So, as it turns out, there was a bunch of quintessential bullshit to keep me busy these past few months! Part of it is likely the fact that I'm taking classes I suck at this semester, math and foreign languages. I hate both with a passion and passing them with any flying colors is a real challenge for me. Wouldn't it be great if society valued the arts and English as much as us writers do? Even writing an original manuscript takes time, and with no guarantee of profit or success. Society just doesn't value literature as much as they used to.

Or Soulcalibur, for that matter. Soulcalibur is probably one of my absolute favorite fighting games. But will we ever get a Soulcalibur 6? It is literally impossible to tell, and it seems less likely every passing year. It makes me oh so sad. Maybe if they hadn't screwed up Soulcalibur 5 so badly, we wouldn't be in this predicament?

Then again, maybe if they hadn't screwed us over with a Pachi-slot game of all things we wouldn't be in this predicament either. Fuck you too Namco! Not like you could have celebrated the 20th Anniversary of a great series in any other way! For God's sake you may as well just shoot the whole damn franchise in both knees!

"Incoming!"

This exclamation was the only warning the warriors of Wolfkrone had before a large boulder smashed into the ramparts they defended, sending a dozen of them over the edge and to their deaths. It was not the first projectile to smash into their walls, and if the number of trebuchets on the field beyond their stronghold was any indication, it would not be the last either. The defenders of Wolfkrone did their best to destroy the enemy's siege weapons with catapults of their own, but it was much easier for the enemy to hit a massive stone wall than it was for the defenders to pinpoint a single target on the field of battle.

The archers were having much better luck. From their high position on the walls, it was easy to rain death down on the enemy. Moreover, it was nearly impossible to miss, as there were just so many targets to hit. Even the militia that had been conjured up to defend their home was probably striking down dozens of malfested enemies, if only because an arrow fired anywhere was likely to hit something.

The sheer size of the enemy force unfortunately meant that there were plenty of arrows and bolts being fired at Wolfkrone's defenders as well, and the screams of men and women being knocked off the wall were prominent throughout the air.

It was Hilde's largest siege ever, and by extension her largest battle. She had seen her fair share of conflict, but never had she faced an army of this magnitude. She couldn't help but wonder where Nightmare had managed to muster this many troops, but conjecture was pointless. The fact remained that the enemy had somehow gathered an army of this scope and they were practically kicking down her front door.

That said, Hilde was worried over whether or not Nightmare was actively spearheading this army. She had yet to see him on the field of battle, but then again the battle was little more than an exchange of projectiles at this point. She could only hope that the Azure Knight trusted his armies enough to get the job done. If he were present, she doubted their ability to hold the line if the walls were breached.

Speaking of walls, Luana was quite unhappy with her Princess' decision to be on them during the siege. All it took was one stray arrow or a flying boulder to kill the leader of Wolkrone. And while Luana had a point in that, there was something to be said for an army with a front line commander. Being on the front with your troops boosted morale. They fought harder, knowing that their leader was willing to fight alongside them.

Hilde had told her Lieutenant as much, which was why the blonde had dropped the matter and was currently moving about the ramparts giving orders and directed the fire of Wolfkrone's soldiers. Even down an arm, she was a soldier through and through, and refused to not be a part of the battlefield.

Hilde watched as a boulder launched from one of her catapults smashed into a malfested siege tower, blasting it into wooden scraps along with the bodies of all those that had been within it. It was a mystery as to where Nightmare had acquired such machines of war, but for the Azure Knight and Soul Edge it was likely that nothing was impossible.

"Battering ram!"

Glancing down at the field from her position on the walls, Hilde noted the rather large wooden siege engine slowly crawling towards her front gate. Thankfully she had been prepared for such an assault.

"Light the pitch! Destroy it before it gets anywhere near our gates!"

Heeding the commands of their princess, several archers dipped their arrows in braziers of flame at their sides and launched their now flaming arrows at particular patches of earth they had memorized before the battle began. As soon as they made contact those sections of the field were set alight, engulfing not only the oncoming battering ram but dozens of malfested infantry as well. There was a collective cheer from the human defenders as they watched the opposing battering ram go up in flames, but their triumph was quickly cut short when another one was spotted some distance from the walls, being called forth to replace the first one that had failed. It seemed Nightmare had come well and truly prepared.

Hilde grit her teeth as Luana ordered their defending catapults to fire at the ram. This was one battle she was not sure she could win.

Amy had never been one for unnecessarily rough rides. Or rough anything really. She didn't like to think of herself as dainty, but she certainly considered herself to be above things that ruffled her metaphorical feathers: even in this particular situation.

She was practically hanging on for dear life as Cyril charged through the wilderness with her on his back. He was running at a speed beyond any normal human, and Amy wasn't even sure why. He had simply told her that they needed to move faster, after so leisurely moving towards that unusual and unidentified gut instinct that had plagued them about a week ago. Now the Sentinel was barreling through the woods at the safest speed he could manage for Amy's sake. Even so, Amy was still pretty sure her brain was being jostled around far more than was healthy.

"Cyril, might we not destroy the entire forest on our way to our destination?!"

Cyril seemed to pay no mind to Amy's words as he crashed through underbrush and anything else that got in his way that wasn't a tree or otherwise solid enough to hurt his companion. "We must move swiftly Amy. The situation is escalating far beyond what it was."

"How can you be so sure?!"

As always, explaining his supernatural instincts and feelings was not easy, but Cyril nevertheless tried. "The sense of urgency we initially felt was a weak one, nothing more than a suggestion. It has amplified many times, for me at least. Something of great importance is happening and we must be there for it."

"Do you have any idea what this event might be?"

"I cannot be sure. My abilities are unfortunately not that specific."

Not for the first time, Amy wondered if she was holding her partner back. He could get to their destination instantaneously if not for her presence. "Cyril, perhaps you should go on without me, like last time?"

The Sentinel of Lightning did not even seem to consider her suggestion. "Nonsense. You have made it clear that we are partners, I shall not abandon you to perform my duties alone. Besides, we are in the middle of the wilderness. If I left you here I would not be able to accurately return to this location for you."

Naturally, Cyril's words brought some feeling of warmth to the girl he carried. It was comforting to know that she was an important partner for him. It wasn't the type of relationship she wanted, but it was certainly something, and she would do her absolute best to make sure that his trust was not misplaced.

"Well then, if it is so important and you insist on bringing me along, I suggest you run a little faster!"

If there was one thing Taki really appreciated about her ninja training, it was the speed at which she could move. As a shinobi, she had been trained to push her body to the limits and beyond, through secret arts and techniques that many people would have believed impossible. Even now, she raced across the European countryside at speeds that carried her farther and faster than any normal human could have hoped to go, though it was taking its toll on her by now.

It had only been about a week since she had landed on Chinese shores, but it did not stop her from blasting away the miles that separated her from her destination. Needless to say such speed had served her well in her journey to destroy Soul Edge in the past, but rarely had she been required to traverse so great a distance in so short a time.

That said, she was a ninja, but she was only human. She was extremely weary, but she did not wish to stop, even as she came across yet another obstacle that would significantly drain her stamina. Water walking was a secret shinobi art that few people believed existed, but that was probably because few people ever saw ninja doing it. After all, how often did ninja have to cross rivers in the middle of a town?

There happened to be a river directly in Taki's path, and unfortunately it was too wide to simply leap over it. In the end she would have to cross it the good old fashioned way, at least as far as shinobi were concerned. Running across water was tiring though, and even though Taki made short work of the obstacle in her path, she decided that it was time for a break as soon as she did so.

Coming to sit against a particularly solid and even comfortable looking tree, the tightly clad kunoichi questioned the nature of her situation. The sense of urgency and direction she had felt several days ago had significantly increased in that time, and she felt that something very important was occurring even now. She had a desire to be there, not for anything as silly as fate, but to at least have a hand in what was happening or otherwise know what it was.

She also wondered if others were feeling the same thing. Were other warriors feeling the same disturbance she was? It could have been specific to her, but Taki honestly doubted that it was. That said, she wondered who she may encounter when she finally reached her destination. Naturally, she expected Mitsurugi. If the man felt this disturbance too, there was literally no doubt that he would be there. That man was always craving a challenge of some sort, and Taki expected one at the source of this strange mental disturbance she could not rid herself of.

Her first assumption of course was that of Nightmare or Soul Edge itself. It was difficult to imagine anything else producing such a supernatural disturbance, but other than that Taki could not think of anything other than a demon. She had plenty of experience with those however, and rarely did they have enough power to be felt halfway across the world.

While she had faith in her own abilities, Taki did not hold any delusions as far as her skills were concerned. She was talented and skilled, but she was only human and capable of mistakes. She had been bested in combat before, and she was not invincible. So what if the being she encountered at the end of this particular journey proved too much for her?

In that sense, she hoped there would be other warriors there, preferably the ones that would actually be willing to assist her. Taki vaguely recalled a blonde warrior in the past helping her defeat Cervantes when the cursed pirate once wielded Soul Edge, but that felt like ages ago by now. Not for the first time, she wished that the Cursed Sword had met its end all those years ago. It had caused so much pain and suffering over the years: if Taki had simply made absolutely sure to destroy it back then, who knew how many lives may have been saved? Maybe the Evil Seed may have never even occurred? It was all conjecture of course, but she often blamed herself for Soul Edge's survival.

That was why it had been her mission for so long to rid the world of that particular evil. She felt partly responsible for its rise to power; the least she could do is work to bring it back down.

That was why she wouldn't take a very long break here, even though her body told her she needed one. Despite all the logic that demanded she rest properly before encountering anything dangerous, Taki knew she wouldn't do it. She was too dedicated to her ultimate cause, and while that was something that could be appreciated, maybe it was also something that was likely to get her killed. She supposed she would find out one of these days.

"Reinforce the main gate! We cannot allow the enemy within the walls!"

Hilde's orders, while heeded, did little to bolster the defenses of Wolfkrone's gates. Days after the siege had begun, Nightmare's army still assaulted the castle and its defenders, the latter of which had been significantly diminished by now. Hilde's forces had managed to pulverize all of the siege towers Nightmare had brought to bear on them, but even after destroying a third battering ram yesterday, another one had been produced by the malfested. Nightmare's resources almost seemed limitless, but perhaps it was simply the fact that more humans had been afflicted by Soul Edge than Hilde had ever imagined.

Either way, they had failed to destroy the fourth one, and by now there was nothing Wolfkrone's defenders could do other than try and brace the gate for the inevitable breach that would soon come their way. There was little bracing to be done honestly, as the gates to castle Wolfkrone were too large already for the weight of even a dozen men to really make it any more formidable.

The gate trembled with each successive blow, and soon enough it was smashed inwards by the malfested's battering ram, crushing numerous Wolfkrone soldiers and knocking many more off their feet. Mere moment afterwards dozens of enemy soldiers began pouring through the breach. While this was a clear sign of the battle taking a turn for the worse, Hilde could appreciate one thing at least: now she could fight.

Leading the soldiers that defended the gate, Hilde rushed forward to meet the enemy. The first to fall to her lance was impaled through the abdomen. Another fell swiftly enough, Hilde's sword sliding across his throat. Some were killed by a blow to the spine, while others found themselves dismembered by a clean cut from her blade. Hilde slew dozens on her own, coating her weapons and armor in blood, but the enemy seemed limitless. Every time she cut down one three more would storm through the gate. Her own men outmatched the enemy in skill, but in numbers they were sorely outclassed. This was made evident by their losses, caused by the fact that every soldier was fighting three.

Still, the warriors of Wolfkrone were nothing if not resilient, and despite their casualties they did manage to push back the first wave of enemies. The moment that was accomplished, Hilde ordered her men away from the gate, though only to the courtyard near it. When the next wave of enemies pushed through the shattered gate, they were met with scores of arrows, mowing down more than half of them before they were forced into combat with Hilde's troops.

The conflict proceeded in this manner for an hour at least. Hilde and her soldiers would push back a surge of malfested enemies, and the next wave would be greeted with scores of arrows before engaging in melee again. With each engagement Hilde lost more and more men, though the ranks were being slightly replenished by defenders from other areas of the castle or even the militia that had formed under these dire circumstances. Needless to say the battle was not going in their favor, but they had no choice but to continue fighting.

However, it was obvious that the cannon fodder of the malfested army was wearing thin. Soon enough the pathetic unskilled enemies that they had been fighting were replaced with warriors of a higher caliber, and the situation went from bad to worse. Still, they were no masters, and though they posed far more of a threat, to Hilde they were still easy targets. She eviscerated one with a swipe of her short sword, and stabbed another through the skull with her lance. So many of them fell to her steel, yet so many of them kept on coming. She was only human, and her stamina was wearing thin. She could only imagine that her troops were facing exhaustion as well.

Knowing full well that they were only going to suffer more if they didn't buy themselves time, Hilde ordered her troops to retreat back to the inner parts of the castle while the archers on platforms and terraces above covered them. It pained Hilde to retreat so soon after their walls had been breached, but she knew better than anyone when her forces needed to regroup.

Thankfully, with the assistance of her archers, Hilde and her men managed to retreat within the castle itself, where they barricaded the main entrance as well as any other potential entryways. With over a third of her forces slain, Hilde got the sinking feeling that this battle was already lost. That she was referring to her homeland made the realization sting all the more.

Having traversed the distance between himself and his destination at a breakneck speed, Cyril found himself reaching his desired location in little under a day since he traversed the forest with Amy. Even from a distance, the sounds of battle could be heard, and this worried him more than anything else. Soon enough he discovered why there was so much cacophonous noise in the air, as the moment any terrain taller than him was out of the way he spotted a castle under siege in the distance. It was no surprise to him that something of this nature was the source of his disturbing instincts, but he did not know why it was a battle in particular.

What he did know was that he was not the only one to have felt this disturbance, because as he drew closer to the battlefield he spotted a handful of very familiar figures.

"You're all here already."

Coming to stand atop a small hill that overlooked the scorched plains that surrounded Wolfkrone castle, Cyril set Amy on the ground just in time to receive the looks of acknowledgment from the three Sentinels that had also claimed that particular place as their vantage point. Naturally, Helios was the first to speak, his Horns of Calamity almost speaking volumes about his personality.

"You brought baggage as well? At least Xandra brought someone that appears remotely useful."

Cyril cast one glance at Helios, ignoring him as resolutely as Amy did. He was surprised to see that Xandra did indeed have someone with her, someone that had not been by her side when they had last met just a short time ago. He was clad in all green, with the exception of his white pants and brown boots. A sword and shield lay slung across his back, and his ears were pointed. All in all, Cyril found him to be a strange individual, but he did not make particular note of him. What he did notice was Amy visibly stiffening beside him, but why she was suddenly so tense was a question he would have to ask after the more important ones.

"I take your presence here to mean you all felt this disturbance as well?"

Theron, indistinguishable from the rest of the Sentinels if not for the streaks of blue in his armor, nodded. "Yes."

While Cyril had not expected any less, he had nevertheless hoped that Theron would provide a more detailed reply than that. "And how long have you all been here?"

Xandra answered him this time. "Several hours at least."

"And you have done nothing to intervene on this situation in all that time?"

Helios was naturally the first to get defensive. He was always the antagonistic one. "It is not our job to intervene on the affairs of humans. Something you seem to have forgotten all things considered."

Though he was wearing a helmet similar to Cyril's own, the Sentinel of Lightning could tell that his flame counterpart was looking at Amy. For some reason this level of disdain for her made him more than a little angry. "Watch yourself Helios. Your power is not so great that it will protect you from me."

The Sentinel of Flame took a step towards him. "Are you threatening me Chrysaor?"

"Threatening implies that I may be bluffing. I assure you that I am not."

Before the tension between the two of them could escalate any further, Xandra came to step between them. "We have far more pressing matters to attend to you fools. As much as I hate to admit it, Chrysaor has a point. We have been summoned here by a higher power. Whatever that power is, it has something to do with this battle. We will learn nothing by observing from here."

Theron cut into the conversation once more, saying his piece and leaving it at that as always. "But which side do we support? The attacker or the defender?"

Truth be told none of the Sentinels knew the answer to this, but someone among their number did, and she wasted no time in speaking up, shaken as she was at seeing Link once again. "The defenders. The assaulting force is the malfested."

Everyone gathered turned as one to face Amy, though Cyril voiced their collected thoughts. "What are malfested?"

While a little uncomfortable under so much faceless scrutiny as well as Link's, whom she wasn't even sure recognized her at the moment, Amy nevertheless managed to voice her knowledge. "They're minions of an evil being. I... I can explain it in much more detail later, but suffice to say they serve a creature hellbent on the destruction of the world."

Naturally, Helios was the first to question this information. "You expect us to intervene on a battle of this scale based on the words of some mortal child?"

And naturally, Cyril was quick to defend her. "Last time I checked she has been in this world far more recently than you, Helios. Do you claim to know the factions that rule here?"

The Sentinel of Flame shot a heated glare at his comrade. "You had best remember your place Chrysaor. You are the newest of our number."

"Do not equate familiarity with ability. There is no evidence that your skills are greater than my own."

Once again, Xandra was forced to intervene before the two Sentinels did something incredibly stupid. "Are you two hellbent on engaging in some sort of cataclysmic duel? Believe me, I hardly like either of you as it is, but even so I know better than to test my powers against yours. If what the girl says is true, then these malfested seem like agents of the Catalyst, one way or another. We must investigate further."

Theron, quite removed from the situation, nodded again. It was the only thing he ever really contributed to conversations. Helios was of course more vocal. "Fine. Then let us make short work of these malfested. We can determine the truth of this... 'individual' later. If she's lying to us-"

Cyril cut him off. "Then you will do nothing about it Helios. Mind your own affairs and leave mine be."

Amy wasn't exactly pleased to be referred to as an 'affair,' but she was glad that Cyril was defending her so strongly. Even against another Sentinel, he would not allow her to be slandered. To say that made her happy was an understatement.

As for Helios, he said nothing in response, merely grunting as he turned and stormed towards the battlefield. Theron, silent as usual, followed him somberly from behind, leaving only Xandra, Cyril, and their respective mortal companions. Cyril was about to follow his fellow Sentinels to the battlefield, but not before he noticed Amy preparing to follow him.

"Amy..."

The young redhead glared at him immediately. "You are not seriously about to tell me that you want me to stay here, are you?"

"I'm afraid I am."

"Why?! You've seen me fight, you know I can handle myself!"

Knowing that there was no time to argue, Cyril tried to be as brief as possible, without patronizing the girl before him. "I know how skilled you are as a duelist Amy. But believe me when I say that a battle of this magnitude is not the same. Never will you have to focus on just one opponent. You never know when someone will be coming up behind you, or when an archer has you in his sights. You have to worry about a thousand enemies instead of one, or even ten. You are only human, you cannot hope to charge into the midst of an entire army and survive."

Even presented with this logic, Amy tried to counter. "But-!"

"Amy, please. If you value your life even half as much as I do, please wait for me here. I could not bear to lose you."

As always, Cyril's words completely shut down any dissent Amy wished to offer. While she was still unhappy to be left out of the battle, she was more easily appeased by such honest words that would make any girl overjoyed. The only downside was that she was more or less expected to stay behind with Link, who had the gall to say something to her.

"Your friend is right. It is best if you stay here."

Xandra glanced at her companion as well. "Are you under the impression that you are going to be coming?"

Link looked right back at her in confusion. "Yes? I am a warrior after all."

Xandra scoffed at this. "Yet you are not immortal, and for the same reasons Chrysaor just mentioned it would be unwise for you to come along. Besides, I imagine my fellow Sentinels and I will be unleashing our most powerful attacks to destroy the enemy. It'd be best if we didn't have to worry about collateral damage."

While Link wasn't one to back down from a fight, he saw the logic in Xandra's words. If the Sentinels had as much power as they claimed, they needed to be able to strike the enemy army with abandon. They couldn't afford to worry about accidentally harming their mortal comrades.

"Very well. Though I find it distasteful to not aid you, I will stay here."

Link then turned to face Amy. "It seems you and I will-"

Her good mood from Cyril's words immediately dampened by Link's presence and his voice, Amy snapped at him. "Shut up. No one asked for your input."

While somewhat surprised by Amy's vitriol towards the green clad man, Cyril knew there was no time to investigate the source of her distaste. Instead he came to stand beside Xandra, who had something to say about the situation. "It seems your pet does not quite like mine."

"Please do not refer to her as my pet. It strikes me as very wrong in many ways."

"She follows you everywhere and seemingly can't survive without you, that is the definition of a pet is it not? Like a cute little puppy."

"Xandra."

The Sentinel of Wind sighed as she and Cyril took off for the battlefield at speeds greater than their other two comrades could muster. "And here I thought I was the one that didn't know how to have fun."

With the two Sentinels gone, Amy and Link were left by their lonesome to watch the battle from afar. The girl in the duo was notably irritable, for reasons Link could not understand. He thought she would be happy to see him. They had parted as friends, after all. Still, while he had a very strong desire to say something to her, his brief time with Xandra had taught him quite a bit about staying silent around irritated women. That being the case, he decided to watch the conflict before them in silence, and decide what troubled his once upon a time companion at a later date.

One of the things Cyril had never been able to do in his time as a Sentinel was unleash his full fury. It was a strange thing, but he had never truly used his full power, mostly because there had never been an enemy that required it. But now, on a field of battle with thousands of foes that needed to be obliterated, he felt that he could finally release his true strength. Of course, it was not as though he could just summon a massive thunderstorm to fry them all, just as his comrades could not summon tornadoes or blizzards or massive infernos. As convenient as that would have been, they were not quite that powerful.

That said, the four Sentinels initially entered the fray in melee. After all, they were worth hundreds, maybe even thousands of soldiers together. Helios, with his massive axe Armads, crushed foes rather than chopped them, practically smashing them into the ground with his brute strength. If he was surrounded, he could simply swing Armads around him and practically clear away anything and everything that threatened him. Theron conjured up whatever weapon he desired whenever he desired, forming spears, swords, axes, and all manner of weaponry out of ice to slay his foes. On many occasions he would simply fire darts of ice from his fingertips, easily piercing his foes.

Xandra, as per the usual, sliced enemies in half with her blades of wind. Sharper than any steel, the armor and weapons of her enemies were utterly useless in blocking her attacks, though they made quite the gory mess of things. As for Cyril, he decided against the use of his element for now, instead using Naegling to carve a path of destruction through the malfested horde. Each swing of his blade was another victim. One found Naegling buried in his neck, only for his entire head to come off when Cyril twisted around the pommel to carry it all the way through. Another found the pommel itself buried in her skull, thanks to the sheer force put behind the unorthodox swing. Other found themselves eviscerated, or simply slashed into nothingness.

But destroying the grunts was not enough. There were many engines of war strewn across the battlefield, as well as beasts of war. Where these malfested had gotten their hands on elephants of all things in Europe was beyond Cyril, but he found that he did not care. Killing them was a different matter entirely. Xandra would never allow her fellow Sentinels to simply smite the beasts, but with their powers taken into consideration, Cyril figured it would not be too hard to simply frighten them away from the front line.

With that in mind, he charged a bolt of lightning in his hands and blasted away the structure on top of the nearest elephant's back, clearly what held the rider. The blue streak of raw power obliterated the wooden and cloth structure, but more importantly it sent the target beast into a crazed frenzy. With that one now rampaging and therefore not doing it's job, Cyril did the same to the next nearest beast, while cutting down other enemies that got in his way.

However, he was a bit too overconfident. He felt invincible, and it was often easy to forget that he was not. Cyril heard something heavy step up behind him, but by the time he turned around all he saw was the blade of a giant black axe heading for his face. With no time to dodge and no time to block, Cyril had no choice but to rely on his armor to protect him. As the blade of the axe smashed him in the face, Cyril's armor did just that, but not before he was sent flying several yards from his attacker.

He smashed into the ground rather hard, but rolled to his feet as if he had not been hit at all. Of course, looks were deceiving, because Cyril felt like he had been hit in the face with a sledgehammer. Part of his helmet had even been smashed away revealing at least half of his face to the elements.

Sending a steely glare towards his assailant, Cyril laid eyes on a humanoid creature that was at least two feet taller than him, maybe even three. It was bulky, had some strange heart like thing sticking out of its chest, and had a mask of some sort covering its mouth and nose. Its eyes were entirely white. In short: it was ugly.

"I feel as though I should know who or what you are, but suffice to say I do not. Do you bleed like the rest of these malfested? Because if so, that's all I need to know."

The giant roared something about maggots before charging at Cyril in a manner more fitting for a bull than anything else, a tactic that almost made Cyril scoff. Even slightly dazed as he was, stepping to the side at the last moment and slicing Naegling along his enemy's calf was simplicity itself.

With a roar of pain his axe-wielding foe tumbled into the ground, though he did not stay down for more than a second. Swinging his massive axe in a blind attempt to hit Cyril, the Sentinel of Lightning found that his foe's attacks were obnoxiously slow. Even a normal human with some respectable reflexes could have easily avoided most of them. For Cyril, dodging every swing was literally effortless. Such was the nature of superhuman reflexes.

Still, even though Cyril found plenty of openings to stab and slash his foe, none of the wounds he inflicted seemed to be doing any real damage. No matter how much damage he did his opponent just kept coming at him. Cyril had half a mind to simply blast him with lightning and see how well that would work out, but before he could make good on his decision to do so, he noticed a flash of an unusual color to his right. Needless to say purple was not a color commonly seen on the battlefield.

Confident that he could spare a moment to investigate, Cyril turned his gaze very briefly away from his axe wielding gigas of an opponent and focused on the purple blur instead, finding it to be a woman. A very questionably dressed woman in purple tights. Where she had come from Cyril had no idea, but what he did know was that she was certainly very beautiful. Needless to say her outfit left almost nothing to the imagination, and it certainly made her acrobatic leaps and bounds throughout the enemy lines more alluring. More than that though, she seemed tired. Exhausted even. She was barely managing to stay upright even as she fought against the hordes of malfested around her. Her fatigue was made even more obvious when she completely failed to even notice an enemy coming up behind her with a mace.

Granted, Cyril had no idea if she was truly friend or foe, but she was fighting the same enemies he was, and moreover, it would have been truly criminal to let such beauty be taken out of the world. Ignoring the giant that was rushing him once again, Cyril channeled his energy into his legs and made a blinding dash that put even the fastest animals to shame. For the woman he was rescuing, she was seemingly snatched away from combat in the blink of an eye, and completely from the combat area no less.

Considering her past and her profession, Taki wasn't used to being rescued. But being carried from the field of battle bridal style may have had some merit to it, especially as she glanced up at her savior. He was a warrior of some sort, clearly, but with half of his helmet smashed apart she saw that he was quite handsome too. Not that Taki cared for looks 'of course.' It was just the fact that this man had just saved her life that she was feeling a little less prickly than usual.

"I must admit I'm quite confused by your presence here. You do not look like a soldier of this castle to me."

Thankfully Taki had mastered English long ago on her travels throughout the world. That said, she had no idea why she stuttered in her reply. "I-I'm a shinobi, f-from Japan..."

The armored man that held her so gently in his arms placed her feet back on the ground, something that made Taki a little disappointed, for reasons she couldn't explain. "A shinobi? I'm not familiar with such a profession, but it seems you are here to help us battle these malfested, yes?"

"Indeed, it's my duty to destroy evil..."

"You must have been present on this battlefield for quite some time, to be as drained as you are."

Taki experienced a brief flare of self-consciousness at this remark. Did she seriously look that tired? She must have looked awful. "N-no, it's just, I ran all the way here from Asia, I have barely rested these past few days..."

"Is that so? Perhaps you should leave the battlefield and rest. It's not safe to fight a war fatigued."

"I cannot abandon my duty just because I am tired. I shall not leave this field until the enemy is defeated."

Cyril inwardly sighed, wondering why every girl he met was so stubborn. "As you will. But stay close. We will fight together."

Under normal circumstances Taki would have been irritated by the notion of being told what to do or someone believing that she needed protection. But this stranger that had rescued her from a gruesome and untimely demise worded it so well, it wasn't even really insulting. It wasn't 'I'll protect you' or 'stick with me if you want to survive,' it was simply 'we'll fight together.' That was so much more motivating, and in a way, kind of charming.

On the other hand, Taki was distinctly disturbed by the fact that she was feeling unusually... girly. She rarely felt or even thought of things even remotely along the lines or romance or attraction, but apparently being swept off your feet was just so romantic that even she couldn't resist its allure completely. Then again, maybe she was just tired and she wasn't thinking properly. She really had only slept roughly six hours in the several days it had taken her to reach this place, and her body was giving out on her already besides. Fighting on this battlefield really was a bad idea, but she was not willing to stay out of it regardless.

But Taki was at least able to focus on the matter at hand, though she could tell that her performance was suffering from fatigue. Thankfully the stranger that had come to her aid did indeed stay close to her and he compensated for her exhaustion. It was moderately aggravating to be performing so poorly, but Taki knew better than anyone that she was only human. Even a ninja couldn't fight to peak capacity if they were tired. In that sense she was glad to have a comrade, even though she had no idea who he was at all.

She did however notice that there was more than one of him. Strewn across the field of battle were three others that looked fairly similar to him, each of them easily cutting down droves of enemies or even blasting away entire groups of them with the force of the elements. In the short time since Taki had arrived on this field of battle, at least a fourth of the malfested forces had been slain. She imagined that it would not be long before they were in full retreat.

However, they were still fighting for now, and this meant the kunoichi had to remain vigilant. Even fatigued as she was, she managed to twist and slide through most everything that came at her, retaliating with swipes and stabs of Rekki Maru and Mekki Maru that carved a path of destruction through the enemy. She preferred to stab for the most part, but every once in awhile she would find herself eviscerating a foe rather than impaling them. Truth be told it had been quite some time since Taki had engaged in a conflict of this magnitude, in scale and violence. She was used to one on one fights that didn't always end in bloodshed. Still, she was no stranger to battles like this one, and there was a certain familiarity to it.

However, what she was truly awed by was these steel strangers that fought alongside her. The one that stayed with her in particular was a sight to behold. Every once in awhile he would blast enemies away with lightning from his fingertips, but watching him carve through dozens of foes with his shining sword was enthralling in its own way. It lacked the desperation of someone fearing for their own life, yet it also lacked the determination of someone that desired victory. It was a distinctly emotionless form, yet elegant. This stranger did not seem to feel much as far as this battle was concerned, allowing him to glide through it in a way Taki had never seen before. Perhaps that was what it was to truly fight without fear, though she could not imagine why this warrior would not fear death.

Either way, with their combined might, the invading malfested force was soon retreating before they suffered too many more casualties. Taki would not go so far as to say that they had slain a third of them, but she certainly felt that they were just shy of it. Once the enemy started retreating, the man that had come to her rescue spoke to her once again. Taki noted that he did not seem winded at all. He also didn't seem to be too terribly injured, considering the shattered steel of his helmet.

"Now that this affair is over, may I have the pleasure of your name?"

He was so polite. Not even in a stuffy, obnoxious kind of way. "T-Taki. I... I don't remember if I thanked you properly for saving my life. I owe you a great debt."

She said this with a bow, something the steel clad man was clearly unused to. "Think nothing of it. It would have been a shame to let someone like you be killed."

Taki was not quite sure what that was supposed to mean, but she interpreted along some lines that were probably unwise. She found it rather shameful that she was being flustered so easily considering her usual aloof personality, but she really couldn't help it. Unable to muster a response, the man before her continued to speak.

"My name is Cyril. If it pleases you, would you accompany me and my comrades to the interior of the castle? It seems the gate has already been breached, and after we clear out the invaders I have a few questions I would like to ask of you."

Seeing as how she had come to this place for a rather vague reason, Taki figured that she had no better alternative than to go with this man. Besides, she had grown some slight attachment to him in this very brief battle they had fought alongside one another. "I see no reason to disagree. I imagine you have come to investigate the same thing I have."

Cyril cocked an eyebrow at her. "You were drawn here by a mysterious force?"

"An instinctual feeling, yes."

"Then I do indeed have many things to ask of you. But first, I must fetch my companion. I imagine she is not happy about being left out all this time."

When Hilde received the news that Nightmare's forces were in full retreat, she thought she had been afflicted with the same madness as her father. But true enough, as she peeked out of the barricaded main hall of her castle, she saw that the malfested had all been slain or fled. In their place stood a myriad of individuals that certainly did not look like they belonged to the same group. She personally didn't recognize any of them, but seeing as how they had saved Wolfkrone from obliteration...

One order was all it took for her men to clear away the barricade they had created of furniture and debris to open the door for their saviors. Even so, they did not blindly welcome them inside. Hilde was at the front, ready to discern the true nature of their assistance.

"Who are you? Why did you help us?"

One of the steel warriors with orange trim and horns stepped forward. "Step aside mortal. We are here for reasons of our own design."

Naturally Hilde did nothing to move, but a second warrior, trimmed in red, stepped in front of his comrade. Part of his helmet was broken. "Forgive my companion's rudeness. We have come here to investigate a disturbance of a supernatural nature. Upon the acquisition of new information, we now believe that what we seek may be related to these 'malfested.' If you have knowledge of them, we would do nothing more than ask questions."

Hilde glanced at the group before her: four warriors of steel, three men and one woman. Then there was the trio that did not match them at all, a young redheaded noble looking girl, an Oriental woman in extremely tight-fitting attire, and a man clad mostly in green with pointed ears. Under normal circumstances suspicious would not have even begun to describe Hilde's feelings, but she knew that they would not have emerged victorious today if not for this strange group.

"So be it. But my men are tired and many are wounded. I must tend to them and my people first. I will answer whatever questions you have about the malfested, but not until tomorrow. The aftermath of this battle is more important."

Helios was two seconds away from objecting, but Cyril cut him off. "Thank you. We do not wish to impose."

Hilde sighed, exhausted from her exertions that day. She was fairly certain that Luana would not be happy with her decision to trust these strangers, but at this point she was simply glad that her kingdom was still standing. "My Lieutenant Luana will show you all to some rooms that you may stay in tonight. Forgive me for leaving you so abruptly and without introduction, but I must tend to my soldiers."

Cyril bowed to the woman as she turned on her heel and left them, though a blonde that happened to be down an arm soon replaced her. She did not look particularly happy to see them. "Her Highness is putting her faith in your goodwill. Do not prove her wrong or you will regret it."

Cyril could tell that Helios had to make a conscious effort to not say something snide, but thankfully he stayed quiet in the end. Ultimately, Luana led each of the members of the group to a different room. This unfortunately meant that Cyril did not have time to speak to Amy about whatever was bothering her, but he figured he would have time to do so tomorrow at the latest.

The room he was provided with was truly nondescript, with little in the way of furniture or decoration. It had Wolfkrone's typical red tapestries, a bed, and one nightstand. Truly a spartan living space if nothing else, but considering Cyril's lack of need for sleep, he did not really mind the lack of luxury he had been provided with. After all, luxury to him was always being able to remove his armor when the day was done, and this was no exception. It needed to be repaired anyway, which it would be the next time he called upon it.

Still, he could not help but feel that something was amiss in this somewhat dark little room, but he could not quite place his finger on it even though the feeling was distinctly familiar.

"Haven't seen you in awhile Ciri. Did you miss me?"

Resisting the urge to gasp, flinch or otherwise give away his surprise in any way shape or form, Cyril turned to face his most unexpected guest, who was relaxing right next to the curtains that were a color similar to her own clothing. Only now did her violet irises seem to stand out in the relative darkness of the room.

"Tira. Why do I get the feeling that you've been there far longer than most people would be comfortable with?"

The twin tailed girl cocked an eyebrow at him. "It's only been five minutes. That's not that bad."

"But there's only one way in here and you could not have known that I would be in this room until I was brought here. I am still curious as to how you got behind those tapestries undetected."

Tira winked at him. "Trade secret, of course. You still haven't answered my question though."

Cyril found himself genuinely smiling at the girl. Not that he didn't do that often already, but rarely for a reason so simple as this. "As a matter of act I am quite happy to see you. We parted company much too soon before, and against our will besides."

"Aw, I knew it! I told other me that you missed us but she's always so cynical and pessimistic."

Just like before, Cyril was baffled by Tira's personality, or both of them as it were, but before he even had time to enjoy their reunion another voice made itself known, though this one was entirely unpleasant.

"Is there no end to your foolishness Chrysaor? Another mortal to weigh you down and hinder our goals?"

With a very uncharacteristic roll of his eyes, Cyril turned towards Helios, who had entered the room unannounced. "I understand that you've been away from the world for a very long time Helios, but have you completely forgotten the notion of knocking and privacy? No one invited you in here."

"I go where I please."

Tira cocked an eyebrow at the newcomer. "Where did this jackass come from?"

Naturally Helios did not take kindly to this particular choice of words. "Watch your mouth mortal. I could wipe you from the face of this earth with my index finger if I wished."

"Oh yeah? Wanna see what my middle finger can do?"

Helios shook his head in some form of disgust, deciding to simply leave the room instead of do whatever he came to do in the first place. He had no patience for mortals and he doubted that Cyril would simply let him incinerate the girl with the smart mouth.

The moment Helios left the room, Cyril burst out laughing, something that he hadn't done in a long time. Not a snicker or some subdued chuckle, but raucous laughter at the exchange that had just taken place. Tira didn't really understand the importance of such a thing since she didn't know about the rarity of such outright joy for him, but she did get his next words, and they were a bit more flustering than she really wanted to admit.

"Yes Tira, I really did miss you. For reasons exactly like this one, I missed you a lot."

And so, Gondor calls for aid. Now we rally all of our favorite characters and begin the path of conquest that means more action chapters and less walking around chapters. Though it's very likely the next one will be primarily dialogue since certain characters have been reunited and certain characters will be joining an interesting dynamic once they hike across Europe to reach Wolfkrone.

That said, I'm most happy to have Tira and Cyril in the same vicinity again. Without a doubt Tira is the most fun character to write in the entire series, and having her converse with people other than herself is even better.

And before anyone says 'Oh it was way too easy Taki fell in love with him at first sight,' calm down, she's not in love. But psychologically having someone save your life makes you a bit more partial to them, and last time I checked she is a relatively young woman so superficial attraction to the opposite gender is completely normal and doesn't mean anything deep at all. As if I would make it that easy.