"We have been thinking, War. We have been thinking that there is a
fight you are unfamiliar with."
"I doubt it, Jordi. Certain animal instincts are close to the
heart of War, especially barehanded. When a human is fighting for his
life, he is as close as many of them will ever come to the ideal you
promote."
"This is both your opinion, and largely True. But you were never
human, you were not born in a body, and rarely have you worn animal form,
to know the instincts forged into the animal's own body. We think you need
to gain some understanding of what it *really* means to fight dirty."
"As you wish. What is the setup?"
"It will be in our Savannah; we will be with the animals. We will-"
"Hold up. You can possess the spirits of animals in Heaven?"
"It is not possession... it is a sharing of awareness unlike what
can ever happen on Earth. The essential nature of all beings involved are
preserved. May we continue?"
"Certainly."
"We will fight, with any means necessary, save that we will do so
without any Songs other than Healing. You win if any of the Savannah's
animals are harmed without our being immediately able to heal them; i.e.,
if I lose a Force and must reabsorb it quickly. Likewise if we can do
sufficient damage to you to cause the same. You've been wounded before in
these contests, but this is... somewhat higher stakes than your previous
battles."
"Did you think I would shy away from serious stakes? Of course I
accept! To one Force-loss, then. Laurence?"
The Commander of the Host nodded. "It seems fair. Jordi, one
assumes damage to any specific creature will be limited."
"Of course. If any specific animal takes any wound, I will cause
them to flee, and quickly repair their forms before leaving them outside
the nearby battle zone. Michael wins if I lose a Force from any portion of
myselves, so am thus unable to do so quickly."
"And the prize?" Laurence asked.
"A gift to give to thirty-three of your servants, at whatever times
you wish, that three times on Earth they may call the animals to fight for
God at their side. And once, a hundredth call, for you alone."
"Either way," said Michael, "the prize will be worthy of the danger
of the fight. But wouldn't leading so many animals to harm make you
dissonant?"
"We will not be possessing them - do you not remember that the ox
and the lamb bowed for the Lord? Animals have their own pure awareness of
God of a different measure than humans' or our own, and if the call is
phrased correctly, a request to help Him will be honored."
"Everything seems in line, then," Laurence declared. Jordi left
for the Savannah without another word. Laurence turned to Michael. "Of
course, there are no Shedim with the ability to possess multiple beings
these days. This fight may yield less valuable information than the
others."
"The supremely egotistical beings of Hell may not bear out your
simplistic appraisal of the possibility of another Legion, Laurence.
Someone else may decide that they can make it work where Legion could not,
or perhaps that it's worth the life of another Archangel. I'd prefer not
to oblige, if possible." Michael smiled. "Besides, there's also
Jordi's... stated purpose."
Laurence considered that smile as they headed to the Savannah.
Laurence hovered in the updraft above the great bonfire at the
heart of the Savannah. He could feel Michael's presence, and Jordi's,
although the Kyriotate was spread out across the entire cathedral. This
battle had no watchers in the Cathedral; where could you possibly await the
action?
He brought forth a small silver bell, and rang it once. The sharp
sound echoed across the entire landscape.
Michael, in human form, summoned his axe. He was loath to give up
the protection of the bonfire at his back, but the crackling sounds and his
own shadow interfered with his senses. He stepped away, every sense on
alert.
This area was grassy. Hip-high grass. Easy enough to conceal some
of the smaller predators within it, and he himself stood above it. He was
at a disadvantage. How to rectify?
He started moving at higher speed. Now he could hear rustles in
the grass, following him at the same speed. He prepared himself, then
quickly turned and lunged backward. The blade connected with celestial
flesh, which fell clumsily to one side, wound healing immediately. The
animal did not even seem to feel any pain; of course, Jordi would have
absorbed it all to protect his host. Not enough to shear a Force, however.
The other rustle came upon him, and a hyena leapt out at him,
clawing at face and neck. Bleeding from tiny wounds, Michael only laughed,
wishing he could get rid of every hyena that bothered him this easily. He
summarily ripped the little animal off of himself with his left hand,
giving it a smack with the handle of his axe to speed him on his way. A
rib cracked and healed, and the hyena slunk off. "Is that all you have,
Jordi? I can defeat a pack of them!"
A pack, yes. But a swarm? Yellow jackets surrounded him - a breed
that could sting, and not die. Single attacks would never work - there was
a flowing river nearby, but he'd be a Ofanite before he'd retreat in the
face of a bunch of insects. Fighting off as many as he could with the
physical attacks he was limited to, he walked towards the water while
Healing the itchy, flaming wounds and focusing on locating places on his
flesh where they were trying to concentrate their efforts, trying to sever
a Force, and brushing them away there. Finally, he reached the water and
dived in.
A school of fish flashed toward him. Piranhas, jaws ready to slash
and tear. He sped toward them, taking Seraph form, wings swimming in
Heaven's waters as well as they flew in air. Tail strikes incapacitated
numerous members of the school as he passed by and flew/swam downstream,
just faster than the fish could swim, tail strikes taking out the school
one member at a time.
The school suddenly lost interest. A glimmer flashed by him as
Jordi transferred his awareness to a few barracuda ahead of him, now
turning towards him and flashing through the water right in his path.
Michael altered his path upwards, jumping out of the water, into the air,
and into another part of the Savannah.
Birds of prey struck at him, but he brely noticed as he fought them
back. Jordi was vicious, numerous, but hardly the most expert tactician -
except that Michael was beginning to think that there might be a subtle
imbalance in the rules. How did he sever a Force from an Archangel with
whom he'd agreed you could use songs of Healing, and could scatter his
Forces at will?
Michael searched the ground for a target for his idea. There. A
small - what? herd? whatever you called a group of them - of elephants.
Something that needed a lot of Forces to join with. More importantly, they
were just a bit of a ways off from a pride of lions. He folded his wings,
pretending to avoid the raptors, and dove straight for the lions, gaining
screaming speed. The lions responded, roaring and challenging him, claws
and jaws gleaming.
As he approached ground, he snapped his wings open, straining for
curvature. He rocketed horizontally above the lions, straight towards the
elephants, unprotected by Jordi's shielding presence. He howled a
challenge, watched the elephants panic, and, out of the corner of his
awareness, saw Jordi leap out of the lions toward the great gray towers.
With barely a thought, he was in human form, carried forward by his
momentum. He'd only be aloft for another moment, but it was all he'd need.
He summoned his axe, bringing it around to slice through Jordi's naked
celestial form. With a whine eerily reminiscent of the bell which had
started the event, a Force cleanly severed from Jordi before he could gain
shelter within the elephant.
Michael hit ground, tumbling over and over until he came to a stop.
The memory of a thousand cuts, tears, and stings burned in his form, but he
was whole, while Jordi was patiently reattaching a loose Force, with
Laurence descending from above.
"The winner is Michael," he declared.
Jordi radiated agreement. "The boon is yours, Archangel. It seems
you *do* understand the straightforward path of the hunt."
"No, Jordi. Animals don't fight dirty, they fight hard. There's a
difference. Dirty is targeting someone or something uninvolved in the
combat and taking advantage of your enemy's need to protect that thing.
It's not instinct, it's tactics, and I'll use it when it will win. Thank
you for the contest, and the boon. Laurence?" Jordi went off to his
duties, leaving the two in human form on the Savannah.
Laurence was not in a good mood. "That was hardly kosher, Michael."
"That's the way it goes, Laurence. If it brings you any comfort, I
had no actual wish to involve the thing. Had Jordi not reacted in time, I
had a backup plan to wait until he did, arriving atop the elephant and then
doing considerable amounts of damage to sever one of the multiple Forces he
would have needed to invest in the host."
The Malakite didn't seem any happier. "Tell me, did you learn
anything useful?"
Michael shrugged. "I won't know that until I've analyzed it for a
bit. Maybe. Another Legion would be unlikely to have an object other than
himself he'd care much about, so he probably wouldn't be vulnerable to that
final kind of assault. As for the tactics before then..." he shrugged
again. "Ask me later."
Laurence nodded once, curtly, and departed. Michael waited. After
a moment, a lion loped up to him, and spoke
"Do you think he got any of the message?"
"Doubt it. He's seen dirty tricks get used before, and he still
didn't like them. I don't even think the spectre of another Legion focused
his mind on what it might be necessary to do to destroy such a creature."
Jordi waited a bit. "Mind you, I thought *I* was the one who was
supposed to be displaying the idea of less-than-honorable combat. The
rules setup, and so forth."
"I wasn't going to dissemble in front of him any more than
absolutely necessary. We agreed it would be a real fight. I fought a real
fight. Didn't you?"
"Yes. Force-severing *hurts*, you know. And, of course, the boon
is yours."
Michael nodded. "I've got a few Soldiers who'll find it useful
immediately." He turned and grinned at the Kyriotate as he left. "See you
on the battlefield, brother."
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EDG <edg@sjgames.com>
In Nomine Collection Curator