War of Dragons: Shibuya - II

By this point, various supply lines have been opened between Fort Ouph, descending down through the dangerous forests of the Eastal Free League, towards Yamato. It is still one of the most dangerous islands to this day, aside from the Ninetails Dominion's region. And there are far less towns in Eastal when it comes to these deeper regions.

As such, there are multiple supply camps. Each serving as an outpost from which to send army squadrons and Adventurers, as well as storing the supplies that come through, and distributing them. These checkpoints are also working as a way to keep the Palace Landers out of the war efforts.

However, when there is such a large mobilization, it is inevitable that their approach would be noticed. And before the battle could be begun upon Shibuya, the Palace Landers have come knocking. They do not have the supply lines to attack with a large squadron, so this instead comes in the form of multiple small elite squads.

At the lead to the east is Middray, the Salamander Monk. To the west, the large Human Barbarian named Hestiger. Coming from the woods under the cover of night, moving upon one of the mid-reach outposts. Flanking it from both sides so that they might cause the most chaos....

Flame suddenly illuminates the forest. A fierce wave rippling across the eastern wall, melting it down as the cry is heard; "RAGNAROK'S WISDOM!" The corona of heat tearing apart wood with far too much ease, with cloaked Thor rangers behind him quickly firing arrows into the camp.

To the west, hooks and ropes are being used to tear down the wall itself. With the Barbarian tearing apart a great deal of the wood and ripping it off as if the temporary barricade were nothing. Roaring as a group of wolves and bears rush into the town!

To say that's an intense opening volley is an understatement.

Already there was fire, chaos, confusion. Barbarians at the... gates, figuratively at least.

It was more than enough for a diversion.

But even with the forest lit like a pyre there were shadows. Some of those shadows were moving, dancing from the hot illumination.

Others were moving closer to the supply camp. Wounding the enemy soldiers was only one part of the plan to stall this advance. Daiyu was making her way from the north, from 'behind' the advancing forces as they're assaulted from the sides, intending to sneak into the camp admist the ruckus and do something about those precious war supplies.

Blades? Check.

Agility? Check.

Stretching done? Check.

Is she forgetting anything else?

Apparently not, as Kotono, the agile and limber Spriggan assassin seems all revved up and ready to go. There's a lot going on at once, and she can't be in two places at once! (She's not a ninja who wants you to believe it!)

Especially given that she's coming under attack abruptly, and she attempts to roll out of the way to avoid being hit.

The Spriggan does roll, but she doesn't avoid being hit.

Kotono goes tumbling across the area, rolling about nine or ten times before she finally manages to stop herself. She mutters a few choice words under her breath before standing up and dusting herself off. "This is not going to be good," She says with a scowl.

    So much for a triumphant return.

The last time anyone had seen Arashi would have been weeks, if not months ago. As is typical for a solo player, she had returned to her roots, seeking shards, honing skills, and ultimately was trying to figure out how to get better at a time when war was knocking on her proverbial door. She was hiding in the forest that Hestiger had started to rip apart. "OH. Ooooooh. Not good." The chance of avoiding the carnage is nigh impossible. Even with her newest ability, she's unable to dodge away from everything, and ends up being thrown into a tree by another tree. (Yo Dawg..)

Haru never expected the advance to be an easy one. There are Adventurers that face combat all the time. War is different. War acts and reacts more than the phases in a boss fight. It causes people to be on edge mentally and exhausts physically. He had been marching along with the supply line as a member of the Silver Sword, a combat oriented guild. The Artificer isn't much of a fighter and it doesnt always make sense why he, a crafter at heart, is in a combat guild. It makes more sense when he spends time with his guild mates. Coins are minted for soldiers in pairs for bonds, should one fall the other will take up the mantle. To bring hope in the darkest hours.

He has not been sleeping well. Haru was walking along the eastern side of the outpost when the attack strikes. "Contact on the eastern lines," he chims over as the wave of raw fire comes his ways. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. When a wave crashes towards you on the seas, you don't rush away from it. It only crashes onto you deeper. You go through. He lowers himself and waits for the moment, bursting forward through the crest as a healthy amount of his hitpoints burn away. "Heavy damages sustained. Get ready for a big fight, everyone," he sizzles, skidding to a stop on the other side of the fire, "for Shibuya." His four ioun stones float out and around him, circling in excitement and aggitation for the wounds.

Mikage is used to keeping watch at night, usually relying on Rama's senses in order to be able to see beyond the scope of what her Were Fang eyes can take in. However, there are some attacks that just seem to come out of nowhere. It starts as a glow in the sky, and in a matter of seconds becomes a fireball that is simply inescapable. The girl rolls to take cover, but portions of her back end up taking the brunt of the damage, burning patches through her armor and exposing red glowing wounds underneath.

"Fuck." Is only the first of a string of colorful curses that are characteristic to Mikage when things go badly. She winces, gritting her teeth even as a smoking Rama dives in next to her. The next moment she spends patting out the feline, making sure he is no longer actively on fire.

"We need to get some of these fires out. Let's see if we can do some damage at the same time." Rama just huffs at her side as Mikage rolls out, grabbing for her bow and lifting it, channeling magical energy as she fires skyward. The arrow seems to explode in mid flight, creating a deluge of water that pours down over them. For those in the Western camp, it might be a relief to put out some of the fires, but where the enemy are? It is an assault of rain and hail that falls heavily towards them, making the ground slick and the passage dangerous.

    Merek of course has not slept much since this war began, and it's time to fight again. When their encampment looks to be under attack by enemy forces, the man stands up, nodding to everyone. He wears dark attire and a scarf which he pulls about his features, then he sighs while he walks along to Middray. Even as that Ragnarok's Wisdom strikes his defenses and manages to place his HP bar into Yellow already, he will lift up a hand to fire his own flame, "FIREBOLT!"

    Some peoeple prefer the more stealthy approach and others prefer the hit and run approach. To do that one must be fast on their feet and whats faster then a Peko.

     Thats right, riding on pekos is four adventurers each one wearing a cowboy hat and the one in the lead is none other then the Sherriff of Rosenheim.

     Reins in one hand, crossbow in the other as every so often he fires off a shot here and there. Shouting over his shoulders as they begin there run on the supply line, "Stay low, hit it hard and then circle back. No more losses from us today, not like we loss Jesse. Now, LETS RIDE!" Snapping the Reins and giving a kick the Peko Posse pick up speed trying to weave through whatever opening they can find to cause whatever damage they can in their attack run.

The dark cloak of night that had fallen upon the encampment gives a sense of peace, even to a place clearly built for war. That cloak of safety has been brutally torn away in moments as the eastern wall is swiftly burned away, arrows raining down from the forest.

The sudden assault, on top of just how effective it already is, leaves one Pooka knight rather flatfooted and an easy target. While several arrows bounce off his plate mail, one shaft pierces through into his shoulder before he could raise his shield in time.

The impact is enough to make Curtana grimace in pain, and he yanks the arrow out before it impeeds his armor. "Everyone, rally! Eastern wall is under assault-" The cracking of wooden walls being torn down is a clear warning sign that things are not well on the other side as well. "-as well as western wall! Defend and good luck!"

Heading to the breach in the wall, Curtana starts chanting under his breath as he channels light to the tip of his sword. The pinpoint of light grows into an orb before, with a flick of his sword, it streaks into the ranger's ranks. "For Shibuya!"

Schneider is not someone the Palace Landers would have expected to find at one of these camps. He's not NWA, which seems to be the main body of the Yamato players involved in this expedition, he's not a woodsman by any means, he gets lost in a hedge in this game, and he's not a sneaky scout, marching bands pass with less fanfare sometimes. He /is/ an ideal candidate for defending a camp, though, which is why he's here.

Now, if it's a question of firepower, Schneider is absolutely the right man for the job. He is one of the fieryest players in the game. At least in terms of disposition. Raw skill-wise, he's at least /among/ the fieryest, and by inclination, there's few for whom Fire is as much their main skill as Schneider, who bills himself as an Exploder Wizard, even when Inspect shows his class to be Rune Knight. That's a rare enough class that he is almost certainly the most well-known Rune Knight, so if he says Rune Knight is a sort of Exploder Wizard, who's to gainsay him? 'Exploder Wizard' is from his source material, but he likes the term. It sounds pretty butch.

But attacking a Yamato supply camp is going to be the last thing many of these Palace Landers do, because Schneider is at /this/ camp, and he looks up, singed by the intial volley of surprise attacks, and says, "Well, I guess this is what we're here for." He steps into the open, or rather, he shakes off the burnt remains of his tent, standing where he can see clumps of attackers, including one ugly barbarian, and says, "Let's start off with the basics." Because ugly is his main foe. Well, again canonically. He chants, "Seek and Destroy! Blood Fire Death of Voivod!" and lightning crackles across his skin as a fireball bursts in the midst of the ugliest clump of Palace Landers he can find, searing and scourging them mercilessly, HP plunging; his words reference nothing known in Yamato or the Palace Lands, but in Metallicana they know. To their despair.

Kaydon had not been on duty, he had been asleep in his tent. The idea should have been simple, with whoever was on duty spotting the attack before it began. But somehow they probably miss their target in the dark. Either way the waves of flames washing over the outpost wall, and the other wall being torn down, gets his attention.

Not fast enough though as one of the toppling wall pieces crushes his tent. Pinned under the large log that had been part of a wall a moment before, Kaydon is quickly trying to think of a way out. He transforms into his were fang form, and using the enhanced strength that comes with that form, manages to push the log off of himself. He grabs the scabbard with the Jaeger inside of it, and then slings it across his back, charging for the barbarian that's leading the attack on the west side.

He draws the gunblade from its scabbard, and leaps, swinging a wild downward arc towards the barbarian as he approaches. Finally the moment has come, to show these Palace Land assholes what he's been working on. As he makes contact, be it with the barbarian himself or his defenses, Kaydon will squeeze that trigger, and the fire arte will rocket out from the weapon, sending up a massive explosion around the two of them.

It's sure bound to catch Hestiger by surprise.

As she nears the camp Daiyu pulls several small vials out of her inventory. She shakes one up, and flicks it towards a tent. In the blaze already going on, no one will notice where the extra incedinary came from. Darn alchemists.

She's readying a second, but then her ears snap up at the sound of wood cracking. She glances aside, then leaps away as the tree comes smashing down, a horse knocked about between them. But so much for keeping her cover.

"Looks like someone is already suffering some treedipitation..." With a grunt she leaps onto one of the trees and starts running down it, eyes narrowing to keep an eye on the equine as she dashes in, tessen unfolding in her free hand.

Arashi better get back on her hooves quickly, or she might get cut down before she gets the chance.

    Some days, you just /know/, are going to be shite.

    Miyako was -not- expecting today to be one of them. There was always the possibility that the assholes occupying Shibuya might have come out after them. They -had- to know the army was here. She just wasn't expecting a ****ing thermobaric warhead to envelope the entire encampment in fire.

    "Ko-chan," she mutters, picking herself up from the wreckage of her tent, "Make a note: Look into uranium sources."

    Finally having picked herself up, she produces the now-familiar war-fans and slashes a quick series of runes into the air, sending a wave of life-drinking darkness at the mob of Palace Landers. "JUST DIE!"

So it was getting close to making the attempt to reclaim their home from the Place Lands nobility's slave army. She did not see this coming even with her skills as they had been attacked before they could tally the attacks after coming in under the cover of nigth and the next thing she knows it's Ragnarock's wisdom. There is pain so much pain but the elf is not down, she's learned too well from the Goblin Slayer for that. She's back on her feet bow in hand as she flees the remnants of her tent. She's covered in jagged wound lines too.

She hated how those broke her immersion

She draws her bow now as she heads to the east side of the camp and starts laying down the arrow shots. Seeking out the commander or anyone else. She has little to say at the moment. After all, everyone they are fighting with has had dominante person used on them.

    Tree. Tree. Another Tree. .. Is that the same tree? ... Wait no, that one is moving. Sight set fuzzy for a moment after being thrown, Arashi had started to look around, wanting to figure out what just happened, only to see something moving, then TALKING at her. Oh. It's someone else. ... And they're hostile! Starshadow comes around between the two, but then the dire-shire just vanishes from sight. Why? Well after a moment Daiyu may find that the large equine was now over -them-. "Hi.". And that's when the blade comes for them in a series of strikes.

And as Arashi strikes with her blades.. they only pass through shadowy afterimages as the four tailed fox uses a variation of the very same technique.

A split second later the follow-up assault comes at Arash from the left, as warfans slice towards her with arcs of flame and ice intermingling from the enchanted weapons.

"Impressive." Not one to ruin the elusive moment by speaking before her attack is made is this one. Daiyu comes to a stop after her spinning strike, one fan held behind her and the other to the fore, eyes narrowing from behind half-moon spectacles. "But can you keep it up?"

    The fans clip at At Arashi, leaving a set of bright red pixels, but its not a lot for the warhorse. "Oh, haha, I can do this all day," she quotes without even realizing it. The other slashes from Daiyu don't catch much as Arashi slips off to the side, running on some water that was most certainly not there a second ago. There's a moment where she holds her free hand up to her blades, causing it to freeze over before it's turned sideways to try and bludgeon Daiyu. "You?"

With the feline no longer on fire, Mikage returns to battle. Her bow angled, the arrow detonates into the forces coming from the west. The Wolves and Bears rushing towards her, some of them instantly dying to the streams of water and hail that zip through them. Whilst most of the water quickly starts putting out the fires in the camp, ensuring that the supplies don't go up in smoke and flames!

Another detonation of flame blasts past Mikage. But she need not worry about it being an enemy's this time. Schneider's casting of the fireball detonating across the heavy and large mass of rippling muscle. Hestiger slowly shifts his large and viscous looking axe as the cascade of flames burn across his body and fiercely grins at Schneider. "A Toy!" He declares, before rushing right for Schneider, trying to dart to a near halt, and bringing his axe to bear, attempting to literally cut the legs out from underneath Schneider!

However, Kaydon intercepts. THe detonation of the Gunblade is all that Kaydon can do in that moment to stop the already moving Axe! Kaydon feels the sheer pain of trying to halt the Barbarian's swing. The Explosion causing Hestiger to stumble back for just a moment, staring in surprise at first... before that surprise turns into battle-fueled rage; "Even better!"

To the east, there's another explosion as Merek levels a Fireball right towards Middray. The detonation blasting across the Salamander, whom takes the attack with a single leveled out hand and grins at Merek with a fierce look in his eyes. "We meet again."

Curtana tries to make use of the lifted hand, getting past Middray before he can stop him! Rushing past, he gets into the midst of the rangers. Some of them are quick to grab for blades and to drop their bows. Some of them are Landers, some of them Adventurers. In the midst of war, the difference matters not! Curtana's blade slices true regardless, slitting one of their throats before cutting off another's hand. But soon he starts being surrounded.

But Miyako sends down darkness within the troops of rangers, hiding Curtana from their blades and bows, giving him a chance to get away as some of them start screaming in pain, as their lives start to get drain from them! Erufu's arrows raining down upon them silence some of those cries of pain, luckily. But it's those cries of pain that really bring home truly who and what they are fighting this day!

From the east, Middray hasn't given up. He turns with his foot in the air, sending a fierce sicle of flame right for Curtana's back, before finishing with a secondary jump towards the rest of the Eastern facing troops! He then goes through his legs, fists to his sides, and pushes forward, sending two dragons of burning heat straight towards their position!

At the same time, Hetiger to the West sends his axe down right for Kaydon's position, before stepping in and wailing it to the left in a fierce horizontal sweep that sends a shockwave of cutting air straight for Mikage and Schneider! The male then begins to rampage towards the supplies in the camp! His heavy stomps causing small earthquakes with each step!

"Shall we test that?" The hulijing were fang moves with surprising speed herself, almost dancing with those dual warfans as she gracefully deflects the blows with them, though the frozen weapon is still leaving a crisp icyness in the wake of it's strikes.

Then she steps back, tails fanning behind her as she sweeps one arm across her front and bows. "Daiyu, the Black Jade Fox of Kallamore." And then in a similar burst of speed launchs herself back at Arashi, rapidly slashing with the fans though free of any elemental charges this time. "And one of the arena champions!" Because it's important for the foe to know just who they're fighting.

    "Arashi. I hate PVP but I hate PKers more." And as far as she's concerned, this war is against people that are PKing in their home continent. So. Here we are. With Daiyu once more coming at Arashi with those fans, the equine continues to run on the same water-like platforms, keeping her barely within reach of the weapons. It's on her next assault that Arashi angles herself for a particular reason before lunging forward to try and implant Starshadow with a -twist-. "So your 'title' is not impressive,".

Those fluffy tails fan out fully, tips beginning to glimmer as divine energy is drawn through them. At the same time there's a flicker of water, not nearly as impressive as Arashi's as Daiyu twists to the side so the lunge only grazes her side in a minor flicker of red. Though that's all it needed.

"Hate it, yet clearly you know what you're doing."

The drawn power is released, glowing energy shooting upward from her tails.. and then coming down at Arashi is a bright white stream of divine force.

"I may hate it, but I still hone my skills as necessary. I do not PK. 99 percent of the time," The other one percent is reserved for actual PKers. Laughing Coffin? She'd kill every single one of them. The most recent tournament is one reason, and the recent light training is the other, for quickly casting a tiny little healing spell against Daiyu's most recent hit with her fans. "And so do you, but yet you're invading. Do you see the problem here?" This is when the mare suddenly explodes forward in a rush of speed, moving to put distance between the two until they make a hard turn and speed up even -more- before moving to strike at those break-neck speeds.

    "Yes, you all seem to show up to ruin our day," Merek offers to Middray, then he takes a flame pillar which strikes along him, wrapping him in the flame. He comes from that and lifts up a hand while he takes the time to focus on the enemy, "Fireball!" The blast strikes along towards the salamander, while he takes the time to lean back to gauge the situation. it is obvious that he will need to deal with the fact he's almost out of HP.

As a Ranger, Mikage has a lot of familiarity with fighting against animals. She certainly doesn't like seeing trained beasts fall for their uncaring masters, but this isn't a time to question morality. Instead, she just motions to Rama. "Stay close."

The cat does just that, dodging around the attacks of others and staying close to Mikage as she moves to get a better vantage oint on Hestiger. She isn't known for being an up-close and personal fighter, so it's all about positioning. Of course, finding that right spot is made that much more difficult by the shockwave of force that nearly takes her off her feet.

Thankfully, she manages to catch herself against a bit of earth that she had pulled up from the ground below, steadying herself. Clambering up onto the stone, she perches there, drawing her bow back with another arrow held against the string. Dawnbreaker seems to glow as the lines within the Elemental Machine weapon ignite with elemental force.

This shot, however, is not sent at the group at large. Instead, it is aimed right towards Hestinger. When it gets close, it ignites into a wave of storm force that lashes against the Barbarian, threatening to push him backwards.

As Hestiger attacks with that deadly axe, Schnider is surrounded by flames, springing up from his body like red, flickering scales, but hard enough to turn attacks. It's good to be the wizard. He eyes his HP, lower than he'd like at this stage in the fight, but he rallies, standing boldly in Hestiger's way. He's not physically much, a bishounen wizard with long hair and a smirk, but he stands tough, and it seems like he's not giving way easy. The Palace Landers are going to have to work for this - he's not going to make it easy, either.

He chants ominously, "Brain, Brain dead. Obey your blood oath, come forth from the land of Avalon. Fire of Gehenna, become a fiery blast and burn everything around us!" He gestures, shouting, "EXODUS!" and a sheet of flames engulf Schneider for a moment, then leap to Hestiger, chewing away at his HP bar, scorching it down ferociously. When the searing flames of Exodus fade, that Palace Lander is looking quite singed, and if he's frothing mad at Schneider, then good! He wants them mad. This is old sports strategy. Mad enemies make bad decisions, and this hasn't come down to the wire yet.

Kaydon gives Hestiger a grin, with that gnoll's face looking back at the Palace Lander, "Some part of me doesn't want to kill you, so you can report back to your leadership what I've got brewing for them." But alas, Kaydon is going to kill him, as he brings up the gunblade and blocks the axe with it, struggling against the strength of the barbarian. He struggles for a moment before pushing the axe away from himself. His training in weaponsmithing comes into play as he quickly examines that axe as he pushes it away, jumping back to get himself some distance.

He knows where he needs to hit that axe in order to live up to his name, but it's going to be incredibly hard, that is a well constructed axe. Still, Kaydon rushes back forward, this time coming in with an upward swing. He appears to be intending to get the barbarian to block the strike, because if his plan works, that block will bring his weapon into contact with exactly what he wanted to strike. And if he's lucky the axe head and axe shaft will no longer be connected, and Kaydon can push the advantage.

Not all the divine energy is discharged into the attack. Some of it Daiyu draws fully inward, to offset the after-effects of the Gut Ripper strike.

"So it is out of readiness... Understandable." A light wind flickers through the air, and then the vulpine literally leaps up and forward, over the equine with a dazzling display of wind propelled grace, and somersaulting to land on her paws. The quick gold fox jumped over the angry pony. She's still more than nimble enough to turn as Arashi is driven to change directions and have her fan ready. "My Kingdom was nearly destroyed the careless whims of fools. I only saught to protect it from such happening a second time. An invasion..." There's a pause. Almost as if she's stopped to consider what to say "... would not of been my first choice. But it is what was deemed necessary. Thus, here we are."

It takes a lot of focus to control opposing elements at the same time. But Daiyu does so seemingly with little difficulty, twirling around to deflect Arashi's following strike, and send another wash of blazing ice in the wake of it.

The flaming sickle kick sends Curtana tumbling forward, striking while he was focusing on the Rangers that were aiding the Monk. Tumbling over several times on the ground, he comes to a halt due to slamming into a tree. "Gah!"

Glancing towards his HP bar and paling, he quickly pulls out a bottle of crimson liquid and swallows as fast as he can before clambering to his feet. At the rate things are going, it's not going to matter much, but he needs to take as much as he can here.

Fighting other Adventurers have never been his strong suit, yet here he was in a war despite his misgivings. A part of him is still holding back, afraid to kill someone, despite knowing that it's likely going to get him killed if he doesn't stop doing that.

Taking a steadying breath, Curtana starts to channel the power within to flow through his longsword. Charging towards the Crowned monk, he starts attacking as his blade is visibly charged with the power of Hamon. "A knight doesn't...go down so easily!"

    Have you ever had a sense that you were needed by someone? Desperately. Urgently. Wake does not have such a mystic sense, but it turns out she is needed by her friends.

    The Baroness charges to the battle. She said she would be here, and so she is. To her practiced eye, she sees everything is teetering precariously and the danger is greatest on the east. She can clearly see the HP bars.

    Drawing up short of melee, she focuses on what she's best at. Healing and protection. She will direct her attention to Haru, and weave a spell to ward him from harm. It isn't going to win the battle for her friends, but she will do everything she can to protect them. No matter the cost.

    "You're players. You could choose NOT to be privy to this, to not invade, but yet here you are." Usually Arashi isn't this chatty but, well, this invasion had put her in a different sort of mood. The nimble fox does indeed vault, and then moves to attack with fiery ice, to which Arashi responds with dipping into the shadows of the remaining trees that are around. She almost seems to be skipping from one shadow to another, which helps her avoid the attack. In fact, between that and the spell earlier, she feels a tiny bit better. Barely. While moving about, the mare finally assaults from those same shadows, striking with Starshadow before turning to its second blade and attacking again.

Things are going bad right now, the Alliance is being pushed hard, very hard by Middray. It takes everything she has to avoid the incoming attack from Midray but the elf is fast, very fast and it's enough to save her this time. She's taken out a few of the rangers to be sure. She is attempting to target the more dangerous Palace Landers troops as she cues up a bow art.

"BURST SHOT!"

She lets the shot fly and is on the move again. Move, shoot, move. That seems to be how she's fighting today.

Daiyu actually pauses at that a moment, tilting her head. "Tsk. Clearly you are not as informed as you think you are." Arashi starts jumping from shadows to shadows. An impressive maneuver, but if she was expecting it to panic her foe she's sadly mistaken. Daiyu, as composed as ever, simply stands and prepares herself. Angular vulpine ears twitch. "Not that it matters."

There the warhorse comes... and as she charges out of the shroud she might notice, just moments before, Daiyu's eyes shifting to look sidelong directly at her in a 'see you' manner. Just before she again whirls into motion, kicking up water and wind alike as she spins to deflect blows, though the turn-and-backedge-strike does force her to depend more than she'd like to keep it from crippling her. It's quickly followed by Daiyu whipping about, a triad of arcing swipes made with her warfans as she does.

    Snarling furiously at the unmoved mob of attackers, Miyako isn't fast enough to get out of the way of the next wave of fire, even though she melts into shadow the moment she notices it, re-appearing not far enough away. Screams of pain and fury erupt from her as her HP drop well into the yellow.

    Curses mix with the words of her spell, twisting what would have been a simple blast of dark energy into a whirling vortex of rage and pain to explode amongst the attackers.

    "DIE IN AGONY!" she screams at them, "AND KNOW YOUR QUEEN WILL FOLLOW!"

    Then she falls back, slumping at Kotono's feet, strength having momentarily fled. Perhaps it's time for the better part of valor.

    So be it. No more words. The fox moves to evade, and Arashi moves to attack once again in a similar fashion to a little bit earlier. She has a feeling this is going to be a pretty long duel.

All four of his ionic stones come in front of him. They lace silvery lines of mana between them as plates of thick glass shining in prismatic color dance to the hue fo the incoming flame. Haru stands fast as the sound of glass shatters on the first barrier. The second. He pours mana into the remaining barriers until they blast back, causing the ground to cut where his heels brace backwards.

"East taking heavy damage. Position crumbling," he chims over, letting the raid be aware of the situation. He stands up, dusting off his navy jacket. "Listen up. The supplies in this outpost are valuable to our operation, but not the most important thing here. It is not things, but people, who make up Shibuya. They are the most valuable thing. Do not throw our most valuable resource away so hastily," he lets them know. The defensive barrier appears from Wake and he turns his head back to her, giving the Baroness a nod. "Trust in yourself. And if you fight? Fight on. In the light of day..." he says as the injured Enchanter begins to chant, trusting his defenses to Wake as he pours his mana into a chant, "Tenebris. Cadit. Lunae Lumen. Oriri. Occultare."

It is a big, obvious spell that Haru is casting. The area begins darker. Thick mist is rolling in, thick as dark wool. Two red eyes come out from behind the silver haired Enchanter. Eve. The four stones around him circle quickly, taking upon a dull white light that begins to face like a eclipsing moon. The small black cat monster leaps upon it, sailing forward with the blinding mist that explodes into the area like a tidal wave of darkness. Allies get a sense of darkvision through this debuff. "... or in the deepest of darkness."

     Shirin and his group move on fromm their target to another as the four Peko riders move on from just trying to cause damage to moving to support his fellow crowned members. As they ride forward they rush out of the line and circle back coming in from the east to support Middray. As he comes up from behind Middray, Shirin fires bolts of light into the air but where they fall no one knows. Leaping off the Peko Shirin lands to the right of Middray, "Poor advetunerers, today is just another day you shall be taught that resisting is hopeless. Nothing can resist the righteousness of JUSTICE!" As if on cue the arrows of light fall beside Middray and Shirin both begin to glow with a bright light, allowing him and his ally to see through the onsetting darkness. That is until the darkness consumes the light of justice as well.

Kotono takes another hit, and this time she's looking worse for the wear. She's barely able to keep herself on both feet. Nonetheless, she still manages to push herself up once again... but it's obvious she's struggling not to scream.

"I can't... do this..." She shakes her head. "I keep going... gonna be killed..." She begins to retreat as best as she can. "Miyako, if you can hear me, let's get out of here!"

When Miyako collapses at the Spriggan's feet, Kotono shakes her head. "Oh no, Miyako, hang in there!" She says as she picks up her Spriggan friend and carries her to safety.

"Nothing else to say?" Daiyu steps back a foot to brace herself. "So be it." Honestly, it's a bit nice to have someone not constantly trying to have a speech about love and hope at the same time as trying to fight. If a little dry.

Her movements are as fluid as water and almost as quick as sound itself as she continues to parry the mare's sword with her fans. The flash is an annoyance, but the other were fang is probably well aware that sight isn't their own sense of perception. The final block turns into a strike as well, warfans once more igniting in flames and ice in unison, attempting to drive the warhorse back once more.

    Baroness is a title that she struggled for and claimed. But Priestess is what she is to her fiber. The servant of The Beautiful One. Chosen to bring light or.. in this case, to prevent the unworthy from accessing its divine power.

    Wake's voice rings out over the battlefield. "Hideous, dirty beast! You dare speak to me of righteousness! You will never be worthy of your queen. Let the darkness pour into your empty soul!"

    There is a strange thrill that comes with the power. Moments that the Goddess presents to her the scales of destiny. Given the chance, Wake settles her finger upon those scales, ensuring that Shirin's artes cannot overcome Haru's darkness with a single word:


    "FEHU!"

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The 'flame pillar' that touches Merek is one made of dragons, ripping through him. But he retaliates in kind with fire. While Middray may be a Salamander, and fairly resistant to fire, the searing might still drops bits of his health each time he literally punches through Merek's fireballs!

Curtana goes rolling to a tree, but is protected by his allies for a moment. Rising back up, he charges the monk this time! Middray quickly turns, moving one fist down against the side of the blade, trying to parry him, only for the sheer power of that Hamon to rush THROUGH that blade, causing Middray's body to warp and snap for a moment. The attempt to parry backfiring on him and he ends up staggering back!

A pulse of healing suddenly spreads out, as Baroness Wake arrives. Protecting some of her allies with a much needed dome of healing. This sends a surge through some of her allies. Miyako sending a burst of dark magic right for his stomach, and causing Middray to stumble back with a huff of pain! Grabbing for his stomach as Miyako drops him from his stance! Erufu's Burst Shot them slams into his shoulder, sending him further back! Grabbing for his shoulder and hissing through, as some of his allies fall behind him as the Burst Shot keeps ripping down other Palace Landers!

To the West, Mikage shows that she is more than a match for Hestiger's abnormal brute strength. She might in fact recognize him. Not from meeting him in particular, but from the posters! He's one of THE Champions back in Kallamore. One of /THE/ /PREMIER/ Arena fighters!

The man is shrugging through her allies throwing stones at him. And a few blades literally break upon his bronzed skin. However, she manages to fire her own Elemental shot at him, which SLAMS into his chest!

The arrow detonates with brutal force, the wave of storm pushing him back. He digs his heels to the ground, trying to /walk forward/ through it, staring her right in the eyes. Glaring with this shit-eating grin. "Raaaaa! Yes! MORE LIKE THIS!" He demands. "A CHALLENGE!" He demands.

But before he can break from Mikage's storm, the man is hit by a fierce flaming sea of fire - as Schneider joins in. It's taking everything Mikage and Schneider have in that moment to hold the man back. His feet SLOWLY being pushed out of the camp. The man's HP painstakingly slowly dropping. With healers behind him rapidly aiding in the man's unerring body.

In that moment, Kaydon comes in rapidly with his blade, turning his weapon to a precise angle as Hetiger brings his own axe down at the man, while his left hand is moved to stop the howling winds and flames coming his way. With a single hand, he chops for Kaydon, and Kaydon is made to KNEEL to the ground!

Axe and blade spark... Kaydon's arms left trembling...

As his blade digs just into the right spot. The axe indeed well constructed. But the weapon smith spotted just one weak point in it, and he uses it! Kaydon's blade cuts through, and light shatters! The axe destroyed, and Hettiger is finally thrown back past the wall, tumbling, before he grabs hold of the ground and sinks his hand into it!

The entire battlefield starts to shine with more light for a moment, as Shirin sends arrows of light down seeking to bolster his Palace Lander allies. Only for darkness to suddenly falls. Haru's dark mist slipping out from them, circling, dancing outwards. The tidalwave of darkness hiding her allies. Struggling against Shirin's light...

For a moment, it seems like Shirin's light might get the better of the darkness. But then a sudden call of FEHU demands power of Haru, embolding his might. And the Dark soon overtakes the Light, blinding Hettiger and Middray from their enemy's retaliation!

"Burn their supplies!" Realizing that they are on the downswing, Middray commands his allies to turn their bows up to the skies, and try to burn their supplies! Flaming arrows fly!

As Middray brings his arms out and spins into the air for a moment, sending a spiraling flame out from his position.

At the same time, to the west, Hestiger literally RIPS an enormous CHUNK of earth, TREES AND ALL, OUT OF THE GROUND.... and then THROWS the entire chunk of it all right at Mikage, Schneider, and the rest of the west side of the camp!

    Nothing else to say. Though at a distance, one may think this fight was entirely scripted because the amount of parrying, clanging, weapons bouncing off one another, and the amount of evasion going on? Is this an Anime?

It seems like the two are fairly well matched. Might be because half their classes are the same. It might be luck.

It might be that Daiyu takes just the wrong moment to cast a sideways glance to see how the larger assault is going. Her attention isn't back to Arashi quick fast enough, and she finally takes a heavy series of strikes. Enough to send her skidding backwards, dropping down to collapse one hand fan and dig it into the ground to arrest her movement before she falls completely prone. Let's out a hissing breath as the red marks are visible. "That's... more like it."

She pushes back onto her feet, and with a flicker of Sword Arte gestures conjures a bow made of arcane energy, which she points at the warhorse and fires a shearing beam of light from.

    Oh. Oh Arashi knows that one. She saw that one at the Tournament. It hurts. A LOT. She only has one thing she can try to do to try and dodge it, so she does just that, vanishing from sight... but the Arrow is NOT SMALL.

After that's dealt with, the mare lunges forward again, "This is NOT over yet..."

Normally, in fights, Mikage prefers to stay at a distance, utilizing range to be able to hold her foes back, but Hestiger closes in, getting right up into her face. Though she rarely transforms, there is a growl that echos from her and she seems to flash her teeth in the direction of the barbarian. Rama joins in the sound, his heckles raised as he hisses and spits in the direction of the Palace Lander.

Once the force of those attacks has pushed him back, Mikage braces herself, seeming to sense the attack a moment before it actually springs upon them. There is a flicker of lightning that seems to form at the edges of her fingertips and a hint of wind that helps a leap to the side, rolling to avoid the crashing earth and trees. Rama leaps out of the branches to land beside her, shaking debris out of his fur.

"Fuck, they're going after the supplies." She grabs for a blue stone which still flickers with elemental light from her last attack. Removing it from Dawkbreaker, she holds it in her hand, her eyes momentarily flashing white as the power from the Relic flashes through her.

Extending her arm forward, a barrier of light appears in the air, stretching across part of the expanse between themselves and the Palace landers. Attacks that come into contact with it seem to just bounce off, as the aurora-like wall of light were a physical barrier, held aloft in the sky.

That's unfortunate timing for that move to come off cooldown. On the other hand, her opponent was smart enough to -get out of the way- and Daiyu has to give credit for that.

Of course, being familiar with those techniques, she knows what's going to come. To the point that despite being rather badly injured now she still sidesteps at just the right moment to turn Arashi's re-emerging strike to a grazing blow (though it's that annoying jagged edge again).

At the same time her hand reachs over her shoulder. Grabs the handle of the parasol on her back.

And it's not the parasol that she draws. In one fluid motion she pulls the jian blade hidden within, and swipes at Arashi as the blade turns dark, only to pivot and sweep it around her to bring the weapon back to strike in similar fashion, and so fast that it becomes hard to tell what direction the dark infused strikes are coming from as the fox continues to dart about her.

Schneider is now much more in the fight, and the Palace Landers' initial strike has been thwarted, at least so far. Things are still far from certain, but Schneider has saved the best spells for last. He sweeps his cape in front of the oncoming tree, the scales gliitering blindingly bright for a moment, and insanely hard, just for the moment of impact. He's driven back a couple feet, but stands his ground.

Looking around to the other side of the camp, he erks as Haru is pressed hard. "No one's dying today," he growls, "Except you Palace Lands scum." He manages to dash to the other flank and body-block Haru out of the spiralling flames, standing in it himself as he casts. The The NWA-ers who don't attack the Tower might not be ready for what's coming, but Merek's seen this spell before, he knows what's about to happen, though Middray is in for a surprise as Schneider sonorously chants, "Kaizard, aruzard, kisk! Hansay Glossik! Unleash total destruction! Sage of Hades use the seven keys to open the gates of Hell!" And as the dark and horriffic forces gather, he shouts, "HALLOWEEN!"

There is a sound like an explosion as a burst of intense fire impacts Middray and bursts into a perfect chrysanthemum of white-hot flame, savaging his HP bar ferociously as it becomes clear now why he calls himself an Exploder Wizard.

A hot breeze blows hair back from his face as he watches the destruction.

    Oh, Daiyu has a different weapon. Interesting! "Getting serious are we?" Arashi finally speaks again, but afterward she vanishes between shadows again, uncertain of just what kind of moves Daiyu is about to lash out with. Thankfully the quick moving keeps Arashi out of harms way, mostly, with only a faint strike reaching her. A twin slash from Starshadow comes next!

Color is pulled out of Haru's avatar as he evokes a magical defensive stance. It becomes a dull pulsing of a strobe light against his form in the dark mist. His movements do not look natural as if the animation keeps skipping a frame or half-frame. All that is left on his monochromatic personage is a purple tinted monocle and a single blue eye. Noir Haru. There are graceful movements that are not super-hero esque. They are gritty. Grounded. A duck and a roll instead of gravity defying jumps. A heavy breath comes at the end that makes the damage Haru has taken look weighted with impact. Real. His health bar is low and if he can just make it outside of the wild area attack? If he can just get to the edge and out of the way? But he can't. His legs do not carry him quickly enough. Too noodly, even in Noir form. If this is how he goes out, then so be it, he went down fighting. His words will not be made hollow today as he faces the attack and braces for it with dignity and composure. A brush off of his jacket. Lets do this.

Death does not come today. Schneider does. Perhaps Death did come, but in a different fiery form. He doesn't offer his thanks in a bleeding heart kind of way. He offers it up in a way the Explosion Wizard would appreciate: Fire.

Haru's focus for casting Wave Artes once was an orb. Now it is four smaller orbs the size of golf balls that circle around him. They orbit, pulse, and hum. Their color shifts to that of white, black, gray, and red. They hum out and as Haru begins his next Wave Arte it appears as if he is not the one chanting. The Earth itself does. The stones resonate it back in a sound both forlorn and violent. "Rrha yant ga guaysu fowrlle yorr." As the area effect of the darkness begins to fade away, it is replaced with something else. Snow. Thick, fluffy snow that falls from the sky. He could almost feel that memory so close to being lost, and so the Enchanter calls upon it with a closed blue eye. The eye opens as he hears the final word in Schneider's shout, following on the wave of the bellow, "ASHFALL SNOWBLIND!" with his own voice. The snow is not snow at all, but thick volcanic ash that rips together with the heated Helloween winds. Ashes to Ashes.

This guy is way stronger than Kaydon has encountered, as he grunts under the weight, and then gets pushed down onto a knee. But when his blade finds that sweet spot, he pushes the trigger and sends the crackling explosion of fire magic through the blade, shattering the axe and sending the barbarian flying.

Even as the barbarian is flying, Kaydon is following, through the explosion, the armored Juggernaut rushing after his prey. Soon he has to stop, sliding on his feet as their opponent rips the ground itself up. He's only got one chance at this, as he plants his back foot, and then launches himself at the wall of rock flying at him. The gunblade clicks over and Kaydon swings, the weapon impacting the ground and the fire wave arte blasting outwards, clearing the path through the flying ground for him to rush at the barbarian.

There's no time to reload the gunblade, so Kaydon opts for his other custom made weapon. The damascus steel that makes up the hidden blade flashes as he sails through the air, intent on slamming his fist into the barbarian's neck, to drive that blade into him at point blank range.

Curtana raises his left arm and hunkers down underneath the kite shield, doing his best to weather the firestorm. He knews that there's no way he can outrun this wave of magic, so he shall stand his ground and take it head on. His shield starts to glow a dull orange as it warms up, but it blocks the flames from scorching the knight directly. With his potion and some of the Baroness' healing aiding him, Curtana is managing to outpace the constant heat damage.

Lowering his steaming shield slowly, Curtana takes a moment to scan the battlefield. It's a desperate situation for certain, but they do have a way to repel this attack and secure this outpost. It just means they have to take down a Crowned Lander who's attacking them not of their own free will.

"Bloody hell..." Cursing softly, Curtana ignites his blade in the usual Firebrand Sword Arte before tossing the longsword towards Middray. Under his command, it comes to an halt and spins feriously before returning to his sword hand. A burning yoyo with no string, causing the soil near the blade to start to melt into warped glass. "Let you undergo your own baptism by fire! WHIRLING SPARK!"

    Shirin looks toward Haru with a grin right before Wake steps up and the darkness blinds him however he has more tricks then to simply shoot a lot of crossbows bolts, not many but he has more. Taking a deep breath, he whistles and his Peko comes running and a quick hop allows him to mount back up. Taking a deep breath the call for action to attack the supply line is heard, "Retreating fire!" Shirin semi counters the order before he forms a giant arrow of light and launches it in the general direction of the wagons before beginning a retreat back towards the woods, that is unless someone interupts his retreat.

    From the wrong side of the battlefield, Wake's fists and feet are of little use. But through this darkness she has the chance to show what light is capable of in the service of a Goddess.

    She begins by folding her hands together, as if she were about to pray, and then she casts them wide. A beam of light springs out, a bar like a laser driving straight into the western forces of the enemy.

    "Slaves cannot stand before the radiance of The Beautiful One!"

And this time it is literally sword meeting sword as even injured Daiyu's quick and airy movements are enough to intercept Starshadow with her own blade, sparks crackling between the two. "Only the foolish and arrogant put all their cards on the table at the start of the game," she replies as she pushes blade to blade to seperate them.

One hand lets go of her weapon and makes a familiar fanning motion... but it's not one of her fans. It's several kunai enchanted with frost that she produces, flicking at Arashi in a rapid snap of her wrist. And then proves that she can do that antipode technique with her sword as well, both fire and ice arc along the blade as she turns and slashes.

    Arashi would give her fellow duelist some credit. They had a lot of tricks, but at the same time, Arashi looked a lot better at the moment than them. "Mm.. true.." she hints, but she isn't about to give anything away. Familiar with the attack, despite the source, Arashi accelerates, and then thunders ahead faster to evade the attack before coming back with Starshadow for a pair of strikes once again.

Things go quickly as this fight is looking pretty bad. One Baroness Wake shows up. Thank the goddess for backup. Haru is still up it's good and this situation may not be lost just yet. Her last shot was on the mark it looks like the Salamander Monk is under control here. She looks to the other front and looks concerned she'll draw another shot this time and her bow glows faintly as she does so. She will fire a shot, into the air then the second shot will hit the first shot to try and send it on a direct shot for the Palace Lander commander on the other flank.

Still the last attack had left its mark on her, she should have run. Yet where would they have run to? Nowhere she'd likely have be cut down if she ran.

And at the last possible moment Daiyu bolts away from the strike, spinning through the air in ways that'd make any wuxai warrior proud as she evades the blades. This time she doesn't have anything witty to say, just emitting a sharp snarl (is that a gekker?!?!) as she shifts her balance and kicks herself back at Arashi with more dark sword swipes. She may be the worst off at the moment, but she's hardly giving up the fight because of that.

The Western Barbarian slams his hand forward, grabbing hold of Damascus steel. Kaydon's hidden blade sails and seeks to stab into the Barbarian's neck, only to... SHATTER! The steel being torn apart, as the Barbarian grins at Kaydon. He could see that the bulky man's health dropped in that moment, but he can also see the hand grabbing at his face, swallowing all light from Kaydon's eyes! Only for Erufu's shot to sail CLEAN THROUGH his wrist. Something seems to 'snap' in the Barbarian's hand...

As he releases Kaydon and stumbles back, grabbing for his arm. The wildlife creatures around him retreating. And with the retreat being called, the man growls; "I will be back, puny one." Before he turns and storms off!

Light extends over the supplies suddenly. A shield of literal light forming protection over the expanse of the supplies. Flaming arrows land upon the 'hard light' shield which Mikage brings to bear over it. The aurora of light flickering as it halts arrow after arrow from making contact! Only for Shirin's burst of light to suddenly SLAM into the shield. Giving Mikage one hell of a work-out, and forcing her to keep pouring mana into the Hard Light shield. Struggling, but emboldened by Baroness Wake's song of prayer, until the lance of light finally ends!

Simultaneously, another light erupts, as Schneider's HALLOWEEN detonates down upon Middray's body, forcing him to his knees! Indeed, the title of Exploder Wizard is one not easily taken in vain at this point! The eruption of force scattering debris all around him in concentric circles!

Further flame decimates forwards, as Haru directs his ashfall forwards, the snow starting to choke around his enemies! The ash swallowed by the sucking winds of Schneider's spell, killing Middray's attempts to heal himself and forcing his initial retreat!

Curtana's blade ignites and is thrown to Middray, stabbing right into his shoulder, right before Curtana demands it to return. Spinning it THROUGH his shoulder and returning it back to him, SLICING a mean amount of health off of the retreating Salamander!

    More swipes, more parries! Clang clang clang. Spark spark spark. The two have been going back and forth like this the whole time with really only one mistake made. Arashi is thankful that it wasn't her, so far. Once again, the mare speeds forward, but this time upon those watery platforms before lashing out again, but with the intent to be vicious! Stab and TWIST.

    It looks like the battle will be won, even while the protection comes upon the party. The man nods a bit, then as the enemies begin to retreat, he will lift up a hand while a town-sized sigil begins to appear, a healing light coming upon all people while it begins to shimmer. "Healing Force Field!" It begins bringing up the HP of the people.

Erufu is about at her limit even as by somehow miracle the Alliance is able to push the enemy back. She'll lower her bow for the moment. She will need to catch her breath after a fight like that. This is far from over she knows it.

"We did well btu we're going to have tp push in before they come for anotehr attack..."

Catching his blade one last time, he stares after Middray but doesn't make any movements to pursue. There's no telling what sort of traps might lie in wait for anyone foolish enough to do this. Honestly, he wanted nothing more than to just fall backwards and throw up a prayer to whatever entity might hear it, but there is work to be done now that the immediate batter is over.

He does sigh in relief as he notices the Healing Field start to recover everyone's health. "Alright, don't have to worry too much about basic healing now...anyone need any aid?" Honestly, Curtana is lucky he didn't lose the ability to use his arm after an arrow pierce his shoulder. He's going have to see about doing a bit of field repair to make sure his plate mail doesn't break after the abuse of tonight.

Already making a few plans in his head on what to do now, the Pooka keeps his eyes peeled outward towards the forest, keeping a virgil now they had gaping holes in their walls. A knight has to stand strong, to be the shield his allies need.

"... Now you're getting predictable," is all Daiyu says, even as she steps into the path of the attack... and only giving her opponent a moment to realize something else was going on before she turns to whip her tails to intercept it, after infusing them with divine energy to offset the effect of striking that jagged blade.

And pivots to follow it up with an attack of her own, making a quick 1-2 crossing of slashes, then thrust the blade into the center of the 'X' for the final strike.

There is only so long that anyone can keep pouring mana into a relic before it starts to reach the limitations of an Adventurer's stamina. Mikage's eyes flicker back to their usual blue color as her hand falters and lowers, sweat beading on her forehead. She looks over towards Wake, giving a nod of appreciation for the support that she had brought, bolstering the fighters.

She places the Pale Blue back into Dawnbreaker and sheaths the weapon back into the holster along her spine. "I am so going to enjoy kicking these assholes out of Shibuya, and after that... kicking them out of Yamato entirely."

With her mana quite so low, there is an exhaustion that shows in Mikage's features as she shakes her head. "Let's get a count of our losses, then... I need a nap. A long nap."

    "Mm. And yet..." she trails, not even bothering to finish, it is rather clear what she means. Life Bars Tell All. Still, if Daiyu had to take a moment to heal, that gives Arashi an opening. While she dips to the shadows for a moment, it's only for a moment before she vanishes entirely once again. Following that, she comes spinning down from above for a viscious strike, followed by a second, third, and FOURTH from whirling down like a shadowy tornado. And with a second sword in her other hand! Daiyu wasn't the only one with a secret. It isn't a special sword of any sword, but she CAN in fact wield Starshadow with one hand.

Schneider smiles nastily as the Palace Landers retreat, because he's got one more /big/ spell left, and a handful of medium ones, he's far from out of the fight, though HP wise, he's on his last legs. But he's been on his last legs before and continued to fight on, and, well, it's not over until it's over. But it looks like the Palace Landers /have/ had enough and are really backing down.

"Well, that wasn't the worst thing that could have happened," he quips with a rock solid bravado. We -did- hold them off, after all, and that was with them having the advantage of surprise. Hopefully we'll get some watchstanders posted so that doesn't happen again. "But lets get everyone healed up as quickly as we can in case they do want more."

Haru stands there for a while to catch his breath. Palace Lander Adventurers. People he could /help/ or at least disarm in the coming conflict. Deep breaths as the healing begins to restore his health bar. A blue potion is taken from his inventory and down to recover his mana slowly. It helps him think. Now is not the time to reveal that trump card. It would overextend after a difficult battle. Patience. "Situation report. Everyone report in. Still alive and kicking?" Sure, he could look at the raid status menus, but there is the entire outpost to do a check on. Then there is an inventory of the material losses. A few 'thank yous' to hammer out in the way Haru tends to do it with chisel and hammer. It will be a long night for Haru.

By this point anyone watching the fight would have a hard time keeping up with what's going on. Both combatants are extremely fast, have sharp reflexes, and keep bringing darkness into play. Almost like the only time you can clearly make them out is when the sparks fly from their weapons colliding. Move and parry. Strike and defend. Daiyu whirls with the winds and even moves the earth with her steps, never standing still.

Until the second sword comes out. Like mocking her for that last comment, as Arashi manages to go duel weild and knock her side with the secondary while she was focused on parrying her primary weapon. "Erf."

A soft huff flicks her bangs, briefly highlighting the crown they part around. "I admit, I am not as familiar fighting those of a... similar build as my own," she adds, before charging her blade with darkness and coming for another series of blinding fast slashes. "But I have kept you away from the primary assault."

For all the good it's done, but that's just nitpicking.

Kaydon is shocked when the blade on his gauntet shatters. Well seems like this guy is far tougher, no wonder he's able to put up such a fight. A moment later all light vanishes from his eyes, only to be rescued by an elf in time to keep him from suffocating. He drops to the ground and gives her a thumbs up. He doesn't give chase when the big man retreats though, taking a moment to rest on his knee.

"I'm good." He finally says, as he calls out to Haru after he asks for a report. Eventually Kaydon rises to his feet and puts his blade back in its scabbard, "Well done. We're going to need to push up the time table though."

    Heh. The main assault, "Yeah, about that.. I trust my allies," Arashi points out as she continues to work against Daiyu's asssault. If Starshadow was a regular blade it would NEED repairs after this, but if Daiyu looks closely, its still pristine. It is no normal weapon. A bit more of the fox's attack slips through but the difference in life bars is still apparent. After deflecting much of Daiyu's attack, the mare comes again, and fast as she has the whole time but clearly with far, far more aggression.

    Seeing the enemy retreat brings no pleasure to Baroness Wake. She watches them go in disgust. She notes to herself, "I cannot hope to defeat war by fighting. And yet here I am. In battle."

    Still, it is a victory, which means it is not the worst thing that could have happened. Some could argue it is the second worst thing that could have.

    Her focus is on healing, though Merek has done much already. It inspires Wake to focus on a healing technique of her own in the future.

Daiyu is not in a favorable situation. She's known it for most of the fight. As she said, she's not familiar with fighting someone with such a similar skillset, and couldn't be shaken emotionally. She continues to move with the grace to intercept even the more offensive approach, but it's clear she's tiring, and running low on mana from her trickery as well as health.

"Once upon a time, I would see this through to a finale conclusion." A flick of her hand from the hilt of her sword and another kunai is drawn in it. This one looks different, but there's little time to contemplate it before she throws the blade. "But the boat ride is a pain in the tail fluff. A delay that cannot be afforded."

The kunai missed, hitting the ground at Arashi's feet. Yet didn't miss, as thorned vines spring up from the spot due to its enchantment, snaring around the mare's legs. At the same time Daiyu sheaths her sword back in the parasol, and gives a faint kant of her head that could almost be a bow. To a worthy opponent. "Until next time..."

And like that she turns and is gone, like the wind and shadows.

    No... attack? Wait, "STOP!" And then it all becomes obvious. Sadly, Arashi can't break free in time to try and persue. "Damnit.." She won, sure, but well- wait. The assault! "Let go you damn vines..!"

    In the distance, well back from the battlefield, Miyako rests slumped against a tree, gulping down a healing potion before offering one to Kotono. "It sounds like it's about over," she whispers to her partner, eyeing their slowly-increasing HP totals. "I hope everyone's okay." Her free hand clenches into a fist, fingernails digging into her palm. "We've got to get stronger. We'll push them back. Take back our town. Our home."