Eulogy of Forgotten Souls - Chapter 7 Raphael and Abel

'So...you betray her...' snarled Raphael, his malevolent runeblade flickering with eldritch, arcane energy.

Abel hefted his sword in return. 'The Shadow destroyed realms, destroyed worlds...destroyed countless lives. It must be stopped.'

'Well, if that is the case, you won't be around to witness it!' Raphael lithely darted into Abel, his blade spinning in a deadly arc with godly speed. The demons in the vicinity cheered their ruthless commander, urging him to kill the betrayer.

Abel parried swiftly, sparks flashing as the two powerful blades connected. Both struggled, Raphael's hands closed upon his runeblade's hilt, Abel's right on his hilt while the left pressed down on the blade of the sword, spreading his strength across the length of the weapon.
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Felicia grunted as she gutted a massive demon, ripping it's innards out in a frenzy of claws. Hovering with her magic, she watched as Rursus's Exodus tore through the Shadow's unholy throng with surprising ease. She narrowed her eyes as she spotted a strange-looking demon making a beeline to the foremost Dawn Dragon. It was small, about the size of a dwarf, and round like a ball. It's tail was flickering, as if slowly burning up-

-it reached the dragon, just as it's tail was burnt thoroughly. With an almighty bang, it exploded, shredding the Dawn Dragon into pieces, the surrounding demons and defenders caught in the blast and were utterly annihilated as well.

She gasped, and turned quickly to see scores more of these kamikaze demons winging towards the exodus.

Quickly glancing around, she sought out the only one who could avert the imminent disaster. Xepher stared back at her, and both nodded simultaneously.

Cypheria changed into a massive, five-barreled, t-shaped behemoth of a gun, and Xepher took aim, blasting the foremost bomb demon into kingdom come with a powerful shot. With deadly precision, he gunned away at the other demons, their exploding corpses further wreaking havoc in the Shadow horde.

Soon, the sky, if you could call such a murk a sky, was cleared of bomb demons, as well as a large chunk of the regular demons and other monstrosities. With a lengthy cheer, the exodus surged forth, overwhelming the remaining demons and forcing a rout.
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Abel gasped as Raphael delivered a swift punch to his midsection, driving the air out of him. He retaliated with a vicious thrust of his cursed sword, impaling Raphael on the shoulder. Raphael screamed and darted back, blood dripping from his wound.

Suddenly, the clouds of demons around the two combatants were sent into panicked retreat, and Raphael snarled yet again. The exodus has already reached my position! he sent at Candace, who was preparing for the inevitable conflict.

No matter. Stave them off as best you can, but allow my sister, as well as the Chaos Guardian and his mate, entry. I will deal with them...personally.

Abel grinned as he saw the Exodus descend on the field. Raphael turned to deal with the intruders.
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Xepher, Kaffleen, Felicia, Rachel and Ristaccia landed next to Abel. Kaffleen, who had described Abel to the others and instructed them not to attack him, Pressed a hand to his chest without a word, healing his many wounds.

'You came back for me.' he muttered.

'Hey, the least I could do in return for aiding me.' Kaffleen grinned.

Felicia stared him in his eyes. 'Keep Raphael busy. We will deal with my sister.'

Abel nodded and leaped at Raphael.

Felicia turned to the others. 'There are three crystals in the castle. Each is a cursed crystal that is the Shadow's hold over my sister and her minions.'

Xepher snorted. 'So we just break these crystals, and Candace goes free?' Felicia nodded.

'What are we waiting for?' muttered Ristaccia, her twin blades out as she raced towards the castle.
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They are coming. the dark figure sent towards his mistress, the black crystal behind him pulsating with power.

Very well. Bring them alive to me, if possible. If you must kill them, do it with your utmost cruelty. She replied.

The man grinned and laughed. His broadsword, black with sapphire runes engraved on it, shimmered, as if as excited at the prospect of the coming bloodshed as it's master. 'Come...come to your defeat...come to Cain!'