Chapter 16: Things Fall Apart: Part II

Prince felt a surge of renewed vitality flow through him as he swallowed the red contents of the health potion Leif had placed in front of him when Angel made distance between them. It wasn't the best tasting stuff in the world, but it was far better than the alternative of pain, which wasn't that appealing to begin with. Not having to go back to the rebirth point and make the return trek was even more important, as he had responsibilities here.

Recovered for the most part, he stood up and joined company with Leif and Kenshin, who were staring down Angel, who in turn looked to be enjoying the new odds against her. Behind them was the sound of reinforcements escorting the wounded forces to the siege camp. No one moved forward past a certain line, but he figured they were probably under orders from Leif to do so.

Another untouched pillar collapsed near them, and prompted Prince's next question to Angel.

"What's happening here," asked Prince bewildered by recent events, "what have you done to this place and what are you trying to accomplish?"

Angel looked bored for a second as she stared off in the distance, as though trying to come up with an acceptable answer. Finally she looked back to them and answered.

"I'm not really sure how much I want to tell you without giving away everything, but what I'm trying to accomplish is something that goes beyond your ability to rationalize, and it's not like knowing would make you change your stance. You'd still be here trying to stop me regardless, even if it is a temporary situation. What we're doing is something that goes against the flow of the game, much like a computer virus, it doesn't matter if that virus will go away on its own, you'd still want to get rid of it." Angel smiled thinking about the analogy. It wasn't far off from the reality.

"As to what we've done to this place, and the other things you can't explain, I think the GM there would be a faster source for an explanation."

Prince looked over at the Hidden GM and frowned. "Leif?"

"The typical game scenario," Leif started as he relaxed his sword arm. "Is to meet certain conditions and fulfill them, or else it results in failure. Anyone knows this.

"What happened with Menace compromised that scenario, and locked up the game, which is why we're here to defeat them. The conditions of the scenario were not satisfied, but should have reset regardless of the actions here, but they have not. The only conceivable way is to imprison the boss as they've done so, and circumvent its ties to its own domain." He pointed his blade at Angel and continued.

"Only by replacing the boss with your own energies on its throne would the system halt in the manner it's done so. What's more, by introducing a foreign energy into the land, a rejection occurs and the stage becomes corrupted and falls apart. In other words, the land dies!"

As though to punctuate Leif's remark, another structure collapsed in the background and the land shuttered beneath their feet.

"True enough," stated Angel as she continued to size up her opponents, looking for weaknesses in their formation. "I fed this land my energies, hoping I could become its master and it would yield its secrets. It was going well as long as the balance was kept, but began to fluctuate once your first strike force arrived.

"Whether it was instincts or game design, the land wanted to wage war against your forces despite being defeated already. When it did that, it distorted the balance and a rejection occurred. The only way to stall it was to kill off the opponents for it, so I could attempt to balance it again. But to do so I had to break my connection and leave the throne, which made the effects cascade beyond my control. The partial restoration of Heaven's Court was part of the game design, but once it discovered that the boss was absent, the land began to break apart."

"So our efforts weren't in vain then," Prince said with uncertainty. To him it sounded like anyone arriving would have been enough to disrupt the balance.

"No… that's not right." Angel shifted her weight and stowed the throwing weapons before pointing her two bleeding fingers at him and Leif. "You two were annoying, but dealing with your forces shouldn't have disrupted anything. He on the other hand," she pointed to Kenshin, "was the catalyst."

"Wha-?" started Prince as he glanced over at Kenshin. "What do you mean?"

"This is the land of a Demon Lord, there can only really be one recognized at any time unless both are active to begin with, and the owner was defeated by the invader. But he was different." Angel put something in her mouth and her fingers healed. "He came when the land was confused, and it tried to recognize him as the owner, which it could not. Whether fortune or fate, it treated him as an enemy and restricted his abilities to a level similar to yours, Prince. While it made things easier for us to defeat your force, it severely altered the balance and initiated the deterioration of the stage.

"With any attempt to balance it destroyed, we focused on prolonging its life so we could… finish up." Angel paused and smiled to them and the warriors beyond. "You'll let us do that, won't you?"

"Like hell we'll—" Prince started to say before Leif raised his arm in front of Prince to silence him.

"You know we can't do that," Leif stated calmly. "I never imagined that Prince's Demon Lord would disrupt your plans, more surprising is that you knew what he was in the first place."

"We're elites after all," Angel said with a smirk. "We've played long enough to be on par with the most intelligent of the GMs. Plus we already knew he was a mission in the East, we just had no need to seek him out."

"Then you'd also be aware of his abilities, and know that the land wouldn't aid you this time by weakening him." Leif deduced as he started to put the facts together. "That's why you attempted to hold the stage together with the original source energies of this land, and in doing so made her energies your own, right?"

"Her?" Prince questioned.

"The Priestess of Air," Leif said bitterly.

"Wha-," Prince started as he began to replay the scenes in his head. The jump in power, the lack of her original talents, the overwhelming force… it all made sense in every detail. "Wait, how is that even possible!?"

"Why would that be surprising?" Angel asked him as she stepped back, an ethereal glow enveloping her body that formed a ghostly image of the Priestess of Air over her features. "You too acquired the power and ability of a Demon Lord," she nodded her head at Kenshin, "I just happened to acquire it on a more… intimate level."

"Parasitic, you mean," Leif corrected her at he raised his blade higher.

"Each to their own," Angel said softly as the image dissolved. "But the power I need to destroy you, all the same." She finished with an edged voice as she raised her weapon. Slowly the bent angles of the javelin returned to its original state.

A small rumbling noise seemed to grip the stage as the tremor accented her remark. Nothing collapsed this time, but an uneasy feeling crept into Prince's heart. In the background he could hear the noise from the recovered siege force, as well as the reinforcements. It sounded like preparations were set on their side.

"Destroy us?" Leif smiled as he raised his mailed fist. "I'm sorry to say that I don't think we'll be that easy for you."

"Yes, yes," Angel said with a matter-of-fact tone to her voice. "You were asking questions to stall, and have done so. Magnificently, I might add." A wind full of energy began to swirl around her as her leg muscles tensed up and her body weight shifted forward.

"But you think that matters?" Angel said fiercely as she slammed her javelin into the ground before her. Energy crackled over her forearm guards as she raised her arms. A different energy seemed to flow effortlessly from the ground as it started to deteriorate under her feet. "You and your forces will soon experience the combined might of the East's strongest boss, Priestess of Air, and the Harbinger of Death of Menace, Angel!"

"Now!" Leif cried out as he, Prince and Kenshin sprang forward, and their forces cast various enchantment and strengthening spells onto the three warriors, while others cast protection shields and dampening effects on the land. Energy of all kinds enveloped everything in sight, as Angel's energy well exploded outward in a repulsive force unlike any spell in Second Life, with a force of a typhoon.

The power outlet quickly advanced on the three charging players and the army, but washed past them with little effect. Undeterred, Angel quickly retrieved her javelin and countered Kenshin's sword strike as sparks erupted from between the meeting of the metals. Her teeth ground together hard at the force of the impact, but did not falter in her stance. Instead, she parried the blow and spun to meet the next attack from Leif, upset Prince's aim with a wind gust, before meeting all three of their blades in a single block.

Angel's arm trembled from the combined force and the proximity to Prince's blade, which created an increased resonance effect. A force of wind had gusted out from the meeting, causing a rippling effect across the land. Somewhere on the side of the stage multiple pillars and structures could be heard collapsing even over the heated exchange.

Angel's hand faltered and she had to pull back before they edged in, whipping some metal chaffing with her free hand between them to create an electric threshold while she fell back before the army could circle around completely. Somewhere over the shouting and commotion she lost the use of her ears to detect the minute movements of her opponents and the three scattered around her. This time it was Prince that came at her from the side, attempting his specialized sword attack, as she intercepted it. He was brimming with strength from the multiple buffs encircling him, and his minor wounds were healing instantly from the healing array cast over him and his allies.

"So you would engage me directly?" Angel asked him curiously.

"Something like that," he admitted through clenched his teeth. "This was our original plan before you caught us off guard the last time. To focus the fighting force and back it up with enchantments!"

He swung his blade and she dodged to the side, her winds grabbing his blade and pulling him towards the ground as she attempted to strike his side. Her blade was intercepted early by Leif's large broadsword, which also severed the winds, releasing Prince. Kenshin appeared at the side, but did not close in, taking a moment to look for openings in her defense.

"It's not a bad plan, but of course we knew about it." Angel said as she moved her body gracefully between a series of sword strikes. "That's why I was trying to dispatch as much of your fighting force as I could."

Seeing what looked to be an opening, Kenshin lunged in at a speed nearly invisible to the naked eye, and struck with an upper sword strike, inches from Angel's chin as she rolled her head back, losing some strands of her hair as the blade missed its mark. Leif attempted to move towards an opportunity when Angel rounded on him, elbowing him hard in the side. She managed to block Prince's next attack and kick him in the face, as the four proximity fighters became a tangle of strikes and exchanges.

A sudden rumble resounded through the fighters as the stage itself lurched, seeming to tilt slightly to the side. The slight angle given to the grounds seemed to throw many of the supporting members off balance, as their aid momentarily weakened. Using the moment to her advantage, Angel forced a ring of wind outward from her ankles, quickly disrupting the three enemies around her.

Visibly winded, she threw a barrier up around her as she took a knee and hung her head, her hair disheveled and hanging about her face, shadowing her expression. Within the swirling vortex of air, some of her throwing blades were circling, making it difficult to penetrate the shield without losing something important. A soft, but amused laughter was escaping her lips.

"Strength in numbers, is it?" She asked no one in particular as she looked up, still breathing hard. "Ah, I've been sitting too long."

Prince was also breathing hard, as he looked with surprise at his opponent. He couldn't think of anything to say, but was both surprised and elated by the sight of their enemy crouching winded before them. He glanced to his sides, but both Leif and Kenshin were wearing emotionless expressions as they evaluated the situation.

The land seemed to groan in desperation as parts around the edges were visibly cracking and breaking as the ground became jagged in places. Though the previous tilt had since reverted back to normal, there were obvious signs that the end was approaching.

"You know," Angel started, the speed of her vortex shield starting to diminish. "I congratulated you on the stall before… but don't think of it as a gift.

"That stall was as much for us, as it was for you." She smiled a cold, calculating smile that was made haunting by her appearance. "Did I ever tell you about why; I'm called the 'Harbinger of Death' of Menace? The reason is as simple as you might guess…"

The reduced speed of the barrier couldn't hold the blades anymore and they fell to the ground harmlessly.

"I might cause death," she continued, still laughing a little between breaths. "But I'm only the first part of it."

"No," said Prince softly as he looked around him for what he feared. "She couldn't mean…"

"That's right." Angel looked up as the last of her barrier faded away, and Kenshin's sword strike fell in line with her head. But it did not hit its mark, and was stopped in midair. "I'm just the introduction to it."

Seemingly broken by the state of her energy, the air in front of her between Kenshin's sword and what stopped it began to unravel as the source appeared. An elf with a serious expression and a two handed bo-staff. Beside Angel an evil spirit emerged with dual blades in his hand.

"Renegade, Whisper… I'm glad you could make it." Angel said with a tired voice.

"Of course," said Renegade as he stared at Kenshin before him. "That's what a team is for."

10/10/12: Thanks for my reviewers last time, I made it my goal to get this out today as reward for the support. I hope everyone is enjoying this story again, it feels good to be working on it again after so long away from it.