"Haah...Haah...Haaaa!" the wounded Admiral Johnathan Stroud stumbled down the dimmed corridor, another piece of arm sailing past him, as he grasped his own shoulder, attempting vainly to stave the flow of blood from an inch-deep wound, as vainly as he tried to escape his pursuer.
A soft, glowing light followed him at a constant distance down the corridor, trailing strangely. It was a warm, earthy glow, like a warm den, light by a fireplace.
"You must be purified, Johnathan...you must not resist..."
"You aren't the Angel! You aren't the Angel of Death! You have no power here! Leave me alone!"
"You are an impure being, Johnathan...I must cleanse you."
And hence, Johnathan met the end of the corridor. The door was, of course, locked. And his stalker revealed himself.
Slowly trotting down the corridor, almost inhumanly tall and thin, with sapphire-blue irises and chest-length mercury-like white hair, hands clasped behind back, it emanated the odd light as a halo. His odd, jovial smile bored into Stroud's face like a drill.
"STAY BACK!" Johnathan pulled a small pistol out of his boot and pumped the entire sixteen-round charge into the being; they passed right through.
"You are at peace..."
And Johnathan was floating, body arching in the oxygen, as the being's hands grasped his face as Johnathan's face froze, mouth wide open, in an expression of pure fear. "I am Armisael, the Sanctifieria. You are at peace..." as he dissolved into a pool of red.
The being floated down to the floor, and stared at the pool. A single tear trailed down his still-smiling face.
The darkened Liberty Dreadnought slipped off into the darkened corners of the Unknown, not to be heard from for so many years...
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
A very tall, very muscular man with glowing shoulder-length orange hair and a broad smile beamed down upon the slightly shorter and slimmer black-haired being in the airlock strode briskly past him. Looking slightly dejected, Raphael followed down the light beige corridor and through another door into a glass bubble, containing nothing but a seven-seated table and the other four Archangels.
"Had a good trip?" This from the inhumanely tall and thin platinum-blond being at the farthest point from the door.
"No, Ramiel, I did not." Michael virtually ripped the chair off of its rollers as he sat down, black hair flailing madly. "I had to come here from the literal farthest point in Sirius. Do you know how long it takes to get here from bloody Omega-49?"
"Oh, shut up, pushpin." Uriel, less tall but still enough, and flaming red all, tossed a small glass bottle of something hard in Michael's general direction. "Get this: nobody give a crap. Now sit down, I probably had a longer trip than you anyways."
"Oh, one of these days, Uri. One of these days I'll-"
"SHUT UP!" Gabrielle, the only lady present, slammed her fist down upon the table, making it jump a literal foot and flipping Uriel's drink into his face.
Azrael, ever dressed in his flowing black robes and stroking his ornate scythe, stared out from deep purple eyes embedded within the pale, thin face, twitched his lips upwards ever-so-slightly. "Beware your discontent; only through cooperation and acceptance can we continue to keep the sanctity." he adjusted his scythe, finding his own drink from under his robes. "I presume noone has succeeded in retrieving Samael once more?"
"He doesn't want to come." Gabrielle snorted, tossing her head to the side. "I doubt he'll ever come around."
"And how did it go?" Ramiel queried, sliding into his own seat.
"He asked me how I was, then when I told him what was going on he just asked me to take off my shirt." her cheeks flared, fists clenching.
"Tch. Yeah. Typical Lucifer." Uriel snorted
"We'll have to write him off for now, but he knows damn well he needs us, too." Michael sighed, dropping his previous hostility. "If we had seven we could actually power ourselves again. He'll come back."
Gabriel looked glum. "It's Samael. He's so proud and full of himself, he can be the most illogical one of all."
"Indeed." Ramiel leaned back, dropping his drink down on the table. "And where did you acquire this ship, Raphael? An Osiris-class battleship must be hard indeed to come by..."
"Not really..." The orange-headed man looked quite sheepish. "I just put an Illusory around a heavily damaged Corsair version and moved it into the Order shipyard...I think they were a little surprised to find out when it disappeared..."
"Tcha! I bet they were!" Uriel threw his head back, laughing with a bit of a high-pitched ring. Azrael smiled widely; a major thing, for the Angel of Death. Michael sighed, smiling. Gabrielle giggled, putting her hand on her forehead.
"Hah. Well, it's in excellent condition, and completely outfitted. I'll take that any day." Ramiel smiled at the titan. "You did good, Raph." the orangey beamed. "Now, what did you call us about, Gabrielle?"
"...ah, yes." She stopped smiling posthaste. "I ran into a darkened Liberty Dreadnought out in Lost last week; energy signiature was active, and it was, but there weren't any life signs, excepting one of our energy signiatures. It's Armisael. He's back."
Uriel dropped his drink. "Oh sh*t!
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
Armisael floated in darkness, slowly revolving around a large holographic map of the Sirius cluster. His wings were present for once; few of the Remnant, even the rare Rogue, ever put them out. He was just more comfortable with them visible...he couldn't understand why the others weren't.
"This is good...this is very good. With this craft, I will be able to make a significant dent in the problem...the Purifications will power me for some time, as of almost to recreate my former self..."
He dropped his hand into the grid and grasped air; as he retracted his hand the New Tokyo system followed and enlarged in front of his face.
"And this seems to be the single biggest problem here...there must be five houses, no more, no less...and with Kusari's advances breaching into Leeds, they may dethrone another house."
He floated loose, pondering.
"...as such, my first priority must be destabilizing Kusari to the point wherein Bretonia can regain its borders and return to normal pre-war state. As such, I shall set course to New Tokyo and cause havoc."
What in all Dominion am I doing? I'm not the one to be doing this! I take orders from Azrael! I do not-
"Sanctifieriae, move as I will it!"
The darkened Liberty Dreadnought flared to life for the first time in fifty years, considerably more well-outfitted than when it reached Lost. The engines burst to life, propelling the craft in the direction of the exit.
And once more, Armisael's eyes shed water.
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
Gabrielle slid onto the bridge, currently manned only by Ramiel, who was reading a book on padd.
"What's that?"
"This is the Prime Radiant...Sahaquiel just sent it to me; Jacob's done some recalculating. Nothing major."
"And that big wad of code is what we're supposed to follow to save the species? I don't get this at all."
"It's actually a very simple concept...this is simply all the details." Ramiel tapped it off, moving his head up to watch the skyline of Omega-55. Wilde Valkyries were routinely bouncing off the shields and being vaporized by the thermonuclear mine-layer the Order had recently begun equipping their ships with. "In essence, it says this: there must be five houses, no more, no less. Pirates may continue to exist, but they will eventually be absorbed. All the houses must be balanced, with a relatively stable military power. The biggest problem is thus: Malta fell. Malta must become an accepted House, but before that can happen, they must either reunite with the Corsairs, or destroy them utterly. The other houses must learn to accept Cardamine. The balance between Kusari and Bretonia must be reattained. and once everything has become stable, their must be a military buildup of massive proportions, and hence a cluster-wide war. And out of those ashes the Maltese will take total control of the species."
"Well, that's a bit of an agenda." Gabrielle sighed. "That's another, what, five hundred years?"
"Fairly well." Ramiel sighed, tapping the controls once more on the arms of his command seat. "We have our work cut out for us."
"How many of the others actually understand all of that?"
"Just Azrael. Michael is too thickheaded to sit down and look at it; Raph gets it, but he doesn't understand the vital human aspects. Uriel does not care, as long as his comrades come out intact. Samael is sulking, and may continue to do so for some time."
"Sin. I guess they'll just follow Azrael, though; they can't go against his decision."
"Indeed. This will work, assuming the Outcasts can take down the Corsairs and Bretonia can beat Kusari back to neutrality."
"Wait!" Gabrielle looked up. "I feel him! I feel him! He's in Kusari! And he's bringing something big...something very big."
"Tell the others." Ramiel jumped into action, tapping keys like mad. "I'll set course for Shikoku; it could take a while, though. We are far too far away..."
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
Armisael grinned, a rather unnatural feat for his soft, glowing face. The Sanctifieriae slid silently out of the Hokkaido jumphole, cloak running strong as it glided into the outskirts of populated Kyushu space.
"And what does come up on the contacts list, my dear friend?" the psychotic divinity poured over the sensor data, sipping an iced tea. "We must cause them some extreme level of disturbance in a short time...targets show...a Nansei Research complex! With a heavy particle accelerator! Oh, perfect! Any weapons development the Navy has in progress would be completely lost! Ah, how wonderful to see a project go this smoothly!"
For the love of Jehovah, what in the Sixth Circle am I doing? I'm the Angel of the Womb, we're not supposed to go renegade solving political struggles! This isn't me, this is some insane fool in my mind! Must force it out! Must-
"Sanctifieriae, proceed to Nansei Research Complex!" guffawing like the madman he was, the felled being dropped back into his seat and ordered power into the weapons batteries.
Somewhere inside, Armisael moaned.
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
Gabrielle stared out past the glass intently, watching for the faint glimmer of light that might represent Armisael's halo. It was visible for a good five million A.U.s around, though only to the other divinities; he didn't even bother to try and mask it, or even his wings. What was going on in his head, nobody knew, least of all her. And Eden knows, she should.
"There's a cloaked ship five hundred klicks off to starboard." Uriel yelled across the bridge. "Tricky little bowlhead, too. He's got his energy signiature masked very well. Raph did good with this thing."
"I am satisfied." Azrael's monotone penetrated the bridge. "It is an excellent craft, with the best of fittings and almost complete autonomation. One cannot ask for so much more, and Raphael is to be congratulated on his acquisition. What is the status of the target?"
"It has adjusted course fifteen degrees port, two vertical-plane. Intended destination is..." Ramiel peered at his sensorboard "Nansei Research Station. It's going for the Positron Cannons, most likely."
"Intercept." Azrael tapped several keys on the chair's arms. "Power to weaponry. This may become interesting."
"He's getting excited...I can feel him." Gabrielle slouched in her chair. "But at the same time he's...despairingly sad..."
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
The Sanctifieriae glided to a stop on top of the research station, the defensive platforms failing to make any noticeable impact in the heavily modified battleship's shields. Three additional second and the Graviton Impact Cannons roared to life, literally crushing the units into loose shrapnel.
"Ahha...ahaha...ahahahaaahaahahaha!" rasping thirstily, the Fallen slid down through the bulkheads, floating in a superfluous, semi-real state into the bulkhead of the deathtrap, his prey as still as a deer in the headlights...
*****
"Five minutes to intercept."
"Continue, Uriel."
Ramiel shifted, peering again at the board. "Target has dropped cloak. He has...powered his weaponry! What? Graviton surges are off the scale!"
"He's gone into a fluxed state." Gabriel's eyes hollowed. "He's gone through the bulkheads..." her eyes widened. "Haah! Haaah! He's...dissolving them! He's consuming the souls!"
"And hence we sill stop him." Azrael stroked the Scythe. Holding down the comm button, he lowered his head. "Michael, Raphael, prepare to board and engage."
*****
"This is the path to purity...if you resist, you will die alone..."
The scientists and techs dissolved, one by one, pooling onto the floor and pouring into the Fallen as he strutted along the corridors. Occasionally, one of the armed men would try firing into him, but again to no avail.
"Halt, Denarius!"
The Fallen looked to his rear to the sight of Michael, decked out in full battle armor and lugging along his trademark greatsword.
"Ah, Michael! How wonderful to see you again!" No, no, no! What am I doing? I can't take on Michael, and I wouldn't anyway! What is this!?
The silvery eyes flared into a blood-red, and blackened wings burst from the Denarian's back as his hands flared into claws and he barreled straight into Michael.
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
Armisael and Gabrielle floated around in the purple gases of Mallorca, wings loose and glowing.
"We'll survive and adapt...our group dynamic can provide enough energy to sustain is for an indefinite period of time." Armisael crossed his arms and closing his eyes. "It will be difficult, but we must keep the pace."
"But what are we fighting for? The Heavenly Empire is dead! Belief is gone!"
"Chances are it'll stay that way forever. All we can do is try to keep the species afloat."
"Well, we've got eternity together."
"Don't talk like that. You know we can't, they still wouldn't accept it."
"Michael wouldn't, but Azrael will! everybody knows he's going to replace the snot!"
"Still, it's not protocol."
"Agh...this is bloody insane..."
***
Present...
"Traitor! Michael dropped the point of the black blade, attempting to drive it through the Denarius, whom simply flipped over the blade and dragged his claws along Michael's breastplate. The Knight spun and whacked the blade along the bulkhead, ripping a breach through the thin steel and releasing the oxygen into the vacuum beyond.
Grinning, Armisael misted into the void.
The Sanctifieriae suddenly burst ten klicks ahead of the Remnant, cloaked, and cruised away.
"Dammit!" the Knight slammed Excalibur out through the bulkhead.
Back on the Remnant, Azrael sighed. Troubled times indeed...
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
He flexed his fingers; it felt good. It felt very good.
The purification spree had given him strength once more, strength very few could claim. He could fight greater divinities now; he was capable of drawing on a more potent energy source than his own blood could provide. He would continue for some time, until he had the strength to destroy the opposition and ensure his sheep safe passage to greatness. And in the course, he could hamper the Kusari expansion until it was once again at balance with Bretonia. Then, when he was once again strong, he would destroy Crete. They must either bend to Malta's will or be purified.
He was surprised, though, to see his brethren so soon. He knew Azrael was a capable leader, but not quite omniscient as legend would have him believe.
It mattered not. They would be unable to impede his progress. Now, he simply needed a new target to strike...
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
Azrael stared at Michael's scratched breastplate with a sense of light dread. Nothing short of a Dominion should have been able to even put a nick in the thing; just another sign of how much Armisael had strengthened, and how the Remnant had weakened. And considering how disagreeable Michael was...all the old texts had made him out the hero, the valiant warrior of God. Little did the humans know all he amounted to was a supreme *******.
"The ingrate will pay for that." Michael's fist clenched Excalibur more tightly than was truly healthy for it. "This armor has remained uncompromised for five thousand years, and so t shall stay. When do we get to try at him next? Have you..."
Azrael let Michael finish his rant; it was virtually impossible to get him to close his mouth. Bloody incompetent subordinates...
"Gabriel thinks he's headed to Tau-29. We'll follow him, but there are no guaruntees. Unless he actually kills something big enough, we will not know."
"This is pathetic."
"I am aware, but while he stays covered, there is nothing we can do."
***
Armisael stared out at the Tau starfield, wondering how long it would take to destroy that battleship twenty klicks off. There were more opportune targets, what with all the Trains and all, but the battleship would make such a goos statement...
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen