Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Mercakete]

"Well, alright. Take care of yourself," Norbert replied. He was a little worried for Blake, but he wasn't about to let that show. Instead, he allowed his solemn confidence in him be the more visible emotion. Then, with a little nod of farewell, turned Rizen around. Her flank had been facing the wall, but in order to give her wings a bit of a break from hovering, the pegasus half landed on the side of the wall and kicked off of it to launch herself back in the direction of the estate.

On his way back, Norbert noticed a horseman riding quickly down the road. He didn't look military, though. Maybe he was one of Weyland's. I know I'm supposed to talk to Raquel, but I might as well tell this guy first if he's going to try to help Blake, too. So, he and Rizen swooped down, making a wide, steep turn until Rizen landed, folded in her wings and began running alongside the other equine. Her rider then asked the other rider, "Hey, you looking for Blake?"

[scorri]

Glancing to the side, Erion frowned. "Yeah, I'm hoping to give him a ride back. I kind of gave Raquel the slip to get out here so fast to be honest. I'm assuming he's still alive, or you'd have started with that. Are you headed back to tell Raquel that?"

Edited December 20, 2013 by scorri

[Mercakete]

"More than that," Norbert answered, "He's not just alive -- he's unharmed and has a bunch of soldiers around he says he's going to help out. I wouldn't waste my time trying to get him to come back. Anyway, I'm off to deliver the news to Raquel."

With that, Rizen launched back into the air and turned around, once again speeding towards Weyland's estate.

[Snowy_One]

Robin and Tia both waited outside, Robin with her bow at the ready and Tia looking decisively antsy.

"You look a bit odd. You did not look this bothered at all when we fought out in the fields." commented Robin.

"I'm worried, that's all. I mean, when we fought before, it was a small group and all. Do you realize how hard it is to keep my mists working right? If I don't want to accidentally help our enemies I need to keep track of a lot of things at once. There is a reason why so few people even bother trying what I do. To do so you need to be able to keep a constant mind about you. We're about to fight demons. In a city. I don't know how many there are, how many are just innocent civilians and how many are actual warriors fighting for us. This is like... Ummm..."

"Hunting a cougar? A lot of hard work and one mis-step can result in an unfavorable situation for all?"

"I guess. I don't know much about hunting. Say, Robin, you're a Skotian, right, and I'm not sheltered so much to know you probably don't like Ursian people, but you're about to fight demons for them. Why?"

"I believe in honor in combat. Fight only the people who are a threat, leave the innocent. Even Urswine can be honorable and deserve protection from demons. I may not like Ursians, but I am not some idiot who sees the world in jaded black and white. You may be Ursian, but you are smart. Raquel is gracious, and many other good traits cover between your people. Ursian people are not evil, just... not the kind of people I am always comfortable around.

[Phoenix]

Langley's Room

What are those fools doing with explosives? "Hmm ... follow after the prince. Once the parameter is secured, make your own way to the Grand Cathedral. Take Miss Bradford with you."

"Desmond?" Clover had to wonder if he wanted eyes on the ground in that area or just wanted to get her back to the cathedral for some other purpose.

Main Entrance

First came an excited gasp from Amber, and then, "Thank you, Ma'am! You won't regret it! I'll even say hello for you too!" She honestly wasn't expecting this outcome, and so she was even happier than usual. As Amber turned to leave, the Sapphire and Cain emerged from the manse. "Colonel? Lieutenant?"

"Long story short, better to be with our own than mingle with the nobility any longer," Cain explained. Realizing that was a little rude on multiple fronts, one, because the nobility kept the army funded during financial crises, and two, because Sapphire herself was the heir of House Langley, he added, "Though, it's rea-... mainly for some fresh air. It can get a little stuffy in there after awhile."

"Ah okay, well I'm going to go say hello to the king now," Amber said as she began hurriedly heading back inside.

Cain held out his hand expectantly and said, "Sword." After all, there was no reason to leave it on a table if she could just leave it here with him. Once she'd handed that over, she continued on her way.

Carriages

Shadrak felt terrible that Mushirah had to be involved in all of this emblem business. It really did bring nothing but constant danger, violence, and heartache. He realized though, that even though it might have been in her best interest to separate from the group while she had the chance, he couldn't easily make the suggestion. He too found this journey was making his own goals significantly harder and more treacherous, but he wasn't leaving either, and he didn't have enough friends here to want to deliberately convince one of them to leave.

The driver noticed that Weyland's carriage was picking up speed and pulling away at an alarming rate. He felt sorry for the occupants, since at that speed, they would indeed get back much faster, but the shaking they would have to endure on this terrain was ridiculous. Still, he had a feeling the rest of the convoy was to do the same. Warning Shadrak, Mushirah and the others, he yelled, "I'm terribly sorry about all this, but Master Weyland is in quite the hurry."

"Uh ... okay then," Shadrak replied, not being entirely sure what the driver was getting at at first; the ride wasn't that bumpy so far. He shifted his focus back to Mushirah and said, "... for what it's worth, Mushirah, I'm here for you. I certainly don't have all the answers-" Or even half of them, but that's what the road I travel is all about ... "-but I'll help you out however I can, okay? I just want you to know that."

By some miracle, Shadrak managed to get all of that out before the carriage started shaking like an earthquake was underway. Not having much to use for support, he stretched out his arms and legs, the latter to secure himself in the seat, and the former to help secure Mushirah and keep himself steady. "Urgh, so that's what he was on about ..."

Dining Hall

"Months of planning does sound really-no it is boring by comparison," Suzume commented, amending herself. When he mentioned the tension involved, she was reminded of her time in the wilderness with that would-be rival bounty hunter. That was definitely tense, but they weren't out there for very long just the same. "Well I do like it here so far, but that's just my first impression. I'm actually waiting on dinner right now, and assuming whatever's happening right now doesn't amount to anything, I'll be getting my own room afterward. I'm not sure if it's a good sign that I'm so calm right now ... when this place is apparently in danger ...."

Other Main Entrance

When Veronika asked him if he would be all right, Reign shrugged at first. "Probably. My depth perception is gone but I can still fight," he explained as he came back outside with her.

"You're going to fight in your condition? Did you hit your head or something? You're just as likely to hurt an ally as an enemy if two sides end up merging. You should just sit this one out," Nadine advised, upset by the fact that he already knew this and was still intent on fighting. She winced a little when she realized he was mostly ignoring her.

I hit my head alright, but this isn't about that. I just don't like the idea of sitting around doing nothing when I've already been healed. They did what they could, it's up to me to adapt to this one-eyed bullshit, and in this situation that means jumping right in. "Hm? Where's Raquel?" Reign asked those around in general. It didn't seem like they would just let her run off back to the city ... Nadine certainly wouldn't, so he had to consider that maybe she went back inside to change.

Royal Arrival

The gate had long been in view, but only after a lot of riding was the prince's carriage now close enough to warrant stopping. There were a few wagons lined up on both sides of the gate. What little traffic there was had been utterly frozen, first by the order to close the gate, and then by the sudden demon attack.

As the carriage came to a stop behind one of the wagons, the prince let himself out of the carriage and took in the scene. An entire section of Europa seemed to be abandoned because of these things. Tightly gripping his sword, he asked, "Why did this have to happen ... tonight of all nights?"

Eugene sensed the contempt in Athrun's words and began to fear for whoever was responsible. Athrun had no intention of sparing their lives, whoever they were.

The Walkway

"Hmm," Jessica began to muse, pacing with her arms crossed as the cavaliers began to work on gathering explosives.

"Holy crap, where did they get those barrels? We don't keep that much here. Were they planning to blow something up from the start?" Ken asked. It seemed like they were ready for this exact situation.

"It's actually not as much as I feared. They're probably just trying to destroy the gate's door so they can get inside. Blowing up the entire gate will leave the city vulnerable on this side and will take months to rebuild. Just blow up the door and all you need is a replacement. We'll still need to get down from by the rooftops unless you'd rather get one of the ropes lying around and repel down."

"No way, we'll end up in an alley and we know full well these monsters are on the prowl," Ken argued. "What we need to do is tell them to stop before they get themselves killed. Those things are just going to pounce on them the moment the smoke clears."

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Wait, danger?" Was it his own carelessness that led to this being the first he'd heard? Well, whatever. "What danger?"

[Phoenix]

Danger Close

"Well, something's going on. That one woman showed up before you did and said demons were attacking the city," Suzume explained. I'm not sure why the other demons are behaving the way they are, though ...

"We've been expecting this for some time, now, but tonight of all nights ..." Ernesta added an incomplete thought.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Demons, really?" Gar shook his head. Well, this did give him one utterly delectable idea, and Gar unconsciously licked his lips at the thought. "Well, whatever complete and utter moron Fallen that's leading this charge will eventually reveal itself in some no-doubt gaudy display of arrogance, then we grab him and stuff him."

[Phoenix]

Simple Plans

"That sounds good to me; the simple plans are the ones that work the best," Suzume nodded in agreement. As long as she could keep a distance, she didn't mind helping in the defense of this place ... though she did remind herself that she probably didn't have much of a choice in the matter, either, at least if she wanted to get paid and fed.

"Killing their leader won't necessarily end the battle in either case," Ernesta noted. "I suspect we'll have to devastate their forces before they'll consider giving up." Stubborn buzzards.

"Erm-you can't kill Lord Valdimarr. He is far too powerful," Siv confidently stated to the entire room, causing Suzume to squint irritably at her. Ernesta on the other hand simply ignored her. As far as she was concerned, if it could bleed, it could die.

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"Oh, I never had any dreams of it ending the battle instantly, everyone would just go for that immediately if it happened, well if they knew who he was, but then again that heads back to the gaudy show," Gar shrugged. "He's too powerful huh? Oh I've certainly heard that a lot. About like, Ernesto the Invincible, and Adelah of the Burning Hills, Zelwrich the Black Curse, Quintion the Unbeatable, Ironfist Ketil, The Sword, Deadeye Dan, Gilroy the Unstobbale, Jiao the Immovable, Fiere the Flicker, Ulrich the Manslayer, Bart the Best, Oxford the Invincible, Never-Miss Nick, Leeroy Stoneskin, Violet the Violent, Skulltaker Sam, Skulltaker Pete, Skulltaker the Third, Poor Yorrick, Malice X, Warrick One-Swing, Rolando the Invincible, Tiny Terry, Lector of the Blood Moon, Killer the Man of a Hundred Massacres, Jacob Marley, Horratio Hornstealer, Godfrey the Chosen, Fielding the Captain of the Invincible, Derwood the Nameless, Steven Hundred-Ears, Stephan Thousand Toes, Two-Finger Stefan, Angeal the Pitiless, Master Merrick, Nolan the Invincible, Betty the Beast, Victor Victory, Cartwright Major, Cartwright Minor, X the International Man of Mystery who was actually a woman, Zeltrech the Tripper, Pioneer, Obaron the True King of the World, Obwright, the One True King of the World, Iernesto the Invincible, Yim the Conqueror, The Dread Pirate Tim Collins, Rhea Rhose the Witch-Mother of Seventeen Children, The Invincible Nate, Euna the Amazing, William the Bold, Willy the Not-So-Bold, Will the Quite Cowardly, Wil the Complete Coward, Quarrel the Traitor and Garren the Great." Gar ranted off a list composed of some form of complete what is he talking about. "And about a couple dozen more guys called Invincible."

[Rothene]

Hearing that demons were attacking the city, Itsuki immediately bolted upright and brought out all his weapons. He had spent all his life fighting those things, and he was damned if he shirked away from yet another fight. "I GO!" shouted the old knight was he made his way to follow the group heading to the city. He could not locate his grand nephew, but it was not a soldier's place to put the safety of kin above the safety of civilians. Ranyin should be old enough to care for himself anyway.

***

Ranyin saw the look on his grand uncle's face at the mention of demon attack and decided to quickly move away. He intended to stay at the estate.

***

Mireille wanted nothing more than a warm bath and a good sleep as soon as she got back to the Weyland estate. It was quite refreshing to be in a ball after never attending one for so long. It made her think about the family while she sat in the carriage.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Rothene

[-Cynthia-]

Langley's Room

"Very well, we will set out immediately," Erica answered, raising her head and beginning to head out. I don't know where the prince has gotten to by this point, but we must at least try...I wish Major General Selene were here...

"Are you prepared to leave Miss Bradford?" Jacobs asked Clover, figuring he ought to at least be polite.

Estate Entrance

"If you have confidence that you can still fight then I won't stop you," Veronika said to Reign, although a lack of depth perception seemed like it would make for poor aiming to her. "I don't know where Raquel is, but we must leave soon with or without her. Time is of the essence," she said, noting that a sizable portion of their group had made it outside already.

[Mercakete]

When Amber mentioned she was going to say hello for her, Cecelia tensed up a little, though it was hardly visible. She didn't want anyone bothering the king on her behalf and since it was Amber doing the talking, well...what came out of that girl's mouth was a roulette of sorts. Even if she had decided to object, however, there was no time for it. The colonel and lieutenant had come back to them and so Cecelia stood at attention before her superior officer. If Colonel Langley wanted a report, she figured she'd ask. The captain guessed Nadine's absence would going to come up with or without the request for a formal report, though...as well as probably asking why she let Private Grace go greet the king.

[Snike]

Evelyn almost immediately drew her sword as she stepped out of the carriage and saw the devastated area. This was worse than expected.

"Let us be off," she said, with a grim tone. Whoever had done this would pay by her hand, if not by the prince's.

Meanwhile, Ethan similarly exited the carriage, but didn't seem to react much. Instead, he began to look for the Professor. She had been scouting around here, right?

***

"Heh, we'll see," Blake said, as Bert left. His attention quickly turned to the demolition efforts, which were to blow the doors themselves.

"Are they part of the standard guard, or the army, though?" Blake asked the privates. "If they're actual army, they should be able to deal with the monsters. Not to mention, if they do it right, they can crush a few of them with the doors."

[ReformBlade]

Giving Shadrak a downcast smile, Mushirah wasn't sure if she was glad he said that or if she really appreciated a distraction at all. She almost wanted to go ahead and give him a hug but feared that would be just a bit random at the moment. Settling for squeezing his hand, it ended as soon as the carriage's violent shuddering started, Such shaking was hard to ignore and secretly Mushirah was glad for that too. any time not spent wallowing was good for the girl at this rate, though the bruises she might get from the rowdy bumping (giggity) wouldn't really be as welcomed.

Down over at the estate, Jericho and Aneda were discussing their upcoming actions. "Look, all I'm saying is if you want to give her a good impression, then why not offer her your services right now? I know I ain't going, though at this point it's more out of laziness and not wanting to really take Hannah out and endangering her. The girl needed to rest, even if she didn't know it.

"Yeah, i know, I'm just nervous."

"Nervous? Not scared, afraid or even fearing for your life, just nervous?"

"For the love of- YES, okay, yes, I'm human, I have those thoughts all over the place, I just used a one word descriptor!"

Laughing at the guy and ruffling his hair, "I'm just messin with ya! Go on, get. I probably can't give you an introduction though, given there's way more important things going on, but I'm fairly certain any help she can get would be appreciated on some base level."

Groaning and finding the gathering group, Jericho made himself known. "Hey, if you've got room for one more, I'll go help yall out." It was simple, maybe not effective since he didn't really say it to anyone in particular, but whatever. Unless they physically held him back from going, he was going.

[Phoenix]

Langley's Room

"I suppose I am," Clover replied. She didn't sound entirely sure of that, but she was willing to obey regardless. If Desmond had a purpose for her going into the city, she couldn't very well stand here speculating.

"Be sure they reach the correct gate," Desmond added. Clover nodded to him, acknowledging the order and then approaching her escorts.

Ball Manse Entrance

Cain looked around hoping to see a chair or something, but came up short. Sighing, he said, "Maybe the patio might have been a better place to go."

Sapphire smiled in amusement at that. "Our people are mostly here, though, Fletcher."

"Right ... speaking of which, where's Nadine? Did she go to guard a different entrance or something?"

Dining Hall

"I don't know who all those people are, but they sound quite full of themselves. Lord Valdimarr would have eaten them alive," Siv boasted on the sovereign's behalf.

"Do you mean that literally or figuratively?" Ernesta asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I ... umm ... I'm not sure," Siv admitted, not having thought about her phrasing until just then. Quickly taking on a studious air, she said, "It is a common tactic to bite off pieces of your enemy during a fight, so if they taste good, maybe just a little bit."

"Ugh, what is wrong with you people? Anyway, I need to be going. Suzume, you can remain here or accompany me, but ready yourself for battle just the same," Ernesta instructed the new employee before heading for the exit.

"I'll stay here for now. I have my tome so as soon as I'm away from that magic seal I'll be ready to fight ... well ... once I can get my barrier back up to full strength, anyway," Suzume clumsily explained, trying to hide the fact that she was just hoping to keep this casual chitchat with Gar going awhile longer now that she had the option.

Estate Entrance

"Thanks, I appreciate that," Reign replied to Veronika. "So what's going on, exactly? Are we planning to go and fight those bastards in the city?" He was a little surprised, but also glad that they would go to such lengths just to rescue one person. About the same time Reign asked that question, he began to hear something in the distance. It sounded like a carriage or two racing along the driveway ... which probably meant the others were back.

"Whoa, they're going way too fast," Nadine said, already backing up toward the entrance. Reign likewise began to back up when he noticed how quickly they had come into full view.

Finally, when it seemed certain they were driving blindly into the building, the carriages began to slow down. Weyland's carriage still nearly tipped over when the driver made the turn to get it facing the left wing. It came to an abrupt stop and kicked up some dust, and it wasn't a split second later before the door opened and Steinn leaped out, followed by Gabbie, and then Weyland himself.

"What are you all doing out here?" Weyland asked. The estate would need defending, of course, but this seemed like too much manpower to focus on the front entrance, and he feared this had more to do with Raquel than anything else. And as if that wasn't enough excitement, a loud boom reached them the instant Weyland voiced his question. An explosion from the city, no doubt.

Former Gate

"They look like a bloated road patrol group, maybe two groups merged together" Ken answered, uncertain of that, but from this distance and given where they seemed to come from, that was a fair assessment.

"You three! Get back! GET BACK," called out one of the soldiers as he mounted his horse. He waved at them for a few seconds and then got his horse galloping away from the gate with complete abandon, along with the rest of his unit.

"They're already finished?" Ken uttered in surprise.

"There's nowhere to run to in time, just get down," Jessica suggested, immediately ducking for cover. Dying to friendly fire wasn't on her agenda for the evening, that was for certain.

The gate finally exploded a few seconds later, just as Ken was beginning to kneel down. He fell on his rear as the shock wave shook the walkway they were all on and the horses of the cavalry cried out in fear, though they were safe from harm. Those not safe from harm were the demons near the gate. The door had been blown to hundreds of metal scraps and the shrapnel obliterated anything directly in front of either side of the gate. Dust and debris spewed into the city and out of it from that single point and as the dust began to rise, Ken made a reasonable conclusion. Coughing a few times first, he said, "Those crazies strengthened that blast with runes ... definitely the army ..."

"Urgh, couldn't they have just gone around to another gate? They are mounted." Jessica mumbled as she slowly picked herself up.

Currently Gate

As Athrun approached the gate, he had a feeling that they would either have to break through it, or open it. Warping the whole group to the other side was out of the question, and even if he could, they would start this skirmish off with their backs to the wall. "Morgana must have used her magic to get over to the other side ... but I don't see her around here. Angelica, We're going to open this gate. I need you to go into the left tower while I take the right. Evelyn, Eugene, be ready to cut down anything that approaches after that."

"Such as those?" Eugene asked, pointing to some hell hounds that had just appeared. They rushed up to the gate and began trying to stick their paws and snouts through it, desperate to kill the prince and his allies.

"An apt description, Angelica," Athrun muttered once he got a look at the hounds for himself.

[-Cynthia-]

Estate Entrance

"Any assistance would be appreciated," Veronika said with a nod towards Jericho. No need to turn down help, even from strangers.

That explosion didn't sound good at all. "Blake is helping to defend the city over by the north gate, we're leaving shortly to assist him," she answered Weyland. The people who left for the ball might give us a larger force, but they also will need time to get ready- time we may not have. I'll let Raquel make the decision on when to leave...

Nadya's carriage was a few behind Weyland's, but close enough to get a good view of the estate. "Looks like things here are fine," she said to Haythem, managing a small smile. For right now at least...

Leaving the Ball

"Erm, so what did Head Wrathite Langley mean by the 'correct' gate exactly? Do you know where we're supposed to be going?" Jacobs asked Clover as Erica gathered the other Wrathites to where their horses were stabled nearby.

Edited December 22, 2013 by -Cynthia-

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

"I fully expect 'I don't know who that is' to become the standard when asked about this Lord Vradamir after this is done," Gar deliberately misspoke the name. "But enough about that kind of boring stuff, time for a totally different set of boring stuff. Battle preparations." Gar spread his cloak on the ground and followed it up with taking his belts off and placing them atop it. "So, demons, can't say it'd have been my preferred method to spend the night, in fact it may be one of the worst ways to spend a night that doesn't involve a new scar," Gar said as he began inspecting his new knives. Dammit, this timing meant he wouldn't have time to scrap together a fix-up for things. He'd have to halfass this, not good. "There was a ball tonight y'know? It's where like, everyone went. I asked the redhead if you were here yet because I kinda had the inkling to take you, but on the other hand that line was just so boring so coinflip on entertainment there. Well, coinflip from another person anyway." Gar brushed off the stiletto. It was balanced fair and nice, using Old Stabby here would throw that off, not even counting personal weight issues since he hadn't rigged up something for the new knives to hang off of. Pain in the ass.

Edited December 22, 2013 by Script

[Ether]

"Sure, I can do that." Angelica replied, as she vaulted herself up the wall, and into a higher-up entrance... there didn't appear to be any demons within the tower itself, atleast not up in the control room... and conveniently enough, it appeared that the control lever was unaccosted, so she pulled it. Hopefully they were ready down there for the onslaught.

***

"Sure, I can do that." Arietta replied, as she parted ways with Axel, heading towards the workshop.

***

"You've returned, Lord Devlinos." Annelise noted, as she landed back near the entrance. Her timing was decent enough, it would seem.

"How do you wish to handle this situation?"

[Toogee]

As soon as the carriage stopped, Jam rushed out, doing exactly what Alphonse had asked of her. She may have pushed someone aside during her flight, but she had to get to Greta. There didn't appear to be a battle going on just yet, so the dancer quickly rushed inside the mansion.

While rushing past a maid, Jam asked her where Greta was resting. As luck would have it, the maid knew exactly who she was talking about. The maid yelled out the number as the dancer was rushing upstairs. In her rush, Jam knocked on the first door that appeared to be the correct number. The repeated knocks were met by the opening of the door, but to her surprise, it was not the face she expected.

"What is going on?!" Eli answered grumpily. "Between your knocking and whatever celebration is happening in the city, I'll be lucky to get any rest."

"Er, you're not Greta," Jam replied with confusion. "Right, you really need to stay up later. The city is being invaded by demons and they're headed for us. Either lock the door or get ready to fight. Excuse me."

As Jam rushed off, Eli was left befuddled. Demons? That was the concern of Kigenese, not Ursians. Why would they be here? Unless it had something to do with the bird people running around the mansion.

"Of course that's what this is about..." It seemed Raquel's group had brought trouble with them after all. As the cries of citizens rang through the air, the rider could not simply head back to bed. not when his staff was needed. He quickly closed the door and prepared to head out.

Meanwhile, Jam had reached the Greta's door and began knocking profusely.

"Greta?" Jam asked as she kept knocking. "Greta, are you OK? Something's going on outside, so please open up."

[roymbrog]

Having been in the kitchen trying to sneak a quick snack, Katrina had been in range to hear Veronika’s announcement regarding demons in the city. Kat nearly dropped the block of cheese she was pilfering. “Uhhhh…. ah, what?” she stuttered. She had no idea what the demons they were referring to actually were, but it did not sound good at all. Regardless, they were to help Blake. Stuffing a piece of cheese in her mouth, Kat decided she should probably go grab her armor and Volga. The stuff she’d been meaning to take to her room could wait in the kitchen.

-----

It was an expected occurrence when Synthia politely declined Sinbad’s ball offer. She didn’t particularly like balls. They were always boring, gaudy events filled with boring, gaudy people. So, after spending some time in the city, the mage had returned to the manse to nap, awaking a few hours later to realize she had missed dinner. That wouldn’t do, so she had gotten out of bed and started towards the manse dining hall. There’d at least be something to snack on there, if not a full blown meal.

----

Having failed to visit Eurpoa’s cathedral earlier in the day (he hadn’t quite worked up the nerve to ask someone to the ball), Valter figured he should at least show his face there at some point. Hence his current trip away from the manse. Having not been in a hurry, it’d taken him a while to reach the area near the cathedral, but when he finally did, his peaceful ride became not quite so peaceful. The horseman could hear gunshots and what sounded like feral howls could in the distance, and he was pretty sure he could smell blood nearby. Something was going on, and he was going to find out what.

Soon after that resolution, Valter found out what. Continuing down the sideroad led him towards smears of blood, leading to a corpse mauled beyond recognition. He only had a moment to take in the grisly sight, however, before some large growling creature leapt from the shadows. Thankfully Phyllis’s reaction time was much better than her rider’s. The horse reared up, nearly dismounting him, and lashed out with her hooves, smashing the beast’s jaw and sending it flying back towards the pavement. While he wasn’t able to get a good look at the thing before Phyllis bolted, Valter had a fairly good guess as to what it was and attempted to steer his fleeing horse towards the cathedral. Hopefully none of those things had made it inside.

[Snike]

"Yes, sir," Evelyn said, as she eyed the snouts and paws of the hell hounds. "Ethan, stay behind us."

"Alright," the healer said, slightly unsettled by the demons. Hopefully he wouldn't have to use his stave too much...

***

Private Linnet made his guess, then one of the cavalrymen shouted over to the trio to get back. Private Baker suggested they just get down, an idea Blake gladly embraced, as he dived down. Once the explosion went off, and the dust settled, the gate and any threats behind it were done for. Linnet quickly revised his guess to military, while Baker wondered why they didn't move to another gate.

"Probably don't have the time, if they want to do damage control," Blake said, as he got up and dusted himself off. "Anyways, we should probably work on getting down there and joining up with them ourselves."

[Mercakete]

"One of the guests -- a personal friend of the Warrant Officer's -- insisted on leaving the ball earlier without so much as an armed escort. So, I had her go with the woman, who brought along another guest," Cecelia answered. In spite of her usual, near-emotionless tone, she wasn't trying to hide her opinion of the guest she'd sent Nadine with. Her face showed it well enough as she frowned disapprovingly.

[Phoenix]

Hallway

"I do; we will be following the prince's trail and then going our own way from there once the path is clear. Desmond suspects these ... creatures, have spread through the city ... thinly so, but no one is safe any longer.

Ball Manse Entrance

"Hard to look after the guests when they insist on running off to places ... and now of all times," Cain commented. "I take it Mig-I mean the Lieutenant Colonel is still in there too?"

Dining Hall

"You wanted to take me?" Suzume asked, a bit rhetorically; it wasn't that surprising, only unexpected news.

"Lord Valdimarr," Siv angrily, yet quietly corrected.

Ernesta took this time to leave the room with the vasilus child and Suzume continued her previous line of thought. "I'm not sure a fancy ball is really my kind of environment anyway, but I appreciate your considering me. It probably would have been less boring if we both went ... but now there's her people to deal with," she said, pointing at Siv with a blank expression on her face.

Greta's Room

"Mmmgh ..." Greta rolled onto her back at the noise coming from the door. Before long she rolled to her opposite side trying to turn away from the door, but fell off the bed as a result. "... owwww ..." Well I ain't alright now ... that friggin hurt!

Estate Entrance

"Valdimarr has three objectives here, to kill me, and to take back Norn and Siv. I'll need eyes on both of them, especially the latter," Steinn explained.

"Pff, watch my back and I'll let you know where all three of them are," Gabbie assured the prince with a smirk. That certainly would be useful.

"The fight's here, Veronika," Weyland pointed out as he began to approach the front door. "Those in the city are just a diversionary force."

"Nonetheless, they're killing innocent people left and right," Reign countered, glaring at Weyland.

Weyland stopped in his tracks for a moment, which allowed Steinn to pass him up. Steinn too stopped, though. The latter then said, "We can end this tonight ... once and for all ... but my brother must die for that to happen. We won't stop you from going into the city to protect your companion and the 'innocent', but the stronger our defense is here, the better our chances of defeating him."

"Heeeey," Raquel came sprinting out of the entrance with her coat and sleeves folded up under her arm. She saw just about everyone except who she was looking for. "Huh?! Where is he?!"

"Left without you. Smart guy," Nadine explained.

"I take it you're behind this foray into the city," Weyland greeted her.

Raquel was just surprised when she realized that some of the people gathered out here might actually be trying to help her save Blake. The more people they had, the less likely someone was to die, at least in theory. Going with just a handful obviously wasn't a good idea in either case.

Former Gate

"Who knows ... maybe the other gates are just as messed up as this one was and those monsters already took over. Dammit, who trained these things to be so wrathdamn effective? The skotians wouldn't have tried for Europa like this," Ken angrily mused.

"It just shows how vulnerable we really are," Jessica mumbled with a frown. "Anyway, he's right; we need to get down from here and link up with those soldiers before they get too far ahead of us. The area isn't secure yet, but that bomb was definitely a good start."

"Well there's a nice roof nearby to jump to. From there we just head inside and down to the first floor. Otherwise, there's some ropes we can use to get straight down."

"Let's take the roof. I'm still nervous about the alley thing you mentioned earlier."

Heh, me too ... that's why I brought it up.

Currently Gate

Once Angelica took off, Athrun began to focus on his destination intently. If he messed this up, he would injure himself too badly to even fight. A moment later, he vanished, only appearing again up in the right gate tower. Their timing was once again miraculous while working the levers and the gate began to open. It wasn't long before the demons noticed they had a way through, and they began fighting to squeeze under the gate as it raised.

"So eager to die?! Come at us then, you filthy mongrels," Eugene taunted the beasts as he readied himself. For now, he chose to use one of his messier weapons, his axe.

Athrun meanwhile, wanting to save his energy for the fight, took the long way out, descending the staircase leading to the tower's bottom exit. He slowly cracked the door once he arrived to make sure he wasn't about be greeted by a hungry maw. His hair was nearly caught as a hound leaped at the door and forced it shut by mistake. Athrun staggered back, now a bit more irritated than before. "These hounds are ... insane ... beyond feral. Deciding to take advantage of that, Athrun ran his sword through the door, no easy feat, but pulling it back through proved to be much harder, and it came back to him covered in blood, causing him to grin slightly. The creature likely wasn't dead yet, but at least now he could exit the tower without much of a fuss.

The Grand Cathedral

The situation at the Grand Cathedral had deteriorated significantly since the attacks began; over a hundred people were hiding out in the massive landmark while guardsmen and knights kept any wandering demons at bay. Joanna, along with a few volunteers, tried to heal the injured that made it into the cathedral, but after a time, they had tended to everyone, and the only ones left who could use their help were those still fighting outside. Joanna and a couple of others came outside hoping to tend to their wounds so that they wouldn't be lost in the fighting.

When she arrived at the scene, near the top of the steps, the only ones who didn't seem to be struggling with the demons were the rune knights, the elite guardians of the Order of Truth. They fought with a kind of cold precision that both awed and terrified her. She doubted she would need to tend to their wounds ... nothing could get close to them without losing a limb. They didn't seem interested in helping anyone, though, she noticed. She quickly rushed to the side of a guard who had fallen due to his injuries. They both might have been attacked at the same time just then if not for another wounded man coming between the demon and them and taking the attack for them. The demon was quickly forced back, but not before it tore into him. Now she had two people to tend to and no cover.

"Excuse me! We need some help, here," she called over to the closest rune knight. He seemed more interested in guarding the spot he was standing on, though, and didn't even spare her a glance. She started healing the downed guard despite being wide open for attack. "Mmm, this isn't good ...."

"The Winged Cleric? Seriously?! Girl, get your butt back in there before these things tear you apart too," the other guard yelled, fearing she was next the moment he fell, and another hound was already charging up the steps straight at them.

Edited December 23, 2013 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

Hallway

"Well, you can ride behind me if you like. All of our unit is mounted so it'd be a little awkward to have you coming along on foot," Jacobs said with a smile, preparing his horse to leave.

"So...is anyone here aware of where the prince left?" Erica asked. Appearing clueless was unfortunate, but not being able to carry out Head Wrathite Langley's orders would be more unfortunate.

Estate Entrance

"We will try to make it back as quickly as we can," Veronika said to Weyland. "We should be leaving soon however..." she said pointedly, looking towards Raquel. I'm not sure I want to get in the middle of all this Fallen brother business anyway, though it might be a little late for that.