Shintaion Resistance

As soon as the first of the warriors clashed chaos erupted across the battle field. Thankfully the dark beasts were all brawn and slight smarts otherwise they would know that the targets were not them and the anti-air guns instead. Cyrus set his gun to the almost maximum so that he wouldn't need a cool down. Take out the anti-air guns was easy with his rifle, all he needed was blast through the medium armor and the gun was done, if the anti-air gun misfired then ka-freakin-boom. Cyrus focused on the targets farthest away as those would be the most difficult for anyone else to get to.

While Cyrus was occupied with his anti-air gun owning Jericho and Estelle were a two man team doing their best not to destroy the anti-air guns but protect those who were. Someone had to play defense after all, and they were that someone.
Dark beast after dark beast were struck down either by Jericho or Estelle most tending to get back up only to be struck down again.

Jericho noted that Shi was being quickly surrounded and though he may be powerful with enough numbers anyone can fall and he said into the com to Estelle "Estelle, Shi is becoming quickly surrounded let's head over and help him out" "Aye aye sir" she responded in a quick and orderly manner. Jericho and Estelle efficiently bashed and shot their way over to Shi though not to close as to be in danger of being in harm of his demon form. "Hope we can be of help!" Jericho yelled into Shis' direction as he crushed to Dark Beasts skulls together with a sickening crunch. "We'll peel some of these guys off of you to give you a little more breathing room."
 
The help was much needed, despite the power boost from his orb he could not handle a gang by himself. As Cyrus’ group took on most of them Shi went two on one against the others. ”You two do not understand loyalties, honor, or the kindness of the creatures on the surface, and you never will. I shall show you their brutality and finish what I came here to do.”
”Yeah right? Let’s get’m” The first dark beast lunged at Shi his claws extended. Naturally unarmed the transformed man had to step aside to dodge the blow. The second dark beast attacked in a similar fashion but charging dark energy instead. He thrust his claw outward. ”Shadow Slash!” Shi had no time to dodge so instead he took this one head on. He gathered his own power, strikingly similar to the beast’s, and ran it straight into the claw. The two held their ground for a second or two before both gave way.
”I think you should keep in mind what abilities your opponent’s have. Now die.” He quickly picked out a sharp piece of metal amongst the debris steadily forming around them and their assault. His strength and steady aim allowed him to hit the dark beast’s throat with precision. He gargled curses as his body went limp. The other finally had recuperated and tried to attack his off guard opponent. Shi’s primary weapon, a high powered plasma rifle, was leaning against some rubble. He kicked the edge of it with his heel spinning it upward into the air. Catching it and now holding it with one arm he squeezed the trigger. A bright shot tore through the barrel and the torso of the dark beast. As his final due to the two he was fighting he smashed the creature’s skull in with his foot and his eyes seemed to tell that he was enjoying every minute of it.
 
Ramia and Monsoon were progressing rather well, they had destroyed all anti air guns on the path thus far. "Looks like the unguarded trend has stopped.I'm not one for projectile attacks but..in this situation, it's the best call. Let's do this quickly, Monsoon. There's too for close combat to work in our favor."Ramia whispered to Monsoon as she spotted quite a few dark beasts up ahead, manning the anti air guns. Monsoon nodded. Ramia quickly readied her energy and so did Monsoon.

Ramia released her fire energy, creating several small beams of fires that she aimed at the anti air guns in the area. They hit the anti air guns and created small explosions, Monsoon used a different technique. He released a gust of strange wind towards the dark beasts and the guns. It was a razor sharp wind, it did not blow them away, instead it sliced anti air guns in it's path into pieces. It merely sliced into the skin of dark beasts however, due to their study skin.

With these maneuvers, they had destroyed the anti air guns but became spotted by the dark beasts, whom were not killed. They charged towards Ramia and Monsoon, intending to surround them. Ramia looked at Monsoon and he nodded, she jumped onto him and he flew up with her. The dark beasts fired beams at the both of them, grazing Ramia and Monsoon alike but no major hits. He went rather high up to avoid attacks.

Monsoon then flew a bit further away and landed with Ramia near a ruined structure. "Hm, didn't want to try the fire dive bomb? Seemed to be a good situation for that...."She questioned. "Hell no Ramia! It's not safe aganist dark beasts, it wouldn't kill em in one strike. I wouldn't feel right literally dropping you into a pack of them! This way is safer, they're heading this way but we've got time to set up shop!" They both prepared and began to build up energy.

"You filthy Human loving surface scum, trying to run away like the cowards you are? NOT ON MY WATCH!"One of the dark beasts cried out. Clearly enraged by Monsoon flying out of their range with Ramia. Monsoon unleashed a tornado that pulled in all the dark beasts perusing them and hurled them into the structure. Ramia quickly created a large sphere of fire energy and kicked it off at the dark beasts, creating a medium sized explosion.

"Keep attacking!!! That can't be the end of them just yet!!!! But that at least downed them temporarily."Monsoon nodded. He tossed a flurry of wind javelins at the dark beasts before they could get up, impaling and killing them. Monsoon began to look tired, having used a great deal of energy. "Damn..Think we got em all..."Monsoon said as he looked at the dark beasts and inspected them afterwards, they all had fatal wounds and were dead. Monsoon spoke under his breathe to the dead beast,"For your information chump, it's not running we did, it's strategy. Hell of a lot better than getting swarmed. Good talk but I've got to go, catch you later, I've got a hot date with a lady fire beast."

"Monsoon,We've got to try to conserve our energy, that was a bit excessive...We can't get too caught up in-AHHH!"A dark beast(different than the one Monsoon posthumously corrected) suddenly crept up behind them, slashing at Ramia with one claw and trying to dig into her shoulder with the other one. She was cut by the first attack but moved out of the way of the other claw. Ramia hit the dark beast with an uppercut knocking him back while Monsoon tossed a wind javelin straight into the head of the dark beast, piercing right through it, finally killing him.

"SHIT! Are you allright, Ramia? Let me check on you. You're the best partner I could ask for after all!"Monsoon exclaimed filled with worry as he looked at her trying to find her wounds and see for himself. "Yes. I did not expect that one..He must have played dead, he certainly looked dead, he just wanted to make one last attack before he died...These dark beasts aren't the strongest they have to offer but they certainly don't want to accept it when they are no chance to survive.."

"Yeah..Must really believe in their cause, to attack like that, knowing you'd have to die either way...Well let's take a bit of a breather now..Real quick. No other dark beasts are going to pull that trick."Monsoon commented as he found no serious injuries on Ramia.

She then looked at the communication device, pulling up the map and looking at the dwindling anti air guns. "The others have made good progress in destroying those anti air guns....Looks like we've our part well so far. We might be getting close to wrapping things up on this side at least. Well let's keep going.. We're almost at the end of this path.."

"Yeah...That's good news...But we've still a ways to go...There's that another line of dark beasts and then we gotta take that base...Damn. Well I'm ready to get a move on here. Are you?" He questioned.

"Yes I am Monsoon.. Let's go."
She let out a sigh and then grabbed a stray feather of Monsoon's off the back of his neck. "You're keeping good care of your wings I see...Very soft. Much better than what you'd find in the typical pillow." She smilied at him.

Monsoon was puzzled but gave back a goofy awkward grin, "Yeah, gotta keep em in top shape, with just the right texture..Strange you'd appreciate that, only other wind beasts really get it. Well let's just go here, heh, sooner we get things done here, the better." With that, the two continued pressing to the north.

He pondered Ramia's random comments to himself,"That's gotta be a good sign or I'm totally misinterpreting it. None the less, these dark beasts are still around...They best know I've got my eyes on the prize and on the mission!"
 
Cecilia was being more tactical and not trying to take on large groups of dark beasts out in the open. She aimed at the anti air guns first and foremost, the dark beasts came second. She kept a distance from the dark beasts and the anti air guns to avoid drawing too much attention to herself. She preferred to keep the higher ground if she could and avoided fighting with the dark beasts in close quarters as much as possible seeing as close combat was not her forte.

She found some shelter in the ruins of a building. She was on the second floor, near-by a window from which she could see the dark beasts and the anti air guns below her easily, yet it would take time for the dark beasts to get up to her if they did spot her. She had the upper-hand in this situation easily.

Cecilia fired off her plasma gun at the anti-air guns in her sight and then fired off a few crystalline bullets at the dark beasts around them, it would not kill them instantly but the poison would eventually defeat them.

As the anti-air guns were destroyed by her barrage of attacks and as she saw the dark beasts were beginning to suffer the effects of the poison,"I've no idea how long it would take...But I don't think they can survive it.... They're certainly not well enough to try to come after me..." Cecilia thought as she watched the dark beasts succumb to the after-effect of the crystalline bullets. She waited a bit longer just to be sure but soon enough, the dark beasts perished. Thus Cecilia had to move on. She noticed there was only one more area with anti-air guns in her immediate area.

She exited the ruins of the building and headed east, but then she heard the voices of a few dark beasts coming from around the corner and hid.

"It's clear now their goal is destroying the anti-air guns. They're planning to move an airship through here! There's no time to waste, all of you, get out of here, it's your job to inform the others of this coming attack!Otherwise these surface wretches will go forward and ambush them! I'll stay here!" A leading dark beast spoke, convinced he knew the Resistance's plan.

"There's no honor in running-" The leading dark beast interrupted the other, "There's no honor in dying here without reason! This place will fall to them soon, it's futile to continue. So go! If you make it, it will lead us to victory in the end that is the most important outcome! Now that's an order, get out of here! Take advantage of their goals, flee in the midst of the chaos and I doubt they'll pursue you. I'll stay here and kill as many of them as I can! Get your message to the other line no matter the cost! There's no other way than going all the way over there to deliver it, you must succeed!"

"Commander...We won't fail you!Don't let those surface bastards kill you!" One of the dark beasts said as he and six others departed, running quickly. Cecilia aimed at them with her plasma gun but realized quickly they were out of it's range and it wouldn't be able to kill them all in a few single hits, thus it'd be only a waste of ammo and would get her caught by a group of seven dark beasts in close quarters.

The leading dark beast began to sniff the air as he caught a familiar scent. Cecilia began to sidle about and move further away from the dark beast. The beast muttered, "A human..No, A rat ease-dropping on us? THIS WON"T DO AT ALL! YOU CANNOT ESCAPE, VERMIN!" The leading dark beast shouted as glanced around the corner and began to chase after Cecilia.

The dark beast managed to hit Cecilia's left arm with a small beam of dark energy, but it only grazed her, none the less she continued to move. Cecilia spoke into her communicator while running, "Everyone, some dark beasts have found out our plan. They're going to try to escape to the north, to make it to the other line and tell the dark beasts that we are coming. Please, someone intercept them so they don't get away. I've got to deal with this one here and the remaining anti air guns around him! I can't possibly chase them right now! It's a big group, six dark beasts trying to flee, they should be easy to find!"

Before she could reload her custom shotgun, the dark beast shot out a sphere of energy at her that hit the ground and exploded, but Cecilia dived out of the way and avoided the brunt of it. She got back up quickly and fired back, blasting the dark beast with her plasma gun and then reloaded her shotgun.

The dark beast was sturdy and not easily dispatched. He grinned at her and taunted her,"A pup? The humans are so desperate they send their YOUNG to die here on the battlefield? Or perhaps as meat-shields and diversions? That's a sign of how inferior you are! We deserve this world, not you weaklings! You'll get no pity from me, a swift death is all I can offer you! I didn't rise up in the ranks for nothing!"

Cecilia did not respond to his taunts, she knew it was nonsense and being seventeen wasn't THAT young. She merely fired her crystalline bullets off at him and remained evasive, keeping her distance. The dark beast was hit by the bullets but still continued his pursuit, despite his pain and how the two crystal bullets pierced into his back and chest.

"You surface witch!!!!Some sort..of poison..You think I'd let myself be killed by a child?? To die slowly and whimpering while a poison takes my LIFE? THINK AGAIN!!!!" He charged up a tremendous amount energy and charged at Cecilia, intending to grab a hold of her.

She avoided the dark beast just barley, getting fatigued now from the running. She realized the dark beast's desperate plan,"He knows the poison would eventually kill him..He's trying to grab me to take me down with him."She fired her plasma gun off at the dark beast and knocked him back. She then used one more crystal bullet on the beast, he now ceased moving. Cecilia quickly ran away from him as the dark beast released his energy and created a relatively large explosion of dark energy. She only escaped it with a few seconds to spare due to her predicting the dark beast's plan.

The dark beast was dead now, but from his own explosion as he used all his energy to create it. It had also taken out the anti air guns that Cecilia was going to destroy, she surveyed the area herself. She then took a breather for a few seconds as the area was now calm, even if ablaze, there was no dark beasts around to attack her now.

"That was close. War is horrible but I have to do this. I just wish it could have been done some other way.If only we could reason with the dark beasts instead of all this....But I can't give up or hesitate, my brothers and my dad are waiting to see me again when this is all over! My comrades are counting on me as well. I won't let them down, I have to give this a try just in case!"Cecilia had a burst of energy and headed off to see if she could catch up to the fleeing dark beasts, as she knew they had to be stopped or the mission would be jeopardized. She wasn't counting on reaching them but attempted to do so none the less, knowing this took priority over destroying the anti-air guns for the moment at least.

Meanwhile, further south.

Melissa heard her communicator beeping but obviously could not answer it while enraged and facing off with a dark beast. The dark beast stared back at her, rather unafraid. She continued staring and she began moving closer to the dark beast to intimidate him. Eventually the dark beast flinched and she punched the dark beast several times in the face and then she brutally beat the dark beast over the head with her staffs until he stopped moving, the powerful and constant blows to the head were too much even for the dark beast."That's why you don't EVER try to cheap shot me and think you'll live to tell!"

One of the dark beasts from earlier got up and attempted to blast Melissa with a beam of dark energy, but she tripped him with one staff and hit him in the face with the other, causing the beam to miss as the dark beast was pushed away. He then got back up. She then hit the beast with a devastating knee kick to the face.

There was one final dark beast to deal with however. First he fired a beam off that hit Melissa's shoulder and made her mad, the pain didn't seem to effect her as much though. He then charged at her and tried to bite Melissa's right arm but she quickly shoved one of her staffs into the beast's mouth and then elbowed him. She then pulled her staff back and used it to hit him in the stomach and then hit him in the face with the other, back and forth, stomach and face. Back and fourth, repeatedly until she finished him off, putting her staff back into one and punching the dark beast's jaw with immense force, producing a bone shattering sound before the dark beast collapsed.

With the area now calm or so it seemed, Melissa took the time to replay Cecilia's message. She commented aloud,"Dammit, I can't get over there in time! The others can handle it. These dark beasts wasted too much of my time!"She then dismantled all of the anti-air guns in the surrounding area before proceeding further along.

The communication device provided a good map and showed to Melissa there weren't many more anti air guns left at all, but there was one area around her that did. She departed for it.

Further North from Melissa's location....

"Well that about does it here....Guess we gotta backtrack or something...No more of those anti air guns to trash on this path.. So where to next Ramia?"Monsoon questioned.

"Monsoon! We've got a message from Cecilia..."Ramia replayed the message. "This is what we need to focus on then! Let's hurry, Monsoon!"Monsoon nodded.

Before they could progress however. Their path was obscured as a few dark beasts arrived glaring at Ramia and Monsoon menacingly. Apparently their strategy was changing now, protecting the anti air guns didn't matter as much as trying to kill the Resistance.

"Hey can't you see we're the middle of something, me and the lady beast? No manners! We'll talk to you guys later, ok? Just go play with yourselves!"The dark beast fired a blast of dark energy that Monsoon flew above to dodge.

"No, I'll play with your severed heads instead and offer them up to the Royals as tribute!! These are your last moments!" The dark beast shouted out. Ramia quickly responded by creating a superheated sphere of fire that she hurled at the dark beasts, causing a minor explosion. It didn't kill them but stunned them long enough and caused them to cease their boasting.

"No, it's like this, we'll box up your ashes and deliver them to your Royals as a reminder of the power of the surface and a sign of things to come if they don't surrender and give up on this insane war! Let's get rid of them quickly, Monsoon! There's no time to waste!"Monsoon agreed and the two began a counterattack.
 
"No you don't!" Cyrus spoke with conviction as he heard that some dark beasts were escaping, he wasn't about to let them get away and warn the rest of the enemy army what their plan was. It would be almost impossible to take them out with normal rounds from this distance as there were too many variables such as wind which was unpredictable and the token gravity would take on the falling bullets. "I guess it's time to switch it into Overdrive" Cyrus said to himself smiling. It had been awhile since he had used it and was itching to release the immense power again. A tripod was let down that drilled into the rock he was resting on as to provide maximum support for the approaching blast.

Cyrus took careful yet general aim in the direction of the flee dark beasts, flipped a switch on his rifle which began on low steady hum that vibrated throughout his body.
"Yes that's it" Cyrus squeezed the trigger gently as the rifles hum slowly increased in pitch rising higher and higher. "See ya later suckers" Cyrus grinned and a bright flash of light radiated from the rifle and decimated the fleeing dark beasts in a single devastating shot.
 
Monsoon began to charge up a great deal of energy as he cautioned Ramia quietly,"If we want to do this quick, there's only one way! Ramia, you gotta get some distance from here now..."

"No Monsoon!I'm going to stay here and fight them until you're ready. I know exactly what you intend to do, they won't let you just charge up, I have to keep them off you here!"Ramia respectfully disagree part of Monsoon's plan.

As the dark beasts approached, she created a circle of fire that surrounded her and Monsoon, intending to prevent the dark beats from getting further in. This did not work that easily however as one of the dark beasts sprayed the fire with a black mist and eventually put it out.

"Almost..Just a bit longer Ramia..hold on!"Monsoon thought to himself. Ramia then winked at Monsoon and mouthed some words to him, he flew up higher and out of the range of the dark beasts but kept his eyes on Ramia.

"Abandoned you did he? You human sympathizers and your games.You said what you'd do to us..Yet you cannot make good on such a promise!" A loud-mouthed dark beast added.

Ramia closed her eyes but not did not utter a word. However she was charging up energy.

"Accepting your death already? Such a shame to kill a looker, but they don't want us taking prisoners here or living spoils of war as I call ones like you. Should have been on our side then maybe this world wouldn't belong to these humans. Maybe forbidden beasts on the surface would actually be relevant then instead of just another race submissive to humanity's desires and greed. Maybe you wouldn't be about to lose that pretty head of yours!!!!But let's have some fun, how badly do you want to live? Beg me, convince me to spare you,WOMAN! Hahaha!" He created an axe of dark energy as he slowly walked towards Ramia. The other dark beasts let him handle her but closed in as well to surround her.

Ramia did not speak a word and wasn't afraid. She was in fact smiling. This startled the loud-mouthed dark beast.

Immediately with no hesitation, she created a flare right on the talking dark beast's face, burning him painfully and fatally as the heat was too much for him. The flare began to expand and the light it produced nearly blinded the dark beasts as they covered their eyes. Monsoon had already knew to avert his.

"He underestimated her! We can't make the same mistake! They're planning something! Knock the wind beast out of the heavens!
" One of the dark beasts said as they ran away from Ramia and her flare. The flare then dissipated soon after. They then began firing off bursts of dark energy into the sky, hoping to hit Monsoon out of the sky. Monsoon began moving about as he went higher in altitude.

She launched a small fire ball into the sky to signal Monsoon. He saw it and then quickly landed right down in the middle of the dark beasts. "You're all in for a treat to see my signature move, just try to run from this one! Grand Gale!"As he released the energy, strong wind gathered around him that blew away the dark beasts and cut them as it was a sharp wind as well, he manipulated it to crash them right into several structure.

In the aftermath, all the dark beasts around the two were deceased. Yet it seemed it had taken too long. They saw Cyrus finishing off the escaping dark beast's and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Damn, that was something. Cyrus has got it taken care of here quite clearly. Heh, just was too many of em around us to get there fast enough..Now Ramia, let's not do anything like that again! I didn't like the looks of that, really worried me there. I would have rather stayed on the ground even if I'd be a target for them."

"I'm sorry Monsoon but it was to give the enemy a false sense of security. They fell for it and assumed I gave up. We can't expect to win aganist them head on all the time, Monsoon. We have to take risks sometimes to win. You could have jumped in if it got anymore dangerous."

"Well your life is one thing I'm not willing to risk just for an opportunity like that! Now let's...Get a move on here...Not sure what to do...Better check the little device thing."

"Monsoon....I know you care but that's what war is, there is always a chance we might not come back alive. That's what it is, to risk your life to defend your homeland. Now we must to keep moving.There's only twenty anti air guns left! Let's head to the ones, this way...And also put a message on her that the escaping dark beasts have been dealt with." She did so quickly as she and Monsoon headed that direction.

"I know you're right about that Ramia but you mean a lot to me...I really love ya so-"Monsoon was about to make a profound statement as Ramia interrupted, "I know,I'm like your best friend or like a sister to you and I feel the same way."This killed the moment for Monsoon. He responded only with a nervous laugh and shrugged it off as they moved to the location of some of the remaining AA guns.

Elsewhere,Melissa was demolishing a few anti air guns that seemed unguarded.

"Those Dumb-ass lizards gave up on these things after all!! What a waste of my talents, breaking pieces of scrap, anyone could do this."Melissa said aloud as she sighed.

Suddenly she was hit with a blast of dark energy, but dodged the brunt of it. "DIE HUMAN!!! This is not your world ANY LONGER! Do you realize the fatal mistake you've made????!"

She countered,"I don't give a shit! Bring it on, you peons!!"
She ran up to the dark beast that hit her pulled out one fold out knife, stabbing him in the chest with it and with the other hand she punched him in the face.

He still was not dead however as he attempted to headbutt Melissa, she ducked. He managed to slash Melissa's leg, leaving a few claw marks and causing her to bleed. Retaliating with even more force, she ran at him and stabbed into the dark beast's neck, finally killing him. Yet there was no peace for Melissa, as the other dark beasts descended upon her at once. This time there was at least ten of them, it was unfair.

Preparing for the other dark beasts, she put away her knife and began to use her technomancer abilities, she created three blades of light and cut into three of the dark beasts approaching her with them. They were clearly in deep pain, light was their weakness after all. She then finished them off with more blades from her other hand, easily piercing through to their hearts.

The dark beast's attacks only intensified as they truly saw how much of a threat she was, using their weakness to light to gain the upper hand. They now began to fight her at a range so her blades could not hit them. They fired off blasts and lasers of dark energy. She ducked, rolled and managed to found cover among some rubble.

"Did anyone ever teach you not to gang up on a lady? Allow me to be the first! And when I say teach, I mean beat that knowledge into you!" She jumped towards them and used her bracelet to rocket her forward at the dark beasts at a fast speed. She then created two blades, both rather long as the dark beasts scrambled to get out of her way. She managed to kill one of the dark beasts as the blades pierced him.

This time the dark beasts changed their strategy once more, two of them were attacking her with projectile energy while the other two charged at her, one creating a spear of dark energy.

Reacting quickly, Melissa focused on her left hand and created four small blades above each of her fingers, it was almost like a glove, a deadly one. She awaited the dark beasts and jumped over the one with the spear and pierced his skull with the blades. She then quickly did the same to the other dark beast. But before she could aim at the others, she was hit with an explosive dark energy blast that knocked her away.

She managed to get up quickly as it was a weak explosion at best. "You people just don't learn? Do you? Pissing me off is never a good idea!!!!" Before she could react however, another explosion occurred, this time from behind the dark beasts and aimed at them. It was fire energy! Monsoon and Ramia had arrived.

"Well Melissa, I see you've taken care of those anti air guns but we can help out with the rest!"Ramia smilied while she commented on the situation.

"Listen, I had things under control anyhow..... but since you're here I don't mind the assistance. Just don't get in my way!" Melissa spoke out as she went after the dark beasts Ramia had stunned. Monsoon and Ramia nodded although didn't quite get why she was like that but now was not the time for such questions.

With that, they all began to take care of the remaining dark beasts. Things were winding down on this front and soon enough it'd be time for the next. The Resistance was well on their way to accomplishing their first mission.