Picto looked onward, tears building up behind his helmet as he watched the smoke of his kingdom begin to rise into the air.
He watched from atop the castle walls, his good friend and oath sworn brother standing behind him.
When Picto turned away from the chaos destroying the place that he had grown up in, his good friend only smiled down at him.
"Do not fret brother... We will see yet another sunrise, and yet another after that. So stand up, let us weed out the intruders..."
The strongest of the generals said with no trace of sadness in his voice, his spear clinging to the cobalt armor resting on his back.
Picto pushed himself off of the ground, standing tall as he took one last look at the city under the stars, burning to the ground before his very eyes.
Turning away, he summoned his blade.
"Weed them out we shall..."
...
Gideon of House Voidborn
Gideon lit his torch, leading the group forward as they went.
Skylar was muttering to himself about the structural support of the tunnels as they went further and further into the sewers.
They had escorted out as many civilians as possible, bringing them to safety and returning to redo the cycle several times over.
Yet, something still felt severely wrong to Gideon.
Hans must have felt it as well, since he wasn't speaking and didn't even bother to grunt underneath the mask shaped like a panda's head.
"We are being watched..."
He eventually muttered, clenching the bronze gauntlets together causing his armor to glow with dark green and purple veins.
Skylar raised an eyebrow.
"I don't believe we are..."
Hans pointed at one of the corpses resting on the edge of the sewer drain.
Sure enough, the deformed skull's eyes were glowing a faint ethereal blue...
"He is coming..."
Hans whispered, motioning them to get behind him.
...
Michael of House Everfrost...
"Stay behind me!"
He screamed, holding the twin children back as he took the full force of several chained sword attacks.
The knight was strong, and with everything happening all at once around him, he couldn't let the children run off on their own.
Several battles were taking place at once, as hundreds of soldiers fought to the death in the main plaza of Equus's shopping district.
The once beautiful city for the economically gifted, had turned to ruins as flames slowly enveloped the city.
Chase's plan had worked out far too perfectly, as it was only a matter of time before the reinforcements arrived, and the unprepared soldiers of House Night would be overwhelmed and defeated as their city burned to the ground.
Michael formed a wall of ice between him and the powerful knight who had tried to take his head off in a single swift movement.
The ice shattered easily under the force of the attack, and just as Michael prepared to fight, a gashing noise shot out from behind the man.
It was quite difficult to hear at first over the sounds of screams and the war cries of his allies, but sure enough blood followed as the knight fell to the ground.
Gabriel stood behind the man with his cloak drenched in blood.
"Was wondering when I'd see ya..."
Michael muttered, as Neveah yelled something inaudible at the two of them from far behind Gabriel and near the large fountain at the center of the plaza.
Gabriel cursed as he fell to his knees.
"Damnit all!"
His fist struck the ground, trying his hardest to hold himself up.
Neveah had made it, immediately grabbing the scared kids from Michael's side, and giving the two of them a sad look before she ran off towards the main gate.
Michael drew his scythe again, overwhelmed by all that was happening.
"What happened?!"
He yelled at his rogue friend over the noises of war.
Gabriel tried to push himself up, but staggered under his own weight.
"Too much energy..."
He eventually growled.
Michael frowned, trying to think of a way out of this mess.
"Where is Leo?"
He whispered to himself, scanning the battlefield.
The orange-haired lion cub was nowhere to be seen in such a worst possible time.
"How long can you hold out?"
Michael asked loudly, preparing to fight another horde of soldiers that was rapidly approaching.
"Ten minutes... Maybe fifteen?"
It was more of a question than it was an answer, which only made Michael grit his teeth in anger.
Then just when things couldn't have possibly gotten worst, they got three times worst with a side of terrible.
Several purple blades made of magic, shot straight towards their area and exploded against the ground on impact.
"Friends of war..."
As the strangely familiar voice resounded throughout the plaza, the sounds of war began to die down as both allies and enemies began to fall from the terrible energetic pressure.
Michael looked up in a daze as he pulled himself out of the rubble of wherever he had just landed.
'This is bad...'
Picto, The General of Rider's main army had arrived... And stood at the top of the broken fountain, donned in full warrior's armor that covered his entire being.
An amethyst sword resting in his right hand, and a terrible gash resting on the faceplate of his helmet.
"I have been awaiting the king; however... You two will do just fine... As destined enemies of war..."