------------------------------------BATTLEFIELD-------------------------------
Who was he? The question echoed through the cacophany of violence surrounding him.
Aether. You are Aether. Someone answered back to him.
Alright.
Then what was he doing? There was a snarl and the image of a large Kitsune blurred into view.
You are fighting this creature Again, that voice. It sounded so calm, a stark contrast to how currently felt. It was very unlike himself.
You are no longer yourself. The echo from before corrected.
Is that so? That made sense then. Why else would he be expending himself beyond exhaustion? Beyond limit?
The voice from before didn't come back to answer him, but for some reason he felt it was smiling. A warm, familiar feeling, but the feeling was quickly replaced by a deep, horrifying sensation. Some sort of immense pressure upon his chest. Something tearing...
For a moment he thought he heard himself scream, but it was not him. He realized it was the golem. He could see the image from before more clearly now. That fox creature had its entire mouth in the golem's chest. It was trying to pull out its core through brute force alone.
Stop! That's not going to work - you're only hurting him! He wanted to shout, but it was clearly beyond him.
The golem released its grip to try and take a hold of some other part of the Kitsune. Its detached head flew down to try and clamp the exposed neck between its small, sharp teeth. It clawed desperately, trying to pull Kitsune away. The orb was not budging.
-TARANIS: How about I lend you a hand, Aether?
Taranis!White-hot light suddenly blinded him. It shot out in every direction, piercing out from within the golem. So much of it gathered that the golem's body could no longer hold unto it and it exploded into a brilliant light show that also blinded anyone near it.
There, where the fierce golem had just been, lied Aether in his regular form. Motionless and in tatters. A small orb rolled away from his body. It looked exactly like what had been lying in the golem's chest, only palm-sized.
Before it finished rolling away the orb was picked up and clutched in someone's hand. It was Taranis. He bent down and patted Aether's back good-naturedly.
-TARANIS: There you go! Don't you feel all better now, Aether?
His gaze drifted toward Kitsune, flashing the same Cheshire grin.
-TARANIS: Thanks buddy. Mind lending me a hand with that as well?
He shoved his thumb in the direction of the canon site, where the battle was still underway.
----------------------------CANON SITE-----------------------------
The first defender did not slow his advance. He did realize he was at a disadvantage against two attackers, but he was confident in that his strength could make up the difference.
He did not make any battle cry or growl before attacking. He simply charged in with his huge sword. His reach was longer - he could cut them down before they even got near, but Kensei out-sped his swing. The Tribal Grappler was suddenly already at his chest, his fist glowing with the force that was to come.
In light of Kensei's speed however, the warrior never stopped his swing. The punch blasted against his chest and inflicted its due damage -
[-250HP]
- but the heavyblader's raw strength prevented Kensei from breaking his skill and knocking him back. The swing continued toward Kensei
-Tiger Strike-
Afterward, the warrior no longer had the steel strength as when he was in full swing. He heard the sound of the spear charging toward him, but was not able to avoid a heavy blow against his side.
[-378HP]
The armor he wore broke where it had been pierced, making him stagger forward.
Seeing his companion having difficulty, the two other warriors broke formation and rushed to join in as well. They, too, were heavybladers. The fire balls were too weak to flinch them. They ignored its damage and charged toward Sappling, intending to cover both of her flanks as they readied their large swords.
The mage that was hit by Douken's canon blast had been too exhausted to put up much of a fight. It reeled from the hit and fainted. Suddenly, the two other mages left over were sweating buckets trying to keep their spell in check.
The warmage by the dragon took notice of Douken in the air and lifted her staff.
"OrAny Zot!" she shouted. A dark energy bolt tore through the air toward the flying beastman.