Forum Wars - Civil War

“We might be able to find the son of a ***** who killed mum.”

Jayce immediately froze up in his chair. His grip on the sides tightened, and he was forced to lower his gaze as his eyes burned. Kalak’s mother. Joyce’s sister. A shoulder to lean on in the tough times and a friend during the fun times (what few there had been). Intelligent and beautiful, and tragically killed before her time.

Kaia...

“We can only hope,” Jayce whispered, “and if they are, then Carissa’s hunt ends tonight."

He of course knew who would be awaiting them at the tower. Carissa the hunter. Spawned from the lineage of Samarost. The bane of Demi Gods everywhere. She’d dedicated her life to reducing the ranks of his race. He’d kept track of all the kills she’d made, and if he was correct, she’d was second on the high score of Demi God kills.

The first spot was still held by his father.

"Any other orders? Specific objectives?”

The “young” Demi God looked up, noting that Kalak was nodding towards Rose. His own attack dog, not that he’d ever use that term. A fiercely loyal servant. And equally deadly. If Theodosia was his secretary, then Rose was his sword.

“Expect heavy resistance and give them no ground. Aim to capture any of their high-ranking members, but otherwise put a bullet between their eyes or a sword through their heart. Furthermore, aim to take control of the armoury. There’s some powerful weapons stored there, and I’d rather we don’t give the Shards any more of an advantage than they already have.”

“Sir, we’ve got a situation here!”

Damn it. That intercom brought nothing but bad news. Jayce pushed the magic button on his chair.

“What is it Captain?”

“Sky Tower just fired its weapon!”

What? Had he made a mistake with his calculations? Sky Tower couldn’t hit them at this range… could it? Was the mission a failure before it had begun? Damn it all.

“All hands, brace for i-“

“Sorry to interrupt sir, but we’re not the target.”

…

“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!?”

As a stream of apologies burst through the speakers, Jayce kept his breathing in check and tapped gently on his 9mm.

“One of these days…”

“Sky Tower’s AA gun fired into, well, the sky. There doesn’t appear to have been a target. It may have been a warning shot.”

Jayce doubted that very much.

“The Shards wouldn’t warn us. If they could, they would have blasted us straight out of the sky. I’m guessing some moron decided to shoot at some bird. The assault proceeds as planned. Captain, commence landing sequence.”

It was time.​

 

Throda Bronzebeard's PoV:

Leaving behind a wreckage of straw men and bruised green boys, Throda exited the training room. "Keep up the good work lads, lead with the elbow." The exhausted trainees managed a slight nod. Holding his mirth within, along with his destructive nature, the dwarf resumed his path to the bridge. A familiar robotic voice called out, "Commencing landing sequence." Throda froze. A wild grin embroidered his chiseled face. A deep laugh slowly made its way through the juggernaut's mighty throat. Chanting an old dwarven battle song, his pace resumed. Throda's hammer danced like fire between his hands, gradually increasing speed with the song's tempo, till it was a blur. Obfuscating the passer-bys, Throda continued his walk, entering the bridge.

 

​

This wasn't the hardest thing she had ever done. Not the smartest either. Definitely not the smartest. She remarked to herself mentally, as her handhold crumbled beneath her fingers and the stones tumbled to the ground, a good twenty feet downwards. It wasn't the type of fall that would kill someone, but it would really really hurt. The window she had noticed was still a good ways up, and she sighed, reaching up with the newly freed hand to grasp a new crack in the wall.

The real reason she was doing this? She was bored. She wanted to be able to do it, and climb inside, and tell someone one day, "Hey, I climbed THAT tower, and I got inside, and it was great." Not that anyone would ever listen, but it felt good to think about. Another handhold, another foot up. Ah, the exhilaration of physical stress. Her legs were certainly protesting the work out, and her arms weren't appreciative either. A slight sheen of sweat covered her forehead, and for a moment, the until now nonexistent wind tugged at her hood, threatening to pull it off her head. "No!" Kala shrieked, letting go of the wall to hold the red cloth down. She couldn't let anyone see her! She didn't know why but she just couldn't!

It was then, it occurred to her that she was about to free fall. Oops. She scrabbled at the stone wall as she wobbled, trying to regain her balance and her current safety blanket, the cracks in the wall. Her hands scrabbled for something, anything even as her body tried to resist the pull of gravity.

Definitely not the smartest thing she had ever done.

​

 

"If I see Carissa, I'll ignore that capture order. She dies." Kalak replied flatly. There could be no mercy when it came to her. The amount of their blood she had shed was unforgivable. Not to mention both he and Jayce's personal grudges. He noticed that he made note of the armoury. That sounded like an objective. As fun as it would be to hunt down his mother's killer, he knew that his uncle wanted that revenge. Despite the protests of the dark side of Vasher, who demanded her blood in throes of rage, he would not deny the elder Demi-God his revenge. "I'll find this armoury. If it as you say, Uncle, then allow me to secure the ordnance. I'll leave the rest in your capable hands." Sky Tower fired, but there was nothing that he could see and apparently the crew were reporting the same. What did they fire at? Sky Tower is not fired so lightly... His musing was interrupted by Jayce's shouts. It seemed like they were coming in for a landing. He breathed in, closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. He would calm himself and prepare before the battle came. He would need to focus, or the temptation would be too great for him to hold back. At the very thought, Vasher stirred. Both sides, Black and White, yearned for him to touch the tainted well of magic. His red eyes began to burn a little brighter. He could feel it happening, so looked down at the ground so people would not see. He closed his eyes and put his hands together, feigning a pre battle prayer.
"Calm down Vasher. This isn't the time." He muttered angrily. He felt small surges of magic across his body where the forces of corruption exerted their influence. Beneath his armour which hid it all, he knew the red lines on his chest glowed bright red. ​

 

​

The Prince had been stalking the forces of the Hammer for days, even weeks. The lands had changed from those he had called home to the devastated countryside. Bones strewn everywhere, trees uprooted, craters, the result of this extended conflict. A conflict they had wanted to drag him into, looking upon these lands he was motivated more to go back home after he had collected the blood price. The Code was clear for the murder of innocents the perpetrator had to die and while the perpetrators were dead, they were representatives. The representated faction had to pay the blood price, but he couldn't attack anyone, he had to collect the price from those who had chosen the life of a fighter. He had carefully chosen his position and concealed himself below one of the uprooted trees, he could see the tower and quickly looked it over through the scope and noticed something odd. Someone was climbing it, he watched quite intrigued with the sight, until something happened he couldn't clearly see what it was but the figure fell down. He would keep an eye out for people coming out of the tower who might have seen or heard anything and will help the person, if not he would go over himself. The tower was quite the impressive structure, as he admired it the massive gun opened fire, he couldn't discover what it was firing at, but he did see the massive Airship that was starting to land. He turned his attention back to the tower, he could see the figure climbing up again. They were alright then, he kept an eye on the airships landing proces, knowing that soon this land might be set aflame once more, he watched the figure climb the tower, they got higher this time but again something seemed amiss. He watched in horror as the figure seemed about to fall once more. "No.... hold on.... hold on... hold on.....steady.... steady..." He said as if his words would influence the outcome of it all. He watched with a feeling of horror as the person fell once more. He scanned his surroundings and found another suitable position to fire from, easily to disappear and it would allow him to check up on the person that had fallen. He slung his rifle around his shoulder once more and cautiously moved towards the tower, taking care to remain unseen, moving over to where the person had fallen, time was short, but he had to know if they were hurt or not.

​

 

Out of nowhere, the Armstrong was rocked by a huge explosion. Vincent, after recovering from the physical and mental shock, soon realised that the tower he was flying towards had fired some sort of AA gun at him. The information displays told him that the ship's engines had been taken out - with his deflector shields down he had been caught off guard. Damn it. Within seconds, the Armstrong began spiralling towards the ground as it lost horizontal speed. The only way to prevent certain death at this point would be to pitch further down and try to pick up enough speed to glide out of the stall. As the ship hurtled through the clouds, the ground rushing up to meet it, Vincent pulled back on the stick, only just managing to level out in time. Now he was gliding at great speed across the planet's surface. Outside appeared to be wasteland. The ship began slicing through dead trees and Vincent prepared for a crash-landing. Hopefully the ship wouldn't flip over. As soon as the belly of the ship made contact with the ground, Vincent was flung into the viewport by massive deceleration. Eventually, the Armstrong came to a halt. Vincent groaned in pain and climbed back into his seat. Flicking switches yielded nothing - power was gone, the ship was completely dead. Great. Not only would he be stuck here until he could repair the ship, but he had no doubt made quite the entrance for the locals - considering some of them had just shot him down, that was probably a bad thing. For now, however, there didn't seem to be any immediate threat. He could still see the tower in the distance, along with what appeared to be some sort of airship.

 

"That's so pathetic. You have to point out that you're a whole eight minutes older to validate yourself. I suspect that she's at least eight times more tolerable than you. And don't you dare call me sweet cheeks." She was getting angrier the more she heard him speak. Carissa did not ask for much from the soldiers that she commanded, only that they obeyed and gave her the respect that she had earned as the human with the highest Demi-God killcount that had ever been recorded. The Huntress hoped that he would fall silent for a time, but he did not. She saw the cocky smirk on his face. She hated it. But, this was an opportunity. "Fine then, Aster. If I win then I get to do whatever I want with you. You too must obey me. You need to be put back in your place. I'll give you this one chance to forfeit with no consequences. They call me Huntress for a reason." She looked him in his eyes. As she did, she felt as if she got an impression of what exactly Aster wanted. She shivered at the thought. Her reckless anger had forced her to accept this wager. She couldn't possibly lose. Her pride was on the line. Everything she had built up to this point was now on the line. She was going to win. The Valiant was coming. That meant Jayce Reaver himself was on the way. She'd put a crossbow bolt between his eyes, and anyone who dared stand in her way. She would bring back his head and remind everyone, especially the arrogant Aster Surananayan, who they were dealing with when they came face to face with Carissa Samarost. She loaded a bolt into her crossbow and checked her twin knives. Despite it seeming so petty, this was going to be an intense battle for her own honour and skill. ​

 

Carissa smirked when he started talking about the view.
"Don't start thinking about it too much Aster. If you think about that 'view' on the battlefield you might lose our little wager." She knew it was useless, but it was fun taking small shots at the embodiment of arrogance. How fun it would be to break that. How fun it would be to make him kneel before her and beg for mercy, to have some of his dignity given back. That was her plan. She would humiliate him, and remind him that his place was always beneath her. "Make that more points for her capture. If she's as stubborn as you then alive will be a lot harder than dead. But I'll make sure that I at least, don't kill her. Tell me what I'm looking for exactly. It'll be hard to spot her out of a crowd. And you wouldn't want her to die by accident, would you? After all, I'll be capable of keeping her alive. Nobody else will have the same scruples." She added a smile to that last part to try and bait him. She doubted that he would be able to resist that one at least. Given that he wanted her not to die, that should hopefully get a small reaction. When his hand was proffered, she took it and placed her hand deep into his so that he couldn't get a crushing grip, then shook it firmly.
"When the battle starts, it begins. You have until then to prepare yourself." Carissa said challengingly with a confident smirk of her own. She wouldn't lose to this mongrel. That would be impossible. He had done nothing of value or interest, so surely it wouldn't be a problem for her to beat him. ​

 

​

In a rather unremarkable corner of the great ship, The Valiant, there sat a man who was waiting. Waiting for what? Anything really. His eyes were closed, and his ears were covered with headphones that seemed to be playing some unknown track on them. There he sat, until finally things seemed like they would finally start heating up. The announcement from there oh so glorious demi-god leader that was Jayce. The invasion on Sky Tower would commence, the attack against the Shards of Hope be underway, and who the winner would be...well, Lucien had no idea. There was just going to be a good deal of fighting, and a lot of it. Taking care to shut his headphones off before removing them from his ears to hang around his neck, he got himself off the ground and started walking to meet up with his, for lack of a better word, comrades.

As he continued through the halls, he finally managed to get to where the others were starting to gather, and sensed a somewhat gloomy atmosphere amongst them. Well, less gloomy, and more one filled with extreme murderous intent. "Now now fellows," Lucien's voice seemed to be one of nonchalance as he entered earshot of the fellow hammer bros. "Let's not seem so on edge here. After all, our mission is," he pointed in the direction of Sky Tower, "just breaking shit and busting heads. And what could be more simple and easy than that. Besides," he took a glance as Kalak,"murder thoughts don't do the brain well in decision making." With that, he had started to get himself ready for the landing. A smile crossed his face, as he could feel round three getting to start. And boy, was this going to be one hell of a start.

 

"I'll find this armoury. If it as you say, Uncle, then allow me to secure the ordnance. I'll leave the rest in your capable hands."

"Alright then," Jayce nodded, "though I'll need you and whoever you take with you to complete another objective for me. The staircase to the upper floors will be blocked by a heavy blast door. We could destroy it, but that might take too long. Pass through the armoury after you've secured it, and you'll end up in a control room. From there, you can override the door and allow my team to proceed."

He turned to Rose, "My loyal warrior, whilst my nephew cuts through their forces, perhaps you can slip around them and hit the control room? The sooner that door is dealt with, the quicker we can take over the tower. I shall take Throda and any other specialists we have, along with a group of our soldiers. We'll launch an initial assault on the upper levels and attempt to take the AA gun."

The plan was set in motion now. The decisions had been made, ones Jayce could only hope would result in their victory. Otherwise, he wasn't certain how much his father's order could hold up. A third of their forces had been brought to the field. If they lost...

No, they wouldn't. He couldn't think like that. Couldn't slip into that mindset. They WOULD win. The Shards were powerful, but even their very best warrior couldn't hope to match a Demi God on their own. And today, the Order was bringing their very best. Sky Tower would be reclaimed, and humans would learn what it meant to bite the hand that fed them.

Speaking of their very best...

"Now now fellows, let's not seem so on edge here..."

Right on time.

"Lucien," Jayce waved at the newcomer, who was currently rattling on about beating people to a pulp, "scrub your knuckles. I need you to beat the crap out of some Shards for me. Maybe even a door."
​

 

Throda Bronzebeard's PoV:


Ado "Initial assault eh?" the dwarf said, slowly walking backwards, while facing Jayce. "That sounds fun. Say, how about I lead the initial assault, and you can lead the assault?" Winking mischievously, Throda spun around and hurled his hammer, smashing a dwarf-sized window. "EULALIA!"
With this cry the Juggernaut smashed through the remaining glass. The wind whipped at his long hair and magnificent beard, making him appear as a majestic eagle, soaring over its territory. A very large eagle. Very large. Grabbing his hammer midair, Throda used its weight to whip around, a mighty roar ripping from is throat as he swung his hammer straight into the ground, shockwaves rippling outwards. The poor Shards scouts barely had time to say "Is that-"
Throda stood up. "Human skulls crack easily."
He took a long drink from his flask.
"I like that."

 

​

Having punched through the basement door Timothy exited Sky Tower through an exterior entrance. Timothy registered the barren landscape, it doubted that even it, with its supreme gardening skills, could make this place look good. Wandering around for a moment Timothy suddenly looked up and saw signs of life "Human!" it exclaimed, it had been so long since Timothy had seen a living being, a being to serve, a being to care for... Timothy had a sudden yearning, urges.

Timothy needed to give this human tea.

It analysed the figure, a red cloaked woman who seemed to be climbing the tower with no idea there was a perfectly usable entrance right here. Admittedly this "entrance" wasn't there a moment ago... before Timothy had punched a hole in the wall. Suddenly Timothy noticed the woman was falling. Timothy Chesterton was not one to stand idly by while a human was in danger, a deeper whirring began in Timothy as he sprinted forwards to help the woman. Just as the woman was a few feet from the ground Timothy adeptly caught her in his large metallic hands and broke her fall. "That was a very dangerous stunt there mistress, I must insist that you keep to using ground floor entrances" Timothy spoke as though he had known this woman for his whole life as he put her back to her feet "Now madam, after such a fall you surely must want some refreshment, I shall brew you a good old cup of tea. Please sit down" Timothy dusted a fallen log and indicated for the woman to sit. It then stood upright and began to shake erratically, the sounds of boiling water could be heard from within Timothy's chrome body, building up to a small beep, it brought out a teapot from within its metal frame and began to pour the woman some tea "Oh? A stranger approaches" Timothy stated as a strangely dressed man approached "And what business have you with the mistress?"

 

​

He had moved throughout the wasteland with care to not be seen. When he got closer to the place where the figure he had seen had fallen he saw that a rather strange thing, it frightened him if he was being honest, he hadn't seen anything like it before a massive metallic construct, he immediatly froze when it had seen him and even spoke to him. He saw the red cloaked figure standing by it, and from the words chosen he deduced the figure was in safe hands. Therefore the distraction was no more, with his eyes locked on the massive machine he walked backwards and when he felt comfortable enough with how much distance there was between him and the thing, whatever it was, he took his eyes away and moved away the airship was close to landing. He increased his pace a little bit more careless about remaining unseen, he wanted to find himself a good post for the collection of the debt and to put more distance between him and that thing. He spotted quite a good position, again an uprooted tree, but this one was removed from the main line of advance of the hammers and it turned out to give him a decent option for retreat as on the other side of the mound there was a small forest. He unslung his rifle and concealed himself once more awaiting the arrival of the Hammers, so he could get this done and leave again.

 

"Oh for BLEEP sake."

They'd only just finished repairing that window, and Throda had gone and broken it. Wonderful. Well, there was no point sitting around any longer. The invasion was starting. He nodded to the others, a subtle indication at the action that he was about to take. He followed Throda's lead, leaping out the broken window and taking to the skies.

Reckless disregard of safety... though I can't deny it's fun.

Upon hitting the ground, Jayce caught sight of something. A twitching. A movement. In his haste to hit things, the dwarf had obviously missed one of the scouts, lying in the wastelands. The Shard member had his hand on the hilt of a blade.. Sighing, the Demi God pulled out his pistol and blasted him in the head. Swiftly holstering his weapon, Jayce wasn't at all surprised when he spotted Throda downing a bottle of booze.

"That stuff better help you with your killing," Jayce warned, walking towards the dwarf's side and observing their target. Sky Tower was just ahead. A few minutes of marching and they'd be knocking on the door. Behind him, he could hear the loud grumble of the airship engines down themselves to a soft hum, as The Valiant landed upon the battlefield.

"Sir, the airship has safely landed. Permission to deploy troops?" asked the voice in Jayce's head. Hehe, kidding. He's wearing an earpiece.

"Permission granted Captain," Jayce affirmed, "Begin deployment. Three quarters of the troops will assault the tower. The remainder will stay here to defend the airship. Keep the engines running and the weapons loaded, in case we need to make a quick getaway. Once the AA gun is under our control, you have permission to bring the airship in to mop up any surviving Shards."

"Copy that sir, ramps are being lowered. Good luck."

The airship opened up, releasing its payload of two-hundred or so soldiers. Thump thump thump. They marched down the metal ramp, dressed in blue and white, equipped with energy shields and small arm weapons. Without a word, they split into several groups, assembling in the infamous tortoise position.

"Order of the Hammer... BEGIN THE ATTACK!" Jayce yelled, tapping Throda on the shoulder and beginning the march towards the tower. ​

 

"You look but you do not see."

Ummmmm. Alright. So yeah, this guy was probably a little bit off. After that statement, Aspen wondered if maybe he told fortunes to desperate people in his free time. He seemed like the creepy mystical type. She followed his eyes as he watched the ship, but still wasn't really seeing his point. Yeah, maybe you'd find a cool sword or something, but you'd probably have to dig under ten dead bodies to get it first. Aspen didn't really care too much about these so called valuables, but this guy seemed super pumped for the battle so she didn't want to ruin that for him.

The man muttered something again --why did he keep muttering things like that?-- and brought his attention back to Aspen before introducing himself. Ransack? That's an...odd name. She wanted to ask him if it was like the verb ransack, but kind of answered that for herself. With a name like Ransack, I guess it makes sense that you'd want to dig through ten bodies to get one sword.

She glanced down at his hand, up to his eyes, and back down to his hand. Don't make me regret this, she thought to herself before hooking her bow around her back. "Nice to meet you, Ran." The name felt odd to say. "I'm Aspen." She nodded slightly. Despite the fact that she didn't really care about the "rewards" the man talked about, she took his deal anyway. Besides, she kinda wanted to watch the battle. Maybe she was heartless or just plain crazy, but it was nice to distract herself from her own mind. "Sure, I'll help ya gather up some goodies once the dust settles, but don't plan on me digging through any dead bodies."

 

​

Within the barracks of the Sky Tower, there sat a young girl, making sure everything was prepared. Her blade was sharp, clean, and ready to strike any enemy that would dare to challenge the Shards of Hope. Sheathing her blade in its scabbard and attached it to her hip, she stood up, ready for any sort of combat that was coming their way. As Carissa had come in to reaffirm that a battle would soon be coming there way, Ien could only nod and say, "yes ma'am." Ien was getting anxious for the battle to come, knowing full well the importance of it. This tower was a tactical fortress, one that allowed the Shards to keep full control of this area and with the momentum that the Shards had going for them, this would most certainly one nail in the coffin of the Order of the Hammer were they to lose. As such, they would be sure to throw as much as they could at this tower.

While Ien was most certainly tense, this sort of tension turned into annoyance as she heard the going bet and just general discussion. She had the utmost respect for lady Carissa, however accepting some kind of bet from this kind of man seemed a bit beneath her, and otherwise unnecessary. And then there was Aster. He was a completely other case, one that she had never wanted any part of since the moment she met him. Though upon hearing his words of capturing instead of killing his sister, she figured that if the two of them shared the same blood, it wouldn't be worth dirtying anyone's blade with it. Looking out the window, she could see the Valiant approaching, coming to a halt and landing on the ground, her grip on Raikiri tightened.

Looking to Carissa she said, "it would appear the battle is starting ma'am." She was ready to take on not just anyone, but most importantly the demigod leader, Jayce. The man who was a son of a grand wielder of lightning. One who fought with the power of storms himself. On her path to become the next Storm King of legend, someone like him was in direct opposition to her. He was another potential candidate whether he knew it or not, and at the end of the day, there could be only one king.

​

Lucien gave a small salute to the boss, as he told him to get ready for the battle to come. He would be certain to bring down the hammer on those shard asshats, and make sure that his fists weren't just for looking good. He watched as Jayce went to follow the dwarf, throwing himself out the window, and thought it would be some kind of fun as well, but restrained himself until the ship came to its natural landing. Looking toward the rose girl with a smirk on his face, he jokingly asked, "what, too flashy an entrance for a little daffodil like yourself?" Eventually though, the time for joking came to its end, and instead, came the time for actual fighting. The smirk on his face widened into a grin as he started to crack his knuckles."Alright Hammers," he announced, "you heard the man. Let's go nail some Shards to their walls." With that, Lucien stepped out of the ship and sauntered his way towards the Sky Tower.

 

"Fine, I'm sure I'll be able to spot the better looking version of you." Carissa spoke, ignoring his comment about preparing to lose. Ien spoke up. The battle was about to begin. She looked at the young lady. She had heard of her, a little at least. If she was as good a wielder of lightning as it was said, then she would be more than a match for Jayce. She would love nothing more than to bring back Jayce Reaver himself, but she was confident that Ien would be able to handle him while she dealt with other threats. If the worst came, then she'd be able to intervene. Carissa became all business. "Thank you, Ien." Carissa gave everyone a final glance, looking each in the eye. She gave Aster no special recognition. There was no time for that.
"You know what to do everyone. Fight hard. If you die, take as many as you can with you. Remember why we fight, and carry that with you as you go out. For today, we face Jayce Reaver himself." With that, Carissa walked out on to the battlements of Sky Tower. She checked her equipment, all of her bolts, her knives and ensured her crossbow was ready. It was going to be a hell of a day. As the tortoise formations drew closer, Carissa got down on one knee and aimed her first bolt. She'd need to break through the formation. Carissa removed the first bolt and replaced it with an Explosive Bolt. She measured her distances and pulled back the latch on the bolt, sending it hurtling towards the formation she aimed for.

The bolt hurtled through the air and slammed into the leg of a soldier in the second rank of the formation. She saw him stumble before the explosives went off. There was a loud whumph and a spray of dirt was kicked up, sending five men flying into the air, dead. It was a good start.




Kalak's mouth curled into a half smile when the dwarf threw himself out of the window. That man... He had a sense of style. Admittedly, he was going to cost the war effort a lot of money in the long term with these antics, but that didn't make it any less amusing. Kalak drew forth Duskfall and followed Jayce as he jumped out of the window. He landed gracefully. More so than Throda at least, and The Valiant touched down behind them and disgorged its forces. Two hundred, it should be enough to take the tower. Under most circumstances, he would call this overboard, but not this time. This time having a numerical advantage would serve them well. Now, it was a question of whether the Shards had more soldiers inside than they did. If they did, it was going to be a tough fight. Kalak approached the tower fearlessly, bearing his Zweihander in two hands. His coat flicked out behind him as he strode forwards. His eyes scanned the structure ahead. As he did, he couldn't help but notice a plume of smoke in the distance and a stream of smoke in the sky. Did they actually fire at something in Sky Tower? But if so... He glanced over at the supposed crash-landing site. What's over there? He was returned to reality by an explosion as the dirt was kicked up by an explosion. Taking hits already. Damn. ​