Albion

[Bern]

Lulu

Hmmmm....

Where had she?...... Oh right it was him!

The angel moved fast, since she was already closer to him, she reached him before Aruna, and the moment her hand made contact with him, both of them were suddenly a hundred meters up in the air.

"Asmael I remember you!" Without even waiting for a response she within herself and less than a millisecond later she pulled forth the things she had taken, the memories he held most precious, and used her awesome psychic might to shove them back into Mael's head.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lawrence

The ashen man's eyes focused on the seraph, with a mix of longing and fascination. It was all too familiar to him, the sight of power like this made his whole body shiver and ache. It was a pity that it was wasted on that foolish half of his.

"Ya know, there's something I don't get. Aren't these schmucks all basically agreeing here? I mean, they all wanna kill YHWH chan, don't they?"

"To see one's justice through, one must fight for it. Even if the one who stands before him is his kin."

"..."

"The one who accepts all and the one who denies all disagree... on the very reason of their existence. They must fight. But it's unfortunate. The more her shine grows, the more the man's rust becomes glaring. Perhaps this will help polish him."

As he said that, he toyed with a gorgeous white dandelion, its shine and glow unnaturally as if it were made from a liquid moon. Even compared to before, its heavenly glow was stronger and fiercer than ever. Its brethren burnt away so cruelly, its existence denied so wrathfully.

Its desire to consume, burning so beautifully.

"Dude, that made no fucking sense at all. I'm pretty sure you just dodged the question. No, you totally dodged it. You dodgy shit."

"Oh well, I could make my speech a whole lot longer. But let's be real, who's going to read all that?"

He blew the flower gently, scattering its angelic petals into the skies. Reaching farther, farther... away...

[Kotomine_Rin]

Mael

But the attack never came. An overwhelming feeling of disorientation was the one thing that let him notice his feet were off the ground. The wretched feeling of warmth assailed him, pinned his arms, and tried to wrap around him. "This doesn't concern you. Stand aside. I-

But it was too late. Lucy touched him, and he touched her. And what was once lost was returned to him, entering every pore of his body and stretching it to the brim.

His eyes shot open, crowned with a pained gasp.

There was once a monster who'd point its blade at a woman and her own child.

A sinner who'd cut down its kin and rejoice.

Drink from heaven's own delusion.

A soldier who had known nothing but war, and was ultimately betrayed by it.

Who'd cut down the one thing he ever loved.

"The union of heaven and hell is a sin most grave."

Arrows of light rained down, surrounding Asmael like a holy crown of spears. A towering assault of burning light, purging. Killing. The demons who tried to resist fought bravely, only to be cut down and butchered like animals. Men, women, elders, children. All those of impure blood burnt to the Accuser's arrow of justice.

And the attacks wouldn't stop.

And the tears wouldn't stop.

"Rejoice. Praise His name and repent with eternal rest."

As islands were burnt and heavenly cities torn to ash, the archangel and his armies kept razing the unfaithful. The sinners. Those who must be judged above all else. The soldier's entire life was nothing more than a war that had never ended. It was only fair. It was just.

A woman and her child laid before his cold gaze, clutching at each other in fear.

His arrows pointed downwards.

And-


"My own wife.... and child...?"

The brightest of lights swooped over the earth, burning into the sky. Followed by a monster's blood-curdling scream. What was she doing to the former angel? What did she show him? As he turned his head to face Lucy, the monster of monsters looked back and shed a bloody tear.

"I don't need... anyone else. Being punished for my sins....for all eternity... is fine." Such words were a true struggle to muster, yet the smile on his lips was far easier to show. For just a moment, there was no fight in his body whatsoever. "What you showed me... that was no lie. Unbelievable... it's too cruel. Death by your hand would be less painful. Thank you."

Can a soldier who's only ever known the horror of war - learn to find peace?

"But I can't stop now. It's too late to stop. No one... stops. My war won't end until I can make all of them pay. The voices, I can still hear them cursing at me. If I can at least make this world livable for them, then maybe I can quiet my phantoms. I can't let that thing live."

But was that thing the grace... or himself?

[yinsukin]

Aruna

The hammer swung upward, drawing a J shaped arc that ended with the hammer above her head.  As the weapon stopped moving, the item of pure light shifted back into a sword.  However, nothing slammed into the blade.  Aruna never felt that cathartic feeling of hammer striking muscle and bone.  Instead, she looked up, only to see Lulu had saved him, carrying him far beyond the dome.

Aruna flew up beyond the portals, meeting them at the very top beyond the field of their battle.  "They are never going to go away, even if you kill me.  All the things i've done, good or bad are left behind.  You can erase living organisms much easier than pain.  We can't take the easy way out.... not anymore."

[Bern]

Lulu

"But you are taking the easy way out you cowards!" TThat wwas the final straw that broke her patience. These two were wallowing in their misery like a bunch of crybabies. But she wasn't angry at them, no her irritation was aimed more towards the people who had enabled them to become like this.

"All you two have been doing is running away, fleeing from this pain you're too afraid. A war you say? Please, you haven't even begun the war. All you're doing is disgracing yourself and the ones who cared about. You betray them by acting like this is a vendetta when all you're really doing is hurting the one they care, You and no one else."

She let go of Mael and took a step in mid air while she regained her breath. "And while you do this, the true enemy sits secure and laughs at you, are you two really okay with that? How does that not make your blood boil? Answer me!""

[Kotomine_Rin]

The Grace Clusters

Dandelion seeds, white as the moon, soared freely into the heavens. Glowing, growing, singing and crying for someone to save them. To succor them. To embrace them. To avenge their fallen brethren, the burnt forest, the fall of their fickle balance.

But they found no one.

No one but themselves.

And so the light spread. And so it grew. To answer that man's prayer. But it was broken, incomplete. It shattered and crack as it tried to expand, and only managed to take a singular shape.

"Hey... isn't it getting kind of awfully bright?" A teen was chilling in his room, listening to heavy metal when an annoying radiance glared at his eyes. He closed the shutters and carried on with his day. Many more would think the same, but the depths of catastrophe would only grow towards those who wished for it.

Falling, crumbling, but growing desperately.


Mael

The dark knight listened, for a second... even considered. But the last words burnt at the fuel inside him, and he brought a hand back - and pointed the blackened gun between her eyes.
"Enough. Damn you... not another word, seraph."

He had been made a fool. But even that, he could forgive. The one he couldn't forgive was himself... and Aruna. Whose light was starting to shine, brighter and brighter.

"It doesn't matter.... it's all unimportant. If I can rip Him to shreds, my life, my pride, my family... they're expendables." The fury in his visage was so deep, so all-consuming, it threatened to devour everything and anything. It wasn't something happiness could save. They couldn't quench it either. Suddenly, the sky turned a blinding white, as if burning along with his declaration. No, it had been glowering for a few seconds. Almost in response to Aruna's own shine.

It was with Mael's throat billowing with blood and his teeth gnashed to the point they sparked with flame... that the depth of that resentment boiled over. When it did, a large heavenly monstrosity, half beast and half man, descended down upon the three. It was no larger than a truck, but its ravenous hands and bulbous, almost cancerous sets of heads moaned. The thing was reaching out to grab Aruna.... the energy resonating from her.

But Mael's burning eye stared straight at the darkangel. Searing with energy, threatening to explode with merciless violence.

"All this time, I've been looking at it. My true enemy."

The beam burnt forth with irresistible speed and power, with little warning to save Aruna from point-blank destruction. And yet... Aruna never felt its burning hate. For it never hit her. Only the thing above her, burnt and severed to bits, fell down the ground and perished there and then.

"We'll settle this another time, Aruna. Until then, don't die on me, okay?" Mael smiled, for the first time with no sadness in his heart.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lawrence

ARE YOU INSANE!?

The loudest, most infuriated, blood-curdling screech in the cosmos must have been nothing compared to whatever blasted from one eardrum to the other. At least, that's how Lawrence felt, his whole head tilting sideways as his hair got messed up from the screaming.

NO WAY! NO WAY! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA.... ANY IDEA JUST HOW RARE THOSE THINGS ARE!? IT'S NOT BAD ENOUGH THAT YOU REFUSE A PERFECTLY GOOD BODY, NOW YOU FLAT OUT SABOTAGE OUR CHANCES TO REACH OUR DREAM!? HELLOOOOOOO!? MISTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!? SINCE WHEN DO GRACES GROW ON FUCKING TREES, CAUSE LAST TIME I CHECKED THE ENTIRE FOREST BURNT TO THE GROUND!!

"..."

Lawrence nibbled on a baloney sandwitch.

YOU STUPID DUMMY! DUMMY DUMMY DUMMY!!! CAN YOU HEAR THAT!? HUH!? HUH!? YOU DAMN FOOL! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING!? THAT WAS A PRECIOUS RESEARCH SUBJECT, WE STILL HAVEN'T FOUND LILITH! WHAT THE HELL!! WHAT THE HELLLLLLLLL!!!

The burning bird stared down at the harbor in disbelief. They almost died getting that thing, getting smashed up in that crystal, and dragging their heart back where they could heal up their main body! All to get a genuine grace from that junk heap! Even getting a piece of it inside that useless big brother was a titanic chore! And he'd just throw it away to die! Whaaaat!? The second phenex's eyes glanced back at the ashen man...

The ashen man was yawning.

GODDAMN IT STOP DOZING OFFFFF!

Now, even his skin was rippling back from the vocal strain. Of course, to anyone who could hear so much as a singe decibel, it was more like incomprehensible cheeps and chirps. That is, until Lawrence's cane moved like a schyte.

Then, hiking on the bird's neck, the sounds became more like frightened squawks.

"My eeeeeeeears wooooooooooork fiiiiiiiiiiiine!" This had been the first time Lawrence raised his voice... ever. It didn't even sound angry or emotional, it was as if his monotone nonchalance just grew a couple decibels. Enough to turn the slick fiery bird into the floofiest thing ever.

Lawrence sat back and relaxed.

"It's fine. Everything is fine. I don't really care what happens to old trash anyways. But if I could see that sword of hers, it'd have been fascinating. It could have killed our dearest half in one go, you know?" It wasn't clear what he was talking about, but his eyes were fixated on a single woman, almost enamored.

Until something sparked next to him, shifting his expression into miffed annoyance. He pouted to his left and looked down at the eyeball sitting next to him.

"No. I'm not getting in the robot."

[yinsukin]

Aruna

One day i'll kill you.

Aruna ignored the thought.  Shifting into her female form, she silently redirected the mana in the portals to lead back into the mansion.  A burning light of hatred flew into Aruna's face, only to strike an angel into dust, falling to the ground in a pathetic heap of ash and smoke.  It would be easy to make the assumption that she had grown powerful enough that these angels were fodder to her, but it was impossible to ignore the truth.  Every angel she had met was far weaker than the ones in her world.  These weaker angels, the ones lying on the ground would be considered even weaker then that.  It was almost as if they were angelic ghouls, not unlike how vampires can turn weakling humans into something resembling a threat.  This thing was resonating with Mael's power, her power and creating these things.

The light was spreading.

Looking back at Mael, her eyes softened.  "I may have forgiven myself, but I have plenty of hatred for the light and its angels, for god.  Even so, I don't think so much hatred is the answer, not alone anyway.  Even if it drives one forward, it denies the path of balance.  Angel of light and dark, let your hatred consume you and so too will your own power.  You won't have to worry about me dying, not yet anyway.  I don't want to have to fight you again.  The next time I see you, I want it to be as friends."

Friend?  What a strange word.  The dark angel rarely used it with such candid fervor and yet it felt warm to use it like that.  Aruna looked out over the buildings into the skyline.  While she wanted to act now, her efforts alone would not be able to erase the problem.  No, what needed to happen was to attack the root of the problem.  Whether she liked it or not, the graces were her problem just as much as the rest of humanity.  However, before she could deal with that, Aruna had to handle the beast within her.

But before that she would let it run wild.

"Centuries of oppression.  Nothing is going to feel better than slaughtering you monsters."

[Bern]

Lulu

It was never going to be that simple

When the Grace Clusters spread what no one had counted on, not even the man who blown the Dandelion seeds in this direction had counted on this, was the sympathetic reaction not just to the fallen angel.

But to the control node right next to her.

Indeed, in her last encounter with Mael, or Asmael as he had been known that time, Lulu had absorbed the metaphysical terminal which was the center of his being, the linchpin of the system that controlled him. It was his his core, and in a way the true heart of the Forest from which these Dandelion Seeds were plucked. Under such heavy resonance there could be only one outcome.

It didn't just flicker down and die, or spawn one measly creature. No, after it seemingly flickered away, the whole formation pulsed with an unnatural power, it drummed with the beat of a holy symphony, one may even call it a heartbeat.

"Oh..... OHHHHH..."

The Clusters grew and grew to the beat of this heart, until the exploded in a bright flash which gave form to a massive army. Tree trunk, roots, bushes and creatures all converged on her.

But more importantly was the swarm of deformed angelic creatures, born of malice and spite and..... was that a longing for home?

"So that's how it was! You're Asmy-chan!.... I didn't anticipate our reunion playing out like this, It was gonna be soooo much cuter that this! Not filled with ugly looking wannabe angels, entirely devoid of my love. How unsightly...."

The Seraph brandished her blade, it's own light intensifying in response to this threat. This strange resonance wasn't just affecting the seeds, her own powers fed into it, it was a resonance loop, where both of them took from each other and gave even more back in return.

"Looks like I have to crop the garden a bit this time... Sorry Asmy-chan but I can't allow this abhorrent reflection of you to exist any longer. It taints your true beauty." She twirled the oversized sword, the action looked utterly ridiculous, with the blade being even bigger than her. But even this was the one thing, the one and only thing with her sword...

That the seraph could do stylishly.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Mael

"..."

Mael sighed at the sight around him. No, perhaps this expression was second nature to him, but in a sick way... this was getting fun.

"Suit yourselves." He closed his eyes and shook his head, soon surrounded by more of those things. A flash of light gleamed like a blur, and two concealed combat knives slipped off his sleeve. "I haven't gardened in a while, but I suppose this is more akin to pest extermination." The slashes arced in the air and danced, before the blades were brandished at his former chains. The hate that exhumed from him was outright palpable. A torrent of murderous intent, that could choke whatever was in his maw with presence alone.

But this time, he brandished it at his enemy... accompanied by friends.

"How do humans put it? Right... it's time to have a bash."

[yinsukin]

Aruna

"I couldn't agree more."

As the dark angel slowly rose into the sky, her lips began to move.  Aruna's eyes took in Lulu's form and narrowed.  To think she had a piece of Asmael this entire time as well.  They did seem to know each other.  Did she take it?  If someone were to ask Aruna how she felt in this exact moment about this new development, she would probably respond with mixed emotions.  Aruna grimaced wondering how long she knew, when she was planning on telling her.  That woman had the power to read minds, meaning she likely knew about Aruna's own grace.

Of course, its not as though they ever talked about it.

Gripping the hilt of her blade, she flew behind Lulu, steering clear of the giant blade she was brandishing.  The blood from the earlier battle seeping down her form.  The pain made every move hard and the gash in her belly stung as the wind scratched it.  The wings on her back grew into big bright white wings of death, light emerging from them and shooting towards the monsters.

Still why did Lulu not tell her?

[Bern]

Grace Swarm

It grew, it grew larger and larger, with each passing heartbeat it grew. This mockery of the forest sprung from a single seed high in the sky, it grew. Yet it was nothing like the Forest.

The strange resonance with the Seraph had caused a series of cascading changes to occur, one after other. It was subtle at first. The first swathe of beasts and malformed angels were the kind Mael was familiar with. They swarmed in groups of dozens rushing them down without like animals.

No not even animals showed this disregard for their own continued existence, there was no attempt at form, nor a single thought of dodging any blow. It was simply an unending wave of merciless aggression.

Five angels wielding crude looking sword of light went in with high strikes, ready to cleave Aruna in half, as another half dozen hound like things launched themselves at her limbs, ready to bite down with their drooling razor sharp jaws.

Mael had it even worse.

More of the angelic beings were drawn to him, lured in by a strange call that the Grace Cluster itself could not comprehend, and as they drew nearer their features morphed and became more humanoid, more like mindless soldiers serving HIM. A dozen charged in with a maddening glee, feeling weird, they were filled with a strange emotion they shouldn't have. It was a desire to kill, to destroy, to end the traitor.

An even larger group of angels held back and seemed to be preparing a range attacks, as dozens, no hundreds of light spears cluttered the sky. And further beyond them, newer stranger beasts were already being birthed.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Mael

Five grenades. Two flares. A revolver and five combat knives. This was the arsenal he had left from his raid against that mercenary group. Plenty enough to slaughter at least a squadron of angels. But those things?

Oh, he'd give them far worse.

The knives arced to the side, cutting brilliant arcs in the sky while Mael dashed back, zigzagging to circle to their side and lure them to a bridge. He couldn't afford to get swarmed by them, but he could cut those who got closest and lure them - zone them with crippling blows by going for their limbs. As energy crackled in his eye, he pointed it at the ranged archers far away. A moment, he only needed a moment to fire a sweeping beam at a row of them.

"Aruna, walls to the left and right! Restrict their movements to narrow halls!"

[yinsukin]

Aruna

The light, a source of power, the ability to push on despite ones circumstances, grow beyond what one was even moments before.  Its power was vast, limitless and as such was wielded by the gods.  Left unchecked it heralded the consumption of everything.  The dark angel used to think it was a force of evil and those who channeled it were cruel oppressors.  But now....

The angel's batlike wings began glowing with the grace's power.  Bullets of pure radiant light were spewed from the wings, shooting towards the five angels, piercing their hearts.  Staring at the ones aiming for her limbs, she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness from seeing their rabid faces, consumed by the power of the light and seeking only violence.  Aruna held out her arm, as if begging a rabid dog to bite that spot, spikes emerging from it at the last minute to pierce the angels in the stomach.  With a swipe from her arm, the skewered angels were tossed aside and the spikes sunk back into her flesh.

It was just those who wielded such a power, who let that consume them and gave into their worst impulses.  In the end, users of the light weren't any different from the demons whom they crushed.  They were all victims of god.

"Oh and you think your in charge now, a mad beast ordering me around, absurd."

Hundreds of portals spawned in the sky, all dotted in different locations with little pattern outside of covering the space.  Aruna's eyes darted towards Mael, realizing exactly what his plan was.  A dark arua surrounded both Lulu and Meal, filling them with the power of darkness, all before she returned her gaze to the injured angels.

Darkness wasn't evil, nor was light.  It was just another form of power.  If light was the power to overcome, then darkness was the power to protect.  Enjoy ripping them to pieces Lulu...  There is nothing that pleases my eyes more than watching your form rip through the bodies of my enemies, of our enemies.

Around a hundred chains emerged from the beach from the portal, flying into the sky where Meal was, caging him and the other angels in a maze of chains composed of pure light.  The portals in the sky spawned spikes radiating with dark energy that flew out to skewer the angels floating in the sky.  "Hear me angel's!  Relinquish the power of light and be spared!  What you face today........  are three enemies of god.

And with that she began chanting.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Lawrence

"Wooooooooah. So coooooooool."
"Wooooooooah. So coooooooool."

Flame and paper sat (wing) in arm and gawked at the scenery down below. "...See, as I told you, everything would work out." Lawrence sipped some of the readily made hot coffee while the bird stared at him flatly. Although, he wasn't really drinking it off a cup. He had grabbed a handful of ground roasted beans, jammed them in his mouth, and poured bubbling boiling water directly in his maw.

"Bro. Pretty sure you didn't count for that. Preeetty sure you're bullshitting. Again. H-hey, damn it, can you even DRINK that? What the-"

It was a still-boiling concoction of pure black, as bitter as it was scalding, yet he sipped it as if it were chocolate milk. Top quality beans from every region, brewed together and magically melded into what could only be described as heavenly. Because it'd kill you and send you straight to the heavens.

Phenex just stared at Lawrence, beak gaping.

"...That's disgusting."

Wiping his mouth, Lawrence swallowed the coffee down entirely - grind included. Right, right, the graces. He still looked down in utter fascination. Whatever had happened, it was resonating with that Seraph, going so far that even Lawrence could feel it. "She is truly marvelous. Sometime, someday... it would be nice to claim her to myself. Alas..."

Alas, his pocket watch ticked, and the time of reckoning came nigh. No, the truth was, it had rung ten minutes ago, For you see...

Lawrence's next lecture started in fifteen minutes.

Both of them were sweating.


Continued in campus town