Rather than follow Arch Cassandra to the arena, Karma flies to the library of scrolls. Knowing there should be be records of the plating and armour, she had some research to do. She had heard tales of the Plating on display, and there was never a description that matched from one story to the next. She knew there were some scrolls that contained the truth if you know how to interpret them, and she had studied them long and hard t learn. She thumbs through the scrolls until she finds three with the information she needed. Making notes on the descriptions, the colors, metals used, any markings and the number of feathers said to be covered. She takes pictures of the drawings she found, noting the slight variations, and saves them away. Picking up her notes, she moves to a separate section of the library, she knew where the plating was rumoured to be, but she needed to find where the gates themselves were. She sighs as she reads, finding so many stories and fables, then realizes that she was reading into things too far. The answer was never buried further than the searcher could read. She jots down all the similarities in the stories then sits back and sighs. "It is your fate, you were named Karma for a reason. Follow your destiny and the answers will rise.
Karma rises, taking her notes and her pictures and packs them safely in her bag over her shoulder. She would head to Japan, to where she had found the most references of a staircase that rose, but only to the mortal eye, to the immortal, they descended to the entrance. But before leaving, she stops to let her fiance, and children, and her disciples know that she would be gone. She reminds them to continue blessing, and working on their skills, "Regardless of my presence, you know what is important, and I expect you to continue on." She kisses Rodney deeply. "I will return before the wedding, my love, I swear to you, fate waits for no one, and and fate is what brought us together." Turning away, before she lost her nerve, she faces her arch, Cassandra, "I will bring you honor, my Arch, I swear it" She bows to her, and holds as Cassandra stops her, "Herald Karma, there was one question you did not ask the empyrean reaper, and that was of the note. You will need this to show the words in a way to understand. It will match up with a wax seal that was pressed as a signature on the letter. Only when it is matched to the ring will you be able to read the words. But be aware, the words in that letter will forever be burned in your mind, and not just as a memory" Karma lifts her head, looking into her eyes, A swift vision of a blinding light and pain blinding her sight as she takes the seal in her hand. Not until she puts it away with the two vials does her vision return and she rises, turning to walk out to complete this task assigned her.
Karma makes her way to Japan, thankful her spiritual form felt no tiredness or hunger to slow her travels. She lands in a remote village, near where the rumoured staircase is supposed ot be found. Hiding her wings, and the cursed demon bone tail, she shields her brightness from the mortals around and steps to the nearest sushi house and sits at the bar, listening to the local chatter. She hears the talk of food, and family, work and play, love and life. She orders a volcano roll, a favorite from her mortal days, and sits, keeping her eyes and ears open. Her food arrives and at the same time, she catches a conversation, hushed tones about a hill with old stone steps. She twists slightly to see a young man, sitting closer to an old monk looking man. The young man whispers in hurried, almost frightened tones, were barely audible to those around but Karma caught the key words she needed to locate the staircase. She turned back to eat her roll, only to be stopped by a cold chill down her spine. Her hidden wings flutter and the spot on her lower spine where the demon tail was bonded suddenly burned. She bites her tongue, turning around again, and looks at the old man, her face going pale and her eyes burn bright as she realizes an ancient demon was in disguise and looking directly at her.
Karma stands, straightening her back, squaring her shoulders, and faces the man. She could feel the evil pouring off him, and his darkness threatened to drown her but she did not flee. She could feel it was her fate to meet this demon, and while she knew he could wiper her out with a sneeze, she knew, somehow, that he was not here to destroy her. She hears him call to her, in her head, and she nods, moving outside, and stands where he told her to wait. As she leaves the tavern she blesses as many in the room as she can, knowing the demon would leave them tainted but she would do her best before leaving. Leaning against the wall, feeling the vials in her bag, and the seal in with them, she watches as the demon comes out to her and nods. "You said you had a message for me. How did you even know I would be here?" She wouldn't give him any kind of greeting as he had already silently given one. The demon curls his lips, his silver teeth flashing in the dark, "You are the angel Karma, an angel of Fate, and you are searching for the stairs to find the Empyrean Reapers old armor. It was told you would come. I was sent to warn you, it will not be an easy task. You are better to turn around and walk away now." Karma pushes up and looks at the demon, her blue eyes glowing with determination ans she gets closer, "I am not afraid, I was given the task, and I will complete it or die trying."
The demon shrugs, giving a laugh that would freeze her blood if she had any, "You are still young, Karma, you have much to learn, and you will have to learn it fast to succeed. For if you can not pass the trials on the stairs, you won't even make t to your goal to complete your task. Oh..yes, it is well known why you are here, and I will tell you, that no one believes you can complete it. No one has yet found the real armour, nor succeeded in moving it." He sneered at her and turned, looking back over his shoulder. "I will be watching you young one. Closely!"
Karma watched the old man shape of the demon recede into the darkness and a shiver escapes. How did anyone know she was here, She hadn't told anyone of her plans or task. The ache in her back begins to worsen right where her tail was attached and she frowns. Was there a connection? her tail had been bound to her when she was searching for a demon horn. Did it connect her somehow? She rubs her back and begins her trek to the staircase. She hadn't traveled far when she found what she had been looking for, the stairs that appeared to rise, but she could see it was an illusion. She began to climb, looking at each step as she moves so as not to slip when she feels her perspective change and she suddenly is descending rather than ascending the stairs and the temperature changes. The ache in her back increased with every step, the demon bone twisting as she gets closer to the gates of hell. The last few steps become almost unbearable as the darkness, the evil seep into her bones through the bone tail, and she stumbles, falling to the ground.
Karma lays on the ground, gasping through the pain of the darkness trying to fill her soul through the bone bonded to her spine. She crawls forward, gritting her teeth as she moves past the threshold of the staircase, past the near invisible markings that would otherwise have killed an angel or mortal, and would have killed Karma as well if not for the demon bone that had bonded to her own. The bone gave her a disguise to the runes, but only partially. Her brightness fought the darkness threatening to take over and claim her, and in the end, she was able to hold part of it back. Lifting her head, she blinks to try and focus her eyes, adjusting to see through the dark veil that threatens to blind her. The veil does not lift, but becomes a gray curtain, one karma can barley see through.
Looking around, she sees two statues, one of Karma's beloved Empyrean Reaper, Sator Tasha, the other of the one she can only believe to be the Prime Evil. She bows her head in absolute respect for the power that both beings deserve then steps closer to the statue of her Sator. Feeling with her hands, to gain the sight her eyes can not provide she determines that the plating is not on this statue, in fact, it is the recreation of the Sator escaping with her angel warriors, sans her glorious armour. She growls at the lack of vision, digging deep within to call on her brightness, pulling from her 8 disciples, and pushes the veil back further, the pain in her spine nearly crippling as the brightness fights back the darkness. "I pray, give me the strength to see the light" She yells, tipping her head back as she is almost blinded by her own brightness. Finally, she can see in the hands of the Prime Evil, the armour, glowing with a slight blue in the gloom around her. She smiles brightly as she stands only to turn her head and notice that in his other hand is a second set of plating, this one glowing a faint orange. She exhales long and slow, as she looks between the two sets, trying to figure out how to tell which is the right one. She reaches out, bringing her hands close, but not touching the glow around the armour. The blue glow is burns, but not a heat, like frost bite. She pulls back her fingers, blowing on them to warm. Moving her other hand to the orange glow, she quickly pulls her fingers back, feeling the burning heat on her finger tips.
Karma reaches into her shoulder bag, pulling out the second vial the Sator had given her, containing the essence of a feather. The armour would recognize that essence and respond. But if she chose the wrong armour, it wouldn't matter anyway. Shes stretches out her fingers, holding each hand before the two sets of armour and pushes towards them, each hand reaching into the flames. At the same time she utters a quick prayer, "Oh holy one, I beg your mercy, and your wisdom to know the difference, to choose wisely." She opens her eyes, and as her fingers reach into the blue and orange flame, the veil lifts, and the wing armour in the orange flame turns to tin before her eyes, the other glowing brilliant, golden and awe inspiring. Quickly, she reaches for the tin, her other hand quickly drawing away to help, and she pulls the metal towards her. As she draws back, pulling with all her might, the arm of the Prime Evil statue begins to pull back, dropping the false set and drawing a stone sword from it's back. Quickly, Karma pops the top off the vial, and pours the essence of Sator Tasha's feather, and the blue flash onto the gold, and suddenly the statue freezes, letting out a blood curdling scream as the armour blazes a brilliant blue and the hand of the statue begins to crumble.
Karma keeps a firm grip on the plating, trying to pull it to her body as the statue slowly deteriorates, and she stumbles back towards the stair case. The weight of the plating grows heavier as her foot crosses the seal and the ground cracks beneath her feet. She pushes to her feet, turning, and hoisting the plating over her shoulder, and begins to climb the stairs. "Fight through it Karma, it is your fate to succeed, you will not fail." Her words become actions as she ascends each step, her strength growing as she moves further away from the gates of hell. The armour becomes lighter, as if no more than a feather as the staircase suddenly begins to descend, reaching the earthly steps, and the air clears as the veil over her eyes clears completely. Inhaling deeply she falls to her knees, giving a silent prayer of thanks.
Karma sits on her knees in the cool night air on the side of the mountain in Japan. She closely examines the plating, looking for a clue as to where the blade and note might be hidden. Not seeing any pockets, or hinges the words of Sator Tasha ring clear in her head, "The Words that have the very meaning of our existence" Karma repeats those words a few times before she stops, holding the armour in an almost cradled position. Closing her eyes, she repeats the words of her cardinal on the day she was transcended, "Angels exist to maintain the balance of good and evil, to protect the morals from the darkness that threatens to overtake us all. Without the darkness, there can be no light. And without Light, there would be no life. Angels are life." She closes her eyes, her fingers dancing over the cool metal, "Without Light, there can be no life." Suddenly a piece of plating comes loose in her hand. She wraps her fingers around the plating realizing it was not plating, but the shaft of of the seraph blade. She opens her eyes, and pulls the blade from the plating, and her eyes go wide. It was a beautifully, and terrifying thing of beauty.
Now...to test it. She knew the metal of a Seraph blade could only be marked by the hammer it was created with. That hammer no longer existed. She did however happen to have her own blade, passed on to her by her father, and her fathers father, that was made by the same hammer, and therefore, would contain the same blacksmiths mark. Turning the blade over, she presses the mark on her blade, to the mark on the Seraph blade, feeling almost a magnetic pull of the metal calling to itself. She then sets the blade on the ground, lifting her own and standing. With all her might, she takes her blade, driving it down towards the Seraph blade. If it was false, it would shatter. Instead, she was thrown back by the force of the two blades meeting and she lays, shaken, looking at the seraph blade across the landing. Rising, and shaking off the stun, she sits down again by the blade, picking it up and looking for any signs of a crack or damage. Finding nothing, the blade passes the first test. Now to figure out how to prove for sure it was not a forgery.
Karma sits looking at the blade, turning it over in her hand. "How to test the ethereal properties?" She mutters then freezes as she feels the familiar darkness of the old man demon and she jumps to her feet, the seraph blade in her hands. "You made it out, "he hisses and the mortal form fades from him, showing the grotesque shape of his demonic form. "And now you will hand over the blade. You are weak, you can not handle it, you can't even swing it" His words weren't true, but he was trying to raise her doubt, create a fear in her heart. Karma adjusts her stance, keeping her eyes on the demon, shedding her mortal coils to expose her brightness, "I am stronger than you know!" She lifts her chin, waiting for the demon to attack, and when he does she swings the blade, darting to the side as he dives towards her with his own sword. The blades clash, and ring out, a cracking sound coming from his sword as the Seraph blade was stronger. The demon darts back, sending a flame strike towards Karma and she moves to counter it with dispel, but is too late. The flame strike is only diverted, sending a shower of rock from the steps, some landing across Karma's arm. Her grip breaks on the blade and it flies, almost as if pulled, towards the demon.
She screams in frustration. "No, I have worked to hard, come to far. This is not my fate" Her wings flash open, and at the same time, her demon bone tale is freed, slashing wildly through the air behind her. The demon laughs, watching Karma struggle, weaponless, "You are nothing, a feathery misquitoe send to annoy me. I will cut you in two, and squash you like the bug you are" The blade glowed brilliant blue in the demons claws, the ethereal power growing with his power, then Karma realizes what the final test would be. The blade would kill a demon, or a criminal Angel, but it would not cause harm to one pure of heart, loyal to the empyrean reaper. The one test, would it be the one thing that could remove the demon bone, and not kill her. There was only one way to find out. As the demon moved to strike, Karma places her hip towards him, watching the blade fall, and as it is about to strike, she turns so it would fall towards her spine. She knew it was risky, but it was the only way. She curls around herself, and with a scream, she feels the blade slice like a hot knife through butter as it catches the bone on her spine, severing the demon bone, and all binds it had on her. With a flash of divine light the blade flies from the demons hands, sending him flying, his claws singed, curled in pain and he screams. "NO...it is not possible!"
Karma rises, first to one knee, then to both feet. Reaching for the discarded Seraph blade she wraps her hands around it. "You can not kill an angel with a Seraph blade. Not this way." She takes a swing of her own while the demon writhes in pain and with a great arch, his head goes flying, his darkness dissipating in a dark cloud, only to be replaced by Karma's increasing brightness. She looks down at the blade, seeing a piece of parchment wound around the handle of the blade. Gently, Karma loosens the binds on the note and carefully unfolds the parchment. While the paper looked ancient, she knew it could be forged, so she reaches into her bag and pulls out the first vial, and uncorking it, she lays the parchment on the ground. Taking a deep breath, she pours the contents over the parchment and holding her breath, she waits for the paper to become soaked. She closes her eyes, and counts to ten. when she opens them, the parchment is still whole and dry, but blank except for a seal like design. At least she knew it was the real thing.
Rather than using the ring Arch Cass had given her here in Japan, she decides to return home, and gathers her belongings. She lifts the plating, finding it now light as the feathers it was meant to cover and she straps them to her back. The Seraph blade she ties to her hip with her own blade, and the note she tucks against her breast, holding it close to her heart so as not to lose it. Spreading her wings she prepares to take flight when she notices the ache she had lived with in her back since the tail had been bonded to her was gone. Looking down on the ground, the bone tail and returned to the horn that Auri had taken from her own head. Karma picks it up and tucks it into her shoulder bag and takes flight.
Returning to her home, she quickly moves to the office, sitting down at the desk and pulls the note from her top, laying it flat in front of her. This was the final step before she could return to her Sator and complete this task. She places the seal on her finger, pressing it to her lips before pressing the ring to the parchment, matching the symbol to the ring. A light starts to spread across the page and characters flash to life. Her hand is held in place by a force she coudln't see and suddenly the characters flashed so brilliantly that Karma could see nothing but those characters and they begin to burn themselves into her mind. She tries to pull away, her hand held in place as the note is sealing itself into her minds eye, the letters rising off the page. She screams with the pain, searing, blinding pain. The last character rises, fluttering before her before it flashed and like a hand, slapped her in the forehead, knocking her from the chair to the floor. Laying there, her eyes squeezed shut, unresponsive, her fiance Rodney finds Karma, and gently picks her up, carrying her to the couch and sets her down. Calling to her, gently caressing her cheek he calls to her, "Karma, baby. come back to me" He whispers. Karma stirs, but mutters, repeating the same thing over and over.
é—‡ãŒãªã‘ã‚Œã°ä½•ã®äººç”Ÿã¯ã‚ã‚Šãˆãªã„æ»äº¡ã™ã‚‹ã“ã¨ãªãã€å…¨ãå…‰ãŒãªã„ã“ã¨ãŒã§ãã¾ã™ã€‚悪ãŒãªã‘ã‚Œã°ä½•ã‚‚良ã„å˜åœ¨ã«ãªã‚‹ã“ã¨ã¯ã§ãã¾ã›ã‚“。我々ã¯ãれを知ã£ã¦ã„るよã†ã«ã€1ã¤ã¯ã€å¼·åŠ›ãªã«ãªã£ãŸå ´åˆã®ãƒãƒ©ãƒ³ã‚¹ãŒç¶æŒã•ã‚Œãªã‘ã‚Œã°ãªã‚‰ãªã„ã€ãã‚Œã¯äººé¡žã®çµ‚ã‚ã‚Šã«ãªã‚‹ã§ã—ょã†ã€‚戦ã„ã¯ãã‚ŒãŒæ°¸é ã®ç´›äº‰ã«å·»ãè¾¼ã¾ã‚Œã‚‹ã™ã¹ã¦ã®äººé¡žã®é‹å‘½ã€ã§ã€å‹ã£ãŸã“ã¨ã¯ã‚ã‚Šã¾ã›ã‚“ã€å–„ã¨æ‚ªã®é–“ã®ãƒã‚§ã‚¹ã®ã‚²ãƒ¼ãƒ ã§é§’。
Without Darkness there can be no light, without death there can be no life. Without evil there can be no good. The balance must be maintained, if one should become to powerful, it will be the end of mankind as we know it. The battle will never be won, that is the fate of all mankind, to be caught in the eternal conflict, pawns in the game of chess between good and evil.
Suddenly, Karma sit up, 'I must get to the Sator. I must deliver the message from the note." Rodney lifts her to her feet, " I will take you to the Arch. We will get you back to the Sator."