Welcome to Gaia! ::

Roy watched the scene from a distance, leaning against one of the walls of one of the buildings on the inside of the outer wall that protected Archesis. It seemed like everything was going well. Maybe they could avoid a s-

...

Okay, maybe not. Thanks a lot, jackass. The redhead scowled as one of the Estarcian soldiers suddenly took a Spear and threw it at a man in blue armor. And then there was a splash of red from the soldier that threw the weapon. Probably slit his throat or something. Well, that was just ******** great.

The swordsman sighed and shook his head. Seems like a battle was inevitable now. Oh well...at least with this, Roy could have another shot against that swordmistress with the ice sword.

The Archaneans were now making their way in, the Sages breaking down the walls and destroying catapults and other long range weaponry with Meteor or Bolting spells. Going out now while these spells were going was almost suicidal. Once the foot soldiers started making their way in though...

Alright. It seemed like the enemy was starting to pour into the city to begin their close-range assault. Roy retreated a little bit so he could work with his allies. Once he reached them, he unsheathed the Flame Sword.

"Magic users, aim your attacks at the first wave. Archers, assist the magic users. Rest of you, move in after the long range units attack." he shouted a command.

With the fire sword, Roy would assist with the long range units before switching to his close range weapon to help out the melee units. Whether or not they would actually listen to him though was another story. After all, who would follow a brat's orders?

But it seemed like one of the Estarcian negotiators had already issued orders. And it wasn't likely that the enemy would just come through on one side of the city. If the southern end was this fortified, maybe he should go to one of the other locations to help out.

Nevertheless...

Fire sprouted around his sword before he swung, the attack bursting near a swordmaster, who suddenly caught on fire. If he would flail and run into his allies to spread the fire, more power to the Learanian/Estarcian group.

Wasn't this exchange suppose to end? Why was there a soldier attacking!? Oh no, this...this was much worse. Before Caterina had the time to think, Cyric had grabbed her hand and started pulling her toward the others. She shrieked a little when the Estarcia Captain pulled her close, covering her from arrows and after a moment they were up on their feet again.

Safely on Adara, Rina took off into the skies. High enough where she was safe from arrows. She could still see everyone else below her, watching their every movement. Once they reached the castle, Rina landed on a roof-top where several other Pegasus and Falcon Knights were standing, waiting for their orders. Rina looked at each and every one of them. "Take to the skies!" she cried. "We fight back, but be cautious. The Priestess is still with them!" Defending the city was the most they could do. The orders given, the Priestess Guardian returned to Adara, mounting and spurring the pegasus into flight, the others following.

She returned to Cyric's side, who seemed calm as ever. However, she knew the truth; he was far from calm. Out of everyone in Estarcia, he was probably the most furious one standing on the very castle gate.

"Remember what I said earlier?"

Rina looked over at Cyric, his bow drawn with an arrow attached. She watched him for a moment and he looked at her.

"Don't stray from my side...I..would like us both to survive this."

His startement was followed with a smile and Caterina could do nothing but respond with a small, weak smile. "Never, I will stay by your side, always." She readied the javelin in her hand, raising it above her shoulder, preparing for her own counter. Let us teach these boys and girls to never mess with Estarcia!

xxxxxxMy Lady

After heading toward the castle and dodging attacks, the paladin and the others had entered the castle. It seemed that Cornelius had sounded the alarm when they entered the castle. Well, there was nothing they could do about it. Thanked to the foolish soldier, they were forced to battle.

She heard Cyric giving out the commands, ordering those to prepare for battle before talking to her.

"Of course, I'm always prepared myself." Isadora replied as she turned her mount around and unsheathed her sword. It wasn't as if she hadn't gone to battle before. In fact, she had gone to battle that was quite worse than this.

"You heard the order!" Isadora shouted to the Learanian soldiers and those who came. "Prepare yourself for battle. Those who are injured, hide yourself and tend your wounds. Those in the front line, hold your ground and don't let them enter. Now then, charge!"

Tuomas let out a neigh as he stood on his hind legs before galloping into the battlefield. Even though they had lost battles from the previous, this battle would not be won by their enemy. They would have to do everything that they could to make sure that they won.

Steel clashed against steel, and with a successful parry Roy finished off another mercenary unit. Just as he was about to turn and move to help out one of the Estarcian groups, ice needles flew for him.

The Steel Sword was dropped and the Flame Sword was drawn, flames already erupting from the blade upon being held. With a swing, the ice melted, and it was just water that splashed against the ground in front of him. Those ice needles...so, she showed up at last, huh?

Roy glanced towards where the attack had come from, and sure enough...there she was. It was like she was beckoning for him to come fight her, what with that hand motion and all. The redhead smirked before he charged forward towards her.

Their fight had already been put off once. If someone dared to interfere, he would give them a blazing death worse than the one he gave to Feo months ago.

The swordsman already knew he would have a hard time keeping up with her speed, but that was last time. With the Speed wings he had used at the end of their last battle (after they were so rudely interrupted by the Skittles Brigade), maybe...maybe he could keep up.

He was close now. "Sorry to keep you..." he took one last step with his left foot, weapon ablaze. "WAITING!" he swung from the ground up, flames reaching out to touch the icy swordmistress. And without even waiting to see if she had moved, he spun on his left foot, delivering a fiery spin attack as a warning to let her know she wasn't going to get close that easily.

((That first move's kinda like his Up+B attack in SSBM, minus the lift into the air.))

LANCELOT

Surprisingly, Lancelot had been quiet since his talk with Caesar. Even during the exchange, not a word came out of him. Even when things got ugly, he didn't react. He was fed up with this, with everything. He did his job, but at every move he got yelled at! Where was the respect? He sure as hell did a lot more than Caesar did, that's for sure. But did Lancelot call him out on it? No, of course not. The General would be the one that would take all the glory.

It was always he who got the praise for all the work the captains did. But that's part of being a soldier, after all. So long as Lancelot was able to continue fighting, he didn't give a s**t how much lime light Caesar let hit him. In truth, he probably wouldn't be allowed to do so much with anybody else as a commander. That was why he stayed. And it meant that Caesar had to be protected.

Lancelot looked up in the sky as the wyverns sailed about in the wind. He could not send his own army, he knew that, but the urge to fly out was tremendous. But all of a sudden some mystical wave came blasting down from some rider's weapon! Blasted magic... what a dirty trick!

He looked at Caesar and saw that he was oblivious to the oncoming damnation. Esmerelda was busy making sure her precious brother was all well and good. And speaking of that brat, he probably had the power to negate the magic with his own dirty spells. But, even if he did see it, he didn't have time to conjure up his hocus pocus to do anything about it. That left... Lancelot, himself. He was already mounted. He had the ability... looked like it was up to him.

He gestured for Mordred to take off and the beast launched into the sky. "Don't ever say I didn't do anything for you, General!!" He called out, giving no notice for what he was going to do. He took out his spear and held the tip up. His battle cry was like the roar of a charging lion. The dark surge flew into him and he used his spear to split the attack down the middle. He had steered Mordred so she she was below the blast and he took the brunt of it.

The blast was long and powerful. Lancelot could feel his armor chipping away, being devoured by the darkness. But his move was successful. The attack split and crashed to both sides of the three Archanean leaders below him, instead of crashing into them.

Lancelot breathed heavily and winced. His hands were shaking, but he didn't care; it was a miracle he could still use them. The healers had treated him again, but they had told him he was still in no shape for battle. Like they knew what he could do and not do! Only he, only Lancelot would decide what he was capable of doing.

When the smoke that steamed off of his armor cleared, it would be to everybody's surprise that his helmet was gone. The force of the blast had knocked it off. His cape was tattered even more than what it was. He was unmistakably an experience, battle-weary warrior. And he was not done, yet. Lancelot looked up at the one who fired the blast and saw a woman. A woman. Like she would be better than him! He was wounded, but he could still fight- and he would, to the bitter end! "Bring it on, b***h!"

s**t. That was a little reckless of him. He left himself momentarily open after the spin attack, and the swordmistress took that moment to charge in to hit him. Fortunately, it was with the flat side of the blade. While it did knock the wind out of him, he was fortunate that she didn't try to impale him or something, because that would have bad.

He used the momentum of the hit to move back a little, then jumped back a little more after his initial recovery landing to put a little distance between the two of them and give him enough to block.

Each of her attacks was deflected, blocked, or otherwise parried. Good...he could keep up with her this time. But was this really her normal speed, or was she still holding back? Well...these first few strikes were a warm-up anyway.

She jumped back, and he took one step backwards. If she was going to put distance, then...yeah, there it was. The woman had swung her sword, and icicles formed around her weapon before charging for him. He countered with a well-timed explosion from his sword at where her icicles were, just a few feet in front of him. Roy then charged at full speed through the leftover flames (mere embers) and smoke caused by the explosion before he swung horizontally at the woman, flames covering the entirety of the blade. Even if she blocked, she wasn't going to escape without sustaining some moderate burns. The slash covered the possibility of her dodging through the side, and the flames could probably reach her even if she did react fast enough to jump back.

The war flickered outside Archesis gate. Those who were at the castle walls shoot out magic, arrows, and catapults across the sky. Along the wall, the guards were dropping boulders and burning oil to keep the enemies from climbing up. At the gates, foot soldiers, knights, and cavaliers were keeping the enemies from entering the gate. Among the group was Isadora, slashing the enemy across the chest with her sword.

Although the paladin was unsure how many armies did the enemy had, she knew for sure that they had to defend the castle. The Fire Emblem was now inside the building and they had to keep it away from the enemy. Therefore, she mustn't let the enemy enter.

As the Dame Knight blocked the swordsman's sword with her shield and countered with her sword, she heard someone calling out her name. Isadora looked around to see Leon charging toward her.

"Leon! Thank St. Elimine you're here." Isadora smiled. Tuomas let out a neigh as he tossed his head to greet.

"Most of the soldiers are alright." Isadora replied. "However, I don't know how long will we able to hold up."

When she listened to Leon about freeing the Watch and gain the upper hand, Isadora frowned a bit.

"Leon, we tried to save them through negotiation. However, a foolish soldier tried to attack the leader and killed himself, causing this war we are in right now. I'm very aware that we have to save them and defend this capital, but what do you mean by gaining the upper hand?"