Author's Note: Holy crap, has it really been half a yearsince my last update? Man, where does the time go?

I really, really apologize for the ridiculous delay. But, finding ideas can be hard sometimes, and I also have a lot of other projects and personal stuff on my plate, so I can't devote all of my energy to this one story. Still, I finally got this chapter out. I hope you enjoy.

WARNING: This chapter most definitely earns it's "M" rating. If you're at all squeamish, I recommend skipping to the Woods of Suicide portion of the story. It's a lot less gory from that point on.

From these two, art and nature, it is fitting,

if you recall how Genesis begins,

for men to make their way, to gain their living;

and since the usurer prefers another

pathway, he scorns both nature in herself

and art her follower; his hope is elsewhere

-Inferno

Mordin and Tali did what they could for Legion, but eventually it became clear that there was no salvaging the arm with what resources they had on hand, and Legion was forced to continue with only one arm. His Widow Sniper Rifle now on his back, he had to content himself with Tali's pistol and SMG. Venturing beyond the horrors of Heresy, Shepard and company came upon another drab gray field of stone, one that was surrounded on all sides by stone formations that jutted out of the ground. Making their way through, the squad soon came to a cliff-face overlooking a never-ending lake of crimson from which blinding steam rose up as the cries of the lake's occupants filled the air. Decorating the sides of the cliff were the rib-cages and skulls of all manner of races, the bones embedded into the rock itself. As the squad walked up to the edge of it, they dared to look down at the lake before them, a lake that seemed to stretch on forever.

"So which Circle is this one, Shepard?" Garrus asked.

Shepard turned to face his old friend and shrugged. "Don't know. That red lake looks an awful lot like blood though…"

"That's because it is!" Cried out one voice with unsettling glee. Then, appearing from underneath the cliff-face was a hideous creature that had a long, rotting, centipede-like body that was caked with blood and grime. It scurried about on countless long, brownish-gray limbs that upon closer inspection were not centipede legs but human arms, many of them in various states of decomposition. When the thing hoisted itself up, the squad could see that it's "front" was a horrendous mix of various humans, all crudely stitched together in such a way that heads were buried in chests, two lower halves of bodies bent out of alignment and faced inwards to form a mockery of pincer-shaped jaws, and one torso burst out of another rib-cage that no longer had an ounce of flesh on it.

As the squad took in the full appearance of the monstrosity, Jack's eyes widened as traumatized memories surged forward to the forefront of her mind in an unstoppable tidal wave of pain, the mental floodgates of her mind having been decimated by the faces she saw and recognized.

"Well, well, well..." one of the heads gurgled, as it did revealing that it was missing it's tongue. "Subject Zero...so you've come here at last."

"Not surprised that you're here!" Jack spat, her body lighting up in an intense biotic aura as everyone else leveled their guns at what the scientists from the nightmarish Teltin Facility had been transformed into as punishment for their atrocities in life.

"You think you're a better person than us?" one of the other scientist's heads asked with derision. "...that you're somehow above reproach for your own sins?"

"I always wanted to kill you!" Jack shouted back. "Now I can do it again!"

It was then that Lucifer's voice could be heard: "Yes, that's it. Add fuel to the eternal fire of this place! For you see this circle is for those such as yourself. Those who did violence and were violent. And more specifically, this place here is for those who did violence against others, cursed to reside forever in the boiling blood that they shed!"

"And now you will join us!" one of the scientists snarled, before the abomination suddenly rose up on it's back half and then surged forwards into the ground, causing the cliff-face to crumble before breaking apart altogether. Next thing Shepard and his squad knew they were plummeting into the river below.

"All biotics, ease our descent!" Shepard ordered. Miranda, Thane, and Jack did as they were told and conjoined their biotic power to envelop themselves and the others in several biotic fields that managed to slow their descent into the river of blood. No sooner did they land and send up a small tidal wave of blood however, did several of the shades present turn their attentions to the group and charge them. Even worse, the abomination from before burst out of the blood and surged towards the squad as well. Jack saw it coming in time to fire a biotic blast at it, followed by several blasts from her shotgun.

"I HATED YOU ALL!" Jack roared, unleashing another powerful biotic blast at the scientist's shades.

"But you became just like us, Subject Zero." One of the shades taunted. "You belong here with us, you always have!"

"Shut up!" Jack roared. "All of you shut the fuck up!"

Meanwhile, the others had their hands full fending off the legions of damned souls now charging them. The shades of all races throughout time and space swarmed at Shepard and his companions in a nigh unstoppable surge not unlike the Husks that flooded the Derelict Reaper. Only the combined firepower of the entire group was enough to keep the horde at bay. Even, some shades still managed to get past the hailstorm of gunfire to reach the squad, and wasted no time personally engaging different members of the group. Shepard, Garrus, and Mordin found themselves being accosted by Batarian terrorists from the Skylian Blitz and attack on Mindoir, as Kasumi and Zaeed fought against members of the three mercenary groups whose souls had been sent here for their killing for fun and profit. Grunt bowled through the shades of murderers and butchers from other parts of time as Tali, Miranda, and Legion held their ground against the worst of Krogan warlords from ages past.

That left Thane surrounded on all sides by the shades of violent individuals from humanity's own history. The terrorists who had destroyed the Statue of Liberty were the first to be cut down by Thane's biotics and gunplay. Elizabeth Bathory, with blood filled in her mouth to symbolize her vampiric reputation was next, being blasted backwards by another biotic attack and sending up a wave of blood as she crashed back into the lake. More biotic blasts pushed other shades away and knocked them back. Joseph Stalin tried to grab onto Thane's leg as he recovered from being knocked down, but Thane stepped on his face with enough force to break his neck and force the despot to release him.

Grosh Uvenk, who had killed so many during the Krogan Rebellions he had all but single-handedly given justification for using the Genophage also fell, but not before absorbing a distressing amount of fire from no less than three of Shepard's squad all shooting at him for a good long while. No sooner did his massive form fall back into the boiling blood was it replaced by several more infamous Krogans from that same time period. One very nearly grabbed Miranda by the throat before Grunt smashed into him and planted his shotgun right up against the Krogan's head. One pull of the trigger later and the shade returned to the bottom of the lake.

"We can't keep fighting, there's too many!" Miranda shouted to Shepard as she, Tali, and Legion began to fall back as another wave of shades came their way, these ones all wearing SS uniforms. They shot down several, but more of the Nazis kept coming.

"You're right." Shepard admitted as he gunned down several himself. "Especially since I'm getting the feeling all of our fighting is only making them more enlivened. We need to get out of here."

Meanwhile, Thane continued to fight desperately against more and more of humanity's most violent. At long last though, the Drell Assassin was beginning to thin their numbers. Shot after shot, bullet after bullet, Thane continued to fight, no matter how many of the human race's worst killers came at him. Attila the Hun and Vlad Tepes were the last to go, both of them powering on through the several gunshot wounds each had now suffered, and continuing to savagely swing their swords at Thane Krios in a desperate bid to hack him to pieces as they had so many others in life. Thane finished Attila with one final, close-range shot. The Hun's shade gasped and dissipated, as he did at last releasing his Sword of Mars, which Thane enveloped in a biotic field as it fell out of Attilla's hands. Thane hurled the blade behind him, sending it briefly sailing through the air before embedding itself in the chest of Vlad Tepes, who gasped and halted in his charge as he was impaled by the sword. Vlad staggered for a moment before the ironic injury took it's toll and he too collapsed, dissipating as his shade's body fell into the river of blood.

"Well fought, Drell." Lucifer's voice remarked. "So many of the universe's worst barbarians and butchers and they couldn't even touch you. There's definitely a place for you here in the Inferno. Oh yes, there is most certainly always a place for killers like you."

Lucifer cackled before his voice faded away, leaving Thane to pant heavily and laboriously before he closed his eyes and silently prayed once more to his gods for forgiveness, and that he not be condemned to this lake of blood along with so many others who lived life taking it.

Jack meanwhile, gasped in pain as the monstrosity formed by the remnants of her childhood tormentors knocked her into the air once more. The centipede-like abomination surged towards Jack and was soon on top of her, forcing the weight of it's "body" on her and trying to submerge her in the lake of blood.

"We created you, Subject Zero." one of the scientists noted. "...And now we're going to drown you in this river of blood until you become a permanent resident. Just, like, us…"

Seeing Jack in trouble, Garrus took aim with his sniper rifle and opened fire, shooting at one of the monster's "jaws" until it fell off. That managed to get it's attention. With an ear-splitting shriek, the abomination made of damned scientists surged towards Garrus with alarming speed, nearly bowling him over as Kasumi and Mordin opened fire themselves, soon followed by Zaeed, Miranda, Legion, and Tali.

Seeing the centipede monster writhing in pain from so much gunfire being directed against it, Shepard decided it was time to do his part as well. Charging forward, Shepard mowed down some more shades of Batarian terrorists that dared to get in his way. With a slash of his omni-blade, Shepard removed a particularly infamous Austrian-turned-German dictator's head from his body.

I always wanted to do that… Shepard noted as he continued to press on through the carnage, finally coming upon the monster that was Jack's damned tormentors in full. Raising his gun into the air, Shepard shot at one of the exposed heads making up the monster's chest, which seemed to get it's attention.

"Yeah, that's right. Look at me."

The centipede monster roared in fury at Shepard in response, who shook his head and reloaded his rifle. The monstrosity zipped towards Shepard, who side-stepped out of the way, re-activated his angelic sword, and plunged it into the beast. The thing shrieked in pain, and Shepard in turn unleashed a torrent of flaming bullets from his Dragonfire Assault Rifle that finally convinced the abomination that it was time for it to go, especially in light of how Shepard's companions were still shooting at it. It's attempt to flee was short-lived

"Oh no, you big piece of shit." Jack growled. "You're not running away. Not from me."

With a roar, Jack fired out the single most powerful biotic blast she could muster. The blast was aimed not at the monster however, but at the cliff face directly above it. The blast struck the part of it that the centipede monstrosity had not earlier destroyed, with the rubble then falling down...towards Jack's foe.

The abomination tried to move out of the way, but Jack had timed it perfectly. The rubble came down on it just as it was moving by, the stones impacting with a sickening crunching sound as the monster made up of all of Jack's greatest enemies and the architects of her suffering was crushed.

It had taken everything Jack had. She staggered, blood flowing freely down her nostrils as the consequences of her pushing herself too far became known to her. She felt faint and light-headed and the next thing she knew she was falling backwards before Miranda caught her, as she did unleashing some gunfire on the shades of Gestapo who dared to get too close.

"Jack, Jack! Are you alright?" Miranda asked as she continued to hold her up.

"I feel like shit." Jack replied bluntly before adding with a slight smile as she stared out at the pile of rubble that her foe was now buried under: "...but it was so fucking worth it."

By this point, Shepard and the members of his squad had all been forced to huddle tightly together as a seemingly neverending horde of terrorists, serial killers, barbarians, war criminals, and other butchers all converged on them. Worse, Centaurs who lined the edges of the cliffs overlooking the river of blood had since taken to shooting arrows at the squad also. Just when it seemed that all was lost though, one of the Centaurs surged down into the lake, sending up a large amount of the boiling blood as she landed. Galloping towards Shepard and his allies, she faced the commander himself.

"Follow me." She said sternly. Seeing her plow through more of the shades, Shepard reasoned she wasn't any friend of Lucifer's and thus allowed her to lead him and his squad through the lake, as they did coming under attack from all sides by more shades.

But the centaur was relentless in her charge, continuing to gallop forward at incredible speeds and smashing aside scores of shades that attempted to stand in her way. Shades that weren't straight up trampled by her tended to be easy pickings for Shepard and company.

At long last, the trip through the lake came to a set of stone stairs leading up. Stopping at these steps, the centaur turned to Shepard.

"Take these out of the lake. They will lead you to the next part of this circle and away from the kings and queens of bloodshed."

Shepard nodded. "Thank you, uh..."

"Nessus." the Centaur replied. "Now go."

And with this brief parting, Nessus galloped off in the opposite direction to distract the pursuing shades while Shepard and his squad followed the centaur's advice and ran up the steps. Said steps felt as though they went on forever before at last coming to an abrupt stop at the base of a cliff leading off to a dirt path that in turn led to the maw of a wood. Figuring that was the second part of the Violence circle Nessus had been referring to, Shepard led the squad to it.

Having at last come out of the river of blood and the endless violence and fighting it had entailed, Shepard and his squad next found themselves deep in a dense woodland. As the squad made their way in, all of them staggering and clearly struggling along, they heard not a sound. It was quiet. Between that and the gnarled up trees, Shepard for one was reminded almost of Limbo.

"Wonder what part of Hell this is..." Garrus said aloud as he continued to be helped along by an equally exhausted Tali.

"Whatever it is, it's quiet. A little too quiet. But Nessus said this is just another part of the Violence Circle, which means some kind of violent people reside here. We'd better stay on our toes."

"I hate to say it, Commander but after all of this I'm thinking we're all on our last legs." Miranda noted. "We need to rest. And frankly, this looks like the only kind of place where we'll get a chance."

"Fair point." Shepard conceded. "But even so, this is still Hell. No part of this place is completely safe. So everyone keep your eyes peeled and guns ready."

Going a little farther, Shepard and the others noticed countless corpses dangling from the tree branches. Straining their ears, they could also hear the sounds of faint moaning, and even close inspection of the trees themselves showed faces in the bark.

"This place is creeping me out." Zaeed remarked.

"Agreed." Garrus said as he saw the faces of fellow Turians inside one tree staring back at him. Unable to look at it for too long he averted his gaze, but no matter where he looked he could still see more of the faces in the trees.

Shepard for his part struggled to remember what this part of Hell was supposed to include, but his memory failed him and he came up with nothing. Once again he found himself wishing Orpheus' shade was still with the group, and not just for his insight. Having an absolved soul at one's side when fighting through Hell is a very comforting thing indeed.

It was Thane though who gave the answer: "If I had to hazard a guess, this place is for those who did violence not to others, but to themselves." As Thane said this he could see fellow Drell among the faces in the trees as well. He even recognized one who had committed suicide after getting the same illness Thane himself now had, which confirmed his suspicions.

"So the suicidal get turned into trees, do they?" Zaeed noted. "Huh. Never would have guessed."

"I have to say this part of Hell honestly doesn't seem so bad…" Kasumi said as she looked around the forest before seeing some more corpses hanging from nooses attached to the twisting branches of the trees. "...at least compared to the other parts anyway."

"Well regardless, there doesn't look to be anything attacking us here, so I think now's as good a time as any for us to pause and catch our breath. Anyone object to that?"

When Shepard didn't get an answer he nodded and walked over to find some place to lie down. At first he thought of pressing himself up against the back of a nearby tree but knowing what that "tree" really was thought better of it and instead chose to just sit on the dark colored ground. Many of his companions followed suit, all of them clearly drained from so much fighting and moving about through treacherous terrain. Shepard suspected that if his squadmates were feeling at all as he did from having to see all the horrors of Hell one by one in a parade of misery and bleakness, then they were all probably exhausted emotionally too. He for one had been wanting desperately to get out ever since Gluttony.

As it stood though Shepard was allowed only a few brief moments of peace and quiet before Tali's voice broke the silence: "Where is Thane?"

"I think I saw him walk off alone that way." Garrus pointed behind him to the left. "Didn't say where he was going. Should I go after him?"

"No, you all stay here." Shepard ordered. "If something comes after us, I want us all in one place. I'll go find Thane."

Garrus nodded wordlessly and Shepard, though it gave his body no pleasure, forced himself up and trudged off. His legs by now felt drained and made their unhappiness known to Shepard with every step. Miranda could see Shepard's fatigue and briefly stopped him as he went deeper into the woods.

"Be careful." Miranda said softly, her face taking on a look of seriousness but also concern.

"I will be, I promise." Shepard said. Miranda kissed him on the cheek and then Shepard went off again, navigating the various bushes and gnarled trees that had once been people who for whatever reason had willingly taken their own lives. As he walked through them, Shepard allowed himself some time to ponder what had been their various motives. He could guess some of them readily enough. But then there were those who had maybe given their lives for a cause they believed in. Martyrs. Were they damned here along with those who ended their lives out of depression or desperation? Shepard didn't know, and in fact the more he thought about it the more he realized he honestly didn't want to know.

Finally at long last Shepard saw Thane staring out blankly at several towering trees, looking sadly at the now inert forms of condemned souls.

"You alright, Thane?" Shepard asked.

Thane sighed, and Shepard could feel the emotional torment radiating off of his body with such potency. "I confess I am not. I suppose it is because I am becoming more and more...existential, for lack of a better term. My time fast approaches. Even if Lucifer is defeated and we escape Hell and then after that if we miraculously overcome the Reapers, I will still have to face that which is inevitable: my premature death. My illness remains incurable, and I am in fact already alive longer than was expected. I will only be able to keep it off for so much longer."

Shepard's first instinct was to tell Thane he was sorry, but somehow he doubted that Thane wanted his pity. So instead he extended his sympathies in a different way: "I wish there was something I could do for you...to help you."

"I know. I am grateful for the gesture, but there is no changing what is set in stone. I have often thought that perhaps this illness was my punishment, for the crimes I committed in my younger years, and how for so long I led a wicked path. And perhaps then this trip to Hell was no coincidence either. Rather I am simply going to where I have always belonged."

"Don't say that. I've seen who you are, and I can say that you're one of the last people who belongs here. And there's not a single one of the others who'd disagree with me on that."

"Perhaps, but they do not know of who I was before I joined you. If I remember, Shepard, you yourself questioned my beliefs regarding my life as an assassin."

"I did, and I'm not sure I agree with them completely, but since I wanted you as my ally and not my enemy I never pressed the matter. And honestly Thane, whatever kind of person you once were, I seriously doubt it was any worse than what Jack's done. Or Zaeed. Or probably Wrex for that matter. But to me it doesn't matter. You're still a part of my crew, and with that in mind I'm not letting you stay here."

"Your nobility and concern are admirable." Thane noted. "I confess, in my earlier anger towards you for inadvertently leading us here in the first place, I had almost forgotten that nobility. Or perhaps I simply took it for granted."

"I did something that's caused problems for everyone. I knew going in everyone would be ready to turn on me. But I had to do it, Thane."

"I am sure you are aware, that if we fail to get out of here you will never be able to stop the Reapers, and all you will have accomplished will be to have damned us all along with you."

"That's why I'm not going to fail." Shepard said firmly. "We've made it this far. We're already two thirds through. We can beat the last three circles, we just have to stick together."

"You are resolute in this?"

"I won't lie: I'm terrified at the thought of failing. But after having that fear for so long, I'm beginning to think that it's actually necessary. In fact it's been my experience that fear in general is necessary to live, especially for people like you and me. Fear of loss, of corruption, of what will happen if we don't succeed."

"A profound observation." Thane remarked. "And one I am inclined to agree with."

No further words were said between the pair as they went back to rejoin the others, Shepard stopping only to absolve some shades who had not yet fully transformed into trees, including the one they'd seen be damned by King Minos earlier. After rejoining the others, the whole squad just sat there amongst the shades of the suicidal in silence as both the eerie quiet of the forest and everything they had been through recently both weighed heavily on their minds.

Finally though, Shepard broke the silence by bringing up the obvious issue: "How are we doing, ordnance wise?"

"I wish Jacob were here. He'd have a better answer to give." Garrus said with a sigh before adding: "We were lucky there were shades that used guns back there. They dropped a ton of ammo we can use. But given how much damn punishment Hell's armies seem to be able to take down in the lower circles, I'm not sure how long all that extra ammo will last. As for me, I expended a lot of the cannon's ammunition back in the lake of blood. I'm not sure how many more shots this thing has left in it but I suspect I'm running low."

"Then conserve your shots for the last two circles." Shepard said. "In fact that order goes for everyone. Conserve ammunition. Aim for whatever weak spots any of these things have. If it's a Shade treat them like you would their living counterparts. If it's a demon, you should still aim for the head. If you have any biotic or tech abilities left, use those sparingly too. We're all nearly spent and we're not even out of this circle yet."

Shepard got only silent nods of compliance in response. Even Jack and Grunt seemed to understand the importance of this and not wasting more ammunition on gratuitous behavior. Not to mention that their diminishing ammunition was only one issue. Besides that and armors that ranged from being somewhat banged up to being close to ruined, Shepard and his squad just felt tired. The idea that there was still two more circles plus the end of this one left began to fill them all with despair.

Weighing heavily on everyone's minds was the fear of what would happen when they confronted Lucifer himself. Considering how powerful the Morningstar was, their odds of defeating him when under the fatigue that they were seemed painfully low. But of course to turn back was not an option either. No, there was only one way to go, and that was forward.

With this in mind, Shepard and company at last mustered up the strength to keep moving. Near the edge of the woods they saw people running in circles as large black-furred wolves pursued them, jaws snapping at thin air as they pursued these shades with brutal tenacity. As tempting as it was to intervene, Shepard also knew that he had just told his squad to conserve ammunition. With this in mind the squad moved past these wolves, with only Shepard choosing to fight them by carefully shooting the wolves in the heads with single shots from his Carnifex. After absolving the shades the wolves had been attacking, Shepard followed his squad into the last part of Hell's seventh circle.

This last third was a vast desert with flames that danced across the sand and turning parts of it to glass, while the rest of it remained the same in defiance of the laws of chemistry. Raining down from above and into the burning sand were balls of fire that only added to the flames. And amidst this desert of fire and sand were the crumbling ruins of structures long since demolished. Structures that brought to mind both some of the Prothean ruins Shepard had seen, and also the ruins of civilizations from humanity's earlier days.

"Wonder who this part of the Circle is for." Zaeed said as the squad cautiously navigated through the desert, carefully avoiding and side-stepping the fire as it rained down onto the desert. No demons or shades or other monsters appeared to challenge them, but that only served to put the squad in an even greater state of nervousness and tension. Lucifer wasn't being generous. Something was going to appear sooner or later.

At long last the squad came to the end of the desert, and found it to be a massive cliff that served as a preface to a bottomless chasm lined with jagged rocks and massive crevices.

"How are we going to get down there?" Kasumi asked as they all looked down into the abyss before them.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that." Came a female voice that Shepard recognized. Then, coming out from beneath the cliff was an Asari who now had clearly demonic features, and dressed in attire adorned with the images of Lucifer. Her skin had also become gray, mottled, and corrosive. Despite her change in appearance, Shepard still recognized her by voice and words as the one Ardat-Yakshi he had had the displeasure of meeting.

"Morinth. Can't say I'm surprised that you're here."

"Oh, please. This place is for those who did violence against God. Blasphemers, if you will. People who hurt others or themselves and then tried to use God as a justification. But me, personally? I never really found much use for having a reason. I just did it."

"And that's exactly why I'm not surprised you got sent here."

"Maybe, but it doesn't matter. As you can see, Shepard, some people can be rewarded in Hell. And now me and my fellow Ardat-Yakshi stand as some of Lucifer's greatest. Did you know he's promised me my pick of any damned souls to torment that I want? All I need to do is kill you and all your little friends." Morinth's smile widened. "Shouldn't be too hard."

"You couldn't even beat one of my squad when she faced you. I don't see you taking us all on."

"Yes, Mother. But I don't see her here. And I've got backup of my own." Morinth turned to her fellow Ardat-Yakshi, who had crawled up the chasm to stand alongside their leader. "I'll deal with Shepard personally. You kill his friends."

Nodding wordlessly the Ardat-Yakshi zipped towards Shepard's crew via biotic charge, now assisted with hellfire and leaving a burning trail behind them. So fast were the Ardat-Yakshi that Shepard and his squad barely had time to react. Miranda managed to stagger one of them with a biotic blast more powerful than the damned Asari had anticipated. Another still had it's defenses overcome with a sustained assault from Grunt and Zaeed. And amidst the fighting Morinth and Shepard fought one another exclusively, the good commander backpedaling as Morinth quickly covered the distance again and again with her biotic charges. She beared down on him mercilessly, and it was only through sustained fire from Shepard's assault rifle that he kept her back to any degree.

"So Shepard, you're in trouble again. Only this time my mother isn't here to save you." Morinth's cracked and deformed lips stretched into a smile. "Pity."

"I think I can handle myself just fine, thanks." Shepard retorted, as he did keeping up his own assault of gunfire. In lieu of any firearm, Morinth for her part relied solely on her incredible biotic power, the normal blue of biotics now colored a fiery red for her.

Grunt meanwhile stood guard over Jack, who was still too weak to fight. Unleashing blast after blast from his shotgun, Grunt kept the Ardat-Yakshi sufficiently disinclined to attack Jack's vulnerable form. Tali and Legion fought side-by-side and Garrus soon joined them, able to squeeze off shot after shot from his Sniper Rifle, each one finding it's target in an Ardat-Yakshi. The bullets were sufficiently powerful that each shot did damage and also struck with enough force to stagger every target they hit. This was good, because it also left the Ardat-Yakshi vulnerable to follow up shots from the others.

One Ardat-Yakshi turned her attention to Legion and zipped towards the Geth via Biotic Charge. Legion was unable to shoot her down in time. In moments, the Ardat-Yakshi was nearly on top of him, and Legion was too slow to backpedal. The demonic Asari would have likely torn into him with her biotics right then and there, had Garrus not seen her in time and shot at her with his Mantis.

Meanwhile, Shepard continued to roll, tumble, and side-step to avoid Morinth's never-ending barrage of biotic attacks, with each blast sending up a small cloud of debris where it impacted. Shepard in response unleashed a steady stream of gunfire, but Morinth's demonically enhanced biotic barriers seemed to hold, and Shepard grunted in annoyance as Morinth refused to die again.

Another biotic blast, this one a little too close for comfort. Shepard was knocked back by the force of it, but mercifully it had not been a direct hit. Forcing himself up, Shepard saw Morinth prepare another biotic attack, and this time it connected. Shepard's armor and shields took the worst of it, but only barely so, and again he was blasted backwards.

Seeing her commander and lover in danger, Miranda ran towards him, ducking under a Warp directed at her and absorbing another with her own energy shields and biotic barriers. Soon, she had reached Shepard's position just as Morinth closed in for another attack.

"You're failing against me, Shepard." Morinth said with a smile. "Not surprised, really. My power is without equal now. Not even Mother could save you now if she were here."

"Then I guess I'll have to do." Miranda snarled.

Morinth was tempted to burst out laughing. "You? You can't be serious. You're nothing but a child who's biotic power couldn't trump an Asari youth. I on the other hand am the pinnacle of biotic power. Observe."

Outstretching a hand Morinth unleashed a powerful biotic blast that try as she might, Miranda was not able to deflect, instead being sent flying backwards and tumbling before skidding to a halt.

"Like I said, you're pathetic. A waste of the nodules inside you."

Miranda closed her eyes tightly and did her best to ignore Morinth's cutting words. She knew how to resist taunts, but she always took shots at her abilities poorly, as she had a low enough self-regard for herself as was without others belittling her also. Hence her general facade of arrogance.

Focusing her anger, Miranda got up and waited for Morinth to expend more energy with another attack. As it happened, Morinth unleashed another merciless biotic blast, but this time Miranda was ready and moved out of the way before retaliating with some Warp attacks. Morinth chuckled as she dispelled them. Privately, Miranda knew that she lacked the biotic power needed to take Morinth by herself. And with Jack still not in fighting condition, least of all where biotics were concerned, Miranda was without anyone else to reinforce her power, unless she could get Thane to come to her, but he was busy fighting off other Ardat-Yakshi. Miranda was alone.

Or so it appeared. Though he had yet to recover fully from being blasted back by Morinth's biotic attack, Shepard was still not down and out. Seeing Miranda now engaged in a losing biotic battle with Morinth, Shepard resolved to find some way to help. Remembering his Angelic Blade, Shepard prepared to activate it and waited for the right moment to move in. When Miranda was blasted down, Shepard took that as his signal. Drawing his Sniper Rifle, he aimed for Morinth's head and unleashed a steady stream of shots from his Viper. Anticipating the kind of response Morinth would give once she turned around in full, Shepard was already moving out of the way of the biotic wave Morinth unleashed. Continuing to pepper Morinth with a punishing torrent of shots from the Viper, Shepard hoped to goad Morinth into getting closer. Close enough for him to use his Angelic Blade, which thus far had done it's stated job of smiting hell's legions quite well.

But as always Morinth was clever, and thus was not quick to fall for such a ploy. Instead, she continued to hang back and unleash biotic attacks from a far, and once more Shepard was forced into a running battle with her, continually peppering her with shots and stopping only to move out of the way of retaliatory biotic attacks.

"I could use a bit of help here!" Shepard called out.

His request did not go unanswered. Zaeed was the first to turn his attentions to Morinth and start opening fire, soon followed in this respect by the others. The more Ardat-Yakshi fell in battle, the more the other members of Shepard's team could focus on the leader of the demonic Asari. And against so many shots from so many different angles, Morinth's barriers at last began to fail. Finally, a well-aimed shot from Garrus' Mantis dispelled them altogether.

Finally!

As Morinth reeled from her biotic barriers finally falling, Shepard surged forwards, activated his Angelic Blade once more, and stabbed it at Morinth. The Ardat-Yakshi was quick though, and saw him coming just as the blade came mere inches from her shoulder area. With a desperate biotic blast she knocked Shepard back and down to the ground. But as she did, it left her open to another attack.

"My turn, bitch." Miranda growled before unleashing a Warp that Morinth didn't deflect in time. It was a direct hit, one that disoriented Morinth as well as knocking her both off guard and up to the edge of the cliff-face. A biotic blast fired by Thane pushed her further back still. Morinth tried to deflect the next few biotic attacks, but her power was diminishing. The biotic aura she had been perpetually enveloped in, was no longer quite as bright, the flames not rising quite so high as they had when the battle had begun. And now both Miranda and Thane had a clear shot at her.

"Time for you to go back home." Miranda said coldly.

And then, with one combined blast blast of biotic energy, Miranda and Thane sent out a super-warp the size of a large chair that struck Morinth square in the chest and blasted her backwards as though she'd been struck with a cannonball. Sailing through the air and then over the edge of the cliff, Morinth went plummeting into the Eighth Circle, arms and legs sprawled out as the former helplessly grabbed at thin air. Soon her body was swallowed up completely by the darkness of the pit. None heard her body hit the ground of the eighth circle, assuming it ever did.

"She failed." Lucifer noted. "That's unfortunate...for her, anyway. Hell is, shall we say, particularly harsh to those who gamble here and then lose."

As Lucifer's voice faded away once more, Shepard turned to look at his crew. As had been the case before, they all looked banged up, beat up, and completely, utterly, exhausted. In effect, it was like Shepard was looking at a mirror of himself and his own current state of mind and body.

But of course, the fight wasn't over. Even though the horrors of the Violence Circle were behind them, everyone knew that it would be completely foolish to believe that there would not be more violence going forward. In fact if anything, there was going to be even more of it now that they were so close to the end.

"Alright everyone, here's the plan: we stay here for a while and catch our breath, and then we find some way to get down into the next circle. There's only two more left. We can make it."

But in truth, even Shepard wasn't sure he could believe in that last part anymore.

Author's Note: I think I can safely say this is one of the longest chapters I have ever written for any of my fan-fictions on this site. But, in my defense there's a lot to go through with a Circle that is divided into three different portions. Hope there was enough carnage and fighting for you action junkies out there.