---

---

Ires looked up when Regina manifested her disapproval of the plan. "I understand that each of us has different views and experiences. Trusting one another might not be so easy as well. But we cannot afford to be divided so easily," the Princess appealed to Regina as the others began to put the plan into practice. "Even if that's not the best option, that's a hardship we chose as a group," she pointed to the others as they already mobilized themselves to actualize her plan, "Are you with us or not?"

Ires noticed that some of the others also showed reluctance, or perhaps disdain, for their strategy, but the time was running short. They couldn't exactly get any more delays. "I hope everything goes as planned," she thought as she followed Gradon, right after another of the rocs swooped by.

Meanwhile, "Alright, now it's time to put this show on the road!" Viola said as she followed Tzi and Esther, taking care of their rearguard. The heavily armored girl seemed quite psyched up once they decided upon a plan and followed it to the best of her ability. Right on time too as another of the roc swooped by with its razor claws.

"Oh no, you won't!" Viola shouted as she rebuked it with her shield.

The roc was quite literally thrown off of its course, struggling to retain its flight, beating its wings in an ungraceful manner as it tried its best to not touch the ground. In the end, the bird managed to pull back, freeing the space for Esther to execute the Princess' maneuver.

Viola followed Esther to the tower and helped her prepare the rope. "Have you even hear about the Knights of Legends? I've always found it interesting but never thought I'd be on their place someday... kind of," she added while taking a hold of the rope, after all, they clearly couldn't trust the walls to hold it.

After Ires reached her destination, she waited for Gradon to come and take the other end of the rope along with her. As soon as they were done with this step, their plan relied only on Leblanc's ability to look like an appetizing treat to the gigantic birds. Which, she probably was quite capable of; what with her... physique, and outfit, and... "What, in the Goddess name, am I thinking at a time like this?"

"Is this really the time for changing course?" Leblanc called out in blunt deadpan, brow twitching with an irritation gnawing at her adrenaline fueled enjoyment of hectic events. On the very cusp of letting loose without any need to pull her punches before a live audience and they just had to bicker about it. If Esther and others didn't go through their portion then she'd have been liable to throw her hands in the air and storm off.

Not that the Rocs had any intent of allowing the woman standing idle in the open any such opportunity, and it was not long at all before the Bait found a taker eager to sink it's talons into her exposed flesh.

"Incoming-" She erupted from the square with the avian menace altering its descent to pursue as her hands clutched the taut rope stretched overhead and spun herself end over end with her momentum. A glance to either side assured her that the more physically inclined were bolstering the support the structures with their own strength and she hoped her acrobatics wouldn't prove as distracting for them as the rapid movement would be to the approaching Roc. "Pardon me. Just baiting the line."

Seeing the Roc soon to strike Leblanc released the rope and shot herself skywards over the passing bird whose snapping beak found only empty air while a braided rope struck it's it's over-extended neck. Where it human, the rasping noises of a desperate desire for air may have actually done something to heighten Leblanc's blood lust, but alas this was the peak of her enjoyment. Twisting herself as though a screw, her feet faced the sky as her body drove downwards upon her prey, knife brandished to silence the ungainly caws with a blade shoved through it's eye and into the Roc's brain.

A waste of a perfectly good eye as a trophy, but there was still the twin to dig out if they so desired.

Tzi Ti'amtum was having fun.

It wasn't really a rare occurrence, but the muscular young man thought that being dive bombed by giant birds (even if they were really just little bird tots and thus not big enough to really be a super giant bird) was a new and exciting enough thing that he just had to mention it. The islands didn't really have anything that huge to fight or hunt, and none of the blokes in the port towns would've gotten the chance to even see something bigger than a pelican. So being able to get a chance to not only see so many of them in flight, but to also fight them mano-a-mano so that his pals' plans could bear fruition, was something that got the blood pumping.

A bit distracting though, he had to admit to himself as he ducked underneath sweeping claws, awkwardly parrying the attack with his trident as blood rushed past his ears. He needed to step up his game. Otherwise they wouldn't be having dinner.

Right, just gotta aim for the wings ...

His trident glowed with power as the anchor detached once more, this time rocketing through the air with a loud bang as it stabbed into the left wing of an unfortunate, diving roc. Red splattered from the wound, but the anchor had successfully impaled itself into the flesh, and the magical chain was tangling up around the wing and into its meat and bones. Tzi grinned. That was one bird caught.

The tall youth pulled with considerable strength, swing his trident downwards in an attempt to pull it to the earth. Any other birds around it would find one of their brothers swinging towards them. He wasn't going to just pull one roc, not when he could try and bludgeon a few more of them on the way down.

He hoped birds could recognise the smell of their own blood. If it did, he'd successfully grab more of their attention.

---

Toward the Princess earlier, Regina did not answer her with words. Instead, she took off when Esther made her move. Regina did not blame her comrades for following a terrible plan literally due to her being "elected leader," but she can certainly blame the Princess for being incompetent. Gradon was also to blame as well for even allowing such a plan to unfold as the second in command. Even if this particular plan worked, it'd be due to blind luck that it did, the fact that the Rocs were even stupider than she imagined, and it would still be a great indicator on how the Princess thought and operated. At the end of the day, it was Regina's responsibility to make sure the other parts of the plan were at least successful and to get her fellow cadets out of there alive, with the latter the biggest priority.

Which brought her to where she was now. Regina found the snapshot from her vessel hit its lucky mark, hitting the young adolescent Roc that crashed just moments ago in the chest. The shot went right through the Roc, creating a bloody mess as her vessel's magic hit hard, creating a decent sized hole. The shot did not end there, going all the way through the Roc's body and hitting several major locations throughout, including severing a few arteries and hitting the spine of the Roc. The Roc visibly went into shock on top of bleeding heavily, dying from the shock quicker than it could bleed out. A quick glance towards Tzi told her that Tzi also took one down before she started running.

Right as Regina started to run toward the direction of the church, another Roc screeched and attempted to grab Regina in its claws. It was only due to Regina being faster and the roc anticipated with it's inexperience and Regina herself running in a zig-zag pattern that saved her, though Regina felt a sharp rip of the fabric on her back and the Roc's talons barely miss grabbing her but instead cut her back. The pain was intense, but dulled by the adrenaline. "Gaaah!" Regina cried out in pain from the hit. The adrenaline-fueled cadet did not feel exactly how much she was bleeding, stumbling sideways for a moment and quickly regaining her balance as she ran into the church.

Upon reaching the church, Regina began to climb up to the top to get into position to shoot any rocs deciding to have Leblanc for lunch in order to prevent the cadets from realizing the failure of the princess's plans or at best the absolutely lucky and unlikely success of such a plan. She noted Esther but did not speak to her, only getting her position set up to snipe the Roc going for Leblanc. The pressure hit her in this. Her breathing became very ragged as she readied her rifle. To Regina, her failure to connect this shot would mean a life already potentially thrown away in an incompetent's plan. Failure, for Regina, was not an option.

Natus was correct in that the Rocs were of little threat to them; not only were they only monsters, but having already been spooked they were greatly disorganized and attacking anything that moved at the moment. However, the comparisons between the birds and the dadet’s own formation was too close to home; still, at the very least, they were being held at bay while Ires made the final decision of what to do. One by one the Rocs began to realize they were being both out-maneuvered and outdone in damage to these cadets.

Perhaps that was why they slowly began to take to the skies and retreat, leaving only the aggressive ones to attack the cadets. While this greatly reduced the number of targets to pick off, those same few were still eager for territorial instinct, swooping in to attack Esther and Leblanc. Gradon said nothing as Regina ran to help their fellow cadet, knowing Esther would be in safe hands; and indeed, the sound of a gunshot meant the end of the downed Roc pestering them.

“Natus, can you help Clean out with keeping those things off Leblanc?” Gradon said to the silent boy before turning back to Ires and following her. Standing by her side, he grabbed the ropes Esther and Viola tossed down from the other side of the church, holding them firm in his hands. “Here’s hoping this works,” he muttered, yanking as hard as he could to set the aerial trip line in motion.

As a result, multiple events happened all at once. Leblanc was successful in baiting the birds to her trap with her fleeting form, able to gather the last of the stragglers on her before leaping away and letting them run right into the trip line. At once the Rocs crashed and barreled into each other, one of them swiftly being silenced by Leblanc’s agile motions in the air and a swift, deft motion of her blades as well.

The Rocs caught up in the trip line would soon find themselves being battered by their own as Tzi’s captured bird slammed right into the trip-lined creatures. What resulted as a massive crash as the creatures hit the ground, counting in about two to three of the raving monsters. With their flight momentarily stunned, this would be the ideal chance to finish these last few off.

“Natus, Clean, kill them now! Everyone, attack!” Gradon said aloud. The time to strike was now and hesitating any further would only draw out this conflict longer. There was of course the one stray Roc in the line of sight under Regina’s gaze, but he had faith in his comrades it would die soon enough; either by Regina’s bullet or Leblanc’s own blades.

As quick as his name was called, Natus started moving. Stabbing something as large as a roc with a dagger would likely only annoy it. As he was still moving he pulled a flask of oil from a compartment in his clothes and marked with a red line. He threw it at the downed rock and had it literally explode covering a small patch of his body in the sticky, flammable substance. He took out a match and struck it tossing it on to oiled creature causing a patch of his feathers to ignite.

He then paused, and returned to a ready stance with a second flask of oil ready. He hoped that he would not need to use more of the limited resource, however the more time they wasted fighting the birds, the more time that another threat could attack them.

Events unfolded swimmingly, any inexperience of their commander being outweighed by the deficiencies in the Roc's total absence of command. Leblanc could admit to enjoying the solitude of the hunt immensely, yet she knew full well the protection and the power of a pack. It came in many forms, whether it be a street gang or a flock of birds, though it was the strength of the order put upon those in the group that determined if it was a genuine merit or simply an illusion which, upon being dispelled, would shatter the prey with even greater force then if they had no connection whatsoever.

Fortune favored preparation, and a royal education atop Imperial training surpassed the instinct of lesser avian with ease this day.

It rained scarlet upon Leblanc's bared flesh as her knife struck true, as for all the leathery skin and hard bone a monster of size might possess, the eye was a near universal weakness of the living beast, and an easy avenue towards the brain which she rent to mush with a jerk and twist of the wicked knife. In much the same vain as a domestic chicken the Roc would trash and buck in its death throes but she was already moving amidst the dancing shadows of Natsu's recent act of combustion.

One silenced with a hole through it's now burst eye, and another screaming an obnoxious litany of agonized horror at a death by immolation. Leblanc worked her free hand over, rubbing wet fingers together as though treating the spilled life blood like a lotion as she approached the third Roc upon the ground. Having been stunned it flopped along the ground, no doubt finding it difficult to rise with the concussive force of a high speed collision to it's throat, but the seaweed haired woman had no intention of letting it rise.

Like a viper striking in the blink of an eye, her main arm pulled back and rocketed forward, hurling her knife into the neck of the creature. It dug deep and remained, a glimmer of steel remaining between handle and feathered flesh, yet was certainly not enough to kill outright, though that was to be expected. Finding herself unexpectedly facing towards Gradon and Ires' position, she raised her bloody hand in a short wave before lifting a leg overhead and clutching it by the tip of her shoe, supporting herself on one leg as though a long bow drawn to it's fullest.

Muscles tensed to the point her body seemed to tremble upon itself and her tongue darted across her lips, tasting the salt of concentration watering down her brow. The Roc was thrashing and moving about with the knife ever shifting, and Leblanc wanted to get this just right...



In an instant she struck again, and the shattering of bone rang with no more squawks to follow, and Leblanc's knife now knew the kiss of soil as it over penetrated.

"I believe that should complete our subjugation of the indigenous bird life." Her words were smooth as she slowly withdrew her leg from what once constituted a neck, a slow, exaggerated affair of movement as she reconnoitered her muscles from tearing themselves apart, and settled upon eyeing the newly appointed leader's plainly. "Could you remind me what's the Imperial Protocol on claiming trophies while on assignment?"

---

Esther grabbed the rope as hard as she could as she waited for the roc to get into position. She could feel her heart beating heavily, both from her previous encounter with the roc and from the nervousness of waiting. What if her strength (and the wall) weren't enough? What if the roc just flew through their rope like it was nothing? What if her hands froze and she ended up being pulled to the ground below as the roc pulled the rope with it?

She had to be thankful at Viola's presence. Her cheerful attitude lessened her nervousness somewhat. Unfortunately, she didn't realize Regina's presence at all. She was too focused on the task at hand to look around.

"T-the Knights of Legends?" Esther replied to her question. "I-I don't think I've ever heard of them." Whether she really hadn't heard of them or it was her nervousness making her forget things, she didn't really know, and she really had no time to think about such a trivial thing at an important time like this.

Just as she was thinking about it, she could feel a tug on the rope. Quickly she looked to the source and saw that Leblanc was clinging on the rope, and that a roc was sweeping towards her.

"W-watch out!" Esther shouted.

Leblanc didn't need her warning however as she had intentionally baited the roc to strike at her. With an impressive feat of acrobatics, she used the rope to jump towards the roc. And without losing a moment, she stabbed her knife at the roc's eyes, making it screech in pain as it lost control of its own flight.

She also saw Tzi taking one down on himself using his trident, pulling the roc down after his trident stabbed the creature in its wings. And that roc crashed into Leblanc's roc. And to Natus' burning roc. And then there were the other rocs following behind. Just as the princess had predicted, hey all crashed with each other before falling down to the ground in a dazed state. She heard Gradon shouting from the other building to attack now. He was right. This was the perfect moment to strike!

Without anymore thinking, Esther jumped off the church towards the dazed rocs below. Choosing one to strike that hadn't been occupied by the others, she then transformed her shoes into its active mode. And then, she gathered wind below them, creating a sharp blade to strike the roc with. The roc simply had no chance as the blade severed its neck clean like cutting through butter. Esther cringed at the bird's blood spurting and dirtying her dress. She had to change after this.

She landed perfectly safely, thanks to her wind manipulation once again. Quickly, she returned her vessel to its dormant state, using its ability to leap away from the other rocs. She would be in danger of one of them hitting her as they trashed around after all.

Clean was silent for the rest of the commands given. He knew his role, kill the giant birds. He could almost hear his tendons and ligaments straining as he tensed for the killing blow. A rapier was a blade designed to be used by stabbing, so his entire posture was designed to put his entire weight behind his blade and focus it all into a single point. Tunnel vision clouded Clean's periphery, leaving Leblanc's position all he saw, sound slowly faded around him, letting him focus on the task he was given as the sound of his heart beat thumped in his ears.

Leblanc leaped up, the trap was sprung. Like a human arrow, Clean was loosed upon the Roc's at Gradon's call. Wrist twisting slightly, the rapier drilled forwards ahead of him, the loosening of muscle giving that extra half and inch, and Clean turned his head light a mountain climber straining for an outcropping just out of reach. A slight 'pop' was felt, not from Clean, but reverberating from the tip of his blade as the eyeball of a Roc splashed its viscous liquid over Clean's suit, crimson blade having pierced both eyes with a single stab...

"Daaaaaamn iiiiiit!" a primal curse and roar erupted from Clean's throat as he tore the blade out of one of the Rocs, Clean now using both hands to grip his blade and abandoned even the pretense of skill and finesse, instead using the thin blade like an axe with him chopping and hacking at the Roc's flesh. Chunks of avian flesh and splinters of hollow bone all scattered in the air around Clean like gory fireworks. If his rapier hadn't been a vessel it likely would have long since shattered under his abuse of it. Seeing another Roc struggling on the ground, Clean swung his blade like a baseball bat along it's flank. The blade only stopping when it had embedded itself in the creature's hollow bones, as the webbing of flesh connecting Clean's thumb and index finger tore apart, the last swing too much to handle as his blood soaked his grip. Ripping the blade out of the dead bird Clean looked for another target, ignoring his injury.

"Bingo."

The cheery young man's eyes were sparkling (although you probably wouldn't notice it in his eyepatch-covered one) as he watched the birds fall to the earth, transforming from the masters of the skies into potential dinner within seconds. He didn't expect to get so many down in the swing, but it looked like the folks upstairs decided to bless him with a little bit of luck today. That was something Tzi was definitely happy about, and by the time the Rocs impacted the cold dirt, he was already on the move, crossing the distance towards their downed enemies.

Of course, it looked like the others already had most of it under control.

"Bit messy, eh?" he commented, even as he prodded his trident into one of the birds with a small spurt of blood, just to make sure that it was 100% dead. "Let's hope that scares their mates off even more."

Most of them were already flying off, but seeing their brethren take further steps down the path to poultry sausages (he didn't actually know if people made poultry sausages, but he wanted to have some) would hopefully ensure that none of them tried to come back.

---

---

"It's an Aquarian folktale, I tell you all about them, if ya wanna know. Right after we are done here!" Viola replied to Esther, right before all hell broke loose as their plan was set into motion.

In the instant that followed it, both Tzi and Regina managed to down some of the rocs on their own while Clean, Natus and Gradon, joined by Esther and Leblanc, finished the job with any of the other ones caught in the trap. Ires didn't even have time to help take down the birds, given how fast the action unfurled. She jumped from the City Hall but once her feet touched the floor, everything was done.

"I guess that I'm unlucky, right?" Ires joked as the last few rocs who flew overhead dispersed in the distance. "Either way, that was a good job, everyone. Let's get done with lunch and move as soon as possible. If we keep following this route, we will likely reach the region where the creature is supposed to rest in by tomorrow's morning."

"There are no politics against claiming spoils, Leblanc. As long as your commanding officer attest that they aren't the product of war crimes, you are free to keep anything you acquire on the battlefield," Ires said as she moved in to join the remainder of the group.

"Well, now, that was easy, wasn't it?" Viola commented as she was about to go and join the group as well. That's is, until she noticed the blood running down Regina's back.

"Hey, are you ok? Where did you get hurt like this?" She asked as she moved to help the other girl. "Don't worry, I have a few bandages and antiseptic. After we treat these you'll be good in no time," Viola added while trying to have Regina come with her, to get those wounds treated.

And so, the battle against the rocs was concluded. Lunch, as well as the rest of the day, would pass by in a breeze, without even the least problem befalling the Cadets. The cause of such unnatural tranquility was obviously the beast that spooked all of the monsters from this region. What could this mysterious creature be?

Tomorrow would certainly bring the answers.
"Well now, if that's not a nice day to be alive and kicking," Viola said first thing in the morning as she returned from her patrol around the Cadets' camp, which was raised by the edge of a grove, an area that was certainly used for lumbering purposes way back in the past, if the randomly spaced, old tree stumps that dotted the place were any indication.

Said grove was located at the crest of a hill from which it was possible to spot a vast valley with derelict ruins spread here and there. It was likely that the beast the sought was hidden in one such ruin. They just had to find the right one.

"Anyone wanna make a bet of how many we will have to go through before we reach our mark? I'd say one, if we go straight for that big, temple-looking one right over there," Viola said, pointing to one of the bigger ruins in the region. Certainly, it did look like an old temple, or palace, but was it really the right place. That would be too cliched, would it not?

All of a sudden, Viola stopped and shaded her eyes with her hands, seemingly trying to spot something in the distance. "Hey, what's it over there?" She pointed to a small glint that quickly disappeared in the distance, hidden in a ruin by a hillside, half a mile away from their position.

"What do you think is happening over there, guys?"

"I don't know," Ires replied as she finished her own morning preparations and looked towards the point Viola signaled to. "But we are going to find it very soon."

"Be on your guard, everyone, that might as well be a trap, but we have the advantage since we know they are there. We will keep our route, those ruins are the best from here to the meadow, after all. Once we get there, if we are attacked, we will assess the situation and respond in kind. I hope to count on your cooperation once more."
Meanwhile, in said ruins.

A squad of soldiers, belonging to the same group as the ones who first ambushed the Cadets, prepared themselves to ambush them once more. The main difference being that this time they not only had a whole Squad as well as a pair of very handy hostages: Two cadets belonging to the same school as the others they sought to kill/capture.

"Such a pity how weak your kind gets when they are thrown into one of these, ain't it?" the lookout said as he collapsed his scope and turned around to mock the duo of boys, chained and gagged inside of a special cell capable of neutralizing the power of Vessel Knights, through some complicated techno-magical means, bringing them down to human levels.

"We are sorry for using you as leverage in this situation, especially when you just happened to be caught by 'chance', but our mission comes first. Promise you'll be good boys and we will let you go once all of this is over. It's not like you have to die, after all," the man added, signaling for four other riflemen who kept aim straight at the captured boys.

Their fate now seemed to lay on the hands of their Academic peers, unless they had others means of escape, by either luck or skill. What would happen to them?

Morgan was, understandably annoyed at the current situation.

I mean, really. Why the hell are professional soldiers worse at keeping prisoners than mountain bandits?

He was currently standing in the corner of the cell, all feeling in his left hand lost after it from the chains. After doing that, it was a simple matter to remove them, though the others would need to find a different way ti get them off, unless they were also willing to cripple themselves for the next few days.

Actually, I suppose bandits would obviously be better at stuff like this.

The soldiers guarding the cell had left a short time ago, which Morgan had guessed to be a shift in the guard, hence his current actions. Since he had woken approximately an hour earlier, he had been studying the prison and thrown together the best plan he could come up with under the circumstances.

Of course bandits would be better. Since they obviously have to deal with circumstance similar to this daily, while soldiers could just bring their prisoners back to a proper town and borrow the cells there.

The cell they were in was at least as old as the ruins, its neutralization ability possible thanks to a series of modifications involving a large quantity of wires inlaid in the walls, and a multitude of complex devices. He had seen something similar once of twice when traveling through the Dutchy with the old man, which was the only reason he was going through with his current plan.

There was a window a distance off the ground, iron bars preventing prisoners from leaving, of course, but it was equally ancient as the rest of the place. looping the chains formerly binding him around the iron, he pulled, and after a minute, as the sound of returning footsteps came from outside the door, the bars snapped, crashing to the ground.

The idle steps changed into the rapid footfalls of people sprinting, and as Morgan lay on the ground outside the window, he could hear the obviously angered guards beyond the cell.

Oh. Sorry guys, forgot about you for a sec.

He winced as he heard the cell door crash open, and scurried off to search for his gear.

I'll be back in a bit, so don't let anything bad happen, you understand?

Luin Felgranz stirred awake, his head pounding as he took in his surroundings. He caught movement out of the corner of his eyes. There was Morgan, up and about and securing their escape. He forced himself up shakily to his feet as Morgan pulled one of the bars down from the window. The noise of the metal bar hitting the ground was incredibly loud and felt like a serrated blade in his skull. Morgan slipped from the window as the sound of footsteps rushing up the stairs. Luin jumped and tucked his legs, bringing his arms forward so that his wrists were no longer bound behind his back. He then dropped back down to the ground and laid facing away from the bars, feigning sleep. The guards burst into the room to see one of the captured students missing. It wasn't long before they opened the cell, shouting at Luin and Foley.

Now!

Once they were neared him, Luin acted. He spun around, swinging the shackles as fast and as hard as he could, smacking the guard reaching out to him hard in the side of the face. The man cried out in pain and dropped his rifle to hold the side of his face in pain. Luin's arms shot out with lightning speed to catch it, and he performed a kip up to his feet. He positioned himself behind the guard he'd hit and fired off a round at one of the guards, shooting his weapon and breaking it. His eyes darted to the other two riflemen. He planted his foot in the small of the injured guard's back and pushed, launching him into the two who still had firearms.

"Shit! Get him!"

Luin sprinted behind his moving meat shield. He flipped the rifle in his hands, grabbing it by the barrel. He cracked it against the skulls of the two armed guards. He went to swing it around to begin his attack on the final guard. However, his opponent was ready for him and caught the butt of the rifle and yanked it out of Luin's hands. He went to take aim at the student but was stopped by the foot slamming into his gut. The other foot came around to knock the rifle loose from the man's hands. He stumbled back and put together a hastily assembled guard against Luin's next series of strikes, fending off the young man. The student swore internally. With my arms bound I don't have my normal range of movement. Not to mention I'm not feeling one hundred percent. The lookout mentioned something about this.

He gritted his teeth put up his guard as his assailant began his own assault. Luin blocked as much as he could, but a hard roundhouse put him on his ass. He growled and rolled backward onto his feet, glancing over at the pile of knocked out guards. He waited until his opponent rushed him before sidestepping and rushing the other guards. He bashed one that was stirring awake with the chains binding him, putting him back to sleep. He reached into his pockets and fished around a bit, not finding what he was looking for. Before he could move on to the next guard, his opponent was on him again, sending him against a wall with another kick. He chuckled, reaching into his own pocket.

"Looking for these, brat?" He jingled a key ring in front of Luin, grinning wickedly. He leaned down and grabbed a rifle from on eof his unconscious cohorts and tossed the keys in front of Luin. He then took aim at the boy. Luin froze, eyes wide.

"Go ahead. Reach for 'em."

Luin's eyes darted from the keys back to the guard repeatedly. Finally, he shut them tight, teeth gnashing together. He couldn't fight the trembling, nor the tears that fell unbidden. "Heh. Just a kid, after all."

Foley had peacefully surrendered when they had been captured, the numbers and their position had been too much to match. They had given him the least of a beating though his leg stung quite a bit, he had been awake for the entire ordeal taking note of how they entered and where they went. Always the strategist they want them alive and once captured escape would prove more viable than an outnumbered and poorly positioned fight. He'd been sent to work with locals and guide the other students here as he'd grown up Orello, the ruins they were in showed signs of structural decay and few load-bearing walls remained as well.

Each boy had been placed in swiftly made cells, they didn't have enough men for dedicated guards and as such would just occasionally check on them. He knew the others would no doubt be planning their own escape, Foley's hands had been cuffs but they did not shackle his legs or bind him to the wall. Foley didn't speak, talking would only draw the guards back. Goal one, unlock the door.

Pieces of brick, thin wires lay about his cell no doubt pieces used when the ruins had been created. Also, present he heard Morgan moving no doubt to escape his own cell Foley carefully bent a long piece of wire. Remembering breaking into grandfather's personal study for new reading materials or just to prove he was not some idiot child to the old man. When he heard it click he smiled and moved to his second goal remove the cuffs upon his wrists.

Collecting a large piece of fallen brick he looked over the cuffs a moment deducing the weak point would be the part that allowed the cuff to rotate and be fit over the wrist. Carefully as he heard Morgan working with the chains in the further cell he slammed the brick into the joint of the cuffs until it busted. That done one goal remained, kill the guards.

Gripping the brick behind his back as the guards arrived before they could open his cell door Luin attacked them. An ample distraction getting up slowly thanks to the bruising on his leg he moved to the cell door, Luin had taken most of the guards it seemed, one remained, with as much haste as he could manage he moved to a down soldier draw a knife from his belt while the remaining guard taunted Luin. Lunging forward he grabbed the rifle and stabbed the soldier through the throat.

Standing up the rifle under one arm as a crutch for his bad leg, as he let the man fall pawing at the knife in his throat. Foley offered a hand up to Luin speaking quietly. "Good work. They hit my leg pretty hard I can walk but can't run. We should load the rifles and wait for Morgan to return, hopefully with our things. "The hallway is easily defendable we have ammo and multiple rifles. Not to mention prisoners if need be, our best chance is to wait and try to get ourselves in better shape. Trying to run after the beating we took would be pointless." He said grabbing the keys and removing Luin's cuffs.

"We cannot fight hard so we fight smart." He paused a moment. "If we could start a big enough fire or a big enough explosion, we could signal our allies. Get them to come get us." He spoke then thought a moment. "They are using rifles yes? I could use the powder to shape an explosive that might draw their attention but would leave without the guns." He spoke laying out the options for them, Morgan was not here and a choice needed to be made.

Politics? Leblanc blinked as her head lolled to the side, wondering what relation politics has towards procedures out in the field, before shrugging off such concerns as Ires gave her the affirmative anyway. Yes, Tzi would be having more meat then he would know what to do with, leaving the more cold blooded recruit to enjoy the proffered spoils of war.

"Hey Tzi, I'll pluck the feathers and you cut 'em up." She hollered, eager to collect those goliath quills and carve off a few of those talons. "If someone finds some sacks, we may just get pillows tonight."

---

After a surprisingly fruitful first evening out in the wilds, with bellies full of meat and ample shelter from the elements with not even a howling wolf to threaten them beneath the veil of night to sully a restful night buoyed ever higher by overcoming their first encounter- However minor it may be.

Muscles popped in and out of place as she broke into a set of stretches to greet the day, bathed in the rising sun's light as she limbered up. Perhaps it was superfluous with her powers but she wasn't keeping it active 24/7, so being as limber as she could was a ready source of catharsis. Stretching to the limit amidst a sinuous balad of exertion, Leblanc watched the other's wake and go about their business passively till the time came for her to find some work to do.

Work which cropped up when sounds of interest emerged from the huddled Viola and Ires, no doubt in her mind that they had detected something in the distance.

"Looks like you found something more interesting then Rocs," Leblanc said, announcing her presence as she trotted over, now encumbered with the noticeable curved claw of a Roc now strapped to her thigh as a spare weapon for the future. Passing on the salutes- They very much doubted there were snipers hunting for officers all the way out here, but may as well keep up some semblance of reason out in the wilds. Eyes scanning along the distant horizon, her pupils consciously dilated and narrowed, manually adjusting themselves to try and glimpse what alerted them. "Hmm, you think there may be someone over in those ruins? May not be worth the time for all of us to go, but a small group could scout it quick."

"Call up Regina and Natsu. We can check it out for you. If there's nothing, we saved everyone else a hike. If there's something, we'll be able to disengage and return easily enough."

The light crossbow kick against her shoulder, a drop of darkness clinging to it leaving a trail in the air. An entirely useless gesture as things seemed well in hand. Had the fight continued the shadow would have spread to cover the giant birds head.

Szeren walked to the downed bird and retrieved the bolt, wiping it on the dead birds feathers and replacing it in her quiver.

---

Szeren had taken the last watch, sitting unseen in the last of the morning shade as the other cadets rose to greet the day. The early morning had been her favorite time in her old town, with the only people alert to notice a daring thief being the fisherman headed out to sea.

She had been near the lead group, moving nearly unseen through the trees unless one knew what to look for. on the crest of the hill she stepped back into view, the crossbow held ready.

"I can move ahead unseen, if needed. A careful scouting should lower any risk."

Natus stayed a few steps behind the group, trying to listen out to make sure the group was not ambushed from behind. "It should be easy enough to scout this ruin, but we should consider the possibility of it being trapped."

He pulled out a flask of oil, "I believe it might be wise to try to lure out whatever may be inside and have an ambush waiting. Doing so might alert the people instead of our presence, but if they do have guards or traps, they likely already are assuming a possible attack. Starting a fire at an entrance into the structure could smoke them out."

A short distance from the ruins, Morgan knelt in his ethereal form, his eyes set on the ruined church. He had shifted immediately after escaping the cell, a habit formed a long time ago, and had just begun planning his rescue mission.

Huh. This complicates things...

His plan failed before it began due to a minor issue he failed to notice on his way out. He knew nothing of the structure of the ruins, and his guns were missing. Mentally berating himself for overlooking such it, he glanced over at the ruins, weighing his options.

Let's see... A frontal assault is impossible, even under normal circumstances. I could check back on the cells, I give those two at least a 50% chance of breaking out by now, but at the same time, the likelihood of me being discovered is rather high.

On the other hand, I could head out and see if there's an help in the region, but the chances of that working are almost nonexistent, and there's probably more of those guys around here.

Looking around him, Morgan quickly shifted back to normal, then reverting back after a second.

No one in the immediate vicinity, at least.

Stared at the ruin for a few more seconds Morgan sighed to himself before creeping toward the back of the building.

At the very least I probably need to acquire a weapon for myself. I'll worry about the breakout after that.

---

And thus, the threat of the rocs was taken care of.

Esther would've been pleased with their result, if not for the fact that one of the roc's blood had drenched her dress.

It was easily the grossest thing she had ever experienced in her entire life.

"Captain, permission to go change to a clean clothes! It's an emergency!" she said to Ires before bolting off from the scene, not waiting for her response first. The quicker she got out of this disgusting, slimy, and smelly dress, the better.

At lunch, Esther returned wearing a clean dress. She couldn't find any water source nearby however, so she still had a little smell of a roc's insides, no matter how hard she tried to clean herself. It made her quite grumpy, and she ate her lunch seated away from the others just so they wouldn't smell her.

Ugh, this is the worst!

At least the roc meat they got from them was delicious.

---

The next morning, Esther finally got the chance to clean up for real as the grove they were encamped on had a small river near it. She had a hunch that this place used to be a forest, judging by the tree stumps everywhere. So it wouldn't be odd that there would be rivers inside a forest.

The small river, unfortunately, was quite in an exposed place. There were barely any trees for her to get some privacy. And it was situated lower than their encampment, so you could see the river straight from up there.

Oh well, she had no choice. She had to clean up herself or else she wouldn't be able to function properly. She already started to feel itchy and any distraction in battle could spell death.

...Yeah, she knew that was just an excuse. But she couldn't help it. She was a lady after all.

After making sure that no one was around, she took off her clothes before dipping herself in the water.

Aaah, this water is so cold and pleasant...

She stayed there for a while. Thankfully for her, the Captain decided to send scouts ahead to the ruins so she had extra time to enjoy herself.

---

When Regina came from the church tower, it was obvious that she was not doing well. With her adrenaline gone, all that was left was pain, though the girl did her best not to show it. Still, when Viola noticed her condition Regina practically fell into her arms due to being light-headed from the apparent blood loss. "Roc...got me. Extremely lucky I made it..." She weakly said as she allowed Viola to help her. However, as she gazed upon Ires it could be noted that Regina did not see her like the others did at the very least. Regina was an expert at hiding her exact emotions, but a feeling of mistrust toward the princess swelled in her. Whatever was the case as Regina laid down recovering from her wounds that night she came to the conclusion that even though the princess showed an extremely dangerous logic she still had a few positives that could turn her around.

Perhaps....she can be saved before it is too late. In Lord Cormier's militia she knew that the types of tactics the Princess employed just now rarely worked, if ever. And worse still...those that relied on such things often got themselves and others killed prematurely which was the main concern for her earlier protest. However, speaking of such things in public is a bad idea, as Regina found out, and so after having calmed down massively Regina decided she will watch the Princess and Gradon thoroughly to ensure two types of results will happen, or at least the second one. The first would be they become better leaders and will not endanger their troops as badly as the Roc combat. But the second was to ensure that Regina herself survived even if the others did not. After her injury, she concluded she will not follow any other orders that she thought was going to be extremely hazardous to her without knowing the order was a good idea. She was fine with throwing away her life for the Empire, not wasting it.

---

Upon Viola pointing out a glare in the distance, Regina immediately took out a spyglass that the academy has provided and looked at the ruins in the distance. At first, Regina could not see anything, but she soon spotted shapes in the distance. Due to the distance, she could not see in full detail of what they were, but they were definitely human. Worse, some of them looked liked they had armor when she looked at them. "Humans. Some armored. I need to get closer to see more clearly." She concluded. However, she still agreed with Leblanc and Szeren. A scout force would be the best approach. However, the first of Natus's statements made Regina nod in agreement. It would not be Irregular-grade, but there would definitely be traps. I do not agree with smoking them out. Too much chance of ventilation inside and we do not really have the means to get the smoke into the structure." Regina assessed, but her eye was looking at Ires and what her reaction would be. What call would she make with this new assessment. Hopefully, with Ires armed with this new information, she changed this approach with the others' suggestions and Regina's own information in mind.