Diablo 3: Hell's Eclipse

With the siege beast taken care of, and they were sure there were no more enemies in the immediate area for them to deal with, Luna and her friends descended down the path that happened to be behind the fallen beast and found that it brought them into Azmodan's domain. As Luna expected Hell was filled with burned and cracked ground for them to walk on, with flames dancing all around the place, though in the distance there were demonic spires that crackled with demonic power, in fact she was sure they could hear heartbeats from them. From what they could see it appeared that the path leading into the depths of this portion of Hell was like a maze, or at least branching paths that mostly ended in dead ends with a single one being the one they needed to take to reach their target. She knew that this was the end of their journey, six Lords of Hell now resided in the Black Soulstone and the last one was within their reach, and soon Sanctuary would be safe once his soul was trapped inside it as well.

Once that was done it would be a matter of figuring out how to actually break the Black Soulstone in a way that made sure the souls of the seven Lords of Hell were forever destroyed, unable to come back for real, but for now her focus was on the task at hand as she readied her weapon once more.

"It would seem that Azmodan has pulled out all the stops, if he's pulled a few Sin Hearts out." Tyrael commented, though none of them were surprised that he had knowledge that could be of use to them, he was the most familiar with the forces of Hell, which was why they braced themselves while listening to his explanation on what they were hearing, "They are the demonic spires you are seeing, with enormous hearts inside their cores, which empower and strengthen Azmodan's forces... I imagine our success has forced his hand, and that this will be the last obstacle for us to break through."

"So we have to march through Hell, destroy the two Sin Towers he's summoned, likely kill the other three Sin Lieutenants, and then kill the last Lord of Hell." Leah remarked, where she simply stared at the landscape that was in front of them, just taking in the fact that they were actually here, standing in Hell to track down Azmodan and bring an end to the battle at long last, before she shook her head a little before taking a step forward, "Well then, we had best get started."

As they started to march into Hell, finding more of the demons they had fought on the way here, they heard the voice of one of the other Sin Lieutenants, likely Cydaea since it was a feminine voice, informing them that they had slain one of her many 'playthings' and that they had her undivided attention. Luna thought it was a stupid thing to say, since Cydaea and the rest of her group had no doubt been tasked with fighting them and that meant her attention should have been on them from the very beginning, but decided not to question the demon. What she did, however, was allow the others to step forward for just a bit as she gathered her power into Ashbringer and then fired off a wave of energy into Hell, letting it cut through demons that were off to the left of where they entered through before blasting a crater into the demonic army. She figured that one of them might as well deal some damage to the enemies that were trying to tear down Bastion's Keep, though she found that it hardly mattered since the demons were actually converging on their location this time.

It was interesting that their enemies were changing tactics, which explained why the angels had such a hard time killing them and ending the war, though Leah was fine with this as she readied her bow and let an elemental arrow fly, which pierced the demons in her path before blowing up when it reached a demonic summoning device. It was clear that Azmodan's forces were trying to call in more forces from the other regions of his realm, maybe even the other provinces of Hell, where Sonya and the others focused on destroying those items to make sure the Lord of Sin was unable to stop their advance. Luna also found that the rest of the group targeted the demons that dared to stand in their way, it was an absolute slaughter based on what she was seeing, though in Tyrael's words this was the power of a Nephalem, even though they weren't as powerful as the first generation had been, but Luna was fine with this since they cleared the way for them to advance.

As they did that, however, Leah found a blade stuck in a demonic rock and Tyrael froze when he laid eyes on it, as it was a curved blade of angelic origin whose edge was darkened by the power of Hell, and yet Leah was able to draw it easily, which allowed them to confirm that it was a weapon from the High Heavens.

"Verathiel's sword... he fell in battle a long time ago, and we never recovered his blade." Tyrael said, as the owner had been one of the many angels who fought the Burning Hells since the start of the Eternal Conflict and had fallen into the depths a lifetime ago, he wasn't even sure when Verathiel had fallen, but he could see that the blade seemed to embody both forces, angelic covered by demonic, "It will serve you well, if you decide to wield it."

Leah moved her hand for a moment, feeling how the weapon felt in her hand, before turning as she loosed a crescent wave of energy that coiled around itself and tore through the demons that were blocking the way forward, blasting an opening in the top of the Sin Tower they were heading towards, much to Tyrael's shock.

"It's perfect... like it was made for me. I know it wasn't, but it sure feels like it." Leah remarked, though this discovery did give her a weapon to use in case demons got close and none of the others were nearby, or if she wanted to wreck something with some of her magic, before she glanced at the rest of her group with a smile on her face, "Come on, let's go show the rest of Azmodan's forces who they're messing with."

Thanks to Leah's actions they were able to break their way through the demonic defenses and invade the first Sin Tower, the large structure that would bring them deeper into Azmodan's realm, where large beings were chained inside the structure's insides and they could hear the heart much more clearly now. Interestingly enough there were stairs and smooth paths for them to follow, doors to use to head deeper, and even a new foe that was capable of warping from one point to another, all while being twice as tall as everyone in the group, but Leah paid them no mind as Sonya and Valla lead the attack in killing the phase beasts. While they did that Luna spotted a floating demon that seemed to be a mage of some kind, Vidian based on Tyrael's comment, meaning another Sin Lieutenant had come to deal with them, though Luna and Leah barely had to do anything as Sonya caught him with spectral chains, likely one of her abilities, and yanked him over. Following that they just watched as the Nephalem tore the demon down before he had a chance to really do anything, his magic failed him, and as soon as that was done they continued their descent, killing demons of all kinds that happened to oppose them.

While they did so Luna found a demon that seemed like a spider centaur, a drider she believed they were called, that was far too interested in them and was female, with silk formfitting armor on her chest, and the laugh that came from her told Luna that Cydaea was following too closely.

The demon did depart before Luna could grab her, though they decided to continue focus on their descent and found their way down to where the heart of the tower was located, where Luna and the others fought off the demons that dared to come their way. Leah, on the other hand, gathered some power into her new sword and drove it down into the enormous heart, plus the barrier that was around it to keep it safe, allowing her to blow the heart up before it could do anything else for Azmodan's forces. Once that was done they headed outside through the entrance in front of them and stepped out into another portion of the realm they were carving a path through, but off in the distance Luna could see another imposing foe that was larger than even the siege demon from earlier, and was dressed like a baroness. Based on the golden attire and the large mace in her hand, or at least Luna was sure it was a 'she', Luna had to assume that Greed was coming after them, no doubt to smash them and take their stuff for her hoard, though she wasn't too impressed by this demon since it looked like Greed might be slower than the others.

Greed seemed to be guarding the second Sin Tower, or maybe it was just a coincidence that she was in front of it, though it became clear that she wasn't used to fighting since she charged from place to place when the battle started, causing Luna to watch as the group simply dodged and tore her down, before Luna magically captured the portal that owned on her death, a portal to 'The Vault'.

"Kulle will love looting Greed's realm, no telling what treasures she might have stolen and hidden over the years." Luna said, though none of the others were even surprised by this anymore, rather they let her do what she wanted as she bound the portal spell to a red pendant that had been attached to Greed's hand, before pocketing it as they headed into the second Sin Tower at long last.

This time around Cydaea followed them through the tower, observing them while they made their descent, and Leah simply retaliated by using her bow as she loosed arrows at the demon, blasting holes in the sides of the tower while the others cut through the demons that were blocking the way forward. Based on what Luna could tell this structure's heart was linked to Cydaea, meaning it was powering her to make her stronger, and when they reached the heart chamber she came down and attacked them, where Luna stood back as Leah pulled out her new sword and lead the charge against the demon. She and Tyrael found that Leah, despite having less skill with a blade than some of the others, swung the weapon and parried the incoming attacks like they were nothing, which had to be due to the fact that the last Sin Lieutenant had the Nephalem to deal with as well. With that in mind it wasn't long before they brought the demon down and shattered her barrier that was covering the heart, allowing them to break the heart and cripple Azmodan's forces before they even knew what was going on right now, and as soon as that was done they marched out into the last portion of the Lord of Sin's domain.

There really wasn't much difference between this area and the previous ones, save for the fact that there was lava in places down here, and the more interesting thing was that the demons, much to Tyrael's shock, stepped out of the way so they could walk down into the core of the crater, where Azmodan was waiting for them.

"Ah, you have arrived... and you brought the Black Soulstone. Good, victory is mine!" Azmodan stated, all while they found that the area was flat and had sections that had chains going through them, why Luna had no idea and honestly she had no desire to find out, which was why she and the others readied their weapons as the Lord of Sin faced them, "Know this: once the Black Soulstone is embedded in my flesh the Seven shall become the One, and I will be reborn as the Prime Evil!"

"No, Azmodan, there shall be no Prime Evil. Hell's threat ends today!" Tyrael replied in kind, as he knew that the rebirth of a Prime Evil, of Tathamet itself, would bring the end of both Sanctuary and even the High Heavens, since not even Imperius had the power to stop such a being, which was why they were here to kill Azmodan and break Hells' plans.

Luna and Leah wasted no time in starting the assault, rushing at the large demon as he brought some of his spider legs down on the area around him, forcing them to dodge before he could hit them, though at the same time this opened the way for the others to attack him as well. His attacks seemed pretty straightforward, as Azmodan had the power to create a cluster of large fireballs, one could almost call them meteors, and hurled them down at the group, while at the same time he used his power to make corpse-like items drop from the sky to try and deal damage to them. Leah took care of the meteors with her arrows, blasting them into oblivion before their foe could even realize what she was doing, while everyone else just avoided the rain of corpses while lashing out at his legs and chest. The only other powers that the demon showcased was him firing beams of red energy from his eyes and summoning portals to call in demons to assist him, like he couldn't defend himself or something, meaning his arrogance would be his downfall since he might be holding back the lion's share of his own power to make sure he didn't wreck the Black Soulstone.

She knew why he didn't want to ruin the stone, he had revealed his true plans to him, but that opened the way for Leah to leap into the air and used her new weapon to cleave the demon's head in half, much to Azmodan's surprise, and once the deed was done she pulled out the stone and channeled her power, sealing the demon's soul inside it while his body seemed to explode into a rain of blood and parts.

"Too easy. He was too arrogant, and too focused on keeping the stone safe." Valla commented, as even a Lesser Evil should have taken more out of them, but it seemed like Azmodan had been far too focused on keeping the Black Soulstone safe so he could absorb it later, before she turned towards Leah as the Lord of Sin's soul was trapped inside the last portion of the seal Luna created, "Let's return to Bastion's Keep and share the good news. Adria should know how to fully destroy it so the Lords of Hell remain vanquished forever."

Luna nodded as she opened a portal back to the Keep, though at the same time she felt like they were missing something, a foe or threat that none of them had discovered yet, which made her wonder what might happen when they brought the full Black Soulstone to Adria and finally brought an end to the seven Lords of Hell.