The moment the battle had begun, confusion quickly swept across the entire area. The Ranger Kymiko had been talking with quickly disappeared into the fighting, firing off random shots from his gun. Kymiko was now thrust into the fray, drawing her blade and joining the chaos of blades flying through the air wildly at the invading forces. In this situation, it was the Troll Mercenaries: Big, powerful brutes who also desired the treasure within the city.

Unfortunately for the Mithra, they would stop at nothing to claim the Astral Candescence. However, despite all the combat, she looked around for her companions she had arrived with. Two of them, the elvaan samurai and the elvaan dragoon. The pair, despite their own conflict earlier, were fighting valiently together.

"Do these beasts know not the meaning of defeat?!"

"Hey, more fighting for us! Think of it that way!"

"Hm... true."

Those two were the least of her concerns. She was really looking for her Tarutaru friend whom she lost contact with earlier. By the time she found her, the situation was looking bleak. During the course of the siege, the Mamool Ja Savages had joined in an effort to wither the Imperial forces much faster. Being surrounded was a small group of mercenary adventurers, with the Tarutaru in the middle, whom was casting ancient magicks. As the group was getting smaller and smaller as they were being cut down, Kymiko tried to fight her way through to them; It seemed as though it were in vain. Leading this attack was Gulool Ja Ja, and he had already set his sights on Emma. He raised his massive blade, and brought it down, Kymiko stopping, thinking she would be too late.

But, fate, it seems, had better plans for the Black Mage instead of death by a beastman. A certain Adaman-wearing Mithra Paladin was holding her shield to the blade, gritting her teeth.

"Rrrragh!" she roared, throwing Gulool Ja Ja back, his followers and some trolls falling back as well to hold the line steady. "Come on you filthy cowarrrds! Let me show you the feeling of death when you darrre to harrrm the innocent!"

Yisume swung her blade wildly, the other mercenaries rallied to this and joined in the attack. Kymiko snuck by them, casting the fabled Red Mage spell, "Refresh" on her friend.

"Are you alright?" Kymiko wondered.

"Much better, thanks to her," Emma said, pointing at the wild Mithra. "Or else I'd be felled by that cur."

The Red Mage smiled, healing and reviving everyone nearby. As she was on this task, she noticed a certain face in the crowd, among the others she recognized: The Corsair who nearly ran her over with his chocobo. He seemed to be enjoying himself, firing his gun and swinging his knives, rolling dice occasionally.

"Kymiko, isn't that the elvaan who nearly killed you?" Emma asked.

She nodded. "I wouldn't say 'kill'. But yes, that's him."

"Who knew? Well, luckily, he's nowhere near his chocobo."

"Never mind him for now, we need to raise the others so we can have a fighting chance."

"Understood."

Quickly, the two began bringing the other mercenaries from their incapacitated states, slowly replenishing Al Zahbi's defenders. Eventually, they were all risen from death, but still succumbed to the effects of death's sleep. All of them thanked the two for their efforts, and allowed them rest for their weary souls. As they did, they tried to calm themselves down before joining the fight again. Once more, they conversed.

"So who was that insane mithra?" Emma asked. "New friend of yours?"

Kymiko wrinkled her nose and twitched her ears for a moment, before shaking her head. "Kind of. It's hard to explain who she is... well, to start off, she's the mentor to that crazy elvaan who nearly ran me down."

"Mentor? She's definitely out of her mind."

"Who's out of her mind?"

The two looked up at someone... really tall. He shouldered a hexagun, tipping his tricorne so he could see the two through his eyebrows. "Oh... oh shoot, I really hope you're not mad about what happened earlier." The elvaan nervously brought his ponytail from the back of his head and started playing with it, waiting judgment.

However, the mithra seemed more than forgiving. She smiled, and laughed. "It's alright. Next time, just steer your chocobo better. What's your name?"

"Erm..." he paused, then turned, arm extended and trigger finger ready. Aparrently, there was a Puk behind him, but not any longer: It had a small hole in its head now, and dropped to the ground, twitching. "Sorry 'bout that. Anyways, m'name is Falgor Kaisu."

"Charmed," she said, with a hint of sarcasm. "I'm Kymiko Umari... say, I could have sworn I heard your name before..."

Not much time to ponder this. Another wave of the beasts came, but Falgor seemed to scoff, pointing his exagun.

"Eleven... I think I'll only need... four shots for this," he boasted under his breath. With that, he pulled the trigger four times, which was truly all he needed. The bullets seemed fired at random, but they were fired in such a way that they ricocheted off the surroundings, and even each other. Surely enough, the eleven trolls were dead in an instant, each of them having a small hole in their equally small heads. Falgor scoffed, putting the gun away in its holster. "I was lucky enough to hit those tiny things..."

Now she was impressed by this Corsair's marksmanship, even though he was showing off with that last stunt. Soon after, three people ran over to him, a galka whom she didn't recognize, and the tarutaru and hume from earlier, Hanyou and Hj.

"Ah, my love, you're still alive are you?" the hume asked him, confusing Kymiko.

Falgor seemed to add fuel to the fire. "But of course my dear Hj, why wouldn't I be?"

A loud THWACK was heard, and Falgor was holding his knee, growling in pain, staring down at the tarutaru summoner.

"Hanyou, why the hell did you do that?!"

"You two are sickening, that's why."

"Well, at any rate," the galka paladin began, "we better get going. General Zazarg is gettin' swarmed by Mamool Ja, and nobody's givin' him any help."

Kymiko turned pale when she heard Zazarg's name. She remembered eavesdropping on him an an Imperial officer, how the officer said that his life, and the lives of the mercenaries didn't matter in comparison to the Empress. This made her a little fearful, but she had to remain resolute if she were to do her job properly. Falgor turned to the main area of Al Zhabi, and grinned.

"It's showtime. Let's go!"