Let the Flames of War...Ignite!

[Zeke Omoihake]

It had all gone too perfectly, Zeke had to give Queen Lunestise that much credit. He hadn't much liked the crafty, darker side of Milicia, but she had planned everything perfect.

Zeke choked a bit as he inhaled the thick, smoky air of Ignis, its aroma one he had wished to be left only as a memory. The footsteps of fifty men slapped against the ground in unison, banging deftly like the drums of war as they approached their destination. The trip on the small ship had given the general time to inform Zeke, Donovan and Musashi of the specifics of their mission. Apparently the battle would be waged in a port town where Milicia's forces were set to arrive. The queen had banked on Ignis being smart enough to evacuate its citizens from the town if King Onyx did indeed know they were coming. Zeke had felt the pit in his stomach lessen when he knew they would not need to involve innocents in their attack.

As the boat had landed near a rocky embankment at the coast of Ignis, the march to the port city of Rakush had been silent, no one talked, only the steady stomp of feet, each one bringing them closer to battle.

As they ascended the barren embankments that surrounded Rakush, the general hushed all of them. They had arrived with enough time. "Haste will bring only ruin." He said, his voice muffled somewhat be the steel helm he wore. As they peered over the last hill, they saw the town lay before them.

Zeke sighed deeply with relief. What do you know? She's right again. You'd think that woman was a fortune teller. What little motion could be seen was that of uniform patrols and only the sound of heavy artillery being moved could be heard in the distance. The city was walled off, leaving it well defended and only the distant vision of trebuchets and guard towers could be seen past the stone walls. A few guards circled the front walls.

Zeke swallowed a heavy lump of fear and tension, as he knew now was his time to act. His brush slipped free from its holster and he nodded towards Donovan as he drew a few quick lines, waiting till Don was ready before unleashing an arrow from each line. They flew with silent precission towads the guards posted on the walls, striking their marks, leaving only the ones posted at the gates.

[Donovan Siroaki]

The stench of sulfur permeated Donovan's nose once more as he found himself in Ignis for another unpleasant venture. Though about to undertake a grave task in the eyes of most, Donovan saw this as an opportunity, a chance to be part of the action that he enjoyed learning about so much, and to see firsthand how people react on the field of battle.

Trudging along, hands in pockets, with the resonating thud of the small contingent's movements, Donovan's heart skipped a beat as he saw the stone encirclement surrounding the small town. Whether the feeling in his gut was from fear or excitement, he didn't know, but it got his adrenalin pumping, and surge of lucidity and energy it provided felt good.

As far as Don understood, he, Zeke and Musashi were to infiltrate the village and, using guerilla combat tactics, eliminate as many of the patrolling sentries as they could before signaling the rest of the forces to blitzkrieg the remaining enemies, and sweep the port city of Ignisian forces, thus allowing the Crepusculum forces to safely dock and move out from there.

Looking at Zeke, he nodded back as he curled several cards into fine darts. His aim limited only by his mental concentration, his bolts flew with deadly accuracy and found their way between the gate guards' eyes; proof that his mental exercises were paying off.

With the guards in the front eliminated, the trio now needed to figure out the best way to enter without being detected. Maneuvering closer to the gate, Donovan motioned Zeke and Musashi over to join him at the entrance.

"Okay guys, how're we gonna get in here undetected? Any suggestion?" Don whispered as he pulled the other close into a huddle to try and dampen the sound.

[Zeke Omoihake]

"Don, don't you worry one bit. I might not have fancy attacks like you do, but a problem solver I am." Despite the grim acts he had just taken part in he couldn't help but feel glad to be useful. His brush moved with speed and precision, as his nights and days of training had allowed him finer and better control with his psyche than before. In no time flat a sturdy looking ladder laid against the wall, extending far enough to reach over the stone wall. Zeke decided against going first, lest a lack of arms left him helpless against an ambush.

"So, who's going first?" His smile plastered on his face.

[Donovan Siroaki]

Zeke approach was, well, problematic. Zeke was a problem solver, but that was more in social situations where the likes of Don fell flat on his face. In this scenario though, Zeke's approach was not so successful as his other problem solving endeavors as simply climbing over was a rather foolhardy move, but Don knew how to put a positive spin on this situation, something he seldom, if ever, did.

Giving Zeke a quick smile, he began to ascend the inky creation, but ended his his climbing several rungs below the top. Holding a single card in his hand and concentrating, the card's texture seemed to warp and shift until it shone with the reflective brilliance of a mirror. Telekinetically maneuvering the card above the stone wall, all was revealed to him through the cards reflective surface.

A couple of guards stood alert on the opposite end of the gate, each one position against the wall about a foot away on either side of the door. Climbing down from the ladder, he relayed his finding to Zeke and Musashi.

Pulling Musashi close he directs him on how they'll get rid of the soldiers.

"Alright topknot, this is simple, so nobody should mess this up. Position yourself a foot from the outer rim of the gate and when i give the signal, plunge that sword of yours through the wall and take out the guy on the right, ya dig? You can do that, right?"

[Musashi]

Musashi's nerves had been tingling since they arrived, his mind too cluttered with thoughts to marvel at the land of fire. His journey with the rest of the troupe to the hill was a silent one, as Musashi's usual good spirit could not out do the purveying dark cloud that seemed to plague him, or the raw sense of tension that seemed to permeate the air.

Watching as Zeke and Donovan dispatched of the sentries at the gate and around the stone perimeter, his keen insight allowed him to catch the finer bits of each person state of mind as the executed their strike, along with the respective guards. He could see that remorse that laid behind Zeke's eyes as his arrows loosened, but in Don, all he could see was a sense of excitment, and thought not paired with maliciousness, it was enough to put him even more on edge, something he didn't think possible at this point.

After being motioned down by Don, Musashi continued to wait, as Zeke and his partner seemed to be managing just fine on there own, something Musashi hoped would persist and allow him to avoid doing any dirty work. Sadly, Musashi ambivalence seemed to be noticed by Don as he motioned for Musashi specifically this time.

Upon having Don relay his plan to Musashi, his heart sank into the pit of his stomach. His usual sassy demeanor would have made him snap back at Don for his comments and sarcastic tone, but all he could do was listen and accept that his skill were needed.

Measuring carefully, Musashi position himself, sword at the ready, as he waited for Don's signal. Don, himself, had fashioned a long narrow spear that he held ready at the wall as he glanced over at Musashi. With his hands he motioned to Musashi: 3....2....1....Now!

Musashi's sword and Don's polearm plunged through the stone wall with ease and dug into the flesh of the guards on the other side. The limp weight of their bodies weighed down both warrior's weapons, a sigh that their strikes hit true. Musashi drew his blade with remorse, and couldn't help but avert his eyes from the crimson markings that now stained his sword. Giving his blade a quick flick, he cleaned it of blood, but he knew it would take more than that to clean the stains that now marked his hands.

"Come on, we've got to move the body out of there," Musashi said as he sheathed his blade, a sign of how he hoped he would not have to draw it again in this scenario.

[Zeke Omoihake]

Zeke couldn't help but stare at the blood soaked weapons as they drew back from the stone wall. He had been surprised how easy he dealt with slaying the two guards, but that had been from a distance. The prospect of striking to draw blood, perhaps it even staining his own body in the thick red...

No, No! Stupid Zeke, not the time. You have to do this, for the world, for yourself. Zeke gathered that from Don's plan the two that had been killed were the only ones in the area. Using mostly his legs and some forward momentum Zeke bolted up the rungs of the ladder leaping away from Musashi and Don's view.

His feet hit the ground softly on the other side of the wall and he took only a moment to check the area out before his brush waved at the other two, signaling the coast was clear. Zeke's eyes paused for a moment at the dead bodies that laid in front of him, but forced himself to look away. He tried to follow Don's example as best he could.

[Donovan Siroaki]

Don scuttled up and over the rock wall in short order, hoping that some unseen soldier didn't see him as he did. Landing on the ground with a moderately rough thud, he quickly recovered his motion and started by grabbing the nearest body and maneuvering it to the closest house, hoping he could deposit there, where it would avoid the eyes of would-be guardsmen.

Musashi followed suite, climbing up the ladder and landing on the other side with Zeke and Donovan. Looking towards Don, who had his attention focused on him, he pointed at Musashi and directed his attention to his recent kill, presumably implying that he should follow his own suggestion and move it out of plain sight.

Glancing across the open spacing between the houses, Musashi quickly shifts over to the other side and seizes the limp body. Following Don's example, he moves the body close to the nearest house and softly deposits it in the open window.

Sadly, Don was not graced with the luck of an open window, surprise, surprise. Instead, he motions Zeke over and whispers softly, "Hey bud, can you cook up a door for me on the side of this house. No point in riskin' being seen when we can just create our own back entrance, ya."

[Zeke Omoihake]

"No prob, though I'll have to improvise a bit." He whispered softly. He stood still and closed his eyes, concentrating as his brush moved swiftly aroung the house's side wall. Within just a few moments a large beaker of a mysterious liquid appeared and launched towards the center of the wall. Shattering with the slight tink of broken glass the liquid ate away at the sandstone, leaving a decent sized hole leading into the house.

"That should do it eh Don?" He opened his eyes and let his creation vanish, leaving only the hole as proof it ever existed at all. As Don dumped the body he dashed quickly around to get a view at the main street. The buildings, all of which were made of the same stone as the houses nearby, were simple but functional in their design. Many were built with series of windows, most facing out towards the shoreline or the main street. Though the area was vacant, he could imagine for a moment the area bustling with townsfolk and vendors hauking their wares and dazzling customers with whatever they had.

Yet more importantly the setup gave him a plan. The center street was easily the fastest way to the port, but the lack of windows made the back alley the smarter place to go. Moving once again beside Don, he whispered. "Follow me through the alleys. Safer. We'll signal the rest soon enough." Thinking back to the other soldiers he remembered they would need better access to the town than the now vanished ladder that had gained them passage. He looked to Musashi and as soon as their eyes met he jerked his head towards the gate, hoping he'd get the message to cut the barricade holding it closed.

[Musashi]

Zeke's message was fairly clear cut, and soon the barricade would be as well. Examining the barricade from the wall of the house, Musashi studied it's build, as he would need to leave it visibly intact, or else anybody who saw it would realize it had been tampered with and call for a search of the town, something they had to avoid.

Taking a quick glance down the main street, Musashi noticed a couple of guards crossing through the visible path and waited till they disappeared behind the cluster of houses before he went to work.

Dashing, almost gliding past the front of the gate, Musashi makes what looks like a single, smooth swing with his katana. Finishing his glancing strike against the barricade, he sheathes his blade with a look of satisfaction on his face. At a simple glance, the barricade looked no different than it did previously, but upon closer inspection, Musashi had placed several precise cuts that allowed the barricade to hold itself up right, but would allow it to crumble with a slight push from the outside.

"Barricades taken care of. Come on, we gotta keep moving."

Performing what would be a surprising action to any who knew Musashi's feeling at the moment, he took point and began moving stealthily down the port towns back alleyways. His plan was simple: if he had the chance to strike the guards before his allies, he could incapacitate them before, most likely Don, would kill them. It was a sound plan and fairly effective, as Musashi was already able to subdue several soldiers that were patrolling close to the alleyways exits. With a motion of his hand, he waved Don and Zeke forward, but kept a firm hold on the lead position.

[Zeke Omoihake]

Zeke followed suit, his brush keeping in tow just beside him. As he followed Musashi through the twisting corners of the stone architecture he was amazed by the speed and grace that the warrior seemed to move with so effortlessly. Zeke was able to keep up, yet he could feel his body getting was pushing itself to do so.

As they navigated deeper into Rakush only a couple guards had the misfortune to turn and see the three Heroes. Again Zeke watched in helpless amazement as Musashi wielded his sheathed blade with lightning speed. Zeke wasn't sure if what Musashi did killed them, but they sure hadn't moved as the Heroes continued over them to the port.

At last they arrived just on the outskirts of the many buildings into the open port area. A small fountain laid in the center of an open paved strip, surrounded by inns, taverns and other places of business. The only vacant area led directly out to open piers. It was hear that many of Ignis' artilary sat poised to strike at the coming warships of Crepusculum. Many of the soldiers looked alert, wary of any danger that might be seen across the horizon. Luckily for Zeke, their attention hadn't strayed far... yet.

Slipping back behind a particularily tall structure Zeke motioned his brush to create a floor mounted tube. The inside was pitch black and it seemed harmless, save for a small fuse that crept from the tube's underside. As the creation came into existance the fuse burst into fire. It took only a second for the fire to slip inside and from the open tube launched a firecracker that leapt into the sky, bursting into a bright display against the dark night sky at the apex of its ascent.

The men should be coming any second now. We have only to wait till the soldiers attention gets divided. Zeke peered around once more, hoping to see the reactions of Ignis' finest.

[Donovan Siroaki]

The guards whipped around, the concentration on the barren water broken by the cracking signal. To Don, it was the sound of victory, but to the unsuspecting Ignisian troops, a funeral dirge in one note.

For now, the trio would have to wait until the forces became dispersed before they could enter the fray, but that was all well and good for Don, as he needed a bit of time to create one of his new weapons that he concocted with the war in mind.

In the protective darkness of Rakush's back allies, the cards from Don's belt began to stream towards his hands, creating a bladeless hilt with small pointed indentations where one would think the blade should be affixed. From here, the remaining cards formed themselves into small diamond shaped blades, each one connecting to the next until they formed a large, and malicious looking sword edge that now attached itself into the hilts unoccupied sockets.

The weapon was simple in design, but was a complex and devious tool in Don's hands. The hilt was simply to lull the enemy into a false sense of security as Don would separate the diamond bits as needed into small swarms of cutting edges that allowed for a bevy of different attacks and strikes. Thought Don had little practice with it in an actual battle, his creativity had allowed him to think up some devastating strikes with his new creation, and his training, the skill to perform them.

Looking at Zeke, Don whispered, "If you got something you wanna get ready, nows the time to do so. We gotta be ready to strike when reinforcements come crashing through that barricade." Looking towards the gate, Don could hear the resonation sound of the contingents thunderous march, an ominous sound that Don was glad to have on his side.

[Zeke Omoihake]

Zeke nodded before closing his eyes once more, letting his mind only concentrate on his brush. The world seemed to slip into silence as he could almost feel each of the brush's strokes like it was in his hands. Zeke had since learned that only once the objects were created did they strain his mind. Thus he began to put together a multi-prong strike on the Ignis artilery. From the alley he set up a old galleon styled cannon pointing towards the center square. No sooner was the last line in place that the brush floated up to the roof of the building they took shelter from. Using its flat roof he positioned two more in place, letting the inky picture hid amoungst the darkness of the night.

Feeling secure he could deal with most of the dangerous machines he brought back the brush to his own body and began to detail something connected to his shoulders. The trip had given him too much time to think and had decided on trying to create new attacks instead of worrying about the mission. It was in that trip that a new weapon he thought of was formed.

With all of Zeke's creations at the ready he opened his eyes and turned to Musashi and Don. "When I give the sign, fall prone on the ground and don't get up till I say so. Okay?" His eyes looked dead serious at the two, for his instructions were a matter of life and death to his allies and he prayed they wouldn't think twice.

It was then that the roaring battle cry of the Twilight soldiers could be heard, their cheers breaking through the darkness. The Ignis guards cried out in shock and bewilderment as the assualt force could be heard from behind. Anyone quick enough on their feet rushed for the Rakush's gate in hopes they could drive off the soldiers before they reached the artillery. Little did they know the artillery was already forfeit.

The awkward sound of clinking armour slapping against paved stone was as good a sign to Zeke as any. Relasing one cannon at a time, the heavy iron balls dove violently against the trebuchets and ballistas. In an mere moment the weapons were nothing more than rubble and any unfortunate enough to be caught in their destruction were sent flying by the impact.

"NOW!" Zeke cried as he rounded the corner and dashed towards the fray. From the pale glint of the moonlight, Donovan and Musashi could make out a series of metal chains that trailed behind Zeke.

[Donovan Siroaki]

The Ignisian soldiers that trailed behind turned to gawk at the wanton destruction caused by Zeke's strike; their hearts sinking upon the realization of what happened. Without their artillery, there were naught more that men against other men; men who had them flanked and flatfoot, a position no one wants to be in.

Charging out of from his shadowy cover, Donovan held his blade outwards with the tip pointed at the soldiers still stunned by disparaging scene they had just witnessed. With a violent thrust, the shards from his blade streamed forward and burst like a flechette round, shearing and flaying the soldiers armor as well as the men inside. The mass of men collapsed to the ground revealing another group of enemy soldiers, these one busy concentrating on the forces at the gates, leaving the trio behind them unhindered in their next strike.

[Musashi]

Musashi thought he'd take the initiative to do as much non-lethal damage as he could before either of his teammates could get off another strike against the diminishing number of soldiers.

Still in the cover of the shadows, Musashi places his Great Oar with the tip against the ground, and with a slight bit of concentration, it's length increased with incredible speed and force, such that it launched Musashi sky-wards, positioning him directly above the hoard of Ignisian troops. Retracting his paddle to its standard size, Musashi positions the blade over head as he prepares for his descending strike. Plummeting at breakneck speed, he collides with the earth below creating a vicious shockwave upon impact, hurling sections of the street haphazardously in all directions. Along with the flung street paving, soldiers are hurled within a meter radius of Musashi impact point, sending them flying into alleyways, the sides of houses and open air, all of them knocked unconscious upon impact.

Musashi was now in the heart of the enemy troops, a position he preferred over all else in combat. The soldiers would now have to divide their attention on the frontward Crepusculum troops, Zeke and Don in the back, and Musashi in the middle of it all, but being in the middle gave greater control over the battle than the others and this included the ability to lower the kill count. With his Great Oar in one hand and katana in the other, Musashi took to rendering the other troops around him unconscious with the blunt strikes from his paddle and the back of his blade.

[Zeke Omoihake]

Despite Zeke being the first to give the go ahead, the weight of the chains dragging behind him slowed him down slightly, leaving him to pick away at the remaining soldiers that had come from the edge of the port. Seeing their comrades in peril they charged forward, blades at the ready while a few hung back to strike with drawn bows. Zeke dashed in their direction allowing his brush to get ahead and create a springboard in front of him.

Guess it's time to see if this thing is going to work. The second the brush finished the board it flew skywards, waiting in the air for a reason known only to Zeke. With gusto he fired off the board sending him several feet skyward as the brush took its cue to draw out long slivers of energy hanging in the air. Zeke reached the apex of his leap and spun around sending his chains shooting out infront of him, each one ending in a twisted hook. As the hooks passed through the slivers, he materialized each one into a long sharp blade that connected.

The end result left Zeke hitting the ground as eight 6-foot blades crashed down forcefully on the charging guards. Zeke was glad he closed his eyes as he felt each blade dig into his foes and the blood spray upon impact.