[Suzerain of Sheol]

AND LO, THE LORD SAID, "GO TO THE BASTARDS, TO THE REPROBATES, TO THE OFFSPRING OF IMMORALITY, AND DESTROY THEM!" AND THE NEPHILIM WERE TERRIFIED, SEIZED WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING.

The demon's maw descends, slavering, smiling in a holy ecstasy. Na'lsa falls upon the Nephilim, and the Nephilim screams.

The sound is a javelin of anguish hurled into the ether, piercing to the core of every mind on the Isle. Kasdeja's broken body flails in impotence, his broken mind hurls pitiful blows against the demon's crazed psyche to no avail. Eventually, his efforts cease, his cries dwindle to whimpers, and then to silence.

And Cain watches all, impassive, a gaping wound in this moment, untouched by feeling or empathy of any kind, bleeding out the apathy of the aeons-dead.

In the interminable quiet that follows, broken only by the sounds of gnawing, of blood-oozing swallows, the apparition speaks once more.

TO THE DEMON WITHIN YOU, HYBRID, I SAY THIS: I HAVE ENDURED FAR TOO MANY WINTERS IN THE WASTES OF SHEOL TO REMEMBER WHAT IT IS TO FEAR. YOU WILL TAKE NOTHING FROM ME.

AND TO YOU, URIEL, CRIPPLED AND DEFILED, MUTANT HOUND OF METATON'S MAD CONCEPTION, I WILL REMIND YOU, I HAVE KNOWN YOUR FIRE BEFORE. I STOOD FROM AFAR AND LUSTED AT THE GATES OF EDEN, DRIVEN TO WONDER BY THE GLAMOUR OF YOUR SWORD. I WAS A CHILD, ONCE, BORN BENEATH A BRIGHTER SUN. AND WE MET AGAIN ATOP THE INFINITE STAIR, BEFORE HEAVEN'S ADAMANTINE GATES. OH, HOW YOU SNAPPED AT THE LEASH OF THE LORD, SO EAGER TO SPILL MY MURDEROUS BLOOD. YOU HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN, HAVE YOU?

I STILL BEAR THE MARK, BUT IT CAN NO LONGER PRETEND TO MEANING IN THIS, OUR FALLEN WORLD. THE GOD OF ADAM MY FATHER CAN NO LONGER STAY YOUR HAND. SO BE IT. IF WHAT BEGAN THAT DAY WHEN I DROVE MY SPEAR THROUGH ABEL'S BACK HAS LED TO THIS...

LET US END IT NOW.

The threat in the spirit's words is manifest, and yet, for all the deadly resolution there, he seems content to let Asasiah strike the first blow....