Wrath (Ira) - Fifth Circle

Lucifers eyebrows rose as he listened to Ezrael's claim, his mention of Jean-Paul brought the armored priest to his attention, and Lucifer took a moment then to turn and face the other Mortal being in the room, truthfully the only one, if semantics were to be taken into account.

Lucifer looked Jean-Paul up and down in a moment, and then turned back to Ezrael. The fact that it had taken the King of Lies only a single glance over to get all he wished to know of the priest from him would no doubt be an off putting realization for the man.

To Ezrael, Lucifer nodded. "The 'Payment' you intend to offer isn't mine to take. The soul you destroyed resided here in the realm of Ira, which now belongs to the Prince of Wrath" And at this he gestured to Cole. "It is his will you must take into account, as only he may accept the offer, if it is his intention to do so. But before you settle your affairs, however that may turn, ask of me your questions, as I shall not hide that I am quite curious was a being such as yourself would ask me."


Elandis in this moment took a position behind Jean-Paul. His movements were silent, and he was so subtle in his actions that it was only after he had taken that place that the priest would feel the tingling feeling of fear upon his nape. The instinctual, primal terror that grips prey upon the realization that a predator is at hand.

After losing their battle and sinking in the waters, the Demiarchs were making their way to the top. The mighty beast was the essence of these lands, and since they had not died, they would cross the bottoms and follow the land till they surfaced. Soldiers, weapons, and other various things they brought were present when they surfaced on the spire that they attempted to build. Even though the orb vanished, they Demiarch knew they had a job to finish.

Upon reaching the top, they found a large portion of their construction still in tact despite the wave that washed them away. A few parties were sent to scout and a single mining operation was capable of continuing. It wasn't much, but it was enough to go unnoticed until they got a new transport built. That time was drastically cut down when the remaining forces from Blackrock came rolling through a portal and onto the massive spire. These forces were quickly ordered to submerge themselves and remain hidden, that they were in Hell and had lost one battle already.

A few of the newly introduced Demiarchs remained atop the spire with the others, primarily the engineer that designed and built a makeshift portal from tanks and other equipment. It didn't take long before a crew was designated to dismantle three stone tanks and begin constructing a portal. The Demiarch moved quietly and hid within the construction to prevent being seen. Things would move slowly at first, but once a portal was established, they would be back in business.

With the new soldiers came a stronger frequency that picked up a lost message from the squad sent to investigate. The message was broken, but it let them know they made it somewhere new. It had been some time, but just maybe the others were still alive. They would sent a message back asking for any response. The Demiarch needed everyone they had in hell, little did they know that they had more than they thought, some just weren't here by choice.

He remained still for the time being, his eyes focused on Ezrael and shifting his glance over to Jean-Paul once he was mentioned. Then...Lucifer motioned to Cole, saying the offer Ezrael was to make wasn't going to Lucifer, but him. Well...great. Now he's put in the hot seat on this. Or rather, he would be in the hot seat if Lucifer didn't mention that first the man would need to deal with him. His hand remained on his blade's hilt, watching over the scene...

Ezrael already knew certain truths and facts of the universe. He had figured them out on his own. The reality that is and was around them at all times, he knew more of it than most, or so he thought. And that was what truly brought him here. He was not the errand boy of the King in Yellow, scouting for beings so powerful they could un-end reality as it was with their powers beyond mortal comprehension. But what he sought was a concept that went above all other things, that only a finite number of beings could possibly know even within an infinite universe.

And so with a dangerous glint in his eye, he asked his two simple questions with the weight of a dropped hammer.

"Who is God? And where can I find Him?"

The question hung in the air, unanswered. What seemed like forever passed, and then a chilling cold filled the room. This was a cold deeper than any other. It was a cold that was colder than death, colder than the darkest, deepest circle of hell could ever match. A cold that, for those that had ever ventured that deep before, was colder than even Lucifer's prison had been.

It was the cold of loss, the cold of emptiness, of a feeling so profoundly wrong and adverse to existence that no match existed, no words were fit to describe it, a cold so harsh and deep that even these words simply cannot suffice to explain the sensation.

All in the room would feel this. Ezrael would look upon Lucifer and where once there stood the grand and majestic angel winged being who gave off a feeling of peace and fairness, there now stood a terrible form of fire, rage, and vengeance. He seemed human in all aspects save for the burning fractures that spread across his body, and what appeared to be twisted iron spires and chains that protruded from and wrapped around the burned and blackened remains of what were once the most beautiful wings.

And the very moment Ezrael saw this it would be no more, and Lucifer was once more his majestic and peaceful seeming self. He closed his eyes and looked upon the now souless being and said "You wish to know this, of all things?"

The soldiers kept working on their spire, its form growing very little as they wanted to remain hidden until their portal was built. Within days, the portal was constructed and ready to use. At this moment, the portal was only big enough for one being to walk through at a time, but not much else was needed. As long as it opened up at the right location, that was all they needed.

Their intelligence stood strong as the portal did open up in the right location. A few of the soldiers marched into the portal and within five minutes a much larger portal opened up, large enough for them to get fighter ships through if they needed to. The larger portal was deep within the spire which was but an extension of the mighty beast that made up the land. Unlike others, these warriors know what they're fighting and know that nothing on the exterior of this beast really exists.

While the one soldiers were fighting to resurface the waters to build on their spire once again, the others at home had been planning an attack if they could every pick back up on the location of Hell without the Orbs. This time, they locked the location of Hell within the fabrics of reality, finding it could be found anywhere they found large masses of Black Mass that were not blackholes. The way into hell was inside the black mass as it consumed all the energies and masses it touched, so the key was to find a way to bypass the initial contact. When the soldiers in Ira found their way through, it was locked on till their portal was able to reverse the portal effects and establish a marked location that they could return to.

With everything established, the soldiers would take on a different tactic. Instead of trying to conquer the Fifth Circle on the top, they would attempt to attack from inside. Mining and drilling would be the key this time, so they needed to protect their outsides. Ira would experience the Hive mindset that they had. Construction supplies and equipment came rolling through the portal along with four large pieces of steel that would be spread around the top of the spire.

The four pieces of metal would be a form of Mithril and radiate a purple energy. Beside them were soldiers who were activating the equipment. Within minutes a large sphere made of a purple energy surrounded the spire the warriors were on that would help protect them from outside attacks. It was long before metals could be seen and soldiers doing metal work with large machines that were building a second layer of metal that put a Silver and Iron dome over the spire, protecting it from the top from the powers of Evil.

The soldiers were very noticeable at this time if any other beings wandered the circle. If uninterrupted, the work would go very fast knowing what could happen if they were undefended. If the beast tried to attack again, they were ready to show him what the mortal can do without the 'gods' involvement. The mortal realm was but another universe and created to control the rise and fall of gods all through history and this time they were bring the war to the realms of gods.

A whispering laughter echoed through the air around the soldiers as they toiled in their futile projects. "What do we have here.... Lost souls wandering where they're not wanted? It would seem a feast has been laid out for me...."

The chilling cold of death would fall upon each of the soldiers, one by one, alongside the feeling of their very life force being bled from them, sucked away by an unseen entity that fed upon their very souls.

The chill of death was not a new feeling to the Deminaughts and Demiarchals that were present. Once before this same feeling crept over them, but stalled them none. The energy itself would let them know they were watched, but their stone presence remained unscathed. With no intention to stop, they ignored the chill and kept working. To take their souls would require them to lose their faith in themselves, which is something unlikely to happen any time soon.

An officer within the spire, "Prepare the defenses. Standard technology will not prevail here, so we have prepared Magi-Tech weaponry this time. It is time to unveil the next step in the process. Let the forces through."

With the words spoken, soldiers, mechs, and other large pieces of equipment for a war began to fill and cover the top of the spire. Large trucks with weaponry designed to release multiple shots at once took to the center of the spire top while smaller mounted weaponry took to the edges. While the previous forces used nuclear, these forces were equipped with Silver and Ectoplasmic weaponry; the two things that would actually have an effect.

As the defensive units were the main bearers of Silver, the same energy that tried to creep over the Deminaughts and Demiarchs would soon feel a pain itself, the natural effects of Silver on dark energies. After the main force of ground troops were present, the dome began to partially open above. Fighter ships burst from the portal and filled what the fifth circle had for a sky.

"Prepare for the initial strike! We will bomb this place till its master rises so that we can slay this horrible beast that torments these souls!" A commander spoke as the last of the fighter ships broke free.

In the mean time, the drills were going deeper and deeper into the creature that created these lands. There was more to this than just drilling, but for now, it was being kept under wraps and hopefully defended long enough to complete their mission.

Atreviel howled in pain as silver was brought forth, the sound like the wind itself groaning in protest. Though his wrath was great, he was not without the sense to know he was outmatched.

"Enjoy your pitiful invasion while you can, the King shall soon come, and all your works will be undone."

The shadow of a spirit could be spotted fleeing the area at high speeds, as Atreviel made his way to report to Lucifer himself.

"The sounds of pain! Men, we're doing better than last time! Keep up the work!"

The drills were reaching extremely deep depths within the spire. After the drills reached so deep, they would begin to back out, leaving a tunnel that seemed bottomless. As the drills exited the tunnel, large lines were being run through the portal and over to the tunnel. On these lines, spots of hardened metal could be seen on the end. Generally these hoses were used for Cerenium, but this time they would be used for Silver.

When the hoses were hanging over the edge of the tunnel, soldiers began placing straps over the hoses to hold them to the ground. When the last clamp was on the hose, a soldier would shout and a gentle shake could be felt in the ground as something began to pump through the hose. The soldier monitoring the hoses would walk over to the pit and look, watching as liquid silver began to spew from the hose, sending steam into the air as the smoldering hot liquid metal fell to the depths of this tunnel, pushing out sixty gallons every ten minutes.

Silver would covered the entire tunnel as far as one could see down. The remainder of the silver would solidify as it fell to the depths of the tunnel, deep within the creature that was the Fifth Circle. While the pumps were pushing out the liquid silver, and the soldiers were making sure the hoses kept flowing, the officers were preparing another preemptive strike. Their full intention was to weaken this circle enough to successfully build their fortitude needed to push into the further reaches of Hell.

"Prepare for the first air strike. Aim for anything about the water", an officer spoke as turned to the other officers, "Colonel, are you sure this will work?"

"Am I sure? Just the presence of silver sent the first evil away howling in pain. As long as we can successfully carry out this operation, the evil here won't stand a chance.", the Deminaght spoke as he tuned in for a response from his main pilot, "Sir, we're ready to strike. Permission to engaged in Operation: Silver Carpet."

The officer quickly responded, "Permission granted. I want to see silver as far as I can see!"

"Yes, sir!" The fighter jet pilot responded before relaying the message.

With the orders given, small clouds of smoke could be seen coming from the fighter jets as silver missiles dropped and began to cover the area in a carpet bombing style. The missiles would fall for so many yards before they rocketed forward, aiming for specific locations. Should the missiles go unbothered, they would explode and send pierce the solid ground with golf ball sized orbs of silver while the original missile shell fell into the waters, purifying the immediate waters around them, but nothing big enough to even consider bothering the evil powers over the water; simply put, it was like mosquitoes biting a bears rump.

While the Demiarch was spreading silver everywhere, they were constantly at work preparing the next step. Their stone figures would come in handy eventually, but right now they were more or less worrying about evening up the odds against their unseen enemy. The Demiarch knew they were in Hell, but they were an intelligent and powerful race, and they had yet to find an enemy they couldn't combat, especially since they didn't consume resources themselves and used the resources for technology and equipment, allowing them to be more productive and intelligent than most.

"Come now, master of this Hell... We will prove that this realm belongs to man and not the gods." the officer overseeing everything spoke to himself as he looked from the top of the spire and into the openess of Ira.

Lucifer winced and looked off in the distance as a shadow folded itself into the room, manifesting into the physical realm as Atreviel. The creature appeared as the rotted corpse of an angel, whos wings were now nothing more than tattered drapes billowing from it's back. Atreviel fell to his knees and looked straight at Lucifer, who stared back in silence. A moment later Lucifer turned to Ezrael and Cole and said "At this time, a brazen and foolish group of mortals has decided to invade this realm. I will make you this offer only once, Ezrael. Punish these humans for their transgressions, and send them from this realm. Only then will I give you the way to God."

Lucifer then turned to Cole. "As this is your circle, I expect you to undo the damage the mortals are doing as well, lest someone else take your recent gotten throne."

And with a flash of pale light, Lucifer was gone, and those who remained would find themselves standing upon a bluff overlooking the human invasion.

A approaching darkness began to fall over the realm of Ira followed by a menacing laughter. "Well...well...well...Mortals who dare walk around my Lords domain? You should learn that trespassing on his domain results in...fatal consequence..." A figure spoke inside the encroaching darkness before chuckling. It sounded like he was all around the Deminaught's. His very voice sounding like it was right next to every one of them. "But first allow me to welcome you all to hell where you can enjoy your eternal stay! I will give you my best bloody reception..." The creature spoke as he looked at the humans defenses. A barrier to keep them out? And silver to keep them away? They really do not know who they are messing with...

With a tap of his claws, Duriel touched the Silver. The Silver would soon become blackened and corupt the rest of the Silver. Silver was indeed strong to evil, but for him Silver was like putting out a candle. And that barrier! Oh that miserable anti-magic barrier. He can't begin his music with that thing in the way. Raising both of his talons, he stabbed the barrier causing it to overload and malfunction. Human tech was not going to stop his power. Sure it would stop his minions...but he was on a whole new level...He was the Lord of a circle, his power was immense but nothing compared to the Lord Of Hell himself. These humans were facing a Lord of demons, he was the equivalent of a god in hell.

Soon the darkness surrounded their forces, followed by uncanny yelling in the darkness. Demons, all of whom are now mindless butchers for the Lord Of Pain. They surrounded them in the shadows, no light able to pierce the black abyss. These creatures would strike without warning, clawed hands would grab at them tearing them apart as they dragged them in the shadows with nothing but their screams of pain being heard. Black tendrils grabbed at the planes in the air and winged nightmares, scaled creatures and more abominations assaulted the planes with little warning.

Soon a haunting song began to play within the ears of the soldiers, sung by the Lord Of Pain himself...Duriel..."Do you hear the voices scream? Do you hear the echoing laughter? Do you feel that chill up your spine?

Do you feel his presence? The master of suffering and pain. The one who feeds off your pain and fear. He comes to deliver his song, he comes with his little minions, they creep and crawl in the shadows, they devour your organs, they play with your guts, they enjoy every second of it.

The screaming fills your ears! The horrors beyond the shadows creep ever closer! You may have been brave once! But now you play the fool! The Lord Of Pain has come for you! And he shall enjoy your suffering!" The creature sang. Repeating over and over as the tone became more and more malicious. The screams of soldiers audible while he sang.

Deep within Ira the 'prince' Cole had himself knelt in front of a small shrine he had made, incense burning and offerings placed upon a small makeshift altar as he remained in his trance. The castle was silent, and the servants who used to make their domain within the castle had been dismissed and been given their own freedom.

As for the state of Ira? It barely resembled what it once was. The domain, while unpleasant, was calm and Cole found himself with little to do as the prince here. Still, that was good for him, that meant there were no shit storms imminent.

Standing from the altar he wiped his forehead, a frown on his face. Despite his prayer he still couldn't divine the location of those he wished to find. Celia, Val, not even some of his old buddies from back when he gathered that 'Legends' group together. That group...it had been started under the foolish pretence that they'd become legends, or that they'd be able to recruit legends. Now it rest in shambles with Cole left all alone.

"Agh..." He let out a small growl, kicking over the altar and spilling incense and other offerings. Before he went too far, he got a hold on his anger and just plopped to the ground, sitting and running a hand through his hair. "I've been a dammed fool." He muttered to himself, staring at the altar in shame. "I should have never left. I shouldn't have abandoned everything I had to seek out others, I at least had something here before." He reached over and began setting the now damaged altar back up. "Now I've got nothing..." Cole sighed and sat in quiet contemplation for a few.

If he'd had a clock nearby, the monotonous 'tick, tock' would have become mind numbingly irritating by now. He'd been staring off in the distance and trying to sort through his thoughts, memories, and decisions. He couldn't go back on what he did, and now he's left alone. "Gah... I can't stay in what's literally hell all alone like this." Standing up he dusted himself off, attached his sword to his sheath, and decided to get a portal set up for him to leave for a bit. A few days maybe, just enough time to try and make some friends at some taverns and maybe get into some duels and meet some new fighters.

Before he left, Cole made sure to get a lesser demon of Wrath to watch over everything, assuring him that if he did his job with no blunders that he'd be rewarded, and of course... betrayal and attempting to usurp power would mean Cole would kill the little bastard.

Once that had been taken care of, Cole exited through the portal to seek out some people.

Sabnach has arrived, coming from Darkest Decline.

Sabnach has left the area, heading south into Styx Riverbank.

Sabnach has arrived, coming from Darkest Decline.

This area begins to push everything out of itself, a great expulsion of material into another realm...

Sabnach materializes from the void.

Sabnach has left the area, heading south into Styx Riverbank.