Swinging his blazing red sword down with its point to the ground, the king of Fanum-Divus released a powerful shockwave that raced along the group obliterating any hapless homunculus that got in its part. The flagstones of the courtyard buckled u and cracked in its wake and Raziel had one spilt second in which to determine a course of action and act.
He did the only think he could do to dodge the blast. He jumped. The action was almost completely instinctive as he leapt at the wall behind him, sinking his talons into the stone. He had gotten out of the direct path of the onslaught and it slammed into the base of the wall a couple of feet below. It was only a momentary respite, for the wall began to crack and crumble with a near destroyed foundation. With a thunderous roar it began to topple forward.
Propelling himself away from it with a kick Raziel spun into mid air but there he was merely a target for the officer homunculi who lurked at the edge of the fight hurling bolts of condensed energy at him. He dodged two of them, spinning around in the air but one caught him across the arm as he tried to right himself.
The blast dragged him down back to the stones of the courtyard again. The blue wraith rolled for some distance, scrapping his talons across the stones to slow himself down with fragments of stone flying. He felt his inner energies dim and flicker as a result of the impact. Tearing himself back to his feet Raziel quickly turned to face the real threat.
Raziel-Divus was coming down at him him again, flapping his large black feathered wings to keep himself aloft.
Here in this time and place there was not one, nor two but three incarnations of himself. The blue wraith faced his first form and across his back was the material Soul Reaver with his soul trapped inside. Raziel had deliberately forced himself not to think about the complex set of temporal events but the close proximity of three of his souls instead of two was causing some distracting effects.
As it had in the fight to reclaim the sword from Elzevir, the temporal distortion made the world warp and twist around him; bending in the paradox. The horizon was distant and close all at once and his depth perception was badly unreliable. In order to act and judge the movements of his enemies and allies in this all important battle Raziel was having to rely on the position relative of his own body. There was almost a certain large amount of luck involved as well.
With a thunderous expression of hated and rage upon his face he swept his sword down again unleashing another shockwave. This time Raziel had time to act for a far more favourable position. He ran forward, ducking under the edge of the shockwave. There was a split second where the king of Fanum-Divus was vulnerable after delivering that attack, his sword outstretched with his sword in hand and no attention given to his own defence.
Raziel ran at him as fast as possible, knowing that the window of opportunity was slight. When he got far enough he cupped his hands together and focused as hard as he could. In response to his mental command between his palms formed a swirling ball of condensed telekinetic force. He didn’t have time to ensure its cohesion for long distance projection. Unleashing it at his past self Raziel threw the ball. It hurtled, loosing cohesion as it flew before impacting the face of his enemy. It wasn’t enough to cause any significant damage but the blast was sufficient to cause the king of Fanum-Divus immense irritation. With a snarl of frustrated rage, he held his free hand up to his face covering his eyes and dazed from the hit.
Raziel was still too far away from his enemy to capitalise on this momentary distraction but his partner in this battle was not.
In lupine forward Ewoden leapt out from the side of the fortress wall, his arms spread wide and mouth agape. Before Raziel-Divus could react the werewolf was on him, clasping with claws and fangs biting deep into his back and wing muscles.
Screaming out in rage and pain, the king of Fanum-Divus struggled to keep himself aloft with the excess weight. The armour of the king however kept the lycanthrope emissary from inflicting deadly injury and after a moment to recover his wits he retaliated.
For a moment Raziel-Divus curled up into a foetal position with his arms curled around his knees. Then he spread them wide with a scream of outrage, his sword stabbing the sky. Out in every direction crashed an intense new shockwave. Moving out like a rapidly expanding bubble the pulse of pure force dug into the ground and sent flagstones flying in all directions. With a somewhat startled expression on his feral face Ewoden was sent hurtling up into the air, disappearing over the edge of the Bastion’s main fortress.
Raziel had the good sense to hug the ground and bunch himself up. Anchored down and fortified he weathered the impact of the shockwave and let it wash over him, although he was struck across the head by a flying stone.
The strike left him dazed and his vision swam. He blinked to try and clear it but that moment of inattentiveness left him open. Raziel-Divus flew at him with his wings spread wide. His sword was drawn back trailing bolt of crackling red lightning in the air as it moved.
Raziel’s counterstroke was instantaneous and instinctive, so fast he wasn’t even aware he was moving. He flourished his right arm, calling forth the wraith blade. It screamed into existence just in time to parry the blow and then defend his head from an overhead swipe.
Raziel-Divus’ blows were driven by anger and intense rage but not enough to make him loose control of himself. Every blow was precisely aimed at a weakness in the blue wraiths defence and Raziel knew he was in trouble. A berserker with an intelligent mind back up the fury was not an opponent one took head on.
Staying on the defensive was not an option. Raziel took an opportunity present and lunged, aiming at his past self with his ghostly sword. The king of the Divus side stepped, narrowly avoiding the ethereal blade and swung his sword down threatening to cut the blue wraith’s arm off.
To save his limb Raziel dragged his leg sharply across from the right, kicking the king’s foundations out from under him. Raziel-Divus stumbled one and his blow missed, falling short of its mark by a foot.
Raziel took the opportunity to sent a rolling slash directly at his enemy, but his past incarnation matched him for speed and blocked him with his left arm. The strange shield attached to his bracer lanced out its triangle of barbs that formed its perimeter. Once these emerged the shields energies burst into life forming a protective ethereal aegis that warded off Raziel’s ghostly weapon.
The two connected together, ghost weapon clashing against a ghostly defence. Briefly there was a moment when the two unearthly forces clashed where they almost seemed to dance in harmony, as if the two were lost siblings embraced. Then the will of their masters drove them at one another and they erupted in sparks of conflict.
Raziel tried to strike in quick enough to score a hit but his past incarnation was just as fast, using his shield to defend himself while lashing out at him from behind it.
Eventually though the blue wraith as forced to give way, dodging back out of reach of that sparking sword of red lightning.
He danced back out of range, making for the dubious safety of the side of the fortress building. Homunculi tried to bar his way with heavy shields. The Blue wraith simply slide underneath them and rolled back up to his feet still running.
Raziel-Divus took to his wings and tore through the obstacle, not having the presence of mind to simply order his own minions out of the way.
Briefly Raziel wondered why those other two Divus had not come to aid their master in battle. That first one with the morning star weapon, Asmodeus had engaged at first but when he had perceived his kings coming he had quit the field in a hurry. And that third one had never seen showed up at all.
Suddenly Raziel ran into a more substantial obstacle, a curved shield wall formed by homunculi who had the sense to guard their feet. Raziel skidded to a sudden stop, finding himself cut off and unable to run any further. He was trapped in a smaller courtyard with snow piled up all around him, spikes jutting out from the walls stained black with old blood.
He sharply turned around to face the oncoming form of the fuming king of the Divus. His past incarnation was flying at him hard down the way he had come eyes ablaze with fanatic zeal.  
“Raziel!” A voice barked from above and the king of Fanum-Divus flapped to a sudden stop about a few feet away.
Both Raziel’s froze in that moment, eyes widening simultaneously and they glanced up sharply to where that shout had come from.
A figure, tall and muscular, dropped down from the stones above to land forming a barrier between the king of Fanum-Divus and his future incarnation.
.
 “And so here he was yet again, Kain the disruptor. The pebble in the pond that destroyed all it touched. There was no one I was pleased more to see.”
.
“Kain?!” Raziel-Divus almost gargled; his face momentarily stunned his sword held loosely at his side as if he were suddenly not aware he was holding it. Kain was not looking at him; rather the vampires gaze was solely for the blue wraith.
Then Raziel realised that Kain was not looking at him directly, but rather was staring directly at the hilt of the Reaver which was still strapped across his back.
There was really not time for formal ceremony but Raziel felt the intense need for a theatrical display none the less. He easily tore the makeshift rope he had used to carry the weapon and swung it forward, holding it out with the blade across his palms.
As he held the sword the rippling distortion seemed to grow even larger, more violent and pronounced.  Something was on the verge of happening, some very simple but at the same time profound enough to alter the course of history.
“No! You cannot!” Raziel-Divus snarled and lunged, sword drawn back ready to strike.
Kain however was quicker, reaching out with his right hand to grasp the hilt of his destined sword.
The moment he took the blade, history itself gave off an alarmed screech. Everything around them shuddered violently and something profound seemed to lurch to one side, like a diverted river taking up a new course.
Raziel recognised the sound. History was protesting at this event. Had Kain been destined never to wield the sword again and now that he did, was the course of their futures altering? Had this been the contingency plan laid down by their enemies?
Raziel did not have time to sword for as Kain took the sword, it erupted into white flame; the cleansing power of spirit snaking down its length.
That most powerful of the elemental energies had not been in the sword itself but rather in Kain, for only when the Soul Reaver was wielded by the Scion of Balance did its true power come forth.
.
“The Soul Reaver was Kain’s once more, his hand rightfully clasping the hilt. With the sword raised high the blade burst into spiritual fire.”
.
Kain looked at his sword for a moment, and then sprung all in one motion. He set into the homunculi standing around them and his swings tore through the minions of the Divus as if they were made of parchment. Their shields availed them not and methodically he hacked them to pieces, the blade fire scorching whatever remained into ash.
Raziel-Divus watched from the edge of the courtyard his lips pulled back in a snarl of hate.
“You were supposed to die.” He spat.” You were both supposed to die!”
Kain slung his blade across one shoulder and cast a whimsical look at his partner.
“I don’t practically feel like dying, what about you?” He asked in conversational tone. Raziel shrugged.
“It’s not high on my list of priorities.” The blue wraith replied. “I think I’ve died enough for one existence.”
Kain nodded sagely and turned to face their enemy.
“You see how it is friend.” He said. “We’d love to oblige you only we have other commitments, you understand how that goes.”
Raziel-Divus was less than impressed, his red lightning sword glowing brighter as if in response to his anger.
“You had the Reaver the last time I fought you. This changes nothing.” He said flatly. Kain held out one hand and shook a talon.
“If I may disagree, the situation is entirely different.” He said and then gestured out at the blue wraith. “Last time, I was alone.”
It would have been utterly inconceivable for Raziel to stand by Kain’s side, fighting in his defence against such enemies before. Had the Divus approached Raziel when he had first been revived in this ragged form he would perhaps eagerly aided them in crushing Kain and any who dared stand with him.
Now was the situation reversed and he felt more conviction and determination in this role as he had in any role previously. Now he was more than a servant, beyond an avenger or even a pseudo saviour. Now he was an ally of the scion of Balance and it felt right.
“Perhaps you might be more than a match for either of us... separately.” Kain carried on and there was a not a steel edge in his voice; a ringing defiant challenge. “Yet I cannot help but wonder how you would fare against the two of us together?”
There was a sudden loud thump as Raziel-Divus turned to look sharply back over his shoulder. Blocking his way out of this smaller courtyard as Ewoden, his lower arms and legs covered in fur and sprouting claws as his animalistic form reasserted itself. The emissary had survived his fall although he did look bruised about the left hand side. Whatever had broken his fall had not evidentially been all that soft.
“Make that three.” He said with an ominous growl, his much expanding out into a muzzle full of sharp teeth. Bits of homunculi terracotta fell from the edges of his arched claws.
The King of Fanum-Divus surveyed them all, one by one noticing the weapons of blade, wraith and fangs turned against him. His expression deepened gradually into a scowl of fanatic zeal.
Later when Raziel looked back at this battle he often wondered if the mad king had had the strength of mind of his later incarnations to see it was hopeless it he might have averted or postponed his fate.
“All enemies of heaven fall by my hand!” He spat into the air, bringing his sword up high above his air. The blade crackled with his anger and the sky overhead grew dark, the clouds rolling with the blackest shadows cast amongst them.
Kain brought the Reaver out in front of himself, his hands steady and confident on the grip of the sword he always knew once more. Beside him Raziel flourished his right hand and called out his own ethereal sword.
“You will not prevail, heathen!” Their enemy said between clenched teeth, the red lightning gleaming off his armour.
Kain set himself, feet parted and Raziel recognised the body language of a warrior strained for a spring.
“Perhaps not.” The vampire admitted, muscular bunching. “But you will not be the one to stop me!”
Kain was across the distance between him and their enemy in a flash, the physical Reaver arching up towards the king’s midsection. The scribe of heaven blocked the strike with the shield, blue sparks flying.
Raziel darted forward to take up the offensive as well at the same time Ewoden lunged from behind. The two of them came at their enemy together.
Raziel-Divus twisted, jumping high into mid air. He slammed his foot into Ewoden’s face forcing the lycanthrope emissary to back off. The other foot connected with Raziel’s chest but the wraith had a far more supple body and was able to bend around it, slipping off to one side so that the hit did not do as much damage as intended.
He grasped his part incarnation by the front of his armour and tried to pull him in close to deliver a thrust with the wraith blade, but the Divus batted his hand aside and slammed his own blade down into the ground directly before him.
The resulting shockwave hit Raziel directly in his unprotected face and sent him flying, tumbling wildly through mid air until he crashed into the side of a black stone wall.
Kain dodged the blast in mist form and darted in striking across Raziel-Divus’ temporarily exposed chest with the Reaver. The blade connected sharply with the armour and there was a blinding white fast.
The armour was not regular steel of course, perhaps infused with some measure of power of its own. In protected its wearer from being obliterated on the spot but when the light died away, there was a large carved vent opened wide in the breastplate.
Startled by the power of that strike Raziel-Divus flapped his wings to gain some breathing room. Ewoden would not let him, scrambling out of the shadows and leaping up at their enemy. His target focused itself directly at that gash in the armour, claws biting deep.
Blood spurted out staining the already red fur.
The king of Fanum-Divus screamed in pain and kicked out, knocking the werewolf away but his wounds dripped deeply with blood coating his armour. He held a hand to his jury trying to stem the flow but it kept coming. Ewoden’s claws had sunk deep, but not quiet deep enough for the injury to be fatal.
Kain tried to capitalize on that distracting injury and rushed in, the Reaver drawn back in both hands in a stabbing motion. The Divus king however was not so dazed that he was going to simply stand there and let himself get run through. His left arm came down and the mystical shield blocked the Reaver’s blow once more, the two energies clashing.
The shield while able to take a direct blow from the Reaver could not withstand that pressure for extended periods of time, its flickering barrier of energy waning while the Soul Reaver’s grew stronger.
To save himself from the blow, the Divus king swung out to one side and let Kain slam his blade into the nerveless feathers of his wing. Pinned thus the vampire was left wide open and slamming his own sword down Raziel-Divus unleashed a shockwave at him.
Kain stood there for a moment withstanding the onslaught before he was sent cascading away with his white hair streaming.
As Raziel-Divus took a step back, his future self struck. The blue wraith’s attack was not aimed at the Divus king himself but rather at that shield which was impeding their efforts.
Raziel latched onto the kings arm with both hands, his talons digging into his bracer and gripping it hard. Divus turned to look at him sharply and tugged back trying to force his attacker off of him.
The two conflicting Raziel’s struggled back and forth, either able to raise their blades against one another. The flickering energies of the shield sparked angrily between them.
Then the blue wraith’s talons caught under some catch and with a metallic hiss the device itself came free from the Divus King’s arm, flying up into mid air its energies still flickering.
“No!” The Scribe of heaven cried hoarsely. He tried to reach up to catch it but Raziel was already there, reaching out not just with his hand but with his mind was well. Caught in his telekinetic grip the device hovered there briefly before flying to its new owner.
Raziel held out his own left arm and the shield attached itself to the clothe wraps, quite secure in place.
.
“Freed from the arm of his previous owner, the shield accepted the change in ownership without question. I felt it connect to my very essence, becoming just as much a part of my body as my hands and feet.”
.
Perhaps it was tailor made to fit the soul that wore it and attached to him it merged such as well as it did with the king of the Divus. Raziel felt certain that this shield would follow him back and forth between the spectral and material realms. It felt strange, like being reunited with an old friend he had never known he had.
His shield...
“You ... you thief!” The king of the Divus snarled, holding his now unadorned hand to his bleeding chest.
“Technically it belongs to me just as much as it does you.” Raziel replied flatly and with great contempt. “And I think I can put it to far better use then you could ever conceive of.”