Joachim was caught off guard as Monica yelled for them to engage, somewhat lost for a moment as his servant patiently awaited his orders, offering him a reassuring smile. [color=FF7DFF][b]"Rest assured, Master. I'm not so weak as to be unable to dispose of riffraff like this. Your orders?"[/b][/color] she said, to which the young magus nodded. [color=DBDB97][b]"Right! Uh...Caster, take out the chimeras and minimize damage to the other servants!"[/b][/color] he commanded. In an instant, Caster's hands moved, with one raised high as a mass of red string unwove itself from around her wrist to curl and tie itself into knots over and over, into the form of a rod's outline, with many strands being left free to poke out of the circular massive knot placed atop this psuedo-staff. Reaching with her free left hand, Caster pinched a single strand, before dragging it down, the blood red string seeming to spark to life as her Od...or rather, her Od, and the surrounding mana began to react accordingly. 

Caster's mouth moved in ways that none could process, and her feet carried her into a strange cadence, as if she were singing and dancing a ballad before all at once, a sharp rupture in the earth erupted beneath one of the chimeras that was lunging to engage Assassin, before a mass of roots, rock, dirt, and grass spiraled inwards from the surrounding landscape to unceremoniously impale the beast straight through the chest, suspending it four feet off the ground from the size of the debris spiral keeping it aloft. As if already given instructions by Caster, the sharpened materials began to grow outwards into thorns and vines of strange construction, constricting the beast, as well as crushing and piercing the inner workings of its body, the vines and thorns worming their way through its insides in order to reach at its heart. 

Another strand was plucked by Caster, before a skeletal hand seized at the legs of another, then another hand, and another...three hands with the force of a dozen men yanked down one chimera, crushing all but one leg as the thin, brittle mass of their arms crushed around the fur and sinew of the chimera's ghastly legs. Opening her eyes after her little "performance", Caster seemed rather pleased by the result, holding her rod of strands in one hand, in case her magic was needed once more. [color=FF7DFF][b]"If the heart is what should be sought, perhaps our Lancer could be most effective, should we run into more of them."[/b][/color] Caster said, knowing already how Lancer denied being a true Knight of his class, curious to see if her prodding would offer any more insight to him.

	Joachim just...watched. This was far from the brutality common to melee combat, and lacked any sort of restraint due in a fight between maguses. This was just cruelty, even to mindless beasts. The one bound in brambles hadn't even died yet, as Caster had the thorns excavate the still-beating heart of the beast. Was...was she going to remove their hearts for later use? Joachim didn't understand a lick of it, but...right now, he needed to at least believe in Caster's ability to defend them from harm. He could worry about the feeling of his lunch rising up in his throat afterwards.