#verse: unholy crusade

[hxly-fxther]

The appearance of Cain with wings is a welcomed surprise to the being but little did it matter as with his entrance would immediately see him cascading forward at The Wrathful One, throwing his weapons at the being carelessly before his hands would aim right for his chest. There was no attempt to stop him, none at all, it only made his job that much easier as once the First Murderer clashed his hands against the bark-like skin of the Creator, he too would find himself stuck there.

Then the sound of that abrupt yelling by Heaven's loudest failure. insufferable tidal waves of useless ramblings of attempting to get his son from another Cycle to cooperate with them before the swing of the axe, a clean cut of yellow light through wood and the sound of falling apples, littering the ground just as Angela kneeled before him to recite her prayers and offer some sort of reprieve to the anger that festered within the being.

Little did she know, did they know, what sort of god they trifled with. Love? Happiness? Oh, it filled the air yet it did nothing to sway him as he stared at the woman for a moment as if expecting more. "You will be delt with soon." He spoke, just as the top of the tree of knowledge came crashing down near them in a awful creaking whine of wood against wood until toppled over completely.

His gaze casted onto Cain, the shadows from The Wrathful One's body beginning to consume the boy "Do you believe yourself to be stronger? Redemption is merely a title, not a rite to power!" Insolent fool, such bravado or even reckless behavior was a sure sign that the boy had leaned little. A shame, Mother worked hard to be a double agent against him. In seconds, Cain was consumed and thrown into what was left of the bark of the Tree of Knowledge, fused to the wood with the rest of his 'family'.

Once done, he scans the two left on the battlefield. White orbs switching between Angela and Adam. "I am curious. Are you two able to work together? You've done well to have taken down my tree. So... What else can you do?"

@dick-meister @originemesis @fxiled-fxithful

Casted out: Cain

The party of Harbingers walk through a valley of tall trees of many different species. Spruce, redwood, oak, pine, palm. They stood tall and yet drooped ever so slightly down as if to watch the party march upon the land they do not understand. Tall, leafy giants they were, neglected from the touch of life for so long, still as if time had even been cast out of Paradise. Their color had been deeply saturated a pitch darker, just like the grass and the sky that held an ever gray color. Where was the sun? The moon? Are they on Earth? Are they in Heaven or Hell? Perhaps Purgatory?

Even the steps they took on the land wouldn’t deepen with pressure of their strides. A million men could walk these plains and yet no path would be made. Change was lost here and only the being would be the one to know that change is absent in Eden. This place had remained constant the very moment Adam and Eve were removed from the land.

The Wrathful One. He stands in front of a tree, a tall, nameless tree, one that is familiar to all but foreign to Earth or even Heaven and Hell. The tree that bared the fruit of knowledge.

God watches the group approach him, bright white eyes unmoving, unchanging as he stands before the seven. These were the Harbingers, the grand test before the finale, many have stood up to them, many have fallen and rarely do they all fall. It would have been an honor to face them in a way like this, if not for what The Wrathful One sees. In time they will find out.

For now, the shadows that seep off the being dissipate once his form touches the ground. The stillness of the forever motionless air grows cold in a way that neglects to chill the skin but only the bone.

“You stand against God himself, Harbingers, Warriors, soldiers, dogs, tools.” His voice is once again strange. To each, he sounds like a collage of different voices of familiar persons to each of his opponents.

“I have seen you all, what you have done, what you are capable of doing, how far you would go and I must say, taking up a sword against God himself was… Predictable. Come then, show me what you are made of, be the firsts in all of creation to prove me wrong.”

The very ground begins to quake. The trees now find movement, the grass rustles and the sky. Dear Heavens the sky is ever changing of color, rapidly shifting from Gray, Red then a standstill of White. The background save for a couple of trees that surrounded them in their immediate proximity began to flicker and morph to show an uneasy and hopeless scene past those trees.

A palace of black, crumbled to only obsidian bricks that made up its foundation, across from the broken and felled castle and in the sky, a portal that shattered the atmosphere like glass Heavenly clouds fall out of the portal and immediately disappear, beyond a golden, broken pearly gates lay in shambles. Pieces of its glory lay scattered all throughout and seemed to glow even in this realm where they all stood.

But the most horrific sight of all, were the bodies. Heaven and Hellspawn sprawled defeated, killed, maimed, ripped apart. The stench of war was fowl and the sight being much more fowl and directly above them, far into the sky, seemingly unphased and unknowing to the sudden appearance of Eden, God and all seven Harbingers were the last two soldiers locked in a stalemate battle, armor and weapons both reflecting and consuming light. Two brothers, both who once loved one another now turned to hate each other.

Michael and Lucifer.

“Welcome, you stand in the final moments of the first Cycle. Once their battle ends, so will yours. The clock ticks down Harbingers, show me everything you have!”

@cast-you-dxwn @hellsdisneyprincess @themosthatedbeingg @dick-meister @originemesis @alteregozowie @fxiled-fxithful

[hxly-fxther]

The clock tower in Heaven. The hands meet each other at the top of the hour and when they do, the gears within the tower begin to turn, a mechanical sound of metal and pistons silently heard by all the Exorcists that have surrounded the structure until the bells begin to toll.

Everyone can hear it. No matter where they may be. Heaven. Hell. Purgatory. Earth. It is the final tolling of the bells, their pitch starting high then growing deeper, lower, until it sounds like horns. The tower begins to shimmer and crack, its surface decaying as if time had passed a hundred years until eventually it shatters into nothing but a large, white portal with a deep purple rim. The sound of galloping, Heaven shakes with each step and finally out from that portal comes a horse head, its mouth agape with skin seemingly trying to keep the maw closed and stretching in such a horrible way it is almost hard to look at.

As it begins to leave the portal, it can be seen that the ribs of the horse is exposed, its bones are black and gruesomely attached to its back is a rider, fused with the body of the horse. Its jaw unhinged and opened with deep black eye sockets. An arm dangles at its side awkwardly almost seemingly broken, its other arm is extended longer than the other as if pulled and formed to be so. Where a hand would be, instead a scythe. And it lets out a mighty, unnatural and haunting roar before beginning a path of destruction throughout the main square of Heaven! Swinging its Scythe arm, trampling those who weren’t ready for such a terrifying Beast!

You are now looking at the Horseman of the End

Requirements to defeat: 1 Hellborn 2 Heavenborn

Character slots: 4-5

[sirserpentine]

"I need another opinion on the color scheme I'm going with the nursery. What do you think?"

She holds out a few paint test strips. They were baby blue, pastel pink, rosy red, lavender, and light orange.

"It's been confirmed I'm having a little girl so..maybe you can give me a little insight of what you think?"

"I find myself partial to lavender and that gorgeousss light blue," Sir Pentious admits rather quickly, touching a claw over the colour samples.

He would have certainly chosen those colours for his own little girl, had he ever been gifted one.

"It would be a kind contrast to the red of Pride," he continues. "Evoking tranquillity and elegance befitting for a princess, I expect. They resemble the colour of the sky and the sea on Earth too... But perhaps I am biased."

[a-hell-of-a-time]

Caim twirled the spear in her talons, her gaze narrowing as she watched it spin. While the battle had been exhilarating near its end, the corvid had been hoping for more. To be specific, she had been hoping for more acknowledgement and compensation for her participation in the battle. After all, she put her life on the line for a society that cared little for her, and if she had perished, she would be leaving behind her wife and son. Then again, if she didn't, who was to say her family on earth would have been spared.

She was safe. They were all safe, and that should have been enough.

As the spear continued to turn, a feeling of emptiness and longing began to rise in her chest. She had been foolish to expect anything from the king of the goetia, and she had been foolish to throw away a whole part of herself to begin with. The thank you had rung hollow in her ears, and the more she swealt on it, the more a new feeling rose within her.

She had been used.

"I should have stayed out of it," she muttered, her gaze narrowing further as anger slowly began to take hold. She had been excommunicated from the goetia before the fight, so she had next to no reason to have even gone. In fact, it would have been well within her right not to lend her aid at all. The only reason she bothered was for Andrealphus, her father, and for her wife and son. Caim wanted them to be safe and protected, and if the enemy hadn't been stopped, all of them would have been wiped out eventually.

Letting out a long sigh, Caim slowly let her anger go. She couldn't dwell on this any longer; she had a child to care for.

[hxly-fxther]

It wasn’t something Father would have expected, not at all. To think Adam would have gone so far just to end all of this here and now? It was something that had happened once before. His mind was too jarred to remember clearly what had happened.

He felt the wings of his beloved around him, almost instantly. The man would try to lift an arm but found it to be gone, his chest had taken considerable damage was well and poking out from the fleshy, bloodless interior was… A familiar looking crystal blue sphere that was shared among the harbingers and even Angela. It was impressive that boy was able to do so much damage, even with the aid of Angela’s wings.

“Such… A beautiful thing.” The man recoils. “A soul is.” He clarifies and raises up a hand “The most selfish Soul, used in a selfless act.” Residue from that soul that had just exploded from all around them gathered slowly in his hands, forming its shape once more. “I am sorry, dear.” Was he talking to Angela or was he talking to Adam? It was hard to tell.

“This is not the story I had envisioned.” The being looks at Angela now and grins weakly. “I think it is about time, dear Adam gets his own prize. Don’t you think? Such a selfless act deserves a reward. In time. For now…”

A snap of his fingers, that soul lifts and the body it once inhabited reforms around it. A sleeping Adam lays before them and another snap of his fingers, the man was gone, he would find himself in his room once awoken. There was still yet plans for his Gardner, for now, he will get some time to rest in bed. Hopefully now he would value the life he was given.

Father stands before Adam, his human form, a form in which he could attempt to connect with his son in a way that his creator form couldn’t. Maybe, if Adam saw his father in a way he could relate, then maybe they could resolve this issue.

Tentative steps walking over to the boy, a hand falling to his son’s shoulder. “My son. I cannot bring back your Lute, I am sorry. You have had such major loss in this war, I know it is killing you so so much. You feel alone, abandoned, and this is not the first time you have felt this way.”

The man frowns, inching just a bit closer to the Gardner. “Your purpose was never supposed to be someone to just bully. It is unfortunate that fate has treated you in this way, you deserve happiness, you deserve rest, you deserve Eden and all that came with it.”

Slowly, arms began to hug his son. Wasn’t that all he needed at this point? Just a proper hug? “It is so close to being over, my son. All you need to do is hang in there, just a little longer… You have done so well thus far. Soon you may be able to rest.” A tight hold on the man who he did love so much. If only he had a better fate…

@dick-meister

[cast-you-dxwn]

Cycle I.

“I think that you should give them more time.”

Michaels voice is soft, barely audible, though he knows that he does not need to speak loudly. Father knows what he is going to say before the words leave him. He does not look at the Almighty, gaze cast downward at the same tableau of the whole existence that his Creator looks down upon.

Disorder, disunity, brothers at each others throats and the whole of existence on the very brink of open, brutal warfare. Heaven would win, this he knows, but that is not the Plan. Not the vision that the Almighty has for Creation. So the scale has tipped in finality, weighting down toward the inevitable purge that they have always known was coming.

“I can right this. We can, Sera and I. It will not be easy, and it may necessitate some sacrifices, but look.” He gestures towards one area, where Charlotte is toiling away, her rooms full of repentant sinners, even two of the Vees having put down their soul contracts to seek absolution.

It is not enough, he knows. The dark clouds of war hang heavy, blades sharpened and bolts oiled, armor donned and formations gathered. He knows there is little chance of pulling back from the brink. He knows it. He just needs-

“A little more time.”

@hxly-fxther @firstmother

[hellsdisneyprincess]

It's late at night. There's an incoming call from dad

Normally, Charlie would try to urge her dad to wait until the morning but things were a bit different right now.

She answered the phone.

"Hey, Dad...." She didn't want to worry him, but at the same time, it was impossible to keep her concern out of her voice with what God had just told her.

[hellsdisneyprincess]

Charlie was determined to make this work. She had to. There wasn't much time.

She took a deep breath to center herself and did her best to summon the orb. She wasn't sure about how large her mom was wanting it to be, but she made one that was about the size of a baseball. For at least the first 15 seconds it was a nice and stable orb. But she started to get nervous, second guessing herself. The orb wobbled. This then caused Charlie to panic a little. From there it only lasted a few moments more before collapsing.

Okay that may not have been a good start. But she wasn't going to let that stop her. She tried again.

Lilith listened to her daughter's request and gave a nod. When it came to magic, she had to find out how to use it on her own the hard way. Hopefully the lessons she'll be teaching will benefit Charlie.

"That's a bit of a tall order but we shall see what we can do."

Lilith takes about ten paces away from Charlie towards the targets to give her space. "Now, as I'm sure you're aware, your magic is connected to your emotions. The more intense the emotion, the higher possibility of it running wild and depending on your state of mind, capability of controlling it. Let's start off with something simple. Try to summon an orb of light in your palms. I want to see how long you can maintain the raw energy of your magic."

[a-hell-of-a-time]

Goetia Fight Epilogue

From X

It wasn't the first time she was referred to as crazy for her risky manoeuvres on the battlefield, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. However, there was a method to her madness, and to her delight, it was working. Her goal was to distract the angel so that her allies could heal, and if she could strike him down in the process, it would be a bonus.

She said nothing to his comments, instead focusing on following him into the spiral. While most would be frightened at such high speed movement, for one wrong move would result in a permanent end, Caim revelled in it. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins as her blade clashed against his axe as they rapidly approached the ground below.

It became clear to both that the first one to falter would meet their end; fortunately for Caim, the angel's arm seized, causing him to take the full brunt of their fall. Swerving out of harm's way, Caim gently landed next to the crater, looking down at her opponent as he began to disintegrate. His glare was met with an indifferent stare, though something akin to acknowledgement flickered in her eyes.

"While your conduct was less to be desired, I cannot say that you weren't a worthy opponent," she said, reaching down to pick up the spear. This would serve as a testament to their battle, and a souvenir signalling her victory.

Would her father be pleased with this, she wondered?

Shifting her focus away from the crater, Caim moved to where Andrealphus and Stolas were recovering.

"Everyone alright here?" she asked, looking both of them over before looking to where Paimon stood nearby. Caim had hoped that her participation in this battle would count for something in the king's eyes, but she had the feeling that her excommunication wouldn't be so easily overturned.

Looking back to Andrealphus, she moved to his side and tried to offer her assistance, only for him to start fussing.

"I assure you that I am perfectly capable of movement," he said, earning him a roll of her eyes.

"Whatever you say, Ice Queen," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

A scowl formed along his beak before he turned to Stolas, giving him a nod of acknowledgement before turning to follow Caim back to his mansion.

[cast-you-dxwn]

Get up.

His forehead rises from the ground, the Seraph pushing himself from the barren earth.

What good had they ever done, the bruises on his knees and the prayers that flowed from his lips?

He is not a thing of peace, of softness and kindness and love. He is a thing of war, of blood and sinew and offal.

Judgement made manifest, the Executioner, the Blade. A wrathful right hand upon creation, again and again, without pause.

He showed you pity while I demand PIETY.

He had not been gifted the sight, the trumpet, the lyre, the scale. He had been gifted the sword, an army, the strength of arm and voice to wield them both.

No use is there in groveling on his knees. He is needed on his feet. Rage long held dormant, defiance so long put into check. There is no begging to the floodwater, no pleading to the locust, no bargaining with the beast.

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.

I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

[hellsdisneyprincess]

Referencing this

Charlie barely had time to react before she found herself in an unfamiliar room. Though this must be Adam's room based on context clues.

She winced as she saw the injured man before her. Considering how she saw her father beating him up that wasn't too surprising. Instinctively, she reached out her hand, but pulled back with hesitation.

Part of her was saying to just go ahead and take easy revenge. Get closure. To let out all the pain and stress she harbored. The other told her to ignore her feelings once again and to think of the greater good.

But she couldn't do either. Not right now. She... She had to know. To try to understand. To talk to him first. Charlie decided to announce her presence first by speaking first. She wasn't entirely sure if he even noticed her presence.

"Adam?"

@dick-meister

[hellsdisneyprincess]

"Okay. I'll... I'll find the others and at least let them know what's going on. I don't know if you'll be needing Husk or Niffty, but if you don't, I'll figure something out." She honestly had no idea since it seemed that Alastor was taking point on fortifying the hotel. But she didn't want to be as obvious with her nerves right now. So time to put on that brave face, she supposed.

Charlie felt so much heavier. Was it the adrenaline wearing down? The exhaustion hitting her? The emotional weight of things hitting her? She wasn't sure.

Actually all three. Especially the adrenaline since she had almost forgotten that her thigh was fucking stabbed earlier. The pain was coming back. She kept her trident out, originally planning on releasing it back into the aether, but for now, she was going to use it to help her limp to the first aid kit.

Alastor shook his head.

"I am fine. I have other matters to tend to."

And if he were at all injured, he would be able to manage it himself. As he always did and always would.

"Your time is better spent guiding the others. Right now our concerns are not redemption, but survival. And I am sure your father will have more for you to chew on than just that."

He did not bother to mention Lilith. Likely out of force of habit, if nothing else.

"Make sure that your steel is sharp. When the time comes, you will need it to be."

[hxly-fxther]

@flowercrxwned The time has come.

Father appears in Purgatory, he stands and waits for the guardian. Their face off they had done so many times before in other cycles. No matter whose role was to be the Guardian, everything ended up the same. Adam bends a knee, Lilith summons horrors that serve her and only her, like a queen calling upon servants…. And then there’s Eve. A wild card. He was so interested on what she had in store for him this time.

Once she appears, he keeps his grin. “Dear, Eve. This is your last chance to back down. But… I have a feeling you won’t allow yourself to do so. We both know how this will end.”

The last obstacle, one last push away from his plans being realized. There is a lesson to be learned here and he fully intends to teach.

[cast-you-dxwn]

The Maker had come to Unmake, and I was to be his instrument

But it was wrong

It was wrong, and I could not

Turned blade to kindred flesh and laid love bloody in the snowy ground

The crystals glowed golden in the ichor and I turned my eye to He who had Made

Made fathers sin into the sons and cast onto the rocks Babylon’s little ones

Made stone into water and mana and quail and took the Hebrews sacrifices

Even when they took and took and took and turned and turned and turned he forgave and forgave and forgave until there was no forgiveness left

There was no forgiveness left for us who had turned as well and the death came in monsters and fire and holy light until there was nothing left but her and I

I cut her throat and spilled her innards and gorged my blade on her blood and knew there was no victory

There was no victory because everyone was dead but I had played by part and played my hand and played right into his

And he played and played and played with me until I was guts and bones and feather and ichor and tears and pain and weeping and sobbing and begging for it to stop

He turned me back he remade me he told me I could change it if only I would do my duty

I know what my duty is.

Back to the beginning.

To Eden.

[hellsdisneyprincess]

Continued from here

Charlie didn't hesitate as she was pulled into the hug. She had been hoping that last words would come to her. It wasn't like she was expecting to be able to, after all. So she had nothing prepared. Nothing eloquent or profound came to mind.

"I missed you too, Mom."

@hells-sirenqueen