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| ===Chapter 15 - ===
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| For centuries, southern mages have mocked the Hyperborean's Runic Magic as obsolete compared to Aura Magic.
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| Runic Magic had its advantages, sure. It allowed for the storage of ether from pre-cast spells through the use of runestones. Many rock minerals' crystal lattices had a low ether diffusion rate, making it possible to maintain hoards of prepared spells. This allowed anyone who knew the trigger conditions to activate Runic Magic in bulk -- an absolute quantitative advantage which the Hyperboreans exploited at every opportunity.
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| However, Runic Magic's inability to spontaneously cast and its need for a physical carrier drastically limited its use. For example, there was simply no northern equivalent of the ''Ether Seeker'' multipurpose counterspell. Nor could Hyperboreans weave layered defensive wards at different distances. Their inability to apply both defensive and antimagic spells at the same time without the opposing magical interference always left them vulnerable to Weichsel's superbly coordinated volleys.
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| But the manipulation of ether was as much a science as alchemy or metallurgy. Runic Magic would evolve with time just like any other technology in demand.
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| Hyperborean mages on the Frontier had recently developed the newest form of Runic Magic: spell runes which were limited by neither their location nor contact activation. These new runes had rudimentary awareness of their surroundings. They could move freely across any two-dimensional surface. They could even work in groups and follow complex instructions, such as "band together in a grid and discharge in a coordinated volley against massed enemy charge, delayed until the last moment so they cannot evade".
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| In essence, they were self-operated, ''automated'' spells that no longer required a human operator.
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| The proud Hyperborean mages of the newest generation called them "Living Runes".
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| The deafening thunder from the other side of Skywhale Polarlys left a buzz in Asgeirr Vintersvend's ears. But he paid it no mind as his cool Admiral Winter facade finally cracked open a broad, vengeful smirk:
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| "Where is your Holy Father now?"
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| <nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
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| "KAYETEN! I NEED A VOLLEY!"
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| Reynald accompanied his shout with a ''Telepathy'' burst. He doubted Kayeten could hear any better than his own ringing ears, and the recent magical discharge would surely distort his ungrounded telepathy. But even one syllable getting through might catch the Lieutenant's attention.
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| Surely enough, those faded-green eyes turned towards him with a confused look.
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| Reynald followed it with set of hand signals in glowing red: single raised finger, then extended palm, then two fingers pointing at the skywhale von Hammerstein and Ariadne charged towards.
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| It was a painstaking way of relaying a simple message, but it was also necessary. Communications were the lifeblood of any military unit. Without coordination, even the best of effort would fall apart like sand.
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| The extremely bland-looking Lieutenant replied with a single nod, before raising his glove and chanting the opening to his spell.
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| He always began with ''Phalanx'' -- the key word of a spellstorm mage.
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| Dozens upon dozens of emerald lights sprang into existence, surrounding the Lieutenant like a glittering shroud. It was a humbling display of magic prowess that always left Reynald wondering how someone his own age could empower ''that many'' shots at once. But for now, he was just glad that the charging spell barrage was on his side.
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| Reynald then waved his light lance to gather the attention of his squad before pointing it at the Colonel's flag ahead.
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| The doomed charge of the 1st Platoon had left them no more than two hundred paces away from the skywhale. The fireball that consumed dozens wasn't just intimidating, but also provided 'cover' for the unit to move even closer. Furthermore, the defenders would take time to prepare another attack like that.
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| Most commanders -- Reynald himself included -- would have been too stunned by their own losses. But von Hammerstein? His courage not only rallied the wills of his men, but also exploited an opportunity brought in blood and lives.
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| ''One day, I'll be able to lead just like him,'' Reynald thought. ''But for now...''
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| "FOLLOW ME! CHARGE!"
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| It didn't matter that his squadmates were probably all deaf at the moment.
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| Correct protocols were simply too important to forgo at times like these.
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| Reynald watched through admiring eyes as Colonel von Hammerstein rushed through two more lightning bolts, then charged his swordstaff blade into the chest of one Northmen officer on the skywhale's back. His gryphon tried to dig its claws into a nearly archer, but only struck wards and knocked the man away.
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| At that same moment, over a hundred rays from Kayeten and his 3rd Platoon raced in from behind. They rained onto the area surrounding the Colonel's landing, leaving him the lone visible figure in a sea of explosive mayhem.
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| Damage from a scattered elemental barrage was minimal against warded troops. The true purpose had been to suppress foes and buy time. Nevertheless Reynald knew the inspiring image was forever engraved into his memory, especially when von Hammerstein somehow speared the flagpole of his Black Dragon banner onto the skywhale's armored back.
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| That was a tarnish that the Northmen would not permit.
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| A sergeant thirty paces away gestured his men to attack through the lingering smoke. But before they could switch bows for swords and axes, Ariadne had dove into their group, pierced through the leader's wards, and skewered his torso with the lance form of her Manteuffel Sword.
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| Shrinking her weapon to its 'normal' size, she pulled the twin-bladed sword out of the corpse and hacked towards a nearby archer. But with the ''Smiting Catalyst Dispel'' spell on her weapon gone, she barely even crack through his outermost spellshield.
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| ''Use the--''
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| Reynald didn't even finish his thought when Ariadne drew a siphon with her other hand. Swinging it around from the left, she sent out a wave of liquid fire that instantly torched every surrounding foe.
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| Well... all except one. The last archer-turned-axeman was on the wrong side of her mount. So Ariadne urged Edelweiss to plow straight into him before trampling him underfoot. His wards and armor would ensure that his ribs stayed intact, but the hard impact would still stun him for a few precious seconds.
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| The white pegasus then broke into a gallop across the skywhale's back. Its rider, dressed in black-on-burning-red and billowing long pink tresses behind her, immolated entire squads with bursts of hellish flames.
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| The sight was inspirational, even if her accuracy was terrible.
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| ''What is she even trying to hit...?''
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| Reynald took a closer look before he realized that Ariadne worried over more than just the Northmen troops. There were glowing, palm-sized lights that collected into groups as they somehow moved across the skywhale's back.
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| He wasn't sure what they were. But they looked far too similar to the magical anomalies that unleashed that devastating lightning barrage.
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| This time, Ariadne was taking no chances with them. Her flame jet reached out to torch anything that approached. Whenever it met one of those firefly-like swarms, the flames crackled and surged as though breaking another barrel of oil.
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| But there were simply way too many foes...
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| A dispelling arrow shattered the last of her spellshields before bouncing off her spaulders. But the bodkin head that followed buried into her breastplate near her thin shoulders. The force of the impact sent Ariadne's reeling and almost off her mount, but the willful girl not only held steady but even reached up for the lodged arrow.
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| Reynald then winced as he watched Ariadne broke off the shaft without even hesitating before tossing it aside.
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| For a brief moment, he had to remind himself this was his best friend's girl to not fall in love himself.
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| He traced the attack back to an officer who directed another squad of archers for coordinated volleys. With not a second to waste, the redhead shouted "''Phantom Charge''". The ether of his mount ripped away to form a blazing spectral charger, which rammed straight into those archers and exploded in scorching fury.
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| Losing his steed left Reynald plummeting through the skies. But with less than fifty paces to go, he also didn't care.
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| "''Aura Burst! Shift Impulse!''" he called out as he tossed aside the cumbersome lance and drew his trusty dual kukris.
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| With another thought and a rush of ether, Reynald transmuted his entire body into an arcing bolt of lightning. He slammed straight into the archer group that had been trying to shoot his best friend's fiancée, imprinting one last chilling smirk into their startled eyes.
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| "''Catalyst Dispel Burst!''"
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| A wave of antimagic blasted away from Reynald in all directions, ripping away wards even as he leaped back into the air. The short redhead then spun his body like an axle shaft, slashing away at all sides with twin whirlwind blades.
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| His first rotation hardly cut through their chainmail. Most soldiers thought bigger weapons were better for a reason, after all.
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| But the second rotation rose higher to more vulnerable parts, and those viciously curved kukri blades easily tore out five throats.
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| <nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
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| For a moment, Gerd watched with uncertainty as Reynald's reconnaissance squad charged in after their commander.
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| It wasn't their chances that raised his concern.
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| Reynald didn't carry a siphon because they had no idea how the rimefire alchemicals might react to his lightning leaps. But the same restriction didn't apply to the rest of his command.
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| Engaging hostiles without support in order to probe for weaknesses was one of the duties of scouts. Therefore recon units always drew the best and brightest troopers from any company. In fact, Reynald's men had more of those inferno siphons than Gerd's entire platoon.
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| The secrecy surrounding the creation of rimefire meant that Weichsel had never been able to replicate it. Yet that never stopped them from using what they captured in battle with devastating effectiveness. The eleven men and women who landed on the second skywhale were still horribly outnumbered. However, firepower was a real force balancer, and none of siphoneers hesitated to turn the skywhale's back into a death pyre.
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| Gerd was still too deafened to hear any screaming from those burned alive. But the skywhale's painful thrashing was a clear indication of the damage they were inflicting. Meanwhile, Kayeten and his 3rd Platoon charged the third skywhale, covered by several suppressive volleys coordinated by his ''Phalanx'' spells.
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| The problem was that Gerd's orders were to clear the defenses of another
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| skywhale: the first in that staggered row of four. Without Kayeten's ability, Gerd didn't see how he could charge across several hundred paces being torn asunder by another lightning barrage.
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| ''Unless... they can't hit me without hitting their own.''
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| The Colonel, Ariadne, and Reynald had given him the perfect cover.
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| Gerd spurred his phantom steed in action. He raised his swordstaff high above and waved it in a 'follow me' signal. His mount then galloped towards the same skywhale that Ariadne and Reynald fought on.
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| As he drew close to the skywhale, he banked his steed sharply and rode across the great beast's upper side as though it was a tilted road. Glancing back, he grinned as most of his men managed to follow suit. The caracole was a well-practiced maneuver, even if it wasn't normally used in this manner.
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| "''Lieu...--ont!''" he heard a fuzzy telepathic burst.
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| Gerd turned around just in time to see ten Västergötlanders adventurers charging down to meet them in close combat.
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| ''You sorry bastards...''
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| Raising his swordstaff high with both hands, Gerd unleashed all of his pent up fury through a bellowing roar that popped whenever what blocking his ears. His foes seemed to tremble and hesitate even before his blade smashed into them, shattering a blocking spear and sending five screaming into the open skies with a single bowling bash.
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| Meanwhile searing pain erupted across his left thigh as some sword blade cut deep into it. Gerd shifted his legs to make sure he could still feel them...
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| ''Just a flesh wound then.''
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| Trusting his platoon behind him to finish off those remaining, Gerd urged his mount to keep going. Soon its hooves left the skywhale behind, galloping across the air towards an even bigger leviathan -- the one assigned to his platoon.
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| ''Well Reynald, I'm certainly picking on someone my own size this time...''
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| The faint, chuckling smile he cracked at his own joke did wonders to boost confidence, especially as Gerd waved his swordstaff once more before pointing it towards the looming armored beast.
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| "FOLLOW ME!"
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| With another skywhale behind them, there would be no arrow volleys, no thunderous barrage. The Northmen would just have to fight it out in an honorable close quarters melee.
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| Well, sort of...
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| As Gerd reached back to pull out the siphon attached to his backpack, he couldn't help appreciate the irony of the situation. The Northmen had always accused Weichsel of 'cheating'; surely, even they couldn't make such a claim now.
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| ''We found this in the fields of Nordkapp. Now we're returning it!''
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| <nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
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| Ariadne gritted her teeth as she continued her fiery assault.
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| Her head felt light due to her bleeding wounds. After the first arrow that left her entire left arm numb, she took two more hits as she made her way through what must have been nearly a hundred defenders. ''Mental Clarity'' spells did wonders in reducing the pain that clouded her mind, but even magic had its limits.
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| It really was a bad week for her to take wounds. Her periods had always left her a bit anemic. Ariadne didn't like to admit it, but moments like these really left her envious of her male companions in the unit.
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| ''Price of the wiser sex I guess,'' she sneered as her siphon sprayed into yet another squad of Västergötlanders.
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| One could always tell them apart since unlike the Skagen archers, the adventurers wore no uniforms. Even their armor and arms varied hugely. For the first time today, Ariadne had to dodge a throwing axe that swooshed by her head -- close enough that she undoubtedly lost a few hairs.
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| Even with her injuries, her horsemanship and reflex were still better than most. Two of Reynald's men had managed to catch up with her earlier. Neither of them lasted more than a minute in front.
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| Ariadne already grew accustomed to the terrible screams she heard from those burnt alive. In fact, Parzifal would be horrified to know that in her current bloodstained mood, they were music to her ears.
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| ''They're all heathens, murderers, and if one lets them -- rapists too.''
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| Urging her wounded pegasus forward, Ariadne drove towards what had been the priority goal of the 1st Platoon. There was only one squad left between her and the skywhale's blowhole.
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| She never hesitated to press the trigger as she closed into range, not even as ice crystals began layering over the armor protecting their leader's expanding girth.
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| For the first time, Ariadne watched as her opponent took a blast of rimefire without even flinching. She had heard the story from Kaede about a similar encounter; but at the time, she was certain the familiar girl simply had an exaggerated experience from her first battle.
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| Barely slowed by the immolating flames, the huge Västergötlander charged her with his zweihander sword.
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| "''Spellshield Fortress!''"
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| Ariadne brought her main defensive ward back to full strength for the fifth time as she guided Edelweiss to leap away. But she had already moved in too close to evade, and the massive blade smashed into her pegasus head on.
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| Multiple runic spells discharged in quick succession as tiny pebbles popped off the zweihander's guard. Her fresh spellshields shattered under an antimagic burst even as a glowing, heated sword cut through Edelweiss' barding to discharge a surge of painful electric shocks.
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| The pegasus collapsed under her almost instantly, hurling she forward through the air.
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| Ariadne was certain she had just lost her first familiar.
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| Still trembling from the aftershocks, she broke her tumbling fall by catching one of the ropes covering the skywhale's back. By the time she managed to draw her sword again and stand shakily back up, the burning figure was already looming before her once more.
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| There was just no time to bring her sword back up, even assuming she still had the strength to parry an attack that nearly beheaded her mount in one swipe.
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| She would still try. But even as time slowed to a crawl before her impending death, Ariadne knew that this time, she had thrown her dice against fate and lost.
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| ''I'm sorry Parzifal...''
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| <nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
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| "NO!"
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| Kaede impulsively screamed as she watched Edelweiss collapse and toss Ariadne into the air.
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| Her lip was already bleeding from when she bit herself. For minutes she felt helpless as she watched one Weichsel trooper after another go down, desperately trying to think of some way to alter the situation.
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| Tactically speaking, the ''Ghost Riders'' were making progress. Despite being terribly outnumbered, they drove the defenders back through momentum, firepower, and sheer determination.
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| All of that achieved by paying a bloody toll in lives.
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| But this life wasn't just anyone. Ariadne was special to Kaede -- a figure of admiration, a gracious friend, perhaps even more.
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| In the chaos of being toss into this new world, the beautiful girl that exemplified nobility with her every step was the first to lend Kaede a helping hand. Kaede would never ever forget that awestruck moment when angelic lady congratulated her for thrashing Pascal while offering her some much-needed food.
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| ''I am not letting her die!''
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| Kaede drew an arrow and notched it.
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| The distance: around 800 meters (875yd).
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| The altitude: about a 50 meter (55yd) drop.
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| Even with one of these runic arrows Pascal finally made for her after the last battle, this would be an ambitious shot.
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| The arrowhead carried a ''Catalyst Dispel'' rune for ward penetration. The shaft's rear held a tiny pebble with the ''Stormblessed'' spell to always earn the wind's favor.
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| Her biggest opponent was the sheer range and the inevitable effects of gravity.
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| Kaede dislodged the arrow just enough to press its head into a rune on her left forearm. Perhaps a little too hard as it broke skin with a stinging pain, but she didn't care.
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| She had began requesting an ''Air Glide'' spell ever since falling off the roof during her encounter with the Mantis Blades. Just as the spell slowed the descent of falling individuals, it should drastically reduce the vertical drop of her arrow over long-distance flight.
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| Readjusting her aim once more, Kaede focused on the icy Northman through the bodkin tip.
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| ''she is not dying. YOU ARE!!''
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| With her fingers' release, Kaede traced the arrow's flight through the air. The Hyperion rotary fletching sent it into a mild spin as it traversed the distance over what felt like minutes in slow motion.
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| Her drop estimates had hit the mark. Her aim was dead on. But...
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| Kaede felt her heart plummet as it struck the Northman's spaulder -- smooth, plated steel that deflected the shot with ease...
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| Right into where his throat met the spinal column.
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| Ariade barely had the time to spin aside as the still burning man collapsed towards her before rolling down and off the skywhale's side.
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| "Oh thank you god," Kaede finally let out the breath she had been inadvertently holding.
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| Nothing short of a miracle could have explained that.
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| She was grateful. She was proud.
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| She was concerned but happy, joyous even, as Ariadne scanned in her direction.
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| Their eyes never met, but even from afar Kaede could feel a sense of gratitude -- even if it was probably just a prayer to the Holy Father.
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| As Kaede watched Ariadne recollect herself and pressed on with a lamed leg, a quote she had once heard made its way through her thoughts.
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| 'Soldiers didn't just fight to protect. Soldiers killed for the sake of others.'
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| For the second time, Kaede's hands have been bloodied by reaping the life of another.
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| This time, she didn't feel any remorse at all.
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| <nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
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