"Hello, Sir Paladin," Annabelle replied with apparent surety that 'Paladin' was actually his real name. Letting out a confused little hum, she tilted her head slightly at Vani as they walked. "Shadow beast thing? You mean Carpenter here? I can assure you he is not dangerous. He is quite amicable to other people, in fact!" she said cheerily before pausing.

"Is there something wrong with him? Also..." Annabelle reached out with her free hand to pat upon Vani's pauldrons, "We'll make it out alive. Let's not consider the alternative until it becomes more certain, yea?"

Annabelle's attention suddenly whipped behind at the sound of a frantic shout; she had missed sight of a soldier in the alley. Damn. Turning her sword back upon the Galanonian soldier, she appeared ready for a quick fight against the greatly outnumbered scout. He certainly was brave to flag them down with no backup. She didn't want kill him if she didn't have to, which gave her an idea.

"Carpenter!" she said with an elated whisper to the familiar beside her. The canid blob nodded and broke into a lightning sprint for the soldier before leaping up and morphing once again. His amorphous body aimed right for the soldier's head to latch around it like some kind of sci-fi alien -hopefully Carpenter could at least block his voice long enough for someone to deliver a merciful knock-out strike, and they could continue on their way.

Kaze stiffened up when a small hand slapped his back, which got him to slowly turn his head towards Cecilia. She could see the displeasure he had for her simple attention grabber, and if he had been younger she'd have been attacked. But he had curbed his natural 'kick their ass if they hit first' instincts a good while ago.

"These walls are very easy to break considering their age and weathering. They're too delicate to go trying to make holes safely." He stated. Sure he could go full battering ram and just plow through the buildings, but they'd most certainly collapse nearly immediately after he got through. That church had been big, and very well built despite its age, and a simple local tremor sent it crashing down. Making a bigass hole was a bit more than a tremor, it directly affected the structures make-up.

The busty elf finally introduced herself as Yinha Karathros. Then up ahead the Paladin introduced himself as Vani Silvergrove. That was two, the rest didn't seem keen on giving out names yet. Well Sera had been introduced earlier so three. Whatever, they'd work it out somehow. But a loud voice came from behind, a scout of the Imperials had stepped out of an alley they had passed by. And whose face just got engulfed by the apparently malleable goo dog? The fuck?

Shaking his head he turned and blitzed to the scout. Probably not something anyone would want coming towards them honestly. Reaching out he grabbed the Scout by his covered face, hoisted him up, and proceeded to slam the back of his head into the ground as he skid to a stop a little ways past where the Imperial Scout had initially come from. When he went past he looked down the alley to see if the man was truly alone.

The poor man let out a muffked shriek, as the strange and bizarre creature made of dark red ... Something... leaped and latched onto his head, like a plastic bag, but alive. His screams were luckily muffled, and thanks to the swift thinking of the paladin, he was soon on the ground! ... Followed by the swift action of the lizardman, who continued to assault the poor fellow further, promptly causing the soldier to be undeniably uncconscious, and likely have some other, internal injuries as well...

Kaze's peep into the alleyway that the trooper had come from though, would reveal the sound of more voices. Apparently, this soldier had split off from a larger group, and his absence and lack of response was apparently alarming the other members. It was hard to pick out, but there were at least three different voices calling out a name, though of course there could be more.

Serafaye just blinked at the sight she had njust seen, then lout a small, relieved breath. Although she knew that pummeling a dude into the dirt for doing his job was quite the questionable course of action, these people all seemed to be in agreement that these 'Imperials' or whatever, were bad news and should be avoided. What was it the cookie-sharing woman had said? Something about becoming a wife or concubine or something if they were caught? The dracokin couldn't rightly remember.

While the others were deciding on how to handle the inpending sitatuion further though, Serafaye took a moment to glance down at her own hands, folding them shut and then re-opening them. CLosing her eyes, she turned away from the group and stretched a hand out towards a random building. With a silent voice, she carefully spoke.

"F-Firebolt..."

...

Nothing. Not a damn thing. No tingle or sensation, no little glob of fire sprouting from her open palm, no nada. She opened her eyes again and looked once more at the hand she had used. In those old comics and shows, the protagonist just had to say the name of their abilities or spells or whatever, and they'd work! But that didn't seem to be the case here. Or had she done it incorrectly? Was it the other arm? She tried. Nope. Still nothing. Maybe with a louder, more forceful voice? Nothing. Both hands? Negatory. She sighed in frustration.

So, she really couldn't cast magic? That kind of meant she really was defenseless, huh? After all, she wasn't equipped with any staff or wand, and she couldn't access her items in her inventory, so she couldn't pull anything out. But, waiot a minute!

"Hold on a sec, guys!" She suddenly said, louder than speaking, but not loud enough to be yelling.

She ran over to the point where the lizard and paladin had double-teamed the soldier into submission. Looking around, she located the man's dropped weapon lying on the ground, a very pedestrian-looking sword. Happy to see that some kind of weapon was available, Serafaye bent down and gently wrapped her fingers around the hilt, lifting it up with ease.

"... Huh, w-wha-?!"

Except, the sword for whatever reason,, seemed to be allergic to Serafaye. As soon as she had hoisted it up, the hilt of the blade seemed to turn to liquid... Or slime... Or something, and just seeped between her fingers, reforming into the sword's hilt once out of her grip and then falling to the ground, clattering haarmlessly on the cobbled street below. The dracokin, quite understandably, just stared in confusion at what had just happened. After all, a solid object had just slipped through her fingers, litteraly. Then a though hit her.

"... Proficiency... My class couldn't use swords in-game... But, that's not Fair! I can't use magic either over here! How am I su-"

She was however interupted, by the swiftly approching noise of many more footsteps, from the alley the scout had emerged form earlier. There also seemed to be distant voices coming from behind them, back towards the plaza. The only ways forward now seemed to be either the main road going east, or to run into one of the alleys and hope they picked one that wasn't littered with Galanon spearmen...

---

Thank goodness for Kaze and his strength. And somewhat being in an odd group that all didn't want to die at least. That much the High Elf felt for certain as the Lizardman and Paladin and oddly-dressed girl seemingly took care of the scout in good time. Albeit, it also was not a solution to their situation of being surrounded by Imperials who it wasn't hard to think had a death wish for them. All of them. Probably. Or worse, if she wanted to think about certain stories she'd heard in the past.

Ugh.

Yet even more odd were seemingly the action of Miss Serafaye, between a seemingly weak attempt to 'cast magic' and then...melting a sword in her hands and its reforming again?! It was an event so strange, even for a mage who'd seen some very strange and mentally-scarring things in her lifetime so far. But this, this person, she was getting more and more eyebrow-raising by the second. What in the name of the High Lords of Alimar was she, and why was she even here in the first place?

More importantly to the current situation, however, the way the scout came through didn't seem to be an option now. Yes. She had to focus on this task at hand and not die or get taken as a slave or something.

"Less time talking, more running please!" the Angelic Mage said as she hastily ran over, grabbed Serafaye's hand, and pulled her as quickly as possible towards a nearby alley...at least in the hopes it was a better escape route than the main road, "This way!"

She really hoped it was better than the main road. Really really hoped it would be better than the main road. She also hoped that the horned girl's hand would not suddenly now melt her flesh or something through it. That would be...rather inconvenient really.

---

Now running through the alleys and side-roads, it was a race to survive now. His companions could deal with the soldiers. With tight corridors and limited people, Locke could finally act uninhibited by a savage running him down. The small detachment they found themselves running into were quickly dispatched by the ones who ran ahead. Though, the distant shouts made it obvious that it wasn't going to be a lucky break. Silence was as great an indicator of a fight as noise, so it would seem.

Serafaye, however, was busy attempting to cast magic. Locke watched her fail multiple times. She wasn't really an invalid, right? Judging by the fact she couldn't do a thing, maybe so. Oh joy, was Locke's immediate thought. They now had to carry an invalid with them. He also watched her attempt to pick up a sword, only for it to slip through her hands. It was... interesting. A curse? It was something he'd keep in mind for later.

More people came from where the scout came. Now wasn't the time to judge the girl. They had to get out. With Locke commanding the fairy with another simple gesture, he sent her to move ahead of Yinha. Come back if there's danger was it's only real command. For now, he'd follow the elf who lead the invalid with her.

"Did you forget how to use magic?" Locke asked Serafaye in that same curt, bitter tone. He really didn't want to have some useless sow drag him down. If he could remind her of the basics of magic, he would.

As the situation developed, it looked like they were quickly becoming boxed in, and with a need to shepherd a mentally infirm girl, to boot. If Locke’s surveillance was correct, they’d be running into Imperial interference quite soon.

Cecilia’s suggestion felt a bit foolish, and it meant destroying ancient ruins, to boot. Artemisia would have retorted with a different plan of her own, if they weren’t suddenly accosted by what probably was an imperial scout.

That didn’t stop the sluttily dressed girl in their party from trying to flatter him out, though. Paladin, really? It looked like the man was barely a rung above conscript, and that was only Artemisia’s evaluation because an actual conscript wouldn’t put his neck out on the line like this man was doing.

It didn’t matter anyway, since the knight that she had helped heal earlier knocked him right out when after Annabelle’s familiar started glomping his head. The lizardman then even jumped in to pummel the unfortunate scout, despite him already being punched to unconsciousness.

For Artemisia, that was all as well; the priority should have been ignoring the man and breaking for the exit, but now the commotion had caused an entire group of soldiers to converge on their position.

Whatever the mentally disabled girl was doing with the scout’s sword, she ignored.

“Dammit, we’re about to be surrounded. Stop dallying and go!” She shot a glare at Locke and Serafaye, before pointing her horse in the direction of the open eastern road, ready to race down the road.

Kaze's ears flicked forward at the sound of more voices. The scout hadn't been alone, but he had gone ahead of his group? "Shit...get going. Vani, stay to the front of the group. Your shield is their bulwark." He said as Sera came back to try and grab the down soldiers sword. Which melted through her grasp only to reform once out of her grip. That was new, he had never seen that happen before.

"Worry about weapons later, get your asses moving. I'll bring up the rear, you lot focus on the front." He growled out, starting to show impatience as the group was literally pushed forward. Well the ones who were lollygagging, they were ushered along by the behemoth to get their little feet going. When did he become the shepard of children?

He kept his own pace light, lagging behind a bit but keeping up with them. "Disabling takes too much time by the way. Just kill them if they're in the way." He stated, clearly he wasn't one for messing around. He had only plowed the scouts head into the ground because it had been a singular enemy. But that was probably going to be the last easy encounter the group would have.

[center]Forgotten Ruins, east roads & alleys.

Yinha, Locke, Serafaye:

As the buxom elf dragged the befuddled and thought-addled dracokin along, the horned girl's head rose at the question posed by Buzz Killington. He had asked something really bizarre. Had she forgotten how to cast magic? No. She hadn't forgotten, the issue was that she had never actualyl cast real magic, her avatar had, and it had done so on her input. In that sense, one could say that Serafaye, as she were, didn't actually know how to cast magic at all... Whcih was depressing as all hell, considering she was supposed to be a bad-ass level one-twenty sorceress...

"No, I haven't." She blurted out, in a manner that sounded both irritated and dismissive, but also contemplative. "The way I used to cast magic just seems to not work in this wo- place." She said, halting a word to repalce it with another.

Honestly, what was she thinking? Revealing that she couldn't cast magic to this strange, masked possible pervert? For all she knew, the guy could pounce on her and the big tittied elf, if he thought he had a chance to overpower and pin them down. Especially now that they were in this dark and dreay alley! Serafaye could feel a bead of sweat form on her brow, and she narrowed her eye at Locke, keeping a suspiscious and watchful eye on the masquerade mask-wearing mage... Which left her blind to what Yinha had just pulled her along into.

"Stop right there!" Came the loud, deep voice of a man.

At this point, the trio were forced to stop, as a proverbial wall of steel and spears barrd their way forward. The imperial troops had taken up position in this small backstreet as well it would seem, and now they were face to face with one another. Behind the row of spearmen, with their broad shields and pointy sticks aimed at the new arrivals, there was an Imperial officer with a blue-plumed helmet - a lower rank officer. He looked stone-faced and serious.

Either Locke's fairy had taken a different turn somewhere along the way, and failed to spot these goons, or it had been taken out by the row of archers standing behind the spearmen... Speaking of, said archers were all aiming their projectile weapons at the three stooges.

"Put down your weapons, dispel your sorceries and surrender! Fail to comply, and we won't hesitate to kill you! This is your only warning!" The petty officer roared, in practiced and rehearsed manner. He'd probably done this sort of thing lots of times.

Serafaye was... Perturbed... By this turn of events. Now she didn't just have to worry about Buzz Killington trying to molest her and the elf, who was still holding her hand for some reason, but all of these new guys... What if they all decided to have a good ol' fashion genital jamboree with the laides? Not like they could possibly hope to stop them! There were at least two dozen of 'em crammed into this alley, and with no side-paths to take, and the only other way to go being back, they weren't exactly in a position to run away...

"Hm? You! The one with the horns!" The Imperial Officer then bellowed. "Step forward and kneel down, hands behind your head!" He ordered.
"Uh... M-me!?" Serafaye meeped.
"Yes, you! Move up here and get on your knees, now! Do it!"
"Uh... Uhm... W-Why? What're you gonna do?"
"Get. Over. Here. NOW!"

It didn't look like the guy was inclined to share his intention. And seeing as Serafaye didn't want to cause any trouble for the elf who had tried to bring her to safety, but ultimately led them into the jaws of their enemies - albeit unintentionally - the dracokin let go of her ... Acquaintence? hand, before moving up closer to the Imperial spearwall and slowly sitting down on her knees. She felt like she was being accosted by corrupt cops, accised of criminal acts she hadn't even committed.

The officer, motioning for his men to make room, passed by his own defensive line, flanked by four additional soldiers, who all approached the young girl. The man stared at her with aq very strange glare.

"What are you?" He asked. The question seemed strange, but genuine.
"Huh?"
"I said, what are you? Yo look human, but you have the horns of some... Creature." He stated, bluntly and rudely.
"Ho- Oh, yeah. I do. All dracokin do, I suppose."
"Drak... What? Make sense, girl!"
"S-sorry! Uh, a kind of human with dragon's blood in them."
"... Are you mocking me?"
"What?"
"Do you really think I'm that sutpid! Dragons and humans can't conceive children! Stop wasting my time and answer me!"

The man gave a firm, full-on-from-shoulder-height bitch slap to Serafaye's face. The resounding smack was quite impressive. However, what was more impressive wasn't the sound, but the fact that the officer's hand stopped dead in its track on contact with Serafaye's cheek. The girl's head didn't even budge or twitch at the impact. Rather, the officer's eyes were wide and his mouth slightly agape, as he both stared at the young lady he had just struck - with no effect - and his own hand, which had come to an abrupt halt.

"W- Wha... Ho-" He fumbled over his words, understandably.
-----
Artemisia:

Travelling along the main east road would prove a short-lived excursion. Not far ahead form where the group had just previously been, the full force of the advancing Imperial army slowly advanced in unified and well-practiced formation. Spearmen in the front, swordsmen behind and archers in the back, with the officers barking orders and commands from the rear. Any attempt at negotiation or communication would simply be met by harsh orders to dismount, lay down arms and surrender unconditionally.

Annabelle, Cecilia, Kaze, Vani:

Noises came from the alley, and angry shouts and questions could be heard. It would appear that the group that the scout had detached from earlier had now caught up to, and found, their knocked-out ally. The sounds of armored feet racing across the dirty cobblestone streets would begin to grow ever closer, and it was only a matter of seconds now before the reinforcements would round the corner and rush out into the street where the backmost members of the party were located.

Their options were fairly limited though. Either follow the elf, Serafaye and Locke into the alleys, or dash ahead on the main road along with Artemisia and her horse. Running back was no longer a viable idea, unless they desired ot engage more Imperials in a fight. It seemed things were just getting worse with each passing moment.

There was no point in trying to keep up with a horse, and so when Carpenter returned to her side, once more in the form of a canine, Annabelle took off for the larger group. Strength in numbers, and all that, never mind the fact that Serafaye was being roped along by Yinha down the alley anyways. Dashing off to try catching up to the trio, she came to halt as she rounded a corner and found them accosted by a wall of spearmen. Annabelle hugged the corner, eyes peering around the side just in time to catch the sight of a much larger man's hand stopping short of Serafaye's face. It looked and sounded as if he had smashed his hand into the side of a stone pillar.

Perhaps... that was where the girl's strengths shined. Still, being unable to carry a weapon or cast magic, she was still just dead weight, much as she'd be able to shrug off anything else coming for her, from what she could tell. Besides the spearwall before them, the scout group from the main road might end up finding them there as well, pinching them in the alleyway. They needed some kind of trick or strategy... fast.

"Big lizard man... do you think you could toss me onto the roof? Or at least give me a boost? If I can get behind them... maybe... maybe I can disrupt them enough to make for a better way forward. It's... all I can think of. Or perhaps, bind them before they notice me with some magic."

Kaze blinked when it seemed like everyone was about to go in different directions. Still, he ushered those in front of him to follow the busty elven woman, the jester, and horned girl. Vani picked up his own pace, chasing after the women and male ahead, but the girl asked him if he could throw her to the rooftops. "Remember there are archers, girl." He said, but Vani positioned himself to act as the springboard she seemed to desire.

More sounds were coming from behind, there was the unit ahead, and the leader of the squad ahead decided slapping someone full force would get him what he wanted. When someone was kneeling and defenseless, pretty much submitting, you didn't attack them because they said something you didn't like.

A low animalistic growl emanated from the behemoths chest as his eyes widened. His pupils turning to slits as a red miasma started rising off his body, his barbaric Rage activating. Reaching over his shoulder he grasped the handle of his huge blade and drew it before blitzing down the alley-way. Despite his rage he did still move around the others of the group instead of bowling through them.

It took a lot to enrage the reptilian man, except for certain actions. Like striking someone actually submitting since there was no reason for it. It honestly didn't even register that the woman hadn't taken any damage, just that she had been hit. Skidding while drawing his weapon back he swung the giant cleaver as if it were a great-club. A full body double handed swing as if he were aiming for a home-run combined with some of his skidding momentum at the man who had ineffectively slapped Serafaye.

Well, they were going to engage after all.

Cecilia surely couldn't imagine that going poorly, even if Serafaye appeared to have a jawline made of steel by the way she took that slap to the face. No magic, and a curse that prevented her from using weaponry, but at least she knew how to take a hit, huh? Said a lot about the predilections of the celestials, truly. She cast a backwards glance towards Artemisia, who had already taken to the main road rather than go through another alleyway rundown, before grimacing. Don't split the party, the guild receptionists always said.

"Arte! Over here!"

The lizard man surged in like a tidal wave of muscle, looking like he definitely was going to smash through the walls of the narrow alleyway with his horizontal swipe. The elven paladin became a springboard for Annabelle, while Yinha and Serafaye still...existed. If they were gonna do it, then they were just gonna fucking do it! Cecilia let out a breath, arcane energies flowing out of her heart and to her arms, before tracing up her Ensorcelled Spear like entwining vines. The magical power concentrated on the flat of the spearhead, and Cecilia raised it outwards, pointing towards the clustered group of spearmen.

"Flash."

Brilliant, eye-searing light shot out at the group, hopefully blinding them and seeding enough chaos that Kaze could do his barbaric, bloody work with no reprisal. Unless the fellow turned around. That'd be a bad time. Funny, but bad.

...hopefully Annabelle could dodge arrows too.

"How did y- Bwuh?"

KER-THONK!

It was an impresive feat, sending a fully grown man wearing a set of full light plate, flying across a stretch of distance as if he was nothing more than an empty, unwanted beer bottle. The blue-plumed officer didn't have time to even respond or react, before the mighty brute of a lizard was upon him and knocked him aside with ease and brutally proficient rage. The armored Imperial clanked and clattered along the street as his body tumbled, rolled and eventually came to a stop when it collided with the side of a building at the far-end of the path they were all in.

Initially, the soldiers who had flanked the officer, along with those in the spear-wall, and the archers behind them, stood silent and dumbfounded. None could actually believe what had just happened - some giant lizard came barreling out of gods-know-where and just smacked their commander aside as if he was made out of a burlap sack filled with chicken feathers. Of course, momentary confusion didn't last long, and soon the call for the archers to fire their arrows came. Unfortunately for these men, before they could release their arrows on the numerous targets now popping up, a blinding light suddenly burst forth and managed to catch the eye of every damn bowman aiming down the alley.

It was a huge success!

Well, sort of. They still fired their arrows, but at least not while aiming properly or actually seeing what they fired at. In fact, some of their arrows struck their fellow soldiers in the back of their helmets or the insides of their shields, while others harmlessly snapped as they collided with the walls of either side of the alley. Naturally, a few arrows did make it towards the intended targets. Notably, Kaze.

Being big and tough and tall meant you could smack others around, but it also meant you were kind of a walking target with a sign on your back and stomach that went: 'Can you hit the broad side of a barn?' Luckily, the lizard's half-plate was enough to deflect any real damage, but he would still be pulling one or two projectiles out of his scaly hide tonight. Luckily, the Empire didn't poison their arrows.

Another person to feel the sting of arrows ws Serafaye, who got one straight in the forehead. However, just like when the officer had slapped her face, it felt about equal to someone lightly tapping a drinking straw towards her forehead, and the projectile bounced harmlessly off her skull. The girl blinked. First she'd been hit by a guy with the strength of a starving, malnourished kitten, and now she got shot in the face by an rrow that couldn't kill a fly? What the heck was this. No, seriously, what? Were these people all made out of cotton and silly-string? They could knock each other around just fine, cast magic and command little blob-monsters... But they couldn't do jack-shit to her, even though she couldn't use any weapons or cast any magic?

Serafaye just sat there, on her knees, arms now dropped along her sides, staring at the growling and snarling horde of Imperial troops infront of her who were cursing and shouting after suffering momentary blindness. Meanwhile, the four guards who had accompanied their officer all turned to Kaze and charged, well three of them did. The fourth ran over to the fallen commander and was trying to shake and call him back to the realm of the awake. Though judging by the dent in the side of his armor, he likely would need more than just a good shake and shout to wake up.

The spearmen, at this point in time, began to slowly advance. Walking shoulder-to-shoulder, shields interlocked and spears pointed forward. It seemed they were intent on perforating their enemies by simply balking and backing them into the ends of the alley... Or something. Honestly, it seemed a bad idea to approach a girl who was an immovable, indestructible object, and a lizard that was basically the miniaturized version of Godzilla. But they were soldiers, and they did what they were trained to do.

Die. Fight.

The fortuitous bit about all of this was that, with the archers and spearmen now focused on the enemies straight ahead, perhaps they wouldn't notice a person or pair sneaking onto the rickety, decripit roofs above! ... Unless there were archers in other alleys nearby, or in the buildings all around them... Then it might be a really bad plan...

Serafaye, meanwhile, came to an important realization. The lizard-bro had charged in and smacked that guy away right after she got bitch-slapped by the weakest slap in all of slapistory. Had he charged over to avenge her honor? Were lizardmen like that? Huh, too bad she never read any of that lore-bullcrap back while playing Oubliette... Or maybe... Maybe he was trying to be all alpha-male and impress her by being all macho and muscles and top-dog? ... That'd be kinda sad... And gross...

Rising from her position, the girl looked around for a moment, then stared down at the slowly advancing wall of soldiers. Tik-tok, like perfect tin soldiers, they walked in rehearsed and disciplined order., careful to keep their formation and momentum synched. Well, that is, until Serafaye dcided that she might as well try something. She'd been slapped, and nothing happened, she had been shot, and nothing happened... So, by that logic, could she be impaled and nothing happen too? Approaching the spearmen, she stopped right in their way. Egged on by the brazen brat's defiance, the soldiers zoned in on her and...

Thw-crack...?

The advancing spear-wall stopped. Completely. The men stood dead in their tracks, staring t the horned, purple-haired girl. Before her, at her feet, lay the top-halves of three spears, broken off from their hafts. The girl merely looked down at the shattered weapons, a non-plussed expression on her face.

"Huh... So that really worked...? I guess my level of one-twenty still counts for something. If you guys can't even hurt me, you're all below level 60, huh?" She stated, to nobody in particular except maybe herself.

She then proceed to move forward, towards the line of spearmen. The soldiers shook off their stupor and assumed defensive positions. But even with all their spears pointed out and aimed at Serafaye, as soon as she just walked into them, they got pushed back, bent and eventually snapped like toothpicks. One after another, the snapping of wood and clatter of metal on stone could be heard through the narrow street. And then, as she finally got within close enough range of one of the soldiers in the wall of large, broad shields, she let out a sigh and took a deep breath, closing her eye momentarily, before shouting:

"HAaaah!"

... And delivered the most girly-looking punch you could ever dream of. Seriously, She just raised her arm and fist up next to shoulder and then did a little forward arc-thing, a turly and goodness-to-honest sissy-punch of fable-worthy documentation... And yet, as the blow connected with the shield of the man infront of her, the fully armored soldier went flying backwards. His shield dropped to the ground, with a large small-fist-sized dent in it. The other soldiers, now staring in fear and disbelief at what had just happened, could not even move to fill the gap left by the man who had just been flung away by girl-power.

"Well, that's the same." She said. "Can't use weapons, but the difference in levels seem to still work the same." Serafaye laughed a little, though not menacingly or condescending, but more in a 'A-ha! I'm so stupid for not realizing this!'-sort of way.

Murmurs and unsteady mumbling could be heard from the ranks of the Galanon soldiers... This was probably not how they had expected things to go...

Kaze's blow sent the blue plumed officer rolling and tumbling down the alley just to impact the wall at the end. If he had been of sound mind he'd have guessed half a ribcage gone, severe bruising, concussion, and fractured or purely broken, limbs. Rolling that violently in full plate was not exactly conducive to staying good health after all. But he was pissed, and didn't even register all that damage.

He did however register the bright flash of light coming from behind himself, and the archers losing their targets but still letting fly their arrows. Numerous plinks and clanks rung out as they missed, or hit their allies, or hit his armor. But there were a few meaty thunks as he took the hits. One arrow sunk into his exposed abdomen, another joined the first arrow he received today in his pectoral, the final whizzed into his bicep. The pain from these new wounds just fed his Rage, making his lips curl back to reveal those pearly razor teeth and a deep growl rumbled forth.

Three soldiers charged him, the ones who had initially flanked the officer from before. Not their best move, a full frontal assault was what Kaze preferred, especially in his enraged state. That giant sword crackled, electricity coursing along the slab of steel as his arms came back. His stance was wide, his blade held horizontally before it flashed forward. It was surprising just how fast he could move that blade given it was so huge.

The first strike snapped one of the other mens sword when he tried to block with it and the weapon kept going. Caving in his armor before going through his torso in a flood of blood. The stink of burning copper and iron filled the air around him as the blood was boiled off by the electricity and even burned the rapidly dying mans flesh. Another jerk sent the blade fully through to impact the shield of the second frontal rusher.

A gong-like clang and the man was knocked back as the third struck the raging reptilian man. Given the positioning of Kaze's arms there wasn't any place to really hit that wasn't armored except the bicep with the arrow protruding from it. Of course that's where the man aimed, but Kaze was going on his back-swing now, the sword bounced uselessly off the thick steel plate. The great blade repeated its cleave of the first man into the third man.

At this point the second man who had been knocked back recovered enough to step forward and thrust his sword. The tip of the blade caught Kaze in the abdomen. Eliciting a grunt from the giant before that massive blade came down from above. Cleaving through the soldiers helm, head, neck, and buried halfway down into his torso. A kick and the body was knocked back, but the sword stayed lodged within his abdomen. That smarted a bit, enough to get his brain to cool down some. But he didn't remove the blade, nor the arrows. He just turned his angry gaze towards the spearwall being...magically pushed back by the seemingly defenseless dracokin? What?

---

For a mere moment, they were caught off guard. Locke wasn't suicidal enough to try anything with arrows trained on him, though the thought of using his bindings to shift the aim of the archers towards the back of their heads was something not off the table. Fortunately, such an effort didn't need to be made. One of the savages, the lizard, barreled through who knew where and slammed right into the commander that pitifully slapped the womanly, human-looking lizard. Then, a blinding flash of light. Even though Locke stared directly at it, he wasn't blinded. No, it wasn't like the flash that heralded the girl. It was much weaker than that.

The two lizards formed a great meat wall between spears and himself. That would be appreciated, if not for the fact that acting as a shield was the bare minimum they could do. With Serafaye oh so bravely walking into spears, her part as a meat shield became apparent. The snapping shafts made it apparent that she was different to the others. Most people would be impaled, or at the very least, deflect the point. With a wacky looking punch, she sent one flying. She wasn't an invalid at all. No, she was more than that. She was a brute who could charge through an army by windmilling her arms. Probably. Locke was willing to test that theory. Serafaye herself, maybe not.

Well, it was his time to do something. By that something, he commanded the fairy of air to do something cruel. With a quick wave of his finger, the fairy went to work and compressed the air around the remaining soldier's heads. It was barely noticable, nor did it cause any harm. Instead, it silenced their voices from distant. No longer would they call for help.

Well, that was the theory, anyways. Locke never actually had a chance to try it before, so he didn't really know if it would work or not. Better to experiment with a massive meat wall in front of you than with an angry barbarian charging you down.

Annabelle had made it onto the roof, and though she was aware that archers would be training upon her movements, she was prepared to be that distraction. She dashed along the side of the rooftop for the imperial blockade, sword lifted at her side and angled to intercept in front of the bulk of her frame. Fortunately, as she made it a quarter of the way across, Cecilia provided an even better distraction. Before the arrows could fly for her, accurate or not, a bright light granted Annabelle good cover for the rest of her approach. She'd handle being the next distraction, but she was able to provide additional support too!

"Carpenter! Help the lizard-man!" she shouted out. The red blob that was bounding alongside her suddenly veered off to the right, leaping out onto the ground-level of the alleyway. The dog burst into a wide web of red, easily latching hold onto one of the guardsman's body. But instead of face-hugging the man like last time, Carpenter slunk down his arm and enveloped his sword, turning the bladed weapon into a blunt, squishy mass -surely a terrible design to try and strike at Kaze with. The blood elemental would follow Annabelle's orders, slipping around the men fighting against Kaze to cover blades. He wasn't fast enough to dampen the blow of every sword, but he could certainly invalidate at least one fighter at a time, decreasing the number of blades Kaze had to deal with at any one moment.

Annabelle meanwhile leaped from the rooftop, feet outstretched to try and land right onto one of the archers that had nearly threatened her. Rude as it was to make someone kiss the bottom of your boots was, without the blinding light, the archers would quickly become a problem if not dealt with.

Impatient at everybody’s unwillingness to get a move on, Artemisia began to trot forward… before immediately catching the glimpse of a bona fide imperial wall of soldiers. She considered herself quite good at risk assessment, and her risk detector immediately told her to get the hell out of there before she was surrounded. And thus, she quickly buggered out of there, right in the direction that Cecilia happened to be calling from.

“Don’t need to tell me!” Pulling her horse right around, she headed for her position near the alleyways, returning to the group and cursing their sluggishness at the same time. Recognizing that they were about to get into the largest fight of the day, she immediately began to cast another shielding spell, right in time for the volley of arrows.

Arrows which were deflected by her shield… and Serafaye’s body. Wait, what? Artemisia’s eyes goggled at the horned girl as arrows and then even the advancing spearmen literally broke their weapons against her body.

Sorry, excuse me, what? Artemisia couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The little girl was literally tanking hits like she was a rock, barely moving at all. Her eyes protruded even further when Serafaye threw out one of the worst punches she’d ever seen, and sent a fully armored knight flying.

Was the law of conservation of energy no longer a thing?

Whatever was happening, it didn’t matter, as long as they were getting an advantage. Making sure she was still firmly behind the girl, she threw out barrages of spells against the advancing soldiers.

Starmaiden's got a hell of a body, huh? Or was there some sort of hidden technique that she used while disguising her movements as that of an incompetent amateur? As the Flash spell dimmed, Cecilia pulled herself together once more, suppressing a laugh at the hilarious sight before her. Gave her some hope, at least, that they'd get outta this alright. Though all this flexing...Serafaye just became even more valuable to the Imperials, didn't she? Enough so that their willingness to die in order to impede her path actually made sense.

Didn't mean she needed to like it though. Cecilia was accustomed to killing the odd bandit or two, not slaughtering her way through a country's military.

Thankfully, the lizardman and the paladin, alongside Serafaye, took up enough of the space in the alleyway that even Cecilia, agile as she was, would have trouble engaging in the same melee that they partook in. Tapping her toes against the old road, the spellblade sighted Annabelle up ahead and followed to assist her. Cecilia ascended, kicking off the opposing walls, her aura of riotous winds consciously empowered to shield better from incoming arrows. As Annabelle went for one archer, Cecilia went for another, skidding upon moss-grown stonework to slice through their bow and knock them down to the streets below.

"Annabelle, I'll cover one side, you handle the other!"