Some sort of dart penetrated Draven's aura. It immediately caught flame and burned up before nearing his flesh. Draven turned his head as he forged forward to see both the demon and Melkoth on his tail.
Wonderful.
He arked downwards as a ball of lightning zoomed past. He could probably loose the big stupid demon, but he wasn't sure of the other's speed. No matter, even if they did follow him back, he could sick the Shinryuu on them while he took care of the crystal...
Draven's altitude dropped to the point that his aura clipped the trees below. He outstretched both arms to his sides and the forest ignited in flame as he passed over, huge flames erupting behind him and thick black smoke rising to the sky-- a massive smokescreen.
----
Ven was the only one left in the room with Duilin and Rink (apart from the victims, of course).
"Just exit this building and follow the main road north to the castle-- you can't miss it. Ask the guards there. I'm sure our majesty has already made the arrangements."
He held up the sheets of paper in his hand.
"I'll meet you there later. See ya."
He exited the hall, the door slamming echoing through the room.
At the sound of the shutting door, all of the plague victim's eyes simultaneously opened....
He walked down the steps, past the guards at the door. They were talking with an elderly woman, explaining that they were not allowing visitors at this time, and to return this evening between five and nine.
Hearing the name the woman spoke, Ven shuffled through the papers to see if he got lucky. No, but it wouldn't hurt to talk with her anyway.
"Excuse me, madam, could I have a word with you?"
He asked the old woman a number of questions about what her husband did before he became ill. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except that a few days before he got sick, he came home quite shaken and explained to her that he saw Sir Mavas being chased by royal guards and the High Knight knocked him down, laughing, during his escape through the streets.
He thanked the woman and moved on down the street. Hmmm, he didn't expect to be reminded of that day...
He continued on, until he heard his name being called from a dark alley...
"... Ven..."
He turned, the shadows revealing a pale man in peasant's clothing walking towards him.
"... Yes?"
"... Ven~..."
"What?"
"... Vennn..."
The man grabbed him by the shoulders. He was wimpy compared to Ven, who was a foot taller. The man gazed into Ven's soul and grinned. It was the same crazy look Mavas had...
"... Vennnn..."
Ven brought his right hand up and socked the man right in the face. He flew backwards, slamming into the wall. Ven outstreatched his hand.
"Whoa... Hey, are you okay...?"
The man sat up, still with the smirk and now chuckling...
"... Vehehehehnnn..."
Suddenly a different voice from his left-- lots of them actually...
"... Vennnnn..."
He turned, just in time to see the two guards at the medical hall's doorway getting pushed down the stairs by a mob of pale men women and children. The plague victims spilled out of the building, looking quite healthy apart from their paleness.
One of them stopped and pointed.
"Ven!"
The rest turned their heads, thrusting their fists into the air.
"VENNNN!!"
The mob began to run at the high knight.
Ven took a step backwards, visibly quite freaked out.
"What the--?!"
----
The barriers surrounding Sigmund gave way next. From here on it was a straight fight between the armies. The skies filled with wyverns and the ground littered with soldiers, knights, ogres and the like.
Hector was enraged. While standing on one of the upper roofs of the fortress, a fireball suddenly hit his group, sending them flying into the air. All of them died but him, who was more magically inclined. He landed on a lower roof on his knees, his armor smoking and his red cape tattered. He pointed at the figure in the sky, screaming:
"KILL HIM!! KILL HIMMM!!!!"
----
Rufus braced himself. Two explosions engulfed the platform that he was protecting, the first one stronger. The smoke cleared to reveal a greenish barrier localized to the platform, namely himself and the black crystal.
Great... He knew he could only keep this up for a few minutes, at this level of abuse...
Hans bent his body to avoid the ray blast.
"Relyin' on weapons, huh?"
He began raging at Tesla at lightning speed, taking the metallic tube from his belt with his right hand. The lighting blade flashed into existence, and he sliced at the ray gun...
James and Julian thrust their hands outwards to deflect the lightning blasts with their respective elements, flying closer to each other.
"Give me a minute."
"As you wish."
Julian brought his clenched fists to his sides as a blackness surrounded him...
James' image faded, becoming mist, and the mist gathered in front of Haraldur and Durruti, his short form appearing from the cloud.
"My my, once again you've proven yourself quite a rude fellow. Perhaps we can discuss this like civilized men..."
He placed his hands behind his back.
The red aura surrounding the crystal grew in intensity. The clouds above the palace slowly began to circle as the island continued its slow movement westward...
