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Fantasy Legacies: World at War - In Character

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Mateo noticed Rai breaking down from the emotional reunion which was what got Mateo too. He was more put together because he had already had his break down over Skyla coming back, weeping in her arms while in that long hug, but a few tears slid down his cheeks at seeing the big guy cry. He patted his back in a form of support and whispered. "It's alright. Let it out. I was crying too." He kept it low as to not disturb the two embracing. It was a little hard with holding things in both hands, but he wiped his cheeks and gave Rai a big smile.

After comforting Rai and telling them he and Skyla had slayed the dragon, Rai spoke in what seemed like disbelief over him helping to kill the dragon. He'd then praised him which made a genuine smile dance on his face. Everyone liked getting praised. That didn't make him happy because he had low self-confidence and anxiety. What? No...

Mateo lifted up the book to show mainly Rai but everyone else too. "Look at this! I got this cool book out of it! It just appeared after we beat the dragon. Skyla said I could take it. Then it wrapped my arms in fire tendrils!" He sounded way too happy about that notion considering fire was basically wrapped around his arms. "Definitely magic. And it feels like there's this presence in the book too. So cool!" He really was mesmerized by the book but some part of him was acting all rambunctious to help Rai out a bit. He didn't know what that would accomplish. He was hoping a smile but he wouldn't be sure.

He turned back to look at the love birds as he heard footsteps coming in his direction. To his surprise, it was Mika. Maybe he was coming forward to scold Mateo about doing something dangerous like that, or about how he had run off. But what he did when he got over to Mateo surprised him. He gave him a hug.

Mika whispered an apology to him about the way he had been acting today. He gave him a hug back, feeling like he wanted to cry again. He didn't want to seem like such a baby, but he couldn't help a few sniffles coming out. It wasn't nearly as important as Skyla coming back, but it meant a lot to him to hear that coming from Mika. "Thanks." He whispered back, "And, hey, I get it." The fact that he was worrying about Skyla made a lot of sense to him now.

When Mika let go, he wiped his eyes and watched as he was given a nod by Mika. He smiled and giggled as Skyla came up to them.

Skyla teased Mika and everything felt normal again. Well, until another voice rang in his head a second later. Cora gave a sharp growl, feeling the presence of another spirit. It wasn't like before with just a voice. No, the spirit was all around them. He could just feel it. He jumped down from Mateo's shoulder, landing on his paws, and got into a defensive position. "Show yourself!" He meowed out. Other Bakeneko's would be able to understand that, but he didn't know if spirits of other species could. Humans and elves, the mortals, would never be able to understand that. It just sounded like an angry meow from a coldhearted cat.

Mateo grabbed at his head like everyone else. He really hated the voice. It made his legs shake by the overwhelming power of it. It felt like back at the tournament with all those negative emotions swirling around him. But this time it was one cold, dreadful feeling. Malice. He'd been happy, practically bouncing a second earlier. But now he shuddered while feeling the full force of the spirit spouting rhymes in his head.

The next thing he knew, some headless knight came riding on a flaming horse after the area around them erupted in black smoke. At least the voice wasn't in his head anymore. That had been a torturous experience. The knight spouted more rhymes and he readied his sword at Skyla. He was coming to take her back. A slow feeling peeked its way inside his chest. At first, he didn't know what it was. He didn't feel it often, but right now it was prevalent. He slowly realized he was mad. And not like how he felt with Mika before. No, he wanted to fight this spirit for wanting to take Skyla. He believed in mortals and spirits getting along, him and Cora being prime examples, but this was one spirit he would never grow to like.

Mika stepped in front of Skyla and the knight. There was a stalemate in the wake of who would make the first move. Mateo with his rage, decided he had to do something rather than just sitting this battle out.

"Hey, you! You're rhyming game is, uh, impressively bad! Take that!" He shouted, trying to get the knight's attention away from Skyla. The group just got her back. No way was he letting her get kidnapped under his watch. He was her healer after all. He couldn't let her get hurt, or further the injuries she might have.

Mateo then dropped both of his weapons, the book and the staff. You could say he was quite the idiot for doing so, but its not like he knew how to use the book yet. His best defense would be to use his magic which, despite him having a love of magic, he knew little spells to conjure. He focused on the wind around him. It steamed and felt like acid against his skin. The flaming horse was causing it. "One of you get ready." He whispered to the group. "I'm giving you an opening shot."

Mateo attuned himself to the winds. Block everything else out. Nothing mattered around him. Not his group. Not his long-standing companion. Right now, it was just him and the wind. Weather was unpredictable, so he needed complete concentration to wield it. Distractions had no place right now. The old guy had taught him that. Well, he wasn't that old. His mentor in wind magic. Argyle Windbreak, the genius weather master studying magic in the confines of his tower on Storm Hill. Wasn't as big as the Ironshire Tower, but it had been a wonderful place to live in while studying under the guy. Unfortunately, their time had been cut short when...

No Mateo! No distractions! Just you and the wind! Argyle had taught him how to control the winds, but he also taught him a defensive spell. One that he could use. He concentrated on the wind, imagining the swirling mass around them. Then, he pictured the kinds of unpredictable raging winds on Storm Hill. He pictured how sharp the winds got, almost like he could see and feel them like a blade arching across the sky. He pictured it around the stupid knight and his stupid horse. Then he raised his hand, curled the fingers, and swiped across the space in front of him. Simultaneously, the air around the knight turned sharp and a claw-like attack struck his horses side, putting it off balance enough for an opening attacking while also dealing some damage to the horse.

The acid-like winds would travel to the knight, making him feel what Mateo sensed about them. Burning acid against his skin. The knight would feel that, and hopefully have his mind distracted by it. If a thing even affected him at all. He did know there was a high possibility that the guy was immune to it, given Mateo was taking from the winds around his own horse.

"One of you, now!" He shouted, hoping one of his teammates wouldn't be too dazed enough to fight with the opening he gave them.




Rori was too focused on Kuragiri to notice Castro's little comment, it being low enough to go unnoticed. Castro was lucky because if she had she would've given him a good retort which would've been less effective in getting Kuragiri to talk. She really couldn't help herself with stuff like that.

"Like you could!" Rori responded to Kuragiri's threat. He didn't scare her. She took her hand out of her pocket and fire shot out of it, ready for a confrontation. She wasn't ready to reveal how her sword worked yet, or that right now it sat in the small form of an ancient golden coin. If things advanced though, she would happily bring it out to slash at the psycho in front of her. She just hoped Blue Eyes next to her really did have some form of a plan. But not being clued into everything really didn't get him far on trust. Then Kuragiri came crashing to the ground. She extinguished her flame with a smirk. "Not like turning up the heat would do anything. It's like you two have metal for brains or something. Don't learn a damn thing even when its presented right in front of your face." Of course she was talking about her sword's ability. Attracting, repelling, and consuming flame had its perks. It had happened multiple times during the fight, but it could easily be confused with her just using fire magic. She did have that too, but those abilities were from her sword.

Kuragiri yelled about how he couldn't feel his legs. They were still attached to his body, so obviously it was something less grim. Castro. She looked impressed as he gave his explanation. "Damn Castro." She muttered. But it wasn't one of her snide remarkings. He actually gained some respect from her. That move was both intelligent and cold blooded, which she thought neither words could describe Castro up until this point. Maybe she was wrong about him.

Still, he single handedly lost a bit of trust with her when he told her he'd basically lied about Kuragiri. So the freak did have nerves. Just defective ones. That made a whole lot more sense. "Seriously? Could've told me the truth from the start." She didn't see why hiding that was such a big deal, especially when they had been working together.

Then Kuragiri just had to make that remark about her being Castro's girlfriend. "No way!" Rori seemed to be a lot more defensive than Castro, but she was generally an outspoken person. Besides, the thought just didn't appeal to her. It's not that she didn't find the idea of a relationship intriguing, she was just a loner. Plus, Rori had never been in a romantic relationship before. She strived to be her own person, and figured something like that would just weigh her down. Castro wasn't revolting, but... OK she was not thinking about this! Her face flushed and she suddenly found the coin in her pocket very interesting.

Rori chose to focus on something else, Castro's explanations of the poisons inside the handcuffs. And geez was it slightly unsettling to know he knew that much about poison and had machines that injected it into you. She didn't want to get on his bad side, but it's not like she had the urge to murder any children with bombs, so she figured she was in the clear. Castro asked Kuragiri if he liked the plan of poisons, but Rori herself liked the plans.

Castro and Kuragiri had a brief back and forth after what seemed like an eternity of Kuragiri just being silent. She just gave the murderer a brooding glare as they conversated. Some part of her wished she'd just killed him. She knew death was too good for him, but just looking at him pissed her off. After the back and forth, another buzz sounded as Castro hit a button on a remote. She hadn't even noticed him picking it up. After that, he asked if she had any questions for truth serumed Kuragiri to answer.

"I may ask all the right questions at the wrong time, but you Blue Eyes, ask the wrong questions at the right time. To hell with 'Is Heath alive'" She gave her best goofy Castro voice in an attempt to mimic him cruelly, "We already know he's alive. Well, if you'd even use your brain you would. Faking your death isn't as hard as it seems." She looked towards Kuragiri and crouched down in front of him. "The real question is why are you working for Heath now? You worked with the idiot over here," She pointed to Castro, "And that mysterious Maki person to take down this asshole. And now you're all buddy buddy with him. Why? And on the subject of your other pal. Where's Maki at? They working for Heath too?"
 
Battle on the Iron Bridge - The Final Battle
Weather: Omnious (The Headless Horseman's 'Stance of Lightning and Flame' ability attack power is boosted.)


The scrawny one called the Horseman's rhyme 'terrible'. The Horseman's grunted but was staggered a bit by the boy's ability to control the wind. His horse stood strong, however and the Horseman ended up using Mateo's winds against him. The Horseman raised his sword and began spinning it in a circle above him as it began to kick up flames that were quickly taken over by Mateo's wind, becoming a fiery tornado around The Horseman.

"A tactful attempt, a truly skillful eclipse of power,
Thou rides into the jaws of the apocalypse, however!"

The Horseman jumped out of the tornado on his horse as it stomped the ground where Mateo was in a Fiery Stomp but ended up bouncing harmlessly off Mika's Flame Barrier.
AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark

The Headless Horseman (31,825/32,250 (98.6%) Vitality)


Skyla the Dark Flash and Mika the Flaming SpearLocation: Iron Fortress Courtyard
Interactions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Omnious
Mika looked at Mateo as he dropped his staff and book and charged up something, "Mateo, hey, what are you-" Then it staggered the Horseman and Mika saw his opening but as quickly as it opened, the opening closed. It wasn't enough. The Horseman did a Fiery Stomp towards Mateo, to which Mika rushed to Mateo and quickly threw up a Flame Barrier which made the Horseman's attack bounce off. Mika looked at Mateo, "You okay, kid?" before Mateo could answer, "Good." Mika said as he two-handed his spear and held it blade up. Before anything happened, "Stay close, Mateo." The gem on the blade began to glow with fire.

He stabbed the sky once and said, "Infernus..." he stabbed the sky a second time, "Firaga..." Mika stopped at the second word though...

Skyla tried to do the same thing Mika did and grab the opening Mateo created but, like Mika, she couldn't. No counterattack yet, but the Horseman turned Mateo's attack against him. This guy was skilled, but Skyla was also surprised that Mateo could conjure up a wind storm like that. Skyla went to give Mateo a high five after Mika had a little talk with him, "It failed but, that was so cool! I had no idea you could do that, Mateo!" She said as she smiled.


Nia of the Storming FistLocation: Iron Fortress Courtyard
Interactions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Omnious
Nia watched as Mateo did a thing, a cool thing but now Nia felt kinda useless. Almost like Mika and Skyla when they failed to get their counterattack. She felt like moral support to the group right now, she'd have to risk herself if her abilities were to have any sort of effect. Regardless, she stood ready to assist in whatever way she could. Maybe she won't become a side character!
 
Last edited:
Mood: Happiness
Rai Ikari
Thunderous Hunter
Bridge to Iron Fortress
As Nia and Mateo came forward to comfort Rai, he quickly wiped his face and did his best to hide his sobs.

"I'm not crying." he lied. "You are!" Rai let out a chuckle and wiped his eyes once again. Mateo showed the group a book that he said came from the dragon after he had killed it.

"Just like what happened when I killed the Unholy One. I received the Black Pegasus Feather Pendant. If they really are kind of the same, you'll also get some sort of new ability. I got Blackflame Firebolt from it, maybe you'll get something too. So that means-"

"A tearful reunion, fit and pure!
Now thy blackened souls I'll cure!"

A voice suddenly resonated loudly in Rai's head and black clouds began to form and swirled behind everyone. Rai looked back towards it and the clouds dispersed. His eyes widened in fear but not at the feat the clouds had done, but from what came out of it. A knight with a large sword riding on some sort of hell horse came from the clouds and pointed it's blade at Skyla. When the Knight finished speaking he paused and waited for the group. Perhaps to make the first move.

Rai unsheathed his blade and began to charge up a bit. He was back at a healthy condition and was ready to fight whoever this guy was.

"One of you get ready." Mateo suddenly whispered. "I'm giving you an opening shot."

"Wait, Mateo." Rai said. But it was useless. He was already on his way. "Damn, he kills one dragon and his confidence shoots up significantly."

Mateo began to use some sort of wind type ability and sent an attack at the Knight. It seemed to have staggered it, so Rai charged forward and readied an attack. He would've continued his attack but Mateo's failed. The knight became a sort of fiery tornado and quickly dispersed Mateo's winds. A little afterwards, the Knight and his steed leaped into the air and aimed to stomp at where Mateo was, but Mika's barrier barely saved his life.

"Yo, who this guy?" Rai asked, but he wasn't looking for an answer. He watched as Mika put his lance up into the air and the gem on his lance began to glow. Then he muttered some words. Maybe it was Latin, maybe not. But whatever he was doing, Rai just hoped it worked.

"Mika, what are you planning here?"

Kumii Kumii AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf
Code by Serobliss





Mood: Interrogative
Castro Smith
Blue-Eyed Bandit
Unknown, Ironshire
Now that the truth telling serum had sunk in Kuragiri felt like puking up his lungs. He wasn't in pain but the way it was messing with his brain was so uncomfortable it was scary. It was a bit muffled but, Kuragiri could hear Castro ask Rori if she had any questions. Great. He just had to offer the most annoying person in the room to speak to him.

"I may ask all the right questions at the wrong time, but you Blue Eyes, ask the wrong questions at the right time. To hell with 'Is Heath alive'"

Rori did her best to mock Castro in the goofiest way with the "Is Heath alive" part. And once again, she called him Blue Eyes. And how come nearly every time she speaks she just has to say something disrespectful about Castro.

"Once again, my name is Castro, not Blue Eyes." Castro corrected her. "And is it so bad that I want to get clarification before I move forward with my plan? Don't just want to dive in unprepared."

Rori turned her attention to Kuragiri, who almost didn't see her because of being drugged, and asked him questions. She asked him why he was working for Heath now and spoke about how he worked for this "idiot" here while pointing at Castro. And then she spoke about Maki. She demanded to know if Maki worked for Heath too and her whereabouts.

Kuragiri groggily looked up at Rori with a desperate face.

"O-Okay! I'll tell you. Just don't hurt me!" he pleaded.

"Damn.." Castro muttered under his breath. He had never seen anyone scare Kuragiri except for Heath.

"Maki is..." Kuragiri took a deep breath. "Up your ass! What the hell can you do to me to get me to admit anything to you? At least Castro has something that gives me a reason to answer him. Who the hell are you anyways? Castro, do you even know anything about her? You just let this criminal into your hideout? She could easily rat you out for your bounty. Kill her already!"

"Well, I don't actually know her. And I don't trust her either. But I don't think she'd be dumb enough to rat me out." Castro said. "Plus, she's a criminal too. She'd be arrested on the spot trying to claim my bounty. And if I tried to kill her right now, she'd slice me in half. If I had prep time, maybe. But that's not important."

"Still, man! I-" Kuragiri suddenly stopped speaking and hung his head.

"Kuragiri?"

"Maki is somewhere on the outskirts on Ironshire. And I work with Heath because, he has a lot on me. Things I can't risk getting out about me."

"Well, I'll be damned. The serum worked. Quick, Kuragiri, where is Heath?"

"Back where he's always been. In West Ironshire controlling the Seiryoku Empire."

"Are his goons still alive?"

"Alive and stronger than ever. And they might just be headed here."

Castro's eyes widened and he crouched down in front of Kuragiri next to Rori.

"Why would they be coming here?"

"They won't let me escape, Castro. They don't want me to tell reveal the truth. They only sent me out here to locate you. Or at least get you to show yourself. And I didn't fail with that task."

Castro stood up from his crouched position and paces around the room, muttering to himself.

"One of them are bound to be in the vicinity right now. Better hope they don't find you."

 
Battle on the Iron Bridge - The Final Battle
Weather: Fiery Vortex (The Horseman is periodically suffering damage every post, fire attacks are also neutralized.)


The Horseman staggered back when Mika unleashed the third and final word. A fiery hurricane formed around them, "What...?" Horseman got burned by the wall of the vortex. The Horse attempted to shoot a fireball at Mika but it fizzled out, "My fire...?"

"No matter, with my sword I shall fight,
An expert in the art shall make things right!"

The Horseman attempted to charge the group and perform a downward slash at them.
AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark

The Headless Horseman (31,575/32,250 (97.9%) Vitality)


Skyla the Dark Flash and Mika the Flaming SpearLocation: Iron Bridge
Interactions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Fiery Vortex (Pro; The Horseman is suffering ~250 damage per Horseman post. Con; Fire attacks are neutralized. Except Mateo's Phoenix Summon)
Mika's eyes slowly opened, they were fire red and stabbed the sky once more, "Maxima!" Fire began to pour out of the gem, "Everyone! Get close to me! Now!" Mika commanded. Just as he commanded this, a hurricane of fire erupted around him with a safe zone around him. Mika focused as the flames around everyone began slowly rotating clockwise, "Whatever you do... don't... fall into the vortex!" He groaned as he focused, "As long as I focus... I can hold this as long as need be!" What Mika had essentially done was create an arena for them to fight in, but if anyone were to fall into the fiery vortex, they'd be instantly incinerated by the intense flames but it also effectively took Mika out of the fight.

Skyla held onto Mika s he unleashed the fiery vortex around them. Skyla's eyes were illuminated orange from the wall of fire that surrounded them. She appreciated what he had done, "Thank you, love." She then turned to Rai, Mateo and Nia, "Okay you three, Mika gave us a confined space to fight this knight in. Let's make use of it. Nia, you're a close range fighter. This is your specialty, when you find an opening, you take it. Mateo, let's put that new toy of yours to use, whatever its got in there? Use it." She turned to Rai, "Rai...?" Skyla smirked at him, "Well, you and I are going do what we do best." She took the great sword off her back, "Let's fuck some shit up." Skyla sounded different as she spoke, like a leader. She hoped to inspire confidence in them. The real battle was about to begin.


Nia of the Storming FistLocation: Iron Bridge
Interactions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Fiery Vortex (Pro; The Horseman is suffering ~250 damage per Horseman post. Con; Fire attacks are neutralized. Except Mateo's Phoenix Summon)
Nia ran closer to Mika as the fire hurricane erupted around them. She looked around in amazement, "So cool..." She refocused on Skyla who suddenly more commanding like a leader. Skyla had mentioned close range combat was Nia's specialty, she wasn't wrong then Skyla then told Nia to take any opening she saw. Nia nodded with a look of newfound determination on her face, Nia readied herself. She'd get her moment, she new it.
 
Mateo watched in terror as the sharp claws of wind dissipated from the horse's flank and started swirling in rotation. He could see his wind as actual streaks in the air, partly because he was the one who had cast it and partly because he was attuned to the wind at the moment. Flames kicked up, following the direction of the wind until it swirled into a fiery tornado. Then the knight started spouting another rhyme. Was that a rhyme? Mateo thought it was worse than the other ones.

"What does that even mean?" Mateo spat as he watched the flames burn in rotation. "If that was supposed to be a rhyme, it was worse than the others!" It certainly wasn't like Mateo to be like this, but the Horseman was their enemy. He was trying to take Skyla, and if so then that was a person he wasn't going to even try to get along with. He was trying to inflict some mental damage, but he didn't think the knight really cared about what some lanky kid said about his rhyming game. Mostly, Mateo thought it would be a good distraction for the Horseman.

Mateo watched as the Fiery Stomp came towards him. He couldn't move in time. He wasn't used to battle. He wasn't used to attacks failing. He was still in shock that his wind attack had failed to give them an opening, that he didn't even realize he himself was open for an attack. Mateo was extremely lucky that Mika had stepped in, creating a barrier of flames that would shield both of them.

He turned and asked if he was ok, but his mouth felt dry and he looked shocked. Mika didn't even let him answer as he was already diving into an attack, telling him to stay close. Skyla came up to him, telling him it was pretty cool even though it had failed. He swallowed hard and got rid of the acid taste in his mouth. He needed to be an active player in this battle. Of course some things would fail. Who was he kidding here? Everyone failed at stuff. He couldn't let one set back stop him. He took the high five with a little less enthusiasm than Skyla and said, "Yeah, nature and weather magic." That didn't really account for his Decay skill that Skyla had witnessed before. He didn't mention that, and would prefer Skyla forget about that. Too much to explain, too close to his secret. "Its not much, but at least I can try to help with the offense. But I think I'm better as a healer than a fighter." He gave a weak little chuckle then the strange words Mika was saying registered. "By the way, what's Mika saying?" He asked Skyla, but he knew she wouldn't know. That was a lance based attack, so probably a new skill with the relic. Skyla hadn't been around for that bit. No one really knew the full capabilities of the relic. Mika didn't even seem to fully understand it. Why it had taken away his other elements and all that.

Fire ended up pouring out of the gem, a brilliant and powerful display of magic. He said to get close to him, but Mateo was already close, standing with him and Skyla. It was the other two they really needed to worry about. Well, with their skill, he was sure there was no worrying to have. Nia and Rai were capable so he really shouldn't be worrying about them. He watched as the space around them filled with a fiery vortex of red-hot flames. He didn't seem bothered by it though. For one, it was magic. And two, with how the flames of the book had felt he didn't seem afraid of the unpredictable element that was fire. It rotated clockwise and seemed beautiful. Red, orange, and yellow colors shifted through the flames. Mika's warning seemed strange to him, because he found the sight beautiful. He didn't understand how something like that could be dangerous.

His attention shifted from the fire dome to Skyla as she thanked Mika. So, she was finally starting to embrace the obvious romance of their relationship. Good. They were perfect for each other, and it made him happy to see them happy. Then, she started acting as their leader, handing out assignments for everyone based on their strengths. She told him to put his new toy to good use. The book. Downside was he had no idea how to use it. Good side he had time to figure it out. He stared down at the book. It looked almost like a living being, he could feel a heart pulsing within it. He wondered if that was his imagination or not, because no one else could feel it. The phoenix was stirring, waiting to be called by its new master.

"Let's fuck some shit up."

That's when Mateo actually tuned back into the conversation. The book just drew him in for some reason. Like a sailor being attracted to their death by the song of a siren. Only this song was much more helpful. He smiled a genuine smile, put his hand up to his forehead in a sort of goofy salute and said, "Aye aye, Captain!"

Skyla sounded so cool. He was insanely happy. She seemed back to her old self. Being held captive for six months was bound to have psychological damage, especially if she was tortured. Mateo would check up on her afterwards, act as both a healer and therapist, and insist she tell him about not just her medical problems but her mental woes too. He'd hate it if she was pushing herself to act fine, but secretly had trauma and depression issues because of her time as a captive. Being a healer meant healing the mind too, not just the body.

He sat on the ground and looked at the book. Cora came close to him with bristled fur. Being an ice magic user, Cora usually got up tight if there was any fire or heat involved in a situation. The prissy little furball would have to get over it eventually but it seemed like he wouldn't any time soon. That just made him less likely to help in this situation, but Cora was a member of the group too. Whether he liked it or not. He was usually better close range and he vaguely remembered something Skyla said. Nia was a close-range fighter. He'd witnessed it himself too. "Cora, can you help out Nia when she attacks?" Cora hissed in protest and looked disgusted at the thought. "Come on. Don't you wanna get rid of all the fire faster? And besides, you'd be doing me a real favor. I'd feel much better if someone as strong as you protected one of my friends. You can hold it over on me too." Flattery definitely worked with the cat, and he did like having a favor Mateo had to return. Mateo was good on his word. He'd held the promise to show Cora the world and had only endangered his life a couple times. Ok more like a hundred but he wasn't mad about it. If that was the world, than Mateo was fulfilling his promise of showing it to him.

Cora looked deep in thought for a second, paced on his paws, then nodded with a little chirp that was his way of grumpily saying, 'Fine!' after Mateo gave him puppy dog eyes. The kid was his one weakness, acting as a cute and worrisome younger brother instead of an older brother. Cora was definitely the older brother of their relationship, despite being younger. He rubbed his head against Mateo's leg with a purr basically saying, 'I love you, but if you get hurt I'm sending your ass straight to hell itself,' then padded over to Nia, growling softly at the flame arena around them. Mateo was pairing him up with Nia way too much. The man-girl was ok compared to the others. He saw her as weak since she couldn't do much, which was hypocritical of him considering he thought Mateo was the best even though he hadn't helped in the battle with the Nameless Knight, other than healing the rest of the group. His view made him see himself as better, far superior to some mortal who could die. He had his connection to the spirit world still intact, so the fourteen year old Bakeneko was completely immortal. He wouldn't die in this fight, but the others could.

After he'd made sure Cora was paired with Nia, he scanned over the book. The book cover had phoenix wings on it, and he could just feel the pulse of a creature inside. Rai said he had a Pegasus feather for a pendant, and that it gave him a unique and powerful ability. He'd been saying his book probably had a similar ability before being cut off by the knight. "Rai, how do you use this?" He asked while not looking up from the book. As if responding to his question, the book floated in the air from his hand and the phoenix wings on the cover glowed red. Something resonated inside his head, but it didn't make him feel sick like with the Horseman. "Call." The voice whispered in his head. "Open, Master. Release and call. Your will shall be answered." It didn't seem to know many words, but the fiery voice told him what to do. It was like a charm in a way. Ordering him to open the book.

Mateo opened the book but nothing happened. Just strange words dancing on a page. He closed the book. 'Call. Will.' A will? His ambition. What he wanted to accomplish. He closed the book and his eyes, thinking into existence what he wanted. 'I want to help my friends in battle. Be useful to them, and help them win and kill the knight. I don't want my friends hurt, and I don't want Skyla taken.' He thought. Then, Mateo opened the book. The pages glowed, the words no longer there. Instead, the same phoenix wings sprouted from the pages. Eventually, a form emerged and shot into the sky with a loud caw. The phoenix had answered his call. He smiled as the sun above illuminated the phoenix's form. "Sol." He murmured. The Spanish word for sun. It was so, so cool.

Mateo was absolutely giddy, his eye's as bright as a child's. The phoenix flapped its wings in the same spot, waiting for its master's orders. Mateo soon enough realized this. "Oh." He simply said. He'd have to learn through the course of the battle what the phoenix could do. "Go forth?" He needed to be confident or else the phoenix wouldn't understand his will. He needed to be less uncertain. This time, he put confidence in his voice. "Go forth and stop the knight in his tracks!" The phoenix seemed to answer and take action.

It flew so fast Mateo's brain couldn't register it moving. When he did, he watched in awe at what his summon did. The Knight was charging in an attempt at a close-range attack. Mateo had ordered the bird to stop it and it did. Just very destructively. Its feathers got hard, and they shed, plummeting to the knight's exact location and exploding upon impact. An impressive feat which hopefully did a great deal of damage, as well as stunning the knight for an attack. "Yeah!" He cheered. "That's flipping awesome!" He put his fists in the air as he chuckled. He was a pure boy, so he said flipping instead of fucking. He hollered and cheered. "Take that, stupid awful rhyming knight!" He was bouncing again. "Quick someone get in there!" He was sure that attack worked. It had to, coming from such a powerful thing and not himself. Well, he had contributed. It was his will the phoenix responded to. He was its master, and it would do whatever he said.



Rori just rolled her eyes to Castro's retort after she had mocked him. The hell did she care about calling him by his name? He really needed to get a clue. Nicknames were her own way of communicating. Awkward, albeit, but her way. She didn't really know how to formally communicate with people. Besides, they weren't close. He'd be Blue Eyes forever to her. But maybe if he proved he was trustworthy... then she'd start showing him respect. But right now, she had no respect for either of the men in the room.

Then Kuragiri started pleading with her. Finally, someone was talking. Fear was the best motivator after all. "I won't if you just fess up and answer our questions like a good boy." She said with a smirk and a shrug. She wanted this to be as humiliating for Kuragiri as it possibly could. But, he absolutely played her. Rori's fist erupted in flame from her rage bubbling over, her smirk wiped from her face. "Little shit!" She said with anger. He told Castro about the dangers of having her here, not even knowing The Dragonflame Bandit herself. Told him to kill. Like he could in this situation. Her flame dragon would swallow him whole before he even got the chance.

Castro didn't trust her. Good. At least he was somewhat smart. He talked about the fact that if she tried claiming his bounty, she'd get arrested. True. She wasn't dumb enough to attempt that. Also true. If he even made a move, she'd slice him in half. Also, also true. He was hitting the nail right on the head. But there's one thing that he wasn't catching on to. "All that's true, but you two idiots don't even realize something. Not like I'm after money here. Never did like how metal coins and slips of paper held some much power in society." She sneered. "Humans and elves really are impressively idiotic creatures." She was a human herself, but that notion had been instilled in her by someone else. Her mentor. And she agreed with how her life had went.

Castro moved on and Kuragiri ended up lowering his head. "Shit. Did those poisons do actual damage? Blue Eyes, you said it was a fucking truth serum!" She didn't want Kuragiri to die just yet. She hadn't had her chance at revenge for that little girl who'd had her whole life ahead of her, ripped away because of some feud between ex pals. Then, Kuragiri did something unexpected. He answered all her questions.

"Well, I'll be damned." She said that at the same time as Castro. She looked his way, then her eyes moved off to the side as she blushed. The hell was that about? She wasn't like Castro! So why did they say the same exact thing. Then she focused on the information to get her mind off it. Maki is on the outskirts of Ironshire. Great... She was going to go with this Maki person working for Heath as well. If Kuragiri knew where she was, it was a reasonable conclusion to draw. Then the other piece. Kuragiri had something worse than being a killer. Probably. He hadn't cared about bombing a little girl so it was probably worse than child murder. Though, what could be worse than that? She didn't have that answer.

He answered where Heath was. West Ironshire, controlling the Seriyoku Empire. Empire? She'd been away from civilization for way too long. Still, it kind of sounded familiar. Then Castro asked about Heath's goons. Kuragiri responded with the fact that they were here. And they were probably headed their way. "Shit.." She muttered. What the hell had she gotten into?

Castro got up and paced the floors. She stood herself and looked at him. "Castro." She started. She used his actual name, so you could tell she was 100 percent serious. "The hell is going on here? No more half baked truths or I'll tell you laters. I want to know everything that's going on. With this Seriyoku Empire, Heath, and the supposed goons that are after us now. You have to tell me. I'm involved in this too, and now I'm in as much danger as you. I don't care if you don't trust me. I want to know. I have that right, now."
 
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Tiche of the Black KnifeLocation: Unknown area of Ironshire
Mentions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Clear
Tiche had successfully, and silently, infiltrated the little interrogation session these two had going on. She had on her Cloak of Invisibility so she was undetectable to the naked eye, shrouded within an invisible dark mist, 'What's this? Blue Eyes?' She looked at the rather handsome young man with striking blue eyes. Tiche looked between the three as they spoke further, her eyes narrowing as she learned one of two pieces of vital information, a name and some kind of organization. An Empire? She noticed Rori looked at Castro then made the connection, 'So, Blue Eyes' name is Castro. Interesting. And what's this about an empire?'

Tiche thought that was interesting, 'Still... if there is an Empire within this city, why isn't the leader doing anything about it. That's dangerous. Perhaps they don't know about it? But then they'd be in the perfect position to take down the city if they wanted. Is that their goal?' A sinister and sadistic smile formed across her face, 'Ohh, the mere thought of toppling an Empire excites me so...'
 
Mood: Alert and Ready to Battle
Rai Ikari
Thunderous Hunter
Bridge to Iron Fortress
"Everyone! Get close to me! Now!" Mika commanded everyone.

Following instructions, Rai ran up to Mika's side and got as close as possible to his friend. Just as Rai reached him, some sort of hurricane of fire came around everyone and acted as a sort of safe zone for the group.

"Damn, Mika." Rai said as he was mesmerized by the ability. "I didn't know you could do that. Why've you been holding out on us?"

"Whatever you do... don't... fall into the vortex!"

Vortex? Fall? What the hell did he just put them into? Seeming to not mind the new hurricane, Skyla turned to Nia, Rai, and Mateo and began to devise a plan. She told Nia that since she was a close ranged fighter, she should wait to find and opening and take it as soon as possible. And she said Mateo should put his new book into use. As for Rai, well, she said they were just going to do what they did best, which put a smirk on Rai's face.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Rai agreed as he unsheathed his katana. "Great pep talk, Skyla."

"Rai, how do you use this?" Mateo suddenly asked while sitting on the floor, examining the book.

"Man, I don't even know how to use mine." Rai's only response was.

Rai refocused on the Knight and examined it. He was mounted on a horse so, there were actually two enemies in sight. The creature was bound to at least attack alongside it's master, so if they could find some way to separate it from the Knight, Rai could deal with the big guy and Skyla, Nia and Mateo could finish off the horse. Once they finished that, they'd all join Rai in his battle with the Knight and they'd win. They'd have to be fast though, Mika couldn't hold up his hurricane very long.

"Alright, I have a plan." Rai announced, but before he could even explain it, a loud caw was heard in the air. Rai looked up into the sky and there it was. A phoenix soaring through the air and the sound of Mateo shouting in excitement. Rai watched as Mateo commanded the phoenix to attack the Knight, and it did what it was told. It zipped at the Knight with high speeds and then in a sort of pinpointed way, made contact with the Knight, and exploded, stunning the knight and damaging it at the same time.

"Damn, he found it out. But why does everyone just charge forward into an attack without ever making a plan?" Rai asked himself. "It's like Skyla and I are the only sensible ones here. He did make an opening though."

Before Mateo shouted at them to get in there and attack, Rai was already on his way. He charged up some electricity and looked towards his targets. I have two choices. Rai thought. Knock him off his horse or knock the horse from underneath him. Rai's eyes moved around rapidly from the horse to the knight. Knight, horse, knight, horse. He has a lot of range with that sword, he'd probably slap me out of the way if I straight at him. The horse is the safer option. Now that he had made his mind up, Rai let electricity swirl around his body and sped up quickly to shorten the range between him and the knight. And as he gained their attention, he released the lighting stored in his body and dashed forward and swoop low with his sword at the horse's hooves in an attempt to cut of it's front and back left legs.

Kumii Kumii AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf
Code by Serobliss





Mood: Fearful
Castro Smith
Blue-Eyed Bandit
Unknown, Ironshire
"Holy shit...okay. Think, man, think!" Castro muttered to himself. "It's most likely that they'll send only one of them, two is overkill, so maybe if I can find some way to maybe incapacitate him or at LEAST find some way to distract him. I should've been able to see this coming. Why was I being so stupid? I should've gone straight to the truth serum. Why did I-"

"Castro." Rori said to him. Castro immediately looked towards her. She had just called him by his real name, which had caught him off guard..

"Y-Yeah?"

Rori gave it to him straight. She wanted him to tell her the honest and complete truth, no beating around the bush, and no white lies. She wanted him to tell her everything. Castro sat down on his bed and rested his head in his hands. He had two problems now. One, the goon that was most likely outside of the hideout, and telling the truth to Rori, who he didn't really trust. She could take that information and bend it around to his demise, but at the same time, it didn't seem like something she'd do. And right now, if he could have her on her side in this, it'd be really helpful. So, he said,

"Okay, here it is. The absolute full truth. Or at least the amount of it I can tell you with the time we have. Okay, let's start off with the Seiryoku Empire. They're a clan led by Heath Takahashi who wanted to make their own empire to overthrow Ironshire. They wanted power over the citizens and the entire nation. As you can tell, the failed. Not enough people supported Heath and his desires, so he wasn't able to get even close to starting an army. So, for a few years he was laid back and spent all of his time doing things that would get people to love him. He donated to the homeless, bought people homes, took care of the economy, and then one day, he became the leader of his entire town. And word of his name spread long and vast across other places."

Castro stood from his bed and walked over to one of his weapon racks, where he had hung his sword at, and started taking weapons and stuffing them into a bag.

"There were some people that didn't really approve of his work and tried to assassinate him one day." Castro continued. "But Heath has been fighting beast all his life. He was bound to at least picked up a few relics, and he had mastered two magic types. So, killing him wasn't easy at all. In fact, they didn't even succeed. He killed them, but he struggled. He knew he needed protection, so he found three very strong people to protect him. In fact they're all siblings."

Castro finished packing his bag and looked around the room. He wouldn't be able to bring all of his things. His life basically. They were all things he had stolen over the 8 years he had been stealing. He didn't just want to leave it all, by he didn't want to die either.

"A few years later, he decided that having his goons protect and kill for him, he should be able to protect himself. So he went through excruciating and immense training for 52 years. Yes, that's a long time. After, he was the most polished and powerful fighter in his little clan and others. In fact, he fought all three of his goons all at once for fun and won. Decades after that was when we first encountered him. Me, Kuragiri, and Maki, my old girlfriend who killed with her voice and healed with her hands. The reason we fought him was to protect Kuragiri. We were all a little crew. We called ourselves the Onyx Bandits, even though I voted for the Blue Eyed Bandit and The Losers."

Castro laughed and looked to the floor with nostalgia.

"Damn, I miss those days. Anyways, we needed to protect Kuragiri because he's from the Seiryoku Empire, and they wanted him back. Kuragiri's father was one of the main founders, but we never learned who he was. He had a large scar over his left eye, but that's all we know. That's probably why he works for them now too. He wasn't able to fight back and avoid getting dragged back into it, and now he's where he is now. The reason I wasn't there to protect him is because..."

Castro's truth telling rant was suddenly cut off by three solid, loud knocks on the grate of his hideout. Castro immediately stopped talking and stood in silence, waiting for more knocks to see if it was just someone walking over it or knocking. Castro put a finger to his lips to shush Rori and remained in silence. Three more knocks happened a few moments later. That meant someone was actually --with intent-- knocking.

"Mr. Smith. I'd appreciate it if you'd just come on out without resisting, please." said a deep voice from the grate. They had a strong Japanese accent and their voice sounded restrained, as if they were trying to hide their aggressiveness. Castro knew that voice from when he had fought Heath. It was his 3rd and weakest --but still capable of killing them-- henchman, Akuhei, who's name meant monster in Japanese.

Castro quietly rushed over to his bed and quietly but quickly lifted it up which made a light squeak, and revealed a hatch underneath it. He laid his bed up against the wall and then turned the handle on the hatch slowly to reduce noise.

"Last chance, Blue-Eyes. Don't make me use force." Akuhei said again, this time banging on the grate.

Castro got the hatch open and immediately runs over to Kuragiri. He picks him up, throwing him over his shoulder and goes back to the hatch.

"Go on down, Rori." Castro whispered as quietly as he could. "We need to leave now.

 
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Battle on the Iron Bridge - The Final Battle
Weather: Fiery Vortex (The Horseman is periodically suffering damage every post, fire attacks are also neutralized.)


The Horseman stopped as the Phoenix Mateo summoned rushed him, "The Phoenix?!" The Horseman staggered back from that as Rai began to rush him, 'Just who are these people?' He couldn't react fast enough to have his horse dodge Rai's attack. It did some damage but didn't have the effect Rai wanted of wanting to knock the Horseman off.

The Horseman was at a lose for words, literally, as the group seemed to have gained an advantage, "Back..." The Horseman raised his sword up as red lightning struck it, "OFF!!" He swung it down and red lightning expanded away from him. This would not only push away any further attacks but also activated his second phase.

"No more, rhymes. No more holding back! I am the Omen of the Apocalypse!! I am The Headless Horseman!!!" His horse stomped three times, each stomp released a wave of red lightning.

+Lightning damage
+Horse is now able to manifest its own lightning
+New attack; 'Flurry of Lightning and Flame'
"Flurry of Lightning and Flame - The Horseman wildly flails his sword and sends a combination of both lightning or flame in random directions."
AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark

The Headless Horseman (29,750/32,250 (92.2%) Vitality)


Skyla the Dark FlashLocation: Iron Bridge
Interactions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Fiery Vortex (Pro; The Horseman is suffering ~250 damage per Horseman post. Con; Fire attacks are neutralized. Except Mateo's Phoenix Summon)
Skyla followed in behind Rai as he rushed the Horseman but her attack was pushed back as he entered Phase two. Skyla landed on her feet, "Damn, we pushed him to far." Skyla ran up to Rai, "Hey, let's do a chain attack. I attack then you attack and so on. Okay?" She yelled back at Mateo and Nia, "If we do this, give us support!"

Skyla stood in a battle-ready position, awaiting Rai's answer.


Nia of the Storming FistLocation: Iron Bridge
Interactions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Fiery Vortex (Pro; The Horseman is suffering ~250 damage per Horseman post. Con; Fire attacks are neutralized. Except Mateo's Phoenix Summon)
Nia heard Mateo tell Cora to assist her, "Okay then. Lets see what you can do, little guy." Nia readied herself and concentrated her magic into her fists. Wind began to swirl around them, she was beginning to live up to her title 'of the Storming Fist'. Nia saw her opening shortly after, "C'mon, Cora, let's-" Nia was knocked back, she let out a pained groaned as she hit the floor and nearly touching the fire wall from the vortex.

She struggled to get up but eventually did, she wiped the blood from her lip, "Ouch." She heard Skyla call out to them about giving them support should they decided to do a chain attack, "Sure!" She grunted, "I'll try..." She said a little more quietly.


Tiche of the Black KnifeLocation: Unknown area of Ironshire
Mentions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Dark Mist (Tiche is completely invisible.)
Tiche watched as Castro began to panic, 'Are these guys really that strong? No. That can't be it, intimidating.' Tiche's red eyes scanned the room for anyone else, 'Intimidation and strength are different things, however.' Tiche snapped her head toward the grate when the knocking came, 'Apparently, they're also very stupid. Sure, let's make all the noise we can so the guy we're suppose to kill knows we're coming.' Tiche scoffed, 'Amateurs.'

Tiche stood up from her crouching position, "Whatever, I'm feeling generous today." She said as she took the Cloak down to reveal herself and she took a step towards Castro and the hatch, "Plus, I kinda like you." Tiche said as she pointed to her striking red eyes, "We have a bit in common." She said before putting a finger on her lips then vanishing again. She then appeared on a beam in the rafters, "I have words to speak with you. For now, go quietly. I'll distract your pursuers." She then covered the entire room in a Dark Mist, both making Tiche invisible again and the whole room pitch dark.
 
Mateo didn't even here Rai talk about a plan. He was too enthralled with the book, using his brain and the clue from his summons to figure out how it worked. Everything else had been a blurred mess. It was like everything around him had just stopped, despite it being a very real raging battle. It had just felt like him and the phoenix paired together, a bond between master and servant.

The phoenix essentially made a U-turn in the sky, coming back to Mateo for another order. But Mateo saw Rai charge in, almost as a fast as his giant flaming bird. Ok, well maybe not that fast. He was pretty sure the phoenix could easily meet mach 2, and no offense to Rai but he was still human. Even a spirit like Cora couldn't reach those speeds, and the cat could run fast. Anyways, Mateo figured it'd be better not to bomb his teammate with explosive feathers, and also to give him time to get his hits in. Mateo was itching to help in this one, but he had to remain in good shape or else he wouldn't be able to help the others. At this rate, he could tell his body was doing pretty good. He'd easily have enough strength to heal the others should they need it. He yelled up to the phoenix, "Ok, buddy? I need a good name for you..." He murmured out the last bit then continued at a normal, sort of yelling volume. "You did freaking awesome! Good job! I'd totally give you a treat if I had anything on me. Don't even know what flaming birds eat. But I'm getting sidetracked. Just stay there for a bit. I want to give the others a chance to get in with what we gave them."

The bird didn't speak, even though Mateo suspected that voice had been the phoenix. It hovered in the air, flapping its flaming wings and sending down small bits of ash and soot. Some landed on his face but it didn't feel unbearably hot to him. He suspected another thing. Maybe it didn't hurt from being connected to the phoenix. But it could end up burning someone else, someone who didn't have any connection to the phoenix. Or someone who had the connection severed. He had heard the knight exclaim about his summons, almost like he knew it. Maybe he could ask about it, but he doubted he'd get an answer other than fire in the face. Fire that was going to hurt. He wiped the soot and ash off his cheek, more like smeared it, which created a black line on his cheek. But he didn't notice, and he wouldn't cared if he had.

Mateo turned his gaze from the phoenix to Rai as he heard a crackle in the air. Rai was gearing up for an attack, an electric line shot down underneath the horse. No, it wasn't just electricity. That was Rai. He had slashed low to aim for the horse's hooves, but from where he was still sitting it looked as if he had gone completely under the horse. Either way, both were really cool. "Go Rai!" He cheered on his friend. He got some damage in, but they still couldn't get the guy off his horse. They'd get it at some point. It also kind of reassured him to know that someone as good as Rai could fail on the intent behind the attack. They all made blunders, but the others were used to that. He was learning now that mistakes should be expected. You just had to live with it, and Rai looked like he would. Just as he needed to do.

Cora was not happy with these developments. Nia wasn't helpful whatsoever. The first thing she had said to him was, "Okay then. Let's see what you can do, little guy." Maybe Cora was just always too defensive, because he found that insulting. He wasn't that short. Ok, right now... maybe. But that was expected of a little domestic cat. He'd be way bigger when he transformed into a saber tooth tiger. And then Nia wouldn't think twice about calling him a 'little guy'. Yeah, he was defensive, but he was used to being the baby in the family. The youngest between him and his carefree brother and the shortest of his family. His brother always teased him, saying he had the build of a baby in human form. That wasn't exactly true. He'd lost his baby fat years ago but he hadn't grown much. He still had his baby fangs as well, his brother believing that's why his tiger form didn't come as naturally. He thought it was a silly detail, but he'd always felt self conscious of that fact. But Mateo said he had the sharpest canines he'd ever seen and that he was fourteen so it was natural that he hadn't gotten a growth spurt yet. He was still in puberty and so was Mateo, though he couldn't see how the teen could get any taller. He was almost the height of the two adult males in the group. But Mateo always found a way to cheer him up. He was the only human Cora liked so obviously him and Nia weren't off to the greatest of starts. At least on his end.

He was really hating this spirit secret game, because he could only communicate like a cat which wasn't too clear on what he wanted to say. Meows, growls, snarls, hissing, that kind of stuff. Otherwise, communication was a good no for him, besides with Mateo who seemed to know exactly what he had on the brain. He made a low mumbling noise that didn't exactly sound pleased. Then he looked towards Nia who started swirling wind around her fists. That's right. She knew weather magic like Mateo. But he doubted she'd been trained by Argyle. That guy was well renowned but almost no one received training from him. He was an odd ball recluse, but he'd been ok for a mortal. He sometimes had that awkward energy that Mateo had, but he was much more put together and never lost his confidence while being a mentor to the boy. Mateo had been lucky the guy took pity on some random kid who had gotten himself in a rough patch and his spirit companion. And the guy could give some good head scratches... wait, the girl. Why was he thinking of Argyle that way? He was supposed to focus on the girl, make sure she was in line. He hadn't gone soft for another mortal besides Mateo. No way!

Nia had seen her opening, calling his name before trying to tell him something before she was cut off. Likely she was going to say something like 'let's go!' or 'Let's go beat up some knight ass!' but that thought seemed irrelevant once he realized both of them had been knocked back by some lightning. Was it the man-girl? Had he betrayed them? No. He caught a glimpse of the red, red lightning, and begrudgingly noted it couldn't be Rai. He'd never seen the long haired one use red lightning before. He meowed in surprise and tumbled backwards, falling in messy heap next to Nia. He groaned with a purring sound emanating from his throat, but it was definitely not purring. He raised his head, his ice blue eyes glimpsing Nia next to him. He was ashamed to admit he felt bad. His family, the Liu clan, had told him to hate mortals. But after meeting Mateo he learned that disdain was unwarranted. His brother had always said it, but he didn't realize it until he had an actual interaction with a mortal. These people, despite his distrust of them, didn't deserve to be hurt. The spirit was out of line in this scenario.

Cora patted a paw on her head to make sure she wasn't dead. Mateo would likely freak if one of these mortals bit the dust. She eventually got up and wiped the blood from her cheek. Cora had been dazed but he believed he was fine. Well, other than the fact that his side was smoking. Great... he'd been hit like Nia and some side effects were showing. Static zipped through his fur and he shook himself to get it out. He knew Mateo needed all the strength he could get, because the boy was determined to help in this fight no matter what. So, he decided to use his own powers. Its not like he'd die either, since he was immortal. It was just the pain of having an injury. His side was caked in dirt from his fall backwards, and a jagged line of blood crossed his side. It was thin, and not too deep. More or less a scratch, but he could tell that he'd gotten lucky with that one. Being small meant he was a hard target to pick off, his brother had taught him that. A branch of lightning must've found its way to him, but it'd been gone momentarily, finding a small victim who was moving to be too hard to handle. Frost preservation was helpful in these scenarios. He could thank his family for that one, but not for much else. He licked the dust off the wound, tasting a bit of blood. Metallic and disgusting. Then he bit the wound. Being in cat form, its not like he could just touch his paw to the wound. That's not how animal anatomy worked. So he'd settle for a bite as the way to administer frost preservation. Frost spread over the wound like a thin layer of lace, casing the wound where it would not change. The blood would stop, the wound getting no worse. But it wouldn't get better either. It would stay frozen in time, until the battle was over and Mateo had enough strength to heal him. His body was cold to the touch, like he was dead. Another of his abilities used to cool him down from the intense heat of the vortex and adrenaline.

Mateo saw the attack come but his phoenix stepped in probably reading his mind which just scream, 'Shoot! Shoot! Shoot! Shooootttt!' A fiery column shot out of its beak, colliding with the lightning and combusting mid-air. He basically went into stop, drop and roll procedures except without the roll. He grabbed his staff and protected it and his book under him, flattening his stomach to the ground as the smoke passed over him. When it passed, he looked up at the phoenix who had taken action based on its master's mind and emotions. Could it actually read his mind? Maybe it was just attuned to him. They were linked after all. He yelled up nervously, "Thanks!"

"No more rhymes?" He yelled at the Horseman, "Good. They're horrible!" Its not like Mateo could rhyme at all but he still liked providing a distraction. He turned to Rai. "Rai! Did you just give him lightning powers? Because he never did that before!"

Mateo looked around the area of the vortex as Skyla yelled out her plan. "You got it! I've got a fire bird ready to give air support!" He looked to Cora and Nia. They both looked dazed and an area of Cora's left rump had been covered in a protective layer of frost. His frost preservation skill. Well that's nice. "You both doing ok? I can heal you guys if you need." He called over to them. Cora gave a meow of response and a dismissive flick of his tail telling Mateo, 'Don't worry about me, I'm immortal.' Which was true. He still looked worried though. Even if Cora was an immortal spirit he could still feel pain and that's not what he wanted for his friend. And then there was Nia who was human like him, and could die if she suffered too much damage. She must've had some damage too, and he wanted to make sure both of them were alright.



Before Rori had said anything, it seemed like Castro was having a panic attack. Despite not trusting him, she still felt bad for him. She knew how that felt sometimes. She used to get panic attacks a lot when she was on her own as a kid. When she'd get caught by the guards and it seemed all over for and especially when it initially happened. Her home... her parents. No, don't think about that. She needed to stay calm, but she was so frustrated right now. The world had dealt her an awful hand in life, and she had only wanted to help someone in a similar situation. Figures she'd end up getting stuck in this kind of situation where people were coming for them. She had a sword that could absorb flame, and her own wits and way of twisting her body, but she didn't know anything of these guys that were coming for them. For the first time in a long time, she was feeling as anxious as Castro, fiddling with the coin to calm her. And... she also felt less confident. She knew Castro, knew he didn't think well in battle, so she knew she could take him down. And she'd actually took down Kuragiri. But she'd had no experience with this Seriyoku Empire. At least none that she could remember. That's why she needed Castro to tell her everything.

And he did...

He sat down on his bed and decided to do the right thing. Good. She'd been so anxious that she'd been ready to flip her coin and threaten him with whatever blade came twirling down into her hands. She was tired of not being in the loop, the third wheel out of the three of them despite being sort of allied with Castro. Being told the truth just put her mind to ease. She let go of her coin, letting it lay limp in her pocket, and took her hand out. Her anxious compulsion stopped as she listened to Castro.

So, Heath was this guy who wanted to take over Ironshire. Typical evil villain thing to do. She surprisingly agreed with the takeover, since Ironshire was far from perfect. Her own situation proved that. The city had a problem with homeless people and crime, the slums existing because of it. Yet Savior Cyan didn't do a damn thing about it. Maybe that's the reason why there was some big trouble the day of the festival, yet Cyan had continued on with his little tournament instead of cancelling it and looking for the bad guy like a responsible leader. They never even found that woman that went missing. And don't get her started on the guards. When she was a kid, they were more concerned with capturing her so that she didn't steal anything rather than trying to help her and understand why she was in this situation in the first place. No, she had stolen so obviously a little kid had to be locked away. Despite her crime being so that she could live another day. At first it had only been food, water, blankets and clothes. Stuff she needed to survive. The guards still came after her though. When she returned to Ironshire after finding a home and getting training, they dubbed her The Dragonflame Bandit and plastered wanted posters up everywhere. Not as much as Castro's, but they still wanted it out for her. Maybe the guards remembered her from when she was a kid and how she always humiliated them. Now they would love to get back at her for everything she pulled back then. But how Castro talked about Heath, there seemed to be hatred in his voice, like the guy had done some seriously shady shit and never paid for it. So maybe Heath wasn't the right leader for Ironshire, but Rori was still convinced the place needed a new head who could actually help with the city's problems.

Still, she muttered, "I coulda used that as a kid..." when Castro talked about how the guy won people over. Seriously, she would've loved to be one of the guy's charity cases, since she was both an orphan and homeless back then. She watched Castro pack up some of his things into a bag so they could leave. She still loved her sweet ass sword, but she wished she could touch Castro's weapon racks and take a few things. But right now she had other things to worry about. Castro continued talking as he packed. The part about knowing two magic types intrigued her. Good to know in case she ended up fighting the guy. There was another thing that intrigued her. The sibling part. Three of them, three here. Well, Maki wasn't here but she'd been their teammate. Castro didn't look related to Kuragiri, but who knows.

The next part of what Castro said kind of debunked her theory. He said he completed training 52 years later and at that point the siblings wouldn't look as young as Castro and Kuragiri did. Castro looked really close to her own age, which he was. They were both 19 and Kuragiri looked a little older. Her and Castro both still had the looks of teens while Kuragiri looked like a really deranged man. But not too old yet. She could place him in his 20's which meant neither of the two could be those siblings. It still seemed odd to her, but it might just be her trying to rationalize what she was hearing as well as her distrust of these two. Rori also figured this Heath guy was old as hell. If he was mortal, he shouldn't be so strong in his 50's or 60's, maybe even 70's. But if he was a spirit, that would account for the strength. If he were a spirit trying to take over Ironshire and the whole nation, that couldn't be good. And even if he was mortal that didn't seem good.

Rori was finding this whole story interesting, and she didn't think he was lying either. He seemed too dumb to come up with this whole story. Especially the part about Maki being his ex. She raised an eyebrow on that part, really wanting to but in with a horrible comment. But she shut her mouth for once as he went on, telling her they were trying to help Kuragiri. She looked back over to that loser. Castro protected him, and this was how he repaid him? Fucking dick. Anyone who helped her, she would repay it with actual kindness, because she'd seen a lot of bad people and things in her life. The good ones deserved good things.

She chuckled at the Blue Bandit and The Losers part. The guy actual knew how to joke. Rori wondered why they went with Onyx Bandits, but she decided not to ask. She learned about Kuragiri being from the Seriyoku Empire, and how his father was one of its founding fathers. He had a scar over his left eye and was probably the reason Kuragiri could never break free. She must've heard about the Seriyoku Empire from somewhere because it seemed familiar. Rori knew her family had been against someone, and that there were people who were responsible for their death and the burning of the Lang family home. They'd never finished the job, because the kid survived, and now was trying to find the people who had slain her parents. Rori wanted revenge and was convinced that if she got it then the pain in her heart would go away.

Rori slipped out of her own thoughts when Castro was cut off. Knocking. Oh shit. She slipped her hand back into her pocket, grasping the coin and ready to get into action. Castro put a finger over his lips to shush her and she just looked at him like yeah, no shit. More knocking came, then a voice. It was deep, calling for a Mr. Smith. Was that Castro or Kuragiri? It's not like she cared about last names, so she had to go back in her memory to see if that was Castro's. Her attention split off to Castro himself, who was moving his bed to reveal a hatch. Yet again, she looked at him with an incredulous look. Ok, if this wasn't the murder hole then that definitely was.

The voice came again, using her own nickname for Castro. She guessed it wasn't too original since everyone must be drawn to his eyes, creating a nickname off that. Anyways, it certified that Castro was the Mr. Smith this guy had asked for. Castro had already picked up Kuragiri and told her to get in the hatch. What the hell was all this? He'd gotten her into immense danger, and now he wanted her to trust him to get her out of it? Seriously? But its not like she wanted to be caught by this guy.

Then she heard another voice and zipped her body to face it, not caring about the sound it made. It was female, eerily close, and way too surprising. Some random woman had come, but her eyes immediately went towards her eyes. They were strikingly red. Like a vampire's or maybe a demon's. Was she human or spirit? And was she an enemy? She got into a defensive stance, clearly untrusting. Her eyes searched her like a wild animal, like when she was a kid on the streets. She addressed Castro, and not the both of them, which left her feeling offended. She was here too! She knew the common trait was their eyes, Castro's being a striking blue while her's a striking red. She disappeared and Rori searched wildly for her, until she spoke in the rafters and told them, maybe just Castro, to go and that she'd cover them. Rori didn't believe her. As they were shrouded in shadows, a gold fleck of light danced in the air. It twirled and as it came down, turned into a longer blade of light. It'd turned into a dagger this time but was enough to be her light in the Dark Mist. She couldn't see the mysterious person any longer but knew she must still be here. The danger was still very much real, and she decided to make her way to the hatch, all while stealing something off the weapon rack. A single glove, the knuckles including edges that felt like brass knuckles. It was mechanically engineered, and she could feel pulses behind it. Maybe something with a shocking power. Who knows? She just liked to steal and slipped it into her pocket, not really caring where the other glove was.

Rori swiftly made her way down the hatch and brought her golden dagger up to provide light. "The hell?" She asked Castro as soon as she was down. "You know who the hell the crazy one with the red eyes was? Or the one asking for a Mr. Smith? And where are we? You better know where we're going, Blue Eyes. And this better not be the murder hole."
 
Mood: Alert and Ready to Battle
Rai Ikari
Thunderous Hunter
Bridge to Iron Fortress
"Shit." Rai whispered to himself.

His attack was able to a little damage, but it didn't have to exact effect he wanted. The Knight was still mounted on his horse and was gearing up for another attack. Mateo's phoenix was a bit useful, more of for distractions, but at the same time it did a little damage. The Knight raised it's powerful blade into the air and initiated it's next attack.

Rai tried to leap back to get out of it's way and avoid the attack, but it was too late. He swung his sword and red lightning shot from it, and since Rai was still in range, it struck next to Rai and a bit of it's shock went through his body. He resisted a lot of it due to him using lightning himself but it still hurt like hell. And at the same time with the attack his horse raised itself into the air and stomped three times onto the ground, sending released three waves of red lightning.

Still dazed from the zap from before, Rai wasn't able to move away from the waves and ended up taking the first one to the body. It was terrible. He felt the volts course through his body and mess with his way of thinking. His body wasn't responding the way he wanted it to. If he tried to move his left leg, he moves his right shoulder. Completely uncoordinated, Rai was hit by all three waves and then fell to his knees, smoke emanating from his body.

Gasping for air, Rai took a moment to relax himself as he slowly began to get feeling back in parts of his body. If he did have a resistance to electricity he would've definitely died. Or at least have become paralyzed.

"Hey, let's do a chain attack. I attack then you attack and so on. Okay?" Skyla said as he ran up from behind him.

"Now someone wants to make a plan." Rai groggily said as he slowly stood up. "Alright, we'll do it, but you need to be aware of both of them. Don't attack the Knight and forget that the horse exists. They're both capable of beating our asses. Also, try to stay at least 15 feet away from me. I don't want you to get caught up in my attacks and get zapped."

"Rai! Did you just give him lightning powers? Because he never did that before!" Mateo suddenly said. That's not a bad conclusion to be honest. It wasn't doing any of that until Rai attacked the horse. But there was no way to be certain.

"I hope not. But if that's the case, we need to be less reliant on our magic." Rai answered while blowing some hair out of his face.

Mateo offered to heal the two of them, which Rai dismissed, and then Rai unsheathed his second katana and got into a battle ready stance.

"Alright, you go first, Skyla. I'll follow up after you with an attack." Rai said as he turned to Skyla. "Hold on, I have something to protect you, stand still." Rai continued to walk around in a circle around Skyla and dragged his finger along and around her waist, seeming to make a circle. Once he was finished, a ring of lightning appeared around her, 6 inches from her body and revolving up and down.

"It's one of my abilities, Volt Ring." Rai explained. "As long as you don't touch it, it'll spiral around your body and ward of most incoming attacks. Like I said, don't touch it or 800 volts will go through you. No pressure, right?"

Kumii Kumii AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf
Code by Serobliss





Mood: Fearful
Castro Smith
Blue-Eyed Bandit
Unknown, Ironshire
Castro jumped a little as he heard the woman's voice. His head immediately turned towards her with a startled look.

"Plus, I kinda like you." said the red eyed woman that stood before him. "We have a bit in common."

Castro looked around the room confused on who she was talking to at first but when she pointed at her eyes, it became obvious. Castro didn't know who this woman was or how she got into his hideout, but he didn't trust her one bit. He reached towards his pocket for a small blade he had but before he could even use it, the woman basically teleported onto one of the hideout's beams and said,

"I have words to speak with you. For now, go quietly. I'll distract your pursuers."

And then, she made some sort of Dark Mist cover the room and it went pitch black. When the mist died down, she was gone. Okay. Castro thought. That was random. Who was that anyway? She just appears, says something about them having something in common, and offers to help? Then she disappears? I'm meeting too many crazy girls today.

As Rori got into the hatch, Castro followed behind with the same confused expression as before and closed the lid of the hatch once he was in. He had his own way of providing light, but Rori beat him to it and took out her golden dagger, providing a good light source. Then she flooded him with questions. She asked him if he knew the crazy red eyed woman and then about Akuhei and then about where they were and then finally,

"And this better not be the murder hole."

"What the hell is up with you and murder holes?" Castro asked as he brushed ahead of her and lead the way. "Also, I have no clue who that lady was. She didn't even state why she was there, she just said something about our eyes and went to distract Akuhei. Akuhei is the voice we heard from the grate. One of Heath's Shugoshas. That means guard or protector in Japanese. So basically, his goon, and I really hope he's the only one here."

Castro approached a fork in the tunnels and looked to his sides at both. The left would lead to the main entrance of Ironshire and it'd be good for reaching Westshire quickly, but it's surrounded by guards. And the right one led to a store that was a lot safer but farther from the exit. So of course, he went right.

"He may be the weakest of the three siblings but he's still capable of taking the three of us on. I mean two of us. Or maybe 3, depending on if that lady is an ally. I don't even know at this point. I shouldn't have left my hideout today. Too many things are happening." Castro ranted. "Anyways, let's just hope she's capable of keeping him at bay. And that she doesn't die."

Castro sped up a little and looked back a Rori a few times to see if she was still behind him. He sighed and shook his head. He got her into this mess, even he had to admit that, yet she still hadn't left. It was probably because she just wanted to stick her nose into the situation and see what was going on but, it reminded him of his days as a member of the Onyx Bandits. He would make so many mistakes as the leader but Maki and Kuragiri stayed with him through it all.

"Alright, we should almost be here." Castro said as the pair approached a grate that was emanating light. If his mapping wasn't wrong, it led to the inside of an abandoned shop that he had used as a spare hideout. It had weapons and food and whatnot, but it wasn't as big as the other one and out in to open. The good part about it though was that he had disguises in there, like when he had bought that food and...those girls asked him for help. But they'll be useful because he also had some female disguises, just in case he ran out of male ones.

Once Castro was underneath the grate, he began to punch it a few times, loosening the screws and opening it a bit, and after four, it broke open and he quickly climbed up into it.

"C'mon, quickly. I have some disguises for us to change into in here."




Mood: Annoyed
Akuhei
Shugosha
Unknown, Ironshire
"Ah, don't be stubborn Mr. Blue Eyes." Akuhei mumbled to himself.

He knocked on the grate once more for Castro to come out and waited in silence for a moment. Once again, no response. That means there are two possibilities. One, he's really not in there and that scum Kuragiri played them and two, he's keeping quiet to make it seem like option one. Castro's a smart and sneaky bandit, it's most likely that he's trying to fake out of this.

"Alright, time to check for myself." Akuhei said as he hoisted his foot into the air. "You brought this onto yourself, Castro."

Akuhei then began to stomp violently onto the grate. His stomps were loud and vicious and clearly audible from the inside. With each step, the screws on the grate began to come loose and the grate rattled violently. It was only a matter of seconds before the screws came flying off and Akuhei became closer and closer to fully opening it. Once the screws were almost completely decimated, he lifted his foot as high as possible for a final blow.

"Last chance, give Kuragiri and you be free." Akuhei said with his broken English. "Easy deal."

Once the final moment of silence occurred, Akuhei slammed his foot down on the grate with great force and caved it inward, causing it to fall down into the hideout.

"You should have t-taken..." Akuhei thought for a moment, trying to find the proper English. "Taken m-my of-..." Another thought. "Offer, Blue Eyes."

Kumii Kumii (Tiche is welcome to intervene now)
Code by Serobliss
 
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Battle on the Iron Bridge - The Final Battle
Weather: Fiery Vortex (The Horseman is periodically suffering damage every post, fire attacks are also neutralized.)
Skyla the Dark FlashLocation: Iron Bridge
Interactions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Fiery Vortex (Pro; The Horseman is suffering ~250 damage per Horseman post. Con; Fire attacks are neutralized. Except Mateo's Phoenix Summon)
Skyla nodded as Rai ran his finger around her waist, she couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed by it, her cheeks were a light pink to show this, "E-Easier said then done, R-Rai..." She cleared her throat when finished an the pink on her cheeks vanished as well, "A-Anyways, I'm gonna start my attack now!"

Skyla was about to get ready to attack when something appeared in her free hand. It was a bow. A very elegant looking bow at that too (See spoiler). Skyla had a look of confusion, "What the-" Then the crystals on the end began to glow and a bow string made of pure energy formed between the ends. Skyla put her sword away and put a couple fingers where an should go and an arrow of magic formed, "Okay that's kind of cool." She then pointed the bow at the Horseman and drew the bow back as far as it would go.

It was surprisingly easy to drawback. She unintentionally held the arrow and it began charging up more power. Skyla watched, now she wanted to experiment real quick so she began to channel Earth magic into the bow through the hand holding the bow part. To her surprise, something happened, the magical bowstring and arrow changed to a brownish color and tiny rocks hovered around the charged magic arrow, "Awesome." She said with a smirk on her face.

She then released the arrow and a line of Earth magic was shot out of the bow almost instantaneously, which also pushed Skyla back a bit due to the recoil. When the arrow collided with the Horseman, it exploded and released a flurry of sharp rocks into the Horseman's body and horse, "Sweet." She turned to Rai, "Go, Rai! Now's your chance!" She called out. Now the group had a sniper.

New item!
thoridal-stars-fury.png
Ban'ethal, Fury of the Dunes
Desert Kingdom's Inheritance
Passive ability;
Magical Arrows - This bow never has need for the user to purchase arrows. It produces it's own arrows via magic stored within the bow.

Unique ability;
Arrow of the Dunes - Skyla can change the color of the bow's arrow and bowstring by channeling desired magic type into the bow.

Arrow of the Dunes (Earth) - If Earth type, the bowstring and arrow change to a brownish color. Upon release of the arrow, will send an earth-like arrow flying out at amazing speeds. Impact will cause hundreds of rock shards to fly into the target, causing deep lacerations.
Arrow of the Dunes (Dark) - If Dark type, the bowstring and arrow change to dark purple. Upon release of the arrow, will send out a void-like arrow flying out at amazing speeds. Impact will cause a small gravity well to form and pull anything towards it temporarily.


Nia of the Storming FistLocation: Iron Bridge
Interactions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf
Current Weather: Fiery Vortex (Pro; The Horseman is suffering ~250 damage per Horseman post. Con; Fire attacks are neutralized. Except Mateo's Phoenix Summon)
Nia looked as she saw Cora heal, or at least patch, himself up. She couldn't help but feel like it was her fault. No! Don't think like that! "I'm good, Mateo, thank you though!" Honestly, if she took one more good hit like that, Mateo would have to heal her.

Nia watched as Skyla received a bow. No fair! Why does Skyla get a new weapon?! Come on Kumii, give some love to Nia! Regardless, Nia was on sideline duty until the main duo needed assistance.


Tiche of the Black KnifeLocation: Unknown area of Ironshire
Interactions: SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Clear
Tiche watched as the pair left her through the grate. She'll remember them. Specifically by their scent, once she has someone's scent, they can't escape her. Its part of her demon half coming out, apparently they made excellent trackers and assassins. Then Akuhei came in and started stomping on th grate, talking in broken english. Okay, so English wasn't this guy's first language.

Tiche decided to announce her presence by grabbing onto the guys back and using her full body weight to fling the guy away from the grate and use her legs to push him in the direction of the opposite wall, "Sorry, but I have questions, Blue Eyes myself. Can't let anyone get in the way of that." She pulled her Black Knife and licked the sharp edge without cutting her tongue, "Besides, my Black Knife is thirsty and you seem like a far less important character then the lovebirds who just escaped from you." She said as she looked at him with a sadistic look and smile. Tiche was sure Shark wouldn't mind if this guy died... right?
 
Mood: Annoyed
Akuhei
Shugosha
Unknown, Ironshire
Akuhei looked down the grate before making a decision to go down. He had to make sure there wasn't a trap set up for him. He may not have as much regular IQ as battle IQ, but he's not dumb enough to just jump down without preparation.

"Don't have any tricks for me, Mr. Sm-"

Akuhei was cut off as a hand grabbed the back off his coat and yanked him backwards away from the grate and then pushed him into the opposite wall. Akuhei was able to stop his face from slamming into it and then turned back to see who had grabbed him.

"Sorry, but I have questions, Blue Eyes myself. Can't let anyone get in the way of that." A jet black haired, red eyed woman said. She was in a dark cloak and her eyes were like mesmerizing hell flames piercing into his pupils. "Besides, my Black Knife is thirsty and you seem like a far less important character then the lovebirds who just escaped from you."

"Character?" Akuhei asked. "This is r-r-real life, woman. Not some play or story. "Tell me. You foe? Or you threat?" he brokenly said, his English affecting how intimidating he sounded.

Akuhei reached into his robe and took out his two sickles. His sickles were different colors. One was a blood red color with black vein like material extending across the blade and his other was an ocean blue with the same vein-like pattern across its silver-gray tips. He held both of them in one hand for a moment and then transitioned to one in each hand after playing back what she had said back in his head.

"You said that said that your knife was thirsty." Akuhei accidentally said in Japanese. He realized and repeated his sentence. "Y-You say knife thirsty. Threat or no? If threat, we fight. If not, what do you want?"

Akuhei's red sickle began to emanate a searing flame from it as more heat and fire ran up Akuhei's arm and went all the way up his shoulder. His blue sickle on the other hand began to drip with water, the same thing happening around his arm. He increased his grip on the blades and returned the sick smile the girl had given him.

"What are you, Castro's sister? Red Eyes and Blue Eyes?" he asked. "Either way, don't care. Tell me, Castro." Akuhei shakes his head and tries again. "Tell me where Castro is."



Kumii Kumii
Code by Serobliss
 
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Tiche of the Black KnifeLocation: Unknown area of Ironshire
Interactions: SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Clear
Tiche snarled a bit at the sister comment, "I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that to me."

Tiche saw the man's sickles begin glowing and she got a devious thought. This man was looking for Castro, same as her. She could feel this man had something off about him and she smiled again, this time, it was a smile of completely sharp teeth. Her demon side began coming out and she stepped aside, "I have a proposition for you, Mister... whatever." She held up her knife and looked at it, "My Knife IS thirsty... for Castro's blood." Secretly she had a second target by some unknown assailant who wanted his bounty. Tiche wasn't a bounty hunter but money was money. Tiche walked up to Akuhei and put a finger on his arm then ran it up to his shoulder, "You're looking for Blue Eyes... I'm looking for Blue Eyes... what say you to..." She walked around front of him and put a finger on his chin, "If we... say teamed up and looked for him together."

She took her finger off and backed up a couple steps, "The enemy of my enemy.. is my friend, am I wrong?" She didn't think that Akuhei knew she already had both of their scents and could track them for them, "I happen to be part Demon. Literally and figuratively. Demons have great senses of smell. The best in fact. Lucky for you, I already have their scent... they won't get far." She spun her knife in her finger as she spoke, "All you have to do... is say yes." She gave Akuhei a sly smirk. The fact was that Tiche wasn't out to make literal friends. Just a means to an end, she intended to use Akuhei to get to Castro, she wanted to avoid the confrontation with anyone who wasn't her target.
 
Mood: Annoyed
Akuhei
Shugosha
Unknown, Ironshire
Akuhei twitched the hand with his blue sickle a bit. He didn't trust this mysterious woman and was itching to attack. Guess that's what happens when you don't get into a fight for a while. He had been the caboose to the Shugosha all this time. He was only given simple missions, he rarely got thanked for his work, and his siblings were the only ones who were actually able to get in on the good information. He was just the Shadow to the Shugosha. In fact, everyone in the city called him that. "He's in his sibling's shadows.", "He's useless." or "Where are the other two at?". That's all he heard. But if he captured and brought Kuragiri back, he'd be thanked. He had to be thanked, everyone knows he's a special component.


"I have a proposition for you, Mister... whatever." The unknown girl said.

Akuhei perked up a bit.

"I'm listening."

She went on to talk about how her knife isn't thirsty for any ordinary blood, it's thirsty for Castro's blood. Then she said that since they had the same goal, they should team up.

"You're looking for Blue Eyes... I'm looking for Blue Eyes... what say you to..." She said as she seductively ran her fingers over his body. Akuhei felt himself warm up a bit and blushed a little. It's been a while since a woman had touched him in this sort of way. He locked his eyes onto her free hand to distract himself from her touch, and also to make sure she wasn't trying to make a move to stab him. When she finally backed away, Akuhei let out a sigh of relief.

"I happen to be part Demon. Literally and figuratively. Demons has great senses of smell. The best in fact. Lucky for you, I already have their scent... they won't get far."

"Part Demon, huh? There no Demon in this world." Akuhei explained. "Only Spirits and Human. So you are part spirit, part human? You very interested woman indeed. I should let you know, I'm not here for Blue Eyes, only Kuragiri. Castro has Kuragiri. No plan to hurt or kill Castro. But sure, offer accepted, strange woman."

Akuhei leaned down close to the woman's ear, his hair brushing against her skin.

"I should tell you now, if you play tricky-tricky, you die, Spirit woman. Understood?"

Kumii Kumii
Code by Serobliss
 
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Tiche of the Black KnifeLocation: Unknown area of Ironshire
Interactions: SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Clear
Tiche he twitchy the man was, like he was struggling to hold back a bloodlust. Tiche looked at Akuhei like he was an idiot, "You're... kidding right? Demons are considered spirits, you dumbass." He continued with his comment, "You find your target, I kill mine. Simple."

Then he did something he probably shouldn't have, he leaned in to Tiche to whisper something in her ear. She let get away this once though and whispered something back, "Since you look like you're about explode with bloodlust, I'd advise against YOU trying anything." She pulled away from him, "Because if anything, I'M the calm one here."

She stepped to the side, sheathed her knife and pointed at the grate they used to escape, "They went in there. No clue where it leads but i'm not going in there. It'll mess up my hair." She played with her hair, "A girl's gotta keep up appearances, y'know?" She gave a cutesy little wave to Akuhei, "Have fun, cutie. See you on the other side, love!" She said before she vanished in a dark mist.
 
Rai's answer did not make Mateo feel great. It was easy to assume that this guy gained the element of whatever attack was presented, considering Rai just charged a bunch of volts into him and then he released his wave of red lightning. Rai didn't know any more than he did, just hoped it wasn't the case. Then he said the group shouldn't be as resilient with their magic which was a complete bust for him. All he had at his disposal was magic. The phoenix, his own arsenal of spells, and his hands which were an unfortunate circumstance. He didn't have a weapon like a sword. He guessed his hands could be considered clawed, which they were, but he wasn't comfortable with revealing them to the whole group. At least Skyla thought he was a spirit, so she could rationalize it as that. Maybe she thought he was a demon or something and that's why he had hands like that. Or maybe she hadn't even seen them. Either way, he didn't think the group knowing was a good thing. So, he was out of luck. At least he could use the phoenix, since the Horseman had already had fire abilities.

Nia refused his help, and the other two dismissed him in saying they were fine. "Ok." He said, "But if anyone needs to be healed just call me over."

To his surprise, Rai knew defensive moves. Not that he didn't think Rai wasn't skilled enough to be defensive, but he seemed the type to be more on the offensive front. Mateo had only ever seen him perform offensive magic which was the cause of his surprise. He'd made Skyla a defensive ring of electric volts swirling around her constantly that would deflect most of the outcoming attacks. Mateo wished he could do something like that. Help his teammates prevent injuries instead of healing them when it happens. He didn't even know if you could call healing defensive magic, but all his offensive magic wasn't really good or powerful. In any case, it was still cool to see.

After that, Skyla went in for her attack. Well, she was going to until a weird but cool looking bow just popped into existence. It was mostly a gold color, with silver and blue accents around it. He immediately thought of some old structures his family had passed while traveling through the desert. He was still very young when his father had taken him in his arms and hoisted him up to sit on his shoulders. "Do you see, Mateo? The desert was once allied, and no one had to worry about sanctuary from the Shifting Dunes. No one's houses were swallowed up and no one worried about famine. You know why? Well, because very good and powerful people once controlled this region." He'd pointed to swirling architecture with the same coloration as Skyla's newfound bow. His voice sounded faraway and wistful. "I wish you could've known it. You would've been safer."

"But I'm safe with you, Papa." His squeaky little kid voice said. His father had put a hand on his arm and smiled, while Mateo revealed a smile with a hole in it, his first baby tooth lost, and hugged his father's head. "But what happened to them, Papa?"

"Well... I think we should keep going. Maybe that's a story for another day..." His father had said after he gave a look to Mateo's mother. They didn't want him to hear it, and Mateo had never found out what really happened. But by the sound of his father's voice, he probably knew the place well when it was still operational. And missed it dearly too. Remembering that made him want to cry for the sole purpose of remembering how kind his adoptive parents were to him, treating him like their own and not telling him the truth of his origins until they absolutely needed to. He decided to shake the thought because he made the decision to be cooler in front of the group. No one would blame him for crying about Skyla, but that was a secret they shared since no one else had been around to see him break down in her arms. But now was different. It might distract the group from killing the Horseman or make them ask questions about what he was thinking about. He needed to suck it up and think about why he had really thought of that memory. Skyla's bow.

Skyla didn't seem to know much about it, evidence from her surprise as it grew a string. She put her sword away, and tried it out, a bow forming in her fingers. His eyes were trained on the thing, remembering how similar it looked to the ruined architecture his father showed him as a kid. Skyla formed a magic arrow that charged with earth magic, her own special touch. The arrow was released, colliding with the Horseman and his horse and sending sharp rocks into their bodies. Just when they'd decided to not rely on magic, especially not new types they hadn't used on this guy before. He would faint if the Horseman started using earth magic after that attack. Still, incredibly cool. "That's sweet, but hopefully he doesn't start sending sharp rocks back at us now." He commented. He picked himself off the ground, with his book and staff in hand, and went closer to Skyla. "If you need any help with aiming, I've got that weather magic. I think I might be able to use the wind to direct the arrow and make it a perfect shot each time. I mean, I'm sure you're good with it and all. Just thought I'd offer just in case." He didn't want to sound rude or like he was doubting her abilities. After all, she'd made him feel better when his wind attack had first missed. He changed the subject and gave a whistle. "But that bow. Man, that's sweet. Obviously magic, maybe a relic like my book, or Rai's pendent, or Mika's lance. Man, we're all getting cool relics. Did you fight a monster in the Shifting Dunes or something, because that thing definitely looks like it could be from the desert."




"What the hell is up with you and murder holes?" Castro asked as he brushed ahead of her and lead the way.

"Hey, It's not like I trust you or anything." She responded with, crossing her arms. "Just wanna make sure I'm not gonna end up getting stabbed or betrayed by some blue-eyed lunatic who ended up getting me into a very morally ambiguous and dangerous situation." She rolled her eyes like he was the crazy one for asking that. "But sure, by all means, I'm the crazy one for asking about murder holes." That was just her usual sarcastic ramblings so Castro ended up going on.

He told her about how he didn't know the strange woman, and it seemed clear that both of them didn't trust her. Or maybe they both just had trust issues. That was certainly Rori's game, but she didn't know about Castro's situation. Then he went on about Akuhei, the voice they heard. He explained he was Heath's shugasha, and that that meant protector in Japanese. She didn't think Castro was Japanese, what from his first and last name. Maybe he just knew some words. She shouldn't really be talking. Her first name, Rori, was definitely not Chinese despite half her heritage being Chinese.

"Didn't know you knew Japanese. Cool, I guess. Never really picked up any languages other than English. My parents always yelled at me in Chinese whenever I like wrestled a snake or brought worms in the house, but I never picked any of it up." She shrugged like she didn't care much. Her family had been about tradition and all that, and she'd been absolutely grilled when she couldn't figure out how to say any of it. And now all she cared about was tradition and heritage, doing anything to get revenge for her family.

She followed him to the right, not feeling confident about the road he picked. Did he really know where he was going? Castro talked about Akuhei being the weakest of the siblings, but that they could take him if they had to. The three of them, if Red Eyed Girl was an ally. "I wouldn't count on it." She replied, her distrust of the new person showing.

As Castro sped up and she did too, well capable of keeping up. He looked back at her a couple times and she raised an eyebrow. If he wanted to say something he could spit it out. He finally said they were getting close after some silence. Was that all he wanted to say?

The grate they got to did not feel safe. It was emanating life, clear sign of someone in there. "Blue Eyes, I don't think-" She whispered but was cut off as he punched at the grate. "Ok, just let everyone inside know two bandits are coming." She crossed her arms and leaned against the cold walls of the passageway. After he was done, he climbed inside and said he had some disguises for them. "Oh, great." She muttered as she climbed inside. If it wasn't obviously, she was a girl who didn't care about her fashion. "Can I have something less girly than you're probably imagining. I've got a style y'know." She gestured to her clothing once they got in the abandoned store.
 
Mood: Annoyed
Akuhei
Shugosha
Unknown, Ironshire
Spirits are considered Demons? Wow, the more you know, huh? Akuhei hadn't heard of this before. Usually Demons are things of fairy tales, but they actually exist? Akuhei wondered if his siblings had ever fought demons, and if he'd get to one day too.

"Since you look like you're about explode with bloodlust, I'd advise against YOU trying anything." The woman said as Akuhei whispered in her ear. "Because if anything, I'M the calm one here."

Akuhei backed away and looked down at his twitching hands. He looked like a maniac holding the sickles like that. He didn't even notice that he was shaking either. Guess the urge to kill was too strong.

The woman then pointed at the grate Akuhei had stomped in. She told him that they had gone in there, which he already knew, and that since she didn't want to mess up her hair, she wasn't going in there. She then gave Akuhei a cute little wave and then said,

"Have fun, cutie. See you on the other side, love!"

"Wait, where are you-"

Tiche suddenly vanished into a dark mist and just like that, she was gone. Akuhei was left in shock. Demons were a lot more resourceful than expected, and they definitely seemed to be a bit too nice. Akuhei shook the feeling off and hopped into the grate. As he scanned the room, he thought about the way she had talked to him and touched him. He was still a bit in shock by that, but surely it wasn't real, right?

Akuhei shivered a bit at the thought. How would he even deal with that, or better, react? He's never been in a relationship before, women usually just see him as a boring empire guard that could kill their husbands easily. Akuhei looked under the creaky bed in the room and hit the jackpot. A hatch. He threw the bed across the room with one arm and then ripped open the hatch.

"I'm coming for you, Blue Eyes." he said in Japanese. "And that other lady too."
 
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Skyla the Dark FlashLocation: Iron Bridge
Interactions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf
Current Weather: Fiery Vortex (Pro; The Horseman is suffering ~250 damage per Horseman post. Con; Fire attacks are neutralized. Except Mateo's Phoenix Summon)
Skyla held the bow for a moment after releasing the arrow. She was blushing hard too, "Did that just..." She quickly shook her head as Mateo commented, "Isn't it?" Then he commented about it looking like it was from the desert. Did he know? No, he couldn't have but she decided to tell him anyways, "Actually I think it is from the desert. I remember seeing something similar to this in my parents' pala- uh home." She scratched her cheek a bit as she attempted to hide the fact she nearly slipped up, "I remember my mom telling me that one day it would be mine. I believe she called it 'Ban'ethal, Fury of the Dunes'."

Skyla realized Mateo had said 'Shifting Dunes', then she thought, 'Is he a fellow Desert Strider? Can I tell him?' she paused for a moment, "Hey, Mateo, What exactly... do you know about the Shifting Dunes...?" She was almost cautious about her wording, "Do you know... the uh... you know... the royalty from there? The Desert Kingdom, I mean?" Depending on his answer, she'd elect whether to tell him about her true heritage or not.
 
Mateo got excited when he heard Skyla said she thought it was actually from the desert. Again, he was bouncing. Ever since Skyla came back, he was feeling happier. He'd been bouncing a lot since then. Things had gotten resolved with Mika, he'd grown closer with Rai and Nia, Cora had agreed to helping, and Skyla was back. Things just seemed so good for him right now, that he wasn't even scared of his secret popping in to say hello. How could it when he wasn't even feeling stressed or bearing the weight of a bunch of negative emotions.

Skyla told him she'd seen something similar in her parent's home. She'd covered something up there for a second, but he wasn't gonna pry. He knew how important some secrets were to be kept. He didn't want anyone prying into his secret, so he wouldn't pry into hers. But he remembered Mika saying something about Skyla. Something tragic regarding her home. That'd been six months ago and so much had happened that day. It all seemed like a blur and his mind couldn't split from the conversation and search for that memory. He just knew he should probably be careful with Skyla and not try to say something that'd spark any unresolved traumas.

Skyla went on and talked about her mom, saying she called it something. He repeated it. "Ban..thal? No, Ban'ethal. Huh. Doesn't sound like any language I've heard of. But I trust you. Sounds interesting though. And mysterious! Definitely from the desert." She'd said it'd one day be hers. Like, family heirloom? His family inheritance definitely wasn't as good as Skyla's.

Then Skyla asked about what he knew about the Shifting Dunes. "Oh, only that they're the worst things to deal with ever! Seriously, as a kid I saw my house get swallowed up by one of those things. Luckily everyone got out before it happened, but it was still not a good thing to see as a kid. That's what jump started my family as wanderers and I guess why I'm so comfortable with traveling now that I think about it. We went all around the desert, and my parents tried making games out of it to keep me occupied and entertained because I was a kid and all. I mean, I saw a lot of cool stuff so that was a plus. But it was just hard and dangerous. Guess that's exactly why no one likes living in the desert. But my family's gotta be the toughest Desert Striders of them all for traveling as much as we did!" He said that last part with a lot of pride. "But the Shifting Dunes just kind of swallow stuff up and leave nothing behind. Nothing of my house was left after one of those things took it. No one really likes it there, but for me its home."

But she'd asked about if he knew of the Desert Kingdom or the royalty from there. "Royalty? You kidding Skyla? That place is nothing but a bunch of roughnecks like me. There's no kingdom in the desert. There's a couple towns that manage to somehow avoid the Dunes, I guess cause of where they were built, but no huge kingdom. Even if the Shifting Dunes weren't a thing, there's the sandstorms to account for. I mean, if you got a sand glider those things are really fun to ride, but dangerous otherwise." Sand gliders were like hoverboards. They used air in round holes on the bottom to push along the sandstorm. It was basically like surfing. Mateo knew from experience when he'd tried it once. You needed the sandstorm to be in a funnel, like a tornado. Then you could get zipped into it on your sand glider and swirl down it using the air. It was like extreme sports in the desert. That's the most extreme Mateo had ever gone in his life.

Mateo then remembered when he was little with his dad showing him that structure. "I mean, my dad did once tell me about how the desert used to be allied and that because there were nice and powerful people there that there were no problems with the Shifting Dunes. Everyone just lived their lives. I saw a structure one time, it had the same kind of pattern as Ban'ethal. My dad never said anything more about it, maybe because I was really young back then. It seemed like a sad story, one that he'd seen first hand. I've never known about a Desert Kingdom, but maybe that's what he was trying to tell me back then. Said I'd be safer if it was still around. I don't know if he was referring to the Shifting Dunes or.. something else." That something else related to his secret, and he wasn't keen on getting that out. "Skyla, why are you asking about all this?"
 
Skyla the Dark FlashLocation: Iron Bridge
Interactions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf
Current Weather: Fiery Vortex (Pro; The Horseman is suffering ~250 damage per Horseman post. Con; Fire attacks are neutralized. Except Mateo's Phoenix Summon)
Skyla smiled hen Mateo spoke about he regarded the Shifting Dunes. She knew that much. Mateo mentioned some stuff about how they would swallow stuff up, again, true.

"My family's gotta be the toughest Desert Strider of them all for as much traveling as we did!" Mateo said. Skyla looked at him, "So... you ARE a Desert Strider..." Mateo then seemed to disregard her question about the royalty but mentioned his parents said stuff about being allied and nice and powerful people. Yup, that sounded like her parents, "I see, so your parents decided to protect you from that tragedy."

Skyla remained focused on the fight, "Story time, Mateo." She said like a big sister to a kid brother.

20 years ago...Location: Desert Kingdom, Desert Nation south of Rhythm Nation. (Narration is being spoken by Skyla in present time)

Not everything was going fine and dandy within the Desert Nation. With the threat of the Shifting Dunes and the ongoing civil war, the Desert Nation seemed to be going under soon. It was only a matter of time.

My mother would tell me the legend every night. Our people called it 'The Great Tragedy of the Desert'. We'll skip to the climax of this story though.

The goal of the opposing faction was to destroy the warding crystals that prevented the Dunes from swallowing up our towns and cities. My father and his brother, my uncle, were confronted by one of their own generals. The general challenged my uncle to single combat, an attempt to demoralize my father and his army.

"Cerah Junia! I challenge you single combat!" The general yelled. There were murmurs from everyone but they had no choice but to accept the challenge. To deny it was dishonorable. My uncle approached the man, "A traitor leading traitors." Then the combat started. My uncle was no match for the general, within the first few moves, my uncle was already on his knees. The general decided to have fun with him, "Death comes, old soldier. And all their hope dies with you."

My uncle stood strong though, remembering what us Desert Striders stand for, "You cannot kill hope." He groaned as he got up, "You tried with the Oasis Tree." They had set fire to that sacred tree, years before, "You failed." He sung his sword but the general deflected it, "Hope remains." My uncle walked towards the general and swung again and, again, deflected the blow, "You set us to kill each other at Ironshire."

At the time, the Desert Nation had close ties with Rhythm Nation and my uncle with his general would visit every so often, but one day there was a fight between our people. They nearly died because of it, almost ruined the ties our Nation had with Rhythm Nation.

"You failed. Here we stand." My uncle would swing a few times, "You just keep failing!!" but each time the blow was parried but no counterattack from the general came, "The Kingdom will endure!" My uncle made one powerful downward slash but the general caught the blade between his, "The Kingdom is strong!" The general bounced away my uncle's blade and swung it back around, which caught him off guard and struck his eye.

"The Kingdom... IS NOTHING!!" Those four words destroyed him but he didn't care. He pulled out the Kingdom's warding crystal, the last one he needed... and destroyed it. Soon after, he vanished and the Dunes began to eat up our Kingdom.

My parents rushed to get me out of there, telling me that, "The Desert Princess must survive. If at least one member of royalty survived, the legacy of the Kingdom would endure."

Present time...
Skyla blushed a little bit, "So.. yes, I am royalty. Princess to the then Desert Kingdom." Skyla made a few quick glances at Mateo but didn't make prolonged eye contact, "At least, that's what I'm told... If this bow really is Ban'ethal, then it'll prove that I was."
 
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Skyla exclaimed about him being a Desert Strider. "Yup, born and raised! Well, not exactly born per say but raised definitely." He wasn't actually born in the desert, nor did he have any actual desert heritage. His parents who were born in the desert were his adoptive parents, while the Cabreras originated in another place that wasn't like the desert at all. Then Skyla proceeded to finish the story his parents hadn't wanted to tell him. The beginning was when it actually clicked in his mind. "Wait, you're a Desert Stride-" He murmured but fell silent as he did want to her the story. Internally he was screaming. Another Desert Strider! Someone who knew the struggles of growing up in the desert. There weren't many Desert Striders, because the desert was seen as harsh lands that were unsuitable for life. But he'd made it through. And so had Skyla.

Story time wasn't as fun as he'd thought. It wasn't like the bedtime stories he'd been told as a kid. Not a fairy tale. It was harsh realities. He learned about the Desert Kingdom, known as the Desert Nation. They had warding crystals to stop the Dunes from swallowing them whole, and they had good relations with the Rhythm Nation, the kingdom they were currently in. And yet the Desert Nation had been completely erased from history. No one talked about the place. No one from the Rhythm Nation said, 'hey remember that desert place'. He wouldn't even know that small tidbit if his dad hadn't told him about it.

They were going through a whole civil war thing, having opposing sides tearing about the kingdom. He learned of Cerah Junia, Skyla's uncle, and how he'd been challenged to single combat. He never lost hope though, even when losing. He talked about hope, the kingdom being strong and that it would prevail. He knew that wasn't true. Skyla didn't even have to finish the story for him to know that wasn't true. There was no Desert Nation today, so it just couldn't.

He flinched as he heard her uncle had been struck in the eye. Once the general had the crystal, he destroyed it and the Dunes took over. That was sad, but what was shocking was what her parents said. "Skyla.. desert princess?" He already knew what that meant. He was standing next to desert royalty.

Skyla confirmed it. His face was in shock and he couldn't find the right words for a second. Then he completely focused on something else. "But what happened to your uncle? Did he die? Your parents? The stupid general? The whole Desert Nation? Where did everyone go after that?"

Mateo swallowed and shook his head. "Sorry, that probably doesn't help." He shifted for a second. "It's just cool. You don't really meet other Desert Striders, considering how hard it is now, so I just got excited and I didn't think. It sounds sad, losing all that, but you've got people who care about you. All of us do. Your boyfriend especially." He looked down for a second and then decided to actually say his next thing. "And I won't tell anyone else. Promise. You do that when you're ready. This'll be between us."

He held out his pinkie for a pinkie promise as a gesture to confirm it'd be between them.

"And for the record your uncle sounds really cool. He fought for what he believed in and all that. Honestly he reminds me of my dad. He was always talking about hope."
 
Mood: Alert and Ready to Battle
Rai Ikari
Thunderous Hunter
Bridge to Iron Fortress
"Since when could you do that?" Rai asked a bow materialized into Skyla's hands. She seemed pretty shocked at it too, so maybe even she didn't know what it was. She put away her sword and decided to observe the bow. The drawstring was surging with energy and when she pulled it back it seemed to charge up.

"Uh, Skyla? Do you know how to use that thing?" Rai asked as the tip of the arrow turned into a brown color and began to be covered in tiny rocks. Skyla the suddenly released the arrow and it went flying the Knight, and on impact released a burst of tiny sharp rocks that did extra damage.


"Go, Rai! Now's your chance!" Skyla told him.

Rai charged forward at the Knight who had to stunned by that attack with his two katanas and charged up a little bit. Where did that bow come from? Seems like everyone was getting weapons now. Skyla had found out how to use hers in a matter of moments, probably because it was a simple mechanic, Mateo was already getting the hang of his Phoenix Book, and Mika was proficient with his lance. Rai was the only one who hadn't found out how to use his new item. He looked down at the pendant around his neck. What did it do again? It was called...the Black Pegasus Feather Pendant! It all came back to Rai now.

Blackflame Firebolt. That was the name of the move that was incorporated into it. It sent out a firebolt that was made of black flames and once it impacted a target, a vortex was left behind.

"C'mon, don't fail me now." Rai said as he prepared to use the move. "Blackflame Firebolt." he said, but nothing happened. "Blackflame Firebolt." Nothing. "Blackflame Firebolt!!"

After yelling it out, a dark fireball shot from the pendant at high speeds and made its way towards the Knight. A smirk cracked onto Rai's face as he sped up a bit the match the flame's speed. As it connected with the Knight's chest, the vortex appeared, and Rai leapt into the air the same way he had when he had killed the Unholy One and came down releasing a flurry of slashes at the Knight.





Kumii Kumii AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf
Code by Serobliss





Mood: Fearful
Castro Smith
Blue-Eyed Bandit
Unknown, Ironshire
"Calm down, Rori. I know what I'm doing." Castro said as Rori about just letting everyone know that bandits are coming in.

Castro looked around the room at the racks of clothing. There were suits, dresses, and just about everything regular citizens wore. Even though the store had been abandoned for quite a while now, the items were still in good enough to wear. Castro had been getting disguises from here for months now, it was his go to for clothing and most of it fit his style. Even though he was a bandit, he still had some class. He loves dressing up in classy ways or talking fancy. If he had a regular life, that's probably what he'd be doing. But that might be impossible at this point.

"Can I have something less girly than you're probably imagining. I've got a style y'know." Rori said while gesturing to the clothing.

"Eh, you know what?" Castro said as he walked up to the female section. He took a dark pink dress off the rack along with a pink headwrap. And to finish it off, he added a pair of heels to go with it. "This would look totally good on you." Castro said with a laugh. He placed the clothing on a table and then walked back to the men's section.

Immediately he took a white collared shirt and some black pants off the racks. The perfect outfit. Men all over this part of Ironshire were in outfits like this. No surprise there. Everyone had this sense that they were "classy" and "the best nation", but that couldn't be farther from the truth. It was corrupted and horribly led. Castro didn't have anything against Cyan, but he wasn't leading this place well. If he was, he wouldn't have let them reach Kuragiri first. In fact, he wasn't even doing anything about all these threats. Not saying that Castro's all pure hearted, but he could definitely run Ironshire better than him.

Creak.

Castro's head immediately snapped towards the grate. Did he hear that right? A creaking sound? Was someone in there? Surely Akuhei couldn't have found the hatch that quickly.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Someone was walking through the vents. Castro quickly began to take off his armored coat and change into the newly picked outfit.

"Rori, go in that closet over there." Castro said Rori while pointing to a small closet close to her.

Castro quickly changed into the entire outfit and then stuffed his armored clothing into a bag in the room. If that was Akuhei, that means that the Red Eyed lady wasn't able to distract him long enough to allow them to get away. So where was she now? Did she lead him hear, or was she dead? Both were very likely.

"Alright, stay in there while I distract him." Castro said once he was finished changing. Wait. My eyes! Castro thought. I left all my colored contacts in the room, which means he'll instantly recognize me. The grate began to rattle and Castro looked around frantically for something to cover his eyes. There were only clear glasses in room, nothing available. When the grate completely opened, Castro closed his eyes.

"Huh? Who goes there?" Castro said with a bit of a fake accent.

1655594793375.png






Mood: Annoyed
Akuhei
Shugosha
Unknown, Ironshire
As Akuhei entered the grate, he was greeted by someone asking him, "Who goes there?" Akuhei climbed up the grate and into the room and saw the well-dressed man with his eyes closed.

"Who are you?" Akuhei asked.

"I'm the new owner of this store. Now, who are you?" he responded.

"I'm..." Akuhei looked around the room. "Here to buy clothing."

"The store isn't even open yet, moron."

"Moron? Who you think talking to?"

"Fixed English, please."

Okay, so this guy was a dick of a shop owner. He made fun of his English and didn't want him in the store. Akuhei didn't know how to play this off, I mean, he crawled into the store through a grate, how do you explain that? Wait, but maybe he didn't know, his eyes were shut.

"Why your eyes shut?" Akuhei asked.

"I, uh... my eyes are sensitive." The store owner responded.

"Ah, I see. Well, if your eyes were open, you'd know that there's an OPEN sign on the window, and that I came through the front door."

The store owner seemed to look around for a moment, seeming to be trying to figure out if it was true or not. If his eyes weren't open, then he wouldn't know, right?

"My apologies, then. I didn't mean to put that up. I'd appreciate it if you'd leave though."

"All good, sir." Akuhei narrowed his eyes. "But would you open your eyes, please?"

Kumii Kumii (Tiche is welcome to intervene now)
Code by Serobliss
 
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Battle on the Iron Bridge - The Final Battle
Weather: Clear
Phase: Enraged (All damage dealt by the Knight is now doubled.)


Skyla's arrow impacted the Horseman's horse and body and lacerated him. The Horseman yelled out in pain as Rai leaped and did a chain attack shortly after Skyla's. The Horseman fell off his horse and Skyla saw this chance and went for a kill shot on the horse to great effect too!

The Horseman was now horseless and essentially just a regular Knight, "Damn you! My horse! Damn you, damn you, DAMN YOU!!!!" He yelled in a rage. About this time, intense fire spewed out from his body, knocking EVERYONE back close to the Knight.

The Knight was now enraged, the Knight swung his sword in a wide motion and flames spewed from the sword, "DAMN YOU ALL, I WILL END ALL OF YOU!! DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!"
AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark

The Headless Horseman (26,780/32,250 (83.0%) Vitality)


Skyla the Dark Flash and Mika the Flaming SpearLocation: Iron Bridge
Interactions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Clear
Skyla smiled, "I'll tell you all about it later. Or I'll tell you what my mother always told me."

Skyla shrugged at Rai's question, "No, but I can learn!" She honestly didn't know but she could learn then she saw the opening Rai created and followed-up with the kill shot on the man's horse with a jab of her sword. Sure enough the horse went down, however it also the effect of pissing off the the Knight, pushing him into his enrage state. She got knocked back and saw Mika do the same and quickly ran to his side after getting up.

Mika was close to the Knight as he went enraged and got knocked back, essentially interrupting his ability and clearing the Fiery Vortex. Mika groaned as he thrown back a bit. Next thing he knew one Skyla Junia was at his side, "Mika! Love, you alright?" Mika got up a bit, "Y-yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a little.. winded. Give me a sec, please."

Mika took a second and got up fully, "Okay, I'm good now. It was good while it lasted but now it seems all feet on the ground." Mika held his lance in an offensive position with Skyla holding her greatsword in the same way next to him, "Let's formulate a plan B shall we?"

They didn't get the time to do anything though as they already found themselves dodging the Knight's retaliation attack.


Tiche of the Black KnifeLocation: Unknown area of Ironshire
Mentions: AlphaBlueWolf AlphaBlueWolf SharkBark SharkBark
Current Weather: Clear
Tiche emerged from a dark mist, "Miss me...?" She looked at the man in the costume with closed eyes and sniffed the air, "...Blue Eyes." She sniffed a little more and caught a whiff of Rori, "The other one can come out too, I know she's here too." Tiche looked at Castro as he pretended to be a shopowner, "I know you're wondering how I'm able to distinguish you. I'm not afraid to admit. I'm part Demon." Tiche briefly looked at Akuhei, "Would you believe that Mini Death here didn't know Demons were considered spirits?" She lightly chuckled and put her arm around Akuhei, "But we're buds now."

She took her arm off from around him, "But seriously, it's no use hiding anymore. I know it's you. continuing to try and fool me would be like trying to fool Titania she's not the strongest thing, it's useless."
 
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Mateo looked at Skyla as she smiled. "Seriously? I've been waiting to hear the end of this story since I was like five. Well, the middle too, and the beginning. Ok so pretty much the whole story." He said and scratched the back of his head. He was just really into it and wanted to know how it ended. Despite not being actually related to the people of the desert, he still considered it an important part of his heritage. The desert had shaped him into who he was. One of the few towns had had an accident involving the Shifting Dunes, a lot of people were hurt. He didn't know any healing magic back then, but he had still worked to help everyone with the medicinal stuff. He found it a rewarding practice to heal instead of hurt and decided that's what he wanted to do. He wouldn't be well accustomed to travel without his family, and he wouldn't have become interested in healing without that experience. The desert was his home, no matter if he had relatives from the Desert Nation or not.

Rai made his opening and Mateo got distracted as he watched. Rai used his relic, the pendant, to release black flame. A vortex was left behind, sucking the Knight towards it and Mateo was a little bit scared he'd be sucked in too. That was probably because of the desert and the fear of being sucked into the Dunes, never to return again. If Mateo had to guess, you'd probably die of suffocation, or maybe get impaled by whatever else the Shifting Dune had swallowed up. That seemed absolutely terrifying, and he guessed that would end up happening if you got sucked into that vortex Rai created.

He then went in for a bunch of slashes and got a good chunk of damage in, making the Knight fly off his horse. Skyla zipped in, killing the horse with her sword instead of her inherited bow. The Knight screamed like a child in a temper tantrum and sent everyone sprawling back with a wave of heat. Despite being in long clothing, it wasn't too unbearable. He'd gotten used to humidity and hot temperatures. He saw the fiery vortex melt around them, watching Skyla running to Mika and understanding why.

He slowly sat up, wiping the sweat off his brow. He'd been farther off than the other three, so he suffered some light pain to the back of his head and that was it. Mateo stood and went over to Rai. "Cover me!" He yelled to the phoenix who took up action and flapped its wings which sent up a vortex of wind that was imbued with fire, a trick that would keep it busy for the duration of the time he needed to get to Rai. He slid to a stop and started patting Rai. "Rai! Are you ok?" It seemed like everyone had just been a little dazed and out of breath from it, considering it wasn't a real bad attack, but he still wanted to make sure. Skyla and Mika were together, Cora and Nia if they had been affected. But Rai had no one and after being so close to the Knight when he'd unleashed the attack. He'd probably gotten it pretty bad.

Mika talked about a plan B, well formulating one. But that was kind of hard to do while they were in the middle of a battle. But he'd noticed the chain attack had worked really well, finally getting the Knight off his horse. Sure, they were all friends, but they lacked good team coordination. Which made sense considering they'd never really been in battles together before today. The tournament had been one on one, and today wasn't going too well with battles. He thought back to the other battles. The first with the Nameless Knight had been Mika and Rai tag teaming, Mika attacking then giving Rai an opening for that lightning cyclone attack. The battle with the Junk Dragon had been a combination of him and Skyla, Skyla providing his opening while Mateo decided to use the part of him he shunned the most. When they had coordination and teamwork, they were damn good. Which led him to an idea.

They both needed to get to the rest of the group so that he could discuss his plan with them. But before he could, the Knight retaliated. He swung his sword in a wide arc and fire spewed from it. It seemed the Phoenix's wind hadn't held him for long. They were close so it was too hard to dodge. He didn't want Rai getting any more hurt, so he took the brunt of it. But before it could reach him, he imagined the winds blowing the fire to the side of them and they did. They rushed past, some burning his clothes, and torched a tree on the opposite side of him. "Opps." He put up a thumb's up to Rai, and then his whole arm blazed. "Ahhhhh!" He screamed and patted at it. He was lucky that both his gloves and ruana were pretty resilient because they didn't get burnt. They were with him ever since he was a baby, surviving the harsh desert climate, so of course they were resilient. They weren't just any clothing, but made specifically for protection.

Once the fire was patted down he had to sizzle out fire on the end of his slightly curled swoop of hair. Smoke traveled up from it as he breathed a sigh of relief. "A plan B would be great!" He called then helped himself and Rai up, ordered up another gust of fiery wind from his phoenix pal, and traveled over to the others. "And I've got one! I know I'm not the best fighter but please listen to it." He shot a playful look a Mika who had disregarded his plan last time. "Plan A, thanks to Skyla, had worked great. We got the stupid guy off his horse and killed it, which was kind of brutal to an animal. I know it was a murderous fire breathing horse and all but..." He shook his head and refocused. "Anyways, Plan B can just be a larger version of that. We break into pairs based on our strength, and attack one team at a time, giving another team an opening. We already kind of went into teams but here's what I'm thinking. Nia and Cora, because I know Cora and he's much better at close range, and Nia seems to be too. Mika and Rai. You guys defeated that other Knight guy by the same method, giving each other openings. You can be our heavy hitters. Skyla, I know you're better with your sword, but that bow worked really great. And I'm not really good close range at all, so you and me can be our long range fighters. Or maybe I could use my bird up there to cover you for a sword attack if you wanna switch off from your bow. Nia and Cora can hit him while he's distracted by our two other teams. Out of eyesight will probably work best so we'll train his focus on the other teams so that they can get in. So, how's that?" He looked towards Skyla for guidance, because she'd been their kind of de facto leader before with handing out orders and starting out their plan. He was starting to feel a bit anxious with drawing so much attention to himself. He'd never been a fighter or a leader before, so he was new to all this.



Castro clearly did not understand her. He brought out a bunch of dark pink stuff and told her it'd look good on her. She eyed the clothing on the table. "Yup, you clearly didn't listen, Blue Eyes. Because all of this is not my style." She said as he went off to the men's section. She picked up the heels and held them out like they were a rat with rabies trying to bite at her. "I don't even know how to walk in these things!" Which was true. She'd been orphaned before wearing heels had been a thing for her. And as a girl on the streets, you didn't think about grabbing a pair of fancy heels. Rori realized he'd laughed. "Wait, you're mocking me aren't you."

She did not look happy about that. She set down the heels, happy to be free of them and looked through the aisles. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been in a clothing store. It felt so much like normal life which was so weird. Her outfit had mostly been stolen or made herself. And this store was fancy as hell, which wasn't her style at all. She wondered how Castro could feel so comfortable picking out a disguise. But that was because they were two different breeds of bandits. Castro liked to be as inconspicuous as possible and went out as a different person if need be, while she was loud and obnoxious. She wore what she was comfortable in so she could twist around her body and sticked to herself and usually the shadows. She strode in alleyways and on top of buildings to get to her targets. She wasn't as stealthy as a child, but she'd learned now. She was a tomboy by nature and none of these outfits appealed to her. Akuhei hadn't seen her, so her being in a disguise didn't even matter anyways. As long as Kuragiri, who was probably unconscious, didn't rat her out then she was fine.

Rori heard the creaking but didn't care all that much. She was focused on this annoying chore. Her eyes flipped to Castro as he told her to go in the closet. "Gods, Blue Eyes! Wait until I'm in the actual closet before changing." She adverted her eyes and strode into the closet, leaving the stupid Dark pink outfit to let Castro change. She told him to stay in there while he distracted him. Distracted who? Oh. She heard the creaking now, foot against the stone of the passageway. Akuhei was here, which meant Red Eyes had betrayed them. That was the conclusion she jumped to, because she trusted nearly no one. The only reason she was with Castro was because she wasn't getting out of this situation any time soon. He was the only person who wasn't actively trying to kill her, so that mad them reluctant allies.

Rori almost laughed and gave away her cover as she heard the fake accent coming from Castro. She was not expecting that. She sheathed her dagger in the holster she had strapped to her leg to eliminate its light. She made as little movement as possible in her confined space to not let herself be caught by Akuhei. Akuhei pounded up from the grate. The way it sounded made him seem massive with a lot of physical strength. Akuhei seemed to be dumb enough to not notice the well-dressed man was Castro Smith. He asked who he was, Castro responding with that he was the owner of this shop, which had clearly been abandoned. She searched her closet, finding a nice and expensive looking bow tie. That was it for her disguise. A bow tie strapped to her neck was all she was willing to go.

The conversation went on, Castro calling Akuhei a moron which seemed fitting. Castro made fun of the guy's English and there were a couple more back and forths. Rori decided to use the glove she'd stolen, putting it on her right hand and feeling the wires as she moved it. She moved one of her fingers and it sparked with electricity. Cool. If Castro made this, then he was a genius. If he had stolen it, well, then he'd had a good eye.

Things were looking rough for Castro, Akuhei telling him to open his eyes. Damn. She was about to drop in and save the day when a new player showed up. An irritating voice. Red Eyes, the woman who had betrayed them. She gritted her teeth as she listened, waiting for an opportunity. Damn, she knew Rori was here too and told her to come out. But she wasn't one to lose her nerve at the first sign of danger. Tiche told them she was part demon, a halfbreed as her mentor called them. Demi-human was the appropriate term. Her mentor had told her about them. He'd said spirits were dangerous since they couldn't be killed unless their connection to the spirit world had been severed. Demi-humans weren't immortal but still dangerous. They possessed the powers of their spirit parent, but had the mortal affliction of, well, mortality. Good to know she could die, but this wasn't like fighting someone like Kuragiri. It was arguably more dangerous. But Rori never backed down.

Tiche confessed to double crossing them, saying she and Akuhei were buds now. Wow, that was a shocker. Not. She'd seen that coming from a mile away. She learned two things from this. Akuhei was a complete idiot, and Tiche was a half demon monster who could sense them or smell them or whatever demons did. Whatever, a charge would do.

Rori carefully and silently unsheathed her blade, then the heel of her feet shot out flame to propel her out of the closet in a flurry of speed. She charged at Tiche, the one she was angry at, and took a stab at her, shooting fire into the wound where her dagger dug in. She escaped and hopped away to stand beside Castro. "Take notes, Blue Eyes. That's my style. Not that death trap you think I'd look good in." She pointed to the bow tie. "This is all you get." She then turned to look at him and felt at a lose for words. Why they hell did he look like some gentleman instead of his normal Blue-Eyed Bandit self? Though it did work for him. "Well look at you. You really do know what your doing with disguises. All though your female ones need some work."

Rori then turned towards Tiche and Akuhei. "Well, you guys are annoying. Especially you, Red Eyed Traitor. Not like a trusted you in the first place. I'm not as dumb as Blue Eyes here. I can pick up on when someone's untrustworthy. And for some reason you're just an entire red flag. Maybe because of your eyes." She chuckled. "Or maybe it's because you remind me of the child killer." She said referring to Kuragiri. "And that makes me mad as hell. You're not involved in this, so I suggest you leave. Trust me, it's not worth getting involved in all this crap. But I want my revenge, so I think I'll stick around. Which is worse for you if you decide you really wanna get into all this."

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