Id stood in the cyclone as it appeared and began to rise. After a short amount of time Id began to become short of breathe. Almost instantly Id went from calm to pure panic. Memories of her younger years flashes before her. Before she knew she was curled into a ball on the ground crying.
Ego began to sense Id's emotions he needed to calm her to defeat this demon. He reached out to her mind " Left Pocket" he soothing deep voice pierced Id's roar of thoughts. Id paused for a moment before reaching into her pocket pulling out her music player. She calmly put her headphones in and played the only calm song on the device. Ego's voice again broke through "Now let's finish this demon." Ego vanished. From the cyclone a massive shadow began to appear. With a loud blast Ego flew through the cyclone. Id took a gasp of air before speaking. "Explosion can be used for more that destruction my friend." Ego flew around and land on Id's shoulder as she spoke. "Now it's your turn to hit the ground." Ego launched of her shoulder towards the demon, Id waited to move she wanted to hit the demon were he landed after dodging.

Lotus looked around after Daniel's question. Upon seeing the appearance and disappearance of the cyclone she pointed "That way"

The demon did not notice Damian's disappearance, its attention largely focused upon Derrek as the boy shook the makeshift cross in its face. It shambled towards Derrek slowly, leaving Fiona limp on the ground, though still bound by the chains that were joined to her body. It snarled as it looked down at the boy, and waited momentarily as if inspecting the cross and its wielder.

It opened its mouth and a very deep voice spoke, for the first time, not through Fiona's own body. None of them could understand the creature, for it spoke in an ancient tongue that only the angels could understand, though it was quite apparent that it was not impressed by the boy and his cross.

It raised a gnarled claw above its head to strike the boy and be done with his foolishness.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Lotus and Daniel quickly ran towards the flaming tornado before it suddenly dissipated, though it was not before they came upon Logan sitting on the ground putting together his rifle. Evelyn lay a short distance away resting against a tree, still not having stirred much. Daniel alone could sense that Evelyn's spirit was quite active at present, despite her unconscious state. However it was quite unclear what was happening within the girl, he assumed she was healing herself based upon her state of dishevelment.

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Maximilian's powerful display of water proved effective in washing away a bulk of the imps that had swarmed around the DJ. Completely waterlogged, most of the imps had been washed off of the drenched stage, and were unable to fly back onto the platform to protect their master. Of course, the electronic equipment continued to function, as the DJ continued to turn the tables as if completely unaware of the group's presence.

Miss Rachel took the opening as an opportunity to strike. She swung her sword deftly around herself as she leaped onto the stage in a single bound. The few imps that were still flying around their master immediately honed in on Miss Rachel who swung her sword swiftly to cut down any of the imps who flew to close to her blade's edge. Miss Rachel could have easily banished the entire swarm of imps with a few words, but she did not know what may happen next. She would save her energy for a dire moment, which she assumed would be coming shortly.

Meanwhile, the rest of the imps that were to waterlogged to fly, scrambled towards Greta, Johnny, and Maximilian on the ground. They chattered collectively, as if they were snickering at the group, while pointing their spears towards them.

_____________________________________________________________________________

"How charming" spoke the voice condescendingly "The bug wishes for me to play fairly?" It laughed in Phora's face, echoing around her mockingly. "Perhaps I shall play as fairly as my master did when we killed all your friends last year....and maybe...we'll do it all again."
_____________________________________________________________________

"You know how I can tell that you're still in training?" said Dom while landing on the ground lightly with a swirling wind beneath his feet. "You still don't see the bigger picture," he mocked. He flicked his wrists as the phoenix flew towards him, binding it in a ball of compressed air. Dom's darkened eyes took on a sinister glint as he turned towards Id, who looked defenceless. He twisted his wrist once more and an invisible force lifted Id off of the ground and threw her against the trunk of a tree. The force was powerful enough to knock the breath from her lungs, and she was unable to move, completely pinned down.

"Let me show you the bigger picture" said the demon walking casually in front of Id. "I am older and much more powerful than you will ever be. There is an army of those like myself, who are older and much more powerful than any of your friends will ever be." He turned on his heels, his back boldly facing Id for a few moments, "However, you could be much more powerful," he looked back over his shoulder with a twinkle in his blackened eyes "I could give you power, much more than you could ever dream. When this war is finally over, you will be a queen; a ruler among men. Answer me Idelia Sparclight, do you not grow tired of the rules and restrictions? Do you not wish to wield your powers to their greatest extent, while gaining even more." His brought his face close to the girl as she squirmed on the tree "Look at you! You have used up so much energy, you don't even have enough to summon your pet chicken to its fullest capacities any longer. I offer you a gift, will you accept?"

____________________________________________________________________

Alice's weapon bounced off of the chains harmlessly, not even making a scratch. The demon looked at Alice incredulously as it questioned the girl's audacity to strike at its chains. Quickly it swung it swung its chains like a whip, literally throwing August into the girl. Alice tumbled to the ground, as August's body fell on top of her.

<How impertinent, this daughter of Eve> spoke the demon in its tongue that only Adi could understand as an Angelorum, <Do these children not realize that my bonds cannot be broken with mere iron? Or do they take me for some lesser spirit?>

"Be silent" spoke Adi firmly. The demon swung its head slowly in the boy's direction, surprised that it had understood what it has spoken.

<So, the clock strikes nearer to midnight> mused the demon, completely ignoring what the boy had said <Do the angels worry that we shall overtake this town? Arclight's fate is sealed, and soon the gate shall be opened between realms. We shall overrun and overtake your kinsmen, and the earth shall burn with brimstone and fire. It is the beginning of the end.> The creature smiled, revealing rows of jagged and broken teeth in its face that was otherwise a mass of darkness. <Fear not disciple of the angels, for you and your friends shall not live to see this day.>

"I said be silent!" yelled Adi as two magnificent angelic wings of energy unfolded from behind him. A brilliant flash of light was loosed in the atmosphere, and while the demon covered its face from the holy light, the rest of the children found that they were unaffected by its brilliance.

Seeing the demon approach Derrek finally held out the cross to begin an exorcism in 'full honesty'. "Patrick eats fillets at Spiritus Station! While Terry ate the asylum!... That can't be right."

And indeed it wasn't. The demon didn't even flinch. In fact it growled and probably mocked him in Demonese. It didn't matter though, because like all great cops on tv, Derrek's plan A was never actually plan A! The demon's attention and even it's strike was actually exactly what Derrek needed all along. And luck. Obnoxious amounts of luck.

Right before the demon struck, Derrek tossed the cross out into the air exclaiming, "Invisidude, catch!" Before taking the blow.

He had tried to make the blow glancing, but still draw blood, hopefully his training on doing a similar thing to lessen the blows from girls' slaps (or their boyfriends' punches) would help, but he wasn't completely sure or his own condition right now. All of his spirit he could muster was already being sent into Chair Cross, as he remembered someone saying that the more spirit channeled into the cross, the more powerful the exorcism it could preform was. Actually that might have been from an anime. Well, either way, his body was now down for the count, and the blow would appear to have taking the life right out of him, while someone with a heightened spirit sense like Damian would see the now super charged cross sailing through the air.

---

On the other side of he battlefield Tsubaki had gone to Fiona's side. She still wasn't entirely sure she could get through to her, but now seemed more the time then ever. Kneeling down beside her, Tsubaki stroked her hair trying to be some kind of comfort and to let the girl know she was there.

"Fiona, it's Tsubaki again. Damian and I..." she pause to see Derrek's failed incantation, "...and even Derrek, I think, are all trying our hardest out here to save you, but we really need your help from the inside. Chains are one of your abilities right? I really need you to try your hardest to help me break these then. I feeling kind of low right now, and I bet you are too, but I need you to remember my first day in the archive club, and how even though we didn't know how to fight, together we beat Phora. And if we could beat Phora, a demon like this shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Tsubaki stood up in shock when she saw Derrek get wounded by the demon, and quickly began to draw Purgo once more. "And, and, not rush you or anything, but now would be great! Purgo! Cut away that which should not linger!"

And she swung at the pair of chains.

Daniel ran towards Evelyn. He focused his magical energy and placed his hands over the girl. "Rorina, medor si, ti rorosum." He said, and water washed over the girl, healing her quickly. "We need your strength, Evelyn! Hopefully you won't kill me as soon as you regain consciousness."

Frustrated that her enchanted sword chose now to run out of charge, she jumped back a few meters and drew her crossbow. "Whatever super armor you have, I'm going to tear it apart!" She shouted as she unleashed a volley of crossbow bolts towards the demon. "Adi, bless these arrows!"

"There's one thing that's different about last time... I'm here now!" Phora said. "Stop being a coward! Demons are supposed to be courageous or something, right? If you're so powerful then prove it!"

Damian was beginning to think Derrek could be done for if he didn't pull off this exorcism. He had his hand at the ready to cast a bolt and was almost shaking in anticipation. He then heard the attempt and blinked in shock, that wasn't even close. It was Patris, et-he was immediately distracted by the flying cross and Derrek's command. He had heard the blow that struck Derrek and had glanced back momentarily but this was priority one. He directed his eyes back to the cross and stumbled back a bit, reaching for it with his left hand, only for it to drop from his hand into his chest where he scooped it into his right hand. On the spot, he became visible again as he looked at the wooden chair cross and recalled the entirety of the necessary incantation to memory. "Help me out here." He muttered to the cross before raising it and citing the incantation. "Patris, et filii, et spiritus sancti. Revertere ad abyssum!"

Id was surprised by the demon's sudden burst of power. The air rushed out of her lungs as she tasted a small amount of blood in her mouth. Once the being looked at Id, she unsummoned Ego to reserve strength. She impatiently waited for Dom to finish speaking. "Hahahaha! Queen!?! I prefer the term Empress. But I would never join you, I mean let's be honest pretty soon I'll be your boss. And when I am, I'm going to enjoy watching you beg for your life. The struggle you'll put up against my troops will be nothing but that of a beetle being consumed by flame." She paused smirking at the demon "Not to mention how can you be this strong and powerful is this teeny tiny form? Don't get me wrong a big black guy can be intimidating but it's nothing compared to what you actually look like...Or maybe your true form is pathetic. Maybe that's why you choose him." Id decided to stop talking. She figured she hadn't pushed enough buttons yet. "Also I think you should know that those little green army men don't count as an actually army despite being as weak as you are." She closed her eyes with a big smirk on her face knowing that she was about to feel some kind of pain.

Lotus looked around at all the parts of the scrap on the ground, before watching Daniel.
Dot materialized next to Lotus, "He sure did run over to her fast. To her you must be chopped liver."
Lotus quickly shot a glare at her familiar "Well..He's just caring that's all..."
"Are you telling me this, Lotus? Or are you telling yourself this?"
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HUMAN EMOTIONS! YOU'RE A TIGER!" Lotus's sudden outburst drew more attention then she probably wanted. "Look I'm not doing this right now. We'll discuss this matter more when we're out of here."
"Where ever here-" Dot stopped mid sentence "You hear that?...Of course not your human. Something is happening close by."
Lotus looked around. Seeing nothing obvious, She asked the Logan "Hey, Is there something we should know?" she motioned at Daniel and herself.

Absorbed in his work, Logan didn’t notice the presence of his classmates until he heard Daniel’s chanting. Shortly after, Lotus made her presence known as well. Glad to have two more allies with him, he acknowledged their presence with a nod before returning to the rifle. He needed to finish quickly. He attempted to ask the others if they knew what was going on, but between Lotus and her stand familiar talking over each other, he couldn’t get a word in edgewise. It wasn’t until she addressed him directly that he found an opportunity to speak. He decided to take the chance quickly before the tiger decided to say something smarmy again.

“We encountered Dominic. He’s been… possessed. Idelia is fighting him over in that direction.” He said, gesturing with his head. “Whatever demon got ahold of him has access to his abilities. That huge ball of fire was the result of their powers clashing. I couldn’t get anywhere near him. I- Damn it!”

Logan looked down to see blood dripping from his hand. He paused for a moment to focus on this part of the weapon before continuing.

“It doesn’t sound like they’re fighting anymore. Id could be in trouble, we need to hurry.” With that, he snapped the last part of the rifle into place. “Let’s go.”

The demon laughed at Derrek's attempt to exorcise it while it struck the boy, sending him flying to the ground as the cross flew through the air. It paid no attention to the cross, assuming that it would fall to the ground broken into pieces. The demon stood over Derrek hungrily, looking as if to devour the boy.

Fiona was too weak to speak, and her eyes filled with tears. She felt as if she had been fighting for so long, and she was tired. Maybe the demon was right, maybe it would be better for her to simply give up. Tsubaki's kind words however, were just enough to use the last bit of energy she had in her being. Even if she lost all her powers, she would do this one thing. The chains around wrist her began to glow as Tsubabki called upon purgo. She closed her eyes as Tsubaki swung the scythe.

____________________________________________________________________________

The healing magics worked effectively under Daniel's gifted hands, and within a matter of seconds, Evelyn began to stir. Suddenly, her eyes flashed open and she sat up quickly. Not even bothering to ask what had happened. The air gradually began to grow tense as though electricity were running through the air and goose bumps rose along their skin as the children waited for Evelyn to say something. As she floated off of the ground, her eyes glowed brilliantly as wisps began to appear around her, orbiting around her body in a spiralled path. Nothing needed to be said to let them know that Evelyn was more than mad; she was furious.

________________________________________________________________________________

"WRETCHED CHILD!" yelled the demon, immediately throwing the girl telekinetically onto the ground, and pressing her into the earth. "I. Will. Destroy. You."
_______________________________________________________________________________

"Clearly you know nothing of our kind if you believe us to be courageous" mocked the voice. "Tell me, bug, what it is you are attempting to acheive?"
_______________________________________________________________________________

Adi's expression froze at Alice's command. Much had changed since he left with the angel Yuriel, and his abilities have gone beyond what was typical of an angelorum. Still, there were some things that he did not feel comfortable doing. Dealing with holy energy was always something that bothered him; partly, it was due to his lack of belief in the regards of anything being "holy" in nature. Although they fought spirits, demons and monsters, he had a hard time believing in something he had not seen, especially as an Omnivident.

Li, as always, seemed to sense this inner turmoil, putting a supportive hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Alright," said Adi with resolve taking 15 of Alice's bolts. Although he had bought them time with the flash of light he had used to temporarily blind the demon, it would not be enough time for him to bless the bolts.

"Cover me" he said solemnly as the demon began to stir August into movement once again. August loosed a stream of fire at the group.
____________________________________________________________________________

Not even a word was uttered to the rest of the group before Evelyn launched herself into the air towards the location where Id and the demon stood. Evelyn could see Dominic standing over Id as she lay pressed into the ground as she approached, and without slowing her descent she released a slew of bright concussive orbs at Dominic's back. She landed a short distance away as Logan, Lotus, and Daniel caught up, watching the cloud of dust settle.

"Ah, so sleeping beauty has decided to join the fight again?" taunted Dominic as he casually walked towards the group.

"I see you," said Evelyn hoarsely, her first time speaking since awakening.

"What was that, my dear?" asked the demon "I couldn't quite hear you over the screams of this poor boy."

"I said," she spoke louder as her eyes continued to glow "I see you!" She jumped into the air, her glaive materializing above her head as she spun it with one hand and sliced through the air. It appeared as though Evelyn had sorely missed her target, though a sudden materialization of a black creature holding a length of chains leading to Dom's body proved that she had done exactly what she wanted.

"Now, we have our target," she said with a half smile.

_________________________________________________________________________________

"Patris et filii, et spiritus sancti. Revertere ad abyssum!"

The demon immediately turned on its heels, it's glowing red eyes widened in shock at what had happened. The ground began to rumble violently as a localized earthquake began to stir. Rusted gates arose from ground and immediately swung open with a flash of light. At first the demon looked horrified, but then it smiled sinisterly and raised its shackles above its head. Only then to realize that the chains were not connected to anything. Fiona, looking pale and quite worse for wear, leaned against Tsubaki, her wrists covered in bruises from where the chains had been.

A great wind began to stir as a loud moaning sound could be heard about the children. The demon was immediately wrenched from the ground and sucked into the gates as it cursed in its demon tongue. The gates slammed shut with a loud crack of thunder and disappeared in a brilliant flash of light, leaving the group alone in silence.

Phora shook her fist in the air once more. "I'm... Uhhh... Trying to leave this forest so I can watch everybody hallucinate at the school dance!" She flew in the direction of the music. "And if you do that now I'll let you live!"

Alice nodded at Adi's request and stood guard in front of him, with her enchanted shield ready to block incoming attacks. "Hurry up." She said.

Daniel let out a whoop. He knew Evelyn could help get rid of the demon. Focusing intently, he prepared another spell. "Atosa, Noksopor, ti rorosum," he said.

Usually when his spirit returned to his body, Derrek would sleep for a while, or at least be slow to stir. The overwhelming pain from where the demon slashed his chest caused his to rouse quite violently.

"Crap-" He winced as the pressure he placed on the slash caused more pain and blood to seep out of the wound. "The next time someone suggests I take a set of armor with me on this things, I'm going to listen. But hey, victory and stuff! As long as I don't bleed to death we're golden right? Demons probably don't travel in packs or we would have seen signs of another..."

He stood up shakily and walk over to his exorcism partner, then reached out his hand and addressed him. "A plus bro, but you think I can get my chair back, I'm kinda partial to it. Besides, you look like the only one in good enough shape to help anyone, so stop standing around and help the ladies."

---

Tsubaki sighed a sigh of relief that Derrek wasn't injured bad enough that he couldn't get back up, her hand were already full with Fiona, and Tsubaki herself was feeling pretty drained as well. And it showed when she started to buckle under Fiona's weight on her.

"Eep! Sorry, don't take this the wrong way! You're not heavy, I'm just not strong enough to hold you up that well!"

Logan stared blankly at the demon that Evelyn had revealed. He had made a very unfortunate assumption about the nature of Dominic’s possession, and was now glad that he had not succeeded in striking the boy. Sure, his sword would’ve passed harmlessly through his body (probably), but the Scot would also have been left in a very dangerous position.

Daniel’s chanting caused Logan to regain his wits. The boy hadn’t really been keeping up with the more academic aspects of the club, so he had no idea what the incantation meant. He didn’t even remember the phrase for exorcism, but he did recall that it wasn’t necessary, and it certainly wasn’t his style. Before the demon had a chance to respond to Daniel’s chant, Logan quickly leveled the barrel of his rifle at the creature’s chest and loosed a round. Less than a second later, he had reloaded and fired again. His onslaught refused to cease as he assaulted the enemy with an hail of spectral bullets.

Damian exhaled shakily as he doubled over, staring into the ground where the demon had been swallowed up with a grin before shifting his gaze in Derrek's direction, reminding himself to give Damian plenty of credit for probably saving their asses, and then mumbling with a grin "If it weren't for that damn chair." Immediately he was chuckling softly upon hearing Derrek's words and straightening himself when he approached, brushing some snow off. He took Derrek's hand firmly upon noticing it, nodding with a smile at the chair request, shaking his hand once before letting go.

He found himself laughing in agreement with the last bit, and placing the chair cross in his hand when he finished. "Way to take one for the team dude." He exclaimed as he stared at the wound with mild concern before turning to make his way over to Tsubaki and Fiona. As he walked, he turned again and waved Derrek over to follow. He hurried his pace as he approached, dropping to both knees by them and easing himself between them to bear the weight of Fiona and give Tsubaki a chance to rest. He looked at Tsubaki quickly as he did so, asking "You alright?"

Ugh, why can't you guys just go away... Johnathan thought as he fired off three fragor blasts towards the group of imps that weren't waterlogged and apparently taunting them. They still hadn't found away to reach the majority of the group yet, but just fighting these things wouldn't help. They still had to reach the stage. Marking himself with arx, he charged towards the imps, with billhooks in hand, ready to strike any of them down.

----

Lloyd leaped from the safety of the air and landed right next to Alice, with his sword staff summoned and got into a defensive pose. He missed his chance to strike when the demon was blind, but he figured he could still protect Adi enough for him to finish whatever he was doing with those bolts. It was then that Grayson swooped in from of them and loosed his own stream of fire in a horizontal vertex to consume August's.

Putting her hands up and a smile on her face Tsubaki quickly dismissed Damian's concerns, "No, no, no, don't worry about me, I'm fine, just a little drained. I'm be up and running in a few minutes, one of the perks of being omnivident."

As soon as Damian averted his gaze, her face went back to worry for Fiona and Derrek. Neither one looked like they were in a state to go gallivanting through the woods anything soon. She would have to make a mental note to start bringing first-aid and snacks and maybe a blanket and stuff. She was going to need a bigger pouch.

---

Derrek didn't immediately follow. There was something pressing he needed to do. Placing the chair cross into the frozen ground where the smashed remains he didn't nab still lay, mostly using his arte, he remember all the great times he had with it, montage style. Afterwards he spoke his farewells, "Chair cross, you may not have done much with your short life, but you sacrificed it to save all of us. Maybe one day we'll lounge together again in heaven."

Patting it one last time, he added, almost as an afterthought, "That'll do chair, That'll do."

Removing the remaining imps wouldn't be a problem, in fact the task seemed so insignificant that it made Maximilian wonder whether or not the dj-like creature would pose any real challenge to the group. Well, he'd find out soon enough, but for now he turned his attention back towards the drenched imps.

Maximilian released another wave of water around himself, though this time he kept the water level low and forced it to rush around the legs of the imps. Once the water had cleanly spread through the imps he froze it so as to freeze their wet legs to the ground. Hopefully this would be enough to keep the imps in check whilst Miss Rachel handled the real problem.