Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hearing Dominic's battle cry through a window, Mer'loct knew there was more combat happening inside the tower. Turung to the children he spoke up. "There are more who need my help inside that tower. I'm going to go help them. Fall back fifty feet or so, so you can't be seen by anyone unless they come searching for you. I'll return very soon, probably with more people just like yourselves. Farewell!" As the squires found themselves on their own they drew their weapons and followed his order about falling back.

Rounding the corner again Mer'loct flew through the open doors of ivory tower. He first saw two 'mercenaries' fighting an older squire, one seeming to have a decent skill with a blade, but he was still out numbered. "Absorb power in the sky and strike! Lightning Stab!" As his sword fell two bolts of lightning seemed to strike from the ceiling, when they struck the two knights flamberge styled blades stabbed upwards from the ground with the same ferocity as the lighting. As unexpected as the lightning had been from inside a building one of the knight still stood after the attack. Turning to face Mer'loct he was confused at first to have not seen a female. "A man?" He said confused, giving Mer'loct the moment he needed through a rookie hesitation. "Disaster cries out to smash all.... Icewolf Bite!" As Mer'loct struck at the air again a huge blade fell from no where crushing down upon the knight before vanishing. Not withstanding this attack the mercenary fell. Moving to run deeper into the tower he first turned to the squire. "Head outside, to the rear of the tower, you'll find children there. They'll need protecting. Go now!" With those words he headed for where he thought that battle cry had come from.

Almost upon his target location Mer'loct found a mercenary with unusually expensive looking armor who stood with three others, they had just finished murdering several bound squires. After a quick thought the three lower rank mercenaries charged towards him. With a quick slash one fell, he parried and kicked one back, Mer'loct spun back around and blocked one attack then backhanded the other mercenary following his fist with his sword leaving a quick struck arc of blood around the back of his enemy. As the third rushed back towards him after regaining his balance from the kick, Mer'loct rolled to the side of his attack and beheaded him sending the body and head sliding off to his side. Stopping in place Mer'loct came to face the more armored knight. "Are you in charge of these 'mercenaries'?" Mer'loct asked with a smug disposition in his voice. "Not all of them, but I help command in my superior's stead. You're not of this order, that's obvious, why do you fight us?" Saddened that he hadn't found someone who he could force into commanding a retreat Mer'loct gave his answer. "I didn't like the way you mercs looked, and I've always liked what these Orders have done. So I've been showing every one of you how I feel about you attacking this place." At that he sat in a stare down with the man, eager to start the battle but smart enough not to jump too quickly.

Dominic tried to waste little to no time in defeating the 3 mercs in the room he was in. The clang of metal would've been heard as the knight's first attacks were blocked. Frowning, he moved again, using his shield to block one of the other's attacks. He then used the moment where he had blocked the attack to thrust his sword into the lone thief of the group, causing the enemy to slump to the ground, groaning in pain before going silent.

"s**t...this one is trained better..." the one merc glared, being more cautious. The third man looked away from Dominic, considering running, but it was a mistake. A slash came across the black mage's chest and he fell as well. Dominic could see out of the corner of his eye a squire was working on casting a spell. Hopefully something decently powerful with black magic.

The knight relaxed a bit and grinned at remaining merc, a dragoon of all things. "So, why exactly are you here anyways? I mean, I know Virgo's a good place to visit but sheesh, you guys really take the cake," the White Phoenix member said, shrugging a bit. His grinned widened upon seeing the surprise on the dragoon's face. "What? Cat got your tongue?"

The enemy would've said something, however his body became covered in fire. Fire2 perhaps? Seeing the merc fall to the ground, Dominic gave the squire a thumbs up. "Thanks! If I were you, I'd go up and make sure that you keep the enemy from reaching the health ward. With that, Dominic ran off, unknowingly headed right for where Mer'loct was at.

Celine finally reached the wall that signified the Ivory Tower and snuck inside the building. More blood had been shed here as well, and the female knight's nose wrinkled a bit while her eyes showed sympathy. There was a time in her younger years where she would've been lost as to what she should do. Maybe even get sick. But, those days were gone, and instead she started moving up the levels, hoping to avoid trouble before getting to some help.

Celine's feet made fairly light steps, considering the armor she had to wear as a knight. But then, hers wasn't the usual uniform anyways. Either way, her ears picked up on someone else's footsteps behind her. Much heavier. Immediately, the woman finished getting up to the next level, and seeing that it was pretty clear in that room, rushed for the door. "Come on, you can't get into a battle now..." she whispered to herself.

Bane thought he heard footsteps ahead of him but pushed it away as footsteps still echoing from down below that had haunted him so far ahead. Bane sighed and as a door slammed shut, the dark knight now knew it wasn't his imagination. Cautious, Bane put a hand on the hilt of his blade and headed to the next floor, where he heard the door close.

"I know your there." He shouted. "Come out and I won't hurt you."

Dmitri rested for a moment before he continued on, his chocobo not complaining once. He gasped as he spotted Virgo and the state it was in.

When he received no answer after a long few heartbeats, Bane kicked down the door and saw no one was inside. Bane glanced around and spotted another door. He tried to open it and to no surprise it was locked too. Bane growled as he tried to bust it down but it took a few tries and as the door finally gave way, he saw why. Whoever it was had moved a desk and a few chairs in his path.

Bane tossed them aside and spotted two mercenaries. "HEY! Head up to the upper floors! Someone escaped the battle!" He barked at one of them. "YOU!" He said pointing to the other one. "Head back downstairs!"

Bane then looked around the room, looking for a clue.

He opened the cabinet and took out everything inside and even knocked on it to make sure there was no hidden compartments. "Couldn't have gone far...." He muttered. It wasn't long before he had explored the entire room and the closet was the only place not checked.

"Even if you did escape, someone has more than likely have found you." He growled as he headed towards the closet.

As Bane opened the closet door, he fell back and sighed. "A....a girl? Geez....of all the rotten luck!" He looked around baffled then back to Celine. "S-say....you were the person I heard enter this floor....aren't you?"

He sighed and rubbed a hand against his temple. "Ah...geez...." Little did Bane know that Celine held something important.

"I am...but..." He paused and began to think that maybe she was sent up here to avoid being slaughtered. "Why don't you come with me? At least with me, you'll be safer and no one will really hurt you. I'll keep you safe. I promise." He held his hand out to her until she held the sword out to him. "I won't hurt you. Honestly." He muttered a curse under his breath.