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The Drakkaren snapped awake, breathing hard as he sat up and looked wildly back and forth, and Sin looked up at him in alarm before she sat up herself, gently settling a hand on his shoulder as she asked quietly: "What's wrong, Zerrex?'

The reptile touched his forehead, breathing hard in and out, shaking his head slowly... and then he grunted and winced, clutching his skull with one hand and the blankets with the others as purple lighting zapped over his form for a moment, before he fell backwards onto the bed with a groan as Sammy leapt up to the bed with a worried squeak and the Seethe Hound whined in concern. Sin looked at him nervously for a moment, and then she held a hand out over his body, murmuring a spell as she closed her eyes... and then Zerrex opened his own blearily a few moments later, mumbling: "My head is going ouch."

"Lord Zerrex, what happened?" Sin asked urgently, taking one of his hands quietly... and she blinked, tilting her head upwards for a moment before turning her eyes down to meet his, saying softly: "There's... a different energy signature here. One from a long time ago... the Princess..."

"Power does seem to have a mind of its own." Zerrex mumbled, and he shook his aching skull - which proved to be a mistake, from the angry throb it gave - before he sat up slightly with a groan, rubbing a hand through his hair. Then he let his arms drop as Sin gently touched his skull with two fingers, before she cursed under her breath and flinched away, and the Drakkaren looked up at her with stupid surprise. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." Sin said quietly, rubbing at her own head now, then they both blinked as Sammy crawled onto Zerrex's chest, peering down at him and squeaking. Then he nipped the Drakkaren's nose before he leaned down towards one of his eyes, squeaking loudly again before yelping as Sin gently scooped him up and put him aside, saying softly: "Not at the moment, little pseudodragon. Wait until later... Lord Zerrex needs his rest." A pause, then she added something in ancient demonic to the Seethe Hound, and it nodded before pawing over to the door, which opened as it approached before it closed as it left and sat down outside.

Zerrex looked at her nervously, and Sin shook her head quietly, saying softly: "We can't do with interruptions at the moment, Lord Zerrex... I need to see exactly what the Princess did to you, but I'm being repelled at the moment. I take it she made a deal with you of some kind... more power for her life?"

The Drakkaren didn't exactly like the way Sin was looking at him, and he made a face before muttering: "Something like that. She attacked me first... it was a nasty little battle. Then she said she'd give up some of her powers if she was permitted to continue to live, and I said yes, because I don't really want her mixing into my soul the wrong way..." He stopped, then looked down, saying quietly: "There's nothing worse than being given a whole slew of powers you can't control, I've seen. It's better to play her games, but learn to use whatever abilities she has piece-by-piece. I hate power... but I'd rather not go insane again."

Sin smiled faintly at this, even as she looked away embarrassedly... and then she finally turned her eyes back, saying softly: "Then let me just scan your head, Lord Zerrex. Let me see into your mind, at anything she may have... 'adjusted' when she gave you her abilities. We can't have her modifying your brain to her own ends, after all, and I don't trust her even when she does something to save her own life."

"She would gladly die just to spite us at this point." Zerrex admitted, and then he sighed before laying back, looking morbid as he asked: "Can't we at least wait until my headache goes away? I mean, it's just going to make things harder for you, anyway."

"That might be part of the ruse, though, and I don't want to take any chances." Sin responded quietly, looking at him nervously again, and this time Zerrex gave her a flat look that made her turn beet-red, as she held her hands half up before resting them against his chest, asking finally: "For me, Lord Zerrex?"

"Fine, Sin. Let's do this." Zerrex finally said, and he made a face as he leaned his head forwards slightly, the Naganatine reaching out to carefully grasp the sides of his skull in both her hands as he added flatly: "But if anything happens and my head blows up, I'm blaming you."

"Agreed." Sin smiled a bit after a moment, and the two looked at each other for a few moments before she closed her eyes, and Zerrex felt a strange burning sensation run through his skull for a moment before he and Sin were standing together in the reptile's recent memories, and Ravenlight was busy yelling at... well... him, as he looked stupidly through the door. "What's going on? Where's the Princess?"

Zerrex looked over at Sin, then at the himself from the past and Ravenlight, before he rubbed at his skull: it was aching all the worse now, before he muttered: "I get pushed through the door... and then I saw the Princess. A few minutes later, after a bumpy elevator ride."

Sin nodded, and she held up a hand, making a dismissive gesture that caused the memories to flicker rapidly by before she halted, and now Zerrex could see himself and the Princess arguing in her room of bone, their voices strangely muffled, their movements slightly-slowed. Sin watched intently, and the reptile couldn't help but ask dumbly: "So hey, tell me. How the hell did I experience all this myself, and see it all in third person, if these are memories inside my dreams?"

"All your memory information is taken by my spell, and my knowledge of you as another person is combined with that to replicate the memories as if they were being watched by someone else, taking into account your other senses and assumptions to fill in gaps here and there." Sin responded mildly, and Zerrex looked at her stupidly as he rubbed slowly at his skull. Well, that just makes it ache worse. She sounds like a computer sometimes. "Wait, what just happened?"

Everything had gone black and white... and Zerrex shrugged absently before he said mildly: "This must have been when she turned off my sense of sight. Which... doesn't make much sense in my head, you know, since it wasn't really my vision that was being affected, just my visual interpretations..."

"And you think I make your head ache." Sin murmured, and Zerrex coughed and glanced away awkwardly. He'd forgotten that at the moment, their minds were linked, so... thinking was tantamount to talking. "I can't reconstruct these memories very well... they've been interfered with. I'm not sure if that means she did something here, or if she simply didn't want you to know how exactly she was controlling your vision... but I can see we got at least the basic idea from your other senses."

Zerrex nodded, and then he glanced up and watched as everything returned slowly to color, and a gemstone exploded in the air... and Sin frowned as she looked up at these, but didn't say anything. They watched the rest of the events in quiet, as plants tore through the bone and the Princess made her deal... and then Sin froze the memory at the point where the Princess had grasped Zerrex's forehead and everything else in the environment went blurry. "She may have simply tried to kill you there."

"I don't think she had the energy left." Zerrex replied, rubbing the back of his head and making a face at how naïve he sounded. "Anyway, Sin, her big thing is manipulation. She's no good at hand-to-hand combat and I already know her magic, and she can't go full-demon inside my head. So all she's got left is trying to trick me into doing this or that... but I don't think she had time to figure out what to even try and trick me into doing. I think she was honest with that last dealing... not because she wanted to be, but because she thought it might lead me to, I dunno, wanting more of her powers."

Sin nodded slowly, and then the memories vanished, and instead Zerrex was back in reality, looking across at Sin as she held onto his head tightly. He could still feel her working on something in his mind, however, and it admittedly made him a little nervous that she was still fixing something in his brain while he was left outside... and after almost a minute, she opened her eyes and said softly: "Sorry, Lord Zerrex. I didn't think it would take so long... but I guess that's mostly because I really expected to find something." She smiled a bit, shaking her head slowly and frowning past him worriedly. "But I didn't find anything... no traps or tricks or... anything else. It bothers me... it bothers me a lot."

She looked down, then sighed softly as she rolled over to lay on her back beside him, staring at the ceiling as she murmured: "The Princess is dangerous... that's all I know for certain about her. Her personality and her... everything else... is wretched and wicked, and the Four Sisters loved you for destroying her... loved you even when you simply stood up to her. Absorbing a soul like that, a being capable of sticking, by itself, in your mind and refusing to come out... it's like... a tumor, or a parasite. It needs to be destroyed... and while I understand why you're hesitant to do so... making deals with her can only lead to more pain."

"I know how you feel, Sin, but... I..." He stopped, knowing that he couldn't beat Sin in a logical argument, so he smiled a bit as he reached a hand over to grasp her shoulder quietly, saying finally: "I have to trust my instincts."

Sin sighed... and a moment later, Sammy leapt back up on the bed, the pseudodragon squawking before it tackled Zerrex's face and bowled him over. The reptile yelped and fell backwards, whacked his head off the bedframe, and then he finally half-fell off the bed with a loud thump on his back. He let out a loud groan of pain, looking stupidly at the ceiling... but before Sin could ask him if he was alright, they both looked up in surprise at a loud rumbling at the door.

A moment later, it flew open and the Seethe Hound flew inside, crashing on top of Zerrex in a stunned heap, and Sin let out a growl of outrage before she stared in surprise at the sight of Cherry barging in, covered in minor bite marks and with her clothes torn-up, as she shouted: "Where the fuck are you, Zerrex? And Sin, baby, next time you wanna keep a door closed, put all your Seethe Hounds on duty. That little bitch barely put up a fight... oh, don't look at me like that, I didn't beat on him that badly before I flashed him. And not with my dick, either. Fuck I wish my dick was actually out. And... oh great, of course."

Zerrex kicked a leg dumbly, his lower limbs stuck in the air against the bed and the only things visible with the rest of his body covered by the five-hundred pound spiked canine laying on top of him, and Cherry seized one of these as she stomped over, then she hefted him easily out from under it and into the air, saying mildly to his stupefied features: "Come on, Boss, I found out some info you're gonna just love to death. We need to go right now and find Lily, and you should come too, Sin... and... that is a hot little number you are wearing!"

Cherry grinned widely, leaning in close... and then Sin rose a finger and pointed at her, and Cherry looked confused for a moment before her entire body suddenly went rigid, her fingers releasing Zerrex before she keeled slowly over onto her back, her eyes looking back and forth in shock. Zerrex groaned as he landed on his head beside her feet, and then he crawled slowly up onto the bed as Sammy leapt down on top of Cherry, climbing her mountainous breasts and gazing down at her with a growl as the male Drakkaren asked tiredly: "Temporary paralysis?"

"An old favorite spell of mine, for dealing with... problematic people." Sin replied quietly, and she sighed as Zerrex stood up, rubbing at her head quietly. "We were only asleep for three hours... if you sent her off on a mission, I have to admit I'm impressed by how fast she works."

"Glug blue." Cherry blurted, and she began to wriggle back and forth, even if her movements were waxy and her body didn't seem like it wanted to move very much. Zerrex rolled his eyes, then he leaned down and picked her up around the waist as if she was a piece of lumber, carrying her out the door as he waved a goodbye to Sin, who was looking down at the bed with worry on her features.

He tossed Cherry down in the hall as Sammy followed along in their footsteps, and she burst into life the moment she collided with the rug, sitting up and staring stupidly back and forth as Zerrex closed the door to the Naganatine's room. He looked down at her mildly, putting his hands on his hips, and she looked back up with an embarrassed grin before she turned serious, looking back and forth nervously before she said quietly: "The same major import ring that's been bringing in Wulfe products has also been shipping demons out of Hell... and I got reason to believe they shipped Mercy out into the mortal world, too."

"What?" Zerrex looked down at her with surprise, and then he shook his head slowly as Cherry jumped to her feet and rubbed her hands over her tattered clothing. "Who'd you get this from?"

"Some dregs in one of the casinos... I told them I was interested in working an angle and getting some imports of my own shipped down from the mortal realm." She paused, then added meditatively: "Then again, once I tossed two bags of gold their way, I instantly turned into their best friend. They even gave me some shipping manifests, which I already dropped off at the Central Spire. Lily, Selena, and Amiglion are in some high-ass council meeting right now, though, with White and some of the others... the Amazons wouldn't let me barge in, so I hid them among the mounds of paperwork in Lily's office instead."

Zerrex nodded slowly, then he murmured: "It's probably about the Parasites... what about the hunting party?"

"This part you'll like. Me, you, Vampire, Bondage, Priest, and I was gonna get Mist and Shine, but I figured they'd been through enough as it is, so instead I'm subbing in Desire and Cypress. Those two ain't half-bad, you know... and I think they're taking that whole Iuratus deal seriously." Cherry added on their behalf, and Zerrex nodded a bit after a moment as she looked at him pointedly.

"I'll think about it." he said finally, and Cherry looked pleased with herself before she became serious again as he asked quietly: "Seven's a large number... will we still be concealed as a hunting party?"

Cherry nodded after a moment with a snort, looking entertained. "Just coverin' your bodyguards and a few friends, you dig? And seven ain't a bad number at all when we have to head to the northeastern Sloth Circle... as I remember, there's one particular species of beast there that gets very rowdy when disturbed."

Zerrex frowned for a moment, and then he snorted and shook his head, looking at her with disbelief. "You want to hunt down a Great Conch? Cherry, those things are massive, armored, and extremely grumpy when you wake them up. And what the hell are we gonna do with it after we kill it? The meat's barely edible even for demons!"

"We're gonna put the shell to use as a tank." Cherry said blithely, and Zerrex tilted his head curiously before they both looked up as Sin emerged in her long black dress, her Seethe Hound glaring furiously at Cherry as it followed her. "Hey there, sweet stuff. Sorry about the whole... you know. And you two, little doggy! I uh. Hey, here's a treat!"

Cherry rummaged in her pocket, then she produced a baggy with a chunk of meat in it, taking this out and tossing it to the Seethe Hound. It snatched this out of the air and chewed it up, still looking at Cherry distrustfully even as it swallowed, and then it snorted disdainfully at her as Sin said dryly: "Lady Cherry, please. They aren't stupid animals, like you encounter on the mortal plane. Now if you would, I'd like to get going myself... have you filled Lord Zerrex in on any necessary details we can share at the council?"

"Apparently that's locked down at the moment... Cherry couldn't get in, which means that you or I would likely even have trouble getting inside." He paused, then added meditatively: "Even worse would be Lily's rage, since she's probably still just working on what we told her to do... and Sabnock is probably going to be a little pissed at how we handled things too. There is something you can do for me, though, Sin..."

She tilted her head curiously, and Zerrex smiled a bit, saying quietly: "I'm very unfamiliar with the Circle of Sloth, and we need to head there to check out some kind of smuggling operation. But I need to draw attention away while Cherry and I try to figure out where the operation is, so I'd like you to organize a raid on one of the other known smugglers... uh... let's hit that rat-bastard Halpas's 'secret' operation in the Northern Province, I know there'll be plenty of political lash-back but I'm through playing games with the asshole. I'd like you or Selena to head the raid, and I'm going on a 'hunt' in the Circle of Sloth for a Great Conch."

"It's elaborate." Sin said mildly, and Zerrex looked at her flatly. Cherry frowned a bit at the friction between the two, before the Naganatine blushed and bowed her head forwards, mumbling: "I'm sorry, Lord Zerrex, I must have... awoken on the wrong side of the bed, is that the term?"

"It's okay, Sin. We all woke up tired today." Zerrex replied with a faint smile, and Sin nodded to him before she created a portal and stepped through it, the Seethe Hound following her, and Sammy gave the huge beast a friendly nip as it disappeared through the portal before the pseudodragon ran back over to curl back and forth between Zerrex's legs. He looked down, watching it for a few moments, and then he laughed a bit and said softly: "To be a pet, huh?" A pause, and a slight grin up at Cherry. "It seems to work well for you, after all."

"Dude, you have no idea." Cherry responded with a grin of her own, and then she hesitated before asking: "You uh. You and Sin okay? Seemed like she almost got bitchy at you for a minute, and like. She ain't ever bitchy with you. Hell, I've only seen her bitchy with me before, and that's saying something."

Zerrex shrugged a bit, and then he tapped on his skull, saying quietly: "I had a little run in with the Princess. Kicked her ass, and she traded some of her powers to me for her life. I-"

"Bad. Ass." Cherry said emphatically, and she waved her arms before asking with a grin: "So like. Can you control shit with your mind now? Or do you have super magic powers? Or like, maybe you can do that whole... time... control... shit, the shit she used to do where she fuckin' like... you know. Broke something, then restored it, you were always talkin' about that and it looked badass when I saw some of the old history logs and she broke that wine glass, then restored it and all the wine floated back up into it..."

"I wish you'd stop watching those." Zerrex said morbidly, and he sighed as she shrugged amiably, before asking quietly: "So is the group readied to go? You seemed a bit anxious to land running with this one."

Cherry nodded, her grin fading a bit as she fidgeted a bit on the spot. "We'll be ready soon, yeah, so sort of. Everyone knows now, and Vampire is showing off his 'orders to protect the High King' to everyone and babbling about what an awesome hunt they're going to have, and all this nonsense. If anyone can spread a rumor, it's that gossipy old lady." She snorted amusedly at this as Zerrex smiled slightly, and then the female added: "Everyone else is arming up. We're going to meet in two hours in the great hall of this place. I figured that'd be best."

"Then I'm going to go to the Central Spire and see if I can get a quick word in with Selena and Lily. I'll make a formal request so I don't have to deal with more people trying to kill me." Zerrex shook his head a bit, and then he headed for his room, Cherry tagging along behind him. "Do you remember the access codes for the Vault in the basement?"

"Hell yes." Cherry nodded a few times again, her eyes lighting up as she began to dance on the spot like an overexcited child. "Does that mean I can go grab whatever I want down there?"

"Help yourself, just don't-" But Cherry was already gone, and Zerrex rolled his eyes as he approached his armoire, opening the doors to pull out a bright green robe that was edged in gold, slipping it quickly on as he muttered: "I hate it when she does that. And I hate this stuff, too. Where's my... there it is."

The reptile reached down and picked up a pair of golden pauldrons that looked almost like deformed, ornamental bowls, and he carefully put these on over the robe, muttering at how long it took to attach them manually when they could have simply been sewn into the robes or glued on by magic. He paused, looking at the dusty crown and facemask he never wore stuffed away in the bottom shelf, and then he closed the doors of the armoire and created a portal, mumbling: "I already feel stuffy enough as it is. Stupid everything."

Zerrex stepped out into a large circular room a moment later, with only a single pair of double doors leading out and a pair of enormous Royal Guards standing beside them... and they both stared at the Drakkaren as he rose a hand, and they saluted immediately. He smiled a bit, then the reptile said clearly: "Why don't you both go on break? And do me a favor... find whoever's working on messenger duty today and tell them to send a message to Princess Lily or Princess Selena. I wanna see one of them within two hours' time."

"Sir!" the two demons saluted, and then they both vanished through separate portals, leaving Zerrex standing alone in the circular room. He glanced back and forth at the coats of arms and flags that now hung on the walls, remembering that long ago, this is where he'd fought Beatrice Blossom... and he had defeated her, even if he hadn't managed to kill her. That honor, however, had gone fittingly to Cherry... and Zerrex was glad for it for many reasons. Even if in another way, it's saddening...

He glanced at the only object in the large, circular room, and he smiled a bit as he approached the huge glass showcase, resting his hands against it quietly as he looked at the broken weapon resting on red velvet, not needing to read the little plaque to know perfectly what it was. Broken into more than a dozen shards and a dark handle with a ruby pommel, a chunk of shattered blade still standing out from the hilt, was Blackheart: his treasured weapon that had been destroyed in his battle against his first son, Crow.

Zerrex shook his head a bit, and then he glanced to the side as he sensed a presence, smiling faintly at the sight of a small Dius wearing a green robe similar to his, with light blue scales and tall, antler-like horns... as well as a pair of white, braided pigtails that fell past her shoulders, her hair neatly parted. "Don't you have library duty, Blueberry?"

She laughed a bit at this, and then his daughter reached up and squeezed his shoulder gently, saying in her soft, sweet voice: "Didn't you hear, Daddy? I've been moved to the research department... so I decided to take some time off from my research on magic to come up here and well... research on you."

Annabelle 'Blueberry' Child-of-the-Waves Narrius looked up at her father lovingly for a moment, and then she pressed her hands quietly against the glass, gazing down at the weapon with reverence. She was one of his youngest daughters, inquisitive and lovely as Zerrex remembered, but he knew that a lot could change over the few mortal days he'd spent above... and if he was glad to see anyone, it was her. His younger children, after all, would miss out on all the time he'd been able to spend with the others... and he reached an arm out and wrapped it amiably around her, as he asked softly: "Well, what do you want to know?"

"Why don't you re-forge this sword, for one thing... it's a beautiful weapon, even for a mortal one." Blueberry nodded, looking up at him with her bright sapphire eyes. "It's so simple, yet that's part of what makes it elegant... at least... that's what I'd think if it was back together."

"Blackheart and I were almost friends... no, we really were, once upon a time." Zerrex said softly, squeezing the much-smaller Dius gently against his side: unlike most, she was only some five feet tall, even though she was fully mature by now. "But that time has passed, unfortunately, Blueberry. What made the sword so special was that, after the first time it was shattered, it was rebuilt with my own energy inside of it... making it not a living weapon, but one that responded to me almost like it was an extension of myself. But when Crow shattered it and picked it up, his own energy overrode and corrupted mine... the sword won't respond to me anymore. Hell, it even hurts me when I hold the handle for too long... and it feels like betrayal."

Zerrex knew that the last bit didn't make much sense, but Blueberry took his meaning anyway as she nodded slowly, looking up at him and murmuring softly: "Oh Daddy... but I think you could fix it if you really wanted to, and I think you'd feel better with that in your hands... I know how you switch from your cane to a cleaver to all manner of other weapons, but you're always looking at this sword with such... yearning in your eyes."

The Drakkaren smiled down at her, and then he nodded after a moment. There was a quiet pause, and then she asked softly: "Can you tell me more about Crow?"

"I... don't know a lot about him." Zerrex hesitated, but then he went on as he squeezed Blueberry gently against his side, saying softly: "Crow... was originally... in my daughter Marina. He was the son of Narrius, who had... raped her." The words were hard for him to say, but... as he spoke, he felt... like he was getting a release from these pains that had infested him for literally millions of years now. "When I found Marina, she was very, very pregnant. They were probably about to extract the baby from her... and so... I had sex with her and... killed the child."

He stopped, looking at her with a bit of a blush, but Blueberry only nodded, looking calm and serious but not surprised or even disgusted. The reptile reminded himself this was Hell after a moment, and that the morals were different... and then he took a breath before continuing: "Crow must have fallen to the Unworld, as the souls of most too young to have sinned or to understand the concepts of Heaven and Hell and limbo do... but there, he was picked up by Celestial and... taken into her body somehow. Celestial... my mother... Narrius's wife... she had sex with me... often enough to get enough energy from my body to revive Crow... and when she gave birth to him, she gave birth to a monster. We know that Crow absorbed much of her energies... and he absorbed all of Narrius.

"Crow killed my daughter, Cindy, on the mortal plane. He banished Cherry to Hell. He almost killed Marina. And he would have killed me, too, if I hadn't dragged him down to Hell in the body I was possessing." Zerrex said softly, looking at Blackheart and watching as not blue, but dark energy seemed to sizzle along it, from hilt to broken blade tip. "He broke my sword and used it against me, and he hurt a lot of people I care about when they all came to help. Finally, he was forced down into the Unworld by a group binding, and I followed him there to finish him off... it was a long and ugly battle, but... I did kill him. But if I hadn't had help, I never would have managed it."

Blueberry nodded slowly, resting against her father's side before she asked quietly: "So how did you feel when fighting him? Did it hurt you?"

Zerrex smiled a bit, looking down thoughtfully before he patted her gently on the back. "There was definitely no instantaneous, unconditional love for him the moment I saw him and found out he was my son, that much is for certain. I... don't know if love really is conditional or unconditional, either, but... that's a whole different story. It... hurt to know that I had a part in his creation. But I was glad to see him die... because he was twisted and lunatic." A long pause, and then he hung his head as he rubbed a hand down the glass, murmuring: "It was nothing like when Sin and I fought Aether."

The small Dius nodded silently, and there was quiet for a little while, before she finally looked up and asked gently: "Do you ever stop blaming yourself for what happened with him?"

"Not really." Zerrex admitted after a moment, and Blueberry nodded before she hugged him tightly, closing her eyes as she rested her head against his powerful abdominals. Zerrex quietly grasped her shoulders, lowering his head a bit as the memories of Aether stirred up his self-loathing... but the hug from his youngest child gave him renewed happiness for what he did have, and everything that had gone right in his twisted-upside-down life.

"Tell me about yourself, though, Blueberry... I haven't seen you in well... many a year for you, and I wanna know what's been going on with you." Zerrex smiled a bit as he took her hands when she slipped away, and she laughed softly, gazing up at him affectionately. "You're still my little girl, after all... at least for a little while."

Blueberry nodded, and she talked happily for more than an hour about her life, Zerrex only needing to nod a bit here and there as he smiled and listened. She had developed nicely... and the reptile could still remember clearly like it was yesterday, her in diapers and sucking on a pacifier, too shy to play with the other kids as she tried to stack her runic blocks up high. The reptile had kept those blocks for countless generations, passing them down from one child to the next... and even after they got too old for them, the reptile still kept them in his office in the Vault of the Ravenlight Estate, and he'd play with them when bored, loving how the runes lit up when he spelled simple words or made patterns with them.

His little girl was all grown up now, though: she had a good job as a magical researcher and biographer, and she still saw her family whenever she could. She had her own little house, where she lived with a roommate who was part of the Sisterhood and worked at a chapel in the Circle of Minor Sins. She enjoyed her work, and over the years, she'd worked hard on learning the mortal languages and how to write in the common mortal scripts... and she had also done plenty of magical training, even if she wasn't a fighter like most of the family. Her talent wasn't in healing, either, but in academic studies... and she blushed a bit when she said this, but Zerrex only nodded and patted her gently on the head. Much as they weren't for him, he knew that at least some of the stuff she could learn was useful... and since her specialty was magical research and history, it meant she'd probably be able to teach even him one or two useful things one day. Besides... it's important to learn from the past. Then again, I also think we should work harder at immortalizing evil than good... if only because then we'd be able to better remember why we don't commit genocide or other not-very-socially-acceptable acts.

The Drakkaren shook his head a bit, and then looked down as Blueberry stopped with a blush, grasping her own muzzle lightly. "I'm sorry, Daddy, I've really talked your head off... I guess I'm just really glad to see you after so long."

"I am too, Blueberry." He kissed her forehead gently, and she laughed a bit and smiled up at him, and they traded a hug again before Zerrex looked up as Selena appeared through a portal, looking tired and disgruntled. "Looks like I've got to get back to work though... take care of yourself, and feel free to stop by any time, huh?"

"I will, Father. Thank you. Goodbye..." Blueberry leaned up to peck his cheek gently as the Drakkaren leaned down, and then she turned and created a white portal, stepping through it as Zerrex watched before he turned his attention to Selena, who waved at him absently to take all the time he needed as she sat back against a wall and slid slowly down it... a little different from the impatience he had expected.

He walked over to her, tilting his head, and she mumbled: "Dude. Lily is the most boring person in the universe. I don't see what you see in that chick, even if she is a good friend when her mouth isn't yammering away." She paused, then opened one eye to look up at him. "So what the hell did you want, anyway? Take your time, I don't wanna go back to the council meeting until Lily's done her damn speech."

Zerrex rolled his eyes, and then he said quietly: "We may have found where Mercy exited Hell. There's a smuggling ring set up in the Circle of Sloth, and Cherry and I are going with some old friends to check it out. I've asked Sin to lead an attack on Halpas's Northern Province operation to distract everyone while we make our move to infiltrate and destroy the Sloth ring. I'm also going to send someone through the portal to see if they can snag Mercy, since she shouldn't be more than a few steps away."

Selena looked up at him for a few moments, and then she sighed before shaking her head, saying quietly: "Happy as I am everyone's together... goddamn do I miss the days when it was you and me against Hell. I never meant to care about you, you stupid son of a bitch, and then all of a sudden I did, and it was wonderful every time we went and busted some skulls or stood up, just you and me, against someone else... fuck. Fuck this shit, these emotions." She stood up, then looked at him shamefully as she rubbed at one of her eyes, saying softly: "I know we gotta function as one-for-all, all-for-one, even if I ain't good at that... so let me help out. Please. I... I want to feel that I'm still useful to you."

The Drakkaren looked at her quietly... and then he finally smiled faintly, saying softly: "Yeah. Maybe you can help, Selena... even if the job's dangerous as hell and-"

"Dude, don't you dare make a joke about me going to get you coffee or staying here to watch over Lily and Ami, even if they are both retards in combat sometimes." Selena said darkly, her eyes turning black before they returned to normal, as she winced and rubbed at her head. "Well. Okay, after what I saw Lily do last time, maybe she ain't totally hopeless."

"Kill or capture Halpas." Zerrex said mildly, and Selena gaped at him before he added, despite his own misgivings and worries: "Or are you a big fat chicken?"

"What the fuck do chickens have to do with anything, I still don't understand that." Selena muttered, but she looked offended nonetheless; it wasn't exactly a hard thing to do, on the other hand. "But okay, sure, yeah, I'd be up for a little challenge. I uh. I get to take some dudes with me to help me out with his gang, though, right? The dude's got his fingers in a lot of pies and he's a major player here in Hell... I remember when you fought him, even you had trouble."

"Yeah, because he so many cybernetic upgrades." Zerrex replied, feeling oddly wounded. Then he cleared his throat, looking at her mildly as he added seriously: "Look, Selena, if you're too tired, or you can't do this, you don't have to. Sin won't attack until I say so, and you can take all the time you need... I'd like the Royal Guards to start mumbling rumors about the attacks long before they occur, after all. It might make it more dangerous when they strike at whatever base he's set up, but on the other hand..."

"They'll have Sin with them. Dudes'll be scared shitless." Selena said mildly, shaking her head a bit before she smiled slightly. "And if I can kill Halpas, you lose a major political adversary, and we prove to a lot of people you don't take crap from anyone, even if all these years you've been letting him continue his operations because he's got a lot of ties with the Barred City locals. The only problem I see with this plan is if the Barred City rises up... bastards could cause us a lot of problems."

Zerrex shook his head slowly, saying quietly: "We'll deal with them when we have to. For now, we need to focus on starting a more-serious attack on some of these sites. We don't need another huge mess like we had in Ire on our hands, after all... and Wulfe Pharmaceuticals can't be permitted to ship any more of their products here into Hell." He paused, then looked morbid, rubbing at the back of his head. "I swear to whatever gods are above, this whole time-change is going to drive me insane. It's been what, months? And up above that translates to... minutes?"

Selena shrugged, looking back at him with dry amusement. "Why the hell do I care? I just know the basic principle that a lot of years here equals just one day up in the physical world, and that's all that's ever mattered. You worry too much about things in the far future, Zerrex... see, right now, I know Mercy is out in the mortal world, and maybe already in danger... but I don't worry because I know that even if it takes years, we can still save her before anything seriously bad happens." Selena met his eyes, adding quietly: "I've learned to be a bit patient, Boss. Might be surprising, but I guess if you taught me one thing... it's that nothing is impossible."

Zerrex smiled a bit at this, then he glanced down to his feet as Sammy popped out of nowhere with a huff, looking up at him and clinging to his leg as the Drakkaren said quietly: "Hey, you're too little to come with me on this mission."

"Nah, he ain't." Selena said immediately, and Sammy looked at her with surprise as she grinned and crossed her chiseled arms, winking at Zerrex's sour look. "That isn't a cute little house-pet, Zer. That's a pseudodragon. That little beast of yours is probably already capable of killing most minor demons by itself, if you'd only train the little bugger. And Sloth is the perfect place to get in some of that training... everything there gets too tired of running after about ten seconds, so it's not like it's hard to escape."

"Yeah, except Cherry wants to hunt a Great Conch." Zerrex said flatly, and he reached an arm down automatically as Sammy chirped, and the pseudodragon bounced its way up to curl around his shoulders contentedly. "Even I have trouble breaking through a Great Conch shell."

Selena looked at them thoughtfully for a few moments, and then she walked over and tickled under Sammy's jaw as she whispered to Zerrex softly: "Someone taught me that sometimes it ain't size that matters... it's will and determination. And if this little bastard takes after you... well... he should have more than enough of both to get the job done. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go get bitched at by Lily, but I'll pass the message along to the council and summon Sin to the meeting." She created a portal, then paused as she looked back at Zerrex, adding mildly: "Take my advice for once, huh? You might actually be pleasantly surprised."

Zerrex watched her as she left, rubbing at his head slowly... and then he grumbled something under his breath, looking at Sammy as the little dragon twisted its head around on its long neck to look back at him, before he asked plainly: "So do you wanna come with me?"

It nodded and chirped, and the Drakkaren sighed, rubbing the back of his head slowly. "Well... I guess that's okay then. Just don't get yourself killed, I sure as hell do not want you dying on me after everything we've been through." He paused, then turned around to look at his sword quietly for a few moments, before he asked softly, not even realizing he was speaking: "What about you, old friend? Did you turn your back on me because you were corrupted... or because I've given up on ever holding you again?"

Dark energy sparked over the sword... and Zerrex rested both of his hands on the case as he closed his eyes and bowed his head forwards. Sammy leapt down to it a moment later, chirping at him and nibbling at one of his hands... and the reptile opened his eyes with a quiet smile, patting him softly on the head. "You know, I come here a lot when I want to be alone. This is a sacred place in the Spire... it's not only a battleground where the blood of two Incarnates was spilled, and it's not only the place I redecorated so that the flags of not only Heaven and Hell but the mortal realm hang all in one place... but it's sort of a shrine. To the defeat of the Princess, to the defeat of Crow, to the defeat of Narrius himself... and when I stop and think about it, I don't know which one of those three were the most dangerous."

He stopped, looking back down at his sword as Sammy nodded a bit and tapped quietly along the glass, peering down at the weapon as well... and then he jumped when black electricity zapped along the broken bits of blade, causing them all to stir in their spot as Zerrex sighed and shook his head slowly. "To think. All this power I have, and now I can't even hold my own sword... and you know, Sammy, swords aren't actually the weapon I'm best with." He smiled a bit as he looked at the pseudodragon, which tilted its head curiously. "The weapon I'm best with is the pole... a simple quarterstaff or the like. Swords I tend to screw up with, and well... with cleavers, it doesn't take a lot of style or technique to hack an enemy in half, with the sheer weight and power of the weapon.

"Blackheart and I always worked together well, though, and I miss it." Zerrex crossed his arms over the glass, leaning against it and sighing a bit as he rested his head on them, looking mildly up at the pseudodragon. "Believe me, I've had lots of weapons over the years and most of them are broken or have been passed on. But Blackheart I've always missed. For me, this feels sort of like... I'm sitting next to a friend in a coma. An... angry coma, at that."

The Drakkaren made a face as dark energy zapped through the blade again, and he finally straightened and walked away from the case to instead examine the various flags and crests on the wall, murmuring: "It only does that when I'm around... Sammy, do you think if something has energy in it, it's alive? Then again, everything possesses energy... and we're all built up of the same stuff. Trees are alive, too, and in Hell, plenty of objects are animated... but what is life?" He made a face, and Sammy chirped at him as he hopped off the showcase to bound over to Zerrex's feet, nipping at his robes. "I wonder how alive Blackheart is..."

Sammy nipped more insistently at him, and Zerrex looked down after a moment before the dragon hopped up to his hind legs, craning his head upwards. Zerrex met his eyes, frowning a bit... and then he winced as a vision entered his still slightly-achy head, rubbing at his skull before he made a bit of a face, saying mildly: "A ball? Bit late to play fetch, kid."

The dragon rolled his eyes, huffed, then gave Zerrex the same kind of look he gave Cherry when she was being an idiot. Then he glared again, and the Drakkaren rubbed at his skull slowly as the vision faded in once more, this time in brighter colors that made his skull ache... before he brightened as he said stupidly: "Oh, I get it, you want me to use the crystals!"

The vision vanished, and Sammy dropped down to all fours with a prim nod and a look that asked plainly: 'was that so hard?' The lizard favored the little pseudodragon with a sour look, and then they both glanced up as a portal appeared and Cherry emerged into the room. She paused for a moment before turning to Zerrex to mutter and half-salute his broken sword, as she always did, and then she turned her eyes back towards him, saying mildly: "You got your shit together yet Boss? The gang's almost ready to go."

"Have not even started yet. I was waiting for you or Sin to show up." Zerrex paused, then he cleared his throat and said loudly: "Sin, I'm sending Cherry to see you!"

Cherry snorted amusedly, rolling her eyes... and then she jumped, looking back and forth with an expression of horror as Sin's voice called, as if from some great distance: "Yes, Lord Zerrex... I'll await her at Legion 452."

"Dude, like. What the hell." Cherry shivered a bit as she hugged herself, looking suspiciously back and forth. "I've heard of throwing your voice, but that's like... catapulting your voice or some crazy shit. Sin is some crazy shit." A pause, then she whispered: "She didn't hear that, did she?"

The Drakkaren rolled his eyes, and then he said mildly: "I guess you're going to find out. Anyway, I need you to carry a message to Sin for me... tell her that Selena is going to take a squadron to defeat Halpas, and I'm going to leave shortly for the hunt. Selena and Sin should coordinate the attack between themselves for maximum effect, and it can't take place for at least twenty hours. I want our hunting trip to look as natural as I can."

"Got it. It's gonna take us that long to find a Great Conch anyway." Cherry said mildly, grinning a bit as she winked at him, and then she walked over and slapped him firmly on the shoulder. "I'd gear up if I were you though, Boss. We're gonna need to get our asses moving shortly, and you're still in that stupid-ass robe."

Zerrex nodded, glancing down at himself with a bit of a face, and Cherry laughed as she winked before creating a portal, saying mildly: "By the way, don't touch the shit in what I'm now calling my room. That's my shit for the duration of this mission here. You can go get your own shit from down in the Vault."

The reptile rolled his eyes as she vanished through the portal, and then he glanced down at Sammy, asking mildly: "See why I don't like her that much sometimes? She's a bossy little bitch."

The pseudodragon chirped in response, and then Zerrex extended an arm to it, and the little beast leapt quickly up his strong limb to his shoulder before the Drakkaren created a portal of his own, tossing one last look at Blackheart before he stepped through and entered into a small cement room, an automated turret in the corner of each clicking on and aiming at him for a moment as a central camera over a huge, hydraulic door locked in on him, whirring as it locked onto his face.

Then the red light on the camera binged blue, and a moment later the huge, pneumatic door in the wall hissed as several large valve handles spun rapidly around and locked into different positions. Zerrex walked forwards as an alarm beeped three times, and he grasped the lowest handle before grunting and slowly pulling it open... and a moment later he stepped into the Vault, which was also known as the Ravenlight Estate's Museum of Arms.

The hall was some forty feet wide and at least a hundred and fifty long, and the first thirty feet or so of each long wall leading towards the back of the room was taken up by shelves-upon-shelves of ammunition - both for mortal and demonic arms, from boxes of bullets to arrows, from rockets to explosive bolts. In between these shelves were tables strewn with all manner of gear not kept in any real order: combat vests, jackets, bandoliers, quivers, sidepacks... and Zerrex absently stripped off his robe and pauldrons to toss these onto an empty table nearby, which had an ugly, handmade sign hanging from a chain over it that said: "LAUNDRY."

He stretched slowly as Sammy jumped down to gaze back and forth with surprise, chirping quietly as they passed the shelves stocked with ammunition to pass the walls covered in weaponry: the lowest point, near the floor, always held some form of knife or small weapon, but for the first few dozen feet, the walls were covered in mortal weaponry... guns of every shape and size, most of them 'taken as evidence' from illegal import bases. The Drakkaren had quite a collection... and then he paused to walk over to one of the many stands that dotted the center of the long hall, gently stroking a finger along the body of a massive RPG launcher as he said with quiet entertainment: "See this thing here, Sammy? It shoots what's called a rocket... well... a rocket-powered grenade, technically... and these are little projectiles that make big explosions. I need to install something like this in your mouth at some point."

Sammy rolled his eyes, then he leapt up on top of the RPG and strutted along it, stretching out his back as he looked imperiously at Zerrex. The Drakkaren snorted in amusement, then he headed onwards, and Sammy leapt down to follow him closely, as they went from racks of guns to racks of swords, spears, and every other kind of weapon imaginable, with plenty of different holders sitting in the middle of the hall.

Zerrex, however, continued to ignore everything they passed, even as they walked past shields and other armors... and Sammy tilted his head curiously before watching as the Drakkaren walked up to a huge golden shield on the wall, shaped like an oval... and the reptile twisted this upside down on whatever holder it sat atop, and the pseudodragon squeaked in surprise as a large section of the wall sank slowly down into the floor, shield and all. Then Zerrex winked over his shoulder at Sammy before walking into a room lit by a glowing blue orb placed in the ceiling, and the tiny dragon quickly followed Zerrex into a plush red office, with a large oak desk and a beautiful wooden chair with a red-cushioned backing.

On the wall were two swords: a serrated blade with a hilt shaped to protect the hands of the user, beautifully and ornately designed... and beneath it, a plain steel blade that Zerrex could buy anywhere for a handful of gold... but it had been Selena's first gift to him, and he treasured it mightily. On the desk sat a few other odds and ends, and the Drakkaren walked around this to first reach down and open the top drawer, pulling out a pair of keys... and an ancient pair of .52 magnum handguns, made of gleaming purple steel and designed to perfectly fit Zerrex's hands. They had become a bit battered and worn over the years, but they still looked polished and brilliant... and Zerrex spun these on his fingers before he tossed both of them up into the air and caught them with a flick of his wrists, chambering a round into each and aiming them forwards as he said softly: "No safeties, minimal recoil, maximum firepower. Engineered by mortals, enhanced further by demons."

He put them both gently down on the table after a moment, then he pulled the holsters and a thin leather belt out of the drawer. A few moments later, and he wearing the holsters, the belt cinched tight around his waist and the guns sliding home into the black leather... and Zerrex smiled a bit to himself as he shut the door and opened another to pull out six clips, tucking three into the small loops on the front of each belt as he murmured: "With a gun like this, it's too dangerous to use reality-altering magic to make the bullets regenerate as they're fired... but there's something magical nonetheless about using guns in combat and reloading them the old-fashioned way..."

He laughed a bit, shaking his head slowly and smiling as he picked the pair of keys up from the desk to bounce them lightly in his hand, and then he walked around the desk as Sammy watched curiously, and the Drakkaren felt carefully along the smooth red walls of the office before he touched a flaw in the wall, and he raised one of the keys to this, sliding it into the hole and turning it... and a straight crack appeared in the wall that the Drakkaren slid his claws into, sliding the wall open like a pair of closet doors and looking thoughtfully into a personal closet he kept, Sammy leaping up onto the desk to stare with a squawk of amazement as Zerrex looked over his shoulder with a grin. "Sin's good to me. She set all this up..." A pause as he reached into the closet, pulling out a black shirt made of tightly-woven wyrm scales and a thick pair of dragon-leather chaps, before he leaned down and tossed out a pair of polished combat boots as well, Sammy ducking with a squawk as they flew over his head. "Now watch this."

The Drakkaren closed the doors, and then he removed the key before he tabbed through the keyring, and inserted another. The pseudodragon sat back on his hind legs curiously, and then he let out a surprised squeak as Zerrex opened the doors again not on a clothes closet, but instead a small metal locker full of weaponry, and the reptile grinned over his shoulder, imitating a raised eyebrow. "Pretty cool, right?"

He turned his attention back to the weapons locker, and he reached inside to pull out a long, single-edged sword, closing his eyes as he let the black-wrapped ivory handle rest against his features for a moment. The metal sheath of the sword seemed to pulse for a moment, and then the Drakkaren turned around and gently placed the seven-foot sword down on the ground, murmuring quietly: "Fell Tempest, Sword of Sorrow. A gift from my kids that's some eight-million years old now... another sword I share a bit of a brotherhood with, even if the blade is always sad."

Zerrex laughed quietly, then he turned back to the weapons locker, picking up a simple combat knife and tossing that onto the table... and Sammy watched as the Drakkaren closed the closet doors and locked them, the wall becoming simply a wall again as Zerrex dropped the keys back into a drawer before he nodded to the little dragon, saying softly: "We're almost ready to leave, Sammy... just got to suit up now."

Five minutes later, Zerrex was finally adjusting Fell Tempest against his back, the sword resting diagonally across his back by means of a clip that fell over his shoulder... and the reptile leaned down to brush some dust off one of his combat boots before he checked his knife, ensuring all his gear was comfortable but tight against him. Then he reached up and squeezed the handle of the sword gently, and it almost seemed to sigh despondently as Zerrex said dryly: "Now stop that, you're going to make me depressed. Go back to sleep."

The sword seemed to settle, as Sammy chirped at him and they left the office, and the Drakkaren felt a chill run down his spine, something brushing through his mind. He shook his head quickly, and then he muttered: "No. No, for once, everything's going according to plan, let's just do this, and-"

He was interrupted as an alarm blared through the room, and the reptile looked up in shock before he heard the automated turrets outside whirr into life, opening fire on something... and then a pair of explosions, and a terrible scream of fury. Zerrex winced, then readied himself, grasping the handle of the sword as he looked at Sammy and shouted: "Hide!"

Sammy shook his head quickly and set himself instead with a snarl, and Zerrex winced: he could probably boot the pseudodragon across the room, but that likely wouldn't help conceal him very well. Then his attention was drawn away from the pseudodragon as something clanked once, twice, against the doorway... then smashed into it with the force of a mighty battering ram, once, twice, three times...

And then the door exploded off its hinges, the foot-thick, armored-and-runed doorway flying backwards to smash apart several tables and skid slowly backwards, knocking over a few more stands of weaponry as Celestial floated inside through the smoke, snarling furiously, her eyes blood-red and her robe a burning black fire over her body and arms as she screamed: "Zerrex, what is the meaning of this?"

"Mom?" Zerrex said stupidly, and then his eyes bulged and he leapt to the side as Celestial threw a ball of dark flame at him, the fireball hitting the wall behind him and not exploding, but rapidly eating away at what it struck like acid. He cursed, then stared as white, terrible things flickered in and out of existence over Celestial's face and hands fast enough that he could barely even see their shape, and she hissed furiously at him before she stopped some fifty feet away, hovering in the air as he asked in a strained voice: "What... what do you want?"

"Why haven't you visited me?" Celestial shrieked the question, then she brought both hands forwards, and Zerrex gargled, grasping at a white band that appeared around his throat, eyes bulging and feet kicking as he was dragged into the air... and Sammy shrieked in pain, falling over and convulsing as Zerrex smelled his scale and hair charring, burning... and then Celestial floated up close, grinning insanely, her head tilting to the side as a hand stroked over his face... but it was not a flesh-and-blood hand now, but instead a bony, twisted claw as she rasped: "I know just how to make you stay with me for all eternity, Zerrex..."

"Boss!" shouted a voice, and Celestial looked away in surprise before a spear slammed into her face, and she winced, knocked backwards through the air by a foot or so... but then she simply gave Vampire a disapproving look as Zerrex fell to the ground. The blow might not have done damage, but her concentration had broken... and the Drakkaren cursed, grasping at his burnt throat as the huge demon wolf picked up another spear off the wall, looking terrified but managing to yell: "You... you stop that right now, you big stupid-head! I'll... I'll stab you!"

"Smooth." Cherry muttered, as she portalled in at the other side of the room, and then Priest and Bondage appeared through other portals, and Celestial looked back and forth with distaste, one of her eyes twitching before she rose a hand as another portal opened... and then it snapped closed in a blast of dark lightning, before terrible darkness flooded over the walls and floors like an ugly mist, the room slowly darkening as Cherry shouted: "Boss, get the hell away from her!"

"Celestial, I'm busy, I have to find my daughter! I don't have time for this!" Zerrex shouted, as he looked up at the thing that had once been his mother, and the floating specter looked shocked as she floated slowly down, Zerrex looking at her pleadingly as he said quietly: "Don't you understand?"

"I do... I understand perfectly." Celestial landed, looking back and forth as she tented her fingers in front of herself... but the reptile realized they were still bone claws, and when instinct screamed at him, and he saw the snarl that crossed her face, he ducked under a vicious slash of her claws as she screamed: "I have an ungrateful ingrate for a child, that's what I understand! Weak and pathetic, put aside your emotions, your filthy love for a pathetic, weakling child, and accept and love and follow me and my path, for power, for infinite energy!"

Zerrex cursed, then he leapt backwards as the others began to close in... and then Celestial was simply there, right beside him, as a horrendous triangular crest of bone appeared over her face, her features now a mask of ugly, exposed bone and her eyes glowing red, her fanged mouth snarling as her hands closed around his throat: "I've humored you long enough. Forget your friends. You're coming home with me!"

And then a sphere of terrible darkness rose up and consumed them both, a powerful force knocking the others backwards as the vile mist that covered the room was sucked into the sphere at the same time... and Sammy somehow leapt in with a shriek nonetheless, passing through the sphere before it exploded in a crackle of dark lightning. Inside, Zerrex felt the whirl of travel, heard Celestial screaming and laughing, vertigo lashing at his mind...

He blinked a few times as he found himself laying on sick, fleshy ground, and he breathed hard before he looked quickly around. He was in a circular room, the floor made of bones and skin that bled pus and blood here and there, the walls pure darkness that was undiluted and obscenely opaque... and he swallowed thickly as he stood up before staring upwards in surprise at a scream of rage and fury.

Celestial was hovering in the air, twisting back and forth, her robes dark fire and her hands wicked, twisted claws, her true, monstrous face exposed... but she was spinning back and forth, clawing at her spine, before Zerrex saw Sammy clinging to her back, biting savagely into the back of her neck with his small fangs as she howled: "Let go of me, you filthy vermin!"

Finally, she snapped both her hands forwards, and her wrists detached before her hands flew behind her back and seized the pseudodragon cruelly, and he screamed before he was thrown away... but Zerrex leapt to the side, catching him as Celestial floated backwards and downwards, facing him with a snarl of fury as her hands floated beside her, just below her arms. She was terrifying, cruel, and seemed infinitely powerful as light shone down from a hole in the dark ceiling above... and then she laughed viciously, throwing her arms wide as she screamed: "Welcome home, my lovely son! Now, I'm going to make you part of my home... forever!"

She laughed raucously again, and then stared in shock when Zerrex curled Sammy into one arm and reached up with his other hand to draw Fell Tempest off his back with a snap of his wrist, the blade releasing a burst of dark fire. Images engraved all along the single-edged sword's length depicted his defeat of Crow on one side, and of Narrius on the other... and Zerrex leaned forwards as he said darkly: "This has been a long time coming, Celestial... and I'm not scared of you anymore. You've taken too much of Narrius into you... you've gone from being my mother to the thing I hate most. If I have to fight you to get back home, I will... if I have to kill you, I will."

"You arrogant little piece of shit." Celestial hissed, and her eyes burned crimson before she lashed one of her claws forwards, her hand shooting towards Zerrex like a missile with bony fingers outstretched... but Zerrex stepped forwards, twisting Fell Tempest to block the strike, and the hand bounced backwards, Celestial's eyes flashing with what seemed like surprise as she was repelled as she hissed: "How dare you..."

"How dare I? How dare you! How dare you do this to me when I'm trying to find my daughter!" Zerrex shouted back, and then Sammy leapt down out of his arms, snarling and baring his teeth at the reptiles feet as Zerrex took Fell Tempest's handle into both hands, and the sword gleamed as the blade seemed to laugh quietly. "Enough, Celestial! Enough is enough!"

Celestial snarled, then snapped a hand forwards in answer, but Zerrex ducked on instinct, and the collar of white energy formed above his head instead of around his neck, the monster hissing before she dived forwards, creating spheres of dark energy in both hands... but Zerrex leapt up to meet her, and he swung Fell Tempest upwards in a lightning-fast strike that slashed into her dark body, repelling her, causing her to scream in fury before she threw both spheres at him.

Zerrex arched his back, and the spheres missed before they collided in midair and exploded, and the blast sent him hurtling awkwardly down into the ground, the Drakkaren cursing as he bounced hard against the fleshy floor to send up a geyser of pus and blood. Then he howled in agony, arching his back as Celestial landed on top of him and dug both her claws into her back, screaming: "I own you! You are my son, you are mine! You will not betray me!"

Then she howled in fury and arched her back as Sammy leapt onto her and clawed savagely into the darkness of her robed body, and she half-spun to knock him off with a curse, sending him sprawling on the floor... but when she turned back towards Zerrex, he threw an elbow hard backwards, catching her under the chin and snapping her head back with a grunt before he dropped his sword to reach both hands up and seize her by her ridged and lengthened skull, jerking her forwards and flipping her over to slam her down on her back in front of him.

Celestial grunted again, then her hands snapped upwards and dived towards Zerrex, harrying him like vicious eagles and causing him to curse, staggering backwards as Celestial floated slowly back up into the air and righted herself, twisting around with a snarl... before Zerrex managed to grab one of her hands as it shot back. It twisted back and forth in his grip, dark energy burning into his hands and sending agony through his body... before it glowed blue as he charged it with energy, and the bony claw convulsed wildly before it suddenly arched as Zerrex forced too much of his energies into it, and Celestial rocked backwards with a shriek of shock as her left hand exploded in the grip of the reptile, bony shrapnel flying in all directions.

The female slumped backwards as her other hand instantly returned to her wrist... and she snarled at Zerrex as she rose it, her hand open and fingers stretched towards the Drakkaren... and three thin, black blades of metal appeared in the air before they shot forwards, but the reptile quickly brought his right arm up with a wince, and they slammed into the solid, rocky metal beneath the scale, trapped uselessly before slowly melting away. The reptile grinned a bit as his arm became warped and rocky... and then Celestial pointed at it and shouted furiously: "Let's see how you like it!"

White energy appeared around the reptile's limb, and he looked down at it with shock before shaking it wildly, stumbling backwards as it burst into white flames... then several large cracks appeared through it, the energy inside turning white instead of blue before his arm simply exploded, and Zerrex howled as he fell on his side, clutching at it with agony. Celestial laughed, then she lunged forwards, a collar of white appearing around Zerrex's throat and a chain attached to it flashing into existence in her hand, and she hefted the Drakkaren easily into the air before beginning to spin him wildly around, cackling insanely the whole while.

She slammed him down into the ground a moment later, and Zerrex felt sharp bones rip upwards like spikes into his body as he howled in pain, feeling his energy being drained at the same time... and slowly, another hand formed at Celestial's side, and her eyes glowed with red light as she grabbed the chain in both hands and sent a terrible blast down it, white electricity shocking over Zerrex's form and causing him to convulse in agony, his eyes bulging in pain.

Sammy squeaked at him uselessly, wincing as white lightning shot over his own form... before he howled as Celestial twisted and yanked on the chain to strike the pseudodragon with Zerrex and crush it against the wall. She grinned widely... and then her eyes flickered in surprise as she saw Sammy clutching into Zerrex's body with his claws, the dragon raising his head gamely with a snarl... and a moment later Zerrex grinned as the white energy over his body rolled into the pseudodragon's, and Sammy cocked his head back with a long inhale before he leaned forwards and roared as he shot the terrible energy back straight into Celestial's skull-face.

Celestial's crimson eyes bulged, and then she howled in agony, twisting back and forth in the air as the chain and collar vanished from existence, and Zerrex leapt to his feet as Sammy was blown backwards from the magical recoil, coughing smoke as the Drakkaren snarled and charged forwards, picking up Fell Tempest as he ran towards Celestial, who was convulsing as the magical energy shot over her. Then she fell, her body smoking, and Zerrex leapt upwards, meeting the middle of her backwards with a hard rising slash, her spine cracking loudly as her limbs and burning-robe lower body spasmed... and then he roared as he flipped over and slashed hard down at the same time, the dark energy over her body turning blood-red for a moment before she was thrown down into the pus-covered, bloody ground.

She immediately tried to sit up... and Zerrex landed on top of her, stabbing the sword hard downwards with his own arm... and he breathed hard as he stood there, and Celestial stared straight ahead, unmoving and silent, her hands laying on the ground nearby... and through her skull and buried into the ground behind her, was the blade of Fell Tempest. For a few long moments, there was silence... and then Zerrex twisted the blade hard, and dark energy sizzled down it, through her skull, and into the ground... and Celestial screamed, her body arching uselessly, pinned beneath one of Zerrex's booted feet before her robes and ugly, bony skull both exploded into pieces.

What was left behind was a naked Drakkaren, who lay with the back of her head against the sword. She was beautiful, but her body was marred here and there by dark moss, and blood was running down her face from a cracked skull. Her hands had both been cut off... but when she opened her eyes, they were emerald... the same color as her son's.

She smiled faintly, and the ground beneath them became tile instead of flesh, that for a moment was beautiful... and then cracks ran through it, as the walls turned from darkness to cement that rumbled, bits and pieces of it beginning to fall inwards... and she looked down at herself before gazing up at Zerrex, whispering softly: "Thank you, my son... for releasing me from that nightmare..."

She slid slowly downwards, and Zerrex wrapped an arm around her shoulders, breathing hard as he gently settled her to the ground, suddenly feeling guilty, horrendous... but then she looked up and smiled faintly into his eyes, and she whispered: "I loved him too much. He corrupted me... and I can still feel that darkness deep inside me. Please, Light... my wonderful, handsome boy... please. Kill me. Kill me, before I become that vicious thing again... before your father's essence twists its way back through my mind..."

"I... Mom..." Zerrex trembled hard as he knelt over her, shaking his head weakly, swallowing thickly as he stared down at her... but then she leaned up, moaning in pain, and kissed his cheek softly. Her arms lay useless at her sides, and the reptile looked down at them, the bones visible at the ends of the wrist... and he reached down and squeezed her forearm slowly, earning a smile from her.

He tried to think of an argument. Of a reason. Of some way to appease her otherwise... and then he lowered his head slowly as he stood up, his right arm slowly growing back into place as Sammy walked up beside him silently, sitting and watching... and when he looked down at her, she nodded and whispered: "I have always loved you."

"I love you too, Mom... I'm... I'm sorry." And because he didn't want that to be the last thing he ever said to her, he added weakly, as he jerked Fell Tempest out of the ground and slowly brought the tip of the sword between her breasts: "Sleep well, Celestial... and thank you. For everything you did for me. For being my mother."

He stabbed hard downwards as he clenched his eyes shut for a moment, darkness twisting along the blade of the terrible weapon... and it seemed to whisper a prayer as its terrible energies ripped their way through Celestial's weakened, frail body, not attacking merely her physical form, but her very soul, eradicating any chance of her reviving herself, even with her tremendous powers... and then Zerrex opened his eyes as a tear ran down his cheeks, and he watched as darkness consumed her body, before it seemed to become so many black roses... and they blossomed before the petals floated slowly skywards, until nothing was left but the sword in the cracked ground.

The world around them trembled... and Sammy squeaked in surprise as Zerrex wiped at his eyes, snarling as his right arm thickened, and he looked down at it, flexing his claws as he sheathed Fell Tempest quickly on his back and said urgently: "We need to find the way out... this pocket dimension is going to collapse in on itself without Celestial's energies to hold it up!"

Sammy nodded quickly, then he shot off like a rocket towards a broken archway in the wall, and the Drakkaren followed a moment later, cursing under his breath as he ducked through it and followed the pseudodragon quickly up a damaged, cracked staircase. All around him, he could hear things cracking, could almost see reality itself starting to fall apart... and then he stumbled out into a dining room, and Sammy ran across the table before leaping into the next room... and the lizard let out a grunt of surprise, his eyes bulging as the floor shattered and fell away, the walls and ceiling dissolving next, but the table floating strangely in the air... and Zerrex leapt up onto this, doing his best to only focus on the archway that was also floating oddly, feeling the last of the pocket dimension giving up as it became the terrible Nothingness from which there was said to be no escape.

He leapt off the table and landed awkwardly in the next room, his leg twisting under him as he fell forwards to collapse with a thud on his chest... and he found himself staring down into a void, Sammy already at the bottom and hopping up and down urgently on a perfectly-round platform. Energy crackled and boomed, a staircase and a huge clock floating by... and Zerrex muttered as he leapt first to the broken, floating circular staircase in the torrent of Nothingness, before he let himself drop to a large chunk of concrete that was twisting awkwardly through the air, half-stumbling, then letting himself fall to land painfully on all fours on the circular platform next to Sammy some twenty feet down.

The pseudodragon squeaked, then he leapt onto a thin, long concrete walkway, Zerrex scrambling to his feet and following quickly after, wincing as it began to crack apart under his feet... and then Sammy leapt towards a wall, Zerrex raising a hand in shock before he saw the ring of purple runes on it, and the pseudodragon vanished as a portal opened, and the Drakkaren charged forwards before diving through himself.

He fell out of a sphere of twisting purple darkness, landing heavily on his chest on a plateau high in a mountainous region of Hell, and Sammy squeaked loudly beside him, looking at him with concern as the Drakkaren lay sprawled there, shaking his head stupidly and then groaning as he rubbed at his head. He blinked a few times dumbly, then he finally sat up and looked above as the spherical portal in the air fizzled a few times before it vanished in a final burst of energy, and Zerrex looked down quietly as the sword on his back murmured soft, unknown words, and Sammy walked over to quietly put a claw on his leg, looking up at him and chirping what to the reptile sounded almost like a quiet condolence.

The Drakkaren reached a hand out with a faint smile, patting him quietly on the head as he shook his own slowly, murmuring softly: "Thank you. I'm... impressed beyond words, Sammy. You kept up with one of my... most dangerous adversaries... very well, and probably saved my life." He nodded quietly, looking away. He hated to think of Celestial like that... but he knew that was what she had become, and that with her gone... Hell and the mortal world both were much safer places. She was... more frail than I thought she'd be, though. That battle, so many years ago with Crow, must have sapped all the strength she'd built up over the years... I only wish it had taken away her madness instead. "You know, there's a tradition in Hell, and many other cultures. Prove that you're an adult, perform a task, a rite of passage... and you earn yourself a true name."

He looked down and laughed a bit, patting the pseudodragon quietly again and then stroking along his neck slowly, murmuring softly: "You've been named by me... by me, blessed with a name by Sin... and now you're a warrior. So much over so little time... and... we worked together goddamn well there. I didn't know you'd inherited my conduction abilities... when you absorbed that energy out of my body and shot it back at her... that stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Sammy Ch'vrah Dovis Ti, the Dove... as High King of Hell, I have decided that you are worthy of being proclaimed as an honored member of Hell's Royal Guard Force." Zerrex proclaimed suddenly, and then he reached down and patted Sammy firmly on the head, the dragon looking up at him stupidly. "Congratulations, Knight Dove. You're now my personal bodyguard."

The little dragon chirped at him dumbly, and Zerrex snorted in amusement before he scooped him up and smiled tiredly at him. "It's the least I can do, pseudodragon. I'd declare you a royal steed but you're a little tiny... and well. I gotta start treating you more like an adult, Dove. Although, you know, you'll still always be little Sammy to me, that little hatchling that grossed me out to all hell at first."

Sammy huffed up at him, and then he settled after a moment and nodded, looking up at him... and Zerrex stroked gently down his spine with soft entertainment before he stood up, the pseudodragon automatically leaping up to his shoulders and curling around them as Zerrex said mildly: "Well... we better get home. I'm sure the others are freaking out by now and with Cherry pregnant, she might have beaten Vampire into mush.

The Drakkaren created a portal and stepped through it, and he stepped out into the Vault, making a face at the fact that Celestial must have completely trashed the protective runes... and then he was tackled by Vampire, squawking as all the injuries on his body burned with agony and Fell Tempest mumbled wordlessly on his back, and the huge, demonic black wolf covered his face in kisses, asking in a concerned, semi-hysteric voice: "Hey, Boss, Boss, fuck, Cap'n, are you okay? What happened? Where is she? Did you escape? Did-"

Then he yelped loudly as Cherry roughly booted the enormous demonic male off Zerrex, grumbling something under her breath before she reached down and hauled him to his feet, Sammy still clinging to his neck and looking as horrified as Zerrex as she asked quickly and seriously: "Is Celestial coming?"

Zerrex's pain was lost in a wave of sudden guilt and sorrow... and he looked down quietly as the others - including Selena and Sin and Lily now, all of them looking ready for battle - before he finally glanced up and announced quietly: "Celestial DePries Narrius is dead. I killed her."

There was silence for a long few moments... and then Cherry cleared her throat as she looked around pointedly. A few of the gathering backed quickly off, and then Desire leapt out of the crowd, hugging him tightly around the waist and clinging to him as she whispered: "Oh Daddy..."

"We need to go forwards as usual." Zerrex finally said in a roughened voice, and Desire looked up at him with surprise before he finally wrapped an arm around her and squeezed her quietly close, murmuring gently down to her as Cypress approached his other side, squeezing his arm quietly: "Thank you two for your support. But... let me deal with these other matters first. And then when we're organized... we can go."

"You should rest." Cherry said firmly, and she patted his chest, making the reptile wince with a grunt before she asked mildly: "Have you looked in a mirror yet, dude? You and the little guy both look like you were thrown through a fuckin' garbage chewer."

Zerrex looked at her mildly, but before he could protest, Selena rose a hand all of a sudden and declared: "In the event that the High King is severely injured or absent, the Four Thrones will take over all duties." She paused, then crossed her arms with a grin as the reptile looked at her sourly, saying mildly: "The votes gonna be a lot against one, Zer. You need healing, and you've lost a crapload of energy. Let Cherry and her friends there deal with the base, and you can go and snooze some while we get someone else to watch over you."

The Drakkaren felt a surge of anger and something like betrayal... but then his vision blurred, and he swayed a bit on his feet. He rubbed a hand through his hair instead, lowering his eyes... but before he could either concede or argue, Cherry said carefully: "Come on, Boss. Let me help you out. Up to your room."

She took his arm, and the reptile felt her tap her fingers twice against his strong bicep. It made him almost smile a bit, but he kept it down as he finally sighed and nodded, and he could hear the crowd beginning to argue... and as they walked away, Cherry muttered: "Sometimes they're way too overprotective of you. Come on, we just gotta make it out of the Vault."

Zerrex knew that the chance of this dumb ruse working were very close to nil, and he could already feel Sin's eyes on his back, even if Selena was probably proudly thinking she had actually won an argument against him... but then they were through the broken Vault doors, and Cherry created a large portal, half-carrying Zerrex through it as Sammy clung to him quietly.

They stepped out into a soporific forest, the trees here bent and curled as if asleep, the ground covered in soft ferns and vines... and Cherry gently rested Zerrex back against the tree, the Drakkaren making a face as he sat down against it and the female began to check over his wounds. Several of them were still bleeding and refusing to heal, and she muttered under her breath before standing up, and Zerrex said softly: "Step back. Lemme take a good look at you."

She seemed surprised by this... but then she grinned a bit and did so, stepping back and spreading her legs a bit, putting her hands on her hips as she posed for him, asking in an amused voice: "What, Boss, you so struck by my brains and beauty you just gotta get a whole new image of me in your head?"

Zerrex snorted amusedly, but he smiled as his eyes drew over her: a tight black exercise top that showed off most of her enormous bust, blue jeans that were worn and faded, and metal motorcycle boots that were black and silver, covered in small spikes. She had armed herself with her old chain whip hanging from one hip... but at the other was sheathed a short, double-edged sword in an ornate white and gold case, with a chain from the pommel attaching into a heavy manacle wrapped around one arm. The chain lengthened and shortened by itself with Cherry's movements, giving her more than enough freedom to move as she pleased... and then winked as she drew a silver revolver that was holstered behind one hip, kissing the barrel of it lightly as she asked him playfully: "Am I badass enough for you? Or should I go get me some more guns?"

"I think you're more than badass enough." Zerrex replied with a bit of a smile, and then the two looked up in surprise as a portal opened and Sin stepped through it, crossing her arms and tapping one finger lightly against a bicep, her gaze sour. Cherry coughed and slowly edged away, and Zerrex rose a hand to her dumbly, saying stupidly: "Oh look. Cherry uh. Redecorated my room."

"Lord Zerrex, you're incorrigible." Sin sighed, looking exasperated, and then she walked over to him, bending down and quietly beginning to inspect his wounds as she added to Cherry, who was peering over her shoulder: "And you, Lady Cherry, need to learn to better respect the orders of the law. You're supposed to be a role model, not someone whose base enjoyment is helping Lord Zerrex out with all his schemes behind the backs of the rest of Hell's monarchy and rulership."

"Yeah, well, what can I say? Old habits die hard." Cherry shrugged, grinning widely and lamely, and then she coughed when Sin tossed a sour look up at her. "Chillax, babe, seriously. Besides, I don't see you rushing him back to his room."

Sin paused for a few long moments, and then a bit of a smile edged in on her muzzle as she carefully probed a wound, making the lizard wince. "Perhaps Zerrex is better suited to doing good out in the field... over sitting with bureaucrats and trying to manage the intricate workings and gears of Hell. Not that he isn't perfectly capable of it... but simply put, he seems to prefer... working with his hands, so to speak."

"I'm sitting right here." Zerrex interrupted, and then he winced when Sin poked a finger into one of the larger cuts on his body, cursing under his breath and half-flailing at her. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Checking for Unworld residue." Sin replied in a murmur, her eyes focused before she muttered a spell. Her fingers glowed a soft white after a moment, the light pulsing slowly as she began to trace out one of the deeper scars, and Zerrex winced and tilted his head back, gritting his teeth as pain tore through his body and a terrible black smoke rose from the wound, before it slowly began to stitch itself back together. "You have some very serious injuries, Zerrex, even if you don't feel them... I know how agonizing it is to have the Unworld essence forcefully withdrawn from you, but if we leave it in... well... you know what'll happen."

The reptile grumbled as Cherry leaned on the tree, making a bit of a face. It was true: even if his wounds felt numb more than anything else, eventually the poisonous stuff of the Unworld would spread through his body, eating away at both his spiritual energies and his physical form like acid until he was a shell of his former self. And it wouldn't take him long to get sick with that stuff in him, either... and the longer he left it alone, the more entrenched it would get. It sucks how deadly the very touch of things from the Unworld are... "Just do it quick then, okay?"

Sin nodded, smiling a bit, and then she went about the task of checking and purifying the rest of his wounds, Zerrex mumbling and cursing every time it was done. Cherry stood nearby, watching curiously for a little while as she did her work on the Drakkaren; twenty minutes later, however, found her laying spread-eagled in the grass, staring at the sky and absently waving her limbs back and forth as if making a snow angel, before she asked irritably: "What the fuck, come on, dudes. It's magic, it's supposed to be like. Impossible and fast and all that shit."

"It's a lot harder than it looks." Sin muttered through grit-teeth, while Zerrex bit into his own wrist to resist screaming, as the Naganatine carefully extracted a large shard of bone out of the reptile's back. Then, finally, she pulled it free and clasped a hand over the wound, her palm glowing green and rapidly healing the bloody gash before she drew it back, shaking her hand out and muttering: "Give me at least fifteen more minutes. But I'd need an hour if I wanted to be really sure."

"Ten minutes, then I'm totally leaving with or without you." Cherry warned, looking over at Zerrex sourly. She rolled onto her stomach, then began to do pushups, mumbling her count to herself but half-keeping one eye on the reptile, despite her disdain.

The Drakkaren, on the other hand, was breathing hard, his arms now wrapped around the tree and squeezing into it hard enough to crack the bark, his face grinding against the segmented wood while Sin drew another shard of bone out of his spine. Part of the reason it hurt so much was because the goddamn thing was deep in his body... but the other part was that it was leaking that terrible non-energy into him, which made it feel like it had barbs roughly two feet long embedded throughout his body. It had been a long time since he had to deal with pain on this level... and while pain in battle was one thing, pain while out of battle he tended to be a bit whiny about. "Son of a whore!"

Sin tore the shard free, then she tossed it away with a sigh, looking tired as she healed the wound it left. "I know it hurts, Lord Zerrex, but we're almost done. Just some shrapnel now and a basic heal-over... and then I think I'm going to have another nap, because I'm too tired to lecture you."

Eight minutes later, and Sin was done, stepping away and rubbing at her forehead with her wrist as Zerrex got shakily to his feet, looking a bit unsteady at first. He rubbed slowly at one leg as it sent a throb of pain through him... and then he straightened and shook his head quickly, mumbling: "Thanks Sin. Cherry, you better take the lead for the moment. I feel a bit woozy still."

"Got it, Boss." Cherry nodded, then she slapped Sin on the shoulder, the Naganatine looking surprised and flinching away from the contact as her glammer flickered, before the demoness winked and grinned brightly at her. "And hey, thank you, babe, for bein' so good to him and all that shit. I totally owe you one."

"It's the least I can do for Lord Zerrex." Sin murmured in reply, bowing her head a bit before she gave a hesitant smile, and then she created a portal, half-stepping through it as she added softly: "Take care of each other... Zerrex, try to come back in one piece for a change."

And with that, she stepped the rest of the way through and vanished, and Zerrex shook his head with soft entertainment before he glanced over at Cherry, steadying himself carefully. Cherry's eyes swept over him, and he winced at her quick analysis before she said slowly: "Hey. You're acting like you used to, Boss. Something wrong with your leg there?"

"Just hurts a bit. It's nothing important, we have to go." Zerrex muttered, glancing away, and Cherry narrowed her eyes at him, that overprotective-motherly look coming on to her muzzle. "Don't... don't look at me like that. Now seriously, let's get moving: we got a base camp or meet area set up yet?"

Cherry huffed after a moment, but then she grunted and crossed her arms. "Should only be a short walk from here." A pause as she softened, asking quietly: "You want me to make a portal, Boss? We can just do that. Figure they've probably got a lean-to set up by now, too, so you could rest a while there if you wanted."

"Stop treating me like a spoiled toddler." Zerrex shoved her lightly, and Cherry snorted amusedly and shoved him back before they began to walk side-by-side together, the male looking at her with dry amusement. "Since when the hell did you get so nice, anyway? Last time I checked, you were a mean butch bitch."

"Yeah, well, fuck you too. It's that motherhood shit acting up again. It's like a fucking mental disease, makes me go all soft and shit in the head for some reason." Cherry looked awkwardly away, rubbing at the back of her head as they stepped onto a faint trail through some tall grains. She paused, then pulled out her revolver and spun it absently on one finger, adding: "Anyway, like. You think we're gonna see a lot of action at the place we attack? And what about that Great Conch, like, you think my idea will work?"

"I don't even understand what your idea is yet. And since when do they ever work?" Zerrex replied flatly, and then he rolled his eyes when Cherry glowered and poked him a few times in the stomach with the revolver. "Stop that. Do you understand any safety rules?"

"Condoms were never my thing." Cherry answered amiably, and then she threw the gun high into the air before she caught it and holstered it, rubbing her hands together in front of her as she grinned at him. "They were never yours either, Boss. Much as I always cackle over the image of you with a little piece of plastic wrapped around your big old dick."

The Drakkaren sighed and rolled his eyes, and then they emerged from the grains and into a field, a ramshackle fence and a run-down home sitting nearby, both long-dilapidated. The two exchanged a look, then both shrugged as their curiosity got the better of them, walking quickly like small kids towards the half-collapsed house and peering in through the nearest window, heads pressed together as they absently shoved against one another for room.

The inside of the house was dusty and long-unused, most of the furniture missing and some hay piled up in one corner as a makeshift bed, a few empty bottles laying around. Zerrex guessed it was probably being used by squatters... and he and Cherry exchanged another look before the male shrugged, saying mildly: "Might as well keep going. Doesn't look like there's anything interesting in there."

"We could go and have sex." Cherry said hopefully, but the reptile only rolled his eyes and she huffed, muttering: "I'm totally going to have an orgy afterwards, and like. Not invite you. Or even worse, invite you, but make Vampire ram you like a fucking... um... ram."

"You're so creative." Zerrex said dryly as he walked down a beaten path between the house and the fence, and Cherry grumpily punched him in the shoulder before she jumped on his back, and the reptile rolled his eyes as she clung to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his waist. "You know, I get enough of this from Mahihko."

"Yeah, but the little fag ain't here, so like. You know. Keep goin' the way you're walking, pretty sure it's just up ahead." Cherry replied mildly, and she snuggled herself close, adding after a moment: "And if you tell anyone I've been cuddling with you like this, I'm gonna kick you in the balls so hard that you'll be the one having the baby instead of me."

Zerrex rolled his eyes, not even bothering to try and respond to her, but then he reached up and squeezed one of her hands, and she smiled quietly, her huge bosom pressing against his back as her powerful muscles flexed, then relaxed. The Drakkaren knew it was just her way of trying to be close, if not romantic, and he was glad to put up with it... and as they walked through the field, he felt her fingers quietly intertwine with his, and she murmured softly: "Maybe one day, everything'll be all real nice and shit. And we can be farmers and have twenty kids and grow the most fuckin' amazing corn ever."

"See, that's why I love you." Zerrex said softly, and Cherry laughed a bit before she cleared her throat and leapt off his back, shaking herself briskly off. The reptile tilted his head, and then she said gruffly: "Just up that hill, let's move, asshole."

He snorted amusedly, rolling his eyes as they crested the hill... and then he smiled slightly at the sight of Vampire busily setting up a tent, Bondage and Priest both sharpening their weapons as Desire and Cypress prepared the nets and other hunting gear. Then Vampire let out a squeak as he looked up and saw the two reptiles approaching, and he tripped over the tent, knocking it down and getting himself caught up in it as Cherry sighed and asked mildly: "That look familiar?"

"Yeah, except last time he was running away from me." Zerrex replied in an amused voice, shaking his head slowly; some things never really changed. Vampire might be a twinkly gay faggot now instead of a macho homophobic stud, but he was still as clumsy as ever... but I still like him. I dunno why, but we've always sorta been friends. "Hope you don't mind the time we took to get here."

"Nah, it's good to see you in one piece, Dad." Priest said warmly, as he looked up from the harpoon he was sharpening before he put it down and stood. They traded a tight hug, and then he grasped his father's shoulders gently, adding quietly: "I'm sorry to hear about Celestial. But you did a good thing, I think... not just for us, but for her, too."

"Thanks, Priest." Zerrex felt strangely touched as he patted his son quietly on the side, and Cherry nodded with a grunt of pride before the Drakkaren turned and shared a hug with his two daughters. Then he winced as Vampire grabbed him around the back of the neck, giggling stupidly as he ground himself against Zerrex: made extra awkward because the only thing the huge, muscular black wolf was wearing was his golden loin-plate. "Get... get off me."

Vampire huffed, but he did as he was told, then he yelped when Cherry kicked him hard in the ass and chased him over to the fallen tent. Bondage rolled his eyes, but then he and Zerrex clasped hands as Desire and Cypress stepped away, and he said in a cheerful voice: "Good to see you, Captain. I heard we were hunting more than big game, but I'm not sure which I should see as more dangerous."

"Probably the Great Conch." Zerrex admitted, then he cleared his throat loudly, and instantly he felt all eyes on him, loathing how they always made him make all the decisions but grudgingly accepting that everyone was going to stare at him for orders anyway, so it was better to get it over with now. "Listen everyone. Line up first, I wanna do an equipment check."

They nodded and did so, Cherry proudly taking up her place behind Zerrex, her hands behind her back as she stood tall... and the reptile looked thoughtfully over them all. He had seen the spears, javelins, and the pair of harpoon guns sitting on the ground with the other supplies... but everyone also was carrying their personal weapons and dressed for combat. From Cypress with her four katanas and in a silver, lightweight breastplate and chain mesh over her body, with more of the latter strapped down her long body-tail, Desire with a cleaver and in classic golden Royal Guard armor... to Bondage and Priest, both of them with large-size handguns holstered at their sides, the former with an additional leather whip and the latter a stun rod. Vampire, of course, just had his spear and a quiver of javelins thrown over his back almost carelessly... but he knew the wolf knew what he was doing. Besides, the bastard's nearly invulnerable... "Alright. I see you've prepared not just for the Conch, but for the melee we'll probably encounter as well."

"And we already tracked a Conch to near what we're pretty damn sure is the location." Vampire added brightly, before he coughed at Zerrex's sour look. "Sorry Boss, sir, Cap'n. I uh. I'm excited. But like, seriously. Only a few klicks from here, but the problem is it's one of the real big fuckers. Not the matured adults, but like. I guess this one must be at least a few millennia old, you can probably see him from here."

Zerrex glanced in the direction that Vampire pointed... and even though the hillier lay of the land and the copses of trees here and there made it difficult to see too far ahead, he could just make out the blue-and-white, twisted top of something in the distance. He nodded after a moment, and then he glanced to Cherry, saying mildly: "Cherry here had an idea."

Cherry coughed, rubbing the back of her head as all eyes turned to her, and she mumbled something about getting revenge before she said awkwardly: "Like. If we can kill it without damaging its shell too much then um. Like. We can pretty easily rig it so it looks like the thing is just sort of... wandering towards the base. You know, an illusion spell or two, and the rest of us inside carrying it since I think between us it shouldn't be too hard, and once we get close enough, we'll probably be able to tell what kinda security and shit they got and shit. I doubt they'll attack us because... you know. Most people don't like to fuck with these things and it ain't like they're aggressive unless you provoke 'em."

Zerrex nodded thoughtfully, then he looked around and asked: "Show of hands, who agrees? Actually, we'll make it easier: who disagrees?" When no one rose a hand, the reptile nodded and smiled slightly over at Cherry. "Looks like one of your half-baked ideas might actually work."

"Shut the fuck up." The female huffed, and Priest sighed and rolled his eyes, slapping his forehead. There was a pause, and then Cherry added mildly: "I guess we gotta find something to do until later, though. Anyone got any suggestions or should we just like totally have an orgy and shit?"

The Drakkaren sighed again, and Priest rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck before Desire said mildly: "I think we still have to prepare some of the equipment, actually. You know, we want to take this seriously, after all."

"We've got twenty... or like... eighteen, nineteen hours before Selena and the others move in!" Cherry whined, and then she grumbled as she sat down, crossing her arms and looking sulky. "Zerrex, go and tell Lily and Selena and all them to speed things the hell up."

"Patience, Cherry." Zerrex replied mildly, and Cherry glared at him before the reptile shrugged, looking amused as the others dispersed to go about their duties. "Seriously, be patient. We're almost there... and we could all use with a bit of a break between the action." A pause, and then he softened, adding quietly as he sat down beside her: "We'll find Mercy soon."

"I hope so." Cherry looked up at the sky... and for the next twenty-two hours, they busied themselves with setting up camp, finishing preparations, and testing the gear they'd need to bring down the Conch. Zerrex knew that after they killed the Conch, they'd have to check to ensure they weren't being watched before moving in towards the smuggling base... and he looked up as Vampire trotted back up the hill, raising a hand to them.

He'd already been told that the battles had started: Selena had engaged Halpas some time ago, and Sin had led a full-out assault on his smuggling operation in the Northern Provinces. A lower-level demon servant Zerrex could trust named Jason had run a few messages back and forth before the Drakkaren had sent a last message along informing the other monarchs that he was getting ready to move on his own mission, and now it looked like the time had come, as the lizard asked quietly: "Is it go time?"

"When you say the word, we're all ready to move in." Vampire nodded firmly, picking up one of the harpoon guns and grinning a bit, despite the fact he looked somewhat nervous nonetheless. "The big fucker's asleep right now, and we can leave our camp set-up here... and as to any other demons, well... I noticed one or two watching me, and they probably followed me here."

Vampire half-motioned with his head in the general direction behind himself, and Zerrex nodded, resisting the urge to look as the demonic wolf continued in a milder voice than his usual boisterous tones: "I don't think they'll stay once things start getting messy. I think it's just a scout or two making sure we ain't looking to lay a direct assault against their base. Things seem peachy-keen so far."

"Don't say that, you'll jinx us." Zerrex said flatly, and the demonic wolf grinned widely, shrugging a bit as the Drakkaren climbed to his feet from where he'd been sitting by the fire pit he'd dug. The others approached, and the reptile looked back and forth, saying clearly: "Cherry and I will lead, with Priest, Desire, and Cypress in the center, then Bondage, then Vampire will cover our rear." A pause, and a sigh as Vampire giggled stupidly, the others glaring at him before Cherry giggled dumbly as well, earning a few sighs of exasperation. "Formation is loose, the big bastard doesn't seem to be in an active phase from what Vampire told me. If anyone gets trampled by it while we're closing in, blame him."

"Oh, fuck you too." The huge demon wolf huffed and crossed his arms, and Zerrex shrugged amiably before he motioned for them to move in. The others quickly picked up the last of their gear, spreading it amongst themselves as they'd already discussed, and then Zerrex and Cherry fell into step with each other, Cherry looking suspiciously back and forth already.

"Cherry, this is supposed to be a friendly hunting trip. Act natural." the Drakkaren said mildly, and then the female peered at him with an acrid look on her face, her muzzle wrinkled up in distaste. "I mean, more natural than usual."

The demoness huffed at this, and Desire snorted in amusement behind them, making Cherry flail her arms as she howled: "You're making me look like a laughingstock, you asshole!" A pause as the line stopped, the others staring at her, and she coughed and said dumbly: "Sorry. Hormones. Seriously, can't control that reflex."

Zerrex only took it in stride, however, waving a hand mildly for them to continue moving. He let the group chatter a bit, wanting things to seem easygoing and to put on a bit of a show for who- or whatever was watching them, but as they stepped carefully through a section of sleepy trees towards the Great Conch, he motioned for them to quiet down, and they did so gradually, a few whispers exchanged from behind them as they lined up at the edge of the bushes concealing them to all get a good look at the creature half-dozing in the meadow.

It was massive, simply put: there was a faintly-visible, faintly-crustacean red shape hiding inside the enormous white-and-blue outer shell that covered it, which was nearly the size of a mountain, twisted and turreted. It looked, simply-put, like a giant seashell, and there were red speckles and even tan-white sand lodged in it here and there... and Zerrex knew that despite its size, it was also extraordinarily light... even if it was also extraordinarily durable and hard to break.

It meant, however, that the monster half-asleep inside it would be exceedingly large as well, and likely difficult to kill... and Zerrex made a face as he pointed at Vampire and Priest and motioned for them to come forwards. They did so, both holding the large, simple-looking harpoon guns, and the reptile muttered: "Those are enchanted, right?"

"Yeah, and so are the twenty or so harpoons I have." Priest murmured, and the black wolf nodded vigorously. "They should fire with enough force to break the Great Conch's body armor... but they still won't do jack shit against the shell. And the rope we got is widoweave, but that thing will probably be able to cut through it no problem."

"A few seconds is all I ask. Listen, it seems to be sleepy, so you two should slip forwards now, see if you can aim inside its shell." He paused, then glanced over his shoulder, saying quietly: "Desire, Cypress, get around to either side of it. When it either gets dragged or comes willing out of its shell, aim for its sides. The softest points on its carapace are nearest to the connecting joints at the... shoulders or hips, I guess, I dunno what you'd call them, where the legs connect to the body. Anyway, hit it there and it won't be able to back into its shell. Bondage, I want you in front as well with Vampire and Priest... you can shield them if necessary and use your particular ability to get another rope on the goddamn thing and try to drag it out.

"Cherry, you get the most fun job." Zerrex looked at her with a slight smile, and she groaned after a moment as she realized what he meant. "Go around the back of it, wait for the others to attack, and then climb up on top of it and stay there. It'll have to come out of its shell eventually... when it does, plant a few bullets into its brain. But the thing's probably going to buck and move like crazy while we're attacking it-"

"Hey, I'm the one with the precognition, after all." Cherry muttered, but she nodded nonetheless, making a disgusted face. "I dunno if this is like, the most out of the way position you could put me in... or if like, this is the worst job ever, because it'll be hard even for me to aim while on top of the fucker. But what about you, what are you going to do?"

Zerrex glanced hesitantly towards the creature, and then he said finally: "I'll stay back with the main harpoon group. Just in case the thing decides to charge, and I'll be ready to finish it off if the headshots don't. Everyone, get ready to move."

Cherry nodded, and then Zerrex rose two fingers and made a swift cutting motion, and immediately the others began to move into position, the three demonesses seeming to vanish as they made their way around the field, while Priest and Vampire both ran out into clear sight of the thing, each dropping to one knee with the harpoon gun raised and ready. Bondage was a bit slower getting into position, but Zerrex clapped him on the shoulder as he knelt behind the others, drawing Fell Tempest as the sword whispered a recrimination to him, and the Drakkaren smiled tiredly. Yeah, shut up. Hey, wait... where's Sammy?

The reptile looked back and forth, then he closed his eyes and concentrated... and a moment later, he saw the tents and the fire pit, as if through his own eyes. A glance back and forth that made his head wobble, before he heard a squeak... and the reptile realized he'd left him back at the camp by accident, after he'd calmed the little dragon down and sent him off to sleep in the torn tent.

Zerrex took a long breath as the vision faded, and then he thought as clearly as possible to the little beast: I'm fine, go back to sleep. We're just hunting now. It's a big target so please stay back.

Then there was a squeak beside him, and the reptile looked down stupidly to see Sammy resting his front claws on his leg, looking up at him sourly. The Drakkaren looked awkwardly away, and then the little dragon hopped up onto his shoulder before Priest said clearly: "I see Desire and Cypress in position, Dad."

"Which means Cherry probably is too. You three got a clear shot?" The Drakkaren tilted his head, and the three in front of him all nodded, Bondage's hand squeezing tightly into the handle of his whip, arm flexed and drawn far back. Zerrex smiled grimly... and then he said quietly: "Go."

Two harpoons launched forwards and Bondage snapped his whip with a crack, the material lengthening and distorting as it shot through the air as quickly as the two steel spears that trailed a thin silver string behind them... and then the two harpoons collided with the red shape beneath the lip of the shell as the impossibly-stretched whip snapped around something, and there was a howl of fury from the creature within loud enough to shake the ground. Zerrex winced, and then he watched as the three males in front of him all dropped to their knees, Vampire and Priest's harpoon guns discarded as they yanked hard back on the thin-but-strong strings attached to the harpoons, and Bondage turned completely around, his muscles bulging and flexing as he half-snarled with exertion.

The Great Conch tried to scuttle backwards, the shell trembling and rocking... and then a huge, monstrous form burst forwards out of it, and three males fell in a sprawl as the rope and leather went limp, the huge, crablike creature opening its circular jaws with a raspy roar. A pair of massive claws clanked open and shut as four eyes glared at them: two dead black marbles in its red-plated face, and two beady obsidian pupils surrounded by sick gleaming white on short stalks, the latter gazing wildly back and forth. It scuttled on six legs that all ended in sharp talons, and the red-plated beast roared again, then shrieked as two javelins slammed into one side of the creature and a larger spear ripped into its other.

It looked back and forth, then hissed when Priest got to his feet, yanking hard on the rope to take up the slack... and immediately, the Great Conch swung a claw down almost absently, catching the ropes on the back of it and jerking the three males high into the air with mixed yelps, Bondage losing his grip on his whip and the leather falling uselessly to the ground as Vampire was thrown high into the trees, and Priest landed hard on the ground before the zebra fell on top of him, knocking the wind from the demon. Then the Great Conch glared to either side, before its stalks twisted all the way around to stare at Cherry, who had somehow scampered all the way up to the top of its shell... before she yelped and flailed wildly as it bucked hard forwards and launched her off.

Four shots rang through the air nonetheless, and Zerrex saw clear, watery blood burst up from between the stalks and one of the eyes, the stalk it was on collapsing as one of the smaller eyes turned to mush and goo, and the beast howled in pain before Cherry flipped gracefully and landed with a thud in a crouch next to Desire, snarling as she turned around and fired the last two shots into its other eye-stalk... but it roared in more rage than pain now, and Zerrex saw the six large legs stomping up and down against the ground, cursing as he realized it was about to charge... and he sprinted in himself, darkness leaking from Fell Tempest's blade before he slashed hard through one of its legs.

It screamed, and the distraction was enough that it turned and slapped Zerrex across the field, losing interest in Cherry and Desire... and then Priest and Bondage both opened fire from where they were standing, bullets pounding uselessly into its thick carapace as the Drakkaren slowly hauled himself to his feet, watching Cypress try to slip around its side... but only to be knocked flying as it backed suddenly up and twisted to strike her with its hard shell. The giant beast was completely awake now, and Zerrex wondered for the umpteenth time why the hell he'd let Cherry talk him into this, as he ran forwards again... before skidding to a halt as he watched the huge crab monster stalk forwards and slam a claw down hard enough to leave a huge crater in the ground where Cherry had stood only a moment before, Desire uselessly slamming her cleaver into it before she shrieked as it slapped her into a tree.

Bondage and Priest switched to javelins, and Zerrex closed his eyes, forcing himself to breathe slowly. They had gone into panic mode, and the crab was raging, fuelling itself on pain and confusion... and slowly, the Drakkaren sheathed Fell Tempest, the sword whispering a compliment to him as the reptile pulled the blade off his back and put it down in front of himself, crossing his legs and resting his hands on his knees. He lowered his head, and he heard Vampire yelling crazily at him, and Cherry's lunatic cackling as she fired shot-after-shot uselessly against it, and all other manner of sounds that added to the cacophony... and then everything became muffled, and the reptile forced himself to focus on his energy.

He pictures it swirling in his body, chaotic... but he forced the maelstrom to compact itself, drew his energy into his chest as he took a long breath... and as he let it out, he felt his limbs begin to tingle lightly, and the sounds grow even more distant and unimportant, even when something rumbled the ground he was sitting on. And then he visualized his energy smoothing out... and he felt his focus and mind sharpen suddenly as it seemed to do just that in his body, a surge of strength that was nothing like the adrenaline spike he'd just had go through his form... and when he opened his eyes, he saw the crab, watched as it scuttled its feet, snarled and hissed before beginning a terrible charge towards its greatest nuisance: Bondage and Priest, who happened to be somewhere behind Zerrex, leaving him in its path.

It suddenly moved forwards with a burst of unnatural speed as Zerrex reached down and grasped the handle of Fell Tempest, and as the reptile climbed calmly to his feet, it was in front of him, only feet away... before it suddenly stopped, its claws raised, jaws dripping drool... and then it staggered drunkenly back and forth before it fell backwards, legs collapsing beneath it and its neckless head falling forwards, and Zerrex stood with his head bowed, Fell Tempest unsheathed and raised high in the air... and the reptile smiled a bit as he spun the blade once before wiping one side of the blade slowly against the sheath... and then he slammed it back into place as Vampire gaped stupidly at him, dropping his own weapon as Cherry slapped the demon wolf on the back, saying amiably: "Told you he knew what he was doing. You totally owe me ten bucks."

"What the fuck was that?" Vampire finally spluttered, as the others approached, and Zerrex shrugged, still feeling Zen and pleasant, everything seeming both in sharp focus and unimportant... and then Cherry grabbed him in a headlock and ruffled his hair, and the reptile flailed as he lost his calm and shoved her off, glaring at her.

"It was a martial focus technique they taught me back at the monastery when I trained there with the Four Sisters, built off things Requiem taught me..." Zerrex looked sourly at Cherry, and then he flexed his hand, which felt a bit numb. "It enhances focus, and lets me move with a bit more grace than usual."

"Just a bit." Vampire said ironically, and the Drakkaren gave him a sour look before he coughed and held up his hands, laying his ears back meekly. "Dude, please don't slice me in half. But uh... now... what do we do?"

Zerrex looked thoughtfully at the crab... and then Sammy leapt down from around his shoulders, walking forwards and around it to nip lightly at its flesh. It chewed a bit thoughtfully... then it spat it out and staggered backwards, growling in disgust. "I guess we can't exactly eat it... stuff is bitter as hell. But I bet we could sell the carcass... the carapace isn't too damaged and it makes good armor, and they can probably grind up its flesh to feed prisoners or something."

"That stuff tastes like a fucking war crime. That's just mean." Vampire muttered, and then he poked the dead head lightly with a spear, adding flatly: "Don't we have to pry its shell off now? Who's going to do that?"

Everyone looked at the wolf... and he stared before muttering and slumping his shoulders, stomping over towards where its body slid out from beneath the shell before Priest and Desire joined the sulky lupine. Zerrex, meanwhile, headed over to Cherry, grasping her shoulder as he asked mildly: "So are we being watched?"

Cherry shrugged absently as she looked over at him, before she grinned a bit. "Let's just say that if we had an audience, they got the shit scared out of them and ran off, probably about the time the giant fucker started charging around. I think we're in the clear, Boss, because it ain't like most people take on a Great Conch unless they really-really got to."

"Point taken." Zerrex replied mildly, and he glanced up absently, rubbing slowly at his forehead. "I feel kind of bad for killing it now, though."

"Oh fuck, here we go again." Cherry muttered, and the Drakkaren shot her a sour look before they began to childishly push at each other, as she said flatly: "Killing is fun, and fun is not wrong. Therefore killing ain't wrong."

Zerrex snorted at this, then he tried to shove her against the crab's face, but she deftly avoided him with a cackle, grabbing his hair and yanking on it to make him yelp before he spun around and poked her nose firmly: "Cheating... girly-girl! And you totally have a big freaking logic error, by the way."

"You're a logic error, I hate you." Cherry replied smartly, and then Zerrex rapped her firmly on the nose, and she grabbed her muzzle with a huff, narrowing her eyes at him sourly. "You're a big bad fart-headed fart."

"Is this really how you two always act?" Cypress asked from nearby, where she and Bondage were attempting to drag the body backwards, and the two looked at each other embarrassedly before they moved to help, as Vampire yelled something in a strained voice. After ten minutes of pull and shoving, the finally got the lobster-like lower body of the enormous crustacean out of the shell, leaving it for them to use however they pleased: the only thing Zerrex hadn't accounted for, however, was the sheer reek of the goddamn thing.

He made a face as he walked into the tall opening, looking back and forth: the shell was only perhaps six inches thick, but Priest was having a hell of a time jamming javelins into the walls to use as makeshift handles, the gigantic demon grunting as he finally forced one into place. He then grasped it and lifted... and blinked in surprise at the ease with which the shell came off the ground, saying dumbly: "Damn thing's real light."

Cherry snorted, slapping the Dragokkaren on the arm as she said fawningly to her son: "Maybe you've just been working out, handsome." A pause, and then she grinned and shook her head at the look on his face. "Yeah, they're light as hell. Haven't you ever come across one of these shells before? Fuck, and I thought you'd done the whole tour of Hell."

With that, she walked away to bother someone else, and Priest looked mildly over at Zerrex, asking him flatly: "How the hell is it she can be sarcastic, condescending, and awkwardly flirty all at the same time?"

"Practice. She has lots of practice." Zerrex replied with a slight shake of his head, and then he patted Priest on the arm. "Good work, though. Can you put in another three handles like that? That way, I can have four of us move it while three of us stand ready with guns, just in case they have someone who can see through our illusions."

Priest nodded with a smile, and Zerrex smiled back, before he glanced up as Desire reappeared through a portal with a thumbs-up, saying clearly to him: "I gave our approximate location to a cleanup crews, and they'll send someone here in about an hour to pick up the carcass. Said they'll use it at the forge or something, and what they don't they'll grind up to feed the mounts."

Zerrex nodded, feeling a bit better now: as long as they were using the corpse for something, he didn't so much mind killing a giant monster to use its shell in an attack operation. Then he paused at Desire's hesitant look, and he tilted his head before she said softly: "We still haven't heard from Selena yet, though... and Sin's been having trouble on her front, too."

"They'll be fine. They're strong." Zerrex said softly, and Desire nodded a bit at this. She seemed comforted by his conviction as he patted her gently on the shoulder, and she smiled faintly up at him before the reptile glanced over towards Cypress, who was carefully sharpening one of her katanas with a dismal look on her face. "What's up with you?"

"I just expected a bit more of myself than I got, that's all." Cypress murmured, and Desire gave her sister a soft, sympathetic look before the Lamia smiled faintly, tilting her head towards him. "Sometimes I think you really are even stronger than they say, Daddy... which makes me question why we're even here at all."

"Even the strongest fall to numbers, Cypress... it never hurts to have someone watching your back." Zerrex replied softly, and he walked over to gently take her sword from her and sheath it at her side, the female blushing a bit as he squeezed her arm quietly. "Your blade's sharp enough as it is. It's the mental edge you need to get back."

She nodded, taking a breath and clearing her mind, and Zerrex tended to the others as he organized them mentally. Since Cherry, Cypress, and Desire had the best range, he wanted to put the three females in the center... but Cherry would probably call him all kinds of names for having an all-female core, and he didn't want Cherry holding the illusion over her body, because she was pregnant and her mood swings were eating even at the stoic seriousness she usually had in battle.

By the time Priest managed to get the four makeshift handles into place, however, Zerrex had clearly decided the order, and he said mildly as the others gathered beneath the massive shell: "Here's how this is going to work. Bondage, Priest, you get the two rear handles, and Cherry and I will take the two front. Vampire, I want you at the front of the pack, and you're going to act as the catalyst: Desire, I'd like you to generate the illusion, and match Vampire's body language." A pause, and then he slapped his forehead when Vampire sucked in his cheeks, dropped to a squat, and rose his hands in the air, opening and closing his hands as he scuttled back and forth until Cherry kicked him over. "Actually, new plan. The Great Conch can scuttle while still fully protected by its shell, so... let Vampire be engulfed in the illusion, but have Cypress be the main body of the spell and have it follow her body language."

Desire nodded as Cypress looked up in surprise, and then Zerrex shrugged mildly as Vampire climbed to his feet, looking morbid. "In simple terms, Vampire's impenetrable. Only high-grade magic will tear a hole in him, and it won't last for very long at that. But... Vampire's also a bit of an idiot." He paused, but the black wolf only nodded agreeably as he shouldered his spear. "So he'll provide cover for you two while you concentrate on controlling the illusion and Desire projects it."

Cypress finally nodded after a moment, and then she sighed, rubbing at her head quietly. "Okay. I'm... I'm ready, then." She looked around at the others, then murmured softly: "I won't let any of you down."

"Get in position!" Zerrex called, and the others did so before the Drakkaren added: "And drop all nonessential gear! We go in light, we strike hard!"

The others nodded as they moved into position, some of them shedding extra weight as Bondage, Priest, Cherry, and Zerrex all took the makeshift handles firmly, then lifted at the same time to bring the shell a few feet off the ground: then the white-haired Drakkaren nodded to Desire, and she took a long breath before she closed her eyes and murmured an incantation as she held both hands out, and the air around Cypress ripped before a semitransparent image began to grow and form.

It was difficult to see, and Zerrex winced as he realized Vampire would now have a second duty... but the demonic wolf took to it with ease as he called: "Okay, I totally call navigation. Shrink the illusion down a bit, it's too... yeah, there you go. Cypress uh. Figure out what does what."

Cypress mumbled as she moved her arms around, barely visible, and the Drakkaren thought that it was like being caught in the way of a powerful projector: he could make out vague shapes and bright lights of different colors, but that was all. Vampire, however, he could see fairly clearly, even if from his angle he looked blood-red instead of black, and the wolf was nodding vigorously. "Perfect, perfect, yeah, okay, you got it babe. Let's try moving forwards two paces and see what happens."

Movement, as it turned out, was far more difficult: partially because Cypress had no feet and found it harder to fall into natural 'pace' with the others, and partially because they were all different sizes, and Priest's single stride was worth at least two of most of theirs. With some practice on the way towards the location, however, they managed it... although now they were confronted with the painful process of moving around little copses of trees here and there, which a normal Great Conch would have simply plowed right over.