The prey offers to save

Without wings, you can't ever dream to fly...

...at least, not at all by yourself.

...

If you're set into the atmosphere...far, far away...unbound by the solid surfaces of the earth, you will no doubt fall...

...likely reduced to a schlop of meaty batter as you coat the ground in a pool of muck, and crimson.

This is true for everyone—so long as they are human.

Without a parachute, a glider, lifeline, or even a life saver...how would you hope to survive without a flurry of air gathering underneath your wingspan?

Our greatest fantasies might easily dream up such a happenstance; surviving in the skies. But it wouldn't explain it's possibilities in reality.

...

Except though...through magic.

...

...

...

A long, dark haired boy-turned-woman tripped up the laws of reality in this very same transcendence.

Although rightfully, this senior child in a woman's body hadn't enough power nor adequate fortitude to transcend anything. All credits must be given to where it is dued; magic stood on the receiving end of this accomplishment.

...

Riding on the wind, Clover blew herself towards the heights of the western walls, explosively.

Yet though the winds swept under her feet, it was never caused by any spell casted on her part...but rather, the result of her own virtue as high speeds inclined her on a slope ride to the top of certain walls.

Eventually, she got tired of using [Spiritual Vision]...since it made her perceive her time in mid-air a colossal times longer than her normal human perception...

...that, and she also finished using her blue eyes to spot out the most likeliest of areas Scarlett would've been placed on the wall.

After picking her marks, three places were chosen to be her search areas.

So while first safely landing herself on cobblestone and concrete, her gaze clocked on her left; the centre of the western walls.

...

...

...

"Guardian Polos, sir." handling a grounded spear with its tip pointed at the sky, a man in uniform came up behind Polos to call for his attention.

"Say no more, I'm already aware." Polos said. "How many?"

"Around two thousand, sir. At most."

Polos gave the man in uniform an innocuous side eye as he spoke. "Give da order for all internal squad members to stand by f'er backup. If da patrol guards aren't able to handle them on their own, tell da squad to mobilize."

"Understood, sir!" the uniformed man saluted before hurrying himself off to somewhere upon hearing Polos' commands. And when the man went out of sight, a red haired woman unintentionally glared at Polos with glowing blue eyes.

"Is something the matter, Guardian Polos?" Scarlett said.

"Oh nothing." the dwarf sighed with his glances hovering on the dark black creatures approaching from the outer walls. "Just a couple thousand undeads rooting up mi grounds with their unholy hands."

Scarlett snapped her neck fast. Milliseconds after Polos mentioned the word "Undead", she whipped her gaze behind her for some time, then back at Polos who now folded his arms in such a manner that unhindered him from pinching his beard in twists and curls.

"Guardian Polos, you know this couldn't..." Scarlett blurted before being thrown off rails by Polos' next utterances.

"Yeah, yeah. You should expect a fool out of me if I don't know what you're going to say. Don't bother wasting y'er breath telling me what I figured out hours ago." the half lengthed man sighed while retuning his focus to immediate happenings. "Da light beam cannons looks to be doing good work of those things down there. But at this rate, they'll soon reach da base of these walls...sheerly by exploiting their numbers."

Polos thumbed an itch from his chin, then extended his limbs to stretch for comfort. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to find out what'll happen when they do manage to swim their way over here."

The dwarf widened his thumb and middle finger, then positioned them between his teeth while he curled the rest in his palm...

...a single skillful blow caught the air in a tight tune as he whistled. And when he again found interest to glance at Scarlett, he said. "Feel unbounded to lend a hand if ya believe ya won't die, otherwise...don't follow after unless ya want to sacrifice y'er life f'er chow time."

At first, these words proceeded from Polos' lips were comprehendible to Scarlett...but they left her without understanding exactly what he meant.

That was until the dwarf posed a hand in the air...to which, moments after, a rotating object from a distance grew closer until it flipped itself into Polos' hand. The object seemed to have come from somewhere, since it didn't appear out of thin air...

...and as it directly spun into the thick, stubby hands of the Western Veil Guardian, everyone had the probability to see—it was an axe.

Though, saying it was just an axe felt disrespectful to Polos...and to the axe itself. Because this axe, while it looked normal enough...possessed flashy practical designs on it's dimensions.

Large and carved out was the matte black metallic wedge welded against a broad cylindrical handle of likeness in colour. The bladed edge of the axe appeared silver...and without clean sharpening—from experienced intuition, this feature of the axe existed on purpose. Such a rough, unprecise method of sharpening allowed hundreds of miniscule shrapnel to trail along the blade—making for nastier cuts and slashes inflicted on enemies which would eventually kill them if the original wound didn't do the trick.

On the other side of the axe, attached to the wedge, three protrusions perked themselves like feathers without curves. They too were black, and sharp. Then at the base of the handle, a few characters were written...like runes engraved in metal.

Of course, this axe wasn't flashy for no reason. It was customized to the satisfaction of one special individual; Polos.

...

With the axe falling into his grasp, the Veil Guardian leaped off the western walls while using his weapon to absorb his momentum as he dug the pointy handle into parallel concrete—the wall, when he neared rock bottom.

He then bent his knees to soften his landing...when subsequently, dozens of other armed personages took their place next to him after mimicking his descent down the wall.

Soon, the Veil Guardian's body rose to a stand. After which he balanced the tip of his axe on the ground to free his hands for some time.

...

A click soon vibrated into the air—it was Polos popping his fingers...

With each hand simultaneously, he popped every finger-joint tree times. Less for his thumbs...which he could only pop twice.

Expectedly or not, the dwarf continued...

...crunching his neck...on both sides, then down to his shoulders and elbows. At the same time, his wrists and back were popped next, trailing down to his hips and further to his knees.

Every crunch and pop made Polos groan, both due to discomfort...and relief. His joints thanked him nicely in the way they increased his reach by the slightest of lengths, and his muscles gave him much love with how they widened his range of motion.

Still, he wasn't done...

...not yet.

Just a little bit more, and he'd be able to finish himself off...

With that in mind, he popped his ankles and toes...then performed various stretches to release a final burst of tension as well as to test out how relaxed his body had become.

"Alright!" Polos sighed like the heaviest of burdens had evaporated from his shoulders as he took up arms once again. "I want every last one of these swimmers sliced up like fish on cutting board."

At his height, he wound up his axe behind him to gather leverage for a throw. The next few seconds after, he shouted...

"Ahhhhhhrrrrrggggghhhhh!!!" he thew the axe with a vertical rotation at the nearest creature of darkness.

However...

Before the axe had a chance to hit its mark, it illuminated a white source of light...upon which...

...splat...

The head of one of those black hounds tore into two...

Or that was what seemed to happen at first.

...

The axe stopped moving, but not because it lost momentum...it was the work of the hound's form pushing back to halt the axe's movement. Even with it's head split into two...it survived, and with the strength to retaliate no less...

...

Unfazed, Polos fixed his gaze upon this black cockroach who retained the lion's share of it's vitality.

But fortunately, the axe buried in its head still had more to say...

Thus brighter, the white light the axe produced intensified. Then like hot knife and butter, the whole form of this abysmal monstrosity fully slashed into twin halves...with each portion flopping lifeless on the ground moments after.

Of course, everyone who witnessed this felt a sense of dissatisfaction. Like there was yet something to happen...something to be seen.

This scene intuitively appeared incomplete. There should've been more; a final touch.

So they waited...

...including Polos himself.

Some even cupped their hands in prayer to beg that this wasn't all...

No one could tell with absolute certainty what was missing. Only a vague sense of anticipation bored among the mass.

In time, they're prayers were answered...long after the axe had dug it's wedge into the earth...and even longer after the rest of the hounds the cannons didn't kill managed to catch up to their perished kin.

The form of the dark creature sliced in half by an illuminated axe began to disintegrate. It's body flaked into ashes, vaporising until there was nothing left of it. The sole proof of it's past existence layed in the depression it created in the soil which outlined the two halves of it's now nonexistent being.

An audible 'whew' escaped the mouths of many—some more pronounced than others. Yet everyone had an overlapping emotion which caused them to share exhaled breaths and unrestrained sighs...

...that emotion was relief.

Polos allowed satisfaction to press a grin along his cheek. He wouldn't have told anyone, nor gave them a hint, but truly...he doubted his weapon would have the power to vanquish those creatures. And so, he was glad it did.

"You've seen how it's done." Polos eased his stance to a straight posture. "Don't wait for my orders...just slice them all up into pieces."

He said they shouldn't wait for his order, but he had already told them what to do. No one cared to point out this mistake to him, since they didn't have to worry how they did it...so long as they sliced and diced just as he did.

With the understanding of their task at the forefront of their minds, the personages who descended the wall after Polos had their weapons glow a similar white light as his axe.

Polos, in his own pace, dug his feet into the ground...then pushed off at blasting speeds to retrieve his axe before anyone had the chance to kill anything else.

...

...

...

Back at the top of the western walls, Scarlett, just like everyone else, had been watching the happenings of Polos and his subordinates versus the packs of shadow voided beings...

...she smiled, gently...seeing that things took on a bright side.

Remembering the last words the Western Veil Guardian left with her, she chose to move to the flanks to assist the Veil Guardian in case the hounds managed to sip through any gaps in their attack formation.

She wanted to do at least that...

But as you know, something had to have the chance to stop her...

...in this case, this 'something' was actually a 'someone'.

Pretty nifty how fate has a way of blowing plans off course.

...

...

...

A hand grabbed at Scarlett's nape. For a person like her, calmness prevented a jumpy reaction...

...before she managed to turn for a look behind her, someone's voice whispered a hand length from her ear.

"Scarlett..."