Shadows in the Sky (Open to Midnight members and Aurelans)

Before she knew what was happening, Makael had already disarmed her and pinned her to the floor. He did so quickly, and in a way that would cause minimal harm to her. He shook his head disapprovingly, but his stare was blank as ever.

"They tried to stop me. Therefore, they die. To leave witnesses would jeopardize my purpose here."

Given that she was clearly going to resist from now on, Makael saw fit to bind her hands and legs together, using his foul magics, to prevent her from moving or escaping. He then stood up, leaving her on the cold hard ground, looking back to the fire as he seemed to casually pull a cigar from his pocket and light it with a black flame from his finger.

"I advise you to sleep. Come tomorrow, we shall be resuming the search for the tome."

For about 10 minutes he sat there, taking occasional puffs of his cigar while turning to check on his now-prisoner Sunny. He seemed to dismiss his thoughts a few times for a while, before finally hesitating a moment, pulling the large black cloak from his back and laying it to the ground, before picking up Sunny and placing her on top of it, to provide some minimal comfort.

"There... perhaps now sleep will be easier for you."

He returned to his rock, watching the city burn long into the night as he smoked at least 4 cigars.

If witnesses would jeopardize Makael’s purpose on Aurela, then destroying an entire city and attracting the attention of the occupants of the tower in the north was a much worse move to have made. Not that he could have known that, Midnight’s presence on Aurela was a secret, they sought to move quietly while Makael seemed content to cut a blunt and obvious path of destruction through the world to find what he was compelled to seek.

There was a sudden movement in the air around where Makael was trying to persuade Sundavar to sleep, and ten inquisitors of varying rank were carried via magical teleportation into the area led by Seth’ryal. They all wore the red talon crest of Midnight and carried various different kinds of weaponry, some swords, one a spear, another a bow and some even had guns and advanced kinds of projectile weaponry. Seth drew his sword immediately, the point aimed at Makael with a short distance between them, his eyes flickered to Sunny only once before returning to the one who had destroyed the city.

“An entire city?” He asked, eyebrows raising as though surprised. “Discreet. Eremial, Sumi, the girl.”

The other inquisitors moved to face Makael, stepping together in a sort of formation which indicated they were used to fighting in a unit. Those with projectile weapons remained in the back, in the front were those with blades and then at the furthest back were those who wove magic rather than fighting in any physical sense. Seth moved with Eremial and Sumi toward Sunny, someone who could destroy a city like this would likely do a lot of damage to those he left to fight him, but right now it was more important to know what they were facing and whoever the girl was she had been kept alive and so may have answers they needed.

The swearing didn't stop for a solid five minutes after she found herself bound. Not that it would help of course but she needed to vent her frustrations somehow and it had become clear that for whatever reason, Makael was reluctant to harm her. When she finally fell silent, it was only because she was both vainly struggling against the restraints and trying to calculate some way to use that against him. She didn't have long though, before she was forced to re-evaluate yet again.

When the 10 uniformed figures spontaneously appeared around the pair, she simply stared for several moments before muttering "Well, fuck me." Before was weird, now she was starting to wonder if she'd eaten some bad mushrooms or something. She simply sat and watched, knowing that even if by some fluke all this really was happening, she was powerless to stop it. To that end she gave a rather odd smile to the three approaching her, something between her usual grin and a fearful grimace.
"So. Don't suppose any of you can tell me what the fucks going on? I've had a rather weird day..."

Makael's expression almost at once turned to one of sadistic glee. He pulled his sword from his back, holding it with both hands. A worthy fight at last? He had been seeking this since he arrived.

"Come! Prove your worthiness as warriors!"

Without hesitating he charged their defensive line, the few projectile weapons being let loose on him, tearing huge chunks into his armour. But these seemed to do nothing, the wounds, even the armour closing up almost as quickly as they were broken. Without even swinging his weapon, he smashed into their front line, ignoring the weapons skewering him as he smashed three of them to the ground, before a swing of his sword decapitated one. He was pleasantly surprised when subsequent swings were actually being parried by the Inquisitors. The three knocked to the ground quickly jumped back on their feet and joined the fray.

"Hahaha! Excellent! You have the respect to put up a fight! I have not had a challenge since I arrived here!"

They clashed sword and spear for a while longer, before Makael caught one of the swords mid-swing, ignoring the blood pouring from his hand as his grip tightened, suddenly shattering the blade into tiny shards, followed by a swift punch to the inquisitors face, sending him reeling. It didn't stop the Inquisitor from fighting though, simply drawing a knife and leaping back into the fray. Which of course served to delight Makael even more.

Combatants who could fight, who didn't flee! This was the good part of his life now. The one with the spear was getting frustrated as his continual thrusts into Makael's abdomen seemed to have little or no effect. He felt neither fear or pain, still fighting while covered in wounds as if he was totally unharmed.

If the Inquisitors were a diversionary tactic however, it was working. He had left Sunny unguarded, having too much fun with the fight. But it was quickly becoming clear that those fighting him were almost certainly doomed. Retreat was increasingly looking like the best option, though this act would seek to enrage Makael further.

Seth, Sumi and Eremial got to Sunny fairly quickly. Seth knelt down beside her and raised an eyebrow at her remark, he could see the fear in her eyes even as she tried to smile. After what had happened to the city he couldn’t blame her, but there was no time to waste right now, his father’s orders had been clear. There would be a woman near the city they were to find, and if they came across the one responsible for the city’s destruction, they should attempt to neutralize him - but it was not the current priority.

“Believe me, it’s about to get weirder.” He told her, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. “Eremial, Sumi, we’re leaving.”

Seth had no notion why this woman was so important that he would need to sacrifice the lives of eight good inquisitors, but his father would not let his people die without an extremely good reason. He snatched a glance at the inquisitors fighting Makael, they were all people he had trained personally, people he knew and some he considered personal friends while others just casual friends. Those men and women were heroes, but it was also strange how Makael took damage from their weapons, yet seemed to shrug it off like it was nothing.

“Let’s go...” He said quietly, Eremial and Sumi shared a saddened look, before they were taken from that field of battle by Seth’s powers back toward the tower in the north.

Makael ignored the escape of the three and his prisoner, drunk with fury and battle lust. Already two Inquisitors were dead, and with a blow of his sword, another lost his head, the blood splattering onto the faces of his companions. Despite knowing they were doomed, the Inquisitors still fought like true warriors. Makael was filled with both joy and respect, as he clashed blades with them again and again, almost seemingly toying with them now. As he parried a blow from one, another sank his sword into Makael's arm, only to have Makael twist it, snapping the blade, before punching a hole into his face. The blade remained embedded in his arm for now, but Makael did not feel pain, ignoring it and stabbing another through the throat, as he kicked another inquisitor backward.

Makael, what do you think you are doing! End this! Recover the prisoner! DO AS I COMMAND!

His masters words snapped him out of his frenzy, sighing and nodding to himself, as the Inquisitors continued to hack at his flesh with futile rage. He took a moment to bull the blade from his arm, the dark magics healing his flesh almost instantly. Then he raised his sword into the air, sighing and smiling at a now bemused enemy.

"You have fought well. Die with your heads held high."

Makael slammed his sword hard into the ground, causing a massive black explosion, incinerating the remaining Inquisitors almost instantly, the shockwave leveling the surrounding trees, leaving nothing but the burned shadows of the Inquisitors bodies, and the fierce smell of burnt flesh. But at the same time, there was no sign of Makael now. He was... gone.