Your Move

Shining City -Summoning Chamber of the Order of the Scourge -8:45PM



Underneath the somewhat unimpressive fortifications of the Hellknight stronghold in the genasi city was a massive underground complex, usually only accessible to either the most senior of Hellknights. Today, however, was a notable day, and all the Armigers, from the newly recruited, to the soon-to-graduate poured into the summoning chamber. As for the reason, they were told simply that a foreign Signifier was to undergo their trial tonight. While not unprecedented, Trials usually took place at the end of the school year....to have one take place in the middle of the summer was, certainly unorthodox at best. And the Hellknights were perhaps the most Orthodox organisation there was.

Sitting down in a bench near the ring, said foreigner sat, clearly intimidated by the dozens of Armigers being seated in the coliseum-like chamber that surrounded the ring. She had trained as an Armiger, and had prepared for her trial, yes. But that had been at Citadel Demain, a location that she had known and memorised. Under watchful eyes that she knew and trusted. ANd even though the artho days in this outpost wore the honors and decorations of officers of the Order of the Scourge, she still felt alone. Surrounded by strangers, and people she didn’t know. And even though worry, and stress are not emotions one might normally expect out of an android, Kathi was no standard android.

Jessie placed a hand on Kate's shoulder, which drew Kathi’s attention to the armiger standing behind her. “You’ll do fine” spoke Jessie. Kathi looked behind her at jesse’s face, and took a deep breath. She looked back towards the summoning ring.

Kathi had been taught back at Citadel Demain many things about this trial, not the least of it was single combat against a Barbazu, known in Common as a Bearded Devil. Kathi called up all the information she knew about Bearded Devils. Although she had never encountered one in person before, she had tables and tables of information on them. Or, at least, she used to. Before her encounter with Malik. That tumble had cost her quite a lot of information, but from the bits and pieces she was able to piece together, a bearded devil was to be a formidable opponent.



At the direction of the Paravicar, Kathi stood up, and walked over to the large, 50ft circle that took up the center of the summoning chamber. At the same time, the Paravicar pointed at one of the masked signifiers that stood at the edge of the circle, who began invoking and chanting. Were this any other situation, the summoning of devils into the material realm should be viewed as a moral insult, especially by the more religious hellknights. But here, deep within the halls of the Order of the Scourge, mortality disappeared. Their was only law. Laws and traditions. And so, as the arcane sigls lit up, and a monstrous, red-skinned creature with a spiky-filth covered beard crawled from the pits into the arena, the attitude was not from disgust, but respect and honor for a fellow combatant. While there were plenty of paladins within the ranks of the Order of the Scourge, just as many were fervent devil-summoners of Asmodeus. To see an devil, not just summoned, but directly called from the infernal planes, was an implicit display of both magical power, and a mutual understanding of sacrifice and power that went back to the founding of the first Hellknights: If an Armiger was able to banish this devil back to hell, he or she had the strength that the knights required. If they failed, then they were added to the mounds of souls enslaved by hells devils. As a result, with the promise of an entire moral soul should they succeed, most bearded devils did not resent being called. Indeed, many Barbazu viewed it as an honor.



As the spell finished, a large, ogre-sized devil climbed into the ring. In its claws it held a glave, still dripping with infernal blood. It’s beard appeared to be forged from cold iron, a beard of knifes over hairs. It’s skin was a bright red, and spiked, ending in hoofed, cloven feet. As the Calling ritual finished , and the magic disappeared from around the devil. This was the final arcane notice...this devil was not bound by a summoner, nor was it controllable. It was here, unbound to a master, uncontrollable. And yet, honor demanded it honor the reason for it’s summoning.

As the magic subsided, the devil announced itself. In Common, it proudly spoke up: “I am Zebub, Warrior-Captain of Dis, and Chosen of Dispater!” Zebub turned towards the Paravicar, and asked “You have summoned me under the rules of an Infernal Challenger. Name the foolish Armiger, I am to combat.” The Paravicar gestured towards Kathi, and answered “Kartheltaxia, proposed signifier of the Scourge, Student of Citadel Demain!”

The devil followed the Paravictar’s gesture, and locked eyes with the android. Both parties silently drew their weapons. Both studied each other, and began circling one another, each seeking the slightest advantage. The sound of sandy footsteps echoed through the summoning chamber. Both combatants continued to stare at one another.

Suddenly, Zebub spoke up. He looked towards his opponent, his glaive still at the ready, and spoke to her. “I didn’t know that they allowed golems into the Hellknights.” Kathi held onto her axe with both hands, and continued to scan the devil, trying to ignore the taunting. Zebub continued. “And the Scourge as well? What is a crime in your mind, golem? Willing to answer me?” Kathi continued to try and focus on his footwork, his subtle shifting of his weapons weight, the fighting stance as the two of them circled, but the words began to claw at the back of her mind.

“Don’t want to answer? Understandable. It’s hard to go against your programming, after all. As long as whoever made you told you someone is a criminal, they must be, right? Best not to doubt yourself, and go with your programming, right?” The devil continued on. “Regardless, to be able to make it this far, your creator must have been very skillful. To make you as powerful, as skilled with arms as you are. Whoever they are, they must be a skilled craftsman. to impart such enhancements. I am impressed with his work. Do tell him how impressive your skills and programing is, next time you meet him, whoever it is did some fine work to make you who you are.”

As the two of them continued to circle, the devil continued his one-sided conversation. “Oh but of course....how silly of me. You're not going to take any commands from me. You're not programed for that. I imagine your craftsman never thought you’dd have to take commands from devils. Still, I’ve made a few golems in my day. It’s only a single spell to freeze you up, and fix that little bug in your code. And while I’ve got you open...I can think of a few other things I'd like to add.”

At this point, Kathi could contain herself no longer. With a scream reminiscent of a barbarian, she heft her axe in both hands, and charged towards the devil with a rush of energy. But this was exactly what Zebub had been planning on to happer. Holding his glove as if to brace against a horse, he thrust forward as Kathi rushed at him, impaling her through the chest.

Were Kathi human, the amount of pain, shock, and blood loss from being stabbed through the chest might have been enough to knock her clean out. But Kathis mind simply turned off any and all pain signals from that part from her body. She was much too busy. Her axe came down upon the devils head, in between his two large horns, causing a gush of black, oily blood to surge forth, and begin to drip down the devils head.

Yet, even injured, the devil continued to taught the would-be hellknight. “Look familiar, cyborg?” he shouted as Kathi sliced his head. “I imagine you’ll let me borrow some!” Zebub grabbed a hold of the android as she sliced into his head, and began to intentionally fall forward, and crushed Kathi between his skull, and the floor.

She slammed into the ground, the impact worsened as the devil came down hard on top of her. A flick of his claws was all it took to sever her grip on the axe, sending it skidding out of reach. A slight grin touched the devils face, echoing the horrors he had planned for her. she let her hand drop limp, giving a bounce as it landed in the pool of blood and oil growing beneath them. the devil's grin grew, filling his face as he took in her fallen form. It was only then he noticed the movement of her fingers on the ground. He cursed and lunged at her throat, only to be stopped halfway as she finished her spell. Lightning raw and primal crackled from her hand and, in turn, up the blood that coated them both. The devil screamed as it filled his body, spasms racking his body as it did.

This jolt was unexpected, and shocked the devil's arms to the point that they began to spasm, and let go of her, allowing Kathi to roll away. The magic did not last long, however, as Zebub picked himself up off the ground, and grasped his spear once more into his hands. He stabbed her in the back as she retreated, but only was able to penetrate with the tip of the blade. Once a suitable distance away, but still inside the circle, Kathi stood herself up, and began to pepper the devil with Magic Missiles. Purple blasts of force energy shot out of her hands, and towards the devil.

But the devil was ready for this. While some missiles certainly hit their mark, over half the missiles the devil was able to simply knock aside with the magic of his glave. “You seek to employ magic, against ME?!” spoke Zebub in defiance. “You have made a grave mistake!”

With one clawed hand raised to deflect the oncoming projectiles, Zebub began to incant magic.The words he spoke in infernal, vflqualw vorv vriqalw wfpp power zmryy” were utterly indecipherable to those who only spoke common, but to the hellknights who could understand the devil, all they could do is watch in horror. All of a sudden, a new summoning circle emerged from the ground, calling forth a SECOND bearded devil, in much the same manner as the first. Covered from head to toe in gore and blood, it raised it’s own glave to the sky, and proudly proclaimed “Gutz, Warrior-Sergeant of Dis, answers your call cap’tn!”

“ION!” came a cry, not from Kathi, nore the crowd, but the Paralictor himself. “Summoned creatures are not allowed to use their summoning abilities! It is stated in the contract! The thrill and anger in Zebubs face suddenly turned from glee, into annoyance. He turned towards his newly summoned minion, and said “Gutz! wait.” Turning back towards the Paralictor, the devil began to argue over the contract.

Kathi stood up, retrieved her weapon, and...stood silently, unsure of what to do. With her off hand, she retrieved a wand of Make Whole from her pack, and, with a quick arcane word, the nanites of her body got to work repairing the large hole in the center of her chest. Involved by the wands magic, this caused the activation of tiny, invisible nanobots began quickly patching up the damage, first shrinking the hole to that of a perfect circle, and then slowly weaving the flexible skymetal into a circular pattern, almost like that of a spider's web, with the damaged circle becoming smaller and smaller until it was fully repaired.

With her damage taken care of, Kathis eyes fell upon the argument between the officials and the devil's.Something something magic, something something summoning rules. The devil and his partner stood their, both turned towards the Paravictor, and both with their backs exposed. Kathi thought about this for a moment. She called up the rules for Hellknight challenges. Rules objections were detailed, as where all objections in the Hellknight code, however, it did not, technically, pause or end the challenge. Not unless a formal Pause was proposed. And that had not been proposed. With a wave of her hand, suddenly time began to move faster around her. She moved faster, reacted quicker as the magic engulfed her. And for the first time in a very long while, Kathi smiled.

“No no no!” spoke Zebub, holding a massive tome in his hands “Infernal Challenger is a CALLING spell. Section 4.a restrictions only apply when a creature, in this case, myself, is SUMMONED, via, say, Summon Monster V. Calling spells fall under Section 5.7, Called and other Gates. As you can see, there are no restrictions against my natural summoning useage, only against Teleportation and other conjurations. And even then, Teleportations are allowed within the confines of the arena.” The Paravictor flipped through the book, and, defeated, slammed the simply sighed towards Zebub. The devil cracked a smile, and laughed. At the same time, however a loud yell from behind him forced him to turn around. In shock, the devil saw Kathi , axe around Gutz’s neck, before pulling it through, cutting the devil with her axe, and snapping the neck of the devil in one fell swoop. Gutz fell to the ground, and made an audible thud, before disappearing, like most summoned creatures do.

Enraged, Zebub charged forward with his glave, thrusting it forward at the android, who nimbly dodged to the left, causing the glaive to scrape against her metal armor. With her hasted movement, she took her axe, not towards Zebub, but towards his weapon, cleaving his weapon in half.

Zebub roared as his weapon was cut in half in his own hands, its millennia-old wooden handle shattered by a mere mortal weapon. In anger, he took the shattered remains of his axe, and threw it down, and took a claw swipe at Kathi. The magical claws of the devil cut into her armor, the nails ripping through the metal. And yet, at the same time, Kathis enhanced speed allowed her to regain her poise, reach her axe to back above her head, and bring it back down onto the devils head, hitting the same crest of his head that she had opened before, cracking the bone. The blade of the axe traveled down through the cusp of the head, breaking skin, bone, and finally, brain. The soft tissue of the devils innards were no resistance to the simple, steel blade of Kathi’s axe, bringing a final end to Zebub, his skull cleaved in two.



Blood shot out of the corpse of the outsider as magic flew around the body. Kathi placed a boot on the devil, and, with a tug, pulled her weapon out of the skull of the outsider. She held the weapon high above her head, and the testing hell erupted into chears. From the basic armigers to the ranking paralictor, they cheared and clapped for her. Yet, allthought, Kathi’s gaze fell upon one person. Jessie Canto. Standing at the sidelines. Cheering and smiles with her peers. And that made Katih happy.