Although the black knight was clearly flustered at the stirring performance of a dancer who clearly was forced to strip into such<del>strings</del>clothing AND the arrival of his Lady, he managed to somewhat keep his cool. From his imposing defensive silhouette, Sir Aurich's form had leaped out and struck down his earlier target. It was a feat of impressive coordination with little communication (quite a bit of yelling, though), and Claire was beginning to somehow feel more confident and secure in the battlefield with the knight at his side.<br/><br/>The back of his iron ankle dug onto the earth as Lord Cuddles braced himself from the hit struck by the new challenger who like the last, did not leave a trace of struggle against his arsenal or armor. After deflecting said slash with a simple and clean parry, the knight retaliated with a quick stab to the side of the second enemy Myrmidon during his retreat. The wound made was not amusing to the Myrmidon. Frustration colored his face, with a touch of panic as well. Maybe a tad bit of jealousy. After all, who would not love to rush into battle while being supported and cheered by an exquisite beauty?<br/><br/>The process of near-effortlessly swatting away blades and then swatting away bodies had become a mechanical predictability for Claire, but the knight mentally reminded himself that a civilian, Lady Laplace and others are depending on his capabilities and concentration for protection. The next event, however, did catch the bulk of his attention. An enemy Wyvern Rider had descended to seemly make an assault on him, but the target of his choosing had been his own ally, who fell to the grass almost as quickly as he charged into battle!<br/><br/>Although the speech made sense of his actions, Claire settled his own conclusion from his action. If his intent was to fool the enemy and make a rush to assault Lady Laplace while their guard is down, then it would have been far simpler to just fly over their heads and pick her off. And at the moment, there was not much else he could do if this so-proclaimed ally of justice had indeed turned out to be a disguised wolf.<br/><br/>Claire's own lengthy train of thought was interrupted by Aurich and the mage settling another myrmidon's business in this world, with the former pursuing their superior right away. At least once this last bandit is cared for, the immediate area would be free of danger. Claire followed suit and sought to tear another hole in the mercenary whilst he was still stumbling from the other lance's effects.<br/><br/>Maybe it was a bit of an overkill, as Claire made a running start to lunge and promptly landed in front of the mercenary. The ordeal was too successful. The knight's lance did create a new hole in the mercenary's chest for his lungs to gather air from. The momentum from the rush and Claire's own two-handed push had broken through the thin slice of iron and did their proper, brutal damage to the flesh underneath.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Gonna try to tone this down.<br/><br/>Activated personal skills:<br/><strong>Hold the ****ing Line!</strong> - Claire is a knight bent on dedicating the **** out of his life to defending a cause. / If the character is within 3 spaces of Allied Units, +2 Defense / Resistance<br/>Under effect of:<br/><strong>Maribelle/Charisma</strong> - +10 Evasion/Hit within 3 spaces of Maribelle!<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">nerdy calculations</div><div class="spoiler_body">86(base)+10(charisma)+15(bonus)-12(merc eva)+5(aurich daunt) = 104! autohit!<br/>12(base)+1(bonus)-2(merc defense) = 11 damage done to k10 merc!<br/></div></div><br/>Claire moves 1E to K9 and kills the Mercenary at K10. Lance durability is at 40.</div></div>