"So, what's going on down there now?" I ask for what must be the hundredth time now.

"They're now at the gates of the camp and I have no idea what the Grandguard is planning." Seigunfrei explains, his enhanced eyes catching the details.

"You and me both." Nin adds on with a mutter from his perch. His legs tensed up like a spring just waiting for the box lid to open up.

"What does it look like she's doing?" I ask, tightening my grip on my staff as surely we're about to go charging in. Though, how I am going to do that from this high up, I do not know. I can't fly, let alone leap tall buildings in a single bound like the other two can.

"Talking to them. Well, provoking them might be a better descriptor." Seigunfrei tells before he shuffles ahead away from the safer rocks. I frown and gulp shifting a little closer as I won't be able to go anywhere without him.

"Provoking them seems to be the right way to look at it." Nin comments before the pair let out a flinch of shared pain.

"What?" I go.

"Balls." the two answer at once and I shiver just as the sky starts to crack with the sound of gunfire. My grips stiffen and the perch Nin was on throws pebbles about, the rock further back erratically cracking still.

"When'd he get so fast...?" I question with a gulp, terrified at the kind of power he has at his disposal right now.

"Five years of eating his greens." Seigunfrei huffs, his eyes blinking before an explosion sounds off. He quickly looks back and seems to nod at the fact it's just Nin landing.

A wave of wind makes its way back here, "Must be some green greens."

"All the way from Jhroungijherammujhernosumonaterikra probably." Seigunfrei huffs before he offers me the hand I need to get down.

"Don't put me on the ground like he does." I beg, securing the explosives in one arm and trying to get a good grip on my staff without causing him problems.

"If I did that you'd be in a recovery centre or dead. And I did not spend all that time on tabletwork to see you go to Undwote." Seigunfrei remarks before his legs twist into motion, his magic surrounding them. He heaves me up and the ground starts to scar as we seemingly skate down the mountain. A quick look at his expression tells me he'd much rather try this without the baggage. I roll my eyes at his disappointment and then tightly clutch him.

The ground is coming closer awfully fast...

"SLO-" I start to scream and we stop, his magic turning off.

"Get off." he frowns and I do so, looking back right as he glances up at the mountain. His eyes retracing the path he took and some of the debris rolling along it.

"After this." I go, figuring out what going on in his head.

"Yeah, going to have me some fun later if I have the energy for it." he nods in agreement before running off towards the screams and munitions. Blinking at how quickly I have been left on my own, I give myself a moment. The items drop to the ground and some breaths and flicks come out.

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My arms are full again and I get to it. Following the trail Seigunfrei's magic carves into the ground, I arrive just in time to watch him knock a leg out of a guard tower. An entire shipping container goes flying by and shatters on the mountain, raining down as churned-up blades. Finding Liadanann, I hide behind her and her shield while she seems to be in the process of calming down.

I knock on the barrier with my staff and she flinches in my direction. I raise my hands as best as I can and she calms down. She seems to start shivering and pats herself down. I spot the areas she's touching the most.

"Liadanann, you're fine, it's just a scrape." I tell her, getting in front so she has a friendly face to focus on. She nods lets out her last few bits of shock and we get going inside. The last of the bodies build up and we watch Inerish cut down a handful of men. The last one gets the worst of it.

She slashes his gun apart and applies non-lethal but crippling, scorching cuts through his armour. The man screams in agony as his plate melts to his flesh and Inerish puts him on his knees. I cover my mouth, coughing into it while my gut shakes. It all seems to be over but with this one man.

"For shame, man of Hohhkelurn, your home is known for its exotic steam vents and you can't even handle a bit of fire? For shame." the Grandguard taunts before delivering one final slash to his neck. A head rolls and red pools and I look away. Nin smashing animals apart for food is one thing, to see a man tormented before such an execution is...

My grip on the box shifts as she walks by, her sword burning away the excess blood. She smiles at me, douses her magic and sheaths the blade. We gather up at the centre of the slaughterhouse and follow Nin's eyes to the tunnel. I guess I need to put the bombs there...?

I take a step and stop, a hand on my shoulder.

"No, I want to go in and handle them all, make sure there's no desperate usage of whatever it is they've found." the Grandguard tells me and she starts to get moving, but, the rest of us don't. She stops and looks back at us, a gloved hand going over her face to check for what must be blood. She doesn't find anything and seems to get confused, that hand curling into a lingering, gentle fist.

"What was the point of saying you were going to talk to them...?" Nin asks and me and Seigunfrei repeat the sentiment as we had to go onto that mountain because of it. We had to wait up there for whatever reason because she flip-flopped from wanting to kill them to wanting to talk. Only to kill them all.

"So I had witnesses." she shrugs.

"TO WHAT!?" I howl out, gesturing as well as I can to the absolute mess her choice led to.

"Witnesses who can confirm I tried to take the diplomatic approach at first. It makes me look better in the after-mission report." she explains, giggling at the end before walking off towards one of the still intact buildings. She tests that definition by melting down the door and the sound of sliced metal reaches us. It doesn't take long for her to come out with what seems to be keys and data and a sword that needs cleaning again.

I take a step back and look to Nin, "Next time I want to do something with you. Can it be a regular guild job? Without her in sight?"

Nin starts to chuckle awkwardly and he looks away when his eyes come too close to Liadanann, "It's not all that different in guild jobs, actually. If there's any legal complexity to the issue, it won't be on a guild job board. They aren't trusting people like me to handle unstable situations. Just beasts and criminals with easily handled death warrants or ones with them already. Pay more for capture all you want, bodies will come about."

"R-Right..." I eke out, following the others towards the tunnel and dumping the box of explosives in a shattered barrel. I use my staff to draw in the dirt and nod a little. The Grandguard straightens out and takes in a deep breath, a smirk on her face.

"Come on my fellows, let me see if the Dark Crow here can keep you all safe in ancient tunnels filled with gunfire and spells!" the Grandguard declares and I look back to all the dead Undwote and Waionr will have to handle. There were witches among these soldiers? I didn't see any spells of any kind get fired back.

I look around some more and seem to catch a womanly shape crushed under some debris. Is there something wrong with me for wanting to try and reach the level of power that leads to this...? Seeing it in person makes me doubt it but the stories were never tame at all either. Even the founding-lord of my home, he was once a great guild witch.

Ultimately, I must become accustomed to death.