Jane Addeson|Jane's Reckoning
Another flurry of blows between the brawler and Jane had the girl staggering back as he finally managed to catch a blow to her gut. Grimacing, she brought her blade back up to bear a the clouds gathered overhead, the distant rumble of thunder echoing throughout the city. The man who'd started this looked up at the sky and back down, glancing at the pair fighting Jane.
"Hurry this up, we've a light to go extinguish." The brawler nodded and shot off towards Jane again, sliding to a stop in front of her and using the transferred energy into a straight punch to increase it's force. Jane, however, was ready and swung her blade to meet it. The brawler grinned and he pushed the punch forward faster, intending to knock her head off with it.
Jane got her turn to grin when her blade winked out of existance as she ducked the punch and switched the hilt hands, activating the blade again and bringing it across the gut of the man. He gasped in surprise and dropped as his ice magic using companion summoned a wave of razor shard ice and sent it the way of the energy blade wizard. She jumped, flipping over the waves of ice and landing in front of her.
"Sleep tight." The silver blade slid in and out of the ice magic user smoothly , causing her to collapse as well. Neither of them would die, the magic of Energy Blade instantly cauterizing the wounds it made, but they wouldn't be getting in the fight again any time soon.
Turning back to the man who'd started this whole thing, she rose her blade again and stood ready.
"Who in the hell are you people and what did I ever do to you? Or my parents?" He walked forward again his arms growing larger, though not insanely so.
"I am Zentir, the leader of a group of mages who just love to see the blood flow. Be it wars, alley way murders, or even just your friendly homocide in the home of others, we'll do it. We're known as the Promised Butchers. And we're here to butcher you and the Phoenixes." Janes blood had run cold when the guild's name was mentioned. The Promised Butchers were the dark guild that was responsible for getting her family driven out of their homes, away from everything they'd ever known. He'd also said that her the former head of the Magic Council had told them who was dropping hints to the rune knights and Council about their involvement in the attack on her family's home. But if they'd found them already... Jane leaped forward, sliding under the first punch, but taking a kick to the chest and flying out of the alleyway into the street. Another peal of thunder echoed across the city and then the rain started to fall.
Standing, Jane kept her stance, standing in the street as people began to realize what was going on and ran away from where she was.
"You bastard! What did you do to my parents?!" Summoning a large throwing axe made from her energy, she threw it at Zentir, who batted it aside with his enlarged arm. She moved in again and ducked the punch and dodged the kick, stepping up his chest and flip kicking him in the chin, which stumbled him. Upon landing, Jane brought her blade down towards his neck in a wicked arc but found the hilt being knocked aside by a normal sized hand which buried the blade in his large shoulder. Smiling like a mad man, Zentir grabbed her face and lifted her up by it, pulling his free arm back.
"Their screams were exquisete." And he rammed his fist into her, sending the girl tumbling down the street and through the doors of a church, which was quickly vacated as it's members realized that she had not come in their doors by choice. Lightening flashes appeared in the sky as more thunder echoed through the sky and city alike.
James, who had left the hotel after finishing up giving Cody some pointers on his swordsmanship, panted lightly, a man in black armor akin to his, but wielding a hammer in place of the sword that James held, faced him, also panting.
"You're not too bad, for a fallen Paladin." The man in black armor makes no reply and rushes forwards again, bringing a hammer imbued with dark energy downwards towards James.
Thinking fast, he rolled to the left and lashed out with his sword, the attack glancing off the plate armor of his opponent. Standing, he throws his shield at them as it glows with Holy energy.
"Blessed Shield!" The black armored man jumped sideways avoiding the initial pass, but stumbled forwards when it bounced off a wall behind them and hit them in the back of the head, knocking the helmet off. James caught his shield and stared as the Dark Paladin picked up their helmet. The owner was a
girl who was not much older than he was.
"And you're far more experienced than I would have expected for a failed knight. Still, I hope that wasn't your most powerful spell." James growled and charged his sword with Holy energy and moved forward, raising the blade to attack. In turn, the woman quickly puts her helmet back on and rushes towards the paladin.
"Holy-""Unholy-" The weapons meet at the exact same moment as they finish their spell.
"Stirke!" For several seconds, nothing happens as the weapon's owners press against each other, and then the opposing magics explode outwards, sending paladin and dark paladin flying backwards. However, the latter of the two recovers first.
"I'll let you live this time, James Hunt. But the next time we meet, I will kill you." Before James could finish picking himself up, she was gone, the rain falling in earnest.
Groaning, he looked around, his blade held ready and his shield up, waiting for another attack, another trick, but it never came. Instead, his attention was pulled to an explosion of energy further away from his position. With a grimace, he sprinted towards it's source, the beleagured Jane Addeson, though he didn't yet know it. As he ran, he contacted Damian through the communication lacrima, telling him where to go.
"Flame Strike!" Jane rolled to the right, barely dodging the fireball thrown her way by the fire mage and then blocking another axe strike from the requip user who'd been keeping her from trying to close the distance with the fire mage. It was getting on her nerves as for each dark mage she downed, another appeared to take their place, though from the fact that it wasn't the entire guild here, there must have been guild members from Phoenix Wing getting engaged all over Crocus if they weren't at the Stadium. Summoning some energy kunai, she throws them at the fire mage, one finding it's mark in a pressure point in his chest and paralyzing his movement for the rest of the fight.
Finally! Now for this guy, then back to the big fish. She caught the magic axe blade against that of her energy blade and pushed it back, spinning quickly and doing to him what she'd done to the brawler in the alleyway, dispatching him.
"Now then," she faces off with Zentir once more,
"it's just me and you." Zentir grinned, and stepped forward, his arms changing size as he flexed his magical muscles before making an overhead double fisted striked, bringing them down towards her. She dodged into his guard, hitting him with her shoulder and grabbing his head, throwing him over her shoulder and into a wall.
She stayed moving, closing the distance with the downed dark mage when he kicked backwards with a Titan Magic sized leg and foot, sending her into the wall as well. Picking themselves up, the pair launched into a furious exchange of blows. Zentir gained numerous new cuts and gashes from the energy blade user, and Jane gained burises and fractures galore, though she couldn't feel them between the rage and the adrenaline. The culmination blow came from Jane finally getting in a decent strike from down low, acting like she was drawing the weapon from it's sheath and cutting across Zentir's chest.
Stumbling back, he grinned all the wider.
"Now THIS is a fight to the death! Your parents, well, their backs being shattered kept them from putting up a decent fight, but I'm glad I'm killing you nice and slow." Jane didn't gratify the psycho with a response, opting to run in again and unleash a series of slashes, aiming to put him on the defensive. It didn't work half as well as she thought it would, the psychopathic dark guild leader finding it easy to both dodge and launch attacks of his own. If she sliced left to right, he dodged back and used his magic to increase his reach and make her dodge a giant fist. The process happened several times before he finally caught her with both fists, slamming both his fists into her chest and stomach and sending her flying back into a wall.
