Sector J [Operation Moon Massacre]

Pleasure. Complete and total pleasure. That is the state Nemain was absolutely ensnared by.

Even if Cirno could never condone such senseless killing, her sense of empathy and understanding could grasp the thrill of having an opponent such as herself be pitted against The Trecera Espada. It was the sort of feeling which undoubtedly was a rarity for the Espada; as The Celestial could tell from the way she reacted that the woman had rarely faced foes such as this Angel very often. In a sense, she wanted to savor it for all it was worth and then go out with a bang. Therefore, Cirno, despite everything which had occurred up until this point, would smile.

"Who do I think I am? That isn't as important as who you are: my shadow. It all makes sense now."

Although it would not make much sense to Nemain, the vision which The Angel of The Ice saw before her was an image of herself from years past. A person who was filled with the determination to be the strongest. The kind of person who would do whatever it took in order to ensure her victory and dominance over all others. The type of spirit which would abuse her power and forsake who she was in hopes of becoming the most powerful she could become.

That's precisely what Nemain was: a shadow of herself as a fallen angel. Even right now, in this moment of life or death combat, the hatred behind the eyes of The Celestial appeared to have soften once this conclusion had been reached. It was if she had forgiven Nemain by how her aura seemed change. For the fury, contempt and hatred which had filled her Holy Aura had lessened to a great degree. And, in it's place, was a sense of will. A will which desired to press forward with this path and confront the shadow of the self. A will which had desired to see the outcome of one question: had she really pushed herself beyond the shadows of her corrupt past?

Based on the results of this clash -- Cirno would have her answer soon enough.

"Yeah....a hero. I won't deny you that. However, you aren't the hero you think you are."

Again and again; that child would keep replacing itself where Nemain would be. One which looked precisely like The Angel of The Ice, but regressed towards her child-hood state. And, as this figure of her minds demented hallucination looked upwards towards The Celestial, the cluster of chaotic and unruly energy which had been so greatly repressed and sealed within Cirno was allowed a form to engage her in.

And, when it did form itself, the whole of it's body became devoured in an ominous flare of black, red and white flames. Ones which gave the impression that the flames which generated from this entity's body were potent enough to burn and melt through hell itself. As that was precisely the type of determination and strength which both this creature within The Angel possessed -- and the type of will Cirno herself wielded. The inverse of her mind was a destructive one and felt itself allured, captivated and drawn towards Nemain.

Hence, it's the reason why Cirno would not move an inch while The Espada was busy charging herself up for whatever foul assault she had in mind. No. The draw of her own soul's latent instabilities were far too powerful to ignore at this point. As they were constrained and restricted within a bind of the mind known as "The Psycho Seal". This seal was placed on her mind by herself, the former Angel of The Ice, Reimu Iramasha and Yukuri Iramasha. It was attached to Cirno's mind in order to allow her to move past the trauma which had plagued her mind following the aftermath of the Australian War.

For during that period after the Australian Conflict, the soul of Cirno became corrupted, tainted and nearly transformed itself into the vessel of a Fallen Angel. From the true nature of the world's violence, war and structure of power; the mind of The Iramasha snapped and became unhinged for quite some time when she came to her truth about the world. That it was a dark, savage and brutal place befitting only the strongest to survive and enforce their will. No amount of good will could ever change the ugliness of the reality they lived in.

Hence, it was easier to simply give in into states of absolute bloodthrist, while at the same time seeking out conquest in order to still fulfill her childhood dream of becoming the strongest. It didn't matter what or who was in her way of that path, she would slaughter and skewer it and take pleasure in trampling down upon anyone or anything that threatened her was influenced by the sheer amount of madness generating from the woman.

So, with that said, Cirno would loosen the strings of her damaged and fractured spirits own seal in order to unveil just how well she understood Nemain. While, at the same time, this would be the ultimate test to herself to see just how far she has grasp a control over this depravity within her own spirit. Which is why a voice of concern would soon wash over the conscious mind of The Angel.

'Cirno....if you do this, there is no guarantee it will work. I can see what you are aiming for, but are you really sure you want to risk it...? After all, you...'


As the motherly pull of Shiro Iramasha, the former Angel of The Ice, would speak towards her reincarnated form; the tone was spoken with the utmost of caution as she was terrifed of what might happen if Cirno lost control. What if she reverted back to that state? Could their body withstand the strain of that seal being loosened? Was she even in her right mind? So many things could go wrong, but Cirno would silence them and mentally insist that the power of their faith would guide them.

'YES! I won't properly win if I cannot own to my word and face her like this. If I can do this...I can show her there is more to this life than being a fallen angel....'


And with that -- it was settled. She was going to undone a portion of the seal to face this inner demon.


Assured and determined to face this path, Cirno needed to know for herself just what had become of her soul's own cluster of instabilities. After all the lessons she had taught about embracing and merging ones light and dark to her pupils, it would be nothing short of a sham for her not to commit to the same here against this reflection of her past self.

For in the end, these visions came because she herself was not sure what she was anymore, so she needed this closure and needed to confront this chaos within her own body. Which is why, under this line of logic, The Celestial would then sink her right fingers into her forehead. In this gesture, she would perform the needed act in order to summon the prowess of her psycho seal to the surface and begin a most wicked transformation.

Initially, it would begin as soon as her body started to daze away from it's automated state. As, following the words which Cirno spoke to the Espada, the shell of her material body would begin acting on it's own. During this engagement of close quarters combat Nemain engaged in, it would almost seem as if the light and consciousness behind the eyes of Cirno would have dulled and grayed. Yet, instead, as soon as Nemain had landed one of the most devastating blows in this match, the transformation would have already started to take place.

Make no mistake, she got her carnage filled kick in with a bang. Blood started to profusely drip from the mouth, ears and mouth of The Iramasha like an unending fountain of her body's liquidized essence coming to the surface. It was almost a wonder if she would have died then and there given the severity of her head's injuries. Yet, each of them were fighting with the utmost of strength and fighting on levels which would give a Captain Commander a run for their money. So it stood to reason that the durability and resistance of this -- creature's -- body would endure.



Following that devastating blow to Cirno's skull, The Arrancar would notice a raspy laugh emitting from the mouth of The Celestial. One which was ripe with hostile, destructive and murderous intent. The kind of slow cackle which almost seemed more befitting of a demonic being rather than someone of her celestial nature. This would be the first warning that Nemain would get to otherwise understand that something was wrongly out of place here. Since, what proceeded the crooked laugh had been the event of her entire dress becoming devoured by blobs of shadows. On the heels of that sudden shift, the overflowing hair of The Angel would burn, dissolve and melt until it was neck length long.

Meanwhile, the shades of oceanic hue in Cirno's hair seemed to evaporate into the air. In the process of this, it appeared as if nothing but a darkened shade of grey remained as the color was ripped apart from her hair. All the while, the blood which had overflowed from her mouth, nose and ears seemed to redirect it's motion towards her face at the same time a black fluid from The Celestial's dress filled her left eye. As these streaks of blood would color in Cirno's right eye, the ribbon seen upon the neck of her jumper dress and the hair bow seen behind The Angel in order to finish the summoning of her chaotic energies.


"I am the origin of those delusions, Child of Madness."

There was almost a mocking tone heard in the infliction of this -- being's -- voice as she began cackling at the miserable sight of Nemain nearly biting her own mouth at the rage she felt for the Celestial she was fighting. Yet, whatever Cirno had turned herself into at the moment did not truly feel a sense of belittlement in her current mentality. Instead, there was the sense of camaraderie felt surging throughout her conflicting essence. For each of them were filled to the brim batches of psychopathic bloodlust. The likes of which had both Cirno and Nemain ready to claw the others throat out; it was the kind of bond that only fellow murders could understand and feel.

Since, after all, whatever was standing before Nemain still saw The Espada in the reflection of The Celestial's child-like form....

"As for who I am? My name is Erna Iramasha: The Fallen Angel and Lost Hero. Let us have a nice and serious battle."

Yes. This was the sum-total of Cirno's blackened spirit evolving, growing and maturing at the same rapid pace that The Angel's light had developed. As with each new feat of strength that progressed The Celestial's power, as to would Erna's prowess become empowered. Thus, the moment the head of Erna had lifted itself up, a shine of red light came from them and they were devoured by a crimson illumination. The trigger had been pulled and it was time to feast upon her tasty prey. On her command, the once crystal wings behind Erna turned to black and became filled with Hebraic marking.

"נָפוּל מַלְאָך"

These markings were filled all over her wings as a crimson blood halo formed from the fluid still dripping from the orifices; while at the same time her hair would regain color and turn to absolute gold as an insulting laugh left the mouth of Erna at the sight of Nemain losing her mind at the gap of strength between the two of them.

Thus, to taunt her further, The Fallen Angel would have the tips of her fingers shoot off ten waves of blackened energy. Each of them would be shot off at a speed comparable to a master shunpo Shinigami's enhanced speed in their bankai. Therefore, it could be comparable to a grand master speed user and each of them yielded a high chance of causing incredible damage to Nemain. This is due to the fact that they were shot off at speeds comparable to Mach Six.

So, because of this amount of kinetic force and energy being slammed into The Espada, she'd undoubtedly suffer heavy injuries which could result in organs rupturing, bones breaking and her body being flung many meters on end. It would certainly knock the breath out of her if it hit and would force her health to dip further, further and further to the breaking point of being rendered useless in this fight.

Thus, with her first assault done with, the mocking laughs would continue and Erna would engage in a dialogue with Nemain.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I make you snap? Surely you aren't going to let a little game get your head, Nemain. If you keep acting like that, I won't bother purifying your spirit....I'll just send it straight to the pits of hell where you belong! Then you can sing those glorious songs about me until the end of times for the lords of satanism!"

Ah-- right! This consciousness of Erna had made a lie earlier in her reflections and sentiments! Erna didn't give two iota about The Trecera in regards to the lesson Cirno wanted to teach her. All she wanted to do was laugh in The Arrancar's face and crush this chaotic challenge before her with the strength of a Fallen Angel!

Even as the moon, heavens and the cosmos itself shook in the wake of The Espada's power; this creature would do nothing but laugh in the face of her madness. Despite the fact that blood was still flowing from the nose and ears of Erna; she could do nothing but laugh and laugh as it was too rich. To face someone who hated her this much was a thrill and she couldn't wait to shatter that beautiful resolve. Viewing her struggle against the barrage of holy assaults only filled Erna with a sadistic thrill as the miserable cluster of madness got thrown around like a Raggedy Ann Doll.

Though, a look of disappointment would soon wash over Erna's face. As it appeared that the Arrancar had somehow managed to avoid becoming vaporized. Surely that attack should have been potent enough to vanquish her, right? In fact, the uppity runt even found the strength to keep talking at the mouth about the lesson she was going to learn. Hence, Erna would humor it and allow her to prattle on about this "divine punishment".

"Strange. I guess there is more to you than being a walking crybaby. I surely thought you wouldn't get up after that attack. That means I'm going to have to keep trying with this resolve of mine to fight, ha!"

Giving a melancholic sigh in exchange, Erna would then lift her hand towards the sky and utter these words in the Hebraic tongue:

"דמדומים חֶרֶב"

Upon that incantation being uttered out to the world around them, the space in which The Espada and The Fallen inhabited would soon shatter and rupture. Gone was the holy sights of heaven; as the reality around them seemed to break like glass. In it's place would be skies of ash and stone; descending to total darkness in the earth before as the shine of an oil moon with a pale shine along it's edges shun down before them.

Following this unholy eclipse, the body of Nemain would undoubtedly feel more crushing forces weighing her down from the brunt of this child's world bearing down The Espada like a two ton boulder. As when the dimensions around them shifted, the hellish force of this personal realm would seek to create a divine force capable of grinding The Arrancar to dust.

[SPELL USED IS SEEN BELOW]

Spoiler:

"Show this overgrown worm what Divine Punishment means, my wonderful Fallen Aether!"

At speeds comparable to mach four, small asteroid structures would fall from the heavens above and begin to erupt all throughout a two hundred meter radius in order to smother Nemain in an area of high effect. A total of four chunks would explode all around the battlefield and seek to crush the body of Nemain in order to add insult to energy. Clearly, this being had energy to spare given the fact that multiple cores of power were being felt within this entity's body. It was if Cirno and Erna were fighting as one and a cluster of light and darkness had been spinning within her heart.

Thus, in a victorious laugh, The Fallen Angel would once again confront Nemain with words

"Punish? The only one who will be punished is you, Nemain. Welcome....to my purgatory! I'm excited to see how long you will survive it!"


Even as the storm and frenzy centered around The Third Espada's essence like a cyclone of chaos, Erna was not discourage by it in the slightest. It was impressive; maybe even enough to destroy half of her previous spell. But, it was not nearly enough to dissuade her determination. It is why when the eruption of Nemain's power had faded, The Fallen Angel would be seen levitating upwards in the blackened skies above them by about two hundred meters or so. While she was full of blood lust, Erna wasn't brainless. She knew that an attack like that would hurt if she just mindlessly charged into it as if she were some juggernaut that couldn't be stopped.

Henceforth, when the all clear was given, she would then be seen charging towards The Embodiment of Madness before her without a care in the world. Why? Because she was that confident in her own abilities. Ergo, the Fallen Angel would have the blades in her hand soon merge and form into one weapon. It was a sword which was roughly three feet long and had these Hebraic letters inscribed on it's shade blade: "חֶרֶב שֶׁל של כפולטבטבע"

Inside of it had been both Cirno's Celestial Prowess infused and Erna's blood as a Fallen Angel embed within. These two sources of power would act to make the blade a frightening piece of weaponry. As the pair would fight as one in order to combine Cirno's purification and Erna's corruption into a twilight element which merged these two abilities together as one blade capable of slaying Nemain's hellish cero blast.

"Slash, slash!"

In the form of childish giggles, Erna would begin utilizing her newly forged blade in order to repel and block each of the energy blast from harming her. This was able to take place because of the fact that The Fallen Angel was capable of summoning both her own and Cirno's strength to overpower it with a double-charge attack. With their two opposite energies acting as one, they could form a repulsion force which would redirect each of the cero's away to explode in the darkness of Erna's purgatory realm. In turn, Nemain's mark would be left on her world as red flames soon scorched the ground around them and made the realm with twinkles of darkness, ash and crimson hues.

Though, the face of The Fallen Angel would soon change from one of amusement to one of surprise. The reason for this is because Nemain was MUCH stronger than Erna's arrogance was giving her credit for. With the shift of a gaze towards her hands, this Lost Hero noticed something: each of her palms and arms were bleeding profusely. While sucking her teeth to dismiss the damage, it did not negate from the pain she felt and there was definite cost for tanking two full-charged cero's from an Espada in their second release.

As the body of Cirno's altered persona felt as if her arms had gotten crushed by a freight train. If it weren't for how durable their body was, Erna would have almost estimated that their arms would have been crushed or thrown apart from the sheet impact force from those cero's. So she knew how much of a wallop Nemain's madness was packing and was prepared to take this rapid beast down because of it.

For in this realm of her stagnate purgatory? Erna was the dominating force which ruled over and she would trample upon anything that dared to de-thrown her crown. As she was the materialization of Cirno's will which blindly hurled her towards the light of power for one century; and was not something which would be so easily vanished from her soul in the span of a year of good deeds.

So on this eve of this eruption of negativity in the world, she would surely have her thrill with her matured state having flourished and blossomed just as Cirno's light has during all time of her accelerated growth!


"Nemain, tell me something: do you think I talk too much? I want to make sure I repay you with the same diarrhea of the mouth you gave me earlier. So I'd like to keep this idle-chit chat as I butcher your resolve!"

...

Ahhhh! So that was her game. While Erna was busy running off the mouth, it gave her time in order to enhance the durability of her body by tapping into energy allotted to her in this Fallen Angel state; while at the same time she was able to summon the Aether and Holy Aura of Cirno's spirit in order to triple the defense of their body. This would be shown by the fact that black shaded ice had formed over each and every spot that Nemain had managed to make physical contact. And, in this display of strength, it highlighted two things. One: the perception and senses of Erna seemed to be enhanced to the point of being able to summon her abilities within milliseconds. Second: her power was also not to be something taken for granted when focused and serious.

[SPELL USED IN THE SPOILER]

Spoiler:

"Lend me a hand and crush this useless pile of Arrancar flesh before me, my Fallen Aether!"

While most users of this spell could only unleash it from their hand, the type of mastery Erna held over the realm of Aether Magic was immense. She was skilled enough to be able to activate this spell upon any body part she desired. So, when Nemain continued to hammer into The Fallen Angel, she would repeat this spell upwards of ten times in order to begin dissolving and breaking The Espada's body down. Chunks of her flesh could go missing, teeth could go flying, body parts could vanish and mass amounts of blood could simply start spewing out of the shell of The Trecea's body due to her foolish recklessness.

In the mind of Erna? This was the payback round for Nemain and Erna was ready to make her suffer. The pain from her previous assaults were beginning to make The Fallen Angel furious. She could feel her arms quivering, body shaking and physical anguish surging across every fiber of her being. It enraged her to be put into such a difficult position despite making these great strides.

As Make no mistake: Erna did take moderate damage from this exchange. The Espada would undoubtedly feel energy and health leaving the body of The Fallen Angel as each of these blows were enough to obliterate even veteran Captains to pieces if they were unprepared. So bruises, cuts and more wounds would open around Erna's body that started to bleed heavy amounts of blood.

However, she didn't seem to be remotely phased by it apart from occasionally glares at Nemain. The reason for this reaction is because is was not the first time the body of Cirno had found itself parred off against an unimaginable force. She has had assaults which possessed enough fire power to equal an atomic bomb detonating over her body and still lived to tell the tale. So this frenzy of punches alone would not be nearly enough to stop this being which had tripled Cirno's power through harnessing the strength of her fallen energy nature, Cirno's Holy Energy and the Iramashsa's Aether.

In fact, Nemain herself may find each of those knuckles of hers breaking and burning away from making contact with this ice. As the durability of them alone, without any influence from Erna's Aether, was potent enough to put them on par with Q-carbon; a synthetic material which was sixty percent stronger than diamond. Now, amplify that by three times with metaphysical particles and it would be as if Nemain was punching a burning, steel wall with her bare hands. So it surely yielded enough potential to shatter each of her hands; if not both of her arms in the process of The Espada landing those painful blows across The Iramasha's body.

"Do you feel that anger? That helplessness? Take that feeling and amplify it by a thousand in order to experience the kind of living hell you've given countless others who did not deserve to be killed. Hurts, doesn't it?"

For a moment, the psychotic onslaught of Erna's summoning would ceased for all but a brief few seconds. The reason for this is because the will of Cirno had managed to break through the wall of negativity brewing within her soul in order to deliver that lesson to Nemain. It was not stated with malice, nor was it stated in a condensing manner. All The Iramasha wished for is that The Espada could form enough sympathy within her being to spare others this fate.


"It shouldn't hurt at all. Her chaotic energy yearned for us to abide by a world of chaos, and that's precisely what I've given her. For that splendid madness is exactly the kind of energy which revived me."

Back in control, Erna was foaming at the mouth yet again. However, there was a more stern expression given across her face as her sense of awareness came back to her. Yes, it was quite odd that she given a material form and stronger sense of conciseness. While Nemain triggered her release, there was something around them which just didn't seem right and she could only glance towards Sector A to get a sense of the looming bundle of negative energy brewing there. Whatever was going on, the higher-ups in Shadow Fall must've been using this event as a catalyst for something. Erna just wasn't sure WHAT that something was.

"Although I'll give you this: in the middle of all this chaos, there are two things generating powerful fields of maddening energy. One of them I cannot identify. The other...is you."

Tone much more grim than before, there was a scowl had from Erna and she didn't like the feel of this set-up. And, just as well, it was perhaps time to wipe that smirk off her face and put some dedicated focus towards what was come. As while she was speaking, The Fallen Angel had already come to the deduction that The Third Espada was already beginning to launch her final assault.

A high amount of power was being channeled into an attack. Whatever she was focusing her energy into had enough strength behind it to devastate a huge chunk moon itself from the estimates both she and Cirno gave her attack. And, given that both Cirno and Erna were not infinite beings, they both understood that they couldn't withstand that attack. Not with the amount of energy they were burning through. If they kept at this rate, they'd surely lose.

Therefore, The Fallen Angel was more than ready to put an end to things. As she was utilizing this unhinged form in order to continue to enhance and further their power so that they may endure whatever hellish surprise Nemain had in store. If it was a nuke? She was more than ready to rip it apart, grunt through the blaze and rip off The Espada's skull and send her straight to hell with the ugly image of her superiority raining over the cluster of madness for The Arrancar's final memory of breathing sentience. No matter the cost.

Henceforth, Erna would lunge forward with murderous intent as a trail of blackened energy would leave in the wake of her hypersonic jump. With a boom which could be heard for dozens of miles on end, Erna traveled at speeds comparable to Mach Seven. Which, given her durability, was entirely feasible so long as she kept towards her straight line movement towards Nemain. She was going to impale her in the heart, sever her head and be done with it. As even The Trecera Espada would have a difficult time keeping track of The Fallen Angel's movements given this sudden eruption of speed. For while she was naturally this fast, the enhancements would push the body of Cirno to it's utmost limit.

However -- something got in the way of that.

As soon as Erna was able to grip the blade of Nemain with her left hand, she would be frozen in place proceeding the attempted action of trying to impale The Espada's heart. Despite her protest and attempts to force this body of theirs to move, the sheer will of Cirno's consciousness was keeping her from making the final blow on this fight. And, this was for good reason: The Angel of The Ice never intended for them to win this way. It would only taint and sully her holy Aether.

Instead, this was all done to deliver a message to Nemain and one she would vocalize soon enough.


"...it figures. The minute I get to have a modicum of pleasure, it's swiped away by the likes of you. Nemain is right: you really full of a self-serving nature and you should really free yourself up of that. You know this is all a lie and it's only a matter of time before you become me."

The words which were spoken would have came out as gibberish to anyone witnessing this battle. Unless they yielded the ability to fight on par with these two, or could slow down the feed they were seeing; the voice of Erna would just come as static. That was just the nature of hypersonic combat. As, to Nemain, and to those who could perceive it, these scenes would unfold as if they were viewing at speeds and comprehension comparable to the way the human eye and senses could perceive them.

None the less, a discontent sigh would come from The Fallen Angel before she gaze a final hostile gaze upon The Trecera Espada.

"As for you....don't ever forget my face or voice. Erna Iramasha is my name; and if given the chance, I'd crush your skull and drag you to the depths of hell to teach the nature of a "mad" world. For as much as I loathe that angel, I hate beings who try to outclass me even more."



With her sinister blade all but broken and crumbled into the wind, a similar fate would befall this angel of fallen descent. Multiple cracks would begin to emerge across the body of Erna; making it seem as if she were made of nothing but glass. Soon after, with a final close of her eyes, the body of Cirno would shatter and collapse in a plum of smoke from the brunt of Nemain's power and The Celestial's will. With a combination of these elements, the psycho seal would reabsorb the conciseness of The Chaos within The Iramasha's soul and constrain it.

In doing so, the purified essence of Cirno's mind would regain control and her previous form would restore itself. Gone would her crimson halo go; to dust would her blackened clothing become and restored is what both her overflowing oceanic hair and dress had became. As those final wings of shadows dissolved into ash, the true Angel of The Ice had finally returned herself back to her glory and she would open those tender blue eyes to have one final gaze at The Espada.

Even if she tried to pull away in that moment, The Angel of The Ice would forcibly pull her into a hug and begin having a stream of tears fall ever so silently against her bruised and cold skin.

"Do you see now? I understand how chaotic and savage the world can be. I possess all of that chaos within myself, Nemain. Yet...instead of allowing it to consume me, I just want to use that strength it gives me to do good. It will never go away, much like your own attitude I believe. However, with this act, if I could at least succeed in having you deterred from killing innocent lives which are not apart of your mission....then maybe you don't have to become a Fallen Angel. As it hurts a lot to have that type of pain guide your every way of thinking. Madness hurts and it often used to mask pain. And...I just wanted to show you didn't have to live like that. Life...can't be nothing but heartache, right?"

Despite being her mortal enemy, the voice of The Celestial would come across as serene and delicate as ever. Almost speaking with a childish infliction as Nemain helped her to realize two things: the first being that perhaps the darkness of the soul does not always have to be an inherently a bad thing. If she was truly a being of miracles, then perhaps one could be made to absolve this hell from both of their minds and find a way for harmony to prevail. While, the second thing that Nemain helped Cirno to realize is that physical victory couldn't be the end all of everything. It would be so easy to just let go and let her psychotic persona loose, but Cirno wanted to sure that one could become stronger than that and control their instincts.

And, because of that sentiment, The Espada assisted The Angel in finding a much deeper connection to all aspects of herself that she tried to out-run. The child within herself, the matured mind of her adult form and the cluster of spiraling chaos within her psycho seal: these were all aspects of herself that stemmed from her one desire to be strong. So, as she stood before The Espada, what she valued in strength was -- was having the power to stay true to herself even in the wake of total destruction.

Therefore, Nemain helped Cirno blossom new levels of mercy and compassion by forgiving her for the sum-total of her sins. As, with this physical touch, she would use her holy prowess in order to absorb the cluster of negative spirits which compromised her being and dissolve her of corruption. In this way, she would receive the mark of an angel across her body and be allowed to start anew one day as a creature free'd from madness. And, perhaps, this slightest influence could try and guide chaotic rage within The Trecera towards a middle point. As it was unlikely that she would pull her alliance away from those within Shadow Fall, but this gentle push was intended to change the mind of Nemain ever so slightly to allow her enough empathy to spare those whom have nothing to do with her conflicts.

If she could at least do that -- perhaps she was worthy of being called an angel.

Nevertheless, when the time came for Nemain to pull away from Cirno, The Celestial would gaze lovingly at the chunk of destruction fired off at herself. As, in these moments, The Iramasha would begin to think and hope that she could retain this small spec of her childish glow. Even if she turned into a total embodiment of madness such as The Trecera Espada, she would hope that even in a highly corrupted state that -- perhaps the fragments of the compassion she wielded would live on.

Even if her generosity is nothing but a farce; even if it is a lie such as Nemain believes, apart of her would wish for this kindness to be true and exist eternally. As that is what the purpose of this whole journey as a hero had placed her on. There was something inside of The Angel which wanted this spirit of good will to live on in the hearts and minds of others as she left her mark on this world.

So, even if it was all fake, even if it was a delusion, even if this wasn't her true self -- was that single notion of good....so bad?

It was a thought which would be contemplated later. As, in a flash of blinding white light, the final blow had been dealt and the destructive power of Nemain's second release obliterated everything for hundreds of meters. It would sound as if the gates of heaven had been broken to pieces and the cosmic realm of the angel's had been destroyed. Indeed, it would be felt all throughout the moon as it yielded enough power to destroy massive portions of the planetoid mass.

And, in the release of such a light, almost all of Cirno's body had been devoured in burns which suppressed fractions of her energy. They were extensive spiritual injuries and would be hard to recover from even with intense medical recovery. It would take someone with precise healing abilities to get The Celestial back to 100%.

Yet -- in spite of all this -- the fading prowess of Erna's influence would still linger.


And Cirno would transform it into Holy Aether

To prevent a mass loss of life, The Angel Of The Ice would utilize her Holy Aether to perform a miracle. By tapping into the ability known as "Miracle Break", she would pray to the gods themselves for a power and faith which goes well beyond the scope of her mortal limitations. Together, with each of her hands clasped against one another, The Lone Celestial's body would soon become riddled in white Hebraic markings. Each of them were fueled with a prowess which seemed to possess absurdly high amounts of holy energy. When they were finished being infused into her body, however, she would have uttered and echoed these words for miles on end through her telepathic voice being projected via her energy.

[Please view the spoiler for the ability that is being used]

Spoiler:

"To the heaven's above, I make this plea for a miracle. For all those who wish to see the light of another day, I wish to call upon a divine miracle and prevent this lost of life. I have nothing to gain from this, but this prayer is made in the hopes that the world can see there is more to life than eternal darkness. On this dark eve, I only desire one thing: I wish for the world to understand a miracle and comprehend...hope! Hope that things can get better, hope that we can rise above our sinister desires and hope that this night will not last forever and that the light of morning will eventually come. So as I pray to the heavens: PLEASE GIVE ME THIS MIRACLE!"


With this incantation released through the speed of Cirno's mind, the sights, sounds and power being felt from this scene of hell would be broadcasted to all of those on the moon; and perhaps to even willing citizens of earth itself. As, for a brief moment, the flare of an all devouring light would consume this mass of the moon in order to cancel out the overwhelming strength of Nemain's final assault.

It took every ounce of concentration, energy and focus to perform; but The Angel of The Ice would push her to the utmost of her limits in order to shoulder the burden of everyone's hopes, dreams and wishes so that their desires could be enacted through her and this miracle could be born.

As, this strength was not achieved through her power alone, but by this selfless desire which was made possible by having something greater than herself to fight for. It is what she hammered so deeply into the minds of her students, and it is what she hoped to remain true to in this instance. For, as the smoke would begin to fade and dissolve into the nothingness of the cosmic blackness around them, The Celestial would remain in a mile deep crater with her clothes tattered, body heavily bruised and energy greatly dissolved. However, through this miracle, the body of The Iramasha endured and she would survive to see another day.

While a great deal of the Sector had been destroyed, and there was a good portion of life that had been lost, The Angel of The Ice was able to prevent a greater catastrophe from occurring and dragging multiple different sectors into Nemain's hellish rampage. So, yes, The Espada had pushed the stamina of The Angel to the point where she was no longer able to stand on her own two feet. And, she still caused a great of damage to the base.

Yet, Cirno would hope that her previous acts of kindness would leave a mark on the Espada and perform a miracle of the mind to lessen her hostility. While, at the same time, perhaps the world could see a chance for light to prevail by containing the true destructive force of The Arrancar's prowess from destroying the moon.

'Can all you see and understand me...? There is more to life than this senseless destruction. We can all rise above this if we wish and put an end to this eternal storm of darkness. I don't know if I've proved much of anything with what I've done here, but I would like to bless everyone fighting on the side of good with this gift. Please...take it.....'

With a final sigh, The Angel of The Ice would disperse the residual energies of Miracle Break throughout the entire moon. They would spread to any hero or person willing to fight for the light and empower them. Through this miracle, they would find themselves becoming two times stronger than normal for the duration of their battles. In this way, she would hope to turn the tides towards the side of good and play her part in fighting this eternal night.

For now, however, she was going to need to rest. As, her entire body ached over and she was going to need to be patched up a bit in order to get back into fighting condition. So, as she closed her eyes, she would simply allow the medics associated with the Guild of Heroes and the Iramasha clan to capture her within a white sphere of light. The battle was concluded for now, but the fight for the soul and mind still raged on within The Celestial. The pair of Cirno and Nemain would have undoubtedly left their marks upon one another soul in this larger than life clash. It is unknown what would come of these developments, but for the time being, Cirno hoped that in spite of the destruction here today, that the base could at least be secured and the lives of those who call this place home could be sustained.

Hence, she would feel a wave of tiredness wash over her and begin to fall asleep so that those in charge of medical attention could heal her up and she could begin her next battle.

Thus resulting in the end of the battle of Madness VS Holiness.

[For now, Cirno has fainted and is exiting the thread.]