Cor swept past them and Ignis closed ranks with Iris to cover his back. Someone needed to chase down Aldercapt; Cor had the best chance.
They fought, trying not to think about that massive creature and the way its steps shook the whole city, or the stinging pain that seemed to come from every inch of exposed skin, or the exhaustion rapidly settling in and the fact that the MTs didn't have any such limitation. They fought, trying not to think about the Magitek armor that bounded over head and between the two airships, trying not to be distracted by Reina's arrival. Not even she could put this mess straight by herself. To hope for it would only be folly.
But he could not ignore the yell of pain three feet away when Cor doubled over with a dagger in his knee.
In fact, the yell was for removing the dagger and immediately putting all his weight on his injured leg.
"Marshal—!" Ignis turned to follow, distantly hoping that Iris could manage the MTs without him.
How in the name of the Astrals did Cor run so bloody fast when he should have been crippled?! Small wonder they called him the Immortal. Ignis released both his knives and flung himself into a full sprint. Though the distance closed between him and Cor, the ship was still much too far ahead. He couldn't catch up; he couldn't reach the imperial ship before it was out of range. But Cor sprang from the earth in a motion that simply shouldn't have been possible moments after pulling a bloody knife from his leg.
And he caught the edge of the ramp before it was out of reach.
Ignis stopped running. Cor would catch the emperor. Or he wouldn't. Either way, Ignis could do nothing about it.
Godspeed, Marshal.
He turned back to the battle, expecting to find Iris waist deep in MTs. Instead, every single MT—or every one that could still move—was walking away from them. They marched to the hillside that dropped toward the city. They were retreating? Surely not. Magitek engines still hovered above—if they had some destination in mind, why would they not fly?
Some of the Crownsguards and Kingsglaives followed. Others turned toward the enormous daemon as it opened its mouth and spilled fire, igniting the rubble of the warehouse it had already crushed. Beyond, Reina's battle with General Glauca raged on—though she cast her eyes toward them more than once.
"Crepera!" Reina shouted. "Tonitrus! Take down that daemon!"
Ignis had all but forgotten about the statues of the Lucii and the Old Wall, but no sooner had the words left Reina's mouth than the Rogue appeared from the darkness past the warehouses and the Fierce—preceded by his mace—materialized in a burst of blue fire.
So the statues could warp. He'd had no idea.
Explosions sounded from the direction of the city. No more time to think about history and magic. The MTs who had arrived at the edge of the pavement near the guardrail went up in flames, spraying metal and armor shrapnel in every direction. The Crownsguards who had been pursuing them halted, shielding their faces and backing away. As more and more MTs moved out of range, they, too, self-destructed.
Ignis wasn't wont to look a gift horse in the mouth, but he desperately wanted to know what was going on.
Cor was still hanging from the hatch of the Magitek engine; Ignis could just barely see him, swinging in the air as he struggled to pull himself up. The hatch was closing and with it went Cor's chance of climbing aboard. From this height the fall would kill him, Immortal or no.
"Reina!" Ignis shouted.
She blasted Glauca back into the outer wall of a nearby warehouse and turned to look at Ignis.
"The Marshal—" Ignis pointed.
She looked. And she hesitated, eyes moving back to Glauca as he crawled to his feet.