Of course Damian was anything but idle during his time as rearguard, not like he had much choice in the matter, every few moments he was forced to let an arrow fly in order to save another sleepers life, he had been curious about the nature of flaws since he first acquired his own, he at first believed them to be personifications of a person's inner most qualities brought to the surface by the flaw and judged by an authority which did not quite line up with human morality.
Since then however he met Jasper which shattered that idea completely, making it seem like a flaw was more of an ungovernable law imposed on those infected by the nightmare spell as a form of balance, crediting to what it said during their ascension, "All power has a price".
Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing a piece of the puzzle, a piece which would shine on the true nature of flaws that he had yet to grasp and maybe never would, they seemed too personal, almost tied to the person even if the connection wasn't clear at first. He had also realised that a flaw cannot be broken no matter how hard a person tries, the only thing a person could do was learn to live with it as best as they could.
His own for example seemed very nonimposing at first glance, being compelled to help and protect others was already a core value of his and he had failed to see how that could be interpreted as a flaw, but after his travels he had learnt to view it a bit differently. There had been more than a few times where his body had moved on its own in order to protect another, he had always assumed that it was his will that was causing these actions but now he was certain it was his flaw making itself known.
His flaw, [Guardian] was all too simple that he had failed to interpret it as it was intended, "You must protect others", he had taken it was a moral standpoint, that he must do what he could to protect those that he needed to protect, but that was only partially true, in truth it forced him to protect all people who he could see are in danger, pushing him to do what is needed to ensure their survival.
Take what happened at Reserve for example, had he liberated the people there because he wanted to or because his flaw forced him to save the people, to protect them from the dangers of Javier, he wasn't sure he wanted to believe that it was his will but then again the thought of freeing Jasper and just leaving the people behind had alluded his mind to the point of it seeming almost obvious in hindsight. Who wouldn't want to escape to live another day? What person would risk their lives for strangers they have never met.
Even now when he was supposed to be letting sleepers fight with the fear of danger in their hearts he couldn't stop himself from firing arrows out at an astonishing rate, feeling his muscles and bones move as if they were being puppeted by another was both a horrific and strange sensation, as the feeling was not external and instead felt natural, almost instinctual.
It was during this volley in which he learnt two important details on his flaw, the first and least important was that if he knew that someone was in danger he couldn't stop himself from aiding them in some way, he was physically unable to prevent himself from protecting another person, however if he believed that his actions were protecting another even if they didn't in the end that was fine.
The second and more startling thing he realised was that his flaw made him an even better marksman than he ever was before, or at least the potential to be since his body was aiming on its own if he trained with his flaw and learnt to use it for himself instead of against then he could use it to perform feats he otherwise believed he couldn't but that would take an astounding amount of time, more time than they had.
However there was one way he could temper his flaw, it was true that he couldn't stop himself from helping others but that could mean a litany of things, for one it did not mean he had to kill the enemy, simply sending them of course, distracting them or dealing non lethal damage to throw them off would also suffice as long as he believed it to be suitable protection, so that was what he was doing at this moment, firing off shots at key points of key targets in order to give the impression that the danger was more real than it was, truth be told with a well placed shots he could likely take down the undead soldiers before they ever got close, but the rest need the experience, they are too used to fighting battles against dormant creatures, they all were so to experience a true battle of titanic proportions was what they needed at this time.
They were sure to fight more of these undead abominations in the near future, so knowing how to fight them was more important than killing them before they ever knew what they were capable off, releasing another arrow Damian watched as it pierced the wrist of the front most undead, as Warden and his group tackled with the insurmountable behemoth ahead of them.
The group closer to the gate had far more success so far, taking care of most of the remaining wolves with ranged Aspects and memories before attacking their own undead horror, its vision had been damaged and its energy was slowly being drained Jasper which made it a much easier for to face on paper but its much greater range from its weapon evened out the odds by disallowing the melee fighters from getting too close.
On the surface their odds were rather good, even if it took a thousand cuts the monsters would eventually fall, but that was only a surface level appearance in reality they were on a timer, they didn't know if other abominations would emerge from the city to aid in the defence and the protective measures they had prepared were slowly falling apart blow by blow, it was a fragile balance which was only one moment away from ending in the deaths of dozens of young sleepers.
They had to discover if these creatures had any weakness they could exploit and from the looks of it, there were not many, their range was limited which would make long distance memories and Aspects especially effective against them, their amour had a number of weak points around the joints which could be exploited and finally despite their fierce intelligence they seemed to only be focused on battle, possibly making them easy to trick.
Daimian watched over the battle with held breath, he knew that they were likely doomed, if he didn't do something more to help, their attack power was too little to break through the creatures defense so what could be done, suddenly an idea came to his mind as he turned to Jackie who had taken it upon himself to hunt for small insects in this dire battle by pecking at the ground,
"Jasper, listen to me, the balance of this battle will shift soon if we don't do something now. I know this sounds crazy but rip both of the larger fangs from that skull you're carrying around and run towards the undead currently fighting mechanic and stab them into the back of its knees to bring it down lower to the ground."
///
Through the senses of Jackie Jasper heard Damian's idea loud and clear, the plan seemed a bit strange on the surface but it couldn't be helped he guessed, he lowered the skull to the ground and attempted to rip the fangs out of their grip yet no matter how hard he tried they simply wouldn't budge, he normally would have unsummoned and resummoned the [Devourer's Sight] for a task like this but doing so would rob his allies of a vital advantage, as the drawing power of the blade only remains as long as the blade does.
After attempting a few more times he looked at the severed head in defeat as he spoke quickly,
"Fang-fucking-tastic, now what?"
Looking over at his target he quickly glanced back at the head then back as the semblance of an idea crossed his mind, as he began to run forward, holding both the top and bottom of the jaw was a little awkward at first but he quickly got a good enough grip to hold the jaw as wide open as possible as he focused on the legs of the creature.
Calling forth the wreath of lightning his body sizzling and cracking as he approached with incredible speed he tried his best to contain his ever growing strength, making sure not to rip the skull apart on accident, it was a difficult job, having to readjust his strength every step in order to make sure his precious cargo was not broken before it came to harbor.
Soon enough he found himself in the shadow of the creature as members of Wardens group stared at him with strange expressions over their faces as he approached, catching sight of warden as he barely avoided a stray blow from the creature as the poor shieldmaiden had been forced to retreat for a few moments after a devastating attack had knocked the wind out of her, her shield barely holding itself together any longer.
///
As Warden stared up at the undead knight he couldn't help but fear more than a little fear, as he barely avoided a strike which would have cleaved him in half from head to toe, who wouldn't be fearful when facing an embodiment of death itself, but that wasn't what scared him the most, for he had noticed Jaspers approach, and why did it seem like he was directly in his path!
No sleeper here no matter how strong their armour could withstand a direct collision with that man, no wonder Damian had so much faith in his strength, he had probably seen him rend Devils with nothing but pure force alone, Warden stepped to the side as he watched what the living lighting bolt was doing, his senses overwhelmed by the sensation of an oncoming storm, and not just his,even their enemy paused for the briefest of moments to assess the situation, but by then it was already too late as Warden had realised the plan already.
Stepping forward he readied himself and began to raise his blade up high, however due to the difference in height he was sure to miss the creature, however in the next moment a thundering crash was heard as the sound of warping metal echoed over the battlefield. Warden watched as the man violently snapped the jaw of the creature shut just as he got behind the creature, tearing its legs from the rest of its body, causing its torso to begin a freefall. The wolf's skull exploded from the force as Jasper threw himself to the side to avoid colliding with any other sleepers as he rolled through the mud, and as the creature fell, its head pierced the blade of Warden's blade as it skewered itself on its edge.
Warden felt as what little life the creature once held whispered away as the strange voice, the nightmare spell as Damian and Jasper had called it, spoke in his ear, the voice was harsh yet firm both new and old as it whispered,
[You have Slain an Awakened Demon, Bastion sentinel]
[You have received a memory]
///
Damian looked over the scene ahead of him with a look of pride, even if the plan had changed a bit it seemed like it had all worked out in the end, Jest looked at him with a strange look in his eyes as he spoke,
"That was a really fang-tastic plan you came up with there."
The look on his face of a barely contained laugh contrasted deeply with Damian's expression of contemplating punching the man in the throat to stop him from speaking, truly hoping that these terrible puns may very well be this man's own flaw and not just a facet of himself in order to give him some benefit of the doubt.
Either way he truly hoped that Jasper would never become as unfunny as this guy was, knowing that he surely would not make such a terrible pun…right?