[center]Collaboration between [@Mega Birb],[@TheWindel], and [@Lonewolf685][/center][hr][hr]
[color=red]"Quit stalling wench,"[/color] Ira said gruffly, launching forward of her own right to meet Hildr head on. One hand clenching the hilt of her blade, she grabbed right for the strike Hildr threw at her. Gritted teeth would betray the pain she felt as the holy weapon met with her open palm though a viel of black fire and her own armor prevented the makeshift mace from penetrating further. [color=red]"Do not think of me so lowly as the common demonic fool Hildr!"[/color] Ira snarled, jerking towards the Valkyrie with a hard headbutt.

Leave it to the bloodthirsty demon to rush  towards the oncoming hammer blow. Hildr growled at the impedance Ira's palm proved, keeping the both of them locked in place for the Queen of Hell to rebuke her progeny with a brutish headbutt. Angelic helm met bare and battered flesh, metal grinding as the Valkyrie held her ground and pushed back against the sloppy counter.

[color=orange] "When you're this weakened, you may as well be fodder."[/color] Hildr bellowed with manic glee while an ominous orange light poured from the openings of her helm, right before it exploded outwards in a burst of holy shrapnel from an equally brutish application of Golden Eyes.  

[color=red]"Grhnn, you bitch!"[/color] Ira said, physically blown back by Hildr's attack. Fire sparked up as she slammed her heels into whatever was left of their floating chunk, having taken a face full of the blow. As the flames leaped haphazardly and began to singe the very ground they walked upon, one of the embers landed near a single yellow flower. For some reason this was enough for the great demon queen to pause in her assault to look at it, though it was for a brief moment. Stubbornness ran in the Reinhardt family and it was no less true for the progenitor of it all, Ira throwing herself right back at her daughter.

[color=red]"So let me get this straight. You just want to fight me, is that right? You got bored of the mortal world that quickly?"[/color] she snarled before launching wave after wave of dark-fueled and firery magic. [color=red]"Or maybe you're still being a brat, not realizing what your actions will do for others. Always the hard head weren't you Hildr. Do you have any idea what's going to happen if you strike me down?"[/color]

[color=orange] "Like you'd know anything outside this place. You've always either been lording over demons, or tied to mom's bedpost. I've never known you to find a middle ground."[/color] She spat in reply, Impromptu weapon throttling down its engine while Hildr hefted it in both hands, waves of hellish flame surged towards her. While blasting her father in the face was certainly worth giving up her helm for a while, it's absence made standing in the midst of such rampant fire rather unpleasant. Rather then stand before the firestorm, Hildr gunned the engine and slammed her maul downwards to shatter the battered island they stood upon and send them into free fall once more. 

Unable to resist a repeat performance, she was already hurling out a fresh rip line as she fell to reel in Ira for another round of beating. [color=red]"Not this time bitch,[/color]" Ira said, rather accustomed to the insult by now. Narrowed eyes enabled her to focus, watching the aim of the rip line and spinning in the air to avoid it. Eyes gleaming, Ira snatched the width of the line and pulled forward in a mockery of Hildr's earlier motion. Intent on ramming her sword right through the Valkyrie, she insured this by setting the chains on fire, the black flames traveling down the length and towards the source.

[color=orange] "Shit."[/color] Hildr said, dropping the rocket mace lest it send her hurtling to fast away from the battle. She should have figured that the Queen of Hell wouldn't be so easily fooled by the same trick twice, though her own biases were a bit hard to see past. Yanked through the air on a course towards her father's bloodied steel, she wasn't confident she would be parrying this strike with a sudden creation of hers. The hand still clutching the line now felt its flesh burn through the armor, the demon's flames as potent as was fitting her position, yet this didn't dissuade the Valkyrie. 

Gnashing teeth still managed a slasher's smile before the encroaching demon until the air between them tore, leaving Ira staring at her own back as the blade traveled through the portal opening behind her. While all this went down, Syphax kept his distance, looking for that opening that could finish the fight against a weakened Ira in a single blow.  While no such chance occurred from his angle, he did give chase when the pairing fell, catching up with ease and going as far as to speed ahead of them.  Perhaps thirty-some odd feet below them he evened out and readied his greatsword to strike a specific part of her:  Her sword arm, as in the right wrist in an unknowingly ironic move.

It seems the feckless arrogance of Heaven never died down, Ira left to stare at what looked like her own backside. With the speed of a warrior trained, she wretched her sword back against her side though did not stop her momentum. With a sadistic grin of her own, she embraced the portal fully with a charge. Given the positioning of it, she would end up at the same position as before. But because of that, she knew what to expect as well, forcing herself to the side and snatching one of Hildr's arms, tossing her about in the free falling air. [color=red]"You never did answer my question."[/color]

The Valkyrie wasn't laughing any longer when the demon evaded her trap with irritating ease. Ira had evaded and turned the tears against Hildr, leaving her daughter to shout indignantly as she was flung out of reach and smacked into a chunk of falling rock. [color=orange] "Gah! Sod off. If you're already thinking of your replacement, you lost this. Take her, Harpy."[/color]

With his cue given by Hildr, Syphax changed little besides the trajectory of where he was about to swing.  Rather than the wrist of Hell's Queen, he went straight for her midsection in an attempt to bisect her.  [color=a36209]"Not so cocky now, are we!?"[/color]

[color=red]"What are you talking about?"[/color] Ira said, voice calm. Seeing Hildr be smacked about was enough to bring a soothing sense to her mind and she turned in the direction of the charging Harpy. With her free hand, she took the blade head on with her palm, not even flinching as Syphax's sword rammed right into her hand. Demonic blood scattered down below but at least her falling momentum was halted with Syphax stabbing her. Sword bursting into black flames, she held the sword in her tighter and attempted to stab Syphax. [color=red]"You're the one who flew right into a death wish!"[/color]

Most fighters in their right mind would see a stab like that coming and would try to dodge it.  Syphax, however, was more focused on the kill than logic at the moment.  With barely a reaction he took the burning sword through his side, one of his clawed feet locking around Ira's right leg in the process, though making no move to try and strike again with his primary weapon.  As such, this left Ira without a usable arm in close quarters with someone that you should probably never be in close quarters with if you value your health.  The Harpy took advantage of this by ripping his dagger from its scabbard and raising it high in the air with his free left hand.  [color=a36209]"Are you sure I was the one that flew into the death trap?"[/color]  Dramatic line given, he plunged Infernalbane downwards, towards the heart of the Queen of Hell.

Her mother had spoken often about Ira's exceptional hands, and she herself had been on the receiving end of many a beating from them in the past, but this didn't stop Hildr from cursing out loud as Ira blocked a greatsword with her palm alone. That it didn't split her arm down the middle was a horrifying mystery that baffled even an old hand of the Nexus. She winced when Ira's sword buried itself into Syphax, his immoliation all but certain in a few agonizing moments, yet this didn't stop him from striking back with impressive speed.  [color=orange]"Damn. It really is a bitch to tear prey from a bird."[/color] Hildr grumbled, righting herself atop the falling debris as events unfolded.

The cling of metal rang out in the area and Syphax's motion would be cut off rather drastically. Perhaps it was impossible for the reckless Harpy to witness, but for a woman scorned and holding the wrath of all Hell, it was probably not too big of a surprise. With a surprising amount of dexterity, Ira had twisted her neck in a such a way that she stopped Syphax's blade by the skin of her teeth, clenching the weapon between her jaws. A look of pure hatred gleamed in her eyes and even now, smoke was pouring out of her mouth as the holy metal was burning into her teeth. Like hell she was going to let some stupid Harpy rid of her position as Hell's ruler!

At first Syphax was taken aback by this action, but then again, she was a demon.  This was probably a normal thing in Hell, all things considered.  His thoughts were interrupted as he felt a tree branch make solid contact with his back, and a whole 'nother series of events unfolded.  Much like a cartoon with improbable survival odds, the entangled pair started trading blows with the thick evergreen forest below the islands of Arcadia, rolling and swapping blows to the back and sides from wood that was all too persistent in killing them.  In what seemed like an hour of bludgeoning, the two hit the ground and split apart, Ira's sword still in Syphax's side, and Syphax's dagger still in Ira's mouth.  The greatsword was lost somewhere in the middle of the two, stabbed halfway into the ground.  Both parties happened to land in the mud of the forest floor.

A short moment after this, in which the pain started to catch up to him, the Harpy slowly got to his hands and knees.  At this point, he could feel the fire of Ira's sword slowly consuming him, only adding to the agony he was in by now.  Being the hardass he was though, he pushed himself up to his knees as everything flared with a suffering unlike anything he had felt before, and braced one hand on the hilt of the blade in his side, and one around the wound.

[color=orange]"Sheesh, I now endurance is genetic, but's what's birdman's excuse for surviving this?"[/color] The Elder Valkyrie said, stepping out of a tear to avoid a messy landing like they had while the debris she'd rode gouged itself a crater in the surrounding woodlands. [color=orange]"Even by demonic standards, you are putting us through Hell to bring you down Ira. I'd be applauding you if I weren't torn between taking you alive and just tearing out your heart so I can parade the carcass in front of your troops."[/color] Though if Hildr were a gambling woman, she'd wager it wouldn't do all that much to harm demonic morale, with them being such cutthroat bastards and all. 

Hildr wasted no more time in closing the distance, sullying the cool showdown with her presence and driving her boot between Ira's shoulder blades to keep her down. [color=orange]"Bah, we'll do this the fun way. Can't imagine they'll keep the throne warm for your return, but you'll be cozy where I have in mind for you."[/color]

[color=red]"Hildr you bitch!"[/color] Ira roared beneath her daughter's boot, slammed right back into the mud. She was a quivering mess, the adrenaline of the fight slowly leaving her system. And of course, no Demons were in sight because of course they'd let her be carted off so easily. Well...if that's what they wanted, fine. To hell with them! Whatever happened to their pathetic species next wasn't her problem now was it? Further away from the sight, a yellow flower wilted.