[ToM] The Second Battle

Dark clouds gathered in large billowing masses to blot out the sky overhead the northern Kou region of Kanshou. Almost as if man were mimicking nature, soldiers also gathered in droves, forces from both sides of the war mustering manpower from all across the country. There were rumors flying about that this battle was to be a decisive one that would determine the fate of Kou. Very few among them knew the real reason behind such a large clash of forces after several months of either side limiting their fights to smaller skirmishes. A new development brought forth the potential to end this civil conflagration in a single swoop. Of course, the true intentions of commanding officers rarely reached the ears of the common soldier. Only the rallying battle cries from their direct superiors meant to lead and encourage them to face their deaths with pride and honor.

Several generals and their armies had begun to aggregate in the region for the past week now, their forces spreading out across the mountainous landscape focusing around four major points which were sure to become the locations of four massive battles. It was almost as if everything up til now had merely been phantom whispers of a true war, but now the storm of bloodshed that had been building up all the while was finally ready to be unleashed all at once. Entire forts and farmlands to the south had been abandoned by the troops guarding them all for the sake of bringing the most power to bear possible here in Kanshou. This particular battlefield out of the four would be vitally important however and so the most soldiers from either army were headed here.


A powerful looking fortress atop of a cliff, looking down upon the miles of grassy plains below. It's walls are built to keep even the strongest of men out, making it one of the most well-built keeps in the entire country. Luscious green vegetation grows along its walls to show it’s old age. The highest points upon this goliath of a stronghold are the watchtowers. These were made for constant surveillance to what's around them. The countless amount of Gao's soldiers that harbor inside these points stand alert. They are always ready to await the order to fire their arrows onto the armies below.

Outside of this seemingly invincible fortress, lie three of Yoshiro's many encampments. Hundreds of blue flags are strung along the mountain-side, signifying their one true allegiance to the emperor. The soldiers that await inside of these encampments are preparing for the greatest siege battle of their lives. The storming clouds up overhead were beginning to rumble with peals of thunder as if the rain and lightning could sense the growing tension between the two sides. Soon a terrible fight would take place here and soak the land in the blood of its own people…

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Well the time finally came, Oliver Oxford was called to battle for the sake of Gao's good old side.  He just furrowed his brow initially when he was approached and sighed.  This was the price of associating with so many people.  Of course the son's side wanted him too, but he was snatched up to work for Big Daddy Kou's side of the family dispute instead.

The sandy taupe head of Oliver's hair flew in the breeze when he made his way up to the fort.  It was a nice fresh change of pace to get away from the mercenaries and Takane's Assassin guild. He thought to himself how this was war, but it was a nice fresh breath of air for the sake of getting some peace nad quiet.  He hoisted his bag over his shoulder, carrying in it a variety of different tools and supplies, his folded up multi section cane tucked away under his jacket.

He came to the fort wearing low cut boots of a dark brown color and slate grey pants.  These pants went all the way up to his torso which sported a black and white shirt that had concentric patterns of circles in the black and white segments blocked off from each other respectively. A beige colored jacket with long sleeves on his person as well.

After setting up in the fort, Oliver made sure to tie the belt which held pouches hanging from the sides of it that contained his Asteroid Belt weapon.  Hidden up his sleeves and pant legs were the holsters of The Satellites, his special throwing knives. He was going to stay ready and equipped at all times.

Being one of the first major faces to arrive here at the fort, Oliver just moseyed about, taking notes in his book for the sake of information for later.  Now it was just a matter of time to wait for others and see if the fort would be attacked or they would be doing the attacking.

This was nerve wracking, but exhilarating.  Oliver had the chance to die here! But this was one of the very specific reasons he left home and to see the world!  A conflicting thought pattern for the self destructive assassin/would-be author.

Weapons brought:

(A pictoral example of Oliver's outfit, but with long sleeves

Cyrus woke up at dawn that day. The day he was dreading for weeks a day that he would have to fight in a war that he didn’t believe in to appease his sister and her peons. Trudging through out of the luxurious mansion and estate of the Lees. Cyrus unhooked Rokusai from the stables and proceeded on his way. Slowly they made their way out of the city and into the countryside. Riding through the little villages in along the way. Their cheers or jeers really affected Cyrus. All these people just wanted safety and most people were just picked sides because they had to Cyrus’s family was no different just to protect their villages, their families, their livelihoods and get back to ignoring the rest of the world and back to their lives. The clouds began to roll in even further which weakened his resolve even further, the little that he had. They still had a little bit to go before they would be at base camp.

Ariana was fine and dandy but Wei-Hao was looking more somber. He knew what this battle would entail and Cyrus knew that Wei-Hao was not super keen on fighting or war. He would much rather stay at home with his kids. They were both nervous about the upcoming fight ahead and were both aware that they might not come back. “Hurry up you slackers” Araina shouted from the front of the line. Wei Hao obeyed and prompted his horse to move faster but Cyrus decided to ignore her commands and just take in the scenery. They were clearly getting closer to the battlefield because the land was broken and burnt. There were so many villages laid to waste for such foolish reasons there had to be some better way to settle their differences without resorting to murder and wanton destruction.  The once green trees and vibrant country was reduced to nothing but despair and hopelessness. His sister thrived in this sort of environment so its little wonder that the was first to the base camp. Cyrus couldn’t even see them anymore they had left him far in the distance.  “I guess we should hurry up and make it to the encampment before it starts to rain or something” he said to Rokusai who snorted with approval he kicked him in to high gear traversing the long country roads as fast as possible. Trying to catch up to the rest of his party.

Hours later after racing past the rest of the ruins and scars of war, He finally made it to the encampment in Kanshou. Cyrus dismounted his stag and found his sister. “Ok, I’m here, what do you want me to do now? “ “Just rest for now I’ve got my own things to deal with. You’re not going to be in my own company I don’t think so I expect you not to run away” Cyrus looked at her with fire in his eyes.  “I don’t believe in this war I don’t want to be here but I will make damn sure that it ends” With that he walked off to prepare for the fight that he had ahead of him. He looked up at the fortress in front of him and sighed more people would have to die for the petty squabbles of nobles and he was a part of it. But he would put that out of his head for now and focus on the day ahead.            

Weapons and Equipment:

A long, low whistle escaped Endolf’s lips as the Fanalis looked around. Standing in the shadow of an impressive looking fortress along with the young Fanalis sat several different encampments, each one bustling with soldiers and mercenaries like himself as they prepared. The redhead continued to walk around, Resolve bouncing against his hip with each step he took as shadows seemed to fall all around. Looking up he would find dark clouds rolling over the fortress and all of the encampments, an ominous sign by the young warrior’s standards. His face would twist into a smile at both the sight and the anticipation of what could be an incredibly dramatic battle. He wasn’t exactly here to play along with the other soldiers or mercenaries. He was here to fight, on his own an in his own way.

As the former coliseum fighter walked through the camp his entire body seemed to radiate an aura of confidence and absolute certainty in himself. He knew he would make this a fight, not for himself but for the opposing forces that would be unlucky enough to face him. His sights were set, the fortress above would be his greatest conquest to date and the thought made him as giddy as the mood of the battle field and the setting of the oncoming storm hanging above.

Brought Items:

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Much like Oliver, Endolf was hired to block Gao's army from acquiring a skilled gladiator. However, unlike Oliver, Endolf wasn't considered just an expendable asset, "Gladiator, you are responsible to bringing down the fortress' aged gate. Once the gate is down, I will allow you to chose what you do next; do battle against the defending forces, focus your talents against the weakened General, or take down the General's second-in-command. If I know General Feng, he'll likely swallow his pride and allow his second-in-command to take control of the defending troops in order to rest himself."

Feng may be a tyrant, but he's clever. To become a hero among Gao's disillusioned troops requires talent, skill, and ruthlessness; Feng has all three traits and more...but I am far more motivated than he is...whether I kill the bastard myself, let the poison take him, or I attain victory over his precious fortress doesn't matter...I will have my vengeance.

Endolf was approached by the General in command of all three encampments,a beautiful woman of petite build but ferocious mind. General Baofu Hua chose to join Yoshiro's cause not for the sake of the country, but for the sake of her seething vengeance directed towards the one and only General Kuang Feng.

General Feng might remember General Hua due to the one and only time his dark personality was allowed full control over Feng's actions; during that time, Feng was put into a weakened state through which his sane personality gave up, allowing the dark personality to let loose for far too long. General Hua was a victim of this rampage, but she does not know what caused General Feng darkness to reveal itself. In fact, General Hua did not know Feng had a sane side to him, only that she wanted to get absolute revenge for Feng's depraved misdeeds.

Anyway, Endolf was given his orders by Hua; if Endolf succeeded in his primary objective, he'd be free to rampage within the sky fortress like the muscle-headed gladiator he's known for being. Such a simple subordinate pleased Hua greatly considering how messy complicated human feelings can be. Granted, perhaps seeing the horrors of war might force some complex feelings into Endolf's gladiatorial character, though only time will tell. For now, Endfolf must prepare with the battering rams or try to break down the aged gate of the fortress on his own. Either which way, Endolf would have his work cut out for him.

(OOC: Hey Endolf, are you sure you brought everything you wanted to with you? Just checking before things really get started. Wouldn't want to leave behind a beast which could turn the tide of a battle. Anyway, good luck every and most of all HAVE FUN DAMMIT!)

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The symphony of thunderclaps resonated in the sky as the general looked at the castle above. He stood up, taking leave from his comfortable seat in his tent, walked outside,  and gazed upon the swaths of soldiers itching to storm into battle. It was here where he thrived, it was here where he felt most at east, most at home--the battlefield was this man’s ‘happy place.’. His soldiers quivered in their boots, nervously clutching their spears as they awaited morning to engage in battle. The ominous peals of thunder and the rhythmic flashes of lightning illuminated the sky, granting vision of the battle to come to the soldiers. He only scoffed at such anxiety. Children, he thought, poor boys sent off in someone else’s war.

“S-sir...the enemy...they approach…” A boy practically whispered to the general. He turned to face his cadet, the general’s body looming over the small stature of the boy. Sure, he had a pleasant disposition and treated his soldiers with kindness, but this man was known as the “Titan,” for his immense build. There was speculation he was of the Imuchakk race, though nobody could prove it. Instead, they chose to believe he was an unnaturally large man, comparatively tall as a mountain.

“LET THEM APPROACH!” The general boomed, his voice quaking the very ground beneath him. The nervous soldier stepped back in fright, before being pacified by a jolly, thunderous laugh. “NO NEED TO FEAR! WE WILL CRUSH THE ENEMY WITH OUR IMPRESSIVE MIGHT!” The large man gazed off into the distance, his eyes honing in on the enemy forces. Tomorrow, Kanshou would be mired in battle, and this man, the “Titan,” would find someone he felt to be the strongest and defeat them in battle.

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Cyrus would enter into battle the next day, defending the castle against Yoshiro’s forces. There have been reports that a great and powerful general would be among the members of this fight, leading the charge into the castle itself. Should Cyrus engage him, and win, there would be great riches and fame to be gained from their defeat. However, the general was no slouch. It would require cunning, immense willpower, and strong conviction to rid the general from the battlefield. The area surrounding the castle was filled with soldiers, all itching to take part in battle, all itching for the men fighting for Gao’s blood. Yoshiro’s forces were filled with honorable men, yes, but there were soldiers who seemed hardened...battle-ready--soldiers who have taken the lives of men and relished in their deaths. Mercy was not an option in this battle.

Cyrus’ companions seemed fit for battle, but would they prove to be effective in fighting off the army of Yoshiro? Our young, red-haired warrior would have to defend his own integrity as well as his sister’s. War was never something he was interested in, let alone in taking part in this particular war. Yet, he sensed his sister was too invested in this fight...there was something about her that had changed, something about her that seemed sinister. Only time would tell how this ends, though it is evident our red-haired man had many challenges lying in wait for him.

“Cyrus! Attention!” A voice boomed, calling to attention the young man. Before he would have any time to react, the booming voice simply kept barking orders, “Report to vanguard! You will be with my battalion leading the charge, soldier!” The booming voice faced the plucky lad now--a tall man, fierce looking man with an interesting cloth wrap placed artfully around his body. There was no telling his experience in battle (if the eyepatch wasn’t any indication), he carried himself like he was born on the battlefield, though his “armor” left little to the imagination.

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...C'mon now, you know you wanna, AHAHAHAHAHA! DO IT! I DARE YOU! KILL THEM AAAAAAAAALL!

"Welcome, Jingyi Hou! I'm glad you decided to become my vict- ugh...to become my second in command. Apologies, I'm not feeling too well."

General Kuang Feng of the sky fortress, commander of many troops, victor of many battles against the false Emperor's army, a true hero of the revolutionary army! However, despite his calm and gallant exterior, Feng found trouble suppressing his deepest, darkest desires; to maim, kill and torture. Simple enough desires men of his position gladly let loose for the sake of their country, but Feng's desires were deeply rooted in hate, anger, and depravity. The General's rukh were of the deepest black any sane magician could imagine, though going into further detail would be pointless; General Kuang Feng was mad with gallantly suppressed bloodlust and depravity, only letting his darker personality loose indirectly through his subordinates, with one haunting exception...

"And welcome, assassin. I'm apologies for not knowing your name, but given your line of work I imagine your name isn't known by many, ha ha ha!"

Anyway, General Kuang Feng greeted not only Jingyi Hou but also Oliver Oxford inside the main hall where plans to defend this fortress were being busily prepared and executed. Up until this point in time, Yoshiro's three, combined encampments just outside the sky fortress' walls have done almost nothing of note. A few arrows flung at the walled archers yet no casualties. The fortress' twin gates stood proud, unwilling to budge at even the strongest battering ram. Granted, time has done a number to the gate which General Feng and his subordinates knew all too well.

"Thank you for meeting with me on this fine day, though I'm admittedly afraid this fortress' mighty gate won't last but another day before being blown open by the false Emperor's battering rams. However, you must not fear like I do!"

The secretly mad General walked up to Jingyi with pride in his step and firmly landed his right hand atop his second-in-command's right shoulder. Though his body language indicated sanity, Feng's eyes exuded a dark presence which could not be suppressed which Jingyi might question. However, Feng would continue speaking proudly in order to inform Jinyi Hou of her duties should the fortress' gate fall.

"You will lead our fine troops into a direct confrontation with the false Emperor's scum should they defeat our once mighty gate. I would do so myself as I have countless times already, but as I've already mentioned...I'm a bit under the weather."

The weather outside was indeed grim with thunderous clouds rolling through the once bright sky. That Feng even mentioned today was fine was probably an optimistic prediction for the outcome of the decisive battle's future. Any sane individual would know calling a day such as this 'fine' ought to meant as sarcastic or metaphorical...though as previously establish, the General was not completely sane. Regardless, Feng then moved onto Oliver, the assassin, who's name Feng did not care to know; knowing the name of an assassin meant working with assassination plots frequently and every good General knows assassination is the lowest form of strategy, if sneakily killing could even be called a strategy. In this case, Feng's dark personality won over, allowing Oliver to both be hired and used against Yoshiro's army.

"I don't know how good of an assassin you are, nor do I want to know; all I need from you is to sabotage the enemy in some way before they are able to break through our mighty gate. Don't tell me what you will do, just do the dirty work well and I'll likely notice. Now hurry! Godspeed."

The General didn't waste time with Oliver's duty nor was he specific; in all honesty, Oliver was hired in order to block Yoshiro from hiring the assassin. Not only was Oliver considered expendable, the assassin's vague duty involved general sabotage, a lowly activity for assassins of Oliver's caliber. If Oliver wished to prove himself to the General, he'd have to push himself to extreme measures and think of the quickest, most efficient method of sabotaging the three enemy encampments before they struck down the gate and so General Feng would notice the deed! Feng's dark personality hired Oliver, but Feng's sane personality wouldn't allow an assassin to do dirty work without forcing the work to be nearly impossible.

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Welcome assassin? Did this guy not care to even know who he was? Oliver just tilted his head, waiting for the general to finish his first train of thought before he could interject. But before that, Jingyi was spoken to and given her orders. It was nice to see someone from his same faction on the same side as he was, and now that her orders were given, he was given his.

How utterly dismissive they were though. Just go and sabotage something if he had the means to? That was a little bit of a cop out. Why the hell was he even brought in here? He thought to himself. But when he could finally speak, Oliver started to turn around, taking out a notebook to jot somethings into it about a new character idea before he started to speak, "Well, plenty of people already know me, and by name, I just avoided the armies so far. And isn't the point of hiring an assassin to not call them out as an assassin?"

He did have a point. The general seemed keen on continually referring to Oliver as to what he was, yet was focusing more on the task at hand. It was like he was trying to make things harder for his job. "I'll get to work though. You'll see by the end of tonight or tomorrow." He turned toward Jingyi and gave her a thumbs up, "Good to see you again by the way! You're going to do great! And if things work out for me, you won't have as much to do!"

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After a small bit of preparation, Oliver was gathering up everything he needed, packing up a napsack with several books in it. His tools on his person, he would be making his way out of the fort, through a back entrance so that he could take a long trip around from the high up fortress to the army encampment below.

From around the fortress, Oliver would be using some rudimentary climbing gear to scale down the cliff side, out of sight of Yoshiro's armies even if they could spot him, and make his way down to the ground. After his feet touched the ground, Oliver looked around for anyone on patrol, and if he saw nothing, he would be heading off for one of the encampments.

There was one benefit to being Oliver. He traveled a lot and met a lot of people. He was approachable and didn't give off the air of being an assassin. So when he approached the first of three encampments, he would likely be greeted by anyone that recognized him. All of this being done by arriving on the evening before the battle, when everyone as at their most tense.

If Cyrus were in range at that time maybe he could join in as Oliver came right up, without any indication of working for Gao's forces, and look to start helping all of the soldiers relax. His efforts as an author did not go without skill of knowing how to tell a gripping story. So what better way to pass the time, help ease the minds of the soldiers, and get everyone fired up and partying?

A story turned to telling jokes, jokes turned to singing songs, and singing songs would lead to consuming a large amount of alcohol. Alcohol reserved for victory normally, but was used for special occasions.

If it all worked out, Oliver would wait until most of the encampment was passed out drunk, and had been slipping in and out of small social circles to get around and look for any siege weapons. Under the cover of the middle of the night, Oliver would approach any siege weapons and pull out a couple of his throwing knives to start unscrewing key components that held the wheels or whines in place, scoring the wood to be more brittle, flaying ropes so that they would snap.

If everything worked out for Oliver, he would have slipped in and out, damaged all of the siege weapons and return back to the fortress before the dawn of the battle. And things would start reacting after that, with siege weapons rolling out and busting down, trying to fling something or charging forward, only for the wood holding them together to snap and render them useless, all the while Shien would have been in the fortress, examining his nails.

The young warrior snapped to attention putting all thoughts of this familial turmoil out of his head for the time being. He was part of the vanguard the first advance formation that was not his hope for he had expected his sister to use her influence to move him to the mid guard he spied Wei Hao within earshot being given his orders being part of the rearguard with his wife but he slowly but proudly walked over to the officer in charge. ”Understood Sir” he would walk over and begin to prepared his things in order to help lead the charge in this decisive battle. Before he would leave he would talk to his brother in law who was also preparing making sure that his crow had the proper armaments to its talons were sharp for the battle and that his horse was well fed and ready to ride at a moments notice “Don’t you die Cyrus you’re going to be the only one who can stop your sister from doing something that she will regret!”Wei Hao confirmed with Cyrus. The redhead nodded and would continue on his way making sure that the weapons would be in working order and help to prepare some of the other reinforcements to the ropes which was something that he had learned being on ships and tying caravans as a child. He was almost done until he noticed something through the now spitting rain he noticed an acquaintance was that…Oliver? He would think to himself before moving up to confirm his suspicions “What are you doing here? Seems like a bad place to write a book doesn’t it” though elated to see another familiar face he seemed suspicious, skulking around in the unassuming parts of the camp dodging the drunken soldiers. He would continue to make preparations to other weapons at the camp. Cyrus would find his sister and tell he the news he didn’t want to alarm anyone if he could but he was intrigued at his acquaintance ‘s actions. He also, on Ariana’s advice, would talk to his commanding officer the man with the eye patch. “I saw some suspicious activity sir” Cyrus said stoicly. ”We should be careful of our weapons, we may have some people who have infiltrated Sir!” as much as he would like to give a potential friend the benfit of the doubt, this was a war and he could not let anything get in the way of this mission becoming a failure especially if he could have stopped it then and there.

Endolf spent several more minutes studying the fortress from afar. It really was a rather impressive construct, he’d give it its dues. However there wasn’t much of it he was able to see from the distance between himself and the fortress. This left him with about the same amount of information on the building as he had started with. With a shrug he would turn around and begin drifting through the encampments Yoshiro’s troops had set up. Drifting around he would take stock on the resources they had available to him. The number of troops, the number of mercenaries, even the numbers of forced recruits and volunteers that had been roped into this whole chaotic war. The weapons they had to offer, the armors and items that would support their forces. All of this would be taken in by the former coliseum fighter, all of this would be worked around in his head until he could figure out the best ways he would be able to put it all to his best use. Unfortunately from what he could see there wasn’t much that he would be able to consider helpful, most just seemed to be a liability in the long-run even.

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"Hahoho..! Let us set out..! For Fuchou Fort...!" General Hua had yelp out as she'd lead her men to Fort Fuchou. At age ten, General Hua was made a pet for General Feng.

Lady Hua was a lover to General Feng, as non-sane as Feng is, she loved the man. Yet, he took her and abused her, Feng is a mad man. He used and treated her as a pet, not a lover or person.  

As the many men of General Hua began to near the gate of Fuchou Fort, you'd have men on top the Fort ready up bows for as they may protect Fuchou Fort.

To get to the gates of Fuchou Fort, General Hua and her men needed to evade the blows of the bows. So, her and her men rose wooden targets up to block any blows that they'd send out from afar on top the gate.

General Hua hoped that the boy she had just spoken too long ago can show up, to help open up a gate. The boy was told to stay low and come get close to a gate, so, Lady Hua just prayed that he'd be okay for as he was key.






Lady Hua would ask of the boy she had just met. She had no clue where he was but she hoped that he'd be close by. As General Hua and her men began to near Fort Fuchou, a box would drop.

The same box that had drop detonated. A cloud of red gas began to seep from where the box exploded. Any men who were close to the box when it detonated were lost. Not dead, but lost.


(OOC: Gate takes 2 Omega-Tiers or 4-A-Tiers to open. Your goal is to open that gate.)

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“ARGENTUM!”

The winds seemed to swell just a bit more as the general loudly proclaimed the young man’s name, beckoning him to the vanguard as the sense of urgency heightened in the battle camp. It appeared battle was upon them, and although the fight seemed daunting at first, there was a chance victory would be simple and clean. A distinct lack of death is what both sides wanted, especially the soldiers who took up arms in the civil war.

“GOOD. YOU ARE ALL HERE, BECAUSE YOU ARE MEN OF VALOR!” The general cried, his voice traveling into the deepest depths of the soldiers around him. There was something immensely stirring in his words--it was impossible not to be inspired to fight as though this was the last fight you’d ever be a part of it. He took the preliminary stages of battle and created an art form. “YOU ARE MEN ABOVE ALL MEN!” The soldiers around Cyrus threw up their swords and spears in riveting support. Their cries and cheers and bloodlust turned into pure, unadulterated love for battle. Regardless of if there were a civil war or not, these soldiers would fight somewhere. After a few final victory cries and bouts of complementing the men in this battle on their bravery and surmised superiority over Emperor Gao’s forces, the general led the charge against enemy forces.

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In the distance in the battlefield, several magicians stood atop the castle gates, readying their spells for the incoming soldiers. They would prove to be rather disastrous if they weren’t dealt with, so it was up to Yoshiro’s vanguard to advance upon the enemy. There were three of them, as far as scouts observed, that stood as the first line of defense. Before the vanguard could approach much closer, two of the magicians fired off a startling display of fire and ice toward the field, both freezing and enveloping the earth in an icy conflagration.

“All men, HALT!” The general yelled, his gaze upon the magicians, “Anyone fully equipped to take these bastards out, I need you to do so now!” His gaze dropped to find the red-haired warrior he accosted earlier in the crowd. Aha! Someone he could use: “Argentum! DESTROY THE MAGICIANS!”

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General Feng had his eye on Hou, he hoped for her to do her best. For Oxford, Feng just looked to have Hua and her men sabotaged. To be made a General of Gao, you need to be clever and have a talent to lead. Morale of your men is key. The best out of your men, you must go for that, Hou.




"Ah..! Hou..! May I ask..? How are you today? I need you at your best..! Our foes, we have no clue what they may pack..! So, I say, tread easy! I am to lead our core..! Kukoh~! Best of luck~!"


As he'd wave bye to her, he'd eye her and check her out. An-Guo, a man set as Hou's escort, would lead her to Fuchou Fort's gate. It had begun, at last, the siege. An-Guo was a big man, so he'd try help out as best as he can. General Hou had a lot to take care of today. Yet, she'd have to take baby steps, or else she may just snap. The gate was not yet done over by General Hua and her men. So, General Hou had close to an hour or so to rouse up her men.


"Drop a red gas box! Do not let her and her men get close to our gate! We must defeat our foes! Our General is on her way! She's come to help us out! Her name is General Hou! Obey her~!"

Zan, a man of true valor would say to his men. He uses a bow to shoot any man or woman who may dare get close to his gate. The man also has a katana that is very sharp, able to cut stone.

(OOC: You have one post to meet your men. If you want to break your shard now, you may.)

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Twist, a code name for a little scamp working undercover within Yoshiro's forces. Her cover was that of a child aiding in passing out drinks to the drunks, because she was a child. Another aspect of her flawless cover was being utterly bored like a child, wishing for better things in life rather than serving drinks to lazy officers within Yoshiro's forces. The truth of the cover was her want to be an assassin undercover; the cover was false, she was simply a child raised like an assassin yet given no work as an assassin. Her duties didn't extend further than doing as she was told, but not as an assassin.

"God damn officer demandin' drinks over and over again. Get them yourself, you lazy shits."

"Uh? What was that?"

"Ah~ Nothing~ Here's another drink, sir~"

"Fuckin' assholes."

Twist was a skilled assassin, capable of many related feats such as sneaking and killing as per any assassin. Her age didn't make her less effective, but she still just looked like a child capable of little. However, what truly stopped her from taking on big work equal to her skill was her childish attitude; no respect for authority whatsoever, so her reputation and trust among the assassin 'community' dipped too low to recover. She'd have to wait until she became unidentifiable, aka older, taller, and not flat-chested. At the moment, even in disguise, she was rather distinguishable, so her work had to be put on hold until her looks and skills matched each other's caliber.

"Shitty geezers laughin' there assholes off...I hope I get contracted to kill them one day...wait, who's that?"

With her skills in assassination and infiltration, Twist saw an individual strolling through the encampment as if he belonged there, but something about his movements seemed too...assassin-like. Ignoring anymore calls for drinks, Twist took her platter with her, put some empty jugs on the platter, and discreetly followed the stranger all the way to the siege weapons.

"Damn these drunks for not guarding these big-ass weapons...I'll show'em how to guard..."

She couldn't help but talk to herself, yet she kept quiet, only vibrating her vocal cords and giving herself the illusion of talking, for her own sake. Keeping a hidden position until the now apparent saboteur was finished with his work, Twist placed her platter of empty jugs on the ground and sneakily followed the saboteur, fixing all the problems he was causing for the siege weapons.

"Fuck these geezers and soldiers...this saboteur can kiss my ass, too."

If the saboteur, Oliver, left without checking his handiwork, then he'd have wasted his time; Twist fixed all the problems in the blink of an eye, one way or another. Granted, some siege weapons couldn't be fixed, so instead Twist completely destroyed those weapons, allowing the large structures to collapse and make a big racket for the soldiers to notice and fix themselves...if they weren't too drunk. However, even if just a couple of the dozen siege weapons were destroyed beyond repair, Twist had fun sabotaging a saboteur.

Unfortunately for Twist, she became too excited and wanted more from the saboteur who walked like an assassin; she quickly caught up to Oliver and interrupted whatever he was doing and yelled out to him, "HAH HAH HAH! SUCK MY TITS, SABOTEUR! I fixed everything! What are you gonna do now, bitch?" She then disappeared into nearby darkness with exceptional speed and hid herself from the saboteur's senses, waiting for him to act.

"Whatever he's planning, I'll counter him! This bitch doesn't know who he's dealin' with...though I guess I wish he knew...whatever, I'll be a full fledged assassin once my chest gets unrecognizable, heh heh heh."

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Cyrus paid attention to his general. His words gave him a sense of acknowledgement and made him feel, if only slightly better about the battle. He was indeed a man of valour. He needed to stay alive for too many people the red headed vagabond would take a moment to fully process the gravity of all that was happening around him with quiet resolution. Then, he too would raise his scythe in pure hardened resolve for he knew that he had to become like his sister a hardened warrior, the days of being neutral man seeking peace were over and he had to fight for what he believed in.  Cyrus brining his mount to the vanguard would have to be on his guard because being above the infantry would make him an easier target especially to ranged attackers this was the exact moment when he noticed the magicians. They would rain spells of fire and ice upon the battalion. Naturally, his general would be the one to call him up to deal with the three magicians. Dismounting from his stag he would ready his weapons, his wind scythe and prepared Rokusai to begin attacking the three magicians. This was something that he hadn’t dealt with in a long time. Although his brother was a magician, he hadn’t sparred with him is such a long time. But he remembered some things that he could do to help gain victory against his enemies.  On his signal the beast began charging at the magicians attacking them with his antlers spiking the enemy soldiers' borg Cyrus would then ready to his double-sided scythe not holding back throwing caution to the wind, he would start off by attacking one of them with a slash dance followed by a basic stab with the other blade of the scythe aiming for the face. he was hoping that the first slashes would get rid of the borg and the second attack would give a decisive blow to one of the magicians. If he were successful, Cyrus would move on to the third magician leaving Rokusai to maintain attacking the second magician. He didn’t want to waste all of his abilities and run out of stamina before he could progress further into the battle so he had to be strategic and really read what his opponents were going to do. He may have to try to block more abilities than he was used to but that was not going to stop him from doing well.

Abilities:

Well of course things weren't going to go as planned, that would make his job way too easy if they had all been completed just that quickly.  Rather than leaving the encampment for the night and heading back up to the fort.  As he was walking away, the would-be-kind-of-not-really-but-still-considered-assassin known as Oliver was approached in a rather uncouth manner by someone that was looking to get some conversation going toward him.

He turned around, putting his right index finger to the fingers of his left hand, as if counting off, "One, I'm still a minor, back off. Two, who the hell are you? Three, you might want to double check who you call saboteur, I didn't do anything. And fourth, no seriously, who in the hell are you even?"  Oliver had moved about and through the crowds, friendly enough with others  that it wouldn't be up to question that he was doing anything wrong.

He wasn't an actual assassin, he had never killed anyone like that, nor had he taken any contracts, he just learned their ways and how to fight like them, so whenever people called him one, he was rubbing the back of his head in confusion.

When Twist leapt off into the distance, there was the sound of something creaking, like wood whining to try and sustain its weight and keep itself up before breaking.  All of the wood that he had scored couldn't be fixed, not without some sort of magical wood to fill in the gaps where he had sawed his knives in to.  So when the key beams and lengths of the different siege weapons were ready to be moved, aside from the one that would break regardless, the others were going to be breaking the moment that they were used in the morning.

The kicker was that when you score the wood on the underside, it's hard to see it until its too late, and with siege weapons, the wood to replace it would take a day or two to make and bring out here.  So Oliver moved on to go and meet some other people at one of the other camps, making his way through to try and spark up another party, offering them a drink to their great army and that they should celebrate tonight like it was their last.

Oliver was looking to make sure that every grunt in the army right here was hung over for the raid on the fort tomorrow, and he was succeeding with most of them at the least.

Yoshiro’s forces would begin their advance, marching forward on Gao’s fortress. Endolf kept to the General’s side the whole way. The woman, a rather attractive woman by the name of Lady Hua, had met with him earlier to speak of what his duties would be in this assault. Everything seemed to rest on his ability to get the fortress’s front gates open. As far as she was concerned whatever he decided to do once that was accomplished was up to him. The freedom to go absolutely wild on an entire fortress gave the young Fanalis a rush of adrenaline that caused him to look forward to the assault all that much more. Despite this new sense of drive to getting this job done so that he could have his fun Endolf had managed to fall back from the General’s side just ever so slightly as they moved forward, resulting in the woman ordering him to get close to her while avoiding getting shot.

It was obvious she hadn’t given enough care to actually learn the boy’s actual name however as her constant use of the term “Reim Boy” when referencing him caused Endolf’s lips to twist into a displeased sneer of sorts with a sharp “tch” sound escaping from the corner of his mouth. Yet for the moment he would continue to play the part and march along, catching up to Hua and walking by her side. The two would find themselves halting in their advance as a small box came falling down from the sky, clearly having been thrown from atop the cliff by Gao’s forces, and opened up to release a cloud of some kind of red smoke the blanketed their field of vision. The order was given to Endolf, don’t breath the smoke and regroup the soldiers they had lost from the cover.

Moving into action Endolf would unlatch Resolve from the clips attaching it to the back of his waist and proceed to split the single blade apart. With a hand taking firm hold of each end of the weapon’s chain he would begin to swing a single end of it around, attempting to disperse the smoke as he moved through it with his Hurricane Chain technique. Moving through the smoke he would begin searching out Hua’s soldiers, as ordered, and begin bringing them back to their general in order to regroup.

Magoi: 210/210
Stamina: 355/375

Hurricane Chain:

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A fast gust or gale had begun to take shape. As a red gas began to expand out, you'd have it to where a boy would look to rescue his men who'd have got lost in the red gas. He wove his blade in hopes he'd get rid of some of the smoke but he'd stop the second a blast of wind would blow the smoke away. The boy had been saved by a god, his fate was to not end here.

---

His General had seen that he had saved her men so she'd clap for the boy. As she'd clap for the boy, many of her men would do so also. He was a hero, yet, not for long, a lady of who was in the smoke had been cut by the boy's blade. "Idiot~! Look what you did to me! You cut me up!" She'd say as she'd let the boy see what he had done to her chest area. The lady was not happy about what he did to her boobs. "Name is Mei Shu! Come on boy! Let's go! We have to open the gate!" Mei Shu'd say to the boy as she'd run over to Lady Hua. The boy was to group up his men he had saved and head back to Lady Hua. Yet he'd have to face some mages who had shot water his way. One mage had shot a seed near the boy's leg, what is the boy to do? He may have some men on his side who may be able to help out. "Thank you boy!" An old and glad red head man would say.

(OOC: Mei Shu is B-Tier and is on your side, you can ask her for help, just not at the moment.)

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Intense were the displays of fire and ice as they shot forth at the red-haired warrior, seemingly collapsing onto him and crushing him with one fell swoop. Unbeknownst to the two assaulting magicians, the warrior’s horned steed was capable of fight, leaving the ice magician knocked from the sky as his borg shattered against the might of the stag’s charge and onto the ground. The magician levied himself upright, however, only to witness the beast and the warrior facing off against his comrade.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! A deer? What other things do you have at your disposal?” Cried the ice magician, his hands getting ready for a new spell, hoping to divert attention away from the fire magician. The ice magician would conjure a spear of ice to shoot forth at Cyrus’ steed, in an effort to injure the beast, or best case scenario, remove it from the battle entirely. As the ice magician geared for their attack, the fire magician would not fare so well. The red-haired warrior’s successive blows would shatter the magician’s borg leaving him stunned in recoil as the second slash grazed his chest forcing him to fall to the ground, clutching his chest. It is unknown if the magician survived--the cut was deep enough where it would pose an issue if not properly treated, but I am sure the fall to the earth without the use of gravity magic would so a number on the fire magician’s body.

Viewing this sequence of events, the third magician decided to join the fray, now seeing that his underlings were struggling somewhat against the reindeer and the red-haired warrior.

“Well, it seems this is a job I must complete myself. Prepare yourself, soldier! Witness the might of a magician of Kou!” The magician boasted, holding his wand to the sky as he conjured a lightning bolt from overhead. The magician would strike this lightning bolt at Cyrus, though in the effort he missed, the lightning magician would create a whip-like lightning bolt and swing it horizontally, aiming at both Cyrus and his beast.

--

From afar, Gao’s general watched in delight at the battle that took place. There was something about this soldier, the red-haired warrior, that was particularly interesting. Oh did the general delight! If these magicians were no match, it would be most auspicious if the general could take part. He sat down, observing from a safe distance, as he polished his weapon. Fine, beautiful claws handcrafted by the best artisans of Kou. The effort, the skill, the product itself! Marvelous! Here they were, good as knew, and they hungered for blood.

(OOC: Both remaining magicians require B-tier damage to defeat. Your mission is to defeat the remaining magicians.)

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To lead your men is to have your men's fate in your very hands. Use your men as you'd use you. Do not rely on your men, you'd rely on just on what you have and not you. A foe may have an idea of what you may do, so be a step ahead of your foe. I'd say to you to be as wary as you can of your foes. War is a bet that you do not want to lose. You or your men can end up dead as fast a gun shot. To not lose a bet of war is to be made a legend.

Her valorous men had begun to tear up and clap for her. The morale of her men rose by a ton just by what she had said. And on that note, Hou and her men set out. Hou had her close combat men, her far combat men, and her mages, yet just not many mages. Her men had looked to get near her but An-Guo had not let her men do so. The gate had men too, yet, they were not led by Hou, they were led by Mu-Zan. It is best to let Mu-Zan lead his men how he'd want to; he has plans prep.



"Name is Mu Zan! I am a man of valor! Good to see you oh General Hou! A lady you look to be! Ah! That is aye okay! So, General Hou! I hope we can get along and stop our foes! General Hou!"

"Oh! Who is he? That man beside you! A big man he is! Ahaha! I joke! So I have prep for our foes at our door step! An odd mage came by today and gave us some red boxes! My men used one but we have two more for you to use! A red gas comes out of red boxes when drop from high places!"

Red Boxes:

(OOC: You may now defend the gate as you please. Mu Zan is a B-Tier ranger that can help you.)

---

Like any decent assassin or saboteur, Oliver denied any involvement or relation to what Twist accused him of being or doing. However, Twist wouldn't fall for such tricks; even if she was wrong, she was too proud to quit having some fun with the poor man. Twist didn't saw a word, just in case Oliver was also attempting to coax a location, but she continued to watch closely from the shadows.

HAH! The awkward asshole didn't double check his failed handiwork! I win this round...unless he comes back around. Whatever, he can't do shit to those siege weapons as long as I have this special earring. Never thought it'd be this handy, heh heh heh.

Oliver left to do something else which Twist felt like reverse sabotaging. However, exactly what Oliver was hard to understand, Is he flirting with the other soliders!? Damn that prick, he'd ignoring me! Twist couldn't understand Oliver's reasoning for being so charming around the other soldiers until she got thirsty. If Oliver was aware enough of his surroundings, he's see a dainty hand reach out from the shadows with assassin-like efficiency and snatch an alcoholic beverage. Twist took a couple sips before throwing the mug in an attempt to throw off Oliver, just in case he noticed her hand. Only a couple sips were taken for she got drunk easily, being a child and all; Ah, shit! He's trying to get the soldiers hungover! Damn him! I gotta think of something, fast...

The best Twist could think of was spike the large barrels in which the alcohol was stored with a laxative. Ironically enough, the second best option would be to destroy the barrels; no alcohol, no hangovers, or at least not as many hangovers. Given the amount of time Oliver could have been here, a good number of weaker soldiers were probably too drunk to save from disgrace; the focus on the siege weapons caused Twist to believe Oliver was targeting the operators of said siege weapons, though he also seemed to indiscriminately spread his charm around.

Laxative...laxative...laxative...where am I gonna find fuckin' laxat-

Twist's train of thought was interrupted by a patrolling soldier yelling out to whomever could hear him, "HEEEY! TWO OF THE SIEGE WEAPONS WERE COMPLETELY DISASSEMBLED!" An officer in charge of the siege weapons stopped drinking and seemed to sober up, out of fear. The hefty man jobbed to meet up with the yelling patrolman followed by soldiers capable of repairing siege weapons.

"Huff... huff...just two were sabotaged?" From the looks of the situation, only two of the dozen siege weapons were sabotaged beyond repair while the other weapons seemed, oddly enough, brand new. Whatever Twist did to fix Oliver's handiwork was astounding; not a scratch on the siege weapons, aside from the disassembled siege weapons.

Unless Oliver followed the hefty officer and repairmen to the location of the siege weapons, he'd only know of what the patrolman yelled. However, the specific number of 'two' was mentioned during the yelling, perhaps warning Oliver in one way or another. The encampments would now know of a saboteur in their midst and be more aware of their surroundings, aside from the drunk soldiers. Should Oliver go after Twist, who decided to try and destroy the barrels of alcohol using her special earring, hide himself in the shadows and attempt to reassess the situation, reattempt to sabotage more siege weapons, or something else entirely?

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Oliver was managing to get plenty of people drunk, letting the parties escalate and small fights to break out due to the drunken discrepancies between different parties. Rather than sabotaging directly, he just let things go their way by pushing the rock at the top of the hill so to speak. Sewing his seeds of destruction, he managed to get close to half of the soldiers too drunk for tomorrow morning at this point thanks to no intervention taking place.

That earring of Twist was the cause for shouts about two out of twelve siege weapons to be declared inoperable. Of course, Oliver didn't KNOW about the earring, but at least his method of targeting the soldiers would make operating the siege weapons difficult, combined with how many wouldn't be able to stomach a full on siege themselves. Best to get rid of the army before they have a chance to get rid of themselves.

But still, the fact that ten of those weapons were fixed as if nothing happened? Oliver could only bite the junction of his thumb while mumbling to himself through those clenched teeth, "Freaking magic. It had to be magic." That was the only way he could think of that was the cause for such a strange thing to happen. The sandy taupe haired author was moving his other hand to the back of his head, ruffling his own hair as some people called him over to join for some drinks.

"You know I can't drink! Drink my share yourself!" He called back, earning some resounding cheers from the soldiers while he looked to move to the next party, stumbling across Twist along the way at a set of barrels. When he found the odd haired girl, Oliver just leaned over, resting a hand on one of the barrels while he spoke to her.

"Awfully nice party tonight huh? Do you think you deserve some fun too? I mean--it's the night before your great victory right? I could lighten the mood with some stories? Maybe a funny one? Or a serious one?" Oliver was laying it on a little thick, trying to get it across with his tone that he was just here to have some fun and get people get something done while he was here. "Don't you think this war is kind of pointless? No matter what--someone's going to lose, and the winner is going to be in the sour eye of their followers for a while. Because they slayed a family member. One way or the other, however you look at this, we're all going to lose. Money? Life? Able bodies? Limb? Family members? Is it really worth it to bring an entire country into warring with itself?"

Oliver let his head list to the side, showing a more tender and caring side, as it seemed, to Twist who was quite rude to him before. He was just trying to strike up some conversation right now.

Cyrus sent Rokusai to deal with the ice mage that attacked him having him smash the mage with his hooves Cyrus would quickly dispatch the lightning mage fairly quickly by imbuing his scythe with magoi and slicing with both ends of his scythe blowing gusts of wind from the weapon. If the slashes would be able the lightning magician he would then follow it up with another slice to the throat and the nape of the neck insuring that that the magician would not interfere again. He would then turn his attention to the final mage the one who used ice. He would hook him by the leg before slamming him into the front of the fortress. From his vantage point he could see his sister watching him and he saw her husband’s crow flying above no doubt for scouting for more enemies. After finishing off the mages, Cyrus would look at the general “We must press on for the sake of bringing this war to an end we must finish off everyone that stands in our way.” His eyes now grey with anger and sorrow. He knew now why his sister fought all we had to do is end the war for its sake and nothing else. He needed to kill the general and be able to end the war so that everyone could move on. He may not have been on the right side but there was no way that he could change that now all that mattered is ending the war and letting peace help heal the wounds that were sustained during the war. He was ready for that he was finally turning into the warrior that was meant to be. Progress cannot be made with out some form of conflict as he moved on, Cyrus was sad at the fact that it had to come to such violent measures but it happened and now he would be the one to help rectify the situation as best as he knew how.

abilities:

130/160

(OOC: Sorry, my computer didn't upload my response yesterday and I didn't notice until now)

The boy frantically attempted to move through the crimson smoke, his weapon spinning furiously as he tried to disperse the smoke wherever he stepped. The rotations of his chain would falter and flop down dead in his grip as a large burst of air instead cleared all the smoke in his stead. He hadn’t known how or what had caused the gale but he spent no longer than a single moment wondering before he was drawn to the sounds of Hua applauding his efforts and his ability to remove the smoke. Even if it hadn’t been his doing in the end. Hua’s next decree would be to instruct him to regroup with her, claiming he was needed. In addition she would inform him that the men he had rescued also happened to be redheads, which he took to understand that they were Fanalis like he himself was.

As Hua began to clap for the former coliseum fighter so too would the men he had made an effort to rescue. He had forgotten the feeling of being applauded, having been away from Reim and the coliseum for so long, yet these didn’t feel like the amused applause of his usual audiences that he had entertained. Rather he could feel some sort of admiration towards him, almost as if these people were showing him respect rather than approval. It was almost overwhelming for the boy. Thankfully someone spoke up. A crimson haired woman spoke up, her voice upset and her tone pissed off. Drawing attention to her bust she would berate him for cutting her armor up in the designated part of her torso, clearly upset at the fact. Introducing herself as Mei Shu she would begin to head back towards General Hua expecting him to follow in tow, fully understanding that the two of them were to assist in breaking down the fortress’s gate.

An older Fanalis man would offer Endolf his thanks as well in passing, prior to several of the enemy mages shooting water at him. Nimbly the boy would dodge through the several shots of water, noticing a single seed mixed in among the shots that would attempt to fall to the ground. Reacting almost on instinct Endolf would grab hold of his Molten Strike with his free hand and lash out at the seed with the lava whip in an attempt to burn it up before it could blossom into something worse. Once it was dealt with he and his newly regrouped Fanalis comrades would return to their General, ready to march forward in order to attempt to lay siege on the fortress gate. “Hey Mei, feel like being my right hand for this whole thing? I get the feeling that between the both of us we could bring that gate down in no time.”

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The shots of water and seed seemed like nothing to the Hot Headed Fanalis boy from Reim and his quickly formed squad of Red-headed Warriors of the same breed. The small, five man squad responsible for 'breaking the gate', as Hua has them believe, were seemingly unstoppable as they quickly approached the aged gate. Fanalis warriors were indeed the go-to asset during sieges, but Jingyi's ally responsible for defending the gate, Mu Zan the Ranger, knew of the prowess and value of Fanalis, just like Hua.

"Here they come! Split them up!"

Endolf and his squad were well noticed by Mu Zan from a distance already, hence the shots of water magic. However, the seed and water Endolf and his squad were distracted by meant Mu Zan's plan would likely work in full effect. Faint oil patterns on the ground would indicate exactly what Mu Zan's plan would be to 'split them up'; The magicians responsible for shooting the water quickly followed up with sparks of heat magic aimed towards the oil patterns stretching all across the front of the ground near the gate and beyond! The subsequent flames would be quite powerful and fast, shooting out into ten foot walls of fire towards Endolf and his charging read-heads.

"GAAAAH!? HEEEEEEEELP!"

The one of the five walls of flame perpendicular to the walls of the fortress had shot out too quickly for one of Endolf's squad members to react in time, despite his Fanalis heritage. If Endolf wasn't quick enough either, he too would meet face to face with a gruesome end. Thankfully, Endolf and the rest of the squad's lines of fire weren't nearly as quick as the surprisingly agile flame which succeeded in taking one life already. Granted, the true purpose of the walls of fire were made quickly apparent; Mei Shu and the remaining two Fanalis warriors had to move in between the walls of fire, separating themselves from one another with little to no visibility through the three foot thick walls of flame. Not only would Endolf need to be quick to react to the incoming walls of fire, each separated by three feet of dirt, but would also need to decide in which direction he would move; to the left was empty space and to the right Mei Shu had dodged. The other two Fanalis were too far away to join, so Endolf could either solo his fiery trip to the gate or join Mei Shu.

"AAAAAAARH!?"

Though Endolf had a lot on his plate already, Mu Zan was far from done. Screams pain emanated from the direction of the other two Fanalis, not Mei Shu, indicating something horrible had done wrong. Those screams of pain were different than the agonizing pains of the now charred Fanalis from earlier, so the fire might not have gotten the Fanalis responsible for the scream. Whatever Mu Zan had done simply added to Endolf's growing list of possible concerns as he charged for the gate. Which direction would Endolf dodge the fire wall? Would Endolf even be quick enough to escape a fiery death? What would happen if he joined Mei Shu or went alone between the flames? Mu Zan kept a stern expression from his high walls yet was filled with pride reminiscent of a child succeeding in herding ants using a magnifying glass.

If my men do what needs to be done, Hou won't have anything to worry about; beautiful women aren't mean to dirty their delicate hands doing work men are capable of.

---

Cyrus’ steed would charge at the ice magician, missing the enemy as it brought its hooves down on the foe. The ice magician rolled over, trying to avoid further strikes from the deer. Wasting no time in this situation, the ice magician would send out three shards of ice at the beast, hoping to maim it by targeting its legs. Should the beast be able to mitigate the damage from the magician, it would still be pained and move lethargically for the duration of this battle.

“You think a mere beast can combat me? Hah! I am one of the finest of Gao’s magician’s court!” The ice magician boasted, standing up and beginning to ready a new spell to strike at the animal.

Cyrus’ blows would fare no little against the lightning magician. While Cyrus’ blow connected with the yellow magician, their borg would deflect the attack and his next concurrent attack. While the lightning magician’s borg was shattered, they suffered no damage and was able to bounce back, preparing a new spell from their staff. The lightning magician charged up electricity and released it from their staff, firing a cone of lightning toward Cyrus. This spell covers a wide range and is unable to be blocked, but offers very little in the way of damage, causing minor cuts and lacerations on the target.

---

The general looked on at the battle, amused at the participants’ prowess in battle. He amused himself with the idea of toying around with his opponents. He thought for a minute of jumping into the fray, but still, he waited until it was the right possible moment. If they couldn’t defeat these enemies, what hope would they have of defeating him?

(OOC: Please remember to address the enemy’s actions in your post. Again, both remaining magicians require B-tier damage to defeat. Your mission is to defeat the remaining magicians.)

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Jingyi's plan meant using a lot of magoi from the magicians at her disposal; the earthen walls were successfully erected using nearly all the dirt closest to the gate as a way to form makeshift ditches. A second set of walls wasn't a bad idea, but given the material the earthen walls were magically constructed from, not much force would be needed to tear the walls down. The female General might notice this weakness and order whatever men were on the top of the dirt walls back down, just in case the walls were destroyed too easily. However, having men on the top of the wall meant a greater strategic advantage, too. No third option existed in this case as the magicians were too exhausted to reinforce the earthen walls, so either Jinyi's troops stationed at the top of the earthen walls would need to come down or risk falling and fatally injuring themselves in the line of duty.

Regardless of the choice Jingyi would make concerning her funneling strategy, Yoshiro's forces weren't quite at the mighty gates just yet. Hua's forces created a squad of Fanalis and sent them as fodder to not only try and weaken the gates, but also serve as...well, fodder. However, Fanalis could hardly be called fodder, but Hua knew Gao's army would have something planned to stop a blitzing squad of Fanalis. Hua wasn't heartless though; Endolf and the small Fanalis squad were simply an expendable asset while the rest of her troops felt more necessary in the overall siege. Not only did General Hua prioritize her troops over a small Fanalis squad meant for fodder, but the siege weapons Hua brought along were essential, too.

Anyway, the point is General Jingyi Hou would need to either wait a while for her funneling strategy to become effective or attempt to do something else in the meantime. However, the decision would likely be predetermined considering a messenger came to deliver news to Jingyi shortly after the walls of earth were formed, "General Hou! I have urgent news concerning the security of this fortress! There's a fatal weakness on the other side of the fortress which may be exploited by the enemy forces! Please, come quick to assess the situation and give your input!" Jingyi could wait, attempt to strengthen her funneling strategy without the help of her exhausted magicians, or follow the soldier with news of a fatal flaw within the fortress' rear defenses.

---

"Ahahaha! Alright, we'll drink your sha- wait, why can't he drink?"

"Doesn't matter! Let's piss ourselves to death!"

The soldier who questioned Oliver's statement suddenly realized he didn't recognize Oliver, "Uh, who was that?" However, the other soldiers were far too drunk to realize anything was off and continued damage their kidneys. The puzzled soldier sobered up rather quickly, as if this wasn't his first rodeo, and decided to be the second to follow Oliver on this fateful night. The gruff man picked up his Kou-style sword and attempted to casually follow Oliver, though less sneakily than Twist did. Oliver might notice or he might not; lots of soldiers littered the encampment, for obvious reasons. Though, why would the soldier who's simple mind actually question another person's origin so suddenly?

Those who don't drink are suspicious, is the only phrase circling within the questioning soldier's head right now. A simple yet effective explanation, at least in the gruff soldier's perspective. Passing up a drink the night before an important, life threatening battle was like passing up an opportunity to pray before the heavens for good luck. A stout believer in drinks and the heavens, this soldier decided to follow the unfamiliar Oliver.

Meanwhile, Oliver arrived to see Twist attempt to use her special earring on one of the three barrels containing alcoholic beverages. Getting rid of these would help keep the number of drunk soldiers at a low number, or at least a normal number. Given the puzzled soldier's line of reasoning, everyone of the same mind would have at least one drink before such an important battle, not to mention pray. Anyway, Twist was just about to impart a great deal of damage on the Barrel to her left when Oliver surprised the young lass, WAAAAAH!? Oh, it's just the saboteur.

Twist paused her action, keeping her left hand hovering next to the seven foot tall barrel, and waited for Oliver to speak his mind. Twist felt like knowing more about Oliver's skills, even if this case just yielded knowledge of Oliver's speaking skills. However, Twist was unimpressed by the saboteur's attempt to quell the situation; talking down to a child with skills and personality like Twist would not help the saboteur, at least not in the way Oliver probably hoped, "Pfuh, trained to be a killer, not a talker. You may be able to win the dumb soldiers to your side, but I don't fall for your shit. As I told you to do earlier; such my fat tits." Twist then used her trained speed to touch her left hand to the barrel and showed the special effects of her earring.

Within a split second, the barrel would start gaining more and more markings reminiscent of the scoring Oliver had done to the siege weapons. However, unlike the siege weapons, the scoring was done in rapid succession and within concentrated areas of the barrel. The now glowing earring would glow dimmer and dimmer as the scratching done to the barrel built up and eventually turned into a sudden explosion of liquid between Oliver and Twist. However, Twist wasn't done messing with Oliver; through the short burst of alcohol came flying sharpened hairpins aimed for Oliver's forehead and right hand. The hairpins would deal marginal damage if they hit, but their purpose was to paralyze the targeted areas via pinching of the nerves. If Oliver wasn't on guard, his face and right hand would be paralyzed for 2 posts, even if the hairpins are removed.

After the quick stream of alcohol dissipated, Oliver might notice Twist disappeared, leaving a hole at the bottom of the barrel from which most of the alcohol drained. Nothing could be done about the lost alcohol unless magic was involved. All Oliver could try and do now was protect the rest of the barrels, though with the gruff soldier having caught up to Oliver, sabotaging this situation would be easier said than done.

"Hey! Who are you and why won't you drink!?"

The soldier didn't seem to draw any attention towards him just yet, but if a fight escalated between the offended solider and Oliver, then the situation might get even more hairy. Granted, Oliver wouldn't have much of a choice in the matter given how quickly the solider unsheathed his sword, keeping hold of the scabbard like a second weapon. The solider may have asked a question needing a response before getting hostile, but the dude was a bit tipsy thanks to Oliver's charm from earlier. No attack was launched just yet though, so the soldier still has his senses about him, more or less. Oliver could attempt to protect the barrels of alcohol, confront the soldier, or something else entirely. Though, one thing Oliver wasn't able to do was juggle everything all at once; Oliver will need to take time to smell the roses before pricking himself.

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