Aftermath... [Open]

[Ongaku Migoto]

Migoto looked up to see Avalon, the last face in the world he thoght would relieve him of stres, but somehow the presense of Tomo's most trusted sevant filled him with a degree of ease. "Avalon, where is Tomo, is she alright! the baby, I.. I lost him... I..." Migoto said, stammering in his words before he calmed down to gather himself. Taking a breath, he pulled Elizabeth closer, who's face was covered in tears of fear.

"I lost the baby, that big guy, the one screaming for Tomo, he took him and knocked me out. We have to find him, I can't let tomo down on this one, she trusted me..." migoto siad, having so much trouble dealing with all the chaos in the castle.

"Tony, I'm scarred..." Elizabeth said in between whimpers, he frightened face making migoto more unnerved. He wanted to be of use to Tomo to show his gratitude for giving him what he felt neglected of his whole life, acceptance, and right now he felt that he had commited an unforgivible act, something he would rectify if he coulld find the courage to do something about it.

[Avalon Carrister]

Avalon knew that Tomoyo was in a more dire position; Yomi was hurt and Migoto here was no help in a fight, so he himself was one of the strongest that Tomoyo currently had. He had not lived this long for nothing.

But Migoto and this girl were important, as much as Avalon wanted to go to Tomoyo right now. The Ha-ou would never forgive him if something happened to Migoto or his litter girl, not if he could have done something to prevent it. Avalon had seen the baby taken safely from the one Tomoyo had referred to as Tai, so he tried to reassure Migoto. "Tomoyo is fighting right now. The baby is in safe hands. If possible, however, I would like to have you escape with Rakeru and the girl here. It's going to be a bit dangerous, but I'm going to contact Arya. She's the one who has the baby. She's an elf, and she's in the walls. If you are in trouble while I'm going to get the baby, touch the walls and speak to her. If they aren't...injured, you should get an answer of some sort."

But something bothered Avalon quite a bit. Migoto looked very sad, and scared, and even more nervous at the little girl's expression. "...can you fight? If I got to get the baby, you two will be alone..." A part of him already knew the answer to his question, and a smaller portion seethed with annoyance. Why would Tomoyo invite someone to the castle who could nto fend for themselves?

[Ongaku Migoto]

"...can you fight? If I got to get the baby, you two will be alone..." Migoto heard Avalon say to him as he held onto Elizabeth. Migoto was unsure of how to answer the question presented to him.

"I... I honestly don't know..." Migoto said regrettably, unable to look Avalon in the face. Despite the danger, despite the overwhelming sense of fear that permeated the air, Migoto was desperately worried about Tomoyo, having the small relief of hearing that Rakeru was indeed safe. But the uncertainty of his skill and prowess held him planted don the ground, cowering in seclusion, not out of fear of being injured or worse alone, but fear of watching someone he cared for die again. To sit there and be helpless, paralyzed and force to watch the life drain out of a loved one.

Finding the strength, Migoto looked back at Avalon while stroking Elizabeth's hair, "What do you think I should do?" he asked, able to hear all the noise and chaos in the next room as if he were there.

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Taiyou watched as a dark abomination swallowed his flames as i they were passing heat in a summer's breeze, Sanada Tomo's attention still divided, Taiyou's efforts receiving little to no recognition. it was then that he realized that he had approached everything wrong, his futile efforts the result of one miscalculation. Taiyou's attacks and overall presence were being ignored, for one simple reasoning, he wasn't serious enough, the level of intensity had not been brought, the sensation of fear had not been delivered, and it seemed that his target did not feel she that she was in peril.

A rush of heat shoot from Taiyou's body, evaporating all the water around him and melting the icicles in the surrounding area. He looked upon the face that formed within the dish. Running toward Tomoyo's rear, Taiyou raised his sword, which absorbed much of the heat from his explosion of power, its edges now glowing the brightest of white, dwarfing the nearby light.

In a quick grasp with his other hand ion the handle, Taiyou brought the mighty weapon down with all of his anger, utilizing as much force from his barbaric strength that he could muster, aiming at the back of Tomo which was covered by the makeshift shiled that was seemingly alive. The vapor rising from the floor coming into contact with the freshly ozone caused by the catastrophic amounts of heat coming from Taiyou's weapon that literally scorched the air like plasma, creating a cloudy backdrop to Taiyou's rage filed onslaught.

Taiyou cared nothing for Sanada's welfare or her ability to answer him back at this point, he cared nothing for the naked distraction that took his quarry's eyes and attention away. Kanjin Taiyou decided that this would be his last stand, that this would be the last day he would see, and nothing, or no one would take this away, not after the hurt of holding his charred children, not after closing the eyes of his incarcerated wife who choked on her own thick, blackened blood from her punctured and carbonized organs, closing her eyes that would have held tears after she passed, had her ducts not been burned away by the flash of light.

____________________________________

The house was filled with the usual banter of the children, the twins constant bickering, Kyohaku's banter as he conversed with his mother, and the sound of paint to paper of of little Hoshi, dutifully attending to her drawings. Taiyou stood, well dressed in an unusual display of his, pacing back and forth in the family room. Sensing his doubt and uncertainty Tsuki walked over to her husband, placing her soft hand on his tense shoulder. "Dear, is there something wrong." she asked, her deep green eyes piercing his soul, striping away his ability to hide any truth from her.

Sighing, Taiyou turned to her, his face showing signs of worry as he touched her face with his hand, "I don't know what I'm going to say when I get there... I've never been good with words, but something's gotta be said. Tomo has changed Tsu, and not for the better I'm afraid." Taiyou said in a disappointed manner.

Tsuki continued to look at her husband and smiled a gentle smile, something she know would put Taiyou's mind at ease. "Dear, you've known Tomoyo almost as long as I have, I'm sure someone of your caliber can grab her ear. Believe in her now like you did then." Tsuki, using the rebellion as a reference to instill some form of hope within her husband, hoping to jar his spirits.

Hoshi then stood up and walked over to her father, hoping to show him her picture. With fresh paint on her fingertips she tugged at her father's leg, trying to get his attention. "Daddy, look what I've made for you!"" She said in an excited manner, her smile as bright as the light on the window edge. Ignoring the paint, Taiyou looked at the picture, which was of their family and smiled at his youngest. Looking at his family, the Demiangel smiled and was filled with a new sense of purpose, "It's beautiful sweetie." He said, kneeling down to kiss her on the forehead.

Then a loud crack filled the air, followed by a rumble underneath the feet o all the people in the house. Taiyou looked around as the light in the room grew brighter and brighter, puzzled at what was happening outside, an answer he got when his eldest son Kyohaku opened the door, and was incinerated by the intense light from outside.

____________________________________

Elsewhere in the castle, Oni had tracked down the elf, immersing herself in the magic she used to snatch the baby from Oni earlier. Pulling fro the spirits of creatures small and long since past on, Oni used her magic as an intangible sprite, pure in its form, to conjure the bodies of several dead beings, as these macabre beasts began to fill the room, seemingly pouring from the walls and floor as Oni conjured these long since deceased abominations into Tomoyo's Castle.

Much of the waved began to swarm the Elf, the others going toward the encapsulated baby as Oni fed her magic into these creatures, big and small, winged and quadrupedal, they flew and shambled forth, at a rate that only seemed to grow as time went on. It was also then that Oni extended the range of her magic, filling the room with her Void magic in an attempt to saturate the environment, rendering the elf's magic useless in terms of attacking and defending at the same time. Her opponent would have a difficult choice to make, and perhaps one opportunity to make it.

[Ilreg Douisis Ofu'ul]

Ilreg was prepared to launch another barrage of attacks at the Yami-ou, who with the help of her familiar and other had proved to be extremely difficult to hit. It was then that Ilreg saw the large and garish man behind Tomo prepare to launch an attack, both equally horrific as it was powerful, and Ilreg could feel on his face and naked body the intense heat that radiated from behind the Yami-ou. Compounded with this, new combatants had begun to enter the fray, both of them rushing toward Sanada's own in an attempt to aid them.

Seeing an injured Yomi across from him, with Kojiro still to his rear, Ilreg sent a wave of ice that caused a trail of spikes to cut the Elf moving toward Kojiro off in his tracks. In a scornful and petty display of contempt Ilreg looked upon the face of the Yami-ou and uttered, "Your wretched face is a waste of my saliva, cunt." Ilreg said as he shattered the blade of his sword across Tomoyo's own sword, exploding in front of her chest and face as she successfully paired his attack, sharpend shrapenal flying at the Yami-ou. Seeing the hammer fall and realizing he should move from the general vicinity, not being the fiery hand of doom's intended target, Ilreg vanished in a blur of speed, rushing to cut of the elf who was attempting to aid Yomi.

Grabbing the stunted hilt with his free hand, Ilreg formed a medium sized blade, which was extremely sharp on both edges, and leaped to attack the elf, his footstep saturating the watery floor of the room and hurling a barrage of icy spikes at both Yomi and her futile savior. As the icicles flew, Ilreg took care to specifically send a number of them towards Yomi's direction, to both attack her and deflect the attack aimed at Faf-ris, negating the arrows as they crashed into his ice and fell to the wet floor, while coming down from his horizontal leap, momentum propelling him forward at and alarming pace, with a slash to the back of the Elf, who's swing was powerful enough to send a wave of air the chilled the water in which the Elf stood, crashing down with a look of bloodthirsty, rage in his golden, malevolent eyes.

"Welcome to oblivion bitch, you have shown up half dead, thank you for making my job that much easier!" Ilreg said to Yomi, the target of his sword attack of no consequence to him, and therefore not worth referencing in his mind.

[Avalon Carrister]

As he expected, and as the worst scenario, Migoto said he didn't know if he could fight, which meant that he couldn't, of course. Then he made matters worse by asking what it was that he should do. Avalon was worried about his King, and her life surely outclassed theirs. He wanted to go to her. He wanted to help her. But he also knew that he would never be forgiven if something happened to these two.

"I can take you to the Mortal Realm." Avalon heaved a sigh after he spoke, but it was the only thing that he could think of. With that fire demon in the castle attempting to steal children, who knew if he was after the girl as well, although he would guess that such a hypothesis was ludicrous. But transporting the both of them to the Mortal Realm wouldn't be too difficult. There were plenty of locations in the Mortal Realm near water, and he had personally seen many of them while accompanying Tomoyo. "There's nothing else I can offer you that would put you in safe hands. If I put you somewhere in Hell, these two could be trying to wreak havoc if we drive them out. This girl is important to you, right? Then we should get you out of her, pronto."

He was growing impatient having to make all of the decisions here, and being in the presence of people who had no idea what they wanted to do, let alone what it would be best to do. Running his hands through his hair, he said, "You have to hurry and make your choice. I have to help Lady Tomoyo, and I'm not going to waste my time here if you have to second-guess this girl's safety."

[Sanada Tomo]

Symphony was feeling overwhelmed by the heat, even as she absorbed it. There was too much of it everywhere; it reminded her of her old spars with Ild, in their home. But that was too far long ago for her to dwell on it. It was an old story, a child's tale, never to be spoken of again.

The heat exploded around her, and she could see that there was clearly more of it where the previous waves had come from. Symphony could feel the insanity pulsing from his figure--after all, it was one that was connected to her--and she knew that the being that was fighting had lost himself long ago. This was a shell, a husk, a figure fighting only because it was one thing he had left to do. In a much faster fashion than Symphony had expected, her opponent gripped his heavy blade, which she felt he was most familiar with. The blade began to glow with this man's power, and Symphony knew that the strongest blow of the battle so far was about to be delivered. She had a decision to make.

Gathering all of herself around Tomoyo's back, Symphony directed all of her protective magic to that area, and as Taiyou's sword came down against her physical form, she hardened, a mighty CRACK! sounding throughout the castle, echoing along with the popping that came with the heat from the man before her. Indeed, a deep crack could be seen down the center of Symphony's shield, and even down the center of her face, in her hardened, frozen state. But the halting of Tai's sword had come with a heavy price, and even as Ilreg's lips spouted tripe to the Yami-ou's face, a loud, painful scream could be heard coming from the King of Hell. Although she had not been cleaved in two by the heavy sword of the opponent at her back, the magic, the fire that he had been emanating had not been absorbed nearly as much, and Symphony knew, even before the sound of the Yami-ou's outcry, that her back was being burned.

Tomoyo began to sink just as Ilreg exploded his blade in her face, and all that she could do was cover her face, although such an action was more of a reaction to the pain splitting through her nerves and her back. Her sabre clattered to the ground and turned to dust. On her hands and knees, burns on her back and her front littered with icy shrapnel, her cry of anguish quickly turned to one of anger mixed with pain, like the warcry of a provoked beast. Blood pooled beneath her, her long, silver hair stained with it as well. The icy in her hands, her chest, her legs, her feet--it melted no sooner than it struck through her, but the pain of the breech of her skin still remained.

[Elf Royal Family-Group Account]

[if there are any problems, which I'm sure there will be, just PM me. Your post with Ilreg as far as his attacking the Elf was particularly confusing, and I know I probably didn't interpret what you were trying to do properly.]

There was no way in Hell, in the name of the Queen of Dream, in the name of her parents that Arya was going to let them have Sanada's child. She had promised Tomoyo, swore an oath to be loyal, and this child was innocent. He had done nothing accept be born.

She would rather die. The room was coated with Void magic, and there were not many options. Ayra could not grasp the ground to manipulate it. She knew that she was dealing with a spirit of the Void here, and not some petty spell caster. She gripped the child to her breast, channeling all of the magic that she could into him. She would make sure that he was kept safe even at her expense.

A CRACK! sounded, reverbrating deep withing the recesses of the castle, enveloping even Arya with it's vibration. Taken off guard by the sound, one of the undead grabbed her. Kicking the animated body away, she knew that she would be overwhelmed in minutes. She screamed. She knew that they were the animated dead, but she had never encountered them before. They were disgusting, unholy, and unnatural.

It was then that it hit her. She couldn't manipulate the castle, but she could manipulate the space. Pulling out a knife from her belt, she began to slash at the hordes of undead that swarmed the room in the castle. The winged creatures rushed her, and quickly the knife was taken from her hands.

She clung to the child, though, still channeling magic from her own body into him; creating a lock that would anchor him to both his destination and this Realm--it was the only thing the could think of to do for his safety. Claws slashed her arms and legs, deceased demons trying to rip the child from her hands. She screamed at the pain, but nonetheless held the child tighter. He began to cry, a sound that brought tears to her eyes, along with her pain, but there was nothing she could do. She poured her magic into him, forcing it out herself faster than she should have. The child began to glow softly, emphasizing the unhappy baby's features. When Arya felt the need to recharge, with her magic well below her normal functionality, she tried to created a door to another room. This did not require her touching the ground, nor did she have let go of the baby--

The door began to appear. It was faint, intangible. She could feel the space that she was pulling towards them. If felt like a heavy weight a burden, because she was weak. Breathing heavily, she stopped pulling, the faint door like the mirage of a starving man.

Closing her eyes, Ayra conjured a dream instead. An angel. The only one that she had ever seen during her stay in the castle with Tomoyo. Long, blue hair, and dark eyes, a smile on her face as she materialized, sword in hand, following the elf's silent directions to destroy as many opponents as possible. The doll's smile on her face was static, unnerving, because this angel was only in the image of a past figure, and behaved nothing like her. There was no restraint, no look of remorse on her face as her sword--the only portion of her that Arya had the magic to make solid--slashed her assailants from her path.

The irony of this situation was not lost on her. It would figure, Arya thought wearily, that the first upright that the child saw in his life would be the one being that Lady Tomoyo loved more than the boy's own father. Her opponents distracted momentarily, Arya tried again to pull the space in the castle to her in the form of a door, the door's transparency slowly, slowly becoming a solid object. And as she did so, she tried not to think of the angel that she had conjured, or of Tomoyo's possible anger at the image that now appeared in front of her child, that would likely haunt the king for the rest of her life.

...that image's name was Chiyo.

---

Alvar felt the spike in magic; leaping back, he only narrowly avoided being skewered by icy spikes. But they were only s setback. It took some effort to break the layer of ice that coated the floor due to the flood caused by that terrible mutt, but a pillar of earth began to sprout it's head, visible under a layer of ice that was melting as the foreigner's attack hit Tomoyo, and Alvar pulled to make it break through, catapulting himself to Kojiro, who was running along the wall.

Alfeo, heading toward Yomi, felt the heat on his back as the attack on Tomoyo ruptured with a mighty CRACK!, and with the outcry that he heard from Tomoyo he knew that she was severely injured. But there was nothing to be done about it now.

After being connected with the being for so long, stifiling his magic, Alfeo felt Ilreg's presence moving toward him, felt the ice magic that he had thrown upon the ground against his brother. An icy barrage suddenly assaulted Yomi, and Alfeo also kicked at the water with his feet as he spun in the direction of Ilreg's aura, feeding his dream magic into it, the liquid becoming opaque and solid. It also served as a distraction for the conjured flames that he sent immediately after, to counter and melt the objects sailing in the King's direction. With Ilreg sailing towards him, the smooth edge of Alfeo's sword easily righted itself to intercept the Dragon's. He hoped that the flames were enough to help eliminate some of Yomi's opposition.

When Ilreg landed, chilled water splashing over Alfeo's lower half, he had not expected the Dragon's blow to be as heavy as it was. Ilreg, with little regard to him, had sauntered off after Yomi. Driven to crouch to keep the blow from penetrating his defense, Alfeo dropped his sword, both hands reaching down into the watery layer that coated the ground, using his opportunity of being pushed to the ground to form a creature with magic. Swirling, the magic and water combined to form a single being, a large, wraith-like cat creature that roared upon its acceptance of a new body. Fully formed, strong and ready to hunt, this beast immediately set the dog-like Faf-ris in its sights.

[Uesugi Yomi]

Before anything, she heard the bloodcurdling scream that came from Tomoyo, and it was the most painful sound she had heard from the King since she had been ressurrected, and the might CRACK! that ruptured the castle walls seemed to, just for a moment, render everything silent. Frantically looking in Tomoyo's direction, steam clouded the area and hid Yomi's King from view.

It was then, while looking around, that she noticed someone rushing to help her. She was glad for that. But before she even had the time to react to stick close to her aid, she was attacked by a volley of icicles, thick and hardened. The elf, she realized it was, sent a wave of fire in her direction, but it came too late to save her arrows, and they burned with the ice was they were intercepted. Faf-ris remained unharmed, and Ilreg suddenly appeared on the ground, malevolent expression on his face as he growled to her,

"Welcome to oblivion bitch, you have shown up half dead, thank you for making my job that much easier!"

She heard a vicious roar, and although the elf had managed to fail his attempt to save her attack, some sort of beast had arrived on the scene to combat the ugly abomination that was her opposition. She wasn't sure if this was quite the best thing, because now she was once again face to face with Ilreg, and she did not have the capacity to fight him. Not this time. Nectar emmerged in a fully visible form, a tangerine mist in the form of a woman who stood tall, with short hair, two knives in her hands.

But the Hellion King only saw Ilreg's face for but a moment. Yomi's forcefield still circling around her, it did not stop Faf-ris's form from falling upon her; she had almost forgotten about the canine's disappearance into mist. One moment, she was looking at Ilreg, and the next, she was sailing, her body racked with pain as she hit the ground hard, knocked off of her feet by Faf-ris. Her Kama still in each hand, she pushed upward on the dog where its jaws would undoubtedly be trying to rip her head off, her legs feeling as though they were being ripped open by the mutt's hind legs as it tackled her. Her vision blacked out for a moment, but in the time it took her to regroup herself, her forcefield began swirling around her at a fast pace, the small, tendrils of wind becoming sharp as knives as they surrounded and circled the stupid dog.

[Faf-ris]

Despite Ilreg's intervention in dispelling Yomi's arrow, Faf-ris' desire to press the attack resulted in the beast taking damage from the violently swirling shield, the fierce winds slashing into the dragon's hide. Thrown to the ground by the attack, Faf-ris turned her head to see the elven assistant to Yomi conjure an apparition of feline design, constructing the watery beast from the substance filling the room, imbued with Draconic magic.

Standing as the dragon healed from its wounds, Faf-ris responded with a terrifying bark, causing all the water in the vicinity to ripple firecly, stopping the beast in its tracks. Faf-ris gained control of the monster, dispelling the foreign magic with her own power, the watery form sprouted tendrils and other appendages and fell into the floor splashing everywhere. Suddenly the water around the Inu-Ryu became much more dense, now with the viscosity of tar, and several larger tendrils flew from the pools on the floor, flailing and lashing at both Yomi and the elf, more directed at the latter than the former, the sheer ferocity of the attack seemingly screaming trough the air like banshees.

Cer-dra seemed to bode better than his sibling, despite the lack of help and similar multi-adversity situation. As the younger hellion king continued to evade his attacks, the new elven adversary caused a pillar of earth to spring forth, shattering his master's icy floor covering. Extending his shadow to the pillar and the wall and which one his opponents traversed, Cer-dra saturated his shadow with his natural magic, contorting the pillar in to a shapeless mass, hitting the floor and left as nothing but a black pile of slag. As for the wall, Cer-dra formed countless small and sharp barbs from the wall material underneath his cloak of ebony magic. With a bark and growl, the barbs became a combination of gaps and trap-like craters filled with spikes within the movement paths of his opponents, the pits before Kojiro and fluctuating rows of blackened, jagged obstacles for the elf.

[Ongaku Migoto]

Migoto could see it as plain as day, Avalon was there to help, but his indecisiveness was not making the situation better in anyway. Avalon was Tomoyo's closest Celestial confidant, and he desperately wanted to be near her as Migoto could hear his heart race despite his calm face betrayed how he really felt. Swallowing the lump of fear in his throat, Migoto hands went from clasping the small Elizabeth close to his chest and moved to her shoulders as he stood up.

"Tell me what to do and I'll get it done Avalon..." Migoto said in a serious and somber tone, as if he were attempting to make up for his past fun and humor at Avalon's expense with courage. Before Migoto could say anything else, a noise rang through his ears, it's very sound rattling him to his core as he clenched Avalon's arm. It was unmistakable, the tone and pitch of the voice could have only been one person, it was the shrill cry of pain coming from Sanada Tomo, a sound that replicated the sensation of ice water being poured into Migoto's veins. In panic he looked at Avalon, exasperated and unsure of what to do.

"Did you just hear that.... Oh my god, what's happening to her?" Migoto asked as if he were a frightened child, praying that Avalon had some course of action he was going to take. With Sanada possibly gravely injured or worse, Migoto now contemplated his next actions as well as the safety of Elizabeth, who remained quiet outside of her fear filled whimpers.

[Avalon Carrister]

It was apparent that Migoto was frightened, even though he stood up to the task of doing something that would likely get him killed. Despite his bravery, Avalon, once again, thought of how Tomoyo would react to his death. It would not be pretty. And she would be even more upset at the death of the innocent between them. If Migoto couldn't fight, then what could he do? Nothing. That's what. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Thinking quickly, Avalon made the best decision possible, the one that he knew Lady Tomoyo would have made. "I need the two of you to leave, now, so that I can join the fight and be of some--"

And that was when he heard it. The cold, pain filled, blood curdling scream that filled the castle and echoed off of the walls. Avalon jerked at the sound instinctively. He knew who it was, and even he couldn't stop his body from beginning to move toward his tortured King.

"Oh my god, what's happening to her?" Migoto asked, his words reflecting the look in Avalon's face as the color drained from it. There was nothing that could have prepared Avalon for that, nothing, and he was quaking with every fiber of his being to join her.

Avalon audibly whimpered at the thought of what his Lady was going through, but he attempted to pull himself together long enough to do what was necessary. "Please. You will leave now. You and the girl." As battle hardened as Avalon was, he was deeply bonded to Tomo and even he couldn't help the tears that filled his eyes, though he hastily wiped them away. She would have to suffer just a little longer. "Don't move, either of you. I'm strong....strong enough to send the both of you to the second layer of Hell. From there, you should be close enough to get to the Nigenkai on your own. But quickly. I have to do it now. I--I can't just stand here...!!!"

He shook his head and cleared his thoughts so that he could summon enough power as possible.

[Ilreg Douisis Ofu'ul]

As the Watery Whips continued to attack Yomi, Ilreg watched from a afar as Sanada Tomo had been brought to her knees by the large and powerful man who wielded as massive flame covered weapon, his attention brought back to that side of the room from her cry of pain. Smiling at her pain, Ilreg froze the ends of the tenacious tendrils to make the attack of his fellow Draconic comrade more lethal. Ilreg was drawn to Sanada's pain as he continued to glance over, the smell of her blood inciting him, causing him to lose his attention and suffer a mild burn to his shoulder from the Elven swordsman.

Ignoring the burn which healed moment, albeit at slower pace on the naked Dragon's shoulder, Ilreg brought his attention back to the familiar that had injured him in his last altercation with Yomi, as it had been summoned during only momentarily. "You again? I thought I'd banished your accursed figure from existence..." Ilreg said in mild amazement, his lust for battle now getting the better of him as the smell of Tomo's blod began to bring out the crazed beast the lurked within him. Knowing that his sword would be of no use in this battle with Yomi's apparition, Ilreg threw his sword into the ground, and began to channel his magic, with intense cold energy swirling around his hands in a bright blue haze.

As began Ilreg raised his hands, he sensed a surge of magic in the room adjacent to the one they battled. "Oh no you won't, no more of your slaves to attacks me!" Ilreg bellowed, extending one of hands and sending a immense blast in that direction of the room, the energy splitting the silence of the room and carrying a torrent of water with it, tearing the through the wall like tissue, those inside damned by a massive surge of frozen death. The magic ripped through the wall sending frozen shards into the room, carried by a huge gust of icy wind.

Turning his full attention back to the spirit, Ilreg rushed into the fray, magic ablaze and surging toward Nectar. Ilreg sent a storm of energy at Nectar as she blocked his path to Yomi, a form of spiked armor covering his naked body to protect him from the sharp winds of Nectar. A smile that spoke of insanity spread across his face, Ilreg's very core seethed with rage and pain. Still not fully recovered, he fought in a constant crazed trance, silently hoping to die with in each battle.

[Ongaku Migoto]

Migoto was moved as he saw Avalon shed tears for Sanada after hearing her scream. He decided to follow his lead and leave. He watched in amazement as Avalon summoned his magics, his power was amazing for someone Migoto thought light of before recent events. Smiling Migoto knelt down and stroked Elizabeth's hair, "Hey kiddo, this nice guy is gonna take us somewhere nice okay." Migoto said in a calmly voice, his heart pacing as he focused on Sanada's heart beat. Migoto wanted to desperately stay and be with her, but Avalon had begun to prepare their transport, and Migoto would not hinder him from helping her further.

"Tony, is Miss Tomo gonna be okay?" Elizabeth said, wiping her tears on her arm as she looked into Migoto's face.

"She's gonna be fine love, I promise." Migoto said, smiling as he kissed her forehead. Migoto felt much better as Elizabeth showed the first signs of letting go of her fear. As Migoto looked back, to Avalon as he heard a voice faintly in the background. When the voiced finished speaking a shrill noise pierced the air, speeding toward their direction. Migoto's sensitive eardrums began to split as his equilibrium put of balance from the noise. Whatever it was that was headed their way exploded through the wall, and Migoto brandished his metallic wings.

"AVALON!" Migoto said as he pushed him out of the direct path of the blast, suddenly clasping Elizabeth with his arms as he fell backward trying to cover them with his other wing, the sharp icy projectiles clanging painfully against his metallic feathers, the anguish amplified by the cold. The wind tore through the room, knocking over everything as Migoto clenched his teeth in pain, many of the shards bouncing off his wings, the others stabbing him.

Migoto waited until the wind was silent before sat up, and tugged Elizabeth before he checked himself. "Ughh.... Li... Liz? You okay? Migoto asked, but the child was unresponsive. Shaking off most the the vertigo, Migoto's vision returned slowly as he called the girl's name again, but to no avail as she was unresponsive. It would seem that fate had cruelly had a hand in the situation, as when Migoto's sight was in working order again, he saw a trail of blood coming from Elizabeth's mouth. "LIZ!!!"Migoto screamed as he saw that his protection was ineffective, as Elizabeth had been impaled deep by one of the jagged shards.

Reeling his wings back painfully, he gently set he down and checked for other protrusions. He shirt was covered in blood, and much to the blue Djnni's horror, he heartbeat grew more faint with every second. "Liz, Elizabeth! Speak to me sweetheart, say something!" Migoto said frantically, panicking at the sight of his most cherished friend, near death on the floor before him.

"To... Tony..." Elizabeth said weakly, blood spilling from her mouth, her eyes now slacken as she forced a smile.

"No... no Liz, I... I can't lose you too, not you!" Migoto said as tears began to form in his eyes, his hands shaking as he stroked her hair, his tear crashing down on her forehead. Migoto listened painfully as he heart beat came to a complete stop, her small head falling lifeless to the side as the small child's life had violently come to an end. Clutching her to his chest, Migoto sobbed incessantly, rocking back and forth with his companion now lifeless in his hands.

Unable to control his emotions, and the power that lie within himself, blocked by both fear and uncertainty, Migoto screamed a terrible scream, one so loud and powerful that the ground tore underneath him, the walls of the room crumbled like sand, and the very foundation of the castle shook, his pain reverberating throughout the entire building. The blue Djinni had became a grief stricken banshee, as he continued to scream, his affinity with Sound once a thing of beauty, now a storm of sonic fury, radiating as a wave of pain for all those in the vicinity, his nose and ears bleeding from the sonic disturbance.

[Tsubarisu Kojiro]

It happened within a blink of an eye. Kojiro had dodged the dog's first few attacks and now it was attacking the very wall on which he ran. The Boss had just gotten attacked, and the zombie bitch was getting the shit beat out of her, and Blues was screaming so loud that everyone was going to start hurting really fast. There were so many things going on, that a normal would have been confused. Kojiro wasn't normal nor was he a man, so this would be quite easy to take care of.

Kojiro hastily, setup a sound filter barrier around his bodily with a small amount of help from Apollo. Problem one was solved.

The next problem was the wall he was running on. It was obvious this beast didn't know too much about Kojiro. Pitfalls were nothing to avoid, but Kojiro wouldn't allow himself to be put at the mercy of the beast that created it. Kojiro deftly leaped from the wall and lunged toward the beast that magically changed the wall, as soon as Kojiro got within an inch of his face, he flew beneath the beast rapidly throwing multiple daggers as he did so.

They bore the precision of a sniper rifle and the rapid-fire speed of a machine gun.

[Faf-ris]

As Cer-dra focused his attention on the young Hellion king, the beast lost sight of his target, a loud, high pitched shriek emanating from the room behind him causing Cer-dra to lose sight of his target, Kojiro's speed aiding him escaping injury from the pitfalls on the wall, dashing in front of Cer-dra in a feint, following in landed a succession of blows on the Inu-ryu's underbelly. Shaking off the pain from the ripping of its body by Kojiro's knives, Cer-dra regained most of its faculties, and prepared to counter the indiginity of being sneaked by the speedy, knife wielding devil.

Growling and barking at the tears into his flesh, Cer-dra turned his spilling black blood into a viscous tar, pouring his magic into the thickening fluid as it spilled over the fastidious hands of his attacker, the magical tar flowing with the intent of binding Kojiro to his current place, Cer-dra moving to maul his enemy's arms with his vicious looking serrated teeth, his bite aiming to clamp down and snap the arms of the Hell king as the black shadowy mist flew from the wall to attack and neutralize the Elven prince nearby, hurling sharp pieces of rock from the broken wall.

[Kanjin Taiyou]

His attack had connected with a sickening sound, and despite the cowardly attack from the man that had distracted Tomo before was now gone, and there she lay at Taiyou's feet, at his mercy, as if a thing existed for her. It was a s if everything he had wanted had fallen into his lap at one time, the object of his obsession, his one time King, commander, and friend, now grounded before him as the apathetic and soulless monster that sat idly by as he people and their families burned in the blinding light of an unprovoked attack, an enemy and charlatan whose lust and debauchery had come back to haunt her, her life now hanging in the balance.

Taiyou stood there for a moment to soak in the situation, her long silver hair splattered with soot and blood, the gown on her back burned and reduced to ash in several places, her back racked with scores of burns and marks, racked by the heat. Coming to his senses pointed his flaming sword at Tomoyo, his anger returned, his mind set back to the task of punishing her for the deaths of his family and friends, the seemingly endless days of loathing now at an end, his weapon now poised to end the life of the women he forsake a kingdom for, once for his beliefs, the next for vengeance. His mouth was dry with anticipation, and his breaths deep, his eyes filling with liquid from both sweat and tear, the tears the result of the brewing sea of emotions that lie in his heart.

"Before I kill you... before I end your worthless life... tell me, why, why! Why the hell did you throw us away, we followed you, we love, we deserved to be more than victims from a tantrum, collateral damage because of your damn lack of respect. Do you know what you cost me, well, do you! After I finish you, I'll find Chiyo, and when I do, I'll tell her what I did to you, and then, she'll wish she shared the fate of my wife and children, she'll wish she burned alive in the heat of the flash... Good riddance you bitch!" Taiyou said as the flames exploded from his sword, growing as he aimed the weapon at Tomo's back, poised to attack until the unexpected happened. Before he could even attack, a blast of sonic terrror tore through the room, his eardrums exploding with pain, her vision now fading and his blast sent in the other direction across the room, Taiyou now falling to one knee as he held himself up on his weapon, now experiencing minor vertigo from the terrible storm of sound coming from behind him.

__________________________________________________________

All Taiyou could hear was the loud eerie pitch inside of his damaged ears, the heat of the flash that destroyed his son still surrounding him. He knew he was calling out the names of his family, but he could not hear his own voice, his vision slowly returning to him. When his eyes were partiliy restored, he damned himself for it, his home in burning ruins, his noise filled with the noxious smell of ozone from the flash fried air, the bodies of his family strewn about, contorted and burned beyond recognition. Taiyou scrambled to them, fighting through the pain, a shadow of where his eldest son stood was all that remained of his existence. As Taiyou crawled over to his son and daughter, he went to touch the twins, and they fell apart in his hands like ash, blowing away from the gust caused by the side of his homes falling over, it's strength destroyed by the wall.

Standing to his feet he saw his wife, lying on the floor, her body still other than the small rising of her side, as the youngest daughter Hoshi, struggled to breath, soot filling her lungs. Crawling over to his now departed Tsuki, Taiyou closed her eyes with his hands, noticed her hands extended towards him, tears pours from her charred eyes sockets. As Taiyou reached for his youngest daughter, her held her, crying like an infant as she struggled to mouth words to him. Her breathing slowed with every second, and finally she expired, causing Taiyou to exploded with rage, completely leveling his home. All around him were the sights and sounds of the damned, the entirety of the center of the city burning like firewood, as Taiyou watched in anguish and horror.

Unable to stay seat, Taiyou leapt to his feet, rummaging through what was left of his for the one thing to rectify this injustice, the diving tool that settled everything, the sword Fuuenken that he promised his wife he would place away in the time of peace. But Tsuki was gone, and all that Taiyou had left was his rage, clenching his sword as he held it to the sky, screaming like a savage, his roar as loud as thunder as he absorbed the heat that coated the city into his weapon, greatly reducing the burning in one fell swoop, dropping his sword from the heat that caused it to melt into the ground. The screams still resounded in his ear, and Taiyou ran to the rescue of his neighbors, saving whom his could, and weeping for those he could not, the burns, pain, fatigued not a factor as he seemed by powered off of his Willpower alone, having long since exhausting his energies quelling the flaming city, which burned in many palces for days after.
__________________________________________________________

Elsewhere Oni continued her assult on the Elven princess in an attempt to acquire Sanada Tomo's infant son, the hordes of the undead she summoned being vanquished by the apparition of another Celestial. Oni, a being made of pure magic could tell that the being was the product of the magic the Elf used to to thew baby from her possession, the apparition lacking a mind of its own. As she continued her assault, she could sense Taiyou's situation growing desperate, his life force now being disrupted through some means unknown to her.

"Goddamn fucking moron, do I have to fucking do everything?" Oni said a she telephoned herself back to Taiyou's location, coating his body. "Dammit, what the hell hit him?" Oni said to herself as she sought to repair some of the damage to Taiyou's inner ears, hoping to restore his balance to put him back into the fight.

[Avalon Carrister]

Even Avalon's heightened senses could not tell him what would have been coming through the wall. He felt the prickle of a magical charge heading in this direction, but nothing could have prepared him from the onslaught that burst through the wall. He wasn't even allowed to get a read on the powerful magic before Migoto pushed him down, dark wings emerging. The dive that Migoto had forced him to take caused him to hit his head rather hard on the ground, and he vaguely thought, Not me, stupid. Get the child... but he was rendered incapable of making the thought into actually speech as his mind decided to take its time unfogging itself, and when he could finally lift his head to shake off the blow just taken to it and look around, all he could see was Migoto holding the girl, and he heard, "I can't lose you too, not you!"

"I'll heal her," Avalon said, although his words were slurred, but even he could feel the girl's lifeforce slipping away as he reached for her, and it appeared that it was not to be. He had failed. His only self-given task was to get them to a safe place, and he couldn't even do that. He couldn't even bring himself to comfort Migoto as he sobbed over the soon deceased girl--Migoto would hate him. Hell, Tomo would hate him. She to love the Djinni to death and she would be heartbroken at his loss.

And then there was the scream. It caught Avalon off guard, and his head injury made him more susceptible to such sound. The castle in itself seemed like it was going to cave under what seemed to be a sound induced earthquake. The Balseraph trembled, his own cries coming forth as he felt blood running down his ears. Sluggishly, he concentrated long enough to envelope himself and Migoto in a small ball of Water, knowing that that the sound would move a bit slower and not be as damaging to those who were inside--Avalon understood Migoto's grief and didn't want to take him away from his lamenting, only to protect him from his own magic.

The aura of magic around Migoto seemed to be growing, and Avalon could only hope that all of those outside of his forcefield, both friend and foe, had their own ways of filtering out the sound, because he had not seen sound wreak this much damage since the likes of Tokiju, former King of the First Layer and associate of Yamazaki Rei. Avalon brought his mind back to focus once again as he sincerely hoped that Tomoyo was protected against the sound, and the baby--the baby's ears wouldn't be conditioned to take such sound. Would he be alright?

A few bricks shook themselves free of the ceiling and fell, repelled by his shield but a constant reminder that Migoto's grief-stricken cry was shaking the castle's foundation. Avalon closed his eyes in anguish, tears falling from his own eyes as they caught a glimpse of the girl's lifeless body. She hadn't done anything. She had just been here...and he had failed in saving them both.

[Sanada Tomo]

It was almost as though everything in the room was happening in slow motion--heartbeat by heartbeat--and Tomoyo was now lost in the sea of fighting, her own magical aura growing too unstable for her to track those coming from the other beings in the castle. The burn, although out of out of direct contact with fire, hurt with more sensation at once in such a large area that she did not know what she could do to stop it. All that she could do was grit her teeth, Symphony delving with magic inside of her to check for the extent of internal damage. Tomoyo could not move--the burn had damaged her spine to the point of immobilization. She was paralyzed.

Symphony... she thought, her mind even struggling to adjust the pain flowing constantly from her body, I will take no more damage. All of your magic. Give it to me.

What appeared to be a cloud of black fog rose from the ground, the haze floating around Tomoyo, blending in with the smoke that was coming from her now burned back. Tears fell from her eyes due to the pain, but she did not bother even to try to wipe them away--she knew that she would not be able to. She opened her eyes, her normally blue eyes turned to black as the fog surrounding her seemed to be absorbed into her very being.

And then she heard a curious sound--Taiyou asking her why. Tomoyo licked her lips, swallowing to attempt to lubricate her dry throat enough for speaking, willing Symphony to lend her own voice to supplement hers. The result was two voices speaking at once, one raspy and the other clear, both voices mixing in their own strange harmony. Tomoyo knew that, considering the circumstances, this would be the last time she would have the opportunity to exchange words with this man. She had to kill him or she would risk her own demise, and she was not leaving the earth of her Realm in this fashion.

"You fool. You are not the only one who lost their family that night. I could not control Chiyo--even I did know of the attack she had planned, whether or not you choose to accept it. You are not the only one who has come after me for revenge, although I will say that none else have damaged me quite this badly. But no more. Chiyo is dead." The last statement was fairly true; the body that Taiyou had known Chiyo to inhabit was long gone, and the one that she was living in now was a long cry from who she used to be. She no longer used magic, she did not live in Heaven--all the knowledge from her past life was useless--and even Tomoyo had been disappointed in the path that she had taken. "I killed her," Tomoyo added. "With these hands." At this point, she was referring to herself and Symphony as one being, as the fog surrounding her continued to pour into her. "You will not have your revenge. You are too late."

She paused, ready to continue but a flash of warning processed through her mind--Symphony, she guessed, sensed something--and again everything seemed to be happening in slow motion; heartbeat by heartbeat.

Magic. Sound magic. Powerful. And that was all that she need to process as the fog surrounding her immediately turned to matter, a hard, shining dome appearing over her person and increasing in density with every second. Tomoyo was not used to being able to recognize magic so quickly and even her mind reeled to backtrack over what was happening. She couldn't move, but even through her shield she could hear the high-pitched sound wafting through the air. The only person who practiced sound magic in the entirety of the building was...Migoto. Something had happened to him. Was he alright? Tomoyo couldn't tell, Symphony's sensitivity to magic overwhelmed her senses and she had not yet adjusted to the point where she could feel anything small or use her magic to search for injuries specifically on Migoto's person.

This made her angry. She had no choice but to assume that something had happened to him. Avalon was back there. Was he alright as well?

Mistress Tomoyo, both Avalon and Migoto are relatively unharmed, Symphony said to her, the internal dialogue serving also to drown out what of Migoto's scream was not filtered out by her magic.

What of the children? Did Avalon move them from the castle? Tomoyo sounded levelheaded, but even Symphony could tell that there was some paranoia there. Despite the battling in the throne room, Tomoyo had not forgotten at all how many infants were in the castle. She wanted them both safe.

The Prince is in another area of the castle, far from here. The girl...her energy is no longer in the castle.

Symphony's last phrase and the screaming around her only added up to one thing. Her eyes closed in anguish, she decided that she would do whatever it took to help Migoto, even if it meant putting Taiyou on the backburner for now.

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Taiyou could feel Oni's magic surrounding him, the sound of the noise now dulled, and his hearing was slowing retuning to him. Oni's return to him, albeit premature signified that she was not in possession of the baby, which meant his only means of leverage was now gone, and he would rely on what rarely failed him, his strength. But even with his immense strength, he was unprepared to hear what utterance fell from Tomo's lips, her words barely audible at first, but the recognition increasing with each passing second. She scolded Taiyou, informing him of his loss, as well as demeaning him for his supposed selfishness, something that angered him greatly, seeing as he was one of the only people that help provide relief on the fateful day to his friends and neighboors.

Shaking his, his lurched over, looking in Tomo's direction to fire on a retort her statement, but was slienced by the revelation of Chiyo's death at her hands. It was a fact that Taiyou had troubling grasping, was all his anger and sorrow now null and void because of this, was this fact enough to deter him from what he promised himself, his family, and all his fallen compatriots. Clenching his teeth, Taiyou shot a look at Tomo, whose voice was being altered by some means, Taiyou assumed her familiar Symphony that direct cause of the change, "Your the fool, do you think this is only about my family, do you! I was there to see and feel the fires, I extinguished them with my own hands as you laid about while your kingdom burned and its people were slaughtered. You don't care for anyone, or anything, if you did your lover wouldn't have sacrificed us like lambs to get you! Chiyo being dead means you did half my work for me, and when I finish you it will be done."

"I have severed you for eons, EONS, and the only thing you have to say to him is that I'm selfish. You have destroyed everyone and everything in your life, you'll never understand my pain, the pain of a thousands incinerated celestial, burning as they didn't even have a chance to scream. no one cam when the fourth layer burned, no one, do you know what it's like to watch your own children die, DO YOU? TO WATCH THEIR CHARRED BODIES BLOW AWAY LIKE ASH... TO, TO... TO HOLD YOUR YOUNGEST AS SHE COUGHED SOOT FILLED BLOOD ON TO YOUR ARMS THAT BURNED LIKE FIRE..." Taiyou's pain now fully expressed, his heart raw and exposed and a fountain of tears poured from his eyes, burning atop the hot ground underneath.

"Your change is what prompted this Tomo, your sick, twisted reflection of who you once were is responsible, you are no longer the person I forsook my nation for, no longer the king my wife loved and admired for her tenderness, her caring, her love for her people. All you are is a black hole, void of compassion and concern for what your actions do to others, your sick and perverse way have ruined everything. And now, you will die, the weight of a thousand lives backs me today, Tsuki, Renji, Seki, Hoyo, all of them will be my strength, and you will fall, never to get back up." Taiyou stand, standing back to his feet over the black dome that surrounded the Yami. Holding his sword more steady, he aimed the tip at the dome and heated his weapon, fire exploding around him as he charged his energy.