The Fire Raged [Chapter XVII]

[Sparda]

Denied again... almost. The very ground beneath Demetrios shifted near-instantly, a great wall of sand rising to break his backward tumble before he bowled someone over. But although he had been cast aside so easily, Quan Chi was still very much in danger.

The Ajerian's lunging straight had concealed another trick; in the same movement, he had summoned up a soul crystal in his free hand, snapped it and tossed it at the sorcerer's feet, unseen behind the blinding flash of light he'd used to cover his advance.

Demetrios smirked beneath his helm - and with devastating power, the crystal exploded right beneath Quan Chi.

[Chloe/Kat]

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The plan to consume Ranko with the Waking Nightmare was defeated. Just like it was when she attempted to use it on the Blind Assassin during their previous fight, only so much worse this time. The blood came flooding and she was quickly engulfed by it as the undead hoard grabbed her. They ripped off her clothes and began biting down against her flesh. Violating her as the man who sired her before being buried in an Isafaro grave. To the others on the battlefield however she was just a woman that fell to the ground with her hands clamp to her head, pulling out of her hair and screaming in pain as she rolled to the left and right.

Climbed her way to the top of the mountain only to fall right back down to the bottom.

[Kara]

"I have no intention of harming her. But I have to stop her befor--" Kara would be unable to finisher her sentence because by that point Solomon was cleanly cut in two by the monster that was turned against them as easily as the entire city still loyal to their former Empress. His Life Force fading and the smell of blood becoming stronger as the soldiers overwhelmed them. Then the screams of Chloe reached her ears as she remembered the words the Empress had said back at the castle. Her eyes narrowed and rage took control.

Turning her glance towards the explosive energy now coming out of Aper's swing, threatening to break through Leon's shield and take his life as well she reached her hand out, grabbing the energy which was otherwise impossible for anyone else, and absorbing the power into her own Life Force before bringing up her palm to the Second Aspect. "Go to hell!" Superwoman released the unlimited power of the Arashi against the form that had manifested, destroying it in an instance and the armies bore witness to the second death of Aper as the energy continued onward to rip through the leader of the Netherrealm, Ranko, and continue right on through the portal behind her to lay waste to the entire realm and end this war once and for all.

[Maelys Knight]

[Transformation-5]
[Beam- 3]

To ones eyes, it was over as it had begun. Maelys could sense the... large energy output, for lack of better terminology, well before it annihilated everything in it's path. Maelys knew there was no way he could avoid it. Well shit... He dropped to the ground, his wings still compact on his back, and braced himself on the ground, holding a hand out in front of him as a shield of blue prismatic energy formed around him. Among teleportation, and a repulse spell, Lifeshield was his absolute spell in defense. At a direct cost to his health, it drew directly upon the powers of the Seven to forge an indestructible barrier. Even so, each and every one of the gods and goddesses felt the strain against the power of one of their otherworldly bretheren, the goddess of Jherra. the Lifeshield held, nonetheless, and Maelys was saved from the all-burning energy that curved it's way around his barrier, seeking out everyone and everything that it could devour on the battlefield.

[Silver Eyes]

Death would be denied for Chloe this day.

A red blur dove from army of demons cloaking the sky, circled around the screaming vampiress, and swept her off from the battlefield. There was too much chaos to stay here, and with the Nightmare now festering in her mind, they had to go somewhere safe to sort this out. Should she decide to return to fight sooner than desired, he'll oblige, but not happily...

---

What a glorious battle! Since Richard couldn't burn them away, he simply froze each one into solid blocks of ice, letting them fall to a very "shattering" death. Hehehe. Shattering. He cracked himself up.

His "mount" again roared, but this time in frustration since his fiery breath wasn't doing much against the demons. In retaliation, he started swiping his massive claws, swished his tail, and ate any that came near his face. He certainly didn't want to stick around here--far too many things against his favor. His massive wings beat frantically whilst he made his escape.

Just in time too, because something strange was going on down there...

"So, uh..." Richard let go of one of the tentacles, "...murder buddies?"

Richard was thrown off by a tentacle that happened to remain out of his line of sight. So much for that. While Richard fell, he shouted this while shaking his fist: "I didn't like you either!"

Oh, wait, he was falling. Right. That should be fixed. Wait, was that a parachute...? How did he get a hold of that?

[Aminee Starlight]

"Leon. I met him back at Isafaro a while back. Haven't seen him since." Aminee explained as they reached the ships up ahead and joined with the other refugees from Moon Valley into the ships. Looking back at the castle and the desert city Aminee was suddenly blinded by a bright white light that forced her to look away. "Wh-what the hell?"

[Miracle]

It was as if time itself stopped. She couldn't hear anything except the sound of her still beating heart as she watched in horror as the man she's known for all these years were literally split in two right before her very eyes. No thanks to her own foolishness in dealing with the ability to summon an Arashi. As time began to return to its normal pace to her senses, as the noise of battle beat at her eardrums Miracle's lips would part and her cries of agony would stretch out in the surrounding area being drowned out only by the energy sent in Ranko's path.

"SOLOMON!"

Miracle ran towards his upper half, tears pouring down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around him and held him close. The High Priestess did everything in her power to revive him. Using the power granted to her by God to sow his halves back together and regenerate him. To bring his soul back to his body but nothing. Nothing was working. She looked up to Yahweh on the field and called to him.

"Yahweh! Yahweh, please! Save him. You have to save him!"

[Ayen]

The manifestation of the Second Aspect was, ironically, torn down by his own power that now flowed through the Goddess' Life Force. As the destructive, blinding energy came the Crimson Devil did the unthinkable.

She stepped forward.

Blocking was useless and there was no attempt made to evade. Ranko only walked directly into the trajectory and the very energy itself opened itself for Ranko, like Moses parting the red sea in Egypt so has Ranko parted the unstoppable energy and bent it to her will through the energy manipulator's soul that dwell within the Kasuls. Ranko stopped, standing before the Goddess in all her power and glory and staring daggers into her eyes as she saw pass the Goddess' physical body and saw the terrifying truth. The same truth the Paradox himself saw when looking into her eyes.

You've loss.

Superwoman would feel the same energy she had absorbed into her Life Force start to become disruptive. Her body would shake, her power would fade and her life would flash before her eyes in an instant as Aper's energies exploded, obliterating the Life Force and the last thing anyone still on the battlefield would see was the image of Ranko, staring into the eyes of the God of Jherra, and the God exploding.

Lord Kara was dead.

And all that remained was the energy that became her undoing. The final hope of the Resistance crushed as it hovered above the palm of her hand as she now stood before the grieving Miracle and the corpse of General Solomon. Her crimson eyes staring towards the now tiny ball of energy floating above the palm of her hand as more demons came pouring out onto the field separating them from where Ranko and Miracle stood.

“The energy that became the second sun in the sky. The energy that has destroyed countless worlds and realities. Bent to my will. My power.”

The energy disperse in her hand and she grabbed the mourning High Priestess by the throat and hoisted her up off her feet, glaring towards her with the same intensity as she stared upon the Goddess before destroying her Life Force.

“Where are the gods, Miracle? Where are the heroes? Why does The Creator sit up there and does nothing?”

Ranko took the hilt of her sword and slammed it into Miracle's stomach as she held her in the air.

“Where are the miracles?”

Ranko tossed Miracle aside, amidst the demon armies that now threatened to trample her as she continued her march. The buildings around them collapsing to the ground, the castle walls crumpling down as Jherrazad's fate became the same as Moon Valley's.

And God wept.

[Linx]

The strike landed, and he desperately funneled energy into his shield as he tried to stop the inevitable. It was futile. The shield flared and broke, casting Leon to the ground, but before the killing blow could fall, Superwoman intervened. Power lanced forth and annihilated Aper carrying on as he inhaled. After a moment, he looked back at her, smiling lightly. "Wow, good timing!" he called, the laughter dieing in his throat as Ranko strode forth. He scrambled to his feet gripping his weapon tightly as he prepared to charge her, faltering even as it began. In an instant, the tides were turned once more. For all her strength, the Woman of Steel was laid low, exploding before the eyes of everyone. Stunned, he stood there like the rest, at a loss to explain what had just happened.

As she grabbed Miracle, his feet responded once more, and he charged forth, just in time to catch the flying Miracle. He grunted as he caught her, lowering her gently to the ground. "Take it easy now, you're safe." he says softly, motioning over one of her guards. "It's probably best if you get her out of here, I think she's about done in. I don't know how I'll fare, but I'll cover your retreat." he says softly, rising to face Ranko. "Ranko!" he calls out in anger as he moved to the side, hoping to bring her attention to him and away for Miracle. He wasn't a god like Superwoman had been, he wasn't a prodigy like Miracle, he wasn't even a great soldier like Solomon. He was just a paladin. A tired, worn out and run down paladin ready to give it his all. "Is this what it takes to make yourself feel good? Leading on army of demons on your home world?" he asks angrily, raising his blade to the defensive. He didn't have a chance in hell of stopping her, but he'd try. "You ask where the gods are, where the heroes. I say right here, even now. Heroes are born from wars, and gods among men are created. I don't know what your issues are, nor do I care. All I know is you want to kill and enslave everything to your will, and I swear to you this. I will not stand for it. I don't care how strong you are, I don't care how hopeless the fight may be. I will fight you. I will keep fighting you. I will not rest until you are dead and six feet under. Men, Gods, Demons, even you as my witness, I swear it by all that is still good. I won't let you win, not ever, no matter what it costs me." he spoke in a level voice tainted by anger, ready to die once more if that's what it took. Even if he did, he was going to do his damnedest to make sure it wasn't alone.

[Jehanne]

Everything had happened so fast there wasn't any time to process it all. Solomon, the man who she's grown to admire and see as a father figure, was cut in two right in front of them and Aper was destroyed by Kara's blast. Just as it seemed victory was well within their grasp Jehanne saw Ranko walk right through the energy, parting it and killing the god to what she could only understand as a glare. The fear and grief all came so naturally but there was no time to show it as Jehanne had a duty to her High Priestess.

"Thank you" was all she could say to Leon as she took Miracle into her arms and headed out towards the ships while screaming the sound for retreat. Not just to her fellow officers but anyone standing against the demon army.

"Fall back! If you value your lives then fall back!"

[Kara]

Kara couldn't believe her eyes. Ranko was walking straight into the energy blast and it was parting for her, as if she was the god of Jherra and not her. On the day she fought Doomsday she felt pain for the first time in her life, and it was brand new to her making her unable to cope with it normally. This time it was fear. Overwhelming, paralyzing fear. It disabled her, left her unable to push forward and fight Ranko back. She could feel a knot in her stomach turning, twisting. Only it wasn't a knot. It was the energy that she had taken inside her coming alive and attacking her Life Force, her essence. And the last thing she'd see before being obliterated would be those terrible crimson eyes staring back at her. Then there was nothing. All the copies that were made by the portals and leading out the refugees were gone.

Death has taken a god.

[Kyrie]

Already the resistance here was calling for the sound to retreat just as two of the warriors on their side fell to the enemy and the city around them were being destroyed by the overwhelming numbers of the demon army. They had failed. While starting off in a run to help the resistance fall back she saw one man approach the queen of the demons' army standing against her in a foolish stand that was bound to get him kill. As she passed, a wave of light shot out from her hands and pushed the man back before Ranko could attack and she herself whacked him upside the head with her staff before grabbing him by the collar and dragging him off. "Come on. Dying here will accomplish nothing."

[Raal]

It was impossible! THIS WAS IMPOSSIBLE!

Firebrand quickly retreated, the clouds of flying demons getting too thick to maneuver through safely. He wasn't about to lose his wings. He kinda needed those! Firebrand took off with the refugees, bleeding from numerous claw wounds. Everything went to hell and wasn't coming back! The gargoyle demon was completely furious, but not stupid enough to get himself killed. All plans seemed to be ineffective against an army of this magnitude.

Dammit.

[Maelys Knight]

[Transformation-4]
[Beam- 2]
[Lifeshield-]

The energy had been moved. It hadn't ceased to exist around the barrier as it should have, it simply moved. Lifeshield fell afterwards, and Maelstrom felt the rending of the world inside his mind, inside his soul. The unholy tortre that was the death of a god, felt through the very gods that existed inside his soul. Before anything could go wrong, Maelys stood right up and brought his wings outward, his white glow turning pitch of black in an instant. Rosada had taken control. It seems there has been a shift in the tides of power... Evil has tipped the scale... I hope you won't be doing anything rash with his body. He kind of needs to be in this world to do anything to reset the scale, you know... Don't worry... I only wish to warn the little queen about what she has done. Just remember, we need time to restore Maelys' mind from the internal damage it just withstood... Mortals can't feel the true rending force of the death of a god for good reasons...

Maelys flew clear over to the queen, who Rosada could see had killed the goddess and was about to attack more of her enemies. Rosada made sure that Maelys' body was a fair distance away from the queen, in case it needed to be away from her on short notice. A tall, black haired woman in a silk black dress materialized in front of Ranko as the other woman dragged the man away. "I hope you understand full well what you have just done by destroying a goddess. Our kind do not simply fade away after being killed..." An angry tone crept it's way into Rosada's tone. "We gods can feel the deaths of our kin, and it doesn't feel pleasant..... at all..." She yelled the word death like a curse. She grew calm afterwards, though. she turned away from Ranko, back to Maelys, and began walking slowly. "I hope you understand that you have set in motion events that you cannot control. I await the day your head is lifted atop a pike on the castle wall." With that, she made a tiny gesture to Maelys' body, causing it to prepare to move. Not many queens will sit idly as they are mocked.

[Marvel Universe]

amidst his rage The Hulk continued batting away the demons that came pouring out of the portals, being every bit as dangerous to the demons as he was to the resistance now falling back to the ships. He took another leap through the air, breaking his way through the demons that flew back and forth through the air and came crashing down upon the very head of the demon leader: the Crimson Devil Ranko.