To say that Kiara was relieved at the sight of backup was a gross understatement. Granted she wanted to cave Lucien's face into a wall at the moment for making her wait this long for an arrival, but she supposed she could let it slip. Assuming the Flame Haze did his duty. Sight of her fellow comrade in arms gave her the determination she needed to press on the attack, ignoring his banter for now if only to keep herself from getting bitten by the rapid dog-like Denizens. So enthralled was she in the heat of the fight that she almost never took notice of the strange form running through the Fuzetsu. The hell?
"Keep them back. I'm going to go check that out," she called out to Lucien, dashing off to this strange new presence. Given his late work, it was the least he could do to get himself back in her favor. Ignoring that for now, Kiara was astonished that neither a Flame Haze, Denizen, or even a Torch walked the battlefield. What was she chasing? Narrowing it down via a process of elimination, she could was left with the possibility that she was pursuing a rare, special kind of Torch. One that allowed them to walk freely through the frozen time fields. A Mystes.
"Huh? What did just happened? Why is the world- Argh!" A
girl with long, white hair, who looked to be a foreigner student, walked distraught through the college's grounds, completely oblivious to the world around her as she gazed in awe at the crimson hue of the Seal's sky as well as the distant wall of midnight blue flames that marked its boundaries. Wondering why everyone around her suddenly got frozen as if under the effect of some magic spell.
That is, she did so, until she noticed the monsters, preying on the the frozen people and, at the same moment, they noticed her,causing the girl to panic and begin to run away, seeking shelter inside the nearest building, despite the fact that she couldn't outrun the four-legged creatures. Unavoidably she got stuck in the entrance of the building, trying to hide under a clerk's desk.
"What is happening here? Am I having a nightmare? There's no other explanation, but all of this seems way too real... what should -" Luck wasn't on the girl's side, though as it turned out that she had been found in her cover by a creature that looked like a hideous mix of man and raven, armed with a crooked scythe. Doing the best she could do to protect herself, which was merely cross her arms before her face, the girl was ready to face her end.
The Denizen in question gave off a malicious shriek that would have chilled the blood of any human. It hacked away with its scythe in a crude manner, sending apart wooden chips and splinters from the slowly decreasing desk. Soon it would lay its blade into its prey, consuming the girl's existence and giving her a bloodless end. Or so it thought, the monster's actions brought to a lurching halt as a blade was plunged into its chest. It cried out in shock and outrage, swinging its weapon to and fro with a maddening glee before dissolving away into the flames of nothingness.
What was once creature, now stood Kiara who reached a hand out for the girl to take. Her expression was unreadable and more curious than anything else. How had a Mystes entered this domain in the first place? Unless she was a student who had been half-consumed? That didn't explain who or what had placed the Treasure Tool inside this girl, assuming it wasn't the work of the Rinne. So then...just who was this girl? Questions would have to be answered later, Kiara motioning for the girl to hurry it up lest she leave her behind. After all, the other students still needed saving.
"Hmm..." The girl wasn't even sure of what was happening anymore. If this was a dream, it was the most realistic one she ever had, all the feelings were far too acute even the faint moment of relief at having her attacker disappear before her eyes in a plume of fire not unlike the one that burned in the distant sky, only to be substituted by a mysterious girl that didn't even looked older than her, wielding some sort of contrived weapon and gesturing her to follow, without saying a single word.
Despite all these suspicious things, the girl followed Kiara, after all Kiara looked human and had saved her, it was much better than those monsters, any time. After the initial rush fueled by self preservation instincts, the white-haired girl seemed more calm, though and trailed after Kiara without resistance, only ever taking the time to ask
"Would you-would you mind to tell me what's happening? This looks like a dream but, everything just feels too real. What are those monsters and why are they attacking us?" After a moment of apprehension, the girl said one last thing, before waiting for Kiara's reply, if it was going to come at all,
"I'm sorry for not doing it earlier but, thank you for saving me. I'm Haruka, Haruka Yoritomo, from Japan... can you tell me your name?"Kiara really, really,
really had hoped the girl had kept her mouth shut. Because it was going to take a while to try and explain all of this. That was partially why she had said nothing to begin with and when this Haruka began to ask rapid fire, she winced. Alright, let's see here. What was the abridged version to put some logic into all of this? She wracked her brain, occasionally slicing apart any stray Denizens that got in her way before the bare basics formed in her head. Somewhat.
"Name's Kiara Bastion. As you can probably guess, this stuff usually doesn't happen a lot in America. What I can tell you is that these monsters are called Denizens and if we don't stop them soon they'll consume everyone in the school. They'll be dead...and worse," she said, hoping her tone would register just how serious this is.
"Uh...let's see here...you're not in a dream, this is real, take the blue pill, all that fun stuff. The Denizens attack because they're hungry. Don't think about it too much lest you get some certain other ideas about us...oh yeah by the way, I'm what's called a Flame Haze. We hunt Denizens and...that's about it.""I see, that certainly explains a lot. I think that I can make do with that much for the time being but, why is it that I'm the only normal person not frozen? I think that's not how this types of scenarios should play. At least not according to the common sense." Haruka said as she kept on following Kiara around, trying as best as she could to not get on the Flame Haze's way or endanger herself.
"You don't need to tell me now if it's a bother, I know I may not live to see this through, it might as well be words thrown to the wind. Or something like this." By the time Haruka finished speaking, they back at the center of the courtyard, where most Rinne gathered. Also, Chiara and Seere seemed to finally have arrived (or maybe they were here even before that but fighting another battle?) and with theirs and Lucien's help the number of Denizens had been thinned considerably.
There was at least enough time for Chiara to come to Kiara and Haruka, saying
"We are sorry for the delay, Unilyst, Seere and I encountered a group of Rinne preying on some humans at a crossroads nearby and had to take care of them. By the way, who's that Torch? Could it be that she's a Mystes? That would be the most unlikely of the surprises of tonight."For her part, Kiara remained silent as she scanned the battlefield. It was good to see that more Flame Haze had arrived, otherwise this might have turned out more bloodier than expected. Crossing her arms, she nodded curtly to Chiara and Seere while letting them interrogate Haruka. As someone who didn't exactly work or communicate at large with the other Flame Hazes, Kiara was no doubt going to be getting some flack from Chiara. Well she mentally prepared herself for the snark and wit, eye twitching just in preparation alone.
"Huh? Torch... or rather, Mystes? What does this mean?" Haruka asked, wondering the meaning of Chiara's words, just before she was interrupted by a low chuckle coming from the Archer of Aurora, who was looking at Kiara with a very acid gaze... one had to wonder why, though.
"Oh? Did I say something wrong, Unilyst? Or is it just because you like-" Before Chiara could finish her snarky remark, she was interrupted by her Crimson Lords, who scolded her
"Oh my, Chiara. That's no way to greet an ally. We are sorry, Unilyst, sometimes things like this just happen. It's not like our small Chiara means anything bad... right?"It was a good thing Chiara's Crimson Lords had spoken when she did because Kiara already had a swift retort planned just for her. Honestly, what was Chiara's deal with her? Sometimes she felt like the other Flame Haze intentionally picked verbal fights. Of course, Kiara was totally not in the blame as well. It wasn't like she gave off quick pot shots as well. Completely unheard of from her. She totally didn't flash Chiara a sly grin as she was scolded by her contracted.
"Well, I think it's more or less like that. I'm sorry." Chiara apologized to Kiara, before turning back to Haruka,
"We'll explain everything later. Please, try to keep close to us and nothing will happen to you. I promise."However, it would not be long before Seere's voice would cut the girls' chatter, right about the same time that a feeling of intense dread would begin to fill the whole courtyard.
"Well, Ladies, I know what they say on Japan about three woman gathered in a single place but, I guess this isn't the best time for chit-chat. We seem to have a very unwelcome guest arriving just right now." And, indeed the had, as the cawing of a murder of crows coming out of nowhere would be the first herald of the being that just manifested before the Flame Haze gathered at Harvard.
"Good evening, Flame Haze, I believe that you have just found something that belongs to me. I would appreciate if you could turn the Mystes back, she has a Treasure Tool I have been seeking for centuries." The deep, imperious voice of no one other than the very target they came to hunt, the Weaver of Dreadful Legends, Shitiri, commanded as the Crimson Lord extended her hand to beckon Haruka.
"How intimidating," Kiara finally spoke up, not at all fazed by the form Shitiri had conjured up for them. She, like many others, just had to wonder...what the hell had Shitiri been reading? Seriously, all of her Rinne looked like ripoffs from a certain novel...or two...or few. Regardless of the Weaver's poor taste in monster design, Kiara stepped in front of Haruka protectively with eyes gleaming every slightly. She pointed Volunta at the mass of crows, daring for Shitiri to make a move.
"Didn't you know Weaver? If you keep losing your possessions, I don't think you can consider it yours anymore, right? I found her first, so you can think of it like this. As of this moment, Haruka Yoritomo is under my jurisdiction and mine to do with. Never let it be said a Flame Haze shies from responsibility, right? Unless you want to try and take her away from me?" she challenged with a confident grin.
The feeling of shock at Kiara's sudden words of protection, defying a Denizen that had killed countless of her Flame Haze peers over the spam of the ages, was made almost physical by the look of disbelief that everyone gave to the Unilyst of the Court. Sure, Chiara and Seere weren't going to yield as well, but fighting Shitiri and pretty much goading her to attack were two different things. Even the Weaver seemed surprise, a smirk filled with scorn being the undeniable proof that she wasn't expecting to be lectured like that but a mere Flame Haze... at least not one that wasn't at least as powerful as the Flame Haired Burning Eyed Hunter.
However, above everyone, the most shocked was Haruka, whose face was painted in a light shade of red
"What are you saying? I'm yours... to protect?" It seemed that the young Mystes didn't even had the words to express her feeling of confusion. After all that happened just in a few minutes, what else could she do?