Exodus

Leon led the way through the forest melancholic, 'How did I end up going?' He thought to himself as he tried to appear less scared than he felt. 

'Not only am I bringing an enemy to their doorstep, but with them wielding the sword I was supposed to deliver to Maxwell. They're so gonna kill me.'

The young boy led her through the labyrinth of trees, and as far as Vixen could tell, there were only three kinds interwoven together. The light from the moon barely able to break through the canopy of tightly woven branches.

Vixen would never be able to navigate through this herself as everything looked exactly the same. It wasn't until Leon pointed out a different type of moss growing on the rocks that she noticed it formed some sort of pathway.

They followed this path for nearly an hour before Leon stopped and looked at Vixen his face serious. 

"I'll tell you how to get in, but I don't want to be anywhere near here. Not only did I lead you here, but the masterpiece they created is now in your hands. They'll kill me on sight," Leon said through his rapidly spiking anxiety. 

"I understand," she responded. 

"So the entrance to the hidden forge is within a tree that looks slightly different than the rest. It's easily missed, but if you notice that moss I pointed out to you earlier then you can find it. The moss covers a twisting latch, open it and you'll find the tree opens like a hatch and you can go inside. You need this to unlock it, slip this inside before you turn the handle and you'll be solid."

Leon snapped the leather cord around his neck and handed it to Vixen. Holding it up it looked like a plain piece of medal that had a hole burned through it solely for the use of the leather cord. 

Leon left Vixen to search for this tree, and using his advice, followed the special moss. Roughly thirty minutes into her search she came to a tree that just didn't match with the rest. 

Vixen had never been a woods guide, she could not explain why she felt the tree didn't belong apart from a nagging suspicion she couldn't shake. 

The special moss cover a five foot area on its south eastern side. 'I don't know why, but I feel like this is going to be really gross,' she thought as she plunged her hand into the fuzzy, cool moist moss searching for the twisting mechanism. 

It only took her a few moments to find it, once she did she felt around for the slit the coin was supposed to fall into and with her other hand put the coin in and retracted it with the leather strip once the audible click was heard. She twisted the mechanism and the doorway silently sung open. 

'Here goes nothing,' she thought as she entered. She was concerned since she had no prior experience facing demons, no idea on how to gage their strength. 

Vixen crept down the stairs silently as the door automatically closed noiselessly behind her. The walls were only wide enough to accommodate the stairs so two people couldn't stand side by side on them. 

As the stairs descended and already Vixen could feel the rise in temperature from the forge. The stairs seemed to descend in spiral fashion, she walked for what seemed like an hour before it began to open up into a grand room.

'Just how underground am I?' 

Vixen unsheathed vamp and her other blade that she carried off to each side of her body. She was going to cause as much damage as possible in little amount of time. 

Even though it opened into a giant room, she still didn't see anyone. This room was a living quarters with provisions and bedding all laid out. The stairs continued to descend on the othe side of the room. She activated shroud and delved deeper in.

The next open room she found was the actual forge and she had to stop and stare in amazement. The heat from the bellows was stifling, but whatever smoke was produced was funneled upward into an enormous container. It wasn't until the container was completely full that it'd forcibly push out all the smoke at once. 

'So that's how they hide the constant smoke. It disappears quickly once released too,' she thought. 

Scanning the area below she was contemplating where the best place to cause the most damage was, when she heard something she didn't want to hear. She saw something she didn't want to see. 

"You're not the brat," Ariĕl said menacingly. 

Vixen still had shroud activated. 

"I had heard tale of a trouble maker to think it was a celestial. Looks like our war will reignite," he said. 

From around the forge came a man that looked human, Vixen knew without a doubt that he wasn't. She didn't know if it was because she was an angel but she could feel the man's malicious aura.

'He can see me anyways,' she thought dropping shroud. She started gathering as much mana as she could. She wasn't going to completely deplete her mana pool, but she was using eighty percent of her mana in this one attack.

"What you doing? Do you think I'd just stand by and do nothing?!" Ariĕl shouted as he launched himself at her. She dodged out of the way and slashed at him severing his arm as he plowed into the side of the wall sending reverberations throughout the forge.

Blood dripped from his wound, he scoffed and the arm and blood rose from the ground returned to his body the way it was before her attack. 

"You're stronger than you look, I thought you were only good for reproducing," taunted the demon, "This will be more fun than I originally thought. 

Dark energy started to surround his body, he looked like he was going to try to counter the attack Vixen was preparing except her attack wasn't aimed at the demon.

"NOOOO!!!! WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Ariĕl shouted. 

Vixen had unleashed a massive gravitational spell called black hole. She launched it directly over the forge, and  with as much mana as she poured into the spell, the destruction it wrought was impressive. 

The contraption that held the smoke began to crumple and cave like a soda can, the pressurize smoke leaking out. The stones, fire, coals, and casting molds were all being warped as the heavy gravity ripped them from the ground and condensed them. 

Vixen watched the as oil and rock from the ceiling started to migrate towards the center also, and Vixen knew she has to leave and quickly. 

She sprinted back up stairs as fast as she could, the demon tried to follow her but couldn't, the pull from the spell was too strong. When the oil and everything combined into the ball of gravity, as condensed as it was, resulted in an explosion far more powerful than it should have been. 

Vixen kicked the door off its hinges as she leapt onto the ground covering her head. The explosion blew through the entire living quarters and the forest floor several meters away from the secret entrance. 

The sound was deafening, she stood up and marveled at the destruction. 'That could not have gone better,' she thought. 

Through the smoke a lone figure was walking toward Vixen. Ariĕl had nearly no clothes on but was relatively unharmed. 

"You crazy bitch! You're lucky I'm immune to fire! Do you realize what you've just done?! I'm going to tear you to shreds!" Ariĕl proclaimed as his body started to transform. 

'Just kidding, that definitely could have gone better.' She though as she got into a fighting stance.