[Center][h3]Collab between Lumiere and Milim[/h3][/center]
Taking a knee to better angle the box along the slide, his coat opened to reveal the haphazard stitching of pockets on the interior, each containing a wooden magazine for his armament. Kaeci's ears twitched with the familiar click of everything working as intended, quickly priming the weapon with a cycling of the lever. He was about to stand before a weight pushed up against him, nearly knocking him over. His grip on the crossbow tightened as he turned to find Eris snuggling up against his exposed side and offering a percieved compliment about his fluffiness before seeming to doze off. The demihuman was unsure which part of the scene to be more confounded by, that his traits would draw attention in such a manner, or that Eris could fall asleep in such a ruckus with a clear threat to her safety growing ever more present.
[color=bc8dbf]"L-"[/color] Kaeci began to stutter, blushing in spite of the obscuring fuzz before his attention was drawn back to the clash of weapons and other sounds of combat from the lines beginning to meet. In his distraction from Eris's attention, he had not noticed how close the orcs had come, and this was hardly the time to be hindered. [color=bc8dbf]"Lady Eris, please wake up! Zeis iz not zee time to be sleepink!"[/color] he pleaded, raising his weapon to fire a bolt into the chest of a charging, maul-wielding orc. The small projectile stuck into the monster to little effect other than slowing it as it looked between the wooden shaft and Kaeciel with crazed expression of amusement before hefting their hammer over their head. "Soch li'le toys!" the orc roared with laughter, responded to with an [color=bc8dbf]'Eep!'[/color] from Kaeci whose ears folded back.

Hugging onto Eris, Kaeci rolled to her side just in time to be showered with sand as the great hammer beat into the desert with enough force to leave a crater where the two once were. Slipping his arms out of his coat with a contortionist's grace, Kaeci dumped Eris in the discarded garment and crossbow while the orc wrenched their weapon from the sandy earth. They were responded to with the song of Black Ambers leaving its scabbard, its claw-shaped guard clutched over its new master's left hand as per design and for a moment Kaeci felt like he was on top of the world. Scarf billowing in the breeze and standing between a vulnerable girl and certain harm, if it wasn't for the fear and adrenaline that made him visibly tremble, he would probably have looked pretty heroic.

Taking his fencing stance, Kaeci felt almost silly in a sense, as this was clearly not an equal duel, and the man had undoubtedly malicious intentions to cave their far smaller opponent. With no choice but to advance, Kaeci took a step and left a slash across the orc's chest, flicking his wrist to run the blade a few inches into the center mass of the man. Bolstered by sorcery, the brute had hardly flinched, growling as they rammed the center of the shaft into the beastman's shoulder. The blow rolled with him and into his throat which was thankfully armored enough to stave off the intended effect, though it still left him reeling from the force...enough of an opening for the orc to wind up for a proper strike with the business-end of the maul.
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Eris was fast asleep through the first half of the affair, until she heard her fluffy companion begging for her to wake up, given as the battlefield was unsafe at this time period, and that it wasn't the time to be sleeping. Eris took no heed and continued to doze off. However, her sleep was rudely interrupted by a charging orc, and she quickly woke up when she realised the gravity of the situation. A great hammer had crashed down mere centimetres from where she was sleeping, and had it not been for the quick thinking of Kaeci, she'd have met the grave given the strength of the blow. She realised that she owed this man her life, and she'd have to repay it if she could.
She realised she'd have this opportunity soon. Because she wasn't really moving, just trying to force herself to get up, Kaeci had taken to fighting the orc by himself. He was doing an admirable job in Eris' eyes, but he didn't really stand a chance given as his swordsmanship wasn't up to par, and neither was his physical ability in comparison to the gigantic specimen he was against. She realised that if she didn't interfere now, Kaeci was going to get his head crushed in. Acting as quick as she could, Eris flipped through her grimoire until she found her newest spell. She figured if there was any time for her to use her spell, it was now. She charged a large amount of magical energy and waved her arm furiously in a desperate attempt to save her friends life, and it worked. The orcs arms went flying mid-swing as the maul was about to come crashing down on the demi-human, and a massive amount of blood spurted out from the orcs arms. He looked bewildered, confused as to why his blow didn't connect. Then he had come to the reality that he no longer had arms, and was bleeding everywhere. He roared in pain, before dropping to his knees, and Eris breathed a sigh of relief. She'd managed to repay her debt of life, and avoid losing a new friend. She was glad that her pillow would live to die another day.
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Kaeci flinched, having started in the motions of ducking the swing before a spattering of blood and a roar of pain followed the heavy swooshing of the maul sailing off to the side, hands still gripping its shaft. Blinking, he looked to Eris and offered a thankful nod before elegantly driving his sword into the incapacitated orc's throat. Their eyes met, the orc's stumps twitching as if putting up an effort to stop him, resulting in little more than a few more spurts to be lapped up by the sands. [color=bc8dbf]"I am szorry I had to kill you..."[/color] Kaeci softly spoke, stepping forward and angling the blade down so the weight of the orc's body would pull his weapon free, dead before it even hit the ground.
Flicking his sword to the side, Kaeci followed up with wiping the blood from his tool of murder and returned it to the scabbard before retrieving his weapon of choice and giving the leaver a cycle. He looked back to Eris after concluding they were momentarily safe and offered a gesture akin to a curtsey.