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['pyrrhic]

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Nehalem tip two;;
Never negotiate with demons, no matter how bad you need
or want something. They will always go back on their deal,
or twist the results in some sadistic way. - Superior

Nehalem tip three;;
We have never abandoned you, we will give you gifts, and no
Damned being will ever touch them. - Superior

Would you mind if I hurt you? Understand that I need to.
Wish that I had other choices, Than to harm the one I love

What have you done now?

I know I'd better stop trying, You know that there's no denying
I won't show mercy on you now

I know I should stop believing, I know there's no retrieving
It's over now, what have you done?

What have you done now?

Trying to catch a glimpse of anything in the pitch black darkness, Ari scrambled in her spot, feeling a cold wind over her as she swallowed hard. The lights flicked back on, the room was just as elegant as before, but the demon had disappeared. Confused, Ari snapped back into her senses and her wits reappeared. The dress was skintight, and new black boots stood in the ballroom's center. The beautiful boots were dancing heels, and Ari found it odd they were there, but a odd symbol was burnt on them. On the leg, both held a burnt leather smell, with a burnt in symbol saying 'AD'. Ari was not stupid, and she flipped the long boot over to the sole of the shoe. On the heels, it bore a Nehalem sign, making it so demons wouldn't be able to handle or use them. Still confused, Ari inspected them further, trusting that the Angels had sent her a small gift... But why now?

Throwing the flats off her feet, she looked at the things disgusted, and slipped on the boots, only going up to her knees. Ari felt more comfortable in these boots, and was surprised at the sudden movement of the walls, showing a familiar face. Dom cursed at the wall he'd been forced from, trying to run back in the room to punch someone, it looked like from the place she was at. Her eyes went really confused as she stood at the wall, curing under her breath as she examined the wall behind her for any buttons, yet he was at the farthest wall from her (Other side of the ballroom) and had seemed to just notice her. "Ari! There's no way out!" Dom had to scream against the loud instruments. "Your not Dominic." Ari snarled at him as she whipped back around towards him. Rolling her eyes, he started to run over to her, making her sigh heavily as he was a foot away from her. He had to look down at her, as he kept a straight face.

Another wall turned, and both turned to the farthest wall, close to where Dom was revealed. Alex screamed at the wall, and the instruments dropped to the ground as he banged his fists on the wall, making them bleed more than they already were. Ari's eyes widened as she seemed to be smaller, Dom looked at her as he stepped back to her side "He's been like this for a while... We each have our own demon, I have Destruction... He has Agony, and the tamest they do is interrogations. Alex has gone crazy not telling Agony about me or you... I cant get to him... He's in such a bad place.." Dom clenched his jaws as he looked away from his friend in deep disgust and hatred for the demon 'Agony'. Sadness showed in his face as he sighed heavily. Ari saw this was Dom, and looked at the ground "Dom... I..." Giving up, she shook her head. "It's not real, none of this is... Not this ballroom, the only things real is our pain, and our emotion... The ballroom, you being at my side.. None of this is real." Ari said quietly, looking up at him with a saddened face "I'm still knocked out in the ruble, the courtyards... And you both... Your probably somewhere else." Ari said stiffly "I know, your right. Alex is in the cell next to me, sobbing, I can still hear him. This is Greed's reality. He's doing this to get to you, me and Alex..." Dom said with a stiff tone with a strictness.

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"I've never seen something so cowardly!" Screaming at the top of her lungs, the young Dragonet fell to her knees. Placing her hands over her face, she snarled, releasing her fingers from her hair. As Ari looked around, her eyes had changed to a vicious type of annoyance. Looking over the seam in her dress just bellow her thighs. The corset ended at her waist, and she figured she could work with the long and painful dress. The hard thinking girl examined the seam once more, and started to rip at the seams and the bottom half of her dress. Counting the layers of black and cloth was in the wedding like dress, she ripped off all but the last two. The loose-fitting now night dress was soft as she took a knife from the boots and cut the corset down the back, letting her breathe. The black boots went to her thighs now, and were seen with the short black dress. "Flattering." Purring in a gentle voice, she ran her hand over her curves of her waist. Now looking over to a awestruck Dom, she stood in a strong stance of a angel. Starting to look around her, she remembered Alex.

The demon boy had stood up to his feet at the sight of the knife, and looked over to Ari at her scream's sound. The man was now dressed in a loose white dress shirt with black slacks and decent shoes, scars and scratches lining his body, with a massive blood stain on the side of his shirt. Feeling his side, he lifted his shirt, and felt the bare white skin underneath the cloth. Stricken by the perfect skin, she looked around. Just a few minutes ago, he had a gash in his side, but nothing hurt... At all. He hadn't felt this good since his childhood, 10,000 years ago. Looking at his hands, he looked up at Ari, running his fingers through his matted hair. He did his best to stride over to Dom and Ari, silently. "Well, the gang's here... Where's the wolf?" He said sarcastically with a straight and demon like face. Ari had looked at him with a gentle look of worry, and Dom had gave a sympathetic look. "Stop with the sympathy. I'll live." He spat at the two as he crossed his arms over his chest. Sighing he looked around "Where are we anyway?" He said with a snort, as the two other heroes looked him over with a more normal glare.

Dom huffed, and rolled his eyes at the comment about living. "According to your blood stain and the scars, I highly doubt your as indestructible as you think!" Dom snarled, standing at eye level with the man he'd worked with, poking his chest with a glare. The other man seemed nonchalant, so Dom backed off, placing his hands behind his back and sighing. "Let's think... If we're talking right now, that means they want us to see each other. This means they're listening with their damn ears the size of the fricken galaxy. This is a illusion, we know that... But..." He stopped as he looked at the two, both looked like they were in agreement with his statements, Alex chuckled at the curses that were spat from Dom, and Ari, she stood up straight with perfect posture and a straight face that was unreadable. "All of this, this all means they have a bigger plan. We need to Codetrap." At that word, all stood tall, nodding with a unknown certainty, and a sudden grasp of seriousness. "Ari is the biggest part. I know they're listening, so here's something expected... Alex, I need you to show no pain. In or out of the cells. You can speak with me through the walls." As Dom shuffled something in his hand.

Dom flicked his wrist, and his hand freely did a controlled pop. He went to hug Ari, nodding and showing a serious face as he shoved something into her gut. Ari was in shock as she thought it to be knife, but it was a simple flat crystal, which he shoved into her hands and made her put it in her boot. The warlock let go of his friend, and Alex went to hug Ari as well, sneaking in his necklace the same way. It was a pendant containing demon blood to heal sickness, and it was also a small jar of ashes. Smiling at the small gift, she nodded at him gently, 'I'll keep it safe... Don't you worry' the girl thought as she shoved everything into her boots secretly. Dom made a dramatic sweeping motion with his arm and white dust started to appear in his palms. Throwing the dust to the ground, the image of the ballroom melted into their imagination and separated the three from each other.

Ari awoke on the hard ground with a pain in her head from the boot. The pheasant's outfit was still on her body, and a large gash hung on the side of her head. "Agh.." She placed her hands to the sides of her head, gasping at the massive headache. As she pressed on her head, she looked around. The dire wolf stood knocked out beside her, and Val was gone. The girl new her knew priority...

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As Ari steadily stood up, she tried to hold the gash on her head, going to Val's bag that was left in the dirt. She grabbed a small liquid in a bottle with many designs. "Healing" Ari read aloud, and looked at the clear fluid with disgust. She flipped it on it's side where a small tag with directions were listed "Pour all on wound, or in mouth. Eww." Ari growled with a displeased sigh. As she popped the cap, she whimpered and gently lathered it onto the gash. Hiding her pain, she bit her lip as she threw the bottle into the bag. Scavenging through the rubble, she found weapons and potions scattered through the ground. Some things just couldn't be destroyed easy. Packing this all in the bag, she thought about the mission ahead. "Come to Ari.. damn trouble." The girl bared her teeth and grumbled under her breath.

Smirking at the small crystal that Dom had shoved into her stomach, the blue crystal didn't have much to it, but Ari rose it to the barrier in front of her armor and weapons. Despite the illusion Greed caused, Dom managed to get something through, well, two things. Alex's necklace and Dom's gift to lower the barrier. As she waited for the crystal to do something, it never came, and she rolled her eyes, flipping the crystal in different directions to search for engraving. Something started to appear on the smooth part of the stone, it etched itself in like a knife in flesh. 'Hey Idiot, hit the barrier. Your slow, Ari.' Rolling her eyes at the message, she started to throw it at the barrier, watching it lower itself. "That was easy," Ari smiled and went over to the many items. The Cliché thought of all wizards having never ending bags flipped into her mind, as she looked into Val's leather bag, the size of a small potato sack with backpack - like straps. It had no bottom, just blackness. But as she thought of an item to pull up, it came into her hands quicker than her thought finished. Smirking, she threw everything into the pack.

"Aww!" A disgusted noise arose into her throat as she picked up the armor. The armor was very old, but she loved it much, it was her training gear and the only thing small enough to fit into the small barrier. The gear was a chain mail shirt, and a black dress that reached to her lower thigh, and laced gear with silver buttons buttoning the chest area. A reinforced breastplate that reached to her upper chest over the chain mail. No skin was exposed. Her boots that she'd revived reached to her upper thigh, and she wore a metal corset reached up her breastplate. she wore metal bracers on each arm, with her arms mostly exposed. The bracers went to her fingers, but the metal formed finger holes for her fingers to move and extend. The cloth and black leather stretched to the sleeveless top and was stretched into her armor. The dress like cloak hooked onto her back, and was buttoned stiffly. It was black with a large hood that hid her eyes. She wore it with a sense of pride as the flexible gear hugged her body.

She packed the last of the weapons and sheathed her favorite weapons onto her belt, and hid daggers within her clothes. As she awoke Kiko, she geared the wolf up with light ranger gear, and gave him the weapon. They readied themselves, and Ari went over the plan. "First thing, demon studies, I know a place. After that we'll learn more about this Cliché trio, Greed, Agony and Destruction. Then we build allies. After that, we find these... Arses and get Alex and Dom back, because we can. This'll be difficult, and long, so no complaining. We start now." Ari smiled and pet the wolf, playing wiht his ears as she stood at her full height and let him sit.

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Flinging the pack over her shoulders, she looked at the straight dirt road with a blank expression. As she opened her mouth to say something, she looked to her left with a smile, but a frown formed as she saw Dom wasn't there. The wolf lowered his head and rubbed against her boots as they walked in silence. The wolf reached up to her chest and the large Dire Wolf was always bigger than the other wolves of his kind. She pet the wolf's scruff as they walked, and Ari placed her hand above the armor on his back. She had been more alone than this before, but it didn't feel right, and she decided that this was never permanent. Back and Back, and Back and Back, she would always remember working with someone by her side. But now she stood serious as they came further down the road. The second City - State would soon be approaching, and a smell of smoke didn't comfort her. As Kiko's ears pricked up into the sky, his fur rose on his back, and he nudged Ari for his armor. Nothing slowed her from putting his armor on him and letting him pull his weapon, as they both prepared for the worst. How did the wolf know? The city was in ashes, people burned, and scarily, she knew what this meant.

Spitting curses, she rolled her eyes as if this was normal and quite irritating. Unsheathing her dual swords, she smirked at the two angel blades, broadening her shoulders and then promptly rolling her shoulders. She tied Alex's necklace to her neck as she started to sprint towards the small city - state with haste, the wolf at her side. The first thing she saw at the city's gates was odd ash, she looked at it and sheathed a sword, swiping some ash up in her fingers, and smelling it with a certain look on her face. Groaning with a snarl, she threw down the ash. Rolling her eyes she huffed and started into the city. It was very quiet, and ash piled over the buildings and streets. As she reached the city square, the smell of Demon's stench flooded her nose. Blood and decaying flesh was the smell of demons, and you never got used to it. But Ash Demons, those were the worst, Ari knew for certain, as she had battled them many times. Sighing again, she saw the first sight of a flame. "Ash demons form from fire and blood, leaving ash wherever they go, they can be weakened by Holy power or other demon blood. They fall to piles of red ashes as they perish" Ari recited a Nephalem text.

"Very good..." A booming voice rang from behind her, one of a man. Clenching her hands around her swords, the wolf had turned around before her, his ears shooting back and his tail up as he stood tall in front of Ari in a protective manner. Wielding a large angel sword that was slung over his shoulder, the man was no older than her, maybe a year. Nephalems were generally the same age, and never really aged much. He could be in his fifties, when Ari was only 18. Rolling her eyes, the girl turned around to the boy, who was almost as tall as Dom, and his hair was a deep red. "And you are..?" She didn't turn around much, but looked over her shoulder as she turned to face him. "Jacoby, Jacoby Howl." The boy responded as he bowed his head. "How much were you teased in a day as you were in your youth?" Ari laughed as she sarcastically curtsied. "On your left!" Ari yelled pointing her sword as a demon beside him. Jacoby's reflexes were quick as he spun around and swung the over sized Machete at the demon as it fell to ashes. He didn't seem phased as he killed the thing, placing the blade back over his shoulder. "Who'd you train under?" Ari questioned with a raised eyebrow. "No one, I'm a rouge, but still of Angel and Demon blood, as you are." Jacoby stated plainly. He looked like a knight with typical armor of a sliver knight as all would think, but it looked lighter and thick. Ari was not impressed, for she could of done what he did without hesitation. "Report?" The girl asked coolly, a serious tone arising, as she glared at him. "Well, we're standing in Ash Demon's playground. 100 plus deceased," He sighed as he thought and looked to the sky "Feels like 90 degrees, partly cloudy, sunshine through the day.. It's about 5 in the morning..." Ari rolled her eyes. "Shut. Up" The girl hissed "You asked." Jacoby protested.

['pyrrhic]

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Nehalem tip four;;
Some things, even we cannot predict. No matter how large
of a being you think we are, we are made whole by light...
Nothing more. - Superior

Sparkling angel I believed You were my savior in
my time of need. Blinded by faith I couldn't hear
All the whispers, the warnings so clear, I see the
angels, I'll lead them to your door. There's no
escape now, No mercy no more. No remorse cause
I still remember, The smile when you tore me apart.


You took my heart, Deceived me right from the start.
You showed me dreams, I wish they would turn into real.
You broke the promise and made me realize.
It was all just a lie.

Ari walked up to Alex, tilting her head gently. Clad in a elegant corset and leather pants, she held all weapons on her belt, and bore all necklaces in her possession, including the demon blood he'd given her. She smiled at him and her head gently looked up from the dirt bellow them. They seemed to be in a forest, a lush and rich one to. The fog was dense and thick with nothing but white for miles. They were in a clearing, and Ari seemed to only pay heed to Alex. He stood in front of her, nonchalantly looking down at her with his arms crossed, annoyed at the filthy white shirt he wore, made of thick canvas and a sleeveless type that was large and baggy on him. He wore pants that looked like they'd been through hell and back and his hair looked like it could house birds. Ari urged him to come with her, as she started to walk and looked back as she got a few feet from him. "Come on, I'm going to get you outta here..." Yet Alex didn't move, his jaw clenched and he glared at the girl with a blank expression, one without any emotion, just annoyance. "Alex, come on! They'll catch us." Ari seemed to complain that time, she had urgency in her voice and a sharp ping of sadness. Alex didn't even shrug. "I'm done with this."

Something made Ari show red eyes, her blue fading quickly. Claws grew from her fingers and sharp teeth grew in her mouth. "Why do you make this so difficult, Alex?" Her voice sounded booming and demonic, and she thrashed her newfound demon tail. All Alex did is laugh, annoyed at the demon. Though he said nothing, he itched his neck and glared at the demon. "Did you want me to act? Or did you hope I'd crack?" Alex snarled as he smirked, his red eyes seeming to be fires of sarcasm. The demon in front of him started to walk the original way he'd been going, and started into the forest, the fog turning a dark red. "Where are we going now?" Alex complained to the essence in front of him. Reluctantly, he started for the other demon, knowing that the world he'd created would fade if Agony got to far. So he followed with annoyed mumbles, and his body became cold as ice.

Alex followed the demon for at least an hour, and they ended up at a graveyard. " 'Course." Alex growled as they came up to one grave, Alex's name plastered on it. Raising an eyebrow, Alex looked at Agony with a questionable look. "I hope it took you weeks to replicate it." Alex laughed as he looked at the name... The one his parents gave him before becoming a demon. "Fits, doesn't it? A grave for someone who's presumed dead.." Alex chuckled as he crouched down to look at the date. "There's three dates..." Alex said in a confused way... The demon in the shape of Ari smirked, "Indeed there are." The demonic voice contained amusement and the shape of Ari's lips turned into a smile. "Take a guess why, Alex.." The voice boomed again "Your smart enough."