Lord of Azure Flame Final Chapter: Victory or Death

[-Cynthia-]

Charlotte turned her attention towards Arrin who seemed to be suffering from some cracked bones as well as whatever odd infection those hellhounds seemed to be carrying. She prayed that her staff would see the mage well again soon.

--

Tristan took off and flew behind the group where Reese's battalion was located. A quick view proved that not all of them were dead thankfully and he was able to locate Reese himself soon enough. "Grand Marshall Triton, status report!" Tristan called out after coming down. He wasn't sure on the protocol for this sort of thing, but 'how did it go?" seemed inappropriate.

[Phoenix]

The Clash

The number of demons began to decrease as they continued to cut them down, but like all battles, they weren't without losses of their own. For Irina, it actually began to look like they might find one of their own dead at the end of the battle. They had even managed to get through to Beau, the noble child.

Viveka noticed that gruesome turn of events as well and winced as if she'd been the one mauled by a hellhound. "Dammit! They couldn't cover him at all!" She looked toward the rear of the group where Reese's men were preoccupied with their own group of demons and then back toward the crimson front. Reese's men had been a little scattered by the incident with the horses, but the majority of them were still in a tight formation and those in the formation were holding up well. A medic and their escort reached Beau before the demons could finish him off, but seeing how vulnerable the group was in the middle of this chaos, Viveka decided to head in and supplement the healing efforts before one of the healers got themselves killed rushing to the front lines. She first tossed a vulnerary over to Eric and said, "They're too focused on trying to overrun us so try flanking them!"

While kelas moved to make sure Charlotte was protected from any attacks, Iso kept an eye out for immediate threats. When it became apparent that the demons were more interested in Morgan at this point, Kelas left Charlotte to guard her and Iso tried to pick out a target for himself.

After Alex was blasted by the fire mogall, Tristan quickly went after the enemies with near complete abandon which had Viveka wishing she'd kept a closer eye on him. Jasmine was busy scouting flanking enemies for both groups, but primarily the elysimian forces, so she wouldn't have been of much use here. While looking for someone else to toss a vulnerary to that didn't look like they needed a healer far more, she saw the incredible happen right in front of her.

Morgan and Kelas launched their own assault on Petros, the demon leading the surviving demons. It was a deadly exchange, but they prevailed and Petros was defeated in the battle, eventually crumbling away. If ever there was to be a major turning point in this campaign, or even just this battle, that was it.

Irina smiled as Petros was struck down and led Damian to more targets. She wasn't going to let her guard down or give up their momentum before the battle was truly won.

Iso finally found his target, and a rather suitable one at that, given that these hellhound types loved to slip behind their lines and attack the most vulnerable targets they could find. It was a risky maneuver, but he attacked the hellhound with fire spells from Proxima and wounded it on his first couple of tries. Still, the hound was a little too swift to be caught up in his current flurry of fire spells and managed to bite into his arm before breaking away. As much as it wanted to finish him off, it couldn't without sacrificing its mobility, which was a death sentence in this battle. Iso counted his blessings and held his wound as he fell back. This was until Charlotte came to his aid and healed him. He wasn't free of the poison, but he would have no difficulty continuing the fight now. "I appreciate this, Charlotte, really. Thank you," he said while trying to bear the pain. Fortunately it was fading fast.

Once again the demons were hounding Morgan, but Lev was busy retrieving Krinkov, who had inconveniently wandered off into the elyisimian formation. This forced him to move through them in order to get back to his mount and get back in the air. It wasn't lost on him how difficult protecting Morgan was, with or without a tremendous amount of luggage holding him and Krinkov back.

Next, Tessa was assailed and defeated by one of the nightshades. Whether this was revenge for Petros, or just general animosity, it took one of their healers out of the fight and necessitated more aggression in order to end the battle quickly.

Irina kept with the routine of delivering Damian to targets and then whisking him away before they could fight back, but Nikita was getting tired and Irina knew it. Carrying two people and fighting evasively was difficult for the wyvern, especially with so little available food and water to energize her. She was determined to make it through the battle, though, and kept following Irina's instructions hoping the battle would end that much quicker if she did. When Damian noticed Tessa fall in battle, however, he leaped off, lightening Nikita's load significantly. Irina was just plain worried at this, as the lancer was on foot again and the nightshade was still lurking close by.

While Charlotte turned her healing efforts toward Morgan, Iso began to search for another target while waiting for Kelas to get back.

Viveka considered regrouping with Tristan when she saw him strike down another demon, but remembered she still had a vulnerary or two to pass out. Once she was done with that, she planned to regroup. With Tessa down, every little bit would help; Charlotte and Adena couldn't handle all of these wounds on their own. Deciding to help Iso before he got himself killed taking on the minotaur she could clearly see him moving in on, she swooped down beside him and tossed him a vulnerary. She knew she'd made the right call when he barely managed to catch the thing without dropping it.

"I trust you know how to use that," she said before taking off once again. Iso rolled his eyes a bit. He was grateful for her assistance, but he would never be grateful for those vague traces of distrust and dislike she gave off.

Turning his attention toward his target, Iso channeled his power in order to try and destroy the minotaur outright. Of course, the minotaur had no intention of giving him time to do this and charged toward him. Iso finished preparing his attack first and he struck first, wounding the minotaur and then diving into a roll as the minotaur passed him. The bullrush attempted failed, but narrowly, and Iso didn't wait for it to turn around before smashing another fireball into it. This knocked it onto all fours and he finally managed to defeat it by completely engulfing it in crimson flames. Proxima wasn't quenched until even the bones had been turned to nothing but ashes.

The battle finally came to an end when the remaining demons were slain, but something was wrong ... Iso could feel it. Viveka didn't feel anything and so landed near the middle of her completely scattered crimson allies. She began looking around to see if anyone had actually died. So far there were only grievous injuries from what she could tell. Though, Tiria's yelling made her worry the battle was inflicting some psychological injuries on them as well as physical. Maybe it was just crimson trouble. She couldn't do anything about that and so shook her head as she grimaced and continued looking over their forces.

Irina landed and allowed Nikita to rest for a moment. She needed a short rest, herself, as all of that high speed flying had made her very tense and now, muscles she had paid no attention to prior were becoming sore. She leaned against Nikita, keeping her lance close to her and looked up at the sky for awhile. She wasn't actually staring off into the heavens for very long, as Tas approached and tried to make an apology for the actions he took during the battle. Irina almost felt like apologizing for not even noticing, but decided to address just his apology instead. "It's okay, Tas. You came this far with us, and we weren't expecting to be fighting that many. If that one demon hadn't smacked us with all that ice, Stephanie and Chi would have warped all of the demons away and this wouldn't have happened. It's true, running and hiding isn't going to help matters. Try to get used to it, okay? You can always help us without getting directly involved, like flying people to safety or scouting."

Iso's arm still ailed him, but he made the trip over to the crimson leader despite this annoyance. Lev made it to her first and had Krinkov lie down on the ground so he could rest her up against his side. She didn't look too good, but neither did Iso. "Morgan ... there's at least one demon still around here somewhere. That feeling hasn't gone away yet," he said, though he was deliberately stating the obvious in case she was distracted by her injuries or the lull in the fighting.

With the demons mostly gone, Reese's men split into two teams, one team to recover the horses that ran off, and the other to secure the area. They spread out to form a large perimeter centered around the crimsons while Reese made his way toward the group holding a spirit doll in his hand and his blade in the other. "So it worked?" he spoke into the doll. He would have smiled at the reply he'd gotten back if he were in a better mood, but they had just been ambushed, some of his men were in terrible shape after the battle, and they were in the middle of the desert. He just wasn't in a good mood right now. Still, the news that Stephanie and Chi's first warp attempt was a success and sent over a hundred demons straight into the alliance ambush was good, and he planned to share that news soon. First, there was the Septimian Prince to deal with, however. "We made it. No casualties, but we have a lot of injured. By the way, the warp the priestess and that girl used worked. The demons landed right where our allies were expecting them and are being cut to ribbons as we speak."

Chi held onto the blue lady bug, closing her fist around it so she wouldn't lose it, and stood up from the dirt. The sights were something to behold. The demons were defeated, and her allies were recovering from the battle. She approached Stephanie and waited for some kind of direction, but the priestess was too focused on overcoming her daze to give the girl any instructions.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

Morgan opened her eyes to Isotov standing over her, talking about a demon being nearby. She tried to focus on the presence herself, but found her mind too hazy to find anything. "If there is a demon around we need to kill it as soon as possible. Find the source and eliminate it. Retreat if it is too strong," she ordered, trying to lift herself off the ground but failing.

Tristan

"Well that's relatively good news- don't think any of ours died either. We'll need some time to heal up before we move out- what's the plan from here?" he asked Triton. He wasn't sure who exactly was the plan maker, but figured the Grand Marshall would have some idea how to proceed.

[Mercakete]

"Y-yeah, I'll do my best. I'll just have to be braver next time..." Tas replied, doing his best to stop his hands from shaking, "S-so... How is everyone else? Was anyone...?" It was a pretty grim topic, but it was better to know than to keep wondering.

[scorri]

Adena

Adena looked up at the girl, flustered. "Careful. She took a pretty bad hit. Some water would be appreciated, I'm sure, but just... be careful. Pour it into her mouth slowly and try to avoid having it go everywhere." With a deep breath, she leaned back and sighed. "I've done what I can for now. I should go tend to others. Alex, you'll be ok?"

Tiria

She sat, head buried in her hands, just wishing that her mind could be empty. But images kept flashing; her covered in a red light, smiling cruelly as she killed a demon; the same red light ripping into her skin; Beau lying, broken on the ground. The woman shook uncontrollably as the shock from everything that had happened settled in. Paralyzed, she just sat there, shaking.

Just let it all go. Give it all to me.

... Please... just... go away.

[Snike]

Alex

"... Relatively...," Alex replied to Adena, before trying to reach for her lance, so as to prop herself up a bit. It was just out of reach. "I'll need... some help... to get up..."

Eric

"Somewhere within this group, I believe," the swordsman responded, with a frown on his expression. "Problem is that it's a shape shifter, so it'll be hard to pinpoint."

[Mercakete]

"I see..." Raemond grumbled before asking, "Where, specifically, do you suspect it may be? 'Within this group' is a little too broad. I need a direction. If I can get close enough to it, I should be able to 'pick up its scent' so to speak."

[eclipse]

"Y-yes ma'am", Midori said with a slight bow, as she slowly approached the wounded lancer. She gasped as the woman reached for her lance. "No, you can't fight! Not like this! Uh, here." She did her best to offer the woman her canteen, all while trying not to burst in tears (again). This reminds me of those times mother came home, covered in wounds. . .and she'd always try to get up and work some more. . .

Edited September 18, 2013 by eclipse

[Phoenix]

Observations

"We're in the desert ... there aren't a lot of places to retreat to, but I'll keep that in mind," Iso replied dejectedly. He was worried that the demon they were trying to track down right now was Shanice. If that was the case, they needed a real plan here, otherwise they would just be overpowered like every other time they managed to corner the shapeshifter.

As he walked around, he caught wind of Tristan's conversation with the Grand Marshall. "First, we make damn sure there aren't any demons left alive. Check the bodies that haven't disintegrated yet ... carefully, then once we get the all clear, we press on. Anyone who can't walk will have to ride with someone. This location isn't easily defensible so we need to move on as quickly as possible."

Iso nodded agreeing to that course of action, but felt that overall, nothing they did would make a big difference in this type of environment. If they had to fight again, he felt it would be a little worse than before, especially if they didn't flush out this lingering demon. Before long, he started eyeing the elysimian soldiers with suspicion. If Shanice was going to disguise itself as anyone, it would be one of them, wouldn't it? Someone hardly anyone from the crimson group would recognize. When Iso realized he didn't have any way of accosting these soldiers without looking like a paranoid idiot, he decided to wait it out. He could bring this to everyone else's attention once the group was ready to leave, and if the demon popped up before or at that time, they might actually be ready for it.

More walking led him close to bits and pieces of yet another conversation, this one happening between his own sister, Irina, and the wyvern courier Tas, who was strangely absent during the violence. "No one died, thankfully, but we didn't exactly make it out of this unscathed. Even Stephanie got hurt ... somehow," Irina replied, beginning to question their defenses. She wasn't sure if they just had glaring holes in their defensive line or if they just hadn't set up fast enough to repel the fliers.

Iso moved on and came across Eric and Raemond, who seemed to be talking about ... something. Iso wasn't that curious at first, but when he started listening closer and slowed his pace, Raemond's mention of a direction reminded him that he could also sense demons. This seemed like a good time to see if the monk was sensing the same thing he was. "Hey, do you feel anything around here? Demons, specifically," Iso chimed in seriously.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

"Oh... Well, I'm glad no one died. That would've been horrible," Tas replied before adding with a more concerned frown than before, "Were the demons really that powerful? They attacked like mountain wyverns, all in a whirling group, yes, but...I thought all of you were experienced and strong enough to come out okay. And, well, I guess you did, but... Um... It sounds like you expected better results. What happened?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Raemond frowned a bit as he was addressed by Iso. Only the slightest hint of bitterness entered his voice as he answered, "Yes and no. I've been travelling with you demon-wielders long enough to be able to discern your weapons from more powerful demons but their 'scents' still mask those of other demons. That battle was also fairly tiring so I'm not at my best right now. If your weapons weren't in the way this would be easier -- as far as I know my sensitivity levels to demonic presences are more acute than yours -- but as it stands, I'll need to walk around and check smaller areas in order to detect anything depending on how powerful the demons we're searching for are. If they were anything like the monsters we just put down, I would have already located them with ease. So rest assured that if there are any more demons about aside from your weapons that they must be quite harmless...or at least small."

The monk's thoughts then went to something only minutely related. Hmm... I don't see Beau anywhere. Perhaps I should seek out a healer. I'm beginning to feel a little light-headed from all this bleeding...

Edited September 21, 2013 by Mercakete

[-Cynthia-]

"Understood, I'll start checking the corpses as soon as possible," Tristan responded to Triton, poking a nearby centaur with his sword. It was either dead or doing an extremely convincing impression of dead.

Charlotte finished her work on Tessa and Arrin and went over towards Isotov, Eric, and Raemond who seemed to be talking about hunting demons. I wish I could sense demons...then I could find them and end this once and for all. "Brother Raemond, you're bleeding," she noted, looking over the templar and applying her staff to his wounds

[Mercakete]

From his once white sleeves turned red and torn it wasn't entirely hard to tell that Raemond wasn't in the best condition except that he was remarkably composed in spite of it. He was a tad surprised that, as if triggered by his thoughts, one of the healers from the crimson group came and closed the deep cuts in his arms. Though he was still a bit light-headed, the monk didn't have to worry about how long he had until he passed out anymore and for that he was grateful.

With a small sigh of relief, he answered her, "Thank you, Sister Charlotte." He assumed she was a sister of the faith anyway. If she wasn't, he figured she would correct him. "I was just thinking of seeing someone about those wounds."

[scorri]

Adena

Walking around, she looked for other people she could heal. Seeing the thunder mage lying on the ground, she rushed over. Kneeling down, she quickly muttered a quick healing spell. She sighed in relief as the color started to return to his cheeks. He would live. Hopefully he would wake up soon. But there were others injured.

Tiria

Shuddering on the ground, Tiria held out a hand. She watched it twitching and suddenly it was covered in a red glow. Her eyes widened in horror and stuck her hand back under her other arm and lay their shaking on the ground.

No no no no no. I cannot let it win. But I already did. It had control. I was just watching. It killed. No no no. It was not me. It was in control.

Oh no. It was just as much me as it was you. Don't you think otherwise~

"nononononogoaway"

[Phoenix]

Encouragement

"Frankly, this wasn't supposed to turn into an actual fight, but we had a gaping hole in our defenses and Stephanie and Chi got taken down before we could warp away that second wave," Irina explained with a frown. Not wanting to dwell on the past any longer than necessary, she smiled a little pitifully and said, "Don't worry about it. We'll just have to prepare ourselves more fully next time around, that's all."

Discouragement

There were just too many things in what Raemond said and how he said them that bothered Iso; he couldn't even decide how to respond before Charlotte showed up to heal him. Deciding to leave it at that, he struck out on his own again to watch and wait for the demon to make a move. Teaming up with someone who equated Proxima to a demon was only going to distract them both and give the demon the upper hand.

[-Cynthia-]

Charlotte

"It was no trouble," Charlotte responded to Raemond. That wasn't true really, the healing had made her rather tired, but it was best to put on a strong front.

Tristan

Tristan walked around the battlefield, poking every demon corpse that hadn't disintegrated yet. Seems like they're all dead to me. During his wanderings, he came upon the crimson swordswoman who was on the ground talking to herself.

"Err, are you all right?" he asked her, unsure of how to proceed. Maybe she needs a healer or something?

[Phoenix]

Fire and Ice ... and Thunder

Iso continued his walk, hoping to spot some sign of the demonic presence within the group, but to no avail. Aside from how well they were recovering from the battle, Tristan's demon poking, and Tiria's talk with herself ... nothing seemed ... out of the ... ordinary ...? Iso stopped and looked over to where Tiria was but Tristan beat him to the punch. He wasn't sure whether or not to wander over anyway, but he did decide that either way, he would make a mental note of her condition. He was hoping it was shock from the intense battle or something else that wasn't related to his search, but he couldn't be sure.

Meanwhile, Chi approached Stephanie, who seemed to have recovered from her daze. She wasn't holding her head anymore and her vision had returned to normal, but she was still shaken by the whole ordeal, realizing that she could have been killed if a larger, heavier projectile struck her in the same spot. It was way too close for comfort. "Chi, what is it?" she asked the chimera girl. In response, Chi raised up her hand and opened up her palm to reveal the little blue ladybug she'd captured earlier. "... what is ... that ...? A ... blue ladybug?" (I've never seen anything like this ... and in the desert of all places. How should I explain a creature even I'm not familiar with to her?)

"Ladybug ...?" Chi soon repeated.

"Ladybug?" Iso echoed, overhearing the conversation from a short distance. (In the middle of the desert? No way ... ... wait ...)

"Yes, Chi. It's ... a ladybug ... strange. A blue ladybug way out here in the desert," Stephanie explained. "I didn't even know they could be that color.

(... oh ... ... DAMMIT, IT'S SHANICE!!!) Iso came dashing over as quickly as he could.

Chi glanced down at the ladybug and its shell changed color, from blue to red. Chi cocked her head curiously at this and Stephanie's eyes widened in horror. Now she knew what Iso had just figured out. "C-Chi! Th-throw that bug away right now! Hurry," she pleaded as she backed away from the girl. Chi was about to comply, but that ladybug grew to hundreds of times its original size as it changed its shape. Iso came to help, but only arrived in time to be knocked over as the shifting demon smacked Chi into him with a powerful backfist. Chi was out cold before the two of them even hit the ground, and Iso had a bleeding lip from Chi's head striking his face.

While Iso tried to pick himself up without letting Chi just flop onto the ground like a corpse, the demon leaped onto Stephanie's shoulders and simultaneously transformed into a mountain wyvern, aiming to take off with her in its clutches. She would make an excellent shield as it fell back to friendlier territories. Iso only just managed to set Chi down when Stephanie was hoisted off into the air. Reese's men had caught wind of the danger by then and those with the range to attack prepared to do so, some hesitating since hitting Stephanie by mistake would be all too easy. Those feeling confident enough to strike the demon's massive wings, however, took aim and prepared to fire arrows or loose ranged magic.

When Reese saw the priestess being flown high above the group, he shouted, "DO NOT HIT THE PRIESTESS!!!" The first few arrows went up and stuck into the demon's wings, but when the first thunder attack was released, the demon moved and put Stephanie in the way and she took the brunt of the spell, letting out a pained cry before losing consciousness. The mage responsible for the error fell to one knee, dropped his tome, and slammed his fist into the dirt, assuming he'd killed the priestess by mistake. "Let it go ... LET IT GO," Reese decided, raising his arm to shoulder's height to keep anyone from running past him and to the front. He didn't think Stephanie had been killed by that blast, but he knew that the assault needed to bring that thing down would be the end of her.

The Grand Marshall didn't have a plan to rescue her at first. Considering ranged attacks were too dangerous until Stephanie was free, he figured it might be best to send out a small team, primarily one consisting of fliers. Iso had the same idea and rushed over to where Kiev was waiting.

Viveka, having seen all of this happen without being able to do anything about it, began to follow after the demon and Stephanie from the air. She doubted she could rescue Stephanie on her own, but being able to keep track of its progress through the desert at least ensured that they wouldn't lose sight of it.

Irina winced when Stephanie was struck by friendly lightning and was whisked away like a rag doll. She motioned for Tas to follow her and quickly hopped on Nikita at around the same time Iso had gotten Kiev into a running start. Iso made it off the ground first and called out to Kelas as he flew by, still relatively low to the ground. "It's Shanice! Come on!"

Reese was staying behind, because frankly, he had a reprimand or two to hand out, and he doubted they could help in such a delicate situation when they were so far out of their element already. One of his mages had definitely proven that.

[Mercakete]

Tas didn't have a whole lot of time to digest Irina's words before the clamor about Shanice started up again. Quite frankly, his and Namid's first instinct was to get away from there, especially with arrows and thunder being thrown around, but Irina 's timely, unspoken order to follow her prevented that well enough. "Ah-- but-- er-- uh-- r-right!" Tas sputtered before he and Namid rapidly took to the skies. That's a weird mountain wyvern... Namid and I can probably outpace it, or at least keep up, but I don't want to get ahead of anyone... N-not without knowing what to do, anyway... The courier began looking around for some instruction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as Shanice began to grow, Raemond's eyes widened and his attention snapped over to the demon. He couldn't get over to it quick enough, though, and it was soon out of his range. "Shape-shifter..." he growled to himself, "No wonder I couldn't sense it before..."

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

Still hindered by her injuries, Morgan could only turn her head to watch as the demon in hiding revealed itself. Reese had made it a priority not to hit Stephanie, but presumably these orders were only for his own men. "PURSUE SHANICE, DO NOT HIT THE PRIESTESS!" Morgan commanded. We may need Stephanie's warping abilities should we run into another horde- using another staff wielder for that task would be highly risky...

Charlotte and Tristan

At the sudden turn of events involving Stephanie and Shanice, Charlotte ran off as fast as she could in the demon's direction. Stephanie needed healing at the very least and it was quite likely that there would soon be others in need as well.

Tristan turned his head at the commotion, the odd swordswoman forgotten. Most of the others were chasing after it and he figured he should pursue as well, calling Bellerophon and hopping onto him. When he about to take off, he saw Charlotte running towards the demon and knew her efforts were in vain. "Hop on," he said to her, holding his hand out. Charlotte was a bit startled, but took the prince's hand and the two of them went soaring into the sky.

[scorri]

Tiria

Someone was there. No. No. But she needed to.. Just as she was about to respond, the demon commotion broke out. Hearing Morgan's command, she snapped into action; her body following orders even though her brain was still in shambles. Finding her horse, she pulled herself into her saddle and started chasing after Shanice.

I cannot fight again. But I must. I can do this. I need to be able to. I have to.

Adena

As the commotion broke out, Adena had just been approaching Morgan when the druid shouted out her orders. Quickly she rode over to her and hastily explained, "I can heal your injuries and then you can follow after her as well. Here." Muttering a quick prayer, the woman concentrated and watched as the wounds started to heal. Letting out a deep breath, she nodded. "There. That should do it, at least for now. I'll be following in a second, I just need a second."

[Snike]

Alex

"... I'm not trying to fight, I'm trying to stand... up," Alex said, just before the canteen was offered. With a shaky hand, the lancer accepted the canteen and took a small pull. As she returned the container, a huge blue wyvern with a person in its' claws passed by, shortly followed by arrows and other fliers. That had to be a demon, and he she was, too weak to stand. Some help she'd be.

Eric

"Somewheres close," is what Eric would've responded, had Isotov not inserted himself into the conversation. Instead he scanned the Elysiman army, for any sign of their mystery demon. He was almost done, when a giant blue wyvern- definitely a demon- appeared out of nowhere and began to try and take off, Stephanie in its' talons. The soldiers tried to bring it down but only succeeded in wounding a wing and nearly killing Stephanie with thunder. The demon got away, but the group's fliers began to chase it down, including, riding with Tristan, the Princess. The ex templar contemplated running after them, but the odds were he would be too slow on foot. So, instead, he dashed over to Triton.

"Do you have any fliers available?" he asked, without explanation.

Edited September 23, 2013 by Snike

[eclipse]

"Oh what the hell," Arlene mumbled. She thought she'd seen everything. . .that is, until something flew off with what appeared to be a person in its grip. Hope that person wasn't important. The commotion in the ranks seemed to indicate otherwise. So much for rest and relaxation. It's time to go. Where did Midori run off to?

---

"H-hey, be careful!" Midori exclaimed, as she slung the canteen back to where it should be. Noise and chaos interrupted her thoughts. She saw something in the sky, slowly growing distant, and saw various members of the army getting ready to leave. "So much for rest and relaxation. I can't just leave you here." She awkwardly slung the woman's free arm over her shoulder, and grunted. No worse than trying to pick my mother off the floor when she overworked herself. She bit her lip as she did her best to stand. "I'm not. . .that strong. . .but I'll do my best. . .to get to you to the others. . ."

[Mercakete]

Raemond spared Morgan a sidelong look as she called out to the crimsons to follow the demon in the sky. Already several of their people were giving chase. Even Henry seemed to be trying to find a way to follow. That was good -- Henry was a good Templar. If he could make it, he'd be a valuable asset to their bringing down the fiend. All the same, Raemond hoped Morgan wasn't trying to mobilize everyone. There were still people recovering from the last battle, himself included. Lantos was still in Elyisima and he didn't have a mount to replace him so unless he rode with someone, Raemond highly doubted he would be able to keep up. That aside, he was still tired and so decided the best course of action -- whether Morgan agreed with it or not -- was to stay where he was. If Henry was able to go, then they would have one professional demon slayer with them while those staying behind could employ his own services in an emergency if nothing else.

[Phoenix]

Pursuit

Various people were taking off or sprinting after the fleeing demon and its hostage, but Eric remained behind at first to ask Reese for some help. "Sergeant Maruska should be close by," he answered, scanning the skies for her.

She was indeed close by and watching over the group for any further developments. She didn't want to chase after the demon since so many people already had and a full volley of attacks had already proven ineffective, but once the Grand Marshall waved her down, she had a feeling she would at least be giving someone else a ride over there.

"Good luck," Reese said, once Jasmine landed.

Meanwhile, the demon wyvern continued to carry the unconscious Stephanie over the wasteland as it evaded its pursuers. Initially it fled directly toward Asura, a location it knew well, but it veered off course inexplicably at one point during the chase, turning thirty degrees northward. Iso thought nothing of it, but Irina didn't see a reason for this sudden change of direction unless something about the situation had changed. The first thing she did was try to look ahead of the demon to see if it's destination was nearby, but there was nothing in sight in either of directions it had been heading in, which meant if there was an ambush of some kind waiting for them, it likely was still a ways off, and a sharp course correction wasn't really necessary. The next thing she did was look off to her right to see if the demon had any other pursuers that the group didn't know about. She didn't see anything off in the distance, either. (Well ... at the very least, we can catch up a bit easier now that it's making random turns. Still, that was weird. I'm still not sure if it's making course corrections or avoiding two different groups.)

"We need a plan here," Iso called out.

[-Cynthia-]

"Good work. We probably will not be able to catch Shanice, but if our allies are being led into a trap we may able to support them before it is too late," Morgan said to Adena, lifting herself off of the ground and looking at Lev expectantly.

Charlotte clutched onto Tristan as Bellerophon rode through the sky, chasing the wyvern who had grabbed Stephanie. At least we aren't the only ones following it- though I'm not sure if I'll be able to reach people easily up here.

[Phoenix]

Playing Catch-Up

Lev frowned at Morgan when she looked to him. He knew she wanted to get going and catch up to the others as quickly as possible ... despite having been floored twice already. Despite his feelings on the matter, he got Krinkov ready for the flight and helped Morgan up once they were ready to take off. "Hang on tight, and ... for the love of the mission, keep me between any attacks and you. You've been knocked around enough times for one day."