"Pardon, milord," a small, black flame asked as it swooped down to the Demon King's side, "...but rather than eliminate our Guardian Knight...perhaps maybe I or someone with the...correct skillset could set to corrupting him? If the crystals are his major source of energy, imbuing the essence of one of our fallen would not be a wasted venture..."

...the Demon King would remember this wisp as Empyrea, the eldest of the former Demon King's children...and fearsome tactician. While she, officially, was dubbed as one of his most powerful tools by his subjects, she was also the same one that killed the last general to take his place. She had a perfect winning record too...

...but...

Well, demons weren't exactly known for their trustworthiness, and she had every reason to misguide him. Call it the inherited paranoia from one ruler to the next, it could be just all just voices in his head...

"Excuse me, but I think I know where we can find something simular," said Iurbak, who jumped onto the table right then, "During my spying period, I heard a lot about the creatures in Cradle, one of them is called a 'Trojan,' this creature has a crystal in it's back simular to the guardian. We may be able to go extract a crystal from one of them."

Yes, the Trojans bear a striking similarity to that Guardian. Syber thought it was already cramped in this fortress. Stepping forwards, he raised a hand.

"I'll go, I know of the graveyard. I have visited there a couple times."

Cicero chops the head off the Gremlin, and keeps walking. He was on a solo mission in the Clockworks, to explore the Unknown Passage. He stops at a Swarm Seed.

"What the...?" He says softly, poking it with his sword. As soon as the blade makes contact with it, the darkness fires up it and into his arm. He yells as he is encompassed.

Cicero Eregath falls backward, clawing at himself. He moans as he feels himself lose his free will and memories.

I serve the swarm.

OK then, You need an Ancient Shell? I remember that's the material you can get from a... um.... what were they called? Turta....Torta.....Torto....Tortodrone! There was a dead one at the edge of my Homeland. Syber figured out the quickest way back to the Plateau. Walking up to the Swarm King, he knelt and spoke,

"Your Majesty, I know of a place where I can get an Ancient Shell for you. I will depart for it at once."

Not waiting for an answer, Syber turned and left the room. Navigating through the giant fortress and slipping through the battlefield, he entered an elevator and unslung his bow. You never know when someone could be waiting at the end of the ride. He nocked an arrow and waited as the lift squeaked against the elevator shaft.

Would you mind if you described the Devilite's reaction, if there are any nearby Empyrea? If not, at least the city?

Empyrea picked up on a quiet gasp as she looked around her, and her eyes followed the source of the noise until she could see a very bewildered Devilite worker quivering in shock. In his hand was a small lump of dull Dark Matter; it was probably the material needed to fuel the process of summoning.

After about a couple seconds of staring, Empyrea slowly held her hands up, and smiled mischeviously. The Devilite trumpeted quietly in reply, as if he was sighing in relief.

Much more relief came to him when he was knocked out by a drop-kick, courtesy of Empyrea's Theta ability.

Now...we've a small deposit here...

Empyrea, from within her robes, procured a marking that resembled an upside-down horseshoe (Ω); she then slapped them onto the nearby deposits for retrieval by the other demons, and headed further into the city. Of course, she kept close to the side alleys when needed.

It was only when Empyrea finally chanced upon a larger summoning ritual did she lose any and all hope of the means of stealth. 20 Devilites were positioned in an occult circle, and about 5 Pit Bosses were stationed at 5 smaller summoning runes. They were in a quick chant; already Madea saw the incantations' effects. Five pink orbs materialized into existence from another plane, and around them, the Trojan Horses were built around said core.

And Madea was JUST about to stop them, when she paused and took cover as a small ball rolled in...

...or rather, a Nitronome.

Empyrea was almost a few milliseconds too late as the bomb detonated, and her fast reflex saved her vision as the whole summoning cult was enveloped in cyan. When the flash blindness left her eyes, she found her back against the wall, and an imposing silhouette cut off her path to escape.

She froze when she locked eyes with the figure, and it wasn't until it offered a hand to her did she realize she was still disguised. She took the stranger's hand, and as she was pulled up, something registered in her mind :

She was taking a Knight's hand.

A gasp escaped her mouth just before she was scuffed on the head by the Knight, now seen to be clad in some sort of demolitionist's set; the heavy hand caused her to rub her head.

"Helmet?" asked it. The androgynous voice wasn't helping, and it was especially difficult to discern gender and age behind that clunky metal mask.

"M-me?" Empyrea stuttered. She still hadn't gotten over the fact that she had been discovered so easily...but...

I suppose a lie or two wouldn't hurt.

~~~

"A-ah...there was supposed to be something like that?" she asked as she rolled her thumbs over one another.

The Knight nodded. "It's...weird. You...in some very well-made armor, without any weapons or any actual defensive equipment...and all you remember is falling? In a place like this?"

She jabbed her thumbs together, and put her hands down. "...that's...all..."

To some extent, she was right. As a child, she often glided and raced against other demons, inadvertently building up her body for the rigorous years of training. That was a major part of her life : tussling and falling, always being a bit more adventurous than even her father would've liked, but always getting back up.

"...well...I can't leave you here. We'll be going to Haven then...alright? Maybe someone there might be able to find out what's the proble-"

With a swift chop to the neck, the bomber keeled over and fell to the floor, unconscious. Empyrea confirmed a stable pulse by feeling the neck, and lifted up the slightly heavy helm off of its wearer's face...

"...hm...you didn't tell me you were a girl," mumbled Empyrea to the now-unconscious bomber, and she hoisted the lady demolitionist up on her shoulders. "...as thanks...maybe I'll spare you..."

Empyrea slid a slender hand into the armor, and ran it down the bomber's back until it touched the tailbone. She then added the same omega sign she had done to the Dark Matter, and pulled her hand back out.

~~~

I remembered everything now, but they came from everywhere. I stayed to hold them off. By the time you read this...don't ponder on it too much. You're not at fault. ~E...

The rest was too difficult to read for the bomber when she woke up in the infirmary, and she folded the note with a melancholic sigh.

~~~

Swarm and Demon Stronghold

Portals were constantly coming in and out (courtesy to Empyrea's fine work of stealing Dark Matter), with all sorts of demons carrying as much of the stuff they could to the deposits set up around the stronghold. Empyrea's soft, barefoot heels padded silently along the floor of the meeting room as she returned to the Demon King.

"Thy will hast been done, milord," she says, and genuflects towards him. "Mine next goal?"

Syber watched as the events unfolded. Rogue Knights? I need backup, these are the elite ones. Turning to leave, he remembered the Ancient Shells. He turned back, and made out four shells, on each of the knights. Quietly, Syber dropped from the tree and peered around a bush. One of the unconscious knights was laying right there. He checked to make sure no one was looking and reached out, snatching the shell from the belt of the rogue. He was gone in an instant, ghosting through the greenery unseen. When he arrived at the lift, he checked once more to see if they had followed him.
They hadn't.
Syber descended to the swarm palace. Trekking through the maze-like corridors and arriving in the hall. He presented the shell to the Swarm king.

"The shell Majesty, the place I got them now has two of the leaders. The one with a rapier and the one with the spear."

The demoness the Kings once knew was but a shadow of something far more insidious, and Empyrea's changed form only served to justify it even further.

While she retained her long, flowing raiment, the fringes were torn and rotted, as though they had been worn forever, and the weave became coarser, looser.

She made her face clandestine with an equally enigmatic helm, a sort of tiara that joined at the back of the head and ran down the spine. The front of said tiara sheathed her eyes behind a visor that was conjoined to a beak-like cover over her nose, while the sides covered her ears, temples, and jaw.

Her feet, once delicate and soft, were now clad in a pair of talons, harder than any iron, yet just as alive and flexible as any other part of her body. Her hands had undergone similar change : they were now claws of the same metallic flesh, gauntlets that doubled in utility and lethality.

But the most significant change was the pair of wings she had sprouted from her shoulder blades. The span ran at about 12 feet, a gargantuan length for a small mistress of her frame, and light reflected coldly from its iron surface. Each feather, made of a super-light alloy, could slice through the air at a flap, and yet not a single one of them cut at her skin.

It could not be same for her opponents and allies, though, as not only the quill, but the barbs themselves sliced through flesh like butter. Indeed, the victim of an aerial attack would suffer an excruciating death.

And so as Empyrea rose from the depths to Stratum 28, she looked unrecognizable to any and all. Gone was the gentler, pulchritudinous facade that most knew Empyrea by, but now her truer, more dangerous form came into being.

When the elevator creaked to a halt, directly in front of the two Knights, this terrifying lady simple bowed, and waited.