The Assembly

[Talon]

((Made for Nid, but anyone can post here))

The lich stood under the darkened sky, tapping his fingers impatiently on his staff. Next to him stood a large figure sheathed completely in ornate black full-plate, which covered everything save a skeletal tail and a pair of skeletal, draconic wings, both the wings and tail were shrouded completely in an aura of black, cold 'flame'. Its gauntlet's fingers ended in sharp points, as if to function as claws. The helmet looked like the head of some gaunt, fiendish dragon's, and the eyeholes bore nothing within them, save a small pin-point of burning red-orange light. It stood slightly over nine feet tall.

On the other side of the lich was what appeared to be a werewolf, her fur once a pure white, now streaked with black and darkened to a light gray. Her once sparkling blues eyes were now dull and lifeless, and her claws all seemed longer and sharper. She swished her tail from side to side as she glanced over at the black-armored entity, then growled, turning back to their viewpoint.

"If that damnedable red wyrm doesn't show up soon..." The lich growled.

He paused as Artecaex landed before the lich, head bowed.

"Err... sorry sir. I was observing the behemoths within the city fight." He apologized.

"-with the green dragon. What'd I tell you to STOP DOING?" The lich hissed.

Artecaex winced, then sighed. The Patriarch waved it away under the black clouds, which were darker than the ones above the kaiju's fighting area, because the lich willed them to.

"Now that we're all here... we can get down to business."

The lich aimed a finger upwards with the back of his bony hand facing the ground. Shortly after, three images appeared above the finger; all seemed to be pieces of... something. They were all black and metallic, and the Patriarch stated,

"These are the pieces to a certain artifact I require. I need you three to seek out the individual pieces and return here with them. Destroy anyone who gets in your way, no questions asked."

His pupils drifted over to Artecaex, who paled.

"...got it?" He asked.

The dragon nodded, and the Patriarch nodded in return.

"NOW GO, AND DO YOUR MASTER'S WILL!" He shouted, throwing his arms in the air.

The three beings all then jumped away, to find the items their master requested. The lich 'sighed' then spun on his heel and faced the city.

"So... the Draeger is looking for him, eh? Best inform him of something then."

He reached out to the Hellspawn, and stated into his mind through a one-way link,

You, minion of Hel. Come to the Floating Island, post-haste if you wish to fulfill your goal.

The lich then folded his arms and sat Indian-style on the ground, waiting for his minions or the Draeger to arrive.

[lordnidhogg]

"You called?" Thanatos said from behind. "Where's Shive?"

[Talon]

The Patriarch swiveled around, then 'blinked'.

"Wow, Hel's really going for looks these days..."

"Oh yes, the dragonkin. I know that you wish to find him, but he's currently under my ownership. I have an offer for you: Simply let him do one small job for me, then you can have him." He stated, placing his fingertips together.

"I know a warlord such as yourself hates seeing a good warrior go unused, and I've worked somewhat hard to make the bufoon into what he is now." He added, rotating his hand at the wrist.

"One job. Then you have him. Deal?"

[lordnidhogg]

"Wow. That's a really good offer. But you see, there's the small problem of me waiting. I've been away from Saelia for too long, and I don't care what I have to do, I will get back to her as soon as possible. So here's the new deal: you tell me Shive is, I obliterate him, and you have Artecaex do your job. Or, find me after I get my body back and I'll do it. But you WILL NOT keep me from Saelia." Thanatos snarled. "Offer refused."

[Talon]

The lich sighed, shaking his head.

"There's a few problems with your deal: One, Artecaex is out doing... 'essentially' the same job, Two, I need to test his abilites as an experiment, Three: You've waited this long, what's another hour to you? Four, if you wish to see your wife so badly, why didn't you just ask?" The lich retorted with a happy tone, yet with an icy undertone.

He snapped his finger, and a 'thud' emanated from behind Thanatos. Behind him stood a dazed Saelia.

The lich 'spiritually' glanced past the two Draeger and mentally scowled.

"damnit! They're already here. If those three bufoons don't hurry up..." He muttered, clearly annoyed.

He paused, then mentally smirked.

"Say... what if I let you kill Shive now, and find the item he's currently looking for, both at the same time? It won't be hard to get, especially in the havoc occuring downtown at the moment."

[lordnidhogg]

Without warning Saelia began shrieking in agony, seemingly for no reason.

"You IDIOT!" Thanatos raged at the Patriarch. "Part of my enslavement is not to see her! Not when I'm like this! YOU IGNORAMUS!"

Thanatos tackled the Patriarch into the cloaked figured and then warped them away, at which point Saelia collapsed, no longer in pain but weak.

Once they were significantly far away, Thanatos threw the Patriarch to the ground in front of him.

"Fine. I'll kill Shive and do his job. What is it?"

[Talon]

The Patriarch stood up and brushed himself off casually.

"Ah, thank you. His job is to find a small black sphere, about 3 inches in diameter, downtown in a museum. Bring it back here to me. That's it."

He paused for a moment, then stated,

"It seems Shive's about to find it."

And the other two are getting closer... He thought, mentally letting out a vicious grin.

"And I apologize for harming your wife; it was unintentional. I didn't know the extent of Hel's curse." He apologized.

[lordnidhogg]

"So what do I have to-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Thanatos began screaming and clutching his head as he fell to the ground. "WHY!? WHY HERE!? WHY NOW? LEAVE! ARRRGH!"

As he was screaming and twitching on the ground, a figure seemingly formed out of light. WarAngel.

Two abominations to Heaven in one spot. You make it almost too easy. Then she turned toward the Patriarch. Partriarch! Heaven's Wrath is upon you! Release the souls you claim dominion over and be destroyed! Thanatos-I'll deal with you momentarily.

[Talon]

At that moment, the Patriarch wished he had lips to smirk with.

"Oooh, sorry. Can't do that, Seraphim."

He glanced at Thanatos, then back at WarAngel.

"As for him, he's currently trying to break free of Hel's control by doing me a favor, so I don't know why you want him. That's all, so beat it, if you would please." He stated casually.

Sir! I've found the piece! Artecaex relayed to his master telepathically.

The lich grinned, only to realize that too, required a face.

"damn. Being a lich has its perks, but it'd be sooo much better if I had a face." He muttered.

Then again... that's one of the reasons I'm seeking this artifact... He thought with a bone-chilling coolness.

((Don't expect to hit this guy...))

[lordnidhogg]

((Hit him? I'm going to kill him. I'm got the highest rank of Arch-Angel and an Arch-Demon vs. a former mage gone skeleton))

As you wish. Araenfaell said coolly. Her arms charged with Holy Lightning, and she blasted the Patriarch back hundreds of meters. As he inevitably recovered, She warped behind him and put dozens of light arrows in him, forming a pattern around the gem in his chest. Another blast of lightning hit the arrows, and was channeled into his chest gem for a more direct hit.

But Araenfaell knew only true physical weapon could destroy the gem. In her right hand appeared the Lance of Longinus.

Last chance, Patriarch!

[Talon]

((Heh.... heheheheh..... HEHEHEHEHEHEHEH...))

"GO TO HELL, YOU HOLY bitch!" He screamed.

It was very rare one saw the Patriarch lose his cool. Usually, that was a bad thing. The lich brought his arm up and clenched it, causing a pillar of black fire to roar up from the ground and wash over the angel, scalding her and attacking her very essence at the same time. He then 'shoved' both palms at her, and dozens of black energy spears (like the ones used on Solranous) impaled themselves through the Angel's wings. He finished it by booming,

"BANISHMENT!"

WarAngel could feel herself being spiritually pulled from this plane of existance, and back to Heaven. The Patriarch smirked as he watched her fade in and out of existance, then stated,

"Oh, that's right; you Seraphim are harder to banish than that. Hmph."

He aimed a palm into the air, and a small bead of red-orange light flew into the sky. A few moments later, a swarm of car-sized balls of fire rained down upon the Angel, each exploding violently in a hellish inferno. The tugging feeling on her being became stronger as the Patriarch glanced at the light arrows, which dissovled into nothingness. Black energy crackled around his frame, and the cracks in his bones and Phylactery re-sealed.

"You should know better than to take on an arch-lich who specializes in necromancy. Or an arch-lich at all."

[lordnidhogg]

Thanatos saw Araenfaell weaken. And he saw the Patriarch lose grasp on the situation. Thanatos got up shakily. As he did so, WarAngel screamed and fully reappeared on the physical plane.

Magic holds no sway over divine will! The Lance reappeared in her hand and she charged.

So did Thanatos, Lucifer's Bane appearing in his hand as he ran.

"damn you.."

Both lunged and struck the Patriarch's chest with their respective lances. The Lance of Longinus hit the gem first, and pushed it into Lucifer's Bane. There was a tinkling crunch as it was crushed to powder.

Soul Bind! Screamed Areanfall, trapping the Patriarch's escaping soul.

[Talon]

The Patriach laughed as he screamed with a 'smirk',

"GO AHEAD, DESTROY ME! BUT BE WARNED DRAEGER: THE DRAGONKIN IS LINKED DIRECTLY TO MY PHYLACTERY! IF I PERISH, HE DOES TOO! HIS BODY WILL DISSAPATE AND HIS SOUL WILL BE LOST EVEN TO HEL!"

Cracks of glowing light ran up and down his bones as he hissed,

"And what happens when the Draeger can't carry out his mission?" He asked.

His 'link' told him his Death Knight had found the second piece. The Patriarch mentally smirked. He glared at WarAngel and scoffed.

"Your Soul Bind is useless against me, wench. A higher power already owns it."

[lordnidhogg]

WarAngel smirked beneath her armor.

I don't want your soul. Just the rest of you. Oh, and by the way, good luck getting all three pieces. It seems Shive was a bit slow on the uptake. She said, holding out a piece before it vanished once more. Hate to see you die disappointed but that's how life works. Oh, and one more thing, who said the soul bind was for your soul? I can destroy again and again for eternity if you reappear. Goodbye.

In a flash of light, the Patriarch was gone.

If he sold his soul, he could be back. That could prove frustrating. As for you, Hellspawn, she said, turning to Thanatos, you are an abomination towards all things good, you were working with this being, and yet you attacked him. Why?

"It...seemed like the right thing...to do..." He spluttered, in extreme pain from the Angel's presence.

Interesting. I am sorry, demon, but I must extinguish you. Without warning she blasted across the ground, before appearing over him with the Lance of Longinus. She didn't hesitate long before plunging the spear into his chest. Thanatos screamed in absolute agony as blue flames began to burn him away. It was almost over.

After Araefaell was gone, and Thanatos was mostly gone, he feebly tried to crawl back towards the center of the floating island, back towards

"Saelia..."

[Talon]

The sound of jets came to attention as O'Malley and Spite landed on the island, staring back and forth between the two Draeger. They 'blinked', then turned towards eachother and said at the same exact time,

"Uh... what do we do?"

O'Malley mentally scowled, then turned towards Thanatos.

"Go get me parts. Lots, and now." He stated to Spite.

The mecha-dragon nodded and flew off back to O'Malley's 'hideout' as the droid walked over to the Draeger warlord. The droid began bringing up files of Thanatos's old metal-composition.

"I have no idea what's going on, so you'd best fill me in. NOW." He told Thanatos.