Day 85, Evening

[loyallygiven]

Ken braced himself against the wall when he heard the first explosion, followed quickly by the rest, and the rumble of the wall breaking and falling. The floor shook, or maybe he was shaking. It really worked. He wasn't sure it would. He wasn't sure he wanted it to. There was no taking it back now

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[empty_blueeyes]

Her concentration wavered when one of her stray arms of magic latched onto Wolf. They meant to serve as her eyes, but the unexpected burst of energy was certainly welcome. She had taken from Ken before they set the plan in motion, and if the need arose, she intended to take everything he had if it brought her to victory. The demon too

[sardonic_beauty]

Looking around the room, it was a rather depressing sight. But, in the end, the adrenalin was draining and he was now starting to feel his wounds. Her magic lingered within him and there were no proper words to describe the pain it caused.

"Getting hit by a carriage might be a more pleasant feeling." He glanced down at his ankle and tried to wiggle his foot - only to make a terribly pained face. "I sincerely doubt it. Julia's maryoku needs to be removed, but I'm sure Gisela is busy with the collapsed wall. It's rather toxic for her as well."

He tried to offer up a smile for Josak. "I bet you're glad you don't have maryoku now, aren't you?"

[orange_mullet]

"She'll want to look at you anyway. Someone should." He could wrap a bandage and apply salves, but magic was out of his league. "Wolfram too."

He brushed the hair away from Gunter's face and moved it behind his shoulder. It was a right mess, like the rest of him. "Never been gladder. I'm sorry I wasn't more useful.

"Can you handle it if I move you closer to the door?" It would put him closer to Wolf and Yuuri, and also farther away from Julia. She seemed to be unconscious, but there was no telling for sure from this angle, and he had no desire to get up close and find out for sure just yet.

[sardonic_beauty]

He nodded. Wolfram did seem to take a good deal of damage. It wasn't even his fight.

"You were plenty useful, Josak. To be honest, I likely didn't want any interference anyway. In the end, I suppose I'm just a stubborn, proud mazoku." But it was true. Even if they laid out an elaborate plan, he likely would have wanted to fight her for himself.

Gunter looked at the door where the boys were. Usually it really wasn't far, but for him it was looking like a rather long distance. He made a face and shifted to try to stand on his good side. He would do what he could. "I'll give it a try. Though I think what I really need is a bottle of the hardest liquor and a beautiful woman to serve it to me." He'd not be opposed to a lovely man in a dress, either. "We should also find out how much damage occurred downstairs and possibly get some guards up here. And probably find my workaholic double."

[orange_mullet]

"Yeah, and look what stubborn got you." He wasn't sure how to help, because he wasn't sure where Gunter hurt the least. He gently took him by the waist and one arm, trusting the other would alert him if he was making any of his wounds worse as they moved slowly across the room.

"The liquor I can do. The woman..." He shrugged. "I can also do."

He snorted and shook his head. "We nothing. You need to see a healer and get some rest. Or get drunk. Whatever makes this feel better. Gwendal had a handle on the mess at the wall. I can get a report from him. I can track down your double as well." He looked at all the weary bodies in the room and sighed. "Yeah, we do need some help up here."

[sardonic_beauty]

Gunter's wounds were like a fire under his skin and into his muscles. A fire that was full of sharp needles. His left side is where most of his wounds were, and what hurt the most. His ankle and forearm especially. It was where he had the most direct hits and the smaller spots paled in comparison. He hissed each time he had to put weight on his ankle and leaned heavily into Josak.

"That would be greatly appreciated. I can stay drunk until there is an available healer. I won't feel as much and with a lovely lady by my side, I won't mind to bear a little pain." That sounded like a good idea. He hoped there were people around to help get everyone out. "The other Gunter might have a way to keep her maryoku at bay. I doubt she'd be cooperative in a dungeon cell."

So he was a whore. He typically bore no shame to his adventures and had been living to keep a smile on his face. This woman was one that took his smile and to see her in that condition as they passed her brought one back to his face.

[orange_mullet]

He was trying to be careful, he really was. But there was only so much he could do. "It's a plan then." Drunk until a healer could get to him. The healer might not appreciate a drunk patient, especially not if Gisela was the one to find him, but he didn't care. And he doubted Gunter cared.

"Do we care if she's cooperative?" Yozak grunted. "We already know she's poison." Doing something about her magic was a good idea, though. The less damage she could do, the better.

[wolf_kkm]

Wolf managed to pull himself together enough to nod at Yozak and tug at Yuuri's arm once again. "We need to sit down a minute." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ken's glasses and reached down to pick them up.

Bending down was a mistake. The room spun ... and with his hand clutching the glasses, Wolf saw the floor rushing up to meet his face as he lost his balance.

Pain.

He remembered when he embraced it, it made him stronger, it made him focus. He welcomed pain. He still could handle more than most people could and that's why he was still conscious when he hit the floor.

He rolled over on his back and looked up at Yuuri in embarrassment. He meant to do that!

"Umm..." he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Yeah... sitting is a good idea."

[creoll]

The steady rumble of dozens of footsteps gave warning, and the entrance was filled with a dozen bodies almost at once. Led by a stalwart lieutenant, they'd arrived by chance in hopes of aiding a situation they were unaware had been resolved, previously uncertain of their King's exact whereabouts

[harajukumaou]

It seemed as if the entire room were getting darker as Yuuri fought to stay awake. He knew that if he passed out here that he might not wake up for hours or days depending on how much power he used. And he never knew how much was too.

Yuuri eased down on Wolfys insistence but instead of following him to the floor he slid straight down to sit against the wall. He eyed Wolfy, and his expression asked if the boy was alright, but he himself did not.

He eyed Gunter and Yozak across the room, the bundle of Julia and the one of Murata beside them. Then, the room filled with new voices that Yuuri vaguely recognized, one of which he identified as Alford. Cool, a hero had come to save them. (Even if the fight was over.)

The young king let his eyes slip closed, then. Knowing that everyone would at least be taken care of with the cavalry nearby.

[orange_mullet]

So there really was an Alford. What kind of Alford, Yozak wasn't

ready to say, but he was glad to see someone willing to help. A

whole lot of someones. Thank the spirits.

He moved Gunter to the door and waved Alford over. Oh, and the lieutenant. People were going to need to be moved, but until a healer got up here to check them out, he didn't know where to move them. His first idea had been to send Wolf and Gunter to the infirmary, and the king could probably go right to his room. Julia and Ken would have to go somewhere more secure, and they shouldn't be anywhere near each other

[wolf_kkm]

Wolfram acknowledged Alford's entrance with a sigh. He was never sure of that guy in whatever form he was! However, it was all done. He inched over to Yuuri to grasp his hand and hold it tightly. That was all the strength he had left. He'd never encountered anyone who could drain Maryoku before and given the shape Gunter was in, he was probably lucky he got through what he did.

In his other hand he still held Ken's glasses. "Yozak..." He looked up at the orange haired man. "See that he gets these." He requested. His voice was hard. This could easily have gone much worse. As an afterthought he added, "Please."

[creoll]

The scene was not what he came to associate with carnage. Normally when bodies were strewn around a room (and he only sort of wanted to know what happened) and hardly anyone had the capacity to stand, they were accompanied by buckets of blood and gore, alongside the occasional shattered landscaping.

" 'M not the last Alford ," he explained by way of greeting and halfhearted warning. It had become reflexive by now, a guise strengthened by how he assumed others wouldn't expect them to be alike in the slightest.

Eyes cut towards the blond, but he looked away to preserve the intimacy of the request, only noting the other man's name. "The healers are stretched out thin, at the moment. Is there anyone who needs immediate attention?"

[orange_mullet]

Yozak took the glasses from Wolf with a grunt, but shoved them in a pocket. He didn't care much if they did get back to their owner, given what just happened. Maybe he would remember, though, for Wolf's sake, if nothing else.

To Alford, he gave another lingering look, and nodded. "That's good for you." He didn't get a bucketload of hate from the very start then. "Do you have any medical training? Gunter's banged up, but I don't think it's anything you can handle. Julia, though, is probably going to need some attention before we can even move her. I think she's unconscious right now, so now is the best time to have a look at her and get her out of here."

[wolf_kkm]

“I’m not as bad as Gunter, have them look to him first.” Wolf declared with bravado. He didn’t look like he was willing to leave the King’s side. Of course, if anyone poked him he’d probably double over in pain. Maybe all he needed was a few minutes. He had no idea; he’d never had this happen before. He could feel the fire spirit faintly. It was still there, he could still call upon it, but he would need to get back to full strength to do so without it just being a burst of steam.
He closed his eyes, the light hurt. Little white hot twinges of pain in his temples made it difficult to keep them open. What he didn’t know was that his eyes were overly bright and a little glassy.

[sardonic_beauty]

So, another Alford. He got along alright with the last one, though he never seemed to succeed at winning him over for some playtime. He briefly wondered if this one would be more agreeable, but the thought passed quickly as he was in quite a bit of pain