@Zelosse
@Lucius Cypher
@liferusher
@FamishedPants
@Ryofu

Ouch.

Perhaps not the brightest idea. In most cases the idea of jumping off a building into a pile of hay might sound like a fantastic idea in theory, but then you shortly realize that you are falling from a solid height into hardly any cushioning and that this wasn’t assassin’s creed.

But thankfully it was a good enough idea to where Maria didn’t take the brunt end of a powerful magical attack that seemed to have destroyed part of the roofing and caused a huge explosion. But not as much as the swole cat of explosions would have

“Crap,” Maria said to herself, holding her side as if in extreme pain. Though she could currently fight in the highest condition of her life, it felt terrible and she would have to grit her teeth to accomplish anything productive. Likely a rib or two was smashed when she hit the floor. Perhaps a bit better than potentially breaking her literal ass. But terrible nonetheless.

Maria could hardly breath. She would have to seek attention sometime latter. Probably nothing more than a few fractures, but even a few fractures were not pleasant to deal with. And if she was to move constantly while her rib was potentially broken, she would likely cause internal organ damage. Which, even with her blessing to prevent her from losing combat prowess with increased injuries, would likely be her end. It wasn’t as if the effects of “damage” were useless on Maria. It was more so that Maria had a fixed amount of “battlefield prowess” and any damage regardless of how potent would not decrease her ability to fight in the slightest. Even if she had lost her heart she would likely continue to fight for moments after the fact, aware that she was “dead” but not “dead yet”.

So therefore she chose to prop herself up on the side of the building, attempting to regulate her body. She needed medical attention, but at the very least she wasn’t in any threat of “dying” as we spoke. Her heart was still beating and her lungs were still filling with air. Nevermind that metallic taste in her mouth.

“Oi, Malakaus, are you alright?” Maria asked. He had taken the brunt of the attack, and it looked like he was feeling it. Maria had hardly felt any of the explosion besides it propelling her downward when she had fallen. Under normal circumstance, Maria likely would not have been as damage by this attack, but the explosion had disoriented her fall and shifted her position.

That was around the time where a certain individual had appeared before Maria. A bystander who had nothing to do with the whole incident. He appeared at first glance to be an adventurer, and judging by his statement, he appeared to be here to help out.

“I’m alright. but I don’t give a damn about myself. If my men are hurt I want you to attend to them first. I am Maria von Hohenzollern of the Iron Bell Knights. Bless your heart. I must once again rely on the kindness of strangers.”

Maria cared more about ensuring that both the pedestrians and her own men were alright over her own life. Even if she was in pain, visibly so, she seemed determined to provide those she wanted to protect first before she had received her own aid.

Grasping her side to quell her ache, Maria looked around the area to see the sword the man had once used for himself in the area where Malakaus was currently. It was a strange sword. It seemed to have made others confused, but for whatever reason Maria didn’t feel the same way about the sword while around it. Perhaps it was all in their head? She did want to check the sword out though. It seemed to have a language on the blade that Maria could hardly recognize, but felt that she could read it if given the chance to. She needed to study what the blade is. Perhaps it was something to do with the man’s affiliation with another group? Or perhaps it was something darker. But Maria was a scholar who had to know what was going on with it.

“Malakaus, let me see that blade. As a member of the Iron Bell, its my responsibility to deal with such artifacts. I don't know why he was carrying such a junker sword, but I think it has to do with one of his allegiances.”

Alex Butler



@Lucius Cypher
Hell On Earth. For anyone who ever wanted to paint a portrait of what such an event would look like, Alex got the feeling the scene before him would be one of the top contenders. It was absolute chaos everywhere he looked. The fire burned everything in sight, smoke blotted out the better part of the sky, people were screaming and running, and along with people tossing buckets of water at it, he could see some individuals were calling down rain from what seemed like thin air on the largest flame pillars.

It was all too much for the young man to take. He could only stand there, frozen like a statue, and watch what unfolded before him. Any chance of this being just a show had turned to ashes almost instantly. W-What is this? What's going on here? W-Where the heck am I?! He wasn't sure what to do...for crying out loud, what COULD he even do?! The scenario before him looked like the kind of thing one would see in a Hollywood Movie! Not the kind of thing that would happen in real life!

He was brought out of his thoughts when an Elven woman barged past him roughly enough that he was nearly knocked off his feet, "O-Oi! Watch it!" Still, although he didn't admit it, he was thankful she crashed into him when she did as he had been brought back to reality. A quick look around was all the proof he needed that there were enough experts here to keep things under control....which meant he was free to follow his only real lead on what was going on here!

W-Whoa! Wait a second, Alex! The rational part of his brain chimed in. Before you go off and try to pretend like you're frekkin Superman, stop and use your head for ten flipping seconds! Surprisingly, Alex actually decided to listen. Now, I'm pretty sure you've watched enough anime in your spare time to pick up on the signs we're likely heading into a death trap if we decide to follow that girl! That...was enough to make him stop.

Obviously, if somebody set off this fire, they're incredibly dangerous, could kill you in a heartbeat, and you...well, you're a nice guy but you're likely to be more of a liability than any actual help to that lady! Besides, how do you know she's not the one who caused this whole mess?!

That's when he decided to shoot back. That maybe a possibility, sure...but if she plans to face the culprit alone, she's in just as much danger! Besides... He bent down and picked up a couple bricks lying around, putting them in one of the socks he pulled from his bag. That lunatic could still be around here...and I intend to make him or her pay for what they've done!

...You realize if you somehow make it out of this alive, she's gonna tear you a new one, right? Typical cliche...

Perhaps... He picked up his bag. But as a certain Caped Baldy once said....Heroes don't do what they do because they want to be thanked. He took off in the direction the Elven lady had been going.

The golden sword that had rested upon Mithril his back had fallen off and was shoved Tani her way. Tani casted a curious look upon the blade, this was quite an... odd blade. Tani gazed at the spot the man was standing on only to notice that he had gone now. She clicked her tongue once more and gazed around the area. Looked like the others were onto something. her gaze slid over towards the sword again which she found quite alluring to the eyes. Tani shook her head for a moment as she looked back at the group again. Malakaus was one of the only ones really hurted by the fire. His armor had molted against his skin but he mostly appeared to be fine. He was after all quite a though guy so she couldn't expect else wise. For some reason it didn't bother Tani as much as it usually did that someone was hurted. She felt half assed, she couldn't be bothered by it at all so to say. Tani gazed at the sword again and took a few steps closer to it. Tani bended over and laid her hand on the handle of the sword. Slowly her hand folded around it, she rose it up closer to her eyes to behold the blade closely. Her eyes sparkled, it was pretty, a real nice artifact, she might use it from now on. Yea that was a good idea, using the blade instead of her own.

The ancient letters on the blade slowly lit up from the handle towards the top. Tani felt power rise in her body. Tani held the blade pointed towards the sky in one hand. Her head tilted downcast to the street as shadow gloomed over her face. Tani was quiet, the only thing that changed to the setting was her expression. Her lips twitched a little as the corners of her mouth lifted upwards into a sinister smile. Her half burned down hair waved with the wind together with the burning ash flowing with the wind past her.



Everyone from before that was in the alleyway had dashed off to other things. The penguin had made his way off with the dog and the knight from any child's dream had started following the comedic duo. Shiina gazed around, she was all alone again, she thought the knight would have helped her but unfortunate he hadn't. Shiina slowly started moving again, through the dark alleys searching for shelter. She passed by a few locals but didn't feel the need to ask the way or ask if they knew a sleeping place. It was hard to approach others. She got the looks from them but no word at all.

After half an hour walk she stumbled upon a very lit up place. By now she would have thought most people had fallen asleep already but these guys still had people walking around on the courtyard. Shiina glanced inside the walled off place through the port. It looked warmer there, the only problem was these two guards from the Ironbell standing in her way. Shiina acted like she didn't see them and tried strolling inside past their spears. The spears were cast down before her in cross like manner. She was told to back off, she couldn't enter this place they said. Shiina acted like nothing happened and wanted to crawl under their cross but they were quick to adjust it to her eye height once more close to the ground. Shiina shocked back a little and sat on the heels of her feet in front of the two guards. She tilted her head to the side in question.

---

---

"Testing a metia?" the man repeated.

If he could remember correctly, a metia was essentially a magical artifact that were capable of odd things. There was a small chance he might have believed her, if only her delivery was not botched like it was. His doubt was evident in his tone, but instead of pressing the matter, he continued walking in the direction of the Crescent Moon.

"I see."

Keeping his head facing forwards and away from her, Heinrich hid a quiet sigh from the woman. He would have preferred she merely just tell him that she didn't want to say anymore instead of making excuses, but there was likely a reason for that. Maybe she was not capable of properly explaining it? She could still be confused on the phenomenon that occurred. And while it did pique Heinrich's interest, he was not going to push the subject any further, as promised. It was simply none of his business and since she either seemed as though she had no intention of speaking about it in detail, or that she couldn't, he would leave it at that.

"It matters no regardless. Instead what matters is that I find my attendant and-" the Celestia had begun to say, only to stop mid-sentence.

A bit confused as to her sudden quietness, Heinrich stopped and turned to face her, only to notice she was visibly perturbed by something, but the young man was not quite sure what that something was. And as soon as she had stopped, she started up again only to head off in a completely wrong direction.

Isn't that a symptom of some kind of illness?

Ford could not help but to wonder if this woman had some form of attention-span problem. It was kind of random and sudden to just take off like she did. But it was not as though he had anything better to do, and he would probably be better off with her than alone considering all the commotion that was going on today. So, after a few brief moments to think it over, Heinrich was now following Vesta, though he was not sure where this woman had decided she had suddenly wanted to go.

....Nani?

A strange sight stood before them as Celestia had finally came to a stop a few streets down. It was some sort of cosplayer with an exaggerated sword in a stance that clearly indicated she was intending to wipe this poor normie girl from the face of the Earth, err, well, technically it was no longer Earth, was it? Either way, this situation was not very "good" and required some fast talking, were the objective to stop said girl from possibly dying a gruesome death. Assuming the cosplayer didn't hyperventilate and die on the spot, as it also appeared as though she was incapable of properly finishing the job. Seeing a pitiful, crying young woman and a cosplayer who ran out of breath while swinging a sword at said woman was... a bit sad, a very confusing. A bit entertaining, too.

Speaking of breath, the cosplayer had suddenly sneezed when Vesta called out to her. Rather than fire snot, she fired... well, fire. That certainly wasn't normal at all. Where did all the normal go?

Hmm, fire magic of sorts? I haven't seen anybody blow it out of their mouth like a dragon though.

That is when it hit Heinrich that the girl was probably cosplaying like a dragon. Or maybe she was one? He caught part of a popular story (or was it this world's history) about a dragon, but he had never seen one before. He didn't know if they were extinct or what, but if this girl was no simple cosplayer, then he was worried about how someone who looks so human had dragon in them. Could dragons transform into people, or was there some breeding between a human and a dragon? That was...

...probably painful.

As it turned out, though, Vesta was at least acquainted with this fire-sneezing woman. Of course she was. Heinrich worried about the company that she kept, and hoped that this was as weird as it got. He may have been a bit weird himself, but aside from the NEET part of it, he could at least blame his "blessing" for that.

Vesta seemingly spoke to this cosplayer dragon as though she were her superior, though, and by the way she walked out there with nothing to arm her, Heinrich figured she had this under control. And that turned out to be the case, as instead of attacking the unarmed Vesta, the cosplayer merely complained about the other girl calling her a "Horned Freak" and something about an explosion harming her.

Why was this girl exploding? Why was she sneezing fire? What was even going on anymore?

Many questions swirled round and round in Heinrich's mind, but more questions arose as he kept thinking about it. So eventually... Heinrich stopped thinking entirely.

Dwelling on the oddity of the situation was going nowhere, so he figured he may as well go with the proverbial flow here. "You seem to keep yourself in... interesting company, Celestia." Ford commented, turning his eye towards this dragon cosplayer. His eyes held a piercing glare, the kind you see in most shitty OC sheets might imagine a king would give a peasant when ordering them around. Of course, his tone contradicted his condescending face by sounding rather bored, and in truth it was because at this particular moment and in the lighting, such a face was apparently the most "aesthetic" according to his "blessing".

"Perhaps she was trying to give you treatment?" he suggested, in his bored voice. "I can't say she appears to be too threatening. Especially when she can't into color coding XDDDDD"

Around this time, Dante had effectively parkoured down onto the ground and was readying himself to presumably put his blade towards the dragon's throat. Heinrich wanted to scream. He hated being around people to begin with, and he wasn't good at dealing with commotion in the first place. Something had to give, he was only here for a minute!

Assuming that Vesta didn't decide to launch an attack at the boy, and assuming that the dragon cosplayer was either caught or simply evaded without retaliation, Heinrich would go on to close his eyes and mentally scream at the fact that he couldn't physically scream.

Vesta Celestia

....By the gods.
Vesta could only marvel at the childishness and stupidity displayed by both Zin and this younger girl. All she could do was groan into the hand she now rubbed her temple with. She was used to such things from Avery as well, but he was a special case.
"Ms Parallex...this girl is harmless. Even if she tried something I doubt she would last a moment against you. Then again that...display earlier has me doubting your combat prowess." Vesta shook her head in slight disbelief. She was still grasping to comprehend everything which was going on. When she had sensed Zin nearby she had thought it prudent to regroup with her then find Avery.
Maybe she should've just ignored it.
"As Mr Ford here said. She might've simply been trying to help you. Though as to why she wanted to help someone she doesn't know is unknown to me. Most folk try to keep to themselves, especially weaklings like herself. I can only assume she is either naive, stupid or kindhearted. Then again all three can go hand in hand."
Vesta looked up just as Dante came parkouring down the rooftop with a 'you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me-fuck-off' look on her face as much like Heinrich she was simply over meeting new people for the day. However as he bought his sword up he would now find it clattering off of a stone wall which appeared between him and Zin.
"....." Vesta couldn't believe this. She just couldn't believe the aducity of this man who just came running in, pointed a sword at Zin and then accuse them of kidnapping this girl! Vesta had been insulted and poked fun of at all day and by the gods she was over it all at this point. First that bloody hero now this wannabe.
"Mr Ford I believe you should attend to the girl there. Make sure she is calmed down and ok. Ms Parallex stand back. Once we find Avery I'll see to it they attend to your wounds." Vesta turned and spoke to her two 'companions' in turn before turning her stone cold gaze onto Dante. One could almost see the fiery anger burning behind them and if it was anime you would definitely see flames of anger erupting.
"Watch your tone boy. You dare accuse a Celestia of a crime of the caliber of kidnapping? I believe I must ask you for your proof to this claim. But as I know you don't have any, seeing as I didn't commit such an act, I'll just assume you've been sent here to slander my family's name. As such I will have no qualms with grinding you between two very large, very heavy boulders." Vesta hissed as the ground shook violently and ominously. Almost as if to forewarn or foreshadow something.
"However if you kneel before me and beg me for forgiveness I might simply let you get off with a minor beating."

@liferusher@Lucius Cypher@ADamnFiddle

Mithril rested with his back against what he assumed was the opposing buildings wall, his functioning hand was held against the large open wound he had suffered at the hands of Malakaus and a helping hand from gravity. It had torn open rather painfully just a few inches more and had begun to bleed rather profusely. Though his name was Blackblood it was nothing more than a moniker given to him somewhere along the road of his life, the blood flowing out was a deep crimson.
The wound would be fatal if he didn't staunch the blood flow quickly.

Standing up with a light grunt, the pain was unfelt thanks to his years in demented service to that horrible blade, he put his right hand a few inches from the wound. Having mastered the art it wasn't necessary to perform a chant for this particular effect.

"Goa.."

His voice was almost a whisper but the flames would always hear. His hand ignited for a brief instant before he slammed the mass of flames onto his wound. Over the next minute or so he coaxed the flames across his wound, the sick smell of cooked flesh and burning hair assaulted his senses until at last the wound was sealed. Shaking his hand to dissipate, he finally took a glance at his surroundings.
The fog was dissipating but it wouldn't be long before a group caught up to him. They hadn't been all that far away to begin with. Already he could hear shouts and hollers for aid and a group to round up and capture him. At least that's what he assumed.

The sword was throbbing in his mind even now, demanding he retrieve it at aNY and all costs. It would not be wielded by another swordsman after having bonded for so long with his mind.
The domination of Mithril Blackblood had been difficult but beneficial. One of the few welders that still fought back against the oppressive will of its cruel master. It enjoyed crushing his stubborn spirit at every turn.

Mithril moved quickly as the fog finally dissipated. Without the caster in sight to sustain the spell it had no choice but to fade, but the swordsman knew such spells could be tracked by the original caster. That same feeling guided him to where the sword was relentlessly.
Through a backdoor he entered the nearest building, blissfully unlocked in the commotion as an older man fled the home after realizing the roof had caught fire along with the wooden beams on the top floor. His panic was Mithrils opportunity.

Closing and locking the door behind him, the mage rushed to the stairs and followed them up before spotting an open window looking out across the alleyway, the very same one he had leapt across earlier when he had been forced to reposition, and saw the wreckage he had caused with but one of his castings.
Down below in the throng of people gathering was the sword.
His sword. In the hands of that very young Knightess he had used as a springboard in his flight.
The opposition was getting close and he had to hurry. Backtracking his way to the still smoldering roof he ran and leapt, just barely crossing the threshold and into the blackend scar of the first building into a chaotic roll as he slid across the ash covered planking on the top floor. Getting to his feet, he cast a glimpse at his limp arm and grimaced.
With a dull aching SNAP he slammed his shoulder into the nearest sturdy surface and sighed in relief as he tested his arm. It would need time to heal properly. For now it would have to serve.

Mithril reached into his coat and pulled out the two daggers he kept stashed there. The opportunity to strike would come. for now he whispered in his mind for patience.

Everything seemed to happen so fast, as Zin was starting to think she overreacted to the situation, a large muscular man appeared from the shadows behind of Vesta and before the dragon woman could warn Vesta the man stood next to the silver-haired lady and spoke in a bored tone of voice. The lavender-haired dragon started to become annoyed with how many people she was meeting today when Vesta talked about Zin's combative skill the dragon stared at her silver-haired companion before giving her an excuse." It's just my sword arm Vesta I've gotten a." She stopped herself from saying a bad injury and simply told her." I got a flesh wound and became winded is all."

Zin held back on wanting to punch the girl in the face that called her another strange word she didn't understand the word, but some part of her felt that she was insulting her and it was getting on her nerves. The dragon woman didn't hear Dante coming down from the rooftop. but she sure as hell noticed when he dropped down in front of her and the girl that insulted her with strange words.

The guy attempted to put his blade at her throat Zin quickly threw herself backwards and into a roll just at the right time when Vesta brought up a large stone wall from the ground. The dragon woman released a heavy sigh feeling just as angry or even more than her companion." Really now this fool too ? " She spoke aloud to herself." There is nothing about this whole scenario that doesn't make me want to stop myself from gutting both this fool and this girl in a blinding rage. I'm starting to despite these two so immensely, that I can't tell if my vision is going blurry from my loss of blood or my unforgiving rage. If allowed I'll decapitate the both of you with an honest to god smile on my face." She spoke in a calming tone despite how angry she felt.

In the blink of an eye Dante was found right next to Aya. Aya shocked backwards from the sudden presence of him obviously a little bit startled by him. In awe she sat there looking up at him, she wondered how he could have found her as fast as that. Well he had those ears of him but she doubted they would have been so accurate. It was after all quite a walk to the tavern they were at just now. This made her sudden wake up in that alley just then only weirder and weirder. With tears still stuck in her eyes she muttered at her own.



Vesta was trying to stop Zin from making this situation any worse. She called Aya weak and all and to be honest she did found herself powerless against this demon girl. Even if she lived in a very modern age where everyone had their specialties she had never done anything about her fighting capabilities. She was truly desperate against this dragon. Her eye twitched when Vesta called her a naive and stupid.



She gave a mad pout at Vesta while tears were still in the corner of her eyes. She regained some sort of composer and stood up again with her body still trembling. She had her body turned half away from them with one hand holding her other upper arm.



Her eyes were cast on the ground out of pure shame. Why did she feel so vulnerable from just now. At least there were people in her favor right now so she didn't have the fear of being killed as much as before. Well that was only till Zin spoke about gutting Aya and the others. Aya tilted her head further down to the ground looking quite uncomfortable. She took a few steps to stand behind Dante which was readying his blade at the dragon. She looked a the other man that had come together with Vesta to here. He looked quite odd but powerful. Aya kept quiet further so that she wouldn't make the situation with the dragon any worse.

@liferusher @Spriggs27 @Lunarlors34 @FamishedPants

"Mr Ford I believe you should attend to the girl there. Make sure she is calmed down and ok. Ms Parallex stand back. Once we find Avery I'll see to it they attend to your wounds."

"Watch your tone boy. Do you dare accuse a Celestia of a crime of the caliber of kidnapping? I believe I must ask you for your proof to this claim. But as I know you don't have any, seeing as I didn't commit such an act, I'll just assume you've been sent here to slander my family's name. As such I will have no qualms with grinding you between two very large, very heavy boulders."

For at least 7 seconds after the was Dante fiercely and threatening look didn't change, then sudden a question mark show up right above his head as his express change from brave to confused and afraid. Holy crap did he mess up he wondered. She said she was looking for Avery and that she was a Celestia? Could that mean she that Vesta person who taken Vesta in as a child? No, of course, not...that is because.
"Pfffff You're a Celestia? I expected such a name to go to someone who covers a little more skin Miss Midriff." He mockingly tells her. A few second after he said that he instantly regret it and wish he could physical hit himself on the head and asked what kind of weak argument is that?

Nevertheless, he chooses to deny the sliver-hair women claim for four reasons.

One: Just because she supposedly knew some by the name Avery doesn't automatically she a Celestia. Also for all he know she could be speaking about a different Avery.

Two: Anyone and their mother could claim to be from a famous family. it doesn't mean that what they said is automatics true. For all, he knew she could be an imposter.

Three: Even if One and Two is truth it doesn't clear her of suspicion of kidnapping the maid girl. Those of high status must be held responsible like everyone else.

Fourth: He was in good old fashion denial that he had done something wrong. Plus he rather submits to a beating.

There is nothing about this whole scenario that doesn't make me want to stop myself from putting both this fool and this girl in a blinding rage. I'm starting to despite these two so immensely, that I can't tell if my vision is going blurry from my loss of blood or my unforgiving rage. If allowed I'll decapitate the both of you with an honest to god smile on my face."

Dante then looked at the horned girl with a dumbfounded look on his face. He then slowly turns the silver-haired girl and then pointed at the horned girl."Her." He told her simply turn her to answer her question about his proof. Though the argument was admittedly weak it could still be used as ammo against the girl in black.

As Daisuke approached Ease and the man's conversation, he heard Kyojin's words from behind. "Okay, good luck finding her. Should you find her, we'll meet up at the tavern at some point." he replied to Kyojin.

The man Ease was talking to seemed extremely fed up with his life as of now, things had probably been going pretty south for him recently. He had explained that he had a 'really bad time' and then he suddenly appeared back where he was. Maybe he got knocked out during this 'really bad time', and was put back here? That wasn't the matter though, they were looking for Aya. What the man said was right, now isn't a time for exchanging stories, Aya was most likely in danger, and Daisuke has to help, it's in his blood. The man asked where they should start looking for her,

"I tried around the tavern so far and I didn't see her. The alleyways around here are the best places to check if anything since they're easy to get to and fro from and keep searching. In terms of streets though, this street connects to a large number of others but two streets in particular. A really small backroad that isn't a bad idea to sneak through, and a giant one that she might be deciding to go shopping through. I don't know why she left so either one is a viable try."

Avery entered the conversation and asked if the group had any of Aya's belongings on them, but Daisuke and Ease didn't, and the man almost definitely didn't have anything either, so no luck there. Ease explained that if he did have something of Aya's, he would have had Ratatosk track the scent, but that seems absurd. "He's a squirrel, not a hound, Ease" he said with an unamused look.

Ease suggested they split up to cover more grounds while looking for her, like he said, that was the biggest horror movie cliche, but it makes the most sense. He asked for the girl's name to help find her. "Aya... Her name is Aya."

Daisuke looked down at the ground for a moment. He's worried about her. She was the first person he found that was from Earth. When he first arrived, he was depressed by the thought of never seeing home again, but when he met her, things got a little brighter. Well, if he wants to see her again, he'd have to start looking for her.

Daisuke lifted his head and pointed eastward, "I'll go that way." he said with confidence, and let his arm to rest again. "If one of us find her, I have no idea how we'll get in contact. It's not like we have cellphones communicate with in this place. All I can think of is meet back at the tavern eventually."

With that, he set off to the east, basically praying that he finds something to lead him on, or just straight up find her. In this huge of a city, its all you can really go off of when searching for someone.

Malakaus gave himself a short breather, but he knew he couldn't rest for long. That madman was still on the loose, and the possiblity that he was going to come back wasn't lost on him. For whatever reason, either to take out the rest of these knights or get back his sword, Malakaus had to be ready. The fact that the man could even survive the blast meant that he may have been at least as tough as Malakaus himself; just because the madman was the one who cast the spell didn't mean he would be immune to his own fire. The idea that some small whelp could survive something like that without much difficulty, where as Malakaus needed a blessing to do the same, annoyed him.

Amassing his will, Malakaus got back to his feet. His first order of business; shedding some of his armor. His chestplate was basically destroyed, so he took that off. Oneside of his gauntlets was also reduced to slag, so he removed it. This only left his left side with a full cauldron and gauntlet, leaving the other half of his body bare. he looked like a sterotypical barbarian warrior now, but it would have to suffice. Atisha's magic at least treated most of the bruises and wounds on his body, so as long as he doesn't do anything too crazy he should be fine. But considering what they're up against, perhaps crazy was exactly what he'd be up against.

Maria asked for Malakaus to hand her the sword, but before he could Tani had already picked it up. Something was wrong; first starters, Tani had a look on her face as if she was slowly going insane. Then she pointed her sword skywards. That's when Malakaus also looked up and reacted quickly. "He's back!" The madman was on the same roof he exploded, peering down at them from above. No doubt he intended to reclaim his sword and take a few lives while he was at it. Reaching down Malakaus picked up a chunk of smoldering brick, and with great force hurled the brick at the madman on the rooftop. Incidentally at the same time, a wall of ice erupted behind the man to cut off his path from behind, forcing him to either block this brick or jump off the roof. Whatever his decision, Malakaus willed himself pass his injuries, sever as they were, and drew his sword.

@Seirei No Hai@Forett@dabombjk@ADamnFiddle@liferusher@FamishedPants@Zelosse

---

Atisha could still seed the cloud in the sky, chasing after it before it vanished. But even as it did, something was amiss. Something felt odd that she had to make a gut decision about. Namely, from the way the cloud was trailing before she lost contact, it wasn't running away from the scene. It was coming back. "What sort of a madman would try to take us on after all he's been through?" Atisha asked herself, though she knew that there was no real answer. There was no logic for a madman, less so one who lives by laws that only have meaning to him. Perhaps Malakaus was right and the sword they found was important. Perhaps he simply was vindictive and wanted to get revenge. Whatever his reasons, coming back just means that now Atisha had to stop him. She honestly couldn't rely on Maria and Tani; for two knights, they failed to land any meaningful blow, and for Tani in particular served as nothing more than a stepping stone for the man's own escape. If they survived this, Atisha intends to shame them for their failure.

Until then there were more important things to take care of at the moment. That madman was back and Atisha had no known backup. Malakaus, as far as Atisha was aware, was in no fighting state. Everyone else was a pedestrian at best, and liability at worse. And while Atisha was aware that the madman was here she had no idea where he was at. Except... He liked putting himself above others. "Of course. The first time I saw him he used the rooftops to escape. And he speaks highly about himself. Of course he'd still take the highground. And if he's as mad as I think he is, then I have no doubts he'll do the foolish thing... And go back exactly to the scene of his crimes."

It was a hunch but Atisha doubted that she was wrong. Looking around Atisha found an alleyway with just the right type of obstacles to allow her to acrobatically leap onto the rooftops. Fortunately she hadn't gone too far so she could return soon enough. Without that evil aura suppressing her, she had no troubles crossing the rooftops and returning to the scene of their previous battle. And sure enough there he was: the madman was looking down into the streets, presumably at his next target. He even had the audacity to stand on the same rooftop where he had ran away from and where Malakaus had tried to strike up. But where Malakaus failed to get his sneak attack, Atisha would succeed.

"Ur Huma."

A small whisper, but despite that her spell was as powerful as she needed it; around the man a wall of ice formed, limiting the direction he could go. It formed quickly thanks to the water that was already on the rooftops thanks to the efforts of Atisha and others from before. It blocked his path from even moving to the sides, and left only one direction: off the rooftop. And if he would try to use his own magics to melt the ice, he would be in for a surprise as these ice walls were two feet thick and as hard as steel. Even if he would use the same spell as before to break the ice, the only people he would affect would be himself. Expecting him to make another run for it, Atisha quickly crossed the rooftops towards her ice wall, intending to make good use of it. As long as it stood, she could use it to supplement her own spell's powers.

All the while Atisha was unaware of the boy who followed her. Thus she didn't realize his presence when she had acrobatics onto the rooftop while he was in the same alleyway. Her efforts to reach the rooftops also made things slightly easier for him, as her tumbling knocked over various boxes, crates, ropes, and other things to give him a somewhat easier path for him to follow.

@ADamnFiddle@liferusher@Zelosse@GamerXZ

@Zelosse
@Lucius Cypher
@liferusher
@FamishedPants
@Ryofu

They had found the person so quickly after Maria and the gang had lost sight of him. He was a master of fire magics, and thus the effect of the huge spell might have been more devastating had he not been interrupted before the finale of the spell had occurred. After all, the spell itself was the magical equal to a nuke; an attack so powerful there was hardly any precedent for comparison. The complete conversion of mana into damage; a true equivalent exchange.

Maria had survived something she should not have. Something that would normally kill a man. But Maria had recognized the subtle changes in the wind through combative understanding and the rudimentary understanding of magical comprehension. Her entire existence was dedicated to observation. Her fighting style had a keen understanding of what her opponent was trying to accomplish and figuring out means to preventing such actions from occurring.

However, the man had provided Maria with no alternative aside form the action of “leaving the area”. A spell that would cause extreme destruction on a scale Maria would rather not consider. Though she was a knight and would give her life for the cause, pointlessly dying to a spell she could not contain was a fool’s move, and thus instead of attempting to fight her opponent, she utilized a tactful retreat at her opponent’s power. But she knew he would be back.

Even with perhaps a fractured rib, Maria was still a combatant worth fearing. It didn’t matter if she had been killed, it was likely she would continue to hunt her opponent to the grave. A fanatic justice enforcer.

She had rose from her position against the wall and began to take up a combat position. She would be ready. She would fight her opponent once again.

But the strange symbol on the blade seemed to confuse Maria. Perhaps not “confuse”, but rather she recognized the symbol from somewhere. Perhaps it was benign, Perhaps not. But whatever. She believed there were more pressing matters.




“He” had observed the entire affair.

“Someone” he was chasing.

An “entity” he wanted to obtain for himself. The “love” he had shared throughout his time in this world. The “love” that was shared to him those many nights ago. They were leading to something. Though the “man” knew not what his “love” would provide him with, he was not the sort to ask his “love” what his roll was, rather to simply act upon the entrusted “will” of his “love”.

He was not a citizen of the day but a denizen of the night, Featureless and obscured by the shadows that surrounded him, he was not privy to showing his presence to those who had no purpose on his stage. To those who had not shared the “love” he had shared.

Thus he would continue to watch.

To wait.

To commiserate.

Logic strove for order, but rational argumentation and transparent transfer of information were rooted in assumptions on the nature of being. Every mode of thought carries an ontology sequestered within it, but being is in a constant state of flux. If the origin is irreducibly plural, then not gaining access to the origin takes on another meaning. Its negativity is not that of the abyss. It need not operate in the dialectic mode of-

After all, he was told what he had to do from his “love” directly. A divine mandate he would enforce upon the “world” as a whole. A will that would override the reality of those around him. It was ordained by his “love”, and thus became a “possibility” to “something that will occur”. He knew not what would occur, but rather the events that he desired to occur would occur regardless of the conditioning. That is what it meant to be loved. That is what it meant to hold authority. That is what it meant to shepherd the lost sheep.

His heart was completely unwavering; His actions were that of “love”.

My name. Name, name, name and humanity god and swirl and root and light and darkness but he was the darkness but if he were to shatter then would the darkness spill out bleeding red red is the darkness given form of the man when the darkness is born into flesh flesh is darkness but when he dies what would it become if it were not him if not him then not darkness but darkness is constant because chaos is constant but if chaos is constant then not chaos so therefore not darkness but how does a contradiction in terms of a world exist if-

His name was not important. Perhaps it would not hurt as much if he didn’t remember it. Perhaps he didn’t need to continue to call himself “that”.

@Delta44@6slyboy6
Whilst being healed, Kurokono felt a searing pain on his leg akin to someone grazing his wound with salt. He gritted his teeth during that healing process. So much for his dreams of getting healed indefinitely by magic, it is way more painful than it appears on TV, and it definitely have no difference between treating it with bandages & alcohol than magic. "Thanks alot 'Emila'~" Emile's name had slipped away from Kurokono's head in the last 5 seconds or so, but at least its better than a wolf being called 'Gorilla'. For some reason, He didn't realized that he is already speaking informally to a noble. My arm huh, figures, ancient medicine ain't that advanced~

"Anyways, I can walk now~" He stood up, placing his sword on his right side, laughed while raising his right hand, "Don't need to worry too much about that arm haha, I can still use my left, though my Fast Draw technique wouldn't be perfect without two hands heh ~"

"So, thanks for saving my ass just now, oh I almost forgot, what's your name Gorilla?" Kurokono asked, now rummaging through his sack, taking out a red cap & fake mustache, "I'm heading for the inn, now that the sky is getting dark. Those were meant for parties, but now it comes in handy against those 'heroes', 'ninjas', whatever you call them...~" He put on a 'totally original' disguise, a mario-ripoff wearing some samurai clothing, which'd that made him look more awkward than anything, but better than nothing ~ He now headed for the inn. He had completely forgotten about the slums explosion by now, and wondered where Emile is headed to, and ranted to himself, "But who cares, I just want to take a dump & have a good night's sleep in 'Kyoto', yawnsss---"

A slight glance at the reflection of a puddle made Kurokono realize that this disguise is more stupid than his penguin suit. His cover would be blown in just an instant, like seriously, let alone two 'professional assassins' that nearly killed him. Now that he pissed them off, they would dedicate themselves into tracking them down. Getting to a public place like an inn would be a one-way ticket to hell. "Screw that, I changed my mind, I'm getting to the slums, I'm not visiting 'King Enma' that quickly..." He turned around as he walked for the slums, the best bet to hide against those 'ninjas'. Wait a moment... is that girl running to the same place...? Impossible, probably just me...

Reaching the slums, he noticed some really familiar noble girl interacting with some slum inhabitants. "Definitely not that girl, definitely not Emila..." Kurokono whispered to himself until he caught sight of the face that had healed him mere moments ago. Oh god... how is she in a place like this...??? He facepalmed at this awkward situation. Just what on earth the Noble is doing here? Is she having some dark dealings...? Noticing on how street-smart Emile is at the slums, he ruled out that possibility, after all, she is considered his benefactor. Hope that she doesn't see through my shitty disguise...

Walking further into the slums, he noticed a thug bullying a bunch of small-kids with cat ears. He sighed, being appalled at this scene, I guess there are some things that will never change, be it the past or the present...

"Hey Mister~" He let out a smile towards Nick, commenting sarcastically, "Just a random street plumber here finding a mushroom but, shouldn't you be a bit nicer towards kids? Be it gangs, Triads, Yakuzas, there should be some code of honor here don't you think? haha~" He gave a friendly laugh despite the bloody situation below. Its not the first time he seen something like this, and he knew the best way is to talk things out ~ Better to have one less trouble than more~~

@liferusher

---

---

“I’m alright. but I don’t give a damn about myself. If my men are hurt I want you to attend to them first." she told him. He could respect the selflessness of such a request. Aleph listened to her introduce herself after. "I am Maria von Hohenzollern of the Iron Bell Knights. Bless your heart. I must once again rely on the kindness of strangers.”

While he was a bit disappointed she didn't seem intent on letting him assist her, he did have to admire the noble heart she owned. To put her own subordinates above herself in priority was something he had not seen many people do. Not all people were so kind. Despite this, Aleph figured he may as well bless this kind knight with his name. "I am Aleph Banton, the Hero." he said. "Although it won't be too much, I will absolutely do what I can for your people." he assured, his words seemed very genuine, like he was promising this woman he would do whatever was within his power -- perhaps even more!

...But there simply wasn't too much for him to do. Aside from the man who took the brunt of the explosion, most others had gotten off with mere scratches. For example, the elf who had jumped off the building alongside Maria and the other knight was untouched. Aleph hadn't seen exactly what she did to get from the roof to the street without injury, but he figured she must have used a spell to break her fall. But all that was unimportant to Aleph, who simply needed to be useful right now. Besides, she had just ran off. That left but one possible person.

It seemed if there was anybody he could help, it would be the final grounded knight. Aleph hadn't seen her face just yet, since he had immediately gone for Maria as she seemed the most likely to be injured, so he could only gather that she may have been burned in the blast. He hoped that was the case, because otherwise that could mean she had a horrible sense for fashion. Who does the burned-hair look nowadays anyway?

"Hello!" he called out, approaching Tani. "I know only a very basic healing spell, but it should be enough to heal minor burns no problem." at this point, the knight was holding the sword to the sky. It did seem a bit strange, but because he couldn't see her face from behind, he wasn't put off to the point where he was cautious. Perhaps it was some new knight procedure? It didn't matter to him. "Hey." Aleph placed a hand on her shoulder (having made sure she wasn't hurt there). "Are you hurt at all?"

How oblivious.

---

---

Now that he had thought about it, did the terrified woman not just shout out a particularly interesting word to the dragon cosplayer, this "Parallex" woman as Celestia had referred to her as? He had not heard that word since the day he departed Earth for this... hellhole of magic and clingy people! Heinrich was a bit worried she was a bit on the duller side when it came to matters of the mind considering she immediately tried to encourage the person who was just trying to cut her down to resume the action once more. Well, it was very possible she was panicked and just incapable of rational thought at the moment, though one would expect her to be a lot more submissive even then.

Heinrich just wanted to live a quiet life, but there wasn't any good quality links that was quite certainly asking for too much in this world. He was sure of this from the very moment that this man started trying to instigate things between him and three other people! Well, it was not as though Heinrich could fight or really help at all, but he certainly LOOKED like he could, if anything. So why would this man jump down and try to make enemies of potentially three people? Maybe this man was part of his divine curse? He wasn't sure of the specifics of his own blessing, but could it be that living a peaceful life wasn't "aesthetically pleasing" or whatever!? Did fate want him to go mad? At this point, he would not deny the possibility.

"Mr Ford I believe you should attend to the girl there. Make sure she is calmed down and ok. Ms Parallex stand back. Once we find Avery I'll see to it they attend to your wounds." Vesta ordered.

Despite looking as though she wanted to roast the guy who just appeared, she at least kept a level mind, or so Heinrich thought. Heinrich did not have any problems following her suggestion, as he was thinking moments ago that this lady was probably not in a mentally-well state currently. He wasn't sure what he could do besides ask basic questions, but whatever, as long as he was doing something that would even barely distract him from this fiesta occurring right in front of him.

Heinrich strode towards the woman a few steps before she took shelter behind the guy who was clearly having a hard time justifying his sudden intrusion and accusations. This could be troublesome. He was moderate sure this man would soon be the target of some form of magic, likely rocks and the kind judging by Vesta's hisses towards him. Heinrich did not particularly wish to be a casualty of the fight. So, Heinrich approached the two as much as he could, as far to the side as he could and still reasonably speak to this woman. Luckily, she seemed to be keeping an eye on him already, so this would make things easier.

"Miss, I would suggest you take a few steps backwards." he warned. "I was made to question your mental stability when you decided to call someone on the verge of killing you an idiot, but even then, surely you can understand that the man right next to you may as well be called "ground zero". If you have sustained any injuries from being attacked, we can get you somewhere safe to get them treated, but you do have to be alive for this to be possible."

Oh, well now that he thought about it... she probably wouldn't know what ground zero even meant. Well, one could likely infer from contextual clues what it likely meant. Hopefully.

@liferusher@Lucius Cypher@ADamnFiddle@FamishedPants

Fitting? Not sure

Mithril rose to his full height and basked in the light of their eyes dancing upon him. His was a stance of victory, purity of heart and soul, believing that he stood above any and all threats to himself. They did not understand his nature and his soul any longer. It thrummed in his mind, a flame of blackest desire, demanding his service unwavering and sword unshaking. The soul of his sword demanded perfection and would stand for no less than that. Even without the magnificent blade in his hands Mithril could never be free of its taunting voice. Never flee from the cruelty of its domination. Never betray it when the fun had stopped.
Any sense of 'self' Mithril had felt until now was quashed in the fires of hatred boiling in the depths of the unfathomable dwelling behind the golden shimmering facade of chaos.

It had told him to be patient, and he had been.

It had warned him, and he had listened.

Now it told him who and how to make one last show of force, and he did as instructed.

Mithrils target was not Malakaus. It was Atisha, the one who had first thought to strike its wielder. Who had opposed absolute authority over human life, granted by an abyssmal soul so foul it had been sealed into a weapon.
The wall of ice was nothing more than a momentary obstacle to its puppet. But it would help the cause for but one brief moment. In that final feeling of absolute power, the final cross upon the swords body was aglow.
Mithril raised his hand to the sky, dagger in hand, and pointed a finger to the sky as he chanted over and over, draining the last dwindling reserves of magic he had left.

"GOA! GOA! GOA! GOA!" He shouted from behind the impassive face of the iron mask.

A ball of flame to size of his fist blossomed into creation in an ever growing cluster above his head, what was one became 3, then 7, then 12, until there were dozens of tiny fireballs hovering at his command. His Al Goa was the same concept but at a far grander and tighter scale. The resulting force had threatened to kill the very caster, had he not fallen from his perch moments before the eruption.

"MEET YOUR DOOM, ELF." Mithril roared to the skies, at his flickering orbs of flame. He would only obey the command that was given. Mithril did not dare look away from his creations, focused to show them one last sight of power before they were killed.
A single command was ushered into a single mind.

The sword commanded of its puppet.

Malakaus' projectile arced straight and true, defying the suppression that gnawed at the roots of his strength, but did little to break Mithrils spell. Not even a gasp of air drawn from his breathe, barely a shudder as his mask cracked yet more under the weight of impact.

The sword would not allow it.

Tani pointing the sword skyward might have been coincidence with Mithril suddenly being above them. Malakaus had warned them all for the bastard being back for them and readied himself to fight just like Tani. It worked out well, she had the sword ready to slice him now. Tani felt like the man would be trying to launch one of his fire spells at him again, that might have been trouble.



Tani commanded it to the knights and the others around her, spreading out would mean less area damage for the man too cause. Fire was mostly pointed towards the area of effect damage rather than accuracy so this must have been the best bet. She shifted her feet and bit her lip in anticipation. Bothersome this situation was indeed.

One of the bystanders walked up to her and greeted her. Tani was still a little confused by that moments just now but turned around after his second calling to give him a somewhat bothered look. They were in mid battle and did not have any time for chit chatting. Outside of battle it wouldn't be any problem but now. Still it was nice of him to offer his abilities towards her third degree burns.



Tani turned around once more and thought to herself. She was in no way capable of getting up on the building in anyway, she had to get Mithril down instead but, how. This was not really her specialty, she had to rely on others way too much for her to do her work.



Tani watched Malakaus pick up a rock and take it behind his shoulder. Yes like this, they had to fire projectiles at him like Malakaus was doing.



Tani's eyes went lifeless. Like her soul had escaped her body. Her head dropped to the side lightly as the sword lowered too. For a moment it appeared she had a seizure of some sort but that was quick to change as she squatted and swung the blade at the back of Malakaus. Her other hand joined the sword while it swung towards the ogre to make the impact bigger on his back. Before he could launch the rock he was met with a powerful sword swing to the back by one of the royal guards. The expression on her face angered with her war mode activated now.

After attempting on striking the back of Malakaus Tani straightened her back again slowly letting the tip of the sword lower towards the pavement and turned herself around to the others with the sword tip sliding over the street. Her head was still slightly dropped towards the side like she was sleeping, her mouth was slightly agape with her eyes still as emotionless as before. Tani stepped forwards step by step towards the others almost seeming like a mindless zombie. Tani stopped for a moment and turned her head a little, after having spot Aleph she turned her body the appropriate way and stepped towards him. She was sure to hit anyone in her way, approaching her or standing in her path with a simple horizontal swing of her newly acquired sword.

Eventually she quickened the pace towards him and made sure to get close to him even if it would take a sprint. She placed her wielding arm over her shoulder with the sword behind her. She was sure however not to leave the area with all other candidates still ready for her to strike. It would be a little stupid if she would go as far as sprinting through the city. If Tani got close to him she made sure to put on her angry expression again and swing the blade his way with a vertical slash from the sky her other hand strengthening the blade again.

Vesta Celestia

"Pfffff You're a Celestia? I expected such a name to go to someone who covers a little more skin Miss Midriff."
Vesta gave him a blank look before looking down at her attire. What was wrong with it? Avery had made this for her himself. Well he had help from the servants. To be honest she liked it quite a bit.
She did of course have other clothes to be worn when it was colder but that was beside the point.
Her right eyebrow soon began twitching as she turned back to Dante. He was denying she was a Celestia due to...clothing? Could he not tell by the damn crested earring she wore everywhere? That and even though her clothes revealed skin, they were clearly of a more noble origin.
"You have no idea who you're messing with boy. To give you an idea...my name is Vesta Celestia. Heir to the Celestia family and the most powerful earth magic user in the kingdom." Vesta might've been boasting, being vain, whatever you wanted to call it. However she just had to make sure this boy knew what kind of mess he was getting himself into. He also seemed deadset convinced that she was just a random kidnapper instead of the noble she was trying to tell him she was.
"This earring bears mhy family crest. Proof of my lineage. And if that isn't enough..." Vesta touched her earring softly as she spoke before reaching into her pants pocket.
"......." Vesta now froze on the spot. Oh dear....oh no, no, no, no, no. Frantically patting down her pockets now, she seemed to be in a mild panic as she tried searching them in vain. Shit.
Wait if she didn't have it....Avery. That little bastard. She could see him laughing at her in her mind now. Grinding her teeth at the thought she quickly changed back to her calm self. Hopefully no one....oh who was she kidding. They all just saw her completely lose it just then.
"....As I was saying. Unless you have a death wish you will lower your blade and beg for my forgiveness. If you don't lower your blade I will not hold back in the slightest. Even in my current condition I can handle you easily enough." Vesta now acted as though her previous panic attack didn't even happen. At this stage she also noticed the girl was hiding behind the man. Did by chance these two know one another?
It would explain his sudden appearance. Although Zin's mini rant here wasn't helping things either....
"Ms Parralex...you're not helping here." Vesta sighed before clicking her fingers. A spike of earth now flew through the air just to the left of Dante's head. He would feel the air rushing past as it passed before flying off into the night sky.
Certainly would suck to be whoever that landed on.
"First and only warning."

Avery Ackbar Celestia

Avery didn't notice Kyojin walking off. Which was pretty humorous considering he was a giant, but it didn't affect Avery either way. Although he couldn't help but feel insulted when his suggestion was shot down simply because this man had...a squirrel. If it wasn't for Daisuke, Avery would've corrected him with a few...choice words.
But seeing as his fellow earthling had already corrected the man Avery felt no need. Wait.
Horror. Move. Cliche.
Whether or not Ease saw the recognition on Avery's face or not remains to be seen. However it didn't take much for Avery to connect the dots. He also knew about 'japan' as well. Although Avery wasn't too familiar with the country, he did remember it as a country from his world. However as groundbreakingly important as this was...Avery had a different task at hand which he would prioritise.
Finding Aya.
"Splitting up? Like scooby doo and the gang?" Avery giggled playfully. However as Avery now noticed Ease's injury he took a step closer, gingerly touching it as he inspected the wound.
"You were injured Mr Ease? Why didn't you say so? Huma." Avery placed a hand against Ease's chest before a soft glow emanated from both his hand and the injury. Soon enough the glorified scratched was closed up. Really it took like, three seconds, but there seemed to be a strained look to Avery's face.
He had used too much mana playing around in the tavern just before. As well as too much before he met Dante. That coupled with his shitty gate...well he was tired. It was also late.
"There you go. Like new~" Avery spun on his heel now as Daisuke began running off to follow Ease's suggestion.
"Wait Mr Daisuke. Before you go..." Avery brought up his other palm before blowing onto it softly. Much like 'blowing a kiss' actually.
However what Avery blew wasn't a kiss, it was a small beetle which now perched itself on Daisuke's cheek. So long as Daisuke had the beetle, Avery would be able to find him.
"If we're splitting up...I'll give one to everyone." Avery held his hand out to Ease and Duncan now and indicated to them to take the small beetles.
Of course these weren't ordinary beetles, they were spirits created using his divine protection. Normally he could only control two spirits at a time. But something this size? He could control a dozen easily.
Let alone four. Plus they used minimal mana compared to other spirits. And Avery could see process information from them. So if someone found Aya, Avery would know and proceed to try and tell everyone.
Or if they were in danger....
"Oh I forgot to give my name didn't I Mr Ease? Avery Ackbar Celestia. See ya~" Avery spun on his heel once more and ran off westward. The opposite direction Daisuke went.
After all if they were going to split off...going the same way wasn't smart.

Alex Butler



@Lucius Cypher
Alex was suddenly very grateful to his gym instructor for putting him and his class through so many drills as the stamina built up from them was enough to allow him to keep up with the Elf Lady. Not enough to be anywhere close to her, but enough to at least keep her in his line of sight. A quick look around showed that a host of other people seemed to be heading in the same direction though he hoped to at least stay under the radar for a bit longer.

Thankfully, perhaps because she was so focused on her mission, the Elf Lady had yet to notice him. He followed her into an alleyway and watched in awe as she took to the rooftops by pulling off the kind of acrobatic feats that would leave even the most seasoned veteran of parkour green with envy. Seriously, this lady was like a female version of Spiderman.

Great...now how the heck am I suppose to follow her? As if someone had heard his silent plea, the Elf's parkouring had knocked down a series of boxes, crates and left some ropes dangling. "Huh...guess there's somebody up there looking out for me." Offering a silent thanks to whatever invisible entity had willed this, he slid a box over and stacked a couple more under a dangling rope.

He took a deep breath to prepare himself, "Ok Alex...remember what your gym instructor told you. Focus." He climbed up the boxes, grabbed the rope and started hauling himself upwards, "And whatever you do...don't look down." He climbed the rope up as far as it would take him and, seeing another shelving of boxes nearby, he swung himself back and forth until he was close enough to kick it over, giving him a ledge to swing himself onto.

After doing so, the young man let out a sigh of relief as he placed his back against the wall and took a breather, "Phew...they make this look way easier on TV..." He opened his eyes and looked upwards to the sky, contemplating, "...Alex, why are you even putting yourself through this? Honestly, if Mom saw you doing this right now, she would flip and likely not let you out of your room for a year...at best..."

That's right. This isn't one of your anime where you get power-ups just cause you were super determined and did a lot of yelling, or RPG's where you got Save States and infinite retries. This is REAL LIFE. You die here, you die for good! There was that voice of reason once again. Please...please get this through your head before you go any further!

Alex actually stopped himself for a moment as that bit of knowledge sunk in. As much he hated to admit it, his inner voice did have a point...was getting some info out of that Elf Lady really worth going through all this trouble? He looked down to his hand which was still hanging on to the rope. He could easily back out now, climb back down and go off and do his own thing. Perhaps find a method of info gathering that didn't require so much trouble.

....However, he knew in his heart he couldn't bring himself to do that. Besides, his Mom had taught him to lend a helping hand wherever he could. Even if it's something as simple as helping someone carry groceries or grabbing a balloon out of a tree, those things still have meaning. Once more, her voice echoed in his mind.

He sighed and gathered his wits again though he managed a small smile, "You just had to be a good influence on me, didn't you, Mom?" The young man grabbed a piece of railing and hauled himself up onto the scaffolding, carefully making his way across and climbing up through the gaps in the boards towards another rope which he grabbed and climbed again, now getting close enough to the rooftop he was able to grab the edge and finally pull himself up.

Once again, he took another breather before glancing over the edge, "Well...that wasn't too bad...though I hope getting back down is easier..." With that, he hauled himself up and started making his way across the rooftops, grabbing a window ledge and hauling himself upwards. Finally, he spotted the Elf Lady again now standing on a nearby rooftop, and across from her was...what was that? He pulled out his cellphone and used the camera mode on it for a closer look...and what he saw sent chills down his spine.

The figure was humanoid and wearing some sort of gear that was a mishmash of a cloak and body armor...with one section seeming to have a scorch mark on it, as if he or she had to cauterize a wound. The figure also had a mask concealing their identity. Even from where Alex was standing, the entity gave off a foreboding aura that actually made him freeze briefly. He didn't know why but for some reason, he automatically knew this being was tied to the current incident. But if that was the case, why were they still here? Shouldn't they have like skipped town after setting off such a massive fire? This was oddly suspicious behavior, for sure.

His chills only grew when he saw the Elf Lady's lips moving...and a wall of ice sprouted up on the rooftops where the masked entity stood. Alex had casted magic in videogames hundreds of times, but being able to see it in real life...well, it was a whole other experience. It also helped reinforce that nagging sense of helplessness that he'd been trying to ignore.

If her intent was to keep the masked man from escaping by the rooftops, she had certainly succeeded...if he didn't suddenly grow wings and fly, which would be a real bummer. Even so, Alex grabbed whatever footage he could of the masked figure, feeling even if they got away that having a recording of them might prove useful, before getting out his makeshift weapon and ducking into a part of the roof with shadows to hide himself and keep an eye on what was about to unfold before him.

Besides, who knew? Maybe he would get a chance to help...if he didn't get himself killed doing so.

@kitsune @soragoku @sir lurksalot @lunarlors34




"Aya... Her name is Aya."

Good....a name to the person. Guess just start yelling that from here on out?

The purple girl hair made mention of splitting up like...scooby...doo. His eyes went wide and his thoughts were caught into his throat. "I...No way. That moment of realization of what those words meant hit like a truck. Well, more like 4 trucks and then a derailed train. His face was held in dumbfounded surprise. He simply looked down as the girl took not of his injury, putting a hand to his chest and casting Huma. The wound was closing up fine but his face didn't seem to change expression. Just the same look of pure shock. It held until he noticed the notable strain on her face. He put one hand to his freshly healed chest and another out in front of him towards her. "Hey, you might wanna chill on that. You're no-

He couldn't quite finish his sentence as she proceeded to spin on her heel and turn away from the others before blowing a kiss-beetle to some wolf...boy. Yep, just as strange as it sounds, people. As he looked to his other side, Daisuke was running off in the other direction while that wolf boy started his apparent parkour spree. "Wait Daisuke! Shit...he's gone. Why was he running out like this without backup? At least the rest of them had magic or weaponry. A dark city like this isn't safe in the middle of the night. Dammit...Hopefully he'll be alright.

A beetle was in each of the girl's hand now as Ease looked back towards her. Well...kinda easy to figure out that they should probably take em too. He grabbed the beetle into his hand and put it on the bottom of his neck. "If we're splitting up...I'll give one to everyone." Trackers? Damn, that's helpful. His face was inwardly wrought with worry though. She must be using a lot of mana doing all this...Is she gonna be alright too? Though she seemed fine from that little much...He let out a mental sigh. Relax...Have some faith for once.

"Oh I forgot to give my name didn't I Mr Ease? Avery Ackbar Celestia. See ya~"

He snapped back to reality as he saw her run off in the opposite direction of where Daisuke went. Wait...Celestia? Oh. Oh! Ohhh...shit. He just rubbed his frow. Why was he not surprised? Well...she seems like the more sane sister he was praying for. There was something off about her. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Whatever. Just met her so there's still plenty to learn and more pressing matters to take care of. It seemed like it was just him and Mr. Red Coat.

"Oh yeah name's Ease by the way." He quickly cracked his neck. "Alright. You and me are gonna go this way. They seem to have their ways taken care of. Plus...we gotta talk about stuff." He said as he ran up the street and towards a certain alleyway. He turned back towards his fire coated compatriot. "Come on!" He yelled and motioned over.

Zin rubbed her injury with her gloved fingers she felt her patchy burned bicep thinking of how scar completely looks. She'll have to poke and prod at it later. She heard Vesta say that she wasn't exactly helping with the situation, Zin believed that she wasn't doing much to the situation.

With a mighty slice, Zin cut through the stone that was separating her from Dante and Aya and slid in front of Vesta holding her sword with both hands to show she's gonna use heavy attacks."I believe I should be able to defend my name as much as your going to defend yours." She told Vesta." I stood around when you fought that crazy guy earlier, I won't be standing around here."

The dragon woman took a large breath of air to the point where her stomach sucked itself inwards She breathed out a long stream of fire around Dante, herself, Vesta, Aya, and Heinrich even. Zin blew out a long puff of smoke as if she just took a long drag from a giant cigar." Nowhere he can run, now If the knights come they can apprehend him after we're done with him." She told Vesta, She began charging at Dante with a heavy attack.