Event Private Finished Noblesse oblige

If only Charlie stopped talking and focused more on his surrounding, he would be less annoying. Béatrice did not mind him usually, but he seemed to enjoy speaking during this battle, and it kept messing with her focus. For now, she could ignore that, as the disgusting stench of burning flesh grabbed Béatrice's attention, forcing her to cover her nose to think clearly. First, the panther started burning Charlie's zombies, and now it showed itself to have been barely harmed by Béatrice's attack, if at all. She should have expected this battle to be harder than she imagined, but she always tried to keep an optimistic approach to life. Failure only made the victory taste sweeter. This was merely one challenge towards a greater ending.

She was preparing another attack, one that involved summoning water to turn into ice picks, but was distracted by a dark figure in her lower peripheral vision moving towards Charlie and his army. Once she focused more on it, she realized it was more like a shadow. "Charlie!" She shouted down to him, halting her magic, so only bubbles of water floated above her, not yet formed into a concrete shape. "Watch out! A shadow a coming towards you!" She hated calling out the movements of her opponent, as it allowed them to change their plans, even if they were not sentient. Battling in pairs was not something she was familiar with, and since Charlie was just an acquaintance, she lacked the connection she had with her friends and family that made hunting with them much easier.

Now that she got that warning out of the way, she hardened the water into sharp shards of ice, then sent a rain of them down towards the panther, assuming it was still somewhat distracted. It was difficult keeping them aimed straight for the panther, worrying that they would hit Charlie. The zombies were expendable. There was practically an infinite amount of corpses available for him to reanimate. A few being stabbed by her rain of ice would be fine as long as Charlie stayed safe. As long as there were enough to keep the panther distracted and assisted them, she cared little for his hoard.

The water was not going to help. The heat was intense, and the cat only continued to get hotter. The crab, though, was doing its dirty business. Every blow cracked against the cats back, sending its screeching as it withdrew, trying to pull away from the crab as it continued to heat up. The heat would be hot enough that even Charlie would be feeling it, although he likely lacked the ability to actually feel the heat. His zombies certainly would be though, as they cooked in death, stabbing repeatedly at the cat.

The chain simply glanced off the ground where the shadow was, the massive shadow showing no signs of having even noticed as it continued it's advance.

And then, rather abruptly, Beatrice would find herself knocked from the sky. The source of the shadow was nothing more than a massive bird, its body easily ten feet from feet to the top of its head, and it's wingspan so massive that it made Beatrice look absolutely tiny by comparison.

It looked like a massive bearded vulture, and as it dropped from the sky it had simply knocked Beatrice out of the way. She was not the creature's target. Instead, the bird was going for the massive horde of zombies, raking its claws through the crowd before lifting off with a massive sweep of its wings, lifting several of the more skeletal creatures with it, clasped in its well armored talons.

Béatrice tried not to let herself feel down at the sight of the panther not being affected by her rain of icicles. This was just another challenge that would lead to a more rewarding victory. Even if she was starting to feel useless in this battle, she was a powerful and proud oricenta. One of the smartest out there. There was undoubtedly something she could think of to assist Charlie and show that she deserved to have the leftovers of their prey after this. No reason to act like a petulant child who could not get her way after a few misses.

She would have continued with giving her a mental pep talk if not for an enormous bird knocking her from the sky, sending her spinning through the air and floating towards the ground. She was lucky to be very light, which made the fall less painful, but the hit from the bird left her feeling bruised and sore. When she got back up, she flinched, yet she still pretended that the pain did not exist. That would naturally heal up soon, so there was no reason for her to flee yet.

The vulture seemed to have not cared much for Béatrice. She almost felt insulted but knew better than to act on it. Being ignored was an opportunity for a sneak attack. While Charlie's zombies took all the attention, and therefore the damage, Béatrice could prepare another attack. This one did not seem to have any fire abilities. Perfect. A bird to fight against another bird. It could not hurt to try her previous attack again. The vulture was a large one, making it easier to target, despite its speed.

Staying low, Béatrice gritted her teeth and created a gallon of water to drench herself in, then absorb for extra power. Next, she formed another large group of icicles to send shooting down at the vulture. Charlie looked to have had the panther under control with his skeletal crab. It would be a lie for Béatrice to say she was not getting frustrated with this battle, so she used that frustration as an extra adrenaline boost to give her attack more strength. The rain of icicles this time would be much rougher and quicker, as she even created more icicles after the first batch finished, not wanting to give the vulture a chance to relax. Noticing that the vulture had study talons, she tried to aim for the softer-looking parts of its body. Still, she had to be careful. At this point, she was pushing the limits of the amount of water she could summon. If only the panther did not evaporate the rest she made, then she could have recycled them for later use.

The cat was clearly reaching the end of its lifespan, its blood heavily staining the stone below it. The problem was that dying did not seem to reduce the amount of heat it was putting off. Fenced in and with few options, it literally threw itself around, swiping at the zombies around it as it tried to flee from the crab, going nowhere fast. The heat was intense - like lava flowing fresh from a volcano, and literally cooking any meat in it's immediate vicinity, even as the cat itself went still.

The bird was the bigger problem. Several of Beatrice's icicles would find their mark in the flesh of its wing, but the damage was fairly minimal. The vulture was big, and not terribly light either. It was slow to turn, durable and built for battle, but what it lacked in agility it made up for in strength and smarts.

Without even turning to the ground, the vulture released it's claws, sending the undead it had caught plummeting to their deaths before fixing its gaze on Beatrice.

Cursing under her breath, a surge of anger flooded Béatrice at the sight that another one of her attacks failed. She would have blacked out from rage, if not for the intense feeling disappearing as soon as it came, leaving only numbness behind. Good. She could think more clearly now. Béatrice flew closer down towards Charlie, deciding it was time for a change of plans. This whole time they failed to work together, focusing more on their attacks than trying to collaborate, and as painful as it was to admit, Charlie was also making more progress than she was. If they could just get a chance to speak to each other and make a plan, no matter how rough, they could make better progress and end this battle sooner.

Landing nearby the lich with barely a sound, she realized communication would be harder than expected. The vulture was looking right at her, its stare seemingly tracking her, readying itself for an attack. Staying low with Charlie might be her best bet. The monster was made for the skies, just like her, and while slow, trying to attack from the ground may be harder. The only problem would be that she was made for the skies as well, but there was an army around to protect her in case she got into more trouble.

Making this as quick as possible, she told Charlie in her usual quick-paced, but now monotone, manner, "We need to work together and create a plan. The vulture looks focused on me, so I may be able to lead it towards your army to give them a chance to attack. While I lead, I could try to blind it." Even as she spoke to the lich, her eyes stayed firmly on the vulture, making sure she would be able to fly to safety in case it attempted an attack during their conversation.

Beatrice had made two grave mistakes in her attempt to plan with Charlie. The first was landing near him. Flat footed, and even fifty feet away from the cat, she'd already start to feel the heat itself from the cat as it continued to heat up, the earth below it beginning to give way. It was good and dead even before the chain-golem and bone crab began to do their work, but the chain simply had the effect of spreading the heat back and forth.

The real issue was that taking off would not be so easy. Beatrice was not a helicopter, who could spin up while on the ground. She would need to gain momentum, and it would be very, very hard to do with the vulture soaring overhead.

It wasn't soaring long. It dove, aiming for Beatrice, it's claws aiming for her as it took advantage of the height advantage.

The intense heat radiating off of the cat forced Béatrice to stumble back from it before absorbing more water to heal and protect herself. With the panther dying, Béatrice tried to focus on the more important situation. The plan was working in a way: the vulture dove down towards her and the army surrounding her. Charlie better do his part correctly, or it will cost her her head. She was too crowded by the army of undead to have the proper room for flight, so all she could do was try to make herself as small of a target as possible. No longer needing to speak, she shifted to her hybrid form to make herself a smaller target. It did not do a lot to change her height, only making her about shoulder height (excluding her horns) compared to her other forms, but it was better to be six-foot-eight than eight feet when she had the height disadvantage and was a target. This should give his zombies enough room to fight the vulture without her being in the way.

Though that did not mean she had to be completely useless. While she hid amongst the hoard, she sent a small wave of water at the vulture's face to obscure its sight, then hurled spiked icicles at its eyes. Dizziness was starting to get to her, but it was the least she could do at the moment. Whatever Charlie did next had to work. She needed some time to relax and regain some energy, and she refused to allow herself to pass out in the middle of battle. If she just had the time, she could fly off to find a good source of water to use. Mostly for drinking, but also to absorb and not have to keep making her own supply of water.