War's Dusk

The surrounding spectators gaped as Xing Lei strode away from the fallen form of Galdraniae, the kobold looking no worse for wear. Palathinarious stepped forward, his blade drawn as his voice shouted out, "Hold villain! How dare you kill my companion in such a shameless and undignified fashion!"

Xing Lei glanced at the advancing platinum dragon knight, his yellow eyes looking upon one he considered an idiot, "He's not dead."

Palathinarious was building up for a charge but suddenly stumbled over his own feet at the kobold's words, "He's... not dead?" The helmeted head turned to look upon the bulk of the golden dragon, changing course to rush to his friend's side.

Xing Lei shrugged helplessly, "Not for a lack of trying. You dragons are surprisingly resistant. Not to mention fore claws make poor fists for martial techniques. So yes, your friend isn't dead yet, going to have a bad headache when he comes around though."

Palathinarious knelt by Galdraniae's body, a mailed hand resting against golden scales feeling the rise and fall of the scaled flesh as the unconscious dragon breathed in and out, an relaxed breath escaped the platinum knight before a soft glow shrouded his fist. The radiant light flooded into the fallen golden dragon, the limp head shuddered then lifted shakily. The visage of a groggy dragon turned to look at Palathinarious, "Wha... what happened?"

The platinum knight rose and shook his head, "The kobold struck you with a sneak attack."

Destorianaxe growled out from the side, "Sneak attack my ass you shiny pompous asshole! Trust a paladin of the Dragon God to twist views and turn a deserved loss into a cheap shot!"

Palathinarious turned to regard Destorianaxe and coughed, "Had your childe fought honestly I would not interfere, but latching to his back and striking him unaware, I could not allow such dishonesty to continue."

Destorianaxe growled, "The only dishonesty is what you just pulled!"

"Feh, when dealing with the foul chromatic our lord God has entrusted us to bring you down by all means necessary. Galdraniae, prepare to continue." Palathinarious turned, his blade standing on guard as the gold dragon shook the lethargy from its body, rising to stand behind the paladin. Those angry eyes narrowed on the kobold who watched the pair with disinterest. If Xing Lei had been surprised by Palathinarious healing the fallen Galdraniae, he did not show such rather he looked on as if the angry pair were naught but entertainers dancing a well rehearsed play.

Destorianaxe and Osilliaice charged past the other watchers, framing Xing Lei on the left and right. "We have your back Lei!"

With the 'duel' no more the lull in the fighting gave way to the repressed aggression from either side, lizardfolk and kobolds of all scale colors once more lunged at each other. Commanders bellowed orders that the more refined soldiers heeded, but the close proximity had thusly devolved into a grand melee. Blood flowed as weapon and claw laid open leathery flesh. The dragonfolk were no exception. Destorianaxe was quick to lunge at Palathinarious, gripping his shield and shoving it aside to slug the platinum dragonfolk. Opposite, Osilliaice had moved forward her spear leading as she jabbed at the golden dragon.

Xing Lei however had not moved, his gaze swept the wild combat around him, few would recall this look upon any kobold but for himself, he was lost within his own thoughts. His gaze was one of being perplexed, confused by the savageness of what was happening around him. These metallic dragons were suppose to be creatures of honor, yet their leaders were quick to toss aside the result of a fair fight that saw them lose, and further it seemed the people around the fight were all too content to tear each other apart.

His gaze drifted to Destorianaxe and Osilliaice, both of whom seemed dead set on opposing the metallic pair on their own. The black dragon he could understand, dragon through and through she was. Osilliaice however was a dragonfolk, she should be able to still think rationally should she not? Looking around, the same bloodlust was swelling through each individual, choking the air with every drop of blood spilt. Xing Lei swept his gaze through the mob of fighters, his eyes searching for something, were it his old life it would be incense or some immortal tool clouding minds, but neither was seemingly prevalent here, so what was the source?

The fighting raged back and forth, despite the platinum and golden armies being better outfitted it would seem at first glance that the blackscales were better trained, but Xing Lei knew different. The armored ones were no less skilled, but something was fixing the scales of the battle, evening the odds making the bloody war drag on. The kobolds eyes narrowed as he focused at a fight near by, one of the blackscales went down under a flurry of silvery blades, yet the kib's blood had not been wiped clean before one of the golden armored ones swung his blade again and ran through his companion, screaming out that the fellow soldier had fallen to the 'enemy'!

Turning Xing Lei watched this happen again in another fight, this time it was the blackscale felling a platinum clad foe with aid before murdering his kin and blaming it on a group of near by golds. A grimace crossed his muzzle, there was a third force at work here, someone who wanted the two sides to slaughter each other... yet had infiltrated all three forces. Looking back to Destorianaxe and Osilliaice his grimace deepened, could one of them be an imposter as well? Such could explain the mad lust for battle but if such were an imposter he should know?

Thus he stood there, watching the battle. Those that accosted him he dealt with swiftly. While he reaped no lives he was sure to impede their continued presence in the battle, he needed to know what was going on before he'd truly pick a side. Siding with kin was an obvious choice, but if the leadership had been replaced was he to do more harm than good? No. Better to stay neutral at least until he could root out the third influence, but he had to hurry or all three remaining forces would be knee deep in their own dead.

Rubbing his scaly jaw he considered what to do, the simplest thing would be to end the fight. While several blackscales and grayscales had developed basic cultivation, at his current standing it was still rather simple to end conflict, the real trick was keeping the weak ones alive. While his kin had cultivators that could survive him doing something big, most of these soldiers were still mere mortals. Those would likely be snuffed out like weak candles if he acted too strongly.

This left Xing Lei watching the veritable mosh pit around him, directly ending the battle would lead to too many friendlies being taken out as well thus he focused on the traitors. Like a ghost, Xing Lei began moving through the battlefield. In his passing he started to collect the turn coats. A quick chop at the back of the neck or an armor crumpling punch to the gut was usually all it took to lay low each individual. He would then carry the body away from the heavy fighting and dump the unconscious lizardfolk or kobolds in a pile. Standing near by he swept his gaze over each one in thought before yanking a ruddy gold scaled kobold from the mound and gave the short reptile a vicious shake to wake it.

Groggy, the kobold slowly awakened to being held aloft by an enemy, snarling it clawed at Xing Lei's arm like some feral cat might but the shiny claws found no purchase in the larger kobolds arm. The captives eyes widened as his claws danced over the scales as they might a solid suit of armor. Lashing out, the dark golden kobold thrashed in his captors grip, punching and kicking, yet much like the claws what fist or foot found its way to Xing Lei's body bounced off as if he had struck a wall!

Giving the captive another rough shake, Xing Lei's eyes narrowed threateningly, "Enough of that, who do you work for? Galdraniae is obviously not your lord if you so readily stab your kin in the back!" He recalled this particular captive quite vividly, the kobold had gotten a little carried away and when Xing Lei had brought the reptile low, he had been standing amongst the slashed and torn bodies of three other dark golden kobolds with no platinum or black/gray corpses near by. It had been rather obvious this turn coat had not even bothered to try and mask its traitorous ways.

Snarling the captive kobold thrashed even harder, its eyes losing focus even as its strength seemed to increase, a certain wildness rushing through its body as it raged and roared. Swinging at Xing Lei like a mad berserker the captive kobold paid no more heed to the limitations of its body. Its fists cracked as they slugged Xing Lei's immovable muzzle, the kobold would have had better luck punching a statue than the hardiness if a cultivators jaw, for while Xing Lei suffered no adverse effects of each strike, the raging kobolds knuckles were obviously broken, yet still it punched, heedless of the bloody mash it was turning its own fists into.

Xing Lei grimaced in disgust, while it wasn't unheard of that cultivators would have forbidden arts which sacrificed their well being in desperate moments, this was different he could tell. This was some sort of madness that consumed the intellect for power... but the power was almost non-existant. It was like the kobold had killed its brain to focus trying to kill his opponent even if its own body was destroyed completely. Frowning as the kobold started to froth at the mouth, Xing Lei's grip tightened, the crackle of crushed vertebrae sounded out as he crushed his captives neck, bringing the maddened flailing to a swift and complete stop.

Tossing aside the corpse Xing Lei reached for one of the blackscale lizardfolk in the pile, forcefully pinning the supposed kin down. The reptiles eyes flew wide as pain was used to rouse the unconscious traitor, the snapping of both its shoulders denying it the peace of oblivion. Its yellow eyes stared up at its abuser in hatred, no glimmer of recognition flashed in those orbs which made Xing Lei even more positive that this was not one of Destorianaxe's forces, or one more recently spawned, but if the latter was true it would certainly not be part of her army!

Torture was something refined society frowned at, yet you would be hard pressed to find a nation of this world or Xing Lei's prior world that did not liberally employ its practice. Be it savages, nobles, peasants or cultivators, nothing loosened lips and tongues as extreme violence upon a captives personage. Xing Lei was similarly well versed in the art, in fact, he rather pitied the wild eyed lizardfolk that was helpless beneath his touch. He was sure the traitor had undergone training to resist physical extremes, but this was the art of mortals. To truly torture a being required the intimate knowledge of the body and none were more versed than a cultivator. Be it man or beast, they could get the most stubborn of existences to beg for mercy.

Looking into those rage filled, yellow eyes Xing Lei's held a trace of pity as his fingers began jabbing the blackscales body, the lizardfolk staring in anger then confusion as the kobold poked and prodded its body. At first it felt an itch deep inside its muscles, the burning growing stretching through its broken limbs and growing into a fire beneath its leathery flesh as if a pyre had been lit inside its nerve endings. The blackscale grit its teeth and clenched its jaw, resisting the growing pain as Xing Lei hoisted it off the ground, holding his captive up.

The blackscales eyes twitched, blood trickled from its jaws as teeth cracked under the clench of its jaw. Then it screamed. An inhuman cry of pain. The witch burned at the stake knew an inkling of the fire currently coursing through its nervous system. The racked prisoner knew a little of the agony as its joints twisted and snapped as they tried to resist an inhuman pull. These victims screams were naught but the wail of a new borne baby before this lizardfolk whose throat tire as a soul wrenching cry of pain split the air over the sounds of battle.

Crossed blades faltered. Battered shields sunk low. Bare and armored heads turned as one to witness the source of the ungodly cries of suffering. Those closest to the pair drew back as if listening to a banshee wail. The agonized screams ripped from the lizardfolk as its broken body twitched and failed about like a boneless squid. Slowly the sounds of combat stilled, replaced by the crackle of limb bones snapping and twisting. A serenade of true complete suffering heralding a cease fire as lizardfolk, kibolds and dragonfolk as one turned to regard the unlikely source.

Xing Lei glanced around, the held aloft lizardfolk ignored as he glanced over friend and foe alike, "Are you quite finished?"