[center][h3]Frenzy Plant's Elite[/h3][/center]

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.  [color=FF6347]”Was it good for yew, tew?”[/color] he questioned, arms crossed as he sat.

Dmitri scowled at him.  [color=E32636]”I knew you were gonna say somethin' weird, you dumbass.”[/color]  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.  [color=E32636]”What?”[/color] he shouted, full of incredulity, before dashing to the edge of the tower to look over.  [color=E32636]”How'd we take a direct hit?  What's Hyun doing?”[/color]

While Owen grumpily picked himself up, Zander joined the bare-chested brawler near the Keep's rim.  [color=E0115F]”That wasn't magic.  It was a physical blow.  Enemies must have reached us already.”[/color]  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.  [color=E0115F]”...Unfortunate,”[/color] 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.  [color=E0115F]”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.”[/color]  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, [color=E0115F]”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.”[/color]  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.  [color=FF6347]”Tryin' for a sneak attack, huh?  Why doncha go bother someone else?  Steel Sky: Delta!”[/color]  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.  [color=E32636]”Grasping Earth: Alpha!”[/color]  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.  [color=FF6347]”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!”[/color]  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 [i]inside[/i] 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.  [color=007FFF]”GET OUT!”[/color] 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.