Battle for Ethyos Port...?!

[kopikatsu]

A lone ship was drifting towards Ethyos' port. Normally, the only cause for concern would be that it was only a single ship coming in instead of a fleet. However, this ship's sails had been torn to shreds and it seemed as though there were people sprawled all over the deck..but they were motionless. This could be written off as a trick of the eyes after all, the guards on duty had spent all day in the sun wearing heavy armor. Indeed, a few even cracked jokes about the Captain's terrible piloting skill when the ship smashed against the dock and bounced back into position. It wasn't until they noticed noone had come out to tie the ship to the pier did they start to get suspicious.

The group of guards on duty drew straws to decide which unlucky mother was going to have to check out the 'ghost ship'. The 'man' chosen for the job was actually a boy who'd joined the guards on his eighteenth birthday, just a few weeks past. Because of his inexperience, the boy didn't know what to expect when he boarded the ship...but whatever it was, he wasn't ready for the sight of corpses strewn all over the ship. The boy nearly gagged from the stench of it, but managed to advance forward. There seemed to be someone who was still alive propped up against the center mast, but the boy couldn't tell who it was, since the figure was wrapped in a ragged, brown cloak that covered all of their features. The boy was so enthralled by the cloaked figure, that he didn't notice a few of the 'corpses' had risen from the ground and were now drawing their weapons. The boy reached out to pull back the hem of the figure's cloak...when two pairs of strong arms grabbed him from behind, and the light faded from his world...

The guards still stationed at the docks were about to send another guard to find out what happened to the first guard when they saw him. One of the guards waved to him, but the boy didn't wave back. The guards saw the boy's slit throat moments before his body toppled over the railing into the dark blue waters. Before the two remaining guards could finish standing, they were downed by a volley of crossbow bolts.

With their roles completed, the 'corpses' had changed back into their uniforms, black trenchcoats with dark masks fitted with red goggles to hide their identities. All of them wielded either two, wavy daggers that were almost long enough to be considered swords, or a crossbow. The squad of assassin's disembarked and moved into a defensive formation before the guard's reinforcements arrived. The last person to leave the ship was the one who had been wearing the brown cloak...but the figure tossed their cloak to the side, revealing themselves to be...

Zagi Grazer
Assassin Platoon Leader

Zagi threw his head back and cackled as the first wave of Ethyos' guards rushed into the port. The assassin's armed with crossbows fired volley after volley, crushing the guards front lines. When the guards finally remembered that they had shields and advanced under protection, the assassin's tossed away their crossbows and drew daggers. Within moments, the port had erupted into a battlefield. Amidst the chaos, combatants had mostly paired off and were fighting off to the sides. Three guards rushed Zagi himself...and Zagi simply walked past them. All three guards froze in place while Zagi raised his daggers and licked the blood off the left one while snickering, "Falling Leaf." The three guards dropped in a spray of blood. Zagi continued to stand in the middle of the battle even as more reinforcements for the guards appeared. One of the assassin's that had defeated his opponent rushed to Zagi's side and suggested that they retreat for now...which earned him a dagger through the chest. Zagi shoved the assassin's body away and shouted at the sky, "Lowell...WHERE IS YURI LOWELL?!" even as the guards were pushing back his assassins and surrounding Zagi himself...

[farran]

Just outside Ethyos. Indeed not his ideal place to visit, however he had a job to be doing here, and well he was doing it. The young man was still dressed in his clothing meant for warmer weather, but he didn’t seem to mind right now, the two towns were close enough together anyways, or at least to he who travels. He brought his blade down though a monster then twisted and used it to slash a few others down and off their feet, quite a bit of blood, but no one said the job wouldn’t be messy. He took a deep breath. These were smaller monsters they didn’t take a whole lot of effort to kill, he honestly wondered if he was being over paid to do the cleaning out.

He huffed and whipped his brow with his forearm and gave a long relaxing breath. ‘well that seems to been easy enough” he silently smirked and put away his blade. All to do now was to return to the town and tell them of the good news that the monsters weren’t really an infestation, though dangerous, they were now taken care of.

Back in town he noticed a lack of guards that were at the entrance of the main road before. Well that was odd, here he wanted to spread good news, where could they have gone? He glanced around and frowned, but eventually shrugged it off, though something else was off about this whole place. Where wasn’t anyone around. “Hello?” he called out merely because dread was starting to take hold he swallowed he doubted monsters would be smart enough to attack the town while he was distracted right? However upon hearing a scream he hurried towards it direction when a few people rushed past him, yes run towards the cause, it was the smartest thing to do.

He slammed on his brakes and stood eyes wide for a moment to see some kind of strangers killing and fighting, what was all this for!? He gritted his teeth and rushed past a few other frightened people, as one of the assassins were about to cut down a woman, Farran ran and rammed the assassin with his shoulder showing them into a wall, the lady didn’t waste to much time to run away, Farran twisted and knocked the man’s feet out from under him as he was standing back up then looked back up at the rest of the righting, oh this was bad, he pulled a dagger from his belt tossed it upwards then caught it by the blade and flung it at another assassin hitting them in the shoulder not deadly blow but could have a deadly outcome of not tended to. Farran gritted his teeth and in a moment another assassin was upon him, he jumped upwards and tried to dropkick the stranger, however the assassin grabbed hold of Farran’s foot.

Wasting no time Farran brought his other leg down on the man’s other shoulder and then twisted tightly knocking the man away, he didn’t really care to take time to check and see if he was alive or not, as he landed crouching then gritted his teeth icy eyes fixed on the next, he glanced over to a few remaining guards. ‘I’m taking care of monsters still, get the women and children to safety!’ he shouted, well at least outside of the town was safe now.

[kopikatsu]

Zagi trapped the nearest guard by the throat and smashed him into the ground. He scanned the area as he rose, seeing that most of his men were either dead or dying...but then, so were most of the guards that had bothered to make an appearance. Not that it mattered, since these guards were little more than lackeys, gnats compared to the real elite troops stationed further into the city. That made the rest of the Assassin's he'd brought with him less than useless. A liability. In other words...they were targets, too. To illustrate this new mindset, Zagi cut down the nearest Assassin and tossed their corpse at an approaching guard, causing them the guard to topple to the ground.

The number of guards remaining had dwindled to essentially nothing. No doubt the higher-ups deemed the incident not worth the time to send real soldiers to clean up. Absolutely none of this went through Zagi's thick skull. It wasn't that he was stupid, quite the opposite, he was actually rather cunning. But his frustration and rage at not being able to locate Yuri Lowell, even after all this, was almost more than he could bear. The only thing that could possibly satiate his fury even slightly would be...to slay an equally powerful opponent. But did a match for THE Yuri Lowell exist? A flash of silver in the corner of Zagi's eye certainly seemed promising enough.

Zagi turned to face Farran and noted that the man was wearing heavy armor and armed with a sword...obviously, a warrior. But was he any good? Zagi sneered and slammed his daggers together, causing a small shower of sparks to rain down before getting into his battle stance, "You there....where is he?" Zagi' smirk widened into a full psychotic smile as he dashed towards his new target, "WHERE IS YURI LOWELL?"

[farran]

Farran twisted and slammed his foot into an approaching assassin, but he never was over sure of himself he liked to take things carefully, and battling another human being was one of them, he disliked killing and would never do so, so freely if he could help it, though in self defense he was a wall that would stand to most. Perhaps as his names sake he was a Iron Gray Lion, his movements were quick and fluid he wasn’t inhumanly fast however was well trained thanks to his master.

He darted around the assassin he’d just kicked and then slammed the back of his elbow into their skull knocking them out, he drew a deep breath and sighed at least some guards were gone and the people of the village getting to safety, now what was the cause of all this madness?!

As if on cue, Farran twisted around to see someone running towards him his guard shot up and he made himself aware, this man looked differently from the others so assumed he had to be the ringleader. His eyes locked on this stranger of likes he’d never seen before. The man razed a battle stance making Farran ready one as well however didn’t draw his blade yet that was slung over his back. He pushed one foot slightly back and the other slightly forwards eyes never leaving this man. The man asked him where ‘he’ was? Who was ‘he’? Farran blinked a few times however didn’t let himself be taken back by the question.

A good thing indeed because the man then ran at him with his blades! It was safe to also assume this man wasn’t completely sane, perhaps the smile proved that, though regardless he wouldn’t let him just slaughter anyone he wanted! “I do not know this person you speak of, so I don’t know where he is!” he shouted and then waited and darted to the left dropping and slamming his hand on the ground to push himself up and attempted a kick towards his back though hit or not he wasn’t going to take the chances of getting his leg cut off and quickly jumped out of reach and readied himself again eyes fixed on him still. “I don’t want to fight you, but why are you doing all of this?!”

[cassidy]

--

"Typically, riot-like trouble, so long as we do not include trouble by monsters, experienced by a town will place the blame on brigands or raiders, or in times of deep political strife, the populace and/or the military. On the sea, such trouble tends to be blamed on mutiny or, more (in)famously, pirates. This dichotomy has the wonderful displeasure of combining within the setting of the often prized port city, where all the troubles of land and sea meet, make merry, and then produce a load of naughty, illegitimate children that wreak havoc on everything from restaurant reviews to the physical infrastructure of the city itself. Thus, the wonderful 'vacation spot' becomes shrouded by darkness in the eyes of those who decide what is and isn't popular and, for a time, all is misery.

Such a terrible pattern, but one that historians write of time and time again.

But there is good news! This, like nearly everything else is cyclic. A city often needs only a pair of successful shipping seasons to reinvigorate interest in its tourism industry and, conveniently, successful shipping seasons often provide the necessary funds to create some new and unique attraction that the other port towns, safe in their mis-belief that they are permanently without one competitor, have not the imagination to pursue and produce." --- excerpt from Bridging Classroom to Practice: A Beginner's Primer for Real World Economics by A. W. Berksteiner


*clop*

She'd found the book on the simple nightstand that separated the basic twin beds in the 'guest room' on the second story of Ethyos' port side jail and, having nothing better to do, had allowed her lack of interest to be cultivated into limited interest and had begun to read. It was not that Cassidy was at all interested in economics or, to be perfectly honest, the social or economic history of any port town, even the one she was in. Instead, this oddly written book played the wonderful role of distraction and, like every other time she was in such a situation, the book had a single partner in the form of slumber.

Yet, even one so skilled at unconscious laziness as she could only sleep so much. Like the cycle mentioned in the book, Cassidy's experience in Ethyos had developed its own pattern. If she was employed by a 'townie', she was as faceless and unknown as any other 'random guard' and that meant that no one, aside from those also associated with her employer, paid her any mind. If, however, she was employed by an outside source - this was the usual and, naturally, was precisely the case this time - she always ended up here.

Where was here? As mentioned before, Cassidy had the 'luxury' of her 'cell' coming in the form of the jail's second story 'guest' room. It was a simple room, rarely used (and even more rarely cleaned, hence the thick layer of dust on the walls, furniture and windows), and poorly furnished. The two beds and the nightstand mentioned above were accompanied by an empty, six-drawer dresser, a set of eight half-burnt candles (but no source of flame by which to light them), a broken footstool, a highly abused stack of adult magazines, a rusted chamberpot, and a potted cactus. There were also two small windows looking out over the port, and these, as one might expect, were heavily barred to prevent entry and exit by a more aerial route. The door to the room was quite heavy duty and, of course, locked from the outside.

It was a strange situation. Most prisoners enjoyed their stay in the Ethyos jail in the basement. In Cassidy's case, such an experience only occurred three times. Once it was discovered that the 'warden' of the little jail was originally from Aquios and was well-aware of her 'previous life' she was moved into isolation on the second floor. The move was not for her safety; it was the punishment of isolation, a method by which to separate the possibility of sharing the misery of imprisonment with others and, thus, force the time to go by faster.

Today marked day three of 'stuck on the second floor' part four and, oddly enough, Cassidy's location was a forced issue. Not only had it become habit to contain her on the second floor on any 'foreign relations' visit, but in this particular case, the basement jail cells were overfull. She had been a part of a large caravan force, protecting an unknown shipment for an unnamed merchant on a route that took them from the frozen north of Koori to the port city of Ethyos. As per her contract, Cassidy was only a part of the 'overland' force. She'd negotiated payment and release from her contract as soon as the shipment made it to Ethyos. She had no knowledge of what the shipment was or where it was going, nor did it dawn on her that such an overland trip was highly suspicious. All she knew was that she had less than no desire to get on a ship and, making that quite plain, had resulted in her scheduled release.

Unfortunately, she did not think ahead. Instead of 'taking the money and running', she decided to do what most folks with a bit of change clinking in their pocket do upon arrival to a port town: shop. Much of the morning was spent window-shopping for dresses, hair ribbons, and stockings, and lunch was a marathon at a local seaside cafe whose name she had already forgotten. In the afternoon, she'd made her way to a booth claiming to be a 'magical emporium' and while perusing a line of supposedly 'magical' perfumes, the guards came a-calling.

Smuggling, they claimed! Illegal movement of goods from caravan on to a ship! And they just knew she was part of it, simply because many people had seen her and an investigation into the 'recent' contracts among mercenaries in town showed clearly that she had not been employed by anyone from Ethyos. The whole of the mercenary troupe she'd been a part of had been arrested and promptly put in jail. She was merely one of the last ones 'rounded up.' Of course she produced the contract showing that she was only associated with the caravan while 'on land', and of course she protested her arrest, assuring the guards that she was completely clueless on anything having to do with the actual shipment but - it (as always) was to no avail. To the second floor she had gone, and on the second floor she had stayed.

This particular day began as the previous two had. Some newbie guard (who would later be unceremoniously killed and tossed off of a ship by a red-clad raving lunatic) had brought Cassidy tea, along with an update on her situation. The tea was bitter and there was no sugar or cream, but Cassidy had manners enough to thank the kid for his effort. She was sure it wasn't normal protocol - after all, it had never happened before - and she had a sinking feeling that it was a result of an unhealthy infatuation the not-a-child-but-not-yet-a-man had with she herself. She could see it in the glimmer of his eyes. Still, she did her best in dealing with the situation as it was - not even this hormone driven kid would dare risk the possibility of 'angering' the girl's troublesome firearms. Thus, she was safe in accepting tea, bitter though it was, and in chatting a bit about her (hopefully) soon-to-be-coming freedom.

And the news was good. The contract that had been confiscated from her had been proven legit, clearing her of the 'in-house' problem of smuggling, and she was scheduled to be released the next morning. The day then proceeded to pass in the same way as the previous ones: intermittent sleep, anxious pacing, and mentally arguing about useless things with Nyx. A break came near lunchtime when the door opened and she was gifted a tough hunk of bread and a cup of water, and then came the reading. She was about halfway through the atrocious book when the unmistakable sounds of battle began to float up to her faux gilded cage.

~*~"Well, well... sounds like some excitement outside. Stuff the tome, Cass, and get over to the window."~*~

"Nnngh. Why bother? It's not like it concerns us. I'd rather just take a-"

Screams. Yelling. The clashing of blades. The decibel level of the battle increased exponentially, cutting off Cassidy's musing and, regardless of Nyx's prompting, compelling her to get up.

"What on earth?" This airy question could not be simply answered. Quickly, she took to the window, throwing back the dust-covered curtains and exposing the grimy view to the outside world. "Ahh! What the-? Is there a war I don't know about going on? There's so many... so many... uh... so many somethings down there fighting with the guards!"

~*~"How eloquent. So many somethings. Cassidy, your diction truly is top-notch. I'll bet you were the best student in your composition class back when you were a kid, huh?"~*~

"Shut up, Nyx!" She turned on her heel, green eyes locking on to one of the beds. Her beret and her half-cloak lay there, garnishing the two sentient firearms - Nyx and Pandora - as if the whole thing were some kind of gift box waiting to be packed. "I'm serious! I don't know those uniforms. It's like... it's like... total madness out there. Crazy guys with glasses running around with daggers and crossbows fighting with the guards..."

~*~"Aw... sounds like all kinds of fun. A festival, if you will, that we have not been invited to."~*~

Cassidy took on an exasperated look. "Not invited to? Why would anyone want an invitation to that? She frowned, running her hands through her hair. "Besides, we couldn't get involved if we wanted to-"

~*~"Which we do!"~*~

"-since prisoners are always the ones forgotten in a crisis." She sighed, walking over to the bed. She placed her hands on her hips. "And seriously, Nyx? Why do we wanna get involved? We don't have a contract with the guards."

~*~"You sure?"~*~

"U-uh..."

Internally, she heard Pandora sigh. ~*~"Review the situation carefully, Cassidy."~*~

A beat passed. She could hear someone outside yelling out a name: Yuri Lowell.

"U-ummm... oh, hey!" A look of triumph crossed her face. "Yes, I'm sure! If we had a contract with the guards we wouldn't be on the second story in the first place! And they wouldn't go and steal a contract I signed with them as the employer, right? I mean, that's a sure-fire way to make sure the job doesn't, uh, get done..." And triumph turned to sheepishness as she verbalized her memory fault. "U-uh... uh, shut up, Nyx."

The voice of her black weapon went to cackling in her head.

"Geez..." Pausing a moment to fold her hair up and capture it within the beret, Cassidy frowned. "Ya know, no one is gonna come check on me for ages, at this rate." Her voice took on a whining tone. "I'll bet they forget and we aren't let loose for another week..."

~*~"Which is precisely why you should get your ass in gear and get involved!"~*~

"Ahhhh! But how would we even go about doing that, huh? And don't say shoot down the door. There's no way I'm leaving this room, no matter what you say, Nyx. Staying put means being released on time, without complications."

A beat passed. Another, distinct voice joined with the one that had called for 'Yuri Lowell', claiming that he did not know the person in question. When the follow up inquired as to why the first person was 'doing all of this', it became clear that the second voice was that of one of the guards.

~*~"C'mon, Cass. Stop being stupid! Nobody said anything about leaving!"~*~

"But you said get involved!"

~*~"Idiot! Have you forgotten what we can do?! Just... just pick us up and get to the window!"~*~

"Aie! Fine! But... but what are you...?" Quickly, she gathered up her weapons and moved to the window. The battle, which had once been expansive, had reduced itself to outside skirmishes and a single focus - two individual combatants fighting in the center. The voices from below had, at least physically, been identified. "Whoa... it's totally freaky. It's a reckless battle stance, isn't it? The guy in red, I mean. He's the bad guy in this, right?"

~*~"Does it really matter? Break the window."~*~

"Break the... w-what? Why would I want to do that? There are bars, Nyx. And you said we weren't trying to leave."

~*~"For the love of... CASSIDY! BREAK THE *** ****** ************ WINDOW AND PLACE US IN BETWEEN THE BARS!"~*~

"Wah! Stop yelling! I'm on it!" And, in truth, she was, though she wasn't very happy about it. Using Nyx, the girl lashed out, shattering the glass. For the first time, she had a clear view of the battle-in-the-port. As ordered, Cassidy placed Nyx and Pandora together in the center of the window. "Th-there! Now what?"

~*~"Hm. It appears the garrison has been largely thinned out. I believe the opportunity for contracts in town will increase quite dramatically once all of this is settled."~*~

"What?"

~*~"It's nothing. We'll discuss it later. Shall we, Nyx?"~*~

~*~"D*** straight. Let's do it."~*~

White and black, usually solid, metallic forms, became like liquid. The colors mixed and merged, forming a gum drop-like mold of gray. It writhed, like a salted slug, and then, abruptly, it elongated and solidified. Nyx and Pandora had united to become the sniper rifle known as 'Altruism.'

"U-uh... what? Why are we doing that? We don't have any assassination contracts!"

~*~"Consider the scope, Miss Cassidy. At the very least, you can get a better view of things, can you not?"~*~

"O-oh... well, I guess you're right in that."

~*~"To hell with looking! We aim to shoot! Pick out the red guy and obliterate him!"~*~

"I... I don't know if that's really a good idea, Nyx." Her words came as she did, indeed, look down the scope, framing Zagi in the middle. "He... he looks sorta crazy... AH!"

~*~"Why are you screaming?!"~*~

"He's... he's fast! I can't just-"

~*~"Just sit tight, Cassidy. Distance says we won't have to lead much. Wait, watch... and only take a shot if you know it will be true."~*~

~*~"Pfft. Ya know... this whole 'encourage caution' thing? It's really pissing me off."~*~

Cassidy did not bother to give Nyx a response. Instead, the scope became her lens to the world below. For now she would follow Pandora's advice - to wait and watch, and let the battle play out as it might.

[kopikatsu]

“I do not know this person you speak of, so I don’t know where he is!”

LIAR! This man...he was protecting Yuri Lowell...hiding him! But why? Yuri would never hide from my blade...I'll just have to beat it out of this man. Heh...heheh...

"I don’t want to fight you, but why are you doing all of this?!”

Why? This man had the audacity to ask...why? He knew...he was hiding Yuri Lowell from me, and now he DARED TO ASK WHY? My blood...MY BLOOD IS BOILING! This man...This man...THIS MAN...!!!

"...My blade. It aches for blood." Zagi turned around and pointed one of his daggers towards the man in armor while slowly licking his lips, "I'VE GOT TO KILL SOMETHING!" Zagi started walking towards the man...when one of the few remaining Assassins ran up behind Zagi, shouting, "Master, above you! There's a weapon pointed a-" Zagi suddenly whipped around and swung his daggers. He only slashed twice, but the assassin's body opened in four separate places before his lifeblood sprayed across Zagi's body. The assassin's corpse didn't even have time to hit the ground before Zagi turned back towards the armored man, blood now straining the right side of his face, chest, and arm. "Much better." Zagi chuckled as he covered the right side of his face with his right hand and offered the armored man a small smile, "I lost myself for a moment there. You asked why, didn't you? It's because...Yuri Lowell is the only man to have ever made me bleed, and so he must die by my hand! Understand?"

Zagi slipped back into his battle stance, but completely ignored the warning his 'comrade' had given him. Of course, that wasn't his fault as he'd been somewhat less sane than usual at the time. The information was stored in his subconscious, but his attention was focused on the man in front of him, "I am Zagi...the one who will end your life if you do not hand him over."

[farran]

This man before him had clearly lost his mind, not much more to say about it then that. Saying his sword ached for blood, he ‘had’ to kill something, what was wrong with this man? Farran had seen more mentally stable monsters! “You you need to calm down!” he shouted still trying to reason with him though didn’t really expect it to work he would have to try! He paused eyes growing slightly wide as this assassin cut down one of his own men, Farran stood there in shock for a moment.

“Why, why would you do that?!” he shouted knowing he was to late to save the other man, but that was one of his one allies wasn’t it!? Falcan’s wide eyes then snapped tightly close, the man spouted some nonsense, Farran gritted his teeth. “ENOUGH!” he shouted back at the man razing his voice to match the same approximate level. His eyes snapped open narrowed and locked on this man, Zagi. “There-is-no-one-by-that-name-HERE!” he shouted loudly he wasn’t the type to shout often but now he did. His hand flew outwards then flung to his side and to his back his fingers twitched slightly once he drew his blade the battle would begin. “you killed these innocent people……would even kill me, your worse then the monsters" he spoke coldly, his icy eyes shimmering.

Farran couldn’t hand over what he didn’t have no? “You will be lucky if you kill me, I will make sure to drag you down with me, get ready then Zagi, someone else is about to make you BLEED!” he shouted and pulled his blade the handle long and the blade itself was almost like a jousting lance, only more square and a bit more sword like. He gave it a quick spin in one hand then suddenly thrust it towards Zagi, yes he expected it to be dodged that’s why he waited not a second suddenly throwing his bodyweight into it and spun around doing a full circle slash with his blade, and then his arm shot upwards finishing the combo with a upward thrust even jumping into the air then attempted a downwards stab that cracked the ground slightly.

All Honesty he wasn’t sure the combo attack made any contact at all however he wouldn’t give any chance, he darted to his side then picked his guard up and readied another attack his eyes on this man, he had to keep his eyes on him at all times….however not so much so he would be open to a sneak attack, though he’d not noticed the female either.

[cassidy]

"Free line of sight. The 'red blade' has slowed, but..."

One of the key principles in successful sniping was that of non-detection. One of the major benefits of pursuing that principle was one of, much like Cassidy herself, varying reputation: voyeurism. When the two coincided properly, the non-detection was almost certain, but the voyeurism existed in silence. But today's case was a bit different and, by usual accounts, the perk of proximity (sound) did not, in Cassidy's mind, truly outweigh the overwhelmingly safer benefits of 'maximum range.' This, combined with the inherently sluggish firing rate of Altruism, proved a potent inhibitor to the act of pulling the trigger.

Of course, the actions of her currently chosen 'target' were shocking enough to paralyze her finger as well.

~*~"Oh ho! Well, whaddaya know? Seems he really IS crazy, don't it?"~*~

Nyx's catalyst was Zagi's quick, brutal partitioning of what had originally appeared to be one of his allies. Cassidy managed only a gasp as the then-newly deceased fell to bloody pieces at the behest of Zagi's dancing blades.

~*~"It certainly isn't rational behavior,"~*~ Pandora remarked, casually. ~*~"Regardless of skill, the numbers game will eventually prove its superiority... and the one with the feathered hair is only hastening this case-in-point. Still, do you suppose its worthwhile to worry about Sir Knight down there?"~*~

"Sir... Knight?" Although the act of 'ally-killing' she had been witness to stunned her, it was not the first time Cassidy had observed such a thing through the scope of her rifle. She recovered, to a point, quickly, her eye returning to the scope though her finger remained free from the trigger. "If you mean the guard, then-"

But she was not allowed to finish. The guard in question had taken the initiative, attacking the crazed-though-apparently-calmer assassin with a flowing series of sword strikes. Hit or miss, it was clear that he was not merely an amateur.

"Uh..."

The problem? Movement, movement, movement. The dance steps of more complex combat always made trouble for the would-be sniper. Four was the number of movements the guard had made, and thrice it was that he (unintentionally) crossed through her crosshairs. With the previous demonstration one of ally killing, the troubling possibility of perceived friendly fire continued to hold Cassidy to the observer's state. All she could do was peer through her sniping lens, and try as best she could to hold Zagi in the center of her line of fire.

"Gods... this is so much easier when it's an actual team effort..."

[kopikatsu]

Zagi had expected the armored man to introduce himself, but he was sorely disappointed. The armored man did the exact opposite in fact, and attacked. Did this boy have no manners? How very sad. It was a shame that they couldn't talk this over like gentlemen.

...Ha...haha...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Zagi crossed his daggers in an x-shape just before the armored man's weapon reached him, causing the tip of the man's weapon to clash against the center of the 'X'. Most people probably would have attempted to dodge the armored man's thrust, but Zagi wasn't 'most people'. Zagi pressed his thumbs against the back of the daggers to provide enough support that the armored man didn't simply run through Zagi's guard. It was a move that any reasonably skilled swordsman would have classified as nearly impossible, or at the very least, an extraordinarily bullheaded 'technique' that wasn't practical for use in an actual battle. "Still protecting Yuri Lowell...That really...gets my blood boiling..."

Zagi slashed with both daggers at once, knocking the point of the armored man's weapon away in a spray of sparks, "Reaper's Cross!!" With the first two attacks out of the way, next came the upward slash. When he saw it coming, Zagi dropped his silver-lined dagger in order to catch the armored man's weapon with his prosthetic arm. This was no ordinary prosthetic, however. Zagi's left arm was made out of a Blastia. "...Die. Die...die..die.diedieDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE! Zagi would reach out with his right arm and grab a handful of the armored man's hair. If he managed it, he would have pulled the armored man's head towards him and slammed their heads together in a devastating headbutt.

Regardless of what transpired, however, two guards and two assassins started to make their way over to where Zagi and Farran were fighting. Since they were approaching from behind Zagi, he wasn't aware of their presence. Those four souls were the only remaining forces left. Had the assassins managed to coerce them into joining Zagi's forces, perhaps by appealing to their greed, or had the assassins decided that they had had enough of Zagi's cruelty and were prepared to put a stop to it? Only time would tell...

[farran]

Farran gritted his teeth this man was bugging him, however he would remain collected he wouldn’t be blinded by rage and insanity like this man here! Teacher, Guide my blade. He muttered mentally to himself. Zagi seemed to easily protect himself, the assassin was strong his defense wasn’t bad, so he had to have another weakness, but what was it?

He sighed deeply. “Protecting him, keep telling yourself that then” he growled under his breath. His blade was knocked to the side however he didn’t let go of it, he wouldn’t loose firm grip on his weapon, he knew better, he shifted it so the long pole-like handle was in front of him incase needed try guard from any attacks. He brought his blade in front of him as a shield the man attacked he was well trained, Farran could tell, however Farran was no weakling either! This man relied on speed and defense it seemed, though Farran wished not to take any chance with his attack, a blade was a blade, deadly.

However it failed his slash the man grasped it!? But how was not his arm as any other persons? Farran’s eyes widened for a moment, but he noticed the man dropped his other weapon in order to do this, Farran twisted his body and swiped his foot across the ground quickly sending the dropped dagger sliding across the ground, he only hoped he was able to knock it far enough away, but he didn’t care to take the time to look and make sure. However in letting his guard down Farran felt a uncomfortable yank! He gritted his teeth he knew some kind of head attack was on its way, and braced himself as must as he humanly could.

Farran shifted however towards the man slamming his head back into his as well the force of both of them together was call for one nasty headache later if not sooner, at the same time he didn’t let go of his weapon with his right hand, but his left hand clinched in a fist and attempted to punch him square in the gut as hard as he could. Soon enough he felt himself instinctively jumping backwards and nearly stumbling some blood running down his forehead his eyes fixed on Zagi. “Ugh……..eheheheeh……..” he gritted. ‘Ouch’ was just the beginning. He readied his blade however halfway between offence and a defensive position, seeming not to notice the other men either.

[cassidy]

"It's just too close. At range, everything stays in the field of view, but like this..."

~*~"Complaining again?"~*~ Nyx's voice was one of flat annoyance.

"It's not my fault! You're too heavy and clear line of sight only lasts, like... like microseconds!" Cassidy's protest came in the form of an excited whisper as she slumped from her standing position at the window to the non-viewable-from-outside place on the floor of her 'cell.' The back stock of Altruism had, whether on purpose or by chance, swayed itself to a perch atop her head, allowing the rifle to stay stable in the window. "And, I mean, it's totally worse with four more comin' down the road! It'll be a big crowd, and then what? I'm supposed ta fit a shot in between all that and just hit the one guy who's, like... some... kinda... psycho bunny bouncin' all over the place, and-"

~*~"Holy-! ... Hey. Hey! HEY! CASSIDY! How about you just shut up?! See, cuz all I'm hearing is excuses. If you can't be bothered to get the job done..."~*~

~*~"Hold, Nyx. It hasn't come to that yet."~*~

~*~"But-!"

"Ohmygosh, you guys aren't even listening to me!"

~*~"I'm not even sure this is a situation that would warrant such a thing."~*~ With a sigh, Pandora turned her attention from her partner to her 'host.' ~*~"We are listening as much as we are able, Miss Cassidy. However, all we are hearing is a litany of can't and a chant of won't. If you are only going to lament on the difficulties of the situation, we would appreciate it if you would simply remain silent. We can hear your thoughts well enough; it is unnecessary to layer it by stating it verbally as well."~*~

Having been so flatly admonished, Cassidy fell silent for a moment. Her previous babbling had de-focused her, for sure, and although she was aware that Nyx and Pandora had been discussing something important while she was complaining, she had the distinct feeling that she was forgetting what it could have been about. Though the details may have been hovering in the thick fog of forgetfulness, the subject - whatever it was - had planted a seed named 'alarming' in her chest. This almost prompted her to stand back up and retake her position at her rifle. Almost.

"B-but! See, I just... you know, I just thought of something terribly important."

~*~"..."~*~

"S-seriously! I-I-I think, I mean, you know... I - I mean, we - could definitely do this. I re-thought about it a-and, so, firing or... or whatever, is just... watching the flow, isn't it? It's a count of three, or four, or five, and then there's a break. It's a rhythm, like a song... U-uh, the fight I mean."

~*~"You re-thought about it?"~*~

"Mm hmm. Just now."~*~

A beat passed in silence.

~*~"And... if you've figured out the timing problem... then... pray tell, why are you still sitting on the floor?"~*~

Another beat passed... and then, a whimper escaped from Cassidy.

"It's the potential," she said, her whispered voice quivering. "Ohmygosh, can you imagine how terrible it would be?!"

~*~"..."~*~
~*~"I'm honestly afraid to ask. ...What would be so terrible, Cassidy?"~*~

"Him! That guy! Ah! If I shoot him and he dies... what if... w-w-what if he became a ghost?!" She seized up, drawing her knees to her chest and squeezing her eyes shut. "How could I deal with him haunting me?! How do you escape that?![/i]"[/color]

"~*~"#$%#$^@^^@$#*(%^!!!"~*~
~*~"Unbelievable..."~*~