Kin Chronicles Realm: Betrayal of the Guardians

[Chrono Blackwyng]

He rolled off to the side, spinning his volge to reduce the number of arrows that would actually have a chance at hitting him. He got up and kept his pain from hindering his retreat. He got by the gate and glanced back at White before knocking away more arrows. "Can you give me a patch job? I did something stupid and now arrows are sticking out of my leg."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

The archers systematically seemed to work very well together, despite their dwindled numbers in random places. The true skill of Loraine's men were showing and it was truly a power that could almost match up to that of a Guardian. 20 archers concentrated on suppressing Talin at the entrance, while 30 stood by with combustion arrows, ready to hit anything more being hurled at them, and the rest concentrated on the meat of the party.

[White Wolf Guardian]

*The wolf looked up out of thought at Talin and nearly put a hand to his face then looked back at the wound* "If I heal you, you have to take me with you, and that meaning not leave me in the dust!" *White gripped the feathered end of the arrow and told the wolf to hold still while he numbed it enough to not be felt as he slowly ripped it out of his leg* "You really know how to screw up an anatomy, if you didn't know me I swear you'd never walk again from the look of that femur."

*After about 10 minutes, the wound and the broken bone were renewed to their previous condition* "Now I think you should take me close to Korius, so I can finish this damn fight by protecting him enough to be invincible to most of Loraine's attacks... hopefully."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Korius got up after shaking off the impact dizziness, just in time to dodge and heel drop from Loraine, which created a wide crater where he had been laying. He roared as he let more of his Ki flow through his body, but struggled a little to maintain his sanity as he felt the dark Ki start to try to seep in. Shinzuu's eyes flickered between bright red and crimson red for a second before it remained bright red.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Kiana stayed behind the door and continued to use the rubble to take out archers. Her supplies were dwindling though from being busted up by combustion arrows even though she had been pulling back rubble that she had already used against them. When she heard a roar that she easily knew came from Korius, she worried about how he was holding up. "I wish I could just collapse all these balconies, or at least chuck these doors at them, but unfortunately I can't control these materials." She thought to herself as she sent some rubble flying. "He shouldn't be fighting the Guardian by himself..."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Loraine smirked, "Oh, so your new-found powers has its limits. You haven't conquered yourself, yet. Come on, let it all out. Kill me and then kill your comrades! Grow a pair boy! Warriors like us were always meant to walk solo! Look around you. Ki Masters are meant to be masters, not slaves." Korius frowned, trying to control his anger, "Says the one who threw away her honor. Don't ever put in the same category as you, who betrayed your comrades and your people, who trusted you to protect them."

[KittKat chunky~]

Kitt ducked and dodged the rain of arrows as best he could, his childish enthusiasm at Korius' entrance gone and replaced by single-minded concentration. He finally made it over to where White stood and dropped to one knee. With deft movements he reloaded his repeater crossbow and slung it over his back, instead pulling the guardian's handbow from his doeskin bag.

Arrows still fell around them, far too accurately for Kitt's liking, and so he was forced to keep moving as he loaded the second crossbow. He grinned when it was finally prepared, loaded with the stack of armor-piercing bodkin bolts that he had bought at the last village. Hefting it up to his shoulder with a grunt he loosed several shots towards the archers firing combustion arrows.

This time, instead of ricocheting off masonry the bodkin arrows burst through stone and flew through the air with a searing whistle. Kitt immediately set off at a run again. The handbow was more cumbersome to use than his crossbow, making it harder to dodge the arrows, but he had been training to carry and fire it ever since he had received it at the last guardian fight.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Due to the weight affecting Kitt, the shots were still not too accurate, but did kill a few more archers. The battle ensued, until there were only just short of 30 archers left, when the Commander called for a ceasefire, though the archers kept their bows at full extension, ready to let the shots loose if they needed to. The Commander didn't bother to say anything else, but merely smirked as he held a flint stone and dropped it. Unbeknownst to the whole group, all the arrows that littered the floor had small pouches no more than a finger nail's thickness larger than the arrow's body tied to them. Now that the whole party was in the castle, he laughed and threw the flint stone onto the ground, which created the spark, the floor systematically going off like a minefield. To add to the devastation, the archers began shooting again the second the stone nit the ground.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

When a ceasefire was called for, Kiana didn't trust what was going on at all. When the floor started going off like a minefield, she had to move from her spot behind the fallen door and get a move on. She began dodging back and forth, narrowly missing being blown up quite a few times. The explosions had destroyed what had been left of her rubble so she had no more ammunition to use to fight the archers with. She knew that there weren't many archers left and now she was going to have to rely on the others to take them out since she couldn't.

[White Wolf Guardian]

*White looked through the diamond that was still clutched in his hand at the scene that seemed to almost be unfolding in a slow but instantaneous manner in the entire floor of the castle courtyard, soon to become death for anyone left on the ground, unwittingly moved past Talin watching the flint going down on the ground he flipped open his butterfly knife with his other hand and gripped it tight* "I'll have to focus on all of them with equal protection, technically this should be impossible. At this point however, we're all going to die either way."

*Gripping both the diamond and the knife at the same time, he cut into the palms of his hands hoping to grab whatever he could as he made light energy so intense the brightness of the light was basically blinding as he covered Kiana, Talin, Drevo and Kitt with the most powerful shields he had ever attempted* "There's not enough left for me, but at least I'm close to the ex.." *The flint hit the ground and his words never finished beyond the sound and the brightness of the explosion and battle of shield energy against the blast's force*

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

The explosion was grand, and destroyed much of the first floor of the castle, including a lot of the pillars. Portions of the roof crumbled and fell down, hitting hard against the shield, but it barely held. With every impact, there were visible cracks forming in the shields, and they shattered after the crumbling and destruction ended. The commander celebrated with his men, swiftly shouting new orders, "Okay, men! Let's move out and get rid of that last bastard fighting her highness!"

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Talin coughed as the dust settled, getting back on his feet and looking up at the debris above them. "Hey, has anyone seen White since those things went off?" He looked over at the rest of the group, then spun his volge a few times while heading to the nearest opening. He turned back once again, leaning the pole of his blade against his shoulder."You know what, anyone with the stones and strength to move on should go to through the wall in the throne room. Korius will probably welcome anyone distracting the few archers that remain. If not, try to find our healing mage, or what is left of him." He then climbed out the opening and briskly walked his way to the aforementioned throne room.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Out in the rear courtyard, Korius panted as he continued to defend against Loraine's constant barrage. Goddammit. If this keeps up, she's either going to kill me, or I'll be forever lost. Within his mind, he remembered Soria's words that were embedded into him that morning, when he finally broke out of the scripts. He remembered Soria standing there over him in his tattered state. She gave him a nod and tossed a new pile of clothes, identical to his normal attire. "You've mastered a level of your Ki, but the rest will be the hardest. You have yet to finish all your training, but it seems you might have to take a break for now. Your party faces Loraine Ikster, and she is extremely deadly. She was once my sworn sister, and my student. Your friends will require your assistance, and you will require theirs. If you try to force your Ki level any higher than what you've achieved today, your remaining dark Ki will consume you, and you will no longer be able to revert. The less Dark Ki you harness, the more powerful it gets, and you're now at that level that decides the fate of any Ki master. Seek me after you give my old student her peace. I will finish your training then, or give you your peace, should you succumb."

[Srgntcuddles]

When things started to explode Drevo got closer to White, grabbing Kitt as he went. He let him go when they were in the safety of White's barrier. After it was all said and done and the rubble stopped falling he pushed rocks around to give them room to breathe. When Talin mentioned if anyone saw White he looked around for him, too.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Korius snapped out of his little flashback as Loraine seemed to appear right behind him. He quickly blocked, but since it was so sudden, there was no Ki in his guard, and his left arm damn near shattered from the impact and he roared in pain. Screw it. I'm no use to anyone dead, and I'd rather die trying than to let myself be killed for something stupid. Korius growled and let out a loud, resounding roar as he released all of his Ki, the glow in his eyes turning crimson and the vibrations from the soundwaves destroyed the vegetation around his feet, and cracking the walls of the castle. The commander and his soldiers stopped to cover their ears for the 2 seconds the roar resounded, and pressed on, but as they passed by the throne room to the outer balcony, they saw Talin, and quickly dropped their quivers, firing several volleys of arrows to stop him in his tracks. Loraine stood before Korius, who was now consumed by his dark Ki, and smirked. Sweat was passing down her neck, and she sensed his power emanating powerfully, "It's about time. I'll show you what a REAL Ki Master can do!"