Another hour, another fight. He was already getting kinda tired of it, still, there didn't seem to be a damn thing he could do about that issue. So, Noah just sighed as he stabbed his twin blades into the ground and took a moment to look around and gather his thoughts.
The battle may have been won, but the loss is definitely still felt. Angels are on the ground, beaten and tired. Their weapons are as scarred as their armor, only whereas the armor smell of sweat the weapons reeks of blood. "To think, it's still so early in the war." The teen muttered as he stood upright and took a breath. "I can't imagine how it used to be for them before the armistice." He admitted before raising a hand and tapped his sleeve before pulling his water bottle into reality. He looked at his left arm, seeing it hang limp before pulling at the cork with his teeth. When he was done he splashed the healing mana on his arm, shivering slightly as the lacerating wounds started to close in a matter of seconds.
Sure, he could have used his Blood Magic, but healing would require using his own blood. And there were obviously some side effects to that. Every second of use would take a second from his potential years.
He'd like to stay in the game as long as possible.
Raising the healed arm Noah just flexed his muscle before looking to the others, his attention shifting to the Angels as he walked up to one. "Anpiel." The Angel in turn looked at him, his attention turned from the wounded he was checking on before letting it rest on the young hunter.
"Chil - Noah, what is it?" Noah just passed him the water bottle. "Thank you." He tore off a bit of cloth from his armor before soaking it in liquid mana. Soon as he was done, he started applying the wet cloth to the Angels wounds letting them soak in the rejuvenating liquid as the pain on their face started to subside. "I'm not certain how long we can hold this front." The Angel stated as Noah crossed his arms and looked around.
"Why do you have to keep an eye on this part of the city?" The teen asked as he looked back at Anpiel. "What makes this spot so special?"
"We aren't certain." Anpiel admitted. "Whatever the reason, the demons seem to be converging on this spot quite often."
"Really, wonder why." Noah muttered as he crouched down and ran his hand along the earth "Hm…" Anpiel looked at the teen before moving to another wounded Angel. He started with the most seriously wounded, trying to at least stabilize them somewhat before moving on.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to see if this spot is a 'Place of Evil'." Noah muttered before lowering his hand. "You know a piece of bad earth or a place where something bad might have happened." He explained. "Problem is with all the demonic power in the air it's hard to tell if it's natural or just part of their arrival." The teen muttered before getting to his feet and scratched his head. "Have you guys managed to try looking to see if this place is hiding something?"
"We've searched, but we've found nothing as of yet." Anpiel admitted before moving to yet another Angel. "I wonder what they could be searching for here?" Noah didn't have an answer as he looked around trying to make sense of that himself. When he gave up he just took a breath before walking up to an Angel cradling his arm and looked it over.
"It's dislocated." The teen muttered as the Angel nodded. "Let me." He didn't exactly wait for a response, just grabbing the arm at two points, and with an audio crack realigned the bone.
"Thank you." The Angel weazed out as Noah just nodded.
While Noah wasn't a medic, he knew and had been in the field enough to know how to help out, at least somewhat. He could realign bones and give wounds a rough but workable stitch. That bottle of healing magic was more for a last resort, when he and other hunters were at death's door and needed a second wind of sorts. 'Still, doesn't look like I'll be getting that back full.' Noah thought as he pulled the armor off another Angel and started looking at their wounds. He frowned at the lacerations before touching his sleeve and burned a bag into reality. From that bag he pulled out a needle and thread, and started stitching the wound back together. 'I have a few more bottles of healing magic saved up, but best save them for a rainy day.' He told himself before checking his stitchwork and nodded to himself. Cutting the needle with his teeth he started on the next one.
"I question how long we'll be able to hold this location." The Angel stated as Noah glanced at them. "This location has been besieged countless times since the Endwar began, and we still have no knowledge as to why."
"Well, you've been lucky for a while." Noah stated as he looked at the Angel. "These demons don't seem that organized, so chances are they're just ones clawing at free territory."
"And should they strike when united…" The Angel didn't finish that thought, felt no reason to. They both knew that an organized threat would likely lead to their end so long as they didn't have back up.
"You know I'm surprised." Noah began. "Despite how awful this city might have become, I haven't spotted one of the Lords of Hell." He admitted. "Any clue where they might be?"
"More than likely, they are lurking in the shadows." The Angel grumbled as he seemed to stare off into the distance. "Watching and waiting for when we are at our weakest."
"Well that's no good." Noah stated as he looked over to his twinblade and longed his wrist mounted grapple hook at it. The moment it latched onto the weapon it started to pull it back to its own as Noah rested his hands on it. "Hard to know who you're really fighting when your opponents are hiding out." Noah stated as he frowned. "Do you guys at least know which Lord might be hiding out here in New York?" The Angel shook his head. "Well, that sucks." He asked, looking elsewhere. "Maybe I should go fishing." He said out of nowhere.
"Fishing?" The Angel repeated. "You want to go… fishing?"
"Not really, but it's a viable option."
"During the Endwar?" Noah looked at the Angel before staring at him.
"Yeah." Noah said simply. "Just gotta dangle some bait, see what bites." Noah gestured to the waterfront. The Angel just stared at him like he had lost his mind. "Maybe I'll do that later." He mused before walking over to Anpiel. Seeing the teen the Angel passed him back his water bottle. Noah shook the near empty bottle and sighed. "Yeah it's about as much as I expected.." The teen grumbled as the bottle disappeared. "Anyway, you plan on keeping your men here?" He asked as Anpiel nodded his head. "No harm in returning to the others to rest up."
"We have to stay here." Anpiel stated as he stared at the dead in the street. "We have to find out why this place is so desired by the Dark Kingdom."
"I guess you got a point…" Noah grumbled as he crossed his arms. "Anyway I can't set up a barrier without any walls present."
"You've done more than enough already." Anpiel stated as he looked at the teen. "You fought beside us, and shared what you had to heal our wounded." The angel stated. "Thank you." He held out his arm and Noah took it, their handshake quickly evolving into the same one that he had done with Chayyliel. "Will you fight beside us in future endeavours?"
"We'll see." Noah stated as the Orthos behind him released a noise. "I should probably get this one back to the others though. You got a message you want me to pass to the Storm Warden?"
"Let her know we still stand." Noah nodded as he headed over to the Orthos and jumped to land on its back.
"Alright, ready to go?" The Griffon responded by raising its massive wings and taking flight. "I'll take that as a yes!" Noah remarked as he and the Orthos flew off. Anpiel just watched him leave a small smile on his face that quickly disappeared as he returned his attention to the world before him. In particular he turned his attention to the waterfront.
Radio Station
Vivienne took a breath as she looked at the blood covered hall. "That should buy us some time." The Huntress stated as she wiped her hands on some spare cloth "Still." She muttered. "Why would they bother coming here?"
"Maybe they wanted to make a public broadcast." Lenore shrugged as she stepped out of the sealed room. "Who knows."
"You think they were following us?"
"I hope not." Lenore muttered as she looked outside. "We can't risk being tailed this early without realizing it." She stated as she made her way back to the broadcasting room.
"Anyway, how's the radio?"
"I'm almost done doing repairs." Lenore stated as she went back to work. "We should be able to attach the node soon." She admitted as she started working with switches and doing everything they needed to get this place working again.
"Awesome." Vivien muttered before sighing to herself.
"So." Lenore paused. "As soon as the node is up, what do you want to do?" She asked. "We can wait here for Noah or we can head to the post office and group up with Nomad?"
Vivienne seemed to think for a moment. "Much as I'd like to wait for our brother, I think we should group up with Nomad." She muttered with a frown. "I have something to tell them, courtesy of our brother."
"What is it?" Vivienne made to speak before shaking her head.
"I'll tell you later." She promised. "Right now you need to be able to focus on the task at hand." Lenore just looked at her sister as she stopped working for a moment. Slowly she nodded her head as she returned to working.
"Alright… I'm almost done here anyway." Lenore admitted as she worked a bit longer before finishing up. "Alright everything should work." She muttered as she reached into her bag and pulled something out. "Now to just attack the remote node and… finished." She said with a smile and a nod. "Mind telling Noah?"
"Five seconds." Vivienne stated as she glanced upward at the roof, a habit of hers really. "Noah… Noah, can you hear me?"
"I'd be concerned if I couldn't. What's up?"
"The station's back online and the nodes up and running." She informed him. "We're going to meet up with Nomad and his group."
"Good, I'll see you there."
"Yeah." Vivien muttered as she looked back at Lenore with a nod. "He'll catch up with us."
Lenore sighed in relief. "That's good to hear…" She whispered as she brushed back her hair. "Now lets -"
"H-hello?"
The technician fell silent as they heard the voice, what sounded like a girl sending a broadcast of her own.
"Is anyone there? Is this thing even on?"
There was some chatter in the background.
"I told you it's on already! It's just that no one's listening. No one's there at all!"
That sounded like a boy.
"Shut up! Don't say that! You can't… just shut up!"
The girl again.
"Listen, if anyone's out there, you have to be out there. We need you to come save us, please. Come save us."
A bit of static.
"Where we are. You have to tell them where we are dumbass."
The boy again.
"Shut up! I was getting to that!"
There's the girl again.
"We're at South Bronx Classical Charter School. There's a lot of monsters outside. And some inside too. Um, the teachers and some of us, they uh, they uh… I can't do this."
Sounds of multiple kids crying in the background.
"You're freaking the kids out. Go calm them down. Listen, I don't know what to say. I am probably talking to myself anyway. I guess… oh, God please, let someone be hearing this. Let them answer. This is so dumb."
"It's ok, Brian, go take care of the kids."
That sounded like an older woman. She breathed a few times, sounded like she was trying to calm her nerves before speaking up.
"Listen… if you're out there, please come. We don't have much time left. Please just -
"The other line died." Lenore muttered as she looked at her older sister. Vivien clenched her fist.
"How far is it to the Bronxs?"
"Far." Was her reply. "We won't make it to them in time."
"I can."
Noah muttered as he narrowed his eyes. "I heard everything through the link. I may not be near the Bronxs right now, but this Orthos I'm on can cover a lot of ground in little time." Noah stated.
"Thanks."
Noah said nothing as he looked at the Orthos and patted its back to get its attention. "Sorry buddy, gotta make a detour." The Orthos made a noise as Noah guided it towards another direction. "We got kids to save."