Continuum: Adamant Citadel- War In The North

[GrievousKhan]

THE BATTLE OF THE FROZEN DALE

One Mile from Adamant Citadel



Blinding eddies of snow obscured the battle field, but Aelfenar knew the walking dead were closing in once more – he could sense their unnatural, tainted presence in the biting cold air all around him. He drew another magazine from his belt in readiness of the next attack. Five hours they had held out, taking down the gods alone knew how many of the aberrations, yet there were now perhaps only twenty Skorn defenders where two thousand had stood earlier. The end was near. The Undead were anathema to the Skorn, yet even facing certain death, none of the Skorn showed so much as a flicker of fear. Aelfenar’s heart surged with pride.

‘The dead come once more,’ warned the revered spirit-warrior Thalanos, voice crackling over his radio, confirming Aelfenar’s suspicion.

The stink hit Aelfenar first, slipping through even through his rebreather unit, a rotten stench of death, and decay, and he curled his nose in disgust, as he narrowed his single eye. Dark shapes coalesced into being as the enemy approached through the swirling snowstorm. Bedecked in rusted armour of antiquated design, they marched in perfect unison out of the snow. Glowing witch-fire burnt in their empty sockets, and a wave of fear rolled forward before them, colder than any winter.

In one smooth motion Aelfenar raised his rifle, posed his finger over the trigger and squeezed off a round. His bullet punched through the skull of a horn-helmed skeleton warrior armed with a blade of crackling energy, felling it instantly, and he had drawn back the arming mechanism for another shot in the blink of an eye. The air was thick with gun fire as the Skorns unleashed their fury into the tightly packed ranks of skeleton warriors, felling hundreds of them. Aelfenar loosed volly after volley in an unending stream. He hardly paused to aim, yet every round struck home with unerring accuracy. Then the ancient skeletal warriors were upon them, and battle was joined once more.

Though Aelfenar had his rifle in both of his hands, he had his leaf-shaped long dagger attached to the rifle's end, as was the Skorn way. As a skeleton warrior stepped in close, void sword raised, he darted forwards, moving with nigh on preternatural speed and grace. Before the undead could strike, Aelfenar slashed with the blade at his rifles end, severing the vertebrae of the Undead warrior’s neck. The witch-fire in its sockets disappeared, like the snuffed out flame of a candle, and it toppled into the snow.

Spinning, Aelfenar swayed aside as a rusted axe slashed for his head, drawing his arming mechanism for another shot as he did. Bringing his rifle up, he fired the weapon at close range, destroying the sorcerous bond animating another of the Undead creatures, which collapsed into a pile of bones in the snow. Aelfenar lost track of time as the battle raged. He exhausted his rounds, yet fought on without pausing, drawing a slim-bladed short sword from his belt. After what seemed like an age, he came to a halt. He was breathing heavily and bleeding from a dozen wounds. Bones and bodies lay strewn across the churned up field. Only five Skorns remained standing.

‘Is it over?’ said Aelfenar, his voice little more than a whisper over the radio. As if in answer, a blanket of violet-coloured fog rolled forwards, appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

‘Sorcery,’ hissed Thalanos, stepping back from the coiling tendrils of purple, sorcerous smoke. ‘No, it is not over. It will never be over.’

The smoke infused the fallen bodies of the fallen, and once again the dead began clambering to their feet to rejoin the battle anew. The small cluster of Skorns formed a tight circle, preparing to sell their lives dearly.

‘Die well, my brothers,’ said Aelfenar. ‘We shall meet again on the Golden Isle.’

-----------

Four hours later

The snow crunched under the hard footsteps of the tall cloaked figure as it marched up the side of the snowy mountain side, in toe to it's rear, several more similarly cloaked figures followed close behind. The howling winds whirled about them, their cloaks dancing wild about their forms giving them the eerie impression of wraiths as they seemed to glide across the snow. Several yards below at the large rocky hills base posed several strewn bodies heavily mangled and dismembered. Blood and gore painted the once pure snow in a crimson red gleam wherever a body was found.

As the hooded cloaked figure reached the top of the rocky hill it forward moved until it stood directly beside a heavily snow covered tree. I suddenly stopped and raised a single skeletal like hand and the hooded cloaked figures behind it stopped instantly. Under the cowl two burning orbs of emerald fire peeked out to at the world. It peered forward, it's left orb rotating in place as it's vision cast a green gloom at the valley below. At max magnification it finally saw what it sought past the thick snow storm. The small city of the Adamant Citadel, a maze of houses and temples, at it's base a wall had been built long ago, only slightly worn down. It's vision shifting to infrared it spotted several heated bodies upon the battlements in patrol. Their seemingly lax guard gave tale to the fact they had yet to learn of the fate of their first battle group they had sent to intercept the Bone legion. They had been ruefully unprepared, taken by surprise and despite their best efforts had done little more than stall the legion's progress.

Further scans of the other hill's around the Citadel showed that sentries at each outpost had already been neutralized and their positions taken. The Death marks worked quickly. Good. Once the signal was given then they would move, as the Necroloth had been commanded.

The time was soon at hand, it felt it deep within, everything was already in position; the hooded figure looked up as the tides of the wind suddenly changed. A single leaf fell, torn free by the wind and it quickly descended toward him. A hand open, it caught it within a steel hard grip so quickly it would have been easily missed if the view was not paying close attention, it brought the leaf close to it's face and for a moment it stood there as if in deep thought. The wind seemed to change again dying down slightly, then the unmistakable sound came as from a far off there was a mighty explosion and the sound of the earth shaking for a moment. Then a great horn was blown.


The time had come raising it's other arm it closed it's hand slowly in a tight fist and the cloaked figures behind their lead responded. A great gust of white mist blew across their hunched or standing forms and once it had cleared they had vanished as if taken up in the wind.


----------

He screamed in agony as he fell back to the cold stone slab underneath him, half of his upper right side missing all together blood pouring freely. Around the fallen soldier more Skorns fired from behind ruins or cover at the oncoming hoard bellow. They were unlike anything the Skorns had ever seen in their lives, and it was all they could do to hold out. The sounds of gun fire and explosions filled the air. Skorns armed with rifles and machine pistols fired at the on coming wake of skeletal forms hardly visible in the snow storm, and the figures fired back with their own weaponry. Dark purple streams of energy flayed flesh as it not burned, but literally caused it to rot within moments. Causing limb's to break of dead and useless as Skorn's screamed in agony, withering on the ground. The Skorns still put up a considerable fight, but as Tomkia watched out from the window of a higher elevated temple at the mountain base bellow he could not help but feet a feeling od dread at the sight before him. Skeletal figures of living beings with swirling green to purple energies emanating from their limbs and baleful lifeless sockets. Yet reports had revealed they were different from any undead faced before, instead of mere flesh and bone, these were said to be literally made of iron. How could such a thing even be possible?

It mattered little, they had finally reached the Citadel, and every Skorn would fight to the last to drive them from this place. Reloading his rifle he fired down the iron sight's at another aberration of horror, the shot blasting it's skull open and the witch-fire in it's socket's faded. Then quickly rearming for another, yet they seemed to simply keep coming. He aimed at a rather large and heavily armed necroloth, when the hairs on his back prickled. His only warning before the stone wall at his left suddenly exploded from a powerful a blast of balefire. Tomkia was launched back from the shear force sending him skidding across his back, in a daze he slowly stood to his feet before falling forward again clutching his side. The haze slowly cleared revealing several burning purple light's from the base of the mountain. Balefire catapults.

They had set them closer now and were unleashing their fury in full force. How had they assembled them so quickly? The enemy must have had been planning this for sometime, removing Skorn sentries in order to give them time to build siege weapons before the main assault, or perhaps some force was making their power and range more potent. In either cause the temple was ablaze in arcane fire and he needed to escape while he could. Pull his rifle off the ground with his right hand as he held his injured side with his left he limped away to the back stairs leading down. The ground floor of the temple was also in ruins and bodies laid about likely caused by balefire artillery. He reached for the back exit, just as the beams broke and fell apart behind him just as he exited. He dove to the cold snow as debris fell behind him. He got to his knees and took stock of his surroundings. He could hardly believe the sight most building's were on fire or destroyed, places that had served as homes for Skorn's ever since coming to this awful new world. They could not afford losing it...not to those..things.

He stumble to his feet and limped to the far end of the street. If he could just reach the radio station, they could call in help, there bound to be someone that could help. But would they reach in time? Or even care? That was yet to be seen but it was a gamble he had to take, contacting outsiders was forbidden by the elders but he would be damned if age old teachings doomed their race. Rounding a corner he limped using the wall to support him. As he made the corner he nearly screamed at the sight. what looked to be four iron skeletons with glowing rifles of their own marched down the street. They spotted him and one made a high pitched cry. They all leveled their horrid weapons. Tomkia managed to duck and dive into a open temple just as the first ray's of nether energy hit the wall he stood moments ago. Tomkia's feet pounded against the bloody floor of the hallway as he ran away from the small unit and their strange and deadly arcane guns. Beams whizzed past him and splintered the walls. Tomkia howled in agony as a beam slammed into his upper left shoulder spinning him to his back. The four skeletal being's approached rifles leveled. No escape. No hope. It seemed he had failed before he had even started.

[Alphakoka]

It had been a week since Recette found herself staying in the frozen city after her last encounter with the police force back in Shanty City. The place was far away from the city, so she was fairly sure that she would be safe. That aside, the weather harsh weather was something she could do without and the locals was almost fanatic about their religion and not wanting outside contact like her. She was lucky she managed to rent a small house in one of the corner of maze of buildings. She can't wait until the cops was tired about finding her and dropped the charge.

That particular day, however, there was something about the atmosphere that chilled even her bone. She also had the same feeling she got when something were about to went wrong. Just in case, she armed herself with her usual equipment and assembled her submachine gun. She still had two spare clips for it, she better remember to buy more bullets for it the next time she had the chance. The answer to her feeling of dread and warning that something had went wrong cannot came at a better time, a loud explosion sounded through the sky and the earth shook. From the window of her second floor room, Recette can see the otherwise bleak sky started to burn violet. However, even then it was too late as she saw some figures entering her house following a loud crash below. Whatever went in, she felt that one of them are big enough to walk around with loud thumps for each step. How did they get into the city without any alarm? What are the sentries doing? Who are they? What are they planning to do? Regardless, she had no intention of trying to confront them. Should she run? No, from the looks of it, this is an invasion, it would be bad if she ran into their accomplices. She should hide then.

After removing a panel in the ceiling, Recette lifted her body up and into the ceiling after putting her weapon there first. She then returned the panel back in place, only leaving a small space for her to peek and learn who entered her house. Soon enough, one of them entered her room and made a mess of it, or that's what she thought from the sound of it. Her eyes widened and she held an urge to gasp as she finally managed to she the invader. He...it was a metallic skeletal humanoid with an eerie burning fire in its eye-socket carrying a weapon with similar glow that send a chill down her spine. The metallic would indicate that it was an automaton and a quick observation later, she found that they're moving quite fluidly in their own systematic robotic ways which would indicate they're most likely built and developed by a military, although that would make their weapons and fire out of place. Although thinking about it, who else but the military would do this kind of thing?

Recette held her breath as the automaton seemingly finished looking through her room and begun to leave. She kept holding it until she heard what she imagined as a larger, bulkier version of the automaton started to move and its thumping fade. She then climbed down from the ceiling quietly and confirmed that there's no automaton left waiting downstairs before relaxing a bit and assessed her room. It was a lot messier, with what little she had thrown around the floor. Thinking her next move, she decided to leave and found a safer place, if there were any. She took a jacket and a warm hat as she went down to the first floor. Recette peeked left and right before she exited to make sure that there were no automatons in sight. When she was sure, she gripped her SMG tightly and begun running down one direction of the street.

As she run, she noted that the situation was worse than she thought as she saw buildings destroyed or is on fire and bodies littered the street. She shuddered at the thought that her place could be one of the building. She slowed down near a corner and caught her breath for awhile before walking. She jumped and adhered her self to the nearby wall when she heard a high-pitched cry coming around the corner followed by several blasts. Was somebody being attacked? She peeked from her position and saw at least 4 automatons chasing someone, or people, into a temple. She started to ran the other direction when she realized that she would have more chance if she were to run with someone that knows the city than on her own. She took a deep breath and started to run after the automatons.

Peeking from the entrance, she saw that the automatons was preparing to shoot one of the Skorn defender that was lying wounded on the floor. She noted that it would be better for her if he was alive than not. Recette aimed her SMG towards the automatons and sprayed them with bullets. She hoped that the bullets would be enough to kill them or at least divert their attention from the Skorn before they kill him. One of the bullets seemed to have her entire luck as it managed to hit one of the automaton right in its vital parts and immediately shut it down. As soon as she stopped firing, she immediately ducked back and changed her clip with a new one. It was her last clip, so she really hoped that the Skorn would be alive and well enough to protect her.

[ImportantNobody]

Evvie remained squatted beside a fireplace lit by her own dragon breath, lazily wasting her time away rather then going out to brave the cold weather of the outdoors. She hated the cold almost more then anything, which was a bad enough problem that it even limited her Internal Flame, the energy inside her body that allowed for her magical abilities. Besides that, the wind limited her flying capabilities. That is why she had shut herself indoors. Who could blame her? She was an occupant of one of the inns closest to the middle of the city, which was the warmest place that she could find within her price range of free room and board, so she was determined to stay there for the time being. The owner of this inn happened to know of her and allowed her to spend the night in exchange for some help later on, which most people considered to be quite beneficial due to her half dragon body being able to do far more difficult tasks quicker then what the normal humans could do themselves. What she didn't know was that she would be called upon to pay off her debt earlier then expected.

All of sudden there was a loud rumbling sound accompanied by some sort of a wind instrument blowing wildly. Who would be making such an annoying racket...other then her? Was this some sort of big party or what that was starting without her? Evvie gave a puzzled glance toward the source of the noise with a perked up tail, although it was hard to ascertain much without venturing outside of the room from which she had exiled herself to. Her tail slowly lowered back down to the ground as her attention span on this curious matter left her, but just before it was once again resting on the ground the door she was glancing at was flung open, revealing a frightened human male in tattered clothing stumbling weakly into the room.

"Attack! Those monsters...So horrible..." he screamed in between heavy gasps, his face so white and distorted with fear that it almost made him look like a monster himself. "Everyone...get away! We're all...doomed!"

Evvie quickly sprung into action upon hearing the news, not needing to put any thought into this matter. She was always up for a fight with monsters, even if it was in the cold. Besides, a fight would even do her some good to take her mind off of the cold and the boredom. Even though it may seem inconsiderate to those effected by the battle, such excitement had been just what she needed. Her heroic deeds might even get on the news and spread her "influence" around the world so that everyone would know of her "greatness". She leaped over the man stumbling onto the ground, which was more like a easy hop for her, and continued past him through one more room and then through one final door leading to the outside, which had also been left open, probably in that man's haste to get the news across. She didn't take more then a couple of steps before a bright light in the sky caught her attention. Mostly because it clearly wasn't the sun, and that it was moving menacingly toward her at a breakneck pace. She dodged it just in time as the explosion rocketed the ground where she was heading not a moment before.

"Some weird fire," she exclaimed, observing the eerie light left in the wreckage. "Who fired at me! Show yourself, coward!" She shouted with a roar and a twitch of her tail. She was eager for a fight. She didn't see anyone nearby other then fleeing civilians, so the attackers must either be at very long range or had somehow escaped before she had noticed them. Either way she might be in trouble, especially with limited magic. Not that this stopped her very much. After sprinting in the direction the fireball had been sent from, she made it around thirty seconds of uneventful travel before she saw the source of the attack. She almost didn't believe her eyes, but it was a large group of skeletons storming toward her on the streets, blades burning with a similar appearance as that previous attack. Her eyesight was probably better then theirs, so she ducked behind a corner to observe them a bit more, having the advantage of knowing where they were and them not knowing of her. Normally she liked charging in face first, but considering the circumstances she had every right to be a little more careful.

"Fire!" She heard a man shout, followed by loud sounds and the falling bones as some of the warriors were hit by some unseen force. That unseen force, as she had learned recently, was actually metal fired at high speeds from some weapon of the future. It was an amazing thing, but it clearly wasn't enough to hold off all of the enemies swarming in. "Again!" The voice shouted to the sound of another volley. It was then that she saw the small group of humans off to her left, who were holding out inside a building which was now being targeted by the swarm. Just as the group of clattering bones ran past, she let out a snarl and leaped into the pack, landing with her knees on both sides of the head of one of the skeletal warriors. She twisted her powerful legs, and with the help of her weight coming down on him, the spine snapped in two like a twig. She let the head fall down with her and kicked it into ankles of it's companions in order to trip some of them up. The skeletons on both sides of her turned to attack her, but she stepped back and slammed their skulls together, cracking them both. Another one tried to sneak up from behind, raising it's sword to deliver a fatal blow but was beheaded as her tail whipped across it's neck.

"I don't need magic against you!" She taunted with a grin, nimbly dodging a sword slice from the front and then charging in to deliver a punch powerful enough to break it's sternum. The skeletons appeared to be confused now that an attack was coming in from both sides, and every so often another volley of gunfire sent a wave of destruction through their ranks. A group of them broke off from their main forces to make a mad dash to attack the shooters while they were reloading, but left themselves open for an attack of her own. She jumped upwards, stepping on some of the mob's helmets in order to bypass them so that she was able to land just behind the attacking group. She lashed out at their unprotected flank with both hands and feet, smashing their bones in a variety of places with the intent of either crippling or destroying every last one of the would be assailants. They were once again confused by this, some turning to fight her, only for her to nimbly outmaneuver them. The shooters used this chance to charge forward and use their guns to melee the skeletons now turned backsides.

"Thanks for the assist," one of the men said with a nod, finishing up placing another clip into his weapon.

"Don't mention it," Evvie replied with a thumbs up, wanting him to mention it but trying to sound cool and use reverse psychology.

The main group of skeletons had now reorganized and were rushing towards them, but the men were ready for another volley and blasted many of them to smithereens. She let loose a "giant" flame into the group in conjunction with their volley, but due to the cold it was more like an adorable little puff of smoke. She tried to pass it off like that is what she had meant to do before once again engaging them in a first fight. By this time the skeletons numbers were dwindling, so it was only a matter of seconds before her and the humans finished off the last of them.

"Victory!" She shouted triumphantly, leaping up and down and giving the peace signs with her hands. She had recently learned some hand signals from humans, and thought now was as good of a time as any to show off her increased knowledge.

"Actually, ma'am, that was one of their smaller groups," One of the soldiers explained.

She glanced over the graveyard that they had caused, hardly believing his statement. However, she noticed more explosions around the city and the sound of faint battles off in the distance, so what he said could in fact be true.

"I'll destroy them all then," Evvie said, heading off where the sound of another conflict was the closest. There she noticed mechanical beings with those future weapons, an injured man, and a woman coming in to help out. "Let's see...big scary guys are the bad ones," she thought to herself, figuring out that the machines most likely belonged to the same group as the skeletons. She leaped forward while they were busy fighting, once again having the element of surprise. She had hoped to smash through all of them before this advantage wore out, but instead her attack run ended with the first one. Her kick left an imprint of both feet on the machine's helmet, knocking it heavily to the ground and taking all momentum out of her. She flopped to the ground and narrowly avoided some sort of energy shot being sent her way from their weaponry. She gritted her teeth from the near miss as she took a few nimble leaps so that she was now standing next to the woman.

"Let's team up, or whatever," she said, knowing that these enemies were tough. "You could use my help."

[GrievousKhan]

Tomkia squeezed his eye shut as the four skeletal figures powered their weapons for the final blow. Suddenly there came the loud discharge of a weapon further head. Peeking his eye open, he saw one of the creatures leg's sparked from damage to its left leg joint. It fell backward having lost it's balance and the other remaining spun on their waist turning 180 degrees at the new threat. Suddenly in a blur another figure attacked a second metal skeleton, then narrowly avoided their arcane death beams. The cyclops could hardly believe his luck, Tomkia then seized his chance and aimed his rifle at the ice roof above them, he fired a shot at the stalagmites above and the shot distabilized the roof causing hundreds of pounds of rock ad ice to fall down upon the remaining metal skeletons crushing them their fury green fire blinking out.

For a moment he lay on his back panting and thanking the gods he had managed to survive thanks to the timely intervention of his rescuers. Who he hoped had not been harmed by his disparate attack. He tried to get to his feet, using his rifle to prop himself up, his left arm more or less useless after the near fatal blow to his shoulder.

"He-hello!" He called out. "Please you must help me reach the command hub! It is the only way we can call for help!"

He hoped they would be able to render further aid for a time, in his condition he surely doubted he'd make it far. Someone had to make that distress call, and as the last surviving member of his unit he was the closest. It had to be done at whatever cost.

------------

"FIRE"

The the barrage of lead tore down another line of attackers, and every Skorn in the bunker quickly pulled back the latch on their rifles for another shot. They had managed to hold the second distract line in a series of reinforced temples rebuilt into makeshift bunkers. With shelter from enemy artillery and the Skorn's own heavy weapons in the form of hand cannons. The had made a steel hard defense line that would not easily be broken.

Standing positioned on top of a high temple roof nearer to the base of the mountain, staff in hand, the dreaded Destroyer watched on with cold unblinking emerald fire eyes. Infiltrating and bypassing the defense wall had been a simple task, made all the easier thanks to the balefire catapults and the residual magic of this place. Already most of the temples at ground level were ablaze in violet fire. Even so the legion had only progressed a third of the way up the mountain and had come to a stand still. The legions momentum had been all but stopped. However it was not a unforeseen or unplanned for event. The first assault had only ever been meant to soften their defenses and serve as a distraction. As long as their command hub was removed they held no other communication's systems that could pierce the powerful storm raging around them.

As the Necroloth commander took careful observation of the ongoing battle, a withered hunched ghoul approached him slowly. The wind howled blowing up the Destroyer's cloak in a gust of wind momentarily revealing the dark green gleam of his center chest gem.

"Report"

The ghoul huffed before responding in corking voice, close inspection would reveal several green tubes run out form it's half rotten body. "Our forces have been halted my lord, the Skorrrn resissst."


"Expected... has it been located?"

"Yesss...of coursssse, shall the Death marks be sent?"

There was a moment of silence save for the fighting, explosions and howling wind around them. Then grip on is staff tightened slightly,
"No..I shall take care of the station personally, it's destruction is essential to taking the Citadel. I shall retain four Immortals with me. Send word for a strategic withdrawal, by my calculations it should be dealt by the time the legion is fully withdrawn."


"Asss you wisssh..."

[Asuras]

"Ah..." streamed the chilling voice of a haunting spirit. Her soft voice was like a beam of ice piercing the ears, as if what they heard was what their skin felt. The Skorn defending the citadel had long before been subject to the presence of a persistent spirit; a glestcher to be exact. At some point the female ghost had wandered into the citadel easily and took to residing in the outer walls, looming over the soldiers day and night. Being so far north, she was especially powerful in comparison to other glestcher who did not have the gift of a perpetually frozen atmosphere around her. Eis Kaltze Herz, the Rending Gaze, a dreadful spirit born of ice and wind, pestered the Skorn even when they had their hands full defending the citadel from a horde of undead like herself. And as it seemed, she too was agitated and especially violent at the time; and they could do nothing to stop her.

It might have been because of the presence of powerful necromancy energy around the citadel, or the mere negative thoughts coursing throughout the collective Skorn minds. She was like a poltergeist, feeding off of the distresses of those around her. A particular room within the citadel had housed a group of hiding Skorn. They were certainly no cowards, merely preparing to take on the skeleton machines outside. But with the haunting presence of Eis looming about them, they could barely focus, much less consider staying inside till she finally decided to freeze them to death. Even inside, safe from the cold winds of the area, the air was steadily dropping to that of temperatures far below that of outside.

"Sir, we can't stay in here for much longer. We need to execute the plan now or find another place to stay!" one of the Skorn soldiers worriedly suggested. The apparent leader of the besieged group fell silent, staring just around the corner of a window, trying to see if any undead were just outside. He could hear the roar of gunfire and magic energy, as well as the heavy pounding of boots through snow onto cobblestone.

Suddenly a scream turned his attention back to find one his comrades flailing about with his legs firmly planted to the floor. A tomb of ice crept up his thighs to reach his torso. The soldiers attempted to shatter the ice with the butt of their guns, but found it far to solid to even dent it. Slowly the man was engulfed in complete ice, his head frozen in an expression of absolute terror looking to the sky.

"I've been passive for far too long! I want to have fun with you all before you're killed by these bones!" a chilling voice emanated in the building. The soldiers raised their guns, knowing now that Eis had become quite serious; serious and rampant. The sound of a sharp arrow-like object flying through the air pierced the otherwise silent room, and a Skorn was sent flying to the floor. A shard of ice was embedded in the back of his skull, leaking out warm blood onto the cold floor. The three remaining Skorn slowly back up to the corner of the room, covering their respective areas of the room.

All at once two more had been assaulted, though one barely survived the spear of ice piercing his stomach. He was stuck to the wall, but still had the freedom to move his arm to aim. The other's limb was dismembered in a shower of red ichor that painted the stuck Skorn's left side. Without mercy, a second wave of ice shards were sent flying seemingly from nowhere, killing the already wounded Skorn and bolting the leader's hand to the wall. His gun fell from his hands, leaving him defenseless and impaled.

Suddenly the temperature took a nose dive, falling to barely-bearable levels. The leader shivered violently, incapable of hugging himself to keep warm. Even in winter clothing he could not stand it. From the other end of the room, Eis emerged from behind a wall, clad in loosely-hung draperies of clothing. Her eyes caught the leader's, invoking in him an uncontrollable sense of frigidity. At that point he was on the edge of hypothermic death. His very skin felt solid, and he could not move his muscles. Eis approached him nonchalantly, taking striding, graceful steps across the wooden floor. Behind her, the surface was overcome by a layer of ice, spreading outwards to engulf the floor.

The phantasm had come upon the leader, and gently caressed his neck with her small hand. The mere proximity of her skin to his solidified the blood just under his skin. A feeling of pressure welling up in his neck sent shocks of pain through his body until finally, his mind gave up and the Skorn soldier fell unconscious. His heart continued beating, even against the frozen wall of blood within his neck's vessels. Eventually...

A fountain of warm blood spewed forth from the Skorn's neck, launching itself across the room to cover the floor in a trail. A globule of the mortal's blood splattered over Eis head, though was quickly subdued by the cold and turned into a solidified red ice. The glestcher licked her lips sensually and turned away, walking for the exit. Despite the turmoil outside, she had no fears of being seen.

In the midst of a snowstorm, she was but a hallucination.

[Alphakoka]

Recette can hardly believe what happened before her eyes, one of the automatons spun 180 degree on their waist, that's hardly fair. Though the second thing happened in her favor as a small girl that seemed to be wearing a costume scaly wings and close to nothing in such weather came in and slammed against one of the automaton before leaping besides her.

"Let's team up, or whatever," the girl said. "You could use my help."

Wait, was that real wings? There's no time to think or answer the question as she heard gunshots and the temple ceiling crumbled down under its weight. Recette ducked back into the entrance as the rubble fell down on the automatons, spreading a mist of ice and dust. The redhead fixed her hat that went misplaced after her duck as she coughed while going inside the temple. She also gestured the weird girl to do the same. She found the Skorn after the cyclops called out to them.

"He-hello!" He called out. "Please you must help me reach the command hub! It is the only way we can call for help!"

A frown formed on her pretty face when she heard the plea, which deepened when she finally saw Tomkia's condition. Great, not only she just saved a crippled Skorn, she had to do his job too. She sighed as she lifted her SMG and especially showed the clip to the cyclops.

"I don't think I'll be much help on it if you expect me to help you get there," she said. "I doubt they're the only one between this place and wherever you're going, and this is my last clip."

[ImportantNobody]

((OOC EDIT: Are all of the spaces gone for you guys as well? I'll edit it by placing dots in the spaces if need be so you can read it without a wall of text))
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Evvie noticed the woman admiring her wings, so she let out a smile and fluttered them a bit to show off that they were indeed real. It was at this moment the two were interrupted by loud noises that was soon followed by the roaring collapse of the temple where the wounded man and the machines had been. Venturing bravely into the icy wreckage, tossing some of the debris out of the way in order to clear a path, she soon made it to where the man's voice had been calling from.
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"Coman...commund...what now?" Evvie questioned in response to his plea for help. "Comma pup?"
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The other woman wasn't too pleased with whatever the request was either, claiming that she couldn't fight much longer or something like that. Evvie tended to notice that people carrying those types of weapons were not able to fight for as long as she could without taking extra breaks and every so often having to put something into another something or other. It all seemed rather confusing and inconvenient, even if the attacks proved to be quite effective at times. Still, she'd prefer her hands, feet, and fire as weapons any day. Where this woman failed due to such shortcomings, she would step up.
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"I'll help you do that thing," she replied to the wounded man. "I'm just warming up!" After saying that she remembered that she was actually quite cold still as a sudden breeze hit her. She was still only clothed in green armor-bikini, which would be inappropriate for such conditions even for one that didn't despise the cold. She also hated clothing, however, even more so bulky coats or things of the like, so she was stuck between choosing a lesser of two evils. At first her armor won out because it had been given to her for free and she had no money to buy anything else. She also now knew that stealing one was wrong, so she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Instead she stood there shaking, blowing a small fire into her cupped hands held out near her chest. She couldn't control her fire much at all, but was trying to experiment if she could hold it like a torch. She had little success in the matter, but practice it anyways while she was waiting for a reply.

[GrievousKhan]

The slopped street was alight with violet fire and littered with bodies of both sides. So many Skorn laid upon the ground injured or dead that the ground had snow had become crimson and sodden with blood. Well many others where not but rotten corpses, flesh hanging loose from their bones. Still the remaining Skorn battled back fiercely, mortar fire rained down on the oncoming swarm of the dead. The southern east pass held firmest, there the Skorn defenders had turned many of the temples into makeshift bunkers using them as cover, while the Undead legion fought building to building for control. On the main street Skorn scramble behind covers, behind debris or low walls to fire shots down on the advancing dead.

However the dead as once stopped their advance, seeming to pause for a moment then unexpectedly they began to fallback. The Skorn all the while firing away until they vanished into the snowstorm and from sight. There was a collective pause among the Skorn soldiers, then some begun to let out a cheer, believing he enemy to be retreating at last. Or at lest so they believed.


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Tomkia frowned under his mask at hearing the women's reluctance to help, however it seemed that the winged women was enthusiastic enough. To the human women he responded, "Any help you can give would be surely be needed, please I beg you, the Command post is not far. If we stick to the small pathways we should avoid most of them."

To the winged creature He nodded. "I thank you, we should move quickly then. I'll lead the way."

He hefted his rifle but realized he would hardly be able to use it with one arm. He looked to the women with the smaller fire arm, she seemed to be able to use such weapons, though he doubted the scaled fire user could do the same. Though the latter had already proven she did not need any weapons beyond her hands. He handed the Rifle to the women with his good arm. "Here I can't use it with my other hand the way it is, I have plenty of ammunition left for it if you can use it."

He then drew his pistol with his right hand, "Alright, if your still willing lets go."

He would then proceed to lead them to the rear of the now partially collapsed temple around the ruin, he kicked the back exit open and carefully peered out. The alleyway way was clear of any visible threats, seeing this he cautiously exited and sprinted down the pathway. The sounds of battle could still be heard all around but the way was clear for now. They would bypass several more ruins, and with Tomkia's knowledge of the area made good time, coming to a large tower structure around it, ice blocks where built and behind them a group of Skorn were too cover holding off a hoard of Undead. Most were skeletal's or ghouls armed with nether blades or claws, a few Necroloth among them serving as the small defending squads biggest threat. The hoard advanced down a wide strip the size of half a football field of debris with temples on either side, the hoard standing between them and the tower.

"There, that's part of the command hub, the tower is damaged but we should still be able to get a signal out...we just need to reach it and clear these things out."

It was a task beyond his ability alone, but perhaps these new found comrades could make it happen. Hiding behind a low wall he waited. "Wha- what should we do? Fight our way through or try and get around them?"

[Alphakoka]

Recette was thinking about what to reply the Skorn with when the cyclops practically shoved his rifle to her. She was taken aback by it and begun to sputter.

"Wait, I said...that's not what I...," she said before sighing in defeat and groaned as she followed the other with her borrowed rifle.

At the very least, the Skorn did know his way around the city. Which was one of the reasons she wanted him alive. Though she can't say that she liked the direction they're going. She's supposed to be the one getting saved and not the other way around! The redhead sighed again as they bypassed more ruins and came near a ruined tower being defended by several Skorns. The other thing she noticed was the hoard of undead between them and the tower and its defender. She ducked behind a low wall following Tomkia, putting her rifle horizontally on her knees as she knelt and peeked from it.

"Wha- what should we do? Fight our way through or try and get around them?" she heard the cyclops saying. She shot an are-you-nuts? look to him, although then she realized that, from their position, they could pin the Undead between their own and the other Skorn's shots.

"Well, I'd prefer going around them myself, I know I can do that by myself," she said. "But I'm not alone right, and if we're going to get caught and fight, I'd rather do that when we still have the advantage."

She peeked out once more and started counting how many Undead trying to push against the Skorn barricade.

[ImportantNobody]

Evvie was itching to join all of the fights that the three were sneaking past, but she knew that she would have her chance to get in on all of the action sooner or later. She had also bragged to him about being able to help, so she couldn't abandon him now. Luckily it wasn't too long until they stumbled across a particularly large group of those enemies from before, plus a new variety that she had yet to see.
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"There, that's part of the command hub, the tower is damaged but we should still be able to get a signal out...we just need to reach it and clear these things out." The man explained, although she still didn't have much of a clue what he was talking about. Whatever the case may be, it appeared like they were now at the right spot, so all she'd have to think about is how to fight all of those enemies. She could do the same plan as her earlier battle, although with so much more enemies it would be tough to pull off again. Maybe her new allies could make things easier on her. Whatever the case may be, she refused to be intimidated by such weaklings, no matter how many of them that there were.
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"I'll charge out and crush them," Evvie said, clenching her fists together and letting out a snarl as she bravely rushed forward. Once again she was able to come in from behind, breaking their bones with hands and feet flailing wildly around her. This time, as expected, there was too many of her to take out before they were able to wizen up to her attack, so after a few seconds a large group of them had turned to face her, pushing her back with their weird looking weapons. She tried to breath fire at them, but once again it was mildly unimpressive, singeing one of them slightly but otherwise not doing a whole lot.
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"Stupid cold," she snapped after seeing how poor of a performance that was. She charged that skeleton and kicked it in it's shins, causing it to stumble forward and then get it's skull crushed as she head butted it. "Take that!" One of it's friends jousted at her, which she was able to dodge by leaping backwards yet again. By now more and more of the enemies were stumbling over to try and surround her. "Bring it on!" She shouted with a roar. She hunched over, barring her fangs at the nearest one that was closing in. Hopefully she would get a lot of help soon, but if not she was prepared to lash out yet again at the invading forces.