The Red Hand

"Your end will not be swift nor pleasant, Vampire." Sariel growled as she slowly removed the swords from her body with telekinesis. "I hope you've enjoyed your little display of resistance because that is the last time you'll humiliate me."

"I can take anything that you dish out." Silfana replied, channeling more magic circles around her, swords poking out of each. "And I can do this all day." She bluffed.

"Why you..." Sariel paused, realizing that she was playing into the Vampire's hands.

{No. No, calm down... Calm down... Getting angry will only open yourself up to more humiliation, Sariel. Just relax and think clearly, she's obviously been trying to get under my skin and look what happened when I let my emotions run wild. Just calm down and imagine all the screaming souls trapped in Hell... Yes...} (Sariel)

Calming herself down and taking a deep breath, Sariel finished removing the blades from her body and magically healed her injuries, burning them away with flame.

"I see that it was a mistake to think of you as an arrogant fool who was all bark and no bite." Sariel said as she channeled flame in her hand and summoned a black and red halberd, whose tip burned in white-hot fire. "But I will not make the same mistake again, Vampire." She twirled the halberd around in her hand before grabbing it with both and taking a stance that placed the weapon at a downward angle. "Come. We shall end this foolishness in a more civilized manner."

{If she's going to switch to melee combat, then things might work out for me. I doubt I can hold out against continuous use of her fire magic, but fighting her head on...} Silfana smirked, flashing her fangs as she channeled more of Akagi's power, allowing it to heal most of her wounds. "You know, I think I can manage it. Alright Demon, I'll gladly accept your invitation."

The two stared each other down for what felt like an eternity as thunder cracked in the background. The air seemed to go completely still until Silfana made the first move, switching Queen of the Night Lords back to the fifth phase as she flashed toward the Demon.

*CLANG*

"After all that talk I hope you can keep up." Silfana said as she pinned Sariel down with her blade, pushing back against her.

"Oh, I can assure you that I'll do more than that." Sariel roared as the two took off at high speed, clashing at speeds that far exceeded Ariel and the other Elector-Kings' ability to see.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG**CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

"Not bad, Vampire." Sariel laughed as she continued to block, deflect, and parry each of Silfana's attacks while the Vampire did the same. "It's been a long time since I've battled a mortal who could keep up with my speed. If you hadn't gotten on my nerves as much as you did I'd offer you a place in my army."

“What can I say? I've learned from a pretty interesting monster." Silfana laughed as the two rocketed around the battlefield, each cash creating shock waves that tore up the ground, electrified the air, and burned the grass to ash.

*WOOSH* *WOOSH* *WOOSH* *WOOSH* *WOOSH* *WOOSH* *WOOSH* *WOOSH* *WOOSH* *WOOSH* *WOOSH* *WOOSH*

"Then let's see how you handle this!" Sariel backed off, spinning her halberd around and igniting the tip, causing a roaring fire to burn brightly as the weapon twirled. "Try and avoid getting burned if you can!" She yelled as she attacked, striking at Silfana and attempting to sweep her feet out from under her.

"Unfortunately for you..." Silfana said as she blocked and held the halberd in place with her rapier. "I'm well aware how that type of weapon is used in combat!" She held Sariel in place for a moment before releasing the pressure on the Demon's weapn, shifting her body and blade back enough to cause the Demon to lurch forward and overextend herself as the momentum of the halberd carried her.

{Oh no you don't!} (Sariel)

*STOMP*

“Nice try, Vampire.” Sariel said as she quickly retracted her weapon before Silfana could step on it, causing the Vampire to slam her foot in to the ground and get it stuck for a moment.

"Damn." Silfana clicked her tongue as her attempt to step on and pin the head of the halberd was foiled by a quick retraction of the weapon.

"Just as you may know of a halberd's strengths, I'm acutely aware of the weakness of such a weapon." Sariel scoffed. "Only a novice would allow it to be so easily dealt with like that, so don't insult me further by trying things like that again!" The Demon roared as she charged more power into the halberd, swinging it over her head before switching to a figure-eight pattern that momentarily threw Silfana off and required her to move as fast as she physically could to stop the incoming attack.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

"Your rapier is quite the nice weapon for duels, but its smaller size means that you won't be getting hits on me at this rate." Sariel said as she continued to block and deflect all of Silfana's attempts to counterattack, scoring a few glancing blows on the Vampire at the same time that burned her severely. "Perhaps you could try summoning those other blades of yours." She smirked. "Oh, don't tell me you can't do that again?" She'd quickly figured out that Silfana wasn't using ranged attacks for a reason, deducing correctly that she was currently unable to do so due to Queen of the Night Lords ability.

"So you figured out a flaw in my abilities, so what? Knowing that means nothing, so I wouldn't get so cocky, Demon." Silfana hit back, smashing her rapier into Sariel's halberd and putting extra power into the attack to deflect it away before closing in in an attempt to exploit the opening.

"Nice try." Sariel laughed as she brought the butt of the halberd around, smashing Silfana in the side of head with it before bringing the other side of the weapon back around and sending her flying as it struck her opposite temple.

*BANG*

"Ack!" Silfana spun in the air to right herself, landing on her feet just in time to barely block an overhead slam from the halberd with the tip of her rapier.

*BOOM*

"A faster recovery than expected, but that's fine." Sariel withdrew her halberd, causing Silfana to slide forward under her own momentum before finding her face firmly smashed by the Demon's kneed, breaking her nose, and drawing blood. "Now then..." She said as she proceeded to bring the halberd back down, sinking it into Silfana's shoulder and bringing the Vampire to her knees as blood poured from her wound. "I think I'll wrap things up." Sariel laughed as she pulled the halberd out, gloating as she stared down at the Vampire. "You were an interesting opponent, so I'll at least give you a warrior's death, goodbye, Vampire."

Sariel brought the tip of her halberd down again, intending to split Silfana's head open like a watermelon. But just as she was about to make contact, her weapon phased right through the Vampire, her form disappearing like dust in the wind.

{WHAT?!?} (Sariel)

“Where the hells did you go?!?” Sariel growled as she looked around her, unable to find the Vampire.

"Are you looking for me?" Silfana's voice rang out from behind her as the Vampire's blade tore into Sariels' back, causing the Demon to scream out in pain as Sifana poured magical power into the Demon's body to destabilize her.

"Ahh! You bitch!" Sariel swung around, her halberd again passing through the visage of Silfana, which disappeared a moment later like an afterimage. "What the hells is going on?!?"

{It's like I'm attacking an illusion! Was she hiding this ability as an Ace up her sleeve?} (Sariel)

"I'll admit that you really had me there for a moment." Silfana's form appeared before her again, this time in front of her. " But lucky for me I had a few tricks still up my sleeves." Her hair had reverted from being blood red to its normal white, and her eyes had turned a similar color, practically shining in the red light that filled the air. "I don't really like using the Eighth Phase, but I think I'll make an exception this time." She flicked her blade, causing white flames to burst out and engulf it.

"Divine power?!?" Sariel was taken aback. "That's not possible! A Vampire would never be blessed by the Gods!"

"Not quite.” Silfana shook her head. “Though its understandable how you'd make that mistake. The Moon's power is similar in many ways, but its most certainly not divine. My kind are children of the night." Silfana flashed forward, slamming her blade into Sariel's halberd and burning the Demon with her power. "The Moon grants us power, and it enables us to do things far beyond what most could imagine." She gave a self-deprecating laugh as she continued to whale on the Demon. "However, while its not divine in nature, its more than enough to banish a creature like you!" She stepped back just as Sariel tried to push forward, throwing the Demon off balance as she tore into her side, creating a massive wound that sizzled and popped as the Demon's flesh burned.

*HISS*

"AHHH!" Sariel screamed in pain as the power within Silfana's blade boiled her flesh and left a deep wound on her arm. "YOU WHORE!" She swiped at Silfana, only to have the Vampire vanish again.

"Lets think of that as payback for sinking that blade of yours into my arm." Silfana said as she pointed to her limp left arm. The gash in her shoulder was slowly healing, but it was clear that it wouldn't be of use for the rest of this fight. “You took mine, so I took yours.”

"How can a mere Vampire have such power?!? Why are one of you blessed with such power?!?" Sariel demanded to know what was going on.

{She claims it not to be divine but that's nonsense! Its boils my flesh and reeks of the stench of the divine! It cannot be anything else!}

"I have this power because I strove to get it, no matter the cost." Silfana answered curtly. "Even if that required doing some unpleasing things or bowing my head to people I couldn't stand... I did it all so that I could fulfill my birthright." She said as her blade began to burn in a mixture of black and white flame, signifying her mixing of Akagi and the Moon's power.

{I can't do this much longer. Using the Eight Phase is already draining, and Akagi's power is making that worse. I need to end this now, lest I lose to this woman or find myself reduced to slag from mixing two polar opposite powers together for this long.} (Silfana)

"It matters not if you have the power of a God or whatever!" Sariel yelled as she exploded in red flame. "I'll end you all the same, Vampire!" She flashed forward, clashing with Silfana at an even higher speed as the two zipped around the battlefield again. Countless soldiers were caught in the crossfire, and many were vaporized from the mere shock wave upon each clash.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

Their dramatic clash brought to a halt all other combat on the battlefield and even Akagi watched intently from the sidelines. She was aware that the Eighth Form of Queen of the Night Lords contained something akin to divine power, but had never seen it used before either within FWO or the real world, and was amused by the Vampire's mixture of two diametrically opposed energy types.

*BOOM*

"It's time to die, Vampire!" Sariel roared as she kicked off the ground and moved in for a final clash.

"Not on your life, Demon!" Silfana yelled as and Sariel clashed, the Vampire blocking her halberd and holding it in place while she channeled thye Moon's power into the palm of her hand.

{NO!} (Sariel)

"NOW BURN YOU DEMONIC BITCH!" Silfana roared as she slipped around the halberd, punching Sariel in the stomach and allowing a burst of power to explode from her hand, engulfing the Demon in burning energy.

"ONLY IF YOU BURN WITH ME!" Sariel unexpectedly put up a fight, channeling hell fire into her own hands as she tossed her halberd aside, punching Silfana in the face, and causing an explosion as the two energies went out of control as they reacted to one another.

*KABOOM*

The two energies collided, intermixed and finally erupted in a massive explosion that created a mile-high fireball and kicked up a massive dust cloud that blanketed the entire battlefield in a fog that made seeing anything almost impossible. Countless soldiers were instantly atomized due to being too close to the blast, while others were horribly burned from the intense heat. While those far enough away to watch at a safe distance were struck with awe and fear as the white and red flames battled each other as they ascended skyward before finally flickering out.

_____________________________________________________________________________

<Ariel POV>

"Is... Is everyone okay..." Ariel asked as she slowly pushed a large boulder out from over her as she stood up, bruised, bloodied, and burnt. They'd been tossed around by the sheer power of Sariel and Silfana's clash and had nearly died several times during their battle.

{I think most of my ribs are broken...} (Ariel)

"Ya know, I could be better..." Melifous said as he pulled himself out of the dirt that had buried him. "And I have dirt in places I'd rather not discuss, but I'm otherwise alright. Besides the singed hair and all..."

"I can only hope that final blast killed them both, monsters." Bathrumud said as he walked up with the two unconscious Phima under his arms, he'd avoided taking much damage and had kept the unconscious mages safe during the clash.

"I'd like to think that it did... But perhaps that's just being naive." Ariel said as she coughed up a bit of blood. The dust was still heavy in the air as she motioned for them to seek out the Vampire and Demon.

{A double knock out would be ideal, but there's no way that happened.} (Ariel)

"Sariel was only here because of a fake body she left in that card..." Melifous said. "But by the Gods that is incredible. To think she could use that much power while not even in her true form!" He knew that Sariel was powerful, as all Arch Dukes of the Hells were, but to see it in action was an entirely different thing.

{I shudder to think what would happen if she came to the material world in her actual body.} (Melifous)

"Now's not the time to be impressed." Bathrumd grumbled. "That little stunt could've gone horribly wrong, and Sariel isn't someone to just trust to help us like you did. That crazy bitch is a former Angel whose anger and blood lust corrupted her to the point that she rebelled against the Gods and was banished from the Heavens, so I'm not exactly inclined to think she's much better than our current foes." The story of her fall was legendary and her existence was a constant stain on the Gods honor.

"Even so, we had no choice but to ask for her aid." Ariel said as they approached the edge of what seemed to be the large crater created by the blast. "Had we not summoned her, we would've been killed for sure." She took a deep breath as she allowed wind magic to channel through her body, using it to push away the dust and clear the area around them of debris. “At least this way, there was a chance that we could win.”

“Perhaps...” Bathrumd groaned.

"Let's just keep our hope that the Vampire is dead at least." Melifous sighed as the three of them looked down into the deep crater, noticing two figures tossed on their backsides with a shadowy figure standing between them. "Of course, things aren't that simple..."

“Well I'll be, they did knock each other out...” Ariel said while letting out a deep sigh of relief. “Lets go down there and finish off the-”

"An excellent show you two." Akagi laughed, her voice booming as she clapped slowly, appearing next to the unconscious fighters. Silfana and Sariel were both alive but out cold, having downed each other at the same time as a result of the blast. "A truly excellent show indeed."