War of Dragons: Invasion - Shibuya

With multiple watchtowers set up along the coastline near Shibuya, the New World Alliance heard about a good thirty minutes out that ships were approaching. They stood out because the Yamato people never move ships in groups larger than two. And while most certainly these ships were holding that same pattern, they were converging from the East and West directions towards them, suggesting the meeting of a good four large battleships.

With the port being pulled away from immediately, as it doesn't have a particularly defensive position compared to Shibuya, a larger group of Adventurers have now moved into the walled town. There's a strange feeling of emptiness however. With quite so many of the New World Alliance deployed near Alne to protect the newer players, across the Kingdoms to guard the Landers, and more importantly - Fort Ouph during an earlier evacuation... it's just quiet in Shibuya.

Definitely quiet compared to the oncoming army surrounding the town from the south in a half-moon formation. Slowly moving in on them in organized squads. Not quite like an army howwever. It looks far more like a raid party formation.

Amongst one of the squads, a young blonde woman turns; "Remember! We must succeed here! For the Future of the Palace Lands!" She calls out to her troops, getting her a few rough cheers. She then turns and wields her bow, before pointing forward. Multiple tanks rushing forward, hiding the movements of multiple DPS types. At the same time, from the back, multiple casters start forming ritual areas outside of the walls, formulating larger spells.

The first one that goes off is a sudden sea of ice that starts to form ramps against the walls as the Palace Landers start their approach, assisted by a volley from various archers in the background. Filimøs Harrifenas herself moving forward towards the walls herself, firing the occassional well aimed arrow for anyone on the Yamato side who might peek over the walls...

As Thunderclouds rumble up above, and sparking golden lightning begins to build, climbing in intensity and swarming together in the dark above their heads... before clattering down in violent light that targets indiscriminately towards the various Yamato Adventurers!

    Shirin is at the tip of the half moon leading a squad of ritual casters with a few protectors. There goal was structural damage at the moment at Shirin was happy to burn away any place for these scoundrels to hide. Very loudly he shouts at the defenses of Shibuya, "On behalf of the kingdom of Rosenheim and for the Palace Land Alliance I hear by inform you that you are all charged with the crime of inciting rebellion and putting the lives of the people at risk. Lay down your weapons and surrender. It will only be harder on you if you resist!" Then in case anyone didn't hear that he moves to a tree that puts the top of the alliance manor in view and Shirin shoots a bolt from his cross bow that has a letter attached, saying the same thing.

    Rushing out with a small squad of red-clad soldiers, Shiyang takes point, her duelling blade drawn. "For King Harrifenas and the Palace Lands!" she bellows with a warlord's loud carrying voice. She leads her hand-picked squad to take the left, rolling up aside the main force of arms to avoid the initial clash of arms and seemingly to turn the flank against any defenders. "Resistance is futile." she adds.

    Yuuki stands atop one of the walls around Shibuya. She'd been informed of the incoming attack and had pressed to get here in time for the battle. She's so glad she made it. This is the kind of situation she's dreamed about both in ETO and previous games. Epic battles against large armies!

    Yuuki stands atop the wall with an excited grin on her face.

    Just as a volley of arrows starts to pelt it.

    Yuuki jumps from side to side as numerous arrows fly her way, "Oh! Hey! Watch it! Woah! Wow, that one was close!"

    Initial volley dying down, Yuuki looks around for a moment before picking up a rock and throwing it into the air and catching it a few times, "Let's see how you like it!" She throws the rock in the direction of the archer that almost hit her. Which just happens to be Filimøs Harrifenas herself!

Mikage doesn't have the investment that some others have in Shibuya. Though she has helped build the village up over time, her role has always been that of the wandering scout. She rarely spent any time in one place. Perhaps, her only claim to these lands is the Game Reserve. But that is not likely to be a major target, not nearly as much as the city.

So, the Were Fang had been called back to defend, perched high up on the walls, with her unique bow, Dawnbreaker, held at the ready. Ready enough that as lightning arcs nearby, she is able to avoid it, darting to hang precariously out on the edge of the wall.

Scrambling back up, she whistles, likely passing some command along to her Lynx companion. "Resistance is what we do, and I've never been one for obeying orders." There is a reason that she prefers the life of a wanderer, it means less answering to anyone other than herself and her friends.

Rama leaps like death from above, propelling downward with a trail of frost as he launches himself towards Shiyang and their squad. Landing, there is a blast of ice magic that radiates off from the lynx, propelling out at the enemy and making enough space for Mikage to leap down and join him.

Yeowang is standing by on the defense, and, well, is standing by. For all her martial arts experience, it's been almost entirely tournaments and tournament-like venues, and while it's different here, she's just coming to appreciate /how/ different it is, facing off against an attacking army. It's not a thing she had planned on, and while she's prepared to deal with it, mentally, she's not actually sure what to do in the face of the attacking wave.

Fight them off, is of course the general plan, but how much and when is a detail she's not expierienced with on the set-piece-battle scale, and so as she rises up above the crenellations in the wall to let fly with an arrow, one of the Palace Landers, who'd spotted her and been waiting, nails her good, and she ducks back behind the wall, frowning. That was not a good plan.

But when Yuuki steps back out, she will as well, and she'll return fire. She's got the bow, she ought to be able to make it work. She can hunt animals, she can hunt Palace Landers as well. She'll put the arrows downrange with a practiced ease - she's been doing it for a year, in game, so she's got a bit of the hang of it, and scores hits, so she counts herself successful. Though she'll have to be more careful, the situation is wildly volatile.

Lightning rains down from the sky, leaving Kaydon forced to try to fend it off. Without any kind of magical shielding however, he does get struck, watching his HP drop as he finally gets under a roof to keep from getting hit again. Even with warning, these guys are really powerful. He wonders if they weren't affected by the wave from Ezzo. Or at least perhaps ot as badly.

Spotting the guy up on the roof of the HQ, he does step back out from his cover though, "Hey, fuckstick! Get out of my home!" He yells at the so-called sheriff, pulling one of the many knives off of his belt, flipping it over and then letting it fly. Maybe he'll get lucky and knock him off the roof. This game has fall damage right?

Gallant summons the fortitude of the elements when lightning starts coming down, managing to evade serious injury by erecting a frosty barrier, which took the brunt of the lightning. Exhaling, he glances at Kaydon, who has taken refuge under a roof. "Are you--"

And then he glances to where his friend is swearing at, and grimaces. "Oh, /that/ guy, is it? Hey!" he shouts, as he slams his swords together, summoning a fiery spark, "I have a gift you can send back to your queen Lollygag Loofasponge!" the spark bursts into a sphere of fire, which he bats towards the Sheriff with one swipe of his sword, "I hear some like it hot!"

He did not rehearse that line at all, and it shows.

    Wake wasn't here a moment ago, but she is now. Complete with an arrow that's struck her soundly in the left shoulder. She glares out at the enemy. She can only dimly hear what they are saying, but it's fairly easy to guess.

    "It's time," she says quietly.

    A moment later, and she is racing along at Yuuki's side, her focus directed on Shirin. Something in the moment changes her expression suddenly and she finds herself laughing.

    "This reminds me of some of our earliest raids. I imagine this will go just as poorly," she shouts out to Yuuki. "Wish me luck with mine! Shred.. whoever you swing at for me!" With that, the Baroness will peel off to attack a leader(?) of the group. The one yelling for surrender will do just fine.

    Merek walks along, and was prepared for this. That's what he and Kaydon built defenses for. That does not mean this is a battle that will go well. The lightning strikes at him, though he seems to walk through that red glowing shimmer, even while he takes the time to take up both his fists, a nod along to Wake, "You take care of that man, Shirin. He's the one that made Uta begin crying." He then calls upon an ancient Salamander technique which is weird for a human, then he swings along into two sweeps with his fists before he comes with the kicks along to Shiyang. "STAND AND FIGHT! WE WON'T LET YOU KILL THE PEOPLE OF THESE LANDS OR ADVENTURERS! I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU FIGHT. YOU EXECUTED INNOCENTS ON THE BATTLEFIELD THOUGH, THIS WILL NOT GO UNANSWERED! RAGNAROK'S WISDOM!" The hood of his shifts a little while he keeps with the fight.

Filimøs Harrifenas jerks her head to the side just as that pebble sheers through the battlezone. The rock slices into her cheek, leaving a temporary mark and slicing some of the hair off of her twintails. Hair fluttering in the air before shattering into light behind her. That very moment, she darts to the side and goes through one knee, knocking a simple arrow and letting it bite through the air towards Yuuki before diving behind one of the icewalls being erected.

Not a moment later, there's a sudden gulf of those arrows come down. But they come down /hard/, slamming to the ground like stone spikes, rippling along the wall right before a squad of Palace Landers make their way in and and position themselves from within the camp, attacking into the back of the walls while a squad of them move to try and open the gates!

Filimøs Harrifenas jumps onto the ramp leading up, trying to get past, only for Yeowang to catch her in the shoulder with an arrow. Her body twists, sliding forward and up as she crumbles for a moment, only for her to finish the full three-sixty degree turn and bringing her bow out below Yeowang, hoping to trip him, before jumping into the air and using a Sword Arte. Two arrows beginning to glow as she ends up upside-down in the air for a moment, firing at Yuuki and Yeowang's backs before 'jumping' in the air, using a air spell to keep her moving in mid-air, making it harder to catch her as she slowly lowers herself towards the ground in quick movements.

    Shiyang wasn't expecting an unopposed landing, so when Adventurers peel off to face her, she nods in satisfaction. "Good." she says simply, gathering in will and calling on the energies that come easiest. She opposes the Frost Fang with a wall of fire. Not high enough, unfortunately, to protect against the furry death from above that is the lynx Rama. Shiyang takes the full force of the strike, though she takes it on a scaled forearm. It tears red furrows into her arm, but the Salamander seems to barely notice the pain. Instead she focuses on the one coming in to melee range.

    Since their leader was knocked back by the assault of Mikage's companion, the red-clad soldiers form up to defend their squad leader. Merek's flaming fists prove quite effective, knocking down one soldier and badly wounding another.

    "Good!" the Salamander calls out approvingly. "I recognize you, archer, from before. You are powerful, but I do not intend to let you control this battlefield from afar. Will you come to face me, or must I run you down like a beast?" she taunts, raising her sword.

    The sword, it turns out, could threaten Mikage herself or just Rama. And of course Merek, facing similar challenges either from the red-clad soldiers or Shiyang herself. Shiyang might have to go through or around him if she needs to chase down Mikage.

    Shirin is targeted, apparently his words really got to the heart of the villians of Shibuya and drew them out. The knives of Kaydon cause him to run as he ducks from one roof top to another, and for a moment it appears he is in trouble with no where to run as the fireball of Gallant's flies at him but then Shirin simply steps out into midair before running out over the attackers aiming his two handsize crossbows at them. Dropping from his perch in midair he spins and rains down crossbows against his attackers. He is surprised when he hits the ground though and finds the Baroness there to punch him in the nose which causes him to stumble back. " I take it that means you will also not be laying down your weapons and surrendering. That's fine, I will juat have to convince you."

There is a moment after Mikage drops into the battle and then Merek arrives to attack the same group. She just ... sort of stands there looking puzzled at the alchemist's very ... enthusiastic monologue. "Um. I'm not with him, just to be clear." Because apparently she needed to make that known. "I mean, we're allies but... yeah."

The Were Fang girl shrugs her shoulders, then straightens herself as she stands tall. "I'm not afraid to face you." Rama dodges out of the way of the sword strikes, leaving Mikage still standing there, her blue eyes flicking towards Merek and then back again.

She leaves her bow at her side, drawing her fingers in the air as magic is channeled into her finger tips. "Powers wind and water together to bring the storm: Tempest Wind." Her hand 'claws' through the air, leaving what looks to be rends in the very air between herself and Shiyang.

Those tears hover for a moment before they form into blades of wind, crackling with energy, which lash out from that location, weaving through the air towards Shiyang, neatly avoiding Merek in the process.

    Yuuki's rock misses, just barely grazing her target's cheek. No! How could this be? Yuuki is known throughout the land as a crack shot! ... No wait, that's not right. Well, regardless of how her rock fared, Yuuki isn't disheartened! Yuuki rapidly draws her sword, bringing it up into the path of the first fired arrow, knocking it off course. Yuuki grins happily, "Been a while since I faced off against an archer!" It reminds Yuuki of her tournament fight with Mikage!

    Yuuki finds herself being flipped over, with an arrow streaking towards her back. But the fast swordswoman spins around, once more bringing her blade around to smack the arrow away, hopefully not off into someone else. Yuuki then quickly charges the elusive archer.

    Even as Filimøs proceeds to air jump to try and keep herself out of harm's reach, Yuuki smirks, "Nice try!" A dark wind rushes up around Yuuki, boosting her speed and giving her a bit more movement as she jumps up towards Filimøs to unleash a rapid series of strikes in a short period of time before she falls back to the ground again.

Crossbow bolts rain down upon him and Kaydon curses the fact that video game crossbows don't need to be reloaded after every shot. With the guy on the ground however Kaydon can cross the distance and try to get right on top of the sheriff, "Why the hell are you guys attacking us!?" The gnoll were fang roars out, his Damascus blade finally able to get to work as he swings after Shirin. He's seen his HP dip dangerously into the low yellow, but they've worked too damn hard to get Shibuya up and running to let these assholes stroll in and destroy it. To quote a famous movie, 'The line must be drawn here.'

Yeowang is entirely not ready for Filimas to be so skillful and agile, flupping up and around, and hardly leaving herself open for anything. She gets flipped to the ground, then nailed in the back by the acrobatic enemy, and grimaces as she gets to her feet. This is definitely outside her MMA expierience, and she will just have to wing it. She checks her health, and it's lower than she'd like. Critically low, in fact, but she'd feel very bad about retreating without having accomplished anything to speak of. Hopefully her allies can cover her.

In this case, 'winging it' consisys of martial arts strikes with both hands, lefts and rights in rapid succession, a torrent of attacks, which, while light, are persisent, and accumulate. Her fists are deadly weapons in real life as well as here, and in here, they're aided by whatever magic or gameplay the game has seen fit to bestow on her. She doesn't understand it, but she uses as much of it as she can, and can ask the gamers later, how it all works.

    Merek takes all of the strikes that are landing upon him, though even amid all that he keeps fighting, taking the time to take a potion and throw it into the soldiers. While he does that he does look to Mikage, and back to Shiyang. "I care about only one thing, keeping people safe. If these people are going to shout rhetoric without questioning it or answering, then... I don't know what to do."

    Baroness Wake is rather pleased with the result. The counter attack is impressive. The crossbow attack is nearly enough to send Wake out of the fight permanently, but she delivers what she would say is her best dodge ever, so close she can feel the bolt race past her.

    Close as she is, she just continues to launch into attacks, though she's changing things up, pressing the enemy with a series of elbow and knee strikes.

    "You'll have to forgive me for not curtseying. Your approach seems too impolite for such pleasantries."

"No!" Gallant winces, watching his health bar decrease, the attack passing through his defenses. The were fang grows, because this is not how the story should be panning out- but then again, when /does/ it?

Glancing at Kaydon, he mutters something to him, and then sprints forward, a glittering light forming on his fingers.

"You seriously need to /chill/!" he says, summoning a rain of ice to fall on the Sheriff. If they are going to lose, damnit, they are not going to lose running. They're going to stand until the end.

Filimøs Harrifenas is boosted past, Yuuki's blade finding her body as she protects herself by wrapping her arms in front of her and using her bow as partial protection, before Yuuki finishes her combo and sends Filimøs straight down to the ground, landing her awkwardly over the edge of one of the town houses, bouncing her, before she flips and gets back up and brings one hand back.

"The Absolute Blade." The archer remarks, looking at Yuuki. Her reputation preceeds her? But then, Filimøs Harrifenas spent a long time at Seeker's Landing. No doubt Yuuki's name was spoken. They might even have spoken while at the camp; though Filimøs was always somewhat more quiet and reserved, she wasn't beyond having a drink with some Adventurers and having a good time.

She's about to fire again when Yeowang intercepts, rapidly attacking her with his fists and pushing her back blow after blow, until finally a kick sends her into the wall of a building. She makes a pained 'ach!' sound, before slipping down to the ground and grimacing at the martial artist.

"Not yet!" She remarks, pulling out an arrow and then suddenly rushing Yeowang. She looks like she's about to use her bow to fire at Yeowang, before just jumps at incredible speed and jabs the arrow right for Yeowang's throat, before pushing off of his shoulder to get some air and firing the arrow straight down towards Yuuki, before flipping forward and landing on one of the taller houses.

    Shiyang wasn't expecting an unopposed landing, so when Adventurers peel off to face her, she nods in satisfaction. "Good." she says simply, gathering in will and calling on the energies that come easiest. She opposes the Frost Fang with a wall of fire. Not high enough, unfortunately, to protect against the furry death from above that is the lynx Rama. Shiyang takes the full force of the strike, though she takes it on a scaled forearm. It tears red furrows into her arm, but the Salamander seems to barely notice the pain. Instead she focuses on the one coming in to melee range.

    Since their leader was knocked back by the assault of Mikage's companion, the red-clad soldiers form up to defend their squad leader. Merek's flaming fists prove quite effective, knocking down one soldier and badly wounding another. In truth the soldiers seem quite a bit more on their game than Shiyang herself. They're here to fight, to kill... and Shiyang seems rather distracted by the happenings in the main battle to fully pay attention to the more than merely competent fighters before her.

    Not that Shiyang is ignoring them entirely. She smiles as Mikage steps up, and for a wonder the smile seems actually genuine. "Well met, defenders. I am Shiyang, sworn defender of the Thor Kingdom." she says, again glancing back at the other battle front. "Perhaps another time would suit for questions. Today, adventurers of Yamato, I would only have your names before you fall." she says as she engages the adventurers, blade to ... well, to wind magic blades. Again Shiyang takes wounds, and again she seems to ignore the hits though they must be driving her health dangerously down. Her soldiers also fare poorly against Merek's flame, another two falling and having the alchemical flames beaten out by their surviving companions. A healer sees to them, dragging them away, but also leaving the defense of Shiyang.

Shirin raises his arm to catch Kaydin's blade with a loud tchnk as the sword seems to stop on his arm for a moment. As the sword is removed it reveals the scales of a Pangolin on his arm, revealing the secret of the Jackal, that he is a half-breed. " To answer your question, you lot came to our house and wrecked our stuff. Only fair we do the same." Then he flips back dodging one of Wake's punches before the continuing barrage of attacks from the Baronness puts him on the defensive. At the same time he is trying to dance around falling Ice, " You know lady this isn't very..OW!" Yes it seems the Baroness found her mark and then Gallant's ice storm also lands. Even some blood is trickling down from his wound on his arm, showing that Kaydon's attack wasn't worthless.

     Dropping his crossbows he runs forward tossing a wide punch at Gallant and then a kick at Wake before going after his true target. Leaping up into the air he grips his hands together to bring down a powerful hammerstrike upon Kaydon. It is rather evident he was going for a KO here.

Yeowang grimaces at the agile Filimas, surpassing anything she can do to even keep up, it seems, twisting just enough to get stabbed in the shoulder with her arrow rather than having her throat slashed. She's lucky that Filimas didn't fire that arrow, it seems that was a ruse to try and catch Yuuki at unawares.

She will do what she can to interfere with that, though that's little enough. Well, she thinks of it as little enough, but a flying roundhouse kick is a thing of consequence for anyone. She leaps up, spins, and her boot slams into the archer, taking a chunk of HP, the impact allowing her to push herself back from the fight. She's got to back down now, and she looks around to see how this is going; it doesn't look good. On the other hand, she's held out with the others, it won't be as great a loss of face if we all back down together. Therefore, she'll get the hell out, and leave this to the Palace Landers. She owes them for enough, this'll just be one more price she'll have to take out of their hides.

    Merek seems to think about all the actions that he can take, and for a moment it looks like he might try to remain with the party. That said, when he notices all of them are fleeing, not just a few, he will take the time to begin retreating himself. He then chants a spell while he points a hand towards Shiyang, "Merek. Remember my name. Servant of the Blind Goddess. Moonlight Alchemist. You only win because this is where we draw the line and we are Adventurers. If you come for Landers, we will kill you to a man." Then he's sweeping away even while he will throw that fireball at the woman and her entourage.

The introduction is met with a quizzical tilt of the head from Mikage, one that is mirrored by her lynx in the same moment. Under normal circumstances, she tends to focus on the fight and talks relatively little, but these Palace Landers seem quite... chatty. "Normally, I'd say that it was nice to meet you but... it really isn't." These were not the sort of circumstances to be making polite introductions.

A few of Shiyang's attacks slip through the Were Fang's defenses, meaning that there are a few more glowing red lines along her form as Mikage seems to vanish into bit of mist, only to reappear in a clearing in the battlefront, her bow brought up. "You want my name? You'll have to earn that right." Not that it would be particularly hard to discover it. Mikage's performance at the tournament means that she is no longer an unknown to many in Yamato.

"Anyone who needs to fall back, get out now!" She calls out, raising her voice. "I'll try to hold them off a little longer." Raising Dawnbreaker, storm energy begins to swell around the point of an arrow as Mikage raises it, aiming it towards the heart of Shiyang's forces...

When it is released, it slams into them with the force of a Tsunami wave, water and wind forcing people backwards, away from those who might potentially be retreating.

    Wake may have permission to risk her life, but that doesn't mean she is going to throw it away for vanity. The writing is on the wall in this battle. There simply isn't enough fire power here.

    "We need to pull back!" she shouts out suddenly. Inwardly she notes that no fight is going to be won without heavy Scale Emblem support.

    The Baroness directs her attention to her enemy. "I am uncertain what damage was done to your lands. Perhaps we might try diplomacy... another day."

    She will launch one last frantic attack of fists and feet, but its purpose is not to defeat Shirin, but to create just enough space for Wake to beat a relatively safe retreat from battle.

    "Until next time!"

As that hammer comes down to impact Kaydon, Gallant interposes himself in the path of damage, pushing the other Were Fang out of the way. Crunch. A flash of pain, and a shouted word he won't, afterwards, admit to actually knowing. It might have turned the air blue, or maybe that's the aftermath of that blow. Who knows?

He checks- is there blood? Yup. There's blood. The tide of combat is threatening to overwhelm them all, and all that is left is to flee and re-group. Heroic last stands won't do much, and that is plainly obvious. The only thing that's left is a retreat... and spite.

"Filthy dog," he spits at Shirin, his hands coming up to summon a blast of compressed water, "Let me give you a flea bath!"

As the effect goes off, he grabs Kaydon by the arm and starts pulling him to a strategic retreat.

Brave, Brave Sir Gallant
He Bravely ran Away...

    Yuuki lands on the same roof as Filimøs, giving her a brief bow as her name is mentioned, "The one and only." Pause. "As long as you don't count the sword." She tilts her head, not recognizing Filimøs, "And who might you be, Miss Marksman?" But before Yuuki can find out, Yeowang comes in to continue the assault! Not that Yuuki can blame him.

    Yuuki follows as Filimøs is thrown into the wall. She manages to get an arrow into Yeowang's shoulder, before firing at Yuuki. Yuuki leaps and flips through the air to avoid the arrow easily, before landing again. She's just about to go in for the attack, before noticing that Filimøs has another arrow primed for Yeowang, who doesn't look like he can take one.

    "Look out!" Yuuki leaps through the air, managing to put herself in the path of the arrow before it strikes Yeowang. Yuuki hits the ground in a roll, before coming up on one knee. She pulls the arrow out of her body and throws it away, before rising and swinging her sword out to the side, "Get out of here, I'll cover you!"

    Darkness erupts around Yuuki's blade, wrapping around it and causing it to grow in size. Light itself seems to be sucked into the weapon as Yuuki charges forward to distract Filimøs while Yeowang retreats, unleashing a strong blow from the weapon.

    It's only after Filimøs recovers from Yuuki's strike that she will release that Yuuki is up on the rooftops again, running fast as she joins the others in retreat. She doesn't particularly want to retreat, but unfortunately everyone else is doing it and Yuuki isn't so stupid as to think she can survive against an entire army by herself. So she doesn't have much choice!

Kaydon knew he was about to take the hit, and figured it was it. He thought maybe he could get one last blow in with his hidden blade, but he never gets the chance as Gallant managed to get in between the hammer and himself, and then Gallant grabs him and pulls him away before he can get close enough to stick the sheriff with the pointy end, "This isn't over yet you piece of shit!" Kaydon yells as he gets dragged away, though he's not actually putting up as much of a fight as his yelling would indicate, "I'll kill every last one of you! I swear it!"

"Based on where you Adventurers are always looking, my name should be above my head in your 'magical vision'?" Filimøs Harrifenas answers Yuuki just before Yeowang tries to roundhouse kick at her. She tries to get back, but Yeowang catches her with that satisfying tip of his boot and sends the archer flying. And just before she can recover, the black wave of Yuuki's attack strikes, blasting her back and stopping the Pooka from retaliating. Gripping her head and groaning as she retrieves herself from some broken wooden boards of a house she'd been blasted into.

Forces keep approaching Shibuya from all directions. With the gates open, they are able to get in, and they quickly start doing sweeps through various houses. Some of their members rushing to catch some of the fleeing Adventurers. Firing long range spells, with quick moving DPS on their heels. But the healers and tanks are slower behind them, meaning that the Palace Land forces are forced to slow down in their chase.

    The combination of Merek's fireball and Mikage's tsunami arrow utterly devastate Shiyang's forces, outright turning several to pixels which quickly dissipate. Shiyang is made of tougher stuff though, but even she is knocked flying, vast tracts of red wounds crossing most of her body. By her looks she's in the red now, health-wise, but she holds her head high even as her body half-collapses.

    "I must earn it?" the Salamander asks, panting heavily, raising a shaking hand. "Very well then. Oh earth, this defender of the Earthen Kingdom calls upon you. Unite your powers with the Fire within me, and may our foe drown within your depths."

    The words are no longer panted out. Somehow the Salamander is tough enough to focus, digging deep within for power. And the earth responds, a crack opening in the ground before Shiyang, rushing out at Mikage. Not just a crack though. It widens, and within there is a viscous dark substance, bubbling like the primordial doom of dinosaurs, until there's a literal pit of either bubbling mud or tar opening up at Mikage's feet.

"Go, Rama." Mikage motions for her companion, the lynx racing off even before she has made her own retreat. There is a quick glance around, making sure everyone else is getting out before she takes a step back, her body posture suggests that the Ranger is ready to join her allies in a hasty retreat into the monster-ridden lands surrounding Shibuya. A dangerous retreat... perhaps, but they know these lands better than the Palace Landers, that much is certain.

She turns back, just in time to see Shiyang perform some sort of strange technique, causing that bubbling inky substance to emerge from the ground, splashing up onto her feet. It catches onto her boots, nearly trapping her to the ground. "Shit." And here is where her potty mouth decides to return. A few additional choice words are added.

For a split second, it seems as if the Ranger may just end up captured, a victim to the Palace Land invasion. However, at the last minute... Rama returns, clawing at his companion's boot laces. "Rama, I said to get out of here..." She pauses, realizing what he's doing, and then lets out a sound that is somewhere close to a paniced, frantic laugh, "Got it, thanks buddy. I owe you one."

She manages to pull free, but the girl's boots are left behind stuck in the mire. "We'll have to chat again next time. Keep trying and you might catch me someday." And then... there she goes, running away on bare feet towards the woods.

Some of the forces give chase after the Adventurers, but then Mikage makes a strange motion, raising some unseen object in her hand. Just like that, a wall of light appears in front of the Palace Landers, causing a few to slam into it in comic fashion. It won't take long for them to realize that the wall doesn't go very far, but it might just give the retreating Adventurers a few minutes head start.

    Shirin seems to have found the pattern in his opponents' attacks as his speed continues to increase more and more while avoiding the trio of attacks. He even uses the moment to dodge to backflip and retrieve his two crossbows, 'Peace' and 'Maker' With that he levels one at Kaydon before he turns and points it at the sign on the building that designates it as the New World Alliance hall. Pulling the trigger he puts a hole in the sign with a shot of light. "Next time next time. These adventurers sure like to predict the future." With a grin he turns his back on the retreating foes and goes to rifle through people's things. He heard one of the people who lived here had a great stash of cheese.