[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220729/023912a75a8a9b16c801799640a60148.png[/img]

[b]Word Count:[/b] 950
[b]Level 9 Roxas:[/b] 20/90
[b]Exp Gained:[/b] +2
[b]NEW EXP Balance---[/b] 22/90

[h3]Skyworld ~ Ivory Citadel[/h3][/center]

By the time both he and Edelgard had dismounted from Orthos, Roxas had more or less already made his decision on where to go. And while she told him he was free to go join up with the other Seekers if he wanted, Roxas was choosing to remain with the Black Eagles for the time being. Traversing the fields of battle to find his friends would have taken more time that Roxas thought would be put to better use helping out where he could right here with the Black Eagle Strike Force.

His own fighting style and abilities were actually quite a far cry from the Flame Emperor’s, Roxas being much more inclined toward speed, agility, and stringing together multiple attacks at a time. But such a thing could be put to use here, especially now that he had acquired a few abilities from the spirit he had fused with aboard the Avenger. Roxas adopted a strategy similar to what he employed against Consul Z when he fought his forces aboard the Virgin Victory a week ago. He kept himself on the move, striking at Corrupted angels with either his StepSword or his Keyblades but never fully committing to staying engaged with them. After all, the Featherbows and Featherswords from Edelgard’s unit could pretty handily finish them off after Roxas softened them up first and vice versa.

But Roxas also took advantage of some of his newfound Squire techniques as well. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, Roxas would use Steel on a nearby Feathersword, Feathershield, or Featherbow to boost their bravery and help ensure their attacks didn’t falter. And on other occasions, Roxas would even use Tailwind on a nearby Featherstaff to increase their speed so they could make their way to allies in need of healing more quickly. He could only apply these buffs to one ally at a time, but every little bit helps and sometimes even a single action can make all the difference. Something else Roxas kept in mind was his MP. A larger scale battle like this was no place for him to squander his MP and have to survive for the length of time it would take for it to recharge. That was why he kept his attacks mostly to just the StepSword or basic Keyblade strikes - to conserve MP and not use it unless something drastic came up.

And when the hulking commander of the Corrupted forces entered the fray and literally towered over everyone, that seemed like the time to go ahead and employ some MP. Edelgard was bravely facing the giant behemoth head on and this appeared to do wonders for the morale of her Strike Force. For the moment, Roxas decided not to get in their way and instead try to keep the Corrupted at bay as much as a lone Keyblade Wielder could. To this end, he was more willing to employ spells like the occasional Blizzaga or Thundaga to keep from getting totally overwhelmed. It wasn’t a perfect strategy, and he still took some hits here and there, which required a nearby Featherstaff to send some healing his way to fix - but overall he was doing as well as he could under the circumstances. But a loud sound of cracking marble did eventually draw his attention back to the fight with Beloved.

There was Edelgard, clinging to the monster’s back and literally breaking it open with her mighty ax. Roxas saw all this in time to see her get bucked from the monster’s back and sent back to the ground. Okay, now it was time to step in and lend a hand. The Keybearer finished off the Corrupted he was engaged with and made a break for Beloved’s direction. He put up a small wall of virtual cubes behind him to discourage any Corrupted who were trying to chase him so that he could lock his attention on the enemy commander.

[color=gold]”My turn!”[/color] He shouted as he darted past Edelgard in full sprint. Beloved hefted his own ax to try and bring it crashing down on the boy foolishly charging at him, but the fast and nimble Roxas proved a far harder target to hit. The Keyblade in Roxas’ left hand vanished, and a split second later so did the Nobody himself, thus avoiding the ax chop altogther. Roxas then reappeared in midair directly behind Beloved, having used his StepSword to instantly move himself in a position to strike at the commander’s exposed back with the now-ignited energy blade extended from his left gauntlet. And he instantly followed that with a flurry of midair keyblade strikes that ended off with him unleashing a powerful Cross Slash.

Not that any of this was going to go unanswered, of course. Beloved flailed itself to try and punish Roxas’ attack, but was of course hampered by his own size and bulk in that regard. So the Nobody was able to use Flow Motion to maneuver himself out of harm’s way and hit the ground hard with a somersault that let him end up more or less next to where Edelgard now stood.

[color=gold]”Heal!”[/color] He cried with an upraised Keyblade. This called a green and leafy ring of healing to wash over himself and the nearby Edelgard, plus any of the other Black Eagles who happened to be within the spell’s radius. By that point he was down to his last little bit of MP so he figured he might as well use it for a Curaga to take at least some of the burden of healing off the shoulders of the Featherstaffs.