The man stood and walked into the middle of the courtyard, a blaze of white flames snaking around him in a fluid, almost liquid manner. As he strode away from Bianca, a young woman with bright red hair and a soothing smile emerged from behind the palace door and knelt beside the fallen Herald, holding her for both protection and comfort. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" she asked, trying to see herself if the young ruler was injured.
"I'm fine, just a bit dazed;" she muttered, her breath lost and concentration lacking, "Ceallach, is he?"
"He's fine, we saw him first," the young redhead confirmed, "This is going to be good." She raised her head to see her partner in the center of the courtyard; Bianca's gaze joined hers soon after, her vision blurred around her peripherals, but clear enough to see the man, draped with red robes, out in the open in the middle of a battle.
As soon as the man started to walk into the middle of the square, enemy troops took notice and raised their weapons against him; plasma bolts raced towards him from all sides, colliding with the blazing white shield with a flurry of green light. Whenever the shield was hit by a bolt, the shield would take on a green hue before returning to its original white glow, its strength and size growing with each bolt it absorbed.
The enemy commander saw this and called the plasma cannon back to the field, its gunner readied himself and fired its deadly payload. The enemy ceased fire as the deafening crack of the plasma cannon resonated through the battlefield. When the bolt came into contact with the man's shield, it buckled and exploded, firing white flames in all directions, initially in random and uncontrolled bursts.
The man smiled, a wicked grin that was the last sight of many. Behind him, the white flames began to rise into the sky, forming a giant ball of white flame, its radiant light blinded almost every non-Tydarian in the city, including the man's companion, who had to avert her eyes at the last second.
The man clenched his fists suddenly, the ball exploding in a brilliant array of colors, all of which formed together to form the shape of a bird. The Phoenix descended and attacked the invaders. The battle was over in moments.
Charging headlong into the wall of plasma fire, the Phoenix did not falter at the oncoming flak, she seemed to grow in strength with each hit, akin to the shield that the man who summoned her had conjured previously. The Phoenix hit the commander who was barking orders to his soldiers first, her flame so intense that all that remained was his hand, a mechanical claw that leaked some form of black viscous liquid. After that, she pushed her wings into the enemy troops in the courtyard, a brief scream followed by unnerving silence.
The man pointed to the street and the Phoenix followed, intent on clearing the city of these invaders.
The man turned around, seeing Bianca, his companion, and all the Tydarian royal guard standing in awe of the sight they just witnessed. A member of the guard muttered loudly "We, we won?" and the muttering spread to the rest of the veterans. The muttering stopped as they looked at each other, stunned, then cheered.
The cheer was one that Bianca had not seen in a long time, tears welled up in her eyes and she jumped to her feet, running towards the man, wrapping one arm around him, cradling the other on her chest.
"I take that as a yes then" He said, embracing her crying body caringly, being cautious about her arm that he suspected was broken.
"You have no idea, Niall" Bianca buried her head in his chest and wept continuously, finally they had hope, finally they had won a battle.