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Blood of Legends ((Kiandra&Mephilis))

Manus tilted his head as the gas started to take a life of its own. Thats not normal, it did not take him long to spot individual floating over the area. Taking a breath, Manus was about to speak before he heard Cylesta's voice cut into his thought. Looking down at her, he was preparing to respond in a sly manner to her request before... well he fell into her own shadow. Instantly he knew why, they were being attacked by their own kind. Reflexively anchoring himself to the material plane as he prepared to open a portal to Cylesta. They had gone after her first, likely due to her condition. However, wasting the chance to take Manus by surprise would prove to be a massive error, as when one attempted to pull him down his anchoring would prevent the effort. Quickly reaching down, the 'shadowborne' would grasp the hands that had taken his ankles and instead jerk his assailant out of the shadow realm. A small cheetan male dressed in dark clothing. Wide amber eyes found the smoldering red orbs behind Manus' mask as he registered what just happened. Before his would be attacker could regain his bearings completely, Manus thrusted his right hand into the cheetan's chest. On contact, shadowy tendrils would burst out of Manus' wrists and impale themselves into his foe. A short, horrified scream was all the cheetan could manage before the tendrils borrowed throughout his body, bringing a swift, but painful end to his life.

With an irritated growl, Manus would fling his left arm out at the emptiness beside him, summoning a portal before leaping into it. Cylesta would see this portal open behind her second attacker, with Manus barreling out of it. Taking in the situation, the black feline threw his left arm out toward their foe. A chain comprised of darkness burst from it wrapping around the left arm of the larger feline. With a sudden jerk, he was turned to face Manus, where he saw that this large male was indeed a tigarian. A brief tug o' war ensued where Manus, being outmatched by the tiger's strength, called upon the shadows to empower him allowing him to compete with this beast of a man.
"Not bad, for a lesser creature!" The tigarian roared as he placed both hands on the chain and began to pull, overpowering Manus again. Gritting his teeth, the black feline began to summon a second chain before a large shadow surged on his flank, a Jaguri male launched at and slammed into the distracted Manus, sending him sprawling back as the Tiger removed the chains, "You take her, Sernoman, this one if my prey." The Jaguri male growled as Manus recovered from them attack, glaring at him, and then side glancing at Cylesta to see how her recovery is coming.
"Ofcourse, Master Fr'Yet, I will crush this traitor and feed her carcass to the shadow kiln!"


Back in the material plane, the gas had been dispersed enough that the leonkin commander no longer needed to bide his time. Dismissing the barrier, he cast his gaze up at the person that was controlling the fumes. Pulling his massive right arm back, he began to create a javelin of pure arcane energy within his grasp. "Thats enough!" He commanded with a thunderous roar before throwing the bolt up at the figure. His aim would prove to be true as with a bright flash and loud thunderclap the figure was knocked from the sky and send plummeting down into one of the structures below. "Go, now! Storm our stronghold, kill anything that is not of our kin, this trespass shall not be forgiven!" He commanded, and just like that, the once fleeing warriors began to rally and descend upon the base.

"Not good, they are on their way again!"
Melorn shouted from the roof of their little fortress, having been watching the events with a portable telescope. Moving back down to join his little team. The three of them had manage to fill many doorwars and hallways with traps of varying degrees of efficacy. "Seylian, did you find a place for us to hold up?" Melorn asked as he looked over to his second, who proceeded to nod. "Yes sir, I think it is the dinning room, it is accessed on two sides by rather long hallways, Menis is ready to lay rune traps down the halls once we are all ready. Crossing his arms, the older male would ponder, he had hoped they would find an underground level incase they just leveled the building, but this would have to do. "Alright boys, lets head in and hunker down, I don't think we have alot of time." He said looking at the other two, who nodded back before heading toward the dinning room, followed shortly by Melorn and Seylian. On the way there, Menis would break the somewhat akward silence.

"Hey, Thy? Your not normally this quiet." He says in a bit of a shaky voice, his fear quite evident. This causes the white feline would jolt slightly, he had not even realized how silent he had been... Focused on their mission, and lost in thought over worry for their group, and those fox women he had found. "Uh, yeah, guess I am a bit distracted.." He finally replied. "A-are you scared?" The smaller black feline asked, analyzing the red head with his emerald eyes. Taking a deep breath, Thyverian would look down at Menis before forcing out an answer. "Yeah..."
"Me too... I... I don't want to die..." Menis said, his hands starting to tremble a bit as they finally got inside the dining area. Thyverian would force as much of a smile as he could, placing a hand on Menis' shoulder. "Well if you don't want to... then don't." He said with a matter of factly shrug, as if it were just that easy. "And I'll do the same." This seems to amuse Menis despite the danger they are in and he cracks a slight smile before heading off to set the rune traps.
"Not sure if that is great, or terrible advice." Melorn says, fighting a laugh that desperately wants to come out.


Suddenly loud popping noises began to echo across the field. The source coming from the horizon, where several large guns placed on a few hills began to fire on the large airship as she came into range. Tigra would be forced to grip onto the ship's railing as it began to move suddenly, moving as evasively as a large mass of steel and wood can. Voices echoing orders across the ship as her large main guns began to move, tracking toward the hills that were firing on them. Long before they would get there, the smaller batteries on the ship's flanks began to return fire on their attackers. Once she got her bearings, general Tigra rushed down below deck on the ship to ready her sky marines to be dropped.
 
Cylesta attacked the large Tigarian male as he turned back to her. His mistake was taking his eyes off her form, as she suddenly descended deeper into the shadows, completely devoid of color. Her mechanical eye started whirling to life, glowing black as well, a pinpoint of black light within the shadows. When she stepped out of the shadows, she looked as though she had melded with them, her torn flesh held together by silky voids of shadows. She looked down at herself, and grinned, realizing that what she had been practicing in her down time had actually worked, and she could at least keep her body together. It wasn't real healing, but it would do until she had enough time to actually heal her flesh and bone.

With a challenging growl, she pounced, moving like water, fluid and deadly. The male before her grinned back, and tried to grab her, but he just couldn't get a good grip on her, and she slid through his fingers, time and again, using her blades to slash at him every time he let his guard down. Cylesta took in Manus as he fought the other male who had come through the shadows, and then turned her attention back towards the Tigarian, ducking under the blow of his sword. "Too slow..." she taunted as she used her left arm to bring down one of her blades onto his outstretched arm and slice it clean off right under his elbow. His cry of pain would cause her to slide in close as he went down to one knee, and using her shoulder, slammed it into his cheek, causing him to fall backwards. A quick sidestep and a jab of her tail, and the male would succumb to the large blade that she had attached to the tip of her tail, sliding into his chest, and deep into his heart.
She didn't spare him a second glance, and turned to help Manus, her blades glinting in the low light.
 
Manus and Fr'Yet wasted no time going after one another, slipping in and out of the darkness around one another as they parried and struck at one another. The Jaguri male was clearly the more experienced fighter of the two, but Manus' deep connection to the shadows afforded him a boost in his physical prowess that seemed to only grow as they struggled with one another. Sensing this peril, Fr'Yet dashed back through the darkness, creating a comfortable space before directing both of his hands at Manus, who stopped to watch his foe, his ruby eyes starting to glow like a pair of red giants at this point, causing the opening in his helm to only emit a bright crimson glow. From around Fr'Yet launched a swarm of shadowy blades each homing in on the unmoving Manus. Each of these blades found the black feline, but rather than cutting into him they latched onto his form, each attack taking up space on a different part of his body. By the time Fr'Yet ceases firing, Manus was covered in a layer of darkness, which coalesced into something of a set of armor around him.
"What?" The jaguri uttered in a voice of shock before Manus closed the distance, forcing him to withdraw from the shadow realm entirely. With the threat over for now atleast, the shadowy armor around Manus would dissolve and return to the darkness around them.
"I never get of turning other shifters' attacks into armor, their reaction is always priceless."
He then turned over to Cylesta who had in fact dropped the boastful tiger to fall into the kiln. "I guess thats one way to keep yourself together, clever. Are you ok?"

Outside in the material plane, the situation seems to be reaching a boiling point, with the rallied Rastrox descending upon the mostly empty base, storming each building and clearing them out. With each passing second they draw closer to the headquaters in which Melorn and his team are holed up.

Even louder shots ring out from the distance, the large battleship's main guns firing into the hillside, ripping the landscape apart in a terrifyingly beautiful symphony of fire and gore. One hillside down, those large guns begin pulling over to the second hillside. Suddenly, the large craft buckles intensely, an extremely lucky or masterfully placed shot from the surface managed to hit the ammo magazine of one of the smaller guns on the port side of the warship causing a large detonation. Echoing screams filling the air as several crew members are thrown from the ship and into death's arms down below. Large plumes of smoke begin pouring from the side of the ship as the magi and engineers within begin scrambling frantically to secure the breach.
 
Cylesta nodded while answering him, "I think so, or I will be after we finish fighting and get some actual rest and relaxation. But this will hold until I can get a deep healing session in. so there's that at least. How are you holding up?" She grinned at him, her face half void half shredded skin and then stretched her arms up before sheathing her two swords and nodding back to Manus.
"Sounds like our gun ship is under attack. I'm going to join our team, and give them support until back-up shows up. This sure turned into a shit storm." With a wink at Manus, Cylesta disappeared from view, reappearing next to her uncle, the shadows dispersing for a moment before they reformed around her, knitting her skin back together with voids of darkness.
"Hey boys, see you've survived up until this point!" a smirk graced her torn lips, as her uncle turned towards her, scolding her for her actions before giving her a hug, and then stepping back.
"Yeah I know uncle Melorn. It was risky, but it worked. You can't complain about the results. Either way, the Rastrox are headed this way, and it seems like back-up is headed this way as well. So rally up, pull your big-boy panties up, or better yet, trade your balls for a pussy, that way you'll be able to take a pounding, and keep on going." She grinned, adding her own sass into the tense situation as they heard the horde getting closer and closer to their location.
 
"I am fine, managed to avoid taking any serious hits so far, we'll see how long that holds up." Manus said looking back at her, she could not see it but he was smiling back at her. Arms crossing over his chest as she speaks again, nodding to her words before replying. "Yes, they will need you, especially if the enemy shifters start targeting them," He said before she vanished, taking in a deep sigh as he waved a hand at the nothingness before him, opening a small portal so he could see into the material plane. Watching the Rastrox as they swarmed into different buildings searching for their team. Waving his hand again, he moves the portal further away, trying to find the airship, it takes him a few tries to finally find it. This mission is going worse than he thought it would... He was concerned when they found the little battlefield earlier, thinking they would bring in reinforcements either due to concern over more Carnice or that their scouts gave into interrogation. Now Manus needed to take a moment to decide what his next move would need to be.

Everyone seemed a bit more relived when Cylesta showed up, most of all Menis. Her sass caused Seylian to roll his eyes at her, and Thyverian to grin before saying. "I dunno, I prefer to be the one giving the pounding so I'll keep my balls." Melorn would just roll his eyes at the both of em, "Get the doors shut and sealed, Seylian, Thyverian you two barricade that door, I'll watch this one. Menis, you get ready to set off your traps, and lets all pray we make it out of this." He says, walking over to the second door, starting to wall it in as the other men got to work on their parts. Suddenly the sound of something being rammed into a door not far away... they are not just coming... they are here.

Not far from the headquarters they are hunkered in, the wreckage of another structure began to shift and move. The armored figure known as the 'wind demon' pulled himself out of the rubble with a loud grunt. "Damn that hurt..." He hissed before stretching a bit and surveying the area around him. Seeing hordes of warriors beating down doors around him, he leapt off of the pile of junk. Drawing a large sword with two parallel single edged blades with a small divide between them. Wind starting to shift and spin around him, focusing between the two blades. Reaching out to the nearest group before jerking his hand toward himself. A sudden, powerful gust of wind jerks at the group, pulling the smaller and lighter members toward him and knocking the larger ones down. Before the smaller ones could get back up, they were cut down by the figure as he moved past them quickly. Closing in on the larger warriors, he managed to impale his sword through one's back as he was trying to stand and killing him. Quickly pulling his sword out and swinging at one of the last two, who managed to parry the blow with his spear. Quickly twisting his sword to point his blades' edge at his foe before unleashing a torrent of wind and blasting him back into the side of the structure. Having risen to his feet, the last warrior was trying to strike at the demon with his longsword. He would quickly align his plate armored side with the blow, deflecting it with a loud clang. Placing both of his hands on his sword's hilt before raking the blade across his throat, silting it easily dispatching him before impaling his weapon into the last surviving enemy as he tried to stand up from the wind blast. Unfortunately for Melorn and company, this was not the group that was breaking into their building.

"General Tigra, we cannot take another hit like that, its now or never if you want to drop!" Admiral Karnath called over his magcom just before the next salvo roared out of the main guns, obliterating another hillside. He then turned his attention to his bridge crew and ordering them to prepare to reverse course. Down below decks, Tigra was getting strapped into her drop pod with a group of her marines. "Not to worry Admiral, we are ready to go down here." She replied plainly before locking her helmet into place.
"Alright, prepare to deploy the drop po-" The Admiral started before his bridge mage cut him off. "Sir, I am sensing a sudden build up of arcane energy off the port bow!"
"Take evasive action! Climb! Climb!" The general commanded instantly, gripping the railing near him. "Prepare for impact!" He shouted over the coms, the admiral was experienced enough to know that a sudden build up of magic was always an emergency. This experience would pay off as not long after the large ship began climb sharply a large crimson beam would burst out from the final hilltop. The blast was aimed at the breach in the hull, but due to the sudden command to evade the blast slammed into a still armored section of the ship. The beam was powerful enough to rip a second gash into the hull, rocking the ship violently again. "Get us out of here yesterday! Deploy the marines and fire on that hill!" The Admiral roared as fought against gravity to stay on his feet. As the ship began to turn sharply, exposing her still armored starboard flank to her attackers. Her three main turrets lock on the final hill, training all six of her ten inch guns over different portions of the hill just as before. Loud, thunderous blasts sounding from the barrels as unleashed their payloads. Obliterating the final hillside. As the massive metal monster limped homeward, she would drop four pods down toward the earth each containing six highly trained sky marines.

"Little further away from the action than we planned." One of the marines growled as they climbed out of their pods. "Yes, but we could not risk losing the Mirmidon, so we have to make due." Tigra commands as she takes inventory of her troops, all twenty three accounted for. "Lets move!" She orders and on cue, they all fall in line, following their general as they approach the battle.

Seeing the large warship retreat did bring half of a grin to the lark leonkin's face, he would have preferred to see the monster destroyed, but this will do. "Lord Terraphax!" The Tigarian Drelak called as he pulled a smaller panthean behind him. Upon reaching the large Leonkin, he three the smaller Rastrox before their commander. "Good jog Drelak..." The crimson maned Leonkin growled as he looked down at the panther that found himself unable to meet his gaze. "Now, Raylin, do you want to explain to me how such a small force managed to throw my entire stronghold into chaos? When I left, I ordered you to remain on high alert, we knew something was coming." He asked, his voice oddly calm, but a small foreboding growl could be heard behind his worse, threatening the rage he was suppressing as he spoke. "I... we..." The panther stammered, which only angered Teraphax further, and he displayed his anger by slamming the back of his right hand into the panthean's face with a loud smack. "Answer me!" He commanded, "We were taking turns on the captives, and drinking I did not expect an attack so soon!" He pleaded his case, but his words only seemed to anger the lion more. "You what!?" He asked before delivering several more smacks to the panther, knocking him from his knees onto the ground. "Not only were you drinking when I ordered you to be on alert! But you... all of you were intermingling with lesser creatures!? Then allowing a group of more slave species and a couple traitors defeat you!?" He asked before jerking the panther up off the ground only to slam him back down. "How could you insult your own kind three time sin one day!? Where is your pride!?" He asked before kicking him on the ground. "I'm sorry! pleas-" The panther started before he was kicked again. "Shut up! If we did not need every able body, I would have everyone of you executed! Luckily for you all, I need you... but do not test my patience I will not tolerate further insults to our kind!" He roared before slamming his foot into the ground, "Now, on your feet Rastrox, you have your pride to reclaim!" On command, the panther struggled to his feet. "Y-yes, my lord!" Turning his gaze to the Tigarian, the leonkin spoke again. "Make sure everyone that failed us today knows they are on thin ice once this is over." He growled as he walked past. "Yes, my lord."
 
Cylesta slunk back into the half shadows, still there, but almost translucent, and started setting up a makeshift gas bomb that would go off as soon as one of the doors would breach. She pondered it for a moment, checking it over, to make sure it wouldn't turn back towards them, and then sighed to herself. That was as well as it was going to go, and she was going to add protections to her uncle and his ragtag team. She slipped out of the shadows and walked over to her uncle, setting the bomb up at the very top of the barricaded door, and then turned to him, "I'll set another one at the other door, but I am near my end of my energy reserves." Melorn growled at her, "You shouldn't have let yourself fall so low."
"I know, but it will be worth it in the end to see everyone's faces when we return triumphant. Here." She rested her hand on his forehead, and closed her eye, letting her magic wash over Melorn, giving him a little energy boost. The spell she used was one she had designed years ago, when she first had started building up a tolerance to her poisonous gas. "This will protect you. It isn't full proof, so you will still feel the sting of the gas if you stand too long in it, but it should keep the damage to a slight rash. Please try to keep out of the gas' way. I can't lose you uncle Melorn."

As he answered her, she smirked and nodded, before heading over to Seylian and Thyverian, another bomb coalescing within her paws. "Hey boys, I got a little gift for our party crashers." She stretched up, placing the bomb again above the door they were guarding, and then turned to each of them. "That should go off the moment the door is breached. I'm going to spell you both against the gas, but try not to spend too much time touching it, as the spell only lessens the damage." She placed her hand on Seylian's forehead, and quickly spelled him, doing the same to him as she had done to her uncle, sharing strength and energy with him, along with the cooling balm of the spell, which felt like it literally coated his entire body, down to his feet and tail. She smiled at him, and then turned to Thyverian, a slight smirk on her lips. "It'll feel weird at first, almost like you've got another skin on you, but it will sink in after a couple minutes." She stretched up and placed her hand on his forehead, and again repeated her process.

Once both were protected, she took a shaky breath, the muscles in her right leg twitching. She turned away from the two quickly, hoping they hadn't noticed the slight muscle fatigue, saying, "I've got to spell Menis before this all goes to shit. Watch your backs please."
She walked away from them, the natural sway in her hips exacerbated by her right leg, and approached Menis, "Hey, I concocted two bombs, but I need to spell you to protect you." A few moments later, and everyone was spelled, and protected, each one receiving a tiny slip of her energy and strength.
"That's all I can do for right now, be careful Menis"

She headed back to her corner, feeling wrung-out and a little weaker than before, slinking into the half-shadows that surrounded the corner of the room. It was a good defensive position, and she would be able to watch everyone from her vantage point, just in case they needed back-up. They didn't realize that she had made herself more vulnerable to protect them, and she hoped they wouldn't figure it out, knowing she would get scolded four ways instead of just one... scratch that, five ways, because if Manus found out, she would probably be scolded by him. A wry grin sat on her void torn lips, and she hunkered down to wait.
 
Melorn did not have alot to say to her last sentence, he just shared a look with her. It had been nearly twenty years since the war between the Rastrox and Xeytrez. This war took many things from alot of people, including Cylesta's father and Melorn's own wife and daughter. He had helped Cylesta's mother raise her as best he could till she passed from illness nearly a decade ago. Melorn had always considered her as more of a daughter than a niece. He has lost every other member of his family by now, he would be damned if he was going to lose her too.

"Crashing our party is a capital offense." Seylian says, offering Cylesta a bit of a smile. Both his and Thyverian's eyes would follow her spell, watching her place the bomb. "Thats not gonna hurt us is it? No offense but I would rather not look like you right now." Thyverian says as he watches her set her trap. "Oh, thats comforting." He says in response to her explanation, however his sassy demeanor would fade as she placed her spell on him. "Try not to overdo it ok? I'd rather all of us get out of here, that includes you." The redhead says, offering Cylesta an awkwardly sincere smile. Both of them would nod to her as she moved to Menis, getting back to their door.

Menis was a bit preoccupied readying his spell traps when she approched him. Her voice would cause the youngest male to jolt in shock briefly as he is pulled out of his work. His emerald eyes jerking up to her as he nodded along with her words. "You be careful too, You seem to be really hurting, I would hate for you to get more hurt." He says before she walks away, and he finishes his preparations
And then it happened, the sound that causes everyone's spines to chill over, the barricades on the main doors broke open. The sounds of footsteps pouring into the structure echoing throughout the room. Followed by shouts of pain as they set off different traps. As the steps and screams got louder, Thyverian and Seylian got more and more tense, pushing harder against the barricades as they waited for their intruders.

"Big guy!" A voice called out behind the large leonkin male, causing him to turn to find the female called 'hellcat' kneeling behind him. "What is it?" He asked, his voice having softened a bit, since someone who had not failed him was addressing him. "We managed to turn the warship away, but they did drop some soldiers before departing." Hearing this, the large crimson maned lion growled softly in thought. "Raylin!" He suddenly bellowed, causing the panther who had just been beaten on to jump into a ready stance. "Yes sir!?" He replied in a loud, but slightly shaky voice. "Take a pride of your failures and go reclaim, some measure of pride by crushing their reinforcements. Hellcat, ensure he doe snot fail me again!" The both of them called out "Yes sir!" almost in unison before departing to gather their forces. The commander then turned to the Tigarian who remained at his side. "See that what reserves remain are deployed in a closed formation, with a wing on our flank to repell them... should Railyn and Hellcat fail." With but a nod, the tiger moved away, enacting the command.

It felt like an eternity inside the dinning room, waiting for the intruders to reach them, but they did eventually come. Explosions began ringing out from the hall outside as they triggered trap after trap. Suddenly, the barricade would move, as someone tried to open the doors. "Another barricade! I think they are in here!" A masculine voice called out before the barricade began to buckle as they began ramming their bodies into it. "Get the ram up here!" The same voice called out as the door buckled again. "No thank you! Not interested!" Thyverian called out as he and Seylian pushed back against them. "Oh but you have yet to hear about our discount!" Another voice called out from behind the door as it buckled again. "No thank you, really... its fine!" Seylian called out as the buckling began to intensify.
 
Cylesta smirked at the back and forth coming from Seylian and Thyverian's barricaded entrance. Shaking her head, she began counting down silently, and as she reached 1, heard the subsonic boom that was her bomb go off. It couldn't have gone more perfectly, as it had fallen towards the enemy, as they had added an extra push into the barricade. A slight coughing was heard, but this gas was a bit more innocuous. No screams of pain were heard, and the mist that had appeared, simply faded from view. However, any of the enemy who had breathed it in, had at the first exhale of breath dropped like flies, and it had suddenly gone dead silent past the barricade. The first twenty who had been rushing the barricade, looked as if they were asleep, but those past them weren't sure if they should approach them or not.

It mattered little, whether they approached their comrades or not, as they would soon find out, the enclosed space they were in filled quickly, and since those who were effected breathed out, the mist didn't dissipate like a normal gas, it simply stayed stagnant around the enemy, infecting each one as it slowly wove around their forms. Closer to the ground, it became necrotic, eating away flesh and bone, but leaving armor intact. Those dead had nothing to fear, as they simply began to turn into slippery piles of goo, slipping past the armor that had at one time enclosed their bodies. Those still alive, well, they couldn't draw breath to scream, as the moment they did, the mist would sink into their nostrils, and embed into the lining of their lungs, crystalizing and shredding them from the inside out, before the slow exhale of death would release it back into the air.

The spell around Thyverian and Seylian held marvelously, although they could feel their feet begin to itch slightly, as the gas slowly made it's way under the barricade back towards them.
 
Leaping up onto one of the structures, the demon would survey the situation. Quickly seeing that the enemy were starting to come together into a battle formation. If they managed to form up it would be too difficult to defeat them now that the original strategy had gone out the window. Just as his mind turned to defeatist thoughts, he remembered someone who was supposed to be here. "Manus, tell me you are watching." Not long after the armored feline spoke, the shadowy figure of Manus emerged by his side. "Been awhile." Manus spoke before stepping ahead of the other male and began channeling some darkness into his hands. It had been some years since the two had spoken, a side effect of their lines of work. "Yeah." The demon spoke as he brought his focus onto his sword, channeling the storm between the parallel blades. Despite the time apart, these two still knew what the other was thinking. As soon as one began to act, the other knew exactly what the plan was, such was the nature of their friendship.

Wordlessly, Manus turned to his friend and opened a portal to the shadowrelm. The demon begun to act even before the door was fully open, concentrating his storm and launching it into the portal. This commotion got the commander's attention, who began to ready another of his energy lances, with the clear intent of stopping what ever they were up to. Once the storm was fully transfered into the dark realm, Manus began moving his arms about as if he were conducting an orchestra. The darkness coursing around him as he sent his commands into the shadowrealm. While this sight might inspire awe, or atleast curiosity in most, the demon was clearly used to it and able to watch out for possible threats. Spotting an all too familiar light as it began to speed toward his friend. Jumping infront of Manus, the demon began channeling as much wind as he could muster into a wall. Narrowly catching the magical spear and just managing to hold it still in midair. He then began to try and use the wind to command the spear, with stiff motions, and audible grunts that suggested a great strain, the demon whirled the spear around himself and Manus before releasing to back to its caster. All this effort would amount to naught as the leonkin easily caught the spear and crushed its center, causing the whole thing to dissipate. With an irritated grunt, the large feline began drawing his two greatswords.
"I know how much you love being dramatic, but I think the time is now Manus!"


What irritated Manus the most about this, was that he had literally just finished his preparations... while it was tempting to stall just to avoid the appearance of doing as he was told... He would not risk the mission, or these lives over his pride. Putting his two hands together, he moved them to his left as if he was reaching to the enemy's right flank. The warriors making up that flank would be quite surprised when a large shadowy portal opened up near them. Before they could react, Manus had pulled his hands over to his right, as if he were jerking something out of the portal. Suddenly, a moderate sized tornado comprised of the coalescence of wind and darkness raged out of the portal. Carving a brutal path across the enemy's ranks. Those who were not abducting by the shadowy beast began to flee in a rather disorganized rout.

"Cut it kinda close there." The demon stated as took in a large breath of relief.
"Well I m-" Manus started, but was suddenly interrupted by a very loud, very angry roar.
"Thats enough!" The crimson maned leonkin shouted, a voice that echoed like thunder, with a swing from one of his large swords, he sent out of powerful shockwave that dispelled the shadow twisted. He then swung the other sword at Manus and the demon. As the shockwave sped toward them. Both of the males conjured a barrier to block it. This barrier was obliterated as the wave slammed into them and started to carry them back, splitting the building they were on in two.

Inside the headquarters, the enemies had managed to brave the gas and traps, moving past whatever was left of their unfortunate allies and breaking down the barricades that protected Melorn and his little team. The first wave that tried to come through was met with a fully powered arcane arrow from Menis that cut many of them down... But it was not enough to deter them all. Luckily, by the time they finally started spilling into the room there were not many left. Standing shoulder to shoulder, Thyverian and Seylian managed to keep their side at bay. Melorn and Menis were doing pretty well on their side, keeping them back with a spray of bullets and arrows... that is until one of Melorn's guns misfired. Not being a rich man, the old cheetan could not afford the more well made guns were misfires were a mere inconvenience. For his older model pistols, it was rather dangerous proven when his gun exploded his his hand. A loud cry of pain came from the older male as he went down from the pain. His hand was still there, but the armor was not, blown apart in the blast.

"Damnit all." He called out as he tried to stand back up, but he was quickly tackled down by their attackers who brandished a shortsword with the intent of stabbing the old man. Menis quickly turned and fired his readied arrow into the man's side. The shock and pain of the arrow sinking into him, gave Melorn a chance to fight back. Raising his other pistol, he fired into his would-be killer's chest, putting him down. This was short-lived as hammer thrust from the foe Menis was going to shoot sent the young boy to the ground with a pained cry.


Seeing the disaster forming behind them, Seylian broke from his stance with Thyverian and came to the others' aid. Sheathing his arming sword and locking it into place to create a greatsword as he did against Thyverian. Bringing the large sheathe sword over his shoulder, he cut down the foe who struck Menis. Thyverian would just managed to hold his end as Seylian made holding the other end rather easy for the other two. Finally, as their numbers dwindled and the defenders showed no signs of letting them breach their defense again, the attackers withdrew... it was finally over. Panting, Thyverian looked over and shared a look with Seylian, they felt like regular super heroes right now. Just as Menis was about to speak, they heard a rather loud noise... that began to get even louder. Whatever it was it was coming closer, Thyverian rushed over to Cylesta and gathered her tired body up. Her rather horrid appearance seemly not bothering him as much now as he began rushing out of the building. "Move move move!" He did not know what it was, he knew they had to get out. The others did not actually need his instruction, as they too had begun rushing out of the structure. Just as the got out, the shockwave carrying Manus and the Demon slammed into the headquarters, destroying it utterly.

Seylian and Menis dove behind some cover while Melorn just fell prone, covering his head from the raining debris with his arms. Thyverian dropped Cylesta's lower half and set her on the ground as he knelt over her. Using his armored body to shield her from the debris while he covered his own head like Melorn had. When the dust finally settled, Manus and the demon crawled out of the wreckage, but there was no time for an update, or really a need as everyone could see what caused the destruction. The large, imposing leonkin male was headed their way, frustrated with the continuous setbacks, he now saw fit to crush the invaders himself. Crimson energies crackling around him as he looked upon his 'visitors' with a glare that could freeze a sun. "He looks... strong.." Menis choked out as he readied his bow.
"If I didn't know better I would think he was King Terafax, hes got the look." Seylian said pulling his his large sword with a bit of strain.
"You would not be far off, that is Lenarin Terafax, one of late king's younger brothers." Melorn said offering a glare as both Manus and Cylesta, they knew he would be here. Manus let that much slip, he has alot of words he would like to say to them both... but now was not the time.
"its gonna take all of us to beat him... even if we can." The demon uttered as he readied his sword. "No more holding back Manus, we need all of that shadowborne magic you've got."
 
Cylesta looked over at her uncle as he shouted out in pain, and then couldn't really move much as her head spun. She sank down before being picked up suddenly by Thyverian, and placed her arms around his neck and shoulders, holding on as they all evacuated the headquarters. She looked back and watched as it fell, the shockwave seeming to travel slowly towards them. Suddenly on her own two feet, she looked up at Thyverian as he covered her as the shockwave reached them, and she felt her fur stand on end, as an electrical current traveled from her toes up her spine and tingled against her lips, licking them as she burrowed her head into his chest until it was safer to pop back up. She stood slowly, and looked back towards the large imposing figure that was headed their way. Her ears flattened against her head as she heard her Uncle speak up about Lenarin and knew she was going to get scolded once they were all safe. She took a breath, closed her eye, and the shadows swirled around her, as she bore down and found the small amount of energy still within her.

Her ear flicked up at the demon's words, and she smirked, the skin pulling taut against her jaw, and she looked over at him, "Manus ain't the only one with a love affair with the shadows."
The shadows rolled up over her, and she disappeared from view, traveling within the darkness towards the large imposing figure of their enemy. She stalked within the shadows, slipping out and using her obsidian blades, gave each one a smile, from ear to ear, slicing through their throats with one smooth move, before diving into the shadows. Sliding within the shadows helped her, rejuvenated her tired soul, even if her real energy was flagging. With the attention of most of the foot soldiers on her, the team could focus their attention on Lenarin. She had full trust that they could take him on, she had watched them beat the odds again and again since they had started this mission... had it only been a couple days ago? They seemed to mesh well, and she would have to admit that her uncle had known exactly what he was doing when he picked the team he did. Young they might have been, but they were all powerhouses in their own right. And with help from herself, Manus and the Demon, there was no doubt in her mind that they would take Lenarin on.

She kept moving, easily slicing through the rabble, her body finally flagging as she sank within the shadows to recover for a bit. She sank deep, darkness covering her and embracing her tired and worn body. Before she sank too deep, she flung an anchor to Manus, to hold her to the real world.
 
Watching the half skeletal woman blitz off and start slaughtering the straggling warriors with ease, the demon would glance back at Manus. "Whose that?" But Manus kept his focus on the large Leonkin. "Questions for later." The black feline grunted before tightening his stance, shadows starting to swirl around him as he began to channel the darkness. The demon looked back at the large lion just in time to notice where his focus lay. Channeling a swath of arcane energy over his right hand greatsword, the Leonkin was readying an attack at Cylesta as she attacked his lingering forces. Behind the demon, Melorn began firing on Lenarin but these shots were blocked before they ever hit the lion. A bright blue field flickering around the target with each shot. "Damn, a velocity shield." Melorn muttered, before he continued firing. He knew that while these shields blocked any projectile that moved at a speed that could penetrate steel, with enough damage they would collapse. This did get Lenarin's attention, his gaze moving to Melorn before launching the blast from his weapon at the cheetan male. Launching a blast of wind from his own sword, the wind demon managed to divert the blast away from his allies. However, Lenarin simply launched a second blast from his left hand sword. "Move" The demon shouted, as he was not sure he could block a second in such a short timeframe.

The group dispersed just in time to avoid the brunt of the blast, but the shockwave from the blast sent them all flying in different directions. The demon managed to catch himself in the air, and land on his feet. Glancing up, he saw the large lion coming down on him with his massive swords. Narrowly evading the blades, the demon went in for a counter slash, his blade going for a gap in his armor. This attack was rebuffed by Lenarin pulling a sword back and in the way of his attack. As their blades connected, the leonkin pushed his sword out, easily overpowering and shoving the demon back. Taking advantage of his foe being off balance, Lenarin shifted his body to bring his other sword against the demon. As the sword came down at the demon, Seylian had closed the gap and threw his own body lead by his sheathed? greatsword into Lenarin's sword. He managed to push the attack away from the demon. Following up with this save, Seylain quickly leapt away from the Leonkin's sword and launched a spinning attack at Lenarin's face. The large Lion pulled away just in time to avoid taking a lethal hit, only losing some of his crimson hair.

The barrier around him began to flicker again as Melorn started firing again. This did not stop him from swinging the previously deflected sword at both Seylian and the demon who had regained his footing. With no room to evade the attack, both males chose to hold up their swords to block the attack. They managed to avoid being hit directly, however the force of the blow sent them both flying back several feet. The demon managed to catch himself in midair once more, and even held on to his sword as he landed on his feet and slid back from the momentum. Seylian, on the other hand, lost grip of his sword on impact and managed to land flat on his back with a loud thud. Knowing what would come next, the demon began to channel the storm around his sword again. Intense winds swirled around the parallel blades, lightning crackling between them as he readied himself for another sword blast. Once the large leonkin began pulling back his right hand greatsword, that same arcane glow started to come over it. As the demon braced himself for the attack, he noticed someone running up behind the larger feline.

Thyverian was rushing toward the leonkin, bastard sword gripped tight in his right hand. His advance was partially covered by the loud gunfire coming from Melorn. However as he drew nearer, the tremors from his steps began to lightly shake the ground under Lenarin. Most may not have noticed, but one as experienced as this old lion certainly could... and he did. He paused his blast attack, instead readying himself to turn and attack with his left hand sword once their steps were close enough. Once Thyverian was within ten feet of the larger feline, he leapt off the ground. Unintentionally throwing off Lenarin's method of tracking him as he sailed closer. When the large Leonkin gave up on his bluff and turned to look behind him, it was too late. Thyverian had turned his body sideways in a horizontal position, pulling his legs back as he readied himself for a dropkick. Once he was close enough, he thrust his foot out into the back of the large leonkin's left knee, causing the massive feline to buckle to one knee. Seeing this opening, the Demon thrust his sword out at the large lion, unleashing a focused beam of thundering wind. The blast found its way into Lenarin's breastplate, he let out a howl of pain as the attack knocked him on his back.

As he glanced up, the large lion saw the shadows swirl over him, converging together to form Manus. His form was partially merged together with the darkness, shadowy appendages breaking out of his armor and embracing his body. His eyes were more sanguine than ruby now. Launching himself downward with a cry of war, the shadowshifter struck the Leonkin before he could raise a weapon, pushing him into the shadowrealm. As he entered the dark zone, Lenarin was quickly assailed by the wicked chains of Manus. Barbed, shadowy instruments of intimidation and torment, some wrapping around him, others impaling into his body. Manus appeared before him, conducting the symphony of shadows with his hands. Once he felt he was sufficiently restrained, Manus began pulling his hands apart. "Now, come apart!" Manu's signature method of executing targets, constricting them with his chains and then ripping them apart. Lenarin let out a loud cry of pain as the chains jerked him in every direction at once... and then...

He roared.

Manus watched in shock as he not only resisted his attempt to tear him asunder, but actually started to pull himself out of the chains. He let out another roar, an even louder one as he expelled a burst of energy that ripped a gaping hole in the shadowrealm. From this hole everyone else would watch as Manus was flung helplessly out of the darkness, and Lenarin walked out triumphantly. While Manus has failed to kill the Leonkin, there was a lot of visible damage done to him by the chains. Lifting up his right hand, Lenarin began to form a red orb within it. "Know your place." He growled before flinging the ball of energy at Manus who was still in the middle of rising to his feet. The orb caught him in the gut carrying him a good distance away before exploding in a brilliant flash.

"Manus!" Menis cried out as his older brother was blown away, pulling two arrows from his quiver and imbuing them with what magical energy he could manage before notching them. Pulling his drawstring back as he took aim at the larger feline who was raising both arms out to his sides, likely preparing another spell of some kind. Letting out a feral scream, Menis fired both arrows at the leonkin. Both arcane arrows screamed through the air, and found their target. Impacting on his damaged breastplate and exploding in a pair of bright flashes. "Die! You! Bastard!" Menis cried out as he continued firing slightly less powerful arrows, but at a much quicker rate. Melorn quickly joined him, having been pulled out of his semi-awestruck state of seeing Manus so utterly defeated... in the shadowrealm no less. The sonic barrier that protected him?them? from bullets seemed to be straining now, it was not going to hold much longer.

As the barrage began, Lenarin summoned his swords back into his hands. Quickly shifting focus to Menis and Melorn, leaping in their direction. "Split up!" Melorn commanded as he darted away from the younger feline, who quickly moved in the opposite direction. Trying to kite the larger feline as they pelted him with arcane arrows and bullets. As Lenarin chased the others, Seylian ran to grab his greatsword as the demon looked in Menus' direction. "Come on Thy, we have to help them!" The grey feline called out to the redhead as he rushed after Lenarin. "Right!" Thyverian shouted as he began to follow. With a reluctant breath, the demon turned to give chase with the younger men.

Lenarin gave chase to Melorn, knowing he could carry more bullets than the other could arrows. Those bullets would become extremely dangerous once his barrier fell, and he could not risk taking any shots from those wretched guns. Despite his age, Melorn proved to be very nimble as he withdrew from the larger feline, gunfire covering his escape. He could not evade Lenarin for too long as the leonkin faked a swing into just throwing his body at the cheetan. This caught him mid-evade and knocked him to the ground. As Lenarin advanced on the fallen Melorn, Menis fired another volley at the leonkin. By now, his armor was heavily damaged and one of the two arrows sunk into one of the breaks in the plate. The explosion brought pause to the large feline as a plume of blood burst out from his back. Taking advantage of his stunned foe, Melorn rolled onto his back and began firing again. Once he saw the barrier finally drop he aimed a gun at the leonkin's head and pulled the trigger. 'click!'
"For fuck's sake!" Melorn shouted as he pulled the other gun up and fired. Lenarin managed to recover and narrowly avoided the headshot. The next trigger pull yielded another disheartening click and Melorn scrambled to reload his guns. As he did Lenarin took his right hand greatsword in a reverse grip, preparing to impale the downed cheetan. Menis reached for his quiver to find that he was on his last two arrows. He desperately tried to draw them back in time to save Melorn. A burst of lightning would beat him to it, fired from the demon's stormsword as he and the two rookies rushed the leonkin. Seeing them arrive on the scene, Menis decided to take his time, and channel what magic he had left into these arrows.

Seylian led the charge on Lenarin, who greeted the young boy by swinging his now reverse-grip greatsword at him. The grey feline ducked down, raising his sheathsword up to block the attack. He managed to not only block the attack, but almost stopped it, possibly because of the reverse grip being suboptimal for attacking with. Whatever the case, Thyverian leapt over his friend, step-jumping off of Lenarin's caught sword as he tried to impale the larger feline with his sword. Quickly ducking down, Lenarin managed to avoid a fatal blow to his somewhat exposed chest. Thyverian's blade still managed to slice into his right shoulder causing him to growl in pain. Despite the pain, Lenarin forced himself to body block Thyverian away from him before he pulled back from Seylian, correcting his grip on his right-hand sword.

An old threat emerged behind him in the form of a half naked, fully furious Manus. His long crimson hair waving from his half destroyed helmet. His shock and humiliation turned into spite and hatred as his face was one of a feral feline in the wild. A shadowy blade emerging from his right wrist as he prepared to execute Lenarin. He would be stopped as another shadowshifter appeared, the jaguar from before launching out of the darkness to tackle the black feline. The two grappled with one another as they rolled around on the ground after the impact. The larger cat getting the upper hand and tossing Manus several feet away before jumping to his feet. Drawing a sword as he leapt over Manus, "Time to die!" He shouted, knowing that while he could not defeat Manus in the shadow realm, he could out here. He also knew there was not enough time for him to sink back into the shadows to escape his blade. Manus did not intend to escape, instead he merely shouted a word... a name..
"Skythirx!"
As Fr'Yet came down on Manus, he say the darkness coming out around them, before he fully understood the danger he was in... it was over, the maw of darkness clamping down on and crushing him easily. A mass of darkness came rushing out of the ground beneath Manus, flying up into the night sky. This mass of darkness began to take form under the starlight, taking the shape of a large shadow dragon. From the beasts head emerged Manus's upper body. He then pointed down at Lenarin below, "Annihilate him!" He commanded.

Lenarin's face took on a measure of concern for the first time since this fight began as the large shadow beast began flying in his direction. Charging his greatswords with energy, he began launching shockwave blasts at the dragon. It flew over the first, only being grazed by it, but the second slammed into its left shoulder causing it to cry out in pain. Before he could fire another volley, the beast was upon him reaching out with its right hand it grabbed hold of him as it flew over the landscape. Making sure to slam him into the ground, dragging him along before ascending up into the air again. Through sheer force of will, Lenarin managed to keep hold of his weapons while being raked across the earth. Once he was out of the ground, he quickly stabbed one such sword into the dragon's wrist, causing it to hiss in agony. Rather than releasing him as he hoped, the beast instead clenched him tighter, trying to crush him in its grip. Desperately, he began twisting the blade, hoping to cause it enough pain that it would release him. The dragon let out a frustrated roar as it had enough, and simply threw the smaller lion down toward the ground. As he fell, the dragon took in a deep breath. A bit of shock came over his face as he realized what was about to happen, but he was helpless to avoid the shadowy flames that would soon be launched at him. The darkfire engulfed him and sped his descent to the ground. Upon impact, the flames spread out over the ground, incinerating many bodies and a few unlucky soldiers. As the flames began to dissipate, a bright crimson light burst out of them. One of Lenarin's sword blasts! The dragon had no time to evade once it saw the danger. A direct hit to the chest, as the shadow beast reeled from the attack, a second blast hit it in the throat. "Damnit!" Manus could be heard shouting as the shadow dragon lost its cohesion and began to dissipate, leaving him to fall to the ground.

Lenarin emerged from the scorched earth as Manus hit the ground not far from him. His armor was basically nonexistent at this point. Much of his body was naked and burned horribly from the flames, his movements were quite labored as he looked over at Manus. "Seems there are a few of your kind worthy of my respect, but you will die all the same." He forced the words out as he began to step toward Manus. Suddenly a thick cyclone erupted around him. "What?" He asked reflexively as he was effectively caged by the wind. The demon, who had spent this time channeling his magic was the culprit. While his whole form was covered with armor, it was clear that he was under a tremendous amount of stress from this casting. Raising a hand to the heavens where a mass of clouds had come to swirl around over Lenarin. At the clouds' apex was a mass of lightning with more converging at the demon's behest. A shout began building in the demon's chest, going from a low rumble to a full fledged war cry as he brought his hand down. Following his motion, the mass of lightning surged down in a single, magnificent bolt of tremendous power. It struck Lenarin dead on, and released an earth-shattering thunderclap as it exploded. The cyclone around the leonkin managed to just contain the destructive radius of the blast, containing it to just Lenarin. With the blast the cyclone dissipated, and Lenarin was left barely standing. With strained motions, he fired a sword blast as the demon, who was too exhausted from the casting to dodge and was hit directly. As the demon was sent flying away by the blast, Melorn began firing to Lenarin. Without the barrier, the shots where hitting him directly. Raising his left arm to protect his head, the dying Lenarin desperately fired a blast at Melorn. The old cheetan managed to avoid the brunt of the blast, but as it hit the ground near him, the explosion sent him sprawling through the air, barely conscious.

With everyone else dropping around them, Thyverian and Seylian steeled themselves and charged the wounded beast. Slamming his left arm greatsword into the ground, Lenarin sent a ground-based shockwave at the two boys. They both tried to dodge it, but Seylian, who was leading, did not have enough time to evade it all and found himself getting knocked back, leaving Thyverian to finish the charge. Reaching his foe, Thyverian tried desperately to land a fatal blow, but even in his wounded state Lenarin was more than a match for the rookie. Knocking the boy off balance, with a blunt bash from one of his swords he went for a killing blow. As the greatsword came toward him, Thyverian's eyes would contract a bit, and start to glow faintly much like they did against the dragon before. Suddenly, his tired body rebounded from its previously vulnerable state and evaded the lethal blow. The red haired feline began to fight with the skill and experience that he simply should not possess. Able to keep track of both of Lenarin's weapons, evading his trick attacks with ease before connecting blows on his thigh, hips and finally on his left arm.

Lenarin would jump back after that last strike, opting to drop his left hand sword, and use one in both hands. As the two squared off, Menis resumed powering his last two arrows, taking up a position near the fight as he prepared to fire. Seylian, who was not taken out by the blast, started staggering up to his feet with noises indicating great pain. As Thyverian and Lenarin resumed fighting, the wounded Lenarin managed to keep up with the oddly proficient Thyverian. Seeing what he thought to be an opening, the larger feline struck at Thyverian with a horizontal slash. The white feline leapt up over the slash, managing to place his left hand on the blunt side of the blade perfectly as he rolled over the attack and slashed the leonkin in the face. As his blood sprayed out of his face, adrenaline surged into Lenarin's tired body. He jerked his sword back mid-slash, which forced Thyverian to tumble helplessly in the air. Doing a quick spin, the massive feline struck the airbound Thyverian. The momentum of his blade launching Thyverian as it hits his armor. It also managed to penetrate the steel on the tail end of the attack. Even this late into the swing, the blade bit deep into the young feline's flesh and sprayed blood everywhere as he spun through the air with a large gash in his chest.

As Lenarin recovered from his last attack on Thyverian, Menis launched his last two arrows as Seylian closed the distance on the leonkin. The arrows bit into his flesh, exploding loudly, forcing him to scream as he staggered from the blasts. Blood spraying on Seylian as he rushed the reeling Lion, thrusting his sheathsword into his exposed back. Lenarin's scream was cut off as the large weapon stabbed through his body. "..." He struggled to speak, but the words never came... He only fell lifelessly on the ground before Seylian who quickly collapsed. Menis tried to run to Thyverian, but he was too exhausted from the heavy use of magic and running around and simply fell on his face.

With the leader defeated, it would not be long before the remaining Rastrox fled the scene... Victory at last... Though most of the victors were unconscious and at least one was bleeding to death.
 
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Cylesta opened her eye, and took a breath within the shadows that enveloped her. Already she could feel strength returning, albeit slowly and she stretched within the cocoon the shadows had wrapped around her. A chain connected her wrist to Manus, and she slowly began to slip back towards him. She could feel cold seeping into her bones and realized that she had gotten deep in the shadows, very deep. Deeper than she had ever been before.
She was thankful that she had had the presence of mind to anchor herself, or this return trip would not be happening.
A shift in the shadows allowed her to slip from the shadows into the world, cringing at the light that suddenly surrounded her. She shook her head and looked around, smirking as she watched the horde of Rastrox running for their lives. She shook her fur and skin, and two daggers of shadow and obsidian grew within her palms. Without a sound, she started throwing them, with precision as each rastrox that was close enough, got an obsidian dagger to the back of the neck, slicing through the spinal cord and destroying their throats. Each one she hit fell, and she grinned horrifically before sending a beacon of light up into the sky, letting the airship know that it was safe. Two black shadows swirled around the light, letting them know it was her, as that was her special signature.

She turned back to look over rthe carnage of her team, checking on Manus as he was the closest one to her. Out cold. She placed a shield around him, kissing his forehead before walking to her uncle. She grinned and knelt at his side, checking him over as well. He had fought well, and she was so proud of him. She also knew that when he finally woke up, she was in a world of trouble for not telling him their real mission. She scrunched her nose cutesy, and then looked up as the shadow of an airship covered them. She raised her hand, before getting up and letting the shield around Manus fall. She walked over to Thyverian and Seylian, who were laying near each other, a quick glance at him letting her know that he was also out of it. Seylian on the other hand had open eyes, and she smirked as he tipped his head. She gave him a once over as a team of medics were deployed from the airship, landing around them to check on them. She stood, as the head medic walked up to her.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine actually. Just need to heal and get some rest. Melorn, Manus, and Thyverian are all out cold. They need immediate attention. Seylian is awake as is..." she stopped speaking and turned to look over at Manis who was also awake. "Manis."
The head medic nodded and they began immediate triage on everyone, giving her a wide berth, not used to seeing a rotting skeleton. She grinned again, before walking over to the wind demon who seemed to know Manus.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" She asked as she knelt beside him, a hand coming to rest on his cheek as she studied both of his eyes, to check him out.
 
As Cylesta went on her final killing spree, Tigra and her remaining marines rushed onto the scene and secured the area. They began administering first aid on Thyverian as the general called in an evac ship. After making the call, Tigra moved over to inspect the fallen Lenarin. Kneeling down by the fallen Leonkin as she took in his burned and battered form. Amber eyes moving over to inspect the damage done by the shadow dragon's breath weapon. Her attention was pulled over to Cylesta as she fired up her signal flare. "Even without our warship, they not only survived, but managed to take down Lenarin. That is a blow the remnants of the Terafax clan will not recover from anytime soon..."

Seylian groaned lightly as she moved his head, no quirky remark coming from him this time. "Son of...a ..." He trailed off as the medics arrived and began prepping him to be moved. Though their first priority was Thyverian, who had the worst visible injuries. They were quick to tend to him and get him lifted up onto the ship. Menis would force a smile when Cylesta spoke to him, but he was much to tired to really talk right now.

The demon's plate armor was pretty beat up, in some parts you could see the mail underneath. His helmet remained mostly intact, though it was damaged enough that one could see that he wore some kind of mask underneath. The stories surrounding him seem to suggest that only a few people have ever seen his face, the mask seems to lend credence to such tales. Though his eyes were visible, they were a silver shade, complimenting the bits of white fur that could be seen around his eyes. As she touched his helm and spoke to him, those silver eyes began to stir, his smooth voice starting to echo from his mask. "I... am feeling... like... I just got... my ass kicked..." He said as his eyes lazily moved over to find her. "How are you feeling?"
 
She smirked at that, pink skin stretched over her cheekbones, and shrugged, "About the same actually. But I've got a quick healing quirk, so I should be fine here shortly, if I get what I need. Can you stand? Or do you need help?" She stood and offered him her hand, lifting him up to his feet and then offering her shoulder to him.

The giant warship landed nearby, and she began leading them both towards the large ship, bearing his weight easily. She took a breath, expanding skin and bones against him as she looked over her shoulder to make sure that the medics were getting her uncle and his team ready. She turned back to watch her step as they began climbing up the ramp and into the bowels of the ship. "Let's get you situated into one of the medic bays. You need to be looked over too. Thanks for the help by the way. How do you know Manus?" She asked as the two made their way into the medic bay area. She sat him down on one of the cots, and took a step back, letting q medic take her place next to him while she stood near. The medic checked him over quickly, and another medic walked up to Cylesta, leading her to the next cot over so she could be checked over.

Cylesta sat, a smirk on her lips as the medic looked her over and sank some healing magic into her body. She was pretty much good, she was slowly growing fresh skin and muscles over her frame, and soon she would have fur covering her skin. It took a long time, unless she could find a willing sex partner who didn't cringe away from her horrid appearance, in which case, she healed quickly, depending on how many orgasms she got, and on if her partner was strong enough to give her a boost. Either way, she healed, so she wasn't truly worried about it.

A minute later, she shooed the medic away from her, and stretched her arms up, working out the kinks in her neck and shoulders.
 
"I... c.." He started as he tried to sit up, he did not get very far before he simply took her hand. "Stronger than you look." He said as he pulled him up, armor and all. He was not willing to walk with her at first, opting to look around for his weapon. "Hang on, I need my.." He said as he spotted his parallels blade sword. Flexing his left hand, he managed to pull the weapon into his grip with what magic he had left.
By the time the two of them reached the ship, Thyverian, Manus,a nd Melorn had already been taken onboard. Menis was in the process of being taken up into the vessel. Over by Lenarin's corpse, Tigra and several others could been seen discussing something while inspecting the large feline. Several teams had also been dispatched across the scene to look for survivors and to scavenge and useful materials and gear before the base was to be razed tot he ground.

"No problem, just doing my job... HUh? Manie? He and I go way back I guess you could say. Grew up together, closest thing to a brother I have."
He said as he was sat down on a cot, groaning as a medic came to attend to him. There was a bit of a fuss over armor,. but he finally let them remove it so long as they did not touch his mask. Once the mail and padding came off, it only revealed a sleek body suit under it all... even his tail was covered... he was really all in on this mysterious guy thing.
"How are we supposed to check your injuries like this?" The medic scoffed.
"Magic? I don't feel like I have any serious damage on me." He remarked, somewhat matter of factly.
"Fine." The medic rolled her eyes before waving off to one of the attendants. "Get our mystery man a healer." She said before going to check on someone else.

Not too far away, Manus had been brought back to the waking world. He was moving rather lazily in his cot, his crimson hair out of its normal braiding and just splayed out over the cot. Ruby eyes drifting over to find Cylesta and the demon before he took in a deep breath. "Fuck... that guy.." He said with a low grown, "Should be illegal to be that... damn tough..."
This prompted a bit of a laugh from the demon, "Yeah you... brought your dragon out... and everything... Never seen Skythrix... go down before.."
"Yeah I can... already... hear her... complaining..."
 
Cylesta grinned at Manus as he came around, and said, "She's going to have alot to say about that. But she helped us out a lot." A laugh followed her words, as she thought about what exactly the large Shadow Dragon would complain about. Either way, she was going to make sure that she was there to watch.

She looked over at her uncle, and walked over to his prone body, talking to the medics that were checking him over, and asked them how he was doing. Once they answered, she nodded, and laid her hand over his, squeezing it quickly to show him she was fine and there. It was an old tradition between them, if either of them was unconscious, the other would squeeze their hand, to provide comfort and help the other relax. Uncle Melorn didn't open his eyes, but he squeezed back, and she sighed in relief, before bending over and placing a kiss on his forehead, whispering quietly, "Glad your okay uncle Melorn."

She stood and walked back over to Manus and the demon, a smile on her lips, and her fingers playing on the newest skin on her face. Her ears twitched, taking in the conversation between the two males, and she took another breath, before realizing that one of her ribs had actually broken, and had punctured one of her lungs. She couldn't get a deep breath in, and it felt as if her lung was about to collapse. She kept her mouth shut, knowing that the others needed the medics more than her, though she did lean up against Manus' cot. She hoped they wouldn't notice her breathing change, as she got less and less oxygen with every breath she took.
 
Menis and Seylian were finally brought onboard, and set on cots by Melorn as Cylesta spoke to her uncle. "I can't believe I'm still alive," Menis started as he tugged on the padded armor that covered his chest. "I'm so lucky he didn't come after me." He said with a deep breath, and tilting his head back. "I still can't believe the old man can move like that." Seylian said lazily as he looked over at their commander. A laugh could be heard coming from Manus as he moved his gaze over to the younger grey feline. "You know the guy that almost killed us was even older than Melorn right? We would all be lucky to be in half as good shape when we get older."
"No, we would be lucky just to get to that age, staying in that shape is a small miracle." The demon interjected.
That comment pulled Seylian's eyes over to his friend, Thyverian, who had not awaken just yet. He was not too far away, being tended to by healers as they worked to regenerate his heavily damaged chest.
By now, Cylesta's labored breaths would have gotten the attention of Manus, who was currently closest to her. "Would be a real shame if you died in an infirmary, surrounded by medics and healers, just because you didn't want to say you needed help."
 
"If you train hard enough, you'll get to the level and that age." Cylesta teased them, before smiling softly at Manus, "Patience is ... what I have, not ... a death ... wi."
It would have sounded better, had she not had a coughing fit at the end, which stole the rest of her breath, and caused her lung to finally collapse. She dropped to one knee, trying to hold herself up, and gasp for air at the same time. Two of the medics immediately helped her up, and laid her down on a cot, as her eyes rolled up into her skull.

As Cylesta passed out, the medics began to work, first creating a spell to push air into her working lung, and then pulling and pushing her broken rib out of her collapsed lung and back into position. A cast made of bone dust was placed around the rib, which would heal and grow around the old bone, and then they began sewing up the lung, before checking her over with a diagnostic spell, to make sure she had no other damage. Thankfully, nothing else showed up on the scan, and they shook their head at her stubbornness.

Once her lung was sewn up, they reinflated it slowly, making sure that it wouldn't collapse again during use, and then released the breathing spell over her. The medics kept their eyes trained on her chest, waiting for it to expand on its own, and a long second later, it did. They sighed and smiled, before covering her with a light blanket, and walking back over to their other duties.

It took a couple minutes, but Cylesta finally opened her eyes, yawning quietly and lifting a hand to her chest as she took a deep breath. She would have to take it easy for a couple days, but should be up to her old self in no time. By now, enough time had passed that she had gnarled pink skin where before it had been acid eaten flesh. It would slowly smooth in appearance before she would start growing fur to cover her naked skin.
 
Manus showed some concern for her when she collapsed, calling out for medics to help her. Shaking his head as she was carried off to a cot to be tended to. By the time she was all fixed up and finally came around she would notice Manus not far from her bed. Standing watch over her with his arms crossed, a smile coming over his face when she yawned. "Finally up drama queen? Just could not let Thyverian have all the attention for being wounded huh?"

Not far from them, Melorn was sitting up in his cot, being checked over by several nurses. Seylian and Menis had already left the infirmary. Moving up to the mess hall to get some much needed food. Thyverian was awake by now, also sitting up and being checked over, his chest was still bandaged over with a healing harness. The demon could be seen just outside the infirmary, speaking with general Tigra,
 
She sat up gingerly and grinned at Manus, "Couldn't let him get all the attention. Might go to his head...." She chuckled to herself at that as she looked over at the last two males of the group. She was glad to see that Menis and Seylian were up and moving around, probably talking about their exploits. When they returned home, they'd have a gaggle of admirers after them, she was sure.

Cylesta turned her attention back to Manus, and then peeked over at her uncle.
"Do you think we can escape before Uncle Melorn lays into us and gives us a good tongue lashing?" She whispered to Manus as she stretched her legs, then swung them over the side of the cot. She stood, a little shaky, but Manus soon fixed that, and she held onto him without asking for permission, grinning up at her old friend without remorse. Her ears swiveled on her head, one pointed towards the door where Tigra and the demon stood talking, and the other pointed towards Thyverian.

She glanced at Thyverian, checking him over and nodding to herself as she realized that he was still alive and in good form. She had been worried that they might have lost one, and Thyverian had had the worst injuries, at least it had seemed that way to her. All in all, she was surprised and impressed by the three young males her uncle had chosen, and gave her complete blessing to their future endeavors.

She scooted behind Manus, and was heading to the door when a bark from her uncle had her standing up straight and wincing, the hairs on the back of her neck and tail had all stood up, and she glanced helplessly at the door and then at Manus. As she turned back around, she laced her shadows around Manus, not letting him escape. If she had to get it, so did he.
 
"Yeah, we can't have anyone challenging you for ego size."
Manus said as his ruby eyes followed hers to Melorn. "Easily, if someone didn't have to make a huge scene. We could still slip aw-"
He started before she for... some reason decided to walk away. A bit of a sigh coming from the black feline as he pressed his hand into his face. How did she expect to get away from her uncle... by walking by his cot? Manus was starting to worry that she had also suffered a brain collapse. He could only shake his head as Melorn busted her and she decided to try and trap him with her.

"Somebody want to explain to me why I was not aware we were going after Lenarin Terafax?" The older male growled as his eyes drifted from his niece to Manus. Manus would sigh loudly as he looked from Cylesta to Melorn. "The higher ups felt the fewer people that knew what we were doing, the better.." This clearly did not sit well with Melorn, who only became louder as he responded. "And you two just let me march three rookies into that mess blindly!?" Manus would only shrug at the older feline as he replied. "Look, he was not supposed to have as many people there, you were just supposed to get his attention and out airship was supposed to gun him down."

Melorn did not say anything more to Manus, but his facial expression did not suggest that he accepted this reasoning. His eyes then drifted over to his niece, to see what her excuse was. Manus could probably recite several books worth of reasons why he kept his lips sealed... However, Cylesta was family... he expected more from openess from her.
 
Brain damage. That was the only excuse she had that made any sense. She should have just been patient and waited for Manus, but no. She thought her uncle had been distracted. She should have know better.

Cylesta stood, listening to Manus explain their side of reasoning. To be fair, it had been an actual command. They weren't allowed to speak of the mission to anyone.
To be fair... that excuse had gone out the window the minute the whole mission had been turned upside down and inside out. She felt like a little female again, and her ears were laid flat against her head, in irritation and frustration. Her tail had wrapped around her body, and the tip of it was held in her hands, as she listened to her uncle lay into both of them.

"Uncle Melorn, yes, we were told that we were going after Lenarin. We were also told it was essential that it was kept under wraps. You chose three rookies for you team. If I hadn't had faith in you and your choices, I would have called the whole thing off. As it was, Manus is correct, we weren't expecting the battalion that he had. Our job was merely to distract him while the warship took him out." She finally took a breath, and looked up at her uncle, "I will apologize for not telling you when the mission went to hell in a handbasket. We should have told you, although little good would have come from it by that point in time."

Cylesta took another breath, and realized just how tired she felt, and knew her body still had a lot to heal. "I am sorry Uncle Melorn." She looked contrite, and felt it, and scratched her ear while listening to her uncle's response. She didn't realize it, but the males around her saw the moment she clicked off, eyes glazing over and body going limp, falling.
 
"I would expect my niece to not keep things from me, especially something so important." Melorn said finally, crossing his arms and looking away. He was clearly not pleased with either explanation. Manus took in a breath and was about to speak when he noticed Cylesta nodding off in the corner of his eye. Glancing over just in time to see her starting to collapse, he rushed toward her. Sadly, due to the distance, he would not be able to reach her before she hit the floor. The loud thud drew the attention of Melorn, and even Thyverian who was trying to not pay attention to their 'discussion' Cursing under his breath, Manus pulled the female up as several medics rushed toward her, taking her from him and carrying her back to her cot.
"She always was a manipulative little brat, never could just let someone be mad at her." Melorn growled as he watched on with veiled concern.
 
One of the medics turned back to Melorn, "This isn't a fake out, she genuinely collapsed from exhaustion. Has she been sharing energy with any of you?"

After their answer, the medic sighed and shook her head, "She's expended too much energy. I suspect that is why none of you were too badly injured during your fight. She expended her energy trying to keep you all safe"

A quick check up later, and the medic said, "She just needs time to rest. That's all."
 
Melorn did not answer, only placed his hand in his head and began shaking said head. It was clear that he was angry, and trying to keep his temper in check. Manus merely shrugged, "Don't look at me, I have no idea what she did or didn't do." Thyverian finally spoke after a few moments of silence. "She used a spell to protect us from her gas magic?" He asked, he was not really sure how magic worked, so it was kinda confusing to him why that would exhaust her so much.

Melorn did finally speak once the medic was done with her diagnosis. "So, one of two things has just happened..." He said, finally pulling his head out of his hand. "Either my niece has duped a bunch of trained professionals... or you are not really all that well trained. Its been about twenty or so years since the civil war, and even then revitalization magic was standard procedure when tending to the wounded." He said, standing up, and raising his voice a bit to emphasize his frustration. "Are you telling me that after someone has just been through a long and arduous battle and collapses from a lung injury. You treat her, but do not bother to reenergize her at all!?!"
 
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