People of Xanarnis!

[Ashley]

The tanks teleported and landed right on top of the Black Knights at the other side and fired at the ground troops heading for the APC units. The jets evading the lightning sent above as a couple more helicopters fell and the pilot fled the cockpit, only to be burnt by the acid rain that now fell from the heavens. The Xanarnis troops and armored vehicles moving back to find cover from the acid whilst resuming fire against the God of Light's army. The jets being forced to return to base.

[nightarcher]

Helios watched the god closely, watching what he was doing each moment. Thought the words from the god forced the old dragon to just sigh out, not even bothering to stop his voice magnification spell, so it carried. This was not turning out as interesting as he had originally thought it would. Seeing a bout between magic and this technology. The god was refusing to let it be an even match. The acid rain was proof of that as the first drops hit the dragon, it sizzled a little, causing the dragon to growl a little in pain. But where the rain touched his skin turned to golden scales that seemed to only be slightly roughened by the rain. It was annoying. But he wasn't so sure on if the soldiers had a protection. He would have to watch and see.

“So narrow minded worthless god of light. You see only those with you and those against you. It is not always in your favor to have such a narrow view. Those who wish to remain neutral, may tend to be the biggest thorns in your sides.” As Helios said that, he waved his hand to create a dome of pure magic over his head to protect himself from the acid rain. With that protection up, Helios began twisting an actual spell of fire. His hands burning and the large runes he drew in the air burned as well, each one looking like it was drawn from the magma of a mountain. It was different than all the other spells that he had cast which had been just simple colored runes and circles. “But if you insist that I be placed on their side, instead of just an observer, I can ensure it is too costly on your forces to keep your promise of destruction.”

With that he finished his spell, a huge rune in front of him, burning, and glowing brightly. After a moment there was a bright flash and the rune disappeared from in front of him, before appearing in the sky above the God's forces. After a moment, out of the rune seemed to fall a large, what appeared to be a fireball fell, flaming brightly. It fell as fast as the rain , and in it's center appeared what was a chunk of magma from an erupting volcano. After a moment another appeared from the large rune, followed again by more. A rain of fire was coming down on the armored warriors. When they impacted there was a spray of the burning magma around each impact. Even if the warriors were unaffected by the fire of a non direct hit, they were still blown away by the concussive force and thrown to the ground. A direct hit though was a different matter. The fire and heat was too much for any protective spell that the dragon knew. Any hit directly would be incinerated and their armor melted. The biggest benefit though was the fire's started to spread, and burn, obscuring the warrior's and the god's lines of sight.

After casting that spell, Helios paused and spent the time catching his breath while heavy breathing. The casting of a large spell like that took some energy. Though it didn't take all of his pool of magic, it did exhaust his stamina. And he would need a minute to recover, which he could use to study the battle, and the effects of everything going on. “It would be advised to keep your flying machines out from under that magic circle.”

[Gabrielle]

While the Xanarnis forces were forced back, the Elysios forces took this time to push forward having already lost some of their own to the tanks prior to the acid rain that now fell from the sky. Attacking the troops and not giving them time to retreat. Phalis could only laugh when the fire came raining down and his Black Knights took a direct blast, storming right on through unharmed as they were immune, for it was the volcanoes of Ignis that had bathed their armors and turned them black. This dragon knew nothing of his people and it would be his downfall. The other soldiers who were not the Black Knights avoided a direct assault, being knocked back but slowly getting back up on their feet to resume their place with the other knights.

The light did nothing to harm Phalis' sight. He was the God of Light, all light was the same to him. He stared right through it and then took control of it, tuning it down to allow his men to see and continue on their march against the Xanarnis forces. And as they moved against them, Lord Phalis appeared before the dragon and thrust his sword for the dragon's heart. There would be no rest for the weary.

[Ashley]

When the knights came forward the armed troops did what any good armed troops with fully-automatic armor piercing rifles would do. Fire back at the knights once they got within close range. Exploiting the cover of the trees overhead as some of the acid rain needed time to burn through the leaves as they went back. Any that touched the tanks and APC units would be a while before they burned through the armor allowing them plenty of time also to open fire on the knights that came forward. Now that their god was focused on the dragon and less focused on them they would invest their time to taking out a wide range of the god's troops.

[nightarcher]

Not exactly the outcome he had expected to see in the forces. When some of the black knights just seemed to walk through the rain of fire without much impact. The white knights though that were hit, melted and burned, or were thrown back, that was at least what he expected. Seeing what happened to the black at least he would need to get a hold of and send home to study the armor.

With the bright flash of light, Helios was glad he had been wearing the runes glasses he used. It had allowed him to see the god teleport to in front of him with his sword. It was enough of a warning for him to reach with his magic for the talismans he kept withing his collection. The small stone pendant appeared in his hand where Helios activated.

The sword would pierce through a fake image left behind, that burst into flames as soon as it was destroyed. The talisman allowed Helios to instantly teleport through one of the fires now burning on the battlefield. Though when he appeared there one of the black nights were moving through it. He raised his weapon to attack, But he didn't get a chance as Helios just reached in with a hand around the Knights neck. A quick twist, and the knight's neck was broken.

Immediately after Helios turned to the building, and released the spell that had formed him into a human looking being. Yeah, a God focusing his attention on you was more than enough to warrant reveling his true form. In a huge burst of flame as the spell making his human form disappeared, there was now an immense Dragon standing there in the middle of the battlefield, the knights near him being crushed underfoot, his weight too much for any protections on their armor.

Wasting no time, Helios let out a roar as he reared up to the building the God was on, a dark shadow would fall on the God of Light before the dragon's claw came down towards the building. All his strength and weight was in the strike, causing the building to crumble where he struck, his claw falling through the floors until it reached the ground. It looked like he had plowed a whole through the middle of the building. Right after he threw his hand left and right to collapse more of the building down. “Climb your way out of that God of Light.” Helios growled, no longer needing an enchantment to be heard. but he knew it was only a matter of time, probably seconds before the god was back out, time to cause as much damage to his army as possible. make it not worth the cost to continue this campaign. that would be the only way to win... well, ok, no likely way to win, then just have as much fun as possible.

He turned to the battlefield where the knights were advancing, letting his tail crash through another building, trying to bring it down on the rubble as well. Letting out a loud roar that shook the foundations of most of the nearest buildings, and all the windows, Helios leaped into the middle of their ranks, bringing his weight down on as many as he could that weren't fast enough to move out of the way, though sure to catch a black knight under one of his claws, and feeling his armor quickly give way to the tons of weight crushing him. Other knights he let out a long torrent of fire onto, watching their white armor melt to the heat hotter than a volcano or forge. His tail came down on other knights, impaling as many as he could on the spikes.

A dragon was rampaging. It had been too long, and he was having fun.

[Deedlit]

Not good. Deedlit had came to Xanarnis in search for her people only to find a war between the Republic and Elysios. It was exactly as her clan had always told her, humans only knew the way of the sword. To think Elysios' god was so different from their goddess. Deedlit had asked the wind spirits for a protection spell against the acid rain, a barrier now around her and the horse keeping them from being burned before she stopped to the front of the battle. Her eyes looking up and growing wide at the sight of the dragon that had appeared.

There was no time to lose. Deedlit kicked her legs to the sides of the horse and it began running again. Steering it to the side of the conflict and lifting up the bow Elandriel had given her and began firing arrows at the knights of Elysios.

[Gabrielle]

The knights lifted up their shields but they were ineffective against the rounds being fired. Penetrating their shields and eventually their armor before finding their way through the chainmail to their flesh and the soldiers went down. Others managed to avoid the fire and the dragon's tail and feet also using the dragon's legs as cover against the Xanarnis' troops weapons and the arrows coming from the High Elf. Now at close range with the ground troops they hacked and slashed with their blades as the others jumped up on the tanks and APC units to be over the range of their turrets.

---

Lord Phalis lifted off into the air, hovering above the collapsed building looking down at the ruins of it with little interest lifting up his right hand and generating a massive lightning bolt hurling it towards the mouth of the great beast.

[Ashley]

The soldiers held up their rifles to block the in-coming blades and then kicked them back by pressing the heel of their feet into the knights chest sending them back in the direction of the dragon, turning their rifles on the knights on top of the tanks and APC units firing at them to knock them off. Meanwhile the tanks and APCs rode to stay out of the path of the dragon and the destruction as their own weapons were at the ready to fire at the knights if they managed to break into their vehicles.

[nightarcher]

Those trying to use the Helios’ legs as a shield he labeled as the biggest idiots in existence, and he would let nature takes its course on them. He spun around with his head sweeping low to snatch a few into his jaws before throwing them up into the air. As they tumbled Helios reared up again to catch one. The sharp teeth that filled his maw shredded the woman’s armor as if she was wearing nothing more than simple cloth. Blood trailed down his jaws as he got rid of her.

The arrows that hit him drew his attention to the elf that had joined the battle on horseback. He doubted she meant to hit him as some struck the knights. Bows were not known as the most accurate weapons at long ranges, but he was a big target in her way. He only watched her a moment while he spat out a crushed helmet and then turned back to the battle, crushing, slicing up, and eating some of the knights he could reach.

The God’s strike against him was impossible to ignore as there was power behind it. The lightning crashed into the magical defenses he had set up after the first lightning strike, causing the runed barrier of the spell to flash brightly around him, light blue in color. Helios roared out in pain as part of the strike broke through the spell and danced across his glittering golden scales, leaving behind dull black burns.

Helios glared up at the god while crushing another knight. That bolt had had a lot of power. His barrier would die quickly if he shot a few more, maybe 2 if the strength of the remaining spell felt right… and if he was lucky. That barrier was meant to stop about 10 spells. Yeah, definitely proof he was a god, and Helios was lucky the god had thrown lightning at him earlier to remind him he needed the spell. “Time to do as much damage as possible in limited time…” he growled to himself before inhaling deeply, getting ready.

Turning his serpentine head, helios let out a deep bellow of his breath, incinerating as many nights near the soldiers as he could, but far enough away so as not to hit the city soldiers themselves. He created a long line of flames burning in the middle of the formation to separate the soldiers from the knights for as long as possible, and giving the soldiers a chance to use their weapons at range more. The flames would last a few minutes.

[Deedlit]

Deedlit remained off to the side, lowering her bow and chanting quietly to herself. She was casting a protection spell both on herself and the men fighting under Xanarnis' banner. They risked their lives to try to save as many of her people as they could so it was only right she returned the favor. The barrier would protect them from the acid rain that continued to fall from the sky. Deedlit jumped off her horse and engaged one of the surviving knights directly by drawing her short sword and striking it against the warrior's own blade.

[Gabrielle]

The knights who jumped up on the tanks and APCs didn't stay. They leaped off the other side of them and continued onward inside the city while the rest stayed behind. The Xanarnis troops kicked Phalis' knights right into the path the flames that would come, and as they melted away the remaining Black Knights lunged through the fire to run their swords through the soldiers chest in a quick and powerful assault.

---

This time instead of a lightning bolt Phalis unleashed a powerful surge of electricity from his fingertips at the dragon aimed to penetrate his barrier and electrocute him.

[Ashley]

The barrier produced by the High Elf riding on horseback came about just in time as in addition to stopping the rain the Black Knights assault were stopped dead, the Xanarnis troops unloading more AP rounds into them at point blank range while the tanks turned their main guns and open fired on the knights trying to make a run for it inside the city.

[Deedlit]

The screams of metal clashing echoed across the air, the High Elf's blade continuing to meet the blade of the knight. She was a novice when it came to handling a sword but the knight was trained, he knew where to put his feet to keep from falling down, when to strike and when to defend. She didn't. That was when she fell against the ground and he brought his sword down to finish her, but she rolled out of the way just in time and got back up to her feet, regaining her balance and defending against the next powerful sword strike to come, not crazy enough to push against the blade and instead stepping away from the larger man before swinging her sword again, and again it was blocked as he looked up into the man's eyes. They were almost superhuman.

[nightarcher]

The next attack from the god, Helios saw it coming at the last moment as he threw one of the black knights away like a rag doll. Seeing the static of the god’s power running over the god down to his arm and hand, Helios knew his magic would die if that hit, and probably the same thing with him. There wasn't enough power left in his barrier to hold off another strike.

Thus, at the last instant before the god let out the attack Helios reactivated his magic that kept him in a humanoid form, looking more like an elf. Phalis’s attack came as Helios’ form was engulfed in flame. The static blew through the flames and kept moving as there was nothing left for them to hit there anymore. Instead there was just another elf in his plain cloths where the huge dragon had been. The only thing marking him as Helios was those burning reptilian eyes.

Stepping back into one of the raging fires of the battlefield, Helios grabbed the pendant he had used to escape from the god before and teleported through the flames to another location on the field. The target was one of the dead black armored knights . The one he had killed earlier. Helios picked the body up and chanted a short spell to send the dead body back to his lair to study the armor later.

After that task was done Helios moved back into the flames after taking a quick glance around. He couldn't miss the elf who had shown up struggling with one of the black armored knights. Funneling some magic through the pendant Helios jumped again to the flames nearest to them. Making no sounds as he walked up behind that knight, not looking like he was sneaking at all even though there was no sound. Deedlit would see another elf until she would look into his burning eyes.

Without even the slightest hesitation, Helios reached up and grabbed the knight by the neck to immobilize him. On his right hand Helios formed some of his sharp claws and with barely only a moment wait, shoved the claws up through the knights armor, through his chest, and out the front of the armor. No emotion at all showing on his face at the brutal way he killed the knight.

As he tossed the body away like trash, Helios looked over the female elf. The power radiating from her weapons was interesting, probably a gift from someone powerful. Too bad he couldn't sit around long enough to study them. “I would advise you find somewhere not on the front lines to fight if you cannot match their swordsmanship.” He said bluntly before moving away to disappear into one of the raging flames again. He could not just stand around long enough for the god to find him, it would take too long to rebuild his wards against the god’s attacks so that he could withstand a few more attacks.

[Gabrielle]

Lord Phalis turned his attention back to the Republic as Helios retreated, his feet touching the ground and hands producing another series of lightning bolts launching them at the tanks that started firing at his people.