Shot after shot pinged off of Garland's blade and the sturdier parts of his armor, the Valheimr general striving to keep his remaining pauldron between his body and Eliane's line of fire. A large Firaga fireball surged from his hand in response, aimed at the ground to catch Eliane cleanly in the blast radius on an attempted dodge. But that still cost him time.

As she had with Adrammelech, Izayoi came crashing down upon Garland, her blade greedily drawing in the aetheric bolt of lightning and redirecting it down upon the black knight in one fell cleave. For his part, Garland raised his blade to block, the electricity radiating off of the samurai's Raijingeki strike coursing off of her blade and down through his own, his armor, and himself. Garland remained silent even as lightning wracked his body, not even letting out a grunt as his arms trembled from it and the downward force of Izayoi's swing.

When the electricity fizzled away, Izayoi found herself atop blank air for a moment as Garland yanked his blade back with force, his free hand plucking her out of midair by the throat and strangling her.

"Your reputation is almost deserved." He hissed towards the Limbtaker, who snarled in response, struggling to reach for her wakizashi with her off hand. "But parlor tricks such as that will avail you little. Farewell, General." He raised his claymore, preparing to finish Izayoi off, when a hazy, grasping hand reached his greave. One quick look down at what had gripped his ankle was all it took: it left Garland taken off-guard by Chisato's cannon, and his only alarm was the sound of it firing. The shot crashed straight into his back, tearing through his cape before impacting against plate.

As Garland let a pained retch out, his grip on Izayoi loosened to the point where the Mystrel managed to suck in enough air to reach for her short blade, hastily slicing it across a connecting joint in his gauntlet to force him to drop her. She beat a hasty retreat, backstepping several paces before falling to one knee, heaving for air as she glared death at Garland.

___

Even through the pain of the Dispelja, Garuda regarded Esben for a brief moment, as if judging his worth...and stretched a claw out towards Esben's notebook, her intent obvious-



She recoiled, a hole left in her head, and began to break apart into aether, some being sucked into Hellfire. The majority of Garuda's component aether dissipated, leaving only the source of the noise still standing:

Garland, his mantle in shreds, missing a pauldron, and his back armor in ruins, still stood, catching his breath as his left hand held a massive pistol, its barrel still smoking.

"There will be none of that. If we cannot secure Garuda's power, then neither shall you. Now, shall we continue? This dance is far from finished-"

"General!" A desperate cry came from the airship, now seemingly in the process of engine ignition. "We're out of time! Skaeler air patrols have caught on to our presence! Two minutes until they're within range!"

Garland regarded the news with stony silence, before a snap of his fingers practically warped Hellfire straight aboard the airship deck in a burst of magic.

"Unfortunate." He remarked, shifting around in his damaged armor to grip his sword. "Then we declare this a draw. Steel yourselves well for our next meeting, Warriors of Light. Pray that you survive." The same trick he just pulled saw himself aboard the stealth frigate as well, the small airship taking off as the sound of griffins and light engines alike began to roar in the distance.

From their position atop the ruined hill, all the Kirins could do was watch as the Valheimr incursion force made its escape, the Skaeler air patrol just now coming into sight.

"Cura," she hissed, seeing no need to conserve herself further now the enemy was running away. As always, it was imperfect battlefield healing… but that was enough to close her numerous lacerations (and damaged eardrums) up, which was the important thing. Maybe she was still close enough to get one of the others? If not, then she could just get over there and cast again…

As far as battles went, this was technically the Kirins' victory, Miina supposed. Valheim had been denied their objective – even if they hadn't secured Garuda as an ally – and none of them had died or suffered a permanent life-changing injury. Probably. Hm, numb arm was still attached, just down one sling, and pushing herself upright… okay, nobody else had lost a limb or anything and that probably got most of the things she couldn't heal.

But she felt they were worse off regardless. Wherever that general had been dug up from, he was a match for all of them, and so many of their trump cards had been played in this initial bout (where had Chisato even been keeping that?). Garland had been somewhat battered but hadn't had to stretch himself or show anything that might have been held in reserve.

And Miina didn't have anything that could swing the balance, which was frustrating. Even if she had helped, rather than her dispel only being a fraction as strong as it needed to be, it wouldn't change anything.

And there was no way they were getting through Skael without running into him again.

"But m-m-maybe we'll find how Valheim has an actual m-mage," she wondered aloud, slowly walking back to the rest of the group, sword sheathed and golden light playing across her fingers. She really ought to focus on who needed healing most, but that… now she thought about it, wasn't that bizarre? All that technology, as well as whatever Valheim's connection was to the blight, and one of their generals was a black mage. Well, that's what he'd shown off… and whatever teleporting was.

Maybe she could learn that one, she had the Exit materia as a reference…

A flood of vitality surged into Rudolf down the arm as he made contact with the black greave, buffering his ringing skull with stability— at least, enough to restore proper response in his extremities even as his ears still rang. He allowed himself two breaths— the first to steel himself, flooding his lungs with the raw, ozone-scented air that the wake of Izayoi's raijingeki had left. It didn't seem like it had troubled him much after all... but there were many ways to kill an armored man besides a bolt from the heavens. He grit his teeth.

The second propelled him, to wrestle up on the leg, to test the ringen of thi—

As he surged up onto his legs to drive forth through the Garland's base, to wrench the leg against its' joint at the hip and ground the bigger man, he was met with a blossom of flame and brace of concussive force, shredding through the purple of his quarry's cape. Entangled like this, he had no time to even identify the report of the cannon— let alone evade the explosion as it tore into black steel.¹ His grip faltered for an instant—

And the vertigo, as the Valheimr general flung him away, growling in pain. Rudolf tumbled end over end, rolling to a stop some indeterminate distance away, and thought to himself that things were probably going in the wrong direction. It was too much. The strength, the skill, even the natural command over aether... Maybe this was how his brother felt, when a third of his company were trying to contain the rampage of that warrior from afar. Certainly, anyone that could casually toss Izayoi aside like that had to be in the running, if not even that figure's superior. Cold, imperious, implacable... it felt like staring at a summit from the base.²

A deep throated bark sounded from Garland's direction, prompting Rudolf to drag himself upward once more. Garuda's form fading before them, and the dark knight holding a pistol of unfamiliar make. He dully stared behind the eye slits of his visor, the closing remarks of their foe all but bouncing off his scuffed-up helm. So the question of Garuda was a wash... better than Valheim turning her against them, sure, but not by much if the winds would rage without her guiding hand. Skael's blizzards were famously terrible even in the age where winds didn't go rogue. He'd hate to see them exceed those stories now.

As for the "draw"...

Rudolf hauled an arm upward, black emberlight dancing from his fingertips to his palm... and with a snap of the fingers, Garland was on the retreating airship. The completed form of shadowstepping? Maybe.³

His arm sagged and the flames dimmed as the airship took to the skies, just a little too quickly for Rudolf to think he'd get lucky by lobbing a ball of fire into something important— the most he would do is singe at the outer edges of the hull— and potentially give the enemy more insight into the nature of the blackflame they surely already knew he wielded. The abrasion. The source. The edge of how far he could fling it. All cards that smart men would keep close to their chests.

He'd rather not burn down luck on a futile effort like that, either. In the wake of this, they needed all they could get.

He stepped forward, catching himself on the first few strides before he steadied, and walked to collect his scattered arms, silent save for slow, controlled breathing until he heard Miina's idle musing.

"They manifest of their own accord everywhere else," he noted, prying his rondel from the frozen earth. "I suppose Valheim would be no different, even with Etro's blessings gone. Wouldn't be the first time magic and faith have had worse than zero intersection, I don't think."

His head hurt.

---

---

• _{1. Damn it all. That will not buff out.}
• _{2. Oh. I know how you work by now. That one's sticking.}
• _{3. Let's just assume "yes". Even if it isn't, aiming for that and aiming for him will help you out in the long run and buy me at least a hundred more hours of drilling you. Rejoice, boy. You have now a clear picture of what you need to make yourself. Find him within you.}

---

Unsurprisingly, he was proven correct about the Valheim-running-off part. But as Garuda dissipated into loose æther after being shot by Garland, Esben couldn't help but shoot the man a reproachful glare. It wasn't a complete set-back for the Kirins, but it was a massive annoyance. In moments, though, the Valheimer airship was floating away, as Skaeller close air support was starting to be visible in the sky. "Eos. Selene."

The fairies popped back in to either side of him. Selene's tiny palm placed itself over his lips before he could speak again, the pair looking him over once before nodding to themselves.

"...Right. Look over the others, please. Rudolf got his bell rung pretty well, Miina was caught in that same blast as you were, and Izayoi might have some bruising around her throat."

"Got it!" Eos rushed off over to Miina, taking her limp hand and straining to lift her arm up to get a better look. Selene nodded as well, floating over to Rudolf and trying to peer in through the slots of his helmet. Galahad and Éliane at least didn't seem to have been touched at all...he'd seen Chisato tumble after firing off her cannon, but she was back on her feet in an instant and didn't look to be harmed either. Better than they'd been dealing with, at least, and faster done—which left only the problem of checking in on Garuda herself.

He reached into his cloak, pulling out the crystal that Cid had handed him when they had stumbled into Ramuh's grove. It was, unsurprsingly, glowing brightly—Garuda's summit was clearly a holy enough location to call him in. "Avert your eyes, everybody," he warned the others, as the crystal began to grow warmer in his grasp with his focus upon it. "This thing gets painfully bright once Cid's on his way..."

There was a lavender hue, faint to the point of nearly being washed out by the albedo of mountaintop snow, hitting his brow. Through the twin slots that made up his visor, windows through the stony black edifice, the fairy could see small coppery points shy away a little from her glow after they'd confirmed the source.

"Selene... Hey, kid. How you holding up after the hailstorm?" Rudolf breathed after his eyes were properly shaded again from incoming light, forcing some sense of chumminess through the feeling of having survived a stampede the hard way. His weapons collected and well in hand again, his helmet was cast downward as the seance crystal in Esben's hands began to burn hot with collected sunlight— looking the steel over for damage while he listened for her response.

He doubted he'd spool her into too much glib-tongued sidetracking, though. He and Eos had a great track record working with one another so far, but he was at this point all but certain that Selene was the smarter one of the pair. Though, her presence still revealed one thing, even if she deigned not to play ball— getting this close this readily pretty neatly corroborated the fact that his glib-tongued, sidetracking influence had suddenly stopped chatting so much.

He still wanted nothing to do with Cid, in so many words.¹

---

---

• _{1. A quote from The Meditations of Duke Horacio of Midgar, when faced with ransomer's demands coming from along the edge of the Northern Border circa 300 years ago: "Fuck Off."}

---

"It appears the quality of enemy we're facing is growing." Galahad remarked as he landed by Izayoi. He glanced over at where Garuda had dissipated. Being unable to secure the spirit's power was certainly a blow- such a boon would've helped them tremendously, but at the very least they were able to stop Valheim from securing their objectives too, thanks in no small part to the Skaellan air patrol. His breath steamed the cold air, the combat had been intense enough to have been rather exerting, though luckily he seemed not have sustained injury- having to repair his armor again, so soon after getting it fixed would've been a nuisance. He considered taking up smithing, if just to be able to fix armor in the field.

"Here, I'll tend to your injuries." Galahad remarked as he held out a hand with the heal materia he had acquired and began to cast it. At least this injury seemed simple enough for the Heal materia- after the debacle with Behemoth, Galahad had considered throwing it away, but didn't because it was materia, and materia was expensive.

Galahad glanced over once as Esben began summoning Cid. "I wonder what he'll think when we tell him that we let Garuda be shot in the head."

It didn't pierce the armor.

If I had more time to aim, then maybe I could have hurt the Valheim dog more seriously. But he was still able to vanquish Garuda, though our objective had been completed and Valheim's goal denied.

And none of the others had been harmed further than they already had been. At the very least, the shot had accomplished that much.I would have to retrieve the cannon in a few moments.

Shilage-san is alive. There is no need to worry myself any further than that in regards to that matter. Malina-san is alive and already mending what injuries she can, as well, despite her dire state. I can do little to assist with mending injuries in a more effective manner, but at least I was able to ensure that neither was harmed further. Izayoi-dono, too, had been able to break free due to the shot. My ears are still ringing, so I am at least happy that using that thing was able to achieve as much as it had. Had I failed---

I do not believe there is any purpose in thinking of such an outcome. Guaranteeing the success of this mission, and by extension the survival of my allies, is the most important matter as of this moment.

---Garland. That Valheim dog was strong, and well-prepared. Slowly, I make a mental catalogue of every technique, every piece of equipment that he had utilized. He had not been pushed particularly far, and he had even been able to overpower Izayoi-dono, but at the same time keeping in mind everything he had shown himself to be capable of would only benefit us for the future.

"... Had I more time, I would have taken more careful aim," I speak half to myself. But ultimately, there is no longer any purpose in worrying about that.

For the moment, I should simply be ready to offer my assistance to my allies.

---

Éliane’s reaction to seeing the Skaelan air forces finally respond was instant and loud. Pumping a fist, she yelled out at the specks in the sky as that fist became more like a girl shaking her fist at the sky. “About god damn time!”

The appearance of reinforcements had all but won the battle in the Kirins’ favor, if only barely. The Valheimians had been bullied off of their objectives, but only just barely and in the end at the expense of Garuda and some additional injuries to her team. Fighting back her desire to pursue the enemy ship in some way, she looked back over at Izayoi with some concern, but it seemed she would be fine quickly enough. Safe-ing and sheathing her weapons, the Skaelan officer let out a sigh as she ran her fingers through her pink hair.

Valheim’s continued and nearly unmolested abuse of her country made her feel impotent, even if she was already best placed to do something about it. Shoving the unwelcome thoughts rushing into her head now that the battle high was beginning to wear off, she glanced over at Esben as he pulled out Cid’s crystal.

“Esben…” she began, as she pulled out a domestic signaling flare that she had obtained with her resupply, “have you considered how that’s going to look when it overpowers the light that’s supposed to signal we’re friendlies?”

She was confident the air patrol would break off to intercept the escaping Valheimians, but there was still a chance a portion might make a flyover or an attack without the knowledge of what transpired on the ground. Then they would be subject to the tender mercies of air to ground friendly fire…

Opening some distance from Esben, she popped the flare and hoped for the best.

Summoned by the light of the crystal, Cid appeared in a radiant burst, standing up straight as he surveyed where he had been summoned. And blinked.

”Garuda’s rise? Why did…?” He stretched a hand out, closing his eyes as the old sage murmured a chant under his breath. Aether began to gather and well up before him...only to fizzle and dissipate when it was at its greatest concentration. The blowback of the dissipation forced Cid to open his eyes, his brow furrowed.

"What happened? Garuda is already manifested upon the material plane, but only in part. She cannot be summoned in truth like this. Was she sealed?"

One recounting of events later, Cid stroked his beard, his expression deeply troubled.

"This is a situation I've not encountered before, in all mine years upon this star. To have even part of Garuda's component aether absorbed into Ifrit's equivalent to Eve...no Eidolon can remain on this plane in multiple incarnations at once. It may not have been this Garland's intent, but the fact remains that Garuda's power is lost to you now unless this Hellfire is either defeated or uses up the aether he stole from the South Wind."

Izayoi nodded her thanks as Galahad began to heal her wounds, adding in the power of her own Cure materia in order to alleviate the burden upon him. With both that and Cid's explanation complete, she rose to her feet as she beheld the small patrol of three Skaeller airships begin to descend in response to Eliane's flare, the leadmost ship being the only one to touch ground.

From it emerged a trio of soldiers in the uniform of the air patrol, who stopped to salute the moment they saw Eliane's uniform and chevrons.

"Dame Commander! High Command has briefed us of your mission, and of Valheim's breach of our defense line. Our failure to account for their stealth frigate is inexcusable, but we can still offer you passage to Falcon's Nest. Please, if you'll follow us aboard."

With no personal investment in the Skaelan military – for or against – and no connections to anything they should object to beyond maybe the Kirins themselves if things had gone badly wrong, which it seemed that hadn't, Miina was confident to just stand and wait while the airship descended, then follow onboard without a word.

Once they were in the air, she had to admit it was a nice view. Perched on the side with her legs threaded through the railing, dangling precariously over the abyss, was a perfect vantage point to just… watch. Everything seemed so small, and she could only wonder how many stares they would attract. Or hostile attention, if Valheim was considering contesting airspace. In which case, this was really a dangerous place to sit, even more than her disregard for the risk of falling already was.

But she had Galahad's tips, and magic, so mostly it would be an inconvenience. Probably for her, she'd need to catch up on foot. Unless they were stupid enough to descend after one overboard cat…

Not that she was sitting here to admire the view, it just kept her somewhat out of the way. At first, Miina had considered more in-depth healing, but she didn't want to completely exhaust herself just in case of an ambush or something, although the trip would be too short for that to seem like a major possibility after Garland's retreat. Too short to go study that exit materia, too, and she didn't want to consider where that might leave her if it was activated.

So instead, she'd decided to make an effort to repair some of the rips in her coat. Threading the damn needle had been hard enough, but at least she'd had her mouth, but the actual sewing was another entirely. Obviously, she couldn't steady it, just relying on how heavy it was, and trying to keep the repairs some form of neat…

Well, it would be better than rips. As frustrating as it was. And as much as not having the coat on reminded her how cold it was up here, but she could always cheat with magic if that got too much. Even if it would cut into her remaining combat utility for the day.

Though he historically liked perching on his high places, such as the nights spent on the masts whenever the party had taken to sea or the crenellations and arborea of Castle Demet, Rudolf still found himself drifting towards the center of the wooden caravel once the Warriors of Light had been ushered aboard by the crew. It was a thing unlike those in a way you couldn't ignore or transpose between— it hung suspended below an oversized balloon on a web of steel line, a ship that sailed through sky rather than surf. The high places he liked to seclude himself away in were still, in some way, rooted to the ground. They made contact with something below, something that would catch him all too quick if he teetered off the side.

On airships like these... If he didn't have something at least as distracting as Valon in front of him, he could feel the void beneath, even through the quarters, gun decks, ammo belt, and keel below. As they lifted off and set course upon the invisible currents for Falcon's Nest, he could feel in the pit of his gut that it was a much longer, much emptier way down if something like their skirmish with Siren were to come to pass again. An empty concern, the crew knew what they were doing and the airship was of ample construction, but instincts were instincts, and they bestowed onto him the same vertigo he'd felt gnawing at his stomach just an instant before the granary blew up in his face.

So, he sat at rest quietly, propped against the frontal wall of the aftcastle and sword resting against pauldron as he studied the wood of the deck, mind aching and elsewhere. His gaze was smoldering beneath the greathelm, not quite reaching a furious burn— he hadn't the energy to rage against the setbacks as they settled into his memory. Only to review. Even if he stayed away from the railings, there was still a yawning chasm to peer into.

Garland had called the engagement on the summit a draw. They had pretty quickly torn into his armor, and forced him to retreat after denying his main objective. In broad scope, this read as their party being able to contend with this new foe when they needed to... but from Rudolf's perspective, the right interpretation would be to flip that on its' head.

Looking at it not at all differently, a lone knight in Garland was able to check all six of them. Waves of Earth and Ice at his command on a moment's notice, prodigious strength enough to leave their best-armored frontliner in this state after one exchange—

Who was he kidding. After one strike, Garland had nearly taken little Rudi out of the fight completely. Strong as an ox, deft enough to catch Izayoi in midair, between her strikes, and calm to the point that even when he was swarmed by three of them at a time, he could pick off each individual bullet that had come from Eliane's gunblade, parrying or checking everything as it came to him. In retrospect, he had to agree with what he'd been told was Izayoi's summation of the black knight's ability— easily her master's equal. Ice ran through his veins, the whole encounter a dunk in the fjords below.

Titanically strong, ruthless and deft in body and mind... And above all, a natural font of magic. Quake, Blizzaga, and what looked to him like the same shadowstep he had only just begun to train. He almost wanted to ask if there might be a demon involved somewhere¹, just to try and explain the absurd stack of talent contained within their foe. Seriously, how the hell was that fair?

It was like a point of mockery by Ithar, jokes on fate wrote, that the last thing Rudolf had managed to contribute to the brawl was crawling along to grab at Garland's ankles. That flowing purple mantle seemed to dance upon the wind that coursed over the ship, every time he closed his eyes. All he could see was the Valheimr conqueror's back, looming over him, so far ahead, and so far above. Like taunting him with an image somewhere he could never go. Something he could never become.

His right hand flexed within the gauntlet, and Rudolf glanced over. He'd more or less borne the brunt of the impact from Chisato's cannon thanks to the strength he had stolen when his hand had closed around Garland's ankle. Even though it had only been momentary contact, that vitality had ensured things didn't go that much worse.

... Stealing that strength for himself, eh? If he could reach out and touch the figure he now chased, that unfair totem of power might just bolster him, in a way that would even the odds a little.² If that was what they were fighting, then...

He sat with that thought for a good long while, as the ice raced far beneath them.

---

---

• _{1. I uh, I don't know. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell that disassociative vision was, if it was just you freaking out or something a lllLOT more concerning.}
• _{2. Can't really get into it, but this is so nostalgic. Keep it up. You keep doing this. We're gonna do great under this direction.}

---

"Stealth frigate? What I wouldn't do for one of those." Galahad remarked mirthlessly as they met with the Skaeller air patrol. He glanced at Éliane, "Working on the assumption that we defeat Garland eventually, while keeping his ship intact, do you think your country would spare us some men to operate such a ship? It'd make traversing this continent much faster, that's for certain."

Galahad would board the ship with the rest of the Kirins. He'd find his way to the fore of the ship, where he'd find himself staring off into the vast sky and the ground below. For a man who spent much of his fighting time in the sky, the wonders of airships never ceased to amaze him. Despite their circumstances, he enjoyed it up here, much like a fish to water. The wind whipping across his face was loud enough to block out unpleasant thoughts, at least for a while, allowing him to focus on their next steps- whatever that may be. These days he found himself feeling more reactive than proactive. Despite their best efforts, they always felt one step behind Valheim and their machinations.

Too many fires to put out, too few of them to put them all out at once. By the time they put out one fire, three more had popped up in three separate corners of the continent. It didn't help that Galahad had seen nor heard tale of any of the adventuring parties that left Castle Balmung all those months ago- save for when they crossed into the Demets' territory... though that one meeting didn't fill him with much confidence either.

"Us against the world." Galahad sighed to himself, "It hardly seems fair, does it?"

---

As it turned out, Éliane’s fears were unfounded. A short while later, she was greeting what felt like the first real friendlies in the country outside of personal relations to the Kirins. She returned a slightly sloppier salute, but one that still fell in the bounds of conduct becoming of a Skaelan officer. “With how bad things have been going, better late than never,” she sighed, words dry. “But we’ll gladly take that ride.”

There were a lot of things that needed rectifying now that so many holes had been exposed in her country’s defenses, but nothing that she or any of her superiors could act upon now, unfortunately.

“Now there’s a thought.” Éliane turned towards Galahad at his words, her hands already at her chin. “Let’s do it. I want one too. Think of all the weapons we could put on it, the technology that we could steal…” Wiping the dreamy look off her face, she inclined her head more seriously towards the dragoon. “With our mission, it’s possible. It might depend on how difficult the learning curve and manning requirements are compared to our own ships, though. The design principles are fairly different,” she gestured towards the craft they were boarding. As proud as she was of her own country’s technology and designs, Éliane had to admit they were behind the curve compared to Valheim in at least this aspect.

“When we get one, I’ll crew it with my own men if I have to. I’ll make it work.”

She soon settled into the flight to Falcon’s Nest. With the brief downtime, Éliane took the opportunity to search for the ship’s skipper; it was the first real chance to get a better picture now that there was someone more plugged in to talk to. “What’s the situation with High Command and the rest of the country right now? Solitude?”

---

He could do little but sigh at the news that Cid had regarding Garuda's status. "Stolen æther keeping her from fully disincorporating? Wonderful," Esben replied flatly, as the fairies flitted between the various Kirins. Selene—after quickly hushing Rudolf—quickly left his side, satisfied enough with his state to go and check on Izayoi and Galahad as they healed their wounds. Eos bounced back and forth between Miina and Chisato, worrying over the nerve damage that she'd been yet to observe, sparing a glance off to Éliane just long enough to decide she needed to shield her eyes from the flare and turn back to the other two. With the Skaeller air patrol rapidly approaching, there wasn't long to plan with Cid, but he could at least offer some small warning—

"As far as we're aware, Solitude itself may be compromised. I worry that Shiva may be subject to the same sort of attack before long. If so...I expect they may be veering west to try and swing around outside of the Nest's patrol range. It may be worthwhile to check in on Shiva if you're able." Behind them the Skaeller patrol landed, the airmen who descended to meet them greeting Éliane quickly. "Until next time, Cid. Do keep Eve out of trouble for us."

---

The flight, at least, was comfortable enough, though there was little to do upon it after making the same warning to one of the crew to take to their commanding officer but make further note of the recent goings-on, and listen in on the scant conversation of the others. Such as Galahad and Éliane musing about capturing a stealth frigate. As the dame commander left, he considered the idea himself for a moment...before shaking his head and discarding it. Too much of a ship, not to mention that the flying sort wasn't his preferred type of ship. "If we get our hands on one, it'll likely only be for long enough to crash it like we did in Drana Asnaeu," he added once she was out of earshot. "Or it'll only be once we're running them off our continent. I don't really fancy our chances to capture one otherwise while they still have a power base here."

"Won't lie to your face, ma'am." The ship's captain replied gruffly to Eliane, his brow furrowed. "Command is more focused on making sure the situation doesn't spread out than actually working on containing it. We don't even know what in all hells even happened in the capital yet, but the Overseer and most of the remaining Seven're focusing on making sure the rest of the realm doesn't either." He sighed, reaching for a pipe and tobacco with a shake of his head.

"Wife and three children all still down there, and there's been no damn move whatsoever to even try to approach after the first few teams went missing. You all had better change that." A near mutinous grumble.

___

Falcon's Nest, Fortress City

Carved into the side of two opposing mountain ranges atop a river, Falcon's Nest was a testament to Skaeler artifice and ingenuity: an entirely manmade chokepoint designed to be a fortress at the very heart of Skael's territory. The great citadel came into view half an hour before the airship even reached city limits, and once it did, the craft made its way straight towards the top of one of the fortress's towers, where a landing pad had already been authorized for their use.

The moment the Kirins left the ship, Kayliss was already waiting for them on the dock, arms folded. She exhaled slowly upon seeing them.

"About time. I hope you're all still mission-capable. We need results. Quickly. The Seven are being...stubborn." Kayliss led the party into the fortress, bidding them follow through meandering halls and several guarded checkpoints before finally reaching what looked to be a meeting room, coffee and pastries steaming on a side table. After the party quickly briefed her on what had occurred since they parted ways, the spymaster took one last sip of hot brew, looking over every Warrior of Light in turn.

"Right. My end of things, then: for one, the Valheimr have made themselves known. Our long range patrols report that they've started to set up forward outposts outside of Solitude proper, though there's been no activity indicating that they've entered the city at all. High Command wants them erased off the map. But." Here, her face scrunched into something resembling frustration. "We've reports that a flock of dragons has come into contact with Blightbeasts to the east." A nod to Galahad.

"The usual migration was late this year. And Blighted dragons on our flank are the last thing we need right now. The remaining Seven won't authorize moving on Solitude until both of these threats are dealt with, and our own forces are...admittedly outstretched putting out fires across the country. I can provide some support to both groups, but you'll need to split into two teams if we want to investigate Solitude any time soon. Ask your questions and divide yourselves as you see fit. We'll deploy as soon as you're prepared."

The belly of the beast, on another day, would have set the little Shilage's heart alight with wonder. Standing at command of the tight river valley and embedded deep into the steep, jagged stone rises flanking either end, the fault-block range in effect afforded Falcon's Nest miles of stone and ice to guard any attempted approaches from north or south. Its high spired towers may not have crested the peaks surrounding entirely, but they stood tall all the same, thin pennants fluttering in the high winds that rushed through the valley— enough that he was certain their lookout posts had miles of visibility on a clear day, spotting their airship as soon as they had spotted the fortress— to say nothing of the water traffic below. The city nestled at the heart of so many towers, merlons, and ramparts was fed by the waterway through a massive portcullis of black iron at the head of the barbican¹ they saw on their final approach, the baileys within a network of stone terraces ascending out from the valley again towards either peak, this time at the regimented pace only human engineering decreed. As the Kirins disembarked, he caught glimpses of a maze of ramparts and causeways that connected it all, arteries that guided everything out from the furthest tower back into the beating heart of the keep.

But time was short, and they were ushered into Kayliss's awaiting escort. Sightseeing and exploring and indulging in boyish fantasies of "cracking open a beer and daring Valheim to try sieging this shit after I've had a week to make it Even More Annoying" would have to wait for another day, if life had enough luck left to give it to him to begin with. Greetings were sparse as they set off into the arterial tunnels below the pad, everyone essentially settling into the pace of a forced march. The question of mission-readiness went unanswered; largely textural in being brought up at all at this point. Ithar loved a quick turnaround, where their lot was concerned.

His head still throbbed some with each footfall that drove into the cold, smooth tiling as they walked, but his vision was about done clearing up, and his ears only rang with the echoes of a bell tone if there wasn't something more important for them to latch onto. By the time they reached their debriefing room, he felt comfortable unclasping his twisted helm and holding it at his side in the crook of an arm, the other freed to pilfer one of the steaming mugs of coffee. As the Spymaster spoke, he let his eyes narrow pensively as the dilemma unfurled, accentuating the bitter notes of smoke in the dark roast beyond the power of the brew or the bean alone.

"Right into it with this shit, huh...?" he muttered in vexed undertone. Splitting up had gone pear-shaped for them more often than not, but their hands were tied by all powers that seemed to still be— hearing the way Kayliss was saying it, the simultaneity of these encroaching threats left Division of Labor non-negotiable.

He breathed out through the nose, considering his questions more carefully than his preference of assignment. Quite a plurality of people here— Kayliss, Esben, maybe Galahad, and without a doubt Izayoi and Chisato both— would be thoroughly unsurprised that one of these tasks aligned with so much more of his upbringing than the other.

"Okay, so before I ride out. Are there any maps plotted out yet of where these forward outposts are? If there's any particular concentration of them, that's our best shot at determining the directionality of the larger main. Or at least a staging area— those airships Garland and pals are skiffing about on have to be landing somewhere, this far south. If I'm putting their fingertips to the sword, I'd be remiss to not try and take the knuckles while I'm at it. More we cut off their available approach, more breathing room we have to develop the terrain outside the city. Just academic at that point."

"... I doubt it's going to be the traditional raid you're imagining." A voice cut in from somewhere tall, native, and off to the side.

Rudolf shot Esben a sidelong glance, brow beginning to furrow now. "I heard 'wiped off the map'." the counter came.² "That paints a familiar picture."

---

---

• _{1. I'm getting pretty hungry.}
• _{2. Fight! Fight! Fight!}

---

"I have a bad feeling that the level of support we'll receive won't be enough to back up anything conventional—and as I recall from Kugane and Brightlam, you have a great background in the sort of tactics one could expect of the Shilage Raiders and up to larger forces. Numbers we don't have the luxury of. Too high a chance of reprisal for us to follow normal action without."

He stated it as matter-of-factly as when they'd been planning Hien's rescue. Were they in the position of anything that would approach typical, he'd throw Rudolf, Galahad, and Izayoi into a room and tell them to come up with a plan for the rest to follow; in the absence of that, planning was just that little bit more involved. "I still want your thoughts on the terrain once we have their locations plotted out. Anything your gut tells you about their supply lines, and likely avenues of providing support to each other. You and Izayoi both should have insights for us on that."

He could already feel that the division of the team was likely to be the sticky spot for them all. Sending Galahad after the dragons was obvious, as was sending himself towards Solitude. Izayoi could go either way, between her experience harrying the invaders and general position as one of the team's heavy hitters. Rudolf had tactical acumen and could sneak around better than Galahad, but he was also the only other one among them with any significant armor that could help him withstand fighting a dragon the way it already had with the Behemoth.

Chisato he'd already decided would join him in harrying the Valheimer outposts. Miina, much as he would like the girl's knack for turning herself invisble on his team, would have to go with the dragon team, as the chances they'd need something more than materia and potions would be higher than the benefit he'd gain having her around. And this close to home, there was no chance that Éliane could be dissuaded from focusing on Solitude...and she was at least as good at sneaking around as Rudolf was. Sorry in advance, Rudi...

He looked over to Kayliss. "That all said—you heard him. Do we have any maps, or can one of the patrols at least plot something rough out for us to look at? Between that and the three of us locals we can probably figure out what ground features they've dug themselves in around."

“I’ll h-help with dragons,” Miina had stated without preamble or taking time to think over it. While she could maybe help with another infiltration mission, there were enough natives here that it was better just taking them and Chisato or something. She was really picking up one too many distinctive traits for sneaky infiltration work.

Besides, dragons? Dragons were interesting. Of all the animals, she couldn’t think of one that would be more useful to magical study… even if the connection to Eve was a lot more roundabout. Still, if they had an effect on aether, she wanted to see it.

But that meant knowing what she was up against, and dragons weren’t the sort of thing that featured heavily in her upbringing. Big. Fire. There had to be more to it – but there was an expert on hand, right? Stuffing the last of some oddly-flaky pastry in her mouth, Miina tapped Galahad’s shoulder a few times and indicated the doorway.

”I suppose it would be fairly natural for me to take on the dragons as well.” Galahad noted as he stood. ”Plus, I don't imagine I'd be particularly good with infiltration. Safe to say, it isn't my strong suit.”

Glancing after the small mystrel, Galahad merely shrugged and followed her to the door. Reaching over her, Galahad opened the door and gestured for Miina to enter.

”Not to sound too presumptuous, but I have a feeling I know what you're about to ask, but go ahead and ask anyway.” he hummed, ”Are we seeking general knowledge or specific? “

“B-Both? I know d-d-dragons are big, fly, fiery…” Miina shrugged, “But weaknesses? Anything else?”

”Well, for one, they're not all fiery.” Galahad chuckled. ”Dragons breathe all sorts of elements, but for the most part the most common are fire, ice and lightning. The main three types of elemental magic.”

Galahad pulled his sash from his waist and flipped the end over, showing a variety of dragon scales lining it. ”Elements are typically based on color- but not always. Generally red and green dragons breathe fire, blue and yellow breathe lightning, and white breathes ice. As expected, dragons are typically more resilient against the element that they can breathe, so if you're going to use magic use a different element type.”

He tapped a gauntleted knuckle against one of the large scales. ”Dragon scales are as hard as steel. So directly attacking them is typically out of the picture without a dedicated weapon like mine, but they generally have fewer scales where their wings meet their bodies, as well as the actual winghide itself, and the underarm joints.”

Galahad hummed and tapped his chin, feeling a bit like he'd been lecturing a bit much, but she had asked. ”Behavior wise… I'm not entirely sure what to expect. These are blighted dragons, so they probably don't have the same mind as typical dragons.”

“M-M-Maybe not blighted yet,” Miina pointed out. All the elements, then? Well, she could work with that, although it was annoying to have it mostly based on colour. Though perhaps it would be more obvious once she could see the creatures themselves… and if they were blighted, maybe that was irrelevant.

At least Galahad could use a single solution for all.

“What d-do they normally do?”

”Fair.” he nodded, ”“As far as their usual habits, they're mostly solitary creatures. The young will stay with their parents, but will typically find their own roosts after adulthood.”

”They're usually the apex predator of whatever area they settle in. Territorial to boot. Intelligent in an animalistic way. They sleep, fly, and hunt, animals and humanoids are all the same to them.”

Galahad tapped his chin. ”Wind magic might actually be useful, for forcing them onto the ground. They're typically more than happy to stay in the sky and rain breath attacks down until they're sure they can kill with their claws and teeth. That's why dragons had to learn to jump, to take the fight to them.”

“Wind, huh…” Miina looked thoughtful, “Y-Yeah, I think I can ground them. Rrrreaally well.”

She was getting pretty practised at tornadoes, even if balancing things with one arm… ah, she should go work on that now, she didn’t want to try it for the first time with the new catalyst under fire (literally) either.

“I’m g-going to prepare,” the mystrel announced, pausing for a second, “Th-Thank you.”

And then she scampered off.

---

"Well, there's two reading my mind," Esben observed daily. It was an obvious conclusion that those two would be on the dragon team, but at least he didn't have to say it so quickly. "I'm on Solitude, obviously. Chisato, you're with me. Izayoi, I'd suggest you on the dragons after you and Rudolf can give your input on the outposts. Éliane—Solitude, ja? You're not planning to surprise me this late?"

"---Very well."

Remaining in town is most suited to my skillset. There is no denying that, so on that front I agree with Mathiassen-san entirely.I am adept at killing, naturally, and dragons can die like any other creature. But in terms of direct application of my capabilities, remaining in Solitude is the wiser choice.

If that were my only concern, I would have no qualms with the decision.

---However.

I had pledged assistance to a crippled ally. Even if she does not understand why I had pledged such assistance, the fact still remains.

Despite the fact that I am well aware my skillset is best suited to going to Solitude, I cannot help the twinge of concern I feel regardless. It is my duty to ensure that my allies survive in order to fulfill their duties, and operate as close to full capability as they can for the same end.

I will not protest. Mathiassen-san's decision is perfectly sound.

---But I do not feel altogether comfortable with it, regardless. I will not allow such feelings to be displayed. My personal feelings are of little consequence in the fact of our objectives.