Fantasy The Four Courts RP [closed]

[Stardustblade358]

- Vincent - Ignis Court - Sanctus Heights: Magitek Research Facility -
Vincent got to work. He made measurements and marked them on the materials with some pencil before moving to the machinery. He moved his goggles over his eyes and proceeded to cut the metal into the individual pieces. For the parts that would be influencing the energy he picked up some copper wires, twirling them together to form a stable connection, and covering those with the rubber isolation. He formed the pieces from scratch for certain things, and made sure to adjust the measurements to the given materials. He took note of the screws and their sizes before writing down on his notepad. He picked up the bottom part of the frame and used pencil to write down where it would go. He created the place where the crystals would go, connecting the areas with the copper wire. He picked one out and placed it on the surface, screwing the edges in. He connected the copper wire to the gage and then picked up the base and the face to connect them together. He did with hinges, before creating a latch to keep it close. He tested it out, and it worked pretty well, and he continued. "I will be needing two crystals. I already have one which Vlad handed me." He said as he proceeded to carefully place it inside, securing it. "This should help absorb the magic readings and have it serve as a guide." He turned to Diane. "Now I will just need...a tiny shard of Itika." He said, using his fingers to gesture how small he would need. It was rather small. Just a pinch of a shard.

- Arun - Ignis Court - Sanctus Heights: Cathedral 1st Floor -
Arun would walk along, glancing back as Vlad showed up. He merely followed, watching the blood and bodies scattered. He was careful as he stepped over them. They had three places where they could go; Upstairs, a room to the left, and the room ahead to the grand meeting hall. He turned to Vlad, nodding at him before looking back at Kagura and Shiroo. Arun came to a halt in the fork in the hall where they could decide where to go. Arun looked around before looking back to the group. "We should cover more ground, and seek out for the intruders." He said. They would be overwhelmed, he feared. But what else could they do? He heard the muffling upstairs and turned to the rest again. "We must act quickly." He did not know if Kagura was a fighter. But he did know that Kagura was a healer, and a pretty good one at that. "Shiroo, Kagura. Can you check up on the meeting hall and see if there is anyone in need of aid?" He asked, noticing the smudge mark before he turned to the left. "I will check down this hall. Vlad. I trust you can handle yourself upstairs until back up arrives?" He asked, watching the Umbra mage with the similar stoic expression that he usually wore. He turned to the left, heading to the room with the dozen or so presences.

- Arkane - Umbra Court - Vita River -
Him? A good heart? Nonsense...surely. He watched as Mabel stripped down to the second layer of clothing and splashed into the water. Arkane sighed and slid some hair back on his head, glancing at Mellark. "Repercussions? Do you mean life experiences?" He asked. "A priestess is meant to represent the world that it surrounds her. If she does not know anything about it, how is she meant to do good judgement? Even you as a mage understand that one must take a leap of fate in order to learn. Otherwise our views shall remain narrow." It was an understanding of needing to exceed the limits. Even when creating taboo among experiments, it was because one needed to sometimes make people uncomfortable to gain results. If one was afraid to jump into the water, how will they know how deep it truly is? "If there are consequences, then let her handle them like an adult." And so he enjoyed his time in the water. He was always careful not to stray too far from the edge and dismissed Hector as to stop the insistent barking. He enjoyed the time resting and enjoying the cool water overall. He almost fell asleep leaning against the water when he heard the surge of water, and felt the sun being overcast by a shadow. He opened his eyes, widening as he saw this giant beast rise from the depths of the water. "What in the world is that thing?!" He managed to ask that when the wave came at him. Shit, he left his flute and cards at the carriage. "Hector! My flute!" He called, the dog running off to fetch them for his master as the wave came crashing down. Arkane was dragged deeper into the water, his head hitting a rock hard. Crimson covered the water, and he opened his eyes. He covered his mouth and looked around, quickly hurrying to the surface. He resurfaced, gasping for air before grasping at one of the nearby rocks for support. He heard barking and then splashing, seeing as Hector was at the edge with the flute in his mouth. Arkane pushed himself from the rock across another one, carefully reaching the edge as he coughed up some water. He grabbed a hold of the flute. "Good boy." He panted, waving him off to safety as he turned to look back at the beast. He usually used his flute to summon his beasts, but he could not bring his cards into this. He had no choice this time. He took a deep breath, playing out a tune. Sygils would surge across from him, and from them beings rose. They were humanoid in shape, but red and transparent like ghosts. Their lips, their eyes, and their ears were sown shut, and they wore a branded seal around their necks. The damned souls captured and forced to obey orders of a mortal. Souls that would never see the peace of life after death. Following the flute orders, the souls took out their blades of bones before they attacked the beast ahead. Traveling over the water surface they stabbed at it, jumping against it to attempt to take it down.

- Yael - Unaffiliated - Vita River -
Yael was taken by the wave as well, the small ferret rolling around in the water. Smoke showed up, albeit in the water it was more like ink from an octopus. From it a dolphin surged, and headed straight for Jynn and Mabel. Yael would jump into the air at the last moment, swimming upwards and jumping into the air and above the coiled serpent, before falling back down and right at Jynn and Mabel. Smoke covered him, surely blocking some view to the serpent as well as he landed by Mabel and Jynn, wrapping his arms around the two. Now, he was in his human form, and he was anything but fully human. He held onto the two tightly. "Hold on, Jynn." He said, smoke covering him once more. From it a large, black wolf surged, with Jynn and Mabel on its back as it ran up the coiled serpent, using the body as a wall to run upwards to and land on before jumping from there onto land, hurrying far away enough to be at a safe distance, but not leaving the battlefield just yet. He lowered himself, kneeling. "Get her to safety, Jynn. We must deal with this beast." He spoke, sniffing at Mabel.

 

[HeartOfFerria]

Aquilla
The young mage was certainly surprised. Her guard had guard had been far too low, but in her defense she wasn’t expecting enemies like these. She swiftly went to work, trying to find a way out. Her voice wouldnt travel to far, and she was pinned to the dread fighter who grabbed her. The gloscan was half charged but she herself had expended some mana today.

Personal thoughts:
“Maybe i should wait and hope for reinforcements, i couldnt bbe the only one who heard them. And my magic should keep them at bay for a while. They will want me dead so they wont just leave me.” She thought to herself, her sapphire eyes continued to dart around. She knew she had a high possibility of dying. “Its funny... no matter how this ends im probably gonna be stuck in a hospital bed again.” She thought once more. “Ill use the gloscan if the try to take it or try to kill me, and make a large enchantment. Defensive of course. From there I would need to figure out how to call for aid.”

After a moment of deep thought she started to play along. It would be an understatement to say she was afraid. She was most definitely terrified but as any ignis mage she would do what she had to do. she would move with the dread fighter, while creating as much resistance as she could to slow him down. Any sign of danger would be replied with frigid results.

Saffron

Saffron nodded at the idea of moving now while there was a distraction. “Possible enemies will start to move to the location of disturbance. While we can take advantage of it, we should move fast, there is a chance it wont last long.”

Isabelle
She held onto the returned pouch. “Very well...” she says before tossing it to Eden. “Im unsure about the size of my clothing... My family had a tailor make them for me and left me unaware to the details...” she explained, a bit embarrassd about not knowing her own clothing size. She soon shook it off though . “Id say if the clothes are a little big it wont matter much.” She soon began to tie her hair back into a ponytail.

Quinn

Quinn stepped through and looked around at the glimmer of itika and the glory of nature itself. She smiled as the world itself revealed more wonder to the druid. Magic and nature truly are one. She proceeded forward until she was a good thirty feet behind the Maestra. Quinn’s footsteps were nearly silent, Her presence all but gone much like any answers to her past.
“Pardon my intrusion Maestra. Where are we?” She asked her eyes watching Aislinn curiously, something that did not come to her often.

 

[Thanny]

- Daruk Mordem, Ignis Court, about to regret some recent decisions -
Scrapmaster Mystics Apprentice Endless Thundaza Stardustblade358 Elrandir RikuXIII Xion136

Post-cannonball, Daruk felt great. The slightly murky water was calm and refreshing, the abundant rocks and clean sands in the area allowing for a very nice environment. People seemed to be waving at him, and so he waved back, especially at Mia.

"Gwa ha! I couldn't hear you before 'children,' but I won't ask you to repeat yourself! You should hop in too, Mia! The temperature is grand! And nope! Never! Well, maybe once have I been judged indecent, but we're all friends here, right? Hah!"

At the very least the priestess and that one Vivifica kid was entering the water and enjoying it almost as much as he did, and he splashed around with a butterfly stroke. He was as elegant as the most beautiful swan, in his eyes, though he was probably as drop-dead gorgeous as the flopping of an elephant seal.

Mid-stroke, he soon realised that the water once coiling around and rolling over him became still, then surged backward. This was an odd thing to the Maester, who would have otherwise ignored it and continued, but the groaning and churning of . . . something against the now choppy water urged him to turn slowly . . . very slowly.

Spoiler: That Music which Plunges You into Fear

Now fully laying eyes on the monstrous sea serpent, Daruk wasted no time in skedaddling towards the shoreline, back to where his weapon resided should he ever need it. Oh, and his clothes. He was sure that he could beat down this beastie with just his powers, but it never hurt to come fully equipped should others beat it away.

"The boy Henry has some sense! Some of you, take the ones who cannot defend themselves to safety and away from the Lugubrious Couscous or whatever you guys said!" he barked to anyone who can hear as soon as he oozed himself out of the water, still censored by some very well-placed rocks. He was not the leader of everyone here, but he hoped that they would at least take his advice. Now, to leave his protective covering and scar a few more souls. "The rest of us can take him and make eel pie out of this critter!"

Assuring himself that he was out of the path of the creature, he rushed for his claymore, using his fire magic to create a few bursts of fire from his elbows and propelling himself forward in the manner of rocket boosts, looking very much like a professional skater as he took long strides across the ground. Through his continuous use of fire magic, he could use it through even more localised points on his body. The heel, the knee, the elbow, even the top of his head or his building beard -- all were perfectly viable points. This technique was just one of the ways that set him apart from his peers. The others chiefly revolved around his eccentricities.

(( I think I will drop Lev for this moment of time. I have nothing special in mind for her, so until Endless takes her back I will turn her into just an NPC. ))

 

[Elrandir]

- Thea Nero - Court of Somnum - Vita River -
Scrapmaster , Thanny , Mystics Apprentice , Nero Kunivas , Xion136 , Stardustblade358 , Endless Thundaza , RikuXIII

Nero was still looking at the water's surface, something was not right, whatever that shadow was, it wasn't fish or some rocks at the bottom. The shadow moved and moved until, slowly, something began to rise from behind Daruk, something strange, something familiar.

"A Lagiacrus her-"

The sudden wave of water made the Maestra quickly stand up while her staff materialized on her hand before tapping the ground with it. Those still within the water would be surrounded by a sphere of water that would quickly take them to solid ground, away from the creature to avoid any damage, when they were safe on the ground the sphere would disappear.

"Everything was just fine before you showed up," she said flatly, just as Henry launched his attack, "that was a big mistake."

Nero's staff began to freeze and in a small amount of time it resembled a spear made of ice. The Maestra threw the spear towards the head of the creature. If it managed to get embedded on the monster's body, the spear would begin to freeze it on the spot. She was sure that that wouldn't be enough to kill the creature, but, hopefully, it would be enough to stun it for a moment.


- Diane Corbeau - Court of Umbra - Sanctus Heights: Magitek Research Facility -
Diane spent her time watching Vincent work without saying much, maybe giving him one of the tools when he asked for one, but she mostly remained silent and distant. There was not much she could do while the young man was working on his device. Time passed quickly, or it felt that way for the Umbra mage. Before she even realized it, Vincent was almost done with his project, he just needed a small fragment of itika.

"I can help you with that. I will go ask one of the people around here for some."

Without another word Diane left the lab and looked around the hallways for a little bit. A couple of minutes later she found one of the young scientist from the facility, she approached him without making much noise.

"Excuse me, my companion is looking to procure a small fragment of itika. Would it be possible for you to point me in the right direction?"

The scientist turned around and was about to answer the mysterious woman, before he saw her arm and leg.

"Oh! Such impressive prosthetics! Look at that, are those magitek powered? Are those from one of the guys on top?" he said quickly, "no . . . doesn't look that way. Their designs are a little more, well, primitive, I suppose. These, oh, these look more advance. Tell me, woman, how did you came to obtain such interesting devices?"

Diane stared at the man in silence, following his train of thought was easy, but she didn't feel the need to answer his questions. Not all of them, at least.

"Diane Corbeau from the Court of Umbra. As for how I obtained these? Well, that's classified information from the Umbra Court. Now? where would I be able to obtain some itika."

The scientist stared at the woman, his face turning more and more nervous with each passing moment. He hadn't realized that he was talking to a mage! He didn't even asked for her name!

"I'm so sorry, Lady Corbeau. My name is Maxwell. Raphael Maxwell. Please, follow me and I will take you to the place you need to go."

The scientist quickly turned around and began to leave, Diane stared for a couple of seconds before following. Maxwell was screwed, or so he thought. Speaking in such way to a mage of Umbra would get him in troubles! Maybe they would take his body and soul! After a coupld of minutes Maxwell and Diane arrived at one room where an older looking woman was working with some tools. Maxwell, asked for a small amount of itika and, in a few minutes, he gave Diane what she needed.

"Here. And once again, I'm sorry for my rudeness. I was just impressed by your magitek prosthetics."

Diane rolled her eyes and shook her head as she turned around.

"I don't mind. A tip, if you don't mind. Be careful to who you speak that way," She said as she turned her head to look at him, her eyes glowing just a little, "you might make someone angry. Good day, Mister Maxwell."

And with that Raphael Maxwell was going to have a story for when his shift was over. Meanwhile Diane went back to her and Vincent's lab room. Once inside, she gave Vincent the small fragment of itika.

"I hope this fragment is enought for your device, Vincent."

 

[Scrapmaster]

- Vlad - The NotImpaler - Grand Cathedral 2nd floor -

"Oh im sure i'l manage" Vlad commented gleefuly as Arun asked him if he could handle whatever it was upstairs, where the shuffled moans and footsteps could be heard, these assassins were damn sloppy if they were making such noise that could be heard from the first floor, they did not see many bodies in the first floor though, and from what the shadows told him most people would be on the higher floors, meaning that whoever was doing this, would most likely be up as well. He glanced back at Kagura and Shiroo, who had mostly arrived just as he and Arun did. "Stay safe eh?" Vlad threw a sarcastic smirk at Kagura and Shiroo, Kagura would probably notice Vlad's eyes turning dark red for a split second before he venture upstairs.

As he venture upstairs he came to an idea, the assassin or assassins would probably try to ambush him should he just go up there willy nilly. So he had a better idea, and like that his shadow began to move on its own, a black humanoid copy of him emerging from the shadow like a zombie rising from the dead, and looking at him. "You'l do fine." He muttered, to which the shadow clone nodded and cracked its neck and hands as the original vlad quickly cast an artificial shadow onto the wall and sank into it, to follow the clone.

The clone would share Vlad's mannerisms and even his personality, boldly and flamboyantly walking up the stairs, making as much noise as possible, and letting of a very annoying but easily hearable whistling, walking down the hall and heading over to where the assassins would most likely be (most likely where Aquilla is). Should the clone be attacked, harmed or stabbed in any way the clone would simply begin melting and disappearing, possibly confusing the would be assassin, who would end up at the pointy end of Vlad's saber like sword as the latter would emerge from one of the shadows, possibly impaling the man in the surprise. He could've made the clone an explosive trap, but he had to take into consideration possible civilian casualties.

Stardustblade358 Xion136 Mystics Apprentice HeartOfFerria

- Richter Vanis - Vivifica court -

"You have the right to be apprehensible" Richter replied to Tiru's commentary of Richter and Aislinn's relationship, it didn't phase the etheric mage in the least, he had grown rather used to common gossip and commentary from the other mages about him and the Maestra, were it that obvious? "Her Actions are questionable, but I trust that she does it with good intentions." Richter explained his view on the matter, slightly anyway.

He still awaited Elliot to respond to his greeting, nodding along with Tiru as the latter asked if the man had slept well.

Mystics Apprentice Nero Kunivas



- Arno Cross - Jailbreaker - Leaving Viridian Villa -

This whole ordeal and the happening at the Grand Cathedral's entrance was...odd, to be fair, at this time of day, the launching of a flare-like firework and the absence of that many people around the Cathedral was interesting, Arno wasn't one to ignore a perfect opportunity for an easier time on a job. Simply playing along with his allies on their way to the cathedral.

"Where are the cells located?" Arno asked plainly as they made their way towards the cathedral. "Avoid unecessary casualties."

Mystics Apprentice HeartOfFerria Nero Kunivas

Spoiler: An unspecified time. A train robbery in the age of magic.

- ??? - ??? - 12 years ago - Part 1 -




Sometime during the past of midnight rode a train, a cargo train more specificaly, disguised as a regular civilian passenger train, a steam operated train fed by coal directly into the furnace, one of the oldest still remaining trains considering the rise of steampunk technology, the train was headed from Vicus Elbii, a small port town which mostly deal in exotic sea goods, but this time the train carried gold from the bank, to be delivered to Sanctus Heights, the train would stop for restocking and to deliver some passengers off at Vetulonia. Most of the people in the train were of good financial stature, and the train was rather luxurious, at least the passenger areas. The gold consisted of 15 gold bars hidden in a safe in the cargo hold, security was rather lax, considering the rise of mages and the betterment of law officer's equipment. No one really expected a robbery. The safe was protected only by two guards, in the back wagon of the train.

At one of the interdictions, or rather a road that crossed through the tracks stood a wagon with a broken wheel, and a regular old man trying to fix the wheel, the man wore regular farmer clothes, and the wagon in specificaly was loaded with farming goods, from a grazing farm from nearby, mostly eggs, sacks of grain and hay were neatly packed in the back of the cargo wagon. The train had to make a forceful stop as the conductor saw the old man with the broken wagon on the tracks. As the train stopped, two guards jumped off the front car to check on the old man. "You need help there old fella?" One of the guards shouted at the farmer, to which the farmer quickly stopped what he was doing with the wheel, looked at them and walked towards them. "I-im real sorry my good sirs, in my luck my wagon broke down a few hours ago, right on them tracks, and i've been trying to fix it for some time now." The old man exclaimed.

"Well you're lucky you didn't get robbed, alright let me see the wagon, come on." He motioned for the other guard to come with them to help fix the wagon, a good samaritan never goes unpunished after all.

Little did they know that in the last wagon of the train, since it stopped, it was easy pickings, five armed individuals, all clad in black coats and hats, bandanas covering their mouths and only their eyes able to be seen came in crouched, the wagon had a two guards, who were not watching the outside, they were inside, one of them smoking a cigar and the other enjoying a nice drink. The security was really lax indeed. As the five armed robbers approached, two entered from the very back of the cart, two went into the car right ahead and one entered through the entrance door of said cart. The guards were soon held at gunpoint by three individuals with guns, one of them had a sawed off shotgun, another a regular revolver, and another one of the new semi-automatic pistols you'd see in magazines around.

The guards raised their hands in fear of being shot and killed, they didn't scream, they were ordered not to, as the robbers appraoched, the one with the sawed off quickly smacked one of the guard's forehead with the butt of his sawed off, and smacking his head against the nearby wall, knocking him out cold, the other guard was subdued by a swift smack in the back of the head. Both guards had their weapons taken off them and thrown out of the train, so they didn't need to tie them up or anything.

"Linda and I got the safe, Sven. Go help the others up ahead." Said the one with the oldest voice of them, a gruff burly man type of voice, as the woman next to him agreed, they would break the safe and take the gold bars, the other's jobs were to subdue the civilians and the conductor of the train and get out in the escape spot they had planned, as well as robbing the well off civilians of their money, a classic train heist. If all went to plan they would had the money stolen before they even arrived at Vetulonia.

Flash forward to the front of the train, the guards had just finished helping the old farmer with the wagon, wheel fixed, the old man quickly got the horse the wagon was tied to to pull it out of the way, "Thank you fellas!" The old man exclaimed as the guards simply motioned back as they walked back onto the train and began to head off. As the old man saw the train take off and gain speed...a smile formed on his face.

 

[RikuXIII]

{Gerik Lockford - Umbra Court: The High Priestess's caravan; Carriage 3}
Gerik Lockford chuckled, though there wasn't much humor in it. Of course there was a reason he was here. If he had stayed behind and something unfortunate befell the High Priestess and the other two loyal maesters, it could be too easily be twisted against him. So, he had to leave what he felt he should be doing in the hands of others and walk into what he was certain was a trap. He felt like a marionette on someone else's strings, but there were still things he could do. He considered explaining this to Micah, but decided against it. The child was still frightened off him. And while he cultivated that with other underlings, he had other plans for Micah. No, the other topic would suffice for now. The lesson on the prison of appearances could wait.
The raven's relocation to his knee didn't seem to faze the Umbral Maester, though he made a face when it picked at his clothing. Though it seemed to have loosened Micah's tongue, so there was that.
"Oh, that one." Gerik responded, with a more amused sounding chuckle. "The double agent theory. It's a fascinating one as it requires reasonable knowledge of the Umbra's workings, yet fails to take into account my record. I've seen to the public trial of several old houses who sought to unbalance society and rumors run rampant about my hand in the perfectly natural deaths of several other old, but troublesome families."
Shaking his head, Gerik got the raven on his hand and offered it to his young assistant.
"Don't worry too much about that rumor. The people who matter should know better. Though, I do congratulate you for being aware of it. It is always important to know what other people believe about you. That way you can use it to your advantage."
Gerik sat back and sighed.
"As the old saying goes, 'knowledge is power'. I expect you to seek it with diligence. You asking these questions is part of that. You also did so politely and had the forethought to wait until we were alone. Well done. A bit too trepidatious, but you are still young."
The Umbral Maester yawned. The late night of preparations had it's price.
"I apologize for cutting our discussion short, but I require a nap. Though I will leave you with this thought to consider. I have a whole court full of mages who blindly follow my orders out of fear. But i do also need those who are smart enough to think and question on their own, but can also be counted on to follow orders. As my assistant, you fall into the latter category. A far more dangerous balancing act, yet one that yields greater rewards."
With that, Gerik pulled his hat down over his eyes and settled in comfortably.
***3 hours later***
Gerik had finished his nap well before the scheduled stop. As the carriages came to a stop, he got out to stretch his legs. Others were out, but seemed to still be staying in there carriage groups. The arrival of Laguna was a pleasant surprise. A powerful mage, one Gerik was still looking for the right lever for. As others went for a swim, The Umbral Maester watched from the shore, an amused smile on his lips. The light hearted frolicking did seem to take a darker turn when a presumed resident of the lake objected to the intrusion. As other mages sprang into action, Gerik studied the beast. How...convenient that it should be here.
With others trying to cover for the High Priestess and her suitor, Gerik decided to use the distraction to his own advantage. Breaking into a run, he jumped and landed on a swirling mass of darkness, which bore him like a surf board across the water's surface. As he circled behind the creature, he began chanting a few incantations as an orb of darkness appeared in his hand. Spotting a sufficiently side boulder on the far bank, Gerik let the orb fly with one last guttural word. The orb struck the rock, at first seeming to splat across it like a jello, but quickly shooting out dark chains. As the chains sped away, the dark magic drew in, revealing the chains embedded in the rock. A maixture of dark matter and necromancy, the chains were designed to bind and sap the strength of it's target. With them coming from the leviathan's flank and the wonderful destraction the others were providing, Gerik felt good about there effectiveness.

(others coming)

 

[Stardustblade358]

- Arkane - Umbra Court - Vita River -
The mage climbed onto the edge of the river, moving some of his wet hair away from face as he watched the beast ready to attack again. He hurried to his bundle of clothes and found his deck of cards. He stood up, opening the satchel and lifting his hand over them. His eyes glowed slightly as the cards would follow behind his movements, floating around him as he picked up his flute. He was now tired, annoyed, with a headache, and now with having to deal with a stupid beast. "I just wanted a bit of time to relax..." He whispered, the cards floating around him as he waited. He needed to wait for the right moment as he had his minions do his work. But for now, he needed to wait and concentrate. The people were in the water and sending a giant thunderbolt would not fair well on anyone...

- Vincent - Ignis Court - Sanctus Heights: Magitek Research Facility -
Vincent worked on the remaining smaller details of the machine while Diane searched for the shard. Once she returned Vincent walked over, taking it from her hands and looking it over. "It is perfect. Thank you very much, Diane." He returned to the desk. He used a pair of tweezers to pick up the shard and place it in the location, closing it up as he could see the magic flow via the cables. He smiled and glanced back at Diane. "I think we have a working system. We need to test it now." He said, picking it up and showing it to Diane. "This is how it should work. The Itika provides the power needed to handle the meter. We will use the stone that Vlad gave us in order to absorb the magic from the seal. Once it is absorbed, it should serve as an example on what we are searching for. The meter will react depending on how close the general location of a similar source is located." He explained, looking back up at Diane. "I believe that we should try and take in the reading from the seal. If it works, we can begin our search." He closed up the device, clipping it close. "It is pretty lightweight, but only because we are allowed to use Itika. If we were to be using steam it would have to be much bigger device." He chuckled.

 

[RikuXIII]

{Anya Alighieri - Ignis Court: Sanctus Heights; In front of the Cathedral}
Anya returned to work and was in the middle of carrying a load of materials when she noticed the black fire. As soon as she safely off loaded the materials, she followed after Arun, finding the dead bodies. Muttering some unrepeatable oaths, she checked the bodies, coming to the same conclusions Vlad had.
"More bloody cloak and dagger." She muttered as she stood up.
Moving quickly but quietly, the Phoenix Bearer entered the cathedral, pulling one of her Chakram's from her back. She could feel others around her, though she choose to follow after the aura of Arun. She managed to catch up, taking up a position behind the earth mage.
"Got your back." She murmured to Arun.

{Mako Koyl - Somnum Court: Sanctus Heights; Cathedral upper flour}
Mako had tried to keep up with Vincent and Diane. She really had. But they were working on a level she just wasn't on. With little to contribute at this stage-
"Or any stage." Her unhelpful thoughts added.
Trying to ignore her own treacherous thoughts, the young mage decided to go get something out of her room. Maybe reading more of her current mystery novel would inspire her with something useful. Teleporting away as Vincent and Diane worked, she entered her room and rummaged around as she heard some strange things. She crept out of her room, feeling something strange in the air. It was like when there was a lot of electricity about. The air seemed oddly still, sounds were off.
"Too quite." She murmured the cliche.
She lurked around, seeing Aquilla enter the Infirmary. She was about to call out to the other mage when Aquilla was grabbed by someone or something inside. Mako had to clamp her hand over her mouth to prevent from yelping. What was going on? Her mind raced as she sought for what to do. Well, to tell the truth, she had no idea what was going on. SHe needed to get a better look. If it was bad, than going in as Aquilla had would not be good. She had seen the infirmary in passing. There was a couple of places she could port to and be unseen. Should be any way. Yeah, it would be fine. Trying to keep the metal picture of what the infirmary looked like, Mako's eyes glowed slightly as she warped away.
As she had thought, there was a corner mostly shrouded in curtain with an empty bed she ended up behind. What she didn't know about was the bed pan left there. Her re-materialized foot sent the pan spinning and banging on the floor. The sounds of that and a stifled cursed came from the infirmary's neglected corner.

 

[Endless Thundaza]

Jynn Venas, Vivifica - Vita River saving Mabel


Purple for Mystics


The priestess was in a flight of panic as the waves emitted from the Lagiacrus engulfed her. She kicked her legs frantically, trying to implement what Jynn taught her, but it was not working! She was sinking too fast. The light from above seemed to grow ever distance as Mabel struggled to hold her breath, eventually inhaling water as her mind dulled. The next thing she remembered was the feeling of air rushing to her face, and retching river water while coughing fitfully. She gasped, eyes wide as she wrapped her arms around Jynn's neck, both coughing and sobbing from the ordeal of drowning and yet surviving.


"I'm sorry," she blurted. "I'm so sorry. I tried to swim, but it just wasn't happening!"


The orb of water emitted from Professor Nero successfully transported them to the safety of solid ground, something that Mabel was quite eager to greet right about then. "They need you," Mabel said finally, sitting on her knees. "You should go! I'll be fine. Really."


Thanks to the efforts of several mages, the creature flinches, uncoiling itself away from Jynn and Mabel. The priestess finally woke up, coughing and sobbing. “Mabel! You’re okay! I’m here!” Nero and Yael’s efforts manage to get the two safely on land, and Jynn lowers Mabel onto the ground, patting her back to help her cough out any water in her lungs. The mage whistles to Mel, who was on his way to regroup with them, carrying Jynn’s jacket.


Jynn takes note of Mabel’s continued sobbing, prompting him to comfort her. He wraps his arms around Mabel, pulling her into tender embrace. He could feel her tears running down his shoulder. Tears drip from his eyes as well, he very nearly lost his best friend! “Hey, hey. It’s okay. It’s okay Mabel. You’re safe. That is all that matters right now.” He pulls away and places a hand on her cheek, using his thumb to gently wipe her eye of any tears. “I know I should tell you this at a better time, but you’re a great learner. I’d say you’re a fantastic swimmer.”


Mel strides up to the duo, with Jynn’s jacket in his jaws. “Good boy.” The mage takes the jacket and puts it on Mabel to keep her warm. She would find that it was well insulated, absorbing the warmth from the sun. Mabel tries to encourage him to join the fight. Jynn nods. “I understand.” He removes Mabel’s bracelet from his wrist, and snaps it onto hers, in case things were to go south for her. “You must return to the carriages. I’ll retrieve your robes after this is over.” He turns to Mel, and pats his muzzle. “I want you to escort her.”


Jynn offers his hand to Mabel. “Come on. You need to get out of here.”

(Will post for monster tomorrow)

 

[Xion136]

Zion - Vivifica - Resting

The Archmagus...had no clue there was a fight going on, having passed out for a bit in a tree.



Eden Silvius - Umbra - Warehouse District

Eden nodded, continuing on. "I can guess well enough." Her raven hair was...turning blonde...? And going shorter? Within moments she now appeared as a short-haired blonde woman with soft green eyes. She turned, tugging a simple gown from her traveling bag and pulling it on to cover herself, bandages coiling around it to appear as trimming. "I will be unnoticed.
The power of the Takamikazuchi's signature Polymorphing - appearance change. She briskly resumed walking towards the markets.

HeartOfFerria Mystics Apprentice Nero Kunivas


Kagura Sumeragi - Somnum - Cathedral

Nodding at the request, Kagura gently gripped the back of Shiroo's shirt. "...lead." The dancer said. "I support."
He may be shy and nervous....but there was trouble. And he would be brave. Letting go, he took a deep breath and stepped back...then did a few steps, arms flowing. Water formed around him, tendrils of clear, perfect water. "Watera." he whispered, the tendrils flowing faster. He was in control, and he was ready.

Mystics Apprentice Scrapmaster Stardustblade358

Eclaire de Wynter - Umbra - Vita River


Eclaire had been swimming when the damn beast appeared. Screaming in pure shock, she barely managed to escape any real harm, but her clothes were soaked. Tossing them into Armory with a angry expression, she cursed her procrastination in forming bonds with an extra change of clothes. Now just in her swimsuit, summoned forth Thornflare. Crystallized swords appeared around her, and she sprinted at the beast as Thea Nero attacked. "Ruinblade!" She roared firing them at it's body. "Elle? Elle, you ok?" She shouted back, already forming another wave of crystal swords to fire.

Nero Kunivas Everyone there


Makoto Suzaku - Ignis - Vita River


"You...ruined...my....time...with...HENRY!"
An explosive wind ripped through the trees, the half-dressed Makoto charging both chakra and lightning. Crouching down, eyes on the Lagricus, she suddenly pushed off, throwing herself skyward. Hands behind her, she began using Blast Magic to propel herself even higher, then twisted down. She began to spin, firing Blast behind her to gain speed. Her aim was to hit terminal velocity, then Kinetic Convert all that potential energy into an attack.
"HENRY!" She shouted during her descent. "SUZAKU SPIN." she called down. Charging one blast behind her, she angled herself....and then twisted her body, firing one last blast that would change her entire course. She now would completely miss the beast...but she was on course for Henry. If he did in fact remember, the plan was for him to grab her, spin to maintain momentum, and then literally throw her at the monster with everything he had.

She just hoped he didn't miss.

Scrapmaster @ everyone there

 

[Nero Kunivas]

- Soren Monroe, The Fractured Bulwark, Ignis - Sanctus Heights, With Everyth Castanova -
Mystics Apprentice

Soren walked along with Everyth as she spoke her mind, her hopes for the High Priestess's safety particularly of note. "It would be greater than any scandal we've seen for centuries, for Vivifica to bring harm to the High Priestess, why, there would be no returning from that. All of Regalia would condemn them. Bounty Hunters would eagerly seek their heads with the prices that would fall upon them and even that Ronin character, he would spill their blood wantonly, for great justice of course, as he's always said in any public addresses of his." Soren went on, making mention of noteworthy people who too would hate such a brazen act on Vivifica's part. A controversy they didn't need right now, nor one they could recover from...Soren couldn't help but wonder if someone, somewhere knew this and to go further, would make it their mission to ensure Vivifica is ruined...perhaps he was being paranoid? He hoped so. Dearly so.

"Honestly, the Four Courts have worked best when together. For us to be divided like this, it hurts us all, even if it is but one Court acting out of order, the resulting chaos affects every Court, every mage. I would prefer this situation be resolved as quickly as possible, with the least amount of damage and pain and with the least resistance from their Maestra, who surely must see the wisdom in abdicating to her anointed heir, to prevent further...problematic developments." Soren then let out a hefty sigh, shaking his head. "I would hate to see us come to blows with Vivifica, to shed their blood and they ours, after so many years of unity, with Ignis, Somnum and Umbra. It pains me to even think of it."

Then, Everyth said that people prefer to escape and avoid her, something that Soren found deeply ridiculous. "Escape you? Surely not! I speak from the heart when I say you're a damned fine person to talk with." Soren spoke honestly, he did not wish to simply placate Everyth, as sheer honesty would work best he felt. "As for the errands...well, perhaps this is just me being the Ignis Mage I was born to be, but the duty, the act of helping others is its own reward, no? To warm ones heart by feeling the joy of those once plighted now relieved thanks to your efforts?"

Soren's Umbran Acquaintance then turned the conversation toward himself, wondering as to why he was alone prior to their encounter.

"Me? Well...it's not the status quo, to start with. When I and other Ignis arrived in Sanctus Heights, we were beset by a veritable maelstrom of loving fans, several came to me too with excitement in their eyes as they requested of me an autograph, upon pictures of me they had with them." Soren began, with a small measure of pride, though it was truthfully their joy at seeing their idol that brought him happiness. Though as he would go on, his tone would...shift.

"Not everyone is as eager, nor in some cases, as brave. Since my accident, I've become...menacing, to some. In some cases thankfully, just my words are enough to reassure them I am the same man. Others sadly, haven't the heart for my altered face, my eyes especially, have you noticed them?" Soren asked with true curiosity, his amber eyes supported by a rim of red around the edges ever so slightly glowing as he looked at Everyth, as if to remind her of them. "Not all that is Darkness is to be feared...most see that, others are too afraid...yet without the dark..."

Soren mulled for a moment, his eyes then catching the dead bodies in the distance near the cathedral, leading to another sigh from Soren and his respirator, longer than previous out of sorrow. "I would not be here today." He then looked to Everyth. "Everyth? Bodies, this way." Soren expressed in a succinct form, motioning towards the bodies in question.


- Elliot Luxmore, Merciless Protector, Vivifica - The Vivifica Temple -
Scrapmaster Mystics Apprentice

Richter greeted the approaching Elliot quickly and with a friendly tone, while Tiru who stood with him, seemed apprehensive, tense, when Elliot arrived, though he still waved and spoke out of courtesy. Elliot could sense his fear, but for what reason? Was he still fretting over their disagreement within the Valley of Magic? Or perhaps he felt Elliot's disturbances recently were...concerning? "It was a sound, peaceful rest indeed, thank you." Elliot addressed Tiru, before turning his attention to Richter. "Greetings. I understand that there are concerns regarding our Maestra, am I correct?" Elliot at first began with what sounded like a scolding, inquisitory tone...

"I share them. She has been acting most irregularly..." The armour clad man shifted his tone swiftly to one of deep concern, folding his arms and looking down for a few moments, then back up to his allies. "What do you think should be done? If anything?"


- Ronin of the Shade, One of Many Names, Unaffiliated - Warehouse District -
Thanny Elrandir

Simple threatening words were not going to dissuade Jari or Incarose, so Ronin's eyes scanned around the Warehouse they stood inside, then suddenly, Ronin would lower his sword and raise his other hand, the crimson arcane sigil growing slightly larger and more intense in its power and within the center, a small crimson flame ignited threateningly. "Should I unleash the power of flame from this sigil, the contents of this Warehouse will go up with it. Some of it survived the initial blaze and it could be anything. Simply food and supplies, or weapons grade explosive, perhaps some secretly smuggled Itika by some mischievous dock workers? If you don't want to test your luck, I suggest you back off! Now!" Ronin bellowed, fully prepared to do what's necessary to ensure Eden, Remy and Zion are not seen by these mages, who could very well be hunting them down, to kill them in the name of some old, controlling and power-mad lunatics.


- Laguna, The Maelstrom, Somnum - Vita River, Lagiacrus Attack -
Mystics Apprentice

During the initial conversation regarding the High Priestess Mabel, Laguna found themselves internally agreeing: That Mabel should seek to understand the world around her, to be more free to learn, but also to face the consequences like the adult she is. Was that so wrong? Apparently, according to Mia and Mellark, it was...the tradition-bound fools. Yet all this relaxation made Laguna impatient, they wanted to meet with Vivifica and end this war before it begun, though their heresy, their treachery, was something that could not be easily forgiven, but perhaps under Jynn Venas's rule, Vivifica would return to its rightful place and assume its original, trustworthy and honourable form.

Laguna would get their wish however, in a manner of speaking, as a massive Bilröst Lagiacrus emerged from the waters...very conveniently, they might add, which then initiated its vicious attack immediately. "Ha ha! At last!" Laguna bellowed tauntingly towards the Lagiacrus, bashing their hammer against the ground in anticipation, a crackle of Lightning followed in a circular motion along the ground in its wake. "A mighty beast to slay! End it now and protect the Priestess! Hiyaaah!!" Laguna charged forward with a battle cry, twirling Mjolnir by its taper and aiming to smack the Sea Monster straight in the face, then bringing the hammer back to do the same again, flying upward slightly and charging the hammer with Lightning from the skies and bringing it downward upon the beasts head, to send a wave of electrical power coursing through the beast to bring it as much harm as possible.


- Eleanor Le Doux, Fierce Shadow, Umbra - Vita River, Lagiacrus Attack -
Xion136 Endless Thundaza Mystics Apprentice

"You utterly inconsiderate bastard! No beast of the sea shall threaten our Priestess, the peace of the forest and prevent my swimming date!" Eleanor bellowed angrily, just as angry about the loss of her swimming date with Eclaire as she was about the most important woman in the land being threatened, drawing both of her swords and summoning her Armour, leaving the helmet off this time as a Lagiacrus wouldn't care about her gender or face, only that she was attacking.

"Eclaire? With me! Bring the beast down! And I feel great, thank you!" Eleanor charged forward, her Darkness boosting her speed, allowing her to skim across the water for a brief period, enough to slash at the beast's scaly hide multiple times with both blades, making another pass to slice at the other side of its hide, before having to succumb to the need to swim, making her way swiftly back to land to prepare herself for whatever the Lagiacrus did next.

 

[Mystics Apprentice]

–Sanctus Heights: 1st Floor Grand Cathedral–
Stardustblade358 , RikuXIII , Xion136

The orders were clear. Shiroo didn't even question Arun taking initiative in terms of leadership, and merely nodded in acceptance as his direction was appointed. "Right, Kagura and I will head off–" He paused as Kagura grabbed the back of his shirt, which made the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He was officially a little creeped out by the dancer after their conversation on the grounds. He started to shuffle his feet forward in the direction of the council room, and thankfully the water dancer released him shortly thereafter. When Shiroo glanced back over his shoulder he was impressed at the water which Kagura harnessed, offering him a reassuring nod.

"We've got this. Just be ready when I open this door."

After awaiting Kagura to get into position to strike the moment the door opened, Shiroo kicked it in, revealing quite the intense display indeed.

Five dread fighters stood in the corners of the room, katanas outstretched. A few had panic clear in their eyes as they faced a monstrosity like none that Shiroo had ever seen. It was massive, standing at least fifteen feet tall and wielding a very large sword. Its figure was that of a female knight, yet burly. Its body looked like a complex mess of armor, face fully concealed by a red helmet. Behind the figure stood Absalom Sagus. He was the only living individual in the room, several servants and dread fighters bleeding and dead on the ground. Sweat beaded on Absalom's forehead as his hand shook in front of him. Apparently he was concentrating hard to wield this massive fighter at his disposal.

"No way," Shiroo breathed, eyeing Absalom to the knight. "An elder is a summoner?! I thought they had no powers!"

The summoning, however, was taking its toll on Absalom, and the form of the spirit which he summoned grew more transparent as time wore on. The elder's gaze shifted to the two mages as they entered, though one dread fighter as already leaping into action. He darted toward Kagura and Shiroo with immense speed, twin blades outstretched as he prepared to slice at first Kagura horizontally. Another began to charge, but was swiftly dealt with from the summon, which backhanded the dread fighter in the stomach with the hilt of its blade.

Spoiler: [The Summon's appearance]

Meanwhile, Arun and Anya would find themselves entering the kitchen. No one, however, was in sight. And yet as they would proceed further, a frying pan would be hauled across the room in their direction. At around the same time a maid would leap out from within a cabinet and charge toward Arun with a very large kitchen knife. She would stop, blink at the two confusedly before saying, "Wait, aren't you a pair of Ignis mages? I think I recognize you."

"No time for chitter chatter!" another man, clearly a chef, snapped, gesturing toward the door. "Close the door, and be quiet about it! We will be found!"

–Sanctus Heights: The Grand Cathedral: 2nd Floor–
HeartOfFerria , RikuXIII , Scrapmaster

​

[HALLWAY - Vlad]
Vlad's shadow attracted the attention of a dread fighter. The masked figure leaped out from the corners, initially cloaked in shadow, seizing Vlad from behind and slitting his throat. Confusion clouded the face of the dread fighter as the shadow faded into nothingness, only for his eyes to widen and bulge as he was impaled by the real Vlad. He said nothing, only the sound of blood gurgling in his throat was audible before the fighter fell to the ground, lifeless.

Vlad would detect two other souls suddenly appear from behind him, though silent as they might have been. Two dread fighters appeared, katanas prepared, as they approached.

"We are to harm no mages, and I see that you are one," he voiced. "Come quietly and you shall be spared, else you will be obliged to taste our wrath."

"And trust me: there's more of us on the way," the other side. While his face was masked from the nose down, his eyes wrinkled as though he wore a twisted smile.

---------

[INFIRMARY - Mako and Aquilla]

The dread fighter holding Aquilla hostage clapped her on the shoulder. "That's a good girl. Come along now." Still pinning her to his chest, he led her toward the infirmary. Despite Aquilla dragging her feet and making his movements more labored, he still kept up with his two companions relatively well. One of them eyed the sword that Aquilla had and reached for it.

"I don't think you'll be needing this where you're going," he said to her, attempting to snatch it away.

From behind them voices could be heard, chiefly whistling from Vlad's copy. The dread fighters glanced at each other before one of them nodded. "Go check it out." One of their number departed, heading to back up his other men in case something was amiss. Now there were only two escorting Aquilla, reaching the infirmary and sliding the door open.

Within the room was a rather grotesque sight. Injured victims from the flames were blindfolded and bound, some even gagged. There were about three bodies on the ground, and the floor was slick with blood. A foul stench filled the room, much unlike its previous state when Aquilla had last seen it.

"Cause problems or start flapping your jaw about us, and these people die," one of them said, gesturing to a bed which sat five individuals, mostly elderly. "We are to remain anonymous. The Master said so."

After a few moments, one of them led her to a wall, while the other grabbed rope and bandages in an attempt to bind the mage. Before they succeeded, however, the racket from the bedpan arrested their attention. Both dread fighters froze. None of their men would be so careless.

"Watch what you're doing!" an old-timer yelled, who was seemingly affected by the contents of the bedpan spilling into the room. "Can't you thieves watch where you're going? Ew!"

"Quiet!" snapped one of the dread fighters, craning his neck in the direction of the curtain. And then, in a lower voice, added: "It looks like we have a runaway. Care to see who it is?"

"If you are not blindfolded you will die!" The other further called out, attempting to wrap Aquilla's wrists to a pole (if she permitted it) before leaving her to check the other side of the curtain. The other fighter remained standing in front of Aquilla, though he seemed distracted.

Mako would hear footsteps approach her curtain, and she'd see his feet appear before her.

–Sanctus Heights: Shopping District–
Xion136 , HeartOfFerria

The thief gave a start as he watched Eden transform before his very eyes. Little did she appear to be the Umbra mage they had once known. Had Remy not witnessed the transformation himself, he would've denied that it was even her. Magic was strange business.

As they strode into the shopping district Remy untied his hair from the ponytail which he had once worn, allowing it to fall in auburn waves along his shoulders, which he fanned out, brushing his already-long bangs into his eyes.

"I'll just get some mage clothes, and once we leave the capital I shouldn't be recognized, except by that one stubborn Vivifican mage," Remy thought bitterly toward their companion, Jynn. He wondered where he'd gone off to, suddenly realizing that he was nowhere in sight when he'd awoken on the clock tower. The thief fell in line with Isabelle, surprised that she ignored his question but didn't push it. Instead he did, however, push her back, attempting to nudge her into a ritzy looking store that had a very elegant dress in the window. Way above his price point, but perhaps not hers. "Why not try on some garments and see for yourself what size you are?" he said with a playful smirk. "Bambi."


–Approaching the Grand Cathedral–
Nero Kunivas , Scrapmaster , HeartOfFerria

"Down in the basement," Vaike said with a nod in response to Arno's question on the cell's locations. "There should be windows around the rear of the building, if we want to try to go around, depending on how security looks right now."

And security did not look great. The bounty hunters would arrive at the cathedral to find the dead bodies of the guards, the double doors of the cathedral flung wide open as blood splatters were clear as day in the entryway. A frown furrowed Vaike's brow, eyes widening as he noticed the black flames.

"We should hurry indeed," Vaike said quickly, getting ready to close the distance between themselves and the cathedral and yet froze, watching as Soren and Everyth made their way onto the scene. It wasn't likely that the bounty hunters could be seen from their current position, but even if they could, they would likely be mistaken for passersby checking out the scene of the crime.

"What should we do?" Tibarn whispered, ducking low behind a stone wall, one gun blade held in his right hand. "Go around the back, or wait until they leave?"

–Everyth Castanova – UMBRA – In front of the Grand Cathedral–
Nero Kunivas

The Umbra mage walked alongside Soren as they made their way to the cathedral, the raven-haired woman meeting at about his elbow. She wore a thoughtful expression as Soren proceeded to explain his views on the situation, to which she could certainly empathize with. "I agree," she said at last when a moment of silence lapsed between them. "The least amount of conflict would be preferable, and yet it sure doesn't look like Vivifica is going to back down readily. After hearing what the archmagus of light had to say, I fear that such resistance is going to be the typical mindset of the mages within the court.

"While I have high hopes in Vivifica's heir, he is still just a child," Everyth continued. "Who knows how well he has been groomed for this role, or the respect that the mages have for him. I don't know. I don't mean to be pessimistic, but I cannot say that my hopes are particularly high for a positive outcome. And by the way, who is this Ronin figure of which you speak? The name doesn't ring a bell. Is he a court mage?"

His positive words about the Umbra mage flattered her, though she did hope that he wasn't trying to boost her ego or make her feel better. "Do you really feel that way?" she asked, voice low, gaze critical. "I . . . . To be frank, I do not think anyone has ever told me that they delight themselves in my company. Thank you, Soren, truly. That means worlds to hear."

The bulwark's tale, however, intrigued her a bit more than the discussion pertaining to Vivifica. Her violet eyes never left his face as he spoke, a grave expression knitting her brow upon his discussion of fear and how it expands upon all courts, not only those aligned with the shadows. "That is pitiful," she said with irritation. "Some people desire to think only of themselves and not those who are suffering, willing to put the victims out so that they're not inconvenienced in any way. No one should ever think less of you for what you've endured. While it may have left its mark on you for life, you have walked away a hero, if the stories I've heard are anywhere near true, and that is something to be truly proud of."

She brought a finger to her cheek, expression thoughtful as she proceeded. "Physical appearance will not buy you happiness, or much of anything good in this world." Truly, she could speak from experience. Chasing after vanity had gotten her nowhere. At times in her life she'd worked so hard, maintaining the perfect figure at great personal cost and striving toward cosmetic youth and beauty, only for it to fail her. It never earned her friends, and the love interests she'd had were but fleeting and never a true investment which she desired. It was vain, and it saddened her to think that Soren had to suffer simply because he was not who he once was. At least cosmetically.

"Your eyes are unique. I like them," she said, and given the sincerity in her tone it appeared that she truly meant it. It was around then that a playful smirk crossed her face. "Though I am saddened that I cannot see your face fully for what it is. The respirator really takes up too much of what I am certain is a charming face."

The time for playfulness and teasing was over, however, when Soren pointed out the bodies. Everyth ran over to them, checking both bodies for a pulse before shaking her head. "They have been this way for a while," she murmured, before rising to stand alongside her Ignis friend. "We should go in and see if there are any survivors."

Who could've done this? Everyth thought idly to herself, gaze lifting toward the torches, and eyes widening at the sudden realization. "I think I know who is attacking."

But . . . why?


–Intermundium–
HeartOfFerria

​

The Maestra of Vivifica slowly shifted around, lowering her navy hood as she did so. Her soft gaze locked onto Quinn, initially surprised to find the loyal mage with her, but then she offered her a smile.

"Greetings, Quinn. I will admit that I did not think any would figure out a way into this space between worlds." She extended her hand as though beckoning the mage closer to her. "I am wondering how you knew I was here, but that can come later. First, I will do my best to answer your question."

She gestured a hand to their surroundings, moving slightly to reveal the altar before her. Hovering on a platform rested an orb, no larger than a tennis ball. It shimmered in the light, seeming transparent from some angles, and in others it displayed images within. A round ring orbited around this orb, as it hovered in place several inches from the stone altar underneath. The ray of golden light above the object seemed to come from somewhere beyond sight. Glancing up, one would only see the blinding golden light with no source visible.

"This place is called Intermundium, or the space between worlds. This is the bridge which separates the human and spirit realm. Most believe this is mere folklore and that this space does not exist, which is partly why it has been so sacred for all of this time. There are only a handful of locations throughout the entire world that are weakened so that this space can be accessed, and it took me a very long time to discover this one. I am assuming that earth magic was what you used to enter, to which I must congratulate your deduction. You are wise, Quinn, and I feel that I can trust you with what I am about to share.

"This is called the Sphaera Auream," Aislinn further explained. "It is an ancient relic believed to have been created and abandoned by the gods, holding immense power if fueled with great quantities of Itika. With it, much can be done, things can be unwoven, and, I pray, an evil can be defeated. This was once used as a weapon, which I believe it can do again."

She offered Quinn another kind smile. "I hope that this answers your question. Now, if I may proceed with mine: how did you find me? No one was trailing me, or at least not that I was aware."

–Vivifica Temple–
Scrapmaster , RikuXIII , Nero Kunivas

The blond mage nodded in accordance with Richter's response. While he didn't doubt that Richter saw the nobility of Aislinn's actions, he did question the validity of Richter's opinion. How biased were he to the maestra, truly? Perhaps very, if he held her in as high esteem as Aislinn did him.

Tiru couldn't help but snort at Elliot's question. "What can be done? We've tried asking the maestra questions, and she has made it clear that we are not worthy of her responses. Our options are either to continue to trust her blindly, seek answers ourselves, or disband the court, though I am more inclined toward the former two options. Dividing doesn't sound very pleasant to me."

He shifted his satchel over his shoulder. "That's why I'm hoping that our trip to Sanctus Heights will help. If we can find answers on what attacked us back in the Valley of Magic, maybe it'll be our first step into unravelling this mess. If you're not doing anything you're welcome to come as well, Elliot, though I know Richter's staying behind. Someone has to guard the court, I guess."

–Vita River–
Scrapmaster , Thanny , Elrandir , Nero Kunivas , Xion136 , Stardustblade358 , Endless Thundaza , RikuXIII

Jynn's soothing words did provide the high priestess some amount of comfort. She wiped at her eyes, sitting straighter and grasping his arm. "Thank you, Jynn. Truly. I am sorry for being a nuisance."

"Nuisance only because you had to do what you wanted to do without any regard for anything else," came a harsh voice from behind the two. Standing behind them was Mia, soaking wet, with a massive scythe in one hand and Mabel's robes in the other. Any amount of color that remained in Mabel's cheeks faded instantly, fear instead contorting her features. The elder flung Mabel her robe, before waltzing right up to Mabel and smacking her across the face.

"Don't ever get carried away like that again," Mia chided. "You could've gotten yourself killed, or worse! Conspirators could make all kinds of tales, tales that you do not want to be carrying back to the cathedral with you. You do realize the price of neglecting your vows as the high priestess of Regalia, do you not?"

"Yes, ma'am," Mabel said obediently, ignoring the cheek that was now an angry red from the strike, clutching her robes to her chest and looking absolutely humilated.

"Good." The elder wrapped her arms around Mabel, muttering something lowly before saying slightly louder. "I am so glad that you are okay. Please, do not ever scare me like that again!"

Mabel shakily rose to her feet, nodding in response. Her body and slip were still sopping wet, but she gently removed Jynn's jacket and placed her own robes back on. Mia turned toward Jynn, giving him an odd expression that could not be easily placed. "You have saved the priestess' life, boy. You have my eternal gratitude, and a fine reward shall await you once this is all said and done. If you make it out of here alive, of course."

Her eyes then narrowed into slits, as she added in a slightly darker tone: "Next time, though, perhaps don't indulge the priestess in things she mustn't do. Sometimes there are consequences for our actions. Don't ever forget that, boy."

She straightened, returning to Mabel's side as the young priestess shot a saddened, sideways glance toward Jynn. "I will take her to the safety of the carriages. Go! Your brethren need you."

Meanwhile, Fyenne breathlessly caught up with Eclaire, offering her a towel but was unable to get it to her before she charged at the Lagiacrus. "Be careful, Lady de Wynter!" She ran alongside Eleanor where the Umbra mage had landed, placing her concentration on her magic as a dark orb of energy formed in her hands. "I will help, too," she said defiantly, glaring at the beast.

(I will not fire the attack or attack for my NPCs since there is enough going on in terms of PCs to focus on)

 

[Endless Thundaza]

Jynn Venas, Vivifica - Vita River vs Bilröst Lagiacrus


The barrage of attacks started to anger the beast. The smack from Henry did jerk its head to the side, though the deft blow seemed to do far less than it should have given its velocity. Next came the barrage of assaults from the souls which Arkane summoned. Their swords attempted to pierce into the scales, only to no avail. The metal deflected, and in a short matter of time the Lagiacrus abandoned them and shifted to a new target. As it jerked in response to Gerik's showcasing of necrotic chains, which it deftly reared back to avoid with surprising speed, the spear which Professor Nero threw with precision sadly did not meet its mark, the spear instead whizzing past the other mages and embedding itself into a nearby tree.

Simultaneously, Eclaire unleashed her crystallized swords. One wound its way into the beast's side, the others zipping past as near misses. As Eleanor surged forward it shifted its long heavy core, a torrent of river water rising ten feet and surging in Eleanor's direction. It would've prohibited her from reaching the beast at best, and if at worst she would've been sent off course and into the river. It swings its head back to the mages, and its eyes start to illuminate a bright yellow. Hot steam emits from its nose and mouth, and it finally lets out a long ear piercing roar. The air around them becomes incredibly humid. The beast backs up to avoid Laguna’s second attack with his hammer.


“Mabel, you are never a nu-“ but Jynn and Mabel’s touching moment comes to an end, as Mia approaches from behind them and scolds Mabel. Jynn wanted to defend Mabel, but he knew this was not his place to speak. Jynn could sense the fear in Mabel’s aura.


As the elder approaches, she smacks the poor priestess across the face. Jynn clenches his fist, emitting some sparks. So, this is how the elders discipline her. They truly are tyrants, preventing her from enjoying life, and showing emotion to others, turning her into their subservient puppet. All so they can control the courts. It makes Jynn wonder if the elders are allowed to enjoy themselves.


After scolding Mabel, Mia turns her attention to Jynn. She thanks him for saving the priestess, willing to reward him for his deeds. After that display with Mabel, what could this old hag possibly have to offer Jynn? Nothing would please him more than seeing Mabel be a person, instead of being a puppet, stripped of emotion.


Afterwards, Mia warns Jynn to not let Mabel do what she wants, to be aware of the consequences. Mel pins his ears down, and lets out and angry groan. Jynn places his hand on the horse’s muzzle. “Stand down.” Begrudgingly, Mel lowers his hindquarters to the ground, but still keeps his ears pinned back. Jynn faces Mia and bows. “Apologies Lady Mia. I just wanted her to gain some experience in the world.......” He summons his sword. Before heading off, he gives Mabel a sideways glance, with a saddened expression.


He proceeds forward, his sword transforming into a large axe. He begins speaking, in a different tongue. “Odin, lána mér styrk. Láta engan fjandmaður standa í vegi mínum. Komið til mín, Óðins Force!” A flash of lighting strikes him, and a huge aura emits from his body. His eyes glow a bioluminescent blue, and leaves a streak as he moves. The Leviathan surges with lighting.


As soon as Jynn gets close to the battlefield, he flings his axe at the beast’s head, but the monster fires an orb of water, blasting the axe away. The axe flies back to Jynn’s hand, and Jynn lands next to Laguna, slamming the Leviathan to the ground. Fissures run towards the Lagiacrus, with lighting bolts striking overhead. The monster manages to dodge the attack. Jynn takes note of Laguna. “I don’t believe we’ve met before?”


The monster was extremely angry. It finally retaliates by firing a ball of hot steam to the ground in front of the mages. The initial orb was a ruse, as the ground emits huge geysers of hot water below the mages’ feet in a cone shaped trajectory. The Lagiacrus closes the gap and tries to chomp any nearby mage, swinging its head in an “S” motion.

Mystics Apprentice Stardustblade358 Scrapmaster Thanny Nero Kunivas Elrandir RikuXIII Xion136

 

[Stardustblade358]

- Arun - Ignis Court - Sanctus Heights: Cathedral 1st Floor -
Arun walked into the kitchen warily alongside Anya. However he was surprised to encounter a frying pan flying at them and then a knife. He barely dodged the pan, and the kitchen knife would be blocked with his shield before there was a pause in everyone's actions. "Yes. We are of Ignis. What is going on?" He asked. Stupid question. Something bad was happening. There was nothing of value here. He could hear the echoes of fighting from down the hall where the great meeting hall was. "What has happened here? Did you see who attacked you?" He asked. He shook his head. They needed to get these people out of here, and he needed to provide aid to Vlad upstairs. He gestured his arm, furrowing his brows. "The hall is clear. You cannot remain here, this is a dead end. Quickly, get out of here." He said, gesturing as he looked back a Anya. "We must get these people out of here, and bring support to Vlad upstairs." He spoke, looking back at them. He grabbed a hold of the knife from the maid and settled it aside. He walked over to one of the walls of the kitchen, looking around. He was not going to have these people run back to the hall where the bodies were. He took a deep breath and slammed his axe into the wall. It shattered it, but the rocks and the blocks of bricks and concrete would slowly pull away, forcing an opening, an exit to the outside of the cathedral via the wall. A large hole in the wall, leading out. He turned to the staff. "Come. Quickly. You must alert the authorities that something terrible has happened here." He insisted, offering his hand as he stepped aside from the hole in the wall.

RikuXIII

- Arkane - Umbra Court - Vita River -
The summons could not pierce the beast, and Arkane could feel a migraine incoming as he watched it attack. The Umbra mage would cover his eyes as the sphere of steam hit the floor, covering the area in the humid sense. But that was the least of their problems, steaming geyser rising into the air to catch them off guard. Arkane pulled the flute to his lips and began to play loudly, the shrill of it activating the cards before him. He watched one surge before him and he activated a reflection curse, the mirror taking in the geyser as it rose against it. The mirror absorbed it, and soon enough Arkane took aim as he watched the beast zigzag across the battlefield. He took up another card that floated, picking it out personally before throwing it into the mirror. He played his song, closing his eyes for a moment as dark electricity surged from the card and into the mirror, being absorbed as well. Arkane waited patiently...and he took aim...before shooting out the geyser that he had absorbed, now covered in a coat of electric energy that would head at the beast. Whether it hit or not, it would at least provide them with time. Arkane focused on his summons, seeing that their weapons were useless. He shifted onto another song, feeling sweat mix with water down his brow as the souls would walk together, merging slowly into one. The souls grew bigger, becoming one large soul with four arms. In two hands a pair of blades, and in the other a trident. Arkane gave it orders and off it went. The enlarged damned soul charged after the beast, jumping onto its tail and stabbing down at it with the trident, before using the two dual blades to attempt to cut into its scales once more.

- Yael - Unaffiliated - Vita River -
Yael looked back at the beast as it sent out attack after attack. He watched everyone fight back and he searched across the field for his time to shine. He found an opening and he took it. He ran across the field, dodging the geysers and the beast. As it zizagged in an attempt to bite at the fierce warriors, Yael took the chance to change his shape, transforming into a bird and flying high. But once he reached a certain height he transformed again. As he fell down the sky, he transformed into a black lion, roaring as he would land on the beast's head. Once there he dug his claws into its skin, biting down and attempting to claw at its eyes and face. He had no fear in drawing blood, his hind claws digging down and attempting to claw away at the thick scales that formed its armor.

 

[Elrandir]

- Thea Nero - Court of Somnum - Vita River -
Stardustblade358 Scrapmaster Thanny Nero Kunivas Elrandir RikuXIII Xion136 Endless Thundaza

The Professor's spear had failed to find its mark and now was embedded into a tree in the distance, it didn't took much for it to turn completely into water as another staff formed on Nero's hand. While the others were trying to attack the creature Nero noticed that Lady Mia had returned, slapped the High Priestess, told Jynn some words, only for her to take the Priestess to a safe place away from the battle. His subtle reactions were very interesting.

"You really should get those ideas out of your head, Mister Venas. It is not in your place to get involved with the Elders or the High Priestess more than it's necessary, not in your current situation, at least," Nero said as she walked past the young man, "It would be wise to keep such displays for the High Priestess in check, unless you ask for furhter problems for you and your cause. She might trust you, but remember that you are always being watched."

The Maestra didn't waited for a response, instead she kept walking until she was close to the creature, but not close enough to be attacked. She then made different hand movements, leaving faint traces of arcane energy behind until they formed a glowing sigil. The water of the river would surge towards the creature and it would attempt to catch it, if successful, the creature would be trapped in a sphere of water, inside the sphere there water would behave is if it was a very strong current, making it very hard for the creature to get free, giving the chance for the others to attack.


- Diane Corbeau - Court of Umbra - Sanctus Heights: Magitek Research Facility -
Stardustblade358

Diane listened to Vincent's explanation about his device with some amount of interest. She might not have been an inventor, not even back in the day, but Vincent sounded happy with the result and that was good enough.

"For you to come up with and make such a device in such amount of time is impressive," Diane said calmly, "Last time we were there I still felt remnants of arcane energy on the seal. They were faint, but still there."

The lich stared at the device, it was small, but if Vincent had done a good job with it then they would be allowed to follow the trail of the culprit or culprits.

"It is a lot of hassle to be allowed to get your hands on an itika fragment in these facilities, but now that the device is complete I am sure we can continue with the investigation," she said to Vinncent, "I am ready to leave if you are. Finding more clues about the people who did this is important to bring them to justice."


- Incarose Vassar - Court of Ignis - Sanctus Heights: Warehouse District -
Thanny Nero Kunivas

"So, what you are saying is that you are willing to cause further destruction to a city that was just engulfed in flame just but a few days ago?" Incarose asked dumbfounded, "are you really THAT desperate to, what exactly? We just came here to offer some help and supplies because we thought that, maybe, some mages or survivors were here. But this? To find a person such as yourself who is willing cause more harm to the city for some unknown purpose?"

Incarose raised her sword and hold it with both hands as she prepared for whatever move the strange man in front of them would do. It was true that they were at his mercy, but if he actually went ahead and did what he had said he would, then he would be affected as well.

"I do not know who you are, nor do I really care to find out. You might be a criminal, maybe whoever was with you were criminals too, and if that is the case then sooner or later you will be judged by your actions, either by mortal or devine law," she said as calmly as possible, just as her hair began to faintly glow as if on fire "I certainly do not want to be the cause of further destruction, but if you wish to cause it further then I see no choice but to try and stop you. Unless you get such stupid ideas out of your head, stop whatever you are planning to do, all of us go our separate ways and forget this ever happened."

 

[Stardustblade358]

- Vincent - Ignis Court - Sanctus Heights: Magitek Research Facility -
Vincent glanced down at the device. "Itika is a powerful thing. That is why it is wise for the courts to restrict its use. Can you imagine what one can do with enough Itika? As much good that one can do, there can be as much bad that can be done in equal matter and power." He shook his head and chuckled, closing up the device. "Right. Let us get going." He said. He returned to the working bench and cleaned up quickly, knowing better than to leave a mess when someone else could be using the area after them. Once done he held onto the device and began to walk out with Diane. Eyes were on the two as they walked down the hall, specifically on the device that contained the itika. Working on such a restricted item required supervision. But to take it out of the facility was something else all together. Vincent would encounter one of the scientists at the door, standing in the way between the two. The young woman would look at the two, then down at the device, and then back up, almost as if studying them. "You are currently taking out a piece of itika out of this facility. Once you are done with its use and the investigation, it would be of your best interest to return it." She insisted. Vincent smiled and chuckled nervously. "Understood." He said. "We will be careful." He reassured." The woman would nod before stepping aside. Vincent walked out of the facility with Diane, heading back to the scene of the crime. They had cleaned up most of it, but it was hard to move giant pieces of metal when most of the equipment was currently being used for the reconstruction of the city. The guards let them through and Vincent approached the seal. He opened the device and took out the crystal that Vlad had given them. He looked up at the seal and pressed the crystal against it. Nothing seemed to happen initially, but soon one could see the white, pure crystal slowly changing color, absorbing the remnants that remained. It slowly became black, and even Vincent could feel the darkness that it now contained. He stared down at it and gulped, quickly placing the crystal back inside and clasping it to its place. He closed up the device and watched it slowly activate. The needle would be waving back and forth, moving around as it seemed to adjust before eventually returning to zero. Vincent moved the device around, watching it remain zero for a little while before beginning to move at a certain direction. He looked up at Diane and smiled. "It will be almost like a guide dog." He mused, glancing back down. "Let us see where it takes us." He began to walk.
Elrandir

 

[HeartOfFerria]

Quinn

Quinn seemed rather mystified by the space. Her eyes slowly looking about as she listened to the Maestra’s explanation. Then she was asked a question in turn. “A rabbit led me to you. I dont think it was a white rabbit but it certainly led me to you and by association this gate.” She replied making referance to a story she remembered from her childhood. “In other words I was hunting and caught a glimpse of you.” Her pale eyes shifted towards the sphere. “Is that a weapon used by Vivifica Or did you stumble upon it yourself?” Quinn remained rather inquisitive.

Aquilla
The pink haired mage watched carefully as the dread fighters were distracted by an unseen force. She decided she wouldnt have a better chance to strike and assist. She focused on a deep cold around her wrists, freezing the binds before pulling in both directs suddenly and forcefully. As the ice cracked she moved forward towards the fighter closest to her. Her hands swung wide and were aimed to clap against both sides of the fighters head. All the while the mana stored in the gloscan crystal around her neck would drain from her use of ice magic as well as her incoming second spell. “Dry Snow Prison” she muttered as she drew close. If contact was made his head would be subjected to intense tempurature change and freezing cold along with the initial cupped strike to both ears. The resulting backlash would leave Aquilla slowed by her own ice as per the usual result.

Saffron
Rifle at the ready Saffron followed close behind the others making sure to take up the rear. She wanted to make sure they wouldnt be surprised by any inconveniences. “You would expect there to be more guards at the cathedral where they house the Elders and High Priestess” she comments as they waited to make a plan. “I say we should hurry and take advantage of the situation at hand.”


Isabelle
The pale haired girl looked at the dress for some time. “Perhaps... it doesnt look too bad, but im not sure if it would be good to wear as a disguise. Its something that might draw attention. We are looking for bland clothing like grey clothes.” She explained to Remy, still not catching a hint.

Luka
As Somnum came into view Luka could only smile. It was almost time to begin the experimentation. “I need to get my hands on some itika for the prototype but im sure the dear doctor is capble of obtaining some.” She grins. “Its in the name of science after all... and for the betterment of Somnum, of course.”

 

[Scrapmaster]

- Henry Heid - Court of Ignis - Lagiacrus fight -

His attack had some effect, the creature did inch somewhat to the side from the impact and subsequent mini explosion that followed the hammer blow, it did help in getting Jynn and Mabel free, but it didn't help that he was subsequently ignored by most of his peers and even the beast itself as it proceeded to attack the, everyone did their actions and Jynn managed to break a horn in a spectacularly showy display of magic potency and skill, the beast was now without a horn and understandably. Very very mad.

Nero acted first, her attack most likely stopping its original attack in its tracks as it was now stuck in a swirling sphere of water. He was about to follow up with an attack of his own...but then he heard Makoto shouting at him, and the moment he heard Suzaku Spin he already knew what she wanted to do, he de-summoned his hammer and sword as he turned to look at her, extending his arms to grab her, and he would begin spinning her around, it would look somewhat ridiculous at first, but considering Makoto could generate energy out of movement, this would be extremely useful. He would spin around around a few times, before finally throwing her towards the monster. "Get him Makoto!" He shouted.

Xion136 Mystics Apprentice Elrandir Nero Kunivas Endless Thundaza


- Arno Cross - Bounty Huntin's hard business - Grand Cathedral -

"Here's what we'l do..." Arno whispered to his allies. He turned to them as they were in a safely hidden position from Everyth and Soren, but a group this big would be hard to maneuver around, specially in a mess like this at the Cathedral. "I'l go distract them...with any luck you four will be able to sneak around as they got eyes on me, and I might even be able to find out what's going on." Arno gave out a quick but serious statement about what he was about to do.

"It should make your guys's lives easier in getting Vaike's friend out, If things take too long for me here, i'l meet all back at Viridian." Arno proposed a meeting place, considering Vaike's friend would most likely need shelter, and their room at the Viridian was still rented for the day, it was a good place for a meet up.


Without really waiting for anyone's approval of his quickly thought up plan he moved himself out of cover around the same time as Everyth came to check on the bodies, pulling out his lever action magic rifle and adjusting his hat and coat to hide all of his head but his eyes as usual he approached both Everyth and Soren just as she mentioned she might know who were doing this.

"Who, then." Arno spoke plainly, barging into the situation with a real vigilante look on him. He didn't worry about them suspecting him because why would he ask and this attire isn't exactly very good for stealthing.

Arno's eyes would shoot to Everyth's, then to Soren, meeting them both with an impartial and completely indifferent look as he would then look at the bodies. Aaah guards, it was good to see they were still useless as they've always been. They would then fixated on Everyth as he awaited for both the woman's reaction to his arrival, and an answer.

Whether they reacted negatively to his arrival or not was irrelevant, he didn't really care about what Mages thought.

Mystics Apprentice Nero Kunivas HeartOfFerria



- Vlad - The Shadow over Somnus - Grand Cathedral Hallway - VS Dread fighters -

Aaannnd his diversion worked, not only could he hear more people coming towards him but one of them had gotten the drop of his clone, slicing its throat only to look in confusion as the clone simply turned around to face them, shrug and then disabbear in particles of shadow magic as the assailant met the pointy end of Vlad's sword, Iris, after the latter had emerged from the assailant's shadow stabbing him and as the man's life drifted away, Vlad bit the man's neck, driving his teeth deep within his skin and drawing blood, and he began to suck. No one but Vlad was there to see but the man's shadow itself began to disappear, as his blood and shadow began to be drunk and absorbed by Vlad. by combining blood magic and shadow magic, two very vile forms of the dark arts, one could "drink" other's shadows alongside blood. This usualy meant both nutrition by manipulating the blood cells that had been ingested but also raw natural shadow energy, which made it all sooo much tastier, Obtenebration was a very rare and prohibited form of magic, and it was very weird, but god damn it felt good.

And the men had arrived, two for now, behind him and a few more coming along. The body on the floor now pale and somewhat deflated by Vlad's blood sucking, as he stood over it in a real intimidating look, Vlad would slowly turn around, the left upper part of his face completely black as the darkest shadow, with a demonic, fiery red glowing eye as the rest of his face was normal, it was one of the effects of Obtenebration, usage of it turned the user into the resemblance of a demon, and he was completely ok with that, though he could control how much of it affected him, with more of his appearance shifting should he use more shadow magic.

He looked over the two Dread Fighters up and down, their katanas looked nice and sharp, and the men looked lively and deadly, fitting of assassin. "Well that's a fine how do you do, your friend could've been more....polite....in his approach." Vlad spoke tauntingly gesturing to their deceased and dried friend as his left arm began to accumulate shadow magic, turning black and a swirling shadow orb floating on his hand.

"So I guess you already know my answer right?" Vlad spoke to then, a sadistic grin forming on his face as. "Get...dunked!" Vlad gleefuly shouted as he threw the orb forward, and it exploded in a large blast of shadow magic, directed towards the Dread fighters, it would be hard to dodge due to the closed confines of the hallway, and the unique nature of the magic would not only cause heavy dark elemental damage and provide a strong knockback, possibly knocking them on their asses if hit, it would also leave a lot of unnatural looking shadows all around the walls and floor, maybe even the ceiling! these artificial shadows posed no threat to the Dread Fighters by themselves, but Vlad could command them, and even hide in them, they would be easily dispelled by light, or any sort of shockwave producing attack due to their unnatural nature, they were physical, they looked somewhat like a liquid, like tar.

The blast would not only cause a lot of noise but the vicinity would rumble slightly, this one was mostly on purpose to call more of the Dread Fighters towards him and to indirectly tell Arun to hurry the hell up.

Mystics Apprentice Stardustblade358

 

[Elrandir]

- Diane Corbeau - Court of Umbra - Sanctus Heights: Magitek Research Facility -
Stardustblade358

"Itika is both a precious and dangerous thing. It has the potential to help a lot of people, but at the same time it has the potential to cause massive destruction if used with bad intentions," Diane said to Vincent, "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Or so people say. One has to wonder what goes inside those people's minds."

The Lich helped Vincent clean the room, returning the tools and leftovers materials to their respective places. The facility was used by many people and it would have been rude to leave a mess when they allowed them to use the laboratory to make Vincent's device. Diane could feel the eyes of the people on them. Was it because they were mages? For the device Vincent had made? Or because it contained a small fragment of Itika? Anything was possible. One of the scientists, a young woman, spoke with Vincent. Meanwhile another one got closer to Diane.

"Excuse me, Lady Corbeau? But is it true that your are taking an itika sample outside the facility?" A familiar voice said.

To Diane's surprise, or perhaps lack of it, Raphael Maxwell approached to her and asked her about the itika fragment she had asked for. What a strange young man. It was obvious that their purpose was to take the itika and use it to aid in the investigation.

"We are. Mister Watson made a device that, in theory, would allow us to search for a particular arcane signature to find out the whereabouts of the culprit or culprits from the automaton attack in Central Square," Diane answered flatly, "Hopefully, the itika fragment will be useful for such task."

"Well, I wish both of you the best of luck with that. Such accident was awful for a lot of citizens from Central Square and whoever caused that should be brought to justice," Raphael said, "just remember to bring back the itika fragment once your task is over. As i am sure you know, we cannot let anyone who is not authorized to handle such a dangerous material outside the facilities. So please, once you are done, bring it back."

The pale woman stared at the young scientist for a few seconds, he just shifted slightly. Was he nervous? Probably. Was it her the cause for such behavior. Definitely. Or perhaps it was the fact that they were taking the itika with them. Diane followed Vincent once they were allowed to leave the facility, both making their way back to the Central Square. While walking to the spot where the remnants of the automaton were, Diane watched people, whole families, that were still waiting for help, others were searching, helping in anything they could. She could see a few mages around, some from Umbra, others from Ignis or Somnum.

Once they were close to the remnants of the automaton Vincent began to work, he opened his device and pressed it against the blood rune. Nothing happened for a moment, and Diane thought that, maybe, the remaining arcane energy was gone, but the crystal began to change colour, it was becoming darker and darker with each passing second. Vincent put the crystal back into the device and it slowly came to life, giving some kind of reading, perhaps it had found the source of the arcane signature. Vincent looked at her with a smile. Diane simply blinked and tilted her head slightly.

"Lead the way, Vincent. I will follow you."

 

[Thanny]

- Jari Coriander, Somnum Court, with a very feisty Incarose standing up to Ronin -

The usually amiable fox boy was expressing bridled rage at the moment. To heck with the fact that this guy might be more powerful than either of them. He was downright insane, and willing to torch the place in favour of running away with his compatriots of, no doubt, evil intentions when all they wanted to do was help. This inanity, as well as Incarose's inspiring statements, helped him push back the fear rather than succumb to it. His weapon was drawn as well, hand clutching firmly upon the leather-bound grip of the hunter's knife. If Ronin were to make the first move, it would be he who would pay, not them . . . right? And if he pulls back his writhing sigil then everything will be well and good, but he will not run at the drop of a hat. Even still, he dropped his knife to his side.

"Pah, I don't know your reasons, but they are outright flawed if you are willing to burn down this place. Rose, let's get out of here, and you put that magic away, you brandishing, destructive bully. After you, Rose."

Jari was preparing his Blitzschnell for two potential uses, one for a just-in-case venture of Ronin lashing out at the two, and another for skirting around the warehouse to find out where he and the others were going. Being a proud patriot of the continent, he was more than ready to help protect, and yet why . . . why did his legs feel like gelatin running into danger like this? Was it lack of resolve, lack of skill, or just the overbearing fear of things not working out? Whatever the case, he hoped he had the ability to complete the task at hand.

- Daruk Mordem, Ignis Court, hailing Scotland with claymore in hand -

Escaping the eye of the beast and the gout of steaming geysers by a country mile, Daruk rapidly approached his claymore and clothes. There he was faced with a decision. Should he sacrifice time to put on his pants, or should he charge wielding a weapon greater than the black veil that enshrouded him with the word "Censored" on it? The answer, of course, was obvious. Spending ten or twenty seconds to don his decency, he next took his weapon in hand and raised it high.

"Gwa ha! You shall feel the power of a now clothed beast, something you won't find, Loony Semolina Product! But first--"

He closed his eyes and felt about the area with magic as he scanned the earth surrounding him. This was a river valley, which meant that there were bound to be some sizable rocks in the vicinity even larger than those in the river itself. Finding one, he tugged open the earth enough to let a monstrous boulder out of the earth from its home fifteen feet deep. It was twice as tall as he was, and with formidable, Atlas-worthy strength and a bit of earth magic he raised it above him with both hands, then chucked it with the power of earth and fire backing him. The end result was a speeding rock launched at the neck of the vile creature (or, if Makoto was attempting to punch the neck, then somewhere on the main body).

With that much mass and such speed, it would take a lot of reluctance to move to shrug off the boulder, though there was always the chance the monster would attempt to dodge. He hoped his noteworthy Ignis mages, as well as the other court members, would be able to stun the creature long enough for his blow to hit.

 

[Mystics Apprentice]

–Sanctus Heights: 1st Floor Grand Cathedral–
Stardustblade358 , RikuXIII , Xion136

The staff was clearly stunned when Arun used his axe to break apart the wall. Some of them wasted no time in scampering through the new opening to the outdoors, while two chefs in particular appeared rooted on the spot. One of them shot a glare in Arun's direction, thick black mustache quivering.

"Do you have any idea what you have just done?" he demanded. "This is a historic building, and you have just decimated one of its walls without a second thought! Can you even imagine what that will cost to repair?"

"Calm down, Jakob," the knife-throwing maid said, flourishing another knife and gesturing for the irritated chef to head out of the "door." "I am sure that the noble mage had our best interests in mind. Had he not opened the wall like this, there's a chance that we might not have made it out alive." She shook her head, rose-colored bangs bouncing as they framed her face. She turned toward Arun and Anya before offering them a bow.

"I am so sorry for Jakob's behavior. He really is such a stubborn one. And"–blush crept up into her cheeks as she nervously tucked hair behind her ear–"I'm very sorry for having chucked a knife at you like that. I thought you were the enemy, you see."

She tucked a few more knives into her apron as she approached them. "My name is Viola, and I would happily lend a hand! You have saved our lives, and I am forever grateful to you mages. I want to repay you somehow, and I could be quite useful. My brother is a mage of Ignis, and he's taught me a few tricks!"

Giddily, she snapped her fingers, flames dancing upon her outstretched hand as she carefully laced them around one of her knives. She twirled its hilt in her hand several times, before waving a hand over the steel and putting the fire out. She grinned madly at them. "What do you say?"

–Sanctus Heights: The Grand Cathedral: 2nd Floor–
HeartOfFerria , RikuXIII , Scrapmaster

[INFIRMARY]

The cold penetrated through the dread fighter's skull, and it felt as though his very mind grew heavy. He grunted, reaching toward Aquilla's wrist but failed to do anything. His grip loosened upon the Ignis mage as he fell to the ground with a dull thud. His partner, however, was on her in a flash. Leaving Mako's curtain intact, he snatched up his katana and charged, diving toward Aquilla with immense speed and blade outstretched. Instead of strike her, however, he slit the throats of two women that were tied to one of the hospital beds. They made strangled sounds as they fell limp and lifeless.

"I told you," he uttered through gritted teeth. "Any funny business and these people would die!" He rounded upon her next, blade extended once more. He intended to strike her with the hilt of his blade in the side of her head, either to hurt her or to knock her unconscious.

--------

[HALLWAY]

"You speak of politeness," one of the dread fighters murmured, drawing a step forward with his blade to the side. "And yet you have killed one of our own with the use of dark magic!"

"If you do not wish a place among us, then you will be required to pay the price," the other said, readying his blade. "I take no pleasure in doing this."

He moved with speed and finesse toward Vlad, but before he could land a strike the Somnum mage unleashed is orb of darkness. It lifted and then flung the dread fighters back several paces, knocking them back flat on their rears while also suppressing the air from their lungs. One of the dread fighters glanced towards the shadows which now enveloped their surroundings, though his daze did not last long. In what seemed a blink, one of the dread fighters charged Vlad, blade ready to slice the shadowmancer in a sideways arc, while the other threw three knives toward him: two aimed toward his chest, while another was aimed at his head.

While the first dread fighter would be directly engaging Vlad with some melee combat with his katana, the other dread fighter was taking a more indirect approach. He ran along the wall, sideways, leaping onto a chandelier above the pair. He then began to saw at it, which, at his current pace, would only take another turn before it fell to the ground.

The noise which Vlad emitted echoed throughout the entire second floor, and was possibly even heard from the first. Nothing seemed to answer his call immediately, but that did not mean that it was ignored.

–Sanctus Heights: The Grand Cathedral: Basement–
HeartOfFerria , Nero Kunivas

Tibarn shot Arno a long glance before finally nodding toward his plan. "It's the best way," he admitted, though he wished that it were not. "Stay safe, Arno. We will see you soon."

Once Arno would leave their party to join Everyth and Soren at the entrance to the cathedral, Vaike would rise to standing and beckon the remaining party forward. "Let us walk casually past the cathedral, and then double back toward the windows. We will be seen, but from a distance and at this hour we will be easily mistaken for passersby," Vaike suggested, leading the way.

Tibarn would be hesitant, but would comply. He couldn't keep his right hand from itching toward his gun blade at his side, though he tried to remain as cool as a cucumber. Eventually they passed the cathedral, and then looped back around to reach the rear of the building. There was not a guard in sight, and, as Vaike promised, there stood two narrow windows. They were on level with the ground, no larger than two-feet high and perhaps thirty inches across. The man deftly gave one a well-timed kick, and it shattered into large fragments. Some pieces of the glass still stuck to the frame in odd angles, and if they were not careful it would be painful emerging through the window.

"We going to fit through that?" Tibarn demanded, placing his hands on his knees and peering in. It was dark from within, though the flickering of torchlight from within indicated that it was opening up to some sort of life within.

Vaike merely nodded to Tibarn's question, gesturing toward the window. "I believe I should take the rear, in case we are followed," he said. "Gabriel, Saffron, Tibarn. Are you ready?"

Whomever emerged into the basement first would find a short landing from the window. Wooden crates were neatly stacked along the window, which would make it easy to descend to the basement floor. You have arrived in what would seem to be a storage room, with several torches lit upon the walls. However, the room isn't uninhabited. A security guard would look just as shocked to see you as you probably are to see him. His shock has delayed his reaction, which will give you an opportunity to do something first if you wish it.

–In front of the Grand Cathedral–
Nero Kunivas , Scrapmaster , HeartOfFerria

Everyth would shift her head to spot Arno who approached. The mage stiffened, watching him hesitantly as a frown furrowed his brow. "Excuse me, but were you eavesdropping on our private conversation?" Everyth demanded, bringing a hand to her chest. "Who, exactly, might you be?"

His appearance was none that she recognized; not seemingly from Umbra, but then again she didn't know everyone from within her court. He could've been a mage from another court, but he didn't truly have the appearance of a court mage, especially not with his hat. Her scrutinizing gaze fell upon his rifle in hand, causing her to brush her fingers against Soren's hand, as though warning him that there may be trouble. She was rather distrusting of Arno, though that was perhaps understandable given . . . the tense circumstances of which they were meeting.

"These flames are black," she said slowly, turning her head to face one of the brackets upon which the dark flames burnt bright. "Ebon flames. I recall a group of bandits attacking the Umbra caravan on our way here to Sanctus Heights many days ago using a young sorceress who emitted black flames very similar to these. They called themselves the Ebon Flame. I wonder if there is some connection?"

–Sanctus Heights: Shopping District–
Xion136 , HeartOfFerria

Remy folded his arms over his chest and laughed in Isabelle's face. "Grey clothes?! On a fair maiden such as yourself? Why, how boring are they in those mage courts?" He glanced toward Eden, a woman whom he could barely recognize, and sighed. "Well, do what you want, Bambi, but I really think you're wasting your natural beauty on gray rags, but if that's what you want then who am I to argue?"

A salesperson approached the odd trio, seeming entirely oblivious to their conversation of disguises and hiding. Instead she greeted them warmly, extending her hand to shake each of theirs in turn. "Well, hello, and welcome in! What brings you here today? Are you interested in this dress here?"–she smiled, glancing toward the window and noticing that Remy and Isabelle had taken an interest in it–"beautiful dress, is it not? The silk dupioni is hand-dyed by a lady in town. She trades with even the Umbra and Somnum courts, if you could believe it! Lovely hue, and a versatile size. It might be a little long, but I think it is something that could be tailored to suit your needs, miss, if that is what interests you."

–Sanctus Heights: Streets–
Elrandir , Stardustblade358

Vincent and Diane would follow the device to find themselves being led to the library of Sanctus Heights. This five-story building was massive, and thankfully spared from the outreach of the flames, lest so many valuable resources would have been annihilated. Marble columns decorated the exterior, a pair of double-doors opening as a young couple emerged from within. There were certainly many people within the library, and while some people outside did glance in Vincent and Diane's direction, none truly paid them much heed. However, it was clear that the device was leading them inside, so it was likely that the source of the magic came from within.

–Intermundium–
HeartOfFerria

A smile crossed Aislinn's face. "Ah, the tale of the white rabbit leading the young mage through the rabbit hole into a mysterious world. Yes, of course. An interesting comparison, and yet befitting in its own way." She brought a hand into the golden light, before removing the Spheara Auream from its location. The sphere seemed alive in Aislinn's palms, as she shifted to bring it closer so that Quinn could inspect it.

"This is a relic from the gods," she repeated. "Very few even know of its existence, much less of what it can do. It was a fabled creation, many thinking it was destroyed very long ago. And yet here it thrives, and I believe with enough Itika we may use it. The court does not know of its existence nor its presence here, and I would like to keep this secret among those which I wholeheartedly trust. I fear that people would misunderstand my desire for its use, and instead think that I mean to do something ill to the world or the high priestess, when neither is my intention. Far from it."

A shudder ran through her spine as her gaze shifted upward, toward the endless golden aura above them. "The only question remains is how to get this where we need it, but I believe that our opportunity will arrive soon. Very soon."

If it seemed that Quinn was finished inspecting the Spheara Auream, Aislinn would return it to the altar, before placing a hand on the huntress' shoulder. "I trust that you can keep this location private, Quinn. Speak of it to only those whom you deem truly necessary, but share not its location. Should the other mages take matters into their own hands I fear what will happen to them. To our world."

 

[Stardustblade358]

- Arun - Ignis Court - Sanctus Heights: Cathedral 1st Floor -
Arun hummed at the complaints to the historic building. "You may complain after the current situation is controlled. I will make sure to fix it myself if it comes to it. Please step out to safety, sir." Arun insisted. He was not angry, nor annoyed. He was as calm as the earth that he controlled, and he merely gestured as he watched they left. Soon enough a maid would remain behind to explain and apologize on the behalf of her coworker, and Arun shook his head. "It is fine. It is a stressful situation." He reassured, watching her. "Apology accepted. You have a brave spirit despite your situation." He mused, hearing the loud noises and shaking of the walls. He listened as she explained that she had a brother that was an Ignis mage, and proceeded to show off her own abilities of magic. Arun blinked and glanced at Anya. As impressed as the action of the fire and knives were, he did not wish to place the life of a civilian in danger, especially one that was not authorized. He turned back to Viola and reached over, taking her hands in his. "I understand that you are a talented mage, but we do not know the gravity of the current situation, nor what it might partake. It would be irresponsible of us to take you with us to unknown territory, to unknown enemies. I do not think that your brother would forgive me should you come in harms way." He offered a gentle smile before turning serious again. "If you wish to aid us, I ask of you to get out and to safety, and to alert the authorities of what has happened here. Bring help." He asked her. He would carefully let go of her hands and turned to Anya. "We must head to the second floor. I fear that Vlad may have encountered more than he is able to chew." He said, turning to Viola. He bowed his head and turned, hurrying down the kitchen and into the hall, hurrying up the stairs to the second floor.

RikuXIII Mystics Apprentice

- Arun - Ignis Court - Sanctus Heights: Cathedral 2nd Floor - Hallway -
On the second floor he was careful not to trip on the dead bodies as he followed after the noise. "Vlad!" He called. He saw Vlad encountering two dread fighters. One had already finished cutting the chandelier, which was about to land right on Vlad. Arun was quick to intervene. He grabbed a hold of his axe and threw it across the air with all of his force, the axe slamming blade first into the chandelier as it fell. Glass shattered and metal bent, the force of the hit hopefully knocking the chandelier a few feet off its course and off Vlad. "Our apologies, Vlad! There were civilians downstairs!" He yelled, running at the dread fighter still hanging onto the chandelier. Should the dread fighter not let go of the chandelier yet, Arun would pull out his axe and slam it down in an attempt to hack the dread fighter into two.

Scrapmaster

- Vincent - Ignis Court - Sanctus Heights: Streets -
Vincent followed the strength of the signal as they went. They followed the direction of the signal, and if it seemed to weaken, they searched around the area untl they could find the right direction to it once again, and they continued. Soon enough it led them to the Santcus Heights library. He glanced up, the building spared from the flames, and thus its knowledge saved for generations to come. The device was in its half way as it was aimed at the library. "The library?...well, it would make sense if the perpetrator needed to learn of the sygil. Information would be found here." He glanced at Diane and then back at the library, carefully walking up the stairs. He tipped his head at the young couple, and he opened the doors for Diane and him.

- Vincent - Ignis Court - Sanctus Heights: Library - 1st Floor -
The library was pretty populated today. Walls lined with bookcases, all five floors full of them, albeit he figured one or two floors served as archives. He whistled, adjusting his cap as he glanced down at the device. A young woman would approach the two, smiling softly. "Welcome to the Sanctus Heights Library. May I be of assistance?" She asked, glancing down at the odd device that Vincent was carrying. Vincent would smile and glance down at the device, before looking back at the library staff member. "Oh, we are fine. We are just...looking." He cleared his throat. The young woman would quirk a brow. "Is that so?" She asked. Vincent rubbed the back of his head and got closer. "We are just here to aid in the investigation regarding the automaton. We are searching for something...or someone. We do not know yet, but I promise you we will not make a mess." He reassured. The woman crossed her arms and glanced at the two back and forth. "As long as you do not create a mess, and treat the books with care. Otherwise." She pressed her finger to her lips. Vincent gave her a thumbs up before the young woman turned to return to her post. Vincent sighed and smiled at Diane. "Shall we?...at least we are indoors. The library in itself was a piece of art. The marble flooring spread inside. In the middle of the room was a circular desk where multiple staff would be working, and behind them would be a grand wooden staircase that would lead up to the floors above. There would be table, chairs and benches for people to seat in read. Against the walls and in different lines wooden bookcases offered books organized by subject, and then sub-organized by alphabetical order with signs on the side of the bookcases specifically made to help people guide themselves around the maze. The large windows above the book cases offered light, the chandeliers and lamps made out of colorful stained glass. Vincent would look down at the device and proceeded to walk around teh first floor, searching for the signal. He would read the device and see the arrow remain in the middle, and the moment it seemed to spike up a bit, he would pause and follow that general direction. He was careful...sort of. Diane would probably need to keep him from bumping into people, or chairs, or bookcases...

Elrandir

 

[Endless Thundaza]

Jynn Venas, Vivifica - Vita River vs Bilröst Lagiacrus


Jynn has been looking forward to this moment for a long while, finally able to use his powers for combat.


The beast’s attack was absorbed by Arkane, and unleashed back upon it, surging with electric power. The Lagiacrus flinches from the electricity hitting its chest, taking a moment to recover. But as soon as it refocuses, a sharp sting comes from its tail, Arkane has already latched onto it. Meanwhile, a bird boards its face, clawing at its eyes, before finally taking one of them out. The creature wails in pain before it lunges forward out of shock of Arkane severing it’s tail.


The monster rears up on its two hind legs, and fires two more watery projectiles at Arkane. Then, in an attempt to get Yael off its face, the beast slams its head on the ground, scraping both sides of its face against the earth.


Henry hurls Makoto to the demon, readying her kick towards its head. The Lagiacrus moves its head, and fires a orb of scalding water towards Makoto. But her speed and power broke up the orb, and she manages to strike its back, causing a huge explosion. The creature shrieked, the attack broke the spikes on its back. And Daruk’s rock manages to knock the Lagiacrus on its side.


Jynn points his axe to the monster, and a beam of electricity fires from the tip of the weapon, frying the Lagiacrus’s torso. Jynn then flings the Leviathan to its chest. In desperation, the monster gets back up on all fours, and fires a jet of water at the weapon, but to no avail, the axe kept spinning towards it, until it embedded itself in its chest.


It clearly did not appreciate having a axe lodged into its chest, and it slides towards the mage in an attempt to ram him. But Jynn was two steps ahead, and he quickly rolled out of the way. But the Lagiacrus stops, and quickly swings its head towards him, snapping its jaws at him. One of its teeth manage to lodge into Jynn’s shoulder, causing him to roar out of pain. Jynn then delivers a powerful electric punch to the monster’s head, dislodging Jynn from its jaws, and pulling the tooth out with him.


Not long after, Nero traps the beast in a large orb of water, levitating it above the ground. The Lagiacrus struggles to get out, but it could only get its head to surface, before being pulled back in. Jynn takes this moment to pull the tooth out of his shoulder, and raise his hands to unleash a powerful beam of aura at the target. Blood was dripping from his shoulder. He was playing a risky game, quickly draining his own mana. But the thrill of battling again, and eliminating this thing was all that was on his mind.

Mystics Apprentice Stardustblade358 Thanny Xion136 Scrapmaster Nero Kunivas RikuXIII

 

[Stardustblade358]

- Arkane - Umbra Court - Vita River -
Arkane's summon severed the tail of the beast, drawing blood as it would continue upwards. It used its trident to stab the beast on the back, hanging on before using its dual blades to pierce further. It had no fear of death. After all, could one kill what was already dead? Arkane would look up as the creature reared up and sent two more projectiles at him. Oh shit. Arkane blew on the flute as he prepared more curses. He took a step back, feeling lightheaded as his back hit a tree and blood dripped down his nose. As the attacks came at him, he summoned a shield, protecting himself from the attacks before the shield shattered under the pressure, water burning against his skin. He looked up with a glare, sliding some hair away from his eyes as he shuffled through the deck. "You are pissing me off." He whispered. He began to play again, concentrating on his magic as the cards began to float once more. He brought three of them together, mixing the curse of lightning, weapon creation, and bleeding. The first would surround the weapons created by the second with lightning, spears, swords and tridents created out of pure magic. The third curse would sharpen them, and allowing them to pierce through the scales with ease. He swung his arm, and sent them flying. The weapons would fly into the sphere of water and right at the beast, aiming to pierce its body.

- Yael - Unaffiliated - Vita River -
Yael clawed and fought with all his might as he was shaken off. He would slide off the beast and clasp at the scales tightly as they were surrounded by water. For a moment, Yael floated in the water, holding his breath as he tried to swim back to the beast. He closed his eyes and would transform into a shark, seeing that he was now in the water. He needed a moment to get used to the transformation, taking a deep breath before heading right back at the beast. He aimed for its side and opened its jaw, taking a large bite and refusing to let go as it shook its head back and forth, trying to rip through the skin and scales.

 

[Scrapmaster]

- Henry Heid - The Sun - Vita River -

Things were turning around indeed! The beast had takens several mighty blows that left it reeling, even though it managed to land a nasty blow on Jynn it, as the battle crazed VIvifican mage launched a beam of aura at the beast, ignoring his own gashing wound left by the teeth with profusive bleeding from such a puncture wound, it was hard not to be worried. "Jynn what the hell are you doing! you're wounded!". Henry shouted at the now battle lusted mage, who was also screaming at the top of his lungs mind you. It was pointless to argue, all he could do now was help finish off the beast as well.

"Shapeshifter! get off the beast. Now"

Henry summoned his sword, and placed the blade sideways onto his forehead, focusing for a second, the sun shining above them in the clear day sky, taking a step back and entering a charging stance as suddenly. Henry's aura exploded as his body was engulfed completely by light, his entire body being covered by a thick layer of sunlight magic, resulting basicaly in him looking briefly like a shining yellow silhouette. Henry had entered his sunlight form, or as he liked caling it "Ascendant Drive", a form of power he hadn't yet mastered fully yet, and as such could only really activate and utilize in very short bursts of power, he was going all out to try and finish this fight with this move, one way or the other, an aura of blast magic followed his movement as well, he quaked with power for a few seconds before dashing forward and towards Lagiacrus, his speed enhanced massively with sunlight magic and propeling himself with an explosion on release, he flew towards Lagiacrus, the only visible place, its head, Henry would do a passing slash if it landed would slide his sword alongside its head, leaving a trail of searing sunlight magic as well as explosive particles of blast magic, Henry would launch himself at the beast again from mid air, with another explosion to propel him, his form now coated in sunlight was almost like a trail of magic by itself as it moved, attempting another slash at Lagiacrus's head another time before allowing himself to land onto the ground as he was reaching his limit in the form, upon landing the sunlight energy would vanish and reveal his body again, meanwhile the blast particles that were left on Lagiacrus's head would begin to ignite and explode, resulting in a satisfying explosion on it's head, had all his attacks landed.

Henry would spit something to the side, hoping no one would notice, it was blood, golden blood of sorts, from his overuse of his magic. He still had a ways to go until he mastered it completely.

Mystics Apprentice Endless Thundaza Stardustblade358



- Vlad - Definitely not an Impaler - Somnus - Grand Cathedral hall -

The dread fighters reactions were exactly what Vlad was expecting, they were in his play park now that his shadows were on the floor and walls, he was rather ecstatic at this, so ecstatic he thought he'd play a bit with there dread fighters a bit before killing them painfuly, he let out a very satisfied laugh as his shadow blast knocked several of them onto the floor, but they were quick to recover as one of them ran towards him and another threw daggers at him. Vlad was tempted to sink into shadows and avoid both atatcks altogether, but where would the fun be in that? going mano a mano was a much more thrilling way of getting things done.

Vlad retaliated by meeting the dread fighter who ran at him with their sword head on, slashing his sword with his own in an attempt to deflect it with a skillful one handed slash, should it had worked Vlad would use his deft footwork to maneuver around him, taking advantage of the possible break of composure by the deflect to attempt to grab the dread fighter's shoulder and pull him towards Vlad, and spin him around in an attempt to have the daggers land on the dread fighter and proceed to take a nice bite of the man's neck afterwards, and relieve him of some of his blood...and shadow, he probably wouldn't be using that anymore anyway.

Arun's arrival was a good sign, the boy wasn't useless after all! "Glad to see you got my back, sunshine." Vlad teased his newly found friend. "Now from where im standing these men are killing civilians indiscriminately, I say we kill them all and leave one alive, yeah?" Vlad suggested with a gleeful smile on his face, as there seemed to be more Dread Fighters coming their way. Vlad's appearance now like that of his normal self, it only really manifested differently when he used more shadow magic.


- Arno Cross - Bounty Hunter - Grand Cathedral entrance -

Everyth's questions were met with a simple yet effectively mocking gaze from Arno at her, simply scoffing at her questions about overhearing their conversation, "Papa Johns" Arno answered dryly at Everyth's question about who he was, clearly trying to get a rise out of her with a fake and sarcastic name, but he felt he ower an answer for the earlier question. "Only caught the tail's end of it, the part that spoke of the black flames." Arno answered, not moving much at all, simply speaking in a serious and no-nonsence tone, "But Im you had good listeners for the rest of it" Arno commented dryly, taking a small glance at the guard's bodies and gesturing his head towards them, clearly taunting Everyth while meeting her distrusting gaze head on.

Her scrutinizing eyes didn't go unnoticed by the experienced bounty hunter, in this line of work you needed to be able to read people quickly and effectively, because otherwise you ran a lot of risks, could even risk death by reading someone wrong. "You're wondering whether im a mage or a man with a gun and longcoat." Arno possibly interrupted her communication attempt with Soren, while yes he did hold his magic lever action rifle in his hands he wasn't going to shoot them, why would he? Mages are trouble and best left to themselves.

"Im a bounty hunter, I patrol at night during my free time, and I saw the magic flare that was launched a few minutes ago." Arno quickly took the next step of the conversation and explained why he was there. "Now, magey, regardless if you trust me or not, you and your masked friend there should focus you attention inside the cathedral, which im going to check for any survivors and escort them out." Arno told her straight up, locking eyes with her.


Mystics Apprentice Nero Kunivas

Spoiler: [FLASHBACK] Train heist Part 2

As the train followed its course, the guards were none the wiser, a passenger train already lacked security in the form of armed lawmen due to civilians being around, and they couldn't afford to have a whole platoon guarding the gold and putting the fear of god onto innocent civilians, the government thought they were clever in disguising the gold and cargo alongside a passenger train.

Sven came up on the passenger cart as his mates had already began to control the crowd and subdue any guards on their way, stealth was out of the window due to the screaming that beganas the robbers began demanding the civilians throw money into the large sack one of them held, one of them held the sack, going by chair to chair to demand money, change, trinkets or accessories, whichever the civilians had on them would be thrown onto the sack as the robbers would continue further onto the cart, they now had to make a scene and comandeer the train.

Sven quickly walked onto the car, quickly hitting the head of a civilian who had gotten up and attempted to escape the cart with his sawed off shotgun, tossing him back onto his chair and demanding him to stay put as the train.

"Glad you made it Sven, thought two guards were too much for ya!" One of the robbers taunted him, causing Sven to chuckle.
"Shut up." He retorted. "Focus on your damn job!" He talked back to the robber, whose name was Sam, an old friend of Sven.

"Hehe, you got it!, LISTEN HERE PEOPLE, we are here for your money, but we are not here to leave your pockets empty, just toss what you got at hand onto the sack and we'l ensure none of you will be harmed, unless you don't cooperate, then I might have to shoot you in the head!" Sam exclaimed to the civilians, prompting quite a few screams at his threats to them.

As they finished sacking the civilians, but not leaving them penyless, they needed money to get back to their homes after all, no one deserved to be truly penyless, aside from bankers, everybody hated bankers.

"I think it's about time we uncouple the cart, what do you guys think?" One of the robbers suggested, to which the others quickly agreed. The two robbers who were cracking the safe in the back cart had already finished cracking it and taking the money, half in one backpack and half on the other, easy enough to carry around without much trouble, the plan was to uncouple the passenger cart and ride the rest of the train to a safe spot near some hills a bit later down the track, the two robbers would whistle for their horses, who had never stopped following the train, as trained horses would do, thankfuly they hadn't crossed any bridges yet. As the passenger cart was uncoupled and the rest of the back train began to grind to a halt the two wasted no time in jumping to their horses now that the speed wasn't as deadly and rode away to the meeting place. Gold secured, now they needed to make a big enough fuss to throw off the law.


"How much time you think we got?" One of the robbers asked.
"bout 10 minutes, more than enough time" Sven answered.

"Oh shit!?" One of the robbers up ahead screamed, something had happened.

They came up onto the cart before the coal cart, the types of carts that only had boxes and the like before the cart with coal for the engine, mostly boxed cargo that wouldn't get stained much by the coal being thrown by the wind and the rest of the guards, one of the guards had heard the screaming and warning shots back at the passenger cart, and had ambushed one of the robbers and now held them as a hostage.

"you lay your guns down now!" The guard demanded, holding a revolver to the robber's head as Sven and Sam came upon the cart. "You're all u-under arrest!"

"Ain't nobody getting arrested today, buddy." Sven answered the cop, whose buddy had arrived, armed with a lever action aiming at them, Sven was aiming with his sawed off and Sam was dual wielding revolvers at them.

"I'l shoot him! Drop your god damn gu-GAAAAAH" The guard screamed in pain as his hand was quite literaly shot off by someone, with the distraction the robber quickly elbowed him in the stomach, spun around and punched him in the face, sending the screaming guard out of the train, his body falling like a ragdoll. Sven and Sam both shot the other guard who was now distracted by his friend's disarmnent, The sawed off and the two shots from revolvers were a quick end to the guard, whose's body was flung back onto the cart's floot, but not out of the train.

"Good shot, Arno." Sven praised the newest addition to their gang, a 18 year old Arno with a lever action rifle on the roof of the cart behind them. "Ain't nothing." Arno scoffed. Clearly hiding a smile under the bandana.