Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Ether]

With one of the warriors retreating for his bow, and the other being accosted by one of the hounds, it seemed best to just clear the way, considering Anna and her crazy crossbow appeared to be ready to fire another round. Taking the opportunity to ready her shield as the hound wheeled around her to avoid being trampled, Faatina bashed it in the head with the slab of steel as it lunged, knocking it away... it likely wouldn't keep the beast down long, but it didn't have to. Rushing towards Arietta and assisting her in loosing the beast that was attempting to grapple her, the paladin grabbed the other woman and the pair moved out of the visceral's line of fire.

***

Bloody thing was more tenacious than she had thought it would be, lunging at her back moments after she had beaten it back. Still, with the horse rider's assistance, Arietta managed to toss the beast off, and the situation became rather obvious when she was instructed to leap on... Anna had that anti-tank bow reloaded and levelled to fire, after all.

***

"Very well." Annelise replied, gripping her scythe in a more defensive position... if Valdimarr closed, she could at least try to snag him again.

[ReformBlade]

"I don't particularly get attached to animals is the thing. Never had a pet so it wasn't something I really sought after... It sounds backwards I know but still." He shrugged, admitting a small amount of defeat at his logic but not particularly caring to defend such an easy opinion. "I don't hate em, I can see why people would like them though!" Jericho said with some gusto. "I'm just a guy who likes some solid ground beneath his feet and his back. Nothing more~."

[Phoenix]

Loading ...

It didn't take long to get the children, and a couple of adults to keep them calm, into the wagon's interior. Everyone else carefully went up to the roof. It was a pretty big burden for the horses to have to bear, one that even had Jessica frowning a little; this was a job better suited for oxen. Still, if they could get these people to the outer wall, that would be enough. Hopefully the army was already setting up there already and they wouldn't be all on their own.

Occasionally, Raquel would lean over the side of the driver's seat to try and get a view of what was going on with their own group's loading; she could see the civilians piling into or climbing up on top of the other wagon since it was right in front of theirs. Once, during one of her attempts at seeing what was going on, the driver saved her from a fall she didn't realize she was about to have by gently bracing her by the shoulder as soon as she began to lose her balance. She gave up on trying to see what was happening after that and just waited for the others to get aboard so they could head out. It seemed like any demons lurking about were going to miss their chance to strike after all.

Visceral Nerf

Once Pete began backing off to use his bow again, and Faatina whisked Arietta away, Anna saw her opportunity to take Loki down in one hit. The hellhounds were still an issue, but finishing them off would be simple enough once Loki was incapacitated or dead. If he just surrendered, that would be convenient too, but ...

As Anna began to arch her shot so it would reach her target, Loki spotted her and took a defensive stance while slowly backing away. Anna fired a little sooner than he expected, and so instead of trying to dodge the attack, he simply loosed his ice spell toward it. The spell had been intended to soften another blow from Arietta's maul but was now being used on the explosive arrow. The distance caused a gradual increase in pressure which wasn't enough to set off the explosive inside of the arrowhead. When Loki realized it had slowed down enough for him to catch it, he turned to use his opposite arm and did just that, causing Anna to pause briefly, drop her crossbow onto the grass, and hold her arms up in disbelief.

In her shocked and slack jawed state, she said, "... great ... now everybody's going to be doing that!" She glanced at Sinbad for a moment and quietly added, "Thinking about designing those explosive bullets now ... they'd be a hell of a lot faster and harder to see coming than what I just shot at him."

Loki kept the arrow hidden behind his back so a well placed shot wouldn't complete the work Anna had been putting in by blowing him sky high. At the same time, he put more and more distance between himself and his attackers. <Use this against them, and then try to escape, or simply use its energy to try and escape? Has Gunnar had enough time to reach safety, yet? Has the princess? Hmm ...> Since Anna had dropped her crossbow in frustration, Loki's next priority was Pete, who also had a bow at his disposal. All the while, two hellhounds attempted to run Shariff down by nipping at his heels while Gunnar's latest additions closed in on Pete from behind.

The Wrath of Weyland Enterprises

Just to make sure his suspicions about Steinn's barrier were correct, Valdimarr lunged forward aiming to punch straight through to Steinn. As both royals expected, Valdimarr was suspended slightly off the ground for the duration of his attempt, as the barrier held his flaming fist at bay. As he pulled back, the dark flames dispersed and he took a step back to reevaluate the situation. <"That was stronger than I expected, Steinn ... have you been training, lately?">

<"That might have helped, but not enough to stop you. Know, I had other methods. Now why don't you quit wasting our time ... and try again?">

<"Goading me now, ey? Alright,"> Valdimarr shrugged in an exaggerated manner. <"Let's see now ... how am I going to-"> Valdimarr vanished in the middle of his musing and reappeared just inside the barrier. Gabbie planned to move away like Steinn instructed, but she was starting to have doubts about her ability to do so when Valdimarr went after her specifically. She raised her arms up to block his attack, but she didn't know what kind of move he was going to use and he came down with a hard right-fisted strike that struck the top of her head and floored her instantly. The blow was such a shock to her system that the state she would have to concentrate to enter normally was activated for a brief moment before she lost consciousness. For that brief second, she could sense everything happening at the estate, and she knew something good was about to happen, despite the hit she just received.

Valdimarr had warped away again before Gabbie's body had even settled on the ground and returned to his place in front of the group. <"Goad me again, Steinn. I fucking dare you,"> Valdimarr snarled, pointing a finger at his younger brother. Since Steinn was a little distracted by what had just happened, Valdimarr smirked and added, <"Oh did I hurt your favorite human? Your little bodyguard's going to be broken too if she doesn't wisen up, and only one of them has any chance of surviving this."> With that hint dropped he spoke to Annelise next, pointing a finger at her this time. <"You should be working for me, not him. I'm sure you already know that, but here's your chance to get on the winning side without having to pay first.">

"I suppose it's pointless to try and reason with you ... after all, you're here to pick a fight with humanity in general, not just Steinn and myself," Weyland replied in a condescending tone, explaining the seated Valdimarr's own intentions to him.

After Siv translated for him, Valdimarr scowled at Weyland and nodded, <"Yeah, it is pointless,"> and grabbed Weyland by the collar. Siv wasn't sure whether or not she needed to do any more translating after that little maneuver, and so stayed quiet for the moment. She heard something coming, though, which caused her to spare the ruined entry way a curious glance.

That was when what was left of the doors at the conference room entrance flew wide open and a fairly large group of Weyland's guards appeared. Some had blades and various melee weapons, others had firearms, some even had rods and experimental weaponry. They could very well destroy an entire village with what they had on them. Two other groups came in from opposite sides of the stage armed to a similar extent. Standing at the head of the group who came from the main entrance to the conference room was Evert, the guardsman from earlier (scary scythes man). He wasn't sure which he should be more upset about, the fact that Gabbie was unconscious up on the stage toward the back of the conference room, or the fact that his employer was being held up like a misbehaving child by the enemy. And what the hell was Siv doing just standing around while all this was going on?

With his gun aimed at the back of Valdimarr's head, Evert made his demands perfectly clear, or at the very least they were clear to Siv. "Alright you pompous son of a bitch, your time's up and your so called 'forces' are routed. Get the hell out of our home before we have to kill your dumb ass!"

"I've never been this furious in all my life," Ernesta chimed in ferociously. "You're in our home now; no magic or miracles can save you here, king of demons!"

"... I'm ... not translating that," Siv blankly noted.

"Shut up," Evert retorted as he tightened the grip on his pistol. He kept it trained on Valdimarr's head, waiting for some sign of a reaction.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Phoenix

[Toogee]

As another battle was unfolding right in front of his eyes, Eli also heard his name being called from the stable area. Could it be that another attack was coming from the other side of the mansion? He felt he was needed in case this battle went awry, but the rider urged his pegasus to trot away towards the stables.

When he arrived, Eli found Lumi and Aneda tending to Norbert and his own pegasus. He appeared to be unconscious, so a little healing was likely needed. Without risking getting close to the wounded pegasus, Eli prepared his physic staff and focused on Norbert.

[Nanami Touko]

"Hmm, I see. I was raised around them, so I'm probably incredibly biased." What a clever answer. "I guess that means you'd never want to go flying, huh? That's unfortunate. It's such a rush. The wind in your hair, seeing the world from so high up. You'd probably enjoy it." It was at that point Eva noticed all the other people starting to climb onto the wagons. "They coming with us too?"

[scorri]

Erion

With a slight twitch of his eyebrows, Erion shrugged and climbed up on the other side of the driver. Seeing Raquel fidgeting, he attempted to smile at her around the driver. "Hey, it'll be ok. Everything's all sorted, and we'll be heading back to the estate soon now. Just try and relax a little. I know it's not easy, but it'll be alright."

Lumi

Seeing Eli, Lumi called out to him, "Hey, you probably can't see this, but Bert's stopped bleeding at this point, so just heal Rizen. She's needing some serious attention and he'll need to get the cuts taken care of to avoid infections. That'll be more helpful than a healing at this point."

Hoshi

Seeing a demon heading towards the bowman from behind, Hoshi pointed at it, and set a dark sphere hurtling at the beast. It seemed like there was no end to these demons, when she'd just been hopeful that they would leave without causing any more issues. Which, as she thought about it, had been just dreaming.

[ReformBlade]

"I don't know, the thought of me falling off is just... really off putting." Jericho admitted in a pretty clearly defeated tone. "I'd love to like it but that feeling would get pretty ferociously marred by that nagging feeling of 'Oh shit don't fall over you idiot'." He winced at the mere thought of falling off and shattering something in his body, but otherwise he tried to share her enthusiasm for it, ending up giving a halfhearted smile to her. Are they coming with us? Jericho thought, unsure of what these other people would be doing.

Aneda shrugged, still not seeing anything terribly wrong with Norbert but trusting her companion, "Yeah. I mean, thanks for the help all the same but I think he'll be fine. His friend here, good ol Rizen though? She's in a bit of pain and healing would probably help her not be so spooked out!"

Edited January 16, 2014 by ReformBlade

[roymbrog]

Kat opened her mouth to say something, but the other two in the wagon were already back to conversing with each other. Since she’d already (sort of) gotten the information she’d come for she backed Volga away from the wagon so others could get in and mounted up. As soon as the wagons started moving she’d take off ahead to see the area.

---

There wasn’t much Synthia could do out of range, so yeah nothing there.

Edited January 18, 2014 by roymbrog

[Ether]

If these spawn were lacking for one thing, it was brains. While earlier they had at least shown some tact in wheeling about Sharif, with them now literally at his heels, once Faatina poked at one with her lance to force it to back off, if but for a moment, a bone shattering kick, in this case skull, landed on the second hound, dropping the now headless demon in an instant.

With it's buddy now duly voided from existence, Faatina wondered what the other hound would do... in reality with the back being a now-proven instant death zone, and both sides covered by the twin riders, if the thing had any sort of intelligence it would probably rush off for another target.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the fallen had grown wise, and had caught the explosive arrow in mid-air by slowing it with ice... so much for rushing him down in melee...

***

'Damn... that horse is bloody vicious.' Arietta noted, as the stallion showed off it's handiwork. With a quick whistle, Arietta trained her attention to the other hound for the moment... despite the bullshit that had just happened off to the side, it wouldn't do to get killed by one of these things now.

***

<"Forgive me if I am misspoken, Lord Valdimarr, however... for you of all people to tell me to throw my pride away and bow... I never knew you as the comedic type. Perhaps the rest of my family might have fallen to the wayside in cowardice... but at least in me, House Mortos' will still burns. I will not kneel, not without a fight."> Annelise retorted, repositioning her scythe... all she had to do was withstand or parry his blow and counter... now, when he needed her most, she couldn't just invite weakness and leave Lord Steinn to his end.

[Snike]

Once the loading was done, Blake mounted up on Erion's horse. If all went according to plan, they'd be off in a moment or two.

***

So redhead with the explosive crossbow fired off a shot, and the bolt was caught by the ice crow. Great. Regardless, the winged fiend had to die. Pete finally found his bow, after which he immediately nocked an arrow and resumed shooting at the enemy. It was getting further and further away, so if he was going to end that monster's life, it was now or never.

[Balcerzak]

"Heh, well, explosive 'r not, guess these'll hafta do inna pinch," Sinbad quipped back at Anna and leveled his pistol, lining up a shot. Another archer was rapid-firing some arrows at the feathered fiend, hopefully one or the other of them could use the other as a distraction and land something definitive. The cowboy squeezed the trigger.

[Nanami Touko]

She'd been meaning to ask the woman more about her wyvern, more about her name, but she'd already disappered back into the wagon. How unfortunate.

Eva had finally had enough of standing, sitting herself close to Jericho on the now beginning to get full wagon. "Then you'll just have to hold on tight. I always want people who've never flown to experience it at least once. There's even a harness you can strap yourself into, so don't worry about falling off. Unless you're really against it. Don't want to make you feel too uncomfortable, now." Just a little bit is fine.

Edited January 17, 2014 by I have opinions

[Oersted]

Well things certainly were moving fast now that Ken and Jessica managed to get the people to loan them a wagon, or had these people loaned it without being asked? It was moving so quickly Orville couldn't tell, one minute he had been on the ground near Ken and Jessica and now he was on top of the spare wagon. Oh my, I'm so high up I'd hate to fall. Mother and father would have a fit if I died from falling off a wagon. But it is rather crowded up here though...

[Mercakete]

From the sounds of things, Weyland's guardsmen weren't all healed yet and Alex had taken the time to throw some light magic into the air, though the shot its self was ineffectual. Seeing Synthia not too far away, she called over, "Hoy, Synthia! I think these people could use yer help!"

[Snowy_One]

The call for Synthia brought Alex back to his senses. Well, he hadn't really LOST them exactly, but to say he wasn't sick of having demonic beings running about and hurting people, making more people for him to heal and killing others in probably greater numbers than he could save by healing alone, not to mention being generally unlikeable, had made him mad enough to attack. But there were still people in need of healing to attend to and, for now, his offensive magic seemed worthless, so he decided to focus instead on helping out the guardsmen, returning to healing them.

---

"I'm really getting sick of all this. Ever since we left the odds always seem to be getting worse and worse." thought Robin to herself as she sat in the wagon. "I mean, I left home for stupid reasons, but the worst I had thought to fight was maybe an entire army of Urswine wanting to kill me for being Skotian, not facing off against hell itself. Heck, even then I wouldn't be getting sick of it if it felt like we were winning or something, but ever since we picked up that damned demon-girl things have been getting worse and worse. I almost feel like I'm suck in a mud-puddle or, at best, walking up a very steep hill. Least this time I didn't almost die, but what about next time? Are we going to end up fighting some gigantic demon mountain? Some overpowered monster that we can only beat by bowing in an honorable duel and would otherwise overpower us?

She slumped down a bit to the wagon floor, taking one of her arrow shafts out and giving it a heavy bend.

I wish I could just go home too. I mean, if the end of the world is coming, what good are obsidian arrows going to do against it? I'm using technology that was old before these peoples grandparents were even born and the only reason it's not less relevant was because it's still good tech. But even if I threw caution to the wind and got the most awesome gun ever, I've gone from shooting black stones to lead marbles at enemies. I'm useless here. I really am. I can't do anything to stop these demons. Only thing I can hope is that they don't decide to make me their next meal.

With a sharp sound, the arrow snapped.

---

Tia gulped as, slowly, she approached Raquel as Raquel was trying to get the cart loaded. She was still clutching her side, hand over the now-gaping hole in her dress where she had been clawed. Despite the quick repair she had done of tying bits back together, it was still clearly heading for the great sewing machine in the sky if the heavenly chorus of needles had not already carried it there.

"E-Excuse me, Miss Raquel." asked Tia, trying to smile as she looked down at the tattered remains. "Do you have a spare dress I can use? If not here, than back at the manor? Or, if possible, maybe repair this one? It would mean a lot to me so... Please? Pretty please? With magical sprinkles on top?"

Edited January 17, 2014 by Snowy_One

[Phoenix]

Options

"Everything's sorted here, yeah ... I'm just worried about the estate now. Nothing good ever happens when we split up ... I mean sure, we always win, in a sense, but sometimes it's really costly," Raquel struggled to explain to Erion while the driver respectfully tuned out the conversation. That was around the time Tia arrived, inquiring about her dress.

Spare dress? I don't wear dresses ... well, except for that one ball gown but I'm not sure if I'm going to keep that or not, and I'm also sure that's not something you wear on just any occasion. Raquel looked to Tia and got a glance at the ruined dress. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. She knew right then and there she couldn't actually 'repair' it with just what was there, and that replacing it was probably a better option. Using alchemy was one option, but she wasn't sure if Connor was up for that sort of thing, so she decided that it would probably be better to just replace it. "Uhh ... we should probably just replace it, honestly. Once things settle down I'll look into it. If we can't find anything in your size, we can just buy you one in town tomorrow."

They wouldn't shut down the whole city after this would they? She wasn't sure. For now, she was hoping they would find a few things in her size at the estate.

Successful Defend

As Hoshi's blast took out one of the hellhounds, the other pressed on and leaped onto Pete's back. The other hound picked up speed and leaped with unnatural strength, flying above Shariff's passengers and came down with its jaws wide open, hoping to fit Arietta's entire skull inside.

Loki meanwhile was still under fire, even at this distance, though it was nothing less than he expected. It seemed like a much better idea to just try and escape now. Loki became set on that idea after a gunshot struck him in the gut, and an arrow pierced the arm he'd raised to shield himself. <"Urgh ..."> Deciding not to waste anymore time, Loki leaped into the air as high as he could, and began flying backward as best he could. Instead of destroying the explosive bolt and using its energy to power an ice spell and subsequently catapult himself away, he decided to flee with it intact. If he could make it out of here and meet up with the others, it was a useful piece of technology they could easily adapt to suit their needs.

"That looked like a hit, but he's still standing ... sheesh, he's got no armor and he's still tougher than most of our guys," Anna said, commenting on Sinbad's shot and Loki's reaction to it. As much as she wanted to try to take him down again, she decided to just see how things played out. If he got away, so be it, if not ... so be it.

[spoiler=For the Burn]Valdimarr slowly released his grip on Weyland, and Siv began backing away to a safe distance. Just as the sovereign began turning to face the small army at the door, Weyland dove to the ground and everyone with a gun who was up front opened fire. Few were surprised that Valdimarr warped away just in the nick of time.

"Protect Mister Weyland," Evert called out. Ernesta was already on that, and as Valdimarr reappeared and kicked one of the gunmen in the head, Evert swapped his pistol for his blade and rushed in with several others. Valdimarr was gone by the time they were within striking distance. Evert was targeted next and took a decent kidney shot from the sovereign that forced him forward a few feet. His armor kept him from being instantly taken out of the fight, though. "Arrrrgh ... damn this guy ..."

When Valdimarr next appeared, he seemed to leap right out of another dimension and tackled another guard to the ground. Another took a shot at him but he was gone before it could hit and he barely missed his ally. "Don't give up; no one can just keep jumping constantly without draining themselves! No one," one of the guards assured them.

Siv was the next target, but Valdimarr's intentions with her were a little purer. He came out of nowhere, grabbed her from behind, and vanished before they realized what was going on. Siv managed nothing more than a small "Huh?" before disappearing.

Up on the stage, Valdimarr had more than five times as many enemies present as he first thought, and the number of guns being trained on him was increasing rapidly. Annelise's answer wasn't the one Valdimarr was hoping for, but he figured Steinn would only allow the most loyal of loyal to guard him. He'd need at least that much to survive this long after the Slaughter of Siblings. <"Hmph, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get. I'll crush both of you.">

"Don't worry about us, just take him down," Steinn instructed their reinforcements. Gabbie was on the ground already, so there was little chance of her getting hit, and without having to spread his barrier as far, he could stop one or two stray bullets, so long as they struck the barrier at an angle. There was still the issue of shrinking the barrier to prevent Valdimarr from moving into it ...

Valdimarr didn't wait for them to start shooting and warped directly behind Steinn. He was still in sight of some of the shooters when he arrived, and those that were wielding melee weapons were preparing to rush in after the first volley to tear Valdimarr apart, but Steinn wasn't in a position to defend himself with Valdimarr inside the barrier. <"You're dead, Steinn,"> Valdimarr yelled as he prepared to strike.

For someone apparently so proud in his combat ability, Valdimarr seemed quite fond of these sneaky back attacks... was it the first one's death that had him so cautious, now? Annelise supposed it wasn't much of a concern why, so long as the pattern continued, it could be countered... but relying on said pattern would only spell death if it was broken. Still, the yelled death threat made this one more obvious than most, and as Valdimarr readied his strike from behind, Annelise brought her scythe around defensively, hooking it so that if Valdimarr were to press forward with his assault, he would surely be impaled on the blade and suppressed.

<"Not today... not so long as I draw breath.">

Valdimarr chose to avoid the attack rather than suffer a grievous injury just to dish out a minor one and vanished just before Steinn turned around, appearing again outside of the shrinking barrier. That was when all the onstage shooting started and Steinn knelt down to lower his profile, and make keeping the barrier up easier. The barrier conformed to the new overall shape of the two while Valdimarr dodged the onslaught of bullets, arrows, and magic attacks.

A few guards went down as Valdimarr moved in and out of his wormholes to lash out at them, and then, with mostly melee weapons remaining, the guards rushed him from both sides of the stage. He countered by blasting a few of them with his dark fire spells but in the end, there were just too many for a combat style like his to address, and he made a desperate leap at Steinn hoping to at least cripple his brother. The barrier deflected that hit and sent him back.

<"STEEEEEIIIIN!!!"> His frustration was mounting with so many obstacles in his way.

Following Steinn's example, Annelise knelt down to shrink her profile, though not to the extent he had... she needed to maintain some leverage on her weapon, after all. And any assault aimed at her wasn't aimed at Steinn... if Valdimarr were to get sloppy trying to exploit one of her openings rather than her lord's, that might be all the time he would need. Still, with the barrier conforming about her, and in a solid defensive stance, those openings should be few and far between.

As Valdimarr leapt, Annelise prepared to intercept him, but he didn't make it through the barrier... with it now too small for him to warp into without exposing himself to immediate assault, one might hope he would simply get shot down trying... but the chances of things going that well seemed slim.

"Annelise," Steinn spoke up to get her attention, "This is probably just an imitation or something to that effect, but he's just as dangerous as my brother ..." While explaining what seemed rather obvious to anyone who'd been involved up to that point, Steinn was sending two messages at once, reminding her of the situation with his words, and running a slightly simple, slightly complex plan with his thoughts. The plan was simple in that if it worked, Valdimarr would be so badly injured in the process that they could just leave him be afterward and he would die on his own, if they so chose. It was complex in that it would require a bit of setting up first. Steinn just needed him to try and make one more attack, he and Annelise would counter at the same time, and then unleash their most powerful close range magic in unison. If it worked, there wouldn't be much left of him, but Steinn needed to make sure Gabbie wasn't caught in the blast, which also went with the part of his plan that called for expanding his barrier again.

While this was going on, Valdimarr was taking down Weyland's men and women left and right, and had warped over twenty times since his arrival. Most of them couldn't believe how much stamina the sovereign possessed and were wondering how much longer their numbers advantage would hold up.

"I am well aware, Milord." Annelise replied, responding to Steinn's thoughts in kind. The plan was simple in theory, and were this any other opponent, exceedingly simple in execution. Still, it wasn't a bad plan, and in the event of it's failure, Annelise need only steel herself to receive the blow in Steinn's place.

"Be ready then, this will be cutting it a bit close," Steinn warned. Immediately afterward, he began to expand his barrier again in order to bring Gabbie back under its curtain, and when Valdimarr noticed he smirked and began planning his next move, all while still whittling down the opposition. Miraculously no one had been killed just yet, but there were plenty of broken or utterly destroyed limbs, and some of them had severe burns as well.

"RETREAT!!!" Steinn's sudden order shocked the guards trying their damnedest to at least slow Valdimarr down, but after Valdimarr reappeared and kicked one of them so hard that his neck was snapped, signalling the first possible fatality of the group, they were convinced. As they began to fall back, Valdimarr saw an opening. By that time, Gabbie was back under the barrier's protection, but as a result, the barrier's strength had decreased significantly. Still, the way Steinn had manipulated his magic meant that Valdimarr would still have to punch through it rather than warp inside of it, which was exactly what the craftier of the two brothers wanted.

As Valdimarr turned to face them, he smirked once again and vanished, only reappearing when he reached his targets. His arm was bathed in dark flames and he planned to smash right through the barrier with everything he had; if they tried to counter that, he would just vanish. That was his plan, and it would have worked perfectly if Steinn hadn't fallen back on his earlier tactics so suddenly. He began to use his stone gaze just before Valdimarr's punch connected, and while it wasn't effective due to his own strong barrier, it had disturbed it significantly and partially petrified the sovereign's face.

His fist collided with the barrier, and adding surprise onto surprise, Steinn converted it into an offensive spell by sending all of that energy into violent oscillations. Valdimarr's hand was being disintegrated by the second. All that remained was for Annelise to hook him with the scythe, and they could blast him with whatever they had to spare.

That was her cue, her opening. Moving her scythe as planned, the blade of the scary repurposed farm tool, likely to be considered even more scary after digging into the gut of the current Kestrelli sovereign, did just that, piercing Valdimarr through the midsection, and with a sharp twist, tore into the lining of his stomach and hooked itself into his ribcage. As for step two, that was simple. With Valdimarr finally locked down, the man's entire body, both inside and out, was immediately ignited, engulfed in dark flames, lapping away at both his physical body and his life force... even if he managed to warp away, the extent of his injuries would fell him soon enough. Regardless of that, moments afterwards, Steinn too was engulfed in what appeared to be those same flames... though they were a light cyan instead of a heated scarlet, and instead of wounding the craftier Devlinos brother, they instead began working to close his wounds and ease his pain.

"You need this more than I, Milord." Annelise noted, as she continued to apply pressure towards both her grapple and the inferno raging about Valdimarr.

Valdimarr still hadn't warped away which meant it was time to unleash his spell as well. With Weyland's people at a safe distance, Gabbie safely on the inside of the barrier, and no more distractions from pain nor fear, Steinn channeled as much power as he could safely spare into his barrier and ejected the whole thing at once. Valdimarr was violently skinned by the attack, everything down to his muscles being disintegrated as the barrier rushed over and passed him. The floor of the stage was ravaged by the expanding mass of dark energy as well, but that was of little concern right now. What concerned Steinn more and utterly confused him initially, was that a golden bracelet was attached to his older brother's right arm. He wasn't sure, but it reminded him of the fire emblem, and it was the only thing that wasn't being damaged in either of their assaults.

<"AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH-"> For once, a scream of this nature was a good sound. Valdimarr was burned beyond recognition and once the attacks ceased, he was no longer moving or breathing, and what blood had spilled to the floor had been cooked into it or evaporated by the volatile energies surrounding him.

There were no Valdimarrs left in the conference room ... alive at least, and Steinn took a step back and sighed in relief. The danger hadn't passed just yet, but the use of overwhelming force must have sent a clear message to Valdimarr, a message that he wasn't invincible, even with his warping abilities, and even with a fire emblem fragment. The fire emblem fragment ... Steinn saw that it was still on the body, but like the body, it was beginning to turn into tiny golden particles. Likely a fake then, he concluded, a golden accessory to sell the deception.

"Thank you for your assistance, Annelise. I'm glad that I can rely on you, even against what are starting to seem like overwhelming odds ..." Steinn sounded relieved, but his face seemed to be stuck in the past, still tense, and uneasy.

Edited April 1, 2014 by Phoenix

[Ether]

"Like hell I'm gonna let that shit slip through!" Arietta roared, as the ever persistent hound leapt above them and began it's descent, jaws agape... only to be smashed across the completely undefended head by the heavy steel maul that Arietta clubbed it with, sending the body careening to the floor... how many more of these damn things were there?

***

"Odds are just that, Milord. Regardless of what might stand in your path, I shall tear it asunder and out from your way." Annelise replied, before making her way over to Gabbie. With Steinn's wounds already taken care of by her last infusion, the fallen woman began applying that same cyan flame to the unconscious lancer, reinvigorating her with life energy... of course, with no target to drain it from this time, it came straight from Annelise herself, but having come out mostly unscathed, it was an amount she could spare without long term repercussions.

Short term, however, her vision began to grow a tad hazy, and her loose grip on her scythe loosened further, sending the weapon clattering to the ground. It was a small price to pay, however... this human woman was important to Lord Steinn... that was all that mattered.

[-Cynthia-]

The waves of demons never seemed to end. Nadya trotted Luca over and healed the bowman getting his back clawed, hoping this respite would allow him to kill the beast. I hope this is near to the last of 'em- not sure how much more I can focus...

Edited January 17, 2014 by -Cynthia-

[ReformBlade]

"If time permits it and I haven't thrown up merely hours ago, i might be inclined to accept that invite." He said with a halfhearted glance and smile in her direction. Covering up his yawning, Jericho slumped in his seat a bit, not particularly caring how sloppy he looked at the moment. "I could really use a nap, or just a decent bed, anything softer than solid ground..."

Unsure of what was still transpiring, Mushirah couldn't help but start to worry that things weren't going as planned. They certainly didn't for her, but she wasn't deluding herself into thinking things were based around her, at least not in this exact capacity. Chilled, weakened, tired, she stared at her right side, a feeling of dread being added to her current swimming thoughts as she sat there thinking about what she was going to do. Apathy struck her as she realized she couldn't draw or do anything she had set out from home to do until she could relearn it all with her other hand. Perhaps had it been her other arm that had been lost, or if she had preferred her left hand for her artistic endeavors she wouldn't be feeling as useless. Admittedly, it's the difference between feeling 95% useless and 90% useless if how she felt about it would be quantified. "I'll be alright..." she mumbled in a faint whisper, lying to herself.

Edited January 17, 2014 by ReformBlade

[Nanami Touko]

"Alright. After I get him back, you can meet him, and see if you're brave enough to give it a shot." Eva looked up, ready to stare at some stars, but instead saw feet dangling over the wagon. She cocked her eyebrow, very confused, and leaned forward to see who it was. "Hello? Who's up there?" How odd. Someone sitting on the roof.

Edited January 18, 2014 by I have opinions

[Phoenix]

Idle

While the final stragglers fled or were cut down trying, Shadrak stayed by Mushirah just in case something else happened, be it something she did or something the enemy tried. Eventually something did happen, Mushirah said something, but Shadrak didn't quite catch it. Since a casual 'what was that?'t seemed completely wrong in this situation, he leaned toward her slightly and asked this: "Once we get the all clear, do you want me to find a room for you?" He likely wouldn't get his real question answered, ever, but the curiosity was already subsiding anyway.

Anna meanwhile carefully picked up her crossbow and began to gently brush it off with her hand while thoughtfully looking it over. The last of the fallen had gotten away, and Pete was busy tangoing with a hellhound, but she wasn't in a position to help and so hoped the two riding on that massive war horse would reach him in time. Well, it could be worse, I suppose; it just might be, come to think of it. There hasn't been any word from inside yet. I should probably hurry back there. Without any parting words whatsoever, Anna began jogging toward the estate entrance.

Recovery

"Are you alright, Master Weyland?" Ernesta asked as she sat on her calves beside Weyland. He hadn't picked himself up after that initial dive, and he wasn't in the best shape to be doing things like that in the first place.

While supporting himself by his elbows, he sighed and replied, "Floor's a lot harder than I expected, but yes, I'm alright for the moment." After noticing how calm she was, he added, "Well, you certainly seem to have calmed down."

"Rage is a useful tool in battle, but I will never allow it to control me, or outlast its usefulness," she explained coolly.

"Ah. Thought you finally lost control there for a moment ... all the yelling and whatnot. You all seemed to, honestly," Weyland said, smiling.

Up on the stage, Steinn knelt down over Gabbie to see if she would wake up soon. "Well, there's much tearing to be done still; be prepared for anything going forward," Steinn replied to Annelise. And he meant 'anything', because after what Valdimarr pulled on them, there was nothing the enemy could pull that he would deem completely implausible. His entire strategy for preventing the war, or in the worst case, winning the war, would have to be completely reworked to include multiple instances of his primary target, and an increased ability to confuse and hinder allied forces. He wasn't sure if he would be able to get much sleep tonight.

While Steinn mused and waited, Gabbie rolled over onto her back and let loose a couple of quiet moans. Steinn could tell she was at least coming to, but he wasn't sure exactly what was going on in her thoughts. They were racing, almost like she was checking things off a list, and with her eyes closed, one of her normal senses was 'missing' and as a result, sensory information came up even more jumbled and unclear than usual. In the end, he concluded that she was probably trying to see what was going on before making it obvious that she was awake. He and many others he knew did much the same thing, only it was first thing after waking up.

Gabbie suddenly shot up into a seated position and put her hands back to support herself before saying, "Valdimarr's still here ..."

Chitchat

Valdimarr was wandering aimlessly through the halls of the estate with Siv at his side, trying to plot his next move. Depending on whether or not his other self managed to defeat Steinn ... well, he decided to just wait and see exactly what happened and how. In the meantime, he made small talk with Siv. <"So, how've you been?">

<"Good ... but these humans are weird,"> Siv immediatley replied, thinking back to all the 'weird' things she'd experienced first hand.

<"Not surprising. Anything in particular stick out about them?"> Valdimarr continued, placing his hands behind his head.

<"Oh oh! They bury their dead!">

Valdimarr glanced at Siv in surprised, opened his mouth to comment on it, came up with nothing, and then closed his mouth again. As his gaze shot forward again, he finally settled on something. <"Well that's just fucked up. Sure the kigenese burn their dead, but I thought that was just to spite us. These northerners have nothing to do with us and they bury their dead? This must be one insanely abundant land. Good; I'll take it~">

<"Great! Oh, there's one more thing, Lord Valdimarr ..."> Siv said, becoming a little sheepish as she began. <"I was wondering if we could go and get Shadrak.">

Raising an eyebrow, but not looking from where he was going, Valdimarr asked, <"... the hell is a Shadrak?">

<"He's a human I want to keep.">

<"Oh, a pet? Okay, sure. Can we get'em later, though? He's not going anywhere, right? I've still got a potential fight on my hands, I still haven't slapped any sense into your mother about this whole who owns who nonsense, and I need to make sure the others know I'm alive before they go and do something stupid without my permission.">

<"Uh-okay ..."> She wasn't going to argue with that, though that did remind her. Shadrak wasn't the last issue she had to bring up after all. <"Lord Valdimarr?">

<"Hm?">

<"There is one other thing. There's a hatchling here. I was trying to help take care of her but I'm still not old enough. She has a lot of power ... and ... and we can't just leave her with these humans, right?">

Valdimarr paused to think about the revelation. Where would Steinn and his allies come across a kestrelii like the one Siv was talking about? Was this hatchling his niece or had Steinn had an egg or two smuggled away from Corvus at some point? Either way, he agreed with Siv on the matter. <"Right. Okay then, let's find her and then wait for-hrg ..."> Valdimarr was cut off mid-sentence by a wave of new memories flooding his mind ... most of them agonizing ones that almost felt real. What was far worse than the benign phantom pain rushing throughout his entire body was the realization that came with it. <"... again. Steinn ... defeated me ... again."> As Siv's hopeful smile faded, Valdimarr fell to his knees. <"What does it take to kill that coward?! Argh!">

Edited January 18, 2014 by Phoenix

[Snowy_One]

"Ah. I see." said Tia, clearly sounding a bit down. She had hoped that Raquel could repair it given enough time, but that didn't sound possible. "This dress means a lot to me. When I became a full mage, my master bought it for me as a gift. Even sought out blue specifically to show my skill as a water mage. It... Would mean a lot if it could be preserved in some form at the least, or if it can't, if the replacement was as close as possible. I doubt you could find an exact replacement though as it's very rare, according to my master."

[ReformBlade]

Mushirah nodded, mouthing the word "please". Having a bed to fall on sounded absolutely divine right about now, and just thinking about it let her relax her muscles, tension fading away a little bit. A bed, maybe if I dream deep enough, I won't wake up... Trade my reality for a dream... With that depressing yet very tempting thought on her mind, Mushirah shifted her posture to something a little more comfortable, though it might have looked a bit pathetic watching her squirm in place.

"Mmm." Jericho grunted, not wanting to sound rude but at the same time he wasn't really thrilled at trying to give a definite response to the woman. Still though... "Maybe." he added, like a smooth class act.

[Ether]

"He's... still here?" Annelise replied, as Gabbie jumped up to a sitting position... at least she was well enough for that. Though it was most certainly a problem... healing the lancer using that more direct method had taken far too much energy to consider fighting Valdimarr again, yet...

"Very well. What will you have me do, Lord Steinn?" She asked, trying... and mostly failing, to conceal her weakened state. She had to be strong, for her lord's sake...

***

There seemed to be only but the one hound left, accosting the other axeman. Closing the distance, Faatina and Arietta worked towards getting the thing off of Pete, and getting it killed already.

[Oersted]

"Oh just me and a few other adults from the tavern," Orville answered the feminine voice that came from underneath him. "Oh, you asked who didn't you? I'm Orville, a messenger but I occasionally deliver things. Who might you be, unknown voice from the wagon?" Orville briefly considered attempted to take a look in side the wagon but quickly thought better of it after he gave it some thought.