The Left Hand of God

Military: Battle

Certainly, there were other threats facing the Empire of Japan, yet none of them had the sheer immediacy and scale of those Angels who had descended and professed to pass judgment on humanity. With this in mind, Aotsuki Tsukamoto and Ryūzaki Sanosuke (perhaps for other reasons) assembled a small coalition of minds and muscle to make the journey to Samayim. There, they would meet with the Divine Council so that Aotsuki might argue their case. According to Ishim Ariel and Adriel, however, their path would not be without opposition from the forces of Geburah, the Arbiters.   So it was that Amenotokotachi, Aoki Michiko, Haro Uin, Momose Nao, Mary Lyn, and Trivia accompanied their lords and angels guarding such into the rift of heaven.

---

The journey into Samayim was simple and sudden. A sense of towering movement loomed above the generals, precipitated by Metatron's great branches scraping across the sky as he seemed to lean down toward them... Then, when the golden light cleared, they had arrived in a grand entrance hall carved from white and black marble. A shining gate lay at the other end, past a wide, open floor, filled with a cacophony of swirling colors. In front of this, as though on guard, a medley of enormous marble statues stood ready. Some appeared to be Power of the Arbiters, others Virtue of the Arbiters, and the furthest a duo of towering, angelic women.   All of the party had their breath taken away for a moment by the sheer grandiosity of this room. All including Aotsuki, who was sure one of the statues had just turned its head to gaze at him. More immediately, a girl at a black marble desk closer to their entrance was trying to get their attention. The young daimyō ignored her for now, instead attempting to fire off a mental message to his wife. Tokku-hime answered a moment later. Good. It seemed their psychic connection to the greater Hashinara network hadn't been severed here.   Sanosuke, too, could still feel the power of his psychic enhancements surging through his veins. Those should make him a match in strength for even the largest of these statues. There certainly were a lot of them, however. While the colossi didn't seem very intent on making the first move, their postures were unmistakably ready to react.   "This is Assiah," Adriel said by way of explanation. "Our meeting with the Divine Council will take place in Yetzirah, which means we will need to pass through the first Heavenly Gate." She inclined her chin, indicating the great mass of multicolored clouds which seemed to fill the only exit out of this room.   From somewhere far above, a deep voice filled the air with singing in an unknown language. Michiko, her annoyance at the impromptu departure overcome by the opportunity for scholarship, began writing feverishly in her notebook. All the while, the girl at the desk was attempting to wave down Aotsuki. "Excuse me! Good afternoon!" she shouted.   "I was hoping we could slip through before the Arbiters closed off the first Gate, but it looks like they're expecting us," Ariel spat. She didn't spare so much as a glance at the golden haired secretary vying for their attention.   "We should go and check in at least, right?" Aotsuki asked. Several of the party met the question with blank looks. These only deepened when he pointed at, what to most of them, appeared to be little more than a blank spot of floor. "You know, speak to the receptionist...?" he ventured.   "Why would there be a receptionist in Assiah? This is not a place humans are meant to come." Adriel stared directly at the spot Aotsuki was indicating, but there wasn't so much as a flicker of recognition in her eyes. It was then that the young daimyō began to get an inkling of what might be going on.   "Who sees a blonde girl behind a desk over there?"   Slowly, Michiko and Mary raised their hands. Sanosuke, too, nodded. That would be everyone who was fully Human, with a few angels, some undead, and a Dodomeki rounding out the party. "A moment, please." Aotsuki proceeded down the stairs and approached the girl's desk.   "Good afternoon, Councilor," she greeted him sunnily, "It's just a formality, but on behalf of the Engines of Yesod, I have to ask you to sign in." A book, companion to two others floating around the girl under their own power, detached itself and settled in front of Aotsuki. It opened to a blank page and she handed him a quill.   "It seems she's only visible to those of us who are human," Mary was explaining as Aotsuki flipped through the book below them. "It's very peculiar that the angels of all things can't seem to see her, though."   "Yeah," Sanosuke furrowed his striking brow, "The hell they need a thing...er, person...like that for...?"   The book, it turned out, was filled to about twenty pages in with names Aotsuki did not recognize. Some were in what he vaguely recognized as English, with others scrawled in stranger tongues yet. Not a single entry was in Japanese. Turning back to the first blank page, Aotsuki lifted his quill to write, but paused. Pulling Kagami close, he bent over to look in her mirror.   The blonde girl was still there in the reflection that showed only truth, waiting patiently on her client's unusual behavior. So, too, were the statues. In fact, everything appeared to be the same save for the towering gate at the other side of the room. Rather than containing a multihued fog, it was instead clear and open. Beyond, Aotsuki could see out into a beautiful city of marble and gemstone. Five enormous pillars stood at the end of a shimmering road, beyond which a landscape of verdant greens and golds stretched out for a great distance before vanishing into a persistent white glow. Aotsuki blinked. The scene was incredible, but something about it was bothering him. He realized what it was when Tsurugi pulled lightly on his hakama.   "Look, Councilor." She pointed with the hilt of her sword at the pillars outside. Indeed, observed more closely, a pattern of swirling crags could be seen carved delicately into each one. "Fingerprints. Gigantic fingerprints. Those are no pillars, but the fingers of a colossus."   Quietly, Aotsuki took a moment to process this. Then, he stood up and resumed his check-in.   "Please enter your name and the reason for your visit. Your contact will be Ariel, and beside that write your most recent sin," the girl instructed politely.   Nodding, the young daimyō scratched out in his elegant handwriting: Aotsuki Tsukamoto. In defense of Japan and Humanity. Ariel. Then, after hesitating a moment, he jotted in a brief description of how he felt he had betrayed Musashibō Benkei. The clerk leaned over to check his entries, then smiled. Snapping shut, the book returned to those floating in her aura.   "Thank you and please enjoy your stay. The Arbiters have been expecting you."   Aotsuki's gaze fell on the hulking stone forms filling the hall as Michiko's voice drifted down from above. "It seems likely the statues themselves are angels. Look, they don't move often, but they do seem aware of us."   "Are we free to continue unimpeded and unmolested?" Aotsuki asked, keeping his eye on the colossi.   "I'm afraid my only function is to record the movement of humans in this realm," the girl answered with an apologetic smile. "Whether you are able to proceed is between you and the Arbiters."   "Unfortunate, I suppose." With that, Aotsuki returned to the party and took a moment to describe his experience with the receptionist. At the end of it, Ariel's brow was furrowed with concern.   "An 'Engine of Yesod'?" A tinge of skepticism ran through her words. "Are you certain?"   "It was probably a vision," Ariel waved her gloved hand dismissively. "You're a prophet or something. But what are we going to do about these gatekeepers? They aren't likely to let us through without a fight."   The party tensed as a nearby statue rolled its head to stare at them.   "Sanosuke, bond with me," Ariel said suddenly. The awkward silence that followed was broken only by Adriel's sigh.   "Ariel, you could at least explain what that means."   Despite Sanosuke's protestations that he was fine to bond with her regardless of what it meant, Ariel rolled her eyes. "We're Ishim. 'Guardian Angels.'" She raised a hand and pulled off her glove, facing palm toward Sanosuke. "We can protect humans, to an extent."   The Silver General raised his own hand, feeling a spark of energy and a warmth htrough the tough. "Oh, then maybe you should— ...Oh, that's nice." He caught only a momentary glimpse of Ariel's blush before she busied herself putting the glove back on. "How many people can you bond with?"   "Just one," she responded. "Stay close to me and I'll ensure you don't come to harm."   Adriel offered to do the same to Aotsuki, but he was more concerned about the other humans in their party. Ultimately, she ended up forming this connection with Mary instead. Throughout, Momose Nao watched with a morose expression. "I guess that won't work with me, huh...?"   Aotsuki gave the boy a reassuring smile. "Let's make sure that by the time we leave, we're a step further toward getting things like that to work with you." He turned back to the party, only to find Ariel awkwardly clambering into Sanosuke's arms.   "Uh... It's not like I'm against this, but I'm more of a hand-to-hand type, so it'll be hard to fight if I'm being carried."   "That's the idea," Sanosuke reassured her with a roguish smile. "No fighting, right?"   Ariel was taller than her build might suggest, but still petite enough to fit comfortably on Sanosuke's shoulder. Her suitcase, on the other hand, was far heavier than something of that size had any right to be. It swung around heavily as she attempted to get comfortable. All the while, Adriel watched with a mocking smile just inches from breaking out on her face.   "Great!" As Ariel finally looped the straps of her suitcase under one arm and held it at something approaching a secure angle, Sanosuke focused his ki at canceling out his own weight. "Hang tight—!"   Weightlessly, for the angel weighed nothing at all, Sanosuke leaped from the ground until he reached the roof of the hall a hundred feet or so above. The suitcase dangled precariously, but Ariel managed to keep it from falling despite her surprise. Then, they moved like lightning across the ceiling. Sanosuke's speed was legendary, and the ponderous statues below could only watch, if that, as he bolted at the gate behind them.   It was like running into a giant puff of marshmallow. Sanosuke found his limbs slowing and the cotton-candy surface of the clouds in front of him growing harder the further he pushed. Soon enough, it was like steel beneath his hands, then his feet. He came to a rest standing on the side of the gate, clouds unyielding like steel beneath his feet. Below, the two feminine statues were looking up at him. The rightmost wore an unpleasant smile as she turned to the other.   "They have attempted to breach the First Gate of Heaven, Yadathan."   The other, her stony features far more impassive, answered: "With the Left Hand of God, we push away those unworthy of His paradise."   All around them, statues rumbled to life, standing from their crouched positions and, in the case of the knights, readying enormous swords. Sanosuke watched as the one below, Yadathan, began to flap her wings and rise into the air toward them. "If that's all it took," he mused, "I suppose it was inevitable. Were you expecting this cloud to turn to steel?"   Ariel hung in his grip. Though Sanosuke was standing freely on the wall, gravity was still pulling her and, more critically, her suitcase toward the floor. "It is a Gate of Heaven, but I've never seen it closed before. This is usually an empty doorway."   "Oh okay—" Sanosuke turned around suddenly and swung his arm, smashing away a tangle of chains which had begun coiling out of the cloud behind him. Several of the things retreated, rejoining a swirling ball of steel links hovering around Yadathan. "Tch. I suppose negotiating was never an option. Is it really okay if we just smash these guys up?"   "Oh, sure," Ariel sounded unconcerned, "Their bodies are just constructs. They'll have to spend time making a new one if you smash it, but that's all."   "Okay, let's see that punch of yours in action!" Without warning, Sanosuke pulled his arm back and hurled Ariel through the air like a shotput ball. She tumbled for a moment, balance upset by the heavy suitcase, but instincts seemed to kick in a moment later and she turned the fall into a charge. One arm cocked back, she impacted one of the bare statues.   Even with the power of Sanosuke's throw behind her, the first punch only sent cracks through the construct's marble. It had no time to raise its defenses, however, as Ariel's second and third strikes shattered its arm and abdomen. Chunks of what had once been a statue rained to the ground as the thing lost its full consistency. Moments later, white soul-wisps began to wick off the unmoving remains.   Without waiting to see the aftermath, Sanosuke bolted down from his position on the ceiling and cut between Adathan and Yadathan. He sped up to one of the knightly constructs, still readying its weapon, and slid quickly through its legs. Coming up behind, he pulled a huge nodachi from its sheathe on his back and swung before the foe could react. Clang! Even Susano'o-blessed steel had its limits, and this attack glanced harmlessly off the angel's softly-glowing armor.   Once more, Sanosuke swung, but his momentum had been knocked off-course by his own strength in the recoil of the first. Without turning, the giant slapped his slow attack away with its left hand, then pushed that same palm into Sanosuke's chest. The Silver General's own armor was far too tough to allow such a strike to bring him to harm, but then the giant pushed. Sanosuke pushed back, as hard as he could. Despite his own titanic strength, the colossus proved a bit stronger, and he felt something ineffable being pushed out through his back. Suddenly, it was as though his legs were caught in molasses. Though his arms remained as free as ever, moving his footing proved to be a herculean effort, much less to speak of disengaging from the fight as he had planned to do.   Closer to the entrance, Aotsuki watched with a sinking feeling as the nearest statue stood from its crouch and began to lumber toward his group. "There was never much of a chance of this being resolved peacefully, was there, Adriel?"   "It was not likely, no," the angel answered impassively.   Frowning, Aotsuki dropped his falchion and called Tsurugi to his hand instead. With the divine weapon in his hand, he proceeded to meet the approaching Arbiter. Soon it was looking down upon him without a flicker of emotion on its granite features.   "Nothing, huh?" Aotsuki asked.   In response, a sonorous voice came from deep within the statue's chest. "Leave peacefully, and we need battle no further."   "So humans should have no say in the fate of humanity, is what you're saying?" No response came, so Aotsuki took that as his answer. With a mighty swing of Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, he impacted the Arbiter's right arm, raised to ward off the attack. The deep voice singing above seemed to raise in crescendo as sunlight flared and the statue's arm crumbled away into dust. So, too, was the Arbiter's left arm destroyed as it attempted to fend off Aotsuki's second attack. The angel staggered back, still standing but wholly debilitated by the loss of both its arms.   "Please, let's not do this," the young daimyō entreated. "Allow us passage, or send someone who can negotiate this." Again, the impassive statue offered no answer. Just beyond, Aotsuki saw a flash of marble wings as Adathan swung around the side of the room to come face-to-face with Ariel.   The two angels glared at each other, and something passed between them as they uttered the other's name. Clearly, this was not their first meeting. Ice flashing in the heavenly light, Adathan began her assault. Her strikes with that enormous crystalline maul were fierce, yet Ariel was obviously the more skilled combatant. Using her foe's power to her advantage, the Ishim conserved her movement and deflected only as was necessary. Each strike brought with it, however, a scattering of rime across Ariel's robes. Soon, without Adathan ever landing a solid hit, Ariel was fully encased in a shallow layer of ice. Her eyes darted about, but she appeared unable to move. Adathan raised her hammer to shatter her incapacitated foe...   Only to drop the attack and raise her shield; too slowly, as it became clear. A white bolt of energy flashed out from the shadows near the entrance. It clipped through the ice surrounding Ariel, shattering it before splashing off Adathan's stony skin and impacting the Arbiter behind her. In a spray of dust, that final statue's left arm exploded at the base and tumbled to the ground. It lunged out with its right limb, but Ariel was now free. She rolled with the punch, hidden armor beneath her coat absorbing the blow with a metallic sound, and tumbled to her feet unharmed.   Just a few feet away, the limbless statue facing Aotsuki reared its head back. With both its arms separated, it seemed determined to headbutt and kick its way to victory regardless. Before it could, however, its chest exploded outward. Behind it, Haro Uin pulled her arm back, now holding a gleaming rainbow-specked jawbreaker the size of her fist. She flashed Aotsuki a smile before stashing the candy.   The battle on the leftmost side of the arena was proceeding relatively smoothly. Aotsuki's foe had fallen, and Ariel seemed able to fend off Adathan for now. Sanosuke was surrounded by the two armored Virtues, and each push of their monumental palms seemed to slow him a bit more. For now, however, he was keeping them at bay and staying afloat. On the right side of the room, however, the situation was not so controlled. A procession of four statues were climbing the stairs toward the entrance, wordlessly approaching their noncombatants. Adriel watched this impassively. Her candelabra may have burned just a bit brighter, or perhaps that was only a shift in the light. Regardless, she seemed uninclined to stand in the Arbiters' way just yet.   Seeing no other option, Momose Nao stepped forward. Horrid flesh roiled underneath the youth's skin, but a shout from Aotsuki quelled his transformation before it could take hold. "Stay as you are for now! If things get worse, we may need some of your rage on our side." Nodding, he stepped back, but something was writhing in his eyes as they fixed upon the approaching statues.

Part 2

  Newly freed from the ice, Ariel wasted no time in seizing the opportunity to attack Adathan. Faced with such blinding speed from an opponent who was incapacitated just moments before, the larger angel raised her glimmering shield far too slowly to intercept. Ariel's fist impacted Adathan's solar plexus with a force that should shatter stone. But...the marble didn't so much as crack. Both angels shared a look of equal surprise for a moment. Then, Adathan's shock twisted into a mocking smirk.   "It seems like this body won't be broken so easily by those puny fists of yours."   "Oh yeah?" Ariel growled. "Then try this!"   Her next strike was a haymaker, but Adathan was prepared this time. Her shield caught the blow and deflected it, its ice holding fast. Glowering, Ariel pulled her fist back for another strike, but hesitated.   "What's wrong?" the other mocked. "Has the 'Lion of God' lost her courage?"   "I didn't want to use this so soon, but...buy me some time!" Ariel shouted this across the hall to Sanosuke, who had his own looming problems in front of him. Keeping one arm raised to ward off Adathan, she began unlocking her heavy suitcase with another. Meanwhile, Sanosuke was sheathing his blade, favoring a more defensive unarmed stance against the Virtues pressing in on them.   "Okay then..." he said through gritted teeth, then his ears seemed to catch up. "Huh? Ariel-chan, you alright over there?"   "It's no surprise that the higher-ranked Arbiters would be constructed in such a way as to ward lighter attacks. It is likely only weapons of sufficient craftsmanship can damage them." Adriel gave a lengthy explanation, perhaps unhelpfully, from the stairs. Perhaps Sanosuke wasn't listening anyway, as he was then engaged in heaving a fourteen-foot-tall suit of angelic armor upward with his bare hands.   CRASH!   The unlucky Virtue sailed across the chapel by way of Sanosuke's titanic throw. It struggled to right itself in the air, but given its bulk and the sheer weight of its equipment, that would be a near impossibility. It careened into two Powers of the Arbiters ascending the stairs to the right, impacting both and knocking one from its feet. More importantly still, the Virtue's bulky form lay collapsed on the stairwell itself, effectively blocking access to all but one of the encroaching Powers.   Both Sanosuke and the remaining Virtue watched this unfold with varying levels of interest. When the Silver General turned back to his foe, no expression was visible under that heavy white helmet. "Alright, pal," Sanosuke spat, "You're up."   The other angels were not idle in this time, however. Yadathan, hovering some fifty feet above the chaos, drifted serenely near the center of the room. At her gesture, a bundle of chains burst forth from the carpet beneath Haro Uin and attempted to engulf the little Kyonshi. Aotsuki Tsukamoto was there in an instant, his shield raised, but there were simply too many vectors of attack to block. A whip of chains snaked past his defense and gathered all around Uin, wrapping her up in a solid, immobile cocoon.   As he hefted Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, Aotsuki spotted something concerning out of the corner of his eye. One of the Powers, its approach stymied by Sanosuke's control, had spread its feet and adopted an expression of concentration. Wisps of white smoke now gathered around its stony shoulders as some unseen power built. That was concerning, but he had someone to help right in front of him now. With a powerful swing downward, divine steel met divine steel. This was not, however, Tsurugi's first encounter with the eschatological. Yadathan's chains parted easily under its divine severance, freeing the young daimyō's companion instantly. Without delay, Aotsuki detached himself and made for the other side of the entryway just in time to intercept the first Power there.   Not far away, Ariel was still struggling with the intricate clasps holding her suitcase closed. "I won't let you!" Adathan spat. She raised her hammer and brought it down on the other angel three times. The first was easily blocked, as was the second, yet this one froze Ariel solid once again. So immobilized, she was helpless against Adathan's final attack. The Cherubim grinned malevolently, relishing the moment as she pulled back her hammer and swung it forward with all her force... ...only for Ryūzaki Sanosuke to appear in a flash of light where Ariel stood moments before. The Silver General caught the strike on his iron-hard arm and thrust it away. Adathan could only stare, flabbergasted. "Who in Tehom are you?"   Heavenly light cast Sanosuke's face in dramatic shadow as he loosened his shoulders and grinned. "I'm her guardian angel, bitch."   Any response Adathan might have given was interrupted by a sudden crash from the center of the room. Yadathan, who had been floating majestically over the battle, suddenly fell to the ground in a clumsy tangle of limbs and wings. She let out an uncharacteristic scream and staggered to her feet, shivering and bewildered. The Cherubim raised her arms in front of her face and stared at them in horror as marble skin began flaking away, burning to ash before it reached the ground.   "Yadathan," a somber proclamation from Adriel came. "For your acts against humanity, I have taken your divinity and shared with you the suffering of mortal beings. The burning you feel is the pain they must live through until the day they die. Answer, shall you continue on your path of sin?"   The other archangel did not answer for a moment, her carven features overcome by abject terror. "I...this can't be happening," she stammered.   Devastated as she was, Yadathan's chains apparently continued their action unabated. This was made clear when Haro Uin, stepping off the stairs and into the tiled area in the center of the hall, unwittingly trod upon a colony of the things. She hardly had time for so much as an "eep" before the golden links once again had her bound and covered from head to toe.   Aotsuki saw all this happen from the side, but could not separate himself from the looming Power before him to help. So, too, could he only watch with a pit in his stomach as another Power, bending its powerful legs, leapt in a soaring arc above him and into the gaggle of noncombatants behind. It thrust its left hand forward as it landed, only to be deflected by a glimmering magical veil wreathed in stars.   "This is inconvenient," Mary Lyn complained. "I didn't want to use up much of my magic in case we needed a quick escape..." She cocked her head to the left, barrier holding fast while she watched Amenotokotachi pull back a shimmering white bow.   Once loosed, the White Arch's arrow shot the length of the hall. It skittered off Haro Uin's chain cocoon, but lacked the force to destroy that prison as Tsurugi had. Such was not the same for the ice surrounding Ariel. The archangel, who since the switch had been standing where Sanosuke was but moments before, found her freezing prison shattered once again. Finally, the bolt continued on to strike the looming Virtue as he readied his greatsword, but glanced harmlessly off the white steel of that weapon.   Apparently thinking its foe distracted by this turn of events, a nearby Power took this opportunity to clumsily shove its palm at Sanosuke. The Silver General hardly spared a glance for the attack before thrusting out his own fist in return. Both strikes collided and a shockwave shook the air as the Power's body was pulverized instantly. Marble shot in every direction amid a cloud of dust. The statue's head rolled to a stop after bouncing off the far wall, lying still with a concerned expression on its face.   However, not all of the Powers were to be taken so lightly. So learned Momose Nao as another statue soared over Aotsuki's defense and landed in front of him. The thing came down palm first, and Nao had not yet given in to his transformation. The strength and skill of a mere boy were no match. Nao was driven into the ground with a mighty crack, pressed down by the angel's enormous palm. Surely the Arbiter had held back, else naught would be left but paste. Even so, Nao was clearly unconscious and appeared to be bleeding. Aotsuki tamped down a roar of rage, forced to watch this unfold but unable to shift his shield to aid.   Indeed, the Power just in front of Aotsuki was even then battering his shield with its own palm. Much to the statue's bewilderment, every attack was reflected not just in force but in property as well. When its attack ceased, the Power discovered that it was bearing several new wounds and had managed to slow its own movement considerably. These revelations would normally prompt any creature to reconsider its tactics. Yet a Power was not an archangel and had not cast off its Qlippoth, and therefore had no free will. Even with its fate clear before it, the statue pulled back for another strike.   Across the room, Ariel was finding her new opponent's assault just as implacable. The Virtue, until then attacking Sanosuke, did not hesitate a beat once its opponent had switched. It raised its greatsword and swung down at the newly-freed angel once, twice, then three times. Skilled as she was, the titan's strength was unrelenting. She found herself overwhelmed, just moments from cracking open her suitcase. Then, she slipped. Ariel's arm came up too early, impacting the Virtue's swing but not deflecting it. She was slammed bodily against the wall with enough force to crack stone. Even with the chainmail beneath her robes, Ariel was not so physically robust. Her body died. ...No, it came infinitesimally close to dying. Sanosuke felt a warmth in his chest flare, then dim as Ariel pulled on all the strength of their bond to survive. She was broken, but not defeated yet.   Click.   The angelic suitcase fell open, light erupting from it in a fountain. The aura seemed almost a tangible thing as it reached out and engulfed Ariel. In the luminance's place when it receded was Ariel, indeed, but now wearing a complex suit of full plate. The armor's joints glowed and its massive gauntlets flexed. A flowing cape unfurled behind her, its folds lit by a great halo of energy seated upon her back.   "Now, face the wrath of God!"   That halo flickered, then changed shape. A great white lion prowled the space around Ariel as she raised her fist to the sky. Again, the distant singing reached a crescendo pitch at the same time as the lion roared. Sheer force rolled away from it like a shockwave, cracking the marble of the Virtue's left arm and crippling a nearby Power. The weakened Yadathan, too, found herself too close to the mighty beast. Her vessel fell apart under the lion's roar, scattered in chunks as the dust of her body dirtied the hallowed floor.   "Heh." Adathan watched her sister's destruction with a smirk. "So the Lion shows its fangs. Yadathan was a fool."   As if in response, Sanosuke lashed out. His fist, spiked with bolts of electricity, shot directly at Adathan's head. Being perhaps of similar temperament herself, Adathan was prepared for this. She ducked behind her great shield, absorbing the blow without difficulty. Sanosuke's second strike, however, snaked past these defenses and landed a glancing strike on Adathan's temple. She turned her head to the side, but her grin did not falter and her marble skin did not crack. Arrogance evident in every motion, she twisted the momentum into a strike with her own hammer, which Sanosuke barely blocked. Even the Silver General's titanic strength seemed to be matched in this battle.   "Damnit!" he cursed mentally. "Mary-chan, I can't bring her to you guys. Keep Michiko-chan (...and the others...) safe, no matter what."   Arthur's court magician puzzled for a moment over the parentheses in his telepathic message before responding. "I'll do my best. If the worst happens, we have the Gauntlet."   Help would soon arrive, as Aotsuki managed at that moment to score a devastating blow with Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, reducing the Power before him to so much rubble. He hurried over to Nao, the statue pressing him into the ground, and the rest of the noncombatants. Of her own volition, Kagami knelt and infused a flicker of Amaterasu's light into the fallen boy. His eyes flickered, but he did not wake. Even so, Nao should no longer be in danger of bleeding out, provided he suffered no further wounds.   One by one, the Powers were falling. At the bottom of the stairs, Haro Uin grabbed one's arm and dismembered it into a shower of konpeitō and rock candy. She moved on to the Virtue, swinging around in a graceful kick, but found her blow interrupted by the thing's monstrous greatsword. Forged from heavenly steel, this weapon appeared more durable than the Arbiters' bodies themselves. Uin was forced to pull her strike back without so much as a scratch on the foe's weapon. Indeed, not a single blow had yet been landed upon this particular Virtue. The same could be said for Adathan, who was locked in a stalemate with Sanosuke but bore no sign of injury or fatigue.   The Power holding Nao down released its grip and attempted to force down instead, only to find its own strength turned against it. It fought through the restraints this placed upon it, but likewise made no progress in slowing down Aotsuki. Nearby, a second Power approached, this one having lost its left arm at some point in the battle. It reached out with its right grip at the fallen Nao, only to find Aotsuki stumbling into the way as Tama gave an opportune shove into his side. This was no strike, but a grab, and Aotsuki found himself grappling with the statue. The Arbiter's strength was greater, but the young daimyō's mastery of defensive arts kept him from becoming totally immobilized in its grip. He stepped back under the assault and nearly collided with Trivia. She was present as a legal consult, not a warrior, and made this clear as she became intangible and stepped inside the wall rather than become involved.   As a third Power soared through the air and landed next to the group, the situation began to deteriorate. It thrust the Left Hand of God at Adriel, who up to this point had been detached from the chaos. She raised a hasty barrier, but it was too late. Like her sister, Adriel was not robust of body, and the Arbiters clearly had no compunctions about slaying other angels... With a scowl, she did something decidedly un-angelic. Suddenly, Mary Lyn was there, Adriel having exploited their bond to switch places. The mage's confusion was only momentary; years of experience came to her aid as she poured magical energy into a starswept barrier that held the Power's palm at bay.   "Uh, what was that?" Mary turned an uncharacteristically harsh stare upon Adriel.   "If that attack had struck me, I wouldn't be alive to protect you in the future," the other explained, monotone.   The two glared at each other for a moment, both clearly unhappy with what had just taken place. Mary's smile then broke the tension, but her eye twitched a moment later as she turned back to the battle.   Events had now drawn too close to Amenotokotachi for comfort, and she rolled away to take up a sniping position at the dip in the stairs. Carefully, she lined up another shot with the White Arch of Ōyamazumi and fired. Two Powers split, collapsing to the ground, and another was staggered by the remaining force in the arrow. It was halted, however, by the Virtue at the end of the line as it turned its blade.   Only a few Powers remained at this point, but they still converged dangerously upon the noncombatants. Her own foe having been cut down in the last attack, Mary Lyn prepared to cast a minor teleportation spell on Michiko should any of the remaining Arbiters draw too close.   One did moments later. The Virtue, releasing whatever power it had been building, stepped through the air with a powerful crack. It appeared instantaneously on the other side of the central group and reached out its massive hand toward Michiko's back. Mary prepared to loose the spell, but Aotsuki was there first. His shield groaned under the Arbiter's giant strength as he interposed himself, digging his feet into the carpet. It was not an injurious blow, but for the first time Aotsuki's strength was overwhelmed. His feet seemed to be trapped in invisible tar as the very concept of movement was robbed from him by inches. Just to his right, he could only watch as Aoki Michiko bent down and casually began transcribing runes from the encroaching Virtue's armor.

Part 3

  The tide of battle flowed now in the human cohort's favor, but their trials were far from over. Even in her light-enhanced battle armor, Ariel risked being overwhelmed by unrelenting attacks from the Power and Virtue flanking her. The soldiers of Geburah showed no qualms about striking to kill other angels; it seemed their injunction against fatality applied only to humans.   Small as she was, however, Ariel was several orders of magnitude more powerful than either of her foes in the angelic hierarchy. With a swing of one mighty gauntlet, she crushed through the chest of the Power and sent its marble pieces scattering behind. Then, turning, her metal knuckles flashed three times as they impacted the too-slow Virtue's armor. Finally, a sweep of her leg carved out a full section of the creature's armored thigh, sending it crumbling to the ground in inert chunks.   "Give in, Adathan!" Ariel shouted as she sped through the falling debris of her foes to flank the other Cherubim. "You're no match for the Full Armor of God."   In response, Adathan opened her hand and let her great hammer fall. It dissolved upon release, ice shifting in the air and reforming into an enormous gauntlet on the angel's own fist. She grinned, flexing the new weapon's fingers. "You aren't the only one blessed with His will, Ariel. It's time someone taught you some humility."   Ryūzaki Sanosuke sensed the attack before it came. Preempting Adathan's motion, he slipped with preternatural speed around her back and reached up, attempting to grip the wings high on her back. She half-twisted in response, pushing the gauntlet on her left hand into Sanosuke's chest...   A titanic struggle ensued, human and angel both far more physically powerful than their forms should allow. By inches, the Silver General managed to push forward and get a grip on the wings, shaking off Adathan's divine restraint in the process; however, one flex of her powerful back muscles forced Sanosuke's fingers apart and he lost his grip, falling back. "You may be quick," she glared at him, "But none can escape judgment forever."   Alas, he'd been unsuccessful, but Sanosuke could hope that his brief struggle would be enough to distract Adathan for a vital blow from another member of his party to land. Haro Uin, at least, could not be that person. She was too distracted dancing amid the crowd of Powers slowly advancing up the rightmost staircase toward the huddle of noncombatants. With a graceful twirl, she brought her foot down in an axe kick that cleaved straight through a Power's skull, splitting it in two. Bright-colored gumballs tumbled from the breach, spilling all about its feet as it collapsed. She moved on, then, to strike at a Virtue, but the armored giants were more formidable in their defenses.   Uin's first strike caught her foe by surprise, but was nevertheless deflected with a puff of white light from the thing's armor. With a flip backward, she leaped straight into the air as only a kyonshi could and lashed out with the edge of one slender hand. That blow found a gap between the Virtue's armor and its helmet, slipping through and impacting marble instead of metal. There was a crack of breaking stone and the immense knight faltered, but did not fall.   In the time this took to happen, Adathan had already recovered. She eyed Sanosuke for a moment, but seemed to recognize Ariel as a greater threat. Turning on the smaller angel, Adathan grasped out with her Gauntleted Left Hand of god. As it seemed the Armor of God was too inflexible to permit graceful dodges of the sort she favored, Ariel took it full in the chest.   The damage itself wasn't critical; Ariel's armor cracked but held strong. It was the divine restraint which worried Sanosuke. He could only watch as his ally's movements along the ground slowed nearly to a stop. Adathan pulled back for another strike...   By some miracle, perhaps a true sign of God's favor, Ariel held against two more restraints. She could hardly move more than a few feet at a time, yet she could move. Adathan scowled in the sure knowledge that, by the time she found another opening, her foe would have recovered from this assault. The window for ending Ariel as a threat had closed.   "Tch," she muttered out of the corner of her frown, "...Probably shouldn't be using this on other angels anyway..."   Meanwhile, on top of the dais at the front of the room, Aotsuki Tsukamoto had interdicted himself between Momose Nao and the remaining Virtue. With Haro Uin on the other side, the thing was trapped, but the young daimyō reminded himself it still presented a threat as he cast eyes down at his fallen companion's unconscious visage. Indeed, it seemed even Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi's sacred steel could not pierce the Virtue's divine armor. After a quick exchange, longsword and greatsword flashing as they clashed, neither Aotsuki nor the titan had been harmed. As the Grass-Cutting Sword rose for another slash, it was interrupted by a sudden cry from elsewhere in the room.   Adathan, so haughty and collected until now, suddenly staggered forward with a visceral screech. Her eyes narrowed to hateful slits, tracking something across the room which no one else could see.   "The Black Blade of Doom! You came?!" It was Adriel, whose expression of mock surprise couldn't entirely hide a knowing smirk at this strange display.   "At your service!" said no one, because the Black Blade was clearly not here.   "There are more of you humans?" Adathan growled. She reached up to her left wing, pawing tenderly at a wound no one else could see. "And to cut my wing off with that black blade...this one is dangerous." The smell of burnt feathers did indeed fill the air, however, as embers began to chew at the edges of Adathan's feathers. "Get back here and return my halo at once!"   Mary Lyn, who, even despite her extensive experience hadn't seen the illusion spell Adriel cast, muttered a word of surprised admiration. Her attention, with everyone else's, was focused on Adathan. This made it the perfect time for Amenotokotachi to strike.   She'd been watching Haro Uin's previous attack, and so the corpse princess' arrow pierced straight through the gap between the Virtue's armor and helmet. It impacted on the base of its neck, causing the statue's head to snap forward with a resounding crack of marble. That one had hurt it, insofar as these creatures were capable of feeling pain. However, the Virtue's head did not so much as turn to seek its attacker. It raised its greatsword instead, slamming down onto Aotsuki with titanic force.   The young daimyō's crested shield met the blow and protections both earthly and holy held back the blow. Indeed, with a flash of golden sunlight, the Virtue found its force turned back on itself. All the strength it had put into the strike blew back upon itself. A crack appeared on its helmet, splitting the air with white sparks as its head crumpled within. The armor stood still for a moment, then fell ponderously backward into a rising cloud of marble dust and angelic soul.   Apparently unconcerned, Aoki Michiko walked up to the fallen creature and continued to study its armor. "Languages aren't really my forte," she mused, sorting through the pouch around her waist, "but if I had access to the Archives I might be able to make something of this..." Producing a sheet of parchment and a lump of charcoal, the scholar proceeded to take a rubbing of the Abrahamic runes engraved upon intact portions of the Virtue's armor.   Oblivious to her last ally's defeat, Adathan's eyes were still scanning the room for an unseen foe. Her distraction proved to be her undoing. Sure and inexorable as a rising star, Ariel's fist caught the other Cherubim full in the stomach. It drilled upward, cracking the marble body around it in half. When the rising rift reached her neck, Adathan's head fell simply away, rolling across the floor before coming to a halt. Her lips, already pooling with soulful matter, uttered one last invective:   "Damn you, Black Blade. I won't forget this..."   "What the #@%$?" Sanosuke whispered. "Who the heck is the Black Blade?" Ariel asked as she removed her helmet and shook her long silver hair free. The reset of the armor followed, detaching with mechanical sounds from her body before turning once again to light and vanishing within her suitcase. "He's a pain in the ass," came Sanosuke's answer. "I don't know if we should be thankful or afraid that we don't know what Adathan was talking about." His eyes scanned the hall, still pristine except where piles of marble rubble and splatters of dust covered the floor. "By the way, is that stuff..." He pointed at some of the wispy white substance wicking off the ruined bodies. "Can we take some?" "Drat, it's more damaged than I'd hoped..." Ariel blinked, then seemed to consider the question with a pensive look. "Collect...what? That's the essence of an Arbiter, until it makes a new body. What'd you want that for?"   "I don't really care about it, but I have a feeling someone else will be disappointed if we don't bring some back for him to experiment with..."   "It would be improper for us to allow you to capture the essence of another angel," Adriel cut in primly. "So, if you must, do it whil our back are turned."   "I don't really care, but yeah," Ariel agreed, "It does put us in an awkward position."   Unseen, and at Sanosuke's unheard suggestion, Mary Lyn scooped a Virtue's essence within what could only be a Demonseal Bottle before stashing it in her robes once again. Just behind her, Aotsuki poured his ki into Momose Nao's supine body.   "What hit me...?" the youth asked as Aotsuki helped him to his feet.   "One of these statues that you see crumbled to the ground."   "Damn..." Nao squeezed his eyes shut. "I wasn't able to transform in time."   "I know," Aotsuki's tone was kind, "And I'm sorry. You were only holding back because I asked you to."   On the other side of the hall, the Gate of Heaven had cleared. Those swirling, multicolored clouds which once blocked entrance were vanished, revealing a shining street lined with gemstones and a brilliant sky beyond. Each of the party members reconvened at the entrance, however, before seeking to step into that wondrous city. Michiko showed Sanosuke her charcoal rubbings while Aotsuki and Kagami tended to the wounded. A general air of relief and a battle well-won suffused the group.   Until it was suddenly shattered. An impossibly huge marble arm, surely to the scale of a castle in itself, reached through the newly-opened gate. Its tower-sized palm opened, reaching down to grab the collected cohort or press them into the carpet below. "Shi–!" Ariel cried.   Just before the titanic hand was upon them, a flash of light appeared before it and held it fast. Another angelic figure, this one the size of a man but with splendorous wings arching from his back, turned his attention to the cohort. His face was hidden by an ornate helmet and his body by formal attire of an exotic cut, but an indescribable gentleness seemed to pass from him to the humans.   "With the First Gate of Heaven opened, the Archangel Michael is pleased to sned you his regards."   In a jolt of sudden acceleration, the robed figure pushed the cyclopean arm back and out of the gateway. A vision of a truly titanic marble statue flying into the distance was briefly visible before being swallowed by the clouds beyond. The party released a collective breath before realizing their apparent savior had vanished as well.   "Yes!" Ariel punched the air. "I was hoping Michael would help us out." Noticing the blank expressions around her, she attempted an explanation. "That was a Dominion. The highest rank of angel that still hasn't cast off its Qlippoth. Basically, it's a supersized, superpowered version of those statues we just fought."   "Separating from a Qlippoth means tearing away part of your essence; your power," Adriel added. "That means Dominions, although technically of lower rank, can sometimes rival even the Divine Councilors in sheer power. Fortunately, a Dominion of Mercy stepped in."   "I'm not going to ask if Michael's a good guy," Sanosuke stated flatly. He couldn't help but think they might still be more worried about the angels with individuality rather than superpowered mooks. "Anyway, we're all clear now, huh?"   "He's like..." Ariel started in response to the question Sanosuke had not asked. "If the Arbiters we just fought are the left hands pushing you away, Michael is the right hand pulling you in for an embrace."   "Shockingly poetic, Ariel," her sister teased.   "You know he'd appreciate it." Then, noting her wounds had somewhat lessened, she reached down to ruffle Kagami's hair. "Thanks, little one."   "Then...we're fine to proceed?" Mary asked.   As if in response, a jovial voice echoed in from outside the door. "Hello? Is anyone alive in there?" The question sounded friendly, perhaps overly so.   "We've done our best to stay alive, yes!" Aotsuki called back. He stepped forward with Sanosuke, the two putting themselves at the front of the cohort to face whatever new threat this may prove to be.   First, a gold headdress poked around the edge of the door, followed by a head of flowing hair and a face-eating mustache. The mouth below that distinguished facial hair broke into a wide grin as its owner saw Sanosuke approaching. "Capital! Capital!" this new angel cried. He offered a low, dramatic bow. "On behalf of the Splendors of Hod, allow me to be the first to welcome you to Assiah proper!"