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Dissonant Hearts (Degusaurusrex x AndrewS)

"You're running out of zombies. Is there a certain amount of times you can revive them before they like... Run out of juice, or something?"

"Do you really want me to stop concentrating to explain the laws of necromancy to you, mageling?"

"...I guess not. At least the demon zombie is holding up so far."

Malakai was swatting away the hoard of DSTF soldiers Tyrath had apparently gathered along the way like they were nothing. He tossed them aside with his magic as if they were nothing, as if he didn't think they were worthy of being touched by his host's hands. That worked to their advantage and allowed the undead to last longer, their bodies battered and broken but whole enough for Tyrath to puppeteer them around the destroyed courtyard time and time again. The strain it was causing was evident as she saw sweat beading the demon's face, her own twisted in concern as she looked between him and the battlefield. How long was he going to be able to keep this up? When he ran out of energy to raise the dead, would Ignas still be lying in that crater or would he stand and face Malakai once more?

"We're so fucked, aren't we?"

"Ignas needs to get up." Tyrath didn't take his eyes off the soldiers or the sluggish demon still swinging its sword at Malakai, not even when the living demon at their side slipped into the midst of it all to fight. "I am not accustomed to doing this, and I have my limits even if I escaped the drain of Malakai's spell. I would offer you some of my power," He grimaced, "But I need all of it for our defense."

"I know." Adelaide nodded in understanding. Her ring burned and rebelled each time she tried to draw more power from it, her body at its limit as she tried to formulate some sort of hail mary to get them ahead in the fight. "We need something that's going to distract him long enough for someone to either gut him or get Ignas off his ass and back in the fight." Where the hell was Onigoshi at, anyway? When Isen had dropped it and she'd portaled him off to somewhere safe, she'd lost track of where it was at and focused on trying to dodge Malakai's attacks.

"I don't suppose you have any other tricks up your sleeve. I'd even take Danica showing up to fight him for a bit." Adelaide wiped her bloodied hands on her pants and sighed. "Hell, I'd take just about anyone if they could stand against him." She jumped at the loud rumble of brick breaking as Virgil was flung into a nearby building, cursing and taking a step back to survey the damage and any attacks coming their way.

"He will fight until his last breath, just as his brother."

"I wish Clara were still alive. She's probably the one person that bastard might have listened to." Samara's illusion magic would have come in handy right now, but without a source to pull from properly they were shit out of luck. The ring was straining at its limits with every drop of magic she pulled to keep herself alive, Tyrath stood strong but seemed to be pushing his own limits, and Ignas was still embedded in the ground hopefully still breathing.

"We have company." An arm came out and pushed her back a few steps as Tyrath moved in front of her, watching a sputtering drone soar over a building and come to circle its way around the undead Malakai continued to destroy.

"You're standing on my foot, Adelaide." Adelaide whipped around at the sound of Lorelei's voice coming from behind her, staggering back as she caught sight of the older woman standing there wearily. When had she gotten there?

"Your little toys cannot hurt me, Lancaster." Malakai was sneering as he turned a stumbling soldier into nothing more than a puddle of blood against the ground, stepping over it as if it were an insignificant little bug he didn't deem worthy of laying his eyes on. Adelaide watched as the drone continued to sputter and work its way around the courtyard, opening and closing a panel as Lorelei recited line after line of spells at her side. She didn't remember her grandmother looking so haggard the last time she'd seen her, and if she was here, then where was Isen?

"I thought Isen was with you."

"Hush, child." The drone seemed to be struggling to stay in the air as Adelaide watched it try to pull at the dark tendrils of magic Malakai was using to destroy the few remaining undead. "It was supposed to work."

"Shouldn't it have an orb?"

"I worked with what I had. It should have worked, it worked before." Lorelei sounded defeated, cursing loudly when Malakai sent the drone to the ground with a deafening crash and explosion of metal.

"I need you to make an illusion." Surely Lorelei still had magic left if she was here trying to help. Maybe she had enough to conjure up an illusion of Clara. "If we make him think that Clara is here, maybe he'll be distracted long enough for me to get to Ignas and make sure he's still alive." It was the only solution she could think of, and that all banked on the illusion being strong enough for Malakai to believe it for even a minute.

"Adelaide, I never met her, how am I to create an illusion of something I never..." She trailed off and then her eyes went wide before she whirled around and pointed in Tyrath's direction. "You, demon. You control the dead."

"And I am rapidly running out of them." They were down to the demon he was controlling and what was left of Virgil trying to avenge his brother.

"Do not let my body rest until this is done." She turned to Adelaide, grabbing her granddaughter's hands despite the dried blood coating them. "You will create the illusion. Take from me." Adelaide gave her a bewildered look until Lorelei squeezed her hands tightly, nodding her head once before giving Adelaide a stern look. "What I have is yours. Take it and do what you were meant to do and do not stop until that demon is dead."

"Hurry, little mageling. We are almost out of time."

Malakai had seemed amused fighting Tyrath's small hoard of undead at first, but it was becoming apparent that he was losing interest and intended to come straight for them once the brothers were out of commission. Adelaide searched Lorelei's face for any sign of trickery, for any hesitation, but found nothing but a clear determination in the older woman's eyes as she nodded.

"I'm glad you decided you were a Lancaster again." Adelaide closed her eyes and held onto Lorelei's hands tightly, taking a deep breath as she began to draw from the familiar magic of her own family line. It came pouring in like a burst dam, snaking its way through her veins and winding its way around her own magic and into the ring. All she needed to do was forge the pour of magic into the memories she'd taken from Clara's belongings, mold them into something worthy of drawing Malakai's attention from the fight and to the past before this war.

"Little mageling." Tyrath's tone was full of warning as she felt Lorelei stumble against her, and when Adelaide opened her eyes it was just in time to catch her grandmother as they both sank to the ground on their knees. Lorelei's expression seemed to change by the second as Adelaide watched her bolt jerk and spasm before it seemed to regain some sense of humanity, a deep shudder of a breath sounding in the air before she gripped Adelaide tighter and closed her eyes. "I cannot bring her back a second time." It took a moment for Adelaide to realize that the fall and spasming from Lorelei's body had been her drawing her last breath as her magic poured into her granddaughter, and tears stung at her eyes as she leaned in and pressed her forehead to Lorelei's.

"Thank you, grandmother."

When she pulled again the remainder of the magic slammed into her like an invisible wall and sent her tumbling back, separating the two Lancasters as Adelaide found her vision replaced by an onslaught of memories that she'd gotten from Clara. The sky was lit with brilliant orange and red hues as the sun peeked just above the skyline, wildflowers scattered among the greenery as far as the eye could see. The pain of her battered body and panicked mind had been replaced by a humming sense of peace as she reached out her hand, trying to grasp at the memory before her as it exploded outwards and into the courtyard.

"My horizon."
 
"My horizon."
Malakai had begun to grow tired of the constant interruptions. It felt like every witch, demon and familiar in the city was coming to Adelaide's aid, and as easily as he slew them all, more kept seeming to rise from the woodwork. Even Lorelei, a remnant of his past, poked her head out of her hole with a failed attempt at subduing him. The entire thing felt almost comical; they continued to throw everything they had at him and it barely made a dent. His power continued to surge, and even as the Lancasters shared their magic, he showed little, outward concern for what may come from their union. Tendrils flared once again, annoyed with the corpse foot soldiers that continued to get in his way, dispatching each with similar ease until, finally, he stared down something that caught him off guard.

'No." He breathed out, spitefully. "You don't get to invoke her memory."

Isen watched, still concealed from view by anybody involved, as Adelaide mimicked a familiar friend, contorting her grandmother's syphoned magic into an illusion of the only person they had ever known Malakai to truly care for. A memory, born anew, standing as real as any flesh and blood could. Staring across at the vicious demon, her voice spoke something that seemed to trigger him, and Isen began to eye Onigoshi's resting place all the more. This might be the exact distraction that he needed.

"You are not real." He continued, but even his mind, poison and deluded with power, seemed to show a slight falter at the possibility that somehow, someway, it was a ghost from beyond the grave that had arrived to aid Adelaide next. "You cannot be real."

Isen weighed his options while Malakai was occupied. One charge, one goal. He could use it to reach the sword, or he could try to get to the blade first and then use it to drive it through the heart of their wretched foe. Without Ignas' magic, would it even be strong enough to kill him? And if it didn't, was he okay with what would happen next?

In a moment like this, normally, he'd look to Adelaide for guidance or comfort. Even just seeing her, sometimes, was enough to put his flurried mind at ease, but with Clara in her place, it posed a different problem for him. He had watched her die. He had felt happiness turn to sadness in Ignas' heart, all too well, when he was there with him as she breathed her final breath. He helped dig the grave that her body rested in, he had helped the demon grieve. While she was a beacon of hope, a beautiful flower in a garden of weeds, she was also an all too poignant reminder of what he stood to lose. A star that had burnt itself out. A loved one's light lost when it was needed most.

He couldn't.

He wouldn't.

He believed what he had said. He'd rather die with her than live without her.

Creeping out from the wreckage, he knew he'd be seen by every body except for Malakai, as he chose to move at the demon's back. He hoped nobody would give him away, and that they'd been transfixed by Adelaide's illusion. All the while, each step he took brought him closer to the resting place of his weapon. This had to work. She needed to hold out, just a little bit longer...
 
"My horizon, what has become of you?" The sadness Adelaide felt fueled each word spoken with the illusion of Clara's face. What had happened to the world these last few years, to humanity and kindness? "What have they done to us?" The tremble of her voice, the quiver of her lip felt all too real as it wrinkled Clara's face, and for a moment Adelaide wondered if this was what she was feeling underneath the illusion and under the stress, or if this was a buildup of Clara's former emotions during her lifetime. She had, after all, pulled this from a memory she'd imprinted from the dead witch, and the overwhelming emotions bubbling up in the form of tears streaking down her cheeks felt like something more than her own exhausted emotions.

"This isn't what I wanted for you." Her hand lifted of its own accord, reaching for Malakai despite the vast space between the two of them. "I only ever wanted your light to shine so bright while the world went on around us."

A mixture of concern and confusion flitted across Tyrath's face as he watched Adelaide integrate with the illusion, taking a step forward hesitantly before taking another in Malakai's direction. It seemed counterproductive to what they were doing there, but he made no effort to stop her or say anything that would break her concentration and destroy the illusion. There had to be some logic behind what she was doing, even if the waves of emotion rolling off of her were strong enough they started to affect his. Then there was movement elsewhere that drew his attention away from the strange thrall that was working its magic between Adelaide and Malakai, and it took him longer than he would have liked to realize that it was Isen stealthily working his way in the direction of where Onigoshi lay discarded and inert.

"I cannot be real? This cannot be real, my horizon." Adelaide hated the way that the emotions seemed to be piloting her body, taking over common sense and the instinct that would have kept her as far as physically possible from Malakai. They moved her forward with her hand still stretched toward him, a shudder of a breath working through every limb as agony sliced through her chest and gripped firmly at her heart. Was this how Clara had felt about the betrayal and the sealing of both demons? Was this how she had spent the last decades of her life whenever she was alone, whenever she wasn't running herself on fumes to help the Dissonants and humans of this new world? "What have we caused by allowing others to dictate what should and should not be? Have you truly let the dark extinguish the light we nurtured so fervently? Oh, my horizon, forgive me for not being there to make things right."

"You are not her!" The roar that was Malakai's voice broke the hold the overwhelming emotions had on Adelaide, and she stumbled back with a loud gasp and nearly tripped on her own feet. The agony of betrayal and regret was replaced with a curtain of fear that landed heavy on her, burdening her overworked and exhausted body as her knees buckled and she nearly hit the ground. It was the whiplash reaction of Tyrath's tail as it snapped out to wrap around her waist, yanking her backward from Malakai's impending rage as his eyes darted between the demon and Isen's reach for Onigoshi.

"Stand tall, little mageling. I do believe there is hope, still." He wasn't certain, what, if anything Isen had planned for Onigoshi, but in that moment he began to understand why humans prayed when things seemed hopeless and at the end. In that moment, he dared to pray for something that would overcome Malakai's determination to wipe them all out. "Danica, if you're watching this with that ridiculous smirk you can't seem to hide, I only ask that you bring my remains home if we fail."

"I don't know why you'd count on her now." Adelaide was wheezing with the effort of her movements as he pulled his tail back, wiping some of the dried blood from her face as she finally caught sight of Isen. "No. No, no no. Tyrath, get him out of here!"
 
Isen watched in utter confusion as Adelaide, disguised within her illusion, seemed to invoke words and memories that couldn't have possible been her. Had the spell somehow filled her mind with Clara's thoughts and memories? Or was she completely winging it and, somehow, managing to halt Malakai's rampage? None of it was real, and he knew that was true at the core, but something about the magic she was weaving almost had him convinced as well. Malakai seemed to be falling for it, leaning into the sadness in "Clara's" voice. He stopped what he was doing, for a brief moment, almost in fear of what might happen as Adelaide stepped closer to their foe, selling her deceit.

And then, Malakai's voice rose, and the illusion began to fall.

"You are not her!"

Finally seeing through her lie, Malakai's temper spiked strong enough that her spell fell apart at the seams, leaving her vulnerable and revealed for who she truly was, and not what she had been trying to convince him she had become.

Had it not been for Tyrath's intrusion, Malakai's anger would have likely tore her apart then and there. As smart as it had been, at the time, to try and appeal to what emotions the spiteful being had left, invoking them, and reminding him of any pain or frustration he may have felt in the past, only served to deteriorate his mental state more. The body he was housed in, despite being a vessel he had picked and chosen for it's ability to withstand his parasitic grasp, seemed to be failing him as well, his strength surging beyond any conceivable limit that Maximilian's form could withstand. The body twisted, violently, as black magic formed into familiar tendril-shaped forms that, once more, were erratic and seemed uncontrolled. "You will never be her!"

Though his legs felt like they had turned into jelly, Isen knew he needed to move now, and that they both had very little time left to pull this off. He wasn't aware if Adelaide or Tyrath had seen him, or if the demon was acting out of selflessness, but he continued moving as Tyrath stepped forward towards Malakai on Adelaide's behalf. His power set, while beyond belief, was limited in scope and functionality, leaving him in a mismatch against a much stronger foe, but beyond Tyrath's understanding was the fact that there was yet another ally lurking in the shadows outside of Malakai's watch. Had he been focused, and not consumed by anger, perhaps he would have noticed the oversized familiar that had been watching, fur stained with blood, a body draped in her maw.

Klaus's near lifeless form bounced off of the stone grotesquely. He had been riddled with bite and scratch marks, barely clinging to what little life he had left. There was nowhere to run, nobody to port into. It was him and time, slowly running down, draining like the blood that pooled in between the cracks the force of his haphazardly thrown body had imprinted into the ground. Tyrath's eyes met that of Ember, who snarled before turning back into the building, and then, his magic went to work.

Isen began moving again, not stopping or turning back at what was happening. A reanimated Klaus, rising to his feet, standing between Tyrath and Malakai as a puppet. The pesky demon wasn't much in the way of strength, but he was a diversion, one that Malakai would easily tear through. Another body smashed into the ground, but this one was too far gone to be used. Ember hissed and disappeared back inside again to search for another as Malaki lifted Klaus' body into the air and pulled it apart with his tendrils, cleaving him into two different pieces.

Next, an armored soldier's body landed with the crack of bones and an audible groan of pain. Resurrected, it's mangled limbs moved back into place, broken fingers scrambling for a grenade on it's hip.

This continued until Ember, out of options, chose to attack directly. She leapt from the third floor, smashing through a window. Glass showered Malakai, digging into his skin as a precursor to the sinking of her teeth and claws into his back. Tearing ruthlessly, Ember tried to bite deeply enough that she could rip the head from the body, but she was unsuccessful. Thrown aside by a tendril that had grasped at her tail, she made contact with a monument in the courtyard, smashing through it and whimpering as she became buried beneath concrete.

"No. More. Tricks."

Malakai cursed, flinging himself forward with his dark magic appendages, using his scepter to smash Tyrath's face. The demon stood there, taking the blow, showing conviction and strength beyond expectation. His tail swung at Malakai, lashing him like a whip, causing Malakai to wrap around Tyrath's body, beginning to drain his magic away. He whimpered, but showed no outward sign of pain, refusing to yield or give Malakai what he wanted. He just needed to hold on a little longer, just a little bit more...

Isen pulled Onigoshi into his arms and pulled on the teleportation device. One last charge, he needed to focus. He couldn't screw this up. He wouldn't have time to get back...he closed his eyes and pulled on the trigger.

In a blur, he appeared behind Malakai. Malakai realized this, almost too late, having to release Tyrath in order to turn towards Isen. As he did, he swung his scepter, which struck Isen's right arm, breaking it immediately from the contact. The scepter itself, having already been damaged and weakened from previous strikes, gave way, separating into two. The catalyst ball on it's end clinked against the ground, rolling towards Adelaide as Onigoshi pierced through his abdomen. Isen had managed to use the momentum of the teleport to give him the strength he needed, and not a moment too late. Though he felt incredible pain, he pushed with all his might, using every ounce of energy, and every pound of weight in his body, to dig it deeper into Malakai's stomach.

For the first time, Isen heard Malakai groan in pain as his vessel's body began to give way.

Though there was no magic left in the weapon, it was sharp enough to have dealt severe damage, and with Malakai's magic so unstable, he couldn't seem to focus it enough to repair the injury that had been caused. "Fucking die already..." Isen cursed, under his breath, before collapsing forward in pain. His sudden shift caused Max's body to topple over as well, impaling it on Onigoshi as it dug into the ground, remaining upright with Malakai's stolen form dangling from it's blade. Isen clutched at his broken arm, finally feeling his own pain set in, fingers covered in blood from the wound that he attempted to nurse.

Had they done it? Was it over?

He rolled over onto his side, looking at Tyrath and Adelaide, his eyes struggling to stay open, unaware that all life had seemingly left Maximilian's eyes, leaving him apparently dormant. "A--Adela..."
 
"...Was that Ember?" As if dealing with Tyrath's apparent necromancy powers he'd neglected to tell them about in past interactions wasn't enough, she was fairly certain that her familiar, large and fierce, had just dumped a demon that looked suspiciously like Klaus on the ground specifically for Tyrath. Adelaide felt helpless in that moment, torn between trying to fight alongside the reanimated bodies and wanting to get to Isen to get him out of there before it was too late. The only upside to the situation was that he seemed to understand the severity of things, and was moving slowly and stealthily in his endeavor to reach Onigoshi. For what purpose, she wasn't sure, since none of them had seen Ignas stir from where his body had left a crater in the ground upon impact. It was almost impossible for her to even feel for his magic when there was so much other magic radiating from Malakai and the demon currently reanimating a DSTF soldier, and her brain was having trouble sorting it all out.

Allowing Tyrath to stand in the front and work with the bodies Ember was fetching him gave her some time to recuperate, the ring on her finger struggling to feed its dark magic back into her body and repair some of the damage that had been done. There was a part of her that wanted to sink down to the ground, to let the burden of standing be eased for just a moment before she had to act again. The more reasonable part of her knew that if she went down of her own volition, it was going to be a struggle to get back up again. At any second Tyrath could falter in his puppeteering, Ember could run out of bodies and struggle to contribute. Worst of all, there was the chance that Malakai was going to notice Isen at any time and get to him before anyone could stop him.

She should have felt guilty for prioritizing him above all else when there was a literal city and potentially world at stake here. Ember came hurtling down from above in a shower of glass and had latched on Malakai, desperately trying to tear him apart with her vicious teeth before she was thrown across the courtyard and pinned by some of the wreckage. Adelaide looked between her fallen familiar and where Isen was still moving, knowing that she should move to get Ember from under the rubble and to safety, but feeling the pull toward Isen with every step he took toward Onigoshi. Ember was her familiar, bonded to her, but every part of her screamed to move away from the animal and Tyrath, to get herself to Isen and to get him away from this never-ending carnage that was rapidly going downhill.

"God damn it, Danica, you just had to run away when I wouldn't play along." She could have used the demon's strength right now, watching Tyrath take a blow to the face before Malakai's tendrils wrapped around and began to drain him was just painful. Tyrath didn't have to be a dear friend to her like Isen or Isabella, but the demon had done more than many others to help them, and the fact that she was standing there virtually useless while Malakai sapped at his power made her angry.

"Let him go!" Every step she took made her legs feel heavier; the movements fueled by the growing anger as she tried to gather enough magic to throw some sort of attack at Malakai. She was so caught up in trying to gather enough magic that she missed Isen reaching Onigoshi and lifting it into his arms. She missed the device in his hand and the way it catapulted him through reality to drop him behind Malakai, forcing the demon to release Tyrath in order to whirl around and face Isen. The sound of bone breaking under the impact of the scepter connecting with Isen's arm was loud enough for Adelaide to hear it from where she was, stumbling across the ground trying to close the distance between her and the two men.

"No!" Watching the scepter bow and then break should have brought her relief, but just having Isen that close to Malakai piloting Max's body was enough to send a jolt of dread through her. She ignored the crystal ball that had become separated from its staff, her eyes trained only on Isen as he used every ounce of strength to wedge Onigoshi against and then into Malakai's host body. His groan was enough to lend her strength as she tried to move quicker, stepping around broken corpses and striving to reach Isen as quickly as she could. His strength was already waning as his body began to buckle under the pressure of the situation, sending both of them tumbling towards the ground as she watched blood pour from where Onigoshi had pierced Malakai through.

"I'm coming, Isen. Don't you fucking close your eyes." She glanced over her shoulder at Tyrath, spotting the demon nursing his own wounds with a weary expression on his face. "Get Ember, Tyrath!" There was a moment that he didn't seem to hear her as he struggled to recover from Malakai's drain, and then he gave her a stiff nod and started in the fallen familiar's direction. Adelaide only spared Ember a brief glance to assure herself the animal was breathing before she continued towards Isen, stumbling over Malakai's body and reaching for where Isen had fallen.

"Come on, you gotta get up." His arm wasn't just broken, it was bleeding from where the scepter had either torn through the skin or the shattering of bone had come through and opened wounds. The dread that had wormed its way into her only continued to grow, slinking through her veins like ice and seeding doubt as she struggled to pull Isen to his feet so they could move away from Malakai's unmoving body. Had Isen done it, was he dead? She didn't stop to look, only continued tugging and forcing Isen to his feet by slinging his good arm over her shoulders and staggering as far as she could manage in that moment. "Come on, just a little further." Retrieving Onigoshi from the body could wait, right now she needed to get Isen as far away from that demon as she could before they figured out their next move.

"Come on, let's get over to Tyrath and Ember and check on--Isen, stop fighting me, you already stabbed him and--" Initially, Adelaide had thought the sluggish and jerky movements were Isen struggling against the pain or perhaps her, wanting to make absolutely certain that he'd taken Malakai down enough for them to be victorious. She could handle him being stubborn, but when the jerking and jolting of his body became more aggressive and he shoved her away, she turned to look at him worriedly. "Isen, what are you--ISEN!" The next shove was enough to send her down to the ground with a force humans weren't capable of, her legs buckling and her body caving under the power of the motion until she found herself flat on her back with cold snow beneath her. The harsh actions had stolen the air from her lungs and sent pain radiating through her body, and even the snow beneath her hadn't been enough to cushion the impact of the hard ground.

"I...sen?" She struggled to breathe, gasping in ragged lungfuls of air as she stared up at him towering over her. It wasn't until she saw the red of his eyes that her heart seized in her chest, stuttering and beating against her ribcage like an imprisoned bird striving wildly for freedom in the face of demise. "No."
 
"You were supposed to be mine."

Isen began to hear Malakai's voice, even though the vessel he had inhabited had lost all life and remained impaled upon Onigoshi's blade. Was he hallucinating? There was nothing but pain, stemming from the injury on his arm and extending throughout every single part of his body without Ignas to heal his pain or numb the overwhelming sensation. Isen could barely move, but from where his fingers had been clutched against his bicep, he could feel his own blood, and what felt like a bone protruding through his skin in a way that shouldn't have been possible without an incredibly serious break that had caused it to rip it's way out of his arm. Next, the chill of the snow, and the cold stone, he had fallen upon disappeared as he was pulled up onto his feet. He could hear Adelaide's voice, but his head was ringing, or was that his ears? He couldn't tell what she was saying, or the source of the noise. All he could do was feel pain, and hear that unwanted voice droning over the uncomfortable, high pitched hum that syncopated with the debilitating headache that was starting to form.

"We can still be together."

His eyes struggled to open, to look upon the worried face of the one he loved most. It was like his body, subconsciously, was choosing to reject her warmth. He began to pull away from her, though only slightly, jerking in the direction opposite of her attempt to keep him up. It was a reflex, an instinct, as the frequency seemed to continue to rise high enough that he felt like his head was going to burst.

"Remember who you're supposed to be."


"You were marked. By him."

A memory forced it's way to Isen's head, a recollection of something he had been told by Ignas. The truth about his sister's death, and why her life had to be taken. Malakai had marked them both. Future vessels, potential bodies capable of housing him the way Max had.

"Ignas. Are you telling me you had her killed so that she wouldn't become a host for another demon?"

"That is exactly what I did."

It felt hazy, but it was real. He knew it, and maybe he had tried to forget. The night Ignas had come for him, the night he drove that blade through his innocent sister's heart, it had all been predetermined. A source of hatred, deep in his stomach, for Malakai, that had been lost through their ordeals. All of the other people they had lost, and the pain they had felt...the rewriting of his traumas, the separation from Ignas. He had been given so many reasons to forget a crucial detail that, now, like a slit in a rope, was causing him to unravel.

"You were supposed to be mine."

"Fuck you."

Isen felt in a void. The memory had faded, and left him alone with his thoughts, and the voice he was now beginning to harbor. Malakai was desperate. He knew that. He would do anything he could to sink his fangs into anybody foolish enough to fall for his venom, and yet, no matter how hard Isen tried to push him out, he just came back stronger.

"It could have been you and me this whole time. You, and me."

Suddenly, Isen's home wrapped around him, burning and destroyed. He was in a position that had haunted him for over ten years, cradling his sister's lifeless body, covered in the blood he had drawn. The fear in her eyes, the pain he experienced when they refused to open again...

"What you see is not the path I would have carved for you, Reaper."

Onigoshi, it's blade slick and red, pulsed with dark, purple energy. For a moment, it felt nostalgic, feeling Ignas's magic reach him, but after a brief moment of respite, it began to turn toxic.

"She is dead because of him, not me. I would have given you everything you ever wanted."

A glimpse into a fabrication. Isen was the one on the top floor of the DSTF building, not Max. His sister was there with him, by his side, as they ushered in an age of peace across Cresthaven, protecting humanity from Dissonants an-

Puppet. He was a puppet.

Wrestling back control of his own mind, the vision of his sister, older and smiling up at him, faded back into the void, a whisper forgotten by a mind that had never gotten to hear it.

"No. I would have never accepted you."

"Like you accepted Ignas? Did he ever give you a choice?"

This time, it was a memory that was not his own. A younger Max, confronted by a man carrying Malakai's scepter. The demon's voice spoke through his temporary vessel, offering Maximilian a choice; become his vessel and fulfill every dream he had ever wanted. Fame and adoration, talent and wealth, a chance to change the world. Malakai was trying to manipulate him, again. He was trying to show Isen that somehow, someway, he wasn't Ignas. He had given Max an opportunity to decline, whereas Ignas gave Isen no such choice. This was manipulation.

"You're no saint." Isen spat back, his words slurring as though the longer he stayed in this state, the more dream-like and sleepy he was starting to become despite the hatred that was flaring behind every vision. "You're every bit a monster as he was."

"Was? Open your eyes, Isen. Ignas has been using you from the very start to get what he wanted. What has he ever done for you?"

Ignas had done plenty. He had saved Isen's life, again and again. He had turned a new leaf, he was better now, right? ...right?

So, why did it seem so hard for him to come up with an answer?

The blood he had spilt. The suppression of his emotions. The cowardice the demon had shown when the time finally came to fight back against Malakai. The way he had sent Adelaide in to the demon's city, alone, and resisted doing anything to help her. Selfish. He was selfish.

"No. You're wrong."

Isen continued to argue, but it was with himself. Malakai's influence was starting to seep deeper.

"Adelaide Lancaster poisoned your mind into seeing the good in others, even demons. She's got you forgiving the very creature that made your life a living hell. She's as much to blame as he was."

That was something Isen simply couldn't get behind. He refused to let Malakai force him to see any bad in the woman he loved. He pushed back, harder than before, preventing Malakai from warping his mind into another memory or vision, fraying the scene at the ends and denying it a chance to fully open around him.

"She used you as well. Love has made you weak. Let go."

"Fuck...you." Isen spat back, struggling with his own brain.

"Do you want to see what you could have become without her?"

"No."

"Stop fighting. You need to see this."

The vision finally broke his control, his tired mind succumbing to the dark grip that ripped at his defenses. He was in a snowy forest, staring down an Adelaide Lancaster who had no idea who he was other than the fact that he was to be her weapon.

"Ignas used you as a vessel. Adelaide used you as a sword. Has anybody ever truly let you be yourself?"

In an instant, Onigoshi found it's way through the other side of Adelaide's chilled body. In this vision Malakai wished to show, Isen's eyes were blood red. He wasn't the host to Ignas, but rather, Malakai, who barely even gave Adelaide a chance to speak.

"No!"

Isen yelled out, trying to break away from the scene but being forced to watch as this version of himself carelessly withdrew his sword from her body and left her there to be buried by the snowstorm, another body in a long line of those forgotten in his wake.

"You struggle so hard with the idea of becoming my vessel that you've never seen the truth of what you are. You have always been somebody's puppet, Isen Hiyori. You will always be."


The peripheries of his vision were skewed red. It felt like it did when Ignas would take control, but somehow, worse. No longer did he feel pain in his head, nor his arm, numbed to every thing outside of his rapidly increasing heartbeat. His body didn't feel like his own. It was a feeling all too familiar that it coincided with an unhealthy dose of guilt and trauma delivered straight to the part of his brain he still seemed to have control of. Did it always feel this suffocating?

If Isen had been given more time to compare, he would've noticed the difference. Even at their worst, when Ignas was nothing but a killing machine in his body, it never felt this hopeless. It was dread, pure and dark, deeper than any abyss could be. Despair and hatred replacing love and acceptance, rewriting all of the healing he had gone through thanks to Adelaide, and the rest of their friends.

Malakai couldn't be right. He just couldn't be.

As his form moved against his will, he watched through shaded eyes as he pushed Adelaide to the ground. He loomed over her like a vulture, then began to walk towards the jewel that had been separated from Malakai's scepter. The whining sound in his head grew stronger as he lifted it up into his palms. When he did, black magic coursed through him, connecting him to the Catalyst and finally causing that noise to stop. The silence was golden, his consciousness fully molding with the more powerful presence he was now making direct contact with.

"There we go. Much better, don't you think?"

Malakai already had control, steering Isen's body like it was second nature. Though he had already successfully willed his evil influence past Isen's defenses, he seemed intent on breaking what little remained of him inside. Gripping Onigoshi's handle, dark tendrils of magic wound around Isen's wrist and connected to the blade. He lifted it like it weighed a feather, pulling it out of Max's decaying sternum and lighting the surface of the sword up with the same, onyx shadow that craved to consume the arcane. Next, his body turned back towards Adelaide, on the ground. Isen gripped tighter on the hilt of the sword, trying to do whatever he could to stop what was coming.

As she gasped his name, and came to a realization that the man she loved was no longer in control, Isen heard Malakai's voice, wicked and thick, giving him a familiar command. He knew what he was doing. It was intentional. It was inevitable.

"Please...would you shut her up for me?"
 
The pain radiating through her body from hitting the ground was keeping her down, stuttered breaths as she gasped and tried to work her magic over the bruises that were surely forming. Forming proper sentences seemed impossible as she struggled through control and spread her magic thin to soothe the ache, a different kind of ache starting in her chest as she watched Isen walk away from her.

No, this wasn't Isen. This was Isen's body, but he was no longer the one piloting it. Isen wouldn't be walking towards the catalyst that contained Malakai and all of his volatile magic. Isen wouldn't be allowing the black tendrils of pure evil to wrap around him and soak into his body, establishing a connection between him and the catalyst that would embolden Malakai further and give him control in the same manner Ignas had once had. The difference was that Malakai held no such fondness for her or anyone else that Ignas had grown over time, and Malakai would happily wipe out all of them to ensure he could create a world that he wanted.

Please... Would you shut her up for me?

Of all the things for Malakai to say now that he was in control of Isen's body, it had to be that. It just furthered how malicious the creature was as he forced Isen to advance on her, and Adelaide wheezed out a breath as she scrambled backwards and tried to push herself up from the ground. The cold snow bit into her hands, anchoring her enough for her to manage a half-assed push upward as she heard Ember snarling in the background.

"Come, Ember." She could hear Tyrath's voice in the back and her head swiveled to see him standing beside her familiar who was limping, blood matted in her dark fur as she fought through the pain and lunged forward with the large demon at her side. "Let us aid your mistress." Okay, things weren't so bad if she still had allies, and her eyes flitted between Isen's advance and the distance between them and her allies.

"Leave them to Malakai's puppet."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Tyrath faltered even as Ember kept moving with a noticeable limp, his ears twitching and a flicker of annoyance crossing his face as they heard Danica's voice. Only for a moment, however, before he continued after the familiar and closed the distance between them and where Adelaide was finally stumbling to her feet. The strain on her face was clear as she swayed and then caught herself, the ring on her finger burning against her hand as it struggled to process the mass amount of magic she was trying to channel.

"Your girlfriend has horrible fucking timing." Tyrath snorted in response and stepped in front of Adelaide, Ember standing at his side and baring her teeth at Isen. "You could fucking help us, you know!" She raised her voice enough for Danica to hear her, but kept her eyes on the red of Isen's as he and Tyrath exchanged blows, Ember hovering protectively in front of her mistress.

"Good girl." Adelaide laid a hand on Ember's hand, her fingers working through the fur absently to feel out the extent of the damage where blood had matted. Funneling some of her magic into healing the familiar's injury was enough to make her lightheaded, her fingers tightening in the fur as she jolted back when Isen and Tyrath's fight came too close for comfort. A streak of red flew across the air and littered the snow with droplets of blood, and they could hear Tyrath hiss in a breath of pain as he touched the large gash across his chest where the blade had made contact.

"Mageling, find the words to get through to your lover." Tyrath grunted, and before Adelaide could reply she felt his hand against her chest before he shoved her hard, widening the gap between her and the homicidal Isen before raising his arms in defense of the incoming blow. Adelaide waited for the blade to sink into flesh, for the hiss of pain and the smell of blood in the air to increase while the men exchanged blows. Her eyes involuntarily squeezed closed as Ember whimpered at her side, paws scraping against the ground as she prepared to launch herself back into the battle.

"Not today, Malacunt. This one belongs to me." Adelaide's eyes popped open as she heard Danica snarling, followed by the painful sound of claws scraping against metal. Even surrounded by the dead of winter, Danica stood there in all of her pink-skinned, skimpy clothing glory with her arms up, both hands wrapped around Onigoshi and her fingers curled down to anchor her claws into the weapon. The look on her face caught Adelaide entirely off guard, a mixture of building rage and pure possessiveness as she struggled against Malakai's strength. Blood trickled down her arms from where Onigoshi was biting into her fingers, but Danica didn't spare it a glance as she held her ground and shoved violently with all her strength.

Everything moved so fast she could hardly track it with her eyes. Danica's burst of strength was enough to send Isen's body back a few feet before she whipped around, fisting the front of Tyrath's shirt in one hand and lashing her tail around him before they disappeared in a hastily made portal. Ember was a blur of fur and bared teeth beside her as she lunged past the empty spot Danica and Tyrath had left, her jaw latching onto Isen's arm only to be swatted away with a loud yelp and thud against the hard ground. Adelaide cursed and scrambled for her familiar, throwing an arc of magic out to create a barrier between them and the next attack.

"Isen, I know you're in there!" Even though Onigoshi wasn't making direct contact with her or Ember's body, she could feel the brunt of the attack against her hastily created shield, her magic stuttering and struggling to hold itself strong as she knelt at Ember's side and cradled the feline's head. "Isen, please!" Her voice broke on a sob as she held up a hand, struggling to maintain the shield as tears blurred her vision. "Come back to me."
 
A wave of energy burst forward, following the trajectory and arc of Isen's sword. It barreled towards Ember like a projectile, cutting through the very air with it's dark, pulsating magic, crashing into the barrier that Adelaide had hastily erected. Through Isen, Malakai seemed disinterested in the fact that Danica had stolen a potential casualty from his grasp and, instead, seemed wholly committed on severing the final string of Isen's humanity, and thus, seizing full control over his new vessel. A second, forceful exertion shattered the fragile, arcane wall that had been erected, leaving the injured familiar, and her mistress, without protection from any further assault.

"He is no longer with us."

Malakai taunted, out loud, distorting his voice into Isen's. The mixture created dissonance, perhaps intentional, harsh and sharp, yet haunting, to the ear. Isen's right hand tightened around Onigoshi while the left remained wrapped around the scepter's gem, clutching it with reverie into his palm.

"Perhaps he is waiting for you in the afterlife. Won't you join him?"

"Come back to me."


"They're afraid of you, you know."

"They should be."

Clara's hand lifted to Malakai's cheek, touching him gently. The usual, stoic demon began to pull away, feeling a hiss from her touch. Annoyed by his avoidance, she pulled harder, turning his face to meet hers, matching their eyes despite the fact that her even touching him seemed to be causing them both discomfort.

"Why? Because they've been told to be?"

"Stop touching me."

"Maybe you're the one who is afraid."

Malakai lifted his hand up towards her wrist, finger tips pressing inwards. He was draining her, simply from touch, a consequence of the strength that resided inside of them both. Despite her being a source of magic he could draw from as much as he needed, he didn't linger in holding her. Instead, he guided her hand down and away from him, severing the connection.

"I will kill you."

A lament, more so than a threat, exited his lips and yet, she did not back down.

"You don't see it yet, but I will help you." She continued speaking, he tried to drown it out. "You believe yourself a monster because that's all you've ever known, yet, you fight against your very being to be around me. You control death itself. Within you is the potential, not just to take lives, but to protect them, prevent them from crossing the veil. That is why you are my horizon, Malakai. You are so full of potential, even if right now, I am the only one who can see it."

"You were in love."

Isen's voice cut through the memory, attempting to carve his way out of the tomb Malakai had placed him in. His own body, a tool to a demon, one whom seemed intent on killing the woman that he loved. Their connection, though forceful, went both ways. He had seen the way Adelaide's illusion of Clara had staggered the demon, albeit briefly, and was attempting to the same from within before it was too late.

"Do you think this is what she'd want?"

"She wanted something I could never give."

"I thought that way once too."


There was a moment of hesitancy, somehow, in the way Malakai delayed the final blow. There was nothing left to stop him from ending Adelaide there and then; she was weak and defeated, her familiar was badly injured, and her back up had been stolen away. She was more vulnerable now than she had ever been, but something was stopping him from striking.

"Let go, Isen."

He spoke inwardly, unaware that Adelaide could hear his voice. Though she wouldn't be able to hear Isen himself, it was obvious that part of him was still trying to fight this; to fight for her.

"You said we were alike. I never realized how much until now. We were both seen as monsters, weren't we? Branded as killers long before we ever willingly took a life. Me, through Ignas, and you, through your power."

"I am a monster. I am death, itself."

"And I was the Reaper. Together, me and Ignas defied it. Where we differed was how we responded to love."

The grip on the gem was the first to loosen, now, Isen's fingers unfurling for a brief moment before clutching back together in a fist; they were wrestling with control.

"Don't you think you could have been so much more? If you had embraced what you had felt?"

"To love is to be human."

"But you know that isn't true. Ignas loved. Danica loved. At least, I think she did."

"Let. Go. Isen."

"No."


"I'm sorry, my Horizon. I couldn't save you..."

Malakai could feel his magic sealing. He could feel his essence being drawn, pulled into a magical gemstone affixed to the end of a scepter. A sign of ruling, a regal symbol meant for the ruler of the underworld, bereft with dark magic and soon to become a prison.

"W-why...?"

Clara was tearful as she weaved the final moments of her spell. Beside her, a familiar sword rattled, and in front of her, her other beloved began to disappear.

He had fought it for so long. Emotion. It was weakness. The humans felt it, and they were pathetic. Dissonants felt it, and they were lesser life. Disgusting, pitiful emotions. Disgusting, pitiful love.

For the first, and only time, Malakai experienced something everybody on Earth would experience at least once; heart break. He looked into the eyes of the only person who mattered, after having rejected it for so long, and felt his consciousness slip away.


"She betrayed me."

"She saved you from yourself. You could never see the other half of what you could have been. Adelaide helped me see it, and I think I helped Ignas see it too...love."

"Love is a curse."

"Spoken like somebody with a broken heart."

In many ways, while fighting back Isen's being, Malakai had experienced everything he had felt and experienced in the past. Love, loss, trauma, healing. Every memory, every time he thought about giving up, and the way those self destructive thoughts cured themselves over time. Where Isen had found a reason to live in spite of his darkness, through Adelaide, Malakai had only found more reason to hate. He was what they said he was, back then, and now, still. Despite that, somebody found reason to love him, and that love still wasn't enough to accept the nature he warned her of.

He would never understand.

"I want your heart to break, Isen Hiyori."

Any control Isen had exerted over his body, by exploiting Malakai's emotions, had begun to fall away. He lifted Onigoshi skyward, over his head, it's point primed and aimed at Adelaide.

"I want you to see what your love has gotten you. Only when your heart shatters will you finally realize I'm right. Love is a curse. A burden. A weakness. To you, to Ignas, and to Clara..."

"No!"

Malakai plunged Onigoshi downwards with finality, with all of the angered force he could conjure from the depths of his blackened heart. Memories rippled and tore past the lids of his eyes. His own, but also Isen's too. A mage who cared too much, desperately trying to change his ways. A tired traveler in a snow storm, desperate for revenge. The girl with the flower in her hair, finding light where only dark could settle. A bond blooming between two kindred souls bearing impossible weights. Death and life, right and wrong. Love where love shouldn't exist.

The blade of Onigoshi found it's mark, piercing through flesh and bone.
But, Adelaide Lancaster, remained unharmed.

In one, final act of defiance, Isen forced the jewel from Malakai's hand and lifted the now-free appendage upwards, clutching the handle of the sword. With both hands fastened around it, Onigoshi took it's final life, spearing through Isen's stomach to deter the attack. Forcing through the other side, a stunned, and shocked Malakai, remained speechless as Isen attempted the ultimate sacrifice to protect the one that he loved. If he couldn't take control of his body back, he'd make sure that it could never be used to kill another person that he loved.

His body fell forward towards the snow, burying the hilt of the sword into the ground, pressing the entirety of Onigoshi's length through his chest. Blood spilled from the wound it had opened, staining white with red, as Isen's life gushed through the opening. The magic that had flickered around the blade ceased, replacing black with crimson. When his eyes opened again, they were his own, staring across at Adelaide as tears began to well at their corners. His vision hazed, his body rapidly failing him while Malakai tried to stifle the bleeding from within his vessel.

"You god damn idiot! What have you done!?"

"A-Adela-..." Isen gasped, as blood pooled in his lungs, clogging his throat and preventing him from grunting out anything more than partial syllables.

Fitting, it was, that the man once known as the Reaper would be the hand holding the blade that ended his infamous life. Of all the lives he had stolen, and all of the families he had destroyed, during his time under Ignas, Isen had never felt so at peace with his actions. She would be safe. As long as Adelaide could take Malakai's catalyst and bury it some place nobody would ever find...or even better yet, destroy it...Malakai would never be able to hurt her, or anybody else again. She could live, finally, not as a target, or as a mage, but as herself. Free, in a world without the DSTF's oppression, to be whatever she wanted to be. Not a tool, or a refuge, nor a weapon, but as Adelaide Lancaster, until he found her once more in whatever lay beyond.

His sister was calling him. He needed to go now.

"T-this life, or th- n-..."
 
"Danica, you should help the little mageling you've grown fond of."

"I have no use for her. She should have taken my offer to finish Malakai when we were as one in that wretched building."

Danica's lip curled down into a sneer as she watched the puppet that had once been Isen strike at Adelaide. If the Lancaster girl wasn't strong enough to pull herself back up and fight Malakai in the body of her lover, then why should she share her demonic power with the puny mortal? Danica shook her head at the larger demon, her tail tightening around his waist as she noted him making way toward the edge of the roof they'd sought refuge on.

"Leave her. Using your gift after so long has made you weak. I won't let that cunt and his human puppets leave me without any of my own entertainment."

"Danica, we need her. Neither you nor I can defeat Malakai without her. If he kills her then we've lost this battle and must begin anew. You know we won't find another like her." He frowned as Malakai's second blow destroyed the barrier Adelaide had erected, leaving her holding onto Ember and squeezing her eyes shut as she prepared for the final blow that would take her life.

Let go, Isen.

Adelaide could hear Malakai's voice hanging in the air as Isen halted, and she watched the twitching of muscles and the confliction in his expression as he seemed to war inside his head.

I am a monster. I am death, itself.

"Ember, get up. If this fails, I want you to find the others and get the hell out of here." Adelaide was focused on Isen's distorted face as she listened to one half of the fight, realizing that he was still trying to fight Malakai's control even now. If he had disappeared completely to the allure and darkness of the demon's magic, he would have landed a devastating third blow and plunged Onigoshi straight through her chest. To be brought back to something so close to when they had met was startling, to have the fury of the blade that haunted him directed at her once more. The fact that the creature controlling him now was far crueler than Ignas made the situation seem hopeless, and she glanced in the direction of where Ignas had yet to move from the crater his fall had created. She wondered if he would lay there as the snow continued to fall on him, if he would be there long after her death as yet another reminder of how they'd lost the city.

To love is to be human.

"Isen, I know you're there." She couldn't hear what he was saying to make Malakai argue with him, but the bits of anger and disgust in the demon's voice told her all she needed to know. "You are human. Fight him!"

Let. Go. Isen.

She should have run. Should have at least backed up and prepared herself to fight again, but Adelaide found herself rooted to the spot even as Ember obediently rose at her side and pawed nervously at the ground. She could feel the mixture of emotions radiating from her familiar, could feel the way that the feline was unsure of whether she should be attacking the man who was normally friend. Instead, she just watched, analyzing every change of emotion on Isen's face, every flicker of a color change she thought she could see in his eyes. She held onto the hope that he would break through again even as he continued to argue with the demon commandeering his body.

I want your heart to break, Isen Hiyori.

"No." The word was barely a whisper from trembling lips as Adelaide watched him raise Onigoshi in preparation of a strike, and her hands balled into fists on her knees as she took a deep breath and gave him a smile full of pain and resignation. If this was how she died, she was going to do it making damn sure he knew how she felt about him.

"I love you, Isen. It's not your fault." She locked eyes with the red of Malakai's, knowing that even if he couldn't speak and make himself known, that Isen was behind them. She refused to close her eyes, to go out full of fear or with a look of betrayal on her face like Meribell had done so many years ago. If she couldn't save herself or change her fate, the least she could do was ensure that Isen wasn't haunted by another life that he had taken. "I love you." She repeated the words as her nails dug into palms, biting into flesh and giving her something to ground herself as she waited for the blade to drop and spill her blood.

Everything happened so fast she had no time to contemplate a strategy, let alone stop it. The stone came away from Malakai's hand before both hands were wrapped around the blade, and the arc of the sword changed as it came downward and then back before plunging through flesh. She could hear someone screaming hers and Isen's name through the ringing that had overtaken her ears, and it took her a moment to realize that Isabella and Takami were standing across the destroyed courtyard watching Isen force Onigoshi all the way through his abdomen. Their presence was nothing but a distraction that Adelaide quickly ignored, her attention fully on Isen's body as it crumpled forward and impaled itself fully to the hilt of the catalyst.

"No. No, no, no. Isen, stay with me." Malakai's furious voice was lost to her as she crawled across the ground, uncaring of the snow soaking through her clothing or the bite of the hard ground where the fabric had torn. The whining and whimpering of her familiar went unheard as she pulled herself toward Isen, watching the life drain from the very human eyes staring back at her.

"Don't talk, just stay with me. I'm coming, Isen, I'm..."

She didn't think anyone could be more painful than watching him try to say her name or the line they'd come to use through a mouthful of blood. The way the vibrant red gurgled and leaked from his mouth as he tried to assure her that in one life or another, they'd be together, the way it splattered against the snow as he tried to draw in a breath and let out a rattle of an exhale instead.

The sudden silence was worse than anything as she watched the last of the light fade from his eyes. Even the blood still dripping from his chin and from where Onigoshi was embedded in him was silent, soaking into the snow and staining it red everywhere around him. There were muffled shouts from where Isabella and Takami were bolting toward her, but all Adelaide could focus on was the empty look in Isen's eyes as she drug herself the rest of the way to him and raised a shaking hand to his face.

"Come back to me." Was this the pain that he'd felt before when he'd shouted how he wanted her in this life, and not the next? It clawed its way deep into her chest as her fingers touched his face, wiping away some of the blood as she pressed her forehead to his. "Come back to me, Isen. This can't be the way that it ends." Her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to pour her magic into him, one hand still against his cheek as the other wrapped itself around Onigoshi's hilt and began to pull. "All we need is just a little sliver of life, a little bit of hope." The weight of Onigoshi was stifling as she pulled firmly, and she didn't stop until it was fully separated from Isen's body and thudding to the ground.

"Isen." She caught the weight of him as he sagged forward into her arms, feeling the lack of reflexes and the way that there was no resistance as he nearly toppled her over. The hushed assurances and pleas were gradually turning into nonsensical curses and whimpers as Isabella reached her side, dropping to her knees and helping Adelaide to support the weight of Isen's body.

"Ada, let go. I've got him." Adelaide refused to relinquish him at first, holding tight to him despite the pain of the weight on her battered body. It wasn't until Isabella carefully pried Adelaide's hands off of him that she was able to truly register what was happening, her gaze going between Isen's still face and Isabella's tear streaked one. "It's over, Ada."

She might have tried to say something, but she wasn't sure any sound had formed until Isabella jolted back into Takami with a curse. Someone was screaming so loudly that she could feel it vibrating through her body. Loud, guttural, soul wrenching screams mixed with sobs that broke her already shattered heart. Her hands lifted as she tried to grasp at something, anything to ground herself while she fought to find the source of the agonizing screaming, but the sight of her hands covered in Isen's blood tore another scream from her raw throat before she realized the sound was coming from her.

"Give him to me, Isabella." She could hear Takami distantly as he took Isen and gently laid him on the ground, leaving Isabella's hands free as she tried to reach for Adelaide as the screaming began to subside. The vampire was reaching for her, catching just the edge of her sleeve as she suddenly jolted to her feet and staggered in the direction of the fallen orb from Malakai's scepter.

Isen was gone. Malakai was going to suffer if she had to turn herself into a monster to make it so.

She found the orb still sitting in the snow where it had fallen, pulsing with magic as Malakai undoubtedly crawled back into his catalyst from Isen's broken body. Isabella was saying something, she thought, but there were so many voices in the background melding together that she began to tune them out entirely. She knelt and picked up the source of all the pain they had experienced, cradling it in her hands and feeling the pulsing of dark magic from within as she began to speak. Her magic fought her at first as she stood there murmuring to the stone, the wind whipping around her and turning her decimated braid into a whirlwind of blonde shrouding her determined expression and voiced spells from the world.

It felt different than it had with Danica and Ignas, evil pouring from her hands as she forced her magic into submission despite the way that the ring burned and hissed against her skin in protest. There was no resistance from inside the catalyst as Malakai undoubtedly coiled and slunk his way toward freedom, feeding into the spell that was weaving and plucking at the prison Clara had created so long ago. Slithering and sniffing, unwinding the bonds that had kept him from overtaking humanity even at the cost of broken hearts and friendships shattered.

What had it been like when she had freed Ignas from Onigoshi? The memories seemed so distant now, of freeing him from the catalyst amidst a storm of demons rampaging Tyrath's poor home. Had it been theatrical and fantastic, had it been explosions or bursts of magic filling the room? Everything seemed so hazy now, scraps of memories slipping through the forefront of her mind as she wrapped her hand around the last of the knotted magic and tore. So many faces and voices melting together inside her head, voices of those lost and those still fighting whispering pleas and assurances of their own. Underneath it all she could hear the preening of the demon slinking closer to freedom, giving breath to shadows and hellish intent as she tightened her hands around the orb and finished her spell.

Finally.

The sound of Malakai's voice made her skin crawl, what had once been dread was nothing but rage boiling over as she felt the shift in the air. What had started like black smoke rolling off of the orb turned into a maelstrom of blacks and violets, bursting into existence and beginning to take the form of something vaguely humanoid. The snow swept around them like a sentient fury, whipping against bodies and stinging exposed flesh as Adelaide took a step forward and swung the orb with all of her might at what vaguely looked like a head.

The sound of what had once been a catalyst connecting with bone was near deafening, breaking through the whipping wind as her magic reared its head at the forming demon. She didn't stop to see if there were horns or fang peeking from his head, didn't stop to see if there was tail or claw to wound her as he reclaimed his body. The force of the blow had sent him stumbling back as the maelstrom dissipated and retracted into the demon's body, and Adelaide reared back with the bloodied orb before dropping it and lunging straight for Malakai.

She didn't feel the first blow when her fist connected with his face, or the second, but the third one had her registering the splinter of bone in her hand before she pulled it back and swung again. There was a mess of voices coming from another part of the courtyard, carrying on the wind and slipping right through her as she tried to tune out anything that wasn't the demon she was laying blow after blow into.

"I'll fucking kill you!" The scream that tore from her raw throat was ragged, thick with emotion as she stumbled back from his attack and flung a ball of magic at him. She countered the stumble by pivoting and lunging for him again, sinking her nails into his arm and slamming her other palm into his chest before invoking fire. The way that he hissed and cursed at her should have brought her satisfaction, but the fact that he was still breathing and speaking only fueled her rage further. "Go to hell, demon." She could feel the tendrils of his magic working their way outward to wrap around her arms, sapping at her magic as they sought to use their close proximity to his advantage and steal what life she had left.

"Not today, demon." Adelaide gasped out the words as her magic fought against his, weaving and binding the arcane magic before drawing it into her own. Her ring hummed at the sensation of the dark magic it drew in, seeming pleased with the addition even as it burned and pulsed at the sudden and unexpected overload. It vibrated almost painfully against her finger as she continued to draw at Malakai's magic, the two of them grabbing at one another as they fought to overpower the other. Then the vibration stopped so abruptly she thought the ring had gone, and then everything was infiltrated with black.

It started with her vision, her hands falling away from the demon as she took a step back. Then it slithered its way through her veins, a dreadful sort of cold that threatened to steal every bit of warmth and life from her human body. It wormed its way through her trying to suffocate her, wrapping and winding its way around her magic as she stumbled back again and tried to bind the two magics together. A twist here, a knot there, and the cold slicing its way through her body became a blazing inferno that threatened to turn her into ash on the spot.

"-elaide. Adelaide, snap out of it!"

Takami came out of nowhere after she heard Isabella's voice breaking into her delirium, slamming into her side and removing her from the path of Malakai's attack. She heard the sound of metal clanging against something, although she wasn't sure if it was blade against claw or blade against blade. Her vision of Malakai had been distorted from the moment he'd emerged as a shadowy visage of a demon, and all of her attention had gone into launching both her fists and her magic at him until he was nothing but a corpse.

"Adelaide, look at me." Isabella yanked at her violently, whipping her around so quickly she felt her teeth slamming together before she finally caught sight of the vampire. There was a wild look spread across Adelaide's bloodied face, her hands coming up in preparation of a fight before she registered who was talking to her. "You can't handle siphoning Malakai's magic, it's too dark." Adelaide started to pull her hands away from the vampire, but Isabella jerked her back and held on firmly as she noted Takami exchanging blows with Malakai behind them.

"You need something to balance it out. Take from me, from us." There was a moment of hesitation before Adelaide ripped herself away and ripped open a portal, teleporting herself to the root where Danica and Tyrath were still watching the battle. There was a moment of surprise that flickered across Danica's face before Adelaide grabbed her by one of her horns, jerking her down before she began to furiously pull at the demoness' magic. Isabella was right about evening out the magic she was drawing in, but she wasn't going to drain the vampire to get the magic that she needed. No, Danica and Tyrath would do just fine, and she heard a snort of amusement coming from Tyrath as she let go of Danica and leapt from the rooftop. Halfway down she ripped open another portal and dropped herself back into the courtyard, landing just as Malakai flung Takami several feet away and turned his eyes on her. Such hateful red eyes, years of rage and a burning hatred for humanity and anything he considered beneath him finally brought to life.

"You are a fool for freeing me, Lancaster, but you've done me a great service by making it easier for me to banish the filth from this world."

"Go to hell." Each step forward that she took brought her closer to the enemy, but it also brought another body closer as she focused her magic past Malakai to where Maximillian's corpse had lain crumpled in the snow. The movements were clunky at first as broken limbs creaked and contorted to push itself upward to a standing position, and Adelaide ducked before she launched a fireball at the advancing demon and then darted to the side. The movement lacked grace and turned her in a semicircle around the demon, shifting the fight just enough for Maximilian to place his body between the two of them and take the hit meant for Adelaide.

"Fuck you, Malakai. Fuck you and your stupid demons and your stupid possessions and that stupid piano Max was so obsessed with!" The portals and attacks had rounded them closer to what remained of the DSTF building, something that sent fresh rage washing over Adelaide as she pulled at some of the rubble and sent it sailing through the air toward him. "Fuck this stupid organization that you made him create and all the lives that you stole!" It burned to talk, and screaming was agony as she wrapped her hand in a fistful of what looked like armor and then yanked him through a portal with her.

The impact of landing stole her breath, her knees crashing into the ground of the room that had previously held Maximilian's piano she'd destroyed. It felt fitting to bring the demon here, to force herself to her feet and push him back toward the open wall he'd thrown Ignas through. It felt fitting to manipulate the broken parts of the building, to lift them into the air and throw them at him even as he batted away some of her attacks like they were nothing.

"Weak, just like your precious Isen."

The floor trembled under them as she anchored herself, angry tears stinging at her eyes as she focused her attention and her magic downward instead of at the demon mocking her. She took one step toward Malakai, and then another, all the while focusing on weaving her magic through the floors and into the structure of the building itself, chipping away at its support bit by bit until the floor began to shake. By the time Malakai realized what she was doing, she had already latched onto him and expelled a large wave of magic that had the floor under them caving.

Then they were falling like Alice down the rabbit hole, flailing limbs and magic clashing against magic as the building fell with a deafening roar and rumble of stone and metal. The building that had been his pride and joy in the quest to conquer humanity could become his grave even if it meant it became hers, but the portal Malakai ripped open dismantled her plan and sent them hurtling back down to the courtyard.

"No!" This wasn't how she died, not from a broken body crashing into the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut and held on, fighting against the lash and sting of Malakai's claws as they made contact with the ground. Even with the demon beneath her it was a jolt to both her magic and her body, stifled only by the sheer determination as she straddled him and threw her fist into his face as hard as she could. "You don't deserve to still breathe the same air that he has!" The pain of each blow was receding as she threw more magic into each punch than the last, her breathing ragged as she felt her magic stretching itself to the very limits before it began to wane.

"You are nothing compared to him. I would take a thousand of him over you. You didn't deserve Clara's love." She threw in the jab as her fist smashed into him again, her energy beginning to wane as the demon wheezed beneath her. "You didn't deserve to know any of us, to steal from us. To take love and life." She gritted her teeth, her drawback slower as she sucked in a shaky breath and teetered in place. The crater left by their descent and landing was leaving her unsteady, her heart hammering against her ribcage as she tipped to the side and off of the battered demon before looking in Isen's direction. The sight of his broken and lifeless body where Takami had left it forced a sob from her throat as she began to drag herself across the ground to him, fighting against the departing adrenaline that left her more sapped with each foot she closed between them.

"I'll see you in... In the next life." Isabella was shouting something at her as she reached Isen, collapsing onto the ground beside him and making a clumsy grab for his hand. "I'll be with you soon, Isen. Wait for me."
 
A cycle of brilliant lights, rotating against the distant horizon of a near, endless void, greeted Isen as his eyes opened. He was elsewhere, pulled from the cold reality of the choice he had made, but silenced from the harrowing haunt of the demon who had hijacked his body. Adelaide was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the place he now found himself didn't really feel real at all. It was like the void he had conjured in his head, when combating against Malakai within the confines of his own, fractured mind, but nowhere near as suffocating. It was more like a dream. Whimsy. Clouded. A glimpse through an unnatural haze that felt more like home than it did an obstacle. Why was it so warm here, despite how cold it seemed to the eye?

Was this the other side?

The sense of deja vu seemed to stem less from the scene that was expanding before him, and more from the fact that he had, in fact, been here before. He had straddled this line, in the past. The edge of beginning, and end. On a reverie that he never quite crossed, always pulled back in the knick of time by Ignas' magic puppeteering him and refusing him the peace and quiet that death should have brought him

There were no strings holding him now.

In the final beat of a worn heart, Isen had seen through eyes that were no longer his. He had peered into the face of the one he loved and he had wrestled with the repercussion of what he had done to her by taking his own life. He hoped that she was okay. That it had meant something. That's what Samara had told them, after all. Write your own ending, but make it count. If there were any God left to listen, he prayed that it counted.

Small footsteps echoed in his direction, causing ripples to form across the scene that had enveloped him. It was like a memory come to life. It was the night he had stolen Meribell away to surprise her at the ferris wheel, but it wasn't a dark tryst. There were so many lights, and so much, pleasant noise, in the background. It was a whole carnival. A celebration. A welcome party? Or, in his dying moments, a comfort from his guilted conscience, conjuring him one last moment of serenity before he was dragged down into whatever hell would accept him and his past.

The distortion steadied itself, revealing what he had expected; his sister was here to welcome him. Her face was as bright as any light could be, with one hand outstretched towards her brother and the other clutching her stuffed animal tightly in the pit of her arm. She reached out for him, and he found hesitancy. Was she actually here? Shaking, he closed the distance in return until he felt her touch meet his own. Her fingers curled around his, filling the palm of her tiny hand, and before he knew it, Isen found himself on his knees, kneeling before her so that they were at the same height. Tears pooled in, then fell from, his eyes before he could even process the strange, bittersweet emotion that had gripped his heart. "Bell...I..."

She shook her head. She was crying too.

"It's okay."

"N-no...it's not. I..."

"Big brother..."

Meribell let go of his hand so that she could, instead, snare herself around him, trapping him in the tightest hug her body could muster. The response was immediate, and the embrace was catharsis.

"It's okay." She repeated, a second time, shutting her damp eyes and nestling herself into the crook of his neck, exhaling a sob that followed with something Isen's heart had spent ten years longing for.

"I forgive you."

He didn't deserve it. He really, truly didn't.

But he needed it.

After what felt like an eternity wrapped in each other's arms, and after he had cried everything he had suppressed for so long, Isen began to pull away from his sister. "You're real...am I...is this...?"

She simply nodded, smiling again, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand to try and seem serious once more, realizing her role was something more than just to make him cry. She was his guide. "I'm here to bring you home! There are a lot of people waiting to see you..." She explained, brimming with an unspoken happiness. "Mom, and dad too! And there's this really pretty woman who talks a lot, but tells me you became a hero! But...wait, where is she?"

She? Did she mean Adelaide?

"The girl you fell in love with...is she not with you? I really wanted to meet her."

Isen felt his heart wrench in his chest, suddenly feeling some of the relief and joy he had been basking in tighten like a noose around his neck. "She's still alive, Bell..." He told her, realizing that if Meribell, and Samara, had been expecting her and she wasn't here, maybe his sacrificial play had worked, after all. "We were trying to stop a really bad man from hurting a whole lot of people..."

"See, told you that you were a hero." She giggled, proudly, but a realization was beginning to dawn on her. She could see it in his face. She could feel it. "Isen...why do you seem so sad? Aren't you happy to see us again?"

"I am happy, Bell. I've missed you so, so much..."

"But you miss her too."

Isen couldn't find the words to answer her. Instead, he tried to look away, diverting his guilty gaze.

"Big brother...I'm so happy that I got to see you again..."

"Why does that sound like you're leaving? Don't go."

She simply smiled, again. "I've waited all this time to see you again, and to tell you that I forgive you for what happened...another little while won't hurt." Meribell laughed, shaking her head. "I guess it's just a little too early to guide you home."

Isen began to feel a warmth, once more, growing at his chest. It was the same, strange feeling he had felt when he had first awoke, but it was growing, rapidly, spreading through every inch of him like a sudden wildfire. "Bell, what's going on?"

"You're not mine to keep. Not yet. Something is calling you back. Your body and soul are here, but your heart isn't. It's okay, I'll be here when you're ready to stay."

He lifted his hand upwards, reaching out for his sister, though it felt like she was slowly beginning to drift out of reach. No matter how far he leaned forward, he couldn't make contact with her again. She waved, childlike, with both hands, the way a kid would to their parent before hopping on a school bus. "See you soon, big brother. Remember, be brave!"

Isen's hand remained outstretched as he tried to run towards her. With each step he took, the carnival before him withdrew. No matter how fast he ran, he wasn't gaining any ground. It was impossible to catch up with his waving sister, and the heat at his core was burning still, more and more, consuming him with an overbearing heat. As the lights of the ferris wheel pulled far enough into the horizon that he could no longer see them anymore, Isen found himself alone, in that void. His body began to glow, a lighthouse in a sea of nothing, and with a gasp, he was no longer a visitor to the other side, his ears echoing with strangely nostalgic, and familiar noise.

Almost like a bird.


When Isen prepared himself to cross the threshold of Malakai's spell, he entered Cresthaven carrying several souvenirs of the people they had lost along the way. They were symbols, and reminders, of what they were fighting for. They were beacons of strength, bastions of the humanity he had chosen over demonhood. They were echoes of love given shape and form. A ring, a ribbon, a bow, and a feather, each equally as meaningful as the next. Even as the sword found itself passed and thrown around, drained of it's magic and used as a tool of death once more, the tokens Isen had chosen remained in tact, dangling from the hilt of the blade, all somehow withstanding the assault and the debris to remain in near pristine shape, save for one.

Priscilla's feather, meant to remind him of Samara and her fallen familiar, who had give their lives to protect them in the past, had been stained with the blood of Isen's own sacrifice, mixing red with the orange of what was the final keepsake of an impossible being. Priscilla, in her dying moments, had transcended her given, magical form, changing into a brilliant phoenix who's light and fire had sat the sky ablaze, but left the bird's battered and exhausted body singed golden in the aftermath of an act of true love.

Throughout all legends, and stories, the phoenix was unique in that it symbolized something special. It was an animal tied very closely to life, and reincarnation; a being of rebirth.

When blood met magic, in the wake of a sacrifice equally as damning as the one Priscilla had once made, a chain reaction had begun. It went unnoticed by Isen as he fought to stay awake from his wound. It went unnoticed by Malakai, consumed in his hatred, and by Adelaide as well, undone in her agony and thirst for revenge. First, an ember, dancing between the bristles of the feather. Next, a burn, simmering it's way across it's stem until, finally, a small flame danced in the snow where the sword had come to rest, burning through the blood that had layered it's body.

Growing from the remainder of the past, golden strands of magic spewed like a sparkler, aiming off in every which direction, melting the snow that it deflected off of. As magic and light took shape and form, the noise of a baby bird careened through the rubble and debris of Adelaide's vicious attack on Malakai, coinciding with the movement of stone and rock as the demon, though badly injured, pulled it's broken body out of the tomb it had been buried in and began to regain it's normal shape and form. He was alive, even after everything that had been thrown at him, but he was not the only one still standing.

Fire blazed through Isen's blood stream as a small, fledgling phoenix, shimmered and flapped it's wings, taking flight for the very first time. Though it took a few tries for it to finally steady itself, it chirped and landed on top of Isen's body, feeding it's strength through him, defying the laws of fate itself.

Ignas was able to cure deep wounds, and deny death it's hold on Isen's body. Malakai was capable of forcing the reaper's hand and claiming any soul he deemed worthy. Even Tyrath, who's grasp of the unknown could give temporary control over the dead, was unable to do the one thing thought impossible by all arcane arts.

A resurrection.

Rebirth.

The phoenix's light rejuvenated a broken body that had already crossed the threshold of life and death. Isen jolted himself awake inside of a body that was, quite literally, on fire. His broken arm felt steady, his wounded torso had been repaired, and in his right hand, which had once been outstretched in desperation towards his sister, now coiled around the handle of a familiar weapon that appeared lifted with ease. Where once, dark magic would seep in a purple dance over the blade's edge, now, a stream of fire ignited it's length, tainting the steel red and gold. As the fire on his body faded, Isen gasped, trying to understand what was happening. The baby phoenix floated around him, circling it's handiwork before coming to perch on his shoulder. Isen turned his head, looking at the strange creature in confusion. Mockingly, it tilted it's head, like it was doing the same, before pecking at him playfully.

Without any spoken instruction, it was like he knew what to do all on his own. With a simple wave of the sword, the magic that had been channeled through the catalyst jumped, leaping from Onigoshi and onto Adelaide, who's body was unconscious near his feet. Feeding her with it's magic, it breathed new life into her as it had Isen, while next, orange magic fluttered across the battlefield, mirroring the way demon magic would extend from Onigoshi when Isen required it's healing. It connected with their third, gravely injured ally, feeding the same rebirth into Ignas. The flow of magic, while strong, was severed by a shard of black, thrown from Malakai, who now stood opposite Isen in his true form, perplexed by what he was witnessing.

"Does death itself reject you?" Malakai taunted. "You've died so many times. Perhaps it no longer sees any worth in your soul."

Tendrils of dark magic floated their way out of Malakai's back, curling around him like savage, vicious snakes, snapping and twisting at the very air that contained it. The first strike Malakai The first strike Malakai launched seemed to melt away before it even reached Isen, the heat from the sword repelling the darkness of death with the breath of life, itself. The phoenix snickered to itself in response, enjoying it's defiance against the demon's whims, who was beginning to grow annoyed.

"...have your resurrection, Isen Hiyori, but as for death? ...I will give it no choice but to keep you this time."
 
"She's all grown up."

"Our little girl."

Why did the voices sound so familiar? The last thing Adelaide remembered was dragging herself to Isen and managing to grab his hand, tangling their fingers together as she sobbed and waited for death to reunite them once again. Dying before she was thirty hadn't exactly been a part of her game plan, but neither had falling in love with the notorious Reaper, much less waging war together.

"Mom? Dad?" Her voice was groggy when she was finally able to open her eyes, and for a moment she completely forgot about the war she'd been fighting in. There wasn't blood all over her hands or her clothes, not tattered bits of material clinging to sore and bruised limbs that had fought for an indeterminable amount of hours. There was no Isen by her side, their bodies passing into death with their hands twined together like she'd last remembered.

And for a moment, she forgot Isen.

"Mom, Dad." The tears were rolling down her face before she had a chance to stop them, hot and fast as they dripped down and left spots on her hands. "You haven't aged at all." Her mother's brilliant blonde hair was free of blood and carnage as she stood there smiling at her daughter, and her father's hand that rested on his wife's shoulder was strong and devoid of the rigor mortis she'd last seen in his limbs.

"We didn't think you'd come home so soon." The confliction in her father's voice was clear and made Adelaide frown as she pulled herself to her feet, closing the distance between them and throwing herself at her parents. If this was a dream, it was a dream that knew everything from the feel of her mother's hand on her head to the smell of her shampoo.

"Home?" Adelaide looked around them as she pulled back from embracing her parents. The smell of her mother's shampoo still lingered from the touch, and she hesitated before daring to speak again. "This is home?" She found herself surrounded by her childhood home, but everything was wrong. It looked like it had before she'd found them murdered in their home, with family portraits strewn across the walls and shelves, a board game still sitting on the table where it'd last been played. The furniture was all in place and there were dishes in the sink when she peered into the kitchen, but it was no longer home.

"This isn't what home looks like," She hesitated and looked back at her parents, who both had a look of understanding on their faces even as she saw tears brimming in their eyes. "I mean it was," She struggled to correct herself, reaching out and falling just short of touching them as she struggled with her emotions. "But now... It's too neat." She shook her head. "And it's missing..."

Isen. It was missing Isen and the plethora of demons that had invaded her home when they were preparing for war. This was no longer the home she'd been a child in, the one she shared with her parents and held so many memories in. The memories were something that she would cherish forever, but home was something entirely different now, and it wasn't there waiting for her.

"Him. It's missing him." Her mother offered, and Adelaide gave her a shaky nod before taking a deep breath. "We'll see you all one day, but today is not that day." Her mother smiled kindly. "Your lovely friend has assured us that "she knows things, it's what she does" and that everything will work itself out."

Fucking Samara.

"I don't want to leave you." It felt like her heart was lodged in her throat as both of her parents stepped forward to pull her into a tight hug, and the tears that started again seemed to be never ending. "I miss you so much, I wish I could stay here." If Isen wasn't there, then she needed to find out where he was, even if that meant navigating some sort of fucked up afterlife to do so.

"We'll be watching over you, Adelaide. Always watching over you. Your friend will keep us company, she's been telling us all sorts of stories about you and that boy of yours."

"Of course she has." She choked on a sob and wiped at her face, squeezing both of her parents one last time before she took a step back. "You'd love him."

"My sweet girl, if he means this much to you, then we already do. Go now, the three of you will see us one day, but not today. We love you, Adelaide."


"Something's happening." Tyrath stood a distance from Danica watching the scene unfold below. The demoness had lost interest after making some annoyed commentary on sacrifices and human love but stood dutifully near Tyrath as he continued to watch the carnage. "Where is the fire coming from?" He watched the sparks and flames lick at the snow as they began to grow in size, his inhuman eyes flickering between them and where the vampires were rushing to Adelaide's side with distraught expressions.

"What's that?" Isabella froze as Ember skidded to a stop at their side, sniffing at her mistress briefly before her head whipped up at the sound of a bird's call piercing the air. "Takami, help me get her away before Malakai gets over here!" The panic in her voice was clear even as Ember tried to pull at her mistress' coat with her teeth, her hackles up as she stepped back and turned her large form towards Malakai with a snarl of warning.

"Is that... Priscilla?" The two vampires paused in their mission of trying to pull Adelaide's unconscious form away from Isen, and Isabella found herself yanked back without warning as Takami seemed to be the first to realize what was going on. The brilliance of fire and the sudden opening of Isen's eyes was enough to shock everyone watching the scene, and even Ember's hackles had gone down as she planted her backside firmly on the ground and peered up at the phoenix with a satisfied expression. There seemed to be something unspoken between the two animals as Isen rose from his would-be grave, sword in hand aflame with a magic none of them could explain.

"That wasn't you bringing him back to life." Danica's words were clearly a statement rather than a question, and Tyrath chuckled quietly at her side before shaking his head.

"No, this is beyond me. I think one of the witches has aided them from beyond this world."

"Fucking witches. If I never see another once this is over, I'll be the happiest demon on this fucking planet. Speaking of witches..."

Danica trailed off as Adelaide's back arched off the ground, her eyes shooting open before she sucked in a ragged breath that shook her entire body. While her tattered clothing and tangled hair remained the same, the pain of her various scrapes and bone fractures was fading as the mage felt herself flooding with an immense amount of foreign magic.

"...have your resurrection, Isen Hiyori, but as for death? ...I will give it no choice but to keep you this time."
Resurrection? What? Adelaide was still coming back to reality as she patted at various parts of her body, finding them lacking the injuries she remembered having while dragging herself to Isen's body. The more perplexing part of it all, however, was the fact that Isen's body seemed to be standing on its own feet again, and there was a bird that reminded her an awful lot of Priscilla circling him...

"If this is a sign from you, Samara, thank you."

Maybe it hadn't been a hallucination. Maybe Samara really was in some sort of afterlife chatting it up with her parents and the entire thing hadn't been her near dead mind grasping at straws. There was so much going on around her that her brain was trying to process it all at once, from the fact that Isen was alive and surrounded by magic so overpowering she didn't dare to take a sliver of it, to whatever Isabella was shouting just feet from her head as she celebrated Isen's miraculous revival with a mostly stone faced Takami.

"Isen." His name came out as a whisper as Adelaide struggled to her feet, watching him stand against Malakai as she found herself torn on what to do. For the first time since this war had begun and taken life after life, she felt a sense of calm wash over her, her stance relaxing as she caught sight of movement across the courtyard. She didn't know exactly how things had come to this, but all she cared about was the fact that Isen was alive and things were turning in their favor.

"Fuckin' get him, you two. Show him who's boss." The sight of Ignas slowly rising from the crater he'd been lying in since Malakai had flung him from the building brought a grin to Adelaide's face, and she pumped her fist in the air before letting out a loud whoop and laugh that drew Malakai's ire.

"You are so fucking toast. Wipe the floor with him so we can go home."
 
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