( @Radiant I'll continue my part.)

{As Ana fled, all the draugrs kept shooting at her, and a few centaurs started to chase her. Biceras did her best to cover her retreat, but a battle mage stepped forward and Covered her from arrows with a ward.}
Biceras: "ANA GET YOUR AS.S BACK HERE NOW!"

{The cavalry unit circled back to the army, Eldritch in tow.}
Commander: "Stay 'frosty', Eldritch. This is far from over!"

{The centaurs charged the pair of vampires, looking to trample them.}

(Lol, I accidentally posted this painting twice. XD)

(I have permission so
Hi)

Hi, Fade!

Ana ran back to rejoin Biceras in the army, a little out of breath. 'Dammit,' she growled. 'That should have been way easier.'

Eldritch sighed, muttered something about wishing all the draugrs would just disappear, and then - spotting the centaurs charging at Armin and Sargon - conjured another ice wall to slow them down.

Sargon watched the ice wall forming. 'We had best get away from here,' he said. 'We have no chance against all of those creatures.' He shifted into falcon form and leapt up into the sky, keeping a wary eye out for arrows. Armin did the same. The knife stuck in his hand disappeared when he shifted due to his bird form not having any equivalent of hands.

(I don't know if you'll check the old room for replies, so I'll say it here too:
Yup, that post was my little April Fools' joke. X) )

(Lol k.)
{As soon as Ana gets back in formation, Biceras starts to chew her out.}
Biceras: “The hell were you thinking?! Don’t you know these things thrive off of overwhelming lone infantry? Do that again and I’ll tell Sargon that you’re way too reckless to be working for him!”

{In response to losing their prey, the centaurs paw the ground, frustrated, and disperse throughout the city. The cavalry commander looked at Eldritch when he muttered.}
Commander: “Oh, you want them to disappear, do you? Well then, better get killin’.”

Ana scowled at Biceras. 'Oh, don't be stupid. Sargon wouldn't leave me just because of something you said. I'm too valuable for him to let go.'

Eldritch just sighed and watched the centaurs fleeing. //I would if only they'd come close enough...//

Biceras: "Oh? Would you rather I be the one to inform your boss of your death when you get ripped apart by zombies? Because that's the way it's looking!"

{Despite these two arguing, the army pushed on. One beetle rushed a tall building and knocked it over, destroying some of the archers}

{As Sargon and Armin rejoined the scouts, their commander addressed them.}
Commander: //Hey, good job clearing the skies. One less necromancer to worry about. Keep an eye out for more!//

'I'm not going to die!' snapped Ana. 'A silly little battle like this is NOTHING to me! I've faced much worse dangers in my time as Sargon's right-hand. There's no way I'd let myself be killed by these stupid creatures, so stop worrying!'

Armin and Sargon flew higher. From their vantage point, they could easily spot any bird draugrs or shifters flying below them.

{Biceras reaches behind Ana and pulls out an arrow that was lodged in her back armor plate, then gives her a look like, "Are you serious?"}
Biceras: "Look at this! An inch higher and it would have gone through your neck!"
Commander: "That's enough out of the both of you! Ana shouldn't have broken formation, and we don't need a discussion about it! Now get back to work!"
{At that moment, the Root Monster reappeared a good distance away, chucking more debris at the Army.}

{For Armin and Sargon, the skies were clear. It seems that the one necromancer had been controlling all the birds.}

'And it didn't! So there's nothing to worry about!' Ana growled, before stopping abruptly and looking towards the root monster. 'Look, there's that thing again. We should destroy it.'

//All clear,// said Sargon after a minute or two of circling the skies.

//Well, I guess there's nothing much to do up here,// said Armin. He flew back down onto the street and shifted back to human form, drawing his sword and looking around.

(Sorry, been busy. Will continue this soon.)

(No worries. I've been kinda unmotivated to write anyway.)

{Biceras turns towards the root monster, turning her weapon on the creature.}
Biceras: "I'll burn a hole in it, you hit him with something!"

{As soon as Armin hit the ground, hordes of draugrs piled out of the windows and doors of the surrounding buildings, running at him.}

'Got it!' Ana faced the root monster and prepared to throw a magic ball as soon as she saw the hole was wide enough.

Armin took one look at the draugrs and immediately shifted back to bird form, taking off into the sky. //Bad place to land,// he thought. //Maybe it's better to stay up here after all.//

//Or you could kill them,// Sargon suggested.

//Are you kidding?! There were like fifty of them! YOU go and fight them!//

While the two were arguing, Knife suddenly came charging into the midst of the draugr horde, blasting them with ice breath.

{As Biceras focused her weapon on the creature, a part of it fell away, creating a hole.}
Biceras: "Ana, now!

{The commanders were too focused on the battle to notice Knife sneaking off to fight. As soon as he froze some draugrs, the rest swarmed him like ants, biting, hacking, and stabbing Knife from all sides.}

With a grunt of effort, Ana hurled an energy ball up at the creature. It had hard to aim accurately from so far away, but she got lucky, the energy ball going right into the hole Biceras had formed and striking the necromancer with explosive force.

Knife, seemingly not caring that he was outnumbered, fought back against the draugrs, spinning in a circle and blasting ice breath in an attempt to freeze them all at once. He was beginning to get the attention of several other soldiers - Eldritch was eyeing him nervously, but didn't want to break ranks to help, and Armin and Sargon were watching from above.

Armin telepathically contacted one of the commanders. //There's a big draugr swarm over here, focused on some ice dragon who I guess is on our side.//

{The commander replies to Armin and Sargon}
Commander: //Alright, a beetle is en route.//
{With that, a beetle broke formation and used the light weapon on its underneath structure to destroy the horde, freeing Knife, but covering Knife in ash. The necromancer gets hit by the blast ad flies out the back. Without its master, the root monster collapsed and died. The necromancer, however, recovered quickly and ran for the buildings.}

Knife clawed his way out from under the pile of ash, looking around to see what had destroyed the draugrs. When he spotted the beetle flying overhead, he roared at it (his way of saying thank you) and then bounded away to rejoin the rest of the army.

Ana saw the necromancer running away, and scowled. 'He should be dead. Or close to death. How did he survive that? And are we supposed to chase him, or let him run?'

{Biceras shrugs.}
Biceras: "Adrenaline, probably. These guys clearly aren't human. I don't think we can break formation yet."

{Just then, a telepathic call came in to the scouts.}
Commander: //All scouts, be advised. A necromancer is on the field, running west through the buildings. Eliminate him with extreme caution.//

Ana rolled her eyes. 'But he's just going to run off and cause trouble. It would so much better if I flew after him and killed him...'

//OK, we're looking for him,// Armin responded to the commander. Circling high above the city, he searched the ground below for the necromancer. With the sharp vision of a hawk, he was quickly able to spot him. //Hey Sargon, want to actually be useful for once?//

Sargon was already swooping down towards the necromancer. He dived, extending his talons, aiming to strike the necromancer from behind. Armin, meanwhile, decided to land in front of the necromancer and draw his sword, blocking his path.

{Biceras looked up to see Sargon swooping for the necromancer.}
Biceras: "Oh, I'm sure he'll be dealt with."

{The necromancer was already in bad shape from Ana's attack when Sargon's swoop made him stumble. Drawing a longsword, he turns to face Armin, breathing heavily from exhaustion. This necromancer was a well built, middle aged man. He glared at Armin with utmost hatred.}

After his strike made contact, Sargon swooped backwards and landed behind the necromancer, shifting to human form and summoning his dual blades. The necromancer was now trapped between the two vampires.

Armin looked at the necromancer's sword and laughed. 'A sword? I thought you could use magic?' Without waiting for an answer, he dashed forwards and aimed a powerful horizontal slash at the man, as if to decapitate him.

{The necromancer parries Armin, then sidesteps to keep both his assailants in front of him.}

{The army continues to advance, driving the line of draugrs back.}
Commander: //Knife, advance ahead, assist those scouts with that necromancer. The rest of you, keep those draugrs back!//

Armin and Sargon both began to move towards the necromancer, trying to corner him against a wall. Armin continued to taunt him. 'What, no fancy magic tricks? Nothing at all? I could just walk up to you and cut you in half, you know.'

Knife roared in acknowledgement and began to charge ahead, closing in on the spot where Armin and Sargon were confronting the necromancer.

{The Necromancer grimaces, trying to manage a smirk through the pain.}
"Just try, parasites!"
{The necromancer then drops his blade and transforms into a horrific man-bat creature, with the head and wings of a bat, the body of a human, and long, thin claws on his hands and feet. Rushing forward, he attempts to knock the two vampres to the ground.}

Armin yelped and threw himself to the side to evade the creature's lunge. Sargon, however, stood his ground and struck out with one of his blades, trying to impale the creature through the chest as it rushed towards him.

{The Man-Bat took the blade in the chest in order to grab Sargon by the face. Holding his entire head in one hand, the Man-Bat begins to fly away with Sargon in hand.}

(Man-Bat: Hey Ana, I got ur boyfriend, wat u gon do 'bout it?)

(Ana: *gasps dramatically* NooooooOOOOOO)

Armin looked up at the bat-man flying away with Sargon, hesitating. He knew he should probably save him, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get rid of Sargon.

However, a moment later, Knife came charging onto the scene. Flapping his wings furiously, he leapt into the air and started to fly after them, roaring. 'Wanna fight, monster?! I'll give you one!'

{Seeing Knife chasing him, the Man-Bat flies for the buildings filled with draugrs.}
Man-Bat: "REEEEEEEEEE!"

(He can't talk in this form Lol.)

Seeing that the man-bat couldn't speak, Knife didn't bother talking either. He just let out a bloodthirsty howl and blasted the creature with ice breath, not seeming to care much if he hit Sargon in the process.

Armin sighed and shifted into hawk form to follow them, sending a telepathic message to Knife. //Hey, big guy, you're flying straight towards a ton of draugrs. Did you know that?//

{Knife's ice breath froze up the Man-Bat's wings, causing him to fall short, dropping Sargon in the process.}
Commander: //Now's your chance! Finish him!//

Sargon shifted to falcon form in midair and managed to fly up before he hit the ground. He seemed to have avoided being hit with the brunt of Knife's breath.

Knife pounced on the man-bat, sunk his teeth into his neck, and slammed him into the ground. Pinning the creature down, Knife casually tore him apart.

{As the necromancer died, about seventy five percent of the draugrs turned to ash upon his death. The remaining forces quickly began to retreat.}
Soldier: "Look, they're retreating! We actually did it, we won!"

Ana looked around, a confused expression on her face. 'How'd that happen? Oh... I guess whoever was controlling all those zombies just got killed. I wonder who it was.'

Knife ran back to rejoin the main bulk of the army after killing the necromancer. Sargon and Armin circled above the troops. //I think it might be over,// commented Armin as the draugrs began to scramble away.

{Biceras just smiles.}
"I think it was the root monster guy. Someone must have got him."

{As the draugrs retreated, the army advanced into city center. As they go along, a small building comes into view. It looks like a makeshift prison.}
Commander: //Scouts. Report to city center. The battle is won, but we need you to investigate something here.//