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The second Meteor was better anticipated than the first; the scrambling was lessened, and soldiers were back into position faster. Amelia gripped her lance more tightly, lifting her lance and towards the Sentrians as the firewall vanished. "Charge!" Her voice boomed above the din, eyes blazing like Calill's magic. The soldiers roared as they charged, weapons clashing as the Learanians, bolstered by the Meteor their lovely new Sage companion had sent crashing down upon the enemy and the sound of Tibarn's battle cry, met the Sentrians in direct combat.

Time to get down and dirty, then.

Amelia lowered her head and raised her shield, barreling straight into the Sentrian line. She pushed her shield forward, using the strength in her thighs to vault her forward as she did so, and managed to slam three swordsmen down and onto the ground. The General didn't see them rise again as she spun her lance in her hand and deftly plunged it into an axeman's throat, swinging the lance to the side and using his body as a bludgeon to knock another Sentrian directly in the way of a Learanian thunderbolt.

"Press forward if you can! Don't let Sentria assume the offensive!" Amelia shouted to her nearby Learanian allies as she smashed her shield into a bandit's face in response to an ax swiping about three inches away from her face. She then proceeded to crash the butt of her lance into his gut to knock him down, using the momentum to spin around and slice the sharp head of her lance through a bandit's gut, stabbing it in deep before ripping it out. "Show these bastards what's coming to them when they mess with us!"

Amelia lowered her shield enough to survey the battlefield, breath coming fast. She glared before raising it again, deflecting an incoming arrow with practiced ease. "Tibarn, you better get him," she muttered, looking back up to the sky for his distinctive form before returning to the battle.

xxxxxx"You foolish men who walk the earth like blasted kings!"
x "I will collect my trophies soon."


xxxxx Jezebel reclined on their supplies as she observed the battle commence. She shook her head to swing her hair to the side. It had been a while since she had her hair this length; after the Eyris siege, she had to cut it short after the damned Mordacheans nearly ripped it all out of her skull. Snarky looks had cost several oafs their lives during the time it took for it to regrow. She also sported a black gauntlet that covered her whole left arm. The war was becoming intense and she had found herself in need of some extra defense that wouldn't impede her speed or overheat her. Covering her body anymore was out. But she rather liked how effective the gauntlet was at both punching people and shielding her from certain attacks.

As Drake addressed her, she turned to him and smirked. "Fighting fire with fire, huh? Okay... sounds fun."

Jezebel rounded up the slobs that were picked to haul the powder and began moving across the field. Once at the closest she could be to the fire wall, while still safe, she began to fit the slobs with packs of black powder that were then strapped to their backs. "Okay uglies, time to be useful now. You there, ugly number one, two and three... you see that fire wall? Are you ready to take it out?"

"Reeehhhrawflaahhhbuuuh....."

"...Right. Well, get going now!" Jezebel shooed the first three berserkers off and sat back to watch the show. The berserkers ran and ran until they reached three different parts of the fire wall and then ran straight into it. A large explosion followed, and as it died down, the fire wall came down with it.

Jezebel tumbled backwards from the force of the explosion and then began to cackle when she looked back. "Haa ahhhaha ha ha haaa! Okay boys, it's your turn! Don't forget your torches! Let em' have it!!" The remaining berserkers Jezebel had began to run and with no fire wall in their way any longer, they ran straight for the Learanians gathered on the other side. Several explosions followed, and the Learanian troops likely didn't do well against them.

As the explosions died down, the bandits could continue their charge, which they obviously did. A pleased grin on her face, Jezebel followed them leisurely, taking her time as she swayed through the smoke on the field, with her poleaxe over her shoulder. "Oh boys!" she called out to the Learanians. "Anybody want to come out and play?"

"Do not dare believe that I am yours to have!"xxxx

Melethia Dagon

s**t sure got real when things were pinning against you. With magic and falling objects raining down at you with no cover to hide as well as having so little space to dodge with everyone scrambling around, it was likely that your chance to survive was very slim to none.

Rajin took a barrel roll, dodging the meteorite that crashed down few feet from him. Sand flew everywhere from the crash as if they were waves from the ocean. With so little space, Rajin accidentally crashed into one of the allies. Shaking his head, he let out a frustrated growl as he and the foot soldier quickly got up.

God damnit! If there's going to be another damn rocks falling from the sky, I'm gonna ******** find tha-

BOOM!

Rajin jumped and looked around. What the hell was-

More explosions erupted, hurting his ears. He wanted to lower his head to cover his ears, but if he were to do that, who knew what object would strike him down. He may not be a cat with nine lives, but he liked to stay alive damnit.

The scent of burning gunpowder reached his nose, telling him that the enemies were using some sort of explosive devices. Great... Now they had to deal with bombs. Where was Bomberman to blow them up when they needed him? The tiger still hadn't forgive Bomberman for blasting him the last time they met.

When the explosions died, Rajin looked up to see what happened. He could see that the firewall was no longer there, meaning that they were now able to roam and battle them. Finally! Rajin thought as he charged toward the enemies. Although it was a terrible idea to charge at the enemies head first, at least he would be able to avoid the magic and fallen objects. The enemies wouldn't attack their own allies, right?

While the front line were dealing with the enemies up front, Rajin went around the side, heading straight toward the magic users. Okay, time to deal with these bastards. He growled. It would be a reckless move of him to attack the mages that wielded fire magic. However, if he was able to get rid of them first, then they don't need to worry about dealing with magic. Not to mention, stop whichever b*****d who summoned that meteor spell (which he didn't know it had stopped.)

Rajin pounced at the nearest mage, grabbing the enemy by the neck. For secure measure, he drew out his claws and swung it hard at the mage's jaw, hoping to break it before he could tear the throat out. There would be a chance that the mage may survive his attack, but surely the mage would not be able to talk again.

Once he done with the mage, he continued his assault at the rest of the magic users. Hopefully, he had someone to cover his back if one of them dared to attack him with fire.



"Hold up your positions! We can't let the enemy get to us with their attacks!" Isadora shouted as she raised her shield over her head. Fireballs rained down on her, making her almost lose her grip as her shield shook. Having small magic and arrows flying at them was no big deal, but she hoped that the Meteor caster was silenced. After all, with Meteor raining down on them, it would destroyed their number of armies and they needed as many armies to defend their border. The Dame Knight hoped that the reinforcement would come immediately.

Just then, she heard a loud blast. Sudden wind and dust flew, making her narrow her eyes and turned her face from the direction it blew. Was that a bomb? Just how many explosives did the enemies have? Few more explosions erupted, making the Dame Knight lowered her shield so she could take better control of her horse. When the explosions died, she looked up to where the bombs set off.

Isadora saw that the firewall collapsed, meaning that they had no longer have a barrier to defend themselves. However, with the wall gone, it had given them space to move around, evading whatever spells and arrows the enemies sent at them. She then heard Amelia gave the command. "You heard the general!" Isadora shouted. "Foot soldiers! Aid the front line and defend! Cavalries, round the enemies from the sides! Let no enemy escape!"

The paladin kicked the stirrups, leading the mounted soldiers into battle. As Isadora steered her horse toward the side of the enemies' line, she swung her lance across the bandit's chest before thrusting it at the neck. Once she pulled her weapon out, she galloped toward the next bandit to stab. One by one, Isadora slashed and impaled as she rode on. Twice she stopped to attack the enemies with accurate aim. Once she stopped to defend her ally.

Although she was putting up a good fight, she wasn't sure how long she could keep up. After all, they had very little rest and few armies to defend against the enemies. She wasn't even sure how many of her allies fell now. The Dame Knight hoped that reinforcement would come soon or else they would all be perished.

Tibarn wheeled around, having felt the blade part his tailfeathers on the way past, and hovered for a moment, glaring down at Drake. He quickly came to the same conclusion-- Drake's reflexes made attacking directly a futile effort, and the hawk would wear down much faster than the small human. He let out another piercing, frustrated cry, echoing over the battlefield, and then dove sharply into the bandit ranks, razor talons rending armor as easily as flesh. He grabbed up one poor axeman in his talons, flapping hard just in time to dodge the spears thrown up at him, and rose high into the sky once more, lifting up over the battle and clutching his dying opponent in his talons-- blood was seeping through where the talons had pierced his side.

The King of Hawks hadn't tried this before; he didn't have any expectations of success this time. Still, he was pleased that he managed to sling the dead body down within fifteen feet of Drake, hitting the sand with a sickening thud and reddening the sand. The impact would certainly be enough to kill a man with a direct hit.

Tibarn had his own point to make.

Legault was almost in reach. The knife was flying, and Murphy was about to attempt to lunge forward to snatch onto Legault's long, flying hair... until a tower of flame burst forth from the loamy sand, forcing Murphy to rapidly wheel back and avoid being scorched. The hot air cycling around altered the knife's course, and it soared harmlessly over Legault's shoulder, destined to land without making contact in the dirt.

"Hello friend. I think we have something to settle here, what with what happened to my last patient and all."

Murphy frowned, one hand instantly gripping onto the handle of one of his melee knives, thumb tracing briefly against where the handle gave way to the squared-off back of the blade. "The only thing we have to settle is you getting in the way of my mission," he answered, muscles tensing as he watched the Sage with wary eyes. Magicians were dangerous; they didn't jump into melee combat like other fighters, but their magic could kill a man in one blow if neither party was careful. Finally, as his legs shifted and his hand lashed out, Murphy leaped to the side, barely avoiding the firebolt that would have connected with his sternum if he had waited even a second longer.

"Sooner or later, these things come back to haunt you."Murphy rolled and stopped upright, free hand drawing another throwing knife and launching it in Ewan's direction. Even before it had connected, Murphy launched himself towards the Sage, slashing with the knife at the arm that held his tome before immediately leaping back and away from him. He held his weapon defensively in front of him, like the bit of steel would protect him from a fireball.

"I'd hazard a guess you know nothing about things haunting you," Murphy answered, eyes narrowing. He secured his hood over his head, drawing it over his forehead and barely shading his eyes. "You don't get to tell me about regret or settling animosity."



Jezebel's attack was unexpected, to say the least. The use of gunpowder in such a manner wasn't commonly seen, certainly not outside of possible siege attempts. But this is a siege, I guess, Amelia thought wryly to herself. She held her tower shield before her as the explosions began to rain down in higher intensity, hunkering down and waiting out the worst of it. When the smoke cleared, the firewall was gone, and their numbers had been thinned some. But not enough.

Ewan had run off somewhere; Amelia lost him in the din, unable to find his sun-bright red hair in the mess of bodies, blood, and blades. She gritted her teeth, smearing blood on her gauntlet as she wiped away the moisture from above her eye before pushing forward. "Move! Everyone, move forward! Don't give the Sentrians the time to regroup! We have skill to outmatch their numbers!"

"Oh boys! Anybody want to come out and play?"

Her teeth ground against each other as her grip tightened on her lance, enough to make her arm shake for a few long seconds. Finally, she lifted her lance, barking a single word.

"MOVE."

She approached Jezebel slowly, shield at her side. She returned her spear to her back before drawing her sword, holding the weapon tightly in her right hand. The Learanians parted for her; no one wanted to get near Jezebel, both out of fear of her poleaxe, and fear of her. "Jezebel!"

She lifted her gaze and met Jezebel's gaze. Her brow hardened as she lifted her sword, pointing the tip of the blade between Jezebel's eyes. "I see no reason... to send a man in for what can only be a woman's job!" She lowered her weapon, stance shifting slightly as she tossed her hair away from her eyes with a quick flick of her chin. She grinned at Jezebel, eyes still locked on hers, but with the bleeding cut over her eyebrow, the expression like a burning flame... it was anything but reassuring. "Unless you don't think you can beat another woman in a fair fight! Come at me, b***h! We'll see if you can handle playing with me!"

The little bugger was faster than he seemed. Murphy simply watched as he spoke up, gritting his teeth as his muscles tensed. "Oh, spare me the lecture! Your little venture would be cute, if it wasn't as far away from the truth as you can get." Another blast soared out as soon as the last word left the redhead's lips, and Murphy leaped back, bracing himself on his free hand and knees upon the sand. He waited for the cloud of sand and smoke to clear-- and then another flame emerged. Murphy yelled instinctively and rolled backward to avoid the attack. Still, the flames went across his hood, and Murphy rapidly swatted at it to put out any remaining flames once the magic dissipated, swearing briefly under his breath.

"I've been tested, chewed up, and spit out of the desert, so keep that smug attitude to yourself. You aren't the only one who's lost to these harsh sands!"

Murphy felt Ewan's hand tug over his hood, drawing it down over his face and towards his chin before the weight vanished. The little Assassin simply grasped the charred, torn fabric in his hands and ripped it away from the body of his jacket, letting the fabric drop lifelessly to the dirt. He panted lightly, watching the Sage prepare another round of magic between his fingers. "This is where I call home, so I won't be taken lightly!"

"And how does it feel, huh?" Murphy threw a knife at him, ducking to the side before throwing another. "How does it feel declaring even this bitter, blood-soaked wasteland to be your home?" He threw another knife, rolling away and landing on his feet again, still closer to Ewan. "How does it feel knowing the desert spat you back out?" Murphy paused, bracing his feet against the dirt, eyes narrowed. "The desert let you out. You left. You found your place in the sun and you've been allowed to heal from what you've lost," Murphy hissed, voice low. His eyes blazed, and the anger briefly flickered in favor of something not quite so... outwardly aggressive. Regret? Fear? He sprang forth, sprinting towards the Sage with his knife at the ready. "You don't have the harsh sands digging into your wounds, never letting you forget. Don't you ever imply you would ever understand what these sands can take from you!" With a quick dart to the side at the last second, Murphy leaped towards him, knife flashing in the sunlight, to tackle him to the ground with the blade against his throat.