It had been months since a fairly eventful few days at the Mystic Ram mages guild. To say that the months in between then and now were happy and peaceful would be a lie. It had been a tough few months, and several of the mages from the guild were either killed or simply disappeared. Those times seemed to have ended now, but no mage was still on edge like Talon was.

With his family suddenly disappearing, or even being killed with their bodies left right where they died, Talon trained every day to get stronger and better, sometimes doing the extreme just to push himself further. He couldn't let his mages die, they were his family, and he was the one to protect and lead them. He couldn't lead them if they weren't alive to be led.

Darren and Sasha both trained hard, but not like Talon was. They were taking on harder missions and even formed a team together. The swordsman and woman worked wall together, even learning new spells. Sasha had gotten a new sword, and even brought one of her other swords to its second level. Her Velocity Saber had saved her many times in the past few months, and the extensive use had caused it to transform and reach it's second level. It was much more powerful now, and her power was something to be feared, due to the fact that it was impossible for someone to be afraid of her because of the way she acted.

Darren didn't gain a new sword, but he became much better with his techniques and spells after barely completing his S-Ranked mission. It turned out that the town that had created the request was actually a town of thieves, and was planning on using the Mages to get more money. After he had defeated the guild, he took his share of the jewels, telling Kori that the rest of it belonged to his fallen comrades.

Now, it was a new day, and the doors to the guild hall were opened by none other than Talon Marvel. He blamed himself for not being strong enough to take on whoever had taken out his mages, and had become a bit more strict since the last time we had seen him. He was still childish and immature, but he was becoming less so with each passing day. He took a light breath as he promised himself to find out whoever was hurting his family.

A smile graced the face of the guild master as he saw the sight before him. Kori was sleeping on the bar counter with a rag in one hand and a pencil in the other. He could only wonder what she was doing all night, but simply shook his head and continued walking. The wind mage was also pushing herself. She saw herself as the mother of the mages, despite some of them being only a few years younger than her or even older than her. She had a motherly vibe, and everyone was sure to feel it at some point or another.

With that final blow, the spider guardian was thoroughly dead, it's head smashed to pieces. The travelers were freed from their webby prisons, and escorted to Clover town, along with a knocked-out Celia, who woke up later that night back at the guild hall, once her magical energy had replenished itself. With her fabric and share of the reward money in tow, Celia got some good sewing in, and made sure to write a letter back home about helping beat a giant spider. Which, to be honest, was pretty neat, though it was mostly Jayce and Noire.

However, that good mood would die out over the next couple months. She did odd jobs to stay afloat, but her work ethic took a sharp decline once the disappearances and deaths began. There were few things that could pierce the perpetual sunshine that surrounded Celia, but the loss of half of her second family was one of them. For a while, she didn't train, didn't eat, and hardly slept. She would simply sit outside, and wait for the Mystic Ram wizards to come home. After practically making herself ill, the young girl decided it was time to get with the program, as everyone else left in Mystic Ram decided to. She improved her control of Skybuster, and worked on further controlling her magical reserves. The determination of everyone was palpable, especially Master Talon. He was really an inspiration to Celia, and she knew he was for the others as well.

After a little meditation and control exercises, Celia was sitting in her living room, looking out the window once more. No matter what, she'd face down whoever had attacked her guildmates with all she had. The time for non-violence was over. Blood had been shed, and Celia knew measures had to be taken. With a steely look in her almost cyan eyes, a truly strange thing for Celia, she stood and grabbed her bag before heading out to the guild hall.

Caroline's hand twitched in her sleep, as if she were holding a pen. She was sleeping at one of the larger tables in the hall, head cradeled in her arm with dozens of different sheets of paper spread out around her. She muttered in her sleep as Talon walked by.

"If target_moved equals true, call 'find_target_position' and 'redirect_shot_vector', else call 'impact_split'..." Her face rolled downward and the rest of what she was saying was lost to the table.

---

Artemis pushed his way through the guild's doors, barely glancing at Talon on his way passed. His eyes had a hard, cruel glint that they had lacked months previously, and he silently walked up to the bar and lay a piece of paper next to Kori. The paper read "Exterminate a Demon" with a large stamp on it proclaiming it "S Class". The rest of the page was taken up by a picture of the demon, which had a large gash rent through the paper.

Not even stopping to acknowledge anybody in the room, he turned to leave, but hesitated before pushing the doors open, as if expecting, or perhaps hoping, somebody to stop him.

Jax was the joyful person who liked to enjoy a party more than the missions that helped pay for the parties. He only did missions every once in a while so that he could have money to last for a couple months at a time but over these last few months with members of the guild getting killed and disappearing he had become more introverted and focused on his missions. He had now been away for over a month on a mission to clean out a two groups of bandits that had been terrorizing traveling merchants along the roads which he only took because he had heard a rumor that there might be a lead about the disappearing guild members.

He was now back in the guild town for a few days, but had still not been to the guild hall yet as he was mad that the mission at been a dead end as he did not find anything beneficial from the bandits. He hadn't even seen anyone from the guild in over a month and wondered how everyone was doing. Jax finally decided that he would go back to the guild hall and adjusted the sling that cradled his broken left arm as he got up from his bed before he left the apartment and headed toward the guild hall.

When he approached the guild hall he noticed some people standing near the door and recognized the Guild Master Talon as well as the S-Rank mage Artemis who seemed to be leaving. "Hey there Artemis, where do you seem to be off to this early in the morning?" He asked the taller person when he had reached the doors to the hall.

Talon was prepared to speak to Artemis, but did nothing as he saw Jax speaking to him. He knew that Artemis came to the guild hall just for missions now, but the master wanted for him to stick around for a bit longer, even if it was just for today. Instead of speaking to the S-class mage, he looked over at the paper that was placed next to the sleeping wind mage. He assumed that Artemis brought that in for her to hang on the board, and wordlessly walked back into his office just as as Darren and Sasha made their way into the guild hall, currently dismissing Artemis and Jax for the time being.

Darren was one of two that escaped the S-class mission, but soon after he had taken his cut of the Jewels once the guild was destroyed, he was attacked by remaining dark mages that wanted to go after him and Artemis for bringing down their guild. The blind boy was split up from his partner during the surprise attack, and it was by sheer luck that Sasha had found him two weeks later struggling to stay alive. His magical reserves were almost completely depleted, and he barely had enough strength to stand. It was because of his partner that he had made it back to the guild, and he always gave her the larger cut of the missions that they went on as a way to repay her for saving him. It was usually 60/40, but sometimes would be 70/30 when he felt that he didn't do enough during the mission.

The sword duo sat at a table and spoke quietly to each other. They were some of the few who still came to the guild and stayed there for most of the day unless taking a mission, and Kori and Talon didn't count to the numbers were even smaller.

With the victory secured over the spider, Jayce let out a roar of victory, along with Noire howling before they turned their attention to the people who'd been captured...and Celia. Luckily she was okay, but Jayce still felt a tinge of fear when she lost consciousness...

As the months passed by, Jayce too felt the pain of losing members of the guild, some smiling and saying they'd be fine when they went off to do a job, and most never coming back. Even if they did, they weren't smiling. Jayce started to fall off his work ethic, though he did have a good bit of savings remaining. Taking up odd job's at his landowner's garage, Jayce managed to accomplish quite a bit in the technical sense, building various magical vehicles for the citizens of Middlemist to use. And, of course, he built his own. He even went as far as to take money out of his own pocket to build Magical vehicles for the Guild's use.

Noire, even as an animal, felt the pains of loss, and felt into a sort of quick depression, not even waking up Jayce in the morning and just lying in her bed. Of course, she didn't stay like that for long, and quietly helped Jayce with his jobs, and by finding him stuff to build Vehicles with from a scrapyard.

Jayce looked out of the window to his apartment, resting his chin on his artifical arm, Noire still asleep in her bed. Getting dressed, he kept looking out the window, thinking: "Town's just not the same..."

"I'm off on a... personal mission." Artemis said, turning to look at the shorter man. "I'm tracking somebody down."

Assuming his anaerobic was satisfactory, he looked at Talon. "Guuldmaster." He said evenly, then pushed the doors open and walked away.

Jax huffed as Artemis just seemed to blow him off and than stormed into the guild hall and sat at an empty table with a drink in his hand. He wanted to go on another mission as soon as possible so that he could try and find some of his guild mates but he knew that his arm would prevent him from doing anything to special even though it did not interfere with his magic at all. He wanted to train but for now he decided that he would enjoy the time he had at home before he left again on another mission.

"NOT SO FAST BUDDY!" A loud voice called off as a red blur approached Artemis. At was aiming right for Artemis, and if he didn't move it would surely hit him at the speed it was going at. If it did hit him, then the red blur would instead move straight upwards instead of moving with Artemis to the ground. The blur slowly down considerably as it moved up and back down to the ground, and once it hit the ground, a figure could be distinquished.

The person that had created the blur was in a red and black suit, and a mask with the same color scheme. The man looked at Artemis as his hands shot out forward, charging some sort of magic in his hands. He didn't utter a word as a spell was released from his hands. It was a type of magic that was icy cool, and encased a large around of the ground around Artemis. The entire area became a dome of Lacrima, and it was unknown to many about how it was possible.

The man who was using the magic knew just how it worked, as he was the subject to more than several lacrima tests, and the magic was forcibly binded to his body. Along with having his body heal in an instant, he was given several powers, and could use magically charged lacrima to gain more. He was a pool of powers that should should have been long dead, and with that he game himself a ridiculous name. Deadpool.

"Watch it, GM. I may be busy here, but as soon as I'm done with these guys, I'll go after you." Deadpool spoke to the sky, giving the people around him the impression that he was crazy. After a moment of silence, he looked at the large dome of solid lacrima and chuckled.

"It isn't cool to leave your friends like that without a proper goodbye, magecicle. It isn't cool to leave this world without a proper goodbye, either." His tone started off as jovial and careless, but suddenly turned deeply serious as he spoke his second sentence. He then turned away from the lacrima and to the door.

"Hello there mages!" He said happily as he pushed the doors fully open using small explosions in each hand, the loud sounds causing Kori to wake up and looked around frantically. He watched as Talon got into a ready stance, along with Sasha, Darren and Kori.

Janus opened his eyes, terrified. He had seen it again. That dream...no, it was a nightmare. "That day will haunt me until i die if I don't get over it..." he thought and stood up. He had rented a room in the guild hall and stayed there until he found a place of his own in the city but no luck so far. Every decent place either had a too damn high rent or he would have to settle with a roommate, which he didn't want one bit.

In the past few months, Janus spent his time getting to know all the members of Mystic Ram. Sasha and Darren were two of the most interesting people in the guild in his opinion. Both were polar opposites. Darren was almost always in serious mode, cracked a smile here and there along with the occasional lame joke that everyone laughed awkwardly at but he was one of the most dependable guys he ever seen. Sasha was that happy-go-lucky girl that everyone liked and got along with well, including him.

As he stood up and started putting on his clothes, he heard a loud noise coming from downstairs, in the main hall. He heard shouts and an unfamiliar voice. He quickly put on his clothes and ran downstairs. He could feel the tension in the air as everyone seemed to be battle ready for some reason. He slowly walked towards the group and stood behind Kori "What the hell is going on here? Who is that dude?" he asked, a dim light forming in his fingers signaling that he was ready to fire of a barrage of arrows.

Jax turned around at the table he was sitting at when he heard a loud commotion coming from the doors to the hall. He saw a guy standing there in a red and black suit before a dome of Lacrima dome appears as if as out of nowhere. When he saw that the guild master and a few other members get into a stance that showed that they were ready to attack that meant that he should take this seriously as well and got up from his table and headed over to where the others were standing.

"I'm guessing this guy isn't here to have a drink with us." Jax said as he clapped his hands together and his eyes glowed deep red as he grew to twenty feet tall inside the hall and towered over the rest of the people. :Don;t worry little man this won't take long." He told the strange new person as he pulled back his fist and slammed it into the lacrima dome with his full force.

As Jax attacked the Lacrima crystal, it sent out a pulse of energy that blasted him and everything near it backwards. "That's not gonna work, buddy. Special Lacrima stuff." Deadpool said as he looked behind him, hearing what had happened. He expected for someone to hit the Lacrima in an attempt to free the mage, but it would take much more than that to break it.

"What a vulgar person," A voice behind the attacker said, and as he whirled to face it, a young woman stood in his way.

"Thank for the observation, girlie. Get lost, this is big kid business." The mysterious man said, looking down at her. He raised his hand to trap her in more crystal, but when he brought it down she was already gone.

"You won't catch me with that kind of speed," A new, lighter voice called out, again behind him. A new girl stood there with a small smile, wielding a long katana. She brought the blade down from above, then disappeared in a blur of movement, only to reappear beside him and strike again. Every time he moved to hit her, she was already gone, adding another cut.

The game of fast paced cat and mouse continued until the invader collapsed to his knees, beaten. He quickly lurched to his feet and stumbled backwards through the door, pointing at her. "I won't forget this!"

The newcomer smiled after him, then turned to the giant crystal Artemis was trapped in. Looking at it, she shimmered back to her original shape before donning a new form. Looking evenly at the structure, her eyes glowed green as she muttered under her breath.

"Targeting critical flaws, chance of subject injury minimal." Reaching to her side, she drew a pistol from it's holster and fired three rounds into the crystal, each one creating another shockwave but also cracks across the surface. With the third shockwave the dome shook itself apart, freeing Artemis, and when the dust settled the newcomer was back in her original body, looking around at the guild.

"Is anybody hurt?"

"I won't forget this!!" He yelled as he pointed at the woman that had bested him. He had never seen her before, but something her was just odd to him. She seemed to stand out just the slightest bit more than the other mages, and wondered why. As he ran out the door, he glanced at the numerous cuts that covered his body. While the suit didn't grow back, his skin did, and he felt no pain within a matter of seconds. He sighed to himself as he continued running, now having a new person at the top of his hitlist, whoever she might be.

---

Talon watched in amazement as the mysterious woman temporarily defeated the strange man that had attempted to attack the guild. While he could have probably beat the man into oblivion, he was still amazed at the skill of the newcomer. He had never seen her before, and he wondered if she was here to apply to join the guild. If so, he would still have to fight her despite the fact that he just watched her take town an enemy that easily bested an S-class mage. Slowly, he got out of his combat stance and walked towards the mysterious woman. "Hello. That was quite an impressive show there!" He said happily as he held out his hand to her, expecting for her to shake it. "My name is Talon Marvel, guild master here. It isn't that I don't appreciate the help, I do, but might I ask why you're here?"

The woman took Talon's hand, shaking it firmly. "Actually, I heard there was a guild in this town and came to take a look. I'm just glad I was able to help."

Artemis coughed and looked around, confused. As his mind became clearer, he looked down. "I wasn't beaten," he said sullenly, "I was taken by surprise."

Jax slowly shrank down to his normal size before rolling off of his back and getting back up to his feet. He rotated his shoulder to make sure everything was working just fine before fixing his sling and walked over to the group. "I was caught by surprise to. There was no way I couldn't known that the lacrima would react in such a way to blast me back when I hit it." He said a little embarrassed that he had been taken out so easily when he had grow to that size."Thanks for the help though." He said under his breath as he held out his good hand to shake her hand.

Ceryl, who had just been watching this came closer to the group.
"What the hell just happened?" he asked.
Ceryl had suffered for a lot, like everyone else, over the past few months. People he was just meeting disappearing, the guild losing its power but most of all, what hurt him was Talon's loss. It was obvious Talon hurt most of all, what he classed as his family showing up... dead.
And now a random guy making an entrance?
Something was wrong.

Janus watched everything unfold in front of him and was genuinely confused when one person came after the other. First there was this dude that used some kind of lacrima magic and trapped Artemis in one of his lacrimas. Then, before they even get any clue about who he was and what he wanted, another unknown person, a girl this time, came out of nowhere and attacked the man with some kind of transformation magic. Janus deactivated his magic and just stood there watching them fighting and when the girl came out victorious he burst in laughter. For all his boasting, It seemed he was just a pushover.

The crowd continued to grow outside of the guild hall. "Come on people, there's nothing to see here. Move along please, everything is alright now" Janus said and walked outside. He then thrust his palm outward and a huge wall of light appeared in front of the guild building. On the inside the light was very dim but on the outside it was very bright, fending off any remaining curious onlookers. He turned his back and gave Artemis his hand, "Come on buddy, you are not alone you know" he said and pointed at the group that had rushed to his help earlier, "It's not like you were the only one caught off guard by that" he looked at Jax.

Upon hearing what Atemis had to say, Talon laughed lightly to himself as he let go of the mysterious woman's hand. "It happens to the best of us, Artemis. You should be thankful for this woman, though. We all should." He then turned his head to look at the woman he was speaking of and nodded to her firmly. If she was possibly interested in the guild, he was going to do everything in his power to get her to join. "You saved the lives of just about everyone in the guild today. I'm sure he was the one responsible for the previous attacks, and for him to do something like this told me that he was preparing on taking all of us out. Mystic Ram will stand at your side.... Um.... What's your name?" He looked at her curiously as he stood there. He was trying to be all calm, collected and amazing, just like a leader should, but the look soon fell to pieces as he remembered that he had never gotten her name.

"Natali," the girl said, amusement in her eyes. "My name is Natali Lern, and I would be honored to fight by your side." Natali paused for a moment, then seemed to reach a decision. "Actually," she said, "I wasn't entirely teuthfull with you. I didn't just happen to be here when that maniac attacked. I've been following him for a month, trying to catch him off guard. He killed some friends of mine, you see."

Talon became on edge once the woman now named Natali had said that she wasn't truthful with him. He had begun to think that she was on the same boat with that guy who killed all of their teammates, but relaxed once more once she said that she had actually been following him for about a month. He then smiled grimly at her and nodded. "Well, it seems we have something in common, Natali. That man killed people in our family, our guildmates." He paused for a moment to allow the bit of information sink in before continuing, this time with a smirk on his face. "Even if you did chase off that lunatic, you still need to go through the initiation test. Usually Kori would take care of it since I tend to get carried away, but you were able to take that guy on like nobody's business, so you're going to have to fight me."