Hold the Line

[oblueknighto]

Blue observed the happenings around Blue and at the guard's approach he noticed their sudden dealings with Lorenor. They quoted his unique nature as a recruit yet didn't bring up his unique nature as an undead which was quite common seeing the dealings of the Corone Armed Forces. Around his he could see humans, elves, drow, draconian, dwarven and even the odd undead. There were many other variations of those humanoids but they were essentially all the same in Blue's opinion.

The guards spoke of joining the squad and weren't even surprised at joining a suicide mission for the Empire. They all wanted glory in battle and thought that was better than life, Blue guessed. It was an understanding trade and as Blue was part of the mercenary business he could sympathise with the group of guards. The conversation ended with the guards officially joining their squad under Lorenor's command. Blue almost cracked up when the guard spoke of Lorenor being a strong and active leader. He could see how she was right in comparing him to those of Corone's army but if Blue knew something it was that Lorenor wasn't sought after because of his strength or his activity but his involvement with others and their cooperation with him. He wouldn't make much of a difference if he ran into large-scale battle alone. Then again, Lorenor was never alone so Blue didn't have much proof of that fact.

Now walking closer towards the vault area they finally saw the equipment up close and despite all his expectations rising they never dropped. Lorenor was in front of him in the equipment line taking only a simple shield and for some reason Sanders found it interesting so Blue added, "It's not like being undead means your invincible, just a lot harder to make them suffer and accept death as they are already dead. If that was what you meant..."

There wasn't any high class material but there were still things made of steel and plynt laying there for collection by the time it was his turn. He stared the equipment handler in the eye observing his hazel eyes staring Blue not in the eye but around his face then around his hands. The handler then looked up at Blue then spoke, "So what is it? Go on, tell me what you want."

Blue replied in a manner not suited of a request, "That blade, my friend is a great made.", spoken as he pointed to a blade made of plynt. Observing it anybody would have taken it as any ordinary sword but it had core along the middle of it. The core was almost in the shape of another sword in the longsword Blue was seeking so he decided on that one.

"Uhh, so you want that blade, right?", said the equipment handler

Replying Blue answered, "Yes, actually I WOULD like to take that one."

As the handler handed the longsword over to Blue he walked out of them line examining the blade staring into it's core noticing that it was semi-transparent and then upon staring through it and looking past it at the marble floor he made a wide grin under his mask and then started laughing at his findings, the core was made of Cillu. Then walking towards Lorenor he showed him the blade and asked him, "This is pane glass, no? Why would anybody make a core of pane glass around a longsword of plynt? It's completely insane! Even the pommel is made of pane glass! It seems almost as if somebody had crafted a blade of plynt right over a blade of Cillu. Craftsmen have completely no taste wasting money like that."

[Mutant_Lorenor]

"The weapon probably detaches into two separate weapons." Lorenor noted.

"Glass from Fallien is very sharp. Treat that weapon with great care Blue and it will save your life. I see that the craftsmanship is masterwork in nature just by looking at it." Lorenor said casually to Blue as his companion was testing out his new find.

Once everybody was finished gathering their things, the mutant nodded to Rebekah and Sanders.

"We will ride now. We've used up a lot of time in the preparation. Our enemy will not hesitate to take advantage of that." Lorenor said. "It is important that we move on without fear now."

He saw Sanders nodded. "We've all fought many battles Lorenor. The hour is upon us. We are eager to end this dreaded Civil War. The Corone Rangers have many allies, but we have many more on our side."

The mutant looked at his fellows.

"We must use any means necessary to defeat our enemy." The mutant said. His mind was sharp, and he was ready to ride into battle. He was eager to kill the enemy.

"What are you suggesting?" He heard Sanders ask.

"I have some tricks up my sleeve we can call upon. It shouldn't be so one-sided. The siege will distract them long enough that we can call upon some of my tricks." The mutant said casually with an air of confidence. "I'm hoping security will be lax because of the frontal assault we are throwing at them." Lorenor observed.

His hand was rubbing his chin casually as they walked back to the main area of operations. Lorenor knew that by now, everybody should be ready for the battle. Noting that he was right, the mutant saw that his men were outside of the tavern waiting for him.

"Hail!" One of the soldiers said. "I trust that your operation was successful?"

Nodding at the words, the mutant was ready to ride.

"Sanders, are preparations ready for mass-transport?" Lorenor was looking at Sanders casually.

He saw that the man pointed towards the Magi in the group.

"They are ready. We only need to go to one of the Transport Chambers and they will do the rest. The Siege Engines were prepared as of last night. We were going to use them to storm the enemy fortress anyway."

"Excellent. We will do this then. Ready the men, we ride." Lorenor said, and they made the necessary plans to move ahead with the mission.

Moving a large platoon of several hundred mercenaries across a large area of land was no easy feat. The act would require tremendous planning, careful calculations, and a tremendous amount of magic. The entire platoon began to walk towards the designated area of transport where magi could safely work the teleportation magics. There were areas set aside in magi towers where they could access the land of Phantaria freely. Through Phantaria one could travel great distances quickly and efficiently. It was through one of these transport gates that the magi would send the entire platoon to their fates.

The battle had begun.

[oblueknighto]

Under his mask Blue kept his grin and burst out into three short stutter of laughs. Lorenor had told him that of the weapon's nature, he took the information in but was surprised that nobody had noticed the glass inside it before. He swung it around a few times and was surprised at how balanced the sword was, it was truly a masterfully made sword with it's balance perfect even when the core was made of a completely different substance.

Once everybody had completed their collection from the equipment handler they joined up and confirmed the battle plans making some confirmations on how hard the battle would be and how many people would be taken in the process they had to show no fear of their own death. The group moved on and exited the armoury heading to the tavern where the others were well armed and ready for the upcoming battle. When they arrived outside the the tavern Blue's mind split off and listened carefully as a late joiner to the squadron, it seemed that the Siege Engines were already prepared the night that Blue slept through and they were fully operational even with their change of plans.

As they finally led the march to the guarded gate, the guards were heavily armed with great weapons and you could tell that they were all well trained. These were probably veteran guards charged with the honour of keeping intruders out from one of the Corone gates and keeping infiltrators from inside the gate out of Corone. Their weapons weren't the ordinary shiny weapons that guards were given out of protocol, these veterans had lances, blades and even axes that were shiny in general but more purpose suited than the regular traditional weapons most guards had.

As the main gate opened up for the squadron Blue could see another gate that was smaller in size but shone with a bright light every colour of the spectrum flowing through the round archway. On the end supports he spotted glyphs with the gaps spread evenly along the metal archway forming the space that the portal fills. It was large enough for the whole of the squad to enter without much difficulty, and they did.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Reality blurred when they touched the realm of Phantaria. For a moment, Lorenor's senses completely blacked out at the exposure of time and space. Everything became nothing for the briefest of moments, and there was a brilliant flash of light. Lorenor felt like he was being pulled somewhere by invisible hands. The speed was mind-bending. He traveled quickly across the realms and into the lands of Phantaria. Once he was pushed out of the gate, the mutant landed on solid ground. Someone grabbed at him. Feeling a tremendous amount of pain coursing through his body, Lorenor growled in agony as he attempted to orient himself. His senses returned a few moments later. No longer, could he detect the Firmanent or the Antifirmanent. They were in Phantaria now. There were different laws of physics that were in play within this plane of existence. Several other individuals made their way through the gate, soon, the entire squadron was there. Everybody had passed through the gate successfully. As the individual grabbed at Lorenor he smelled that it was Rebekah.

"You get used to the pain, just breathe. It will all be over soon." She said casually to her companion.

Lorenor nodded once, then twice and tried to catch his breath. His hand went to his chest as he did this. Several individuals were around him as they all gathered on a large platform. Sanders walked over to him with a document in his hand.

"Okay we're looking for a certain platform and a certain door. I have it labeled here on this document that the fellows in the Gate-Area provided."

"How far away is it?" Lorenor asked. "I'm having some trouble adjusting to this place." Lorenor added.

"Well, we all are in a way. Some of us have been here before. So the effects of this place are not new." Sanders said in response. "So just take as much time as you need to in order to adjust."

All around them, the world moved. Phantaria had its own unique sights and sounds. It was an orgy of the senses. Lorenor smelled sulfur in the air, which reminded him a bit of the pyre. A bitter smell, the mutant had to cover his face with part of his cloak. As he looked around, he saw a barren wasteland of many platforms. Some of the platforms defied gravity. They were upside down with staircases leading to and from their structures. Doors were everywhere. Some of the platforms had as many as a thousand doors leading to and from different location. A loud howling wind drifted in the background carried debris everywhere. Lorenor could see the movement of the wind as it passed. There was a brilliant white space everywhere. There was no sky, no ground, no space or time. There was simply Phantaria. Platforms were laid in no immediately recognizable pattern as far as the eye could see. Stairs stretched for infinity. On the platform that they were on lurked about fifty doors, all leading to unique locales on Althanas.

What Lorenor noticed was that there were beings traveling the platforms. Some of them were natives of Phantaria, and others were travelers like they were. Moving from place to place on Althanas. None of the travelers paid any attention to Lorenor and his crew. They simply went about their business. Lorenor felt tiny compared to the weight of Phantaria. Yet, somehow, the land seemed familiar to him...as if he had been there before. A part of him felt like he was walking on his own grave. Shaking his head, Lorenor looked for Blue.

"Blue come here when you're ready. We're going to take formation and I want you to stay close at all times. When a battle occurs, be at the ready."

[oblueknighto]

Hyperventilating, for some reason Blue related the feeling of entering Phantaria almost like the sensation of hyperventilation. Blue felt numbness, tingling, light-headedness, chest pain. All which he recognised as reaction to hyperventilation, he took carefully moderated breath to try recover from the physical difficulties he is in. He had hyperventilated on many an occasion where he needed to pretend to be unconscious but of course he knew how to get out of it and regain control. First the tingling ended and then the numbness, soon only the pain remained. To Blue handling pain was like handling air, he always experienced it whether it was from combat or training as having a higher pain threshold was always something that warriors, fighters, knights and anybody of that sort needed.

Blue had come to Phantaria expectedly but for once he didn't bother to evaluate the risks beforehand, now with sudden realisation he made a big mistake. He stared into the nothingness of the plane, they were almost in a new world compared to the Firmament. The world moved differently, time flowed differently, the space stood differently.

Sniffing the gas that the Phantaria was filled with it was easy to discern with the clear smell of a substance he knew well, it was one that man of the 'new' countries had around. The smell gave off a clear signal that the air was more flammable than the atmosphere of Althanas, it smelt like the stuff they use in gunpower or other highly flammable materials that were invented for that purpose.

Even the sounds of the Phantaria were weird in how they literally went in one ear and went out the other, the winds were the only natural sound that Blue could make out. Then he turned to Lorenor who had turned to him, Blue took the order and started walking closer and closer to his leader. Their group set up their battle formation where Blue was pretty much next to Lorenor. Raising his bow above his head Blue fired an arrow to try test out how the atmosphere handled the weight and speed of an arrow. The arrow was let go at a forty-five degree angle so that it wouldn't hit anybody even if it dropped at any time.

"Awaiting further orders, My Lord.", said Blue in a sarcastic tone.

Could you include in your post if anything weird happens to the arrow, as I would like to know if there should be any distinctive differences from the Firmament.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Moving some distance into the sky, the lone arrow flowed towards the atmosphere. Interacting with the strange phenomenon that was all around in Phantaria, the arrow was subject to the bizarre laws of physics. Traveling about ten feet into the air, the arrow moved quickly for a short moment then strangely began to slow down. Finally, after the increased slow-down period the arrow seemed to hover there indefinitely. Lost to the confines of Phantaria's physics, the arrow hovered briefly of its own volition. Suddenly, a burst of debris struck the arrow with the strange sulfuric properties. The arrow burst into flames and vanished. There was a loud crackling noise as the arrow was shattered apart. Dust and debris from the arrow flew into the winds and were captured by them, lost forever. After the impressive display of raw energy, it was clear that Phantaria had its own agenda. With the arrow completely gone, everyone turned to look at Blue. Lorenor had a grin on his face but most were worried.

Sanders walked over to Blue. "Don't do that again. It draws needless attention to our party. There are monsters here too."

There were many sounds in the winds. It was the sounds of wails in the wind as if there were beasts traveling within the wind itself. A few moments later, something manifested in front of the group. Lorenor felt a tremendous power from the manifestation. Drawing his prevalida sword, Lorenor turned to face the newcomer.

"Lorenor, don't. It's one of them Elementals!"

Taking a good look at the creature, the mutant saw a manifestation of raw power. Energy crackled from the beast to the point that the reality itself of Phantaria rippled against the energetic phenomenon. Lorenor saw that the creature had a roughly humanoid configuration. It had two arms, no legs, several heads, and an upright spinal column. It was largely a blue-colored manifestation. The energy that wrapped around the creature was of a similar effect to the creature itself. Lorenor noticed that the temperature dropped considerably at the presence of the elemental. Each of his heads had different faces and different facial expressions. The mutant did not like the possibility of having to face such a being. Each head had long hair that flowed in the breeze. It was dressed elegantly in masterwork silk clothing that were dyed in blues and greens. Lorenor thought that the beast was a water elemental of some sort. Listening to what Sanders said, the mutant kept his weapon drawn. Suddenly remembering his damascus sword, Lorenor decided to sheath his prevalida weapon and draw that weapon instead.

Lorenor's damascus sword glowed with elemental energy. "If it wants a fight, I'm willing to oblige!" Lorenor said all too eagerly, without fear.

"Battle formations!" Sanders yelled, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He drew his own weapon.

"There is no need to draw your weapons against me." The Elemental began speaking. Voices, in everyone's head. It communicated with some sort of telepathic means. "I was merely curious at what such a large military presence was doing in Phantaria. The winds tossed your scent in my direction and I responded. Others would be thirsty for blood by now. But I am merely here to observe. That is unless you really do wish to fight me. Which would be folly." The Elemental said directly into their minds.

Lorenor was used to hearing voices. He turned to look at Sanders and Rebekah, and Blue for a long moment. The three represented his most trusted officers. Rebeka's face was relaxed, Sanders had a slightly worried expression on his face, and he wasn't sure about Blue. Blue always wore that mask to hide his expression. Then, Lorenor turned to face the Elemental.

"Will you let us pass then?"

"Pass? Nobody said anything about letting you pass. You must earn that right. Though I am here to observe, I cannot allow you to simply walk through Phantaria unchallenged." The elemental said. Energy began to gather at a quickened state.

"So then we must do battle." Lorenor said, challenging the elemental in response. "Name your stakes!" Lorenor called to the elemental.

"If you defeat me, I will reward you handsomely. And you will earn the right to pass. If you fall you must return to where ever shit-hole you came from. And never return to Phantaria."

"We shall see about that!" Lorenor yelled at the beast, and then held his damascus sword in hand. He turned to look at Sanders. "Let's do this then."

"Shields at the ready!" Sanders yelled to the men. "Archers!"

Lorenor equipped his newly acquired shield and added it to his combat stance.

The elemental moved into his own combat stance.

Channeling elemental energies, the creature called forth the vast powers at his command. Moving his two arms forward, the creature conjured two elemental swords, and a powerful aura gathered about his body. When it slashed through the air, a powerful gathering of elemental water manifested at the sword blade's maneuver. An arching beam of elemental water flowed through the air and expanded in size quickly as it moved to attack the group. With a formed phalanx, the soldiers prepared their shields and readied their bodies to push against the blast. Lorenor broke formation to distract the elemental. He prepared his damascus sword and took a quick leap over the blast, flipping in mid-air. Landing on the other side, the mutant moved to engage the powerful elemental. With his two elemental blades, the creature charged against Lorenor and the battle began. This battle was for the right to pass through Phantaria unchallenged as far as such matters went.

Archers launched arrows through the air, and magi launched spells quickly that were cast right away. Warriors kept their shields up and blocked the majority of the elemental blast. It still went through the shields, and a few of the warriors were knocked out by the powerful energy. In this fashion, there were roughly three casualties all together. However, they were not killed. Simply, they were knocked out. Each side would fight until there was a decisive winner. Lorenor engaged the creature directly whilst it periodically launched water spells at the group...

[oblueknighto]

Blue watched his arrow fly through the natural phenomenon known as the Phantaria, the world of doors, the entrance to time, the elimination of space, the magical realm which was supposedly meant to control the Firmament. The arrow flew in an ordinary manner for just a moment before it slowed to a stop. The arrow was stopped in mid air and it hovered there as if there was no force pushing it anywhere, the energy pulled away from the movement. Then the energy returned as the scattered remains of something broken crashed into it. As predicted Blue was correct about the atmosphere and it was indeed a lot more flammable than the gas on the Firmament. The arrow burst into flames then dissipated, almost like dust flowing apart. The arrow had disappeared into 'thin air' as some would say, the wind would carry it's remnants away to another part of the plane where it would build up with some other material and form something else, probably more debris.

Blue got warned about his quick experiment and was told not to repeat it, he didn't care much because he never planned to. It was a one-time test, something that he observe clearly without trouble. The phrase about monsters troubled Blue as he forgot to research on them, he hadn't even planned to go through Phantaria at all, but the mission is priority, something he needed to do for his own good.

Soon something formed in front of their group, the grotesque yet unique nature of the creature was very interesting for Blue to observe, the way it moved was in synch with Phantaria almost as if it was a part of the plane. One thing that Blue did know about the elemental was that it was something that belonged here, not something that came from the Firmament. It was a native the the plane unlike the squad which he assumed it took as intruders who wanted land, like a wild beast protecting it's territory.

Many members of the squadron quickly took on an offensive stance against the native but Sanders was quick to defend then to turn his stance towards the elemental too. They conversed for a short time discussing the battle at hand and when it ended the squad were already in formation to attack.

Blue quickly jumped out of the way as the water pulse rushed past him, he had nearly been caught in the wave. There was a need for quick regrouping as the elemental broke their formation. Although the native elemental was heavily outnumbered it put up a good fight, almost being even in strength. Blue knew the reactions of the world on his arrows so he rushed forward right behind Lorenor and now only 6 feet away from the creature he knocked his arrows one by one and fired them off. The first arrow didn't even reach the elemental with his spell slowing it then breaking it up, the next three arrows were shot into the elemental but didn't damage it directly.

Exactly as Blue had planned it, the third arrow his the first and second making them all burst into flames. The flames didn't really affect the elemental physically but it did make some of the attacks weaker, the steam was different from water and it seemed that the elemental either couldn't control it or had difficulties with it. Despite the usage of the flame it didn't make any major differences to the battle so Blue simply fired one last arrow above the elemental and let it hover there.

Dropping his bow back onto the ground Blue drew his newly acquired blade hoping that it wouldn't burn up like his arrows then he realised his enemy was made of a watery liquid that would simply turn to steam. Charging towards the squadron the elemental was closing in on their defence line which Blue was now part of, well the part of the defence line that hadn't been affected by the elemental attacks. Lorenor was the first to engage the native elemental with his blade in one hand and shield in another, Blue rushed in after him swinging his sword diagonally across the elemental, the strike was somehow blocked by the pure conjuration of energy pushing Blue back.

Yelling to Lorenor, "Give the order to surround the creature, we need to get closer to it if we are to win, arrows aren't effective and magic fizzles out of control more than normal in this plane, the warriors must be the main force in the attack."

Blue engaged the elemental from the other side of Lorenor whom had another warrior beside him. The warriors were not small in number compared to the few that had been defeated in battle although the archers in the squadron were a lot less competent in the plane of Phantaria.

The battle would be quick but they would have to go all out if they wanted to win.

As always, point out anything that doesn't belong or something that I have assumed about Phantaria or it's effects.

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Moving with the altered laws of physics that existed within Phantaria, the arrows shot just past Lorenor's shoulders.

"Watch your aim!" The mutant yelled to nobody in particular, he was too busy parrying.

Adapting to the role of leadership, Lorenor flanked to his right to avoid incoming arrow shots. The rest of the men of the 103rd had bolts and arrows comprised of superior make to Blue's. These arrows flowed along a different line of physics in Phantaria than Blue's arrows. Some of the arrowheads and boltheads were naturally lighter, made of mythril and other materials like dehlar and plynt, making them much lighter. These arrow shots were never shot directly at the elemental, but rather, they were shot at strange angles near or around the elemental. This was done in a deliberate strategy of forming distractions. Talking amongst themselves, archers and magi planned various strategies to distract the elemental and to injure it as much as possible. Alone, there was no chance of defeating the beast, together, they were mighty. The fallen were moved off quickly to the side by healers and clerics. Magi launched bursts of wizard's fire across the battlefield meant to target the elemental by its naturally assumed weakness.

Wizard's fire was coated with the unnatural air of Phantaria, and moved much quicker through the air.

"Attack at will!" Lorenor yelled, taking advantage of his newly discovered leadership position.

Sanders moved in with his longsword at Lorenor's left, and several other warriors attacked in unison as well. When the arrows burst nearby to Lorenor's position, shrapnel and debris got caught in the mutant's body. His skin was thick thanks to his endurance, so the mutant barely felt the wood shrapnel that hit him. A large chunk of the wood pierced through his vlince clothing and jutted into his left deltoid muscle. Flinching at the impact, the mutant wanted to yell out in anguish but decided against it.

They were in the middle of war against a very serious opponent.

Managing to maneuver behind the Elemental, a small group of warriors quickly covered the distance between themselves and their opponent. The mutant kept the creature as busy as he could. He moved at an accelerated speed and reaction time, countering each incoming attack from the elemental's weapons that he could. Moving with the speed of water, the elemental flowed across Phantaria with supernatural speed. He moved faster than even Lorenor's best speed!

However, something was happening. The arrows that were shot at odd angles were bursting in the wind, or serving to easily distract the elemental. The elemental began to swipe at the arrows and bolts instead of concentrating fully on the warriors surrounding him. Bursts of wizard's fire flowed through the air connecting with the creature. In some cases, bursts of magical energy crackled through the air in brilliant explosions of light. Some strands of the magical fire flew dangerous close to the mutant's position.

Flowing to avoid incoming attacks, the elemental felled two more warriors.

Something happened just then. There was a burst of elemental fire as it hit the beast, and a few strands of the rippling elemental energy touched Lorenor's person as well. The wizard's explosion quickly engulfed the mutant and he couldn't suppress a scream that time. Despite his natural endurance and affinity for pain, the mutant was outmatched. Elemental energy rippled across his person, but an idea quickly struck the mutant's mind. Holding sword in hand, Lorenor ran towards the elemental at best speed. With the fire threatening to explode the mutant to ash, Lorenor jumped on the beast. Holding him with his beast strength, the mutant allowed the energy to burst through the elemental as well. As Lorenor got burned, he burned the elemental. Energy cascaded in a brilliant explosion, as the warriors that were nearby understood what Lorenor had just done.

"Now!" Yelled Sanders.

And the attack was on, just as a brilliant burst of light that came from within Lorenor exploded nearby to the elemental injuring it further...

The being was stunned for a brief moment...

[oblueknighto]

Blue rushed at the enemy as Sanders gave the signal. The others warriors were already surrounding the native elemental so they engaged it first but the majority of them didn't even harm the elemental even if distracting it for moments. Their attacks weren’t deflected by the elemental’s body but pass straight through the emptiness that was their enemy but one of their warriors had their blows glance off something. The angle of his attack was diverted giving off a few scenarios in Blue’s head and he run through them until he got the image of the warrior either being a retard or that there was something actually solid inside the elemental. Something solid was a good start to kill him since all the attacks on him so far had been shrugged off with time not giving them any edge over defeating the native elemental. They needed to find its weakness or at least weaken it somehow.

Then the prior events hit him.

Lorenor had sacrificed himself, or did what made it seem like he was sacrificing himself. Their leader had just rushed into the elemental head high all while flaming in a world with a high flammable than the air on the Firmament, ramming into the elemental with his sword in his hands. The excess amount of energy crashed back onto of itself and then exploded. Someone needed to take care of the squad even without Lorenor commanding them and Blue sure wasn’t going to be the one to take that role since he had no will to do it, all he wanted to do was get the job done in a clean fashion. He never wanted to get involved and didn’t even know that Lorenor was present until the mission had initiated but he had to keep his cool and continue acting as if he had changed from before, as if he cared about what was happening at the time.

Blue looked towards Sanders and saw someone who had been the closest to Lorenor in the squad while also being a part of the squad in a normal sense by knowing them. He could fight on par with the rest of the squadron and he could direct them while he fought, he had already begun to as he gave the signal to attack. He had to take the place of Lorenor and lead the battle while their leader was absent.

As Blue ran towards the elemental which had been stunned by the explosion and then had a surprise attack upon him, a good decision had been made as the rain of blades showered down upon him. Now it was their time to counterattack, the magi and other archers also showered the elemental with their fireballs and their exploding arrows while they did their best at taking advantage and avoiding the disadvantage of their environment as Blue couldn’t. Taking a chance Blue swung his plynt blade at the elemental but his swing was encountered an arrow near his face which had flew past so he lost his balance when he dodged it turning his hand and halfway through his swing he tripped and thrust the sword into and through the elemental. It really was ethereal or at least felt that way when the sword flew through. As the blade flew it’s trajectory dramatically changed as it passed through the elemental, telling Blue that his hypothesis was correct. The sword had then been on the other side of the elemental and he didn’t have any chance at retrieving it, the elemental’s form crackling with energy, clearly threatening to destroy the fragile flesh body that Blue inhabited.

Blue was crouched weakly on the ground with his hand behind him and as he looked around he saw a blade, brimming to the edge with a strange magical heat that it passively emitted. Thinking quickly he backed away from the elemental with his legs to push while using the cover from the ranged forces of the squadron that constantly hailed the elemental. As a fireball blew up in front of the elemental making it turn around giving Blue a chance even if only for a moment, he reached towards the blade and stood up using it as a weight to push off the ground. Though he could clearly feel the heat with his legs but his hand wasn’t burning, the handle wasn’t hot and even though his hands were touching the handle it wasn’t even warm. The heat seemed to radiate around the blade and it just seemed magical enough for Blue to believe it was powerful.

Beginning to regain his awareness of his surroundings he saw that the warriors were still surrounding the elemental with the help of the archers and the Magi holding it down with Sanders in the front next to another one of the warriors who had joined them, he saw the warrior was female but that was all. He was beginning to put the puzzle together piece by piece, there WAS something solid inside the elemental and it seemed to be the power core. In other words Blue thought it was pretty much a generator for the elemental’s physical yet intangible form since blades went through it, arrows got stopped by it and fireballs blew up on contact. It seemed to Blue as if the enormous amount of pure energy on Phantaria was formed into elementals of some kind, some had hostility against the ‘invaders’ or some simply wanted them to go back to where they belong or like this one in particular, wanted to test their strength.

“The strength of their squadron would be proved alright, I’ll prove it with a simple question.”, Blue whispered to himself. He was holding the blade that he now recognised, it was made of damascus and he even knew who it belonged to. The blade belonged to Lorenor, their leader, someone who took care of all his belongings and used them to the best of his ability. As Blue would also do so now.

He stepped closer to the elemental, he was only fifty centimetres from him, now thirty, now twenty, now ten. The elemental’s two arms weren't on that facing side so Blue recognised it as his back and thought how ironic it was that in the end he would destroy the elemental with his back faced to him. The elemental was blocking their path from venturing further out into Phantaria and he let some troops past him.

Blue raised his blade and swung it aiming right in the middle of the elemental at the exact spot where he had once hit the solid bit of the elemental, but as he swung he yelled at the elemental so that he would pierce the sounds of battle, “How will you reward us handsomely… if you are destroyed?”

[Mutant_Lorenor]

Catching Blue's movements, Sanders realized that of all the members of the squadron, Blue Knight was the one to step up with a plan. Lorenor had provided them with the opening that they needed to defeat their opponent, and Sanders would be certain not to waste that opening. There was something solid within the Elemental, and his gut instinct told him that was their target, but he was too busy fending off the creature's elemental-sword attacks. He would be certain to rob one of those blades. Another fireball screamed passed Sanders' head. The skilled veteran was able to detect it incoming just in time to avoid it so that it slammed against the body of the weakened Elemental. Sanders was providing the creature with enough of a distraction that Blue Knight could use Lorenor's sword against the Elemental and be certain they would win the day.

The Elemental swung its weapon directly at Sanders. Sanders parried the incoming attack skillfully as the the other warriors kept the other swords at bay. They were moving in unison, and a light phalanx was formed surrounding the Elemental. Shields were at the ready, as ranks moved in for an attack, and then moved behind the shield. Sanders and a few of the more talented warriors were allowed to remain on the front lines. They were not required to keep to the phalanx because of their legendary swordsmanship capacity.

Indeed, Blue Knight struck the core of the beast. Just as suspected, the core was the very heart of the creature. It's essence. In one fell swoop, Blue Knight had gathered enough courage and resources to cleverly defeat their opponent. There was a reaction from the core, and the core exploded brilliantly showering them all with the elemental energy. Four swords of the Elemental fell down upon the ground. With the brilliant shower of energy, the Elemental spoke out to the entire group.

"You are all strong. You have passed the test. Your fallen shall be returned to you and you will have passage trough Phantaria. I will also reward you all with a special object."

And with that, the Elemental vanished.

In it's wake, was a confused Lorenor that was looking around for his fellows.

"What the hell just happened?" Lorenor said out loud. Sanders heard him and walked over to the mutant's position.

"Nothing to worry about. We won, that's what matters and I have a present for you."

"What sort of a gift?" Lorenor asked.

"One of these belongs to you since we could never have achieved victory without you." Sanders said. Sanders held two of the Elemental's swords.

They were all clearly made of Prevaldia.

Lorenor took one that had a brilliantly shining blue aura, and mysterious symbols that were etched along the surface of the blade. One Lorenor's hand touched the handle of the weapon, a scabbard manifested. It was also masterwork in quality. Lorenor placed the weapon on his person. He turned to look at Blue, nodded, and then walked over towards his fellow.

"I would like my sword back."

All of the men who had fallen in the attack were also revived by the power of the Elemental.

***

We're moving on. Sorry for the delay.

With their Siege Engines ready, the entire group moved directly to the location of the battle. Sanders and Lorenor had been given direct instructions of where to go in order to proceed to the battlefield they were all heading to. The Corone Rangers would wait no further. As they communed with the Elemental, Sanders and his elite squadron appeared in front of the sewer gates. A single group of Corone Rangers was there to guard the gate but they appeared bored and restless. Easy pickings. Lorenor, Sanders (And presumably Blue Knight) proceeded forward to take out these guards. There four men all together. It would be impossible for these men to sound any alarm. Sanders and Lorenor knew that to be the truth considering their position to the main castle. Sanders had gambled correctly on coming in through the sewer and using the main assault as a diversion. Giving hand signals to Lorenor, Sanders still retained the leadership position in the squadron.

Lorenor moved a short distance behind the other man, and a magi moved along with them. Once they moved in position the, attack began. Lorenor leaped at the nearest warrior, with his enchanted prevalida weapon in both hands. It was gripped tightly. Lorenor leaped through the air like a cheetah pouncing on prey.

The mutant saw that his victim reacted and grinned. Corone Rangers were surprised that a sneak-assault had reached them there. Panicked screams echoed through the tunnel as Lorenor and his companions attacked without mercy. They all knew that the Rangers would show the Imperials no mercy given the same situation reversed.

Attempting to react to Lorenor's attack, the man prepared his sword, but it was already too late. Lorenor kicked out just in time to move the man's sword and used the weight of the weapon as leverage. He swung downward and cleanly decapitated the man before jumping forward and landing on the ground. By the time Lorenor finished his movements the rest of the guards were already dead. Sanders had just finished slitting the throat of the last guard.

"Lorenor, give the signal. One of these bastards must have keys to get in, or we use magic."

"Whatever is easiest." Lorenor said calmly and walked over to the gate after sheathing his weapon. Steel. Perfect. They could smash the gate in if necessary. Turning towards the squad, he saw that the magi had gathered up the keys. The magi nodded towards Lorenor, Sanders, and Blue Knight. The mutant clapped his hands together and moved them forward towards the magi. "Toss them here."

"Yessir."

And Lorenor was now in possession of the keys.