Szayeis, Lily, Maroon and Solus

The tapping of a claw on a wine glass resonated throughout the room as Maroon and Lily proceeded to finish watching Solus leave. The shadows in the room would promptly appear to shudder and spread out, only to shrink away as a figure composed of pure darkness waltzed out from Maroon's office and began to gradually shift into a more humanoid form. However, all the while those terribly beautiful, blue chimeric eyes shone and pierced all illusion, seeming to emanate madness even as they did so. There was a light chuckle as the dark hand formed skin, its digits grasping a wine glass filled with pure essence...angel essence. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]“You do host intriguing guests, seraph. Oh and I do apologize, but a patrolling angel happened upon me. Granted I would have let him be, but he simply [I]insisted[/I] on having my [I]full attention[/I].”[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] The nightwalker then proceeded to take a sip from the wine glass and set it deftly down on an intricate table, one that was quickly overtaken by shadows as to protect the cup from the hands of either Lily or the Seraph, Maroon.
 
With the rest of his body having almost fully taken its typical human form, Szayeis rolled his neck, cracking it as if getting used to the body, and smiled his ever so charming smile at Lily. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"Ahh, you're looking well. Much better than when we last met."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] He then glanced towards Maroon, cocking an eyebrow as he looked the angel over briefly.
 
[B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"Hmm, so you're the one who sent me an invitation. You know, you really shouldn't have...now I have access. Regardless, what is it you wished to address, my [I]dear[/I] councilman?"[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] There was an air of arrogance about Szayeis and it was something that Maroon would likely abhor on some level. In fact, only Lily would understand that Szayeis was only testing the angel's resolve and ability to deal with him. Not to mention trying to make the seraph prove his worth, after all, to Szayeis angels were little more than an amusing nuisance.
 
Maroon had felt the demon’s presence thickening long ago so he didn’t twitch, nor did he make an attempt to get up from the couch. He just turned his head enough to be able to look at the demon with one eye, a frown set on his features.
 
“Ah. My bad. Most of the demons I host have better manners than that. There was no way for me to know that you’d bring your most recent kill straight to my home. Or is that the demonic idea of hospitality – the equivalent of a cat bringing a bird to its master?”
 
Lily let out a sigh loud enough for both to hear and crossed her arms. She hated being in the same room with two men considering themselves to be on top of the world. It was always the same, no matter what race they belonged to. 
 
“Could we, for 5 minutes, pretend to be civil? Or should I leave you and come back later?”
 
Maroon offerred his glass of whiskey in the air in a “cheers” gesture and took a sip without waiting for the appropriate response. On habit he would have said “make yourself at home” but realizing the ridiculousness of the thought he immediately dismissed it. 
 
“We’re discussing the nature of our renegade angel Hazumi, the one you encountered earlier today. Maybe you have an idea of what she is, milord?” 
 
Szayeis chuckled, his smirk widening a bit and then he laughed and threw his hands up almost dismissively as a shadowy tendril retrieved his glass. As he lowered his hands he gently cradled the glass and mirrored the cheers, taking a sip of the delectable essence, though he had certainly had better. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"Oh come now, it's nothing but playful banter. Besides, I meant no offense, not really. If I meant that I'd have blown a hole in the wall."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] As Maroon prompted him, the lord tilted his head slightly and then nodded, his eyes darkening somewhat as he remembered the black winged pest. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"Yes, an impressive willpower to that one, I must admit."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] Seeming to contemplate the encounter for a long moment, Szayeis glanced at Lily, his eyes reading her for a moment before he again spoke. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"She is corrupted, that much I can tell for sure. Unlike the two of you, I do not require blood or the like to analyze essence. I am a nightwalker, and just as we are rather...ethereal, so are our perceptual abilities."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] With this out of the way, he took a sip and then continued, [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"I can say that her essence was very...murky. In fact, from how she held herself, I imagine she is unaware of what she is. I doubt you could ask her directly about it, though I suppose there are [I]some[/I] questions that might work."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B]
 
Suddenly smiling a little, Szayeis stopped twirling his glass slightly and then looked directly at Maroon. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"You have a sample, don't you?"[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] It was almost a statement of fact. The real question would be, for Maroon at least, how did he know?
 
Maroon nodded and gestured to the couch opposite him. 
 
“All we have is on the table.” He admitted not allowing himself to question his choice of allying himself with the demon lord, rather than with his own kin. He didn’t trust the Lord… but he trusted Lily and she trusted him. “But the sample we have is itself mystifying. It’s a sample of the flesh construct that struck Loom not so long ago. Immediately after acquiring it it was showing different layers of essence, respectively belonging to each individual that served as material to build the construct. Hazumi’s essence was one of many amongst it. It was dark-red in colour, almost black. A day later, however, it’s this tar-like substance that you see today. Lily said it resembled the one Hazumi had which leads us to believe her essence somehow merged with the others and prevails over the others. The fact that it didn't seem to be the case with the construct's own essence probably means it wasn't his doing but rather hers.” 
 
Nodding his head, a shadow appeared by the sample and enveloped it. The vial then came out of the palm of the lord's free hand, the skin briefly appearing as a dark shadow before it shifted back. Looking it over for a brief moment, Szayeis raised an eyebrow and uncorked the vial, extracting less than a drop of liquid and seeming to test it between his fingers. However, since he was a nightwalker, it might as well have been the same as when Lily had put it to her tongue.
 
Except...Szayeis was used to have a cacophony of maddening voices writhing through his skull. As such, he was able to easily sift through the memories and then absorb the essence almost entirely, replacing the cork onto the vial and allowing it to reappear through a shadow onto the table. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"Hmmm..."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] he said inquisitively, closing his eyes, the infamous eyes of Praestrigia, a power that even the youngest and most untrained black winged angel would know of. Focusing, Szayeis nodded and then a grin spread across his features slowly and he spoke. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"We have ourselves a chimera..."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] he said without explanation, seeming incredibly amused by the idea. What he meant, however, would be a mystery...one solved only by the questioning of the two old friends.
 
Maroon’s first instinct was to point out how ridiculous that claim was. His second thought was that that was indeed the only possible explanation to what they were faced with. 
 
“A chimera?” Lily asked, who obviously had no inhibitions to admit she didn't understand. “But the essence is homogenous… is there a being that could be an angel and a demon at once? Wouldn’t one essence consume the other?” 
 
Szayeis' smile spread wider at Maroon's seeming disbelief, and then his eyes opened as Lily asked the most wonderful of questions. "Oh, I'm so glad you asked," he said with a devilish grin spread across his face. "It has little to do with their original demon, and more to do with how their body handles essence. This is quite a unique case, I do think, in fact I'd say that there have only been several such cases in history." Chuckling lightly, the nightwalker gracefully lowered himself into a seat, the glass still in his hand before he took a brief sip and continued. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"Hazumi has found a way, whether intentional or not, to consume the essence of other beings. I cannot say exactly how this process takes place, but I can say it likely has something to do with her willpower. Hmmm, how was it you described it Lily? Resolute, yet still undecided and faltering? Something like that."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] Closing his eyes briefly, Szayeis nodded and rolled his neck, popping some of the muscles into place. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"Something is off, but I do believe that is the jist of it. Oh and in regards to the methodology. I can only say that it likely has some relation to the contradictory nature of her essence. It falters enough to allow other essence to enter it, but retains enough resolute willpower to dominate that which enters. If I didn't know better, I'd say it is a skill she has trained."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] He then shrugged, taking another sip from the wine glass.
 
Silence set in the room for a long moment while the other two tried to grasp the idea. 
 
“Interesting theory... but see, the problem is Hazumi never stood out. She hasn’t been our most capable fighter and she was never the most trusted soldier of the Council. Until a decade ago she was practically invisible. If she really has abilities far superior to those of her higher-ups, then why hasn’t she attempted to make use of it to change her position? If she’s loyal to the Council then she would have tried to undertake bigger tasks than just dealing with small flies. And if she isn’t loyal to the Council, then who [i]is[/i] she loyal to?” Maroon mused out loud, leaning heavily back in the couch. 
 
“Maybe she’s just a follower rather than a leader.” Lily suggested. Maroon only scoffed dismissively. “Not with the way we treat dark angels. Anyone capable of getting out of that position, would.” 
 
“That’s not something you should be admitting so freely.” Lily teased.
 
“I’d hardly be impressed by the moral lecture of a demon, now, would I.” Maroon snapped. 
 
The western lord chuckled quietly at their banter and his smirk continued to persist as he watched the interaction between demon and angel, something he did not often have the pleasure of viewing. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"Yes, I imagine you wouldn't be, seraph,"[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] Szayeis quipped, [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"angels tend to take their cues from only their own kind, a terrible mistake if you ask me. I mean, your relations with the other races are surely the best they could be."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] His smirk spread into a toothy grin, his teeth sharpening briefly as he gazed with an amused, calm, air at the seraph.
 
“Well, of course.” Maroon agreed calmly. “They are the best they could be, given that we can’t freely enter Hell and spread our wings out there. Now, here, on the Surface, I’d say we have everything under control. We keep our friends close and crush our enemies under our boot. I can’t complain. Your kin is also privileged. Many find the freedom here that they couldn’t dream of back in their 'home'. Like our friend Lily here.” The angel gestured to Lily who looked away with an annoyed expression, obviously wishing she was somewhere else right now.
 
Szayeis shrugged and his mischievous grin shrunk back down to an amused smirk. "I'll not crush your little fantasy," the lord stated nonchalantly as he finished his glass of angel essence and then gently set it down on the table through a shadow. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"Regardless, I think you underestimate her ability to adapt, hell, anyone's ability to do so."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] Nodding his head slowly, Szayeis thought seriously for a long moment before once again filling the room's silence with his smooth charming voice. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"From what I sensed she was not only loyal to the council, but blindly so, not to mention the fact that she does not appear to think herself anymore than a servant willingly fullfiling any whim the council pushes upon her. She knows she does not belong, and she believes that she never will...and so she makes no effort. Her life is meaningless to her, and thus so is its worth."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] He then fell silent, seeming strangely solemn as he waited for a response, for it was something he knew from experience, though not as directly as anyone present might have thought, not that either of them knew a single thing about his past.
 
No one did.
 
Maroon nodded. Solus had said something similar. Maybe it was indeed true. Everyone seemed convinced the girl was just being manipulated and was actually innocent. Given her past, however, he had to wonder. After all, she had slain her powerless mother for reasons that remained unclear to the day. Looking over the note and mentally concluding it with a “Chimera” inference at the bottom he let out a small sigh. How had that happened? And what [i]should[/i] happen from now on? If she indeed held the key to a new ability capable of overcoming boundaries then maybe she was most valuable alive. But if she was so easily influenced by both the Council and the demon lords, then maybe she was too dangerous to be left unattended. 
 
There was one final piece missing. The feathers. Hers and her mothers’. The ones he couldn’t acquire earlier today when he went to the Council building. The ones that held all the missing parts. 
 
In the silence Lily had fixed her eyes on Szayeis. She had known him long enough to notice the subtle variations of his attitude… and she didn’t remember a case when he’d remained silent with anything other than a smirk over his features. Her curiosity made her stare for a second longer than was socially acceptable and as soon as she realized that she removed her gaze and leaned back in her own couch with a sigh.
 
“So kill her.” She concluded and smiled. “Ends your problems neatly. You can dissect her afterwards if you’re that curious.” Maroon threw her a grim stare and she shrugged in response. “Or tame her. I know you can, and surely the Council can forgive you, given the circumstance.”
 
“Revenge is not a virtue, Lily.”
 
“It is, in my world.” Lily stretched and grinned at Szayeis. “Are you staying for the day?”
 
Maroon glared at her and his knuckles went white squeezing his crossed arms.
 
[B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"The day..."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] the nightwalker said absentmindedly as the two finished. He noticed Maroon's glare, even without looking at him, only to then glance up and lock eyes with the seraph. For a brief moment the tamer would feel an incredible pressure and the room would darken, the lightbulbs appearing to all shatter. Lily would see nothing, the room would remain the same, but for Maroon it would take several seconds for him to readjust, and when he did the lord stood just before him, looming over him and no longer in any kind of human guise. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"You will pay if you kill her," he said darkly, his voice no longer even vaguely human.Thought he still possessed a vaguely humanoid body-type, it was certainly nothing of that kind, not even close.
 
Grey armor seemed to drape his form, bizarre runes carved on their surface. Beneath were clothes composed of pure shadow that flowed off from his body and played throughout the room as the light returned. However, the lightbulbs flickered and sputtered, no longer from the illusion of the eyes. The outburst would seem...completely out of place, and the form would be entirely alien, even to Lily.
 
The last time it had been seen, was during the Great War and none of them were old enough to remember.
 
Yet despite the armor, the frightening display of what was obviously controlled power, and even the outburst, what would strike them most was the fact that this form had no eyes. None at all.
 
It made no sense, for even the youngest of angels would know that the lord of the Western realm should have been unable to take a form that did not possess those trademark eyes, and yet here one was...doing just that.
 
After a long moment of sightless glaring, Szayeis turned from the seraph and walked towards Maroon's office, each step leaving black marks on the carpet, which would quickly dissipate into the air, seeming to corrupt it as it did. [B][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR="#00002E"][SIZE=3]"If force becomes necessary, simply say my name at the stroke of dusk when the sun hides its face behind the horizon and I will get you her dark stained feathers."[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] He then continued to walk towards the office's doorway, the only thing that might stop him was a reaction from the other two, a reaction that could easily cost them life or limb, not that they knew.
 
The sudden shift of mood did surprise Maroon but it didn’t catch him off guard. He had been dealing with demons long enough to have a perfectly good idea of how they tick and he hadn’t let his tamer senses relax for even a second after Szayeis first entered the room. And so he realized when things got dangerous and he immediately put up a strong mental barrier around his own mind. 
 
What he didn’t expect was that it wouldn’t work to its full extent and that some of the illusion still penetrate.
 
He also didn’t expect Lily to prove the reason for this sudden aggression. 
 
Once the threat was set the figure started shifting and the impossible happened – what was deemed as the giveaway of the Western Lords vanished. 
 
Maroon could have overlooked all this. Could have considered it vanity or arrogance. Could have dismissed it as unimportant. 
 
But once the demon started heading in the direction of his secret study everything became all too serious. 
And while it was carelessness to risk an angel’s life for a petty few documents, those documents weren’t petty and it would be carelessness to risk the lives of millions of humans they held without even attempting to save them.
 
The Seraph jumped to his feet, his gigantic wings flaring even as he did so. Thousands of invisible threads shot out of them aiming at Szayeis’ mind while his hand was pointed at Lily with an open palm, a transparent red string wrapping tightly around her neck like a leash and making her squeal. 
 
“One more step and she loses her head.” Maroon’s icy voice pierced the wind his wings had created. 
Squeezing his fist demonstratively made Lily choke and fall to her knees while a bleeding ring formed around her neck. 
 
“Stay away from that room and we’ll pretend this never happened.” The angel continued, the tendrils of his willpower already trying to break through Szayeis’ mind and subdue it. What began to emerge was not one consciousness, but many, much more resilient to being controlled thanks to their sheer number… but it only made the angel squeeze his fist harder… and Lily – scream louder. 
 
The strings made contact and all surrounding lights were snuffed out in a second. The room was nearly pitch black, the only source of light came from the moon, which shined through the mansion's single window. In that darkness the moonlight shone off of the dull silver armor of Szayeis' form and the once invisible strings would find themselves revealed in glowing pristine detail. Szayeis' foot finished its step, and the lord did not take another.
 
He didn't move away. Then he turned halfway, and his faceless visage swiveled as if to look at Maroon and within the mansion there was suddenly the gradual rise of infernal whispers. The strings would appear to corrode as not only Szayeis, but the thousands upon thousands of soul fragments he had consumed over his life, protested the angel's intrusion into their mind. The white strings would begin to become duller as time progressed, yet the Chimeric lord said nothing, uttering not even a grunt of protest and had yet to make another movement since it had turned towards the seraph. The darkness became stifling, as if it sought to crush the very souls out of everyone present, even Lily. However, the red bond would not loosen, nor would it become dull like the white ones.
 
Instead it would shine brighter and brighter and small stitches would progress over her skin from the spot she'd been wounded by Hazumi...and healed by Dr. Kasain. They would travel to her neck and begin to twine their way around the red thread, their purpose unknown.
 
Meanwhile, an old fury rose within the being of Szayeis and to the angel and demons the world would disappear for a moment as a voice resonated through the entirety of their beings.
 
[COLOR="#003333"][b][FONT=Book Antiqua][I][SIZE=3]"You infringe in territory where you have no sway. Begone, or let your mind fray and be torn to fragments like all others."[/SIZE][/I][/FONT][/B][/COLOR]
 
It was deep, ancient, tired, and rather than arrogant, it sounded sure and felt immovable, untouchable, and completely without form.
 
Then it was gone and to replace it were the eyes, those deadly blue orbs, manifested now in the mind of his attacker, Maroon.
 
Now the nightwalker's voice pushed through the murk to grate against the ears of his aggressor like a thousand blades through metal flesh. "Lhet goo," the distorted voice of many layers commanded, the eyes attempting to burn through the defense of the tamer. If Maroon did not withdraw soon, he would find that it was he who would be tamed, and Szayeis who would be his master.
 
He had trifled with the wrong demon and now he was learning just what Lily had meant by her comment just hours before.
 
"You too would bow in the presence of a lord," she had said...and now he was paying the price for his arrogance.
 
Maroon gritted his teeth, but despite the pain he refused to yield. New tendrils of his own essence kept pushing forwards, melting, renovating, reaching. Even at a distance they carried a message strong enough to be heard. A message for all demons to hear, one of previous lives, scratching wounds long healed. They opened wounds and exhumed memories buried deep. Memories of fear, memories of loss, of pain, of anguish, of weakness… because inside every demon there was a weakling, a life of failure and slavery, a life of fear. A fear some had forgotten and some had ignored but a fear left present in the depths of their very souls. And that fear he would prey on. And for nightwalkers that fear was the fear of the Light.
 
The few tendrils that managed to reach would infiltrate the demons’ minds, reviving the memories, opening the wounds, feeding on them and putting them [i]on fire[/i]. To those pitiful consciousness’ the world would become what it was in their most desperate moments, a sun-drenched meadow, a lone rock in the sea with no shelter with no shadowy escape left but the darkness of death. The memories would flare to life, extinguishing everything in their path, erasing every shadow and every drop of confidence, bravery and even sanity, leaving only fear and anguish to rule over them.
 
But this would be no victory, no draw, and no battle of equals. Even with this achievement and those few negated minds there were many more he couldn’t tame. Many more exerting their own violence over his mind. He felt the demons’ power scratch on his mind like nails on chalkboard. His barriers screeched under the pressure that bent them inwards like water bends glass just before it breaks. 
 
And he knew, he realized that what he was dealing with far out powered any demon on the face of the earth. He was challenging a God. 
 
This would be no draw, no battle of equals… No, this would be defeat. The end would be his own demise. 
 
But there was a time to live… and there was a time to die.
 
“Never choose others’ lives over your own.” The Council’s golden rule, the foundation of everything they lived and fought for. A rule he never thought he’d break himself. And one he couldn’t allow himself to follow. 
 
In his study were lives. The lives the Council had entrusted to him. The lives of countless innocent humans and Protected demons that depended on him to defend. In his study was a picture of the siblings of the parents that gave a life to this wretched body and taught it to laugh.
 
And he couldn’t let the demon have that. 
 
Lily saw clearly the resolve in their stances, the resolve that trickled through her bonds to them and made her bleed. Her body was becoming a battlefield of wills and her flesh was ripping apart and being restored again in an endless cycle that blurred her vision and stole her breath. 
 
[size=1]“Stop…”[/size] she tried to utter, to no avail. Her neck split open and came back together again, blood flowing freely, that couldn’t flow forever. “The path to the void is paved with good intentions.” Her drunk mind tried to console her with the bitter words of death. Lily clenched her fist with pointless fury. In a world filled with violence the role set for her was never one of power and authority. She never reached a form strong enough to be independent and truly free and her best weapons had always been peace and diplomacy. Weapons dull and useless in this world of fury and hatred. She had always been weak… 
 
…but she had never been anyone’s bitch. 
 
Both men had leashed her up in their influence but they had made one crucial mistake. None of them had immobilized her. So with what little life she had left in her, Lily got to her knees and slammed her fist on the glass table, a rain of shattered glass reflecting bits and pieces of the broken reality that should have never happened. Even before the shards wetly splashed in the pool of blood around her, Lily had grabbed a big and sharp piece of pristine glass and ran it straight through her heart. It severed her flesh and it severed the unnatural charm that kept repairing the body that longed for death. A gruesome wet cough escaped her staining her lips red as they spread to a merciless smirk. 
 
It was then when something unexpected blasted into the room like a missle, both in Maroon's and Szayeis' periferal vision a humanoid being ran right towards Lily, who was now losing consciousness and a lot of blood. Her body continued to get torn apart and then healed again. It was a rippling dance of gore. Maroon's vision and concentration towards Lily would clear almost immediately, as he would notice his hold over Lily's throat suddenly vanish. He saw his guest from earlier, Solus Grim, standing over the unconscious Lily, her body glowed with energy and strange symbols floated around her.
 
Solus casted some sort of protective ward around her whole being, keeping Maroon's magical reach at bay as the strings of essence desperately tried to grasp her, but were quickly deflected by the spell. But the shield wouldn't last forever, Solus only had ten seconds until the spell wore out and the two warring sides noticed what was happening. Solus quickly threw Lily into his arms and ran towards the west facing window that lead to the courtyard. His right hand pulled Lily's head closer into his left shoulder as he leaped through the closed window, its frame ripped apart, glass shattering both in and out of the room.
 
Szayeis took no notice, instead the demon began to walk towards Maroon, his faceless visage unreadable. "Withdraaaw, ssseraph," his voice stated in many...many thousands of toned layers. "Withdraaaw or be destrooyheed," the eyes began to pulse within the angel's mind and the pressure increased as the distance between them became frighteningly small. The eyes, as they began to take up more and more of his focus, would appear larger and larger within his mind's sight, seeming to take up all the space. Yet, even as they did so, Maroon would find that his mind was being assaulted not on one front, but on many, so many he might find them difficult to count.
 
His emotions were being assaulted, as was his logical mind and the faculties that regulated his bodily functions. Furthermore, the pressing force continued, moving towards Maroon's memories as well, to invade, corrupt, manipulate, and destroy him. However, this was not the worst of it, for if he did not submit soon, Szayeis would be before him and not only would the assault tear his mind to shards, the demon would rip the seraph asunder, and mutilate his essence in ways that the angel could not understand.
 
Now it would be seen, even if only in part, by those who had doubted the terror he instilled, that the aura of fear the lord exuded...was no farce.
 
This was real. The terror that accompanied him was very...very real, tangible, and capable of effecting even the most resolute and trained of minds...with some effort of course. Not only that, but had Julian been witness to this he might rethink his judgement of the demon, a judgement that had concluded in Szayeis being labeled a coward, something he obviously was not. It did not end there, for as Maroon continued his futile attempts to attack the chimeric mind of the lord of chaos he would find that even those he'd thought tamed would seem to arise again, conquering the fear he had attempted to use, and doubling it back on him, turning it primal and sending it back through the corroding threads he wielded.
 
There was no end to the torment chaos could bring.
 
No end but that of the Chimera.
 
Meanwhile, Solus had landed in a small set of shrubs that only made up a tiny fraction of the vast courtyard, flattening the plants below his boots. Even he could feel the chaos, the darkness that filled the room he was previously in. Could thathave been Szayeis that he saw? The Lord of Chaos and Destruction himself? Why was he there? And why was he protecting Lily? He looked down at the unconscious Siren in his arms as he ran towards his car. [COLOR="#000000"]"The Hell is going on back there?"[/COLOR] Solus asked himself outloud.
 
He reached the car, which had its doors already open and had the engine running, ready to receive its passenger. He sat Lily down on the passenger seat and quickly strapped on her seatbelt, and shut the door. Then he moved towards the driver's side, got in and shut the door, not bothering with his own seatbelt. He slammed on the gas and the car's rear tires slid on the asphalt, creating a mass of white smoke behind the car, until they finally managed to gain enough grip to push the car forward. Sending the Mustang into a powerslide that arched around the fountain, with the car regaining control and speeding through the open gate that lead out into the remainder of East Beach.
 
Lily looked in bad shape, all cut up from the glass of the window Solus escaped through and a massive glass shard sticking out of her chest. The cuts were quickly disappearing one by one, but that chest wound went right through her heart.
 
She needed treatment, and fast.
 
As he glanced at her, he would notice a set of directions forming on her arm...along with a name: Kasain Mve. They were formed from the same threads that seemed to be fradually extracting the glass from her body, though they could not entirely heal her wounds, they could lessen their severity somewhat.
 
- - - - - -
 
The lord, with the deed done and his enemy dealt with, be he alive or not, turned from the angel, now laying on the floor, though perhaps still alive, and placed his hand on a nearby wall.
 
The shadows gathered and then the wall, and every wall after it, exploded outwards. He walked out of this massive hole, never touching a single portion of the office, for he had not damaged or entered it, and exited the house. However as he left, so did his essence...all of it. Not a trace would remain, in fact, the only thing left would be a different essence, an alien one. Any who detected it would think it belonged to a demon, but a more experienced individual would realize that it was not. Nor was it anything else, its race was unknown...and would remain so.
 
Szayeis however knew, but he did not realize he had left it behind. So as he exited the house, his body dematerialized and the shadows enveloped him, causing him to vanish completely.
 
The angel had paid for his trangression...and his kind would pay in turn. would pay.