Lowly Ascent

The people living their lives were told it was an earthquake, but that was farthest from the truth. In the depths of their city, a god had come to walk the earth and those with power tried to stop it.

Agents flooded the sewers like rats. The rats themselves were hiding and shivering from the aftershocks of the battle. Like a waterfall, the agents would enter a large sanctum where their enemy was.

Surrounded by blood and corpses they steeled their resolve and sacrificed themselves for time, fighting alongside the likes of Laimir and Isaac to hold off the lifeform that held a portion of god inside it.

"When's the Arbiter coming?!" Laimir yelled.

One of the new agents shouted back, "Soon, she was on the other side of the country fighting a manticore that a cult was reining. Another hour at most!"

"Shit! We can't hold that long!" As Laimir spoke, Lexi screamed as his arm was torn from his body, breaking a few ribs in the process.

'Shit, he was our vanguard!' Isaac dodged an attack while sending out a stream of fire to block the encroaching limbs of fabric.

Lexi retreated and fell back into a wall clutching his arm.

"Heh, fuck me this hurts! Anyone got alcohol?!" One of the newer agents came over and took out a med kit with rubbing alcohol but Lexi swatted it away. "Not that you idiot, I mean a.l.c.h.o.h.o.l! Like whiskey or vodka, you dope!"

The agent frowned and got back up to help the others. Lexi clicked his tongue and tended to his wounds. No one tried to use this time to kill him, in the case of a god's descent, one that wasn't their own, cultists strung together. If underhanded plays were being used, a descent would succeed every time. No one could afford that.

Agents that were flooding in began to bring heavy weaponry, using grenades and rocket launchers. But against the being they were trying to kill, it was like throwing pillows. It would be more effective to use powers from their paths, minor or major.

Isaac's arm hummed as he created a blinding moon and sent it toward the ceiling for more light.

'This is getting bad, it's growing from consuming the corpses!'

As Isaac's worries were being shared by the others around him, the ceiling crumbled in an explosion of black! A figure in dark knightly armor descended with a greatsword in hand. The light from the moon Isaac had made turned the spectacle into something of a play or movie.

Everyone could see long hair fluttering as it shined under the light of the moon.

Roar!

The creature screamed as a large black blade was crushed into its head. Its circular mouth opened and weaves of wires and stitching came out, but the black blade cut through its body like butter, cutting off a large chunk of the monstrosity's head.

ROAR!

Jumping down, the knight retreated while the beast repositioned itself, trying to fix its pain.

"Status report." A gloomy voice asked Laimir as he stood prepared.

"Not looking good, some time has passed and many of our men were killed. We can't let this go on for another hour or else the Bureau Head might have to get involved."

"Roger." The knight readied their weapon and charged in again.

...

"Raven, I think an exit is this way. Look, there are signs on the wall!"

Cain turned his head, lining the sewer walls was a small sign pointing forward with the symbol of a ladder next to it.

'At long last, I'm getting out of here.'

Darla, with Cain on her shoulder, trekked through the sewers. As they traveled they would find more signs along the way.

Every few minutes, shockwaves would shake the ground but there were no disturbances, and eventually, they came across the ladder they sought.

"Look Raven, the ladder! We can escape this nasty place!" Darla was full of excitement, she was as white as paper. There were very few times when she went up to the surface. 

Climbing up the ladder, Darla reached the top, above her was a hatch. She reached for the handle and turned, lifting it. Dust swept in and settled on her and Cain's heads. With one big push, the hatch fully opened.

...

"It just keeps getting stronger! Pull back, let the pros handle this!"

Many agents and cultists began to run away at Melina's command. Isaac was one of the many who pulled back into the sewers, securing the perimeter while their commanders fought the beast.

Lexi held his arm, his eyes burning with fury. Beside him was Laimir and Melina, while the Arbiter was still in combat with the lifeform.

"To think we would fight together, and to think the Bureau would allow the help!" Lexi snickered.

"The Bureau's first objective is the safety of the people, no matter what methods are used," Laimir defended his organization's reputation.

"Enough you two, are we just gonna let the Knight fight that thing forever, come on!" Melina was the first to charge in, Laimir followed behind which prompted Lexi to move as well.

The Arbiter's massive sword slashed another of the many limbs attached to the monster. It wailed as it gathered strength.

A multitude of fabrics intertwined into a long tentacle the width of a car.

"Watch it lass, you can't dodge that!" Lexi sped up, taking out a strange box and throwing it at the new threat.

As the box flew through the air, it began to activate. Its pieces moved about and unfolded. By the time it reached the limb, it was a massive orange glowing net. Hitting the beast's new arm, the net made a beep and wrapped around the fabric and skin, covering the entire limb. Suddenly, it began to glow brighter and the beast roared in pain.

Melina caught up to Lexi and smirked, "So you reached four bolts in that minor path of yours. What was it called again?"

"Device Specialist." Lexi didn't hide his path, he was too prideful.

Device Specialists were like alchemists and potion makers, but they dealt with machinery and dead material, unlike alchemists who used things such as plants and monster body parts.

Device Specialists would use the materials available to them to create devices, they could be anything from grenades to swords, and the more "bolts" they had, the higher their level. Not many people walked this path compared to potion makers and the like, making each Device Specialist a limited and important asset.

Laimir was confused when he heard the cultist's conversation.

"Your file doesn't say you're a device specialist. If you are, why are you here? Wouldn't your organization want to lock you up so you can make them weapons?"

Melina answered before Lexi could, "You're asking that Agent? Don't you know who leads these Bloody Orphans?! Do you think they're sane enough to make smart decisions?"

Lexi laughed and Laimir frowned.

"You three, are you going to help me or not!" A commanding voice echoed along with another roar.

Although the monster's arm was trapped in Lexi's net, the rest of its body was still free and the beast had gone into a rage trying to break the net to no avail. It was only a beast after all, the gods were not so intelligent, they weren't used to "physical" things.

The Arbiter yelled again, "Hurry, I can feel the descent entering the next stage!"

At her words, the three turned serious and charged in to back her up. Even Lexi's eccentric nature washed from his face. Although the gods were animalistic, they were still gods for a reason.

Seeing the others start to move, the women in dark armor became relaxed.

"Finally..." She then focused on the beast and held her sword forward. "Soul Creation, fusion!" Her massive sword began to meld and fuse with her arm, and its form changed.

The sword became a large black saber with intrinsic designs.

Those with a high enough clearance in the Bureau would know the woman known as the Arbiter walked two paths. One was the Path of Soul, and the other, was Soul Creation. 

Soul Creation was a sub-path of the Path of the Soul, the Path of Magi would also be in this category. Put simply, Soul Creation used the soul to create things, like Lexi's Device Specialist Path.

What was special about this path was that its power would directly translate to the power of the soul, and the Arbiter entered a realm above the rest within her soul, a level which was the reason the Path of Soul was called a Main Path.

Melina saw what the Arbiter was doing and smiled, "So this is someone who has augmented their soul. The realm that begins to escape mortality."

Lexi's eyes burned with ambition. Laimir was the only one who seemed uninterested, his eyes were almost lifeless.

"Cascading Black!" Swords began to break off from the Arbiter's armor, similar to the massive sword she used prior. "Go!"

Tens of massive swords descended from the air and crushed the monster under their weight, pinning down multiple important nodes around the monster's body.

"This is our chance!"

The three jumped onto the monster. Lexi took out strange objects and stabbed them into the beast's flesh.

Melina moved in silence, not a sound escaping from her footsteps, she reached an area near the monster's ear and began to scream, her voice becoming sonic blasts that caused the beast great agony. She then sunk her staff of bells into one of the monster's wounds, the bells on the staff began to move but no ringing came. The beast screamed louder as bubbles rose beneath his flesh, and the sound of bells would escape with a pop.

While the cultists did act, Laimir did not. He oversaw their destruction, using his soul to suppress the beast along with the Arbiter. As long as the celestial body of the Sewn Puppet didn't try to descend into the creature, they could restrict it with their mortal souls.

As time passed, the monster couldn't move and could only take the attacks of the humans. By the time an hour passed, there were four humans and the corpse of blood mixed with fabric.