Jefferson City 3: Bravo - The Knight

"Christ, I thought that thing would never go down..."

Natasha exhaled a sigh of relief as she flexed her fists, grateful that her shift in combat form merited the result she desired. After all, energy preservation was crucial now. Mikhail had activated his Letz Stil to kill that robot knight moments prior.

The strain alone would require a moment's rest at the very least. Far as she was concerned, the responsibility fell to her now. They seemed to be close to their destination now, but Natasha's senses remained alert, even in the current atmosphere.

After receiving her next orders, she saluted the woman with a playful smile before moving toward Mikhail, observing his condition. Releasing so much energy was no small feat, and she wondered about his capability moving forward, but any of those thoughts were reserved for later. Offering him a hand, Natasha flashed a proud grin.

"Mighty fine work, partner. Put on a performance for the ages out there, strikin' that lousy knight in two. Let's keep movin' on ahead, shall we?"

With that, she would order her men to march ahead as they continued toward their destination.

As his release came to an end, Mikhail brought himself to a halt, stopping to catch his breath. He was still listening, and even nodded in the affirmative toward Jessie's brief order, but such an exertion was hardly something he could simply push through and be back in top form immediately afterward. Nevertheless, he wore a tired smile on his face as he spoke up.

"Thank you kindly, Dame Natasha. Your showing was certainly remarkable as well. Now, let us be on!"

Taking Natasha's hand to stand fully upright, Mikhail was visibly quite tired, but he certainly had no intention of letting that stop him as they went on. After all, they had orders, and Mikhail had already made clear that he would abide by the authority of their commander.

Sharing comraderies, the group of Vandenreich soldiers were all taking a second to catch their breath. It seems the worst of it is over. There aren't any more enemy soldiers and those weird zombie things had vanished. All that's left is to get to their destination and-

The ground underneath their feet began to rumble, any Quincy in the group finding the air suffocating, but in an opposite manner. Despite using up so much of their energy, they'd feel as if a surplus of Reishi had just ran through their body, the air tingling with reishi to such an extent one could see them materializing into the natural world.

Off in the distance, a sudden inverse waterfall of Reishi shot up, the massive cylinder rising up next to where the ship from earlier had parked itself in the sky. The middle of Jefferson felt like a beacon for the spiritually aware, that mass of energy colliding with the dome that surrounded the city before spiraling out like lightning through the sky.

"Aw shucks. I reckon it wasn't as cool and as bright as yers, sugar, but I'll take yer word for it."

Natasha chortled softly as she walked beside them and her fellow soldat. For a moment, everything was relatively normal. There were no zombies or machinery in sight so far, but that didn't mean Natasha hadn't kept her eyes peeled. Even with the camaraderie so far, she remained deathly focused on ensuring nothing would catch them unawares.

Of course, that was perhaps easier said than done as, seemingly, out of nowhere, an immense wave of reishi ran through her body like a bolt of electricity. Casting her alert gaze toward the sky, she witnessed another otherworldly sight, a cylindrical mass of reishi colliding with the dome.

Regaining her balance for a moment, Natasha worked through the sudden influx of whatever hit her body, gazing at Mikhail as she paused for a moment. During all of that, was Jessie alright? What was going on now? She hardly assumed it was all over, but the current phenomenon only elicited further curiosity. Wherever they needed to be, they needed to get there pronto.

"Christ almighty, what was that just now?"

Cautiously, she directed her men and Mikhail to move ahead, if any of them properly could at the moment.

Mikhail hardly had the energy to throw himself into anything further, but even so, he couldn't simply pull back. For now, there was little else he could do but move forward at Natasha's suggestion, exhaustion all too apparent in his actions but not yet keeping him from moving forward.

"I must confess that I may not be of much use should it be a grave threat, Dame Natasha. I have already exerted myself to no small degree."

Of course, if he had to, he would certainly do so. After all, if he was going to die, then how could he simply lay down and do so? There was much yet to be done, and no honorable knight would allow others to fight for him.