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Duet Fortuna     Elliana is a politician, not a general, but she has picked up the basics of tactics and strategy. With Mordred and Brilliant Dawn to advise her, she's managed to pick an intercept point that is to their advantage. That being, it's a wide open plain that's just before some foothills, with the road leading to the plains threading through the foothills. This gives her a place to retreat with cover, or cover for those allies who need such to work, while allowing their smaller group to use their unnatural mobility. A valley or canyon would have been much better, to trap the army, but this is a good second choice, given what it means. If they crush the army here, it will send quite the message to the Empire.

    It really is an army, too. Terra Majora is primitive in some ways, but not others. Like many armies of the time, a detachment of 'civilians' follows the army at a distance, but the main force is composed of infantry. Pikemen, swordsmen, archers, and so on. Cavalry is with them, including horses and carts carrying cannon and other artillery. It looks like they have some flying mounts of some kind as well, though currently those mounts are walking to conserve their energy, the beasts looking like bat-winged pegasi. No airships, at least, but some kind of primitive 'tank' is in the midst of the army. It's also several thousand strong, easily.

    Elliana will ride Veryx if anyone needs a ride on the dragon's back, and she'll land in the foothills some distance away, so as not to alert the army that there's a dragon after them. "I will largely leave dealing with this to the rest of you, unless things turn sour. My normal rules against killing or collateral damage are absent. Go wild. If you are not the type who can fight entire armies, then target officers as-needed. I can provide a troop screen as cover if needed."
Abstractum.Net     Brilliant Dawn is the one who sinks into this first. "Powering Strife Drives." It says, in that quiet monotone. The pendant around Elliana's neck glows a soft green, a gently rising shine, as it analyzes the field. "Tac drives are now active. Discerning." Flickering green light can be seen in the vision of her allies, if they choose to be attentive here, like a HUD. "Marking relevant locations of cover." Paths and designators for areas of effective cover for the foothills are made plain with a shining light. "Marking probable locations of efficient offense. Target these areas when viable." Areas with a dense concentration of artillery, tanks, cannons, and similar heavy equipment or projectile gear are being highlighted with green lights as well.

    It also marks any of the noncopmbatants that ever seems to get to the forefront of things and aren't covered. Kind of an asshole tactical advisor, but it's doing its job.
Mordred     Mordred will unfortunately be riding Veryx, although it's less riding and more floating alongside Elliana while dematerialized. Her usual refusal to ride the dragon stands, so this is as close to that as you're getting.

    "I'd have thought them smart enough to withdraw, though. If they lose here the capital's going to be pretty crippled," she says, idly; Bloody Amhar is with her, obviously, but dematerialized as well, sharing in the Servant's ability to be intangible.

    It must be torture for a sword that loves to kill not to have a material form. She'd have reassured him it's only temporary, though. Once they go in they'll go in hot and spilling blood.

    "Well, whatever. That'll play to our advantage."

    She'll be going down when their allies arrive.
Sanary Rondel      A straight on attack? It's... Actually somewhat refreshing, especially after Sanary's previous attempts at covert ops that ended through everything except stealth and subterfuge. Instead of riding Veryx, however, she opts to just fly on her own via the anklets attached to her... Ankles. It's much easier to fly without panicking as the one controlling the flight, after all!

     "Sounds like a plan. If anyone needs healing or support, I can keep you covered or do... That." She's opted for a rather odd combination of equipment today: Instead of any armor, Sanary's just wearing her old (but still long as hell) white coat. The kite shield segment of her charge blade is on her back along with a long Physic staff, and both her gunaxe and the charge blade itself are strapped to her sides by what appears to be an actual belt for once.

     Eyeing that pendant, however, Sanary does manage a hearty chuckle. "That reminds me. Uh. If any of you have heavy explosives, try to aim 'em away from the frontlines. I like not exploding."
Lu-Mey     A little travel, some makeup- okay a lot of makeup, and a change of clothes, and after arriving, there's a figure in vibrant scarlet silks slipping in among the non-combatants that always follow an army. Armies always have army followers, and one particularly high-class looking groupie-- er follower- clearly a foriegn one- is brazenly wandering from the non-combatants to sashay her way among the soldiers.
    "Come, come now, I've got water, I've got wine, I've got ~delightful times~."
    Lu-Mey saunters among the men, strumming lightly on her malsha- a multi-stringed instrument of oni design, heavy drink skins sloshing at her side, fluttering her lashes at soldiers left and right, seeking out officers and mentally taking note of them where she might spot any.
Project MORDRED MORDRED is floating above the battlefield, XTE Lancepack drawn and held under his Armour's shoulder. "Be careful, I will be providing a plasma blast bombardment. Sacrificing accuracy for increased fire rate without sacrificing energy per blast." He announces over private local comms, the tip of his lancepack already glowing as the hydrogen plasma is being prepared for the initial barrage.
Raine Arland      Raine had arrived shortly, a motorbike skidding to a stop behind a nearby foothill. He must have landed his ship some distance further back. Several miles at least. "Heh. Look at this. They've got the guts to keep pushing even after everything we've shown em." He muttered, lowering his goggles and peeking out from around cover to observe the approaching army.

     "Eesh, that's a good bunch too." He mumbled additionally, rubbing his hin thoughtfully. From beside him, his ever present ghostly companion faded into sight. Pale skin, white hair, and white dress identified her as Fragarach. Her eyes swept the ranks on the horizon momentarily before she spoke up.

     "You are hardly equipped to take on an entire army. What do you plan to do help?"

     Raine smirked, getting off of his bike and getting into a higher position behind the hill to get a better viewpoint. "I can't really put a good dent into an army in good time, but you can." Was Raine's offhand reply. His companion stared at him, unimpressed, and then shook her head.

     "Do you ever do your own work, you lazy fool?"

     "Nope~"
Abstractum.Net     Amhar mutters under its breath, the eye at the crossguard rumbling agitatedly. Not too unsettled about things, though, still fine enough to be irreverent. "Looks like we've got an all-you-can-eat buffet on today. Guhuhuhuhuhuhuh." The blade seems unsettled in its own way, but in other ways, rather aggressive, even for that blade. Even while dematerialized, it seems to almost rattle with some sort of hunger. "More infantry than not. Good. Good, we can get momentum. Huhuhuh."

    It's going to save its own fanciness for now. Needs to materialize first! It's preparing something special for the descent, though, for when Mordred drops from above...
Duet Fortuna     Veryx rumbles thoughtfully, "I could take part of the western flank with my breath, if you wish..."

    Elliana shakes her head, "No... no, not unless they become a threat to the others here. I would like to avoid using your breath weapon if at all possible, at least on a large scale. Just protect me while I feel out what we have to work with here, and that should be enough."

    Evidently there are lookouts good enough to know that something is up. The army is rapidly shifting about, moving from a marching formation toward a defensive formation. Pikemen at the edges, and all that. THey're using the tank as a 'wall' of sorts, because otherwise the pikemen don't provide enough coverage to be more than a thin deterrent.

    A few of the soldiers are eying Lu-Mey, and one of the officers is actually going to ask her for a wineskin. "This is a mess," he's grumbling to himself. "Even if we do take the city back, it's not much use compared to the harbor, and we're sure to take casualties."

    The officer next to him claps him on the shoulder. "Just take it as a chance to gain a heroic title, eh? A valiant leader and all that! Besides, I'd rather be sitting pretty here for now if we can take Senna Bliss back, because Victory Sound will be a lot harder, and I'm betting we won't need to move against it ourselves. This is the safer option!"
Project MORDRED As soon as they've been spotted, MORDRED announces his presence with blazing thrusters and strafing past the army, doing as he told his allies he would be doing. At a rate of around one hundred shots per minute, he's sending blasts of superheated hydrogen plasma flying. The accuracy on them is practically nonexistent, which is why he's aiming roughly at the large group of people better known as the enemy army. And even then /some/ shots will fly wide of the army. Enough will at least get in the general right area, however.
Sanary Rondel      "Looks like they spotted us." Sanary chuckles and looks over at Elliana and Veryx, offering the woman and the dragon a bright grin. "We'll be counting on you two to bail us out if we get in trouble. I'm heading in."

     And so she does! The healer zooms forward before practically dropping like a rock out of the sky, slowing down her descent in the last few hundred feet. As she does, she whips out her gunaxe and shield, trying to drive the former into one of the unlucky front-liner's heads before pulling it back to fire off a barrage of flaming shells from the gunaxe's barrel at another clump of soldiers. She's aiming more for speed and shot volume rather than accuracy, of course, considering the sheer number of soldiers around.
Mordred     Mordred makes a whipped sound at Veryx.

    With the arrival of their allies, the Servant grins and pries her attention off the dragon and her master, though, and finally splits off from Elliana. She materializes high in the air above the army; rather than Clarent, it's Bloody Amhar in her hands, and her helmet is already snapped to her back and shoulders, the masking effect just off to start with.

    She goes crashing down in a straight line, headed straight for the TANK and its surrounding troops. She aims to cleave the vehicle's primary cannon if she can help it, but more than that, her legs are bursting with magic, Prana Burst already flaring up to propel her like a rocket with blood red jets.

    And upon landing, it's going to shockwave like hell too. She's sure Amhar can hijack the wave and eat through it or something cool like that.

    "AMHAR! FEAST!"
Lu-Mey     "Water~! Wine~! A good time~!"
    Lu-Mey pours the wine freely. Of course there's a reason the giggling oni is so easy to let the wine skins pour. Any man who asks will drink to their heart's content!
    Of course it means they'll be drinking the tasteless venom of something with far too many legs, sloshing around within the skin.
    It will take a little time but it will not be a pleasant death, once it hits the bloodstream.
    Still, Lu drapes herself over the the man's shoulder, all sweet smiles and perfume. "Ahhh...? But what's the use in a title if you walk away from the battle crippled, or maimed, or worse?" She croons, "You don't walk away at all?"
    It's a valid question as she pours him a cup, all sultry smiles. "There's be no shame in drawing back, before far too many lose their lives, right~?"
    A little hypocritical as she passes deadly poison around left and right.
Raine Arland      Raine produced a set of binoculars and looked through them, observing the army. "Infantry...pikemen...swordsmen...whoa, is that a tank? I see some flying mounts too. Can't mistake those wings there. ....Wait, what the-" He lowered his binoculars, squinting, and then looking through them again. "...Is that? ...I think it is. Infiltrate the enemy huh?" He grinned to himself, watching as the army began to change their formation. "Looks like it's time."

     Raine leapt down from his foothold, back to his bike, and stowed away the binoculars. Then he strode out from around the hill, hands in his pockets and a smirk on his face. "Fragarach, it's showtime!" He called out, not actually making any moves himself, just walking forward. Carelessly and casually.

     The aforementioned entity reappeared high in the air above Raine, a bit of an irritated pout on her face for a brief moment. But then a similar grin formed, fangs clearly showing. "You owe me for this. Again." She spread her arms, causing a number of moderately sized magic circles to appear in a spread cluster on either side of her. The sharpened ends of what looked like large ice missiles phased through the circles, but remained aloft.

     ...That is, until Fragarach directed an arm forward. "Frost Arrow."

     And then, all at once, volleys of ice missiles shot out from the circles, careening through the air and raining upon the front lines of the army. Frozen clusters of ice bombarded their position, causing small scale explosions of ice schrapnel and freezing air over a wide radius, though not reaching further back than the initial ranks.

     There was no regard for allies in the casting of this spell, but...well, a warning was given.
Abstractum.Net     Amhar does it well. "Powering Strife Drives." It says, burning with a sudden red fire. Strike Driver." The descending blade intensifies the speed of their landing, and magnifies the weight of the impact. "BLOOD-TECH: RED ORCHARD." It calls out in a synthetic tone. And immediately, dozens of spikes, seeming like brilliant red fluid, gush out of the cracks of the crater, slamming up from below, attempting to impale the soldiers nearby, who have hopefully been dazed by the meteor-like impact of Mordred on the tank.

    Red Orchard is exactly what it sounds like. The spikes slam up at angles, trying to strike through the soldiers at a slant... And then let their branches reach out, attempting to target the next soldier, and the next, and the next, anyone within range. It creates a brutal thicket of aerial brambles, something to interfere with the flying enemies, as well as tremendous, rapidly-solidifying steel-hard spikes to deter or trap the tanks. It depletes a lot of Amhar's old stored-up blood to draw in the remains that get impaled, but it's a fantastic opening move, and invites Mordred to rush in for a proper feast, as Amhar's jaw opens wide now. "BLOOD MAW." It's ready to properly chow down; the jaw's opened wide enough to sweep along dozens of enemy soldiers.

    As always, of course, the niggling little nagging urge to enter Shift starts up. Amhar always tries to Shift whenever possible, but always while trying to assume control. "Huhuhuhuh! Let's get this party started right. You need as much blood as we can get for what's coming up, and /I'M/ still hungry! We've got a half-dozen Elites here, even you know you need something /big/!" It quietly urges her to give in, a little more than usual here.
Duet Fortuna     Plasma blasts rain down on the army, followed by Sanary's flame shots. This group IS better-disciplined than the last, and don't panic at the display of strange powers, however. Instead, the officers are barking out orders to detach and spread out, making the clusters smaller so they aren't as easy a target for area attack weapons. The infantry fragments with surprising swiftness, and the cavalry splits off into four parts, using their greater mobility to go around and cover the flanks.

    Several of the cavalry and infantry are mowed down by frost arrows, too. It's quite a butchering... at first. The discipline takes hold, and two devastated units of cavalry form up and make a cohesive unit with terrifying efficiency, thundering toward the hills where the arrows came from.

    Oddly, no archers even try to fire at MORDRED so high up. At least not until the tank suddenly starts releasing the sound of thunder, sending cannonfire toward Glare-NT. They aren't simple cannonballs, though... they glow with a strange energy, and if he's clipped he'll find that they tear through armor with unnerving power. Behind the covering fire of those cannons, the aerial cavalry are taking off, lances at the ready to deal with MORDRED if they can reach him in time.

    Archers are taking shots at Sanary, too, with a slightly delayed hail of them. These aren't bored guards, they're trained and professional soldiers, and they show it.
Duet Fortuna     Mordred slams down into the ground, sending the guards sprawling. This is the rear guard, and they aren't quite so prepared for a sudden attack. The blood orchard that sprouts causes screams of dismay, and it's relatively easy to get up to the cannon of the tank and cleave right through the barrel. Unfortunately it has a lot of other guns, but the big one is damaged now, which means a lot of the utility is gone.

    As the soldiers scatter though, some of the others are getting organized, calling for support. Mortars launch, blasting a few of their own wounded but causing explosions around Mordred's position. They're actually fighting back with some ability to do so.
Sanary Rondel      Between what Sanary's hearing over the comms and seeing happening not too far from her landing point, it's fairly easily for her to figure that she's... Probably not nearly on the same level as her allies are today. Still, that alone isn't going to discourage her from advancing on the enemy formations!

     The arrows will, though, and she's more than happy to hunker down under her shield while those arrows come down at her. The size of the shield makes it easy to deflect the bulk of the arrows, although some of them still make it past her defenses and graze against her arms and sides.

     "If the guys back home were this good..." She mutters to herself, not even bothering to finish that thought before advancing on those archers once again, letting her magical energy circulate through her to mend those wounds. As she zeroes in on those archers, Sanary brandishes her gunaxe and charges at their ranks with all the subtlety and finesse of a hippo with a chainsaw!
Abstractum.Net     "Barrier Driver." With a tremendous rush, the crimson trees bend and shift, cracking apart as they move to intercept the incoming mortars. They can't block the full impact, but hopefully they can get any explosive payloads to burst a little too early, and blunt some of the direct impact.
Duet Fortuna     Lu-Mey is now draping over an officer, who is actually doing his job and gesturing for her to get off. "Move the left flank over a little, they're still too close," he calls out to the signal relay, then glances at Lu-Mey.

    "Be careful who hears you talk like that, or the Guard will come after you," he warns. "Even if it's just to talk, that's pretty creepy."

    His companion corrects, "Nah, the Guard is MOSTLY all right. Redmist keeps them in line. It's those damn talking weapons of theirs that are creepy."
Mordred     Oh, these soldiers actually know what they're doing. She should've expected as much, considering this is one of the Empire's main frontline presences. With the boost from her Abstractum, and her own reserves suitably high enough to go hog wild with Prana Burst, the Saber-class Servant starts darting about-- every jump caving dirt and ground under her with enormous pressure, sending blasts of wind out like rings of force around every take-off and impact site. She lands, she cleaves with Bloody Amhar, she takes off again, systematically targetting soldiers that look like more of a challenge than others.

    Insodoing she sustains occasional wounds-- a spear that dents her armor, a mortar shot that catches her offguard, scorching skin which rapidly heals, while others get warded off by her blade. Her Magic Resistance flares up as Raine fires her large-scale spell into the fray, ice shattering against the hexagon-filled dome that appears around Mordred. A few sharp icicles penetrate nonetheless, but with both the warning, and the fact Raine isn't trying to harm the Servant, it's much easier to shake off.

    The incessant nagging of her Abstractum eventually gets to her though, and Mordred gives her sword a wide grin. "Been a while since you ate, huh? Fine, geez. Go ahead, take the wheel. But you leave some for me this time, it's no fun when you eat and kill everything for me."

    Consent is granted for Shift, though Mordred's insistance to get her fair share of the action might cramp Amhar's style and freedom just a nudge.
Project MORDRED Oh yeah MORDRED feels that. He tries to dodge the cannonfire, and at least it doesn't hit him straight on. The weaponry still takes out his left hip joint and matching hip thruster, and autorepair and balancing systems go into overdrive to activate the redundant hip joint and balance the thrusters. This grants the aerial cavelry enough time to get close and force him to redirect effort into slower, but more accurate firing. The first shot goes off before they get in melee range of him, a single blast of superheated plasma. It's aimed for the pegasus, not the man on its back.
Raine Arland      Raine slowed to a stop, ceasing his advance as Fragarach's spell fired off, tearing through the front ranks. Considering this was an ARMY, Raine held no delusions of wiping them out too easily. "Well, there goes the opening attack. Now then..." He glanced up at Fragarach who lowered herself to ground level in the meantime, nodding to her.

     Apparently she understood his implication because she began to weave another spell. Spreading her arms, a low draft began to form at the ground in the gulf between Raine's position and the company that had detached to face him. She directed her arms forward, and then upwards abruptly. "Desert Dust." She muttered, and immediately, there was a blast over a wide radius. It didn't seem to be meant for harm however. Instead, what it did was shift the ground enough to kick up a large scale dust cloud. An attempt to obscure their vision and make it harder to just charge straight in.

     Raine smirked once the spell was cast and outstretched an arm, forming a familiar black blade. "...My turn." And then he broke out into a run, heading straight into the dustcloud. From there, he would attempt to cut down soldiers here and there, slipping in an out to try and confuse their ranks.
Lu-Mey     For all the gestures might be for her to get off, Lu-Mey helps herself into pushing right onto the man's lap.
    By now she just passes the wine skin off to whoever wants it. Of course threat of being taken away by the guard does earn a puppy-eyed look. "It was just a thought. I'd haaate to see a good looking specimen like you get hurt." Chirruped. Before her ears prick. "Mmm? Talking weapons?" Murmured as she gets an arm draping over both men's shoulders now.
    The anticipation of waiting for the moment to strike sets her blood boiling. It takes an effort of will to keep her skin from, literally, crawling as she caresses a cheek, palm secreting deadly toxin all over the men. Once she gets her answer she'll see about moving on to someone else who looks important~.
Duet Fortuna     "Yes, those damn things with the eyes, always talking about Versus and Drivers and the like," the first officer says. He still hasn't drank anything! He starts to raise his cup to his lips, then he ends up speaking again, idly passing it aside to a soldier. "They are pretty fearsome, though."

    The soldier starts to sneak a drink, when a different one coughs, takes the cup, and it eventually passes back to the OTHER officer, who lounges back swishing the deadly drink as if pondering if he should drink his friend's cup. "Well, there aren't THAT many of them."
Abstractum.Net     Mordred grants a limited timespan here for Amhar. This will give them about one level and one turn of Shift or so. "REDSHIFT ABSTRACTION." It says, and abruptly Mordred hits Inscribe Shift. The glowing bloodstains that suddenly rush over their body emit a tremendous shockwave of force from Mordred herself, like the world got punched hard. Going along with Mordred's leaping, it takes a similar posture. Amhar hijacks Mordred's body long enough to return it to the blood orchard, plant the Mordred-occupied blade in the ground, and apparently lift the entire orchard out of the ground by way of the expended blood, burning only a fraction of its stores from the fresh blood Mordred's collected so far.

    It attempts to lob the entire orchard, alongside the ground held by it, into the back lines of the combat, where the noncombatants and mortars are. And where one assumes it'll continue its previous function. "You could 'take the wheel' if you could promise me the CARNAGE that I'm hungry for!" It speaks, echoing its own voice behind Mordred's. "Not just the blood, but the chaos! Plans disrupted, order unsettled, everything that's built collapsing like dust! But I'll command the power that's mine unless I can know that's what it'll be like!" The mucky, unsophisticated voice is getting a little dramatic, just for a moment... But then as soon as the attack is done, Mordre'd back in control, and the Shift cancels out from that time limit.
Lu-Mey     Lu-Mey's work is just about done. At least she feels that way as the wine starts getting passed about."Is it strong~?" Chimed when one coughs on it. "Ah, they must be fso terrible then if you thenk they're fearsome! Where are they? --So I know to keep away, of course." Asked with an overdramatic sigh. "I wouldn't want them to catch me, after all. ... Ah, but you gentlemen, please enjoy the wine, drink, drink, be merry, yes~?"
Mordred     "You know, if you'd asked that a while back, I'd have said yeah," Sword!Mordred pings, the crystal eye glaring up at her own face. "But I think I've got enough primordial chaos and carnage trying to control me inside me already. 'sides, I can't promise you that. I renewed my knight oaths, you know. Kind of. Gotta start somewhere. Can't promise you chaos and carnage. I can promise you the fighting'll never end, because so long as a knight exists he's destined to it. Hell, I can promise you meals. But I can't promise you chaos and mayhem."

    Mordred makes no effort to regain control yet; no, actually, it's always kind of fun to watch Amhar painting art. Boring, a bit, but.

    "Hey, I hear there's enemy Abstractums on the field somewhere. When you're done eating chaff and fodder, let's actually find something worth hitting." the blade pings again, eye seeking out hints of eyed, colorful equipment among enemy troops.
Duet Fortuna     A plasma lance against regular riders is a good choice. The blast fries the beasts with ease, though there's enough of them that... well, most of them glance off the armor of MORDRED even if they do hit. The only real threat is from the few that actually dive in, filling the air with a flurry of diving pegasi-bats and burning corpses falling to the ground.

    Sanary wisely tries to go after the archers while they're reloading, causing significant chaos and screams before their local guards can try to form up. 'Try' to form up. They aren't lacking in discipline, but they are suffering horrible losses.
Duet Fortuna     A dust cloud causes the cavalry to cough and slow, ready for an ambush! Or they think they're ready. An Elite like Raine is basically a Blooded in their world, and they don't have anyone on that level in their group. As Raine cuts down the first, the horse winnies and flails, and the others begin to scatter in the dust cloud to try to find the edge. This will allow him to get another few with ease, but it may lead to the rest escaping.
Duet Fortuna     "Eh, the core of the Heaven Guard are back at the capitol," the officer says, grabbing his cup and finally taking a drink. "But they have agents all over, and there's one here with one of those creepy things somewhere hereabouts. You'd better get going, this whole thing isn't going well."
Sanary Rondel      That was an orchard getting launched by blood, wasn't it? And a giant laser, and a dust cloud out of nowhere... Sanary would really hate to be on the receiving end of any of those attacks. Granted, she's not doing all that bad with the archers in front of her, and there's even guards coming closer just to deal with her. How flattering!

     "Hey! You're seeing what my allies can do, aren't ya? I don't think you want to know what I can do." The healer lets out a boisterous laugh as she reaches up briefly to give her eyepatch a light flick. "If you behave, I might even put in a good word for the ones that surrender."

     Would they call her bluff, or would they just keep taking her on? Whatever the case is, the healer would charge right back into the fray, relying entirely on her healing to keep herself from getting overwhelmed and even firing off a few heat beams from her excposed eye as a small taste of the true power that.. Isn't really hidden under her eyepatch.

     Still, that's for her to know, and for them to not! A monster has to look confident enough, after all, and she'll avoid cutting down those who do actually surrender. Just because she's acting like a monster doesn't mean she's a /complete/ monster, after all.
Lu-Mey     Finally- FINALLY the man takes a drink. No words can describe the slow smile that crawls to the Oni's face. One part mischief, two parts murder, she takes that as her cue to slink off, one last flutter of her lashes as she leaves the men to let them feel the toxin catch up with them later. "Ah... I had best be off... Good luck to you, gentlemen... I'll be around camp tonight if you'd like to come find me~."
    An empty and hollow promise for men with no future, the scarlet dancer of death simply sashays away. ... Now she has someone to look for. And she knows just how to look for them, considering she's looking for anyone that has a BIG EYE on their weapon, amid the chaos of the ongoing battle.
Duet Fortuna     Wow, that's a lot of carnage! And Amhar is certainly getting his money's worth of running the place. The place being Mordred's body. Mordred will thus get to see some real blood flowing.

    As for the whole Abstractum issue... that won't be hard to find. A bright blue glow emanates from not too far away, and the various soldiers near it suddenly spasm and thrash about, shifting into animalistic features. Werewolves, werebears, werecats... or at least anthropomorphic ones, that certainly look lycanthropic. They're screaming, but they turn as one when a voice says, "Take him down!" Pointing at Mordred, apparently unknowing she was a girl. The owner has a large spear, which she is using to turn her loyal troops into monsters and rush the enemy.
Raine Arland      Raine wasn't the strongest Elite around by a wide wargin, but he made up for it with speed and precision...most of the time. This was one of those times. There was flash, no flourish, just simple, deadly moves. A single swipe, the horse goes down. A second swipe, the rider is gone. A third, wide slash, two soldiers fall. Duck low, dash around, a fourth slash. Another infantryman falls.

     But they knew this was a disadvantagous situation and the group had begun to fan out and escape the dust cloud. Raine found his number of targets dwindling, having picked off the last few stragglers. The vision obscuring veil would soon pass. The rest would be up to Fragarach.

     Speaking of her...

     Outside the gradually dissipating cloud, Fragarach floated at the ready, arms outstretched as she chanted another spell. "Flames of judgment, deliver these unworthy souls to the depths of the underworld..." But she didn't cast the spell yet. She held off on speaking the spell's true name and completing it. Instead, she waited...and waited...and waited.

     And then soldiers began to fan out of the dust cloud. r
     There.

     "Timeless Blaze."

     An inferno immediately erupted, aiming to catch the fleeing company in a furious blaze. One that was devoid of mercy or compassion. There would be naught left but ash if they were too slow.
Lu-Mey      Ah, that's just who Lu-Mey was looking for. Amid the mad chaos and screams, the Oni slinks along, unbothered by death and mayhem. Lu-Mey focuses right on the spear-wielder. Oh she waits a moment- seeinh just what becomes of the bestial troops.
    A slow breath to steel herself...
    And then Lu-Mey SCREAMS.
    Shrill, piercing, terrified. Heedless of anything else she charges the woman, throwing herself at her feet gibbering in hysterices.
    "SOMEONE'S POISONED ALL THE OFFICERS!"
    Shrieked, shrill and panicked, trying to grab on as though the Abstractum wielder could be her last and only hope for succour.
Project MORDRED The air is filled with danger, and even MORDRED's Armour is far from invincible. A burning corpse melts away MORDRED's ablative heat shielding, and due to either a quirk of timing or excellent skill on behalf of the pegasus rider, the lance pierces through the weakened armour, grazing MORDRED's ear. A brief expletive is uttered before his Armour's hand reaches out to grab the guilty party's head, aiming to crush it between those robotic fingers.
Abstractum.Net     The spear shines with a stark blue fire. The crystal eye resting where the spearhead meets the haft seems like a perfectly normal Abstractum, and... In fact, it rather /is/ one. "Mystic drivers holding." It reports, dryly. "Also, we're being prostrated at, so I guess that's happening now." Still maintaining the rush of blue fire into those foes... Even as Mordred's body is now moving to meat them. No, that wasn't a typo.

    Mordred will get a chance to see what it's like handling Amhar's body for a moment, as Amhar is too busy slamming its own normal body into incoming werecreatures. As before, it doesn't hold much regard for physical wellbeing, but it doesn't need to. With Mordred not attempting to wrest control away from it, Amhar slips two more levels up, into Threshold shift, forming her personalized shining red halo, and cracking the length of the blade with intense red light.

    "Gwahahahaha!" It says, shouting and swinging the blade. Were-creatures are likely to get some solid bites and cuts in, but armor and the natural Shift resilience should let Mordred withstand it. "What, and you think some kind of vow just changes who you are? You found me because of what you are inside! Guhuhuhuh, and if you let /that/ out, it'd be a hell of a meal for the both of us, but you won't, so /I do/!" It seems that it's a bit more clear what's wrong here. Either Amhar's carnage motivation needs to be redirected, or it needs to earnestly believe that more carnage can be found by following that knightly path.

    Wither way, Amhar's going to try to go for a HUGE Blood Maw extension, and do a massive overhead strike, trying crush its way to the other Abstractum User... And likely cleave Lu-Mey in half along the way, unless she moves. "VERSUS PARADIGM!" It calls out, as both Abstractum begin gushing intense waves of wind from the mutual power boost.
Duet Fortuna     The riding knights are pretty tough, but Glare-NT is of considerably greater make. The rider can't retreat far enough to avoid screaming, then cutting off the noise as his head is crushed. There are only a few left, and they start to scatter so they can regroup somewhere... probably to get out of the battle.
Duet Fortuna     As stated before, the army is well-disciplined compared to most. Sanary's opponents ready their spears to take care of her as best they can, and with a sudden surge, they charge forward despite her warning! Her rays and attacks quickly feel them... more quickly than they should, because some of them hesitated enough that they back off when the slaughter begins. Some of them actually start retreating.
Duet Fortuna     As Raine loses his target-rich environment, his foes thunder out from the cloud. Sure, it was probably a trap, but they were not stupid. Being inside was certain death. Going outside was just a likely problem.

    The gamble failed, though. Screams sound out as the riders and horses are immolated, collapsing into burning heaps one by one. Most of the cavalry, at least that section, has been taken care of.
Duet Fortuna     Actually, the army's discipline is faltering a little bit. This may be because a good portion of their leadership is on the ground, spasming and frothing at the mouth in intense pain as they die of venom.

    Pity, that.
Mordred     "Is that what we're doing now?" Sword!Mordred pings, as she is flung and beaten into-- well, people. That's an odd feeling, being a sword. Being used to kill. Not unfamiliar, metaphorically, but weird, physically.

    "Am I really going to have to argue with my sword, with whom I've just swapped bodies for shits and giggles, about who knows who best? Did I even ever tell you what it is I wish for, if we get our dirty hands on the Grail?"

    Considering the fact Amhar is Shifting further up, Mordred seems to be taking this calmly. Maybe because of the absurdity of the situation. She'd frown, but she can't, so instead the crystal eye just sort of forms a flatlined eyebrow to mimic a blank stare at her face. Well, Amhar's current face.

    "I'm dumb, Amhar. I wanted to make Father proud, happy, and not lonely anymore. But I have this thing where I get really angry and make bad decisions. So I did just that. It's pretty damn fun to do whatever you want, and to be angry, and to let it OUT, but that wasn't me. That was just me throwing a tantrum over a super old grudge," the sword pings, although not so loud people can eavesdrop.

    "You want battle and food, we can work that out. A knight's always needed somewhere. Always someone to kill. But no more chaos and carnage for the hell of it. So buckle up, 'cuz them's the breaks now. And you repeat what I just said to anyone and I'm putting you in a vat of molten fruit cake. You'll never be hungry again after that. Also, quit getting werewolf mouth germs all over me, damnit, try dodging a bit."
Sanary Rondel      Sanary /did/ give them the option to surrender. Not her fault if they didn't take it. Although her movements aren't efficient by any means and she's taking quite a bit more damage than she'd like (a gash here, a stab there, a few arrows and spearheads lodged in places), the healer's being quite the little trooper and taking down soldiers one by one! For those soldiers who are focusing on her face instead of her weapons for whatever reason, they'd even see that she's started laughing for no apparent reason.

     (Probably) unknown to them, however, that laughter isn't of joy or amusement. No, she's just getting mildly delirious from running that magical energy through her wounds so rapidly. Just because it's easier to heal herself doesn't mean it's effortless, after all, and just thinking about having to remove the arrows and spear bits that have been healed into her is not a pleasant thought. Whatever works, though, as long as she can just keep chopping and blowing them up until one side falls!
Raine Arland      "Phew, would you look at that." Raine mumbled, shouldering his weapon as he took a look around at the resulting blaze. Or at least, the aftermath of it. "...Man, I knew it was gonna be bad, but not /that bad/." He chuckled, feeling a bit of pity for them now. "Ehhhhh...why not."

     With a single armed shrug, Raine too a step forward, clearing his throat conspicuously. At the same time, he held up a hand for Fragarach to cease her violent spellcasting. At least for now. "Heeeeeeeeey, you guys!" Pause. "Well, whoever's not charcoal. That's a good first step..." He mused, rubbing his chin with his free hand. "Where was I? Oh right-"

     He continued.

     "Since I feel kiiiiiinda bad for you, I'm gonna offer you the /deal of a lifetime/!" That statement was supplemented with a silly fingergun motion. "So how about this? You guys turn around, walk away, and continue breathing. And I stop reaping through your ranks. All for the low, low price of nothing!"

     Fragarach rolled her eyes, going incorporeal at that moment.

     Raine grinned and went on. "What do you say? That's a pretty great deal! Yeah, I know, I know. I'm a god damn saint, don't remind me."
Duet Fortuna     The 'werebeasts' are basically out of control, hurling themselves at the Shifted Mordred/Amhar with impunity... and being cut down in droves. They're actually pretty vicious, and if Mordred weren't a Servant of vast caliber they'd be able to get much worse hits in. This is one weird and deadly power... and the source is canny, too.

    "Oh crap," she snaps. The spear is held before her as she tries to back off, only to have Lu-Mey grapple her from behind. "Damn..." A heave with /surprising/ strength tries to hurl Lu-Mey right toward the gaping maw, desperately throwing herself back and shouting, "NOW, NOW!"

    There aren't many cannons left, but they're firing now.
Duet Fortuna     Sanary's basically mowing through the troops, cackling like a madwoman. The ones that were hesitating and retreating before are now calling for surrender, but there's only a dozen or so left of those. Several archers are nocking their bows before the local officer calls out, "STOP! It's not worth it! Fall back, if they'll accept our surrender!"
Duet Fortuna     Raine is not the kindest opponent they've faced. Not the cruelest either, though. The staggering remnants of the cavalry look at one another, then sigh heavily as they gather up the remains of their equipment and start trudging off away from the objective and the army. It looks like they are better-disciplined and also not stupid.
Lu-Mey     "A-ara?"
    This woman is just going to throw a helpless army groupie into Amhar like that?!
    Well, the oni is detached- and flung- and "Oh dear."
    It's probably going to end messily for her isn't it?
Sanary Rondel      Sanary's finding that her blood is a little tricky to keep from seeping out through the multitude of healed-over arrows and weapon bits sticking out of her. Luckily enough, they're not in any vital areas, and they do seem to be helping her look more monstrous than she's actually feeling right around now. It's still quite unpleasant regardless, and hearing the officer mention surrendering does give her some small relief.

     "Oh, /now/ you want to surrender. Fine, fine... Meh." She keeps her gunaxe's barrel pointed at those archers, an irritated tone in her voice. "If you wanna live, come with me. I ain't gonna chase you if you leave, but we all know you're just gonna die if you fight us again."
Abstractum.Net     Bloody Amhar seems to seeth. It swings the blade down. Unfortunately, the spearwoman's Abstractum has, at least, a little bit of Barrier Driver to go around. The heavy spellcircle that projects itself between her and the oncoming blade cracks only moments after she backs off, shattering under the stremendous force of a Shift 3 state strike. But they ought to be able to get away. Lu-Mey, on the other hand, may not. The gnashing teeth don't discriminate, especially when Amhar's in one of its Carnage moods, which is, uhhhh... Every mood. It will, by instinct, attempt to messily devour her.

    As this finishes, Amhar focuses on the werebeasts, trying to beat them to death with Mordred's bare hands. "And what, this is you putting your foot down? You're a changed person, then? Left that all behind?" It goes for breaking limbs and cracking skulls, before impalements with the sword. A bit more defensive, though, needing to handle the wounds to Mordred's body a bit more seriously. "That's not how this works. You don't change. That's not how it /works/!"

    Oddly, even while the other Abstractum User is pulling out, Amhar seems even /more/ unsettled, even jittery than before. So much so that Mordred will not find too much difficulty regaining control, though it'll cancel the shift again if she does. It seems as though the blade isn't feeling so confident that Mordred is still going to be someone it can get its fix on, and rather than amping up its aggression, that's given it a hollow feeling.

    Might be a good idea to retake control, 'cause of Lu-Mey is in those teeth, they're not going to stop without an intentional override.
Mordred     "I didn't change," Sword!Mordred pings. "I'm saying I'd been lying all along, because it's easier to be angry than sad and hurt. It's easier to blame my Father, to burn his kingdom, and to kill his fellow knights, than to admit I just wanted to see him smile and would do anything for that. Because it's easier to kill him than to admit how much it meant to me that he'd rejected me."

    The Saber (well, the Saber-in-a-sword) pulses control out, but not so much as to completely retake her body. Just enough to halt the grinding of teeth, the gushing of blood, and the wild assaults on Lu-Mey. To make Amhar in her body stand still.

    "And," the sword pings, eye staring intently, "If you were really made out of my concept, I think you're smart enough to look under that layer now. But, you know, I don't need you to. I'm still gonna kill, and spill blood, and you'll still get to eat. Just not for its own sake. So, you going to man up-- err, sword up, I guess-- or do I have to make you? 'cuz you're a lot more fun than some crummy stuffed up sword like the justice-obsessed angel blade. But take the offer or leave it because I am not going to be honest like this again anytime soon."
Duet Fortuna     Shuffle shuffle. It looks like Elliana did /something/ because there are forms arriving. Humanoid forms. It looks like they're made out of small plants, worms, and insects. They'll move up to help deal with the surrending soldiers, though they don't appear intelligent enough to help Sanary.

    The Abstractum User is indeed retreating, and so is... the rear vanguard of the army. There's a fair number left, but it's been decimated by any account. No ammunition means a lot of the heavier weapons are just /left there/ too.
Lu-Mey     Lu-Mey is a mangled bloody wreck. Shredded meat and muscle, pulped and mangled and mulched and-- it's really not good.
    But she holds up one trembling hand in a thumbs up when the grinding munching teeth stop.
    "... Did we win?"
Sanary Rondel      Sanary breathes a sigh of relief when those... Drones? Minions? Whatever things they are show up to assist with the surrendering soldiers. She's satisfied enough to let them handle the rest from there, waiting until she's a fair distance away from those soldiers' prying eyes before taking a cell phone out. She still needs to look like a threat for as long as possible before leaving the battlefield herself, after all!

     Once she gets far enough away, of course, she'll bring that phone up and start up the Demon Summoning App. "Hey. Forneus. Take me back. You know the way, right?"
Abstractum.Net     This is a rare moment when it's possible to see a disadvantage inherent to an Abstractum in a human body. Mordred gets a solid look at her own face, straining with distress that Amhar isn't particularly trained to hide. "And you just..." Her own voice, echoing with Amhar's, seems incredibly frustrated. "So you'll burn everything for that in one year, and in another, suddenly all of that's just... A tool, a minor habit, now it's just some small thing you're working on? It was everything before, now it's just /this/?"

    The blade seems to rattle for a moment, before the Shift cancels completely. Amhar, it seems, at least was calmed down by Mordred's abstaining from full retaking of control. It lets the Shift fade as Elliana's forces move in, and rescinds its control on its own. "This... All the hunger for carnage, all the hatred of old order, all of it just set aside to /this/. Just let the fire smoulder, with nothing to mark it going." The noise Amhar makes is equal parts rage and impotent frustration. "...Fine. That's who you are."

    The blade morphs back down to its shortsword form, used for transit and sheathing. It seems... Oddly different. Heaver, thinner, more easily controlled and more impactful. The form seems more ornate, and features a single large tooth at the pommel to break up the slightly more elegant design. "Then that's the way it is." The fire only seems to resurge for just one moment. "And if you turn out wrong someday, and I turn out right, we don't come back from Shift. Until then... No other options." And then, the blade is silent. not just immediately, but for a very, very long time, hours, possibly. Still alive, just... Inactive.
Mordred     "I guess so. I'm a child who threw a temper tantrum and decided to keep it going rather than admit they were wrong. And after a very long time the tantrum seemed more important than why I threw it." Mordred frowns, regaining control of her body; ugh, if Bedivere or her Father heard those words, she'd never hear the end of it.

    "There'll be a time and place for carnage. And a time and place for behavin'. Who knows, you might keep getting those gorging meals you like so much. I'm easy to piss off, and chivalry doesn't exactly forbid laying waste to someone who deserves it. And believe me it's easy to deserve it by the letter of the law."

    With Elliana's forces moving in, the Servant lowers her guard and posture, making her way back to her master slowly. "We'll figure something out. That's how I've always done things. Anyway, that was all between us." She's concerned, just a nudge; Amhar might be 'just a sword' but it's got that sliver of humanity that makes her feel kind of bad about it. She'll have to figure out a new outlet for the thing.

    Oh well. It'll stop pouting and wake up eventually.