None of the BPRD crew could have been fully prepared for what slammed itself through the remains of the runic circle. The beast, with a hide blacker than pitch and shining like Obsidian, stood easily twice as tall as Hellboy at its shoulder, with rippling muscle beneath sharp spines and jagged scales. Its face, with a row of sharp teeth that stuck out hideously from its jaws, looked more skeletal, its green eyes small orbs of flame. It first lunged at Abe, who dove forward beneath its strike, the massive taloned paw missing him by mere inches.
Golden plates, arranged akin to the headdress of Pharaohs, hung off its massive head and neck, armor and a mockery of the followers of Egypt's dieties. A short tail, reptilian yet armoured with more obsidian scales, whipped through the air, aiming for the Phoenix that dove at the beasts back. It gave another roaring shriek, spinning around to snap at Locke, who rolled deftly away as Hellboy began firing at the beast with the Samaritan, which seemed to be having little effect on the armoured scales.
Abe, thinking quickly, knew he had to get the beasts attention, he withdrew his sidearm -he would never truly know how he ended up wearing his belt- and began to fire at the eyes of the beast. Its head snapped up, growled as it focused, and lunged at Abe.
Aureiahnna dove at and raked her own talons through the beasts' scales and stabbed her beak into the soft flesh around the creatures' sensitive eyes and nose, causing it to stumble while attempting to flail and claw the Pheonix, falling aside to slam into the concrete wall with a howl. Hellboy fired the Samaritan into its exposed shoulder where scales were thinner close to its ribcage, causing it to scream, the sound echoing and chilling to those in the room. Abe reloaded his handgun and moved to stand away with Hellboy, Kate and Liz, who continued to fire, as Liz cautiously created several balls of flame and added them to the attack.
They were distracted by keeping the large beast at bay, Locke taking the opportunity to weakly enter the block, tendrils of shadow from inside seeming to reach for and help him move closer. He disappeared inside, as the guardian lunged blindly, hoping to catch one of the three or Locke under its flailing talons, blinded by the efforts of Aureiahnna.
Liz dove aside, landing on her arm painfully, Hellboy moving to physically pound on and break the left hind leg of the creature with his stone-like right arm after it had snapped at Liz. It let out a satisfying howl like shriek of agony, and turned, snapping its jaws on Hellboy's left arm as Aureiahnna went to tend to Liz.
Hellboy let out a cry, slamming his right arm on the beasts' nose, yet it did not release, instead it swung its head, tossing Hellboy out of the holding chamber, and into the door of one across the hall with a heavy and resounding thud, slight dent in the metal of the blast door evident as he slid to the floor. He tried to rise, but fell, dizzy. Kate moved to see if he could rise again as Abe, the last of the ones attacking the guardian to buy Locke time, backed against a wall, the massive beast's maw only a foot from him.
"I smell you... You should not have opened the seal, Oannes." Hissed the Setesh guardian, its voice causing Abe's entire body to shiver as the beast inched closer to him, a guttural growl emanating from deep in its chest, Abe flattened himself against the wall as the toothy maw rose and nostrils flared. The evil in it permeated the air and caused Abe to choke down bile, the fishmans' normally calm stomach roiling and chest tightening. "I will enjoy tearing you apart." It said again, leaning back and raising its massive right paw, the talons glinting in the light from the halls outside as it chuckled darkly.
"Get away from him, you have no jurisdiction here Setesh!"
"What?" The beast cried, turning its attention just in time for a bolt of energy in the form of a spear to abruptly lance through the guardian's hindquarters and destroy its other hind leg. It howled, falling back and to its right side as its balance became offset, a figure standing on the threshold of the prison within the marble block.
Abe gasped, holding his throat as air was returned to him, watching the massive beast fall to the ground, the spear of light shimmering before fading. His gaze moved to the figure as it stepped from the block, eyes wide but vision blurry from the choking aura exuded by the monstrosity.
The figure, a tall, pale bronze skinned man, gently tied a bloodstained white sheet around his waist to keep himself covered, and raised his left arm to allow Aureiahnna to alight there, unharmed by her talons. Two large white bird-like wings lowered and stiffly folded against his back, his long golden hair flowing freely over his shoulders and down his back, nearly touching the floor.
He looked at Abe, smiling quite genuinely, deep unnatural Radioactive-Green eyes glowing lightly. On his right forearm, was a slowly healing wound, and a beautiful silver bracelet.
"Locke?" Abe gasped, watching the figure move through the room as though he were floating, bare feet seeming to brush the tile under him. He nodded, snapping his attention to the slowly recovering Aspect of Setesh. Abe couldn't believe it, the small child he had been working with for months, was really this winged man? He continued to gulp in air, much as a fish out of water would, head and vision swimming as the monstrous servitor of Setesh propped itself up on its forelimbs and turned its blinded gaze to the one who appeared to be Locke, black blood dripping from its maw and streaking along its muzzle from torn-up eye sockets.
"Your patron should give up. She should die as Anubis and Osiris did. I will kill you to show her this folly." The beast hissed, black oily blood flowing from its maw. The man shook his head, raising his right hand. A circular seal formed before him, hovering on its side between him and the guardian, glowing a beautiful Turquoise as it spun slowly, each rune dancing and moving within the slowly rotating boundaries, seven points touching the inner rung with runes inside and out of each open triangular point.
"Sad, Sad Setesh, you should have given up when Horus beat you. Go back to your hole, lest I force you there." Said the man, Locke -as Abe had thought he had responded to his earlier inquiry-, noting his voice to be powerful and familiar to Abe, like that of the one that had saved him from the Chordewa.
"You forfeit your life! I will enjoy savouring your blood!" The guardian and follower of Setesh then rose, lunging, fangs and talons bared. Time slowed then for all save the man, his Pheonix, and Abe, his strong voice coming clearly to Abe, which he then realized was not spoken, but transmitted wordlessly in the minds of those around them.
"Goddess Ashtareen, grant me your power to Extinguish. Unleash your power to destroy the usurper of balance and banish his evil. Release!" The seal flared, changing colour to a deep violet, crimson energy gathering on the seven points, lancing from these seven orbs to gather in the very centre before lancing outward. Time returned to normal, and the energy tore through the Aspect of Setesh, throwing it against a far wall and slowly destroying every inch of the monstrous creature. Its howls and shrieks echoed deafeningly as the lances of energy enveloped it, and faded to silence that was arguably more devastating.
The half-naked man lowered his hand, smiling and watching as the damage on his right forearm slowly healed on its own, conversing wordlessly with the owl-like Phoenix on his left, gently nuzzling her before she hopped up to his shoulder. Abe watched as Kate suddenly ran over to check on Liz, making certain she was alright with Hellboy staggering toward the two. Abe blinked, looking up at the man as he walked over, kneeling down next to him, careful to keep the sheet around his midsection.
Abe shrank back, scrambling away along the floor, levelling his handgun at the man, keeping against the wall when the near-stranger moved to touch him. Abe thought this man was a manifestation of the patron, who had used Locke to enter the world, as he was at once so like, and so very different from the child Abe had grown accustomed to. The expression of hurt on his face stunned Abe, who calmed, lowering his gun, though it had been emptied of bullets and would do nothing to help him anyway. He remained crouched near Abe, saddened smile on his face.
"I'm sorry for all the distractions and cryptic messages, I truly wished to tell you, all of you, the truth." He explained sadly, watching Abe with stunning green eyes that appeared more unnatural, almost radioactive. He could tell that Abe was beyond unsettled and even fearful of him, sighing and looking to his companion perched on his arm.
Aureiahnna, the Turquoise and Lilac coloured Pheonix, flit from her master to alight on the floor near Abe. He ignored her a moment, before she flared out a wing, lightly resting it over his chest. He blinked, feeling suddenly deeply tired.
*Sleep Abraham, we'll explain when you have rested.* She said calmly within his mind, and he nodded, lying back and falling into a deep and restful sleep.