Tomori reached for the 'Fallen' numbing incense strapped to her thigh. She needed a distraction to get close enough to Excalibur; to deliver the incense's paralyzing fragrance maximally: The slightest whiff of this subtle supernatural weapon could put Excalibur in a deep sleep. But then, she had six relentlessly vicious Blood Hounds to navigate past-they were mindless beasts and without a mind, she couldn't exact influence.
As for the scores of her evil Offspring relatives; she was yet to profile their capabilities... With her 'Shadow' abilities fully deployed, Tomori slipped into the heavy decorative floor tiling of the pulpit and emerged right under Excalibur's feet. With incense lit and burning in her left hand, Tomori grabbed onto Excalibur's foot.
'You insult me with your infantile tricks...' Excalibur derisively spoke. 'Were you told that would numb a ''Fallen''? Perhaps it might have, were I a ''Fallen'' in the context of your CREATOR. I am a Principality of darkness... Chief Cherub of the Beguiler. I am the antithesis of faith in the CREATOR; I am ''Fear'' revealed.'
Tomori began to tremble violently; a paralyzing fear had consumed her. She felt her Offspring abilities exit her body... She felt vulnerable and lonely. With the last ounce of her 'Deep' ability, she telepathically called out to Dike, 'Don't give in...'
Dike was horrified. Tomori had grown pale and lifeless in an instant. Her head and torso remained stuck above ground; her lower extremities lay deep in the flooring of the auditorium... Tomori was entrapped in the 'Ark'.
A crippling fear, probably inspired by Excalibur, sinched into Dike's muscles. 'Tomori!' He cried.
'Glory awaits you boy! Immortality beckons! Do not waste your tears on those who should offer you worship. You shall have you fill of women in the Beguiler's lair. Come, boy.'
Dike summoned all of his 'Deep' abilities, to break free from Excalibur's siege of fear on his mind... The sight of Tomori's lifeless body, surrounded by vicious Blood Hounds, provided him strength and impetus. He took aim and let fly, his 'Polaris' voltage strikes, at the Blood Hounds menacingly towering over the stricken Tomori. He sought to electrocute or incinerate Excalibur's hounds, however, his strikes availed nothing.
His 'Polaris' volts appeared to bounce off an invisible barrier, probably set up by Excalibur. Realizing he was overmatched and outgunned, Dike sought a fiery exit from the 'Ark'.
'Tomori is all but dead now', he reckoned. A stab of sorrow and regret pierced Dike's heart. He had to fight his way out of this and hopefully live to fight another day. He deployed an Electric Arc around himself to create a corridor of escape.
His Offspring relatives were amazed by his impressive 'Polaris' abilities; creating an electric field was special, but to create an Electric Arc with such combustive intensity, was a level too high for any living 'Polaris' Offspring to match.
Too scared to breach Dike's Electric Arc shield, Excalibur's Offspring minions backed off, as Dike broke through the besiegement around him. Enraged by their cowardice, Excalibur set upon his disheveled minions, his Blood Hounds; which needed no invitation to tear into succulent human flesh.
Faced with certain death at the hands of Excalibur, Dike's 'Polaris' Offspring relatives, charged at him and deployed electrostatic charges, to dissipate the energy of the Arc field around him. Sensing a breach in Dike's Electric Arc, they moved to apprehend him; the result was the incineration of those who dared.
Six 'Polaris' Offsprings had lost their lives on account of Dike's evolving powers, yet Excalibur was unyielding... 'Fools, do not let him get away!' He bellowed.
Dike had no idea where he was headed; an exit from the 'Ark' was all he sought; as he made for the gate, the sound of rifle fire, drew his notice to the armed guards encircling him; but for the protective electric arc around him, he would have been toast.
'Go to sleep!' Dike commanded... And sleep they did...
'Bang!!' Dike heard a loud bang. It seemed a projectile had impacted his Arc shield. He turned around and saw an Offspring with what looked like a shoulder-held rocket launcher; taking aim at him.
Dike's head swoon from the impact on his Arc shield and it appeared a second projectile was incoming. His vision was blurry, but he could make out Excalibur and his hounds, standing behind the guy with the rocket launcher.
'Crack!' The second hit was achieved. Dike heard a shattering sound around him... That was the last thing he heard before he slipped into unconsciousness. Dike was officially the first victim of Dragoonis-a weapons system capable of cracking force fields; perhaps, specially designed in anticipation of Dike's Electric Arc shield.
'Fetch me the biracial. We take her along; she'd provide useful information on the Offspring Resistance after I am done with her.' Excalibur said in a triumphant tone.
Tomori's lifeless body was brought out of the auditorium in a body bag and placed beside Dike's.
'Bag up the boy!' Excalibur commanded.
Straight out of nowhere, an arrow crashed into the head of the Offspring closest to Dike... He died before he hit the ground. Several arrows, fired with supernatural precision, pierced the air and picked apart the minions of Excalibur; who sought cover from the invisible assassin to no avail.
'Show yourself, Coward!' Excalibur barked. His Blood Hounds broke free and raced towards the bodies of Dike and Tomori; to retrieve them from the invisible assailant...
In response, a celestial ring of fire went up around the stricken duo of Tomori and Dike. Undeterred, Excalibur's relentless hounds, went through the flames for their master's pleasure and were utterly gutted by the ferocious inferno.
'Return to the void from whence you came!' The invisible warrior yelled.
'Oh, Thorax! Is that you? Do I scare the CREATOR so much that he had to send you; exalted Scribe of Heaven, to delay his impending defeat. I see now, that covenants and edicts mean nothing to him... He is desperate! Speak up Thorax!'
An arrow struck Excalibur on his thigh; it seemed to have little effect though, as he continued his bluster. He held up his reflective shield, which shone like a million stars, in the direction of the celestial ring of fire.
'Arrrgh...' The invisible being cried out, 'My eye, I'll make you pay, Excalibur!'
'How do you intend to do that, Thorax? You are one eye short and last time I checked, you were no good with a sword...' Excalibur's bluster was cut short, as a Katana-a samurai sword, drove through his female posterior and emerged from his chest on his male anterior... The 'Quick' had arrived.
He screamed in pain as half a dozen swords drove through his body before he could react. He swung his giant serrated sword and javelin, striking down Maji's men... The Extraction Team had made its entry into the battle.
Maji lunged at Excalibur, breaking through his shield, he drove his blade into Excalibur's side; who headbutted Maji, knocking him unconscious. Wounded and disoriented, Excalibur begged Thorax for mercy.
'This is no way to die, brother... Taken unawares and attacked by lesser beings, is not the credit you seek to take from my defeat. Allow me die if I must, at the hands of an equal or better in glorious combat.'
'Hard as it is to admit, you are right', Thorax said. 'Go! Leak your wounds and prepare to meet your fated end at the hands of Muno. For judgement is his to execute...' Excalibur, unable to engage his disappearing act, burrowed into the Earth.
Maji awoke and raced towards Tomori's lifeless body; the celestial ring of fire allowing him through. 'Why, Tomori, why?' He rented the still air with his heartbreaking cry.
Only three members of Maji's Extraction Team were left unhurt by Excalibur's savage fightback. Maji bled profusely from a cut to his temple.
'How many dead?' He managed to ask amidst sobs.
'I can't say for certain, sir.' Bruno remarked. 'Bashir and Roland look done for; they'd be needing body bags. Stan, Abbas, Pitt and Fuji, would be joining them soon if they don't get patched up quickly.'
'Tomori is not dead, Maji.' The invisible warrior spoke reassuringly. 'She'll need Muno if she's to survive.'
'Who are you, my Lord?' Maji asked.
'I am Thorax, the Scribe of Heaven. I followed them both from the Otta Rail Terminal to Warri, unnoticed. Although, Dike had a hunch of being followed... I shall tend to your wounded.'
Thorax breathed over the injured members of the Extraction Team and with celestial fire, tended to their wounds. The injured awoke refreshed, like they were never hurt.
'I am sorry, I can do nothing for your dead.' Thorax grimly said.
'What about Dike?' Maji asked.
'He'd be fine. When he awakes, he must journey with Tomori to Basra, Iraq. Tomori's hope of survival lies in Muno's tears... The survival of Safe House 306 rests on Muno's sacred tears.
'For only by his tears can the 'Marker' on Tomori, which keeps her in this unconscious state be broken... Only by Muno's destruction of the 'Marker', can she return to Safe House 306, without being tracked and hunted down.'
'I'll go with her my Lord. I am her father.' Maji said.
'No Maji, you have greater purpose elsewhere. Besides, I have room for only two in my flight pouch... I need you-- Muno, Dike, and Tomori need you to locate a certain Mr De Boer, in Netherlands; your homeland. You need to catch a flight to Amsterdam tomorrow. I'll keep Tomori safe, you have my word. Now go...'