9483/Path of Glory: Delight In War

Path of Glory: Delight In War
Date of Scene:	05 January 2022
Location:	Endless Graveyard
Synopsis:	Lady Death is visited by the Archangel Jophiel to inquire about the state of the Hell Lord's humanity. In true, chaotic fashion the Hell Lord turns the tables on her and has a few questions of her own. Questions that have demanded answers for four centuries.
Cast of Characters:	Hope Svelgate, Chas Chandler, Michael Demiurgos
Tinyplot:	Path of Glory

---

Hope Svelgate has posed:
War is not a game, war is a cutthroat battle for survival. This is something that Lady Death knows well, better than most after being forged and honed into a warrior and commander with few peers during centuries of fighting on the ruthless battlefields of Hell. So is it that it has been some time since Lady Death set foot on Earth. With the gauntlet thrown down, all of her energy has been devoted to preparing for War.

So it is that the din of hammers rings around from smoke belching forges around the Endless Graveyard as weapons of Netheranium are forged and the legions armed for the coming conflict. There are Legions of demons, some of who dwelled in this domain long before Lady Death arrived, but have long since bent the knee to the Hell Lord's power. There are also Legions of the Dead, the souls of those turned away by other afterlives for dishonor, cowardice, or other sins, given another chance to serve by Lady Death, a chance at finding their own peace among the stones, rather than the usual tortures of Hell, and earning her their eternal loyalty in the process.

Within the Endless Graveyard many of these dead have risen from where they slept peacefully and others continue to rise, to equip themselves, and form into legions, simply awaiting the word to march to battle. Amidst all of this stands Lady Death, in all of her malevolent glory, barking orders. Her armor has changed, now looking more like real metal armor, sporting vicious spikes, areas previously left open covered with a very fine chain versus the 'armor' Satanus had made for Purgatori that she wore previously. Apocalypse at her side remains unchanged though quietly radiating mystical might.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The presence that appears in the Endless Graveyard will stand out like a beacon. Light spilling forth from golden armor covering chest, legs, shoulders and her left arm. It is female by its shape. Long red-gold hair cascades in curls down her back, head away from her face by a crown-like helmet. She is not armed by the look of it but that does not make her any less dangerous to those in the realm or its master. Still she addresses said Master plainly.

    "You know, it is very strange that we can sense you, and travel to you directly. And yet, we cannot see this place. Or where it is on the mortal plane." She looks around the domain as if surveying it with a carefully appraising eye. You've hidden yourself well, Hope. I commend you for that. I am called Jophiel."

Hope Svelgate has posed:
The barking of orders stops, like a record scratch in a bar when an interloper enters, and all eyes, demonic, dead, and lady dead, are suddenly on the angelic presence manifesting in their midst.

The white haired Hell valkyrie too turns to face Jophiel, her hand falling to the hilt of her sword, burning white eyes narrowed. "You're a fool to set foot and Hell and even more of a fool to call me by a dead girl's name. So tell me why I shouldn't strike you down where you stand and cross one of the host off the list here and now." Vengeance demands a list and hers is quite long.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The Archangel Jophiel smirks at Lady Death. "Because why waste the effort. You think I would come to this place and allow you the ability to strike a physical target? Destroy this image. There can be millions of them in here if I wish..." And then for a split-instant there -are- millions of copies of the Archangel in the Endless Graveyard. And then just the one.

    "Contrary to your beliefs we are far from stupid and quite far from mindless. You've had centuries of training here in Hell. We've had eons in Heaven against the very soldiers that kicked most of Hell's denizens into it." She gestures to the landscape. "I'm not here for a fight with you. Your opponent will be here soon enough. I'm here to talk. Because there are a number of things that you're not paying attention to and if might end up with you on a Holy Pike before a Church if you don't start at least thinking about it. If not considering it outright."

Hope Svelgate has posed:
Lady Death laughs and her eyes burn brighter, it is not a sane or pleasant sound. "You don't know me at all then. I do like a challenge and to come here spouting your superior bullshit? Let's do it then, I'd be happy to give you a taste of Oblivion here and now. You think I give any fucks about any of that shit you just said? I will cut down the God himself if he tries to control my destiny. Oh what? The universe ends if you all die? Then let it BURN, but I will see you all sundered with it!"

The sword remains at her side, for the moment, perhaps her curiosity is piqued. "If you're here for something other than annoying me into scattering that form across the astral sea, then get on with it already."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Jophiel smiles at the woman. "Glad to see your competitive spirit isn't gone at least..." she says as she starts to pace. "I present you with questions. Do you know -why- you are here?" She waves a hand dismissively at the Graveyard. "Not here in Hell. Obviously you fought and became Lord of this domain. I meant in this situation. Why Michael would single -you- of all the Hell Lords out as an opponent?"

    "I mean surely he's got plenty to fight with them all about. Old grudges. Some of them actually tarnished his armor when they were flung from the Silver City." She snorts, a severely indelicate gesture for one so beautiful. "Father knows he has enough hatred for his brother. But above all of those. Above The Morningstar. He singles you out. Do you know why?"

Hope Svelgate has posed:
    Questions, the Socratic method is definitely not Lady Death's favorite. "The Morningstar? That fuckwit of an absentee landlord? Why should he care about him.They're all too busy with their heads in their asses to realize they stand to lose everything and I am all too happy to see them fall into ruin." She shrugs, clearly Lady Death has some opinions about Hell's occupants.

    "He singles me out because I am a threat to him, a threat set in motion before I was even born. The All-Father? The Morningstar? I don't know who manipulated who and I don't give a fuck, I'm going to flip the table on this game even if it means undoing /all/ existence. And I'm going to let each and every one of you who abandoned me to burn learn what it felt like. Michael just had the misfortune to show up first."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The Archangel shakes her head. "No. Not that you aren't. That weapon at your side is fomidable one. But he singled you out becuase you're still mortal... at least in part." She gestures upward. "This whole thing is for the sake of mortality. And of the Hell Lords down here you're the one that is mostly mortal. Or had you forgotten about that?" she asks with an arched brow.

    "You exemplify everything that he wants to see in mortals. If he were capable of it I'd say he idolizes you in a way. Courge, strength, determination, and--when you're not mindlessly swinging you sword--an striking intellect that can adapt and thrive in any environment." She inclines her head a bit. "You are perhaps, the perfect human." She looks around, "Interior decorating choices aside. I know you have a reputation to uphold."

Hope Svelgate has posed:
Lady Death's hand finally leaves the hilt of her sword as she crosses her arms beneath her chest. "Yes, Death won't let me forget it. That the /demons/ rescued me from the stake when I called out, after other pleas went unanswered, and brought me to Hell still alive where my wounds healed." There is very deliberate emphasis on where her 'salvation' came from and where it didn't.

"Yes, I never succumbed to mortality, but Hope? Hope died in that place and it was only by delivering death upon every last one of my enemies that I did not and I see no reason to stop now. I /am/ Lady Death and Michael can admire me as he becomes impaled upon my sword." She pauses, something at the end makes her stifle a chuckle. "Perfect human? Don't make me laugh, I may still have a mortal soul but I left my humanity behind a long time ago."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The Archangel Jophiel makes a speculative expression and shakes her head. "Hmmm... I'm not so sure I believe you on that front. Set aside, sure... discarded completely, unlikely." She gestures at the graveyard and the woman before her. "All of this... bluster is far too human a reaction to finding someone that can actually challenge you. That's another difference between you and the others. They don't see the need to compete. They squabble and bicker like old crones in a circle but when push comes to shove they won't truly raise a hand. Not until they are certain. You, on the other hand, look at all this... armor, weapons, an army of your own. This is as much a competition between you and Michael that it's almost laughable."

    She does laugh then. "I love it... don't get me wrong. It's a wonderful show of force and one I will happily meet in the field when it is time. Too long have we languished in Paradise training and training and training for an End we cannot see coming. For this trial to give us a chance, it is an opportunity I will not pass up." She smiles. "But your response. You competitive spirit. You desire for violence. All human characteristics. All emphasized by your heritage and your trauma, of course. But all too human in the end."

Hope Svelgate has posed:
    "You think I am blustering?" Lady Death's head tilts forward menacingly as she regards Jophiel from the tops of her eyes. She giggles and then guffaws and then throws her head back laughing. "Let me show you my 'bluster' then, you cocky bitch! Omvand forvisning!" The shout in old Swedish lends form to a sudden mass of Energy Arcane released from her hand, mystic power modeled very precisely after that wonderful trick Michael used when he was a to be banished.

    Inverting a banishment into a summons? Lady Death had never seen the like and the cunning White Witch is never one to pass up a good trick. Tendrils of blue cosmic energy like chains writhe and twine down the link that has allowed Jophiel to manifest in her domain and having ensnared her quarry, Lady Death gives it a good yank as the amped up mystic might of a Hell Lord in her own domain to drag Jophiel physically down across her link to this simulacrum and into Hell.

    "Still up for some training?" Lady Death smirks. "Here is what you fail to understand, there is no bluster in vengeance, there is no tactic, no trick, I will not use or take for my own. I'm not playing by your rules, and I am going to win by any means necessary." Apocalypse is drawn and pointed at the Archangel. "Now did you have anything else to say?"

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The Archangel arrives but not completely in the form of her projection. Instead of her right hand being empty, she weidls a sword made of some angry red energy. It's not the same divine power that Michael exudes, it's darker, more sinister and wavers as if made of liquid or plasma. Her expression is immediately on guard and the sword moves to defensive stance. Her wings, unlike Michael's and others, are black feathered and spread out as if ready to attempt to carry her to safety. Even though safety here is unlikely to be found by any means beyond extradimensional.

    "I'll admit I didn't expect that... and you have me at a distinct disadvantage. This being your realm and nearly everything here being anathema to my form." Even though there is a meaure of fear in her words, she smirks. "Good job. I only have one more thing to say before you attempt to obliterate me. I don't think that you were granted salvation, infernal as it was, just to forget what you endured as Hope. I think there is more to your own part to play than even you might think. After all, why are there three players at the table of a game for two?" Her tightening muscles show just how much she expects to be attacked by the Hell Lord and her Chaotic Blade.

Hope Svelgate has posed:
Lady Death doesn't move, not yet, though the runes and hellish sigils etched along the length of Apocalypse begin to burst into glowing blue flame one after another along the blade's length as it remains pointed at Jophiel. "If you insist on bringing up Hope, then answer this. Why was Hope left to burn? Why was an innocent girl who did nothing but honor Heaven not saved? Only by her own action, forced to call upon blasphemy was she saved. Nobody 'granted' her salvation!" Her grip tightens around the blade. "Answer me that and you might still walk out of here."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Jophiel look as if the words she is about to say are foul. "Because you were -necessary-!" she spits out. "Because the third person at the board required a piece of Its own. One who could dictate the actions of both sides and still be what was needed. You think we watched as Hope was burned and did not weep as we were held in place?" she says sharply.

    "We loved Hope and would have moved in at an instant had not our own actions been held in check by a greater power." Jophiel has tears in her eyes, "And even now, I come to you not as an enemy. Not as a threat but to see what our inaction has wrought and I feel that we failed in doing nothing and allowing your -Patron- to hold sway over it all. Because you have forgotten Hope. You have forgotten what it means to be mortal. And because you have forgotten, you may not be what It intended."

    She tightens her grip on her own blade. "If you wish a fight I will fight you. It is what I was made for, but" she shakes her head, I think neither of us are truly ready for that fight. Soon, but not yet."

Hope Svelgate has posed:
Lady Death stands there watching Jophiel for a long time, it's hard to say how long in a place where moments can already turn into an eternity. Those burning white pits stare into Jophiel, the grip on Apocalypse tightening until the blade begins to quiver. Even amidst the din of clanging metal and mustering soldiers one can almost hear Lady Death's teeth grinding as she listens to what Jophiel has to say. Her other hand clenching into a fist tight enough to draw blood.

"Yeah, you fucking failed. You all fucking failed. Hope died in the fiery pits of that blasted wasteland." With a flourish of bone white hair Lady Death turns away. "Now get out! Before I change my mind." And with that the sword is replaced at her side and she just begins walking away towards Castle Winterhaven.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Jophiel blinks back the unshed tears and lowers her sword. "I pray that I am wrong and that my words have any effect whatsoever on you, Lady Death" the battle angel replies. "I also pray that we find ourselves on a level field and we can see who truly is more prepared. Until that day."

    There is a thunderous cacophony as the Archangel Jophiel departs the plane of Hell to resume her approach to Earth with the rest of the Hosts.