Initially things looked grim for Rayne’s hunt for survivors, as she came across only bodies. Yet at the same time she came to realize that they didn’t add up, as there were far fewer dead than the number of houses suggested there would have been living here.

Her resulting guess was that either there was some kind of stronghold, or the two children they’d found hadn’t been the only ones who’d fled into the woods, and as it turned out, the former at least turned out to be somewhat true. The hunters lodge, or at least that was what she guessed it was, wasn’t exactly a fortress, but between being just a bit out of the way and full of bow armed hunters, it had, fortuitously, allowed a number of people to survive.

While initially suspicious, a combination of her raising her hands to show they were empty (not that this actually demonstrated she was unarmed due to how her magic worked, but the thought was there) and her very distinct from the Herald’s garb quickly got everyone on the same page. After a man named Jeire introduced himself, thanking her for her and the group's help (causing her to gain Link in the process) and then gave her a quick low down of their situation..

“Mine is Rayne, and of course I’ll help” she immediately agreed, before pausing for a moment to think of how exactly she’d do that and landing on “I’m going to get right back to looking for other survivors, and I’ll move them.. here? Or wherever you want them. But I’ll also let the others know you're here and in need of aid. At least one of them has some kind of healing powers”

That was, she knew vague, and she began to apologize “sorry I can’t say more than that about them, we got sort of thrown together and-” before cutting herself off and refocusing “- I’ll tell you about our deal once no one else needs help”

With that she gave a little wave of farewell and then moved back out into the village, floating up into the air to see if she could get a better idea of where any other survivors might be from up there. It was while she was doing this that Lewa spotted her and then got her attention.

“Glad you're alive too” she called back down with genuine relief to the sentient golem, offering a wave of her own, before informing him that “I haven’t, but I've also just started looking for them now!”

As luck would have it, her drifting through the air for only a little bit longer found her line of sight of some of the others, the Knight Witch calling out “Lily! Sanae! I’m glad your ok” both to get their attention, and to fill Lewa on who she had found, before doing the same in reverse by telling them “I’ve got also Lewa over here too, and he seems to be in one piece”

“I found some of the people here in a hunting lodge or something right next to where we came into town too” she then informed all of them before asking “Some of them are hurt, so I don’t suppose you have any magic that could help with that?”

“I don’t, it's all for fighting, but I can teleport people with me, so I’m going to start searching for anyone else who’s alive, and will try to move or direct them to that lodge if I can. It seems like as good a palace as any to regroup and then get some answers once everyone’s safe” she then added, before pausing for any replies.

If they didn’t need anything more from her, the Witch Knight would get right back to searching for survivors, calling out once more, and covering both areas that she either hadn’t been to yet, as well as prioritizing investigating any damaged buildings that people might have gotten trapped in.

That last beam... it was extremely rare that something would be able to directly pierce through her barrier, and yet the horned woman's attack had definitely threatened doing it. It wasn't something that she wanted to test again without a better idea of the properties of the attack--maybe then she could specifically counter it. Throwing up a weaker barrier as quickly as possible to obscure her position wouldn't work every time; the enemy would catch on and it would turn into a coin flip.

That was a consideration that would have to wait for another time, now that everyone was fleeing and, while she could have picked off a few stragglers, Sanae seemed more interested in doing search and rescue.

Understandable, most of those brought here weren't soldiers. Neither was Saria, although her experiences made that a moot difference.

"I have experience running rescue operations," And the number of them that were a response to her own company's actions was a damning reminder, "But that seems unnecessary. These buildings are all much smaller than any modern structure... if you find anyone alive, I can perform first aid."

Although, it seemed unlikely that her supplies would be able to be replenished, so any of the more useful things in those would have to be rationed carefully. At least her arts couldn't run out, which should at least be better than nothing at all.

Of course, she couldn't refrain from helping with moving any rubble out of the way herself. It might be straightforward and safe compared to a collapsed concrete structure, but that didn't mean that moving long beams of wood out of the way was going to be easy for anyone without similar strength.

Upon hearing her name, Lily looked up. It was Rayne, and it seemed like she was alright. It seemed as if everyone was, in fact. Even though the situation was far from over, the white-haired girl still found herself smiling slightly at the news.

She couldn't respond more directly, though. And the Umbral Knight couldn't emerge at the moment.

After all, Gerrod's enormous form was clearly visible, the hulking knight wordlessly pulling aside rubble and stacking it to the side on the search for any survivors who may have been caught in the damaged buildings. Lily was far from strong enough to do anything like this herself, but what she could do was summon someone who was.

Wait, was there someone there under that fallen beam...?

@DracoLunaris@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y

Soon after finding Rayne, several more of the ragtag bunch showed up. Out of everyone present, Lewa figured that Sanae and Saria probably had the least to worry about given their remarkable abilities, so he wasn’t surprised to see both of them in good shape. Not that he understood anything about their biology, but their body language indicated no particular pain or distress, so he assumed they were fine. Of course, that wasn’t everybody, and their presence here begged the question of what happened to the others. Hopefully they were okay, too.

Lewa sighed, allowing some of the tension that weighed on him in the battle’s aftermath to fade. As one might expect of a random assortment of strangers suddenly dumped in an unfamiliar land against their will, this ‘team’ lacked any semblance of unity. If that one Raven Herald had been as powerful as her actions and manner suggested, he might have been in for a lot more trouble than the one called Varst gave him, and could he have relied on any of these temporary allies then? That said, he knew he couldn’t be too picky. Though the Toa Mata were a de-facto team, its members squabbled plenty, their relationships filled with ups and downs. Unity was not something hard-wired into their minds; they’d had to learn what it meant and how to achieve it for themselves. He’d just have to do the same for these people, despite having much less in common with them, if that was what it took to get home. To survive.

Speaking of survival, there was the matter of this town. The Raven Heralds might have withdrawn, but things were far from happy here. These organics needed help. Lewa couldn’t heal, and if fact none of the Toa Mata could, but he figured he could help with search and rescue. Physical strength was his brother Onua’s department, but even at a baseline Lewa was made of much sterner stuff than the average human. Plus, his winds could smother and extinguish the remaining fires. With a plan in mind, Lewa got to work at a brisk pace, his attitude cheerful and offhanded as he tried to reassure -and then show- the townsfolk that things would be alright. His axe proved to be indispensable for cutting through obstruction and blockage to make sure that every building that had fallen prey to the Heralds’ assault was scoured for trapped or hidden survivors. The more the toa worked, the more he stirred the winds, gradually chasing away the deathly atmosphere and acrid smoke that hung over the village to give its people a fresh lungful of hope.

The child's tears were like a shard of broken glass, stabbing her through the heart. Anne lurched to her feet, heedless of the pain and sickness that still echoed through her nerves, ready to do whatever she could to help fix this, protect him, and wipe out the injustices that had led them all to this sorry state of affairs.

Except Joker was already there. A few gentle words, a warm embrace, a reassurance for a small soul in terrible pain. His simple act of kindness stopped Anne dead in her tracks, and the tension seeped out of her all at once, replaced with a soft smile that stayed with her as she watched over them for however long they needed.

Even in the midst of war, kids like them would strive to take care of each other, protect one another, and live on in hopes of reaching a brighter tomorrow. Just like her and Pray, so long ago...

It filled her with a different kind of resolve, just as fierce as before, but rooted in faith and optimism this time. So long as people were still willing to reach out and hold each other in times of need, so long as there was even a chance the children could grow up without fear and hatred in their hearts, then this planet could still be saved.

...I won't let any of them die.

After a few minutes, once she'd recovered and Alvin had a chance to calm down, Anne walked to the edge of the cave and peered out into the woods. A peaceful forest greeted her, leaves rustling in the wind, with nary a sign of the roving shadows from before. "I think it's safe," she told the others, and once again lifted Millie into her arms. "We can go back now, Alvin. I don't know what kind of state the village is in, but I'm certain the others will have protected all they could."

"Uh... I mean, I guess that going large-scale isn't really necessary, and it's not like these are concrete buildings or anything like that, but it's not like stone and wood is that much better..." the green-haired girl responded, scratching the back of her head nervously before she tried (mostly in vain) to help clear the rubble and debris that Saria (and the still-silent Lily, who had only just regrouped with them none the worse for wear) was moving with ease. Not to say that she didn't give it a fair shot, at least, but after the disheartening results of the last fight her attempts at helping (at least by means of physical labor) didn't do anything to lift her spirits.

Rayne's voice calling out to them to regroup at least showed that she was unhurt, and the subsequent arrival of the one that Sanae still mentally quantified as a mecha—Lewa, if assumptions about Rayne's statements were to be made—seemed to be much the same. That left less than half the group from the church well and accounted for, but the problem was that the others were nowhere to be seen. Given how injured one of them was and how of the other three, two were still children and one was unconscious...

With the heat of battle settled, the young woman was at liberty to be concerned about their wellbeing. Hopefully they would arrive soon enough without incident, but given how things seemed to pan out the fear that someone had been taken or injured or worse did at least leave her somewhat concerned.

Those thoughts promptly took a backseat, though, as she noticed what seemed to be a teenage girl trapped beneath a wooden beam. Her form had been obscured by the rubble that the other two were clearing away with relative ease, but with that out of the way Sanae could very clearly see that they were unconscious and bleeding—probably from a blow to the head from something or another, given the red painting half of her face over. At this, the shrine maiden tried to help as best she could in clearing the way before running in and dragging the girl out as fast as she physically could.

Though, again, given how much physically weaker she was than her companions, the only real benefit in her doing so was that the others could make sure that nothing fell on her head in the process and left the trio with more problems than they started with. Regardless of how much impact her taking the lead in this had, though, Sanae could at least see that the girl was still breathing and feel that her body was still warm. Whether or not the injuries she had would lead to complications was less important than the fact that she was still alive despite the situation—in a way, that was a true miracle. And while she wasn't someone who could, say, reverse causality or something insane like that, she could still help in her own way.

The girl's condition wasn't confirmed, after all, and even if it was "only" one person, a miracle to make sure that things wouldn't worsen was child's play.

Pulling out an ofuda out of thin air and leaving it to hover above the girl's body, Sanae brought her hand in front of her chest and began to pray. A faint light would begin to envelop the unconscious girl in front of her soon thereafter, but none of the physical injuries she had sustained seemed to be overtly mending themselves—as the shrine maiden had expected, really.

"...That might be the best I can do on such short notice," she mentioned before taking a deep breath. "Rayne said that there were a few people hurt at a hunter's lodge or something? It might be worth it to bring her over... Wait, maybe I should try stabilizing all the injured we find like that...?"

It was at this point, though, that the girl began to stir and ever-so-blearily seemed to open her eyes...

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Rayne's and Lewa's efforts to scour the town for survivors and clear the area to make it safe for travel seemed to proceeding without issue—a mission greatly expedited by the lack of any enemies trying to interfere with their actions. It really did seem as if the Raven Heralds had come and gone like a storm—not unlike the literal storm that seemed to be rapidly forming overhead. The timely arrival of "proper" rainfall would likely put an end to any stray fires that the group hadn't already quenched or that burned out on their own, but that would also lead to more issues in rescue efforts when those clouds stopped simply gathering and began their "work" in earnest.

But of those who were left trapped beneath trouble, if even for a moment, Rayne's uncanny ability to simply drop them into the lap of the hunter's lodge meant that they were well out of harm's way when that rain did eventually come—never mind how startled those present seemed to be when their injured neighbors and friends began to manifest out of thin air into the middle of the building or when those still conscious when Lewa carved through broken pillars and debris to save them in all of his Matoran heroism.

One man who had just been freed by the Toa's efforts, though, seemed to give his thanks (however reserved) before heading off towards the nearest exit instead. If questioned, though, the mention that the rest of his family had run off into the woods (as had many others) to flee the moment they were made aware would make his motive perfectly clear. How to handle that statement, though, remained to be seen.

@DracoLunaris@Lugubrious

---

Once Alvin was offered Joker's support, the child began to sob loudly as he fully abandoned any pretense of being "strong" or "brave" for his sister's sake. At the end of the day, he was still a young boy, and what the day had wrought would easily have brought most others his age to their breaking point far earlier.

The sobbing and crying continued for what might have felt like an eternity for the child (even if it had been far less), but eventually those cries turned into sniffles, and then to uneven breathing amidst a silence that at once felt both comforting and crushing.

"...Th-thank you..." the boy managed to say between breaths halfway towards hiccups before the group began to move back towards the town. The lack of any assailants despite his loud crying spoke of the fleeting safety that had been given to them, but even so Alvin continued to grip onto the hem of Joker's coat as they pushed through—and finally broke past—the forest.

And lo, the results of the carnage were laid bare in front of them. Bodies of the dead, friend and foe alike, were scattered about—but no sign of the Raven Heralds continuing their fight to be seen. It seemed that the woman's words held weight at a glance, but only the state of the town within would mean anything at this point.

As the group approached the gate, however, an older man with a sword sheathed at his side quickly ran over to the group, a look of concern clear on his face as he looked the two children over.

"Alvin! Millie!" he called out as he slowed to a stop. "You're all right—thank the gods! Can't imagine what would've happened if you didn't come back..."

The concern over the children's wellbeing soon took a backseat, though, as the man shifted his focus towards the other two present—though Anne most of all.

"Did you get those wounds protecting these kids? Gods, we've got to get you some medical attention as soon as possible!" he said in a panic, almost dragging the group towards the nearby hunter's lodge—which, given the groans coming from inside, could have easily led someone to assume that it had been converted into either a medical bay or torture chamber. "I'm sure we can spare some herbs and gauze for you..."

@EchoWolff@Drifting Pollen

She was waking up...

Lily's hands clenched a little tightly. She couldn't help but fret. There wasn't much she could do from here, her purification abilities extended only to outside contamination. She couldn't do anything about physical injury, but it seemed as if Sanae could.

The girl under the beam was slender, possibly in her early teens by her appearance, with grey hair reaching to her mid-back and blue eyes. As she began to stir, she blearily blinked a few times. As Lily watched, she was somewhat relieved to see that the girl was able to sit up all on her own.

"Mnn... what happened?" the girl asked, placing one hand to her forehead. She paused for a moment as she realized her palm was now marked with a streak of red from where she'd sustained a minor head injury.

Lily found herself reaching out for her, but then she hesitated. There wasn't much she could do.

"I remember..." the girl trailed off for a moment, her eyes widening moments later.

"The Raven Heralds! Where... are they still here?! Where is everyone? Are they alright?! Is Father-..."

She trailed off again, as if remembering something, her bloodied hand falling into her lap.

@PKMNB0Y@Raineh Daze

"Um- Well, that's not exactly-"

How to properly explain things to this old man? No, I got banged up on a completely different planet before I was suddenly warped across the galaxy through unknown means. My entire body from the neck down, excepting the right arm, has been regenerated with cutting-edge biotechnology that threatens to fall apart every time I push it too hard. I don't need herbs and gauze, I need emergency nanomachine injections and a warp gate straight back to Aegis before my remaining organs completely break down and I die in horrible agony.

...Somehow, she didn't think that would be very helpful in this situation. It was easier just to stumble along behind the villager and follow him into the lodge, then muddle her way through from there. Heedless of the armed bowmen who watched over the entrance, she hurried through the door and sought out the closest flat and reasonably sanitary surface where she could lay little Millie down on her side.

The mingled scents of blood and sweat, the groans of the wounded; these were all too familiar to Anne. This could have been any of a thousand field hospitals she'd visited, though few had ever been so bereft of proper medical equipment. She squared her shoulders, glancing around the room to get a rough headcount and pick out anyone who seemed to be in charge.

"Is Millie's family here?" Officer voice, loud and clear enough to cut through the general hubbub. "I have an unconscious child, possibly concussed. I need someone trusted to watch over her; I can assist with first aid for the wounded in the meantime." Dark bruises still bloomed across her skin, and she could taste blood somewhere at the back of her throat, a symptom of the havoc playing out inside her on a cellular level. However, the state of the village outside had her far more worried about the townspeople. If supplies were stretched so thin that herbs were being raised as a possible option for treatment, then they couldn't afford to waste any of what was left on a hopeless case like her.

@EchoWolff@PKMNB0Y

“Just hold on ok, I’m almost there” So said Ranye to yet another victim trapped beneath fallen rubble, the witch knight straining as she used Runedge to pry a fallen plank up, exposing a bloodied and bruised hand.

Using a foot to keep pressing the sword down, and in doing so keep the wood she had pried up held up, Rayne reached in a hand and grasped that of the victim, giving it a reassuring squeeze as she insisted that “I’ve got you”

There was a sob and a deeply relieved “thank you” muffled by the still uncleared debris, but that obstruction wasn’t going to matter. That moment of connection, physical and emotional, was all the Witch Knight had needed, and a breath after the Link was formed, she used it to whisk the injured person away, teleporting them out from the rubble, across the village, and into the hunter’s lodge as she had done with several more already.

She could only hope that someone there would know how to treat whatever injuries they had, because while her magic was born of the need to help people, or rather of people’s need to be helped, it could transport and destroy, but ironically could not heal. So the best she could do was try and make sure everyone was free before the rain started to come down and complicated matters.

That thought gave her pause, causing her to tip her head and hat back and just, actually look at the sky. The whole, unbroken, not near instantly fatal to be beneath sky. It had been more than 14 years since she’d seen one like that, indeed she’d never expected to see one again, and with all that had been going on, she hadn’t taken the time to just look at it, and take it all in.

The wide brim of her hat being in the way hadn’t exactly helped either.

So she took a moment, just a moment, and then once she had her fill she pushed herself to get back to work.

When she did so, she went to check if Lewa had found anyone that needed moving, and in doing so saw arrived just in time to see a man he had freed hurrying out of town, prompting her to enquirer “where’s he off too?” and to then listen to whatever instructions the Toa gave regarding how to respond to the situation.

Lew and Rayne turned out to be a good team, able to effectively rescue and reunite any trapped -or just separated- villagers they came across. Though the latter’s teleportation spells might have trivialized all such endeavors on paper, not everyone they discovered needed to be spirited away to safety, while others needed to be extracted before the Witch Knight could work her magic, so Lewa had plenty to do.

If anything, the hard part wasn’t the work, but making sure that the terrified and/or traumatized villagers knew they had nothing to fear from him. Highly-saturated emerald green might not be the most intimidating color to be decked out in, Lewa’s size, presence, and inherent otherness spooked them plenty. The toa had his hands full trying to assure everyone he rescued of his best intentions, since in the heat of the moment his actions might not speak for him. In his own world, every matoran gazed upon toa with instinctive trust, borne from the countless legends of their heroic guardians. Here, not so much. Since that Varst mistook him as something called a ‘golem’, Lewa could only assume that beings like him in this world must be dreaded weapons of war. That, or these poor people had suffered enough that they saw everything new in terms of potential threat.

Well, Lewa couldn’t really blame them considering what happened. If they were afraid of him, it was up to him to change that, one smile, one gentle word, and one extended hand at a time.

Not everyone was content with being saved, though. One man freed from a room whose door had been barred by falling supports went not in the direction of safety, but toward the surrounding woodland. With the village almost totally combed over at this point, Lewa jogged after the preoccupied-looking fellow. Rayne asked where the lone worrier was headed, and for now Lewa couldn't offer her much of a reply. "That's what I intend-plan to find out!"

After a few moments he caught up his his target, approaching from the side so as to not take him by surprise. “Where to now, friend? More foes could be laying in wait, why not seek safety in group-numbers?” As it turned out, the man couldn’t rest until he’d made sure that his family was safe. Lewa nodded in understanding, not intending to obstruct the man in his quest to find his loved ones. “Well then, allow me to join-guard you! The trees are my home, and I have never failed to escort-bring a companion home safely!”

Even if the fellow objected, there wasn’t much he could do to stop Lewa or his cordial gallantry. The toa tagged along with his new companion as he headed back into the forest, not hovering too closely, but staying near enough that he could both cover more ground in their shared search and leap to the organic’s defense if the need arose

"Don't move," Saria stated, kneeling beside the girl, "I have to check if there are any other injuries."

It might have been made as a joke, but Joyce was correct that Saria didn't have anything in the way of bedside manner. Honesty and forthrightness weren't too bad on their own... but nobody would ever say that the vouivre had anything other than an intimidating presence when she was focused.

But maybe that was actually preferable when you wanted to get a complete stranger to co-operate, especially one that had no frame of reference for your abilities. Not that there was much that needed heavy attention--the head injury could be properly cleaned as soon as they something to do it with (her own supplies needed conservation), and she didn't want to accelerate the clotting too much given that. Addressing any fractures... well, that was easy enough. She could give head injury instructions later.

Not that most of this looked like Saria was doing much except staring intently.

"We need to clean that as soon as possible, but everything should heal."

Sanae let out a sigh of relief as she watched the injured girl slowly come to, and with the clarity that she seemed to have so soon after waking up it seemed that the most pressing issue had passed. The immediate concern that the girl had after waking up, though, seemed to quickly take it's place; Saria's own directions to keep the girl from immediately overreacting and pushing her still-injured body seemed to be enough for the moment, but she still deserved an explanation of some sort.

"We've forced the Raven Heralds to retreat; you're safe now," the green-haired girl began to say, before the feeling of a drop of water falling onto her cheek caused her to stop for a moment. Then another. And another.

With concern rather evident on her face now as she turned back up to glance at the sky, Sanae could see that it had indeed begun to rain. Though continued rescue efforts would have been ideal, doing so with low visibility and while soaking wet seemed like it'd be more likely to leave her sick and without much else to show for her efforts. On the other hand, leaving someone trapped or injured in the middle of the rain wasn't exactly going to do them any favors... But maybe the others had finished their sweep through the town to check by now?

"Mmm... I don't think I'm going to be able to help much with clearing the way for rescue, so it might be best if I head over to that lodge to see what I can do there," Sanae concluded, rising to her feet and glancing at the others before scratching the back of her head. "Though, uh... Don't think I'm strong enough to carry someone all the way there, per se. Can you help me bring her over?"

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Once Anne's voice broke through the din of injured cries and groans of pain to call out for Millie's family, a fleeting silence seemed to pass over the room before the same man who had guided the group of four to the lodge walked up to the group in awkward silence. He glanced briefly at the two children—particularly towards Alvin, who was the only one cognizant among the pair of children—before pulling Anne aside to speak with her privately.

"...I'm sorry that I forgot to introduce myself earlier. My name's Kendrick; I'm the second-in-command of the town's defense corps. Those two kids... They're the children of the commander, Ywain, who was... Killed during the initial raid on the town," he told her as quietly as he could to not let Alvin overhear. "Their mother died during childbirth, but Ywain did his damn best to raise them—and a lot of us under him did our best to follow."

Kendrick glanced off to the side in silence before sighing.

"Sorry, but... Could you not break the news to them quite yet? Alvin's a bright kid—he'll figure it out if we don't tell him, I'm sure—but I don't think right now is the right time for that. I'll take charge of the kids for the moment if you want to help, but I really think you should rest, too. You and the others have done so much for our town, so it's only right that we try and do what we can, too."

All the while, Alvin seemed to be looking upon the carnage with a look of quiet sorrow. Seeing so many familiar faces twisted in pain or gripped by anxiety left the young boy at a loss for words—not to mention how his sister, though still comparatively unharmed, was still lying unconscious.

"...I..." he trailed off before he looked around at everyone present with a concerned look on his face. It seemed to make sense that not everyone was there, but that didn't do anything about the concern he felt about the one person whose face and voice were missing from the crowd.

@Drifting Pollen@EchoWolff


Though the man didn't seem particularly inclined to stop, enlisting the apparent help of his rescuers (even if that had been unsolicited) at least gave him more motivation to press ahead. If the Raven Heralds had retreated, then there was a chance that his family was still alive—or so stood his reasoning, at least. It seemed that more than a few civilians had taken to fleeing into the forest to escape the Raven Heralds, but if the encounter at the church was anything to go by, their safety was by no means guaranteed.

Not that the villager would know, of course. Or maybe he did, and was simply turning a blind eye to hold onto the faint hope that his family was still alive and was just waiting for everything to have blown over.

"Elaine! Elaine, are you okay? Hello? Anyone?" he shouted out, voice hoarse as the feeling of raindrops meeting his skin spurred him on with even more fervor. "The town's safe now! Some heroes came and fought the Raven Heralds off!"

With the rain beginning to pick up, though, it remained to be seen if shouting into the forest would remain effective, if at all.

@DracoLunaris@Lugubrious

Ywain. A man she'd never met, whose face she wouldn't even recognize. Anne knew intimately the nature of war, the inevitability of what had happened here, but even so she had to glance away before Alvin caught the flicker of grief in her eyes.

After all she'd seen and all she'd done, it still hurt every time. One more innocent man she hadn't been able to save, one more failure on a list that already stretched billions long.

"I understand." She matched the volume of Kendrick's voice as she met his eyes again. "He needs time. You should talk with him, though, once things here are—"

The Knight whipped around so fast it looked like she'd teleported. Someone had just appeared behind her, manifesting in the room without any sign of their approach. An assassin, concealing their presence with a cloaking field? She was already in a fighting stance, prepared to break their limbs in three places before they could manage a single strike.

Except it wasn't some killer Herald. Only a confused and frightened villager, freshly warped into the lodge by Rayne's helpful magic. Anne, of course, had no knowledge of this power, and could only blink in surprise while still frozen in her fighting posture.

"...Ah." She awkwardly straightened up and shuffled back a step, a sudden flush coloring her cheeks. "Sorry. I thought you were... My bad." Her insides were already cramping up from the sudden movement, and she realized all of a sudden just how tired she really felt. Kendrick was right: she couldn't take care of anyone if she was still this badly on edge.

She quickly excused herself to the huntsman, and sought out somewhere quiet she could sit and rest. Preferably with a clear view of Millie, so she could keep one eye on the girl while Joker looked after Alvin. This time may have been a false alarm, but she wouldn't put it past that Herald commander to send in a group of kidnappers while everyone's guard was down.

Rayne ended up accompanying Lewa out of the town to follow up on his plan-intent to find out what the guy’s deal was. As it turned out, he was looking for his family that had run off into the woods, which in hindsight was something of an obvious place for them to have gone. She did worry however that that could have meant the retreating heralds might have run into them, and so she agreed to join this search: “I might not have seen a regular forest for close to two decades, but I can still help out”

Unfortunately, the initial search did not prove fruitful, as no one was to be found in the outskirts of the town. Then the rain that had been threatening to fall began to do so, slowly at first, but picking up speed with every passing moment. It pitter pattered on Rayne’s hat (which was novel at first but quickly became annoying) as she floated nearby to the man, who’s calls she added to, but to no avail.

It was pretty clear that doing things this way wasn’t going to work out, and so after a moment of trepidation she brought this up beginning with a gentle “I don't think we’re going to find them this way,” before swiftly clarifying “sticking with you I mean. We can move much faster if we go on our own, and if they are out here, we’ll find them, I promise. But you’ll catch a chill out here, and having a building fall on you can’t have been good for your health either, so maybe I can send you back to town?”

If he accepted, she’d do as she had suggested, and if not, she’d remove her hat and offer it to him “Here, to keep the rain off, and maybe find some cover so that we can find you again, if, once, we locate your family. I ‘d hate to find them only to lose you in the process.”

Either way, as long as there were no objections to her (or them, if Lewa also wanted to race ahead through the forest) pushing forwards, she’d take off, blink dashing through the woods, calling out “The heralds are gone, it's safe now, I’m here to help you get back to the village!” and looking for any landmarks equivalent to the church where the rest of the villagers might have taken cover from the storm, be it the one of ravens or rain.

Given everything that happened, and the intimidating abundance of unknowns in play in this world, Lewa was naturally a bit wary when he ventured into the woods alongside his new acquaintance. Still, as alien as this world was to him, the forest was where he belonged, and where he’d feel as comfortable as he was going to get. Humans, churches, children, and warfare were things he didn’t get, but trees, shrubs, and grass he knew. They weren’t so different from those of his island home, really. A little boring, maybe, but after the constant excitement that had gotten his heartlight pounding ever since he first set foot in this weird world, he felt pretty happy about a little peace.

When Rayne caught up with them, Lewa was glad for the extra company. Six eyes were better than four, and if they decided to split up they could cover more ground. That said, Lewa didn’t want to leave the human alone. He wielded no weapons and made no mention of any abilities, so it seemed like he needed someone to fend for him. Even if the Raven Heralds were really gone, it would be a real tragedy if he succumbed to an unfortunate encounter with a stray rahi.

At the outset Lewa allowed the human to call for his loved one alone, but when his voice started to weaken and fat droplets of rain began to instill a sense of urgency, Lewa picked up the slack. “Elaaaaaaaaaaaaine!” he called out, echoing his companion’s call. The name felt unfamiliar on his voicebox. “Elaaaaaaine! Everyone’s happy-safe, come on home!” No family members appeared from the underbrush, though, and the rainfall steadily increased. Lewa’s spirits went undiminished–this seemed to be a large forest, after all, and if he were a helpless little organic he probably would’ve run for the hills as well. He could go for hours, if need be. If it was for the sake of others, a hero left no stone unturned. Still, despite the very different methods of self-expression, he got the feeling that the other half of the search party didn’t share his optimism. The poor fellow had seen a lot more violence and death than Lewa had, and those sights no doubt hit him a lot harder than they did the toa.

“Your ‘family’. Could you tell me more about them?” He asked suddenly. Though mostly for his own benefit, this line of inquiry might be useful for the human as well, distracting him from his dread and despair. “What they look like, for one. So I know them when I find-see them!”

Rayne, meanwhile, lost hope more quickly than Lewa expected. Eventually she aired out her doubts, and Lewa couldn’t help but be a little convinced. Without the villager around, he and Rayne could search much faster and not have to worry about him. But that didn’t take into account the man’s feelings. Having come all this way, and been willing to do it alone, would he really trust these strangers with the fate of his family? Would his family even be willing to interact with said strangers? Lewa remembered how the other villagers looked at him, even as he tried to help. This wasn’t his decision to make.

Saria scooped the girl up without effort, taking some care to not jostle her too much, and followed along.

The dead silence that hung over the group as they made their way over to the hunter's lodge left Sanae feeling rather awkward, but that feeling soon fell to the wayside once the group as a whole arrived. While the fighting earlier had shown but a fraction of what brutality had taken place, seeing a bunch of injured civilians in lieu of injured soldiers left the young woman at a loss for words once more. But with the others having finished saving all the people they could from the destruction outside (or, at the very elast, that's what she assumed had taken place), Sanae had no intention of being left behind.

A brief look around the room confirmed that the group that they had left behind had made it here, at least, and apparently none the worse for wear. The boy and his sister seemed fine physically, though the distressed look on the former's face suggested that the stress might have been starting to get to him. The older woman, who at this point had moved off to the side, seemed... Well enough, relatively speaking; if her condition when they had first arrived was anything to go by, though, she would probably need to be checked at some point or another.

But that was neither here nor there—at least, not with so many other people still injured and at risk of death. Excusing herself from the rest of the group, Sanae quickly ran off into the crowd to try and repeat the small miracle she had done for the girl they had just brought over to the ones most at risk. There were no small number who couldn't be saved, with their injuries too deep or having been left untreated for far too long, but at the very least she could try and make sure those who weren't lost could survive.

There was only so far 'miracles' could go before they became impossible, of course.

---

Kendrick seemed a bit taken aback at Anne's jumpiness, but given how an injured civilian had spontaneously appeared behind her, the man couldn't fault her for reacting as she had. Regardless of that, though, the woman's words had a point; even if they stayed silent, the truth would come out eventually. The best thing to be done, then, was to do so with honesty in hopes that things wouldn't spiral out of control. With that thought in mind, the man's gaze hardened as he considered how to respond before ultimately deciding that a simple nod would be best in this instance.

"...Right. I'll be the one to tell him... When the time comes. He might hate me, but it'd be better than leaving him in denial," the older man said, glancing towards the still-anxious child before sighing. "I guess I should be getting back on guard duty; with everything as it is now, someone's gotta make sure we don't get bandits or something trying to capitalize off the Raven Herald's attack. If something happens, I'll be the first to come running, okay?"

After motioning to one of the people busy at work trying to treat the others who were injured to look at Anne when they got the chance, Kendrick simply waved farewell and left the lodge. With the sound of pouring rain now quite evident outside, though, one could only wonder if everything would pan out well enough.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@Drifting Pollen@EchoWolff

---

As the rain intensified and the sounds of his voice began to be drowned out, the man whom the others had been following seemed to grow somewhat disheartened. The thought of his family being in the middle of the forest, teeming with all manner of beasts at the worst of times, continued to spur him on despite his injuries. But those desperate cries, strained to them point where his throat was left raw and sore, seemed to amount to next to nothing. The growing fear and anxiety on his face would be readily apparent as every agonizing second passed without any results, but everything only seemed to come to a head when Rayne finally suggested that he return to town.

"Are you crazy?! I'm not going to leave my—" he began to say, only for him to clutch his side and stumble towards a nearby tree. Though he did not fall to his feet, the villager seemed to need to use the plant as support as he took a few heavy breaths before continuing to speak.

"...Damn it all. Fine, I'll head back. My wife, Elaine: she's got light brown hair and should be carrying our child. I pray she found shelter before the rain began, but... I'm sorry, I'll leave finding her to you. Please. Tell her that Marcus is alive and well if you find her."

With that explanation, the villager silently accepted Rayne's proposal and, without any further fanfare, was whisked back off to safety while the two resumed their search.

Further exploration of the forest for shelter in particular would mean soon bear fruit, as it became evident by the number of ruins that nature had reclaimed what was once here. The reasons for their presence remained to be seen, but at the very least the ruins, damaged and worn down as they were, would provide no shelter from the elements.

Or, rather, all the ruins save for one. Upon what seemed to be a long-decrepit foundations of a tower, the presence of a rotting wooden door that showed signs of recent use and that was cleared of any debris or fauna around it could easily draw the eye of anyone attentive enough for signs of human activity; further inspection would reveal that, though damaged, the hinges seemed to work well enough to allow for entry down a staircase that led into darkness. And deep, deep within, the faintest cry of a baby could be heard...

@DracoLunaris@Lugubrious

"Kirisame Marisa, if you can defeat me, then you may take all the tomes and grimoires to your heart's desire, else... you must return everything that you had pilfered." Mistress Remilia the Scarlet Devil enunciated as she curled an elegant yet impish smirk, "What say you?" She inquired to the Ordinary Magician, followed by the excited skips of her blonde younger sister, the unflappably stoic gaze of her silver-haired head maid, and last but not least, the unamused stare of her purple-haired chief librarian.

"Oh yaaaay~ elder sister is so going to kick your butt, Marisa!" Flandre exclaimed gleefully, wanting nothing more than to see her sister triumphing over her fellow blonde and favorite playmate.

"..." Sakuya remained as professionally stoic as ever, though she did briefly glance over toward the mansion's librarian...

"...do I get a say in this?" Patchouli groaned under her breath, though she said nothing more, her flat gaze was practically giving Remilia an ultimatum, that she better damn well win the duel... or else.

"Ohooo~ that so~?" Replied the culprit enthusiastically as Marisa shifted her position on her flying room, adjusting the large sack full of "borrowed" books held by her left hand, "Since you're oh so kindly offering your whole archive to me, Remi, who am I to refuse~?" The blonde human flashed her signature shit-eating grin, "So, what it'll be, 'Mistress'~? Best of three?"

"Your overconfidence will be your downfall, human," The vampire chuckled as she calmly set down her cup of "red tea" before ascending up from the mansion's back garden balcony, gaining altitude until she and Marisa were on the same elevation. "Indeed, best of three shall do." Remilia smiled as she flicked a few locks of lilac hair as her body began glowing in a blood-red aura, the same color as the scarlet mist that once snuffed the sun.

"Best of three it is! Well, it doesn't matter anyway coz' I'm gonna win either way!" And with those final words from Marisa, the Scarlet Devil and the Ordinary Magician began their duel, a semi-professional affair with ethics and regulations as governed by Gensokyo's Spell Card Rule. Long story short, the participant who managed to hit their opponent with non-lethal magic would win the round, and in this case, the first to reach three wins would be named victor.

As always, it was a bedazzling affair, an assortment of projectiles of all shapes, sizes, and colors peppered the sky like magical fireworks. It was a close match between the two as Reimu and Marisa found themselves trading blows, one after the other, then eventually, they found themselves with two points each. Thus, the next round would decide if Patchouli would still be the caretaker of a library or an empty warehouse.

With numerous books at stake on both sides, the two duelists put their all into this fifth and final round, but neither seemed to be gaining the upper hand over the other, the stalemate continued.

"You can do it, siiiis!"

"Heh..." The excitable cheer from her beloved younger sister gave Remilia the push to finish this once and for all, she would return all of the stolen books, impress Flandre, and show the insufferable Marisa just where she stands on the pecking order. In order to do that, nothing less would do than her trump card. Extending her right arm forward, Remilia positioned her hand as if she was about to grasp a tubular object, red mist oozed from her as godlike amounts of magical power coalesced at her palm, one that would be enough to murder even deities many times over had she didn't alter it to be non-lethal.

"Come forth, Divine Spear!" A gigantic magical spear made out of her own potent blood spawned on her right palm, crackling and pulsating with destructive energy, its sheer size utterly dwarfing its own wielder. Despite its volume, Remilia effortlessly heaved the arcane spear as one would to a javelin, "GUNGNIR!" then launched it with all her might at her flippant opponent!

"We're getting to the main event, eh? Don't mind if I do!" Marisa responded by using her free right arm to reach behind her, intending to grab her precious Hakkero, the artifact necessary to unleash her signature massive beam of rainbow destruction. Upon feeling something solid, she clasped her fingers around it then immediately flashed it toward her front, "Magicannon, FINAL SPARK!" Which should immediately induce Hakkero to launch an utterly massive prismatic beam... should. As it turned out, Marisa got too caught up in the moment, failing to realize that she's currently hefting a sack full of stolen tomes in her other hand, thus instead of grabbing her signature artifact, she instead procured one of said tomes...

What ensued was a far cry from the expected clash of Gungir versus Final Spark, but instead the former crashing against the unidentified grimoire, triggering some sort of volatile chain reaction as an explosion of blinding white light engulfed the Scarlet Devil Mansion...

"Gaaaah! I fucked up!" Marisa exclaimed as she flailed a bit before wiping her eyes, opening them shortly after to find... no one in front of her, just the clear blue sky, "...Remi?"

---

Drip... drip... drip...

It started slow at first, barely worth a notice, but soon enough, the pitter-patter of droplets grew into a full-blown rain, drenching the land in skyborne water and humid fog, enough to stir a certain sanguophagic youkai from her restless slumber. "..." Pale eyelids weakly fluttered open as Remilia's consciousness slowly but surely returned to her, even before her five senses roused in full, her half-awake mind was already pondering, confused and disorganized it might be, a few questions were more prominent than others.

What just happened...? Where am I...?

The Scarlet Devil didn't know the answers to any of them, but whether or not further pondering would yield results rapidly became secondary concerns for her, chiefly due to the scent of blood and flesh wafting into her, ... then growls, multiple growls, coming at her from all directions. However, despite all these, the petite youkai remained in place, laying flat on the grass like an unmoving cadaver, although unblemished much unlike the mangled corpses of Raven Heralds strewn around her, courtesy of the champions called upon by Alvin's younger sister.

Her half-opened red eyes continued to stare blankly at the crying sky. Right now, improbable as it might seem, the youkai found herself in limbo, neither awake, nor asleep... that was until the visage of a canine creature came within her field of vision, blurry as it might be, she instinctively recognized an opening jaw when she saw it, carnivorous fangs poised to descend upon her, desiring to feast upon the flesh of the Scarlet Devil...

...and for that transgression, the wolf abruptly found its skull impaled all the way through from below by a small hand tipped with crimson nails; without a functioning brain, the animal perished instantly. This naturally caused the rest of its pack to stop their scavenger feast, their gaze raised from their meal, only to find their leader - the largest and strongest among them - being skewered by what the pack assumed to be remains of those two-legged creatures. The sheer development caused a chain reaction of shock and panic amongst the canids and, unlike Varst, these beasts needed no Commander to tell them that remaining here would be unwise, as such, they barked and whimpered as they scampered, retreating deeper into the forest with their tail tuck between their legs.

"Tch..." Remilia promptly retracted her clawed hand, allowing the literally brainless wolf to fall unceremoniously on the ground, joining the dead. Meanwhile, the burst of adrenaline courtesy of the fight or flight response was enough to rouse her enough to start getting back on her feet. "...?!" But before she could even so much as survey her surroundings, an irresistible urge to vomit assaulted her, and no matter how tightly she clenched her hand around her mouth, it was ultimately futile. "Uuurgh-...!!" The petite girl lurched forward, then in an ironic twist, the Haemomancer expelled blood as they splotched the grass below her in crimson.

It might have lasted only seconds but each tick felt like an eternity as Remilia belched not-insignificant amount of her own blood, meanwhile, her eyes were seeing doubles, her ears were ringing, and she felt like a gaggle of geese were pecking at her skull. "Haa... haa..." After what seemed like forever, she finished as a wave of vexatious catharsis washed over her. She allowed herself a moment of reprieve before straightening herself, bleary eyes surveying her surroundings. It was at this point that Remilia realized that somehow, someway, she found herself at the aftermath of a battle; corpses, blood, and gore set upon forest greenery, watched over by what appeared to be the ruins of a small church. "What...? How...?" So many questions swam through her addled mind and it didn't help that she currently felt like a wasted Lunarian who accidentally drank one of Eirin's shady drugs.

"Sakuya...?" No answer, "Flan? Patchy? Meiling?" None replied except for the constant patter of raindrops, "...Marisa?" Not even her either, the person she last saw before... before all this. "Reimu? Yukari? Anyone?!"

"..." This was... alarming, not only was she lost and weakened, but it appeared that she was utterly alone here. There was no doubt about it, either she was knocked unconscious by Marisa and currently dreaming - which didn't seem to be the case - OR somehow, she was transported into another place, somewhere not within the confines of Gensokyo's Great Hakurei Barrier. Is this somewhere in the Outside World then? Whatever the case, she couldn't stay here. Is that... smoke rising on the horizon? Without exactly many other choices, Remilia decided to use the billowing smoke as her beacon, hopefully toward civilization.

With a wince of great pain, Remilia forced her body to move, and though each step felt like trying to withstand a full-blown punch from Yuugi while being drenched by Suwako's aquatic deluge at that, she marched on, step by step...

---

The Blood Mistress' path took her ever closer to the town that Alvin and Millie called home. Along the way, she came across what appeared to be the long-abandoned remains of a stone tower, decrepit and decayed beyond repair short of outright rebuilding. ... Other than using the ruined structure as a sign that she was nearing some kind of settlement, Remilia paid it little mind at first... that was until she was passing the tower's rotting wooden door that her pointy ears perked up as it caught a high-pitched noise, one that resembled an infant's cry. Frowning in mixed concern and caution, Remilia turned her gaze toward the barely-standing entrance.

She was in the middle of deciding her next move when the arrival of... what could only be described as a towering verdant Hisoutensoku-esque entity wielding an axe as equally massive and a snow-haired emerald-eyed petite... female kappa(?) wearing a hat like Marisa’s, except hers was red and had goggles strapped around it.

For their part, both Lewa and Rayne would see what appeared to be a young girl about Lily's age, possessing short lilac locks, blood-red eyes with slitted pupils, elongated canine teeth visible between her slightly ajar lips, and last but not least, a pair of bat wings set upon her upper back. She definitely had seen better days, what with her rain-drenched dress, lethargic disposition, and of course, the blood coating her right hand and lower arm.

Mecha...? A green mecha and a kappa? In her rather delirious mind, Remilia erroneously associated Lewa with the Hisoutensoku, a giant robot designed and constructed by Nitori the Kappa Engineer, and to add, his color reminded her of a certain miko of the Moriya Shrine, especially knowing said miko absolutely loved towering robots such as him, thus, without much control of her own thoughts, the Scarlet Devil blurted out...

"...huh, fancy that, a green smaller Hisoutensoku... so, is Sanae behind this?"

@DracoLunaris @Lugubrious