[IC] A World of Progresssive Magic: An Arcane 2100s

[IVIasterJay]

Black Cat was grateful, though not nearly enough to dampen his mistrust of the other assassin. With the two targets secured, he was now free to use his claws and tail. Well, one claw would still be needed to lift the bundled developers. Silas was the other assassin’s name. Black Cat recognized him from the coffee shop. Silas would become a target eventually, but today was booked. Black Cat laughed silently in amusement. He’d been an easy mark with his claws preoccupied. Silas should have just killed him and taken both of the developers for himself. It’s what he would have done.

Without warning, the world exploded. No, just the part of it around where the two assassins stood. It appeared that someone had taken notice. The ground shook, and for an instant Eise wondered if there was a basement below the showroom. Black Cat dismissed the thought, as he could not take the developers with him through the floor.

Eise, wake up. It's not real.

Eise's vision darkened as Kuro took over his mind and body completely. It was an unpleasant feeling, not unlike dying. Still, it did have its perks. The two illusory game makers vanished, the simple mental shock of possession being much more effective than weak human will at breaking through magics that targeted the mind.

Black Cat stood tall where he was, claws clenched in fists of rage. The air around the deadly creature hummed with energy as Eise's anger leaked out. The assassin looked up, its flat black face splitting to reveal a mouth that glowed blue, and roared, seeming more beast than human then.

"Kuro, did you see where the illusion's maker went?" Eise asked the dark cat spirit inside of himself. The black cat, Kuro's avatar as Eise imagined it inside his mind, flicked its tail. A stream of images and feelings answered Eise's question. "He's the most dangerous then. We take him out, and then the others." The black cat purred, satisfied with Eise's decision. "We'll need to shuffle to keep from getting caught in another illusion. He's good, and this place is filled with other powerful magi, so the maximum I think would be safe would be 0.3 second intervals." The black cat turned and vanished, as it was Eise's time in control.

Black Cat looked as Silas, still obviously under the illusion's influence. It would be such a pity if he died because of that. The black-armored assassin slipped through the floor and swam after the escaping game maker, like a shark through the layers of solid concrete and steel, its mind flickering between man and cat. Not having to avoid obstacles or dangers, Black Cat caught up to Kariya easily and pulled itself back up through the floor and onto solid ground again in front of the illusion creator.

Black Cat's smooth face cracked open again. "Try that again and I'll gut you before torturing you," the assassin hissed. The concrete beneath his feet cracked as Black Cat launched himself at the game maker with blinding speed, glowing claws leaving a faint afterimage where he had been.

[Joshua Tamashii]

((Collaboration between Amaya and Joshua Tamashii) )

Medical wing -the agency

Another boring day of the Medical wing is what one person would say of a normal medical wing; however, this was no ordinary medical ward.

"I suggest you get back in bed before Ms. Rose comes back in..."suggested amaya a distance away from the unruly patient of hers that has decided he didn't need on bedrest with his broken leg.

"I am fine, i am not staying here. The doctor said i am fine to go back."replied the.male being persistent and stubborn getting up dragging his cast along after him, heading for the door. Pushing amaya aside causing her to fall back on her but.

"Ouch! Hey! That's mean."she exclaimed getting up as Rose met him at the door sighing

"Now now, I won't stand for this ignorance and rudeness in my area of profession..I was going to kindly request you head back to your bed peacefully for the third time but it seems you have laid one of your filthy hands on her causing her some slight pain ....this will not fly here in my domain..."she commented taking her glasses off along with her lab coat putting them aside on a table neatly. She reached into her back pocket to pull out a hair tie to tie back her hair while moving towards him humming. "You men asked me and my assistants for treatment, for healing... yet you do not show the slightest respect or gratitude towards us for taking time out of our schedule to heal and treating your wounds. YOU refused our magic treatment, so I fixed your break the old fashion way....I made sure your room was humble with a TV and no roommate...and this is how you thanks me and my assistants...by pushing one of my girls...."she said as her gold eyes seemed to glow with great fury as anger rose in her voice every word she spoke as she took slow steps towards him cracking her knuckles "Since you won't listen the nice way.. I will make you listen the way you men know best, the painful way"she said with a smirk before charging at the male she slid across the ground striking her heeled boot into a soft spot of his cast hearing a slight crack and a roar of pain from the male falling to the ground moving around as she stood up letting out a sigh

"Oh Deary me, I warned you if you got out of bed you would fall and injure your leg more...Amaya, can you assist me in getting him back in bed "she requested.

It took a few minutes to drag him but they got him back in bed "there we go, now dont get up again silly"she commented using some healing magic to heal the wound she made "now hold still so she can remake your cast and stop your pain "rose added

While Rose and Amaya were helping the male get back into bed and all bandaged up again, the door to the medical wing opened and Amelia entered. It was around time for her daily check-up Rose insisted on doing, partly because Amelia was a growing girl, partly because of Amelia's heart condition, and partly because Rose viewed Amelia as one of her daughters and worried for her well-being.

Amelia herself hated the medical wing. It reeked of death and occasionally had the spirit of someone who had passed away. She always had to go to Heinz to get the spirit exorcised for fear that it would decide to take control of her. So with a sigh she took a seat in the waiting room, knowing Rose would be out soon. So was hoping the whole examination could take place elsewhere but Rose's order were Rose's orders. And she had seen enough people learn that the hard way.

Amaya got the man settled back down tending to him as Rose headed out to the waiting room "this way Amelia...how are you feeling today? "Asked rose to Amelia leading her to an open examination room.

"I'm fine I just hate being here." Amelia said as she followed Rose" Ascot's out on a mission so I'll be by myself all day."

"I know you hate it but this is where Amaya and I belong and Ascot's uncle wants me to keep track of your well being."

"Can't we do these in my room though?" Amelia asked, her tone close to a begging one" I feel a lot safer there and there aren't any spirits to bother me."

"I might be able to do it that way if you feel it is better but I will have to check my schedule first."Rose said

"Don't you have time right now if you're already checking up on me?" Amelia pointed out." I don't think it'll be a problem then will it?"

"Maybe I just hope none of our unruly patients try anything while I am away" she commented walking to the hall "Amaya! I am leaving for a bit" she yelled down the hall

"Alright "Amaya replied making sure her charting is current and correct.

"I'm sorry it's just... I just don't like how this place feels." Amelia said, looking a bit upset" So many people have died in here and I can just sense and see it everywhere. I can even feel it on the floors above and below this one."

"That is our line of work unfortunately Amelia, me and Amaya are always trying to cheat death out of taking souls." she said with a sigh putting on her lab coat and glasses before trying her hair down "let's go then I suppose" she commented

"You're upset with me aren't you?" Amelia asked, looked upset herself since Rose seemed to reluctant to leave her office and therefore a bit annoyed at Amelia's insistence that they do.

"Its not you I promise I just have a lot of patients that can't seem to stay in bed its fine." she said

Amelia didn't look comforted and just looked at the ground, her expression still a bit upset.

"Oh Amelia..."said rose taking a seat beside her wrapping her arms around Amelia, resting her chin on her head

Amelia was slightly startled by Rose hugging her, still not used to being shown actually affection rather then meaningless 'love'. After a few seconds she was smiling again and she snuggled up next to Rose, enjoying this feeling.

"There is the Amelia I know and care for." she commented

"Sorry about that... so do you want me to stay here or can we go to my room instead?" Amelia asked

"Its alright lets go to your room "she said standing up heading for the door.

"Alright then." Amelia said, getting off the table. She lead Rose to her room, which was on an otherwise unused level of the Agency HQ. It was a small room, with little to nothing in it other then a bed for Amelia to sleep on, a desk that had a few papers on it and was a bit of a mess, a chair for said desk, and a door that lead to a bathroom because Amelia refused to use the public restrooms. The color scheme was bland as well, mostly white and gray, as though it had been a former office space." Welcome to my home."

"We might need to make this more 'homier' cause this isn't what a room should be." she commented following looking around

"I don't think we should. Mr. Harper let's me live and eat here for free so I don't want to bother him about what he's given me." Amelia said, sitting on her bed and waiting for Rose to start the examination

"In all truth, he left you in my care so you should ask me if you need something... how about later we get you some things like a fluffy blanket and some sketch books?" said Rose while she did her daily examination for her charts.

"So you're like... my mother then?" Amelia asked as she let Rose do the examination and did whatever Rose told her too. Though it was hard to tell because of her shirt, it would seem that Amelia was going to be entering one of the more... interesting stages of her life soon.

"In a way yes I am... Amaya sees me like a mother." Rose said gently soon finishing her examination as she put away her clipboard "all seems normal but it seems you have yet to reach your next stage in your young life."

"So can I call you 'Mama' then? And what do you mean by the next stage in my young life and that I haven't reached it?" Amelia asked.

"If that helps then yes and you have yet to start growing to becoming a young woman" Rose said

"I'm not sure I understand what you're saying Mama." Amelia said" What exactly does that mean and are there any signs?"

"Well your chest will grow, you might hit a small growth sprout and other things but everyone is different I was an early bloomer "she commented.

"My chest will grow? Do you mean it'll look like yours or Miss Amaya's?" Amelia asked

"Well it will grow it just depends on your body how much it will." she said

"So it's possible I'll look like this forever then? Have a bunch of men chase after me and... you know what they did to me as well as anyone." Amelia said, looking unhappy that her bad memories had popped into her head. She hated remembering her days in Atlantis.

"You will grow when your body is ready... however with Amaya's genes she is done growing as far as I know." Rose said.

"I don't understand." Amelia said

"Amaya has gone through this stage of puberty "said Rose" You have yet to start but you'll get there eventually."

Amelia just fell silent again, completely confused by the conversation now and giving up on it. Maybe it would become clear later but for now, she figured it was best to forget.

"Give it time and you will notice the growth I was speaking of...how about we go outside and do some shopping "she commented

"I would like to but... I'm worried about Ascot." Amelia said, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink" He said he might kill someone and... I don't want him to kill anyone."

"That is the life of a field agent "Rose said

"But I don't want him to kill... I don't want him to have that aura." Amelia said as she started to sound upset.

"Amelia the best way is to express this worry to his uncle and him but his skills are best with his magic choice... you and me are meant to support them from behind the scenes "she commented.

Amelia shook her head
"Ascot... I don't want him to suffer for killing someone." She said" I know what's it's like to feel responsible for killing someone. It's worse then you can imagine... if he went through that he would change. He wouldn't be Ascot anymore."

"Then tell him he will never know if you don't tell him."

"But how do I tell him?" Amelia asked" How do I know he'll listen to me?"

"Believe me he will listen." Rose commented patting Amelia's shoulder.

"Then I have some place to be." Amelia said, getting off her bed." Are we done for the day Mama?"

"Yes I am done for today" she commented gently closing her file holding it under one arm

"Thank you Mama." Amelia said before leaving her room to go find Heinz

[Letter Bee]

((Collab Post between Joshua Tamashii and Letter Bee))

Heinz Harper was in the briefing room, but, when he heard that Amelia was coming to the office, he teleported back to his seat, and waited. He knew, even without Timespace, that this confrontation was coming; Amelia cared about Ascot deeply, and, with her revulsion at killing, and, if she had found out about Ascot's vision, would try hard to prevent it. The man wiped some sweat from his brow; he had things to feel guilty about.

When Amelia finally came in, Heinz would say:

"So, you found out what Ascot saw?"

It took Amelia a few minutes to reach the office. She knew Heinz had eyes and ears everywhere and was not surprised to see him waiting for her. She was even less surprised that he knew why she was there.

"Ascot told me a few weeks ago." she said, looking at the ground. Heinz made her nervous for reasons she didnt understand. Maybe it was because she didnt interact with him very often." IT was the same day the spirits told me about the game... do you really think he'll have to have to kill someone Mr.Harper?"

"Ever since that day..." the Agency Head thought about the day that he had to bring Ascot back himself, when he found out that what had happened caused Ascot to mindwipe himself in order to keep functioning, "the day Ascot himself doesn't remember, the day where you saw me bring my nephew back, as calm and confident as ever, but without any answers as to why he was gone so long..."

"I have to tell you something. The vision of Ascot killing someone, it's actually a repressed desire for vengance, vengance for what happened that day. I say repressed because for some time now, Ascot's been broken, and had to knit himself back together using Mind Magic." Heinz actually began crying. "And I...it's my fault. I sent him there to look for Babylon, without thinking of the possibility that the enemy knew of his existence and had prepared an ambush..."

"Babylon? Do you mean there's another Atlantis?" Amelia asked, her face going pale at the very thought. If there was another Atlantis she knew better then anyone that it had to be shut down as soon as possibe. That place probably took upwards of fifty lives a day if it was just as big. If it was bigger the death toll would only be higher.

"Not quite the same; it's much larger, but death games are more frowned upon; as the Developing World continues to prosper, the supply of...subjects has actually begun to dry up, especially with robots and VR stimulations competing with actual humans for...you know," Heinz responded. "But, in its own way, its depraved; it's basically the place where the remaining homeless, as well as immigrants from poor countries...end up if they're unlucky."

"DONT CALL THEM SUBJECTS!" Amelia shouted at Heinz, shocking herself while doing so. She took a second to calm herself before speaking again." Theyre human beings, the same as you and me. If such a place does exist though you need to shut it down before it goes too far... no girl who goes into that place will come out the same... I know I didn't."

"Of course they're human beings," spoke Heinz, "but sometimes, you have to distance yourself from the thought of such pain, to detach yourself...anyway, I have plans for Babylon after the E3 mission is finished. But, the point is, I sent Ascot to look for Babylon, he was ambushed, and..." His eyes shook with the remnants of shock and disbelief, "again, it's my fault. It's also my fault I can't say what happened to him...not without recalling those memories."

"What did happen there?" Amelia asked" What happened that he had to forget?"

"I got only a few images from Ascot's mind; the self-wipe was that good. But, there were cameras and videotapes...and a pile of damaged clothing...his clothing in the corner." Heinz let the implications seep through Amelia's mind.

Amelia knew what the implications meant in seconds.
"You cant send him back there when the time comes." She said" Send him away with me somewhere. If Im there with him can keep his mind off what might be happening and keep him where ever you send us."

Heinz Harper nodded, and continued:

"That I will; I can find an excuse to send him off on some other business, or even just assign him to watch over you; he loves you - not that he's realized it, not yet. If I tell him that you're especially suffering when the time comes, he'll gladly stay with you."

"H-he what?" Amelia asked, her face turning red when Heinz said Ascot loved her. She wasn't sure how to react to that. ALOT of men had said they loved her over the years and to her it was almost an empty word. But with Ascot it might be different since he actually seemed to care for her and he did a good job of taking care of her." Mrs. Rose said my room needed to be more... homey I think she said. Do you think Ascot could join us in shopping athe time of the mission?"

Heinz smiled. "Sure; I've been meaning to renovate your room myself, but, yeah, I can join you and Ascot at that time."

"Could Mrs. Rose and Miss Amaya join us?" Amelia asked.

"Of course," the man said indulgently, "anything for you...within reason, of course." Heinz did like Amelia, and saw her as a surrogate niece, of course. That said, one could condemn his treatment of his existing nephew; the man was fond of him, but apparently had no qualms using him as an underage agent just because of his magical powers. Anyway, the point was, Heinz genuinely enjoyed 'family time' with Ascot, Amelia, Amaya and Rose, despite his darker side.

"Thank you Mr. Harper... would you mind if I join you in watching over the E3 mission, incase Ascot does something stupid?" Amelia asked.

"All right," spoke Heinz, before creating a portal back to the surveillance room.

END

[Mass City]

((Collab Post between Mass City and Letter Bee))
Michelle Addison was in her bedroom. It was nice bedroom but she slept in a larger one beftore. Right now she woke up it was a log cabin motif and looked very comfy. They were at the nice Aspen lodge at Camp David. Michelle showered and readied herself for the day. She combed her red hair and put on her causal outfit, tan slacks and red shirt. She walked to the other lodge called Laurel. Inside was all the various personnel that informed her of the daily going's on in the world. She was worried about events in the Southeast Asian coalition.
She also had an election to win.

But she was taking time out of her busy schedule to talk with Harper, a man she had tepid relations at best with. Never helped they were in a relationship once. But it fell apart as quickly as it started.

Michelle was now outside the lodge doing her unhealthy activity of smoking a cigar. Nowadays that was a political liability.

Agency Surveillance Room

Heinz Harper received a call from the President as he watched the mission go on, and took out his cellphone from his pocket.
"Miss President, what is it?" he spoke, although even without magic, he knew this was something really bad...for him.
"What are you doing Mister Harper? I mean what did you do to a young boy named Ascot?" he heard her exhale over the phone.
"My nephew? He's currently in my custody for his education, both magical and academic," Heinz said in his most innocent tone, although he knew deep inside that his number was up.
"You used mental magic or something similar on him didn't you, my...source in the Agency has told me about it." The President walked outside the lodge a bit. "Care to explain?" the venom dripped in her voice.
"It was a self-wipe, Mrs. President," spoke Heinz. "He saw something classified, and voluntarily sealed off his own memories of the incident." All which was technically true.
"Oh?" The president sighed. "I still want you to come here later today."
"All right, I'll make the necessary arrangements."

Later That Day

Heinz, after making sure that Amelia was safe in the surveillance room, teleported to the teleportation pad in the lodge; the pad was the only place not warded against such magics, and was, furthermore, surrounded by sentry guns and scanners, as well as manned by Secret Service men, some of whom Heinz had trained himself. After submitting to the necessary searches and mind-probes, the Agency head walked over to the President's location, ready to be grilled.

The President was reading a report on the Southeast Asia Coalition. "Sit Director Harper!" she commanded.

Heinz sat on thin air...literally; there was no chair underneath him, so he resorted to creating a cushion of air hardened with Matter.
The room got very cold. Harper saw his breath in the air, odd for the time of year. Harper saw the President's hand turn a very icy blue. "Give me a reason not to turn you into a Harper-cicle right now and leave you with a nice bow tied in front of Congress. You've gone around me, over me, through me, and under me. I am going to use my magic though there are those who still think it has no place in politics. So tell me why I needn't freeze you!" the president commanded as the blue trailed up her arm and to her shoulder.

"Because millions, possibly a billion, are in danger right now and I'm your best bet at stopping them?" spoke Heinz with false archness. In truth, he was really scared and guilty, because he knew that this was, somehow, retribution for what he had allowed to happen to Ascot. "And, this seems to me like a very big punishment just for letting Ascot see some classified material that he erased from his memory?"

Heinz was probing on how much the President knew.
She knew that that Harper was hiding something big, but what it appeared to be was on Mafia and SEA Coalition materials. Harper saw the blue rush across Michelle's face as her hair started to turn white. She place her hand and his shoulder and it felt like his whole body was getting cold.

"Okay, okay, I've been using him as an Agent because of his sheer magical power and potential. Also, he got raped by mafiosos and mafiosas repeatedly when he botched one of those missions and he mind-wiped himself to avoid the trauma - please don't kill me; take my job instead!" Heinz had this tendency to cave in around people he loved; he still had feelings for Michelle after all these years.

"He- he got raped?" the blue seemed to dissipate for a second but came back in a fury as she became completely blue with snow white hair. "I am gonna go to war with them SoBs! Hienz could tell things weren't going good when the president's clothes changed into a winter variation. "I got elected on law and order and they flaunt it!" Heinz saw her eyes, just white, no pupils. "I am, not weak as my opponents say! It's just crime has entered all layers of society." Harper saw the President in her "Winter dress" It formed out of the frozen condensation in the air and clung to her form. Her magic was ice based but the fact that she was one of the most powerful mages in the world made people wary when 4 years ago she ran for president.

Michelle put her hands to her head and calmed herself down. She was still blue but in an hour it would go away.

Heinz began to sneak away; since the area was warded against teleportation, he had to do it the old-fashioned way, walking stealthily away from the room, trying not to make a sound.
"You weren't excused yet." The president walked up to Heinz and grabbed him on the jacket and brought him in close. She then proceeded to kiss him. There was no cold though. No sucking the heat away, just warmth.

Heinz returned the kiss with passion not seen in his regular doings, letting himself become lost in the warmth of the moment, although he knew that it was dangerous, as, well, he could have compromised his job.

"I wish this could go farther but... we have a job to do." The president still had feelings for Heinz and she was mad at him for leaving her. Michelle was often appropriately called the "The Ice Queen" It was because if she got angry her emotions would cause her powers and magical abilities to go outta whack.

"I need you to figure out the mafia's connections in the government but do it discreetly." she asked Harper, her eyes were the icy blue he remembered.
Heinz nodded; seems like he would keep his job, after all...

[GreenGoat]

It came as no surprise that that Elizabeth, one of her marks, knew magic, and more than one at that. However, assailing her with magic she already knew was not a good idea, as reversing the so called Gravity Hammer to neutralize it was but child's play. Having a several fights before with different targets who also uses Energy as one of their prime magic schools helped as well.

"AHAH~! A multimage with no real experience will never- URGH!?"

Of course... she had forgotten about the other one in her excitement over Elizabeth trying to hit her with gravity magic. Catherine was hit with some rather nauseating illusion as well as some sort of mental fear. The illusion itself was annoying, but the fear was welcome. The extra dose of adrenalin from that flight or fight reaction as soon as she was hit with it was.... probably not what the caster had intended.

With it she simply electrocuted herself, throwing off arcs of electricity to anything nearby, frying anything unfortunate enough to catch a bolt from her. While it does seem like a dumb move to do, electricity does have the effect of refreshing one's mind, and help mitigate the illusion somewhat, enough for her to concentrate properly.

"Hahaha~ You guys are annoying. Please die."

It was a simple move, point blank, and right in Elizabeth's face. Catherine shot off a large beam of concentrated light and radiation. Or as it was popularly known, LASERs.

***

"Ken~ Sad~ lerrr~!" Clarissa moved slowly towards the man, her mark, before a bolt of lightning hit her shoulder, arcing towards one of her razor squares, then back towards the ground with a loud crackle. Only the first one hit, for she erected several large metallic spikes from the ground, reshaping the floor to suit her needs. Of course, since electricity travels down the path of least resistance, most of the bolts aimed for her were redirected towards her makeshift lightning rods instead, and those that did stay true, were mitigated by the several squares of metal she was spinning around herself. Matter mages were all about suiting the environment to their advantages after all. That may not be true for all of them, but it was certainly truth to Clarissa.

All of a sudden Saddler teleported away, she had to glance about only once before a mouse hit her on the head. The bastard was throwing stuff at her now.

"Oi! Thats not nice at all!" She help up her hand and closed it to a fist, exploding the very booth around him as she simply broke the bonds of the materials around him, resulting in a very dangerous shower of sharp debris flying at high speed.

"AHAHAHA~! That will show you t- TCH!"

Another person was attacking her, literally jumping in on her with fists flying. At the same time she noticed he was also attacking another beside her. A rival assassin? She didn't have time to think much about it as she was too busy sidestepping and deflecting blows with her trademark razor squares. The attacker landed on his feet, throwing up large chunks of earth and launching them at her.

Was he stupid?

Clarissa simply turned those coming for her to dust, and rematerialized them into much more numerous but smaller projectiles.

"Ahaha~! Thats it, I'll just kill you all and question you when you are dead."

With that she showered the area with the sharp shards she had created, sparing nothing and no one from her barrage. Any of those civilians still unfortunate enough to not be able to escape would find themselves assaulted with sharp objects all over their body.

[BioHazard]

Silas was kinda annoyed by his fellow assassin. He didn't recognize him, but he didn't pay too much attention to the others in the bar the other day. Silas quickly drew the conclusion that 'Black Cat', which is a weird name, even for an alias, wasn't completely 100% well in his head. But luckily for Black Cat that is a problem which is common here in this land, or actually everywhere else in the world for many people.

Black Cat took the lead in their attempt to escape the building, along with their to hostages. Silas assumed that they had to be taken to the headquarters for interrogation, so they quickly had to find a way out of the facility. Black Cat was carrying one of the developers, as Silas was carrying the other whom he also had wrapped in metal so escaping would be nearly impossible. Silas had activated his Flowmotion, which in combination with his Super Speed made it look like he was floating at high speed over the ground, as if he had telekinesis powers. Of course, he quickly and lightly touched the floor during 'floating' but that wouldn't be visible by a regular eye.

Suddenly Black Cat turned around and swiped some text into the air, Silas couldn't make heads or tails of it. Black Cat nodded to him, and Silas nodded back, although having no idea why. After that Black Cat barged right through a concrete wall that revealed an exit to the outside world. Silas wanted to follow him, but stopped right before he left the building. He looked at his hostage... it was weird. He was informed that they were powerful magic users, to say so. So why weren't they resisting? Why weren't they making up a plan? Silas only could see a frightened look from the developer in his arm. Something wasn't right, also the fact that the body seemed lighter than a regular body of an adult, while there also was metal wrapped around it.

By now Silas had finally realized that he was trapped inside of an illusion. He rarely encountered, and never has been in an illusion, so it took some time for him to discover what was going on. Once he discovered it was an illusion, the spell broke. He looked in his arm and he was carrying a big plant with metal wrapped around it. In anger Silas threw the plant against the nearest wall, making a big crack in it. By now the two developers were gone, and so was Black Cat. And to think that A. K. was also one of their hostages. Silas left Black Cat alone and continued the search on his own. He headed up to the upper floor, to check if Akira possibly was in there. He had already noticed that some other battles were going on, but Akira seemed the main priority at this moment.

[Joshua Tamashii]

Joshua

"Heinz, it's complete and utter pandemonium in here. I half expect to lose one of my eyes in his mess." Joshua said while slowly making his way through the battlefield while avoiding attracting as much attention to himself as possible. He knew who his target was and what the target looked like, thanks to studying some dossiers he had requested from Heinz the night before. As such, when he finally came across Ken Sadler, it wasn't hard for him to recognize the game developer. It also helped that one of the combatants practically sang his name before attacking him. What more did he need t go on. His target identified he quickly made his way over to Ken Sadler." Mr. Sadler? As much as I you like the current scenery, I think it's best we get you out of here and to safety. By the way, name is Tamashii I work for the Agency. Now kindly follow me and we'll see about getting you to safety."

That being said, he began leading Mr. Sadler to the closest exit while avoiding as many explosions and attacks as he could. As long as neither of them got spotted it wouldn't be that hard but if he did get spotted... well protecting someone while fighting off multiple people trying to kill them for one reason or another was going to prove rather difficult but Joshua was used to that kind of thing by now. Though last time he had done it he had been rescuing Amelia and back then he had backup.

Jack

Jack watched the chaos break out from the rafters of the convention center. Her orders were to protect the assassins, not the game developers. However, the assassins were going after each other, which Jack viewed as nothing more then entertainment. They could kill each other then Jack could report back which ones were better then the others to Aldric. He could always use another assassin, but she would make sure she remained at the top and be his most reliable. As far as she could tell, none of them were truly deserving of the title 'assassin'. 'Hit man' or 'wild gun' would be more accurate, since they all had as much finesse as a boulder rolling down a hill towards their target. If they had been smart they would've taken out the target silently. Now the people from the abandoned section of the building would likely show up and cause more chaos and she would have to save all their asses.
"Newbies are such a pain." She muttered to herself while watching the scene play out below.

[Letter Bee]

Conor and Joshua, and Omega

Conor put up a barrier of pure force to shield his body against Clarissa's attacks, before turning back to Clone!Omega. This left him vulnerable to Real!Omega's Shadowbolt, as well as the bind that was placed there. Thankfully, his barrier covered all of his body, mitigiating the damage done, although said damage was still great, and the man was still being bound by the shadowbind...

Ken Saddler, meanwhile, managed to protect himself with a magical shield, but was also focusing on protecting what civilians he could, putting him out of the battle. That said, he was able to react with a smile in response to Joshua's arrival, and, using Law to sustain the shields that he had placed on the civilians, making them last for a few hours, he went off with the man...

Catherine

Elizabeth had Timespace, and so was capable of dodging even stuff that went at lightspeed, like lasers. However, she was now on the defensive, withdrawing from the battle as if routed...although an astute observer would see that Balthazar was advancing towards Catherine, parrying what lightning bolts (from the latter's earlier self-electrocution) had come at her. Now, Balthazar was making Catherine's clothes explode, hoping for a defeat by modesty.

Eise

Not an illusion, but a Hardlight Hologram this time, created through a mix of light manipulation and telekenetic force; apparently, Elizabeth wasn't the only master of Energy in this room. The two were in the upper floor, where Silas would soon be going, but the latter cannot see them thanks to a combination of Mentalism and Energy, as well as Law. And, knowing that he cannot match Eise in a straight fight, Akira had filled his Hardlight Holograms with Law energy (small-e), which dealt damage unhealable by Magic to those it struck. Yes, it was unfair, but Akira was 1.) the equivalent of a boss monster, and 2.) Eise was evidently superior to him, forcing the MMO Maker to use very dirty tricks...

Silas

There were several Akiras now, duplicates made by a combination of Mentalism (to make them seem like the original Akira), and Energy (to make them unbreakable by willpower), and Law (to give them substance). One was running to the upper floor, others were sneaking towards the front doors, but, Silas would have a hunch and follow the former.

When he got there, of course, he would find nothing, nothing at all. But, with a master of illusion like Akira, who knew? Then, a voice would resound from everywhere and nowhere at once:

"Silas von Wainright, son of Adric, surrogate son of Raj. I don't suppose I can interest you in an offer of godhood in a virtual world, can I? But I think I know just what you want, what the Agency promised to give you, but which I can do - have done - better."

"You want to know who killed Raj, right? The one who ordered - note, my use of the word ordered is a hint - his murder. If you will leave me alone, if you will turn to your 'friends' fighting for their lives down below, I might just tell you. Wait, no!" Akira's voice replied with sardonic laughter, "you already know in your heart who ordered the killings. However, by dint of my powers of Timespace, I know who did the exact killing.

"She is here right now."

Hopefully, this would distract Silas from using his magical senses to see how Akira was hiding himself...and also prevent him from aiding Eise.

Some Seconds After

Suddenly, time stopped. No, it literally did as all Nonpracticing Magi (aka 'normal' humans), except Joshua froze, along with derbi not being manipulated by Magi. Even drops of blood from whatever civilians were not protected by Ascot, Conor, and Thaz were suspended in the air. ArcU had struck; this was the first part of their 'surprise', the one that lay hidden in the unused third of the Convention Centre.

The second part...was a large mechanical spider, one that burst out from said unused third and took advantage of the time-stop to avoid being seen by cameras or any equipment that would transmit data to the real world. This mechanical spider had a gigantic gun on its back that first fired a microwave beam that can destroy all Energy Shields, then followed that up with a laser that would destroy most obstacles thrown by matter.

For non-lethal battles, this was augmented by Suppression Foam Sprayers outfitted in its mouth; Suppression Foam being a kind of sticky foam that was made with all Nine Schools, and thus suppressed all powers. In short, this was a weapon designed against Magi. As it advanced towards the fighting in the lower floors, it seemed as though none can stop it, that it, along with the time-stop, would -

Then, it halted, caught in a time-stop of its own. Ken Saddler, from his place near the exit, was stretching out his hands, exerting great effort into keeping the mechanical monster stuck in chrono-stasis. However, even a few moments of this were tiring, and he was visibly straining. Then, his expression changed into one of shock, as his burden seemed to fade away...but why?

The answer was a boy, a boy who had turned off his invisibility suit, and was standing there now, helmet off (though his eyes still had Pure Technology contacts that allowed him to sense motion), and stretching his hands out, too, using both Timespace and Energy to hold the enemy in conjunction with Ken Saddler's efforts. Ascot had revealed himself at last.

This was the signal for Omega to turn against Clarissa and the others by surprise...

As for Silas, he would get this telepathic message:

Sile, help the Spirit-Possessed guy for now! Then turn against him once Akira's subdued!

[Lucek]

Omega saw or maybe felt, this can be debated later, Ascot appearing and using his magic. This was the sign he was waiting for. Unseen to Clarissa the Omega clone grabbed Connor and it looked like he was planning to stab him in the stomach. This was untrue however as the only thing that was hit by the clone was the binding spell. It was so that someone looking at them from above or behind would see Connor getting stabbed, the binding spell dispersing seemingly on its own with the death of the target.

At the same time as the clone freed Connor, Alpha, or in other words the original Omega, disengaged the magic cloaking device. No longer having his magic sapped by his magitech he could employ the power in the spell he prepared. A spell that might be called his most basic, but also staple spell – using all of his magics he gave temporary bodies to spirits, ones that were in tune with him, they had only one objective to annihilate the targets they were directed at. A swarm of nightmarish creatures erupted from the man’s shadow, the shapes varying, the amount large.

Each one of them resembled animals, dogs, cats, wolves, tigers, any animal you could probably think off that wasn’t too large in size in this situation. All of them had similarities though. They were somehow connected to their shadows, after all they were shadowfiends, their eyes glowed crimson, most didn’t have fur but their skin resembled a shadowy texture, wavering at times as they moved. This gave them an appearance seemingly similar to creatures from nightmares. All of them, no matter which, had sharp claws and teeth, not to mention the sounds they made weren’t pleasant either.

Omega used at least half of his magical stamina to call on this hunting pack. This left him partially vulnerable, as he wasn’t recovered enough after making the clone. The pack stirred, they got their targets data from their master. ”Go.” The only order they needed. The swarm dispersed having two targets, one was close - Clarissa, the other – Catherine, would have to be found. That was why the ones close to the girl leaped over both the clone and Connor, charging for Clarissa. They most probably would overwhelm her with numbers, not to mention their most basic instinct was to swarm and devour their targets. Catherine on the other hand would have to be found but the pack evaded anyone or anything not set as their target. Still if one could tell if they had a mood, then it would be a bad one, as they had more targets labeled not to kill, than kill. This made them more vicious than normal.

[IVIasterJay]

Black Cat roared out in pain as both of his arms plunged into the mass of Law magic. Eise screamed out as he felt his arms burn, for a moment displacing the cat spirit that possessed him. He couldn't pull back or change course because of the force he'd put into his lunge, his body was going to fly right through the hologram. Kuro took control again, ignoring the body's trivial pain. Black Cat blurred and disappeared, reappearing high above crouched on the ceiling.

His black armored arms were burned and smoldering, bright blue blood illuminating rivers where the burns were deepest. For some reason, the anti-teleportation field was down. Kuro doubted it would have been harmed by the Law decoy's magic, but it had saved the body from unnecessary damage. Black Cat looked down at his arms, or rather up at them as he was on the ceiling. His glowing claws were still there and functional, but he would probably have trouble making the arms move as he wanted them too, and the destroyed armor on his arms would make it dangerous to take a direct hit. It would have been much worse if he hadn't been able to teleport away though.

Where the hell did he go! The black cat flicked its tail in annoyance as Eise recovered from his momentary blackout. He was angry, though he had no reason to be in the spirit's eyes. The man was a powerful magician, it only made sense that he would protect himself with all of the magic at his disposal. Black Cat stared down as each of the other hired guns was involved in some form of combat or another. The struggle only made the kill that much more rewarding. Still, his target had proven that he was not to be underestimated. It would be folly to attack again after being damaged already.

Black Cat was considering whether or not to just abandon the job and disappear for a while when something interesting happened below, a few somethings actually. Time stopped. Most everyone in the Convention Center just stopped, frozen in that instant of time. With the motion and chaos went the noise, or at least much of it. Black Cat scanned the room to see who had cast the Timespace magic, but his scan was interrupted by the second something. A gigantic metal spider burst into view, only to also be stopped by Timespace magic just as suddenly. Eise saw the caster this time, actually it was two individuals. He wondered if the initial time freeze was their doing as well. If so, they would be incredibly powerful magi, likely more so than the man he was after. Kuro wanted to kill them. With them occupied holding the magic, it was a perfect opportunity. But Black Cat's eyes shifted to the metallic monstrosity that the two magi were keeping at bay and thought better of it.

The third something that happened was not only the least noteworthy thing that had happened in those seconds, but also the one that Black Cat chose to react to. Someone that Black Cat hadn't sensed a moment ago summoned a large multitude of spirits into the physical realm. It was as if a tar pit had poured its trapped contents still-living out on the showroom floor. Kuro, being a black cat, very strongly believed in luck both good and bad, and right then it considered itself the only lucky being in that room. For those lesser spirits rushing below, it would be their bad luck.

Black Cat pushed off from the metal ceiling as if shot from a gun, the beams above bending and straining against the force. He hit the floor like a meteor, crushing a dog-like spirit creature below him. The spirit-hybrid tore into the black thing with its blade-like teeth, ripping a chunk from its body and eating it. Though burned, his blue-glowing claws still cut through the spirit inside the beast easily. He disappeared as another spirit creature rushed through the space he had been occupying, reappearing to behead two more of the things and consume their black bodies with the spirits inside. Eise was powerless to control his own body as Kuro became blinded by a mad rush of hunger. The cat wasn't mindless though, as it purposely skirted around the beasts' summoner to continue his feast for as long as possible.

A mass of the things were converging in one place, though why they did so the predator in control of Black Cat couldn't have cared less. He appeared there, inside the thick of the beasts. The first beast he saw upon materializing was bisected by his teeth, a small beast that resembled a black cat. A wolf and a smaller dog were the next closest, and two glowing claws shot out two rip their heads from their bodies. The bodies continued forward for a moment more, until Black Cat bit into them as they passed and threw the remains aside. The euphoria of consumption made Kuro giddy, and Black Cat actually laughed in his butchery.

Eise didn't even try to push Kuro out of the driver's seat. The spirit was in its own little zone right now, and nothing he said or did would reign it in. It was better to just wait until the craze ran its course or Kuro ran out of things to eat. Also, he didn't want to be in control of his body right then. Though Eise's body didn't actually eat what Black Cat consumed, he would still be able to taste it, and Eise wasn't too enthused about tasting things that had been dead for who knows how long. He would have liked to tell the cat to tone it down though. He would likely be unable to use his arms for a while after this. "Damn cat," Eise cursed unheard inside his head. "Time freezes over, a fuckin' mech crashes the party, and you're more focused on food."

[GreenGoat]

-

[BioHazard]

Silas was being surrounded by multiple copies of Akira and followed the one heading to the upper floor, but was gone the moment he reached the upper floor. Silas slammed his fists together while scanning the area when he suddenly heard a voice telling him something. It was about Raj, his former employer... and his former best friend. Who had ordered to kill him, of course Silas knew, deep down in his mind. It was the same one who killed his mother, and the same person the voice mentioned earlier. However the voice also said the the hitman who killed Raj was currently in the building.

"Stop talking crap!" Silas shouted. "I'm not going to let myself get distracted. For God's sake there is a mechanical spider in this building, multiple hirelings killing people, and spirits. Only to catch four people, even I can't make heads or tails out of it! So just shut up! I will get my revenge soo..." Silas then received a message to help the spirit-possessed guy. Silas immediately turned away from the voice and looked down where he saw Black Cat crunching on the dead bodies of spirits.Silas sighed and jumped down. He had his left foot aimed downwards to the ground and used his Timespace to make him accelerate quicker to the ground. Silas landed, and withered the head of the spirit he landed on. "Enjoying your lunch?" Silas said monotone. Then Silas began punching the spirits leaving the bodies on the ground for Black Cat, or whoever was in control to eat the remains.

[Krodin329]

Immobile- Conor was unable to move. This scared him. He had no control over his body, and that was something he never wanted to feel. Nothing I can do but try to break free. But this is shadow magic , I've always been more succeptable to it. I could break it, but it would take time and more energy than I want to use.
Then, Omega pulled a knife, and went towards him. NOW OR NEVER![i/] his mind screamed. Just as he was about to release the energy, he noticed that the immobilization was lifting, freein him of the trap.
[i] Heinz you old dog , he thought with a smirk. When he was free he sheathed his sword, he was having an incredibly off day.
No more blades .
Conor sprinted forward at his two opponents, Catherine and Clarrissa, at full pelt for a few seconds before planting his foot firmly on the ground, sending a line of uprooted earth shooting at the adversaries. Using his other free leg, he kicked forward, throwing himself into a single leading legged backflip, with a trail of fire from each foot arcing towards his opponents.
Now that the immediate threat of the enemy was taken care of, he took a few moments to survey his surroundings. Hundreds of shadow creatures, and one hell of a fight, or so it seemed.
The his opponent was basically in deep water. But Conor wasn't t done yet. His day had been a crap shoot from the start. His mind was clouded, he wasn't sure memories of his past had just now decided to surface, but he didn't Want to deal with them. He pushed them aside and focused on the enemy before him. It was time to get serious.
Calm your mind, empty it, feel no emotion. Fight for victory, for the fight. Fight to show you're the strongest. with that, he assumed a fighting stance, a broad smile cascading his face. He let loose a flurry of left and right punches; hooks, jabs, crosses , uppercuts, and ridge hands. Steel, earth, fire, water, air, and a number of other assorted substances he could create or gain access to in the facility was sent flying in a wide variety or arcs, swirls, and bricks; each following the rhythm of the punch he had just cast. He then broke into a series of flips and kicks, always changing his location in case of a counter attack. He was in the rhythm of the fight now. Ready to receive whatever they could dish out.

[Joshua Tamashii]

Jack

"We think that's more then far enough" Jack said to herself upon seeing the spider. She didn't question where it came from. She had seen the soldiers in the abandoned section of the building. Those soldiers had just made two, very, VERY fatal mistakes. The first was that they had ruined the rather entertaining show she had been watching. The second was that it finally done the one thing that had been stopping her from interfering with the fight to begin with: it had put her charges in considerable danger. So now she was forced to act, and she would stop everything until her job was done.

Once the spider was stopped she jumped down from the rafter's again but this time she would be a tad bit more noticeable, namely because she was surrounded by a thick fog. Upon landing said fog would spread about and surround the entire section of the building everyone was in. Within seconds everyone except for Black Cat, Ascot, and Sadler, would find themselves being held by chains made from mist but still just as solid as steel.
"All you children hold still for a couple of seconds" She said, her soft voice echoing through the fog, reaching everyone but not giving them much of a clue to her location" We have some business to settle. Move and you will die, whether we were sent to protect you or not.

Also, it's good to see you again Master Silas. Not since we took you're mother's life was it not? We still remember her screams, but do you?"

Her piece said, Jack set off to the so called unused section of the building. Within seconds that section of the building was filled with fog as well. The ArcU soldiers that were in their battle suits immediately turned invisible thanks to their suits technology but it was in vain. Jack didn't need to see were her opponents were. The moment they were in her mist they were dead. She could sense all solid within the mist, allowing her to sense anything from the smallest crumb to the many soldiers that surrounded her. Within seconds though they all lay on ground dead, daggers made of mist vanishing into the air as the wounds they had made seeped blood onto the ground.

Some of their comrades fired their weapons on her but Jack simply stopped them in midair only to send them back, killing the ones who had fired them to begin with. Without the slightest pause, she continued. ArcU had amassed a small army at this place but they only had technology, some of it enchanted with magic, and a small amount of combat experience to help them. Faced with a trained mage and killer, they stood no chance and Jack slowly wiped them out, only stopping once to question one poor soul on how to stop the spider before killing them off.

Once she reached the computers that control the oversized mechanical arachnid, she examined the machines. They were apparently the source of the machines power and contained it's programming. Without them it would cease to function, which would allow the 'assassins' to function without fear of it interfering. So, using her Matter abilities, she caused the machine to slowly crumple and destroy itself. Her job done he went back to the occupied section of the building and took up another position, somewhere that was not were she had been before, but still in sight.
"Now, you children may continue to pretend to be assassins and guardians. Play the roles you think you are but never will be. Especially those of you who have to gall to call yourselves assassins. You're far to flashy and have no concern to keeping your identities a mystery. One day, when the world know who you are, you will not be able to keep up in this line of work. You won't be able to study your target without being seen. You won't be able to protect those close to you. You won't even be able to get the best paying jobs.

You are all nothing but pretenders, our playthings. Even dear Silas knows nothing of us, despite the fact that we tug at the very edge of his mind. You Agency people know things of my but we am still one of the biggest enigma's to your organization. Even if Heinz knew my face he would never find out who we are. We are an assassin, a blade that strikes and takes life without others seeing our face. True, we might be a bit flashy when we're in the mood but the best assassins strike without alerting others, unless they want to be seen.

Maybe most of you should consider calling yourselves hitmen. Assassin is just too grand for you. Now, please entertain us further, we truly were enjoying the show until that stupid spider came along."

With that the fog and chains vanished, leaving everyone to act as they pleased, without have to worry about the giant spider in the room. It was just a rather ugly statue now.

[Mass City]

The NYPD arrived at the convention center. The police had received odd reports that the people in center were frozen, not an ice attack but a time attack. The NYPD sent many units to the E3 event center to find out what had happened.

The captain looked through the door at the the people inside. "It's creepy." He turned to a female junior officer her rank was sergeant. She was from the mage squad of the NYPD. "Looks like a temporal spell. Not one I can break Cap." said the sergeant. "Well see if you can enter and not be frozen. We'll send the robot it."
"Yes, sir!" replied the sergeant as the robot entered through the door. it slowly explored the convention center. Those who saw it saw NYPD on the side of it.
It was eerie seeing so many people frozen.

The police robot had not found anyone not frozen yet.

[Letter Bee]

Catherine and Balthazar 'Thaz' Carlton

Thaz moved to send out another assult towards Catherine, creating chains of steel to try and bind her...only to see the Energy Mage be assaulted by an horde of spirit creatures, taking her out of the battle for now. This left the Team Leader with a severely shocked Elizabeth Cortes, whom, she was sure now, was not the one they were looking for.

"Akira...he's mad..." spoke Eliza. "The game engine Lands of Gremania, his game, it's unstable...it's like he deliberately wants to overload people's sensory impresssions!" Thaz, despite being, well, a jerk, couldn't bear to tell this civilian that that was what A.K. wanted; she was sure now that he was the culprit. After all, he had the same initials as SAO's villain!

Thaz looked around at them before deciding to go on and pursue Akira, who, she can sense, was operating some sort of Timespace magic (or magitech? She found it hard to sense the difference without Law) in order to try and pierce the Time Stop; another sign of his genius and ability to predict things. Leaving Axel and Genevieve to handle the mysterious troops, Thaz left to pursue Akira...

A Few Seconds Later

Thaz raged as she was bound by chains of mist, chains of mist that she could counteract, if not for the very real death threat that hovered over her and the others. She listened to the assassin try to play mind games with a mysterious 'Silas' guy, before a moment of silence fell, a moment of silence ended by the Mechanical Spider self-destructing, though the magitech that ran the Time Stop seemed to be intact.

Then, the assassin resumed her berating of both the Agents and the Assassins, causing her blood to boil. How dare she?! How dare she malign the good name of the Agency? That said, though, she did have a point against the 'hitmen'; they were incompetent; even the one that had turned to their side. Heinz, you ketchuppy fool; why do you keep recruiting thugs and criminals into our ranks?

Once the mist faded, she would resume her pursuit of Akira, who was now protected only by invisibility and clones, clones programmed to explode with Law energy (small-e) if they reached her. So, her counter - her counter was not to let them reach her; basically, she would detonate them beforehand. Then, she would rip apart his invisbility, only to find him no longer operating the magitech device he had sensed.

Rather, he was wielding an agony gun, one of those types that shot a burst of low-level sound that prevented one from concentrating. This set back Balthazar for a moment, before she, out of desperation, created an explosion that drowned out the sound, before conjuring up a set of earmuffs (Matter rocked!). However, Akira was already sending out arcs of Law energy, arcs which might prove fatal if they reached her...

---

Ascot felt fear.

True, he was unbound, but that didn't stop him from being scared, scared of the assassin that had outsmarted them all. At the same time, however, he was absorbing all information that he could about said assassin, and felt certain that the Agency had encountered her before - in fact, she may even be that person the one who had managed to enter the Agency building and given Amelia such a scare.

He weathered the succeeding taunts and insults with surprising calmness, always looking for an occasion to spring into action. And, when it came, he moved, moved with a swiftness that cannot truly be said to just be magic. Once the mist ceased, he was now moving towards Eise, drawing a sword, a Kalis, one that also doubled as a Nemesis Force Weapon, one of the strongest weapons the Agency had in its arsenal.

This sword would be just as sharp as Eise's claws, and able to parry the same. Ascot's strikes, that of a small eskrimador combined with a small acrobat, would be like little hammers against Black Cat, while the boy himself can match him in swiftness. At the same time, however, the boy was not lending things to either chance or his own abiltities, for his next mental command to Silas was:

Sile, sorry to interrupt you in your moment of grief, but I need you to turn against the guy I'm facing, right now!

Meanwhile, as for the spider, it began to self-destruct, dissolving into motes of metal, in order to make sure that there was no evidence of ArcU's involvement. Same for the bodies and equipment of its 'Ghosts'.

[IVIasterJay]

((Collab Post between MasterJay and Letter Bee))

Black Cat's eyes shot towards the other assassin as he came too close. He must have had a death wish to have dared be so close to a feeding beast. Black Cat attacked, glowing claws passing right through Silas to bisect the spirit beast beyond that had been poised to strike. He ripped into the thing's remains with his teeth. Inside the spirit-hybrid, Eise just sighed and shook his head.

When the black mist appeared, Eise had to ask Kuro if it was the spirit's doing. It seemed like something the spirit would have done, but it claimed to not have the ability to conjure anything of the like. Black Cat felt no harmful effects from the mists and would have disregarded them had he not been looking in Silas' direction, where the mists suddenly came together around the magi's body in the form of binding chains. Kuro and Eise shared what amounted to a mental shrug, neither having any clue as to what was happening. The frenzy had disappeared, so Eise took over his body again, just in time to kick away a black beast that decided an immobilized Silas was a free meal. He respected the assassin enough to want to kill him personally.

Black Cat obeyed the anonymous voice's order to not move, more or less. He drew swirling patterns on the floor in the black creatures' spilled blood, licking his claws on occasion. A few chunks of flesh he'd missed or abandoned found their way into his mouth now, and another creature - How many had been created? - decided to make the unmoving magi its prey. That decision unfortunately brought it within Black Cat's reach. A black tail skewered through its head and dragged the body over to Black Cat. He enjoyed this one slowly, playing as he cut it apart.

Black Cat's sharp ears tracked the new player's movements by the sounds of conflict far off in the distance. A gunshot, then more, then silence, another gun, something blowing up. Eise wondered what had changed and forced the hidden piece to enter the game. Kuro didn't care. When the voice returned Black Cat did something between a shaking purr and a chuckle. It was the second time she had spoken specifically to Silas. "I think she might have a thing for you," he hissed out before snapping his mouth shut for another slice of black spirit beast.

He was slow to react when the black mist and chains faded away, almost slow enough to allow some little boy to poke him with a strange bendy kitchen knife. The strange shape was funny enough to distract Eise, who saw it as hugely impractical for combat. Still, he could tell that it wasn't just a normal blade the second it hit him. His armor should have deflected it away harmlessly, but instead it began to cut through. Black Cat sprang back, a thin line of blue blood drawing itself on his side. Okay, strange knife could cut. It was still in the hands of a little boy. And it was just one weapon. Black Cat's entire body was a weapon.

Black Cat shot forward, and met Ascot's blade again; the boy knew not to let up around dangerous assassins. The boy moved strangely, treating each step as the third point of a triangle, and unlike other swordfighters Black Cat might know, used his free hand as a weapon, covering it with silver energy, punching and grabbing.

The Assassin fell backwards in a sort of spin, a glowing fist of magic punching through the space his head had previously occupied. A glowing claw grabbed the floor, and Black Cat's legs came up one after the other, each capable of cutting the boy in half. Hidden behind his legs was his coiledtail, ready to snap out and decapitate the boy as he reacted to the feint of the deadly kicks.

Ascot avoided one leg, parried another, but was caught by surprise by the coiled tail, which he tried to avoid with a speedy swerve to his left; he didn't exactly succeed. Rather, the right side of his cheek had been cut, and the bone had been scoured, causing great pain to the boy.

Out of pride, though, he refused to use Mentalism to suppress the pain, gritting his teeth and taking a defensive stance; the initiative was Black Cat's now.

The assassin pulled himself downward with one arm, and fell right through the floor, but his other claw caught on the solid matter and he used that handhold to swing underneath the boy and shot back up through the floor behind him. Black Cat closed one claw into a deadly spear-like point and lashed out with a vicious uppercut meant to rip the boy's spine from his body.

Only to find Ascot's sword, now wielded with two hands, colliding with the claw-spear; the boy, swift as quicksilver, had turned around and with all the power Energy can give him, launched a Graviton Hammer that compensated for his lack of physical strength.

However, even with the powers of gravity, the boy was still unable to block Eise's blow for long, and found himself launched high, high into the air, his pride unwilling to allow him to just fly and launch attacks at Eise from range.

Swallow that impulse! he thought, righting himself in the air immidiately, ready to meet Black Cat's next onslaught...again.

Black Cat stared up at the boy, and then flickered out of existence like a candle flame, reappearing behind the boy again, this time for a wicked kick to launch him back down towards the floor.

Ascot turned around...and this time, chose to avoid the blow instead of parrying it like last time, taking advantage of the fact that he was in the air to do a barrel roll, one quickened by both Energy and Timespace. Ah, barrel rolls in the air; a great advantage of knowing how to fly.

Black Cat's image flickered again, and he was back on the floor where he had been. The assassin leaned down and ran his claws, retracted now and therefor black and not glowing blue, through the black blood pooled around his feet. He was back in the air, as if indecisive of where he wanted to be, and he spun, sending a spray of the black blood all around in an attempt to blind the boy and give the assassin an opening to finish him. When all of the blood had flown off, Black Cat unsheathed his claws again, the sudden flash of nean blue light catching on the dark droplets and scattering the light. He would use the opportunity to teleport in closer and slash as the boy's right arm.

To manipulate an element, one normally needed Energy (to move said element) and Matter (to change that element's state from solid/liquid/gas and to conjure it up). However, when the enemy helpfully provides said element for you to move, one needed Energy alone. When Black Cat sprayed the spirit creatures' blood, Ascot saw the opportunity and 'bent' said blood, mixing it with his sweat for added volume. He then created a ring of bloody water around him, and when Eise teleported, he transformed said ring into water whips, slapping the Assassin again and again and again.

Eise knew people who did, but he himself did not enjoy the act of being whipped. Black Cat took the hits, his armor protecting his body well enough, and his glowing claw reached forward for the annoying magi's neck. It would snap like a toothpick.

Ascot barely avoided it, again, but sustained a small cut to his neck for the trouble, before adding the resulting blood to his element whips, which he now froze into a spray of small daggers, which he flung at Eise/Black Cat. This was followed up by a ranged attack; the boy swung his sword in a downwards slash, launching a wave of silver Law energy that would simultaneously blind and burn his opponent.

Black Cat took the blood daggers directly, purposedly using them to knock himself out of the way of the more dangerous Law attack. The cuts were shallow, hitting the thickest part of his armor: the plate that covered his chest. Eise was not pleased that Kuro had done that. He'd have rather taken the Law attack, as it would have done more damage to the armor instead of his body. The armor was repeaired whenever Kuro created it, something which could not be said of Eise's body.

Black Cat teleported again, but this time not nearer to Ascot. In fact, he appeared to have vanished more than teleported. There was no sign of a reappearance.

The boy opened his senses to Timespace; with both it and Law, he can sense the distortions in Space created by teleportation. He sensed the assassin's presence directly below, below the solid floor of concrete and steel.

Instead of following the Assassin below the ground using Timespace Intangiability, Ascot instead spoke to Conor:

I've herded the Assassin to beneath the floor! 'Bend' him out!

[Krodin329]

Conor laughed with excitement. From what it sounded like, this "black cat" Sounded like a formidable foe. He knew that Ascot was right above him and took a wide, bracing stance. Quickly he shot his hands up with his fingers spread wide. He waited a second or two, then, he closed his hands into tight fists, took a step back with his left leg into a back stance, and pulled down.
The floor broke out from under Black Cat's feet, along with another 25 meter section behind him that rained down on top of Catherine and Clarrissa, if it hit them, they'd easily get pinned under the debris. As Ascot fell down with Black Cat, Conor cast a field of law and mass magic, providing Ascot with a safe ride down. Once that issue had been addressed, he drew his Moro binakukos. He was going to give that Mage in his cat like armor what for. He began to swing his blades in a fluid butterfly pattern, and then inflicted them with his fiery wrath. Stream after stream of white hot fire went shooting at Black Cat with extreme prejudice behind them.
As he did these strikes, he moved swiftly, easily between triangle, and diamond foot patterns that eskrimadors use so well; changing his position constantly, on the balls of his feet, always on guard. Conor was an excellent fighter, no doubt there. But, he was a master of eskrima, hours each day went into his training he would practice the most minute little detail until it was perfect. Conor had never been bested with a blade in his hand, until today. He figured it was bound to happen eventually, but it didn't mean he had to like it though. He determined that he'd never let that happen again, he'd be the best. It was time to speed things up.
Conor stopped his assault for a moment and sheathed his swords. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a few moments. He forced magic into his own body system, overriding his body's own slow reactions. Hormones pumped into his veins and his eyes focused in.
Reaction time depends in how many frames per second the eye sees. The average human eye sees 60 frames per second, by flooding his body with this magic, Conor expanded his frames per second to 360. His reaction time was now 6 times faster than the average humans.
Conor crouched to an eskrima combat stance after redrawing his swords.
"Show me what you've got, Kitty", he said with a smirk.

[BioHazard]

The killer was here, the assassin who killed his mother and his best friend. Of course he didn't knew her name, as he wasn't involved with the Mafia after the death of his mother. The only thing he knew was that she is female, which clearly could be heard. She began to speak about killing his mother, Silas got angry and clenched his fist. Unfortunately he couldn't do shit as he was chained by the mysterious mist. And from what he knew from his father he would only hire the best assassin out there, and going against what she says could be very dangerous. Especially now that he is in a disadvantage. She however was right about them not being assassins, Silas never saw himself as an assassin. Hitman would indeed be a better term to describe his fighting style. And the others around here ruined the chance to act like an assassin if he even wanted to. The assassin however quickly disappeared after her rant, also deactivating the mist and their chains.

Silas quickly looked around, but of course there was no trace of her. Why even try, he knew that only the best assassin would be hired. Black Cat commented that the assassin might have a thing for him. "Shut it." was his response to it. Silas headed towards the nearest stairs and sat down on it. He really didn't care at this point. The only people he loved were dead, except for his sister, but he knew she would be safe. As he was looking down to the ground he suddenly got a mental message from Ascot. That's right, he had to turn on one of his 'companions'. Silas jumped up and wiped some sweat off his forehead. He watched Ascot and Black Cat fight but couldn't find a good point to interrupt the battle, as he didn't know if it would be helping Ascot or not. However Black Cat suddenly vanished, only to be pulled out of the ground by Connor and attacked by him. After Connor attacked him, Silas finally could make his move.

Connor had pulled quite some metal along with Black Cat out of the ground, which now was surrounding Black Cat. Silas used his polarity and moved the metal which would then bend and wrap itself around Black Cat. It would be hard for Black Cat to escape this attack as all the other ways for the beast to escape were blocked by other pieces of metal that would end up wrapping him too, if he were to escape. Silas would nod to Connor as soon as he had trapped Black Cat, so that Connor could attack him and possibly Ascot too. If needed Silas would attack too, but at the moment it didn't seem to be needed if two of them already would jump on him.

[Letter Bee]

Assassins and Most Agents

"Good job, Conor!" spoke Ascot as the Fighter-Mage brought up Eise from the earth, and, in cooperation with Silas, temporarily bound him in metal - of course, since Black Cat can teleport, this would not last...unless he used a counterspell. And so, bringing up magic from the Law and Timespace Schools, the boy created a Dimensional Anchor, preventing Eise from Teleporting or Phasing.

He then decided not to hog the spotlight this time, and allow the two Magi to attack the Possessed Mage with everything they've got, while he assessed the changes in the battlefield.

It was chaos. Catherine and Clarissa had broken out of the throng of spirit creatures and derbis swarming them, using an explosion of telekenetic force and a burst of Plasma, respectively. Now, Catherine 'bent' the light upon herself, hiding her body from everyone's view.

But Ascot can still see her. As Silas and Conor fought Black Cat, the boy dragged his invisibility helmet from a dimensional pocket and put it on; the Pure Technology hiding his position from Magic. He then snuck forwards towards Catherine as she fired bursts of lightning at the spirit beasts, then flew away in order not to give her position, before drawing a pistol - also invisible - and firing Orichalcum bullets at her.

What was Orichalcum, one may ask? Well, it was a Magical Material made by Law and Matter Magic, which was able to reduce the power of magical shields, and dealt damage unhealable by Magic. It also destroyed magical constructs with ease, meaning that it was a great weapon against undead, spirits, and other Magi. Nonpracticing Magi in the Armed Forces carried Orichalcum bullets as protection.

"AUGH!" screamed Catherine as the bullets hit her in the knee, and she enveloped her nude body in an aura of fire, causing terror and...other feelings in the Magi that remained in the convention centre. She was still flying despite the pain, and she looked around for Ascot, trying to find the person who shot her. Finding the minute sound of his footfalls, she shot a burst of lasers at the boy...

...Who just counterspelled her efforts with Law. At the end of the day, Energy, however specialized, lost against a combination of Law+Energy. However, Catherine was nothing if not smart, and so she just lifted rocks and dead bodies high into the air and shot it at random directions, hitting spirit animals, but not the boy. Nevertheless, while Ascot had weakened her, it was evident that someone else had to subdue the angry Magi.

Clarissa, meanwhile, was now launching bolts of plasma from her hands, as well as acid and sharp objects. Note that these were temporary conjurations, as permanent ones required both Law and were also governed by body weight. Omega retaliated by either blocking the projectiles with his swords, or by sending out his many spirit creatures.

He then launched bolts of pure death towards the Matter Mage, who responded by placing her hands upon the earth and turning the floor into sodium and water, a flammable mix of materials. But, by riding one of his spirit creatures, Omega managed to evade Clarissa, and launch a shadowbind at her, throwing her into the ground she had set on fire some time before...

Bathazar 'Thaz' Carlton

Akira Kariya and Thaz were evenly matched, with the latter's better-trained physique clashing with the former's stronger magical power. But Thaz had trained with 'the brat' before, and A.K. had the same Schools as him. This, eventually, gave her a slight advantage. She caused the ground under Akira to explode, causing him to attempt flight, but Thaz was now causing the cieling to blow up as well...

...Causing him to erect a barrier that kept the falling masonry from crushing him, a barrier that distracted him long enough for Thaz to drop-kick the man, knocking him into a wall - he survived.

"Target Apprehended!" she shouted, using Energy and Timespace to project her voice all across the Convention Centre. The Agency was winning; soon, she can probably have a cup of hot joe while putting down the thug, the brat, and their hirelings...