Gertrude didn't like being ordered around, but she was fine with being asked for things. Especially if it came with such gratuitous praise as the captain was willing to give her, or even the more subtle goading Rolan seemed fond of. Both fed the same stomach. Both had to play [i]her game[/i], and that meant she was powerful and amazing.

Being so enticed, she unleashed a litany of kill-you-dead magic to support the Roses' final push against the Talderians, like a raging boar charging into a herd of sheep.

Only sheep would give their lives so readily. Death was cheap in this realm, but even so, it was gross to watch the stupid animals ram themselves into the Roses' blades and cling to them of their own will. One may as well not have a will at all, if the result is to throw one's life away. As the Roses reached the throne, all Gertrude could do was scoff. She wasn't interested in the hollow praise of some old dead guy, so she slinked off to the side as she was apt to do.

This loner behavior paid dividends almost immediately as Gertrude felt a sense of dread creep up her spine. Perhaps she had time enough to warn some of the others, if that was her instinct, but it simply was not. Her broom yanked both her and Gretchen roughly to the side as she exclaimed the only thing that had come to mind in the moment.

"FUCK!"

---

It was hard not to admire Gisela's Annihilation Star, though at the same time it had Gertrude seething with jealousy. The woman had dug out an entire glass cavern, and from such a distance too. The ambush had cost them a few people, the captain and the oaf being among them, and the message was clear.

Get complacent and die.

Well, it was something Gertrude could get behind, at least. She knew that she was already an amazing genius, but she had no intention of stopping until she was the best. She slinked back to the group like a cat that had been shooed away before getting her due pettings, and glanced at the message which had simply confirmed what she had already thought.

"Gisela the Hundi mage and her fightsexual Demon... friend? Wife?" Gertrude grumbled, "she has the most disgusting amount of mana I've ever seen and probably hundreds of years of experience, and Krysia is a high-level warrior Demon."

Gertrude yawned.

"Well, identifying your routes and splitting up is about all you can do, but that sounds boring. Gretchen and I are gonna take a break while you fine knightfolk carry out the legwork."

With that, she unceremoniously reached out to give Fanny a pat on the head.