vietmyke

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

"Sigursdottir..." Galahad murmured in a flat voice. He glanced at Miina and Izayoi, who already seemed to be in agreement. He shrugged, misgivings or distrust, even if he voiced them he was outvoted. Besides, he quite liked the idea that Izayoi put forward, watching the blackhelms kill each other for once would be an almost cathartic experience. Though perhaps he was a bit surprised that the typically bloodthirsty Izayoi wouldn't want to just kill them all herself. Variety is the spice of life, he supposed.

"I suggest you be careful about who you tell your imperial ambitions to." Galahad grunted as he signaled the ship. "Very few in our presence will care to hear of them."

Galahad glanced about Garland's form, looking for any weapons. To his surprise, Garland was telling the truth, he was unarmed. Though that did not necessarily mean he trusted the man any further than he could throw him. "I cannot guarantee any of the others will listen to you, much less believe you. For obvious reasons, but for now. Very well. Get on."

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

"You'll forgive us for being just a touch suspicious." Galahad grunted as he too circled Garland, opposite of Izayoi so they were on either side of him at any one time should things degrade into a fight. He drew his halberd back into his hand and flicked the tip at the ground to remove the ichor and dragonsblood as he eyed the general warily. "Or that we'll just trust you at your word. For some reason- on the tip of my tongue, I couldn't tell you why- every bone in my body tells me to kill you. A common enemy? Very convenient." He growled.

Though, as much as he hated to admit it, as little as he wanted to back down. He doubted Izayoi, Miina and he could do little more to Garland then go down in a blaze of glory- which, while perhaps more morally satisfying, would leave the Kirins, and the continent in a much worse state. The dragoon's helmet looked past Garland and to Izayoi. He sighed, and nodded. Better to find out what Garland knew than to go down fighting and dying, at least today anyway. The halberd tip lowered, just a fraction, still ready to come up at a moment's notice.

"Speak then. What have you to say that would be so dire that you'd be willing to 'surrender'?"

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

While Dragoon armor was, in a way made to resist attacks from dragons, he certainly wouldn't be resisting the flaming breaths of three dragons. Blighted or unblighted, he was liable to get cooked alive in his armor if he didn't immediately catch flame. He caught a rapidly closing gap of air as the flames closed in around him and dove through it, flame heating his armor to a temperature a bit more toasty than comfortable, and the edges of his sash burning for good measure. He could feel a few blisters from the heated armor against his body already starting to form, but ignored it for now. He had bigger issues.

Miina had drawn back the vortex to fend off a pair of dragons going for her. He certainly didn't blame her for it- defending oneself was necessary, but that left them with three, unhappy, no longer grounded dragons. He looked at the dragons. The dragons looked back at him. Then at each other. One of them beat its wings. Then a second.

"Oh no you don't." Galahad grunted as he ran forward and leaped, throwing his halberd down into the wing leather of the third dragon still on the ground, to pin it down there. Instead of going straight up, he dove straight at the first dragon, its maw opening up to loose a breath of blighted fire. Galahad's arm found the dragon's neck as he grabbed and vaulted himself onto the back of its neck, grabbing its head horns as he jerked the head to face the second airborn dragon just as the gout of fire loosed from its maw.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

"If the spy arrives, I fear we may be under equipped to deal with them." Galahad mused, "But that's a hurdle we'll cross when we get there. He nodded as he keyed the radio they were given. "Airship crew, be on the lookout for any potential interruptions."

The rest of them continued on foot. It wouldn't be long before they arrived, following the sounds of dragons battling. Galahad looked on in horror. It was rare to ever see so many dragons in one place. From a safe distance, it would be majestic. If it weren't for the blight. Now they were little more than deranged monsters. A damned shame. He looked at the riflemen as they began to set up. He pointed at one with a scope on their rifle. "The ones on the ground, half infected. Put them out of their misery. The rest of you, prepare to fire." He barked.

As soon as Miina's vortex grounded the blighted dragons- or at least brought them lower to the ground. Galahad began to advance. Three steps, ice and stone cracking and splintering under his heavy footfalls as he brought himself low and leaped high into the air. "Now! Open fire!" His voice whipped through the air as he went high up. His jump height was cut by Miina's vortex, but he used to the resulting force and speed to bring himself down faster to the ground, his halberd lifted over his head as he aimed for the largest blighted dragon, the one leading this pack, his weapon wreathed with lightning.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way. You'll find your rest soon." Galahad murmured as he careened down towards the blighted dragon. The halberd flashed as Galahad brought his weapon down like a bolt of lightning, aiming for the base of the dragon's neck.

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

Galahad took a radio as he stared out over the battle in the distance- blighted dragon against dragon, beast against beast. He frowned. "It'd be a shame to kill all of them." He admitted. "Ideally, we'd kill the blighted ones and let the regular dragons scatter. But they're dragons... scattering isn't exactly what they are known for."

Galahad adjusted his armor and hefted his halberd. "Its been a while since I've fought so many dragons at once. But there are many of us, and most of these dragons look to be fairly young- small by dragon standards. But still dangerous, so don't let your guard down."

"Miina, if you can use your magic to ground them, then Izayoi and I can make short work of them- especially if we have riflemen with us." He turned to Izayoi and the Skaelers, "Base of the neck, root of the wing, head and eyes, wing membrane, all of these are weak spots for dragons- should carry over to blighted ones too. Watch for their breath attacks."

He turned to the sergeant and gestured towards a clearing on the mountain. "We'll dismount there. Set us down, then circle wide to provide support. Don't get shot down. I don't wish to walk all the way back."

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

Galahad stood at the fore of the deck, looking out over the edge at the mountain range ahead. He was back in his full armor, the halberd in his hand. Strangely enough, he felt a sort of calm about him, perhaps it was the mountain ranges being a bit like home- as far away as they currently were. Their crew was small, three of them and some dozen soldiers of Skael. Galahad raised an eyebrow at Izayoi- though the gesture itself was hidden beneath the visor of his helmet. "You know a thing about hunting dragons? Well, color me surprised." he remarked, "Though it's not as though Edreni have a monopoly on dragon slaying."

The helmet lifted, looking at the dark orange horizon. Only an hour before sunset, which meant perhaps two or three hours at most of light. "Timing is less than ideal- I would've preferred to hunt in the daytime when we can see the dragons. I suppose once they start using their breath weapons it'll be very obvious where they are."

Galahad glanced at the sergeant and his men. "Ideally we wouldn't risk the airship during the dragon hunt. I don't doubt this ship is sturdy, but dragons have a way of... testing the durability of any airship, and walking all the way back home is less than ideal. If we set down too early, we'll waste most of our remaining light walking."

"The sun is going down, so most dragons would be returning to their roosts fairly soon- if they're not blighted yet." Galahad mused. "The darkness might actually play to our favor. If the dragons are not yet blighted and are in fact coming into contact with blightbeasts, we should be hearing them- and seeing breath weapons relatively soon." Galahad glanced back to Izayoi and shrugged. "If they're already blighted? I've fought a few blighted dragons before. They have no sense or strategy, just blind rage. If they'd spotted us by now, we'd know."

"Sergeant, do any of your people here possess radios, or other methods of ranged communication? I believe our best course of action would be to proceed in the air until we spot either the breath weapons or a roost. Have the majority of us dismount and make our way on foot- with a few remaining on the airship to guide us and provide information while in the air."

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

"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?"

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

"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."

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

Galahad Caradoc

---

It was clear that Garland was no simple foe- his strength and durability alone made him enough of a match for several of the Kirins at once. The quake itself had been easy enough for Galahad to dodge, a quick jump into the air and he was off the ground and far enough away for any of Quake's effects to harm him. Garland however was seemingly more than capable of multitasking- both keeping them at bay while stopping their smaller, sneakier comrades from getting past him with a wave of ice. He needed to be defeated, or at the very least wounded enough that he had to focus on those in front of him rather than those trying to get past.

In the thick of the fighting, Galahad could see Izayoi's preparing her iai strike from the corner of his peripherals. In an effort to keep Garland's attention rather than outright harm him- though he wouldn't complain if any of his blows got through, Galahad rained blows down toward's Garland's head with his halberd. A heavy cleave directly downwards, a pull with the axe blade, a flurry of stabs with the spearpoint. Garland's blade gave him almost if not just as much reach as Galahad's halberd, and his armor was considerably heavier, so staying in a prolonged melee with him was not Galahad's idea of a good time- but if he, along with Rudolf could keep him in place for a bit longer...

At the very last moment, as Galahad heard the sounds of Izayoi's feet scattering across the ground, he broke off his attack and jumped into the air, up and out, clearing the space for Izayoi. He heard her call for lightning, and twisted his halberd in his hands and pointed it back down. His lightning materia glowed and energy coursed through his halberd before exiting the speartip. A bolt of lightning shot out, not nearly as potent as a summoned spirit, but lightning nonetheless, launched right in front of Izayoi's position.

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

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Wilds · |@Vietmyke]Wilds · @Vietmyke ____________________________________________________________________________. "Clear. We're all good. Here at least," Jin called out as he lowered his rifle. He joined Feyi in checking the vehicle, inspecting around it as she checked inside. ”Damn, look at this hole here.” Jin whistled as he kicked the hole in the engine block- and the side of the car. He peeked over to see the hole through the instrument panel as well. "Whatever got these guys, it was big bore. Or Synergy- I remember Tikaani's truck had a gun that could've probably made a hole like this." he remarked. "Left in a hurry is putting it lightly- key's still in the ignition, looks like they got hit and got the fuck out of dodge before they could get hit again. How recent does this look to you, Feyi?" as asked as he reached into the back and grabbed the messenger bag, cooler and waterbottles. "Hey, Ziotea, right?" Jin called as he glanced over at their newest member. "Careful with the cooler- after Tan-Ming's stunt with the cages, I'd be wary about letting my face too close to any opaque box with unknown contents." he remarked. He had to appreciate the scavenger's knack for grabbing anything and everything that wasn't nailed down. Jin made a note to check the contents of his car later. "So, we've got a runner heading south into the woods, and some people in the city- did you get a good look at them, Reman? Did they look like our... uh... less than friendly zombie friends from the cages?"