Chapter 154: The Return of the Kouhai.

Ritsuka jumped back once more, Nursery unleashed another burst of magical energy from her mounted position on his shoulder, shattering the skeleton with a single strike and consigning their bones to the tundra. His head whirled around, trying to ascertain where everyone else was, Fran had gotten separated from him and Llew was still fighting somewhere.

With who knew how many reinforcements on their way here, it was anyone's guess how long they could hold out for.

"I can offer aid as best I can, it is a case of simply relinquishing your body for a brief moment until we depart."

"Relinquish my-?"

"Temporarily, I do not have the strength to control you indefinitely nor do I have your personality. This is a matter of life and death for-"

"Senpai!" A voice on the wind caught his ears, Casters words went ignored as Ritsuka snapped his head in the direction of the shout. He knew that voice well enough and he had never been so happy to hear it before in his life, at the distance they were at they looked like little more than vague blobs currently speeding through the tundra towards them, but even at this distance the cross shaped shield of Mash was unmistakable.

"Mash!" He'd never heard his voice go that loud and he'd never felt relief like it before, turning towards the direction of Llew he watched the tall knight slam his boot into the ground in front of the nun, then bring his sword down in a wide sweeping arc to try and split her in half. The ducked low, the sword passed over her head as she brought her scythe about, the crook of the curved blade locked in place around the ankle of the knight and pulled him forwards.

Llew jerked with the movement but remained steadfast, the woman jumped back once more as he instead swung his fist down towards her, meeting snow and dirt instead of flesh and bone. With an audible snarl, he rushed forwards and swung the sword upwards, tearing a crevice through the earth, the sword pulled a storm of debris directly into the face of the Servant even if the tip of the blade hissed her, the force of the attack more than enough to put her on the backfoot once more.

"Saber!" We're going to fall back!" He called out to the knight, using the titles instead of the names just to be safe but with the blatant reveal of his true name it was a moot point. Llew gave no indication that he heard him, still making wide sweeping motions with his sword as he chased down the armed nun, thrusting the weapon forwards like a spear. The woman used the pole of her scythe to deflect the attack, the tip of the sword struck the smoothed steel and rolled along its surface and just past her body. It wasn't a perfect deflection as she still stumbled with the force of the attack.

Llew was one to take advantage, twisting the weapon in his hands he instead pushed it into the flat of the Servants guard and dragged her along with the swing of the weapon, her feet displacing snow as she went. He stepped forwards, pulling the sword back and the Servant along with it and throwing his body forwards in a shoulder barge. The woman rolled down, avoiding the attack and spinning around with her weapon.

She brought it up to deflect the spear of ice that Nursery hurled at her, locking eyes with them and then snapping her hood past them and towards the direction of the approaching trio of Servants behind Ritsuka. He could still hear the grunts and snarls of Fran, sparing a glance just in time to see her bring the mace down atop the head of another Corvian and bury their face into the ground in a bloodied paste.

The Servant charged towards Llew as he spun around, bringing her scythe up and slamming the tip of the weapon into his side, the armour protested and gave way to around an inch of blade. Not that Llew seemed to notice the pain, instead his left hand shot out and clamped down around the weapon now buried in his armour and held on tight, not letting the woman retrieve it. His right hand came about, the sword blurring through the air once more.

Instead of a duck, she jumped up and let the blade pass underneath her feet, releasing her scythe in the moments before the attack would have landed. The sword met nothing but air as Llew swung his body into her, the feet of the woman fell back down and landed with perfect balance on the scythe, perched atop it like the crows she seemed to lead. She wasted no time and surged forwards, jumping up and bringing her legs down in a drop kick to the Knight's helmeted face.

Llew grunted as he stood a single step backwards, left hand freeing the scythe, the woman flipped as she fell backwards and lashed out with both hands, snaking her fingers around the long handle of the scythe and yanking it free of the knights armour, with a flourished motion she twirled the polearm in her hands before swinging it over her back, using her shoulder blades to support the weapon before she thrust it forwards like a spear, sliding up the length of her outstretched left arm and slamming into the temple of the boxed helmet with a deep thudding noise.

There was a blur of movement, in the next instant the woman was spinning through the air and Llew's left arm was extended out in front of his body, hand clenched into a fist. Ritsuka blinked for a moment before it dawned on him that he had just landed a punch on the woman, who was already flipping around in the air and transitioning herself into a perfect landing as though she hadn't been struck moments ago. It was then that the knight finally looked in his direction and caught sight of him waving his hand.

"We're getting out of here!"

A roar like a jet engine reached his ears, both himself and Llew returned their attention to the Servant as she now brandished a second weapon in her hand. Another scythe but half the length of the first one, the blade was also different, looking as though it had been forged from ice rather than steel. Bringing the offhand scythe to bear, she dragged it along the ground in front of her.

There was a brief pause, then the snow at her feet exploded outwards, shards of ice rocketed out of the ground in a river, snaking along the ground headed straight for Llew. To the knight's credit, he did not hesitate in through himself to the side in a roll that sounded more like an avalanche when his armour struck the snow, turning his body around as he shot back to his feet and facing the woman once more, the splintering attack of ice rushing through the space where he had been.

She was upon him in a moment, it was humbling even to him with the speed at which the enemy Servant moved. Virtually a blur of motion that would occasionally hang in the air like a statue whenever her weapons collided with Llew's guard, clangs echoed across the valley with each strike of metal against metal. There was another thing Ritsuka noted as the battle went on, the woman made no attempt to parry the attacks with her weapons anymore, nor did she try to block.

She was dodging him, evidently the previous displays of strength had worked it into her mind that fighting the knight on equal standing wasn't the best of ideas.

"Head out of the clouds dumbass!"

"D-dumbass?" Ritsuka blurted out, making a half turn just in time to see a silver coated fist crunch into the skull of a skeleton. He blinked and followed the length of the limb to a rather diminutive figure, clad in steel plate armour with crimson highlights, a full covering helmet with horns stared back at him, even through it he could feel the irritation of his rescuer.

"Yeah, dumbass! Standing around not paying attention in a fight, you looking to die?!"

Wasn't that exactly what this person was doing right now? It must have shown on his face because suddenly the aggression he felt from the Servant in front of him intensified to a degree he hadn't thought possible, gulping and taking a half step backwards. "W-well, we're trying to retreat and I-"

"So get a move on then!" The knight snapped at him, then looked around "Where's your Master anyway?" they paused and then looked over his shoulder "That her on your back?"

"H-huh?" He blinked, then cringed. If his hands were free he would have slapped himself in the face at realising something so obvious. He still had Caster inside of him so he felt just like a Servant and at this range, it would probably make more sense that he was the Servant rather than Nursery, especially since she was dressed era appropriate.

"Get the kid out of here then, you don't look like much of a fighter anyway." The horned knight grunted, making a half turn and bringing forth a strange looking longsword, it had the shape of a quill, like a thin steel bird feather and what looked like a torn up shirt sleeve around its handle. Certainly feeling out of place with the rest of the knights attire. "The fuck are you standing around for? I just told you to run, idiot!"

"R-right!" He made a strangled noise "Saber, we're falling back!" he shouted out once again, keeping the knight in his line of sight as he took a few steps backwards then made a half turn and sprinted in the direction of the others, "This is turning into a very stressful afternoon, Nursery!" he gasped out as he ran, already aiming for the direction of Mash as he watched the Shielder perform a perfect axe kick into the head of a birdman and drop him to the ground, her head turned in his direction and he was close enough now that he could see the myriad of emotions pass across her face as he closed the distance. Despite himself, he couldn't help but grin right back, though this wasn't the time "Reunion hug later, Mash!" he called out to her "Fighting retreat!"

Her expression hardened instantly, a confident nod of the head "Understood, Master!" she hefted her cross shield with both hands and rushed past him, accompanied by a signature 'Hyaaa!' cry and then followed by a thudding noise and a crunch of bone.

He made it only a couple of feet before he found himself face to face with a familiar but unknown visage, though he could never forget that helmet or that large mace. The smaller form of Vordt stared back at him for a moment, pale blue eyes of the arrow shaped helmet stared cooly at him in silence. Ritsuka felt his features whiten and slid to a halt in front of the Servant.

"You're the cause of this racket, eh?" Vordt spoke in a slightly gravelled, if very upbeat, tone of voice "Good thing too, helped us find out where you were. Mash was worried something fierce for you…by the way, you aren't married, are you?"

Ritsuka had plenty of thoughts, but he had no words to give.

"Outstanding. We have been rescued by idiots. Truly, this is a day I shall be in a hurry to purge from my mind after it has freed me from its grasp."

Vordt looked over his shoulder, Ritsuka followed his gaze and watched what could only be described as a mad brawl behind him. Dozens of skeletons and Corvian's were now pouring into the arena seemingly without end. "I heard the words fighting retreat?" The frozen knight ventured in a slightly concerned tone of voice "I fear you correct, these numbers are growing at an alarming rate and there is no telling if this skirmish might attract more-"

The ground shuddered, a noise like a collapsing mountain ripped through the air. Ritsuka felt his body shudder at the noise, his very bones vibrating the longer it went on. The fact that Nursery had acted first and covered his ears was all the incentive he needed to figure out that whatever made it wasn't something he wished to encounter. Especially since-

His eyes widened, his mouth burned as bile rushed up his throat, tears started to pool in his eyes as one of the foulest things he had ever smelled immediately assaulted him, a stench that could only be described as airborne acid invaded his senses and worked to burn away at the back of his throat and right into his eyes.

Losing control, he hunched over and opened his mouth, the bile poured out from his throat and into the snow. He staggered backwards as he was struck by a wave of dizziness, from something that he couldn't quite understand. Then the thundering roar sounded off a second time, much closer, and was accompanied by a deep cracking sound. Once more, the earth trembled beneath his feet before it felt like something broke. A singular rumble ran beneath him, then a noise like shattering rock reached his ears.

Which was very fitting, as he raised his head upwards and saw precisely that happening before him. The battlefield fell into a lull as the ground around a hundred metres from them suddenly ripped itself apart, huge chunks of frozen mud and ice were flung dozens of metres into the air in an explosion which seemingly came from the ground. A shadow moved through the falling debris, the stench got infinitely worse until he found himself unable to breath.

Something travelled through his body, like an electrical spark, then he found he could smell and taste nothing at all. "I have briefly muted your senses. It seemed prudent to avoid…" Caster trailed off, Ritsuka would have asked why if it weren't for the fact he could feel his own eyes bulging, a pressure suddenly placed itself on his shoulders, like someone had started mounting weights on his back.

"Mister Ritsuka!" Nursery hissed in his ear, a desperate and very frightened voice "We need to run, now!"

Ritsuka was inclined to agree, especially as the shadow burst through the snow, a river of purple smog pouring out from the body of the giant creature. Throwing its head back and releasing another ear splitting roar, the scream felt as though it was reverberating through his very bones, like he was standing directly next to a bass boosted sound system. Twin shapes ripped through the storm on either side of the shadow, spreading wide and extending themselves as best they could, flakes of blackened skin fell from the shadow and onto the ground with wet splats.

Through all of it, Ritsuka felt his eyes zero in on it and narrow into pin pricks. Everything about the shape and the pressure screamed a level of familiarity that he could never forget, that same nauseating feeling that he had felt when he stood in the direct presence of the dragon in France. That pressure could belong to nothing else.

A large arm extended forwards, holes visible in it as purple and rotten flesh barely clung to the bones. Three clawed fingers slammed into the snow and heaved, pulling the shape forwards with enough force that it felt as though it was dragging the earth towards it rather than being propelled forwards. Sucking in a breath, Ritsuka let out a shout at the top of his lungs. "Dragon!"

The rotting corpse of what could only have been an undead monstrosity replied to his cry of alarm with a growl, more clouds of menacing thick smog billowed out from the throat as it crawled towards them, the decaying wings along it's mangled body uselessly fluttering in nothing more than a display of mobility. The skull of the beast was barely covered, scrapes of rotten skin covered it in patches, like they had simply been slapped on there. The skull locked onto him, even without eyes Ritsuka could tell it zeroed in on him.

With a crunch of bone and a tearing noise, like dry plaster, the lower jaw fell down. There was a faint rumbling like thunder, then the dragon seemingly jerked itself forwards as though it was about to throw up, in a manner of speaking it did. A flood of the smog fell from its throat, most of it flowing out from the mouth, though parts leaked from in-between the holes in the ribs and neck.

If Ritsuka's reaction was a blanch at the sight, then the reactions of the Servants could have been considered far more appropriate.

"Oh fuck!" The horned Saber's alarmed cry echoed out as he watched the knight turn on their heel and sprint back the way they had come, slamming their elbow into the skull of a skeleton as they passed by and making sure to turn it to dust. "Tactical retreat dumbasses!"

In normal circumstances, Ritsuka would have been one of the first to retreat. They didn't have a dragon slayer with them and he was left with the horrified idea of whether or not you could kill a dragon that was technically already dead. Considering how much punishment Ash had said he could take - and the fact the dragon clearly didn't have a back half to it - he didn't know if cutting its head off would kill it or just make it angry.

So running away would have been a smart move.

Except nothing was responding to him. He couldn't even feel his limbs anymore, his entire perspective had shifted. Like he was now seated in a cinema and watching the events play out in front of him rather than partaking in them.

"Once again, I am to be plagued by my kin." He blinked at his words, he would have reached towards his mouth if he had been able but he found that nothing responded to him. The cold feeling worsened when he realised he was still speaking without any control over what he was saying at what he was doing, "Take the miracle girl, oaf." the familiar but hostile words flowed from his(?) mouth, soon hearing the confused and then alarmed noise of Vordt as he slung Nursery off his shoulders and towards the knight.

"What are-"

His body was marching forwards, his limbs felt as though they were on fire but he could do nothing to stop it, trapped in the audience as the theatre that was his life continued on without any order from him. He knew, of course, what was going on. Caster had just taken control of him but the fact it had been so sudden was…

"You could not even stay dead after I killed you?" The words were almost a snarl, his tone not at all matching what he was saying.

He saw Mash running towards him, a frantic look on her face as she opened her mouth "Senpai, you need to-" she slowed, eyes widened as she stared at him for a moment then took a half step backwards "S-Senpai? Your eyes…wait-"

His eyes? Was there something wrong with his eyes?

"Out of the way Kyrielight." He ordered, raising his right hand and aiming it directly towards the girl. Ritsuka was screaming inside his head at this point, except no sounds could be heard. "My host will be most displeased if you are killed in the resulting spell."

Spell? What the heck was he-

His body felt like molten lava now, the air around him shimmered and surged. Mash's eyes bulged before she glanced over her shoulder to the others who were still behind her. Though at this point, Ritsuka had noticed that Llew had broken away from the woman the second the dragon had appeared, already in the midst of charging their way with Fran right behind him. The pair of them noticed him and then promptly split off on either side.

The burning continued as the front of his palm started to brighten, blue light coalesced and solidified into the beginnings of a shape. A gradual scream reached his ears, realising a second later that the sound was coming from his own body, the noise was soon deafening. At this point, he would have looked away from what could only be described as the blue sun being created between his fingers, if he had been able to anyway.

He couldn't, his eyes burning and feeling the deep well of hatred surging through his body. Except it wasn't his hatred, it was Caster's hatred. His hatred of the dragons had apparently overridden any sense of restraint he previously harboured, enough to just ignore everything and take his body. "Time is running out, girl. Step aside!"

Mash flinched as if struck, torn between stepping in front of him with the cloud rushing towards them or doing as Caster said and standing aside. Ritsuka didn't care who did what anymore, he wanted his body back and he wanted the burning to stop.

The girl dove to the side, not before sending a faint glare in his direction. Though Ritsuka knew it wasn't him she was glaring at.

"Stay dead this time, scum." The snarl came from Casters lips, then there was a beat of silence. In the next second, the 'sun' in his palm exploded, rushing forwards like a stream of pure light that crossed the distance between himself and the dragon in barely a second, his arm felt like it was going to rip itself apart with how violently it was trembling from the recoil of the attack. The beam of solid blue light cut through the smoke and struck the undead dragon dead on in the head, scorching the bones at the front of the body and arching as he turned the arm, directing the beam across the beast and over its shoulder, cleaving through the joint of the left wing and separating it.

A moment later, the light cut out and his arm dropped back down. "Damn this feeble body of yours, Ritsuka!" he snarled, Ritsuka abruptly felt himself jolted back into place. Dropping down like someone had just punched him in the face, then the pain hit him from his arm. It was like nothing he had ever felt before, as though every single one of his pain receptors in the limb had activated at once. So great was the pain that he could not even scream, instead a noise like a long breath left his throat as he rolled in the snow, his arm spasming as he tried to do something.

Barely a second later, Mash was looming over him with a look of horror on her face. She might have been saying something but he couldn't hear what that was on account of the pain. All he could pick up was a ringing as he continued to clench his right arm. She leaned down, grabbing him and he found himself pulled up once again, then he was staring towards the snow and moving.

Mash was dimly aware of the chaos that was happening around them, solely focused on getting Ritsuka on her shoulders and away to safety. The horrific expression on his face when he had collapsed was more than enough to spur her into action. Strength she never knew she possessed spurred her on at the sight of his face when he went down.

She charged forwards, ignoring everything else and rushing towards the other Servants who were still making their retreat. Not even sparing a glance over her shoulder to see whether or not the dragon behind them was dead, nor did she pay attention to the foul stench that still hung in the air like a cloud of poison, it would certainly be a believable thing to consider with the way it had outright assaulted her the moment she heard it.

"We're running back to Caster!" Mash shouted out, not even caring for whether or not anyone else was going to try and come up with a different strategy. If they did, she didn't hear them at the time. Instead adjusting her arms and moving Ritsuka into a position she was more comfortable in carrying him with, his body hung over both her shoulder blades and his arms dangling down his side, a wheezing noise that made her body ache coming out from him.

She was dimly aware of a rather imposing knight in front of her with a helmet shaped like the same sort of one that Ash had worn previously, the type of helmet more closely associated with a crusader, the blue fabric that hung down from the steel armour and the large greatsword added to the image of a knight. She might have greeted them in a less dire situation but this wasn't the time for hellos. Her Master was in danger. "You are allied with Senpai?"

"The boy is our Master-" The knight had begun to speak, then the ground shuddered as a roar sounded out through the streets once more. Closely followed by the magnified voice of a woman echoing through the air around them.

"Escape shall not be permitted!"

"Oh yeah!" The sneer in Mordred's voice was audible "Watch us, bitch!"

She moved to the talisman around her neck, gripping it tightly as she ran "Caster, we're coming back to you with Senpai. Get ready to examine him." She released it and focused more on her sprinting, still running and moving past several faces she did not recognise and one who looked like she was a young girl in a black dress.

"Come with us!" Vordt's voice echoed behind her, she knew who they were talking to "We'll be better off-"

Mash slid to a halt as the space in front of her rippled like the surface of water, a darkening shadow spilled forth from it and black tar like liquid dripped down like, splotches of the foul swampy goo splattered against the pure white snow, she found herself taking a half step backwards as a shape started to emerge from it. Starting out as what looked like a translucent silken veil of blue fabric, a sheet of barred metal serving as a face plate, the head hung upside down before the rest of the body followed.

Spinning through the air and landing on their feet, dragging themself from the portal as though they had been chained to it. The figure was a full head taller than her, thin plates of rolled steel coated their body in a, though the curvature and size of the chest denoted them as a woman. Fabric swayed in the breeze as the helmet stared at her, the same silk clothed the outside of the full covering armour, so thin that it was scarcely said to have been there at all.

With a flourished movement, the woman swung her right hand and brought forth a curved sword, flames clinging to the surface of the steel weapon, with her left she thrust hand down and manifested a second curved sword, this time with a dark grey fog clinging to the weapon that felt wrong just staring at it.

"-wen?" She thought she heard Vordt say something but she couldn't make it out all that well, it was so quiet and her focus was elsewhere.

The figure released a noise like a breath, then charged towards Mash with the sword almost gliding through the air without a single noise to be heard, not even the whistle of steel.

Mash jumped backwards, the weapon moved through empty air rather than herself. Gritting her teeth, she glared at the newly arrived Servant. There was no time for her to be dealing with something like this, not with Senpai injured as he was and in need of treatment, especially not with hostiles chasing them down as well, doubly so if they were still accompanied by the dragon and if the shuddering quakes of the ground were any indication, they still very much were.

A shape blurred in front of her, followed by a heavy clang of steel as the following strike from the Servant was blocked. She found herself staring at the back of Vordt as he held the Servant from attacking her, through his entire form trembling, the juddering movements producing a grinding sound of metal as his armoured plates rubbed against one another.

"Carwen? I-it's me." His voice came out almost as a desperate plea, it took Mash a second to realise he had spoken a name. "It's Vordt! Y-you remember me, don't-" the Servant, Carwen(?) did not so much as utter a word as she pushed with a sudden burst of strength and parried the greatmace to the side, sending Vordt into a stumble with the swiftness of the motion.

Not that the knight remained idle for long as Carwen was upon him with a flurry of movements, each one knocked Vordt back as though he was struck with greater force than the emaciated body of the Servant showcased. Vordt made a continued retreat as each blow fell upon him, Mash was vaguely aware of the fact that he wasn't trying to actually do anything beyond defend himself. Even then, his movements were clearly hesitant.

"Carwen, please! Stop this!" His voice cried out as he blocked the downwards stab, raising his weapon up and catching her in the wrist with the polearm of the mace, one hand supporting the weapon on either side, the tip of the sword hung just above his helmet. Then she thrust the smoking sword forwards-

Mordred took a swing at her, and in a sudden burst of speed Carwen had parted from Vordt and was flipping through the air with all the grace and agility of a dancer, making practised movements and letting the dress of her armour twirl through the sky like a blooming flower before she landed back to the ground, stabbing both sword into the earth to catch herself.

Mash used the chance to shoot a glance over her shoulder, then grimaced as she watched the dragon still crawling towards them. The left side of their skull had been completely destroyed, areas around the damaged bone had been turned black from the heat of the attack and the left wing was missing entirely. That did nothing to stop the charge of the beast and had only seemed to enrage it further as it was getting closer to them.

"We need to hurry!" She announced, turning back around and glaring at the Servant once more with an expression full of stern resolution. "Push through them with numbers."

"But she-" Vordt made to speak, only for the voice of the newer knight to cut through his words.

"Whatever link you held with her is severed." The knight announced as he charged forwards, brandishing his greatsword and sweeping it through the air with enough force to drag the snow behind him "She must be dealt with if we are to escape!" the greatsword never even touched Carwen, the woman twisted her body and leaned back while raising her right leg as though she was trying to limbo, the sword passed over the front of her armour without so much as touching it.

The wide motion should have made the knight overextend, yet his body locked up the second his blade had passed over the woman and the sword just stopped without any warning. He reversed his motion while swinging downwards at an angle, Carwen kicked off the ground and flipped over the sword as though it had been a trivial matter, touching the ground with barely a sound to be heard and posing like a ballerina.

There wasn't even a second of hesitation before the Knight jerked his body around as though it had been frozen in place, bracing his arm tight against his body and swinging himself around in a shoulder barge. Mash briefly paused at the movement that struck her as familiar, as though she had seen it somewhere else but couldn't quite remember-

A crunch followed the shoulder slamming into the chest of the Servant, it should have ended there except the knight clamped his left hand around his blade and swung the weapon upwards, the guard of the greatsword jerked upwards and struck the enemy Servant in the chin, flipping their body backwards. Using the momentum to propel himself, the Knight twisted his body and turned as he did so, bringing his right leg upwards and slamming his heel into Carwen's body like a hammer and blasting her away with a boom, the air rumbled with the kick and was soon followed by the form of the hostile spiralling through the air and crashing down through the roof of a house well over a hundred metres from them.

She knew that move.

She'd seen what it could do first hand.

That move was the enemy Lancer's in Rome-

"Hurry!" The knight barked, already lowering his boot to the ground "You demanded a retreat? Do not stand around gawking! If we are to fall back, then we must-"

"Fall back at once!" The words could not leave Dolion's beak fast enough as the fellow Corvians all rushed away from the direction of the attacker. He brought forth four knives into his offhand and hurled them forwards, then turned on his heel and continued his sprint.

The cries of his fellow knights reached his ears, he bit down the urge to turn and aid them as he continued on his charge forwards. It had been a fighting retreat the second they had been outed. They had been moving to aid Lady Friede in her attempt to stomp out the Chaldean forces in a single attack, gathering all their forces to crush their leadership and end their assault on the painted world.

He had been gathering the other Corvian knights to make ready their final charge to prevent the Chaldeans from escaping through the traditional means. A pincer movement, while Lady Friede dealt with them from the front, he would sweep around the back with his small army of Corvians and other creatures of the world and take them from behind, with their numerical advantage and the chaos of the ambush, it had been the plan to wipe them all out in a single swift assault.

Except it hadn't gone to plan at all.

They had found the tables turned on them before they could even get to their staging area.

Light flashed behind him, a crackle of thunder and golden rays illuminated his shadow on the snow as he continued his retreat. The noise was soon followed by screaming of agony which quickly descended into a choking gasp, the type that came from someone strangling to death. Dolion knew exactly why that was, he'd seen what that…

Monster had done by merely glancing in their direction. They hadn't even spoken a word and there was no indication they had chanted any sort of spell. Just silence and then - before they could make a challenge - three of his members had collapsed to the ground, clasping at their throats as they struggled for breath that would not come. It had put them on edge, everything that came next was nothing short of a massacre.

He turned again, then narrowed his eyes as he watched another of his people jump through the air only to pause, clawed hands flew towards their neck and clasped at their throat as though trying to fight off an invisible attacker, their body twisted as they fell to the ground without an ounce of grace, gasping all the while. Dolion looked over the soon to be dead Corvian, the sight of the creature still walking towards them without an ounce of urgency about them was unsettling to say the least.

Worse still by the fact it had never once truly looked in their direction. Sure, it had looked at them, but there was no recognition of individuals. They were simply a group who happened to be there. Whatever notion he might have had about staying to fight them on even footing had vanished the moment they had waved their hand and vaporised one of his people with a bolt of lightning flung from their finger.

Sliding to a halt, Dolion turned around and shouted to the others "Keep running, get the word back to the Lady!" bringing forth his Rapier, he aimed it squarely in the direction of the advancing hostile. "All others, with me!" In light of everything else, he would remain loyal to the Lady Friede.

She would need to learn of this and he was stronger than his kindred by a wide margin. He would be better suited to remain behind and delay them for as long as possible. Four more quill daggers flashed into his hand as he rushed forwards, slinging his arm forwards and hurling them out, the throwing knives rushed towards the attacker before they abruptly stopped and fell to the ground as though they had been dropped.

Dolion would have widened his eyes if he had the chance, instead he felt like something closed around his throat, a gentle tightness that was on the cusp of strangling but not quite enough to obstruct anything. He stopped his charge and kicked backwards, hoping that distance would have put an end to whatever he was feeling. It did not, though it did attract the eyes of the figure.

Glowing orbs locked onto him for a moment - barely even a second - and flashed with intensity before they dimmed and turned back to the streets ahead of them. The owner of the set of eyes continued their almost casual stroll without even caring for the fact that well upwards of twenty Corvians were rushing towards them.

Lightning danced across their arm, their right hand came up and a thin bolt of electricity flowed across their finger and surged outwards, striking the first of the Corvians dead in the chest and dropping them to the ground, their body twitched violently from the sudden shock, which was soon followed by a more powerful burst of golden lightning. This time their limbs spasmed with more vigour and a sharp gasp left the Corvian before they fell still.

All the while, their attacker did not slow their pace.

Eyes flickered across, then a brief glow accompanied the golden orbs before several of his kindred dropped to their knees. Clasping at their throats, struggling for breath as they fell backwards, she marched past them without sparing a second glance. The form became clearer, if the curvature hadn't been enough of an indication, and she carried with her a warmth that was almost sickening. As though it was trying to counter the very nature of the world itself.

With an almost lazy flick of her wrist, the woman sent more bolts of lightning shooting from her hands like arrows. The projectiles were sent without a sense of aim to them, yet they altered their trajectory in the air and proceeded to slam into yet more bodies, the woman never once slowed herself even in that. Dolion snarled and jumped towards her, ignoring the sensation that was now pressing upon him.

He thrust forwards-

His body hung in the air, unable to move the tip of his rapier barely an inch from punching through the woman's face. It was quite a thing that even as tall as he was, this woman still was able to look him in the eye without trouble. Not that she did that, instead staring over his shoulder towards the rest of his kin. Then she turned towards him, her eyes registering his existence once more.

"...Oh?" Her voice was gentle, like a calming breeze and the very hum of her words was like sweetness upon his ears-

He jerked his head, taking a step backwards from her as he fought to rein himself in. Eyes widening as the foreign sensation clinging to his mind pressed down harder upon his skull, his head snapped away and he found himself fighting the sensation to turn back to stare at the woman, as if looking away from her was somehow the greatest sin he could commit-

"You have the rare honour that so few have, yet you squander it?" There was the sweet voice again, that gentle hum of her words and the aura of tranquillity that soothed his worries-

"Get out of my head!" He snarled, reaching up and clasping at his skull with his left hand, staggering away from the woman as his skull felt as though it was on fire, the sensation it was being sharply pulled in two different directions filled him. It was like someone beating a drum again and again, the pull to the woman's voice - to heed her commands - was growing stronger and stronger, tied with his loyalty to Friede.

"Such loyalty to your mistress that you can even fight against a glimpse of my beauty?" There was amused intrigue in the voice, or maybe his mind was trying to doll it up. Perhaps it was the opposite and there was fury there, he did not know which was which at the moment.

"Though I think you have what I need." There was a moment of silence before a dark melodious chuckle reached his ears, the most terrifying beautiful sound he had ever heard. "Or perhaps you do not…but my pride is perhaps a touch damaged by this little revelation. It's difficult for me to say." The woman stepped towards him, then her eyes glanced down the street and she opened her mouth-

Dolion felt a pressure like a warhammer press upon his skull, almost dropping to his knees with the sudden feeling upon himself.

"Will you not bow to your Goddess?" There was something about her words that was compelling to him, yet he would not let himself fall before any other than his lady. Friede was his mistress…

She was the one who promised his people peace if they obeyed…

He would not…

Would…not…

"Aww~" The woman cooed in an almost mocking tone of voice, Dolion froze as something touched his beak in an almost caressing manner. Slowly turning his head towards the direction of the woman, he snapped his eyes closed. Forbidding himself from looking up at her. He'd seen enough, if he looked at her now…there was no telling what would happen to him.

"You still stand? For your mistress to inspire such devotion towards her from you must be something she takes some pride in. To think she could achieve such a thing without a Lord Soul…Though it is only her you extend this loyalty to, isn't it?" There was a dark edge in that tone, as though she knew something about their situation he did not.

Yet that was not what occupied his mind, her other words did.

Lord…Soul?

But that would make this woman-!

"Yet…a mere mortal inspiring such devotion to rival my own…I'm sure you can understand how I might find that a touch offensive, little robin." Her voice dropped into a whisper, her honeyed words flowing into his ears like poison. He could not resist them for long, he could not fight them, he yearned for them more and more. "Can you tell me where you were going? Were you going to see your Mistress or…perhaps you were going to see something else?"

He forced his eyes to remain closed and his beak to remain shut.

"Playing hard to get?" There was another chuckle from the woman "That's almost cute. Though, I'm sorry to say I'm quite pressed for time and I can feel there is someone here who I would like to speak with…or rather, get a little apology from. I'm sure you can lead me to them." another hand touched his other cheek, his head now held in the woman's arms and a feeling of pure bliss flooded across his body. Like he was melting in the grasp of her.

"Won't you open your eyes?" The Goddess whispered.

He complied, staring into the face that was as radiant as the sun, luscious flowing locks of wondrous caramel brown, flickering eyes that looked like the rising stars themselves with their shine that was just as bright as any one of them, skin like the finest of dolls and a smile that melted his heart. The woman - no, the Goddess - stared at him with a gentle smile. "That's better…you have such wondrous little eyes, almost a shame to hide them away from the world. They're one of your people's better features."

He quivered with the praise.

"Will you do me but a single favour?" She asked of him with her tone the softest of sounds, her every word reverberated through his body and left him begging for her to continue speaking.

"Anything." The reply could not leave him fast enough.

There was an edge in her smile, something like victory but he could not see. "Might you tell me where you were going?"

Of the four combatants before him, only Vilhelm had the reactions to account for his sudden burst of speed. Yet he made no move to so much as meet Sully as he leapt towards the group before him. It was to be expected, though, if Sully directly engaged him then he would be put at risk of distraction on account of the three other Corvians on either side of the Knight.

Vilhelm took a step backwards, his flaming sword brought up and into a highguard, the blade rested on his forearm and aimed towards Sully. He landed in the snow directly before the four of them, narrowing his eyes before he snapped them towards the closest Corvian, with a grunt he twisted his body and thrust forwards, the magical construct lanced through the gut of the bird man before they could even register he was in front of them.

Twisting the polearm in his hand, Sully twirled his body in a full clockwise motion and cut through the remainder of the body, hurling it in the direction of Vilhem as he did and spinning around, slashing upwards across the chest of the second Corvian before they could bare arms against him. With the spin complete and both bodies now dropping to the floor, the third and final Corvian had responded to him with a lunge, claw arms thrusting towards him.

Sully caught the lunge with the flat side of the swordspear, twisting it around like the hand on a clock and sending the Corvian stumbling past him. He rushed forwards, bringing the sword to bare on Vilhelm and finding himself taking a step backwards as the knight slammed a high blow into his guard, it had been only a quick movement on his part that stopped him from losing his head to the attack in the single instance he had been out of his line of sight.

Turning the swordspear, he thrust it backwards and slammed the butt end of the weapon into the back of the head of the Corvian directly behind him, sending them to ground and stepping backwards, ensuring he stamped down on them as he retreated to keep them further into the dirt. Wetting his lips, he brought his sword up as Vilhelm fell upon him in a flurry of blows, the burning sword all but vanished before his eyes, leaving him to predict where the blade would fall next on account of the trail of black fire it was leaving in the wake of each swing.

"Take the children and keep heading down the street!" He shouted out to Jeanne behind him, he knew she might well have wanted to come to his aid but he had no way of knowing how many other Corvians were closing in. Vilhelm would not have come here without a plan to kill him and if Vilhelm was here, then it was likely that Friede was close by. He would never stray so far from the Sister. "Don't wait for me!"

He rushed forwards, then feinted into a slash. Vilhelm barely reacted to him until the last moment, the sword swung down and slammed into his attack and forced it into the snow, bouncing the magical blade upwards with a ringing noise, then he stepped in closer and threw his right hand forwards, the hilt of the greatsword slammed into his cheek and snapped his head to the side, he leaned backwards as Vilhelm reversed the movement and brought the sword back around to decapitate him. The heat of the blade was felt as it glided barely a centimetre above his face.

Throwing himself into a roll, Sully came back up just in time for Vilhelm to clasp the sword above his head and swing the blade downwards. He couldn't block something like that with his staff, it might have been enchanted to handle the general wear and tear of spellcasting but it was little more than a tougher than average branch. It was most certainly not the well forged steel of an anointed knight.

Fortunately, Sully was more than a swordsman. The magical energy vanished from the blade, the weapon lost its shape as he unleashed a barrage of spells directly from the tip of the staff. The glistening lights of fluorescent blue shot upwards as if a reversal of rain occurred, around the size of pebbles and with no aim about them. Vilhelm grunted as he turned his head to the side in the wake of the sudden attack.

Sully rushed upwards, then widened his eyes as a shadow moved behind Vilhelm, leaping over the knights shoulders and shooting towards him with its arms splayed wide. With a burst of magic, the sword flashed into existence once more as he swung up, slashing the Corvian and splitting them in half over his body. Though the brief distraction was over, it had served its purpose well enough. Sully learned that the hard way as Vilhelm's boot slammed into his gut and sent him sprawling.

Coughing out a lungful of air, his eyes scanned around him before he scrambled to his feet the second the whistle of steel in the wind caught his ears. A dull thud came next, coupled with the reverberation of the ground as he looked to the side, seeing the spot where Vilhelm's sword had struck the soil. He pushed off the ground, virtually throwing himself into a standing position and bringing his projection upwards.

Vilhelm struck again, slamming his greatsword into the weapon and twisting it, exerting his strength and forcing both weapons to ground and then stepping in closer, at this point he forcefully touched shoulders with Sully as he continued to apply pressure on the longsword. The Black Knight's right arm fell away from the greatsword, then snapped upwards like a catapult and slammed his armoured knuckles into the bridge of Sully's nose. Something crunched and Sully found his eyes watering as he turned away and fell into a stagger.

Keeping his sword arm up and pointing to Vilhelm in the event he tried to take advantage of the stumble. For whatever reason, he did not, instead he moved his body with an almost casualness about him, turning himself to face the Ruler and moving forwards, idly twirling the sword all the while as if trying to paint the air with the flames with flourished movements. Sniffing as best he could, Sully let his hand fall back onto the staff and narrowed his eyes.

Then he slammed it down "O' Frost!" and shouted out at the same time, Vilhelms movements jerked to a stop as a river of ice flowed from the base of the staff and onto his feet, trapping his legs briefly and jerking him to a stop. Sully rushed forwards, he thrust the staff into Vilhelm's gut with a metallic thud, then unleashed a burst of magic from the weapon that sent the knight stumbling away, shattering the ice around his legs as he was wrenched free.

Turning on his heel, he rushed back towards the disappearing shapes of Jeanne and the others, the woman had already turned her head to see him charging in their direction after having just knocked down Vilhelm. "Keep moving up the street! I'll delay him as long as I can!"

From the distance he could see Jeanne give him a single nod of the head before she continued to usher the children away at greater speeds. Sully turned back on his heel to face Vilhelm, watching the knight pull himself back to his feet.

"That would have been an excellent chance to strike me down." Were the first words from the man's mouth as he returned to his feet. Sully very nearly laughed at the declaration.

"I am not fool enough to believe you could be bested quite so easily, Sir Vilhelm. I know well enough I am not skilled enough to fight you on even footing as a knight." He shot back, widening his standing and bringing the projected swordspear up once more, holding the weapon more like that of an axe. "Had I tried to kill you when you fell, I have little doubt you would have punished my hubris."

"You assume that does not remain my intention still." Vilhelm darkly remarked as he moved forwards, still spinning the sword in his hands. Sully paced himself around, breaking off from a direct confrontation and stalking around the side of the knight, Vilhelm kept his head trailed on him the whole while, staring at him as he did so. Then he launched forwards, stretching his arm with a thrust.

The attack resumed in earnest, if Vilhelm had been calm before his movements were now filled with a furious fluidity about them. The sword blurred through the air as attack after attack rained down upon him, Sully found himself forced on the backfoot immediately, his eyes widening as he struggled to keep up with the barrage of blows. It might well have been a greatsword of the same height as Vilhelm, but he wielded it as though the weapon was barely half that size.

His every attack was countered by Vilhelm without fail, given that he learned all his moves from the knight before him it went without question that he would never win in a straight up fight with skills he himself had been taught. He jumped back as Vilehelm spun, the tip of the greatsword passing just shy of his robes and granting him some distance. The burning sword came back around and pointed squarely towards his face. The knight walked forwards, Sully walked backwards.

If he was to stand a chance, he would have to use moves that Vilhelm had never seen him perform. He would need to catch him off guard. Though that was easier said than done, especially because he didn't have much he could use. Dual wielding? He didn't have a second weapon to swing. Unless…

His eyes narrowed, he swung his sword up and slapped the greatsword to the side and stepped forwards, bringing up the butt of his staff. Light burst from the end of the wood, a second sword manifested itself from the opposite end at the last second and swung towards the neck of Vilhelm. Sully caught the precise moment the knight realised what happened, his body stiffened before it dropped down and the second blade swung over his head.

Sully stepped past him, spinning back around and brandishing the twinblade, one hand just shy of each sword.

"That was unexpected." Vilhelm's voice was measured as he straightened himself out "Keeping your opponent guessing what you will do next? It would seem that you did heed the lessons of my tutorship." There was an odd note of pride in his voice as he turned to Sully, then it shifted into something darker. "Had you stayed within the Cold World, you would have risen to the position of Knight of Friede without fail."

"That is precisely why I left." He didn't waste a single moment in answering, he jumped forwards, thrusting the twinblade down like a spear. Vilhelm parried it a moment later and stepped backwards, Sully did not even question it as he went on the offensive. Turning his body from side to side and allowing both of the swords a chance to strike at the target, swinging upwards he slammed the lower blade into the underside of the black sword, then reversed and swung down again.

Vilhelm thrust his left hand out, the crimson shield of light manifested from his palm. The sword slammed into it as though it struck a solid wall, the weapon progressing no further as Sully strained against the sudden resistance. With a grunt, Vilhelm sidestepped while cutting out the shield, Sully stumbled forwards and twisted his body around to avoid the counter, the burning sword sweeping just past his head before it was deftly batted aside.

The clashing of steel echoed out, the blur of blue and black continued amidst the two fighters as they struck at one another again and again. All the while, the snow not too far from them crumbled and crunched as something unseen waded through it, indentations in the shape of feet appeared one after another

AN: Obviously, Sully isn't anywhere near as good a fighter as Sulyvahn. He can hold his own against something like a Corvian but against an actual trained sword fighter like Vilhelm?

Quite frankly, it's only his knowledge of how Vilhelm fights that's actually keeping him in the battle thus far.