At first she thought they had the best - roaring fire and blasting wind knocking the beast out of the sky. And as Bone turned to her next opponent, so did Asimona, turning and banking to follow, a few lengths behind.

And from her position, she saw everything. The flames and the dark halberd. She couldnt see it well, but one moment the dark shape disappeared behind a wall of light and then it cut off with a horrified choked sound.

Her heart skipped a beat as Bone faltered, falling, blood pouring from her jaws, the halberd lodged solidly within her maw. And as she watched, her daughter fell, staining the ground sickly red, and then she was gone in a cage of diamond.

A moment later, Asimona threw back her head and let out an agonized, furious roar that rose above the din of battle. "BONE! NOOOOO!!" Her worst fear almost bloomed before her eyes - children dead, family destroyed, Asimona left alone, all alone, once again. A mother whod failed her duty. No - no that would never happen! She protected her children and if they fell, she avenged them!

She dove forward, fury incarnate, letting loose a challenging roar as she aimed towards that black shape that had felled her daughter from the sky. "YOU WILL DIE! I WILL KILL YOU AND ANY WHO STAND WITH YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!" She could only hope that Dread had seen what had happened - seen and felt the same need for vengeance that Asimona did, but she had no mind to call for the dragon now. She could only focus on killing her attacker.

Too angry to conjure up any sort of magic, she simply let loose a challenging roar, missingthe frost, as she dove towards the Sentinel.

@The Sentinel

Blight was angling downward, soaring toward the Sentinel with the full intention of cleansing his disease when he was presented with the utterly horrific vision of Bone arcing inward, attacking him with flame. "NO!" he tried to warn--wrong team--but it was too late.

When she crashed into the beach in a spray of blood, Blight slammed down just beside her, rushing for her side--but her chrysalis had taken her. Relief washed through him so powerfully he felt dizzy--and then he heard Asimona behind him. He turned, blinking up.

Bone's mother-? he thought--horror curling back through him. "SHE'S OKAY! SHE ATTACKED--THE WRONG--IT'S HIVE!" he tried to roar back. But it was telling that he mantled over the diamond chrysalis, guarding it with his life.

His glance to the Sentinel was not a forgiving one--fury trickled up in him--but it had been self-defense. Perhaps if Bone had died--really, truly died--he'd have tried to kill the creature anyway. And it was likely a good thing that Blight had no idea Bone herself was Hive-... He swung to face the battle. He wasn't about to waste time healing the one who'd just impaled his aunt--where the hell is Dad for that matter--but he could try to finish this battle. The sooner it was over, the less chance Bone's chrysalis would come to harm--along with the rest of his family.

He rose back up a moment later, sweeping down and angling for Orthus as he flew, attempting to infuse the beast with his incubated plague.

@Orthus and @Asimona (for visibility)

Dread turned, banking upward with powerful beats of his wings. He set his sight next on the one in the sky--Ace. Long, pale, draconic but covered in bloodlike pustules--it looked disgusting, and triggered every territorial sense in the angry dragon.

Ember eyes (and full attention) fixed on this new target; he was oblivious to the more distant battle involving his own children.

He swept up from beneath, coming in at full speed, inhaling and snapping his jaws open; a torrent of flame-breath spread for Ace as he shot past, Dread intending to engulf his target in boiling flame.

@Ace

INSECT- came the horrified thought, a Praetor's jaws closing for him.

He turned, made more sluggish by this strange haze settling over him. He knew not where this sickly feeling had come from, but it drained him, and his attempt to dodge--to lunge instead for his halberd, to retrieve it--was slow.

He felt the mandibles snap shut on his waist--on his armor--yanking him back; and then felt them shear through the flesh of his right leg, slamming him to the ground. An instant later the Praetor was straddling him, his arms barely holding it from his throat. Likely it was the only thing to save him from the other white dragon's maternal fury--something he barely registered, with the growing realization that they were outnumbered here.

A moment more and it would have him--his head lopped from his shoulders or, if he were lucky, his Onyx rising to save him.

Nidhogg--who was still an idiot, by the way, just in case anyone was wondering--saw his next target in the absolutely enormous, terrifying, spiky boar-beast named Scorn.

Ahem--SCORN.

For some reason, he thought it would be a great idea to go for Scorn's hind legs--maybe to try and cripple him, to hamstring him, from behind. "From behind" was probably his only wise decision: his streaking (blood trail behind him) for the drone's hind end was, at least, less likely to put him in immediate fatal danger than going for the tusks.

He found himself biting sand--and still trailing oily blood--despite jolting from one battle entirely into a different one and theoretically having the advantage of surprise.

Nidhogg stared at the sand for a moment, and then--furious that he'd missed, and bitten the beach--'punished' it by biting it again. Savagely.

The dragon, Dread, demanded one thing in return for his loyalty: shinies. Cain's brain broke momentarily, but its answer came steadfast: "Whatever your price, I'll pay it!" it yowled, "See to it that the Hive falls!" And it almost expected the greedy bastard to laugh in its face and try to swallow it whole, but that was truly all it took to sway the beast. The dragon was unleashed upon the Hive forces, and immediately proved his value: he swept down and set aflame one of the Hive monstrosities that was assaulting its Master.

The consequences of its promise were little more than an afterthought. It now had more pressing matters: The Forge's numbers were dwindling, being overwhelmed by the Hive's sheer number of drones.

Cain's attention drifted across the various dragons. One: Now on their side. Two: Crystalized. Three: Least imposing, screeching about the Hive, possible ally? Fourth: Draconua. Fifth: White, and breathing ice toward the side of Chaos, most immediate threat outside of the Sixth: the other Hive Dragon monster that was fighting the literal Sword of Chaos.

So it seemed like the Overseer had it's next target.

Crimson eyes locked upon Asimona in all her white, ice-breathing glory, and it tilted its wings to swoop toward the dragon's path. If it failed to grab her with magic, then it would need to be positioned as a distraction, but its magic rang true, if weak. Cain grasped for her wings with its magic and tried to jerk her flight path to the side, to turn her into a tailspin that would send her crashing into the army of Praetors.

"Not if I end you first!" Cain yowled as it bee-lined for the dragon in white, fully intending to make itself a target. If it could draw her anger, it would let the Forge continue to focus on the foot-soldiers.

@Asimona

She'd intended on continuing her path, to crash amidst the soldiers of chaos and create her own havoc amongst them - strike them down right and left, freeze and crush and kill them all for the pain they inflicted on her and her daughter. The yowl of Cain at first went unnoticed, but then her wings were jerking out of her control and her eyes snapped to the small shape that was hurtling towards her.

With a flick of her magic, powerful winds began to blow across the battlefield, rising up to billow beneath her wings, correcting her flight path and supporting her to rise so that she didn't crash into the insectoid creatures beneath her. She lifted a few feet, hovering above the fighting, pulled out of the dive and the crash landing the cat creature had forced on her, and now her burning gaze was focused on Cain, fury and hatred in every breath. "THEN YOU WILL BE THE FIRST TO DIE!"

@Cain

The mirth was fading, the joy of fighting was suddenly gone as it realized that they were being overrun. Without warning, the creatures of Order were converging on it and the Sentinel and it found one of the biggest of the monstrosities was coming its way, stingers poised to sink into his throat - a blow that would surely be fatal.

With all the speed it could muster, it raised the hilt of Lightning and made to strike back at the stinger, to knock it away, hopefully to avoid injury. It still felt the sharp point carve a wound over their shoulder, probably packed with venom, but the adrenaline of battle held the pain at bay - for now. The Warden snarled and prepared to strike back when it realized that the Sentinel had fallen.

@Juggernaut (for visibility, not attacking)

The Sentinel was on the ground, held by a horrid looking white insect...thing. One of Order's creations, no doubt, and the sick feeling in its stomach told it that if it didn't act now...the Sentinel could die.

It turned rather clumsily, tripping in its haste, and made to canter towards the Praetor and knock it off before it could strike any deadly blow against the Sentinel. It would use its sheer size and momentum to carry it off...but the strike from the tank-creature had slowed it down. It wouldn't make it in time to act.

Azrael's claws met thin air - something that did not sit well with the beast, that such a large target and STILL he missed. He landed and turned with a snarl, prepared for the fight to continue, to be attacked with strength or sting or even a spell but

the creature

turned

away.

Azrael's eyes widened with disbelief that he would be so ignored. That he was so insignificant in this battle that his enemy simply turned its back to go to someone else. That he was not a threat, not an opponent.

Fury unlike anything he'd experienced before rose up to smother the wounded pride. An almost child-like tantrum was brewing, demanding that he be taken seriously, he be noticed, he be FEARED.

He stood up tall and glared daggers at the Juggernaut, opening his four arms wide and letting loose another roar, which came with a burst of his magic, strength enough to make the lights on his chest glow more intensely. And with the magic, the lights in the cave of Leo went out.

It was a rapid but not sudden change. It started with flickering lights before one by one they all began to dim and blink out, although the spell hadn't fully taken hold, some of the lights still blinking here and there, a few still dimly shining. But, for the most part, darkness had settled over the battlefield, besides the spray of flame and gleaming eyes.

Let them fight each other, then! But they would do so in HIS darkness.

Yeah, so, the lights are (mostly) off. It's now dark in here