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Fallen; [P] Keelin
Topic Started: Sun Apr 7, 2013 2:52 am (782 Views)
Seele
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Blood dribbled down his cheek, flowing along his jaw and dripping from his chin to splash on the shattered cobbles. He raised a hand and rubbed at the warm liquid, smearing it across his brow. "How... annoying." Seele glanced dispassionately at the blood on his fingers before absentmindedly wiping them off on the hem of his tattered cloak. He could taste the blood in his mouth, uncomfortably warm and salty. A long cut stretched from the center of his forehead down to his right temple and the injury was still bleeding freely. He returned his hand to the shaft of his weapon, tightening his grip on the scythe's handle. Thanatos responded to his touch, the blade starting to oscillate quickly. The rapid vibrations caused a high-pitched droning noise, a buzz that cut through the ambient noises of the abandoned ruins.

The only response to his comment was a low, bubbling growl from the being crouched atop the collapsed wall. It was roughly the size of a pony, but shared no commonalities with an equine. It had eight legs equally spread around its center of mass, giving it the appearance of a misshapen spider. There were no visible sensory organs on its form, yet it was clearly fixated on the elf. Its body was made up of overlapping ivory plates composed of some extra-planar material that glowed softly in the dimness of dusk. Each piece of armor had a single golden sigil engraved in the center, runes from the Celestial alphabet. Each limb ended in three serrated claws. A ninth appendage extended upwards from its central mass, a multi-segmented tentacle ending in a three-foot long blade. Seele's blood stained the edge of its tail, bright red against the silvery blade.

"You know, one of the reasons I prefer demons is that they're not obsessed with creating constructs. They do their own dirty work." The shadow sorcerer's golden eyes glowed brightly, giving his mien a metallic sheen. His clothes were mottled gray and black, garments designed for stealthy movement. He had intended to remain hidden until locating his target, but the angelic construct had located him first. Seele wasn't sure how it had accomplished that, but he suspected it had something to do with the black chains wrapped around both of his forearms. They were the only remainder of his one-time bond with a Kyton demon. Their partnership had ended years ago, but the elf still possessed a vestige of its power that allowed him to freely manipulate the chains.

He waited a few seconds for a response before sighing in exasperation when all he earned was another incoherent growl. "They should at least have the consideration to give you the ability to speak. It is utterly irksome to slay something that cannot even talk back." The largest symbol on its body identified it as a creation of Inael, the Celestial he had traveled here to hunt. One of his agents had reported that the angel traveled to these abandoned ruins on every full moon, but had failed to mention that it also brought along a contingent of guard constructs. Seele had his reasons for wanting the Celestial dead. He had hoped to assassinate the being from hiding, but that was clearly no longer an option. He would have to deal with its watch dog first.
Edited by Seele, Sun Apr 7, 2013 2:52 am.
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Keelin
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"'Have I not a face of eyes, of nose, of mouth? Have I not ears with which to hear Your words?'" Keelin bellowed the stiff, quoted words with laughter in her voice. Her palomino sauntered around the corner; she gripped the reigns loosely with one hand while the other ran across the edge of a quivering orarion. The dark blue stitching of the garment glowed with tiny points of light, the other edge flapping as if caught by a wind. Keelin's riding posture was slightly hunched, casual, and her single eye shone with mirth. The clawed mess that was her other eye glowed a pale gold in the dusk. "'Without such blessings I am lesser than the worm, and the scuttling creatures of the dust and of the ground are my lord'!"

A white raven landed on a crumpled wall, looking down at them with cloudy blue eyes. The Celestial construct faltered. Keelin ran her fingers along another part of the orarion's stitching as her angry mount threw its head and huffed nervously, plodding in the direction of the battle through dusty ruined streets. Her hand slipped out of the reigns, palm opened in the direction of the ungainly creature. She whispered a phrase and rows of Celestial penitence sigils appeared all over its plates, weakening the beast substantially. Keelin came within thirty feet of the scene and stopped her horse. Still in no rush, the elf lifted her leg off one side and jumped down from the saddle. Gray dust puffed up from the impact of her boots on the ground.

Keelin doffed her hat at Seele, grinning widely. "A good night for a combat, correct? Here." She raised her first two fingers as she approached. Holy power sparked and fizzled out. Keelin felt herself fill with magical confidence and strength, and directed those same energies to renew her enemy-of-her-enemy as well. The scorpion-like construct charged for the kill, making Keelin chuckle a little. "Not as good a work as Zaladon, are you, Inael? Will you show yourself or remain a coward?"
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Seele jerked back instinctively when a voice sounded out from somewhere nearby, the words of scripture echoing across the broken buildings and abandoned streets. He had trained as an archmage for longer than most mortals in Imythess had even been alive and had developed an intrinsic sense of mana being consciously manipulated in his vicinity. Now he could sense the magic that reverberated in each and every syllable, indicating that this was an incantation of some sort. He prepared himself to defend against an arcane assault, but was surprised to see that the Celestial construct appeared to be the target of the spell. The scorpion-like entity stumbled as glowing arcane symbols appeared all across its body, apparently causing pain to the being.

The elf searched for the source of the spell and quickly located it. A woman approached on horseback, wearing a dark stole over a duster jacket. A wide-brimmed hat was perched atop her head, obscuring her features entirely. All of the garments contained the spark of energy that indicated the object was enchanted. She dismounted and lowered her hat, allowing him to get his first glimpse of her features. It was quite a revelation. One of her eyes was a gaping hole that glowed with an internal, golden light. She had pointed ears that poked out from underneath black hair, indicating that she was also an elf. The stranger greeted him with a wide, cheerful grin and spouted off a rather cocky comment before beginning another spell.

Seele's eyes widened as he recognized the spell being cast but had no time to shout out a warning. Holy energy spread out from the woman, wrapping around him like a warm blanket... before coming into contact with his Kyton chains. Pain surged up both of the sorcerer's arms as the conflicting sources of energy clashed dangerously. Sparks of white and black energy emanated from the chains, searing small holes in the fabric of his sleeves. A moment later the refreshing energy of the bless spell spread through his gaunt frame, suffusing his body with strength and energy. The elf laughed maniacally, bright sparks still falling from his arms and illuminated his face in bright flashes. "I must agree. A wonderful night for a hunt." He raised his hand, fingers spread wide. Black energy coursed from his fingertips as he jerked his fingers through a series of seemingly random twitches. Nevertheless, the movements left a series of glowing black symbols that burned brightly for a few seconds before disappearing. Tendrils of obsidian energy curled around his limbs and torso, quickly engulfing his entire body. Dimension Door!

There was a flash of black light as he vanished, reappearing directly in front of the construct. Seele struck with precision and skill, carving upwards with Thanatos and neatly cleaving through the segmented joint on its nearest leg. The vibrating scythe screeched shrilly as it scraped against the plates. Golden ichor gushed from the stump as it skittered backwards away from the elf, its tail stabbing down in a silver flash. The sorcerer spun the polearm deftly, knocking the blade aside with the shaft of his weapon before lopping off another leg on the opposite side of its body. The construct scrambled back to get out of the range of the scythe, but quickly realized that if it retreated too much further it would run straight into the one-eyed woman. Seele chuckled darkly as it made its decision and moved towards the female, clearly believing she was the lesser threat. He watched the situation unfold with a small smirk, willing to stand back and see how this traveler dealt with the wounded and cornered threat.
Edited by Seele, Sun Apr 7, 2013 4:17 am.
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Keelin
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Keelin pushed aside one edge of her unfastened longcoat and placed her hand on that hip, revealing a dark leather baldric with a curious wrapped object sheathed on the bottom corner loop. Her other hand went to grip the object by both of its exposed handles and remove it from the loop. The stranger was doing a good job of giving Keelin enough time to get her weapons ready as his scythe bit into one of the construct's many legs and sent it skittering in retreat. Thick sigil-covered cloth wrapped the pair of misshapen swords into a single tight bundle. When Keelin gripped both handles and pulled them away, the wrappings slackened of their own accord. In a single flourish she brought her weapons to bear, the ribbons pulling away to reveal a pair of hook-swords covered in etched runes. The blades' edges glowed in her grip: an effect that was only magnified by the decreasing light. Her knees relaxed, one boot sliding into a slightly wider stance.

The plated tentacle took the initiative by launching the bladed tip straight at her chest. Keelin deflected it with the hook, and again when it recovered. Weakened severely by one of her spells and made vulnerable by the other, and with Keelin's own blessing, each impact of their weapons sent the whole construct reeling and left nicks in its metal carapace and blade. Keelin spun her hooks into an unrelenting flourish as she took steps forward, pushing her enemy back as it took scratch upon scratch and was unable to locate an opening to counterattack. Eventually it changed its programming and attacked head-on, suicidally, and paid the price for that. As it launched its body at her, Keelin's right hook caught the tentacle in a sweeping motion, left hook wrenched the blade-joint in the opposite direction. It landed hard on her chest, the impact on the ground both cracking the scorpion's tail and knocking off her hat. Keelin bent up both legs and kicked the pony-sized monstrosity off of her. She launched herself to her feet without using her arms, ready to deal the killing blow.

Broken and bleeding, its main form of attack drooping half-broken, the construct paused. Its programming changed once again as instead of pressing the attack on either of them, it retreated into the ruins. Keelin pinned one of her hook-swords against her armpit while she reclaimed her hat, but it was already too late. A figure was approaching from the direction of the setting sun, their construct watchdog dogged at their heels. They were a human, androgynous, and wore humble threadbare clothing like some kind of beggar or dervish. In the cold dusk they gripped the edges of their cloak together with one hand, eyes regarding them.

"Stargazer Inael! Looks like we made enough noise to get your attention," Keelin sneered in a mountain dialect of Elvish. But the angel's attention was not on her; it was focused on Seele.

"I thought you might come for me one of these days," said Inael, having also adopted the elvish language in light of their present company. Constructs scuttled out of the ruined stonework, completely surrounding the two of them. Keelin's horse, Steadfast V, became extremely skittish, pawing the ground and looking like she was about to run away. Keelin counted eight constructs. Well, Inael certainly made up for in quantity what they lacked in quality. The angel's hand petted the wounded construct at their side, slowly healing its wounds.

After Seele's reply, the Celestial finally acknowledged Keelin's existence by looking at her. Their expression softened, looked pitying, as one might view a diseased wretch who didn't know better. "Poor child. That affliction must hurt quite a bit."

"...Affliction?" Right on cue, a searing pain tore into Keelin's missing eye-hole. The pain pushed deep -- so deep that she winced and bent over a bit, shutting tightly her remaining eye. Only when the pain subsided a few seconds later did she spot all the constructs beginning to mobilize. "Hey, wait! Do you know something about this?!" The angel didn't answer, and the constructs bore down on them.
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The mysterious woman defended herself well, drawing a pair of hook-shaped swords and easily blocking the attacks of the construct. She managed to wrench the segmented tail off of its body with a sharp movement, but the creature managed to escape before she could land a killing blow. Seele walked towards the one-eyed elf at a steady pace, golden gaze fixated on the construct as it scuttled away into the ruins. It didn't matter if it got away; Inael had undoubtedly already sensed their presence via its creation. It took a lot of energy to bring such a being to life and give it a semblance of sentience, which meant that its presence was closely intertwined with that of the Celestial. As soon as it had engaged Seele the angel would have been aware of his presence.

The shadow sorcerer had just reached the other elf's side when more constructs appeared from all around them, their claws clicking on the stonework. There were several different designs present. Seele spotted several more scorpion-like creatures, but others had a more humanoid shape, while some looked like dog-sized beetles with massive spiked horns. His spun in a slow circle, golden eyes flickering from construct to construct before settling on the androgynous figure that approached in their midst. Although its face was perfectly proportioned and could traditionally be considered beautiful, there was an utter lack of emotion in its features. The Celestial watched them calmly before speaking in a soft voice that nevertheless cut through the night air. "I thought you might come for me one of these day."

Seele nodded slowly, tightly pressing his lips together. "You know that I have always respected your intuition, Inael." He dared not say anything more revealing when this strange elf was within earshot. The Stargazer had made the angel's acquaintance while he was a member of the Imythessian pantheon. Although Inael had never bothered to disguise its contempt for the manner of Seele's powers, that had not stopped them from reaching a business arrangement of sorts. Now the Celestial was one of the few remaining individuals that was aware that the former God of Darkness was still alive and was the head of the slaving enterprise that operated in every major city in Imythess. "Of course, that intuition is why I am here. Which is unfortunate for you."

The Celestial ignored the ominous statement, turning its attention to the one-eyed elf instead. It mentioned something about an affliction, which caused the woman to gasp and bend over in apparent pain. Seele had absolutely no idea what was responsible for that reaction, as he sensed no mana being manipulated in the vicinity. He had no idea who this woman was or why she opposed the Celestial, given the holy nature of the spells she had cast thus far, but for now she was his only ally against a healthy-sized contingent of angelic constructs. "Compose yourself. I will not have the time to protect you." His eyes began to glow brighter as the sorcerer drew upon his magic, manipulating the raw energy and bending it to his will. Oloth nindel zhah Isto, golhyrr ussta ogglinnar. Shadow Snare!

The mana left his body in an ecstatic rush as he threw his left hand out, gesturing at one of the nearest angelic constructs. A web of black energy shot from his fingertips, an arcane net that draped over the creature and wrapped around its armored form. The edges of the snare sank into the ground, firmly binding the construct in place. It began to struggle against the restricting spell, but stopped when negative energy began to crackle along the lines. Seele smiled grimly as the dark power coursed through the construct, filling the air with the sharp scent of ozone. It collapsed beneath the web, shaking and jerking as the rest of the Celestial's creations began to close in.
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Keelin wiped the sweat off her brow with the heel of her wrist and refitted her hat on her head. Lacking in peripheral vision, she didn't bother to look around the whole battlefield and instead just assumed that there were a bunch of constructs everywhere -- and that she and the scythe-wielding man couldn't face them down indefinitely. Taking on a single construct had been easy thanks to the spells that leveled the playing field, but Keelin's magical power was finite and she didn't want to waste more energy on fighting anything but the angel themself, now that they had appeared. This was especially important if Inael could heal their constructs. Keelin hated the wright castes. Her own plan for the fight became apparent quickly. Her tactics: fight her way straight to the angel and kill them.

She went running down the street. A humanoid blindsided her, only coming into her vision when it jumped for an intercepting tackle. Keelin zigzagged at the last second, got the flowing edge of her longcoat caught in its claws, fell, cut herself free, then rolled across the dusty ground an instant before a second construct would have pounced on her. The elf curled to her feet, stumbled, but continued her death charge with a triumphant shout, the two constructs hot on her heels. Inael didn't even move: just watched her with a bemused expression. Keelin had yet to meet an angel that took her seriously.

The strength in her own legs was just barely enough to stay a step ahead of the sprinting plates. Barking an incantation in the Celestial tongue, she forced her magical power to surge into her muscles. Legs pumped faster, outrunning them handily, and within a split second she was right there about to get in her first strike on Inael, tendrils of energy drawn into and around her hook-swords as she lifted them--

And then a shockwave of white light sent her rolling back where she'd come from. Her hat fell off again when her head hit the hard ground. The extra energy on Keelin's blades trailed behind her as bright wisps of white and gold light. Inael shuddered and unfolded, skin peeling back like petals of some gruesome flower. Its true body was larger than the dervish it normally appeared as: a hunched monster with a porcelain-white face extending across its shoulders and forever facing the sky. Inael's body consisted of points of starlight that were connected by constellation-lines to form a skeleton with four arms and two legs; stardust and roiling mini-nebulae floated around its skeleton like flesh. Inael's dark blue wings were ethereal and dazzled in a way that matched gazing deep into the night sky. At the size of a horse, it was the smallest true angel form Keelin had ever seen. Still, even a Celestial that relied on their creations more than brute strength could be a formidable enemy.


Ability Log (for myself)
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Seele
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One of the constructs shot towards directly towards Seele, a six-legged form that was compact and low to the ground. The elf watched it approached calmly, his smile never slipping from his face. At the last instant he raised his scythe... and stabbed the butt end straight behind him, impaling the humanoid construct that had attempted to sneak up behind the sorcerer. He jerked the shaft sideways, twisting the point inside the innards of the automaton while silently casting a spell to deal with the feint. Black Bolt! A bolt of pure negative energy shot out from him, slamming into the lunging being and knocking it aside. Black threads of power curled around its frame, charring the bone-white plates but doing little damage to the construct itself. The spell was designed to be most effective against living creatures, a definition that did not quite fit the automatons.

As it clattered to the ground he yanked the scythe out of the wounded construct, golden blood splattering the ground as it fell to its knees. Seele didn't spare it another thought, scanning his eyes back and forth across the ruins. There were half a dozen further constructs within sight, which meant that he was surrounded by at least twice that number. Wrights are so annoying. The shadow sorcerer had slain Celestials of this class before, but much preferred fighting seraphs or hafazas. At least those beings were direct and didn't require cutting down an entire army to reach them. He had no doubts that he could destroy each and every one of these constructs, but it would be a time-consuming task and there was no guarantee that Inael would stick around long enough for him to finish slaughtering his bodyguards.

Seele his fight hand, fingers splayed and whispering an incantation underneath his breath. "Oloth nindel zhah Isto, mylthar l' ssussun. Globe of Darkness." A dot of pure darkness formed directly above his head, quickly spreading out and expanding into a globe ten feet in diameter. The orb of shadows completely hid the elf from sight. The angelic constructs milled around the edges of the black sphere, their instructions clearly not tailored for such a situation. Before they could rush into the inky darkness five figures darted out, each one moving in a completely different direction. The automatons immediately attempted to attack the copies, but none of them attempted to block or otherwise interact with them, merely dodging their attacks and disappearing into the shattered ruins.

Of course, Seele had not moved from the center of the globe of darkness. He stood within the shadow's embrace, coolly watching as the elfin woman engaged the Celestial and was blown back when it revealed its true shape. He propped the scythe over his shoulder and pressed his palms together, beginning to weave together several strands of mana as he prepared another spell.
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Keelin got a headache. It wasn't nearly as bad as a concussion, but the impact stunned her for long enough. She'd gone flying past the pair of constructs chasing her, and now they had ample time to turn around and pounce on her. She started to roll, got caught and wrenched flat on her back. Claws dug into the soft interior of her wrists and pinned them there, all but removing her ability to cast. Keelin lifted her head and pressed her chin as close to her chest as she could so they couldn't rip out her throat, then struggled -- but the latter action was also a moment too late. The two constructs mauled her. She cried out in pain and struggled harder until her blood dripped in messy gushes and she found herself slipping against their metallic plates. It looked less efficient than it was. Keelin knew that each bite or swipe of their claws was an attempt at a kill-shot, but mitigated by her incessant squirming.

A moment to readjust their grip on her was all she needed to free one of her arms. Her blade entered her closest enemy's open mouth, hooked around the corner of its lip and carved a gash all the way down its soft neck. A waterfall of holy gold dripped down onto her chest, mingling with her eviscerated flesh. Keelin blocked the other construct's bite with the flat of her blade, then struck it in the eyes with the sharpened crescent moon on top of the hook-sword's guard. Just staggering the two constructs was all she could do for the time being. Her heart was beating like crazy, having narrowly avoided getting her stomach or throat ripped out. Instead, her torso was covered in huge gashes and missing chunks of flesh. Keelin wasn't sure if she would be able to get up even if the creatures weren't still on top of her. Much less respond if Inael shot off an attack of their own.

She really hated fights to the death sometimes.
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Seele wasn't too worried about the constructs catching up with his illusions and discovering their true nature. He had given the spell a set of simple instructions that would keep the copies from interacting with anything that might reveal the fact they were mere images, which meant they would dodge any attacks aimed at them by the automaton. He calmly watched as the elfin woman was thrown away from the angel and set upon by two constructs, barely reacting to her plight. Her survival was not the goal here. If he did not kill Inael now, there was no telling when he would get another shot at the Stargazer. He had only been able to find the Celestial because it didn't know that the sorcerer was on its trail. If the angel went and hid in one of the corners of its native plane he would never be able to find it.

He finally finished the complicated weave of mana in his hands, negative energy pulsing around and through his fingers in a massive knot of power. Seele pumped more and more energy into the kernel of power until it was about to explode, pushing his arcane skills to their very limits. "Enervation." With a crack like a whip the negative energy shot forward from the elf, a tight column of black and violet light. It lanced through the scene and shot straight at the Celestial, striking the being right in the place where its two right arms intersected with its torso. The spell tore through its translucent flesh like paper, ripping a fist-sized hole through its mass that bled motes of multicolored light as nebulae and stars dripped out of the wound.

Inael's scream was like nothing meant to be heard on the mortal plane. Within that noise was encompassed the birth and death of stars and all of the rage that could be contained within the infinite sky. The constructs froze in place, their bodies turning as one so that they were facing the globe of darkness. A heartbeat later they all shot forward as fast as their legs could carry them, mindlessly rushing at the hidden sorcerer. Seele allowed himself a small, sardonic grin before grabbing Thanatos and teleporting through his link with the plane of shadows, appearing an instant later within the darkness of a half-collapsed room on the second floor of a building. He reached the gaping hole in the wall just in time to see a dozen constructs dash blindly into the black orb, their armored bodies connecting with a loud clanking noise.

And now while it is distracted... The sorcerer raised his left hand and flicked it towards the fallen woman, invisible lines of magic shooting across the space between them and wrapping around her body. Oloth nindel zhah Rilbol, dajakk ussta siltrin. Greater Dark Regeneration. Unholy power flashed across the distance, sinking into the stranger's flesh. It would probably be an unpleasant experience, given how their auras had interacted earlier, but Seele cared little for her comfort. The spell would heal her flesh within moments, allowing her to re-enter the fray.

Inael's head swiveled towards him immediately, sensing the magic that the sorcerer wielded. The stars remaining within its form started to darken in color, changing from bright white lights to a dull crimson glow. Its blue wings began to flap as it prepared to launch into the air and assault the fallen god that had dared harm its true angel form.
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She corrected her previous assessment mentally, unable to do much else: Keelin enjoyed the risk of fights to the death as long as she still had a chance of winning. The other elf finally retaliated, actually scoring a good hit on the angel itself. Keelin felt herself slipping away. Her whole front side was a mess of bright red with a smattering of gold. Against all her rage and desperation and willpower, she could feel the strength leaving her muscles. Blackness crept into the edges of her narrow line of vision. Nonononono. Get a hold of yourself. She blinked her eye several times as the constructs on top of her went running, seeing her unholy mage ally as a bigger threat now. As she predicted, Keelin couldn't get up. In fact, now that her guard was down she let the back of her head drop back to the ground, eye half-lidded. She wasn't so much afraid of dying as she was of the afterlife.

And then she screamed as pure white-hot agony enveloped her whole body. She stabbed the pointed back ends of her hook swords into the ground as her grip turned white-knuckled. Boiling flesh bubbled into her gaping wounds and within seconds solidified into tracts of ropy, dark violet and black scar tissue that throbbed with unholy power. Keelin jumped to her feet, her repaired body moving a step ahead of her thoughts. Warm blood trickled in rivulets down her waist and legs. Inael was about to take off. Not on her watch. Back in the fight, Keelin was hellbent on proving to yet another Celestial that she wasn't someone to brush off so lightly. Its blue void-wings spread as it started to run.

The horse-sized association of stars and nebulae never saw Keelin's form tearing across the short distance. Propelled by the speed of her earlier spell, she careened into the air, blades high, and impacted the angel in a messy blur of steel, blood, cloth, and stardust. Her hooks cut hard.

Inael let loose another inhuman scream as Keelin reached through the angel's burning nebula flesh and severed one of its constellation-lines. She ravaged its closest wings with the crescents, slashing and pushing and making glimmering stars and gas bleed out. It fought and fought to get airborne, but Keelin just kept dragging it back down -- if not by her own weight, then by the unnaturally effective hits of her blade that forced the angel's attention. She made several brutal chops on its top left wing, managing to get halfway through severing it before she had to back off. Keelin spotted countless Celestial sigils tracing themselves into life all over the battlefield. She crossed her hooks in front of her, barked a command in the Celestial language. Stars fell from the darkening sky. One of them crashed into a transparent shield of condensed holy power instead of hitting Keelin, exploding on impact. The energy roiled around the curvature of her magical shield, but didn't injure its caster.

Keelin stood in a battle-ready stance, watching, a tiny grin reforming on the corner of her mouth. Something curious was happening to her wounds. Her own body was sucking out the black and violet from the scars. The unholy power was dissolving. The pain of the other elf's spell, she noticed, was also going away, fading into an ache. "Heh heh..."
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Seele watched from above as the healed woman threw herself at the Celestial's back, wildly tearing at its flesh with her unusually shaped swords. Inael howled once more as the weapons carved through its starry body, tearing free nebulae and constellations that made up its mass with every slash. He smiled thinly, nodding to himself. The entire point of mending the woman's injuries was so that she could take advantage of the angels focus on the sorcerer. As powerful as they were, when they chose to walk on this plane Celestials were not immune to mortal weapons. It was one of the stipulations forced upon them to keep them from ruling over the mortal world. He was unsure of what higher power was responsible for that restriction, but at the moment he didn't particularly care. It made his task this night much simpler, and for that he was thankful.

The elf stepped back into the dark room, shifting through the plane of shadows to return to the street level. He stepped out of the sheltered alcove of a doorway roughly twenty feet away from the woman as she hacked at the angel, his entire attention focused on the Celestial and its plight. There was only a single construct between the elf and his target, and the automaton seemed torn between attempting to free its master from its assailant or to intercept Seele before he could approach. The sorcerer reached out to the shadow underneath the construct, bending its shape and substance to his will. Tentacles made out of solid darkness snaked upwards in a flash of motion, tightly wrapping around the construct's central body and pulling it flush against the earth. It began to buck and attempt to stab at the dark appendages with its stinger, but couldn't effectively aim that close to its own mass.

Seele made sure to circle widely around the trapped construct, still watching as his companion managed to protect herself from a falling star summoned by the injured Celestial. He raised his right hand and tapped into his symbiotic bond with the chains wrapped around his forearm, activating their limited sentience. The demon-crafted links unfurled from his flesh with a rattle, whipping through the air like a living thing. They wrapped around Inael's nearest limb, tightening around its body and digging into its flesh with twisted barbs and spikes. Unholy power coursed through the connection, sizzling where the negative energy came into contact with the angel's body. The Celestial jerked its arm away instinctively, and even injured as it was the being was strong enough to drag Seele halfway across the street.

He did not release the chains, only tightening their grip on its arm so that it could not escape him. In his other hand the elf held his vibrating scythe, searching for an opening to plunge it into the angel's body before its army of constructs could reach the confrontation.
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Keelin
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Keelin stalked around the angel, constantly looking around as a habit of compensating for her missing eye. The contingent of constructs surrounded them. As soon as they converged, things would get messy. Holy starlight sizzled into Keelin's skin from the blood that dripped down her hands. Inael occupied itself by fighting against the grip of the other elf's unholy chains, giving Keelin an opportune moment to strike. She hurried up to its front, leaped over a half-hearted sweep intended to throw Keelin aside, and brought the daggerhead of one of her hook-swords straight down on the porcelain mask it had stretched across its headless shoulders. The steel crashed through its sculpted eye. Keelin ripped out her weapon and darted off just as the breach began releasing a fountain of sparking energy.

Jackpot. The best way Keelin knew how to kill angels was just to wound them so much with her celestial-bane weapons that they died, but sometimes thinking more about it helped a lot. Some angels had weak points, and they were more obvious than they seemed. A Stargazer couldn't watch the night sky without eyes. Actually, lots of Celestials really cared a lot about eyes; they were mentioned a lot in scripture. Inael flailed wildly, flapping its half-severed wings. Its flesh bristled with spikes of condensed stardust emitting bright red holy light. Inael hummed words in the Celestial language that Keelin quickly identified as the incantation for a healing spell. Keelin promptly interrupted it by stabbing a second time, with her other hook-sword's sharpened butt, into the other eye. This wound shot off blood and light, but was tainted by motes of black smoke.

Inael's casting was interrupted by its own screaming. It bowed its body as blood and tears fell from its unmoving porcelain mask, two of its arms clawing at its eyes to make the visions and nightmares stop. Unholy power from the sorceror's chains was polluting Inael's whole arm now, and it twitched violent and against the angel's own power. Keelin looked around and saw that in the angel's death throes, the constructs under its control moved in a slow, jerky fashion, if at all. The angel hunter thought it would be hilarious if she quoted more ironic scripture in this moment, so she did. "The Book of the Artisan, Canto 48. 'Face down, eyes closed, kneel and crawl when you approach me. Child of the earth, turn your eyes away from the light lest you be rendered forever blind!'" The quietly enraged angel lifted an arm in a pitiful attempt to attack. Keelin slashed at it to keep it away.

"You have lost, Stargazer. Tell me now what you know about this 'affliction' that taints my right eye."
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Seele
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The Celestial bucked back and forth, dragging Seele along with every movement. His feet slid across the cobblestones, but the elf did not relinquish his grip on his target. Without the binding influence of the chains the angel would be free to attempt to flee, which was inexcusable. However, Inael would not stand still for long enough to allow the elf to effectively attack with the scythe. Seele ground his teeth together in irritation and began to cast another spell that would help restrain the Celestial, but it didn't prove necessary. The woman from earlier pounced on the being, lashing out with one of her hook swords and breaking through the ceramic mask that covered its shoulder. The creature howled in pain and began to gather magic to itself, but before it could complete the spell she smashed into its shell once more, leaving two gaping eyes where the stylized eyes had been.

The shadow sorcerer watched as the Celestial collapsed in the throes of agony, its substance corrupted by the negative influence of his magic and the gaping holes where its eyes had been leaking both tears and heavenly viscera. Inael crumpled into a quivering mass of flesh, too injured to do more than ineffectually flail at them. Before Seele could say a word the female elf spoke up, asking the angel about her unusual eye. The former deity glanced at her face, paying more attention to the empty, glowing maw where her right eye should be. Power emanated from the deformity, but he had no clue as to its origins. Whatever this 'affliction' was, it was like nothing he had encountered thus far.

Inael's voice was reedy and thin, lacking the cool confidence from earlier. "What... strange bedfellows... animosity makes." The Celestial reached up with its remaining arms, translucent fingers stretching out towards the elf. "To think... you... and one who was-"

Thanatos barely made a sound as the curved blade plunged into the center of the angel's chest. Seele grinned humorlessly and stepped forward, ripping the weapon forwards through the entirety of its body and literally cleaving it in half. Milky liquid gushed out of the grievous injury, the star-like pinpricks of light within the substance fading even as they watched. Its corpse slowly deflated, leaving only a husk of rubbery skin behind. There was a clattering noise from the surroundings as each and every construct collapsed, the light fading from the sigils carved along their armor. "Thank you, Inael. That is enough." The dismissal was soft and almost gently, but there was no mistaking the undercurrent of dark amusement that flavored the words. The elf jerked his weapon to one side, cleaning the vibrating blade of the Celestial's blood.
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Keelin
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Keelin's grip on her weapons visibly tightened as her shoulders tensed, watching as her best hope for information died right in front of her. The spectacular display of Inael's death didn't even merit a second glance from Keelin: her single eye was centered on the other elf, her ally during the fight. The ends of her orarion, which she wore wrapped loosely around her neck like a scarf instead of a proper stole, flapped relentlessly despite the absence of wind. She forced a smile, all teeth, at his cute little comment. It didn't reach her eyes.

Her heel hit the ground and she marched straight up to Seele. The way Keelin walked was odd enough to notice: no natural elven grace, just casual bravado. Huge cuts in the front of her clothing had nearly sliced her shirt open, but the remaining cloth was thankfully enough to cover her. Keelin came close and lost her smile. And then she aimed a high roundhouse kick straight at his face.

She landed a disciplined follow-through, weapons flashing around her flapping longcoat and scarf. Keelin had never fought a scythe-wielder before, but her hooks were the absolute bane of most other polearms she'd fought. Regardless of her attack's outcome -- it was clear she was just lashing out at him on an impulse -- Keelin stalked back away, knees soft and stance stable, scowling. Someone who had familiarity with the martial arts would immediately notice her style as a distinct northern elvish variety most commonly practiced by Forward Path monks. "Pe-channas! That was my best opportunity to learn something important!"
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Seele
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It took only a thought to still the scythe once more, its blade locking into place. Seele shifted his grip on the polearm so that he was holding it like a staff and turned towards his companion during the battle, just in time to see her smile fade. A moment later her foot slammed into his cheek, cracking his head to one side and sending him stumbling back. She followed up the attack with a pair of slashes from her hook swords. For a moment it looked as if the blades would cleave him in half, but instead of slicing straight through his tunic their edge skittered along its surface, kicking up sparks. The glamour wrapped around his armor was shattered by the impact, revealing a cuirass made from interlocking black scales.

The elf straightened slowly, raising one hand to his jaw and gingerly touching where he had been kicked. The mandible was dislocated from the blow, sending pulses of pain flashing through his body. Seele waited to make sure that the woman did not intend on attacking him again before reaching for his magic, repeating the healing spell from earlier. Negative energy washed over his features, jerking his jaw back into alignment with a sharp crack and erasing the bruise before it could even form. The cut across his brow mended as well, leaving only a crust trail of dried blood to indicate it had ever existed.

"I understand your disappointment, but if you strike me again I will rend you limb from limb." The threat was completely devoid of braggadocio, simply stated as a fact. Seele still held his polearm in one hand like a walking stick, but he had one foot pulled back slightly and his shoulders held in an odd, loose position. From this stance, he could be able to bring Thanatos back into play at a moment's notice. "Although I do find myself confused. I did not pretend that I intended to do anything with Inael but slay them. Perhaps your anger should be focused on yourself for failing to recognize that fact, as opposed to me." He smiled slightly, watching her with golden eyes that glowed slightly in the darkness. "Clearly you should be more careful when selecting your allies."
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