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"Mom?!"
The soldier's cobalt gaze immediately flashed to the spear rack at the sound of the new voices, his lone eye widening slightly as it focused on the figures of the young gnomes cheering their mother onward. The legionnaire groaned inwardly, for the revalation that the spear-wielding gnome was a woman, and a mother at that, took some of the righteous fire from his belly. Though he felt entirely justified in his occupation of the room, and the gnome's threats more than justified Karvaaka's presence in his hand, he was not yet so monsterous as to thrill in bringing violence and death into the lives of mothers and children.
Still, that did not change the situation at hand. A spear still pointed towards his chest, gleaming and poised for the kill, and by the deft way the gnome had already handled the weapon, Cyrus believed that she was not as helpless or vulnerable as one might imagine. From the way that the spears had fallen and risen before, as well as the mysterious illumination emminating from the mundane armament, the legionnaire believed it was also a reasonable assumption that the gnome was a practitioner of some sphere of arcana. There was a chance that the tricky little fae had used skill and deception rather than arcane means, but it was a chance that the young soldier was unwilling to take. He would assume that the creature had the ability and prepare for it, and be pleasantly surprised if his assumption proved to be unfounded.
The six-foot gnome's words caused Cyrus' lips to curl in a snarl, but he made no further reply. There might be a peaceful resolution to this conflict, an understanding to be agreed upon by all parties, but such diplomatic ends would not be reached while the gleaming weapons pointed towards each other. The gnome would have to be disarmed, and should her arcana prove too potent or dangerous, the threat would have to be neutralized. The young soldier's lone eye flicked over again to the gnomish children that cheered from atop the spear rack, and though he silently prayed that they would be spared the sight of their mother's bloody death, he hardened his heart to commit the deed all the same.
Without a word of response or any outward indication of his actions, the legionnaire swung his ardentium blade horizontally, bringing it in hard and fast and aimed for the glowing spearpoint before him. In the same motion, he pushed off from his rear foot and advanced a step into the gnome's proximity. Being familiar with the uses of an infantry spear, it was the soldier's intention to knock the glowing spearhead aside and place himself inside the weapon's radius of attack; where the weapon's length would be more hinderence then boon, and where Karvaaka's blade would be well positioned to pierce the gnome's defenses.
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