The Void, above Planet

[IMBECILES!]

[Really... I mean, I saw this coming, but do you guys have no common sense?]

[I merely...]

[You merely let your sense of grandiose theatrics get in the way of actually doing your job. Seriously? Granting a last request?]

[I must agree with Tabris here. You allowed your own petty amusement obstruct...]

[And you! I mean, you can't talk here Bardiel! At least Ramiel got away! I mean, how much idiocy does it take to get locked inside a planet by gods who are considered a laughingstock by the other gods?]

[...Tasrif is locked in a planet...]

[...]

[...you know, I think we can all pretend we didn't hear that.]

[Enough. Isfarel. Please, do not disappoint me - please have more common sense than these fools.]

[Aha. But of course! I have the wretched pretender known as Celis on the run as we speak! He is badly injured. He seeks solace deeper in his foul maze, but it is only a matter of time before I find and finish him!]

[Excellent. It is good to know that at least one...]

[I hate to rain on your parade, but you wouldn't happen to be referring to the same Celis that is currently gating in to assist gadget-girl along with the products of Ramiel's failure?]

[...ISFAREL. YOU ARE A MORON. Find Leliel. Do not fail at this task.]

[Ah, so you are seeing reason at last?]

[Not as you put it. I am merely preparing a contingency. I will give these worms a battle that shall define the remainder of their brief existence...]

*****************************************

The battle raged.

Such a conflict had never been seen before by this world - the mightiest of gods, arrayed united against a single threat. Klashanna began the fight alone... but did not remain so for long. Solaron was the first to arrive, his radience giving the goddess new hope. Celis followed, having fooled the angel pursuing him with a clever series of illusions. Ombrerus next, the oft-forgotten god leaving his shadowed home to support his fellows.

As the newcomers joined the fight, the whirring of gears was heard... as Ironmaster Ichmod himself joined the fight, with his anaxims at his side. Even the Ring itself joined in the mighty battle, its point-defense systems roaring forth massive amounts of ordinance at the monolithic entity that sought to destroy it. The Radiant Conclave was arrayed in force... and it was about to face its greatest test.

Klashanna had relayed to her comrades her revelation that the creature could be influenced by pure divine power in a manner surpassing that of conventional attacks, but even so armed with knowledge the fight was a seemingly impossible task. Zerul wielded a power that was as theirs, but a thousand-thousand times in strength.

Their mightiest strikes barely dented his protective aura, and even a glancing blow would send them reeling through the void. With a single mocking gesture, Zerul reduced the Ironmaster's war machines to scrap. Snatching Solaron's pebble-like form from the Void, he very nearly crushed it into oblivion - and would have, had it not been for the timely intervention by Celis, needling a hole in the angel's field long enough for the sun god's essence to escape and reform itself.

It is difficult to say how long this went on. Perhaps it was days. Perhaps weeks. Or perhaps, in the way of gods, the entire battle took only seconds. But the conclave was tiring... and their foe was not. With every blow, Zerul mocked them. He regaled them with the glories of Tasrif, assuring them that the world would be better off once it returned to oneness.

It was in such a lull in the battle that the angel made his demand once more.

"Why do you fight, little creatures? Surrender! Return your stolen existence to its rightful master! This can all be over! You can end all the suffering, the horrific isolation of being that plagues this world! Lay down your arms and all will be forgiven!"

Ichmod, armor dented and worn, barked a mirthless laugh through his visor.

"Bah! Big dunce! The fact that you even ask for surrender implies you have something to lose by the battle continuing! Why do we fight, you ask? We fight to bloody win!"

Solaron, light flickering and fading, but shining nonetheless, added his voice.

"Yes, there is suffering on this world. There is pain, and conflict, and war... however sad that may be. But there is love too, and selflessness, and joy! It is broken and imperfect, but it deserves the chance of redemption!"

Managing a dramatic flourish of his cloak despite his horrific injuries, Celis gave a deep bow as he replied.

"Indeed. My clever compatriots speak truly. It is always in the moment of greatest darkness that the wits of the clever find the grandest solutions! You know what I say to be true!"

Looking fondly between her friends and allies, Klashanna turn resolutely towards the angel.

"We fight for Planet, and her people. We will not lose."

Casting out her hand, she let loose a shout to her allies.

"NOW!"

As one, five beams of pure divine power lanced towards the Greatest of Angels. As one, they impacted its mighty protective aura...

And Zerul's field shattered.

With a resounding scream, the impossible being staggered backwards, impaled by a lance of the light of Divinity. Even as the rest of the beam faded away into the void, a crystalline shaft came to coalesce, still impaling Zerul. The creature glared at the assembled gods, hate in its eyes... and grasped the shaft of the Radiant Lance. With another roar of agony, it ripped the hateful thing from its body, casting it down to Planet below. It did not go unnoticed... but that is another tale.

[Leliel... attend... me...]

"Pathetic... creatures... you... have... FAILED! You have changed NOTHING! You only... delay the inevitable! We will return, stronger and more numerous than ever before. And all your works of civilization will come to an end."

With that, the angel fell from the sky. For a moment, it seemed as though he would meet his demise against the surface of Planet... but he was caught in his fall by a strange black disk of mind-bending dimensions. And so the battle ended, as the disk folded in itself and faded from view.

The angels had been repelled this day. Planet was saved.

Now, and forevermore, would stand the Age of Mortals upon Planet. Some would say that history ended that day... but the wise would say it was just beginning. Nations would fall. Wars would be fought. Are more than once, Planet herself would be at stake.

The time of gods was over.

The time of heroes had begun.