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Blood of Legends ((Kiandra&Mephilis))

"Don't worry Uncle. I know my job, quite well. This isn't my first time..." Cylesta said, rolling her eyes at him as she smiled and checked her bag. She looked over at her uncle, a look in her eyes that showed him just how annoyed she was that he would ever think that Manus and her would get to that when so much was at stake. He nodded at her expression, knowing that they would speak later, and she stood, grabbing her pack and her weapon, before disappearing from view, sliding into the shadow-realm with barely a glimmer.

She was simply there, and then not. She knew Manus would follow as soon as he was ready to, and so she took her time checking the area from within the shadows, going ahead of the group to do reconnaissance.
 
Melorn would shake his head as the female vanished, "She gets her here-then-not sense of humor from her father." He sighed as Manus let out a chuckle, "Well thanks commander, I am sure I get to hear all about this now." the black fur coted feline said before he too vanished into the shadows. "Well, no time like the present." Melorn said to the others as he stood up. Thyverian and Seylian would rise quickly, and check their gear. Both of them were rather excited, their first real mission, real combat, it was enough to make their blood run hot. Menis on the other hand moved a little slower, he was more on the scared side of emotion. The possibility of dying, of having to take another life, how he would feel if he did. It all weighed on him like a sack of bricks.

Manus watched his brother from beneath the darkness, he knew Menis would have trouble with this, hence why he tried to talk him out of it many times. But the green eyes feline wanted so desperately to follow his brother, his idol, he would not be deterred. A sigh leaving Manus as he flew through the shadow realm with a natural grace that many shifters never attain even after a lifetime of training. Finally reaching the female, Manus slowed his progression as to stay with her, and so that he could actually survey the area. The fact that he quickly zoomed by the area between them hinting at the level of trust he places in the female's abilities. "See anything good?" He asked quickly. hopping to dodge any possibly nag fests about her uncle.
 
"Nothing that seems promising. They'll be getting a good fight out of this. Hopefully we won't have to step in to save their asses." She said, looking over the surrounding area before she turned to look at Manus. Her mechanical eye looked him over and she sighed before turning away, annoyance clear on her face.

She slipped through the shadows, enjoying the feel of them against her fur, and she yawned, stretching out for a second, before sliding nearer to Manus.
"Menis will be fine. He simply needs to get into the middle of the battle, and his bloodlust will awaken. He might even surprise you."
She was observant, she knew he was worried about his little brother. She was worried about her uncle, and he was a very experienced fighter.
 
"Perhaps." Manus growls out as he crosses his arms over his chest, looking over the landscape from beyond the shroud of darkness they called home. "I was hoping there would be Carnice solders here when we found the battle scene, but I guess all of them were wiped out or... taken.." He uttered as they moved by a scene where a wolfen female was tightly bound on a table with several felines taking turns in her exposed body. This did not seem to bother the male, either a disregard for her kind, or the fact that he has seen it all and some by now. "I had hopped Menis could get his feet wet with some prey before facing the predators."

"Alright Menis, I need you to take this one out." Melorn said quietly as the group came to a halt outside the bandit base's perimeter. A long guard, a large bulky male covered in black fur and clad in steel. "We need to knock as many down before they know we are here, most of the men will be naked right now enjoying the spoils of their victory. Only a handful of men will be on station." Looking over at the commander, the young dark feline swallowed tightly, clearly concerned. "What about women?" This question would cause the older male to almost laugh before shaking his head. "I suppose its likely they have women in their ranks, we will have to take them out too, you cannot afford to discriminate, just kill everything that is not one of us, females have claws too." He would then look over at Thyverian and Seylian, who where waiting quietly for orders. "That includes their captives, we have to assume they came here out of hostility and were caught by these thugs, they are enemies and are to be executed on sight, do not forget that, we have neither the manpower or space to take any prisoners. Now my second, I want you to lead the frontal assault, you and Thyverian are to move in closer as Menis takes out the sentries, kill if you must but keep it quiet, the moment they spot us, blitz them and cut everything down." Looking back over the the archer he would speak again. "Do not forget, Tigra gave you a comm unit, if things get hotter than we can handle and out little shadows cannot turn the tide, I want you to call it in, if that happens, everyone needs to pull out." With that, he looked back at the other two who nodded in understanding, with a motion of his hand, he gave them the all clear to move, which they did.

"Now Menis, you need to take out the guard, I would but, my weapons are a bit too loud for this." Nodding slowly, the younger male would lift his weapon timidly, his hands shaking somewhat. "Stay calm, you have done this a hundred times before, this is no different, just a moving target." Menis tried to think of it that way, but he could not. This man was a living being, with thoughts, wants, hopes and dreams like him, he thought. These feelings caused a sour, acidic taste to run down his throat as he drew an arrow from his quiver, placing it on the fore string and drawing it back. Taking aim, the young male checked for the wind, it was gentle, almost still, unlike his raging heart beat. As the drew the arrow back to its limit, he felt a wetness in his emerald eyes. This man was once a kitten, born to a pair of possibly loving parents, he might even be a parent himself... and now with one simple motion... He trailed off in through as he released the arrow, letting it fly, almost a flawless shot, impaling the large feline's skull, instantly ending his life... With one simple motion, he has erased him. Menis almost dropped his weapon to the ground as his arms fell limp, only managing to catch the bow string with his finger tips. His heart shattered with a silent fury so violent that even his brother felt a pain in his chest. Manus would suddenly stop from the sensation, sadness taking his face under his metallic guise.
'Welcome to the world you wanted to b=share with me so badly.' Manus thought.
'Is this what its like to be you?' Menis thought.
It was almost like they could hear eachother's minds.
 
Cylesta scoffed at that, and then ran an unsympathetic eye over the female being used and abused. She rolled her eyes at the sight, and kept moving, watching for any little cracks and crevices where the two might be able to slip in and take at least one or two of the enemy down.

"Menis..." Her word was nearly silent, and she looked back at the small feline and sighed in sympathy. She knew for a fact he would never regain the innocence of before the kill, and that a part of him had died. She looked over at Manus, and then looked away, remembering her first kill.

She had been on her own, for the first time. She was being watched, she knew that much, but as she was still inexperienced, she didn't know who it was. She moved through the tops of the trees, sometimes slipping into the shadows, like her friend had taught her, but she tried to stay out of them, since she knew she hadn't learned everything. She was glad she had one of the best teachers for the shadowrealm, Manus, and she did love watching him, he was definitely one of the better specimens that she had come against... Anyway, she was getting off track, and she if she didn't focus, she could be injured, or worse killed.
Her target was asleep in a tent, and she had to get to him before he got the message he was carrying to his superiors. She had watched him for several days, stalking him from the forests and shadows as she followed him and tried to find the perfect time to place the killing blow. She knew that tonight was it, and she slipped into the shadows, and then slipped out within her tent. He was by himself, asleep, although the twitch of his ears and tail told her that he was a very light sleeper.
She took a breath, pulled her dagger out, and sliced him from ear to ear, severing both arteries in his neck. She closed her eyes and cringed as she was soaked with warm blood, and then slipped back into the shadows. She took a moment, trying to compose herself, but she was shaking so bad she couldn't move. Slipping back into the tent, she dropped a ball of purple liquid into the tent, watching the fog eat through everything, herself included, although she couldn't feel it.
Her watcher pulled her out, and would never forget what they found, Cylesta, shaking, pieces of rotted flesh sliding off her bones as she stood watching the tent being destroyed.

She shook herself from the memory, and turned back to see the group.
 
The young black feline was lose inside himself. He had just taken a life, a real living person, and he killed them. He felt as if a burning poison was twisting its way into his flesh, he was losing his ability to breathe. He was about to scream out, but a hand found his shoulder, it was Melorn. "Calm down son, I need you to focus. These men and women, are not worth lamenting, they rob innocents of their lives for fun." This emerald eyes, glittering with a mixture of agony and terror would look over at the older male. "Why?" With a sigh, Melorn removed his hand from the boy and began to lead him forward, toward the next sentry. "Hate. They hate you." This shocked the younger male as he followed, unsure what the commander meant, how could they hate him? "All of you, they are mostly Ex-soldiers from the Civil War, and their hate breeding families. Not everyone who fought under Teraphax' banner believed in his ways, these people do, they refused to accept that our people are one and the same and instead hide in these mountains, coming out only to strike out at those like you, that they believe are inferior. So do not lament their deaths, it must be done, people like this... Nothing good can come from them." Melorn said as he came to a stop looking out from a screen of tree limbs at another sentry. His words were spoken with a certain intensity. He had fought with these people in the past, he hated many of the things he did. The fact that these bandits cling to their late master's grudge against their own kind caused him nothing but disgust.

Menis attempted to to calm his mind and remind himself that these were not people he should feel guilt over. Swallowing back his reservations, Menis forced himself to lift his bow once more. The emerald eyed feline sighed deeply as he drew another arrow. They are monsters, not unlike mindless beasts, focus, do not think too hard. He kept repeating these things in his head, but his hands would not stop trembling as he drew the arrow back. With a deep breath, he brought every ounce of his will to bear, trying to hold his hands still. Aim, and release, another arrow flew free, stabbing into a heart, another body falling lifelessly to the floor. Another crack in the soul of Menis, his legs turned to pure jelly causing him to fall forward. Catching himself on a branch, trying to hold himself up as he began to pant.

Manus was not amused, he could feel pieces of his brother's pain. His mood was starting to sour, suddenly the urge to leap from the darkness and tear every living thing apart in the camp. He bit his fury back though, his brother needed this, as much a she hated it. If not for the mask that his his face, onemight actually see the silent fury in his face.

Down on the ground, the two larger newbies were creeping forward. Trying to remain silent, hugging the shadows as best they can. Recalling their basic training on stealth. Making sure to wait for the sentry to go down before moving up. They could hear the screaming, the sound of bodies colliding, Seylian did his best to wash it from his mind. Thyverian however, could feel a bubbling anger inside him, each second he remained exposed to this atmosphere, the more biter he felt. All he wanted was to draw his sword and start repaying them in kind. He had to stay calm, or try to, he has never been in a life or death battle before, one mistake and he would disappear and be forgotten. "Kinda scary isn't it?" Seylian asked as he crouched down behind a tree, looking back at his friend. "Yeah..." The white feline said as he moved behind the tree adjacent to the grey male. "Now we play the waiting game." Seylian said a she looked out at the next sentry.

"The Black Death, and even Shadow Legion are with them, I am sure they will be fine, we are not to intervene unless they call for backup." Tigra said as she looked out over the landscape beneath her warship. "Yes mam, but they informed us that there have been Carnice beyond the border, likely during the time we spent out briefing them. If we move out of position again, an invasion could get by. Sending me out now would eliminate the need of us moving, or having to wait till they need help therefore less risk of anyone losing their lives." The voice came from a robed, armored figure, the enigmatic "Wind Demon" whose real name is not known, nor is his face, though many women have claimed to have seen what lies beyond his armor, all of their descriptions have been less than similar, leading to having many people simply dismiss them as rumor. He and Manus were considered rivals, mostly by the different fans of the two, mostly the women.An unofficial military assassin under General Tigra who jokingly refers to him as her personal Grim Reaper. "Alright Demon, we won't need you here unless things go terribly wrong, just be careful out there." With that, the armored figure nodded, before turning to walk to the edge of the ship. "Worry not, the wind is always at my side." He said before a gust swarmed over the deck of the ship, lifting him up into the air and carrying him away.
 
Celest watched quietly as Manis waged an inner battle within herself. She sighed and turned her attention towards the enemy, catching a glimpse of the other two newbies and nodding at their position. She checked on her uncle quickly, and then moved on, slipping through the shadows like water through fingers. Her eyes strayed to the enemy sidelines, and checked on how far out the team was.

The battle was swift, and she was happy they didn't seem to need her help, although she saw some areas where they would need guidance from either her uncle or others. She sighed again, and turned back to check on Manus, and then winking at him, moved through the shadows as smoothly as he had taught her how to do. Most didn't learn how to do what she had so quickly. Then again, Manus had been a very good teacher, and while they might have spent some time between the sheets, they had also spent a long time training and helping the other learn how to be better killers.
 
Sickening, suddenly all the guilt Menis had felt for taking the lives of these men was turning into a fury he had never known before. Gritting his teeth, he began to stand slowly, emerald eyes scanning the base. He saw a cluster of some where bigger than others, especially those in the center. Strewn out between those tents where bandits celebrating with drink, women being held down and raped, or the bodies of the ones they were tired of. "Menis?" Melorn whispered, but all he could hear was a growl like breathing sound as the boy drew two arrows from his quiver. Placing them on his bowstring, the black feline pulled them back.Closing his eyes, he began to focus his anger, pouring it into the arrows. He had infused his projectiles with magic in the past, but never before had he been this furious. The results became very clear as those arrows began to burn brightly, illuminating the air around them. "Menis..." Melorn said again but Menis only released his arrows. Thew flew through the air like howling comets, if the deafening sound was not enough to kill the stealth in their attack, the resulting explosions that shook the forest would.

"What the fu-" Selian called out as he saw the arrows, but was cut off when he and Thyverian where knocked to the ground by the quake. Bright silver lights burning their vision as screams filled the air. It was not long before bandits came rushing out at them. Some were burning, some were naked, some where both, all had weapons. "This is not good." Thyverian said as he and his friend lifted their weapons. They were clearly outnumbered, unlikely that they could handle all these alone.
 
"Dear lord, he jumped the gun..." Cylesta said, turning to look at Manus. She made no move, but suddenly she was dressed completely differently, in pure silver armor, her lower face covered by a silver scarf. Her eye winked at him as she let her cyborg eye change colors, the color within signaling that death would follow her movements.

"See you after..." She stated, before disappearing from view, entering the world in an explosion of gas. It covered the ground under her, and she met the eyes of one of the enemy, one who had been alerted by the arrows. His eyes widened, and he screamed her name, the name that most knew. She smirked, hidden under the scarf, and winked at him before pretending to blow him a kiss. He back-pedaled, and an arrow slid through his head, causing him to freeze, before falling to the ground, dead.

Cylesta slid through the shadows, slipping in and out while she used her knives to slit throats, coating her silver armor in splashes of red. Near the middle of the camp she stopped and checked to see where her team was. Once she realized they were far enough away, she created a purple ball of magic, and then dropped it, jumping up as the purple gas began to eat anything alive, the screams of those it touched causing others to turn in fear. She landed in the middle of the cloud, crouching as her tail twitched behind her. She watched the cloud expand and then tilted her head as she waited for it to nearly reach her team before she called it back to her. It swamped her, and she disappeared from view, covered in the purple gas.

Cylesta waited until the right moment, before causing the gas to dissipate, and revealed just what she had become. Flesh hung from a ghastly skeleton, held together by sinew and tendons. She smirked with half a face, as the warriors who were planning on rushing her faltered, leaving them easy targets for the rest of her team.
 
"Menis..." Manus uttered as he watched the destruction, he didnt jump the gun, he swapped it out for the fucking cannon. Part of him was impressed with his yougner brother's destructive prowess, but most of him was worried for hos Menis must feel to have lost it like this. He was so distracted by his concern he did not get to enjoy Cylesta's display, pondering if he should break the rules a bit and intervene himself.

On the ground, THyverian and Seylian where prepared, or hoped they were as the saw a horde of bandits rush to them. A few loud craks filled the air, coming from Melorn's gunnery, dropping the first few on comers. Just as the two younger males bit back their fear and started to charge, Cylesta appeared. The two boys watched as she cut down the enemies with ease, "Damn." Seylian commented as he eased up his stance.

Then she released her gas, killing many foes with the toxin, just as Thyverian was about to call out to her,concerned for her health, she reappeared. This time she was dripping with her own flesh, this made both of the boys nearly vomit from the sight. "When I thought I might want to see her naked, this is not what I meant." Seylian said as he was forced to look away if only to save his dying fantasy of the female.

Then, they came, some enemies Cylesta missed. Three of them, two men decked out in full platemail, and one female in black leather. The large males were both of a bengle pattern, one with red eyes and other with green. Neither had a mane, one hefted a large sword, and the other a monsterous axe. The female was smaller, more lithe, and covered with blackspots decorating her snow white fur. Long silver hair flailing as she moved, purple eyes picking out from under the haze. A flurry of cracks once more from Melorn's position, the axe weilding tiger would take the hits, his armor softening the blows and only forcing him to a knee as the others moved on.

The green eyes male, who wielded the sword, went straight for Thyverian, that large blade, longer than the smaller male's lifted up high, gleaming in the sunlight, for only a moment before rushing down at the redhead. Narrowly, the white male evades as the ground where he stood shatters under the wake of the blade as it came crashing down. Twisting his body, Thyverian attempts to counter attack, but the female catches his bastard sword with her own scimitar. Before Thy can react, she takes his legs out from under him, sending him crashing down with a thud. As she moves to bring her blade on Thyverian, Seylian interferes, rushing at the female, and planting his armored gantlet into her rather pretty face, she lets out a cry of pain as she staggers back, holding onto her marred face, a rather unpleasant growl coming from her as she leers at the male that it her.

Seylian stares down the angry female before hearing the wing howl, soon he realized the male was bringing his weapon to bear, a quick move allows him to narrowing avoid being cleaved in half. The female rushes as him as he ducks, but is intercepted by Thyverian, who throws his body into hers. The force causes her to drop her weapon as she barely managed to stay on her feet. Yowling in fury, she attacks the male with her claws, her first attacks are so fast, she disarms the male and scratches his face. Thyverian managed to recover and start matching her blow for blow, with each taking a cut here and there. The male proves to be more durable, as the female flinches from a slice to her chin. Seeing his chance, Thyverian rushes at her, peppering her with a few hard shots to her gut and face, stunning her for one good heavy handed strike that would send her onto her back. Quickly he lifts his sword and moves to finish her, but she throws up her hand sin surrender, "No Please!" She cries out in a helpless tone. As their eyes meet, she offers him a rather pathetic gaze. Despite his better judgment, the male takes pitty on her,lowering his weapon.

Seylian was not faring quite as well, still on the defensive, evading the large male's thundering attacks, having what counter attacks he does score deflected by his heavy plates. Unknown to Seylian the other large male moving toward him, slowly, his wounds apparently paining him. No overwatch for them this time, as Melorn is busying fighting a group of enemies that are rushing at Menis.

Playing on his heartstrings worked, as his gaze softened, the female grins, rushing up to him, her claws aimed for his throat. Too late, Thyverian realizes his mistake, he has not time to stop her, clenching his eyes, expecting death's embrace, but nothing happens. Celest eyes opening slowly, he sees the female before him, a pained, surprised look on her face. Looking down, he sees why, a black chain, crafted of pure shadow has impaled her stomach. Suddenly she is jerked down, screaming out as she is swallowed by her own shadow. Shortly after a portal opens behind Thyverian, Manus steps out, his black armor drenched in blood, likely the woman's Quickly he extends his arms toward the greatsword wielding male a pair of his black chains rush from his wrists, spiraling toward the large man and impaling him. A loud cry echoes from the tiger as he staggers. Menis quickly jerks his arms as if he were cracking a pair of whips, the chains flaring up and vanishing, like a fuse on a bomb, the flares rushed toward the tiger, upon reaching him, the flares would detonate, shattering his innards in a grisly display that splattered more than a little blood on Seylian.

"Manus?" Thyverian asked as he turned to approach him, leaving Seylian to evade the wounded axe wielder. Grabbing the younger male by his armor and pulling him to meet his face. "What the hell was that!?" He demanded as Thyverian began to speak frantically. "She was a helpless woman, how am I supposed to-" Interupting him, Manus give shim a firm headbutt. "She was not helpless, she was playing on your stupidity. Get this through your head, enemies are enemies, unless otehrwise ordered we KILL enemies, wedo not ahve the luxury of discriminating man, woman, child, we kill them all!" Those words obviously disturb the younger male as he offers Manus a look of protest. "Thats absurd!" Pushing Thyverian away, Manus shakes his head. "No, thats how it is, and this is also how it is." He says before removing his mask and placing his face right back into Thyverian's "The next time you hesitate like that, it could cost you your life... or..." He says before his crimson eyes drift toward Seylain, who has just defeated the weakened axe wielder, pulling his sword from his chest. "The lives of your friends." With that, Manus replaces his mask and vanishes into the shadows, braking his orders to save the inexperienced male, and give him a harsh lesson, a piece of wisdom that many have lost their lives due to not knowing.
 
Cylesta heard them and grinned to herself, an evil smirk on her face as she rushed through the enemies. Her skeletal remains had most of her enemies running from her in fear, hardened warriors falling under the greatest weakness. She laughed, a cruel sound renting the air as she brought her daggers down on those close enough to her.

She was on the other edge of the battlefield when she heard the commotion between Thyverian and Manus. She turned her head for a moment to look at them, and then rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to the fight in front of her. Finally one of the soldiers had gotten his courage back, and instead of fleeing from her, met her in battle. She grinned and nodded to him. He at least had a semblance of honor, instead of running for his life like his compatriots. She smirked and met his giant war hammer with crossed daggers, the blow causing both of them to vibrate from the force of it. He started at her crossed daggers, shocked that they could stop his hammer without damage, but retained his thoughts to himself and went back on the offensive. She dodged his next blow and brought the handle of her dagger slamming into the side of his head. He growled at her, and she growled back, bloodlust shining in her eyes. He smirked and rushed her, shaking his head to rid himself of the head blow. She sidestepped, and he turned with a surprising quickness and slammed his hammer into her side. She slid a couple feet away from the blow, and gasped for air. Her eyes met his and she raised one of her daggers above her head and spun towards him. He raised his hammer to block her first dagger, but kept his eyes on the second dagger. As such, he didn't see when she dropped her dagger, taking the blow of the hammer against her shoulder as the dagger that had been raised plunged into a weak spot against his throat. Her eyes watched as he suddenly stopped moving and dropped to the ground, hands scrabbling at the hole that was now pouring blood. She smiled and raised a hand, the purple mist growing within her palm as she pressed it against his head. He shook his head, but it was too late. The mist ate through his armor and into his skull within seconds. His piercing scream warbled out, and silence followed. She turned to see if any other would attack to find the battlefield oddly silent.
 
Thyverian stood there for a few moments as Seylian approached him, the two standing side by side quietly as they watched the female that roused both of their hormones fight and defeat an enemy. Looking over at Seylian, Thyverian attempts to kill the silence. "So, first kill huh?" He asks, the two had often talked and wondered about what it would feel like, to take a life. Offering his friend a slow nod, Seylian replies."Yeah, I guess so, not quite as satisfying as I had hoped..." Their little chat was interrupted when a handful of more bandits appeared, about five of them in total, far too many for these two to handle alone. "Split up!" Seylian calls out as he draws his longsword and runs from Thyverian, who darts off in the opposite direction. Two of them break off to chase the grey feline, as the other three chase the white male.

Seeing this, Melorn turns his attention from Menis, who has stopped firing, the excessive use of magic, far more than he has ever used before in his life has tired him out. The commander would take aim at the three running after the red head, but they quickly got out of site as Thyverian ran for the burning structures of their base. So Melorn quickly switched gears and took aim at the other two unloading his full four round clip at the lead runner. The first shot misses, kicking up a bit of dust as the second round breaks through the male's kneecap. As the target began to fall from the hit , the third round hit him in the side of his chest and the fourth went right through the side of his head. Melorn would quickly reload his gun and begin moving about the battlefield to search for Thyverian, afraid for his safety as he had three chasing after him.

Seylian turned after hearing the shots, seeing the front runner fall, no time to think as the second one quickly leaps at him. A rather heavy hammer comes down around the grey feline,who narrowly rolls away from it. The crash causes the ground to shake as Seylian gets to his feet, taking in the sight of a heavy plate clad male. Unable to make out his fur patterns or colors. The grey feline quickly readies himself as his attacker recovers from his failed attack and prepares for another. "Lay down that weapon boy, you cannot hope to stand against us, your kind is meant to be in chains, not on the battlefield." His voice was deep, powerful, almost as intimidating as that heavy mass of metal he carried with so little effort. "My kind? We are the same!" Seylian calls out, coaxing a laugh from the larger feline. "No... you are of an inferior breed, meant to serve us, in your arrogance you have tried to be our equal, only weighing us down and causing our fall from power." Being called inferior definitely bother Seylian whose look of concern turned into a focused look of anger. "Alright, lets see just how inferior I am."

Thyverian had not even drawn his sword, running in full sprint, leaping onto and off of walls, trying to lose his pursuers. He might be cocky and think he was destined for greatness, but he was not stupid and knew he lacked the experience to deal with three foes at once. However, he might have forgotten he had run into their base, and soon found himself in front of three more enemies. These three seemed to be guarding something, but they quickly abandoned whatever it was when they saw the white feline. "Hey guys I was hoping maybe we could talk ab-" Thyverian tried to talk his way out of this problem, but the three behind him quickly caught up to him. Quickly leaping onto a nearby wall, then off of the wall and onto the roof of one of the structures. He would not be alone as a female from the group got to the roof shortly after him. Covered in leather armor and wielding metallic claws extended from her gauntlets. "I don't suppose I could offer you my body? You look like you haven't had a good fuck in a long time. His words only roused a growl from the female. "Is that an angry no, or an angry yes?" Thyverian asked as she lunged at him, raking his chest with her metal blades, "Ow, shit!" He calls out grabbing her wrist and holding it up, shaking his head as he looked her over. "Again, yes? No? I'm getting some mixed signals here." She would then attack with her free arm, Thyverian would catch this one. "I swear, if it wasn't for the sex, I could be gay, you women are just so damned cryptic sometimes. Yes, and no are not hard to say!" He calls out as he notices her friends making their way onto the building. "Well, your loss sweatheart." He says before using her wrists and throwing her into the oncoming males, causing them all to tumble onto the ground below. Thyverian then starts jumping from one building to the next. "Manis is gonna kill me if he found out I was flirting on the battlefield I bet, not even sure why I did it, must be scared out of my mind." He says to himself as he looks back to see the female leading the pack of armored men as the chased him across the buildings. "Scaroused, thats it." He confirms to himself as he continues to flee.
 
Cylesta moved with a grace that caused her uncle to smirk and shake his head. She sliced through one of the males who tried to attack her, and she took a moment to clean her weapon, before looking up to see herself surrounded. She smiled sweetly, but there was a bite to her smile, as she spoke, "Hello boys... I didn't think you would be so happy to greet death, but I can most definitely introduce you."
The five who were around her, attacked simultaneously, and she danced between them, crossing her swords to block the male in front of her as he tried to slice her down the middle with his broadsword. She slid out of the way of the male who attacked her from behind, and his own sword beheaded the male in front of her, causing her to grin as blood splurted out and around her, staining her fur crimson. She laughed, and pushed one of her swords behind her, impaling the male behind her.
He fell, creating a space that she used, slipping backwards, and she slid in the blood the pooled under him, causing her to fall to one knee. The other three males thought she was easy pickings then, and they attacked together. She had to contort her body, so that the two swords would pass by her harmlessly, and the morning star one of the males was using whistled over where her head had been a moment before. She extended her arms, her twin swords within her grasp, slicing through two of the males. One of her swords stuck, and she left it as the body fell, having to quickly roll to avoid the morning star. The large spiked ball slammed into the earth next to her, and she used the dagger she still had to pin the chain to the earth, before she released her purple gas, watching it climb up the chains, and approach the male who stared at it with wide fear-filled eyes. She grinned at him as he looked up at her, his eyes meeting her haunting visage, "Better run..." The second she spoke, the gas reached his hands, and began to eat away at his flesh. He screamed, and began to shake his hands, trying to shake the gas off his flesh.
"Oops, too late." Cylesta said, before sliding her blade into his back, straight through his heart, killing him instantly. She could torture with the best of them, but his screams were drowning out the sounds of the battle.
The body slid off the end of her blade, and she walked to the other body, placing her foot against it as she pulled her other dagger out of his stomach. She shook the blades, cleaning them of blood, and let the purple gas build around her, catching her uncle's eyes with her own, and nodded.
 
Melorn did not have alot of time to admire his niece's movements, since he was making haste into the enemy encampment to help Thyverian. The Cheetan male was fast, despite the ravages of time trying to slow him down he still carried that graceful poise that their kind exemplified. As he moved, he noticed a group of the brigands had noticed him and was moving to intercept him before he could reach the base. A large male, covered in armor and toting a large axe, got in range first. A powerful, horizontal swing came to meet the older male, aimed to chop him down like he were a tree. Melorn quickly dropped down, sliding under the blade as he drew his weapons, a pistol in his left hand,and a shorsword in his right. Doing a spin as he slid along the dirt, the Cheetah would slash at a gap in the other's armor, cutting at the unprotected flesh. As the large male reeled in pain, the spotted male quickly rose up behind him, taking aim at the back of his head and firing. The shell would penetrate the helm, and tear into the bandit's skull, ending his life as he dropped to the ground.

There was no time for rest, Melorn could hear them, two others coming from behind, one closer than the other, but both were in attack range. Quickly turning, Melorn would see the first, a rather attractive Cheetan female, about the same age as Cylesta, she reminded him of his own daughter for a brief moment. What a waste, he thought, as he thought as he ducked her sword and plunged his own into her gut. ducking down under her arm he saw what must have been her brother behind her. Like a younger version of himself, the oldermale would curse at himself for what he was about to do. Melorn quickly wrapped an arm around the lifeless female's neck and vaulted her over his back and into the other male. The impact stunned the younger male long enough for Melorn to raise his gun and plant a shell in between his eyes, dropping him with his apparent sister. While he lamented the killings, he had not time to dwell on them, he took one look back at Seylain before continuing on his way to the base.

Seylain seemed fine, except that he was facing a male twice his weight, and using a weapon that was about his size. But the younger male pushed doubt from his mind, he sure did not like begin called a lesser anything. He was afraid, but he was even more so determined, but to prove this man wrong and to one-up Thyverian, or try to, he and Cylesta did kill a dragon. Gritting his teeth at that, the grey male began to focus his anger and pour it into his blade as he moved. The big guy moved fast, too fast one might think for his size, quickly and easily parrying Seylian and knocking him back with a 'gentle; tap form his hammer. As the grey male hit the ground, his foe laughed, mocking him, not even goign to take this opening and attack him, metaphorically spitting in Seylian's face. Rising up, the younger male rushed in again, only to be easily put down a second time. Speed was not doing any good, somehow this guy was able to keep up with him, Seylian needed a new plan.

An idea came to his mind, but the grey male kept it hidden from his face, he did not want this guy to know he was changing his approach.Readying himself, Seylian looked the larger man over again, planning out his attack in his head. Oh, he could feel it now, the adrenaline starting to rush though his body, he was excited, and scared, if his plan did not work who knows what might happen. If this arrogant prick got tired of playing around, it would be the end, especially if he hurt him but failed to kill him, he had to make it work. Counting down in his head, Seylian took one more glance, planned it out one more time, crouching down at he reached zero, the male rushed in again. This time, however instead of straight up blitzing his foe, Seylian jumped away before making his initial attack. It worked, the larger male made a defensive move to counter what would have been his attack. Doing a spin in mid-air, the grey male slashed at the larger's male's right arm that was holding most of the hammer's weight. As he cried out in pain, Seylian landed, using the impact of the landing as a springboard, he launched himself back at the wounded male, thrusting his sword into the other male's heart and bringing him down.

Rising up, Seylian would pull the blade from the other male before getting to his feet. "Whose inferior now!?" He called out before he started to kick dust on the corpse, not unlike how the insentient feline bury their scat. "Piece of shit!" He hissed before taking a look around the battlefield, looks like he was clear for the moment. He took this opportunity to take a breather and shaking his head. "I need a drink, and to see something naked..." She sighed before looking over at Cylesta and jumping at the disgusting sight of her tattered body. "Not that naked..."

Thyverian was getting tired, like really tired, all this running was getting to him, glancing back, he noticed his 'fans' were not letting up at all. He had no choice, he couldn't keep running like this, lifting his hand up, he took hold of his sword's hilt as he jumped to another structure. Spinning around as he landed, just in time to impale the female with his blade. The two got face to face for a moment as her life faded, A rather haunted look on both of their faces. The red head had no choice, he had to shake it off, he tossed her body aside as the next jumped to him. Thyverian managed to quickly dispatch him aswell, taking his sword hilt and pulling it aside as he stabbed him and kicked him off the building, keeping his sword as he fell. Spinning and throwing his sword at the bothers, it would hit one of the males, not in the awesome way Thyverian had hopped, the flat side of the blade smacked and it fell uselessly to the ground. "Well, that sucked..." He groaned before the others grouped up, preparing to jump at him. Thyverian would grip his sword more tightly, getting ready, unable to shake the image of that girl's dying eyes from his mind.
 
Cylesta jumped into the shadows, checking on each of the rookies before slipping out of her uncle's shadow behind him and sinking her sais into the shoulders of a male that has snuck up on her uncle. The male jumped back and she lost her grip on the sais, and followed him out of the shadow completely. He took a moment to study her and she him, as she realized the grizzled face was of an older warrior, one who had much more experience under his belt than she did. She growled at him, her eyes narrowing as she created a ball of purple gas within her palm, the light from it illuminating her skeletal face, skin and muscle. He grimaced, but then roared, pulling one of her sais out of his shoulder and throwing it at her, close range. She dodged to the left, but was not fast enough, and the sai embedded itself into her right side, just below her lung. She gasped, and threw the ball of gas, hitting him square in the chest, her particular brand of poison and acid eating away at his chestplate. She pulled her sai and attacked him, head on. He fell back on his back leg, not expecting her to attack with such ferocity. As he raised his blade to her, she slipped out of view, sinking into the shadows at his feet, and springing back up behind him, grabbing the other sai, and tearing it from his chest. He spun to face her, his blade spinning around to meet her, sinking into her injured side, almost cleaving her spine, a quick twist being the only thing that saved her.

She groaned in pain, but kept her eyes on the older male, as he focused on her only for his eyes to widen as a blade split his chest from behind, and then slowly cut him in half, sliding out of his body from between his legs. As he fell to the ground, Cylesta grinned a skeletal smile at her uncle, who roared at her to get her head in the game.
"Yessir... Not like I wasn't watching your back or anything..." Cylesta answered as she slid down into a shadow, sighing in short relief at the black inkiness around her. She took a couple moments to heal her last injury, but stopped healing as she heard Manus behind her, quickly giving her a once over, before moving on. She grinned at him, and blew him a kiss in thanks, as she slid through the shadows as well, stopping near Seylian, and sliding out behind him, crossing her sais to block another warrior's blade, as the female lunged at them.

"In the nick of time..." Her voice reached Seylian, as she pushed the female back, uncrossing her sais, and with a slight twist of her arm, followed the female's blade down to her wrist and sliced through the ligaments and tendons that had allowed the female to keep a grip on her weapon. The female growled, and then raised her right hand, in which she carried a pistol, causing Cylesta to curse, and slip down into the shadows, dragging Seylian down with her to protect him as they were still back to back.
"Dammit, I wasn't expecting the firearm. Hate those things. How you doing Seylian? Hold on Tight." Cylesta asked, keeping a grip on Seylian so he wouldn't get lost in the shadows pushing against them, sliding around them like silk. She knew it was probably the first time he had ever shadowwalked, and knew the seductive power of the shadows. She was not going to lose her uncle's new second-in-command. Plus Manus would never let her live it down if he did disappear.
"Are you ready to kick some more ass? You three are doing very well actually..." She complimented as she pulled him out of the shadows, in a clearing close to where they had lost the female.

Cylesta nodded at Seylian, and then glanced at the female, realizing she was now dead, an arrow bolt sticking through her forehead. She nudged Seylian, and motioned to the bolt, "Seems like Menis is doing his fair share."
She looked around, searching for him, and then Manus' voice near her ear made her turn, Menis coming into view. She waved goodbye to Seylian, and slid back into the shadows, coming in near Menis, making sure he was all right.
"Menis? You doing all right over here?"
 
Noone was more surprised than Melorn was when he ripped the other male in half, chalking it down to adrenaline and rage as seeing his niece hurt. As she dropped back into the darkness, he took a moment to look around the battle. Things were going pretty well, all things considered but they needed to get Thyverian back into the fold. He rushed off again to try and reach the crazy redhead.

*I can't do nothing...* Menis urged himself mentally as he pulled himself up off the ground. Hes gotta do something, his friends are fighting, he has to too! Shaking the fatigue and shock off, the black feline grits his teeth. Rising off the ground and drawing an arrow the young would be warrior rejoins the fray. Moving closer to the fray as the others pushed forward, trying to support the others with arrowfire. Killing was a bit rougher on him than he thought...

"Huh?" Seylian huffed as he turned to the sound of steel clashing steel. Seeing two women locked in combat near him... *normally* he might make a joke about them fighting over him... This however was a bit too serious of a situation... even for him. He started to bring his weapon up up as she pulled him down into the darkness. Looking around, he saw the twisting mass that was the shadowrealm. "So.. this is where you hang out?... could use some decorating." He said before looking over at her skeletal form, "Been better." He says as he reluctantly grips her body... "Easier said than done.. why do you... you know... strip down to fight?" He said as he shuddered at the strange feeling from this strange place, forcing a small smile as she complimented them. "Surprised we are still alive, feels like there are more of them than the reports suggested... think we shoulda brought more." He said right before they came out of the darkness. Jumping off of Cylesta, Seylian would draw his sword and glance around for the gunner, before getting a nudge and spotting her corpse. "Yeah." He said before she left again, leaving him all by his lonesome. Rolling his left shoulder, the grey male shook his head, that place was weird for sure... Trying to shake that off, Seylian went back to work...

Menis almost jumped out of his skin when Cylestaa's skeletal form came out of the darkness by him. "Ahh! A demon!" He cried, pulling his bow in her direction, however her voice gave him pause. "M-miss Cylesta...? What h-happened to you?" He asked as a rather concerned and apologetic look came over his face.

With the immediate threats dealt with, Thyverian took a moment to look around. He started to feel like they were in over their heads, his thoughts however were cut off when he heard... *something* that did not quite sound like the roar of battle. Curiosity getting the better of him as he follow the sound deeper into the bandit camp. As he moved closer he could make the noise out a bit better, people were talking... in a language he did not quite understand. Turning the corner of one of the buildings he saw several cages, inside these cages were women... Carnice women. Likely survivors that that battle they stumbled upon earlier. Most of them were naked, some had torn reminders of what they were once wearing... there was little doubt what had been going on before the attack.

As Thyverian approached the prisoners, one of them noticed him and began to panic, terrified to see a feline male approaching them and with good reason he figure. He raised him hands to try and appear nonethreatening as he spoke. "I'm not here to hurt you.." He said as his mind trailed back to what Manus said... he *should* be here to hurt them... if he recalled their orders were to kill any Carnice they came across... He began to look very... conflicted and the fact that this woman clearly did not understand him, nor he her was not helping... Now with more of them noticing him there was more panic. Until finally, once voice began hushing the others down, Thyverian looked over to see a grey vulpine woman getting control of the situation by the looks of things, she must have been some kind of leader. Finally, the panic started to calm and she looked over at him, her silver eyes met his celeste eyes pleadingly "I know you are not one of... them. Please, get us out of here, don't leave us here!"
 
"A little of this and that. Don't let the gas touch you, and you won't end up like me, kay Menis?" Cylesta answered as she took a deep breath. She then winked at Menis and said, "Plus, it adds aa little intimidation to the mix. Most greenhorns run from me instead of facing me like they should."
As she spoke, her muscles bunched against her bones, and since she had a bit more time and leeway, speaking with him, started healing across her cheek, slowly closing over her jawbone. She grimaced at the feeling of muscle and sinew regrowing, and very nearly scratched at her chin, stopping herself by sheer force of will. She nodded towards Menis then motioned behind him as she noticed a couple males coming their way, "Heads up Menis. I've got to check on Thyverian." With that said she winked at him and slid past him towards her uncle, who motioned her ahead towards Thyverian. She nodded at him while slicing across a grey female's cheek, causing the other female to turn towards her, where she would meet Cylesta's other sai straight through her eye. She stopped moving, jaw going slack, as the light faded from her good eye, and then her body dropped to the ground. Cylesta dropped a small ball of gas down on top of the dead body, watching it get eaten away before looking back up after her uncle. He had gotten closer to Thyverian than she had in the moments it had taken her kill the female, and she smirked, shaking her head. She took a quick moment to look around for Seylian, grinning as she watched him take out another couple of males, and then made her move.

Disappearing back into the shadow realm, she slid past Manus who was watching her uncle. She looked around them and realized that the sounds of battle were actually dying down, now that the enemy was being killed off left and right. Seemed her uncle had made the right decision in choosing these three. She was glad that it was going well, as she would have hated having to rescue her uncle from the midst of this battle, especially not after he had put his trust into the three younger males. She grinned at Manus and then slipped out, near a quiet spot, heading towards Thyverian. Her uncle was close behind as well, although now she had taken the lead as she had come through shadows that were closer to Thyverian than her uncle had been. She jogged up to him, keeping an eye on the cages in front of him. She wasn't sure what his next actions would be, would he actually kill them, defenseless as they were? She could easily destroy the Carnice females where they stood, although her own spine was twinging with her conscience. She took a deep breath and approached him, placing her hand on his shoulder from behind while speaking softly to him, so that only he could hear her, "I can take care of this for you, if you can't do it. I'll make it quick and painless, they will literally fall asleep..."
She waited for his answer, as her own eyes looked over the females that had been abused, and felt her spine twinge again, her tail twitching agitatedly against her legs. She could hear her Uncle close by as well, and knew that it wouldn't be long before everyone else converged on their location. Manus was of course watching from the shadow realm.
 
"Uhhh... a-alright.." Menis stammered a bit as he pondered the horrible fate for a moment before she alerted him to the incoming enemies. Turning around, the black feline pulled two more arrows from his quiver before nocking them before taking aim. Firing one arrow into the chest of the first enemy, before turning his weapon on the next and letting lose. The second foe managed to avoid the shot as his ally fell low and rushed after the archer. Menis panicked for a moment, before tossing his bow at the incoming attacker. This managed to make his enemy stop for a moment as he was taken by surprise and panic blocked the weapon.
Menis used this time to draw his shortsword and tried to stab the larger feline, but his shaky hands made it rather easy to deflect the blow and disarm him. The larger cheetan male took a swing as the unarmed Menis, who managed to duck it before diving for his weapon. Striking again, Menis misjudged his weapon's length and missed completely, he was rewarded with a hard elbow to the face which knocked him to the ground. Dazed. the young feline could barely even see his foe about to strike him down, let alone prevent it.

As the cheetan went in for the killing stab with his sword, he found it suddenly jerked from his hands by a shadowy chain. He was barely able to turn and see his would be victim's older brother before a pair of wrist blades penetrated his left forearm. Letting out a pained scream, the cheetan tried to grab onto Manus's breastplate. The Shadowborne would sidestep this attempt before grabbing onto the cheetan's impaled wrist and ripping his blades from his foe's arm, leaving only a slab of flesh connecting his forearm to the rest of him. Menis would get to his feet as his older brother ripped the aforementioned forearm off and tossed it away. Screaming in pain, the wounded cheetan would be unable to stop Manus from grasping on his neck with both hands. Desperately, the dying man would try to push his attacker away, but Manus was stronger, and had use of both arms. He could only stare helplessly into the shimmering ruby eyes staring back at him from within the dark helm of Manus before... CRACK! His neck was crushed, leaving him paralyzed and utterly helpless as Manus let him fall pathetically onto the ground.
"I will leave you here to reflect on your folly."
Manus uttered to the fallen cheetan, who was still alive... just unable to act as he would slowly bleed to death. Looking back over at his little brother, Manus would sigh. "We need to work on your close quarters combat." Menis' ears would droop as his eyes fell on the ground, not sure what to say... He would suddenly be jerked out of this state when his bow was pushed into his midsection. "Go, link up with Seylian, he can watch your back, and you his." The older brother said before a portal of shadow formed behind him, which he stepped through.

Melorn would climb up on one of the structures to try and get a read on the situation. Things were looking up, and for a moment he let himself relax a bit as it seemed they were winning. That is, until he turned around to check on Seylian and Menis... his heart would sink then. Beyond his two young warriors he saw a mass of figures in the distance. From their shapes, he knew it was more of the larger catfolk headed their way... and among them he saw a few even larger figures. Until now they had been fighting the smaller breeds of the larger felines... these figures suggested there were some Leonkin, and Tigorian warriors headed their way... the second and third largest variants of the Rastrez catfolk. This was dire news indeed... though atleast there did not appear to be any Ligeon fighters headed their way... for now atleast. Their slow pace suggested they were not yet aware of the fighting, likely returning from a mission of some kind... so they had time to regroup and maybe... just maybe these warriors were fatigued... like them.

Thyverian had no idea what to make of Cylesta's suggestion, he gave her a bit of a desperate look before glancing back at the vulpine woman. Shaking his head, he drew his weapon, this caused the grey female to tense up a bit. Looking up at her with a rueful look he spoke. "I... have orders to.. kill any Carnice invaders..." He did not sound like he was committed to these orders right now. "No! We are not invaders! We came to seek an audience with your ruling council before these monsters ambushed us! If the Carnice wanted to invade they would not send so few of us! Please... just remove this damn collar and I can take care of the rest!" She pleaded, lifting her neck to show an enchanted collar on her neck... with her hands bound behind her back, and having a cage all to herself it was clear she could not remove it herself.

Thyverian sighed, looking back at Cylesta for a moment, then back up at the fox woman. Shaking his head and looking at the ground he uttered. "For all I know you are lying..." Slowly, he lifted his gaze back to her, the way he looked at her definitely caused her to be concerned. "I... know what I have to do..." He said dispassionately as he tossed his sword up, it turned over in the air and he caught it by the blade. Gripping his weapon in a morduah grip before he started hammering away at her cage's lock. It took a few good hits before the lock fell off. The white feline would drop his weapon, watching the vulpine. "Well, come on. I haven't got all night." Not entirely certain of this, the grey fox carefully exited the cage and stood infront of the redhead. With her this close, and nude, it was quite the task for Thyverian to stay focused, as she was certainly easy on the eyes. Became even more difficult when he reached around her neck to try and undo the collar, they just kinda akwardly stared at eachother's eyes for what felt like forever before he finally got the thing off.

It was not long after the collar fell off of his that the bindings on her arms snapped and fell to the ground as well. "Thank you... I owe you my life, and the lives of the others.." She said as she started rubbing her wrists. A veil of smoke began to obscure her naked form. "I can get the others out now..." Thyverian would give her a nod before stepping back. "Thats for the best, try to get out of here as quickly as you can..." He saaid looking back at Cylesta. "I don't know who here would let you leave if they found you."
 
Cylesta looked over at the vulpine female, and sighed. If what she said was true, then Uncle Melorn might change their mission to escorting them to the ruling council. Either way, she wasn't going to save Thyverian's ass when it came time to telling Melorn that he had made an executive decision. She smirked at the female, and pullled a large pack from the shadow pocket she usually kept stuff in. "There isn't much, but it should have enough clothes to at least cover your skin until you can find more provisions." She threw it to the vulpine female, signaling her, if not approval, her support. She looked around at the other cages, and quickly went to work, a small ball of gas dissolving the locks easily.

She looked over at Thyverian, and was about to echo his sentiments on moving quickly but it was too late, as Melorn approached them, hissing in disbelief. Cylesta glanced at her uncle before saying to Thyverian under her breath, "Out of the frying pan and into the fire. I hope you have a good excuse as to why you disobeyed his direct orders."

It would turn out that their conversation was cut short, as she battle cry went up, as the approaching horde had finally found the first of the fallen brethren. Cylesta turned wide eyes towards Melorn, before disappearing into shadows, back to battle it seemed.

She swooped through the shadows, appearing and disappearing between the warriors, attacking at weak points, and leaving globs of her gas behind, that would multiply and continue to spread, albeit slowly, among the masses. She had an idea, that would most likely work, but if it did, would also be a last ditch effort, as it left her body almost dead, and healing took a long time, unless she took the strength from others during sex. Uncle Melorn had never seen her do it, and she hoped he would never have to, but she recognized some of the warriors that were now advancing on the camp. While it was her decision, she slipped through shadows, searching for Manus, her eyes glowing as the gas began to build in her hands, even in the shadow realm.
 
"Damnit Thyverian!..." Melowrn growls as the red headed feline jumps into defensive mode. Instinctively drawing his weapon as the former slaves start to scramble for safety. "I couldn't, I won't/" The younger male says as the older Cheetan growls again. "Damnit, we don't have time for this! Come on, we have bigger problems to worry about!" The older feline says before stomping off, leaving the young THyverian to stand there in confusion.
"COME ON THYVERIAN!" Merlorn shouts, causing the younger catfolk to jump slightly before following after his commander.
"Whats happening?"
"We have company, big company. We all need to group up and try to find a defensable spot, lets go!"
With that, Melorn takes off running toward the others and Thyverian quickly follows.

As they close in on the rest of their little squad, Melorn starts throwing out orders. Sending Menis and Thyverian to find a good building for them to hunker down in, while he and Seylian salvage and materials they can to make a quick barricade. It would not take long for the elite soldiers to deploy and attack once they became aware of the situation, so they had to move quickly.

Cylesta would feel a hand grasp onto one of her forarms as she moved through the shadows. Manus having caught up to her as she began setting her trap. "Looks like things are heating up a bit faster than we hoped. I'm going to go make sure the rookies do not die, I need you to see if you can get eyes on their leader. If he is here, we need to take him out and hope that sends their other armies into disarray so we can pick them off before they become a real threat." Manus started to leave, but then paused a moment. "I trust you have studied up on what the man should look like, if you see him, do not try to engage him alone. I would rather not have to bury you tonight." Witht hat, Manus moved away from her, shifting toward the others as they prepared to make their stand in what must have been the main head quarters near the center of the base.
 
Cylesta turned towards who had grabbed on to her, almost blasting Manus before she recognized him and grinned at him, "We like it hot, go and take care of the rookies. I'll try to get eyes on him, but I make no promises."
She scoffed as he turned back to her, and asked her if she would be able to recognize him. She was top of her class, back when she had studied hard to gain the status she now enjoyed. She softened slightly, as Manus continued, and nodded, a serious look in her eye. She knew she would probably be no match for him, and especially if she carried out her move, she would hardly be a threat to anyone afterwards.

A nod and she watched Manus move away. She sank into deep shadows, and made her way into the middle of the horde, her eyes searching each face that passed her. Moving within the shadows, she remained unseen, as she passed within the enemy horde. As she stayed within the shadows, she swallowed as much of her poisonous gas as she could, slightly sneering at the taste of it. It slid down her throat, and built, growing within her. Her eyes caught on a large form, and they widened in horror. How was she going to pull this off? If she stepped back into the shadows after imploding, only Manus would be able to keep her out of the seductive reach of the shadows, and if she stayed corporeal, she would be attacked and killed.

Decisions, decisions.

Mind made up, Cylesta closed her eyes and sent a silent cry of alarm and panic to her uncle, and his rookies, to Manus, and hoped it would reach them. Her message sent a clear image of the Leonkin, and then she cut it abruptly, as she stepped into view from the shadows, a ghostly grin on her face, as her eyes caught on the commander.
He roared a challenge, as those around her pulled closer to her, unknowingly putting themselves within the lion's den. She waited as they converged around her, and as three caught her arms and struck her knees from behind, causing her to fall into the muck around them, she took a deep breath, and roared her own challenge back, before her body imploded into a dark purple light and set the gas that had grown within her free.

Silence.

Pandemonium.

The gas lit up her corpse, bones held together by sinew, and muscles drawn tight, skin eaten away as the gas travelled down her arms and engulfed the two holding her arms. Their screams were cut short, and those closest to them did not have time to scream before they too were engulfed within the cloud. The cloud spread quickly, thinning out the horde, and creating havoc among those unlucky enough to live. Visibility went down to about three feet, and the gas slowly snaked around the survivors, leaving not a single one unharmed. She hoped it would be enough, and slowly, lost touch with herself, sinking down into the shadows halfway, staying close enough to the surface that some of the horde left alive tripped over her, and caused them to fall into the dark shadows, lost within seconds inside the inky seductive draw. She kept her eyes open, pain pulling her towards unconsciousness, waiting. Hoping Manus would find her soon and pull her out.
 
"Hurry we have to secure the doors! Menis, go up top and use that MagCom to call Tigra into battle!"
Melorn roared to his subordinates as he worked with Thyverian and Seylian to fortify the main door tot he headquaters. Menis quickly ran upstars to reach the roof to try and contact the battleship for aid. As the other three men worked on the door, Manus stepped out of the darkness. Taking a moment to get a read on what they were doing, the dark feline waved his hand at them, creating shadowy reinforcements to their barricade.
"Are you calling in reinforcements?" Manus asked,
"Yeah, Menis is working on it now, where is Cylesta?" Melorn responded.
"I sent her to confirm the status of the target." Manus said as he secured more of the barricade.
"Wait, what target?" Melorn asked as he turned his gaze to the shadowshifter, before Manus could respond they felt Cylesta's panic.
"What was that?" Thyverian asked as he grabbed his skull.
"Shes in trouble!" Melorn yelled, "Manus go ge-" The cheetan male started, only to see that the black feline had already left. Shaking his head, Melorn would try to control his frustration at apparently being left out of the loop. "Get ready, they will be coming for us." He growled, waving his hand at the other men as he continued to stew in his frustration.

Cylesta's attack had worked, more than a few of the new warriors had been melted, or worse by her gas attack. However, this seemed to leave her helpless, and not very far away from the aforementioned target. The rather massive Leonkin male that now stood over her motionless body. "What a waste of perfectly good Rastrox blood, shame you have chosen your allegiances poorly." He spoke, his voice carrying a tinge of regret in it as he drew one of his swords. "It always pains me to kill one of my own, but you have gone out of your way to earn this." As he spoke, a shadowy chain would fly out of the darkness and wrap around the female's exposed body, quickly pulling her into the darkness. Before long, her skeletal form would be in the arms of Manus. "You damn fool." He growls as he takes her to an area outside of the battlezone, setting her on the ground and getting a good look at her. "I hope you can regenerate yourself, otherwise you will have to sit this whole thing out." He says, trying to hide the concern he felt as he stood up, watching, and waiting for her to have some kinda snarky comeback.


The large Leonkin was less than pleased that Cylesta had been pulled away before he could finish her. Growling he turned his attention to more pressing matters. "Drelak! Get out there and rally whoever is left and find Rayin, I want to know why my fortress is in disarray!" As he spoke, he turned his firey eyes over to a Tigarion male on his right flank. Typically Tigarions were larger than Leonkin, but this seemed to be the exception, even thill this man was rather larger, covered in this armor and wielding what appeared to be a dire flail. "Yes sir." He says plainly before rushing ahead, shouting orders to the disorganized warriors and trying to rally them.
"My lord!"
A voice behind the lion calls, pulling the large male's attention to a smaller feline who was pointing in the distance. Following this gesture, the commander would see the visage of an airship heading in their direction. "Hellcat!" He shouts, and as if on cue, a burst of magical energy pops on his flank, leaving the silhouette of a feline female, likely another leonkin base don the shape of her tail, but her face was obscured. "You called big guy?" She asked, following his gaze to the coming ship. "I don't know whose ship that is, but I want it on the ground." He commands, and just as she arrived, she leaves in a magical 'pop'.
"Everyone else, fall in line, we are taking back out fortress!"
 
Cylesta felt Manus' chain yank her away from the large blade that the Leonkin wielded, as it came down over her skeletal remains. As she felt Manus' presence, and then his arms, wrap around her, she sighed in relief. Safe and sound for right now. A wheezing laugh escaped her, as he took her in and spoke. Once she had been set down, she grinned, the muscles in her cheeks exposing bone, and answered, "It worked though." She took a deep breath, and sat up, leaving sinew and flesh behind her on the ground.
"I will be all right. Just need a couple minutes out of the limelight to get the right pieces of my body into working order, and we can go back out there. But, there is a second part to my plan..." She winked at Manus, and then closed her eyes to concentrate, as Manus looked at her in confusion. He had seen this move before, wasn't that the end of it?

When her eyes opened, they weren't her normal icy blue color. The mechanical eye whirled and clicked, pitch black, like staring into the abyss. The other eye was a bright neon green, glowing as she blew out a gentle breath.

From between the horde, those who had died from the poisonous gases were beginning to swell and rise up into the air, just like the balloons that lifted some of the airships. She slowly stood, and with a single word, released a nightmare on the horde that remained.
"Pop."
At her word, each of the dead did indeed pop, releasing more of her gas onto the battlefield, covering the area in death. Those unlucky to be in the vicinity began to scream, as the gas ate away at their armor and skin, and killing even more of them.

By now only a handful were left to fall back in line, which seemed to anger the Leonkin even more, knowing that a single female had cut his significant army down into less than a half remaining.

She grinned as her eye slowly melted into the icy blue that Manus knew so well.
"How's that for a party trick? Think they can handle what's coming?"
 
"You really like gas, which would be fine if you did not have such a love of melting your flesh. I like it when you strip and all but... there are limits."
Manus says, masking that fact that she had impressed him with her results, cannot let her get too big of a head now. He watched as their target, the leader managed to avoid her attack, and even protect those around him with what seemed to be a barrier.
"No, I do not. Fortunately they have us, and Menis is calling in reinforcements so I think we can manage."

Tigra watched from the deck of the warship, arms crossed over her plated chest as she waited for them to get in drop range. Her ears would tilt back as she heard footsteps approaching her, glancing back she would see an armored figure behind her. Based on the size and stature it was likely a male, or a very masculine female, nothing of their nature showed, even the long feline taile was wrapped and covered with armor pieces.
"All of your soldiers stand ready for deployment general, Admiral Karnath says we should be in range in a matter of minuets." A deep, smooth voice came from the faceplate of the armored warrior. Tigra would nod to them before turning her gaze back to the battle in the distance. "Very good Demon, I suppose you want to go ahead?" At this, the armored figure would move to stand at the side of the general, looking out on the horizon. "What I want is irrelevant general, you are paying me so... what would you have your demon do?" The Tigarion female would ponder for a moment before giving him a nod. "Go ahead, the Ro'Kha have sent some newbies on their mission, no telling how bad things will get before we arrive." The helm of the 'demon' would tilt at that, "They sent greenhorns on such an important mission? Pretty reckless."
"I agree, but they seem convinced that they have some real special recruits, be sure to tell me what you think of them when I get there." Tigra says, her eyes moving over to armored creature beside her.
"As you wish general." The 'demon' would reply before stepping off the bow of the ship and freefalling off the side. After he fell several hundred feet he seemed to just... start flying in the direction of the battle at a much faster pace than the battleship.

"That damn shifter whore." The Leonkin growled as the barrier held off the gas around them, luckily it did not seem to spread too far, so with some luck he would still have an army when this was done. "Fr'Yet!" He called, and suddenly a jaguri head poked out of his shadow. "We have atleast two of your ilk harassing us, take your shadowshifters and keep them out of our hair!" Wordlessly, the head would sink back down into the darkness as the commander and those lucky enough to be close to him waited out the gas.

"Looks like Cylesta is buying us some time." Melorn said, as the plumes of smoke became visible in the distance. "Don't waste it, set and and every kind of trap you can think of! They will get inside, and we have to take as many down as we can!" He shouted as he and the other males began scrambling to find anything that could be used to hurt someone and tried to find ways to use it on their soon to be attackers.


Just as it seemed that the gas had done all the damage it could do, with the survivors creating distance from it, and letting it float into the air the winds would suddenly change. The gas was being urged back toward the surface and pushed across the battlefield. Scores more of the outlaw soldiers would be caught in it and melted away by it. A chorus of screams rising as they began to flee again, magi desperately trying to dispel the seemingly alive gas. Though to those who were not running from it, and possessing a keen eye would see someone floating over the battlefield. Their hands moving in a way that seemed to be directing the gas as it rampaged across the battlefield.
 
Cylesta grinned as the screams rose in frequency. She always loved hearing her handiwork survive so well. "Manus, any way I can steal a kiss? It might help with..." With a sudden burst of shadow, she was pulled away from Manus, hurtling down into the depths of shadow realm as she fought against the silkiness that now betrayed her. This was bad, really bad, and her battered body was attacked by a large male, pinning her down. She grimaced at him and saw the glint of a smirk in his eyes, as he purred a sarcastic hello at her.
A growl ripped from her throat, and she attacked back, causing the large male above her to fall back at her ferocity. A savage grin ripped her still healing face apart, and she drove her clawed hand into the male's throat, ripping through vocal cords and his arteries with ease. the light faded from his eyes, and she sank deeper into the shadows, collecting herself and her energy around, content to wait out the rest of the battle within.

Eyes closing, she sighed, and felt her stretched energy thin even more as her muscles began to heal around her bones, tendons snapping back into position with a twang that echoed around her. As she took another breath, a deeper shadow reared it's head towards her, and her eye sprang open in shock as a metal fist drove itself into her midsection. It knocked the air out of her lungs and she narrowed her eye at the male in front of her. Tail twitching, she jumped away from him as he lifted his fist to hit her again, and pulled her blade from it's sheath, hunkering her small feminine form down to attack.
 
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