Kitty nodded, accepting the consequence. She took the book from his hands, taking a step back from him as she opened it. But then just as quickly as she opened it she slammed it closed, giving Seh'makou a smirk that could rival his own. "I believe that satisfies the requirements of the agreement. I open the book for you. End of deal." Then she started to walk back to her daughter, tilting her head back to look at Seh'makou. Her eyes were a glowing blood red with slitted pupils, the whites of her eyes now black as she gave him a smile that had every tooth sharpened to a point. "But, silly little puppet man, did I ever say anything about giving the book back?" 

Instead of heading back to Jaya she turned, giving Seh'makou her whole sharp toothed grin as strands of her hair blackened. "Devils in the details sweetheart. I love playing with fire Makou, and with your personality you do too. But unlike you, I don't burn."

The book slammed shut, but Makou didn't react for the first few moments. A myriad of emotions and thoughts ran through him. How could that have just happened? What just happened? Did she outsmart him? Did she cheat? The words of the deal then raced around his mind, trying to find some loophole or way he could exact his revenge. He angry, confused, insulted, embarrassed. But mostly furious. While all this went on in his head his face remained empty, his hand still outstretched. He had not moved an inch while he processed it all.

"Okay." Makou finally said with a sort of final tone, lowering his hand and nodding his head rather timidly. "I can't harm any of you." His palms opened in an innocent expression. "Can't use the magic from the book... Even if I wanted to..." A passive-aggressive tone hinted his final words. "Suit yourself."

Makou turned casually away, beginning a slow walk towards the exit. Half way down the hall though he stopped, performing a spin to face Kitty again. 
"Although," He raised a finger as he was about to deliver a valid point. "I'm pretty sure my brother isn't under the same deal." A shrug then came and his finger lowered. "Just a thought." 

This time when he turned away he flicked his wrist subtly, causing a snapping sound to echo around the room. After that sound nothing happened, and Makou disappeared in his usual teleportation fashion.

As Makou left the healers breathed a sigh of relief, now able to concentrate fully on soothing Jaya. It seemed however that they could not calm her. In fact she became more panicked, trying to look to her left and reached for a long wrapping of cloth.
"What? What is it?" One of the healers asked, eventually giving in to Jaya's struggle and allowing her to pull back the cloth. When they all turned to see what was within, they realised what had made the snapping sound moments ago.

"No..." Jaya slumped back, having already sensed what Makou had done, now having it confirmed by the sight beside her. Her head began to shake, fear building up. "The plan still stands... We wait for Elijah..." With that the healers continued their work, knowing soon the baby would be here.

Jaya simply focused on the thought of her child, pushing out that image so close to her.
The image of Blightslayer snapped in half...

Kitty stood with that smug smirk on her strange face, her angel blade in one hand and the book in the other. It brought her a sick and twisted satisfaction to have just beaten him with a simple trick of the tongue, but a part of her was also disappointed he hasn't gotten angry and lashed out. She was hoping to drive her blade through him and trap him within it. Oh well. There would probably be other times. Kitty flinched at the snapping noise, but it didn't entirely register with her until Makou had left. Suddenly whatever hold Corsetta had on Kitty and her appearance vanished, whipping back around and placing the book beside her as she knelt by her daughter. She didn't even need to see it to know what that snap was. 

Suddenly Dakora appeared in the throne room, stalking up to Kitty. "I could feel it." Suddenly Kitty sheathed her blade, going for a mad dash at the book. She flung it open, flipping through pages quickly until she got to a section with pages as black as ink. Words written in blood with glowing red runes and a aura blacker than any demons. "Kitty no. Kitty you can't handle those kinds of spells yet!" Dakora tried to take book from Kitty, but she held fast. 

Dakora hissed at Kitty, her grip on the book tight as well. "You can't use those chaos spells Kitty. They flow straight from him." "But that spell is all we've got!" "No it isn't! We don't even have the forerunner device to finalize it!" Dakora hissed back at Kitty. Dakora looked at the girl as if she were a tantrumming child. "The amount of power you would need to even use that spell is absurd. You won't be able to contain the spell or the celestial that sword is tied to!"

Outside the castle, the clash between Orcs and the castle's guards still raged on for some time. Gavin had a few hours ago gone for a hike outside the city, and was on his way back. As soon as he reached one of the hills overlooking Phoenixspire's capital, his eyes widened with shock and surprise.

"What the hell?" The city was being invaded by large humanoid creatures, seemingly attempting to get into the castle. Amidst the chaos, the entity inside Gavin sensed innocent blood being spilled on the streets of the city. The very notion of such a thing caused a rage to grow inside his chest, rage that didn't belong to him but had for many years become part of him. Without a second thought, he broke into a run down the hill and towards the city, eager to join the fight and protect the innocents.

As he ran through the gates of the city, the first creature he laid his sights upon was a Mage that was making his way towards the castle, striking civilians down with electrical energy left and right, whoever was unfortunate to be in his way. Gavin uttered an inhuman growl as he charged towards the Mage, wrapping his arms around his waist, picking him up and slamming him down onto the ground head-first, snapping his neck. This did not go unnoticed however, as another Mage caught sight of his brother being killed and with a roar of anger, unleashed a deadly hose of electrical energy towards Gavin.

The energy strike hit him and sent him flying a few feet back. He lay still for a few seconds before getting back up, to the Mage's confusion and fear. Bits of Gavin's skin had peeled off, exposing his skull underneath. A look of pure anger and hatred had taken over Gavin's face as he pulled his arm back and then thrust it forward at the Mage, a hose of fire shooting out from his palm and hitting the Mage square in the chest, disintegrating him into ash within seconds.

Gavin then diverted his attention towards the castle and began to make his way there immediately.

"You are not alone, child." Calm whispers filled Kitty's head, accompanied by the presence of something warm and inviting. She would be able to feel whatever was reaching out to her was now with her, yet not visible to the eye. "It is time Zalgo was dealt with, no matter the cost. Use me as your conduit and you will find no limits to your power. Atleast for as long as I live..." The voice was somewhat familiar, as she had heard it before in the last battle against Zalgo. Judging by the voice and aura it gave off, it could only be Gaia, technically Kitty's mother-in-law.

"THE END IS HERE AND IT BEGINS WITH YOU." 
Darkness suddenly shot around the room, shadowy waves and tendrils writhing from the entrance towards the back. It stopped only within a few meters of the group, blocked by the light now radiated from Kitty's form.
"Stand strong, Kittiana. With my power he can not prevail." Gaia whispered in her mind, instilling her with the power and courage so that she may step forward and face Zalgo.

Sensing the presence within Kitty, a shadowy form stepped out from the darkness. For the first time it seemed to be the closest Zalgo had to a humanoid appearance, yet it was purely made out of moving shadows. 
"Gaia you fool, you would sacrifice your power just to wipe us both out? You would side with this mortal who has fought our kin?!"


Gaia did not reply to Zalgo, instead speaking only to Kitty. 
"Finish this."
The light radiating from her not only showed her own increased power, but also bolstered the strength and morale of her allies beside her, allowing them all to make their stand against Zalgo as he too charged forward to meet them.

Kitty dropped the book in surprise when the voice invaded her head, the book falling shut when it hit the floor.  Dakora looked around in displeasure, she could feel it as well. "I don't think this is a place I should be." Kitty wasn't surprised by Dakora disappearing in a puff of violet fire. She had a habit of leaving when things reached a boiling point. Kitty listened, she had already guessed that it was Gaia, but was surprised to hear her tell Kitty to use her as a conduit. Was she really the best choice? Darkness clung to her but all that she felt from Gaia was light. 

Kitty stumbled back when Zalgos voice boomed, looking around as the shadows and darkness leaped into the room only to be stopped by the light emanating from Kitty. She looked down at herself, she hadn't felt this good in months. A brief thought occurred to her, Corsetta was completely silent. Confidence surged through her and she did step forward as was told. Then her usual temper flared up as Zalgo called her a mortal, "I'm not a mortal you over grown dust bunny." She spat at him, baring her sharp teeth. "And you better fucking believe I'm going to finish this." 

Kitty held firm to her angel blade, the power glowing through her now causing it to hold a near blinding glow. In fact she paused, taking the glove off, testingly holding it in her hand. It did not burn. Then she looked to Zalgo, her jaw clenching as she got into position. "Mama's gotta express some rage."

Diana used ice to bring Temperance up to higher ground, the roof tops of one of the houses near the castle. Once there Temperance took out more of the storm stones from her bag, placing them in a circle around her on the roof top. Raising her hands to the sky, electricity shot up in a heavy stream, the clouds beginning to darken. Normally she could bring up a decent storm just fine on her own, but she was using the stones to amplify it. The stones shook and glowed, then they shot up electricity as well and the clouds darkened so much it looked like night had fallen on Phoenixspire. 

The wind howled in the air, forceful enough to rip doors from their hinges and possibly throw around some livestock. Then came the rain, plummeting down with a cold stinging vengeance as it flooded the streets and drenched everyone. Bringing her hands away from the sky Temperance directed the lightning bolts, searching out for mages as those were the bigger threats, then pointing. Lightning bolts struck mages where they stood, leaving behind charred bodies. 

Diana used the rain that Temperance was providing, spinning her boa staff around to defend from orcs while flipping a switch to turn the ends to sharp blades that cut when they spun. Whilst attacking the enemy directly she manipulated the water, curling it around the orcs throats and molding it into shapes like a spiked dog collar except the spikes were on the inside. Then she'd clench her hands around her weapon, the water collars rushing closer to the orcs necks and solidifying into rock hard ice the minute they would have punctured skin, ripping their throats and jugulars to shreds and leaving them to bleed out. 

There wasn't much strategy with Avalon, she would just open her mouth to let loose a torrid of hell fire, somehow the rain didn't touch the areas around her, Temperance's doing. She would grab orcs up in her mouth, cook them a little with her flames then eat them. Although some she just ate raw. She ripped through whatever came her way with a savage ferocity, a true hound of hell.

Gavin had by now fought through a few other Mages and Orcs and just reached the heat of the battle - the castle and its immediate surroundings. Immediately rain began to pour down - hard, and out of the blue. Someone had used magic to darken the skies and caused the storm it seemed.

Lightning also began to rain down, more powerful than any of those used by the Mages, while the flooding caused by the rain shifted and moved in irregular ways and attacked the Orcs. Diana was clearly in the fight, as was Temperance. Gavin heard heavy and rapid footsteps and looked to his right just in time to see the fiery form of Avalon break through groups of Orcs and Mages and crush them with her powerful jaws.

This only served as distraction however, as a Mage had managed to catch Gavin unawares and struck him with a powerful hose of flame. Gavin did not react and allowed the flame to consume his flesh. After the Mage had ceased his attack, the fiery skeletal form of the Ghost Rider was standing where Gavin was stood - a sight that caused the Mage to freeze in shock.. a grave mistake.

The Ghost Rider thrust his arm forward and out shot a fiery chain that wrapped tight around the Mage. The sounds of cracking ribs and limbs were heard at the chain compressed the Mage in its grip, causing him to scream out in pain. With a simple tug, the chain ripped through the Mage completely and disintegrated the man into ashes. This drew the attention of other Orcs and Mages around him who attempted to either charge him or keep back and throw attacks at him. Those that tried to engage him physically were stopped dead in their tracks by fireballs shot out of his free hand, reducing them to nothing but ashes, while those that thought they were safe from a distance failed to anticipate the fact that the chain could grow to varying lengths, and they too suffered a painful fate. The Ghost Rider moved slowly towards the castle like this,taking down Mages and Orcs swiftly... one at a time.

Without further ado Zalgo launched forward, his physical form and the countless darkness behind him both strike forward at any target they could find. If they had their way they would stab straight at Jaya, but the defense formed infront of her alongside Gaia's light prevented him from doing so. Instead he became locked in a vicious battle with Kittiana, snapping and lunging for her with tendrils of darkness whilst his humanoid form threw punches and jabs to try and destabilise her. Despite the terrifying onslaught coming from Zalgo, it would be little match for Gaia's gifted power.

Meanwhile just behind this battle, Jaya was beginning to give birth. The healers assumed position and held her arm, continuing to channel the calming energy to try and ease the delivery. It was not their light that calmed her though, as Gaia's light also shone upon the birth. Almost like a miracle the child came out painlessly, a feeling of bliss washing over Jaya. Held now in the arms of one of the healers who quickly wrapped it in cloth, she gave the only smile she could during the conflict.

"Sylvana..." Jaya muttered.

Kitty met each jab or punch, dodging a majority of the tendrils of darkness. She had enough practice dodging those from every time she went up against Lana. With a slice of her sword she sent an arc of holy fire at him, then she spun out of the way of oncoming tendrils. Then again, two could play that game. She brought her free hand out, the ground beginning to quake as cracks appeared in the marble floor of the castle.

Suddenly lava began to seep from the cracks, then it lashed out in the form of tentacles. They met with his tendrils of darkness, keeping them occupied so Kitty could better focus on Zalgo. She was trying to use as much as her own personal power as she could, she didn't want to burn Gaia out straight away or at all. There had been enough death in her family. She didn't want to be responsible for any more. Briefly she looked over at Jaya, hearing her speak her child's name for the first time. Where the hell was Elijah? Even with Gaia here she still didn't think it was safe for Jaya.

As he neared the gates of the castle, the Ghost Rider racked up an impressive body count and downed each Mage and Orc one by one with little difficulty, which drew the attention of pretty much all of the attacking army. While the castle's guards struggled in holding the line, the Ghost Rider burnt through each creature until he reached the gates, at which point he turned to face the remaining Orcs and Mages that were still numbering in the hundreds-to-thousands. He stood alongside the guards and stared their adversaries down, as there was a brief moment of standstill where each side indulged in a few seconds of respite. However the continuous rainfall and thunder, as well as lightning striking down onto the Mages did not alleviate the situation and at once, the two sides lunged for each other again.

The Ghost Rider swung his chain around, caught the waist of an Orc and swung once again, launching the Orc into the jaws of Avalon. He then span it around and raised it up before slamming it downward in front of him. The fiery chain cut down whoever stood in front of him for a distance of a hundred meters before he withdrew it into a shorter length and began swinging it around again. An Orc suddenly lunged at him from the left, but the Rider was quick and ready to react: he swung the chain upwards and cut the Orc in half, before swiping it towards the right and beheading another lunging Orc.

A group of Mages, like before, kept their distance and fired hoses of flame and electrical energy at him, but the Rider was unphased. He brought his chain around to the front and started spinning it outwards in a cone-shape. Soon, the spinning became a tornado of fire that extended outwards rapidly and engulfed the Mages, burning them to ashes. As he kept the chain spinning, the Ghost Rider swayed it from side to side, slicing up and burning through any Mage or Orc that came his way as he slowly advanced into the enemies' lines.

Zalgo faltered slightly as he saw his tendrils being occupied by Kitty's own, obviously angered by this fact. It was obvious he wasn't at his full power having only just returned, but there was an immense amount of fury in him. He launched forward, clashing violently with Kitty at every chance. His aim was to shatter through her defenses, yet her use of an angelic sword and the light of Gaia kept her safe for the most part.

Meanwhile the healers carried Sylvana away to behind the throne, further from Zalgo's attack but still within Gaia's light. Jaya on the other hand was tended to by one healer now, nursing her back to health after the birth so they could move her too. All the while though Jaya simply looked on at Zalgo, remembering those nightmares she had witnessed long ago.

He truly had come...

There was a slight smirk on Kitty's face as her lava tendrils met his tendrils of darkness, his fury amusing her. "You know performance issues aren't uncommon." She grinned as she spun around and let loose an arc of angelic fire from her sword. "4 out of 5 people usually lose to me."

Kitty knew she was playing with fire by taunting him but she also had a strategy. She could tell that Zalgo wasn't at full strength, so perhaps if she got him angry enough to exhaust his power now in a rage perhaps she wouldn't have to use Gaia up completely. Jaya had lost enough family.

An energy-draining spell caught the Ghost Rider unawares as he was occupied with an Orc. The spell splashed against his skull which caused him to stumble. The flames dancing around his head began to lessen and darken slightly as the Ghost Rider regained his balance and shook his head before turning to look towards the direction from where he was attacked. There, the Mage had already prepared another spell and threw it towards him.

The Ghost Rider quickly swiped downwards with his chain, aiming to deflect the spell before it reached him - but he was too slow. Shatter it did, but too close to himself and the residue aura coated his upper torso, neck and skull-face. The Ghost Rider's flames died down some more as a result and he took two steps back. Another Orc then charged into him and slammed the Ghost Rider from the front, and pinning him down with its knee. Raising its fist up, powered by the fury of witnessing countless of its brethren getting slaughtered by his foe, the Orc violently hammered it down onto the Rider's skull. The violent onslaught continued and cracks grew throughout the skull until finally, the skull fragmented and shattered into pieces.

The Orc, now full of pride and glee got off the Rider's lifeless body, grabbed it by the shoulder and raised it up before triumphantly roaring into the sky.  A few guards and Orcs stopped to look, equally shocked as they realised what had just happened.

"Enough!" Zalgo voice boomed through the throne room, as his humanoid form gathered energy into itself rapidly. Without wasting a moment it then burst forward, flying full speed towards Kitty with enough power to turn her to ash. From Kitty however burst out a similar figure, this one made of pure light and crashing into Zalgo with the same amount of power. A loud bang then shook the palace, causing the ground to tremble for miles around. Dust and some parts of stone fell unsettled from the ceiling, before an uneasy silence came over the room.

Once the smoke and energy leftover had dissipated there was left only a strange object on the floor. Suddenly a figure appeared beside it, reaching down and examining it from underneath his hood.
"Remarkable..." Elijah commented, seemingly astounded by the object. He quickly turned to the others, making it clear then who he was. "I've seen Celestial objects, but nothing quite like this. The result of two Celestial deaths; Light and Dark." His hand wrapped around the object, giving only a glimpse of it's silver, white and black colours. 

"Where is the child?" He asked, turning his attention to Jaya and Kitty.

"Here..." One of the healers came from behind the throne, cloth-wrapped child in hand. Jaya smiled as she came into view, standing herself albeit unsteadily.
"Her name's Sylvana," She looked at Eli, a heavy sadness in her eyes but also an understanding of the necessity behind protecting her. "Look after her, won't you?"
"I will protect her with my life, and ensure she is trained to defend herself." Elijah nodded, taking Sylvana into his arms gently. "It won't be long before others sense her birth, I must hurry." He lifted his hand above the child, making his ring visible.

With a whisper the healers all fell to the floor, clearly asleep under some kind of spell.
"The information I speak now is for our ears only," He looked between Jaya and Kitty. "She will be safely hidden in a pocket dimension, sitting outside of time itself. There I can train her in the ways the old Travellers used to when they protected different timelines and dimensions."

"There might not be much life left in me, but I assure you she will be able to return prepared for any threat. Time works differently in the Travellers dimension, so keep your wits about you any day."
Jaya nodded in response, swallowing her amounts of guilt and sadness. After all it was the best, a child with the blood of an Angel and a Fae descended from Celestials was not something to be left defenseless in it's growing years.

"Ready?" Jaya looked to Kitty mostly, wondering if she wanted to speak to Sylvana before she left.

Kitty stumbled back when Gaia burst from her, dropping her blade as she clapped her hands over her ears. Suddenly Corsetta came back with a roaring vengeance, screaming in Kitty's head so intensely that she lost focus of the lava and it just dropped from the air and lay in smoking puddles. Then suddenly she just stopped and Kitty panted heavily, slowly drawing her hands away from her ears. Kitty looked to the object on the floor, taking a step towards it until a figure appeared beside it. 

Kitty let out a sigh of relief upon seeing who it was, then pointed over to where the child was as she moved closer to Elijah and rubbed her forehead tiredly. She listened quietly to Elijah after the healers fell, nodding somberly. This child would be just like Jaya. Growing up without her parents, but at least she would have Elijah. Drawing closer she reached out to Sylvana, stroking her cheek with a finger and smiling sadly. Then she pulled a ring off her finger, it looked like a singet ring and it held the same crest as the one on the Grimoire, she placed it with the baby then nodded and stepped back.

To the shock and horror of the Orcs, the Ghost Rider's body flinched, and then in a long burst of fire, the skull reassembled onto the body and the fire re-ignited. The Ghost Rider looked down at the Orc that was holding it up and let out what sounded like a echo-y growl.

He grabbed the Orcs arm with both hands, sending a wave of heat and fire throughout the Orc's body. The Orc screamed in immense pain and dropped the Ghost Rider, who landed on both feet. The Orc's arm melted and fell off, but the damage did not stop there and continued to spread throughout the Orc's body until there was nothing left on the floor but ashes and bones.

The other Orcs, in a mixture of anger and fear charged at the Ghost Rider, intending to rip him to pieces. The Ghost Rider turned towards them and grew a chain out of his hand with his fire, igniting it and then drawing it back. He then, in one swift motion, swiped it forward horizontally at the group of Orcs, cutting through each of their midsections with no struggle whatsoever. The damage done to their midsections caused each to split into two pieces, after which they too were reduced to ashes and bones.

A Mage attempted to catch the Rider off guard with another energy draining spell but this time, he reacted quicker before - seemingly fueled by a lot more anger this time. He whipped his chain forth at the spell and shattered it in the air before whipping it forth again and tearing a hole through the Mage's chest. With the continued bombardment of lightning from Temperance, along with Diana and Avalon maintaining their attacks, the Ghost Rider and the remainder of the guards were able to finish off the remainder of the attackers.

As the fire died down, and his skin reformed, Gavin stood over the corpses of hundreds of thousands of Orcs, Mages, Guards and even civilians. He looked around, with a mixture of anger and sadness and a grim expression on his face. The city was in ruin, innocent lives had been taken. It was hardly a victory.

Suddenly, the ground shook violently, causing a few damaged buildings surrounding the castle to topple. Gavin dropped to his knees, before looking around. Confusion overtook him for a moment before realisation hit him. He stood up and took off towards the castle.

Once Kitty had placed the ring on Sylvana and everyone had said their peace, Elijah released the spell upon the healers. They shot up, seemingly unaware they had just missed out on something. Instead one of them rushed over to Blightslayer, wrapping it's two parts in the cloth and handing it to Eli carefully over the baby.
"Thank you." He nodded, securing everything in his arms with enough room to hold his own ring. 

"Await one of us to return." His final words before he pressed a finger against the infinity symbol on the ring, activating its ancient power to transport them away in the blink of an eye. In their absence a large magic presence could be felt leaving too, meaning there was only a silence remaining...

"It's done then," Jaya said, as if still processing everything that had just happened. A celestial battle, an assault on her city, her child in another dimension. As much as it was for the greater good she couldn't help but feel sad. "All there is left to do is rebuild and wait." She shook off her fear and negativity, instead turning to where Gavin would eventually enter. With everyone around she gave a small smile.

"Feel free to stay as long as you need, help out with the city repairs or not. We need to stay strong and on the look out for whenever they could return..." With that she approached Kitty, giving a firm hug. "They'll be back, I know it."

Kitty watched in silence as Elijah disappeared, then turned away and walked over to her sword. She picked up the blade, forgetting that she probably needed the glove. But she didn't even flinch as her hand erupted in holy flames, exposing black snake skin. She simply sheathed it, looking down at her hand as the flesh grew back. Then she went over to the grimoire on the floor, picking it up and holding it under her arm before standing by Jaya again. Briefly she smiled when Jaya hugged her, smoothing out her hair. Then the smile dropped from her face, and she stepped back from her daughter. "He's dead." Kitty figured Jaya knew what she meant, then she looked to Gavin as he entered but spoke softly to Jaya. "I won't be staying long. There are still things to organize on Nightblood."

"I'll stay," Gavin said, having entered just in time to see Eli leave. "Your kid's safe, so there's not much we have to worry about aside from rebuilding."

He stepped into the room and looked around. "Looks like we have a lot of it to do as well. Blimey."