Chapter Twenty Four: Wings of the Lighthawk
The Astral Plane, Somewhere on the World Tree, February 22nd 1392 a.c.
Saida and Abir stood over the wreckage of the Arcbound Fiend, it had been reduced to so much slag. Rishi had knocked unconscious most of the hydra's heads and was currently punching it in its torso as he dodged the Sha of Wrath's attacks. Things were going very smoothly, almost too smoothly. That was when Saida noticed how bad Quel was faring.
"We need to help him!" she said, pointing to where he was farther up the tree.
"You're not going anywhere." Montrose said from right behind them.
Saida and Abir jumped. She was quick enough to snap out one fist for a solid blow to the summoner's head as she leaped away. Abir was also quick enough to send out a burst of flame as he pivoted around. Both attacks passed through Montrose like he was a ghost.
Saida knew an illusion when she saw one. Unfortunately for Montrose she had more than just acute sight. Going completely still and letting Abir protect her, Saida reached out to find the summoner before it was too late and he called in more reinforcements.
Rishi landed a double fisted blow to the hydra that made it waver, then dissipate into nothingness. The Sha of Wrath exploded into rage, firing off multiple shock waves that Rishi had to use all of his dexterity just to dodge, let alone counterattack. Abir, meanwhile, was firing off bursts of flame in every direction, trying his best to find the summoner by chance. They had everything well in hand for the moment.
Endis Mevlan could feel the cold steel of the dagger quickly growing warm from his own body heat and the warmth of his lifeblood. The girl had managed to deal him a costly blow, one he was certain was mortal. His death was upon him. As a master of necromancy, Endis found this very intriguing. He had strength enough for one last big spell and then he would pass away. He had to choose carefully and wisely how to spend his life's remainder. He spotted Montrose and his opponents and an idea dawned on him. Endis had a very surprising and nasty present to leave for his enemies.
Chuldo was in a bad situation. Not only was he holding Dong Dong with one arm, but he was doing it as he fought the Lethus dragon. He had to dodge while all the while landing punches to the thing's head and snout. Its jaws kept barely missing him. Thing's didn't look too good for him or his daughter at that moment.
Quel was out of time, it was now or never. Raising his arms straight up over his head, he cried out "BANKAI!"
A large explosion of energy rippled off of him and cascaded outwards, making Dusk take an involuntary step backwards. When the smoke cleared it revealed Quel in a wolf pelt cloak. It fell down his back in a very furry cape that had a clasp in the shape of a rodent skull hanging over his collarbone. He had matching furry pants that fluffed out like small pantaloons. The fur on all of his garments was a blazing white.
To top it all off he was wearing a Visored mask in a shape similar to a wolf's skull with a stylish design engraved on it in black. His eyes were a deep, almost blackish, blue underneath the mask due to his hollowfication; they were the eyes of a true predator. His zanpakuto had also vanished and had a powerful high velocity aura of wind all about it so that it looked like Quel was literally holding a large blade of pure air.
"You will not be able to hold that form for long in your current state." Dusk remarked casually. He was nonetheless worried: Quel was about ten times stronger now.
Without a single warning sign, Quel used a sonido to teleport behind Dusk and slash at him with his bankai. The psiforged remembered how fast Quel had been when his inner hollow had tried to take control before on Dalamud. From then to now was incomparable: he was twice as fast. Dusk was knocked flying to crash into the World Tree.
Climbing slowly back onto his feet, Dusk could tell his psionic shields wouldn't last for much longer under this kind of pressure. He had two choices: use a dangerous psionic ability, or use his trump card. He decided on the psionics.
He concentrated mightily on Quel and forced his dominance over him, trying to claim sovereignty over Quel's mind. He would try to put Quel into a reality that was all in his head, so that his physical body would die of dehydration and starvation. This was known as a Microcosm and was a truly nasty psionic ability of high power.
Dusk was caught completely by surprise when his psionic attack not only failed, but was nearly rebounded onto him. Quel raised his invisible blade and slashed it down in Dusk's direction.
"Bakudai hasaki!" shouted Quel as a giant crescent of energy sped from his invisible sword and expanded to block out the sky in front of Dusk. It cut through everything with chilling ease. The Moon Thief was out of options, death was bearing down on him on invisible wings.
Montrose was growing nervous. His most powerful summons were being effortlessly combated by that little old man! It was hard for him to believe that old man had defeated his Apocalypse Hydra, with his bare hands! And by himself at that! Cursing to himself, Montrose prepared another summon and watched as they struggled to defeat his Sha of Wrath. It wouldn't be easy to defeat him, if they even could.
A giant wall of wind sped over them, rustling their clothes and disturbing the battlefield. Montrose looked over and saw Dusk was having a hard time fighting a transformed Quel. Nothing he could do about it now. Montrose focused all of his energy into a summon that would be so powerful it would overwhelm all of his enemies in one attack. As he concentrated the old man was doing more hand signs, rapidly moving from one sign to another. The Sha of Wrath grew very wary, it sensed peril. It tossed so many Balls of Resentment at him that they looked like a mini avalanche. He dodged them all and finished his jutsu regardless. He was on top of the sha, it had nowhere to go.
"Four Symbols Seal!" he shouted, grabbing the insubstantial Sha of Wrath by the head. A rock was summoned into being next to the old guy, appearing in a puff of smoke. The sha screamed as it was sucked into the rock and sealed within it, the mark of the Four Symbols Seal appearing on the surface of the rock.
"We've beaten you!" the genasi said triumphantly.
The cat-girl stalked closer towards Montrose, suspicious over his silence. Her eyes widened when she saw the almost invisible shell of energy that surrounded him as he tried to summon something to eclipse all of his previous summons.
"Get him!" she shouted in desperation.
All three of them sped across the intervening gap. They would be on him within seconds. Their response time was amazing and well coordinated, but they would still be too late.
"Hellions!" he cried, summoning forth two dozen giant serpents the size of small trains.
The three stopped and huddled together, unwilling to be the first to attack.
Montrose laughed at them. "I Summon Thee! Thromok the Insatiable!"
A giant explosion of sound and light blocked out everything. The three companions heard the horrible sounds of dying hellions amid the cacophony, but couldn't see what was happening until it was almost over. A giant hellion, ten times the size of all of the other hellions, had appeared and devoured its brethren whole. This hellion was of incomparable might and looked to be about one-tenth the size of the World Tree! It roared after devouring the last of its smaller kin, the very foundations of the Astral Plane seeming to reverberate from the force of its cry. The three companions desperately tried to block the sound of it out of their ears.
Montrose laughed, full of exhilaration and exhausted beyond his ability to cope. He fainted, becoming another bit of flotsam and jetsam in this gravity-less plane.
Endis finished the last word in his long winded incantation and placed the ancient evil artifact he had carried since he was a boy in front of him. The Eddos Ring. It looked like a regular hoop connected with a circular stand, but in actuality it was a doorway to the infernal plane of Durao. To anyone who knew of Durao, this spelled disaster. Numerous demons gathered on the other side of the portal, cautious, yet eager to see where it led and the destruction they could met out on the other side. Endis passed away just as the first clawed appendages began to pass through the portal.
Tanar'ri, the dominant and strongest subtype of demon, flowed out of the portal in large numbers. The first were the glabrezus, huge demons as large as giants, with two sets of arms, the top and largest ending in giant crab-like pincers while the other lower and smaller pair were roughly human in shape and size. A dog-like head, crowned with horns and a mouth filled with sharp teeth glared out at the world. These hulking demons stood at least fifteen feet tall. Behind these monsters came another type of tanar'ri: hezrous, giant demons that bear a small resemblance to toad-ogres. They were covered in knobby lumps and warts that were festering with a foul puss. They could walk on all fours or two feet. They stood at least eight feet tall. Behind them came more demons, including the sinister babau who looked like gaunt humans with black leathery skin, pointy ears and a curved horn sticking out of the back of their heads. They were covered in a slime that would harm anything that touched it like acid.
Many more types of demons poured out of the Eddos Ring, quickly forming a small army, which was being commanded by a trio of mariliths. Mariliths appear to be human women with six arms from the waist up, each wielding a different weapon, but from the waist down they had long serpent bodies. Wearing only jewelry, and no clothes thank you very much, they could be quite attractive looking. They stood about eight to nine feet tall and were about twenty feet long from the top of their heads to the tips of their tails. They were given the impossible task of commanding the unruly and disorderly hordes of the Abyss. They still managed to do it somehow.
Forming together this horde of terror and evil aimed themselves at the one target big enough to give them a good warm-up: the giant hellion Saida, Abir and Rishi were trying to find a way to kill.
The explosion from his zanpakuto's attack blinded Quel momentarily. He didn't have much time left in his Visored form. The longest he could maintain this form had been forty minutes, but that had been back when his body wasn't sealed and he was at his full power, capable of far more than he was now. His mask could shatter at any moment, he had to end this immediately. Quel turned to annihilate the quell's interfering with his divine aid and stopped cold, pivoting back to the dissipating cloud of smoke.
"Hahahahaha!" laughed Dusk from within the quickly fading smoke. His voice was changed, more metallic and deeper somehow. The laughing made Quel jump in surprise. Dusk should be dead from that blast, or at least in pieces.
Then the smoke cleared and revealed what lay within. What Quel saw made his blood run cold.
"How is this possible?" he breathed in surprise.
Dusk stood looking at him, his form had shifted and grown odd. He had a small tree growing out of his back for starters, its roots coursing through his body, the roots reinforcing the wooden and metal parts all over his body, especially his chest, shoulders, arms and stomach. Dusk's forehead had a glowing symbol on it now: two lines running down the center of his forehead towards where his nose would've been. What caught Quel's eye more than anything were the two "wings of energy" that extended from mid air in front of Dusk's chest out to the sides. Like the pinions of some bird in shape. If not for the ethereal beauty of their light they would be considered sinister. Thanks to his years at the Academy on Kotimaa, Quel had learned what these wings of energy were and how dangerous they could be. But they were also only thought to be a myth and not actually real. They were from legendary sacred trees that were imbued with energy from the theoretical 4th Dimension, which being a higher plane of existence gave these sacred trees power on par with the gods.
"How did you get an Ouritsuju implanted in you Carthas?" Quel asked calmly.
"Hahahaha! You have no idea what you've gotten yourself in the middle of boy!" Dusk mocked. "Powers beyond your understanding have shaped me into what I am. Even if you have stopped me now I can still rebuild! Your death will not be painless orpo! As it should be!"
Dusk extended his hands, the two wings flowing through him and transforming his charcoal black metallic body and dark orange eyes into a light blue chrome body with deep ocean blue eyes. He manifested a blue energy sword that coalesced into solid form, gripping it in two hands. Dusk had cast away his two swords on the wind, leaving them to drift aimlessly.
Quel raised his zanpakuto and prepared for death, certain that he couldn't win against the power of the Wings.
"You aren't here to quiver in fear Quel," Koe said.
Turning to look to his right Quel saw his zanpakuto's spirit standing right next to him. He knew only he could see him. Koe stood roughly seven feet tall and was about fifteen feet from the tip of his snow white snout to the tippy tip of his long furry tail. His blue eyes gazed into Quel's matching twin orbs and comforted him.
"Thank you for standing by my side partner," Quel said.
"Heh. I always will Quel. I'm you, remember?" Koe teased.
"FULL POWER KOE! NO HOLDING BACK!" Quel knew they had only one shot at winning still. They had to focus all of their remaining power into one vicious death blow. Dusk had just become as powerful as a god, with the power of a higher plane of existence at his command. One Wing was enough to destroy a planet. With two Quel feared that it was all too easy for Dusk to complete his plans, even if all of the might of the Circle stood arrayed against him.
There they stood, before the final plunge. Two titanic powers about to collide with the sole intention of destroying the other. They each had their reasons, their path in life that they had followed to this point. It was no accident that they would reunite after centuries on opposite sides of the eternal war between positive and negative. This moment had been coming since the first day they had met, back when Quel had only been a frightened and powerless child. Back when Carthas had been in a body of flesh and blood, with a family of his own and his fall from grace had not been as complete as it was now. They each had a mystery surrounding them both. For Quel it was his past and the role he played as the Willbearer. For Carthas it was his reasons in kidnapping so many gods and goddesses and his true goal in doing so.
Now, at the closing moments of their shared tragedy, they looked into each others eyes and saw something of themselves. It was nothing even close to affinity, but something beyond their simple capacity to dismiss and ignore. In those final moments before they crossed blades for the last time, each of them understood the other a little better than they had before. But not enough.
"Mugen Taitan!" cried Quel. His sword glowed with a maelstrom of dark evening sky blue, violet purple and sunset red, golden yellow and blazing orange energy. It flowed out of his invincible sword like water from a well, or blood from a wound. It looked like ambrosia, or the paint gods had used to color the universe; the last rays of the sun's brilliance before the night covered the world. It was one of Quel's strongest attacks he only rarely used when there was no alternative, a desperate last resort. It would cut the very fabric of existence if it had to.
"Fine boy, I'll beat your move," Dusk said. Raising his hands he began to sing a hymn, bass and deep, calling upon all of his vast energy. He began to vibrate and glow with the power of the Wings surging through him. "Behold a technique of my own design! El Dorado's Pyre!"
A giant sparkling cloud of dust detached from the tree on his back and coated his sword, making it glow with the light of a thousand suns. The dust covered him and surrounded his body like a cloud. The cloud becoming darker than gold, more of a coppery color in hue. It was a technique beyond rational understanding, capable of unfathomable levels of destruction. Quel didn't even stand a chance against it. And yet, knowing this, he still stood to fight to the last breath. It was his way.
Finally it was coming to an end, their blood was up. Screaming to the heavens, these two champions of justice and strife would collide and alter everything that would follow. His reitsu forming a skull like shell around him, Quel shot at Dusk like a falcon diving at it's prey. Dusk, like the almighty being he had become, ponderously and effortlessly rocketed towards Quel, his cloud of dust twinkling radiantly.
They met in a crackling storm of energy that shattered the sound barrier and created an explosion powerful enough to cause static electricity to be birthed and course through the tumult of sound and light like hounds on the hunt. It was an explosion felt across the entire Astral Plane and it was the beginning notes of the death knell of one of the two warriors.
Saida fired off two more shock waves at the colossal hellion, using them to send her flying out of the way of its giant maw that crashed once again into the World Tree, tearing out yet another giant chunk of the eldritch and godlike tree.
Rishi was hammering away with all his might, his clawed hands and feet allowing him to grip its scaly hide as he pummeled it's head. His overpowered punches did almost nothing to it. Maybe because he was the size of a flea on its back...
Abir tried hurting it with his magma, sand and fire forms, but was unable to land any serious blows. Just small patches of its thick hide's outermost layers had been peeled away. Saida suspected the only way to truly kill it would be to enter its body and attack its vital organs directly. The only problem with her plan was the fact that it looked like a forge inside its mouth, there was so much light and heat. It seemed to have some kind of internal fire that did not harm it, meaning any fire attacks would also be useless.
Sylvan beings, like treants, forest elementals and dryads, appeared and began combating the wyrm. Beings from the Celestial Planes that connected to the World Tree began to appear in large numbers and also tried to combat the wyrm. Couatls swarmed the wyrm and Celestial Archons, of every type assaulted the beast in phalanxes unlike anything Saida, Abir or Rishi had ever seen. Angels of all sizes appeared, often in the company of battalions of metallic dragons. Golds, Silvers, and all other hues of metallic dragons blazed in the light of the plane. The sound of it all was deafening. Saida, Abir and Rishi gathered together and stayed out of the way as this battle got increasingly beyond their ability to deal with. The wyrm was beginning to suffer from its many aggressors. And then things got worse, much worse.
Tanar'ri appeared in a great host and attacked from the rear of the battle. They attacked anything and anyone, sometimes even their own fellows, in the heat of the melee. Everything had gone from bad, to worse, to very bad, to shit crazy. Saida knew they had to get out of there or be killed by accident in the crossfire of this epically dangerous battle. Thromok the Insatiable was tearing into both sides, devouring everything in his path and shaking the heavens with his movements. But even as he did so both sides couldn't help but focus on him. His uncountable wounds began to tell. His "food" was slowly killing him even as they empowered him. It was just going to take quite awhile. Whether or not he ate them all before they killed him was another matter.
"We've got to get out of here!" Saida screamed over the cacophony. "Let's find everyone and go! Fast!"
"I'll go on ahead!" Rishi hollered back. "I can move faster on my own!"
They took off in two separate groups. Abir and Saida going fast, but comparatively slower than Rishi, who darted off like an arrow from a bow, into the thickest part of the fight.
The Lethus dragon was toying with the human warrior feebly clutching his dead daughter to his chest with one arm, while trying to fend off the supremacy that was a Lethus dragon with his other. Nepherixyen was it's name and torture was it's game. It played with its food, even after living for the countless centuries upon centuries that made it a Great Wyrm. It had tired of this game though, and suffered some new wounds that would turn into scars. The warrior had gouged it's hide deeply on the chest two times and had even sliced open it's snout quite deeply. But it was all for naught, death would be his only reward for surviving this long.
The dragon used the powerful spell Shadow Asgard, assaulting Chuldo and his already foregone daughter with negative energy that sucked the life force out of them. Screaming in rage, pain and fear, Chuldo tossed his daughter out of the affected area. It was all in vain, she was already dead. The Lethus dragon laughed mirthlessly over his stupidity. Now he would die. Enough life force had been siphoned off that three greater shadows had been created. They wouldn't be easy to see in a dim environ, but in this illuminated plane they were starkly black against the lighter tones of the realm. They appeared all around the man and began to attack him in a hit and run strategy, slashing at his armor and body and pummeling him into a defensive ball.
Now it would be finished. Nepherixyen prepared to leap in and tear the remaining life from the man's fatigued body. That was when something violently impacted with the side of his head, making all of the Great Wyrm's mass twist around so violently that it forced the rest of it to twist around as well. Dizzy and unsure of what had just happened, the Lethus dragon peered all about it, trying to find the source of the attack. It goggled at the tiny old man assisting the wounded warrior back to a ready position. All three greater shadows were gone, somehow defeated. The dragon was too old not to doubt what it's gut told it, so it targeted the old man, who seemingly harmless bowed towards it. The Lethus dragon almost missed the rapid hand signs the old one did as he bowed.
It recoiled in time for the full effect of the jutsu to hit it in the face. Lightning chakra flowing around his hands, Rishi fired off three Lightning Beasts that raced towards the Lethus dragon, umbilical cords of energy connecting them to Rishi's hands. They exploded against the dragon, damaging it badly on its head and neck. When it recovered from the shock and pain it found all three of the small humans fleeing at top speed. Roaring, it gave chase.
Saida was worried that they couldn't find Flau or Quel. Numerous times she and Abir had fought off curious, and thus murderous, demons. Logically thinking about their situation made her feel faint. Not only did they not have a way back to the alien world of Bionicle where the Yahosun lay waiting to take them away to safety, but if they did manage to get all the way back to their ship through the city of then across the Silver Sea they would still need Quel to pilot them out of the invisible maze that surrounded the planet. Too many ifs.
"Over there!" Abir shouted over the tumult, grabbing Saida's shoulder and pointing. Looking where he indicated she saw Quel and Dusk staring at one another. Quel had changed, donning a white fur garb and a skull mask. Dusk had also changed color, turning blue. The very air around them seemed to teem with violence. Saida knew she couldn't go to him now. She had to find Flau first and then rendezvous with Rishi, Chuldo and Dong Dong.
Grabbing Abir, she turned and headed in a random direction, hoping against all odds to find Flau before she was killed.
Everything seemed to be created from pain. Pain was all there was and ever had been. It didn't feel like she was alive, or could know what that felt like. But finally, after being dramatic and feeling constant agony for who knew how long, Flau awoke to the world around her. She stared wide eyed at a three-sided war being waged between demons, angels and a giant wyrm. Flau had no idea how wounded she was, but suspected she looked awful. Forcing herself with supreme effort to move, she managed to float/crawl towards certain death: the portal through which the demons were surging. They hadn't yet seen her, which was surprising in this open environment.
Very far off, almost to the point of being a figment of her imagination, she heard her name being called. Blinking in delirium, Flau looked over and saw two very far away specks. One had flaming hair, so she suspected it was Abir. Who was Abir again? Oh yeah, the guy they had met imprisoned under Zakhara. Almost cute if you liked guys with glowing eyes and flaming hair who also had an attitude problem when not being mute. Flau belatedly realized she had forgotten what she was doing and with a sinking feeling of desperation tried to recall what she was trying to do. Then she heard the thrumming noise coming from the portal and remembered in a flash her whole bad day.
The portal was right above her. She had no idea how to stop it, but she had to try something. She had the strangest feeling this was all her fault. It was suicide to approach this portal, but she had to do it, battered as she was.
Saida called Flau's name over and over again as they raced through the fight, most of the times being attacked by demons and fighting them off before continuing. The fighting had gotten even more insane, if that was possible. Thromok the Insatiable was taking heavy damage as he lashed out at everything in sight. Demons and celestials were fighting brutally on all sides and in the background a colossal explosion of meeting energies created a shock wave that sent everyone flying, even tossing Thromok up a little bit. The battle petered down to silence, each side forming up for the final assault and rest for a second to lick their wounds.
The demons were currently tied in numbers with the celestials, but more and more reinforcements were pouring out of the portal. The sylvan defenders of the World Tree had suffered numerous casualties and were maintaining a solid defensive perimeter, only assaulting those who strayed too close. They didn't discriminate between celestial or demon, all were fair game. During this lull in the battle, Thromok the Insatiable finally breathed his last and melted back into a formless mass of energy that dissipated into nothingness. The shock wave created from Quel and Dusk's meeting had done him in finally.
Saida and Abir stood between both of the extra planar armies, with the demons in front of them and the celestials at their backs. So far they had received only goodwill from the positive beings, with them sometimes interceding and protecting the two of them during the battle when Saida and Abir had been running around.
Suddenly Saida's eyes locked on something near the portal. "There!" she said urgently, pointing.
Abir followed her finger and saw what she had seen: Flau feebly float/crawling towards the portal. The entire remaining host of demons stood between them and her.
"We have an army between her and us. I don't think we can save her." Abir said softly.
"You may believe that, but I refuse to give up just yet." Saida snapped. "I have yet to fully fight!"
"Well now might be a good time to." Abir chuckled, looking down on the arrayed demon host. "Let's give them our regards."
"Don't ye be fergettin' us!" came Chuldo's voice on the wind.
"I wouldn't dream of that Almighty King of Destruction," Abir said turning to look at Chuldo as he, Dong Dong and Rishi approached. "You look like you had your ass handed to you."
"What happened to Dong?" Saida asked, breaking in before Chuldo and Abir could begin to bicker.
"She suffered severe damage from a necrotic spell, but is on the road to recovery thanks to my healing," Rishi said. He was carrying Dong Dong. She was in a deep sleep and had many wounds all over her small form.
"Let's pay back these demons tenfold!" Chuldo roared, raising his fists and charging towards the demons. "FOR ME DONG DONG!"
Saida laughed wildly, charging after Chuldo. Abir sighed in mock disgust and followed her.
"Oh my, what people you have found Quelly Boy." Rishi mused as he followed at a more sedate and proper pace.
The tanar'ri watched them coming, too amazed to do anything but stare for some minutes. Then, like a hornets nest when disturbed, they poured out to meet the companions. It was very bad odds, easily 4 to 10,000. There was no way they'd last longer than a handful of minutes, at best. The celestial army did nothing but watch, still biding their time to strike.
"Let me lead!" Saida shouted to her companions as they neared the suicidal fight. Everyone backed off a hair, giving her the lead. Saida sped up, widening the distance between her allies and shortening it between her enemies and stopped abruptly, raising her hands over her head. Her muscles strained with the force of what she was doing. She gritted her teeth and growled as she harnessed a multitude of energy. Combining her hands together she placed them in front of her and, muscles straining, veins sticking up in her arms and neck, she aimed at the horde of fiends. Half a second later a colossal shock wave erupted from her hands and smote the entire demonic horde like a fly gets smote by a fly-swatter.
Saida swooned from her effort and Chuldo grabbed her and hoisted her over his left shoulder. They used her display of power to run through the ranks of demons. The front rank had actually been decimated, with every third demon in it killed by the wave. But farther within the ranks the damage was far less. Amazingly they managed to get almost all the way through the horde before it began to stir. Unfortunately the new arrivals at the portal were unaffected by the blast and they attacked our group with gusto.
Chuldo led the way, his strength and size was more than enough of a match for any glabrezu or hezrous. He bashed in skulls that day more than he had in many years. Somehow they were managing to survive in the midst of the denizens of the Lower Planes. Many a time they were stopped and had to break free after killing or wounding several or more demons. Abir provided cover with his flame blasts and sandstorms as well as nova balls of blinding light. Rishi fired off numerous Laser Circuses that dazzled the eyes and fried the skins of many a demon. Saida recovered halfway through this and, without getting off of Chuldo's shoulder, began to fire off rapid volleys of shock waves that sent any demon who got too close skyrocketing away.
But it was not all that easy. Demons conjured spells of all sorts to block their progress, ranging from walls of fire and acid to sonic screams that made their ears bleed. Flaming darts, poisonous astral bats, rays of fire and ice. Everything the demons had they flung at our heroes, which was slowing them and harming them profoundly, when it hit. Most of the spells missed and actually managed to do the infernal horde more harm than good. They didn't seem to notice they were hitting each other as much as, if not more than, their stinging little foes.
After what seemed like days they arrived at the portal. Weary and half dead from their numerous wounds and exhaustion, they still had to destroy the portal.
"Leave this to me," Rishi gasped as he handed Dong Dong to her father. "Keep those demons off of me while I concentrate. I only need about five minutes."
"Might as well be five hours," Abir remarked as the entire demon host began to sweep over them like a wave. What was worse was that many demons were still pouring out of the portal, right on top of Rishi. He, meanwhile, was busy sitting cross legged and meditating like some crotchety old hermit. With all this ruckus going on all around him he was still managing to find inner peace.
While Chuldo and Abir held off the first arriving demons, Saida darted under the portal, grabbed Flau's limp form and deposited her next to Dong Dong.
"Hi S-sai-d-da," Flau choked out through her pain. "How d-o I look?"
"Terrible," Saida said, teasing except for the look of sadness in her eyes. Flau was injured more than all of them. She was probably dying.
Things looked grim, then they got better and worse. The celestial army had come up on the tanar'ri from above and below in a pincer attack. Most of the demons had been focused on the small band of lunatics who had charged right into their midst and had not noticed the approaching armies from above and below. The battle up near the World Tree, and more importantly, the frenzy that had been it's trademark began again.
Now they could last five minutes, but what happened after those five minutes was anyone's guess. Saida, Chuldo and Abir stood near to each other and fended off any demon who came near in a concentrated assault. Dong Dong lay in deep slumber behind them near Rishi and the old sage was calling upon old avenues of thought and action to try and put a stop to the portal so the celestials would have a chance at stopping this fight before it leaked onto any other planes of existence.
The final stage of the long struggle was at hand. Everything was still undecided.