Private Tales Light and Fire

[Arkhivom]

Arkhivom's attack struck Caliane as he'd intended. However, due to the consuming nature of her essence, in her saturated state it seemed to do little more than anger the winged elf, who burned as white fire.

Blessed by the old gods, or so he'd suspected.

She turned her ire toward him, and as grotesque a sight it was, he smiled. With absolute certainty he was eager for her to attack him, and confident, yet again, in his ability to overcome. For him, the could be no equal. Yet, hastily, there was one who so desperately tried. He detected Erën's approach though played as though he was far too focused on the now approaching Avariel. But as the elven warrior came near, Arkhivom summoned a pair of dark swords, and pre-emptively attacked.

In the distance, the loud and terrible screeching of some horrid beast cried out. And then another. And another. And it became apparent very soon that they were drawing closer.
​

His dark magic met with elven steel. But quickly did his enemy move, and in fury did he attack. It was wonderful, how desperate his need to slay was. How futile it would be. Each attack Arkhivom met, and though the elf seemed fatigued from his previous assaults, Arkhivom seemed hardly hindered. Though that was not true, it was indeed apparent he was far beyond what his enemy could conjure.

Enough, before the fire falls.

Exerting a tremendous blast of force, he encroached dangerously on Erën.

He knocked one sword to the side. His own dispersed.

He struck with the other, clashing with the jeweled sword, alight with power.

His free hand struck out and grabbed onto Erën. Harshly then he jostled the elf, throwing him off balance entirely. He dispersed the second black sword, grabbing Erën's arm with such force as to cause him to release his weapon.

Then finally, and wordlessly, he held the elf up toward Caliane as she descended, his hand wrapped firmly around the Broken Sword's neck.

Whether she stopped or not made no difference to him - what she was willing to do, did.

The screeching in the distance continued to draw near.
​

---

Caliane Ruinë | Lazule | Lina​

---

[We will skip Erën this round, as he's rather incapacitated.]​

 

[Lina]

Oooh no no no, pretty little bird.. You're playing with me...
​

Lina's hiss of whisper would reach the avariel as she plummeted toward the forest, clearly intent on helping her friends on the ground, on harming her King. All menace and mirth was gone from the demoness' voice, now there was only rage and warning. A promise of death.

The great dragon fell after her, her weight pulling her quickly toward the ground, gaining speed, jaws ready to snatch the winged woman out of the air without care in whether or not she survived the spiteful snap of razor sharp teeth.

Almost there. She'd been almost there when there was a flash and white- hot pain drove itself through scale and flesh of her belly. It was no ordinary weapon, for no ordinary weapon could have tore the scream from the beast as this one did. She was too late to throw out her wings, and so her landing was anything but soft. The infernal beast crashed through the canopy, entire trees snapping and splintering under her, and it seemed the entirety of Arethil shuddered as she hit the ground, her very own crater forming on impact.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Caliane would have stopped at the lifeless way Erën's body hung.

Caliane probably would have begged for her Loves life.

Caliane, too, would have worried for Lazule who was now behind her engaging with the dragon whose fire had nearly threatened to overwhelm her too.

But it wasn't Caliane who was staring out of emerald eyes turned molten hot with a living flame. As she flew towards the monster who had shot her vessel her skin began to crack and fire oozed from within until she was nothing but fire that burned as hot as the blazing sun. The only sign she showed any concern for Erën was the way she twisted slightly so her wings would not scorch him before she slammed with her might into the demons chest.

 

[Lazule]

All of Father's Mantras, his teachings, the razor thin purpose he had instilled within Lazule bid him to go to the site of the Dragon's impact. To finish the beast while it was down. To take its scalp and as proof of the deed. Necessary was the abandonment of Erën and Caliane to fight on their own for this brief parting, to ensure that the Dragon was slain and that it would take innocent lives no more.

Lazule resisted this bidding.

Lazule rejected this bidding.

The Dragon was down and its slaying was important, but of greater importance were Erën and Caliane, they who had fought by his side and he at theirs. Fighting together, being a part of this small group of theirs, was worth more than claiming the life of a single monster. His purpose was to Slay.

But it could be more. More.

Stunned for a moment, in this split second of realization, Lazule marveled at the uniqueness of the thought. Since donning the suit of the Unknown Warrior, one of Father's creations, he had slipped evermore into an old mindset. Backsliding into that razor thin purpose Father had meant for him. Only now had he truly acknowledged it.

Snapped back to the present, Lazule was, by Arkhivom's besting of Erën in their swordplay. By Caliane being engulfed--

(by the Soulfire)

--by flames and diving down toward the demon.

Lazule, his Shield flickering, dispelled it to save his magic reserves. He manifested his Lance of Light again and started to jog, then run, toward the fight between the Soulfire and Arkhivom. He needed to be careful, for Erën's sake, and for his own lest the flames of the Soulfire char his armored suit. But he needed to be ready to assist the moment an opportunity presented itself.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Caliane Ruinë Lina

 

[Arkhivom]

It was momentary, but it was more than enough. Arkhivom's eyes shot past the Avariel to Lina - beholding her great wound and terrible descent from the sky. The sight of it roused in him such fury as to blind his thought behind curtains of rage.

With a careless toss Erën was released - though not without first being marked. This mark could not be seen, not yet, but it was done. Then he reared to bellow out at Lazule vengefully for his assault, but before he could loose such a taunt he was intercepted. Caliane collided with him with a tremendous blow, and there was an eruption of blackness in their midst. The flames of the Soulfire burned with malice and sought to sear his flesh, but in him there was also a fire which was made manifest in retaliation to the white flames of power. With blackness did his form burn, swatting and staying the flames from wounding him, and lashing out with rage-filled hate.

He slammed into the ground, propelled by the momentum of the Avariel's attack. But in the confusion of it he composed himself still, and as they moved he reached out to grab at her with his clawed hand, reaching to grab at her head or neck.

---

Appearing sparsely at first, but soon growing in number, figures of various shapes appeared from seemingly every way.
​

---

Caliane Ruinë | Lazule | Lina ​

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

His head spun. His vision was dotted. His ears rang.

Whatever had just happened, Arkhivom had done something to him. Yes, Arkhivom. He knew his name now - he knew much now. As his body moved of seemingly its own volition, bringing him to his hands and knees while his mind still reeled. He began to come to, and he lifted his head. He beheld Lazule drawing near. He turned his head the other way, and there he bore witness to Arkhivom and Caliane, robed in the Soulfire. They clashed as titans would, and their struggle tore at the very world around them as they fought.

His head still spun. Finally, shakily, to his feet.

His sight stretched further now, and beyond he could see the smoldering mess, the result of the dark dragon's impact. Dust and smoke still fell from her crash.

His eyes went beyond, and yea, circled around and saw. They'd been surrounded, and whatever it was that encircled them was drawing closer. But a slight effort of focus and his eyes saw clearly what came - the twisted shapes of men and animals, of all kinds of life, twisted and changed. But also, in the midst of these wretched beasts, the black creatures, uniform in their shape, lithe and long with talons like swords.

But finally, there was also another creature he saw. It bore the likeness of any of they there, with two legs and two arms, but its form was made of bone, or some kind of metal, he could not be sure. And floating above where a neck should be was a familiar and almost shocking thing - the orb. The orb Erën had come across earlier, floated in place of a head for this strange creature, and its size had even grown appropriately. A singular light shone in the orb, and it was obvious this was wherein the creature's attention was focused.

Erën moved for his sword, gathering it up quickly.

They had only moments before the monsters were upon them. Hopefully in that time Caliane could either defeat Arkhivom, or disengage with him long enough for them to flee.

They could not fight them all, not like this.

---

To Lina's side they arrived first, those faithful servants. They gathered round as they drew near, and each one after the other would follow suite until enough of them had gathered.

Their energy, their life-force, the darkness that sustained them, they offered it unto their queen freely that it might mend that which was wounded in her. ​

---

Caliane Ruinë | Lazule | Lina ​

 

[Lina]

The great beast lay motionless aside from the slow rise and fall of her wounded side as she breathed. Her wings were spread at all the wrong angles, speared through with broken branches, and her blood -dark and scalding - bubbled in the pool it formed in the dirt. It should have taken her days, perhaps weeks to heal from this, but they came for her. Their glorious horde.

And there, many gladly gave their lives, and the gaping wound began to knit. Flames sparked to life around her and crawled over her, cleansing her wounds, and she was soon consumed - as were many of her beasts, but they did not lament. They died willingly at her side by the heat of her flames. The great fire that was Lina burned brightly, gradually reducing in size until it burned out, and laying on the ashen ground was the far smaller form of the silver-skinned demoness.

Her clawed fingers curled into the ash and dirt as she pushed herself up, quickly aided by two large hellhounds. "Thank you my darlings.." she cooed, and turned to search through the smoke toward Arkhivom. Her black orbs flared, and with a wave of her hand she commanded her swarm.

"Protect your King.."

Lina walked with them, dressed in a few shreds of silk and armed with the infernal whip which she now grasped in her palm, ready to strike their enemies down.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Hold... back. There's too many, we need to retreat!

NO! HE DARED TO HURT YOU.

The flames roared with the Soulfires anger and Caliane could feel more and more of her flesh dissolved in the face of it. She was becoming... something else. Something higher than the Avariel body she had known all her life. Of course she had known that something different lived inside of her but there was something more terrifying about seeing that thing on the outside. Feeling it hungrily devour her own flesh and replace it. What was worse? The Europhia of that feeling. She hadn't been aware before of just how cramped and contained the Soulfire had been inside her meagre body but now... now it could grow...

Let me show you little bird, let me show you what we can really do.​

 

[Lazule]

Lazule stopped short of engaging of Arkhivom. His pronged feet dug into the dirt and he came to an abrupt halt, the form of his armor bathed now in brilliant orange light. And here Lazule through his golden visor could but stare in awe. Like a kind of birthing, an emerging of a thing from inside a cocoon, did the Soulfire become manifest from Caliane's flesh. The truest sense of awe enraptured Lazule in that moment, both wonder and horror. A sole thought, unique, that which would have been unthinkable whilst under the sway of Father's totalizing mindset: what had she become?

But there was little time for it.

Erën stood, hearing it as well. With Caliane engaging Arkhivom, Lazule turned, and he saw them. Twisted men and women, turned into Wretches, accompanied by the gaunt Monsters that had been plaguing the village prior. They had gathered about the periphery of the clearing in great number. And thus were they commanded to charge.

"Erën!" Lazule called. "They are too many!"

Fighting the horde, and the Dragon if it was not dead, and the Demon seemed a task insurmountable. In times spent traveling, thinking, Lazule had always pondered if this day would come. If he would on his righteous path encounter a foe too great, in strength or number, to be slain. He had wondered if it would be the Amalgamation, the Great One, or Anur'Ephal. He wondered if that day was today.

If it was, then he had one recourse against fate.

To suffer no remorse.

And so Lazule, knowing exactly what he was doing, charged toward the oncoming Wretches, the gaunt Monsters, wading into the thick of them, his Lance a streak of vengeful light, all to buy Erën and Caliane as much time as possible. Time to make their judgments and do as they saw fit.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Caliane Ruinë Lina

 

[Arkhivom]

His grasp was stayed by the prevailing flame, and he, even he, was made pause. In fury did the light burn, and he beheld a great unveiling. He stepped back, preparing himself for the conflict to come, eager to gauge what had been made manifest before him.

---

Many gave their essence to replenish their chaotic queen, but many still remained. As Lazule charged toward them, many rushed to meet his challenge. The unique creature lumbered toward him, its intent obvious, but its movements much slower than the ravenous monsters and deformed wretches.

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

It was impossible to fully comprehend what he saw, the rush of emotion that washed over him saw thoroughly to that. He was pulled in a variety of ways. Hope - there was hope in the blazing rage that grew before his very eyes that their enemy would be defeated. There was shock, and awe at what had become of Caliane, seeing and feeling a freedom in her very essence he could never have imagined.

And there was fear. Fear of what it was in her that had in fact become free. Fear that the one he knew and loved might not be the same...

It froze him as he bore witness, and there he remained in terrible awe until...

---

"Erën!" Lazule called. "They are too many!"​

---

His head snapped to see him beckoning, and indeed he saw what his dear friend also had.

Too many...

There was so little time...

---

His breath was heavy.

On one side, Lazule turned and charged into battle in what Erën knew was a selfless act. Truly, for these three, much of what they had done over these past years especially could not doubt be called selfless. It mourned him for a moment, that thought, that no matter how hard it seemed to light sought to prevail with fire and righteousness, the darkness would always return in shadow, raining ash.

On the other side, Caliane was manifested in pure fire to weigh against that which was an incredible darkness - and he believed she could defeat it, or at the very least hold it at bay. He knew only but a touch of what was the Soulfire... he could not know now what would be and could only hope and trust in it. In this, which mourned him too, he had no choice.

There was only one thing he could do. Only one thing he knew how.

He started, slowly first.

Lazule ahead of him, beginning to engage them.

Erën's path took him a different way. Toward the tall, strange creature. Nearer to the silver skinned demon. What was left in him manifested in light around him, and lightning wrapped around his sword as he charged toward them.

He thought that if he could distract these others and the minions around them long enough then perhaps the others would be given time enough to route their foes... in this he could only hope.

---

Caliane Ruinë | Lazule | Lina​

 

[Lina]

It should've been interesting to her to witness whatever was happening to the little bird. It should've given her cause for concern and made her hesitate. It was not, and it did not. All that was on the demon's mind was the raw and violent need for fear and panic and blood and death.

How dare they so much as think they could put a stop to their reign?! Her fury grew, and her skin burned hotter than forged iron, her bare feet scorching the ground around her, spreading flames in her wake. Her fingertips brushed the gnarled barks of the trees and they caught flame instantly.

She would burn this fucking world to the ground before allowing the unworthy to win this fight.

The childlike mirth that she usually moved and spoke with was gone, the smile had withered down to a look of dangerous determination, and as she smiled, it was anything but friendly. Her beasts charged ahead, armed with claws that tore into the blackened earth, with rows of razor teeth lining maws that snapped and snarled and black eyes that showed no fear and saw only what they needed to destroy.

Lina's lip curled at the sight of the pair, cutting through her dark horde with light, and with a high pitched scream of savagery she lifted her hand above her and slammed the infernal whip down as she dropped to a knee. It cut a line through the swarm, and underneath them, the floor trembled, and cracked.

And to those deep infernal fires she called, and rise they did.

Incomprehensible heat burst from the earth's fracture, and it continued to rumble and roar as it crumbled and parted, large chunks of the forest floor falling into the fiery chasm along with those beastly adherents that stood between her and those who were hers to kill.

She rose slowly, her grip tightening on the searing whip as she recoiled it, her eyes set upon her targets as the ground sought to swallow them whole.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

Muscle, tissue and skin all fell away to the smouldering heat of the flame. Caliane felt herself dissolving and her grip loosening until there was nowt but a fingernail clinging to her consciousness and control. It was a belladonna kiss of sweetness and agony all married in one. Hers, the pain. The Soulfire's, the joy. In the end what stood far larger than Caliane had ever been, towering eye to eye with the demon she had been wrestling with a moment before.

The Soulfire spread its wings made entirely of flame. The rest took on the semblance of a woman as much as it could being a living fire. Sparks the size of fists rained down on those below when she moved but she barely seemed to notice as she stepped towards the demon and with a sound like a fire cracking a log in two on the fire, swung a punch straight for the demon's chest.

Caliane in her vulnerable and frail avariel form might not have done much damage but now the demon was playing with another ethereal being.

 

[Lazule]

The horde pounced upon Lazule, and all became a flurry of violence.

Claws from the Wretches tore into the rock and metal of his armor. Each swing to the right would earn him three swipes on his left, and each swing to the left would earn him three swipes on his right. Such were their numbers and their ferocity that he could not defend against all of them at once. In the wave of them it seemed that for each Wretch his Lance cleaved through another was ready to take its place, scrambling over the corpse of its fallen fellow and attacking him just the same.

Lazule could feel the claws of the monsters, each swipe digging further trenches even through his impressive armor. Some of the Wretches leapt upon him, holding to his back, biting and digging fiendish fangs into whatever they could reach. He could grab them and slam them to the ground, he could swing his Lance behind himself and slice the monsters in two, but the swarming continued. Lazule's pronged feet no longer touched ground, but dug into a grotesque carpet of foul corpses all around him.

A vicious smack to his helm, diverting his gaze.

And a Wretch, two, three of them, they all assaulted his right arm, that which grasped his Lance. Teeth and claws of unholy strength at last broke through the shattered and deteriorated armor there, and the arm of the Unknown Warrior, that soft flesh encased within, was exposed.

In one savage bite did Lazule's right arm become severed.

The Wretches fought over it, the Lance of Light disappearing as the arm lost its connection to Lazule's magic. They fought among themselves for their prize.

And then an earthshattering whiplash struck the ground, killing those Wretches as they fought amongst themselves and, as well, catching Lazule's left foot, that pronged extension of his armor, and destroying it.

The earth cracked open.

And Lazule fell in.

His sole arm dragged across the ground until his hand found purchase at the very end of the sundered earth. And there he clung, holding on for life, holding on for the chance to rise up and give yet more of himself in the fight.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Caliane Ruinë Lina

 

[Arkhivom]

Watching the Fire unfold before his eyes was... interesting. He'd been locked in combat with many creatures, even those of the elements, but this was truly something to behold. He'd never known such a thing, but it felt familiar - it felt ancient, like him.

Then he would test it.

He raised his arms to shield him, an image of blackness swirling into form to block the Soulfire's attack. Her swing burst through the darkness which shattered like glass, and found purchase against Arkhivom's flesh.

Or, was it to test him?

He was propelled backward, his steps uneasy. His arms flailed to either side as he caught his balance. His foot planted, he huffed, and then charged forward in retaliation, manifesting a spear of darkness in his lead hand and driving it toward the Soulfire's center.

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

Before Erën was even upon them, the demoness unleashed the might of her fury upon Arethil herself, splitting the ground to usher unto them vengeful flame. Scores of her own minions fell, but these were but a small consideration. Many were they, who had come to slay so few. And Erën slid himself to a hault to bear witness to the devastation as it approached him, the forest's floor opening wide to swallow him whole. Across the growing chasm his eyes shot across to behold she who had wrought such destruction. Seeing her now, seeing this power, he questioned which one of these creatures was truly the greater threat.

He moved quick, and yet his escape from falling was a narrow one.

His eyes quickly tracked, and he saw no sign of his friend.

Behind him, the battle between Arkhivom and Caliane raged.

Before him, the monsters approached, leaping over great openings to oblivion.

Then for a moment, it felt like all of space and time fell still...

---

"Do you remember?" a lone voice said.

Erën turned to see, but saw only blackness.

"Do you remember us?" many voices now.

He turned again, seeing small, blue lights far away.

"We have remembered you..."​

---

He moved, seemingly without a second to lose. The wretches were upon him, yet he eluded them, and offered no contest. Instead of engaging them he led them away from there, away from their demoness, in the direction of where he had last seen Lazule. As he drew closer, monsters knipped as his heels. But it seemed whatever it was that had been his experience just now had been everything he needed to hear. They'd not have him, not now, and moving now across where the ground had been particularly shattered, he put space between he as his pursuers, moving far more quickly than their twisted forms could muster across such landscape.

He leapt across the opening of a particular chasm, and a familiar sight caught his eye. Lazule, holding on, with only moments to spare. Of all the potential outcomes he could put his hope only in this: he had to pull him up.

He took not even the time to turn before launching himself yet again high into the sky. Back from whence he came, soaring with his back to the chasm his eyes looking up to see the monsters drawing near - and see how many he'd rallied together.

His feet found the ground.

The snarling behind him drew near.

His hand shot out and grabbed Lazule's arm, and he heaved.

---

Caliane Ruinë | Lazule | Lina​

 

[Lina]

Where the horde surrounding her rushed forward, she walked between them with all the grace of the Queen that she was, her chin held high, her royal crown of crimson horns casting the shadow of the beast that she was in the flames. Her eyes narrowed through the searing hot air and smoke, trying to focus on the spot where the defender had fallen in, but she had not yet heard his screams, and such a thing would simply not do.

"Why don't you sing for me?" Lina's head tilted with the pout of a petulant child.

The fiendish flames flourished as the earth underfoot rumbled once more. More of the ground fell away, more ancient trees and hellion beasts lost to the hungry inferno that rose up in Her honour. The demon grinned as she spotted Lazule clinging to the fissure's edge for dear life..

"Ahh.. There he is. He still has some song left in him yet.." she whispered, though her voice carried through the smoke and flame. She readied her whip once more, though an inconveniently-timed distraction came in the form of a painful blow to her chest. No. His chest. The force of it rattled her enough for her to cast her eyes in search of Arkhivom and the now not-so-little bird. More movement in her peripheral vision told her that the elf had returned to aid his ill-fated friend, and the blaze burned in her black eyes as she let the fury rush through her.

The sound of sheer barbarity thrown from the petite female's lungs carried all the power of the hell dragon, and all of the rage and madness she'd honed in her centuries of captivity. Now it was free to wreak havoc, she was free to repay every second of misery upon every creature that called these planes home - and how dare they try to stop them. She was done with this game now. She didn't care about their songs, or how long she could draw out the end of their pitiful lives, only that they were put to an end here and now. Only that they were put in their place.

Her arm rose, and her deadly whip lashed out at the pair, intent on dragging them both into the fiery chasm.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

When God fight, there are no winners, hbeebti.

The avariel mothers words for some reason sprang to the Soulfire's mind in that moment and it snarled in response. What did a mortal know of the Gods? It was a god, or at least it had been many Ages ago. It barely recognised this one which it deemed an 'advanced' age. Where were the clever metal machines and the abilities to soar in the skies without wings now? Lost. It was only the Gods like it that were constant, all powerful, while mortals waxed and waned like a guttering flame. Nobody but another God could understand.

And it had an inkling the thing it now fought was one of these. A dark, loathsome one but one nevertheless.

Despite It's arrogance the Soulfire had learnt it could be hurt in recent years and so it gave the black spear proper caution and conjured for itself a thing of solid white flame in the shape of a bariche which is swung with force to meet the black spear. The resulting clash sent a shockwave outwards through the forest.

 

[Lazule]

No other hand with which to pull himself up. But he didn't need one.

Erën crashed down from the air by the fissure's edge and Lazule felt a small and precious gem of relief, a harkening back to the more human body he once inhabited. How capable it was, Lena's body, of making him feel as though he were truly a living being in his own right, and not some conjured imitation thereof. A solemn gift, one given to him on account of tragedy, and a gift he know realized he had been dismayed all this time to lose to the Amalgamation. He should have taken better care of her body. Far better care.

Erën reached and grabbed and up from the fissure Lazule went. Behind him, all around them, the fissure was widening, the ground caving in. Lazule pushed himself up onto his one functional foot and hobbled, trying to gain some distance, saying in the meanwhile, "I am heartened that—"

Two things happened in the tiniest flash of time. A shockwave from the clash of Arkhivom's spear and the Soulfire's bardiche rocked the forest, and Lazule, unsteady as he was without his left foot, staggered onto that stump terminating at the ankle and it could not hold and he lost his balance.

He was falling backward. Not quite enough to fall back into the fissure, but this fortune wouldn't last, for Lina's whip found at least one of her targets, and around Lazule's waist did it coil and ensnare him before he fell totally onto the dirt.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Caliane Ruinë Lina

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

As quickly as Lazule was brought again upright, Caliane and Arkhivom's clashing magic was enough to unsteady him, wounded as he was. Erën had no opportunity to aid. The first of the wretches were upon them. He unsheathed his sword and swung in a single stroke, cleaving the foremost in two. Dispatching the few others as they approached was easy, given their exertion to leap over the widening chasm. He ended them the moment they hit the ground.

There were more, but still a little further away.

He turned, and upon seeing Lazule's state, ensnared by the demoness' fiery whip, he was tasked to react decisively.

He moved quickly, kneeling down and reaching out to grasp the whip.

He knew he had not the time to brace himself against the inevitable pull that was to come to drag Lazule down into the flame. But he had to do something.

It burned him as he touched it, and with this pain came great anger, and he used it to fuel him. In a flash, his body was ringed with crackling blue light, and it shot through his flesh and onto and across the whip, whirling quickly toward she who held it, desperate to strike find its mark before it was too late. Erën held on to fuel it, but was quickly becoming in danger of the coming wretches.

He feared if he could not stop Lina, then Lazule was fated to fall into the chasm.

He gritted his teeth. His grip on his sword tightened.

There was, however, one other way.

 

[Arkhivom]

And it was, that an unstoppable force met with an immovable thing.

It was as he remembered.

The shield of flame gave him pause. And hatred, great hatred burned in his blood. As this hate welled within him, around him, blackness wrapped around his form. Runic circles appeared beneath them as black light. They stretched wide, and appeared as many great rings and many lesser rings upon them. They spun, some one way, and some another, and each of them showed a different image.

With them, his strength persisted.

The spear vanished, and Arkhivom stepped with all his might against the Soulfire, reaching out with mighty, clawed hands. He roared as he fell upon the burning thing, furious with its very existence, insulted by its incessant interference.

D̛̠͕̭̜̠͈̅̀ ̨̪̥̬̜͎͌͐̽̔I̩̺͖͉̻̬̼̝ͦ̾ͫ̀ ̴̳̞͈̾ͧͣͩE̩̭͚̹̫͚̽̀͡

​

---

 

[Lina]

The demon's pretty face, spattered with blood and dirt and blackened by smoke, was barely recognisable. Flames flickered in the solid black orbs of her eyes as she watched the two dance so close to the edge of the fiery chasm, and her jagged white teeth shone in a twisted smile. She was perfect madness, taking sick delight in every shred of pain she could bestow and every drop of blood she could smell amidst the thick smoke.

The sadistic chuckle that tumbled from her lips halted abruptly, however. The crazed smile cracking as the shockwave rocked her, drawing her attention to the Soulfire with a hiss of indignation. Pain. Delicious, fresh, new, burning pain dragged her attention back to Eren, but the sudden grin she flashed fell before it could fully form. Before she could process her mistake and the cost of her distraction.

Light blinded her before she felt it, and yes - there were some kinds of pain that Lina did not relish, and this sort she had felt before. It conquered the infernal flame of her weapon, and sought to do the same to that which burned within her. White hot agony spread like a bolt of lightening from the palm of her hand, which it seemed still refused to let go of its precious armament. Blue, crackling light enveloped her and her body buckled. The demon screamed, a sound to pierce the ears and minds of her enemies. A sound intent on riling the rage of her love as she fell, still and silenced, the whip still held in her hand now extinguished and slack around its intended victim.

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

As Arkhivom threw aside his spear the Soulfire had a momentary flash of triumph; clearly the demonic creature was planning to surrender rightly to her, the superior being. She would be merciful, perhaps, in how quickly she rid it from this plane of existence. Of course all those thoughts came to a screeching halt as the monstrosity did not kneel and beg at her feet as she had expected but lunged for her like some wild rabid wolf. Where his hands touched a dark chill ran up the elementals body. Flames were doused and steam rose along with the primordia's scream of pain and rage.

The pair fell to the ground grappling like children in the mud. Their flailing and turning as each tried to gain the supper hand through feats of strength tore trees from their roots, sent tremors through the earth, and where the Soulfire's body touched the earth great fires leapt to life.