[IC] Fire Emblem: A Tale Of Two Swords

[Polaris North]

Hyakuya

"Neither did I Hirotsuka." He said with a light chuckle. He didn't seem to be quite in a murderous mood to let out the true nature of a Manakete. He then looked up as he heard the rustles.

Hyakuya carefully watched as the mounted units started to descend upon them, making a warning shot on Hiro and Tybalt. It was quite obvious that they had priority targets and he was sure that they knew what he was capable of as well so it would only be a matter of time before they target him as well. After all, he could fly up to their position and just take them out. But that would be far too dangerous to do alone lest he wanted to get skewered by lances and axes. He most certainly did not want that to happen.

Before he could continue to think, what he expected did happen. A wyvern rider descended upon him and tried to strike him with a horizontal slash. He dodged the strike as he was already on guard. His hand reached for his dragonstone and it began to glow. He was enveloped in a strange light and when it disappeared, Hyakuya had already left his human form. In place was a yellow dragon, flying in the air. He certainly did not want to cause a forest fire so he carefully aimed his fire breath at the wyvern rider that had attacked him but unfortunately, the manakete missed. He then turned his head towards the speaking mage.

Ah, a tactician is on their side. Or at least one with a tactical mind. A good thing, he should rejoice at it. "I am a Manakete, sir Tybalt. I shall cover you if one of them will try to harm you." He told the two before looking up and blasting another fire ball to keep the mounted units at bay and not try to attack them. He was actually uncomfortable as he did not have any freedom to fly so he would like to end this quickly if possible. "Order me as you please. I am also fine with any of you two riding me if it comes to that." He continued, this time not looking at the two at all.

[Lauder]

"So long as you can keep them going a straight path then I may be able to take them out," Hiro said before listening to the dragon. He would have to keep that in mind for later if he needed a quick escape. "However, I do believe the ruins would be our best bet," he suggested to Tybalt, seeing the him as the leader already. To him it seemed like the most logical choice of action, running served well but they would be caught quickly by the mounted units if they were not careful.

[Eklispe]

Diana

Diana was impressed with the speed at which the exam began, two members could've been dead before it had truly began. Her eyes scanned the tree tops as she carefully made her way towards Hiro, taking their instructors advise. A pegasus knight swooped down with startling swiftness, even though Diana had already seen them attack, but she was able to whirl to the side to meet the attack and bring up her small buckler to solidly block the lance. Still the force of the attack sent her skidding back a bit, leaving small furrows in the dirt. By the time she'd recovered enough to counteract her attacker was already gone. The next dive was from a wyvern rider and this time Diana was more prepared, her lance lunged out seeking the rider's flesh, but he darted away, his weapon ready to block even if she had gotten close enough.

These buggers were fast, however she was now close enough to talk to Hiro and their self elected tactician Tybalt. Diana listened to his hastily spoken plan, it seemed good enough for her, though she was unsure that taking the rules loosely would net them a win it was worth a shot, even if it did mean loosing two members to do so. "I suppose I'll guard Mr. Hiro until we can get rid of these buggers." Diana raised her lance and took a protective stance next to Hiro, "Move and I will follow, I gaurentee they'll have to hit me first." It seemed their training would be hard after all.

[Sarcelle Renard]

Mikhail hated everything. He hated the stuffy mausoleum, his pint sized instructor, the spreading smell of decay, but most of all he hated the fact that he had left Rollo outside. A cavalier without a mount was about as useful as an axe without a handle. Sure, one could still get the job done, but it was going to be a messy, if not bloody, affair. Not only that, but he had left his Silver Lance sheathed in the saddle.

But now was not the time for complaining. Mikhail had seen the kind of damage a single Risen could cause. It took a great deal of effort to keep himself from shuddering from the thought of what kind of havoc seven of them could cause.

The Iron Sword left its scabbard with a dull rasp. Indeed, this was definitely not the time to waste his breath with complaints. “I’m going to end the mage in the back before she becomes a nuisance,” the cavalier announced, his voice calm and collected despite his irritation at the situation before him.

His advance was slow and cautious, ready to dodge an incoming arrow at any given moment, but that strategy had to be abandoned as the melee combatants fell upon them. With a quick flick of his wrist, he parried a savage cut one of the Myrmidon’s had thrown his way. Sidestepping another, he bumped shoulders with Claude. ”I’m going to need your help cutting through to her,” he said without taking his eyes off of the approaching Risen.

[NeutralNexus]

Tybalt Argyris

Tybalt’s eyes popped wide as the man known as Hyakuya morphed and shifted into what could only be described as a modern legend, a Manakete. Of all the beings and myths, this was one of the most rare. He personally had never seen one up close, and one making himself so apparant so quickly caused his heart to skip a beat.

“O-o-oh my gods, you’re a--” He began in shock before the screech of a wyvern snapped him back into the reality of the situation. “Right, that’s extremely useful, especially since that means we have a flyer on our side.

Hiro made his concerns clear as they continued to talk, he wanted everyone to try and run for the ruins. Tybalt pursed his lips, though he had brought up that Hirotsuka had not specified how many of them had to make it to the ruins, the concern in Hiro made it very clear that they did not share in Tybalt’s belief of the way the task was stated. Then it hit Tybalt; she only meant the survivors who made it to the ruins would pass, those who did not make it would more than likely be slaughtered by the wyverns, which changed the situation drastically.

Either they all make it, or the ones who don’t will perish. The daring mage would have to act accordingly.

“You’re right, Sir Hiro, we should starting moving to the Ruins, but as a unit. It will be harder for them to attack a group in comparison to picking us off one by one if we scatter.” Tybalt responded to the archer, motioning to the woods. “But you need to lead the way, I’ve honestly never been to Jotenvarr so I’m not sure where those ruins are, so I’ll follow the lead of those that do and provide what cover I can. However, whatever way we take, I suggest we to stick to the forest, as Lady Hirotsuka said the riders can’t maneuver very well in the forests, and we can utilize the terrain to our advantage.”

As he spoke, he could hear the whinny of a Pegasus Knight dropping out of the sky and through the trees to make another pass, but Tybalt was ready for the descending foe this time. With another flick of his arm, a wind cresent met the attacking Knight well before she was able to get within range, forcing her to pull up and clumsily avoid a large tree. She was off balance.

“Quick! Someone bring that one down!” Tybalt shouted, trying to cut off her escape route with another blast of wind, the brush around him being torn apart by the current.

[GrafRoy Zeppeli]

The Mausoleum

Claude took the myrmidon facing against him and headbutted it. It wouldn't cause it any pain, but it would definitely throw it off balance.

The stench of the corpse was strong, so much that he felt dizzy for a second. He shook his head and then brought his sword into the stomach of the Risen.

"Go back to hell!" He shouts, takes the hilt of his sword with both hands and then slices the Risen in two with his sword.

Of course, what he expected to be a gory scene was nothing but purple smoke as the Risen disappeared. Well, better than most other ways to get rid of corpses.

After that, someone else bumped into him but, oddly, Claude stopped him with his left hand instead of lashing out at him. Perhaps because he didn't sense any animosity coming from him.

"Watch it there, dude. Don't want to get my coat dirty, do ya?" He smiled and showed Mikhail his pointy teeth.

"Cut to her, huh? Plannin' on fellin' the lady boss in the first few minutes? In any case, I'm right behin' ya. Let's crack some skulls, yo!" He pushed Mikhail apart and then kicked the incoming Risen, the one Mikhail was battling with, and kicked its legs, making it fall down. "Finish it off. I'll cover your ass."

Claude smiled again and made his sword spin some in his hand.

Illian brought her thumb to her mouth and started biting her nail.

This was meant to be a test to assess everyone's individual strengths. See how well they were on their own. Risen were not exactly the best teamworkers ever.

However, and as far as Illian could see, they were not doing that well. The spellblade from before had to be helped by the singer, the cavalier seemed to be not so adept to fighting out of his mount, and the merc, well, volatile and idiotic as always.

With his shout, the other Risen had turned their sights to him.

If he did work as a bait or similar, it'd be nice, but right now he was just making himself a target.

The Sorcerer would turn his full attention to him, trying to take advantage of the merc's low resistance to magic.

This could be a chance or catastrophic for the young hopeful knights.

---

The Forest

They were definitely going to go for the ruins. They knew where they were, it was only a matter of time before they decided to move out and 'capture the base'.

She wondered how far they havve thought everything up. After all, the ruins were of course not defenseless. The Falcon Knight she spoke of before was the one in charge of guarding it.

She just hoped they would catch on to the fact that it was ridiculous for their objective to only have some small obstacles and then a clear path to their victory.

The awaiting falcon knight readied her lance and set her sights on the flying Hyakuya and also at Tybalt, who was throwing off balance one of her wing sisters. Her magical resistance was probably enough to withstand one of those attacks, and he seemed the most troublesome.

Then again, Hiro was nearer to the ground and a simple arrow could prove fatal for her pegasus.

She decided to do the most intelligent thing and charged against Hyakuya, try and take away their only flying unit and keep them grounded. Harming a wing was enough, she just needed the manakete in the ground.

[Polaris North]

If Hyakuya was in his human form, he would've snickered at the reaction of the young tactician. It seems he has not seen a manakete before but then again, most haven't. It reminded him of the young King when he first saw him transform. Although that was a thing of the past and he had to focus on the present.

He listened in to the explanation of Tybalt about the current situation. Ah, so they were going to make a move for the ruins. It would be easier to do that than to incapacitate all of the seven riders. Although something didn't sit well with the Manakete. Just running towards the ruins with the use of the forest was easy, too easy in fact that he began to have some doubts. Hirotsuka was an instructor who is feared amongst the soldiers so there would... should be a twist. "Sir Tybalt, if I may say something, I speculate that someone must be guarding the ruins. Hirotsuka would not make it easy to enter." He said, sharing his thoughts with the young tactician.

It would not be long before Tybalt would fire at the Pegasus Knight and made it dazed. The Manakete then decided to ready a fireball. Before he could fire though, he heard the quick flapping of wings. He turned around to meet the charging Falcon Knight. The fireball died in his throat and he narrowly avoided the strike of the Falcon Knight.

He positioned himself where in he was behind the Falcon Knight and then started to fire two balls of flame towards the Falcon Knight, aiming to take it down. No, he had to be very careful right now. As the only flying unit, it would be best if he could actually stay afloat rather than on the ground.

[Lauder]

Hiro Anu

"Don't worry, finding the ruins shouldn't be too hard of a thing to do," Hiro said in response to Tybalt before seeing him get a Pegasus in line with a good shot. It was then, he drew back and arrow and held his breath to better aim the shot. He took the shot, hoping that the arrow would hit and take down the Pegasus. The arrow was good, it had gone right through the bone of the left wing for the beast, sending it spiraling into the ground. "Quickly, to the forest!," Hiro called out before dashing forward.

[Eklispe]

Diana

Though Diana was tempted to charge at the off balance pegasus, it was too likely that it would get away and she couldn't abandon her charge and leave the manakete to defend both of their ranged attackers. Hiro charged forward and firing another shot and Diana was forced to do the same, carefully keeping pace next to the running archer. She didn't know where they were going so she couldn't lead him but she had to stay close enough to save him from another diving attack. Hopefully the other two would be of sound enough mind to follow, splitting up would only make things worse.

[Sagittarius]

Azi Lukotta

Azi stood behind the others as he sung the final line of his song, having stayed still as the others moved up. The others seemed to be doing fine, so he looked around for something to do. From a glance, most of the close-ranged Risen were taken care of, leaving just the archer, sorcerer and Illian. "She seems somewhat worried about something..." he thought to himself as he closed his book. "I guess I should ask her later." Dismissing those thoughts, Azi decided on just singing a song of haste, so that the others would be able to avoid the incoming projectiles easier.

[Redstring]

Oh my god.
A manakete.
There was a manakete on their team.
Pauline was torn between shock and excitement - all the historians she'd met thought they were extinct. And there he was - helping them fight, ready to join the Royal Guard. Her breath ragged and her heartbeat far too fast even for a battle, she rushed aside, barely dodging a pegasus rider's attack. This might be far too hard on her nerves, she thought, untying a small cotton bag from her belts. Ah, sweets, always there to help. She grabbed a piece of candy, put the bag away and exhaled. It was time to fight - after all, even a manakete won't handle such an even fight. The lancer, Diana, and Hiro dashed forward, attacking a pegasus. Pauline joined them without hesitation, she was definitely far too weak on her own. "Hiro, Diana, do we have any kind of strategy?

[Sarcelle Renard]

Mikhail Fuast

A brief nod was all Mikhail offered as he finished off the Risen that Claude had disabled for him with a quick thrust of his sword. The blade sank into the creature’s neck with deceptive ease and in moments the resurrected Myrmidon was little more than noxious smoke. ’That’s one smell I’m never going to get used to,’ he thought bitterly.

There was a solid “ding” as an arrow glanced off of his pauldron, which came all too close to his vulnerable neck, that wrenched the cavalier’s attention back to the task at hand. There were still five Risen to deal with, two of which were ranged fighters that would make a drawn out fight hell. A quick glance showed that the undead sorceress had eyes on the hot-headed merc, which could prove to be quite problematic should she actually hit him. Without the red oaf's help, cleaning up the rest of the Risen would become much more difficult.

Hearing Aika’s proclamation, Mikhail realized what needed to be done. Two of the three remaining melee Risen had their attention on the Magus and Singer, leaving the problematic ones all by their lonesome. ”Oi!” he called over to the white haired pipsqueak, ”Throw your lightning at the sorceress in the back. I need her off balance.” It was a risky plan, as it would leave their squishy units with two Risen to deal with on their own, but the battle was going to get out of hand quickly if they let the sorceress have free rein.

A slash from the remaining axe fighter grazed him on the arm as he came too close to missing a dodge. The cavalier didn’t have time to deal with him, so he dodged under the undead’s next swing and moved forward. ’For the love of all things holy Claude, don’t let this guy brain me from behind.'

It wasn't like him to put his life in the hands of other people he barely knew, but desperate times were calling for rash decisions. Hopefully this one wouldn't get them all killed.

[GrafRoy Zeppeli]

The Forest

The Ruins Are In Sight!

They were making an steady advance. Through the forest, trying to confuse their pursuers and Hyakuya smartly using the advantage his wings gave him.

If he made enough of a distraction for the Falcon Knight, the others might just reach the ruins unscathed, so Hirotsuka thought.

They still dominated the skies, though, and the Fox Spirit thief would soon learn this first hand.

Itazu decided to steer away from the main group and go his separate way in the forest, perhaps a single thief would be harder to notice, even more so if he's got fox ears to help him mesh with the forest around him.

Sadly for him, a wyvern rider already had his eye on him.

As the thief ran through the trees and bushes, confident of the fact that he was being stealthy, the wyvern rider followed after him, axe in hand.

Perhaps it was because he was running, or because he was too focused trying to be as stealthy as possible, but the thief did not seem to notice the flapping of the giagantic wings of the wyvern until it was too late.

In one swift move, the wyvern rider dove down towards the Itazu and spread both of its gigantic claws, before trapping him in a deadly clutch.

"Let me go!" The Fox Spirit shouted after the wyvern took off into the skies yet again.

With a smug smile in his face, the Wyvern Rider gave his victory for granted. He did not take into account, however, the fact that Itazu's slim arms would be able to slip out of the wyvern's grasp.

Itazu took his sword and stabbed the wyvern's eye, blinding it, upsetting it and, eventually, making all three of them hit the ground with a loud thud.

Not before a loud *crack* was heard and Itazu's hand fell to the side after being brutally crushed by the wyvern's claws.

"There goes one of them, huh?" Hirotsuka thought to herself.

---

The Mausoleum

The knight recruits were good, if caught off guard due to the sudden Risen attack. Not that Illian could blame them, of course.

The melee fighters had been reduced to only three, and there was the Sorcerer and Bow man still standing.

Illian did not expect, though, for Lord Maximillian to be as rash as that.

He slipped past the melee fighters, not before stabbing one of the mercenaries right through its stomach, and struck the Archer directly on its face, throwing it against the wall before it disappeared into the ether.

Afterwards, he turned for the Sorcerer, but the Sorcerer was certainly faster than him at this point.

He lifted his right hand while he held a dark tome on his left hand. It could not talk, but its grunts clearly indicated that it was readying itself to cast its magic.

When Maximillian turned to confront it as well, he had already casted his magic.

Two strokes of black energy fell upon the man's body. Obviously surprised, the noble took a step back, but the Sorcerer expected this to happen. Yet two other strokes of black energy appeared in the same spot Maximillian had stumbled back to.

Illian was surprised that the Sorcerer still had such a tactical mind on it. She also felt a looming scolding and lecture from Lord Straizo afterwards, for having kind of killed his cousin, even if they did not spend as much time together.

The Royal Vanguard fell to his knees. It was at this point that Victor too hurried forward to help him, thoughtlessly, of course.

He approached Maximillian and readied his staff to heal him. However, the Axe Fighter Mikhail had ignored approached him from behind.

A quick but heavy strike to Victor's skull with the blunt side of its axe was all it took for Victor to fall unconscious.

Afterwards, the Risen brought his axe back up and stabbed Victor right through his chest, now that he had become unable to move, it was an easy kill.

Two knights down and four still remaining. Illian bit her thumb nail again. Were they all going to die just like that? Or were the four remaining knights be able to pass her test?

---

@Light@Sagittarius@Polaris North@Redstring@Sarcelle Renard@Eklispe@NeutralNexus@Lauder

[Lauder]

Hiro Anu

Hiro had turned back just in time to see the wyvern crush the Fox Spirit, one of their squad had actually died. Someone had lost their lives. That was when it fully dawned upon them that their instructor was not kidding when she had said no all of them would make it. His eyes widen, this wasn't right to him. The death of one of his comrades was setting in and he did not deal with death to greatly but he knew they all couldn't stay in the forest. "Everyone keep moving! We have to make it to the temple!," Hiro said to his teammates, turning back around and running. The fun thing was that they could actually make it to the temple, it was in his sights!

However, he saw two Pegasus riders dive bomb the group and so he called it out to his team "Pegasus riders right above us!" The archer fired arrows at the two to get them to veer off course, and it worked on one of them. The one that stayed was heading straight for him.

[Polaris North]

Hyakuya

Hyakuya had his attention at the Falcon Knight in front of him. "You and your pegasus are one it seems." She was very skilled in steering her pegasus in the right direction every time and the two shared a great bond of trust. It was one thing that most riders needed. Trust with their mount. It also made Hyakuya's job of taking the Falcon Knight down a lot harder. His eyes darted to the group below him before back at the Falcon Knight. Distract it. That was his best option as of now. He quickly blew another fireball at the Falcon Knight and then retreated back. He had to keep her attention on him.

He then heard Itazu's shout and then averted some of his attention to the wyvern rider. It was in his sights so he could keep an eye on the Falcon Knight while seeing Itazu. Before Hyakuya could decide the best course of action, the three living beings fell from the sky and landed on the ground with a sickening sound. The sound was familiar. Years may have passed but the memories were still fresh in his mind. "May you rest in peace." He muttered to himself before turning his full attention once more on the Falcon Knight.

"As always, you never pull any punches in anything you do Hirotsuka." The manakete said out loud, certain that the instructor would hear him. He didn't seem at all bothered with the sudden death of his now teammate. Well he wasn't. Considering how many teammates he had lost in the war, he wasn't all that bothered by a death of another one. At least he took down one with him which would make it easier for them to either incapacitate all of them or get to the ruins quicker.

His ears perked up as he heard Hiro shout that Pegasus Riders were coming for them. Naturally, the manakete would help but he was currently busy with a Falcon Knight. He could only hope that these soldiers can do something so they wouldn't get another death in their hands. He actually wanted to divert his attention and shoot at the Pegasus Knight but that isn't very bright because it would be considered as an opening and he might not be as lucky as he was earlier and actually not avoid the strike.

[NeutralNexus]

Tybalt Argyris

The sound of the Wyvern falling from the sky caught Tybalt’s attention, but the sound of his trainee comrade being crushed caused him to jump slightly. Up until this point, he had waived off the idea that the training would be lethal, nobody would haphazardly kill their own recruits to prove a point, right?

Wrong.

Their thief had died, he brought down one of the wyverns, but had perished in the struggle leaving the mage in momentary shock. His tried to form words for a second, but nothing came out. He snapped back out of his shock to the sound of Hiro shouting to make a break for the fort and beginning to run off ahead.

“Sir Hiro! Wait! Don’t split off!” He shouted, only to be a half-step too late. “They’ll pick you off!”

Tybalt hated being right, seeing two Pegasus Knights drop out of the sky to try and take the young archer down. Hiro only had time for one hastily fired shot, which caused one of the pegasus to veer off course. The other one continued its course, the attack unavoidable for Hiro.

Luckily, Tybalt was more than ready to fight back, his original panic turned to focus and determination. Nobody else would die today. He charged forward, his arm glowing in magical power with increasing intensity with each passing step, his cloak flowing behind him as he ran to get within range, hoping the lance fighter was at his side to prevent a counter attack. He ignored the Pegasus that veered off course, concentrating only on the one descending on Hiro. He had only an instant to get the shot in before the lance struck the archer.

“DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!” He shouted, jutting his arm forward to release a cone of wind, a tornado of wind crescents imbued by green magic. The Pegasus Knight noticed the attack a half-second too late, trying to ascend and avoid the blow only to be caught up in it. The tornado slammed into the beast and its rider, causing the both of them to be launched backward, away from Hiro, before bouncing off of a nearby tree and thundering into the ground, kicking up dirt and rock as they landed. As Tybalt continued to jog toward the archer, he took note of his defeated for.

He could see they were still moving, causing Tybalt to breath a sigh of relief. His foes were still alive, thank the gods, but they would not be getting up any time soon.

“Are you alright?” Tybalt asked Hiro, placing a hand on his shoulder. “These knights are trying to split us off, like I said before. If we split up, we’ll end up like the Fox Spirit. We have to stick together, alright?”

[Eklispe]

Diana

Diana's eyes narrowed as the fox attempted to make a break for it like a scared bird and like a scared bird, it was summarily swooped upon and killed. Though to the fox's credit he managed to kill the wyvern rider that had attacked him. It was mildly surprising that someone had actually died, but honestly it wasn't too unexpected. They had been warned after all. More pegasus knights dived from above, one diverted by Hiro's snap shot, the other practically torn apart by Tybalt's ferocious wind attack. One knight down, one wyvern rider down. The falcon knight was preoccupied with the manakete. That left two knights and two wyverns still ready to attack.

As if to punctuate her thought a wyvern rider swooped down to strike at Hyakuya in conjunction with the falcon knight and another knight came diving at Tybalt, who was busy talking to Hiro. Diana simply took one step to position herself between the rider and its prey, with her spear point down towards the dirt, deceivingly useless. The spear practically screamed towards her, moments before it intersected with her flesh Diana slammed her shield into the side of the lance with exquisite timing and the point was rudely shoved into the dirt. The rider was remarkably quick thinking and managed to release the lance before it unseated her and quickly disengaged, though now disarmed. Diana let out a small growl, pesky creatures, never committing to an attack long enough for her to land a blow. Not for the first time she wished she had a roll of javelins with her. "Sticking together is good and all but we need to make some more progress, either in killing these things or making it to the ruin." Diana said bluntly.

[Redstring]

Hiro and Tybalt already have good teamwork, Pauline noted. "Defending the fighters who have the biggest advantage over their enemies is great, but forgetting about other will definitely not help anyone", she thought as she climbed one of the trees. Even the best fighter will have trouble when outnumbered. And there they were, the Falcon Knight and the manakete fighting for their lives-- what, what was that shout? She looked down to see a fallen wyvern, its rider and... Is that the thief? Pauline blinked, trying to focus. Light fur peeked from under the beast's body. Oh, death was unevitable, but she was still scared of it.

Pauline glanced at Hyakuya and slowly, carefully moved as close to the falcon knight as she could. Damn, the rider's fast. She clenched her kunai, and, focusing all of her strength on it, aimed for the pegasus' side. The blade swiftly flew through the air, barely hitting the rider - she noticed it and managed to reflect it with her lance. Pauline scowled and growled slightly, grabbing another blade. "I hope that the kunai will at least distract the rider somehow" - she muttered as she threw it at the adversary.

[Lauder]

Hiro Anu

Hiro raised his hands to potentially defend himself from the Pegasus knight, it would be the unfortunate end for him. He would have made nothing with his life and his travel here would have been worthless. That was when he heard the voice of Tybalt struck out like lightning and he felt a gust of wing pass by him, then was the sound of the something slamming into the ground. Slowly, he lowered his hands to see that the Pegasus knight had been taken down, Tybalt had saved him. "I am fine Tybalt, no thanks to you though. I would have skewered if it weren't for you," Hiro stated with a smile coming to his face. That was too close a call but at least he had avoided the grasp of death for now. "Manakete come this way! We will take down the Falcon Knight if you can get him closer!," the archer yelled to the dragon, getting back into the task at hand. Seeing that Pauline had thrown out a kunai, Hiro followed it up by shooting an aimed shot at the Falcon knight.

[Sagittarius]

Azi Lukotta

Though he saw Mikhail dodge the lethal axe swings from the Risen, Azi didn't realize that its focus had shifted towards Victor until it raised the heavy weapon to swing. Immediately stopping his song and sprinting towards him, Azi tried to warn him. "Victor!" he shouted, his warning coming too late. Thrusting his quarterstaff like a spear, he tried to interrupt the slow second swing, but was too late, his strike only reaching after the axe planted itself into Victor. The Risen was knocked onto the ground, its weapon still embedded into the ground through the body.

"He wasn't much older than me, was he?" Azi sighed regretfully, sorrow evident on his face. There was nothing he could do at that point except finish off Victor's killer. In a large, destructive arc, Azi swung his quarterstaff down on the Risen's head. "... Goodbye." he murmured as it began dissipating. Though the death of his friends saddened him, it only strengthened Azi's resolve to prevent them from happening, or rather, to prevent deaths in general. And so, he began singing the aria of haste again, doing what he could do.