Quest Attack on Riverfall[Frontline]

[Septimus]

Everything had happened so fast and the yukmen were absolutely horrid creatures. Septimus' eyes allowed her to see from every angle besides right in front of her nose and right on her back. Luckily for her and her rider, she saw the attack coming from behind. She raised her head high enough where her rider would only slide forward a bit rather than fall off then in a very quick movement, she bucked fiercely at the yukmen hot on her trail, dealing a very very hard blow to it's chest where supposedly a human heart would be. She watched it fall but charged harder, knowing she needed to stay concentrated. She saw her rider's spear pierce several more yukmen then she managed to spot another yukmen that advanced towards him. Septimus neighed loudly then picked up her pace into a harder canter as her rider commanded. It went to attack then she did the same maneuver, this time hitting the yukmen in the stomach with hard force. It fell to the ground, and her rider nudged her in her ribs harder almost like he was begging her to go faster. Septimus breathed slowly like she had been taught but it was all she could do to prevent from picking that pace up too. She felt her hooves crush more yukmen as several fell before her thundering legs. Septimus winced as she felt something pierce through her armor. She could tell it wasn't deep, but it hurt. The Kelvic assumed her rider had taken care of it for a weaponless yukmen fell behind her. "Continue on! You're stronger than they are!" Her eyes were wide, and she was scared. It was only instinct that she be scared but she felt as though it was unhonorable. More death, more wounds, more blood. It was almost too much for her to comprehend that it all was real. That she was in the middle of combat. Septimus saw her rider put down some more yukmen and glanced at the rest of the cavalry charging as well. More yukmen were trampled by the others and for a split second she wondered about the other stations fighting in this battle as well. Using her body like a brick wall, she charged faster at a yukmen slightly larger than the rest. Or at least the difference was slightly more noticeable. Using her back legs for more force, she slammed into the creature, sending it flying to the ground only to later be trampled by her fast moving hooves. More searing pain came from her flank as she witnessed a spear from a yukmen fly right under her stomach. She was lucky her running position was in the way it was or else it would've possibly hit her hindquarter, and with a sigh of relief she kept moving on. The pull of the reins to go left caused her to go left nearly allowing her to miss a falling yukmen. "Keep running." The Tiaden Warhorse was striking on the battlefield. Despite all that was going on, she still managed to maintain grace, poise, elegance, toughness, and speed all the while allowing her rider to deal deadly blows. It seemed as though she was taking more of a beating than he and he was glad for that. Septimus needed to protect her rider at all costs, even if it meant going down. Sounds raided her sensitive ears; sounds of metal clashing, sounds of hooves thundering, sounds of shrieking. Septimus wondered if the shrieking was from both sides, but hoped that it was only from the yukmen. "Concentrate, Septimus! Damn it!" her conscience was yelling at her and she had to listen before it came back and bit her in the ass.

[Xalet]

Kicking his foot down against the ground hard, Xuphim picked himself up, armor and all, back into a strong standing stance. With his weapon tucked squarely against his side, he full prepared to drive a simple stab into the next creature. A stab was the perfect attack with his weapon choice, it conserved energy and often dealt a mortal blow that could kill outright, or force an opponent to quickly bleed out. Sliding his lead foot forward Xuphim stabbed with great speed looking to pierce the Yukman approaching him high in the chest, but his weapon was blocked in a most unusual manner. With no care for the long term repercussions, the Yukman raised a hand and allowed the blade to slide clearly through it's palm. Right into one side and out the other the slightest linear pressure was enough to bring the attack off course. Reacting with whatever instincts it possessed, Xuphim's chosen opponent gripped onto his forearm with it's good hand squeezing down upon the heavy gauge cold-rolled steel bracer he wore. Though the commotion blocked out most of the creaking, it almost felt like his bracer was starting to yield to the pressure. Was that possible? "Xuphim, we can't allow the weapon arm to be injured, retaliate!" Xalet called out, the thoughts spiking their way into Xuphim's narrow pathway to victory. Overwhelm the opponent should have worked. That attack should have resulted in a death. The Dark brother had not thought far enough ahead, the weakness his reliance on instinct had compared to his brother's careful and tactical planning. There was a maneuver that could turn the engagement around, but Xuphim struggled to remember it... ...lucky for him it didn't matter. His left arm bearing his shield swung hard to the right, across the front of his chest. His right side shifted backwards slightly. This counter-attack, this was Shield Gouging! The metal banded edging of his shield fell across the creature's forearm so hard that the combined efforts of the radius and ulna bones couldn't resist the applied force. They both folded, forcing the hand that had been mis-shaping his bracer to limply lose its grip. "What? My body reacted on its own? No, we've been training long enough to know what that feels like. Was it you? Oh shit!" despite the speed at which the two souls could share their own conjecture, the heat of combat fluctuated quite speedily. Yanking his sword free from the creature's injured hand he reapplied his technique in a secondary stab, one which found it's mark so squarely that the chest bone of a bison could have very well been penetrated. Combining the rearward torque of his sword with the forward thrust of his shield, Xuphim recovered from the stab maneuver while drilling the Yukman with the face of his shield, knocking it back and down to the ground where it laid still. "It wasn't my intent, I don't understand it myself. I was just thinking it could have been a good idea. And then it happened. Even with you in the dominant position it happened." Xalet attempted some level of rationalization. In all their years together it was the first inkling of something neither of them truly knew even the slightest bit about, the unity of an Akalak's sides for the purpose of combat. "Whatever, don't go getting all apologetic on me, the thing is dead and we're not. That's good enough for me. And don't go telling people I froze or something. I didn't freakin' freeze, I was just thinkin' for a while was all." Xuphim replied defensively, even without something to be defensive about. Turning toward the hesitant Yukman Xuphim rushed forward, sword moving into position for the Triangle Stance. He was starting to get the hang of these Yukmen, when they wished to close some distance it appeared they would attempt to latch onto an opponent. The moment that creature's hand rose upward a blade flashed before both his eyes and the Yukman's. Almost comically the outstretched digits went spiraling out of control, relieved from their previous attachment to the hand itself. With the quickened recovery time of the very neutral Triangle Stance, Xuphim dipped his hand downward and stabbed low, bringing his fist into the creature's gut with an underhand thrust that would lift even an overweight man up on his toes. Slamming the front of his sallet down in a hip driven head-butt against the flushest part of the Yukman's face, Xuphim disengaged with a rather thorough boot to the chest, forcing the bleeding, slightly dismembered monster toward Serrif.

[Mist]

Indeed, once battle began, it was a horrid, confusing, and bloody affair. Few of the members of the calvary, even the uninjured ones, made it far, without being inundated in gore, yukmen blood, and the screams of the dying. Septimus rider seemed skilled at using his spear, and was really getting into the battle and letting loose, seeming to fall into a level of synergy with his mount, who was fighting also, and making him proud. As Septimus kick met the yukman behind her, its chest collapsed as its ribs were staved in, knocking it off its feet. As it lay on the ground, spittle and blood flying out as it screamed, it was silenced forever as another horse ran by and stepped on its head, leaving a flattish bloody pulp were a screaming face once was... Stilling it and its hate... Her rider urged her on, letting off another battle cry, as he stabbed a yukmen in the eye and yanked it out to twirl it above his head, and slash open another throat... But finally ill luck befell the spear, and it caught in the spine of a yukmen, and was yanked from his hands. The rider simply let out another shout, and let the spear go, drawing the longsword off of his back in his right hand, and his lakan in his left. Soon enough he was sweeping his longsword in a long arc, hewing into yukmen flesh, and making fast darting stabs with his lakan to pierce windpipes and faces when they got close enough. However as they pushed on, a small difference in the fight was suddenly noticeable... As they were pushing further back into the horde, many had weapons, and some even had armor, mostly leather. A odd mix of weapons could be seen, in various states of repair, from a sword with half of the blade missing, to a shining axe being chopped into the flank of a horse... And over it all, audible even back to the frontline forces, a mix between a lions roar, and a yukmans cry, but deeper and louder... YUUUUUK!!! YUUUUUK!!! Just 15 feet in front of Septimus and her rider, a huge mass came leaping through the air, tackling and knocking over a horse and its rider, its body shaped more or less like a lion or a tigers, except for the fact that it had no fur, just odd dirty brown skin, which was both dried out and cracked, and yet appearing like it had spatters of mud over it. It was a bit smaller than a horse, but still deadly, and able to leap as no horse could... Strangest of all was its rider, which was a human shaped yukmam about 5' 3" tall, wearing leather torso armor, and holding a shining longsword in one hand, and a axe in the other... Except it was not a rider, as the yukman and odd creature seemed to sort of meet at the waist and the beasts back, the yukman seeming to merge into the beast were its hips should be, like some bizarre amalgam of man and beast. --------- As Septimus was seeing that, the artillery had started firing into the middle of the horde, so as to keep away from the cavalry on its outskirts. Huge chunks of rock came hurtling overhead to crash into the horde deep in its body, bouncing and twisting and ripping through yukmen as it went, take out many each time one was shot off... Great ballista also were shot off, spearing several yukmen each time, before finally falling due to the weight of those it had gone through... But there were so many yukmen, it seemed even those great weapons carving out gashes in them had little effect... Still the archers fired, peppering the horde as it began to near the frontline, killing many before they arrived. But the ones that did make it were all the tougher for it. Some even had weapons and armor, though most of it was old and rusty, or broken, or missing bits. But it simply made the yukmen all the more deadly, as they came in to attack, attacking with little finesse or style, simply using a overpowering brute force that would probably break a humans arm if it were to use so much. --------- The yukman coming at Serrif pushed on, even though it was dribbling blood from its mouth on each breath, and one of its lungs had collapsed from the hit to its chest... Its other lung worked itself harder and harder as it tried to breath, refusing to give up, as it let out another YUK! He managed to keep it at a bit of a distance, and slide his gladius right into its chest, but ended up with a great weight on top of him. This was what the third waiting yukman had been waiting for, and it came running at Serrif while he was down, ready to rip out his throat while he was weak and defenseless. Unfortunately for it, one of the neighboring fighter saw this, and tossed his javelin, catching it right in the side of its head, splitting its skull open to a spout of blood and gore. The Akalak smiled at the human on his back, as he managed to get the weight off of himself. "Now now, I cant keep saving you. I hope you are worth it, that was my last javelin!" With that he turned and ran back at a pair of yukmen, that had been trying to slip around wide. Having dispatched all of there foes, even more came running in, racing at the pair of fighters. Coming to meet Serrif were two yukmen, one just a simple yukman barehanded, the other wielding a longsword, with its tip broken off and a chink halfway down its length. Though he had time to make several shots first before they closed. --------- The Akalak had finished off his foe, with a odd use of his shield and weapon which caught the yukman off guard. The only downside to that was that yukman learned, and the longer the fight went on, the more they learned of how you fought. So likely the same trick would not catch the yukmen further back in the horde off gaurd twice... Not to say that it would not work at all, but the element of surprise to it would be gone, even if at its base it still worked. The Akalak of the pair though seemed much worse off, and really pulled them in, with 4 foes coming... It was almost like they were drawn to the color of his skin! Which if someone had an overall view of the frontline they might realize might be the case, as all of the Akalak were being attacked by at least twice as many foes as the non-Akalaks on the frontline. Two of the yukmen were just simple yukmen like the others. But one had leather torso armor with a few tears in it on, along with a flanged mace that was undamaged, as little really could damage such a weapon. The fourth was holding a shortsword in one hand that was dirty and dull, along with a lakan that was spattered in blood... The same blood that was dripping from its mouth... The lakan surely had not been obtained by asking nicely. He also had a bit of time before his foes reached him, to fight from a distance, or prepare as he chose. Perhaps for two shots, or to change weapons.

[Xalet]

For the first time in a long while, Xuphim assessed the opponents coming toward him and took a step back. It wasn't a retreat, he would have never admitted to that, no instead he considered it 'tactical repositioning'. He would need all the 'repositioning' he could handle to pull off any kind of flawless win against overwhelming numbers. His trained mind for battle attempted to think of something sufficient in order to break up the crowd seeking his blood, but there just wasn't enough time or resources on his side. His plate and leather booted foot jammed into one of the unarmed Yukmen, if nothing else to create some distance and disrupt the unity of some four opponents. Weapon blade canting to the side, he managed to parry the brunt of the dual weapon wielding creature's shortsword while positioning his shield to act as a passive defense so he could focus on dispatching the thing. Never had he been so lucky his blade stayed as sharp as it did, as a quick and powerful cut flayed open the inside of the shortsword/lakan Yukman's forearm taking most of the interior muscle with it, the result of a well timed reactive combat maneuver known as the Stop Cut. By turning his body's face into the direction of the weapon and utilizing his armor to skip the blade, a forward slash of his own into an extended attacking appendage allowed for quick damage to the attacking limb. It was a technique often utilized when one felt at an offensive disadvantage. React to an attack, and reduce the offensive capacity. The corner of his eye caught the glimmer of the mace, shield raising reflexively. The planks of wood that made up the majority of the defensive piece of equipment flexed quite notably, sending a painful shockwave into Xuphim's arm which traveled far up into his shoulder. Jarred backward for a pace the Akalak circled around his previously injured opponent, putting it between himself and the mace wielder as he lashed out and around the creature's one serviceable lakan wielding arm with a lightning fast Wrist Cleave. With the tendons of his forearm forcibly pulling against his wrist as it shot past the Yukman's shoulder, the edge of his shortblade sling-shotted back toward Xuphim, cutting cleanly through the side of the Yukman's neck in a glorious spray of gore. Starting to feel his breath coming more heavily, Xuphim recovered his triangle stance to prepare to defeat the mace wielder with pure speed, only to feel a massive weight upon his back. The second unarmed Yukman, Xuphim had lost sight of it when he was busy maneuvering between the mace wielder and the dual weapon using Yukman! "Shit gods damn!" his mind roared as he watched in horror as a set of teeth came down into his gardbrace. TEETH. "You're petching joking!" His body whipped around, slowed drastically by the additional weight. A pair of claw-like hands scoring the fluted front of his curiass seemed to be keeping the hitchhiking Yukman secure. Xuphim was freakishly strong, even for an Akalak thanks to decades of bodily dedication, but the combined weight of his equipment and the creature put him at a sufficient disadvantage. Spinning his weapon around in his hand so the blade faced to the rear he jammed it in and upward, striking the Yukman with a somewhat feeble stab in the right side. Stumbling backwards a bit, Xuphim let his balance go and forcefully thrust his feet outward, literally performing a back body drop onto the thing clinging with supernatural tightness to him. The Yukman sandwich created between four hundred pounds of Akalak and armor on one side, and the cold hard ground on the other side wasn't something anyone could recover from easily. Xuphim's weapon saw the sudden impact as an excellent opportunity to reach deeper into the creature's side as well, finally dislodging the set of teeth from his battered armor. Looking to roll onto his hands and knees and make a recovery back to his feet, the Knight quickly glanced about trying to regain his sense of his battlefield position.

[Septimus]

As the cavalry pushed on, the battle was becoming tougher to fight. The yukmen were becoming heavily armed and even more deadly. They are sending the easiest and unarmed out first because there was a larger quantity of them! They're tiring out the frontline with more numbers so that they will be less costly with the more skilled and armed in the back! As Septimus came to this realization it appeared as though her Akalak rider had come to this conclusion as well because the pressure that he was implying slightly decreased and he hesitated once as his sword swept through the neck of one of possibly the last unarmed yukmen they would be facing at this point. Her rider applied a quick and abrupt pressure to her left side, in which the Kelvic immediately sidestepped to the right, inches away from avoiding an attack made by an opposing yukmen. The yukmen was soon forever silenced as it caught an attack from a cavalry member behind her. Septimus snickered then pressed on faster as the pressure around her sides increased, hinting her to go on faster. It was apparent that the war horse had grown nervous as they charged on into the madness. What the petch!?!?!?! The being in front of her was like none she had ever seen. Some horses shied away from the conjoined beast in front but Septimus as well as many others were orders to continue on. Are you petching mad, rider?!? The Akalak pressed her on as if determined to slay the beast. The beast was an awful sight, it was. It's skin was all cracked and filled with mud but it made a cold chill run down the large spine of Septimus. The top half of a yukmen appeared to be stuck onto the back of a hairless lion or tiger. Whatever you felt it to be. Septimus was unsure if her fallen comrades were alive or dead but she hoped, if they were fatally injured, that they passed quickly. If not, she severely hoped they got up and ran quickly. But what were the chances of that? Surely a beast wouldn't leave it's victims alive. The Kelvic couldn't imagine what it must've been like for them if they were slowly passing. Their last thoughts were their last breaths and the sound of thundering hooves. However, a large roar from the creature interrupted her sympathetic thoughts and she instantly thought about her goals. How the petch are you gonna be the fastest, toughest, and strongest horse out there once you're dead? Exactly, now stay alive. The Akalak upon her back applied more harder pressure and soon Septimus was charging with everything she had at the beast. Keep your breathing slow and let the adrenaline run it's course. Stay focused and follow orders and pay attention to what your rider has to say. What th-? Her rider was applying a different amount of pressure on her left side, did this mean she go right? He also pulled the reins slightly where needed and she was soon going in the right direction. Perhaps he wanted to slay the monster? Perhaps he wanted her to charge beside it and just pass it for it's claws to land upon someone other than themselves?

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

Things weren’t going quite as he planned. But nevertheless he was here to lend a hand. He was growing more and more aware of the battle prowess of these Akalak fighters. And happier by the second that they were on his side. As he saw a Yukman’s head literally get ripped apart by a javelin. It was a gory scene that well he still felt a rush of relief wash over him. Seemed he still had much to learn in the way of fighting. But he wasn’t here to fight, he was here however to heal. But it seemed he would be doing best now.

“Yeah, good hit.” He said congratulating the man on his rather impressive javelin strike as he rallied again to his feet and holstered his gladius quickly going for the weapon he knew how to wield.

He drew a standard arrow knowing well that he didn’t need an armor piercing one at this distance. The wider head of a standard arrow would do much more damage. There a distance away were his next few targets. Two…but two was enough to do damage as he had come to learn. They spotted him and he answered with a simple pull of the bowstring. Anchoring back to his cheek he felt his longbows energy build as he then took a rather quick aim.

The Yukman with the sword looked to him and then with a sort of sudden urge started toward him. Little he could say to answer besides loosing his first arrow straight for the target. Knowing well this wouldn’t stop him completely he quickly pulled forward another arrow from the quiver and knocked it on the bowstring. Without much thought he loosed it into the Yukman as well. Two should be more than enough to just simply stop the target or put it on the ground. All he needed was one on one fights against these beasts. If it got much more than that Serrif was afraid he wouldn’t fair very well at all. It seemed the Akalak beside him was a sort of magnet for these beasts; well he was a much larger target…and much more threatening than he was. Maybe that had something to do with it?

He wasn’t about to guess about the mentality of these beasts. He couldn’t because he found he was too busy trying to kill them. The Yukman with the sword had likely been crippled or at least stopped by his two arrows. So all he was left with was the faster moving bare fisted Yukman who was closing the distance fast. Quickly he knew he would likely only get one shot and he had to make it count this time. He pulled a single arrow and took aim for the Yukman’s leg, hoping he would or could slow it down some. Maybe long enough to pull an adequate weapon to fight it off as well as it’s friend.

He had learned form his first fight that the beast would be coming in fast, and that it was very strong as well. He released the arrow hoping he could hit the leg at this close distance, then his hand went again for the coldsteel gladius at his hip. He readied himself for the impact his left fist clenched hard around his bow and his right around his gladius. His arrow hit true to the leg but didn’t seem to phase it much, but it did slow it down long enough to get a handle on his weapons. The Yukman went for Serrif’s leading left arm reaching out to try and rip it from his body, then lunged forward straight for Serrif’s neck.

His right hand shot reflexively forward armored in the gold steel white toothed gauntlets he impacted the beast in the side of the head and then tried to wrestle his left arm from his grasp. The Yukman appeared to be caught slightly off guard but then quickly recuperated and moved to bite down on Serrif’s arm. With a downward slash Serrif cut the beast along the back. Seemed it’s teeth could grind against his scale mail but not get through very easily…but he wouldn’t be able to let him sit there all day and gnaw on his arm. He continued to wrestle some more; but the strength of the Yukman was more than formidable for Serrif.

With another slash he cut the animal’s arm and the Yukman with a sweep buckled the Gladius right out of Serrif’s hand. His next choice weapon was his dagger sitting on his chest near his shoulder. He went for it and pulled it downward gripping it in an icepick grip he shook the beast some more to try and keep it from biting down again on his arm. He could feel some places where it’s teeth had driven through the chinks in the armor and pierced his skin. With the animal bucking around and trying to throw Serrif off balance he drive the dagger toward the side of the animals head. He was trying to hit the skull but instead hit the side of the neck driving the long stiletto point through the neck and out the other side.

The Yukman sputtered and let out a few drowning Yuk sounds as it bled to death releasing its grip on Serrif’s arm. But the issue of the other Yukman was still to be decided if it was still alive at all.

[Mist]

As the battle continued, an astute observer might notice something... The artillery fire had slowly waned, till now... It was more or less not firing at all... Which was odd, artillery was one of the Akalak's biggest advantages against the short ranged Yukmen. So why not use them? Was something happening behind their own lines, to stop it? -------- For Septimus, a quick assurance of her allies death was given, as the yukbeast reached down out ripped out the throat of the horse, before carrying on... It certainly was not getting up. And its rider had more or less been half crashed, half pinned under his mount. He likely was dead also, though not as assuredly as the horse. But her rider let out a yell of anger at his fallen comrade, and urged her onward, bringing her alongside of the beast, and up to it. As they neared, it became even more clear how unnatural it was, as the two beings were fused together in the molding. Though how could something come to be? As he rushed at the beast, a different Akalak who had been unhorsed leaped from the ground, trying to pull him off of the mount, not realizing that he was as one. He grabbed a hold of the yukmens axe wielding hand, and crossed blade sword to sword with the other, trying to hold it in place. He yelled at Septimus rider to "Get him now!" As he had clearly been trying to give him an opening. But he unfortunately did not factor in the riders mount. The yukbeast turned its head, and ripped out a chunk of the mans chest and guts, to another spurt of blood and gore. A glazed look came over the Akalaks eyes as this occured, as the pain nearly knocked him out. But so determined was he, he refused to let go, and still clung to the yukman rider, keeping it from defending itself. He let out a unheard cry of pain as the yukbeast ripped out another chunk of his chest, and his knees finally gave, his grip slipping from that of the rider... But he had held just long enough, and Septimus had carried her rider along past the monsters. He swept his sword in a long hacking ark, and used the forward momentum of his slash to carve right through the things neck, in one clean sweep. The head was tossed flying through the air, to land amongst the scrum of man and beast and monster. As he sliced off its head, an immediate and unexpected reaction occurred. The yukrider dropped both weapons from its grip, and slumped across its mount. But the mount let out a long keening wail, "YUeeeekK! as blood spurted out of the neck stump, pumping at a furious rate. Apparently not only were they connected at the waist physically, they were also connected biologically. The beast fell to the ground, as blood continued to pump out. It tried to get back up a few more times, but was losing blood so fast it could not, and finally it stumbled, and received a axe to its head from a Akalak going by, finishing its keening wail. They had killed it! But there victory was short lived, as a all to familiar deep Yuk reverberated across the battle field. If Septimus should turn to see its source, she would see another dozen of the beast coming running in low to the ground at the cavalry, still a bit away. Some were like the first, connected at the waist, with varying degrees of conjoining. Others were simply the mounts by themselves, odd mix of tigers and lions racing in low to the ground, ready to leap at the horses. Still others had normal yukmen sitting on them, as if they were horse and human rider. Except the mount was a yukified horsish creature, with odd features across its face, and jagged rocky teeth, and its rider a normal yukman. Strangest of all was a bear one, which seemed oddly large considering it had none of its breeds normal fur. They all were coming running in at the cavalry. Overhead, flurries of arrows came in, peppering them as the charged. One of the hybrids was felled, to a arrow to its yukhead. One of the yukhorse's was taken out, unseating its rider and tossing it as the mount gave way. But it seemed the rest were almost unfazed, only taking an occasional arrow or two. And they were coming in racing right at the cavalry unit that Septimus was a part of. ------ Xalet's battle had been a flurry of activity, as he combated the yukmen on him, against him, trying to rip him to pieces and see him as a dying lump of Ak-meat. Which was clearly not what he wanted. One down to a cut to the neck... Another killed by gravity and the keen usage of it. But that still left him with one unarmed yukmen, and another with a flanged mace, who seemed to be swinging it with increased reckless abandon. By know if he managed to hit something with it, it would likely cause some serious damage. As Xalet rose back to his feet, a mace came down at him, catching his shield a odd blow. But this time it was not so lucky, and a loud crack sounded, as the wood shattered. Due to the odd angle of the blow, it rebounded the mace as it was destroyed, sending the mace upward, and Xalets arm downward, both going in opposite ways. All the while, the last unarmed yukmen was trying to circle around behind him. Though it suddenly let out a small wail, and a thump of a body could be heard just behind Xalet as it hit the ground. If he were to look, he would see a Akalak standing over it, a very big Akalak, even by their races standards. He was just shy of 8 feet, with dark blue eyes that seemed like they could bore right through you. If Xalet had ever been to the Kendoka, he would likely recognize him for who he was, Mizra Aqdas, wielding a pair of lakan, one with a hilt of black, the other a hilt of silver. The black one had blood over its blade. But even if Xalet did not know him by name, he would feel another kindred pull, in that the man was also marked by Wysar. Though he might question how he had managed to come up on him so silently, big as he was, in the midst of a battle. It was almost like he had just appeared out of no where. The mace wielding yukman paused for a moment, considering the new foe, and the loss of its ally, before returning to try and smash through Xalets skull with its mace. All the while Mizra move to close in, and flank it from the side, while the sound of more yukmen approaching could be heard. Would their onslaught never end? ------ Serrif in his fight so near, yet separate, was having his own issues to deal with, in the form of a pair of yukmen. He had been a bit successful though, in his own way. His method relied a lot more on precision targeting from a distance, to either kill of his foes, or to weaken them. The first one was felled by his arrows, a lucky hit to the head and neck. It slowly bled out as blood came out of its mouth, and its neck wound. The other one was less perturbed by the arrow, and still came onward... He ended up getting disarmed, and being bitten and taking some minor damage, saved by his armor from losing the arm all together. Even so, the blunt force behind the bite was quite bad, and very painful. He would likely need to use his own gnosis on himself, to deal with it, before it got any worse than he could deal with. Finally, he managed to finish it off with a dagger right through its neck. Done with his foes, he would see that Xalet was no longer alone, and had a new Akalak ally, who was even taller than Xalet. The new fighter motioned for him to come over, as the two finished their last foe. But off in the distance, more and more yukmen could be heard crying and wailing out, with a deep Yuk!, as they approached, many aiming towards the duo of Akalaks, which was far to tempting a target.

[Xalet]

Most of the sweat starting to move across Xuphim's body, hidden by almost one hundred pounds of armor and gear was kept away by the cloth gambeson and arming cap he wore. Still, the familiar feeling of his body becoming sticky and slimy beneath all that which separated his bare skin from the world was becoming quite pronounced. It was a good thing he loaded up on all of that water. Recognizing his skill with a shield to be a superior form of defense against something like the mace, Xuphim felt quite comfortable in preparing his defender for a ricochet shot, a difficult shield technique completely by twisting and thrusting the shield at the precise moment of impact, causing the weapon of the attacker to often be sent spiraling from their hands if their grip was not keen. The Akalak had not prepared for the weight of the blow however, and as he turned the face of his shield to complete the technique he felt the sundering crack of the planks finally giving way. Years of use had served that shield well, just as all things it had finally met its limit. A brilliant shower of splinters and metal bolts came flying through the air as quite literally all that remained was the metal banding that reinforced where the arm held onto the straps. Immediately Xuphim shook the strappings from his arm, allowing the skeleton of the shield to fall to the ground with a soft thud. Subsequently he had to try his best to shake the feeling back into his hand, which was now tingling from the vibrations and the impact of the last blow. Huffing his breaths in and out his head cocked to the side as he heard the sounds of one of the creatures in such close proximity...dying. "What the..." he asked himself, his eyes catching the massive Akalak standing there. The man was over a head taller than Xuphim. What was that guy eating?! Not only that, how did he conceal his movements? As a Knight, Xuphim had formidable training in all of his senses, utilizing them to catch sights or sounds that could draw his attention in order to react to them. This level of heightened observation was further improved by the various combats he had been in. This man had moved with no sound at all? "You move pretty good..." Xuphim commented, his wry smirk shielded by the narrow visor of his sallet helm. With his left hand having regained most of its mobility he reached just above his left hip where his second short sword was kept sheathed horizontally across his back. Sliding the second strange weapon crafted from stardown metal and velispar bone. Finally they were together, Ivkai and Kasai, the only known artifact weapons that were specifically crafted as a pair. "We're still not very good utilizing them simultaneously." Xalet reasoned with his brother. They possessed excellent technique and a great deal of real life combat experience, but wielding the twin blades at the same time was still something they struggled to grasp. Their skill of using them in such a capacity was still leagues away from the dance they had seen performed by Wysar as he held them in his hands, creating a barrier that seemed absolutely impassible by any attack. "We better start gettin' good. These things were given to us as a pair, an' if Wysar says so, then it's so. It's just one more thing to obstacle to kick the crap out of...so we can become the most complete fighter in the world." raising both swords upward, their tips held just at eye level, Xuphim noticed the movements of Mizra as he stepped into a flanking position. The Syliran couldn't help but remember the guidance given to him by his Patron, a Konti not more than one hundred pounds, about how to deal with weapons that gained all of their power from centrifugal force. "Bring it on..." he grunted, and so the Yukman did. With the first wild swing Xuphim's front foot slid upward while his rear foot slid in a semi circle toward the rear, allowing the mace to fall just shy of his breastplate. As the Yukman recovered quickly and swung the weapon in a horizontal plane toward the ground, assured to catch something in its lengthwise sweep, Xuphim's rear foot suddenly slid in the opposite direction in had gone previously, swinging around until it was to the front. The maneuver was more beautiful than the Syliran's other combative tricks, it was taught by a Konti, after all. The purpose was to quickly close distance and step into the blow of a swung weapon, such as a mace or an axe. Bringing both forearms up, Xuphim's bracers impacted the haft of the mace, as well as the wrist of the Yukman, the force of the blow releasing past him. With a sudden jerk of the shoulder closest to the Yukman, Xuphim delivered an elbow straight to the sternum, knocking the creature backward toward Mizra. Keeping his offensive support simple while wielding two blades, he canted his body in order for his stance to be directly facing his opponent and brought both swords down in a cross slash against the things chest, producing twin, deep lacerations from the uppermost portion of the pectorals down to the start of the abdomen before the tips of the weapons were finally free from the resisting tissue, lines of red tracing their way across the ground from the speed of the blades tracing their way just above the ground as Xuphim recovered his stance. Mizra was quick to capitalize, his movements now finally able to be caught by Xuphim's eyes. He could tell, just by the way he effortlessly finished his opponent with minimal movement that Mizra's abilities with a blade, especially two wielded at once, were far superior to his own. "Gods damn..." he huffed inwardly, unsure whether to watch with jealousy or admiration. "Alright, so we still have a little ways to go to be the freakin' best."

[Septimus]

Finally! They had killed it! Despite the blood and gory site of the Akalak's chest being ripped open, it brought Septimus great pleasure in knowing that he didn't give up. That he stayed devoted to the very end despite knowing the fact that he might die. The Akalak had hope and with his sacrifice, her rider was able to kill the beast and even establish more hope in the heart of the Kelvic. Septimus then remembered what Xuphim had talked to her about, hope and all that shyke Priskil, help us all! I beg of you!

Also with his sacrifice and the death of this mutant being, Septimus had found the knowledge that not only she had more than likely come across. The ones conjoined were connected through blood as well. That meant that with this species of the beasts Septimus wouldn't have to always worry about hitting the head and torso area of both when the time came to it. This was of course only true for the ones that had their rider connected and even then, they had weapons in their arms as well.

And then there were the others ones that of course had to follow. Damn, they just don't give up! Another horse like creature with a full on Yukmen rider though, a hairless but big freaking bear one! Septimus dared not shy away from the mess as she had come too far and she had far too much confidence. She wouldn't let a large obstacle such as this stop her, then again she had to remember her rider though. It appeared as though he was thinking the same thing though for the pressure on her sides increased and he shifted his body weight forward sending Septimus flying through the chaos and destruction. The Kelvic's front and armored self was sent charging ahead, colliding with a hard but adrenaline fueled blow to the Yukmen that had his head only seconds later smashed into more of a bloody smoothie.

The mutants were getting closer, lying close to the ground. She wondered if anyone else had saw it or was she the only one? Surely she couldn't be! Hopeful all the way, Septimus begged and pleaded in her mind that they were just confident enough to face them head on. An attack like that? Without being seen? It could definitely hurt the Cavalry and even Septimus saw that much. If the highly intelligent horse saw it, the Akalak men must have been able to as well, right? And then of course there was the Archery that had to be slinging the arrows at the Yukmen! Yes, they would be a big help as well!

This thought was short lived as she glanced back for a few split seconds and saw no fire. There were no flying arrows helping them. There were no cries from the Yukmen being skewered. Septimus isntantly looked forward once more witnessing the fast moving head on onslaught her, her rider, and all the others were about to face. The thoughts plagued her mind though. What had happened to the archers? Surely they hadn't ran out of arrows? Did the Yukmen manage to breach through? That wasn't possible though, was it? If this was the case, Septimus found her blood beginning to boil. There was no petching way, if there was anything Septimus could, let them win this. Another enthusiastic cry from her rider and Septimus picked up her pace once more as the distance between the mutants, Yukmen, other bloody terrible beasts, and the Cavalry closed in closer.

Septimus, remembered she must always have hope and confidence in herself. What was that he said? Another yukmen fell before her from the rider in front, her own hooves ending his angry cries. Then the words came back to her, Xuphim's words echoing in her head 'Whippin' ass solves a lot of problems, but for the stuff that can't be fixed by a fist to the face you got to work until you get the ending you want. Having something to work toward keeps you strong...keeps you focused. When the worst happens you'll feel a lot of things. Anger and resentment and all that crap...when you feel that, all it means is whatever you wanted was important enough to work hard for.' And with that confidence booster, Septimus found herself feeling ready for anything before her. Even these little bastards. she thought.