So much was happening it almost paralyzed the young girl. Foress never felt real danger like this before. "Foress! Snap out of it!" Narciss started kicking her in the back of the head, but it wasn't doing much. She got into fights often, but life and death? The darkness made it even worse, but she was able to see a bit now Alex was burning brightly. Her hands shook a little as she wondered what to do.

"Foress I'm scared! DO SOMETHING!" Narciss scared shout snapped her out of it. As a self proclaimed ruler of this planet it was her duty to protect its denizens. Foress grabbed her fairly and let her lay in her hand. "Shut up scaredy cat I'll protect you. Ayame we need to get the fairies away from this. Our foe is coming after them for some reason." One look towards Alex was all it took for her to see what her options were. Help out and try to fight an enemy that seemed extremely experienced, or retreat and deny them their objective? She knew what her father would do in this situation. "I don't know whats going, but maybe Alex can distract the enemy. If your worried about her I'll stay and you get our fairies out."

Ayame tore her eyes away from Alex and looked to Foress, almost have forgotten about her and June during this whole thing, it was good to see her classmates unharmed. "I'll take them!" She said to Foress, opening her shirt just a bit so Narciss could go inside with Zara. It was the safest, most discreet place for the fairies to hide. Glancing back toward Alex one last time, Ayame nodded before sprinting off through an archway leading to another section of the exhibit... It was obvious that Ayame had no idea about where to go, but that wasn't important at the moment. The main goal was getting away from that assassin and keeping their fairies safe.

The assassin grunted as she raised a dark shield to block the flaming fists, but to her surprise the fierce red head pushed her a good few feet back and the shield was quickly dwindling at the rapid powerful punches Alex was dishing out. Growling, the assassin hissed before a dark tendril rose out and shout out, hitting against Alex's waist and knocking her straight into the wall.

Crashing into the wall, Alex grunted as she shuffled from the hole she made, before dropping down and slowly standing up again. Rubbing the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand as she fiercly glared at them, the fire intensifing.

"...We aren't going down that easy you sick son of a bitch!" Alex growled, glancing toward the others briefly to make sure they were alright before leaping back into the fight, her powerful fists hitting against the assassin.

It's often said that there is an instinct present in the sense of danger known as the fight-or-flight response. Under normal circumstances said response would no doubt kick in towards the fight instinct, especially given the surge of adrenaline that no doubt coursed through the more...involved participants currently engaging in...whatever it was they were engaged in. June couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, from the brusque words being slung about and the panicked expressions on certain faces, June surmised that whatever was happening certainly wasn't good.

Which is why she decided to opt for the flight part of the fight-or-flight response.

"Yeah, sure, you all go get yourselves killed, I'll send a card to your funerals. I, on the other hand, have things to live for, so I'm getting out while I can. If you're smart, you'll all do the same."

June spoke in a simple, but blunt tone of voice as she turned on her heels after backing away from the scene. She still wasn't sure what was going on, but her backward pacing footsteps quickened, moreso after hearing the impact of something or someone hitting a wall. Hard. Up in her hair, Soli was gripping onto June, her tiny eyes clamped shut and head shaking back and forth.

"You're on your own."

June gave a final call as she continued backing away towards any sort of exit.

The rusted knight looked like he was about to chase Solya down, but Elaine's appearance stopped him. She'd... transformed. "... I thought we got rid of the last of you years." He huffs and draws his sword. The blade seems to eat light, and it has a very dim appearance. "You will fall, like so many before you, warrior." He takes a stance and faces the young woman for a moment before making his opening lunge. He couldn't let more of these warriors pop up and impede their plans!

His opening strike would be a horizontal slash, though he would be prepared for her to dodge and counterattack. He didn't expect this to be over quickly, he knew better.

~~~~~

Solya catches June in her arm as she turns to flee, emerging from the shadows. Her hand accidentally catches her breast. "Aah ah ah, I wouldn't run into the dark, if I were you. The safest place you can stay right now is in the light. Look, see? Yomi." Solya turns as a bunch of Blues Brothers lookin' guys surround them, all wearing sun glasses and looking really cheesy. Solya reforms the scythe of light in her free hand, and she presses June close. "And where's your /buddy/?" She turns sharply and cleaves down a wave of the minions that tried to attack.

~~~~~

"Your strength is commendable, but can a fledgling like you really keep up with me?!" The woman hisses at the warrior of fire in front of her. She keeps her distance, jumping away and counterattacking with thin projectiles of shade. There's a shape to them, definitely, but they fly too quickly and disappear to quickly to discern. She always fires them from her right arm. Sometimes she fires them quickly, but not always. If Alex closes the distance enough, the woman uses a long, whip-like shadow to attack as she retreats.

"A-As expected this is n-n-n-no no place for civillians." Foress proclaimed silently and nervously as June retreated. However she couldn't figure out how she could battle this person. The enemy was hidden in the shadows, but thanks to the flames Alex generated she could see without her fairy. The problem is the actual fight looked more dangerous than an normal brawl. Flames and shadows were fired at both opponents while physical blows were exchanged. She frowned wondering if her participation would merely worsen the situation. There was no real opening for her, but she could see what the opponent was doing.

Foress wasn't a master at Fencing, but she could examine an opponent's moves good enough. It was obvious what the woman was doing. All it took was an annoying distraction to allow Alex to close the gap. She remembered her umbrella was still with her. A smile appeared as she was ready to do something very reckless. With a click her umbrella extended and ran off far to the right of Alex as she was attacking. It took a moment to get within throwing distance. "I demand your attention Enemy of the Light!" She jumped to the side and tossed her umbrella towards the assassin. It shot out towards the darkness as if it was thrown by someone with too much time on their hands to practice something like this.

"It is I! The ruler of this World!" A few pens were fired also as if they were throwing knives. Again it was obvious this girl had too much time on her hands, and possibly a little insane to think this could work.

There was a loud, sudden noise coming from behind her in the room where she'd left the others. It sounded like a crash... Ayame stopped in her tracks, panting a little. She really did want to go back there and help, but... What could she do in a situation like this? She wasn't like Alex, and even if the fire wielding woman wasn't a heroine, Ayame would bet Alex might still be able to handle the dark magic back there. Hanging her head briefly, seeming to be having an internal battle with herself about something. Narciss peeked out from under Ayame's shirt. "Ayame, keep going! We need to get out of here! I don't wanna die!" The earth fairy panicked. Ayame nodded and ran as fast she could, turning down a long, unfamiliar corridor. She continued anyway, though as she ran it seemed like it was getting darker and darker with each step she took. It was like it the shadows were moving in on her. Closing her eyes tightly, Ayame pushed to her limits. She was by no means a runner, and that fact was made obvious by her slow pace and shaky breathing.

Dark tendrils whipped out from the shadows and curled around Ayame's ankles, sweeping her feet from under her. She fell onto her stomach, the two fairies in her shirt flying out as Ayame screamed. The darkness reached for Narciss and Zara, whipping out repeatedly to get a hold of one of the fairies. "Get away!" Ayame shouted as she crawled to her knees. "AAAHHHH!" Narciss cried. A tendril had wrapped the fairy in it's dark clutches, and was pulling it towards the shadows. Zara grabbed Narciss' hands, pulling with all her might, yet she was not strong enough. Zara was headed for the same place as Narciss if she didn't let go.

"Sorry tin can, but Skatháris don't go down that easy." Ela didn't know why she felt so confident, it was almost as if she knew deep down that she could beat this guy. But it wouldn't be easy. He was a somewhat daunting figure, he might not have been very tall,above average height at best, but that armor did a lot to add to the intimidation factor. She felt a chill run down her spine when she finally got a good look at his sword, the thing looked like it was visibly consuming and distorting the light around it, like some sort of twisted mirage. Whatever that sword could do, she didn't want to find out. As the armored man made his first lunge at her, she quickly dropped down as low as she could to avoid it, bending her back to the side to narrowly avoid the swing. Not letting the momentum of to waste, she carried through with an uppercut to the chin of the armor. A solid metallic clang rang out from the strike, but other than that she didn't leave any visible damage.

Before she could launch another strike, she saw him ready his sword once again, but oddly reacted in a way that was likely unexpected. She jumped. The wind seemed to lift her off the ground with ease, and she rose far above the sword's path and landed on top of it as he halted the swing. Quickly using this to her advantage, she kicked off of the man's helmet as hard as she could, (while doing a sweet backflip) and made contact with the ceiling, before kicking off of that too. Hurtling down towards the figure, she took what chance she could and reached out her hand as she flew by him, attempting to snatch Curgau away from him. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite reach out to Curgau, and instead mistakenly grabbed the man's fairy and landed several yards behind him. The fairy let out a jolt of electricity, causing Ela to release it while letting out a small scream from the pain. As it fluttered back to its master's side, she cried out: "Just what the hell did you to that poor fairy!?

Alex growled as she tried dodging away from the dark projectiles, hissing as a few sliced her shoulder and thighs. But still the fire glowing woman continued her powerful assault. Niether her or Saki didn't exactly know what they could do in this form, so Alex was forced to keep what she did know. Using her martial art skills. If making contact, her power was unmatchable, but her opponent seemed to know this and was keeping her distance.

When she got close enough, she tried snatching the tendril that lashed out of her. To the tall woman's surprise, that weird woman came over and started chucking her umbrella and pens at the dark enemy. Despite giving the fellow student a look that screamed 'what a crazy idiot' she took the opportunit to launch at the enemy. Her left hand snatching out to grab her enemy's right wrist, her flame enveloped fists probably searing into this vile woman's flesh. Then she clenched her right fist and brought it over her head, only to slam it down right on her opponents shoulder in a powerful blow.

Alex was about to continue the assault until she heard screams down a hall. It sounded like Ayame and her fairy.

"We have to go help!" Saki screamed from within.

Cursing, Alex clicked her tongue before turning and running back toward where the crazy student was. Her left arm reaching out and firmly wrapping around the other girl's waist as she picked her up like a sack or potatos and raced down the hall. It wasn't a good idea to leave the crazy person alone in a room with a opponent like that.

Once she spotted Ayame and the fairies, thanks to her fire's light, she quickly set Foress down before charging again. Her fists clenched together above her as she lept in the air, before slamming them down on the tendrils that were attached to the fairies. The dark tendrils seemed to scream but disperse under the powerful hit.

The man intercepted her kick to the head with his forearm, throwing her away as she pushed off. "Hmnn. Better than I expected, from a novice." His fairy zapped the girl and turned into a lightning bolt to return to his side, then hiding behind his shoulder. He ensured Curgau's capture by hiding the fairy away within the circuits of a nearby machine. One of those wax figurine dispensers.

"If you can take care of /him/, I can rescue Curgau." Lumina chimed, directly to Elaine's mind. "I'm speaking to you through Vetra. It seems as though Saki and Alex are fighting with another servant. Look at your- Oh... Hm. You fight him, I'll restore your HUD."

"My name is Oxus. Remember it." The man held his off-hand up in the air. "My shield!" His fairy turned into electricity once more and leaped into a small device mounted on his wrist. The device glowed before an electric barrier formed, in the shape of a kite shield. Next, he held his sword aloft, and part of the electric energy forming the shield shot into the sword. With that done, he cut his sword through the air and unleashed a lightning bolt toward his opponent. Even for a wind user, lightning spells were difficult to dodge on reflex alone. He then waited for her counter, shield raised.

~~~~~

The Rogue knew better than to pay attention to some idiot. She was waiting for her fairy to take care of it so she could keep her attention on the opponent in front of her. But that didn't happen. Nothing came of it, just made her annoyed, but it allowed her to see Alex charging her. It allowed her to react, pulling away and ducking back from the attack, before retaliating with her whip. She managed to ensnare Alex's legs before she could get away. "You won't escape me so easily, girl." She smirked, before turning to the side, irritation showing on her face. "Nol'GA!"

The darkness assaulting the fleeing party dissipated, and the dark fairy returned to the woman's side.

"How many times have I told you not to stray? Stay by my side."

~~~~~

Solya caught a lull in the assaulting Yomi's attack pattern and breathes for a moment. They were cautious of her... It was then that she noticed something... so wonderfully squeezable in her hand. What was- oh, oops. It was also then that she saw Foress act a fool. She sighed and adjusted her grip on June, sliding her arm carefully under her bosom, and then charging through the goons surrounding them to get to Foress, whom she punched once in the diaphragm. Too feisty.. "You're an idiot, you know that?" She dissipated her scythe into a barrier surrounding her, hoisted Foress up onto her shoulder, and rand off, shouting over her shoulder, "you'll get help soon!"

It didn't take her long to catch up with Ayame, where she sets Foress down and lets go of June, before sitting in the hall. "Haahh... Haahh... Whew. Well, unless those guys in the suits keep following me, I think we're in the clear. Why're they still wearing sunglasses...?"

Ayame thought she was a goner, but all of a sudden the dark tendrils around her ankles and around Narciss just disappeared. "They're gone?" She crawled to her knees and looked around before standing up. Solya was coming down the hall now with June and Foress, carrying them like rag dolls until she sat down in the hall. It appeared Solya was in on whatever was happening, and Ayame intended to find out. Placing her hands on her hips and marching over to Solya, she looks down at the cat-woman. Zara fluttered over, mimicking her human's actions and speaking in her place.

"Don't you think we deserve an explanation about what's going on? You seem to be very cool about this!!!" Zara buzzed, flying closer to Solya until she was almost touching the tip of her nose. Ayame kept quiet, but nodded hastily. "You're keeping secrets!"

Alex grunted as her legs got grasped, but that only managed to piss her off, which fueled her flames, burning the dark tendrils off as she landed neatly on the ground. Watching the others leave, she simply smirked as she stood and cracked her knuckles.

"No worries, not running, in fact glad distractions are out of way. Kind of sad when some ambusher is having trouble with a rookie high school girl eh? Bet your buddies are having a nice laugh... but I'm just get getting started. Come on Saki, lets see how much fire you got!" Alex growled as her body glowed with hot blazinh flamws before she punched the ground.

Flame trails whipped all around the area, surrounding them and completely lighting up the room. Glancing at her flame covered fists, she thought for a moment before shrugging and crouching, putting her wrists together and held open her palms. A large fireball shooting out at the Rogue.

"Great... this is turning more and more like some cartoon show."

Ela stood shifting back and forth on her lead foot, the fact that he blocked that kick with that little reaction time in full armor made her realize just how dangerous he is. All of her caution turned into anger when he saw her stuff Curgau's incapacitated body inside of a wax figure dispenser, this guy must have been so confident that she couldn't be taken back if he put her in there. She held back the urge to just bolt straight for the machine to grab her when she heard a little voice inside her head; it wasn't Vetra this time...it seemed familiar somehow. "If you can take care of /him/, I can rescue Curgau." Lumina chimed, directly to Elaine's mind. "I'm speaking to you through Vetra. It seems as though Saki and Alex are fighting with another servant. Look at your- Oh... Hm. You fight him, I'll restore your HUD." Ela stood there wide eyed for a moment, she wasn't quite used to little voices talking in her head, but she did understand what the little voice was saying. "Alright, I'll leave Curgau to you then.What's this guy's deal anyway, and what exactly do you mean by HUD-"

Her mental conversation was cut short when she saw the 'apparently named' Oxus form the evil fairy into a lightning kite shield. "Shit that's bad" The lightning began arcing off the shield and onto his sword. "Okay, now that's really bad." She couldn't explain it, but she felt some immense wave of anxiety overtake her, something bad was about to happen. And then she saw what was the cause of that preemptive bad juju; turns out he can shoot lightning. Great. She panicked for a moment as she almost felt time move to a crawl, her eyes scanning around the entire area around her, there had to be someway she could avoid this, but it was freaking lightning. In her desperation, her eyes darted to the air duct overhead. Seeing no other way out, she jumped slightly, and felt the wind swiftly propel her upwards and into the duct avoiding the bolt as it shot past her feet; though she did slam into the vent fast enough to dislodge the cover entirely. Ignoring her possible concussion she shot through the vents on her stomach, using the wind to move as quickly as she could.

Within moments, she moved through the vent, loud clangs were audible throughout the entire building as she (rather ungracefully) made her way up and around, eventually shooting out of another vent behind and above Oxus, this time kicking the cover off and towards Oxus' head as she descended. She was starting to worry about whether she could beat this guy or not, after all, casting lightning bolts gave him a huge advantage, and really, she wasn't sure if her escaping damage was a fluke at all. Not wanting to risk getting close to that shield or the sword, she opted to keep her distance, picking up one of the velvet-metal rope holders near the Dark Nebula exhibit, she flung it right at the shield, and started backing off, not averting her eyes from him for a second. "Sorry Oxus, but I don't really like giving my name to strangers. Especially not ones who throw lightning at me and try to mess with my best friend. Nothing personal, but it's personal."

Solya looked up from her panting and catching her breath, at the fairy accusing her, the partner standing behind. She leaned her head back slightly, to see her better, and then smiled warmly at the fairy. "Aww, you're a precious little one, aren't you? And so feisty." She giggled softly, a strange giggle that seemed oddly familiar to the fairy, before she stood slowly and cupped Zara tenderly in her hand. "A rare fairy like you would be a prime target for capture, don't you think? Now, back into hiding, sweet Zara." With that, she pulled Ayame's shirt gently and tipped the palm of the hand holding Zara to try and slide the fairy in.

~~~~~

"..." Oxus turns his eyes about the room. She went into the ventilation? Then there were only certain places she could come out. It was convenient for the girl that her power was wind... Though she didn't appear to have mastered it yet, either. He hears the vent get shot off clearly enough, and he cleaves spins to face the known location, cleaving the projectile in two with his sword. It splits around him and he turns to face the girl again, only to see her throw something else at him. He cuts this in two, as well, but didn't compensate for the heavier base, which continues on it's course. It knocks him back, onto a knee, and he ends up using his sword arm to keep himself from falling over.

"Heh... Tricks only work once." He growls and picks up his sword again, standing and lifting it once more. The lightning transfers again, and he throws another bolt at his opponent.

~~~~~

Dammit! That woman escaped with her hostages. Now how was she supposed to make this stupid girl give up? Oh well. Nothing to be done about it now.

The girl in front of her spread her flames about the room, lighting it. "Oooh...?" The woman looks around at the lit exhibition hall, and then back to Alex. Someone was getting cocky. She smirked, raising an eyebrow as Alex through a fireball at her. She cut through the attack easily, with a little bit of darkness shielding the edge of her hand. She reached out her hand and a shadow shoots out, reaching for Alex's wrist. It would pull Alex with great forced, trying to make her stumble so the opponent could rush in and deliver a small energy blast to the chest.

"Ugh this is pointless! We have to sit here and wait while others get hurt?" Foress was too busy fuming over the fact she couldn't do anything about this. Sure she knew logically there was nothing someone like her could do to experienced fighters with superpowers. It still didn't make her feel any better about this nor about others getting into trouble on her behalf. "We should...we should find a better place stay. It makes more sense for us to leave while you help Alex."

She pouted trying to find something she could that may help someone out. It was obvious to her that she might be a burden on another. "You seem annoyingly together. Alex will need your help soon. The rest of us can hurry up and go so you don't have to worry about us."

Ela didn't have time to think up a snappy one liner before another bolt was being hurled in her direction, she'd managed to almost knock Oxus down, but he barely stayed up with his sword. She thought she'd have some more time, but no, there was another bolt flying towards her, albeit at a speed that was at least visible; not like normal lightning where it arrived at the speed of light. Still, she knew she couldn't duck into the airvents again; he must have been expecting it with the way he talked about tricks never working twice. Scanning around frantically once again, she couldn't find another vent to go in aside from the one above, there wasn't anything that she could really throw at the bolt either, nothing conductive at lea- "Your shoes have metal on them genius" Vetra's tiny voice rang out as if she was annoyed by Ela's frantic thoughts.

In one swift motion, aided by the wind, she gave a roundhouse kick to nothing but the air, the laces of the boot on her right leg came undone, and the wind shot it forward, towards the lightning bolt. Intercepting it, the boot remained perfectly intact, and not letting the advantage go to waste, Ela sprinted forward as quickly as she could, the wind pushing her forward as she lowered her stance, slipping under Oxus' shield to try and deliver an uppercut to his head from under his guard.

Watching as a shadow grabbed her wrist, Alex smirked as she saw what was happening. Probably a bad move to pull a up front and close fighter of fire close. Glaring, her body burst in flame, surrounding herself in a small inferno that was melting even the walls before she lept foreword and using the momentum of the shadow, though it quickly burned away with her flames. Her fists were out as she charged at the enemy, flames hot and fists powerfully striking the womans chest and arms.

The cat lady danced around Ayame's question, leaving both Ayame and her fairy clueless as to what was really going on. "We're leaving. If you won't give us real answers then I don't feel safe around you, and neither does Zara." Ayame glared at Solya accusingly and turned away from the group with Zara safely tucked away in her shirt.

"Ayame, don't be so hasty." Zara sounded muffled, but the message was clear enough. Solya couldn't be all bad, she just went about the things in a questionable way.

Ayame ignored her little fairy and marched away. The sooner she got out, the better. It wasn't like Solya was the one to rescue her from the dark tendrils anyway.

Oxus scoffed softly. She was clever! She used metal in her footwear to misdirect his attack. He chuckled and then laughed, smiling as she rushed him. Instead of grounding his sword and charging it for another attack, he simply attacked, swinging his sword through the air in front of him and releasing another bolt.

While this happened, a magical display flickered to life in Ela's vision. It was projected onto the lens of Ela's eyes, shifting as her eyes shift to always stay in focus.. There's a symbol of some sort in the top right. Perhaps it would be better to say two symbols, pushed together into one. Diagonally so. One half, a red-brown color, the other half yellow. There's also a conical direction indicator, pointed at Oxus. Surrounding the perimeter of her vision is a light green field, and in the upper left is a faint watermark of a symbol, made as a light imprint in the field. It sharpens and enhances her peripheral vision.

More pressing than all that, however, is what lies in the center of her vision. There is a visual note attached to the shield, with an electric symbol, and then smaller characters next to it. There's other information, but that's not important right now. The one attached to the sword. It has a yellow flashing caution icon on it. There's a yellow number, wavering, hovering at around 90%. Suddenly, it stabilized, sunk to 80%, and then began wavering again.

"That's as much as I can do right now. Win the fight and follow the next marker you see. I'm going on ahead to an ally that needs help. We'll get your fairy, I promise." With that, Lumina makes her swift escape, now seeking out the fire pairing, by the lobby.

~~~~~

Oooh, that couldn't have been good. Even if these flames weren't as hot as this girl thought she was, it still wouldn't be a good idea to stand in them. The woman jumped back, patting out a few flames that had caught onto her quickly. "Tch! Hot!" She brushed herself off and looked up as the firey girl charged her. "You'll still coming head-on?" She smirks viciously and responds with a tentacle slam from below, tossing Alex up.

"He...o.. llo... hello? Hello! You can't attack her head-on like that. Her skill with magic and her reserves are superior. You're going to have to try a different tactic than what you've been doing. It may help to know that you don't need to win. Reinforcements are coming."

~~~~~

"I'll tell you what I /do/ know. The darkness that attempted to snatch your fairies were the work of that woman's fairy." Solya moves forward and grasps Ayame's shoulder. "It was her magic. I don't know who these people are, but I've dealt with them before. Never directly. As for me, I'm a fairy researcher more than a stargazer. And if you wander away now, you're liable to get caught by those guys in the suits. Best stay close."

Solya looks over her shoulder at the girl, who seemed concerned for their classmate. "Hmm? Oh, no, I can't fight 'em. I can wield a scythe of light alright, but those guys would seriously kick my ass. But if you're worried about your friends, don't be Lumina can handle everything."

Alex tsked, easily regaining balance and punching down, dispersing the tentacle with a fire fist before a irritating critic but unhelpful voice spoke. How idiotic...

"Well sorry for not exactly being experiemced in being a giant fireball ribbon dancing fighter with a fairy in my head, having to fight some bitch with dark magical powers that I am just now experiencing." Alex said in a sarcastic tone as if telling the voice was a absolute moron for having to point out the obvious flaws in the situation.

Alex wasn't a idiot, she was a rookie at whatever the hell this is and she knew it. All she knew is that she was keeping this bitch at bay from the others with the regular human fighting experience she did know..It was just kinda idiotic to expect someone to just know how to use magical fire power that one had a mild fear of hurting both yourself and any ally around and fighting against a much more experienced fighter with magical abilities.

"So if all your going to do is state the obvious and treat me like a moron, kindly fuck off." she growled as she threw another fireball.

After all, Alex wasn't really caring about her own situation, all that mattered was buying time for at least give the chance for the others to escape. If she died in a blazing inferno, she wouldn't give a damn. But she was at least going down and taking this bitch with her if it came to it.

"Ah dont be like that Al, Im sure she didn't meant it like that." Saki's voice spoke out.