tritoch and leaning on his staff, "Like his father, his good heart is stronger than his dark passions.
"Is this just like another Angel Trial to you?" Eevee asked pointedly, standing up and brushing down the back of her dress.
"No. We are confident because Diablos and Neji both know your friend well. They have faith in him. Knowing this is as much as anything why he will triumph."

"I know," Eevee sighed, beginning to pace restlessly, hugging her bare arms against the steadily-cooling air, "I just wish I had told him I had faith in him too...but...I don't know..."

She shrugged helplessly to the two apparitions ghosting silently along beside her, putting her head in her hands. Even with her Aeons there she felt intolerably lonely; her mother's and father's faces swam up to the front of her mind and she found herself blinking back tears. Once again she crushed the memories.

You should talk to him, Evelyn, Tritoch advised, While you keep your feelings bottled up you are denying a part of yourself, and without full understanding of yourself you can control no situation, be champion of neither light nor dark.

"Yeah right, champions..." Eevee said, kicking at a stone that had rolled from the gravel path onto the grass and sending it skittering away under a rose bush, "We couldn't beat Beelzebub - it was blind luck that he destroyed himself. If we couldn't defeat him, how in the Farplane are we going to beat Penance?"

"Tritoch is right," replied Ramuh, If you were completely at harmony with yourselves you would be even stronger than you are now, and you would have had the power to vanquish Beelzebub. Keiji is achieving that harmony now in the Demon World. Now you must follow suit.

The two Aeons faded away, leaving Eevee alone in a heavy silence.

The silence was shattered as a swirling nimbus of red light exploded into being in the air in front of her, a violent roar of rushing wind assaulting her ears as loose energy crackled from the portal and shook the nearest trees. Out of the portal stepped a familiar figure, silhouetted briefly in the bloody light before the gateway imploded behind him and revealed the smiling face of Keiji. Laughing to himself, he let himself fall backwards onto the grass.

"Keiji!" Eevee exclaimed, running over and kneeling down beside him, "Are you alright?"

"Never better," replied Keiji, and he looked it - a look of calm power had come over his face, but behind that stern demeanour were the eyes of the Keiji she knew, unchanged by a year in the harsh Demon World, his other misfortunes, or even this final battle against his darker side. He radiated new strength, but as he had promised Eevee, his good soul had not changed.

"You?" he added, sitting up on his elbows and looking at Eevee. She realised that some of her inner turmoil must be evident on her face, as Keiji wore a concerned frown as he spoke. Eevee looked back, and the diamond-hard core of suppressed emotion at the back of her mind cracked. Her Aeons were right - she had to open up to someone, and Keiji deserved her trust many times over. She decided to tell him. Everything.

"Holy Farplane, where do I start?" she moaned faintly, "I guess I'd better start by saying I'm sorry. You've deserved better than I've treated you. I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. I'm so afraid and mixed up after what happened to mum and dad..."

Her throat constricted, and she had to swallow before continuing.

"You all tried to help me, you most of all, but I was so scared that the same thing could happen to any of you...so I tried to push you all away - when mum and dad died, I thought a part of me had died too. I couldn't take the thought of losing someone else close. But it was still so selfish - you've all suffered similar losses, and you've all coped with it so much better than I have..."

She hugged her knees, looking desperately at anything except Keiji. He shuffled closer and put an arm round her shoulders. She didn't resist.

"You've been so understanding and patient, Keiji. You've been a good friend."

"So have you," Keiji said comfortingly.  But Eevee just laughed sarcastically.

"Like frak I have," she replied, "You've been everything I haven't. Tsu's right. I'm not good enough for you."

She shrugged off his arm, turning away and cuffing at her eyes.

"Hey," Keiji said in a soothing voice, "Don't take what she said to heart. I don't think you're a 'moody bitch with bad dress sense'!"

Eevee gave him a despairing look.

"Oh Keiji, you really think it was her slagging off my dress sense that bothered me? She's not the first person to look at me funny and I dont care, but she was right about the rest."

"What are you talking about?" said Keiji, unable to hide his confusion.

"You tried to be there for me when my parents died and I was nothing but an utter bitch to you in return. What kind of friend acts like that? Whereas you opened up, I just closed down."

"I opened up?"

"It's true, you may not have noticed but I have and I'm sure everyone else has too. Tsu brought you out of your shell. Before her you were really quiet and awkward around girls - you'd barely even talk to me - and now look at you. I've finally seen the real Keiji and it's one I like much more because of it. So whatever else she may have done, I've got to thank Tsu for that. I can understand why you still care about her."

"No I frakking well...!" Keiji began hotly.

"You do. You still love her."

"You're wrong," Keiji insisted, "She's nothing but a spiteful, treacherous bitch - whatever she was before was just a lie. How can you think you're below her?"

"Because I am." Eevee stated in a hollow voice.

"No you're not. I don't understand, Eevee - why are you listening to a word she says? What makes you think you're 'not good enough' to be my friend?"

Eevee said nothing for several seconds, just sat twisting her fingers together. When she finally spoke, the words all spilled out in a wild rush.

"Because I pushed you away when you tried to be there for me. Because I was never there for you in return. When Tsu...showed her true colours, I just stood by, wrapped up in my own selfish emotions. When I should have stood by you I left you to cope on your own. I told myself that I couldn't begin to truly understand, that anything I said would've just been pointless patronising...and that was bad enough because I was crediting you with indulging in the same stupid self-pity that I did, when I knew you were better than that..."

"I am not better than you!" Keiji interrupted desperately.

"But Keiji that wasn't the worst of it...a small part of me was actually...actually glad that the two of you had broken up...oh frakking Farplane..."

Her voice cracked and she burst into tears, her breath coming in strangled sobs as she hid her face in her hands.

Keiji shifted uncomfortably as he realised what she was trying to say.

"But...Tsu said that you said I 'wasn't your type'..."

"That's called tact, Keiji," Eevee hiccoughed shrilly, "I know it's wrong but I can't help it.  I...I love you."

She raised her tear-stained face to look at him for a second, then hid it back in her hands and started sobbing again.

"But I don't deserve you."

Laguna crouched down beside Fariel on the roof. "Beni
stripped Green and Ciaphas of their ranks and threw them in the city to guard
one of the blocked off Kebel entrances.  We wont be seeing them around the manor again." He held back a laugh.

"Shame I missed that, I bet it was a real picture."Fariel muttered dryly, Laguna sighed.

"What are you thinking about?"He asked, trying to help.

Without giving Laguna a chance to speak she jumped off the roof and flew
away.

"Moments like these make me happy I got kicked out the forest" He rolled his eyes.

oo0oo

Switching into bird form she glided down into the gardens,
flapping her wings she slowed and landed on a solid branch.Sitting beside her on the branch, ironically enough was Jacen, leaning against the trunk with his legs pulled into his chest.

Why is he in my tree?Fariel muttered to Leviathan, the serpent just laughed.

He looks a little upset.He replied calming a little

Not so much upset, maybe horrified is a better word.

Fariel didnt answer her aeon but instead turned to look at Jacen as he looked up at her, "Go away." He waved his hands trying to scare the bird away, Fariel didnt move, "Great, now Im being mocked by birds." He sighed.

"Could be worse I suppose." He muttered, "Fariel could turn up and kick my ass for screwing Kebel over for a second time...damn it...They could have survived if I hadnt let the guard in, Fariels going to hang me, I killed Larek..."

"Correct me if Im wrong, but a custodian killed Larek."Fariel sighed.

Jacen flinched as the bird talked to him and he realised that it was in fact Fariel, "And as much as I would like to hurt things, Im not going to hang you for something you didnt do."

"Fa-Fariel!"He choked, completely lost for words.

Do try to be nice Fari.Leviathan scolded jokingly.

"Im so sorry, this is all my fault, I never wanted this to happen.Oh aeons, please dont kill me!" He begged but flinched a second time as Fariel changed into human form and leaned towards him.

"Shut up."She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him off balance, she watched without care as he fell off the branch and hit the ground.

Jumping down she landed on a low branch, Jacen groaned and sat up."Dont talk such rubbish, you sound like a child.If you do that again Ill have to kick you off the manor roof."

"But Fariel!" He objected.

"Shut it, Jacen!This is Penances fault, not yours.Grow the hell up."

"You have nothing to apologise for Jacen.Go get some rest, tomorrow we fight."

"And stay out my tree!" She yelled after him.

"The Spiran air fleet is neutralised, assume attack formation!"

Freed from the threat of aerial attack, the demon blockading fleet began to spread out from its tightly-bunched defensive formation and deploy into a line of battle. Missile gantries pistoned upwards on Atellian dreadnoughts, and twisted demon ships brought macabre pulsating turrets to bear on the distant Spiran fleet barring their path. Amphibious transports powered up with a deafening roar and whoosh of spray, following behind the battle fleet that would clear their path to the landing sites. Once the outnumbered Spiran fleet was broken, the seaborne assault would force the defenders to fight on yet another front, so that their lines would surely snap like an overstretched rubber band.

The battle began with gouts of white smoke whirling around the Atellian ships as they released a wave of long-range missiles. Demon-made ships joined in, their turrets convulsing to spew plasma-wreathed demonic missiles towards their enemies.

"Incoming!" one of the Kraken's bridge lieutenants warned.

"Maximum ECM, stand by defensive turrets." the Guado flag captain responded as her Hypello admiral gave her a slow nod.

Several missiles, their radar targeting systems jammed, soared harmlessly off course away from the fleet. Others, mostly demonic, remained unaffected and continued to home in and these were met by a criss-crossing storm of bullets from point-defence weapons. Many missiles broke up and ploughed into the sea, while others detonated prematurely as they hit clouds of chaff thrown up as a last line of defence from small burst guns. Several missiles however slipped through despite the concentrated defensive fire, one finding its mark on a sleek Al'bed hydrofoil skimming along abeam of the Kraken. A sudden flash of fire and the frigate was gone, transformed into a cartwheeling whirl of shattered metal. Splinters rained down on the Kraken but the Hypello flagship continued resolutely on course, now swinging slowly round to bring it broadside on to the enemy fleet. Long-barrelled double turrets tracked round as the ship turned, locking on target and waiting patiently for the enemy to close within firing range.

"Destroyer squadronz, use yooour torpedoez to break up ze enemy formation," the Hypello admiral ordered calmly, "Capital shipz, concentratez your fire."

Missiles roared one after the other from cylindrical missile pods on the Kraken's midline, joined by a volley of others from the large ships at the centre of the Spiran fleet. They soared towards Penance's fleet just visible on the horizon, and brief flashes in the sky indicated the vanguard frigate screen taking their toll with ECM, chaff and gatling guns.

"Twenty six missiles running," the Admiral's Guado adjutant reported, watching her console intently, "Seventeen...no, eighteen down to enemy fire, one has malfunctioned, rest are good."

"Magnify." the Admiral stated, and a holographic projection superimposed itself over the bridge windows, zooming in on Penance's fleet until the awe-inspiring outline of an Atellian battle cruiser filled the view. Defensive machine guns along its hull winked and flashed, there were two starbursts in the air, but then a third Spiran missile arced down through the dissipating fireball and ploughed into the cruiser's bows just aft of its foremost gun turret. The hull immediately buckled and heaved, the explosion tearing the deck upwards and sending the A turret cartwheeling away from the hull. A pillar of fire hundreds of feet high shot up from the torn deck, surrounded by a whirlwind of shattered metal fragments. Secondary explosions rippled unseen through the ship, causing the hull to warp and bulge all along its length.

A cheer rose from the sweat-streaked Spiran deck crews. They would fight here, and very probably die here, but they were not going to give the enemy the satisfaction of an easy victory.

* * *

On the north wall of Bevelle the defenders worked frantically to line up the massive machina artillery, while Guardsmen ran forward to rest their weapons on the parapet and graceful but deadly Al'bed hover-tanks moved up in support. Commanding the north wall was Tromell, flanked by rifle-armed Guado.

While the airships continued their bloody duel with the Atellians, below them Penance's Army of the North came on in a teeming mass, like a black tidal wave about to crash down on the walls and sweep the Spirans away.

"Open fire!" Tromell shouted, and the defenders fire scythed through Penance's troops, the main body temporarily hidden by a curtain of purple flame - the death flares of the demons that had been their vanguard. But despite the punishing volley, they continued to surge forward.

"There's too many of them!" the Guado beside Tromell cried aloud, "We'll never be able to stop that horde!"

Tromell rounded on him angrily.

"I don't want to hear any more of that talk, damn it! If any man here thinks he can't do his duty then tell him to go wait with the civilians in the safehouses and stop wasting my time!"

Though he knew he had to show strength for his followers, privately the Guado leader also worried that they might not have enough guns to stop the attack. Spread across both the north and south walls the defenders' line was now desperately thin. Could they really hold against such overwhelming odds?

Now mutant skirmishers had reached the base of the walls, and oblivious to the blistering hail of fire they climbed over the bodies of their shot comrades and began to scuttle, spider-like, up the sheer walls towards the defenders. The now-dead Ghede had done his work well.

Tromell ran to the parapet and drew his own pistol <ooc - bit of trivia, probably the same pistol he blasted Sonya with in AA1>, firing two shots downwards so that a scuttling mutant was snatched back off the wall and sent plummeting towards the ground. The corpses were beginning to pile up at the walls base, but the mutants and demons were now climbing over the blood-slick mound, using the bodies as a gory ramp to climb higher. Tromell watched in horror as demons climbed and were blasted back, only to be replaced by others who dug their claws into the marble walls and climbed higher.

"Keep firing!" he roared.

* * *

From his high vantage point, Jacen Locke could see everything. Led by Shuruk'jaar, company after company of demons were storming towards the south wall and on the north side the enemy had already engaged the defenders, while out at sea lurid flashes marked the first exchanges between the Spiran navy and Penance's invasion fleet. He brought his rifle up to his shoulder as another airship spiralled down in flames beyond the south wall. The sun was all but gone, swallowed by the storm, so there was no danger of light glinting off his scope lens and giving away his position. He focussed down the crosshairs of his scope, letting the intermittent flashes of lightning illuminate his targets for him. The demons had almost reached the walls. He centred on a mage in the enemy vanguard, a huge horned demon whose fists crackled with hellish energies. Jacen tracked smoothly, allowing the magnified image to expand and fill his whole universe, his aim remaining steady despite the teeth-rattling explosions of the ongoing demon bombardment. He held his breath and time seemed almost to stop, the demon now running in slow motion, the only sound his own heartbeat thudding in his ears.

Jacen fired, and almost instantly he saw the demon crumple, actually lifted off his feet and thrown back with the force of the shot that had shattered his chest, knocking over several of his companions before melting away in a brief flash of fire.

"Another one down..." Jacen grinned to himself. He lowered the rifle from eye level. He had been lucky - the mage had not sensed he was being targeted in time to raise a Dark Encampment Wall.

Jacen calmly drew back the bolt and reloaded.

* * *

Shuruk'jaar's attack was now only scant metres from the wall, and the mages finally had to cease their bombardment to avoid hitting their own troops. Almost immediately after the last Demon Ball had flared and died against the elven shield spells, the golden canopy flickered and faded away, revealing the stark stone walls behind its swirling, distorted image. Rising up from those walls now appeared a rank of Spirans - Al'bed with long-barrelled rifles and elves with bowstrings drawn back. At the top of the rubble ramp leading up to the breach in the wall appeared a line of Guado, rising up from their concealed trench to man jagged makeshift barricades.

And then, as the first wave of Penance's army came leaping and howling through the smoke:

"Fire at will!"

A rolling thunderclap of massed volley fire split the atmosphere. Scores of demons stumbled and dissolved into flame. Scores more kept coming. Nimble mutants ran at the front, leaping up the treacherous rubble pile towards the Guado with frightening ease.

"Now!" one of the defenders roared and a mage Guado punched his fist towards the sky, calling down a bolt of lightning that smote down on the rubble and ignited the explosives buried there; the glacis of shattered stone leapt upward and suddenly the mutants were gone, reduced to red shreds that rained down on attacker and defender alike. The front rank of demons were floored by the deafening concussion, and Spirans bled from the ears and nose.

Serpent demons flanking the main advance spread out and raised their staffs to provide covering fire for the other demons now storming the breach in the wake of the annihilated mutants. A blast from one of their gem-topped staffs caught an Al'bed full in the chest and blasted him clean off the wall's ramparts, his rifle discharging into the air as he fell screaming into the dust-choked breach below. An elven archer stepped forward to take his place, multicoloured light crackling around his bow, and he loosed an arrow that turned into a corkscrew of lightning that flung four demons into the air. Green energy bolts hissed over the walls, but behind the hard cover of the ramparts the defenders had the advantage, their return fire taking a punishing toll on the exposed serpent demons.

In the breach, Penance's vanguard of bronze-armoured demons with their massive hell-forged blades stumbled over the dead mutants to attack the Guado, funnelled by the narrow space into a crush of snarling, bellowing monsters. As they stormed the barricades, flayed into on all sides by defending fire, massive blue-furred Ronso stood up and stepped in front of the Guado to meet the charge with a hedge of spears. The attackers threw themselves onto it, and the Ronso skidded back slightly with the weight of the charge, digging their heels into the rubble to avoid losing their feet. The crush of demons behind pushed the front ranks forward, but the Ronso held firm, and suddenly there was a flash of steel as three spears thrusted forward through the melee to transfix a towering demon warrior. He roared in pain and exploded into purple fire, and immediately a Ronso stepped forward into the space he left, throwing others back. A demon roared a challenge and pushed forward to meet him in a with a huge scimitar held high in both hands, but the Ronso's spear came up to meet him, skewering him in mid-charge and throwing him over the Ronso's shoulder with the weight of his own momentum.

Step by step, the demons were being pushed back. In the narrow breach their superior numbers counted for little, and even their otherworldly strength could not match that of the Ronso. One demon was knocked flying back by a shield bash, while another was clotheslined off his feet by a spear staff, his Ronso opponent bellowing a challenge as he reversed the spear and stabbed down. Suddenly green energy bolts exploded against his chest and he staggered back; the serpent demon who had fired shrieking a warcry as it leapt at him and drove its taloned feet into his chest. The Ronso fell, the tips of the demons claws exploding from his back in a spray of crimson.

No sooner had the demon landed, hissing his victory, a towering Ronso with a white mane and a broken horn appeared in his path. With a mighty shout Elder Kimahri swung his great halberd one-handed to slash across the demon's face, spinning him off his feet. Kimahri stepped forward, twirled the halberd and stabbed down, drowning his opponent's death-scream with his own roar of anger.

An even louder roar made him look up. A massive four-legged mutant with a rhino-like horn set in the middle of a twisted face and its mouth roaring open to reveal rows of serrated teeth was charging up the rubble ramp towards him. Kimahri stood his ground. The mutant roared even louder and lowered its head to impale the Ronso Elder on its massive horn, but at the last second Kimahri sidestepped, swinging his weapon in both hands. The mutant roared and twisted away, black blood flying into the air. Kimahri raised his weapon for the final blow but suddenly the mutant whipped round, sinking its teeth into the Ronso's forearm. Kimahri flailed for balance, the mutant's snorting breaths loud in his ears, but he could not shake it off and now the mutant was increasing the pressure, seeking to rip the Elder's arm clean off. Kimahri let out a roar of anger and pain, and raising his halberd high in his one free hand he struck down with all his might, the blade carving right through the top of the mutant's head. Blood sprayed, the mutant roared in pain and collapsed sideways, Kimahri rolling clear. Ignoring the pain in his arm, the Ronso regripped his weapon in his good hand and stood up. A demon came howling towards him, but a bullet caught it in mid-charge, punching it off its feet. Kimahri didn't have the luxury of time to look round for the firer. Instead he stood up and roared at his troops to reform into line as a second, much larger wave of mutants and demons came storming up the rubble mound.

"Ronso! Follow Kimahri! FIGHT!"

* * *

A smile flickered at the corner of Jacen's mouth as the demon fell, once again without even seeing his executioner. Without lowering the rifle scope from his eyes he lined up on another demon who was hurling fireballs at the walls and forcing the defenders behind cover.

But this time the demon was looking right back at him.

"Frak!"

The glare of a Demon Ball filled his lens, searing his vision. Blinded, he threw himself backwards just as the world around him exploded. The ammo boxes nearby ignited, sending exploding ricochets in all directions. A wave of heat swept over Jacen, scorching his skin, and then chips of concrete rained down.

Jacen's senses returned slowly. Burnt by fire and grazed by flying shrapnel, he coughed on dust and blinked to clear the coloured lights dancing in front of his eyes as the ringing in his ears faded away and the sounds of battle returned. His rifle had been blown out of his hands. The fireball had blasted his night vision, and he groped blindly around for his weapon while his eyes readjusted to the dim half-light.

In amongst the chips of shattered concrete, his hand came across a jagged piece of metal. He pulled it out of the debris and swore again - his rifle scope had been smashed as it cracked against the stone, and the barrel was damaged.

He gritted his teeth, then smiled wryly, gripping his knife hilt and stumbling towards the door that led back into the now partially ruined building.

"Looks like I'll be going downstairs earlier than expected..."

* * *

"Are you saying that we don't count for anything?" Fariel argued.

"I'm saying that this is a fight we cannot win," Neji replied grimly, "If we beat off their attack then what? Penance will not rest. He will resummon his forces while we grow weaker. He will attack again and again until this city is levelled and all trace of the old Spira is swept away. There is only one way to end this Fariel. We must kill Penance."

"I know, I know, I haven't lost sight of our goal - I just don't think it's right that we just leave all these people to their fate!"

"It's the only way we can save them."

"You cold, calculating bastard. You sound like Tanis."

The two Angels stopped and looked round as they heard Keiji and Eevee approach.

"I agree with dad." said Keiji, "It's not a nice choice to have to make but it's the only way. We have to go, now. What's the matter, Zell?"

He said this because Zell had pressed one fist against his lips and was looking worried.

"What effect will it have on the others if they see us leaving?" he asked slowly, "Their courage is already hanging by a thread. It'd crush their morale if they saw us looking like we were running away."

"Most of them don't know we exist anyway..." Fariel pointed out in a mutter.

"I hate to say it, but Blondie's right," Alia said. When Zell looked nettled she ruffled his hair affectionately, "How are we going to get out of here unseen?"

Eevee gave something very like her old mischievous smile.

"Remember that invisibility spell that Tritoch taught my mum to hide you guys from the Guard in Luca? Couple that with an Aero from Alia and we're away."

She motioned them all closer and they stood in a tight circle as both Eevee and Alia raised their hands, magical energies already swirling round them. Zell took one last look back towards the city outskirts. Intervening buildings hid the fight from view, but flashes of fire were visible like a halo above them, and the screams were all too audible. Biting his lip, he turned away, praying that they would not be too slow to save the city.

Fariel hacked down with both wave swords, a demon exploding into flame either side of her.

"Useless..." she taunted as she thrust her arm forward to send another cascade of water towards the centre of the demon line. A Dark Encampment Wall exploded into life in its path, causing the wave to explode upwards and drain away harmlessly to either side. Fariel looked up in momentary confusion, and then saw the caster, an Atellian in streamlined armour, come soaring down to challenge her.
I take it he wasn't impressed by the mess I was making of his minions, Fariel laughed to herself.

"Finally, someone worth fighting!" she said aloud, twirling her wave swords and smirking at the demon through the hazy veil of her water shield, "Wow, you're an ugly frakker..." she added with a grimace as she registered the scars that disfigured one side of his sharp face.

"Continue the attack! I'll deal with her." the Atellian snarled over his shoulder, ignoring Fariel's words. He obviously wasn't going to let her little stunt buy any time for the defenders either. The demons continued to surge past towards the wall and the shimmering shield that swirled and coruscated above it as demon magic continued to batter its defences. Fariel had to let them go, her attention focused on the Atellian. An Atellian who used demon magic...something was nagging disconcertingly at the back of her mind...

She glared into the Atellian's one good eye and then, as she continued to study the unscarred half of his face, recognition dawned.

"Hey, I remember you - the demon from Sheol! You had a fight with Eevee...and," she laughed out loud, "It looks like you came off worse, too."

The Atellian didn't react to her taunts, only started to circle Fariel, his expression predatory. She turned to face him. He had not drawn any visible weapon. Lighting continued to flash in the darkened sky, rain hammering down, the explosions from the ongoing air battle continuing to resound overhead.

"Avenging Angel. You're a fool to come out here on your own." the Atellian said at last.

"Fool?" Fariel retorted, "Nah, just very confident."

"An arrogant claim."

"I don't need to make claims. I know how good I am."

A slight smile twisted the Atellian's scarred face.

"Have it your way then. Because I've learned theres something more satisfying than the howl of a dying beast - the death scream of an angel."

Fariel snarled, her water shield coursing fiercely around her as she thrust a wave sword towards the Atellian.

A pillar of water appeared above her, flowing together into the shape of a giant serpent and crashing down on the Atellian. He turned it aside with another Dark Encampment Wall, the two spells colliding with a deafening roar. Water blasted in all directions, then a flash of purple fire rose up inside Fariel's churning water shield, right in front of her. The Atellian stepped out of the flames. Momentarily flat-footed by the teleport, Fariel was sent flying back as the heel of his hand connected with her face.

"Do better, Angel." the Atellian mocked.

Fariel tumbled over herself, came to a stop and growled, wiping the blood from her nose. She threw out her arms towards her opponent and yelled:

"Leviathan!"

Pyraflies boiled up around her, forming the outline of a glittering serpent that corkscrewed up over Fariel, formed a great shining S shape then transformed into a spiralling pillar of water that came roaring towards the Atellian, smashing apart the black disc of the Dark Encampment Wall that rose to meet it, and the Atellian only escaped by using his wings to launch himself skyward and backflip over the tidal wave as it smashed apart on the rocks where he had been standing.

"Do better, demon." Fariel echoed.

The Atellian merely smiled in response, raising his arms to call down jets of purple light from the sky which struck the ground in a circle round Fariel. Purple flames leapt up and within them a bodyguard of serpent demons appeared, spinning their battle staffs one-handed to rest behind their backs and in unison assuming a battle-ready crouch. Fariel countered with a wave of her hand, and around her puddles of water flowed together and rose up as water clones of Fariel who intercepted the serpent demons even as the Atellian leapt forward through the distraction. Fariel's Wateraga spell caught him full in the chest in midair and he was hurled back. Fariel leapt after him.

* * *

The Atellian went down hard on his back, Fariel folding her wings and landing gracefully ten paces away as he flipped back onto his feet. The demon within him was roaring to be released.

"Su'rahk cha!" Let me kill her!
"With pleasure..." he growled in response.

Immediately Fariel recoiled as Shuruk'jaar began to possess his host, his skin turning black, short tusks erupting from either side of his fanged mouth, hooked black claws from his fingers, his feathered wings reappearing as clawed leathery pinions.

Above, the Spiran airfleet continued to battle the Atellians while demon spells roared over them to strike the elven shield covering the city.  Below, the demon army reformed ranks and quickened its pace towards the walls of Bevelle.  Nearby, serpent demons dueled with water clones.  Here, the reptilian demon locked eyes with the Angel before him.

"Uhr gt'cha!" he whispered with a feral smile.

<ooc - Dunno if I ever explained this but this is a meant to be a demon battlecry that translates as "death" or "bring death". Anyhoo, there you go As - uncoiling wave swords vs. extending clawed wings, this is going to be interesting...>

Fariel wrinkled her nose at the demon before her, "You look even worse now."The angel had no time to continue her mocking, she was forced to back flip out the way as a Shuruk'jaars bladed wing tip fly down towards her, the ground cracked open as it impacted the space where Fariel was standing a second before.Hes faster.Fariel complained in her head, the demons attack had skimmed the front of Fariels shield.

Distracted temporarily by a warning from Leviathan concerning Shurukjaars demon side, Fariel didnt hear what spell her foe was casting.

Though it was familiar enough, two black dragons charged forwards, "Get some new tricks!"She laughed projecting her water shield forward; there was another explosion of colliding spells as they cancelled each other out.

Both fighters launched back to avoid the blast and landed into ready stances.Fariel countered, charging forwards she broke through the clearing smoke and jumped into a spinning kick to the side of the demons face.Seeing the attack coming he blocked with his forearm.Twisting around in the air she tried with the other leg but he blocked again, this time he grabbed her leg.

Fariel cursed as he spun round and flung her through the air, sending an arc of demon balls after her.

More smoke and dust filled the air as the demon balls exploded, Shurukjaar laughed manically, "Too easy."

"My thoughts exactly!"The smoke burst clear as blue flames spiralled out, closely followed by Fariel, her swords sharpened in ice.

Shuruk'jaar stumbled back as the flames shattered against his armour, he brought up a dark encampment wall in time to block out Fariel, but she grinned as her swords cut into the dark wall, stopping an inch from the demons face.Shuruk'jaar teleported back surprised. "You call yourself a demon?!You fight almost as badly as your minions!" She taunted.

"Scream, Angel." The dark wall fluctuated with energy, the ice shattered off Fariels swords; the wall imploded and sent shockwaves out in all directions.Fariel was sent sprawling back and skidding along the ground.

"Ya need to be a whole load scarier before your gonna get me to scream!"Fariel laughed, "Bring it!"

Shuruk'jaar appeared behind her, his bladed wings hovering, "As you wish."

<ooc - continuation of Sean's battle>

The Atellians were recoiling back through the air, stunned by the appearance of one of their own most powerful weapons on the enemy side. They scattered before the Shadow as the energy bolts from their force-lances pattered harmlessly of the airship's dark-matter armour. An Atellian officer broke off from the melee, pulling in his wings and free-falling towards the ground towards where Shuruk'jaar was standing, in full demon form, urging more and more heavily-armoured demons forward into the breach. The Atellian braked by spreading his wings and hovered over Shuruk'jaar, beating the air.

"We can't stop them, sir! Our weapons are ineffective against their armour, and we tried to board but some kind of electric field is making the ship impossible to approach."

Shuruk'jaar growled softly. If this new airship swung the air battle for the Spirans, they would be free to turn their guns on the demons below and force them to abandon their attack.

"General! Your orders?"

"Ignore the new airship! Engage the rest of the Spiran air fleet more closely. Get so close that they cannot fire without hitting their own airships."

"Yes sir!"

Shuruk'jaar jetted himself forward with a sweep of his wings as the Atellian turned and soared back up towards the fire and explosions of the intense air battle. He roared at his demons on the ground to throw themselves at the Spirans. Scaling ladders were slammed up against the intact parts of the walls and demons immediately swarmed up; some ladders were thrown back, others smashed to matchwood by enemy fire, and everywhere demons fell screaming from the ladders and dissolved into flames, but more always pushed forward to take their place. Shuruk'jaar knew that he had to throw everything forward now to prevent the Shadow turning its guns on them. Victory was beginning to slip from his grasp even as he reached out his hand to seize it, but his arm was long. Luckily, he had planned for this. Luckily, he had one more stratagem to put into action.

He reached out with his demonsense to the demons leading the Custodians through the tunnels below the city and projected a single word into their minds.

"Now!"

* * *

The defenders on the north wall continued their withering hail of fire. The demons struggled through the teeth of the intense firestorm to prop scaling ladders up against the walls while mages stopped and attempted to suppress the defenders with powerful offensive magic. Demon Balls and Dark Element Explosions slammed into the battlements, but as the embers faded the defenders would rise up and continue firing. Tromell shouted encouragement to his men - so far they were holding the enemy back, the demons shrinking away from the merciless fusillade.

Suddenly, there was a heavy explosion. The ground heaved, windows shattered, and gouts of smoke shot up into the air as the north wall heaved and buckled. Defenders were hurled in all directions as the ground bulged upwards; the stones of the wall split and flew apart as a massive fireball erupted from below the wall. An entire section caved in as the Custodians detonated the explosives they had packed into one of the tunnels directly below the walls.

The huge slabs of shattered stone crashed down first, smashing apart buildings and crushing Spirans and demons indiscriminately. Then a heavy cloud of dust rained down on the city. For a few seconds, there was total silence in the wake of the explosion - those who had not been killed instantly were entangled in rubble or too stunned to even cry out.

Tromell was one of the survivors, having miraculously been thrown clear of the main blast. He lay amongst a pile of rubble, half-blinded and with his ears ringing. With a great effort he raised his head, wiped the dust out of his eyes, and with horror saw the gaping hole that had appeared in the north wall, rubble strewn everywhere and a great crater below where the foundations had collapsed into the Kebellian tunnel. Then he heard the triumphant roar of the demons, and the thunder of their footfalls as they surged towards the breach.

"Second line!" Tromell coughed as he lurched to his feet, "Get back to the second line!"

The other survivors pulled themselves clear of the wreckage and limped back to join the soldiers guarding the barricades and the fortified buildings behind the city wall. Tromell wheeled as he vaulted a barricade of metal girders to join a battery of Al'bed artillery and machine-gun posts with several heavy tanks in support. Beyond the dust haze that shrouded the new breach, the howling began again.

* * *

Even far away from the centre of the explosion, the Custodians in the tunnel network staggered and fell against the buttressed walls of the tunnel as the blast tore apart the north wall, coughing on the earth that rained down from the ceiling.

"This is it! Let's move!" ordered one of the two officers.

"For Sin-Penance!" answered the Custodians, unslinging their bows and extending their trademark Dragon Claws.

They moved swiftly up the tunnel, which, as expected, had been blocked off by the defenders.

"Step aside!" hissed their demon guide, and he hurled a Demon Ball at the barricade. The explosion was deafening in the confined space, but when it faded the way was clear.

"NOW!" roared the female officer, and several Custodians unsheathed their Dragon Claws and leapt past her.

The Guard defenders who were stationed in cover all around the abandoned warehouse, that the tunnel led obliquely up into, had turned their heads aside from the blast of debris as the demon blew apart the barricade, but now they blinked their vision clear and trained their automatics on the trap doors which sat at 45 degrees to the wall - and now hung off their hinges with scattered pieces of the metal girders that had barred them strewn around.

The first Custodians who emerged into the warehouse were instantly shredded, thrown like bloody rag-dolls back down the tunnel by shrapnel from a claymore mine rigged to a tripwire at the entrance. The next two to come through were riddled with bullets even as they stumbled over the torn-up bodies of their comrades, pitching forward onto the warehouse floor. The Custodians took cover, pressing themselves up against the side walls as the blistering hail of bullets swept the tunnel, kicking up earth and ricocheting off the metal girders buttressing the exit. A few arrows flew in reply, and a defender was snatched back from the barricades with a feathered shaft piercing his neck. Suddenly a purple fireball blasted from the tunnel, smashing the empty crate barricade in front of the tunnel exit to flaming splinters and flooring the defenders behind. Custodians poured from the tunnel, led by the black-skinned demon who had cast the fireball. Guardsmen broke cover from behind crates and pillars and blasted away, but although several Custodians jerked back from bullet impacts and fell, the others were on the defenders in seconds, and the Custodians were murderous in close combat. They punched and slashed with their twin Dragon Claws, blood spraying. One officer twisted his sword in a Guardsman's belly and ripped it free, while the other floored her opponent with a shield bash and stabbed down. In seconds the Guardsmen had been reduced to bloody horror, and the Custodians were loose in the warehouse, storming towards the exit and the next line of defences. They left their dead where they had fallen, among the hacked and mangled bodies of the Guardsmen.

One of the bodies was Mathew Green.

* * *

The narrow breach in the south wall was blood-soaked chaos. Demons who had been hit burst into flame and incinerated, leaving little trace of their existence, but the fallen defenders did not. The rubble ramp leading up to the breach like a gateway into hell was a charnel house of hacked bodies and screaming casualties, trampled underfoot without care by the second wave of demons as they came storming up the ramp, Shuruk'jaar himself leading them. The battered defenders rose up from their trench at the ramp's summit, still determined to fight on. Above them, the enfilading fire from the Spirans on the walls had ceased as they turned to defend themselves against the brass-armoured demons who were swarming the intact parts of the walls by scaling ladder, and who were now starting to fight their way onto the ramparts. Some serpent demons had climbed the wall also while the others continued to provide covering fire, and an Al'bed lunged at one with his rifle as it leapt over the parapet and landed squarely on its raptor-clawed feet. His attack passed through a veil of dissipating flames as the demon teleported, reappearing behind him and ramming its battle-staff backwards so that the tips of the long triple-blades topping it exploded out of the Al'bed's chest. The demon fired the green crystal between the blades, blasting the Al'bed off his staff. More demons swarmed up onto the now-undefended section of the wall.

Praetor Baralai, streaked with blood and dirt, was still encouraging the defenders, keeping up his sermon of New Yevon even as he fought, and smiting down mutants and demons as they reached the top in time to his words. A serpent demon on the ground hissed and faded away in a flash of fire, teleporting up the wall to attack the Spiran leader, but an elf sorceress standing near to the Praetor sensed the magical shift and threw out her arms. The demon reappeared in midair before the walls and was hurled back as he rebounded off an invisible shield.

In the breach a cloud of smoke rose up as there was a rolling crash of rifle fire. Demons spun and fell, the bullets tearing through their bronze armour. Once again the Ronso stood up and countercharged the demons as they ran up the slope, now slippery with blood that ran down between the stones in thin rivulets, carried by the heavy rain. Shuruk'jaar and two other mage-demons pushed their way to the front, throwing their arms forward. Three black discs irised out before them, and several Ronso were lifted off their feet and hurled backwards as they ran into the Dark Encampment Walls. They went down hard on their backs and the demons overran them, glowing axes and swords hacking down. The demons came on, howling through the smoke, and the rest of Kimahri's Ronso ran to meet them with levelled spears. One of them knocked over two of Shuruk'jaar's serpent demon bodyguards and leapt from the high ground to attack the demon general, who was forced to arch over backwards as the Ronso's spear sang over his head. He came up and turned the spear aside with his armoured forearm, but the Ronso forced him another pace down the blood-slick slope with a push of his spear shaft. As the demon flailed his wings for balance he twirled his spear back for a killing thrust, but it was a trick - Shuruk'jaar punched his clawed hand forward, beneath the Ronso's arms that held his spear high over his head, and a jet of black light burst from his palm.

High Priest Retala looked down from the walls at the desperate melee, where demons slashed and parried, where Shuruk'jaar's serpent demons hissed and twirled their battle-staffs, and where Ronso thrust with their spears and headbutted with their rhino-like horns. He saw the Dark Element Explosion pierce right through the Ronso, exploding from his back, saw him slowly arch over backwards and fall to reveal Shuruk'jaar looking straight at him, as if the swirling melee all around him wasn't happening, fixing Retala with an intense red stare that made the High Priest's blood run cold.

Heavily armoured demons pressed forward, bashing with their shields, the Ronso skidding back on their heels as they fought to hold their ground, those behind them stabbing their long spears over their comrades' heads.

"Send all your minions, demon!" Retala shouted down to Shuruk'jaar, "Tell your master Penance to send every monster from the four corners of the universe! Let them serve him if they will, but we Spirans are a free people and we shall never bow before him!"

Shuruk'jaar just laughed, his voice carrying over the crashing thunder and the desperate screams and defiant warshouts of the battle flowing around him.

"Fool! Can you not see your doom? Now, High Priest, you weaken and your line gives way!"

A flash of lightning illuminated an Al'bed rifleman as he fell screaming from the walls into the teeming mass of demons below.

"Now, proud elf, you are beaten at last!"

A massive explosion broke the back of one of the Spiran airships overhead and it began to spin rapidly down out of the sky.

"Now, arrogant mortal, you must bow your neck to your master!"

The leaden sea was lit by red flashes. The guns of the Kraken sounded through the reek of battle, going off one after the other as it steamed past the burning hulk of one of Penance's dagger-hulled demon frigates. An Atellian cruiser loomed ahead, cutting across the flagship's path. The Hypello admiral barely had time to order brace for impact before the bridge crew had to throw themselves to the floor, the glass of the conning towers curved windows shattering as the Atellian ship delivered a crushing broadside that raked the entire length of the Spiran flagship.

"Penance turns his thumb down on you! His verdict is death!"

Shuruk'jaar barely took his eyes off Retala as a heavily-built Ronso veteran with a full blue mane and a long straight horn lunged at him. He caught the warrior's spear in both hands, stopping the attack dead, and his bat-like wings hooked in from the sides, their clawed tips punching through either side of the Ronso's neck. Shuruk'jaar's icy stare bored into Retala as he pushed the corpse back and let it fall.

"To you and everyone that follows you!"

Shuruk'jaars wings plummeted down for the attack; Fariel disappeared in a haze of water, narrowly dodging the attack as she reappeared a few paces away. "Gonna have to be quicker then that!"She mocked, he ignored her and teleported in to attack again, she dodged.They continued this movement for a few more seconds before they separated from each other and stared.

I was expecting something a little better; it looks like Im a little faster then him.She judged his abilities and readied her swords.I have to save my strength for Penance, but I suppose I can annoy this guy a little longer.

"Yo, Shezzy!Are you holding back?" She smiled, "Here was me thinking you wanted to hear me scream!What a joke."

This time Fariel started, teleporting short bursts in erratic directions towards the demon.Shuruk'jaar heard the flash of water behind him and quickly blocked Fariels swords as she brought the hilts down towards the demons head.She smiled as he crossed his bladed wings to block the attack.The hilts collided and did near to no damage; instead it was the after effect that was the problem.

Ice spread out from her swords and encased his blade in a block of ice.It was an old technique she used to use on fiends when she trained.Freezing them and then shattering them.Shuruk'jaar was more powerful then your average fiends though, so it was unlikely that it would have the same effect.

Shuruk'jaar tried to pull his wings free but it was no ordinary ice, the pressure in which he was encased was extreme.Growling a dark aura whirled around him as he tapped into his power."You would dare to use such a weak spell on me?"

Fariel smiled and kicked off the back of his head, flapping her wings to gain a little more distance, the bindings on one of her sword loosened as she jumped back and she flung it forward."If it were weak, you would have broken out by now!"

Growling Shuruk'jaar tore his wings free in an act of raw strength, shards of ice left gashes and holes but fell away.Fariels sword was a millisecond too late and flew through the debris of her attack and into her opponents hand as he reached up and caught it.

Shuruk grinned, grabbing the binding that was attached to the sword he saw she was holding the other end and pulled it with such strength Fariel was pulled off her feet and towards the demon, she had to flap her wings to keep balance but took this to her advantage.Water surrounded her and she launched forward at an untraceable speed.Her opponent was sending his fist forward to hit her when she reached him but he had slowed down now. "Too slow." Time returned to normal when her teleport finished, she stood lightly on the ball of her foot, atop Shuruk'jaars fist.He blinked, his face betrayed his attempt to hide his surprise.

Fariel brought her other leg soaring forwards, colliding with the top of the demons head, he silently cursed as she followed it up with a secondary kick to the chin.She launched off then with a flip and Shuruk'jaar staggered back slightly dazed.

oo0oo

Neji landed beside General Beni on the wall and looked across the ranks of defenders, "I saw Fariel fly out here, where is she?" He asked, Beni just smiled.

"Having a fairly even fight with some large demon down there, she seems to be enjoying herself."Beni pointed Fariel out as she dealt Shuruk'jaar her signature somersault kick.

"Hang on, thats..." Neji rolled his eyes, "Trust our Fariel to get in a fight with someone like that.Diablos, can you get her attention?"

oo0oo

Fariel, Neji and the others are ready to leave.Better round this up.

Darn, just when I was starting to have fun as wellFariel would have sighed if she wasnt talking in her head to Leviathan.

Shuruk'jaar and Fariel stood apart, "Guess this is it.I should at least go out with a bang." Fariel spoke; water swirled up around her and created a shield, making it thick enough so that even her opponent couldnt see her completely.

Then, she charged towards him, Shurukjaar watched slightly amused and then disappeared.

The defenders on the wall all paused, all but Neji who had a crooked smile on his face.Fariels shield dropped, Shurukjaar having reappeared right in front of her and skewered her on his bladed wings, he grinned victoriously but his smile wavered as he saw Fariel look up at him and smiled, "Whats wrong Shezzy?You werent seriously expecting me to scream were you?Ive seen guardsmen scarier then you."

The rain around him, in a sudden gust of speed, shot past over head towards Bevelle.Water splashed down to the ground from the water clone that was stabbed.

Beni ordered his men to continue firing; but flinched as a hand slapped down on his shoulder, "One with the water, my friend."Fariel smiled as Shuruk'jaar roared at being deceived.

"How did?"Beni laughed, "Or more when did you switch?"

"While I was in the shield, I summoned up a clone in front of me.As he teleported in, I shifted out the back and hid in the rain before teleporting up here.He must be mighty embarrassed for not realising."

"Such simple trickery." Neji stated.

"The most simple are often the most effective." Fariel retaliated. "Shall we go?"