Wave of Calamity: 6

The Sixth Wave of Calamity looms... as the clouds over the Ninetails Dominion loom, a ways north-west from the Root City, over the farmlands. With only 48 hours on the timer.

> If you attended Floor 6's raid, you are unlikely to be able to travel here in time.

Liminality
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

A tense pressure is in the air, in the absolute middle of the night. As the crimson and purple swirling clouds overhead demand the attention a Wave of Calamity deserves, there's nothing more than a murmur, and the occassional shout by one of the squad leaders. There's various points of light where other squads are situated, and people have been given a chance to survey the land - as they will be fighting in the middle of the night!

The teams - including the Adventurers - have all been granted a standard Peko to ride on, due to the enormity of the cloud formation this time. The Peko Army has made sure to supply enough for this purpose. The mobility seems a neccesity, as this day, the Wave region is definitely more spread out than it was during the Alne invasion, just a few weeks ago.

The Mercenary Blades are also in position, with everyone situated on top of one of the hills in this rice-growing region. Compared to the Eastal Free League, the army gathered here is impressive and mobile. Compared to the Holy Empire's beastriders and foot soldiers, the cavalry of this Kingdom is well organized - even if they are technically just 'mercenaries'; they are paid based on their skill and Hunters Guild position.

There is no lightning this time. There are only the cloud formations. There's someone on staff for each alliance that is announcing the timing on the mass Raid channel, reporting using a simultaneous 1:1 conversation with someone at the church.

"Five..."

There's a rumble in the skies, a ripping open of a region of it suddenly, before the count down finishes. It's as if the region has a massive 'maw' forming within it. The clouds starting to spin counter-clockwise in that region. Forming a clear view of space.

A series of Light spells go off, rushing towards the position like UFOs, before bursting like flares, creating a momentary better view of the space. The clouds are not just swirling and opening up, but they are /lifting/ up towards space. As if some kind of entity outside of the planet were inhaling the clouds in some kind of reversed tornado formation.

"Four..."

Space warps in the region for a moment...

"Three..."

Nothing.

"Two..."

Still nothing.

"One..."

Weapons are lifted, as a sudden 'fleet' appears within the skies, as an enormous figure descends from the clouds. There's this strange ripple around it. Some of the red and purple clouds flushing down along with it, almost like it was on strings. As it they were 'pulling' on this enormous thing coming down.

From afar, it's impossible to get an INSPECT on it, but people with spyglasses are able to get a rough view of the thing in the midst of the subtle glows of red and purple coming from the clouds themselves. It appears to be a dragon, coming down with a squad of Wyverns flanking either side of it, coming down a distance away from their position!

A horn is blown immediately. Followed by more horns. "PROTECT THE FARMS!" Is called out by a female voice. The leader of the Merchant Blades herself is here, riding right alongside Nashetania, the Cait Sith Hero, each on their own personal Pekos - leading the charge!

The Wyverns are landing in various regions across the farms, but Nashetania and Mia are going for the estimated landing zone of the Dragon itself, where the Adventurers no doubt are best off aiding.
Giganpor
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    At the even thought of losing the farms for Yamato, Giganpor had set out quickly. He didn't need a Peko. He had his Nightmare mount. And that had him ready. His hammer-axe spear was in hand, and the Grandeur Officer was in full battle mode. He still preferred human from to his were lion form, mostly because he didn't see a need for it yet.

    And he had brought weapons for the Landers that needed it. As many as he could make when he got here, and suits of armor if they needed the protection.

    That being said, once the count down started to narrow he had mounted and was nearer the armies. With the charge, he's in it all as he takes off with a roar, following Mia and Nashetania.

    The sight of the dragon has him staring a bit even as he continues the charge on his horse-like mount. "Been a while since I've seen a dragon! Not since the Apocalypse!"

    He immediately goes to the Chimlink, "<< This is Giganpor of Grandeur. Nashetania and Mia are headed for the large dragon. Someone give me a status on that thing. I'm sticking to them in case they are targetted. >>"

    With that, he decides to shift forms anyways early on. And give off a challenging roar towards the Dragon Emperor to get it's attention and try to focus it on at least himself and the two Landers.
Kotono
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

It's a good thing Kotono and Miyako were provided with Pekos, since Kotono doesn't have one, and she doesn't know if Miyako has one. Whether the latter accepts the extra one, Kotono accepts her Peko and uses it to ride into action as quickly as she can.

"<< This is Kotono. I'm heading in now! >>" The girl says with an eager tone in her voice. She may not know the danger that she might be going to face up against, but she isn't afraid of anything it seems.

Upon arriving, Kotono can only stop and stare a little at what she's come up against. It's not exactly what she was thinking, but after a moment her sense of uneasiness disappears. Somersaulting off of her Peko, Kotono spins her blades and smiles. "Nothing's gonna hold me back!"
Mikage
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

It feels awkward to be mounted on peko-back. Mikage usually travels everywhere by cart or by foot. Rama isn't taking this any better than she is, and the poor bird probably is not enjoying the fact that there is a cat clinging with claws extended to the saddle. "Easy, buddy. Not much longer." Rama huffs. The bird beneath her shifts and ruffles its feathers.

The sight of what is coming for them, however, has her nearly freezing in place. In the best of circumstances, the Were Fang can have a colorful mouth on her, but the string of swears that follows is distinctly creative.

"How in the world are we supposed to take on a dragon?!" At least, as far as she has been lead to believe, dragons are way out of reach for people of their level. Still, with the farms in very real peril, she settles herself atop her mount, and then spurs it forward towards the battle.

"Let's do this..."

Using a bow while mounted is not the easiest thing, but as she rides forward, Mikage tries to line up a shot towards the dragon, channeling magical energy into her newly forged bow. The weapon seems to be able to actually handle that kind of thing, unlike those she used to have. Miho had certainly done a good job on the thing.

The arrow sails forward, aimed towards one of the creature's wings in an attempt to try and lower its air maneuverability.
Rizadoman
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    As the sky splits , all Rizadoman can do for a moment is stare as it begins to rain down Wyverns, followed by what could only be described as the king of dragons, "By the Nagas..." It is all he can say as the others begin to charge in, finally he snaps out of it and begins to charge in, cracking the reins and pushing the Peko forward. As he approaches he takes one hand off the reins forming ice around his claws that he launches towards one of the wyverns, " My apologies cousin, but we must put an end to you all."
Merek
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Merek teleported from the dungeon to Carmina, which means that the man would be able to arrive with the Peko. When he comes upon the battlfield he nods a bit, then he takes a moment to adjust his potion belt. He wears what looks like dark attire, hood up with the beltcape about the waist. Both hands begin to make two ice disks which he swings along and into the dragon emperor.
Kaydon
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Well this is certainly a new one. Kaydon's never seen a wyvern army before. The were fang is on his Peko, patting the avian mount a couple of times to keep it calm. While he understands the desire to leave the game that the folks working to clear the tower feel, the damage that is being wrought upon the world because of it is unacceptable.

But having words with them about it will have to wait, because now the focus needs to be on stopping this dragon and it's horde from destroying the farms. He spurs the Peko onward once the wyverns start landing, rushing in the direction of one of them in order to try to catch up to it.

He's fought plenty of dragons over the years, in many games. Now's a good enough chance to fight one for real, or at least as real as it gets around here. He hops up onto the saddle of the Peko and as he nears the wyvern he's targeting, leaps, trying to land on its back and drive his Ka-BAR into its back in order to hold himself there.
Baroness Wake
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    Baroness Wake arrived only a short while before the event, bringing with her a small retinue. All are mounted and armed, ready to do what must be done. Given the sight before them, few have any illusions of their odds of survival.

    Despite the immensity of the danger, Wake's voice is calm. "We'll sweep at them in an arc, targeting the wyverns on the way. No one breaks from the formation for anything. If I fall, you will press on."

    Wake leaves no time for debate, but urges her peko into action. As she said, she's going somewhat off the straight line to focus her wrath first upon any wyverns that can be battled upon the way. She need not wait long. Perhaps it's the different color of banners that draws attention from the monsters, perhaps it's simply fate, but in short order Wake finds herself getting very close and very personal with the scaly beast. She is no master rider, but the strike of her fist works every bit as well from the back of a peko as it did on her own two feet, sending a ripple of dark energy smashing into the enemy.

Miyako
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Miyako is not much for riding, never has been. But she'll do it when necessary. A borrowed peko is enough of a mount for now.

    "So," she muses as she draws her mount to a stop beside Kotono's. "This is it. Yet again, those idiots in the tower have gotten us dipped in the dragon dung."

    Wielding a naginata from peko-back is perhaps not the standard for which either was intended, but she's not trying to stick the blade into anything just now. She's just using it to guide her spell, creating a sphere of darkness to hurl at one of the oncoming creatures.
Yeowang
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Yeowang is riding out with Grandeur, and while she's on a borrowed Peko, she seems to be a passable rider. Nothing special, but quietly confident and self-possessed, calm in the face of chaos. When Giganpor takes off, she'll follow at the best pace the peko can manage. She keys her chimlink, reports, "<<Yeowang, heading in.>>"

She's never faced a dragon before, though she's met some pretty scary people in MMA fights, and while the dragons aren't wearing pads or gloves, neither is she.

She reins in close to the dragon, but not quite up on him, hopping off the peko and sending it off with a slap to the flank. It'll only get broiled alive here, and she's not trained for fighting from peko-back in any event. She takes a breath, then, and charges, then leaps up, deliverying a flying roundhouse kick, coming in from range and striking cleanly. It'd be a point in MMA, though most of her fights went to KO or submission.
Miho
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Miho has caught warning about the impending wave, and she knew what she had to do. She had to get in on this and intercept the wave. So she's dropped the projects she'd been working on and headed out with all the speed she could muster. She'd done what she could to help those fighting get their gear in order but the time for that has run out. The tiny salamander is ready to fight. All those pinpoints of light in the sky are watched a small prayer is offered to the Kami as she makes ready to fight.

The cock ticks down bit by bit and finally the moment comes.

She does smile for a moment, not that bad things are about to happen but several weapons she forged or had a large hand in are taking the field. If only her Grandfather, Uncle and Cousin could know...the skills they taught her are being put to good use in this world. With that, she'll draw her bow and take aim at the massive form of the Dragon Emperor as she lets two shots away.

"DOUBLE STRAFE!!!"

She will then break into a run, the adds are a bit problem too and she's well aware she'll be in melee combat before this is all over.
Hifumi
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Hifumi gets started while the timer is still counting down. The man in his chef's outfit with a flower dragon on his shoulder rides to each main tank. He hands out small boxed lunches. "Eat." he orders. "Not only will it help you keep fighting but it has a strength buff. So eat up we'll need it." he moves on to the next tank, riding from group to group on his peko handing out bento's to all of the tanks with the same instructions. Eat up, get the buff, we'll need it. Over, proof positive that food is more than JUST sustinance.
Prophylaxis
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

What, did you think a little something like 'travel time' would get in the way of someone with a rare and specific piece of loot from an obscure and otherwise unassuming goblin-hunting quest when there's potential Wave Busting to be done!?

Well, maybe in any other situation, but although actually travelling to Ninetails was unfeasible from the sixth floor of the tower, word still traveled quickly enough that Prophylaxis was made aware of just what it was at stake. Also, possibly at steak. The farms of the Ninetails Dominion supplies delicious ingredients to restauranteurs and other sundry chefs all across Yamato. To allow such fertile farmland to be destroyed, in the middle of an undead uprising no less, would be absolutely unacceptable.

Also, his Patron happens to be tied in quite closely with the Dominions' agriculture, and if her businesses incur too much damage, then her position would be at risk! And that means /his/ access to /her/ resources are also at risk!

And so, only a couple of days after slaying some kind of terrifying cybernetically enhanced illusion-conjuring lasercube, Prophylaxis... is here.

...Staring up at a sky filled to the brim with dragons, wyverns and more.

"...The seventh floor has wyverns too. What a weird coincidence...?" Prophylaxis rubs thoughtfully at his chin. "If it's even a coincidence at all. Hm."

No, it's probably not... Or is it? After all, the second floor boss conjured a sandworm, and that has absolutely nothing to do with the forest on the third floor. Unless somehow dragons are associated with laserfaced tetrahedrons. The magus shrugs and directs his staff into the sky. All around him, the earth begins to rumble, sluice upwards and finally...

As it turns out, 'pillar' is really a very flexible word. In this case, Prophylaxis launches not 'pillars,' but a barrage of thin, granite lances like ballista bolts. The massive flechettes race into the sky, perforating wyvern wings and pinning some unfortunate beasts spread-eagle to the clouds before gravity takes hold and finishes the job. "I wonder which world is invading us this time. Hm."
Estelle
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Estelle's selection of her mount was a careful choice, made based on apparent compatibility and divination; it served her well in her last Peko race, so she can only hope it will here, today. One hand holds the reins of the animal, and the other holds both them and her wand. Her tails flick and swish across the light barding of the avian, as the count scrolls down, and her eyes are turned upwards towards those clouds.

She doesn't bother with nephomancy; this is hostile, and she has the feeling it will only lead her wrong.

Instead, she only grips the leather harder, the silver of her focus digging into her palm, as the heavens tear open. She keeps her breathing even, while she takes in the descending flock and the great beast at its heart. "Yield not to calamity, but face her boldly." She muses aloud, before cracking her reins and setting her Peko off towards the Great Dragon, the talons of her mount tearing up the ground alongside that of the other adventurers. A deep breath in, and then out, and she starts chanting.

"Oh Charioteer of Heavens' Vault, guide my course without fault." Phantom flames sweep around her steed, as she invokes the Stars. Silver and red swirl around his talons, without searing the ground. The hand with her wand releases the reins, and a javelin of fire forms 'around' the implement. "Auriga of serpents' kith, I wrap myself in your myth. Lend me now your parents' might, and guide my steed and weapon's flight." She rears her hand back in what is, honestly, poor throwing posture - but it doesn't truly matter. The searing shaft moves with more than the force of her throw, streaking through the air.

In it's wake, she studies the Dragon's reaction - and the lay of the battle in general - as her mount is left to handle the terrain. The spectral flames are already fading, with the bulk of the Arte expended.
Proteus
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

"Well, it's time to clean up the mess that Scale Emblem left behind." Proteus comments to no one in particular. There is a little flick as her hand pulls back a rogue bit of hair from beneath her hood. She perches on her Peko, looking up at the sky, fidgeting with a pair of new black leather gloves while time runs out. Her gaze flicks to one side towards Nashetania as well, and the Imp grimaces. "It's going to be impossible to convince her to withdraw." She mutters. "She doesn't understand that she's a target too..." She pauses, then chuckles. "Then again, that's why she's a Hero, isn't it?"

But the timer ticks down, and Proteus flicks the reins. "HYAH!" She calls, and races forward on her borrowed Peko, charging for the center of the chaos. "Once more into the breach!" She calls, then looks up, grinding her teeth as she sees what comes out. "Tch! What? Curse those bastards! Come on, everyone! We have to contain them!" As she draws in closer, she flicks her fingers through the air, sketching symbols as a window pops open. ( U

She turns towards the colossal, deadly form that seems to be at the center of the battle, the mighty Dragon, and lunges forward, spurring her Peko in a sweeping strike past the thing. "Take this!" Her hand flashes, and the Arcane Bolt blasts outwards towards the powerful enemy...
Liminality
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Mikage is absolutely right. Dragons _are_ well out of their reach to defeat at the moment. As they get closer, they will find the INSPECT for the dragon indicating a Dark Red level danger. However, while it clearly has at least six bars of health, it also appears to be under an effect at the moment. Nobody recognizes the icons, but since the red curling clouds are still remaining attached to it, it probably has to do something with that.

As Giganpor roars as the Dragon Emperor, the beast shifts its head slightly to the right for a moment, and then ROARS back with a sound so ear-deafening that some of those who don't grab their ears in time start bleeding from their ears and are immediately under the TENITUS status, making it impossible to hear their Chimlinks. This immediately causes some chaos, as commands stop going through right!

Prophylaxis is joined by the rest of the few people he managed to wrangle. But all in all, he's one of the rare few Scale Emblem people here. His stone pillar shrapnel catching some of the Wyverns, reducing their health just a little.

Mikage's bow sails for one of the Dragon Emperor's absolutely enormous wings, cutting into the membrane and ripping a hole through it. But she can also watch as that red light of damage starts to seal the region, as the dragon quickly begins to regenerate! Whirling Discs sail up along with her arrows, but they are beat down by a simple push of its wings, sending them sailing into the distance...

Where they cut off an undead's head. Multiple undead slowly rise from beneath the ground to the north, armed with rusted helmets, broken swords, and damanged breastplates. The group of Skeletons moving forward, joined by a black being hidden amidst the shrouds, who in turn is flanked by multiple floating pieces of Shields and Weapons - pointing his staff forward to direct them towards the battlefield. Specifically, towards the Merchant Blades on the outside of the battle. Managing to ambush one of the furthest away teams, pulling them from their Pekos. Those familiar enough with the Undead Plague in this land, would no doubt recognize the Undead Turning that follows soon after.

At the flanks, Rizadoman joins in with one of the Wyvern Teams, raking their claw through the wings of one of the Wyverns before it manages to retaliate, damaging the creature. They're far lower level than the Emperor Dragon in comparison. It tries to crane its head towards Rizadoman to bite him, but Kaydon jumps onto its neck with his combat knife, and digs into its scales, causing it to veer off! A shockwave of dark magic follows in the form of Baroness Wake's support - slamming its head the other way again! They're keeping it from retaliating by constantly striking at its weak point. A sphere of darkness soon falls over the Wyvern, seeking to consume it. Slowly searing away at its scales and enveloping it in that red light of damage. Slowly eating away at its health!

As the enormous Dragon Emperor finally lands amidst the rice paddies, Yeowang jumps up, kicking at its head. Their foot hits, but soon she feels an intense pain to follow it, as they take recoil damage from trying to damage such a powerful opponent! They're about to land wrong, when Miho's double strafe slams arrows into its hide, giving Yeowang something to push off against to get back on their Peko and make for evasive maneuvers as the enormous Dragon Emperor begins to rear its head up slowly. It's easy to see the enormous red light boiling up near the base of its long neck, while its black-and-red scales shift about, bulging as that red light rises towards its maw.

In the distance, a team of Merchant Blades and Adventurers are fed by Hifumi, given warm sustenance that boosts their abilities. He gets a few thanks, before they ride in to aid the Wyvern team, jumping in as the Sphere of dark magic wanes. Off of their Pekos, Spears out, falling upon their draconic bodies and slowly chunking away at their health with far more strength than they naturally had. Finally eradicating the first of the Wyverns.

As Estelle throws her fire lance, it splatters against its hide and causes a sear of damage, only for some of the embers to fall onto the farmland beneath its legs, setting some of the grass around the rice paddies on fire!

Proteus rides close enough to Nashetania that she is witness to her activating her special hero technique. She takes out what looks like a small sword-wand, followed by a sudden growth of a dozen physical-looking Swords of Light forming around her. The Bun-Bun Cait Sith points her sword wand forward, and the swords immediately sail foward, taking up a pattern like a fin, and slicing in rapid succession across the body of the dragon, causing it notable pain - Proteus' arcane shots landing into the wounds she has already created.

Then, flame.

An enormous WAKE of fire, perfectly well telegraphed, bursts forward. An enormous /sea/ of flame casts forward, jetting over the farms and not just setting a whole region a-flame, but literally /glassing/ the area. Dirt turning to glass under the white-hot sea of flame that jets from its maw as it spreads its wings out in a single flap - with enough weight behind the flap to send nearby pekos flying if they don't adjust in time!

From the north flanks, the Undead army continues southwards. Though they are not immune to the rampaging Wyverns, who care not for the undead presence and attack them all-the-same! Flames start to jet all across the hills, while Merchant Blades mages start using mass water spells to control the flames!
Giganpor
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    The roar and being so close definitely has Giganpor's lion-like ears bleeding. The effect has him cursing a bit, despite it not being heard as he is then engulfed in a wave of flames. A sizeable chunk of his hit points going down despite his attempt to use some quick water magic.

The Nightmare mount wavers under him before sinking back into his shadow with a wild neighing sound. Now on foot, Giganpor glares up at the dragon before charging and leaping forward. Green light surrounds his shield before going down to his weapon as he holds it.

    Mid-leap Giganpor brings back the spear and tries to drive the point into the dragon's hide itself. The green glow hopefully helping to pierce the hide of the beast so he can use his own weapon as a foot and hand hold in preparation to move again.

    Giganpor takes the time to also do an Inspect since he's probably at least close enough to do that. He seriously wants to know what they're up against among other things, and if there's a weakness to that thick hide armor.
Rizadoman
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    Rizadoman forms a wall of light infront of him and his Peko as they run through the fire and out the other side towards the dragon. However he could not continue to risk his poor Pekos life and dismounts before sending it out of the battle for now. As he stares up at the dragon , water rises from the ground forming a disc in the lizardsman hand, " By my ancestors, the storm callers, I strike you down. Fake emporer." With whatever Rizadoman is missing in magic, he makes up for in sheer strength as he launches the whirling disc of wwater as hard as he can at the dragon.
Estelle
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

There's a soft 'tch', as the drop of fire strikes the grass. Estelle didn't intend for that, but... well, the potential danger is swiftly outweighed by what the Emperor itself does afterwards. That deep breath, the turning of its head... She snaps out a hard, firm "Scutum!", wand making a warding gesture as she wraps herself in a veil of starlight long enough to weather the blaze of its breath. There's a soft hiss, and a shake of her head...

She also glances off towards the new, opportunistic incursion, weighing the Undead Force and how it and the Wyverns are interfering with each other. That's an addition they didn't need, and she spends a moment weighing the various concerns; the two larger forces, and the concentrated power of the 'Boss'.

And then the vixen pauses, at the chatter on the Raid Chim. She gives the Dragon and, apparently, it's rider? a speculative eye.

"... Oh Tiger of the West, with fur of shining white, I beseech you now to aid us in our plight. Lend me the winds of your domain, that I might show the world the strength of your reign." She guides her mount to back off a little as she chants, her wand raised and making swirling motions as she gathers a storm of silver-touched wind above her head - and then unleashes the AOE Arte upon the creature, trying to sweep it up along the beast's back.
Mikage
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

For the first time ever, Mikage actually might wish she was one of the tanks, if only beause they seem to be getting preferential access to Hifumi's cooking. Even as she rides off to do battle, her stomach grumbles. "Stop that. Focus!"

It is a good thing that she does take that moment to focus, because that is the moment that the dragon lands heavily in the nearby rice fields, causing the ground to shake a little bit. She looks to where she had fired her arrow earlier, only to mutter another curse at the sight of it healing over. "Not good."

Then, her eyes flick to nearby movement, spotting the approaching undead, "Oh come on... as if we really need yet /another/ thing trying to kill us." She pulls on her mounts reins, eyes trying to take in everything around them. The problem being, that there are enemies seemingly in all directions.

A wave of fire is followed by a harsh gust of wind, both of which she just barely is able to pull her mount away from, giving a command for the beast to drop down, which leaves it with just a few singed feathers. "That was too close for comfort." Then, her head tilts, as if she were listening to the raid channel and picking up on some of the insight there. She squints, as if looking for something, but then shakes her head.

"We need to take care of some of that fire." She channels water magic through her bow, the weapon glowing faintly blue before she fires a shot above the dragon. It explodes in a shower of ice and rain, the particles falling down across the creature, but also across some of the land nearby, trying to quench the flames.

Unfortunately, the wind seems to be blowing it in the wrong direction...
Merek
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Merek looks to the dragon while he tries to bring about the power of light. All the same, he doesn't have the energy for it, he'd been taking the time to get to the place, he's debuffed and it looks like even while he brings up a flame shield to defend himself, he's not doing well in the fight. The man takes a look to the party and nods a bit, while he begins to draw his sword, black metal shining. "Alright."
Kotono
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Swiftness is always a key component to have when you're dealing with various enemies. And try as they may, they can't hit the Kotono!

Still, the girl doesn't let her guard down. After skidding to a halt, she looks around and clasps her blades tightly while surveying the general area and the various enemies at hand. After a moment, she decides to go after the army of undead. "Time to send you back to the afterlife... forever!"

The athletic ninja rushes in fast, attempting to use a ninja-style slash as she goes by to try to make her point.
Hifumi
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Hifumi nods to whatever is being said in raid chim. "Snakeroot." he calls out the small rooty summon appearing in a cascade of earth magic. "Alright buddy, get in there, and see if you can't at least get some poison stacks on that thing." he starts to cast using Snakeroot as a focus to help him start off some bursts of poison AA fire at the dragon.
Yeowang
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Yeowang's kick leaves her in an awkward position. She's kicked people and heavy bags, but kicking a dragon is like kicking a wall. A stone wall. She's having trouble recovering, she hadn't quite expected it to be like that, but a few well-placed arrows give her a point to land and launch from, leaping back onto her peko, which was just under the wall of flame that went out, where she was just behind it, and quite pleased not to be broiled alive. That would be bad.

She leaps back onto her peko and wheels around again. It looks like the dragon's fully engaged, so she will spur her peko to take her over to engage the wyverns, wheeling around and standing in the saddle, riding up behind a wyvern as it swoops close enough to the ground to engage a defender. She engages it, delivering a hard punch that knocks off a chunk of HP.
Baroness Wake
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    The fire is on a scale that Wake didn't expect. Not many really can, honestly. It's such a rush of heat that her best efforts only prevent her from being utterly incinerated rather than avoid damage. Her peko, sadly, is not made for such challenges. By the time the Baroness gets her bearings, she isn't even certain where it went or if the poor creature is still alive. Regardless, her plan wouldn't work on a peko anyway.

    The Baroness lashes out at the wyverns, not only trying to strike them down, but to get their attention. At the first chance, she leaps at her enemy and brings her hand down where wing meets body with terrible force, smashing the vulnerable area with everything she's got.

Miyako
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Miyako barely pulls her mount aside in time, ducking down behind it as she loses her grip and scrambles to regain it before things get even worse. Clambering back into the saddle with a brief curse, she casts a quick glance over at Kotono, to make sure her friend is alright, then turns her attention back to the monsters. "Damn you all!" she cries, hoping the dragon-rider can hear her. "Leave our world be!"

    The naginata starts to twirl swiftly above her head as she chants her spell - or is it just another song? - and shadows gather around it once again.

        o/~ Into the fires of forever, we will fly through the heaves
        o/~ With the power of the universe we stand strong together
        o/~ Through the force of our power, it will soon reach the hour
        o/~ To victory we ride, fury of the storm!

    Darkness solidifies around the whirling polearm, and as the blade slams to a stop, the ebony sphere keeps on moving, hurled up into the air at the huge monster.
Miho
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

So far things are going well enough, well, for the most part, she scored a good hit on the Dragon but there are more things to worry about such as the Wyverns and even more to deal with however she's not quite aware of this as the fire is coming. She knows what's coming she's going to move. The undead need to be stopped, as she becomes more aware of them but she's got Wyverns to deal with. She'll take aim at one of the Wyverns. She lines up a shot and lets it fly aiming to catch one of the horde between the eyes lessening the swarm.

"Dragons and Undead? This is just not our day!"
Prophylaxis
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

"Excuse you," Prophylaxis huffs, having apparently been within earshot of Proteus' TERRIBLE DISPARAGEMENT. "We didn't leave a 'mess.' If you want to blame someone, blame the /other/ otherworlders. Besides, I'm here to do my part, aren't I? And against a foe like this, a single magus counts for more than a dozen swords!"

Well, when they're not on fire, that is. The dragon's burning breath pours out of the sky, a torrent of castigating flame. Prophylaxis raises a shield of stone... And quickly regrets the decision, as that earthen barricade begins to glow progressively brighter before turning to slag before the dragon's impossibly hot breath. Flame burns away a chunk of his HP bar-- far more than he would like. To think, he makes the trip all the way out here and that dragon repays his thoughtfulness by SETTING HIM ON FIRE!!

How rude.

Even more rude is the tide of undead marching now into the field. Opportunistic bastards, those things. But it's an opportunity for the Dominion, too. If the undead are caught up in the dragon's breath, it'll be just as bad for them!

But the salient point still remains. The wyverns in the sky are a far more appropriate target for a sorcerer who specializes in area denial. It's as he turns his eyes back toward the sky that he notices...

Something /interesting/ about that dragon. "...Oho?" Damage piles onto the great wyrm. Prophylaxis taps his chin and opens the raid channel. "Keep up the hurt. Don't get distracted by the guy on its back-- the only thing we need to do is hit it hard enough that the wyrm is shunted back to whatever dimensional hole it crawled out of."

But again! Everyone else seems to have that well in hand. And so Prophylaxis turns his staff to the sky once more. The wind howls, it swirls around the cloth wrapping concealing the head of the staff. All at once, an eerie note splits the air as tiny sparks of electricity begin to dance on the ground beneath the wyverns...

"O' howling gale, o' crashing lightning, by my will..." The sky rumbles. Arcs of white-hot energy lick down out of the churning clouds. With a sweeping, final gesture, Prophylaxis strikes the earth with the base of his staff. A golden gem inlaid into the wood there flashes brilliantly, as he roars: "Become the bridge that links heaven and earth! CALL LIGHTNING!"

A torrent of electrical fury pours down from on high, racing from an origin in the sky to those anchor points on the ground, with the flock of wyverns directly in the way of it all. While still nowhere near as impressive as the likes of Lord of Vermillion, it will still be devastatingly effective against a flock of wyverns...!
Kaydon
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Kaydon can't seem to hold his grip too long as the wyvern under him bucks and tries to throw him off. He pulls the blade out, stabs the wyvern a few more times, and then bails off, landing back on his Peko. He uses sheathes the knife and then pulls his sword from it's scabbard, swinging at the small dragon, and then spotting the wave of flames coming at him.

He slashes the blade downward to create a wave of wind to split the flames away from him, in order to not take the damage from that. Safe, for the moment, his swings his peko back around to try to stab at the wyvern with his long blade, "Go down you damn lizard!"
Proteus
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Proteus was expecting a breath attack, but there's breath attacks and then there's /that/. With a yelp, Proteus spurs the Peko on, twisting to tumble with the horsebird as the blast wave scorches just past her, barely missing incinerating the Imp. "Not so fast..." She grimaces, stumbling back to her feet as she looks over the devastation... And notices the arrival of an undead army as well. "Really? REALLY?" Proteus grates, raising a fist and shaking a hand in that direction. "What ever happened to a balanced encounter!?" The Imp yells at no one in particular, and leaps back onto her Peko. "Come on. We have things to do." She rubs at it for a moment before she bolts. < X

Proteus makes another quick pass, seeing the draconic enemies covered for the moment, and turns to face down another of the threats menacing the land. The matter of the dragon and its rider will have to wait for the moment. "How convenient that these damn things showed up at this time." She mutters, and arcs through the undead army, sweeping along the flanks in a cavalry skirmisher tactic. Her hand lashes out, a blade of flame whipping out as she lashes out again and again, savaging the undying along the sides and back like a mobile attack force is /supposed/ to do.

She does, however, keep an eye on the Hero. A boot is going to drop. She can feel it.
Liminality
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Giganpor dragoons onto the Dragon, barely latching on. Their weapon almost failing to sink into its scales. He's got a foothold, and can inspect the dragon though:

<< Dragon Emperor >>

It's got the standard Monster iconography on it. The Dragon Emperor then slowly turns its eyes towards Rizadoman as he calls it a 'Fake Emperor', and in that moment, Rizadoman is staring <death> in its eyes. He can feel it in his bones, like a mouse staring at a snake that is just about to bite its head off. As if he's already within its coils. There is utterly nothing <fake> about the Dragon Emperor.

Estelle's area of effect assault rains down on its body, and there's a 'squawk' that comes from its back, followed by the light of a protective piece of magic being used... but no retaliation! The wind searing across the Dragon's scales. Its top health bar barely moving from the continued assault! Her winds interfere with Mikage's water spell as well. Luckily, it sprays the water over some of the flaming harms - protecting some of the region from blossoming out of control. But the dragon's health doesn't tick down this time.

So far, peoples' Pekos are remarkably brave. There's a big difference between Wild Pekos and those trained professionally by the Peko Army. These birds stand up even in face of a massive danger such as an actual honest /Dragon/.

One of the Wyverns approaches to protect the Dragon Emperor and its Rider, only to suddenly get CHOMPED on, bitten apart by the Dragon Emperor. Whatever control there may or may not be on the dragon, it doesn't look like it's perfect. The moment it's fully destroyed, the health of the Dragon Emperor begins to climb faster however! Only to be slowed back down as Miyako is joined by a few mages, using their corruptive magics to slow its healing, while the ebony sphere slams against its shoulder and starts to dig into its scales!

Another Wyvern gets closer, only for Yeowang to intercept it! Punching the back of its head as it gets close enough while a tank taunts it, and clocking it back to the ground and out of range of the Dragon's massive reaching bite! Its tail rises, about to fire searing venom at Yeowang, only for Baroness Wake to slam her fist onto its back, temporarily stunning the draconic creature! This forces its head to go down, causing Miho's shot to miss, only for it to sail into one of the skeleton soldiers - shattering its body in one blow!

Lightning then sails down on the Wyvern, shattering it into a blaze of light, cascading outwards and ripping across the ground to another Wyvern another party is dealing with it, wounding that one in the same surge of magic! The other parties are doing their damnest best. And there's a few Wyverns that have already been defeated already thanks to the mobility in place.

In the distance, Mia can be seen cutting apart undead, trying to work her way towards the robed figure - but the various Shield and Sword binders keep getting in her way. Kotono jumps in to assist, cutting apart some of the sword binders, shattering the literal floating swords with her ninja-cutting strike! Proteus steps in, and soon she, Kotono and the leader of the Merchant Blades are fighting side by side. Kotono's cutting blows aiding the flanks, while Mia moves side-by-side with Proteus to melt those shields standing in her way to get to the shrouded 'leader' of the undead that is present. Their INSPECT indicating them to be a < Vampire Leader >.

The undead however keep pushing forward. The sword binders spreading across the battlefield to aid the Wyverns, trying to cut people literally off from getting on top of the beasts! Assisting them in their weak spots! The shields remaining with the Lich, as they raise their staff, and a pulse of weakening magic suddenly comes out from its position, before a series of lines of black magic fire out to its assailants, trying to drain them of their health.

The Wyverns have started to get used to the patterns being used, and are starting to use their dangerous venom stingers to try and stab into peoples' bodies and poison them to death.

All while the massive Emperor Dragon lifts its head and ROARS! A sudden effect appearing in peoples' HUDS:

< EMPEROR'S ROAR: The Emperor's Domain in this area lowers your combat values! >

Right as a Wyvern tries to dive-bomb towards the Emperor's back, followed by another one...
Mikage
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

The peko that Mikage is riding starts to squawk as a group of undead come far too close, their weapons trying to slice into feathers. She is able to pull it back under control, but that only lasts for a split second before the dragon's roar has her mount rearing back and tossing the Were Fang to the ground.

"Ow." She rubs at her rear end as the peko starts to take off. Rama stares back at her and unseats himself from the saddle and leaps down to land at her side, nudging the Ranger as she gets to her feet. "Yeah, I know." Whatever the little cat was communicating to her, she nods.

"Try not to get get underneath his feet." She explains to the cat. Stroking a hand down the lynx's back, she channels some of her own magical energies into him as he goes charging off towards the dragon.

It looks comical at best, a small cat with a frost effect against a giant dragon. The dragon could easily grind him into paste with one step. Rama, the brave, charges right up to one of the dragon's massive forelimbs and ... chomps right down onto one of its toes. It looks ridiculous. The cat dangles there, likely not even breaking the skin.

But... it does leave a lingering frost effect over that digit. That's something, right?
Giganpor
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    Giganpor growls as he stays lodged on the Dragon Emperor. And with a good eye on the status and such, he hums to himself. Then looks down before looking back up. "In hindsight, this was probably a bad idea." Ice forms on his body as he tries his best to resist Wyverns attempting to sting, the dragon even moving, and trying to tank this thing.

    Considering his options from being lodged in the dragon, Giganpor finally makes up his mind as he uses his own weapon as a spring board into the air, pulling it along with himself as he starts going up the dragon with the hammer head of his weapon glowing a bright green.

    "Alright, you overgrown lizard! Time to bring you down a few pegs!" Giganpor roars up at it.

    Then he brings the hammer-axe spear around as a bright green glow surrounds the head of the weapon, specifically the hammer head as he moves, "Earth below us, lend me thy strength! Create and ruin, bring forth thy bounty! Bring the force of thy power to my strike! RIDDLE OF STEEL!"

    Then he tries to bring the glowing weapon in hand on the Dragon Emperor's head. With a vengeance.
Merek
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Merek begins dancing along and into the dragon, while he takes a moment to swing his sword along up into the creature. Then an explosion that begins to shimmer along, although that seems to begin a little shift along into the fields. "Ah, alright need a new plan," he notes, all the same at least he's managing to keep the dragon in the fight and not focused upon farmers.
Rizadoman
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    Rizardoman looks death in the eye and is stunned. He knows now, what is before them is not some summon or some illusion or anything else but the real thing. This is a creature of legend and here he was staring it in the eye. All he does is stare at the moment before he lets out a roar as loud as he can before calling out, "Ancient dragones of old ,that my ancestors worshipped. I call on you to bless me with your power!" As his chant ends he raises his head back as he takes a deep breath before breathing out a fire ball at the Dragon. If nothing else it was his way of showing he would not back down, despite being int he face of death.
Estelle
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

The fox's grin turns more into a baring of tooth and fang, at that squawk and the necessity of the Rider needing to shield themselves against her Winds. But she does frown, as the wind itself doesn't seem to do too much - and at the beast healing itself by snacking on its accompanying flock. Her tails swish and flick, as she gives her mount a bit of guidance to keep abreast of the various threats - and invokes Pegasus to give herself a shield of air, to ward off the stingers and shock waves that do try to threaten her and her steed.

The field is starting to thin out, though, as members of the Flock are struck from the skies. That's good. But Proph and his rather stunning display do give her an idea... and so she takes a deep breath, and readies her next chant. Even as the Emperor's Roar Effect has her frowning. "... it can impose a Domain with merely a roar? Truly it's a fearsome beast." She muses aloud, before shaking it off and guiding her Peko into range.

"Mul Uga Mushen, your cry heralds the rain. Through you I invoke your master's domain. Cry, cry, to set the heavens alight, as I guide down a fearsome smite!" The constellation Corvus bursts into light above her head as she raises her wand, and in answer to her sweeping it down thunder cracks once more, lightning spearing down upon the dragon's back. She has no idea where the rider is exactly, though, so she can only hope she's causing them more issues.
Hifumi
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Hifumi doesn't seem to be doing much in the actual BATTLE part of this battle, he's been buffing folks with food and laying down cover fire with poison clouds. Now he's working his way closer to the dragon, doing his best to not get eaten or stepped on, a barrier of fire springing up to protect him from attack until he reaches a point where he stops. Reaching in a pocket he pulls out an old gold coin and rubs it with his thumb. "Here goes nothing." he gives the coin a kiss then lines up holding both hands out and activates the merchant's last ditch effort... Throw Coin. The gold disk shooting off in a flipping flutter thwak against the dragon rider with little effect. However Hifumi starts to look like he's bent it like Beckham and scored a winning goal.
Yeowang
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Yeowang avoids getting wyvern-stung through a combination of agility, solid tactics, and Baroness Wake slamming the wyvern just as it struck. She's got to wheel her peko around, controlling it with her knees, and with that wyvern killed by a lightning strike, she charges straight at another one, the peko's talons scuffing up the earth in a spray of pebbles and dirt.

Ducking inside its guard, she stands in the saddle and leans in toward it. As she rides alongside, she delivers a series of rapid punches that have more behind them than typical human strength. Well, this is a game, and it's all quite fantastic. This is much more intense than the MMA fighting she's used to, though her stoic calmness and iron nerves serve her well.
Baroness Wake
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    Still on her feet, Wake focuses on pounding away at the wyverns. She still has plenty of hp left, and is willing to eat a hit or two more if it means these adds are destroyed or at least delayed until the big target is dealt with. This blow is another wing attack, and it's pure power with nothing pretty behind it. Shatter the wing joint, get the beast on the ground, and destroy it.

    Still, there is some grace involved in dealing with these things, and just as the Baroness bounces back from her attack, she wraps the shadows about her, sliding like water away from the poison strike of a wyvern.
Miho
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Miho missed her intended target but catches another. She'll take that, it still reduces the number of foes she's got to worry about. Mia is seen cutting through the enemy in such a way it makes Miho proud. Why? She's proud to see her creation put to such use against such horrors that deserve the business end of a weapon. She catches not Proteus' action and she has to wonder. There are more Wyverns to deal with and so she shall she races across the ground, bounding and leaping as she goes. Her tail has done wonders for her sense of balance since she was reborn in this world, she'll leap one of the Wyverns as she does this? Her blade will heat up and she'll make two quick slices for the thing's neck before she drops.

"TWIN DRAGONS!"

In a turn for the worse the Emperor Dragon's roar soon is taking effect.
Prophylaxis
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

The situation is... Not what Prophylaxis would call 'well in hand.' Whatever that Dragon Emperor is, it's certainly far stronger than anything they've had to deal with thus far. A difficulty rating of Dark Red alone is... troubling, to say the least. But its raw power, the ability to outright tank the combat statistics of everyone within spitting distance, it's all... A little bit much, isn't it?

Worse, still, the Wyverns have adapted. The doctor's gaze is flickering around the battlefield, watching as poison stacks begin to accumulate all throughout the allied forces. One comes crashing down on top of him, crushing the doctor entirely--

No. Wait. The image of Prophylaxis flickers and vanishes, as the true doctor steps out from under the shadow of the beast's wing, and bids the earth to run it through from a half-dozen directions with a barrage of stone spikes. Still, the situation is devolving. A plague of poison is spreading. But... He has transcended the time in which such a thing would inspire him to panic, though. Or rather, he has been through such a crisis so many times that the fear has simply been burnt out of his mind, the anxiety frozen solid in his veins. "I've got this," he says, his hands drawing out of his robes...

...A fistful of syringes. Antidotes-- a full inventory of antidotes. This pharmacist does not play dice when it comes to treatable status effects. He moves with lightning speed, hurling needle after needle at whoever seems to need it the most, or darting forward to plunge a cocktail of healing potion and antitoxin into those who look to be on their last legs.

As long as the Moonlight Pharmacist is on the field, he'll be damned if he lets /poison/ of all things end their fight.
Kotono
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Kotono made contact with her target, but then she knew that she was going to be the victim of a counterattack if she didn't move fast. Fortunately, hitting Kotono is like hitting a shadow, in that you can try to hit it, but all you'll get is air.

The girl somersaults away and smiles. "This is actually kinda fun!" She notices the fires and her eyes widen until she sees Miyako taking care of it. "All right, while she's taking care of that, it's time to finish you off!" She smiles as Kaydon goes in with an attack as well before she runs at them...

...Then drops onto her hands and begins to spin around with her legs outstretched? Indeed, she's spinning around briefly as she attempts to attack. "Flik-flak attack!"
Proteus
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Proteus is caught up amidst the Undead Army, the constant of the knowledge that someone is manipulating the Dragon Emperor behind them grating on her consciousness. And yet... Nashetania is here fighting alongside her. If there was going to be an attempt on her, surely it would come from nearby and not some kind of jerky skillshot across the map, right? There would be too much notice.

Which leaves her effectively stuck in despite the mobility granted by the Peko. The Vampire leader of the group brings a squint from Proteus. "You have no idea what you're dealing with, do you?" She calls in the direction of the leader of the army. "I am not going to allow you to ruin this. We've worked too hard already." She slams into the horde, suddenly lancing directly towards the leader as she bullies in angles, using the Peko's mass to crush into the lines and leap over the heavier defenses. A blade comes down, and the Imp slams her hands together, catching the deadly blade, her black leather gloves gashing and tearing to the sharp edge. "Ggh... BACK OFF!" She yells, smashing the undead backwards with a punch to the face.

A moment later, her hand flicks out, and another little window opens. "I have a solution for the likes of you lot." He fingers trace a pattern: ) - O

There is a bloom of light, and Proteus thrusts her hand forward, a short-range lance of Light energy spearing forwards before it blasts outwards into a shocking wave, the Holy attack cascading outwards. She needs to clear the way to the leader!
Miyako
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    "Aufglkbjlfeigoirj!" Miyako shouts, coherently, as her peko tumbles over from the sheer force of the dragon emperor's roar. This is just another wonderful day, isn't it?

    She hauls herself out from under the squealing animal and twists around to check it over. "Get up, you baby, you're not hurt." Just scared. As if anybody sensible *wouldn't* be, after that. "Come on, now, we've still got a fight to win." It takes her a moment to get the beast erect and recover her naginata, still muttering the occasional curse.

    "...." she adds, with considerable eloquence. "That's not good." Then again, fire was kind of expected with dragons involved. And ... someone will need to do something about it. The sooner the better.

    "..... right then," she continues, "Lords of the Sea! Lords of the Rivers! Poseidon, send us your waves! Hapi, your flood! Njord, seafarer, guide the waters, drown the flames!" Runes echo her chant in the air before her as she inscribes them, one after the other, as rapidly as she can... and then it begins, a swirling in the air around her as she takes up her blade once again, swirling it about until the water is moving in terrifyingly swift circles... and hurdles out from her into the air above the flames, to rain down on them in a torrent.
Kaydon
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Things are getting way out of hand, but the wyverns and undead are starting to overwhelm folks. Kaydon hops off his peko and skids to a stop near some of the undead, his damascus blade flashing in the light around him as he brings it to bear.

The weapon bursts into flames as he swings, the now burning sword channeling the heat from Kaydon's Hammer's Sigil channeling through the blade, as he unleashes the heat into the undead around him, "I am getting really sick of the undead around here, we're already fighting dragons damnit!"
Liminality
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Mikage's pet Lynx, Rama, chomps onto the mighty Emperor Dragon's toe, which doesn't really even seem to register. However, the icey flow begins to grow over its toe, and with each minor step it takes, the ice shatters and falls off onto the earth below, dousing some of the flames!

Then a detonation on one of its other feet, as Merek uses an exploding and flaming blade, which causes fire to cascade off of its body and onto the ground. It's almost as if the flames on its scales are enhanced! All while the red and purple 'fume-like' clouds continue to tug and pull at the massive dragon. A secondary detonation of fire coming from Rizadoman then blasts against its belly, only for those flames to expand and /indeed/ grow more powerful! They do not even harm the Emperor! Instead, they cascade and flow off of its body like water, setting the ground on fire and turning blue with heat!

The grasslands around it start to get utterly consumed in flame at this point, making melee approaches more and more difficult and dangerous. Lightning begins to rain down on the dragon from above, seemingly seeking the rider while rippling with each blast across its mighty dark and red scales! The beast roars in annoyance, more than anger or pain at this assault!

Finally, the rider jumps up, a young woman, visible to the rest now. Brown haired, identifiable. << Kizuna Kazayama >> is what it declares for her name, with the symbols that had already been revealed: Wing, I, Castle. She's holding a fishing rod in her hand that seems to remain connected to the Dragon Emperor...

When suddenly, the clouds break and something comes SURGING down with white light. Three entities coming down towards the now airborn girl, right as Hifumi's coin slips into the girl's pocket. One of the white lights arcs around, suddenly seeming to disappear, as a...

Really FAT Peko suddenly kicks against the girl's side, and tries to kick her off of the dragon. This is followed by a female Raccoon Cait Sith trying to get in on the attack. Kizuna Kazayama tries to avoid the strike of the lightning fast Cait Sith's rapier attack, using her fishing rod like a sword to parry her - knocking her to the side.

"AIR STRIKE SHIELD!"

A sudden glowing green shield forms, stopping the Cait Sith from falling to her doom after her aerial assault, and allowing her to safely land on the back of the dragon, as a black haired human in a green coat lands. The fat Peko soon landing next to Rama and using its beak to quickly pluck it out of the way as the giant dragon suddenly snaps its head towards it.

The fat bird seems to almost teleport, that's how fast it is, putting it down a few yards away from the Dragon, and then rushes back again.

"What are you doing here!? You can't invade an invasion! Stop cheating!" Kizuna Kazayama demands, as she lands near the tail of the enormous dragon, her fishing line remaining connected to the dragon.

In the meantime, Yeowang and her allies continue to engage with some of the incoming Wyverns! Trying to halt the first from getting to the Dragon, she has to jump to delivery her punches, before a single punch against its dome slams it towards the ground for the others to reach! One of the Binder Swords from the undead try to interfere, but Baroness Wake gets in the way, slamming the blade and shattering it, before shattering the bone of the Wyvern's wing and preventing it from reaching the Emperor Dragon!

Miho tries to reach the other Wyvern, but she's kicked away, causing her to sail towards the one Baroness Wake and Yeowang are already handling, her heated blade sinking DEEP into its back and causing it to scream in pain! The Wyvern manages to stab into Miho's back however, only for the same poison effect to immediately vanish as the Doctor comes by and plunges her with one of his syringes, allowing her to stop the weakening paralytic from taking effect and finishing off the Wyvern!

Out near the Undead, Kotono literally crushes the legs of some of the skeletons, giving the others more room to work! A bloom of light then flares over her, as Proteus takes out the big guns. The white magic ripples across its shrouded cloak and bathes the Vampire in light, searing at its skin and warping its cloak to pieces, causing it to remain as tatters. Mia tries to use that opportunity to jump in, but a Binder gets in her way again, causing the Were Fang to make a frustrated grunt as she slams the tip of her blade to the binder and /shatters/ it with one blow. Kaydon's blade sinks deep into his opponents, carving appart the last remainder of Shield Binders that were assisting the Vampire, they've got a clear path now!

Behind them, water begins to flow in the region, putting out the fires as Miyako sets their mind to it, followed by Nashetania literally carving ditches through the ground with her swords - helping send the water along finely crafted channels, and simultaneously halting the flames from spreading! "Keep it up!" The Bun Bun Cait Sith calls out to Miyako.

That's when the team spots as Kizuna Kazayama manages to jump onto the other Wyvern that had been dive-bombing towards her position, and releases the 'leash' on the Dragon Emperor, and latches it onto the Wyvern instead.

"Get her!" The human who'd just come down from the clouds demands, "AIR STRIKE SHIELD!" Creating a series of 'footsteps'. The other two with him, the fat Peko and the Racoon Cait Sith quickly dash through the skies, trying to reach the other Hero!

At the same time, the Emperor Dragon, now released, suddenly raises its front legs, and then slams them down, causing a sudden QUAKE of earth, rippling through the entire region, before it lets out another roar to maintain its domain, and begins to aim its head towards the sky. A flame building at its neck again, but this time... it seems to come with an /ENORMOUS/ red hex that begins to form over its head. Slowly growing, rotating, as if indicating the 'area' of the attack.

The red and purple clouds begin to clutch and grab at it, beginning to lift it off of the ground. Peoples' attacks definitely having an effect. But if they don't close this off properly, they will have to deal with a cataclysmic amount of fire in just a moment!

At the same time, the Wyverns all try to take to the air to defend the Dragon Emperor, as they are immediately influenced by the beast - all but the one the girl with the fishing pole is riding. Similar red and purple smoke begins to rise and reach for the trio that'd come to attack the girl. Trying to grab at their feathers, their bodies...
Merek
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Merek looks to the dragon while he takes a moment to nod when the flame will begin to take the farms. The man adjusts the blade to level it towards the dragon, "Well, it looks like we have new allies!" That weapon takes a frost of ice which is then slinging into the dragon, while lightning begins to shimmer along it, taking that armor away a little bit, "That should weaken the hide, fight the dragon!"
Mikage
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Rama dangles from the beak of a very, very fat peko. He looks towards the dragon, then the peko, then starts to wiggle to get free. Luckily, he is set down soon enough and goes scampering back off towards his companion.

Mikage scoops him up and drags the cat into a one-armed hug before pulling him behind her. "You did good, but take cover. It looks like the dragon is getting angry." She takes a moment to nod her thanks towards the peko, then has to make a quick decision on how to deal with the area attack that looks as if it might be coming their way.

"This is not the time to test something new, idiot." She mutters to herself, looking at her bow. The weapon had served her well, thus far, but Miki seems to think twice about actually trying to channel all of her energy into it. Instead, she extends her arm, the ends of the bow folding downward as she makes a quick motion to sheath it at her back.

Then, she pulls out her sword, sliding the blue gemstone in her palm into the socket there as she extends it outward. "Let's see if we can't lay down some more water." She slashes the weapon through the air three times, leaving three slashes hovering in the air. They seem to form into blades of condensed storm magic, crackling with both wind and water elements.

She lashes them out towards the dragon, the storm blades leaving behind a mist of water as they fly, trying to keep the land doused to try to prevent more fire from spreading.
Kaydon
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Now Kaydon doesn't know if this vampire is one of the ones tied into the various attackers, over the past few months. But just in case they are, he's going after them.

After his blade carves through the shield binder, he can see the vampire. He points his blade their direction, "You're mine!" He takes a second, to double check and make sure the others have the dragon and the wyverns, it seems like they've got it covered. Now he can put his focus on the vampire.

He plants his hind foot and pushes off, flames engulfing his whole body as he launches through. He channels the flames through his body and into the blade, and lunges for the vampire. This is going to be a decisive strike, and if this vampire is one of the Queen's minions, he hopes it'll send her a message.
Estelle
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Focused as she is on the Dragon and its rider, the vixen can only bare her teeth again at the sight of the calamity focused around it; the fires going out of control after they impact the beast, and the way it makes getting in close so much more difficult. She considers those around it, and shielding them... but, well, then there's a lot of activity with strange Adventurers; the rider, and her fishing rod? The man and the caith sith that move to strike at her... and the most adorable peko ever, who she wants to pet and hug.

But that's for later.

For now, the Dragon Emperor is going wild, even as it's dragged skyward. That last attack of its seems like it would be a true disaster, and so she breathes deep and dredges up some of the Artes she doesn't often touch; the darker side of Astrology, reaching into domains best left to their denizens. HEr eyes, close, and she puts her trust into her mount to guide them around the battlefield. When she speaks, her voice takes on a haunting tone;

"Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die though, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
    Lost Carcosa~..."

And the Arte reaches out, trying to kill the voice of the dragon as it prepares its fiery 'roar' - trying to drag air outward, and choke it and its flames with a dark and gloomy vacuum.
Rizadoman
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    Rizadoman watches as his fireball just seems to fall to the ground and begin to spread like crazy and the lizardman frowns. He know what that meant and it hurt his pride but now was not the time to lick his emotional wounds. "O Horns and claws of our father, Iguanodon, thy four limbs become two legs to walk upon the earth! " With his spell cast two lizard men skeletons rise up and he calls out an order to them. " I seek your help my fallen brethren, help us to protect this land and put an end to our ancestor's rampage. " With his speech given he directs his summoned monsters to charge in with him falling behind closely to all strike with fang and claws...fire be damn.
Hifumi
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Hifumi having succeeded on his 'attack' looks at all the fire. "Nori! Come on out buddy, we need to get some water on this mess." he says as the little humanoid made of wet kelp appears. Running towards the dragon as globes of water start appearing in the air, lobbing at the dragon and the burning land around it.
Yeowang
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Yeowang wheels her peko again as her target dies, and she picks a new one. Swift evasive riding spurred by savvy evasive techniques and perfect control of her body keep her and her peko safe from the wyverns as they regroup. She changes course, pulling her feet out of the stirrups and standing on the saddle.

The wyverns are too high overhead to strike, but she's got the vertical leap of ... well, a person who can jump very high. She leaps from the peko, latches onto one back leg with her hands, and flips her hips up, delivering a swift kick to the gut of the wyvern. Unfortunately, the kick is a bit /too/ swift, the force of the blow causes her to lose her grip on the back leg, and she comes crashing down. She manages to roll with the landing, and is back on her feet, but does her shoulder and hip hurt.
Giganpor
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    In the air after smacking the Dragon Emperor with his rather unique attack, Giganpor looks around as he notices that the Wyverns are now taking to the air as well. And going after the... three new helpers?

    Giganpor frowns a bit, but then figures enemy of my enemy is my friend in his head. And as he starts to fall, he brings up his own shield, "Seeds placed, bloom and flow! Come froth, Basalt!" The summoning circle appears over him, dropping the flower and vine looking elemental to land on his shield arm. "Basalt, give them a hand! Spore Explosion!" Bringing his weapon around, he gives the vine wolf elemental a large boost as he twists and swings his own weapon to launch the elemental quickly to catch up to the Wyverns.

    Once the elemental summon is in among the fleet of Wyverns, it suddenly explodes as spores flash out everywhere around it. Everywhere. Poison spores for every Wyvern it can target.

    Giganpor meanwhile brings himself around as he ends up falling and leaving a large amount of impact on the ground. Were Fang cats do not always land on their feet it looks like. And he's just laying there for the moment with his health nearly red. He's not dead at least!
Baroness Wake
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    Wake sighs as the wyverns start to beat it skyward. She casts a look about her and sees one of her people. There's no time to be relieved over their life. It won't last terribly long if she doesn't do something.

    "I need a lift!" she shouts out and she races towards the hulking man. He responds by holding out a massive spear, which Wake leaps on. For a moment she balances there, and then with a roar the spear is swung skyward, throwing the Baroness into the air.

    Her strike comes as she flies into the head of the wyvern, her right hand stabbing forward directly into the monster's left eye. As the blow tears into the enemy, Wake turns her attention to getting down again. Something will occur to her.

Prophylaxis
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

'Get her,' says the strange shield-wielding person from the sky. Why should they get her on his say-so!? Well, probably because that's... just a good idea. They need to stop these intruders from continuing their invasion plans one way or another, and keeping them from escaping is probably a good start!

One that they will have to definitely pursue, once the ground stops shaking and the world stops burning. Prophylaxis staggers, the earth seeming to shake itself apart underneath his feet-- and right when he'd started running off to do more first aid, too. The doctor stumbles, falls, and tumbles... right into the fire.

...

......

"Gah!!" Prophylaxis yelps as he leaps out of the flames, surrounded in a barrier of his /own/ fire. The best way to fight fire, as it turns out, is to set yourself on fire first so it can't burn you!! The flame shield flickers out just as he gets to solid ground, and...

Looks up as the Dragon Emperor rises. Its maw unhinges, a wave of heat searing terror into the depths of his soul. He doesn't need to be an expert to know that letting it finish... whatever that is, will be bad for everyone in the immediate area. Just that single breath could very well turn this entire chunk of the Dominion to ash.

Prophylaxis stares at the coming doom. He looks it right in the eye-searing brilliance, and... takes a moment to breathe.

...In.

Out.

In.

Out.

In...

As he exhales one more time, the breath that leaves his lungs is... frosty. Beneath his feet, tendrils of ice begin to creep out across the land. "Okay. I know... you and I got off to a rocky start, but... We could really use you now. If you truly are an Elemental Spirit of this land, then please, help me put a stop to this." The chill spreads, crawling up his legs, up his neck. He shivers as it closes and burns around his throat. "Take whatever of me you need. Let us, together, turn this inferno to ice."

The Magus lifts high his staff. A shawl of snow and ice briefly twists in the wind around his shoulders...

...Before the temperature around the Dragon Emperor's head abruptly plummets. It's not perfect, it's not ideal, but if literally freezing the monster's spell in its tracks takes a chunk out of his health bar, then that's HP well spent.
Kotono
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Kotono knows she can't get too cocky. Unfortunately, that nearly happens as she just barely avoids being caught. So she steps back a couple of steps after dodging, and then contemplates her best course of action.

And then...

"Here it comes!" Kotono yells as she springs off of her heels, attempting to literally fly past with her blades out to the sides. When she lands, she'll do a forwards somersault to avoid crashing!
Miyako
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Miyako casts a quick glance over at Kotono, worrying for a moment about her friend, but dismisses her worry quickly enough. "Keep it up!" she calls out, holding onto her peko's reins with one hand while she scribes more runes with the other. She dashes her way through the field, dodging around strikes and falling bits of wyvern.

        o/~ Strange is the night where black stars rise
        o/~ And strange moons circle through the skies
        o/~ But stranger still is
        o/~ ... Lost Carcosa~...

    A wince passes over her face as she realizes she's singing along with Estelle's chant, as she realizes just what it was she was singing....

    "Oh, idiot girl," she mutters, then she finishes a series of runes and twirls her naginata above her head to hurl a bolt of ice-blue at the skies above, calling down rain from the clouds above.

    "Daughters of the Hyades! Send your blessings upon these fields! Banish the flame with your rain!"
Miho
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Miho's on quite the wild ride as she will attempt to close with the Wyvern is able to kick her away. she goes saying towards the Baroness and Yeoang she'll hit the ground. She was about to give them and when she's stabbed in the back by the Wyvern. She pulls free of the beast with a fair bit of pain, yet before the poison can kick in? She'll find herself cured by the Doctor and is purged.

"Thanks!"

With that she'll grip her Katana which bursts into flame gaining a burning aura of fire.

"FORGE'S WRATH!"

With that she cuts the Wyvern down then moves on changing down more in a series of brutal flaming strikes.

Shes pushes her blade as far as she can using the burning fire strikes to attempts to end as many Wyverns as she can with it.
Proteus
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

The chaos of the undead horde continues to close in around them. The problem with being cavalry in the middle of melee combatants is it's very easy to get dragged down in a crowd. This is why they are generally supposed to either savage the flanks as light, mobile units, to assault lightly armored enemy elements, or as heavy cavalry to crash into the enemy defenses and break them before pulling outwards.

Proteus, of course, is going for the spearhead approach, having hurled Holy into the middle of a bunch of undead. Kotono and Mia strike, helping to compensate as they work togehter. "Come on! We can do this! Spearhead, focus!" She calls, pointing to the vulnerable Vampire Lord. "Take off the head and they'll lose cohesion!" There is a flash of energy as Proteus opens the input window once again. "I've selected the proper solution for one such as you." She grins.

Normally, this is where she would withdraw a glamour item and do an overcomplicated stock-footage fancy attack pattern, but it's not in her inventory anymore for /some reason/. Instead, she simply inputs the command. "Initiate the first alignment..." + ) |

Energy gathers in her hands, forming a bow of white light that she draws back. A seething arrow forms on the string... And she cries out, "Now cast open the gate of light! BANISH!" The string is released, and Proteus fires the burning lance of energy, seeking to directly and efficiently eliminate the Vampire from the World and cut the Gordian Knot of the undead problem in the area.
Liminality
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Merek casts their ice spell, which frosts over the body of the dragon, as the threads of smoke and cloud try to pull more and more on its body! Slashes of hydrated power suddenly sail through the air, crashing into the side of the dragon while wettening the ground, making it harder and harder for flames to take hold of the area. But more importantly, /cracking/ one of it the mighty Dragon Emperor's scales! Two skeleton creatures, summoned by Rizadoman, suddenly appear from the ground and slam their blades into that cracked scale, and start to /pry/ it off of the dragon, causing a flush of blood to come from its side... which then immediately enflames the ground it falls on! Luckily, Miyako is on it, splashing the region and stopping the flame-elemental blood from causing things to get worse!

It tries to roar in annoyance, but Estelle's wind magic starts stealing away its oxygen. Not just the dragon's breath, but also the air its flames need. This causes some of the flames in the area to go out, and the Dragon to make a pained expression for a moment. But its magic does not slow, as it begins to rise further and further into the air. The clouds almost looking like long hands grabbing hold of it, trying to pull it back where it belongs.

Some of the embers of flame rise, reaching up towards the enormous expanding hex in the air. But Hifumi starts moving through the region, using their small summon to splash the areas that are providing it with most of its flames! This slows down the cast, it'd seem, saving precious seconds.

The Raccoon Cait Sith reaches the fishing pole girl, only to get knocked off. A Wyvern tries to jump to try to snag her out of the air and devour her, but Yeowang's tall jump manages to stop the Wyvern from getting close, nailing it and sending it straight towards the ground! Giganpor assists in a similar way, as other Wyverns try to snag Raphtalia out of the air - using a flak-like attack with their spores. The poison may not affect the Wyverns very much, but the initial detonation of the spores causes enough blindness and confusions in them to give the girl a clear path!

Baroness takes to the skies... reaching... and then begins to fall. Not quite making it at first, until the fat Peko suddenly positions itself under her, and uses its yellow talons to kick her again, pushing her further into the air and sending her straight into the Wyvern, where she can complete her maneuver and nail its eye! Which causes the Wyvern to start sailing down towards the ground, Baroness on its back.

Pushing past the sudden cold region that is being forced on the region, as Prophylaxis' magic starts to reach a wider area, making the area around the Emperor Dragon's head colder, further slowing down the magic and slowly damaging it. It's that annoying kind of 'frostbite' kind of effect that damages over time as one tries to move. And in this case, casting counts! Whatever the case may be, it seems Prophylaxis is managing to get listened to.

"I'm not going to stay being the Useless Hero! You will see, stupid Shield Hero!" The fishing rod girl calls out towards the Hero, as her Wyvern manages to turn, and with a few beats of its wing, it begins to take off! All while Naofumi and his party start to get picked off of their feet, the clouds starting to grow dense, pulling hard at them.

"Damn, our time here will be short." It doesn't look like the party particularly cares about the other people fighting here at all. This is their battle, as far as they are concerned, and everyone else here is just a bystander. Well, at least, it certainly seems like Naofumi thinks so. The other two at least are assisting the others here and there.

The reaching flames of Mihos further cut off at a few more Wyverns, but it seems that this Wave is coming to an end as the enormous Dragon Emperor rises up from the ground. The spell starting to falter!

Out near the Undead, Kaydon continues to lay in on the fiendish enemies! As someone had already noted, even if this Wave was defeated, the Undead would not disappear. As such, they were perhaps an even more important target. Who knows what would happen if they remained at the end of this battle. Or worse, if they latched onto one of the monsters and managed to get into their world?

A fierce blazing sword comes down towards the Vampire, which quickly grabs its staff and tries to block the strike! But Kaydon's strike cuts through the staff, and RIPS a fierce burning line across its chest, followed by it stumbling back!

Weakened like this, it has no way to dive out of the way of Proteus' attack, as the seething arrow is released and envelops its body within a fierce light that soon forms a pillar on its position after the initial impact. The undead tries to stumble out, only for Mia to suddenly dive in, cutting off its legs, and then kicking it back into the banishing pillar, erasing the undead from existance!

As the Dragon Emperor begins to get dragged back into the skies, so do the three heroes that were with the party. Nashetania jumps along with one of the Wyverns, using its higher position to direct her blades, cutting off the wings of some of the Wyverns that try to fly back up into the 'hole in the sky' above. The enormous dragon being dragged away, while Naofumi and his party grunt, having to stare as somehow, the Fishing Pole girl manages to get away into the distance.

A group of Merchant Blades use their Pekos to try and ride into the same direction to chase. But it is hard to chase a Wyvern in a more mountainous region like this with Pekos. They have have a great landspeed, but they are still obstructed by ground features!

The Dragon Emperor is finally swallowed up by the skies, and the clouds finally disappear.

<< WAVE OF CALAMITY REPELLED >>
Hifumi
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Hifumi waves at Nori "Go put out fires little buddy." he says before he flops down crosslegged on the ground digging out a boxed meal and starting to eat with his hand over one ear and his eyes closed. The chef sitting in the middle of the former battlefield like he's trying to catch his stories. Fingers moving food mechanically from the bento box into his mouth.
Merek
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Merek looks to the fleeing enemies while he will nod, beginning to sheath that sword while he takes a moment to begin bringing about water magic which he uses to try and place on the flame. "We should work on that, we don't want the whole land to be corrupted by magic," he will note. There's a look to where the ones that fought with them fell, nodding in respect while he begins to assist the party with the flame.
Mikage
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Breathing fast, Mikage stares after the sight of the retreating monsters, perhaps wondering at the strange heroes who had found there way here through the same portals. "Well, we owe you one, fat peko." Not having gotten close enough to run an INSPECT, Mikage doesn't have any clue that her name is Filo. She reaches down and lightly pats Rama.

Her eyes dart to the outskirts, making sure there are no further undead distractions, but it seems that the others had them well in hand. "Let's... not do that again anytime soon. Fight a dragon, that is." Rama nods his agreement.

Her stomach growls at that moment. "Damnit, now I really am jealous of the tanks. At least they got to eat before the fight." She glances over at Hifumi, realizing that there is little chance he will be cooking anytime soon. "Guess we're mooching off of Sassaral's cooking again when we get back."

With that, she does her best to ignore her rumbling stomach and sets to the task of trying to deal with some of the aftermath of the fighting. Putting out fires, trying to use her earth magic to save what plantlife she can.
Baroness Wake
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    The Calamity is over, but Wake does notice the ground is approaching quite swiftly. The problem of killing a flying enemy in the air when one cannot fly is the landing.

    As the wyvern starts to roll over, Wake is given no choice but to leap into the air. At this point, though, there's a considerable amount of falling left to do. The math does not look good. She can only think of how she regularly promises her fiance that she will not run off and get herself killed. She's going to get an earful for this once she gets home.
Miyako
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Miyako shades her eyes for a moment, watching the 'fishing-pole girl' and her wyvern fly off. Part of her wants to follow them, question the girl, find out what's really going on....

    But there are fires to put out, first. And a Kotono to find. Although that shouldn't be too hard.

    Offering up a soft sigh, Miyako goes back to repeating her rain-calling spell, summoning up yet more water from the sky to sluice down the fires and save as much of the farm fields as possible.
Miho
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Miho is still rampaging through the Wyverns, two and three ends up going down to her assault before all is said and done but the rest are running. There are worse things to worry about right now she has no man to chase after the fleeing monster or the girl with the fishing rod. What she does however have time to do? Is tries to help put out the fires, she has some water-based sword skills which she's now going to put to use in trying to help put out the fires as best she can.
Kotono
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Once things are taken care of for the most part, Kotono invokes a few runes of her own to assist Miyako with dealing with the flames. She's not as skilled with water as her friend is, but she's gonna do her best anyway.
Estelle
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

The haunting tone of the vixen's voice continues for long moments, before petering off. Her silver eyes regard the dragon's pained expressions, and how her work does seem to have actually stalled things - just not enough, on its own. There's too much to keep track of on an individual basis, but she does take the scene in as a whole. The swirling flock of wyverns, before they're grabbed to be dragged away like the Emperor. The arrangement of the foreign adventurers and their mounts... and the words, carrying on the breeze, from said outworlders.

Estelle considers the battlefield as a whole, even as the one wyvern makes its escape towards the mountains, as flames crackle and curl still blazing. She considers the ash, and the patterns of damage on the ground. Lots of little omens here and there, amongst pyromancy, augury (as much as wyverns count as birds), and spodomancy. None of them are particularly good omens, either. It has her frowning, her tails curling as her mount finally stills. There are no immediate dangers to flee from, after all, as its current rider puts her talents to use.

<<"Her escape will cause problems. She seeks to prove herself above all else, and doing so will harm the world of Alba.">> She murmurs over the Raid Chimlink. <<"There is too much chaos on the battlefield, and too much interference, to glean much else from the omens here.">>
Yeowang
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Yeowang picks herself up from her rough fall, brushing her sleeves and sides a bit before she shrugs and leaves that for the moment. <<"Everyone OK?">> she asks on the channel. She looks around for her peko, it's not too far away. It's well-trained enough not to run when it hasn't got a rider. She walks over to the peko, a gimp in her step, but she walks it off, leaning on the peko for a moment before hopping astride again. Not having to walk will make things a bit easier. She looks around for others that are injured, she'll try to start helping people as soon as she can.
Rizadoman
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    Rizadoman watches the dragon get dragged back into the sky while the world around him burns. Turning back to the fire around him he begins to use what remains of his magical energy to cover the fire in dirt and water. " By the Naga, a dragon. I mean a dragon." It was a thing of legends to be able to tell and it was finally striking him what it all meant. He is almost in shock as he goes through the motions of putting out the fires as best he can.
Prophylaxis
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

Prophylaxis gasps as the Dragon Emperor soars back off into unknown skies. He rubs painfully at his throat, the lingering dregs of his ice magic fading away. That could have been... very, very bad.

Hopefully this goes a way in ensuring that certain individuals don't give him an earful about their favorite animal ranches catching (dragon) fire.

But just then, he notices something up above. Someone... familiar is falling, and fast. Whispering a curse, the doctor plunges a syringe full of some bright, blue goop into his arm. His MP rockets back up ten percent-- enough to cast one more spell. The wind howls and swirls, gathering together a bed of ash and cinder into a roiling, semi-solid cushion...

That races up to catch Wake before she hits the ground, gently slowing her descent until she's safely on two feet again.

Ugh. That was almost too close...!
Baroness Wake
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    Wake had closed her eyes. She has this thing about not wanting to see herself die. She doesn't know how much it will hurt. She finds herself lost in memory as the wind whips by. She wanders deep enough in that waking dream that she smiles, recalling the first time she died from falling damage in ETO.

    It's a moment later that Wake feels her feet gently touch the ground and her eyes shoot open. This is when she sees Prophylaxis standing before her. She looks around slowly and confusion gives way to understanding.

    The normally reserved Baroness steps forward and hugs the man. "Thank you! I.. I am in your debt, my friend." It lasts just a moment, and then she steps back. "You seem to have a knack for saving my skin."
Hifumi
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0

    Sits on the ground eating and mumbling to himself as he keeps his eyes closed and his hand over one ear. While Nori runs around spraying water and dropping watter bombs. The little kelp person looking like a greenish black toddler with a full diaper running about.
Baroness Wake
Overworld - -40 - 9 - 0


    There's little time for showing of gratitude. Even the sense of elation that should follow such a dangerous and doubtful victory is reduced. A critical threat escaped and the immediate area has been devastated with fire and torn earth. Repairing this will take time and considerable effort.

    Lander losses weren't as bad as they could have been, a full squad of People of the Land shall never return to their parents, brothers, or sisters. Many others are in need of medical attention. With mana as drained as it is, it is slow work, and though death is warded off for most, further healing must wait.