Selvaria felt her hands slowly fall free from the binds of the rope. Her eyes glare at the body of Teledji and slowly the spear from Naih flew past both her and Minfilia's heads. Naih's ears twitched while she frowned at the two with a 'what are you doing' type of look on her face. She pulled the lance from the body of a Crystal Brave, and gave it a spin behind her back slamming the butt of the lance into the face of another who quickly was dispatched by Jackiro.
Aysko held back a pair of Braves with the shaft of Ragnarok, and groaned loudly. "I can't keep these guys back for much longer! I we want to break out we should do it now!"
Naih looked around the room at the bodies of Brass Blades, and those of their former allies lining the floor. Some were wounded while others were already gone from the world. She slowly glanced at the other scions battling to their fullest, and her eyes glanced down at Selvaria. "Aysko is right we need to..."
Selvaria slowly got up from her feet and held out both her arms with Aetheric energy flashing from the crystal hanging from her neck. Her eye narrowed while charging in the opposite direction at Ilberd. The light shimmering from her hands formed into Excalibur and Aegis. The weapon's light engulfed the blade and shield's surface while clearing the distance between the two.
Ilberd glanced over at Selvaria, and grinned. "Do you think you can defeat me after taking in the same poison?" He kicked Raubahn backward, and side stepped Selvaria's charge. He could feel the pressure from Aegis's bash fly by him and into the nearby pillar. The polished marble pillar shattered when contacting Aegis's surface, and quickly Ilberd attacked.
The weapon sparked against the edge of Excalibur causing his eyes to widen. Selvaria twisted around pushing Ilberd backward, and readied herself behind Aegis. Selvaria was taking in several deep breaths while crimson could be seen coming from her bandaged eye, and now the blood had soaked through to her undershirt. "I won't let you have your way...traitor..."
Ilberd leaped backward, and avoided a slash from Raubahn parrying the attack easily with his sword. He gave the weapon a spin, and mockingly bowed to Selvaria. "I already gave the word Selvaria....did Teledji say that we were to question your family?" His eyes grew dim, and slowly a sinister smile appeared across his face. "You are responsible you half bred filth that the mighty Faelthea Clan is no longer alive to see the changes we intent to bring to Ul'dah...."
Selvaria bit her lip with her eye flaring with rage. She threw Aegis off her forearm causing the weapon to shatter into Aether and return to her body. She lowered her off-hand, and charged with Excalibur. Her speed increased with almost a shade of crimson taking over her eye. "You have no right to judge me or my family name!"
It was a glorious display of swordsmanship from Selvaria her moves were quick and precise countering Ilberd's. They appeared to let their swords dance with one another with Excalibur being held off by the mysterious weapon in Ilberd's hand.
Ilberd took a step back, and broke their fierce melee. He looked at his cut up Brave's uniform, and spat out some blood onto the floor below. "You....little..."
Selvaria took a step forward only for Jackiro to appear in front of her in a plume of smoke.
"Enough of your whining girl we need to escape! I think the big guy has dibs on killing him."
Selvaria looked down at the shorter Jackiro who held his hand to her abdomen keeping her from pushing forward further. Her eye glanced down at the serious look in his eyes, and quickly Excalibur lowered.
Raubahn gave Jackiro a firm nod, and charged forward at Ilberd. "Get the hell out of here! I don't need your help here!"
Jackiro looked over at the entrance. "You believed in me when we traversed the Binding Coil Selvaria! Trust me now, we need our Paladin!" He glanced over at Aysko at the entrance, and chuckled. "Every Axe needs a Shield and sword supporting it. Let's go!"
Aysko's ears twitched while she pushed back the soldiers at the doorway. "I heard that....darling am I really that defenseless?"
Papalymo rushed past Asyko with Minfilia behind him. "Let's have this discussion later!"
Meanwhile outside the banquet hall, Thancred ran down a hallway with Adeline Urusa closely behind him. She held her white mage hat in one hand while her staff in the other. She looked over at Thancred with an annoyed look on her face. "WHY the hell are we running away Thancred? Did you forget to fight when you learned how to pick up less than savory women?"
Thancred let out a deep sigh while motioning to the banquet hall ahead. "Adeline this is merely a tactical retreat....I can't tell your husband that I let you get killed in Ul'dah. Censora would have me tarred and feathered by the women of his tribe." He paused, "Maybe...by getting you out safetly I can replace that tar and feathering with a nice bath and companionship."
Adeline rolled her eyes, and pointed her staff forward unleashing the devastating spell known as Stonega. The ground beneath them cracked while the pressure from the spell flew forward at an approaching set of Brass Blades. They were knocked from their feet, while she dug her feet into the ground. "Censora wouldn't let you touch a single one of the others...if they existed...The thing is Censora..." She slammed her staff into the ground creating a protect field over the two of them. A barrage of arrows were deflected by the attack while she exhaled softly.
Thancred turned to Adeline with shock in his eyes while catching his breath. "What do you mean by that? Did Censora lie to us about being a Nuhn?"
Adeline was focused on the field, and took in several deep breaths. "My husband likes to weave tall tells. It must be my Hyur blood in me, but I guess I would be jealous if he tried to build a harem of Miqo'te women." She sighed, "We need to reconnect with the others."
Thancred lowered his head depressed by Adeline's truth, and tightened his grip on the daggers. "Well at least I have Y'shtola to attempt to advance on. It seems that Lady Aysko, and Selvaria are more than just friends...even though I think they'd be open to..."
Adeline closed her eyes, and slammed the flat of her staff into Thancred's head. "You idiot we're trying to get out of here and..." She paused to notice the arrow flew into the carpet at her feet. "You made me stop casting my spell!"
A firestorm of mana surged past Adeline engulfing the pursuing Brass Blades from the rear. A Duskwright Elezan Coan Arcanius jumped from the upper rafters, and landed beside Adeline with some wear to his attire. He dusted off his robe, and got up to his feet. "I would suggest that we stop talking about useless things Sir Thancred, and get ourselves out of this horrid situation."
Adeline glanced at Coan with a smile on her face, "Coan! I knew you came to the party! Where at the others?"
Coan shrugged his shoulders, "I was at the Thaumaturge guild catching up with my fellow mages. We have link pearls for a reason. Minfilia yelled at me to get here as fast as possible." He tugged on his glove, "They are right....wait a minute." He narrowed his gaze at the sight of a portcullis closing with Yda, and Papalymo on one side and the others opposite.
"What is this? Papalymo Yda! you're on the wrong side!"
Papalymo heard the voice of Coan from across the way, and sighed deeply. "Let us be the heroes for a change! Coan, Adeline, you too Thancred get the others to safety."
Yda grabbed the knuckles tightly, and slowly adjusted the chopped visor over her eyes. "Let us have our chance to be in the spotlight! We'll hold them off, and meet you guys later!"
Jackiro turned to Minfilia, and kept his mouth shut at the serious gaze she was giving to him. He returned one of his kodachi to its scabbard, and turned her head to the side in frustration.
Minfilia shook her head, and turned towards the location of Thancred, Adeline and Coan. "Don't tarry too long you two."
Naih looked around much like any dragoon would do, and she was already prepared to leap into the rafters and leap from brick to brick to assist her friends. She took a step forward only to feel Jackiro's grip on her arm. She glanced at him, and looked at the others moving ahead of them. "Yda, you still owe me 10k for the delivery fees on that package you made me pick up."
The group had vanished down the corridor leaving Yda, and Papalymo to the endless droves of Brass Blades in front of them. "Shall we?"
Yda charged forward towards the first of many opponents. "Did you have to ask!?"
The loud explosion of magic filled the interior of a store room that the group sought refuge in. Thancred, and Jackiro were searching the walls while the scions caught their breath.
Aysko sat on a chair holding Ragnarok to her chest, and looked at Selvaria being healed by both Y'shtola, and Adeline. "Well this is disappointing? why did we trap ourselves in this room? We should be out there cutting them up. We can pretty much take the city if we go all out."
Adeline turned to Aysko, and shook her head. "We'd turn the city into rubble. As much as I'd like to do it, there are a lot of innocent people in the palace."
Y'shtola removed the bandages from Selvaria's eye, and slowly began to heal the wound with her magic. "What next?"
Minfilia got up from the old chair she had rested on, and turned to Thancred and Jackiro. "Did you two find the entrance yet?"
Thancred and Jackiro look at one another for a moment and quickly a loud crack filled the room. The two pushed a portion of the wall inward revealing a hidden pathway filled with cobwebs, and unlit lanterns.
Jackiro looked down at Selvaria being healed, and motioned to the exit. "We need to go, Adeline can she walk at least?"
Selvaria looked up at Jackiro with both eyes fully healed. "I can do more than that you jerk." She slowly got up to her feet with the help of Y'shtola.
Adeline held her hands up motioning to the obvious answer in front of the party. "You know Jack maybe you need a better healer."
Jackiro shook his head, and sighed. "I can never win can I?"
Y'shtola smiled, "We should stop arguing, and make our escape yes?"