To, Ivan Alias: I did send you an Email, don't know if you got it or not. If you want email me so we can start discussing things about working together, I'd be thrilled.
Chapter 5: The Covenant's Holy warriors...The Paladins
Chapel Fortress, Precipice of the Galaxies End
Local time, Unknown
Location, Unknown
Paladin Acolyte Milliivi Shadow Slayer stood in the main assembly hall of the Chapel Fortress. His long hodded robes covering his head and eyes in shadow. The black robes were simple and clear of any marks. Around the edge of the opening of his hood green fringed it to symbolize his both his youth and victory. Down the back of his robes ran a long stripe of silver to symbolize the light and purity of his Clan in the Paladin order.
It was time for the communion of the orders. The communion to face the evil that stood in the way of the divine will of the Covenant Hegemony's holy duty. To protect the great Journey
Milliivi turned to the ornate window that looked out across the barren wastes of his home world. Far below the great mountain the Chapel Fortress had been built upon were the endless blowing sands of the great cleansing dunes. In that wasteland his forebears and ancestors had wandered as nomads in the hellstorm of sand, and the intense firey heat that beat down from the four suns that shone high above.
It was nearly ten thousand years ago that the Prophets had strode down from the heavens to the nomads in the deserts. In a single day they brought together the scattered wandering tribes and ended their fifty thousand years of wandering. And it was then that the Prophets had spoken to the united tribes and peoples, telling them that their suffering and wandering were at an end. Their travels had purified them and prepared them for their divine task.
The Prophets told the tribes that they were to be his instrument to ensure the sanctity of the Great Journey that would cleanse the stars and spirit the divine and pure to their deliverance. They were to be the holy tool of the Prophets to defend the children of the Covenant Hegemony from the demons and heretics that sought to annihilate
And so with those words the Prophets led those sacttered peoples through the deserts and to the great mountain named Precipice of the Galaxies End. They told the people before them that this would be their temple to prepare for their holy duties. The Prophets told them they would return when the Paladins were needed to defend the Great Journey and to protect the Children of the Covenant from a great evil.
Millivi stood at the ornate window and looked out at the sands. Even as he had been taught the words as a boy, he had never doubted the words that the Prophets had spoken. And now had come the time to defend the children of the Covenant from the great evil that lurked in the great beyond. The Paladins had taken up their arms to fight in the defense of the Covenant Hegemony and it's peoples from the evil in the universe. They knew that they were the truly divine and holy warriors of the Covenant Hegemony. They were the pure will of the Prophets, the guiding and cleansing blade of the Hegemony
He swept his eyes up from the blistering sands that whipped past the window and up to the complex artistry in the window. The window was slightly over one hundred feet high and fourty feet wide. Displayed on the window in carefuly crafety and delicately artisted and manipulated stones was Rillignant The Holy.
He was the first Paladin High Arbiter that had ever existed. He was the one that the Prophets had spoken to in the deserts after he had decended from the heavens to speak to the nomad peoples that were his ancestors. The Prophets had anointed him to be the first Paladin Holy Warrior.
Rillignant The Holy stood upon the window in his simple robes and pieces of hard shell armor, he was holding his shepard staff up to the heavens as the divine light of the Prophets shown down upon him. Even with his simple weapon and armor he had been prepared to fight against the evils that threatened the Children of the Covenant throughout the universe. His noble soul and spirit had been ready to die for the holy will of the Prophets. Millivi bowed his head in reverence for the holiest of all holy Paladins, merely to gaze upon his visage in stones and gem was to behold the very will of the Prophets themselves. He turned from the holy icon and looked down the main hall of the Chapel Fortress.
It streteched nearly two miles in length from the window that paid homage to Rillignant The Holy, all the way to the statue that stod and paid homage to the holy duty of thePaladins. Rillignant knelt before the form of the holy Prophets as they had appeared ten thousand years ago. Carved from the harsh, almost indestructable red stone of the mountain, it had taken eons to scratch away monument from the featureless stone edifice and to cover it with the inlaid gold and silver and to place the thousands of precious stones that now glistened in the flickering toches and flames.
The entire fortress had taken eons to carve and shape, it was still being worked now, far beneath his feet and deep under the shifting sands of the great deserts. The stone the mountain was carved from was nearly impervious to damage, harder than some alloyed armor plating, it had been painstakingly carved out with hand tools for over five thousand years of manual labor. It's intricate carvings and engravings into the eternal stone walls stood in testemony to the generations of warriors and artisans that had labored in the never ending quest to build the Chapel Fortress into an even grander edifice to the Prophets and their devine destiny for the Children of the Covenant.
The walls and ceiling of the grand chamber were carved with the intricate history of the Edagener people throughout the ages. The murals and carvings depicted the great triumphs of the Paladin warriors in the protection of the Covenant Hegemony from the demons that threatened it. The battles and struggles that had been lost in time shown on the walls of the grand chamber in minute detail, carved by warrior artisans long dead.
At intervals along the floor, pedastals rose up above the average seven foot hight of an Edagener, each one providing a resting place for a Paladin warrior. Their silvery body armor and simple silver robes glimmered in the firelight of the cavern. They stood stock still and immobile. Silent guardians of the grand chanber and the holy shrine that it really was.
Along the floor of the grand chamber was an elaborate mural depicting the greeat eons of wandering through the shifting sands. It was filled with carefully crafted shards of sandstone and light tan jadeneade stone. Along with precious gems and stones culled from the sands by wandering Paladins during their journeys of purification. It was the link between the grand window depicting Rillignant The Holy and the statue of the Prophets. The stones were an elaborate weave of lore and oral history that showed the scattered tribes as they had been brought together by the Prophets and finally united into the holy order that the Edagenerrace now consumed themselves with being.
Millivi walked from the window of Rillignant The Holy and down the center of the great chamber. His footsteps making the metaphorical journey from a wandering nomad to a divine instrument of the Prophets and guardian of the Childern of the Covenant. He took each step with careful measured speed and elegant grace. His sandals comming to rest upon the pebeled texture of the mural with less weight than that of a grain of sand. His steps took him down the center of the chamber and to the statue that rested there.
Four figures of the founding heads of the Edagener Clans rested there. Their holy forms stood both proud and reverent at the same time. The carvings each represented the four seperate clans of the Paladins, each one with it's own skills and talents. The forms were carved from the same stone as the mountain, the hard Rewopers stone encased in an outter shell varying colors, each symbolizing the founding attributes of their Clan. The pure figures were illuminated by a dual ring of fire that burned pure and holy white.
Millivi Shadow Slayer walked around the statues between the dual ring of white fire and nodded in reverence to the holy edifices.
His own Clan, Shadow Slayers shurouded in black stone polished to a deep clean finish. The Shadow Slayers were those who were the masters of stealth and killing heathen and demons with the silence of the void of space. They were masters of the invisibilty arts, silent focus and meditation. Their martial arts were of fluid movement, sudden strikes and the ability to swiftly kill and disapear into the shadows. They were truly the eyes of the Edagener Paladins.
He continued around the circle and to the statue of the Clan Viewers of Dreams, the statue encased in pure gold and shining in the light. The Viewers of Dreams were the divine eyes of the Paladins. Masters of deep meditation and able to focus their energies to view the fibers of the universe itself. Their talents were said to be capable of seeing through the clouds of time and space, even reality. They studied meditation and were posesed of deadly powers of the mind, even moreso than the average Paladin. They were the seers and diviners of the Edagener, the all seeing forces of the Paladins.
Millivi walked to the statue to the Clan Smiters of Evil, it was covered with finely polished silver. They were the tools of divine cleansing. While every Edagener Paladin was sworn to defend the Children of the Covenant and battle evil in all it's forms, the Smiters of Evil were the epitone of the tenets of the Paladin order and the Edagener people's faith. They were masters of every form of weaponry and mental powers that the Paladins were gifted with plus they were ruthless warriors and cunning tacticians in battle. Masters of both the physical martial arts, posessed of spiritual purity and mental powers all forged into the cleansing blade of the Edagener people.
The Shadow Slayer passed the final statue and knelt before it. This was the effugy to the Clan of Divine Gidance was sculpted and chiseled in perfect form and covered with deep sparkling ruby. The white fire shone off the stone and made it look like it was glowing from within. As was so true of the Clan of Divine Gidance. They were the clan of Rillignant the Holy, those whom the Prophets trusted implicity to guide the Edagener Paladins in their holy tasks. They were the leaders of the Edagener people and they were the word of the Prophets themselves.
Millivi Shadow Slayer stepped from the rings of white flame and once more continued the path down the great chamber towards his final goal. He moved with feather light steps across the cavern and up to the flight of sweeping stairs that lead to the grand statue that depected Rillignant the Holy making his solem vow to the Prophets. Millivi moved up the stairs with his head bowed low and his lips uttering the holy recant.
"I, Millivi, born of the Shadow Slayer Clan. Member of the proud and skilled Edagener peoples. Memeber of the Holy Paladin order. Servant of the Covenant Hegemony. Tool of the Great Prophets...." Millivi said as he walked.
"....I swore my soul and my everlasting salvation at the completion of the Great Journey. As my father swore upon his soul before me, and his father before him, as all members of the Shadow Slayer Clan have..." Millivi climbed higher.
"...just as all Edagener Paladins have sworn, their allegence to the tenents of the Hegemony..."
Millivi stepped onto a platform before the grand statue before him and knelt down on his knees. His face pressed down to the stone. He spalyed his clawed hands out before him, palms up in a symbol of service.
"...and to the protection of the Children of the Covenant from all evils that may threaten them with damnation and the fires of hell..."
"I, Millivi, of the Shadow Slayer Clan do once again swear my loyalty and everlasting devotion to the Paladin order, and to the eternal protection of the Covenant Hegemony from evil. I have sworn and do again swear my everlasting soul, both in this life and in the hear after to this solemn duty." Millivi said and rose up from his postion, raising his hands up to the ceiling of the great hall and to the Prophets high above in the galaxy beyond.
Millivi remained kneeling as the platform that he stood on sank down through the floor. The eons old mechaincs working with fluidic ease and master crafted presicion. This was the descent into the heart of the Chapel Fortress. The Grand Chamber was on the top most level, at the peak of the Precipice of Galaxies End. The heart of the Chapel fortress honeycombed the mountain and stretched deep into the bedrock. The small elevator descended for minutes, Millivi retaining his reverent position the entire journey.
Slowly, the dark shaft began to glow in muted light. It descended into another chamber, much smaller than the grand chamber, but just as intricately decorated and worked into a pure work of artistry. The small platform was risen off the main floor by a series of stairs that doubled as a flame-waterfall, burning oils flowed down either side of the stairs, into flaming pools around the feet of two more statues of paladin warriors. Millivi could tell they were of the Clan Smiters of Evil, their stone forms encased in exactly forged replicas of their silver armor and cloaked in the silver cloth that they were fated to wear.
Behind each of these statue warriors was a banner with the holy symbol of the Edagener Paladins. The large 'X' shape with the colors of Black, Gold, Silver and Red within each angle of the 'X'. In the center was a multi bladed spiral of blades. The symbolism of the banner was deep, deeper than any outsider could ever understand, even the Prophets themselves.
The Clans of the Edagener Paladins were seperate of each other in their talents, skills and disiplines. But they were united as a people, united thanks to the Prophets and their devine intervention. They were united together, and yet seperate out of necessity. The icon in the center was meant to symbolize the oath that the Edagener Paladins had sworn to defend the Covenant and serve the Prophets.
Millivi bowed his head one final time and walked down the stairs framed by the blazing waterfalls and between the Paladin statues. He entered a high vaulted corridor, lit at intervals by both the torches and tounges of flame that blazed out from holes in the wall. The corridor went down at a steep incline, it's smooth stone floor changing to finely hune stairs at some point. The deeply slanting corridor carried Millivi deep into the heart of the Chapel Fortress.
The Paladin had been walking for nearly a quarter hour when he finally reached the base of the stairs. The bottom leveled out and widened into another larger gallery. This long hall was filled with statues of Paladin Warriors. Their garb and color schemes differentiating between them. The statues sat in two long rows side by side stretching down the length of the long chamber. Millivi walked down the small 'avenue' between the statues, his own black robes soaking up the firelight as he walked, a shadow amongst statues.
Millivi turned and walked down one of the side portals and walked down the hall. The Shadow Slayer's gaze flicked to the rich red tapistries and inlaid rubies along the walls. Millivi bowed his head in reflex as he strode down the corridor. It was impulse as he neared the inner sanctum of the Clan of Divine Guidance. They were the voice of the Prophets. The lone Paladin walked through the corridor safe in the knowledge that the word he brought would be the most vital piece of information that the Edagener Paladins had ever recived.
The Shadow Slayer stepped out of the shadowed corridor and into a smaller antechamber, but no less grand than anything else in the Chapel Fortress. This was the antechamber to the shrine of the Clan of Divine Guidance. The chamber itself was a large hollow, carved out by natural forces and leaving a large natural bridge across the chasim. This natural stone bridge had been carved out and worked into an ornate causeway across the chamber that strectched down to the planet's molten core. Along either side of the bride were pillars that towered high above any Edagener that walked through, on these were deep red banners with the intricate bladed emblem representing the Prophets. Caping these pillars were crimson clad Paladins, their armor and robes a deep hue of scarlet. These were members of the Clan of Divine Guidance, and the solemn body guards of the Clan.
Along the center of the bridge was a mosaic that symbolized the journey of Rillignant the Holy from the great dune wasteland to the summit of the Precipice of Galaxies end. This was the journey that the simple shepard had undertaken to prove the resolve and strength of the Edagener people and their worthiness to be saddled with the burden of being defenders of the Covenant. Millivi walked to one side of it out of reverence for the trial that the Clan of Divine Guidance had undertaken, for that was their trial and none other's.
Millivi Shadow Slayer walked up to the massive stone doors that led to the inner sanctum of the Clan of Divine Guidance and knelt before the five crimson clad Paladins that stood before the large double doors.
"I am Millivi, of the Clan of Shadow Slayer. I have been summonded by the Clan of Divine Guidance to see the Paladin High Arbiter himself. By the name of the Prophets I request permission for entry." Millivi said with his head bowed low. The five Paladins that stood before the doors bowed their heads in unison. Four turned and pressed upon the doors. The finely balanced stone barriers slid apart with ease. Whereas moments before the stone doors had been so precisely tooled that they fit together less than a scale's width apart now swung wide.
"Rise Millivi, Clan of Shadow Slayer. You are permitted entry into the chambers of the Paladin High Arbiter, of the Clan of Divine Guidance. Pass with the approval of the Clan of Divine Guidance and with the blessings of the Prophets." The crimson clad Paladin said and stood to one side, his head bowed.
"I thank you Clan of Divine Guidance." Millivi said and walked pass into another corridor that lead upwards. This corridor was one of pure darkness, no flames were present to light the passage. Millivi climed the stairs with ease, and after turning around several times he stepped into a small circular room.
Compared to the rest of the Chapel Fortress the room was simple and bare. The red stone walls had been ground and polished to a high gloss finish and were prefectly smooth. There were no corners or angles in the chamber, merely the continuous circular orb.
Along the far 'wall' opposite the entry was a curved window, bare of any decorations or emblems, it looked out onto the harsh sands of the deserts below.
Seated nearer to the windows than the entry was the Paladin Holy Arbiter. The single Edagener Paladin that had been chosen by both election, noble standing, and power of his skills to be the leader of the Edagener Paladins. He hovered in the air far enough from the floor that his scarlet robes did not touch the ground. His black eyes were closed, their armored coverings had slid over them as he levitated, deep in medetative thought. He did not bob up and down in the air even slightly, as many normal Paladin would do, he was truly a master in all the skills and gifts that had been bestowed upon the Edagener.
Millivi took two paces into the room and knelt down, his snout touching the glass smooth floor and his hands splayed out in front of him. Through his mind, Millivi murmered incantations of calming and cantons of holy praise to calm his increasing nerves.
"Millivi, Clan of the Shadow Slayer. I am glad that you have returned safely and unharmed from your mission for the prophets." Paladin Holy Arbiter Eilivanit said opening his lidded eyes. The noble member of the Clan of Divine Guidance looked at Millivi with the gaze of a father looking at a son that had returned home after a long journey. Millivi raised his head and leaned back, crossing his legs and straightening in back.
He closed his eyes and focused, then levitated off the ground in a mirror image of the Paladin High Arbiter. They hoverd in place there for a few moments before Eilivanit spoke again.
"The Clan Viewers of Dreams have been having visions of the great evil that has befallen the Children of the Covenant, and threatens the Great Journey. They have spoken of the demons that stand against the Covenant. The great evil has finally shown itself." Eilivanit said.
"It has Paladin High Aribiter, I have seen the demon." Millivi said. The Shadow Slayer Clansman sensed the brief flutter of suprise flash through the Paladin High Arbiter.
"I see."
"The Demons known as the Spartans have been awakened, I have seen them in battle and I have seen their evil befall our noble Paladins. The threat to the Covenant has manifested itself. The evil calls itself the Sentient Coalition, the stand in the way of the Great Journey." Millivi said.
The Paladin High Arbiter nodded his head slowly, sending a brief flutter through the long crimson robes the Arbiter wore.
"So the time has come for the Holy War to begin." Eilivanit said and stretched out his arm forward towards the floor between the two hovering Paladins. The Arbiters hand seemed to crackle with holy energy for a few moments then fine tendrils of energy drifted from his clawtips and to the ground. For a few moments the energy drifted around the smooth stone floor before it began to slide upwards. The stone flowed up like liquid being poured from a glass into a clear mold. It flowed and moulded into two distinct shapes linked in combat.
The first shape was that of a Paladin of the Smiters of Evil Clan. The stone changing and shifting color into the gleaming silver of his armor and of his Norifostraeh Holy cleansing staff. The warriors grace and ability seemed aparent even in the inanimate stone. The warrior was locked in combat with the demon evil of the Spartan.
The stone had melded into the perfect form of a totally visible Spartan demon. It's armor colored to the strange neon green that its resilient plate armor posessed. The faceplate was the same cold and reflective gold that Millivi remembered. In it's hands the demon posessed the rifle weapon of unholy power that it weilded.
"This is what you saw, is it not Millivi, Clan Shdow Slayer?" Eilivanit said looking between the stone sculptures locked in combat to the other Paladin.
"It is High Arbiter." Millivi said.
"Tell me what occured at the Side 7 space colony. You were sent there as the Clan Viewers of Dreams foretold and divined from their visions. Tell me what happened there." Eilivanit said.
"Yes High Arbiter, on the honor and divine duty of the Edagener Paladins, I shall tell you all that I know." Millivi said and began to recant the events on the Side 7 space colony, and the battle against the Sentient Coalition.
Deep space, sunward of the Sol System Asteroid belt
Earth 397843495-464-578-454-4ARD
January 29th 2554, 0900 Hours UST
Millivi, Clan Shadow Slayer stood on the bridge of the Covenant Carrier 'Humble Vengence'. He stod sheathed in the dark black armor of the Shadow Slayer Clan, looking at the Fleet Master Eilr'amatanate with both an apraising eye and an apraising inner eye. His mind could sense the arrogance and pride that radiated off of the Elite commander. Millivi felt as though the warrior would drown in his own ego.
'Very confident in his abilites is he not?' Gilliviti said telepathically to his Clansman Millivi. The other member of the Shadow Slayer Clan responded with a mental shurug.
'It seems so ever present amongst all the members of the fleet.' Millivi replied. Gilliviti let out a mental chuckle.
'Yes, a dangerous flaw, pride when not tempered with humility is a fast way to reach one's obilivion far faster than one should have any buisness doing.' Gilliviti thought.
Millivi let out a barely perceptible nod and watched the battle as it was joined with the resident Human forces. The Paladin warriors could not help but feel that the battle seemed to be somewhat brutal. It was becoming a one sided slaughter against the human forces. With the superior technology of the Hegemony there was no way that the Humans in this Galaxy could resist and pray to their gods to win.
Millivi shook his head.
'I know that this is not the war that we have trained to fight Shadow Slayer.' Millivi felt the voice in his mind. He knew it to be that of Oilliriaj, leader of the fourty members of the Clan Smiters of Evil that had been sent by the Clan of Viewers of Dreams. The three members of the Clan of Shadow Slayer were there as their eyes. If the great evil truly did manifest itself here, they would be the messengers to return word to the Paladin High Arbiter at the Chapel Fortress Precipice of Galaxies End. The members of Clan Smiters of Evil would eradicate the foe if it dared raise it's demonic head.
'It does not seem to be...pure...' Millivi thought finding the thoughs of the wholesale slaughter of beings to be distasteful.
'No Shadow Slayer, it is not pure...it is a war unlike anything we ever thought the fighting would be like. Even if we are searching for the great evil, we must be prepared for the actions of the Prophets, no matter what form they manifest as being.' Oilliriaj replied. Millivi remained silent as he watched one of the smaller Human ships vaporized into molten slag under the fire of several differnet Covenant vessels. Millivi could feel the psychic shudder as so many lives were simply vaporized in an instant.
The wings of Seraph fighters and Yevethan D-Types slammed through the defending forces and danced in intricate ballets of death with the human...Mobile Suits...in a desperate battle for survival and victory. No matter what happened in this battle, the Covenant would win in conflict with these humans.
It was far too one sided, out classed, out numbered and out thought, the humans could never hope to stand against the fleet. The battle was over before it even started.
And five hours later as the last space colony fell it was readily aparent that the humans could not win. They sporaddic victories were not nearly enough to push the Covenant away. They fought valiantly, dying in great numbers with galantry and selfless sacrifice in the vain hope they could halt the wave of Covenant forces.
They failed.
"Blockade all Colonies and prepare for the final assault on the planet. We shall resume the offensive in two days. In the meantime, prepare for the full invasion of the 'Side 7' colony. That's what the Prophets are after." The Fleet master said and began giving orders to land forces on the Colony and gather the information and technology they were after.
'As are we.' Millivi thought to the others. He turned and left the bridge, the other Paladins following him to their ship.
The Fleet Master waited untill the Paladins had left the bridge before speaking.
"Paladins...we don't need their kind of scum..." The Fleet master grunted with distain. Supposedly memebers of the Covenant Hegemony, and yet they had never in their thousands of years of membership shown themselves as warriors in the hegemony. Instead they all babbled on about 'great evils' and their solemn duty to serve the Children of the Covenant.
Fleet Master Eilr'amatanate scoffed. They had never been needed before, as far as he was concrened they could cower within their mountain and wait for another five thousand years, the Covenant would never need their 'services'.
Chapel Fortress, Precipice of Galaxies End
Location, Unknown
Time, Unknown
"Did you sense any presence of the great evil?" Eilivanit asked. Millivi shook his head solemnly.
"No High Arbiter, I did not. I do not believe it would have made any difference had we known." Millivi said.
"I see, do continue Shadow Slayer."
Side 7 Colony
January 31st, 0959 Hours UST
Millivi stod atop one of the human structures within the immense space colony and looked out at the interior of the massive cylinder. The industrious nature of these humans was readily apparent in their awesom constructions. The interior of the colony could easily fit the three Cruisers that had blasted into it.
The Paladins had raised issue at the brutality of the slaughter of the occupants of the colony. But had been unheeded by the Fleet Master. Thankfully the momentary decompression had resulted in relatively few casuiltes as the hole was sealed. But some of the populace had not fled before the invading Covenant troops. More than one massacre had occured before the Paladins had been too sickened by the slaughter of civilans to interceed. The other Covenant soliders had been more than slightly annoyed with the intrusion and had opened fire upon the Paladins. The battles were short, brutal and very desicive.
None of the murdering Covenant Troops had walked away alive, the civilians had.
Millivi thought it problematic that the troops had been forced to fight the Paladins, but it was unavoidable, slaughter had not been something that the Paladins approved of even in the slightest. They were sworn to defend the Covenant from the great evil and to fight against those that would threaten the sacntity of the Great Journey. Not unarmed civilians, even if they were aliens, it was not the way of the Paladin to fight them, armed soldiers were another matter though.
'Millivi! IT IS HERE!' Millivi felt one of the Pladin mentally scream at him.
'The Great Evil!?!' Milivi could not help but feel a wave of fear wash through him then vanish. He nodded, then let his mind reach out and touch all the Paladins, then draw them towards the Great Evil.
'We are comming, be ready to cleanse this station of the great Evil that sullies it.' Millivi thought and set off. He leapt from low roof to low roof at incredible speed. As he moved, the incantations of invisibility were recited and he knew that all perception of him was being lessened and lessened, then simply removed. He was now invisible to all detection, by perception or mental powers.
'We are there Shadow Slayer, myself and six other warriors. We are ready to cleanse the Demon!.' Oilliriaj thought.
'Cleanse the taint Smiter of Evil.' Millivi thought in response. He leapt from one rooftop to the next and came upon the scene of the battle. He knelt along one ledge and watched as six elite Edagener Paladins entered into the battle. Millivi's eyes came to rest upon the evil. His mind immedieatly brought to the surface what this demon was called...
A Spartan...
As he watched the Paladins leapt into battle against the single demon. The movements and subtle combat was undertaken at such speed his eyes could barely track the motions. First one attached, his Norifostraeh Holy cleansing staff blocking the energy discharges from the demon's weapon. Then, the Paladin turned his own energy weapon upon the Demon, sending a bolt of cleansing fire towards the demon. It dove through the wall of one of the houses and out of the path of the cleansing fire.
The Paladins moved towards the wall and levitated out of the way as the demon sprayed unholy energy through the wall. Thye landed and crashed through the wall in response. Millivi closed his eyes and meditated for a moment, his inner eye stretching out and gazing through the walls at the battle within. IT was a furious combat, right up until one of the Paladin was killed by the Demon.
Chapel Fortress, Precipice of Galaxies End
Location, Unknown
Time, Unknown
"So it is true..." Eilivanit murmered.
"What High Arbiter?" Millivi asked.
"The Viewers of Dreams long ago prophisized that only the true great evil would be capable of killing a Paladin in combat. I gather that this is true at long last." Eilivanit said.
"Yes High Arbiter." Millivi said.
"Please finish, I wish to know what happened to the other 39 members of the Clan Smiters of Evil after that. As surely their kin and fellow Clansmen would like to know." Eilivanit finished. Millivi nodded and finished.
Side 7 Colony
January 31st, 1015 Hours UST
Millivi watched through his inner eye in horror. A Paladin had been killed at the hands of the Spartan. They truly must be the Demons of the great evil. Millivi continued to witness the battle. He took some satisfaction in the knowledge that the demon was soon to be eradicated, the remaininga Paladin were using their mental powers to suspend the demon and strangle the life from his unholy form.
A small smile reached his lips, the demon was of the great evil, he had been killed by a Paladin, but he was not invincible. Millivi was satisfied the demon would soon be finished...until he dropped to the floor and leapt through the ceiling and into the second floor. Millivi sensed the shock of the Paladins within the room. Surely it was impossible to wrest their mental grip from his form.
'How is this possible...' Millivi thought.
'Very simple Clanbrother...he is a demon of the Great Evil.' Tilliviti said, the fellow member of the Shadow Slayer Clan stood on the rooftop next to him. He was also gazing into the building, watching the battle.
'But how is it possible for this demon to resist so strongly?' Millivi asked as a firebolt summoned with the incantation of righteous fury was involked and smashed through the frail human building, igniting it.
'You know as well as I Clanbrother, the Edagener Paladins have trained for eons to prepare for this threat. Had it been so simple, the Prophets would never have entrusted the task to us.' Tilliviti said as the demon crashed through the wall of the building and slid out into the street.
Millivi watched as the demon stood and searched for it's weapon. It was unarmed now, eas-
The human structure collapsed in a burst of brilliant energy and tremendous gravity. Millivi felt as four of the remaining paladins were killed in a moment. He was shocked...
A single Paladin moved from the wreckage, his rage and fury rolling from him in waves unseen by ay but those with the hightened mental abilites of the Edagener. The warrior leapt high into the air, hurling his Norifostraeh at the demon. It knocked the demon to the ground and sent his weapon flying. It would be over as soon as the Paladin landed. Millivi was sure of this.
'I can sense your confidence Millivi, do not be so sure...' Tilliviti thought.
The demon moved in a small blur and kicked one of the primitive ground vehicles into the air, smashing into the Paladin of the Clan Smiters of Evil, knocking him higher.
Millivi watched as the demon drew another weapon and fired into the vehicle as it sailed through the air. The vehicle exploded and killed the Paladin. Millivi looked down and watched as the demon recovered his weapon and raised it to face the other Paladins that were approaching.
He felt the message tug at the edge of his senses... it was in an alien tounge but he knew exactly what was being said.
"This is -117...I need backup now."
'There are more...' Millivi thought.
'Yes Clan Brother...the Great Evil has far more than a single Demon too it's legions.' Tilliviti responded.
Millivi remained silent as twenty more Paladins ran towards the demon. Their footfalls were silent and fast, their Norifostraeh primed and ready. The demon alone would stand no chance. But he did not remain alone for long. As the lone '117' struggled against the holy forces of the Paladins two more of the demons appeared, each one weilding the same hellish weapons and more as they appeared. Three of these demons would not stand a chance against the Edagener Paladins. Millivi watched as they dueled.
Three Paladins struch against one of the demons as it weilded it's rifle...an...SM-1...and a blade...a...Bat'leth...His mind tentatively provided to him. The Curved weapon and rifle were lethal in the demons hands. Two of the Paladins slammed their Norifostraeh into the curved blade and pressed downwards against it. The third Edagener brought it's staff up, energy blade activated and attempting to slice the demon in half. He amost managed to connect with his blade when the demon brought it's SM-1 up and clubbed the Paladin across the side of the head with it. The Paladin, caught off guard by the unorthodox attack, was knocked aside and sent flying, before he could react the demon fired off his weapon and vaporized the Paladin.
Millivi winced at the sight.
More demons appeared, in all, eleven of them were battling the Paladins, now all of them were fighting in the melee. But even despite the whirlling shapes of the fighters, there was little to be seen in the combat. Neither side held a clear advantage. It was not going well for the Paladins, at least ten laid dead, with only twenty four of them remaining. But four of the demons were dead, with only seven remaining alive.
There was a chance.
Millivi watched as three Paladins were killed in two motions by one of the Demons. It weilded a deadly looking blade with fluid grace. A single downward slice decapitated a Paladin, while in the same stroke the pommel of the weapon cracked into the neck of another Paladin, killing him with a crush of bone and tendon. With another follow through the weapon stabbed forward and into the chest of another Paladin, smashing the armor and lodging in his hearts.
The Paladins body failed him but his mind remained whole enough... He reached up a hand and murmered the incantation of holy light. The faceplate of the demon glowed and a bright pillar of white light erupted from it's visor. Along the inner layer of the demons armor, cracks form and more light shot out. The demon released it's weapon and fell to it's knees. Millivi felt the pain and anguish was through the demon as it's evil existence was cleansed from this plane of reality.
'We can beat them, at a high cost we can beat them...' Millivi thought.
'How high a cost?' Tilliviti thought as four other Paladins were vaporized.
Chapel Fortress, Precipice of Galaxies End
Location, Unknown
Time, Unknown
"All the Clansmen of the Smiters of Evil at that battle were killed by the demons. Ten of the demons were annihilated, only the one that was known as '117' survived." Millivi said.
Eilivanit nodded.
"Throughout the ages the Clan Viewers of Dreams have always said that the battle against the great evil would be frought with danger, sacrifice and hardship..." Eilivanit said and turned in the air to look out the large windows at the deserts beyond.
"...the Viewers of Dreams always stated that the war against the demons would never be an easy one. And they always stated that to wage the Holy War against the demons would be to threaten our own existence with this divine crusade. But undertake this crusade we must do. Because we must undertake our duty to the Prophets and the Children of the Covenant. Our order was created to fight this great evil, and for eons we have prepared for this war..."
"...and now we must undertake it." Millivi finished.
"The Demon will be eradicated Shadow Slayer. The time has come for us to take the Norifostraeh in hand and carry out our eternal task."
And Chappie, I hope that was a little better than the last one.
Ivan Alias, send me an Email since I don't know if you got my last one...
Next up is Chapter 7: New Weapons, New Plan
The combined technology of the Sentient Coalition brings a new Navy and a new plan to fight...and win the war.