"Well, that's a thing I guess." Lucus said calmly, looking up at the floating town with a yawn.

"You seem unimpressed." Delsin noted, checking his ammunition.

"As do you. While their feat does impress me, their carelessness does not. Neither does their wind mage for that matter." Lucus said, watching two mages attack the tower. He saw it was Phoenix Wing and sighed, scratching the back of his head. He had to wonder how reckless that guild could be. Though, this could turn to their advantage. "Alright we wait this one out. Let the big guns fire all their ammo at each other."

"So, the cowards way." Pyrrha said.

"Tell that to lot in the tower." Lucus said, an amused smirk on his face.



"You know... He said not to do it to me... then does it himself... aint that what they call a hypocrite?" Joshua said calmly after Nolan took off with Penny following shortly after. Sighing, he turned to the two remaining teammates with him and gave them a small smile. "We might as well follow their lead. Anyone got any ideas how we can get up there?"



Jackie watched the tower from nearby. She knew there was nothing but danger in it but Phoenix Wing was already attacking. And if she knew the person in charge of Rider's Blade, she knew what they were going to do.
"I can get into the tower, it won't be that hard. Whether or not I'll be able to take any targets down is another story but at the very least, I can get them to waste some energy." She said to her teammates that she suspected where nearby. "The question then becomes, what will you all do?"

Trinity Stratos

"Whoa." That. was. a fortress, alright. "Don't suppose you accounted for that, Damien?" Tornado supporting the beast into the air. Imposing, red-gemmed exterior walls. Amazing. It gave her a bit of a spoop, but she had to stand firm. She'd been chosen to represent her guild. She'd have to live up to the expectation.

But just what were the expectations? "Or that. Nolan!" Trinity called after him, with Penny, before the fire mage took off after the smoke user. "And we're off! Sorry, Damien. Energy Make, Flight Gear!" Glowing boots and gloves wrapped her feet and hands, and a pair of rigid wings with some kind of turbine on them sprouted from her back. She took a power crouch before bolting into the air, the turbines bursting to life and carrying her away.

And they charged straight into the enemy's field, it seemed. Trinity couldn't fly as fast as Penny, but she wasn't too far behind. "Energy Make, Spiked Shell!" She caught up in time and put up a defensive barrier between them and the oncoming assault. As the rocks impacted her shield and became lava coating it, she spun the barrier, flinging the super-heated material away.

A searing laser joined the assault. The minstrel had dealt with a fire user recently, but lava and lasers were a little different. The lava was earth, super-heated to a molten state. It was more difficult for her to deal with because it was based on solid matter, not something less physical. The laser was a concentrated energy attack. That, she could handle, but this would overpower her and break through if she wasn't careful. Where the laser struck was left glowing more brightly, as though heated.

"Oooh, jeez. Hurry up and do somethin', will ya? This is tough."

Flint nodded to the advice Argus had given to the man, it was true that this guild seemed different from the more rambunctious guilds that dotted the landscape. It was also quite nice to hear that Flint could leave the guild at anytime rather than just signing away his life to this militarized organization. He had thoughts since he didn't exactly know much of their inner workings and Flint never really bothered to learn much about them because of his disinterest until meeting this particular guild. So with this news, the cowboy soon outstretched his arms outside of the confines of the poncho revealing a cigar within one of his robotic hands. Lighting the cigar with a tiny magical seal of fire from the other hand, he removed his bandanna before taking in those few blissful puffs of smoke. Flint soon found himself staring at the sky with Argus, enjoying the silence with the fellow until finally giving his thoughts to the new found guildmate.

"Yep, they do seem like a reliable bunch of people. I can also see from the amount of damage you had taken in the fight that you had put a good amount of trust in your allies to finish the job even with your problems," Flint said, letting out a stream of smoke exit his lips, "I can't say I've met too many people that I can rely on as much, so let me see you make a good impression when the time ever comes." Flint lightly grinned at the sound of the request before finding himself relaxing with the stranger, the two aiming their stares into the sky above, each lost in their own thoughts.

The moment Jake heard Hunter call out about the tornado, he'd stopped everyone and jerked the Dragon Slayer back into the alley way they'd just exited. They watched it go by and then observed as Phoenix Wing, presumably without formulating an actual plan as fit the guild of improvisation, launched an attack only to have it rebuffed and countered in essentially that order. With that, Jake already had his Shatterer's hand axes in his hands and turned to the others. "I have a better idea, Jackie, one that's going to be straight forward. You and Zephyr, find the rest of Phoenix Wing and do whatever you can to keep them from joining in the fight. I'd like us to win this thing, so I'd rather not be contesting with two guilds at once. Meanwhile," he turned to Ammy and Hunter, smiling at the former knowingly, "we'll do things they way Ammy and I did handling a giant flying beast on the Zorack Plateau. Ready?" Hunter had no idea what the S-Class mage was talking about, but nodded and Ammy prepared her spell, a purple energy gathering around the scythes of their blades and Hunter's fists covered in his trade mark jade.

Focusing a moment, Jake closed his eyes before raising the hand axes as giant earthen hands rose up and grabbed the middle of the tower from either side. "Shatterer's Binding Grips." With the tower immobilized, and a relatively secure manner of climbing it secured, at least for the time being. Not wasting any time, the trio rushed for the arms of earth and Jake created a platform for them to ride up. The gemstones used to bind the bricks of the tower together kept Jake from properly manipulating them and not for the first time he wished he was a proper elemental mage.

"So this is how you handled the giant flying beast?" Ammy nodded, her spell still waiting to be unleashed.

"It was, though the beast lacked a proper means to attack us at range. This will be most educating." Hunter groaned at her choice of words.

"She meant fun by that, right?"




Damian didn't even get a chance to register and reply to what was happening before both Nolan and Penny had taken off into the sky to assault Frenzy Plant's floating fortress of most definitely impending doom. The only thing he could think to say sound ridiculous as he yelled it after them. "Have you both gone stark raving MAD?!" A combined attack answered the question and Damian sighed, turning to the others as Joshua spoke and found Trinity gone as well. He even had to bite back a quip at the hypocrite remark. "Be sure to remind Nolan of that after the games, Josh. Back on track, my original idea went to hell when that fortress arrived. Any back up we might have come up with by pooling ideas got buried and burned into nothingness when Nolan took off and Penny gave chase. That said, I might have an a idea. Trinity iss familiar with my riding blade, which is our ticket u-WHAT THE HELL?!"

Even as three spell counter attacked their guild mates and blocked by Trinity, two giant hands of Earth reached up and grabbed the flying tower, locking it into place. At this point, Damian considered saying fuck it and hiding in the nearby book store until someone came down, but ultimately decided against it. "Alright, well, minus the giant earthen hands, my plans the same. We right to the back of the tower on my Striker Blade out of sight of the mages on top and cut our way in through the back at the bottom, work our way up and surprise all the others. At some point, someone needs to tell Penny, Nolan, and Trinity to land on top of the tower at the point where they aren't dodging spells anymore. Objections?"

@Lugubrious@Caits@CirusArvennicus
NOLAN

"And as if your boyfriend's strategy could adapt to this!" Nolan retorted to Penny calling him a fool. Damian couldn't fly and neither could Joshua or Trinity could do so as well. As far as Nolan knew he and Penny were the only ones that could actually fly in the air and since Frenzy Plant had a moving fortress, they had to be the ones to take them out before they were.

Their attacks, as powerful as they were together were easily cancelled out by Hyun's nullification magic. Nolan wasn't surprised that this had happened, in fact he had expected something like this to happen. However he now knew of Hyun's location within the tower and he could hope to take advantage of it if she was still located there.

Trinity had just arrived at that moment and had created an energy shield that was being used to block the incoming attacks. He watched the attacks collide with her shield calmly and closed his eyes, exhaling an ashy sigh. "Should I be scared?" Beside his right side a massive construct of ashes had formed by his side, taking the shape of an arm hovering next to him. "Ash God's Divine Hand!" He swung his ash contruct arm upwards, the palm of the attack slammed the glyphs that had summoned the blades with enough force to destroy them, causing the swords to disappear. In that same motion, the arm came down and collided with the beam, creating an explosion from the impact. If it weren't for the fact that Zander had to exert much more magic before to create their fortress, his attack would have probably done much more damage.

A cloud of ashes from Nolan's dispersed defense clouded everyone's vision, except his. His pupils were white and had now focused on the souls' locations within the tower. "There they are." The ashes that had been dispersed begun to take shape into something else that Zander should be very familiar with; compact ashes that were harder that steel and spun fast enough to act as drills. The difference this time was that Nolan had created bullet sized versions of this. "Let's see you stop this." With a wave of his hand, the drilling bullets shot towards the tower much faster than when Zander had encountered them. The amount of them had almost seemed like it was blocking out the sun.

"Penny, Trinity. Spread out now and try to-" Suddenly massive hands of earth grabbed the tower and held it in place. It looked like someone on the enemy team is trying to stop the tower from moving.

@Caits
FERRIS

"You said it Jessie! It's a total war within the skies of Crocus that is shaping up to create an atmosphere worthy of the final match! Look at this folks, the skies are lit up with the firey explosions of this battle and the sun has been blocked by a swarm of ashes! But where are the other contestants and what are they planning?" He chuckled as he watched Jessie nuzzle into him and stroked her hair gently before the carriage halted and caused the two of them to whip about.

@t2wave
DALTON

"Oh, considering how you two were spooning this morning I thought it was safe to say that you two were making magic last night." The Exceed chuckled and looked up at the lacrima vision displaying the game and went quiet for a bit. "Do you think that Nolan is going to be okay?"

@Raijinslayer@Zarkun
ZEV

"Disappointed? Kid, there is more to being a mage than flashy attacks and causing mayhem. Some mages only learn skills that support others rather than just fight and kid I'll guarantee you that those are the kind of mages that people are looking for." He wasn't surprised that people thought that mages that did not specialize in offensive magic weren't going to be sought out for. Most famous mages had magic that were focused on combat so no one thought of the supporters that keep them alive.

Zev chuckled at Ezekiel mentioning his daughter. "Take it from someone who has a kid, it isn't easy at all and it never will. All you can do is just do your best and pray to whatever gods that there are above that they will turn out alright. That's parenting 101 for you." They soon arrived at the stadium and Ezekiel was being lead through the crowds by Zev towards the Dragon Fang stands. "Hey boss, we got someone who wants to join the guild!" The duo had approached Master Goran, who was obviously focused on the event on hand.

"You complete ass, Nolan! We are a team, that means you don't go off half-cocked against orders! Get your butt back to the others, you too Trinity. I'll be along just as soon as I nuetralise this frigging heat" Penny's tone was one not to be messed with. She didn't give them anytime to argue with her. Penny had a great store of magic now, thanks to unlocking her second origin during the few months of training Damian had done for this. Going along with him now seemed like a good idea, in hindsight, with the fact she was now in the team.

So she wasn't afraid to use her powers, to their full and complete extent. Penny's Phoenix form seemed to grow bigger, more defined as a true Phoenix shape, for the briefest of moments, wings seemed to appear much like Ariel's, flickering and then disappearing, her flames burning a brighter, hotter red. To anyone that knew her form, they'd notice the change, notice the almost strange magical power she now seemed to possess.

Her flames burned hotter then what was around her, around them, but when they landed around or near Trinity, Nolan, her team, the flames were merely warm, like holding your hands to warm them at a camp fire. Around Trintiy, they were cold not wanting to overwhelm the energy make mage any further. "Phoenix Flames!" The flames engulfed the attacks, Penny didn't aim towards the fortress, but rather she aimed to negate the attacks Frenxy plant was aiming towards them, crashing against Trinity's shield.

Penny took the chance to drop back, "Fall back, I mean it. We're stronger together" There was an odd musical tone to her voice, purple flames now mixing with the red, orange and yellow. Penny was going to try and instigate some chances to the way they worked, and that would start now.

---

Below, Harry had cast an earthen shield over his guild mates, feeling way out of league here, against these truly powerful guilds. Tough Love was the best home he had, but he knew they were no match for the power displayed in the first few moments of this battle. Yet that didn't mean they had to give up. For a moment, they were safe in his shield.

---

Jessie caught herself as the carriage stopped, but didn't let that stop her from speaking. "Oooh, the sun may be hidden by ashes, but what a fiery passion! Looks like Phoenix Wins Phoenix wants to make the sun envious!" She gave a laugh, pushing herself back and leaning back into the chair, she patted Ferris to make sure he was okay. "And look at that, Dragon Fang has come into play. These three guilds are top contenders for the win, But what is riders blade doing?" She flicked the mic off for a moment, "Why have we stopped?"

@hatakekuro
In a brief moment of irritation, Ariel punched Dalton over the head. "Cut it out. We spent a month trapped in a magic painting living off of scraps of food and trying not to freeze to death. So we got used to sleeping that way. Besides... I was asleep when he got back anyway." She sighed and focused on the fight again. Things seemed to be moving away from the stadium so that meant watching the Lacrama vision. So far it looked like everyone was taking shots but none of them were making a decisive hit.

That is not to say that the attacks were weak, They packed a big punch. But they were able to counter. Ariel hadn't realized that Trinity could fly with her magic. Another mage, presumably not in Phoenix Wing, created earthen hands to grab Frenzy Plant's mobile fortress. This situation just gets more and more surprising, and it just started. I "Nolan will be fine if the team can work together. So as long as he doesn't try and take on everything himse-self." There was a slight stutter in her speech.

The sunlight was being blotted out by ash but Penny ignited and illuminated the area. The use of Phoenix Magic grabbed Ariel's attention. It had been a month since she'd used that magic and the sudden burst of exposure woke up the same magic in her. Dalton was pushed away as Ariel leaned forward and became engulfed in flames. The vibrant orange red wings sprouted from her back nearly smacking a couple people behind her. "Oh man, I don't need this right now." Ariel recalled Penny warning about being exposed with this magic and there she was sitting in a stadium filled with people. Standing up she did her best to discretely move to the back of that section of the stands.

@Caits

Malice Hardt

At the persisting question she sighed and nodded. "Sure, sure. Now lets hurry up a- And get the hell away from that!" Malice stated taking off running down the street as the tower started moving. She gazed back at it as she was running down the streets shocked at the sight she was witnessing. This was the reason why she wanted to wait it out and ambush any stragglers. However letting a tower go unattended would pose a problem. Three of the Wingers were already charging to the sky at it, causing a retaliation, and now earth hands grabbed it and halted its movement. Malice started tapping her chin at this predicament, and looked at Merlina with a smile forming. "Hey you want a meeting later on with that woman right?" Malice said pointing at Penny, "Well I have an idea how to make that happen. If you help her out here she will have no choice but to pay you back as a returning of a favor. And a new plan everyone! Since everyone is focusing their efforts on Frenzy Plant and their fortress lets weed the competition a bit. Those that can't fly have to travel up it, which means if we can cause it to collapse. Poof! Multiple contenders down in one go. Lets split up so were not easy pickings and start launching attacks at it!" Malice said grinning holding her fist out for acknowledgement.

@Zarkun@Joshua Tamashii

Zephyr Hardt

"Woahhhhhh thats badass!" Zephyr stated at the moving tower which was under assault by Phoenix Wing. Jackie suggested another going solo idea, which Jake shot down with a better one and asked him and Jackie to prevent the rest of Phoenix Wing from joining in. Zephyr was going to question this but before he could Jake immobilized the tower and Jake, Ammy, and Hunter took off towards the tower. "..... I don't think thats wise...... You see the issue with that right Jackie? If we stop their comrades from helping their comrade. We will be doing exactly what he doesn't want happening. Lets be real, he just said that so the most injured weren't in harms way huh?" Zephyr said frowning slightly before looking at Jackie. "Well do you want to go stop the rest of Phoenix Wing? Or do you want to go off solo? I won't stop you if you do, and they can't really know if you do as well. After all Phoenix Wing and Dragon Fang are wasting energy against Frenzy Plant alone. Riders Blade, Tough Love, and Pirate Lord are still out there."

@Lmpkio


Well this event showed some interesting personalities of people. It showed Frenzy Plant's teamwork and a bit of a cocky side daring other to try them. It showed mostly stubbornness from Phoenix Wing, with the first one off being Nolan followed by an annoyed looking Penny, who had a Trinity in pursuit. While the two on the ground looked annoyed as well, so they looked pretty damn sloppy right now. The other guilds seemed to have vanished not wanting to confront this threat at the moment. It was a smart tactic in the short run but in the long run? When the tower took off into the streets with the other guilds after them. The games shifted to the Lacrima vision, but they could still watch from a distance. Stepping up from his seat he moved towards the inner hallway that had a window showing outside with a more closeup view of the action. Dragon Fang or a few of them now joined the siege on the tower, halting it with some earth magic. He truly wondered how they all planned to actually go about this. This seemed to obvious of a ploy, stop the tower and advance up it and defeat your enemy? That seemed wayyyyy to easy. Frenzy Plant had something planned and the ones besieging them were the true victims he feared.

Just as the rain of molten rock began to batter Penny and Nolan, two enemies became three, and the trio vanished behind a projected energy barrier. At first it appeared that Trinity's Spiked Shell provided complete protection from Frenzy Plant's counterattack, but even as the seconds passed, signs of damage began to appear on her wall. That didn't matter so much to the team atop the aerial tower.

”Sir, looks like one more took the bait. We have the chance to knock Phoenix Wing from five to two in one shot!”

Despite his face being hidden behind the mask, Zander's comrades could tell that he wasn't so certain. ”I disagree. Look. The firebird's heating up.” While Nolan destroyed a few of Owen's magic circles, apparently not concerned by the vast array of other ones positioned in a sphere around him and his friends, Penny was intensifying her fire. ”Owen, do you think you should spring the trap?”

An annoyed sigh came from the southern fencer. He lowered his blade and replied, ”Nope. If I lay in now, she might melt all my swords. Better t'save my power for a li'l while.” At this, Frenzy Plant's Number Two nodded in approval. The enemies of Fiore's top-rate war guild could afford to waste their attacks, but no such frivolity could be exercised by soldiers manning the Howling Djinn's Keep. Not a single punch had been thrown and not a single spell had been cast between two opposing guilds yet; if all eyes were on Frenzy Plant, they needed everything they could get. Thinking about this irritated Zander. When would the other guilds turn on one another? His strategy banked on the eventuality that one guild would try to take advantage of another by stabbing it in the back as it went after his own guild. Perhaps, in performing such a grandiose act of self-assertion, the army of General Sanders had erred in making itself a target that everyone would team up to take down. A worrying thought, he reflected as he watched more figures on the move down below.

Being in the air, the soldiers did not feel the tremor of earth, but they heard it, and before long they saw it as well. From the streets of Crocus two massive hands emerged, crumbling cobblestones and heedlessly knocking around whatever had been sitting there as they stretched into the sky to grab the Howling Djinn's Keep. Out of the five, none had an answer to this unique attack, and the tower shook as the two giant mitts latched on. On the bottom floor, Hyun sprang into action. One of the hand's thumbs had found a hold right next to the doorway, so she jumped out onto the limb of earth and pointed her flamberge downward. ”Mundane Surge!” A stream of white distortion surrounded the blade as she plunged it into the earth, and like a hypodermic needle injecting a tranquilizing serum into someone the weapon pumped nullification magic into the arm. Of course, the raw material didn't change at all, but Hyun's work removed Jake's magic from it to render it inert earth no longer under his control. Still, the hands did not budge. Their grip remained strong. Hyun clicked her tongue and made her way back into the tower before shouting up, ”We're stuck fast! Dmitri should use his backup plan!”

”Dear Hyun...do you lack imagination?”

The eyebrows of the normally-stolid swordswoman shot up as she saw Indigo floating toward her. Until now, the sorceress had been practically locked in place, channeling her Whitesky Eye to keep the Howling Djinn's Keep aloft. Abandoning her post meant that the tower would soon drop—or, it would have to anyone else. Hyun knew that to change up the plan meant Indigo had come up with an idea, and she trusted her completely. Nevertheless, she was compelled to beg the question, ”What are you doing?”

Indigo shrugged. Such a casual gesture seemed bizarre coming from a woman surrounded completely in wind, her eyes a brilliant off-white and the arcane symbol of a stormy eye on her forehead. ”If our noble opponents want to give me a rest by holding up my tower for me, who am I to say no?” Smiling cheekily, she shouted up the tower to the others, ”Don't attack the hands! This is my chance to even the odds.” As she said this, the sorceress held out her hand, and a book appeared in it. Instantly another Indigo appeared, this one dressed in brown. With the tome in hand, this clone began to summon more books, and in a matter of moments the bottom floor of the tower was cram-packed with Indigos, each sporting a different color and a unique tome. Hyun knew their names: Plum, the holder of Nosgoth; Scarlet, the holder of Defense of the Ancients, Vert, the holder of Wolfenstein, Aqua, the holder of Subnautica, and Ash, who held A Tale of Two Songs rather than her usual The Order. Unlike mindless fakes or throwaway clones, they gave off the eerie impression of alternate versions of Indigo rather than manufactured copies.

Each had a job to do. Scarlet, Aqua and Vert immediately began to climb the innards of the tower, making their way to the top to join Zander, Dmitri, and Owen. Ash seated herself against the wall, waving cheerily as Sepia sealed her in a protective layer of earth. As the cornerstone of the magic that allowed the doubles to exist, she needed to be protected. Plum, Hyun, and the true Indigo made their way outside the tower to take a look at the situation.

It wasn't good. Even though only a moment had passed, worrisome new developments were aplenty. A truly extravagant amount of miniature ash drills swarmed straight for the tower. Indigo pit a finger to her mouth, calmly thinking about the situation. ”I can see every single one of them,” she told Hyun frankly, as if admitting something. ”Since we're being held up, I expanded the Whitesky Eye and lessened its attack power. The atmosphere within a fifty foot radius of the tower is mine.” She waited for the drills to approach. ”I wonder...would we be able to combine our magics to create nullification storms? That's something to try out another day. For now, I'm going to whip up something wipe away the ashes. Please disable one of them.” The air surrounding her began to pick up. ”Hrah!”

Instantly a tide of air crashed into the oncoming fusillade of ash drills. Lightning suffused the windstorm as well, its crackling energy messing with the cohesion of Nolan's many projectiles. With a final yell, Indigo caused the gale to explode outward. By her calculations, the enemy's attack should have been destroyed and left to sprinkle harmlessly on the city below, but she couldn't say for certain until the dust cleared. Behind the rushing storm came a single pinpoint of brilliant white—a Mundane Spark, headed straight for the trio of Penny, Nolan, and Trinity. It homed in on them, ready to indiscriminately strike the first magical signature it came across. That tiny mote of light came with a promise: one minute of total inability to use magic on whoever allowed their ethernano to come in contact with it first.

At that moment, however, Indigo's other comrades were also at work. Three on top of the tower had become seven, and each double raced to do her duty. Scarlet constructed six stone statues of pilgrims evenly spaced around the tower's edges. Each pilgrim's lantern contained a red crystal that would automatically shoot explosive bursts of red fire at enemies that got too close, just like turrets. Sapphire prepared her water magic to heal if necessary, but Vert opened her tome and underwent a hair-raising transfiguration into a werewolf, becoming a canine monster in ragged green robes with a mane of platinum-blonde hair. When she howled, waves of green magic surrounded Owen, Dmitri, and Zander, heightening their magical power. ”I feel...powerful! What a lucky turn of events that Mrs. Afina got to break away and summon her doubles so soon. Whaddya want gone first, commander?”

Zander pointed his ruby arming sword straight down over the edge of the tower. Down below, but rising with decent speed, was a platform with three Dragon Fang wizards on it. ”We've got uninvited guests. Let's give them a warm welcome, and a stern reminder: we are not to be trifled with. In fact, let's make it plain to everyone. Cut loose.”

Owen and Dmitri glanced at one another, knowing just what that phrase meant. The southerner grinned. ”Hell yeah! Cut Capers gonna give 'em what-for!” Penny's blazing light and Nolan's vast dark stared at them from across the sky, but Owen and Dmitri smiled. ”Don't matter if the rumors are true and they got Second Origins. We got somethin' they don't.”

The pair each took a deep breath. ”Don't make it weird this time, bro,” Dmitri muttered as the two performed a bro-fist, then clasped hands. Owen looked at Dmitri as though he were crazy, but not for long. Magic began to flow through the two soldiers, evidenced by waves of silver and orange power flowing between them, and it coalesced into a single point between their palms. Together, they declared, “We dedicate this victory to Xyster, the heart of our team. Unison Raid: Tectonic Blades!”

They held out their hands. A massive, two-layer magical circle blossomed in front of them. It hung in the air, blazing with a steely, fiery sheen, for a moment before it exploded into thousands of shards. These shards shot straight down toward the earth, where the Dragon Fang wizards had placed themselves as they ascended. The little sparks, however, didn't do much, and mostly went past them into the ground. After the sparks buried themselves there, however, the ground began to shake. It suddenly cracked open, and from the seams a field of gargantuan sword blades sprouted at impossible speeds. Made of black, igneous rock and surrounded by fire, they rose to obliterate the Dragon Fang wizards from below. However, they did not stop there. More blades shot up like a wave traveling across the ground, erupting from the streets like titanic weeds. They attacked the Phoenix Wing fliers as well, and in their heedless path even threatened the grounded members of Dragon Fang, Phoenix Wing and other guilds', who could very well be caught in the firing line.

With the great fields of Tectonic Blades on the assault, Dmitri and Owen drew apart, and both collapsed, panting. Even with their boosted magical power, the drain of a Unison Raid combined with the effort exerted already meant that neither felt particularly good. All the same, Tectonic Blades was a Unison Raid attack with tremendous power and speed, enough to decimate the competition with a little luck. Zander observed them warily, then turned his eye back to the scene of destruction currently facing Phoenix Wing and Dragon Fang in particular. To weather this attack would be a ludicrous feat, but if they did, Frenzy Plant would be in a bad situation.

@Lugubrious@Caits
NOLAN

Nolan turned to look at Penny and gave her a fierce look as well. "Oh like you're one to talk about being a team player! You've been moping around and even before your head was filled with worries! Put that aside and-!" He stopped his bickering and saw that his drills of ash had collided with a storm. He recognized this attack; it was Indigos power! He didn't get much of a chance to say anything else as he saw a flash of white fly right towards them. A flash of blue light appeared by his side revealing it to be one of his god slaying swords, Balmung. The blade floated and then was shot downwards and at the same time Nolan grabbed both Trinity and Penny by the shoulders. At that moment, the Mundane Spark was just inches away from their faces before they were warped towards Balmung, which was still in the air before Nolan had grabbed onto it. He never had to warp more than just himself before and it certainly put physical strain on his body.

Colossal blades shot from the earth at high speeds, leaving very little room for any time to think. He barely dodged an incomming blade though a gash was left on his right arm, blood dripped down his arm."I'll clear a path!" His body erupted with an absurd amount of magical power, ashes seeped from him like a volcano erupting and then it all concentrated to Nolan's mouth. "Ash God's Bellow!" A wild, rampaging vortex shot forward speeding towards the blade and followed by a deafening roar, tore through the massive blades shooting out of the ground. What was left from the aftermath of his attack was the broken bits of the blades and ashes falling down towards the streets. "Move now!" Nolan yelled as he darted straight towards the ground so they could navigate back towards the rest of their team. Nolan had landed on the roof of a building and took his communication lacrima out. "We're back on the ground Damian. Where shall we regroup?"

@t2wave
DALTON

"Ow! Oh come on can't ya take a joke?" Dalton rubbed his head and shot Ariel a stink eye through his sunglasses before turning his attention back to the main event though he realized that something was wrong with Ariel. He hopped off her lap and watch her engulf in flames before she sprouted a human scaled wings and was trying to get away from the crowds. "Hey are ya okay? Yer lookin a bit uh, feathery." He asked as he followed her.

@Caits
FERRIS

"Sorry ma'am, but um...The road is closed. Some kids just destroyed an old man's stand of cabbages and they're blocking the road. We're going to have to take the long way around." The carriage rider said apologetically.

"Seriously? God dammit..." Ferris muttered and looked out the window, sighing heavily.

Suddenly Penny's fires became stronger, for a brief moment it was like a fires inferno, burning hotter and hotter, and a raging inferno that was fueled by her own emotions. Grief. Fury. And fear. She screamed, the sound piercing the surrounding area, echoing painfully around them. Her flames engulfed the small, miniscule spark sent from Frenzy plant, but instead of her flames disappearing, only her fire magic died off, her Phoenix Magic seemed to become stronger then ever.

"you insensitive Bastard!" she turned to face Nolan, and for a brief moment he may feel the heat of her Phoenix Flames. "I watched my father die. I killed him. I think I'm allowed to mope given that it hasn't even been two days. Screw you."

Penny seemed truly unaware of just what had happened to her. Instead of the somewhat haze shape of her Phoenix form in the flames, now she had flames licking down her arms, her legs, over her torso, and brilliant, scarlet and amber wings had formed, a flickering plumage of colours were shaped into three brilliantly curved tails.

The tears she wasn't aware were that were falling glistened and she spun away from Nolan, the great blades making their way towards he'd, her guild and others enfuriated her. They could kill. "Phoenix slayer, raging inferno!" from her hands, indeed from her very essence, flames erupted, and engulfed the remaining blades.

She dropped to the ground, breathing hard, a great wracking sob escaping her. Her wings curled around her, as if wanting to comfort her, and this was the first time she seemed aware of them. She had fallen into an alley, and for the moment thought herself safe. Reaching up a hand, she ran it over the feathers there. They seemed soft, warm. Fiery. She clutched her lacrima, but she had no words. She looked up at soft footfalls, a young looking girl approaching her.

"Hi, hi! I'm merlina!"

Penny frowned, recognizing the name as one of Pirate Lords members. Puzzled, she waited for the girl to say something else.

"You Killed a Phoenix" it was a statement, not a question.

Penny looked away, "he lived a long life"

Merlina nodded, approaching Penny, she studied her. "I always thought fire was so much prettier then emeralds. It's so beautiful...oh look at all your colours...so many different shades of red! Oh and the purple!"

This girl seemed rather strange, yet Penny recognized her as a Phoenix Slayer. Merlina gave her a kind smile. "It's going to be hard for you, sweetling. A long journey, with a tough decision. But I think you have people you care about greatly that will make it a lot easier. People who are there for you. you just have to let them in"

And then as suddenly as the girl appeared, she was gone. Penny looked down at the lacrima in her hand. She drew a heavy breath. "I'm coming" she didn't say anything else, instead she took back to the skies, flying smoothly threw the air, searching for her guildmates.

---

Jessie shrugged, quite content where she was, she took out a bagel from a pocket, and split it in half, handing half to Ferris, who might wonder how she had smuggled a bagel into a pocket. "Ah well" she flicked the mic back on, "things are really heating up now, I sure hope the cities defenses can take all this! Oh wow! I'm not even sure how to describe what's happening, care to have a go Ferris?!"

Even as the nullification magic passed through the platform, Jake re-energized it and used it to flip the trio up onto one of the knuckles before even his quick re-control got shut down. He took quick stock of the situation before nodding to himself and turning to Hunter. "Think you could blow us an entrance here? Front door's probably a bad idea." The Jade Dragon Slayer nodded with a grin and one of his jade covered fists impacted the wall to the left of Hyun, Indigo, and Plum, causing it to shake, but not breaking through even as the Unity Raid passed by. Frowning, the fist came back again and flew forwards, once more impacting the wall with a dull thud. The wall cracked this time, but still did not budge. By this point, the obsidian blades rose towards the trio of Dragon Fang mages quickly.

"Hunter, now would be a good time." Hunter didn't respond, but with a bellow, slammed both fists into the wall and blowing it inwards, finding himself tackled inwards by his friends as the far reaching edges of the blades sliced the air where'd they'd been moments before. Picking themselves up, the group of wizards found itself facing off with two Indigos and Hyun, though it didn't phase them. Jake inclined his head slightly, his hand axes becoming Alexander's Battle Ax.

"Ladies."




The moment he'd seen the sparks fall, he no longer waited for Joshua to respond, a Striker Blade coming to life and the young swordsman finding himself behind Damian as the magical blade jetted towards the now stationary tower while hugging low to the ground. It was when the blades began erupting from the ground that he found himself swerving side to side, expertly controlling the flying blade around the sharp turns. As the pair flew, Nolan's voice came over the communication lacrima and Damian pulled out his. "Find a way inside the tower, doesn't matter how at this point. I've got not point of reference with all these damn blades popping up. Bastards stole my spell style. Anyways, get past Hyun and get inside, Josh and I will meet you there." Storing it again, he switched direction and tore upwards at a sharp angle, turning and heading for the tower.

As they flew, a series of orange blades formed around Damian, multiplying exponentially before sailing towards the tower. "Soaring Wall of Blades!" They wouldn't actually cause any damage, but they would hopefully conceal Damian and Joshua so the latter could cut them a way into the tower. Keeping all their opponents busy would be difficult, but they needed to stop all the ranged spells from happening if any of their flying friends were to get close.

"If I might finally speak up, I think I outa fight Hyun." Joshua said into his own lacrima, running along rooftops towards the tower. The moment the blades had begun shooting out of the ground, he noted that they sprang from the sparks and that the sparks only hit the roads, so it was only natural to assume the roves where a safe spot. "Her magic won't effect me all that much so I'm the only one who can fight her on even ground without being severely handicapped. Get me to her and I'll hold her off while the rest of you take care of the rest of Frenzy Plant. I'm sure the person or persons who summoned these stone blades are exhausted. So they'll likely have a guard, but if you outnumber then, it should be two easy knockouts for us. So, if I keep Hyun occupied, that's one less for you all to worry about.

And Nolan, try not to lose you cool okay?"



Jackie didn't get to reply to Zephyr as the blades approached them. She avoided them with a Mist Body spell, the blades passing harmlessly through her and she reformed an inch away, looking up at the blade in an unimpressed manner. Turning towards her partner, if he was nearby, she would finally speak.
"I say we wait. Let the others exhausts themselves. Fighting a weakened enemy is better then fighting one head on. We can't hope for the element of surprise against Rider's Blade. Cha... Lucus will likely use his wind magic to sense all incoming threats. Tough Love and Pirate Lord are possible targets, if you feel like going after them. I am no truly sure what to do." She said

@Joshua Tamashii

Zephyr Hardt

Looking at Jackie waiting for her reply or to simply vanish, somewhat was right when she turned to mist but didn't move. He was confused until he saw the Tectonic Blades coming his their way and passing through Jackie. "Machina Takeover: Echo!" Zephyr said with armor forming on him. Shooting sound waves from below his feet he shot up to a nearby roof to escape the mass blade attacks. He managed to avoid most of them, but one grazed his leg. Slicing through the metal plates on his leg, where red would leak out but oddly very little. Yet on the roof Zephyr was clutching his mouth as stifled yells were heard beneath his hand. A few tears came down his face from the scorching agony his leg was going through. Yet while it wasn't going away, the blades did and he dropped down to the ground using his sound waves to lessen his fall. He now favored his right leg and looked at Jackie who wasn't sure what to do. He thought about which might be easier for them to handle by themselves, cause a small scale war was happening and he wasn't eager on joining it. "I say Pirate Lord, I would go with Tough Love but Harry's magic will make getting to them more annoying than necessary. We know they don't have anyone that can truly hinder you from even getting to them. Although I'm all for waiting. Its the smart idea." His left leg was twitching a bit but wasn't bleeding anymore. The attack itself practically cauterized it closed the moment it hit.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel blushed slightly at the man's reassurance, but glad that the man didn't think less of him for his lack of ability. As they approached the stadium, the sheer number of connections that were present were almost too much for him to take in, but after a few moments his eyes adjusted to their presence, allowing him to study everything around him. Turning his gaze to the lacrima vision screens, he quickly traced a path between it and the actual events, raising an eyebrow as he view the battle in the distance. At this distance, everything was a little difficult to make out in detail, but he could sense a lot of attention being directed at the tall structure where a number of people were standing their ground against the oncoming horde. Looking to the others, he noticed that one of those engaging the tower had fallen to the ground and was being held by a rather intense amount of sadness and loss, possibly even guilt. He felt bad for them, and almost wished he could've been there so he could help, even if it was a temporary bit of relief, but Ezekiel was certain that if he was in a mess like that, he'd be dead for sure.

"I wonder why that Phoenix girl is so sad, it so hard to tell from this far away." Ezekiel said -finding out more about the sad person after a few moments more of study- in an absent-minded fashion, completely unaware that not only had the man continued talking about his daughter, but he'd been standing in front of the guild master for about a minute now staring off into the distance, nor did he notice that the amount of cats on his person had some how tripled as they had traveled through the stadium.

@Hatakekuro
@Zarkun

Argus Leandros

"Cool arm." Argus would take note as his companion took a second to light up a cigarette. He was going to follow it up with a question of how he got it, but decided against it, lest he accidentally offend the man. Last thing he needed to do was cause another scene. However, when the man spoke about him making a good impression, Argus couldn't help but burst into a fit of pained laughter, holding his stomach as he rode it out. Once it had gotten out of his system, a simple shake of his head and a small snicker would seem to be the only answer the likely confused vagabond would get.

However, Argus would look his future guildmate in the eye as he seemed ready to tell a bit of a tale.

"I'm going to have to say that first impressions aren't my strong suit. I've already gotten myself on the bad side of, at the very least, 2 of my fellow guild mages, but most likely the whole guild probably views me with a less than favorable eye. Not unfairly, though, as I think I may have almost started a guild war after pulling a prank on one of the Phoenix Wing members, then promptly getting into a rather destructive confrontation with them the following day when they came for revenge. To be fair, the prank may have been a bit much, and I was the main cause of damage , so the fault is mostly on me. Still need to apologize to the crazy chick, now that I think about it, but as it is, we probably won't get to Crocus in time for me to get the chance. Which sucks, but what can you do? Duty called, and away I went."

@The Wild West

@hatakekuro@Lugubrious

To weather the attack, Trinity had to fracture her shield into parts, and cycle the different parts out to keep them from overloading. She held one part still, draining it with a touch of the Make on her hand. She didn't really have a good way to run away (other than just fly away, but that seemed like a hazard course), so she'd have to see what Penny or Nolan came up with.

And then things outside her shells began to change. The tempest supporting the fortress stopped... Time to move.

Before she could do anything new, like retreat, Penny's flames enveloped them and absorbed the Mundane Spark she had been too busy to notice, herself. Penny flew away from them, but Trinity knew better than to try and chase her down in the middle of all this. It was time to go! Nolan was already on top of it, and he teleported them away, out of the air. She stumbled and her turbines turned off, not expecting the solid ground, though it was shoddy footing with all the chaos. Nolan and Penny had cleaned up, somehow.

Trinity took the moment to damage assess and mold her gloves. She had to cycle a lot of her shell, leaving her with three circles. Her left glove became a buckler/armblade, and the other an armcannon. As the pseudo-material grew and changed, the brightness it had gained previously faded. She shrunk her wings to be just the turbines, attached to her via harness. "We're to get in the Tower, then? Didn't it have a doorway?" She finished her modifications and gave them a quick once over before nodding. "Alright, well, let's not keep him waiting." She started at a run, but soon began gliding on her Make boots, with the three orbiting remnants of her Spiked Shell.

Flint nodded to the small remark regarding to one of his arms, they weren’t the most beautiful things out there, but it did its job without much of a hitch as it was one of the very few things he could rely on those dire situations. Though, something strange did occur once Argus soon burst out in laughter after he had finished speaking. Sure, the ending was meant to be just a bit of humorous, but it wasn’t meant to make someone burst out laughing like this person was doing at the very moment. Flint shifted from his leaning position to get a better look on Argus, cigarette ash crumbling away into the wind as the cowboy found himself quite befuddled though his face only conveyed it through the slight squint of his eyes.

It didn’t take too long before the laughter subsided from Argus, though the grin on his face still seemed to convey that something else was meant to be said after the laughter. Flint waited silently until he was ready to talk once again, and soon found Argus discussing his failures of his actions and attitude from the past four days. It did look like the young man had quite a plethora of ill-deeds in that short amount of time, but he did seem to be remorseful of those actions to an extent. Flint waited until he was finished as he continued to smoke over Argus and went back to looking to the sky.

“A little rebel-rouser ain’t you?” Flint said grinning, moving back to the original posture before the laughter, “Well, I can’t say I was too much different a few years back. It was fun for the time for sure, no arguing against that, but you seem to lose the taste of it when no one else around you is laughing.” Flint soon threw his half-finished cigarette onto the ground, stomping on the smolders of the remains before going back to his musings. “You try to right some wrongs, but in the end the damage has already been done. Nothing much else is left in the past but mistakes, so why not make the future a time of something you can enjoy rather than regret?” As Flint finished with his little spiel, he wasn’t actually too sure why he was giving out this type of talk. It might have been that Argus reminded himself of the past, trying his own way to nudge him into the right direction before his time was too late. Well, it didn’t much matter in the end as this person had their own life to continue in their own way, but it would be nice if the words left some impression on the younger.

The sweat and grime festooning Owen was washed away in a pulse of healing water from Aqua. It left him sodden and still breathing heavily, but reinvigorated. With the back of his hand he wiped water out of his eyes and smirked deviously at his comrade Dmitri, whose heated forearms reacted to the double's dousing by generating steam. ”Was it good for yew, tew?” he questioned, arms crossed as he sat.

Dmitri scowled at him. ”I knew you were gonna say somethin' weird, you dumbass.” He got to his feet, and Aqua backed away. Rolling his eyes, he held out a brimstone hand to help Owen to his feet, but a sudden jerk of the tower forced him to readjust his footing to avoid tumbling over. ”What?” he shouted, full of incredulity, before dashing to the edge of the tower to look over. ”How'd we take a direct hit? What's Hyun doing?”

While Owen grumpily picked himself up, Zander joined the bare-chested brawler near the Keep's rim. ”That wasn't magic. It was a physical blow. Enemies must have reached us already.” Another blow sent jarring vibrations through the tower. Both soldiers watched the Tectonic Blades rising through the nearby streets of Crocus, grown like a sudden, killer forest. Unfortunately, the overall effect was much less than they thought. They watched with some satisfaction as Phoenix Wing's firebird fell from the sky, apparently struck by Hyun's Mundane Spark, but only a couple of the wizards running around on the ground seemed to take any hits from the Unison Raid attack, and those that did were not crippled. ”...Unfortunate,” lamented the Ruby Knight, his tone dark. Another, larger rumble, accompanied by the sound of breaking stone, caused him to pause briefly before he continued. ”We must leave the intruders to our allies on the lower level. It was imbecilic of us to expect the kind of spell that would be most effective on a large army to wipe away small groups of powerful individuals. I will take full responsibility for this failure, as it was part of my plan. We must gauge our competition better.” Knowing better than to try to console him, Dmitri swept across the surroundings. For the moment, not many attacks were coming their way, but whatever had been hitting the Howling Djinn's Keep was almost certainly spelling trouble for his allies below even now.

The six turrets on the tower's top began to fire, accumulating red orbs of flame in the stone pilgrims' lanterns before shooting them out. Frenzy Plant's soldiers, having not been keeping a perfect lookout, instinctively knew that the turrets were responding to an approaching threat and wheeled to face the direction they indicated. Before they could fully address the situation, however, a volley of orange lances flew their way. Zander wasted no time in telling his subordinates, ”I'll deal with those. You two: find the one responsible and make sure whoever it is doesn't reach us. The turrets alone will not be able to take it down.” So saying, the Ruby Knight lowered his weapon and faced the blades head-on. They converged on the easy target, a wall of searing spikes ready to dent armor and pierce flesh. Holding out his empty hand, Zander waited with complete calmness. A single point of space just in front of his palm began to fluctuate, in a manner similar to Hyun's Nullification magic but darker, and moving in a definite spiral. The next second the blades were upon him, but rather than sticking the soldier like nails into the hide of a pig, they vanished into the odd singularity as if sucked up. Every single piece of the magic attack disappeared, and as the last one came in, Zander pulled back his hand. Not a single one of his muscles wasn't strained, and he fought to control his breath. A bead of sweat formed on his brow. Luckily, he needn't hold it for long. A yell rang out as he thrust his arm forward, and the entire Soaring Wall of Blades spewed out of the singularity again, zooming out randomly to fall like rain on the competition below, particularly Trinity and Nolan. Such was the power of Counter magic, the second arcane art mastered by Frenzy Plant's Number Two.

At the same time, Owen and Dmitri locked on to Damian and Joshua, aided by the automatic tracking and projectile fire of the turrets generated by Scarlet. They knew that, while fatigued by the effects of the Unison Raid, they would have a potentially compromisingly tougher time taking any intruders head on. ”Tryin' for a sneak attack, huh? Why doncha go bother someone else? Steel Sky: Delta!” Silver magic circles flashed brilliantly in the air near the tower in a vast, two-dimensional sheet. The next second, however, they became invisible to lay in wait. Not to be outdone, Dmitri flexed his arms. A fresh quartet of new arms sprang from the Asura circles on his back, bringing his total to six. ”Grasping Earth: Alpha!” He clapped each pair of hands twice, and crimson-orange magic circles appeared on the Howling Djinn's Keep, one in the center of each remaining stone block. From the circles, fiery stone arms extended, their burning fingers poised to strike or grasp. ”Even if ain't a Unison Raid, we teammates fit t'gether like peas in a pod! Sword magic an' arm magic that comes from most anywhere—Cut Capers' Variable Array!” Now, in addition to dealing with incoming turret fire, Joshua and Damian had to worry about not one but two layers of traps.

Meanwhile, Hyun and Indigo found themselves in a precarious predicament. Enemies inside the Howling Djinn's Keep already? That couldn't be allowed to happen. Fortunately, the Dragon Fang wizards' manner of entry did not show an abundance of either wisdom or awareness. In the time that it took them to pick themselves off the floor, recognize the threat, and arm themselves, Indigo's anger had already reached its boiling point. ”GET OUT!” she shrieked, looking and sounding just like a vengeful banshee thanks to the distorting wind aura that suffused her. The air pressure inside the tower dropped instantly, and the very next second, a wall of lightning-infused rain and wind smashed into the Dragon Fang wizards at almost point-blank range. If that sheer wall of atmospheric power didn't throw them back out of the tower and into the open air, nothing would. Even Hyun, positioned behind and to the left of Indigo, was forced to cling to the nearest wall for dear life by the fury of the Stormfront.

Penny fell towards the ground with shocking speed, and it looked like she might go splat, end her involvement in the games altogether, but she didn't seem to. Instead, flames leaped up from where she landed, in front of Owen and Demetri, having skillfully avoided the traps. Her wings remained half spread, and her tail curled around her body as if to protect her from attacks. Flames danced around her, although she didn't seem to notice them. Red. Orange. Yellow. Purple.

She seemed unafraid to be facing two strong opponents, on their turf. Instead, she glanced back at Damian and Joshua, assuming they could deal with whatever was going towards them, she gave them a smile, before looking back to Owen and Dimitri. She trusted them to guard her back. "You want to play with fire? Okay then. Phoenix Flame"

Flames began to dance around her wildly, and aimed towards the two Frenzy Plant soliders. The flames danced and twirled into shapes, most often that of the Phoenix Wing Guild mark, sweeping around her opponents.

For the moment, her fire magic was taking a back burner, overrun by her phoenix Slayer magic, she fell back on that. And yet, for the moment, it seemed like all she was doing was testing the two opponents, enjoying it even. She hummed, the song somehow echoing back around her team mates, a small melody, as she rocked back on her heels, evidently full of energy that standing still just wasn't an option. She studied the scene, waiting to see what would happen.

@hatakekuro
Making a B-line to the back Ariel leaned against a wall. Thankfully most of the people were distracted by the match going on but a few had noticed. In fact a couple people looked at her and back at the lacrama vision where Penny was being displayed. Well, it wouldn't take a genius to make the connection of what magic she had after seeing that, brilliant. She'd actually forgotten how strong the Phoenix magic had the tendency to be. She would need to burn off some of the magic or find something else to overpower it until she learns to better control it. Right now was not the time to do that though so she would just sit tight.

Then she noticed that Dalton had followed her and showed some concern. She waved off the thought that something was wrong. "No no, I'm fine. It's just that..." Stopping for a moment she leaned down so she could speak lower. "Penny warned me to avoid being seen with Phoenix magic. Kind of hard to hide with these wings. I'm guessing Penny using her magic triggered my transformation." Sighing she tried to tuck her wings behind her but they were still pretty visible on either side and forced her to stay a bit further from the wall because of their size.