Now with an opening into the stronghold, the Infinus forces began to flood the inside.
Ether took the front line, he was there to make sure the defending forces were away from the entrance. And luckily they were, but they weren't far from Hedix's body.
"Stram riders go in first!" he ordered.
Just as Ether requested, the riders flooded the stronghold. They applied another layer of pressure to the already crumbling defenders.
But they weren't done fighting. While the attackers tried to kill their Cemtras, the defenders finished preparing for the conflict.
Shields and pikes faced towards the incoming Infinus Stram while the Sky Beast pelted them from above. With each explosion that went off, it sparked a burning hatred for the attackers.
Riders rode their beasts towards the conflict, and collided. Stram pounced the defenders while the riders tried their beast to shoot down whoever was around them.
But as they soon came to learn, this strategy wasn't the best.
Defenders would sacrifice one of themselves per Stram, while the others impaled the beast and its rider with their pikes. Going inside would be a death sentence.
And Ether saw this, and he thought of a plan.
"Jakery! Uvn brogh desm deshi ovion Durion Ravk! (Go through them with your Third Rule!)" Ether spoke in Icitru to hide his orders.
But thankfully, Jakery heard it. He supercharged himself by quickly rubbing his hands together, then he rushed inside.
His entire body became nothing but bright lights as he ran through the chaos. Once he got behind them all, Jakery reappeared. Then he unleashed a powerful blast of energy.
"Okay," Ether murmured. "Pearl, follow me!"
She quickly finished bringing injured warriors to safety, then hurried to help Ether. It would be her first time battling with Ether out there, and she wanted to make the most of it.
"Alright, trust me with your armor please!" Pearl quickly asked.
Before Ether could answer, his armor hardened. It was impossible to move a finger without wasting all of his strength on it.
"I can barely move! Make it softer!" Ether panicked.
And she did as he asked. His body was free again. Which allowed them to push forward. As Ether walked through the opening, various amounts of warriors followed him and Pearl.
They quickly found a target and got to work. Heavy two-handed maces made dents in the shield, while the pikes attempted to fight back.
All the fighting was perfect for Pearl to recover Hedix's body, who was badly beaten between the fighting.
Ether grabbed Tellendor by the blade, and rushed forward. It found its way through the defenses of a shield, and into the body of its wielder.
Then he ripped it off. Ether quickly spun around and caught another defender by the back of their head. Before another defender behind him got an opening, Pearl shut them down.
They dropped dead with their armor suddenly turning into a razor sharp weapon, that was used against them.
Pearl quickly got to work on fastening Hedix's body to the special chest piece Ether ordered for her. It was the standard Infinus warrior armor, but with straps along the back and front to carry other Variants on.
Ether kicked another defender's shield, then found an opening below the shield. He used the opening to stab the wielder with his weapon.
Despite his several small victories, he couldn't hold on forever.
Just as Ether was about to ask her, Pearl finished tying Hedix along her back. Then stood up, waiting for Ether to pull them out of the situation.
Ether noticed this and began to slowly walk away. His back turned to Pearl and Tellendor hot in his hand.
"Donvuk, donvuk! (Help, help!)" Ether called out to Jakery.
He quickly rushed over to them and began clearing the area using his Third Rule. The electricity ran from warrior to warrior, like fire in a forest.
It seemed like it was going well, until the Light Legion decided to give them everything they had. Arrows formed black clouds overhead as they quickly approached them.
Ether turned around and made himself bigger by ordering Pearl to get below him. He opened his arms and leaned forward to protect as much of Pearl as possible.
Moments later, the arrows punishing Ether's armor was like someone knocking on metal. The hardened armor helped keep them both alive.
"It's over! Pearl, go, go, go!" Ether ordered.
She understood and turned around. Her heart began beating faster and faster as she ran closer to the opening. Ether was right behind her while she ran.
Pearl ran through the opening and past the waiting Infinus warriors. After they saw the trio come out of there, they rushed inside. Hoping their overwhelming numbers and brute force was enough.
Right there was when Ether stopped following her. He turned around and prepared to dive back inside the seemingly never-ending slaughter.
***
The Infinus Legion won their attack on the stronghold, but barely. Their numbers dwindled down as fast as their ability to continue.
Ether began looking around for anything interesting that could help them during their future encounters with the Light Legion.
And inside a storage house, he found something that interested him. It was purple and white helmets of another Legion.
He picked up one helmet and examined it. His eyes touched every detail about it.
The three white stripes along the face, and the purple helmet with another reinforced layer on top of it to make sure the wearer didn't suffer much damage.
None of these helmets seemed familiar to him, but for some reason they felt important. As if these were screaming something at him.
So he picked up a helmet and brought it with him towards the group.
No one else bothered to look at the helmet, not even Jakery. They were all too tired to continue their day outside of their Legion's walls.
So they decided to return.
-Late that night-
Pearl, Jakery, and Ether sat in the living room. The fire's dancing inferno lit up the lightless room as the trio mindlessly talked.
Then a topic crept into Ether's mind: the helmet. He got up and walked across the room to a closet where they stored all of their gear.
Ether opened the door and walked into the dark room. He felt his way through the darkness as he looked for the piece of armor.
After feeling the details of a random helmet he found on the floor, he was confident this was the one. He walked back out and sat down beside Pearl.
"Do you know from what Legion this helmet is from?" Ether asked.
Jakery shrugged then continued to watch the embers, but Pearl studied the helmet. Seconds later, she remembered the colors and symbols.
"Those are from the Ophus Legion. Did you find that inside the stronghold?" she replied.
Ether nodded.
"Weird... what are they doing with the helmets of their allies. Taking another Legion's helmet is a sign of killing one of them. Why would they kill an Ophus member?"
"Are you sure they are allies?" Ether tried to reason. "Hmm. Maybe they got tired of one another and they are fighting each other off the territory."
Pearl placed her hands above Ether's on the helmet. "Can you feel anything rough about it? You're more sensitive than me so you might help."
"The only feeling in my hands are your two adorable hands!" Ether blurted out.
The two tried to hold in their laughter, but they couldn't. Their voices ran through the whole home.
"Anyway. What I think happened was the Ophus Legion tried taking territory from the Light Legion and that is why they're dead," Ether tried to conclude.
But Pearl disagreed. "Impossible. If that was the case, then we would have seen this coming. But the Ophus Legion has been very silent ever since the Light Legion pushed into Yarno."
Ether placed down the helmet in front of the fireplace. "Then my second best guess is they simply stopped allying with one another out of fear of spreading the conflict to them too."
All three Primes watched the helmet's purple surface reflect the dancing light of the fire. Hearing their close yet distant chanting made the dance feel special.
Jakery sat there, wondering what was going to happen. He saw the various amounts of healthy warriors compared to the amount dead or injured.
But he also wondered about Oria's feelings now that Pearl caught Ether's interest. Everything was happening too fast for Jakery to understand.
It felt like a blur every time.
"Anyway, I am going to sleep. Jakery, do not stay up for too long. And Pearl, do not stop being the lovable Thawed that you are!" Ether announced.
He picked up the helmet, then walked away into the darkness of the home. Jakery yawned, clearly tired after the long battle he fought the day earlier.
Then he too went to his bedroom. Leaving Pearl in front of the campfire, alone. She stared into the dancing embers, watching them disappear and reappear.
Until she drifted to sleep on the weirdly comfortable rug.