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Zahara stands in the outer circle in the middle of her manse, feet slightly apart, yet well within the safe area. The double circle is carved permanently into the floor, and is inset with multiple runes of protection and strength. The outer ring contains an unbroken line of salt. The inner is composed entirely of an unbroken line of runes, one connecting to the other. The runes seem to glow with their own arcane light.
- Zahara looks over to see whether Markuran has taken his appointed place as guardian of the ceremony. "Are you ready?" she smiles a bit, anticipating the flow of power through her body, the breaking of the demon's will.
- Markuran nods "I am. Since you keep summoning these things, at least you have me here. What if one of these things broke free and attacked you?"
- Zahara chuckles, "They won't. Besides, that's what I have you here for."
- Markuran shakes his head in some annoyance and guestures Zahara to continue.
- Zahara faces the center, and braces her shoulders. Even her robes are covered in the runes of warding, they gleam with gold thread, which seems to light up as she starts to chant the words of the summoning. Her voice begins in a whisper, and ever so slowly increases in volume and stridence, throughout the hours-long ceremony. The power within her burns brightly as a bonfire, filling the room, and she barely feels the aching of her feet.
- Markuran crouches, resting as he waits for Zahara to finish her incantation. Remaining still and silent the hulking barbarian takes on the appearance of a guardian statue placed to ward off evil. Exactly what he is, really.
- Zahara drones on and on for four hours, her voice rising and falling in a kind of cadence that fills the air with thunder. Finally, with a flourish, she raises her hands above her head, the last words spiking out into the air, rending it in two. From the gaping maw within Creation, a demon steps forth...
- Lucien appears in the circle, a gaunt ghostly figure, 6ft tall and holding wicked looking ivory knives, his body covered in hundreds of tiny mouths opening over his as he fights Zahara's will
- Markuran rises to his feet swiftly, raising himself on the pad of one foot, ready to spring at the demon if it threatens
<Zahara> "Lucien, I summon you here to fulfill your true calling, to loose you upon the traitors in our midst." she calls out clearly, her voice ringing.
- Lucien smiles thinly then lets out a sharp laugh "You shall not break my will, Zahara of the Eclipse, and then I shall hunt you"
- Zahara bends her will to crushing that of the demon, unconsciously, she screws up her face in concentration, and her fists clench and unclench as the battle ensues
- Lucien snarls from the many mouths open on him
- Markuran glances at Zahara and, taking her expression as a sign of impending chaos, lets his power flood through him. The muscular bulk of the Solar warrior swells with sunlight, spilling forth from his Castemark and turning his sweat into a sheen of light glittering across his bare chest and massive arms.
- Zahara takes an involuntary step back, a look of dumbfounded surprise taking the place of the intense concentration and the arrogance that preceeded it.
- Lucien moves and is suddenly everywhere in the room
- Zahara takes a quick breath, and lets it out in a squeak.. "Mark...He's free" she says as she clears her mind, preparing herself for battle
- Markuran begins moving as soon as Zahara's concentration turns into fear. With a bellow from deep in his chest that sounds like an avalanche in the forest Markuran grabs the demon-prince around the torso and flings him to the ground
- Lucien lets the ghostly flesh of all his images flow away from the glowing zenith, laughing as the man closes on thin air
- Zahara takes the precious second that Markuran gives her to summon her arsenal from Elsewhere. In a blinding flash, they appear, each in front of her, then fan out, with an eerie life of their own, leaping to her defense
- Zahara takes the dregs of the energy within her and hurls it at the creature she so carelessly summoned, a white-hot flare of light seeking the demon's heart as it streams from her fingers.
- Lucien sidesteps the bolt of holy fire with, letting it splatter against the wall, the images dancing through another once again so that no-one knows which is the real Lucien
- Zahara curses as the bolt misses Lucien, but from just behind her shoulder, the bell begins to toll. Twice the sound rings out, and twice does it tell the tale of agony for the unholy demon attacking herself and Markuran. "You may have broken free, but you SHALL not win." she growls. From her left, the Ice Hammer strikes, shedding flakes of ice in a rainbow cascade as it flies through the air
- Lucien doesnt dignify the comment with a response, his form flowling like the desert sand in the breeze away from the bell and the sound
- Lucien ripples as 3 of the images rush at the imputent Exalt who tried to call him, the long Ivory knives gleaming an unpleasant colour in the sunlight as they open scores on her flesh
- Zahara 's remaining weapons leap to her defense, each hungry to defend its mistress, The first is met with the 7-section staff, which twists itself in half, forming a larger surface to meet the onrushing blade. The second with the Fighting Chain, which strikes the weapon, entangling it with its coils. The third by the flare of the flamberge, a living flame that beats back the demon's ivory.
- Zahara staggers backward, a scream tearing from her lips as the knives drive past her weapons and into her flesh, each taking a chunk of flesh with it
- Lucien licks the blood and essence off his knives
- Markuran catches Lucien under the arms, hauling the demon away from Zahara. Clasping broad hands behind the demon's neck, Mark begins forcing the creature's head further and further forward until its spine creaks ominously.
- Zahara 's blood spurts out in a crimson arc, but only for a moment. A disturbing motion ripples beneath her skin as the sesselje rush to the site of the wound, a happy humming noise adding to the clamor of ringing weapons and screams, as the bug begins to knit flesh and bone back together
- Lucien flits aside from the Bears clumsy attacks, waiting until he has extended himself before being suprised by the fury of the second set of blows that come from nowhere, twisting desperately
- Lucien raises the knives to parry, blurring as they do
- Markuran snarls as the demon evaporates from his grasp and waits only a moment to let the demon place himself out of balance before lashing out again, a heavy fist connecting with the demon's chest with the sound of a tree slamming onto a cow's back. As the demon staggers, Marukan's fist blurs again, sending spittle and blood flying.
- Zahara stumbles toward the door, pressing her hand against the plate to release it, as she pulls herself up regally, then calls out into the hallway, "Guards! Summon the Blooded! There's a test today!"
- Zahara then turns toward the demon once more, and the bell rises to the heights of the manse, nearly disappearing in the lofty depths of the ceiling, were it not for the bonfire of coruscating light surrounding Zahara. It tolls twice again, the ringing piercing the demon's eardrum, such as it is, and driving his insides towards his outsides. As this happens, the Ice Hammer strikes once again, from behind as if weilded by a strong hand.
- Lucien shifts and flowly like the sands again, as the waves of sound wash over him, ducking to avoid the hammer
- Lucien whirls on the Solar who attacked him, ignoring the bleeding summoner for the time being...her can have fun with her once her protector is dead...his knifes flash 3 times once more, slipping through the Bear's armour like it is so much thin air to cut at his soul below
- Markuran doesn't flinch as one of the knives slips through the gap in Armsbreaker's blade and scores his forearm. The blood drips to the ground under the demons feet, slicking the stone.
- Markuran hooks a foot around the demon's ankle and drops him to the floor as he slides on the golden blood spilling from the Zenith's wound. Slamming his bulk down atop the demon, Mark drives his two huge fists into the demon's throat. As he chokes the life from Lucien the burning Castemark on his brown beats down on the demon, outlining the visage of holy fury above him.
- Lucien twists aside as the Exalt falls on him, rolling to his feet barely avoiding the flurry of blows, the last one catching him but lightly
- Zahara 's remaining weapons, having been held back to defend, now leap forward, all three at once converging upon the Demon that is only barely there. The chain wraps around his legs, the jointed staff hauls off and whacks him soundly across the head, and the flamberge dives for his heart
- Lucien eyes widen at the fresh assault, twisting and writhing on the floor, his mnay mouths gnashing as he dodges
- Lucien bows to Solar before him, crossing his knife blades then he starts to run, all the images of him running too, a hail of knives slicing at the Zenith's life, at his soul, slicing away at some of the Bear's respectablity, and as the last attack falls he vanishes in a blast of cold, acrid air, the desert of Cycelene visible in the room for a brief moment, and then the demon is gone.
- Zahara looks up as the bell tolls twice more, to no avail. The beetles inside her scurry strangely in her stomach as they happily heal the wound. Behind her, the sound of many booted feet echoes in the corridor as the Blooded legions finally arrive. She turns to regard them. "Hmmm Too late. The test is over."
Tags: (:tags Demons, Lucien:)
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