(Galio - PoV)
The...the little ones, the fleshlings...why? Why would they...
I prod their tiny bodies, but they do not move. They are gone. Forever.
...
I can feel the magic invigorating me, but at such cost...
They...they must be desperate indeed...to invoke such measures.
Slowly rising to my full height, I give the brave little fleshings one last, solemn nod before glaring at the cursed mages across the square.
Mages...an army of mages, in our very city. That must be why the fleshlings are so desperate? There is so much going on that I don't understand right now, with the small figures yelling at each other, words impossible to decipher over the rush of magic thrumming through my body, but I wasn't made to understand.
No, I was made for one purpose.
To break bad mages.
I leap.
(Jarvan IV - PoV)
The massive statue, Galio, leaps into the sky, spinning with an agility something that large should not have and dropping back down towards the crowd of mages.
Many scatter, but others try to form shields and barriers...spells which fail, their energies absorbed into the great stone behemoth as it falls towards them.
I launch myself at it before I can even truly consider.
I target the wings, hoping to force it to alter its trajectory and miss the center of the group at least. My spear carves a jagged furrow, shards of hardened petricite scattering into the air and falling below. A great blast of magic from Sylas is rather more effective, pushing the golem away from the group and forcing it to crash into a nearby building instead, demolishing the entire structure.
I can only hope there was no one sheltering inside.
And wonder how Sylas is still able to cast when his fellows are all but helpless before the construct.
Leaping backward, I land beside the man. Xin drops down on his other side, and Shyvana lands behind us, already partially transformed.
"Galio!" I call out. The construct seemed to have some sort of mind, showing sorrow at the bodies of the ritual mages... "Stop attacking! These mages are not enemies!"
"LIES!" Gerald screams. "KILL THE TRAITORS!"
Gods damn him.
"Bad Mages!" Galio speaks slowly, standing up amidst the rubble.
"Galio...will...protect!"
It tries to launch itself forward, only for Shyvana charge past(over) us, throwing herself at it in full dragon form, slamming the great stone gargoyle back into the remains of the building.
"So much for negotiation..." I mutter. It never seems to work, not for me at least.
I look over at Sylas. "We will try to force it away. I have men on the way but with the state of the city there is no telling how long it will take them. Once you can freely cast again, take your mages...and your revenge." I gesture to Gerald and the Mageseekers. "Don't underestimate them. Unlike most, Gerald did earn his position."
I try to ignore the mania in his eyes and the grin on his face as he nods before to gather his people.
"Xin..." I hesitate a moment before sighing, a far too common occurrence in recent days. "Let's destroy another Demacian national treasure gone wrong."
Like everything else about my home...
(Galio - PoV)
Dragons bad!
Her fire can't hurt me, but her claws do. It will take the artisans so long to fix me. And she is keeping me from all the bad mages, I can't stop their nasty spells anymore! My people aren't safe!
Grabbing one of her wings I tear, ignoring her screams.
She is a dragon, she is bad! It is ok if she screams, even if it makes me feel bad.
Her claws make several more deep gashes in me that will take a long time to fix, but I shove her down and get a good grip on her throat and muzzle and start twisting. Just a little more...
Something smashes into my elbow, shattering more stone and knocking it aside, ruining my grip! Another slams into my knee, knocking me off balance!
Dragon lady manages to throw me off, no!
Shaking my head, I clamber out of the building she threw me into. Sorry whoever made it!
I glare at the three opposing me. Dragon lady and the two spearmen in fancy armor. Most of the mage armies in the past didn't have powerful fighters like this on this side. Why are the spearmen fighting for the mages? Don't they know the mages are bad?
I flex my wings. It doesn't matter. I have to get back to my people to make them safe from the bad magic. These ones are in the way.
"MOVE! ASIDE!" I yell as I charge forward.
(Sylas - PoV)
"Have at them, brothers and sisters! For justice!"
I lead by example, dashing into the bastards who have hunted us for so long, who have committed such atrocities upon us.
I can't believe that I used to be among their number, that I used to be so blinded by their zealotry.
I crash into one seeker, shattering his bones and throwing his ruined corpse into his fellows, knocking them down like pins. His fellows try to close with me, and I lash out with my chains, cutting them down all around me.
"Come then! You shall not find naive children before you this time! We are bound no more! Helpless before you no more!" I scream at the monsters I stand in the midst of.
My fellows hurl spells at them, but their effectiveness is lacking compared to what I expected until I see several seekers supporting a white cube.
Petricite.
Another dash through their lines, sending men flying in all directions, and I am next to it. A swing of my chains and it is supported only by corpses. I reach out and touch the cube as it falls.
TzzzztttKrrraakkthoooommm!
An instants thought and every ounce of magic it has consumed is released, directly into the bastards it had been protecting.
I watch, transfixed, as they die in a thousand ways. Screaming, every last one.
Glorious. Absolutely glorious.
"NO! TRAITOROUS SCUM!" a voice calls out.
Turning towards the voice, I finally see him. The head of the Mageseekers.
Excellent.
"KILL HIM!" he demands, charging at me with a core of his followers, all with their best gear. Sunsteel blades, petricite amulets...
It won't save them.
I want to respond, to make a pithy comment, but all I can see is red.
This bastard is the one responsible for...everything. Absolutely everything.
He must die. And it musn't be quick. He needs be made an example of.
(Jarvan IV - PoV)
Shyvana...I have never seen her this injured.
The damned construct is...formidable. Literally tearing her apart, while taking repeated blows from myself and Xin...and getting back up.
"MOVE! ASIDE!"
And coming back for more.
We meet its charge. Shyvanna matches it force for force, I slam into the knee Xin weakened, while he attempts to find a weak point, a vulnerability to exploit.
I barely manage to avoid being clipped by a wing, Xin is forced away to avoid a tail cracking like a whip (a whip thicker around than a man), and Shyvanna...
Unfortunately, I believe her lack of time spent fighting in her dragon form is hurting her. I swear I can hear her ribs crack as she takes a massive stone fist to her chest, then another to her chin before she is knocked through another building.
Instead of capitalizing on his advantage Galio moves away?
No, he is heading back towards the Mages, damn.
Lifting my banner, I throw it at the construct's back, burying it deep within the stone, before grasping the chain attached to it.
"Xin! The knee again! As I pull!" I order.
He complies, slamming into the weakened knee as I pull backward.
The great stone gargoyle topples over for a moment before catching itself. Looking around, it has no difficulty noticing me attempting to hold it in place.
A great stone hand grasps the chain and yanks me towards it.
I draw back my lance as I fly forward. Galio pulls back his other fist.
!
(Karn, Dauntless Vanguard - PoV)
We move as fast as we are able, but it is clearly not quick enough. We can hear the explosions and collapsing buildings across the city, and see something titanic moving as we hustle through the city streets.
I just have to hope we arrive in time to make a difference, however little it may be against something that can fight the Prince...
Rounding the corner to a wide avenue, at last we get our first look at the fight.
I blink.
Isn't that a statue? One of our statues? What in the bloody hells have the Mageseekers been getting up to?
The Prince and his friends seem to have the matter in hand, as we catch them dragging it down, only for...
"JARVAN!" "PRINCE JARVAN! "MY PRINCE!" "NO!" Every soldier cries out at once.
Jarvan's lance dealt immense damage to the monster's hand and arm, but his body was sent flying away faster than we can see...
...
"Second division, go find the Prince! Everyone else, kill that damned monster!"
(Galio - PoV)
Hah! Got you!
That is a lot of damage he did to my arm but I finally got one of them. That's for tripping me, fancy man!
I can't quite seem to get the other one, no matter how many times I swipe at him, but he shouldn't be able to trip me again on his own. And the Dragon lady isn't around anymore, so I should be able to get back to the fight now.
Oh, look, soldiers! The army is here, good!
Come Demacians, the mages are this way!
Wait, why are they-hey! I am on your side! Why are they attacking me?
"Stop...It..."
They aren't listening. They must be confused, and think I am fighting for the mages. I will lead them to the battle, so they understand.
I have to walk carefully. My wings are getting rather damaged, and I wouldn't want to step on any of them.
(Orin Vale, Demacian mage - PoV)
"DIE!" I yell, lightning crackling from my hands as I force every bit of power I can channel into the bastard before me.
I would laugh at his screams as he twitches and writhes before me, but I can barely control the power, the backlash cooking my flesh as well.
But it is worth it, to take even one of these bastards with me. To return the favor to just one of them, after they burned my brother alive for daring to strike them.
Eventually, the corpse stops moving, and I cut off the power, falling to my knees, gasping for breath, my arms smoking.
I stare at my raw, blistered hands...and the charred body before me. Yes, so very worth it.
Breathing heavily, I look around the battlefield. It seems to be going well? The seekers are being driven before us, torn apart in a thousand different ways by so many different magics I cannot count them all.
Good...good. I wish I could join back in but, alas. Returning my attention to my hands and arms, my own cooked flesh, I admit, one will have to do. For now.
Perhaps if I could get some actual training in the future...Speaking of, where is Sylas?
Searching the field I find him in the heart of the battle! Well, I assume it used to be the heart of the battle. There are a lot of seeker corpses surrounding him, hah!
And who is that he is strangling with his chains? I look closer and, ah, I do believe that is the damned leader of the Mageseekers himself, Gerand! Garfield?
Deadman.
I cannot make out the words Sylas whispers in the bastard's ears, but I can watch at least. Smiling, I watch him struggle and strain, watch the life slowly drain out of his body, the light leave his eyes, as he is strangled to death by the very chains he condemned one of our own to.
How appropriate...Sylas...yes. Yes, I will gladly follow this man.
I look back down at my burning, bleeding hands once more. What the hell, one more spell can't make that much of a difference.
Standing, I survey the field once more. Let's see if I can't up my tally.
(Quinn - PoV)
What. The fuck.
I know they said things in the capital were bad, but I didn't expect it to be actual civil war when I arrived, yet that is exactly what I find. I don't even bother stopping to get orders, not when the Vanguard are engaging the Mageseekers in battles all over the city, and I just watched the Prince get punched across the city by a giant golem.
Valor and I head towards the golem, taking potshots at Mageseekers along the way as I jump across rooftops. The Prince will probably be fine and I am not much of a medic regardless.
Now we just have to figure out how to bring this thing down. For some reason I doubt my trick with shooting it in the mouth will work nearly as well on a golem.
(Karn, Dauntless Vanguard Officer - PoV)
It's ignoring us. Demacia's elite soldiery and we can barely scratch the damn thing while it walks away, back towards the fight. We can't even slow it down and some kind of magic makes climbing it near impossible.
Well, this is what heavy weapons are for, by the Angels wrath!
"June!" I call our signaler.
"Sir?"
"Signal the walls, tell the ballista to open fire! Let's see how the damned thing likes the city defenses."
It can shrug off our arrows, but can it shrug off anti-magic ballista bolts?
(Galio - PoV)
No! The mages! They have killed so many, but I am almost there! I will st-ah!
What! The cities defenders, why are they shooting me!?
And the soldiers, they can see the mages, right there! Why are they still trying to attack me?
What is going on?
I try to press onward, but it is really hard, with the men on the ground, and now the bolts from the wall.
Big bolts, not little ones, and these, they hurt. I am not used to hurt. I can feel them ripping apart more than just my stone...
Fleshlings, why are you attacking me? I am here to protect you...
(Karn - PoV)
"It's working! Keep up the attack! Slow it as much as you can, and bring this damned thing down! For Prince Jarvan!"
"For Prince Jarvan!" the men cry.
(Shyvana - PoV)
My ribs, jaw, and several other bones are broken. One of my wings is torn almost off. I am missing a horn. I can't see out of my left eye.
None of it matters, as I finally manage to claw my way free of the rubble.
That. Fucking. Thing. Hurt. Jarvan.
NO ONE HURTS MY JARVAN!
!
My roar catches its attention It turns just in time for me to slam into it full speed, carrying the both of us into and through another building, tumbling out into the street on the other side.
I don't care, this fucking thing dies. NOW!
The bolts have created cracks and fissures in its chest. Driving my claws into these openings, I rip the top layers of stone off entirely, while ignoring it's desperately flailing fists.
Bah, still too slow! Abandoning my efforts with the thick chest, I tear at its neck instead, ripping another plate of stone off. I will rip its damn head off. Let's see it shrug that off!
(Galio - PoV)
No! Nononono!
The dragon lady is back, and I...I don't know if I can stop her this time, the bolts hurt so much...
Getting a grip on her damaged wing, I start to pull, trying to drag her off but the spearman strikes at my elbow again and my arm falls. I don't think I will be able to lift it again.
I pummel her other side with my remaining fist, but she ignores it, tearing into my throat.
Why...Why do the soldiers keep attacking me? I am trying to stop the bad mages...Now the mages will hurt everyone, and I won't be able to protect them...I won't be able to protect anyone...
Why...why is it getting dark?
It's never gotten...dark before...