"And that is how they will help us." Allyoceer finishes explaining as we lounged about in a dense mist. It might've seemed filling, but it really wasn't. The magic in these shields was not intended for use like this. It was just meant to prematurely set off explosive shot or slow down the more momentous kind.
"It seems risky to let something like that get this close." Dannatili comments as she looks out at the approaching beast. The tremours were clear earlier, but now, there were periodic thuds that shook even dust clear. Even though the beast was rapidly approaching, there was a pattern to its charge.
"The more guns we have firing on that thing, the better."
"But none of them will hurt it..." Uala reminds us as she looks over at us disapprovingly.
"We don't need them to hurt it, we just need it distracted. And, in a way, I feel like we underestimate this fortress. Plains this vast, a mountain cracker and more guns than even the mightiest of Ibenoroccon warships. Surely it was designed to bring down something like this?" Allyoceer told her in an almost deluded manner.
But, we could all understand why. This was probably going to be it. Even if we tried to go into this hopeful, we'd be fully aware of our likely demise. And while the others might've been in an odd limbo about it. I wasn't, my right to be with Waionr had been taken from me.
My death here would only mean that I would be found by him before he put me to rest...
"It's coming, you lot." Cetrepe says as she suddenly gets up and puts on her helmet.
"Yeah." Bsess adds on as she follows her. And, as I was their Wing-Tip, I gathered up Osses and joined up with them. Anxiously, we waited and watched as what once seemed like a dark shadow became ever clearer. A beast with near-pitch black hide and armour.
A living mountain.
"Loud, isn't it?" I scoff, trying to ease the tension as it shook the world with its roar. Magic was gathering up on its back but a beast like this. Surely it could wipe us out on its own. They were rare creatures, but they were truly defined by their legendary status.
"D-Do you think the castle on its back is made from stone or its shell, Wing-Tip?" Bsess asks me as one of the others stops her from stepping back even slightly.
"I hope from its shell, then we can at least get past its hide." I answer as a brief delusion flashed by my mind.
"Alright, everyone! Gather up the last of the magic that you can, it is nearly time." Allyoceer states whilst I found myself staring as blankly as I could at the green fog emanating from the castle.
"I suppose I really am giving up on Zaphadren-Valkinvar Gemorli..." Dannatili for some reason lamented as she seemed to let go of her worries.
"You would prefer to die amongst the Ordoar of the Staguiffmani?" I ask her as she inspects her staff carefully. She then sighs as she stares at it. She shakes her head and then looks at me.
"I would be glad to die with my fellow Valkinvar." she answers with a smile as she finishes sorting out the rest of her gear.
"We all would be, now, who's ready to die?" Allyoceer asked everyone as she stepped up onto the edge of the walls.
"I am." many began to say as they copied her. Yet, unlike before, I was able to stand up with them without encouragement. I joined them as I should have, even if I had reservations about how it would go.
"Then let them array themselves before us, and let the artillery lead the way." she tells us as she plants her blade into the stonework. And as she reduced our fortress a little more, I looked behind us. The men were bringing up more guns.
"To think they'd finally be able to use those things." Cetrepe scoffs when she notices my wayward glance.
"Anti-witch light guns." I remark as the relatively peculiar weapons were brought up and set up. In comparison to a regular gun, they had much thinner barrels and much more of them. A vastly more complex machine as well, one would realise if they paid close attention.
"We can only hope that their aim is true." Osses comments.
"We won't be in range, we'll be in there." Cetrepe reminds us as she raises her sword at the castle.
"They'll need more than that, even now." Uala dismissively comments as the battlements of the castle become clear. The war-witches of this order were all ready and they were all there. Waiting for that one order which would set them onto us.
"My failure seems to be damning us, now..." I found myself commenting when chit chat from the gun crews entered my ears. The soldiers held up within the downed airship... They were amassing outside of it and were going to join the assault!
"Let the army focus on them, that is their fight. Ours lies right ahead and it itches to drum its chest." Allyoceer tells me as she starts to float into the sky.
"With you, then." I say as I drew what was left of my blade. It was a childish thing, but I didn't want to be left out as everyone else presented their weapons. Our time had come, our final battle was upon us and it came with the accursed encouragement of the moon-sealed betrayer. Yet, with the blessing from the Lord of Honourable War, we will find ourselves victorious.
Even if we did find that our blood decorated the land too severely...
"Valkinvar, forward." Allyoceer ordered as everyone presented their weapons. And as we started to head forward, the fortress sprung to life.
"FIRE!" it roared as fire and black smoke erupted from its ports and holes. Before it had even gone away, we felt the air distort as a tidal wave of iron and stone went past us. Then, in but another moment, fire and shockwaves erupted from the gigantic beast. And it roared back at us as it unfurled all of its limbs.
"VALKINVAR, ATTACK!" Allyoceer shouted as she broke away from us to attack the first of the war-witches that came at us. And, right after, I nodded at my three sisters and broke off with them. Though, while they went ahead with their blades, I quickly sheathed mine and dashed ahead to settle up at the tip of our small wing.
"Break through to their castle! Make their numbers mean nothing!" I reminded them just before I collided with one of the enemy. And although I had no doubts we all went into this scared, them and us alike. None of us showed it when the moment finally came. And even as I held a woman's head in my hands, she cared more for placing a spell against mine.
Her screams were not just of pain, but of defiance and a will to win. But that was not just what one needed. They needed skill and strength! An army at their side who covered for your own weaknesses as you did theirs!
That was the example we would display to them, and I was already confident of our victory. Because even as I crushed her skull in my hands. No one came to her aid. The others kept their distance and tried to take me out alongside her.
But unlike them, I was no glorified mercenary, I was a Valkinvar! A fact I did not hesitate to remind them of. As while they struggled to adjust themselves to the situation. I was popping in and out of their view.
A trail of dead and wounded already lay behind me as well as the explosion of cancel spells. Orange and emerald lights lit up the air and all kinds of magic were set against us. A chaotic array that hampered itself more so than it aided. Yet, with our power weak, it was appreciated, it meant I could find the others so much easier.
Our traditions made us stand out and gave us the depth of character that let us truly focus. I could find my sisters by how the wind exploded. By how the wounds their swords left and the trails their armour helped them make. I would not be lost in the battle so long as I focused on all of these.
"DIE HERETIC!" one of the war-witches screamed as she began to rapidly slash at the wind. Setting up a barrage of slicing blades that went into the stone and against the beast as I ran along their castle.
"Oh, the irony of it." I remarked as I passed by some of the iconography of their evil deity. But before I could react to her, I went for that very same statue and struck it down. I enraged them like their actions had done to me throughout my travels to this fortress. It did not pay them back for what they did to Giant's Victory or any other town or city.
But it went a long way, especially when I could consecrate it with their blood!
"BREAK ON INTO THE CASTLE!" I reminded the other three as I weaved past a few more spells. Kicking and jabbing the war-witches as I made sure to give them a path to go through if they did not have one. Thankfully, the one who did make use of my aid only did so, so she could cut down a few more of them.
"GO!" Cetrepe reminded me as she blocked a few more spells with her blade.
"DO NOT LINGER!" I tell her just before I smashed right through some ornate glass. Then, quick as ever, I spring to my feet and wrecked the halls as best as I could as they started to pour back in. I had to dive and roll out of the way from some spells that followed me in. But it served my purposes well.
Yet, the sudden appearance of emerald orbs from my side caught me off guard. And I was flung back by one crashing against me. Thankfully, my armour, damaged as it may have been was able to absorb the blow. Something I wasn't really able to do last time...
This magic, I recognised it clearly.
"So my failure presents itself to me again." that war-witch sneered as she took on an emerald shimmer before a barrage of orbs came at me. Yet, now that I was aware of this as well as being willing to fight this time. It wasn't much effort to dash between the gaps and reach her.
"I will not run this time." I quickly tell her just as she brings up a defensive spell to block my downward strike. But, although I gave the impression my body could not stop itself. It was no effort at all to force my body at her.
"GAH!" she let out as I crashed into her. Sending her right through a wall in the process. But she was not just going to take it, and I was sent flying away by her counterattack.
"In your own castle!?" I taunted as I was forced to once again dodge her attacks. Some, thankfully, could be held off barely by the decor of the vast chamber we were now in. Thick stone pillars crumbled and fell as magic exploded against them. And the furniture was knocked about in vicious gusts.
"We never cared much for the place anyway!" she comments as I get caught on an orb that suddenly came from behind. Something was off about this, though, her magic, it was far stronger than it was before. And there was no reason for her to have held back last time!
"Wipe her out!" someone anxiously cheered as they funneled magic into her from a safe spot.
"WE WILL!" the one I battled roared at me as she brought all that condensed magic right against my pushed-out chest.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed as I felt the potent spellcraft erupt against my armour. It was strained to its limit and the magic slipped on by without even breaking my armour! It tore open my skin and my clothes and I went deep into the stonework on the ground.
But with a sudden explosion in the wind, I was back on my feet with blood travelling down my face. I growled and then adjusted my focus, this other war-witch. The one dressed mostly in white. She was altering her, reinforcing her.
If I was to make this fight any easier, I would have to get rid of her!
"NOALLA!" she screamed as she suddenly flinched when I came for her. But her fellow war-witch came for her and set me aside. She saved them and interrupted me. She knew what she had to do for her fellow soldier...
Her friend...
"It's alright, Ainael, just keep doing what you are doing. All the way until all of them are dead!" Noalla told her friend as she prepared more spells to attack me with.
"More of your own will die first." I tell them with a gladdened tone as the fighter of the two growled at me.
"Bloodthirsty as ever, Valkinvar."
"Only towards those that would invade my home!" I answer just before I went for her again. I briefly managed to deceive her with one blow, but she was quick to react and met the real one with her own. My strength clashed against her spell and it prevailed. But it was not enough and I was forced back.
The air then erupted several more times as I tried to get in close or around her. Yet, this magic of hers, it was near-perfect for countering my fighting style right now. Vast, wide and destructive orbs that would blast me away or drag me into something worse! Frequent, too!
"Wait, wh-" I barely got out before a littered spell went off under me.
"YOU ARE NOTHING WITHOUT YOUR SWORD, IMDVARCE!" she screams up at me as she sends up a gargantuan sphere that forces me right through the roof. Its detonation then made swift work of sending me out onto the tiling and stonework.
"One part of a greater whole..." I spit out at her as I open up my helmet to spit out a glob of blood.
"STAY BACK!" she warns her fellow war-witches as she marches on me with her friend not far behind. Amidst the fire and emerald wind, her pure white, silk robes made her stand out. She was as clear a target as she was beautiful dressed like that.
"So when are you going to prove that you can actually beat me?" I ask as I take note of how the others backed away. I could not even sense if they were preparing any spells of their own for sneak attacks. Vile, disgusting tactics that I frankly expected from them.
Yet, she did not go for my taunt and instead she focused on preparing another spell. A damn large one too, but there was no way she could've expected that to hit me, no? Though, while I could tell she had the foresight to accompany something like that. I don't think she had an idea of what I would try and do.
A spell like that required a lot of focus, so much magic was being concentrated there. It would not explode so easily while she was still feeding into it! And I intended to exploit that fact. So as she was approaching the final phases of its completion, I put my energy into sending me over her. But rather than going for her friend who was in the open from this high-up angle, I went down.
Forcing myself against the spell and pushing her back down into the ground with it. And although I was sent flying by the detonation. I had ensured that it was only the backwash that I dealt with. Thankfully, both the thick stone pillars and the floor broke my falls.
Without then delaying so that she could prepare herself, I went for a loose pillar. I slid along the ground, carving it up before kicking the lower pillar out from under it. A quick burst then saw me smash my grip deep into it before I levelled it before her. With a single burst I then crashed against her.
I kept on going until the pillar was reduced to fine powder and a spell was presented before me. But, with my superior strength, I was able to force my way through it. And our hands locked together as we started to push against each other. Yet, it was her that began to win out.
"You were all foolish to think you could keep on fighting after what we put you through!" she told me as she bent me over and slammed me into the ground. Several spells then went off right in my face. Armoured gauntlets then followed as she frantically slammed them against me again and again.
"My Lord waits for me after I die in battle, where is your evil creature?" I asked her as I dug an arm into the ground whilst she was distracted. Then, with a single, sudden blow, I sent her flying off. And as the rubble was thrown out towards me, I got up and turned my attention to this Ainael. The remains of my sword then entered my grip.
"S-Stay back..." she cried as she slowly backed away whilst feeding magic towards her friend. So, I quickly dashed in front of her to exploit her charity. Yet as quickly as I came, it the flow stopped. And she turned the magic onto herself, finally using her own strength to protect herself rather than someone else.
I then snapped into an appropriate position and prepared myself. That power she gave me was just enough for one final attack. And I expended it as quickly as it came. I needed to cut off this support.
"NOALLA!" she screamed as something flashed before me. A bright flash erupted before and I screamed against its squeal as magic lashed out against me. The light blinded me and forced me away. But I was able to dig my sabatons into the rock and force my way through until the familiar sound of sliced flesh and steel made it all go away.
"S-Stay... Away from my friend..." Noalla spat bloodily as she forced my sword out of her gut before a spell went off in my face.