Continuum: Adamant Citadel- War In The North

[ImportantNobody]

Evvie had felt a sharp pinch in her tail as the machine passed her by, but she had thought nothing of it until she turned around to begin her run. With heels digging into the snow she skidded to a stop not a moment too soon. Squirming just at her feet was roughly four inches of her tail in a small pool of blood, although quite a lesser amount then one would assume from a lost appendage. She bent down to poke it, having a "oh no you didn't" look on her face the entire time. The tip of her tail that still remained attached to her body constricted and began the healing process in order to stop the trickle of blood. She could reattach the tail by pressing the ends together, but there was no way she could waste that much time in the middle of a fight. She'd probably just have to regrow it the old fashioned way. Luckily for her the tail was the easiest part of her body to regenerate, but she certainly wouldn't get much use out of it for this battle. Leaving the removed portion to continue squirming in the snow, she got back up onto her feet in order to better prepare for another attack.
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Her body language showed that she was more weary of another confrontation now, having been hit with every exchange that had been made. Sure, her body was very resilient, her wounds were already in the process of healing, and she had sustained no serious damage, but even she could see things were not going well for her. She'd never fought this tough of an enemy before, so she had been accustomed to demolishing any opponent that she had come up against with the already used tactics. Now what? She wasn't about to admit defeat, considering herself to be an awesome fighter who could pull off a victory against anyone if she kept trying. She realized that she was narrow mindedly focusing on her opponent yet again, so she broadened her senses to see that her new friend was making an effort to get a shot off all this time. She didn't want to think it was her fault, but she could use the help. Leaping away and to the side of the machine, she gave the woman a better shot.

[Alphakoka]

Recette stayed quiet as shouting to tell the dragon girl about her intention would also warn the automaton and she didn't knew who would react faster. But, fortune smiles at them as it seems that the dragon girl managed to notice her position before the automaton. The little girl leaped away from close combat and gave the redhead enough space to shoot without worry. She had set the rifle into its burst mode previously and as she squeezed the trigger, she felt the recoil on her shoulder as three bullets sped up towards the automaton's lower torso. She repeated the action four more times intended to immobilize the skeletal automaton, but as she wasn't properly adjusted and trained to handle the rifle, her aim was off. One of the burst was aimed too low and harmlessly hit the ground, the other three bursts was more accurate. One burst headed towards the automaton's hand wielding staff on the shoulder, another towards the automaton's hip and the other burst managed to be aimed towards the knee.

[GrievousKhan]

The Necroloth made quick note of the dragon creatures retreat but already predicted the reason for it. The Necroloth had already made sure to keep one of it's independent eyes trained on the women. It was simple for the Destroyer to keep a line of sight even through the thick snow storm of the Citadel with potent infrared. The bright spots of heat confirmed that the dragon kins ally was attempting to provide support. With a lightning-fast flurry, the Necroloth spun it's stave deflecting the surprisingly well aimed rounds. With it's hover-lift still active it shifted it's body to fly off to it's far right blowing up a thick cloud of snow as it glided across the icy surface at full speed, making a bee-line for, not to the dragon kin or the women with the rifle, but directly toward the command hub itself. Weaving through pillar's and temple ruins, cloak bellowing behind, it headed right for the barricade that the remaining Skorn had enacted. It had after all wasted enough time

Tomkia having just barely reached the barricade mostly unscathed, Spotted the blurring figure speeding toward them with the rest of his kin they panickingly focused their fire on it, however most where wild shots and a few deflected by it's stave or armor. With a quick analysis of the barricade the Necroloth discerned its weakest point and guided it's path toward it coiling it self just before impact and with a mighty crash plowed through the low wall of debris, sending bits of stone and rock flying in every direction and rattling those Skorn still alive behind it where they were blown off their feet. Upon reaching the inner tower hall, if without incident, it spun and slowed to a halt and fell to it's feet deactivating it's hover-lifts with a hiss landing in a crouch. Smashing the head of a fallen Skorn under it's heavy feet. The remainder along with Tomkia were still prone and injured. With the pause of fire the rest of the hoard was already charging up toward the tower.

The Necroloth spun it's stave once then embedding the butt end it into the soft snow at it's feet, expecting the Dragon kin to have followed close behind. The Crypt Keeper need only finish this last annoyance then it's mission could finally be completed.

[ImportantNobody]

Evvie did her best to follow him, slipping and sliding on the icy surface twice, but she managed to keep up with him pretty good for one made out of organic matter trying to catch a speeding "machine" on those strange flying devices that it wore. Unfortunately for her and many others she was too slow, and stumbled into the area just in time to witness the Skorn forces thrashed around by it's destructive landing. She clenched her fists, bared her fangs, and perked her wounded tail up angrily in response, furious at both him and herself for being unable to stop him. This burning anger made her forget about the cold; her internal fire rekindled for revenge. It also helped that she was in fact physically warmer now that she had entered a more secluded area and was not subject to the freezing elements outside. The leftover snow clinging to her body melted into puddles at her feet. She bent down into an threatening crouch, letting loose yet another growl his way, this time signaling that she was far more serious about bashing it's head in this time.
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She rushed in even faster then before and without warning, her feet getting much better traction on this flooring then on the ice and snow outside. When she got closer she opened up her jaws, letting loose a powerful flame for the first time since she'd been in the city, making sure it was aimed at his upper torso and head so that it was well clear of the people crippled down belong. Maneuvering with great speed, she rushed from behind the flame to behind a fallen pillar on her right, then vaulting over to deliver a punch at it's left elbow. Her wings expanded and were ready to flap in case she'd need a last second change of trajectory.

[GrievousKhan]

The dragon kin did indeed follow close behind in hot pursuit, quite literally in fact. The snow that fell upon her hide seemed to melt away and infrared revealed her internal temperature was raising steadily. Very well the Necroloth decided to fight fire with fire, or in it's case the exact opposite. There was a steep decrease in the temperature around the Crypt Keeper, freezing the ground at it's feet causing spider webs of ice to spread out from it's feet and staff. As the winged creature bent down into a crouch growling a challenge the Necroloth readied itself dropping the head of it's stave so that it pointed downward it's end angling up behind it. Cold eerie emerald green eyes peeked out at her from under a dark cowl, giving him an air of malice further amplified by the cold rush of fog like mist exuding from it's form.

The fiery beast sprinted forward and the Necroloth expected another made rush like before, instead a bursting inferno flew forth on a path toward the Destroyer. Reacting quickly the Destroyer calculated it's trajectory and made use of one of the fallen Skorn, running toward the screaming ball of fire and quickly kicking one of the downed and slowly recovering Skorn soldiers. The force was strong enough to break ribs and cause serious harm alone, and propel the creature off the ground and through the air directly into the path fire ball. Contact cause instantaneous combustion as bits of fire sprayed in every direction accompanied by the screams of the Skorn as he continued to fly into a far pillar with a sickening crunch, ending his agony quickly. However the bright blur temporally blinded the Necroloth's vision, which had been set to look through the nether into infrared.

It corrected this quickly but had already lost the initiative as a blow connected to it's left elbow dislocating it as the force caused it to bend inwardly and the grip on it's Stave was lost. However it did not call out in pain but reacted almost immediately using it's impact sensors to react, thus kicking out in one quick and short motion at her inner left thigh aimed at the side of her knee with it's left leg. The sudden impact was meant to cause her to lose balance and fall to her knee, where a follow up follow up blow to the head with the Destroyer's right fist as it's waist turned to the right. The force of the punch alone exerting well over 100,000 newtons of force combined would easily lead to blunt trauma injuries ranging from fracturing of bone to internal bleeding to brain damage should the punch land. Likely this close to the Necroloth's icy aura, strengthened by the environment would likely lead to slower reaction time to counter the unexpected counter maneuver.

[Alphakoka]

The automaton and dragon girl started to move away from Recette and towards the communication hub in high speed. Recette cursed as that meant they would cut Tomkia and the chance of getting help. She then started to sprint after them.

She caught up a little after the dragon girl broke one of the automaton's elbow and got knocked off soon after. Alarmed, Recette took aim and shouted at the automaton.

"Hey, blockhead, eat something else!" she yelled as she sent three bullets at the necroloth's torso and head direction. Hopefully, its current motion would prevent it from evading the bullets.

[ImportantNobody]

Evvie felt the thing's elbow cave in under the pressure of her fist with a satisfying crunch, giving her a much needed feeling of triumph at long last. Finally that jerk got what's coming to him! However, she knew that taking out an arm wouldn't mean that the fight was over by any means. If it was that weak then she wouldn't have suffered any damage from this thing to begin with. She observed the rest of it's body on her way down from her attack for any suspicious activity. Surprisingly, as she landed her feet hit an icy cold patch on the ground, sending a sharp chill up both of her legs. What normally would have been a sturdy landing had reduced her legs monetarily into a much weaker stance, which her opponent swiftly took advantage of. She instinctively glanced down to her lower body protesting from the cold just in time to see the blur of her opponent, followed by her left knee buckling to the ground. There was another blur, this time from higher up, which she raised her arms to intercept just as it smashed into her on a path for her head. Her arms took some of the force away, but was unable to hold firm against the attack, which continued forward and bonked her hard on the forehead.
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She was flung backwards from the blow and crashed into a wall roughly 50 feet away, falling back down to earth by landing onto her butt with her legs positioned awkwardly in front of her. A lot of the force of blow had been lost as she tumbled across the room so it wasn't too bad, but even that part couldn't be called the most comfortable thing that she's experienced. Both forearms had a red spot and she could assume that her forehead had one too. Even with her body being half dragon, her bones probably would not have been able to handle much more. She observed her opponent as she got back up to her feet, noticing that there was a layer of ice around it. Were the people that lazy in cleaning up the building or was this thing somehow responsible for the cold? If the second was true then she had to be even more careful. Luckily for her she had backup, letting out a grin as she heard the bullets being fired. for the time being she'd like to see the results of the attack and wait a second so she could better recover from her previous damage. Her mind was clear enough to put up a fight, but she had a headache.

[GrievousKhan]

The winged creature was flung backwards from the force of the Necroloth's blow to collide a wall some feet away. It bought The Destroyer time to recover and asses it's own damage. However there was no time to relish this small victory as someone yelled out a challenge and three 5.6x39mm rounds flew to the Necroloth's direction like angry metal hornets. One struck the side of it's head causing it to flinch to the side slightly while another collided with it's shoulder exploding into a spry of sparks, and the last hit it's chest causing superficial damage at best. The Destroyer turned it's head toward the women that had fired at it, suddenly it's right leg moved toward the fallen stave at it's feet and slipped it's foot under it with a quick motion then kicked it upward where it caught it with it's good right hand. Spinning it's staff now in hand, and tucking it's damaged arm close, it decided the best course would be to remove the smaller annoyance, after the removal of the dragon kin should prove less troublesome. After the Necroloth did not favor the idea of having to contend with two opponents, however weak, at once.


With a quick motion and with the added momentum from the skilled and fast twirls of it's staff, the Necroloth ducked and spun with a quick motion it swept the staffs bladed head in a horizontal arch. Releasing a blast of cold icy wind in a 20 feet wide cone that left a path of freezing stone as it sped toward the women with the rifle, reaching her in just 3 seconds unless she managed to move quickly. Cold enough to freeze exposed skin and slow muscle reaction considerably. With that and turning back tot the dragon kin, the wrist joint spun in place as the Necroloth gathered a electric energy into the warscythe causing the immediate area around the Destroyer to drop further in temperature. It had wanted to conserve it's strength but realizing he might have underestimated his adversaries it could no longer afford to, and with the energies of this place empowering the Necroloth's abilities there was no reason to hold back further. The Crypt Keeper was already speeding toward the downed dragon kin after unleashing the blast of cold wind, as electricity began to dance across the staves surface.

[Alphakoka]

Recette shot several more bullets as the automaton lifted its staff and started spinning it like a marching band leader. She didn't manage to see whether her shots did something or if it even did something as the automaton swung its staff, creating a wave that freeze the area between her as it quickly headed towards her. Recette let out a curse as she ran to the side to avoid it. She was a little too late however and her legs was engulfed by the cold in her effort to dive out of the way. Even with her clothes and boots covering them, the wave made her unable to feel them as it had gotten stiff and incredibly hard to move. Unable to move, the human rolled on her back and took potshots at the automaton as it moved. Distracted by the numbness of her legs and her awkward shooting position, most of the potshots wouldn't hit the automaton anyway and soon the rifle required a fresh ammunition magazine.

Meanwhile, in the communication hub's entrance, Tomkia had regained consciousness just as the automaton had produced the coldwave before leaving. Seeing the chance, the Skorn then started to crawl inside as he was still feeling too weak to stand and run. Hopefully, only the human or the half-dragon learned about it, or even better, no one noticed that he's moving.

[ImportantNobody]

Catching sight of her new friend crawling on the ground, she rushed over to him and scooped him up by the back of his shirt. Glancing over her shoulder to see the machine busy attacking the woman, she ran to the back of the room with the man in tow, kicking down a doorway and heading inside. She didn't want to abandon anyone, but she knew that she couldn't help everyone at once either. That women would be more capable of defending herself then this man was, especially in his current state.
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"Show where," she ordered, knowing that whatever he came here for, it had to be important. "I go with as far as I can."
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As she went she was always looking behind her to see if the thing was about to close in on her location, in which case she'd have no choice but to toss the man to safety and engage the thing in combat again, making sure that it couldn't get past her and kill her friend. If she bought him enough time to complete his mission then something good might happen.