"Every act, every deed of justice and mercy and benevolence, makes heavenly music in Heaven."
- Ellen G. White
A broken, bloody and battered body of a young woman on the ground lied before his eyes, beaten down to this condition by his very own hand in mortal combat. He knew and accepted that in this type of combat, there could only be one true victor and as that he was the victor, it was his right to claim this victory due to his martial skills with a blade, his blade - he looked down at his right hand, a blade made of his sanctified blood, that now started to splatter as bloody drops fell to the ground as he reduced his concentration on keeping the blade formed as he looked upon the shape of the young woman still lying on the ground.
Even though he was trying to will it deep down inside him like an invisible wound, tears stung his eyes as he once again looked at the carnage of what he had done - and with a growing sense of regret and self loathing that began right away to naw at him like a ravenous horde of rodents at the very centre of his being.
Looking through the tears, he noticed her weapon - a katana lying close to her hand where she had fallen on the blood soaked ground from his final and fatal blow, a blow that if he had used his full strength and technique would have cleaved this young woman in half from head to crotch, but at the last moment he stayed his hand and reduced most of the power from the final strike to just deliver a killing mortal blow.
His body spun and turned around in a full circle with his body, his mind in a state of confusion, perhaps slight delirium and started to look upon in disbelief in what he saw, while still another part of his mind did not completely register or could full accept the destroyed and smoking remains of the buildings of the Seireitei around him and the unlimited amount of rubble that multiple simultaneous combats had undoubtly produced, then once again looked back at the girl still lying on the ground in a pool of slowly spreading blood and with slow reluctance, hesitation and limbs that were starting to grow heavy with battle fatigue he moved slowly to approach the supine form of the girl lying on the ground.
As he approached her, the acrid stench of blood, urine and shit that had started to assail his nostrils made his nose wrinkle in disgust, all the while as he moved trying to fight down the bile and acid coursing up from his stomach and seeking release through his mouth as he continued to move forward slowly towards her - he failed. He brusquely fell to his knees on all fours, less than a few steps from the right side of her body and capitulated to the demands of his stomach and started to retch in long bouts as if he was trying to vomit up the insides of his body upon the ground as though he was making an sacrificial offering of penance and asking for the forgiveness of his previous actions.
"You're weak", the voice of the supine girl murmured as if her breathe was her voice, that was slightly being pushed out by her lightly falling and raising upper chest as she lied there immobile beside him. He turned his head vaguely and glanced with vomit tear filled eyes towards the girl's almost perfect face, a face that was covered with blood also along with her hair that was plastered and matted with blood that stuck to the sides of her cheeks, all the while the baleful radiance of a red gem that was embedded in her forehead gleamed menacingly as though it had a life of its own only for him to only once again retch on the ground in front of him.
"I'm your enemy and you can't kill me, you're weak", she said accusingly to him as she closed her eyes for a second and then continued as if her voice was almost a silent whisper, "I would've killed you with no regret, I would have rejoiced and reveled in it to see you die here before me", she continued on, as a slight seizure gripped her broken and failing body, "I'm strong, you're weak", she concluded with some perverted sense of satisfaction on the finality of that statement.
"That damn stone in your head is making you say that, there is good still in you, I can feel it." he responded through gritted teeth from her previous mocking statement as he fought his stomach once again to stop from vomiting as it recoiled from the stench around him that still attacked his sense of smell but to be only rewarded in response with another heave of his stomach as if to sabotage him from using his voice at all.
She tittered lightly in response to that, only to be rewarded once again by another seizure that shook her entire thin framed body, with barely a whisper she spoke, "You fool, I'm evil, Even though I am now a damned soul, I have no regrets, I reveled in the power I was given, the pain that I could inflict, it gave me a high that no other drug could ever have given me - I was powerful.", she responded and closed her eyes once again, "Now it is all over - kill me out of mercy and be done with it, I tire of talking to a fool like you", she commanded imperiously and then became silent.
"No", he responded with some a new found vigor that he drew from the depths of his being, he rose weakly to his feet and swayed slightly as he stood to his full height once again, "I will not abandon you, I will not condemn you. You were perverted by that thing and I can still feel the goodness in you, a small flicker that still lives within you, I will not see that light extinguished and consumed by the darkness. Never!" his voice started off as a soft voice but ended as an passionate roaring crescendo as if it alone could fight against the winds of fate itself, as though only his voice alone could hold back and pierce the heavy veil of darkness that threatened to engulf and consume her soul once again for eternity and be able to save that little part of the goodness that still remained in her.
Roughly, he ripped off his shirt from his body, the scars that crisscrossed his body from every angle, started to glow a golden hue and to any spectator that would have looked upon this scene, they would have sworn that the scars transformed themselves from being just simple scars to become a swirling pool of eldritch glyphs and runes that were etched on his hard muscled body which began to glow with a pure and golden light. He began to hum in a low rhythmic tone and bent down to pick up the katana that lied on the ground before him and as if it was beckoning him to pick it up as if it was now ownerless. With deliberate motions he slowly moved himself so that he was standing now above the young woman's head and looked down into her eyes with his eyes and as their eyes locked he could sense the scornful message that her red irises eyes seemed to be communicating to him, challenging him to end her life quickly and swiftly with her own weapon that he now held.
With his eyes still locked on her eyes, he roughly sliced the palm of his left hand without wincing at all from the deep gash he had just made as the blood now started to flow freely and seep from his self inflicted wound he had just made. With a powerful clenching and squeezing action of his left hand he caused his hot thick blood to ooze and bubble through the cracks of his fingers to splatter in irregular drops to the ground above the young woman's head.
His voice now sounding powerful, ringing with certainty and an all most divine confidence, spoke as the hot blood dribbled once again from his constricted left hand to the ground before him and above her head as he stood there and spoke,
"Qui ante me Raphael,"
He then moved clockwise down to the feet of the young woman and repeated the process he had performed on the left hand only this time to his right hand all while trying to keep his eyes locked with hers as he did this and spoke again,
"Post me, Foecunda"
As he uttered and finished the second sentence, the wind around both of them stilled and the scars on his body glowed with an unearthly light as they once again churned to create a different set of runes and glyphs that were now etched on his body, he then moved still clockwise to the right of her body and squeezed his right hand more vigorously and with more might than before to force the heavy red droplets of his blood to once again land beside her on the ground and as he did this he spoke,
"Dexteram meam Michaelem,"
With the utterance of the last vowel of this sentence that fell from his lips, it suddenly became eerily quiet as if the two of them were the only living beings in this world, all the while the scars on his body spun madly to form a new series of glowing glyphs and runes upon his chest as he now stepped over the young woman's body to her left side and with supreme effort squeezed more blood now from his left hand as it fell to the earth with some type of finality to his action, he spoke in a strong voice that seemed to echo as if he and her were in some type of deep vast canyon,
"Sinistram meam, Uriel,"
With the last word that was articulated from his mouth, pure white golden lights exploded from the four points around her were he let his blood drop on the ground and at these points the light only intensified and grew to become colossal pillars of light that engulfed her and him in a pure warm light that stretched high into the sky and the heavens above. Still beside the motionless and prone young woman on the left hand side of her body, he knelt and laid the katana on the blood soaked ground beside him and suddenly without warning reached out with his right arm, his blood still oozing from the vicious cut the he had delivered to his own hand only to place it without hesitation his palm flat against the malevolent gem that was now burning intensely with a red glowing inner life of its own and the young woman's forehead. With that the young woman's body arched ferociously, even though her body was near death when his palm made contact with the gem and her forehead, "What are you doing!?", she screamed in desperation and fear when contact was made between them and the gem itself, as her body arched more intensely from this contact, all the while with his left hand now on her stomach he pushed heavily against her body so that it would remain on the ground and tried to keep her from arching once again.
He moaned and gritted his teeth, as he felt a powerful and intense pain shoot up from his right palm, through his arm and in to him like an arrow released from a bow that almost went to his brain itself. For him the sensation was like submerging his entire right arm in molten metal and keeping it there. As he fought back the pain and tears welling at the base of his eyes from the severe pain he felt, he brutally bite the bottom of his lip and tasted the hot salty blood that was now spilling into his mouth from the jagged wound he just made and shifted his left knee so it was planted firmly in her stomach thus freeing up his left hand. With his left hand now free, it spontaneously went to the bottom of her face and forceful pulled open her bottom jaw as he pressed his fingers into the hollows of her cheeks to keep her mouth open as she struggled violently against his actions , during this his voice cried to the heavens itself as he yelled as hot blood dripping from his bloody mouth fell in heavy crimson drops onto her face below him,
"Paterpraebeotu solusSanctusDeituisanguinem meum
Dilectum Filium tuum, ut nonlibenteragamin remissionempeccatorum.
Et factiestisfilii Deibibendumdestinatum"
and with that all the blood that had pooled at the back of his throat was sucked forward until it was in the center of his mouth and with puckered lips, he bent down to firmly press his mouth against her pried open mouth and forced the blood from his mouth into her mouth and down her throat as she struggled with animal like strength and instincts against him physically. As the hot blood from his mouth coursed down her throat, the gem embeded in her forehead burst into an dark red unholy flame, as if it desired with unbridled hate to burn and incenerate the offending appendage that was placed upon it and purge to her of the invading liquid that was burning all the way down her throat, only to be matched by a golden flame that had sprung to life from his right hand which was equal in intensity and as the flames competed with each the for ultimate supermacy, she shrieked in a inhuman uncomprehensible voice and her eyes filled with a crazed madness from this unwelcomed assault upon her being.
As she continued to struggle against him, he could smell the stench of burning flesh, blood and the unbearable heat that was burning him to his very bones only to be followed a second later by a cooling sensation that relieved him of all the pain he felt just a second ago, he snapped his head towards his right hand only to see both flames had intentsified in size and depth of color as they both struggled like combatants in a twisting and interlocking combat in which one flame trying subdue and vanquish the other. He then looked back quickly to her face only to see that it now had a purple tinge to it as if she was breaking all the blood vessels in her face as she screamed and howled in madness to what was happening to her, he then shouted in a booming voice that seemed to shake the ground and the very air itself before him,
"Oanima pueri huiusin circuitutenebrasinfringereexercitusDei"
In response the crimson red flame surrounding the gem burned more brightly and with deeper color as if it was aware that he was calling on forces that could easily shatter it under their heel if they so chose to do so. Its only response it believed was to try to break the contact between him, itself and its host, and that it decided could only be done with extreme pain. His face twisted in pain even as the golden flame tried to keep up with the healing that it could do for him and relieve the torment of pain that was being inflicted on him by the red gem and its unmerciful fire.
Summoning up once again strength from the centre of his being he boomed out once again even though the pain he felt was so intense it could make him weep and beg for relief or release from such a pain itself
"Obsecro Michael, caelestis exercitus Imperator, Pater coelestis, per manum des requiem tibi fortitudinem et velum dimovere turpis tenebras lucem, et dare animam Domini misericordia et propitiatio nostra."
Once again as he completed this quatrain, the ground shook more violently and the air surrounding them seemed as if it was a pane of glass that was vibrating and could be easily shatter with just a little poke of ones finger, but his effort was satisfied when he heard a low blaring sound of a trumpet sound out of nowhere and the earth beneath them shook violently. He continued to look at her face; ignoring the maelstrom of pain and fire that danced it dance of death around his right hand, as sweat coursed down his face, her face to him seemed to be altering itself and was becoming more animal like and much paler as the purple tinge receded from it. Another wave of pain hit him and threatened to swamp his consciousness in a tsunami of new pain and torment, to him it felt like the flesh surrounding his bones were cooking right off the bone and the skin that covered it was cracking open like a potato baking in the fire. He had never felt such pain like this before as he struggled to keep his own sanity from the ruthless and relentless pain that was being on inflicted by the red gem he covered and to all so stop the girl who was now writhing on the ground underneath him from escaping his grasp. He wetted his parched and cracked lips with blood from his mouth and plunged deeper into himself to draw forth more strength and boomed out with his voice,
"Obsecro Gabriel princeps militiae Caelestis, des Pater noster per manus tua deducet me dimovere Domini velum lux in tenebris et dare animam turpis misericordia et propitiatio."
He was pleased once again to hear as he finished this quatrain a low blaring trumpet sound that came out of nowhere as if it now threatened to splinter the reality that the were in and he could hear the ground crack and complaining in protest around him as the ground quaked as the trumpets blare faded.
In response to the trumpet's blare the girl's body which he was holding down started to buck uncontrollably as her features became more and more animal like and forced him while keeping his burning right hand on her forehead to move his body so he was lying directly on her and use his weight to pin her body from bucking again. In retaliation the gem caused her body to suddenly burst into a bright crimson flame as bright and as hot as the sun that shrouded her body. "I will not yield!", he screamed in a hoarse voice at the gem in her forehead as he felt that his blood was boiling right in his veins, "You shall not have her!", he screamed at the gem once again as he felt his vocal cords boil away from scourging fire that the gem was delighted to mete out to him for this attack on its being in this form wicked punishment. The gem in her forehead only responded to his screams with malevolent glee and with its own sense of desperation and determination to drive this attacker off of it and made its flame more blistering in response. Suddenly with an explosion that shattered the very air around them, his body in turn burst into a brilliant white and gold flame, to once again continue the titanic struggle between each flames fight for supremacy and dominance as the intertwined, merged and then broke time after time both wrestling for one of them to be the victor. Automatically he once again started to feel the soothing and healing effects of the white fire's influence that acted as protective fiery shroud around his body and with some semblance of sanity returning to his mind and as the pain and injury from the gem was inflicting on him started to lessen, he called out once again in a slightly weaker but still booming voice,
"Obsecro te, Uriel, quos Deusluxest, et dirigeviribusdesPater nosterpermanumdimovereDominivelumluxintenebrisetdareanimamturpismisericordia et propitiatio."
Same as before as he finished the quatrain he could hear the low rumbling blare of the trumpet that came out of nowhere only to cause the ground to once again shudder and react in response to the sound of the trumpet itself as the rubble of the buildings that surrounded him and the girl collapsed in on themselves in great grating and crashing sounds of wood, stone and metal. Unexpectedly a brilliant light, a light so powerful that it blinded them immediately engulfed him and the girl that he was lying on in its glare. During this he thought he could hear the gem in the girls forehead shriek and howl its frustration and fear as it struggled with dogged determination to rid itself of this being that was trying to stop it. The girl herself, who had managed to work both her lower arms and hands free, was rending in long strips the flesh from his back with what felt like to him sharp piercing and tearing animal like claws, all the while trying to bite furiously and with savage ferocity at the exposed parts of his face and neck while the flame of the gem burned only with searing and hotter heat which threatened to engulf him in a sea deep of endless pain that would eventually drive him insane.
Sobbing and weeping with the pain and the torment that was being inflicted on him physical and mentally , he lied there a top of the girl's body and suffered the pain and the injury she was also inflicting upon his body, now in desperation himself he delved to the deepest core of his being to summon the last shreds of his strength, once he again called out in a booming though significantly weakened voice,
"ObsecroRaphaeladDeumpersanatomnia perPatrem nostrumtuaet dirigeme inmanumadmoveredimovereDominivelumluxintenebrisetdareanimamturpismisericordia et propitiatio."
This time he was rewarded with a high and powerful blare of a single trumpet, that literally shook the heavens itself, around him and the girl he could hear the ground crack and moan in protest since now his eyes had been burned away by the infernal flame of the gem in her forehead though he could hear the ground buckle,splinter and crack only for that sound to give away to a freight train like sound as the earth, rock and dirt collapsed in on itself in a calphony of destruction.
Then it became very quiet, a unnatural silience not of this world, not even the wind dared to stir and it seemed to him that through his hearing that the world must have simply ceased to exsist, even the girl beneath him who just moments before was trying to tear out his throat with her teeth had stopped struggling and was once again lying motionless underneath him.
He then heard a voice, a voice that seemed to be like the sighing of the wind itself but with power, perfection and majesty in it, a voice that offered hope to his heart, he raised his flesh blackened head and with his now eyeless sockets trying to determine where the voice was coming from, to him it seemed to be all around him like the a gentle wind full of promise of new hope itself, then felt a warm hand put itself atop of his burned and mutilated right hand and heard the voice utter what seemed like a judgement of sorts to him, "Thou art vanquished" and with that simple pronouncement he felt the gem that was embeded in the girls forehead scream in raving defeat and madness as it cracked and shattered into tiny powdery fragments underneath his hand and felt the searing heat and pain that the this demonic gem had been inflicting upon him to disappear to only be replaced with a soothing warmth that spread across his whole body making him whole once again.
He opened his eyes once again, and remebered seeing only two things that would remain in memory for a lifetime after this ordeal, a smile that spread across a face of a being and those inhuman eyes that showed warmth and compassion before he collapsed over the girls sprawled out body underneath him as he fell into the sweet oblivion of unconsciousness.
