Chapter 227: The Abyss (VI): Escape

The words 'stirring a hornet's nest' would be a perfect analogy to use in describing their current situation, however as it stands this was no hornet's nest. But then again it didn't matter in the slightest, the wyverns and their riders were unable to spot them as they moved through and past the stalagmites. Kitagawa made sure to move with the ones that were extremely large, letting their shadows and huge forms provide cover for them both until they caught up with Screet and the others. Rezar himself was barely conscious as the previous fight had taken him to his limits and back, and he was healing a bit slowly due to the atmosphere of this place.

Even with the new world changing a lot of things, Rezar's weakness to demonic energy remained, and he was now literally in hell. Every step he took, every breathe he drew in, every word he spoke was enough to make him die ten times over, because hell wasn't anything if not the home of demonic energy itself. Eventually they got to the mountain that led them down here.

They could see the dark clouds hovering above their heads that showed the route they had used in coming down here. Kitagawa stopped and threw Rezar over the back of Tony who had been waiting for his master.

The ant didn't even wait to be told anything as he shot upwards with Rezar, much to the shock of the others who only had ropes and their natural abilities to rely on. Tony was accosted half way up, the wyverns had caught up, and tony looked very much like what a good lunch would look like, especially when a tasty morsel like Rezar was slowly recuperating on his back. Tony surprised everybody though, the necrotic ant has mostly just served as his master's loyal mount, but when one of the wyverns drew closer, claws outstretched to grab the ant, the giant insect had twisted his body in an arch and shot towards the throat of the wyvern, his pincers glowing a dull grey.

*Snap! *

It was loud, akin to the sound of a massive tree falling after its been cut, but in this case a wyvern was relived of its head, much to the shock of the still approaching Kitagawa and the others. Tony made his way back to the wall, sliding down a little before regaling his foothold and crawling upwards at a rapid pace most living things or dead, would be unable to match. But the wyverns were anything if not persistent, maybe it was because they had riders, but the death of the first wyvern and its plummet down to death didn't scare them too much. The remaining two wyverns dived as tony scuttled upwards, but all of a sudden there was a flash of light and a loud roar, as giant lion almost as large as the wyverns shot out of Rezar's back and crashed into both the wyverns, claws and fangs flashing in the process.

"Varka!"

Rezar called out, surprised at the Lion's appearance. Honestly speaking ever since the new world came rolling around, he has been trying to get in touch with his familiar, but the lion had been completely unresponsive. It had gotten to the point where Rezar figured just like Priest, the world going tupsy turvy had displaced them both. It had become something else for him to worry about, but he was really excited and happy that the lion was safe, and he was huge! A lot larger than expected.

After he had tangled his massive body with those of the wyverns, he rapidly shrunk, much to the surprise pf Rezar, who watched as he turned back into a normal size lion and jumped off the still falling bodies of the wyverns. At this point he had already achieved his aim as both wyvern crashed to the ground below, right on top of the forest of stalagmites that weren't to forgiving about their appearance at it brutally pierced through the body of the wyverns.

Some of the stalagmites could withstand the weight of the giant lizards and broke, and in the process spilled hot boiling lava on to their body, making the death throes a lot more painful than was expected. Screet and the others ascended swiftly and steadily just as Varka turned into a white beam of light that shot bac k in Rezar's body. They vanished into the cloud that spat them here, just as a flock of demons followed behind them, only to smash into the cloud like it was a physical entity. There were loud screeches of pain and death as many broke wings and fell to unforgiving ground like rain from the sky.

Kitagawa bore witness to this, and it gave him more relief than he would have cared to admit. This door, this gateway that they had come through was only one way. They could come and go, but any being from hell was incapable of going after them or using the gate to invade Morte Bianca. Honestly speaking it was a worrying discovery, a gate to hell right in their own backyard, and while not Demons can pass through, there was no guarantee that it would be like that forever. After all, Kitagawa himself was a demon and so were the guards who went down with him, how long will this gate last.

They burst out of the cloud into a day just about to experience sunset, Rezar felt his body tingle and change almost as if he was experiencing a metamorphosis. The entrance of the massive hole now had towers built around its entirety and each and every single one of them was manned. There were also massive chains linked together and creating a lid over the hole, it shocked Rezar to no end, as he felt his bones pop and ache. They couldn't move upwards due to the blockade of the chains, and their arrival seemed to have cause some sort of disturbance as hundreds of soldiers gathered around the l=mouth of the hole, glowing weapons and big guns pointed in their direction. Rezar couldn't help but ask.

"What the fuck is going one here!"