<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline"><div style="text-align: center;">Day 12: Palaugrim - Luciano High Grounds (night)</div></span></span><br/><br/><br/>The sounds of battle racked the high grounds they were camped in. The enemy moved in earlier than anticipated and it ended up in disaster for the knights. Nobody expected them to perform such a bold move of collapsing Lindenberg Pass, the largest of all the others outlying the area. The four generals along with Lance were gathered in the command tent, fiercely trying to come up with a countermeasure. They were already being pressed by the threat of two enemy battalions moving in on them as they speak.<br/><br/>"What of our men stationed in Lindenberg Pass?" Romuald monotonously asked.<br/><br/>"Most of our men managed to pull back just in time before they got buried in the rubble. Unfortunate as it may be, we suffered minor casualties from that last enemy attack--it was unexpected. Had it not been for Lady Cora's crash course for our clerics, we may have suffered more." Krista voiced out while reading rapidly through the reports.<br/><br/>Heinrich leveled a hard stare on their current field map. With the amount of forces they have and the amount of enemy forces they were to deal with, minor casualties were as good as major ones. "At least that's one less area to secure. With them destroying that pass, they have rendered it useless for themselves too."<br/><br/>"Well that's being awfully optimistic of you don't you think? Given that we're currently on the defensive and being pressured, we all know we can't keep this up forever. What do you propose we do?" Ziekiel questioned, eyes focusing on the locations marked on their field map.<br/><br/>"Let's have a portion of the survivors from Lindenberg Pass rendezvous with the knights on the other passes to bolster their ranks. We're to keep a small contingent watch over Lindenberg, I have a feeling they will try something from there. I want them to lighten up their posts should the enemy try that again for easy withdrawal. If they try to break through, we'll give them a taste of their own medicine." Heinrich strategized, hands skillfully moving the pieces marking their forces on the field map.<br/><br/>"And what of the two battal--" Krista was cut off from her words when the ground rumbled. One look at each other and they knew that it was nothing good.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Pure Sinners are launching magic artillery! They're trying to collapse our foothold!"</span>screamed one of the knights scuffling for cover.<br/><br/>Dread befell the four generals' expressions. They all knew they can't fall back in time given how difficult it was to establish their position on high ground and the darkness of the night isn't doing them any favors. At this rate, if the enemy succeeded, their forces would easily suffer a forty percent loss, their lives included. As panic began to overcome their calm, Lance picked up his spear while balancing himself through the rumbles. "Aww man, and I thought I was just going to advise. You four continue with coming up for a counter, let me handle this."<br/><br/>"Just what do you think you can accomplish alone Sir Lance?" Romuald protested with a sharp stare. "We should evacuate the men and save as many of our forces that we can!"<br/><br/>Lance turned his head to the side, a confident smile playing on his lips. "Yeah you do that you stiff pole. I don't have any plans of letting them get us that easily. Just watch, you'll soon learn what it means to be a First War Knight." he smirked and rushed out of the command tent.<br/><br/>From his vantage, Lance could see the Pure Sinners' magic from their origin to rain down on the mountain peak. They were aiming for the soft spots of the mountain. Boulders of massive sizes were tumbling down on their camp, Lance had to dodge one before he could establish a solid footing. "Great! An avalanche eh? Classic." he mused to himself and took a deep breath. If they have no qualms of taking their lives, neither would he. After all, he was no longer a knight. Sinner or Pure Sinner, they're all the same to him. At this moment, they were the enemy trying to kill them. Lance closed his eyes and focused his mind.<br/><br/>"<span style="font-style: italic">I call upon the power of thee who nurtures life above thy skin,</span>" his chant began, a vivid glow of reddish-brown aura seeping out of his being. "<span style="font-style: italic">grant unto me, thy ancient strength that graciously allowed countless lives to blossom,</span>" he continued, not minding another smaller boulder that nearly grazed him as it tumbled down. "<span style="font-style: italic">this I ask of thee so I could save the lives of your children,</span>" he paused, opening his eyes that now retained a fierce glare. He spun his spear above his head, the reddish-brown aura that engulfed him responded by flaring wildly, "<span style="font-style: italic">Dharti!</span>" he called out and plunged the tip of his spear down to hard earth. The aura that engulfed traveled down to the tip of his spear, seeping into the ground.<br/><br/>Moments later, a forceful outward burst rocked the high grounds. The numerous boulders that tumbled down were sent spiraling in the air, headed for the direction of the enemy below. Lance immediately pulled out his spear and changed stances, spinning the weapon once before positioning it behind him. He was not done, it had been a long time since he did full invoked non-elemental magic, there's no way he's going to stop with just that. "<span style="font-style: italic">Ye who commands the flames,</span>" he began while writing runes with his free hand, a burning orange aura now engulfing his being. "<span style="font-style: italic">bless mine's soul with thy power,</span>" he continued and dragged the runes he drew in the air to his spear. "<span style="font-style: italic">and let me show them thy fury!</span>" Lance immediately thrust his spear forward after embedding the last rune on it, "<span style="font-style: italic">Agni!</span>" he yelled.<br/><br/>The burning orange aura flared as his magic coursed through the length of his spear that was directed at the airborne boulders. A second later and the boulders were set on fire, guided towards their enemy. Lance watched the enemy forces scatter for safety but he was sure he got most of the enemy artillery barraging their post. He just bought the knights time to reorganize.<br/><br/>"Aww man, Gil's gonna kill me..." trailed the orange-haired man as he watched the ground below suffering from the aftermath of his attack. "I think I overdid it." he said contrasted by a satisfied tone and looked around. "If they try that again, I'll make sure the avalanche would be to our advantage." he said and noted key positions where they could bunker in. Lance also noticed the knights who just saw him were all in awe. Well, who wouldn't? He just showed them some flashy high-level arcane arts. "What are you standing around for? Hurry up and reassemble our positions! I'll let you all know of key points where we could bunker in! The enemy will not wait for us y'know!" he ordered and looked back at the command tent, meeting the astonished gazes of the four generals. He walked over to them and immediately patted Romuald in the shoulder, stopping the man from saying anything.<br/><br/>"I'm not so kind as to worry about the enemy while they're giving it their all to eradicate us. You all would do well to keep this in mind. If you want to save a single enemy determined to kill you, be prepared to lose three of your own in the process. That's something I had to learn the hard way. But given that we're outnumbered..." he trailed and went straight for the field map. "I think you all can do the math."<br/><br/>The rest of the generals were silenced. Why did a man such as him decide to quit the knighthood? For a moment there, all four of them could not mistake the feeling they got. It felt like they had the strength of a Seraph with them. Trying to shake off what they just saw to focus on the task at hand, the four generals walked back to the field map with Lance, now they saw him in a new light. The orange-haired man was giving out strategies along with Heinrich when the entrance to the command tent parted, a scout kneeling with what seems to be an urgent report.<br/><br/>"Enemy movement in Lindenberg Pass, they're trying to force their way through. I believe they're goal is to flank us from there but..." the scout trailed, seemingly unsure of how to phrase the next part.<br/><br/>"Out with it. We don't have all day." Lance grilled.<br/><br/>"R-Right! A lone knight is defending the destroyed pass and is blocking the enemy from moving forward."<br/><br/>"A lone knight?! Who in the Light would be so reckless?!" Krista yelled in disbelief. The Scout could only shake his head sideways.<br/><br/>Lance laughed after hearing the report. "I can only think of one man stupid enough to take on such a task. If I have to guess, that lone knight would be Abel d'Arques." he added. "With him there, we can ensure the safety of our backs for the time-being. Why don't we help him out a bit, I say we send him with twenty of our best squads and several cleric units."<br/><br/>"Are you serious? Only twenty squads?! Even if it's him, they won't survive an onslaught there!" Ziekiel protested.<br/><br/>"Ziekiel, in case you haven't heard, Abel was supposed to be the first Seraph. I pale in comparison to that man. You'd be surprised at what he can accomplish with just twenty squads and a few cleric units so just do it. We can't let this chance slip by. Lady luck decided to smile on us and sent Abel our way. We can't allow him to exhaust himself so early, he's a valuable asset."<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">_________________________________________________________________________________</div><br/><br/>Day 12: Palaugrim - Luciano (night)<br/><br/><br/>The first thing they noticed was the taint of Sin being thick in the air as Guilford and his team sneaked into the city. It took them great effort and accurate timing to slip out unnoticed from beneath the caravans. The group convened at one of the dark alleys of the city, eyes carefully watching their surroundings as they discarded their cloaks. They could hear the battle that ensued outside, a reminder that they don't have much time left on their hands.<br/><br/>"I can't believe how many detours the soldiers had that caravan take." Joaquim commented drily. Guilford felt a nagging sense of uncertainty at the words. Could it be that the enemy knows they're here? To the Seraph, it felt like the caravan was being led somewhere. Had they not taken any action, they might as well have walked in to a trap.<br/><br/>"It's safe to assume that the effects of the suppression pills we took are wearing off." Hyuga added after calculating the last time they took the said pills to suppress their holy presences. Alfrei peeked outside and looked at the huge tower in the center of the city. It was not too far off from where they were. "Then that simply means we have to move fast. The roofs are being watched by the guards, most of the civvies have been ordered indoors making it difficult for us to move around freely. We'll have to resort to skirting the alleys to avoid detection for as long as we possibly can."<br/><br/>The rest of the team looked at Alfrei in surprise. "Hey, since when did you get the Captain syndrome?" Georg jested, punching his Lieutenant lightly in the shoulder. "You're making the real Captain look bad!" he added.<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"Enough. Alfrei is right, that's our best option at the moment. I didn't think it would come to this but we all came here prepared for the worst. No complaints. Whatever happens next, we're in this together."</span>Guilford said, a hand unconsciously falling to the hilt of his<span style="font-style: italic">Nirvana.</span>When he realized he was holding the sword's hilt, Guilford felt different. Not like when he used it for the first few times where the sword threatened to overwhelm him. This time, he could feel the blade's acceptance. It felt really good having its hilt on his hand.<span style="color: #0080FF">"Let's move!"</span><br/><br/>Their group slipped into the alleys avoiding the tightened patrols as best as they could. They black garments proving to be useful. No wonder Akira had a love for night ops. The first few corners and alleys were easy. However, just as they were closing the distance to the tower, the patrols were getting tighter and tighter, and the alleys growing farther and farther apart. Guilford and his team stopped in the cover of the darkness just by the edge of the last alley they took. Guilford saw a couple patrol units doing their rounds in a tight rotation. His eyes darted over to the roof only to find more of the same. Even the roofs now had moving patrols, tough luck for them. The Seraph slipped back to the cover of darkness and shook his head.<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"No good. Their patrol routine is too tight. We're not getting out of this alley unseen."</span><br/><br/>Just when they were contemplating on their options, a familiar energy signature tingled their senses. Guilford's eyes widened after realizing what it was but Vlad took the words right out of his mouth. "Impossible! That's just now was an Absolve! Who would be stupid enough to do that here?!"<br/><br/>"More importantly," Hyuga interrupted. "why would there be other knights here besides us? Unless of course they are who I think they are."<br/><br/>"Who else could it be?" Georg mused. "The only other knight squad moving about freely would be Team Blonde." As if to confirm their hunch, another wave of holy presence filled the tainted air, like it was released from confinement. Nobody could mistake this holy energy signature for it belonged solely to the ones granted the rank of Seraph. "I'm almost impressed that they made it here had it not been for that unnecessary act of drawing attention, and this act of fully exposing herself. Good Light, what is Master Lethe thinking?!" Georg finished.<br/><br/>"Tch! I'm more worried about what her squad is thinking for not putting a leash on their Captain and just letting her do what she wants! It's either they're confident they can bail her out, or they're all on a death wish." Joaquim spat in disapproval. "We're in the heart of enemy territory for crying out loud!" he added. A testament to his words were the rampant increase of unidentified signatures surrounding the holy presence. Joaquim couldn't resist the urge to sink his face to his palm.<br/><br/>His worry grew upon sensing the unknown signatures and without a word, Guilford began to move to make his way out of their cover but Alfrei blocked him by standing in his way. Green eyes met the resolute gaze of purple ones. "You're going aren't you?" he asked and received a nod from the man. Alfrei sighed. "We all know how important she is to you Captain, we've all seen the way you look at Master Lethe. But, with all due respect, as much as I hate to say this, she clouds your better judgement Captain."<br/><br/>There was a look of agreement in the faces of the rest of Guilford's team, but Alfrei wasn't finished. "Captain... need I remind you of what happened the last time she acted selfishly like this?" asked the Lieutenant only to receive an unwavering stare from his Captain. "Fine, I'll remind you. Captain Guilford, the last time we bailed her out, we lost a Vice Captain!"<br/><br/>"A-Alfrei! That's going too far!" Natalia cried out, worry befalling her features. Guilford simply hushed his youngest knight with a hand gesture. This has to get off his Lieutenant's chest, and what his men thought are important to him.<br/><br/>"I didn't want to blame anyone for Vice Captain Brynhildr's death, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me. What if they told us what they were up to instead of keeping us in the dark? Did they ever stop to think about how their actions will affect those around them like you do Captain? I understand that you intentionally avoided letting her know about<span style="font-style: italic">Liberation</span>with the intent of keeping her out of it. I also know that deep down you were hoping that they would still be somewhere else investigating the Sin Crystals while we're here in Luciano fighting the war right? But let's face it Captain, a large scale operation like this would no doubt reach their ears prior to them ever making it to Luciano in the first place!"<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"Your point being?"</span><br/><br/>"Captain! Why didn't they contact us, the Scouts or any Knight Commander? Why didn't they let us know where they are or what they were planning on doing? Rai never did find them did he? That just means they didn't want to be found! And now we find them here, and worse, this is turning out to be a repeat of Jenault! Can't you see it Captain? Master Lethe acts selfishly with her blind faith in the Light! Her own judgment is clouded! Her actions will lead her squad and others to their deaths! What good does that do us in a time such as this?! I know I can't stop you from going to her side but I ask you this Captain, who will die next for her sake, you?"<br/><br/>"Lieutenant that's eno--" Vlad tried to cut in but was stopped short by Guilford's right hand landing on his chest plate.<br/><br/>Guilford looked into the green eyes of his Lieutenant with his own piercing gaze. He understood what Alfrei's concerns were, his fears, his hopes, all of it were within every word he said.<span style="color: #0080FF">"Then are you suggesting that we leave them be for their selfish actions? I was selfish too Alfrei, to an extent. It's true that I didn't want her to be involved in this, even knowing that in the end, this right here has a high chance of happening. Did you really believe that Lethe would sit idly by while all this is going on? In her own way, she is only doing what she believes is right, what she can do best like the rest of us, nothing more nothing less. I don't appreciate you chastising her like you knew better. She has her reasons, I have mine, that's all there is to it. Besides, I already told you and everyone else Alfrei, <span style="text-decoration: underline">we</span> are all in this together as one. Do you understand?"</span><br/><br/>His Lieutenant couldn't say anything more. He just gritted his teeth and looked away to the side in shame. In his heart, he was amazed at how different his Captain had become after Brynhildr passed away. He didn't quite know how to put it but the feeling was there, he was the same man but not quite. "Captain...I...I'm so--"<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"It's alright Alfrei, I understand. Get your head back in this. The fighting has already started and I think the patrols are confused."</span>he said and peered again out on the streets. The patrols seem to have sensed the fighting and were in disarray. This was their chance.<br/><br/>"Goodness, the Captain is amazing isn't he? I lost track of what's ahead in your argument but he managed to keep his focus on you, the surroundings, and Master Lethe." Hyuga said and placed a hand on his Lieutenant's shoulder. "I may not have been under the Captain for as long as you have been Lieutenant, but I have learned to trust him. Even more so now seeing him the way he is."<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"Let's move!"</span>Guilford ordered and slipped out into the streets to make it to the next alley. The clash of steel grew louder and louder as they approached the Light-filled presences battling near the city's tower. There were several of them now which could only mean that Lethe's squad joined the fray. Hopefully, they make it in time to back them up before anyone got seriously hurt.<br/><br/>_________________________________________________________________________________<br/><br/><br/>For whatever reason, Lillith couldn't bring herself to attack Guilford and his team. Partly because she wasn't too keen on getting beaten to a pulp again given she wasn't at full strength, but mostly because she didn't exactly want to. Her heart was throbbing just at the sight of the Seraph but she couldn't quite place it if it was in a good way for her. She wasn't scared, she was excited to see the Seraph again. It was after a few minutes of scrutinizing her feelings that she's come to acknowledge that she's grown fond of the Seraph. Using her symbol as a beacon, Lillith carefully concealed her presence (it was a lot easier with her not being in full power) before teleporting herself to it. She mused over the group hiding in the alley from atop one of the nearby roofs, head tilting to the left and right while humming a random note as she eyed all seven of them. They seem to be having an interesting conversation so the demon listened.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #FF0000">Well now, isn't that touching little boy?</span></span>Lillith mulled over her thoughts after overhearing the conversation between the two. It didn't take long for her to find them but she didn't feel the need to let Syndra know. Not yet anyway, this would be a surprise. She wanted to get back at her older sister for ripping out her vocal chords and the<span style="font-style: italic">little boy</span>she was fond of is her only key to getting her revenge. Truth is, she just wanted to see how her sister would fare against two Seraphs on her neck now that the other exposed herself. Just the thought of her sister calling her name for help sent good shivers down her spine. She was however, kind enough to tell Syndra that she couldn't find Raim anywhere. Shoving the thoughts of her sister aside, the excited spymaster trailed Guilford's group with an expectant look in her crimson eyes.