"Are they okay?"
"They'll be fine." The doctors said, "Just a little electrocuted. Some burns in some places. But perfectly treatable. We'll take care of them."
"Thanks. I'm heading up to the roof then."
The young wall guard put on his helmet and strolled out of the medical room and into the main guardroom. The stairs up to the top of the wall wasn't far but this guard didn't make much progress towards it when the door to the guard's room was suddenly kicked off its hinges, sending it skidding across the clean floor.
"Knock knock!" Malus sneered as he strolled in.
"Malus, can you not do that?" Helena sighed, "Now we need to fix the door once we take this place over."
"Yeah well why am I even on this side of the wall?" Malus frowned, "Why ain't I fighting the gargoyles or Kajou?"
"You're not strong enough." Melia said simply.
"Like hell I ain't! I haven't been busting my balls with curls and curl ups just to be put on the B Team!"
"Don't make us tell Momo on you." Kaguya said.
"Y-You think that still scares me?!"
"Yes."
The young guard watched in horror as more and more rebels pushed through the door.
"W-We're getting invaded!"
The guard shouted and pulled out his sword but Malus was already in front of him, smacking him in the face so hard that he fell to the ground already unconscious.
"Pathetic." Malus shook his head, "To think we had trouble with you."
"You didn't have trouble with him, you had trouble with them." Helena said as more guards poured out from various rooms in varying levels of undress.
These forces were met with the rebels and with the rebel's superior armor sets they were easily able to suppress these guards. But more soon started coming down from the roof, having heard the young guard's warning but the rebels were there to halt them at the bottom of the stairs, putting up shields to lock these roof guards to their tiny stairs. The guards tried to get past their armor to no avail, Helena sniping them from behind the shields to start making progress up the stairs.
"Man, it's kinda hard to shoot up at these guys behind these shields." Helena said meaningfully.
"Allow me then. Earth."
With a wave of her hand, Melia sent pillars of stone out from the stone stronghold to punch into and smashing the guards into the walls and ceilings. Once these guards were defeated, the guards pulled them off the stairs, passing them down back to the main room for the others to deal with before advancing slowly up the stairs.
"Things are going well." Helena grinned, placing her hands on her hips confidently, "Good to see your training turned out well, Melia."
"I never thought I'd have to put so much effort into learning magic in such a short time." Melia sighed, "I only picked up casting magic as a hobby."
"Same. Nothing like a thrilling adventure to force you to improve though, right?
"Excuse us." Kaguya said as she walked into the medical room.
"A-Are you going to kill us?!" The medical staff said in fear.
"If you don't attack us, we won't." Kaguya smiled, "Now, how are these patients?"
"Uhhhh...slight burns...should recover just fine after a few hours of sleep."
"Good." Kaguya nodded, "Then let's start treating these burns shall we?"
Placing a custom medical kit on the table, Kaguya pulled out several healing salves and bandages and started handing them out.
"Do we really need to heal them?" Malus scowled.
"We're terrorists, not monsters." Helena smirked.
"They're just going to come back and try and kill us later."
"That's war. Doesn't mean we can't still treat them like humans."
"Whatever." Malus rolled his eyes, "Just tell me when someone worth fighting shows up.
"Emergency!"
A long guard scrambled to the center of the top of the wall and shouted out to main group fighting below, "Lady Kajou, we're getting invaded!"
Kajou turned her head at the news. She had thought it strange that they weren't getting any more support from the wall but to think they would take advantage of this chaos to launch an invasion on the gate. Losing the gargoyles were an expected loss but losing control of the gate was absolutely not something they expected or wanted. Kajou scowled at the black knight that had been challenging her and quickly retreated, jumping away from him onto the roof of the wall and jumping back down the other side to the guardroom. Momo watched her pass her with a smug satisfaction.
"I'm here!" Kajou announced as she entered the guardroom.
"Finally!" Malus sneered as he turned to the Planetary Star, "Someone worthwhile to fight!"
"Think you can beat her on your own?" Helena asked with a smirk.
"You just sit back and watch." Malus cracked his knuckles.
"Roland be ready to jump in at anytime." Helena said.
"Two men on one girl feels unfair but whatever." Roland shrugged.
"Mikado, keep watch outside and feel free to interrupt where you feel is needed." Kaguya ordered.
"Already on it." Mikado said, watching Kajou from afar as he leaned on the doorway to the medical room.
"Roswell."
"My lady?"
"Stay close to me." Melia said as she pushed forward along with the other rebels up the stairs, "Hold her off if she attacks us but our main purpose is to finish taking over the roof."
"Understood."
Kajou's eyes scanned wildly around the room, her mind racing to try and find some way to turn the tide. The amount of rebels were much less than the main force on the other side but with so many strong people keeping watch on her, breaking apart their encampment all alone seemed nearly impossible. With a cry, she lunged forward, ready to stab her sword into Malus. Malus brought his sword up, using the side of the blade to block her stab. The fake Planetary Star was pushed back a little but otherwise held his ground.
"Whoa." Malus said, "I actually managed to block that."
"Finally seeing the fruits of Momo's training program are you?" Helena jeered from afar.
"I mean, I totally expected to block that!" Malus said, pushing Kajou back away from him.
Kajou was barely paying attention to Malus, her eyes still swinging about to find some sort of weakness to attack. The medical office was fine. There was no reason for her to attack there. The problem were those stairs. If they took control of the roof, they might as well lose on the spot. With a swing, Kajou knocked Malus away from her and charged towards the stairs. But Roland was immediately in the way, putting up both his swords to hold Kajou back.
"Hey Malus, aren't you supposed to be holding her off?" Roland called out casually.
"Shut up you worm." Malus scowled as he ran forward to try and attack Kajou from behind.
Kajou shifted her sword so that the tip of her sword pushed against the point where Roland's swords were crossed in defense. With a shove, she pushed Roland back a few steps while also recoiling off and away from him to kick into Malus before he could swing his sword. Her kick was sharply aimed, knocking into the big man's windpipe and causing him to keel over a little in a fit of coughing. Turning back to the guards at the stairs, Roland quickly tried to get in her way before she could move but she simply turned her sword blade against Roland from afar and swiped, somehow pushing Roland off to the side as she finally charged at the rebels from behind. Roswell was instantly in front of her, holding up his shield along with other fellow Earthbounds and blocked the slash that Kajou made against them. Roswell stabbed through their small phalanx to force her to retreat a small amount. She had encountered this armor before and they remained as much of a pain as before. But now there was this knight.
"Think fast."
Kajou slid back fast as Helena fired an almost point blank ball of ice where her head was, smashing into a small potted plant on the floor.
"Who puts a small plant on the ground like that?" Helena frowned, "Put it on a shelf."
Seeing the princess unprotected, Kajou moved to attack Helena instead, sword aimed to stab her through the heart. Helena pointed her other finger right at Kajou's head and an ice bullet quickly formed in front of it, Kajou's charge putting her dangerously closer to the bullet faster than her sword could reach the princess. At the last moment, Kajou retreated again, the ice bullet firing off again where she used to be and smashing a large plant off a table.
"Who puts a fig tree on a coffee table?" Helena frowned again, "The feng shui in this office is completely off."
"I'm here!" Roland cried, running back in front of Helena.
"Well look who finally arrived." Helena said, "Your princess had to fend for herself for a bit there."
"I know! But I'll protect you now!"
"Well...thanks..."
Kajou forced her racing mind to calm down. She was surrounded by formidable people. The knight and princess pair seemed to be more skilled than the normal rebel. Same with the knight who was still watching near the infirmary. And even if she included the armored rebels advancing up the stairs and the knight protecting them, there was still a small number of remaining rebels who had already defeated the surrounding guards and were just watching, waiting to jump in as well.
"I've got you no-"
Kajou jumped, sailing over Malus' wide horizontal slash, kicking with both her legs into his head and landed gracefully back on her feet without even so much as looking as Malus stumbled back in pain.
This was a complete disadvantage. What guards could help her were stuck on the other side of the stairs and slowly being taken out by the invading rebels. There were several strong opponents in the room, some not even approaching her yet. And even if she took these people out, there was still a number of rebels decked out in outstanding armor that could overwhelm her with numbers alone. With no hope of any reinforcements, any reasonable person would recognize the inevitable loss and retreat. And Kajou was perfectly capable of retreating on her own. But that meant abandoning the gate which was a key point in their war. And Kajou wasn't one to give up even if she was alone.
The Planetary Star reached into her pocket and quick-dialed a number. Holding it up to her mouth, she waited for it to connect before speaking plainly,
"This is Kajou. Proceed as if the gate has already fallen."
Without waiting for a response, Kajou hung up and slid her phone back into her pocket before bringing up her sword,
"Until the gargoyles fall, I shall stop you with all my power."
"Can't say you're not dedicated at least." Helena nodded.
"Now I got yo-"
Without looking, Kajou shot her palm out behind her hitting Malus right in the chin.
The gate was falling. Roko could see the guards that would have been attacking them regrouping in front of the stairs down and now even those people were starting to get pushed back. Taking over the battlements will all but secure their victory. Without their spontaneous lightning magic, without air supremacy, without support from the wall, without Kajou to suppress Varis, the gargoyles were getting overwhelmed handily. Their own path to losing was if Kajou was somehow able to defeat everybody in the guardroom and Roko had prepared as best he could for that not to happen. The capture of the gate would be completed in a few more minutes. All that was left was to watch the gargoyles flail about against their forces.
And that was when the gargoyles began acting strangely. The poured all their wind magic in tearing off the rebels from around them. The rebels did their best to retain their pressure but the winged gargoyle was the first to break free, flapping open their wings and flying right over their heads. And right at Roko.
Roko's eyes widened and he drew his sword again but it was too late as the winged gargoyle grabbed him by the head and began lifting him up into the air. The Earthbounds all cried out in surprise as their leader was lifted several kilometers into the air. Normally, Momo would fire an amplified lightning bolt to force them back on the ground but it was too dangerous to do so with Roko in their hands. Roko had managed to sink his blade in the gargoyle's side but it only served as a sort of grappling point if the gargoyles tried to drop him. Instead he was being lifted farther, farther up above the houses. And that when it began to happen. Lifted high over Momo's height, the gargoyles began raining lightning bolts down again straight into Roko's back. Roko screamed in pain, said screams muffled under the monster's palm but he held onto his consciousness. After all, he had taken an amplified lightning bolt from Momo back when he found the eldritch tree. A bolt or two wasn't going to take him down that easily. But he had to do something.
Shoving his foot against the monster's stomach, Roko used all his strength to swing them around, pivoting the monster so that now the winged gargoyle was above him in the air, the lightning striking the monster a few times but the monster still looking unfazed. It would have been easy for the two to begin a grappling war, each trying to swing the other in front of the lightning bolts but instead the lightning stopped and the winged gargoyle opened its hand, dropping Roko down the dizzying height.
The first thing Roko saw was a torrent of electricity as Momo immediately blasted the winged gargoyle with an amplified lightning bolt. Roko wasn't sure if the monster finally died but he didn't have time to concern himself with that. He turned around, looking down for some way to save himself from splattering on the ground. As he descended, he saw Varis ascending, jumping up to try and save him only for another gargoyle, the tailed one, to intercept him and grapple with him in midair. And with Roko's only savior busy, the horned gargoyle was soon coming up to meet him, claws at the ready.
"Did you think I didn't know how to fight in midair?" Roko scowled.
He threw his sword. The terminal velocity sending it deep into the monster's shoulder before it could get deflected. The monster charged on regardless, arms stretched out to tear Roko apart. Roko simply swung his leg around and kicked into the butt of his sword. Their crossing sending the sword right through the gargoyle's arm cutting it off and opening up a direction for Roko to dodge the gargoyle's other arm. As he flew past the horned gargoyle's side, Roko reached out and grabbed onto the gargoyle's leg, pulling the monster down a few meters before its wind magic stopped their descent. They were still high in the air but close to some of the roofs of the opulent Muldingirmus now. Spotting a flat one close by, Roko lifted his body and began swinging the gargoyle around, throwing the gargoyle's immense weight around to swing them to the right, closer and closer to the roof. In response, the gargoyle swung Roko around, flinging him vertically as Roko swung him horizontally. The two rotated around each other for a second but when Roko saw the opportunity, he let go of the gargoyle's leg and grabbed onto its remaining arm. Pulling the monster close, Roko slammed his forearm into the gargoyle's neck, holding it down as they began to fall down towards the roof.
"You thought you could beat me if you dragged me into the sky?" Roko growled, "You're only one third of what Alder was!"
The gargoyle screeched at him in response but it was too late as they both slammed into the roof with an earth shaking thud.
Muldingirmus roofs must be much more well crafted than Roko thought if they didn't immediately smash through it and fell into the room below. There were some stylistic gravel serving as the floor which did well to show their diagonal crash into the building. Without Momo's reinforcement magic, Roko was sure he'd have a few broken bones from this fall. A stone gargoyle certainly didn't make for a gentle cushion. Speaking of, said gargoyle now laid splayed on the ground below him, it's limbs broken off from it's body from the impact and the head lying lifelessly to the side. If it was somehow still alive, it'd be pretty harmless without it's limbs.
A crashing sound told Roko to turn around. Looking up, Roko could see Varis still in the sky though falling rapidly. In the dust on the ground was the tailed gargoyle, it's form still somewhat intact though not for long as the remaining rebels quickly crowded around it and began stabbing it til it finally remained still forever. They had won.
It was in the silence of their victory when they remembered why they were fighting. And it was now that they realized that the rain had let up quite a bit. The lightning strikes were gone and the clouds began to lift. And the first ray of late afternoon sunshine finally pierced the clouds, bathing everyone in a warmth that they hadn't seen in a long time. A cheer broke out from among those in attendance, one that filled the rich streets with a fulfilling warmth. Then the ladders came down from the walls and the gate invasion team declared their successful conquest. For the first time in a long time in the Earthbounds' long history, they had taken full control over a key point in the city. The celebration in the streets was enough to think they had finally toppled Sirius himself.
"Roko!" Helena cried as she practically ran down the ladder, "We did it!"
"Good job!"
"Wait, Roko?! Why are you on the roof?!"
"Call it circumstances." Roko replied, "Where's Kajou?"
"She just ran off and disappeared not long ago." Helena shrugged, "She must've sense that the gargoyles were dead now so there was no point in continuing to fight."
"Or she was afraid of me!" Malus flexed as he got off the ladder himself, "I did give her the biggest challenge she's ever had to date."
"That's not what I saw." Roland scoffed.
"Can it shrimp. No one can deny my greatness now."
"Good work everyone." Momo said as she landed back on the ground, "And for once, I'm including Malus in that. I can't say I did much but watching everyone fight was truly breathtaking."
"I saw you standing there doing nothing, Momo!" Malus sneered, "Are you sure you haven't become a statue?"
"Haha. Malus you old card." Momo said with the most innocent of smile before she placed a hand on Malus' shoulder. And several thousand volts of electricity flowed right into the man, blasting him off his feet as he landed on the ground several feet away completely unconscious.
Everyone turned to look at Momo...and took a cautious step back.
"Sooooo..." Helena said, "Corissa feast?"
"Corissa feast!" Everyone in the army cheered.
"We'll have it in the guardhouse!" Momo declared, "Just as soon as I let out several thousand bolts of lightning."