Penny
@Conmhara

Penny nodded, "Yeah. That's Amelia, she wasn't actually in the games, but she's filling in for My sister. Sasha apparently over did it yesterday. Amelia's a spirit mage, of sorts." Penny said to Zami, turning her attention to him, so she could see if he was going to respond

Sasha
@Lmpkio@yipeeXD

Sasha blinked, looking to Marlene when she leaned over and spoke to her. Sasha managed to give her a smile, and nodded, "Oh, yeah" She said, shifting, and trying to make it seem like nothing was wrong. "I just...got distracted. A weird memory, that's all" She said, hoping she was reassuring, not wanting to think on the memory right then.

Michael
@Oblivion666

Michael squirmed at the ruffling, "I couldn't even hold my own against my spirits. Without them, I am nothing much" he said, giving a sigh "I doubt I'd be good with a weapon. I'm clumsy enough as it is, with a weapon I'd just probably hurt myself" He said, not willing to admit that he was terrified of using any sort of weapon.

Michael was good with his hands, but he was terrified of stabbing himself with a weapon, or shooting himself. "Well, I don't know whats stylish about getting your butt handed to you, but no one can say you don't have self confidence"

@Zarkun

Ryan T Alon

Ryan watched the match nervously, constantly looking between his ticket which showed his bet and the match. He had a week's worth of pay running on who won and lost and he was not looking too good. He adjusted his stupid cowboy hat and grimaced. He had lost a bet on who would win the last round and he now had to wear this dumb cowboy hat.

"Stupid jerk from Horse Mane. I'm never gonna live this down." Ryan muttered to himself as he looked around. Michael was having a bit of self doubt. He didn't really blame him after that debacle. Ryan then turned towards the Guild Master Jack.

"Guild Master Jack! Who do you think is going to win? Objectively speaking anyways." Ryan asked as he looked at his betting ticket. He really didn't want to lose again. Then he was going to have to wear cowboy boots as well. And the weeks worth of pay too. But it was the cowboy boots that would be really embarrassing.

The second day of the Grand Magic Games it was already getting crowded inside the arena and it was already starting to begin. No one would be allowed to leave onto the streets when it started so the entrances were stuffed with people who tried to get a seat before it was to late. Isla had of course already planned ahead of this and was located on about the same spot as yesterday close to the guild Phoenix Wing. Of course her lovely mute friend was also fairly busy with his own things like getting into the guild Phoenix Wing which he easily succeeded in doing so. Isla smirked and let out a playfull laugh under the noice of the crowd "Nihihi" isla looked forward to meeting other people today but before that she would likr to see how her friend was doing by a little talk. Isla went to the library nearby yesterday and caught onto some sign launguage to learn, of course knowing Zami would likely be at Phoenix Wing today. He might trust her a little more if she showed intrest in him. Isla grabbed one of her bigger brushes and dipped it into her paint can resulting in giving the brush a yellow color. She also took out a piece of paper and painted it yellow.

Isla snuck up on the bubble magician and pressed the paint brush lightly against his right cheek while she was standing on the opposite side of him. As he looked away by the wet sensation on his right cheek she quickly raised herself up a little by standing on the tip of her toes and gave a kiss on the cheek with the yellow painted paper in between her lips and his cheek so that a yellow kiss mark would be displayed onto his cheek when he would turn his face straight again. She gave a short giggle and grinned "Nihihi" Isla had a satisfied look on her face as she took some distance from him and placed both her arms and brush behind her back. She giggled once again and placed the brush in her back while her face turned somewhat more curiuos then before "Joined already?"

Despites the curiousiy there still was a cheeky smile stuck on her face that didn't and wasn't gonna dissapear any time soon. Isla also glanced over at Penny for a split second and raised both her hands from behind her back again immediatly making a few gestures which clearly was sign language. Her face was already becoming a little more dirty when she gestured a word "Girlfriend?" Isla had indeed learned some sign language but not as much to hold a real conversation, she only learned a few stupid things and made a small list that was written on her sleeve on how to do some words.

"Sol. Old word for sun." Amelia said, for no reason in particular. Guessing that her opponent would be rather skilled with her weapon of choice, Amelia knew she needed a competent warrior by her side. And she had just the spirit for this kind of situation."Achilles, I need your help!"

From the magic circle that appeared in front of her, a warrior rose up and face Luna before speaking to Amelia.
"Is this the opponent you wish for me to face Milady?" he asked, his voice deep and slightly intimidating to most.

"See if you can take her down."

"I'll do just that! She will regret facing me in battle."

Luna sucked in a bit of breath as Amelia summoned Achilles. A spirit summoning mage? That would mean that, while she wouldn't fight herself, her spirits could range in strength and size to a great degree. This one seemed to be a warrior of some description, which meant that a halberd would be her best weapon. Maybe the name gave away this spirit's weakness? The legend of Achilles wasn't exactly obscure, so Luna held her free hand off to the side. "Blade of Luna!" In her hand, facing backwards, formed a small white knife. She knew that it would be a weak weapon in the sunlight, but the second, smaller, blade would give her the ability to do quick, small strikes. Something she couldn't do with the halberd. She braced herself, letting the spirit attack her first, seeing if it had any special powers besides fighting prowess.

"She's a summoner of weapons. Impressive." Achilles said, placing his shield in front of himself and pointing his spear forward. He advanced slowly, seeing how his opponent would react. He knew better than to underestimate a mage, especially one who seemed to be proficient with weapons. On top of that, she had magical weapons and he had no idea what they did. Best to take caution before going all out.

Amelia also watched. She knew if she got in trouble directly, another one of her spirits would show up, though she hoped it wouldn't come down to that.

As Achilles began advancing slowly, Luna muttered a curse under her breath. He wasn't as reckless as legend made him out to be. That didn't matter, she had other ways of testing his supposed immunity to being hurt. She brought her Halberd forward, switching which foot was forward, and pointed the tip at the spirit. "Solar Flare!" A magic circle appeared, and a blast of heat and light would launch itself from the tip of the blade at Achilles, aimed directly for his shield. She wasn't going to try anything tricky to start with, blunt force was a good way to get opponents to try their own tricks. She just needed him to launch into some attack, then she could judge how powerful this spirit actually was.

The moment the fireball appeared, Achilles hunkered down behind his shield, the round piece of bronze taking the blow. When the fire was gone, she got back up and began slowly advancing again, the metal glowing nicely where it had been hit. His mind told him to charge, but instinct told him to stay the slow course. His opponent might be testing him and he needed to test her further before deciding a course of action. That was assuming she gave anything away after this of course.

Amelia herself had to duck from some of the flames but she remained unharmed. Maybe she should bring out Houston, but she bet that saving him for when the real fighting began would be a better idea. She took a deep breathe to calm herself and keep watching, instead of acting recklessly.

Luna would return to her initial ready stance, holding her arm wrapped around the shaft of her halberd and the knife out in front of her in a backward grip. It seemed she wasn't going to get him into a reckless charge. Taking a deep breath, she spoke loud enough for Amelia to hear. "Before this fight starts, is it possible for me to deal permanent damage to your... Summons? I'd hate to accidentally kill one, since I know some summoner-type mages get very close to what they summon." She took a breath, and took a couple steps back so that Achilles would have to walk farther before she would be in range of any attack with his spear that wouldn't leave him open to an attack.

Instead of Amelia answering, Achilles replied. "You need not worry about my safety or the safety of the others. We'll be fine no matter what you do." He said, keeping the fact that he was already dead a secret. Amelia would've been too honest with her answer, he knew that. He was more then willing to pass on to the other side for her. But for now he had to focus on the fight. He was in range to hit her with his spear now, so he thrust forward while remaining partially behind his shield for protective reasons.

Luna nodded as she jumped backwards, away from the attack with the spear. She was more than halfway to the door of the castle, which she didn't want to risk being pushed back up against. "Good. Solar Armor!" A large magic circle appeared around her feet, and he white and gold robe was quickly replaced by armor made of fire that covered her entire body, while the helmet would leave most of face visible, though the front of it would come down to peak in the middle of her forehead. It would have a clear Phoenix motif, including large wings of fire that were spread behind her. "I hope your Guild's Phoenix doesn't take offense to my armor, I mean none." She would leap backwards again, wings folding down close to her back, before dashing at incredible speed past Achilles, going past his shield arm's side. During this, she would attack twice with her halberd. One quick attack at his shield, and then sliding to a stop and throwing up her knife, allowing for a two handed downwards strike at the spirit's back before kicking off backwards away from him. This left Achilles between her and the door to the Castle, and she caught the moon knife in the same grip she had been wielding it in, waiting to see if the attack had had any effect against her opponent.

Achilles was surprised by his opponent's speed as she dashed towards and past him. Her first strike was to his shield, which held and threw him off balance. Thankfully the time it took her to slide to a stop and throw up her knife gave him enough time to recover and raise his shield in time to block the blow, though it left a rather large dent in his shield.

Amelia was surprised by her opponent's speed after she donned her armor. She quickly tried to asses the situation. Achilles was more of a tank then a speedy fighter. He could take blows but his speed would make it difficult for him to get close at this point. She could call him back and summon a new spirit, but she could only think of one that would be of use now. However, is she kept Achilles out, he could exhaust her opponent even more. However, Luna was between her and Achilles, which worried her. But all with due time.

Luna took a deep breath as she saw that her opponent had managed to get his shield up to block the brunt of the attack, it apparently would take a lot more to take him down, but it had left a dent. Taking a breath, Luna tossed the knife of moonlight into the shade of a nearby tree before launching into a flurry of one and two-handed attacks on Achilles. Her initial attack would be a fast jab at his shield, before moving around it, away from his spear, and striking horizontally with the blade of the halberd, aimed at his back. This would be followed by various other combinations of attacks as she moved quickly around Achilles, occasionally jumping over him should the situation be favorable, but she generally would do her best to avoid the business end of his spear. While these strikes were not as powerful as she could possibly make them, they were fast, and would take their toll if too many landed solidly. It wouldn't be a difficult guess that Her armor gave her vastly increased speed and strength, as any normal girl as skinny and short as she was wouldn't be able to attack with as much strength as she was.

Achilles was no fool. He noticed his opponent had speed on her side now and was likely to try and use it to get around his shield and strike him from behind. Which is exactly what she did, jumping and moving around him like a crazed animal. He blocked what blows he could with his shield and those he didn't met his armor, which also provided solid protection, but not as much. He just stood in the middle of this storm, weathering it and letting her go at it. After all, attacking took more energy then defending, especially the way she was moving.

Luna saw that her opponent had stopped putting as much effort into defending, and understood why. She was putting a lot of effort into attacking, and if he didn't have to do much of anything to defend, she would wear out and be vulnerable long before she won this fight. So she stopped the normal attacks, while behind him, and stabbed at his right heel with as much speed and strength she could muster. That was the one that was vulnerable in the story, right? She couldn't remember, but it didn't matter, she had already committed to the attack, and if she was wrong there was only one other option. She quickly backpedaled after the attack, waiting to see if it had worked, but she had turned her opponent around so that she was still between him and Amelia.

Amelia frowned as she saw the fight progress. At first Luna was going all out but now she had slowed down. Realizing that Achilles was unlikely to be in the game for much longer but knowing he would take it as an insult if she dismissed him, he let him stay. She wanted to be on good terms with her spirits, no matter how she felt personally. To her, they came first. They were friends and family to her. She valued them and the bond she had with them.

Achilles grunted in pain as the blow landed. "Why do they always aim for the heel?! I'm not that Achilles! There is more than one Achilles in the world!" He shouted, obviously annoyed by this fact.

Luna couldn't help but giggle softly as the man she was fighting responded to her last attack, but she quickly got back to being ready to fight. "Sorry, but you are named Achilles... And stabbing your heels makes it hard for you to move regardless. So it's not a stupid idea." She made a soft, childish giggle again, before suddenly turning and pointing her free hand directly at Amelia. "Solar Flare!" Another blast of heat and light would launch itself at Amelia, but it would be significantly weaker than the one she had hit Achilles with earlier. She didn't want to hurt the girl too badly, but she couldn't just fight her spirits all day. After launching the attack Luna turned her head back to Achilles, anticipating an attack.

Amelia ducked under the attack, feeling the heat as it his her hair. Her eyes narrowed and she sighed. "Achilles, may I please call you back. You won't be able to fight like that and I don't want you to suffer more then you have to."

"M'lady, I can keep going... but if you wish it, I will oblige this time. I cannot fight a mage like this after all. I wish you luck."

Amelia smiled as Achilles body dissolved and a circle appeared in front of her. From it rose a woman she was all to familiar with.
"You're finally fighting for once Amelia. I'm surprised. What did I tell you about fighting?"

"Mama." Amelia said, pouting in a manner that might be considered cute by most.

"I'm joking. So this lovely lady is my opponent. And S-Class if I heard fight. Then this should be interesting."

Luna didn't have time to figure out another opponent. She needed to end this fight, so she could steel herself for whatever was inside the castle. "Tumult!" A magic circle appeared in front of the hand she held out, and both Amelia and who she summoned would immediately feel a cool, harsh wind blowing over them. While the effect wouldn't be noticeable immediately, the wind would be slowly draining their magic power. This wouldn't effect the fight in the short term, but she had won longer fights before thanks to the slow withering effect, and she hoped this would be no different. She took a breath before reacting normally to what just happened. "Th-that's sweat and all, but this is a fight, not a series of introductions." She seemed a tad flustered about something, but about what was unclear.

"You harm my daughter, and you will seriously piss me off!" the older woman's voice called out before a bolt of lightning would fall from the sky, blasting Luna back a couple of inches. The new summon stood there, lightning arcing along her body as she glowed with a magical aura."Despite the fact that you don't want it, I'll introduce myself. I am Ellis Averyonna, a former S-class mage. And I do not take kindly to people trying to harm my daughter."

@Caits

Zephyr Hardt

"Well that's why you are training aren't you? So you can feel like you aren't useless, you may not realize that you aren't even close to being useless. You can summon two of your spirits at a time correct? That itself is impressive as most mages with contracts can only do one." Zephyr said giving him a pat on the back, yet then his patting stopped when he gave a little sass about Zephyr getting his butt whooped and said he wasn't lacking on self confidence. Zephyr just stared blankly at Mikey before patting a little harder. "Those be fighting words you know? Yet you see you are already becoming stronger, although I didn't think you would try and rise to power by taunting me." Zephyr said chuckling at what Mikey said and went on to watching the mages do the maze. "Another challenge I would have sucked at. Im dodging all sorts of bullets."

Damian had left the hotel after accepting Lucas' offer and headed in the indicated direction, his hands held behind his head to appear as casual as possible. As much as Damian didn't appreciate them attacking the guild hall, he couldn't understand Jarvis' and Master Jamie's distrust of Rider's Blade. What happened in the past doesn't define how they'll act in the future. Still, I guess Master Jamie's going to be her own varity of stubborn on this matter. I'll let it go I guess. The walk took a few minutes and in that time the streets grew less and less crowded, something Damian churned up to the games starting soon. Eventually, he turned the corner onto the street where the guy from Iron Enigma had indicated and stopped, leaning against the wall to watch it.

He didn't see anything to give away where she had gone and sighed, he could hear the sound from the Games, loosely, but didn't pay any mind to it, a mistake he found he was going to regret in the near future. Nodding to himself on the coast being clear, he headed into the alley way and looked around, unaware that the game for the day had begun and he was in a part of the city that was in the maze. "Now let's see here..." Stepping into it, he looked around a bit before spotting a familiar looking bow on the ground. "Oh boy." He picked it up and examined it, sighing. It was her's alright, and now he had to figure out where they went. Then something occured to him. It was a lot darker than when he'd first walked onto the street. "Odd, where's the sun?" Reaching into a pouch, he pulled one of the lacrima free and tuned in to the games. And saw himself. Standing in the alleyway."Ah crap."

"Yes, that makes this a little more complicated." A cloaked figure, female by voice, speaks from a corner of the alleyway, stepping into the alley after Damian. She wore a katana on her hip, and she kept a respectful distance once she approached. "For myself, anyway. Come, let us not tarry here. The young lady Stratos is no longer within the city. We will need to find a way beyond the maze and into the mountains to the South."

The woman's attention turns as she hears something entering the alley from the other side. The woman edges toward the entrance they used, glancing at Damian as she spoke, "go, quickly. It would probably be best we not interfere with the games as much as possible. You, in particular, don't you think?"

Damian reacted the only way a person who had just been snuck up on could, and that was summon a blade and spin towards the source of the voice, which turned out to be a cloaked figure. Could his team get a penalty for him being in the alley? It's not like he knew that he had wandered into a section of the games, especially when they didn't say anything about what the game was or where it was until it happened. Still, she had a point. "Well, getting out shouldn't be hard, we're not contestants in this event. Hell, didn't even know this was part of the games until I pulled out my lacrima." He sighs and heads out the other end of the alleyway, the way he'd come in, and starts jogging in an effort to put some space between himself and this maze.

Mountains south of here...I'll have to thank her for that tip next time I see her. With a direction to go and a landmark to use, he set off towards the mountains, getting helpful hints after leaving the maze area on how to avoid going back into it. He reached the gates after about a ten minute run and stopped a moment to look back. "Come to think of it...who was she..."

"I'm sure you'd love to know. Perhaps I'll tell you later." The woman had been waiting on the other side of the gate for him, leaning against the wall casually. She pushed herself upright
and started walking. "C'mon, then. We don't have much longer."

~~~

Ryan stopped in to the engine room, irate. Kracko had told him they couldn't draw enough power from the engines, so they couldn't take off. Why were the engines in such shoddy condition, suddenly?

"It looks like someone cut through some of our piping? I'm almost done replacing the last piece now." Their engineer, a young man wearing suspended slacks and a collared shirt. Gloves, as well, for working with hot pipes. "Just give me five minutes and it'll be all set. We'll need to get more spare pipes, though." The man had just finished adjusting the last bolt on a pipe and, just like he said, the last one had a number of cuts through it. There was a pile of discarded pipe in the corner, and they all had the same problem. Riddled with slashes.

"Make it three." He gazed at the pile of pipes. It reminded him of someone and he didn't like it. "I'll wait for your word on the bridge." He glanced at the voice pipe, seemingly undamaged. He'd have to inspect it on the way back to the bridge.

~~~~~

"Right..." He looked back the way he'd come and then at the woman's back then back the way he'd come again and scratched his head. When had she gotten to the gate and how had she done it before him? Dismissing the thought for the time being, he followed after her, looking back towards the city and the games. He knew they'd do well, but he had this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he couldn't shake.

The woman was devoting her energy to moving quickly through the forest surrounding Corcus. At length, she finally spoke. "We hould be nearing it now. We're coming up on an-" She's cut off by crackle of electricity, followed by engines whirring to life. Her response is to immediately run the rest of the distance to their destination.

In the small clearing in front of them, located in a crevice on the foot of a nearby mountain facing somewhat away from the city, an airship was coming to life. "We must hurry. If we run into anyone, I leave them to you. I'll find Miss Stratos." The woman dashed into the clearing, avoiding visibility to the bridge as she comes up to the side. She made the large first jump onto the outrigger, before jumping to the left turbine and finally the deck. "This way." The woman crossed the deck to an external door, pausing there for her companion.

Following close behind the woman the strange woman, he followed her movement pattern towards the bridge, still trying to fathom how no body had noticed a giant air ship out here. Maybe no one comes out this way but these guys. When he realize the ship taking off would make the bridge pointless, he turned to ask her her plan as she leaped onto the outrigger. "OK then, up we go!" He jumped as well, though his landing wasn't nearly as smooth, and followed her up the turbine and onto the deck.

As they ran across it towards the door, he summoned his Hermes Blades and spins one into a reverse grip to better accomodate the tight space of the upcoming corridors. "I can make a nice big distraction if you tell me which way the important parts of the ship are."

"They're probably guarding their engine room. I already roughed it up, once." She spoke as they descended stairs from the upper deck. "There's the ballast room on the bottom deck. Might not be a bad place to start? The engine room is in the back on that same level. I'll be on the middeck. Meet me... here," she stepped off the stairs, pausing only to see him down the next flight, "and I'll have your guildmember."

"Good luck." With that simple parting, Damian headed down the stairs.

The stairs to the bottom deck led to the ballast room, itself, seemed devoted not just to ballasts. There were two tanks on either side of the room, with valves labled "Manual Override". Beyond those tanks, 6 gyroscopic motors were hooked up to the wall, controlling something beyond.

There was also a door upon reaching the bottom floor from the stairs, behind and to the right.

Upon arrival, he observed the various doodads in the room and smiled. Approaching the motors, he delivered a quick downward slash across each of the motor's timing belts and the a thrust through the coolant lines, making sure they'd over heat in the very near future. He then goes to the manual overrides and turns them both on before heading for the engine room. "Knock knock, Phoenix Wing's come a callin'."

As Damian turned the first ballast tank override, he could hear the sound of rushing water, and the ship began to list to the oppostite side. As he turned the second, something interesting happens. The ship began to lift and move, with a pitched swing to the side before the ship's navigator could even try to correct their course. They managed to, for a moment, but the strain caused the stabalizer oars to overheat and cease function.

The door to the engine room swung open and the engineer stumbled out. "What the hell's going on out here?" His eyes land on Damian and he glowers. "Aah. Intruders. I don't know how you guys keep getting in..." He paused, looking to assess the damage Damian had inflicted. He grimaced, glowering at Damian as he growled, "do you realize how much work that's going to be to fix? I aughta clean your clock..."

. Bother it at your own risk, it looks pretty about-to-crash.

Meanwhile...In the air above the airship...

The wind rushed past Layle's face as he was free falling hundreds of feet in the air. For most people, this would be a good time to start asking deep questions and generally come to terms with their life. Layle was not most people. In fact, he was laughing. Mostly at himself. He had been heading to see the Grand Magic Games, but a delay with his carriage made him miss the entire first day. If he walked, he would miss the next two days too. So, where vehicles fail, magic must venture. He used his gravity magic to make leaps through the air. The first few jumps were small, just so he could get the hand of it, but soon he was making massive leaps as high and as far as he could. He was getting close, so in the rush of adrenaline, he decided to slingshot himself the rest of the way. He might have put a little too much power into it, causing his current predicament. "WAHOOO!" He shouted. He maneuvered into a dive, speeding his decent even more. On the way down he spotted a shape below him. It appeared to be an airship. He doubted his ability to safely land from this height, so he angled toward it. Now traveling at a great speed, He calmly reached out a hand, which became surrounded by a transparent blue sphere of light. He altered his gravity slightly so he was on top of and moving along with the ship, while pulling himself toward it. "Incoming!" He shouted. He headed straight for the deck and at the last second leaned so he had his feet under him and landed on his feet and hand with a ripple of blue light, knocking over a person standing there. "Sorry 'bout that." He said to the man. "Now, where am I?" He wondered out loud.

Luna swallowed, and after a moment her armor and weapons dispelled, turning into dust and the last wisps of a flame. She swallowed, and took half a step back, seemingly put off by something. "Ecliptic Armor! Ecliptic Blades!" Black armor formed over the girl, covered her wholly, and a helmet formed over her face. Now obscuring it completely. It was more than clear this armor was of a different caliber than the previous one. From her back two wings spread, the feathers seemed to be made of crystals that would appear to absorb light, while at the same time emitting it. These crystals would appear to be tied solidly to what would look like ebony 'bones', which seemed to support them solidly enough. "If you're S-Class, then I'm going to have to step up my game, aren't I?" Next, two weapons formed in her hands. In her right, a Halberd similar to the one she had just been using, in her left hand a curved sword formed. She took a stance that indicated she could use both effectively and at the same time. "Hit me with everything you've got." She would still seem put off, but now less so, and more angry at something.

"Why waste my magic hitting you with everything until I know what that armor does? The last one made you fast and it's obvious that your magic is based off the sun and moon. Solar, Ecliptic. Those are related to them. I admit, I've never come across you magic, so this will be interesting." Ellis said, digging into her pocket and pulling out a single coin, which she flipped into the air. As it came down to about level with her face, she flicked it again, causing it to rocket forth at amazing speed while leaving behind a trail of lighting and a deep pit in the ground where the coin had flown over.

Luna shrugged, but she didn't speak again, afraid her voice would give away something. As Ellis flipped the coin into the air, Luna readied herself, expecting anything. She had already seen that this woman could use lightning, and it was no large leap to assume the coin was conductive. Once the coin was launched at her, Luna knew she wouldn't have time to get in the way. Instead, she crossed her halberd and sword in front of her, letting the magical weapons take the brunt of the hit. Luna braced herself to keep her light body from flying back from the blast, and it was only the added weight of her armor that kept this from happening, and prevented Ellis' coin from hurting her.

After the lightning was gone, Luna held the hand with her sword out. "Light of the Eclipse!" The area would suddenly go dark, and both Emilia and Ellis would feel the area get very cold, though the rough wind would not stop blowing. Luna would then take the moment of Darkness to charge forward, as fast as her solar armor before had let her, and make two spinning slices at Amelia's latest spirit. One with her halberd, the other with her sword. After those two attacks, she would stab the Halberd forward, not close enough to hit Amelia herself, but it would be pointed at her lower body. "Solar Flare!" The attack this time, anticipating her ducking, was simply force. The 'flare' itself was a dim light that emitted no head. Luna backpedaled quickly after this third attack.

"Mama, you almost damaged the castle!" Amelia shouted after the attack finished.

"They didn't say anything about property damage in the rules did they?" Ellis asked, keeping an eye on her opponent, who seemed relatively unaffected. She was surprised. That armor must be very strong and able to protect the other woman from blunt forces, otherwise her arms would've been broke from the velocity of the coin alone. But, if you were against an unknown magic, you could never know what was going to happen.

"I don't want Master Jamie to pay... or possibly get arrested for the repairs!" Amelia said before the darkness surrounded them

Ellis sighed. She could guess what her opponent was up to. A split second before the axes hit, Ellis body turned to lighting and the weapons passed right through her before she passed through Luna and appeared on the other side, standing between Luna and the castle. The exact place she guessed Luna didn't want her to be, considering how she thought Achilles.

Her calm turned to fury when she heard Amelia let out a scream as the Solar Flair hit her head on and sent her flying back a bit. The last thing on did was harm her daughter while she was present. She would've considered Lightning Palace, but that took time to set up and Amelia didn't have the magical energy needed to keep her around that long. She would have to settle for the basics. With that, she called down a bolt of lightning on Luna, this one being stronger then the first one.

Luna shouted in pain as lightning struck her, but she didn't seem to go down. Fell to one knee, certainly, but did not collapse. After a long moment, she stood back up. The darkness she had created faded, and the girl swallowed, turning to face Ellis. "So I will have to defeat each thing she summons in turn, and she doesn't have to focus maintaining them, it's good to know that." Taking a breath, she held a hand backwards towards the former S-Class mage. "Eclipse Magic: Horizon!" Ellis would suddenly find herself in a place where there was only blackness below her, and a terribly twilight above. She would be able to hear and feel cold wind snapping at her clothes and chilling her to the bone. While this was only a illusion, Luna hoped it would distract the mage long enough for her to hit the woman with the blunt end of her halberd, breaking the illusion, before using her magic again. "Solar Flare!" This was pointed at Ellis this time, not Amelia, aimed at her chest.

"Another illusion. By now, I know what you plan on doing." Ellis said, as he once again used the Lightning Body spell, causing to the halberd to go right through her and the Solar Flare to have little effect. Once that had passed, she walked forward towards Luna without fear. She avoided any swipes taken at her until she was right in front of the Iron Enigma mage, her expression a bit disappointed."Either you're holding back, or you lied when you said you were S-class. If this is the best you can do, I'll be surprised if you're even A-class."

"Lightning is hard to hit, as you may have noticed." Luna took a step back, but besides seem to let Ellis approach. "I'm not exactly equipped to handle that kind of thing, you know? But." The Eclipse mage took a small jump her before shouting "Corona!" A hemisphere with a diameter of about three meters formed around her, made of fire, heat, and a light that seemed like it could make you go blind. Inside it would not be as bright as it would be to Amelia, but the air would be sweltering. Luna would bring her sword back behind her, keeping her halberd in front of her this time.

Suddenly, the hemisphere would collapse on the sword, heating it until the air around it made a small explosion. The blade would turn the plasma, and Luna would strike at Ellis again. She had remembered the Guild Master once schooling her something about how plasma was different than regular fire. That it could cut through most anything without too much trouble, and that it had an electrical charge at the same time. She hoped that it was true, so that she could throw this spirit back where it came from, and face the next. She kept slicing at Ellis after the first, hoping that if one blow could land, it would secure her victory.

Plasma. Impressive and deadly. I might've underestimated her. Ellis thought as she ducked and dodged the blade of the plasma charged sword. When she couldn't, she used her magic to slow it down and let her dodge. All the while, she flung lightning bolts and lightning bullets at Luna when she could. However, she knew her daughter had one last spirit she could use, if not seven, and she knew unless forced, Amelia would never play that hand. Sighing, she stopped moving so that Luna would land a blow through her heart.
"Dead again it would seem."

Luna blinked as her sword went through Ellis' heart, and stumbled back after a moment, the plasma around her weapon faded. "I-I thought that would cause you to disappear or s-something." She took a shaky breath, and took several steps back. Luna had no idea how Amelia's magic worked, and it seemed she wasn't guessing very well. After a moment she seemed to want to speak again, but couldn't manage it. The mage had no idea how to fight something she couldn't beat. After a moment she shook herself from her stupor, and readied her weapons again, expecting either an attack from a new spirit, or another from Ellis. She wasn't sure what the greatest threat was now. Eventually, the celestial mage finally decided Amelia was the greater one, and pointed her halberd at her again. "Solar Flare!"

"No, you got me." Ellis said, as she began vanishing."But what fires you just lit might be worse."

Amelia was surprised when she finally got attacked and she was sent flying by it into the castle gates. She was surprised when she didn't feel her hidden wings break. She guessed they were tougher then she thought. Still, she had the wind knocked out of her good and she collapsed on the ground. She looked up in time to see the last bit of her mother vanish. Angered, she began getting to her feet but found it hard. She had never taken a blow that hard before and found recovering tougher then she thought it would be.

Luna swallowed, so she had succeeded, good. She looked at Amelia. She had landed the attack, and her opponent was now against the gates. That wasn't the best place for her to be, but it was clear the Eclipse mage was at an advantage, and Luna walked over until she was standing above Amelia. Once she was close to her opponent, she held her halberd out, with the tip near Amelia's head. "I have the advantage. Yield." She had gotten over herself now, and her voice was cold and level once again. The tip of the blade would give off both warmth and chill, and in the base of the blade Amelia would be able to see a sun and moon symbol. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will not lose this." She pushed the tip just a bit closer to Amelia.

"Like I would yield to a guild as weak as yours." Amelia said, barely flinching at the blade's heat and warmth."And I will never yield to a mage who just stabbed my mother in the heart."

Luna's grip tightened some, and she started to shake a little. "I did not a-ask you to yield to my guild. I simply need you to y-yield this fight." She pushed the tip closer to Amelia's neck. "I hold the advantage, and I will end this fight the hard way if you do not yield, so do so."

"You have my answer." Amelia said, her red eyes looking up at Luna rather then the blade."So what will you do about it?"

Luna closed her eyes for a moment, through Amelia wouldn't be able to see it. After a moment she opened them again. "Fine then." She'd take a step forward and slam her halberd into the gate, throwing it open, before a deep breath. "Get up then. Summon another spirit. I'll run you out of magic." She'd turn and walk away until she was half the courtyard away before turning back and facing Amelia, ready to fight, and waiting for her next spirit. It was slightly different this time, and had Amelia been trained in war and fighting, she would know it was a stance meant for a balance of speed of power, while her previous one had been all about speed. "Your guild breeds strong willed mages, but just because you're Iron-Willed, doesn't mean you're unstoppable."

"I don't have any that can beat you if you beat Mama." Amelia said bitterly, getting to her feet."But why would a member of a Dark Guild care?"

Luna would sigh, and lat the tip of her halberd fall to the ground. "I don't see what you're asking. Why would I care about what?" The harsh winds Luna had summoned would still be blowing, and sapping Amelia's magic.

"You know, somehow I think you win more of your fights through your winds then anything else." Amelia said, resting against the gate with her eyes closed."Truly a cheap tactic. Much like your reliance on illusions."

Laughing to herself Amelia looked at the sky.
"In the end, you're about as strong as I am. You can't fight on your own."

Luna would shrug, standing in a relaxed position now. "Depends on how you define illusion. My light of the eclipse spell dispels light and creates frost. Frost isn't an Illusion. My Horizon spell is more illusion than it is. It simply makes the victim see into the world of the eclipse, which tends to distract them. However, the rest of my magic is real enough. I've hit you with my solar flare twice now, and y-your-" Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat before continuing. "Apologies. Your mother saw that Corona was real enough, even if she wasn't effected by it. The wind is more meant to cut down on how long I have to fight, and I have won thanks to it occasionally, I don't deny it." She'd sigh, and suddenly dash forwards. Slamming the blunt end of the halberd into Amelia and throwing her onto the floor of the castle inside.

Inside, Amelia would be on her back, and there would be two giant stone statues on either side of her. One with a spear, the other with a sword and shield. Luna would walk over and stand next to Amelia, raising her halberd in such a way to indicate that she meant to knock her out, before she was suddenly thrown back out into the courtyard by a large stone shaft. The giant statue would then turn the spear around, aiming for Amelia's chest. However, just before it landed, a halberd would spear it through a wall and its chest. The spear would miss Amelia, and the stone guardian would slouch over their spear. In a moment, the other stone Guardian would be preparing to stab downwards at Amelia with its sword.

In a moment, Luna would be there, jumping over Amelia, and landing against the stone spear that had missed the spirit-summoning mage before. Luna would then take her sword in both hands, leaping upwards towards the stone soldier. She'd get a good enough jump to then land against the high wall of the great hall, before leaping towards the other giant. Bouncing off him she'd pass by the shield-and-sword one again before landing on the ground. All of this would be in no time at all, and once Luna finished, three great beams of light would show where she had sliced solidly through the giant, and it would quickly fall to pieces as Luna walked back over to Amelia.

"L-look. I have no reason or want to keep beating on you. Yield the f-" She would be knocked into a wall of castle by the spear. The stone giant would make another attempt at Amelia, before Luna would land on its chest, creating a crater in it. She'd retrieve he halberd by grabbing it and leaping off the giant to the floor, ripping it through the construct. Turning back around, she'd jump upwards in front of it, slicing at it in an X shape with her two weapons, and falling to the ground with the stone and dust that had once made the giant spearman.

Once Luna was safely on the ground again, she began walking back towards Amelia, panting softly. Her weapons would have switched hands, the halberd in her left, the sword in her right. On her chest was a gash in her Eclipse armor, caused by the giant spear. "Let's see if I can talk without being interrupted again. I ask that you yield the fight now. I don't want to have to knock you unconscious, but I will if I have to. Unless you have more spirits you'd like to try against me, then I will beat them too, then knock you out if you still won't yield. Understood?" The armored girl would spin her polearm once, before slamming it into the ground to make it clear she was confident in her abilites, and watching Amelia for her next move.

penny
[@life rusher]

Penny frowned as someone joined them, immediately getting Zami's attention, communicating in what she assumed was sign language. Penny had no idea what the girl was saying, but recognized her as part of Frenzy Plant. Penny instead studied the girls face, trying to get context from what she was saying. She made a face as well as, getting the gist of what the girl was saying.

"I'm not his Girlfriend. I have a boyfriend" she said, glancing back to the screen just as Damian found the bow of Trinity, one of the camera lacrima picking it up. She was silent as the scene seemed to progress.

"and there he is getting into trouble without me" she said with a sigh, a little worried as the lacrima gave up following Damain and the woman for actually contestants when it couldn't follow them to the airship. She couldn't even fly there, stuck on the ground by the games net preventing participants from simply flying out of the maze.

She glanced to the time. Thirty minutes gone. Then there was the alert to watch out for the air ship. She let out a small groan, looking to the lacrima screens hopefully, distracted slightly at Amelias battle, wondering what was going to happen. As usual, so much seemed to be happening, and it was hard to know what to do or think.

michael
@oblivion666

Michael blushed deeply, realising what he had said, having not meant to say it, he ducked his head, "I...I didn't mean to say that, I just...I just meant that...there's nothing wrong with self confidence..." he trailed off unable to articulate what he wanted to say.

He gave a sigh and ran his hands his face as if he could just wipe the blush away. He drew in a deep breath, and said "summoning two spirits isn't that hard, it's just about concentration...but they're the ones doing the fighting" he tried to explain and to change the subject just slightly

@Caits
Rather unexpectedly, Tidius walked over and set her loose from the table. For a moment she stood there rather confused. Who sets their captive free? Clearly Ariel did not understand this man.

This being the first chance in a while to move Ariel didn't waste time stretching. Were she in a different mood she might try and run. But right now she was having too much fun. Still she had a confuzed expression. "Thank you. This is much better." Having a little freedom Ariel began to move about the room. The Lightning magic almost had her zipping around.

Rose watched Amelia battle as her expression was calm but inside rose was shocked abd kicking herself for what she said earlier. She really needed to tone down her parental side with some members like Amelia [color=salmon] "come on Amelia!"she shouted knowing Amelia probably couldn't hear but rose watched amelia's fight with the iron enigma member and was surprised amelia's strongest spirit was beaten. Rose Sat on the edge of her seat very worried about how Amelia was going to handle this.



Amaya was relaxing in the food court eating her 20th popsicle while she stared in deep thought at the sky thinking about why her nightmare changed and have come more often then normal. It had to be near the date her whole life changed the first time, right? Or maybe she was just missing the homeland she knew. She shakes her head sighing wishing she knew the answer

Unwittingly, and in anticipation of the next obstacle to appear before her, Xyster passed Merlina right by. She continued her trek down the emptied Crocus streets, trying to put aside the vibe of loneliness that emanated from between the cracks of cobblestone. All in all, she hadn't been in the beautiful capitol of Fiore for long, but it still felt acutely wrong to see shuttered windows, unmanned carts, devoid cafes, and an overall paucity of the people that made a network of bricks and mortar into a living, breathing city. In the maze formerly known as Crocus, there was only adversity to be found, instead of the brimming and inspiring events of vestiges that the Dullahan loved. Her face betrayed a growing worry. Where were the enemies? Was something big, even bigger than one of the largest carnivores to ever live, slouching its way toward her even now?

Xyster both craved and dreaded finding an opponent that would push her to her limits. As with all users of Reaper Magic, she had a contract with the forces of death, and when it expired, so would she. The Dullahan was living on borrowed time, and the clock was ticking. That, however, wasn't the half of it.

The smile had long since vanished from her face as she powerwalked through the city, replaced by a sharp-toothed frown that made her look rather sharklike in a strangely comical way. Her roving emerald eyes took in every detail in sight, even as her concern mounted. The sense that she was doing something wrong had become a tangible presence in her mind, a stinging pain...or was that a headache? Either way, it was irritating and distracting. It did not, however, prevent her from looking up and discovering an enormous flying boat diving straight toward her. Finally! A new, wicked ear-to-ear grin appeared as she cried, ”My next opponent, at last! Prepare to meet your maker, vile contraption!” The Harvester appeared out of thin air, and she flourished it, imbuing herself with that protective black aura. Her weapon was leveled at the incoming ship, menacing enough to cause deep fear, if only her foe wasn't an inanimate object. After a moment, this realization settled in, and Xyster rolled her eyes. ”Lord, I'm such an idiot,” she moaned, banishing the Harvester, “That thing must have people on it. Probably up there for camerawork. Something went wrong. Instead of wrecking it, I'll save it! But how..?”

Well, first things first. Some elevation was needed. Xyster scrambled to the top of the nearest building, nimbly making use of a planter, the doorframe, and several windowsills. Once on the roof, she considered her options. Potentially, she could leap to the ship in-flight, grab anyone she saw, and get them to safety one by one, but that wouldn't prevent the ship from crashing into the city and causing billions of Jewel in property damage. As the image of the boat plowing through buildings and homes, potentially with people inside, flashed through her head, she winced. There would be nothing redeeming in deaths like those, and only bitter tragedy. ”No,” she muttered, thinking aloud. ”I'll have to move the ship somewhere else. But where can I put it...and how will I move it? My magic isn't suited to this.” In tune to the chaotic noises from above growing louder and more intense, so too did her state of mind. There was nothing really that she could do, personally. She needed help.”[/color]

Fortunately, Xyster wasn't the only one drawn by the calamitous spectacle. A few streets over from her, towering above most of the buildings, came the familiar gigantic shape of Salvoy the World, with his middle-aged summoner Nash sitting on his shoulder. From the looks of it, the dynamic duo had already seen the careening airship and decided to step in and stop it themselves. They certainly had the brute strength to stop the out-of-control vehicle, if such a thing could be done. Still, their arrival ticked Xyster off somewhat. Saving the ship had been her idea! ”Hey!” No response. Xyster began to run across the roof, every step threatening to send loose shingles flying, and leaped across a narrow back lot to another roof. When she was in range, she called to the pair again, and this time they turned toward her expecting a fight. ”Hey! I know we're opponents, but we ought to work together to save that airship. Both our guilds were scoring low yesterday; if we do something cool, we might both come out of this event with great scores!” Xyster was very pleased with her line of reasoning.

Nash was convinced. ”Fine by me. But we've got a problem. Salvoy can carry the airship, but it's coming in too fast for him to grab. Do you have a way to slow it down?” His eyes were on the ship—there wasn't much time left.

Putting a finger to her chin, the Dullahan considered. ”Keheheh, I'll see what I can do. But I need to be in a certain mood to do it; prerequisites and all that. Give me the best insult you've got, sailor!”

Shrugging, Nash obliged. He did, however, add in a clever bit of his own. ”That ship thinks you're a bony freak and your parents never loved you!”

A sudden fire sparked in Xyster's eyes. Truth to be told, it was difficult to tell if she was angry or laughing. ”You take that baaaaaaaaack!” She rose off the ground, floating like a marionette, silhouetted in a purplish umbra. ”Balberith!” A wave of purplish force blasted forward and intercepted the crashing ship seconds before it would have bulled into Crocus. Immediately the entire vehicle was wreathed in a deathly corona, and for three seconds it moved slower than tar, as if caught in a dreamlike trance. In that moment, Salvoy jogged forward, reached up, and grabbed the bottom of the hull. Grunting in effort, he said, ”Where....do I put it?” Xyster climbed up the giant whale and onto one of his arms, looking for a safe place. She appeared quite recovered from her momentary...whatever that was. ”Hmm...find a park or something, or use the moat thing that's around the mountain with the Doma Flau!”

Salvoy groaned and began to walk. The ship, now freed of the worn-off, Balberith suspension, was exceedingly heavy. ”I don't know if I can make it that far...too heavy! I feel like the weight of the World's on my shoulders.” He grinned as he plodded forward. Even in dire times he could pull out a joke. ”Seriously though...if we run into any more elephants, we might be...done for. We might...need more help.”

((Small mistake, sorry))

Amelia could do little as she was thrown into the castle, knocking the wind out of her again as she landed flat on her back. Thanks to Luna, she didn't have to summon anymore spirits to defend herself. When the woman finally got chance to speak without interruptions, she basically told Amelia to surrender since she had no chance at winning. Amelia merely grimaced and didn't reply. She didn't want to lose, she didn't like her spirits being looked down on, and she didn't like the idea of failing her guild. She didn't like this scenario and how it was playing out.

So fight.

Before her eyes, everything turned to black, as if she was floating in a void.

((Slight scene change))

All she saw was the black void until several flames appeared around her. The flames were blue and gave off no heat. Around each flame was a transparent body, matching those of her spirits: Achilles the Warrior, Houston the Gunslinger, Shin Xiao the Monk, Rika the Priestess and her best friend Satoko the Guardian, and finally Ellis the Lightning Mage. However, her final spirit wasn't there which confused her.

She didn't remain confused for long as another flame appeared near her. This one was different though, being bright red in color and emanating heat like she standing in front of a blacksmiths furnace, only several times hotter. No body appeared around this soul, instead the soul just hovered there.
Why do you not fight to your full potential Amelia Averyonna? Why do you hold yourself back

"What do you mean?"

You instinctively hold back because you hate causing harm to others. You do no like fighting and if you could, you would avoid it. And when you do get in a fight, you hold back and don't put your best foot forward.

"That's not true!" Amelia shouted, getting to her feet.

Then haven't you summoned me or your elemental spirits. Even the more tame ones.

"Because... because... I don't... I don't know how to control them. And they scare me... a lot." Amelia admitted, before something occurred to her."Who are you?"

I am the spirit of the dead you refuse to summon. I am the one you have never truly summoned, as the few times you have, I simply sent a servant. The spirit responded. How do you plan on controlling me if you have fear in your heart? How do you plan on controlling anything you fear? You cannot. You need to cast aside your fear. You know what you want to fight for. Tell me what it is.

Amelia took a few seconds to ponder this before responding
"...I have no reason to fight. But I have things I want to fight for. I want to fight for my guild. I want to fight for my friends and those who are like family to me. I want to fight to make them proud and to protect them."

You have your reasons, but not the will. If you truly desire it, get onto your own two feet. Do not be afraid of what you are. Do not hide it from the world. Win or lose, you, myself, and your elementals, or more like primordials, will show this woman the error of her ways. What say you. Will you let me experience my first battle for the first time in a thousand years? Will you finally stop holding back?

((Back the to castle))

Luna was likely in for a surprise when there was an explosion of magical energy from Amelia, enough so to blast Luna back a couple of feet. Amelia got to her feet, black magical energy surrounding her along with what evil souls flying around. In the middle of the darkness, Amelia's red eyes glowed like beacons in the middle of a dark night, narrowed in determination and anger. The back of her shirt got torn off but she didn't mind as she spread her wings, the six gems on each one glowing as much as her eyes were and waving around in the magical energy.
"Don't you dare... don't you EVER look down on my spirits." She said, her tone angry beyond what it ever was before.

Sighing, she close her eyes before speaking again
"Spiritus belli sapientia enim vocationem
Adversa ante me, parati sumus interficere lamina.
In hac parte ac toto ignes Exite
Ut victoriam petat sta mecum"

((And now, cue music))

All around them, the entire palace shook as a magic circle formed in front of her. Flames came out and began spread throughout the building. These flames let off heat greater then they should have. After the flames came the actual summon, a Knight in full armor, a claymore in one hand. The knight looked at Luna before the flames flew into his armor.
"Now the real battle begins."

Luna would cross her weapons as the blast from Amelia was let out, and she slid across the floor a few feet. It seems the girl had found her second wind, though it looked like a very sinister second wind. Taking a breath, Luna moved into a stance befit for striking with as much power as she could. She didn't like that Amelia had taken what she had been saying in the wrong way, she hadn't meant to disrespect her or her spirits. But that did not matter now, and she did not have time to dispute what she meant. As Amelia summoned her next spirit there was no time to talk to her about what she meant.

"I guess you'll keep fighting. Fine by me." This next opponent looked like challenge. Not like how Achilles and Ellis did. While they were challengers, it hadn't really taken Luna much to beat them, mostly due to that they both had glaring weaknesses. The armored man had been slow, but she had to admit she was lucky to have learned lightning's weakness, but she was sure this one wouldn't be nearly as slow as Achilles, nor have one clear and simple weakness. Letting him strike first may be a bad idea, but going in to attack could be even worse. Luna breathed deeply as she decided to try something to simple first, and she shot another Solar Flare at the black-armored spirit, anticipating it to do nothing.

@Caits
[@@yipeeXD]

Marlene Evangeline

Marlene can only nod at Sasha's responce as she finished the last bite of her meal and the last drop of her drink. However, the sounds of the arena began to increase, signaling that a fight was in the making.

"Guy's c'mon!" she says in an excited tone, "A fight is about to start!"

She begins to pull Sasha and Lazarus' hands, trying to coax them into coming with her to the audience seats.

Ammy blasted another Skull Spectre into the armor, knocking it into the wall. Leaping towards it, she brought her combined scythe across it's chest and destroyed it, landing and looking around. She had run into fewer animals and more of the magical constructs, who's remains littered the way behind her. Her non-lethal versions of her spells lacked the necessary punch to bring them down, so she'd cut loose a bit. However, as she moved to continue on, a huge surge of magical energy struck her, and though there was no actual physical force to cause the X-Class wizard to, she stumbled.

"What in the name of Hades is that?" It was like something she'd never felt before, a dark yet benevolent power who was willing, no, thirsting, for combat. She suddenly felt sorry for whoever was on the receiving end of such power, it didn't bode well for them. With one final look in the direction of the power, the castle, she turned and continued onward, her own magic beginning to unmask itself. If her opponents were going to give it their all, then she should too.




James had watched the games with interest, but had not gotten so into them he was yelling, not even during Damian's match of sword play with the Frenzy Plant mage. All this did was give him a chance to learn more about potential enemies and allies as well as his guild mates. However, when Amelia let loose, he stared in awe. Summoning Artemis, he pointed to the new spirit. "Do you know that spirit?"

Tidius
@t2wave

Tidius watched Ariel move around the room, not concerned that she would try and escape. He moved over to a lacrima system, bringing up what was happening in the games, "I do not mean to be cruel. Merely find some answers" he said to Ariel, as he studied the screen. Hm. What was the Master doing? The airship seemed to be having difficulties, or so Tidius saw on the Lacrima before it disappeared.

"In every experiment things happen. I have searched so long, to find so little. And now You"

Sasha
@Lmpkio@yipeeXD

Sasha was relieved that Marelene didn't pressure the issue, as she thought on what it meant. She liked Marlene, but she didn't wish to tell this to someone she barely knew. She let her drag her out, glancing to the Lacrima, seeing Amelia's battle, Sasha let out a worried sigh, hoping that the girl was alright.

"Why did you choose Phoenix Wing?" Sasha asked when they were settled, wanting to keep conversation going.

@Caits

Marlene Evangeline

As Marlene settled down beside Sasha, she looks over at her new friend once she asked her a question.

"Because why not?" Marlene answered, "I mean... technically my parents recommended it to me, but even before then I always wanted to join a guild. This lead me to join here, the closest one to my house, not to mention having a warm cozy feeling to it you know?"

She shivers a bit in pleasure as a warm, unknown, tingly sensation runs down her whole body.

[color=f49ac2]"Fufufu,"/color] she shivers happily, "It's a very nice feeling indeed."

Damian brought both his Hermes Blades up into a ready position. "You aren't going anywhere with out guild mate, buddy. You can either surrender or I can kick the livin' crap out of you first and you still end up surrendering, which ever works best for you." He had to give this guy his props, he was willing to fight for something, but it was the wrong something. Besides which, this was the base of that Nightmare Silphium or however you said it, so he had to have crimes under his belt anyways.

"Hmph." He charges Damian, going for a right straight punch. At the last moment, two images of the man split off and dove past to the left and to the right. Both roll to their feet and move to strike, with the movements of a boxer. The one to Damian's left struck high, for his head. The one on the right went for his kidney. The image in front faded harmlessly through Damian, though did not disappear behind him.

Damian had brought one of his blades up to defend the fist aimed towards his face and blinked slightly as it passed through him. Illusions? Well, this is going to be a long fight. Still, he had an idea after determining that his opponent was fighting like a boxer and dismissed his blades.

He moved his arms in a martial arts block to both sides, letting the fake one pass through him and blocking the real one. Once he'd determined which is which, he threw a couple of feint punches and the followed up with a hammer fist aimed at the real one's head.

Inbetween his feints and his hammerblow, one of his illusions covered Damian's eyes, and the mechanic took the opportunity to duck and move in, to the inside of his opponent's strike. He got into close combat range, letting out a flurry of midsection blows. Even with his Force Projection enhanced punches, it didn't seem to be enough to penetrate the man's armor, as he was able to move unphased, and retaliate.

Damian brought his knee up to block the last of the engineer's punches and then lashed out with a kick to knock his opponent off balance and toward the three incoming blades, then casually shooting a pair of blades back from his elbow, making the copy vanish in the usual fashion of illusion magics.

The engineer made a swift recovery, pivoting with the impact and maintaining his balance. He was able to spin around the three blades. But Damian wasn't done. "Awefully confident in yourself, aren't ya?" Moving faster than he should be able to for the metal in his armor, Damian unleashes a flurry of punches. The engineer bobs and weaves, and blocks when he can't avoid, using his Force Projection magic to reinforce his defense. Damian throws a round house kick, flowing, as he lands, into a pivot, rotating his body in a way that has him pitch away from the engineer while providing more inertia for a sweep kick.

The engineer had ducked the roundhouse and saw the motion Damian was going for. He jumped over Damian's sweep kick and used gravity to bring him down on top. His arm was cocked back and coming in, his fist shining. "Megaton!"

"Bingo." As the man's punch came towards him, Damian dodged to the right and summoned a series of blunt tipped swords at the same time, and the engineer swings early to knock the attacks away. As he lands and turns to prepare for Damian's counter, a new attack comes from the stairs.

Someone calls, "Avalanche!" and a wave of snow plows through, aiming to take Damian. A woman dressed in white and bright blue, with hair done up in a spiral swirl (like an ice cream). "Ryan, there's another down here!"

Damian slid further to the right, letting the snow impact the guy he'd just been fighting and summoned a Hercules Blade, slamming it tip first into the deck. "Field of Blades!" A cone of quickly rising blades shoots out of the ground towards the woman, but the snow she sent at him returns and sweeps in front of her to block. She controls it actively. The engineer had positioned himself behind Damian, as the sword mage's normally orange magic circle appears and turns black and he rotates his arms around him, a series of blades appearing around him in a circle. "Radial Burst Blades!" The attack blasts the blades out in a circle around him as he brings a second Hercules Blade into existence, three of the blades going straight at the boxing engineer, but rather than orange, they're black like the magic circle became. He'd taken caution as swords started appearing, and well so, as that gave him the space to dodge.

Facing the snow mage, Damian charges her, slicing through any attacks that come his way. It was time to get off this boat, about thirty seconds into the fight, he'd felt a subtle shift in the direction the air ship was moving and he didn't plan on being inside where he'd get killed by millions of flying splinters when it crashed. The snow mage summoned a drift of snow to backpedal for her, even as she tried to assault Damian with various attacks. She began to back down the hall in middeck, but the cloaked woman came up from behind and bowled her over with a shoulder charge, Trinity in tow. On her feet and with her quiver.

"Let's hurry away." The woman doesn't stop moving, leading the way up the stairs and to the outer deck. She runs up to the edge but stops there. It was a ways down, and she couldn't fly. "Hmm... So, I cannot fly."

With a sigh, Damian summons a Striker Blade large enough for three people and climbs on, beckoning the mysterious woman and Trinity to do the same. "We won't be flying with a Striker Blade this big, but gliding is better than falling like a stone. Let's go!"

While the cloaked woman moves to join Damian on his Striker Blade, Trinity stood still, carving just a last bit at a green bracelet on her wrist. With a loud CLANG, she finally works her way through. She'd been using what little magic she could squeeze past that bracelet for a tiny Energy Make Blade, more like a claw. "Finally!" She forms a blade in the hand she freed and cuts the other bracelet through swiftly. "Aah. Feel that energy flow again..." She stretches her arms out and flexes her hands, turning to gaze at the upper deck of the airship. After a moment, she turns and smiles softly at Damian. "Thanks for the offer, but I've got my own ride." She looks as she hears the door open again, and Ryan comes out, followed closely by the another mage with a large green and yellow scarf. "Time to go; later!" With a running start, she leaps off the deck. "Energy Make: Energy Wing!" Along her arms, sectioned plane wings form, made of that glowing golden light. At her elbows is some kind of tube, and as she locks her arms straight and holds her arms out, the tubes shine brighter before they shoot out more light, pushing the girl forward through the air.

Damian shook his head at the sudden appearance of Trinity's apparent secret magic and simply leaned forward as the Striker Blade shrunk to a more normal size, which would allow him to fly it. "Hang on tight!" As they move away from the falling and careening airship, the pair on the blade picked up speed rapidly as they moved towards the ground. Damian himself was counting in his head, waiting on the right moment to pull up and level out.

At the last possible moment, he did just that, pulling up on the Striker Blade with his magic energy to redirect them to a more level heading and skimming the top of a..."Building? Ah shit, Master Jamie's gonna kill me..." Cussing and unintentional landing places aside, he looked for Tirnity, and spotted her as she rose on him from below.

"I'll say. Sloppy." The minstrel grinned at him, before a thought occured to her. Before she could say anything, the cloaked woman spoke.

The woman had been watching the ship closely, and something about it made her stand. "This is where I get off. Sorry, but I can't tell you who I am just yet." With that, the woman jumps from the Striker Blade they rode on, to a nearby roof. She rolls with her landing, and proceeds to jump across the rooftops.

"Oh, uh. Bye" Trinity watched the woman for a moment, seeming... perplexed? But she turned her attention back to Damian and his Striker Blade. "Keep 'er steady." She watches it for a moment before swinging in and landing where the woman had been.

[color=FireBrick}"This is your captain speaking, we will be setting down in the near future, so just sit back, relax and thank you for flying Air Damian."[/color]

"Alright, 'captain'. Hey, could you do me a favor? Don't tell anyone about that magic just yet. Something like that needs a dramatic entrance, right? Maybe my turn to fight would be a good time..."

Damian nodded to Trinity as he touched down with her, keeping an eye on the airship. "That should work fine, though you should have known you can trust the guild."

"That's not..."

"I mean, why'd they even kidnap you in the first place?" He didn't know if she'd answer the question and pushed on. "And it wasn't sloppy, I don't have X-ray vision."

"... They want my magic. Any rare magic, really. Now that Ryan's identified me (my luck that he's even here), there's no point in hiding it. Er, should we do something about that?" The young bard looks out at the ship.

~~~~~~~

"Shit!" Ryan tore the hat off his head and watched them get away. "Kracko, wait here. I'll get the others. If we're going to crash and die and I haven't come back yet, save yourself." With that, he ran into the ship, going to the bottom deck.

"Lane, how is he? Lezuro, talk to me."

"He's alright, but-"

"I can't walk like this."

"Dammit." Ryan came down off the stairs and promptly picked his engineer up. Something cut his leg pretty bad. "We're gettin' you outta here. Let's go. Lane, you first."

The woman stared for just a moment before she scrambled to her feet and raced up the stairs, Ryan trudging after. He'd lose his balance as the ship would shift and lean against a bulkhead or something for support before pushing on. As he came up the last stretch of stairs, he could see Lane waiting with Kracko. Before he could reach them, however, Kracko looked up and then started motioning for him urgently. Something must be happening. He couldn't reach them in time enough while carrying Lezuro. He throws the man up the rest of the stairs. "Go!"

Kracko grabbed the engineer as he flew toward her and wraps her other arm around Vanilla Lane before disappearing into a blob of electricity and darting away from the ship. She'd have to get Lezuro to a doctor or... something.

Back on the ship, Ryan ran to the deck, though everything seemed to have gotten sluggish for some reason. He could see why Kracko fled, they were about to crash. And there, it felt like something grabbed on to the ship. He felt it through the hull. Well, he didn't exactly have the luxury of being in a high-profile situation. He produced a rod with glowing yellow lines in a specific design all along it. He gripped it with both hands and then spread his arms, the rod glowing brighter for a second from his right. As this happened, he started to disappear from head to toe. Golden light is briefly visible, forming along his arms before they disappear. His legs could be seen running and leaping off of the edge of the ship, and then he simply vanished. A presence of magic could be felt of him, but that was all.

The cloaked woman appeared on a rooftop nearby, marveling at the... whale. That was certainly something you didn't see every day. Well, no matter. The woman jumped up to the deck of the ship, running inside. The engines were still running, probably making it harder for that whale to carry. She should go to the bridge and turn off the turbines. Though, she'd never had to actually do anything on the bridge before. It didn't take her long to get there, but it did take her a minute or two to figure it out. Soon enough, the turbines stopped their spinning and ship produced only lift. Keeping it down would be the problem, honestly...

Layle was in the process of looking around the deck, when he felt the deck shift and noticed that they where loosing altitude quickly. The sound of combat could also be heard over the rushing wind. He ran over to a rail overlooking the lower deck and saw a few people running around and fighting. "What is going on here? More importantly, what mess have I gotten myself into?" He muttered. He watched the combatants as they fought, and eventually, three of them jump ship. Suddenly the airship tipped alarmingly, almost throwing Layle from his feet. "That confirms it." He said "I happened to land on a crashing ship. Seems he was right, I don't need to look for trouble, it always finds me." "HEY YOU! What are you doing and how did you get here!?" Someone shouted. Layle quickly turned to see a lone man in an outfit so similar to the other guy it qualified as a uniform. "Aww man," He sighed "I've been found." He raised his right hand and flicked his wrist like he was brushing away a fly. With a burst of transparent blue light, the man went flying backwards. He hit the bridge with a forceful thud and collapsed. Layle felt the ship speed up. Lets get out of here. He thought. He ran to the side, and was just about to jump when a thought occurred to him. If nothing is done, and this thing crashes, it could injure a lot of people and destroy their homes and businesses. He groaned. Sometimes I hate having a stupidly thorough conscious. He tuned back and ran over to the soldier. He grabbed him by the collar and lifted him with a little effort and magic. "Okay, maggot tell me where the helm to this dingy is." He said, imitating a drill sergeant. The man sputtered a little. "I ain't tellin' you--" Layle slammed him against the bulkhead and lifted his other hand, which started to glow with a transparent blue light. "Not what I want to hear." He said threateningly. The man caved and gave him directions. Layle dropped him without a word, and ran off to the helm.