Welcome to Gaia! ::

Altima smiled in response. "So you come out here for what purpose? Oh mortal bound by Chaos, you're such a pathetic excuse for a 'master,' with the charred remains of your dark heart. To think that one of my own is slave to one such as yourself is quite disappointing. Our passions even in our darkest hour is worth 100x more than your kindest," she stated, moving her silver bangs a bit. "Is Chaos what you use to fill that void you call a soul, my dear?"

Fiora watched what was going on between the esper and Maluc, and having spotted Tsunaimei, makes her way to the exhausted knight. Kneeling down next to where Altima had left her, the judge cast a cure2 upon her, just to be safe. She hadn't seen the fighting that occurred, thus any injures could be where she couldn't immediately see them.

Meanwhile, Yumei had helped get Lyrac situated in one of the rooms. A squire had taken the former judge's sword elsewhere. Had it been lighter, Yumei wouldn't have minded to do it herself. She sighed while standing in the hall. Would 3 men be enough to keep Lyrac back if he tried to attack them once he woke up?

Maluc laughed at Altima's words. "Pathetic cast away! Your ignorance shows with such boundless expanse as you speak such obvious facts as insult. If I found passion in kindness then perhaps I'd still be as weak as any of you tainted Undying trash. And you speak to me about my soul? I have nothing so feeble and fragile, so mortal as that. For one who's supposed to be such an omnipotent masterpiece, you sure are blind." As Maluc had been speaking small traces of green had begun seeping downwards tracing the previous outlines of the mask, by the end of his speech they had traced the entire outline of his helmet that was missing as well and begun on pieces of his armor. With a flash of green and white the mask and helmet became whole. With a choked cry the demonic judge fell to his knees clutching his head. "NO! I was free!" He screamed at nothing, writhing in pain on the floor. Soon the green lines had traced where his armor had been as well. With another green flash his armor had become fully repaired and the demon's voice fell silent, leaving an armored body breathing heavily upon the ground.

Rising to his feet the Judge stood weary and without balance. Looking around it took him a moment to realize where he was. "Hashmal, come out. It's over and we have work to do."

Watching silently as the lion reported to him he shook his head. "We'll figure something out friend, but now is not the time." He replied letting the esper rise. Watching once again as Hashmal began to apologize and beg for forgivness from Altima, he knew it would be his turn next to speak on his regrets. Before he approached though he glanced around the room in a dark awe of the destruction that had been wrought upon the Order's cathedral hall.

It was then that he spied Tsunaimei, wounded and bloodied from battle. "No." The word escaped his lips and no sooner than it fallen silent upon the room had he teleported to stand next to the sapphire knight. Casting a spell immediately a blue glow engulfed him, the Renew spell was more than he should be able to cast in such a weakened state, and while he knew it was beyond him he was willing to put some of his life force into the cast. With so much stress in it's casting Maluc was unable to speak it's incantation as he set the white magic forward. With a bright white glow it engulfed the blue knight healing any wound that had befallen her. Maluc fell to one knee, but kept his gaze on her. "She's fine now. Free of my cursed doings." Turning to Fiora, Maluc stayed on one knee. "I hope the demon wasn't too much trouble. I'll do whatever I can to repay what he's wrought upon this holy place."

Altima watched with curiosity as the dark energy became contained somehow, and the esper allowed a shiver to travel down her spine. So he was a demon after all. She could feel the demonic power, but... it seemed that creature was right about one thing. She was blind to what had transpired. She blinked as she heard Hashmal speak. "Ah Hashmal, you did what you could. I only regret that I didn't try to subdue the demon myself," she said, softly smiling before looking in the direction of the others.

"No, you didn't fail me, Tsunaimei," the judge reassured. It was when Maluc had approached and Tsunaimei moved to protect her, Fiora moved from out behind Tsun. "He feels different... Why exactly have you come here...?" She hadn't heard what happened, being distracted by what her vice judge had been saying.

Altima shook her head, seeing what Tsunaimei was doing. "I feel like their mother at times," she sighed. If she felt she'd need to interfere, she would. But for now, it was nice to see Hashmal once again. How many years had it been? "I hope you or Judge Leo will be willing to explain just how this demon came to possess him, or what demon it is..."

Still on one knee Maluc felt his strength begin to fade so he summed up what he could quickly. "I am possessed by a demon. He was the one you fought, I've come back into control. He'll be gone... for some...time ... now." As his words began to trail off so did his consciousness quickly leaving him to fall backward. As everything faded to black, the Judge retreated into his mind to fight the demon on his own.

Tsunaimei slowly brought her arms back to their natural position at her sides. She was still relatively confused although she listened to Hashmal's story. The blue dressed Knight looked around at the others in order to get a sense of reassurance. Tsunaimei rose her weapon in front of her in a defensive stance only to find that Maluc was fallen over as opposed to trying some cheap tactic. Slowly lowering her sword again as well as her nerves, Tsunaimei looked over at Dmitri and then turned around at the newcomer Bane and eyed him down cautiously. "And who are you?" Tsunaimei asked sternly with her sword aimed at the man. After the grueling battle she just went through, you couldn't blame her for still being on edge.

"Ah, no wonder he went back in so quickly. It's been a long time since I bothered keeping up with demons," Altima said, looking over as Maluc collapsed. "What will you do once he awakens?"

Fiora nodded to Dmitri. "Yes, we can put him in one of the rooms where he'll rest undisturbed. Help me get him inside and I'll have him taken away," she told him, beginning to work on getting Maluc up, then blinked as she saw the man Bane. "I'm Judge Fiora. You have some sort of business with Virgo?"

Altima glanced to the side, spotting Kyrie. "Ah, you're a new squire I take it?" the esper asked, looking her over to gauge the girl. "I'm sure Judge Fiora would like to speak with you once she gets Judge Leo situated. Either way, welcome to Virgo, dear."