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Chapter 38: Not the Fated Battle
The Black Lance soldier taunting them about "boys" sent out a barrage of bullets at the two of them. The two blocked, a few of the attacks dinged off their weapons but plenty more got past and wounded them both. Agria just grinned like a madgirl and charged right back once the attack stopped, but Leia had to catch her breath before channeling.
She'd probably get yelled at for interfering or something, but she focused on casting first aid on Agria first. The girl in red began swinging wildly as the Black Lance woman almost seemed to dance between the wide gaping strikes. Kinda fitting Agria would be so wild. "First Aid!" Leia yelled as the spirit arte finished and healed up Agria's wounds.
"Butt out of this you pimple!" Agria shouted back thankless. "I'll take this little wretch out on my own."
"Oh fine by me," the Black Lance woman slammed a kick into Agria's head. Leia began to chant for her own wounds while the Lance lady rearmed her guns. Leia's chant was just the faster, and her wounds closed up before another burst of what caused them flew out, only this time the nurse was in the air and only Agria got hit by the barrage.
"Oh that's so unfair," Agria griped at the difference in damage the two had sustained.
"Yeah yeah yeah..." Leia irrelevantly mouthed off back before going into channeling. Like before Agria charged in to the waiting Lance-lady. She did fair better this time, the kick to the head missing with a well-timed dodge and Agria's followup with her own thrust just barely whiffed itself.
When Leia's first aid landed on the girl in red, she rushed in to join her. The quicker they got this done the better! Without an opening to rearm her weapons, the Lance-lady used a series of kicks to keep the two girls at bay. "You two aren't bad for your age, shame about this really," she complimented them before flipping back and unleashing a whirlwind of kicks to keep them back. The heat-blades on her feet danced with blue and cut through Leia's attempts to blocks but Agria laughed and pushed in undaunted. The girl swung upwards, blasting the lance-lady into the air with a pillar of fire and a gleeful smirk.
The enemy right herself mid-air with those weird backpack things and floated down further in the hall. Leia took the break to begin healing. "Okay, fire doesn't work," the woman mused as the break allowed her to rearm.
"On me," Agria retorted before charging back in once again. The Lance-lady's preparations for Agria's wild swings weren't ready for a sudden thrust. The girl in red's stupid weapon spun and drilled through her target's armor eliciting cries of anguish and glee.
Only a sudden step back saved the lance-lady from being completely pierced through and she covered her retreat with a burst from one of her guns, hitting Agria once again. Leia began to chant...
...But Agria didn't wait for healing and launched another attack. She was back to her wild swings but the Lance-lady stood her ground and traded blow for blow. Leia's first aid landed the second before the two traded shots to the head—and the the Lance-lady rushed past coming for Leia!
She struck from above with one of her tonfas and Leia stopped it with her staff but the second gun aimed at her exposed stomach. Leia twisted herself and her staff to avoid it... and a fireball exploding into the back the combined efforts caused the bullet storm to shoot brush uselessly into the air just next to her.
Leia took the momentum she generated and spun upwards, dragging the lance-lady into the air. Her pack tried to drag her out but this was Leia's zone now! She darted in mid-air and got back into range before knocking her around with some more staff swings and finished it with a pure mana blast to the ground.
Agria was there now, catching the lance-lady with a tornado of flames and allowing Leia time to get ready to finish it. The second Agria was finished Leia extended her staff and surged mana through it, a glow of mana not unlike King Nachtigal's own lance. She unleashed a flurry of swings and strikes. "Soulstake Spin!" she screamed the name of her arcane arte as each hit ripped off armor of the enemy. She flipped the lance, bringing it behind her. "Bam!" she brought it forward, "and spin!" she spun her staff and a tornado of shining mana engulfed the gun-user sending her flying. Leia twirled her staff, threw it upwards before leaping into the sky with a flip to catch it. "You ready for this!" She dove, the force of the fall adding to her power. "Soulstoke Celebration!" She slammed into the enemy, breaking the metal ground with the force of the attack. "Alright!" she cheerfully declared. Mystic artes were really something else! Even holding back to make sure she didn't kill her it was pretty clear she'd be out for a good week.
All she had to do was make sure and—Agria slammed her weapon into the chest of their fallen enemy with a madden laugh. "What are you doing!?" Leia screamed and tried to push her hostile "ally" away!
"Taking out the trash!" Agria pushed back, nearly knocking Leia to the ground. She stabbed, again and again until the nearby ground was covered in blood. Leia had to hold her stomach, even the war wasn't as vicious as her. "Ahhhh, it's been so long since I got to unleash the rage." She girl in two types of red shivered in sick delight.
"You're horrible..." Leia couldn't believe the wretched nature of the girl, the girl Jude defended, and she was all ready to help.
"One hundred ten percent awful ohhhh yessss," the madgirl reveled in the death. "Make sure to recant this to Not-A-Doc. I can't wait to see the look on his smug little face as he tries to explain this away." She flashed a brutal smile. "Or you could keep yourself silent so he doesn't see the 'evil' in me. But if he realizes he can't change me maybe he'll just latch unto you instead and wouldn't that just be grand." Agria sarcastically laughed at the devilish circumstances she laid out.
This girl... was inexcusable.
Agria knelt down and grabbed something off the dead lance-lady. "Hmph, a keycard, just like Laforte," she commented. "Come on, I'm looking forward to enacting another barrage of horrors before your eyes." The girl in red marched on, a snickering of a laugh pelting the air as she did.
"Jude..." I'm sorry... She unenthusiastically followed.
The shield guy leveled his lance, and flecks of electricity danced at its tip before he charged in. Jude was in front, the link flowing back with his intent to dodge it. The kid jumped back from the obvious front thrust... and the follow-up bolt of lightning hit him straight on.
"Jude!" Alvin yelled and quickly provided covering fire, but it pinged harmlessly into the shield, but it allowed the medical student enough time to heal himself. Really dammit, who used a shield on Elympios? Well, whatever, just meant he could break it.
"That stung," Jude said. "Looks like simple backsteps are out." And the hallway they were in was too cramped for those flanking steps of his. That meant they had to plow right on through. Which was really more Alvin's style anyway.
"Alright, I'll break right through his shield then, buy me some time," Alvin gave a quick little plan. Charge up, bust straight through those defenses and put'em down.
"Got it," Jude confirmed with a nod and looked back at the shield-guy.
Shield-guy was kind of annoying to say though... So Alvin decided to ask his name first. "Hey, shield guy, what's your name?"
"Lance Corporal Lance Spiers!" he almost bounced into a salute.
Instead Alvin laughed. "Wow, and you chose that stun rod on purpose with that name?"
"Shut up!" Spiers shouted back. "I'll get you back for what you did to Sergeant Major Stacker, I'll get you all back!" Spiers charged in, stun rod straight out front again.
"Seems like he'd be a good friend for Agria," Alvin wisecracked before letting Jude provide cover. The kid started shooting off demon fists at their target, the martial artes doing nothing at first but eventually on the third hit they broke through and staggered Spiers.
Perfect. Alvin leveled his weapon and fired off three quick charged shots, the variable blasts exploding and knocking Spiers back some more. Jude capitalized on this, rushing in with some quick normal strikes driving the soldier back some more. Alvin took the time to charge up again. The faster they finished this the better.
Spiers got his stance back under control, and blocked Jude's assault with his shield. Now was the time! Alvin sent the message through the link and fired—Jude dodging just in time as the impact blast knocked aside the shield and made Spiers vulnerable again.
"No!" the man yelled in fear and surprise as his defense failed. Jude struck upwards with a powerful uppercut, sending the man into the air. Alvin aimed, his gun cracking with each shot into the completely exposed target. They were just normal shots, they needed to be fast but reserve enough strength for Gilland.
But, he should have gone strong as when he fell back to the ground Spiers was still standing and screaming incomprehensibly. The soldier swung awkwardly and missed Jude by a mile, but that may have been the point, just buy some breathing room. Even if he was still up he had to be hurting, the next attacks could finish it.
Spiers thrust with his rod again and Jude dodged back even further. No need to get sloppy now. A hurt rat was most dangerous. Alvin aimed again as Spiers ducked behind his shield. Didn't he learn?
Spiers rocketed forward the speed throwing off Alvin's shot and causing only a small chunk of a corner to be blown away. Jude was fast enough to get back... Alvin wasn't. He tried to bring up his sword to block but the full force of the other man slammed into him knocking him back and a swing from the rod followed up, a trail of electricity following in its wake and shocking through Alvin's system. He didn't have time for anything but bites of pain from the half-dozen follow-up attacks. A few bits of relief flowed through the link from Jude's healer but it wasn't enough to stem the pain. Spiers lashed one last time and pointed the rod. "Full discharge." He grimly said and sent a bolt of lightning out.
Dammit dammit dammit! Alvin swore in his mind, the only place he could as the lightning attack blasted his breath away with a healthy dose of pain. Jude was on him immediately with healer, but dammit it still hurt! Alvin glanced back, Spiers was open. "Go for it!"
"But!"
"GO!" Alvin screamed and without a second's more delay Jude charged in roaring at the top of his lungs. With the opening he knocked Spiers back into the sky, followed up with a trio of kicks, a spin with wind mana a blast of fire and finally a diving dropkick to his face.
Spiers still stood.
But not for long. Alvin fired, the blast knocking Spiers around some more. Alvin fired as he got up, the shot adding another break into the soldier's armor. Alvin fired and ran, the shot stunning and staggering him. Alvin swung, again and again with a fury like a dragon, a rain of vicious blows and strikes that slowly cleaved the last defenses of the soldier apart. Spiers fell to his knees and Alvin slammed his sword into the ground, the light arte of guardian grove hurting his enemy and healing him. Spiers fell to the ground. Not dead. Yet.
Alvin pointed his gun at the soldier's head. Last bullet for the fight, how lucky.
"Alvin stop!"
"No!" he spun around to the pleading face of Jude. "Look kid, I can kind of sort of understand Agria, she's entertaining in some weird annoying way and chivalry's not dead and all, but this guy here was going to kill everyone in Rieze Maxia!" He shouted against the naivety of the kid. "That means you, sweet Leia, little Elize, big old Gaius, they're all targets! They've already put one through the army, give'em a chance and he'll come right after you again! Emphasis on again or did you forget them blowing up things in Leronde!" Elympios had no choice in the matter. But he didn't care, not at this moment!
"I don't believe in executing people. Trusting Nadia and trusting you have both paid off for me. So please, don't do this!" Jude didn't drop into a combat stance, but the kid was fast, he could do it in a second.
But... trust him? "I screwed up! Thing's are only this bad because of me!" And he hated himself for it! "If Milla, or you, or Presa had just done the smart thing we wouldn't be here at all! How many people would be around then huh?" Dammit!
"Y-you'd be fine with dying to prevent this?" Jude couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Damn straight," he admitted. To his own surprise. Maybe the thought had been eating him up the entire time. Twenty years of betrays and backstabs had finally caught up with him.
"T-then so am I," Jude moved into his fighting stance even faster than Alvin thought.
"Stop trying to act so damn grown-up kid!"
Jude slashed the air with his fist. Was he really gonna attack? Dammit! They didn't have time for this kind of childish crap! If he could just put a bullet through Spiers' head first...
"I thought I told you..." Jude stepped in—fast, faster than he thought again! "Not to call me a kid!"
"Then stop acting like one!" Alvin swung around to fire... but Jude was there first to stop it. "Don't think that little fight outside Fennmont means anything."
"Don't think I'm as weak as back then either," Jude glared back.
Arrogant punk! "We don't have time for this, we need to meet up with the others and stop Gilland."
"Then what?"
"What?" Alvin was taken aback by the question.
"Then what, say we stop Gilland. What about Elympios, what about Rieze Maxia? Stopping Gilland won't solve Elympios' issues. That Wingul guy says he'll continue the war. So, what happens after we defeat Gilland?"
"Are you... are you gonna try and save Gilland from getting killed too?" That... he couldn't be that stupid could he?
"I'd rather not kill anyone if there's another solution."
He really was that stupid. Dammit! He needed to smack some sense into him. "He isn't gonna change kid, he's been doing this for twenty years!"
"So you haven't changed either?"
Alvin stopped. This kid... what... he couldn't think straight after that.
"You call me a kid, but you don't have any plans after this do you? No solutions of your own except to kill anyone in your way." Jude stomped his foot down. "Well, I think that's pretty damn childish myself!"
"You don't have an answer either..." Alvin barely said. The kid was too damn sharp and idealistic.
"Maybe I don't, but I want to think there's a solution here that doesn't involve just sacrificing one side," Jude honestly revealed. "And having the point of view of someone from the other side would be helpful for that."
"Then grab some nobody soldier, not one of their best guys." Well, supposed best if he could be beat by a half-ass mercenary and a punk kid. Hell... why was he conceding the argument like this? "When'd you even start to think about this kid?" Alvin slowly lowered his gun.
Jude scratched his cheek and looked away. "Um, kind of right now?"
So all that forward thinking was sponsored by spur of the moment feelings. Alvin burst into a laugh and dropped his aim completely. "Man, you sure are an interesting big strong man-kid."
"Errrr... thanks, I think..." Well not like Alvin considered it a compliment either. "I guess I had the base thoughts rummaging around for a while now. But all the talk up top and down here's sort of... cleared things up."
"Tell me your starting thoughts didn't have anything to do with Agria." He desperately wished the kid didn't have to suffer with her.
"Yeah actually..." he surprisingly admitted. "I'm doing it for my friend remember? Leia stopped you in Fezebel too, right? If she put that trust in me, I don't want to betray another friend either."
This was just sad in all the wrong ways. "Look, I know you want to see the good in people, but you have to look at reality. He's not gonna stop just because you let him live, he's a soldier, he'll follow orders. This guy in particular has a hell of a lot of anger and shouts about revenge. He'll come at you and everyone again. If someone gets hurt—dies because of it, can you handle being responsible for that?"
"Yeah," he replied quickly. Too quickly, he didn't really get it.
But it was his call then. Alvin knelt down and searched their fallen foe and... bingo, he pulled out the keycard. "Alright, let's get going. Gotta make sure Leia and Agria aren't in trouble."
Jude gave a nod, and the two men who reached an unusual compromise headed over.
The cannoneer blocked the aqua edge with the massive shield built into his weapon, but any second he was on the defensive was one he wasn't aiming the giant thing at them. His Highness could have powered through its shots, but they weren't that strong. So they had to fight smart.
Presa took the initiative and linked with the girl, quickly sharing the "faster is better" thoughts across the link.
"Right!" the girl agreed and whipped out her own little staff.
All three combatants readied their weapons, their stances, for battle. Presa channeled, the cannoneer aimed and began to fire. Teepo flew over, grew larger than Jiao and crushed the Black Lance member.
Huh.
Even with its size though, it was still a puppet and the cannoneer pushed himself back up with a groan. Though Presa's splash arte pouring down a torrent of water didn't make it easy. He persevered against it and sent a wild shot off(somehow not electrocuting himself in the process). But even as a miss the static still frayed her hair. How rude.
Thay miss bought them some time, so Presa started channeling something a bit bigger. The girl had the opposite idea, going for a quick channel to tie him up some more. A vortex of darkness erupted underneath him, long, thin arms slapping him about, but he endured it and readied for his shot.
Presa finished her spirit arte.
The cannon fired.
She didn't get to see her blue sphere land as she brought her arms up to block the lightning blast. It hurt like hell, the shocks pierced through her body and she was knocked on her back. Not unusual but now was hardly the time.
The kid helped her up with a really quick healing arte and Presa assessed the damage she'd caused. And it wasn't much from the look of things. He was back standing as before. A bit closer, and dripping wet, but no apparent damage. Not quite what she was hoping for, was he resistant to water artes? Seemed like it.
Which meant they had to rely on the girl's dark artes. Lovely. She fed the information over the link. She'd play melee distraction while the girly was support. Beautiful. She wasn't the best at that specific kind of up and close stuff, but she could handle someone as telling as the cannoneer.
Speaking of which... a few licks of fire were forming at one of the tips. "My, my, I don't quite like your hot stuff hero boy," she gave a groan-worthy innuendo before sending off a quick aqua edge to clear her path forward.
He didn't block, just toughing it out. "So that outfit's just not for show is it?" he sneered beneath his helmet. "Well not like either of you are gonna last much longer." He let a burst of flame out and Presa ran straight into it.
Presa didn't like fire. She had... bad memories of such things. She liked Agria well enough in spite of her issues, but those fireballs of hers she wasn't a fan of. And not that the girl in red would ever admit it but she did respect them back even despite their polarizing specialties.
The reason she was thinking about her fellow Chimeriad member during such a ridiculous action? Because letting her charge headlong into fire was a much better idea.
She screamed as the flames scarred her but she had to trust in the brat being a good enough little girl to heal her up. The flames would stop, every attack the hero punk had eventually ended and so did this one. She was roasted, but she was close enough to start smacking him around in melee! She threw open her tome, the head of a blue dragon erupting and spraying the cannoneer with water. Not the best source of damage, but it could stagger him a bit.
The sweet relief of a healing spell invigorated her, and she sent a sweet feeling of gratitude through the link. The cannoneer jumped for some reason and leveled his cannon above their heads. A gust of wind blew out, sending him flying back and knocking Presa straight back into the girl in an messy pile. How uncivilized.
The two of them hastily stepped back up, only to get a face full of lightning again and the girl looked ready to keel over. They had to end this fast! And Presa had just the idea how. Their link had charged up enough power for a linked arte and thank whoever created them you could sense any compatible artes through the Lilium Orbs.
"Follow my lead kid," Presa said. The girl gave a quick nod, and the cannoneer prepped for another attack. Had to move! Presa sped her channeling, forcing out two aqua edge discs upright and vertical. The girl added on, a dozen blades of darkness to each turning them from discs to saws. Presa threw them forward, adding spin into a ruthless cutting tool. The cannoneer saw the threat, switched to defense and blocked one, but the other got through leaving him wide open.
"My turn!" she rushed in ready to devastate him with her mystic arte.
"Hold on!" the doll yelled and the same feeling came in through the link from the girl. Presa looked back to see her link partner charging up the same spirit arte she used during the ship fight.
Yeah, something definitely to avoid. She ducked over to the side as the giant blast of dark mana sped past and engulfed the Black Lance member. Somewhat fitting.
As helpful as that was, it just meant Presa had to take longer to get her mystic arte off. The wave of darkness slowly faded and Presa readied herself for another run... but the link continued to say "stay away!"
This feeling... She couldn't be...?
"Locked on target!" the puppet yelled. The girl had her staff up with the puppet in front and aimed both at the Black Lance cannoneer. "Charge complete!" the girl said as waves of darkness consolidated into the puppet. "Fire!" she yelled and shot the doll forward like a canon herself. The puppet flew around the cannoneer, etching glyphs of darkness into the air as it swiftly flew upwards. "It's gonna hurt!" it stated. It disappeared from the top with some gibberish. "I'm home!" The glyphs exploded into a giant pillar mass of dark mana as the duo said in unison. "Scary-go-round!"
The cannoneer fell to the ground and miraculously huddled his body together to ward off the pain.
It wouldn't work. Presa rushed herself over and landed a quick stomp on his neck, ending his torment.
"Why did you do that?" the girl shouted, shocked at the callous kill.
"He was a threat kid," she plainly said back and knelt down to begin picking around for the key. "You heard him right? He was perfectly fine with killing you even at your age. Not to mention girls and boys of all ages."
"So it's perfectly fine for you to imprison Elly then huh?" the puppet yelled back indignant at something else.
"What do you think?" she avoided the question and found the key. Looked just like a Laforte key, which shouldn't come as a surprise. "You can sit there and pout or you can come along and end this war. Because in wars, people die." She turned around and began walking back, right in the path of the girl.
"Even Jiao."
If she wasn't so controlled she might have stopped at that. But she kept on without a beat. "Yes, even Jiao."
"You're heartless!" the girl screamed at her.
"Yes, yes I am." She walked by without another word. She broke the link. No use letting anything unnecessary trade over.
"You will not activate your Booster?" Rowen asked his current ally.
"No," Wingul replied. "It's use is reserved for battles of importance, not rank-and-file riff-raff."
"Truly?" Rowen raised an eyebrow at the indirect compliment. "I suppose a thank you is in order for continuing to value our skills so highly." Rowen raised Soaring Eagle high and moved his body to the tempo of the Conductor.
"Let us see how thankful you are once Elympios is dealt with," Wingul drew his own katana. "Deal with this one quickly."
Their knife-wielding adversary had been patient for their little conversation. Perhaps he should thank her as well? Wingul rushed in before he could put words to it, so Rowen put words into channeling instead. The hallway was small, cramped, not much room to dodge horizontally. But those odd flight-packs the Elympions used indicated she could dodge into the air if need be. Rowen quickly devised a plan to incapacitate their enemy based on the current situation.
Wingul meanwhile began a series of basic sword slashes, countered by a series of in-close knife blocks and redirects. Wingul was clearly indenting to earn the measure of their foe, he hadn't seen her fight before, but this was someone who went toe-to-toe with Gaius without injuries, he mustn't underestimate her.
A knife flashed forward—towards him! And Rowen barely moved his guard in place to block. He mustn't underestimate her either. But she had underestimated him right back. A common channeler would have easily dropped their chant if distracted like that, but Rowen J. Ilbert was no ordinary caster.
The Conductor quickly returned to the tail-end of his spirit arte. He finished, the glyph formed and a wave of light blasted forth. It filled nigh the entire hall, but as it closed in on Wingul it weaved around his ally and left him unharmed.
Like he predicted, the knife-wielder leapt into the air, those jets of flame keeping her aloft. Rowen canceled his spell, shifting over to the next channel and keeping her in the center. She landed back down and Wingul quickly reengaged her. This time the other tactician began wielding artes to stop her. A series of vicious strikes put her back on the defensive, and a sudden step back tricked her into opening her guard. When she attempted to counter, Wingul was the one to leap into the air, diving forward with fire. Rowen dropping waves of air pressure as a followup sealed a considerable amount of damage unto the knife wielder.
But Wingul's positioning left her in-between the two of them. Were Rowen a considerably younger man this would be advantageous, but instead she charged him, considering him the frailer target. A not unreasonable conclusion.
Even still he was not some defenseless old codger. He quickly channeled together a fireball and sent it roaring down the hall. The knife-wielder dodged. So Rowen sent a few more down the range. She didn't need to dodge these as they followed the same path as the first. But the hesitation upon approach to avoid being scorched allowed Wingul to catch up to her.
The Wing of Auj Oule quickly struck her back, but she continued on undisturbed as he continued to dissuade her. An admirable drive, but misplaced. Rowen jumped back before jumping up and unleashing a set of knives back at her. She was close enough for an easy avoid, but Wingul was on her once again.
This time she fought back, slipping in a backwards kick to his abdomen before flipping around and sent another kick upside his head. Off-balance, he wasn't ready as she stepped in and began a series off stabs and slashes against his vulnerable areas. Though to his credit they only drew flicks of blood instead of dealing deadly wounds.
Rowen landed and quickly set about channeling, but the knife-wielder threw a set at him while hitting a straight kick to Wingul's chin. He blocked the knives again with Soaring Eagle but this time they exploded and knocked him on his back. He grunted and forced himself up.
"Enough of this!" Wingul yelled and moved back. The same surge of mana from Fezebel touched the air as his hair turned white and stuck up on its ends.
The knife-wielder... ran. She turned and bolted back towards Rowen himself, but didn't bother with any attack. She dropped something on his chest(that didn't explode) and kept going.
"I wonder what that was about?" Rowen gritted his teeth and forced himself back to standing. He'd have to keep that trick of hers in mind for a future battle.
Wingul's answer came in Long Dau... but once his hair darkened back to black his words were standard once again. "Is that the key she dropped?"
Rowen looked it over. "I believe so."
"Very well. She can be dealt with later, Gilland is our main issue." The Auj Oule tactician began walking back towards him. Even if he was struck more times than Rowen, the man had to be feeling the pain.
"We should rendezvous with one of the healer groups first." Rowen advised. "Not only for our injuries but perhaps because our adversary seeks to reinforce their position."
"They could have laid countless ambushes or hosted a considerable force with each soldier of Black Lance," Wingul tried to argue simply for arguments sake. A stubborn tactician made mistakes however. "Though we are ignorant of the situation the other groups encountered, Presa, Agria and His Highness can handle things. If you hold the skills of your allies so lowly then run to them Ilbert."
Was Wingul's lack of concern trust? Or simply rallying against Rowen's opinion? He'd like to believe the former, but Wingul's intents always felt closer to the latter. He was surprisingly childish in spite of the appearance he gave off.
He finished walking past, almost daring Rowen to take a path to another... but the old tactician didn't. He'd put trust in his comrades for this.
"I don't need any lectures from you people!" the Elympion channeler shouted back at them. "I said my peace over Kanbalar, there's no need for any more words!"
"Have it your way then," Milla didn't feel like arguing either. "For the good of Rieze Maxia, I will remove you as a threat!" She proceeded to began her own channeling.
"I'll stop anyone who stands in Lady Milla's way!" Ivar charged in with his own resolution. The channeler, who hadn't begun channeling himself, began blocking Ivar's quick slashes and strikes. Curious, but it let Milla complete her spell. She needed speed, so she sent a wind lance swiftly down the hall, slashing through the enemy channeler. Ivar took advantage—dashing through with another series of his own slashes. The channeler took each hit in stride, but once Ivar was clear he finally began his own casting.
Milla dashed in herself, just enough distance to slash him with a wind blade, but he continued on unabated. Ivar turned and used his grave arte to disrupt, attempting to knock him into the air with a jut of earth, but like Milla's efforts it was futile. The channeler continued onwards finishing his spirit arte and surrounding himself with a tornado of flames.
Milla was far enough away that it missed, but Ivar was consumed fully, screaming in pain as the flames seared his flesh. Inside the makeshift protection, the Elympion channeler began his next spirit arte.
She had to take care of Ivar first. She had no healing artes, but she could at least repurpose her splash arte to douse her handmaid. The flames faded the same moment she completed her incantation, spreading some relief unto the burned boy.
As she expected, the channeler finished his arte, targeting her with a cyclone of wind. She couldn't block this with her barrier, so she gritted her teeth and bore the sharp gales of wind cutting her and lifting her into the air.
"How dare you!" Ivar shouted and from her vantage point above she saw her handmaid dive into the enemy and knock him off balance.
The cyclone ended with Milla still in the air. Good. She stabilizing herself with wind spirits and channeled in the sky. When Ivar's retaliation finished, she launched her own spirit arte; the summoned blade of lightning flew a perimeter around her location before slamming into the channeler and exploding.
"Ivar!" she shouted as she fell back to the ground and forced a link on her handmaid.
"Yes!" he replied and the same feeling of gratitude from outside Kanbalar flooded the link back. He gave no mind to the injuries he'd sustained in the combat. All three combatants shifted to their next attack. Milla channeled for the link arte as fast as she could, drawing wind spirits while the Black Lance channeler brought out water.
She completed her cast, a series of wind blades to follow Ivar's attack.
The Black Lance channeler completed his spirit arte, summoning a a glyph in front of him and shooting her with a ray of water.
Ivar struck, each of his slashes followed by wind and tossing the channeler about.
The aqua ray knocked her back, drawing more blood from her wounds, but she wouldn't falter.
The channeler wasn't so lucky, his armor began to shred from the combined attack.
Ivar wouldn't let up, even when the extra wind blades faded. "You bastard!" Ivar kicked into the air and struck back down with enough force to bend the staff of the channeler. "I"ll show you true power!" Ivar slammed his left blade into the ground, a spirit circle spawning and trapping the Elympion. The handmaid leapt into the air, his remaining sword charging with man. "Let the spirits course through my blades and punish you!" His sword pulses and flew him, his speed increasing and rising and he impacted with an explosion. "Shimmerfang Impact!"
Even Ivar had a mystic arte? Huh.
Ivar landed back on his feet with a look of triumph as he retrieved and sheathed his blades.
The channeler stood up. A resilient one wasn't he? But not long for the world of the living. Milla walked forward(her injuries were beginning to convenience her and stall running) blade in hand to finish him. To his credit he readied a defensive stance, even began to channel, but Milla's sword was risen and ready to strike, he wouldn't survive this. She swung—and her aim was thrown off by something clattering against her blade. The channeler finished, blasting her point-blank with a fireball.
"Lady Milla!"
She groaned in pain and looked for the source of disrupting, there! Behind Ivar, another member of Black Lance! "Ivar behind you!" she shouted a warning! Her handmaid turned to face the newcomer, barely blocking a strike aimed at his head.
"You again!" he shouted back. "I'll get you back for Kanbalar."
"What are you doing here?" the channeler shouted at the other Black Lance soldier.
"Saving you," the knife-wielder responded for the first time. So, did this mean Wingul was correct all along? The newcomer kicked Ivar away and sped past them over to the side of the channeler. She quickly pulled something from her ally, some sort of card. A keycard, like Laforte. She tied it to one of her knives and tossed it back down the hall. "If you want to actually reach Gilland, best hurry up and grab that. The bomb doesn't have much time left."
If a bomb could destroy her legs, it would disintegrate the keycard, but that would leave them too vulnerable to a backstab.
"I'm just here to bail him out," the knife-wielder tried to coerce her side. "Tick tock." She wagged her finger.
Dammit. "Ivar, go after the key! And no talk-back!" She stopped her handmaid's complaints early and with a grimace he raced off, leaving her two-on-one. She readied her blade.
"How cute but," the knife-wielder pushed the channeler back. "This is where we part ways." The two of them took off down the hall. They were both injured, so they were perhaps less of a threat, but she couldn't pursue alone or even with Ivar.
He meanwhile came running back. "Lady Milla!" he said and presented the simple, small square key. "Should we go after them?"
"No." She shook her head. "We have what we came for. Let's head back to the others."
"We're just letting them go?" Ivar expressed his disbelief at the decision.
"Just for now," she reassured him. "Destroying the Lance and dealing with Gilland is the most pressing goal."
"Yes, of course," he relented in his bloodlust.
"Besides, the both of us could use the talents of our healer allies," Milla gave another reason.
Ivar violently shook his head at that. "I'm still one hundred percent Lady Milla! I don't need the help of any of them!"
This was growing rather tiresome, so she decided to break his thoughts a bit. "Oh, you are? Well, you're certainly in a better condition than me."
"I could never be better than you Lady Milla!" Ivar hastily covered himself from Milla's turnaround. "I mean, ergh, argh the pain, I sure could use that punk Jude's help."
"Very well," Milla said. "Let's be off."
The barbarian king sent some sort of ground tracing energy blast at the General. It was quick, but obvious and a slight dash to the side avoided that but instead that just led into getting slashed repeatedly and knocked into the air.
If he didn't armor up he'd already be dead.
He couldn't even see the bastard move and he'd sent his men out to fight these kinds of freaks? Hell as if Svent betraying them wasn't obvious enough already.
He bite back the pain and readying his guard for the follow-up, one hell of a thrust attack still in mid-air. It scrapped off his rifle and ruined a bit of the stock(dammit they were out of manufacturing!) but a quick burst from his jetpack righted his course and landed him back on solid enough ground, or crate.
He hip-fired to try and buy some time, thankful the old rifles had a larger clip than the new tonfa-guns, but all his shots missed and those few close enough got blocked. If he survived this he was gonna bitch at that TV show that said you couldn't block bullets with a sword; this was bullshit!
When his gun ran dry he began the usual reload procedure enhanced by doing it most of his adult life. The barbarian king drew his sword up and back. Oh that didn't look good. The General dove off the crate as a pillar of red light blazed path his previous position. Cripes no wonder Stacker lost. The General looked over to see the attack dissipating against the wall but even so, a few more of those and he could have just broken his way through. The crate he was on was well, just gone.
The army really should have just bombarded this place and be done with it.
He slammed the next magazine into his rifle and chambered a round before sending out another burst. The king blocked it again, but this time the General had a little surprise. He tossed out a frag grenade as a bonus and ducked behind a different crate. The familiar thud of the old reliable rang out. That ought to teach him... wait...
The General dove to the side as another blast of wave vaporized another crate. He looked over and the savage king looked none the worse for the wear. The hell? At least his ears should be ringing! Well, a bit of his armor was cracked but that was about it. But it was still a freaking grenade! "This operation's really gone down the drain!" the General unloaded another burst at the king.
But he just blocked it again, and sent another round of the ground attack at him, exploding another crate nearby once he dodged. "Surrender," the king spoke with plain authority.
"The Elympios Army never surrenders!" the general screamed back and tossed out another frag grenade. Soon as he did whatever he'd fill'em full of lead.
"Neither do I." The King swatted away the grenade like nothing before bringing his sword about and blocking the nest set of bullets. The frag shrapnel didn't reach him at all, and he charged straight in ignoring the General's shots. His rifle clicked empty and he nearly ditched the useless thing before using it as a shield against the next attack.
He swore he saw a giant-ass lion as the rifle was ripped out of his hands. The king slashed, cutting through the General's armor like it was just paper. Flecks of blood and bone soared through the air and the general tipped forward.
The king grabbed his throat, and the general choked as he was pulled up and slammed against the wall. "Go to your grave knowing we will stop Gilland."
Heh, wouldn't be so bad to wait for the prick in the afterlife. But not before Elypmios was saved! The General mustered his strength and kneed the king in the small break in the armor, right over the kidney.
The king buckled and dropped him.
"The hell?" the General choked out, rubbing his throat. He looked over, and dashed towards the door. The prick could block bullets but a kidney hit drops him? Wait... "Hahaha, the Stacker special got you I guess!" the General jeered back but didn't bother to look. He couldn't risk the slightest chance he could be caught. He slammed the door behind him and kept on running running running. He fumbled for his radio, nearly dropping it in the haste, and tuned the frequency. "Dauntless this is General Morrison, drop my package now!"
"Sir, the floating spirit keeps destroying our ships!" some voice shot back and the General was too busy to identify it.
"Don't care, gonna die," he squawked back. He covered his wound but it hurt like hell and he was probably gonna be out some innards soon enough if he didn't bleed to death first. The package had a first aid kit in it at least.
Sparring a glance back before he rounded a corner, he didn't see the king hunting him. But he didn't have time to be relieved, just make it to the second rendezvous point with Black Lance.
He counted the seconds into minutes as he ran along the corridors. He spun, slammed through a door and was met with... all of two soldiers.
"Is this it?" he breathed heavily as he walked in. It was the most important two of course, but still, hell.
"Sir," Edwin said. "Who did this to you?" He wasn't looking too hot himself, his armor was cut up in parts and his calculatrics staff was rent and busted.
"Their big-ass king who else," he closed the door behind him and slumped against the wall. "Did anyone else make it?" Faint hope they got moved to med-bay pushed him to ask.
'Blue', as Clark called her, shook her head. "We're the only ones." She was in significantly better condition than Edwin but that wasn't exactly a surprise. "I couldn't deal with my foes so I ran to make sure Edwin got out. I dropped both our keycards behind to stall any pursuit attempts but..." Yeah, he knew exactly what she meant. If Svent betrayed them like this the keys were probably real. If Svent wanted to face'em go ahead. Maybe they'd get lucky and they'd all die in the conflict.
"Do we really need to...?" Edwin posed the question and looked at Blue. The secrets the three of them knew, couldn't be revealed.
The general nodded. "Don't let those secrets out til I'm dead I order you."
"Yes sir," Edwin took his order with a grimace.
The General took in a couple more breaths. "Alright you two, shove off. I got my package on delivery so I'll give these natives one last hurrah before they reach Svent." Sick as it may be Svent was still the best chance for Elympios with the Lance of Kresnik.
"Sir!" the two snapped to attention. Blue said. "It's been an honor General."
He let out a laugh and salute of his own. "Don't worry, I plan on plenty more years of service." He pushed himself back up the wall. "Move out!" he gave another order and the last members of Black Lance split up.
Pushing on was hell, but he eventually emerged back up on the sunlight-touched deck. Up above the battleships fired upon the spirit woman, and to his sides the Elympios and Rieze Maxian grunts fought one another. He didn't have time to care. He ran forward.
"You!" the king's voice roared from nearby and only a reflex roll prevented the General from getting slammed by one of those ground attacks. Even if the sudden jolt and pain nearly kept him on the deck anyway.
The injured leader looked behind, only to see a mish-mash of eleven people not in uniforms approaching him and over half of them were kids. The hell was wrong with these people? Wiping them out might be a good thing instead of just a necessity.
"Yeah, me," the General stopped to catch his breath. His wound continued to ooze on his gloves. Dammit. "You need something?" It was almost bloody comical.
"Your terms of surrender." The stoic-looking young man in black stated.
"Ask your king there how well that worked out last time."
"Then your life," the man drew his own sword. Fancy one-bladed things.
The General burst out laughing and looked to the sky. "Wouldn't be the first person to ask me for that." He took a deep breath. "But you'll have to fight my wife for it and she's scarier than you lot put together." He gave out a bloody grin.
"So be it," the black-haired man slashed along the ground, a lighter, yellow variant of the calculatrics of the king.
The General didn't have it in him to dodge again so he waited... and a giant cylinder pod fell from the sky stopping the attack. He laughed in triumph and gave a roar of approval to the Dauntless flying by above. He ran as fast as his injured body could take him up to the big red package and opened up the human-sized door in back and climbed in it. He could win now!
"What the heck is that thing!?" Leia yelled the question forthright on everyone's minds.
The weird giant cylinder dropped from one of the battleships had exploded outward revealing some sort of giant red armored man. But it wasn't any sort of conventional armor for humans, it was much too large even for someone like Jiao. It looked more like an extension? A mechanical man-machine. Its metal joints whirled and cracked as it slowly stood upright, just like the machines on the battleship they captured. No head sprung from the stocky body as wide as two Jiaos, and its three fingers on cylindrical forearms stretched and clamped. It stomped forward with thick, bulky legs and the deck beneath shuddered and bent with the steps.
But worst of all, was the sheer number of spirits dying.
Milla doubled over as the sudden death wails of the spirits slammed into her. That machine was almost worse than the Lance of Kresnik!
"This right here," the General's voice echoed out from inside that insidious machine. "Is a prototype Fully Armored Walker Tank. It was designed for rapid deployment to destroy particularly resilient defensive formations but it ran into a bit of a fuel problem. Too 'energy inefficient' they called it. Thing just kept running itself dry in a minute! Couldn't move, couldn't fire, it even stopped other spyrixes from working!" The giant machine slammed its fists together with a thunderous crack. "But when I heard this little place under the dome was rife with enough energy to sustain Elympios, I brought this bad boy out of retirement on the hunch all those problems would be solved. And hey, looks like it was the right call. This is where your little rampage ends you damn barbarians!" The machine held its right arm out and a smaller cylinder appeared under it. A blast of flame wreathed out!
It didn't really reach anyone though, puttering out a good foot in front of the entire group. If she didn't feel the spirits die she'd consider it a foolhardy waste.
"Okay, get the engineers to improve the range on the flamethrower," the General absently commented. The 'flamethrower' beneath the hand rescinded and two cannons pushed up from the flat top of the body. "Let's see how the anti-aircraft guns work out down here!"
That was finally enough to get the assembled alliance to scatter as the top-mounted cannons fired with two clean bolts of lightning. He missed by a wide margin, but the attacks blew straight through one of the upper sections of the Zenethra. "Ah, crap, can't go sinking the ship now. Jeez, I thought they meant like, anti-infantry drops not anti-battleship."
"Enough of this babbling!" Wingul sorely said. He let out a warcry, and the same outsurge of mana from Fezebel Marsh returned. His hair rose upwards, turning white and his next words were in some intelligible tongue.
"Strike this monstrosity's joints!" Gaius commanded.
It was good advice, she'd take it. "Ivar, do that. I'll provide arte support."
Her handmaid grumbled, but agreed. "Yes, Lady Milla."
That Presa woman chuckled at the idea. "I suppose we're all divided so easily."
That "divide" led to half of them charging in and the other half channeling. However, it was difficult, like trying to cast beneath the Lance of Kresnik. That abomination before them needed to be destroyed, like all spyrix.
The combined torrent of the channelers spells struck down in a cascade of the entire elemental chain. Light, dark, fire, water, and wind struck with beams, balls and blades and all bounced almost harmlessly off the armor of the machine as the spirits died and the mana faltered and sputtered uselessly.
The martial artes of those who swung and dodged in melee fell just as uselessly as any attempts to gather mana for spirits just fell apart and they struck against the joints with almost their base strength.
At least the attacks of the monstrosity were slow and clumsy. A massive swing came for Ivar, but her handmaid just dashed around it effortlessly.
"This is just like that guy in Kanbalar!" Jude shouted out back to everyone. "We can't win a battle of attrition like this!"
Rather quickly to be concluding something like that wasn't it?
"Come back here you!" the General yelled out and stomped, denting the deck as he did. He still missed. "Alright, let's see how the bombs go." Two racks opened up on a chest and pulsated with a red light.
The feeling of dread from the spirit death increased again. "Move!" she commanded as everyone split off to avoid being targeted. If that attack had half the power of the previous one...
The abomination angled upwards and unleashed, a flurry of reddish-yellow blobs flew and arced and bombarded the area with explosions. The attack was focused on the channelers, and though Rowen and herself had their defenses(and Rowen extended his to Elize) Presa and Agria weren't so fortunate and took a larger brunt of the damage. The girl ended up oddly fine but the woman looked ready to pass out. A quick burst of healing from Elize bought them all right back up though, but it didn't feel as strong as it could.
"That's it?" the General whined after the somewhat lackluster effects of his attack. "Well, we can tune the power up later. Let's see how the flamethrower actually works out now." The banks closed and the flame cylinder slid out again. Was he truly that obvious?
Those in melee were already in the process of scattering, but a puff of flame still managed to catch her unfortunate handmaid who slid into the deck as the flames burned his tendons and he cried out in pain.
"I got you!" Leia ran over and dragged Ivar away before any follow-up could arrive from the giant machine. She attempted a healing arte, which thankfully seemed to work unlike the other myriad of artes. At the very least they could sustain each other, one small upside remained.
Ivar gave a grumpy thanks as the two retreated from the encroaching path of the flames. They needed a new plan... "Alvin, do you think you could damage its joints?" she yelled out an idea.
"Don't think so!" he shouted back and shot the target locations a few times for effect. "Don't pack enough power without artes but I'll try anyway!." The mercenary reloaded his weapon and concentrated another barrage on just the right knee, but there showed no sign of stopping. "Dammit, even I don't have enough power!"
That only meant, "Gaius!" Milla called for him.
The King of Auj Oule answered with a nod. He readied his stance and a short powerful burst of mana emanated from him.
"Hold on a second!" Leia cried out and began channeling. What was she planning? It had to be quick the machine was trudging towards Gaius and—she finished. "Sharpness!" A small red glow blazed on Gaius' long sword and he looked at the girl in surprise. But that shock didn't last long as he moved in with that unparallelled speed of his. His powered strikes landed on the same right leg joint Alvin's bullets bounced off of, but even Gaius' might, strengthened to the peak couldn't do much more than unbalance it enough for a slight realignment.
"How could any such monstrosity be made?" Gaius expressed disbelief at the ineffectiveness of his attacks.
"This is a monster?" the General jeered back, accompanying his question with a kick to drive Gaius away. "You just knocked the leg of a multi-ton war machine with a sharp piece of metal and a bunch of fancy words. The only monsters here are you people!" He shouted and the flamethrower receded, the chest bombs returning.
Milla couldn't let the ridiculous words of the General go without a retort though. As she dodged the bombardment she shouted back. "Your machine is devouring spirits at a monstrous pace and you dare to lecture us?" A few of the bombs wounded the others, but it was still relatively ineffective. As the weapon banks receded, a few counters from the Rieze Maxians were attempted in melee and range but nothing worked.
"Casualties of war!" the General shouted down her point all-too-simply. "And don't think you have some sort of high ground with bringing children to war!" None of the three weapons on the machine sprouted, the machine choosing to charge forward, the deck buckling with each step.
The machine's steps were large, but it was slow, and no one was within range by the time it ended. Elize though, choose to attack, Teepo growing to a size as large as the machine and attempted to tackle it but the puppet bounced off uselessly. "I-I'm here of my own free will!" Elize pleaded against the General's statement. "E-even if I wasn't, your plan would try and hurt me anyway!" Teepo had something to add. "So don't think you're some sort of big hero guy you jerk!"
The walking machine took a wide turn to focus back on the group, its chest banks open again as he shot its attack while still on the move. The surprise caught a few(including Milla) in the blasts. "How do you like that huh!?" the General cheered at his attack. "If this is really out of your own will then don't be mad at the consequences!"
"Then you shouldn't be mad your world is dying!" Leia, of all people, lectured him back. "Spyrix kill spirits and destroy the environment!" She and the rest of the healers got about to their jobs.
"Spyrix save lives!" the General's machine righted itself, and switched over to the flamethrower. "I'm only alive because a spyrix keeps my heart going! Any soldier here had their life saved by spyrix at some point! There hasn't been a baby lost in birth in years because of advances in spyrix technologies! Spyrixes save lives!" He coupled his charge in with bursts of fire, negating the weapon's short range, but the slow movement speed still did not favor it and escaping was still possible.
Rowen attempted his massive Tidal Wave arte, but the waves of the powerful arte were simple gentle laps against the machines. They were much more effective against the fire, whittling away the flames and rendering the attack inert. "What sort of madness grips you that you choose and defend such slaughter?"
"That's life. You're a soldier, I can see it in your eyes old man, you know sacrifices are inevitable in war, in life!" The machine turned, seemingly unable to make its next attack.
So Gaius sent his beam of energy at the right leg target. But just as everything it was ineffective. "There is no such thing as an inevitable sacrifice, or a necessary one! I have fought tooth and nail to make that the philosophy of Rieze Maxia as a whole."
"All for humans I bet! Life isn't just the humans fighting at your side, but spirits, animals and monsters! Do you think twice about the rappig you eat? Or the fishmen you slaughter in self-defense?" The machine changed and focused on Gaius, the only person able to even slightly inconvenience the monstrosity. "Of course you don't, no one gives it more than a glancing thought before continuing on." Gaius deflected a punch from the machine and struck the right leg again.
"Lady Milla is right here as a spirit living and breathing don't you dare suggest otherwise!" Ivar in a rage actually moved in and began follow-up attacks against the right left. "Animals and monsters are living too, they can communicate just fine! They understand their role in the world, so why don't you huh? Killing spirits for no reason you monster!"
The machine switched back to its flamethrower, shooting after Ivar who had wizened up and avoided the wreaths of fire. "Didn't your Svent tell you? We don't have any of that mana lobe hooey! The wretched scum who do only use those talents to line their own pockets." The flamethrower stayed out as he chased after Ivar. "So we live by eating spirits, everyone lives by eating something!"
"My my," Presa used a water arte to douse the flames at the source. "Talking so high and mighty about morality when you're just cutting us off without a second thought? So we're just food to you? A nuisance to be swatted aside effortlessly hm? What a childish worldview."
The flamethrower returned and the chest guns returned, firing at Presa. The attack was blocked by Agria, who simply grinned as the fires did little to her. "Food, energy, yeah, whatever you want to call it! We're sacrificing you to survive. Just like you all hide behind the schism to wait us out to die! So don't act all high and mighty back to me either!" The machine trudged forth to smack the female Chimeriad but the two dashed away. "Dammit why won't any of you stay still!"
Jude ran over to the two escapees, activating his healing arte. "So you'll just kill us all then for crimes we didn't learn about until recently? And what happens if you succeed huh? Drain every last spirit from Rieze Maxia? How will that stop your own degradation?"
"Do you have any idea what you just said boy? Ignorance doesn't mean innocence!"
Agria shouted a warcry. "Will you people shut up with all this asinine lecturing and just kill his big dumb ass already!" She hurled a useless fireball at the machine.
"Finally someone speaking some sense!" The General responded by trying to shoot Agria's position but failing. As the banks closed, Alvin shot, trying to destroy them to no avail. "So you'll just let Elympios die you traitor?"
"Elympios chose its fate... not even a thousand years ago but right here, right now you continued to march down the path of destruction." Alvin gave a solemn lecture back. "If you're what represents Elympios, is it worth saving!?"
"This is going nowhere!" The General ignored Alvin's response. "Alright, looks like I'll have to do something else; the machine turned and aimed its chest weapons at the Rieze Maxian soldiers fighting the Elympions.
Wingul shouted something in that other language, what did he mean? "The deck!" Gaius shouted, did he understand. "Focus your attacks on the deck underneath that abomination and drop it beneath us. We can deal with it later!"
Clever plan! Milla began chanting, as she saw everyone else prep for similar attacks. But could they make it before the machine unleashed its attack?
No. The shots were fired, wrecking the lines of the Rieze Maxian troops before the combined efforts of everyone fighting it struck. The deck, already ruptured from the things movements and weight, began to buckle and break. "Dammit!" the General shouted. "Fight me you cowards!" Alvin fired, widening the gap and gravity did the rest. The General's shouts and the rending metal echoed back up, but eventually went silent.
It almost seemed anti-climatic but they had bigger worries to deal with. "Make haste to Gilland!" If the machine made it to the other man, they might not be able to slay Exodus' leader.
Some of the others rumbled about the fights between the soldiers but they weren't important at this moment!
Milla faced the door onwards and began, and everyone turned to do the same. Her footsteps quickened to a run and—she fell to the ground as her mana was drained out of her. She gasped, as the purple swirls lifted into the air, not just from her, but everyone, Rieze Maxian and Elympion alike. The Lance of Kresnik! Was Gilland so desperate for victory he'd kill his own side like this? Milla crawled forward, unwilling to give him the satisfaction.
As suddenly as it started, it stopped, and her movements were no longer hindered. She rushed up, albeit slower than earlier. Everyone affected around her slowly began to recover, sluggishly at first but slowly their pace restored.
Wingul(his hair back to normal) said something. "That was the Lance of Kresnik? Why fire it now?"
"Probably," Alvin answered, "wants to fight us at our weakest."
"Our weakest is still superior to him. It will avail him nothing." The Auj Oule Strategist was the first to move on again. Gaius and the Chimeriad were quick to join him.
"Miss Elize, are you alright?" Rowen asked the girl. She looked fine in Milla's eyes, though Teepo floated low to the ground.
"I-I'm fine, I can go on!" she put on a brave face.
"Anyone else hurt?" Jude asked and received a variety of nos in response. "Guess we're all good to go."
"Good," Milla nodded. She couldn't let Gilland or Gaius get their hands on the Lance. They followed after the King of Auj Oule and his Chimeriad. This would be her final battle.
AN: And then two more OCs gone down with almost no fanfare. Dropping like flies they are.
Way back in October when I first started writing my Outline because I wanted to put it down to stop it from taking up so many of my thoughts and was going with the usual "if I write it I'll totally burn out and forget!" Well, that almost happened. Around the Party Split around Milla's legs(ugh!) I got lazy in the outline. But I had the idea for Robot Armor that I eventually pushed through and got all the way to the Zenethra because of that. Then all the seeds I planted finally started to spring and BAM I nearly get the whole Outline up to 90 Chapters. Then November rolls around, I have nothing else to write for NaNo so I start actually turning the Outline into Chapters and well, I go and post on December 1st and the rest is what you're reading!
Speaking of the SUDDENLY giant robot; I hope I gave a good play of its strengths and weaknesses. It can't really be hurt by spirit artes(spyrix weapons actually could, not that anyone entertains the thought) but it's so sluggish it really can't hit the agile Rieze Maxians, and if it does the healers speed renders it moot, even with spirit-guzzling-a-dozen. It's basically a deterrent and not even a very good one. Hopefully it doesn't seem overpowered? Especially now that they realize they can just literally drop the thing without much difficulty eh...
Oh yeah, everyone's grouped together for the fight against Gilland next Chapter. He's sure and welly screwed isn't he?