'Aww, Darius, as handsome as ever, would it have hurt so bad to have shared a bed with me, just for one night? But no, Darius the noble wouldn't touch a "Fallen" whore; he would rather fall to the charms of an inferior mortal!
'Do tell Darius, which would have served you better, joining the ranks of the "Fallen" on my bed or enlisting as a hesitant "Fallen" on the bed of a mortal whore? Surely, the latter made you a lesser "Fallen".
'I heard your tryst birthed a son, whose descendant is soon to be conscripted into the Beguiler's army... You see Darius, your destiny was to serve the Beguiler by my side and not some old-fashioned CREATOR.' Elexis taunted Darius relentlessly.
'A night on your bed is akin to a thousand lifetimes in hell, with the stench of Warthog for company. I think I fancy my chances better, with the choice I made...' Friends and foes on the dusty mountain burst out laughing.
'I'll have your crushed head on a spike and feed your eyes to the vultures of Hebron!!' Warthog yelled in a fit of rage, as he moved menacingly toward the wounded Darius.
'Patience, Warthog. You'll have your fun after I've had mine. Strip Darius naked! Humiliate him before mortals and immortals!!' Elexis commanded.
'Please Mistress, allow me the pleasure of severing Chang's head from his neck. It was he who chopped off my wrist on the hills of the Himalayas.' Jurais implored.
'Carry on Soldier! Here, use this blunt dagger... Let his painful and cruel death provide inspiration to the rest of this miserable lot, to offer the answers I seek.' Elexis granted permission.
'With delightful pleasure, Mistress...' Jurais struck Chang to the ground; with bound hands, Chang offered no resistance. Warthog volunteered his giant hammer as a slaughter slab. Undaunted, Chang lifted his eyes to Heaven and for the first time in many long years, prayed...
'Almighty CREATOR, if it pleases you that my journey ends this way, then remember my sacrifice and that of my Watcher brothers for good. Grant us passage into the Halls of Reverence and Acclaim... But if such an end pleases you not, do rain down your famed lightning bolts upon the filth before me. Scorch them utterly!'
And in swift response to Chang's prayer, devastating bolts of lightning rained upon the 'Fallen'. Not from the CREATOR, but from his servant Muno.
'As you wish, Chang!!' Muno screamed as he emerged from the shadows, walking on air. He was entirely engulfed in celestial flames... The 'Fallen' were in disarray, as one by one, they were picked apart by Muno's lightning strikes. Those who escaped the strikes had Hophenea's deadly darts to contend with.
Straight out of nowhere, Elexis' whip struck Muno and coiled around his neck. She pulled back on the whip and Muno came crashing down; hard on the dusty mountain range. Warthog slammed his giant hammer into the rocks, missing Muno by inches.
'Cut us loose Hophenea!' Tuzman screamed. As Hophenea cut loose his Watcher brothers, he offered counsel to a wounded Watcher,
'Darius, sit this one out! Your leg has taken quite some damage.'
The remnant of Muno's platoon, weapons in hand, rallied around their commander and took an offensive stance.
'I say let's do this the old-fashioned way. No thunderbolts and celestial fire... Just you and me, Commander... Let's trade blows and let our weapons clang.' Warthog challenged Muno to single combat.
Without further invitation, Muno leapt out of the battle formation his troops had built around him. To catch Muno's flight, Warthog viciously swung his hammer, but in an acrobatic twist, using the air as a springboard, Muno rolled over the murderously swung hammer: And in the same movement, struck at Warthog's swinging arm, totally severing it from his body.
Warthog fell on his knees and began to cry and curse at Muno. He was put out of his misery by Muno's blade; a fatal blow to his neck, sent his head rolling downhill.
'Scum!' Muno remarked. 'Attack!' Muno issued his first command as restored Commander of Perfectux-the elite legion of the Watcher Angel Corps.
Chang with his arrow-tipped Nunchucks tore into the frightened 'Fallen'; slashing, stabbing and bludgeoning his adversaries to death.
'Vengeance for Ehud, Basham, Ji Sung, Rafael!!' Darius cried as he joined the fray. Limping on his one good leg, he impaled Sphinx with his javelin and cut his head off with his sword.
Hophenea picked the fleeing 'Fallen' apart, with his arrows hitting their mark with precision. Errott and Tuzman, with a pickaxe and double-edged sword, fought in perfect synchrony, acrobatically flipping over the hapless 'Fallen'; like it was a well-choreographed dance routine, before cutting them down.
Chang spotted Jarius making his escape, by burrowing into the Earth; the preferred means of transportation by the 'Fallen'.
'Darius! Javelin!!' Chang called for Darius' javelin. The wounded but fighting-fit Darius tossed his javelin in Chang's direction, who received it skillfully and hurled it at Jarius; striking and tearing through his neck. Jarius bore a petrified look as he fell to the ground.
Elexis' Warowl, a gigantic bird of prey and creation of dark magic, was struck down mid-flight by Muno's lightning bolt, as it attempted to airlift its master from the war of acrimony below. Elexis knew now, that she was in a fight to the death...
She began to mutter incantations in the direction of the setting sun: And in immediate response to the distressful mumbling of the goddess of the Amazon forest, as Elexis was known by worshippers in Brazil: All four ministering priests, in a temple built for her worship, in a nondescript location in Manaus, Brazil; commanded the slaughter of six eunuchs, held against their will for a dark purpose as this.
For the 'Fallen' inspired the worship of men by dark magic and extreme acts of cruelty, meted out to those who would dare deny them worship. And on occasion, worshippers and non-worshippers alike were slain and their blood offered, as appeasement to the cruel god or goddess who had established a sphere of influence over that village, city, region or country.
The larger the sphere of influence, the greater the power and ranking the presiding deity or 'Fallen', enjoyed in the Beguiler's army. Elexis' sphere of influence was a vast region in Brazil and from her terrified worshippers, she often demanded blood: To inspire fear-induced worship and amplification of her strength... The latter was the case in her present circumstances.
As the blood of the slain eunuchs filled the man-made waterhole underneath her statue in her accursed temple... Demonic strength saturated her being.
Muno and his brave Watchers, watched as Elexis was transformed into a ghoulish and hideous tree, towering above them all. With snake-like branches which struck at everything in sight, she was more than a match for any celestial, however, Muno was no ordinary celestial.
Atop this towering conjurement of evil was Elexis' badly mutilated face, sustained from her near-death encounter with the CREATOR.
Muno levitated over his troops to confront Elexis in her demon state, but before he could engage her with his array of celestial weapons of war: A huge creepy thorny root, emerged from the Earth beneath and wrapped itself tightly around him. Nearly squeezing him to death, it pulled him straight through and under the rocky Earth, creating a crater on the surface.
Elexis planted her giant tree trunk of a foot into the crater and pinned Muno against the rocks below, consequently suffocating and draining him of his life force.
The brave but beleaguered Watcher Angels, attacked Elexis with desperately deadly strikes; cutting off her snake-like branches which traded blows, with this semi-angelic decimated Watcher Angel platoon.
A futile venture it was because the severed branches grew back out almost immediately; till the Watcher Angels became too weary to wield their weapons. Exhausted and defeated, Elexis triumphantly wrapped her branches around the jaded Watchers and begun squeezing the life out of them. She raised her eyes to the Heaven and scornfully spoke.
'Is this all you've got, CREATOR! You are no longer LORD of the Earth!! Your finest breathe their last in my grasp. Your reign is over!!! The "Fallen" shall rise to Heaven and pour out wine from your skull... We shall desecrate your holy places!'
Upon hearing Elexis' taunts, Muno's near lifeless body awoke with tempestuous rage. His life's purpose was to protect the THRONE of Thrones, which Elexis had just denigrated. Righteous indignation burned within Muno... He sought vengeance for the indignities the CREATOR had endured on account of his love for humanity and his loyal captive angelic host.
'Vengeance for you eternal LORD of Hosts', Muno growled under the crushing weight of Elexis' foot and the suffocating grip of the thorny root wrapped around his body. He called out the sacred name of the CREATOR... And was engulfed in his eternal and all-consuming flame.
This flame was different from the one Muno previously exuded. This was hellacious... Such was its intensity, that the rocks underneath and atop Muno melted into magma.
Elexis screamed in pain, as the eternal flame crept up her huge foot. She tried to pull away, but Muno grabbed on to her foot in a deathly struggle...
Elexis screamed louder, as the flame travelled through the monstrosity she had become.
She no longer could hold on to her Watcher Angel captives; she let them go, as she succumbed to the flame. The entirety of her being was vaporized by the all-consuming and eternal flame of the CREATOR; exuded by Muno.
Vengeance was served hot...