Travis noticed that the Magi appeared almost amused about his faltering composure created by this unusual encounter. Once more, he could not make out any sort of intention or purpose for Felix even being here. At the very least though, this man from the Catholic Church did not appear all that threatening which was a welcomed first than a meeting with any organization Travis has so far encountered.

Eventually, Felix replied to his inquiry by apparently talking to himself on how to approach the question. Unusual at first but Travis quickly caught on when the Catholic mage mentioned 'others' who, by the way he made it sound, perceptibly thought of him as delusional when he explained himself. Travis didn't know what he was referring to or about to explain, however he did not have any reason to doubt Felix or any of his words thus far. This was especially true that he not only knew Travis' name and exact location, but he was also incredibly perceptive and appeared knowledgeable of magic to a degree though Travis was almost sure that well of knowledge was far deeper than it seemed.

With a sudden snap of his fingers, Felix had decided to counter the question asked of him with a question of his own; he simply asked Travis what he knew about the Paragons. For a brief moment, Travis at first didn't appear to know what the Magi was talking about and nearly ignored it until the word began to rang loudly within his mind, unveiling past memories coinciding with that very word. Paragon. It was unusually familiar and quickly began to nag at him.

"Paragon..." Travis said aloud as he attempted to make sense of the word and remember where he recalled it popping up originally, "I've heard that...Term, before...Gimme a moment."

From being almost completely flustered to now devotedly focused through fascinated curiosity, Travis made a beeline to his unfortunately disorganized pile research notes and papers. Shifting through the mess as he muttered to himself, he eventually exclaimed in satisfaction as he pulled out a small notebook notably worn external cover and with folded and nearly tattered slips of paper sticking out of the compressed pages.

"Ah, I knew I read that word before somewhere." said Travis after pulling out of the slips and reading its contents, "I'll be up front and explain I don't know much about these Paragons, but I have found them curiously being mentioned in more than one article of study. Though when I've tried to pry more on the subject, all I get are either shoulder shrugs or awkward declines."

"What I gathered about them," he continued, now invested in this topic, "is that they appear to be artifacts of great power and apparently significant importance in some tenets, including ideological and religious beliefs. Actually, I believe I recall a verse made in one old publication that observed the study of the arcane arts. That verse or phrase - I'm sure I could find it somewhere here - mentioned a Paragon in its dialect. It was pulled from a quote by a rather highly ranked Magi from the...Catholic...Church..."

Travis's voice trailed off as the gears in his mind began to work overtime, compiling a list of reasons why Felix had asked him such a question. It slowly became apparent to him that this encounter between the two was more than convenient meeting of two individuals who knew about or, at the very least, heard of the Paragons before. With that, coupled with the Magi's knowing of his name, finally articulated a reasonable purpose of Felix arrival here.

"...Felix?" queried Travis, addressing the Catholic mage as he slowly turned around to face him, "Are you - I mean - are you looking for these Paragons?"

@dndragons

Deston found a room he thought suited him, taking care to not have it too far from the living area, while still ensuring he'd have some privacy. He spent quiet a bit of time on the decision more so than he usually would but he had nothing better to do and no other rooms had been taken yet so he had his choice of the litter. Walking into the quaint sized room he looked around. It was rather bare and plain filled with nothing more than a basic desk, bed and lamp. If he were going to stay here for a prolonged amount of time he would have to personalize it a bit. But with what he wasn't really sure. The young man hadn't had a room of his own since he was a boy. He began his usual routine of prepping a room, tracing sigils upon the walls with his fingers before infusing them with mana. He would activate just before going to sleep that would trap any intruders in an ever changing illusion. Looking over the slightly glowing symbols Deston gave himself a nod of approval before stepping out of the room closing the door behind him. He let his hand linger on the handle closing his eyes to concentrate and imagine a wooden sign engraved with the word Taken. Opening his eyes he was happy to see the very sign hanging from a nail in the door.

He had decided some time ago to practice his new found hobby whenever possible, hoping the constant practice would improve his skill. His thoughts stirred on the lessons he had taught himself, going over and over what could be done better, more efficiently. So absorbed was he in his thoughts, he nearly walked right past the flash of white hair that appeared just in the corner of his vision. In fact he would have if the figured had not spoken up.

Startled Deston's head snapped over to the young female giving her a once over as he responded. "And here I was just beginning to think I had been lured into over complex trap." His head bowed slightly in acknowledgement before flicking his head to the side to remove the hair blocking his vision. "My name is Deston, and I suppose it's fair to call me a recruit of Felix. Not sure if I would call his suddenly appearing delivering a wild conspiracy theory and then disappearing recruiting though. And what may I call you my fair lady?"

Felix cleared his throat a bit before answering Travis.

"It isn't as simple as a blanket statement that, 'I am looking for Paragons.' Being one of the leaders in Paragon research, I know full well what these damned things can be capable of. By themselves they hold powers beyond what simple mana-based artifacts are capable of. They are like a wellspring of almost never ending mana energy. Tapping into that energy is a bit tricky, but if it is inlayed in a object that has runic formulae inscribed upon them, it is possible to harness a near limitless supply of Paragon energy. However, their power by themselves pales in comparison to the power that can be harnessed if all of them are brought together. Even I don't know what would happen in that event. I speculated a few scenario. Just bringing them all within proximity of each other can release what I hypothesized to be a mana singularity event, that, unconfined could bring about an explosion greater than two thousand nuclear bombs. Inlaying them all into one runic matrix could rip apart space and time itself. It's a veritable Pandora's Box bringing them together. I know this." Felix shook his head but and looked downcast, but continued, "The problem is, much different and more pertinent than me just wanting to bring these objects together. About two months ago during a summit, a fellow Arch-Magi named Thadeus brought forth a motion gather all the Paragons together. The Papal-Magi at the time had denied the motion, and I had thought that would have been the end of it. But about three weeks ago the Papal-Magi died, and was replaced by Thadeus's brother, Cornelius. In a summit three days ago Thadeus brought forth the same motion he brought forth in the last summit. This time, the new Papal-Magi not only accepted the motion, but put it as the top priority for the Catholic Church. Normally, I would have just voiced my complaints and washed my hands of the matter... But that night, I had an awful dream. A terrible nightmare that could have only been described as a vision. In that vision I was spectator to all the awful endings this world could be brought to should any group get their hands on the Paragons. There was a voice in that vision that pleaded with me to bring together a group of guardians to seek the Paragons in order to keep them out of the clutches of evil. Once I awoke, I found myself not in my bed, but sitting upright at my writing desk, with pen in hand and parchment under pen. On the parchment were a list of names and locations written in my handwriting. I can't explain it, but this list has never been wrong. It's like whatever gave me that dream not only knew where the people would be, but know when I would go visit them..." Felix sighed and scratched his head. He reached into his pocket and procured the aforementioned parchment, handing it over to Travis.

"I know this is all a bit farfetched, but I think we are destined to save the world. Now I also know it sound a bit redundant. If we bring together the Paragons isn't that the same thing as any other group? Well I have thought of that, and have been brainstorming a bunch of different equations that could be used in containing the Paragon's power individually. I haven't quite figured it out, because I would need a Paragon to actually run tests on, but I could use someone with your skill set for that. I think you would be an excellent addition to the team. So what do you say? Will you join us?" Felix finished, with a hand out extended for a business handshake.

@Cottonmouth

Raiya sat in the VIP skyloft, overlooking the club, with a glass of whiskey in hand. The loud music was not enough by itself to drown out Raiya's thoughts. Ater the stress with Felix appearing before her, she had to really numb her senses with alcohol, so she came to this club she had built with her ill-gotten gains. Raikyo, a place where a person could get a drink, do an armsdeal, and gamble away their profits all in the same night. Had Raiya been sober, she might have felt the mana-waves of her bouncer dissipate, or the monstrous hungry mana-waves of The Devourer enter her club. But as it was, she was too far gone to analyze those fine details. Raiya downed the rest of the whiskey that was in her cup. The fights in the fight ring down below here were all boring to her, and she began to get annoyed with the lack of amusement.

"F-fetch mee another drink," Raiya slurred to her right hand Tsukiki. The girl with the half shaven head sighed. Tsuhiki was not her real name. Her real name was Ambella, but was assigned the name Tsuhiki after she left the Arcanogracy with Raiya. The other right hand that left the Arcanocracy with them four years ago was also assigned a Japanese name, Akane, but she wasn't here this evening.

"Do ya really want anotha one? Yer already three sheets to the wind, darlin." Tsuhiki's southern accent was the furthest thing from Japanese, but she didn't seem to mind her boss's Japanophile quirk, so she never complained about the name assigned to her.

"I decide when I havvve had enough~" Raiya demanded. Tsuhiki sighed and just grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels from the shelf behind them, and handed it to Raiya.

"Now theres a good girl." Raiya opened the bottle and began to sip straight from it.

Nemo walked through the front door only to be greeted by a longer dark hallway. Two guards were placed at the end of it by a larger steel ship door. Security to get inside was naturally rather tight in a club like this. Nemo casually strode down the hallway, his X shaped spurs jingling on his boots alerted the guards. They didn't recognize him, nor did they get any notice over the radio at the entrance that anybody else was coming in.

The guards went to apprehend him, but were quickly met with resistance. As soon as they moved forward Nemo extended out his bandaged hand. From his palm a transparent ripple like effect traveled through the air, seemingly distorting space itself in an uneven beam that passed through one of the guards legs. After half a second of buffer time the spell seemed to activate, causing a sickening crack like noise to emit out from the guard's leg as it was crushed by the spell.

The first guard fell to the floor, but the second pushed on. Nemo still continued his steady walking pace until the man reached him. The guard made the first move by throwing a magically enhanced punch at Nemo. Nemo easily countered by grabbing the guards arm and using the same distortion spell from earlier. The space up the guard's arm distorted and then emitted another snapping sound to confirm the multiple breaks. Nemo quickly shot off a small concussive blast at the man's head to knock him unconscious and then did the same to the other guard.

Nemo had to admit after all that extra work it felt pretty rewarding to reach the door. He spun the wheel to open it and then stepped inside. The music level increased tenfold as soon as the seal of the door broke. Now finally inside, Nemo seemed rather too impressed by the scene.

"Such provocative decor..." Nemo thought, his eyes wandering to a transparent statue of a man. In sync with the music a neon lightning bolt traveling to the statue lit up, in turn lighting up a neon skeleton within it. The decoration portrayed the effect of a person being comically electrocuted. He then turned to a large buzzing Tesla coil that did the same to two other dummies at another part of the room.
"Rugged music and patrons..." He continued, looking at a group of people moshing together.
"Incredible attention to detail..." He said out-loud this time as he leaned over to one of the tables, noticing a lightning bolt shaped stand that held the table up.
Before Nemo could continue he regained his senses. He was here for something else than to appreciate the scenery.

Nemo used his mana tracking skill to try to pinpoint what he was looking for. If it wasn't for his experience it would of been nearly impossible for him to find the owner amidst all the other mana pools that were in the club. Judging by the security to get in, this was one of those underground invite only type of magic ran establishments. Somewhere magic users could go and not be bothered by causing a ruckus in public.

Nemo followed the "smell" of the bigger mana pools across the club, down a hallway, and into a bigger room. He picked up a snack on a metal tray along the way. The sound of a heavy punch along with a crowd cheering set the scene for this room. It seemed like it was normally the main dance floor and lounge for the club, but right now the dance floor was taken up by a large ring instead.

Inside stood a very tall, almost 7 foot, shirtless tattooed man, and a much smaller in comparison jacketed man with a red mohawk. Mr. Mohawk didn't seem to be having a good day; considering he was currently beaten up and being hefted above the muscular man's head. The Iron Giant let out a feral yell before running to the edge of the ring and throwing him out, sending him crashing into a table.

The crowd went wild, and even Nemo seemed to be amused by the man's peril. Afterwards the man left in the ring flexed his muscles for the crowd and called for a drink. Someone threw him a can of beer which he quickly chugged and then smashed it on his head. Getting his short slicked back black hair wet.

"Is there anyone else?" The man called out with a hearty laugh. "Nobody?" He continued as he waited for a response. The relative silence in crowd put a smirk on his face. "That's what I thought, we're done here." He said before going to walk towards the edge of the ring.

"I'll go next." Nemo called out to the man, causing him to stop before he could make it off the ring. He turned around to him, seeing Nemo standing in the front of the crowd by the ring and let out a laugh.

"Alright, step up kid. But be prepared to get knocked right down." He replied to his proposal.

Nemo gave a grin at his threat as he began to walk up the slightly elevated stage. "I'll keep it in mind." He said. Once inside he pocketed his hands and waited for his opponent.

Nemo's casual stance seemed to anger the larger man. Causing him to quickly rush down the ring with a yell. He spun once reaching Nemo and swung his large fist in a three-sixty roundhouse punch. As he wound up his fist began to glow with energy.

The chop was angled in a way that allowed Nemo to easily sidestep it to the right. The man let out a grunt from the whiff and immediately threw another straight punch at him. Nemo dodged this one to the left and then shuffled himself backwards and away from the man.

"You little shit!" The man yelled at him, frustrated. And then stomped his foot on the ground with a magically enhanced foot. Sending out a magic ripple like shock wave at Nemo. He used a short distance phase teleport to get out of the way, causing the attack to collide with the crowd instead. Nemo seemed to be diverting all his energy to dodging and analyzing his attacker in the beginning.

The man rushed again sending out a flurry of punches, only getting more and more angry as Nemo avoided them. However his final straight punch connected dead onto Nemo's face. The sheer power behind the attack caused Nemo to bend backwards, almost falling over. After a few moments of balancing in between being up and falling down he straightened out his posture.

The big man looked rather confused at Nemo's almost disappointed look on his face after the attack. "There's no love in your violence." He stated, his hands now out of his pockets after the hit. The shirtless man went for another heavy strike at Nemo's face. However this time, Nemo counterattacked. As his punch zeroed in Nemo diverted it off the the side with his left hand then then struck him dead in the face with his right.

The reaction was immediate: The force behind the punch caused his head to whiplash off to the right and back, before his earlier forward momentum caused him to fall face first into the ring. The man wasn't getting back up. The crowd went dead silent, even Nemo didn't seem to say anything. Just staring at the knocked out body of his former opponent. He looked around the room before lifting his arms up from his side and letting them drop down in a "Whoops." kind of gesture.

@Zelosse

As Artos stared into the flowing river below, the sound of boots hitting the ground followed by a slight jingle could be heard from behind. The air grew chilly, and snow began to fall in the area. Something that probably wouldn't impede Artos by much.

"You... I've tracked you for months now since you began your journey from our homeland." Said a deep voice. "Now that I've caught you there is no escape."

The voice came from a large burly man. He looked over 60 years old and roughly 6'3 with his black winter jackboots on. He had fair skin, with a impressively large snow white beard that covered a good portion of his face. He wore rimless spectacles, and a red stocking cap with a white fur trim and poofy fur ball at the end upon his head. On his torso he was adorned with a large heavy scarlet coat lined with white fur. He wore matching red trousers kept up by a wide belt with a gold buckle. The last striking thing about him was his brown sack attached to his back. It was slung around his right shoulder like a backpack, the strap adorned with golden bells.

The man reached back behind him and into his sack, grasping something with thick black winter gloves. He then pulled forth a large ornate two handed battle axe. The sack was clearly some sort of magic inventory item.

"PREPARE TO TASTE DEATH! AHHHHHHHHH!" The man boomed, letting out an battle cry as he stampeded towards Artos. The outburst could be described as both frightening and oddly jolly at the same time. He wildly flung his head around and around as he charged, causing the fur ball of his stocking cap to swing around like a helicopter or a flail. He only let up his battle cry once he reached Artos' range and swung the long axe at him diagonally with incredible strength.

One of the leaders in Paragon research? thought Travis as he began to listen in on Felix's explanation of the Paragons more in-depth. Travis didn't know what to make of that phrase; it was as if the Catholic mage had unknowingly hinted at more than one individual dedicated to researching these artifacts. But how was that possible? He himself had gone through who knows how many tomes and publications he could get his hands on to even polish the surface of what the Paragons were. He felt uneasy about this, especially being an Aspect trainee of the Societas Academia, a school practically based on the foundation of magic. The very thought of not knowing more about the Paragons startled him; could the Societas Academia really not have any relevant information of these artifacts? Or could it be possible there is in fact a record but only behind closed doors?

Continuing to take in Felix's overwhelming information of the Paragons, the more Travis began to believe why hardly anyone not in any higher echelons of anything would no nothing of these things. These Paragons were practically batteries of forever flowing mana, likely capable of fueling any spell he could even think of. Extraordinarily useful, as they were extraordinarily dangerous. With so much limitless energy of multiple Paragons in one location; the mere thought was was overwhelming. Too true as how the Arch-Magi had put it that a number of Paragons, if not all of them, could even create a literal reality shattering event. Unbelievably spectacular and utterly terrifying at the same time. This was plenty enough reason to hide these things from the rest of the world. Interesting how the Church knew quite a bit about them...

Felix eventually had begun to explain how he was able to find Travis and even know his name. Apparently what sounded like a conspiracy had seemingly taken place in the Catholic Church with the overall goal of locating the Paragons; a proposal that was once shot down for very good reasons but now resurrected and with plenty of steam to be put into motion. But that wasn't even the interesting part. Felix described, or what Travis could conclude to, was an ethereal entity of sorts had reached out to him, warning the Arch-Magi of a terrible calamity that was nearing realization. But what came with a vision of doom, also came with a roster of hope. As if he had become a vessel for this voice, he had unconsciously written down a list of names, or guardians as he put it, and the location of the individuals they belonged to. To even prove this point, Felix had offered Travis the parchment so he could look over. With widened eyes, Travis had found his name there and his exact location on the list of others Felix had mentioned before.

Dumbfounded, Travis stared long and hard at this parchment, nearly speechless of what any of this meant. Was it all true? He didn't want to believe it, but how else could his name have ended up here? Him? Destined to save the world? He was sure nothing special, aside from just scoring an Untalent win in developing mana-effecient spells all the while blowing himself up in the process.Farfetched? No shit, thought Travis as he mentally responded to Felix's assuring explanation, this is the stuff of fairy tails and legends.

This moment of anxiety finally broke as the Arch-Magi mentioned his intention of gathering the Paragons as well but not for the purposes the Church or anyone else has in store. This of course came with the need of simply acquiring a single Paragon in order thoroughly examine it and eventually contain it and more, depriving anyone the chance to destroy the world, if not, the entire universe. The opportunity that Felix had just offered him - not counting his fate-given responsibility - was incredibly alluring. But what of his current expedition? Surely he couldn't abandon that could he? Travis wrestled and debated with that fact and what was presented him, determining what would be worth his time and what could get him tossed out for. Get an honor role or save the world?

"You know what? For as long as I have been here, I have yet to prove if Mesoamerican cultures even had a concept of mana or magic for that matter and I've basically sidetracked my attention in learning a cost-efficient was of blowing my self up. I think its time for a topic change that's actually worthwhile." said Travis as he leaned in and grasped Felix's offered hand in a friendly grip, "Lets find ourselves a Paragon and save the world while we're at it."

He could see it now; Travis McGrath, Guardian of the Mystic World, Keeper of ancient knowledge. Somehow, he liked the ring that.

"I will not sample it just yet."

Artos nimbly ducked the heavy swing and hopped away from the woodsman to put distance between them. Based on his appearance alone it was obvious he was of a northern clan of some sort, but whether that was a part of his home town was unclear. Certainly Artos would remember someone wielding such an obnoxious weapon and screaming bloody murder. His home sported warriors. This man was a clown, to say the least. An insult to the heritage they shared. Artos slowly drew the right handed sword from his left hip and stared at the big man.

"Tell me, did I perhaps slay a friend of yours?"

If so this man had traveled for a long time to find his prey. For that at the very least Artos could respect the determination required. It had been years since he had thought of home, of his father, of his mother and his friends. All that was burned into memory were the routine exercises that had created his fighting style and perfected his control over the magic he now wielded. Though he claimed to be a master, it was not missed that the burly man was making the area snow unnaturally. That spoke of power and put Artos on high alert for any tricks and offered a silent prayer to the devils that this combatant proved worthy enough to finish his life.

Artos took a deep breathe and reached behind his back while pointing his sword at the enemy. Let us begin. There was a splash of water as on the pavement as Artos exploded into motion, a straight thrust to the stomach followed by a diagonal slash from left shoulder to right hip. Breaking momentum, he spun a tight circle and slammed the blade in a vicious arc that put the sword back firmly on the right before a mighty leap backwards disengaged him from potential retaliation, sword ready to deflect incoming attacks as needed.
The opening salvo was always meant to determine defensive capability more than lasting damage.

(I started this post THREE times and it was deleted THREE times. Fucking hell.)

@Zelosse




The jolly man's attack had fallen short of it's mark, leaving him open for a counter attack. He was surprisingly nimble enough to dodge the first forward stab to his stomach, but the second slash caught him. The final spin and slam the burly man was able to block with the metal handle of his heavy battle axe.

He took a few steps back, resting the pommel of his weapon on the ground to stand it up. In-between the fresh cut of his coat from Artos' earlier slash the slight glimmer of chain mail could be seen. The armor kept him safe from slash type attacks on his center mass, but the force behind his attack seemed to have bent or broken a few of the rungs. "Hm, what you did is not important. What is important is that I will never forgive you."

The snow seemed to be building up in the area which the two champions of the north were doing battle. It now left a light blanket of snow on the ground, slowly building up as time passed.

With a determined look, the red crusader swung his axe while standing at the ground, uplifting a good portion of the fresh snow into the air. He then let out a mighty billow of air from his mouth, blowing the debris of frost at Artos. The breath spell would create the effect of a blizzard in a short area to obscure vision. Shortly after he began to hurl sharp chunks of ice at Artos while snow displacement still resides upon the area.

After the third throw the icey man suddenly dashed to Artos. He used the cover of the snow to try to surprise him after the earlier barrage of ice. The snow veil let up directly afterwards, seemingly blown away from the burly man's rushdown. Now dangerously close, he swung his axe at an angle at Artos this time.

Artos would not be caught unprepared for an icy breath attack, nor would he suffer in such a sloppy excuse for a blizzard. The snow obscured his vision of Kringel but it worked both ways with vision of Artos limited as well.
Dropping to one knee h willed the water he had spilled on the floor at the start of combat to flow up and freeze over his crouched form, creating a thin but durable shield. More water flowed from his canisters at his back and onto the ground in preparation.

As the blinding screen of snow dissipated to reveal Kringle in a blind rush forward, Artos willed the water to freeze into a long thin spike of steel hard ice directly in the path of the foolhardy attacker.

Not one to rely on the odds, Artos broke the ice rooting him from the snowstorm and pelted the shards at kringles head, hoping to throw off his aim and blind him as he had tried to do.

@Zelosse




The Kringle was relentless, pushing forth past the icicle. He was however poked in the side of his abdomen by it. Breaking a few chains in his armor and leaving a small slice in it's wake; something that would of been much worse without his armor. Despite trying to dodge them, a few shards of ice still pelted the Kringle's head. Leaving small cut's in their wake. His aim wasn't as true as before but his axe still continued to swing towards Artos at full force. It seemed to be heading towards his shoulder.

There was no way for him to block or deflect the full force of the incoming axe swing, Artos realizing the moment kringle plowed through his attack that the man wasn't afraid of pain or death. Throwing himself to the side at the last second saved him from being cleaved in half but the blade of the axe clipped his shoulder guard with enough force to stumble him back, the sheer power of the swing broke the straps holding his pauldron on and sent it clattering to the side as the axes edge drew a thin line of blood across his shoulder. Artos felt the blow and braced as best he could, ice forming across his feet to stop him from flying off.
Artos' drew the sister longsword and went on a heavy offensive, left and right, jabs, feints, routines meant to keep the opponent on their heels as the agile swordsman gained more and more momentum to increase the speed and power of each swing. Despite the building intensity his attacks were accurate, aimed at the thighs and the neck like a snapping viper they came. Both blades went into a spin behind his back and came up connected at the hilts as a double sided staff. Planted firmly in the pavement Artos went into the air and kicked with both feet at Kringles chest, using the force to leap back into a crouch with his left hand on the ground, connected blades behind his back.

Forward he came in full sprint, every step put up more and more snow, the sound of rushing water becoming very audible. Under the cover of snow flowed the sacred water along the blade and froze it outwards to double the stabbing range of his blades. Snapping them at the hilts Artos returned to pressure the big man with a double thrust to the chest but pulled up short expecting a block, instead retracting both and pivoting for another spinning slash at the midsection, ending the spin just as the blades passed to the far right and performing yet another double thrust.
If the big man wanted to play he would get the game of a lifetime.

One lifetime, to be exact.

Raiya watched as the man who they used as a sort of insurance so that no one could win the house prize money for fighting (Raiya called this her Dealer's Choice), was defeated. Raiya tried to stand up from her chair but only managed to flop out onto the floor.

"I'll go him a raward. An eward of my fizt in hiz faysh" Raiya slurred out as she picked herself off the floor.

"Shit on a biscuit. This is not good." Tsuhiki cursed. She rushed over to Raiya who as certainly way too inebriated to be fighting anyone. Though Tsuhiki had to give credit where credit is due, this man beat Dealer's Choice. Now, either it was because he was already worn down by the others, or because this challenger was not a normal street fighter. And having been sensing the mana-waves of Dealer's Choice before he was defeated, knowing full well that he was still in top fighting condition when he fought the new challeger, Tsuhiki knew it had to be the latter.

Tsuhiki was about to go down and meet the challenger herself, when the unofficial Fight Official Johnny, in a pinstripe shirt, stepped into the ring.

"You're going to regret that, bub. The boss lady doesn't like it when someone beats her Dealer's Choice. She doesn't like to pay out, see? So I am afraid I am going to have to kill you here and now. I am sure she will promote me to a Captain if I bring her your head." Johnny materialized a runic barbed-wire baseball bat, it had a blue ethereal glow with a visible arc of electricity coursing through the barbed-wire.

Johnny charged at the white male, and arced his baseball bat downwards at his head.

---

@ShiningSector

Felix smiled at the accepted handshake, and took the parchment back from Travis. Felix looked at the list raising an eyebrow. Idaho, hmm? Then in a fluid movement he created a two-way crucifix glyph rift to the mansion and a one-way glyph to Idaho.

"The sooner I get the rest of the enlistees, the sooner we can start the search. This portal will take you to my cabin mansion in the redwoods. Feel free to make yourself at home and choose a bedroom, there are plenty. There are three others already there that I have enlisted so far, get acquainted with them."

With that Felix gave him a bit of a quick two fingered salute. Before hopping in the one-way portal, it closing behind him.

Yuno tilted her head slightly at the thought of Deston landing into some trap she had set. It was amusing at how similar people may think about stepping through the portal it seems, but she on the other hand was able to suppress that and trust her judgment on her reading of Felix. If she had happened to be wrong, may as well learn her mistake. The fight may have been interesting after all. Her amusement turned her smile into a slight smirk across her face as her mind reached deeper into the idea he proposed while he also spoke. Soon enough however her normal smile returned as she nodded once to him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Deston.” She commented at first before taking one foot in front of the other and giving a curtsy similar to the one she had given Felix upon their meeting. “Yuno Whitmore, at your service. I guess you could say I am simply swinging by. I wish to see if what our Arch-Magi friend has told me is true, though I have not fully pledged to stay.” Her idea behind saying this outright that she hadn’t confirmed full recruitment at first was to simply be polite and upfront with those she would work with for now. Yuno was a school student, and besides for her family magic she didn’t have anything she needed to hide from them or a reason to not be respectful as of right now otherwise.

After the lowering of her head ended and she proceeded to reengage eye contact with the red haired man he might be able to tell that behind her nearly shining blue eyes as a bit of analysis. Possibly judging his mannerisms quickly while she continued with her response. “Fair lady though? Not many go so far to be so polite these days in an informal greeting. I appreciate it though.” As her line finished if he could tell her smile became genuine for a moment with a wink being given as she took the optimistic route for their conversation for now. “Then again, it’s not the most unusually thing I have heard recently after Felix’s claims.”

Nemo kept a blank face as the new man charged him. As he closed in Nemo raised his bandaged arm and pointed the black X on his palm at him. From it emitted a large black X shaped physical attack. The spell collided with the man at a high speed, and since it was easily half his body size it took him with it before he could finish his swing. He rapidly soared across the room, pushing through the crowd of people before violently smashing into the wall. Afterwards the spell faded and let him fall to the ground, likely not to get back up for a quite a while.

Nemo seemed to be losing his patience with the people in the ring. He shifted his gaze up towards VIP loft and waited for the action of the administrators.

---

@Zelosse




The Kringle was not to be trifled with. His agility was remarkable and let him parry or dodge most of Artos' intro attacks. However as the intensity of the attacks increased they became much harder for him to keep up with. The Kringle suffered a single slash to his thigh in the process. Artos' final kick connected, knocking the bear like man over and back into the snow.

In his domain of snow the Kringle was quick to get back up on his feet. His defense was no match for Artos' dexterity with his swords. The final stab connected and pierced the Kringle twice in the midsection. The Kringle, however, seemed content wit this outcome judging by the vile grin on his face. He dropped his axe and grabbed his attacker's weapons and held them in place with an iron grip. His massive vitality let him thrive despite his wounds.

Directly afterwards three small contraptions jumped from the snow around Artos in a circle revealing the Kringle's dastardly tactic: Earlier during the blizzard he had hidden things under the cover of snow for later. The three windup toy like devices were quickly revealed to be bouncing-betty styled homing bombs, evident when they exploded inward towards Artos.

Tsuhiki panicked as Johnny flew across the club and Raiya once again attempted to get up to try and confront the intruder.

"U-uhm- Don't worry about this knucklehead. I'll personally go down and take care of him post haste." Tsuhiki rattled off in a panic. Before Raiya could react, Tsuhiki dropped from the vip loft into the fight ring.

Ya'll did well to come this far- er didn't catch your name misterrr...? Tsukihi drew out in an inflected tone.

---

@Ghost Queen

When Felix had read the parchment, the location portion past the name, "John Barrows", simply said, "Sun Valley, Idaho - Follow the Charms." So, when Felix arrived in the middle of the city Sun Valley he activated his manalysis, looking for charms on the ground. He continued walking until he found the first charm under the cement of a sidewalk, the manawaves permeating through the solid material. As Felix continued walking, he found another charm, and another, and another, until he was well out of the city limits. Eventually he came up on a small hill overlooking a hamlet tucked away in the hillside. The first thing Felix realized is that the manawaves coming from the hamlet were from various sources. This meant that some if not all of the residents were Talents.

Felix bent down and examined the last charm outside of the hamlet more thoroughly. Normally Felix's mind was a steel trap, but there was something nagging him about this charm that he couldn't bring to the forefront of his mind. Argh what is it that I am forgetting? If I remember correctly it has to do with the people who use this charm... but what is it? The charm had a sun and a crescent moon intermingled with ten stars surrounding the sun and moon insignia. Wait that's it! The people who use this charm they are a pagan group of some sort. They are polytheistic, and use the celestial bodies as the embodiment of their deities. Pagans and the church have a bit of a mixed relationship, so I should probably conceal myself. Luckily I have a few sets of clothes with me.

Felix snapped his fingers, and his clothes dissipated from his body, leaving him naked except for his underwear. He snapped his fingers again, using a spacial magic that held items of his within a pocket dimension. The magic brought forth a blue cotton t-shirt and blue denim jeans and a backpack, instantly forming them to him. It was then Felix noticed the Runic Bangle from the prison was still on his left wrist. Attempting to take it off now would be futile, he just had to hope no one knew exactly what it was.

Felix made his way down to the hamlet. There was a veritable plethora of farmers markets open on the side of the road. Most of the folk were friendly and waved at Felix. He tried to make small talk with some of them, asking if there was a fellow by the name of John Barrows around, but they all seemed to avoid the question.

Eventually, he made his way to the middle of the hamlet. An old woman, probably a bit older than middle aged, approached him. Her silver hair had a few feather and bead adornments within them.

She pointed at him with a shaky finger, "You should not be here." She pointed out. Felix wasn't sure exactly what it was that gave him away, he seemed to be dressed about the same as everyone else, he had even stowed his manadial away when he put on his outfit. All he had on him was the runic bangle and the clothing he had brought out of his mana inventory. So he just assumed that she was pointing out that he was an unfamiliar face.

"Yes ma'am. I am just trying to find someone. Perhaps you know him? His name is John Barrows."

"Yes I do know him. I also know that you are of a high order in the catholic church. I know that you have been given orders from the astral realm, orders to go agaisnt the very order you had given your life to. I also know that great trials and perils come your way. That you will be brought down low, and may never recover. But the gods have laid their blessings upon you, and the stars will be with you. The old woman said.

Felix was baffled.

"How do you know all this?" Felix asked in astonishment.

"John is in the house at the end of this street. There is no time for questions. Go now, herald. Save the world from itself.

Felix turned his head toward the house. He wanted to ask more, but once he turned his head back, the woman was gone. So, Felix made his way down to the house at the end of the street. Eventually he made it up to the wooden door, and knocked a swift three knocks, before standing stalwart.

The three contraptions whirred to life and circled the combatants, Artos mostly, but discipline prevented him from panicking over the sudden turn of events. Artos drove the blades as far in as he could, digging in his heels to push and felt the slow slicing of flesh in the blades wake. When the Kringle grunted and redoubled his efforts on the blades to prevent them reaching any further Artos knew there would be no time left. Calling upon his magic he willed the elongated blades of ice sticking into the Kringles chest to shatter, they wouldn't be able to go far without any driving force or space to go but they were all razor sharp and numerous.

The bouncing betty contraptions exploded in a hail of metal balls flying at high velocity in a chaotic shower of destructive energy, multiple times he was struck in the chest, the ribs, his arms and legs, one such metal object struck him hard in the temple causing him to stumble and release his blades which fell into the snow as Artos dropped to one knee, both arms up about his head to try and weather the barrage.

With the handshake between Travis and Felix completed, so too was Travis' involvement in this divine conspiracy now firmly cemented. If Felix was in fact acting out-of-line against the Catholic Church, it was potentially evident that Travis may wind up in the cross-hairs by the Church itself. While ending up on anyone's bad-list was something he would very much avoid, his recent entanglement with Salem disciples however may have already painted a target on his back. With that logic in mind, he was technically a dead man anyway.

As Felix had mentioned, he was still organizing the rest of the individuals whose names and locations were divinely written on his list and thus seeking to not waste time, summoned a set of portals before he and Travis. Magical gateways that can interconnect separate locations together was something of a brief study for Travis. The art was very advanced and demanded quite a bit of concentration from new beginners. Most of all, the location of which the portal would conjoin would need to be known by the user. While Travis had often speculated that the exact location and probably accurate global positioning along with a visual of the target place would be required to create an mana-produced wormhole to conjoin the locations together, Felix on the other hand demonstrated he simply needed a rough address to get where he needed to be. Already, Travis was very impressed with this Arch-mage who had very easily outclassed many of the instructors and tutors as the Societas Academia.

Felix explained that the portal before Travis was a two-way gateway that connected to a mansion that he and the others would stay at, likely for the duration of this just mission they've been fatefully lead to. With a friendly social salute, Felix then departed through the other portal in order to meet with his next client about to realize their destiny. With Felix's one-way portal collapsing behind him, Travis turned to his portal to the mansion and gazed upon it, marveling at its architecture of swirling mana.

"Most impressive." Travis commented as he instinctively produced a small notepad, naturally intending on studying it.

Unfortunately a reminding thought however re-advised him where he needed to be. Turning around to his make-shift lab cluttered with various research papers, desks, and other instruments necessary for his work, he quickly knew what was needed to perform first before heading to the mansion. With a sigh, he set to work packing his belongings.

---

Just as Felix's portal closed behind him, so did the portal Travis passed into, stepping out on to the new environment. Travis would have questioned why the mansion was located in Redwood National Park, the same park Societas Academia was secretly located in too, but considering the man was clearly in a hurry obviously, that question would have to wait. Then again, the park did cover over 176 square miles; plenty of distance to go unnoticed and very likely were there barriers setup by Felix to dissuade any unwanted attention. Smart...

While carrying an unusually shaped chest strapped over and under his shoulders like a backpack, Travis made his way to the large wooden mansion clearly - to him - made from the same trees the place was plentifully surrounded by. The mansion itself look more like a pleasant and quiet getaway resort than something he would expect a highly ranked church official would own; but perhaps everyone had their own tastes that strayed from the norm. Upon reaching the front door, Travis noticed it was slightly cracked open, hinting that it was recently used. It was very likely it may have been left that way unintentionally by one of the earlier arriving guardians. Not giving it too much though, the proceeded inward, gently pushing the door aside in the process.

As it was impressive on the outside, so true was the interior - designed by through the same oak as the exterior of the mansion. Travis could make out finally crafted furniture displayed expertly throughout the floor he was on. In fact, it was almost as if there were many living room spaces here and designed around a just-as-impressive kitchen. Taking the size of the size of the place too, he was sure there were many decorative wonders he has yet to lay his eyes on. The idea made him eager to visit and claim one of the rooms sooner than later.
Suddenly hearing voices echoing nearby, Travis decided to knock on door, hoping to gain the occupants' attention, especially if they were his fellow guardians.

"Hello?" Travis called out, "I presume this is the gathering place our friendly crazy-sounding Arch-Magi has shown us to?"

@Skelace@dndragons

Nemo's expression brightened up when someone jumped from the Vip box down to him, but this didn't last long. His chipper expression faded when his head cocked to the side as he used his manalysis on her; this was not the person he was looking for. The awkward pause only gave him a rather creepy impression. "My name is Nemo Smiley. I've come to see your boss." He finally replied, getting right to the point.

---

@Zelosse




The Kringle was badly damaged from Artos' last attack, he was lucky to still be alive, or standing. The shards of ice stuck inside of him caused him great pain, but the Kringle wouldn't be defeated by mere ice. He dashed back and away from Artos as his contraptions did their deed, but quickly fell to a single knee afterwards as well. He coughed up blood into his glove. The now not-so-jolly man knew he could no longer continue.

"How about a final parting gift?" The Kringle called out to Artos as he recovered from his earlier trap. He wiped blood away from his mouth and then leaned over, aiming the opening of his sack directly at Artos. A second later the red head of a comically sized chubby metal rocket poked out from the sack. "Take this!" He exclaimed as the rocket ignited, flying from his sack and directly at Artos. Upon exploding the rocket uplifted most of the snow that had fallen during the skirmish. The Kringle used this opportunity to crawl into his own sack and escape into the void. Leaving only a limp, empty, useless bag behind. This was not over.

"Ah well- Um... Mah name is Tsukihi. Tha boss lady is not really feelin well. Ahhh- could you perhaps come back at a later tahm? Tsukihi stalled. Tsukihi was confident in her own abilities, but if she failed, Nemo would surely find Raiya in her intoxicated state. And sure Raiya could beat almost anyone one on one, but in her drunken state, Tsukihi found it hard to believe she would be the victor. And with all the people watching, some of them big wigs in the organized crime community. It would certainly be a large pockmark on her otherwise flawless reputation as a crime lord.

"Seriously tho. Ahm sure it would be much better to come back later. Ah can even pen ya in fer some tahm this week.

The three knocks came swiftly and uniformally, already John knew that whoever was here was not from around here. This put him on edge somewhat, that whoever it was who had this much mana wasn't immediately breaking down doors was a good sign. Slow enough to conceal the pistol he'd take out, John walked up to the door before creaking it open slightly, just enough to get a good look at the guy. The scrying eye dilated a bit before focusing on the mans aura, getting an unobstructed view of his mana flow. "Church for sure....high ranking too. Don't like him already." John thought to himself, his eyes narrowing in displeasure. "You're a long way from home Alter Boy, what are you doing on my porch." John did nothing to hide his malice, his clan and the church never saw eye to eye and that wasn't going to change now that they were all dead.