Yotaizan turned into a cardinal, following.

"Alrighty, let's do it!" Wry declared, creating a massive sphere of fire and pitching it at the nearest demon crowd.

Boel kept pushing, trying to crush Solthurax with the situational advantage he held.

“See me again?” Corinne frowned. To come back to him, on his side? Would he take her back?

Titania looked upon the chaos quietly, before looking upon the blood red moon. She hoped one day her daughter would help it shine white again someday.

Felicia drew her spear, water coating her other hand. “Sounds like pigs,” she mumbled.

"Perhaps he isn't through with your punishment." Xin elaborated, "He no doubt expects to see your group again in the future. He will certainly endeavour to destroy them."

"I take it our verdict is agreed on then. Shall we?" Christian asked, his weapon now ready as he crouched, poised to jump.

The beam closed in on the knight who turned at the last moment and, frighteningly, raised his huge sword to guard against it. The impact send him off his footing and sent him back, however he landed on his feet beside the portal. He looked up at Boel, his helmet's gaze agonisingly clear in the thick of battle, before jumping through.

Solthurax flapped his enormous wings and lifted his body from the ground. Whatever celestial bodies lay in Heaven's sky were eclipsed by his mass as he launched himself towards Boel, clawed hand outstretched to seize.

Saul looked to his right and squinted. He could make out a figure clad in black armour running back from the portal. As the knight drew close Saul launched an array of sharpened ice at him, but he leapt over them and landed ahead of the three. With the other two occupied destroying the surrounding enemies, Saul floated down to face the enemy, "We just defeated someone just like you." He stated before charging an enormous ball of lightning in his hands. He pushed his fist through it and it erupted into a beam, the ground seared black below it as it traveled towards the knight. "Oh? You're going to play the masochist? Idiot." He taunted. But Saul's eyes widened before the great flash of two energies clashing.

The knight plunged his sword into the ground and a vast wave of shadows hurtled into the beam, the two exploding amidst the impact. When the smoke cleared it was too late. Saul used what precious moments he didn't realise he had for words, "Hmph. Not even as impressive as your peer-" In a blur the knight had closed the distance and thrust his weapon forwards, the tip of it plunging into Saul's gut. Shock flooded over his face as he twisted and struggled, both hands grasped on the tip of the foul sword. The knight raised it, lifting Saul off the ground as he coughed up in pain. With a flick of his wrist he tossed Saul off the tip of his weapon and onto the ground, where he lay clutching his gut. The Demons started to advance upon him, and in a rage he lashed out with fire, melting them away. The knight continued to run ahead once he saw the way clear - leaping over the ring and heading for the castle gates.

Yotaizan remained in bird form, a wisp of warbling air in the shape of a sword following him.

"Ah! Saul!" Wry called forth, the fairy's visage turning angry as it looked toward the demon knight that fled. "I won't let you run!" He called forward, form glowing like a star. From her hands erupted an immense beam of fire, lava-like in nature as it instantly incinerated anything in its path. Guy continued to play bodyguard, now moving to protect Saul as well. "You can heal yourself, can you not?" The warforged asked Saul while fighting.

As solthurax came flying toward Boel, he squeaked with surprise and pointed his hands forward. "Sun's glare!" He shouted quickly as a bright light of various colors burst forth to try and blind Solthurax while he moved to get out of the way. A party trick, yes, but one with a practical use.

Felicia followed, closely, stabbing her spear into a nearby sentry, withdrawing as he fell. She held it at the ready for the oncoming attack.

Corinne set the book down gingerly and nodded. "Tea would be nice," she said quietly. Yet another person showing kindness, and for what reason?

Titania looked down at the knight before her, knowing her assumptions had been correct. It was time, her life was at last coming to its eventual end. She could not have avoided it forever, it seemed. At least now Felicia would have a fighting chance.

Christian cut down two more that came at him. Their sizes and shapes started to vary slightly now, but they were surprisingly simple to dispatch. He was almost doubtful at the lack of a fight they seemed to give compared to Solthurax's own armies, but didn't want to jinx his luck.

Xin took the book and gently slotted it back into the shelf where it belonged before moving to leave. He gestured Corrine to come too and started walking towards the exit, "Two teas it shall be, then."

Solthurax shook his head, giving his eyesight a moment to clear up. He just needed to bide his time, "We shall see."

Saul stood up slowly with a wince as his wound finished repairing, "We need to buy the others time. They're taking too long." He muttered.

The knight shared the silence with her before swinging with his sword and cutting the beams down holding the cross up. He caught the back of it with his free hand and held it up before watching over the battlefield for a moment, as if calculating a route back.

Yotaizan fired wind-bladed feathers at any living demon, even some of the potentially dead ones got torn up by the whirling dervishes that twisted and turned in the air to carve up their targets.

"I don't know who you're talking about, but okay." Wry responded, audibly tired now. Wry crawled into Guy, laying stomach first on the magma core.

Guy continued his defense, not relenting.

Boel began spinning around Solthurax in light form, firing light beams at not only him, but the demons below. He had to hold them off for a while, then maybe the other divine would finally get the courage to come help.

"I think worse things may be yet to come," Felicia replied.

"What are you..implying?" Corinne asked carefully. She thought surely her prophecy had come to pass.

Titania gazed over heaven quietly. Such a blessed place, always locked to her. She supposed she could thank Solthurax that she got to see it at long last.

"I don't know." Christian replied, popping the lid off the vial, "But why would the defenders of such an artifact be so weak? Anyway, can someone help me fill this with their blood?" He asked.

Xin came back in with a tray, two teas upon it and an ornate teapot. The drink had a distinct herbal scent to it, the aroma somewhat calming. He set it down on the low-bearing table and sat cross legged at one side, "The Demon's intent is to rewrite fate as if it were a book. This chapter was due to conclude with Edward's passing, but now it has a an epilogue." He blew on his tea and sipped from it, "As much as He may crave it for his own it is still your story."

Arrows pelted the dragon causing it to gnash its jaws in discontent as they picked scales from its already patched hide. But it was too little too late. A beam finally pierced the membrane of the beast's wing causing it to lose control, but it was within reach now. Solthurax reached out and seized the dragon by the neck, its roars and howls reduced to squawks between desperate flapping. His servant lowered his head briefly and held the cross out, Solthurax taking it in one enormous hand before throwing the broken dragon aside and holding her up with a laugh, "Take one sole look at this shining Heaven, Titania. It's the only glimpse you'll get before joining my collection." The cross caught fire, the flames dancing around the edges of the cross and coiling around Titania's limbs, and then her body. Then before she even had time to respond, Solthurax ended it.

He looked Boel in the eye as he yanked her off the cross with the nails popping out violently. He seized her head between two fingers and twisted sharply, bones splintering in an audible crack. 

Saul reached down and pressed a hand against the earth, causing sharp spikes of stone to quickly jut out down the length of the pillar, impaling many of the ascending Demons. A few flew overhead and attempted to lash at the pair before combusting violently against the barrier.

"Yeah, I'll-" Yotaizan was cut off by the scene with Felicia, keeping his sword at the ready while observing.

"How long do you think they'll need?" Guy asked Saul. "Once Wry is recharged we can keep going for a while, but this is a lot of demons we're dealing with."

"No!" Boel shouted, putting his all into a massive beam of light he fired at Solthurax. He could redirect it if he needed to in order to hit the demon, trying his best to focus on landing this shot. He knew for certain that he had to stop Solthurax here and now, but in that moment only one thought was crossing his mind. Why am I the only one trying to save people? I'm not a warrior, I'm just an entertainer! Where are the rest of you?

A latticed shield sprung up between Boel and the beam, as Sanvi warped in, throwing up her hands to drive her power into blocking the blast. She wasn't one for combat, but her specialty was shielding. "Recharge, I can...block for a little bit. The others...I can't find them," She looked nervously at Boel.

Through what she had witnessed, she knew it to be true. That he spared no one in his conquest, that he ordered her to spare none. Hadn't she seen him do it time and time again? What had made her so different?

Felicia closed her eyes, trying to focus. Dead, dead, her mother was dead, which meant... A few tears slid over her cheeks, but her form steadied for the moment. "We need to hurry," She said quietly. "My mother is dead," She said, looking up at her companions. "And I can't keep this power on hold for very long."

"I..." Christian started, before shaking his head and raising the vial and collecting the blood in it. Even through his gauntlet, the vial started to warm up, the blood bubbling for a moment whilst he screwed the lid back on. He walked up to the seal and the vial twitched in his grip. Slowly he slid the vial into the slot inside the set of decorated jaws that formed the lock of the door and the blood slowly drained from the tube with a gurgling sound. The fog had started to thicken around them which distracted Christian, causing him to jump once the door suddenly jarred itself open with a sharp creak. A dark tunnel lead ahead with a dull orange hue glowing at the end. Christian squinted and realised this cave in fact took them across the centre of the volcano - the hue coming from the magma churning a distance below the igneous overpass.

Xin sat quietly, watching Corrine ponder things.

The beam ceased and an enormous ashen fist came crashing down on the barrier with a shudder as the Demon King leaned in with a squint, "Sanvi, come to die alongside your ilk I see." he sneered before pounding on the shield again, his visage even further distorted under the paneled texture of the shield.

"I know what I'm doing!" Saul hissed. The pressure was frustrating him, which only boiled over to its absolute limit with the draconic catalyst that had turned its attention to them. He looked overhead and made eye contact with its beady, gluttonous gaze. He had to admit, of all the creatures he'd dueled in the past to train his powers - he'd never faced off with a dragon.