Even just before the dust and steam from the summoning circle cleared, it was clear who Imperatrix summoned.
He has arrived... The one who was summoned had an imposing figure. He had a very pale grayish-skin, long hair that was red and the front and black in the back; the sides of his hair resembled horns.
He wore a dark gray button-down shirt with a red ascot, a dark blue vest, black trousers and gloves with studded black boots and a matching belt that would've also been fitting for a goth metal musician. He had a necklace with several small bells on it.
The large pieces of shoulder armor he wore had large horns on them and he also wore a cape, adding to his imposing silhouette.
His appearance had an air of regality to it with his cape, crown, armor and jeweled sword. It was regal in a way that looked familiar but also sharply contrasted with the regally-dressed Magic Gatekeepers.
Light glared off of the gems on his armor, sword and crown, and his eyes gave off a glowing red glare of their own.
"I, Santana, King of the Demons, head bureaucrat of the Minions of Nemesis, bid you my welcome and swear upon the most high of cosmic courts." He faced the Magic Gatekeepers, the judges and jurors of the trial, and introduced himself to them. He raised his right hand in the gesture of taking a vow. A small red flame surrounded his left hand. He looked serious and sounded serious.
They didn't look fazed by him. Suddenly, he dropped all formality.
"You ***holes..." He said with an evil grin and chuckle. He gave the pointed jab that they expected, making his discontent clear in front of the trial!
The Magic Gatekeepers were prepared with retorts of their own; their hostilities were mutual which is something they could all agree on.
"We shall respond in kind. Absolute zero would be warmer than the welcome a long-time adversary and his evil ways will receive." Thutmose said with his chilling retort.
"Your greeting was totally not noticeable, dude." Aiko said sarcastically. "Unlike your 700-year long goth phase!" She exclaimed and laughed.
Santana huffed and argued back and pointed at them. "Tis no more a phase than any of your centuries, or millennia of being most insufferable!"
"The despit is mutual betwixt us." ("The dislike is mutual between us") Ragnar bluntly remarked to this long-time rival.
Blunter yet was Mia's response: "***hole. That's all I have to say."
Santana grumbled before he ranted at his rivals in front of him. "You never make anything easy! Otherwise your professions wouldn't be done! Alas, from one bureaucrat to others, I attest 'tis our nature!"
"Have we finished our bidding welcomes that are most scathing?" He asked with a sarcastic tone on "welcomes".
The Magic Gatekeepers agreed. They nodded or chuckled.
Camelia and the defendants looked on and listened with stunned silence. Being on trial by the Magic Gatekeepers was terrifying enough before the head bureaucrat of the feared Minions of Nemesis faction also showed up!
Imperatrix stood by chuckling, but also looked towards Santana with a brief nod and glare.
Santana noticed and got to the point. "Very well..." He turned back towards the Magic Gatekeepers and attested to them. "Under penalty of perjury, I swear Im-- Legionnaire Imperatrix relinquish not her soul. I holp her not with her act of grand theft, nor with her hostile take-over of space-time... These deeds were all her own!" ("Under penalty of perjury I swear Legionnaire Imperatrix didn't relinquish her soul. I didn't help her with her acts of grand theft...")
He turned his back and began to walk away. Just as he walked past Imperatrix, she clapped her hands and cheerfully said "I prefer calling it a hostile makeover, but thank you!"
"When you summoned me, I was waiting upon a pizza delivery." He stopped in his tracks and grumbled before he turned towards Imperatrix and pointed at her "Because you subjected me to this bulls**t, I shalt not tip the delivery driver!!"
The tension immediately ignited. "That does it!" Imperatrix yelled back. "Aterializationmay Evourerday ofday Justiceinay Omalfautfay!" She loudly said in an incantation; in her right hand a blue beam of light appeared and started to form into the shape of a staff with a large crown-topped orb on one end. A pair of floating, glowing blue streamers formed from the base of the orb.
They flowed while Imperatrix pointed the staff at Santana. As Imperatrix channeled the Great Devourer of Injustice Fomalhaut's power, a pair of glowing blue wings materialized on her back.
The orb on Fomalhaut glowed bright blue, a blue ring of magic formed around it, and the room started to glitch!
"You will tip! I know you have the money for it! What's it going to be?!" Imperatrix shouted.
Among the bright red sparks and glitches, an ominous warning displayed: "Threat level escalated to SPACECON 2! Prepare for imminent threats!"
"Go for it!" Chelsea cheered from her holographic screen.
"Encourage her not!" ("Don't encourage her!") Santana shouted back.
"That warning is on you!" Mia shouted at Imperatrix.
"Seriously? After everything you already gloated about, you upped the SPACECON level this quickly and over an argument?!" Aiko laughed with disbelief. "Suuuuurrree... if this is how it's going to go then We should thank you for making this quick so We can get back to our usual work!" She added and shrugged.
Chelsea looked nervous and closed the holographic window. Even she was nervous and told her other allies about what she saw.
"Do you wish to see the consequences if you escalate it again?" Thutmose warned back in the courtroom. He looked stoic and as if he were pondering something.
He didn't have long to ponder though as Ragnar stepped up from his seat at the judges' stand and took a step forwards. "I yearn fighten her..." He said, challenging Imperatrix to a duel.
"Nay... I yearn fighten you!" ("No... I yearn to fight you!") He said towards Santana.
"Anifestationmay ~ Uperstaray Ancerlay Taresanay!" He shouted the incantation to materialize his superweapon, the Superstar Lancer Antares.
"No dammit she should be the one to f**k around and find out!" Mia blurted out before she took off her crown and head-desked.
Santana agreed with Mia's displeasure. "Thou art drawing disaster over a matter most drossy!" ("You're bringing us closer to disaster over an extremely frivolous matter!") He scoffed out loud towards Ragnar and towards Imperatrix but this didn't seem to deter either of them.
Imperatrix looked unsure as if she were thinking it over, but still had Fomalhaut materialized in her hands, and small parts of the room were still glitching from the stress on space-time.
"Give me over. Tis' between thou now and I taxeth thee! I front to fuel the fires of this bullsh*t!" ("Leave me alone. This is between you now and I blame you for this! I oppose fueling the fires...") Santana shouted.
"Unyoke the fools of fortune upon ye!" ("Consider these unlucky people in front of you!") He said to Imperatrix and The Magic Gatekeepers, gesturing towards the defendants table.
Some of the unfortunate mortals at the defendants table were panicking though Kayla still seemed deadpan.
"I wish I had some popcorn for this, if this is going to end with front row seats to this spectacle." She sighed.
"I wish I could've protected all of you from this." Ella said, starting to cry. "I couldn't do it."
"It's not your fault. This was beyond our control. We were at the wrong place at the wrong time." Camelia said, intending to assure Ella.
"I wish I could've fought them and save us from this..." Katt grumbled. "If the Gatekeepers aren't going to do their fucking job!" She blurted out.
For a few moments these fiery words chilled the blue-hot tension of the room.
Aiko, Mia and Thutmose glanced at the group at the defendants' table before they focused on the conflict again.
"You got me..." Imperatrix conceded. She quietly said an incantation that put away Fomalhaut, and with it the glowing wings that she had dematerialized. "That'd ruin my plans to rule efficiently." She sighed.
"Ixnay on the ightingfay." Thutmose stoically said as he cast a magic circle and from it emerged glowing orange chains which trapped Ragnar with just long enough to make Ragnar drop his superweapon and for it to dematerialize for the time being.
"I wythalde..." ("I hold back") Ragnar begrudgingly said, backing down from the confrontation. "I beweile this but I wishe not thine routh!" ("I lament this, but I don't want your pity!") He said to everyone in the room.
"Thou beleuest not I wold?" ("Did you not believe that I would?") He said again angrily to Thutmose.
"Perhaps... I did not wish to risk an unfavorable outcome." Thutmose stoically said back.
"That's a huge f*cking understatement" Mia added more fuel to the bickering.
While they were still bickering, Aiko spoke up again. "If this kept going, I would've put each of you in time out!" She said to Ragnar, Santana and Imperatrix. She sighed. "It's not worth it for anyone to cause SPACECON 1 while looking for a fight! Imperatrix, you stole Fomalhaut a few years ago. That's enough time to know that the power of the super weapons and the ability to warp space-time aren't toys!" She continued. "As for you, well it's not like you're been a Magic Gatekeeper for centuries has it?" She sarcastically said to Ragnar.
And with that, there was still bickering but this danger to space-time was successfully de-escalated!
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