Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – Outside the Performance Hall

Syed turning on the lights was a bright idea.

… Yeah, he should spend less time around Lucien.

“That kid’s giving me a fucking headache,” Lute and Delilah growled under their breath as their group cornered the two thieves. Moira threw herself at Bunnyface and Lute’s eyes widened. He watched enough tavern brawls to know where this could go! … Ah, but, he was at a loss at what to do. Out of other options, the virtuoso braced himself and met Moira halfway as she was directed towards him. The two of them collided and Lute swore that something inside his head cracked when he slammed against her armor, but at least they didn’t end up sprawled all over the floor. To be honest he was probably the only one who got hurt from that stupid idea of his, which was good.

When Moira said he should do what he’s best at, she most certainly didn’t mean impromptu planning.

But anyway, both Bunnyface and that stink twerp were heading towards Syed.

“Hey, twerp! Isn’t it past your bedtime!?” Lute hollered out just to piss Fabian off and threw a screech at Bunnyface to disorient him. Estelle was near and fast enough to intercept that guy if she wanted, but just in case he also went in, but towards the pole-toting brat.

---

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – N Section, Performance Hall

Francesca knew from experience that dawdling too long oft led to indecision, and the terse air surrounding the crew below did nothing but augment her skepticism. She sighed when the lot of them rallied against the Masked Phantom and turned her back on the balcony when a crude log trap knocked their leader down onto the stage. Just as she did, the unmistakable sound of gunfire tore through the air and for a second there the thief thought that a gunner had spotted her, but she was not about to stay in the same place and wait for a bullet to hit home. Francesca swiftly descended to the first floor and made a beeline for the cage, taking advantage of the fact that most everyone was too busy looking at the stage to pay attention to their rear as she picked up speed and broke into a full sprint.

Up ahead, Jay was being accosted by that nasty young aristocrat from earlier. He caught sight of her hurtling down the aisles and tried using bait, the contents of which Tobias scoffed at before he was sent flying towards Dylan with a forceful aerial kick from Francesca. “I hope that dreadful boy stays down,” She growled after getting back to her feet, immediately shifting to a defensive stance as she glanced from side to side. “You’ve seen their skills, oui? Who should I take care of?”

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – South-Western Section

“Thank you, Amy,” Rose said with a smile, her hand softly caressing the sleeping Sebastian’s mane. “I appreciate it… a lot.” Despite having a broken ankle, the Student Council President showed more concern, affection and relief for her trusty steed then she did herself, and it was only after Amy asked the young woman if she could walk that she remembered her own condition. Rose tried to stretch out her leg, and indeed compared to before the pain was significantly dulled. But whilst Amy’s magical prowess was considerable, and growing every day, it was still not yet potent enough to be able to heal broken bones, and indeed Rose didn’t know if there was a healer to have lived who could mend them that quickly. And so it was that, even if the pain was minimal, it was still there, every time she moved and the bones in her ankle would grind against each other. There was no way she could walk.

“Nn… I think I’m going to have to sit this one out,” Rose said, resisting the urge to loudly curse. “My ankle’s broken. I can’t move on it. But…”

Amy looked down at the other blonde, and nodded in understanding. Her brother was the one being held hostage by the Masked Phantom… and it pained Rose to know that there was nothing she could do. Not like this.

Amy sighed.

“Don’t worry,” The cleric said. “The others… we’ll get Angel back. Somehow.”

---

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – Northern Sector: Outer Theatrical Hall

“Oh no you don’t!”

Estelle shouted, her figure already darting fast and low along the ground, towards the gargantuan man in the strangely adorable bunny mask. Whilst he had just effortlessly knocked back Moira and Lute, demonstrating incredible prowess, Estelle was undeterred, moving completely on anger and irritation at the whole group of aggravating thieves. In fact, seeing her friends get hurt only propelled her to fight on even more. Both Miffy and the child thief Fabian drew their attention to Syed - believing that if they knocked the Pride’s source of light out, the battle might more easily swing in their favour, and with the odds at two to one, they needed it.

But Estelle would do everything in her power not to let that happen.

She dived to the ground, sliding towards Miffy’s legs. Her fireblade extinguished its flame automatically, and she twisted the sword within her hands so that the flat of the blade faced him. As much as the thieves were enemies, she couldn’t afford to actually cut them – but hitting the thief in the leg with a powerful swing of blunt metal would still do just as well.

---

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – Northern Sector: Theatrical Hall

As soon as the battle began, the door to the Theatrical Hall swung open and closed with a clatter, as a diminutive pint sized prankster burst in dramatically, firing her guns in the air wildly. It didn’t take her long to spy the Masked Phantom at the far end of the hall below her atop the stage, the flares he had cast about the room being more prominently placed around him. The distance between them was too great for any immediate accuracy, but it didn’t deter Trixie from firing anyway, hoping to do what she did best… and that was to annoy him.

She darted to the eastern side and ran down one of the aisles towards the stage, firing again as again, whilst parallel to her, in one of the other aisles that led from the entrance to the stage below, Jay managed to break free from his cage, and both her and Francesca, who had been lying in wait, managed to attack both Tobias and Dylan.

“Ignorant fools,” The Masked Phantom muttered in his emerald encased form. His hand shot out, and a brilliant burst of wind was shot out from his hand, gripping Trixie and throwing her back into one of the rows of seats in a haphazard crash.

At the same time, Lucien’s bear had reached the stage, looming over the Masked Phantom and swiping one massive arm down at him. The heavy paw however hit nothing but air and the stage below, crashing through the wooden flooring. It blinked in surprise, catching the blonde figure out the corner of his eye, from where the thief had suddenly shifted. As a wind mage, he could alter the speed of his agility at an instance, and so Lucien’s summon, whilst powerful, was helpless if it couldn’t hit a target it couldn’t reach.

But like Trixie’s attacks before it, it too served as a nice enough distraction…

…for Xandra to follow after, swinging her prosthetic fist forward, shaped like a sword. This at last caught the thief off guard, and it was with incredible luck and reflexes he managed to backstep in time – but the attack still cut a thin line across his chest – cutting his spectacular suit and drawing a thin film of blood.

He glanced towards the metallurgist with anger.

Wind buffeted and picked her up, gripping her and dragging her off the stage in a swirling vortex that spun her around and around, to crash in another row of seats opposite Trixie’s position at the western part of the hall.

Lucien’s bear roared again, charging to the Masked Phantom once more. But this time, a ball left the thief’s hand and into the bear’s face, the flash grenade erupting right before its eyes and sending it blind. The sensation travelled all the way back to Lucien, as the Masked Phantom dropped off the stage and walked towards Aria.

“I hope that dreadful boy stays down,” Francesca growled after getting back to her feet, immediately shifting to a defensive stance as she glanced from side to side and back to Jay. “You’ve seen their skills, oui? Who should I take care of?”



Jay had no time to answer, before both he and Francesca found their bodies suddenly and violently ripped from the ground by yet another force of wind. Both thieves were sent flying backwards away from each other, as Marcus stepped inbetween where they once were, crouching besides Dylan and Tobias to check that they were okay. Francesca and Jay’s wails were heard trailing behind them before they too landed awkwardly amongst the rows of seats:- Jay in the west close towards Xandra, Francesca in the east, near towards Trixie.




“Are you two alright?” Marcus asked, lifting the Matter Artist up.

“I’m fine,” Dylan said with a nod. “And angry. These thieves… they’re going to get it.”

“By Aislin’s anger they will,” Tobias also stood up, shakily. He wasted no time in stalking towards the east, where Francesca and Trixie were. “That gutless wench has my sword. I mean to run her through with it.”

Marcus glanced briefly back to Dylan with a raised brow, but said nothing as they heard the calamitous results of the Masked Phantom’s battles with Trixie, Lucien and Xandra, now slowly approaching Aria.

“C’mon,” Dylan said, readying his slate.



“Oh man, what the heck is going on!” Asked Simon as he dived for cover down one of the rows of seats. He immediately began crawling on his sprayed out feet and elbows, shimmying as far away as possible from the battles around him, pausing to grimace with disgust as his hand fell splat in a piece of chewing gum.

He popped his head up intermittently to watch the battles, and simply couldn’t believe his eyes at everything that was going on. It was dangerous. Frightening. Mad.

And also meant good photos!

He occasionally took a snapshot before moving on to somewhere else and repeating the process.

The Academy of the Arts - Performance Hall
Jay was getting a little sick of the air mage throwing him about by now, as he landed pretty much perfectly on one of the seats. Shame the speed he was going meant he bounced right off it again, rubbing his backside as he went.

He looked up. Well, maybe he hadn't been that unlucky, that girl with the metal arm was here. He certainly wasn't going to complain about her. He crouched back within the chairs, guaging whether she had seen where he had landed or not. She certainly looked like she knew he was nearby, but she wasn't looking right at him. And the girl who could track people didn't seem to be nearby either. Bingo.

He touched his fingers to his comms to communicate with Frances-chan, whispering as he kept it as short as he could. He just didn't have time to explain. "A lot of them have powerful magics, be careful my dear."

He moved quickly and silently forwards, finally emerging as Xan was looking the other way. He quickly shuffled behind her.

Then he very quickly checked her pockets, his deft, skilled fingers completely undetected. Of course, his skills weren't too much use in a situation like this. Great for disarming people who are unaware, but when everyone's on red-alert and weapons drawn like this? He sure fucked up this one.

There was nothing of any significance there, other than her communications device. Her arm must be her solo weapon then. Great, no hidden suprises. Okay then. Take her down. He removed a drug-soaked cloth from his pocket.

He suddenly seized her prosthetic with one hand from behind, and already had his second hand - cloth in his grasp - moving quickly towards her face. "I'm sorry about this gorgeous..."

---

The Academy of the Arts - Outer Theatrical hall
"Oof!" Moira was sent flying. She felt her blood begin to boil. She was having one hell of a shitty day and she did not like it in the slightest.

Meanwhile, Syed's face was an absolute picture of suprise and dismay as he found not one, but both thieves leaping for him. The lights flickered for a second. Thankfully his teammates had his back. That didn't stop the kid though, who had... a metal rod?! And looked upset as hell to boot. Seemed he had hit a nerve.

"Nobody's questioning your abilities-" Syed's expression of dismay only became worse. First Nikki, and now this kid! "What are you doing?!" he exclaimed, dodging backwards. There was no way he could keep dodging this though. Not without dropping the spell which kept the lights up at least. That pole was long as heck, and he had a very limited amount of space he was able to move in. But he couldn't... he couldn't let him... "If that thing touches me it'll hurt you!"

Moira meanwhile had her eyes on only one man. Ohhhhh this was IT!

She leapt forward once more, taking advantage of Estelle's attack. This man was fast, he was good. But hell, someone sweeping at your legs would distract almost anyone. She didn't draw her greatsword, for the same reason as Estelle struck with the blunt side of hers. Instead she drew back a fist, focused all her power... then drove it right into the man's side.

"Never take your eyes off the Berserker, arsehole!"

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts: Northern Section: Theatrical Hall

Trixie had been sent flying, closely followed by Xan. Aria stayed back, not wanting to be sent flying as the other two had been. A pained roar from the bear was echoed by the summoner, the flash and having brought spots to Aria's vision even at this distance, and she blinked as the Phantom stepped off the stage and headed for her.

She eyes the thin slash on his chest, feeling rather proud of Xan before shifting her gaze back up at the man. Blood was starting to seep around the edges of his fancy outfit, and she garnered that he probably wasn't too happy about that.

Her gaze shifted back up to the approaching thief, moving back slightly and taking a loose stance so she could both attack or defend in an instant if she needed to. When he got close enough to attack, a small illusion should be able to distract him, even for a moment, so that she or any if her teammates could strike. She stood her ground, eyes narrowed and staring the blondie down silently.

Aliquam: The Academy of the Arts - Southern Section

Amy gave the aristocrat a look of concern before rising back to her feet, the golden light embracing all of their bodies dimming, replaced by the silver of the moon. "All right." She looked to Sebastian next; as much as she would have offered to help bring Rose with her, the thought of leaving Sebastian vulnerable in this hallway while he was still recovering would have pained them both. "Looks like he'll take a bit longer to recover from his position, but with my help, he should be just fine." She motioned to Rose's communicator with her staff before turning away. "You know how to reach us."

Then she ran off. She wanted to stay behind to help bring Rose to full recovery, but at this rate more of her other allies would fall if she stayed behind - and that was not a risk she was willing to take.

Amy skid to a stop just a ways away from the theater doors. Just in time to see Moira land a punch in the tall thief's side. Geez... From where she stood, she could see all four of the guilders outside, and since no one out here seemed visibly injured, she decided to focus on buffing their defenses to prevent that possibility. Syed and Estelle soon found themselves embraced by a warm green light, and a sense of renewed vigor.

---

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts - Northern Sector (Theatre Hall)

"Are you injured?"

"Just my pride, ma'am." Angel dusted himself as he rose to his feet. "But I--" A loud roar cut him off, throwing anyone nearby off balance from its suddenness. A bear. A bear!? "Geez, you guys have everything at your arsenal! That's pretty neat!" Immediately Xandra followed after it, with her prosthetic arm morphing into a sword-like shape - which was just as neat. Wow. He rescinded what he said about magic not being a form of art.

He meant to follow after Xandra, but by the time he got going, she and the gun-toting child had flown off. Angel merely watched them fly overhead like they were birds. With the three men on stage and this guilder beauty beside him left to face the leader, he decided to hightail it to the back, where Jay had been thrown, just before the Masked Phantom's flashbang had gone off. Perfect timing there.

Angel reached Jay and Xandra's position just in time to see the thief sneaking up behind the unaware metallurgist, and snatching her arm. "Oh no, you don't!" Like a rugby player, the aristocrat leapt after the duo, crashing right into Jay's back and knocking down both of them in a domino effect.

Meanwhile--



"Aaaaaahhh!" Trixie wailed as she flew through the air from a sudden gust of wind. What the heck!? None of the windows were open! Or was this guy like Marcus? Ohhh, that would make a lot of sen-- "Ooph!"

The prankster landed in one of the seats far away from the stage, her butt on the back seat cushion and her back on the butt cushion. Her head lulled a bit, dazed, but she quickly shook off the confusion and flopped out of her chair and into battle position. Before she could get herself out of there, another dull thump sounded off nearby her - a lady thief. To make matters worse, she had dropped her guns during the flight; they were lying in the open down the middle aisle. Oh butterbiscuits!

She couldn't let this lady get the upper-hand. Immediately Trixie reached for something in her pouch - "Let's see what this one does!" - and chucked it at Francesca's face. It was one of Fabian's confetti bombs she had stolen from him. As soon as she made the throw, the prankster dashed for the middle aisles to retrieve her uzis.

Academy of the Arts: Performance Hall

Xan let out a surprised yelp when she found herself flung across the room. She fell onto one of the chairs, feeling disoriented. Well, that had been a nauseating ride. She squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to quell the dizzy feeling.

As soon as the dizziness subsided, the girl pushed herself off the seat and turned to face the stage. The metallurgist was so focused on the Masked Phantom that she hadn't noticed Jay's presence at all, not until he grabbed her by the arm. Her eyes flitted to piece of cloth in the thief's other hand and Xan held her breath. Using the momentum the thief had given her, she lurched forward and slammed her head into his own. Jay jerked back in response, and while he didn't let go of her arm, the sudden strike was enough to get him to lower the piece of cloth.

"Oh no, you don't!"

Xan's ears were ringing and her head felt like it would split open at any moment. The next thing that happened, was mostly a blur. Angel threw himself at them and all three of them wound up sprawled on the floor. She scrambled to her feet, one hand pressed to her head and the other reaching for Angel's arm. Note to self, literally using one's head is not a good idea... Xan yanked Angel to his feet, "thanks for the save."

Hopefully Jay was just as stunned as she was. Xan rushed towards thief and threw a metallic left hook his way.

---

Academy of the Arts: Outside the Theater Hall

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He snapped, "I'm trying to hit you in the face!"

The noisy girl with the super cool sword had gone after Miffy, so it was up to him to take out the walking emergency light. In the dark, he and his friends would definitely have an advantage. He swung the rod at Syed only to have the mage take a step back.

"If that thing touches me it'll hurt you!"

"Nice try! I'm not falling for your trick!" He took another swing at Syed, but as soon as the metal pole came into contact with him, a sharp, tingling pain shot through Fabian's body and he flew back, crashing into Lute as the metal pole fell to the ground with a clatter.

"CUSS!" The boy hissed before he looked from Lute to Syed.

He was so going to get it now. "Uhhh, you know..." he raised his hands in mock surrender. "I-I think you all have really cool powers." He tried to look as innocent as possible then pretty much jumped onto Lute. "FOR THE MASKED PHANTOM!"

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – Outside the Performance Hall

Oh sweet revenge. “Flattery won’t work on me,” The virtuoso announced as he stalked towards Fabian, his eyes gleaming with dark enthusiasm. He didn’t have a stink bomb, but making the knave listen to the same song for an hour straight ought to be enough.

“What the fuck!?” Lute screeched as the kid suddenly lunged at him and started clawing at his face. While Estelle, Moira and Bunnyface were having a glorious and dignified battle, here he was tottering from side to side with some brat clinging on to him like a koala. “Get off me! You’re heavy!” He slammed against a wall and let go of his sword too just to fend off Fabian’s claws.

Does this kid think he’s the only one who can play at this game!?

“FOR THE PRIDE!” With uncharacteristic aplomb and immaturity, Lute suffered through a round of Fabian’s slaps before sticking his hand up and pushing the boy’s nose upward until it looked like a pig snout. “I won’t let you… win!” The virtuoso shrieked back at the thief who was spewing cusses all the while as they continued clawing at each other's faces.

‘Oh gods, this is embarrassing.’

---

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – Performance Hall (E)

Ah, how unpleasant. Francesca pulled herself up from the seats and held her head. A strange flash caught her eye and she glanced towards that direction, startled by the sudden light which suddenly turned on and off in rapid, inhuman intervals. “Mon dieu, you perverted little man!” She exclaimed at Simon who had suddenly surfaced from the row of seats behind hers. “Shoo, before I- Oh!” He took another picture again- without her permission too- and Francesca just about had enough. She raised her arm and made circular motions in the air, and then…

“Go away, little man,” Francesca turned Simon around and prodded him away, and in case he decided to have any grand ideas and whirl around to take shots of her in who-knows-what position…

WHAP!

Right in the… Well, she supposed she had to be blunt about it, derriere. That ought teach him the errant ways of his sneak photography…! One must never ever take pictures of another human unless they’ve agreed to be a model, or at least that was what she believed. “And pray, don’t come near me again!” She added and let go of the boy once he was at least a few steps away. Her ‘whip’ dissipated and Francesca smoothly climbed over the next set of seats. Jay was right, these people had their own magicks. Maybe she should use her own…?

While she was musing, a girl chucked something at her and the thief recognized it as one of Fabian’s various gizmos. How could she not when that child adored flaunting his bag of tricks every day? A cloud of confetti exploded above her and Francesca sighed, her eyes scanning the area around to look for the enemy. Well, there was a little girl running away from her, but…

Oh my…

“Why does she have firearms?” Back in her day, proper little boys and girls did not deal in black market weaponry, thank you very much. But at least she found that gunner from earlier… Francesca glanced up at the overhead chandelier and summoned her hands again, pulling herself up into the darkness of the ceiling for now. She loathed guns from the deepest reaches of her soul. It was gunfire that took everything away, after all… But that was another story for another time. Now she had to focus on fighting with a little girl. She sighed distastefully at having to hurt Trixie in a job that was supposed to have been a walk in the park.

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – Performance Hall

The Masked Phantom strode forwards through the Theatre Hall, ascending each step of the aisle away from the stage one by one as those eyes, hidden behind his ornate mask studied her. And in return, Aria studied him, as she shifted her body into a defensive stance. He was powerful, exceedingly so to have managed to do to Trixie, Xan and Lucien what he had in a matter of moments, which explained the confident posture and swagger he assumed whilst walking… but it was too confident. Annoyingly so, as if he hadn’t noticed or already forgotten that they had managed to hit him. Unless he considered the wound that minor and beneath him as if to be utterly neglible whatsoever.

She couldn’t move. Lucien’s body – his real body - was only a short distance away from where she stood, and like his bear summon, he seemed paralysed with blindness. An easy target for the Masked Phantom. She gritted his teeth. Against someone like this thief, the best chance she had was to be tricky, just like him.

A small knife escaped his hands, thrown directly at the man’s shoulder, hurtling the gap inbetween at frightening speed. Aria had waited for him to get close enough in range that it should have been impossible for him to use his wind magic on the knife back at her. But his reflexes were sharp – heightened by his magic. He even had the time to chuckle.

One of his pristinely white gloves shot up, and a controlled burst of wind shot out of it towards the knife, enough to keenly alter the weapon’s trajectory and send it flying dangerously back at Aria. But for some reason, it didn’t work. The knife was immune to the wind, and kept flying towards him.

The Masked Phantom gasped, and threw himself to the side again to avoid the blade, narrowly missing it in time. But then he cried out in pain, as something sharp and painful stabbed him in his right shoulder. His smooth face creased in pain, he glanced down at the knife embedded there, and the small trickle of blood running in a small river down his arm. Where had that come from?

The truth of the matter was that Aria’s first knife was nothing more then an illusion, to mask the second knife, which had also been concealed as an illusion of nothing. The shoulder was the best place she could really hope to aim for at her angle, but her jubilation was short lived.

The Masked Phantom threw both of his hands forwards, a powerful blast of energy unleashed from his palms. The buffeting gale of wind was so powerful that it even tore the bolted down seats close to him off from their bearings, and flying backwards. Aria was powerless to prevent herself from also being picked up from the wind, and sent flying straight backwards, at a speed so frightening that were she to collide with the back wall, she would-

But almost as soon as was sent flying she was stopped in mid air, her body hitting something… soft, and comfortable. Gingerly opening one eye she saw nothing behind her, but recognised it to feel like a wall of wind much like the Masked Phantom’s. This time one created by Marcus, saving her and helping her land on her feet. The initial blast still felt like a punch to the gut, but at least it wasn’t the alternative.



“Thanks,” Aria huffed, and Marcus nodded back.

The Masked Phantom’s head cocked to the side as he looked at Marcus, continuing his walk. His suspicions were indeed correct. The man was a wind mage, like him, and one with just as fine a control as he. That made things… interesting and complicated. What would it be like to challenge someone with the same powers as he? If the rest of the room wasn’t filled with other Guilders and their own unique powersets, he might have considered the whole fight much more enjoyable, but as it was…



He stopped beside Lucien’s prone form, and looked down at him. His body subconsciously rubbing his eyes, even though his flesh and blood body was perfectly fine, it was only the bear he had summoned whom was afflicted. Not that it mattered. It gave the Masked Phantom ample opportunity to do to him what he had done to Angel before… except this time, to make the point of a hostage stick to the Pride even more then it had done before. A broken arm or leg should suffice in proving how serious he was. The detonating option, with him and the rest of the thieves still inside the building was a last resort, even for himself. He raised a hand above him, glancing quickly towards Marcus and Aria, silently informing them exactly what he meant, and how powerless they were to stop it.



“Leave Lucy alone!!” Dylan screamed, crouched low to the ground in-between the pair and the Masked Phantom and his prey. His hands sketched quickly over his now cleaned slate, his mind automatically working to instil life into his creation. He would not let this man hurt his friend!

A rectangular glow surrounded the Masked Phantom’s feet.

“What… the…?”

Before he could utter another line, he was suddenly flipped through the air as Dylan’s creation – a spring trap, sent him flying far away from Lucien’s real body in the aisle, and to crash into the curtains by the stage, close to where his summon still was. He became embroiled in the ripped up curtains, wrapped within them and falling onto the wooden platform with a thud.

Aria and Marcus blinked at Dylan with surprise. The Matter Artist turned and scratched the back of his neck. “Well it, er, worked, no…?”

The curtains were obliterated into a stream of fine strips as a vortex of wind sharply sliced through it all, freeing the thief inside.

Now, he was getting angry.

The Academy of the Arts - Performance Hall
Next thing Jay knew he was getting a good intimate look at the carpet.

He gingerly pushed himself up. Aww dang that headbutt gave him a nosebleed. Blinking against the pain, he looked up... only for the world to seem to slow to standstill as he saw a metal fist heading right for his jaw. He scrambled back, but the blow was just too fast... catching his nose for the second time in about half a minute with an audiable crack.

She'd broken his nose. She had broken his nose! He clutched at his face, staggering back, blood by now absolutely pouring. His poor, beautiful straight nose! "Argh!" he cried out. She sure was frisky. And usually, he would all be for frisky. But this...

"You've gone too far, my dear," he said lowly, his voice once more nasal. He lowered his hands as he got into a fighting stance. He looked very, very upset. "How am I supposed to seduce the ladies with a ruined nose?!" he whined, throwing his arms in the air dramatically like he had been shot or something. "You've ruined everything!"

Forget it. Forget his rule. He leapt forward in the blink of an eye, and was quite suddenly flying through the air with a powerful leg extended, aiming to kick Xan into Angel and send them both flying...

---

The Academy of the Arts - Outer Theatrical hall
Syed certainly felt the pole collide with his body, causing him to recoil a little, but thanks to Amy's spell it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

He wished it was. Convulsions tore through Fabian's body as he was sent flying back, crashing into Lute. Syed could do nothing but stare in complete and utter dismay. He didn't listen. Of course he didn't listen. Why... why didn't he just drop the defensive spell? Then he wouldn't be hurt. But he was one of the thieves, and he had given him warning. Even if he didn't listen.

The lights began flickering once more as he struggled to keep his emotions - and by extension his control - in check. A couple of times they even went out entirely for a second before he got a hold of himself again. It wasn't like he could pull him away from the danger. Not when the danger was him. Not when he was bound to this spot thanks to his partner. He swallowed, trying his best to calm his shaking hands. Focus. Just...

Was Lute now having a slapping match with him?! Okay. Okay yeah that sure put his mind off his mental dilemma, replacing it instead with the overwhelming desire to slap his forehead. Which one was the kid here? He'd seen six year olds deal with disputes with more maturity than this. He watched them for a moment, that precisely honed stern look quickly developing on his features. It was already starting to get out of hand. Well, they had to stop the thieves, and if this was Lute's... bizarre way of oh hell who was he kidding he wasn't dealing with this.

"Right!" he shouted sternly, stamping his foot to get their attention. "That. Is. It! You're both acting like a pair of kids! You tell us you're not a child, then stop acting like one Mister! And Lute, you should really know better. How is clawing at one another's faces even going to help?! Just... stop and think about what you're both doing! I mean it!"

Academy of the Arts: Performance Hall

Crap! Crap! His eyes felt like they were melting.

Lucien felt his way down the row of chairs, his steps wobbly and unsure. He couldn't see anything and black dots swum across his vision each time he opened his eyes. It was like a repeat of Tobias' gala. The summoner continued walking, unaware of the danger he was in.

“Leave Lucy alone!!”

He scrambled back and opened his eyes. A blurry figure stood before him with an arm raised. Wait no, it wasn't just some figure, it was the masked phantom? Lucien scrambled back only for the man before him to be thrown all across the room. He blinked several times, his vision finally returning. Lucien turned to look at Dylan with a grateful smile. "Man, thanks Dylan." Wait, was he forgetting something?

He practically flew over the next row.

Not too far from the masked phantom, the bear was roaring and crashing into objects. It didn't look happy in the slightest, and as soon as it saw the mask Phantom, curled up in all the curtains, it began barreling towards the man. It let out a snarl, but despite its rage crashed into the wall behind the curtains just a tad too late.

"Heh, maybe I should leave it that way for a bit!" He joked as the bear skidded back, angrier than ever.

Nah, he couldn't risk it going after one of his friends. He closed his eyes and focused and the bear disappeared in a puff of smoke. It was time to bring out another summon. Lucien pulled out an imp card, the last time he had used it was against Damian. It was hard to keep it under control for a long period of time, but it was ideal for speedy battles. He pressed his thumb into the card and another puff of smoke appeared behind the Masked Phantom.

Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate...

The imp let out a high pitched cackle before it dashed ahead and leaped in the masked Phantom's direction. If he managed to land on the thief, he would definitely be hard to remove due to his several lengthy fingernails.



"Ruined everything..." Her expression remained steely. "You did the same for the students."

The exhibit and all the student's hard work had gone down the drain because of the thieves. Even the gala the students had been excited for had been ruined, so if anyone had ruined everything that it was them. She stared at Jay's bleeding nose, and fought back a wince.

To be honest, she hadn't been planning to do that. Xan watched warily as Jay complained and flailed his arms around then suddenly, without warning, he was in the air and she was sent crashing into Angel. It didn't stop there either, the momentum from Jay's kick pretty much sent them crashing to the other side of the row.

The metallurgist remained flat on the ground, she'd apologize later. At the moment, the wind had been knocked out of her and she wanted to curl up into a little ball. But there was no time for that, so she scrambled to her feet, coughing and gasping for air as she did so. The girl reached used one of the chairs to steady herself then offered Angel a hand. "Sorry...he caught me off guard." Xan took a moment to catch a breather, her prosthetic slowly taking the form of a baseball bat.

She shot Jay a glare then ran towards him, swinging as hard as she could.

---

Academy of the Arts: Outside the Performance Hall

“FOR THE PRIDE!”

Fabian's eyebrows creased in irritation and he snapped, "That's a stupid name!" The boy then attempted to get onto Lute's back, but that wasn't exactly easy. The old stinker was messing with his nose! Fabian let go then leaped up, pinching the man's cheeks before pulling at them as if they were made of rubber. "YOU SHOULD SMILE MORE! Why the long face?"

He pulled even harder, but a voice caused him to stop dead in his tracks.

It was the walking light pole. Fabian was fuming, he wasn't one of them! They couldn't tell him what to do! He glared at Syed before his eyes flitted back to Lute. "Ya, okay! I understand. That was a pretty stupid way to fight." He still looked pretty irritated. "I'm sorry I clawed at your face stinker," he took an innocent baby step towards Lute's fallen sword. "And I'm sorry I whacked you with a pole, mister. Let's fight more seriously then!" He screeched as he made a dash for the fallen sword.

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – Outside the Performance Hall

"That's a stupid name!" Brat Jr. said before pulling down on his face like- Ow! Hey! “Yeah well, you’re stupid!” Lute spat back and returned the favor by pinching Fabian’s face in the exact same way he was being treated. The kid even had the gall to make mincemeat of his face! “You ain’t no fucking prize either, twerp!”

The two of them continued yelling at each other until Syed finally snapped.

"Right!" he shouted sternly, stamping his foot to get their attention. "That. Is. It! You're both acting like a pair of kids! You tell us you're not a child, then stop acting like one Mister! And Lute, you should really know better. How is clawing at one another's faces even going to help?! Just... stop and think about what you're both doing! I mean it!"

Man, Syed was scary. School principal scary.

Amazingly, the thief let go of his poor bruised cheeks and Lute relented. It looked like that they were up for a truce… until that godforsaken brat made a move for his sword! “Oh no you don’t!” The virtuoso screeched and lunged towards Fabian, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy’s waist as the two of them fell to the floor with a loud thud. To his credit, the thief still continued wiggling after the weapon, but with Lute’s weight on him plus the fact that the virtuoso was trying to pull him away, progress went very slow.

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – Performance Hall

“What in Ddaear…?!”

The Masked Phantom threw his head back, narrowly dodging the raking claws of Lucien’s imp as it leapt into the air and swiped at him. The small skittish creature wasn’t deterred by his miss, because as soon as it landed back down on the ground it continued again and again, jumping and swiping the retreating thief and aiming to wrap its mitts around him. The Masked Phantom was rendered speechless in disbelief. His concern upon being thrown into the stage’s curtain was that of the bear he had left behind – but after its initial rage and subsequent crash into the nearby wall, it had vanished… and then the imp had arrived.

The indigo haired man in the robes was certainly a beast summoner, and certainly… annoying.

“Away with you!” The Masked Phantom threw his hand out casually in a dismissive gesture, and the small creature was sent flying from the ground with an ‘ai-yai-yai!’ by the wind that the thief had summoned… to land directly in Lucien’s face.



“Lucy!” Dylan gasped, crouching down low to his friend. “Are you okay?” Dylan’s eyes quickly looked up, focused back on the Masked Phantom, and his hands went to work with the chalk he held upon his slate, ready to create and manfiest his next construction. But before he could get halfway to completing the picture, the slate was ripped free from Dylan’s hands with another surprisingly powerful gust of wind… and casually sent into the thief’s awaiting hands, who then inspected it curiously.

“My, you are an artist with skill indeed. To draw this so quickly… and then to make it real? Fascinating,” The Masked Phantom grinned. “I wonder, though, whether you actually need this in order for your magic to work… and if without it, you’re powerless…?”

He raised the slate in his hands and shattered it upon his knee. Dylan’s eyes bulged in horror at the sight, and his lips automatically screamed at the man. “NO!”

“Two summoners of very different talents… but both no less amazing. My, if only I could actually steal you two as well and add your talents to my collection. But I digress. As you can see, I am not a man to be easily bested, and these actions on your behalf… this fight is futile. Don’t press this further. Stop now… or I will detonate the charges we’ve laid.”

The Academy of the Arts - Outer Theatrical hall

Mattis didn't expect the girl's sudden attack to his legs and fell. Before he had the time to shift his body in order to body slam the girl to the ground, he grunted in pain as the other woman drove a fist into his ribs. He hit the floor, and was rather surprised that the hit hadn't broken any ribs. There would certainly be a nasty looking bruise there later though. He shook his head, picking himself up from the ground once again and eyeing the two that had attacked him.

He could hear Fabi and another guilder's angry screeching in the background, but kept himself focused on the two sword wielding women like the older one had suggested. He blinked as the lights began to flash erratically. A sudden bout of darkness gave him the chance to dart forwards, aiming a powerful hook at the large woman. He would try to take this one first- the girl was faster but hit lighter, while this one was on rather equal footing with his own strength and speed. He just wished she'd drop her sword before someone lost an eye or limb.

The Academy of the Arts - Outer Theatrical hall
Moira... was not expecting the hit to be quite that hard. There was a flash of darkness as her idiot partner already started screwing up, then suddenly before she was even aware of what was going on... POW!

Her head snapped back as the powerful uppercut struck under her chin - causing her to lose her balance and fall backwards to the floor. Geez, it was a good thing she was experianced enough to keep her jaw clenched in a fight, else she might be loosing yet another tooth or her tongue or something. Ohhhhhh it had been a while since she had faced an opponent like this - a real hard hitter, an equal.

She rolled out of the way of a second blow, jumping back up to her feet. "Heh..." A large grin spread across her features, although it didn't spread to her wide eyes. "HahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She staggered a little to one side, before launching herself towards him once more, fists pulled back for another blow. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Not that she cared that it hit anymore - hell as expected he was already moving to dodge it. This was just fun. Plus, he was doing exactly what she needed him to do. He was focusing on her, the most physically powerful member of the group.

But in doing so he had taken his eye off Estelle, the strongest. That was what Moira was counting on.


Syed wasn't entirely sure Lute and Fabian rolling around on the floor was an improvement.

"Amy?" he turned his head to face her. "Could you take over the lighting?" She'd do a better job anyway - she certainly seemed to have a better grasp on her control. Which... wasn't really saying much.

He then stepped forward, the gestures abruptly changing as he ceased one spell and started another. The sword trembled a little on the floor, before being magnetically pulled across the floor and further out of reach.

Syed then dropped his hands to his waist to untie his scarf - the one Trixie had picked out for him. "Sorry, but I think this has gone on long enough," he said with an apologetic smile. "We only need to restrain you, that's all."

---

The Academy of the Arts - Performance Hall
Well, Xan changing the shape of her arm was certainly interesting. Jay was fairly curious how she did it - was it a sort of magic, or was the arm some pioneering technology? The world was certainly making leaps and bounds in that way right now, not that he knew much about it.

He bent back, this time just managing to dodge the blow. Just.

"Please, like kids at a place like this even know what hardship is like," he hissed, spinning on the spot to aim another kick - one which Xan managed to block with her arm. The pair were locked together for a moment, each trying to gain the upper hand of strength from the other. "They're rich people, darling. Nothing is a loss to them. Not like you or me."

Suddenly he jumped back, his powerful legs allowing him to go some distance, before running towards the boy. The woman was a skilled fighter, that's for sure. But she was a Guilder. So really, her weakness... would be him.

He reached out to grab Angel in a choke hold...

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts - Theater Hall

Trixie hunched over as she passed her guns, skidding along and swiping them before whirling around to face where she had just came from like an ice skater. Guns up. She panted with worry etched on her face, ready to shoot - but the perpetrator was nowhere in sight. There were fights behind her, to her left, and to her right - but this was the one she had to--

"Stop now… or I will detonate the charges we’ve laid."

What?? He totally would not. Not while he and his friends were still inside. He was sooo bluffing. Right? Pah, she couldn't let her guard down, especially not while on the hunt.

Still keeping her guns up, Trixie eyed the Phantom without a change of expression, then darted back to where she had ran from. Now her guns were facing different directions, as if scanning the room. She perched herself atop a chair, in hopes of seeing Francesca hiding between rows, or creeping up behind her - but there was nothing. The sudden roar of Lucien's bear was enough to startle her in this state, but then it vanished in a puff of smoke. Smoke... smoke, smoke...

Disgruntled, Trixie suddenly chucked a smoke bomb to the floor beneath her, enshrouding her and her side of the sector in a thick pink smoke. The smog crept a bit into the central aisle and down towards the main stage, but it did not expand wide enough to interrupt anyone else's battle. Inside the smoke Trixie crept down and roamed between and over the seats and aisles, free from sight as she searched for her predator.

"I know you're here!" she called. "I can... uh... I can smell you!"

---

Before Angel could properly stand himself off, he was sent through the air and back to the floor again, this time being the one crashed into. Xandra looked pained as she recovered from the fall, but like any good fighter she got herself back in the game quick enough and offered Angel her hand. The aristocrat accepted her help to rise once the daze in his vision had returned, though he stayed behind as she charged forward after Jay again. He was definitely not suited for fighting, especially not an extended one. Oh, if only the circumstances were different. He had lost such a perfect opportunity to hit on a metal-armed babe he was sure he'd never get again.

An unfamiliar cry caught Angel's attention next. He looked up in time to see the Masked Phantom blast through the air from... Lucy, was it? Wow, everyone was just flying around today. Maybe he'd actually grow wings for once if he--oh, oh Aislin! Angel picked up enough determination to begin charging - just kidding, staggering towards the center aisle. Unless his eyes were playing tricks on him, his beloved die had dropped during the Phantom's launch away.

Just when he thought it was his lucky day. He hadn't even gotten close to the aisle before he found himself unable to breathe suddenly - locked in Jay's chokehold. He sputtered, trying to shove the thief off of him, to step on him, to do anything to free himself, but it was no use. He was injured and exhausted enough, and now in a vulnerable position like this...

Gods damn it. He knew he'd regret skipping out on middle school gym class.

---

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts - Theater Hall (Outside)

Slap fights, name calling, scolding... the deadpan expression on Amy's face expressed her disbelief. What, was everyone inside having kindergarten quarrels too? By this point, Moira had begun to lose it - a true beserker terrifies even her own allies. Geez!

Syed had to repeat himself to catch Amy's attention off Moira. "The lighting?" She thought about going after the sword as well once Fabian began screaming, but it seemed like Syed already got that covered. Didn't look like anyone was deathly injured outside anyway (aside from Moira converting her hurt to adrenaline), so she could afford holding off heals and buffs for a moment; if they wrapped this up quick, they could help the others inside just as quickly.

In compliance, Amy held out her staff, allowing both her own body and spinning gem to glow a luminous white. This cast shadows among those too far from her, seeing as she was on ground level instead of ceiling, but it was better than total darkness and extended flickers.

Academy of the Arts: Performance Hall

Just how speedy was this guy? Lucien gritted his teeth, not even the imp could keep up with him.

His summon was yanked into the air before it was sent flying straight into his face. He let out a yelp as the thing began tugging like mad at his hair. It was obviously spooked and like a frightened cat, it was clawing wildly and taking it out on its summoner.

"Sharp! Sharp!" He yanked it off of his face and tossed it to the ground. The creature stuck out its tongue before exploding into another puff of smoke. "Yeah, yeah, it messed up my hair..." And gave me a heart attack. He didn't say the second part out loud, "I'm just grand..."

And then without warning, the masked phantom took away Dylan's slate.

"Oi! That's stealing," Lucien puffed out his chest and took a step forward, but before he could do anything the slate was destroyed and the masked phantom was threatening to detonate the charges. The summoner already had a tuna card in his hand, but as soon as the threat was spewed out, he backed down and deflated like a balloon. Sure, he wasn't the smartest one out there, and sure he could be an idiot at times, but he backed up. Lucien didn't want to risk anyone getting hurt so he raised his hands and gave Dylan a quizzical glance.

This academy was his friend's home and Lucien wasn't going to do anything stupid to endanger it.



She had been expecting another kick or feign, but suddenly Jay rushed away from the fight and began heading towards an entirely new direction? Her eyes flitted towards Angel and she managed to put two and two together. OH.

Xan rushed forward but before she could even get close, Jay pulled Angel towards him and placed the man in a choke-hold.

The girl eyed the thief then the struggling student. Those thieves weren't honor-bound like they were and if they wanted to, they could hurt anyone. The mask phantom made that clear already. Her offensive stance quickly changed into a more defensive one and slowly, her prosthetic regained its original form.

She kept her eyes focused on Jay, but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find an opening and she didn't want to risk getting Angel hurt. "Let's not do anything hasty." She muttered before raising her hands in an appeasing sort of gesture.

---

Academy of the Arts: Outside the Performance Hall

"Ooof, you stink!" Fabian complained when Lute practically thew himself on the boy. The young thief's hands darted to his nose and he stopped squirming. "LET GO!" He hated to admit it, but in terms of strength, the stinker was the winner.

"Uuugh!" The boy extended his arm but he was too far away and soon enough the sword magically moved on its own. "E-Eh! That's cheating." He turned his head to see lighting school teacher guy with the blade. It was over. Fabian ceased his squirming and puffed up his cheeks in indignation. How could he beat a handful of grownups when he didn't have any of his gadgets anyway. He felt really bad for messing up. The masked phantom had actually trusted him to pull through and here he was failing! Even Miffy, the old lady and granddad trusted him.

"FINE!" He exploded, but to be honest, beneath his angry facade, he felt like crying.

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – Performance Hall, Corridor

“Oi, you got this coming, kid. Don’t sniffle or … You know, any of that gross emotional stuff,” Lute gruffly said as he held on to Fabian’s legs for Syed to do his scarf thing. Amy was now the one in charge of the lights, and now that he wasn’t getting his cheeks clawed off Lute had the chance to watch what was happening between the others.
“Go Moira, go Estelle!” The virtuoso cheered quite meekly as he raised his fist in the air. Er… Moira was kinda scaring him with that weird laugh. She looked like she was gonna tear Bunnyface’s head off with her teeth or something… Lute shuddered and made a mental note never to get the berserker upset in case she punched him to the high heavens.

… Oh yeah!

“I should probably help!” POW! “Or not. Looks like they got it.” Somebody got punched again and there was that scary sound of bone hitting flesh. You know what, he was content here. Besides, his sword was out of reach. Yeah. Lute spread his leg out and inched towards the pole, intending on using it to take back his sword before Bunnyface had the chance to steal it. The cold metal clinked against his heel and he rolled his knee back, then grabbed the pole and-

Ssswhing.

-it crackled and reverted to its old, tiny form.

---

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – Performance Hall, E Sector

A cloud of smoke, the color being the only thing lovely about it, rose from below and blanketed a fair amount of space. Francesca had no doubt that the young gunner was down there somewhere, waiting for her… C’est magnifique! Under cover of darkness she reigned, but this just leveled the playing field. What a clever little girl. A smile formed on her lips as she lifted her right hand and adjusted her gloves, a crease forming in between her brows as she concentrated. It was time to break the stalemate. Thin inky wisps grew from her right shoulder blade, growing in width and length as they circled down her arm until it looked like she was sporting swaying black snakes on her satin glove. Her ‘hands’, as she affectionately called them.

"I know you're here!" she called. "I can... uh... I can smell you!"

From this height, the voice was disembodied and difficult to pinpoint. Knowing that a barrage of bullets would most probably follow her voice, she directed her arm at the next, lower chandelier and two tendrils shot out like grappling hooks. “And you know how to bluff too! What a darling,” Francesca cooed out from above, intentionally raising her voice so that Trixie can hear, and then stepped off her place, dropping down mid-swing to the floor. No doubt the little lady would see through the ruse quickly enough, but hopefully she would learn of the child’s location from the gunfire.

… Ah, on second thought, hearing gunfire from this close a distance might not be a good idea.

Francesca’s mouth twitched as if she was trying to prevent a grimace and her ‘hands’ shot forth, seeking blindly through the fog for the enemy.

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – Performance Hall, Corridor

Despite Moira’s intentions, she couldn’t really accurately predict Mattis or Estelle’s actions and reactions. Despite his incredible size, Mattis had a definite litheness in his agility that allowed him to dodge the smaller woman’s blows, and a quick few jabs of his own hit home. Moira bore the brunt of the pain of course, due to her own natural resilience and the defence buffering offered by Amy, but it still hurt. And before she knew it, she started to grow a bit too acclimated to her fighting high. The adrenaline rushing through her felt like it had a mind of its own… and once the faucet had been opened, it was difficult to close again.

She swung another powerful jab aimed at Mattis’ face, but the large man, wearing the innocuously adorable rabbit mask darted to the side, out of Moira’s reach just in time… as Moira’s fist kept swinging. And landed, with a powerful, aching thud against someone else.



Estelle was sent reeling, flying backwards from the force of the beserker’s fist to her face, and skidding along the smooth marble floor until she crashed against an ornately detailed column with a gasp and a cry. She reeled over in pain, holding her face, and didn’t rise up.

Oh. Oh shit.

In that brief moment of hesitation and realisation, Moira stopped. And Mattis’ own fist swung into Moira’s, a more powerfully swung attack that sent the berserker toppling off her own feet and skidding with a crash into one of the far walls. The sudden yank on the magical tether between her and Syed sent him dropping to his feet and skidding backwards as well, dropping his scarf.

Mattis turned to Estelle, with a clearly displeased expression on his face, and shake of his head. He took no please or pride in that. Nothing beyond guilt. But what other options were there?

---

Aliquam: Academy of the Arts – Performance Hall, E Sector

"I know you're here!" Trixie called. "I can... uh... I can smell you!"

“Oh god I give up don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me~!” A sorrowful wail erupted from Trixie’s side, followed by overenthusiastic sobbing. The barrels of Trixie’s uzis shot in the direction of the voice, which were surprisingly louder and closer then she thought- so loud and close in fact that she hadn’t noticed she was actually treading upon the voice’s back. “My butt already hurts enough no more please I swear!”

The clatter of high heels landed upon the ground, and Francesca rose with great posture and poise, as slithering tendrils of darkness that emanated out from her shoulders curled down her forearms to her fingertips, and she lashed out into the pink haze that was Trixie’s smoke grenade.

But then…

“You! Harlot!”



Francesca was suddenly rudely grabbed by her arms and thrown to the ground. Before the stunned woman could react, she felt a heavy, pressing pain in her right wrist as Tobias’ heavy boot fell atop it. Looking up, she saw the aristocratic patron look down at her with eyes heavy with anger. “What the hell did you do with my sword?”

The Academy of the Arts - Outer Theatrical hall
What the hell just happened... what the hell did she do?!

Moira's vision blurred and swayed as her eyes darted across the room, settling on Estelle as she lay on the floor. What did she do?! She was trying to make her an opening, that's all! But this... for her to have hit her instead.... to hit Estelle...

It felt like she had hit her own child - hell, Estelle was like a daughter to her anyway. She hurt all over, from the glass, from the blow to the head from earlier, from hitting the wall just now - although none of that mattered to her anymore. Her eyes flicked towards the man... the one who had caused her to do this. It was him, because he got out of the fucking way! At least, that's what she told herself. They were all as devious and manipulative as the last. They all...!

She pulled herself up, keeping her head bowed low for a moment. Her fists clenched, her lips curled into a snarl, her pupils dilated - focused on Mattis and Mattis alone. Syed was pulling himself up next to her as he clutched at a grazed elbow, although he was looking at her in fear. She was deaf to his words. To his calling out to their leader in horror. To his attempts to reign Moira back, to calm her down. She didn't hear any of it. He barely existed to her anymore.

She screamed - an awful, inhumane noise, her face contorting with rage. The air around her felt thick and oppressive, like some unseen force was bearing down upon it. The power of her will. How dare he?! How dare this man make her... make her do that...! A hand snatched out, grabbing a small empty podium from next to the wall and flinging it towards him. Then without another comprehensible word, without even waiting for the podium to hit, she launched herself at Mattis, even faster than before.

Syed stumbled behind her, knowing full well to keep as far as he could from her when she was like this. Unfortunately for him that could never be that far, but he'd take six foot over nothing. He kept his hands up and ready to cast all the while, should he need to.

---

The Academy of the Arts - Performance Hall
Hah! As expected, she was backing off. Well, that was just fine for him.

"Heh, funny how you say that now," Jay said, his voice as level as ever. The boy was struggling against his grip, but as expected he was a weak point. It was no problem. "I would consider smashing my face in hasty, but you did that."

He maintained his hold on Angel, although he took the opportunity to step to one side - unknowingly closer to the dice - keeping his eyes on Xan the whole time. He didn't even need to do anything else - this hold would eventually suffocate the boy to unconciousness, and the woman was too hesitant to do anything but watch. "So I suppose the question is, what could you offer to make me release him?"

Except then he heard a cry of suprise... a voice that he knew only too well. He couldn't help it. He twisted on the spot, trying to spy anything which was going on in that pink fog. Frances-chan?!

And in doing so, he had unknowingly loosened his grip on Angel.

The Academy of the Arts - Outer Theatrical hall

Oh Gods, had he accidentally knocked something loose in that head of hers with the last hit? Mattis stared as the woman burst into crazed laughter, backing up a few paces and eyeing her warily. The woman struck once again and he ducked to the side only to hear the sound of fist on flesh followed by a pained cry.

He whipped around in time to see the girl hit the wall and grimaced. He had half a heart to pause the fight to check if she was alright, but glancing back at the large woman he could only jump back as her eyes shadowed over.

She... She was blaming him, wasn't she?

He held up her hands soothingly, cringing under her stare underneath his bunny mask.

"You should cool your hea-"

His words were interrupted by a loud shrieking scream and he was forced to avoid the heavy podium sent flying his way. He narrowly dodged that only but wasn't able to avoid the barreling woman who sent them both to the floor.

Mattis have a heavy grunt as he hit the floor, dodging to the side as she tried to punch his face. They wrestled on the ground, punching and dodging before the man managed to wriggle free from her grasp. He staggered back a few paces before running forward with renewed fervor. If his last punch had knocked something loose, perhaps this would fix it. The crazy glint in her eye was dangerous and frankly scared him, and he didn't want to risk the Berserker going after Fabi.

"Calm... DOWN!"