[@Rune_Alchemist][@ERode][@kagethekiller]

A hellish plume of fire scattered forth in the wide chamber, lighting it the whole area up like a flare. The darkness unused to the amount of light went super-imposed. The whole scene was made blinding for a moment, leaving those caught outside to wonder the outcome. But emerging from the explosion was Aiv and Orpheus, sent sprawling across the chamber like a pair of crackling embers. They were battered but alive. Mostly. They both suffered a bit of burning and bruises as a result of taking the blast, their precious white robes heavily singed. Though it seemed Aiv took the brunt of the attack, seeing as he now had a grisly wound chiseled into his side. 

But it seemed difficult to down the men. 

Aiv, ignoring his own pain, shouted for someone to intercept the gun-wielder, knowing first-hand the power they possessed. 
But Isabella pushed towards the front with her own plans. 

Again, the petite red-head unleashed the burdensome weapon, throwing the whip-blade up into the stoneworks above. The grotesque black sword screamed once more as it sectioned apart, the metal disjointing from lithe umbral sinew hidden deep within. It swerved upwards like a black tendril and smashed into the upper section of the pathway. Just as she planned, it stuck, the jet of displaced stone falling downwards signalling her success. And then some. Without even requiring the effort to yank the rest downward, the sheer force of the attack was tremendous enough by itself. The swing might've look the same to an onlooker, but she could feel the change of power from before. And in that sudden burst of strength, she could feel it sapping something from deep within her. What could it be? Her pain? That might've been it, because that was all she could felt in the following moment. The wound from earlier had begun to bite, turning the surrounding skin completely black as it festered further down her arm. That creeping feeling, added to the how her whole body was burning from over-excursion, rendered her a new meaning of pain. She would barely stop herself from shaking, out of sheer pain and heavy toll of both the weapon and her heroic action. With all of this, Isabella was sent flat upon the ground in a heap of ragged breaths, nearly fainted when the weapon snapped back whole in a vicious recoil. Up before her, the pathway began to crumble. As soon as the blade ripped itself free, the place of impact went unstable and large stones and carved tiles in the ceiling began to crumble. A slithering crater formed as all manner of things plummet down upon the swirling shadows beneath. The low chanting that had been going on suddenly ceased and a chorus of wailing erupted from the breaking passage.

"No! Catch them! Don't let the mark-bearers escap-"

One of the priests cursed as bone and metal were soundedly crushed. And in the fading lantern light, the completely drained Isabella could only watch as the falling ceiling rapidly edged towards her. 

If Isabella was not moved, soon she would be buried too. 

[@Eklispe]...

But the battle was not finished just yet. The two remaining twisted ones, left outside the range of the destruction behind them, looked upon their fallen comrades and wailed. Thought wholly maddened, there was a glimmer of pain in their hollow expressions. The one with the bladed hands focused its attention at Solomon, intent on making their sacrifices not go in vain.

"Blood... for the Pale Goddess... the Devourer...!" it croaked, swinging the rusted claw in his direction. 

Then a low click sounded, the hand-cannon made ready as the chamber was primed another round. With a snarl, it's decrepit wielder aimed the weapon again at Aiv, intent on finish what it started. 

"Dream, we must return to the Dream..."

[@Lasrever]...
[hider]
"No... no what are you doing?" he called down at the fleeting figure, "Don't look for things you wouldn't wish to see!"

Ignoring his words, Dwyn closed in on the ominous source, stepping further into the western wing of the old study towards the unholy scent. Soon enough, her eyes would come across the horrific leftovers of a dark ritual. She was spared many of the gruesome details thanks to the darkness that shrouded this corner, but what she was able to see would repulse even the most resolute. A pair of bodies were left sprawled over a bloody diagram, or what was left of the poor persons, twisted and morphed by mad hands and an even madder mind. It seemed a desperate attempt at an offering to a certain statue that was hidden in the dark. The very outline of which would leave her an uncanny feeling. Describing this bloody mess as an 'attempt' seemed appropriate judging by the haphazard slashes and arrangements. While it seemed to have been done by an experience practitioner of magic, as far as she could tell at least, the reagent ashes were scattered and the gathered bowls smashed to pieces, all pointing towards signs of frustration and anger at the result. Or lack thereof. 

But the most interesting thing was right in the center of the mound of misguided flesh. A black [i]something[/i] was still beating. 

This seemed to be the source of the supernatural tingling. 

"Ah... You saw it didn't you? I tried to protect you, I did. Didn't I tell you...? I saw it with my own eyes..." the hooded man said with a slight whimper, "This is what those fanatics do to people they catch... all in the name of their [i]damned[/i] God."

As he shone the light over, Dwyn would be left with another discomforting revelation.

Before the mangled corpse and ritual place was the statue of a being Dwyn would find very familiar. A certain horned Goddess stared back at her from the shadows. Her enstoned visage was beautiful and stoic, dancing with the metal shard-blade as she had witnessed before. But she was not alone in the spotlight. There was another that shared  a large portion of the stone plinth. A blackened monster was depicted pouring out from her back, gushing out of her shoulder blades in a grisly splattered form. It looked as though the creature was living inside of her, sharing a space in her body. 

Or perhaps it was her true form, and her outward appearance was only a skin? 

Either way, the dark thing wrapped around the dancing Goddess in an eerie harmony. And within its massive jaws were countless bodies, the blood dripping beneath them forming a symbol. One that resembled the 'Stigma' that Dywn and the others wore.[/hider]