Date: July 25th, around 2:00 AM Location: Streets, Crystal Rose
- "I knew she had a weird look in her eyes!" Agnes yells.
She was riding on the back of her giant harpy eagle, and under it Julian was free-running across the buildings, quickly jumping from roof to roof to keep up with her.
- "You really think she's why the Guard is on maximum alert?!" He shouts back.
- "Obviously! The timing is too perfect!"
- "What was she thinking?!"
- "That's what I'd like to know!" Agnes squints, and her summon slows down. "There she is!"
Agnes lands near the large mansion, sighing as she notices the damage to its front. Julian lands next to her, and he deeply frowns as he notices the scene unfolding in front of the building. Nyx was still facing the mansion with her arms crossed, while Angelica was standing next to her with her enchanted greatsword in hand. They were surrounded by a group of about fifty guards, all ready to release their spells at a moment's notice.
- "I see how it is…" Julian grumbles as he elbows his way through the guards. "Can you all stand down? I don't want the situation to go out of control and end up with Angelica catching a body or two in the confusion."
- "Julian Leventis…" One of the guards replies. "We know you're associated with her, so as promising of a recruit you might be, we can't just-"
- "I'm saying this for your sake. If you want to die, do it somewhere else."
- "Julian." Agnes cuts, putting a hand on his shoulder, before glancing at the guards. "Agnes Syka, Fourth Branch head investigator. Stand down, I'll handle this."
The ring of guards slowly opens, leaving space for Agnes to reach Nyx and Angelica.
- "Nyx." Agnes calls, an unusual anger underlying her voice. Her eyes were softly shining in the darkness, and her slit pupils were so thin they were barely visible.
- "Agnes?" Nyx turns to look at her.
- "I can't continue to condone your actions. You've gone too far. For your own safety, I will-"
- "Hold on! I have a plan!"
- "...What? You just rushed to attack the headquarters of the Fifth Branch right after I told you not to do anything reckless. I don't think any planning went into that."
- "I just wanted to make it easier to- Oh, there he is." Nyx suddenly says, turning her attention to the demolished entrance of the mansion.
Far above the structure, the very stars in the sky seem to be set in motion, tracing circular light patterns in the night. The rings of light eventually converge, forming a giant ring-shaped portal large enough to engulf the entire mansion. From that portal, Radiance slowly falls, and he immediately gives a worried look to Nyx when he sees her on the ground.
- "Nyx… this really was not a good decision. I tried to stall her for as long as I could, but…" Radiance starts.
- "Don't worry Ka'el!" Nyx gives her a thumbs up. "I'm ready this time!"
- "I don't think you understand…"
- "So stalling me is what you were attempting to do with all your pointless chatter, Radiance." A powerful, deep voice booms from the other side of the portal, resonating in the entire neighborhood.
- "By Solom-" Julian starts, his face turning pale as he immediately recognizes the voice. He whips around to look at the guards surrounding Nyx, who were worriedly staring at the portal. "Evacuate the area! Get the civilians to the nearest anti-demon shelter!"
- "What?" One of the guards replies. "But it's two in the mor-"
- "Just do what he says!" Agnes yells. "This is a Disaster rank threat!"
The guards immediately scatter, waking up the residents of all the surrounding houses, and using magic to force the doors open if needed. Meanwhile, a cascade of pure darkness begins pouring from Radiance's portal, and the latter quickly hovers to the side to avoid it. The darkness converges to form the body of a woman twice as tall as him, with long white hair gleaming in the moonlight, floating in all directions like a giant aureole behind her head. She opens her eyes to reveal her pure black pupils, and looks down at Nyx as she slowly floats closer to the ground.
- "Radiance, you have attempted to fool me once again." Lady Night frowns, glancing at Radiance. "Do not tell me that you truly believe her to be a proper shard of my being?"
- "As you wish. I will not be TELLING you that, my goddess." Radiance rolls his eyes.
- "I… see." She turns her attention back to Nyx. "Given that you have breached our fragile agreement, I see no reason to keep you alive anymore. I will destroy your vessel and claim the shard within her." A sphere of darkness forms around her, slowly expanding outwards and absorbing all light coming into contact with it. She calmly looks down at the scenery under her. "And I believe it is time I ended this farce."
The debris from the entrance of the mansion are the first things to rise from the ground, being slowly stretched and distorted by the sphere as they approach it. As it grows, the entire mansion begins being gradually ripped from its foundations, and Agnes' giant harpy eagle envelops the group with its wings to protect them from the loose objects that were being pulled from the street next to them. Radiance quickly floats away to avoid touching it.
- "This is insane…" Julian whispers. He notices one of the guards slowly floating towards the orb of darkness, after having been forcibly pulled away from the ground. "Whoa there!"
Julian momentarily closes his eyes, focusing to create a large invisible hand that reaches towards the guard, and pulls him into their makeshift shelter.
- "I'll at least try my best to minimize casualties." Julian exhales.
- "Thank you!..." The guard says, still trying to catch his breath.
- "No problem." He turns to Nyx. "So, your plan was just to lure Lady Night out and get everybody killed?"
- "Only the first part, not the second one!" Nyx replies, offended. "Angelica, let's do it!"
- "Ha, I have been waiting for this!" Angelica grins, spinning her sword with both hands so quickly that it becomes a black and blue blur. The whirling of the blade creates a faint whistling sound as a light wind begins blowing around her. "Spiritual arts…"
An aura of silver-colored light flares around her, and Julian sighs before turning to Agnes.
- "Agnes, unsummon the harpy eagle."
- "What?" Agnes replies. "This is the only thing keeping us from being sucked in by this spell!"
- "I noticed you take damage whenever your summons do, and I've seen Angelica do a trick like this before. You really don't want to get hit by the backlash of what's about to happen."
- "...Alright, I trust you at least."
The harpy eagle disappears in a flash of white light, and they all immediately feel pulled towards the giant sphere of darkness. At the same time, Angelica grasps the handle of her greatsword with both hands.
"...Julian Slash!" She yells as she swings her weapon at Lady Night.
The scene falls silent for half a second, as if time had stopped. Then, the sphere of darkness is completely cleaved in half, like a blade had cleanly cut through it. The spell quickly falls apart, dissolving into black particles.
- "Hey Angelica?" Julian calls out, blankly staring at the scene. Lady Night was weirdly unscathed, but seemed almost confused by what had just happened.
- "...Yes?" Angelica replies, after exhaling a small cloud of shimmering silver wind.
- "That's a cool thing you did there, but don't name your attacks after me."
- "Haha, and why so? A Void Slash resembles your most powerful spell, does it not?"
- "Just call it that then!"
- "Unfortunately for you, I am very fond of that name!"
- "...What are you?" Lady Night asks, looking directly at Angelica.
- "Why you are in luck, I had planned to give my name to an evil god today!" Angelica loudly laughs, her voice resonating across the entire street. "I am Angelica Ironside, hero of prophecies both old and new as much as I would rather not! Dragonslayer, Swordmaster, Sage in Spiritual Arts, and soon to be god-slayer! Have at thee!"
Angelica steps forward, performing a spectacular leap straight towards Lady Night with her sword pointed at her chest.
- "Pointless." Lady Night comments as the blade reaches her.
It bounces on her skin like it just tried to pierce a block of metal, not even managing to stab through the fabric of her black dress. Angelica raises an eyebrow, and her grin slightly shrinks.
- "You might be tougher than a dragon!" She comments while she falls back to the ground.
- "Do not compare me to these creatures." Lady Night coldly replies as a small orb of darkness forms in her hand.
It bursts towards Angelica, unleashing a black ray of energy, and the latter breathes in before slashing forward, cleaving the attack in half along with a nearby residential building. A few of the occupants could be seen inside, trying to keep their balance as the structure collapsed while the guards that were with them stalled the destruction with their magic, but before they can fall a giant harpy eagle manifests next to them in a flash of white light.
- "Jump on!" Agnes yells to them before turning towards Julian. "Come with me, we need to help with the evacuation!"
- "Uh…" Julian looks back and forth between her and Nyx, the latter of which was focusing light around her hands with her eyes closed.
- "If you think you can take Lady Night on too, I'm just going to drag you to a mental institution myself."
- "Alright alright, I get it." Julian starts following in her footsteps as she rushes towards the collapsing building.
- "Julian." Nyx calls out.
- "Hm?"
- "Here." Nyx opens her left eye with a confident smirk, the star in her iris shining bright as she extends her fist towards him. "You can trust me!"
- "...Heh."
They exchange a fist bump, before Julian runs off. Meanwhile, Angelica was jumping around the neighborhood, using the surrounding buildings as footing to attack Lady Night from all sides. She was jumping so far and so rapidly that it looked like she was a silver comet flying through the cityscape. Lady Night, however, remained completely unscathed, despite the numerous blows Angelica managed to land on her.
- "I have never faced this kind of defense before!" Angelica shouts as she cuts through another ray of darkness. The remnants of the spell hit a nearby building, grinding it to dust in a matter of seconds.
- "Angelica!" Nyx yells.
- "Yes, cousin?"
- "I'm done charging up!"
- "Grandiose! I better be out of the way then."
Angelica lands on the roof of a half collapsed tower, and plants her sword in the tiles. Lady Night turns her attention to Nyx, who is brightly glowing.
- "You should already be aware of how inferior you are." She comments.
- "Like I could ever be inferior to you!" Nyx snaps back. "You're awful, you hate people, you look creepy and I'm sure you have no friends!"
- "...I do not need friends."
- "I am wounded by your words, my goddess!" Radiance chimes in from afar.
- "Silence, Radiance."
- "Very well, my goddess. Also, I would evade this if I were you, my goddess."
- "Evade? Me?" Lady Night focuses back on Nyx.
The latter had both her hands extended up towards Lady Night, holding a sun-like star twice her size right in front of her. The sun violently collapses, unleashing a devastating burst of solar winds and starfire directly at Lady Night. Nyx feels the recoil almost snapping her arms as the spell travels from her to Lady Night, but she grits her teeth and endures the force of the attack. A deafening sound akin to the explosion of a large bomb resonates through the neighborhood, shattering windows and creating winds powerful enough to send all remaining debris flying away from the battlefield. The spell continues its course in the sky, ending up in a giant firework-like explosion that illuminates the entire city block. When the light and plasma dissipate, Lady Night had her hand extended down towards Nyx, a heavily cracked shield of black energy in front of her.
- "How did your output increase so dramatically? This is nonsensical…" Lady Night comments, her energy shield shattering into pieces. "You must have absorbed tens… no, hundreds of shards… in such a short amount of time?..."
- "No!" Nyx proudly points a single finger at her. "Only one!"
- "Falsehoods..." Lady Night doesn't move an inch as Angelica attempts to decapitate her mid air after jumping over from her rooftop, only for her attack to be just as ineffective as the previous ones.
- "Well, well well." Angelica grins as she lands next to Nyx on the ground. "It seems the all powerful goddess had to defend from a blow. How strange!"
- "Maybe you're not hitting hard enough?" Nyx says as she clasps her hands and a new sun starts forming between her palms.
- "I can guarantee you I am! But no matter how I attempt to cut her, my blade simply bounces off…"
- "Oh yes, it is a divine Authority she has." Radiance comments from the distance.
- "What does it do?" Nyx asks.
- "It prevents her from being harmed by anything made by humanity. That also includes most forms of magic, since they were developed by people. The only ones that work are space-born magics, like yours, or natural magics like those used by spirits."
- "Thanks Ka'el!"
- "Radiance." Lady Night bellows.
- "Bollocks, I appear to have said too much." Radiance looks away. "Apologies, my goddess. I truly am the worst of your Apostles."
- "Magics originating from space you say?" Angelica stares up at Lady Night.
- "Yes." The latter has a wide smile, revealing the bottomless darkness inside her mouth. "Do you finally understand? You cannot defy me."
- "Haha!" Angelica slams her fist on her heart and raises her sword towards the sky. "Defy you? You?! I defied fate itself the day I was born!"
The moon above them shines so bright that the entire battlefield is bathed in moonlight. The ambient glow gathers around the sword, and Angelica's hair turns completely white. She then points her weapon at Lady Night, and a massive ray of white light shaped like a greatsword descends from the heavens, smiting her. When it dissipates, Lady Night is standing on the ground, surrounded by a protective sphere of darkness.
- "And with this strike, I have brought a god to their knees! Haha, uncle Theo will love that one." Angelica declares before pointing her sword behind her, at the rooftop of a faraway tower, which begins emitting a powerful orange glow. Her breathing was slightly labored, but she did her best to hide it. "I am not very adept at using magic, but I fortunately brought someone who stands at the pinnacle of it! Feast your eyes on the might of an Archmage!"
A powerful roar is heard from the glowing rooftop, before a torrent of flames erupts from it like a gigantic wave. It travels above the city, then crashes down on Lady Night in a catastrophic explosion that melts the surrounding pavement and buildings into a lake of magma. The flames form a protective dome around Nyx and Angelica, sparing them as if they had a will of their own. When the fire died down, the entire street had turned into a sight straight from hell, with the half melted towers looking like they were slowly sinking into the searing lava.
- "Consider yourself lucky that I bothered to answer your summons, Angelica Ironside." A figure standing amidst the flames declares. The fire was dancing around him, responding to every one of his micro-movements. It was a tall elf with silver hair, dark skin, and an elaborate coat that featured a flaming, roaring lion that stared at Lady Night with an unbridled hatred.
- "Vincent!" Nyx exclaims.
- "The circumstances could be more favorable, but I do hope that this demonstrates to you the quality of my tailoring. I am certain it could even survive this… spirit? What even is this wretched creature? Its very existence is opposed to the natural order, it is quite unsettling."
- "Uh… that's kind of me! But not really, so you can just go for it!"
- "I appreciate you listening to my seemingly demented ramblings earlier! I was half expecting you to simply stare at me and let me ridicule myself." Angelica grins.
- "I will not pretend like the thought did not cross my mind. Fortunately, I am a benevolent man." Vincent replies, before turning to frown at the epicenter of the explosion he created.
- "The flames of a greater spirit… You truly are despicable." Lady Night declares from the tall flames still raging around her.
She gets up in the middle of the inferno, pieces of her black energy barrier slowly crumbling around her. A small hole was burned into the right shoulder of her dress, and her face looked calm. Dangerously so.
- "I was operating at minimal output to save my energy for more important things, such as answering my followers' prayers." Lady Night's height increases as she speaks, growing to be three meters tall. Then five, then quickly ten and still rising by the second. "But you have managed to irritate me enough. Behold what happens to those who incur the wrath of a god."
She stops growing when she reaches a height of about one hundred meters tall, obscuring the sky above them, and reaches her hand down towards the group as a veil of shadows covers it.
- "I warned you, Lady Nyx." Radiance desperately sighs. "This was not a good decision."