[h2][center]Kumozaki Keisuke[/center][/h2]
Being dragged around by Elizabeth as she followed up on Nero's attacks wasn't the most pleasant of experiences for Keisuke, and the sudden explosion of fire and rose petals behind him wasn't making the situation any better. Granted, it wasn't as if he could do much other than monitor the battle anyhow, and the safest place in all of this chaos was probably right in the Lancer's grasp.

However much that was worth, at least.

The Valkyries who had thus been placing their attention towards Skuld seemed to divert their attention away from her once Nero's technique had landed, which had thus sent their companions flying into the air before they landed (rather unceremoniously) on the ground. At the very least, the ones who had been hit by the attack or its aftereffects seemed to remain on the ground, unconscious... Which itself was fairly impressive, considering that every one of them was a Heroic Spirit.

Elizabeth's foray towards the front led her straight to one of the Valkyries who seemed to be attempting to direct the action—though she wore a hood, her black hair seemed to be barely visible from under it as she stared back at her opponent.

"I was only given the order to stall for time, so I shall try to do as much," she said, pointing her spear at Elizabeth before charging forth. Unlike the other Valkyries (who were content to focus on Nero for the moment), the one attacking Elizabeth seemed to be a bit more nuanced in her attacks. The jab that Elizabeth had put out was quickly parried, and the Valkyries who had thus been keeping her somewhat occupied all moved towards Nero once more.

The lack of threat from the other Caster, who was cowering off to the side behind a barrier in their eyes, warranted less attention from them at the moment despite their knowledge of who she was.

Or maybe that was in spite of it?

[h2][center]Tomoe Gozen[/center][/h2]
Despite the furious clashing of weapons and the various wayward arrows and spears that were now scattered in front of the walls, neither Tomoe nor the Valkyrie that she was matching in combat seemed to be giving up any ground. Both seemed to be getting worn down ever so steadily, however, and the pauses in action seemed to get more frequent as time passed.

"N-not bad..." the Valkyrie said, shaking out her hands as Tomoe seemed to pause for a moment in front of her. "If you weren't already dead, I'd probably invite you to Valhalla. Great warriors are always welcome there."

"I appreciate the gesture," Tomoe responded, throwing aside the naginata that she had pulled out for the last few rounds of combat before the sound of a large explosion caused both warriors to turn their heads towards the source—the location of the combat between the Sabers and the only other Valkyrie present.

[hr]
Thrud was caught wholly off guard by the suddenness of Arturia's attack, as the Valkyrie herself had not expected to be attacked out of the sky so easily. She had expected her opponent to prepare to counterattack directly, not launch herself as a projectile towards her.

The impact of Excalibur was deflected by the Valkyrie's weapon, but only barely. The resulting impact promptly launched Thrud into the ground, causing a large impact that left a crater in the ground she had just been flying over, leaving her somewhat dazed and injured from the outcome. One of her wings seemed to be cracked from the impact, but Thrud simply gritted her teeth and climbed back onto her feet, however unsteadily.

"That was... My mistake," she said, struggling to maintain her composure as she attempted to move out of the crater with her wings; when that failed, the Valkyrie glared at Arturia as she descended from the sky and attempted to jump out physically, as a being without wings might. "I can already tell that I will not win here, but even so..."

With that, Thrud held her spear aloft before adopting an aggressive stance and attempting to strike at Arturia.

"I cannot afford to fail here; not with Elder Sister occupied as she is now."

Siegfried simply stared at the exchange and sighed, deciding against directly intervening in the fight any further. Given that dealing with Brynhildr was still to come, the Saber knew that his ability to endure would only last so long if he decided to participate in battle now.

[hr]
Brynhildr seemed to struggle for a moment as the Berserker spoke, but that moment of pause lasted for naught but a moment as she began to stoke the blue flames around herself. Despite the lack of an arm, the numbers present on the enemy's side coupled with the nearing exhaustion of the sudden "reinforcements" and loss of an arm had finally registered in the Lancer's brain. There was only so much more she could do here, but she was heavily outmatched without having full use of both of her arms.

As the Lancer prepared to strike out against the Berserker with her spear, though, the sudden howling from over the horizon couple with the  sound of thundering movement as [i]something[/i] arrived from over the horizon.

A giant wolf, fifty times the size of the ones that had been executed in droves by the Servants defending the town until now, cast a looming shadow over the land with the moonlight at its back. Almost as if on cue, the beast howled as it arrived, causing the air around it to freeze in place and large crystals to form in the air to deflect the blow of the Berserker before it landed. With another cry, the wolf caused those same crystals to turn and fire—rather indiscriminately—at both her and the groups fighting in the distance.

Seeing the wolf in front of her now, Brynhildr lowered her weapon and seemed to become almost slack as a few other wolves that had been trailing behind this one came to pick her up and carry her off to who-knew-where. Once the Lancer seemed to be far enough away, though, the beast would retreat in turn, causing a large wall of ice to crash down in an attempt to stall any further pursuit.

Tomoe and the Valkyrie next to her had ample time to dodge the ice crystals as they were fired, and at this point it became clear to the Servant opposite Tomoe that [i]something[/i] was more than wrong.

The Valkyrie in front of Arturia, however, only registered the ice as 'something to dodge' and continued her strike towards the Saber even then. Whether it was out of pride or something else, though, was a question all its own.

[@VitaVitaAR][@Raineh Daze][@KoL]