Rag looked at Phil. "Kid, you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
"Delay them? Hell yeah. Let's do this." Phil manifested his sparking blue wings as Rag unfolded his red-streaked black feathered wings. The two angels leapt into the air, each HALO glowing like nobody's business. They communicated telepathically, preferring to keep the villains in the dark as to their plans.
:Kid, you remember the trick I taught you with the HALOs? The twin attack we can do?:
:Oh yeah. Is it necessary?:
:Hardly, I just like showing off.:
:Fair enough. But we should save that for a really desperate situation. I mean, it is basically capable of ionizing the entire continent.:
:Fair point. What do you suggest?:
:Jerusalem's Walls. You know Hammurabi's seal better than I do, so I'll leave the basic form up to you. I'll feed you the power you need.:
:Good plan, kid. I'll make an arch-angel out of you yet.:
Up to this point, the divines had simply been gliding above the rest of the party. Having come to a decision, Rag shot off a thought to the other divine among them: Ram.
:Hey, servant of Thor, me and the kid are gonna head up a little further, set up a cut-off point to stop the villains from following us.:
:Great plan. Just one question. Since when can we communicate with our minds!!?:
:We're divines. We have racial abilities. You've never used telepathy to talk to other divines before?:
:Never thought to try. This could be really useful! Thanks!:
:Not a problem. See you later.:
The angelic pair sped off into the distance, finding a good spot for the wall. As Rag traced the six-pointed star seal of Hammurabi into the ground with pure power, Phil floated, focusing his power as he meditated in the Lotus position, his eyes closed. When his eyes opened, they glowed, an external sign of the amounts of divine energy he'd accumulated. He walked up behind and slight to the left of Rag and laid a hand on his shoulder, establishing a power conduit in an instant. As the heroes ran past, they could hear Ragnorak, crouched on the ground with his hands on the giant circle.
I turn to you oh my precious Jerusalem
Power beyond imagination lend this barren soil
Oppose the pursuers with the indomitable strength of Gaea
[HEADING=2]Jerusalem's Walls[/HEADING]
Suddenly, the earth under the seal heaved up, rumbling. Quickly, the mass of soil began to resemble a wall, crenelations and all, but it was still growing. It reached both sides of the impossibly deep gorge the angel's had chosen as the choke point and stretched as far up into the sky as anyone could see. Ragnorak and Phil manifested wings again and flew after the party, relieved that the main villains could not follow them.
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Meantime, back with the villains
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The group ran up to the wall. "Hah! Fools, do they really believe that a mere wall can stop a Lord of the Sith?"
"Ummm...Xandus...dude..."
"Not now, Sho, I'm busy gloating over the stupidity of our nemeses. Then I'm going to be busy crushing their puny wall with the Force. Then I'm going to be too busy running after them." Xandus turned to the wall and began making gestures with his hands, obviously attempting to bring the wall down with the Force. Beads of sweat appeared on his face as nothing happened.
Maddawg looked at Sho. "Were you going to tell him it wouldn't work?"
"Yeah. If I'm remembering correctly, that's an angelic spell called Jerusalem's Walls. Nothing short of a direct burst of demonic or angelic energy will make the least mark on it and only a really powerful one will actually get rid of it. It's basically the ultimate defense."
Master Kitty looked at Sho suspiciously. "How do you know that? Catana isn't turning up anything in her memory banks."
Sho grinned sheepishly. "An angel once saved me from an army of demons with that particular spell. Then he died facing the army. It was actually pretty amusing."
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Meanwhile, back with the heroes
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As Rag and Phil caught up with the rest of the heroes, they started to take notice of their surroundings. A sickly-sweet aura permeated the air. The heroes trudged forward, relieved to no longer be chased.
As they walked, the aura became thicker and thicker, eventually physically manifesting as a smoke-like vapor crawling along the ground. It swirled in eddies around the feet of the heroes and where it touched their bare skin, they felt pure cold.
Eventually, something appeared ahead. It appeared to be a river but, as they approached, they realized that something was wrong with it. It's flow was so sluggish as to be barely perceptible and, rowing across from the opposite shore, was a barge, manned by a being in a tattered cloak. The barge ran itself aground nearby and the figure stepped off. A coldness emanated from it and it's breath hung heavy in the air.
"Charon..." whispered Sam, naming the figure.
