[center][h3][color=#b3ccff]Esben Mathiassen[/color][/h3][/center]
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Esben nodded back at Arton as the latter decided to take over the duty of protecting Neve and Ciradyl; even though there was little else that he could see himself doing to contribute for the moment, he knew he wasn't much of a guardian either. He just puled his sword belt off, handing the sheathed weapon over to Neve. [color=#b3ccff]"Pass this to Rudi if he makes it on the deck, would you?"[/color] he asked, rushing her along.

After covering Neve enough that she could see herself to Arton's protection, he retreated towards where Éliane had set up her gun emplacement. He fired twice, each taking down one of the false dragoons as they flew. That left him with one round left to use in the purloined rifle, and far too many targets to consider using it on.

As he brought the rifle up to one, he heard the Edreni turncoat calling out, and—rather than risk anything unfortunate happening—instantly took cover, bracing himself against the railing as the deck began to be buffeted by a torrent of water spewed by the aberration they'd brought to aid them. In a moment, he saw Rudolf in the air, bearing down on one of the false heads raised out of the water, and another snatching Eve away while the remainder tried to wash them off the ship.

So Rudolf [i]hadn't[/i] been able to reach the pseudo-Eidolon in time, then...or hadn't been able to do anything about it.

Mumbling curses to himself, Esben reached into one of the well-worn pockets of his travelling clothes, yanking out tufts of cotton and stuffing his ears with them as a precaution. He quickly turned, raising the rifle at the traitor dragoon—

[i][color=#b3ccff]Iðar, guide my aim...[/color][/i]

And fired, before quickly turning again and throwing the rifle like a spear into one of the nearby, opportunistic Valheimer, who folded over it and lay unmoving on the deck. With any luck, something that by all rights he had a surplus of, Valon would find himself either wounded or shocked enough for Izayoi and Galahad to make some real headway in dealing with him. Then, with little else to do, he drew one of his daggers, and let the torrent of water wash him overboard.

He descended quickly, a small stream of bubbles escaping his nose as he righted himself. Despite the slight sting of the salt water against his eyes, he quickly caught sight of Eve, wrapped up in her "sibling's" embrace not far away. The false Leviathan seemed distracted for the moment, focused as she was on Eve and turned away from where Esben had hit the water.

Esben kicked hard, moving quickly through the water. As long as the false Eidolon was turned away from him, he couldn't pass on the slim chance he had to at least break Eve free so that she could pick the fight back up. Once close enough to reach limb or tail of the fake Leviathan, he reached out, one hand to grasp and the other viciously sawing and stabbing at her with his dagger.