The Siege!

Olivia, Ursa and Gitta all wait on the wall. Doom arrives shortly with Albus. Cara and Kasi are down with Isidora and the main bulk of the army consisting of the remaining troops of Melanoche and Raig's old military units. With any luck there wouldn't be any fighting, but it was a good idea to have soldiers by the main gate just in case. It occurs to Doom as he watches the capital's armies approach that it's entirely possible they're completely unaware of the situation.

He wonders if it might not have been a better idea to just pretend all was well, just open the gate and tear them apart as they come through. He shakes his head though and disregards the thought, it might have worked, but if they did somehow know, he'd just be letting them get their entire **** inside without a fight and supposing the ambush failed or was only partially effective. He'd end up in a fight within the city walls which he might still win, but this is still a better option.

The enemy are approaching still, at this distance they're just a moving mass on the desert, as per the plan they should have been coming from three directions as three distinct groups, but Espia managed to convince them that it would be wise to group back up at a location outside the city to ensure that none of their number were compromised or missing before returning to the city. This ensured that they would be coming from a single direction. It had been a risk as she had put herself under some scrutiny by bringing up that the "monster who took her city" had a way to control people which helped make them paranoid enough to agree to her idea, but also made them question if she might not be controlled. It's a good thing Doom hadn't marked her or the plan would have failed.

Albus looks wretched as he watches his military approaching, knowing what is expected of him, his demand for surrender will hopefully cut down the enemies numbers by quite a bit, but Doom's not really expecting them all to give in immediately.

The enemy grows close enough that individual members can be made out and by now they are easily able to see Doom on the wall. He smiles mirthlessly as he prepares for whatever is about to happen next when suddenly he feels something strange, like a knife suddenly cutting through his mind. Something has been severed and there's a sudden empty sensation. Doom's eyes dart frantically to Ursa and Olivia, but they're still standing still and he can sense them. He quickly realizes it's his connection to Belleza that has been severed.

Panic grips him, he can't understand why this has happened. The simple thought fills his head that she's dead. He is shaking, his mind awash with anguish. He can't understand it, why does he seem to have such a connection to this random woman that her **** hits him so hard. He tries to push it away. He needs to focus, but it won't leave. Something has been taken from him. He snaps and lets out a cry of rage that shocks everyone around him. His mind screams that the enemy is in front of him and all his careful planning falls apart in an instant.

His eyes lock onto the soldier marching at the head of the oncoming army and he roars as he shoots a lance of flame out towards them. The fire hits, knocking them to the ground and everything is thrown into chaos. The enemy begin to rush as their ranged units begin to return fire. Arrows and spells slam against the wall and Albus screams at Doom, "Are you mad! This isn't what you asked for!" Doom reaches out and grabs him by the throat. He doesn't even look at him, the action is automatic. He lifts him and snaps his neck before tossing him from the wall.

His body lands on the desert below and as the encroaching enemy army closes in they stop as they reach it. Olivia and Ursa are commanded to attack and Olivia does so, by buffing Ursa as Ursa grabs her around the waist and jumps from the wall. Ursa lands, protected from most of the damage by the buff and she places Olivia down who quickly heals her of the injuries she did sustain from the fall.

Gitta moves and grabs Doom's arm, "what the hell are you doing? You're going to get them killed!" She yells and he instinctively turns and slaps her, knocking her to the ground with a pained cry. He raises his hand to hit her again, but stops as he manages to restrain himself and speaks quickly.

"I... I'm sorry! Get back up! I need you and the other rangers to cover them... I... I'll fix this," he says quickly and hurries down to the gates, "change of plans! Open the gates, we're meeting them on the field!" Doom yells and Isidora and Kasi both seem excited at the prospect, but Cara looks concerned.

"Wait... What happened?" she asks, but Doom ignores her.

"Cara... Go get Raig. We might need him on the battlefield," he commands and Cara hesitates and then shakes her head, realizing she's not going to get any answers and instead runs off towards the palace. He presses forward and forces open the gates with his own strength, cursing his own stupid impulsiveness.

The army has arrived and Ursa is in the thick of combat, Olivia doing her best to heal and buff her. Even with Gitta and the other rangers and sorcerer's attempts to cover them, Ursa's problem is that it's two women against an entire army and Olivia is a clear weak point, forcing Ursa to fight defensively to try and keep anyone from reaching Olivia, which becomes harder and harder as they grow more and more surrounded. An enemy soldier manages to slip around Ursa and charges towards Olivia with a spear. The spear stabs through her chest. Olivia's eyes widen as she feels the spear stab through her, right between her ample breasts, she feels blood rush up her throat and then coughs up blood as she drops to her knees, the pain feels real, the numb feeling failing to protect her in this instance. She feels cold as she drops to the ground and forces out a cry, "... U... Ursa!" she yells through the blood leaking from her mouth and she watches Ursa turn towards her, moving and decapitating the spear wielding soldier, she watches as surprisingly real emotions play over Ursa's face, shock, horror and anger flitting across her features before being replaced with a wide eyed stare as she's stabbed from behind. A number of soldiers attack her stabbing and cutting into her back as she collapses to her knees, her hand reaching out towards Olivia before, as Olivia watches, another soldier cuts Ursa's head off. Her head and body collapse to the ground.

Olivia screams in terror, rage and pain as she watches her lover's body collapse, killed by their own allies and the comforting numbness of the mark has left them, she feels it, she's free, the pain of oncoming **** and Ursa's own demise seems to have let her overcome the mark at least temporarily. She winces at the irony of finally recovering her mind in her final moments. She tries her best to crawl over to Ursa, but she can't make it. She only manages a small distance before she feels her body shutting down. Everything feels cold and her vision goes dark.

The gate slams open as Doom rushes through followed by Kasi and Isidora and the rest of the troops. He cuts easily through groups of soldiers to reach Olivia and Ursa and is shocked to see Ursa's decapitated body. His eyes move to Olivia, lying **** and bleeding out and he roars rushing over to her and lifting her with ease. More soldiers rush to attack him, but he easily bats them away with a mixture of tentacles and multiple hands that grow from his ethereal form.

"My fault... My fault... My fault," he repeats in an anguished voice as he tears through the soldiers in his path. Guilt tears at his mind, but once again he isn't sure why. They were enemies, slaves, not allies and why would he even care if they were. He can't understand these emotions and he tries to push them down. His guilt and despair are replaced intentionally with anger as he cuts through the armies around him.

Pain builds inside him. He's taking a lot of hits as he is severely outnumbered even as he kills multiple foes with each attack. The ground is wet and slippery with blood which serves to assist slightly in prolonging the inevitable as advancing soldiers have to struggle to keep their balance on the slick sand. Isidora and Kasi are tearing through foes as well, but even so the battle is against them and it's only a matter of time.

Doom screams as a light enchanted arrow is fired into his body, lancing pain through him and he collapses to his knees as an elven woman advances towards him through the chaos of the battlefield. She's wielding a beautiful decorated silver bow and she nocks another arrow which glows with light. She takes aim at Doom's head. It's Celli. He feels a weak grin appear unbidden on his face. He's about to be killed by Celli. He breathes out and then launches a rock bullet at her, but she manages to dive out of the way and looses the arrow. Luckily someone moves into the way, taking the arrow in their shoulder and protecting Doom from the shot.

Cara winces and staggers back as the arrow hits her, "Gh... Doom... You fucking idiot!" she growls, "I... I should just let you die!" she says exhaling as she struggles to stay standing. Celli narrows her eyes recognizing Cara as well and she nocks another arrow. Cara grits her teeth and rushes towards Celli, Celli lets loose her arrow and Cara takes it in the gut, unable to dodge for fear the arrow will hit Doom if she dodges. She reaches Celli and slashes at her, Celli jumps back, but Cara presses the attack forcing Celli to retreat and not giving her the ability to ready and aim another shot. Cara's breathing is heavy, she's undoubtedly at pretty low health from the two arrow hits. Another hit might kill her.

"All your fault... All your fault!" the voice in Doom's head grows louder, "she's right she should have just let you die!" the voice adds and Doom forces himself back to his feet, "I... I need to help her... I can't let her die for me as well," he says weakly, trying to move forward to help her, but each step is difficult. At this moment a terrifying roar fills the air, shaking the very walls before Raig appears in dragon form flying above and then slams down crushing a bunch of enemy soldiers where he lands. His tail whips out slicing apart a number of other soldiers as he breathes out a jet of flame, killing a huge swathe of soldiers. Croya leaps off of his back and moves towards Doom and Cara. Celli spots her approaching and seems to decide she's in a bad situation and tosses away her arrow, grabbing a smoke bomb instead, tossing it at the ground, blinding Cara as Celli vanishes. Cara staggers back and then falls onto her ass, Croya moving to her side.

Raig continues to butcher enemy soldiers, but some of the soldiers reach him stabbing and hacking at him, or striking him from range with spells. He's injured, but his appearance does seem to have turned the tide. The number of enemy soldiers is dwindling and many of them are deciding to flee rather than keep fighting.

The day is won it seems, but no thanks to Doom. He almost managed to ruin everything. He collapses to the ground and slips out of consciousness.