[@Pirouette]

Just like Red, the Knight was more prepared for his opponent now. Having realized that her swordsmanship is much better than he had previously assumed, along with the terrible pain shocking him into clearer thinking out of fear for his life; he ceases to be reckless and starts to actually fight with an actual sense of self-preservation. Seeing the massive energy sword come for his injured arm, the knight shows Red that he wasn't without a knightly shield and holding his left arm out despite the searing pain, he manages to deploy his shield before the blade could fully come down upon his outstretched arm.

"Defenser!"

A bluish-white, rune-encrusted magical circle as wide as a manhole cover abruptly expanding out of his palm, the sword contacting with the magical construct causes the blade to violently bounce back, almost as if the blade was suddenly made of rubber! Rather than try to push his luck, the Mage-knight instead uses his newly made shield as a battering ram and attempts to shove it into Red, while the shield ram wouldn't send her violently flying away like a tennis ball; it would however still feel like getting gored by an angry boar, thankfully minus the tusks.

[hr]
[@Mtntopview]

The flame knight simply waited for the inevitable collision between him and Optimus Prime, while his armor would endure; the rest of him would not and he only hopes that his organs getting flattened would lead to a quick death compared to bleeding out. Instead, the Cybertronian war hero stops just short of running over the beaten and bloodied knight and implores him to pull back. Given his critical condition and the fact that there was literally nobody left in this area who could possibly exploit the breach in the line, the magic-user sees reason and bows his head in response to the ultimatum.

"Nh... Not... Going alone... Gh! My men..."

But then, two lancing beams of white-hot light from above carve furrows on the ground between Optimus and the Knight, judging from the way the human gasped; he was just as surprised as the Autobot. Looking up, Optimus would see a pair of six-winged angels covered in dried blood, dirt and wounds and accompanying them was a taller, but even more bloodied and filthy eight-winged angel that looked like he was barely able to keep himself aloft yet looked ready and willing to fight. Before Optimus could react, one of the six-wings screams a warning, in a hoarse but defiant tone to the Autobot commander.

"STAY AWAY FROM THE CAPTAIN!!!"

Even though the outcome wouldn't be in doubt in Optimus' mind, the fact that these injured and exhausted beings would willingly face down what in the eyes of the average RoC trooper was an unstoppable juggernaut who not only had strength but deadly cunning all for the sake of saving their leader... It was surreal to say the least, especially when it came from those who would want to quash the freedom and liberty of all sentient life; before something tragic and completely avoidable could take place, the Captain defuses the situation by shouting with such volume and force that one would not believe that it could come from someone with one foot in the grave.

"TRUPPE HALT!!!"

And then the Knight captain began coughing and sputtering blood from straining his broken body, at this the angelic trio ceased their aggressive posturing and landed right next to their captain; where Optimus can clearly see one of the six-wings grimacing at the condition of their officer. Making a quick decision, the two six-wings carefully lift their Captain up towards a standing position due to the nature of his injuries and fly off towards friendly lines while the Eight-winged one kept a bit behind the other two in order to keep an eye on Optimus to make sure he wouldn't shoot them on the back.