The woman was Fallen. Her mask inverted her face, so she peered through the mouth-hole, and horns swept out from the top and bottom corners, for four in total. She’d dressed lightly enough she had to have been cold, with a strapless top bound to her body by thin chains. More chains wrapped around the red cloth wraps that encircled her forearms, pelvis, and legs.

As I looked down from above, I could see that she was touching the wall as she walked by it, leaving a trail of what looked like gaseous glass. It formed edged, hooked shapes as she left it behind.

I flew a course intended to take me behind them, so I could do something quick and decisive.

Yellow lights flared along the length of the glass, gaseous smoke. Eyes.

The smoke billowed out, taking on a more solid form as it became a nebulous mass of teeth, barbs, claws, and razor edges.

I raised my forcefield and smashed it.

My forcefield won, but only barely. The beast-smoke I hit broke into solid chunks, some as large as my head.

The woman— I turned to look and saw her creating more smoke as something that billowed toward me in a wave. I backed away until my forcefield was up, then crashed into it, hard. I saw her stumble back, arms around her face.

Behind her, the guy with the circular mask had four lenses spaced evenly around the mask flare with energy. Four shapes manifested in front of him—long and slim, round, thicker crescent, and a star-like shape with radial spokes.

I pushed out with my aura before he could do anything. The woman stumbled and landed on her ass. The guy weathered it, paused, and then touched the long, slim one.

The other three images disappeared, but the one he’d touched flew at me like a javelin. I threw myself to one side, but it wasn’t even aimed at me.

It flared with a dark amber light as it embedded into the wall, then faded. I put some distance between myself and it.

The woman created more smoke, sending it down the side-street in a wave that grazed buildings on both sides. I flew up and away.

I pushed out with my aura, and it failed. Like a car failing to start, it sputtered and died out. On my second try, it did work, but it felt weak.

Power dampener.

My flight felt fine. The wretch, unfortunate as it was, felt okay too.

Was it because my awe power was the one I’d been using?

The woman with the glass smoke sent a column skyward. As I flew back and away, I could see it expanding out into the air. More demon imagery ran through it, all the overlapping chaos of hell, snapping jaws, and ripping claws.

The guy was creating another diagram. Three images remained, now.