Baleful Wings (Dragon's Dogma Fanfiction)

Chapter 49: Retribution

"Run, fools!!!" Cried a Gran Soren soldier, stumbling over himself pitifully.
The fortress was set ablaze, the foundation failing it at random - it seems their hunch was right, the fortress is being attacked from the inside out. The horrified soldier turned back at the pair of cyclopes that emerged behind him, gasping in terror as a fellow guard's corpse was hurled at him.
The Arisen's party rushed forward, but made it only in time to see him crushed by the weight of his deceased comrade, the loud snapping of the cartilage in his neck made his fate well and clear. Getting closer to the stronghold, they witnessed harpies flooding the inner gates, and the soldiers panicking in utter disarray - this attack must have surely just begun. The one-eyed beasts made their way to the front of the castle, climbing the battlements like a pair of sinister toddlers.

A platoon of Gran Soren guards rushed in behind the Arisen's party. At the helm stood Commander Carius, a mighty Warrior in charge of the Gransys Reconnaissance Unit.
"I see you got the message I sent you," he said, as the soldiers drew their weapons and filled the outer castle perimeter. "Your timing was impeccable."
"T'was cleverly placed," commented Arya, flashing a piece of parchment, the one used to wrap a bouquet he left her in Gran Soren. "The rats gather in the West," read the note.
Ace folded his arms with a raised brow, wondering why he didn't spot this unit during his journey here - until noticing something strange about the soldiers' formation. This wasn't a fortress assault formation. They were being surrounded.
"Arya, get down!"
The soldiers drew their bows and fired their weapons at the Arisen's group with an insane speed, the likes of which can only be perfected with constant practice and rehearsals. The Hearthstone Arisen ducked down, flinching at the feeling of an arrow that pierced her shoulder. Strangely, it was only the tip. Her eyes followed the shaft of the arrow to Kairo's chest, who was looking her in the eyes.
"I didn't make it in time, Arisen," he lamented, before breaking off the arrow and turning back around with his longbow trained on the enemies around them. It seems that first attack was meant only for Arya, but it would also seem the undercover Salvation agents already had their next shots nooked.
"You were easier to trick than I thought," remarked Carius, chuckling.
Arya slid her blade against the top of her shield, "Oh?"
"Uaaahhgh!" A Salvation member's screams were followed by a cracking splatter as he fell from the upper battlements of the fortress, no doubt a Ranger, placed in case the surprise attack on Arya failed.
"Where's my money Carius?" Inquired Elvira, her piercing green eyes staring down from where she kicked the sniper off the ledge.
"You never told us you were an Arisen! You're blasphemy incarnate! You broke the deal, not us!"
Fighting bursted out in the platoon of soldiers, throwing the courtyard into utter disarray.
"Don't underestimate Ser Arya!" Said Tsung, taking off his Gran Soren Guard helmet and freeing his wild brown ponytail. The rest of Bandit Tsung's crew took off their disguises and charged the enemy - Arya had already prepared beforehand just in case of a set up.

  "Wh-what..? This can't be!" Commander Carius drew his blade, "Form on me!" His soldiers scant survived the surprise attack from within, and only a few made it to his side, before being quickly dispatched by Ceres and Kairo.
"Oh, it be," said Ace, bouncing on his tiptoes. "I'm your opponent."
Carius wielded his Longsword, the Malignance, with a superb ease. His stance was lower than one would expect, and brimming with poise. The Commander was a skilled swordsman for certain. Charging forward, the Commander knew that he had to push the pace against an agile dagger wielder like Ace - who dodged his first swath with relative ease. The next, a dastardly low horizontal swing. Ace, a cunning Assassin, shared many a battle with the powerhouses that makes Warriors, so he was well-aware of the centrifugal force necessary to get a decisive cut. The Oriental Arisen dodges with a forward leap, "My chance to strike!" He thinks to himself now that he's closed the distance, but is quickly met with a powerful shoulder charge that sends him stumbling to the ground.
The game was usually simple - be faster than your opponents hips, but Commander Carius was a different type of blademaster. "Shit!" Ace quickly rolled to the side, just missing the edge of an upward arc drawn by Carius's longsword.
The tackle was already genius, a quick attack that doesn't require the longsword wielder to move his weapon, forces the opponent to the ground and instantly granted him the upper hand. Naturally, everyone attacks from the top on a grounded opponent, so only a seasoned combatant would be clever enough to swing from the ground-up.
"Why has no-one else used that before?" Ace wondered, now struggling against the constant volley of unorthodox strikes from his enemy, until it struck him - no-one attacks from the ground up because they can't generate enough power to actually slice someone's flesh from that angle. The Arisen Assassin quickly realized, one connected strike from this man would be his death - whether he blocked it or not.

Elvira snatched her blade from a Salvation member's neck. "Easy," she remarked, before quickly sprinting to the next victim, who raised his weapon in response. To his surprise, Elvira slid under his guard, tripping him off his feet before he met his fate at the end of Arya's sword. Tsung and his bandits overpowered Salvation's forces with the help of Ceres and Kairo, and regrouped to launch an attack on the castle.
Ace struggled to find an opening to attack his fearsome opponent, but managed to notice a glimpse of a pause between wind-splitting strikes from Commander Carius. Ace dashed forward with a blinding sideways stab to Carius's throat, but was again quickly countered and thrown off balance by a staggering forward charge, and thrown to the side, hitting the ground with incredible force - enough to send him tumble-rolling into the dirt.
And there it was, an attack from the top. Ace put up his guard, seeing clearly the grin that crept across his foe's face. Carius knew that blocking an attack from his massive blade was equivalent to suicide. Dazzling parks spiraled off the connection of the metals, before Carius's blade was shoved into the stoney pavement.
"Inconceivable..!"
 Ace used the momentum to deflect the attack as opposed to blocking it, leaving Carius open and baffled as he closed the distance and flipped over the Commander's shoulder before jumping on his back. The disguised Salvation member struggled but alas - 'twas for naught. Ace lodged both daggers into Carius's neck, savagely ripping them back out as he jumped from his back, an otherwise Perfect Kill. He skillfully brandished his weapons before flicking the blood off of them.
"Let's go,  the Elysion awaits us inside."