Albion

[Bern]

Grace Swarm

But no response came, not because they didn't listen to Aruna. Something as insignificant as the sounds coming from that pesky obstacle was of little concern to the them, to it.

The hounds chasing Aruna fell but the Angels continued their pursuit of both Aruna and Mael.

The creatures far in the background morphed, fusing together into a giant cannon as for it's purpose...

A blink later a massive brilliant beam tore through the chains, the portals themselves.... The beam arced through the sky as the cannon turn with surprising speed. Then with it's task completed it stopped as smoke came out of the barrel. It would need to recharge now but it wouldn't be long before this cannon would fire again.

Then space itself froze.

For a brief instant everything stood still as Aruna's haze enhanced Lulu. The Seraph had remained unmoving, no She had slowly but surely been backing up and creating more distance between herself and the Grace Cluster, but it was for naught.

The resonance grew exponentially with this new influx of power, the heart beat faster and faster as the same black aura that empowered Lulu, also wrapped itself around every single being spawned by the Forest.

The hundreds of lances in the sky above the largest group of Angels doubled in size and darkened, glowing with the unlight of Darklight. And then they were all unleashed, surging towards the three of them.

They smacked against Lulu's body, the degraded version of her power not even coming close to the weight of her soul, thus their power dissolved against her. Her companions however lacked that defense...

And right on the trail of these lances was the now enhanced groups of dark angels chasing both Aruna and Mael.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Mael

"Tch-!" His head swayed sideways, a bright violet beam of divine terror hurled straight into the heavens, slashing the lances in its way to try and deflect them in the nick of time - the ones in Aruna and Mael's way, at least. The skies burned in a violent explosion.

"Oh? Is killing yourself and all of us part of your great plan?"

At the same time, Mael dodged whatever his eye didn't break. He had been drawing the straddlers in, luring them into his crippling slashes, observing them. That's because he recognized something was different about them. And yet, while he barely noticed their increase in speed, he acknowledged that something was terribly wrong. There was no way Aruna would use that dark mist to strengthen the enemy, and yet the darkness burning from them enforced their every move. And they had a familiar presence to them. They were all riding Aruna's darkness.

It couldn't be helped. For a moment, he let go of the knife in his left hand. His body looked open, inviting.

"I've seen enough. Die."

A dance of gunpowder and steel.

The bullets shot straight into Angel's joints, cripplingly lodging in their limbs to negate their movement. Suddenly, he grabbed the knife mid-air.... and the assault began. Strength in unity is a dangerous foe, but Mael was a breaker of armies. Their openings, he'd cut into nothing. Their movements, he turned into openings. And when he couldn't slash it all in one swoop, he crushed it with his own body to pummel them away from him. Not to kill, but to break beyond capacity to fight.

Because his enemy was growing closer.

Mael ran past the broken, charging another beam.

[yinsukin]

Aruna

What?

Aruna's eyes lowered, turning towards the injured angels unwilling to back down from her attacks.  They were a nuisance but they weren't the big problem right now.  No, the bigger issue was that the haze she casted enhanced not only her allies but her enemies, effectively making the move pointless.  The demon girl's head turned towards the bright light then..

Nothing.

The angels who defied god were seemingly wiped from existence.  Although that wasn't the entire truth.  Aruna had cast the coat of shadows on herself making her completely undetectable by typical sensory methods.  The darkness enveloping Lulu and Mael shielded them from the eyes of their opponents, turning them completely invisible.  The only question was, would the other angel's be shrouded as well?

As Aruna flew upwards, spikes emerged from the sky, threatening to slice up the angel's that followed.  A voice rang through the sky.  "Yes thats right!  Every angel can achieve balance!  In accepting the darkness, you drones become demons!"

Hundreds of chains reached out to the angels in the sky, threatening to latch onto them.  If caught, the chains would steal their magic.  First the haze would be removed.  Then Lulu's delicious magic would be drunken.  Next the light they cling to so pathetically will be sapped from their very being.  Their final hour will be defined by the feeling of their very lifeforce fueling Aruna's magic.

[Bern]

Lulu

"You are lecturing a mindless beast who exist only to consume and grow Aruna!"

The invisibility was for naught as the Angels chasing Aruna merely flew through hail of spikes, their pointy edges smattering against their forms in vain and the spikes melted into nothing.

Their path was correct, of course it was, hiding herself did not hide Aruna's mind from the swarm, and like bats they honed in on the signal.

But just before they could reach her a massive Sword flashed into being in front of Aruna and smashed them back., It tore right through the haze cloak surrounding their enemies and then it tore through their form. And with one wide spin, a whole group of them were split in half.

Lulu had appeared in front of Aruna.

"Balance ain't gonna save us here, what we need is one decisive strike to their heart before... before more of them spawn. True to her words, throughout this battle more and more were being born anew into this world.


Grace Cluster

The barrage of chains wasn't even dodge. No they wrapped around the malformed angelic beings, but then they all moved. they moved as one, and with one twirl all of the chains shattered into dust.

It was Anti magic, it coursed through their bodies, much like it did with Lulu.

Meanwhile Mael was having a better time. his sheer physical might couldn't be stopped, nor halted. As long as he kept moving with determination, they posed little more threats than roadblocks... Was this it, was this the answer to this nightmare? Whatever the answer may be, it better come soon as the cannon would be ready again.

The large group that had acted as range fighters turned to face him, he was too fast. They would not be able to counter him with the same light spear barrage, but they would throw themselves in his path. With sword and teeth and bare hands if they had to.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Mael

Bash. Crush. Cut. It didn't matter what was in his way, the Archangel of Death ravaged what stood in its way. So let these accursed creatures color his blade with their marrow. Every cut was more efficient than the last, his bashing blows launching away those who tried to cling to him. Let them crawl like worms.

Die-!

A volley of bullets smashed into the next wave of angels. Without time to blink, more strikes came to sever their limbs away and breach past them. With eyes that burnt like supernovas, he wallowed in his own murderous will like a volcanic rain. For this was an emotion he'd have never accepted, even before. The sickening sound of broken bones, the stench of blood on his hands, the feeling of their bodies breaking under his blade.

Perish-!

It felt good. Right.

Cur off-!

He was ever closer to his goal. The heart of this abomination! With a furious leap, the black knight howled inhumanly, plunging into the depths of this calamity with every tool in his disposal.

[yinsukin]

Aruna

Heaven in hell what is that?

All her spikes were rendered useless against the creatures.  Antimagic made her weapons nothing.  Reaching the apex of the climb into the sky, Aruna understood the only option left just as Lulu articulated it with her words.

"Balance ain't gonna save us here, what we need is one decisive strike to their heart before... before more of them spawn."

Indeed that was true.  The drive to move forward, the power to push forward.  The raw power of the spirit.  Thats what guided these creatures.  There was no sentience, no life.  "Mindless beasts that seek only to desire and grow?  That just makes them human."

Well thats what she thought before she met him.  Maybe what makes a human so terrifying is their ability to really consider how they are evolving.  Still holding the blade of darkness in her hand, the weapon glowed with light, doubling in size and power.  It shifted into a Lance just as Aruna's wings shrunk back into her body.  She fell into the earth, arms spread wide as she twirled the lance in her hand.  Tightening her grip, the tip of the Lance pointed towards her target.  With one swift throw it plunged into the earth towards the core of the cannon.

"Incinerate in heaven you foolish angels!  Cling to power and you will exist only to be destroyed by a greater one!"

Thats right.  She didn't care that they weren't listening, as long as the possibility of them hearing her existed.  No, even if it didn't it had to be said, even if it was just for Aruna's sake.

[Bern]

Grace Cluster

Sometimes absolute overkill was the way to go, sometimes that was the most superior tactic, and sometimes trying to play to it smart was not actually smart, brains can take you far but it can do nothing against overwhelming brawn when it just appears suddenly.

This was one of those times.

The brilliant lance thrown by Aruna tore through all resistance, pierced the cannon past all layers and lodged itself into the core, in the beating heart of the beast. And the swarms of beastly angels all froze as one and howled in anguish.

Then in its moment of weakness Mael struck, and he rained down upon them fury of a grudge nurtured for aeons, He swallowed them all up in the infinite depths of despair he had brought forth.

It was too much.

With one last anguished scream, the calamity shattered, and with it, so did all it's minions, all of its nodes.

Lulu

"So.... Have you been holding out on me dear Aruna?? That lance could have been soooo useful you know..." Lulu flew down to  her and caught her in a hug, stopping Aruna's fall but more importantly, she granted her the blessing of the Angel's bountiful breasts to her face.

"You could have told me where you got that grace from earlier, I didn't want to snoop in your mind and such, but I could have helped, no I'm going to help you with it. Just please, stop throwing yourself into these battles with no regards for your safety... Even I can get worried..."

[yinsukin]

Aruna

An explosion of light.  As Aruna sunk into fireworks of the battle, she stared at the anguish of the angels, the look of horror on their face.  There was something about watching another creature die that felt immediately relatable.  The thought of dying itself was enough to numb the brain, but watching it happen stimulated the brain in a completely different way.  It was this rush of power and victory, tinged with the sharp anxiety that came with the reminder that death could come for her at anytime.

And then nothing.

It was like having two pillows block out her eyesight, the soft but familiar feeling of Lulu's giant breasts in her face.  With the threat gone, it was hard to resist the urge to sleep, but she found herself rejuvenated.  The wounds inside her body began healing, the bruises fading.  Aruna's skin returned to a soft but sheen white, not an ounce of purple in sight.
 
"Thank you," she said, her words muffled by Lulu's breasts.  It was easier to give compliments when you can't hear a person well.  What she wanted to tell Lulu was that she hid her abilities from her opponents, avoiding going all out unless she was sure they would be dead to avoid becoming vulnerable to them later.  "I... just didn't want to show you my weakness. To tell you the truth, I was struggling with controlling it.  Although I am not sure if I can promise that anymore.  I feel this problem has become a bit bigger than me."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Mael

Smash it. Crush it. End it all. When weapons fail, his claws and wings were far better allies. Feathers were ripped and torn upwards in the sky, torn apart and destroyed. To anyone else, this'd look like the berserk nature of a broken madman.

But it was more horrifying than that.

He was desperately trying to shut them up, even in their last moments. To Aruna and Lucy, they might just sound like dying beasts. But a sound at the back of his mind just wouldn't stop. To him, they almost sounded like the weeps children.

"Cease...this.... crying. This mewling... this mockery. I won't accept it... you are the ones at fault. Perish eternally, and be at peace."

He made sure this time. He made sure to end it properly. To ravage it beyond the chance of growing back. It was supposed to make it all right. It was meant to fix things. To make him feel better.

But it didn't. He felt miserable.

He raised his fist one last time in the air, but there was nothing beneath it. Nothing at all.

Mael tried to smile.

[Bern]

Lulu

"There there..." She rubbed Aruna's back to comfort her girlfriend. "I'm not really mad about that... What I'm really made about..." Her hands slid down to Aruna's big butt and she pushed the girl so they were face to face.

"Is you hiding this slutty little demon girl form from me... I'm the top bitch here and you ain't taking that from me. So I guess I'll have deal out a thorough punishment to you now." Her hands were busy feeling Aruna up as she spoke, she'd memorize every single curve the girl had, this was way more important than some pesky little wannabe angel forest to her.

[yinsukin]

Aruna

After a battle like this, the soothing presence of the angel combined with the deescalating adrenaline created a sense of peace.  This was the first time she had ever killed so many angels.  Even weak ones like that in her world were impossibly strong.  When she first arrived in the city, she would not have survived such a battle but now...

"Ah!" A moan was forced out of her lips as Aruna felt Lulu's soft hand grasp her huge ass cheek.  It was still in the more exaderated female form she took to attempt to manipulate Orcus.  Soft but firm breasts and butt, a lean back with light feminine muscle, a tight stomach, long legs that jiggled slightly with the extra feminine fat it carried.  It was a valnurable form that appealed to that sort of gentlemanly human ego.  Perhaps that is why it didn't work on the nonhuman.

ARuna slapped away Lulu's hands.  "Hold on for a mere moment Lulu!" she yelped, turning to Meal.  "i will see you another time.  Know that i'll still be thinking of you, even in future battles.  So please try to find some sort of balance.  Hatred alone will not create a better world, even for you."

The dark angel glared at Lulu.  Her cheeks were becoming redder and redder by the second.  "If you must do this, take us home!"