Against the Fire King(Closed)

[milicia]

Queen Lunestise watched in glee as the fireball she evoked met in a furious blast against the Ignisian's stone wall's last standing guard tower. As the structure crumbled in ruin upon the unfortunate warriors below, the last of the Fire Kingdom's forces disappeared from view as they retreated to the castle. With the last of the towers down, the heavy stone walls that surrounded Fira Tower were unprotected as her men broke through the gates with timed strikes of battering rams.

The path to this, the climax of their efforts had been trying. Yet despite the traitor in her midst, (who she had found and dealt with soon after the Heroes had left) King Volkanon had not had enough time to prepare anymore than the frontal defense to his shoreline. The resulting campaign was meant with panicked resistance and underfortified keeps. As the Twilight Kingdom's army leapfrogged from stronghold to stronghold in the month their numbers had dwindled slightly. Yet with the caring and compassionate words of Milicia as she prayed for the dead, and Lunestise's motivating courage in the battlefield her remaining men were as they had been when they arrived on Rakush.

And of course, she could not forget the great skill shown by her three heroes. Despite their brash ways they were to her men beacons of hope in the ongoing struggle. Even now as they faced the most fearsome and challenging battle in their war against the Sumata Musashi, Donovan and Zeke used their otherworldy skills to deal crushing blow upon blow upon the Ignisian defenses.

Upon her horse she cried to her soldiers. "Go my men! Charge onwards! Mages behind and support the front lines! Archers advance to the next closest cover point and fire on the castle's walls!" The troops rushed after their commanding officers, their charging footsteps like thunderous earthquakes that shook Fira Tower to its core. Queen Lunestise rode forward as she conjured a frost orb which lobbed over the stone wall towards the unsuspecting forces behind.

[Onyx, Son of Sun]

As the orb crossed over the stone wall protecting the entrance to Fira Tower, a blazing streak of fire arose from behind the wall and quelled the frozen projectile. The steam from the clashing elements settled as the large gate to the tower slowly creaked open. From it, Onyx approached, his eyes alight with rage matching the intensity of the flames that licked outwards from his fists.

"You dare defile my peaceful lands, mercilessly slaughter the people of my kingdom and bring your prospect of war upon all those in Ignis!? I am a peaceful man, but after I am through with you, the ashes of your army shall be blown to the wind, much like the tale of your pathetic attempt. There will be no victory for you here, only the crimson flames of hell itself as they purge this land of your vile presence. When the dust settles, there will be naught more than the charred marrow and melted metal that once made up your futile band of vagrants!"

With a motion of his hand, flaming rocks come arching from behind the walls of Fira Tower; there trajectory leading them headlong into the mass of Crepusculum soldiers.

"Come Milicia, I shall cremate you personally, foul witch!"

[Musashi]

It was at this point that Musashi snapped. All the doubt that he had throughout their battles, all the remorse that he felt every time he swung his blade, and all the pain that he felt for the lives that he took dissipated under the wealth of rage that took control. Charging through the mass of Ignisian soldiers that poured out from the Fira Tower's gate, his attention was focused on the object of his hate, the man he viewed to be the villian, Onyx.

Closing the distance in a heartbeat, Musashi took a dashing swing at Onyx only to meet with the hard steel of his gauntlets.

"You're a monster! You send all those people to their death and for what!? So you can sit in your comfy throne and..." Musashi's heartfelt words were cut short by a merciless hook deliver to the side of his face; the impact sending him flying off several meters to the right."

Onyx: "Don't bark lofty ideologies at me, child! My men fight for a Kingdom they believe in, much like the men of your wretched Queen, but is she a monster, has she been punished for all those that died under her command? I may lead my men down the pathway, but it is you who stands at the end, barring your blade at them, so who is really the monster?"

Musashi spits the blood that accumulated in his mouth from Onyx's blow and proceeds to charge him again, this time aiming for a vicious thrust to Onyx's abdominal region.

Musashi: "Shut up! At least she's not trying to destroy the world. All you Sumata should just curl up and die and let the world be peaceful, or do you enjoy ruining..." Musashi's speech was cut short once again by a hammer side-kick to his abdominal region after his thrust was parried by a quick motion of Onyx's kicking leg. Grabbing Musashi by his hair, Onyx lifts him straight up off the ground, causing incredible pain to shoot through Musashi forehead.

Onyx: "You dare talk to me about peace as you bring war to my lands and then justify it simply because I have some supposed title? You are but a colorblind child, capable of seeing the world in only black and white. You have no right to question the steps I take to ensure the safety of my country and it's people." As he says this, his free fist glows white hot; his rage fueling the plasma that forms around his hand. Preforming a palm-heel strike against Musashi's chest, the plasma busts outwards creating a calamitous explosion that sends Musashi flying back into the crowd of clashing soldiers; his body alight until he slams and rolls along the barren ground.

Pulling himself up off the ground, he could help but think about what Onyx said before his anger towards the man once again clouded his judgement.

[milicia]

Queen Lunestise saw the King burst from his castle doors far of in the distance, his voice roaring in her ear. But his words only made her laugh viciously. As the firey rocks launched skywards, her mages stood ready conjuring dark energies.

"Fire!" Shouted the mages' general. In a synchronized motion they released bolts of blue energy that collided with the fireballs. The sky erupted in a fireworks display of red hot pebbles, most crumbling down harmlessly against the soldiers armor.

Queen Lunestise was not far behind her archers as she made for the front lines. If her mages and archers could distract Onyx and his artillery long enough she could count of Musashi to...

She swore in her mind as Musashi ran headfirst towards the fire king. "Musashi NO!" Her words fell on deaf ears as the headstrong warrior charged for the deadliest man in the kingdom with nothing more than a sword and a paddle. Making directly for Zeke and Donovan, who were busy providing support against one of the Ignis platoons lead by the captains.

"Zeke, Donovan! I need you to break through this force and take out the enemies' long range force behind the wall! Musashi engaged Onyx and I need to assist him! Hurry men!" With that she forced her horse around and in a spirited gallop made right for Onyx. She leapt off right beside a fallen Musashi, already preparing an incantation. With two steps towards the fire king she hurled forth two orbs of pale blue energy. As they left her hands the sheer velocity seemed to flatten the orbs into whirling disks that flew towards Onyx's feet and head.

"Your words mean nothing Volkanon! Let the history books decide who was the evil one. Now is war! No one is right till it's over!" Her eyes burned intensily as she she was already charging up a new spell. Her hands were held high as the air crackled around her.

[Onyx, Son of Sun]

Taking the brief time he had after removing Musashi from the immediate area, Onyx took the time to quickly issue commands to his troops. The troops responded with unhindered reflexes as they continued to pour fourth from the Tower gates.

Due to the lack of time to prepare, Onyx was unable to deploy as many troops as he would have liked to his outposts around Ignis, but the inability to do so left him with a wealth of troops, enough to level the playing field against Milicia's army in the current skrimish.

Ignis was in all honesty a Kingdom of great military might, but Onyx had sought to put to rest their history of war and violence and usher in an age of peaceful prosperity. But Onyx was not so foolish as to disband the army in hopes that all other kingdoms would do likewise. The unique environment of Ignis had lead to the creation and harvesting of unique heat-resistant metal that was the trademark reason for Ignis' victory over the centuries. This allowed the soldiers to not only brush off any fire based assault, but to utilize their own piromancy and turn their projectiles and weapons into vicious flaming armaments, capable of searing there way through metal they could normally not sunder.

Demonstrating the power of the above stated weapons were a set of balista's that had made there way out from the castle gates. The colossal bolts were themselves intimidating, but the true fear came when the nearby men set them alight. Loosened from the massive bows, the bolts cleaved straight lines of devastation through the Crepusculum army, each man in it's way left with a gaping, charred hole through their body.

Onyx now focusing his attention on Milicia's bladed assault, performed a quick butterfly kick and just nearly avoided the menacing blades. "You dare say that the one who is right is he who can swing his sword harder!? I pity the people who wish to be lead by such a judgmentally challenged Queen." Landing softly from his acrobatic display, Onyx continues his circular motion and launches a Earth-rending wave of fire, in Milicia's direction, with a heavy double-palm strike.

[Zeke Omoihake]

Zeke had felt invigorated by the battles as the war had waged on. What had once been the nagging doubts and fears of his actions had faded into the wishes to protect and battle. Amongst the men who had stared at his body and looked in worried suspicion at him and Donovan in the beginning, he had found friends. People to talk with, people to mourn over, people that he wanted to ensure got home to their homes and families. Even now as he dug another blade into an Ignisian soldier he knew that its strike meant he was one step closer to liberating a kingdom from the cruel grip of the Sumata.

Zeke leapt away from a enemy's polelance that thrust just inches from his body, landing near Donovan. Seeing three of four men encroach on the two warriors, Zeke spoke briefly. "Tower shield cannon." His brush acted, as if moved by the words and in no time had an energy outline of the explosive weapon ready. The soldiers rushed forward ready to strike at the seemingly undefended Heroes. Zeke stood and watched onwards as if looking for something skywards as his brush was already flying off to meet his glance.

[milicia]

Lunestise let the crackling energy expand in her hands. What had been only a sound expanded into flashing arcs of spastic movement inbetween in her hands. As if sensing the Queen's intent she could feel it almost beg to be released, to play upon the flesh of her adversary. Seeing the wave of fire rush towards her she abandoned her original plan to strike at Onyx and swept her hands back and around to release the attack as a counter measure. As the magic left her hands it rushed along the ground as a 5 foot dancing bolt of lightning in an erratic pattern, colliding against the fire wave in a brilliant flash.

Lunestise only laughed at Onyx. "Well at least I can protect my soldiers King Volkanon. You're quite the selfish ruler aren't you?" Her hand swept out and pointed behind Onyx where her blue blades had finished their journey in the bodies of two Ignisian archers. Their bodies stood in grosteque poses of pain as the magic had frozen them solid. "My my you monster you. Do you intend to get someone to jump in front of my next attack for you?"

Her face grimaced seriously as she drew out her Estoc and pointed it out at Onyx. "You were the ones who struck at my Kingdom first. For what?! Because I didn't thirst for the world's destruction? Because I wished only for the peace of my people? If you think me monsterous for fighting back and taking the fight to you, then I proudly claim the title Monster. Now die Onyx!" Sliding her hand just over the Estoc's blade and chanting a few words the blade eminated with a soft crimson hum. Taking away her hand Onyx saw the blade had dug into her palm, yet the blood seemed to hang onto the edge.

With one florish of her blade, the blood flew out in a single strand that reacted to the motion like a whip, its end tied magically to the Estoc's tip.

[Donovan Siroaki]

Don had to admit that the once enthralling appeal of the "real-life war experience" had begun to lose it's luster. The misanthrope in Don began to nag with thoughts of the pointlessness of genocidal killing and that man is the sole reason such a word exists, and Don could do not more that hang his head for a brief second as he thrust his lance through a couple soldiers. The real problem for Don was that he could not feel the personal stake he had in this war, and what it was that he hoped to achieve by killing the people that opposed him indirectly. The only reason Don was still here was because Zeke was here, and that he wanted to ensure that Zeke went unharmed throughout this entire endeavor, which he was now starting to see was something he really didn't need to worry about so much anymore.

Hearing Zeke mutter the brief line, he nodded as the cards from his belt streamed forth, creating a stout barrier. As the soldiers crashed against the towering wall with their armaments, the wall pushed back against the troops, knocking them off balance. At the moment this happened, Don created a small opening in the shield as the weapon beside him let loose with an ear-busting blast. The projectile flew forth, finding exodus through the well placed hole, and refuge in the bodies of the soldiers in front of it, leaving them as a mangled mess on the ground below.

Giving a scowl at the mess created from the blast, Don converts his massive shield into a beast like form and a large cross spear. Using his newly created creature as a mount, Don takes to the field, swinging his spear once again for an unknown purpose.

[Zeke Omoihake]

As Zeke saw Donovan's cards shift and dance until they galloped away, he rushed right after him. He glanced skywards to see his setup finished and brought his brush down for the last part. With instant flick and weave the brush finished his trademark spring board as Zeke leapt high above the foot soldiers heads.

The thrust of his tool had landed him just high enough to make use of his sky shield pathway. As he descended towards his first object he brought it into creation just as his feet touched it. The flat panel lasted only long enough for him to spring off towards the next on before vanishing. As Zeke bounded object to object like a character in a platformer game he watched over Don who fired through the ranks of enemy soldiers with ease. Zeke used his excellent vantage point to create pin point attacks against anyone who tried to strike him from behind. Likewise any archer's bolt or arrow that saught a place in Zeke met against his briefly corpreal objects before falling lifelessly to the ground.

As they crossed through the last of the crowded skirmish Zeke bounded off his last panel to drop near Donovan, their destination blocked only by a tempered wall. "That thing of yours can jump high enough to get us over, or do you want me to take out that wall?" Zeke ran with all his effort to keep up, his brush right behind and itching to paint.

[Onyx, Son of Sun]

Milicia's words dug at Onyx, further and more painfully that the tiny Estoc she pointed at him could every hope to achieve. As the blood whip flew towards him with a lashing stroke it was quickly evaporated by the vicious aura of heat that permeated his being.

"Hold your tongue wench! Your unfounded claims do mock you more than me. I joined those wretched excuses for "Royals" based on the logical probability that I would be spared from the prospect of war. I aimed to protect my people through logic while you did so with the ever malleable and always idealistic notion of "hope." I'm am enemy in name only, and it is you who craved to sacrifice you men under the pitiable notion of "the greater good."

Sitting into a deep stance, Onyx flexed his arms as he moved them in a fluid motion, his eyes glancing far off into the distance, his concentration arrived on the mass of archers and mages in the back. Trusting his right hand forward, it appeared that he was pushing some unseen object based on the speed his movement and the tensing of his muscles. His concentration now focusing on Milicia once more, his eyes burned with a menacing hue that matched the grimace affixed to his face.

"As for your questioning the protection of my men, they are not children who need their hand's to be held," he stated as the frozen soldiers behind him burst from their icy cocoons in a torrent of flames, removed the discs from their armor and continued to fight. "But I wonder if the same can be said for you men?"

Clenching his fist, the thunderous boom of an explosion could be felt emanating from the back of the battlefield, the burst of explosive energy launching bloodied shrapnel that was once men in all directions. Using the slight distraction caused by the tremor, Onyx charged forth and let loose a aerial assault of leaping kick at Milicia, each one echoed by a likewise arching flame.

[Donovan Siroaki]

Taking no time to verbally acknowledge Zeke, due to him concentration on the battle in front and the dissonance taking place in his mind, Don simple grabbed Zeke and hoisted him up onto the back end of his mount.

"Get ready, this is gonna get bumpy," was all that Don managed to force from his lips, his concentration once again refocused on the task at hand. Approaching close to the fortified wall the separated him and Zeke from the Ignisian artillery, the legs of Don's creature shot into the Earth with a violent thrust, propelling the duo skywards with an arc that would lead them over the towering walls. Just before they made it visibly over the top though, Don turned the creature below into a protective sphere that encircled the two, preventing any of the loosened arrow from hitting them as the crossed over.

Upon landing on the inside of the fortified structure, Don glanced behind him at Zeke as he opened a decent sized hole in the back of the sphere; the opening facing the wall so as not to welcome any oncoming fire.

"What'dya say were turn this sphere into a tank, partner?" Don questions as he creates a couple of floating seats for them to sit on.

[milicia]

Queen Lunestise looked back with only a moment of concern for her banded brothern, but she regretted it as she turned back to see only the burning flames that licked in front of her. With a quick duck and parry of her blade she dodged the first two, yet his third arcing kick caught her in the ribs and knocked her against the ground a few feet away. Coughing hard at the winding blow she brought herself upright in determination. While her clothes seemed singed, her body remained unmarred by char or ash.

"You're a despicable man Onyx, and a one trick pony. Did you think I would go up against the Fire King without having some precautions in place? Besides, how can I lose against a man so weak that he'd rather side with the forces of destrucion and evil than stand up for what he believes in? That is unless you're as twisted as Trucido, and as you used the deaths of my men as nothing more than a trick to distract me I'd swear I'm not far off!" During her speech Lunestise's hands moved in an intrancing motion. Like dancers they swayed and twisted to a hidden rhythm before pushing forward in a final movement. A swirling black sphere fired out right for Onyx. The magical orb sucked in loose rocks and debris as it sped towards its destination. Every moment it gained on Onxy he felt its heavy pull urging him closer to its center.

Wasting no time she channeled forth her next spell, wincing and pausing for a moment from the pain in her chest. Yet she wanted Onyx to taste this spell from the get go, and this time it wouldn't be wasted as a half-assed counter attack. The arching energy crackled in her hands, growing more and more brilliant with each second. The rapid flashes glowed against her face, full of wraithful distain and waiting for the right moment.

[Onyx, Son of Sun]

The oncoming gravity well was of little concern for Onyx, as a martial artist prided themselves in a sturdy stance, and all the well of force did was further lock his feet into the soil. Witnessing the crackling arcs of energy that jumped between Milicia's hand's, Onyx thought he would make her eat her accusation of him being a "one trick pony" and render her previous countermeasure against him useless.

Sinking deep into a back-stance, his body lost is glowing aura of flames as he began to regulate his breathing. His index and middle fingers stuck out from his otherwise clenched fist, he began to move them in fluid motions, allowing his heart rate to drop and his mind to be free from distraction, for the new technique he had developed required complete concentration to perform without risking deadly consequences. After a couple seconds, his body began to radiate a new kind of energy, one unbeknownst to anyone but him. Standing sturdy against the menacing spectacle of electric energy before him, Onyx stood, patient, as if wait to accept the devastating blow from his adversary.

"Don't relate me to that blathering troglodyte. He's barely capable enough of destroying a single person let alone the entire world. And regardless of that, are you do daft as to believe i'd actually assist a man who offers me what I already possess? But enough! The time for talk is over, let us play by your rules and see who's blow strikes harder. When you stand before me, myself on my knees, then you may resume flapping your tongue about your cushy ideals."

[Musashi]

After having been blown close to the back of the battlefield, Musashi had had one hell of a time trying to make it back too the front to face off against the central focus of his derision. It easy to maneuver through his allied troops, but the second he hit the front lines, the forces seemed almost welded together, if fact some were, victims of the Ignisian's pyromancy. The grisly sight was nauseating to Musashi, him being a man who had earned the title of hero by cutting his way through wave after wave of mechanical monstrosities, but after the initial feeling of sickness subsided, he anger once again refocused on Onyx, who seemed to be squaring off against Milicia.

Feeling the Earth shattering blast centralizing by the Crepusculum archers and mages, Musashi turned back just in time to see Milicia receive a brutal kick delivered to her abdominal area. Having lost his patience in trying to force his way through the outpouring mass of Ignisian troops, Musashi took the oar strapped to his back and, placing it on the ground, caused it to expand in length with such great force that it rocket him skywards, his arching trajectory fixed to land him close to the struggle ensuing between the clashing rulers. The only problem with the execution of Musashi's planned translocation was the fact that he had launched himself far to high causing him to have to wait some considerable time before he would reach his intended landing point.

[Zeke Omoihake]

Zeke only nodded, his mind already working on a new weapon he had conceived when they had conquered the last keep before coming to the ash ridden Fira Tower. Outside the sphere the brush put a final florish before rushing to its place overtop the two Heroes. As Don manipulated the protective ball back and over to scope up the weapon Zeke brought it to creation. The object looked similar to his usual cannon, save for a wide muzzle that spread out in a thin arching manner. "They don't know how hot things can get. It's time we end this Don."

Don manuvered them closer to the enemies' artillery, all the while hearing the echoed rings of metal against the shell Zeke watched as the extra long fuse vanished into the weapon's powder reserve. With an explosive bang a thick and oily liquid fired in a shotgun styled fashion, spreading across the trebuchetes, catapults and anyone unlucky enough to be caught in the line of fire.

Zeke said, his tone hinted with scorn. The moment that the liquid had made contact with the open air it ignited. To all it looked like the very elements of fire itself had leapt forth to consume all that it touched. "My dad told me a long time ago about this stuff called Napalm. I always wondered how something could burn just be touching air, but I guess this is it looks like."

The destruction was immediate. Within seconds the wood and metal of the enemy armour, weapons and artillery was decimated by the everlit embers. Those that were spared it's wrath screamed and ran for fear the flames would taste their flesh next.