[h2]Saria[/h2]

With no fancy means of travel, Saria was forced to use that basic standby of running. Not that she was out of shape, far from it, but it had to be admitted that a heavy shield wasn't something that made for easy carrying. Withstanding the rigours of combat and integrating an arts unit? Yes. "Easy portability on a run through uneven and obstructed terrain"? No. All that just meant that, of those running for the town, she was unfortunately lagging slightly.

The arts--or whatever they were using, it likely [i]wasn't[/i] Originium arts, but there were enough cases of similar entities on Terra--the others brought here were using were strange. Aside from the obvious ability those girls had to fly freely, the sheer [i]volume[/i] of bullets she was putting out was startling, yet their potency left something to be demanded. Then the other two were summoning elaborate solid objects and [i]people[/i] out of nothing... which was far beyond the restrictions any caster would face. The inherent versatility of their abilities was astonishing; if they were going to work together for long it would be necessary to understand what limits they each had to formulate proper plans.

And not run into combat against an unknown enemy. Again.

What was clear was that the enemy was specifically doing their best to target Sanae--no doubt the volume of fire, despite the lack of damage, was extremely distracting. That in turn meant coverage for others to get in close and fight... but it left the girl, completely without any defensive equipment, having to dodge retaliatory fire that seemed more in line with the sort of arrows you might see on Terra. Given a moment to breathe, could Sanae find the archer and return the favour? Or would they stay hidden until the ground approach got closer?

Advancing just ahead of where the girl was flying, Saria planted her shield on the ground, waited, and--

The next arrow slammed into a small piece of barrier, a point in the air where there had previously been [i]nothing[/i] and now there was a piece of metallic, rocky wall--just long enough to bring it to a halt. It would take a vast amount more to break her barrier, or maybe the enemy would realise who was behind it and try to close in and take her down instead. Either way of keeping the attacks away suited Saria fine.