Once the sounds of battle finally died down outside, Anne let out a quiet sigh of relief. She wasn't naive enough to believe that the conflict would end with only this, but for at least a moment she could let herself relax again, and even take a few breaths to try and analyze the wider situation.

Besides the two children, everyone here had experienced the same thing as her. Instantaneous teleportation from entirely different planets, something that shouldn't be possible even with Aegis's cutting-edge technology. The only culprit she could think of would be Ruin... And this didn't match their motives at all.

Her green eyes lingered on the young man, his features frozen in fear. He seemed to know more than anyone here, but he was just a kid, too terrified by the violence around him to offer any coherent account. Her heart had already fixed itself on the idea of defending the village, and for once her cynical side agreed: if they could reach a populated area and rescue some of the civilians there, she'd have far more sources to gather information from, not to mention possible long-range communications and means of transport.

"Let's save the arguments and questions for later." She kept up a light smile, meant to look more reassuring than she felt, but at the same time her voice projected itself with the steely certainty of an experienced commander. "We've repelled the first wave, but we don't know the full extent of the aggressors' forces. Now that they know our location, they'll most likely return with reinforcements, or attempt a long-range strike at this position. We should at least move somewhere safer while we have time."

With calm, steady strides, she moved towards the doorway, still carrying the injured girl in her arms. Notably, she kept well clear of Saria, a flicker of suspicion crossing her features as she glanced over the horned woman. "...I'm in favor of pursuing the Ravens and seeking out the village. I can follow behind at a slower pace, and protect the children in the meantime. If possible, I'd like one other to stay with me as a guard." She paused then, close to the entrance, waiting for their answer even as a fresh wave of confusion swept over her at the sight outside.

The dead bodies didn't faze her, but their equipment... Those didn't resemble any Raven suits she'd ever seen before. Who were these soldiers?

A heavy, sinking feeling mingled with the pain in Anne's stomach, a growing sense of despair at the impossibility of it all. Never mind a different planet, she might not be anywhere in known space anymore.

As the conversation between the others continued on, Sanae chose to listen in silence—for now, at least. The young boy's grim expression had caught her attention, of course, but the reason behind it seemed to slip past her unnoticed.

Or, well, it had until the fact that the boy and his sister had to have been fleeing from somewhere was brought up; that made the call to push forward and give chase make more sense. It wasn't like this was the first time she had to go find answers herself—a small solace, given how there were a few notably deceased human corpses in front of the church and likely more to come soon thereafter. Youkai extermination was one thing (and she really only just battered them into submission anyways); being lethal in any capacity was another entirely.

But the matter of having to fight to kill in this world was just one of many problems, and given that there were a few others who were still on the fence about everything going on, maybe that issue was just something she'd have to try and come to terms with eventually. This felt like a war zone already, and she had read and seen enough about what war truly cost that it didn't sit well with her at all.

"...Honestly, I think everyone here would be hard-pressed to find anyone with any answers to any questions at this point—not without contacting that goddess that apparently brought us here, like Rayne suggested. I was the first to arrive, and everyone else seemed to pop in here afterwards. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine as to how we got here," she said, shaking her head. "But I think that the others are right about trying to save the village, at least; I don't know how long we might be stuck here, but if it's going to be for a while, I'd rather have a proper roof over my head and food to eat as I figure things out."

After she had spoken her piece, though, the young man finally seemed to gather himself—at least for a moment—before responding to their request.

"Erm... That goddess—Lavielle, she said her name was—spoke with Millie's voice. I think she was possessing her or something, but after she spoke some sort of spell, all those beams of light appeared, and then you all arrived here. But after that, Millie passed out, so..." he spoke, faltering a few times as he seemed to subconsciously glance at the deceased outside every so often.

"Mmm... A deity with that much faith has to be powerful, but if you only knew her name from that much..." Sanae mused to herself before being told to hold any questions until after the bigger problem at hand was resolved.

Probably the smarter course of action, if anything.

"I... Am I the only one that can fly?" she asked, rising into the air as the group seemed to prepare to head into the forest. "If anyone else can, it'd probably be a good idea to come with me through the skies; that should be faster than walking if we're pressed for time. If not, I should be able to scout..."

Sanae's voice trailed off as the very blatant plume of black smoke rising from the distance caught her attention. Not able to see clearly from just over the treetops, though, the green-haired girl quickly shot further up into the sky to get a better view of the terrain below.

Needless to say, a town on fire past the forest turned the situation from "bad" to "worse" in an instant.

Rocketing back down to the others who were preparing to move, Sanae (whose eyes were wide in panic) pointed with her gohei towards the direction from which she had seen the smoke and shook her head.

"I don't know if it's the right town—probably is, might not be—but there's a giant cloud of smoke rising into the sky from the one in that direction. I'm going to go on ahead!" she exclaimed before speeding off, leaving the others behind to try and give chase at their own pace.

---

Sanae's flight towards the town had been met with no resistance at all—the soldiers who were retreating seemed to be more focused on returning to their main force than on stalling their chase, but the wind priestess them next to no mind as she approached the growing pillar of black smoke. As she drew nearer, the screams and cries of those within the town's walls quickly met her ears.

If the corpses in front of the church were sickening, then what she would likely see within would be even worse.

But given that she seemed to be the first on the scene to be able to help, the only thing she could really think of trying to do now—especially with a few of the enemy soldiers taking swift notice of her presence—was to try and pull their attention away.

"This might cause a lot more problems in the end, but it has to be better than nothing...!" Sanae told herself as she pulled a spell card out and holding it out in front of her.

"Sea Opening — 「Moses' Miracle」!"

The image on the card flashed briefly before a massive sigil appeared behind the young girl, marking her position in the skies for everyone, ally or enemy, to see. In that moment, though, what seemed to be a torrent of bullet-shaped water seemed to come pouring out from behind her through the skies. Though the wave-shaped lane in which she remained remained bereft of any water, Sanae herself had begun to fire streams of knife-shaped bullets towards whatever soldiers seemed to be preparing to shoot at her or were otherwise occupied with trying to kill whatever civilians they could approach.

It was at this point, though, that an arrow that seemed far more powerful and more dangerous than what had been fired at the church earlier whizzed narrowly past her head. The young woman had managed to dodge, if only out of sheer instinct, but it was quite clear that there were far more dangerous enemies here.

Though she would have preferred trying to find the archer firing at her (especially after another arrow grazed past her arm), the young woman's goal right now was to pull as much attention to herself as possible while stalling for the others to arrive. Given what she had seen what half of them were able to accomplish, gory as the results were, there was no doubt that they would be able to at least save some of those who could still be saved.

@VitaVitaAR@DracoLunaris@EchoWolff@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze

She didn't want to let it be destroyed.

This was different then it was in Land's End. This was somewhere where the destruction could be stopped, right?

Lily's feet barely touched the ground. It was like two arms had wrapped around her, carrying her through the forest with far greater speed then she could have managed on her own.

Silva's spirit didn't just fight, after all.

The wind whipping past her, Lily could feel her heart beating quicker and quicker once again. She could smell it. The fire. She could hear shouting.

It was scary.

But she wanted to help. She wanted to prevent the destruction of the village the siblings had come from.

She couldn't just let it happen. It wasn't enough just to help them survive, at least not in the small girl's mind.

When she saw it, her heart nearly stopped for a moment.

It wasn't the death and destruction. She'd seen worse.

It was the fact that this place was being actively destroyed. The fact that the lives of the people who lived there were being brought to an end before her eyes.

She couldn't understand why.

The Blight wasn't here. There were no monsters such as that.

So why...?

Why...?

...

There were monsters, though. Not quite what she was used to, but the soldiers who were advancing on the townsfolk, drawing out those terrible screams, setting fire to the buildings...

The figure that materialized beside her was enormous, a hulking man standing head and shoulders above even the tallest of the Raven Heralds, a horned helm atop his head and a huge mace gripped in one hand.

His form blurred, streams of red coming off of his body as he barreled into the nearest concentration of Raven Heralds. One enemy soldier was brought down and crushed by the sheer ferocity of his charge, another was practically blown apart by a single swing of the enormous man's massive weapon.

A blow from his fist sent a Raven Herald flying, bowling over his fellows and interrupting their attempts to execute the villagers or target Sanae.

Lily clasped her hands together. Her spirits, her friends and her... they'd do everything they could to save the village!

@PKMNB0Y@DracoLunaris@EchoWolff@Crimson Flame@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze

Thinking about it more critically, it really wasn’t all that reasonable for Lewa to expect that the others might have all the answers about the current situation. Nor that they could possibly understand or emphasize with his perspective, since everything that seemed totally foreign to him must be taken for granted by them. Still, the Knight Witch offered him a thread of hope: the possibility that the same power that brought him here, the ‘goddess’, could send him back. Of course, that meant that his fate could very well be at the mercy of this unknown entity. That left Lewa feeling very uncomfortable, his future completely uncertain. The only silver lining that he could see to this situation was that it seemed like he’d been brought here for an altruistic purpose, to save those who could not save themselves. Hopefully that pointed to this ‘goddess’ being a benign entity who’d live up to her end of the bargain. After all, she could be some callous manipulator who’d carelessly pull people out of the ether to do her bidding on the chance that she might someday send them home.

Some of the others broached a subject Lewa hadn’t really wanted to explore. He could tell as much from the sounds that reached him while he stood watch in here, but evidently those who’d ventured outside the church had taken a number of lives. As the protector of Le-wahi, he knew better than anybody the law of the jungle. “Kill or be killed,” he murmured. At the same time, though, it sounded like these were people that died. Thinking, intelligent beings. Did that mean they deserved special treatment, and to be given more of a chance? Or that they were more culpable for their acts of cruelty and violence than, say, rahi, and deserved to be treated in kind? Lewa had no idea. Matoran squabbled, sure, but in the history of his island home there had never been enemies like these. Not creatures like the Bohrok built solely for mindless destruction, nor rahi that knew not the difference between good and evil, but intelligent beings that chose to commit evil acts. Lewa didn’t feel like it was his place to act as judge, jury, and executioner. At the same time, though, he knew he wouldn’t sit idly by if some attempted to take his life, or that of a small, helpless creature. If doing so was the difference between going home or not, though…

It sounded like that was a matter he’d have to confront soon, too. Some of the others were ready to leave. Though those summoned here had managed to protect the little ones, it would appear that their task was far from over. There were evidently others that the ‘Raven Heralds’ could threaten in lieu of these youngsters, and the thought that his involvement could lead to others paying the ultimate price, even directly, made Lewa unhappy. It seemed like he had no choice but to press onward. Once that was decided, the toa started to move straight away. “In that case, we’d better go quick-fast,” he suggested. “The longer we delay-wait, the worse things will get.” He considered both Anne and Sanae’s suggestions. “I’d like to help keep the little ones safe,” he thought aloud, “But I am most swift-footed when it comes to swinging through tree-tops. I can join you as guide-scout, fellow green one. Besides, if innocents are in risk-danger, I couldn’t possibly take it easy-slow anyway!”

And there was not a moment to lose. After catching wind of the crisis in progress, Sanae quickly left the church behind, speeding off over the forest. Lewa was right behind her. As he passed the dead bodies, he barely spared them a glance. The gore of organic beings meant nothing to him, beyond the suggestion of a vaguely unsettling feeling. He sprinted toward the woods with long, quick strides, then jumped into the trees, where pushed his biomechanical body into overdrive. His iron grip, exact movements, and inhuman strength meant that he could swing from branches and jump from trunk to trunk with uncanny speed and precision, making only marginally worse time than Sanae did with no obstruction at all. True to the title of Spirit of Air, he moved like the wind. There were only two problems. One was that this forest was nowhere near as thick or lush as the tropical jungle of Le-wahi, meaning he had to push himself harder and caused more damage to his surroundings as he made his way through. Still, these were trees at the end of the day, and in a forest Lewa felt much more at home. The bigger problem was that he couldn’t always be quite sure where he was going. Every so often, while swinging from a branch, he engaged his Kanohi Miru in order to fly upward from the canopy and get a bead on the smoke. Eventually, though, he could rely solely on the sounds of terror and violence lancing through the trees, macabre as they were. Heartlight pounding, Lewa closed in on his destination, dreading not just what he might find, but whatever he might have to do.

“Well, now we know they’re just people, so could we at least try?” she requested, referring to the slaughter of the Raven Heralds. She saw the logic, obviously, and also understood that they more or less deserved it but it still sat badly in her stomach that they had died.

After that they learned a little more about how they had gotten there, or at least the events leading up to it. A possession, a spell, a summoning. Whoever this Lavielle was, she was, Rayne assumed, not that much like the Gaia of her own world, who had been very hands off to the point where she had barely been aware she had been dying.

Either way, there was little time to delve into that, and Sanae’s question of if anyone else could fly was as good a prompt as any to get moving.

“I can” the Knight Witch said, perhaps a bit redundantly, as she floated up after the green haired woman, which gave her the same good view of the black plume of smoke. She did not need to be told twice that that was bad, and as soon as Sanae moved so did Rayne.

Rather than simply soar through the air however, her speed at that wasn’t actually that fast, the Knight Witch instead vanished in a flash, and then appeared a few meters ahead of where she had been after a beam of energy crossed the intervening distance. Then with neary a pause she dashed again, and again, and again, and in doing so covered ground (or rather air) at an impressive pace.

It let her arrive at just about the same moment as Sanae unleashed her deluge upon the burning town. It was very hard to see anything through it from up on high for anyone but the woman in question. Fortunately Rayne wasn’t much of a long range fighter anyway, and so she immediately pivoted her dashing chain down into the rain, blinking into gaps between the bullets to avoid getting harmed, entirely unaware of both how this was unnecessary and how it would not have worked if it was.

It was only when she halted at the sight of yet more blood that she messed up, and one of the water bolts harmlessly whizzed through, which acted as a good way of removing her focus from said blood and putting it back onto the danger, and those who had caused it to be spilled.

Just in time for 3 to spot her, and for her to spot them in turn. Well them and one fellow who had fallen to the ground, physically unharmed and yet still down for the count. The rest meanwhile had raised shields above their heads like umbrellas against the falling maelstrom.

She hadn’t actually thought about how she was going to fight people using her lethal magic, but here was a solution looking her in the face. She dashed forwards through the rain even as the Heralds turned spears and axes towards her, blinking straight at them, then at the last second blinking up at a 45 degree angle to appear above them instead. Light glowed in her raised hand, and then in her grasp appeared Runedge, a heavy blade lent to her by fellow Knight Witch Sykra, which she then slammed down, splintering the shield only for her to banish the blade before it struck the warrior themselves.

They tried to hack at her with a hand ax in retaliation, only for her to dart up into the air, and for the magic bullets to splash down atop her now shield-less attacker. She then repeated this again, dashing next to a second and smashing their shield away as well.

The final one fled as their fellow got caught in the rain, seeking proper shelter (of which there was ironically little to be had due to their own actions), but Rayne pursued, dashing next to them and full body kicking him off his feet. The Herald fell, dropping their shield and weapon, in response to which Rayne formed an arrow-like glyph in front of their fist, which they pointed at both dropped items, and proceeded to shoot them with basketball sized magic bullets of her own. Intended to be used to vaporize magitech war golems in only a few shots, the comparatively primitive equipment stood no chance and was shredded by the pair of blasts.

It was good enough for her, especially as all three were now entirely exposed to the pain raining down from above, and so she moved on, darting forth and fully intending to keep using Sanae’s magic to her advantage for as long as possible.

For all the obvious differences in this ragtag group, they'd all clearly experienced conflict before. It took only moments for them to put their ideological differences aside and move with a speed and urgency befitting the deadly situation, their assault as coordinated as anything a gathering of strangers could muster. There were still so many unanswered questions, and probably many more obstacles waiting beyond this fight, but for the first time Anne felt a spark of hope in her chest—a sense that together, they might just be able to find a way through this mess.

...Also, none of her allies had tried to kill her yet. That was definitely a relief.

She looked over to the civilian boy, and tried to meet his eyes with her own. Sanae's warning about the smoke probably hadn't done anything to calm his nerves, but Anne could at least let him know someone was looking out for him, and give him something to focus on besides the blood and carnage all around.

"What's your name, young man?" With a tilt of her head, she invited him to follow along with her. "You did well to protect Millie up until now. If you'll come with me, I can keep you both safe while the others take care of rescuing your home." Assuming he showed no objection, she'd move out the door and into the woods with Millie in her arms and the young man in tow, carefully skirting around the bodies as they went. On the way out, she glanced towards the masked boy as well, her expression curious but not unkind. "You can come as well. If you'd rather not fight, then we can at least assuage your doubts in the meantime."

Her main goal was to put some distance between them and the church in case of a second attack. For now she followed roughly the same path as the others, only at a much slower pace, one that would keep her and the kids well away from the fighting up ahead. Once they were into the trees, hidden from view by trunks on either side and the rustling cover of the leaves up above, she'd seek out a place they could hide and lie low until the sounds of conflict died down.

She kept the conversation going as they went. The young man was her main concern, both as a civilian victim and a vital source of information. "Can you tell me anything more about the church here?" she asked him, her voice soft. "Or about the Heralds?" She couldn't think of them as Ravens anymore; these were clearly something different from what she knew. Less dangerous in the physical sense, maybe, but she had no idea what their goals or allegiance might be.

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 wasn't 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 volume 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 people 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 nothing 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.

Though the archer that had singled her out was an obvious problem, it looked to Sanae as if a majority of the enemy soldiers who hadn't chosen to take cover or weren't being pummeled by her new allies were not dealing with her danmaku particularly well. That wasn't really anyone's fault, per se; beautiful though the fighting style of Gensokyo was, anyone not used to it would probably be overwhelmed by the sheer visual overload—and that was for one person, never mind what usually happened when it was something like dealing with a horde of fairies who decided that they wanted to play along, too.

That sort of situation was more or less what seemed to be playing out here, too. The bullets raining upon the town were doing damage to the buildings, granted, but given that the water seemed to be quenching the flames, a little bit of collateral hopefully wouldn't make the cleanup any worse after everything here was handled.

Right as she was about to graze past another arrow from the sniper still hidden somewhere in the town, though, the sudden appearance of an odd barrier blocking the projectile caused her to pause in mild surprise for the briefest of moments. While thankful that one of the people down below was looking out for her wellbeing, the sudden appearance of another projectile—this one a massive spear of ice—caused the young woman to instinctively shift her entire body out of the way of the attack.

What followed, of course, was a sight she was a bit more familiar with—a torrent of magical projectiles of all shapes and sizes, barreling straight towards her. In the distance, Sanae could make out a group of soldiers, all led by a purple-haired woman who seemed to be directing their focus towards her. There was a brief moment where their eyes met, of course, but soon enough the leader of that team of mages turned her attention towards the dragonlike woman standing firm in front of where Sanae was. A few of the other mages had since broken off to try and deal with the smaller combatant who had been causing more chaos on the ground, but for the most part their attention was steadfastly placed towards the ones suppressing the rest of the enemy's movements from the skies and her apparent protector.

While no small number of the soldiers present were busy trying to deal with the onslaught of bullets from the skies, there were more than enough simply muscling through the attacks or were simply focusing their efforts elsewhere. The fact that only a few combatants were enough to match their forces didn't seem to faze them, but it did seem to give cause for the weaker ones to retreat for the moment. In their place, though, other Raven Heralds—ones equipped with armor that seemed to give off a faint luminescence even in the afternoon sun—began to push forward. Though some began to move to provide their own defensive cover for the arriving magi, others began to pursue those on the ground who had chosen to take up arms—least of all the massive mechanical golem towards whom they deigned the most threatening. Towards him rode an armored man upon a horse, a massive hammer at the ready to smash through whatever armor stood in his way.

The smaller girl commanding spirits, on the other hand, seemed to be someone that the soldiers were playing a more defensive role in attempting to deal with. Some of the nearby magicians seemed to cast a spell upon those approaching her, leaving them with what felt like an intense pressure radiating out towards from their bodies. Intimidation alone would not be enough to push her back, of course, and it seemed that all of the soldiers present were aware of that fact.

A swing that the nearest made as a flourish, however, would leave a scar in the ground nearby, making clear what it was that had transpired here.

@Raineh Daze@DracoLunaris@Lugubrious@VitaVitaAR

---

Though certainly rattled at Sanae's statement, the boy seemed to have enough sense about him to respond to Anne's questions as the others wasted no time in rushing headlong towards his hometown.

"...My name is Alvin, miss," he said as he followed the injured woman out of the church. "The church here... I don't know, honestly. I've been out in the woods to gather firewood in the winter before, but I've never seen this church here before. Or, well, I don't think I have?"

The young man's face seemed to scrunch up for a moment as he tried to remember before simply shaking his head.

"Can't remember a thing. I remember that the clearing was here, but I don't think I ever saw it have a church or anything. Sorry."

There was another pause before he continued on, though.

"As for the Raven Heralds... They're a part of some army from the center of the continent, I think. I remembered some merchants mentioning them before when they passed through, and I was a bit curious when I heard, too. Apparently they're famous in other countries because they're super strong, but, everyone that got brought here seemed to be able to beat them easily."

Alvin paused again for a few seconds before looking back towards Anne.

"You're super strong too, right? You're all beat up, but you're calm and carrying my sister like it's nothing..."

@Drifting Pollen@EchoWolff

They were stronger now, Lily could tell that much. That was why it was important, no matter how much she didn't want to see them die, to keep watching.

Besides, she had to make sure that they villagers would be safe.

The huge warrior swung his massive mace in an arc, practically knocking the body of one of the Raven Heralds apart on impact and crushing through several others, bowling over the rest. Needless to say, no matter how disciplined they were, they were far too hesitant to approach after seeing such a display.

Lily took a deep breath. Maybe the rest would run away, and they'd be able to able to save the rest of the townfolk and help anyone who was injured.

Something splashed across her barrier. After a moment, Lily realized it was a ball of fire.

And then there was another. This time, she was throwing herself through the air again, the abilities granted by Silva allowing her to evade the direct impact even as her heartbeat grew faster.

The hulking figure faded. There was a mage, someone who could use magic, taking aim. Even if she couldn't see them, she knew that was what was going on.

She landed on her feet, crouched, and gulping in air.

It was scary, but Lily couldn't just run away.

The figure that rose behind her now was, in spite of her tattered clothing and greyed skin, a beautiful and somewhat elegant woman in an expansive dress and a wide-brimmed hat, a staff gripped in one hand.

With a single gesture, she released a wave of crimson, pulsating balls of magical energy, sending them hurtling towards the Raven Heralds and beyond.

If she could at least disrupt the mage from a distance...

@PKMNB0Y@DracoLunaris@EchoWolff@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze

Rayne’s technique might have worked out on the smallfry, but unfortunately for her, that wasn’t close to the upper limit of what the Raven Heralds had in their ranks. In hindsight it rather made sense, who would send their most dangerous forces to chase after children after all.

In a similar vein, they didn’t send anything specific after Ryne either, which made her rethink her approach more. People were in danger, and was she really contributing? Not really. Not enough.

Someone might die due to her holding back, she realized as Sanae came under fire from a hail of magic. Not only that, but could she really even do anything about the armored figures guarding the ones attacking her without using more power?

Almost certainly not.

Thus a decision she despised was made, even if it one she knew the other Witches had had to make in the past, and so moved to help once more, steeling herself against what she had to do. The short woman blinked forwards to join Saria in standing (or rather in her case floating) ahead of Sanae, pausing just long enough to tell her “I’m with you” before blinking forwards to engage the foes between them and the mage who might well be the Herald’s leader.

At first she raised a hand, which shook slightly, and formed a floating glyph that looked a bit like a two pronged arrowhead with a hollow circular base. She focused the power of the link, forming a sphere of amber magic about the size of a bowling ball in the center of the glyph, which was then immediately launched forwards at her foe.

She missed her first shot due to the shaking.

In response she grabbed the wrist of her firing hand, breathed, and then fired again, and again, and again.

The bolts she shot lacked both range and fire rate, but they hit decently hard, even if, despite her new conviction, she wasn’t aiming for what she thought would be kill shots and was instead shooting for limbs, hands, anything that she thought would more likely maim than kill. Nomatter what she hit however, every few shots would cause a blue orb to pop off of the impact site, after which it would float in the air, ready to be collected.

Mana.

The source of most of her actual power.

If her foes had considered her a lesser target till then, her next actions might well change that.

Having been hovering out of melee range and shooting, interspersed with blinks to evade spells, the Knight Witch now lived up to the first half of her title, chain blinking forwards suddenly, and putting herself between two of the shining armored warriors. A hand flicked, briefly holding a spell card made from the memory of a mighty machine, and then suddenly two bright blue semi translucent spiked wrecking balls large as she was hammered out from either side of her. They raced forwards, smashing aside anything in their path before halting at the end of two chains that attached them to her.

A breath after reaching the ends of their tethers the spectral weapons vanished, and the Knight Witch darted towards the closest patch of floating mana orbs she had driven the armored warrior away from, before immediately using that mana to use the card she had just drawn. Rather than have an immediate effect, it instead meant that when Rayne next turned her glyph on something, be it mage or warrior, the magic bullet that formed was a vivid purple, and when it was unleashed is split into three, giving the Witch Knight a powerful spread shot.

Which was going to make not taking a life harder, if she hadn’t already done so with the shots or spikeballs.

Drawn by the visceral sounds of conflict, Lewa emerged from the treeline to find a village embroiled in chaos, and not just thanks to its attackers. After all, the deluge that had descended upon it was no ordinary downpour. He couldn’t help but pause for a brief moment in wonderment as he witnessed a torrent of elemental power polluting the airspace over the breached and burning buildings, raining not from the skies but from the Sanae as she floated aloft. Her use of the water element, a power exclusive to female toa in his world, did not surprise him so much as the sheer volume of her output. Already this hydrokinetic flood went well beyond any feat his sister Gali had ever achieved, and as Sanae had already demonstrated via her flight and barrier creation, she possessed a wealth of abilities on top of this. It was a little humbling, in fact. On the island of Mata Nui, the six toa -with their tools and abilities- were all that stood between the Matoran and the myriad dangers that threatened their way of life. Here though, this individual could do more than several toa combined with a mere snap of her fingers. Lewa watched as the enemy force scattered, their formation broken as they ran for cover from Sanae’s seemingly unstoppable onslaught, their weapons useless. What hope did someone like Lewa have?

As it turned out, though, the battle wasn’t over yet. Despite appearances, Sanae’s magic couldn’t saturate every inch of the village at once, and the Raven Heralds harbored ranged attackers of their own. Well-aimed shots from odd angles disrupted Sanae’s offense, and when followed up by javelins of elemental ice, her opposition displaced her enough to turn the tables. Suddenly a variety of spells, faster and stronger than her own projectiles, were keeping her from re-establishing air superiority. As much as Lewa wanted to see Kopaku right now (a sentiment that he admittedly would have never thought possible given his brother’s distant, icy disposition) he’d already learned that elemental abilities weren’t the domain of toa alone. When Lewa turned his attention back down to earth, he spotted better-defended soldiers elbowing past their more vulnerable peers, clearing the way for the casters. Though their robes and staves reminded Lewa of the Turaga, it seemed as though they were bending their wisdom toward destruction rather than cultivation. It had become clear that Lewa couldn’t leave this fight in the others’ hands. “Looks like I have a job to do, after all,” he said, hefting his axe. Despite his misgivings, it was time to prove himself as a toa -and a hero- to the people of this besieged village in combat.

When Lewa approached, the soldiers took notice. His remarkable size, not to mention the vivid coloration of his armor, commanded the attention of everyone present. From appearances alone, few would imagine him to be less of a threat than the horned woman or little girl already wreaking havoc in their midst. And naturally, they’d give this threat the attention they felt he deserved. The Raven Heralds’ marshalls quickly dispatched a cavalry unit his way, the heavy artillery of the medieval battlefield. With the defense of a knight but mobility and momentum that no infantry could hope to match, armed with an instrument of blunt trauma capable of treating a knight’s full plate like tin foil, the mounted warrior was the perfect tool for the job of quelling the armored giant before them.

Or so they thought.

Though the sight of a cavalier thundering one’s way on horseback was enough to make the average soldier soil himself, Lewa was more amazed than afraid. As someone with an intrinsic love for wildlife and the beauty of nature, he marveled at the sight of a four-legged beast with legs like pillars and a humanoid torso protruding from its back, all outfitted in metal as a weapon of war. Only after a moment did he realize that there must be two bodies, one riding atop the other like a Matoran on a Gukko bird. A silly mistake, no doubt, but who could blame him? Everything here was so unfamiliar. Regardless, he couldn’t afford to gawk for long. Strange as this world might be, he knew a weapon when he saw it, especially one wielded with killing intent. I’m sorry, he thought, his grip tightened around his axe. But I have to do this!

Hefting his axe, Lewa whirled around above his head, one, twice. Each stirred the air around him, creating and then intensifying a vortex around him. Even if he noticed, the cavalier did not change course; he was dead-set on running the toa down. “Wind…” Lewa steeled himself and swung his axe with all his might to launch the whirlwind forward. “Fly!” It tore across the soil, whipping up twigs and leaves in its wake, and slammed into the horseman as he closed the last couple dozen feet. On contact, it threw both beast and rider off-kilter, turning their speed and weight against them. In a mere moment the horse went from off balance to off its feet, its hooves kicking upward as the animal fell, shrieking. Caught in his stirrups, the cavalier went down along with his mount, one leg practically crushed beneath its weight. His yell was interrupted by his impact with the ground, concussing him as he slammed against the inside of his armor. A couple feet away his hammer had been thrown from his grasp as he instinctively put his hands out to break his landing, smacking head-first and partially sinking into the soil before it teetered over. Both of the fallen struggled, discombobulated by the forces at play and the intense pain of their unexpected collision with the ground.

When they went down Lewa had jumped clear, easily sailing to a safe distance without even needing to invoke his Kanohi Miru. He watched as his attacker and his horse suffered from their injuries, unable to disentangle themselves and rise. The sounds made by the horse in particular were just hideous, and they hurt Lewa especially. He hadn’t wanted to -or really thought he would- hurt the creature when he attacked. This wasn’t its fault after all, it was just being used. As he wondered what to do, the cavalier finally managed to take advantage of the horse’s thrashing and pull his trapped leg out from beneath it. Maybe it was broken, maybe it wasn’t. Right now he couldn’t be sure thanks to the adrenaline, and he knew things weren’t over. Still on the ground, he rounded on Lewa, expecting to be executed. Instead Lewa slid his foot underneath the hammer next to the handle and kicked the weapon toward his foe. To him, this made sense. He didn’t want to play the role of executioner. It was clear that his opponent could keep fighting. The honorable thing to do would be to give him a sporting chance. To the cavalier, of course, this was a humiliating taunt. He was wounded, possibly crippled, while his opponent possessed massive advantages. The fight was already over. All he could do was hope that his foe’s arrogance would give him the one-in-a-million chance he needed.

So the Raven Herald grasped his hammer, propped himself up with it as struggled to stand, and roared with everything he had as he stepped forward. He knew he was looking death in the face, and a primal fury possessed him. Lewa’s eyes were narrowed as he tried to gauge the threat, making no assumptions. It never occurred to him to taunt or showboat in any means; this was as serious as the toa of air got. As the cavalier swung his heavy hammer, Lewa stepped back. The weapon’s weight made its wielder overbalance, and as he struggled to bring the overswing under control, Lewa moved in. His two-handed chop caught the man full in the breastplate with the protodermis head of his axe, caving in the armor and leaving a long, narrow dent. On the inside this became an edge that parted flesh and bone. The man fell, his lungs crushed and his heart stopped. As he hit the ground Lewa stepped back, reading his axe again for the next bout, expecting his opponent to rise. Only after a few moments did it become clear that he never would.

The toa stared at the warrior for a moment, wondering why he’d just…stopped. Unaware of the concept of internal organs, he could only guess at what had happened. Had that clean hit really been enough? Lewa felt a chill in his veins, and the pulse of his heartlight didn’t slow despite the battle’s end. No good. No good at all. He forced himself to look away. There were plenty more Raven Heralds where that one came from. This wasn’t over yet, not by a long shot, and the sooner it came to an end, the better.

"You're super strong too, right?"

Innocent words, so expectant and full of hope. They settled upon Anne's shoulders like a leaden weight, and she had to take a long breath, averting her eyes, so as not to fall to her knees there and then. It wasn't just her physical injuries, but psychological wounds as well, bad memories bubbling to the surface after what Alvin had said.

"I... Used to be." Even looking away, she couldn't quite hide the hurt in her expression. "If it were ten years ago, then maybe I could have solved this all on my own. But right now, the best a tired Knight like me can do is protect you while the others fight." She wished she could have given a better answer, but anything more hopeful would have been a lie. The current her was little more than a washed-up ruin of the hero from her glory days.

And still, time and time again, people chose to put their faith in her.

Not wanting to bring the kid's mood down, Anne tried her best to look optimistic. "They're all powerful warriors, so I'm sure they'll be able to win. And if you're out of harm's way, then they can fight to their fullest without harboring any worries." She made a show of glancing about, at the gnarled tree trunks and bristling shrubs, shadows that might provide her group with cover or conceal an enemy ambush. "In the meantime, we can search for a good place to hide. Your eyes are probably better than mine, so can you guide us from here?"

A safe place, somewhere they could sit down and rest for a bit. Hopefully just until the other 'heroes' finished mopping up the remaining invaders.

If they failed, however... Anne didn't intend to break the promise she'd made to Alvin earlier. If it's just one fight, then I should be able to at least clear the village before my body gives out for good.

@PKMNB0Y

With the barrage of magical bullets came a slight smirk upon Sanae's face. Despite the fact that the barrage of magical projectiles seemed like something that would be cause for concern, the young woman seemed rather unfazed—especially considering the apparent backup measure that she had from the dragon-woman on the ground.

The only problem, though, was maintaining her spell card while dodging. While she could choose to remain stationary, the young woman had no idea how much punishment those odd shields that were appearing in front of her could take. Given that these magic bullets were also being fired with far more lethal intent, that route seemed much more dangerous.

"...Well, I think that there's probably enough water by this point," she remarked, finally choosing to end her magical assault in lieu of weaving through the wall of incoming projectiles. Another one of those uncannily powerful arrows spiraled straight towards her head as soon as the dense waves of water began to fade, but another timely shield on part of her protector gave her the leeway here to focus on trying to keep attention away from the others as they began to mount a proper counterattack.

"Rayne! Miss dragon lady! Sorry I don't know your name yet, but thanks for the support!" she shouted towards the ground as she seemed to simply through the gaps between the enemy's magic as if they were as wide as canyons. "But I'll be fine if you don't want to focus on protecting me now; I'm actually pretty used to dodging if I'm not stuck in place like that!"

Without being restrained by her attack, the young woman pointed towards the cluster of magi in the distance and began to fire streams of ofuda and, possibly more confusingly, frog-shaped bullets towards them. The bullets were no more lethal than those she had been firing before, but given the fact that the frogs seemed to be exploding upon a newly-formed barrier cast by the mage at the head of the corps, it seemed to be quite apparent that they weren't something to be ignored.

With that shift in focus came another arrow from below. This one, however, was not aimed at Sanae as the last few had been, but straight towards Rayne's throat.

@Raineh Daze@DracoLunaris

---

The disappearance of the projectiles flooding the skies, too, seemed to herald another shift in the enemy's tactics. While more than a few were still left unconscious, injured, or otherwise dead, the Raven Heralds continued to attempt to simply occupy the spirits that were mowing through their numbers despite their physical augmentations.

Or so it would seem. As the girl and her spirit seemed to have their attention focused towards the waves of enemies pressing down onto them, a masked figure seemed to phase into existence behind the girl, his footsteps silent as he seemed to close in towards her with a wickedly curved blade brandished to his side. The space between him and his target seemed to disappear in an instant as he attempted to plunge the weapon into the girl's back, fully assuming that if she was to die, then the beings at her command would follow suit.

@VitaVitaAR

---

"Wow, you're certainly one heck of a golem, huh? Poor bastard didn't stand a chance. Stand down, you idiots. Or do something useful, like go try and find that stupid kid and his sister; this one's out of your league."

The voice of a rather arrogant-sounding young man silenced those who had begun to crowd around to prepare to simply rush the odd green machine, and the crowd soon parted to reveal a blonde man wielding a a glaive that seemed to glow an unnatural purple hue. Unlike his masked and armored cohorts, this man—who seemed to exude an aura of confidence that bordered on hubris—strode forward without any urgency in his movements.

"What was his name again...? Ferdiad? Well, whatever; you two, move his corpse out of the way," he continued, waving towards a few of his subordinates as he turned towards the one who had felled him. "I don't want to trip over it."

There was a brief pause as the Raven Heralds that hadn't been directed to move seemed to stand by before the man finally spoke again.

"...That was an order I just gave. Go! Forest! Those damn scouts told you where they were, and the number of enemies here clearly doesn't match the report! Do your damned job!"

The shout from the blonde man was enough to spur his subordinates into action this time, though, but he himself simply brandished his blade towards the enemy in front of him with a smile.

"You know, I was complaining about being sent to some wretched village in the middle of nowhere to look for some child, but if a golem like you is here, this whole trip might be worth it," he said, a slight savage glint in his eyes as he spoke. "No idea who your creator is, but I sure as hell want to meet them. I'd love to have a proper training partner—no, wait, a whole team of golems that actually follow the orders I give!" he monologued before a slight laugh left his lips.

"Right. Time for some fun," he said, the grip on his weapon tightening before the purple aura upon it seemed to flare up. With a flourish, the man brandished his weapon before swinging it through the air and launching a shockwave of energy towards his newfound opponent.

@Lugubrious

---

---

"...Oh."

There was a bit of disappointment in Alvin's voice that he couldn't really hold back as the three continued making their way through the forest. The boy was acutely aware of how powerless he was—especially compared to the 'heroes' that had been brought here—but even with a majority of them having rushed towards the town to help, the ones that remained here seemed to still give him a sense of confidence—that if one miracle had already happened, then maybe a second one wasn't too much to ask for.

"Well, if it's a place to hide, uh... I think there was a cave nearby, somewhere in that direction," he began to say, pointing towards the right of where they were currently headed. "It was really dark, and I always got too scared once it got too dark, but maybe that place might work?"

The sound of rustling underbrush and leaves crunched underfoot from all sides, though, immediately caused Alvin to freeze up and look around, unsure of who—or what—had caused it. The boy's eyes flicked to and fro, trying to find the source of his new anxieties, but unfortunately he found no such answers.

The fragments of humanoid silhouettes—and something distinctly less so—were barely visible past the trees in the distance... For better or worse.

@Drifting Pollen@EchoWolff

There was something coming---!

White petals flew. There was the sound of metal skittering across her barrier, only just barely having been prevented from plunging into her back.

The Witch faded as Lily frantically tossed herself forward, only Silva's power preventing her from falling flat on her face and instead being propelled over the ground.

Someone had snuck up on her, and tried to hurt her.

Her blue eyes wide as the blade glistened in the fires of the burning village.

And then it was caught.

The Umbral Knight was there. With the blade far too close to deflect with their sword, they had instead used their only other option.

Their hand.

The blade stuck through the Umbral Knight's palm, piercing the gauntlet from below.

They were wordless as they flung their hand to the side, tearing the weapon from the assassin's grasp and swinging their blade forward, forcing them into a retreat.

The sight of the blade buried in the Umbral Knight's palm left Lily trembling, stepping forward and reaching out towards her guardian.

"... I'm fine," they replied, levelly. Smoothly, they raised their other hand, pointing their sword towards the assassin.

No further words were necessary, for the intent was clear.

The assassin would die.

@PKMNB0Y

---

Even with their defenses, it was clear the magi were being suppressed. Especially, it seemed, given that their strongest barrier was suddenly gone.

The purple-haired figure had disappeared.

The white beam of light that was sent hurtling Sanae's way slammed into Saria's barrier, streaming around it and being set screaming into the distant sky.

"..."

The magic circle at the tip of the black-and-gold staff reduced and faded, the wielder lowering her arm.

She was a pale, petite girl, her slim figure clad in a dark robe, her expressionless purple eyes matching the shade of her straight hair. Her blunt bangs hung just above them. Unusually, her pupils appeared to be diamond-shaped as opposed to circular, and she possessed two curling horns.

It wasn't only her eyes that were expressionless. When the smallish girl spoke, her soft voice was entirely devoid of inflection as well.

"Unusual," she commented, "Large-scale magical attack without lethal intent used in a situation where many lives are at risk. An unfamiliar pattern."

She paused for a moment, wordlessly regarding the burning buildings, before refocusing her attentions on Sanae.

"The barrier's origin... there."

With a flick of her wrist, the floating girl manifested a set of four magic circles in an arc, which tilted downwards and ignited immediately, firing a quartet of lasers towards the dragon-like woman below.

"... Is she...? No."

The small girl was moving once more, another eight circles appearing in a ring around her.

"I will not participate in unneeded destruction. But I will perform my duty."

The circles flashed, and another hail of lasers trained on the miko were unleashed.

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@DracoLunaris

Rayne saw the arrow coming just in time, the Knight Witch disappearing in a flash of light that began to race upwards, only for something unexpected (to her) to happen. The arrow somehow struck the light itself, and in an instant Rayne was back, clutching at her belly as the arrow tumbled down to the ground, having only been stopped from taking her life by her armor.

“Wha-” she began to ask, utterly confounded by what had happened. The arrow should have harmlessly passed right through her as she had blinked, and yet it had somehow struck her. It was only by coincidence that she had split second decided to dodge up rather than forwards through it, and though she did not know it due to not having perfect knowledge of the arrow’s flight path, if she had done that she would no longer have a throat.

As she floated and tried to work out what had happened, the sniper shot again, but rather than dodge this time she flicked a spell card, using a single point of mana to create a shockwave that knocked the arrow out of the air. That gave her enough time to come to the conclusion that she couldn’t rely on the blinks to bypass shots anymore. She didn’t know why. But it was terrifying. Without that ability she’d likely be dead several dozen times over or more.

In the time she had been thinking and avoiding being sniped, the battlefield continued to develop, and into it had floated a creepy magic child who was unleashing lasers on several of the others.

A child.

Rayne wanted nothing to do with that, and as luck would have it she could not afford to get involved, because the sniper seemed to have it out for her. Another arrow came, but this time, knowing her newfound limitation, the Witch Knight dodged to the side, ensuring that her profile got out of the way of the shot as quickly as possible.

Then she started blinking in the shooter’s direction, moving unpredictably at diagonals. However this was, with the fixed distance of her jumps, not quite unpredictable enough as an arrow embedded itself in her hat right at the end of one of the blinks.

She cursed, and then bolted to the right, putting a building between herself and the sniper, and in doing so running right into one of the armored foes, this one sporting the classic sword and board combo. The warrior flicked a blade her way, only for her hand to flash and for Runedge to appear in it, blocking the sword. Her other hand instinctively formed a rune and pulsed a spread shot blast at him, only for the shots to slam into the herald’s shield.

They strained for a moment, blade on blade, before both had an idea, the warrior bashing their shield forwards, while Rayne reached out towards it, hand glowing. Mit and metal met, and the shield was engulfed in the same glow out of which Runedge had been summoned, which now swallowed up the shield. Eyes behind the mask widened as Rayne (after shaking her hand once with an “ouch”) reformed the spell rune and fired again, the shots now slamming into their unshielded knee, chest, and face, the last of which caused a blob of mana to pulse off.

The Raven herald went down hard even as Rayne burst up and away, not wanting to look at just how hard it had been exactly. She cleared the building’s roof and hovered there for a moment, panting, not wanting to think about the lives she had probably taken, just wanting to find her original target.

Right on cue, another arrow came at her, but this time she was prepared. In a flash the (rather beaten due to her own actions) shield of the warrior appeared in her hands with which she blocked this latest attempt on her life. Then she started to burst towards again, blinking straight ahead this time, body tilted so she could fit her entire figure behind the shield as she rammed straight for where the shots had come from.

She could see them now, a hooded figure in a gray cloak, and once she closed the distance she pivoted, bringing up her free hand up and unleashing spread shot blasts even as she kept the shield up to cover the rest of her body.

Only for the magic bullet enhancing weapon she had equipped to time out, leaving her back with just her basic projectiles.

That’s what she got for being overzealous with equipping it as soon as she had the mana for it rather than when she specifically needed it.

After felling a living, breathing man like a tree, it took Lewa a moment to snap back to reality, such that it was. When he did, he found not just a handful, but a whole platoon of other soldiers gathering together not far away, seconds away from the point where their numbers would bolster their confidence enough to push them forward. Lewa’s slackened grip tightened around the shaft of his axe, and he brandished it with both hands. He didn’t want to take any more lives, especially after the cavalier demonstrated how easy it could be if everything went wrong in just the right way. And if he could do that, what about the others already demonstrating much greater strength, elemental power, and callous indifference to bloodshed? They should run, Lewa thought. Even in numbers, surely they realized that a couple would fall when they attacked. Did they not value their own lives? He narrowed his eyes and steeled himself for the assault.

Instead, a voice cut the tension, and Lewa zeroed in on the source. When the stranger appeared, he sported a distinctive shock of yellow fibers on his head. Lewa wondered if that stuff might be somehow analogous to the masks of his world’s people in that those unique styles gave each individual a visual identity, just with the top and back of the head rather than the front. More relevant was this newcomer’s polearm, though, which seemed to possess some sort of power of its own judging by its glow. A toa tool? Trying not to become too distracted by all this dazzling newness, Lewa focused on what the stranger was saying, but even then he ended up confused. “Golem?” He murmured, watching as this person seemed to take charge of the surrounding Raven Heralds. In so doing he exhibited a rather casually callous manner, which naturally rubbed Lewa the wrong way. “How is it that I feel more for this poor soul’s passing than his own ally?”

The stranger wasn’t paying attention, instead barking orders at his troops. Maybe he took inaction on Lewa’s part for granted. If he intended to oppose the toa, Lewa would be much better off taking the initiative. On a more normal day, he probably would have. Move now, think-question later, might as well be his motto. Today though, he was so far out of his element that he couldn’t bring himself to be impulsive. When the stranger did address Lewa again, his consternation only grew.

“I am no ‘golem’,” he told the blonde man indignantly. “I am Lewa, Toa of Air. If I have a maker, I forgot him during my long journey through the sea-waves. I am far from home, but for the sake of all I hold close-dear, I cannot falter!”

His enemy began the fight soon after, flaunting a power that Lewa didn’t recognize. With no idea what might be happening, he couldn’t react in time to evade the shockwave, and used his arm as a shield to take the blow. “Hnngh!” he grunted, pain shooting through his nervous system. If this foe could unleash energy like that at long range, he knew he should get up close. As he tensed up, he activated his Kanohi Miru. His mask began to glow, green as the verdant jungle, and when Lewa leaped into the air he soared like a bird. After a moment, though, his mask of levitation petered out, and he began to descend. Holding his axe with one hand, he compressed air into the palm of the other while airborne, and when he came down on his foe’s position he did so with an explosive release of air to blow open his guard or knock him down.

Back at the church, Anne had immediately pegged Joker as a fellow Knight. He had the same style of dress as her: the long, showy coat that in her world had been emblematic of humanity's front-line defenders. It was only now, looking closer, that she realized just how young he was, a teenage boy without so much as a blade to fight with. Older than Alvin, but still not a veteran warrior—just another child plucked from his home and thrust into the middle of a petty conflict on some unknown backwater planet.

Her teeth clenched. When she found out who was behind all this, they'd be getting a good solid wallop for everyone's sake.

"You can call me Anne, but let's put the pleasantries aside. We're on a battlefield." The gentleness in her voice melted away, and she was all business again, an officer in command. "The cave will offer us the best cover, so we'll head that way for now. I'll go in front—"

Her voice cut off at the sounds of movement in the trees. More allies, or potential enemies? She had no way to tell for sure, but it was probably best to assume the worst. Moreover, there were enough of them that her group would surely be found if they tried to hide in their immediate area.

"...We move for the cave, quietly," she amended, now at a whisper. "If they see us, you two make a break for it while I give you cover. Joker, I need you to carry Millie if you can; I'll be better in a fight if I have my hands free." Perhaps he could play the role of the protector, but he didn't seem any more confident in his strength than she was, and her combat experience likely gave her better odds. If it came to it, it'd be better for the young to flee and live—and besides, she could tell from his movements and posture alone that this boy was a natural talent at sneaking.

Assuming he didn't outright refuse, she carefully passed Millie over to Joker before beckoning and leading the way off towards the cave. Her goal was to try and stealthily avoid the distant silhouettes if possible, but there seemed to be a lot of them, and it was possible they already had the area surrounded. She let out a quiet breath and focused on her aching body, on the vast and fearsome energy that lay dormant in her bones and muscles and worn-out veins and arteries. It flowed inward and pooled in her stomach, resonating and building upon itself, waiting patiently for the dreaded moment when she had no choice but to unleash it once again.

@EchoWolff@PKMNB0Y

The mage's fired volley met the same immobile obstacle as every other ranged attack so far--an unwavering, white barrier. Regrettably, with the Higashi-looking girl taking to the air that far above her, there was definitely no way to get a strong enough barrier to cover her without just standing and slowly building an entire wall.

Maybe if she jumped at the right time? No, the girl was comfortable in the air and in battles like this, she wasn't showing any sign of nerves. Saria could trust her to avoid the attacks and counterattack.

Sure enough, Sanae had a counterattack prepared. Like her other displayed arts, it seemed strangely indirect and wide-ranged, slow enough to dodge if you were able to ascertain some sort of pattern to it. This time... some sort of snakes in a spread? Almost all of them were guaranteed to miss, except when they hit a plane level with the mage--

She understood, now. This attack cut off most avenues to dodge, even with the extra dimensionality granted by flying. A slow retreat, or an extremely careful advance. The enemy caster would show some of preferred response, whether dodging in one direction or blocking, and once she predicted the trajectory...

White rock gathered around Saria's fist, forming a sharp, pointed shape, relatively aerodynamic. Wait for the enemy, predict their location, and--now, punch!

Ranged combat wasn't her forte, but she could still contribute.