Dance with the Devil [Chapter IV]

[Silver Eyes]

Miracle had warned them promptly and The Night Angel immediately began preparations for the oncoming threat to Hallowtown. Traps had been set accordingly, escape routes figured, and people have been given evacuation warnings. The last thing needed was for an out-of-control vampiress to have a means of taking in blood or familiars to further spur on her violent crusade. Even now she had set up means to help prevent the deaths of the residents but not all of them could be saved. There always was a fool among the masses.

I've done all that I could in the short amount of time I had. Amoura told everyone who were present to fight Maya back, I just hope it's enough.

The Night Angel was unaware of the opponent's abilities and similarities to a certain someone for the time being. She shadow-hopped from edifice to edifice to make sure all was prepared but even then, there may not be enough available to ensure a victory. This wasn't a fight that could be walked away from--lives and homes were at stake. An audible sigh exhaled from her lips.

She had chosen to keep her hood drawn back and her mask lowered--her violet locks were pulled back in a long, tight braid. Communicate. If this foe is as dangerous as its being made out to be we may need tactics. Make sure you've got some up your sleeves. Individually, we can only do so much.

For the time being she waited and watched from the building nearest the outskirts of the city where Maya will make her entrance.

[Sazan]

This is my story.

Sazan marched for battle with a look of determination on her face. She had just came from the resident barber shop when she received the news of an attack on Hallowton, her new home. The once long beautiful hair has now been shorten to that of a pixy cut similar in style to her mother. The Half Breed wore a black body suit designed especially for her body as to not restrain free movement. The suit was designed to withstand bullets and handle both the freezing cold and intense heat should there ever be a need for it. Over the body suit was a blue trench coat that fell to her thighs.

As she walked towards the outskirts of town where the front line were to be drawn she held out her right hand and a silver blessed scythe materialized within its grasp. Sazan would have no problem with the blessing as the mix of human and vampire blood provided her with all the strengths of a vampire yet severely lacking all of their weaknesses. Something that vampires both despised and envied about her. Both her hands now gripped around the scythe, the blade barely touching the ground as she moved forward.

There was now nothing left to do except wait.

[Miracle]

The High Priestess has finished her prayer for the oncoming battle and began to rondevu with the others at the perimeter to be formed outside of the city to hold back the enemy. Solomon was put in charge of managing the refugees and the citizens should the need to fall back arise but Miracle had no intention on allowing things to get that bad. She was determined not to allow Hallowton to meet a similar fate as Aircano. The child could feel the heat of the second sun, the Arashi, burning down against her back as she reached Sazan's position. Yahweh had informed her that a true Nosferatu makes siege for the city and that negotiations would only fall on deaf ears.

"Blessed be the LORD my strength which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight."

Miracle now stood next to Sazan, her right hand resting on the hilt of her sword as she looked out to the horizon up ahead expecting to see Sparda and then the Nosferatu any minute now. This was not the will of God coming out of righteous intent so the young woman knew that Yahweh was on their side this time. She heard the Night Angel speak in her mind and acknowledged it before turning her head over to look at Sazan.

"Did you cut your hair?"

[Sparda]

The land between the outskirts of Hallowton and the edge of the Crystal Expanse consisted of just under a mile of tall, empty grassland. At its edges, the plains gave way to barren rock, chilled into lifelessness by the sheer ice cliffs and mountains of the Expanse - or at least, those that were far enough away from the rage of the Arashi's supernova to remain intact.

Directly facing Hallowton from across the grass was the wide canyon through which the Aircano refugees had fled. Even at this distance, the city's three defenders would be able to make out a dull black shape darting into view, leaving an unnatural contrail of shadow in its path as it flew out across the plains towards them.

Only Amoura would recognise it as it drew near; Sparda's hellhound was soaring towards them, enormous ragged wings holding its bulk aloft. As it closed the distance, it slowed its approach and descended, thudding to the ground and running the rest of the way.

Casting its glowing purple eyes across its companions, the beast padded towards them... then its body began morphing. It shrank in on itself for a moment, then stretched upwards, its forelegs becoming arms and its tail and wings retracting into its body until the mass of darkness had taken a vaguely humanoid shape. Like a second skin it began to peel away, disintegrating on the air - and revealing Sparda himself within.

"Shapeshifting," he chuckled before Miracle or Sazan could ask. "Wonderful little trick. Now then..." He turned around to face the path he had taken, squinting as he set his gaze upon the canyon mouth. "What preparations have been made since I sent the word?"

[Maya]

The sky became red as blood while the familiars went to the heavens. Their crimson colored eyes coming from everything as if they have somehow managed to merge with the very sky above. Not only were they now above the defenders of the city, but the city itself striking fear in the citizens hearts when they dared to look up and see the beasts. Even though Hallowton has just been made easy prey for the familiars they chose not to attack but simply watch the unfolding hell below. Silver Bullet stopped moving when she came in clear view of the opposing party, the smile wide on her face as she tauntingly waved towards them with the clawed hand.

Familiars now rained down from the sky, slamming themselves into the field as explosions of silver blasted around from every which angle, some even coming dangerously close to the opposing party while The Joy stood a safe distance away. They were setting off the traps with their bodies, spreading out through the entire battlefield until every last trap that could have been set was exploited. Once the field was cleared Maya took a few steps forward and then stopped again when her eyes saw Amoura. The smile on her lips growing even wider than physically possible as she spoke, the words slicing through the distance between them to reach the ear of the Night Angel.

"Junkie."

[Silver Eyes]

"Traps have been set, I've planned necessary routes, and evacuations have been issued accordingly." Amoura squinted her eyes beyond the outskirts to find the opponent Sparda had to lure back to Hallowtown. She had chosen to join them rather than stand a distance off. "Michael is seeing to the evacuations while we keep her distracted. I do think we should meet her outside the city to avoid casualties or full on destruction. Traps are out there too." Amoura didn't look away from the woman who was making her approach while she resumed speaking. Appearances are always deceiving and that innocent demeanor wouldn't fool them.

"What exactly are we up against? I see she has a robotic arm and a--" Wait. Amoura's silver eyes widened in disbelief when she noticed the gun Maya had on her person. Maybe it's her imagination. Or it was denial. "I lost my train of thought." The Night Angel looked uneasy; it was a brief flicker of emotion on her features.

"Don't be such a fool. You recognize that gun, don't you?"

Amoura didn't respond to Other. Again, it was a way's off so she could have misjudged the appearance. "Keep communications open. We'll need to work together rather than throw attacks at rando-."

So much for the traps. The vampiress was raining down her familiars to get rid of them. Explosions erupted throughout the city, illuminating it and destroying quite a few streets in the process. They were easy to make so that wasn't much of a loss but not all of them were gone. No, she found different places to conceal traps that her "precious" familiars won't reach. At this, the corners of her lips attempted to tug into a smug grin.

"Junkie."

That wiped it off her face. It was already making sense to her: the claw, the gun, and now a term that only one person used against her. Still, the means of connection to Ranka was unknown to her for the time being and she didn't like that. Not one bit.

"Junkie..." A bitter smile spread across her lips, "Says the child who has too much of a taste for destruction." The ground around them quaked, cracked and chunks of rock began to line themselves up in front of them. While it may not look like it, she was angered by that word but she couldn't let emotions get in the way. Still, it had taken root."You kill, and you kill, and you kill without restrain. You know what that makes you?" The rock looked like it was bracing itself to let fly, "A junkie." Then, they shot at her in uneven sets. To her, it would seem to be a feeble attack but she had something else in mind. Blue flushed along her exposed skin and she extended her taloned fingers.

Behind her, away from her line of sight, portals rapidly opened and sent out bombs at her back once they were large enough for the devices to make their assault. They detonated immediately. With that, she fully reverted to her vampire form once more and waited.

[Sazan]

As the rocks flew and portals opened up Sazan charged power into her scythe and took a step forward. After the bombs found their mark and the explosions were nearing their end The Hybrid vanished into thin air and then reappeared before the enemy, a torrent of fiery vertical slashes unleashed the moment she did. Blocking would not be an option.

[Clash]

The bombs were going off above him, the target walked across the field. The ground was unaffected by his movements, nothing stirred. The apex predator stalked along. It was a truly unique experience, watching ground-based explosives detonating from beneath. The way the dirt seemed to ripple, to press down, and to leap skywards above you. Clash swam under Maya, stalking the target. those headlight-eyes of his peering through the dirt like it wasn't even there, like it was clear as water. She rained those vampire-familiars down on Amoura's traps, her radio signal was weak but her messages crackled within his head, and battle seemed to be joined.

Clash had a perfect view up Maya's skirt.

The explosions seemed to slow and Sazan appeared before the target, slashing with her scythe, upward slashes by the looks of it. It was interesting seeing such a hefty and cumbersome weapon wielded so quickly and deftly, but that's been the name of the game since before Clash could remember. Momentum could do a lot, even with something as awkward as overblown farm equipment.

[Maya]

The familiars weren't just here for dinner and a show. They acted as her eyes and ears on the physical playing field. Watching every square inch of the ground below, their mistress' movements as well as her enemies'. Transmitting everything they saw to Maya in a single instance. The Joy remembered the stories of the Council member that Ranka battled on Mallet Island. She remembered that the juggernaut, revealed later as the embodiment of perfection, was accustomed to using portals to give himself an edge and that the portals the Junkie has unleashed was not all that different in design.

The Joy transformed herself into a thick fog. While the rocks and bombs passed directly through it Maya hurled a single grenade through one of the many opened portals in the sky sending it into the face of Amoura, the explosion would also spread out to claim the lives of her comrades on top of her own.

Except for Sazan.

The sudden appearance of the other hybrid and the powerful assault of the Tiamat's Rampage was enough to catch even the vampire off guard but it was all for naught as it only went right through the fog along with everything else. The triple barrel revolver came out of the fog, aimed for Sazan's chest as it roared out in point blank range.

BANG!

[Silver Eyes]

Did she honestly think that she wouldn't expect something like this to happen? If there's one thing she learned from her sire, it was to always be prepared for the unexpected and this wasn't on that list. Soon as the grenade was thrown, a telekinetic shield was raised to stop the explosive from causing any harm. Right after its detonation, Amoura knew she had to change tactics.

Those familiars were her eyes and ears; they had to be taken down.

I'm going after the ones that are keeping her from harm. Do what you must but I think I'll have this covered. Just let me know if I'm needed back here and I'll call for help if I need it.

The Night Angel took to the sky and began to unleash her familiars, sending them at the ones that appeared to be offering the most help. Judgement and Redemption roared in the heavens as her bullets tore them apart. As much as she desired to rip that Maya apart herself, she had to refrain.

[Sazan]

The master of the Tiamat’s Rampage wasn’t counting on his enemies turning into fog. Sazan’s eyes locked onto the triple barrels as Cerberus locked onto her and fired. A terrible reminder of Ranka shot through her mind before she felt the bullets connect with her body and send her crashing against the ground. But as her body fell, The Witch Within began to act and her body natural healing abilities activated closing over the wounds opened by the bullets. The power released to produce the fog would be reversed, forcing Maya’s corporal form back into the open.

Sazan was on the ground from the bullets and therefore in the perfect position for her next strike. She rose from the ground, holding her scythe upside down and hooked it between the vampiress’ legs, turning around and then quite effortlessly, with her superior physical strengths, ripped the head of the scythe through Maya’s body vertically.

[Miracle]

Everything around the High Priestess was happening so fast it was hard to keep track. Eyes hovered over them from the heavens and the enemy came in clear view as the great black beasts rammed into the ground triggering the traps the Night Angel had so cleverly set up earlier. As her heart began to pound from within her chest Miracle continued from the previous verse she has spoken to calm her body.

"My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me."

Miracle looked over to Sparda and signaled him to follow as she finally charged after Sazan and while Amoura fought against the enemy's familiars. The High Priestess would stay beneath where Amoura's familiars fought above, distracting the eyes and ears that acted for Maya's, now drawing her blade to fight as the holy energy of Yahweh began to radiate from her body threatening anything that was her enemy in this battle.

"So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might."

Miracle would wait for an opening then, and only then, would she strike with her blade.

[Sparda]

So battle was joined. At least here, Sparda had the advantage of reinforcements.

While Amoura and Sazan went on the attack, he held back with Miracle and looked around. The vampiress' army of familiars were spotting her foes for her; Amoura had set upon them after seeing her direct attacks fail. Sazan would surely hold her ground up front, and beneath them, the Dark Knight could sense the unique aura of Clash lurking.

As Miracle signaled him and the demon joined her in her charge, the sky above took on a dull purple glow in places... Around the Night Angel, the heavens tore open as countless explosions of demonic energy raged across the sky, incinerating their foe's familiars by the score and wiping the battlefield of their presence.

As he ran with Miracle, the Dark Knight reached into his coat, producing Luce and Ombra. He took aim at the vampiress and repeatedly squeezed their triggers; but no bullets came. From their muzzles, at least. Two portals had opened directly beneath the Joy, each barely a centimetre across and each linked to identical portals inside Luce and Ombra's barrels. Each and every shot the Dark Knight fired - and there were dozens of them, all imbued with his demonic power - was being redirected to erupt upwards from the very ground beneath the vampiress' feet.

[Maya]

Victory was close at hand. The Belit-Sheri's Spear connected beautifully with The Joy's body when she was reversed back from the fog making her a sitting duck for the blade of the holy child and the bullets of the "Legendary Dark Knight." Smoke would cover the vampiress' position as she began to slowly fall apart from the last attack by the cloaked devil. The sound of her body falling limp to the ground within the smoke could be heard from those at close range with the monster. The junkie. It was finally over.

Until the sound of laughter struck the chord of every player on the field.

The familiars up above began to change. Hellhounds turning into serpents; opening their mouths and swallowing Amoura's familiars whole while others spat out little black spiders that blew up upon contact with the opposing familiars. The ones that remained hellhounds simply bashed into the other familiars and for every familiar that fell to the Night Angel's bullets two more would take their place. Back on the field the wielder of those very familiars were also beginning to change. Through the smoke from the earlier explosion green eyes could be seen turning black, skin turning an extreme tone of pale white to the point of looking like a ghost as black veins became clear through the skin. Brown hair turning a raven black color as her clothes changed and the limped body stood back up proudly before her enemies. When the smoke cleared the Night Angel, the Dark Knight, the High Priestess, the Scythe Wielder and the Shark would bare witness....

To the Witch that stood before them.

[Sazan]

Sazan’s eyes widened in absolute horror at what was unfolding before them. The Witch Within. This woman somehow possessed The Witch Within. The Hybrid quickly stepped back away from the transforming woman and held out her scythe as a signal for the two behind her to stop their advance.

“GET BACK!”

The entire course of this battle has just changed, now all of Mother Nature would be against them. They were neither safe in the air nor the ground. It was dangerous enough at a long range but even more so at a close one. Sazan had the advantage of wielding a style of The Witch Within herself. But the question still remained. How on earth did this woman possess the power?

Sazan would keep this woman grounded, for all their sakes. The Witch Within required focus. Thoughts becoming reality. For the most creative of people it was a godsend yet a nightmare to all those who stood against them. But if one could not focus then it did not matter how creative they were. Sazan swung the scythe overhead, bringing it in low and hooking the blade around the rising Maya’s ankle, tugging it back to lay her right back down on her ass.