Open Season (Open RP)

Castle Bathory

A ghostly figure stormed through the Castle, sinking through each wall that was in her way, she eventually entered the Throne Room.

The long, white, layered hair on the ghostly women began to rise, almost as though gravity was not applied to her. Pitch-black tendrils began to emit from her, as her crystal white eyes scanned the room. She simply called out 'Bathory!'

As the Ghost of Death waited for Bathory, the tendrils emitting from her began to suffocate her electroplasm, causing her to become less visible.

Twenty minutes earlier, far beneath Paragon City, in the ancient archaic city of Oranbega...

A trail of dispossessed and unconscious bodies laid strewn about the stone city. Their robes laid motionless on the cold earth, the usual demonic glow of their eyes now removed, lost to the Netherworld. The man responsible for the mass exorcism now stood in a dark cavern, his mind wide open as he began a dream walking process. His pale brown hands reached out for the walls and suddenly, his eyes became awashed with a heavenly glow of bright white light. In his dream he could see some of the events that had occurred in this part of Oranbega.

A metal-skinned man burst through the old wooden door, sending splinters flying away in front of him... a burst of flames shot over his head, making him glow in the heat, as a girl clad in a fire-resistant bodysuit stepped in behind him... with the Circle members in front of them dead, the metallic man and the fiery girl stepped forward to allow their team-mates in; an ice-covered girl, a chain-clad muscle man and a smartly dressed man in suit and tie. The latter was carrying a body bag over his shoulder and seemed to be avoiding the fights that ensued in order to protect the body. When a giant demon grabbed the ice-girl, metal-man yelled "Pyros! Distract it! Titan! Get Glacies out of that monsters grip!" When the assault was over and the battle won, metal-man saw only one Circle of Thorns member still alive. "Get Glacies out of here Titan” he said, “we can handle the rest, Nighthunters lets move!"

The metallic man, fire girl and the suited man moved into the end room with the last Circle of Thorns member, and arrived to see a precious looking gem pedestal with a large book on it. "So this is what the Pious wanted?" asked the ‘Pyros’ girl. “Indeed it is” the metal man replied, “one of the Circle's legendary books of power and the soul gem is in the pedestal of course" the metal man replied. He signalled to the suited man who lowered the body bag down and began to cram it full of soul gems. The metallic man took the book from the pedestal and the ‘Pyros’ girl unzipped the body bag to reveal what looked like a hero in Nighthunter armour. "Send her in, the memory is planted" the metal man signalled, over a comms piece in his ear. A slender woman dressed in a copy of the Nighthunter armour entered the cavern, reached down to the last Circle of Thorns and placed her hands on his face, seemingly reworking his memory of the battle.

The invaders walked out with the sacred book and a body bag full of soul gems, apparently having framed the Nighthunters for mass murder and theft. Once outside, another team-mate was treating the ‘Glacies’ girl. "Is it done?" he asked, "will they think the Nighthunters have the book?" “Yes Paladin they will" replied the slender girl. The muscled man then spoke, "they will see the Nighthunters attacking and I will make sure the magic tracers lead back to their base of operations, so helpful of Pious to freely give away such information."

"So this is reason Thorns march upon our fair city" said the Priest, thinking out loud. "A stolen book, missing gems, worshippers dead... and myself, framed for the deed. Who would stoop so low as to seed discord? Bathory? No, she thinks man as food and strikes against us... but this treacherous crime is most foul, one not of demon or sorcery... but of wicked man himself. Glaciers, Pyros and Titan, in thy names lie my only clue. Mark my words I shall find thy abode and have words with thee. Yet for now, let us walk through the bowels of Hell and end this unholy march!"

****

Meanwhile in Steel Canyon...

"Mission Control, this is Field Ops"

"Come in Field Ops"

"Heroes have engaged the central portal. Nighthunters are succeeding in destabilizing it, permission to engage the outer perimeter?"

"Permission granted Commander, over and out."

The dark cloud returned to swallow the superpowered soldiers and transferred them in teams of two all over Steel Canyon. Co-ordinated as a military team, they joined the Longbow effort in reclaiming the street-level battles while the Nighthunter heroes used their magic to shut down the remaining five portals and cull the invading horde of demons.

****

Meanwhile in the Netherworlds, through the portals...

A cosmic bolt of pure white light struck the rocky grounds of the Hell realm from which the Behemoths and Daemons crossed to reach the mortal plane. It was here that an army of demons stood waiting, no doubt under the command of a Circle of Thorns Madness Mage, Tarses if not Rollister, tricked into attacking Steel Canyon by an unknown villain.

The light did not fade or die but grew further across the realm, burning the demons caught in its holy light to ash. Fighting by one of the dimensional portals was Blade Balfear, recognisable by his swinging sword. "Blade" came the calm and toneless voice of the Priest. "What happened to you?"

((Written with Blade))

Above Adam the air suddenly shimmered and the outline of a misty figure dressed in white slowly came into view. She points one of her weapons at the Demon and brings the other gun closers to her mouth and mutters "Cryogenic Ammo" And fires at the Demon. The bullet leaves a blue trail as it homes in on its target.

"Dad you get the guy with the blade... I will get the Demon" Misty cries out

Misty fixes her gaze on the demon and fires two more shots one with each pistol.

In the middle of the battle it seemed like a small star... a white hole where all ghost where fleeying away from and demons fell. The main portal was still being bombarded with light by Suraya. She had noticed that this was the way to go... she saw the portal give in some... And didn't dare holding back now.

The Desert Princess was sitting on one knee in front of the portal generating more light than she had done in ages. The portal already started to close down... its dark tendrils shriveling into nothingness. A small stream of blood came from her nose. The strain became visible...

Then the portal collapsed in a bang! And with it her light died out. Exhausted she looked around her seeing bodies of demons... ectoplasmatic residue and more in her immediate surroundings. She was looking for her husband.

Storm saw the destruction the unknown man was causing, his blade seemingly slicing through the very air and anything in its path, yet it didnt feel like magic, it was something else, some sort of skill he had aquired perhaps?

Storms thought process was immediately lost when he heard his daugthters words above him, firing shots at the demon across the street.
He was trying to take down the Circle of thorns members, the demon was one of them, any resistance he faced he had managed to take down with relative ease, it was a game at this point, there was a goal, the portals, a boss to defeat, the centre portal, but now...

Everything seemed to slow down for him, the second set of shots fired by Alexia rang through his ears as the unknown man leapt through the air, his blade aimed directly at him, this wasnt a game now, there was no fun to be had, no minions to stop, no fooling around, now there was something...someone here he needed to protect, and nothing, would stop him.

The very air around Storm began to heat up, steam seemingly coming from Storms body, clenching his fists the building underneath him began to crumble, what was left of the roof collapsing to the floors below.
He began screaming, a single noise that turned into a howl which filled the air, he was holding nothing back now.

A massive ball of white light erupted around Storm, engulfing any parts of the building still around him and disintigrating them instantly, as the light faded in that instance Storm was a different man, his skin was Jet black with glowing golden, lightning shaped marks over his chest, his hair was a golden color except down the middle which was also Jet black. Golden gauntlets were around his wrists and a mask covered his face.

Storm flew forward, a sonic boom following his departure, straight at the unknown assailant, his fist outstretched as powerful heat was pushing forwards, golden electricity swirling from his fist, all the way around his body. He was going to meet him head on in the sky.

At the sound of Bathory, Jemma suddenly regained control of her powers, allowing her purple gaseous electroplasm to be seen once more.

"Bathory, I have foreseen... My end... I am letting you know two things, I am not going to track the target, I have to many preparations to make before I pass... And I want you to contact me through telepathy in the event of ANY trouble, I'm in a foul mood, I'm prepared to kill..."

As Jemma regained composure, she approached 'Liz, keeping her tone low.

"I am willing to take down as many Night Hunters as I can... I've already seen who will destroy me. I've also reason to believe there is still a quarrel between Adam, Alex and our creatures. I plan to end this, once and for all..."

Jemma brushed her hair back into a reasonable shape inspecting the room with her shining white eyes, she paced for a moment.

"The creatures around here still quiz my loyalties... With good reason, I might add. When the one person you could trust betrays you, well... It's sickening really. Anyway. As I said, contact me if you need anything, I have a family to protect..."

Jemma remained still for a moment, a cold-careless gaze was locked at 'Liz

The countess looked the Ghost of Death in her eyes... somehow she seemed on the level. Jemma didn't talk about what was obviously her powers becoming unstable... so it was not up to Elizabeth to bring it up. But it seemed linked to what she was seeing as 'her end...'.

This 'Open Season'... it is taking too long. My goal is to have the amound of hunters of our kind decimated by at least 60%, while at the same time giving a very visible warning to all who survive. I already asked you to keep your family away from the fight... If you cannot manage that, I have an alternate task for one as you who can cross dimensions and travel unseen.

Find the two who are a thorn in my side... Find Pious Hunter and the man known as Big Game. I think you might be able to handle Big Game... but do not attack Hunter alone. He has some 'holy' alliances now I do not understand completly yet. And that might be to strong for your abilities.

"Actually.. I already send Darkheart to find Big Game. Pious Hunter can be lured out in the open I guess. If you target the followers of God in Paragon City and leave a message for him... He will come look for you. You can use your own 'unique' touch.", she said with a wicked smile that slightly showed her fangs.

Jemma gave a stern nod, understanding her task, and just exactly what it would require of her.

I will keep a track of Adam and Alex and if I find out they have been attacked or attack our kind - I will settle it. In the meantime, its time to find the Pious Hunter... Where to start? Hmm.

Jemma's face looked wicked with excitment.

"Well Countess, you know my views on religion... I'll get him!"

Jemma's appearance morphed, her skin changing from a clear tan, to a sickly pale white. Her hair, attached up, her clothes, blood red. A large commander-like jacket grew around her slim frame, with her gothic attire, and signature heels.

"We must restore this Court. Within the next few days, I will let you know if I plan to accept my death, or if I must continue to fight for the rights of creatures like... Us..."

Tezkarial broke free of the tesla cage as Storm's attention went elsewhere. The shots into his back had little effect on his mind, the rage bloking it out. However his attention turned to the shooter and his eyes flashed a bright white flame. Taking a deep breath, the demon launched a pillar of flame at the girl in the air. Still flaming, the demon launched into the air, his flaming sword extanding as he began to fly towards his new prey.

++++

The portal closed behind Blade and he was sent forward by the blast. He got to his feet and bloked an oncoming attack from demon, the claws meeting his sword and breaking as his fist came up to meet the demon's face, punching him backwards.

As the light reached Blade he covered his eyes. "Pious!? what are you doing here? actually never mind, we have to close these portals! I can explain what im doing here later!" Trying to contact Suraya outside, Blade found himself unable to reach her. He wasnt sure if it was the presence of the demons or some dark magic, but he couldnt reach her. Trusting in her skills, Blade got back to buisness, heading to the nearest Portal still in darkness.

Blade took lead and Pious followed, taking the light energy with him. They reached the nearest portal and Pious proceeded to bombard it with the cosmic beam of light, causing a luminous detonation in the process. With no time wasted, the Priest backed up his holy attack with magic, speaking in the tongue of Angels.

"Profundus inritus" he muttered calmly, followed by a powerful string of words that only caused devastating damage on the portal. "Foramen sic atrum, exsisto haud magis quod vultus non tergum!" He concluded, watching as the portal began to crumble. With no time wasted, he readied another gleaming blast.

The dark aura of the sword now completely engulfed the shinobi in it's dark navy hue. Seeing the attacking coming at him he choose not to move, or perhaps at this stage his berserker state would not let him, so committed to his attack he wouldn't move even if it meant death. The only visibly different was his right eye now began to bleed, as if a sign of the madness slowly taking over him. It creped slowly across it, moving towards the centre of his eye.

Taking the hit right in the stomach, the aura instinctual reinforced that area, absorbing most if not all of the damage. As he flew backwards, golden electricity still flying around him colliding into a building behind him,turning the wall into rubble as he smash through it, coming out the other side and impacting the building behind before descending to the ground with a CRASH! However, the young shinobi was not fazed, the attack doing no discernible damage to his body, the only different being the aura once surrounded and protected him was now only concentrated to his arm, as if blasted off him by the attack. Anger spread over him, speeding up the progress the blood like substance made on his eye. Wailing loudly, he begun once again waving the sword about madly, air blades firing randomly from his tips. Demolishing everything in there path, he released another and another and another, till the building around him were nothing but rocks at his feet, a few inadvertently flew towards the heroes and even his demon 'ally' before stopping and struck a pose waiting for the heroes advance just as the last of his eye was about to be completely covered....

Misty glances at where her father was and looks back at the demon just in time to see the pillar of fire. She dodges to the side but the fire still manages to singe on of her wings. She aims her guns again fires a barrage of bullets emptying both thier clips then drops her guns. She presses something on her wrist and a shield instantly folds out and covers it self in a yellow glow. and she reaches behind herself and pulls out a beautiful but deadly looking sword from its sheath. Misty mutters and lightning surrunds her and her with robes turn into silver armor. As her guns fall they begin to fade away and when they vanish she begins her own charge towards Demon.

At this point Adam might have made a taunt, joked about something like a home run, hell if he'd really felt the need to be demeaning he might have even started counting down from ten, but right now wasnt a time to joke, there was nothing funny about this situation and Storm knew it, this was a real fight, something he hadnt been in for a very long time.

He had fought many demons and monsters with the Nighthunters, but always as a team, supporting each other, using their strengths to counter their weaknesses, but this wasnt a team effort, his own daughter had joined the fight to keep the demon off him, that meant the longer he fought this sword maniac, the longer she was fighting some demonic beast who was eerily close to the Worn cover, too close in fact.
Whatever it was he was sure it was a cut above the rest, different from the lesser demons he had faced tonight, and thats why he needed to win this fight, this needed to end now.

Dropping from the sky to the ground Storm began running forwards, his arms placed slightly behind him as he raced forwards, whatever was slicing the air around him wasnt the same as before, he couldnt feel it with his abilities, so he needed to rely on his own instincts to stay alive for this one.

He dodged left for the first one, then back to the right, jumping forwards he shifted his body to the right so he was diagonal, flying through the air for a moment he could have sworn he saw the air ripple as something flew past by him.
Spinning in the air he landed with his back to the shinobi, catching a glimpse of Alexia with her shield and sword out, he knew she was safe now, he could continue.

Spinning around on the spot he threw his right arm back, moving his body to the right as something else flew past him.
Storm pushed off the ground, sprinting forwards at his unknown assailant, he seemed to have stopped attacking and was now standing still, never a good sign, that means hes confident.
about something.

Storm kept his arms back again, electricity swirling around them again, focusing around his arms he brought them forward fast, coming to an immediate halt his arms clashed, creating an 'X' shape that fired at the Shinobi.
Pushing off the ground Storm flew through the air, aiming for the Shinobi, his fists balled together, electricity from his body swirling around both of his fists, concentrated in one attack.

-Darien's 'home'-

Darien gave a quizzical look to Zhacol "Is this a joke Zhacol?"
He gestured towards the object Zhacol was stooped over in his small room which Darien had let Zhacol occupy for over a millenia. The object was a crystal ball, with large claws holding it in place, perpendicular to each other. Zhacol snorted.

"Even the most unseeming objects can tell a lot Darien. Through this, i can see the goings on in the outside world." Darien looked at the crystal ball again, a faint glimmer of disbelief etched onto his face. Zhacol weaved his fingers around in the air, causing the crystal ball to radiate energy. Eventually, the crystal ball projected a image into the air. The image was of the two sat in a room.

"Is that it?" Darien raised an eyebrow. Before Darien could continue, Zhacol made a 'quiet' gesture and continued weaving his magic. There was a sudden flurry of colour on the image, and the planet Earth came into view. The image zoomed in, clouds whipping past in an instant, to arrive in Paragon City. Darien waved a hand dismissivley

"I get the point Zhacol. Now, you said you can help me. How?" Zhacol reached behind himself and opened a trunk and fetched a scroll, handing it over to Darien. "This is a copy of the bounty the Court set up. I made sure to mark all the ... powerful targets with a red cross." Darien looked at the scroll and opened it up. Of course, Zhacol's writing was immaculate. A bit too immaculate, it was relativley hard to read. Darien paused a while before he spoke again.

"Thank you, Zhacol. This will prove .. useful, i hope."
Zhacol smiled "My pleasure. Now, you may want to act on that before the dawn of the next human civilisation." Darien looked through the list of names. He picked one out at random, one that wasn't marked "Who is this?" Zhacol took the scroll and looked to where Darien had pointed. Zhacol smirked, he had known Darien may have picked that one

"That is a hero known as Flayed Knight. Rather new to the hero scene, he is a vampire turned good, typical story. Even has a partner, unlucky him. He's sent more than one mystical creature to it's doom though and he openly expressed his desire to join some of the larger supergroups. He has skill in the blade and a mild selection of vampiric powers." Zhacol looked up from the scroll and flashed a grin at Darien "Nothing you can't handle."

Darien chuckled darkly and stood up and turned to leave. Before he did, he turned and looked at Zhacol "You will want to watch. I have something special planned for this unfortunate ..."

When Darien had left, Zhacol returned to his crystal ball. Weaving his magic once more, he focused on a hectic battle in Steel Canyon. Something echoed within him, he realised it was the desire to fight. But he suppresed it, his fighting years were long gone. Perhaps some day, Darien would deliver such carnage ....

"Some day" Zhacol muttered, and returned to watching the image played before him ..

As portal after portal fell to Blade and Pious, Tezkarial became more and more distracted. He knew time was short and let out a bellow, fire purging from his body at all around him, covering the street below and the air above in white hot fire. Half the building beneath the demon was destroyed, and Tezkarial focused on the Wron cover, the magical fires having broken the defencive spells around it. he began to fly towards it.

++++

As Blade and Pious worked to defeat the demons they came to the last Portal remaining. With every demon pouring out of it, it was a wonder that they could see Micheal, Johnathan and Maria fighting outside. The fight up tothe roof had been terrible, demons and mages had been massing above them, pushing back harder with each second but the three had broken out to the top. With no knowledge of how to destroy the portals, bullets, arrows and spines had been let lose at it, as well as much ice magic. However the full power of the circle was by now channeled into this portal and it would take alot more to seal it.

Elizabeth saw the Ghost of Death sink down into the bedrock that made the foundations of this part of Cap Au Diable. She trusted that Jemma had understood her completely. That it wasn’t her task to fight Pious Hunter directly, but to fool around with his head by attacking random Christian followers all over Paragon City. This would put a strain on his decisions and fighting ability. Just like what Drew was doing at the moment to Big Game. She had send Sarah ‘General’ Darkheart after him as backup too.

It would require raw power to take Pious Hunter down. And she knew just what to use. She passed the Blood Journals and took with her the newspaper clipping with the picture of Pious Hunter on it. With that the vampire-witch walked down the stairs and corridors of the lower dungeons to wards where the great power core stood. There in the corner almost hidden by the darkness stood her answer. The Impervium Tower had been there recharging and running internal diagnostics for a few weeks now. He was there when the ‘Open Season’ started… and during the assault of the Castle. It was time to put this engine of destruction to good use.



The metal shell almost one with the shadows stood silent as a statue… only the crackling of electricity was heard… and the soft humming of the core itself. Elizabeth looked up at its ‘face’… “Impervium Tower: Activate and status Report”, she said in a commanding tone. Deep within the dark openings of his invulnerable skull two lights burned up and a small movement became visible.

“Unit: Impervium Tower. Powering up. Stand-by… Current status: Working at 100% capacity.”, his metal ‘voice’ responded.

She was still uneasy in front of the power of modern day technology. But she knew that its power was great. And this contraption was as deadly as they come. Elizabeth picked up the newspaper clipping and held it up. Impervium tower projected a red scan beam taking the image in.

“Scanned: image… Finding match… Match found. Enemy listed as Pious Hunter, Reverent. Query: Objective?”

Elizabeth removed the clipping and looked straight up at the towering machine. “Impervium Tower: New Objective… ‘Destroy Pious Hunter! Don’t stop for anything! Don’t let you be stopped by anything or anyone! Last known location is Moth Cathedral, Paragon City, United States!”

A bright flash burned up in its eye sockets… “New objective: Saved.” Then he slowly started to walk… Elizabeth did a step aside to let him follow his pre-planned way out through the dungeons, through the deeper dungeons… using the hangar bay doors… She knew she just had send Armageddon upon her enemy and all around him. And a twinkle of joy could be seen in her eyes. He would go straight to Paragon City and probably walk towards Moth Cathedral using known maps, destroying all in its path.

-216a Astral District, Skyway City-

The hero known as Flayed Knight, or Gregory Hamford, opened the door to his apartment. He was bruised, cut and bandaged, having answered a call to Steel Canyon. He tried his best but he was no match for the sheer volume of enemies, he had managed to escape by using his vampiric powers and hiding amongst the shadows. He flicked a switch, a dim light illuminating the room, but only just. He prefered the dark.

He limped over to the kitchen area, where a note was from his partner, it read:

"Gone to see cousin. Will be back tomorrow. Take care." There was a 'x' at the end. He smiled weakly and moved over to the dinner table and put his sword down. It was marked with dried blood and was chipped at several points on the blade.

He paused for a moment. In the silence of his home, something didn't seem right. It was .. too silent. He exhaled wearily, noticing that his breath came out in a fine wisp. It was cold, far too cold than what he liked. Something in his head was telling him that something wasn't right, but he quelled the thought, he was just fatigued from fighting.

Slowly, he made his way to his room and opened the door, which creaked on it's hinges. As he entered his room, the door slammed behind him. Gregory span around, and sure enough, it was closed. He tested the door, trying to open it but it appeared locked, which was odd because the door didn't have a lock. He backed away from the door and felt the temperature drop again. With his super-sensitive hearing, he heard a chilling, sinister laugh, mocking him. He looked around for a weapon and saw his weapon rack. He swiftly took a sword and stood in a fighting stance, his ears pointed on end, searching for any sound.

Almost in his ear, a dark voice whispered "Turn around."

Gregory span around and saw ... nothing. His heart pounded in his chest and he was terrified. Whatever was intruding had caught him at his weakest, and it pained Gregory further that he was scared, for the first time in a long time.

Gregory span around again and came face to face with a figure with a skull for a head. Gregory gasped and froze defenceless. He willed his body to move, to defend himself but he was too scared.

The figure lunched forward with a punch and Gregory winced, expecting a flash of pain. But there was nothing, the figure stood with his arm plunged through his chest, all the way up to the figure's shoulder. Gregory stared into the skull-face of his killer, his body growing cold and numb. The sword fell out of his hand onto the floor. The figure wrenched it's arm from the chest in Gregory's cavity, the sound of bone snapping and muscles tearing apart and a huge spurt of blood sprayed the room red.

To his horror, was holding his heart in his hand. Gregory tried to move his arm to reach out as he felt himself falling backwards. But Gregory didn't fall, he stared at his killer and knew something wasn't right, he slowly looked over his shoulder, and a cry rose in his throat.

But not his body's throat. His body lay on the ground, arm stiff in the air, reaching out whilst the rest of his prone form convulsed as it pumped the last of it's blood onto the floor. Gregory realised then that his soul was no longer attached to his body. The chilling laughter rang through his head and he looked at his killer again. With an effort, Gregory managed one word.

"Why?" The figure inspected Gregory's heart with interest, then pulped it in his hand. Gregory called out again, this time in anger, with more vigour
"Why?!" Gregory froze as the figure looked straight at him, the killer knew he was there and worse, could see him. Slowly, the killer spoke, ignoring Gregory's previous questions

"When they come, tell them this: Paragon will soon feel ... Dread ..." With that, the figure disappeared from sight, leaving only a faint wisp of purple tendrils. Gregory's soul stood in his room, frozen in fear and shock. With every ounce of strength he could muster from his soul, he screamed out in despair and collapsed to the floor.

Throughout the apartment block, every resident felt his soul scream as a tingling in the back of their head. To those few other meta-humans that resided in the block however, it pierced through their head ... all knew at that point that a soul had died ....

Misty saw the Demons plan and flew straight into the path of him "Oh no you don't deadhead your fight is with me." She smirks as she charges at the demons path and blocks his blade with her shield and slices him across the chest and darts back out her blade and shield at the ready grining mischivously.

-216a Astral District, Skyway City-

Helen knocked on the door before she entered.
"Greg, i'm home!" She said as she stepped into the apartment. There was utter silence. "Greg? You here?" Nothing. She shrugged "Probably out" she though and put her bags down near the door.

She went into the kitchen to get a drink and noticed one of Greg's swords on the table. It was chipped and stained all over. She frowned and inspected it for a while, then put it down with a sigh. She opened the fridge and to her disappointment, there was nothing "Greg? Greg! We need some more food!" Still, nothing.

She realised that it was cold in the apartment. A lot colder than usual anyway. She checked a nearby radiator, which was apparently set to 6. A shiver ran down her spine. "Greg?" She called out again, but her tone was more concerned.

She checked around the apartment, every room was empty, until she came to the bedroom. The door was frigid cold to the touch. She pushed on the handle, but the door offered strong resistance. Suddenly, she was on edge. "Greg! You in there?!" She pushed harder on the door, but it refused to budge.

With an almighty shove, the door swung upon and Helen stumbled into the room. The first thing that hit her was the smell, like cold, rotted meat. She managed not to throw up, until she saw something on the floor in the middle of the room.

"G-g-greg? is th-that you?" She looked around cautiously, it was extremley dark in the room, she could barely see. She looked around slowly for a light source and came upon a lamp. She turned it on and looked back to the object in the middle of the floor. She wished she hadn't turned the light on.

Greg lay prone, stiff in the middle of the floor, the rug caked in blood as well as much of the surrounding area. But that wasn't the worst. A large hole sat in his chest where his heart should be, almost a perfect circle with his heart missing. Greg's glazed over eyes stared vacantly at the ceiling. Helen wailed, unable to form words and dropped to her knees, barely keeping back the tide of bile rising in her throat.

She crawled over to her dead lover's corpse and held his stone cold dead hand. She shouted his name upon deaf ears, her eyes full with tears she could barely see the horror infront of her. Eventually, she managed to yell at the top of her lungs

"Someone! Call the police!" Several neighbours rushed into the room moments later and recoiled at the spectacle within. Several on-lookers reached for their cellphones and desperatley called emergency services. All the while, Helen weeped over her slain lover's corpse ... and some where, far away, his killer was laughing ....

It was inevitable this day would come. With Impervium Tower reactivated and operating in the Rogue Isles, there would come a day when it would venture into borders of paragon City. To make matters worse, Paragon would be completely unprepared.

As far as The Dunelm Group were concerned, Impervium Tower was still lying disabled at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Because they considered the case closed Impervium Towers' profile would not cross reference with any other organisation, even though Impervium Tower has fought Longbow in the past.

This however was exactly what Elizabeth Bathory wanted. Consumed with her desire to annihilate her nemesis Pious, Elizabeth willingly sent her bodyguard deep into enemy territory. With Paragon City authorities not having any understanding of Impervium Tower's existence or capabilities due to Elizabeth successfully keeping the unit a secret to most of the outside world, Impervium Tower would be unstoppable in his mission to kill Pious.

The unit would not be able to fly Moth Cathedral directly due to the City's war walls and Impervium Tower unable to sustain flight for such a length of time. Tower dropped into an area of Talos Island as close to the Dark Astoria entrance as it's could. Immediately the unit caused passing pedestrians to look on startled at the monstrous machine. Tower though did not acknowledge the surrounding crowd. The unit simply targeted the Dark Astoria entrance in the distance and began to charge towards it.

With Tower instructed to not stop for anything on its route to its target, the unit simply crushed or flung vehicles in its path and crashed through buildings as it charged in a perfect line towards its target.

Talos Island was left in shock of the sudden destruction left by Impervium Tower. Paragon Police responded to the crisis and quickly determined that Tower was heading towards Dark Astoria. On the highway that pointed towards the Dark Astoria entrance the Paragon Police Department quickly set up a barricade with the faint hope that they could stop Tower.

As Impervium Tower charged down the highway he scanned the police presence and responded.

" Threats detected........ Paragon City Police identified......... Threat assessment........ Insignificant!"

The police began to fire at Impervium Tower but their weapons were useless against it. Tower simply grabbed the nearest police car and threw it at one part of the blockade. Tower turned to the other part of the blockade and charged at the remaining police and swatted them away as if they were mere insects. Tower quickly resumed his charge for Dark Astoria.

The entrance guards primed themselves to defend their position. They were fully prepared to do their duty but hearing that the police blockade had been wiped out so quickly, the guards were not confident that they could stop Impervium Tower.

As Tower reach the island leading to Dark Astoria, the entrance guards caught a break when some Devouring Earth creatures appeared out of nowhere and lept onto Impervium Tower. It gave one of the guards enough time to send out a distress call to Freedom Corps and any Meta Beings listening in on their secure channel.

The Devouring Earth proved to be no match against Impervium Tower as the unit ripped the tree creatures apart and then pounded the Lesser Devoured creature onto the ground and crushed the creature's head with a powerful foot stomp.

As soon as Impervium Tower focused again on the entrance to Dark Astoria, the entrance guards began to fire their weapons. Just as the unit did with the police blockade earlier, the entrance guards were swept away with great ease before entering the Dark Astoria.

As Impervium Tower entered the area it stopped in order to scan its surroundings.

"Scanning.........Visibility levels low.........Infra-red Mode....... Failed to improve visibility......... Target coordinates already set...........Continuing to destination"

Despite Impervium Tower not being able to see far into the thick fog it already knew the coordinates for Moth Cathedral and simply continued to charge towards its target again crashing through buildings and crushing anything in its path whether it was vehicles or members of the Banished Pantheon or Circle of Thorns that infested the area.

Back on Talos Island the Paragon Police Department continued to send out messages for assistance after Impervium Tower's attack.

Eventually the police received a response,

"This is Brigadier Leon Tasker of The Dunelm Group responding to Talos Island distress call. I am currently with a small team and we are Oscar Mike to your position to offer assistance, over."

((just going back to the Battle at Steal Canyon))

Tezkarial howled in pain as the blade struck his chest. He now focused on Alexia again and swung his burning sword to meet her shield, a shockwave of fire flowing forward from the blazing trail behind his blade. Bringing his fist around, Tezkarial hurled a great fireball at Alexia's face.

++++

As the last portal began to collapse, Blade looked and Pious and yelled "get out now!" and hurled himself towards the portal, exiting into a mass of demons trying to get in through it. As the Portal exploded behind him, Blade saw the demons still on the building blown apart by the energy released. The heroes on the building had been knocked to the ground, and the circle mages where wisely surrendering or faining unconciousness.

Blade looked around for Pious.