An Interlude

Take and Malphiel ascend the stairs in a place between worlds. To their right what appears to be a sun floats lazily casting the void in a shimmering light. The top of the stairs end at a small landing on which the door to the next floor sits. An ornate silver edged door with windows of stained glass depicting beautiful angels in repose.

"The compulsion for the Chosen to ascend as soon as possible is a strange one and not well understood," Malphiel says. "The best answer as I understand it is that it's designed to prevent the Chosen from well, clearing a floor completely and then just remaining there. Some chosen in the past apparently might have attempted to... game the system as it were, by staying for extended periods on certain floors," Malphiel says with a shrug.

"I can't imagine what kind of use that could have, but perhaps I am simply not thinking out of the box enough," Take says with a shrug.

"As for the mention of arousal... I did feel some during the fight. The Incubus infamously has a lust aura that attempts to defeat opponents by making them so aroused they can no longer focus on the fight and sometimes even surrender as they no longer desire to fight and only desire to... Well you know," Malphiel states, "that being said I don't feel any arousal now... Take?" she asks.

"No I feel perfectly normal," Take responds.

"Good, it is possible that the transition is simply suppressing the effect, but it is also possible the effect is lacking some sort of trigger. Regardless I was also asked to inform Take about the Tower Above and Below," Malphiel starts.

"I have had a lot of time, waiting for my at the time inevitable demise and have mused on the role of the two towers in regards to the Tower itself. Some of these thoughts might be a little heretical, but... I believe both only exist to be an external modifier to the Chosen's journey. In other words we exist only to make the Chosen's journey harder in a mostly indirect way. The majority of actions taken by the Tower Above and Below happen outside the Tower proper, but almost always seep into the Tower in unexpected or intentionally subtle ways. Past floor four the Tower Above or Below will usually not figure directly into a Chosen's Journey unless they have specifically sided with one or the other, but even then it is very rare for the Chosen to arrive at a floor where the Tower Above or Below are the main threat, usually they are at best indirectly affecting things on a floor with maybe one or more representatives more directly influencing things," Malphiel muses.

"As for what they actually are. The Tower Above is the collective name of both the location in which it operates and the group that operates within that location. Ruled by a figure called the One True God, the Tower Above seek to make the Tower proper into a place of order and purity. The ultimate goal of the Tower Above is a peaceful Tower filled with helpful denizens who work together in harmony," she explains.

"The Tower Below is as well the collective name for the location and the group which operates in that location. They are ruled by a figure called the Abyss and they seek to spread Chaos and sin. They're ultimate goal is to turn the Tower into a place of uninhibited desire and indulgence, filled with denizens who seek to only satisfy their own selfish ends," she explains and then adds, "a goal neither will ever truly be able to reach. It stands to reason that if the Tower created them in order for their conflict to add challenge, then the Tower would have ensured that their conflict could not be ended, especially since if the Tower Above succeeded, the Tower would by necessity no longer retain any challenge as every denizen would seek to assist the Chosen in their endeavour," she clarifies and then continues, "it is also likely that even if one did win, it would be temporary. There is no sign that the Abyss or the One True God could ever be permanently killed or disabled. Even if the forces of the Tower Above managed to scour every inch of The Tower Below, slay every demon and Arch-demon, the Abyss would simply rebuild it all in time and the conflict would start again," she says and then sighs.

"It is rather depressing, but the Tower doesn't exist to be a place of happiness or sadness, it exists to be a challenge for people who come from without," she remarks. "The best we can truly hope for is that The Chosen who come through align with one or the other and temporarily turn the tides so the Tower might shift slightly in favour of one or the other until such time as the balance swings back," she finally finishes.

"That certainly seems a little... Hopeless," Take agrees and then Malphiel chuckles.

"Hopeless indeed, but I suppose it doesn't truly matter to us. I no longer serve either, I only serve you and you are beholden to neither, able to choose whatever side you wish or to choose both or neither," she notes and Take looks thoughtful.

"It doesn't bother you that I could choose the Tower Below?" Take asks.

"I'd prefer otherwise, but as I said in the end it would hardly matter, as long as you keep me by your side I don't care if we burn the entire Tower to the ground," she answers, "not that such a thing is likely to actually be possible," she adds quickly.

Take nods, "You seemed to avoid part of the voices' request by the way," she says and Malphiel looks questioningly at her.

"Tell me about yourself," Take prods.

"Oh... I suppose I just didn't consider it an interesting topic," she replies and then shrugs, "My name is Malphiel. I was a soldier of the Tower Above, charged with fighting on one of the many battlegrounds between the two towers. On the battlefield I was beaten and captured. It is actually fairly rare for Angels to be killed in battle. The demons prefer to capture angels to **** them and use them in various rituals. **** is almost always the eventual end of any captured angel, but they can expect years or even decades of torment before hand. I was of course subjected to every depraved act the demons could imagine. Tortured, ****, humiliated and eventually placed as the trial for the Demonic Path where my eventual **** was expected... Until you saved me," she says.

The two reach the doors and Malphiel hugs Take kissing her cheek before they head through the doors. The doors open and on the other side they find the inside of a church. Dreg is here standing at the altar. The pews have been covered and converted into sleeping areas and other useful things. Malphiel looks around and her eyes widen, "Wait this isn't the Tower Above this is-" she starts.

"-The front line. Outpost Charity. It seems the Tower has decided Take should be the first Chosen ever to see the battlefield on which the Tower Above and Below fight. My guess is because she chose to save Malphiel, they figured it would be a nice idea to bring them both to the place Malphiel belongs, welcome back to your home," Dreg cuts her off and explains casually as Malphiel slowly begins to panic.

"The rest of the floor is of course outside those doors," Dreg says pointing to the doors of the church. The stained glass windows have been broken in many places and the doors are covered in burn marks. Looking outside there is a hallway that goes to the left and right, one half of it is split and resembles the eerie purple glowing floors of the Tower below heading off to the left. To the right, the shiny, silver and gold colouring of the Tower Above. Sounds of **** and screams echo from both directions.

(Health: 100%

Mana: 0%

Equipment: Kitsune Mask (shattered), black leather dress (Torn), fishnet bodysuit (torn), Silk chest wrap (Shredded), silk panties (punctured), Thick leather armor (-2, shredded reduced to -0 until repaired), Biker's armor (-1), Kusarigama (-3), Ninjato(-3), 3xKunai, 2xSmokebomb, 1xGrenade, 8xCaltrops, black catsuit.

Inventory: A smooth pretty stone, A blood red whip, Slutty dress, Animate Golem Spellbook, creepy potion, angelic key, winged key, The Horned Helmet, The Crushers, vial of semen, Challenge gear, Necklace of the Crimson Moon, Soul sucking Dagger, Heavy Mimic Armor.

Status Effect: Lustful. Uncontrollably Aroused.

Spells known: Cloak (Lvl 1, mastered, Mana Cost: 10%)

**** Lance (Lvl 1, mastered, Cost: 15%)

Fetish: Submission Lvl 1.

Party: Malphiel

Malphiel Health: 100%

Malphiel Mana: 15%

Malphiel Equipment: Cracked Visor.

Malphiel Spells Known: Angelic Rays (Lvl 1, Mastered, cost: 20%), Heavenly Soothing (Lvl 1, Mastered, cost: 25%), Retribution (Lvl 1, Unmastered, cost: 100%, unusable, triggers automatically at 0% hp if Malphiel has enough Mana to trigger it).

Malphiel Status Effect: Broken Wings. Combat level lowered to Medium, cannot fly.

Touch of Corruption. Maximum Mana and Health set to half of normal. Loses access to God's Light, God's Judgment and Divine Grace.

Lustful: Uncontrollably Aroused.

Third Floor Gear Challenge: Kill 10 demonic or angelic forces before leaving the floor. Nephilim does not count as either. The commander of either army only counts as 1. 0/10