Noah's eyes widened in horror as the unfathomable presence that lay behind Nox's aura abruptly surged into the foreground. The twisted, fel aura that his soulsight could already perceive around the Caer seemed to grow darker by orders of magnitude, and the sheer weight of Winter's direct attention was enough to be almost physically tangible. The warden's own aura wavered like a candle in a blizzard, and as frost gripped Deliverance and crept up its blade, for a moment he was sure that it was over. How could they stand before this?
But then another pair of hands - ethereal yet strong - joined his over the blade's hilt, and together, he and Aurore wrenched backwards away from the press of the monster's cold. His aura surged back against the darkness, its light still but a mote in the void, but a mote that refused to be snuffed. As Kurtrin launched himself at the barrier, Noah steeled himself and joined him, thrusting Deliverance forwards like a spear towards the monster, driving as much force into it as he could bring to bear.
Across from them, Perrin had drawn his lawkeeper once more. He dared not move any closer to the freezing aura that now shielded the monster without the protection afforded by a consecrated blade, but that didn't mean he was helpless. With his last clip of consecrated ammunition, the Gunslinger took aim and emptied his weapon at the beast, firing again and again even as his bullets froze in the air before reaching their target.
Aurelion was thrown backwards by Robert's intervention, landing into a roll and regaining his feet in but a few moments. His eyes widened in horror at the inferno that greeted him as he rose, and further when he saw Robert drop to his knee. "NO!" he yelled, charging forwards once more into the heat of the dread knight's aura to protect his comrade. Rather than thrust with his blade at Duval, Leon drove a forceful kick at the woman's chest, aiming to shove her backwards and away whilst she was still unsteady from her recovery - both to create some distance between her and the weakened Robert, and to leave her vulnerable to a follow-up strike on the ground.
Whether or not he succeeded, Aurelion moved past Robert's kneeling form to stand between him and the blazing knight, ready to press the attack further. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Nox's spasming motions. Could it be that they were winning? Could they slay the Caer here and now?
Wick, let it be so.
Nathan met Savien's gaze impassively, watching as he and Leandre spoke in hushed tones with a seeming lack of interest. He showed no reaction to Durandet's apology, continuing to hold his ground and wait. It was only when the paladins moved that he reacted.
Samson lurched to the side, jaws snapping at Leandre as he tried to swerve around him, but grating across his armour enough that he didn't get a solid grip - though the bite left behind thick ice where it touched the metal. The mighty wolf lurched into pursuit of the two warriors of the church, his large loping form easily gaining ground on them.
On his back, Nathan once more was gathering a shimmering orb of ice in his palms - just like the one that had consumed Mia earlier in the battle. He watched their desperate flight solemnly. Soon, they would be nought but statues of ice. Fools. If they'd only listened to his warning, they might have lived.
Neither wolf nor rider seemed interested in the path that the paladins' dash was taking them on - towards Duval and the pair of paladins engaged with her. Either they were not concerned, or they simply hadn't noticed.
(written by Script and Ronin)
Arien nodded wordlessly to Jimmy, then - realising that the darkness would make it impossible to interpret that gesture - spoke up weakly. "Yeah..." he murmured. "I think so. I ... think I saved him."
With a grunt of effort, the vampire pushed himself into a more upright sitting position. "Val, you can let down the shroud now. We need to be ready to run, though..." There was no telling how the battle fared beyond their bubble of blackness. As far as he knew, the Castellanes' guards were still around - he'd heard them calling out to Val before now. If that was the case, then things probably hadn't gotten any worse... at least at this end of the grounds.
"O-okay," Val's voice came from a few feet away within the darkness, sounding shaky. It was obvious he'd been crying until recently, and hadn't quite recovered from it yet.
A moment later, light returned to their world.
The bubble of darkness around them retreated into smoky nothingness and faded away, leaving the cluster of them once more exposed to the world. Arien's face twisted into a grimace as he took in the fight still unfolding, but thankfully it was at least a moderately safe distance away.
Val was sat beside the pair of them, cradling his brother in his arms. The other Castellane twin was pale and covered in a frightening amount of blood, but the gaping hole that had been in his stomach when the darkness first covered them was gone. And he was breathing. They were shallow, weak breaths - almost imperceptible - but breaths nonetheless. Alvère was alive.
"JIMMY!"
Aaro spotted them and rushed over. He was drenched in sweat, scuffed in scratches and splotches of dirt, still brandishing Mia's sword.
"Thank Selene, I..." he blanched at the sight of his friend. Though Arien has repaired any lethal damage, the proselyte doubtless looked far from well. The twins hardly fared any better; Al looked practically dead, though Aaro couldn't place exactly where he might be bleeding from.
"Are you guys alright?" he went to his friend's side. He glanced up at Arien (who looked absolutely exhausted). "Are YOU alright? How did any of you even-" The sounds of battle were not far away, the screeching of spawn close by...
"No time," he growled, "guys, we have to move. Can you all walk? Come on, I'll help."
Arien hid a grimace as Aaro ran over to them. He'd hoped that they could get away without anyone from the order showing an interest. The last thing they needed now was for any of the paladins to pay close attention to Al. "I'm fine," he mumbled, forcing himself to rise to his feet despite his exhaustion and then reaching down to help Jimmy to rise as well.
As he did, they were joined by Adam, Tara and Yuri - still shifted. The three bodyguards had clearly seen more fighting since the aura of darkness went up. Yuri's fur was slick with the ichor of dozens of slain spawn, and Adam's shirt was torn and bloodied. Tara was cradling one broken arm from where Yuri - launched by Nox - had knocked her out of the sky, but otherwise seemed to have escaped further harm.
"Sweet mother of fuck, he's alive," Adam stated, gawping at Alvère. He was certain he'd seen the cockier Castellane boy gutted right in front of him, but now he looked - albeit weak and bloody - entirely unwounded. Whatever his friend had done, Adam was impressed. But he didn't have time to speculate. "Yuri, you're carrying the unconscious one. Tara, you take point; cut us a path through any more of those clawed bitches that try and cut off our exit. I'll watch our rear, but I'm out of fuckin' ammo, so you'd best be ready to turn around and fling fire when I scream like a little girl."
"Roger that," the woman replied, as Yuri moved over to where Val was cradling his brother. The shifted wolf crouched, looking at the still-conscious Castellane with an expectant snort.
Although reluctant to let go of his brother for a moment, Val grit his teeth and nodded, handing Al's unconscious body over to Yuri and allowing the werewolf to lift him gently up in his arms. Val clambered to his feet too, wobbling for a moment before stabilising himself using Yuri for support. Despite having largely escaped harm from the Caer's attack, he looked pale.
It was then that a cry halfway between shock and relief drew the group's attention away again, just as Inarin was sprinting the remaining distance between him and his friends. Fighting back tears of relief that they were all alive, he all-but flung himself at Jimmy, hugging his friend tightly for a moment before he realised himself and let go, so as not to put unnecessary pressure on his injuries. "Oh, Eleu, you're all alright. I thought- I thought I saw..." He turned his attention across to Val and his brother, letting out another relieved sigh when he realised that Al was alive. "God, I-"
"Save the relief for when we're actually out of here," Arien cut in. "We need to move."
Letting Aaro support Jimmy, Arien focused on keeping himself upright as the group started to make their way back towards the park exit.
