Revenant Day Five

Margarita woke up in the bed that she was renting in Sallah, and suddenly realized that she would be spending the whole day as Margarita Surprise, and not a single moment as a pseudonym. It was a refreshing feeling. She had even slept quite well overnight, having gone over the plan that she had with the others and having them agree to help her out. She had collapsed into bed with her plan further revised, and further perfected. It was as good as it was going to get with the information that she had at her fingertips. It really felt like this time… she had a chance. She just had to keep her wits about her. If she underestimated a devil, then she would deserve to be sent back once again. She couldn't afford that for her morale. She needed this.

The other thing she needed was mana.

It was still quite early in the morning as Margarita left her room and asked the innkeeper for an early breakfast before she headed out to one of the crystals that she hadn't yet tapped. This one was hidden in an alleyway that was so near Sammy's garden that there was a chance that Margarita would have another encounter with the teenager. It was only unlikely because she thought that the exorcism was probably still going on.

Margarita used Glamour for her mana extraction, as it was the most 'optimistic' of the schools, and she wanted to feel optimistic about the day. Once she had drawn the rune and the first Elf had been summoned to start collecting the mana from the crystal, Margarita set out along the main road down to the church. She could easily give her familiars the commands that she needed to and collect the mana that she would need later in the day without having to be present to babysit them.

The church seemed quiet, but Margarita knew that what she wanted to know wasn't really something that she was going to be able to determine from the outside: how was the exorcism going? Or how had it gone, in a best case scenario. She was able to open the doors without any resistance, and found Amy and Sammy sleeping on makeshift blankets on the back pew where she had left them the previous afternoon. It was kind of cute. Margarita looked over to the door to the room that Alex had lead them to and it was ajar. Unable to resist the temptation, Margarita walked over to said door and took a peek inside.

Astoria was sitting there, bleary, but seemingly no worse for the wear, and Cavan was asleep on the bench. Margarita knocked lightly, and Astoria started, looking at her, but her face faded into a smile when she recognized Margarita. Margarita stepped inside the room, but did not close the door. "Well?"

"You were right, though it's clear that you knew even before you did that check in my shop," Astoria said. "It was quite the infestation, according to the priests. They were happy to help, once they realized that there was something that they could do both for Cavan and God."

"That's great," Margarita said. "I… hesitate to try to give you advice from here—"

"I take counsel from where it comes, young lady," Astoria admonished her. "Doesn't mean I'll necessarily heed your words as you want me to, but I will make sure to listen to you."

Margarita swallowed. "Stay off the streets today and tonight. There's… there's going to be fighting, and I don't want you all caught up in any more than you have to be. Protect your charges. Here, if you can. The church is probably going to be the best place to be neutral."

"…What are you not telling me?"

"…Many things."

"I see," Astoria said, and she sighed. "It doesn't sit right with me, just letting you talk me out of participating in something big within my own town, particularly something that you're going to be facing alone—"

"I won't face it alone," Margarita cut Astoria off with more heat than she intended, and had to take a breath in order to steady her voice. "I managed to find three of my friends from the Silver Star Tower to help me."

Astoria's look was unreadable, but it made Margarita feel a little warmer inside. "Have you forgiven the Tower, then?"

"The Tower was never the problem," Margarita said. "If there's anyone to forgive, it's me."

Astoria continued to watch the young mage with that same look on her face until she finally shook her head. "I think you're almost there, then. Promise me one thing; come back and tell me your full story before you leave town? I have a few questions for you that I think I need answered."

"I promise," Margarita said.

"Good. Go; do what you need to."

And Margarita left the room. She made sure to check to make sure both Amy and Sammy were as healthy as she had left them, and left them once again. The next part had no need to be their battle.

There were more experienced mages around to take on the… 'final boss'.

As Margarita returned to the inn to have breakfast, the Elves that she had summoned had finished collecting from that crystal. She sent them on a short jaunt to another crystal to collect a little more mana — the second crystal didn't really have enough to justify drawing a rune near it — and continued to keep tabs on them through her mind's eye. She sat down to breakfast right as the proprietress finished making it up for her, and she pulled her attention to herself for long enough to give the woman a sincere thank you before digging in.

The rest of the former pupils of the Silver Star Tower joined her as she was eating her breakfast. Bartido was more awake than Margarita thought he would be, giving her a salute when he sat down. Lillet was fully put together, but given her position it was rather expected. Well, it was expected of Bartido's position too, but Lillet had always been the better put together of the two of them, no matter what they were doing. The surprise on that front was definitely Hiram, who arrived last to breakfast and definitely the most worse for wear. As if it could be any other way, Bartido was the one who made the obvious joke. "She keep you up last night, Hiram?"

Hiram merely gave Bartido a withering look and did not otherwise respond, which Margarita thought was the correct play.

When they finished, the four of them nodded to each other, and Hiram returned upstairs to Opalneria, who apparently had returned to sleep as soon as she knew that the road blocks remained up. Hiram promised that she would be up and about by the time that it mattered, and Margarita certainly believed him, considering how dangerous she had been to Margarita's old mission at the Silver Star Tower. Bartido left to check on his cousin and make sure that nothing had changed there. Margarita thought it wouldn't be a problem, given that Ribbon had been the possessed this time around, but Bartido would be much more useful if he knew that his cousin was not directly in the line of fire. Again. Lillet went to the magistrate, checking for much the same reason, though carrying a message from Astoria that Cavan was resting in the church "with the girls". Lillet would make a show of wanting to see anything that the Magistrate was looking at, but give in if the Magistrate was going to be out of the way of the main area.

Margarita left the inn last, as she was the one who was going to draw out their target. She headed to a building that she had been dodging so far that week in order to not be caught out by anyone from the council, who might be in Bonarda's pocket considering none of them ever did anything to check the man's power. But the town hall was actually tucked behind a few of the other buildings on the main road, including the magistrate's office and Astoria's shop. Perhaps it was because there was no true reason for travelers to need to go there all that often. Though, as she thought about it, why even have a town council if the magistrate had the power that he weilded during such a crisis? Shouldn't that be the mayor, given that there wasn't a landed noble taking care of the place? Well, if she were truly curious, she could ask Hiram, but that probably wasn't something she was going to be curious enough about when this was all over. If this all was going to be over.

It was. She just had to focus. This was the best chance she'd had.

Town hall was a small building, though with some interesting formal decoration on the front, such as fancy columns holding up the front porch's roof and a door twice the height of a tall man. It was even mostly stonework despite the fact that the town was heavily wood based from the nearby forest. None of that seemed to be quite enough opulence, so the piece de resistance was a statue out front of someone that Margarita did not recognize, nor did she care enough to read the plaque that was placed there for them. Instead she went right up to the door, opened it and let herself inside.

The inside was more function than form, with the wood returning in full force, though well treated and clearly maintained well. A young woman looked up from behind the desk with a scowl on her face. "It's too early for anyone to be in to see you—" She cut herself off, narrowing her eyes at Margarita. "Are you a traveler? This really isn't a place for any travelers to get any help."

Margarita resisted rolling her eyes. "Given that the roads have been closed for three days and counting, none of the people staying at the inn are doing much traveling," Margarita said. "So you may want to prepare to deal with a few travelers coming round trying to grease the wheels to get out of here. Me, however, I was just wondering what Councilor Bonarda's schedule was for the day."

The young woman blinked rapidly, processing the information that Margarita gave her. The response she came up with, though, was disappointing. "I do not have a schedule for any of the councilors today; They all are unavailable due to the recent crisis, as I am sure you are aware, given you know about the roadblocks." The woman looked back down at whatever it was she was doing, waving one hand in Margarita's general direction. "Now please leave; I have things that I need to do."

Margarita was unable to hide her disappointment in how the encounter had gone fully, but it seemed like she wasn't going to find Bonarda there. Leaving a message with the receptionist would work, but would open up the possibility of being surprised by his appearance or maybe even ambushed by him already hostile to levels that were much too high for feeling good about the plan. No, she was going to have to go find the man some other way. She politely thanked the young woman (no need to antagonize her, even if she was quite rude), and left the building.

Unfortunately, that left a bit of a guessing game as to where she could find Bonarda. Lillet and Bartido had not sent any messages indicating that they had found him where they had been checking, so it was unlikely that heading in either direction would help her find him. But… there was a place that was not being checked, and was likely to be unoccupied, that Margarita knew of, and probably had to check at some point anyway. Perhaps she should have already checked it after Ribbon's death, but there was no time like the present.

Margarita took the back ways to Ribbon's house, on the off chance that the magistrate had closed it down like he tended to close anything that might have something to do with the investigation of the murders. He had probably found the body, but it was still up in the air as to who Medoc would consider the most important of those who had died. There was a significant chance that one of the council members had died over night this time, and that would likely take priority over some random alchemist that decided to live on the outskirts of town. Margarita hated banking on what was effectively a chance, but there was something that she really did need to see.

The backside of Ribbon's house no longer had the two Golems there; they had either been moved — perhaps during her battle the previous day with their owner and master — or they had dismissed themselves into mana upon their master's death. Margarita's money was on the former; Ribbon didn't seem the type to use a rune to summon Golems that he was going to keep around for guarding purposes. That probably meant that they could be anywhere, so the sooner Margarita set up her primary runes the better; she just had to know where the battle was going to take place before she was willing to make that choice. First, her target. Around the side of the house that faced the forest, looking around where the little alcove where she had seen the danger sign grave, there was a small pile of rubble instead. Margarita frowned. That was a lot less than she thought she was going to see there.

"What do we have here?" came a cultured voice from behind her. Margarita spun around to find Bonarda standing on the back stoop of the house. Welp. Found him. "A stray, I would guess. Now; are you the one who has caused me all my trouble so far?"

Margarita dodged back, narrowly evading the projectile of one of the Golems. "Seems like you don't care about what I have to say," Margarita said, pouring mana into her one already set up time and calling the few familiars that she had already summoned to her position. She also sent the signal.

"On the contrary," Bonarda said with a smile. "I am very interested in what you have to say." This was punctuated by Margarita spotting both of the Golems coming around the far side of the house, and having to scramble behind one of the trees. It wouldn't last very long, but any time she could buy without losing anything precious was gold.

"Frightfully annoying, gnats like you are. So fragile, and yet so difficult to deal with," Bonarda said, and since Margarita could not see his face she wasn't quite sure what tone he was trying to create there. It likely didn't matter since she was forced to move again to get out of the way of more thrown objects from the Golems. "Always trying to get where you do not belong. What brings you to this place? Why are you where you should not be?"

"Do you want me to answer, or do you want to kill me?" Margarita asked. "Hardly seems like the best idea to be attempting to get both at once."

"It doesn't matter if you die; I'll have access to you after you pass on, don't you worry," Bonarda said with an uncaring air — it was like he was discussing how he was going to acquire dinner for the evening. "I have my ways."

"What if I go to heaven? Are you willing to embrace God to see me again?" Margarita asked. Suddenly she felt a pressure of threat coming from where Bonarda's voice was coming from, and she had to dive to a new tree. She just barely made it before the tree she had been hiding behind had exploded into splinters. Several splashed across her new hiding space, and two of them struck her true, and she winced with the pain of it. "That's quite the reaction," Margarita said into the silence that was punctuated by a larger chunk of the tree thumping into the grass between the two combatants. "You would think I touched a nerve."

"You will answer my questions," Bonarda snarled. "Why are you here?"

"To bother you," Margarita replied. "Why else would I be here?"

"Bothering me is hardly a goal that a traveler would have," Bonarda said. His uncaring air was completely gone and now it was clear that he was taking the conversation very seriously. "And I've known that you have been skulking about all week. Perhaps you are the one who has been hindering me this whole time? That would be quite the impressive feat, to mastermind something so strongly that I would not notice until you made a mistake."

"I made a mistake?" Margarita asked flippantly, dancing to another tree. She had moved almost all the way out of the way of the house and spotted familiars that were coming. Just a bit more. "That's news to me. What mistake did I make again?"

"You came here, to the scene of the crime, as it were," Bonarda said. "You spotted me, when I did not wish to be spotted, and was taking pains not to be spotted."

"I didn't spot you," Margarita said. "I had no idea you were there until you spoke. And then attacked me. Unprovoked." Margarita stepped out from behind the tree to face Bonarda fully. His face was frozen, with just the barest hint of a frown marring what he likely thought was a perfectly groomed and handsome man, but the killer's look in the eyes completely ruined the effect. Both Golems fired their projectiles, but a Unicorn arrived in front of Margarita with plenty of time to take the hits off of its shield. Margarita smiled. "You might even think that the mistake that was made… wasn't even mine in the first place." The other familiars that she had positioned near enough to help — a troop of five Fairys, completing her Glamour contribution — formed up behind her.

Bonarda made a gesture, and the two Golems continued their assault. "You think that this is enough? Laughable. You must be a mere apprentice."

Crackling power appeared in the air, causing Bonarda to blink and back up, but the Golems were not nearly so lucky; they were apparently in bad enough shape that they almost immediately collapsed under the onslaught of the Psychic Storm from a Homunculus. "Sorry I'm late," Bartido said from a position that had sightlines to Margarita but not Bonarda. His Golems, flanked by two traditional Homunculi were out in the open, clearly arrayed as opponents to Bonarda.

Bonarda gave them all a lidded look. "Hmph. Child's play." He raised his arms, and as if coming from the earth below, Demons started climbing out of the ground around him. "Rise, my servants. I have prey for you this day." First claws would reach out of the ground and grab on to the dirt in front of them, and then that devil's face would arrive and leer directly at Margarita before continuing their climb out of the gorund. It was almost like he had summoned them a little too low, and the familiars didn't mind.

"Not good," Bartido said, moving his own forces back to let Margarita's take the fore. He was right. The Demons would likely crash right through Bartido's forces as soon as they reached them, and Margarita's Unicorn could only do so much, much less the Fairies. They would probably be able to take down two Demons before they were removed, but Margarita didn't have much else until there were more reinforcements. The two other groups that she had created were still on their way, but she as pretty sure they wouldn't arrive in time, themselves.

Still, there was nothing to do but let her familiars make the attempt to do the jobs that she wished of them. Even as more Demons, and there were even Imps mixed among those that were still rising out of the ground in front of Bonarda. He had acquired a smile that indicated that he was enjoying watching Bartido and Margarita squirm under his purview. His smile got wider as the five fairies engaged one of the Demons, attempting to take it down as quickly as they could, and trying to use the Unicorn as their wall. Bonarda didn't even gesture to order a significant chunk of the Demons charge their position — something that Margarita was sure that she only really had seen Lillet do. Bartido still had way too many Demons headed his way, and even with careful application of Psychic Storm from his Homunculi, the Golems took hits that were clearly enough to fell them in short order.

Margarita, for her part, kept moving. Two Demons were apparently ordered to go after her specifically. They might have been ordered to take her alive, but she certainly couldn't take that chance. Without her taking a large amount of Bonarda's focus, the whole plan would likely fall apart. And if she were killed, she'd have to start the whole week over again. She was unwilling to do that. But all of her planned moves and readiness for the battle that had started were not enough for her to survive forever. She had scrambled all the way onto the southern road — still free of any bystanders — and unfortunately she was out of things to run away from the Demons assigned to her. Worse, there were two additional Demons that had joined in their quest for her blood or capture. Margarita felt the pain of the loss of her Unicorn, followed shortly by each of the five fairies in turn. At least this time, she knew where he was going to be, if she set up events that way? She closed her eyes…

…only to have the astral swords of three Phantoms block the Demon that was about to take her. Given a moment's respite, Margarita was able to run further away from the clash as more Phantoms joined in. "Quite a distance for us to have to travel to you, Miss Surprise," Opalneria Rain said as she announced her presence with more Phantoms and Skullmages. "And it seems that you needed the help sooner than you thought."

Bonarda had followed to the edge of the road, and he stood among his Demons and Imps — still rising out of the ground behind him — and he looked nonplussed about the recent additions to the party. He didn't speak, merely raising an eyebrow, which apparently had the effect of bringing more creatures of Sorcery out of the gorund behind him. Opalneria's forces — as well as Hiram's, Margarita noticed as she chanced a glance their way — flooded the gap in the street, meeting the now mass of devils in combat with their astral swords. Phantoms — fully designed for combat against the denizens of Hell — took to the fray possessed with the fury of battle and perhaps even — enjoyment? It was hard to tell. Margarita was doing something else with the precious bit of mana that her imps had collected during her search.

Unfortunately, as much as it seemed that the Phantoms were easily able to stem the tide of the Demons and Imps that just kept coming… there seemed to be no limit of the summoning capabilities of their enemy. Sadly this was not true of Hiram and Opalneria. Even after planning out the use of all of the mana crystals that Margarita knew of in Sallah, there was only a finite supply of mana that they could draw from to make their familiars take their form from. And while the extra capacity of two magicians well versed and used to the strain of Necromancy in particular, there were not enough familiars to push through the writing horde of devils and push at Bonarda, who still simply stood there. Perhaps a bit bored, with nothing to do. His devils were managing the work that he needed; the impressive force of Phantoms that Hiram and Opalneria brought were starting to be pushed back themselves. As soon as that became clear, the smile returned to Bonarda's face.

Only to be wiped away when four Chimeras slammed into the line. Margarita blinked and spun around to see Bartido and… that was his cousin! They were both standing in front of Chimera Spawn runes, and it looked like they were pressing even more of their remaining mana reserves into bolstering the line. Bonarda's face was blank again — though Margarita could tell that the mask was cracking. Even if there were only so many close calls that they could survive, she felt a little bit of confidence surge into her gut. This was a battle, sure, but it was a winnable one. Margarita finished drawing her runes and was putting the planned power into them as she watched the progress of the battle. The Chimeras were acting as more crowd control and meatshield rather than making any attempts to thin the horde, but the remaining Phantoms seemed perfectly willing to resume that role. The Chimeras had lots of flesh for the Demons to get through before they would stop moving, but it was only a stopgap measure. Bartido and Grot managed to get their third Chimeras each — probably exhausting both of their reserves, as Chimeras were not mana-cheap — into the line of battle before the last of their original set of four had fallen, but it was clearly not enough, and the horde was growing again.

Suddenly, into the fray from above were more Fairies. Margarita blinked. Those hadn't been planned — she looked around and found Astoria Waldorf was standing in the center of the road over to the church. With her were Amy and Sammy, clearly both focused on controlling the familiars that were attached to them, and with them was Magistrate Medoc, who stared in awe at the proceedings. Well, that was one way for that to happen, even if it wasn't the one that Margarita had planned on.

This latest arrival of reinforcements to the battle was what set Bonarda off. Far from the calm face that he had held up to that point, his features twisted into a rictus of rage. After a moment of heavily breathing and casting about with his eyes at the rest of them, he howled to the sky wordlessly. The visage that Margarita knew as Councilor Bonarda was quickly replaced with the pale white skin and just a hint too thin build that reminded Margarita instantly of the only other devil that wasn't possessing someone she had ever known. The primary difference was that Margarita had never seen Advocat with much anger at all. "Bonarda", however, was the pure picture of the deadly sin of rage, despite the lack of red in his face. "Of course, of course, of course. You little bitch; you had this all planned out, didn't you?"

"You keep asking the same questions expecting different answers," Margarita replied. "Why don't you just tell us which of the major devils you are, and we can get the rest of this over with?"

"Fine!" "Bonarda" said, stamping his foot, and lifting into the air to float half a meter off the ground. "You'll all die here and become my servants below anyway, I might as well tell you your master's name! I am Astaroth! Learn that name, for it will be what you scream in your torment forever!" He charged, flying right over to where Margarita was, who only had time to close her eyes before he arrived.

Though he was met this time by the talons of a dragon. A dragon with a rider. "Tell me then, Astaroth, do you major devils all represent a particular one of the Seven Deadly Sins, or have I merely seen a particularly large amount of Wrath from you…" Lillet trailed off as she smiled at Astaroth much like he had smiled at Margarita earlier. "And, perhaps, more Greed than usual from Grimlet?"

"YOU!?" Astaroth cried, jumping back. "Lillet Blan, the vanquisher of Grimlet. Do note that your success was a one-time thing."

"I'm well aware," Lillet said. "It was a trick that was only ever going to work once."

"Then you know that I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!" Astaroth repeated, charging again at the dragon. But not only did the dragon meet the charge of the devil, arrows rained down from the air, and two more Dragons breathed their fire at both Astaroth and the conflagration of devils beneath him. Astaroth spun back from his blow, glaring around at all of the foes that were attacking him. "None of you are doing me the courtesy of dying. You're all wasting your time. I have already won; the Beast has already killed more than sixty of your compatriots over the past month! You all will slowly and inexorably die before the end of the year! I needn't do a thing here! You are all merely delaying the inevitable!"

"Aren't we always?" Lillet asked lightly. "We're human. We will all die one day."

"The whole experience of being alive is a struggle against the inevitability of death," Opalneria said.

"It is in that struggle that we find whatever it is that we live for," Hiram added.

"And what we fight for is different per person," Bartido said, then he glanced at Grot. "Though some of us have more than one reason we do anything."

"Shut up!" Astaroth snapped. "I don't care!"

"Merely because you don't understand," Astoria said, standing proud in front of her charges and the magistrate. "Our will to fight against the inevitable, as you call it, is something that is inherent to us."

"I may have just been reminded about why I fight it," Amy said, slowly. "But I have plenty that I wish to protect, both here and elsewhere. I won't let you take those things away from me, just when I got the ability to protect them myself!"

"And what are you going to do about it, girlie?" Astaroth challenged, taking a ready stance to charge at her.

"Nothing."

"!" Astaroth shuddered as he felt the clean entry into his back. Then he gurgled, falling to the ground and taking the young woman who had jumped onto his back with him. He tried to reach back to throw her off of him, but his limbs weren't quite answering his commands.

"Amy has done enough," Margarita continued, pushing as hard as she could against the power of the devil that was trying to throw it right back out of the cut she was making. She couldn't even try to slide the knife anywhere, the force was trying to push the bone knife that she had already used to kill one possessed devil back at her so much that it took all of her strength to hold it in. She hoped that it was going to be enough. "Your true opponent wasn't even me. It was something that wanted you dead so bad that it gave me what Lillet Blan had when she bested Grimlet. Now!" Margarita Surprise roared with all of her pain, impatience, and power. "Return to Hell where you belong, you sick son of a bitch!" And with a surge of strength she didn't know she had, she sliced upward and to the side, cutting Astaroth's head clean off.

The head struck the ground with a muffled thump before both body and head melted into goo, rushing into the ground much like the devils that had supported him had rushed out. Similarly, all of the devils stopped fighting the instant the head had been severed from the neck, and also began to melt into goo. There was a faint unearthly scream that tried to fill the air, but it was too soft to tell whether it was real or only happening in Margarita's mind. Eventually though, the only noise that she could hear was her heavy breathing, and then the footsteps of the other nearby humans as they started to approach her. Margarita swallowed thickly. Had… had she done it? Was it… over?

No… no, she had to stay awake… there was one more thing that she had to…

"Margarita!"

Margarita Surprise collapsed in a heap, completely spent.