The Watering Hole - Battle for the Beer!(Private)(Inspirational Quote and Kihia)

Kihia watched as Xavier and Ni-ju fully engaged into the fray, Xavier unleashing a powerful combo with two spirit like beings that had appeared and helped him, he engaged Gragas and dealt numerous blows going back and forth with the blows. Xavier landed a few meters away from Gragas who himself had slowly got up, Ni-Ju on the otherhand protected himself from one of the grunts by quickly countering and breaking his arm. Kihia closed his eyes as the ice covering his body as well as well as the glow from his fists died down, fifteen grunts remained… as well as Gragas. He tightened his fists knowing what he must do next.

His forearms suddenly turned into that forearms made of Holy ice, including his armor and trench coat sleeves, “Twin Glaives of the Frozen Angel…” Kihia’s forearms them transformed into two large glaive blades, their singular edge razor sharp. He then looked at Gragas and his henchmen, taking a lower stance, pointing one blade towards Gragas and the other towards the sky, “Come at me…” Gragas frowned as well as growled, he then turned to a group of seven of his men, “Get Him!” Seven of the men then charged at Kihia, Two of them clasped their hands together and formed bladed disks of darkness that started to spin on their hands.

They swung at Kihia who leaned back and ducked as blades went over him, He then raised his arms up and sliced across the two men sides and then spun around and slammed the flat sides of the blades against the backs of their heads sending them sprawling forward. He then continued to spin and sliced his blades across another two henchmens legs as they charged, he then lifted his arms up throwing them into the air. Then suddenly a blast of dark energy shout out aiming straight at Kihia’s chest, however Kihia quickly counteracted by swiping his right arm across the middle of the blast making it veer off into two halves. The remaining three men who had engaged with Kihia stood at a distance, considering Kihia had yet to even take a step from his spot.

Gragas for once was stuck between what we usually call a rock and hard place, but in this case it’s a magniflorious master combatant ice demon slayer who struck down everything that crossed his path, an enraged adolescent masochistic lightning mage marching towards them slowly with the command of two specter like war-beings, and a blue haired gunslinger than could destroy almost anything with a thought and a couple of seconds taking pot shots at them from every conceivable angle. Wounded and concerned for his own safety rather than that of his underlings, Gragas had his men encircle him for protection, and commanded them to stop running to their dooms and by that he meant to trying to face off against Kihia. The men who remained formed a perimeter around him, a wide circle where one man was approximately two meters from their boss, some on their knees to aim their shots. Two men fell instantly to the ground as a result of Ni-Ju’s bullet spray and the ones who still stood awkwardly shuffled to fill the gaps they left behind.

Marching towards them slowly in an entirely dramatic fashion he gave hand signal orders to his two following compatriots, who acted upon them immediately. The hammer wielder propped the head of the weapon angled against the ground as Xavier and the other specter balanced upon it. He hoisted them as he could, launching them a bit higher into the air as the two airborne attackers readied to strike. Xavier’s synergy was flawless today, the specter already had another warhead loaded into the rocket launcher, and without announcing his attack for once, Xavier reeled back his arm like a pitcher, and hurled another static charge at his foes when his friend shot the rocket. Throughout the entire time, they were taking shots at all three of them, but Xavier is the only one felt any of the real force of the attacks. Both attacks were specifically aimed at Gragas, and they were able to easily overcome the meat shield wall although Gragas almost expected another aerial attack he couldn’t load his shotgun in time. The explosions scattered them all, five men launched closer to Kihia and Ni-ju, and four nearer to Xavier. The four closest to him weren’t quite done with their punishment as our hammer wielding buddy gave a sweeping attack that the crushing weight of blow knocked them unconscious. Again landing in a three point formation, Xavier observed the rest of the fight silently.

Aim. Adjust. Squeeze. Aim. Adjust. Squeeze. These three words became a litany inside of Ni-Ju's head as his focus narrowed entirely to the sights of his weapon and what lay directly in front of them. Each shot, regardless of the occasional miss, just served to throw the henchmen more and more off guard and that paired with the rushing and explosive attacks made by Kihia and Xavier had the henchmen as afraid as they had ever been in their lives. As the men clustered around Gragas, trying desperately to form up at his orders, Ni-Ju managed to pick off a couple before they started an advance which was quickly brought to a staggering halt by a well timed rocket from Xavier.

As the dust cleared only five minions and Gragas remained standing and in any shape to continue with their ultimately futile assault. With the sudden lull in fighting, Ni-Ju took the chance to get closer in order to maximize the damage his weapon could do and show these chumps a taste of what a real gunslinger could do with a steady hand and a loaded firearm. Starting a jog toward the remaining henchmen that slowly became a run as he went, Ni-Ju began firing his weapon in small precise bursts. The first set of shots tore the freshly drawn guns from two minions hands and sent them spinning through the air to land in the strangely donut shaped hole where his detonations had earlier done their work. His next few shots were as viciously rude as they were precise; each one finding their mark in either a henchmen's foot or groin, causing screams and shouts of sheer anguish that drew the other men's attention to the gunman now moving through their midst far to late for most of them to do anything about it .

One man, near the end of the group, reached out his hand for the back of Ni-Ju's neck and stood staring in shock as three of his fingers promptly disintegrated before his eyes from a point blank blast from Balin's muzzle that sent a thin red mist splashing over his face and gently floating though the air. Attempting to put just a bit of extra flair into his finish, Ni-Ju standing rolled past the last of them and fired one shot into the back of each man's knee before regaining his feet and continuing to run. With both Ni-Ju and Xavier safely out of the way it was up to Kihia to put Gragas in his place and settle this once and for all.

Kihia watched as Xavier and Ni-ju once again displayed terrific displays of combat prowess, driving the group further into a tight nit group. Kihia then lowered his stance and readied himself to charge for the final assault. Then Kihia sprang into action dashing straight for the group, whom immediately took noticed and started to launch a barrage of dark spells at the demon slayer. Kihia skillfully weaved around each blast as it sailed passed him drawing closer to the group. That’s when Gragas threw another magic infused barrel at Kihia.

Kihia saw it coming and sent a portion of his magical power to the glaive blades making them start to glow, then suddenly the light seemingly shattered off the glaive blades that now had a snow blasted look to them, with small icicles branching off the blunt side of the blades, Kihia then sliced through the barrel, and running past both halves before they exploded. He got to the first remaining henchmen and quickly spun to his left dodging an attempted magic infused punch and hitting him at the same time with the flat side of the blade. Kihia then continued fighting inside the tight nit group, expertly dealing non lethal hits to the men at rapid succession including Gragas.

He then began to launch each of them up into the air, usually by launching them off the flat side of the blades, he then turned to Gragas who was standing their unsteadily and was beginning to attempt a hammer fist, however Kihia quickly reacted by kicking him into the gut and executing a back flip to force Gragas above him. Kihia landed with all six men up in the air above him, when he started to release a large portion of his magical power, which in turn caused the two glaive blades to glow, “Glacier Demon Slayer Secret art….” He then jumped up heading straight for Gragas who was at the lowest point, extending both arms outstretched to the sides the two glaive blades growing in size at the same time. “Heavens Cryogenic Collision!!” Then Kihia slammed the two glaive blades down on Gragas in a scissor like fashion causing a resound crashing sound followed by a brief moment of silence. Then a gigantic flash of light erupted from the spot Gragas had been hit and shot upward hitting all the henchmen in one large Holy Cryogenic Beam.

After a moment the beam faded and Kihia dropped to the ground, adopting a kneeling stance with both arms outstretched as his forearms returned to normal, a second later Gragas fell to the ground with a giant thud followed by his men, all of whom were twitching.

It was very ratifying, after all of that work to finally have some sort of conclusion. It was long fought with uncertainty of many factors. After all the dust had settle, the pale and beaten bodies of the trios' assailants were writhing and twitching in the dirt, and for whatever reason the oddly foreboding terribly ominous dark clouds that were looming in the sky retracted, and opened back up to the sun that was shining brightly when they arrived to represent the end of the possibility of imminent doom. Kinda cliché really.

Xavier gave a pointy toothed grin and offered the two of his compatriots. “That was a damn good fight, and I think I was doing the best out of all of us if I do say so myself!” He put his hands on his hips, posing while he imagined a glorified image of himself in his mind. “Now, let's get...” he suddenly started to slow down as his fatigue caught up with him, and he realized his was passing out he staggered trying to keep his balance, but ultimately failed and face planted into the earth. He laid there motionless for a while, and the two specter like figures exchanged glances as if to say “Dafuq” to each other, but they had no mouths and such, so you know how that went. From the legs up, the two dissipated like smoke into the atmosphere, vanishing.

Xavier pushed himself up with a start and looked around the entire area with surprise as if he had never gazed upon this scenery before. He looked just as confused as he did tired. “What the...” Grudgingly he got to his knees and pushed off the ground to get to his feet, almost falling. “What... When did... How long was I out?” He would have waited for an answer if there weren't more pressing questions. He groped his face as he noticed the lack of a little weight on his nose. “Where are my glasses? I need those to read...” he complained. His stomach growled loudly as if it had just about enough of this crap as he did. He covered his gut and groaned. “And why am I soooo hungry.” The poor kid just stood their frowning a moment; he was certainly himself again.

Stopping after what he felt was a suitably safe distance, Ni-Ju turned just in time to watch as Kihia swept his icy weapons across Gragas's chest to deal him what proved to be the finishing blow to the conflict at hand. Breathing a deep sigh of relief once the silence began to set in, Ni-Ju tucked Balin away in the holster underneath his arm and reached into his pack for the long coiled up length of silken climbing cord he kept handy for making dead fall traps. These men were a menace to society and would have to be given over to the Rune Knights for justice and he intended to do just that. Taking only fifteen minutes with both Kihia and Xavier lending a hand when necessary, Ni-Ju managed to get all the unconscious men placed together close enough to tie them all up into a neat bundle, ready for Sim to pick up.

As if answering Ni-Ju's thoughts on the matter, a large stormy grey figure, that based size and distance could only be his faithful companion Sim, began to rapidly cover the area between them. Coming in for a landing that kicked up a huge amount of dust and debris, Sim touched down a few dozen yards away from town proper and began preening himself happily. Ni-Ju couldn't help but laugh as the colossal bird nearly tripped over its own feet in an effort to get to an itch on it's chest. His laughter was cut short as Ni-Ju realized exactly how big Sim's crop was bulging.

At that very moment somewhere between Mountain Village and Sim's seaside nest near Hargeon Town, a cattle farmer strode out his front door to finish fixing the pasture fence he had started on earlier in the day. Whistling a little ditty to himself as he stepped off his front porch and rounded the corner of his house, the farmer was shocked to discover that not one but two of his fields were now mysteriously devoid of all cows and an even bigger puzzler to his mind was how frightened the rest of his stock seemed to be. Still scratching his head, the farmer decided to hitch up his wagon and see if the neighbors had anything to say about the matter.

Ni-Ju turned back to face his allies after giving Sim the signal to guard the prisoners. "I don't know about you guys but I could definitely use a bite to eat after this whole mess." Pausing for a moment to await their replies Ni-Ju thoughtfully added in "I am buying.".

Kihia stood there for a moment relaxing his mind after the fighting that had just ended, he then stood up and dusted off his trench coat. He turned around walked over to Ukan who was still was lying on the ground. He stared at the Wyvern who was completely unmoving and then sighed, “Ukan… how long are you going to lay there… and play unconscious…?” Ukan then stirred a bit and rolled over to stand up, with his version of cheery expression painted on his flat face. “You saw right through me eh Kihia? Well it isn’t like I was needed, you guys had it under control.” Ukan inhaled and then let out a loud yawn befitting of something more like his true size. “I don’t know about you Kihia but I can’t wait to get back to the hall and take a nap somewhere nice and cold” Kihia shook his head and then turned his attention to his comrades. Xavier seemed to have recovered from whatever came upon him and was back to normal personality wise, and he saw Ni-ju begin to secure the bandits. Kihia walked over and began to assist Ni-ju in this duty as Ukan let out another loud yawn and laid down.

He secured Gragas and a few of the stronger henchmen and formed a crystal bind that grouped all of them together and set them by Ni-jus pet roc. He wiped his brow and nodded at their work,” Good work Ni-ju and Xavier… you two represented the Guild well today…” Kihia then went quiet and looked up into the sky, his ice blue eyes eerily calm after the battle. Kihia’s attention then turned to what Ni-ju was saying and he couldn’t help but smile. He rolled his neck to stretch it a bit, he then walked over to Ni-ju and gently placed his hand on his shoulder. “I will accept your offer but only if you allow me to give us all a ride home…” At the Kihia raised his left wrist and spoke into the special coms bracelet, “Icer come to the Phoenix Mountain Village, we are ready for a pick up…”

Xavier muttered to himself as he helped tie men up and gathered them together in a circle as Ni-Ju called Sim down to watch over them. “Seriously guys… what happened to me?” He wasn’t entirely sure what to feel more disconcerted about, the fact that his friends were blatantly unaware of… something because he still wasn’t entirely sure what the heck happened to him, or that his stomach was threatening to consume the already dwindling amount of meat on his bones. He sighed as the last man was tied up, and the man hand moved slightly almost reaching out to Xavier, and kicked him aside, not really sure how to feel about that.

Looking to his two companions as they prepared to take off he couldn’t help but notice that something was obviously wrong here. Ni-Ju proudly commanded a bird of brobdingnagian proportions that at particular angles could literally block out the sun and somehow had the capability to comprehend English. And then there was Kihia who after putting on a terrific show call upon a giant motherf***ing airship then slowly pierced through the clouds above them, making it’s descent, with a trail of smoke from behind as if it had traveled at mach speeds (hint, hint) and tore through each cloud it passed. Then there was Xavier who couldn’t even recall where he had discarded his glasses only moments ago. Xavier let his head hang ashamed of himself for a moment, feeling slightly outclassed. “Can’t I just have one moral bloody victory for once? I understand one isn’t simply born in a fitting stylish suit, but there’s no competing here…” He just walked forward silently in the general direction of the Ikarones, and heard the sound of something crunching underfoot, only to find he had cracked one lens of his glasses. He picked them up and examined them for a long time before cursing his luck and putting them back on, remarking to himself how this only makes his vision much worse.

Considering I’m done making Xavier’s day absolutely horrible, I’m going to draw this to a close. So as our heroes depart from the semi-hating, semi-grateful, hopefully these mages get their recompense, and this child some food.