West Blue: A Kingdom at War

The black knight watched the three pirates fight. It seemed like the woman they hired, Diana, had ice powers. Gale hasn't shown any noticeable powers, while the mysterious black haired woman could shoot missiles out of her body. The black knight looked at the pit that was created and immediately put two and two together. It didn't look like the work of an ice user, or a coincidence lead by the heavens; it must be the powers of number 8. The black knight then saw the rebel woman with black hair and a missile arm (now referred to as the cyborg woman) taunt him to walk towards her. He took his time getting to her; suddenly an arrow shot from above him and landed on the area in front. The arrow started to sink. The black knight suddenly stopped. The archer, even from his distance, could see the slight change in the dirt and noticed that Gale was the one that created the clay tunnels. Just to make sure the archer walked back to grab a box full of arrows, which he placed there in preparation for the day an army would attack the castle. He put ten arrows in his bow and shot them almost immediately; he repeated this five times until there was 50 arrows around the front of the castle. Each of them were spread out about 7 feet to make sure they covered enough ground. The knight smirked and put his first foot forward; he almost immediately saw that his foot went straight down. With his strength he was able to pull it back out easily. Even with the arrows around the area all he needed to do was tread carefully.

The knight cleaved his axe to the ground and took out a chunk of the land. It was roughly a chunk of concrete about 3 meters tall and half a meter thick. He chucked it at Gale, with his superior strength and skill, in an extraordinary performance of both speed and power. The chunk of concrete moved at a VERY fast pace towards Gale. If someone didn't stop it, or destroy it, there was no hope for a very unbeat-up body. The archer was nowhere to be seen and after throwing the arrows didn't shoot another one. Why this happened the opponents wouldn't know, but the archer didn't seem to be on top of the castle for the moment.

Diana's quick thinking saved the lives of six rebel soldiers and severely maimed five guards. When she shot ice out of her hands two men, from each spike, were completely penetrated and defeated. They fell to the ground unconscious almost instantly. The rebels felt some new morale, but the black knight kept bringing it down. with the rebels fighting and giving it their all the match seemed to be almost at a balance, but there still seemed to be a very large amount of guards and a limited amount of rebels. Six of the guards noticed Diana and attacked, one of them tried to sneak up from behind with a sword ready to pierce her heart.

Enemy: 71/100, 2/2 Generals
Rebels: 36/50, 3/3 Generals

Dante was outside the city fighting the army. Rain was about to hit the battlefield and he was nowhere near done. He had to go to plan B. With the majority of knights and soldiers in front of him he could go to plan B. Dante curled up and a dome suddenly appeared around him. The guards and knights started to beat on it. Suddenly rain started to fall on the ground. Inside the dome, along with Dante, were three other knights whom continued to stab him around the body. Dante unleashed his sand blades on them and knocked them out with one strike. He created a sphere that shot out blades made of sand in an almost high pressure strike/slash. The knights were knocked out; their armors saved them from being sucked dry by the sands direct effect. Dante then put his right hand on the floor. Knights, soldiers, and guards swarmed the dome and continued to beat on it. Suddenly the ground around Dante rose up, along with a good chunk of the knights and soldiers, and forced itself downwards forcing 18 tons of pressure into everyone that was hit. The tsunami continued moving forward until it knocked out a good portion of the army. Suddenly a small desert showed itself in Dante's path. It wasn't a real desert, but it was a good place for him to keep moving. The soldiers that escaped by running behind Dante's dome weren't very lucky either. Dante summoned a sand storm shortly after the tsunami in that direction; ultimately all the guards and soldiers turned to sand. One knight survived the entire ordeal but fell on his bum. He couldn't believe what had just happened.

Dante's dome fell to the ground, exposing Dante to the rain above him. The heavy rain gave Dante a shower, basically, and everyone inside the city as well. All they were missing was soap and shampoo. Dante ran towards the wall of the city. The archers had a hard time seeing him with the heavy rain giving him a mist-like shield. Eventually he made it to the second half of the army. The archers could see him now, he was only roughly 200 feet from the wall. They readied their weapons, but before they could fire Dante summoned a shield around him again and heard the sound of clanks on the dome. There was still n army left to stop him, and now he was weak enough to get hit. Almost half the army remained, but the archers were basically left unharmed. Dante had to find a way to make them separate. The way he was going this entire kingdom will end up without an army.

Enemy left: 15 knights, 50 soldiers, 75 Guards

Diana was significantly less sympathetic this fight than yesterdays.  She could live with people attempting to hurt her, that sorta thing was a simple inconvenience.  What she didn't take kindly to, however, was targeting armed civilians or companions of hers.  That was uncalled for.  Deep in the enemy ranks, the block of glacial ice that Diana had formed wasn't quite done causing a ruckus yet.  Diana moved the wall across the ground and plowed down whichever poor souls couldn't get out of the way in time.  It ran in a straight line through the guards in the back that hadn't gotten into combat quite yet.  With all the steel and blood, Diana was temporarily unaware of what was happening with the Knight and the other two for the time being.  They were stronger than the struggling rebels.

The nearby guards didn't seem too happy about her taking out that many of their friends.  There was a potential problem, however.  The last thing Diana wanted to do was harm the rebels, and the two opposing factions were hopelessly mixed in the front lines where they currently were.  Caution had to be taken into account.  As they closed in, Diana was much too focused to notice the one sneaking behind her until he had stabbed at her back.  Her midsection transformed into ice and the sword harmlessly passed through.  As the other weapons moved in her direction, Diana covered her left arm with iron strength ice to take the next incoming blows.  She reached out and grabbed the sword's owner by the throat, while her other aimed to press against another guard's chest.  It would only take a moment for her freezing abilities to take hold.  Luckily she was significantly faster than any of her current attackers.  Diana was able to launch an attack on the remaining four next.  She launched forward with both arms outstretched to attempt and close-line the two middle ones in the chest, as spikes were sent from her palms once more to deal with the remaining pair.

Ikari smirked to herself as the Knight started to walk towards her. This was perfect. The Knight couldn't see Gale's clay pit. He was going to fall in and only the problem of the ranged person. However, as the Knight's demise began to come closer and closer, a sudden arrow flew in between Ikari and the Knight, landing in the clay pit. Well, at least Ikari now knew that the ranged person was an archer and probably a good one if they had managed to see Gale's clay pit. As the Knight stopped in his tracks, Ikari moved backwards slowly, keeping her right hand unhinged to her wrist. She wasn't safe being anywhere close to the Knight. Looking at the Knight's armour, electrocuting him could be an option, but the electricity would likely bounce back to Ikari due to the rain water.

As Ikari continued to backtrack away from the Knight, the Knight did a feat that Ikari thought was completely impossible for any human being to do, no matter of their strength. The Knight cut into the ground and took a large chunk of out it with his strength. To Ikari, this didn't make much sense. How strong was this guy? Taking the large boulder, the Knight would throw it straight towards Gale at a high speed. Ikari, watching this unfold, would quickly pivot on the spot, aiming her wrist at the boulder while it was close to her. Quickly, she would unleash a Stable Missile. Being hit by flying rubble was better than being squished by a flying boulder, after all.

---

Fuel Points: 40
Stable Missiles Left: 7

The plan seemed to be well-thought. Or that is what Gale considered until the archer managed to give away the position of the quicksand pit. The Knight, as he had thought initially, was going to fall straight into the quicksand pit - one of his feet had even got stuck within the quicksand - but the arrow that arrived in front of them indicated him that there was something wrong there. Apparently, Gale had managed to wake up his anger, to which he picked up his axe.

Gale thought he would run towards him and cut him in half with his axe. But he was wrong. What he did surprised him and went completely over the expectations he had of the Black Knight. With gargantuan strenght he destroyed the ground below him, getting a piece that looked like concrete stuck in his axe and hurling towards Gale. He was scared. He almost crapped his pants. The strenght that the Black Knight showed was enough to paralize him for a fraction of a second, and his reflexes only got to form a Nendo Nendo no Hand in front of himself.

Luckily, Ikari had saved his ass. She shot the concrete mass in front of him and the Clay Hand he formed managed to protect him from all the flying debris. That had been a lucky shot... It could have gone wrong, completely wrong and he would've ended up smashed like a cockroach beneath a shoe. From the distance he was, Gale couldnt think of any other ideas of how to defeat this imposing opponent, or at least none that didn't involve the clay pit. At least he was save for now. Gale then used the same clay hand he had formed to protect himself, which was as big as a yoga ball and as strong as iron, and changed its stance into a fist that he used to hurl a punch towards the Black Knight. His armor seemed sturdy, but he was trying to push him back, with the momentum produced by the distance, back into the clay quicksand pit that linguered behind him.

The black knight saw the piece of concrete he threw at his opponents get destroyed by the opposing team. The robotic woman from before destroyed the concrete boulder and turned the giant rock into smaller chunks of the concrete. This gave the other person enough time to defend himself with his attack. Suddenly the other person, number 8, used the hand that stopped the chunks of rock and hurled it at the knight. The knight immediately put himself in a swinging position and swung his axe, completely penetrating the hand in half. The brute force of the attack send a small wave of air at the enemy, causing some men to fall on their knees from the despair. The man was very strong, two of the rebels could barely hold their stance anymore.

Suddenly an arrow appeared straight up, vertically, from the sky and landed on the ground in front of the knight. At first the knight thought it was another pitfall.. but looking at it closely he saw a very long black chain attached to it. The knight grabbed the end of the chain and unwrapped the chain from the arrow. He opened the chain, with a lot of force since this chain was only designed for him to open and close it, and attached it to the circular end of the axe with a hold through it. This process didn't take very long, but the archer let a barrage of arrows fall from the sky and attempt to land on Ikari, Gale, and the two rebels next to them. Unlike the knight these arrows moved VERY quickly; they almost looked like rain (50 arrows, all with the ability to penetrate through concrete). Unlike the other arrows these were shown by the light of the lightning. Although they came down very fast when the arrows became visible they were just stopping in the air and hurling downwards to pick up speed.

After the barrage of arrows at the two the knight started to swing his axe around incredibly fast. A blur of speed and power showed itself in the perfect circle he created by swinging the axe over his head. A gust of wind started to pick up forcing both rebels and guards to run away from him. He was seriously trying to kill everyone that was hit by it. He suddenly increased the length of the axe and swung it in the direction of both Ikari and Gale attempting to cut both of them and the rebels next to them. The axe weighed 1 ton, and the man could cut through steel, so a wall wouldn't be a sufficient defense for this attack. The attack, after it continued, will cut down three rebels and five guards. The black knight then had the axe land back on the palm of his hands, causing another gust of wind to form. The rain wasn't giving him any problems, it seemed.

Diana's antics didn't go unnoticed. The archer looked at her after he came back with the chain and noticed she had defeated a good chunk of people on her own. The archer had to take care of it. After he sent the barrage of arrows at the two he sent one black colored steel arrow at the woman forcing it to curve so it looked like it had come from her right side. The arrow intended to penetrate her right lower leg, near the ankle. Once the arrow penetrated it could continue to move forward, hitting another rebel next to her. Because the arrow is back, and it's night and raining, it's hard to see it. The archer then, after possibly wounding her, send three arrows through her chest trying to destroy her liver, heart, and her small intestines. Her last attack ended up defeating 5 of the guards and harmed 2 of her own rebels.

Right after the archer did this he saw the building behind Gale and Ikari collapse.. the black knight had apparently cut through the building behind them in the process of trying to kill them. The archer and black knight will have to pay for the damages later.

Guards: 45/100, 2/2 Generals

Rebels: 21/50, 3/3 Generals

Meanwhile, Dante was still outside the gates trying to burst through and grab their attention. The rain weight heavily on the dome that he created; he could hear the sounds of arrows and people slamming their swords against the dome. Dante couldn't just kill the entire army and leave this city defenseless.. if he used his storm now he'd be no better then the king in charge now. Dante let a small portion of his dome collapse which had about ten guards try to run in to kill Dante. He put his palm on his chest so he'd suck out all of the water before hand. Two of the men stabbed Dante, to which he grabbed both of their faces and watched them turn to sand. Dante then ran towards the others and punched the first one in the face, turning him to sand. The other stabbed him the back, to which he turned around and grabbed his face and pushed it to the ground. Everyone he touched died. The other five men tried to run but he grabbed two of them from behind, and they grabbed two others, and Dante quickly grabbed their necks while they stopped for one second. Both of them died and the other three ran out of the dome. Dante summoned a sphere and unleashed his blades cutting everyone within 10 meters of him in half, except the knights whom got back up after getting hit.. they were very shaken up though. Dante ran outside and saw the collection of archers in one area. After the brief clearing he summoned a sphere from his palm and hurled it at the archers. The few archers that got a good angle on him shot their arrows, about twenty of them, and attempted to pierce Dante. He quickly summoned a dome wall in front of him only, with a roof, but made a simple mistake. Three arrows made it around him and pierced his left forearm, side of his chest, and back. Dante fell on the ground. He hadn't felt pain in awhile. He gritted his teeth and stood back up. The army saw the tornado form itself in the middle of the archers, where the greatest quantity of them were located. With 5 meter twenty archers fell to the tornado.

Dante stood back up like nothing had happened. By the time the army started to circle him he had already made it look like he was unharmed. The rain still continued to fall though, and that was a pain.

Army: 80/100 Archers, 60/100 Guards, 45/100 Soldiers, 15 Knights

"Aaaah!" Diana gave an agonized shout as she fell collapsed down onto one knee, the weight on it was suddenly difficult to bear.  What just happened?  A second ago her leg was perfectly fine!  And why were there arrows sticking out of her abdomen?  At least her midsection was still transformed into ice from the guard's earlier stab; otherwise she would have been dead for sure.  Her breathing sharp and unsteady,  she rolled up the bottom of her right pant leg until it reached her knee.  Briefly she had a moment of panicked confusion.  There was a horrendously bleeding gash that went clean through her calf.  She tore out the arrows that made a pincushion out of her midsection, as well as pushed out the sword she hadn't had a chance to remove quite yet.  Unzipping her coat, Diana ripped the lowermost section of her shirt clean off leaving her navel bare.  After their trip through the sewers, she had a horrifyingly scarce amount of fabric that wasn't covered in human waste.  She winced as she wrapped the piece of shirt as tightly as she could bear around the open wound.  It wasn't much, but it would have to do.

After the initial shock had worn off, Diana was able to stand with difficulty.  Ikari was right, there was an archer running amok.  And if Diana's hunch was correct, it was the one they had met at the castle earlier.  How she hoped she was wrong, and still laying in bed at home.  Not that she had one anymore, but the thought seemed nice at the time.  It looked like the knight had gained a chain for his axe since she had separated from the other two, and if they weren't in trouble that second they were soon going to be.  She wasn't sure if she could help them much in their current situation, but she had to attempt or die trying.  As the knight launched his axe towards Gale and Ikari, Diana made a slick path of ice running in his direction with a raised ramp at the end.  Maybe she should have thought this through a bit more.  Offhand it didn't seem like one of her better plans.  

Too late.  Diana took off at a sprint.  The pain in her leg was substantial, but she grit her teeth and worked through it.  She dove feet-first onto the slick  after she was up to speed.  Her momentum sent her over the incline and soaring through the air.  As she reached the apex of her flight, she looked down onto the field of battle below.  Next to her companions was her intended mark, but it would appear she overshot it.  Substantially.  At her current trajectory she was going to land directly on the knight's back.  She might as well make the best of it.  If Diana got the chance, she intended to cling onto the massive man's armor.  Beyond that she had not a clue what she was doing in the slightest. Except attempting to freeze off whatever she got a hold of. Then probably smash into it, because there was no way she was slowing down without running into something first. This was probably going to hurt.

15/15

The chef knew that his punch was probably going to disappear. That it was going to be smashed and destroyed into dust and debris. Gale jumped back slightly when he saw the arrow pierce the ground in front of him. It was apparently connected to a long chain that the archer had thrown. He tracked it back to the Archer, wherever he was, and in that very instant he saw him shooting a shower of arrows. Almost as an act completely out of instinct, Gale jumped and pushed Ikari and the two rebels that were close to him down to the ground, rising a clay wall at 45° perpendicular to the path of the arrows when they were about to hit them.

Thank God that the clay he rose was as hard as iron. The arrows, which could go through concrete, werent able to go through the iron hard wall in which the arrows jabbed the surface and even managed to crack chunks of it out. This raised wall was completely dry when it was raised, so it didn't have problems with the rainwater that was diving down from heavens. It only just started to erode its surface and wash particles of the clay, but only slightly. Gale was worried, he didn't want to be hit by the Black Knight from a blind spot, so he stood up from his position and opened himself up to attack.

When he saw the axe in circular motion moving towards him he just had enough time to scream: "WATCH OUT!" and he let the blade slice through his torso, with his arms raised up. His body fell right to the ground, his torso dissected in two and dripping soft clay from where it had been united, and still not completely re-united, besides the Black Knight who still had his axe in movement. Woah, perfect...- Gale thought, and immeditely as he fell to the ground right beside the Black Knight he opened up a Clay Quicksand pit below his feet. He looked up and saw Diana coming out of nowhere and falling on top of the Knight, which would be a great distraction for what was going on below his feet. The axe seemed to be still going in an attack while Gale did this, and it would stop soon after in a gust of wind.

Ikari watched as the boulder smashed into rubble.  However, the threat was not over.  Small, sharp pieces of rubble headed straight towards Gale and could still be a large threat.  Luckily, Gale made a Clay Hand which defended him from the oncoming rubble.  Using the hand that he had just formed, Ikari would watch as Gale sent it straight towards the Knight.  Ikari had fairly high hopes for the attack, but she wasn't disappointed when the Knight managed to counter it.  With a single swing, the Knight cleaved the hand in half, rendering the attack useless.  Ikari had to move her right leg back a bit to keep herself balanced.  From this, Ikari would quite easily feel his strength.

As the arrow came down with the chain on it, Ikari watched as the Knight yanked it from the arrow. At this moment, Ikari would start to walk backwards as she expected the Knight to use the chain to extend the reach of her axe. Opening her mouth to speak, Ikari wouldn't utter a single syllable before being thrown to the ground unexpectedly. Without any sort of explanation, Gale would have thrown Ikari to the ground. Suddenly, a large 45-degree clay wall would be created due to Gale's powers. After a moment, a few thunks would be heard as the arrows would suddenly hit the clay wall. The 2 revolutionaries, after this, would attempt to get up. Ikari would raise her hand slightly, motioning for them to stay down due to the fact that she knew an attack from the Knight was coming. As she looked up to Gale to warn him, it seemed as he already knew about the attack with shouting "Watch out". Ikari slowly started to stand back up after the axe passed, peering over to the Knight should she need to defend herself once again, or attack for once.

The black knight suddenly saw his attack cleave the man in half just before it went around and slammed into his palm. Just when he felt the handle of the giant axe slam into his hand the ground underneath him started to cave in. He already knew what this meant. The black knight didn't look worried though. The archer on top of the castle saw Diana start to move again after his arrows had clearly penetrated her. He gritted his teeth and grabbed another arrow, this time he aimed right at her back. Suddenly he let go of the arrow and watched it fling at the woman in very high speeds. The arrow did a slight curve so it would look like it was shot from one of the taller buildings around the battle. With Diana in the air the point of the arrow was to hit her, but the archer accidentally helped his comrade as well. The arrow, whether it penetrates through Diana or not, will slam into the knight's armor before Diana. Just as his feet started to cave in he felt this sensation, which forced him to turn around and swing his mighty axe at the opponent in front of him. However, the arrow reached too late and Diana came shorty afterwards. He couldn't hit her with his axe in time.

Diana slammed into the knight freezing his armor and breaking it. The knight barely moved from his spot in the clay pit since this happened, and the situation got worse. The knight was now deeper inside the clay pit, about chest deep. Since Diana cracked his armor it now had a weakspot.. which meant he had to get rid of it. The black knight raised his fist up and slammed it down on Diana causing a giant splash to form on her area. Even with intangibility she'd have to reform after that blow. After assuming the opponent was dead the black knight slammed his axe about twenty feet away from him (thanks to the chain) and pushed himself off the pit in but a second like a bullet. When he landed a person could see the damage Diana had done. A giant hole formed in the front of his armor. It was all but useless now. The knight sighed and removed his gauntlets, which made a thud on the ground, then his leggings, which made small cracks on the floor, and finally his chest plate, which made a not so thick crater on the ground it was forced into. Then the knight took off his helmet and his true face was shown. The man had red eyes, black hair, and a scar on his right eye. Underneath his armor he had chainmail that didn't look nearly as heavy but definitely effective against cutting attacks (and some blunt). He looked at the three opponents he had to fight. he couldn't risk using his axe anymore since he didn't have the protection to back-up his slow state. Now he had to go all out.. he hadn't fought like this in years, since he became the black knight. The black knight (Red) walked to his giant axe and punched through the middle. Suddenly a piece of the axe flew out; it was a removable side to it. He picked up the smaller axe and attached the chain to it. Now he was ready for round two. His steel axe was ready for blood.

The Black Knight (without his heavy armor):

While the black knight got himself ready for the next round three guards rushed at Ikari, whom was on the ground with two other rebels. Suddenly a man appeared from the side and penetrated all of them with a very long cutlass sword. The enemies were killed like a shishcabob. The old man looked at the faces of the rebellion, then at the black knight. He looked at the red bird and saw something odd.. something that his perception was capable of seeing, but only briefly. The red bird that signaled for the rebellion briefly flew behind the archer, exposing his shadow to anyone that happened to see him at that moment. The retired knight grinned and looked at the people around him, he has formulated a plan.

"You guys are here to help us, so we'll help you. I need the Frost Maiden over there to help me go up the stairs so we can kill the archer. It's the only way to win this fight; while we are doing that I'll need Mr. Clay Warrior and Steel Woman to fight the black knight and keep him busy. Can you two green horns handle the black knight for a few minutes?" The retired knight, with his long white beard and very muscular body and old knight armor, waited for the response of the two that were left with this near impossible task. "If you guys survive, and he isn't defeated, then you need to put him right in front of the entrance to the castle as soon as you see me and the Frost Maiden send a sort of signal to show that we defeated the archer. We'll think of something to show you the signal, but the knight needs to be directly in front of the door leading to the castle by a few feet at most." The retired knight picked up his sword, and his round shield, and tried to help the Frost Maiden up, or out, of the clay pit. When the knight finished speaking the knight had already changed into his full clothes, and wasn't capable of hearing the plan. The retired knight then put himself in a piggy back position so Diana would get on. "Little miss, you have my word we will get there.. but you have to trust me first."

The Retired Knight:

While the knight spoke the archer let lose on some arrows at the enemy rebels. He let a rain of arrows fall on exact targets that held still for too long. He curved the bullets so when they hit the men it'd hit them from the right side, like with Diana. He killed four rebels this way.

Guards: 32/100, 2/2 Generals
Rebels: 13/50, 3/3 Generals

Meanwhile, Dante was busy fighting the other army. The men surrounded him and gave him little choice in what he could do. He had to use plan R. Dante suddenly broke his defenses and ran forward. The archers started to throw arrows at him, but the winds and the rain threw off their aim and concentration. Dante watched 9/10 arrows miss their marks out of the 60 archers that decided to throw them. However, five arrows managed to scratch his cheek, right shoulder, right thigh, and left thoracic side. One arrow was unlucky enough to penetrate his left shoulder completely. Dante's eye opened from the shock of the pain, but he continued running. He eventually made it to the walls of the enemy, the steel walls, and placed his hand on the ground causing a dome to completely surround him with the wall stopping its growth from one side (since he was already protected by that side). Dante then sat down and grabbed his body with his hand sucking away the water from his body. He became dry instantly, but that didn't mean he was out of the loop.

Dante felt his left shoulder and gritted his teeth. He turned intangible and forced the arrow to fall to the ground, but the damage was already done. Dante's left arm was bleeding now, not that the enemy could see that. Dante sat down and thought about the next phase of his plan. He heard the people outside slamming their weapons against his dome. It would take them awhile to break through it, maybe all day. He'll have to get out of this mess without hindering the future of this country. He had to retreat. Dante thought for a moment and looked down; that's when he remembered something.

Things could have turned out worse.  In preparation for the landing, Diana braced herself.  An unexpected arrow traveled through her icy back, but she remained relatively unphased.  There was a split second of panic when the knight raised his axe and turned towards her.  If he was any faster, she would have been dead meat.  Lucky for her, she smashed into his breastplate before he could react.  Not so luckily, Diana violently bounced off and landed in the nearby pit of quicksand at the knight's feet.  Then the knight raised his massive fist and attempted to crush her to pieces.  The man's clenched hand struck her shoulder and not much remained afterwards save a pile of ice fragments.  Strangely enough, the pieces shuffled and rearranged themselves until a rather flabbergasted Diana retook her shape.  Speechless with blinking eyes, she examined her newly intact hand.  That was new.  

Even with quicksand up to her knees, Diana seemed relatively calm given the circumstances.  She was quite certain that harm wouldn't befall her.  It was a power of Gale's after all.  There was some damage from the blow she made on the knight's armor earlier that kept him preoccupied, so she wasn't in any immediate danger then and there.  The help from the elder was appreciated though, and she used his assistance to pull herself out from the pit.  After Diana had climbed back onto solid ground once more she rolled onto her back, panting.  She used the time the knight took to remove his armor to catch her breath if just for a moment.  

There was a slight spark of protest in her eyes.  She wasn't going to abandon Gale and Ikari, least of all in the middle of battle!  The archer, though, was a serious problem.  Not everyone could turn into a human ice cube and take arrows without a problem.  Someone had to take care of it, maybe it was best if it was now before there were further problems.  Hesitantly, Diana responded to the knight with a stern nod.  She felt rather uncomfortable climbing onto a stranger's back, but that surely would have been faster than hobbling to where ever.  Getting rid of the archer was more important than her comfort levels.  Priorities.

Holy crap...- Gale thought when he saw the Black Knights armor being ripped off and he being completely fine with it. When their opponent had fallen into the Clay Quicksand pit below him he was truly motivated. Perhaps that could have been the end of him. But It wasn't... Of course it wasn't. That bastard archer had found a way to liberate his companion from the pit and hurt Diana in the meantime, although her logia intangibility seemed to be keeping her undamaged for now. As the Black Knight managed to pull himself out of the Clay, he still played dead, and he was surprised to see him take off al of what was left of his armor. He seemed much more hasty now, and agile.

Gale didn't know what to do that moment, he looked back at Diana trapped in his own quicksand pit, but an old knight who seemed to be part of the revolutionary body seemed to help her out, so he didn't worry about it too much. The Black knight, on the other hand, kept all of Gale's senses expecting a disaster. He had dislodged a smaller axe from the giant one he was wielding before and he was ready on his feet. Gale thought that by now it would be useless to pretend being dead on the floor and he got back up on his feet. He had caught his breath back in the time he had 'rested' on the floor.

He listened to the plan of this revolutionary carefully and he agreed. It was pretty weird that he was taking Diana on his shoulders with him... But what could be done about it? He seemed to be quite strong for his age as well. As he left with Diana, Gale looked at Ikari and the Black Knight who was several meters away from them... What could they do...?

"Nendo Nendo no Halberd"- Gale muttered as he created a halberd in his own hands that was iron hard. He didn't think that it would be able to take many of the Knight's hits, if any, but it was something he could attack with. He was quite skillful with varied weapons, especially due to his life in piracy, and this had been a particular one he enjoyed. It had characteristics of a spear and of an axe, which allowed a varied style of fighting. Maybe he could specialize on its use in the future... He moved slightly towards the Black Knight with the halberd in his hands and prepared for anything coming his way.

As Ikari began to stand back up to her full height, she watched the scene in front of her fold out.  The Black Knight falling down into one of Gale's clay pits. A seemingly confused Diana flying straight towards the back of the Black Knight.  Could this be it for the Black Knight?  Could he finally be down?  Ikari somehow doubted this would be it for the nigh-indestructible steel wall.  The Black Knight seemingly knew that Diana was behind him and began to swing his axe to attack her, but was ultimately too late in doing so.  Diana smacked into him and seemingly bounced off into the clay pit below.  The man's armour broke, creating a viable weak spot for them.  The Knight then moved his arm up and slammed it down into the ground, straight into Diana.  Ikari mumbled to herself after this;
"Well...She's dead."

Suddenly, the Knight would slam down his axe and pull himself out.  As he got out, he would begin to take off his armour.  While this was a great advantage to Ikari, in that she could now actually damage the Knight with her fists, this would also pose the problem of the Knight now actually being much faster and more agile.  Suddenly, Ikari would hear the death throes of of a few men behind her.  One of the revolutionaries told Ikari and Gale about his plan, telling them that he would take Diana to try and get rid of the Archer.  Ikari thought to herself, tempting to tell the man that Diana was dead, however, when the man went to where she was, Ikari saw that Diana, somehow, was not dead.  Scratching her chin lightly, Ikari would nod to the man, walking towards the Knight.

Ikari raised up her hands, getting ready to try and attack the man.  He had a smaller axe now and was probably more nimble, but Ikari had to take the offensive.  It was far too dangerous to become defensive when the man could really easily destroy her.  Trying to quickly run to the Knight's non-axe side, Ikari would sprint straight towards him, creating a fist and using the rocket on her elbow to aid her attack.  Using her other arm, Ikari would try to shield her body from any attack that the man would attempt to use on her.

---

Fuel Points: 38

The retired knight waited until he could feel Diana's weight on his back and then sprinted towards the castle in front of him. he only had one free hand at the moment, but it would have to do. The knight watched as five guards saw him, holding a comrade, and saw this as a moment to kill the two that have been causing so much damage during the war. The first two men ran forward and tried to stab the old man in the front, but he immediately slashed his sword and span around so the attempted stab would miss. The retired knight then stabbed his own sword through the guard's torso and continued to run forward. Of the soldiers in the army originally only three were left, and they ran next to the retired knight during the sprint to the castle. They each killed one of the guards coming his way. Four other guards followed behind the retired knight, and the retired soldiers turned around to face them before they did harm to their knight. Nine men were killed before reaching the gates. The knight waited outside the gates and made a very particular whistle. The door suddenly opened and the knight rushed through. On the right was stairs that lead to the top of the castle, and the retired knight ran up as fast as he could. His heart began to pound uncontrollably, one of the things the knight didn't enjoy about his age, until he finally reached the top of the castle. He stopped for a moment to take in his breath. When they reached the top where the retired knight saw the archer there didn't seem to be anyone, however. It was one big cement flooring, but in total darkness thanks to the night. The lightning storm only showed, for a brief second, the vastness of the area they walked into. In that brief second with lightning a single shadow stood out from the rest. The black archer had his bow aiming right at them. The knight suddenly ducked and he felt an amazing force whoosh by him and break through the concrete wall behind the knight. He could tell by the sound of rocks breaking. The rain kept smacking the knight in the face, but he didn't let it make him flinch, even for a moment.

"You'll never get away with this, Haldir!" The retired knight screamed to the black archer, and the black archer spoke back. "I don't think you're in a good position to threaten someone, Jalv." Suddenly four more arrows were put in his bow and shot at the two in front of him, the archer was roughly forty feet away and with extreme accuracy and power. His arrows were shot out at around 100% speed. The knight  dropped DIana and put the shield in front of him blocking every arrow that came at him. The shield was round, and with the snymbol of the empire in the front of it. "Frost Maiden, help me fight. Together we can beat him!" screamed the retired knight, Jalv.

The black knight was about to go after the two that tried to run away, but there was a distraction. The cyborg woman was running towards him with killing intent. Red swung the axe around and slammed it into the ground multiple times while spinning it backwards. Rubble started to head in the direction of Ikari the size of basketballs, and fast. Suddenly Red stopped the rotation and ran forward. After trying to harm her to slow her down he was going to do something extra. The black knight moved to the opposite side of her fist and attempted to grab her by the waist with one arm. If he grabbed her with his superior speed he'll throw her at Gale in very fast speeds (not enough to cause a crater, but if she hits the concrete it might hurt.. a lot). The attack was meant to hurt both Gale and Ikari in one blow. Shortly after the toss his axe, which was dangling behind him, slammed into his palm and he threw it at the two. If they were hit by this attack it will penetrate right through them and the wall behind them.

Guards: 20/100, 2/2 Generals
Rebels: 9/50, 3/3 Generals


Dante's wall was holding up, but he was definitely in a bad situation. His wall didn't seem to be breaking but he knew they would break through it eventually. Dante couldn't just leave until the rain stopped, and he couldn't kill too many more people or he'd be killing this kingdom's form of defense. He had to do something, and that's when it occurred to him. Dante put his palm on the ground and turned it into a tunnel of sand with a cement wall on the other side. Dante landed on it with a thud and put his fingers on it. Sand completely flowed to the top of the tunnel he created, but he was sand; he couldn't die by lack of oxygen under a pit of any kind if it isn't water. He put his palm on the concrete and turned it into sand. But the second he smelled the all too familiar stench he immediately put his hand on the edge of the hole he made. His legs were dangling about a foot atop of a very steep stream of shit. Dante covered his nose with his scarf and summoned a sand tsunami through the tunnels. The stream of feces was completely covered by the time he let go of his grip and fell to the ground underneath him. Dante was NOT going to walk through shit unless there was alternatives. He started to walk through the dark tunnel while ignoring the sound of weapons hitting his steel hard dome. They didn't know Dante had escaped.

Gale's eyes widened when he saw the now less armored Black Knight use his axe to storm up dust and pieces of concrete up. The cloud that was built up didn't allow him to see what was going on, but he knew that Red was attacking Ikari, so he couldnt risk throwing an attack in blindly because he could hit his ally. There was definitely some ruckus going on inside the are he couldn't see, so he passed the Clay Halberd to his left hand and prepared to react to anything coming his way. This Knight was giving them way too much trouble... In a way, this was Gale's first real adventure, it was Gale's kindling of a fire. A fire that was going to illuminate further into the night of his own ignorance than he could ever imagine... But that would be later.

What came out of the rubble flying towards him was the last thing he would have expected. It was Ikari herself. Her trajectory, at vertigo speeds, would be enough to cause her serious damage if he didnt stop her somehow. And since she was traveling directly towards Gale, he figured that the Knight wanted to use her as a projectile to harm him as well. But he wouldnt let him. Gale used his Nendo Nendo no Cloud technique almost immediately to catch the oncoming Ikari in a soft environment. He created enough clay for her to go in and not go out the other side with the impact, and the clay was soft enough for it not to cause trauma.

Gale thought that that would be it for the projectiles, but once again, his plans seemed to have a flaw in them. Of course the Black Knight would follow by hurling his axe at them. He didnt have time to raise any construct to avoid it, so he just manipulated the Nendo Nendo no Clouds technique he had already summoned to spout Ikari to the side and away from the trajectory. He calculated as carefully as he could, letting the axe dig into his clay at the same time he solidified it. Fortunately, Gale managed to stop the attack and retain the axe within the Clay Cloud. He then used the same clay to dig a Clay Quicksand pit into the ground in front of him, trapping the axe within it.

"If you want your axe back, you're going to have to take a swim." - Gale smiled at the Black Knight. Gale extended a hand to Ikari, helping her back to her feet.- "Get ready, Ikari. We need to stand together and get rid of him somehow."

As Ikari began to approach the Knight, body and mind ready to fight.  As the gap started to close between the two, Red dug his axe into the ground and flung basketball-sized pieces of rubble straight towards Ikari.  Noticing the speed that they were moving at, and their size, immediately, Ikari made a quick decision on how to deal with the oncoming threat.  It was a fairly obvious choice when thinking about it; she had to dodge the rubble somehow.  Using the rockets in her heels, Ikari would jump directly up into the air.  From here, Ikari dodged the first wave of rubble that was heading towards her, however, Red changed his trajectory for Ikari while she was still up in the air.  Trying to shift her weight while in the air, Ikari would focus all her weight towards her feet, barely escaping another wave of rubble heading towards her.  However, as she landed, Ikari saw a third wave heading towards her.  Quickly taking up a fighting position, Ikari would use five succeeding rocket punches to break the last remaining five pieces of rubble heading towards her.

After breaking the last piece of rubble, Ikari would continue to shoot forward until suddenly stopped.  Looking down, she would see that, while trying to punch the rubble, Red had managed to grab her around the waist.  This could be an extremely bad situation for her if the man decided to just kill her.  However, if he took the time to kill Ikari, the Knight would be extremely vulnerable to Gale.  However, Ikari was fairly lucky as the man decided to throw her.  Where she was being thrown, Ikari had no clue.  Suddenly, Ikari would come to a soft stop.  Her vision began to clear for a moment, just before being pushed to the side.  Landing with a thud, Ikari saw that Gale had used his clay abilities to stop Ikari from being damaged.  After a brief interaction with Red, he helped Ikari back up onto her feet.  Hearing what he had to say, Ikari kept her reply quiet for Red to not hear;
"When he comes towards us, split away from me.  I'll take one side and use a missile, you attack on the other side."

---

Fuel: 26

The black knight saw the one with the weird goo powers grab the axe and put it underneath another one of his goo pits. The knight didn't have much time to react to this, since the man did this very quickly. The knight sighed and wrapped the chain around his arm. With a quick tug the axe suddenly broke out of the ground and slammed into the palm of his hand. The ground surrounding the clay broke apart, and the second the axe hit some resistance the knight's axe's cutting ability took place and cut through the iron hard clay and through the cement ground. When the handle slammed into his palm he continued to swing it as if nothing had happened. His earlier attack was stopped by the woman's fists and her rocket boosters. The man also had a weapon around his hands that looked interesting enough.

The black knight swung his axe around, on top of him, in circles at a very fast speed. The rebels and guards already called a silent temporary truce and dived down to the ground mid battle, since they knew what was about to happen. The knight's speed on the axe increased dramatically, more then before, until it reached a point where the axe became a giant blur. With everyone in the ground the knight increased the length of the axe and swung it horizontally at both Gale and Ikari trying to cut them both in half; then the knight swung it around the group completely and swung it downwards towards Gale when the axe made a complete rotation behind him, the one that was giving him the most trouble was the one with the weird goo powers. This time the knight made sure to cut through the house behind them as well to force the rubble of the house on top of them if they ducked and stayed down for too long.

Gale's eyes widened as plates when the Black Knight broke through his iron hard clay and the concrete with apparent ease when he pulled the axe out by its chain. The sheer strenght and destructive power exerted by the Knight were incredible. And with his newly gained agility he didnt know what they would do to beat him. If everything failed, they would just have to push him towards the gate somehow... Somehow...

"I see that my pits will now be useless with you..." -Gale exclaimed so that the Knight could hear him clearly. He was building up his attack and as Gale saw this, he ran away from Ikari. He hoped that she would remain unharmed, because he wouldn't be able to save her as easily now that he was at further distance from her. -"Fuck!"

Gale saw the razor blur get larger and larger and approach them. Gale ran towards the Knight trusting  his transformative power. He was slashed through his torso but stayed standing. Good thing he did. Because the attack seemed to have changed its trajectory and came back towards him. Gale twisted himself so that the axe would slash through his already split torso. Gale's heart beat faster than ever, pumping blood through his body and adrenaline to his cardiac cells. Gale then rose a Clay Wall in a 45° direction, attempting to hit the Black Knight, Red as it came out and hinder the way he wielded the axe.

Diana held on as tightly as she possibly could.  She admired the retired knight as his fellow rebels, but she didn't risk assisting them at that time.  The last thing she wanted to do was turn the kind individual giving her a lift into an ice cube by accident.  Together the two of them climbed the stairs in pursuit of the archer until they reached the top of the tower.  It was difficult to see where they were initially, but a flash of lightning revealed the silhouette of the archer standing in front of them.  An arrow the archer shot was horrifyingly close and nearly hit the pair of them.  As Jalv set her onto the ground, Diana flinched as her injured leg met the concrete.  Even with the fabric wrapped around it the wound was still bleeding heavily.  Her lower leg was damp with what she assumed was her own blood.  Suddenly a thought came to mind and she stuck a chilly hand on either side of her leg.  The blood froze and sealed the wound shut.  It didn't do much of anything for the pain, but at least she wasn't going to pass out immediately from the bleeding.  Now she just had to deal with the archer as quickly as possible and get back to the others.  No more fun and games.  Diana stepped out from behind the knight and charged the archer.

"Boule à Neige," she muttered as ice sprouted from the ground surrounding where the archer stood.  The ice she could form moved faster than her opponent could, and it would grow to surround him entirely in the form of a translucent globe of steel strength.  By the time the structure was completed Diana had covered half of the distance between them.  She was certainly not running at full speed but she wanted to reduce the space the archer had to work with.

Ikari stood next to Gale, watching the Knight begin to wrap the chain around his arm.  With a single tug, Red had managed to pull the axe, that was stuck in Gale's pit, out with a single pull.  A part of the ground had been taken out as well when the Knight pulled out his axe.  Blinking slightly, Ikari realised the sheer idiocy of trying to get anywhere close to the man.  If she where to get hit by that axe, of course she would be instantly destroyed, but through seeing his sheer strength here, Ikari remembered all the feats of strength he had shown before.  Of course, the man was extremely strong to be able to lug around a large axe effortlessly.  If she was to get punched by him, Ikari wasn't sure the even she wouldn't get away without being completely overpowered.  As Ikari was lost in thought, all the guards and revolutionaries suddenly ducked down.  When Gale ran away from Ikari, Ikari snapped back to attention and saw the Knight bring the axe above his head;
"Oh shit."

Ikari would quickly slam herself down onto her belly as the Knight continued to spin his axe.  Ikari had to figure out how to take him down from this vulnerable position.  Unlike Gale, she wasn't able to become intangible and was extremely vulnerable when it came to sharp attacks.  Looking at the Knight, Ikari saw that she was at the perfect level just now.  His axe swings was covering the upper half of his body, but the lower half was fairly exposed.  Taking off her right hand, Ikari would aim of the general area where is feet where and would fire a Stable Missile towards it.  It was unlikely that the Missile would hit his legs, but the epicentre of the explosion should be near the legs at least.  Suddenly, Ikari would hear and feel a loud rumble.  Looking up, Ikari saw rubble begin to fall from the building being destroyed.  As quickly as she could, Ikari would get on the palms of her hands, having placed her right hand back onto the wrist after firing, and toes of her feet.  Setting off the rockets on her heels, Ikari would dash forwards, directly towards Red's legs.

---

Fuel: 17
Stable Missiles left: 6

Haldir saw the ground suddenly turn against him. A large dome made out of what looked like clear crystals surrounded him. The archer kicked it and immediately figured that it was harder then concrete. The archer sighed and listened closely to the area around him; he knew the girl, cuz of her light footsteps, was running towards the archer. Suddenly the archer took out a special arrow from his quiver, one that in darkness looked black but in light looked dark green. The archer's bow was suddenly, and quickly, put so his legs were holding the front of the bow and both of his arms were holding the string portion holding the arrow back. The black archer knew exactly where Diana was, and he knew that her powers came from a devils fruit, a myth in west blue that was apparently true. Nobody human could survive an attack from the black knight and live to tell the tale. Haldir let go of the arrow after putting it all the way back; it smashed through the steel hard ice, and with Diana almost reaching the dome by this point, should connect to Diana's right shoulder penetrating it almost completely. The knight couldn't deduce exactly where Diana was, only that she was in that area through the rain. The Arrow, if it pierced through her body, will continue moving forward and through the concrete wall behind the knight that held the only way down with the stairs. Rubble slammed on top of the stairs, they were now trapped up there. Haldir didn't know of Diana's plan, so he sat down with another arrow in the same position waiting for Diana's response to his initial attack with a sea stone arrow. It was his only one, too.

The black knight suddenly saw a missile coming towards him. Out of panic the knight kicked the floor up, made of concrete, and used it as a temporary shield. His foot dug into the ground to make that possible. Suddenly the explosion sent him back towards the bottom of the long stairs that lead to the gates of the castle. Red then saw Gale appear in front of him and summoned a wall that slammed into Red's body, but he stood still and unmoving. Red raised his axe up and was about to cut through Gale when he got interrupted by Ikari's attack to his legs. Red felt something slam into his legs and his legs started to ache. The knight lost his temper and used his superior speed to attempt to grab Ikari by her face and slam her into the ground. The black knight will then raise his fist up, now without an axe because of Ikari's suddenly attack, and tried to send his fist down with all of his might on her face. The fist would be enough to cause a large crack on the concrete, and it will ultimately end Ikari's life if it hit. When the knight grabbed Ikari and slammed her into the ground the concrete behind her head cracked, which would knock out most people, but with her endurance it will only shake her up if this technique got her. The black knight's back was to the gates about 15 feet upwards, he wasn't in the area he needed to be.

Guards: 15/100, 2/2 Generals
Rebels: 4/50, 3/3 Generals (currently)

Meanwhile Dante was still walking around the sewers. The battle outside was still going around. Dante was worried for his comrade's lives. He didn't know if they were dead yet, which meant he had to hurry. It was also entirely possible that they had everything under control, and that he didn't have to hurry. Dante ended up reaching a middle ground and ran through the sewers with a sort of sand umbrella on top of him to make sure the goo would never touch him. Dante could hear the sound of battle in the distance, which meant that his comrades might be nearby. He continued to run through the sewers ignoring the smell that was now nearly overwhelming his senses. Dante then suddenly stopped and started to breath heavily. He was not in shape to be running around with this horrible smell/toxic fumes in the air. It would be horrible if he went out to the rain with no energy only to get killed in the process. Dante sighed and started to jog, next time he'll need more endurance for stuff like this.

Dante continued to walk fast through the sewers. He only hoped that his comrades would be alive when he got there; or maybe that his comrades defeated the head guards of the castle.

Something wasn't right.  It was too dark to make out what was happening entirely, but Diana heard the sound of breaking ice and saw something fly towards her.  The object moved much too quickly for her to understand what was happening until something pierced her right shoulder.  She expected it to pass harmlessly through her transformed shoulder, but the warm sensation of blood and pain was horrifyingly apparent.  Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief as her hand grasped at the sudden wound.  What cruel trickery was this?

"...  S-Stalactite!"  Seven pointed spikes shot inwards from the ice dome at various angles, aiming to impale the archer repeatedly.  There would be little hope of escaping them in such a compact area.  If he didn't die immediately, it was likely the spikes would at least hold him in place until he did.  A bit overkill?  Most likely.  But Diana didn't want to risk another moment away from Gale and Ikari. That, and she wasn't keen on being injured by the man twice now. She had to get back and lend them a hand as soon as possible.  Sooner rather than later.  

Quite certain that the archer was no more, Diana hobbled over to the blocked stairway.  On the way she placed her hand on her shoulder and froze the blood at the wound's opening to seal it.  Then stretched her arm to do the same to the back of her shoulder as well.  She couldn't remember a time she had been in this much pain and hurt.  It was difficult to keep her mind focused on anything without the incredible amount of hurt surging through her calf and shoulder interrupting her flow of thought.  As she reached the rubble she placed her hand on it, then it froze and adapted a glossy appearance.  Using her good arm she gave it a weak punch and watched as the shards fells to the ground.  

"Let's get back-...  to the others.  Tell me your plan on the way," Diana stated with difficulty.  She hoped her speech wasn't being too rude or abrupt, but she didn't want to waste time on any unneeded words.  Her voice was very obviously shaking and she struggled to remain upright, but at least she was alive; for the moment.  There would be time for rest later, after she was certain the other two were safe and their opponent was taken care of.  She would need help getting back down and into to the fray in a timely matter.  Hopefully the knight would be able to help her with that once more.

Ikari saw the Knight dig his foot into the ground to create a temporary blockade for the missile. It was just after the missile had exploded the Ikari had headed straight towards the Knight. As she drew closer, she opened her arms to grab around the legs, hoping to knock him down onto the ground. However, this never happened as her shoulder slammed into the Knight's legs. The man stood, unmoving. Ikari attempted to move back quickly but Red's hand suddenly grabbed the back of Ikari's head. For moment, nothing happened. Suddenly, Ikari's head would be slammed into the ground in front of her. If she were a normal person, this definitely would have knocked her out.

Ringing. That's all she could hear. She was slightly disorientated by the blow to her head, but Ikari had to do one thing, and quickly. Straight after she had taken the blow to the head, Ikari would grab onto Red's legs with both of her hands. Ikari would smile into the ground and, knowing that another attack was bound to be head her way, she would charge the Tesla-pad in her right hand, attempting to electrocute Red. The water that was bound to be covering them both caused the electricity to travel much quicker through, and on the surface of, their bodies. As her muscles convulsed, Ikari's hands would lock down tighter on Red's legs. Usually there would be no blow back to Ikari from using the tesla-pad on another person, however the rain water caused the electricity to pass through back to herself. Luckily, the electricity would aid Ikari in electrocuting the Black Knight.

---

Fuel: 15

The Knight's strenght definitely surprised him. It seemed like the limits it had were few as he even destroyed the concrete floor, perhaps out of fear and surprise for the missile that was travelling towards him. Oh, fear, what a curious force that was. It is the creator of death, but also the mechanism to retain life... And it seemed to enhance the Knight's vigor even further than normal. The explosion caused by the missile, though, pushed him back and closer to Gale again.

His eyes had widened due to the demonstration of strenght, and now Gale was getting ready to fight back, because he thought the Black Knight was going to focus him for his next attack. Despite this, Ikari's attacks to his legs deconcentrated him and he decided to change targets apparently. It seemed like anger filled the Knight, and this drove him to turn towards a defenseless Ikari.

"NOOO!" - Gale's scream dissected the night into two. The rain and all of the noises turned blunt against his skin, although they were heavy and typically annoying. There was a silence that flew between the few rebels and guards that were still in riot. Hot blood seemed to fill Gale's face. He was angry, wrathful. His hands turned into two knots that tightened themselves up every second that passed, harder and harder.

Gale ran towards the Knight from the back and he sent clay through the underground towards him. Ikari was dead... Or so he thought. He was a witness of the Knight's gargantuan strenght, and he had picked her up and slammed her against the hard concrete floor. He thought there would be Ikari no more just when he was about to raise spikes from the floor to attempt to penetrate Red, but she got up. It was almost as if he had seen Lazarus coming back from the dead. She clung from the Knight's legs before he got to punch her, although the intention seemed to be left hanging in the air.  And a stream of electricity seemed to be leaving her body.

At the same time, Gale muttered: "Nendo Nendo no Earthern Spinal Cord!" and 4 meters of three-meter tall spikes appeared from the ground behind Ikari, who was clinging to the Knight's leg. The spikes went over her head, not harming her due to the 45° angle that he gave them as they sprouted from the ground. These were long enough to completely penetrate the Knight if they pierced through his armor and were directed towards the chest, shoulders, neck and face areas. The rest of the spikes to the sides would prevent him from escaping to the sides, and he was waiting behind with the Clay Halberd on his hands in case he went back.

All of this, of course, plus the electrical shock he must have suffered from Ikari.

Haldir peeked through the hole he created and watched the opponent get penetrated by the arrow. He then heard the sound of rubble collapsing against itself on the entrance; this meant that even if the opponents beat him they wouldn't find a way to the bottom in time to help finish the war. Suddenly he saw a shadow run towards the dome and place something on the dome; it didn't take long before several spikes penetrated the black archer, Haldir. It was a quick and painless death, which was preferred for people like him that hid from combat to kill opponents. He was terrified of pain and died without ever feeling it. The retired knight looked at the rubble and tisked; it wasn't like they were going down the stairs anyways. Diana, though, didn't know this and shattered the rubble in her way. She didn't look like she could stand though. Jalv put his hand on her shoulder. "It's time for my plan, but it can't be accomplished from down there.. even an idiot would see you coming. Red, or the black knight, has but one weakness.. and that's his limited perception. The reason we are up here is because he'd never see you coming from this height, and this is the only area in the castle with a view in the front. Right now your body is the best one for this coming job. You have to jump and assassinate Red." The retired knight saw the steady stream of blood outline the bottom of the dome she created around the archer. The red bird that gave away the black archer's position hovered around Diana and the retired knight. With his strategy they kill two birds with one stone. Now was the moment of truth. "I'll make sure you hit your mark. Don't worry about that." The retired knight then motioned to stand on the edge of the castle roof. Now it was a waiting game.

The black knight was about to punch the woman but felt a surge of electricity around his body. At first he was stopped for a brief moment, but then he saw a spike heading towards him. The black knight used his free hand, and insane strength, to force it to block his face and neck. The spikes all hit Red and force him some steps back, eventually hitting his back against the wall/ giant door leading to the castle behind him. It closed when the retired knight walked through it apparently. He gasped for a moment, like he had the air knocked out of him. His left arm had three bruises on it trying to protect his upper body Red put both of his hands on his knees for a moment before standing straight again. He pulled on his axe so it slammed into his left hand again. He switched it to his right hand, which didn't seem like a big deal aside from it being less beaten then his other arm. The knight then started to spin the axe around at the injured Ikari on the ground, whom probably couldn't stand after the shock he had given her to the skull. "Nothing you can create will stop my axe, it's all over for both of you." Red picked up a piece of brick from the wall behind him and threw it with all of his might at Gale; the result was a sort of crater behind Gale that could resemble a sort of small explosion. This was meant to stop him from attempting anything.. the worst part was that the black knight had a lot of bricks to throw from the castle. Right after that the knight started to spin the axe faster and faster; winds were felt from the axe. "No matter where you hide her, I'll kill her."

Suddenly the retired knight opened his eyes and grabbed Diana by her waist. "Change of plans, you're going NOW!"Jalv pushed her over the edge and watched as his red hawk flew behind her. The hawk grabbed on to her back and guided her to land right on top of the black knight known as Red. His face was now uncovered, and he had blood dripping down his chainmail. It was up to Diana to end this after Ikari and Gale had worked so hard to push him to the wall. If she failed this part and missed the knight's head then it will be over for Ikari, and the rebels.

The Guards and Rebels started to separate after they saw the explosion happen. The rebels left were all great fighters and knew that if they stayed they'd likely die, so they ran the opposite direction while looking at the battle. They saw the retired knight and the woman falling from the sky when lightning filled the skies for a brief moment. They all smirked and ran away from the battle temporarily, it seemed like everything was finally over.. or would it be? The ex-soldiers stopped after they were a few dozen feet away from the guards and watched. The guards were confused and turned around to look at what the rebels were looking at, but it was too late. The guards prepared themselves for the outcome instead of wasting words on the situation.

The retired knight screamed to everyone after Diana was already most of the way down, "THIS REVOLUTION HAS REACHED IT'S CLIMAX!!" The three rebels cheered, and shadows started to surround the group. At least fifty other shadows hidden in the darkness of the surrounding buildings.

Dante continued to run through the sewers. At one point he saw some of the goo seep through the sand and he instinctively stopped and tip toed through it only to continue running afterwards. The comrades he had hired earlier had better be alright; this war will be a turning point for this country. If those ex-bounty hunters lost.. there wasn't a single person in that army that could stand up to the archer or the guard. Even if all of the soldiers and the retired knight got together they wouldn't be able to defeat either of them. Dante gritted his teeth and suddenly started to spring through the sewers as fast as he could. He hoped everyone was alright.

While Dante was underground the rain started to slowly stop dripping. The rain turned from heavy to very light in but a moment. Dante smirked when he heard this, it meant that he could fight without problems now. When he gets to the outside he'll be able to do something without worrying about getting cut.. wouldn't that be something. Dante smirked at the thought as he ran through the tunnels. He didn't know when he'd arrive at the fighting site, but he knew that it was soon by the sound of people fighting through the tunnels. Soon Dante will find the ladder, at least.

"M-Me?" Diana stuttered, wide eyed upon hearing the knight's grand scheme.  "I don't think-...  surely there's another-...?"  This man had to be going senile!  Surely he didn't think that tossing her off the side of a tower was the best way of doing things.  A similar idea might have worked earlier to knock off the man's armor, but...  this high up?  Crazy talk.  She was no adrenaline-loving dare devil.  Diana continued mumbling various forms of protest as she was led to the edge of the tower.  Her complexion was already pale as ivory before, but as she peered over the edge her face was pure white.  

It was difficult to make out the battle below, but between the bolts of lighting she was able to make out that Ikari and Gale had managed to push the knight to the castle gate.  That seemed to be the only positive, however.  She could have sworn she heard Gale cry out over the thunderous storm but it might have been a figment of her imagination.  Diana continued to squint in an attempt to see what was happening in the fray when the retired knight took her by the waist.  She wasn't ready for this!  He didn't particularly seem to care though as he shoved her unceremoniously off the edge moments later.  

"Ahhhhhhhh!"  Diana yelled involuntarily the first dozen feet or so, tumbling uncontrollably as she did.  It wasn't until something grabbed the back of her jacket did her flight level reasonably.  She glanced upwards to see a strange glowing bird that appeared to be guiding her fall.  The wind whipped through her hair and nearly made her breathless.  If she wasn't fearing for the other's and her own lives, it might have been a pleasant view and sensation.  Most of her wits had returned to her at this point, if only just.  About two thirds of the way down, she was able to see the battle below much more clearly.  The knight's head was exposed; all she had to do was hit him there.  

As the ground grew closer, Diana braced herself in preparation.  Her mouth was dry from the anticipation of impact yet she still gulped nervously.  Moments before she would crash directly into the back of the bloody knight's head she opened her left palm and extended a foot long spike of ice from it.  The ice expanded from that point and the rest of her forearm transformed to match.  Diana thrust her palm forward as she collided at an unnatural speed.  

"Apologies for the delay..."