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[Joe: Narnia: Frozen Moat -> Moat shore]

They were finally reaching shore, and Joe was...well, mildly grateful. It meant they didn't need to worry about falling into freezing cold water. Of course, they had other things to worry about. Like the heartless they were surrounded by(and which Joe kept swiping at with his staff to keep them off him and keep them from passing by him). Or that oncoming 'blaze' of lighting and possible fire. Or the person causing a ruckus on the bridge. Or the ice soldiers. Or the now arrow explosions.

Needless to say, with FUBAR on his mind, the male did a spin, his staff out, to propel heartless away once more(there were just so many of them, and some of them turned flat out hostile now). It was then that he saw something in the center of them all. Apparently an ice solider had made it through and was attacking them.

Joe didn't take that too well.

He skidded(and slid a little) to a halt, jumping up into the air and back towards the center. Even as one of the blades grazed against his flesh, drawing blood, he Air Stepped higher, the plat form of wind used as a stepping stone. He lit his staff ablaze with his magic he gained from driving with Mathy, flinging it at the ice soldier. It barely connected, the movement of the soldier making a clean hit hard, but it was enough to draw it's movements to a slow at it focused on the source of the fiery attack.

Joe came down, leg now raised and ablaze, and brought it down hard on the ice soldier's head, hearing the crunch of the force smashing into the creature, It was sent bouncing away, but Joe didn't focus too much yet on if it was defeated or merely pissed. He had more concerns to take care of.

"Keep going! We're almost at the bridge! Noelle, Amy! First-Aid detail! Keep that barrier up and keep on rushing! Don't be afraid to shove those ******** off the damn bridge if they get in your way!" He hoped, wished, prayed they'd be able to make it as he kept running with the group, now in the center and attempting to keep that part clear while the others did their thing while running.

[ Kyle ; Sora ; Riku ; Earthlings : Narnia : Sinking Rubble ]

As they reached land, Sora gave a brief sigh of relief--the lengthened Reflect barrier had worked. Even now, though, he could feel the effect he cast upon Kyla's barrier slip away, which meant Joe's would be doing the same about now, too. They may not have been out of range, but more importantly, they were at least on stable ground, with potential cover in the trees a short distance away.

But the enemy wasn't through with them yet.

Though Sora wasn't close enough for the leader's whirlwind of attacks, other soldiers were quickly coming in from various directions--so, he concocted a plan.

Striking the ground at his feet, he cast Magnera, hoping to draw as many enemies in his direction as he could. Then, as they were being pulled, he twisted his torso into a spin, his Keyblade spewing flames as he cast the spiraling Fira he'd learned on his second journey, burning away anything that got close.

Riku was doing what he could to fend for the others on the opposite side. Parry, riposte, thrust, twist, move--the soldiers were certainly more formidable than most Heartless he'd come across, but they were still nothing more than ribbons compared to his duels with Sora. But they had to move, now.

Leaping into the air, he let out a shout as he pulled his Keyblade above him with both hands; orange energy began to appear, swirling around his blade in a maelstrom of fiery energy, and as flames enveloped the key, he descended upon one knight with a burning crash--

--summoning a handful of blazing meteors crashing down around him, destroying any other nearby soldier.

Without pause, he immediately broke into a run after landing, trying to keep an eye out. The leader seemed to be causing the most hassle, but--

"SUCK ON THIS!"

--from the back of the group, the tank of a man that was John launched himself into the air, maul in both hands and coming down on the leading whirlwind like the fist of a giant. Even through the storm of blades, he simply powered through, the attacks doing little to dissuade his heavy fall. The hammer struck the enemy--or the ground--with enough force that the ground around them quaked.

"FOR THE CHOCOBOS!"

Then Anthony immediately followed John up, his War Cry spreading through their ranks and bolstering their defense and resistance even as he dashed in from the side, ignoring what little damage he might have taken as he came in to finish whatever John left behind. His giant fists made short work of the lesser knights on the way, knocking them back or into dust.

"YEAH!"

The sudden boost of strength and defense from Dawn, indicating the use of her War Dance, came as a bit of a surprise, but the girl had been practicing--she was incorporating her dancing into an even run. An enemy attacked, and she twisted, contorted, her fans swiping to one side and the wind and her body flowing into the other, dodging, dashing, dancing, all in one amazingly not-klumsy chain of motion.

Riku wasn't one to laugh, but he definitely cracked a smile as the party continued moving forward.

"Kyla's bleeding!" Sayrike shouted from the side to the healers, hoping one of the two would notice--if not, she could always cast some curative magic of her own. For now, though, she had her three mirrors up and constantly moving, going from herself to others, blocking attacks as they could. She didn't need to go on the defensive, instead using her time and focus to keep the mirrors up and flying, intercepting as many attacks as possible.

Even as she continued to play her Haste song, the melody began to grow into something with that was both quick yet sombre, the notes flowing and weaving around not just her allies, but her enemies. While the party continued to move at top speed, enemies around them immediately found themselves moving at a fraction of their potential--the Slow was taking effect, two songs twined in one.

"Whoa, hey there," Mathy said as he wound his way closer to the Geist, Prote. It was pretty clear even to him that the strange man was beginning to fade in the sapping frost of the world around them--so he unleashed a soft Flamethrower around the Geist, hoping the residual heat would be enough to give him strength.

What in the hell roared like that?

Kyle was on the defensive, trying to keep an eye ahead. The roar had come shortly after his own, but then shortly after that, the Heartless had turned their focus. Had he triggered something? Probably, knowing his luck. But he didn't want to risk trying again, even if it would help them now. No, they needed to get moving--someone up there was fighting the Heartless, too, with some sort of... hammer? He could barely see through the chaos.

"Golz Nahl!" he shouted, and three basketball-sized boulders erupted from the ground around him, immediately taking flight and beginning to fire small pellets of stone, in assault-rifle bursts, at any enemy that approached.

Christ, I hope that weird thing in the back isn't something strong.

[ Noelle ; Kyle : Narnia : Moat Shore ]

"Oh yeah, BECAUSE THAT SOUNDS LIKE HELP AND NOT A BIG MONSTER," she thought in response to Nicholas, panicking slightly. In truth, though, she was more frustrated than anything. Of course he was here now, of course he'd show up when tensions were the highest they'd been all day--

"Kyle, Joe!" she called out over the charms to the two of them--Leader-Joe specifically. "Asshat with the wind is over there being a d-bag all by his lonesome. That roar was jackass for 'I come in peace'."

It took a second for Kyle to figure out what she meant, but when it did, he bit his tongue, though unable to resist grumbling, "Avatar of Chaos," to Leader-Joe. Otherwise, he was silent--at least, until something clicked, and his world came mentally crashing.

Ultima, you...

... can't sense the other scions anymore.

We'd have to ask them, I guess.

Kyle angrily swiped at a nearby Heartless, cursing under his breath as they began to inevitably approach the Avatar of Chaos.

This is not going to end well.

[[ Noelle's dialog done by her ]]

[Nick? <> Narnia <> Bridge]

The onslaught was endless. Wedged between Heartless and Ice Soldiers, Nick could only bring down his sword at any opponent who crossed his path. Constantly, he could feel cuts and scrapes from the various attacks. He noticed that the Heartless were focusing less on him and more on the ice soldiers, and the ice soldiers were maniacal in their murderous frenzy.

A small glimmer of red caught his eye from atop the castle gate, and his eyes widened with shock before he spun his blade around himself to create space before beginning to make his way back towards the other side of the bridge.

As he retreated, he swung large gusts of wind towards the red glommer. He didn't know if the wind would reach the dot, but he was going to swing regardless.

Red dot bad. Red dot equals sniper which equals bullet to forehead which equals bad. Gonna need some backup for that nonsense.

Joe : Narnia : Moat Shore

Having moved onto more stable ground, Joe had been focused primarily on just staying alive and making room for the others. In the back of his mind, there was a creeping notion that he could be doing more to help out, but these things were small fry. The big monsters were inside and they were going to need all the energy they could.

Parry, riposte, feint, cut, dodge, thrust. This was second nature to him, even without the buffs. He hadn't survived for days in the wilderness on just dumb luck, he thought as he sidestepped a sword swing and gave the offending heartless a chop to it's skull.

Turning to engage a new opponent, he noticed all the heartless had stopped in their tracks.

The came the Behemoth.

Then came the Behemoth dying

Then came the tall red lady.

"OK, what the hell is going on?" he called out over the charms, taking advantage of the pause to cast a smaller zero gravity spell "Who is that woman? And that new guy way in the back?"

[[Narration - Sacrifice]]

The ice soldiers did not last long against the onslaught, but they lasted long enough. With blades whirling through the air and painting streaks of blue, black, and white across ones eyes they clashed with the bearers of light and were struck down, but not before striking many deep blows themselves.

They had reached solid ground once more, safe from the greedy depths of the lake, but at what cost? As the fiery amazon and the lunatic wind elemental both made their appearances, would anyone notice the nobody to the side who's empty heart was quickly failing him? With a sword arm stuck cleanly through his back and protruding from his rib cage was the flurry of dancing flames himself, Axel. With his arms out to each side holding his chakrams that had impaled the heads of two ice soldiers, his torso hovered over the artist, his body protecting her back, his actions saving the girl from 3 assassins who would have just as easily plunged their blades deep into her while she watched out for the others.

Midst the chaos, all of them had fought hard to protect themselves, but in war, you can never protect everyone. Battles could not be won without sacrifices. Was this the consequence of that truth?

[[Cue: Emil - Sacrifice from NieR]]

"You... need to take... better care of yourself," he coughed a painful laugh, black shadows dancing off his body, "If... you don't... you're gunna get hurt... and there are those that care about you... that don't want to see that happen." Axel smiled bitterly through the pain, "Got it memorized, bookworm?"

Thunderous beats, like drums upon the stone pillars of the bridge echoed as the lead behemoth changed forward towards the gate. The soldiers fought back valiantly, leaping to strike at its face, legs and sides, but to no avail, its steel-like hide was impenetrable to even the sharpest of swords.

Atir aimed, but was suddenly barraged by a gust of wind that caused her to stumble. The behemoth crashed through all the lines of the defense, but as it reached the gate there was a flicker in Atir's crystal eyes as she stepped forward onto the battlement edge once more, bracing her torso against her leg as she aimed almost straight down.

A pull of a trigger, a sound akin to canon fire, shattering of glass, a slow methodical drop in tempo from the drums of that behemoth where it finally fell face first at the gate, the giant crystalline spear forming a brand new horn that once embodied its only true weakness.

The heartless faltered, with the behemoth leading the charge, they'd swarmed the bridge, but with it gone, both behemoths defeated, even the mindless creatures of darkness found themselves stunned and unsure how to follow their instincts, if it were to pursue their prey or flee before this fortress.

At that moment, there was a loud roar, bass reverberating through every fabric of this world trapped in a torrential cyclone of ice.

High above them, in the clouds above, they could see its source, a thousand lights like stars shining through, but these were no stars. Swarms of gargoyle and wyvern heartless moved like funnel clouds of starlings dipping in and out of cloud cover.

Atir whipped her gaze to the other soldiers still guarding the battlements and their aim immediately shifted to the sky, hundreds of tiny lights blinked into the sky before equally small explosions like the sound of fireworks rolled through the clouds flashing silhouettes and shadows about aimlessly, bodies of heartless dropping from the sky with each new arrow loosed.

The reinforcements had arrived for the heartless army and they didn't come unarmed. Wyverns and gargoyles alike opened their mouths, and after a short charge, released fireballs upon the battlements, and battlefield below. Midst the cover fire, the source of the deep roar that shook them moments before entered the battlefield. Sinking from the clouds as what could only be described as colossal, a heartless, much like a gigantic manta ray floated down like the mothership of a science fiction movie.

Sparks flew between the two mandibles at its front and after a high pitch screech lighting shot forth, a pillar as large as a bus, striking the height of the castle walls, obliterating a small portion of the upper structure and vaporizing some of the ice soldiers present.

Atir covered her head and ducked down as stone and ice flew through the air and crashed into soldiers around her. Without any further hesitation, tendrils shot from her back again, stabbing into multiple soldiers, and their bodies began to deteriorate.

[ Sayrike : Narnia : Moat Shore / Near Bridge ]

The mirror-mage was struggling to keep up with everything, and was admittedly growing frustrated. Even with Joe in the lead--and she certainly didn't envy that responsibility--there was too much chaos and not enough organization. Even now, they were basically scrambling for their lives, pushing through to Louis and hoping something worked.

The roaring and quaking drew her attention, as it likely did most others, and she momentarily snapped her head forward to watch the Behemoth trample directly in front of them, only a dozen or so meters ahead. She watched it fall, watched the strange giantess laugh and start off--

--and then watched a strange man with a blade crash down in front of them, talking to them.

But before she could even react to that, a mental shout reached her--and she knew the tone before she heard the words. She searched for Kyla and Axel, quickly finding them, not really sure what she could do--she was a Blue Mage, after all, not a real healer. But she had Cura, so maybe that could do; at least, that's what she thought as she Scanned Axel to understand the damage before attempting to administer healing.

Her chest tightened, if only somewhat, as she realized there would be no stopping the billowing smoke from his body, so no Cura was cast.

"Kyla... I don't see any health indicators," she called back, including Noelle and Amy in the message in case they didn't Scan first as well. She'd seen this before--or, more specifically, seen this absence before. People, even when completely defeated, had what she could describe as 'health bars'--a defeated person's bar was empty, but still present.

Someone past the point of no return, she learned in Port Royal, completely lost their bar.

"It's not even a matter of running out of HP. His life force potential is... gone."

[[ I'm assuming when she called out to the three of them that it was only the three of them? ]]