Moros braced for an impact that never came. After waiting a few extra seconds just to make sure he wasn't about to be crushed he pushed his metal barrier away and looked outside. Apparently a giant rock monster had graciously inserted itself between the boulder and himself. "Lefay move the baby." he said confidently and she assumed his form again, flipping her hand disdainfully to indicate her disinterest with the task and quickly moved the baby cart out of the danger zone. Since when was I a babysitter." She mentally whined to him. Moros meanwhile ignored her and analyzed how best to deal with the hulking brute above him. He wasn't exactly a heavy hitter. In fact it seemed like numerous other knights in the area were already attempting to deal with it. Well it would be rude to leave them to deal with, even if they quite likely could. Sighing quietly to himself he gripped his pole in both hands and swung as hard as he could at the nearest part of the golem he could reach.

This was turning into madness. He had to stop for a second to comprehend the events happening in front of him. A Behemoth Dissonance not only appeared in the middle of town, but just perfectly placed to prevent a large boulder piloted by Mary from crashing into a baby cart. Some metallic barrier came down revealing another Song Knight who attempted to block the boulder in vain. The skeleton wearing a sombrero was shooting fire and swinging a sword aiming for key spots. A new figure leaping up to attempt to kick the Behemoth in the back of the knee. He looked familiar, wait, was that Zachary Arc? Two of his classmates made it here? Off in the distance still another Song Knight was approaching, wielding a guitar, sitting on some throne, and accompanied by 2 sets of armor. If the Behemoth was a threat, it's chances were dropping rapidly.

As he glanced around, he noticed Mary was falling from the sky with what appeared to be her Spirit coming to save her. I can't fly so I hope your Spirit is quick enough he quickly thought to himself. A lame excuse, but nothing he could do about it. Despite this, only the metal knight was concerned with protecting the people in the area. Randar was gonna help there, he pulled out his small piccolo. Its light catching off the morning sun as he played a musical tune that projected an aura of confidence. A nice song to calm the people down so I can direct them out of here, he thought. Once the people were safe, he would see to the Behemoth. After all, there was a good chance the other knights would be able to distract it long enough.

He glanced at Cothyl again, hoping somehow checking more often would change the situation, slightly bigger, but not much. He shook his head, he couldn't sit back any longer. "Cothyl, aim for the creatures eyes, try to blind it with what you have available." Cothyl was happy to finally get to do something besides being quiet and unremarkable. Randar turned his head, still people around, gawking and frozen in fear. Why can't they just run away when these things happen? No one's injured, so let's make sure it stays that way. He played a new tune for the nearby civilians to follow him out of the area, a pied piper of the city. If it wasn't in a bad situation, he would have laughed at how silly he looked leading such a large crowd out of here. He felt bad leaving Cothyl to handle helping the fight against the Behemoth, but he's a big boy, well, not yet.

Cothyl ran into the battle zone, a roughly 4 foot tall lizard with a faint glow on his back. He knew it was dangerous, but Randar always insisted on protecting the weak whenever possible. He would have preferred some more time, but he had to try. He mustered his energy, "look at the glowing lizard you overgrown rock monster" he muttered. It wasn't gonna be much, but a well placed shot should spare some time for an opening. With all these Song Knights, surely this would be over quickly. He took aim, ready to interfere. After all, Not too many shots could be done, so they had to count.

---

---

“You, my young man, don’t know anything about respected.” The minstrel said while straightening his coat, after being so roughly treated by Shakrais. Now that he was back to his feet it was possible to notice that the bard’s face was covered with a scarf around his neck leaving only his eyes visible, though the shadow of the hat made it hard to even distinguish them. “That is a sacred song, you just defiled. When the time comes, you’ll know the foolishness of your actions to day.”

After saying so, the minstrel turned on his back and walked away, playing his lute calmly, while reciting an old song used up to today to scare children into obedience:






“Huh? I- I- I can’t believe it’s you again, Charming. What do you think you are doing in the middle of the street?” Sienna panicked in Cass’ grip, the thief’s face getting redder than the apple she was eating but a moment ago. Meanwhile, Rinco’s eyes widened, and her little mouth took and O shape from surprise, “Is she your friend, Sienna? Oh, and why is she kissing you like this isn’t it a thing human boys do to the girls they love?” A little vein seemed to pop on Sienna’s brow at the comment, though she couldn’t fault Rin for that after all, the innocent snow fairy didn’t knew anything about the depravity men were capable of.

“Hmm… let’s just say that this one has a bit more hidden than I do, Rin.” Sienna said, between clenched teeth, while staring Cass down. If this brat thought that getting the Icy Thief would be so easy, he was very much wrong, as the hand that deftly slid to the back of her cape, seeking one of her daggers would prove. Buut before Sienna could even make it, the commotion of the other side of the market finally seemed to have hit this one as a large crowd crying of a Dissonance and an enemy siege began to flood the plaza.

When one of them bumped on Cass, forcing his grip on Sienna to lessen in force, the thief made a run for it, shouting “Sorry Charming, you won’t be getting this fox’s tail today. Better luck next time~”



“Oh ho! That was a good one. Are you some kind of street fool? Take this here, you deserved it.” Claudia said, with a warm smile on her face, as she patted Shakrais shoulder with a bit more force than she probably needed to while producing a couple of silver coins and placing them on his hand. Who could blame her after all for that? Shakrais was sure putting up an act worthy of a street performer and Claudia has never been the most observant one.

Right around this time the sound of hurried steps from a wooden sole hitting the cobblestones of the market’s streets, could be heard approaching from behind Shakrais. “Claudia~ Claudia~ why did you left me behind, I was searching for you everywhe- reeeee!?” In her haste to get back to her absentminded master, Ravel stumbled on her rather elaborate priestess clothes and rolled on the ground, hitting the small of Shakrais back with her head. “Ouch… I- I’m sorry, if there’s anything I can do.” The phoenix said while casting a glare and puffing her cheeks at Claudia who was laughing heartily even now.

“I’m sorry for that, Ravie is a bit clumsy sometimes, but she’s a good girl. Here, let me help you up.” Claudia said as she extended her hand to help Shakrais get back up. Meanwhile Ravel dusted herself before getting behind Claudia, still pouting, “Geez, Claudia, I’m not clumsy, just… unlucky, you know! Hmph!” The phoenix scoffed turning away from master in a mock tantrum which h only ever elicited more laughs from Claudia as she used her free hand to pet Ravel, after all that was the sole cause of this issue as she knew all too well.



Back at the, rather anticlimactic, fight against the Dissonance…

The Behemoth, despite being a hulking mass of unbridled brutality had no hopes of outliving the brutal assault of the combined might of all the Song Knights. Perhaps if there were one or two less it could have done some actual damage to the city, but it was beyond the point, the lumbering figure just lurching and falling to the ground before it’s body began to decompose into the dark aether.

However, as a testament that not all was good and clean into this world, a few people apparently had either died or gotten grievously injured after being stomped by the fleeing mob. It was then that… “Ara~ people”, a sinister voice, not very different from the one Mary heard in her mind said amidst the crowd that remained, “look at all this chaos and destruction. Isn’t the Song Knights’ duty to protect us from this?” At this mention, the people began stop and listen to these words that seemed to come from the mouth of a small girl dressed in a frilly dress in the middle of them, indignation slowly building in their eyes as they gazed on goods and lives lost. “Yet, wasn’t the small one who began it all? I’m sure I saw her on that stone, did it became the dissonance? What about that other, is that a skeleton? Do we need necromancers to defend us now? What if… they turn the ones who oppose them into monsters like that one~?”

As the flames of indignation and protest were slowly fanned by the Goth loli girl the crowd’s fear slowly turned into rage and they began to curse and question the knights. However, the calm melodies played by Rander were having their effect on the crowd and, despite their bad disposition violence was unlikely to break any soon, at least until the guard arrived. To see what was happening, unless… “Oh~ is one of them using their magic on us, ohh… I feel weak, maybe thinks that they’re gods that can judge us? What’s thi-!?" A dry thud was heard as the girl fell unconscious because of Rander’s magic, or so it looked, the strength of the hate coming from the people alone being enough to override his performance as the crowd began to arm themselves with whatever they could get at hand’s reach.

If the Song Knight’s didn’t had some quick thinking, they would soon have a riot on their hands. Needless to say this was the worst possible outcome, but… what will they do?

Moros let out a short breath of relief as the behemoth fell under the combined assault of all the Song Knights in the area. Lefay returned in her usual form and pouted again, Aw I didn't even get to do anything. Moros was more focused on the small girl that everyone else seemed to be staring at. To his surprise she seemed to be inflaming the crowd against the song knights. Even worse it seemed to be working. Maybe he should've kept the baby near by so he could show off that he saved it, but it was back with its mother now so there was no point in thinking about that now. Moros couldn't do much to help the situation, his skills of persuasion were somewhat lacking, especially when pitted against a near rioting crowd. He was tempted to just leave but he was aware that would only make thing worse. So Moros just stand there, waiting expectantly for another Song Knight more skilled in this situation to take over. As soon as they started talking the crowd would look at the speaker and he would do the same. If worst came to worst he wasn't particular worried about a riot, Lefay could protect him more than well enough against fists and crude implements. So for now he merely stood there silently, waiting for either someone to speak in their defense or the crowd to reach its boiling point.

Both the disgruntled murmurs of the man(?) and his hasty departure went completely unnoticed by Shakrais who’d invested the entirety of his attention on the rather friendly woman standing before him. Claudia’s response hadn’t quite been ideal, but her charming smile made up for it, and was leagues better than the uneasy look of discomfort Shakrais’s usually received when he approached women.
“A smitten fool from the very moment I set my eyes on you fair lady” Shakrais continued, feigning modesty as he graciously accepted the piteous little offering of silver coins. A true-tyrant never turned down an offering of valuables no matter how small, and it wasn’t Claudia’s fault she couldn’t resist paying tribute to Shakrais’s irresistible charm, right?

“You would be most welcome to join me-eee?!?” Shakrais yelped as something, or rather someone abruptly decided to slam themselves against the small of his back, knocking him unexpectedly forward… had Claudia not been standing right infront of him Shakrais might have managed to regain his balance, but wanting to avoid embarrassing the friendly woman, Shakrais attempted to step to the side…. And ended up tripping over his own feet, landing face first by Claudia’s feet. Shakrais had heard the calls for Claudia, but had dismissed Ravel’s cries as at this point, Shakrais had no way of knowing that the Claudia being called for, was the same woman that stood before him.

Laying still on the ground for a good few seconds, it was only when on-lookers were beginning to think Shakrais had been knocked out that Shakrais reluctantly took Claudia’s hand and lifted himself up. Mumbling a rather bitter “Thanks” though the comment was equally intended to be a sarcastic bite at his own spirit partner who mockingly wriggled around in his pouch of jewels. Quartz had sensed an approaching figure long before the collision, but had intentionally decided to remain uninvolved, sensing that the assailant didn't seem to be approaching with the intent to harm.

Shakrais wasn’t usually one to respond in a hostile manner, but clear signs of fuelled irritation flickered dangerously as emerald green orbs turned to face their aggressor. Things had been going so well between him and Claudia, and then this stupid human-girl had to ruin….
Knocking Claudia’s hand away, and brushing past the master to get to the spirit. Shakrais swiftly took ahold of Ravel’s hands, turning her back towards him so that he could get a good look into her eyes.
“Become my wife then” Shakrais stated firmily, his eyes filled with the look of a genuinely love smitten fool. “I never thought it possible, but you my fiery angel are the definition of beauty, you’re so beautiful it’s almost hard to believe you’re human”

The sound of battle filled the air, with two Song Knights and their spirits clashing in a quiet part of town. The Swashbuckler Knight and The Prodigy of Light, both names fairly well known in the nearby academy, were in the midst of a rough sparring session to test each others' mettle. Rarely did the actual sound of clashing metal fill the air, however, as the Prodigy's rapier weaved around the heavier slashes of the Swashbuckler's twin cutlasses. The wind and water from the area had already been thoroughly churned by the two spirits fighting, with the Swashbuckler's spirit calling upon the wind and propelling blasts of water while the Prodigy's own spirit sent beams of light flashing around the field.

---

The Swashbuckler Knight, Aura Kalstov, was being pressured more than she had been by almost any other opponent in the academy. With Victor whipping up the winds, it was taking more of Ai's focus than she'd like to admit to help keep her safe. Thankfully her partner was giving as good as she received, using her uncontested control of the water from Aura's bottles and the surrounding air to apply pressure to the light spirit standing in opposition to her. Generally, Aura liked to try and overwhelm her foe with fast-paced strikes, keeping up thorough pressure until her opponent's defense faltered, however Victor had managed to evade the worst of her strikes.

Neither she or her opponent had gone unscathed, however. Aura's weapons had bitten flesh, leaving bloody marks on her opponent, though Victor had since healed them. Aura's own body was still dripping vital fluids, though thankfully at a leisurely drip and not a desparate pour. She was now breathing in heavy, measured breaths as her eyes slid over her opponent. Ai was facing a similarly rough battle against Cloud, the two battling for control over the winds while Cloud fired off with blasts of hot light and Ai answered in kind with torrents of cool water.

This was a dance the four had performed many a time before. Cloud and Ai duking it out with magic as the two students traded blows with rapier and cutlass respectively. Victor was constantly impressed by Aura, one of the only students in the Bach Empire able to hold their own against him. He had to constantly strive to improve himself, lest the opponent before him ever manage to defeat him. Victor was certain that she felt the same. The Battle Royale was dawning upon them, and what better way to be ready for the coming fight than with a mock battle?

Today however, Victor felt that superiority would surely belong to him. He smacked the flat of his blade against Aura’s right hand, forcing her to drop one of the cutlasses. The Prodigy proceeded to do a quick pirouette with his sword held out to catch his opponent off guard, which ended with the tip of his rapier a hair’s breadth away from Aura’s neck. Victor grinned at the Swashbuckler, triumphant. This grin quickly faltered however, as he saw the smirk on Aura’s face. Her second cutlass was lightly pressing against his stomach.

Cloud and Ai, realizing that their Knight’s fight had ended in yet another draw, ceased their own competition. Victor sighed as he sheathed his rapier, watching Aura go to retrieve her other blade, which was lying a few feet away. “At this rate,” He began jovially. “They’re going to have to start handing out two first place titles.”

With a slight chuckle, Aura responded "Maybe they will. We're both really good, we may even be able to get into the finals." As she bent down to pick up Swash from where it had fallen, she slid Buckle into its sheathe on her right hip. Swash soon joined its twin in its sheathe as Ai trooped over, an easy grin on her face as she did, shouting boisterously over at Victor "Yeah, maybe so, but you better take little Aura out to dinner afterwards! A gentleman has to be kind to a lady, after all!" Ai gave a mischievous snicker at that while Aura blushed slightly, countering "How would you know how to treat a lady, Ai?"

Ai's smile turned to a tight frown and she stalked away, mumbling to herself. Aura still grinned slightly, knowing her partner well enough to know she wasn't upset. Turning to Victor, she patted her wounds slightly as she said "This bleeding did leave me pretty hungry though...would you want to go get something to eat?" As if to accent this statement, her stomach growled angrily, bringing a deep grimace to Aura's face as well as an embarrassed chuckle.

Victor smiled easily at her. “Taking you out somewhere would be my ple-” However, he was quickly cut off by Cloud, who had just now noticed Aura’s numerous wounds. “Goodness gracious! Aura dear are you feeling alright? Lightheaded? Sick? Woozy? No? Are you sure? Good! Well, let me see what I can do about all of this anyways!” The bright blue gem on it’s chest began to glow a brilliant blue as the cuts across Aura’s body began to close and fade away. “There we go,” It chirped merrily. “All better!” Cloud began to drift away towards Ai.

Now that Cloud was out of the way, Victor once more began to speak. “As I was saying, I’d enjoy taking us out somewhere. It’s been a while since we’ve done anything of the sort hasn’t it? I think I know a restaurant on the edge of the marketplace, not too far from here. We’ll be able to eat in peace before the chaos that the festival will no doubt bring. How’s that sound?” He said, offering his arm so she can link her’s through it. A proper gentlemanly act.

Accepting his arm with a grateful smile, Aura replied with a cheery tone "You're right, the tournament will probably have the city even more full of people than usual soon! I'd be delighted to go share a meal with you!" From behind, Aura became aware of Ai falling back in, Cloud not far behind, the two spirits chatting amongst themselves, with Aura occasionally catching a snippet of it containing her name or Victor's.

---

The two arrived at the restauraunt after only a brief walk, thankfully it wasn't too crowded. Before long, the two had been ushered into a booth, Ai and Cloud along with them. The pair sparred in this area on occasion, so at the very least the locals of this district were familiar with both Cloud and Ai. As a result, a six foot woman or a floating blue creature no longer drew as many eyes as they would've this time a year ago. Aura, now carefully sipping at a cup of tea, asked Ai "So..what were you and Cloud talking about? Anything serious, or were you just shooting the breeze?"

Ai released a loud groan as Aura used the same pun she used every single time she and Cloud spoke. For whatever reason, the tiny Song Knight never grew weary of this particular turn of phrase and was giggling like a schoolgirl next to her spirit. After a moment, Ai cracked a smile at the sight of her little knight looking happy, and so replied "Ehhh, nothing too serious. Y'know, just planning the wedding for you and Victor so that your families don't have to worry about it!" It was Ai's turn to laugh as Aura turned red, as she always did whenever Ai poked at the possibility of becoming romantic with Victor.

Victor fought to keep a neutral expression as his cheeks ever so slightly tinged themselves red. As always, he was never quite sure how he felt about this line of discussion whenever it was brought up. Cloud on the other hand, knew just what it’s feelings on the issue were. “Oh, it would be wondrous! Miss Aura walking down the aisle in a pretty white dress as- Ooohh! As Victor stands at the end in his tuxedo looking just ever so dashing! I could be the one to officially wed them! Ai, you could be the flower girl! We could make you look gorgeous in a pretty white dress too!” It leaned over towards Aura conspiratorially. “Fear not however,” It said in a voice trying to be hushed that came out way louder than normal. “YOUR dress will always be the prettiest. Ooooh! And then I say those wonderful words! You may kiss the bride!” Cloud was practically bubbling with enthusiasm at this point.

The spirit was entirely oblivious to both Victor and Aura’s faces slowly getting redder and redder. “Okay then!” Victor said in a strained voice. “Let’s talk about something else now! Like…” He cleared his throat, and rebuilt his calm demeanor. “Have any of you looked into who would be participating in the competition this year? I have, and I’m not going to lie, they look like steep competition. Ueno made it in. He’s the one that I’m most worried about, personally. Have you seen Conquest?” Victor sincerely hoped that Ai and Cloud would allow to let this attempt of changing the topic slide by without opposition.

Randar Xenil

In his mind, this was going great. He was doing his best to lead a crowd away from danger and keeping them from panicking. He was probably gonna be praised for this, shouldn't be too much work to slip away as the glory hounds come in seeking their share of the fame. After all, everyone made good decisions and handled this pretty well, all things considered. This was sadly not how it happened though.

Randar was lost in his tune pleased that things were going well, until a small child's voice was heard. She was discrediting the Song Knights, and worse than that, Randar's attempts to help. He knew that tampering with citizens minds was frowned on, so he was using a weak area calming tune. It was no match for the crowd's quickly growing anger, as he was realizing fairly quick. He turned around, finding himself surrounded by an angry mob arming themselves with nearby weapons.

He felt small, smaller than he already was. He was attempting to retreat into his coat, memories of bullies surfacing in his mind. He glanced to his now missing Spirit, Cothyl. He felt so alone right now, helpless and ready to panic. "I wasn't trying to hurt anyone here, I- I was just trying to..." was all he could stammer out, his voice being lost quickly in the growing sound of the crowd. He couldn't see or hear any of the other Song Knights due to his small size, he was being overwhelmed by the cries of anger and threats slung at him.

Cothyl was ready to fight the Behemoth, but it was over before he could do anything. "At least put up a fight if you were so scary" he quickly said to no one in particular. He was considering where Randar went, when he heard the small girl's voice. He knew where this was going, and was rushing to protect Randar from what was about to happen. "Sometimes I wonder which of us is protecting the other" he continued to mumble as he navigated towards the sounds of the crowd. He knew better than to actually fight them, but he wanted to make sure they didn't dare touch Randar.

Randar was falling apart, why don't they understand? He just wanted to find Cothyl and retreat to an alley way, but that was the worst idea he had in a while. Someone, anyone, save him from this abuse. He didn't want attention, not like this. He was trying his best to come up with something to help the situation, but his mind was drawing a blank. He was facing a shut down in his mind, so much for going unnoticed.

Watching the Behemoth crash to earth, Taylor mouthed the words "Timber~" with a comfortable grin on her face. Her humour was short lived though as she heard the cackling of some nay sayer complaining about Scarlet's skeletal appearance, calling Taylor a necromancer of all things!

"Necromancer? What blind fool said that? Are you by any chance an alien? Spirits exist and can look like fucking dragons! Are you seriously that shocked by a skeleton? And so what if I was?! Were you going to kill the Behemoth? Were you going to try and kill that giant? Maybe if enough of you got turned to paste beneath its feet it would slip and crack its head open on an orphanage or a church! How pleasued you would be then. Dying to kill the monster..." Scarlet smirking with her skeleton face tossed Taylor her blade back before shaking her head as Taylor's rant continued

"People died to the Behemoth. People die every day. You see a dead begger and think 'Well that was his lot in life' or if an earthquake rocks the city, but when a Dissonance it is somehow different? Can you tell the future? I sure as hell can't. I had no idea a Behemoth would spawn in town. I reacted as soon as I could though. The beast is dead and I'm happy in the fact that I did everything I damn well could. Life is fragile. Death is simple. Celebrate while you can" with that, Taylor sheathed her blade, did a synchronised bow with Scarlet and left the way they came, heading towards the Arena.

"Charming? Oh I never would have dreamed you thought of me as such. Truly my efforts to please the fairer sex have been ceaseless, but I hadn't dreamed my efforts would ever bear such fruit!" Cass turned his gaze downwards as a cheery blush settled on his cheeks. "Though my own appeal will forever be overshadowed by your own grace and beauty. Even with your chosen profession being rather disreputable, it fails to mar the radiance of your soul that shines before me like a guiding star in the night. I am drawn to you as though a sailor in the night who has caught sight of the land upon the horizon, and with it comes everlasting salvation! For but a moment of your- Grrk!"

A sudden tightness around the Bombardier's throat left him sputtering and gagging. His hands, having been freed of their charge while he was caught in the moment, wrapped around a familiar earthen serpent that had grown angry with his continued stupidity. "Shut your mouth for a gods be damned second! Damn it, how can I be bound to such a idiot? Can you think with anything besides your lower head and notice she's already left?!"

Jormungand jerked Cass' head upwards to show him that Sienna and her Spirit had already left, not that he actually noticed the latter. He blinked in surprise noticing the sudden influx of hurried passerby's whose myriad cries of distress mingled into an incoherent mess. He quickly rose to his feet and looked about before catching a brief glimpse of a familiar red hood. Course set he ran after the departing rogue in spite of the incessant attempts by his spirit to strangle him. "Thank you my spirit friend. I shall not allow her to escape once more!"

Isabelle Kaiser

A

soft tinkling laugh escaped Isabelle's lips as she watched some creature block the boulder, and drank in the sight as a monstrosity was quickly defeated. She whistled softly, the sound summoning Sole immediately, who looked particularly indignant. "You need to warn me before you do that," He said in a high pitched voice, his eyes narrowed with anger.

"Yeah, yeah," She muttered, smiling still, "But first we should make an entrance," As she said that, she hopped down from the ledge, back onto the solid tower's flooring. She then moved down the stairs with Sole following her, her feet taking the steps two at a time. Once she reached the bottom she glanced at the floor and shrugged. "This is good enough, right?" She asked, turning to Sole.

Sole made an indifferent motion, before saying, "It's cobblestone so it'll make a quite strong golem," Isabelle nodded almost absently.

"Then lets go!" She said, putting her hand flat against the ground. Magical sparks ran off her and Sole's body before a large creature rose from, the blue sparks splaying across the ground. The creature was a dark gray, clearly identifiable as a golem. It's eyes glowed a bright red, the creatures arm as thick as a bear's body. The creature's height was 600 centimeters give or take (or about 20 feet).
Once the creature was standing straight up, it reached down it's hand and Isabelle jumped onto it, making the creature lift her up to it's shoulder. Isabelle sat down gently, and steadied herself before making the creature start walking towards the square.

"Onward my magnificent beast!" She cried dramatically, before glancing down at it. "I'll name you Atlas," She whispered lovingly.

---

---

Josiah stood in the square marveling at the chaos around him. Emotional breakdowns were definitely fun to watch and it seemed the entire square was teeming with confusion, anger and screaming people. He did notice there was one guy who seemed completely nonreactive to the complete pandemonium surrounding him. Even though he himself was not exactly freaking out, this guy just seemed almost completely deaf to what was going on around him. He drew a deep breath and exhaled with labor. This sort of situation was below his grade.

Looking around absentmindedly, Josiah noticed a large shape in the distance on top of a guard tower. Squinting, he could see some sort of giant creature as well. It appeared to be made of stone and about 20 feet high. He raised his eyebrows in astonishment and put his hand over his face. Akari copied him. What the hell do these people think they're doing?. . .

Cothyl was running quickly, on his way back to Randar. "If I see him cry, he's not gonna live this down.", he continued to mutter to no one. He was ready to give a verbal tongue lashing when he heard a voice ring out. It seems the colorful wanna-be skeleton wasn't too happy about this either. He picked up the pace, easily moving through the gaps in the crowd. Being small rocked at moments like this. He easily reached Randar and was amazed at the pitiful display he was giving.

Cothyl quickly dashed in front of him, speaking quickly. "So, this is the respect you all have? You do realize that a Behemoth appeared and before you could realize what happened, we took it down. As the skeleton girl said, a few casualties are far better than the destruction it would have caused if we weren't here. In all this confusion, you decided to trust some voice in the crowd? Put the weapons down, we did exactly what we were supposed to do." This wasn't carefully worded, he didn't care. They should be lucky he knew better than to punch the sense back into these people.

Randar was overwhelmed, until these people jumped in. The drunk was pissed, and so was Cothyl. He got up, why was he apologizing to these people? He stood up, ready to handle this. He took a deep breath and replied, "The magic I used was merely to soothe this angry mob. My magic can not in any way cause people to pass out. You dare to call a Song Knight a necromancer? We have Spirits that come in many shapes and sizes, everyone knows this. Or did you forget the Song Knight that bravely jumped in front of the cart, willing to take a boulder for the life of another? I wanted to have a calm discussion, but it seems you are ready to blame everything around you. Also, that fool on the boulder was Mary Stradford, everyone knows her. She pulls stunts like this all the time, probably wanted to enter with a splash. So, you still trust the confused words of the small girl?" He may be the smallest one here, but he felt like he was standing tall.

With an air of authority, he motioned for the crowd to part. He knew they probably wouldn't listen to him anyways. He was doing that speech as much for himself as it was for them. He wanted to talk to the mysterious girl that started this. After all, she seems to have known a lot despite how fast it happened and how little anyone here knew what happened. He walked over to the collapsed girl and knelt down on one knee, checking to see if she had a pulse or was injured. He still had time, and he had plenty of questions to ask.

---

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“The Imperial Colosseum, pride and joy of the Heart of the Imperial and the biggest and most impressive battle arena in the whole world. As the time for the festivities of the Battle Royale to begin approached the arena was getting more and more crowded and even on the Arena Square, encircling it, places to watch the competition from one of the many giant projectors set up by the organizational committee were starting to become rare. Most people, specially those on far away places resorted to watch the preparations for competition in the comfort of their homes, or in a bar among a drink or two. As the guest of honor, Ires Ralkeyk Bach, First Crown Princess and Supreme Military Commander of the Bach Empire, Da Capo's strongest Song Knight, took center at the royal tribune and planted her sword on the polished marble floor, producing a dry CLACK sound the Colloseum drew quiet. It was about time it all began.”

"People of Da Capo", Ires' powerful voice echoed through the arena and the monitors world wide, many being fascinated for being able to peer into her beauty for the first time in her life. "Today we stand here, celebrating yet another Liberation Festival. On this symbolic day that marks the downfall of the Goddess of Strife and her army of darkness as well as the beginning of a new era for all of us, we praise the sacrifices of those who fell in battle eons ago with songs, rituals and battle. And for this very last reason we are reunited here at the Imperial Colloseum, where in but a few minutes the youth of Da Capo's military academies and their Spirits will be demonstrating the power and skill that will carry on the future on this Battle Royale. Let us honor them with our voices and cheering. May the Gods, even though dead, bless us again on this day!"

As the Princess stepped away from the podium, wild cheering exploded not only through the Colosseum, but through all of Da Capo. Family, friends and even rivals have waited this day for the whole of the past year and now the time had come, for another Battle Royale to take place. Who will be the one to claim the glorious cup this year and earn fame and prestige to both themselves, their academy, country and family? This we are about to know.

Through all of Arpeggio fireworks blasted and bells towed, signaling that only half an hour was left before the competition began. Whatever competitors left should hurry themselves to the Colosseum with posthaste for the scheduled events would not be changed for no one. In the meanwhile, to entertain the public, the Imperial Theater Troupe perform a traditional play based of the legends about the final battle of the Great War and the fall of the Goddess of Strife, even though the role of the founder of Empire, Bach I, the Marshal of the North, was considerably expanded in any Imperial presentation of the play as expected of the people who literally live on pride.




Cass would find quickly that this time Sienna was prepared for his tricks, since she knew that the insistent trap knight was going to come after her either she like it or not.

"Sorry for that, I'll try to return it later!" Sienna yelled after barreling through a crowd and stealing a cask of grape juice from god knows who. The thief then cut the cork with one of her daggers, and (after taking a chug of the juice) she threw the cask up, spilling it all in a chaotic pattern, yelling "Rin! Ice Marbles!" The Ice Fairy replied with a cheery "Hai!" and with a blast of cold wind she turned the droplets of juice into thousands of tiny ice marbles, covering the street with them, making everything slick like grease.

With another sharp turn Sienna came to a bridge over the a lower level street and, waiting for Cass to be in her sight line, she said "I'm sorry, Charming, but I don't have much time to play today. I have to do the greatest heist of the century. See ya" Blowing a kiss to the Trap Knight just as the bells and fireworks began to sound through Arpeggio, Sienna dropped from the high bridge just when a hay cart was passing bellow with a destination to god knows where. In the place where she last touched the railing was another ice chrysanthemums, presumably Sienna's calling card as the Icy Thief.



"Hey, hey, boy! Don't put your cart before the horses." Claudia said taking the buffoon's hand away from Ravel, who was flustered and quivering from the sudden turn of events, "Cla-Claudia what's happening here? I'm sorry but I-I can't accept such a-" though it wasn't even necessary for Ravel to try and negate the weird man's humiliating proposal as Claudia took charge of pushing him aside and said, "Ok, that was a funny show, but if you get close to Ravel like this again, I'll punch that flute down your throat, do you hear me?"

"Let's go, Ravie, we still have to find somewhere to eat something before the competitions starts." Claudia grabbed her Spirit's hand and went away even as Ravel tried to at least offer a parting bow to the street performer, despite his rudeness.

A little time later they would find themselves into a restaurant where, among the other less remarkable patrons, there was also a couple of Song Knights and their Spirits. In fact, one of them was even known to Claudia, from last year's tournament, "Hi there, Vic!" Claudia said casually as she approached their table from the counter while Ravel carried their two orders. "You know, that was a great battle last year. I hope we can cross blades again on this year's Battle Royale."

Claudia and Ravel sat besides Victor and Aura's table, "It's nice to meet you again, Cloud and Victor, I hope my fire hasn't hurt you too much last time. Also, hello to you two", Ravel said, gesturing to both Aura and Ai, then to Claudia and herself, "I guess this is the first time we meet each other, this is Claudia Blair, my Knight and I'm Ravel, the Immortal Fire Bird. It's a pleasure meeting you." After Ravel made the formal introductions, Claudia reached forth and lightly (for her) slapped Victor's shoulder a couple times before saying between grinning teeth, "So, Vic, who's this one? She sure looks like your type. Almost makes me jealous, girl."

However, as Claudia was on the middle of her typical spiel, the signal for the stray Song Knights around the city to gather at the arena, resounded. "Oh man, it's already this late, damn, if we don't gobble this down and hurry up we will be late for the opening ceremony. Let's go, people" With this Claudia dug on her food with the rage of a thousand hungry wolves, before getting ready to move to the competition. Ravel merely shrugged and smiled at the others, before excusing herself to finish her breakfast to accompany Claudia to the arena.



Back at the market...

As the issue regarding the Dissonance seemed to only escalate and escalate further, the city guard finally made their way there. The guards scattered about, revealing the very own Captain of Guard, Ahab "Grizzly" Schwarzbart, a veteran with over forty years of service in the army who retired and joined the Guard, after losing an arm to Wolfgangian cannon fire. A no-nonsense man whose sheer experience more than makes up for the lack of magical powers, in fact he's very verbal in his hate for the fact that ever since Princess assumed command of the army, the Song Knight elitism in the high echelons of power has increased twice fold, normal humans having little to no chance of rising above the rank of Major, if they even get that far.

If it kept like this, Ires might even gain enough support to be able to convince the Imperial Senate to void the Song Knight regulation laws on Bach, which would turn the Empire into a true fascist state were the powerful elite rules and the others are forced into obedience.

"What's happening here? Control this mob immedately, use whatever force you need to but keep it nonlethal, unless they fight back." Ahab asked gesturing to his men with a commanding move of his gauntlet clad stump. "We were investigating an accusation of murder during a bar brawl a few block away from here, but the notice of Dissonance sighting takes priority, so... can anyone explain this to me?" Ahab then turned to the tremor coming from behind them and looked appealed to see how stupid these irresponsible kids should be... as expected of Song Knights, anyway.

"You there, dismiss this thing now! That's the one and only warning I'll give before placing a Sealing Order on your head. Don't you kids have any notion of the impact the power you have carry on other persons?" The old soldier blared, just at that time the bells for the competition began to resound and the fire works blasted. "I get it that you all are here for the Battle Royale, right? Since you seemed to have taken down a rampant Dissonance and saved who knows how many lives, I'll let you all slide out of this confusion with a single warning, slip again and we will be there to get you."

"Now get off my sight, you all." Ahab yelled dismissing the Song Knights in order to deal with the crowd. In this whole confusion, someone or more then one person bumped into the crouching Randar, causing him to lose sight of the mysterious girl for a fraction of a second which was more than enough for her to disappear from his sights. Who or what she is still being a total mystery. One has to wonder if it'll be solved soon?

Moros was relieved by the appearance of the guard who quickly made sure the crowd wasn't going to burn them at the stake. He was especially glad they'd arrived before the girl with the stone golem had arrived, as the crowd would've undoubtedly gotten even more angry. Some of these Song Knights looked quite powerful, he wasn't looking forward to fighting them. Regardless the situation was under control now and they'd been ordered to disperse, something Moros had no qualms doing. Without another word to anyone he began moving towards the Colosseum. He'd heard there was a play going on, he'd never had the chance to see a play before. Lefay was bored as usual and walked behind him, casually tripping people every now and then. As yet another person stumbled past him he let out a small sigh of exasperation, "Play nice Fay, if you get me in trouble again I'll ground you." Lefay snorted haughtily but obeyed all the same. She hated not being summoned even more than she liked messing with people.

Emotions were reaching a high when the guard arrived. Some booming voice was trying to restore order quickly, giving Randar a startle at the speed in which they arrived.He took his eyes off the girl for a few seconds to get a good look at this guy. The man was tall and was obviously missing an arm, no doubt from some fight in his past. He looked angry ordering the civilians to calm down and commanded a Song Knight to dismiss their Spirit. Randar was in no position to spot the Spirit, being on one knee in a crowd. No doubt probably trying to show hate for the skeleton, he thought to himself as he turned back to the girl.

He was speechless, he looked away for no longer than 10 seconds, but she vanished. Everyone was dispersing, no hope to find her now. Over the roar of the crowd, Randar heard the fireworks and bells ringing. He didn't have much time, so he left as well. His small size once again allowing him to leave unnoticed. He still had a couple things on his list. Signing in, getting Cothyl up to size, and figuring out his opponent to work out a strategy. Surprise should be a strong opening, but it won't work a second time. Round one was his concern, a couple of Song Knights looked tough.

A skeleton with a dangerous fire that he could tell would hinder him if it hit. A smug man on a throne with animated golems. Some guy confident his shield could stop a boulder from crushing him like a grape. Oh god, the boulder, he cursed himself. Mary was always the wild card, her plans somehow blew up or worked despite the odds. He did not want to have to fight her, someone else please. Then there was Zachary, who's Spirit was a dark element. If they fought, it wouldn't last long, both being effective against each other. There were still more unknowns that would be there, that was the hard part to prepare for.

With a sigh, he took the back roads to the arena, he had enough being in the spotlight for the moment. A couple bad calls really got to him. If that was a fight, he would have lost right there. With shame and resolve, he wasn't gonna have that happen again. He glanced at Cothyl, about 4 feet, gonna need more size. After signing in and checking for the match up, he got a bit to eat and waited on a nice patch of grass until it was time to fight in the Battle Royal. There was a play going on, but he wasn't interested in watching it. Cothyl should be 16 feet tall easily by the time it started, gotta play with their expectations. If they think that's his maximum size, then round two will be even better. Randar couldn't help but get lost in his fantasies on seeing their face at losing to his superior brains and brawn.

Isabelle Kaiser

I

sabelle approached the square loudly sat atop her golem, her eyes glowing with an incomparable emotion beyond them. As she got closer though, a guard interrupted the event, and gave her a petulant glance. Immediately he demanded the dismissal of Atlas, causing a frown to paint itself across her mouth. "But Atlas is sentient! I can't just dismiss him." The lie leaving her lips as she wore an exaggerated pout. Despite her protests the guard seemed to be unconcerned, and she let out a sigh. Isabelle made the creature lower her to the ground before causing it to lay down and fall apart.

In the distance fireworks exploded signaling that there now remained only half an hour before the tournament began. "That's our cue!" She said happily, leaving the square quickly. Isabelle's feet covered ground swiftly as she ran her fingers over her greatsword's hilt. Her smile stayed on her face easily as she looked at her aurroundings.

~Farrah Gilden~

The situation concerning the speeding “comet” and the random appearance of a Dissonance was of no concern to one particular Song Knight. Mainly because she was barely aware of it, the skies keeping her mind clear of those distractions and focused on the tournament coming ahead.

Farrah Gilden had always liked fast travel and quite frankly, Ravielin was the fastest option. The Spirit held her Song Knight tightly with both arms wrapped around her, powerful wings keeping them aloft and aimed straight for the Colosseum like an airborne bullet.

Looking down, Farrah could see a small gathering of what appeared to be rioting townsfolk and an even smaller group of Song Knights. Well then. What had happened there? Ravielin did not dip down to scope it out. If Farrah wanted to investigate, she would have said so. Otherwise, there was no point in getting involved.

After all, they were already running behind schedule in getting to the tournament.

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It was finally time, the Battle Royale had just began (all Song Knights had been taken to the Colosseum), the battles would be held in a deathmatch style, each participant being eliminated from the tournament as soon as they lost a match.

To lessen the risk of serious injuries -or worse- happening during the tournament, each duo of Song Knight and Spirit would have a shield spell of identical power cast over them, said shield would get damage as they were hit, once the shield broke a combatant would be declared loser. Furthermore, the fights have a 90 seconds (3 posts for each side) timer, to avoid long, dragged out matches, whoever does the most damage during this time wins.

Also, to protect the public, the whole arena floor is circled by a barrier, though it's very tough it's no unbreakable, thereby attacks intentionally targeting the area where the public is seated are forbidden, doing so will not only disqualify a participant as well as set them under an immediate Restraining Order.

All matches of a given round are held at the same time in one of the separate rings of the arena floor. The Match Pairings, decided randomly, would be the following:

#01: Claudia Blair vs Ueno Lauden
#02: Farrah Gilden vs Moros Vorsickle
#03: Cass Mormont vs Victor Strom
#04: Tylor Sinclair vs Aura Kalstov
#05: Mary Stradford vs Isabelle Kaiser
#06: Josiah Everett vs Randar Xenil
#07: Zachary Arc vs ***
#08: *** vs ***

Participants who don't show on the battle arena within prior 15 minutes (01 week from this post) their match time will be considered losers by default.

With the rules of the battle announced, it was up for the Song Knights and their Spirits to show their shining melodies for the eager public.

Let the Games begin!

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Finally arriving at the Imperial Coliseum, Randar was a little surprised at being the first one there. Guess the back roads were shorter routes. He gave a shrug, it worked out either way for him. After quickly filling out his papers, he decided to look up the list for the opponents. Lets see here, it was him versus... Josiah Everett. Randar had no idea who that was, that was the bad news. Looks like he needed to keep a look out for this guy when he finally showed up.

Being so early, he also went to check how the rules worked around here. After reading a few paragraphs, he stopped. His eyes fixed on a seemingly normal detail. To no one in particular, he ended up blurting out, "No no no no, shields? We are using shields? That's ridiculous." He knew safety was a concern for the audience. After all, Innocent bystanders could be hurt otherwise. Shields meant fairness on both sides, helping the weak stand up to the strong. Shields can't be healed, they don't care about elemental weaknesses and strengths. They probably didn't take into account the toughness of the person it was cast on. The use of shields left him standing there. His plan, was now useless.

He went into overdrive trying to come up with a new plan. Lucky he arrived so early, he needed time to change his plan. He placed his hands over his head, this wasn't how his competition went. With a loud groan, he started to pace around the room. 90 second rounds, that was the only good part. It meant an all in shot would be fine if it came down to it.

Maybe the rules would shake up his opponent as well, not likely. Death match rules, he didn't have a second chance if he let this detail beat him. He quickly headed outside and told Cothyl, "The plan changed, we're going with the second round plan."

Cothyl just looked at him and replied, "Are you alright? You look pretty shaken up." Randar wasn't usually this freaked out. Not before the big fight he was waiting for, guess something changed. With a nod, Cothyl headed a distance from the Coliseum, if he wanted plan B, then there was no point to avoiding people. He almost felt bad for the opponent, at least it was still a nice day. He should be able to prepare plan B in time.

Randar sat down. A bigger target was a risk, but if Cothyl landed a hit, the match would be over pretty fast. No time to mess around, he won't be beaten on the first round. At least he could take a chance and do some small chat with the other competitors as they arrived, well except Mary. In the meantime, he got lost in his thoughts on how he was gonna pull this off.

~Farrah Gilden~

“So everyone gets a shield spell, huh? Makes sense since we’re not supposed to be killing each other,” Farrah said to herself, looking over one of the tacked rule sheets. She had underestimated the sheer size and mass of the coliseum and had to wonder if the Imperials always lavished in spectacles of battle and fatigue. Well, nothing she could do about it now.

Hands in her jacket pocket, she walked around the massive arena and waited for the other Song Knights to show up. The seats of the stadium were slowly being filled in but it was nowhere near as packed as she expected it to be. Seems everyone, even the audience, were running late today.

“Oh well. Like the rules said, fifteen minutes means a penalty,” she murmured to no one in particular. Then she noticed a boy, probably another Song Knight arrived early. He seemed to be wandering much like her with nothing to do. Sighing, she walked over to talk to Rander.

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