((NN: The wood isn't around Mona Dydevli's body. It's around Sylvia's, to protect her.

Welcome to the RP, Niman Dawn! A good place for you to really join would be in the upcoming battle, or else back at the Mansion. You could come out of one of the rooms, having arrived late, or else for the upcoming battle you could have entered Lyolen (the world) with everyone else, but your character was seperated from the main group.))

The suspicion-o-meter in Kari's head was going off like mad. Then Mona revealed who- or rather, what- she was. Kari had finally found her pistol and set her sights on the strange new thing that was Mona. "Something felt off about you." She said, nodding to herself.

The battle mind that Xerec had abandoned herself to her slowly left Xerec and her eyes resumed their normal appearance. But no sooner had she nearly calmed down than Mona turned into a horrendous, monstrous demon.

Xerec looked at Mona in disgust, tired and disgruntled. "You control the monsters, do you not? All that show of being weak. It is cowardice."

The demon sneered at Xerec.

"You catch on pretty quick, little one," she said snidely. "The girl Mona desired power and found me through dabbling with magic. I gave her the power that she sought, but it came with a price: I gave her the monsters, but she had to give the monsters her village. You have to admit, she's a very good actress, isn't she?"

The demon chuckled scornfully at Matthew.

"Kill me? Silly little boy, you have no power over me. None of you do." She stretched out her hands and beams of dark energy enveloped the fallen Doruga. The creature's body shuddered, and began to get up. The demon then gestured to the sky, and with a screech, the flock of Ornis birds descended through the clouds.

"This is as far as you come, Dittotopians. Game over." The monsters swooped in for the kill.

"I have a feeling that a force storm won't work this time" said Matthew as he flung a force shield up around the group as the first of the monsters desended upon the dittotopians.

"Ok... What now?" said Shono.

"Yeah, please don't try that again." Kari said to Matthew. "You didn't seem to have much control over it last time and we almost got killed when it got out of control."

"Not to mention we don't have Mona on our side to stop it this time." Xerec said dryly, pulling out her crossbow and arming it again.

"That too." Kari said. She was scared. Scared because a dead monster had just resurrected itself and scared because someone she'd thought was a friend had turned out to be a great enemy.

She aimed her pistol and let off a couple of shots at two Ornis that were swooping in and clawing at her face. She couldn't help screaming in fear and surprise as they began to grab onto her hair. One of them fell from her bullet, but the other was merely wounded.

The flock of monster-birds was enormous. What could a group as small as theirs do against so many? What was this demon-lady even afraid of?

A little something clicked in Kari's head. She had sold her soul to X'ephure. Natanel. The All. That was the opposite of X'ephure. "Natanel: Please help us now." She whispered.

Shono turned and let loose his arsenal; several heat seeking missiles shoot off his arm and towards the monsters. Several bird-monster-things fell out of the sky with red explosions, the rest of the pack however was undaunted and kept coming.

Matthew finished throwing up the shield “This will only hold for a little while” he said, the birds were screeching as the slammed into the invisible wall “So you might want to figure out something quick”

He looked over as Kari began praying to Natanel and shook his head, needless to say he really didn’t believe in the All but many things he had been through including this have been pointing towards the truth of Natanel.

Cosmi hissed and swatted at a monster-bird that tried to peck at his face. It screeched, and although it didn't seem hurt, it went on to bigger prey, anyway. Tomas bravely stood by his master, but having no weapons of any sort, could only warn him when another bird swooped toward them.

Mona opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden surge of pain. She recovered quickly, and her eyes flashed in rage at Kari.

"You're first," she hissed, brandished her claws as she swooped towards Kari.

"No!" Bobby shouted, jumping in front of Kari and shooting off his baster at Mona with fierce determination.

Bobby had become a believer slowly over the years. He had grown from an atheist to an agnostic and then slowly to a follower of Natanel. But he had yet to call upon the All for help. Now, he knew, would be a perfect time to start.

"In the name of Natanel I rebuke you!" he yelled at Mona, still firing although now with two hands to steady the shots.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

The demon shrieked and recoiled, hands held up to ward off the blaster bolts that peppered its body. The name of Natanel spoken by Kari had only caused pain, but an actual rebuke in His name by one of His followers sent the demon into a frenzy.

"No! I won't be defeated by the likes of you! I won't!" Mona shrieked and summoned another pair of Dorugas that burst from the earth beside their zombie-fied fellow. Mona quickly darted behind the trio of titans. She couldn't get near Bobby now, the power of the All greater than any Force shield, but she could still send her beasts.

"Kill them! Tear them apart!" she ordered. The monsters bellowed and lunged at the players with mouths stretched open to devour and claws spread to rend limb from limb.

Kari steadied her pistol with both hands and peppered the Dorugas with bullets, aiming for their heads. Her heart was thumping wildly, her body pumping adrenaline like mad. She had almost died. The reality hadn't set in. It wouldn't set in until this all ended- presuming the battle did end.

There wasn't time to mope or dwell on her near death experience. Kari was focused on staying alive now and on keeping her friends alive. The pistol ran out of bullets, so Kari thumbed a switch to let the clip drop down to the ground and shoved a fresh clip from her belt into the empty space.

Xerec was a whirlwind. The bird-monsters were flying, but it couldn't truthfully be said that Xerec was not. She stabbed and lunged and the ugly blood from the monsters covered the ground.

Xerec's eyes cleared momentarily from the battle haze that filled them and she saw the Dorugas approaching Bobby, Kari, and perhaps a few others. She couldn't see at this angle. But people needed help. Xerec plowed through two bird-monsters and toward the Dorugas.

Sylvia lunged through the cloud of bird-monsters and grabbed one of the Dorugas. There was a flash of green light and it transformed into a shower of leaves. She took a step toward the other Doruga, but stumbled and almost fell. Her body was shifting from solid to transparent rapidly.

"I really miss being near all-powerful," she grumbled.

Mona's eyes flashed as Slyvia reduced one of her monsters to foliage. She swooped down and hovered directly in front of the phasing goddess.

"Why do you fight me, Slyvia Riversong?" the demon asked. "We are the same! You should be with me! You no more bow to the All than I do, and you took people away from Him just as I do. In the end our fates will be the same, help me take as many of these wretched mortals down with us as we can!"

Meanwhile, the remaining two Doruga's began spewing fireballs from their mouths at the Dittotopians, and the Ornis continued to divebomb them with razor-sharp talons.

Sylvia finally got back control of her corporeal form just as Mona hovered in front of her.

"I don't know who this All person is or why you dislike him so much, but I like mortals. In theory. Most of the time anyway. My followers never died from disease, they always had plenty to eat, and I kept the dangerous animals under control, so I'm not really going to be a good recruit for a Big Bad tag team," Sylvia replied. "Besides, you clash with my outfit."

It was time. Myrc leaped from the tower and landed on Mona's back, his hidden blade smacking into her back right below her neck. The transition had been unexpected, but not unanticipated. He just hoped that the layout of nerves and arteries were the same on demons as on regular humans.

Before the demon could reply, a new attacker appeared out of nowhere with sword flying. Mona shrieked in surprise and whirled away, but not quickly enough to avoid being hit. She clutched at the bleeding wound, but it was in the one spot that's nearly impossible to reach, and snarled savagely as she floated out of reach of any further attacks by the newcomer. Though not fatal, the blow was still costly in that it caused Mona to lose control of the spell that directed the monsters. The remaining creatures seemed to snap out of a daze and quickly fled the scene, the Dorugas plowing a clumsy swath out of the village as they thundered through and fled to the mountains.

Mona continued to clutch at her wound to try to slow the bleeding, but with little success. Slowly, she began to lose altitude and dropped closer and closer to the ground.

"This isn't over," the demon hissed defiantly. "Even if this body is killed, I will still remain, and none of you possess weapons that can harm me." Mona's eyes involuntarily flickered towards Bobby as she spoke, and its voice faltered ever so slightly.