Sanctuary Academy (IC/CLOSED)

[Wiztech]

"Interesting. So if he is hurt by those who hold mistletoe then we could control him? Or does someone else summon him up?" This was starting to confuse her just slightly. So far she had gotten the part down about the mistletoe but now their was the thing about Beldr.

Daniel felt like he was doing a lesson " Beldr is a demon who took a lot from the Nordic god Baldr. He knew a pact with every alive creature could be done, and literally used his power to steal Baldr's one after his dead. But the Mistletoe never sweared to not harm Baldr, and he was killed with him. At the same way, in the name of the plant you can hurt him without breaking the pact. He's a 'vampirish' type of demon, and he's vanitous in a way that touches the incredible. He will be called by praise and blood offerings to him. Angelic one too. "

"That makes sense. Thanks Daniel." She smiled and was thinking about the vampirish part. it was interesting to say the least. After this, hopefull, she would go and look this guy up, if he was even on the computers or such.

[Starkindler]

The Angel felt herself threatened by the words of the Demonology professor.

"I had abysmal grades in Discipline, so I didn't knew this legend, but I don't lock out that in AP or Honors Discipline courses, which are required for Power training, they can't identify Beldr, or not know his weakness. Also how great of a sacrifice will be required, and would it be more wise to capture and sacrifice enemy Angels for the summoning instead of school students? Not that I, as a virgin female Angel would deny the honor of being sacrificed for the good of the school."

[Nature-Spirits]

"Your blood will not be necessary, Miss Featherfall," said the Witch gravely. "Unless you wish to volunteer it, but even then you would be of most use to us in a strong, healthy condition. Extensive blood loss, therefore, is not an option for you. 'T will be a simple matter to obtain angelic blood. We can simply conjure up a poltergeist. It will be invisible, it will be able to pass through the weakened wards with ease, it will be able to interact with the physical world (and therefore with the Angels' bodies), and it will have to comply with my demands. Unfortunately, it will take some time, and I will only be able to keep it on Earth for a short time. So," she turned to Daniel, "when do you plan to summon the Demon? That greatly affects when I begin my own conjuration."

[Firstaria]

"Your blood will not be necessary, Miss Featherfall," said the Witch gravely. "Unless you wish to volunteer it, but even then you would be of most use to us in a strong, healthy condition. Extensive blood loss, therefore, is not an option for you. 'T will be a simple matter to obtain angelic blood. We can simply conjure up a poltergeist. It will be invisible, it will be able to pass through the weakened wards with ease, it will be able to interact with the physical world (and therefore with the Angels' bodies), and it will have to comply with my demands. Unfortunately, it will take some time, and I will only be able to keep it on Earth for a short time. So," she turned to Daniel, "when do you plan to summon the Demon? That greatly affects when I begin my own conjuration."

" As late as possible " Daniel said " Although his trick makes him unbeatable, I will not be surprised that the angels, who DESTROYED BABEL, would know about the stori of the pretendent of the throne of Bel. If I summon him too soon, they will arm with mistletoe and then he would be useless..." He took a pause, then continued " I could try to summon someone more powerful, but I would need a load of Macca or even Magnetite, a crystalized mineral formed by the contact of a demon's soul with other minerals...It's so rare even in hell is treasured. "

[Lakota]

OOC: Sorry, not all of Asia has connection .

The first answer answered a question, Cherohetat had not even asked. "...So, if we just dragged a lot of possible witnesses to the site, it would not even help, he would attack nevertheless..." he though loud. "It is Michael's own personal might, if there was someone who could stand up to him, all of this would crumble... I wonder how powerful he really is although I fear all the ways to find out." Che had to think of Vohu Manah. He had always thought of the Amesha Spenda as the most powerful being in the nearby realms but when he heared that the other Arcangels feared Michael - even collectively - it unsettled his faith. "Thank you. I think we should return to earth. Unless you have another question, Esteph?"

"Hmmm? No, no more questions." Esteph smiled, trying to pretend that he hadn't daydreamed through the entire conversation. Personally, Isil's voice made him feel very sleepy. Maybe it was because Isil sounded the slightest bit drunk. In fact, judging from the numerous bottles scattered in the room, he was drunk, or had been drunk rather recently. Whatever.

"Will we have to fight this Michael? I would hate to fight an angel." Probably because I would lose, Esteph thought, shuddering and holding his shoulders. To die at the hands of an angel... Horrific, to say the least. If this Michael was as ruthless as he sounded, well, he didn't want to think about that.

[Kaledoria]

"At the end comes the harvest and the reapers are the Angels," Cherohetat quoted a line from the bible that he had heard the Angels use before. He was not that well versed in the new testament, but this seamed to be a prominent saying nowadays.

The two wished Isil goodbye and went down the hallway again. Che felt outward for the lingering teleportation spell, took Esteph's hand and traveled the way in the opposite direction.

Back at the Sancuary, Che went straight to the Witch of Endor. He bowed his head as he could not stand her gaze as he had to make the following offer: "I could not find out much useful information. However, if you want to avoid the battle, there could be the possibility of leaving earth. I do not have the authority to make any promises but my guess would be, that you could be granted a pocked in the realm of my people to rebuild your academy ... as long as you would abstain from allowing Demons in it, or the Undead who refused death." His eyes shifted over to the Vampires for a second. He felt sorry for them, they were clearly more in control of their unholy bloodlust then the average monster that called itself a vampire but they were still an abomination against life itself and their influence on realms filled with life magic was not clearly predictable.
"If however you wish to fight, I would like to stand with you. And should we stand our ground this night, I would suggest we seek support from the other Archangels. It seams, they would welcome an opportunity to rebel against Michael, Raziel was even tortured by him, so said a rumor I heard, but as of now, they fear his power."

[Nature-Spirits]

"Very well," said the Witch to Daniel before turning to the approaching Che. After hearing him out, she sighed. "I am afraid that leaving is not an option. It would be the same as surrendering, and that is not an option.
"Now, your idea of asking the other Archangels for assistance is not one that I haven't already thought of, though I only meditated on it briefly. It is unlikely that they would openly betray Michael, as it would endanger their livelihoods. But thank you for going to Heaven; it is most appreciated. There are not many who would willingly infiltrate the world of the Angels.
"Now," and here she spoke up, "all students should get some rest, though I do not believe that it is safe to leave this building, so if any of you do wish to sleep it will have to be in the classrooms. All staff and students who do not feel that they need rest should stay here and continue formulating our plans. Thank you." With that she closed her eyes, thinking to herself, Raziel, my friend, I am so sorry that you had to suffer on my behalf. If one were to look closely they would see a single tear well up at the edge of her right eye and roll slowly down her wrinkled face.

[Libaries]

Violet thought for a moment and then said, "I'll stay here. I'll be alert for a while, at least until morning as I have... Finished off my energy source a while ago. So... Any new ideas yet? I'm plain stumped."

[Ameriganastan]

Violet thought for a moment and then said, "I'll stay here. I'll be alert for a while, at least until morning as I have... Finished off my energy source a while ago. So... Any new ideas yet? I'm plain stumped."

Laz raised his hand, still picking splinters from his snack out of his teeth.

"I'll stay awake. I don't need much sleep anyway. Also...I think I can get in contact with my legion. Scare us up a little crazy, demonic backup. And I do mean crazy. I'm a member of the Ravagers. We exist only to rip stuff apart."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Isaac continued listening to the battle plans, though the topics at hand had mostly diverted to summoning forces from outside the Sanctuary to help defend it, something that didn't really have anything to do with him, though he continued listening, since it would affect the battle and he needed to know what he should and should not do when the Angels inevitably broke through the Sanctuary's magic ward.

When Endora instructed the students to get some rest, Isaac choose not to do so. He wasn't tired in the slightest, so he preferred to stay there and hear the plans in detail.

---

Morva simply continued listening to the suggestions of the other students and staff members, particularly Mercury's and Lazrian's. He found the idea of bringing Demons back to fight against the angels quite useful, not to mention rather cinematic. Angels fighting Demons yet again... If they ever did. He wasn't quite sure.

[Nature-Spirits]

Endora opened her eyes, composing herself. I must be strong. For the good of the Sanctuary, for the good of all of these people, for the good of all supernatural races. "That is a marvellous idea Mister Lazrian. Please, do contact them and notify me when they reply. I need to know whether they can come, and if so, when." She turned her eyes skyward, her ancient eyes seeming to pierce the ceiling to stare at the heavens. I am not helpless. I may look like some frail old lady, but I am capable of organising and protecting the students and staff of this school, my charges.

---

Cassander slipped out of the Auditorium, barely noticed by anyone, and sighed. "I need to get out of here," he muttered, heading for the door that lead onto the field in Ireland containing the other buildings. He left the school and ran across the field, his feet audibly pounding against the ground. He spread his demonic wings, rising into the air, his pale hair fluttering in the wind. He hastily scraped it out of his face with his clawed hands as he skimmed over the ground - his wings didn't take him very high, but flying was faster than running.
Suddenly he felt himself being roughly pulled back toward the school by an invisible force. He scowled. The school didn't want him to leave. And he'd barely gotten halfway across the field. How unfair.
He slammed into the floor just inside the doors, which had flown open to allow him entrance, and now slammed shut to keep him in. "Okay, okay, it's not safe to leave the building, I understand," he said, sitting up. He heard a click as the lock slid shut. Of course, that wasn't enough to keep him from kicking the door down, but it communicated clearly that he couldn't leave. The Cambion huffed and spun around, storming down the hall.

[Ameriganastan]

"I can contact them now actually. Just gimme a sec..."

He looked around, and marched up to the stage, grabbing the podium, and throwing it on the floor.

"Gonna need some kindling. Get a good flame going. Could probably use a few chairs too..."

He grabbed about 5 chairs, tossing them in a pile on top of the podium, and nodding.

"Alright...now the unpleasant part."

Twisting the demonic looking skull on his armor around, it popped open, a sack of something falling out. He grimaced, and closed it back, picking up the bag.

"Demonic communication powder...Lucifer, this stuff tastes hideous. Like...really hideous. But, it's the only way I can get in contact with my boys."

Pouring the powder into his mouth, he just stood there for a few moments...and promptly belched a huge plume of purple flames at the kindling pile.

"Ugh...they better be awake. Saranac, you there? Wake your lazy ass up, it's Lazrian!"

An utterly repulsive demon appeared in the flame, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Laz? What the hell are you doing bugging me? I thought you were on vacation or something..."

"Shut your hatch, you ugly bastard. Look, we have some heavenly trouble up here on Earth. And I'm stuck in the middle of it. These wusses insist on planning, and strategy, and backup and such, so I decided to call up my bros in the Ravagers. I know how you guys all love shredding some angels. And..."

Saranac raised his hand to silence Laz.

"Say no more. I'll wrangle up all the available Ravagers I can. We'll be there in about 6 hours. Don't have all the fun before we get there. Like the motto goes, "Don't think about a problem..."

"Ravage it!"

The saluted each other before the flame went out.

"There you go. Kickass backup is on the way."

[Nature-Spirits]

"Thank you, Mister Lazrian," Endora said with a smile.

---

Outside the Front Gates of Sanctuary Academy, Earth, 07h13
The angelic Mage smiled, her lips stretching farther than a human's could, as a crack sounded through the air. A few people were walking down the street and there were several cars zooming past, but none of them seemed to notice; she'd cast a glamour over herself, her companion and the school. Best not to attract humans' attention too soon, lest they interfere. The last thing she needed was a policeman shooting her. She'd had that done to her before, and it'd been painful.
Her grin, though it seemed impossible, widened further as the wards flickered, wavered, and collapsed with a deafening sound of shattering glass. A few humans glanced over, but her glamour held, and their minds rejected the sound, forgetting that they'd heard anything before they could process it.
"Your turn," she said to her partner, and he got up out of his chair with a sigh, rubbing his hands together. Thunder rolled as the Summoner gathered his power, a rod made from otherworldly, divine materials appearing before him. He grabbed it out of the air, and began to trace a large circle on the ground with it while the Mage sat down. He breathed deeply and began chanting in a combination of Latin, Hebrew, and Angelic, tracing Hebrew and Enochian letters on the perimeter of the circle. By the time he was done there were three smaller circles set at regular intervals around the larger circle, with magical symbols and lines of arcane text in and around them, forming intricate patterns. He stood at the north of the large circle, facing its centre, and intoned, "Archangel Uriel, I evoke thee. In the name of the Lord Yahweh, I ask that thee open the Gates of Heaven." He clapped once, bowing his head before slowly walking clockwise around the circle to the south.
"Could you go any faster?" quipped the woman under her breath, and he briefly glared at her before continuing, ""Archangel Michael, I evoke thee. In the name of the Lord Yahweh, I summon the Host of Heaven to this world of Earth. So mote it be." He clapped, and this time the sound echoed around the area powerfully. The circles, circles, and text glowed with ethereal golden light, and thunder rolled in the distance. Then all hell (or, rather, Heaven) broke loose.

---

Auditorium, Sanctuary Academy, Earth, 07h21
Endora'd gasped as the wards had shattered, her mind reeling. She could practically hear the school crying out in pain, and she wanted to do the same. However, several minutes later, when the massive portal opened between Heaven and Earth, she did cry out, doubling over. The chasm between the living and the dead, which she straddled each time she summoned a spirit or reanimated a corpse, felt less wide, as though she could simply reach over and pluck a dead person from their world.
Of course, if that was true....
Her thoughts were interrupted as the first wave, having flown over the fence, shot magical projectiles at the school, and the brick walls crumbled. She glanced over at Lazrian's demonic team, who'd arrived not long before. "Well, you imbecilic imps, attack!" she yelled at them before turning to the students assembled in the Auditorium. "Arm yourselves! Quickly, lest we all perish at the hands of the oppressive Heaven!"
Her thoughts stabilised, and she remembered her thought. She could turn the Angels' portal against them by calling forth the dead who resided in Heaven; the angelic magic was, in fact, so strong that Heaven and Earth were closer than ever.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had to do this quickly, and she knew it. The world faded away around her, and the departed souls, drawn to her necromantic energies, rose up around her. She smiled inwardly, expanding her field of magic. She felt the lingering souls of animals too. Perfect.
Hundreds of rotting animal carcasses erupted from the ground around the school, crawling their way toward the Heavenly Host, attacking with claws, fangs, beaks, and protruding bones. The Angels blasted at them, but in most cases they didn't manage to destroy the entire carcass, and the souls clung on, continuing their attacks.
Next, shadowy, smoky, wraithlike spirits rose from nothing, screaming like Banshees. They reached for the Angels, and, Endora having lent enough energy to them to allow them to physically interact with the world, they clawed at the Angels, largely indestructible unless powerful exorcisms were used.
When the Witch opened her eyes she realised that she was levitating several metres above the ground, and she grinned, extending one hand in the direction of the army. Destructive purple energy coalesced in front of her hand and blasted forth, obliterating portions of the remaining walls and incinerating a few Angels.
A few Angels out of thousands.

---

Within minutes news broadcasts were being televised all over the world. Each of the hundreds of reports stated more or less the same thing: "A few minutes ago in London, England there was a large flash of light near a private school, and countless creatures that resembled humans but have large wings and seem to wield strange energy weapons have started attacking said school. Several buildings and dozens of automobiles and people have been crushed, and mass hysteria has gripped the area. Since then sightings have been reported of colourful flashes of light and yet more inhuman creatures. Similar things have also been reported from a small, secluded village in Ireland, taking place in the distant forest. What are these new foes? More atheistic people are proposing aliens, while religions groups believe that this may be Armageddon." Many of the broadcasts showed footage taken from helicopters above the Sanctuary and surrounding area, and cars were already streaming out of the city.

[Ameriganastan]

Laz cracked his knuckles, turning to the motley assortment of demons behind him.

"Ravagers, sound off!"

"'Skullcracker' Saranac, ready for action!"

"'Horrible' Hevaster, prepared to maim!"

"'Cannon arm' Carason, here to blow them away!"

"'Abomination' Arasker, amped to destroy!"

"'Bright Eyes' Basarka, claws at the ready!"

"The Great and Mighty Lazrian, here to lead! Let's do what we do best boys. Lets RAVAGE!

Each one released a soul shaking war cry, and charged into the fray. It only took a few seconds for those there understand why they were called the Ravagers.

"Arasker, skinflame special!"

The horrifying amalgamation of monsters called Arasker grabbed the nearest angel, using his three free hands to rips its skin off in one swift motion. He tossed the screaming angel into the air, where it was reduced to ash by Laz's flame breath.

"YEAH! You actually got it off on one pull. You've been practicing."

He sliced several others to ribbons with his cleaver.

"Only took me 29 tries on some damned souls to get it down. Carason, to your left!

The skull faced demon dodged the attacking angels, shoving his cannon in ones mouth, and blowing its head to bits. The others met a swift end by his enormous blade.

"This is better than the battle of Cinder Ridge! Remember Basarka? Basarka? Where did he get off to?"

The smaller purple demon bounced around the battlefield like a jackrabbit, ripping faces, eyes, arms, whatever his razor sharp talons connected with clean off. He bounced back around to Carason's side, slicing another angels wings off, and pulling his brain out through the back of his skull.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but that fancy cannon of yours kept jamming at Cinder Ridge. Your ugly ass would be dust if Hevaster and Saranac hadn't got there in time"

The final two Ravagers were busy, Saranac living up to his "Skullcracker" epitaph, by smashing the heads of any angel he could get his hands on, and Hevaster ripping the ones he missed to shreds. Their small regions of the battlefield was quickly becoming littered with angelic corpses.

"Ravagers rule!"

[Starkindler]

OOC: If you have a demon team... I haven't written in my app that how good I could fly, also I'm free with the acceleration vector, because of RSP's.

Angela spent her time alone preparing for the inevitable combat in body and in soul. She got her stuff from the dorm, and buried all the combat equipment in small stashes. It included the ammo she didn't carry on her person, magic markers and blessed athames, which could not directly harm an angel - or a demon for that case - but it can be used to quickly draw magic circles for her more powerful spells (OOC: I-> 30kA), and her Angel-sized MRE's. She kept a few with her at all times, as she found Earth rations too small for her, and she knew she was vulnerable to the lack of energy. Then she descended into a meditative trance until the break of dawn. While meditating, her tears were constantly flowing, however, she did not sob, as she meditated about the battle.

It was very hard on her to come to terms with herself, as she had to kill Angels, her own brothers and sisters in battle to save Earthlings, those who are just acquaintances to her. Even if she deserted to the Angels, she would be banished to Hell, even if she survived the battle on the Archangel's side. However, she could not think herself fighting on the side of Michael. And Endora said that she couldn't flee the battle either. She could, from now on only hope that Earth will accept her, and Michael will not send her down. She with this step also lost her childhood ambitions of joining The Seraphim's Wings, Heaven's elite flight demonstration squadron. When she was in Heaven, she would attend every one of their performances, and with her eidetic memory, she could remember the performed stunts, practicing them in all her available free time. That's how she became lead of the Flying class, and being one of the physically strongest civilian Angels of her Choir, Circle and age. On Earth, she would continue this habit, despite gaining powers, and would attend any flight demonstration performances, especially the 'Blue Angels', and would still try to adapt and practice the choreographs designed for jet fighters.

Then, she used her last hours to eat a combat ration (which was very high in calories, protein, and carbs, usually given before charging the enemy), then she performed the heavenly equivalent of martial arts, to ensure her muscles were warmed up enough, and don't fail her in the heat of the battle. When she heard the shield shatter, flying from roof to roof, she attempted to get a clear shot on the summoner angel, however, something always intersected, be it a bird, a civilian, or a tree.

When the first wave of Angels arrived, she attempted to pinpoint the officers, shooting them with iron sniper bullets, quickly moving between different sniping sites. However, after the Angels reduced most of the buildings to rubble, she took flight, and engaged the Heavenly Flying Infantry in dogfight with her P-90, dropping her Dragunov into a site she assumed would be more quickly found by the defenders than the foes. When engaging the Flying Infantry, she used aggressive tactics. Dodging the incoming magical missiles by sharp turns, aided by the drag of a dropped leg and tail, and sometimes even by quickly closing , then reopening, one of her wings to make an U-turn, and fire at the soldiers after getting to their backs. The rookies quickly fell for this trick, as well as letting them encircle her, accelerating, then, by spreading her wings quickly decelerating and dropping altitude at the moment they casted their curses, prompting them to attack each other.

When she looked at the ground forces, she was about to unleash one of her strongest spells, Skysplitting Thunderblast, however, when seeing helicopters up in the sky, she decided not to, as the EMP effect of the spell would kill hundreds of innocents sitting aboard planes in the near area. She then thought about a crazy idea. She soared into a thermal, then dropped from time to time to gain sufficient speed, while attacking the Powers in her back, and getting into neck-breaking evasive maneuvers against the more experienced fliers. However, she also knew that Powers are usually not given Earth licenses, so most of them does not know how a helicopter stays in the air. Having a few of them in her neck, she flew directly through the rotor of a helicopter, while making a high-pitched scream, pulling her wings tightly together, and trusting her calculations.

Fortunately, she managed to pull off the difficult maneuver with the loss of a few secondary feathers and minor scratches, quickly cauterizing her wounds, afterward, anesthetized by adrenaline and the thrill of the battle. The powers following her were... not so lucky.
"Eyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeee!" - she screamed again, not seeing the powers behind her - "Weaknesses, learn to fly!" - she added in Angelic, being out of herself, thrilled by the battle. Then she engaged other Angels near the helicopter, asking a favor from the humans.

"Humans... RATATATATATATA" - she fired a series into an enemy angel getting too close - "Those, who value the freedom of your planet... Grab your weapons... Of pure iron.... And not steel... or composites... and please... help us against the host of... The Archangel."

Then, closing her wings, maintaining her speed somewhat below her never exceed speed to have enough inertia for maneuvers, but still not stall, she helped the ground fighters from above, changing the clip while falling down.

[Libaries]

Violet reached into her boots and pulled out some nun-chucks that had some blood on them. She twirled it around a bit, and then ran into battle. She whipped the nun-chucks throughout the air, hitting some. Other dodged and she simply kept trying. She dodged attacks with her speed, and managed to knock some down. Eventually, about 8 enemies were on the ground. She smiled, and turned to go for more when they started to slowly lift up. Violet grimaced before trying again.

This process happened repeatedly before she fled back to her room. She looked through her stuff, looking for something of use. The sounds of fighting were everywhere, piercing her eardrums. Finally, she found a whistle. A bat whistle. She thought for a moment, and then blew it. Hopefully, all the bats that heard it would know not to try to get the blood, but at least fight. She hung the whistle around her neck and then ran back into the battle.

[Lakota]

Esteph watched as the angels poured out of the skies, heavy rain from the heavens. Time seemed to slow, and he looked at Che with a mix between adrenaline and determination. Blood would soak this battlefield: holy blood. They would all gorge upon it today, and for every other day this war went on.

"I'm glad I have at least one person whom I can call a brother, Che." He put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You and I may have different beliefs, but we share one thing in common," the aarakocra said, switching into his hawk form. "And that one thing bonds us together, through life and death." He smiled, his grin hardening into the sly smirk of battle.

"This is the day when the birds cry havoc! For the winds and the skies!"

He began to fire an insane barrage of both fire and arcane from his beak, a fearsome hybrid of crimson red and deep violet. With a beautiful hue of frost he slashed through the air in front of him, attempting to freeze the wings of the assaulters. Now THIS was a battle! As his master had once said: "Each battle is the stroke of a paintbrush; each war a piece of true art."

Esteph watched as an angel went tumbling down, his wings frozen and his throat cut by air. A true masterpiece, this was going to be.

"It certainly will," he whispered as he dove after the frozen angels, his tailwind singing the songs of death.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

When the Angels finally broke through the barrier and began assaulting the school, Morva, who kept his calm expression throughout the whole thing, sighed. He began fiddling with his staff as he looked around. "Well, looks like it's time to go out there and give those Angels the fight of their lives, eh?" He said, before pulling a sword out of his staff. The sword itself was made from an alloy that could only be created through alchemy, using materials he had acquired during his journeys throughout the different worlds of the universe, and was imbued with a poison that was deadly to most if not all things, and this, of course, included Angels. There was only one antidote, and he kept it on him at all times.

With this done, he ran out into the fray, and began fighting against the Angelic forces. Due to the alchemical treatments Morva had given his own body, he was far stronger and more agile than humans, and while he might not be a match to the Angels in a contest of raw strenght, this definitely helped him during the fight. Due to the fact that his sword was made from an incredibly strong material, he was able to, with some effort, slash right through most angels that headed his way. However, he didn't always do this. Some Angels he simply poked with the tip of his sword. The reason explaining this became apparent when, after a few minutes, the Angels that were not killed suddenly suffered from an immense pain. When this happened, Morva grinned, but kept on fighting. The battle continued, and he suspected this was only the first of the Angelic forces that were to come.

---

When Isaac noticed that the Angels had finally arrived after the ward had been shattered, he was careful enough not to rush out first, as he knew he was certainly not the strongest person out of all those that were present, but he still stayed with the first wave of defenders. Once he was out in the fray, he used his sword to fight, since he had no offensive powers after all, and his magic was certainly not strong enough to do anything useful, or so he thought at the moment. It took him great effort just to slay one Angel by himself, but luckily, he wasn't the only one present there. Other defenders of the Sanctuary were all around him, fighting the armies of Heaven, and by working together with them, he managed to do quite a bit of damage to the Angelic forces. It was little compared to their total might, but little by little they would take them down.

[Kaledoria]

Cherohetat was lying near Esteph and keeping his head low. Realizing the Angels were coming with mass first he replaced the iron full metal jacket ammunition in his pistol with the fragmentation ammunition. Soon the demons started wreaking havoc, Che did not really approve that, how were heavens supposed to see, that this was a good and peaceful place worth sparring, if they employed such tactics? However, he failed to find a better way so there was not really anything he could say against it.

Above them, Angela managed a few daring aerial stunts. I can do that, too, Che though, before she flew right through the rotors of a helicopter. No, I think, that one would probably get me killed.

An angel fell out of the sky right behind him and Esteph, who was quite busy shooting those angels out of the sky who managed to slip through the bottleneck at the gates, tightened by Miss Endoria's great summoning. Great Ahura Mazda, we do have an tactical advantage in our position here, like hardly anyone ever before. There he realized, that the wounded angel was still conscious and tried to get up. "Stay down," Che shouted but the Angel did not listen. He concentrated and Che had seen enough spell-casters before. He put a bullet to the Angels head before he was able to finish the spell. The Yazata whispered quite words of sorrow.

There was another thing there. The teleportation magic used by the angels had thinned the veil between the worlds, the effect was stronger then Che had ever felt before. He felt, like he could just hop forth and back with a thought - and he could not resist. He stepped on the highway to heaven the angels had created. For a moment, all seamed bright. It was a huge room, Che realized even before making out any details. Although it was filled with all kinds of splendor to him the light was still the same pale, cold, sterile light that he had seen in the heavenly hospital before, just magnitudes brighter. There were other beings there, Che could make out some movements and before he was really fully there he jumped back again, the way he came. In the last fracture of a second, he realized an aura. Now Che could not usually feel the aura of beings but this one was so overwhelming any soul, even the most mundane could have felt it. It was great, hot, it was holy, intimidatingly so.

To late, Che realized that he had to carefully move on the teleportation lines back, if he wanted to end up the place he started, at the edge of the area from which he could tap into the angels' magic. Thus he landed right in the middle of the heavenly host, his heart almost stopped. Now, due to his appearance as a humanoid figure with wings, even angels could require one or two seconds to realize that he was different, though hardly more. In a sudden burst of heroism, he decided to use this. He felt outwards to the possible options for jet another teleportation. He did not really want to go back to the bright hall in heaven, that he had just came from. He felt a lingering in the nearby chapel, a few hours old but it had been quite strong. Yet it too felt to angelic. He reached with his mind through the gate and to the place from where the students were sent home earlier the night but it was to far away and the magic had lingered away, anyway. But there was one other effect, just a few minutes old, closer, right behind the gate. Che touched a big angel in front of him and took the stairway to hell, Lazarian had previously used to call in his team of demons. The other one was to surprised to resist.

They found themselves in a gloomy barren plain. Pits of ice and fire could be seen in the distance. The Angel turned around he was well over 3 meters big. "What the? ... Do you have any idea, who I am?" the angel shouted but Che had no intend to find out and jumped on the route back that he came. The Angel spread out six wings. Oh shit, Che thought. He had heard of these guys, Seraphs, or as Angela would probably call them, the elite of first class angels. The Seraph immolated himself into divine flames, just looking at him in this form could turn a mortal men blind. Luckily, Che was no mortal and at this point he faded away from hell, materializing again in Sancuary, at the very spot the demon Arasker had previously arrived. At the borders of his perception he had spotted some lowly demon scum having realized the arrival of the Angel. Poor souls doomed to eternal torment in hell, they were seeking death anyway and would attack. Though, Che had no doubt, the Angel would quickly dispatch them and would likely have his own ways to escape hell, too. Hopefully not before the end of the battle.

The rush of adrenaline was not over, however. The carrion beasts and demons had pushed forward but angels had been slipping through at many points, like the one right next to Che, who realized faster then average, that the Yazata was none of them. Che had to make a roll to the side to dodge a ball lightning thrown his way. Intuitively he pointed his gun and shot at the angel but that one deflected the bullet with some kind of force field. The Angel's sword burst into flames and he hacked at Che. This time, he dodged upwards trying to get an edge in the flight. Obviously the angel tried to pursue him but suddenly Che shifted the direction, dove deep and in between the houses. He flew past three students or teachers who had just taken out another angel 3 on 1 and after flying around another corner, he had lost the pursuer. He was close to Esteph and jumped over to the Aarakocra. Even though the whole situation had took no more then 20 seconds - most of that in the chase at the end - he was somewhat overwhelmed. And not of his dangerous encounter with the Angel or even the Seraph but from the feeling before. As Esteph was just taking a breath from his attack, Che said: "I think I may have seen the Archangel."

[Lakota]

Esteph soared through the skies. After being cooped up for so many hours, his energy seemed limitless, and he fired blast after blast of magic. Still, with all of his skill and experience (which was close to zero), the angels seemed to be undeterred. Both sides were suffering massive amounts of casualties; the dead and the wounded covered the battlefield like a bloody quilt.

The aarakocra took his eyes away from the gruesome scene. "Best not look at that right now," he said, narrowly avoiding what seemed to be a column of light. Esteph began to focus massive amounts of energy into a single sphere. His mind went blank, and his eyes closed. He had never been able to perfect this move, but if he could just focus, maybe he would-

As Esteph was just taking a breath from his attack, Che said: "I think I may have seen the Archangel."

"Wait, what?!?" Esteph's energy sphere fizzled immediately. "Oh, shoot. And it was just the right hue of green too..."

[Kaledoria]

"Not here," Che replied in all necessary haste. "Behind the teleportations to heaven. And hopefully he does not come through." He tried to get an overview over of the situation. Against all odds the school managed to put up some resistance but would it be enough?

[Nature-Spirits]

The humans addressed by Angela cowered from her, one grabbing a gun, and the pilot turned the helicopter up and away. Needless to say, they weren't heeding her words.

---

Cassander flew up into the air, through the ranks of angels. He was acting bold, but the truth was that he was terrified; if he weren't bound to protect the school he'd have left already. Now he only hoped that he could seduce angels.
A fizzling ball of energy whizzed by him, and he sucked in his breath; a few centimetres over and he'd have been dead. But he couldn't dwell on that now, in the midst of a battle, so he flew higher, coming up behind a relatively low-ranked angel and wrapping his arms and legs around him. "You're mine," he whispered into his enemy's ear, licking it with a flick of his tongue, and the boyish soldier went limp, his wings halting their incessant, urgent flapping. And they plummeted.

---

Endora looked about her calmly. "Well," she said, almost to herself, "this is good. We've made some progress." Indeed they had. Hundreds of the Heavenly Host were dead, and more were dying by the second. But the Sanctuary had also lost people. A few of the staff members had perished, and nearly a hundred students' corpses out there as well - and those were only the corpses. She knew that there were students who had been incinerated, no trace left behind.
But what was worse was that while she'd lost a sizable chunk of her army the angels still seemed never-ending - and more were coming through.

---

The angel that Cassander had mounted spread its wings out at the last minute, and they swooped up, the angel grabbing the cambion by the leg and swinging him up to his front, where they enjoyed a passionate kiss. Cassander smiled into the angel's lips, knowing that he'd succeeded. "Go," he whispered, "and kill your former comrades."
The angel nodded and set Cassander down on the ground, and both began killing angels, one with magic, the other with a mop.

---

London was nearly devoid of humans by now, and those who remained were hurriedly evacuating. Parts of the city, namely the area around the Sanctuary, wete reduced to flaming rubble. And this was only the beginning.

[Libaries]

Violet had just pushed an angel to the ground when she heard something. She looked up to the sky and saw the bats coming in a huge could of black and brown. She pulled out her whistle and tweeted some commands out like "Don't bite the angels." "Don't hurt our side." "Try to fight as much as possible." "If you can shape-shift, that will be awesome." and many more. The bats swooped down and started helping, with some vampires popping up here and there.

[Starkindler]

As she flew down, she reflected about the hostility of the men, who looked at the battle but decided not to help. On one side, it was a positive response, because it seemed that men hated Angels, so maybe they weren't so ignorant about the situation up there. However, on the other side, she seemed baffled about why haven't they attacked yet.

It always works in disaster movies. The disaster happens, people evacuate, the army moves in, and it's led by the gorgeous, resourceful, and smart hero who saves the day.
The Angel thought in herself, not realizing that the heroes of the day were them, and they should not expect any outside assistance.

As she was changing her clip, she also realized that she was low on ammo for her assault rifle, and the battlefield was too dynamic for her to resort to her sniping skills. As she had seen that the Heavenly Host was already in, she flew towards the fences, and using her powers, (preferring physical over electric as the former was a faster method of doing the job) she tried to get them out of place, moving them to create a barricade before the portal in stead relying on her comrades, and their summoned minions to take her back, and as both of her hands were full while carrying the fence pieces.

While flying, she had also overheard Che-sama speaking about she had seen the Archangel. She hadn't personally seen him, however, she had seen him in several posters around Heaven. She knew, that while God wasn't there, he was the symbol of perfect beauty. She knew a surefire method of deciding whether Che had seen him or not, but that required asking what did he looked like. However, that was considered impolite in Heaven, as everyone would remember different aspects of him. Asking anyone in Heaven how Michael looked like would be like asking one what qualities he or she desired in their ideal partner, regardless of sexual orientation.

And another aspect to it was even thinking about Michael was distracting. His name made her think about his perfect white wings,
so grand, so muscular, so perfectly white and yet so fluffy. His feathers are so soft and warm. If I got caressed by such wings even once...
She thought in herself amorously about the Archangel she had only seen on photo, and found her own wings burning at the ends, by a well targeted magic missile. She responded with a lightning strike as she dropped the fence part she was carrying over the enemy, then fired a series towards the hostile Angel.