The Graveknight sat atop a steed, head slack on its shoulder, periodically bouncing as beasts follow their every step, ghouls limply stomping about, frothing at the mouth with a bubbling crimson—one walking straighter than the others, an almost calculating stare scanning the city streets. Atop the roofs, Emma's party sat, watching from afar as the more mindless of the bunch rummaged through empty buildings, whoever was inside seemingly escaping in time, or having already killed.
Emma whispered, "They come to us, we don't go to them..." She proceeded to prop up the barrel of her rifle onto the roof's guard rail, leveling it at one of the lagging behind ghouls. "Once I shoot... they'll rush the roof..."
Viana crouched low beside Emma, "Okay, I'm ready."
Both Dahlia and Qicy were sitting beside a large generator atop this building, making sure they were nearly unmoving, ready to spring up at a moment's notice.
"A lot down there... but we can do it. Most of them don't seem to be the most intelligent," Emma pointed to the ghoul walking beside the Graveknight atop what looked to be an undead horse. "We should focus on the fucker right beside that knight."
"At the same time, then." Viana leveled her rifle at the ghoul.
The cracks of gunfire cut through the air, both shots hitting their mark, blowing open the shoulder blade of the ghoul they were targeting. The army froze in place, all whipping their heads towards the sound.
Combat Begins!
The Graveknight's arm snaps in place, emitting a violent cry, commanding its forces to rush to the roof where Emma's party is. The various ghouls and monsters, four strong-looking brutes, a single ghoul of a seemingly greater intelligence, and two lesser ghouls, clamber up the building's side as the Graveknight slowly approaches from behind their frontline forces.
"Focus on the ghoul!" Emma repositioned herself, no longer needing to hide, as she stared down the barrel of her gun, Rider revealing themselves first as they prep themselves right at the building's staircase.
A single shot slammed against the beast's shoulder as black ichor leaked from the wound, another wizzing past its head as it weaved through the streets of Mars. Catching the ghoul as it sidestepped a shot from Emma, Viana fired, supporting Emma's efforts as a shot from her own rifle blew open the buscle of their calf, which deterred the beast not.
In the span of six seconds, this ghoul, clearly special, standing out amongst their scrambling brethren, had already begun scaling up the walls of the building before their comrades could.
Dahlia revealed themselves soon after, waiting for any of these monsters scaling the walls along with Rider as Qicy prepared her spells, slowly peaking out behind the building's generators, taking slow steps forward.
As the skirmish began, the Graveknight, still slowly approaching atop their steed, reached behind their back, grabbed a long, gnarled bow, and knocked back an arrow. "Shit, it ha--" before Emma could say another word, she flicked up her shield, the force of the arrow knocking her back as her arm shot violently into the air. Emma's arm had gone numb, arm shaking as another arrow crashed into the guardrail, Viana narrowly avoiding it as it struck against the brick lining of the building.
Viana nearly went to look past the wall again before another arrow crashed through, causing her to roll out of the way. At that moment, just as it was knocking back another arrow, using that opportunity, both Emma and Viana looked over the wall of their guardrail, firing a barrage of bullets down onto the clambering ghoul, shredding through its thick, muscled flesh before recoiling back behind cover.
Only then, after as much pushback as it had received, it jumped over the wall, reaching the roof of this building. Dahlia rushed in, placing them both into a clinch, "Back down you go!" Dahlia, hefting her weight against the ghoul's form, shoved the ghoul straight back off from the building, hitting the ground below with a sickening crack before taking a step forward and slamming her fist into one of the ghouls clambering after their leader, causing them to cascade to the ground below as well.
Two of the weaker undead amongst them have made it to the roof following their leader's descent. In that moment, an arrow from the Graveknight shot out, Artemis's armored arm being raised to block the arrow, which could barely get past the thick interlocked sheets of metal that made up the manica.
Unfortunately, another arrow flew out, grazing Viana's shoulder, partially degloving it as the arrow embedded itself into the concrete roof below.
"Keep focusing on that undead fuck below! Make sure it doesn't get back up!" Emma fired a shot into the underside of its ribcage, prompting it into a standing position, attempting to defend itself before a shot from Viana came crashing straight into their skull, causing the monster to go limp instantly, dying on the spot.
Rider went to defend the roof from one of the approaching ghouls, breaking its leg with a stomp right between its thigh and calf before breaking its jaw on a left hook.
"Focus on the ads now!" Viana snapped to one of the climbing ghouls, blowing their hand straight off their wrist, causing them to fall to the ground, almost forty feet below.
Dahlia rushed over to one of the ghouls that had managed to make it to the roof, almost instantly dispatching it with a simple one-two combo, the body falling limply to the concrete below, black ichor pooling under its corpse.
Qicy, taking a breath, positioned herself in the middle of the group, holding her glaive aloft, divine magic gathering around her as two other ghouls vaulted onto the roof, now on equal footing with Emma's party.
The Graveknight, at this distance, placed their bow back behind them before standing atop their steed, waiting. Emma, concerned, pointed, "I think he's planning to jump!" Emma then, keeping to her own previous orders, blew the brains out of one of their new arrivals before spinning around to take out the other, sweat beading at her brow, exhaustion slowly taking over.
The remaining undead were easy after that, the party ripping them apart one by one before Qicy's magic finally went off, her healing magic encompassing the exhausted Emma and Viana, who were slowly becoming burnt out from what was only the first round of this encounter.
Suddenly, their thoughts were interrupted by the creak of metal, and behind them was the Graveknight itself. Dahlia positioned herself between them and Emma, manica at the ready.
The Graveknight's blade was brought into the air with a significant heft before crashing down into Dahlia's manica, cracking the metal plates that it was made up of and forcing her to one knee from the impact, gritting her teeth in pain, and whilst using this momentum, at a lesser effect, throwing Dahlia's arm to the side, only causing her to stagger momentarily.
Emma hissed from her teeth, rounding around the Graveknight to assist Dahlia, Rider jumping in to help as well, and Qicy distanced herself from the fight so as not get directly involved with the clash of blades that would occur next. They all aimed to attack at once.
Rider was swiftly parried along with their master, Emma, before raising their blade against a shot straight from Viana and redirecting Dahlia's fist, managing to slam against their side, causing their guard to open, but using that momentum to raise their blade into the air, its cold, red eyes scanning the enemies before them in an almost robotic manner, rolling their shoulder to slice across Emma's body, causing her to crash onto the floor, groaning in pain, a bruise forming underneath her stalker gear.
"Emma!" Dahlia cried, and before she could react, the blade reached her once more, her shield being sliced open, the tip of its blade running along her arm, causing a massive gash, the propulsion from the cut causing them to slide away along the floor, clutching their newly formed wound in fear and pain as the hot rush of blood leaving her body filled her arm.
The Graveknight attempted one more swing, redirecting their blade at Dahlia, who batted their weapon out of the way, failing to retaliate, however, as the Graveknight deftly avoided her blows, they were swiftly caught off-guard from a shot to their head coming straight from Viana, viscous black ichor leaking from their head like blood, causing them to stumble momentarily.
Unfortunately, the Graveknight quickly regained its composure, deflecting the remaining shots coming from Viana's rifle.
Emma, pale, found herself back on her feet, her wound sealed over from Qicy's magic.
The instant Emma was back up, the Graveknight shoved themselves into Dahlia's range before stabbing forward into Viana's stomach, who immediately went unresponsive, and without giving the party time to breathe, its fist slammed into the side of Viana's head.
"Get away from her!" Dahlia demanded, screaming out at the undead monster before her, and Emma, much too late, wrapped the tail of their armor around the Graveknight's body. Not that it mattered, as she slammed it straight into the floor below, landing on the railing of a staircase, denting both the railing and its armor before dropping to the floor below, crashing her fist into its stomach, ripping its white, rotting insides out in the very same movement. "Emma!"
Dahlia jumped down with her, and Qicy healed Viana back to consciousness, who now clutched their newly scarred stomach. During that time, Dahlia, jumping to assist Emma, broke one of the monster's arms by simply landing on it as it raised a hand in a helpless attempt to block her descent.
A faint whisper exited the Graveknight's throat as it found itself nearly dead in but a moment's notice. Emma and Dahlia leaned in, trying to listen, before both instinctively jumped out of the way, caught in a massive blast of cold straight from the undead's corpse.
There was a moment of silence in the building that felt like minutes or even hours, but it was only seconds. Dahlia looked to Emma, unconscious on the ground, covered in ice. She went to reach out with her manica'd arm before bringing it to her chest, the monster's blade passing through the metal and into her stomach, slamming her against the wall behind her.
Dahlia could only have fallen unconscious for but a moment before quickly being revived by Qicy's magic, her eyes shooting open in fury. Dahlia lunged at the Graveknight, sending the top half of their body flying through a wall, the room now stained in ichor.
Dahlia fell straight back to the floor below, clutching her wounds before realizing Emma was still dying, her entire body shivering and pale. "Emma!" Dahlia scrambled over to her, bringing Emma into her arms. "It's okay, I'm here!"
Qicy jumped down, filling the poor girl with as much healing magic as she could.
Emma remained unconscious, but her wounds were slowly sealed over, her bruises slowly reducing in size, and the frostbite on her body slowly melting away. "Emma! Idiot! Reckless, idiot!" Dahlia sighed, calming herself down. "Let's get out of here, that's one down!"
Qicy nodded rapidly, all of them rushing back to the Academy grounds.
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Four Spires down, Three Spires left.
Unfortunately, some difficulties have arisen regarding the last three spires, specifically the spire near the docks and the spire found in the forest that lined the outer rim of Mars. The last of the spires was being worked on at this very moment.
Emma was being patched up by Qicy, hopping onto the seat beside her, checking for any wounds she might still have from their previous encounter, making sure to keep her wrapped up as much as possible to keep her warm.
Dahlia has an arm wrapped around Emma's shoulders, listening as they plan for the next steps. The AV Club halfling stepped into the middle of the courtyard, standing atop a podium, and yelling out, "The Prince's party has requested assistance over by the docks. If there is anyone who can assist, head to the docks--"
Dahlia looked to Emma. "After we get you back in order, do you want to help out Sebastian and Hero?" Dahlia asked.
Emma sighed, shivering. "I'd imagine a lot of other parties would get their hands in that pot..."
"Along with that, Meliana Reef and her party have gone missing within the forests of Mars, most likely moving to handle the Higher Mimic within, so if there can be any help regarding that, let me know!"
"Fuck..." Emma put her head in her hands, groaning. "Fuck..."
"Will... will we go there?" Dahlia cocked her head, observing Emma's reaction.
"Yeah... let's help Mel."