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College of Celestials - The Zodiac

Chapter 3 - Virginity

Valentino Family History

While not being a true family in terms of blood, the Valentinos can trace their lineage to the first time that Virgo truly made a comfortable base of operations in Northern Italy in 1512. Even then, Virgo had started to make his small empire selling wine. Greater gods were present and both Godhunters and the Circle were far more active. Having freshly emerged from self-isolation, Virgo quietly waited for his time to rise alongside the remaining Zodiacs.

Over the centuries, the Valentino family had never consisted of more than a handful of people including the Astrals. Publicly, there was always a single head with Virgo almost always taking this position. During a few occasions, the title of head of the family was given to another Astral as means to hide from would-be assassins but Virgo was always the undisputed leader.

The Valentinos never participated in any major conflicts around the world not even during World War I or II. These conflicts were the few times that they left their home to find shelter elsewhere and it was likely during these times that they established the portals around the globe.

They have never made a big splash in terms of being competitive in the world of wine and seem to purposefully make sure that their wine is mediocre at best. Virgo prioritizes discretion above all else which is why you will never see the Valentinos expand to more than a dozen or so members - excluding their Thralls - or have a billion-dollar empire. Their influence can be felt all over the world but it is not so strong as to change the mind of a senator, blackmail a president or tip the balance of the world.

Which means if you ever see Virgo break its composure, you should be very careful.

_ _

********

November 25th, 6:00 PM, Reaper Residence

It was the waiting that absolutely tortured Dante.

Only half an hour after they had decided their plan, Russ reported that unicorns were gathering out in front of the house. Each of these mythical beasts had strong, powerlifter builds with what Flash described as ‘roid guts’. None of them he recognized even with their different fur patterns, differences in heights, eye and hair colors. There were some distinctive features like tattered remnants of clothes, tattoos or piercings but with their forms already so drastically altered by Alfonso, it was impossible to tell what they truly looked like.

With his ‘Soul Vision’ as he had come to term it, Dante saw how those white, cocooned spirits floating behind the bodies of each of the unicorns had wrapped what looked like white roots or branches around the bodies of the men waiting just beyond Jacob’s front gate. It was impossible to tell what the souls looked like beyond those roots as they were suppressed by the seething, white aura of these warped cocoons.

Slowly, the number of unicorns grew. At first it was only about two or three. Then there were five and soon, a dozen with more to come. None of them said anything and merely loomed beyond the gates, beyond Jacob’s protective barrier.

“How much longer?” he asked himself, leafing through the pages of his grandfather’s journal. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he went over the section on Alfonso Valentino for what must have been the tenth time, trying to commit every word to memory. A short distance away from his room, Flash and Russ were practicing magic. Some part of him wanted to join them, to learn at least a few spells so that he could defend himself but he couldn’t find the will to be humiliated again as he failed to manifest any spells while Flash excelled. He could already hear his fellow wolf throwing fireballs.

Jacob was reinforcing the defensive spells of the house particularly around the three still-comatose former-Thralls that slumbered downstairs. Flash still kept the three soul fragments that Dante had given him, fearful that if he gave them up now, he would become hungry again and inadvertently start consuming the magic around them and weakening Jacob’s defenses. Besides that, they didn’t want the three men to suddenly wake up and add further complications to the defense.

He wasn’t sure where Frank was but he imagined the black-furred unicorn was equally as apprehensive to face a former brother. From what the biker had told them, Alfonso had trained Frank when he was first inducted amongst the Astrals. Their relationship was that of a mentor and student until it became a little more like the forbidden version of that dyanmic as what was expected amongst the Celestials in general. Sex was just something they did because they could. Consequences be damned. Frank and Alfonso slept together every few weeks or so when both of them were in close proximity to one another and if Frank was in the mood for some ‘finely aged horse meat’.

That made him shudder, hoping that he would never treat sex so callously.

A knock came to his door and he perked his ears to find Frank leaning against his door frame. “You really should try practicing your magic with Russ and Flash,” said the unicorn. “I’m sure you’ve gone over every part of that book. You’re not going to learn anything new.”

Dante sighed heavily and slammed the book shut. “You never know. My grandpa hid so much of his life from me. Is it so hard to believe that maybe he hid some secret messages between these pages?”

Frank approached, seating himself beside Dante and causing the entire bed to shift due to his immense weight. “The worst thing you can do now is feel like you’re useless or that you can’t do more to prepare. If you’ve got the time, use it.”

“What about conserving strength?” He made a slicing motion through the air. “We are about to go after a more experienced Astral. Virgo’s smartest Astral from what Grandpa mentioned.”

The accusatory stare from Frank caused him to wither back into his sheets, tucking his knees against his chest. “That’s your excuse?” He gestured out the window. “You’ll be taking an hour-long boat trip soon. Then who knows how long it’ll take to find Alfonso. You’ve got plenty of time to rest.” The big, black unicorn jerked his chin at Dante. “What’s really stopping you from trying harder?”

Shooting the Astral a scathing stare, he said, “Don’t you think it’s a little demanding to ask me to do more given all the shit that’s happened. I was just turned into a werewolf about a twenty-four hours ago and in that time, I fought a demigod and found out I can see people’s souls as well as suck out the divine energies from them. It’s just been revelation after revelation! I need some time to digest!”

Frank’s eyes narrowed at him. “You’re not used to moving at a fast pace, are you?”

Dante averted his gaze. “I’m in my third year of college and I still don’t have a major. All my friends are either going to graduate this year or already graduated. I’m not even close to getting my degree. What does that tell you?”

“Tells me you’re the kind of guy that has the luxury of not making your own decisions.” Those words hurt and he gave Frank a critical stare. “Tell me I’m wrong, kid. From what little I’ve seen, you don’t like making decisions. You let other people make decisions for you.”

It would hurt less if it wasn’t true. Looking back in recent times, he never made any major decisions on his own. Flash was ultimately the one that opened the Cradle while he was hesitant and protested. Jacob was the one that had guided him to suck off the Thralls. The only major decision he had really made was when he had dared to touch Flash and pass on the soul fragments he had absorbed but even that was stirred by the circumstances.

When was the last time he made a life-changing decision by himself?

“I’m just scared,” Dante admitted. “You can’t take this stuff back, you know? When you step forward, it sticks. Maybe you can backtrack but there’s no erasing that first step, the time spent, the effort you put into that act. I just don’t want to blame myself for a mistake I made.”

“So it’s easier to let fate or someone else make the decision so you can blame them,” Frank concluded. “You know what we call those kinds of people?”

“Cowards?” Dante grumbled softly. “Weak? Spineless? Immature?”

“I was going to say a narcissist but sure, let’s go with all of the above,” chuckled Frank. “What the hell is holding you back anyway? Why are you trying to play it safe?”

Dante ran his paw over the black, leather bindings of the book in his grip. “I don’t know. I’ve just never really made a decision for myself in my life. You saw it. My grandpa was basically grooming me from day one. I never had to make a decision for myself because he was always steering me towards a particular direction.” He tossed the diary to the foot of his bed. “Basically his weapon against the Celestials. Weapons don’t think. They just stab at whatever they’re pointed at.”

For a moment Frank was silent… then he let out a soft laugh. “Wow. You remind me of Virgo.”

He recoiled at the accusation and stared at Frank incredulously. “What? You take that back!”

The enormous, bodybuilding unicorn held out his hand, grasping Dante’s muzzle and pushing him roughly back into the bed. “Used to be that I believed the bullshit that came from that asshole’s mouth. He claimed he was ‘perfect’. He never made an actual decision. He just told everyone what he wanted and it was up to them to do something about it. That way, if something went wrong, it was on them not him.”

“I’m not like that!” Dante snapped back. “I don’t just expect everyone else to wait on me hand and foot and then blame them when something doesn’t go my way!”

“So if Jacob’s plan doesn’t work out, who are you going to blame?”

He shrugged. “Well, the one who came up with the plan.”

“Not the people who enacted it?” Frank asked pointed. “Are you going to blame him for not taking your weaknesses into consideration? Are you going to blame him for the fact that you’re sitting here doing nothing while he’s furiously casting lots of spells to protect the three guys down there? What about me? Anything to say about the fact that we’re going to take the brunt of the assault as the bait? And what if the whole plan hinges on you draining Alfonso of his divinity and you just can’t suck him off well enough? Going to blame Jacob for not thinking about that? Your boyfriend for not training you well enough to suck cock? Your dad for not having the genes to have cock-sucking lips?”

Dante’s gaze turned from furious to curious as he gave the former Astral a puzzled stare.

Frank shrugged at him in turn. “You know what I mean. Don’t be like Virgo. Don’t just sit here and expect everything to turn out well and then blame everyone else when things don’t turn out like you want them to. Stand on your own goddamn feet and be an example to others instead of lying to them and making them believe you’re perfect.”

Dante leaned back in the bed, a soft smile on his muzzle. “So I take it you’ve got a few horror stories about Virgo, huh?”

The towering unicorn swung his long legs onto the bed, perching himself right beside Dante. It surprised the much smaller wolf that despite how tall Frank was, the bed still fit them both.

“With the power of hindsight, you could definitely say I’ve got a lot of baggage,” Frank sighed. “You could say that Virgo was gas lighting his Astrals a lot. Nothing was ever his fault. Everything was always according to his plans. He was perfect. Pure.” Bitterness entered his voice as he gazed off into the distance, peering out Dante’s window. “And we all accepted it.”

Dante regarded the book that he held in his paws and had to wonder if his grandfather was gas lightning him now from beyond the grave. Was Virgil just telling him what he needed to know to fulfill the destiny that he couldn’t accomplish in his lifetime? Was Jacob doing the same? Russ? Was he just being manipulated into doubting everything he knew about reality so that he could be dependent on these figures and do their bidding?

“I can’t help but wonder if we’re just pawns to someone else’s game,” he admitted. “When you think about it, Jacob is some otherworldly deity. Who is to say that he isn’t planning on having the Celestials killed so we can invade since we would have no gods to defend the world?”

Frank let out one short derisive laugh and turned back to gaze back at him. “I can’t tell, honestly. But the difference between Reaper and Virgo or any of the other Celestials is that he’s fighting by our side.”

“Does it really matter to him though? He can just die and come back later.”

The unicorn gave him a smirk. “I seem to recall one other ‘god’ that did the same in one of the major religions. Died for our sins and all that shit. Don’t think it really mattered that Christ just got a free ticket into Heaven and always had that safety net. The fact that he walked amongst us was what made his sacrifice valuable.”

“Even though that sacrifice was entirely fictional and created by the Godhunters to rob the Celestials of their followers.”

Frank gently punched his shoulder. “There’s power in stories. Even if they’re totally fake, they still leave us with messages that we use to take the next step forward.”

Dante lifted the book in his paws. “So does that mean reading all this isn’t that useless after all?”

“I never said that,” Frank said, gently pushing the book down. “What I said was that it was useless to keep reading it over and over again expecting to find something new and telling yourself it’s the only thing you can do.”

The handsome Italian unicorn spread his arm to gesture around the room. “There’s plenty you could be doing to prepare. Hell, putting that aside, what else would you rather be doing?”

Dante looked back to the book in his paws. “Before any of this happened, I had actually made plans with my boyfriend, Zeke. I would probably be spending the night at his place, watching some lame movies, we’d make out and then probably end up naked and sweaty on his bed.”

“So you want to pork?”

The young wolf recoiled in shock, holding up the book to his chest like it would defend him from the advances of the unicorn that was twice his size. “What? No! I’m a dedicated boyfriend!”

Frank gave him a pointed stare. “That just blew three random strangers.”

“That’s because Jacob told me to -” He cut himself off realizing that they had circled back to his pathological instinct to blame someone else. The truth was, he could have drained the divinity from those Thralls some other way just as he didn’t need to fuck Flash to pass the divinity he had consumed to his friend. If he had just thought it out, perhaps he could have found a way.

“That’s going to be an awkward conversation to have,” Frank said with a snarky edge. “What will you tell your monogamous boyfriend?”

“What would you say, then?” he snapped back. “I blew those three guys to save the world? Oh yeah, they were anthropomorphic unicorns imbued with divine energies from Virgo that was twisted after centuries of living amongst us mortals.”

“Didn’t Reaper tell you to just tell him the truth because this sort of thing would happen?”

Dante threw his paws into the air and slumped into his bed, spreading his arms wide in surrender. “Fuck me… What am I supposed to do then?”

Frank loomed over him. “Tell me, how do you know that this Zeke is ‘the one’?”

He glanced off to the left. “I never said he was ‘the one’. Just that he’s my boyfriend right now. A good boyfriend is faithful.”

“Okay. So let me ask you this, did you ask him out or did he ask you?”

Realizing where this line of questioning was going, he said, “Zeke asked me. It wasn’t like I wasn’t already thinking about it! He’s cute and we shared a few interests! I would’ve asked him eventually!”

“Uh-huh,” came the disbelieving sigh. “Look, this is coming from someone who has slept with a lot of people. Even people whom I considered my brothers and sisters. You’ve got to try the market out there before you can really call someone ‘the one’. You won’t fully know for certain if they are the best person for you if you’ve only looked in this one town.”

Dante rolled his eyes. “That’s the thinnest excuse to fuck that I’ve ever heard.”

“I’ve had thinner,” Frank said, swinging his legs back around the bed so that he could slide off. “I’m not saying you need to sleep with me. All I’m saying is that don’t be like Virgo. Not every decision is perfect the first time. You’re allowed to make mistakes. It’s just important that you learn from them.”

He regarded Frank with a curious look. “Is that something you learned in your time as an Astral?”

Frank glanced over his shoulder and threw him a thin smile. “It’s what’s keeping me here fighting right now. I made a mistake being a cop that was blind to the machinations of the department. I made a mistake joining Gil Incubo and just doing what I was told. I made my biggest mistake joining Virgo.” He turned towards Dante and began walking backwards, spreading his arms wide. “I don’t know if I’m making another mistake joining up with you guys but after everything I’ve learned, I know this is at least a better decision than my last big, three life-changing ones!”

The unicorn stepped out of the room and closed the door, leaving Dante to his thoughts. He once again regarded the book in front of him. He flipped to the first page of Frank’s biography and his grandfather’s thoughts on the unicorn. Pursing his lips, he stood up and headed over to the lone desk. Grabbing a pen, he set down the book and began writing in the blank spaces left after each ‘chapter’ for Frank.

“I’ve met Frank, Grandpa,” he said as he wrote. “He’s everything you said he would be but more. He’s insightful. He’s learned from his mistakes. I think he’s still eager to please and is fairly aggressive but…” He paused for a moment, looking towards the door that the unicorn left through. “… I think he’s also fairly sensitive and strong. He’s willing to put his life on the line for us and he’s looking to make up for the mistakes he made in the past even it that means just passing his knowledge onto us.”

Again, he paused, regarding his work. It was almost like he was speaking to Virgil now and his grandfather was quietly listening with a proud smile.

“I think,” he concluded, “Frank taught me something. We all put this huge emphasis on virginity. On the first time we experience something. Nothing will ever compare to that first time. Once the ‘virginity’ of that experience is gone, it’s gone. No replacing it. But Frank taught me that it isn’t always about your first time. It’s about what you do about that experience. He really epitomizes that…”

A dull gong-like noise suddenly rippled through the entire house. Dante lifted his nose, perking his ears. His keen senses picked up the twenty-or-so unicorns under Alfonso’s command starting their assault on Jacob’s barriers. The rest of the house was quickly amassing upstairs.

He turned towards the diary.

“I love you, Grandpa,” he wrote quickly before slamming it shut and rushing upstairs.

Influence of the Valentinos

It was about forty years before this writing that I had my first encounter with the Valentinos as a whole. This was before Frank or Matteo when Virgo still went under the pseudonym of Victor Valentino. I was still an active member of the Godhunters then and we were all still of the opinion that we could steadily eliminate each of the remaining Celestials to bring true freedom to the rest of the humanity.

The Valentinos had just extended a meeting invite to a Pakistani diplomat whom we had fairly good relationships with. An ambitious Astral had thought to use Pakistan resources to deliver their wine to a previously untapped audience. Having come from Pakistan himself, the Astral already had a foot in the door.

The diplomat had informed us about the communication and we sought to pounce and eliminate the Astral while the opportunity was ripe. Little did we know that the rendezvous actually included Virgo and his entire house. We were surprised when we arrived at the location to find all eight of Virgo’s Astrals present with Virgo himself there as well. We posed as the diplomat’s bodyguards.

Much to our dismay, Virgo showed his reach when he revealed that the diplomat was already one of his loyal retainers, not an Astral nor a Thrall but a human who had devoted himself to Virgo while retaining his individuality. The man had actually been promised a seat as an Astral should the trap be sprung correctly.

But we Godhunters were not without our own tricks. We managed to escape and the diplomat was killed in the onslaught. Our media team blamed it on the Italian Mafia trying to smuggle drugs through Pakistan with the diplomat getting caught in the crossfire. It embedded a distrust of Italians in the Pakistani government and locked Virgo out of the country for a little longer.

Do not underestimate the Celestial’s reach, my dearest Dante.

_ _

******

November 25th, 12:00 PM, Castello della Vergine

Astrals ultimately stemmed from their patron Celestial. When a mortal is elevated to the rank of Astral, the Celestial awakens the part of their soul that was made up from other deceased Astrals before placing a seed of their own to take root and blossom into the new Astral’s powers. In many ways, the soul fragments of past Astrals acted as fertile soil for the Celestial to plan the seed for the next generation of Astrals. Macabre as the metaphor was, it was how Virgo perceived his relationships with his Astrals.

They were all part of his grand vineyard and he was the winemaker that seeded the land and watched them grow. As a diligent owner of this land, he was well-aware of the comings and goings of his Astrals. While it was not an intimate level of awareness where he could tell anything and everything that his Astrals were doing, when it came to the use of their powers, he was acutely aware of everything.

So even nearly four-thousand miles away, the God of Virginity knew that Alfonso was extending a Domain to entrap that smarmy wizard. There was no doubt in his mind that the meddling mortal would have had some level of protection against Domains. Alfonso’s plan was quite clever. If this spellcaster had any connections to the people of Angelton, he would have to do something about Alfonso or else they would be forever under the priest’s control. Even if he didn’t, Alfonso’s Sphere would allow him to just constantly send a barrage of Thralls that would eventually wear down any defenses.

And yet, Virgo found himself being nagged by something he did not often experience; doubt. There were still countless variables that could easily derail even the most well-laid-out plans. What happened to the Celestial Cradle? Was the wizard using it? What about Frank?

Alfonso had always been the heart of his tactics and on some level, the Celestial depended on the converted priest to guide the other Astrals to realize his ambitions. Without the eldest of his living Astrals by his side, Virgo found himself having to rely on himself to assess the situation and make decisions.

Perched in his private chambers, reclining on a cushioned bench, he quietly pondered on what was happening on the other side of the world. While he had faith in Alfonso and believed that nothing could ever defeat his most trusted of advisers, he was reminded that he had once thought himself perfect and invincible. Yet Frank had fallen. Worse, Frank had turned against him.

That was far from perfect.

He could blame Frank’s inexperience all he wanted but it was still a mark against his record that left a bitter taste in his mouth. Alfonso could win. There was a good chance that he would triumph. However, there was still that nagging feeling in the back of Virgo’s mind that warned him that he needed to prepare at the very least.

Such thoughts were unbecoming of a god and he reviled it. Like a little, persistent, black speck on an otherwise perfectly polished, pure white surface or that little dead pixel in the corner of a very expensive screen, he could ignore it as much as he wanted but it would always be there, taunting him.

A single failure, no matter how minuscule, was still a mark that would never go away.

It reminded Virgo of an earlier time eons ago. When he had been simpler, weaker and mortal. When failure was often expected and even fatal at times. The cold, brutish hands of a ‘husband’ gripped his neck as a sign of dominance during what was considered ‘lovemaking’. The virginity of that mortal body had been lost a long time ago and when that form had merely stuck being female, Virgo would often be punished when she had made a mistake by a slap followed by a desperate apology and then selfish fucking. Her husband would apologize each time he hurt her but it only ever ended in one way: his own pleasure.

In those ancient times, failure always led to one-sided sex.

Little wonder when she obtained her divinity from Ophiuchus that her first act was to purify her then-husband and turn him into her first Astral. It had been an arduous task and incredibly taxing. As a newly created goddess, she did not possess any Astrals whose souls had drifted into the leyline network and seeded their own reincarnation in the next generation. Ophiuchus, under the orders of Aries, had taught her and her siblings how to make new Astrals by finding the commonality between their divine souls and other mortals. She found little in common between her and her former husband. That was why she had to purge him of everything until she found something that she could use to nourish her seed. Everyone else had their own techniques. For Virgo, her first Astral was just a small, insignificant step above being a Thrall.

Virgo opened his eyes, both curious and somewhat despondent over those memories.

“It has been so long since I have thought about those times or Ophiuchus…” He narrowed his eyes, recalling the words of that lawyer. “Could he be…?” He dismissed the thought with a wave of a hand and stretched. “No. We would have sensed his presence. Still…”

The God of Virginity straightened and donned his robes. Stepping out of the large pavilion in the rear of Castello della Vergine, his bare feet gliding soundlessly across the marble walkways of the garden, Virgo sent out a call to what he considered to be the Astral that was most like him.

By the time he reached the villa proper, that Astral was already waiting for him.

“You called for me?” Matteo Valentino asked.

If the common mortals ever doubted the validity of the Valentino claims to be a ‘family’, Matteo’s appearance compared to Virgo could easily be used to dismiss such ideas. While smaller and slimmer in stature, Matteo had the same beautiful, naturally bronzed skin as Virgo and the same chiseled cheekbones and jawline. There was a slight difference in their eyes as Matteo was gifted with heterochromia with one eye being brown and the other being blue. The platinum blonde hair was entirely naturally though Matteo wore it slightly longer reminiscent of 1990’s boy bands with a pair of curled bangs hovering just over his eyebrows. Compact, lean but nevertheless incredibly strong, Matteo oozed sexual appeal; the kind of person that would make everyone weak in the knees, man or woman. Dressed as he was in a skimpy g-string that did little to hide his incredible package, Virgo was constantly amazed at how truly gifted Matteo was even before he had converted him into an Astral.

“I have a mission for you, Matteo,” Virgo said. “Walk with me.”

He strode through the mansion, Matteo just a few steps behind him. It was the middle of the night and the night’s festivities were still in full swing. Dinner had been served and foreplay was over and done with. Moaning and grunting echoed softly through the halls, forming a quiet chorus that suffused the walls with its energies.

“I want you to start preparing our defenses,” Virgo continued.

“Did the old man fail?” asked the ever-astute Astral. “Or do you expect him to fail?”

While not as ‘young’ as Frank or as ‘old’ as Alfonso, Matteo had been with Virgo for almost fifteen years. That made him incredibly observant to the god’s moods and desires. With the boldness that Frank was known for but the tempered mind of Alfonso, Virgo liked to considered Matteo one of his best Astrals in his long history. It did not surprise him in the least that the young Astral had picked up on the secret meaning in his words.

“I am simply being cautious,” answered Virgo, guiding Matteo to the large, double doors that lead down into the depths of the villa. “When it comes to the war for the Cradle, one can never be too cautious as everything is on the line. I already found myself surprised by Libra’s presence here yesterday so I have every reason to believe that one of my brothers or sisters might attempt to wrench victory from us.”

Matteo’s eyes narrowed as he watched the group of near-naked Thralls pulls the large, wooden and ancient double doors open for them. “We have a truce with the other Zodiacs. They wouldn’t dare to attack us.”

“None of that would matter if they gain possession of the Cradle. Not to mention the possibility any of the other Celestials might make an attempt.”

Though he had not considered them up until that point, Virgo began wondering if the other Celestials had found out that the Cradle had been activated. Somehow he doubted it. Few of the other Celestials were as astute as Cancer who had been the one that had detected the Cradle had been activated. But there was always that risk. It was entirely possible that the wizard could actually be a warlock and have one of the other Celestials as a patron.

“Warlocks…” he whispered softly.

Matteo gave him a quick glance as they stepped down the dimly lit downward stairway leading into the depths of the villa. “Those magic-users who were used by Celestials to refine their Sphere and Mantle? Do you believe that wizard to be one?”

“There is a possibility though it is slim.”

When the Circle had existed, there was a splinter group amongst the wizards who were branded warlocks. These warlocks actually colluded with Celestials, borrowing fragments of their power to refine and manipulate. This was originally how several Celestials sought to ‘outsource’ the task of taking their divine gifts and learning how to manipulate it. When the Circle declared war on the Celestials, however, they eliminated all warlocks. This occurred hundreds of years ago during the Renaissance. The chances of that lawyer in Maine being a warlock was incredibly slim… yet it was still possible that he learned his magic from a Celestial and was a warlock only be definition.

That would complicate matters as if the spellcaster decided to call upon his patron for assistance, then they would become aware of the war and potential the Cradle.

“Is there a possibility that he could also be a sorcerer?” Matteo prompted as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

Here, the sounds of moans, grunts and sex was far less muted. Within the basement level of Castello Della Vergine, everyone was free to indulge in their sexual fantasies without restraint. Beyond another wooden door opened by Thralls there were men and women partaking in more extreme sexual acts. A short distance away, a woman was having her vagina stretched by they forearm of a bodybuilder. On the opposite side, a man was being stuffed by two equally well-endowed men. There was an entire row of celebrants who were tied up, blindfolded and being whipped while screaming for more.

“I did not detect any use of divine energies from the lawyer when he cast his spells or when he resisted my pull,” Virgo answered. “Sorcerers somehow managed to tap into the latent Astral souls within them without a patron but this man had nothing like that.” The god tilted his head slightly as he strode down the long, dungeon-like hallway, drawing strength from all new experiences being derived around him. “To be honest, I felt nothing from him. A void of nothingness that did not belong in this world.”

“Perhaps it was just his protections.”

They approached the far end of the dungeon, leaving behind the moans and smaller rooms where most of his great power was derived. Within these halls, portraits and enormous man-sized painting hung that depicted all of Virgo’s past conquests. There were images of his visitation of certain key figures, miraculously curing them of ailments. These people would eventually be called saints when, in reality, they were his Astrals. Images of angelic appearances were plentiful as well as some ancient paintings of his early years when he had been a goddess who cured all with a simple touch.

“Likely,” he concluded, reaching the large, pure-white door at the very end of the hall. The door was made completely out of white marble and inlaid with peridot and sapphires. It seemed gaudy and out of place in the dank underground that smelled of sex. The door was imbued with great power, however, and none but those Virgo allowed could pass through it. There were no handles, no divide and no hinges. It just seemed like someone had built an entire door-shaped wall out of marble and jewels. He pressed a hand against the door and it rippled like water. The stone peeled away from his hand, revealing the chamber behind and he stepped through without hesitation. Matteo was a step right behind him.

This was his vault. The walls housed ancient artifacts that he had obtained a long time ago or had infused with his power. The original snow-white dress he wore when he was a traveling goddess of purity hung on a mannequin to his left in its own, small alcove. In another alcove on the opposite side of the circular room was an olive branch with a few black olives. The True Branch, as it was called. Even now, centuries later, its olives remained fresh and could bring anyone to perfect health if eaten. Only 14 olives remained, however. At the far wall there was a single bow.

It was this bow that he approached and plucked from its perch.

“Given all the risks,” Virgo continued, striding through the chamber. “I need to make certain assurances that the Cradle arrives in our hands without issue.” He turned to face Matteo. “I want you to start reinforcing our defenses. Make our castle impregnable. You can imagine if word gets out that we have the Cradle that all remaining Celestials will attempt to wrench it from our hands.”

Matteo had never been around for any of the major conflicts but his soul knew. The young Astral nodded gravely.

“I understand. Leave it with me.”

“And leave it I shall,” Virgo said with a gentle smile, handing his Astral the bow. “Arm yourself. Practice with this while you can. Our enemies are ruthless and I fully expect them to make an attempt at some point between Alfonso’s victory and the day of my ascension.”

Matteo’s eyes widened as he gingerly reached out and gripped the seemingly mundane wooden, shortbow. “The Bow of Pestilence.”

The bow that had once belonged to one of the Four Horsemen and that Virgo had obtained when the Horsemen had fallen. Virgo had been drawn to it. Perhaps it was because this particular weapon embodied the very opposite of his own divinity. Virgo brought renewed beginnings but Pestilence only heralded decay and rot. After decades of curing mortals of their diseases, obtaining the weapon seemed appropriate.

“I will not fail you,” Matteo said, gripping the bow with a glint of ambition in his eyes.

Virgo nodded and regarded the rest of his vault.

“Good. Now leave me. I have my own preparations to make.”

Defenses of the Vineyard

Castello della Vergine may seem unassuming but after the foiled attempt by Virgo to assassinate a group of Godhunters, the Order decided it was time to at least gather information on the the Celestial even if it meant antagonizing the other Zodiacs. Scouts were sent to Virgo’s abode and with our techniques, we were able to glean insight on its defenses and overall structure. I am unsure how much of that will have changed in the time between then and if/when you eventually invade but this is what I know.

Castello della Vergine is the name of the entire property; the villa and the vast vineyards that stretch out in all directions around it. You should know that these vineyards themselves are under Virgo’s influence and he always ensures that one of his Astrals watches them closely. Approaching through the vineyard is suicide. The only other approach to the villa unmolested by this Astral is the main road which offers little in terms of stealth.

The villa is protected by high walls and a thick, metal gate. A true castle that would need to be besieged to penetrate. Immediately beyond those walls is a large front lawn complete with a fountain naturally depicting Virgo in a feminine form and more attunes with the Greek interpretation of the astrological sign; a mockery of the Godhunter’s attempts to dethrone it.

The villa has multiple areas mostly geared towards catering for their guests with over fifty rooms of varying sized designed to tickle the pleasures of everyone who steps beyond its doors. The upper floors are the public areas where tours of the wine making process are held as well as the various orgies are performed. Beneath the villa are where they keep the caskets where the wine is aged but also where the more extreme fancies are tickled.

Virgo’s personal quarters are removed from the main house and is positioned in the back of the structure amidst a garden.

_ _

******

November 25th, 7:00 PM, Reaper Residence

“Twenty-four.”

Twenty-four big, burly unicorns of different colors stood outside the gates of the manor built into the cliffside. All of them had similar builds; a powerlifter-build that emphasized strength over anything else. Broad, boulder-like shoulders, huge, mountainous pectorals, thick tree-trunk thighs and a large, distended gut with abdominals pressing up against their flesh despite its roundness. All were naked or at least near-naked. None were erect but all were posed to attack.

Jacob clutched his staff tightly in one hand.

“Scared, Reaper?” Frank asked, rolling his shoulders beneath the blue coat he was wearing.

“Terrified.”

Frank gave him a curious look. “I can’t tell if you’re being genuine or joking.”

“Genuine,” he answered bluntly.

“You? Really? From what Dante told me, you’re supposed to be some sort of god from outside our dimension, aren’t you? You don’t lose anything from dying here or even letting us lose except your pride.”

Jacob turned towards the tall, black unicorn and gave him a gentle smile. “No. But you and the others do.”

“And why should god care about us mere mortals?”

“God shouldn’t but there are no gods. Just mortals.” He turned his gaze back towards the army of unicorns. “It’s true that even if I die here, I’ll just go back to my home reality. Sure I’ll feel pain but after countless eternities, you would expect that someone like me would be numb to it all.” For a moment, he narrowed his eyes, switching his gaze from face to face in front of him. “But I’ve never gotten to that level. I don’t think I ever will.”

“Why?” Frank snorted. “And don’t feed me bullshit about you ‘caring too much’.”

“Certainly not,” Jacob laughed softly. “But I think it’s because no matter how many times I repeat an experience, I don’t treat it like part of a tally. This isn’t even the first time I’ve stood in a siege against a zombie unicorn army. But I’m still excited.” He gently lifted his free hand towards his chest. “I’m excited and terrified.”

“How?” Frank asked, clearly puzzled by his statement. “If you are who you say you are, then you should know how this goes. You’ve been through this many times before, right?”

“Yeah, I have. But…” Jacob glanced off to the right for a moment. “… Think of it as farming for experience in a videogame. The same encounters might cross your path and you might get the same rewards from it but there are always those random chances that change things. Maybe the AI decides to do something else instead or maybe you’re a little stronger from the last fights. Maybe you’ve got a few new tricks. Maybe after the battle, the rewards are different. The pieces may always be the same but I will always be different.”

He flashed Frank a grin. “Besides, there is always a chance that things will turn out differently. Even if all the variables are the same, even if the chances of things going one way or the other are exactly identical, there is always this possibility that something might change.” Turning his gaze back towards the gathered unicorns, he said, “That’s why I’m always excited when I participate in a story. The Hero’s Journey may be formulaic, the themes might be the same and even if it’s a reboot with the same underlying themes, there is always this chance things will go differently.” Jacob spun the staff idly in his hand. “It’s not the ending, you know, but the journey.”

The burly unicorn beside him let out a soft laugh and brought up his fists as the unicorns in front of them began to advance towards the gates. “I can’t wrap my head around what you’re saying or how you can be like that. You have got to get something out of all of this. You can’t just be doing this out of the kindness of your own heart.”

He threw a dry smile at the fighter beside him as a drop of sweat rolled down the side of his face. “You mean kicking Virgo’s ass and taking him down a peg isn’t enough reason?”

“No. There’s got to be more to it than that.”

“Then how about this?” Jacob said, snapping his staff into its two halves. “There are a few things I want out of this but one of the top reasons is fairly simple.” As Alfonso’s Thralls reached the limits of his property, the stopped. One of them stepped forward, grinning broadly. “Closure.”

Both blue-clad men watched as the leading Thrall stepped onto the property. For a moment, the air around the tan-furred unicorn’s body shimmered as he crossed into the mystical field Jacob had erected. There was a second where the unicorn lifted a hand and seemed to run his fingers through the air like he was tickling the wind.

“Ah,” came Alfonso’s words from the equine’s muzzle. “So you’ve not only erected some sort of field around this entire town but a shield around your own property that is preventing my Domain from influencing anything within it.” He tilted the Thrall’s head so it was regarding the two coyly. “It is rather crude. I can tell. You already had a shield around this place but you patched it up specifically to keep my Domain from intervening. That suggests that you know its abilities.” His eyes glided over to Frank. “I can only assume you were briefed by my erstwhile brother. And you should also know about his capabilities.”

Jacob spun the two wooden batons in his hands. “The Sphere of the Ripe Harvest. If he knows your weakness, he can make it hurt way more than it should.”

“Is that how you described it?” Alfonso laughed. “Either you were trying to mask your abilities from him or you are more naive then I had anticipated.” The priest laughed softly and shook his head. “No, you misguided mortal, Frank’s Sphere allows him to exploit any weakness be it perceived or actual and warp your perceptions of it. Were he so inclined, he could use it to reinforce your weaknesses, make it so that you no longer consider it a weakness or even completely ignore it. Though I suppose it is a little too late now to make such preparations.”

As he spoke, the other unicorns began making their way past the gates and into the front yard. Curiously, only eight of them crossed the threshold while the remaining sixteen remained behind.

“If Reaper had any weaknesses, I would have shored them up,” spat Frank. “But he doesn’t have any. Or he just hasn’t revealed them to me.”

“Wise,” Alfonso chuckled turning back towards Jacob. Lightning fast, he suddenly crossed the distance between his possessed Thrall and the wizard.

Jacob was perfectly ready for him and when that huge, meaty fist struck his chest, his coat fluttered with the hems spewing a few strands of glowing blue thread. The impact was enough to cause him to stagger back a few steps through sheer force alone but not enough to knock him down or deal any damage whatsoever. He immediately threw the two batons as the Thrall. Alfonso was surprised when the two wooden weapons smacked his muzzle, dazing him for a moment. That gave Jacob the change to flick out a few popsicle sticks from his sleeves. He immediately snapped them, conjuring balls of flames at his fingertips. With a swipe of his hands, the fireballs shot towards Alfonso’s possessed Thrall, once again peppering the equine’s face and causing the Astral to stagger back a few steps.

None of it did any significant damage. Not that it was meant to.

Jacob immediately closed the distance between them, pulling a few stickers from his sleeves. Keeping low to the ground, he dove for Alfonso, slamming both his hands against the rotund, muscled belly of the unicorn. Batting away the flames from his face, Alfonso looked down at Jacob with a cocky smirk.

“Impressive but that barely hurt.”

He returned the smirk. “Really? IT barely hurt? It wasn’t meant to hurt at all. This is the one that’ll hurt.”

Arcs of brilliant blue lightning exploded from the stickers. Jacob slammed his palms once again against the decorations. The peel of thunder followed by the roar of lightning exploded from the impact. Alfonso’s current host was hurled clear off his feet and thrown right back through the gates where he slammed into the other unicorns. The other bolts struck the remaining unicorns, particularly targeting their horns and sending thousands of volts through their bodies. Arms and legs flailed for a few seconds while the smell of singed fur filled the air.

Jacob straightened and dusted off his hands. A glance over his shoulder showed the completely unharmed Frank regarding him with one cocked eyebrow.

“Told you this wasn’t my first zombie unicorn siege,” said the lawyer with a smile. “Unicorn horns always make for surprisingly good lightning rods.”

Two huge arms suddenly wrapped around his waist and lifted him into the air.

“Nice trick,” Alfonso snarled through the muzzle of another Thrall. “But I am not so easily defeated.”

Jacob grinned over his shoulder. “The word count would be miserably short if you were. Frank!”

He immediately swung his legs upwards, twisting his body as bar back as it would as his momentum threw Alfonso off balance. That was when Frank, similarly staying low, crash-tackled the host Thrall with all his might. Alfonso’s grip around Jacob instinctively loosened as he was thrown back by Frank’s superior strength and weight. The lawyer somersaulted in the air, landing deftly on his feet before flicking out a few more sticks which he promptly snapped. He hurled the fireballs into the air, lobbing molten artillery through his own shield and into the masses of unicorns just outside.

As Frank savagely pummeled the unicorn beneath him with punches, Jacob dove for one of the the halves of his staff, rolling onto the ground with it tightly pressed against his chest. A dark shadow loomed over him. No a second was spent looking up at the Thrall he knew to be there. Instead, he slashed out immediately, the reinforced wood of his baton smacking into the shin of the unicorn with an audible crack. The yowl of pain was his signal to rolled over to the other half of the weapon, all the while leaving a sticker on the ground where he had been. The moment he grabbed his remaining baton, that sticker activated. An enormous, stone fist exploded from the ground, slamming into the stunned Thrall and sending him stumbling back past the gates into the hands of his comrades.

Jacob crouched and began drawing a new symbol into the ground with the tip of one of his batons. Another Thrall came charging at him and he used the other baton to smack away the grabbing hands and keep the equine at bay. When he was done, he snapped the two halves together and tapped the symbol with his reassembled staff. Large vines exploded from the rune, grabbing the unicorn and sending it crashing back past the gates.

Frank was just finishing with his foe and leaped away from the bloodied and bruised Thrall. Two of the remaining unicorns grabbed their downed fellow, each one seizing an arm each while the other three stood guard. The unconscious Thrall was taken beyond the barrier into Alfonso’s domain. The bruises and wounds on his face began to heal. Even the broken horn that Frank had snapped began to repair itself miraculously in a dance of sparkling lights.

“You owe me twenty,” grunted Frank, tossing the other half of the horn to Jacob.

Jacob snatched the horn from the air and held the weighty object in his hand. “You were right. Alfonso would hold back part of his forces as a recovery team and another one as reinforcements.”

While the ones that had just retreated or been forced back were having their wounds healed, members of the reserve party came charging in ensuring that there were still eight unicorns on the property. Within the Domain, Alfonso could repair the damage to his Hosts which meant that he could just keep swapping out his troops and keeping Jacob and Frank on the defensive.

This was a war of attrition.

One that Jacob knew they would eventually lose if given enough time.

“Thanks for the horn, by the way,” he said, tossing the discarded piece of unicorn anatomy into the air before catching it again.

“Why would you even need it?” Frank asked, eying the approaching unicorns warily.

Jacob smiled softly as he began drawing a circle in the ground with the butt of his staff. “Regardless of it’s origins, this horn has strong ties to Virgo. That’s divine Celestial energy right there. Though it’s heavily diluted since it came from a Thrall, it’s still incredibly powerful. There were even spells specifically designed to channel the powers of certain Celestials without becoming their Astral.”

Frank cocked an eyebrow at him. “Wait… You’re talking about warlocks?”

Jacob next drew a hexagon inside the circle before following that up by tracing lines between each vertex within the new shape. “Warlocks make pacts with Celestials. While they don’t become Astrals, they are still bound to their Celestials.”

“Sorcerers then?”

He next drew three circles around the three vertexes on the left of the hexagon before drawing one at the very center. “Sorcerers somehow awaken their innate Soul Manifestation without ever being touched by Celestials. They resonate with all the components of their soul to form one, cohesive power.”

Frank growled at him as the eight unicorns surrounded them. “Whatever it is, you better fucking hurry it up!”

“I’m talking about Alchemists.”

That made every unicorn around him immediately go rigid.

“You can’t be serious!” exclaimed Alfonso. Then he realized what Jacob was drawing. All eight of his Thralls immediately lunged for the wizard.

“Frank! Dodge!” Jacob shouted and immediately threw the unicorn horn in his hand at the circle beneath him. Just as all eight of Alfonso’s Thralls came within grabbing distance of him, he slammed his staff into the ground…

… and climbed to its very top. All eight of the unicorns immediately crashed into the circle in the dirt, disrupting the rune while one of them swatted the severed horn away. Frank somehow managed to weave past them and was just turning around to give Jacob support when he noticed the lawyer, crouching atop his staff, scattering stickers all around him.

Jacob winked at the confused Thralls of Alfonso.

“Gotcha.”

The lawyer suddenly leaped off the staff, gripping it from underneath him while in midair before slamming it hard onto the skulls of one of the unicorns, conveniently where one of the stickers had landed. Immediately, blue lightning blasted out of the adhesive decoration, electrocuting each of the other eight Thralls while simultaneously activating each of their stickers as well. A true thunderstorm of lightning exploded upwards, cutting through the overcast sky and sending the smell of singed flesh and burnt fur wafted into the wind.

Despite this, both Jacob and Frank retreated a few steps towards the front door while all eight members of Alfonso’s entourage lay unconscious and sizzling.

“That magic circle wouldn’t actually have done anything, would it?” Frank accused. “It was just a distraction.”

“Yup,” Jacob replied sheepishly. “I would’ve just kept drawing until Alfonso grew nervous enough to attack. Good thing he attacked when he did. I was running out topics to discuss.”

Frank laughed heartily, his booming voice acting as much as a taunt as a rallying cry. Some of the unicorns beyond the barrier now regarded the duo warily. There was a large distance between them and the pile of twitching unicorns so rescue wasn’t quite so simple. Frank cracked his knuckles and advanced, giving himself enough distance between the pile to avoid any unwanted surprises.

Jacob pulled a few cards from his sleeve and threw them in a circle around the downed unicorns. He tapped each of with the butt of his staff as he followed Frank. Silvery chains erupted from each card and bound the unicorns, keeping them in place and hopefully holding them down even if Alfonso would repossess them.

“Such impressive teamwork and tactics,” Alfonso began, his voice once more coming from one of the conscious unicorns. This time, he only allowed five members to step through. “Using the fear of Alchemy, the forbidden art of sacrificing the very flesh of the divine to fuel devastating and often miss-aligned spells, to lure me into a trap. Though you can rest assured that trick won’t work again.”

Holding his staff in both hands, Jacob leveled the staff at the advancing unicorns. “Trust me. I’ve had years to come up with a lot of these tricks. Even if I can’t win, I’ll make you work for it.”

Alfonso’s eyes flashed in realization. “You expect to lose. You’re not here to fight me and secure victory. You’re merely stalling for time.”

Jacob pursed his lips. “Fuck…”

The priest inhabiting the Thrall’s body straightened and let out a short laugh. “So, you put yourself up as bait. Is that it?” He craned his neck, regarding the cliff just beyond the house. “Let me guess. You’re using Frank’s Thralls to spirit away the Cradle beyond my Domain. You used yourselves as a distraction, drawing my attention so that your Thralls can slip beyond my notice.” The strong-bellied unicorn lifted his head. “If I were to guess, in the fifteen minutes we’ve been fighting, your Thralls would already be a few miles away. Not beyond the reach of my Domain.”

WHAM!

Frank’s massive fist suddenly struck the speaking Thrall, sending the unicorn sailing right over Jacob’s fence and back onto the nearby road.

“You want to know what your big fucking weakness is, padre?” snarled the big, black unicorn. “It’s that you can’t split your attention for too long! You’re struggling even now to control all of these Thralls!”

Jacob regarded the remaining Thralls in his property and then looked beyond them to the others past his gates. They were just standing there, basking in the passive regenerative field of Alfonso’s Domain. They weren’t doing anything. If they wanted to, they could start tearing down his wall or throwing stones that would at least prove to be some distraction to the two defenders. Even with all his skill and experience, Alfonso could only manipulate eight bodies at one time and even then, he could only actively keep two engaging the combatants at any one time.

Time to put that to the test.

He rushed forward, swinging his staff through the air almost like a propeller. As he approached, he made sure to strike the flank of the unicorn to his right and then send another blow to the one of the left. Before either of them could fully react, he snapped a popsicle stick and sent a fireball into the chest of the one right in front of him. With all three impacts occurring at the same time, the Thralls were completely disoriented.

“All because they feed into a single mind…” he concluded. “Damn. I should’ve picked that up.” He gave the reeling Thralls a sheepish stare. “Sorry about this, guys…” Lightning fast, he stabbed the butt of his staff into the groins of the three unicorns. The impact sent all three recoiling, tears welling in their eyes as they fell to their knees. Even though it was only on the three that he had struck, the other Thralls, including the ones beyond the wall, were recoiling as well.

“Frank!” he bellowed. “Try and hit as many of them as you can!”

Taking advantage of the pain Jacob had caused, Frank had seized the heads of two of the unicorns and slammed them together, hard. “Way ahead of you, Reaper. Take advantage of the fact that he’s a fucking micromanager! He didn’t make these Thralls with any sort of self-preservation or personality. He suppressed every instinct in them. They’re just his meat puppets!”

Jacob flicked out a card from his sleeve and then threw it into the air in front of him. As it fluttered down, he jabbed the head of his staff - the one that was shaped like a fountain pen - pinning it in midair. Shards of sharp, icicles shot from the card, fanning out in a blistering blizzard. Alfonso compelled his Thralls to lift their arms over their faces to avoid damage but that was all he was able to do as the damage was spread across each of the unicorns struck. The icicles even went past the gate and struck those that weren’t hiding behind the wall.

Now more than ever, it was clear that Alfonso really couldn’t control too many of his Thralls at once as those standing in front of the gate just stood there, taking the brunt of the damage. It would have been easy to just shuffle to the side and duck behind the brick walls.

“Keep damaging him!” roared Frank. The huge unicorn charged forward, hooking a unicorn around the neck in the crook of his arm in a crushing lariat. He slammed his fellow equine against the brick wall. “The more pain he’s in, the more distracted he’ll be! He’ll be less coordinated!”

Jacob spun his staff, finishing his icy barrage. “I’m liking this side of you, Frank. So commanding! So assertive!”

“You want me to fuck you too, Reaper?” laughed the taller unicorn as he grabbed his foe’s face and dragged him across the wall a few feet. “You can’t handle my cock!”

Reaching into his sleeve and fishing out a few more popsicle sticks, Jacob said, “I’ve had bigger. Yours wouldn’t be the first horse cock I’ve ridden.”

Just as he was about to snap the stick, something seized the back of his coat and suddenly lifted him off the ground. He snapped the stick and threw it over his shoulder only for the world to flip upside down. His coat was dragged away from his shoulders and the ground came slamming into his face. Pain exploded from his nose and his breath rushed out from his lungs. He lifted his head only for a big, powerful hoof to slam against the back of his skull and press it back down against the cobblestones of the footpath leading to his front door.

Alfonso hadn’t been focusing on looking for Dante or the others. The priest had distracted both Frank and Jacob with the standing unicorns while he focused on freeing those that Jacob had restrained. So while the defenders thought they were keeping Alfonso from finding their friends, Alfonso had actually been quietly freeing himself from the chains to catch the two unawares.

“Fuck…” Jacob croaked. “Frank! Behind you!”

Frank managed to turn before three of the Thralls slammed into him, pinning him against the very same wall he had dragged the other Thralls across. Like Jacob, they tore at the coat that offered magical protection. Ultimately, the garment was still made out of cloth and enough force would tear it away. Suddenly without his defenses, Frank was taking hit after hit from his fellow Astral.

“Your tactics were quite commendable,” Alfonso chortled, through the muzzle of the Thrall over Jacob. “But you incorrectly assumed that I am incapable of similar tactics.”

From the corner of his vision, Jacob glared at the unicorn above him. “You realized that we’d realize that we’d never win a war of attrition so we’d have to try and permanently reduce your numbers.”

“So I knew you would try and keep my Thralls on your side of the wall,” agreed Alfonso. “It was so simple to trick you into thinking you had disabled them. When you drew your attention to the rest of my Thralls, all I had to do was free them and catch you unawares.” Alfonso grinned maliciously. “This battle is over.”

“I don’t think so,” Jacob growled, clutching his staff tightly. Pain suddenly exploded from both his wrists as two other hooves came slamming down onto his wrists. He didn’t give Alfonso the pleasure of crying out in pain.

“Please,” scoffed the Astral. “You think that I would have allowed you to just make more sigils to invoke spells with?” The unicorn rolled his eyes. “You severely underestimate me.” Alfonso lifted his gaze to where his other Thralls were dragging his Frank past the gates. “And now, my erstwhile brother will be restored to his proper self.”

Jacob gnashed his teeth together. “What are you talking about?”

Alfonso waved a hand absently through the air. “Whatever you did to my dear brother can be repaired. My Sphere is the Sphere of The Verdant Sanctuary. Anything within my Domain will instantly be restored to a state I deem to be pure. Injuries will be healed. Broken bones will be mended. Wounds will close.” The priest regarded Jacob with a mix of arrogance and scorn. “Confused minds will be cleared.”

“You’re going to re-brainwash Frank!?”

Frank struggled with all his might but the three Thralls had him pinned and more were adding their strength to keeping the big, black unicorn restrained. “Fuck you, Alfonso! I’m not broken! You are! Virgo is just using you!”

Alfonso shook his head, pity in his eyes. “I do not know what sorcery you used to tempt him from the true light and grace that is Virgo but I will cleanse him and return him on the right path.”

“This is some gay-conversion-therapy shit right here,” Jacob snarled. “I could make a comment about this coming from an ultra-conservative man of the cloth but you are far from the puritanical assholes that run those actual camps.”

The priest was unaffected by his barbed words. “Just the desperate barking of a dog that knows he’s going to be put to sleep. Take comfort in the fact that you have not done any lasting damage to my brother and that I will save the others that you have turned with your devilish temptations.”

Frank roared and used his immense arms to suddenly seize the edges of the gate, bending the metal as the Thralls began pulling him back, inching him close and closer to being thrown into Alfonso’s domain.

“God… You really believe that, don’t you?” Jacob rumbled. “Well, if you think I’m the devil, how’s about this? Infr -”

A terrifying bellow erupted from the front gates. Alfonso was momentarily distracted allowing Jacob to complete his incantation.

“Infruego Vilifali!

Seething, black flames erupted from him, exploding upwards in a surge of fire. Angry, red edges slashed at Alfonso’s Thrall, cutting into singed flesh while simultaneously hurling the unicorn off him and ten feet into the air. The same flames slammed into the two Thralls pinning his hands, hurling them away. The furious inferno lunged at the three Thralls, their forms twisting into mocking, demonic features that laughed and cackled while snapping and striking at the unicorns. Jacob gingerly tried to rise to his feet, pushing up with his hands. Pain rocketed up his wrists and he slammed back down into the ground.

“Definitely broken…” he grumbled, shutting one eye against the pain.

Angling his head towards Frank, he was struck by both surprise and a bit of terror. Frank’s entire body just exploded into a surge of black goo like his entire body had just liquefied and was not surging back towards him in the shape of an enormous, ebony tsunami. The torrent rushed past the remaining Thralls, forcing them to the ground and leaving behind a thick, sticky residue that seemed to solidify and pin them to the ground.

The black mass scooped up Jacob, sweeping him off his feet and barreled through the front door. It slammed the door shut a second later before gently lowering Jacob onto the hardwood floors and retreating a few feet. There, the mass wiggled and shifted, the silhouette of Frank Valentino forming through the goo before eventually solidifying fully back into the black unicorn.

“Holy shit, Frank,” Jacob laughed through a wince. “Didn’t know you could do that.”

The Italian biker regarded his massive hands and watched as small tendrils of black goo seemed to wiggle out from his fingertips before sliding back into his limbs. “I didn’t either… I just… It was just like this thing inside me called out, taking over my whole body and… and came out like this.”

Such a description only fit one phenomenon. Jacob had only ever heard it described to him before and Virgil had demonstrated it only once in front of him when the Godhunter had manipulated the Celestial Cradle.

“Soul Manifestation,” he concluded, trying again to prop himself up. His hands ached and immediately gave way. Frank rushed forward, grabbing the back of his head before it struck the floor. “You managed to manifest the true shape of your soul and use it’s power.”

“The fuck?” was all Frank could say. “How? I thought that was only a thing Godhunters and your boys could do.”

Jacob offered a lopsided grin, still fighting back the pain. “No. Everyone and anyone can manifest their soul. It’s just a lot harder for normal people.” Frank propped him up and dragged him across the room to the coffee table and chairs right next to the front door. “It’s easier for those who have managed to change their shape by manipulating their soul like you Astrals and Celestials. It’s the inherent power of sorcerers. In fact, in ancient times, they were called soulcerers because of this power. There’s even this theory that one who first made the Celestial Cradle was a soulcerer whose Soul Manifestation was to create a physical link with the leylines.”

“This isn’t the time for a history lesson,” Frank snarled. “Your fucking hands are broken.”

“I’ll manage.” Jacob forced his right hand into a fist and slammed it against the coffee table three times in three different locations. A small compartment slid open on the side of the table revealing a few vials of red liquid. Still fighting through the pain, he grabbed one and seized the cork in his teeth to pull it open. Then he downed the entire brew, grimacing at the thick, slimy, warm liquid slipped down his throat. Once he finished it, he gasped and placed the vial back on the table.

“Shit… it’s like drinking warm, watery yogurt,” he gagged. As he finished those words, warmth tingled all over his body starting from his stomach. That heat soothed the pain all over his body. Bruises and cuts miraculously healed, bathed in a soft, red light.

“Health potion?” Frank asked.

Jacob offered him one. “Health potion,” he agreed. “I’ve got them hidden all over the place in case we ever had some sort of protracted siege that needed us to go from floor to floor while holding our own.” He groaned as he got to his feet. “In retrospect, it probably isn’t a good idea especially if our enemies start following typical RPG-rules and looting the place.”

A glance out the window revealed that the black, sticky substance had stalled Alfonso somewhat. The unicorns struck by Frank were pinned in place. Trying to move their bodies from the substance was incredibly difficult and he could almost hear every strand of hair being ripped from their roots as other Thralls tried to extract their brothers from the substance.

“Is that… tar?” he asked, narrowing his gaze. “Your Soul Manifestation is some sort of really sticky, really quick-hardening tar.”

“Why tar?”

Jacob shrugged as he scanned the battlefield. He couldn’t find his staff or coat anywhere. “Soul Manifestation isn’t an exact science. Souls are an amalgamation of all your experiences up to this point built upon the foundation of the countless soul fragments that was given to you at birth.”

“I would’ve thought since I could change the shape of my soul and my body, I’d be able to tell my soul how it’d manifest.” Frank grinned a little a flexed both his biceps. “I was kind of hoping something else. Maybe make myself ten times stronger or a second pair of arms.”

“That’s a kink,” Jacob replied, pulling away from the window. “But no, you can dictate the shape of your soul. Not it’s contents which is the basis of your Soul Manifestation. I suppose it’s possible to groom a soul to manifest in a certain way but it’s never been done as far as I’m aware.”

He glanced at the clock, eyes narrowed. “Okay. If I’m right, the boys should be arriving at Starwalk Valley.”

Frank grinned at him and rolled his shoulder. “So it’s time for the endgame. You prepare the Lance. I’ll hold off Alfonso.”

“You sure?” he asked warily. “Alfonso is likely to have more tricks up his sleeve.”

“I’ve got my own,” answered the black equine with a grin. “Not to mention I’ve got a new toy to play with.”

Jacob nodded and stepped over to the center of the floor, holding out his hands to either side. “Alright. Keep him away from me for as long as you can. Let me know if you see any sign that he might be distracted by Dante or the others.”

Frank stomped over to the entrance foyer, placing himself directly in front of the door. “Don’t worry. If there’s anything I’m good at, it’s figuring out when people are weak.”

Matteo Valentino

Sex can be both intimate and casual. In this journal, you will have learned about many of Virgo’s Astrals that fall everywhere along the spectrum. However, we have not discussed Matteo Valentino who treats all form of sex merely as part of business.

While arguably farthest from the most powerful of the Astrals, Matteo is the closest to embodying Virgo’s personality and approach to humanity. Cold, uncaring and considering humanity as mere tools for his own pleasures. I am fairly sure he holds no love for Virgo as a whole and only follows his ‘god’ simply because it is most convenient to him.

To this end, Matteo holds a warped sense of loyalty to Virgo and his more prolific recruiter. It was through Matteo’s promiscuity and manipulations that the town of Giannivos to fall completely under Virgo’s sway. He knew who to sleep with, whom to blackmail and who to convert into Thralls to have the town regard Virgo in a more positive light. This was, of course, after Alfonso had fallen and it was, in fact, Matteo who had scouted out the wayward priest.

In my few encounters with Matteo, he comes off as uncaring and perhaps even a little slothful but he has a dedication to protecting himself and his way of life that borders on the rabid.

If anything ever threatens his person or the comforts he is accustomed to, he will not hesitate to kill.

Be wary of him, my dearest Dante.

_ _

*******

November 25th, 7:00 PM, Blueslopes National Park

Even back in ancient times, Russ had a policy: duty above all else.

It had been his duty to protect the gates of Hades’ Domain so that nothing ever got out and no one ever came in that wasn’t already dead. History, however, told of his failings. Persephone he didn’t bear a grudge against. Her departure from the underworld was due to the gods’ politics and machinations. Hercules he absolutely loathed as the brute basically muscled his way in. There were others but they had never been recorded in the history books.

Constant failure was not something Hades tolerated and he was already on thin ice by the time he met Orpheus. The musician was a Godhunter, driven to go against the gods when his wife, Eurydice, had been taken. Things became very complicated when the two met and, ultimately, it was Orpheus that convinced the legendary hellhound to abandon his post and join the Godhunters.

Duty above all else… but one’s duty can always change.

It was with that in mind that he had no qualms with leaving Reaper and Frank to act as a distraction against Alfonso. His duty was to complete the Godhunters’ long task and finally bring an end to the Celestials once and for all. Even without the Cradle, Celestials were still running around, manipulating people and causing the leylines to stagnate.

“Hurry up, you two,” he growled, stomping through the thick underbrush of Starwalk Valley. It had been relatively easy to make their way down from the coastal town of Angelton to the port nearest the Valley. As Jacob had said, there was a truck waiting for them. Flash and Dante were able to fit in the cabin while Russ, being the bigger of the three, had to sit in the tray on the back. Given the time of day, no one was around especially since the Valley was known for its aging population.

Following the map Reaper had provided, they drove through the wooden arches denoting the last as Blueslopes National Park and promptly headed into the brush. Concern bubbled up in his chest when they saw multiple police cars and some ranger trucks parked at the entrance but they were all abandoned at that point. Russ guessed that Alfonso either sent them away or they were caught in the Astral’s Domain, rendering them passive.

His theory was proved right when they got close to the cars and their articles of clothing began shedding threads of luminescent blue threads. Alfonso’s Domain had encapsulated a large portion of the park and had ensnared the officers looking into the phenomenon. He only hoped that none of them had been transformed into Thralls.

Behind him, Dante and Flash were panting and sweating, the hard trek taking its toll on the boys. Despite having the bodies of bodybuilders, they had just obtained said bodies and were still getting used to moving around in them. Being mostly naked didn’t help either and Russ could smell the fear coming from them, especially Dante.

“Please slow down,” Flash grunted, crawling up the slope. “I’ve never been this far up…”

“… or climbed a mountain this steep,” Dante added.

“We dun have time ta slow down,” growled Russ. “Reaper an’ Frank have been fightin’ Alfonso non-stop for the past hour. I dun care how well-prepared the wizard is or how strong Frank says he is, they can’t keep this up for much longer.”

“I know, I know,” Dante pleaded. “But what good will it do us to reach Alfonso tired?”

That was a fair point. Glancing off in the direction of Angelton he sighed softly and crouched down against one of the nearby trees. Seeing his stance, the two pups slumped against logs of their own, grateful for the break. Flash reached into the backpack he had brought and fished out a bottle of water. He tossed it towards Dante and then grabbed another, offering it to Russ who shook his head.

“How can you at least not be thirsty?” Flash asked, popping the cap of his bottle and tilting his head back.

“‘Cuz I’m gettin’ my strength from your fear.”

The two regarded him with a mix of curiosity and terror, the latter of which he immediately began absorbing.

“Our fear…?” Dante asked warily.

“Dun ya think ya should be a little more scared right now?” Russ asked, holding up his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart. “Yer goin’ up against one of Virgo’s best, his oldest living Astral. He’s already fucker your town an’ mind-raped two dozen men into his Thralls. We’re deep in his territory and our defenses are getting ripped away.” For emphasis, he gestured at the blue thread that drifted away in some unseen wind from the scarf around his neck. “We’re on the clock and here you are, still ready to fight.”

“That’s because you’re eating our fear?” Flash demanded. “Dude! Who gave you the right?”

“Would you rather be pissin’ yourself and cowerin’ back in a corner until Alfonso comes and takes you away?”

“I would’ve fought!”

Russ let out a soft, derisive snort. “No. That ain’t true. Even when you were fighting Frank, I was already usin’ my Mantle an’ Sphere to make sure you fought.” He nodded towards Dante. “I drained all of you of your fear. Even Reaper. Then I made you hornier so that you’d actually go down on the Thralls.” He gave Dante a lopsided smirk. “Seriously. You just went down on three guys and never questioned it.”

The pups exchanged glances and then threw fiery gazes at Russ.

“You manipulated us?” Dante demanded. “You messed with our emotions like that? How could you?”

“What are ya to me but the guys that Virgil chose to carry on his fight?” He nodded towards Dante. “Just an hour ago, you were holed up in your room freaking out about your grandpa’s diary and paralyzed with fear. You literally weren’t doing anything but sitting in your room.” He then glanced towards Flash. “You were so freaked out that you were really unfocused and basically bouncin’ off the walls. If I didn’t drain you of your fear, you’d both be useless right now.”

“That doesn’t make it right!” Flash snapped.

“It doesn’t make it moral. It was the right thing to do.” Russ turned his head in the direction he could smell Alfonso. The Astral reeked of overconfidence and Virgo’s perverse ‘purity’. “B’sides, we’re meant to act as some sort of trio or triad. Dante drains people of divinity, Flash stores and purifies it and I shoot it back. If you think about it, we can keep each other fed and nourished. You boys keep being afraid, angry or horny, I drain it from you, Dante sucks it out of me and then it goes to Flash.”

Dante tilted his head a little to the side. “So… like perpetual energy?”

“Not really.” Russ turned back to Dante. “If I take away your fear of somethin’, I’m not changing your mind about it. You’ll still be afraid of it the next time you think about it but you’ll be less afraid than you were before.”

“Because you helped us get over that fear,” Dante concluded. Flash had this confused look on his face so Dante explained further. “It’s like developing an immunity to something. Russ is helping us ‘recover’ from the initial hit of fear and then next time it comes, we won’t be hurt as bad. Eventually, though…” He glanced back towards Russ. “We’ll no longer be afraid of that thing.”

“You sure you’re not using your powers on us right now?” growled Flash.

Russ held up his paw. “It’s how my Mantle and Sphere works, remember? I can only drain either one of fear, anger or lust. Then whatever else is left, I can inflict on someone else. It won’t do me any good to make either of you angry or horny right now. Though I guess…”

He rose from his seat and approached Dante. Crouching down next to the black wolf, he didn’t detect any sort of fear towards him from those bright, green eyes. There was still some lingering fear about the situation and Alfonso but nothing towards him. Curiosity shone in there but not fear. Virgil’s faith in this boy was well-placed.

He grabbed the sides of Dante’s face and then pulled the stunned muzzle towards him. There was no foreplay, no warning. He just went right in and dived from Dante’s tonsils, thrusting his tongue into that muzzle and brushing it against the roof of the smaller wolf’s muzzle. It didn’t take long for Dante’s instincts to kick in. There was a second of hesitation and then he began suckling on Russ’ tongue. A little bit of lust tacked on and suddenly, Dante was wrapping his arms around the hellhound’s broad shoulders and pulling him closer.

Not long after that, Russ felt the divine energies he had accumulated start draining from his muzzle and seeping into Dante. The fear that had kept him full and healthy funneled into the young wolf. He indulged the pup just for a few more moments before forcibly breaking the kiss even though Dante whimpered in need, the wolf’s bright-red cock already peaking out of his sheath.

“You have decent control over your powers already,” he observed. “Seems like you can switch on or off when you drain something of divine energies. That’s good.” He jerked his head towards Flash. “Now go an’ give some of that to Flash.”

Dante took a second to regard his paws. “That was… I feel… way better now. Not fully rested but… but like I can keep going at least.”

“That’s your new body,” Russ explained. “Kinda like having a Mantle. Seein’ as you drain the divine energies from other Celestials, it’s not really a Mantle.” He jerked his head towards Flash. “Same with Flash. He doesn’t really have a Mantle either. Seems like you give him divine energies and then he ‘digests’ them to gain strength.”

Dante turned his gaze towards Flash, narrowing his eyes. “I can still see those three remnants of Virgo’s corruption hovering behind Flash. They’re crumbling away slowly but…”

“Giving me Russ’ kiss probably won’t make me digest them faster,” Flash grunted, rising to his feet. He stretched his broad arms behind his head. “I’m feeling pretty good already. We can keep going.”

“You probably don’t drain your stores until you need them,” Russ observed. “You get to keep whatever divinity you have stored and only dip into it when you’re injured or tired.” He gave the crimson wolf a smirk. “Out of all of us, you’re probably the one that can keep fighting the longest or at least recover the fastest if you’ve got the stockpile for it.”

He turned towards Alfonso, the air basically stinking of the Astral’s scent. Like Frank, it had a strong lemony scent to it but it had a herbal quality to it instead of the muskiness of their befriended unicorn. It was almost offensive; like someone had stuck rather stinging incense into a lemon and the two scents were now burning his nostrils.

“Break time is over,” he announced. “Let’s go.”

Dante got up from where he was sitting. “Did… Did you use some of your power on me?”

Russ began trudging through the underbrush again, the slope becoming more and more aggressive as he progressed. “Yeah. Lust. Hate using it though.”

“Why?”

He held up three fingers. “Of the three that I use on people, lust is prolly the one I use the least often. It’s really fucking dangerous. Anger is fleeting. Make someone angry and they can snap out of it fairly easily. To make it worth something, I have to keep applying it. Really draining. Fear can be irrational and is just a step above anger. Lust is the hardest to control. Make someone way too horny and there’s no stopping them. So I use it sparingly.”

Flash, once again full of energy, bounded up next to Russ. “Can’t you just keep switching which ones you use? Like you hit someone with a hell of a lot of lust, they get super-crazy horny and then you start draining them and you get that back?”

“I can,” Russ answered with a shrug. “Common tactic for me, in fact. Make someone horny. I fuck them while they’re in heat and suck them dry of their lust as they cum. Then, the regret sets in and I just have to shoot a little bit of anger in there and I’ll have dessert. One of the reasons I’ve been able to live for so long.” He glanced off to the side. “This world is either angry, horny or afraid at any given time.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Dante said, coming up to Russ’ other flank. “I mean, the world can be hopeful, right?”

“That’s just people getting a hard-on for better times.”

“Uhm… Loving?”

“Horny for sex.”

“Compassionate!” Flash exclaimed. “People give to charity and there are times when the whole world is moved by something!”

“Either angry or afraid,” said Russ dismissively. “Angry at an atrocity or afraid that if they don’t do something, they’ll be judged or something worse will happen.” He waved them down as he began to crouch, behind a large bush.

Ahead of them stood a big, portly unicorn. The guy was enormous in sheer mass and muscle. While nowhere near as tall or defined as Frank, there was some real strength beneath that alabaster fur. He held himself with the humble slumped shoulders of a priest but the arrogantly raised head of a dictator. The silvery mane that hung from his head was well-groomed and not at all like the shaggy, disarray that was Frank’s. Broad, powerful shoulders wallowed a thick neck and framed big, plump pectorals. Each perky nipple was competing against the large belly with six solid abdominal muscles pressing past flesh and fur for which one had the highest peak. Powerful, corded arms gripped the backs of two Thralls’ heads, pressing them against his tree-trunk thighs as the unicorns worshiped his bulging quads with their long tongues and caressed his swollen calves with their hands.

Russ slowly lifted his head into the air, sampling the aroma that permeated the atmosphere. “Do you smell that?” he asked quietly.

Flash followed his lead and sniffed the air. The burly, tattooed wolf shook his head. “All I’m picking up are… like… wet grass, wood and shit tonne of precum.”

To his point, Alfonso was very erect. All three of the unicorns were and they were perpetually leaking clear fluids into the ground. Russ glanced at Dante who had closed his eyes and was taking, long, quiet, breaths.

“I’m picking up…” Dante began softly. “A strong hint of lemon. It’s thick. Almost like a wall. It’s weirdly… floral? Herbaceous? Hard to describe. It’s like really strong lemon tea.”

It amazed the hellhound just how sensitive Dante’s senses were. “That’s exactly it,” he answered. While keeping low, he gestured around himself. “Alfonso’s Domain is all around us. It leaves a lighter scent. But right there…” He pointed a claw in the direction of the three unicorns. “There’s a large concentration of it. If I had to guess…”

“… He’s created a more concentrated version of it around him,” Dante answered, his brilliant green eyes opening. “I can see it. It’s not just a shield. It’s like looking a lemon jell-o.” He cocked his head towards Russ. “What did Frank say his power was?”

“The Verdant Sanctuary,” Flash provided. “He can basically revert anything within his influence back to whatever he wants.” The crimson wolf looked towards Angelton. “I’m guessing he’s using his Domain right now to keep his Thralls fresh.” Then his blue eyes flicked back towards where the Astral and his two worshipers were standing. “Who knows what’ll happen to us if we get into that field.”

Alfonso suddenly let out a soft chuckle.

“I can feel you out there,” exclaimed the cleric. The alabaster unicorn turned his gaze in their direction. Alfonso was looking a little to their right so it was clear that he couldn’t actually see them directly. “You might as well come out. You’re wasting your time.”

Russ huffed softly and got to his feet, emerging from the underbrush and stopping just shy of where the scent of herbal lemon became unbearable. Alfonso regarded him with an edge of curiosity. Both eyebrows rose when Flash and Dante emerged and came to stand before Russ.

“I had expected the wizard to have recruited the three Thralls that Frank had made on his failed attempt at the Cradle,” the unicorn said. “And yet here you stand. The three Celestials made from the activation of the Cradle. I suppose it would be too much to hope that you brought the Cradle with you.”

“That’d be stupid,” Russ answered before either of his charges could say anything. Being an Astral meant that Virgo still had a connection with Alfonso. Who knew how deep that connection ran. If they revealed the Cradle had been destroyed and re-purposed into Dante and Flash, Celestials could be going after the two with renewed fervor or even their loved ones. Worse yet, with the Cradle gone, the Celestials could even go on an all-out rampage after learning the status-quo had been disrupted.

“I suppose it would be,” chuckled Alfonso, spreading his arms wide as if to welcome them. “We have not officially met. I am Alfonso Valentino. I am the eldest of Lord Virgo’s living Astrals. I welcome you to my sanctuary.”

Flash bared his fangs. For a second, Russ thought he saw black flames licking out from between the pup’s fangs. It could have been the light. “You mean like how you welcomed those rangers down at the base of the trail and those two Thralls? Who were they before you turned them into your horny zombies? People with friends and family? With lives outside of Virgo?”

Alfonso sighed in an exaggerated manner and gave his head a shake. “Oh, such a poor lost soul. I do not know what words have poisoned your mind against God but we all belong to Virgo.” The priest lowered his hands, gently caressing the manes of the two other unicorns that were lapping at his quads. “Once I bring him the Celestial Cradle, my lord will ascend to be the one true god, ruling over everyone else and spreading his Domain across the world.”

“How can you call him ‘God’ when he doesn’t have the Cradle?” Dante demanded.

“That is the beauty of faith, my dear boy,” chuckled Virgo. “There are billions out there that believe in gods that are mere fabrications of the Godhunters. Their salvation will never come. Yet they kneel, bow, beg and pray all the same believing in a fantasy that they call truth. The only difference between their fantasy and mine is that mine is based on truth instead of just being one in name.”

Russ snorted and cross his big, brawny arms. “Yer pretty confident. What makes you think that your truth is better than say Leo’s or maybe even Libra’s? Isn’t Leo meant to be more powerful than Virgo?”

Alfonso was unperturbed and merely kept an infuriatingly benign smile on his muzzle. “None of that will matter once Lord Virgo has the Cradle.” He reached out to them, offering his hand. “Why not earn your place by his side? My master would need some guard dogs.”

Russ’ ears twitched and his lips pealed back slightly in agitation. “Poor choice of words, rainbow-shits.” He unfolded his arms and added a little more pressure to the wet ground on his left. Grass and soil blackened, red veins of fire crackling across their surface. The mass of hell energies jutted upwards, twisting and curling into a large, long spear. He seized the weapon and hurled the javelin right at Alfonso.

The priest didn’t even flinch. He never moved and one of his Thralls merely got up and snatched the weapon from the air. Within seconds, the black and read weapon dissolved back into blades of grass and damp soil.

“Fascinating,” commented Alfonso. “The Celestial Cradle certainly grants the most amazing of abilities. But like your wizard friend and my wayward brother, you will realize the futility of this fight soon enough.” The white unicorn spread his arms wide again. “Anything you throw at me will simply be reverted back to what it originally was. Any harm you do to me will be healed! Nothing you do will have a lasting effect!”

“Not if I cave your head in!” barked Russ. He spread out both his paws. Black hellforged axes erupted from the ground beside him, leaping from the earth and into his paws. He threw them both hurtling towards Alfonso. Predictably, both of the Thralls leaped to their leader’s defense. The one on the left swatted the first axe away but the other was just a little too slow and instead lifted his arm bot block it. The wicked weapon sank into the meaty part of his arm, biting into bone. The Thrall screamed in agony before tearing the weapon away as it exploded into grass and dirt. The Thrall fell to his knees, clutching his arm as blood gushed out of it. The other unicorn stepped in front of him, protecting him.

Russ paid close attention to the wounded Thrall. It only took about seven seconds before the wound stooped oozing blood and the flow of life fluids began to reverse itself. At fifteen seconds exactly, the would had completely stitched itself together and was gone.

Fifteen seconds.

It would take about fifteen seconds between injury and complete recovery. Not a lot of time but he could work with that.

“You boys stand back,” Russ growled, flicking his wrists. Small hellforged knives shot from the ground and he immediately seized them. Flash and Dante took a few steps back, giving him the room he needed to fling both weapons at Alfonso. Like before, the two Thralls jumped in to defend their master. The closest one took both weapons to the chest, gasping and falling to his knees. This allowed the other to step forward and take his place.

Thud! Thud!

Another two knives jammed into the man’s belly. Russ hadn’t wasted a second and the moment those weapons impacted, he already had another two in his paws and were throwing them. The flurry of knives forced the Thralls to fight through the pain even as Alfonso’s concentrated Domain reverted the hellforged weapons back into a pile of detritus. Their wounds were healing but fifteen seconds was a long time to get over agonizing pain and Russ was throwing and generating the knives faster than they could heal.

Alfonso must have realized that in this particular war of attrition, he would likely lose his guardians. The least injured of the Thralls let out a roar and charged forward, fighting through the pain of the multiple wounds all over his upper body and lowered his head to level his horn at Russ.

Just as the legendary hellhound had wanted.

As the Thrall came within striking distance, he infused his soul into the ground beneath him, taking hold of the very matter of the grass and earth. Centuries of existence immediately infused the very earth, twisting and turning it black. Just the mere presence of his soul was enough to bend matter itself to his will. It was then just a simple matter of using his soul for forge the new hellforged mass into something usable. Like countless ethereal hands working within the black matter, he crafted a stubby shaft and a thick, heavy, square head three times as big as his fist.

All of this occurred in less than a second and the new weapon erupted up from the ground to his right. He snatched the hammer from where it sat atop a little spire of hellforged earth and brought it crashing down onto the unicorn’s spine, just below the neck. The Thrall crumbled to the ground, dazed but quickly recovering.

Russ immediately seized the equine by his horn and flipped him over. “Dante!”

The black wolf immediately bounded forward and knelt beside the downed Thrall. For a second, Dante regarded the semi-flaccid dick of the equine before him before shaking his head and placing both paws on the wounded chest of the Thrall. The unicorn immediately knew something was wrong and reached out for Dante. Russ knelt down himself and tore off a piece of the scarf around his neck. He used the fabric to bind equine’s wrists together and pin them to the ground. Hellforged mass launched up from the ground and seized the unicorn’s ankles, holding him down.

A holler of rage erupted from Alfonso’s vicinity and the remaining Thrall came charging forward. Flash, reading the situation, jumped in and slammed his body against the unicorn, both of them caught in a wrestling grapple. This time, Russ was sure he saw black flames licking out between Flash’s fangs.

The unicorn beneath him stopped struggling, his dazed eyes staring off into the distance and a strange sense of calm crossing his features. The equine features began receding, that spiral horn shrinking back into his forehead. Fur shrank back into pink, tanned flesh, the blackened and hardened fingernails turning a pale pink while bone and muscle began deflating.

It was working. Slowly but it was working.

Russ knew that with the three of them occupied, Alfonso could pounce at any moment. When he detected the scent of herbal lemon growing stronger, he knew that the priest had concocted a counterattack.

“Back off! Now!” he bellowed, immediately getting to his feet and grabbed Dante by the scruff. He threw a hellforged knife into the Thrall Flash was engaging, forcing the unicorn to howl in pain. Flash kicked the beast in the stomach and scampered back until he was standing next to Flash and Dante.

“He expanded his concentrated Domain,” Dante announced. Virgil’s furry grandson widened his eyes in surprise. “He’s healing all the damage we did! Even the divinity I sucked out.”

“But you still have the stuff you got, right?” Russ asked. Dante nodded as the standing Thrall wrenched his pinned brother off the ground by breaking the hellforged mass holding him down. Within fifteen seconds, the formerly downed Thrall’s eyes obtained that focused, laser-like stare as his soul was once again controlled by Alfonso.

“I must admit,” Alfonso laughed softly. “That caught me off guard. I was not sure what Mantles you may have obtained but to seems the little one there draining the very divinity from my man…” The alabaster unicorn shook his head and laughed. “Simply amazing. You would be welcome amongst Virgo’s pantheon. I am sure with such a power, we could rid the world of the remaining Celestials or at least make them bend the knee.”

“Flash,” Russ growled softly. “Give me some energy.”

Flash held out a paw. “Uhm… I’m not sure how. I’m pretty good in taking in divine power but I’ve never really given it out except when… when I…” His already red cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Russ rolled his eyes. “For fuck’s sake…” He sized Flash’s furry sheath, giving it a gentle squeeze. A soft yip left the pup’s muzzle and his eyelids fluttered. The mass in Russ’ paw began to warm up and grow plumper but at the same time, Russ felt raw and purified divine energies flowing into his veins from the point of contact. Hot, thick fudge was pumped straight into his muscles and bone, his veins quickly distributing it through the rest of his body. It was a sensation he hadn’t felt since he was connected to the Celestial Cradle back in ancient times.

This was unlike sampling mortal fear, anger or lust as part of his Mantle. This was what it felt like to have the raw energies of the leylines seeping through his veins, powering him. Dante’s theory was right. Flash could somehow purify the corrupted energies of the Celestials and turn them into the pure ambrosia of the leylines.

Fangs bared, he lifted his free paw towards Alfonso who still stood there smugly with his hands clasped behind his back. The very air around his fingers sizzled and crackled.

Crrrrrrack!

Red veins of fire lanced out from his fingertips, crawling across some invisible surface. Alfonso’s confident smile wavered a little as those veins crawled out further and further, slowly curving through the air and outlining the shape of his concentrated Domain. The entire dome obtained a faint orange tint like he was encased in a globe of sunset. Where Russ touched, the Domain began to blacken.

“Consuming my very Domain to power your own abilities,” huffed the unicorn. “Now that is truly impressive. You recognize that you could never beat me when I am within my own Domain so you’re looking to destroy my Domain instead. Clever.”

The two Thralls, both of whom were now fully healed, once again knelt beside their Astral, running their hands all over his body, worshiping him.

“But you fail to realize that I have infinite power in here,” declared Alfonso. “My Mantle of Virginity draws strength from anything and anyone who have not felt the touch of certain experiences.” He grinned savagely at the three hounds. “So long as these two remain virgins in one way shape or form, I will have infinite energy! Can you say the same?”

Dante suddenly moved, stepping behind Flash and pressing both his paws against his friend’s broad, red back. “No but we don’t need infinite power!” declared the black-furred wolf. “We just need to get to you!”

Russ grinned savagely. Even where he stood, he could feel Dante pushing the divine energies he had consumed from that one Thrall into Flash who was subsequently converting his current stores into pure divine energy and then giving it to Russ. The hellhound gave his paw a powerful push, shoving his hellforged powers deeper into the Domain. The cracked dome buckled, sliding back and compelling the three to step forward.

“You wanna know what I think?” declared the hellhound, stomping forward and causing the Domain to shrink. “You’re a hell of a tactician but you can’t fight for shit. Still a man of the cloth and all that. You’ve got the a hell of a body but you’ve never used it in a fight. That’s why you’re relying on your Thralls to do the fighting for you.” His grin grew broader as they reached the point where Alfonso’s Domain had been already. Every step from this point on was a gain. “But you still don’t trust your own Thralls to act on their own. That’s why you take direct control of them instead of letting them do their thing like Frank did.”

“Where’s that ‘faith’, huh?” snapped Dante. “You have all your faith in your ‘god’ but none in humanity!”

The pup was getting into this. That was good.

They continued their advance, pushing Alfonso back as the unicorn could only stare and push back with all his might. Against the pure leyline energies pumping through Russ’ veins, however, an Astral’s extremely watered-down powers, no matter if he had two power sources desperately tonguing his thighs, was no match.

“And you know what else?” Russ said with a grin. “Your tactics were shit. You fell for our trap.”

Alfonso’s eyes narrowed and his lips turned up into a snarl. “So you used your wizard and Frank as a distraction so that you could sneak up behind me and strike me?” The priest let out a short, derisive laugh. “Fool. What you failed to realize is that I can turn anyone in my Domain into my Thrall! You remember all those police officers and rangers at the base of the trail?” He grinned at them savagely. “How would you fare, I wonder, if they were to come up behind you while your own ‘backup’ is miles away!?”

When Russ’ grin didn’t waver, Alfonso’s did. Even Dante was grinning and Flash, through his lust-filled haze, did the same.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Russ declared.

The air shifted. Electricity crackled through the air causing the fur all over Russ’ body to stand on end. Loose pieces of dirt began lifting off the ground, compelled by a force that defied the very laws of reality. Small bolts of blue lightning snapped through the air, starting ethereal sapphire flames against the grass that flickered in and out a moment later. Howling winds whipped up in a loose circle around them, forming a vortex that quickly began to close in on one figure - Alfonso.

The priest’s eyes turned upwards where the clouds seemed to part in a circular manner to allow the night sky to shine through. His jaw dropped open in surprise as the elemental maelstrom around them intensified. The surprise only lasted for a few moments before he turned back towards Russ, realization hitting him.

“You!” accused the white-furred Astral.

“Yeah,” Russ replied with a grin. “You may think you’re some hotshot tactician or something but even you can’t keep your attention on two places at once.”

“Yeah, asshole!” shouted Flash with a grin. “Jake knew that you were basically micromanaging your Thralls! So he sent us to distract you! That gave him time to prepare!”

Alfonso looked towards the northeast, towards Angelton. “So this was your plan,” he accused, likely talking through his Thralls. “A double fake. You purposefully made me aware of the second team coming to attack me. You made me think that they had the Cradle. Then when my attention was one them, you had time to prepare this.” His snarl turned into a grin as he turned his head upwards. “But your timing was off! Anything you send down I will send right back!”

He pushed both of his palms into the air. Russ smelled the focus of the priest’s concentrated Domain shift, all of it turning upwards in a sort of pillar. The cracked dome of the Domain fled from his palms coalesced around the cleric and his two Thralls, a single cylinder of concentrated divine energies.

Exactly as he had planned.

“Boom,” was all he said.

In all of the havoc and exchanges, Alfonso had never removed the scarf that was wrapped around his Thrall’s wrists. Tucked within the magically protected fabric was a little sticker, one that Jacob had given Russ. That rune consumed all the magical energies bound within the scarf, transforming the protective spells into destructive ones.

The scarf began to glow a malicious red, drawing Alfonso’s gaze for a brief moment.

BOOM!

Fire, ash and an incredible force exploded from the scarf. From where he stood, the blast was little more than a brief gust of wind but Russ could see both Thralls being thrown several feet away onto their backs while Alfonso was knocked down to his knees.

That was when Reaper struck.

Distracted and unable to focus, Alfonso was prey to the huge beam of light that descended from the sky. It was only a brief burst, little more than a lightning strike to most onlookers, but it’s effect was felt all the way to Angelton. The beam, taking the shape of a glowing, white lance, cut through all of Alfonso’s defenses and slammed into the ground where the priest had been standing. The Domain shattered like glass, even the focused one exploding into a shower of shimmering, ephemeral pieces that splintered and cracked in the air. A similar scene unfolded over all of Alfonso’s Domain like an enormous glass dome shattered into a billion, tiny, crystalline pieces.

Russ didn’t waste second.

He charged at the stunned Alfonso. Each step he took, he summoned more and more of hellforged matter to craft an enormous greatsword over his shoulder. He seized the weapon with both paws and just as he approached, Alfonso, he swung it -

… and stopped.

Alfonso was kneeling in front of him, both hands in the air…

… surrendering.

“I give up.”