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Watching his blade slip through the side of Nathaniel's chest; Ian did one thing, he simply willed his blade to stop. Now paused mid flight within the ethereal shape of Nathaniel, Ian stood, continually smirking as the blood rush continued to give him the buzz he needed to fight the yellow lantern on equal terms. It may have been thanks to the Beetle Scarab but even so, it was quite invigorating for him to see his blade pierced through the ghost like image of his rival. A rush further exasperated when he simply clicked his trigger finger once again and counted up one. Three.

Even as Nathaniel tried to butt away the sword, the blade stayed in place; held by sheer willpower in the middle of Nathaniel's chest. This gave him a few options but gave Ian more as he stood firm, he could retreated; make more of a gap, save himself. Phase back in on the sword. And die. Or a plethora of other things but that would have to be left to Nathaniel... For he was at Ian's mercy now. Three down...

Seven to go...

Fierce as a lion....

{Mostly Crimson Crusader's POV}
In the Astral Plane

As Crimson Crusader continued to swear and curse in ways that would make even the most hardened sailor cringe, his dear lady friend, Dove's Deception, trotted over, looking concerned. "Crimson, you're hurt! What happened?" The mare immediately nudged Crimson's mane out of the way so that she could inspect the wound herself. It looked pretty bad, being a gunshot to the head, but it would heal by the evening of the next day. That was the advantage of being an Astral creature. Everything healed quickly and without scars, you never aged and stayed forever in your prime, and you would never die. Of course, being immortal could be a curse as well... But that was a discussion for another time.

Upon seeing Dove, Crimson quickly stopped swearing and calmed himself, going still so that she could look at things. "Evie and I were in a large battle. It seems that the entire Material Plane is at stake this time. From what I understand...." He explained the situation as best as he could, then added, "But then I was shot by that Yellow Lantern and forced to return here, leaving Evie on her own! I can’t just leave her without some form of assistance, Dove! Sure, there may be two other heroes there, but they're busy fighting their own battles. They don't have time to worry about her as well.”

Dove listened to the whole explanation carefully, paying special attention to the odds. From what the mare could gather, the enemy was currently around 480 Atlantean soldiers plus 4 major villains, one of them being a divine power; most likely Ares in disguise. On the heroes’ side, there were only three. A Green Lantern, a Martian (in some sort of berserker mode; how terrifying), and Evie. The two males would probably manage just fine, but she was at much higher risk. Yes, she possessed dragon traits, but underneath that armor, she was only human. She could not become intangible to avoid an attack, or change her shape, or create structures with light and emotion. All that stood between the young maiden and death was a dagger, Excalibur, and her armor. It was for this reason that Crimson was so worried.

Now, bonds of any sort between Astral creatures and humans were few and far between, and for good reason. Compared to the infinitely long life of an Astral creature, a human’s life passed in barely the blink of an eye. To forge a friendship with such a short-lived creature was to endure unimaginable sorrow when they did reach the end of their days, knowing that you must go on living and could never join them in the afterlife. Humans would likely refer to such feelings as "survivor's guilt", but it was so much more than that. Humans got over death relatively quickly. Such was not the case for Astral creatures. Why, even after thousands of years, Pegasus was still grieving for Bellerophon. Canis Major and Minor both still mourned the death of their "owner" Orion. Crimson Crusader didn't want to have to endure that kind of loss yet.

The stallion suddenly looked up at Dove, his deep brown eyes shining with determination. "Dove, I need you to go get Verteidiger. He owes me a favor, and I refuse to leave Evie out there on her own."

Dove hesitated for only a moment before nodding and galloping off in the direction of the mountain cave where the large dragon lived. Hopefully, he was in a good mood today.

About fifteen minutes later, the mare came back with Verteidiger right behind her. He looked rather annoyed, as if he had been interrupted while doing something. "Vat do you vant, Crimson? I am fery busy, and you are knowink zis!" he growled, his voice rumbling like distant thunder.

Crimson sighed and quickly explained things to him, but before he could finish, the dragon interrupted.

"And vhy schould I care? Efie is your problem, not mine. If you vere shtupid enough to get yourself schot, zen it is your own fault zat she is in trouble!"

At this point, Crimson Crusader stomped a hoof in frustration. "Look, I'm calling in that favor. I need you to go out to the Material Plane and help her."

"Nein! I am not goink to go out into zat battlefield just to helpen zee fräulein in her shtupid fight!"

"Dammit, Verteidiger! You gave your word that you would help me with anything if I needed you, and a dragon always keeps his word, remember? That's what you said!" the exasperated stallion cried.

Knowing that he had indeed said that, the great dragon sighed in defeat. "Oh, fine! I schall go und helpen your charge, but only because I am owink you zis fafor. After zat, I vant you to be leafen me alone!"

Upon hearing this, Crimson seemed to grin in triumph, starting to calm down. "Thanks, Verteidiger. I appreciate it. You'll like Evie, I promise."

The dragon rolled his eyes. "Ja, ja, vatefer. Let us get zis ofer viths." he grumbled, starting to fade into the Material Plane.

~In the Material Plane~

The next thing that Arturia saw was an enormous amount of bloody red mist emerging from her amulet, enough to be easily seen from anywhere on the battlefield. It quickly took the form of a large, red dragon, who released a long, ear-splitting roar, as if announcing his presence. Once he was done with that, the dragon looked around, taking in the situation before his golden eyes came to rest on a very shocked Arturia. The young woman didn't look too well, her face pale and bloody, streaked with tears, and her body trembling. "Mein gott... I assume zat you are Crimson's young charge." he gently growled, concernedly taking note of the slashes across her cheek. She had already been wounded and badly shaken, being barely in the right mindset for such brutal battle. It seemed that it was a very good thing that he had consented to come out here.

Arturia stood frozen in shock for a few moments before nodding. "Y-yes, I am Arturia. If I may ask, who are you?" The young British heroine noticed that the dragon spoke with a heavy German accent, which she found very fitting for some reason. His low, gravely voice was well-suited for the language. Another thing she noticed was how heavy his scale plating was, especially around the head, neck, chest, and belly. Those were generally weak spots on dragons, but not for this one.

"I am Verteidiger. Crimson called in a fafor and asked me to helpen you viths zis battle. Now I can see vhy. Zis is fery serious." he replied, once again glancing about. He could already tell which one was the Yellow Lantern, the one who had "killed" his equine friend, feeling a surge of rage.

Arturia smiled faintly, sending a silent thanks to the warhorse. She didn't know what she would do without him. "It is indeed serious. I truly appreciate your support, Verteidiger. However, I would like you to go and help anyone else who needs it first. I should be fine for a bit."

Allegiance: Sinestro Corps
Status: Healthy
Thoughts: Damn it, Ian, just ******** die!!!!!


Of course, Nathaniel also neglected to actually take a full look at the blade before he tried to jam the rod into the barrel: it had no holes to jam it into. And then it started sparking, the electricity traveling up the rod and into Nathaniel. Gritting his teeth, the Yellow Lantern did his best to not back off from this, instead concentrating on his suit. The armor glowed for a brief moment before the sudden surge of electricity faded away from his body. All Nathaniel did was change the properties of his suit so that it was more insulated against electricity. And if Ian looked straight at Nathaniel's staff like construct, he would see the electricity around it change to yellow fire. Energy cannot be destroyed, only changed. That is a basic law of physics: The Law of Conservation of Energy. What Nathaniel did was a reversal of how heat can be turned into electricity.

And now that same flaming rod was now used against his opponent, as Nathaniel removed the rod from the gunblade, the end of the rod being turned into a spear point as he stabbed it straight into Ian's hand. The spear point, superheated by the rod's fire, was jammed in such a way that Ian won't be able to use his gunblade with that hand. Not only that, but another construct appeared on Nathaniel's shoulder, and it looked strangely like something you would see on a truck. A single six tube missile launcher....that was being fired at point blank range.

If Ian was wondering if Nathaniel knew the risks of this, he did. It seems Nathaniel was not caring about his own health now. He was just focused on destroying Ian, no matter the cost. If he could just kill the Green Lantern, even if it meant his own death, it would be totally worth it.

Fierce as a lion....

Arturia was going to say something more, but upon seeing a blur of movement out of the corner of her eye, she whipped around and instinctively raised her sword, just in time to block the demon's attack. It was a powerful blow, sending a rather painful shockwave through her forearms and forcing her to take a step back in order to avoid being knocked over. Her eyes flashed with something akin to annoyance before she tapped into her dragon strength and tried to push him back. "Can you not see that I am having a conversation?" she growled, before muttering, "I swear, the nerve of some people...."

ABDI'KARIM GHEDI

Martian Manhunter

"I'm not my predecessor..."

Abdi had been ignoring the fight between the two Lanterns. Truth be told, it was their struggle, and even if he was lucid, he wouldn't have interfered unless the Green one was in some mortal danger. From the corner of his eye, he could see their fight. The Green Lantern seemed to be doing well. Good, Earth could use someone strong like him.
As Abdi continued his deadly dance with his opponent, he just barely heard the cracking sound, before the thing began to explode. The Martian's eyes widened, his body turning intangible and slipping down into the ground as fast as he could, to avoid the enormous blast. Even then, he was almost too late, managing to sink down almost a hundred meters in the few seconds he had. The Martian remained there for a few more seconds, eventually surfacing after a minute of slowly coming back up. With wonder, and a little disgust due to O'jore's influence weakening over him, Abdi looked on, at the wreckage that Ian had wrought.
The Martian's words were caught up in his throat. So much... fire. It was hellish. Abdi broke out into a cold sweat, his whole body shaking with pain and fear. It was a choking sensation, so much fear that the usually stoic Martian seriously wished to curl up in a ball and cry.
Abdi sunk to his knees, his body convulsing in fear, frame-shuddering waves of disgust going through him. His intangibility simply ceased, and he knelt there, breathing heavily, immobilized by his fear of flames.

"If you get in my way, I'll simply kill you."

Rising from the water, Ian tried his best to scramble to his feet but his hands slid on the wet and slippery glass that his blast had created; although an accident, Ian couldn't help but look towards the New Boulevard and the Amusement Park on the Beach Front and half marvel, half wince at the destruction he had caused. They were naught but buildings one could say to him, put him at ease that they probably just about held up and kept the people inside them safe. It was mostly upwards force after all but the thing was the amount of bodies and people that staggered around the crater, inside the crater in front of him. There was nothing that could ease the pain he felt about that. Finally, scrambling to his feet, his protective aura fading until it disengaged but his uniform still on Ian made his way across the newly formed and cooling glass towards the crater's centre. Water followed hi, lapping at his feet with some steps, fleeing from them afterwards until he eventually slid into the crater and marvelled at his once mighty opponent... Armless, helpless, dying...

He froze up at the sight of adversary's condition, unsure of how to proceed. The guilt was combating the Beetle. And eventually, he sank to his knees beside the Yellow Lantern's bleeding stump and could no longer mask his disgust. "N-n-... Nathaniel.... I... Hold on. I'll get help... I'll... I've... something..."

ABDI'KARIM GHEDI

Martian Manhunter

"I'm not my predecessor..."

Abdi, while generally not very arrogant, certainly knew his own abilities. He was a powerful warrior, with centuries of combat to hone his already impressive reflexes and knowledge of styles. He could shapeshift as needed, and was probably one of the most powerful psychics that currently lived. But Abdi couldn't deny his current situation. He was outright terrified of the fire.
It wasn't so much that he would get burned. He had gotten acid burns before, even torn off his own skin at times, so it couldn't have been the burning. It wasn't the mutilation either. Hell, he was a shapeshifter, he could just smooth out his skin and be done with it. It wasn't even the pain. Burning didn't even hurt that much, especially with his dulled pain receptors and ridiculous endurance.
There was just a certain something about that fire that Abdi simply couldn't fathom. It was sincerely the most frightening thing he had ever experienced. Almost as if he wasn't even in control of his body, he knelt there, his entire frame immobile, no matter how much he willed it to get up, and fight. Darres was still there, and he would still be alive, most likely. O'jore screamed at Abdi internally to get up, calling him weak, pathetic, a pitiful portion of their shared mind. The sick thing was, Abdi agreed with him, if only a little. He was currently useless.
After a few moments of simply trying to force his body to shift, Abdi ceased, his torso slumping forwards in defeat. He tried to speak, and only after many moments of futilely croaking in an attempt to make words come out, he managed to speak, probably not even loud enough for it to matter. "Cut... cut the... flames." And with that, Abdi fell forwards, his body no longer able to take the stress. He wasn't knocked out by any means, but he was paralyzed and weak as long as the damned fire was still raging.

"If you get in my way, I'll simply kill you."

Fierce as a lion....

Arturia was caught completely off-guard by the blast, unable to do a thing to defend herself against it. Luckily, Verteidiger had reacted faster. The dragon sat on his haunches and quickly pulled the young knight (who yelped in alarm at suddenly being dragged from her battle stance) against his scaled belly with his tail, extending his enormous wings and curling them into a sort of shell around the front of his body, and Arturia as well. He tucked his head in just as the blast enveloped them.

Arturia wasn't even sure what had happened until it was over and Verteidiger lifted his wings and folded them back against his sides. The sand had been turned to glass by the immense heat, there were flames and bodies everywhere, there was a crater in the beach.... It was enough to make her sick. She would've thrown up if there had been anything in her stomach. Seeing Abdi seemingly passed out, probably from fear of the flames, she quickly asked Verteidiger to put them out, which he did by flying over the field and using his wings to create enormous gusts of wind to blow the flames out like those of a candle.

Once that was done, Arturia made use of herself the best way she could: helping people. She ran through the field of dead and dying Atlantean soldiers, looking for survivors and helping them as best as she could, whether it be by bandaging minor wounds, or simply making sure that they didn't die alone. At one point, she even used her hair ribbon as a makeshift tourniquet for a soldier who had lost his hand. This was all she could do.