I aint looking for trouble, I'm just looking for... {pm to join}

[almighyxcavus]

Excalith whipped around and saw her, the only other person he didn't want to see down here. He became frustrated beyond belief and started to shout rapidly:

"I DONT CARE ABOUT WALKING AWAY I CARE ABOUT YOUR SAFETY! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE I SPECIFICALLY ASKED FOR YOU NOT TO COME, THIS IS MY ENDEAVOR, I STILL LOVE YOU SO WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THINK FOR EVEN A SECOND TO FOLLOW ME? I WANTED YOU TO STAY SO YOU WOULDN'T DIE! EXPLAIN!"

Excalith didn't appreciate the fact that all of his efforts would be in vain if something were to happen to her. This was his fight in the first place, and now that he had the power to get where he needed to he didn't want to endanger anyone else. 

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he awaited for a response.

[Celegwen]

"Bullshit," she snapped, staring him directly in the eyes for the first time.

Excalith may have an emotional passion to him, but Julianna knew he had never physically been to Hell. He seemed to be handling himself pretty well, as she expected. Still, the fact remained that she had ventured into eight of the nine levels of Hell multiple times before. Nothing he could say would make her stay behind.

"First of all, I don't explain my actions to anyone. Especially not when I'm asked, or told to! Second, I don't give a kaadir's ass what you asked of me! Besides, we made a deal, and despite the fact that you lied to me, I intend to hold up my end of it." She looked at her staff, as she twirled it once more and planted it on the ground. "Now then, shall we?"

Julianna wasn't sure what to make of his expression. She expected him to be fuming, but there was something else...

[almighyxcavus]

Excalith sighed heavily. I should've expected this from her, there's no point trying to fight her. I dont even understand it. She completely rejected me and wanted to nothing to do with me when I was just Excanos, but now since the transformation she's all of the sudden interested? I would like to call that shallow but who knows whats going on in that mind.

Excalith made no attempt to retaliate since it was useless. Although he did find her stubbornness cute, he wasn't going to let anything happen to her.

Excalith noticed something, he grabbed Julianna's shoulder's and stared into her eyes, they were silver with a blue tint, she regained her pupil, iris, and most importantly SHE WASN'T BLIND ANYMORE?!?!

"HOLD THE PIGEON! How the hell did you get your sight back?"

[Celegwen]

Excalith's sudden realization excited her. She bit her bottom lip with an I contained smile. "It's complicated," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "I regain my sight when I travel through Hell and Paradise. I don't know why, but to be completely honest, I don't want to know. All I can tell you for sure is I'll be blind again when we get back to our realm."

Her smile disappeared when she spoke about returning. More often than not, she avoided venturing into either dimension, simply because the loss of her sight when she returned was a painful reminder of what she was missing. There were times when she would just stand at the edge of the portal, staring into her world just to admire the beauty of life.

It was a curse. She lived blind to the beauties of life, but was forced to gaze upon the realms of the dead. She would give anything for it to be the other way around, but everyone was given their blessings and curses in life.

Excalith's intimate distance unnerved her briefly. Whether he left her for her own protection or not, she still couldn't get over the intimidating aura that he exudes. She didn't like it, but that was no reason to let him walk into an unknown world without some help.

[almighyxcavus]

Excalith also he had never been to hell physically, his mother's book's taught him everything he needed to know. The house of pain was a relatively easy demon to deal with, but still would require some effort nonetheless. Excalith began to walk towards the Colosseum while Julianna followed.

"I may not have been here physically, but I know what each guardian is capable of. If you're not going to heed my warnings at least listen to me when it comes to combat. Deal?"

They reached the Colosseum with no retaliation whatsoever. They entered into the main arena area. A soulless limb flew over their heads. "HAHA I LOVE THAT PART." The demon's voice boomed with maniacal laughter. He sensed to two new presences within the arena: "Oooh what do we have here? TWO BEINGS WITH SOULS?! LETS FIX THAT!" The house of pain attempted to grab Julianna. Excalith sliced it's arm completely off with one simple swing of his scythe.

"Julianna I need a hard hitting spell now!"

Galith I need you to work with me to protect her please.
Fine, but I get complete control next.

Excalith completely expelled Gailth into a giant shadow that hovered near Julianna. The demon summoned servants to try to overrun the duo. Without Gailth in his body, Excalith red skin had faded, the scythe's orb turned blue, and his eye's took on a complete cover of deep blue. Excalith began summoning shadows of himself to fend off the lesser demons. The house of pain attempted to strike Julianna with it's disgustingly long forked tongue, but Excalith quickly knocked away from her each time. He transported in between the shadows, killing minion after minion, waiting for Julianna's hard hitting spell.

[Celegwen]

Julianna rolled her eyes, stepping away from Galith's shadow form. She knew Excalith was waiting on her, but she wasn't wasting her energy in limbo. "No deal," she said to Excalith with a smirk.

She put her staff on her shoulders and hung her arms on the staff. "House of Pain!" She shouted wth a sigh. "Or whatever the hells your name is. Mihi beneficium!"

The demon seemed to freeze at her words. No one had ever dared ask a favor of it, and she caught its attention.

"Nunc revertetur gratiam," she continued.

"Disputatio," the demon answered.

All of the fighting stopped, and all eyes were on her. She strolled around the Colosseum, intentionally creating a dramatic suspense.

"Time to pay the piper," she said simply. "I've assisted you in many ways, ya big sack of shit, without any payments. Now, my turn. You know for a fact that you would not be as successful as you are without my help, so it's your turn to help me."

She looked at Excalith with a wink, then turned back to the demon. "Alrighty then! You're going to let me pass with that guy over there, and oir little secret of your clown phobia won't get out into the living world. If you don't let us pass, we'll never do business again."

The demon was clearly uncomfortable by her confrontation, but knew that she wasn't bluffing. "Haec sunt quae concedenda," the demon said, allowing them passage to the second level of Hell.

[almighyxcavus]

As the two stepped into the portal to the next realm of hell. Galith's shadow rejoined with Excanos's body becoming Excalith again. He knelt to the ground in sheer embarrassment. Greaat... She's been here before and can basically walk me through the entire thing. That's fun. He stood again hanging his head low as he motioned Julianna to lead the way.

The second level of hell wasn't as calm as the first unfortunately. Vicious winds swept through the land, souls fornicating with each other in the most absurd ways possible. Some even motioning for Excalith to join. Normally a mortal's mind  would be filled with hallucinogenic thoughts from this land. Thankfully, Galith naturally receded the thoughts from Excanos's mind to prevent any mishaps. He wasn't sure how Julianna was holding up in her head, but she most likely had something to keep her from those thoughts as well. Excalith didn't care what it was, he just knew she had SOMETHING up her sleeve.

Excalith made the mistake of looking at one pair of souls. The two had clearly only been with each other purely for lust and intercourse. It was disgusting to watch. Excalith hung his head again, just waiting for the next guardian to appear so they could kill it and move on. Or just sit on the side lines again and talk to the demon. woohoo...

[Celegwen]

As they walked through the second level, the lustful displays of intimacy between the spirits didn't even slightly bother Julianna. The many times she had been to that level had taught her enough that she knew not to pay attention to the disgusting acts.

Excalith had shifted his energy from overconfident to just plain down. He's moodier than I am, she thought to herself. The two lands of the dead were her territories, so Excalith's presumption that he could automatically know his way because of a few books was almost insulting to her high level of hands-on experience.

Before they made it to the demon guarding the passage to the third level, Julianna stopped and turned around with her hand extended. Excalith, with his head still hung, stopped short, her hand pressing against his chest. She leaned against her staff and smirked slightly. "Okay," she said. "You clearly have something to say or ask or whatever, so just speak!"

[almighyxcavus]

Excalith didn't budge whatsoever. "Just lead the way and do what you do. I'll shield us fro-, that doesn't even matter. I spent my whole life trying to learn about this place and what to watch out for once I finally came through. Now, it's just a walk in the park since you've been here already. So just lead the way I'll follow, I know nothing about this place anyways.

Excalith didn't look where he was going and accidentally collided with two souls that were in the middle of fornicating. They tried to include him in, but he simply got up and walked away. The souls clearly were afraid of Julianna for some reason, thus they didn't retaliate.

"Who's the next guardian again? Wait I don't think it'll matter. Since you can just walk us right through them." Excalith mumbled.

Ever since his fusion with Galith, Excalith had a lust for battle, especially with Julianna around. He wanted to prove to her that he wasn't the scared little boy of the world who practically feared women at one point. Excalith was leaning on his scythe to walk with.

[Celegwen]

Like she had said before, Julianna despised it when someone walked away from her. "Mutatio," she said, waving her hand toward him. His hellish scythe took on a diamond-like illusion with floral patterns all over it.

She smirked at Excalith's briefly shocked expression. "Nobody walks away from me," she said.

"You're being petty." Julianna huffed, leaning against her staff. "Look, if you want me gone, say the word. I'll go right now, and I won't look back. But that won't change the fact that I do know this place better than you do. If you really want to prove that you're worth anything down here, I suggest you swallow your pride. This is your mission, so I'll play along, but if there's a chance I get get us to the next level without unnecessary force, I suggest you have an open mind about it."

She was deadly serious. There was nothing that pissed her off more than someone who couldn't take criticism or directions. Julianna wasn't there for fun and games, but to get in and get out with her soul in tact. If Excalith wasn't interested in accepting what she had to offer, Julianna wasn't interested in helping him get what he came for.

[almighyxcavus]

Excalith straightened up a bit. Admiring the change of scenery of the scene for a little bit. "That option is up to you. You can leave whenever you want to. I need to face Galith on the 8th level, that's all I know. Whether or not you come along is completely up to you. I can't control you in any way shape or form. I don't think like you do."

Excalith continued onto the path. Getting annoyed by each soulless lustful couple that attempted to bring them into their little fuck-fest. After the 10th couple, Excalith snapped. "STOP TRYING TO BRING ME INTO YOUR LUST, SEX IS SACRED FOR MY FATHER"S SAKE!" He took the still floral looking scythe and began reaping every soul around him. His red skin started to take over a bit more. his other eye started to turn a reddish tint.

"Let's just get through this guardian already, kill it or not, just do it quickly." His voice deepened  with Galith's voice clearly present.

[Celegwen]

Julianna raced over to him, as Excalith was reaping the souls. "Stop!" She screamed desperately, jumping in front of a couple. She held her staff out, just as Excalith's scythe came down. Upon impact, the runes on Julianna's staff started emitting an almost blinding light, making everyone around, dead or alive, turn away from it.

When the light dissipated, the girl sank to her knees, a splitting pain emanating through her body, as she looked at the two pieces of the staff. The runes had a charred appearance to each one.

Her hands shook, and the two wooden pieces rolled onto the ground. "Master, forgive me," she whispered, touching her moonstone and thinking of the man who raised her.

The male soul of the couple she had just saved crept up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. She put her hand on one of his and looked back at his golden eyes. He kissed the side of her head, and she waved her hand around his face. "Veni mecum," she said. The soul was sucked into her moonstone, which gave out a faint golden glow.

She looked at Excalith and snapped her fingers, making the diamond and floral illusion disappear from his scythe. Julianna picked up her broken staff and stood. "I guess I'm stuck here either way."

[almighyxcavus]

Excalith upon realizing what he had done dropped his scythe and fell to his knees. Then fell completely on his back. He started to laugh hysterically, almost to the point of maniacal laughter. "OH MY GOODNESS, IM. AN. ABSOLUTE. FUCKING. IDIOT. I JUST LOVE MESSING THINGS UP!"

Excalith snapped completely. Rolling around on the ground, back and forth. Shouting "I AM AWESOME! IM THE BEST PERSON TO EVER EXIST!" He was a deranged madman. These weren't a side of effect of hell.

Excalith stopped for a moment. His body shaking violently, the red skin completely taking over. His other eye turning as red as the other. He stood grabbing the scythe from the ground. "MY TURN!" Galith's voice boomed from the scythe. The scythe floated in the air momentarily before sinking itself into Excalith's chest. A large flow of red energy bursted from him.

A figure appeared from the smoke. He had silver demon-like horns made of the same metal that was on Excalith's elbow and shoulder. His face was a sharp shape, his bone-like structures such as the jaw protruded out with the demon metal.

"It's Gailth time baby! This body feels nice and fresh!" The scythe was that of a true demon, curved fangs ran along the edges, the blade itself was vastly larger than before, and the ord was twice as big. Gailth looked over to Julianna "I must say thank you. But we need to get a move on, people to kill, souls to reap, the works you know."

[Celegwen]

Julianna felt a fire burning inside of her. She hadn't felt so powerless since she first discovered her Seer powers years ago. Without her staff, the magic she had access to was unpredictable and incredibly powerful. She didn't want anything to do with it because it was a destructive force, but the balance of Paradise and Hell was at stake, so there was no way she was just going to let Galith do whatever he wanted.

She marched in front of him. Why did he constantly insist on walking away from her? It was getting really annoying! She stopped in his path with her authority clearly exuding from every part of her body.

He was at least a foot taller than she was, but Julianna was still very capable of putting the demon in his place.

"Alright! That's enough!" She snapped. Her silver-blue eyes taking on a sudden red glow to almost match Galith's own. "You might think you're big and scary, ya slimy piece of shit, but you're about to stay right you are and listen to me. I've faced and killed much worse than your sorry ass, so I'm not afraid to say what I mean.

"This is Hell! It's a very important part of the worldly balance, so you will be doing absolutely nothing to disrupt it. That means no reaping! These souls are exactly where they belong, and I intend to make sure it stays that way. You don't know what I'm capable of. To be completely honest, I don't even know what I'm capable of like this. Without my staff, my magic is completely unleashed. I don't know what kind of power I can wield, but I do know you won't like it if I choose to do so.

"I'll play along with you on this little trek, but you better watch your ass when it comes to maintaining the natural balance."

[almighyxcavus]

Galith chuckled maniacally. "Oh, little, little girl. You really do bring a tear to my demonic eye. You don't understand do you?" Galith disappeared, then reappeared behind Julianna with his typical devilish smile and the scythe's edge at her neck. "I don't reap, I DRINK." With a quick swipe he nicked Julianna's throat a little with the scythe, just enough to get little drops of blood flowing. Galith got closer to her neck and licked up as much blood as he could with one sweep. The wound cauterized immediately. Julianna winced at the burn. "These soul's are useless to me, reaping isn't my sort of thing. I drink the blood of mortals, and yours being especially pure definitely has me in the mood for seconds." Galith grinned.

Galith continued to walk again, but stopped unnaturally. His body began to tremble. A voice from the scythe that sounded exactly like Excanos started to shout violently: "HOW DARE YOU LAY A HAND ON HER YOU DEMON CUNT." The scythe dug itself into Galith's stomach, he fell to his knees coughing up blood. "I-I *cough* IDIOT, THIS IS YOUR BODY TOO!" "I DONT GIVE TWO STEAMY SHITE'S, YOU TOUCHED MY JULIANNA! NOT ONLY THAT YOU CUT HER NECK TO SATISFY YOUR RIDICULOUS DRINKING PROBLEM! I'LL MAKE YOU DRINK YOURSELF IF I HAVE TO!" Galith began to shake again, one of his hands balled up into a fist, he started to punch himself, hard, He practically broke off one of the metallic demon metal horns on his head. A small burst of energy appeared and Excalith was back again, the scythe falling odd to the side on the ground. Excalith was still coughing up blood.

[Celegwen]

Galith no longer scared Julianna. She was finished dealing with his showmanship because that's all it was. He might literally have fed off of mortal blood, but fear is what creatures like him actually craved. The burn definitely bothered her, but she'd been through worse. Even the scythe against her throats didn't bother her.

Once the scythe planted itself in his gut, Julianna whirled around, her heart pounded against her chest at the sound of Excanos' voice. It was shocking, but didn't leave much time for awe before the internal battle was evened out.

The burst of energy from the change charged Julianna's moonstone. She looked at her staff and saw that the runes no longer had a charred look to them. She knelt in front of Excalith, her hand on the side of his neck, stroking her thumb on his cheek. Julianna held the top part of her staff in her free hand and squeezed her eyes shut with a sigh.

"Oh, son of a bitch," she huffed. Julianna ran her fingers along the piece of the staff, magical energy flowing into her body. She dropped the staff and snapped her fingers, a faint glow appearing around her hand. "This is going to hurt."

She placed her glowing hand on the gaping wound and kissed him, not remotely caring about the fact his lips and chin were coated in blood. Golden energy flowed into his body from hers, and the injury from the scythe was instantly healed. She broke the kiss by falling slightly to the ground, coughing and gasping briefly. She regained her composure and sighed, looking sadly at the once again charred runes on her staff.

[almighyxcavus]

Excalith wiped the blood off his face and stood. He winced a bit, although Julianna had healed the wound itself, the pain was still there. Leaning himself on the scythe he offered a hand to Julianna to get up. He wiped the blood off her face with his thumb, gently. He looked down and off to the side: "I'm sorry you had to do that for me, I guess I really can't make it here all on my own. Thanks for helping me out. But we have to get a move on. I'll listen to whatever you have to order me to do."

He started to walk again, still leaning on his scythe and wincing every couple of steps. He chuckled a bit: "I bet the only reason you did that was cause we're in the land of lust." He sighed continuing on the path once again. Eyeing all the lustful couple's who seemed to be enjoying themselves. Some started to eye him again, but he knew it wasn't for the same reason as last time. They were practically terrified of him due to his previous reaping. I guess this world is just out to get me. Haha. Just got to push through is all, once we get to Galith, it'll all be over thankfully.

[Celegwen]

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Julianna said, running her thumb along the blackened runes of her staff. "There's still the matter of defeating Galith. If that happens, then it'll be over."

Excaltih looked at her with confusion, and she chuckled with a shrug. "Be careful what you think in Hell when I'm around. My powers are kind of awesome here."

They continued on their way, and Julianna avoided the eye contact of every soul that level. First of all, it would be a very awkward thing to see. Second, she wasn't exactly loved among them. A lot of the souls she brought to Hell ended up on the first, second, and seventh levels, so she had a feeling the other levels shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Something about killing the demon guardians just didn't sit right with her. Without the demons running each level, the souls would crowd onto the first level, the least painful. Still, it wasn't that she was opposed to shaking them up a bit...

"That was probably my fault," she confessed. "You wouldn't have been put in that situation if I hadn't come in the first place. And by the way..." She touched her moonstone and smirked at Excalith. "This protects me from succumbing to Hell's corruption. I'll explain more about it some other time, but the 'land of lust' had absolutely nothing to do that."

[almighyxcavus]

Excalith appreciated Julianna's, in his mind, hopeful comment. But he knew she was just saying that to make him feel better. Which besides the pain still coming from his stomach, did make him cheer up a bit.

"In that case," Excalith bowed and looked at Julianna, "lead the way captain. I'm just a sailor that follows orders, if you tell me to fight I will, if you don't I won't." He said with a wink.

[Celegwen]

"I just have to tell you," she started, "I'm not going to be okay with killing the demon guardians. Each one plays an important role in maintaining Hell, so killing them is out of the question."

Julianna took a breath, shaking her head. "I don't mind if you kick their asses, but no murder!"

They continued along, and Julianna looked ahead, smiling as she knew they were approaching the guardian. Walking through Hell's levels was nothing new for her, as she had done so multiple times. Even so, she had never faced off against the guardians because they had always welcomed her. Soul smugglers were highly valued in Hell.

"Just a heads up... The next demon is going to mess with your head. You're gonna have some really weird...desires...toward someone you won't want to. I don't know who, but it's an illusion the demon takes to screw with your head. Just don't overthink it."

They made it to the demon, who took the form of Excalith's mother dressed in rather...provocative...attire. Julianna covered her mouth to hide the smirk she was developing. "Go mess her up," she said, patting him on the shoulder and nearly breaking her straight face.