The Archfiend's Awakening (A-079) (06/07/2022)

== The Return - [06/7/2022] | GEO-7, Camelot ==
The air in the room was as tense as it had ever been in the past week. The Roundtable Council and its advisors, minus Archangel, Witch, and Wizard, were all sitting in silence in the room as Void walked up to the front. "Alright, enough of the doom and gloom. We're going to review the plan as it stands." He clicked the remote to reveal an image of the radically-changed radius around A-079 upon the screen.
"The Archfiend is due to materialize in three days, during the peak of the Blood Moon. Wiz and Witch are both missing, and Archie is supposed to be heading back soon. With that in mind, we've gotten word back from our forward fireteams that an FOB has been secured with the Aurisian military." Void stepped closer to the screen and pointed with his finger at several small figures inside the small crater at the Archfiend's epicenter.
"We have reason to believe that the rest of the Archmages, about six of them, are camped out there. Neither our forces nor the Auris' have gotten a clear line of fire to them due to the waves of minions the fiend keeps spitting out. And our field researchers haven't found any clear weakness in the ground forces or the Archfiend itself, all in all, it's starting to seem a bit bleak." Void fidgeted a bit, unsure of what exactly to say... until a bright bolt of lightning flashed and a massive thunderclap emanated from outside on the AV landing pad.
The Roundtable and their advisors all rush outside to respond to the potential threat that had appeared. They all readied their weapons and moved towards the person standing where the lightning bolt had apparently hit. The ground around him was slightly charred and dented. The person turned around and he casually said with a smile on his face, "Hello everyone. I hope you didn't miss me too much." Void lowered his rifle recognizing the voice and asked, "Boss? That you?" The rest of the council ease up and look bewildered at their Director's new look. 
He has a black and white hoodie, with the CACG emblem and the Seraphim emblem stitched on the front. His hair is a bit shorter, with the ends of his strands leaving signs of burns. His tattoo that he had on his left cheek has also disappeared and is replaced by scars on both of his cheeks. The halo behind him glows brighter than before and his build is slightly more athletic. He was almost unrecognizable. Specter asked, "What happened to you? Why do you look so different?" Archangel pats himself down and smirks while explaining, "The Seraph's training was...extremely rigorous. Relentless onslaughts and 30 gigaton space beam rigorous..." Thunderbolt inquired, "You said a 30 gigaton beam?"
"Indeed. That wasn't his strongest one either."
"...so if the Seraph can do that, why isn't he fighting the Archfiend?"
"Simple. It's our job. Our responsibility."
"I guess that makes sense."
Calliope walks up and daps up Archangel and comments, "I prefer waves, but the new hairstyle is cool too." Archangel playfully punches Calliope's arm and chuckles. Reptile inquires, "So, basically Seraph beat your ass for 3 days." Archangel shrugs and nods but then explains, "I also found out I can dispel attacks of energy of many forms. And I can completely stop or redirect an attack in motion. Even if it has extreme momentum."
"Woah, that's neat."
"It will be useful for the upcoming threat hopefully." Archangel greets the advisors and walks to the main office, with Void right next to him. He looks at Void and says, "It's good to see you again Void. Even though it's been 3 days it feels like it's been too long. I also notice Wizard and Witch are missing. On a side quest perhaps? Could you give me a status report so I can be brought up to speed?"
"Of course," Void said, pulling an extra dossier from his bag. "Wiz and Witch are missing, last I heard they were in the Arcane Research Offices trying to figure out how to beat the Archfiend." Archangel smiled before saying, "Then I think we can count on them to show up when we need them. Let's get back to briefing then, we need to get moving today." He proceeded to walk to the meeting room, waving everyone else along as well.
== Battle Lines - [06/7/2022] | GEO-7, Camelot ==
"So, nice pep talk in the briefing room V," Specter said jokingly as Void dispensed a blue soda from the machine. Archangel had just called a recess for the Roundtable so he could prepare a briefing, and like most times when a recess was called, the council retreated to the Roundtable Lounge. Void sighed before sitting down at the table with Specter and Reptile. "Was it really that obvious? This is our first possible EOW Entity and I was the one having to brief. Starting to feel real glad that Archie came in when he did."
Reptile chuckled, "It's fine man, any one of us would be nervous too."
Coming across the room, Thunderbolt sat down with Specter, Reptile, and Void after getting some snacks. "Is that a new rifle V? You've gotta tell me the specs! Do you mind?" he immediately went off, holding his watch to the rifle on the table. "Knock yourself out. It's nothing too new, I did put a new hybrid firing mechanism to use though." Thunderbolt scanned the rifle, looking at the automatically generated schematics projected from his watch and listening to Void.
"Did A-018 help with this one too?"
Void went silent for a moment before responding, "...Nope, made it all by myself. Used some leftover parts from the revolver." He reached for the rifle and folded it back up, slinging it over his shoulder and taking a swig of his drink. The recess had ended by now, and the council reentered the briefing room with Archangel posted up at the front. As everyone sat down, he began with a diagram of the future battlefield.
"Alright, let's start. The Aurisian military has established an FOB on the outskirts of the incursion site. I've already sent an away team to prepare a staging area somewhere nearby so we can cooperate with their forces, and we've already got some major hardware in the Auris already." Archangel clicked the remote to reveal some of the equipment shipped in, with AADS platforms and trucks full of anti-arcane guns among them. "We'll be in play as well, of course. Agua, Reptile, Specter, prior to our engagement I'll need you guys on the ground training the troops. Thunder, you'll need to help get the equipment we've shipped set up, and then you'll be picked up in the support AV with Void and Calliope."
"And what are we supposed to do then, exactly?" Calliope questioned.
"Simple, you three will rain hell on them from above. With that new rifle of V's, Thunder's area denial capabilities, and A-016 in your hands, you three should easily be capable of holding back the Archfiend's horde. And as for myself, I'll try to hold back the horde as much as I can on the ground. We have four days till the blood moon, and only two days until we ship out, so I advise you all to get your affairs in order beforehand."
== A Favor - [06/7/2022] | GEO-7, Camelot ==
Night had fallen over GEO-7 as the council dispersed. The sound of pinpoint accurate arc welds alongside components being attached and tuned filled the air as Thunder worked on the hulking machine in front of him. "Aye, that's a good weld lad. Who taught you?" Dr. Lambert said, watching from above a catwalk, manning a computer with various diagnostics on screen. "It's nothing too special doc, taught myself using this," Thunder responded, letting a small arc of electricity from his finger. Lambert took another swig of his coffee and looked at the screen once more, "We've got a lot of work left to do, but this thing is starting to take good shape. When are we testing it?"
"I'll tell you when!" a familiar voice rang out as one of the high-security doors slid open. Void entered the room and jumped over the catwalk and right next to the vehicle. "We're taking this puppy into multiversal space after we kill the magic demon!" 
"We don't exactly know if we have to terminate it yet, but yes, after this A-079 business is done with we're taking it on a trip to the uh... V?"
"The Imperial Flagship my dear boy! The culmination of all efforts in amateur multiversal history! You won't believe the favors some of those lab boys needed to leave those telescopes alone for more than a minute."
Dr. Lambert chuckled, "Well then, I assume you're here to talk about some A-079 stuff with Thunder? I can make myself scarce."
"Actually that's fine doc, I was just here to ask a favor."
"Shit, this is gonna be good," the doctor chortled before falling silent, "go on!"
"Well shit... I don't know how to put this," Void said. "I uh, I wanted to see if you could put in a good word for me after this mission... for A-018."
"That's all man? You should've told me earlier!" Thunder said, laughing. "If we have an office to come back to come the blood moon, I'll make sure to talk to him about it. I'm sure you've heard about A-046 escaping, right?"
"Shit, don't remind me. I knew that thing gave me heebie jeebies for a reason... but thank you Thunder, it means a lot to me. Love Kao to death, but they can't work on guns the same way me and A-018 did."
"Don't mention it man, stay safe."
== Prep Time - [06/9/2022] | The Crater, Auris Republic ==
"Alright folks we need these crates unloaded and the weapons in Aurisian hands!" Strongman shouted as the logistics operatives were unloading the crates of anti-arcane weapons from the cargo trucks. The Roundtable, as well as the rest of the CACG operatives assisting with the mission arrived well into the evening, with spotlights lighting up the FOB and an eerie red tint in the swirling clouds around A-079. The Aurisian forces had set up a five point perimeter around the Archfiend, and Thunder was being ferried by AV between each outpost to set up the defenses sent in earlier.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Roundtable sat gathered around a briefing table with the General of the Aurisian Military, Emmanuel Herrera. "Well, I'm glad to see you lot here already. My men are ready to do whatever it takes to get this magical prick out of our homeland." Specter and Reptile chuckled, and Archangel smiled.
"I'm glad the feeling's mutual General, we're still waiting for some acquaintances, but everything is in order."
"I swear to god, Witch and Wiz better not fuck us over on this," Specter said telepathically. 
"Well then, I'll have my men ready to assist you however we can. According to my troops, 'wonder boy' is already out there working miracles with our defensive line. We'll be ready to push this thing back by the deadline."
Specter and Reptile chuckled again, with Void joining in this time. "Thunder's gonna love that." With his closing remarks, the General left the room to the remaining Roundtable Council members. Archangel looked uncertain for a split second at the front of the room, possibly over Wizard and Witch still being missing, or even something else. "You guys get ready for tomorrow. I'm going to make a few calls before we settle in for the night." 
== Light in the Dark - [06/10/2022] ????, ?????? ==
"How fucking big is this place?!" Witch shouted, listening to her voice echo as the followed close behind Wizard.
"Your guess is as good as mine, this is the first time I've been down this far. How you holding up back there Miss Tsubana?"
The Archmage, Hibiki Tsubana, looked a bit flustered as the two mages looked at her, "It's... a bit creepy."
"I've been meaning to mention that Wiz, what's with all the cobwebs?"
"Well... fuck. I haven't got a chance to look into it much with all this going on. We should be getting close now though, grandpa always talked about his study, and he was the one to seal the damn thing in the first place."
They all went silent, traversing the pitch dark staircase one step at a time with only the light of a magical flame to guide them. "So... this is the Grand Magus' Sanctum, right?" Hibiki said, trying to break the ice.
"Indeed it is. Grandpa always raved about this place, how it was his crowning achievement. How would you know though?" Wizard asked, pushing the brim of his hat up so it was out of his eyes.
"I actually studied about him in my university. He was a real big part of Camelotian history, and I never really thought I'd see any of it up close." They fell silent once again, all the way until they reached the bottom of the staircase. With a wave of his hand, Wizard sent forth the magic flame as it split and lit every light fixture in the chamber with bright arcane light. Hibiki looked behind her in surprise to see that the staircase was fading, being replaced by a wall. "Uhh... what about that?" she asked, nervousness clear in her voice. 
"It's meant to happen, the old man never decided on a layout so all the routes through here are temporary. Should've mentioned that earlier. This is the study though, whatever he had on the Archfiend, it'd be here." 
And so Wizard led the way, seemingly drawn by something as he picked up a dusty tome. "This..." he said, opening it and flipping through the pages. "This is our fucking ticket!" he shouted, barely able to contain his excitement. He flipped through the pages, seemingly already knowing what he was looking for, until finally coming across a journal entry. 
"If you're reading this, I can only assume you're one of my descendants, otherwise this book would've been lost to time. And considering my descendants, you are more than likely that you're dealing with the mess I've left you. My greatest accomplishment... sealing the Archfiend... might've been my worst mistake as well. The seal was imperfect, rushed, and given you're reading from this... it's more than likely not held up for as long as I hoped. 
But it's pointless to focus on the wrong of the situation. After sealing the demon away, I researched him more and more, and I found some simple facts of this demon, and I've refined the ritual to suit. The Archfiend can only be sealed once he enters the material world, the sealing ritual will require power on par with his own, and finally the ritual will require a physical focus to imprison him within. For this, I have prepared a focus fitting of this wretch's existence... the most finely cut spectral ruby from all my travels, trapped within a silver amulet. Fix this mistake for me, my descendant... do better than I did."
== The Archfiend's Awakening - [06/10/2022] | The Crater, Auris Republic ==
The clock was steadily ticking down to midnight as the Roundtable got into their positions. Specter, Reptile, and Strongman were at the entrance to the crater around the Archfiend, the only chokepoint that the military could exploit. They armed themselves and stood alongside the Aurisian military, keeping their weapons trained on the massive red glow and the horde facing it. Meanwhile, Thunder had gotten the last area defense platform functional, and had waved down the AV carrying Void and Calliope. 
"Ayye, you got done early wonderboy!" Void said with a chuckle.
"Where the fuck did that come from? And early? What time is it anyways?" Thunder responded.
Calliope checked his watch and replied "11:55, we've got 5 minutes."
Thunder jumped into the AV's cabin, prompting Void to give the pilots the thumbs-up to take off.
As the AV lifted into the sky, Archangel exhaled and observed the Archfiend's materialization as the clock drew to midnight. The moon took a ghastly red hue, and a piercing noise filled the night sky. Six beams emanated from the Archmages and fed into the translucent silhouette of the Archfiend, giving him more and more form until fully coming into existence. A deafening roar heralded the colossal entity's arrival into the world, with the Roundtable and Aurisian military responding with a charge.
The Archfiend's hordes started sprinting towards the chokepoint, with Archangel slicing them down as he approached the fiend and leaving the rest to get mowed down by the FOB's defensive line. As the AV circled overhead, Void, Calliope, and Thunder got to work. The fire of the slug rifle filled the air, alongside the wild crackling of Thunder's electricity arcing down and frying the arcane minions under it. Calliope plugged A-016 into the AV's amplifiers and started blasting music over the battlefield as a rallying call to the fighters below.
The Archfiend turned his gaze to the AV circling around it, pointing a single monstrous finger at the craft and firing five zig-zagging beams at it. "Hold on!" Void shouted as he grabbed the stability bar in the roof of the cabin. Thunder and Calliope followed suit, with all three Roundtable members enduring the erratic movements of the AV's evasive maneuvers before the last of the beams were avoided. "That's it..." Archangel said as he gritted his teeth. Energy crackled around him, frying the Archfiend's horde as he manifested Pendragon in his hands. He fired off five pinpoint accurate shots at the fiend's hand as the rest of the CACG and Aurisian forces moved in behind him. With frustration clouding its eyes, the Archfiend turned back towards the ground defenders, more specifically Archangel himself. With another monstrous roar, the fiend transmuted itself into a vaguely "human" form, still towering at least a meter over the defenders. 
Archangel closed his eyes and heard Seraph's voice in his head. He couldn't tell if it was a memory or if he was actually speaking to him at that moment. It was loud and clear, and all Seraph said to him was, "Just like I told you." He opened his eyes, and along with his halo, his eyes softly glowed. He spun the Pendragon like a revolver and it morphed into the Reinigen. With one stamp of his left foot he catapulted towards the Archfiend at Mach 1 speed. The Archfiend looks surprised but before it could react, feels a sharp pain in its right shoulder. It looks at it and sees a deep wound. It gives a cry of pain before blasting a gigantic beam of arcane energy at where Archangel stopped at. The beam grows larger and travels faster as it gets closer to Archangel and as it grows inches from where he stood, Archangel held Reinigen with both hands. He plunges the blade into the ground and it transforms into Mamoru, the shield expanding into a large wall like structure and taking the brunt of the beam. The shield held firm as the beam slowly dissipated. The Archfiend grows angrier and charges up a large ball of magic energy into the air. 
The Aurisian soldiers and CACG agents look up in fear at the new gigantic sphere suspended in the air. Archangel looks up and watches as the Archfiend charges up the magic ball. It reaches to the point of eclipsing the blood red moon and casting a shadow over the entire area. "Holy fuck..." Thunderbolt says shakily under his breath. The magic ball finally slowly moves down towards Archangel. Calliope shouts through his speaker, "Archie! Run!" Archangel calmly walks up to Mamoru and grabs it by the handle. It shrinks back into a small shield and he holds it over his head as he begins to spin it. It slowly gains speed and starts to glow into a bright light. It then gradually transforms into Kraven as he continues to spin it. The sphere grows ever closer as Archangel begins to feel its new gravitational pull. The wind picks up around him and turns into a maelstrom. Archangel stands steadfast and holds his glaive steady. He reels back the glaive and before he swings it, he quips under his breath, "Batter up." He sends it flying into the air before jumping again. He slices through the orb, splitting it in two. The two halves of the orb explode shortly after engulfing Archangel in the progress. 
The smoke is thick with magical energy and stands still. The Archfiend begins to roar in victory until its cut off by a sharp blow to its jaw by the opposite blunt end of Archangel's glaive. The Archfiend reels back then grabs Archangel and throws him across the area. Archangel breaks his fall with a hover. Archangel stares down the beast and then turns on his comms. He asks in the radio, "Now, where are our mages?"
"Right behind you, Archie." Wizard said as he stepped through an arcane gateway. The Archfiend looked on in pure fury, focusing only on Wizard now as it roared once more. With the hiss of magical energy building up in the fiend's hand, Wizard placed a hand on Archangel's shoulder. "Catch this one Archie," he whispered, right as the Archfiend released another magical beam, one of the most powerful in the battle. Archangel focused all his might on capturing and containing the beam all through its 5 minute long discharge. 
Witch and the Archmage had emerged from an arcane gateway above the Archfiend, with the Archmage restraining the Archfiend in ghostly blue chains while Witch slipped an amulet onto him. "Now," Wizard said calmly, pointing at the gem within the amulet. Archangel didn't need another word, he released the captured beam in full force onto the amulet, with Wizard bounding forward as he did. As the beam subsided, the Archfiend tried to lash out at Wizard, but the chains kept him on his knees as weakness branched out through his body from the amulet, all the while Wizard strode towards him. Wizard eventually stood face to face with the demon, placing a glowing hand on his forehead, closing his eyes, and chanting in a primordial tongue. As Wizard finished the incantation, the Archfiend's eyes went wide. Wizard drew his hand back and stared the fiend in the eyes.
"The Grand Magus sends his regards."
== The Next Magus - [06/11/2022] | The Crater, Auris Republic ==
A flash of light engulfed the entire crater, blinding everyone present. Hibiki stumbled back from the Archfiend as the chains around it went loose, and she looked around to see that the other Archmages the fiend had gathered lay unconscious around her. In the end, the CACG's operatives were the ones last standing. Wizard bent down, picking up the "new" Archfiend. The demon that his grandfather faced so many years ago, captured and harmless in a prison of silver and ruby. He smiled and sat down as Witch approached him. "You did good Wiz," she simply said, sitting down beside him as the AV overhead started to descend. Archangel approached the two as the rest of the Roundtable approached, with Reptile, Specter, and Strongman separating from the military forces and Void, Thunder, and Calliope disembarking from the AV.
"We did it, our first EOW Entity!" Thunder excitedly said, breaking the silence.
Wizard chuckled, looking at the new A-079 wrapped around his hand before standing up. "Let's get out of here and get this thing home. I'm tired as hell." 
The whole Roundtable shared his sentiment. The entire battle was unlike any other they had fought, and the one thing everyone could use now was some rest now that the incident was finally over. Archangel assured the rest that he'd be back at GEO 'in a flash,' as he went back to the FOB to report to the Aurisian General and debrief the CACG's logistics teams. The rest of the Roundtable got aboard the AV, and as it lifted off as the sun started to rise over the Crater. They were homebound, and ready to rest knowing that the Grail is safe.
Category:Archfiend Arc Parable
Category:Parables