[ The short respite is exactly what Howl needs. With a few hard flaps of his wings, he's able to recover much of his lost altitude and put some distance between himself and the dragoon. His wing screams in agony the entire time, but he's endured worse and somehow managed to hobble back to his castle. Howl is versed in ignoring the messages his body send to him, especially at times like this. Returning half-alive still counts as alive. Diverting more magic to the area helps keep him flying and fighting for now, but the same concern echoes in the back of his head: the more he uses, the more he will regret it later. And yet, that concern pales in comparison to the deep anxiety that rises in his chest when he thinks about facing the Regent again and having nothing to show for himself.
Howl tilts almost vertically to make a sharp U-turn back in the direction of his foe, and as he does, he spots the blast sailing towards him and the reddish silhouette paradoxically leap even higher into the air. Ah, so that's the rub. While Estinien might have wings, whatever he's doing, it isn't flying — not exactly, not entirely. He seems to be using magic in his own peculiar way, to be changing altitude so impossibly fast. Yet another complication, but now that it is known, it doesn't need to be a fatal one.
Gritting his teeth into a strained smirk, Howl's elongated abdomen suddenly balloons before two long legs split away from the mass of feathers. Each is equipped with Howl's primary weapon in this form: a set of enormous, eagle-like taloned feet, with three toes pointed forward and one toe pointed back. Still angled against the horizon, his underside meets the dragon-shaped blast of energy. As much as it singes his feathers, it's nothing compared to the burn that accompanies the second dive, which Howl does not even attempt to dodge. Instead, with his body dropping into a dive again and his belly almost angled upward towards the sky, his talons are in position to snatch the dragoon as soon he gets close enough, even if he has to take another serious blow from the spear to make it happen. ]
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Howl tilts almost vertically to make a sharp U-turn back in the direction of his foe, and as he does, he spots the blast sailing towards him and the reddish silhouette paradoxically leap even higher into the air. Ah, so that's the rub. While Estinien might have wings, whatever he's doing, it isn't flying — not exactly, not entirely. He seems to be using magic in his own peculiar way, to be changing altitude so impossibly fast. Yet another complication, but now that it is known, it doesn't need to be a fatal one.
Gritting his teeth into a strained smirk, Howl's elongated abdomen suddenly balloons before two long legs split away from the mass of feathers. Each is equipped with Howl's primary weapon in this form: a set of enormous, eagle-like taloned feet, with three toes pointed forward and one toe pointed back. Still angled against the horizon, his underside meets the dragon-shaped blast of energy. As much as it singes his feathers, it's nothing compared to the burn that accompanies the second dive, which Howl does not even attempt to dodge. Instead, with his body dropping into a dive again and his belly almost angled upward towards the sky, his talons are in position to snatch the dragoon as soon he gets close enough, even if he has to take another serious blow from the spear to make it happen. ]