Rutger slowly began to get his bearings back after leaving the noxious cloud, he turned to analyse his enemies, but only found Zuri hastily creeping up on him. He raised his right hand up and tried to prepare a spell to strike her down, but even while channeling all his mana to his hand, the spell generation was greatly handicapped by the anti-magic dust exposure he just underwent. He was able to achieve a small fizzling ball of purple magic, but it would be too little too late for Rutger.

Zuri planted her hand on his chest, activating the rune. As a result, Rutger's work in progress spell immediately dispersed. Rutger scowled and stumbled backwards, feeling the horrifying effects immediately. His connection to his manapool wasn't just interrupted like before, now it was gutted entirely. "What have you done you rotten whelp?!" He yelled. For someone like Rutger this was the worst possible thing. He might have been a master of magic, but without it he felt lost. He thought he had taken every precaution to avoid this outcome by removing Nemo from the equation, but it seemed that wasn't enough in the end.

Rutger frantically grabbed a gilded dagger from within his robe and charged Zuri. "I'll make you regret this underhanded trickery!" When he reached her he stabbed down at her from the right.

Raiya wasn't certain as to what exactly happened, but she surmised that Travis had concocted a specific runic formula that prevented the one who was cursed with it from controlling their flow of mana. Almost like some sort of sealing technique. She also couldn't shake a sinking suspicion that somehow Felix was involved in this. Not that she didn't trust Travis's expertise when it came to runes and magic theory, but something about this felt advanced, arch-magi level advanced.

Raiya picked herself up from the ground and began to walk towards the group. Raiya noticed that Stockton had grown desperate, as he pulled out a dagger and charged Zuri with it. Raiya rushed in, exerting what little stamina she had to get in between Zuri and Stockton, quickly stepping into his zone of effectiveness. As soon as she stepped within his close quarters combat bounds, she used her right hand to push Stockton's knife-hand away from it's trajectory, the knife harmlessly swiping the air next to Raiya and Zuri. Then Raiya crouched down and swept Stockton's feet, which would knock him to the ground.

As the team members gathered around the desperate Stockton, Raiya wearily stood up from her crouched position, "Good job. I assume that you used some sort of advanced rune to prohibit his magic flow? I'm not sure how you did it but you have my congratulations. However, I have the rest from here," Raiya said in a weak voice. 'Perhaps I could let them take him out, but killing someone isn't something that I would recommend anyone do if they are not already a killer, plus I hate this guy, I want to be the one to take him out.' Raiya thought.

Raiya, by this time had regained enough mana to summon her sashimi knife from her manainventory. "It's over, Stockton, your opponent is me. Pick your pathetic sack of bones off of the floor and face me." She stated as she took her crouched attack stance.

Nemo didn't lie; his shotgun's specially designed buckshots were every bit as effective as he has described. After Travis pulled down on one of the triggers of the weapon did Rutger finally take notice of him. As expected, he casted a barrier to shield himself from the seemingly conventional attack but Travis watched as the mob of crystalline pellets slammed into the magical field, nearly shattering it as they punched through. Given the range of the shot, the small crystals obviously dispersed into their own trajectories but a small few found their target.

While the shot certainly drew blood, the amount of damage the pellets had inflicted couldn't be considered fatal. With pain and anger manifesting through Rutger's contempt-fill expression, Travis didn't need to hear Father Stockton's threatening remark to know that he was in big trouble. The Untalent gulped upon the sight of Rutger's large spherical spell.

Thankfully however Zuri had then intervened and pressed her own attack against their foe. A couple of unrecognizable detonations, from Travi's position, occurred right behind Rutger and swiftly consumed him in a dark thick cloud of some substance Travis himself was unfamiliar with. The attack's purpose was made clear to him right as way as watched Rutger's intimidating spell begin to wane and eventually collapsed harmlessly. Whatever power Zuri had unleashed was conflicting with Father Stockton's ability to properly channel mana or cast magic. Rutger, likely having concluded this dangerous fact, quickly scrambled from the cloud with due haste. Having reacquired his target, Travis lined up the shotgun and took aim.

But before he could fire again, Zuri unexpectedly made a mad dash toward Rutger with fast and reckless abandon. The aggressive move caught Travis initially by surprise and momentarily made him question if Zuri's sudden all-out-attack was safe if not appropriate at this stage of the fight. However it soon made perfect sense as Travis caught a glimpse of the item within her grasp of her left hand; it was his transparent icosahedron that stored his rune and Zuri was dead set on using it.

In the briefest moment of the scene, he spotted Rutger desperately trying to respond to Zuri's attack but her disruptive cloud still plagued his efforts in casting his spell. Admittedly Zuri's apparent strategy, whether she had actually planned on it or not, was superbly executed and left Stockton almost completely helpless for what was about come. She eventually soon closed within perfect range unharmed and activated the rune Travis had orchestrated their entire goal around.

Upon activation, the spell resonated a sharp unnatural howl which echoed throughout the room as it trailed ring-like pulse that originated from the rune's epicenter. The pulse itself seemingly warped reality as the surrounding environment in which it traveled past momentarily became inverted. While the spell itself only lasted three mere seconds, its effect astonished Travis whom casted his manalysis to see what the spell would do. When compared to the rune's first casting on a Paragon, he recalled the effect to have been much more dramatic with it radiating a far more impressive light and sound. Of course the difference was that the rune was struggling and yet succeeding in binding a Paragon; in the case for Rutger, literally tearing away a Talent's aura and latent ley-lines was hardly considered a task for the rune and its comparatively unimpressive projection was evident to that notion.

It wasn't long until Rutger 'recovered' from the attack but soon found that he was, in every sense of the word, powerless. This has apparently sent him into a dangerous and frantic and lunge toward Zuri, accusing her of the deed dealt against him; he technically wasn't wrong though Travis felt briefly jealous that the spite wasn't directed to him. However before Rutger could claim his revenge, Raiya intercepted his attacked and skillful disarmed him of his knife, causing Travis to exhale in relief.

Now that Father Stockton was surrounded, Travis eventually rejoined his teammates but kept his shotgun leveled on Rutger just in case though honestly predicted that their foe didn't really have anymore advantages to pit against them. Travis eventually turned to Raiya after she noted the use of his run against Rutger, "Stopping his magic flow? It probably did a lot more than just that...but thank you nevertheless."

Zuri was ready to stop Rutger's last ditch attack but Raiya jumped in and took care of it instead. Even though Zuri wanted to take a few stabs at Rutger, she knew that Raiya's hatred for this Mage goes way back, the history between these two are deep, and it would be rude of her not to back off and let Raiya finish the job.

She took a deep breath before closing her eyes and returns to her normal state, her armour fading away underneath the cloak. Zuri's emotions also returned to normal, her mind more clouded than usual along with a slight headache, however it was nothing to worry about. She used roughly a quarter of her mana for the brief time she has remained in this form, so she knew that using it for every encounter was definitely not a viable option, at least not for a long period of time.

Zuri used to be quite fit, but getting trapped in a frozen crystal for such a long time has taken a toll on her physical fitness by a bit. She breathed harder than usual to catch her breath. Her heart rate also started to slow down from all the adrenaline was that flowing through her when she was in her transformed state, especially when she rushed towards Rutger without a reliable backup plan other than activating the rune Travis marked on the back of her hand.

"So.. it's finally over?" She says with a pause in the middle as she recovers from fatigue. Zuri dusts off the bits and pieces on her cloak and lets out a sigh of relief. She was glad that her teammates were still standing after such an intense encounter against such a powerful foe.

A cloud of dust and smoke was kicked up from the explosive impact of Galvadon's mace, obscuring his vision entirely. John wanted to see the results of his handiwork as soon as possible, so he used a spell to whip and disperse the smoke immediately. To his dismay, no person or organic matter laid within the crater he had created with his strike. He quickly turned and surveyed his surroundings, finding nothing in sight. An irritated look crossed John's face. That coward... did he run? He thought, but his irritated expression quickly turned to panic. He forgot to check one last place.

Galvadon looked up, just in time to see Nemo hurdling down right at him. He had escaped the blast radius of his mace by warping above it at the last second. Nemo let out a crazed laugh before cartwheeling into a downwards kick at John. With his mace's head still stuck into the pavement, he couldn't swat Nemo from the sky, his only choice was to block. Just before he was impacted with the heel of Nemo's boot, Galvadon blocked it with the blunt staff of his weapon.

The impact discharged some magically generated kinetic energy, transferring from Nemo's boot, to John's staff, and finally his body. It caused him a good deal of pain, but not nearly as much as it would have if he hadn't blocked it. John pushed Nemo back with his staff, causing Nemo to dismount from balancing on top of Galvadon's weapon into a back flip before landing.

Galvadon quickly pulled his golden mace loose from the pavement and retracted it, causing it to fly through the air before popping heavily back into place on the staff. "I can't say I'm surprised, but I really wish you would've just died from that. That's rare coming from me, but I already know torture wouldn't bother you any." He said before resting his weapon on his shoulder.

Nemo let out a small scoff in response. "Splitting up was a questionable decision, Father Stockton must really have been afraid of my anti-magic ability to go as far as to sacrifice your twin synergy. Shame I wont get to witness it." He replied.

"Oh, well, he really hated the thought of having his specially crafted spells be belittled down to simple fish food for you. Fighting you would be like opposing a brick wall for him."

"I suppose I can sympathize. My abilities aren't always as visually inspiring as I'd like. In order to create my own spells I must first destroy another's."

"Spare me your sermon, Smiley, I've heard enough speeches lately as it is." Galvadon snapped back, uninterested. "What's with that outfit? You lose a bet with the apostate or something?" He asked.

"Not quite... she did." Nemo replied. "I thought I'd give my own little spin to her gang uniform. It's not often I have a reason to go for a retro-punk look. What do you think?"

Galvadon let out a laugh. "What do I think? I think that might be some camaraderie I smell. That's unlike you. Were you hoping the snake might accept you because you put on motorcycle jacket? I fear you might be growing soft on me, Smiley." He explained with a condescending tone, continuing to chuckle. "Maybe I'll tell Stockton to spare her, so I can bring her up here and finish her myself, nice and slow. All for your pale white eyes to see. What do you think about that?" John asked, his sadistic side beginning to surface.

After John's diatribe, Nemo's expression was noticeably less playful than before. "I think I've grown tired of our little talk." He answered, his voice deadpan and ominous.

"I couldn't agree more." Galvadon grinned before swinging his mace towards Nemo. The head detached as soon as he began the swing, extending out by the chain to reach Nemo.

Nemo limbo'd himself back strangely to dodge the swing, and then immediately used his warp to advance himself closer to Galvadon. John retracted his weapon back to try to hit Nemo with the backswing, but Nemo sidestepped it at the last second. After his mace was back in place, Galvadon stepped forward and began to slam it down towards Nemo.

Nemo extended his glove hand up in an attempt to block the swing by it's head. Any onlookers would of thought this to be a terrible idea, but just before the weapon connected with his palm, it was stepped by a small plate sized force field. The impact let out a loud clang, as if a church bell had been rung. Nemo kept his arm up, locking the weapon in place.

"You're much stronger than you let on." John commented with a slightly strained voice before pulling his weapon back to break the hold. He followed up by striking the ground instead of Nemo to create a heavy shock-wave of debris towards his opponent.

Nemo generated a quick barrier to shield himself from the shrapnel, but just as the pelting passed, John's mace-head suddenly flew through the dust by it's chain and pierced Nemo's barrier. It continued on to slam heavily into Nemo's chest. Thankfully the spikes were still retracted. Despite the crushing blow, Nemo barely lost his footing. John rushed through the smoke neck while his weapon was still retracting back, delivering a ruthless punch to the side of Nemo's face.

Nemo powered through the assault, appearing mostly unfazed. He returned the favor by striking John right in the abdomen, his own attack had left the church-goer wide open. John winced, clearly not as accustomed to pain as much as Nemo was. John threw another wild attack, but Nemo blocked it, this time grabbing his arm into a lock. He pushed John back, forcing him to back-pedal until he slammed into the temple wall. The impact loosened his grip on the mace, causing it to drop and clang loudly on the stone floor.

With a growl, Nemo threw a feral strike at Galvadon. John narrowly cocked his head to the side to dodge the punch. He then grabbed onto Nemo's jacket and used all his strength to spin him around and slam him into the wall. In a fury, John began to repeatedly bash Nemo across the face. Galvadon quickly lost count of the strikes he dealt, but by the fourth Nemo began to emit a sickening chuckle. As the beating continued, Nemo seemed to only get louder with his laughter.

Eventually John exhausted himself with the attack. He stepped back to take a breather, seeing Nemo's now bloodied face. Strangely, he was still cracking a smile, albeit one with trickles of blood seeping out of his mouth now. Nemo spat the excess blood out of his mouth. "C'mon, put some emotion into it Johnny boy, I just can't feel the love in your punches yet." Nemo stated, ending it with a giggle.

Frustrated, John rushed back forward and unleashed another strike. This time however, Nemo blocked the swing with his fist and grabbed John's forearm. He then forcefully twisted it until he yelled out in agony. Followed by a swift kick to the midsection to immediately silence him. Nemo then let go of his arm and struck Father Galvadon across the face. John stumbled back and fell over by his mace with a thud.

Nemo advanced on John once again while he was down, but just before he could initiate his next move, a fiery swing from John's mace appeared. John had grasped his weapon on the floor and put in a little something extra this time. The sight of the flames seemed to immediately cause a shift in Nemo's attitude. His carefree look seemed to dissipate, replaced with wide eyes as he tracked the fire intently.

"You're one tough son of a bitch, I'll give you that." John said as he brought himself back to his feet. He spat out a small bit of crimson from his teeth before continuing. "You might not fear pain, but that's fine, because I know what you do fear." John waved the flame engulfed mace towards Nemo. "I thought playing fair with you would be enjoyable, but it's begun to lose it's charm."

"I think fear is a strong word, I'm just a bit more sensitive to being burnt extra-crispy than others." Nemo replied.

John angrily swang downwards at Nemo, his macehead detaching to extend it's range. Nemo hurriedly warped out of the way to the side. "I am the rising sun that will cause vile creatures like you to scurry back off to their caves!" John whipped the handle of his mace, causing the head to remove itself from the ground and swing by it's chain back at Nemo, this time coming dangerously close to hitting him. "But my light will burn so bright that even there you wont be safe!" He added before raising his free hand up and exploding a ball of magically created yellow sunlight in his hand, causing a hot flash-bang like effect to course through the air.

Nemo was so preoccupied with tracking the ablaze mace that he didn't notice his other spell, Nemo's light sensitive eyes were immediately blinded. He covered his eyes, reeling from the irritating flash and stumbled back. With a heavy metallic ker-thunk Nemo found himself sent airborne by a immense strike from Galvadon's mace. He sailed across the pavement before leaving the ring entirely and smashing into a broken wall of one of the ruins.

After hitting the floor, Nemo worked on trudging himself back up on his feet, sputtering blood out from his mouth. On the way up he cleared his eyes and checked his body for any fire, thankfully the brief impact with the mace hadn't lit him ablaze. He certainly wasn't completely unscathed however. The morningstar had slammed into him with more than enough force to shatter a couple of his ribs like peanut brittle. It was then that Nemo noticed that his left shoulder had been popped completely out of place as well. He grabbed his arm and crudely shoved it inwards to snap it back into it's socket. In order to stop his lungs from getting torn to shreds from the broken ribs, Nemo placed his hand on his midsection and cast his mana-thread spell to temporarily sew all the pieces back together. However, with the time he had, he couldn't totally fix the three puncture wounds he received from the spikes. A stream of blood could be seen running down his leather jacket, trickling onto the ground.

"Good... that's good, I'm starting to feel the emotion in the way you fight Johhny-boy. It's been a long time since I've been hit that hard... Honestly, it's a rather refreshing feeling. It's only when I bleed that I can truly feel like I'm still living." Nemo stated after wiping the blood from his mouth. "One thing I've always loved about situations like these, with nobody else around, is I get to use some of my personal spells. Many of my own creations have never had an audience that's lived longer than the performance."

John idly swung his mace above his head to ready a strike if he needed. Nemo's comment made him hesitate to commit to any attack until he knew what was coming. Even though he might be able to prevent him from charging up a spell, he might be running straight into a trap.

"Leere Erbrechen." Nemo spoke, casting some sort of incantation John had never heard before. At first it seemed like nothing had happened until Nemo noticeably retched. He spewed a cup worth of black sludge onto the floor from his mouth before raising his head back up to face Galvadon. His maw became full with something once more, and when he opened it he fired off a glowing basketball sized black blast of magic towards John from his mouth.

Galvadon quickly charged his own blast and fired it off to collide with Nemo's, but his yellow ball of fire was effortlessly snuffed out by Nemo's own spell. What?! Now wide eyed and with no time to spare, John panicked and retracted his mace. He pointed it forward and generated a massive yellow magic barrier from it's head.

Nemo's ominous midnight colored spell collided with the barrier into a massive black explosion, eclipsing the entire area John once was into a noxious field of onyx colored vapor. The dark fog slowly rolled away in the wind, revealing John splayed out on floor, his clothing significantly scuffed up, and his mace totally destroyed. The head of the weapon ended up taking the brunt of the attack, and it could now been seen in multiple gold pieces around the arena, leaving only the pole and chain in tact spilled out on the floor. The power behind the spell must have been truly mighty to shatter an enchanted magical heirloom like that.

"What a shame, I was planning on keeping that for my collection." Nemo spoke monotonously as he started to slowly approach John. Droplets of that black ichor still dripped from his mouth intermittently, and crimson blood still trickled out from his wounds onto the floor. Nemo reached into his jacket and retrieved a balisong knife and began to idly flip it as he approached.

John groaned heavily, sputtering up his own lifeblood onto the floor. He rolled to his knees as quick as possible to face Nemo. "You t-truly are a monstrous creature." He spoke, shakily raising his arm up to fire off a yellow blast of sun magic.

Nemo raised his gloved hand up to the attack, effortlessly dispelling it into vapor when it connected with his X rune. "I suppose it's within my means to repair it." He pondered, halfway there.

"Even if I die, I'll at least know that your punishment will be m-much more severe. By failing to kill you I've only condemned you to your heinous existence. Life itself is your punishment. A life where you will always be hated. A life where you will never be loved, even from God. A life where you will be completely, and utterly, alone!" John exclaimed with a halfhearted grin. He began to frantically fire off three more blast spells in a last ditch attempt to ward Nemo off.

"Maybe the weapon wont satisfy me... perhaps I'll take your skull." Nemo dispelled John's attacks just as easy as he did the first.

"I don't fear you, for in the end my spirit, my soul, will be released to return to my Father and rest in heaven." John said, accepting his fate. But before he could speak any further, he noticed that Nemo was treading awfully close to the long expelled chain of his broken weapon.

Galvadon quickly reached to the side and grabbed the handle, causing the chain to spring to life even without the head when he injected mana into it. It moved to the side and rapidly wrapped around Nemo's leg. John yanked on it with all his might and pulled the chain back into it's handle. The combination heaved Nemo's feet out from under him and sent him airborne towards John upside-down.

"Purgatio Pugnus!" Galvadon yelled, charging a spell in his right hand. Once Nemo reached him he added one final word to the incantation. "IGNIUM!" John then punched Nemo's body with great force, but all that force was nothing compared to the massive fiery detonation he inflicted on Nemo. A vast cone of light and fire exploded out with a bang, sending Nemo sailing once more across the stage until he collided with the wooden door of a abandoned ruin. He smashed through it and disappeared into the dark.

John's silent shock and awe soon turned to triumphant laughter, increasing in volume the more he thought about it. "Fool!" He cried out as he got to his feet. John limped over the the ruin as fast as he still could, planning to incinerate the body to make sure Nemo was dead for good. When the Arcanocracy hears word of his victory, John knew he would be rewarded greatly. He finally reached the doorway and peered inside, looking forward to seeing the body, but the lighting was too dark to see a thing inside. John flicked his finger, sparking up a steady flame to illuminate the room.

To his horror, John gazed upon an empty room, followed by the light touch of a gloved hand being rested on his shoulder. As soon as it contacted him, his magic fire was immediately snuffed out. John was paralyzed in fear.

"I think I know what I'll take now." Nemo's monotone voice said from behind. He rested his chin on John's other shoulder and whispered into his ear.

"Your soul."

---

Rutger regained his composure on the floor and brought himself to his knees. Still grasping the dagger, he looked up to Raiya with a face full of rage. After pondering what to do for a few moments and let his anger cool down, Rutger oddly made the decision to drop the dagger. It emitted a metallic clang when it hit the ground. "No." He replied. "Why would I? I'm useless without my magic, so it would be pointless to even try. You could take me hostage, but what if this spell you've used on me wears off? You'll just have to strike down a defenseless man on his knees won't you? But that wouldn't been too out of character for you, huh?" Rutger explained. "Go ahead, show them what you are, you viper."

Rutger's intense gaze was thrown off when he heard a slow clap echo out from the entrance side of the tunnel. To Rutger's disappointment out of the shadows stepped Nemo, looking like he had seen better days judging by his outfit, but clearly still alive. A small smirk crossed his face as he approached, still clapping. "Geez, what an dilemma Father Stockton. You really managed to rip all the fun out of the game with that one." He said. "But there's one problem with that theory, Father. Since I'm here now, even if you did regain your magic, you wouldn't be able to use it, not when I've got my little fingers on you." Nemo explained while crouched down to Rutger's level, holding up his hands up and wiggling his digits in front of the Father's face with a small chuckle. "Maybe we should put a collar on you and keep you around for a while, huh?" Nemo proposed, flicking Rutger on the forehead with his finger.

Nemo stood back up, looking to Raiya now. "Don't bother sullying yourself with his death, Raiya." Nemo commented, reaching his hand into his jacket. Nemo casually pulled out his smaller revolver and fired, hitting Rutger right in the chest. "That's my job."

Shocked, Rutger looked down and put a hand over the gunshot wound. Blood began to spill out from in between his fingers anyways. Speechless, he looked back up to face Nemo, a small stream of blood tricking out from his mouth. "You had one thing right though, Father. You really are useless without your magic." Rutger then collapsed onto his side, dead.

Travis watched on as Raiya tried to instigate Father Stockton into fighter her in his powerless state. Rutger fumed and seemed nearly ready to lash out again but unexpectedly, he released his dagger along with the anger that formerly painted his expression. Travis couldn't tell whether he had lost hope and accepted the reality of his eventual demise or if he had some sort of sort of unforeseen backup plan as he reflected the same provocation back to Raiya. The Untalent could only surmise Rutger's strategy was to promote hesitation in their battle-hardened teammate and in doing so possibly sparing him.

Unsurprisingly, if Travis were in Raiya's position, he'd have certainly hesitated in finishing off an unarmed and powerless opponent. He couldn't come to grips with carrying out such a death sentence upon an individual whom couldn't fight back; he simply couldn't find the justification in it, despite the potential danger they could still posed. On the other hand, Travis could leverage his advantage over Rutger with the knowledge of his fabricated and spell and assured the unaware Father that the rune's effects were long-lasting. Having said that, the ball might have been back in Rutger's court again, leaving the powerless Talent to their own fateful decisions. Rutger diffusing himself as a threat would have been the preferred outcome unless he became hostile once more in desperation and give Travis the same jurisdiction in ending his life as the Untalent did to Roy hours earlier.

The problem though was that Raiya was not Travis and considering her history with Father Stockton clear, Travis felt it was unlikely that she allowed Rutger to leave intact. Then again, there were many things he didn't know about her and even pondered if she recognized the fragile circumstances of killing a now-harmless opponent. Travis could only watch and observe how far Raiya's vengeance would go.

That was then Nemo finally returned, looking bloodied and yet still beaming with unaffected amusement.

Nemo took hold of the moment and verbally fortified their advantage over Rutger further now that he and is abilities were present before musing the possibilities of the Father's fate. It became quickly apparent that this situation was no longer under Raiya's judgement as Nemo pulled his revolver out and shot Rutger without any hesitation at all. Travis nearly jumped having been caught off-guard by Nemo cold and decisive death-draw.

"Y-yeah, now it is," he replied finally to Zuri's tired query.

Zuri was glad to see Nemo still alive and walking, even though he wasn't in the best of state. She watches as Nemo approached the group as he took out his revolver and ended Rutger's life in a blink of an eye. She stood there in silence as blood started leaking out of the lifeless body that lied on the floor, creating a small puddle from the gunshot wound. "Shall we continue?" Zuri says in a lighthearted manner.

Raiya waited for the cowardly Stockton to pick up his blade and meet her head on. But, he was much more cowardly than Raiya had expected, and when he dropped the blade and conceded, Raiya's anger was stoked even more. When Stockton opened his mouth to explain himself, everything that dribbled out convicted her more to end him. His last words were, "Go ahead, show them what you are, you viper." To which Raiya replied, "I'm a viper?" her eyes narrowed and her brow furrowed as a strange smile crept over her face, "You're damn right. Now let me make sure that you don't forget exactly how snakelike I am." She flipped her knife so the blade faced downward as she went in for the kill she so desperately wanted. But at the moment she stalked forward, Nemo appeared out of the shroud of darkness of the hallway they had initially entered the room from.

Distracted by the sudden appearance of their separated teammate, she turned her focus to Nemo. He walked up and began to speak. It was clear where this was heading before Nemo ever opened her mouth. If Raiya had the energy, she would have jumped on Stockton and murdered him before she indulged Nemo's diatribe, but her exhaustion had set in her bones and as sluggish as she was, the only way for Raiya to end Stockton would have been a slow and painful one. "Don't you dare, Nemo. This is my history, this is my family, this is my kill." She spoke in a weary voice. Her warnings were not headed as Nemo produced a pistol and ended Stockton there. Raiya remained silent as she dropped her knife. She tilted her head downwards averting her gaze from meeting Nemo's. She couldn't look at him, Raiya felt extremely wronged, her mind was so clouded by exhaustion and the reality of the situation that she had no words to express what she was feeling. Her anger was swelled before she tried to go in for the kill, and that pent up anger had nowhere to go so it coalesced and condensed itself into a hard ball of resentment that she would not soon let go of.

Raiya had half a mind to walk away from the group and try to find the exit and possibly try to find her own way off of the island. But that thought dissipated as her rationality reminded her that she knew nothing about sea travel, hated large bodies of water, and did not know how to swim. So instead, she just silently walked towards the big runic doors with her head faced downward as she walked. "Let's just get this over with." She grumbled angrily as she walked, 'the sooner we finish the mission the sooner I can find my way to the nearest bottle of liquor' She thought.

Despite the damage done to his outfit, it seemed that all accompanied wounds had been healed by now. The only way he could have eased all his wounds that quickly and so efficiently is through his absorption spell. A thought that didn't bode well for Father Galvadon's fate. It seemed his life energy had been used as a magic band-aid in the end.

Nemo silently watched Raiya walk over to the door, overhearing her statement. His gaze slowly drooped to the floor as well, and he let out a small sigh. With Raiya out of earshot, he spoke softly by Travis and Zuri, not facing any one of them in particular. "Maybe it's just because I have a photographic memory, but when you take someone's life, it sticks with you, forever. Ironically, for a killer, their victims never truly die. They'll be there for all your successes, just to spoil the mood. They'll be there while you try to sleep, just to keep you up. They'll be there when you're alone, just to be a reminder of what you did." Nemo explained. "In a way, you kill a part of yourself as well."

"Sure, you can justify it all you want. Maybe the circumstances can help you live with it, but it never goes away." Nemo walked past Travis on the way to the door, but stopped behind him. He suddenly placed both of his hands on Travis' shoulders and spoke even quieter into his ear, both of them facing Raiya off by the door. "Vengeance is a very special circumstance... Imagine it for me, being broken by what's been done to you. Feeling a deep ever present anger within. You just want the pain it causes you to stop, but the only time the torment relents is during the catharsis you feel when you watch the life escape the eyes of someone you deem responsible for your sorrow." Nemo explained, speaking quickly. His tempo then slowed down "But this relief soon fades. It's only temporary... You have to kill again, it's the only way to escape the suffering. You become addicted to it, consumed by it, until you realize that your pain will never truly go away now. This epiphany will only come after you've completely destroyed yourself. What you did didn't extinguish the agony, it only stoked the fire that will burn your life to the ground. Now... now you can never go back to being normal again."

After a eerie silent pause, Nemo resumed his tirade "Sometimes you have to do what's right for someone else, even if they'll hate you for it. That's why I had to kill him, Travis. I couldn't bare to let him haunt her. I couldn't just watch her sink further into the pit. You understand, right?" Nemo leaned away, patting Travis on the shoulder before letting his arms drop to his side. "Of course you do."

"In other news, there's a runically sealed door over there with your name on it." He finished, pointing to it before slowly walking off. Nemo stopped his stroll next to Raiya and stood there silently for a couple moments. Eventually Nemo looked over and gently tapped his hand against her side. "Hey..." He started, pausing again before continuing. "I'm sorry, Raiya. I was just... I was just trying to protect you from becoming-" Nemo looked away, drawing his gaze downwards. "-...like me." He admitted.

Zuri stood very still when Nemo told both Travis and her what it means to kill and how it comes back to haunt you forever. She didn't say a word as she was too deep in thought about how Nemo feels and the idea of ending someone's life being more than what she thinks it is. However when Nemo walked past, she noticed that he turned around to whisper into Travis' ear before he headed towards Raiya.

'I wonder what he told Travis..' Zuri didn't really think too much about all the killing that has happened since it was either her group or the people who opposed them that had to die. She has only killed people as an act of self-defence and never for vengeance which is maybe why she doesn't truly understand this concept. She took a few seconds before she started to move towards Nemo and Raiya that stood close to the runic gates. Zuri didn't say a word when she walked past Travis.

The resulting execution of Father Stockton by Nemo's hand apparently didn't go over too well with Raiya despite her aggressive insistence that the kill was to be hers. It was impossible to not notice her blade leave her capitulated grasp and resonate against the rough floor while she slowly condensed her once fierce profile to a more despondent contour. Travis and likely Zuri and Zemo watched as Raiya silently departed their assembly and made her way to the sealed doorway. In a rather unexpected choice of tone, Nemo delicately spoke out, detailing the haunting consequences of taking another's life. Travis himself didn't initially know what to make of it nor could he understand Nemo's sudden jump into this seemingly untargeted discussion.

However, that wasn't to say that none of his meanings hadn't sparked any thought with the Untalent; Travis was accustomed to death, whether he appreciated it or condemned it. He himself understood and even felt the ramifications of his actions he had taken against another human being. But was he haunted by his choices? The question was a difficult one for him to express a simple answer. If asked what he felt, Travis would have admitted inceptive regret and guilt but at the same time, he would have rationalized the action as a necessary consequence in preserving his wellbeing as his would-be killers offered him no alternative. Though he carried with him his own spiritual beliefs that many of his morals were supported by, Travis was ultimately a man of reason and logic and while he could certainly feel remorse, he knew in the end he could not dwell on facts that were intangible or reversible.

Travis continued to contemplate on these figurative ghosts Nemo preached on about but still he struggled to grasp the meaning or intent of topic. That was until he soon found Nemo's hands at his shoulders and the Talents's hushed voice in his ear, causing him to freeze in place. He became tense as Nemo conveyed his explanation regarding the topic of vengeance. With every word uttered, Travis began piecing together the point of Nemo's ongoing exposition and quickly concluded that what he was getting at was Raiya feud with Father Stockton. Nemo finally explained that he had personally killed Rutger in order 'save' Raiya from being consumed from the same haunting reality he described. To Travis it seemed like a just and selfless act even though it would be go predictably unappreciated by Raiya. Eventually, Nemo withdrew himself having finished his dialogue and made his way to Raiya before referring Travis to the sealed doorway that hindered their progress.

Travis however remained motionless for a moment as he tried to recompose himself and took everything that Nemo said into consideration though he personally blamed his unresponsive or hesitant state on Nemo effectively killing the mood with his unsettling illumination. Before he would finally take control over himself once more, Travis couldn't help but dissect each word Nemo spoke that he culminated into his illustrative phrase and sentences. They were descriptive and expressed a sense of seemingly real occurring experience. Was Nemo concerned with Raiya going down a similar path he himself had treaded? With what he knew of Nemo going by his outspoken though unelaborated infamy, Travis briefly shivered to even think what his teammate has gone through.

Regaining equanimity, Travis finally made his way to the large sealed gateway at the end of the room. The doors were perhaps three times his size and decorated in some ancient art style he was not familiar with. But the main feature was a large circular construct built in between the doors and supposedly kept them secure. Upon closer inspection, the circle then became several rings with the larger encompassing the smaller; Travis identified five in total, each with a string of faintly familiar runic text that surrounded their shape. He continued to study the design until he noticed a curiously narrow gap in each of the rings and eventually found that each runic script that was present was engraved into a movable platform that could be repositioned via a diverting rail they were settled into.

Travis then briefly turned to his teammates, "The setup is pretty straightforward though the pattern here is rather complex, given the script layout. Shouldn't take me very long to get 'er unlocked. Five minutes give or take?"

Many things ran through Raiya's mind as she formulated her response to Nemo's assertion that he was attempting to protect her from becoming like Nemo. Her mind was so foggy and her body exhausted that she stood for a minute or so contemplating what she would say. Eventually she broke the silence, summoning the energy required to speak, Raiya began with a hushed voice. "Who are you...? I... I seriously want to know. Who... Who do you think you are...?" Raiya asked rhetorically. Raiya turned towards Nemo and backed away from him slowly as tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. "Do... do you think you are some knight clad in armor, rushing into the path of danger to protect the princess?" Raiya's voice began to raise to a normal speaking level, but there was pain in her voice that kept her from holding a consistent tone. "Or do you think yourself a king? A king who favors a servant, giving her all the treasures she could ask for? Or...?" Raiya's tone suddenly grew much darker, anger growling behind her voice, "Do you think yourself a god? A god who has chosen a beloved disciple to bless with safety and success?" By this time, Raiya's tears had rolled over her bottom eyelids, down her cheeks and began dripping on the floor. "Well let me explain something to you, Nemo. When the knight protects the princess, he also in the process takes away her ability to think and act for herself. When the king gives his favored servant all they could desire, he removes that servant's own agency to obtain for themselves the riches of the world on their own merit." Raiya looked up at Nemo's pale face with her fierce narrowed eyes, "And when a god," she spat, "when a god blesses his chosen one with safety and success, he simultaneously curses them. Taking away their free will and making them puppets for their cause."

Raiya wiped off her cheeks and rubbed her eyes with her hand, dabbing them dry. Then she glared at Nemo's face once more and said, "Look me in the eyes and listen well, because I am only going to explain this to you one time." Raiya demanded. "You are not my knight, nor my king, nor my god. You were becoming an acquaintance, maybe even a friend, but you are starting to be nothing more to me but an inconvenience. You do not get to make my decisions for me. You do not have a say in what I can or cannot do. And you certainly do not get to lecture me on morals." Raiya straightened her posture and pointed at Nemo with her right index finger, "If you ever get in my way again to stop me, and if I ever find out that you have even attempted to manipulate my actions from the shadows, you better be prepared. You will receive the full force of my burning hatred, and I will not stop until either you are dead, or I am." Raiya finished, "Do you understand me?" Raiya asked.

Nemo didn't make a reply at first. His expression didn't seem to give away what his reaction was either. He let out a slight sigh before speaking. "No... no, I think those three things are much too grandiose, even for me." Nemo replied, resting his hands in his pant pockets. "I just don't want to see you do anything you'll come to regret, Raiya. You still have the chance to have what I never will. I don't want to see you waste that. Heaven knows I did, and there's not a day that goes by I don't think about that. I don't think that sentiment makes me a knight, or a king, certainly not a god." Nemo finished.

"I've never killed anyone that didn't have it coming to them, but there is a vast ravine separating people like Felix from people like myself in regards to how tastefully or compassionately they deal the final blow. That trait is certainly a heavy one in discerning a person from a beast." He explained. "How about a story?" Nemo then suggested, seeing that they'd be waiting for the door anyways.

"Back in eighty-three there was a man named Rolando Massimiliano Tucci. He was a famous Italian track and field star, distinguished chef, and less known to the public, an world renown assassin. Rolando was known for his speed, he could eliminate a target and be miles away before anybody even noticed. People used to call him 'Rapid Roland.'" Nemo remembered with a small smirk at the end.

"One day, either for the sake of a contract, or just for the sake of furthering his own reputation, Rolando made an attempt on my life. Clearly he wasn't very successful, but neither was I in capturing him. He slipped away, and thus began a rather long feud between us. Every time I'd come close to wringing my hands around that weasel's neck he'd find a way to escape. And that really began to rub me the wrong way. His knack for finding a way out of every one of our encounters nearly drove me mad." Nemo paused, settling down from the repressed irritation he was resurfacing. "He knew he couldn't beat me, so it became his mission to try to to annoy me as much as possible. He had no manners, and that's something I absolutely couldn't allow."

Nemo paused once more, this time his tone shifted darker before he continued. "So... when I finally did catch him. I didn't kill him, no, not at first. Instead I treated him to a nice dinner instead. One where we could finally work out our differences. I made sure this time he wouldn't escape... I amputated his legs, Raiya, skinned and roasted them with choice spices. It took some convincing, but we both enjoyed the meal with a side of braised cavolo nero and a bottle of Nebbiolo. I thought it was clever. Olympic sprinter chef eats his own legs."

Raiya's eyelids progressively narrowed as Nemo explained himself. It was becoming increasingly clear that Nemo's response was not the response that Raiya wanted to hear. Raiya wasn't sure if Nemo was finished after he explained the bit about forcing some guy to eat his legs, so Raiya let the air grow extremely silent for about a full minute before she spoke. "Are you done then?" Raiya asked callously, "Let me explain something to you, Nemo. I don't give a SHIT about your past. I don't give a shit about anything you have done before this moment. You are not a moral authority in my life, or any kind of authority for that matter. On a good day, you're an acquaintance, on a bad day you're an enemy and a stumbling block for me." Raiya explained walking back to where she dropped her sashimi knife on the ground, "I will tell you this Nemo. You do not want me as an enemy. I have built myself up specifically to kill people like you," she continued walking towards the knife, stopping just before it, "So let me explain to you an easy step by step guide on how not to make me your enemy." Raiya crouched down placing her hand on the blade and angling it so she could see her eyes in the reflection of the blade's metal.

"Step 1: Don ever get in between me and my kills ever again. Step 2: Do not lecture me on your moral advice." Raiya picked up the blade with her right hand and began to caress it while still crouched. She ran her finger across its keen edge, rubbed the back of her palm across the side of the blade feeling the cold steel on her supple skin. She continued to do this as she spoke. You said you do not consider yourself a knight or a king or a god. However you have asserted your moral authority over me like a father would to his child, so perhaps you think of me as your child? My point in this is very simple. You have no say in what I choose to do with my life, and your advice falls on my ears like the ravings of a madman. You see, that's what I think you are most of the time, a madman. Not my father, not my brother or my friend. A stark raving mad lunatic. And I will not, under any circumstances, entertain your advice over my personal honor code." Raiya continued to caress her blade smirking fondly at its honed professional quality, "Have I ever told you have my personal honor code? It's a very simple pyramid of importance. At the bottom is to never make any enemy needlessly suffer. Above that is to honor any commitment I have made. Above that is to never kill children. And at the very top, the pinnacle, the specific paradigm that trumps them all, is to find my parents murderers at any cost and to kill them."

Raiya's finger ran a little to fast along the edge and blood began to well forth from a small incision at the top of her right index finger. She held it up right in front of her eyes and watched as the drop of blood accumulated and then inevitably spilled over running down her finger, then her hand, then her arm, pooling into a droplet at her elbow before falling off and speckling the ground. "You see, my honor code is as refined as this knife. I've spent years cultivating and nurturing it. It was going great, until you came along and tricked me in my drunken state into joining this stupid ragtag team of wannabe treasure hunters. Which leads me to my third and final step to not making me your enemy. This step is one that you had already broken the moment I met you. Step 3: Do not ever, under any circumstances get in the way of me finding my parents killers and bringing them a swift end. You see, when you approached me that night in my bar, I was on the brink of finding a very special lead on those who killed my parents. But I thought, hey, it might be a good time to celebrate and take a break from my investigation. You caught me indisposed. You fooled me into joining this little rebellion of yours, and ultimately have gotten in the way of my investigation." Raiya stood up, streaks of blood vibrantly contrasted the fair skin of her right arm up to the elbow. Her red snake tattoo was the only reprieve from the contrast, the blood blending well with the flame colored snake on the top of her right arm. Raiya's face looked calm and collected, completely different from her livid features that she displayed just a few minutes earlier. Effortlessly, without any muscle twitch indication, Raiya flung her knife, in an instant it impaled into the ground right at Nemo's right foot. The back of the blade was only a hair away from Nemo's right boot. "I had decided from that moment you were my enemy. Slowly, though, as I realized that this organization could help me with my own goals, you began to grow on me, like a cancerous tumor. For a while there, I was feeling like I could begin to trust you. But you screwed up again, Nemo. That's strike two. So hear me." Raiya had been walking towards Nemo as she spoke and was now right before him. She bent down and retrieved her knife once more, before straightening her posture. Then, standing on her tiptoes she placed her left hand on Nemo's right shoulder, and brought her head up to his left ear. "There will be no strike four." Raiya whispered. Her warning was clear, if he crossed her a third time, she would be out for blood.

Travis struggled to isolate his attention to the runic puzzle before him while Nemo and Raiya's unusual argument continued on. As he analyzed and pried at the lock, their words would come in and out and he could only register a few passages of what they were saying but he could always tell who was speaking. Regardless however fascinating both of their histories may be and how the two reflected on them and angrily bounced against each other, his main focus was getting them one step closer to the Paragon and eventually of this rock.

Once again, Travis has his unique projection spell casted and before him was a near accurate rendering of the runic mechanism that kept the large doors sealed. Though he already had the basic blue print of the lock, Travis drew his eyes to his note book, matching the characters of the design and compared it with several rune alphabets he kept recorded. His main concern was ensuring the technical aspect of the proposed solution based on the projection added up with corresponding scripts that was necessary to disengage the sealing contraption.

A couple minutes passed by with still Nemo and Raiya bickering until he had his confirmation. Travis, having to exert an amount of physical effort, repositioned the individual platforms on each ring, either turning them clockwise or counter-clocking wise depending if the ring only had a single direction to rotate in. With each keyed slot he had successfully filled, the internal mechanisms would resonate with a muffled click however the platforms he guided along each of the rings gave off a louder grinding sound. Travis kept looking back at both of his arguing teammates and was constantly astounded that the noise of his work hadn't caught their attention. He quickly concluded that the neglected inner-workings of the lock, having been aged and rusted over time, were stressing against one another through uneven friction.

He eventually had the lock completed after filling the final key-slot. Travis placed his hand on the center portion of the design and charged it with a minuscule amount of mana. The runes covering each of the reconfigured rings illuminated a white glow and a faint hum as a result of him re-establishing the artificial mana flows that were once left sealed. Now activated, the lock disengaged by retracting each ring into the gate's internal confines. If solving the gate's puzzle was notably noisy, this new process could undoubtedly mute any near conversation and force someone's attention. With the last of the rings withdrawn, the large gate doors itself slowly opened inward as it fought with unmaintained architecture. Travis noticed that the wider the entrance became, the more air he could feel being pulled into the darkened room ahead of them. It was obvious by the sensation that the chamber on the other side of the gate was compressed and sealed for a very long time.

Once the doors finally finished their unsealing procedure, Travis glanced back at Zuri and then to Raiya and Nemo with a more annoyed-appearing look, "Well? We ready?"

Nemo kept silent for a few moments after Raiya's whispered. Finally he broke the silence. "So... does that mean I get a third strike, but wont make a fourth? Or I wont get the fourth because I'll be dead?" He asked, dumbfounded. It was at that point Travis opened the door and turned to them.

"Of course we are." Nemo replied, breaking away from Raiya and walking over to the opened entrance. "Another lovely job Travis, you're a daisy for this one." He noted before looking through to the other room. What waited them was seemingly a giant empty stone room, save for the torches to light it and the occupied throne at the other side of it. Sitting atop a marble seat was a very decomposed skeleton. Nearly all remnants of flesh had rotted away. At this point it had more cobwebs than biological material left. The only other things decorating the body were an aged brown pirate outfit, some gold jewelry, and the large shiny navy jewel it was still clutching in its skeletal hands. Judging from the mana-waves emanating off it, it had to be the paragon they had come all this way for. The body clearly belonging to late Samuel Croft.

"There's the birthday boy." Nemo commented, pausing for a moment. "Well... I'm not touching that thing. So there's that."

Raiya still felt pretty exhausted, so mustering up the energy for her display she just put on for Nemo was very taxing. So when Nemo answered her diatribe with a joke about his strikes, Raiya didn't even attempt to retort. It wasn't because she didn't want to dignify his response with an answer, but rather, it was because she simply lacked the energy to have a back and forth with Nemo at the moment. So when Travis managed to open the door, Raiya said, "Finally," with a sigh of relief. As the door opened and revealed the long dead owner of this blue paragon. Raiya could tell the paragon was in the room the moment the door began to open. It was hard for a true mage, especially a talent, to dull their senses enough in order to not feel the presence of the paragon. The vast singularity of all encompassing mana was not something easily ignored.

"Well, I hate to jinx us like this, but what's the catch here? I feel like something bad is about to happen to us if we take that paragon." Raiya said in a hushed tone.

The gate doors eventually retracted all the way into the large unlit chamber. Similarly, as with the catacombs they ventured through previously, the space they walked into was surprisingly vacant save for a few details. The most notable was a marble throne hosting the skeletal remains of Samuel Croft as hinted by Nemo through one of his usual jocular comments. It was however what was in his decomposed grasps that gleamed any value to the crypt's interlopers; the Paragon of Fantasia.

However, it was apparent nobody was in any rush to seize their prize with Nemo declining and Raiya anticipating the worst results. Travis couldn't blame them since Espial was essentially rigged with a counter spell to do away with any thieves and the scene before them seemed deceptive in its simplistic, if not creepy appearance. Unfortunately, the Paragon would remain in Samuel's dead clutches if they didn't attempt to retrieve it.

Travis sighed, "I agree. But we're not getting our job done without nabbing it."

Channeling a fraction of his mana reserves, Travis casted his unraveling light projection spell once more. As he scanned the room, the spell would illuminate the floor and surroundings, detailing their composition and anything directly behind or beneath. In the half minute he casted his spell, nothing appeared out of the ordinary except for the Paragon's radiance blinding the throne's proximity which was projected as thick veil of light. It seemed his spell couldn't penetrate the Fantasia's incredible aura and thus prevented him from identifying any hidden threats that were likely in place.

"Typical," he grunted, "guess we're doing this the old-fashioned way. I'm gonna get a closer look and grab it if I can. Might be best to ready yourselves if things go South."

Just as he announced his plan and advisory, Travis cautiously made his way to the throne while he kept his spell casted in hopes of catching any anomalies at the last minute. As he became closer and closer, he decided to arm himself with his decamp spell once more; with their journey here being engulfed by nothing but danger and death, he wasn't going to take any chances with the seemingly unprotected. It didn't take himself long to reach the throne and stand before the decrepit Samuel Croft. For a moment, he stared into the hollow eyes of Samuel's skull, feeling almost unnerved by having to gaze upon the motionless cadaver and with a momentary thought, he dared the dead Samuel Croft to do something. The reality however was that Travis was at the mercy of whatever contraptions Samuel had planned for the Untalent and his group.

"Sorry about this," Travis said under his breath, "while I would normally respect a dead man's treasure, we need this more than you do."

It was then Travis reached out and grasped the Paragon and began pulling it way.

As Travis began to remove the Paragon of Fantasia from the skeleton's bony grasp, strangely, a force began to pull back.

"Let go of me jewel you son of a biscuit eater." A incredibly raspy voice emitted out from the skeleton. It leaned forward, tilting it's head a revealing a slight blue glow from within the corpses eye-sockets. It seemed the paragon was still keeping Samuel alive all these years. "Sam" pulled one of it's arms away from the paragon and retrieved a flintlock pistol from it's coat. "Take this you scallywag!" He spoke before pulling the trigger.

The fear of death was immediately snuffed out when instead of a fiery blast, a small puff a black smoke shot out from the pistol, followed by the bullet rolling out of the barrel seconds later and harmlessly falling to the floor. Apparently the gunpowder wasn't well preserved over the years. "Hah!" Samuel exclaimed after a few moments of dead silence. "Take that!" He added with a raspy wheeze-filled chuckle. Apparently that outburst was too much energy for him to expend, as the right part of his jaw suddenly broke and unhinged, leaving it hanging. He then dropped the used weapon and placed his hand back on the paragon, using whatever remnants of muscle he had left to hold on.

It was as Raiya expected, there was some sort of enchantment at work. A curse that would animate dead bones if any person were to attempt to retrieve the paragon. Luckily for Travis, though, it wasn't quite what Raiya had expected. The skeleton seemed rather weak, and his pistol was more useless than a toy cap gun. Still, there was much they did not know of what was at play here, so it was safe to ere on the side of caution. For Raiya, she had no way of providing any sort of support being as drained as she was, so Travis only had himself and Nemo to rely on.

Raiya watched on as the skeleton seemed to dilapidate further, and Travis continued to attempt to retrieve the relic. Standing behind Nemo, she watched on while regaining her mana and stamina at an extremely low rate. She didn't say anything and just focused on breathing in the meditative way that she was taught in the arcanocracy. It's not that breath control in and of itself would help a mage regain mana quickly, but controling your body and mitigating wasteful actions such as increased heart rates and muscle movements would provide the ideal situation for mana recovery.