As the beast fell and lay still, Cyterius continued maintaining his stance, waiting for the giant to remain immobile for a few moments, before relaxing and gesturing at his team to stand down. They immediately tensed up again however when the unidentified voice began booming again. Cyterius had one hand shoot up to his head in response to the sudden voice while another hand darted for his sword instinctively.

the disembodied voice spoke in riddles once again, and Ardur actually had the nerve to speak up against it, despite not knowing the extent of whatever this being's power was. The voice began dying away, and Cyterius was about to call for his team to regroup, when a loud sound caught everyone's attention once again and let them behold the incredible display of magic within and above the City of Ash. Cyterius was stunned and watched it, mesmerized with a morbid curiosity as to what would happen, though his body twitched internally as his survival instincts reacted to his gut feelings of fear and unease, and prepared him to act on a moment's notice the moment a threat made itself clear.

When the spectacle ended, and the invisible army seemed to march away, Cyterius allowed himself to relax slightly and feel the relief of a finished battle. Though his eyes and ears still scanned the surroundings, in case it was merely a trick to get them to lower their guard. you could never be too sure when it came to magic. Finally, he gestured to the nearby Falcons and had them walk back to their allies' lines.

The Falcons complied, and they regrouped with their two teammates who had temporarily joined Lanithil’s Archer Platoon, just as Ardur began giving out his orders.

He reprimanded the inquisitors on site for not having dealt with it as efficiently as they should have. Cyterius often took criticisms against his fellow Falcons personally, but in this case he felt inclined to agree. The lack of discipline from the two soldiers whom Cyterius could not remember the names of ended up wasting their lives needlessly. Meanwhile Gilead’s premature charge had left him exposed and very nearly cost his life within the first battle of their campaign. The life of an Inquisitor of all people!  Had it not been for the timely intervention of their allies, Cyterius knew there was little he could have done to have saved Gil in that situation. He probably would’ve gotten himself killed trying. Losing 2 Inquisitors in a single day would’ve been a horrid start to their journey.

With that said, things could have been much worse. Only their heavy hitters and best fighters, like Kharne, Genthok, and Gilead, had engaged the giant melee after the loss of the 2 over-eager soldiers. Cyterius feared the worst case scenario where the giant charged into their footmen lines and raised Hell by cutting their men down in droves with every swipe, all while reducing the ability of their Mages to attack for fear of catching their allies within the spell’s area of effect. Thankfully, between their melee warriors’ combat skill, the Falcons’ distractions, the Archery unit's support volleys, and their Mage’s offensive and stalling spells, the giant was kept out of range of the majority of their forces and allowed their spellcasters plenty of room to tear into the foe. Gilead even redeemed himself from his reckless behavior by delivering the coup-de-grace against the giant in spectacular fashion. Cyterius would still call it a victory all things considered. Gods know they would have suffered a staggering amount of casualties had the giant reached their massed lines.

With the Falcons regrouped around him, they nodded an acknowledgment to Ardur's orders and began to observe the area around them. Lilianna and several inquisitors, mages and scholars alike were studying the corpse of the slain giant. Cyterius would have assisted if he could, but the Falcons' trade was in killing. Had he not already witnessed the killing blow, he would've been able to determine how the giant was killed from the angle of their body, the death wound, blood splatters, and the shape of their injuries. The anatomy and magical nature of the creature was far beyond his expertise though. If the creature died, it had vital organs that could be damaged and that was about as far as Cyterius' knowledge went.

Percival however, seemed quite interested in their study of the corpse and looked towards Cyterius in a wordless request for permission to join them. Cyterius knew their resident tinkerer and alchemist would not miss a chance to learn about the nature and properties of an unknown creature, and so he nodded towards the group in assent. Immediately, the short, black-haired, and slightly pudgy Falcon with blue eyes put away his full-sized custom crossbow (which he had used extensively as part of Lanithil's impromptu archer unit) and went to get a closer look at the armored beast and listen in to the insights of the others.

At this point, he and his group had wandered near Lanithil where Gilead appeared to thank them for their efforts in the fight. Cyterius realized belatedly that he had noticed Gil speaking to multiple people earlier before he walked up to them. He nodded in acknowledgement to Gil's compliments. [color=peru]"My thanks, but we merely did our duty in that situation. We all hinge on each part of this army doing their jobs to survive against out enemies. And it appears the enemy we face now is one we cannot afford to make mistakes against. Do your job and I can assure you my men and I will have your back"[/color] He said. Cyterius still had yet to trust his fellow Inquisitors as much as he trusted his Falcons, but he hoped they would eventually prove themselves worthy of that trust... Before fate decided to force them to rely on trusting each other.

With Percival left behind with the scholars, the rest of the Falcons followed Cyterius as they approached Ardur, each one stretching their limbs so as not to shock their body with sudden inactivity after creating so much adrenaline. [color=peru]"Sir, with your permission I would like to scan around the city perimeter before we move in with our main force. I do not know what kind magic they had used at the end there. I believe I heard Genthok use the term 'portal' and 'hellgate', and even if the voice said it was done with us for now, but I'd rather not rely on our enemy acting so predictably. With your blessing, I'd like to take one of our mages to come with me and my team as we scout the edge of the city and the approach to the gate area for any traps or magical energy that could be a danger to a large mob of infantry, and clear it out if necessary. After our close battle earlier it would be difficult to needlessly lose more men at this stage,"[/color] He said, before turning his head to look upon the walled city ahead of them. [color=peru]"And I have a sinking feeling we're going to need everyone we can get for what lies ahead,"[/color] he finished ominously as he wondered what other trials would be forced onto them on this campaign they were on.