War: Trade of Kings, Blight of Souls

Stat Intro:

Location: South West Pergrande. Terrain: Tundra highland with steep cliffs and gullies created by glacial action. Environment: Formerly urban; the ruins of a small town. Weather: Mildly snowing. Time: 1700 Hours.

It was getting late, and the small band of soldiers huddled together within the standing walls of a house with half its roof gone cursed the weather and wished for much better climes. Most of them, except Bai Suzhen. From the get-go, she looked so out-of-place among the soldiers. While she was dressed in white, light grey and beige fatigues, in order to improve camouflage in an urban setting, the fact that she was with Bellian soldiers, who preferred to dress in the traditional robes worn by the magocracy's mage warriors, made her stick out like a sore thumb. Secondly, she had an umbrella strapped to her back. More accurately, a parasol, but who sweated the details here? What seemed to be the greatest distinction was the fact that, even though she was dressed like a soldier, she did not, by bearing or appearance, look the part one bit.

Normally, with the matters of war at hand, the Bellian soldiers had become a bit more comfortable with mercenaries of every kind joining their ranks, and they would not have been normally hostile to Suzhen, except that one of them had identified her as Dongxian, and that brought up a bit of bad blood among the troops. However, their commanding officers were disciplined enough to ensure that the Dongxian was not harassed, and even if it irritated them that they were fighting alongside a supposedly traditional enemy, they had not shown it. But time had gone by, and the commanding officers had been gone a long while. The soldiers there were mostly from Bellum, even if some were mercenaries themselves, and without the discipline of the Archpriest of Arcanos, who led this sortie, they began to slack in their own discipline.

The mission details were simple, at least in theory: intelligence had informed Bellum of possible stockpiles of ammunition being hidden in the border towns that had been ravaged by the first flames of this war. Various teams had been sent out to do recon, identify the stockpiles if present, and destroy or acquire them. There had been reason to believe there might be hostiles in the area, so everyone was expected to stay frosty. But as the Archpriest and his lieutenant Cleric had been off to investigate some anomaly, and hadn't been back, the soldiers sought to have fun. Magical scans had been frequently made, and they had not detected any life sources except the Archpriest and Cleric in the distance, so most of them were lulled into a sense of security. Technically the mission hadn't yet started, until the commanding officers returned. It was even said that some more troops would rendezvous with them soon. But while the soldiers were waiting, they wanted to have fun, and one of the mercenaries had an idea.

"Hey," he whispered to the soldier beside him, "see that lass by the wall reading that odd scroll?" The other soldier, who really hadn't taken notice of Suzhen before, spent a second or two scrutinizing her. "That one? She looks like some Midian hottie, not a soldier. Are you sure she isn't lost?" he whispered back, his expression showing that he appreciated what he saw. "She's not Midian, she from Dongxia," the first replied. The looks of appreciation faded quickly. "Aren't we at war with Dongxia? What if she's a spy, or a traitor?" The first man shook his head. "Never mind that. Just look at her; she looks too delicate, and she's supposed to be a soldier. That's what I hate about Dongxians: they're nothing impressive, yet they seem to think themselves better than others." The second man shrugged. "well, she is impressive," he replied, his eyes on the young woman's bust.

The first man sighed and rose. "Idiot," he muttered. Striding over to where Suzhen squatted by the wall, he cleared his throat. The Dongxian scholar didn't even look up, as she continued to peruse the scroll in her hands. "Show some respect to a superior officer," he said with a growl. Like Suzhen, he was a mercenary, so there was no superiority between them. However, he wore a fancy armor, and people could easily mistake his armor for a sign of rank. Suzhen, however, knowing the insignia of Bellum's ranked military, was not so deceived. "Greetings," she said, looking up at him, though she made no move to stand or salute him. She seemed nervous. "Do you have any military training at all?" he asked, trying to look menacing. Suzhen ignored him, looking round, then she muttered something. "What did you say?" the man asked, taking a step closer.

"I sense death..." Suzhen repeated, rising slowly and looking disturbed. By now everyone was watching the drama. The soldier in charge of making scans checked once more, and saw the signatures of the Archpriest and Cleric still moving about, searching. Nothing seemed to be wrong. He gave the sign that all was well, and as Suzhen was looking closely at him, to see what sign he was giving, the mercenary snuck behind her, and suddenly yelled in her ear, "DEATH!" She flinched and screamed simultaneously, her scream so intense that she almost sounded angry. There was a pause, and then some soldiers burst into laughter, some rolled their eyes, and others returned to what they were doing.

Suzhen's cheeks reddened, as she refused to turn to face the leering mercenary. She didn't like the carefree attitude here. She was sure something was wrong, but for all intents and purposes, it seemed she was being paranoid. She hoped she was.

Stats:

WC: 957/4000

OOC:

The lookout announced two persons approaching.

They came through the wind and into the ruins of the village, walking with determined steps in the direction of the mercenary camp, even though the camp was hidden from passing sight. The mercenaries sprang to action, but the lookout spoke up again:

"I don't think they're Pergrandian. They're mages... unless they're mercs like us, only working for the enemy."

It was best to ascertain whether these newcomers were allies or foes before making any moves, but all weapons were trained and ready...

Goethe Ackermann stopped on seeing the alert soldiers, though his face did not show any sign of surprise or worry. Instead, he raised his arms at his elbows, palms facing the guerilla troop, in a gesture of peace. "Finally. Thought I might find you here," he said, as he continued towards them. The tall, pale woman behind him made no effort to copy Goethe's gesture, but followed him like a ghost, her crimson eyes fixed ahead at an unknown position.

The white haired young man spoke some words to the lookout, and handed over an official document. After going through it to his satisfaction, he nodded and returned it to Goethe, who slipped it into a pocket of his thick trench coat. "Allied forces," he called to the others, who visibly relaxed, and let Goethe pass.

He walked straight to where Suzhen stood. "Hello, Scholar. You look well. A little... peeved, but well." He smiled at her, a warm, albeit demure smile. "Been tracking your unit, after I learned you had joined the war effort. Imagine my surprise to see a familiar name. A surprise and a pleasure." He suddenly stepped aside, so that Suzhen was standing directly in front of the woman behind him. "You two have met before, Suzhen. Arnoba says hello." In reply, Arnoba gave a slight, dignified bow.

"So, what are we waiting for here? I don't really like wars, and I try to avoid them the best I can. Still, I came. Hopefully not to see of face any fighting, but just to help evacuate the retrieved weapons."

That was the same thing he had told the recruitment officer, but deep down, he knew that he might have to face forces that wanted him dead... not because they hated him, but simply because they were on opposite sides. Wars. What a nuisance.

Stats:

Don't want to wait;
Let me see my fate...

The member 'Digit v2' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

My die rolls...

The member 'Fraag' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Suzhen was surprised to hear a familiar voice coming from behind her. It was quite a fortuitous event to come across the same fellow she had met some time ago in a more peaceful situation, in Rose Garden. Interestingly, there had been allusions made to the similarities between love and war, and although Suzhen did not know Goethe Ackermann well enough to assume she had any amorous feelings towards him, it was curious to remember that she had first met him in a place where the theme of the atmosphere was love. She was meeting him here again, under the atmosphere of war. A part of her brain sought to identify whether this had any meaning or relevance to matters at hand, but Suzhen ultimately waved the thought off as a coincidence, nothing more. The next words of Goethe proved it wasn't exactly coincidence; he had seen her name listed among the teams out in this mini-theater of the battlefield, and had sought her out. Most likely because in the face of danger, there was something helpful about being among friends.

"Welcome to the party, love," she responded with a smile of her own, glad to have her attention taken away from the irritating mercenary who had been harrying her moments ago. The Dongxian was quite surprised to see that the woman standing behind Goethe had actually been an owl the last time they had met. "Arnoba?!" Suzhen asked in surprise. "Wow, you look so gorgeous," she replied, returning the bow, though hers was deeper than the owl woman's. "As to what we're waiting for, I suppose it would be the commanding officers of this band," the scholar replied to Goethe's question, sitting herself on a huge slab of concrete. "On getting here, the Archpriest in charge of this group said there was some magic anomaly in the area, and went with his lieutenant to check things out. I'm thinking the anomaly is generated from the stockpiled weapons in the area, but I'm concerned that those two went alone to check things out. It seems like we're the only people in the area, for all intents and purposes, at least so says the scout, but I still feel something is very wrong...."

The scout let out a call, "The commanding officers are on their way back!" Excited and relieved chatter filled the air, with most people mentioning how they could finally get to work. Suzhen turned to look at Goethe, a slightly disgusted look on her face. "I was hoping for exclusive field medic work, but I've been told I must be ready to fight if a scrape arises. From what I've heard, in these parts, no quarter is given when blood flows. Wars are stupid, if you ask me." Although it was five, darkness was already settling in, thanks to the high latitude of the region. All eyes were turned in the direction from which the Archpriest and Cleric were expected to return, but in the darkness, they couldn't see far.

Then something was thrown, and it fell among the gathered soldiers. "Grenade!" Suzhen screamed, a second before the bomb detonated. Instinctively, though, as her brain registered the thrown bomb, her body was already moving, as she tumbled behind the concrete slab on which she had been sitting. The roar seemed to echo off the icy desolate cliffs, and there was chaos everywhere. Through the noise, a voice came clear: "Take no prisoners!" Gunfire erupted on all sides. It was a successful Pergrandian ambush!

Battle info:

WC: 585
Total WC: 1542/4000

Arnoba's indifferent expression was thawed by a very slight and fleeting upward twitch of her lips, as she gave Suzhen an appreciative nod in response to her compliment. From what Goethe had seen so far of Suzhen, and with her behavior so far, he found her to be the kind of person that was easy to befriend. She was polite and warm in an unforced, easygoing manner. Perhaps he could learn a thing or two from her and become less rigid in the future, but it would surely be a while before he called someone he didn't know too much of "love". Admittedly, he didn't mind that it was used on him...

Listening to her reason for joining the war effort, it was clear that Suzhen preferred peace over conflict. She didn't approve of this war, from her words, and was even there to provide help and succor to the wounded. Quite unlike himself, he had to say. He had come prepared to do battle, but to his credit, as one of his personal codes, he would not willingly attempt to take a life, even though this was a war. It sounded foolish to many, that line of thought, but for a long time, Goethe had ignored what people thought about his ideals. Still, he feared that he might not be given that luxury of choice, before the day was done.

As the long-haired Dongxian sat herself on the concrete and detailed him on the proceedings so far, Goethe listened carefully, his expression placid. Underneath, he was on full alert. Like herself, he was sure that things could easily go south, what with the relaxed watchfulness of the mercenaries. The scout was the only one paying full attention to the environment.

He had to agree with Suzhen; wars were neither the wisest or most noble things humans engaged in. "I definitely concur. Most times, people who could have been friends under different circumstances end up killing each other, based on a non-descript hatred that is merely the tentacle of another's ambition. Still, here I am, the hypocrite." He chuckled darkly. "Unlike you, I came here to fight, but a protector must always fight to defend his wards, yes?"

His words came to an end as the grenade came to settle in the camp. Like Suzhen, the instinct of a fighter took over, and his body had already positioned itself behind a wall to escape from the impact of the explosion. Some of the mercenaries would have been injured by the detonation, and Suzhen would find herself very busy as a medic. If she was allowed to do her work, that was. As the reports of gunfire roared all about them, Goethe knew that his job as protector had begun.

"Sight of the Claviger, activate!" he murmured, as his irises distorted and were replaced by a circle of golden runes in each eye. This power would be very advantageous in this battle, as Goethe was now aware of everything in his magic sensory range. And he could determine that there were quite a large number of Pergrandian soldiers, for a guerilla group, closing in on them. He faced the area where the enemy soldiers were thickest.

"Arnoba," he called over his shoulder, "take care of our scholar. I'll whittle down this mob as my hands see fit."

With a nod from his partner, Goethe charged towards the incoming wave of soldiers. He had already noticed that the first batch of attackers seemed to draw a bit close to fire their weapons. They were most likely not the best the enemy had to offer, as he could sense others following behind, who had not yet engaged the mercenaries. This first line of offense was most likely to test the battle power of the Bellian force, and the stronger ones would be called in to break the bones, if necessary.

Goethe was one bone they would have to break.

Wordlessly, he thrust his right arm outwards with no small amount of energy, in the direction of the first wave of assault. Their strategic positioning was well thought out, expectedly. Three groups of four soldiers came in from three different angles, shooting at the mercenaries who were closer to them, while proceeding methodologically and cautiously towards the other end of the village. Regardless, their tactics would matter little before Goethe's power. He waited until the furthest away from him had attained a certain reach, and then he struck. The air rippled around the Pergrandian soldiers while he was still beyond their firing range, and they felt sudden destruction approaching them... only they were too slow to react. The telekinetic power plowed into their unit, sending them flying like a pack of cards in a strong wind. At that point, Goethe stopped. Most heroes were fiery and temperamental, and would charge into the head of the battle screaming their war cries. Goethe was not that sort, at least not yet. His hand remained outstretched, and the Pergrandians caught under the power of his Spirit Arms would find their bodies constricted by an invisible force. Bellum's presence in this battle would have an overwhelming chance to overpower the first wave of the enemy, thanks to him, but Goethe did not want a slaughter on his hands.

Goethe instantly activated his Spirit Link and connected with all the minds of his allies in this place. It was more effective than shouting, as the clamor of war was sure to silence most of all other sounds. "Take the Pergrandians down, but limit mortalities if possible. Let's show them that we still have humanity etched deep down in our souls."

His request (or was it a command?) was probably laughable to some of them, but Goethe had always felt most deaths in war to be needless, and as such, if they could be avoided, that would be best.

Stats:

With the commencement of hostilities, and the sound of gunfire ricocheting off the broken down walls of the ruins of the town, Suzhen quickly got to work. A Bellian soldier fell screaming, his thigh having been pierced by a bullet. He wasn't too far away, so the scholar was sure she could get to him quickly enough to see how she could alleviate his pain. That was, after all, what medics were supposed to do. Goethe, for his part, had already gone to work, activating some strange magic in his eyes and leaving Arnoba to look after Suzhen. The Dongxian didn't know whether to be amused or peeved. She could take care of herself, despite the 'pretty fluffy little thing' appearance she often presented to the world, in many cases, unwittingly. She decided to go with the former emotion. She was after all certain that the white-haired mage did not mean her any disrespect. The time for laughing would come later, anyway. There was a dying man a few yards away.

With her body mass close to the ground, Suzhen sprinted from her cover, grabbed the fallen man, and hauled him as fast as she could back behind the huge slab of concrete. The man had passed out, but he was still breathing, albeit shallowly. The Dongxian scholar got to work, quickly excising the bullet and using strips of his jacket as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. She knew someone was heading over to where she was; there were two very likely reasons for that. Firstly, the slab behind which she and her injured ward were hiding was good cover, and secondly, it was obvious that the Pergrandians weren't interested in leaving anyone alive, never mind any rules of war. Since the downed soldier had been shot in the open, at least whoever had taken the shot would have had their eyes on the man.

Unexpectedly, the assault she was anticipating did not come. This was because Goethe had cast a spell that had bowled over the first wave of attackers. It was time to go on the offensive, like Goethe had done. While she understood his request to not kill their opponents, if they could, Suzhen was sure that most of the combatants would ignore his request for the fact that they were fighting for their own lives, and they were fighting against hated foes. There was thus no reason to comply, especially as there was very little, if any, humanity in war. Suzhen was not Bellian, so she didn't have any animosity towards the Pergrandians. She would spare them, if she could. But she would not fantasize; she had killed before, and she would probably do it again.

There was a good advantage that this terrain offered: this place had a lot of obstructions, which meant that while they provided good cover, she had enough places to hide and cover the distance between herself and her opponents. Many of them were still struggling to pick themselves off the ground, when the Dongxian scholar dashed among them. They were in four units of threes, so she would attack each unit one by oneand make sure they were taken out one by one. Suzhen punched the first one in the gut, but to her surprise, he did not collapse. A second strike with an open palm put him out. A knee followed by a chop, and two kicks in quick succession completed the inability of that unit to continue doing battle. Methodologically and yet gracefully, Suzhen proceeded to attack the next unit; it was extremely difficult for them to score hits on her, because she was so much faster than they were. Their bullets were probably faster than she was, but to shoot her, one would have to turn the nozzle of the gun at her, and so far, these troops weren't quick enough to do that before she had reached them. "One, two; one two; one, two..." the Dies Irae mage counted mentally, felling each soldier with a series of two palm strikes.

She had leaped into the air to attack the third group, when there was the sound of gunfire of a different sort, and the Dongxian scholar screamed. Blood streaked from her shoulder, but aside the scream, she showed no indication that she had been shot. New enemies had come on the battlefield. Managing to drop elegantly among the third unit, Suzhen drew her sword, Xu Xian, from its parasol sheath, raising it as she did. A white explosion raged out from the blade of the sword, clearing the area of debris and personnel, though it did not cause any damage whatsoever to Goethe, Arnoba and the Bellian soldiers. The first wave of enemies had been wiped out, but the second was pouring in from all sides. About half of the new group had been hit by Suzhen's explosion attack, and were moving more sluggishly than the rest, who had not been in range of the attack. Suzhen quickly found a broken wall and ducked behind it, just before gunfire peppered where she had been moments before.

It was likely she would have to hold back less. This next group was definitely stronger than the former. With them, three armored soldiers with huge swords walked in, confident though a bit wary, cutting down any non-Pergrandian in their way.

"Things have gotten a lot more interesting," Suzhen thought sarcastically, as she watched the advance.

Battle info:

WC: 907
Total WC: 2449/4000

The battle did not turn out in any way Goethe expected. His plan, and desire for the tide of the skirmish was simple: his Spirit Arms would be used to disable the enemy, and there would be no need for the Bellian forces to kill them. Even though the Pergrandians were coming at them with all fangs bared, they could show that they were the better combatants by defeating them and graciously giving them their lives.

Goethe was too naïve.

It was a slaughter. The Pergrandian troop cut down anyone that was not clad in their armor mercilessly, and the Bellian forces, at this point, were not fighting to win, but just to survive. It was like time slowed down for the white haired boy, as he drank in the macabre information that blossomed around him, like a necromantic rose that bloomed with startling speed on the corpses of the slain. To his left, a bullet punctured an unfortunate woman’s skull. A little ahead of him, a sword wielding brute, a new introduction to the fray, hacked into the back of a fleeing mercenary, spheres of liquid crimson flying high above their heads in a gory display of grisly art that eventually left a contrasting red mess in the spotless snow beneath.

It was like he stood transfixed in a world of his own, as blades and bullets flew all around him. His eyes held a certain horror, but it was not because he had seen some abyssal wretch that defied definition. He had suddenly come to realize the harsh brutality of the world he lived in, that things were not always black and white. How could he be so stupid, acting all righteous and proclaiming that the Bellians should refrain from killing? In a war?!

His extrasensory perception caught a flash of Suzhen being shot, and he snapped back to reality jarringly. It was like some sort of glass in his soul cracked, with the fear that his friend was in mortal peril. Fortunately, it was not a life threatening injury, and Goethe was impressed that she could still, despite the pain, execute her attacks and head for cover. He calmed down a bit, but he couldn’t just stand there, doing nothing. He had to put in his utmost effort, or the Bellian mercs would be exterminated... but he didn’t want to, had never wanted to kill...

”Please, help me!” With this sudden cry, Goethe found himself staring into the terrified eyes of the man whose back the Pergrandian sword wielder had hacked open. He realized that everything that he had observed with his “Sight of the Claviger” had happened virtually at the same time, events distanced by mere microseconds. The man had stumbled against him and was leaning on him, his body weakening as quickly as his blood was flowing. Goethe had a healing ability. He could save this man, hand him over to Arnoba for treatment, while he faced the enemy. At least, the thought that he would have saved a life would ease the dismay that shrouded his heart...

He noticed the sword upraised, and it came down fast. Quickly, Goethe grabbed the man and spun him away from the blade, while trying to leap out of harm’s way at the same time. He succeeded in preventing the man’s head from being split, but the sword sliced across his back, leaving a nasty gash. But Goethe did not care. His “messiah complex” mode had been activated, and he would stop at nothing to save this man’s life. With another great leap, Goethe put some distance between himself and the huge sword swinger. As he propped the man up against a fallen wall, he heard Arnoba’s worried voice, as she  hurried towards them as fast as she could.

”You’re hurt, Goethe!”

”Don’t worry about me; please use the Soul Healing to stabilize his condition. I’ll see if I can save...”

He was interrupted by the Imperial Guard flashing into existence before him, making a powerful swing at the two of them. Arnoba, who was out of the sword’s reach, was safe, but Goethe had let go of the man and couldn’t grab onto him in time. Survivor’s instinct kicked in, and Goethe threw himself aside. The sword cut him in the left arm, a rather painful injury, but much better than being bifurcated at the chest, which was the guard’s intention. The way the sword swung without any noticeable resistance gave Goethe a passing hope that the Guard had missed the man he had tried so desperately to save. But he saw the man, with a stare of dread carved on his face, as his shoulders and the flesh above them slowly separated from the rest of his body.

The “glass” that had cracked when he experienced Suzhen being attacked shattered into a million pieces.

Goethe slowly stood, ignoring his injuries, as he grabbed his torn shirt and ripped it off his chest. Anyone who had the time to notice would see that the odd tattoo on his chest was emitting a faint, sinister purple glow. His breathing came out in shallow, ragged gasps, as he struggled with an overwhelming desire to rip apart the Pergrandian soldiers. Still, a part of his mind embraced rationality, and considered whether it would be wise to embrace the murderous urge. He had never felt it this intense before, but he was sure that this feeling was tied to the old gods. If he strove to keep himself under control, he would spend more time idling, and more would die. Perhaps he had to commit this one sin, so that other lives would be saved. And hopefully, he wouldn’t go too far off the edge.

Restraint gave way to unbridled fury.

Strangely, Goethe barely uttered a sound, unlike others that would announce their rage with a loud cry. However, he moved with a passion dedicated to butchering anything in Pergrandian armor. The first thing he did was to duck beneath the Guard’s next blow, but instead of attacking him, he zipped past him. Suzhen had injured some of the rifle wielding soldiers. Taking them out was his first mission.

It was like a bubble appeared around him in a split second, then burst with incredible power. Once again, Goethe’s telekinesis lashed out, and the reason for his changing position was now evident. At a more central location, his power struck the enemy with an alarming malice, this time caring nothing for their safety. People flew in all directions like rag dolls, crashing into the snow. Some bodies remained lifeless, while others who had been uninjured hitherto, struggled to stand. But they would realize that a fearsome power held them down.

And they were such easy targets, at this point.

A series of rapidly revolving runes winked into existence around Goethe’s wrists, and he opened his hands, like he wanted to pluck something from mid-air. Two black pistols formed in his open hands, and his fingers closed around them, and at the same time, a full arm gauntlet, that seemed to be made purely of purple light, wrapped itself around his left arm. Instantly, he began squeezing off shots at every target held down by his telekinesis. One by one, his shots rang out, and bodies went limp, their blood spilled as they had shed blood. He had just trained his guns on the Guard who had injured him and killed the Bellian soldier, when he was suddenly aware of another Guard appearing close by, aiming a downward slash at his head. Swiftly, he raised the armored arm and deflected the blow with a resounding clang, the force of his parry pushing the guard back a few steps.

”Huh... I thought that was a magical shield... Looks like you’re a strong one.” the Guard said.

Goethe did not reply. He simply pointed his guns at the Pergrandian soldier and took a battle stance.

Stats:

Suzhen could not particularly follow what was happening to Goethe, but she knew he was in a scrape of his own. Still, he seemed to be quite proficient at taking care of himself, and was probably even more dangerous than she presently was in a fight. She was glad for that. While she did like to attempt to take on the worries of others often, the lesser the numbers of those she had to look after in a life and death situation, the less likely she would have feelings of failure due to not being able to save them. Still, in a situation such as this one, it was quite impossible to save everyone; it seemed that Goethe himself had changed from trying not to kill his opponents, to going all-out. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be doing a better job than she was at whole scale slaughter. While it was getting the job done, the scholar couldn't help but feel uneasy.

Of the remaining Pergrandian soldiers that had been attacked by Goethe's most recent spell, only few seemed to still have life in them, but they were apparently immobilized. There was naught but to take advantage of the situation. But there was something that Suzhen took note of. The number of the three sword-wielding soldiers ​who had come latest seemed to be incomplete. The one Goethe had immobilized was there, as was another who had come to rescue that one from Goethe. The last one was most likely hiding out and trying to prepare an ambush, seeing as Suzhen and Goethe were easily the most dangerous enemies on the field. While this enemy's position was currently unknown to Suzhen, she would, with a bit of planning and foresight, kill two birds with one stone.

The best time to attack an unaware opponent would be when that opponent was in the middle of an attack of their own. Suzhen would use this knowledge to draw out the third Imperial Guard. Rushing at one of the immobilized soldiers, she lifted her sword as though she wanted to perform a descending slash, but instead used the sword's ability: One Thousand Stars again. The Pergrandian soldiers around her were sent flying, and Suzhen heard a grunt of pain behind her. The third knight had been revealed. Yet, she noticed, in a split second, that the grunt didn't sound like the noise someone would make when struck down or away. Without wasting time to turn, Suzhen stuck her parasol, Chou Shan, under her arm and opened it. The shade of the parasol served as a shield, blocking the greatsword of the Imperial Guard. Then she twirled her sword, so that its blade was pointing backwards, and she stabbed, using Xu Xian's second technique, Heaven's Judgment. As the parasol was open, the Imperial Guard did not see the attack, which went through the parasol without damaging it, and sent him staggering backwards. To Suzhen's surprise, the sword wielder didn't seem to be too hurt. His armor seemed to be of very good quality.

"I will split you in two," the Imperial Guard said menacingly, hefting his weapon. "You are permitted to try," Suzhen said evenly, in Pergrandian. The soldier's eyes widened for a moment, then he scowled. "A vile magic user, using our dignified tongue? You will die for your insolence."

"Don't be like that. It was mostly expletives I learned first, so I won't say it's digni--" her words were cut short as the Imperial Guard appeared before her, executing a mighty slash. Suzhen had already instinctively raised her parasol, but the slash muscled through the shield, breaking the spokes and ripping the fabric of the parasol, and knocking Xu Xian and Chou Shan out of her hands. Then the swordsman was gone, appearing behind her and slashing at her defenseless back, sending her flying. He was gone again, appearing overhead this time, his third attack smashing the Dongxian scholar into the ground. "That settles it. Death to foul magic users," the Pergrandian muttered, looking down at Suzhen's unmoving form.

As he lifted his eyes to survey the battlefield, Suzhen's eyes shot open, and she drew a small daggerlike weapon and stabbed him in the thigh. His armor was sufficient to prevent grievous damage, but before he could get over the shock of being attacked, Suzhen had launched a solid kick to his side, from her supine position. He staggered away, as she rose to her feet. "Demon! Why won't you die?" he yelled. Suzhen responded by flinging the daggerlike dart in her hand at him. He wasn't swift enough to dodge it, but charged the Dongxian in spite of her attack, swinging at her as he did. He was no longer as fast as before, and Suzhen had no difficulty evading him. Ducking under his swing, she elbowed him viciously on the jaw, simultaneously drawing her dart back to her, thanks to the chain which was located at its end. Catching the weapon, Suzhen followed up with a slash to his exposed neck just below his helmet, where there was an articulation between helmet and breastplate. The Imperial Guard vainly tried to reach his neck with his hands, to stem the steady flow of blood from severed blood vessels. Suzhen ignored the dying soldier, heading instead for the Imperial Guard who had been immobilized by Goethe. She was unsuccessful though, as a large flying rock barely missed her.

Suzhen turned in the direction of the attack, to see another Imperial Guard, sword held at the ready, but behind the guard was someone dressed in different armor from the rest of the Pergrandian forces. Her outstretched arm told Suzhen that she was the one responsible for the flying rock projectile. This newcomer walked calmly and leisurely, like a lioness among carcasses. It would be easy to guess that this woman was the commanding officer of the Pergrandians here, just by her demeanor alone.

Battle info:

WC: 992
Total WC: 3441/4000

Goethe's heart was not beating rhythmically, but for a long time, he had come to the conclusion that his heart had been replaced with something else. And he wasn't being figurative. Naturally, tachycardia, an abnormal increase in the heart beat, was not safe for humans, but Goethe's condition somehow did not affect him. And he couldn't even describe it as tachycardia. Whatever organ that lay within his chest, beneath the strange "IX" tattoo, pulsated without any noticeable pattern. And the more it pulsated, the more he felt it was pumping something other than blood through his veins.

It felt like madness.

A part of Goethe wanted to back away, to stop this alarming and unbecoming behavior, but he also feared that if he did so, he would show too much restraint and more people would die. He reasoned that if he had thrown the "sanctity of human life" to the winds at the onset of this fight, less people on his side would be dead. So he didn't stop. The feeling was sickeningly sweet, toxic and intoxicating, making one want to gulp and gag at the same time. He was going too far. Maybe he ought to stop... but just then, he realized that a more powerful enemy had revealed herself, and there was yet another one of those Imperial Guards. He would stop when there was no more danger to his allies.

Goethe decided to gulp.

"Goethe! No!"

A crazed grin suddenly parted his lips. Goethe could barely hear Arnoba above the white noise that roared in his head. All that was his focus was shattering the armored special forces that stood before him. The Guard he had knocked down with his Spirit Arms struggled to his feet, battered, but still quite ready to rumble. Goethe twirled both pistols as the two Guards prepared themselves... then fired at the one who faced Suzhen. Even though his sanity was slipping, Goethe was still quite calculative in combat. With the way this self-assured Pergrandian warrior carried herself, it was almost impossible that she would not be at the top of the chain of command. That being the case, he could lure the other Guard to face him, so that Suzhen would be able to focus on a one-on-one fight with the Imperial Paladin - Private.

Nah... he just wanted to bash three people at the same time.

The Guard raised his massive sword to block the bullet, and took a step towards Goethe. Then he paused and looked at his commanding officer. She gave an almost imperceptible nod, but that was all the approval he needed. In the next instant, he appeared before Goethe, going for a horizontal swing. Goethe had seen this move before, and he knew it was impressively fast. However, he was faster. Ducking low beneath the bow, he pointed a gun at the Guard's solar plexor, but sensed another one coming with a low thrust, this time. Still in a crouching position, Goethe spun away to the left, evading the blow. The third Guard anticipated this, and made his own move with a slash as Goethe made his maneuver. Fortunately for Goethe, he was aware of everything around him, and was not blind to the attack. With a powerful leap, he avoided the third attack and put some distance between the Guards and himself. "Shifty bastard," one of the Guards snarled. He chuckled. He would let them feel the distance between his power and theirs. He would give them a good reason to fear, just before they died.

"Your armor is strong. Show me just how tough it is."

He closed his fists, as the guns he wielded shimmered and disappeared.

"Limiter Break: Drive I!"

His teeth clenched and power filled his body, and he could sense his muscles bulge with an otherworldly might. The Guards paused for a second, then attacked. The first ran towards him at normal speed, sword held down, ready to make an upward strike. Goethe closed his fists, and instead of the guns, two black gauntlets appeared around his lower arms. The Spectral Shield shifted itself to form a pauldron that covered his shoulder and upper arm. Then he charged at the Guard suddenly, utilizing the full potential of his magic enhanced speed. He struck the Guard full in the face with a fist, just as the sword was being raised, then pirouetted away as he avoided another Psychokinetic Strike. Without waiting a moment, he ignored the Guard he had just punched and came in full force at the second guard. Startled by his sudden speed, the Guard blinked away and appeared quite some distance away, where he could easily monitor Goethe's movement. The third Guard, the one who had been hit by the Spirit Arms earlier, also blinked, but appeared close behind Goethe and struck hard at his back. The boy fell forward, passing closely beneath the blade, then planted a hand on the ground and lashed out with a powerful upward kick. His heel caught the Guard in the jaw and laid him out flat in the snow.

The first Guard had recovered from the blow, and realized that normal movement would be ineffective against the white haired boy who was now grinning like a psychopath, he gave a silent signal to the second. Then both of them blinked.

As they appeared at two different sides of Goethe, he waited to counter the first blow, only to realize that they had predicted this, and the other was set to strike just as Goethe moved, to limit his chances of defending against the second attack. They expected that he would attempt some sneaky evasion tactic, but what he did surprised them. As the second Guard made a diagonal slash at his back, Goethe ignored him and reacted to the first attack, sidestepping and throwing a powerful back-handed blow into the Guard's face. This was the Guard whom Goethe had punched at the first, and this second blow shattered his helmet, his long blond hair spilling into the air like a mist, as he staggered away and fell.

But the second Guard's blow struck true, slicing into Goethe's back.

Goethe staggered forward and fell on his hands and knees, as his blood soaked the snow beneath him. He was gasping in pain, but for some reason, was finding it incredibly difficult to keep himself from laughing. The Guard, who was the last man standing, watched him with a look of revulsion, then lifted the sword to decapitate Goethe.

"This is the end."

A sudden blast of power struck the Guard from the side, enough to interrupt his execution and cause him to stagger. Arnoba had acted in the nick of time. Still, with the powerful armor he had on, Goethe knew the Psybeam wouldn't be enough to take him out. Forcing his body to move, which was screaming with pain, Goethe rose with a double fisted uppercut, striking the Guard in the jaw. The hefty man staggered backwards, struggling to stay on his feet, but Goethe encouraged him to stay down by planting a solid drop-kick to his chest, which left the both of them in the freezing snow.

As Goethe lay there, his body twitched, once, twice, and began standing up. He wanted to lie down and just stay there, because it looked like he had managed to defeat the three Guards, but his body seemed to want to do its own thing, despite the gash on his back pouring more blood. He rose to his feet, then stumbled forward and fell on his knees beside the falling Guard, smiling maniacally at the man's visor. Then the gauntlets vanished, and were replaced by a long, wicked looking, jagged knife. He raised the knife with a chortle of insane glee.

"... said that's enough!"

Her voice barely came through to him through the roar that silenced all other sounds in his head, but he heard it, still. At the same time, he felt a force hold him in place, resisting his wounded body from plunging the dagger into the Guard's face. Perhaps if hewas stronger, he could have struggled against the power, his own power, that held him, but he was already too week to offer any resistance. And at that point, when the insanity within him tried to focus on breaking the telekinetic force that held him, Goethe wrested control of his body back from the madness.

The dagger vanished, as did his Spectral Shield, and his muscles went limp and returned to their normal, slender form. With a long sigh, Goethe fell sideways into the soft snow. It was cold as crazy, but he hardly felt it. He felt no relief, though. Only shame.

Arnoba quietly knelt beside him and cradled his head in her lap. He felt a warm, soothing energy suffuse his injured body, and he felt his wounds begin to heal. But the pain in his heart remained.

"I messed up, Arnie. I let my feelings get the better of me and I..."

"Hush. It's okay. Quite a number of Bellians are alive because of you..."

"But I didn't do it to save them. Okay, that was my initial intention, but at some point, I just wanted to break and destroy."

Tears came to his eyes as he looked at the dark sky, but he fought them away. His expression changed from sorrowful to despondently grim. "I can feel the Sleeper's hold on me strengthening, Arnie. At some point, I couldn't control myself. If you hadn't intervened, I would have been killed, and then..."

"Stop talking. Just rest."

Goethe's thoughts were silent. Then he lifted an arm and watched as a tiny snowflake came to rest on one of his fingers. The sorrow returned, but the tears did not follow.

"I set out to atone for my sins, Arnie. Turns out I'm only committing more..."

Stats:

OOC:

The bullet fired by Goethe was blocked by the Imperial guard, who after approval from his commanding officer, headed off to fight Goethe. While the Dongxian scholar was a bit nervous about facing the Imperial Paladin-Private alone, she also felt that Goethe allowing her to face the head honcho of the Pergrandian forces here was sign of his faith in her ability to deal with the Pergrandian boss. She hoped that she would be strong enough. But first, she had to be certain about something.

"Before you kill me," Suzhen said casually, "I'd like to know, how did you guys manage to approach us even though we had sentries on the lookout?"

The Paladin-Private's lip curled up slightly in a sneer. "You magic users, always so confident about the unholy power of magic. There are other powers present in the world." As she spoke, three rocks began rising around the Pergrandian. Suzhen frowned in mild confusion. "Psychokinesis? I thought that was merely a subset of magical energy." Now the Pergrandian laughed, a short, cruel sound emanating from her lips. "Such ignorance. Psychic powers can be excited in the human brain by other means aside your base witchcrafts. As a matter of fact, this whole exercise was simply a test; yes, there was a weapon in the area, but contrary to your intelligence, the weapon is functional, and it was successful in its use." Seeing Suzhen's confused expression, she continued. "We allowed information to slip that there were abandoned weapons here, in order to test our weapon on your sorry lot. And though there are a few things to be desired, it's been a success, for the most part, or your commanding officers were such weak-willed wimps."

"What happened to him?"

"We, uh... fried their brains. They are now so amenable to our orders, though they seem to have been too hobbled mentally to be of any use in combat. Well, I've said enough. But unfortunately for you, that information will be of no use to you, due to where you're going."

It all made sense now. The Archpriest and Cleric had been 'brain-fried', and as such they were still alive, which was why the sentries could still sense them. With their oblivium armors, the Pergrandians seemed to have frustrated the sentries' magic, allowing them to creep close with the lobotomized Bellian commanders. It was a psychic weapon. In any case, there wasn't too much time to contemplate the nature of this Pergrandian asset. Suzhen had rocks to dodge. She fled behind a half-toppled wall, just as the first rock crashed into where she had been. She was fortunate. The rocks were about twice as fast as she was, it seemed, and she had only been able to escape this one because the wall was close, and she had moved before the rock was psychokinetically flung.

Suzhen had a few long-range tricks of her own. Using Xiaoqing's Green Snake Fang, she launched the weapon at her target, sidestepping from behind the wall as she did so. What she saw troubled her. The green glow around the dart head vanished as soon as it touched the paladin, who grabbed Xiaoqing's chain, and pulled Suzhen towards herself, launching another rock at the Dongxian simultaneously. Suzhen sprang forward, even as she was pulled, and punched the rock with her left hand. It hurt like mad, but she broke through it. She wouldn't let the paladin recover from the shock of realizing that she was faster than the paladin. She launched a kick into the paladin's side, dodged a blow from the paladin, and landed another hit of her own, this one a palm strike. Now in close range, the paladin would discover that getting her close was a mistake.

Dodging another blow, Suzhen threw two close-fisted punches. The first hit successfully, only for her opponent to move much faster than she expected, and catch her hand. Suzhen tried to pull away, but she couldn't. To her surprise, her opponent seemed to have suddenly increased a great deal in strength. Suzhen tried a roundhouse kick aimed at the paladin's head, but the paladin ducked, still holding her hand, and putting Suzhen in a somewhat embarrassing position with her own hand secured between her legs and being held by the paladin, who was now behind her. Before Suzhen could escape this predicament, the paladin hooked Suzhen's free arm with her own, grasping the Dongxian maiden securely behind the neck in a half-nelson. Then the paladin lifted the scholar, bridging her own back to plant Suzhen, violently and neck-first, into the hard stone ground, leaving Suzhen twisted uncomfortably in an upside-down position, folded over so that her neck, shoulders and knees were resting on the ground. But the paladin wasn't done. Rising, she savagely kicked Suzhen's vulnerable back, sending the Dongxian flying through the air to crash into a wall some distance away.

And then the paladin did something that, if she hadn't, Pergrande would have probably had the victory. Observing that Goethe, who was the only other notable threat, was lying incapacitated in the snow, she allowed her Psychic Focus to rest, deciding that she wouldn't need that much power to get rid of any other enemy. Slowly walking towards the falling man and his partner, the paladin was shocked when what seemed to be a blue flame erupted from around where Suzhen had been flung. To the paladin's shock, Suzhen reappeared, her body wreathed in blue flame, with white patches of snake scales on various parts of her body, and her eyes a bronze hue with snake slits. The paladin was only allowed that single glimpse of her death, before the Dongxian scholar, imbued with a power not of this world, attacked. In a moment, Suzhen, empowered by the Shard of Infinity, plowed into the paladin, refusing her a moment of respite. Four blows delivered at blinding speed sent the paladin into the air, before Suzhen delivered the final strike with a descending airborne axe kick, smashing her opponent into the ground.

"Impossible..." the Paladin-Private wheezed, as the world lostform and color in her eyes, "No human could have survived that...." And there was silence. Slowly, the blue flames dissipated, and the white patches of scales disappeared. Suzhen slowly scanned the area. While everyone alive was injured in varying degrees, they were all of the Bellian forces. Victory was theirs that day. "Whoever is available, make a call to HQ," Suzhen called out, taking command of the area. Too much wasted time could bring enemy reinforcements down on their heads. "We've secured the area, and need immediate medical help and backup. Quickly now!" Her directives weren't given like military orders, but no one was ready to defy her at present. Most of the soldiers present could not tell whether the strange indigo-haired maiden was actually a human or not. For Suzhen, all she wanted was to be off this battlefield. HQ replied an acknowledgement. Help was on the way.

Battle Info:

WC: 1164
Total WC: 4605/4000