We are Legion [X]

[Hiram Ronso]

The Bikanel Desert. Arid, dry, empty and hot hot hot! Despite all this, it was the biggest tourist trap in Spira in an extremely literal sense. Sure, it looked perfectly innocent, but then you just had to go and step in it. If the heat didn't get you, the lack of water would, or the sand storms, or the quicksand, or the Fiends. It was one of those places where it really didn't pay to ditch your tour guide. If you got lost, your fate was entirely up to chance. If the Al Bhed found you, then you'd be fine. If the Fiends found you, however...

There are few who know the desert as well as the natives, and the best known is the Legion of Reaht, once a mercenary company, but now a force that fisghts to protect the innocent from monsters, both Fiendish and otherwise. They often offer escort services over the desert and to the Al Bhed city of Home, and will fight anyone who attempts to stop them. In fact, they're doing it right now. Let's watch...

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Bringing Oathbreaker down with his full strength behind it, Hiram Ronso shattered yet another Fiend, the force of the blow flinging it several feet. It was neither the first nor last kill of the day, and the battle still raged around him as his Legion struggled to hold the defensive perimeter they had established around the people they were escorting. The Legion numbered at slightly less than one hundred men, each one a veteran of countless skirmishes, but the Fiends had strength in numbers. They had been ambushed by just over three hundred, and a third of those had fallen, but not without cost.

Lost in thought, Hiram failed to notice one of the Fiends lunging for him, sharp talons aiming at his throat, only to be knocked back by one of his Promises, visible only as a floating disk of shimmering air, like heat mist. Warned by the Fiend's surprised cry, Hiram brought his right foot up to meet the beast's face, and the force of the Thrust Kick sent it flying so far that not even the Legionnaire's leonine eyes could see where it landed. Whirling, he brought his hammer down again, smashing a third Fiend that had been trying to sneak up on him.

They would need a miracle soon, or they would surely be overwhelmed...

[X]

X crested another sand dune, wiping the sweat off his brow. It had been hell getting here and it would be hell getting back; but he’d had to. He had a steep debt to pay, a debt to the Al Bhed most of all. For what he’d done and stood for, he had to fight for them. So he spent a great deal of his time going to areas where he knew Al Bhed lived and cleared out fiends and bandits, which was what he’d been doing here. When he got over the hill he saw a group of people fighting a massive amount of fiends, as many as he’d ever seen in one spot at once. He didn’t even think to walk away: fighting was all he did, now.

He summoned the wings that came with his armour and drew the Dragon Buster, flying forward. He started calling on his magical energy, and took note of where the fiends were—particularly the ones that were a safe distance away from the other fighters. When he’d summoned up a massive sphere of what looked like little balls of energy, he raised his left arm and threw it forward, all of the magical missiles flying towards the Fiends. His Divine Dragon Ball attack was perfect for situations like this, as it could summon enough energy to hit all of his enemies, no matter how many there were, and the non-Fiends seemed to have the sense to get away from the Fiends that had a magical ball of energy zooming towards them. Explosions blew across the desert where the balls hit, and with a single attack, the number of fiends was reduced from about 200 to maybe no more than 30.

X flew forward and landed down in a clear part of the sand, driving the Dragon Buster into the nearest Fiend to him, a Sandragora. It vanished and pyreflies flew out of it. X realized that even if he’d been able to get a good shortcut with Divine Dragon Ball, the rest wouldn’t be quite so easy. Unless he could use Dragon Slayer… but no, that attack would wind up hitting all of the people fighting the Fiends, and he couldn’t have that. Now a Zu approached, a deadly, massive flying beast. X frowned and readied his sword, flying up and ducking under the attack of the creature. He stabbed the beast in the heart and wrenched it out, successfully reducing the menacing bird to nothing more than a cloud of pyreflies. X flipped away and landed on his feet, before turning to face some of the remaining fiends.

Not a bad entrance, if he did say so himself.

[Hiram Ronso]

He had prayed for a miracle, and fire descended from the heavens. This did not usually happen. Nevertheless, the Legion was not a body of men prone to dismissing any surprise, no matter how ridiculous, and they immediately took advantage of it. Flashes of arcane fire bloomed anew from the Legion's mages, and in the scorching desert they did deliver slaughter. The Fiends, realizing that they had no chance of winning, turned tail and ran, fighting each other desperately in bestial panic. In the few minutes it took for the fiends to struggle clear of the Legion, Hiram fought alongside the newcomer, shattering his foes with Oathbreaker.

When the few remaining Fiends were out of range of conventional weaponry, Hiram ordered that part of the Legion switch to firearms to harry the Fiends on their way, and the rest were to tend the wounded and bury the dead. Hiram himself turned to the newcomer and greeted him with a companionable nod. "You fight good, stranger. We thank you for help."

[X]

X watched as the group took care of the rest of the fiends, once they were out of shortrange, and sheathed the magical blade of his sword before putting it at his side. He put away his wings, too, leaving him looking no more unusual than anyone else in the Sanubia Sands. Unfortunately, though, X hadn’t really thought to bring much in the way of provisions with him. Hopefully, these men might have something in the way of water and food… or at least directions to the nearest oasis. He wished, sometimes, that fiends didn’t vanish when they died, that way they’d provide a little meat to eat.

The leader of the group, it seemed, turned to him, and nodded. One of the large, fearsome Ronso, this one had a mighty horn and intimidating appearance. He’d heard of a Ronso with a broken horn that had fought alongside High Summoner Yuna, but this one certainly had a complete horn. What X noticed mostly was the huge hammer that he had, though. He’d used it well in battle.

”Don’t mention it,”X said in response to the Ronso’s expression of gratitude. ”However… if you have anything in the way of water or food, or perhaps directions to a nearby oasis… that would be welcome. I didn’t come to the desert fully equipped, unfortunately.” The truth was that X didn’t take going to the desert as seriously as many people did, as being able to fly enabled him to travel much farther, faster, and more directly than most other people. He was extremely grateful for the wings of his armor.