Steele turned to to see a group of monsters emerging from the water. He almost instinctively reached for the pouch containing his flame rounds, but quickly reconsiders once he'd evaluated his surrounding, and factored in the probable collateral damage that would result from a salvo of explosives on the docks. He shot a few Fastitocalon out of the air, but quickly came to realize that they were coming too fast for his basic ranged attacks. He threw both of his blades down, sticking the blades into the ground, where they'd be easy to retrieve, while freeing up his hands for his sidearms. “Don’t let them swarm us! Attack the small ones first.”, he shouted, as he began peppering the monsters with quick rounds as quickly as they could emerge. Though he was holding back quite a large number of foes, it wasn't enough, many were still slipping past him and heading for his team, and though his first instinct was to resume swordplay and try to intercept them before they reached his squadmates, he knew he couldn't let up on crowd control without making the situation far worse. Fortunately, as he was weighing his options, a large wave blew most of the smaller enemies back. Swain was using his GF, which was especially effective given the terrain.
Swain's more effective crowd control left Steele free to go after the ones that had already made it past his gunfire, and take the pressure off of Koemi and Kyra. He stowed his pistols, and grabbed the hilts of his blades, ripping them from the ground as he ran off towards them, but almost immediately two larger monsters caught his eyes. "Grand Mantes, I can't let them flank those two, I need to take at least one of them ASAP", he mumbled to himself. He sheathed one of his blades, and loaded a demolition round into the other. He noticed that one of the Mantes had managed to pin Kyra. Predictably, the other was trying to take advantage and move in for the kill. Mantes were opportunistic predators that would always take advantage when it was available. Unfortunately for the Mantis, Steele himself was much the same. "Haste!", he yelled, as he picked up speed, crashing into the flanking Mantis from behind, stabbing it in the thorax, firing his canister shot into the wound as he did, quickly pulling out and rolling away to avoid the blast himself. When the canister blew, the mantis went with it, showering everyone nearby in a rain of gore, Steele himself being the closest was nearly completely drenched. He looked up to the second Mantis, as he began drawing in magic, but he was cut short when a Chakram dealt the finishing blow.
Steele looked around to analyze the situation, though the monsters in the area had been effectively eliminated, Kyra seemed to be in fairly serious condition, passing out as she tried to administer a potion. He turned around to see Swain, still battering monsters with waves. While this could keep them at bay almost indefinitely, it likely wasn't causing much damage, and in the presence of the pyreflies, there was a real danger that he could lose his connection to the GF at any time, which made relieving Swain his priority. "Koemi, stabilize Kyra, I'm going to support Swain!", he yelled, as he made his way back to his teammate. He drew in magic as he approached, hoping to fry most of the remaining enemies with a high-powered lightning spell to take advantage of the fact that they were all still in the water. To his dismay, there wasn't much lightning magic available from his surroundings, and even with all the time he'd have to draw while he closed in, he'd still likely only be able to manage a Thundara. Once he reached the edge of the docks, he pulled his free hand back, as a ball of lightning formed within it, and after a short jump, he threw the ball into the water with the monsters. Before he could see the results, he became lightheaded, and everything started to spin. Steele's affinity with lightning magic was rather low, and that combined with the limited amount available meant he had to exert himself significantly to cast the spell... But even so, it shouldn't have drained him this much. Though he hadn't paid it much thought just before, he had noticed that something felt off when he was drawing in energy. A strange rush of emotions that felt somehow... foreign to him. He glanced towards the pyreflies, and said, "Shit, did I just..?", just before losing his balance falling over.
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