Chapter 140: Acceptable perimeters

The demon youth’s body had swelled up to five times his normal size, so that he looked like a seal that had swallowed a half dozen deck chairs. When his skin ruptured Infernum energy blasted out everywhere, souring the air, and six new demon youths appeared in his place, naked and slicked with milky white blood, their hair plastered to their heads, their grins deranged.

“Oh shit!” shouted Denzel, wresting his Wing to one side.

“Watch out!” Kerim flung up his Shield before Denzel, but two of the demon youths raised their palms and black spheres flew out, devouring all in their path, including both Crimson Hydra’s.

Miriam and Olaf shouted in pain as they Martyr’s Cried the pair back, but then the demons were flitting about, teleporting in a sphere about the clustered Wings, laughing and launching countless black spheres at them from all angles.

James knew a split second of panic as he saw the spheres homing in on them from all sides when the first Dominion appeared.

He was fifteen feet tall - or maybe she? And clad in a rose wrap that seemed to float about their body of its own volition. They had three sets of feathered wings, the middle pair being the widest and extending out six yards each, while the lower and upper pairs were smaller and didn’t beat.

But the angel just exuded glory. The air refracted around it like the way light can shimmer of snow or ice, so that it hung in a corona of scintillating light, glimmers of rainbow interwoven through it all.

A sphere of crystal appeared around James and his crew just as five other Dominions appeared about them. The black spheres smashed into the crystal layer and were absorbed.

The six demon youths stilled. As one their lips pursed in annoyance, but then their frown slid into a grin. “You’re taking this battle seriously.”

One of the Dominions turned to James, its expression beatific. “One of us would have sufficed, lord.”

“We, ah, got a little panicky,” said James.

“Hmm.” The Dominion raised its hand, its gaze remaining on James, and six beams of pure light flashed forth to impale the demon youth through the heart.

The demons croaked and fell, plummeting toward the ground.

Only for twelve portals of black light to appear and as many demon youths to slip through, their grins delighted. “First time I get to try Angelic Aspect on Host Angels. I think I’m going to like this power.”

The Dominion tore its blank, pitiless gaze from James and clenched its hand into a fist. Light burst forth in a flare, a massively more powerful version of Nova, and the twelve demons died.

Twenty-four black portals opened up.

Two of the Dominions immediately lanced them all through the chest with spears of light.

Forty-eight black fire portals opened.

“Pump and dump?” asked Serenity tensely.

“Summon everyone!” shouted James.

“We assure you,” began the Dominion, but more golden portals began to appear.

Dominions appeared everywhere, bringing their number to twenty-four. Their wings stirred as they gazed at each other in something akin to surprise and confusion.

Even the demon youths paused, hands raised to summon attacks. They frowned at each other and then stared at James. “You may have overplayed your hand,” one said.

But that’s when the Thrones appeared.

Eight in all, they simply manifested through small suns of golden light that appeared, expanded, then collapsed to reveal the most powerful angels at Crimson Hydra’s disposal.

They were inhuman. James had expected some variation on the classic angel theme, but these were made of two huge bands of gold, one contained within the other so that head on they formed a ‘+’ sign. Each ring was perforated by dozens of indigo eyes that stared forth unblinking, and the bands were wreathed in silent conflagrations of colorless fire.

What remained of the Infernum in the air was immediately scoured away.

The Dominions bowed low to the eight Thrones whose rings slowly rotated about each other, their eyes taking in everything.

“SUMMONED ARE WE,” came a voice of utter power. “YET WE DO NOT DETECT A FOE OF COMMENSURATE POWER.”

“When you’re done with this guy, can you finish the war going on below?” asked James.

“Shit,” said the demon youths. They glared at James. “Really?”

“OK everyone,” called James. “Let’s leave the angels and demons to figure this one out.” And he summoned his Demiplane.

Just about everyone was staring at him in some form of confusion or another, but Crimson Hydra flew toward him. James willed the bar door to open just before his Wing hit it and flew right on in.

It was bizarre to exchange the burning skies of the 18th Level for the smoky interior of Herman’s bar, but James didn’t hesitate. He guided his Wing to the left wall, set it down and leaped farther in as Serenity’s Wing flew in right after and landed next to his.

The place was too narrow for more than three Wings to cram themselves in between the walls, and the others were forced to simply park theirs above the grounded Wings. Olaf came in last and had to drop off his Wing altogether, hanging by one hand as he guided it into the remaining gap beneath the ceiling.

“Fuck!” shouted Yadriel. “You think they figured us out?”

“We gotta pick up Jessica.” James summoned his teleportation circle. “Everyone through!”

Everyone ran through the burning white portal to emerge in the bailey once more. The sky burned with the castle’s blue defensive bands. The Somnia stood beside the Castrum, Divisor sword propped on its shoulder.

“Jessica! Go-time!” shouted James.

Her Omni ejected itself from between the Somnia’s shoulder blades and flew down. “It worked?”

“Mostly.” James couldn’t help but scan the tops of the walls, half expecting Thrones to appear there with their judging eyes. “Let’s go. Jelly, stay here and hold the fort.”

What? Hold the fort? Where are you going? What’s going on?

Hold the fort, Jelly, OK? I’m counting on you.

James, what the fuck’s happening, you need to tell me -

He summoned the teleportation circle once more, burning his fifteenth point of Aeviternum, but Fortuna saved it for him. The portal appeared around them, rapidly spinning, and James visualized the angel realm as he’d glimpsed it what felt like weeks ago.

The white fire collapsed in on them and James felt reality invert, twist, then fall away.

A second later they appeared amidst star fields.

There was endless depth all around them, pinpricks of light that glittered in the vasty void. Were it not for the vast structure beside him James would have once again felt lost, his ego beggared by the scale of the cosmos, his sense of self threatened by its insignificance.

But the eight of them had appeared beside the Pit stack, the successive layers rising to Earth above and dropping to the 27th layer far below. Around these contained plains of hell curved the helix of gray light, each a tube large enough for a subway tunnel, endlessly spiraling around the levels.

They’d appeared beside the Hopeless Tower once more; looking sidelong into the level beside them James saw again the monoliths rising from the ashen desert, the great tower, its rough, windowless facade of volcanic rock.

Of course.

He’d come back to the spot he’d visited last.

Below them the nine layers of the castle lay superimposed. But one now was pre-eminent, and in that one James saw a vast war talking place, millions of Host Angels battling desperately against superior foes even as more of their own kind were dumped upon their heads, crushing those below and no doubt causing double portals to open above the seething crowd which now pushed right back onto the castle’s battlements.

Motes of light were carving their way through the demons, however; the Thrones and Dominions, quickly mopping up the demon multitudes.

They didn’t have long.

Clearly there was little down there to challenge such a gathering of angelic might.

“Where do we go?” hissed Serenity.

“My head,” groaned Olaf.

“Down.” James glanced around worriedly. No signs of life. The horizontal seam into which the Host Angel had been entering was closed. “Down.”

They hung suspended in nothingness, however, and had left the Wings behind. James tried swimming forward and managed to rock forward a few feet.

“Here, we’ll guide you,” said Jason, flying forth with his miracle. Denzel and Olaf followed suite, and a moment later each had taken two others by the hand and pulled them towards the closest gray tube.

“Here we go,” said Miriam quietly as she, Jason, and Yadriel entered the gray light.

A second later Olaf, James, and Serenity followed after. There was a faint prickling sensation as the gray light played over them, and then a force shunted them into the center of the tube and held them there. Currents of divine energy flowed over them, some rising, others falling.

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James looked down. The tunnel curved away to the left, wrapping around the layers. How did this…?

The mere thought of descending caused James to fall. Olaf and Serenity let out quiet cries of surprise as they were tugged down after him, and together they dropped.

They left the ninth layer behind and soon curved down and around Blackfall.

Distance and scale were messed up. James couldn’t tell if the layer grew massive as they approached it or if it had been huge all along and they were only now appreciating its size. Or were they shrinking themselves?

Down they dropped, rotating around Blackfall’s battlefield. James checked his countdown timer. Four minutes left till the six hours were up.

The war raged. Wherever James looked he saw violence. It all looked so meaningless. For what were the demons fighting? The angels? How many times had they contested this plain against each other in some theatrical display to impress those being Winnowed?

The others were falling down after them. Faster and faster they fell. James tightened his grip on Serenity’s hand and forced a smile in return when she grinned at him.

It felt like they were plummeting down, but the minutes ticked by as they continued to gyre around Blackfall’s tenth level, the castle huge in the center, the Castrum and Somnia still and standing guard.

They’d nearly reached ground level when the clock ticked over.

You have entered Layer [Number], [Layer Title]

For a moment nothing else happened. James stared out over Blackfall, and with his last glimpse he saw the angels and demons cease their fighting to pause, turn, and look about in confusion.

Then they dipped below ground level and sped into the sky of the layer below. Which was the same castle, the same desert, but grayed out, as if not activated. No armies possessed the desert, and huge mechanical walls had risen up to protect the castle like steampunk marvels.

“That’s what we were supposed to fix first,” said Jessica, floating down to join them.

You have entered Layer [Number], [Layer Title]

You have entered

You have entered

You have entered

You have entered

Then, in a different font, a new line appeared:

Abort signal received from non-zero presence

Attempting to access last designated memory placement

Dereferencing Level Advancement

Unable to locate candidates within acceptable perimeters

Alerting Sec-ENFORCEMENT

“What the fuck’s Sec-Enforcement?” shouted Yadriel.

“We shoulda’ waited for the countdown to run down,” hissed Serenity furiously.

“One thing we need to keep doing,” said James. “And that’s heading down. Faster, people!”

“We’ll take the lead,” said Jason. “Miriam, hold my ankles. Yadriel, hold hers. Everyone else do the same. Go!”

Miriam scrambled down to do as commanded, Jason flew down a bit till Yadriel could grab hers, and then together the trio shot down the gray tube moving far faster than they’d been falling before.

James grabbed Olaf’s ankles, Serenity grabbed his own, and then they were diving.

Down they flew, faster and faster, spinning around the 11th Level. It looked abandoned, empty, and soon they spun down to the 12th. This one featured the huge steampunk walls but also large blue craters that had opened up just outside the walls. James couldn’t begin to guess what they did, but they looked purposeful, rimmed in gold, each the size of a tennis court.

“Shit,” shouted Jason from ahead. “Something’s coming up!”

James leaned out, trying to see past Olaf. A golden sphere was flying up toward them through the tunnel. A Throne. Its bands of gold were distinctive even at this distance.

Should they fight it?

James had no sense of how powerful one of those angels were. Would a fight alert others? Would it take too long, allowing for unwitting reinforcements to arrive?

“Cut out of the tunnel!” shouted James. “Avoid it!”

Jason, Olaf, and Denzel obeyed as one; they veered into the gray light, flew clear out of the helix-tunnel, and back into the starfields.

One of the horizontal seams stood open before them. It was as if some great cosmic being had taken a razor to the void and cut open a wound that had pursed open like a mouth, revealing what lay hidden behind the stars.

The horizontal cut revealed a glimpse of a different reality beyond; a massive room or apartment set within a gray cavern whose left wall was missing to reveal a verdant jungle far below. Golden sunlight poured in through this missing wall, and the furnishings were large.

But it was the Archangel turning in surprise to stare at them that held James’s attention.

In that brief flash of a moment as they stared at each other, the Archangel hovering before the seam, the nine of them flying right toward it, James thought he recognized the being.

Was it one of those Archangels they’d summoned to fight the demon child? One which had been destroyed by spheres of black light?

Serenity shouted a command that James couldn’t parse and a circle of blue light appeared around the angel, its perimeter inscribed with holy-looking glyphs. At the same time Yadriel’s voice boomed out, completely transformed into that of an imperious king: “Kneel, bitch!”

The Archangel sagged before the command, his expression instantly becoming infuriated, just as Olaf barked out a Word of Slaughter, followed a moment later by Kerim’s own.

The twin Miracles centered on the Angel but though James felt the terrible powers coalesce and pass through him, neither Word did any damage.

James yanked on Olaf’s ankles, hurling himself forward as the big man began to slow, and mid-flight activated Demonic Form. He took on that of the demon youth and felt his body shrink, grow slender and lithe, and new powers manifest within his mind.

You have adopted the form of Nathrax

Demon Lord of Level 18, Bloodmere

New Curses:

Sphere of Annihilation | Shutterskip | Column of Woe | Angelic Aspect

James flew over the blue circle’s perimeter even as the Archangel struggled mightily to rise to his feet and hurled a Sphere of Annihilation at his head.

A black marble appeared in his palm, consuming a shocking amount of Infernum as it did so, then flew forward as it ballooned to the size of a bowling ball.

The Archangel erected a protective shield of gold, but the sphere blew right through it and passed through the angel’s head, consuming it utterly.

The angel fell, and James saw that it had clutched a curious device, a rod whose head was a small sphere composed of gold bands and hundreds of typewriter keys whose symbols were utterly unreadable.

James snatched up this tool as he flew past and tumbled through the seam into the gray cavern.

A second later the others followed in after, Yadriel hauling the Archangel’s body in after them.

The seam closed.

Disappeared.

The cavern’s wall appeared in its place.

Everybody without flight tumbled to the ground, gravity re-asserting itself, and rolled into heavy furniture and bunched up the colorful rugs that had been cast down upon the smooth stone floor.

James lay still, heaving for breath, and then released the Nathrax form. Rising to one elbow he looked around.

“Jesus,” said Serenity, climbing to her feet. She stared out the missing wall at the mist-wreathed jungle far below, at the blue mountains that hemmed in the horizon, and the massive orange sun that was sinking behind them. “Where the fuck are we?”

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