Battle for neutral ground

Students have had the experience of fighting invaders from crossing over to the living world. There have been plenty of demon Lords trying to steal the headmaster's crown. The occasional crusade by Angelic Order of the Goddess's Commands. Even still there was a short time that the guild master of Sigil for this area also lead Oath walkers to invade the Demon headmaster's territory.

The morning came with a preparation from the little lizards that are still loyal to her despite fearing she would eat them. Through them was the first line of defence that protects the living gateways into the eclipsed spaces. The second line came from the Oath walkers that claim these grounds as home, they pitched in sending an advance warning to the headmaster. The third and fourth lines are the many servants under the headmaster's command, those that protect the hell realm - as it is their home under siege. Lastly was that of the teachers and students, the final ground that is the living realm. This last defence has plenty of layers, salt barriers to candles everywhere. Students too weak to fight are to keep watch and light all candles. Replace or put out any put of the control flames. Sandbags are at hand and everything is needed for using holy water spray instead. Those in training or have low-ranking combat are placed in groups guarding known natural gates. No student left without a post or a partner. Teachers are in command control of the groups. The nerve centre for where direct messages or notes is where both the headmaster and Lea are placed. Both have highly valued rankings, both are a last resort. The last ace. The last stand.

Lea can already tell that there are unpredictable outcomes ahead, she already knew only to herself that soul snatchers was itching to take part. This wasn't the only wild card; there is the mage, the fake undertaker and the wonder of where this universe's Ender is.

Deeply she was aware that the Enders name is on the cog rankers list. The index page is on her skin. If she was to be mortality wounded in such a way, so too will the name of this universe's Ender. Among other cog ranker soul names. Her skin is the value here. She can't afford to hurt them. She is already so delicate about skincare as it is. Even bathing carefully alone as possible.

By the human evening, the new enemy shows itself. It has beaten past the Oath rankers and has the guild master in chains. The man is unable to relinquish authority since it was Lea of the highest rank here.

The title of guild master has already been transferred to her, and already was she making the most of it by sending her mask off. Might as well during a time of confusion spy on all the secrets. To give herself access to locked tome sections that only elite guild masters can access. She is quite sly at doing a bunch of other things like pushing court papers around on the desks of workers and other things that the society of the damned can utilise in making things authentic or have approval for. She aligned the shadow Sigil to direct connection to this one, which helped push a bunch of taboo cases to be brought justice and bring forwards into light.

The early evening has a standoff between demon forces, living humans and this enemy. Not going straight for a scrambled. This enemy has order manners about them, a hierarchy of command and 'diplomatic' speakers at the stand ready to plead for an easy surrender. This enemy is already quite calculative, disrupted her sly tactics of making Sigil flutter in hidden activities. They tried to implement disaster paperwork to bring down her ranking through ruining reputation, but this back fired on them. Since they openly slay damned, this certainty made it that more hard to follow paperwork that disappears the moment they touch them. Unable to see past the shadow veil or understand the shadow's Sigil.

"The enemy is setting a table for us." The headmaster posed in showing an invite, written by the local commander.

"It is both a trap and the ticket to stop this. All sides have something at stake, at risk of we do sit at their table." Reclined at the nearest window with a crystal cup of bubbles liquid. She was fully relaxing, trying to hold back her emotions enough as it is. She can't help but to have her right hand holding her mouth shut. The glamour she wears was thin showing, and her jawline is the fuel of a nightmare's fear. Her left hand was constantly swirling the content of the crystal cup.

"Hearing them out is the quickest and safest way to stop this. The most suitable way of learning to be neighbour and make ground to neutralising laws." The headmaster ponders but he puts the letter down. It burst to flame instantly, "Crafty." He was influenced to a curse on the paper. Breaking it was as simple as putting it down, but it also was an instant decline for civil conversation. This was a black mail way of justification. She claps time to freeze, she suspects that the Seer children or even thier own family was up to something behind thier backs. She studied the student courtyard defence in the living world being tampered. As she thought, Tricksters have taken the new unknown enemies side. They think that she wasn't prepare for such back stab. She however wonders how close Tricksters are to this new ally. Will they have told about her and her blood share? Another wild card to consider.

"As I explained, frozen space of time is like that of living humans in a moment of death. Infinite amount of time between moments. We can achieve everything needed to trigger when time returns back. For as long as their isn't any entities that can sabotage turning back time from us. Death gods, grim reapers and some god like beings all can revert time back." She can't help but recognise the male voice, the crystal cup shattered every direction. She stood softly without sound and was prepared to fight them.

"There are traitors of your own bloodline, those so far we found have been deleted." She can't help but find this way of term unsettling. Do the literally removed and erase soul names? That is a universe punishment that no single soul should have power over. Not even gods. You can be prevented from realm types or densities. Not out right removed - there has to be history traces of existence. Then again, this universe has the unique reverted time aspect. It's possible that they found a loophole with such aspect at play.

"The Silverstone Empire continues to hold surprises of its own. Touché." He finds the office door easy to open and ruined the salt and ash line. Once sorted he invited them to take places into the room. Gladly in case of Seer problems. Lea had something already prepared. She only needed to allow them to put out all flames and that they return time on thier own term. She must wait for then.

"So who is which?" The fella that is the enemy asked.

"The headmaster here is the demon king over the hellscape that is eclipsed over this living realm. Even then, his not the top ranking." The feel of eyes in her back, "Making the stranger stood at the window. The only likely ranking holder." The attempt to summon Sigil command screen. The denied access with prompt, "That's not creepy of a message at all." He shivered, "She is already aware of you." He translated the original message. He left out the some detail but maybe out of about the explain it. He went to take a breath in to continue speaking but there was already suddenly a silver blade through her torso. A shame that she was immune to instant death through Stabbing. Even still, she stay motionless and stood indifferent. Keeping the illusion of lacking part in time pause.

"You just made a massive mistake." Another voice, and likely a death god that hangs around her a lot, "We can't collect that soul. So by Law, she can not die by forced removal of soul. I hope your weapon isn't of value. To many scythes have been judged and erased. Many death gods of low ranks have turned to ashes around her." The death god is particularly against her, "She isn't stopped by time itself... for someone that pulled time and space back together. Such a feat of a cog ranking." The death god is made silent, threatened by another pointed blade. Such rude action against death realm gods, isn't taken lightly. Souring of the death gods should even take sides at all.

"Flames breath of inferno!" The mage teacher to the 'rescue'. Burns some all sides with such reckless magic cast. Although he does know the headmaster is immune and choose the spell for this exact reasoning. Backing down death gods whom definitely take no side in offence toward whatever God this guy worships. There was even how a grim Reaper took stance of guarding the mage.

"Damn reckless human is going to burn the universe. That male over there is the core index keeper to compendium." Raised eye brow of why that is common knowledge to death gods here.

"Oh chill, the book has immunity to elemental discharges. Otherwise there wouldn't exist a section in the lava realms." She lobbed off the hand holding the sword through her. The blade and hand on handle sunk through her slowly. She spoke in such a way of voice to jot be instantly apparent of her identity, "You wish to play games? Can't we have choosen a different method like chess?"

The many frowns and perplexed emotions from hearing her make such senseless suggestion. All sides of the stand off in this room was silenced.

"Page thief! Whoever you are... you can't be the dead little thing. Buried 6ft under as ashes. Not even a fragment of soul will exist, given she spent her soul energy to just barely cling to anything when torn out of this universe." The rage of heightened emotions clouded over his common sense and he just doesn't realise his own stupidity of assumptions. It ate everything about him, even deep in his own soul. However his is just a puppet on strings, the real reason he not moved a single inch yet against her was self defence. The tome Index doesn't want to hurt itself. Letting him do something so emotionally charged of negative energies, there fear of the detrimental impact on the page she is.

"I am sorry, but remind me. How many children have you sired?" His ally ponders, "We did ask for the total number regardless of living or dead."

"Loophole... so fascinating." The grim reaper snickered, "You are quiet the paradoxical problem." Lowered for now and turns to the mage, "She is both. She also neither. This is why all these death gods from all around the universe have been taking turns here. A piece at a time untangling the existence she weaved. Rather we have been sort of in a waiting game which outcome happens first. Our deaths, her death or the universe. If we can unweave this single soul, we would have the vast ability to move boundaries of existence to spread or change."

The mage had to take a moment of loosing hold of his spell now. Sinking in just to what extreme sick game was death gods doing to kill the universe. He is saved in sheer reflex on her part. He was distracted, so she used the crystal fragments of her cup at redirecting the thrown knife or shot bullet. Back around the mute staring at each other. Holding back the moment of war to stretch a second longer.

A bird flew past the window and now that dick claps time to return. The headmaster is pinned to the chair, as was everyone but her. The candles across the school grounds all went out and students are frantically scared of lighting them again or unable to use the lighters.

"This is the end of you thread." Claims the true title of death stood before her, already the Scythe wedge far into her.

"What is a beginning without an end?" She asked so warm and invasive of the god most inner core, "Does such words in your language have time exact meaning too? What differs me and you?" She certainly made it cold all directions around her, but she the beacon of warmth, "I guess you all have given up. You don't care. That this test provides the result I had to know. The reason why my soul would ever pushed effort to come back here. Don't you know that I am considered the single most worshipped soul across 70 million universes?" That last question is an exaggerated number.

She tilted broken like, her own body was simply a puppet vessel to enact existence among souls. She knew herself when reborn into this broken place, that she was just as shattered as existence held clinging in desperation to stay itself. She is the mirror of this universe, why the soul artifact in art class showed her what did. In sheer leasure, she considered making an art reflection of such thing. But that life is gone. This life was indeed as death claims, the end of the thread. But the poor guy is stuck in assumptions of laws and rules. She knows he is because he thinks the compendium is the universe. Really it was just the media she used to bind this broken fragments of existence together. Ignorant hurt souls that closed their eyes from turth and denied the status of how it is. This test she came back to this universe for is the willpower left to want to continue existence. Broken universes can pull itself together if it was desperate. She watched that before. But like a human, just how soul destroying of good faith and sheer compelled belief held this universe in check.

"How many times is too many chances? Where do we call it redemption from sin?" She gladly knows this voice, the one that came from the cold. The real one to truly knows how to remove her soul by force. The one time that killed her that unfortunate moment they stood at edging existence. The way she fell out of existence was his doing, as it was her payment to kick him into reverting time and cascade the dominoes for him to fall as Ender. The 1st soul of this universe that broken the rules it set to exist from. He creaked that foundation that the dead should never be able to cause the direct unreturned death of a living grounded soul. Her ripped emotions of being unable to comprehend his choice to follow the order given to have her murdered among other similar opportunities. Her awakened awareness was due to him. She shattered so many fragments of her soul exploring for answers, spending other time places to live out those 'what if?'. They always were a more perfect pair than any undertakers will ever understand. She was that hot and he was the cold. The depth of soul, emotional state and that they are saddled between life and death. She can't help but feel the blacken damned tear fall from her face. That's what he meant to her and how shattered she is because of him. The last wild card to play. He can stop her from pulling the sin chains she had set up to light holy wood across the campus. That is her way of handling if the candles were tampered with by Seer and Tricksters.

"It doesn't matter which way this goes, Curiosity." She sighed with the loud tap of another blacken blood tear hitting the floor, "It doesn't matter who wins, who dies and who takes over. It will not matter if the compendium of existence falls apart and if you do your duty as Ender. Or that these bunch of souls finally scrap up some excuse to continue." She used the words as a distraction to pull them chains unhindered by him. Just only flame from any wood pile will prolong the standoff just a little more. She didn't mince words because it is him. She used the terms he knew and by the many thousands combining metaphors of many living and dead languages. Her voice was the sheer volume of fragments of her soul. It was quite the mental attack to hear her this way, to be affected by the vast emotional states each dust grain of her soul held out loudest.

"Goodbye." Death made that last tension over her. But all he did was release her soul from being grounded in living status across the entire universe. The death god didn't take to account that she was already also a wondering dead spirit. Many fragments that held no realm attachments that collective still exist. Her shell certainly dropped to the floor but the Scythe was still floating, stuck through a spirit body. She held such a vised grapple in preventing true death from fleeing her or taking back his partner blade.

"What are you?" The goddess of life slaps her hands on either side of death's boney face, "What are you?" It's the only thing she can ask him. He should know better about the way souls die in order. That death in some realms can't be done instantly, because this breaks down the fragile barrier of the veil between spirit realms and living realms. The two true titles picked sides, they were always in love hate relationships.

"Such a young soul." Lea can help the words fall out of her and in the comment of the Scythe stuck in her, "Just barely clinging to such knowledge. You have so many flaws and rough edges. So imbalanced. You not even sharp to cut the flame of creation itself." She speaks so disappointed with the handle of duty this soul in the Scythe held, "How exactly are you worthy of your existence to judge other souls?" She asked it. She uses her soul at putting the blade through situations and vast experiences she can pass over it. Through her own will to use the blade over herself, multiple times. The sheer insanity to make the blade force such judging on the handles that wield it. It does break the rule it has about never judging the soul who holds it. Lea is an insane soul that cares little about such a law, the outcome of gifting this nightmarish method of teaching outweighs many negative factors. She would rather the Scythe be able to do what it is purpose in this universe to do. Costing her soul if she must. Spending her soul and time was nothing new.

"Stop this!" Life and death both held Lea from continuing to such insane willpower. Fearing the Scythe will become infected by insanity at the rate she did this. Meaning finally there was something that both true titles can find agreement about. That also with knowing that she is a danger to this universe while not at all. To how far was she willing to make her soul prove a point, the sheer length of an ordeal. Dawning that she had to suffer so much more than just crawling out of all living realms without disturbing existence to be granted soul premises into the human realms. Her soul should be that of a god slayer, the number of infections and bites by them. The vast number of methods of how she dies weren't erased. She wasn't granted god blessing to have memories Wipe clean. She is as the universe deems, immortal by spirit and mortal by existence. She knows what it feels to be eaten alive, starved and not met by any gods at her most needed hours. She can break sin chains, she had to experience and repent every sin those chains are made of. Amounting to the evidence of why and how they screwed up. She the result of this universe's failures, a soul made to bend rules to find boundaries.

"I still don't know if I still hate you or if this was something more." Her spirit body was captured by his clothes and limbs. Cold fighting her heat. A tangled mess of charring. She lets herself be bundled up for now, she was finished sharpening the true gods Scythe. Such a blade was so much refine now, the flaws were gone and indeed it can cut the flame of creation itself. For that matter, so was its sister owned by life. Sticky shadow hands was doing the same method of nightmare's teaching to goddess of life's own tool for soul interaction.

"What idiot sets up camp fires across the grounds like that?" Someone watching the window of the students taking the initiative. Torches of holy wood are being set as boundaries. New ash lines and candles set alight once more. The enemy trapped within is dealt by the teachers directly. The headmaster breaking out of his pinned imprisonment makes a will placed throw across the room. There is now a silver knife through the chest of the enemy (the one in claim to be a Silverstone Empire rep).

"Transcend past the seeing veils and hear my reach through the fragile veils." Lea spoke like thunder that clouded static in the while room, "Return these souls that do not belong. Care not their status or powers. They must go back to doing what they should be. Back home in thier right places." The ceiling grows hands and collared true gods and unwelcome entities. Every last spirit with no grounding will be sent its way. Even Lea herself, now that she is a spirit by full body. For that matter she will just be sent to edge of existence. Back to the boundaries gateway she is bound to protect. She was ripped apart from Curiosity, carried through the gateways the many thousands of ancient hands came from. In loving care she was pulled out of the living realm. They redressed her and placed her to post in the dream lands. The outcome of the school war was as she said - didn't matter.