Reeca cursed as audibly and as colorfully as she could. She raced up the wall, joining Elred. "What a day, huh?" Reeca huffed against her constricting chest.

Elred extended her arm and summoned for herself a glass sword. "Get ready," she clenched her jaw. "The real soldiers are coming."

Reeca drew her sword as well. She was taking this rather calmly contrary to her normal disposition. What's the matter? "Are we going to die here, Elred?" Reeca watched the flying island's shadow slowly overtake more and more of Penleth.

The shard fairy gave a small, bitter chuckle. "Probably," she said. "Are you ready?"

Reeca's stomach plunged deep as it churned. "No."

"Good."

Almost on cue, they pressed their backs together as black-clad soldiers dropped like pheasetis from the sky and landed on two feet on the wall's walkways. Reeca and Elred lunged as one and the fight truly began.

Reeca slashed here and there, dodging weapons, kicks, and arms the best she could. She folded her wings and whirled, driving her sword deep into anyone who dared to attack her. Her magic crackled to the surface, reaching out to the rocks around her.

Down below, Canelis was locked in combat with the Falkirtan heir. April Sylkrana, was it? Tacky. From the corner of her eye, Reeca tracked the pixie's movements. Canelis's wails of pure anger trickled into Reeca's ears even from a distance.

Reeca ducked and rammed her foot against a stomach. A feminine oomph ensued as her attacker stumbled back. Elred cried behind her and Reeca turned to find the shard fairy slumped against a crenelation, blood at the side of her mouth.

"Elred!" Reeca called again, parrying a blow to her head and slashing her sword across the person's torso. Blood showered her face as she kicked the person away.

Elred wiped at her mouth and frowned at the blood smeared across her hand. "I'm fine," she rasped before meeting another swinging sword. "Duck!"

Reeca obeyed, feeling the wind drive hair away from her face as she did. Elred screamed as she threw her opponent over Reeca's ducked frame. The man sailed without ceremony before slamming into his own comrades.

Reeca swept her leg underneath the people who didn't get hit by the man Elred threw. Her sword slashed and stabbed without missing a beat. Blood stained the battlement in ugly splatters. Her concentration slipped and a punch sacked her in the jaw. She stumbled, feeling hot blood drip from her lip. Ugh. Nasty.

Reeca snarled and lunged forward. She planted her foot on the floor and met her attackers in a wrestling hold. Grunting, she drove the men towards the side of the wall and pushed. They fell over. It was silent for a minute and as Reeca tackled the next ones, she heard distinct cracks.

Mull over that later.

The onslaught seemed to be endless. Black figures continued on dropping from the sky, slowly populating the battlement. Reeca spied a few scouts engaged in battle but their struggle was quick as it came. Three, four, five. Reeca counted fallen soldiers from their side already.

Down the quadrant, Canelis and April were still locked in battle. April was laughing like she was glad to have finally met her match. Her pristine, white, feathered wings were stained with red. Somehow, her metal armor barely had a dent in it.

Canelis, meanwhile, didn't look too well. One arm hung limp and from Reeca's vantage point, it looked like the pixie's chest was already heaving. Not good.

Reeca stepped back and her wings pressed against Elred's. Through it, she felt Elred's jagged stumps. Guilt climbed up her throat as she remembered how the shard fairy got that. Reeca had pushed the Sovereign for a demonstration of force. While Narfalk was being ravaged, Elred tackled the Sovereign just so Reeca could escape. And now they're here...battling hordes together once more. Who would have to sacrifice something this time around?

More enemy soldiers flew from the sky, joining their comrades on the walls and in the open space of the center quadrant. Below Reeca, the remaining soldiers fought for their lives. A pile of bodies by the underground entrance turned Reeca's blood to ice, as if Geradine, herself, was in her veins.

Speaking of Geradine, Reeca watched the ice sprite had apparently freed one of the paulsare and was riding out the wave of black clothes, stabbing here and there with a sword and a spear.

More and more, the black wave overtook the fortress. Reeca's arms grew heavy. Endless. It was endless. Elred was driven into a corner but she continued fighting. Reeca raised her sword again. Forward. This was no time to rest.

Then, the island groaned. A grating metal noise boomed in strange successions. The sound of gears turning amplified as if a thousand drawbridges were suddenly being lowered. Maybe it's not drawbridges but something close.

"Firefarts," Elred hissed. Reeca wasn't sure if the shard fairy was cursing or was describing what they were seeing.

All the scuffling seemed to have stopped as friends and foes alike froze to regard the incomprehensible thing slowly edging itself into the open from the island's base. It was a firefart, alright. Only it was a thousand times larger and no amount of Trix's silly sabotage gadgets could get that thing to self-destruct.

The turning gears were like a ticking clock in Reeca's head. One, two, three...

The cannon's long barrel lowered further. Its metal cast glinted against the morning sun. Sleek, dark, and no doubt made from an endless amount of dwarven metal, the barrel craned down slowly until it locked in on a target. Penleth. And Reeca. And her allies.

The sound of gears stopped as if already pronouncing judgment over them all. The barrel hummed.

From Reeca's place atop the wall, she could see the hole where the ammunition would no doubt burst from. The air turned warmer. The world slowed.

Then, the flying island exploded.

Reeca stared dumbfounded which she rarely did. Before her eyes, the extended barrel crumpled like a tin can. The crunch was almost like thunder during a clear, cloudless day. Fire rained down as a part of the island's walls broke off in huge chunks. Charred marks littered the gray surface the moment the smoke cleared.

Then, before the black-clad figures could remember that they should be attacking Reeca, they all froze. Reeca stepped back and found Elred's back again. They both had their swords out but no one moved. What...?

"About time!" a jolly voice called. She knew who that was. The frozen enemies suddenly parted as a solitary figure began pushing them off the wall. Reeca watched them go down, their limbs stiff but there's nothing affecting them...at least externally.

As Reeca's senses returned, Nyxis stood before her, smiling. "Hey," he gave her a small wave.

Reeca's jaw dropped. If he's here, then...

True enough, the flying island exploded again and were those...vines? Indeed, it seemed like the plant life in the flying island decided to get revenge and began eating through the walls. Glass shattered and screams ensued from inside the walls.

Then, the center courtyard exploded in a wave of earth and ice as yet another figure dropped from the sky. In one move, the newcomer had all the remaining black-clad figures pressed against the walls. Reeca spotted fire and water swirling around her as well. What in Umazure—

More explosions racked the flying island and a single figure wrapped in light seemed to be causing it. Reeca squinted and traced long, khaki brown hair flying with the torrent created by her own magic, a bow slung across her torso. Was that...?

Xanthy spread her hands and more of the walls crumpled inward, the sound of rocks grinding never has been a pleasure in Reeca's ears. Then, the island screeched an unholy noise. It sounded much like the Heiress. Who knew if that hag was really screaming inside her floating fortress?

Reeca winced and expected Penleth to blow up that moment. Instead, in just a blink of the eye, the flying island winked out of existence. Silence.

A cheer rose from the soldiers below. Reeca turned just in time for Canelis to pin April down to the ground with a sword pressed under the air sprite's chin.

Did they just...

They did.

Nyxis was suddenly at Reeca's side. "Good job, soldier," he clapped her on the shoulder