[Kratos nods shortly, already moving toward the newly made exit, and glancing toward the pinprick of mana in the distance. They haven't amassed enough to fire yet -- but soon.]
I'll escort you out. Stay close -- keep low.
[He adjusts his grip on the sword and steps through the hole, keeping an eye out for Desians -- and one on the mana cannons. He covers the avenue out while the teacher -- Raine -- ushers her students along the schoolhouse's wall toward the south. There's flashes of artes and the ring of steel just across the way, but before Kratos can start toward them -- or decide whether the distance is too far to risk -- the last of the Desians fall and Anna appears from behind them.
[She's holding a bloodied spear and the dented lid of a pot, but she's upright and looks unharmed, and Kratos exhales a breath of relief.]
Anna!
[She turns her head from glancing behind her at the string of villagers she's leading toward the south of the village. She looks older than he remembers -- there's grey in her hair and the sight of it makes his chest clench. But then she smiles, and the grey hair doesn't matter.
[The mana cannon does, and Kratos feels the fizzle of its charge amassing.]
Stay back against the wall!
[This is shouted to Anna, to Raine, to the children. The first cannon-blast strikes a building two lanes away, not a threat except for debris; but the second is aimed somewhere in the street between, near enough to catch both parties in its shockwave. Kratos's wings blur and he rushes forward, feet braced against the ground, sword raised amidst the green glow of the Guardian.
[This blow jars him body and soul, and his wings flicker for an instant before returning in a bursting crackle of fragmented blue light and filaments of lightning.]
no subject
I'll escort you out. Stay close -- keep low.
[He adjusts his grip on the sword and steps through the hole, keeping an eye out for Desians -- and one on the mana cannons. He covers the avenue out while the teacher -- Raine -- ushers her students along the schoolhouse's wall toward the south. There's flashes of artes and the ring of steel just across the way, but before Kratos can start toward them -- or decide whether the distance is too far to risk -- the last of the Desians fall and Anna appears from behind them.
[She's holding a bloodied spear and the dented lid of a pot, but she's upright and looks unharmed, and Kratos exhales a breath of relief.]
Anna!
[She turns her head from glancing behind her at the string of villagers she's leading toward the south of the village. She looks older than he remembers -- there's grey in her hair and the sight of it makes his chest clench. But then she smiles, and the grey hair doesn't matter.
[The mana cannon does, and Kratos feels the fizzle of its charge amassing.]
Stay back against the wall!
[This is shouted to Anna, to Raine, to the children. The first cannon-blast strikes a building two lanes away, not a threat except for debris; but the second is aimed somewhere in the street between, near enough to catch both parties in its shockwave. Kratos's wings blur and he rushes forward, feet braced against the ground, sword raised amidst the green glow of the Guardian.
[This blow jars him body and soul, and his wings flicker for an instant before returning in a bursting crackle of fragmented blue light and filaments of lightning.]