"I made a mistake, and it nearly cost us our lives," Eilert stated bluntly. "I'm unsure how we survived a fall from that height." It was nothing short of miraculous; neither he nor Urishval was much stronger than a normal human.

"In any case, with the barrier down it should only be a matter of time. Our mysterious assailant most likely can't hold out for long without a barrier--otherwise, there would have been little point in putting one up to begin with. Unless..."

He shook his head. It was a pessimistic thought, and he had no reason to believe that...yet. The barrier had only just gone down. For the time being, all that remained was to keep hitting that area hard and see how the enemy reacted.

"You should get back out there," he observed. "I'll be fine--I'm just going to rest for a bit; there's not much I can do from this distance in any case."

He nearly got the both of them killed with a mistake? Did that have anything to do with the explosions they saw earlier? Icsorue had thought the both of them dead when she tried to contact them shortly thereafter. She hadn't the knowledge about it, but her attempts to make contact must have occurred while Eilert was unconscious. The both of them must have been knocked out from the fall, and Urishval was still out of it. Icsorue could have punched him for that! She was so damn worried, she felt the urge to cry all over again!

"Roight . . ." Icsorue nodded to Eilert.

It was true. She needed to get back out there and help with the fight. With the most abilities, Icsorue was invaluable when the defenses of their enemies were down. Even if they didn't have a particular target to aim at, they could barrage their enemies with power and do as much damage as possible, at least until the dirt and dust cleared more.

As soon as Icsorue stood up, though, one of the other female operatives, her coat marked by beige and her hood up, turned quickly to face Icsorue, abandoning the process of letting loose flame into the cloud of debris. "Icsorue!! The dust . . . it's rising!"

"Wot . . .?" Icsorue asked as she raced to the edge of the cliffside, looking down--

--only to see the dust not dissipating, as she had initially thought, but rising. Quickly. The cloud of dirt, dust, and debris was spreading up, the dark cloud enveloping the mountain at a rapid pace. There were no further explosions, however; nothing to kick up the dust, no reason for any act of nature to call its rise up the mountain.

"Are they . . . is this . . ." Icsorue muttered, before shouted, "They're using it as cover!! THROW ALL YA GOT! Don't let 'im any closer!"

But she miscalculate how much cover "they" intended to use. It wasn't much more than seconds later that the enigmas found themselves enveloped by the cloud of dust, instigating fits of coughing by those breathing it in, and the complete inability to see beyond ten feet before any of their faces. Their enemies had more to use than just a defensive shield . . .

From his position, Eilert couldn't see what Icsorue was shouting about, but it was evidently very bad. He didn't have to wait long to find out, however--soon the entire top of the mountain was enveloped in dust, just like when he was by the barrier.

He covered his mouth with his sleeve, filtering the air as best he could. "Everyone, back away from the edge! Icsorue, see if you can blow this dust away!"

With such low visibility all the Enigmas that were attacking long distance would have little chance of hitting anything. There were likely some who specialized in fighting up close, still waiting for their turn, but even they'd be hampered by the dust cloud, unable to breathe the clean air they needed in order to fight.

He, however, had some advantages in this regard. He didn't need to exert himself to activate his glyphs that were already in place, and even better he'd know as soon as someone stepped on them, visibility or not.

Climbing down the mountain had put Eilert in the worst possible situation for someone of his powers, but now that the enemy was advancing again he could put his glyphs to full use.

For all intents and purposes, the top of the mountain was his territory now, and any enemies thinking they could overrun it so easily were in for a rude awakening.

Eilert's shout had been loud enough for all the other operatives to hear, and they quickly retreated from the ledge. Sephia had to be pulled away from it by the green enigma, as well, as she was too weakened from over-use of her powers to even muster the strength to stand, or even go so far as to crawl to safety. She was among the wounded that didn't want to get off of the battlefield, even though her presence there was doing nothing more than getting in the way.

"Got it!" shouted Icsorue to Eilert.

Icsorue did what she could to find a good center area--but that soon became difficult. For efficiency's sake, she needed to be near the center of their area, but once the cloud of dust lifted so much that none of them could see more than a foot in front of their faces, she encountered great difficulty. Icsorue stopped short, standing completely still. There was so much rubble around, none of which she could see anymore . . .

At first, she tried walking forward, incidentally wasting valuable time. When she felt her foot striking something half the height of her leg, and found herself tripping over the large rock, Icsorue gave up that plan. She let out a groan as she lay on her face, half-way sprawled over the rock. For her own sake, she flipped around, laying on her back, and swung her hand before her. A gust of wind, seemingly drawn from nowhere at all, struck threw and lurched the dust around her away, making the rest of the area more saturated with dust, while she could see.

Then, they'd all hear a series which could bring only dread:

". . . son of a . . . !" Icsorue shouted. And from there, the only sound was static. Static electricity, tearing through, with bright flashes of light near the edge of the flat peak.

"Icsorue!!" shouted the green enigma, otherwise isolated and unable to see--only to soon shout, "E-- AGH!!"

"Icsorue?" Eilert called, seeing the flashes of light that he surmised were her abilities. The dust around him had suddenly grown a bit thicker, but he still hadn't sensed any enemies step on his glyphs. So far they hadn't seen any signs that the enemy had any sort of flying capabilities, but it wasn't something he could completely rule out.

Figuring that the girl could take care of herself, he began to move towards where he heard a comrade cry out, though he wasn't familiar enough with the voice to identify it just by that.

His first thought was that Icsorue had accidentally blasted someone in a fit of anger (or come close to it--he couldn't tell if the cry was in pain or just alarm), but he wasn't going to take the chance that it was the enemy. And actually, he'd probably need more help if he took a hit from the angry Pink Enigma than if he'd been ambushed by an enemy.

"Wh-wh-- who are-- L-LET ME GO!" Sephia suddenly screamed.

"Sephia!" cried the beige enigma, "Who the hell . . . where the hell-- GUH~!"

Eilert would start to feel something just as he was nearing where the voice of the green enigma had been--a sense? A presence? The sense that something was on his glyphs, a certain something that couldn't be identified as an ally. Several somethings. An insurmountable sum of somethings . . .

And then, Icsorue screamed inexplicable rage: "Get the fuck off of me!!"

It felt as if the peak itself trembled under the pressure of Icsorue Lahmendt's counter-attack against . . . whatever it was that had attacked her. None of them could see it, not at first. In the wake of an inferno, piercing even the thick cloud of dust, visible from even the bottom of the mountain, the cloud began to part, whipping away in gusts of wind, caused either by Icsorue's attack, or by her literally parting the cloud with her ability to control wind--to an extent. Only then could they see their offenders:

Shades. The green enigma was pinned to the ground, a shade half of his size planted on his chest and holding his head to the ground--but not killing him. It was the same for the beige enigma, the woman was restrained by a dark creature, held back with her arms and pinned face-first against the dented metal of the fortress. Sephia, too, was restrained, but with little difficulty or roughness. Dozens stood around them, their rows of crimson eyes gazing down at the enigmas who were doing their best to hold off the invasion . . .

But they didn't stand out nearly as much as the one that had attacked Icsorue. That one hadn't lain a finger on her. A gray skinned man, clad in an unmarked enigma's coat, standing with his hand outstretched to Icsorue. He had dark hair--black and bushy, with large horns extending from the sides of his skull and wrapping around the sides of his face until coming to a point just an inch from his jaw. He was thin and looked young in the face, while the only real color on him seemed to be his scarlet eyes and a red ribbon about his throat.

Next to him stood a creature of similar humanoid form, but hunched over. It was like the other shades, though. Its skin was entirely black and its eyes were a blaring red, but it had a male form, and were it standing at full height, it'd be well over six feet tall and anorexically thin--but as it was, the creature was squatted down on both feet, one hand upon the ground, and the other half-across his chest.

As the dust cleared and the scene around him was revealed, Eilert's first impulse was to rush to the aid to those allies that were being held by the shades--as he understood them, they were mindless creatures who slaughtered living beings that came across them.

These were different, though--the fact that both the Yellow and Green Enigma were still alive said as much. And the two figures in the center--the one looked like a shade in human form, but the other...some kind of demon? Was he the leader?

He wanted to strike, but he had to make sure. Currently, he had no shades assaulting him--whether this was luck or intentional, he wasn't sure, but it would prove to be a costly mistake.

He stepped towards the two humanoids. "You would be the leader of this army, I take it?"

It was a stall, so that he could stretch out his senses and feel what was happening on all his glyphs. When he made his moves, he needed to know just what ones to activate.

The horned youth had his eyes on Eilert, rather than Icsorue, once he heard the orange enigma speaking to him. He shook his head. The shades each took a step forward when Eilert was close enough--a silent and subtle way of commanding him to stop where he was, or else . . .

"No. I'm not. But he is," he replied, his voice as young as he looked--not quite twenty, but no longer a teenager.

"Rrggghh," the "creature" beside the horned youth growled low--but his wasn't an inhuman growl in the slightest. He had not the growl of an animal, but a human being; a human being growling like a beast.

The shades were airborne; dozens of them leaping into the air simultaneously, dozens of them landing where they individually set themselves up for, never after an enigma who had been pinned, but after those that had not--even the injured. They couldn't find back, like Urishval, who had three shades standing on his body, not attacking, not stabbing, just standing there.

There were other enigmas where were better with hand to hand combat, but none of them were veteran fighters, and though there were instances of black mist bursting alongside a screech of a dying shade, the very fact that there were more that could come and replace the slain creatures, it wouldn't be very long before they were overwhelmed and subdued. In a proximity battle, they couldn't defeat this much. At the growl of the humanoid, more had poured in, and soon, their entire flat was covered in black . . .

Eilert, too, had this to worry about. The shades were at all sides of him, grabbing at him--his arms, head, legs, body, anywhere they could get their claws, and trying to pull him to the ground.

"Y--ya son of a bi~~tch!!" Icsorue's cry was muffled by a shade pinning her face to the ground.

In a swirl of flame, it was gone--just like each creature on top of her, and each creature around her. Icsorue was quickly on her feet, and her eyes were focused on the horned young man. Both of her arms swiped out, out by her sides, parallel to the ground. She hunched over, sparks gathering between her fingers, shimmers of flame spreading across the cracked stone about her. She made the connections--she knew who needed to kill. Each time a shade stepped foot near her, it was gone, shrieking and leaving behind mist of darkness, as flames gripped it like an arm--and a hand--with a mind of its own.

The sparks between her fingers fed sparks around her, orbs of electricity gathering and flickering vibrantly. She spared no time, and each shuddering orb was cast at the humanoid shade crouched upon the ground--

--and as if the shield was still up, they flickered out, several deflecting and burrowing into the ground like ricocheted bullets. This came as a surprise to Icsorue, who had figured the shield was down, but . . .

"GAH~!"

It felt like she was hit with a brick wall. With her cry of pain, the flickering lightning about her and the grossly increasing flames died almost instantly, blowing out like candles, as Icsorue lifted from the ground by feet--thrown forward, landing harshly onto her back. Shades scattered to avoid where she landed and skidded to a stop, seemingly at the behest of the horned young man who had done nothing more than swipe his arm at the woman, all before the shades pounced on Icsorue, too . . .

Eilert let himself be dragged to the ground by the shades, knowing that he currently couldn't resist the movement. "Icsorue, wait--!" But his warning came too late, and she was struck by...something, and was now at the mercy of the shades.

His intention had been to get some information from the man before beginning his assault, but that plan would have to be discarded. Instead, he'd count on it seeming like there was no resistance left for a moment before he spoke.

"There's a saying where I come from: It matters not how many flies assault the spider's lair--the result will always be the same."

And then, orange light--everywhere. Eilert had known that if he announced his presence he'd be given the same treatment as the others; he counted on it. So he positioned himself squarely on a Glyph of Banishment, which now sent the shades on him back to their own world.

Other Enigmas would feel the effects as well. Those that happened to be on a banishment glyph, such as the Beige Enigma, would suddenly find the shades around them gone. Not killed, but simply gone.

Still others had landed on support glyphs, as in the case of the Green Enigma, who would temporarily become many times stronger than he'd previously been.

And the shades that closed in on Icsorue, as well as many other countless pockets of them around, would find themselves victims of the very ground beneath them as it erupted under their feet.

The Enigmas were a powerful group--even up close, there was much they could do against the shades if they were on their toes. However, many of those present were inexperienced and lacked confidence. He had to bolster their morale before in the face of the enemy army, and now he'd have to bolster it again.

He drew himself back up his feet and dusted himself off, moving forward another couple of steps onto another glyph in preparation.

"Icsorue, free the rest and get anyone who can no longer fight out of here, the way we discussed." She would know--he'd made it a point to tell her about the glyphs that would teleport them to Greoul.

"These opponents are mine." He turned to face his foes, his face impassive as always but his eyes a blazing orange--after all he'd done today he would not falter now.

"We have decimated your army, and destroyed your barrier. You are next."

The eruptions of colors about the ground took the horned youth by surprise; he hadn't seen that coming at all, and by the end of it, there were scant few shades left. They were either "banished" or destroyed--the dark creatures reduced to nothing but mist and echoes of their dying screeches.

Icsorue shakily pulled herself back upright. Given time to prepare, Eilert really had his shit together. He he decimate a large majority of his enemies if he had the opportunity to lay down the groundwork for his traps and efficiency controls. He had even come up with plans with her . . .

" . . . r-roight . . ." responded a reluctant Icsorue, "But . . . but don't ya go and think that I ain't helpin' your ass out after oI'm done!"

The first person she came across, though, was the green enigma--hunched over and holding himself up with his hands. Icsorue glanced around quickly. So many of them were injured after that; there weren't many left that could even get up and move around. It was all because they were rookies-- damnit! It couldn't be coincidence that their veteran members were indisposed--it just couldn't be! Some of the ones here were close to it, at least . . . that was a plus. Some of those ones were hurt pretty bad, though.

Icsorue reached down to take the green enigma's arm, but he tensed his muscle as soon as she did. He wasn't hurt. He was reeling; he just wasn't used to the amount of power going through his body.

"Leave me," he grunted, "I'm fighting."

". . . wotever," whispered the pink enigma, before moving onto others--firstly Sephia, the yellow enigma.

"You're pretty sure of yourself," the horned youth replied to Eilert, "A bit uselessly sure. Don't you know anything about shades? They can come back."

Eilert had done all of that . . . It was worth note, and definitely worth his personal attention. Even Icsorue hadn't caused that much damage. The "leader" of the army remained where he was, watching everything with an idle stare, growling under his breath every so often. The gray skinned youth unbuttoned the top clasp on his coat and unzipped it quickly, throwing it off without a second thought. Beneath this, he wore a form fitting, dark blue sweater and baggy slacks--not quite demonic attire.

"You've got all the solutions-- so, bring it," he challenged Eilert directly as he lifted his left hand. Just by his build--borderline anorexically thin--and the way he stood upright with only one open hand before him, it was clear enough that he was in no way a physical fighter, but had power all in his own right.

"I'm aware that shades can come back--I doubt we could ever kill more shades than can be summoned."

If I can just get close enough, or bait them into stepping in the right direction, it will be our victory.

He took a few steps forward and to the side--his movements as he approached would seem random, but to anyone who knew his power they'd guess that he was trying to keep himself on certain glyphs.

"However...if I send you two back where you came from, I wonder if you can return so easily."

He was calling their bluff--much of their offensive relied on overwhelming numbers and the notion that there was no way to overcome them. However, he'd become convinced that it was possible, and nothing would dissuade him from that. He'd stake his life on it.

His approach was gradual and deliberate--like his opponent, he wasn't much of a fighter. He intended for the horned man to make the first move, staying close to the glyphs that would best let him counter that wave he'd used to flatten Icsorue.

"Best of luck to you," the horned youth replied, "Even I can't lay a finger on him, now--let alone from afar. But I can reach you . . ."

The gray skinned youth drew his left arm back and swiped his right hand out with a jab. He was so far from Eilert that he couldn't possibly reach him, and even if he released some sort of energy-based attack. the orange enigma had himself positioned in areas of support glyphs to keep himself well defended. Fortunately for Eilert, his enemy was essentially ignorant to what he could do; it didn't appear as if the "leader" of the army was all that willing, or even capable of talking, let alone debriefing anyone . . .

But even still, Eilert would feel the sensation of a fist to his jaw, bringing with it enough strength to potentially send him off of his feet. It wasn't an energy attack--no, it was something different. Something similar. The same type of force that captured a boulder in mid-air and launched it back down the mountain; the same type of force that threw it in the first place. The mental will for the physical, no more different than a real jab in the face--all the same, simply disconnected from the youth's body . . .

Telekinesis.

Eilert had the misfortune of being between glyphs at the time the attack was made, and the blow sent him nearly off his feet, causing him to stumble back onto his rear. As he suspected, there was no way to see it coming--only the man's arm movements would give it away.

Telekinesis. It was remarkably stupid of him to overlook that--he knew that's how the boulders were being hurled, so of course he'd be facing off against that. It set him at a disadvantage, as increasing his speed would do little against an opponent with that power.

Still...he recalled Jezebel, whose demonic power had been enough to nearly kill him in one blow. He remembered Lemon, who could so effortlessly toy with his senses to the point where reality and fantasy were indistinguishable.

He rose to his feet again with a small smile. He'd survived both of those encounters. What more could this man do to him?

Moving to the side a bit so that he was on the glyph that was sure to help him, he said to his opponent, "If that's the best you can do, this will be easier than I thought." This time, he'd be ready for the attack.

He wasn't one to "fraternize with the enemy;" the horned youth didn't even reply to Eilert . . . not with words, at least. He raised his right hand only a touch, leaving his arm where it was and lifting his index and middle fingers to point out the sky. Stones lifted about him--not modest rocks, but boulders of fair size, broken and beaten from already once being used as ammunition for a barrage against the fortress. They lifted with no difficulty, and with no contortions of his features, it was as if he wasn't putting effort into it at all--as if it was second nature to him.

Erstwhile, the green enigma stood--and so did others. Others who could fight, and saw how Eilert, who had no physical combat prowess, nor the proper offense and defense to fight the enemy--still fought the enemy, rose and stood their ground. There wasn't many of them; most were injured by that point, leaving only seven--excluding Eilert, Icsorue, the green, and the beige enigmas.

They were to meet a different foe, though: shades. There were more yet to come, and as they clawed their way to the peak, they raced forward, picking their targets--targets whose defenses were no longer down. Eilert, however, was never a target. It seemed that the "leader" of the army understood that the horned youth wished to dispatch of Eilert personally.

From pointing to the sky, the gray skinned enemy flashed his fingers towards Eilert, mimicking the way a gun looked. The boulders were immediately shot forth, expelling energy en masse as they fired like cannonballs, with both the speed and the power of such, toward Eilert. Aiming was inconsequential; just being hit by one of these would spell the end to any normal man--and though he was no normal man, there was a good reason that they had all ducked for cover during the earlier, long standing barrage.

Eilert didn't care for a response one way or the other, as his words had the intended effect--getting his opponent to attack again. He hesitated for a moment, though, as it wasn't a direct telekinetic attack but rather he lifted boulders from the area.

He was slightly wary of the shades around, but they didn't seem to be interested in him--or rather, he'd made enough of an impression to make his opponent want to finish him himself.

Which was good, as he couldn't spare much attention to them, either. He helped his allies when the opportunity arose, but he had to focus on the gray skinned man before him. It was good to worry about his comrades, but if he became distracted he'd get himself killed.

This time when the attack came, he was ready. As the boulders converged on him, he activated the glyph under him and vanished. Just as they smashed into eachother at the space he previously occupied, he appeared behind the horned man and lunged, attempting to place his palm on the man.

Banishment would bring the battle to a close the quickest--if it worked. Those with especially strong wills could resist it, but he didn't strike Eilert as particularly strong willed. If he managed to place a hand on him, he'd likely be sent back to his plane of origin in an instant.

But he was already thinking a few steps ahead. If the man dodged, he risked stepping from his spot and onto another of his glyphs--another banishment glyph was nearby, in fact. If he did strike, but the banishment didn't work, he'd attempt a strike with his other hand, this time to place an eruption glyph.