Siege on the City of Heroes - South, Part 1(EVENT)

[Kenshin]

The battle will take part in four topics around the city, North, South, East, and West. You can be in one topic at a time, if you leave one to go to the other it must be adjacent to the one you're in(You can't go from North to South, East to West, and vice-versa) and you must declare which one you're moving from. Whatever topic you're in counts towards for your limit. Make sure to read the combat changes if you haven't.

---

Kenshin had spent much of his time alone, he was trying to mentally prepare himself for the upcoming battle. If the rumors were true Hargus will be appearing during the fight, the last time he was unsuccessful in even landing a single blow and in the years following he had slowly became soft. If he was to be successful in defending his new home he would have to reawaken his demons to become the Crimson Demon once again. Those who has got to know him since the Bandit wars could tell how cold he has grown since all of this had began.

This morning was no different than the others, he would wake up and get ready for battle in case a sudden attack happened. He sat at the edge of his bed while he laced up his boots and tied them, from there he would grab his swords and attach them to his belt, then he would do some stretches before walking outside. The city had looked somewhat fortified, but it would stand a lot better chances than it would have weeks ago. Despite reverting to his old self he had kept the thought of how important each and every one of these brave souls were. They were not pawns to be sacrificed in order to meet his goal.

As he walked around the south wall he could sense how tense everybody was, it didn't help with the way he was acting lately to keep everybody at ease. Among the people who came to aid he only saw a few familiar faces, part of him wished Mana was here to help but at the same time he wouldn't want to see her fall in battle dealing with his mistake. Another blow to his confidencewas the lack of Matis, if he was in Sacae he hoped he would have heard of the pending dangers and would have came home to defend it, but truthfully he just hoped he was alive and well where ever he was.

[Burt]

"So that man is kenshin", spoke Burt as he sketch the man walking along the wall. Burt had stayed despite it being extremely dangerous. Hektor's scout had offered to bring him back to Bern with him, but Burt was not going to have it. He wanted to see history for himself and record it for himself. Most people in his profession stayed in gigantic halls and looked over reports and records, but not Burt. Burt wanted to be here, no Burt needed to be here. He had to see this history making event himself and write down all that happened. He needed to feel the intensity and to see the battle. Despite the doom and gloom that filled the streets Burt was sure they were going to win and he was going to be the one to record it all. His collages back in Lycia were going to be jealous once he comes back with such high detail reports.

"It seems the time is almost upon us", spoke Burt.

[Burgid]

Burgid stood on the wall looking at what soon would be a battle field. She still wore the lad she had came as, the disguise seemed to make her feel a little disconnected to the possibility of her death that could loom over the coming battle. But each time she felt the urge to flee, the words spoken by Kenshin to her when last visited this city echoed in her mind. "There are far greater heroes out there than I am, I only sought to protect those dear to me which lead to me aiding others in protecting everybody." She echoed out loud in the lad's voice, oblivious to Kenshin. She felt a obligation, no a DUTY to help so the family here would not be torn. 

[Hargus]

"Worthless, every last one of you dogs are WORTHLESS." Hargus spoke with anger and detest for those who claimed to follow him. "We traveled all the way here and all of you want to sit around chit chatting. Let your weapons do the talking as they carve their words into the pathetic group who assembled in front of us." Walking from the middle of the group he grabbed one man by his collar and drug him to the front only to throw him onto the ground. Drawing his silver sword he drove it into the man's chest, turning to the people to his back you could see the rage in his eyes. It burned like a dragon's flame, the intensity of his words to match. "If you don't want to be next, I highly suggest you cowards do something about it."

[Ryuzaki]

"...right."

Ryu had been in the middle of the crowd as Hargus slayed the man. Now this man, he was scary. Crazy. Foaming at the mouth, probably. Well... He'd try to stay out of the way and just go with the flow. Right. The thief quickly checked over his gear, noting his scythe, sword, and vulnerary. Good. He had everything, and he was ready to fight.

[Kenshin]

There were those who claimed to see the bandits in the distance, Kenshin wasn't going to allow them to reach the city. He walked over towards the gate demanding for those guarding it to open the gates, as he left more warriors followed him and once the last one who appeared wanting to leave the gates were shut as quickly as they were opened. Off in the distance he saw a man dragging another, throw him to the ground and kill him. There was only one person who would murder somebody like that, Hargus. The rumors were true, it had caused his blood to boil, it wasn't long after Hargus offed one of his own men the others came charging. In this type of situation when he was the protector of the plains, he would draw his bow and pick off as many of them as he could before engaging them in combat, that wasn't his plan today. He came out with sword swords on his side and no bow, while he wasn't exactly proficient in using two swords he would use the second as he would use his sheath in battle.

Kenshin had began to advance in the direction of the charging bandits. Dodging a lousy attack with ease, he used the momentum of drawing his silver sword to nearly slice the man in half, from there he kept moving while staying on the attack. Parrying an attack he kept pushing forward, he wasn't going to waste his time nor his energy fighting these men, he was going for Hargus. Seeing the man had reawaken his hatred and his anger, he had spent years preaching that people shouldn't harbor these feelings yet he has never let go of the past and now, in the present it's being used to fuel the rage of his home being attacked once again. There was too many people just to push through, he was going to have to carve his way to Hargus, leaving a trail of blood for those to eventually catch up to him. Blocking another's sword he drew his steel sword aiming for the unarmored part of his leg, it was much more effective than using his sheath, bringing the man down a bit causing him to lower his guard long enough for Kenshin to bring his blade through the bottom of his chin.

The Crimson Demon is back, but will he fall victim of his errors of the past? Are these men and women, no heroes, just pawns to be tossed aside as if they were expendable as long as he achieved his goals?

[Ryuzaki]

"This... This is stupid."

As men charged forward, as a freaky-looking man began attacking the front of the bandit group, and as he watched the men die... Ryu got shivers and chills down his spine.

"Uh-uh."

Ryu stopped running, and the bandits flowed around him, continuing forward, until the last had passed and there was nobody but the lone thief standing, sword in hand, shaking in the shadow of the City of Heroes.

"He who turns and runs away... Won't get cut down by fanatical swordsmen today..." he whispered, turning and then breaking into a dead run back to the camp. Tearing through the encampment, he found his way to a makeshift stable and used his sword to slice through its tether, scrambling onto the horse and kicking it into a frenzied gallop moving away from the growing cacophony of fighting. He was going to die if he stayed, and nobody knew he'd been there... He wasn't needed. He should, and now would... Simply disappear.

---Ryu exits thread---

[Burt]

Burt had nearly finished his drawing when a sudden boom filled the air. It seemed that things were starting to get on their way. Burt had not heard the screaming and yelling till now as he was preoccupied with his drawing to notice what was going on. The historian closed his book and stuffed it into his bag. He took up his axe and grabbed hold of the first guy who came running by.

"Hey what is going on", he asked the man.

"What do you mean what going on", shouted the man. "The eastern wall is on fire and the bandits are lunching catapult shots at us!"

"Catapults", spoke Burt with surprise as he let the man go. He did not remember seeing catapults when he watched the horde move across the plains. Hecktor was going to be mad about that. Still that meant that Burt had to do something. It looked like the city might actually fall if things kept going the way they were going.

"The crimson demon has taken to the field", shouted one man as he pointed toward the gate. It seemed that Kenshin wanted to take the enemy head on. It was a wise decision in Burt's eyes. There was no point in waiting behind a gate and cowering like a small child. If they wanted to protect their city then they needed to go to the field and fight the enemy head on.

It has been a long time since Burt's blood was boiled. He could feel the curse of violence that pledged his family seeping its way back into his body. Their was a urge to just simply go out there and go wild. The fight is where he belonged. He could rite up the details after the battle was over.

"Hey you cowards", shouted Burt as he suddenly became interested in fighting! "I don't know why you all are hiding behind wooden walls and sucking you thumbs like babies, but there is a war going on outside the wall. From the reports I heard from the other side of the city we are losing. Now I don't know about you, but I know what happens to losers", spoke Burt. "Losers die, and I am not talking about the quick death either. I am talking about the slow and painful kind. Now are you all losers", asked Burt.

His question was meet with a loud roar of pride and fear as the plainsmen yelled a unified chant of "NO".

"Well then", spoke Burt. "Lets go prove we are winners." Burt took his iron axe and the fools he had just hyped up and made his way toward the gate. If they were going to win the battle they were going to win it in the field not hiding behind some frail wall. There was no glory in it and no history worth writing down.

As Burt move forward he began to chant a old Bernaness chat he read in a book. "Kill, kill, blood makes the grass grow, kill kill, blood makes the grass grow." The chant became infectious as Burt's whole unit began to sing in unison. They charged out the gate with sword, spear, axe, and magic. Their eerie chant and the fire of determination in their eyes caught the brigands off guard. The bandits rose to do battle with a group of enraged fools led by a man who recorded history rather than make it.

[Burgid]

"Well, speak of the demon..." Burgid watched as Kenshin, the Crimson Demon, took the field and took the fight to the enemy. She watched in sort of awe as he sliced men in half with ease. She wrote in her log, writing notes. She looked up and saw smoke coming from the east. Well, that was not a good sign. She looked out on her side of the wall and they were not in range yet. She had to just finish writing this real fast. She was interrupted by some man who had hyped up a group. They charged out, lead by a fighter. She gave a sigh and jogged over to the ranged units "You know, if your going to fire, I would recommend now before our forces met." She had to stay back on the wall. She did not have the combat skills that the rest had.

[Kenshin]

Flowing like water in a river Kenshin dodged and parried attacks as he pushed forward. He stopped to block a blade coming from his left, then using his other sword he parried an attack from his front. When he had began to feel the effect of battle fatigue he heard a familiar sound, it was a sound of relief to his ears. As much as he wanted to push forward, hearing the sound of the horn signaled for the first group to fall back while the second one replaced them in the fray, it was a tactic they had used one raids on bandit strong holds on the Sacae border, it kept the enemy in combat while part of the group rested. Kenshin grew careless, as he broke away from the locked blades he took an arrow to the right shoulder, he knew he would need to have the wound tended to the moment he made it back to the city, for now he broke the shaft near the tip. The two groups were completely in-sync, one was falling back as the other prevented bandits from pursuing.

His group was going to wait outside of the gate in case they were needed on the battle field sooner than expected, upon reaching a "safe zone" he finished pulled the arrow out of his shoulder. Kenshin had winced as he yanked the arrow head out, he wasted no time applying a vulnerary to the now open wound.

[Hargus]

The temptation to grace these lowly Sacaen dogs with his presence was high when he saw the Crimson Demon take to the battle field. To utterly humiliate the swordsman for the second time in battle would be a glorious feeling for the Bandit King. No, first he must destroy everything the "hero" of the bandit war held dear to him before the pathetic existence he called life. Hargus had no real desire for revenge, this was just an example for any who dared to cross his path.

In the time between his death and revival he could tell Kenshin had improved quite a bit, it would be a great test to see if his body could fight after all these years. He was watching his men be slaughter by not only Kenshin himself but his battle tactics, it was a fine one indeed. From their makeshift camp facing the south Hargus noticed something, he was able to see the battlefield to the east, The south they were losing the battle while the east seemed to be going alright, something was most definitively not right. Hargus approached one of the bandits still in the camp. "You there, I need to you give Nacht a message. I need to speak with him now. Run along, go fetch me my man."

[Richter Abend]

Richter had been hesitant to go over the wall without Elias, but the mage had insisted on not leaving his horse which didn’t leave the Ilian with much of a choice but to go on without him because he sure as hell wasn’t hauling that horse over the palisade. Ideally the frost axe wielding warrior would be leaving the two of his companions behind together, so that they could watch each other's backs, but Gabriel had disappeared sometime during the fighting, which meant Elias got to stand alone as a pincushion in progress. Hopefully Richter wasn’t leaving the red-clad man to his death.

Reservations stifled, Richter had continued on over the wall, scaling it with hastily made steps crafted from his companion’s ice magic. The pink haired Ilian then proceeded to navigate his way through the quaint shoreline city. He moved as fast as he could, avoiding the occasional siege weapon projectile that rained from above, looking for some sign of the Crimson Demon, but Richter wasn’t exactly familiar with the layout of the City of Heroes. He never been there before. There was a quick moment’s reflection as the Ilian darted around a fleeing citizen that perhaps this search could have been better planned out, but it wasn’t like the pink haired warrior had possessed the time or resources beforehand to do much more than wing it.

So where the hell would Kenshin be? Richter’s mind pondered the question as his eyes scanned left and right. He hadn’t seen the Sacaen swordsman’s signature red personage anywhere on the battlefield coming in, so he could be anywhere in the city. But as poor as the Ilian’s opinions were of the man, he didn’t see Kenshin to be the kind of man that sat inside with his hands over his head while the city he founded was burned to the ground by an army of men led by a resurrected Bandit King that he had originally made his name fighting. No, if he was stubborn enough to defend the Emerald Wraith from completely justified retribution, he was stubborn enough to fight back, which meant he had to be on the wall somewhere.

Unfortunately, there was no real conclusion Richter could make other than that, so his best bet would be to circumnavigate the wall until he found Kenshin. Wonderful. Shaking his head in frustration, the Ilian ran off towards the southern part of the city to continue his search.

[Kenshin]

As Kenshin rested he heard the news of how the other parts of the city were doing, it didn't sound too well. There was one bit of news Kenshin had a mixed reaction to, that Richter Abend was here. He wasn't thrilled to know he was here, but the fact a fighter of his caliber was here aiding him was a sight for sore eyes. He didn't think less of the others fighting along with him, but somebody that was evenly matched with him was always a good thing, even more so if he fought Hargus. Kenshin almost didn't recognized Richter with pink hair, the only time the two crossed paths he had black hair.

Kenshin wasted no time approaching the man he though could be Richter, from what he heard about the man in Bern he was a general of an army, if that was true that was the exact type of quality he was looking for. Kenshin spoke when he was near the man "Richter?"

[Richter Abend]

Richter came to a stop as he saw a familiar red jacketed man approach him. Here he was, protecting the southern wall: Kenshin, the Crimson Demon. Like the Ilian had assumed, he was out protecting his people. If only the man could figure out who the right people were. Richter couldn't deny he still held a bit of a grudge over the events back in the the tournament arena, but now wasn't the time to nurse grudges. Richter would do his best to put a cooperative foot forward.

"Kenshin," he said matter-of-factly, striding over to the red-haired man, his axe hanging loosely at his side. While the Sacaen may be surprised to see him, he was not surprised to see the Sacaen. "I can't say I'm impressed by my first visit here. Not even a day in and the place is already overrun by sweaty, dirty bandits." Richter spoke in a mocking tone, before shaking his head and changing his tone to a more serious one. "I was on my way to Etruria when I heard Hargus had been resurrected. Rumor had it he was planning a raid on your city. Needless to say I rushed over here as quickly as I could." Richter looked over the defending lines to the battle raging on the other side. The fighting here didn't seem to be nearly as intense as the fighting in the east.

"Hope I didn't miss much."

[Kenshin]

So the pink haired man was Richter, he didn't like the verbal jab he took at Kenshin. "That's what happens when you have almost no time to prepare with no supplies on hand. This city was a peaceful one until that bastard found a way to come back to life." As much as Kenshin didn't want to, he was going to have to ask Richter for his aid, even more than what he's been doing so far. "I'm going to be blunt, I have no real experience leading a battle such as this. From what I've heard about you when I was in Bern you're far more skilled at that than me. If you do this for me, I'll do whatever I can to aid you once I destroy Hargus." His voice was filled with anger once he started to talk about Hargus.

In the background Kenshin heard one of his men blowing the trumpet, it was the signal for him to return to the battlefield. "Can I trust that to you?"