[IC] W&T: FT RP!

[Akashi Mayhiro]

Sage Ruzuzaki of Lamia Scale

Sage jogged towards the guild building where he would meet up with his other guild mates again, however the rain had decided to go hard, and released a torrential like rainfall. Which made it hard to carry on to the guild. Clicking his tongue he opted towards a sheltered alleyway until the rain had let up.

‘Curse this rain, Not that I mind it.” He placed his backpack aside him and caught his breath. He stared into space, relieving the moments that transpired before him.

‘Yang…loves me’ he blushed, something he rarely did. ‘I responded back…’

“Stop being a love stricken idiot.” Bakuko grumbled “It isn’t the time to be dwelling on love, you'll have plenty of time to fornicate later.” Before the boy could response the beast spoke again, he cut him off. “You’ve written down everything what Yang has said before you left right?”

‘Yeah.’

“Come on then: Let’s see the Members of Harpy and Vipers, shall we?” the beast grinned.

Cracking his neck in response, Sage pulled out a small orange book from his bag, turning to a page with a black mark on top he opened it:

Harpy's Wing:
•Merrian Phobos
•Piper Hatfield
•Samir Saron
•Nicolas Grimmond
•Kyuuten Rallis
•Revan
•Caroline Miller
•Aria Hunterblade
•Ryker Hunterblade
•Lilith Hunterblade
•Cynthia Grey
•Yuuyami Enkou
•Aran Lancaster
•Nigel Ballard

Vyper Bolt:
•Sable Rhodroth
•Aiden Cross
•Gwen Sniegow
•Nathan Striker
•Sairis ‘Sai’ Ward
•Marduk Assyria
•Matisuki “Matt” Kiryuin
•Brad R. Li
•Trisana Leaf
•Reina Grand-Arc

Both Beings nodded at the Impressive stats of each members that were in the guild “Hard to Believe that some of the most power mages are located here: on top of that, they're a joint guild.” The black beast sighed.

“It seem like years of Information on this guild was impressive for a girl who sells her body”.

‘Wrong job, right reasons.’

“Right. Right.” The beast rolled its eyes. “But what else does it say about them?”

‘Everything that we already knew: I’m more interesting in knowing about the demons that attacked Crocus.’ He turned to the pages where Yang wrote in his book.

“From what I can remember, the demon have been targeting the four corners of the capital, weird I know, but I have a scared feeling about this. Feeling about it, and I was right. It turns out that the demons that keep coming back kill a certain amount of innocent people and Burn their corpses in a crate they dug themselves and then fill the hole back up. But have the 5th one, their attacks have ceased. Only four or seven underworld beings show up, it’s still better than have 13 devils coming for you. I've been studying the pattern using the state library for help, lucky me I liked Folklore and Mythical beings during high school :P. But there is one thing I must tell you: There’s been rumors about a off coast island, where people have heard roars and explosion for a while, it might my worthwhile to tell your friends. But in regards the burial: I'll let you know what’s going on ok?"

“Do your best: Sage-kun! <3"

-Yang X Long

"That very weird...but if she tell me to leave it, i'll go by her word...i know she will."

Smiling, Sage closed the book and stuffed it back into this bag and leaned back ‘pretty good info there yang: I'll be sure to treat you to something good.’

The rain had stopped pouring allowing sage to get back on the move again ‘No: I've wasted enough time running.” He looked to his side before smirking to himself.

‘Bakuko.’

-Right then, let’s do this!- Sage backstopped towards the shadows of the nearby corner, grabbing his stuff he let the shadow envelop him.

Nothing back from the shadows. However a lady like figure stepped into the alleyway, smirking himself.


“Well now, it’s seem like the boy has grown accustom to what he has given…fufufuf…this will be interesting~” She too, dispersed into a black smog.

………Minutes later………..
‘Sage slowly emerged from the shadows, landing silently and softly on a raft. ‘If I’m correct…I’m landed at the Joint guild. But it seem I’m at the rafters of the guild’ he spotted a familiar bunch of mages. ‘Looks like I’ve just got in on time…I guess I’ll watch from here what happens.’

“What are you, A ninja?” Bakuko grunted.

[chukklehed]

Caroline

Caroline winced at Gwen's command. "What? Here?" She asked, then hesited for just a moment.

"Fine!" She yelled in exasperation and ran into the closest private space she could find. She came back out a minute later in nothing but her underwear, one arm clutching the other accross her body and looking very aware of the way people looked at her.

"Happy now?" She muttered. "When are we going to
.."

She never finished her sentence as they all teleported to the town. It didn't take long for her to notice what was wrong with this happy picture as she glimpsed a bloodsplatter in a nearby window. The moment she looked again, however, it was gone, and she didn't miss other people reacting to things that weren't there.

"We're trapped in an illusion," she said, pondering. "Let me see if I can break it. Spells like this aren't that different from artifacts."

She closed here eyes for a moment, focusing, then opened them again. An intense violet light played about her irises, and she set to looking around to try and trace the origin of the spell.

[Eklispe]

Bristlebane looked around warily expecting to be assaulted once again by demons as soon as they arrived but to his surprise the town appeared pristine. AND THERE WAS A CARNIVAL. HE LOVED CARNIVALS. The mission wiped entirely from his mind by the perfect setting and innocent appearance of all those around it Brisltebane eagerly ran forward looking for his most favorite thing in the world. His sweeping eyes quickly located it and he raced towards it, the pinnacle of all earthly delights, cotton candy! He grabbed a bag and attempted to snarf it down while for some reason smelling cinnamon. Weird cotton candy didn't smell like cinnamon, must've been something else around the carnival he thought dismissively.

[Masaki Haruna]

Gwen

Augustine Town

P.O.V

Gray just left off just like that, I don't know the deal with him but he just let off just like that, all he left was 2 chunks of ice, what can we do with it? Sable and I are currently on odds, I just don't wanna talk to him right now even if I want to. So I just stick with Caroline.

"Everything feels hazy." I throw Sable one of my exorcist weapons, I threw it in the ground without a word to say. It should help him. My weapons are curse resistant, this should help but even I feel like a nightmare is falling on me. I see things that a child should never see, these things aren't real but they feel real. It is the demon's curse; it comes in many forms such as smell, sight and all that. Looks and smell can be very deceiving.

September 25, X-814. One of the traumatic days that fell in our lives and this story will show you why. "Caroline. Take of your underwear and everything. It's still not enough."

Brad Li

"SAI!" His brother from another mother rather cousin, he helps him get back up. Looks like Brad isn't an asshole much after all. "Bro. I think it's about time we do the thing? Come on man. Even I myself can't deal with these guys. My afterimages aren't enough to kill them."

[Bleu Chess]

Niti Laevis

“I guess we hop right in,” Niti answered Yuka as he watched Hana take charge and barged right into the guild as if she was right at home. He quickly followed after the pink-haired woman, taking on her exuberant and friendly persona and stormed through the doors after her.

"Hiya--! Oh crud…!” Niti nearly ran right into Hana when she had paused right behind the door. One look at the Samurai’s face and he instantly knew something was wrong. Her bright lovely smile had slipped off which was the first sign of trouble. He may be dense, but he wasn’t that dense. Hana is the queen of reading atmospheres, and no one questioned her ability in that. Feeling the tension weighting on his shoulders by now, he did a double take and slowly peered over her shoulders. The whole room seemed as if a wild party had broken out – and judging by the Vyper’s reputation – he had no doubt that had occurred since. However… He smelled it.

The smell of blood was prominent.

His eyes strayed to the blood that was on the ground, and he grimaced and stepped to the side. That was soooo not good. This amount of blood was enough for him to tell that any normal victim would be unconscious due to blood lost. “Are you guys okay!? Who's injured?” Niti quickly asked, stepping out of Hana’s shadow as he eyed the occupants of the room for any visible signs of injury with a sharp stare.

[Raijinslayer]

Xavier

Darkness overtaking Sanity

“Wait, what are you talking ab-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-” Xavier had been focused on other things, so he hadn’t heard Gwen’s previous order for Caroline to strip. Now he was well and truly broken, his face an intense shade of red as he saw Caroline in just her underwear, and he could help but repeatedly saying the “b” like a broken record, the cigarette in his moth having fallen out on the 20th one. Cassandra giggled at his nervousness, snuggling in closer to whisper in his ear.

‘You’re staring, my prince’

Xavier quickly did an about-turn away from the artifact mage, keeping his senses open for any of the illusions that Caroline had been talking about, and trying his best to resist the temptation to turn around. ‘I don’t know if I should curse Gwen, or bless her. I think I’ll settle for doing both, this is the best and worst thing to have ever happen to me.’ As Xavier tried his best to resist temptation, he didn’t notice Cassandra silently mouthing the words of a spell, the words soft as the wind and just as coherent. As soon as she finished, the smell of cinnamon waft over to Xavier, except it seemed to rapidly grow in strength to the point that Xavier began to choke on it, yet it disappeared as soon as it had come.

Warning: The rest of the post could be considered to have rather graphic imagery, I’m putting this here as warning. Read on at your own discretion

‘What was that?,’ Xavier thought, before he felt a hand grasp at his leg. Looking down, he quickly backed away in horror at what he saw. It was Gwen, except now she had been torn in her half, a trail of blood leading to where her legs remained. She continued to crawl to xavier, who continued to back up, until he tripped over something. Falling backwards, he landed in a warm, wet liquid. Bring his hand up, he saw it covered in blood, blood that was coming from Sable’s mangled corpse. His arms had been ripped from his body and the scarf he wore could be seen coming from his throat. Xavier screamed as he got up, backing away in terror as he saw the full scope of the nightmare in front of him.

Everyone was dead, their bodies now barely recognizable as human beings. Yuuyami and her puppet’s were hanging from a window, crucified and covered in hundreds of wounds, many of which were the skin appeared to be melted off with acid. Britz was near the carnival area, his prized golden sword stabbed through his chest. Aran’s body was in pieces, the massacre just barely concealed in a nearby alleyway. A red haired harpy, he didn’t know his name, was nothing more than burned flesh from the neck down, his face frozen in a look of intense agony and suffering, empty sockets staring at Xavier, the blackness seeming to penertrate his very soul.

“It’s an illusion,” Xavier said to himself in a shaking voice, trying to make himself believe what he knew to be true. “Caroline said it, it's just an illusion, none of this is real. Come on Xavier, snap out of it.” But nothing he said made the horror go away, in fact it just seemed to make it worse. The putrid smell of blood, and burned flesh mixed together to form a pungent cocktail, assaulting his sense, cementing him in this reality.

“Help. . . . . . us . . . . .” Xavier turned around slowly, whatever fear he had felt before being overwhelmed as he saw what lay behind him.

It was him, the demon from Magnolia, with his blazing red eyes with ethereal blue pupils, and his haunting skull-like mask, stained red by the blood he had spilt. His cloaked writhed and slithered around his form as if it was alive, and blood-red flames surrounded his form like the halo of fallen angel of death and devastation. In his hands, both beaten and nude, were Reina and Caroline. He gripped them both by their necks, his grip like iron and slowly squeezing the life out of the two mages. They reach out to Xavier, begging and pleading for his help, but their words fall on ears deafened by fear. In was intense fear, one that was bottomless and all consuming. He had no words, he had no thoughts, only a feeling of helplessness that encompassed his entire being.

‘Craven,’ he heard whispered into his mind, knowing that it was the demon in front of him that spoke, ‘Weakling, Child, Pathetic, Useless, Worthless.’ The demon repeated these words over and over, and with each one, another demon stepped out of the shadows, holding onto another Caroline and Reina. Soon, they were uncountable in number, and moved as one. Caroline thrown in front of them, and killed in a single motion with a swift and ruthless stomp to the head. The splatter covered Xavier, shocking him from his stupor, and what he saw before him left him too horrified to scream. Tears came down in rivers as the demon moved on to Reina, gripping her head before electrocuting her, adding to the smell of burning flesh with the sounds of wet popping and sizzling.

The demons dropped their respective corpses, and as one approached Xavier with an outstretched hand, wreathed in red energy, once again repeating the mantra., Xavier fell to his knees, unable to do anything but await his fate. The demon was right, he was weak, he was craven, he was worthless, he was the one thing that he had always hated to be called, hated be treated as such, a child. And now, he was going to die because he thought he could play mages.

Suddenly, a pair of hands covered his eyes from the horror approaching him, he felt the familiar press of a woman against his back, and heard her voice in his ear.

“Remember, my prince,” she whispered delicately, “that if you want power. . .”

“I must take it for myself.” Xavier finished, his tone empty and without emotion, and the hands left his eyes, revealing him to be in a field of white snow that he was very familiar with. It was the snowfield that lay outside of town, and it was his favorite place to be when he was a small kid. The perfect place to practice his magic without endangering anyone. And in front of him, was Cassandra, a smile on her face and her arms open and inviting. The snow beneath Xavier began to blacken, the purity and innocence giving way to something darker, wilder, uncontrollable. . . and filled to the brim with the power he craved, and yet he couldn’t reach it yet. He had yet to awaken that strength.

He walked towards Cassandra, his eyes shadow by his hair as he approached, the corruption spreading out around like a storm, causing the snow-laden ground to roll and writhe, tendrils rising to the sky as if to tear it down and throw the world into Chaos. He stopped just infront of the woman, right between her open arms.

“Don’t worry, I’ll always be by your side always, so please take from me the power you wish for.”

Xavier said nothing in return, only brought up a hand to form a obsidian dagger form the cloud of blackened ash that was beginning to rise from the darkness all around them. He struck swift and true, rushing into the embrace and touching her heart with his blade. Cassandra enveloped him with her arms, accepting him, and together they fell into the darkness.

((In Real Time))

Xavier had been staring into space for the longest time, tears falling from his eyes, and his body seeming to shiver, but it stopped as he suddenly fell to his knees. He stayed down for a time, slumped over with his feature hidden by his red hair. It slowly began to darken, however, to a deeper scarlet red that looked like fresh blood, and a dark miasma began to form around him. Deep inside of him, something was waking up, slowly but surely. The process had begun, and it would not be dormant for long. Xavier would remain unresponsive to anyone who approached him, and if they looked into his eyes, all they would see was an empty darkness, as the entirety of his eyes had become black. With each passing second, the miasma would grow, as would an increasing sense of intense magical energy from Xavier, though what kind of energy it was couldn’t be known.

[chukklehed]

Nathan

Nathan hadn't taken much damage from the blast, righting himself in midair and landing near Brad.

"Get Sairis back to the camp. It's dangerous for him to be here in that state." He stood straight and faced the three members still remaining. "I'll handle these three for now, but if you want revenge, I'd recommend returning quickly." Lifting one hand up to his heart, the tall mage closed his eyes and muttered under his breath.

"Magic limiter: Release."

A sudden blast of magical energy exploded from Nathan, noticeable even dwarfed as it was by the battle raging not far away. In one instant, he was standing beside Brad, and the next he had his hands on the orange haired foe's sword hilt.

"I'm afraid you've made the last mistake of your life. I'm afraid this toothpick won't save you from me." Despite the even tone he had, his eyes danced with a primeval rage bordering on madness.

Caroline

Caroline was interrupted in her work by Gwen demanding she remove more clothes. "I told you once already," She said exasperatedly, "This is as far as I'm going. Not everyone is a shameless exhibitionist like you. Now if you don't mind, I'm a little busy trying to get us out of a demon trap."

She was about to go to work again when she felt a strange, dark magic take hold. Looking around wildly, her eyes fell on Xavier, kneeling in the middle of the street, covered in a dark miasma. Immediately she started moving towards him, only to be interrupted by the appearance of a tall, faceless man, dressed in a trench coat and holding a bloody spear.

"It's not real," Caroline told herself, forcing herself to keep walking. "It's an illusion, nothing more."

"Is that what you tell yourself?" The figure rasped, blocking her way with the spear. "That the intangible holds no power? That a figment cannot harm you? Sometimes, our delusions are what hurt us most." Caroline closed her eyes and covered her ears as the world faded away, replaced by raging fires and the sound of children screaming.

"It's not real. You're not real, leave me be!"

[Masaki Haruna]

Gerard Roganoff

Alec's Father
Secret Lab

Alec and Oram stay put and goes to Lunar Wolf's upper floors, 10th floor. A bed ridden old man is laying on his bed yet is sinister, "If it isn't my son and The Gravity Mage. I haven't seen him since he was this small. Which I am trying to convince him...about this PROJECT ISHGAL SAINT." Whatever the oldman has in mind, we don't know yet and answers have yet to be reveal, what are their plans for Oram.

Stella
The woman who is also involved in this project as well. "I suppose, I took time but Oram should be ready at this age."

Alec speaks. "Yes. Time has come for him. PROJECT ISHGAL that is. I purposely failed you countless times for the countless S Class Exams you had. Personally, I've been saving you as my number one asset to toy with Vyper, Lamia, and Harpy but now that times have changed, I need to reconsider a few adjustments. S Class rank or not, you're an S Class level, Axel-kun." He explains while teasing Oram cruelly. It can't be helped as the oldman tells Alec to show what's behind the walls.

[Kiso]

Yuuka Takenaka Gardner of the four seasons

Yuuka was at a lost for words as she looked around the smell of blood was really prevalent in the room. Keeping quiet she let her two teammates do the talking as she closed her parasol and shook the rain off. She was out of her league in this case she wasn't a social person and while she likes to help people her teammates seemed to have the situation in check. Flicking a seed amongst her fingers she let the seed bloom into a small flower and let the sweet scent from it overpower the smell of blood.

[Hebigami Shiho]

Oriel

At the appearance of two naked women in the same cart as them, Oriel merely sighed. She couldn't have cared less that they were part of the council like Ajax, she just had to get it out of her system, or she'd probably explode. "What. The. Fuck. Does people around here actually LIKE going stark naked in public or what the fuck? It must be something in the water, I'm fucking sure. That's why I am sticking to alcohol, I don't want to get fuckin' habits like those." First there was Gwen, then these two, and something inside herself told her that perhaps Ivory was the same. She was just waiting for a good opportunity to show off her damn body, Oriel was plenty sure of that.

"I don't fuckin' like being ordered around by an exhibitionist. My first suggestion as to who the squad leader should be would be me, but I'm plenty sure that'd be a real bad idea, so why not this guy over here?" Oriel said, pointing at Aiden. "He actually got around me by using tricks and whatnot, so I'm sure he can use his brain a lot more than me." Though it sounded like she was belittling herself, she still smiled arrogantly. "I can just beat the shit out of anyone who goes against us." She finished what she had to say about the... rash decision about who should be the squad mate.

While Ajax explained his accomplishments, Oriel couldn't help but smile and pass her tongue by her lips. "My, you sound just like my type of man. A little bit more ripe than what I usually like them, but I'm sure we can work something out." Oriel said, half jokingly half serious. Of course, while the knowledge of him being a Dragon Slayer would usually come to anyone as a shock (they were plenty rare in their time), now it didn't even surprise her anymore. "Oh, is that so?" She turned her head to see what Ajax was pointing at, but at the same moment, the gal Stacy came in, and her happy expression dropped. It was the same feeling as she had with Gwen. An odd feeling of nostalgia that she couldn't quite point out. And it irritated her.

"Yeah, that's us. I actually prefer going dressed with shit like that than not going dressed at all." She said, looking away from her. It was something really stupid, complaining about that when she was plenty sure that she'd probably not have them on by the end of the day. "Oriel Assier, if you must know. Fire mage, badass fighter and better than you in every and any way until proven wrong. Nice to meet you." Being plenty more aggressive than before, it seemed obvious that something was troubling her, even if she didn't want to admit it.

---

Ivory

After being used as a stepping stone, Ivory decided it'd be better not to just barge into the fight of the muscle brain and just stay in the sidelines for the time being. Of course, she didn't really expect that the muscle brain's battle would be ended so... easily. It wasn't something she'd expect out of someone of Vyper Bolt. They were enemies in their same footing. Ivory might be extremely rude to them, but if anything, she respected them as fighters. Seen one go down with something as simple as a sword slash... It was a disgrace, for Vyper Bolt and Harpy's Wing both, given that they were defeated by those same guys. Ivory clenched her teeth and was about to get ready for battle when she felt an incredible force and pressure coming from somewhere else.

Turning her head to see who the hell was it that was doing such a thing, and it was Nathan. After Brad arrived at the scene and took Sai out of the way, it seemed he was about to get serious. Even Ivory knew it wasn't a good idea to go against one of the musclehead kings. Then, she'd provide support at the best of her abilities. Disappearing with a poof, her voice, though distorted and ghastly, echoed through the place they were. "I have your back, musclebrain." The fact that she had used her takeover didn't mean she was any less rude towards them, nor the fact that she was helping him.

[Vongola_Hasayo]

Kyuuten
Before Kyuuten could rush out the door to head to Augustine Town with everyone else Mamba reappeared and dragged him and Trisana on a separate mission. "You're not very acquainted with the concept of a heads up are you?" Pyrrha asked with slight annoyance in her voice.

"While a little warning would be nice one in a while let's forget about that. Why are we meeting up with Lamia Scale?" Kyuuten asked curiously though also with a notion that Mamba had a lot more to tell than just fighting tips. "What does the timing of my attacks have to do with resisting slee magic?" As fast as he could tell nothing.

Reina
"What's going on? I thought this town was supposed to be in trouble." This was wrong. The man that ran into the guild on the verge of death wasn't in no way lying yet as Reina looked around at Augustine Town there was not one thing amiss let alone a demon invasion. "Um, is this the right place-" Reina gasped seeing the dark power emanating from Xavier. Not only that but others seemed to be elsewhere mentally. She didn't know what was happening. All she wanted to do was stop anymore death and destruction on behalf of those demons but now site was wondering if she had gotten in over her head. She was a proficient fighter but she had never fight on an official guild level. Anxiety started to creep it's way into her as she started to hum a song to try and calm herself.

"Huh?" Suddenly her sense of smell were overwhelmed by thescent of cinnamon. "Cinnamon? But there's something odd about it..." Before she could figure out way was happening the serene Augustine Town disappeared before her. Reina's eyes widened terror as she saw a familiar face, her twin brother, trying to speak to her only to have his throat ripped out by a beast that seemed like a demon but was much more terrifying to her than it should be. "No!! Leave him alone-" Her voice was muted buy the creature's hand over her mouth. She didn't see it coming and worse, she didn't hear it move. Not a sound, not a single vibration. What kind of creature was this? Reina felt utterly helpless as the monster prepared to do to her what it has done to her brother. 'No, nononono!! You can't take it away from me!! Please!!!'

"YOU CAN'T TAKE IT!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Outside her illusion Reina cried out in desperation her voice being amplified tremendously by her magic and cracking the street beneath her and the rest of the group. Anyone within the vicinity would hear it loud and cleat beginning a beacon inside whatever terrible nightmare they were having.

[Lmpkio]

Kuroku Nagasai - Augustine Town

Kuro's search for Julian has lead him to Augustine Town alone, without the help of Oram or Vanu. It didn't matter to him of course, but yet something seemed off. He can feel a dark presence and a foul miasma looming throughout the town. Was it Julian's? No... the aura was different. Yet there was a familiar feel to it. Whoever was emitting that foul stench was nearby. The search for Julian would have to wait, as he heads closer to the scent. This person was indeed familiar... as if he talked to him not too long ago. He jumps onto the roof of a building to have a better look around. Alas he is able to find where the aura and stench was coming from. He leaps from roof to roof, steadily getting closer to his target. Once landing on the last roof, he looks down to see the culprit.

XAVIER.

Not again... Kuro groans to himself as he remembers Julian's demon form. He just talked to Xavier at the meet up place in the hot springs, who begged to him to go on a mission with him. Of course he denied it, yet he was unaware that he also followed him on his quest to defeat Vanu back at Magnolia. Something was indeed wrong with him as he stands motionlessly with black, soulless eyes looking like a black void. Suddenly, he hears a cry of distress coming from nearby, producing a flash of imagery relating to the avalanche that killed his parents. Kuro grunts as he quickly shakes off the terrible thought from his head. After taking two deep breathes he calls out to Xavier.

"Hey!" he calls out from on top of the building, "Wake up Xavier! Snap out of it!"

[Eklispe]

Bristlebane was about to bite into his delicous cotton candy when he heard an ear-piercing scream from behind combined with an intense feeling of emitted power. Conecedentally the carnival vanished around him inculding the candy in his hand. Dissapointed he nevertheless looked around trying to find the source of trauma for his fellow guild mates. Seeing nothing that seemed evil just some guy trying to help Xaiver snap out his trance Bristlebane scaled the nearest building and attempted to find the souce of the cinnamon smell. Sniffing around carefully he tried to trace it to it's source while scouring the town with his eyes.

[Raijinslayer]

Xavier

The darkness enshrouded him, clinging to him like fat leeches as he slowly descdended. Cassandra was gone, having turned into black mist and sinkinh into his skin. He felt so. . . empty in this sea of darkness, sinking into it's dreary depths.

A little while later, he sees a figure waiting for him below, sitting in a thone like a king. His hair was a dark red, like blood, and he bore several horns from his head in a manner that resembled a crown. He had huge wings wreathed in shadow, and clawed hands that beckoned Xavier closer, a fanged smile inviting him ever closer. He was almost within reach when a powerful shreik ripped through the darkness, follwed by some yelling.

"Wake up Xavier! Snap out of it!"

The figure growled as the world began to brighten, light scorching away the darkness in a powerful, almighty flash.

((Real Time))

The miasma burst into fine smoke, rushing over everything and giving them an intensely frightful chill down their spines, before slithering back into Xavier, who's eyes were backed to normal and seemed to regain consciousness. But before he could say a word, he began to scream in writh in pain on the ground, blood coming from his head, as well as soaking through his back. Soon, a pair of large black wings burst through his shirt and jacket, a spear-tipped tail soon following as well from the lower back. And hidden by his long hair were two small horns locared around his temple-ish area. His upper canines jutted out slighty and were much more fang-like, and his nails had turned into blackened claws. His once blue eyes were now mixed with a dark redish tinge. His demon blood seems to have awoken, but it seems that interrupting it made the change rather haphazard.

After the change was finished, Xavier shakily got to his feet and began walking over to Reina, who he was sure he had heard scream. Worriedly, he reached out to shake her, but the sight of his clawed hand froze him in his tracks. Backing away from everyone he tripped over his new tail, and knocked over a trash can. The polished bottom of the lid reflected his image back on to him, causing him to panic. He was about to scream, when he felt a familar hand cover his eyes, except this time, he could actually feel her, not the usual phantom feeling he was used to. She was real.

"Of course I am," the demon giggled as she snuggled closer into his back, pressing herself against him in a way that would've made him very much flustered under different circumstances. Turning his head, he saw that Cassandra was rising from his shadow. Cassandra, sensing his questions, put a finger over the boy's mouth in silence.

"I know you have questions, my prince, but when we are alone is when I'll answer. We have too many nosy guests here right now.

[Akashi Mayhiro]

Sage Ruzuzaki and the Passage of waiting

The boy looked down at Hana, Yuuka and Niti, as they waited for answer from the Guild master(s), Sage pressed his face into his left hand left it there, supporting his weight until he was bored.

"Kid, i smell blood." Bakuko echo'd around his head "It seems that someone bled quite a bit before-well whatever happened here." the beast coiled around the imaginary world to get comfortable. "It's a shame that i can't taste the blood, it'll be really helpful you know."

'But that was raise suspicion on us on a massive scale.' the boy replied 'i don't intend to tell anyone just yet.'

"Hn."

Sage's blue eyes wandered around the guild hall without making a sound, nor alerting his teammates.'It's seem way bigger than Lamia. Not to mention more modern' he silently sighed as be sat on the rafters again. 'Screw it, i can't be sitting here, it's way too boring' he stood up again before looking at the shadows 'i'll be back before they know it' he couch walked into the darkness.

'Shadow jump'

...........

......Somewhere in Crocus......

Sage emerged front he darkness well away from the public eye. before he dusted himself off and entered into the shopping district. 'It's lucky that i know crocus well, hate to think what would happen if i didn't.....'


"Well i guess we can grab a bite to eat while we're waiting" the black beast sighed as he closed his eyes. "Go nuts, trusting you would have a stack of cash on you: after all the independent mission we did before we joined."

'ah.' sage nodded as he hoisted his bag to get a better grip on his shoulders.

Insert Music: XenoBlade: Daily life + rain background

The rain had turned into a medium drizzle, but they didn't damped the mood who everyone here, the sellers where shouting their good while the customers had a look. Sage looked both ways before entered the mass crowd of citizens. Surprisingly the sun had settled. Yet everyone was still around.

'So what are you up for Baku-sensei?'

'Meat, alive and still warm.' the black beast clicked his chops 'you think they would have that?'

'Yes, there is no way i'll sinking my teeth into something alive: no way." sage face dropped 'I tried that once on your request: ain't no way.'

'You loved it.'

'shut up.' Sage heard it laugh loud. 'anyways: let's see if they got some crab croquettes...i might as well go buy some for the others' he scratched his hair. He quickly scanned the area for a shop that sold them '..... Bingo!'

As expertly waved pass the crowd and found himself in front of the shop.


"Welcome! What whould you like?" the man asked kidnly, but his voice was enough to get to sage. Sage quickly notted down what he wanted and passed it to the man.

-I would like a large bag of Crab Croquettes: 20 if you pay :)-

The man looked up to see the happy of sage: his expression could be compared to a rock.

"Sure Kid, something wrong with you voice?" he asked politely. The mage nodded and wrote again.

-Yes, i unfortunately was born without a voice. It has been a problem a lot of time, but then again the pro have weight it out-

"Ah, sorry to hear that, you in luck to: I'm just about to finish up the crab batter: i'll be done in a second"

The boy nodded before he took out is wallet and pulled a stack of $1000 notes and waited for the man to finsh.

"Here you go kid! I've added 5 more for your liking!" he winked, the boy smiled softly.

'he must feel bad about the whole mute thing'

"Will that be anything else?" Sage shook his head "that'll come to 1320 jewels please." the boy gave him the money, along with a slip.

-Keep the change sir, thank you for you the croquettes-

"Ain't you a kind one, thank you for you patronage" she gave him the thumbs up while handed the bag of hot good to sage. Nodded again he boy turned around.

At the corner of his eye a flash of green, hidden by a white hoodie walked past him with a raggeder breath, he paid no attention as he kept walking, but his ears were wide open.

"Excuse me, kind sir: but would you happen to have and Crab croquettes left?" her voice was panted with each word.

"Sorry Miss, but i've sold the last batch to the boy overthere." the girl turned around, seeing Sage walking up, the hottess from the food created a thick steam and a heavy scent of fried goods.

"I see...." she bite her lip and bowed. "Thank you." as She turned to leave she started walking back.

Only to bump into someone. "Oh Goodness me! I didn't see you!" she looked up. As the time her eye widened.

In front of her was Sage, holding out a Fried Crab croquette in paper wrapping.

"!?"

Attach to the food was a note -Are you Hungry? I've still have plenty was was planning to share with my teammates, would you like some?-

"I...." she was lost for words...but soon found it, gently taking the crab as bit into her she gave a squeal of delight before looking at him "Thank you Mr....?"

"It's Sage Ruzuzaki, Glad you enjoyed it."

"Ruzuzaki-san" she smiled.

Hider

"Thank you." She smiled.

The boy nodded with a small smile before handing her 6 croquettes into her hand "W-ait! You bought these i can't be taken most of it!" she tried to push them back, but another note was found.

-Like i said: I've got plenty to share- Sage wrote -For someone that was running to the district, you must have been craving for them, it would be rude of me if i didn't give you anything.-

"I--thank you so much.." a heartfelt smile spread across her face "Your Generosity: i will never forget it as long as my name is Queen Hisui E-"

"FRESH BREAD! GET YOUR FRESH BREAD HERE!" a man scream, cutting of the woman. Sage chuckled before looking at the rain 'i just it's an all nigher then...' he looked back at the green haired woman and handed her a note again.

-Please forgive me, but i must be heading back now.-

Sage saw the displease on her face for a second before she smile again. "I see, before you could leave: could you if you're a mage?"

Sage raised an Eyebrow before writing.

-Yes i am.-

"Really?!" she eyes shone "Then are you apart of Harpy's and Viper's bolt?" She seem really keen on knowing.

-No, but i just joined Lamia scale-

"Lamia? Then your here on a mission right?" she asked again, he nodded "Then you'll be around the capital for a while-

-Yes...but i don't know how long-

"That's fine" she giggled "It was....a blessing i would meet you here Ruzuzaki-san, I hope we will meet again!" she grinned again before. As the devil slayer watched her running out into the crowd again with the food in her arms. He exhaled and shook his head.

'I've wasted enough time here, time to head back.'

Meanwhile:

'That kind...as no idea who he just met..' he claw-palmed himself 'What an idiot.'

...........

Back to the guild of Harpies and Vipers:

Sage emerged from the shadows of the rafters and sat on the wooden plank before he froze.

'Oi...what they said anything yet?' They were still in the same spot as he last them time. A moment went by before he shrugged.

'Eh...i've got some food to eat now: it's it doesn't matter~' he sunk he teeth and savored the flavor, as the scene of the croquettes wafted around the guild.

'That girl: was cute i have to admite.'

"You have a girlfriend: Don't be stupid."

the beast spoke "Let's me taste on of those fried stuff: I'm starving here."

[Vec]

At Viper Guild Hall

The arrival of Man Li and Shifter was anything but a happy coincidence as far as Nigel was concerned. They needed to get as much information as they could about the enemy, they were going to encounter at Augustine town and the injured man was the only one who had that information. The logical approach to things would be to first treat the man and prevent any immediate danger to his life and then ask him about the situation back at Augustine. What happened instead was the complete opposite; Shifter just teleported everyone at Augustine, without having formed a strategy or even a simple plan of action - you can't possibly call "finding the demon menace and eradicating it" a plan.

Idiot was all that Nigel could mutter at Man-Li before he was teleported away.

At Augustine

When they arrived at Augustine, Nigel was surprised to see that what he had in his mind was far, far from reality, concidering the injured man's limited description of what was going on at the town. The sun was up and the people seemed to be fine. There were no traces of destruction, no demons, no nothing. Everything was absolutely fine. What the... Nigel thought. He turned and saw everyone that had been teleported along with him. But something was wrong. Everyone was so silent, their eyes gleaming as if being in a trance; An illusion? But how? Nigel wondered. Since he was now technically not human, but a sum of millions of nanorobots, his body was immune to any form of illusion. And what's with this cinnamon smell in the air...wait, smell...could it be that this cinnamon smell causes these illusions?

That's when Nigel felt a strong, magical power growing near him. He turned around and saw Xavier, kneeling in a corner, crying. What could he possibly be seeing... Nigel noticed the purple miasma as he made his way towards Xavier but was stopped in his tracks when he heard Reina screaming loudly, so loud that in fact the ground beneath them started cracking. Then he heard another voice, that of Lunar Wolf's Kuroko Nagasai. He was calling out to Xavier to snap out of his illusion. Nigel turned his attention towards Xavier again, only to see something not many people see very often.

The magical energy around Xavier had been growing for a while now and suddenly, the miasma around him burst forth, rushing over everything before being sucked back into Xavier's body. After everything had settled, Xavier seemed to have woken up but suddenly he started growling in pain; "Xavier? Are you alri-" Nigel couldn't believe in his eyes. The man in front of him was not Xavier as the Xavier he remembered didn't have pitch-black wings coming out of his back nor horns protruding from his forehead. Nigel saw what he could only describe as a demon walking towards where Reina was and decided to act quickly.

He quickly entered TM-001 mode and joined his arms together, whereupon the nanorobots started forming an Eternano cannon. The demon seemed to be confused about something. Nigel decided he was going to take this chance and get rid of the monster once and for all. He started charging up his cannon. Nigel was set to kill the demon in front of him...

[chukklehed]

Caroline

"Ice make, Battering Ram!" Caroline's voice called, just before an ice pillar crashed into the side of Nigel's cannon, knocking it off target.

"Think before you shoot idiot, or did you want to kill Xavier?" The new girl's scream had managed to wake Caroline just in time to save Xavier's life. She turned to talk to Xavier, try and calm him down, just to see a strange woman draped around him.

"Who are you?" She asked, her voice laced with malice. Something about that woman didn't feel right to Caroline. She placed her fist in her hand, ready to use her magic again. "Get away from him."

[Lmpkio]

Kuroko Nagasai

Kuroko was horrified with what he was seeing. Clearly something was very wrong with Xavier. It appears that he is being controlled by a demon! That other demon was another threat as well. Yet suddenly, his attention turned to Nigel as he prepares to attack both Xavier and the female demon. Kuro tries to react against Nigel's will, wanting to figure out what was going on before attacking, but was beaten by a Caroline's surprise Battering Ram. He can see her coming towards them and trying to talk with the female demon. Kuro stays on the rooftop, with an icy-blue aura coming from his fists. He is now on standby, waiting to see what the demon will do. If she attacks, he will quickly defend his fellow mages from her.

[Raijinslayer]

Xavier

"What th-," was all Xavier had to say as he saw Nigel about to shoot him, quickly backing away in fear, Cassandra's form sliding with his shadow. Even when Caroline came up he shrunk away, to confused and terrified to think properly. Cassandra drew him into her embrace, deliberately ignoring Caroline in favor of easing Jackson's worries. Once he seemed sufficiently calm, Cassandra then looked up at the 3 mages, giggling as she thought of Caroline's demands.

"I'm whoever my prince commands me to be, and the name he's given me is Cassandra. A rather fine name, isn't it?" Her tone was light and slighly mocking, as if she were talking to children. She began to idly mess about with Xavier's hair, her demeanor being one of amusement and mystery. "As for getting away from him, that's rather impossible, given as we're bonded together by the mind and the soul. Ask your trigger-happy friend over there to scan us, he'll find us quite entertwined, I'm sure."

Looking at Nigel, her gaze and demanor went from light, and airy, to Intense and full of great rage. "Speaking of, if he ever tries to hurt my prince again, I'll personally kill him, so please do keep that in mind." Her voice became deep and echoed, her eyes taking on an angered glow, before she returned to her more playful disposition, now braiding Xavier's hair.

Xavier seemed to have calm down a good deal by now, sitting down on the floor and trying to get a cigarette from his pocket, but between his sharp claws and shaking hand, it was proving to be a challenge. It was also hard to miss the familiarity between Xavier and Cassandra, as even in his fragile state of mind, he didn't retreat from the woman but instead seemed to sink deeper into her embrace, his back to her as he slowly sat down, refusing to focus in anything other than getting a cigarette. First a smoke, then he'd deal with what ever the hell just happened.

Aiden

Aiden sighed as Oriel intiated hostilies with their future leader, though he did blush slightly at her thoughts of him becoming leader. Clearing his throat to regain his composure, he decided to speak on the matter.

"While I'm flattered yoi think so Oriel-chan, I'm not as familiar with the duties if a Magus Hunter, and thus wiuld be abad fit. Give me a few months, then we can discuss this in earnest." Aiden couldn't help letting some of his snarky attitude slip through, chuckling a little befire he turned back to Ajax.

"How cleverly vague of you, I guessed as much when you showed discomfort riding the train, a very trademark feature of Dragon slayers. And to think yoj became a saint at my age. . . .damn, that's a much needed blow to my ego. Will you elaborate on what kind of Da-ragon slayer you are, or are you going to keep us in suspense."

[j8cob]

Piper Hatfield - Ms. One Shot

The angry sniper looked around. "An illusion, huh," she commented, her voice sounding more irritated than confused. If they were all trapped in an illusion, then that meant none of what they were seeing was real. The town is probably in ruins, but they can't see it. Almost as soon as Piper came to that conclusion she heard some commotion from her comrades. It seemed that several had more severe illusions than she did and fallen victim to them. "Weaklings. We need everyone to be at attention, not sniveling," she scoffed, turning away before Reina's piercing scream startled her.

"Son of a..." Piper appeared as if she herself was about to start yelling at Reina and Xavier, but she stopped herself when she noticed the demonic appearance of the boy. And the suspicious person behind him. While Nigel was also quick to put the demon under the scope, Piper was far less reserved in terms of practicality. The building behind Xavier and Cassandra exploded, spraying dust and debris across the street. In Piper's hand was one of her shotguns, aimed directly at the two demons.

"That was a warning shot," she threatened, keeping her sights aimed on the two. While Caroline had warded Nigel, Piper had also taken the initiative. "Next one will blow both of your asses to the next life. There better be some good explaining or I'm gonna splatter the both of you." The sneer on her face proved that Piper wasn't kidding around. "I don't feel comfortable with a demon in my presence and the trigger is sensitive... So what the fuck is going on with you!?"

Ajax Thera & Stacy Kaiser

"Lippy bitch, ain't she?" Stacy noted with a laugh. "That's my favorite kind." She gave Oriel an evil grin before turning her gaze to Aiden. "Puh-lease, I can tell you what kind of magic he has. He's..." Stacy stopped mid-sentence as she felt Ajax's stare, despite not actually seeing him glaring at her. A nervous sweat took over her and she gave an awkward smile. "... or I can keep my mouth shut. Sorry, Ajax-dono."

The fierce glare left with her apology and Ajax faced Aiden and Oriel. "You will see my magic later today," he answered simply. With Ajax apparently forgiving her, Stacy let out a sigh of relief and wiped her forehead. "Yeah, he'll probably kill us all later today or something," Stacy joked, intentionally averting her gaze from Ajax. "That was a terrible joke," Ajax commented, though Stacy pretended she didn't hear him. As such, the pale woman continued. "Y'all lucky he's on our side. This man is a monster. I don't want to be anywhere near him when he starts demonstrating his magic."

The council member let out a sigh. "As amusing as that is, you exaggerate, Stacy," Ajax began to lecture. "You're a special case. You are one of the few people to ever anger me, so the odds are low that these two can do the same. Don't be hurt though, you have grown to be a far better person than when we first met." Stacy gave the council member an irritated glare. "Didn't have to be that honest about it..."

The train began slowing down, proving that they were near their destination. "At least this train is much faster than the other locomotive system," Ajax commented, uncrossing his arms. "It may not feel like it in the car, but this thing can go across Fiore in no time at all. Quite scary if you think about it." Stacy crossed her arms over her chest. "You don't know the definition of scary, Ajax. It's convenient that it goes so fast. But what do I know."

The pale girl's eyes settled on Aiden now, an evil grin on her face similar to when she looked at Oriel. "Once we arrive, we're going to have so much fun together," she said slyly. "It's always fun playing with newbies. You two are like puppies now, in the Magus Hunters. And I'm the bad bitch." Her evil grin disappeared for a moment, an emotionless appearance taking her face as she pointed at Ajax. "But he's top dog. I didn't forget, Ajax-dono." With that quiet disclaimer, the evil grin returned. She looked to Oriel now.

"You're a fire mage, yeah? I'll just help you simmer down once I take the reigns. My tactical insight and immense power makes me a perfect leader, so I expect the two of you to be perfect squadmates." The Wizard Saint let out a sigh and Stacy already lost her steam. "You aren't in charge for a while, Stacy," Ajax began. "Nor are you quite perfect as you said. Very skilled, no doubt. I'm going to have to ask you to put your ego aside for a while. After all, you were in their position yourself once. And I can recall your leader being fairly nice to you."

Stacy pouted now. "I am being nice..." she murmured, but otherwise kept silent as the train finally screeched to a halt. After coming to a complete stop, the conductor sounded the whistle. Wasting no time, Ajax stood up from his seat. The motion alone took Stacy by surprise and she was almost knocked out of hers by the big man. "Aiden, Oriel," he began instructing. "You two will be carrying the supplies to the depot. The second car is stocked with food, water, and other necessities. Though if Kyou-sama is still changing clothes in there... be respectful and wait."

Ajax motioned for everyone to follow him out of the car. Once on the platform, there was a clear view of the training facility. On the end of the platform was a large, underground building made of steel. "We will be staying in this facility," Ajax explained. "Training will be above-ground, but the building is kept below for its protection. This location was chosen as a testing and training area for powerful mages, so an above-ground facility would be at risk of being destroyed."

He turned to face the three mages behind him. First he pointed at Stacy. "You've already gone through this, but don't think that means you have no responsibilities. Go make sure the depot is clean and has enough room for our supplies." With a grunt of irritation, Stacy Kaiser trudged along past Ajax towards the building. Once he was behind her, she began pulling at the collar of her suit uncomfortably, proving she was still upset about wearing it. "We have a limited amount of food and water, so it will be rationed for the duration of our stay," Ajax continued to explain. "Be sure not to drop or otherwise ruin any of it. Once we have our supplies, and you two put on combat fatigues like Stacy, we will go to the surface and begin."