Putting out the call

[James Knight]

King Sombra thought about it,  taking the modified Compass. He'd picked out the Pale Moors but part of his reason for acting like he had was to prevent Revan from going there. He didn't want to endanger his student when he had plans for his student and for Celestia. Still he had to admit he didn't expect Revan to react like he had. Boarding the elevator he said.  "I had hoped you would have chosen another world, Revan. My plan had been to go to the Pale Moors and battle there, alone if I must to clean up the madness there. However, I didn't want you there Revan. For you have a lot to learn before you can actually fight fully on my level." said King Sombra looking down.  "I'm sorry if I offended you, I was trying to keep you from getting yourself killed out there. We don't know what these dark chip fueled things are capable of, and with what they can do I was worried one of them might be able to permanently kill you Revan." 

Even though he'd never admit it, Sombra cared for his students.

[Simon]

13th Avenue had most certainly seen better days. Once bristling with quiet life, traffic, and shining neon signs, the street has long been been overtaken with destruction and bleeding darkness. Only a single lamp arched over the road attempted to shed any light on the oppressive shadow, revealing glimpses of battle and ruin between accused dark creatures and those who fell to them. All manners of vehicles were strewn aside, damage, or torn apart in the chaos. Not a single sign of life dared show itself- except for one.

Combat boots plodded on the dry pavement, littered with specks and smears of various bloods. For a moment, Dante steeped into the light and paused, peering over one such spatter in particular. Jet black and oily in consistency, the son of Sparda ran a pointer finger over the drop and brought it up to his nostrils.

The most adept hunters of any profession or species, not necessarily devil or animal or human, made use of all their senses to track a target. This certain scent proved nearly indescribable at first, which made it unique and therefore distinct. After a couple sniffs and a few moments of consideration, Dante made some connections. Something like the scent of nickel or copper when you rubbed it in your hand, mixed with some foul industrial odor- maybe petrol or sulfur. There was some other different quality to the smell that poked out, but nothing he could actually compare to scents he knew. Maybe it could be something like a primordial ooze or whatnot.

You should taste it and find out. Maybe it'll get you powers!

Even for you, that's terribly stupid. You would stop licking blood off a blade if it turned out to be acid.

Well, yes, I suppose I would. Whatever you're doing, then, it better lead us to more slaughter-

That's enough.

Satisfied with his inspection, Dante wiped off the substance onto his pants. He stood up straight again, probing over the street. His boots started clomping along again, carrying him to the next intersection, where the path of carnage down 13th Avenue came to a stop. Here, a most distinct trial could be found: more apparent drips of that sinister Darkling fluid, where it could not be so easily mixed with the complexion of oil or the skid-marks of tires.

Whatever those robots were, they had to have come from some certain place. The devil hunter glanced down the opposite lane, able to make out a small wake of havoc. Almost everything the Darklings touched seemed to leave a medium of evidence, from leaks of that fluid to marks of damage from excessive force. He would find whatever hell these deranged things crawled out of and destroy it.

"And, hey, what the heck. Maybe someone would appreciate it for once," Dante thought aloud, officially beginning his new mission.

To be continued in Descent...

[Celestia]

Sombra's statement that he intended to travel to a different plane than Celestia, and that he would wait for her to choose her destination before picking his own, would have almost been a comforting if he hadn't been so blatant about the motives behind it.  For one thing, he all but stated that he wanted to get away from Celestia so he could take action she might not disagree with.  That alone was concerning given their history, but he went a step further by explaining that the main reason, if not the only one, that he was helping today was that he planned to attack himself sometime in the future.

It would seem Sombra knew just what to say to make his actions seem ominous.  There was a certain appeal to Celestia in taking his suggestion and separating from him, and thus not having to concern herself with his presence.  However, that could result in Celestia leaving herself open to an attack by him later, or worse foisting the problem onto someone else.  There was a part of her that felt a certain responsibility toward stopping the former king, as the two of them came from the same plane.  At the same time, there were beings here that were sure to be stronger than her, certainly in her currently weakened state, and so perhaps leaving Sombra to them would actually be putting the problem into more capable hooves...or hands.

While Celestia stood and weighed her options however, Revan solved the problem by accusing Sombra of abandoning them.  Celestia didn't find his claims very accurate, as they would all still be working toward the same end for the moment, and Sombra's presence wasn't all that great to have anyways, but Revan's passion for having the three of them work together was obvious.

Even Sombra himself could apparently see it, as he quickly backpedalled, much to Celestia's surprise.  She hadn't known him to care about any of his underlings enough to take their perspective before.  While Celestia couldn't rule out the possibility that it was merely a ploy, pretending concern to further some other end, the fact that he was willing to do so at all seemed something of a positive sign.

Pondering such developments was something Celestia would have to save for later however, as for the moment they had a more pressing concern.  After receiving a custom piece of equipment, and taking a moment to confirm the rough distribution of primes who had joined the fight, Celestia returned to the elevator, and from there onward to the gates.

[Exit to The Hunt for the Threat to All]