It's about this time that the collective group starts to rethink their strategy, after watching Theodore essentially brush bullets off his chest, oh, and then there is the whole demon-thing too. So the group stands there, just kind of looking at each other, waiting for someone to speak or come up with a plan, or maybe they should just run like hell?

“Hey, guys, this is my bad-ass moment and you guys are making it awkward... so what are you gonna do?” Theodore yells over to them.

Ivory still amazed and alarmed that she just hit Theodore with five bullets in the chest, it barely hurt him and he's some kind of demon, so she speaks to the group but not loud enough for Theodore to hear, “Um, shit, what now? How can we hurt this demon-dude, guys?” Then she replies to Theodore by yelling, “Demon or not, you're still an asshole.”

Theodore simply shrugs but doesn't advance toward the group, as if he doesn't want to leave the stone ring.

Story answers Ivory's query, “I think these swords can hurt him,” as he holds up the short sword and continues, “Because they are imbued with enchantments and various incantations... all we have to do is get in close enough..." as he holds up the sword, but he practically mumbles the last part.

Dr. Paul Abernathy is in total shock and stunned but manages to utter, “D-Demons are... they, they are real... God help us..." then drops to his knees and starts to shake and weep, and quietly say,

“Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done in earth,

as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

forever and ever.

Amen.”

After Paul finishes, the ground beneath the group glows white and beams of light shine down on each person in the group, then fades. Story says, “Holy hell, that prayer is a protection spell,” smiling like he just found a new toy.

Theodore points to Paul and yells, “See, he has the right idea, kneeling before me, as you all should and maybe I'll offer you a quick death!”

Steve pulls out the other short sword he had in his backpack and says to the group, “Either way, it's time to end this.”

“Oh I see, you think this is an unfair advantage?” Theodore says as he holds up the shotgun, “Fine, I don't need it anyway, not for the likes of you all,” then drops it to the ground.

Story and Steve look at each other and Story says, “I'm not sure if that is a help or not.”

Theodore gets impatient and yells, “Fine, look, I'll even turn around, see, my back to you. Come get some, bitches... or maybe you're still too afraid and too busy shittin' your pants!” with his arms out in a crucifix pose as he turns so his back is facing them.

Steve gets angry and mutters to himself, “Alright, I've had enough of this dickhead!” and he looks at Story and heads across the bridge and runs straight for Theodore, Story runs right behind him. Steve gets close, then Theodore spins around with his wing swiping at Steve's head, so Steve is distracted by the wing, Theodore takes advantage of his distraction and kicks his legs out from under him. Before Steve can hit the ground as he spins rotationally in the air, Theodore punches him in the stomach so hard it lifts him into the air more. As Steve starts to fall, Theodore drops an elbow down on his ribs, making Steve smash into the ground causing him to drop his sword. The moment Steve hits the ground he is kicked by Theodore in the stomach so hard he is sent airborne and falls over the edge, but he manages to grab the edge and is hanging over. Steve barely hangs on while in a fit of coughing and trying to catch his breath from having at least four to five ribs broken.

Ivory saw how bad Steve was hammered and thinks he might fall so she scream, “Oh my god, no, Steve!” she runs across the bridge and grabs his arm to help him up.

Story is in close range when Theodore tries the same trick he just did on Steve, but Story swings his sword and severs Theodore's wing clean off and as his leg sweeps the ground to kick Story's legs out, Story jumps in the air and stabs the sword clean through Theodore's leg. Then Theodore back-hands Story but he manages to block the hit, taking most of the impact on his arm. The impact from Theodore's hit sends him flying backward about six feet, landing ungracefully on his back, knocking the wind out of him.

“Fuck! You son-of-a-bitch, you cut my fucking wing off with my own goddamn sword!” Theodore screams at Story as he pulls the sword out of his leg, blood spurting out of his severed wing. “It's only fitting and fair that I cut something of yours off, you little shit!” Theodore yells at Story as he walks over to him with a limp, with blood pouring out of his leg and stands over him, then grabs Story's wrist and gets ready to cut his arm off.

Steve manages to pull himself up with Ivory's help and then charges Theodore, as Steve is about to chop Story's arm off, Steve smashes into Theodore as hard as he can, they both tumble over the ground, causing Theodore to drop the sword. Then Steve grabs Theodore by the horns and starts to smash his face into the hard rocky ground a few times, as hard as he can.

Theodore elbows Steve in the face and knocks him off, then grabs him by the neck and stands up, lifting Steve off the ground with one hand and says, “Obey me now!” attempting to control him with his supernatural abilities but Steve is under the effects of two protection spells; one from Story, and one from Paul, so he is unaffected.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Steve spits in his face and manages to say, “Fuck you,” while he's choking and trying to pry Theodore's hand off his neck.

Theodore ascertains that his abilities are not affecting Steve, so he spins in a circle to build momentum and throws Steve into the side of the stone ring, nearly throwing him into the sphere of light and energy.

Steve hits square on his back, if not for his helmet he would have probably smashed his head too, but he hits with enough force to cause his arms to throw back like he was a doll being tossed. His right arm goes into the sphere, all the way up to his elbow. When Steve tries to pull his arm out of the light and energy, he can't, so he says, “Oh shit.” Steve's arm passed into the space between spaces, the place between the Material World and the Outer Realms of Chaos. It shouldn't even happen but it's a strange interaction of the two protection spells on him and the incredibly powerful energy holding the Gate open. When Steve tries to pull his arm out, the sphere acts like elastic rubber or taffy, it stretches as he pulls hard, but some unknown force tries to pull him into sphere.

This elastic nature of the energy allows Steve to duck and move out of the way when Theodore tries to punch him, Theodore misses and his punch lands on the stone with a loud thump, hard enough to make Steve very glad it wasn't on his face.

Story October gets up, sees Theodore attacking Steve. Story looks at the shotgun, then at the sword. He picks up the sword and jumps at Theodore and chops off his left hand, just as he was about to punch Steve.

Theodore screams in pain, “Fuckkkk! I am sick and tired of you chopping me up, Story!” while knocking the sword out of Story's hand, then grabs him by the neck and drags him over to the edge. Theodore continues, “I know what you are, I know you're that bitch's Champion, you're supposed to have this great destiny!” then spits and says, “But the Fates are wrong! This is where you fucking die!” Theodore positions his body to ready himself to throw Story off the mesa as hard as he can.

While Theodore is talking, Story is choking and tries to grab anything he can and manages to grab an amulet around Theodore's neck, the light from it is intense to Story, with his special senses. It's clearly some kind of ancient Artifact, possibly not even from this World.

Steve is still being pulled in by his arm, he desperately tries to free himself, placing one foot on the stone and pushing as hard as he can while leaning back, it slowly starts to give way to his efforts.

Theodore looks Story in the eyes and says, “Goodbye,” while drawing his arm back, ready for the throw.

During all this carnage, Claire Oberhauser has been watching while hiding. Up until now she has been far too frightened to move or do anything, however, upon seeing Story October in such peril, her fear is replaced with a twisted maternal instinct. She screams, “Nooooo!” as she rushes out and plows into Theodore as hard as she can, catching Theodore off balance because he is starting to get dizzy and weakened from blood loss and injury, it knocks him over the side, pulling Story with him. Just then, the glowing hand and arm of Steve grabs the back of Story's jacket, his feet on the edge and his body over the precipice. Steve finally freed his arm from the sphere, just in time to save Story from certain death.

Theodore falls about fifty feet while screaming and crashes on the jagged rocks at the bottom, he couldn't fly because one of his wings were cut off. If he would have been unhurt before he fell, he might have survived but with all the injuries he already sustained, the fall kills him.

Story is pulled back by Steve, in Story's hand is the amulet, it must have been ripped from Theodore's neck when he fell. He puts it in his pants pocket to examine it later, at a more advantageous time.

Story and Steve look at Claire, then they look at each other with a confused look. Story remembers this woman, from a brief Vision when he picked up a knife from the floor of his apartment back in Chicago. Story asks, “Um, thank you, I think you just saved my life... who are you? Are you a captive too?”

Claire has been standing there in mild shock at everything she's seen and hasn't spoken yet and stands there insecurely but manages to answer, “I-I'm Claire... I'm your neighbor back in Chicago... I thought you might need my help, so I followed you..."

“Well... okay... that's kinda weird but I suppose I'm glad you did, in this particular case, are you a fan of mine or something?” asks Story while dusting himself off.

The rest of the group gathers around, looking down with their lights at Theodore, making sure he's not moving. Ivory hugs and holds Steve, and she inspects his glowing hand and arm.

Claire says, “I'm your number one fan!” spoken excitedly but then she gets meek and looks down.

“Um, you know... there was this guy that wrote a book about a number one fan..." Story replies.

Claire quickly says, “Oh no, I'd never tie you up to a bed and break your ankles and make you write a book.”

Story looks at Steve and Ivory and says, “That's reassuring... but that's the movie version you're thinking of... so how did you get in here?”

Ivory interjects, “Guys, what are we going to do about this thing?” gesturing to the sphere.

Claire answers Story, as if Ivory never spoke and says, “I know how to get out of here!”

Story puts up his hand with his pointer finger up and says to Claire, “Hold that thought, we gotta take this thing out... it's too dangerous to leave it here.”

“Should we leave to get Adelle and John out of here and then we come back and try to take this thing out... somehow?” asks Ivory.

Claire gives Ivory a hateful glare for being silenced by Story, for allowing Ivory to speak over her.

Story quickly replies with, “I'm reluctant to leave this here at all, for any length of time because we don't know who is involved on the outside and we don't know if we got rid of all the guys down here, there were side tunnels that we didn't explore..."

During this discussion Adelle is standing really close to Story, Claire notices this and gives her hateful glares as well.

Story notices Steve's glowing hand and arm and says, “Woah, whatcha got there, Steve?”

“Oh, man, I don't know. My arm got stuck in that thing,” gesturing at the sphere, then continues, “It's like whatever was in there got stuck to my arm, do you know what it is?” Steve says to Story.

Story inspects Steve's arm closer, using his special senses that can detect supernatural phenomenon and says, “Wow, this is unlike anything I ever seen, this will take me some time to figure out. Does it hurt?”

Steve says, “No, I'm not sure though because my ribs feel like I was kicked by a horse so it's hard to notice any other pain. I think some are broken.”

“I'll take a closer look when we get out of here, okay?” says Story.

Steve nods in acknowledgment but is very concerned about having a weird glowing arm, he thinks about how is he supposed to go out in public or go to work with a glowing arm, what will people say? “Will the government snatch me up if they find out? If something happened to me like this when I was in the Marines, I'd be taken away to the Groom Lake facility or someplace similar and would never be heard from again." vocalizing his internal dialogue.