[center][h3]??? — Town Outskirts[/h3][/center]
"I take offense to the idea that I do not know the worth of a life—or that I couldn't simply cut you down where you stand," the woman responded simply, not bothering to see what the group of people behind her might have been planning to try with her back turned to them. "I do suppose my phrasing might have been less than ideal, but I should clarify, in case you consider my actions those of a coward: if you do not wish to hand that child over, then make sure you are ready to place your life on the line to keep her safe rather than barking like a stray dog desperate for scraps. Consider the contents of that box a gift of sorts; whether or not you plan to make use of them matters little to me."

With that, the Raven Herald left the four behind. Alvin, who by this point had been subconsciously holding his breath the entire time, let out a sigh of relief as he fell to his knees. The tension in the air had been nearly suffocating, but the woman's choice to retreat meant that they were (hopefully) in the clear.

The black box that the woman had thrown only contained a few items, though: a necklace adorned with a black-metal emblem comprised on a circle and a cross, a delicately engraved jewel of some sort with what seemed to be symbols of some sort on every facet, and a vial of some strange blue-green salve. None of them were labeled, but it was clear that there had to be [i]some[/i] sort of purpose to everything here.

[@Drifting Pollen][@EchoWolff][hr][center][h2]Kochiya Sanae[/h2][h3]??? — Burning Town[/h3][/center]
Despite her attempts to break through the mage's new barrier, Sanae found next to no success—at least, not immediately. The green-haired girl's projectiles hammered into the barrier without pause, and with there being little more than a fraction of a second between one volley and the next, that barrier [i]surely[/i] could not last forever.

At least, that was what Sanae hoped was the case. She didn't have the speed to simply try and press the attack from a different angle, so all that she [i]could[/i] do was attempt to push through with sheer volume. A point-blank spell card also seemed like a course of action to take here, but that would inevitably result in far more damage to the surrounding town (or what remained of it, at least).

Those thoughts were promptly thrown out the window, though, when a baseball-sized rock seemed to barrel through the skies and struck the mage in the shoulder. Sanae couldn't help but wince at the sound, despite it being her enemy that was struck and not her. She had a front-row seat to the results, of course, and the bleeding arm and cracked bones together did not a pleasant visual make.

Hopefully leaving Saria to try and block the attack that had just been fired in retaliation wouldn't lead to a less-than-ideal situation as a result.

[@VitaVitaAR][@Raineh Daze][hr]

"Retreat? You would [i]dare[/i] suggest that I retreat!?" the blonde man spat back, now thoroughly insulted by the toa's choice of words. It had been one thing to catch him off guard in a fight, but it seemed that insulting his pride was one thing that the glaivier would not—no, [i]could not[/i] forgive.

His enemy's warning unheeded, the blonde man took a deep breath and readied his weapon once more. There was but a second's delay before he sprang forward, a smoky black trail left in his wake as he attempted to close the distance between himself and his enemy. Another blast of wind not unlike the one he had taken on in earnest moments prior bore down upon him again, but this time——————

"Enough."

Before the blonde man could attempt to crash through the winds that he had found himself victim to moments prior, the voice of a woman seemed to ring out through the battlefield. Anger had since clouded the man's judgement, though, and it seemed almost as if he would continue forward in spite of that declaration before the appearance of another between the two combatants stopped him in his tracks.

Mainly in part due to the blade gleaming in the sunlight pointed at his throat, though.

"Stand down before I take your head myself, Varst," the newcomer—a woman that the other Heralds seemed to be all to aware of—stated simply as she turned towards the tornado and swung her other sword up towards the sky through it.

In an instant, the howling gales seemed to be [i]split[/i] down the middle, diverting away from her and her apparent subordinate. The presence of the being that 'Varst' had been fighting against seemed to matter little to the woman, who then waited in silence as she stared at the blonde man who seemed to be fuming in rage.

"Not until I cut that oversized—"

"Jerevic will be notified of your failures today. My choice to oversee your mission today does not mean that you will be given the same treatment I provide those under my command. Understood?"

It took a little bit for the implications of what the woman was saying to register, but eventually—and with a look of pure fury on his face— Varst slowly lowered his arms as his weapon returned to "normal".

"...Understood."

"Good," she said, finally turning to look at the opponent Varst had been fighting all this time before pointing her sword towards the skies above the town. "Regroup with what remains of the troops you so brazenly wasted the lives of and withdraw. I've already notified the mage assigned to your team to send the signal out."

As the woman continued to stare down the axe-wielding toa and the glaivier made to leave the battlefield, a beam of intertwining dark blue and yellow energy was promptly launched into the skies by one of the nearby mages. One turned into two, then more as they seemed to pop up all over from the town before simply disappearing. Once that brief light show had finished, though, the woman would begin to walk away, following after the other Heralds leaving the area.

[@Lugubrious][hr]

With his body more or less left prone from falling, the red-haired teenager had no room with which to react as he was promptly thrown out of the way of the collapsing debris. Though he had resolved himself to his death when he had fired those arrows, being thrown to safety by the person who he had to kill was far from what he had expected. Seeing her escape the debris with little more than discomfort from the dust cloud brought forth by the impact was a bit disheartening to see on top of everything else, but the words that she spoke only left the archer confused and, oddly enough, [i]angry[/i].

"Grand words from someone who was ready to kill me moments ago," he spat back, shakily rising to his feet. "Does me being younger than the soldiers you cut down make my life worth more than theirs? I'd rather die with the other Heralds than go back to that damn orphanage they picked me up from, so if you think I'm going to—"

Before he could say any more, though, the sight of those multicolored beams of light rising into the sky caused the archer to stop his tirade and simply glare at the girl who had chosen for a few moments before continuing.

"...You'll regret this. I'll make sure of that."

And with those words of spite, the teenager pulled something out of his pocket and threw it into his mouth before biting into it. The shakiness in his body seemed to disappear as he began to run away, heedless of whatever words she might have thrown back in response, if any.

[@DracoLunaris]