[b]Saber[/b] It seemed the others had returned. And in tow was... was... [i]what was that[/i]?! Its very existence was wrong. Saber's eyes lingered on the huge, decayed frame of the undead dragon. It was... it was wrong. She could only assume it had been an enemy of the vampire and Bal'al. It seemed not to be the work of Bal'al, that was for certain. Even if she did not fully trust the System Lord, she did not think him capable of... [i]this[/i] abomination. Slaying one's enemies to be expected in combat, unless it was merely a sparring match or a friendly duel. And it may very well have attacked them of its own volition. But to reduce it to such a state, and force its corpse into servitude... The utter wrongness of such an act what palpable. It was a violation of the the creature's life, far beyond what would have resulted simply from ending it. She cast a quick glance at the cat-person, and thanked them for the information they'd provided. There were things that needed her attention. For one matter, the newly-arrived women had pledged to lead them... Something that Saber was unsure of. For indeed, she had once commanded armies herself. She was a King, and a King had to be prepared to lead an army in defense of the defenseless. She could not deny that this woman appeared to have military experience, but at the same time she would not simply give herself over to be commanded by her. However, there was something more important occurring. Archer and Vash... swiftly, Saber put on a little more speed. Archer's ideals would surely clash with Vash's, and she was uncertain of what would result. And now the vampire... She had overheard what he had said. Anger bubbled up. Such a callous, hateful ideal... An antithesis of what it meant to be a King, and a Knight. An antithesis of heroism and honor. Saber caught up behind them, the anger now plain on her face... but before she could even open her mouth, an attack commenced in the blink of an eye. The black blasts of undentifiable substance rained down, and Saber put on a burst of speed to move ahead of the others. She raised Excalibur, cloaked in invisible air, and swung it, dissipating a blast that had been careening straight for them! And then the creature descended. It took a few moments for Saber to even realize it was a dragon. It was an alien creature, black and... somehow... Saber felt something from the monster that she had not felt with the wyvern in the cave. Something felt utterly and entirely dark about this dragon. Something evil. Saber planted one armored foot ahead of her. It had come from further up the mountain... [i]This[/i] was the legendary dragon. Saber's grip on Excalibur's hilt tightened as she raised the sword up. She was poised. The King of Knights was ready. ---- [b]Jakuzure Nonon[/b] Nonon cruised to the mountainside, and raised an eyebrow. So they'd picked up some new people? Jeez, more idiots to have to manage... it was getting awfully crowded. There was just a big gaggle of people, talking to... okay, that cat-man-thing was kind of cute, she had to admit that. But seriously. This was just a disaster waiting to happen, that was for sure. And there was this woman, making some big speech about how they should all follow her because she commanded some soviets... [i]hah[/i]. There was only one person Nonon would ever follow. There was only one person in the whole of everything that deserved that sort of attention from Jakuzure Nonon. The pink-haired girl let out a derisive huff. "Heh, yeah," she began, waving one hand from her position drifting in the air, "Like I'd follow the orders of some kind of Commando Granny. You're not worth that kind of time." The tiny girl shrugged. "Maybe some of these idiots are dumb enough to follow you," Nonon jerked a thumb at the rat-man crawling all over the... zombie dragon thing? That was kinda gross, really, when had that got here? "I mean, if he's as stupid as he is ugly I'm sure he'd love to. But I'm not going to be listening to some random washed-out old lady commando." Nonon folded her arms. She nearly continued, enjoying giving out some mocking, when darkness suddenly rained down upon them. Rapidly she jetted backwards, swiftly avoiding the impact of one of the huge blobs of darkness. And then... Wait, what was that?! "What's [i]that[/i] supposed to be?!" Nonon cried, pointing at the monster almost in irritation. It sure didn't look like any dragon she'd ever seen.