[center][h3][color=C0392B]Rudolf Shilage[/color][/h3][/center]

[color=c0392b]"Oh good,"[/color] Rudolf dryly remarked from the rear of the group before stalking forward, gaze pinned on the field of undead below. [color=c0392b]"I've always wanted a chance to say [i]'I'll deal with the rabble, you guys make a break for it'[/i]. Get to cross that off the bucket list after all."[/color][sup]1[/sup]

The zombies below shambled aimlessly through the street below, seeming to drift, however vaguely, towards the echoed sounds of their rag-tag incursion force hopping from building to building. That they congregated in this wide passage below seemed just as much coincidence as it did pursuit— but all the same, it'd take legs like Galahad's to bound the gap that lay ahead without falling to the pavement and into the lot of them. Rudolf had stronger legs than anyone here, but not nearly to that degree— saying nothing of the wounded they had in tow. His eyes darted from head to head as they swayed along, piling each of the walking corpses up in a soaring tally. By his count, well past four score of them, at least. Probably safe to round it off to a hundred.

Those were daunting numbers to throw yourself at, even against normal soldiery; for all that undead proved to lack compared to the guile and rational minds of the living, they traded it for no sense of fear or survival, merely bestial hunger for flesh. No doubt they'd swarm and try to crack him and his armor open like a summer crab. Long odds in either scenario... but [i]not[/i] impossible.

[i]Garland could do it. Limbtaker Izayoi could do it. You're pretty sure your brother, provided this many [u]additional[/u] warm bodies, could do it as well. Very reasonable standards.[/i]

He freed Anders' greatsword from his back, rolling his shoulder and testing the weight, growing so familiar so soon as it was. They wouldn't heed the arc of death it would carve through the space around him, throwing themselves at wherever he landed by the dozen. If he was diligent, stayed mobile, and liberally applied the islands of terrain the upturned car wrecks provided, he could see those staggering lumbers they mustered for prey being turned into a merry chase around the field, herding handfuls at a time into the path of his blade before bounding again. His harness would insulate him from incidental scratches and bites, his knife could punch through those that got too close[sup]2[/sup]... taxing physically, even moreso mentally, but he saw the path through the situation in front of him.

[color=c0392b]"I still have Quake and the blackflame, too, if things get a little more hairy than we bargain for. I'll be fine,"[/color] he affirmed, slipping the Time materia[sup]3[/sup] into his pouch with a nonetheless. The problem, as one might expect, was the situation behind. With the extra parameters they had to deal with, Rudolf knew very well that it forced 'waiting around for him to whittle the whole mass down' wasn't as viable as it would be on his own. Twice the issue in enemy territory, Three times as bad when you considered how much noise the protracted combat would make to attract more undead than he could keep up with. Compared to re-slaughtering half of Solitude? Blasting through naturally won out. [color=c0392b]"Just focus on getting everybody across in one piece. I'll be three seconds ahead—"[/color]

He raised a hand palm-down and then wiggled it. Time Materia, after all.

[color=c0392b]"—Give or take."[/color]

He then crouched as that hand fell to the stark white bone of his dagger's hilt, drinking in the soft blues of moonrise. Deep breath, deep focus. Once everyone was on board, the bombs would fly— and then so would he, into the wake of the smoke.

[hr][hr]
[list]
[*][sub]1. Long time listener, short time caller here: You have literally never mentioned a bucket list before now. This is news to me.[/sub]
[*][sub]2. Obviously, stab wounds don't mean much when you stop needing your organs to animate you. It'll provide a handhold to muscle an intrepid cadaver around, like a meat shield.[/sub]
[*][sub]3. Remember, [color=c0392b]"Honor is the refuge of the strong"[/color] extends to agreements, too. [i]Scam[/i] your friends. [i]Take[/i] their valuables. After all, they [i]gave[/i] them to you. This materia's never leaving our pocket again, I do not care that you kind of don't believe you need it. I want it.[/sub]
[/list]