Corraidhin led the soldiers toward where the fugitives had stopped in front of a group of Dragon Knights. He had been hoping for a way to surround them. "Like rats drawn to cheese they have wandered into a trap" he said. But he had spoke too soon. Suddenly a brilliant pegasus emerged before Meira, and she and the whelp mounted quickly. Then one of the Dragon Knights dressed in very revealing armor met them on the ground. They exchanged words he could not hear, and then Meira drew her sword. She delivered a speech with great confidence and persuasion, and the Pegasus Knights who had appeared and the Dragon Knights were with her. The creepy people with them ascended their mounts, and before him stood a battalion of Horsemen sitting upon great beasts. He quickly glanced over one of the buildings on the side of the street, and in the doorway he saw a most curious thing. He saw four people staring directly at him. Then he recognized them. They were regia, whom he had rounded up from the academy in Ytrellia, led by one of his good friends, Amulius Karna.
Amulius Karna:
What are they doing here? he thought to himself. They must have taken his advice and fled for Ereis Eisan. A devilish smirk spread across Corraidhin's face. He pulled a cigar out of his pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it up from a flame at the end of his thumb. He took a puff and then took it out of his mouth. "Forgot how to fight fair have we, princess?" called Corraidhin to the princess. "Just call in daddy's friends to help when things might be looking tough, eh? Too bad for me most of my friends are dead, or I'd call them in to give you a run for your money." He looked down at his cigar. "Lucky for me I've still got a trick or two up my sleeve" he said as the four people emerged from their hiding spot. Corraidhin threw his cigar to the ground and took his spell book out of his pocket. "Melloah!" He recited a spell and stepped on the lit cigar. Suddenly, flames began to circle around him like bees around a hive. "Come on then cutie-pie!"

"Just call in daddy's friends to help when things might be looking tough, eh?" Corraidhin said provoking the young mistress on her pegasus.

Those very words caused Meira's blood to boil. The fact he would even bring up her father caused her eyes to be lit in hatred. He had just pissed her off by talking about the man who abandoned her and her mother when she was only a child. The fire seared from her eyes as she gave him a cold stare of she was about to kill him where he stood. "YOU DARE MENTION MY FATHER!? YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING!!! YOU DARE TALK ABOUT THE MAN WHO ABANDONED ME AND MY MOTHER!? YOU MUST HAVE A DEATH WISH!!!" Meira yelled in fury as she was thinking about going right after the man. No one talked about her father and no one had the right to talk to her in that manner when it came to her father. Meira generated luminance into her sword where her pegasus troops were trying to get her to calm down. Now wasn't the time to go rage blazing at someone. The most important thing she needed to realize was she needed to escape.

Corraidhin threw his cigar to the ground and took his spell book out of his pocket. "Melloah!" He recited a spell and stepped on the lit cigar. Suddenly, flames began to circle around him like bees around a hive. "Come on then cutie-pie!"

"You dare call me a cutie-pie? You're really asking for pain!" Meira yelled offended by the obscene use of language the man was using. She wasn't some object or trophy for someone to admire. "Ugh..." Were another set of words that escaped her mouth at the thought of what he just said. "Someone as vulgar as you could never capture my heart. Even if you captured me, you'll never capture my heart. Just you go on rambling nonsense since quite personally, it's people like you that I despise the most!" She yelled at the end since there was nothing she hated more than a man who treated a female like a sexual object or toy. Any man who dare value a woman for her flesh deserved to be burned alive in hot oil.

Siia formed an empty glyph on her palm. She then closed her eyes and started to recite ancient language where symbols took formation onto her glyph when she recited them in her mind. Once the glyph was completely formed she then generated dark sparkles into her hand that resonated where she then recited in her mind when she gathered enough power into her palm, She could only sigh where she let her words be heard toward him, "You're magic is far too primitive. Here's a taste of the higher arts!" Ranathia yelled at Siia and told her not to do it since she could hurt the townspeople. Siia gave her a cold look and reminded her what was more important? That they escape from the capital or they worry about the innocent? "Now's not the time to worry about the innocent. We must make our way out of this capital!"

A large glyph formed in the sky where a large maelstrom of dark energy hissed violently around a sword of dark purple energy materialized around the larger glyph.

"Crush light into the foundation of the abyss to bring
forth solitude and veil all with the sword of darkness."

"GRAVIRU HIATUS!!!"

Just as Siia was about to let loose with her powerful spell a voice was heard from the south, "You will not lay one finger on my granddaughter!" A man with black hair and wearing dark armor shouted in Corraidhin's direction sensing Meira was in danger where he emerged from the south with his army of Dragon knights and also one that he rode as well. Where looked over in his direction and smiled at him, "GRANDFATHER!" She said happy to see him again. Maybe after they were done with dealing with the problem here that she would get time to engage into a talk with him.

"Gah!" A Guardian Soldier screamed as he was cut down by a strange looking scythe with insignias on it on the hands of a silver haired man who was on a giant red steed. Behind him a group of mages on horses lead by Drausius also showed up from the same direction. He was repaying his debt he owed toward Siia for sparing his life during the Demon Siege. "It seems you predicted the actions of Aira quite nicely, Siia. I never expected that woman to be so twisted and now Razhard has fallen to her clutches. As requested I am here to support your escape even if I was about to return toward the Order capital. The Oracle Knights of the Order are at your service, Lady Siianthalaie of the North." His wife had a group of her own Mage Knights at her disposal as well that came from the same direction.

"One question, why were you trying to retrieve Daeslurph?" Ranathia questioned toward Drausius when she saw him emerging into sight from the south. The spear did rightfully belong to the Idris descendant Razhard, but it sounded like the Order knew something about that spear that no one else knew about it. She did note when in the throne room that Razhard's entire personality had changed It was like he had become an entire different person right after he came into contact with that weapon and also she sensed a very evil dark aura from it that she didn't think about earlier.

"The truth is, Daeslurph was once called the Spear of Salvation and that is when Idris wielded it. It had been a powerful holy weapon for many years, but when Talanos came into contact with it he used it to revive Xhosa where it became the Spear of Atrophy, The spear didn't become evil until Xhosa and Emerlink fell in love with one another when the spear was in his hands and that is when the Spear of Salvation became a light of destruction. When Xhosa was killed by the Elian Crusaders when he was reborn into Talanos body, Emerlink hated the Elian Crusaders where she cursed the spear. The wielder of that spear will act as a catalyst for the revival of Xhosa and now that Razhard's fallen to its spell there's nothing we can do now. I was hoping to get the spear from him and destroy it. If Aira or her cult finds out the dark power of that spear they'll use it to their advantage. Xhosa now controls Razhard and Emerlink now is possessing Ezmeralda. I'll tell you what happened to Emerlink at another time." Drausius informed them as he continued to approach the group with his Mage Knights along with his wife. Azmaldus soared in the sky with his Dragon Knights approaching the group as well.

While her grandfather and Drausius Order Knights came back to assist them, Meira's eyes became emerged in flames from the mere mention of her father. That really pissed her off that he would dare bring up the man who abandoned her and her mother. He had no right speaking of her father. She was tempted to strike him down, but Ranathia calmed her down before she got reckless with her actions.

Ranathia nodded at Drausius since she had no reason to doubt what he said. She also sensed the eerie dark power from that spear when Razhard took it into his hands. The fact the spear was cursed pretty much summed up what she wanted to know and now she knew exactly how Razhard's personality suddenly changed.

Just when Ranathia was going to tell the group to ride toward Drausius she saw an arrow fly by her missing her and pin itself onto a building. She turned in the direction of where it came and she saw a light black haired man on his horse with a fancy looking bow and a group of knights on mounts armed with bows. She knew that it was Armand and his Arch Knights and that Meira better not take to the sky. She saw that Azmaldus when he immediately noticed Armand's Arch Knight's that he flew up higher to avoid the range of their arrows. He warned Meira not to fly or she would be a clay pigeon for those archers.

"Hmph, I don't like assisting people I don't know." Armand scoffed when he was helping Corraidhin and didn't like it. He didn't know this guy, but he had his duty toward the nation and he would make quick work of the fliers if he had to. They were no match for his elite Arch Knights.

The soldiers approached the mounts, but were cut down by the maidens blades. One tried to run at Siia and interrupt her spell casting, but he was cut down by Chloris claymore. Luther flipped open his book while on a mount ready to provide cover fire for their escape. He didn't like the fact they were still standing there with Armand's Arch Knights bearing right down on them and worst enough Armand had Ichivail the Windwaker Bow holy weapon in his hand which was a nightmare for the flier corps. He also looked off to the north and saw a group of armored horsemen armed with swords and spears and knew those were the Luminais and Regalus Houses. He didn't have time to convince his friend Sharn Regalus to join their side so if he had to engage into battle with him so be it.

"We need to make our move now if we want to meet up with Drausius unit. Once we meet up with him the rest will back off, because they don't want to deal with his elite Mage Knights." Chloris reminded the group, but Meira was hesitant to go. Siia was still in the middle of a spell and if they left she would be surrounded by the Guardian forces, because those armored knights were moving fast toward their direction in the north. Lenna also agreed since her Dragon Knights would have a hell of a time dealing with Armand and his Arch Knights and Meira's Blue Empyrean Pegasus unit weren't that much better trying to engage those elite archers. She also knew that Armand was reckless and would do anything to win and knew he was preparing a fire attack to crush the morale of their troops. She knew that since she saw them over there lighting their arrows with a torch.

Meira's purple haired female friend ordered part of her unit to assist in the escape staying behind to provide them time to escape. She knew that not all her soldiers would go down quickly and they would put up enough of a fight to allow them to meet up with Drausius. Lenna ordered some of her Dragon Knights to follow suit and Azmaldus also lend some of his manpower that flew in their direction to make an opening.

The pegasus knights engaged the soldiers in battle crossing weapons with one another as the strong dragon knights were making quick work of the foot soldiers, but were being downed by an ambush of archers once they revealed themselves. Chloris headed in Drausius direction cutting the pikes off of soldier's weapons while gutting them if they didn't get out of her way leaving a trail of blood in her wake as she tried to avoid getting the citizens involved, but the ones who drew weapons on her she had no choice, but to cut down which made her feel bad. When she turned her head toward the west she saw her father approaching with his banner and her mother was riding alongside him.

"Meira!" Ranathia yelled seeing that she hadn't move yet when Siia and the rest of the group started moving toward Drausius men. She managed to find shelter from the arrows which relieved Ranathia, but she needed to move quickly. The soldiers laying down their lives to buy time for their escape lives would be in vain if she got captured by the enemy.

"That man needs to be taught manners!" She exclaimed still angry about what he had said earlier. At this rate if someone didn't stop Meira from being reckless, her and Nathan both would end up captives of the Guardia Kingdom. Azmaldus turned around telling the group to continue and that he would go back for his granddaughter. He couldn't believe she was letting that man rile her up with taunts. He did know if he didn't act soon that Meira would be surrounded in a triangular pincer formation. Siia said irritated under her breath, "That girl..."

"FIRE AWAY!!! TORCH THEM ALL TO RUIN!!!" Armand ordered his men as they let loose with their arrows. Their arrows bear down on the group as they planted themselves into the ground, roofs and anything in reach lighting the southern most part of the city ablaze. The tavern that Fenrir and Whizzle were in was hit by the fire arrows and the roof slowly began to catch on fire as the fire steadily began to engulf the tavern. The fire wasn't bad enough at the point to stop anyone for escaping, but if they waited to long it would spread like wildfire. When the people in the tavern smelled the smoke they started to scurry out of the tavern doors yelling, "FIRE!"

Meira looked at Nathan informing him, "Meet up with the rest of the group while I deal with this rude loudmouth man!" She said as she generated luminance into her sword where she formed a spell circle on her wrist acting as a bracelet. She was about to get her revenge for his rude comments he just made toward her. Nobody called her cutie-pie since that was just like calling her a chick. Secondly, no one talked about her father in front of her.

Meanwhile back in the castle Razhard accepted Aira's gift even though a sadistic grin appeared on his face where a dark symbol appeared on his forehead with the words Xhosa. Cursed energy started to gather into the spear as you could feel the horrible dark aura that Razhard let off. "Hahahah! I've waited many generations for this moment! NOW I AM RESURRECTED! HAHAHAHAH!" The man laughed hysterically which scared the soldiers due to the fact they didn't think that was Razhard, but the dark energy he released scared the hell out of them where they wouldn't dare defy him.

"With the Spear of Darkness I will conquer this entire world and free Emerlink from her enslavement. Anyone who dares get in my way will die! The Dark Goddess will be awakened!"

Turning his attention toward one of his magic advisers he told them to immediately lift the ban of Archant and allow Xian to practice it. He did remind them if Xian showed any resistance toward serving under his protection that he'd conquer them with an iron fist.

"I AM XHOSA AND NOW I SHALL RENAME THIS GUARDIA KINGDOM THE AVERNIA EMPIRE AND WORK TOWARD THE RESTORATION OF BREAKING THE SEAL ON AVERNUS AND FREEING MY DARK GODDESS FROM HER FLESHY PRISON!!! HAHAHAH!!!"

"I am counting on you, Aira to help me accomplish my world of darkness ruled by the Avernia Empire!" He added as he spoke toward Aira once again setting her gift aside in one of his boxes. He grinned once again as he pointed the spear of dark and it laminated the castle with a dark veil where a dark light shot into the sky. Dark gray clouds started to take formation over the city blocking out the light where the citizens had no idea what was going on.

"Um, how about no you crazy girl!" Nathan yelled at her. Tossing her over his shoulder, he charged his legs with Ki and jumped back to the others, with Meria's mount following them. "Were you honestly going to rick capture just to get revenge on some guy just because he said something you didn't like!? Because you just lost the right to lecture me about what happened in the throne room. Did it ever occur to you that he said those things just to get that reaction out of you!? You can't let people get under your skin like that, it'll make it just that easier to manipulate you if you do"

Aira frowned at this turn of events. This is going to interfere with there plans, with this new man's ambitions, he would want to control all of Holyote and maybe even Gaia, causing the balance of power to be a non issue and the cult could not have this. She would have to abort her mission anyways, she knew working this closely with a man who uses evil magics would be to risky to herself and the cult. She needed to attack quickly while the man wasn't fully in control. As she worked her magics, she remarked, "I am sorry, but I know how evil maniacs like you want, I know because I work for some, and I am sorry, I can't let you have even this single nation, much less all of Holyote or Gaia, my superiors wouldn't allow it." and when she finished, she was already gone. She sent a quick surge of cursed magic though the air to disturb the connection between the king and whatever was possessing him, she had converted the potion she gave the king into a deadly contact poison and caused it to explode, and she dived out the window and vanished without even looking back at what happened.

Fenrir just snarled some more and said, "No, I don't need your pity, I just wish you would leave me alone." When Fenrir realized the inn was burning, he casually walked out.

Corraidhin stood by as Meira unleashed her vocal fury on him. It was all he could do but laugh. He knew he perhaps had gone too far with his taunting, but at least it had worked. More men had arrived to join Meira, led by the man in black who had gotten him into this mess in the first place. Just as the men looked as if they were ready to charge, he saw arrows fly toward them. Corraidhin looked behind him and saw the Arch Knights of Windgrace. Perhaps they would survive this battle after all. "And so it truly becomes a battle" he said, and prepared to charge. The two sides moved quickly towards each other, and Corraidhin's men formed a triangle blazed with fire light with him at the tip.

The two sides collided and it became a sea of blood. Corraidhin lashed out at the enemy with his flames, leaving burn marks across the soldiers body, and they collapsed writhing in pain. Fire from the Arch Knights arrows lit the street ablaze. He look to his side for a second, and saw Meira looking right at him. She said something to Nathan, and prepared to ride towards him. There was only one thing he could do in such a situation: run right back at her. He turned to Amalius. "I need to go take care of something. If something goes terribly wrong, divide and wait for me to contact you" he told him. "I hope you know what you're doing" responded Amalius. Corraidhin looked back towards Meira and saw Nathan sling her over his shoulder. Corraidhin darted foward just before Nathan catapulted himself forward. Corraidhin lodged the beard of his mace into one of the footholds of the pegasus's saddle, and the pegasus ran ahead quickly to keep up with Nathan, dragging Corraidhin along the ground. "Not good!" he said to himself. He pulled himself forward and grabbed the saddle, and lifted himself onto it. He sat on the saddle, and lit up another cigar. "I'd better stop wasting these" he said to himself, but not loud enough so that Nathan could hear. He doubted he would take to kindly to him hitching a ride with them. Suddenly, the sky filled with dark clouds.

s

s

Looking back to check on Meria's mount, he saw the same man who taunted Meria before riding on it "oh come on! This is just ridicules!" he complained. 'I could just lob fireballs at him, but with Meria's horse right there it's far too risky. Come to think of it; most of my magic has massive areas of affect. Guess I never thought I'd need this level of precision. Oh well, I can outrun a horse no problem, If I can just get close enough to the others, he'll either back off, or someone else can handle him.' Tossing a wall of wind behind him to slow down the pegasus, he leaped into the air again, this time he used wind magic to glide so that the momentum of his jump would carry them back to the others

One of the soldiers looked back at Armand and asked if they should pursue. Armand just shook his head and put his bow back on his back. He felt something dark when he took a glance back at the castle and noticed dark clouds were forming around it. He decided to let Corraidhin and the rest of the guard deal with the situation and made his way back toward the castle. The other house members that were approaching immediately head back to the castle once they noticed the same thing that Armand did. They didn't even take the time to evaluate the situation. They had to hurry back, because their King might be in trouble. One of Armand's soldiers asked if they should pursue where he coldly answered with a fierce look on face after feeling that nasty aura in the air, "No. Let that man deal with them. I have no interest of getting mixed up with the Order's Mage Knights so we'll just pull back to the castle and see what is going on there." He said as the soldier acknowledged him and made his way back to the castle along with Armand's other Arch Knights.

The pegasus and dragon knights that divided from the group were still engaged into battle with the soldiers still providing time for the others to escape while they lay down their lives. Soldiers and mounted troops fell one by one as they showered the ground in blood as the common people tried to find shelter from the massacre outside.

Azmaldus redirected his mount back in the direction of the redezvous once he saw the boy that was riding with Meira stopped her. He saw flopping around and kicking while riding on his shoulders, but he was relieved to see she was safe now. He ordered his troops to fall back toward the Orders Mage Knights where they would make their way out of the capital. He also noticed that the other houses backed off and went straight for the castle. He thought something happened there, but he didn't have time to go see what was going on. He had to lead these people to safety as soon as possible.

Directing her attention toward the man she sighed at him, "You really shouldn't just concern yourself with just one enemy. I don't know if you're too stupid or just reckless not to realize I had prepared a spell before hand. Take a look toward the sky behind you and see what your careless has done to you. I could kill you, but I'd gain nothing from doing so and I'm not about to kill an animal that can't defend itself so instead I'll do this." She said as she pointed in the sky toward her giant sword of darkness flickering with dark lightning bolts around the glyph it is situated around. When Siia saw the man had hitched a ride on Meira's pegasus where she halted at trying to use her spell at that time, she realized this was a golden opportunity. She thought a moment about the situation and if she should use it anyway knowing full well that Meira's pegasus would probably be killed. She then shook her head and decided she'd instead use it to slow that man down and possibly try to get him off that pegasus by startling it with her spell. She turned the sword of darkness that was showered by dark purple lightning bolts then closed her hand activating the spell once she aimed just enough of a safe distance so Meira's pegasus wouldn't take a hit. Right when she noticed Nathan used a gust of wind to slow the pegasus down she closed her palm and the giant sword of darkness shot forward like a lightning bolt in an inclined position. It wasn't long before it hammered the ground just a few feet away from the pegasus where it erupted in a dark fiery explosion which startled the pegasus and caused it to go up on its two feet. She wasn't trying to kill anyone, just stall them long enough for Nathan to make his way toward the group. The man hadn't been paying any attention toward her which was a fatal mistake he made and now he had to deal with a startled pegasus that stopped abruptly scared. Stalagmite shards flew everyone from the dark explosion which enveloped the area in front of the man. Luckily she fired her spell just far enough in front he could just feel the intensity of the blast. The explosion swallowed up several structures reducing them to ruin quickly where wood chunks and cement fragments laid in ruin as the structures were completely destroyed in the blast. "Hmph, second rate magic user. You're lucky to still be alive and that I was kind enough to spare you. Next time, you won't be so fortunate if you aren't aware of your surroundings. Let that be a warning and lesson to you." She said in a not impressed look as she kept her head focused toward the rear as her passenger steered her mount. It was obvious she wasn't impressed by the man's skill with magic and she was even more dissuaded with his reckless martyr nature which bored her to say the least. A mage should always be aware of their surroundings and not rush in half-cocked. It was something she taught all her students that she used to teach magic. Even if this man wasn't her student, he still needed training to be able to match her wits.

"PUT ME DOWN!" Meira exclaimed as she struggled kicking and screaming in Nathan's grasp. She wanted to be put down and she was red hot at the moment after Nathan just swept her off her feet and forced her over his shoulder like a kidnapper. Meira could only lay on his shoulder since there was no way she could get free without having to resort to hurting Nathan. She kept her sword gripped tight though the fiery anger in her eyes indicated that she was really mad now. "YOU HAVE SOME NERVE GRABBING ME LIKE THAT AND TREATING ME LIKE A SACK!!! I SAID LET ME GO THIS INSTANT! IF YOU DON'T..." Meira wasn't able to finish that statement since she had just noticed that the man hijacked her pegasus which made her even boil in more anger. Her eyes seared with irritation since she didn't want him on her pegasus. She also saw Siia use a powerful dark magic to stall the person.

Meanwhile back at the castle, Xhosa was agonizing in pain after what that woman had done to him. Razhard's body was being destroyed and there was nothing he could do. He was enraged by what that woman had done and when Eurasia tried to cling onto him to save him she was caught in the aftermath of it as well as it began to eat away at her body. "NO!" Alicia screamed in tears as she tried to run at the two only to have a dark figure appear right before her.

Dark Figure:

Other Man:

The dark figure pushed the girl into the hands of another man while he approached the decaying King. He motioned his hand and extracted Xhosa's spirit from the body and forced it back into the spear. He then took his other hand grabbed the King and generated his dark aura into his body where he gripped tight with his fist and shattered the cursed energy destroying it stopping the decay process with his hand as remnants of the curse cinched his hand burning it with blood coming out of his hand which only made him grin. "Such pathetic cursed energy. Even a child could conjure such a primitive technique." He said as the darkness on his hands devoured the curse that tried to damage his body. What was left of Razhard and Eurasia's bodies hit the floor. He decided to show Alicia mercy by not devouring them and instead gave her a chance to properly bury them when she calmed down and became more rational. "In the end, you were nothing but a fool Razhard. No matter, that pathetic cult is nothing more than a pebble in the road. I will kick it aside soon enough. For now, I must formulate a new strategy."

"LET ME GO!" Alicia exclaimed trying to get out of the hands of the devilish man who held her tight in his grasp. The man was getting irritated trying to get her to calm down where he decided to strike her in the gut, but the other figure shook his head. He grabbed some rope coiling it around her wrists where he finally looped it between her hands preventing her from trying to squeeze her hands out of it. The girl was terrified at the sight she just saw. Both her brother and sister had been murdered. She attempted to bite her tongue only to have the man pull a limp piece of cloth in between her lips to cleave gag her with as he double-knotted it tight and tied it off behind her neck as it fastened tight in between her lips, "I can't have you dying so don't even think about biting your tongue." The man ordered her as she moaned into the cloth.

"Just settle down, Princess Alicia. We are not your enemy." The man with red eyes that looked very young reminded her as he attempted to try to get her to settle down so they could talk with her. He told the other individual to plant her on the throne seat where he tied her to it to make her comfortable as she probably didn't like being squeezed that hard. He saw Alicia wanted to scream, but her cleave prevented her from doing so where muffled words came out of her mouth.

"What are we going to do now, Lord Ariesu? That woman killed the only person who could wield Daeslurph." He reminded Ariesu as he grabbed one of the chairs off to the side and took a seat in it.

"There isn't only one wielder of that spear, Utrunos." He revealed as he pulled up a seat as well as they waited for the girl to settle down. They knew the horror of watching her two family die was painful and she just needed to sit down and restrain herself for awhile.

"What do you mean?" He questioned as he turned toward Alicia seeing that she was starting to calm down a bit. He then saw Ariesu reach over and grab the spear that lay on the ground. Unlike Razhard, the spear's curse had no effect on Ariesu.

"There were two children from the family that could wield the spear. One was Razhard and the second is Princess Alicia who we managed to save before she killed herself. That foolish woman Aira overlooked an important fact making a fatal mistake. Her weak primitive magic does not phase me in the slightest either. It's mere child's play to me as I can conjure spells that are weaker and make them twice as powerful. That foolish feeble-minded ingrate for a mortal thought she could interfere with my plans? How foolish can that cult be? They are no match for me nor do they pose a threat." He answered as he kept one hand with a spell conjured where he spoke toward the girl again in a usual tone, "If you agree to not bite your tongue or scream I'll remove your gag." She nodded in compliance as he used the other hand and reaching over toward Alicia's mouth pulling the gag out of her mouth which now lay limp around her neck like a necklace.

"Who are you two?" She questioned sniffling still as tears rolled down her face in sadness as she finally settled down and just sat quietly in the throne chair noticing that the man evaporated all the evil from it. She had never saw either figure before and they just appeared out of nowhere. Also, the one who held the cursed spear scared the daylights out of her. She wanted nothing to do with that spear.

Whizzle stared at Fenrir curiously however any further attempt of conversation burned down as the tavern was apparently on fire and the people in it evacuated out of the building, including Fenrir, who Whizzle lost sight of when another patron pushed her aside. Grumbling under her breath, Whizzle walked out of the tavern while trying to scry the direction that Fenrir headed to, only to find that almost every single Divine Equipments he sensed in the castle had teleported outside and its holders were nearby. Whizzle frowned and looked around for signs, which was not a hard task to do. Dark clouds hung over the castle, buildings ruined and an army of mounted knights headed towards the castle from a skirmish between dragons and pegasii.

"Oh hell, were they here to start a war in the first place?" Whizzle said, hands crossed as she think. No, that can't be right....Eh, I'll think about this later, better join the party now, damn promise.

Wings sprouted on her back before Whizzle took off towards the skirmish. While the wings was not needed for Whizzle to fly, the Midarian found that it was easier to do and maneuver with them. She was half way when a giant sword descended from the cloud towards a lone pegasus, fortunately the sword seemed to be intended as an intimidation, unfortunately, the buildings on the ground suffer from it.

"Don't you think that's a bit much, granny?" Whizzle said to no one, recognizing the person who's reckless enough to throw the spell freely. "Hmm, wonder what should I do..."

"Oh, isn't everything ridiculous today?" said Corraidhin sarcastically in response to Nathan. Meira glared at him, her eyes piercing his own. Suddenly a strong gust of wind slammed into them, and Nathan took off with the Princess. A dark sword came crashing into the ground in front of the pegasus. An explosion of stalagmite shot up around him, and the pegasus stood up on both legs, sending him flying off it's back. One of the girls from the throne room sauntered over to him and told him how lucky he was that she had spared him. "Sigma's name!" he cried. "Why must you people always go to extremes?" He looked around for Amalius and saw him cutting down a Dragon Knight. "Disperse!" he shouted to him and his men, and they made for the alleyways and climbed up the rubble of the broken buildings. Corraidhin ran over to a man standing in front of a burning tavern. "Hey! You wanna make 20 shiny new pieces of alura? Go up to that pink haired girl, call her a cutie-pie, and run that way" he said, pointing to the opposite direction of the one he planned to flee to, which was out of Eris Eilan.

Fenrir grumbled to himself, his shoulder was burning slightly but he didn't even bother to put it out . Something as small as fire no longer hurt him. He knew there was a fire on his shoulder, but he was unphased by it. His clothes were burnt pretty badly, but his skin underneath it was perfectly fine. Fire tended to be the enemy of regeneration, but Fenrir's regenitive ability and sheer endurance was strong enough to handle a small fire. He eventually patted it out so it didn't harm his clothes because he was too broke to get new clothes.

Fenrir looked at the strange man and growled lowly, trying to hide it a bit more that he was out in the open, "Do you want my fist to punch your face?"

Dropping her on the ground, Nathan began his rant "just what the hell were you thinking!? No, scratch that, you weren't thinking! I had assumed that nobles had to undergo some kind of training to control their emotions. Well if I was right about that then you clearly failed that class. You just walked right into his trap. It only took me so long to stop you because I was so stunned that you fell for his taunts so easily. I mean honestly; just talking about your dad and calling you cutie-pie!? Well now I know how to beat you in a fight, just push those two buttons and you suddenly lose the ability to think rationally. If I wasn't there, you could have been hurt badly, or even killed, and for what; to kill him to sooth your wounded ego!?" His anger spent, Nathan took a breath before continuing "and before you go saying that I just 'don't understand', I do. Remember that crazy lady who drugged me and convinced the king to capture us? Well I wanted to kill her. I wanted to kill her so much that I almost forgot to breath. But I didn't. You want to know why? It wasn't because I was worried about my own life, it was because I was worried about the rest of you. I wasn't going to risk your life just because someone bruised my ego......not again. The last time I let my anger get the better of me, people died, and all because I was being a selfish idiot. There is no way in hell that I was just going to watch someone make the same stupid mistake as me" he finished

Ariesu looked at the girl when she questioned who he was. He wasn't entirely sure if he should give her his actual name or continue to use his cover name he's been using to hide himself on Gaea. He wasn't especially fond of human, but the girl was only half human which didn't bother him much. He looked over toward one of his mages seeing the shattered glass from the window someone had gone out of. He presumed that Aira woman had fled out the window and that everyone else would be going to see what was going on upstairs in the throne room. Even though he knew it was futile to go look for her he had one of his minions go out the window she did and search for clues even if they were small clues. "I doubt going after that woman will do us any good, but jump out that window and survey the area. You might find even a fragment that I can use out there. I don't care how small the clue is. Just bring it back to me." He ordered one of his minions in the room to do as they walked over toward the window and jumped out of it themselves.

"PRINCESS ALICIA!!!" Guards said that entered room to notice that the area had become a slaughter fest. They noticed two corpses on the ground which they knew were both the King and Princess Eurasia. They also saw several guard corpses on the ground that were in the same state as the other two corpses on the ground. They then saw two unknown figures where they inquired who they were and saw their princess tied to the throne chair. She shook her head when they tried to approach and ordered them to stand down. Even though they were hesitant to do so they obeyed her orders anyway. She ordered them to stick by the entrances and ordered one guard to go over toward the window and keep watch over it.

"The name is Ariesu, Princess Alicia. I find your people quite interesting and I will enlist my aid to help you restore the damage that was inflicted by that wretched woman. You need not worry about the pathetic cult she comes from. As long as I remain here, they won't dare try to stand in your way." He advised the princess as he grabbed a dagger from Utronos and cut her binds away including the ones that bound her wrists.

Meanwhile just outside the castle the dark platinum haired man that wielded Ichivail had returned to the castle with his Arch Knights. He inquired from the guard what was going and wanted a status report on the situation and the damage inflicted by the incident that just happened. The guards weren't entirely sure how much damage the castle sustained or the well-being of their King. All they could tell him is what they've investigated so far has minimal damages and that they had cleared out the gaggle of dead bodies someone else had laid in their wake when storming the castle. "Shall I serve as an escort, Duke Armand?" He questioned toward Armand who shook his head no. Armand decided that he would investigate the situation himself so he could understand what was going on. The guard inquired why he had left the castle earlier where Armand told him simply he was just dealing with a problem in the city. Then he informed him that it was nothing to worry about and that he should just remain on alert in case other intruders try to force their way into the castle. Armand entered the castle and had his Arch Knights standby to guard the main entrance to the castle and then ordered a select few to guard the other two entrances to ensure that security was tight.

"Armand!" A soldier ran over while he was about to enter the castle doors. Armand frowned as he turned his attention toward the guard. By the look on the guard's face what he had to say looked urgent. "Out with it already." Armand said impatient as he had no time to waste.

"A woman was spotted that had just jumped out one of the windows. We tried to pursue her, but we lost her. And those who kept up with her were found dead. Their bodies were completely decayed like they had been buried for many years." The soldier said toward Armand which concerned him. He then inquired toward the guard what the woman looked like and when the guard gave the description of her he immediately ran into the castle headed straight for the throne room.

Ingrid Ingrassia (Chloris mother):

Lenisk Ingrassia (Chloris father):

"Baron Lenisk and Baroness Ingrid, we have secured the castle though we don't exactly know what happened in the throne room." One of the soldiers said as he saw an orange haired man and a silver haired woman approaching them on armored horses. Lenisk was armed with his angelic like sword and Ingrid had her spear at her disposal if she needed it. Neither looked very pleased as they both had looks of displeasure slapped on their faces. Lenisk stopped his horse near the entrance of the castle where his wife Ingrid pulled up right beside him. "What is going on? Why did I see my daughter killing Guardia troops?" He questioned unhappy about the fact his daughter was killing their own soldiers. He wanted to go after her and force her to come to her senses, but the King was in danger so he'd deal with her at another time.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile when Nathan finally put Meira down that is when Azmaldus jumped down from his dragon he was riding happy to see she was okay. He wasn't going to scold her there for what she had done, it would be a waste of time. Now that they had met up with Drausius Mage Knights the soldiers that pursued them all backed off and returned to the city. A few surviving pegasus and dragon knight units were also seen flying toward the city gates. He shook his head at what Nathan had said, because he didn't know that Meira's father abandoned her when she was still an infant. "I'm afraid, boy you don't understand her anger at all. Meira hates her father for the fact he abandoned her when she was just an infant and left her in the care of her mother. But when Meira was nearing her teens, her mother one day vanished without a trace. Not too long after that happened Queen Erialyss of Windgrace agreed to raise her. There is no excuse for her actions, no. But go throwing around words so foolishly without asking her why she feels that way is rather thinking close-minded. You must respect her decisions no matter how foolish they may be. That's part of being a leader and I'm sure she has accepted the responsibility and consequences from them. The only part I didn't appreciate was the fact you were continuing on which is ridicule and I'm sure she might have been insulted. Not by the fact you scold her, but rather by the lack of restraint in your words. Just say your piece and leave it as that. There's no need to drive things into the ground by continuing to talk about such a subject." He reminded the boy as he approached Meira and took her into his hands hugging her. Meira thought her grandfather was going to scold her for what she did, but instead he didn't.

"I'm just glad you're okay." He paused for a moment raising his voice for the next couple of statements he made, "But don't ever go into battle without using rational thought, Meira! You're not alone even if you think you are. Your life is not something you can just so easily throw away like a piece of tissue paper. There are those who care about you dearly. So please regard their feelings before you think about being selfish again." He paused once more lowering his tone back toward a fatherly like one, "Besides, I don't need to tell you what happened to myself when I did the samething."

"Don't you think that's a bit much, granny?" Whizzle said to no one, recognizing the person who's reckless enough to throw the spell freely. "Hmm, wonder what should I do..."

Siia knew that voice only by the word "granny" because there was only one person who ever addressed her by that name and if they didn't want to get sold out they should have chose another alias. She sighed a bit when she heard the word, but didn't really hear if it was male or female, where she was irritated by being called granny. She was still a beautiful woman and she has retained her youth. She found such a moniker rather insulting though she did allow just him to address her that way. Both Chloris and Luther climbed off the mounts they were riding as Meira's mount regrouped with her standing right beside her as her grandfather continued to hug her and hold her in his grasp. "You again..." Were the only words Siia could manage since she wasn't entirely pleased to see the person who she thought it was again who called her by that. Ever since she saw the person she was thinking about the last time when her sister was still around, she had always wanted to avoid contact with him. It wasn't that she hated him, just that he found his behavior obnoxious and sometimes obstinate. "I guess it's fate that brought us back together." She let out of deep sight that echoed around the area that almost everyone could hear. Ranathia who was right beside her didn't say a word. She didn't have anything to say toward the person though she was rather curious how Siia and that person in the sky with blue wings knew each other.

Drausius, his wife Ishtora following alongside him and his Mage Knights approached the group. His expression was pretty normal and it didn't look like he entirely cared that they made it out of the city safely. Still he would assist them in their endeavor since he owed a debt to Siia still. Knowing that they couldn't stick around the gates of the capital he advised the group, "We should be going. The sooner we get away from Ereis Eisan, the better."

"Not at all ringo" said Corraidhin, oblivious to the fact that the man in front of him wasn't the kind of guy to mess with. "Say, you look like the kind of guy who could use a few extra bucks. Don't worry, I'm in the same boat as you. Or at least i was until about ten minutes ago." Corraidhin had only made the offer as a joke, but something in the way the man carried himself made it very real. "Tell you what, I'm recruting... um, half-humans, for a special academy of said oppressed minority, and I recognize a lycanthrope when I see one. I'm a regia by the way. You ever been to Cimmeria?" he asked. He doubted some one as stubborn as this particular werewolf would take him up on the offer, but who knows what desperate people will do.

Suddenly feeling defensive, Nathan replied with "hey, she's not the only one with parent issues, at least she didn't have to watch her's get slaughtered right in front of her, just because of how they were born! For so long I lived so that I could avenge them, my whole life became consumed by the goal to punish the people who killed them, to get revenge ." Scoffing, he continued "revenge; the most worthless of causes. I finally got my revenge, and it only cost me everyone else that I cared about! I was finally starting to get my life back together; after I lost my parents, I was all alone in the world, I was an orphan, and still am. So it took me a long time to find people I could trust, and they all died for my revenge. When I found the people who killed my parents in a tavern, I saw red. Nothing mattered except my revenge. And that was the problem. I...used magic that killed my parent's murders...but my friends were caught in the crossfire." It wasn't quite the truth. What really happened was that Nathan had transformed into his Dragon form and used his massive size and strength to squash them, and while he didn't directly kill his friends, his reckless attack did cost them their live indirectly "that's why I drilled my point into her; if she's anything like I was back then, then nothing else is going to get though to her. She needs to learn what her pride and anger can cost her, before she's forced to learn the hard way...like I was. If you really care about her, then you won't let her make the same mistake that I did"

Fenrir eyes immediately lit up after the stranger was done talking. He shifted into his werewolf form, not entirely consciously. He started to go out into a completely wolf-like snarl and growl as his hands started to glow with red energy. He dashed to the stranger and lifted him up. "Don't you dare call me something I am not, I am not a demi-human. Don't you dare say the name of that hell-hole of a nation, and don't you dare lie to me. It is obvious that you aren't opening up an academy. Now, I repeat, do you want my fist to punch your face."

Whizzle landed near Siia, folding her wings and grinning at Siia, the Salecian displeasure was apparent. Whizzle couldn't decide whether it was because of her presence or because of being called granny, but there was little difference between the two. In return, Whizzle gave Siia a grin, "Yeah, me again. It would be hard not to notice where you are when you make those kind of fireworks, First Oracle...again."

Whizzle gave a glance to Ranathia before looking at Azmadius and Nathan, "Oh please don't worry about me, I'm not here for trouble," she said offhandedly and motioned at Siia. "The lady here could vouch for me as her experience and ability far exceeds mine, so you can also tell the other that." While Whizzle didn't mention about age, her tone said it clearly enough. Whizzle did not expect Siia to catch on to it, she had never done so, preferring to think of it as a compliment.

Corraidhin felt his feet being lifted off the ground. The man began to turn into his werewolf form, progressively growing hairier and his eyes becoming yellow. "I've already answered your question. And you're right, I'm not starting an academy. I'm rebuilding one."Corraidhin said in answer, keeping his voice steady. "So you have been that abomination of a country run by apes." Corraidhin shuddered to think of that place. "I know why I hate them, so why do you?"

Ranathia immediately glanced over toward Siia when this mysterious girl with wings just said she knew who Siia was. That sparked Ranathia's curiosity where she questioned toward Siia as she watched Nathan, Meira's grandfather and Nathan talk to each other with her other eye, "You know this person, Siia?" Ranathia said out of curiosity not expecting Siia to have many or if any friends just by judging how she is around people.

"Yes, I know this person though don't let the appearance deceive your eyes. Nothing is always what it seems and sometimes the eye can lie to you. Use all your senses if you truly want to understand the truth." Siia said toward Ranathia as she sighed at the end of her statement. She wasn't expecting to see this person again and every time she did see Whizzle again it was sometimes an eyesore in her eyes. The obnoxious attitude of the person she thought was Whizzle and her guess was correct was rather unpleasant. Not to mention, she found his jokes rather dull and boring where she wouldn't even laugh. Then again, judging by the cold scent given off by the glare within her eyes, it would be surprising if the woman ever smiled or laughed at all for that matter.

"At least, you saw your parents die by someone else's hand. I, on the other hand, was forced to kill my parents with my own two hands to protect my beloved Finathia. I'm not saying you should enjoy your experience, but I'd rather watch someone else kill my parents than have to kill them myself." Azmaldus replied toward Nathan's statement which really didn't affect him at all. He did listen to the last part where Nathan said if he really cared about he wouldn't let her make the same mistake. That's where Azmaldus shook his head, it was true he loved his granddaughter, but he thought it was better that she learned from her own mistakes rather than have her under the impression that people didn't trust her and were babysitting her all the time. The next words that came out of her grandfather's mouth were shocking toward both, "Though I do care about her, she is a leader. I can only prevent her from making those mistakes and I know how painful those kind of errors are all too well. It is up to her whether she wants to listen or not. I'm not saying you have to agree with her decision, but you do have to respect it if you really care about her. Now I'll say this boy, if you really have feelings for my granddaughter then you will allow her to make her own decisions. If she wants to rush into blazing with rage then let her. The only way she is going to learn is when she knows she has made a mistake. It's the consequences from those actions that serve as a tool toward learning we should not make them. Now before you say I'm being cold-hearted and don't care about her, understand that I'm putting my trust in her decisions no matter how foolish they may seem."

Meira walked out of her grandfather's hands where she had finally calmed completely down where she thanked both him and Nathan. She was honored to have such companions at her side and the fact her grandfather came to her aid made her feel even more special.The kind of special she felt is that her grandfather treated her like he would anyone else and not worry about how she conducted herself around people. That is the value she admired the most about him. She did appreciate Nathan's concern though there were portions of his lecture which she heeded no attention to. She listened only to the points and ignored all of the details. She wasn't one who liked to listen to long lectures about being disciplined. She felt absolutely no need for them since she learned from her own mistakes. Though he was right that her recklessness almost got her in trouble. Also the fact she allowed that taunt to bother caused her to sigh toward herself in disappointment. She knew better than that, but her grandfather had explained the reason why she got mad at the mere mention of her father. Even the thought caused her hatred to boil inside.

Lenna and her mercenaries landed right beside Drausius and Lady Ishtora. She got off her dragon walking over and started to talk to him. The others didn't really hear what Lenna and Drausius were talking about since their attentions were focused on the other people. Drausius nodded at what she had said where he announced toward everyone that it was time to leave the capital. By now, the Guardian forces should be in disarray where they need to regroup which gave them the necessary time they needed to escape. He and his Mage Knight group started to ride toward the forest toward the south along with his wife who moved with her group as well. Lenna's group took toward the skies and followed not too far behind while Chloris and Luther walked in that direction as well. Siia could only say it was time to go where she didn't add anything else to what she had said as she followed suit. Azmaldus walked away from both Meira and Nathan and got back on his dragon steering his group toward the forest the others had ventured into. Meira jumped onto her pegasus once it moved right in front of her and like a shot she was off skyward riding toward the group while gliding in the sky. Ranathia still had questions she wanted answered from Siia, but when she rode off she then saw that a man was bullying another person which caught her attention she said toward the other girl with blue wings, "I'll deal with this so you just go ahead and catch up with the rest of the group." She replied toward Whizzle where she immediately grabbed her scepter off her back and rode in the direction of the dispute where she inquired as she got close toward the argument, "What is going on here? Why are you picking on that poor person?" She questioned not realizing since she wasn't close enough that it was that rude loudmouth who insulted her friend Meira earlier. She demanded an answer and she kept her first hand in the position of a spell formation and her second hand was on her large sword on her back if he tried to do anything to her.