Midsummer Mayhem

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Leah whistled a light tune as she walked down the streets of Rose Garden, anybody watching her demeanor would take her for a normal tourist that had come to participate in the Midsummer festivities. With her long black hair tied back in a braid, the sheen of her hair almost red in the bright glows of the lacrima lampposts, Leah didn’t look like she posed a threat. She made no attempt to steer clear of anyone as she walked down the street, bumping shoulders and elbows. It drew a few angry looks but upon looking at her, most would then ignore it and continue on their way. In their eyes, they only saw a young innocent girl. Unlikely to be a threat, and would leave a bad aftertaste if they were to bully her.

The number of people began to grow as she neared the plaza in Rose Garden, where a carnival had been set up for the people of Rose Garden and other places to enjoy the longest night of the year. Despite being an assassin, she wasn’t at all detached to life and its happenings, be it sad or happy. She smiled as she watched the parents with their children, dating couples, aged husbands and wives, or just groups of friends enjoying themselves at the various stands and booths. A lady with her daughter walked past her, the young girl probably five years old and holding a cotton candy stick in her right hand as she skipped along, her other hand held tight in her mother’s grasp.

A shadow loomed above them, and Leah tilted her head back to see what was it. And she moved swiftly in the next second. She immediately moved into action, lunging at the lady and her daughter, pushing the mother away while Leah wrapped her arms around the young girl and rolled to one side. Behind her, a fireball was shot into the ground, charring the area around its area of impact. Leah groaned, having used her body to protect the young girl’s, saving her from any damage. The mother came over to pull them both up, dusting her daughter before asking if Leah was alright. But when she turned around, the petit assassin was already gone.

The female assassin was already climbing up a wall, which involved running at full speed towards it, and making a vertical run before pulling herself up the ledge. On the roof, above the crowd, Leah could see trouble brewing as a portal of green and yellow lights appeared out of nowhere above the carnival.

“That fireball was definitely not part of the show,” Leah mumbled to herself as she went nearer, moving across the rooftops.

[450 words]

@Kyran
@Victoria Sheridan

Kyran couldn't remember the last time he'd gone outside without his mask on. He'd spent weeks learning his new magic. More like hunting demons down to brutally remove them from this mortal plane Eae admonished him. The redhead shrugged. He didn't really care. It had been hard to care about anything lately. The death of his daughter, despite never knowing her, had hit him hard. There wasn't an end to this grief. 'That is because you will not let Gaia help you. The poor girl must be out of her mind by now. Go to her. Bring her to this festival. Find happiness again.' The angel almost sounded like she was pleading with him.

What had brought him to the festival? A last ditch effort to save himself? No. Kyran had stopped to see happiness one last time. The blood mage planned to plunge into the demon realm. He would fight until his last breath. Eae opened her mouth to speak again. "Enough, Eae. I will not go see Gaia. I can't..." He knew that doing so would end his crusade. Gaia was probably the one person who might talk sense into Kyran. He didn't want sense. Only the demons' blood would fill the aching gap in his soul. The blood mage turned to leave.

'Kyran, wait. Look below. Those do not seem natural, do they?' Kyran peered at the festival below. Strange lights flashed about the grounds. Above the carnival, a green and yellow portal opened up. Kyran scowled at the sight, reaching for his magic. The portal had a sinister gleam to it. Several shapes were dropping from the gateway. Each was humanoid but the similarities seemed to stop there. Some were tiny, sprouting wings and tossing fireballs. Others appeared to be made of light. Those made of light appeared to be attacking indiscriminately.

Kyran rose into the air. Wind spiraled at his feet, keeping him aloft. Light green wind also encircled his arms, ruffling the sleeves of his trenchcoat. Red and white vines threaded about his hands. When the vines stopped moving, Kyran's hands were encased in gauntlets. He pulled a pure white blade from his palm. The hilt appeared to be black wings wrapping up around the blade itself. Unseen by the world, a thick golden band encircled his index finger. A cut opened up upon Kyran's face. Focusing upon all the dark negative feelings he harbored, the blood mage brought forth his last spell for now. The swirling ball of blood became a wispy black spirit that sank into Kyran's body. He felt bolstered. Ready to take on whatever this threat was.

"Away from the portal!" He boomed, flying down. The wind ruffled people's hair as they ran by. "All civilians, away from the portal! Mages, throw up any defensive spells you know to protect them!" With that guidance, magic began to flair in opposition to the portal creatures. The civilians didn't calm down but at least they were all headed in one direction. Kyran hoped someone else would take the lead. He much preferred to fight independently. For now though... "Grave crimes deserve grave punishment!" Vines shot from the ground to entangle one of the light spirits. One of their opponents was out of the game for now.

WC: 544

Spells & Stuff:

Wearing her Azure Armor over a blue t-shirt with khaki cargo shorts and white tennis shoes, Victoria headed into Rose Garden for the first time in a long time. It had been months since she had broken the hold the Corlone crime family had maintained on Rose Garden and the town was thriving again. Today was the Midsummer Festival and the town looked appropriately festive. It was decorated with monochromatic banners in the "official" colors of summer, yellow being chief among them. People were out and about buying food from street vendors, buying souvenirs, or milling about and enjoying the festivities.

Victoria reached the outskirts of the town and was waiting for the crowd to thin out enough for her to get through when she saw an unusual sight. A green and yellow portal opened up over the festival and vaguely human shapes began to drop down among the people. Victoria heard the screaming from far away as people ran for their lives and stampeded for the exits. She pushed her way through the crowds to get to where the creatures were dropping in and prepared to fight for the people of Rose Garden.

She saw a mage floating on the wind doing battle with the creatures, so he was not part of the problem. She turned her attention to an enemy made of light who had a young woman with shoulder-length black hair literally against the wall. The young woman wore a pink tank top and blue jean short shorts with black tennis shoe and was protectively clutching a smaller black-haired girl wearing a pink dress and sandals. Victoria could not let the being of light threaten the people of Rose Garden with impunity. It was time to hand him and all his friends an eviction notice.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" Victoria shouted at the being. She waited until it turned to face her, then aimed and fired a Hand Cannon spell that hit it squarely in the chest and made it stagger. The dark-haired young woman took advantage of the distraction and ran past Victoria with her little sister in her arms.

"THANK YOU!" The young woman shouted. Victoria stepped forward to keep the enemy's attention on her as a few more stragglers hiding in nearby buildings opened the doors made good their escape.

"Now it's just you and me." Victoria remarked to the enemy... not that he actually expected it to respond. It tilted its head in annoyance, then rushed at her. Victoria aimed and fired a Derringer that hit it in the head and made it stop, then burst into bright light and disappear. She looked around and saw that no one else in the area needed rescuing, so she hurried to the friendly mage's aid.

-In the town center-

Victoria had hurried to the town center and had arrived just in time because another light being threatened an elderly couple huddled against a restaurant door. It drew its arm back and a ball of light formed around its fist. The elderly couple, fearing the end was near, closed their eyes and embraced each other for possibly the last time. Victoria ran as fast as she could and got between them, using the back of her Azure Armor to block the punch and sparing the couple from a hit they could not survive.

"GET OUT OF HERE! I'LL HANDLE THIS!" Victoria told them as she felt the burn through her armor. She then brought out her Submachine Gun and spun around, using her left hand to grab around the enemy's shoulder and hold it in place. She jammed the barrel of her weapon against the being's stomach and held down the trigger until the magazine ran dry. It danced at the end of the barrel and went limp once the weapon's magazine ran out; Victoria casually shoved it aside and it disappeared in a burst of light.

"Thank you so much, young lady!" The older man thanked her. The restaurant door finally opened and a female waitress guided the couple inside, getting them off the streets. Now that they were safe, Victoria had to keep searching for people who needed rescuing and defeat any enemies who got in her way.

[Word Count: 714]
[Victoria's Word Count: 714/1,500]

Like the scene out of an action movie, Leah was pleasantly surprised when a mage soared through the air above, calling out instructions that were amazingly clear to all on the ground despite the racket that the panic was causing. A myriad of creatures was emerging from the portal, and were terrorizing the townspeople. The first she took note of was the light elementals, humanoid creatures that were capable of zipping around the air despite an apparent lack of wings. Their complexion were tanned and ashen, but they were illuminated by the swirling patterns on their bodies, as if the patterns were carved into their bodies. Their orifices were similar lighted, two glowing orbs of yellow light in place of actual eyeballs.

Standing still on the roof, Leah watched as one of the light elementals were snatched out of the air by the sudden appearance of vines that shot out of the ground, effectively entangling it and preventing it from being a further menace. Gunshots rang out from the streets, but Leah was unable to discern where it was coming from. It was the catalyst to her springing into action, as she pulled out her weapon of choice, a black pistol she named Raven. With the agility of an acrobat, Leah flipped off the roof, timing her fall in time with a light elemental that had just dove in low to attack the many frightened townspeople below.

With her impeccable timing, both of Leah’s heel drove into the back of the light elemental, instantly dropping the creature while using it to cushion the fall. As the creature slammed into the ground, Leah kicked off her and landed to the side, before releasing three shots into the light elemental’s head. The bullets punched through the creature’s head, creating three new holes on the back of its head, bleeding light.

She stood back up and looked towards the portal, annoyed to find a few more of the creatures dive bombing the crowd. There was three flying low on the street she was in, flying in a triangle formation. The leader of the trio was shooting spikes of light from its hands, while the two behind were slamming balls of light into anything that moved. The only standing figure among the screaming and running crowd, as though a lone rock in the middle of a flowing river, Leah was arguably the most noticeable.

The leader of the trio put on a malevolent grin, as if it was a Cheshire cat, as it broke formation and zoomed towards Leah. As it prepared two more spikes of light in each hand, the assassin held her gun up, and unhesitatingly pulled off shot after shot. The light elemental was able to avoid the first two shots, veering off to one side, letting the two bullets hit one of the two behind it. But Leah immediately corrected her aim and send lead flying through the creature’s head and two more into its chest. An inhuman scream sounded out before the thing burst into light, disappearing.

“One down, two more to go!” Leah shouted as the other two elementals flew for her as well, eager to avenge their fallen brethren. The black-haired assassin smirked calmly, before making a lunging jump and promptly disappearing into a portal to the Dark Plane that she opened. The portal closed and another opened, this time directly above the light elemental just as it flew by. Again landing on the back of a light elemental, Leah kneeled down and clamped down her bionic arm on the creature’s neck from the back, while her right arm flew straight up to shoot down the other light elemental flying beside.

Five shots did the deed, all five shots hitting it in the torso. With the last one left, the one she was riding on which was trying desperately to shake her off, Leah put the gun to the back of the creature’s head and fired off three shots again. It took the creature down, exploding into bright light while Leah dropped to the ground, rolling to turn the kinetic energy into motion. She was unscathed from the encounter with the four light elementals so far, but she knew her limits especially when she barely scraped the bottom of what she had used to know.

The sound of gunshots sounded again, this time repeatedly. With her ears pricked up, Leah quickly identified the source of the sound and once more vaulted up onto the roofs, nimbly running across them. It proved to be faster than moving along with the crowd below as she quickly saw what she was looking for, just in time to watch a girl in short black hair pump one of the light elementals full with bullets, expending one entire magazine on only one creature.

Leah watched with a mix of amazement and humor, not sure if she should laugh out. While three to five bullets had been enough to end the light elementals earlier, for this girl to empty an entire magazine into the creature must indicate that she was rather pissed at them, or this situation. The assassin leapt off the roof, her braided hair flailing behind her, and landed in a half-kneel before standing back up.

"Nice weapon you got there," Leah remarked with a casual flick of her gun muzzle at the submachine gun in the girl's hands. "I'm Leah."

[900 words]
[Total WC: 1350 / 1500]

Kyran could hear the boom of gunfire. Water and fire spells flew through the air. Light beings attacked people at random. The fire sprites threw fire without hesitation. They giggled madly as they flew through the air. The blood mage scowled bringing up his dagger. Enough of this. 'Calm yourself, Kyran. Release your rage. Do not be consumed by it.' Eae cautioned. Kyran sneered at the angel's advice. Rage was the only thing keeping him going right now. Otherwise, he'd summon Kali down upon these fools. Placing his hand upon the dagger, the mage enacted his spell. "Death comes for everyone."

The blade glowed brightly. When it swung toward his targets, the blade extended rapidly. It bent and split to strike Kyran's opponents. The sprites shrieked as the blades pierced their stomachs. Several beings of light were also caught in the attack. Some dissipated immediately. Others spiraled to the ground leaking solid globules of light. Kyran humphed as the blade returned. The portal was spewing more elemental creatures. He'd barely taken out a fraction.

Several civilians were wounded below him. The blood mage lowered himself slowly. A sharp watch was kept for any more opponents. His hand raised toward the civilians. "Forgive and Forget!" Several white balls launched from his hand. Each sank into the chest of a civilian. A soft glow spread across their bodies, healing any injuries. Kyran also knew they'd be faster now. At least for a little while, they'd be able to escape from danger. "Go quickly! Runaway from the portal!" He told them before flying away.

Chaos ruled the carnival grounds below. Elemental beings terrorized civilians. Mages fought back desperately. There didn't seem to be much hope. Kyran hesitated to use his stronger spells. One, they would hit civilians. Two, most of the opponents were of average strength or lower. The portal didn't grow any weaker with their defeat either. It actually appeared to be growing bigger. The Blood mage mused over the developments. The elementals weren't in control of the portal. They were merely using it. That meant someone else was behind all of this. Defeating them was the key to bringing down the portal.

Kyran spotted a mage that could be of help. One was helping an old couple. Her form of helping being that she was emptying a magazine into an elemental's stomach. He began floating down towards her. Another mage - hopefully anyways - leaped off a nearby building. Kyran mentally added her to a list of potential allies. No other mage here seemed capable of the task set before them. The redhead hovered before the two women. Black attire covered him from head to toe, wifebeater, cargo pants, trenchcoat, and combat boots. Adding the black flickers dancing over his visible skin, it was an imposing sight for some people. Not that Kyran thought about it.

"The portal is growing larger with every second. Defeating these creatures doesn't seem to do anything." His arm blurred as he bisected a passing fire sprite. His expression didn't change. "I think there are others behind this, potentially mages. Would you two help me track them down? I cannot pick out the right scents in this crowd." The blood mage peered over his shoulder at the chaos. Something niggled at the back of his brain. 'Perhaps you should introduce yourself, Kyran. You do look like a dark mage. Eae prodded. Kyran thought there might have been some amusement in her voice.

The mage let the wind at his feet gather around his legs. Now safely on the ground, he bowed to the women. "My apologies for my rudeness. I'm Kyran Dyer of West Fiore Trading Company." 'Mr. Formal, simmering with such rage inside he scared his demons into silence.' Eae mocked him. Kyran grit his teeth. He straightened, forcing a smile onto his face. "I'll begin my search. I hope you will join me to make the process faster." The wind gathered under his feet once again. The blood mage flew away without a backward glance. This was a battle. There was no time for uncertainty.

'My, my someone has become confident. Actually, cold might describe it better. You need Gaia, Kyran. You're losing all sense of yourself. Everything people love about you is vanishing.' Eae scolded him. Kyran could feel the angel's wings beat against the walls of his mind. She'd been growing bolder these past weeks. Something to deal with once this battle was over. Kyran was done with his inner creatures thinking they were the boss. He controlled his body and mind. No one else.

WC: 785
Total: 1,329/1500

Spells & Stuff:

Victoria had just spotted some people who had been wounded in the initial stage of the attack when the black-clad male mage who had been floating in the sky and raining hell on the enemies floated down to solid ground healed them. He then bowed to them and greeted her and another female mage who Victoria had never seen before. The female introduced herself as Leah. The male introduced himself as Kyran Dyer of West Fiore Trading Company.

Leah was a dark-haired girl in dark clothing who was a few inches taller than Victoria and whose most noticeable feature was a metallic left arm with a red star on the shoulder. In her hand was a pistol that was of good make and an unknown model. Leah had complimented Victoria's Submachine Gun as a "nice weapon."

"Thanks Leah. It chews through the magazine fast, but it's a good weapon for close-quarters encounters. It also helps when you need a hand free to do other things." Victoria said to Leah. The taller girl looked like she knew her way around a firearm and could hold her own in a shooting match. Victoria dispelled the weapon because there was no immediate need for it and Kyran might take continuing to hold it as a sign of hostility. She turned from Leah to Kyran and spoke to him next.

Kyran was dressed in all-black clothing; wifebeater, cargo pants, trenchcoat, and combat boots, all black. The choice of attire made for a striking visual image, but it had to be uncomfortable on hot days. Now was not the time to critique the friendly mage's attire... an introduction was in order. She needed to make it fast because more enemies could arrive at any moment. She walked to a point where she could face both mages and introduce herself to them simultaneously.

"Hey Kyran. Hey Leah. I'm Victoria. Victoria Sheridan. I'm from the guild known as Sabertooth." Victoria introduced herself to Kyran and Leah. Now that the introductions had been made, a very important question came up. Who was going to "lead" the trio of mages into battle?

Victoria then remembered that Kyran had asked them to help him find the people or entities in charge of the attack. She was about to answer when four red-clad faeries with shimmering wings flew around a house behind Kyran and started to burn, slowly lowering themselves like they were about to torch the house. They were part of the attack, so Victoria summoned her Shotgun to take them out.

"Hang on guys. This is gonna get noisy." Victoria warned her two partners. She stepped a good fifty paces away from them and took careful aim at the first sprite that was plotting fiery mischief. She waited until it was clear of a house window and was floating in the open sky, then fired a single round of buckshot.

It squeaked and disappeared in a puff of fire, its wings floating down to earth. The remaining three sprites stopped their descent and looked at her in fear and surprise. Victoria did not hesitate and fired two more rounds of buckshot, defeating two of them with one shot each. They squeaked and disappeared exactly like the first defeated sprite had done.

The final one, clearly incensed by Victoria's temerity, overcame its fear and put its hands on its hips while glaring at Victoria like a child about to throw a tantrum. It then lit itself on fire and dove on the shotgun-wielding mage. Victoria carefully aimed at it and fired a Solid Slug shot when it was halfway to her... it took the Solid Slug squarely in its body and squeaked in pain before vanishing. Four fire sprites were gone and no property damage had been inflicted by the sprites or the shotgun-wielding mage.

Victoria dispelled her shotgun and nonchalantly walked back to Kyran and Leah to continue their conversation that had been rudely interrupted.

"Sorry about the interruption, guys." Victoria apologized to her companions. She then turned to Kyran.

"I'll help you, Kyran. Just tell me where I need to go." Victoria informed the West Fiore Trading Company mage of her willingness to help.

[Word Count: 710]
[Victoria's Word Count: 1,424/1,500]

Just as she had met up with the woman with the submachine gun and introduced herself, a third mage approached them from the skies. He was an imposing sight, completely dressed in black and looking every bit a rogue or mercenary. In normal circumstances, Leah would have definitely take the guy to be a dark mage, a very biased perception based on the form of dressing, but also one that was often quite accurate. But in this festival turned chaos, every bit of magical help would be good, even if the wielders might not necessarily be on the same side in normal situations. Aside from that, Leah could also feel the extent of their magical powers, the air slightly heavier here than elsewhere.

Her gut feeling told her that these two mages were way above her current capabilities, and the gap between them was a wide chasm. Leah smiled when Victoria explained about her weapon, the former’s eyes glinting a little she listened to the explanation. She was going to have to upgrade her armory as well sooner or later. And then it was the male mage’s turn to speak.
When he spoke, his voice was intense but his expression neutral. It was a brief but concise summary of the entire situation at hand. And even with his magical prowess there was a limit to what he could do alone. A fire sprite chose the wrong moment to approach them, instantly cut into half with a swift move from the dark-clad mage, as if it was an automatic response as he paid no heed to it and continued speaking.

And just as he finished speaking, the girl known as Victoria Sheridan, suddenly put a pause to their conversation and whipped out another gun. Leah could recognize the make of the weapon, identifying it as a shotgun and smirking when the discharge proved her right. With the same ease that Kyran had shown in slicing that fire sprite apart, Victoria took down four fire sprites that had been intending to burn down a house with absolute nonchalance. The report from her shotgun rang out loud four times, the sprites torn apart by the buckshot.

Is this show-and-tell time? What’s with all the sprites appearing out of nowhere for them to kill so relaxedly? Leah turned her head to the left and right, finding to see if there were any fire sprites for her to show her worth as well. It was a disappointing no.

The lady then returned, and agreed to Kyran’s suggestion. Knowing that the two of them would be more than enough, Leah nodded as well. She might not be able to inflict as much damage, but she could just run around keeping the townspeople of Rose Garden out of harm. She figured that the fire sprites and light elementals would still be within her ability to take down, but as she looked at the portal, throwing its jazzy green and yellow lights above the town, she had a deep, unsettled feeling that something much worse would be coming soon.

“Got it,” was Leah’s answer as she leapt back to the roofs and made her way towards the portal. She figured that if anyone was remotely controlling the portal and keeping it stabilized, they would have to be close. As she leapt through the rooftops, every step measured, a light elemental began to bank in on her flank while a fire sprite each came up on her sides.

“Now you guys show up!” Leah grumbled, as her right hand flew to her holstered weapon. As she reached the edge of the roof she was running on, the assassin kicked off at the very edge but instead of moving forward, the girl flipped up into the air, performing a backwards flip. Her descending feet was timed perfectly to smash into the light elemental as it zoomed in for the kill, smacking it right in the head and dropping it to the roof. Leah dropped down into a crouch as well, and fired off two shots into the light elemental’s head before rolling back, just as the fire sprites crossed paths right where she had been earlier.

Their bodies were lit with fire, and they had intended to tackle her. As they separated and made another try at divebombing her, Leah lazily raised up her gun and fired off four shots. Two for each, as they burst into flames and sizzled out in the air.

A sudden stream of flame bursting into the air not too far away from her position caught her attention. Was this fire from her temporary allies or the enemies Kyran had wanted to find? Leah was unsure of what to expect, but she wasn’t backing down, quickly getting up and resuming her flight across the roofs towards the source of the flame.

[806 words]
[Total WC: 2156 / 1500]

Victoria and Leah. An interesting pair of mages. Kyran didn't sense much magic coming from Leah. It wasn't wise to underestimate someone based on magic though. He should know that the best. There was a feeling in his gut. Leah had more to her than met the eye. Victoria, on the other hand, was interesting for an entirely different reason. The magic pouring off of her was intense. She was powerful. Powerful enough that Kyran had only felt magic power like that one other time. This was the pinnacle of what a mage could become.

'Feel like bowing, oh great and terrible master? She is clearly your superior after all. Kissing her boots might be enough to let her teach you to become a real man...I mean mage. Eae's mocking sarcasm knew no bounds. Kyran wished he could throttle the angel right now. It would make the day much more satisfying. His head would finally go silent. Only the blood mage and his thoughts. Victoria interrupted Kyran's dark mood. Her precision impressed the redhead. It stirred a long-dormant piece of himself. A muse he'd not been in touch with recently. His hands itched to pen this heroine. His mind put together a rough storyline in moments. No time.

Kyran shook himself as Victoria deferred to him. Another shock for the blood mage. He blinked scrambling to try and put together something coherent. "Um..." The rapidly expanding portal caught his eye. "The portal is growing too rapidly for the creator to not be nearby. Likely there are at least three groups keeping it stable while it grows to whatever end. " Leah was gone already. Not one to wait then? Kyran gestured toward the far side of the portal. "I would suggest searching north to west points of the portal. I'll search south to west. Leah will hopefully head toward the nearby side of the portal."

The winds pushed Kyran into the air again. The utilization of his increased speed quickly placed him south of the portal. The air was thick with the elemental beings pouring from the portal. Kyran debated using spells on them. His newer spells could catch all of them in one go. That would only deal with a symptom of this disease. Dealing with the cause of the portal would be more beneficial in the long run. The blood mage turned away to look for anything strange.

A spear of light caught him in the side. He roared with pain. Anger. Whichever. An enemy dared to attack him? Their blood would run! Tut, tut. That's the Kyran I know but remember you're representing Onyx Moon no longer. You are WFTC now. Do not overdo it. Kyran grudgingly admitted the angel was correct. Rampaging across the town wasn't an option. He twisted in the air to face his attacker.

Several mages stood in a circle. They wore long white robes with many stylized pictures upon them. A thin nimbus of wind and fire covered most of the mages. Two stood before them. One was crafting another spear of light. "Winter shall come no more! The cold will die! Any person who tries to stop us will perish! We are the Dawn! The New Age of Forever Summer begins now!" Apparently the dark clothing and menacing scowl had marked him out as an opponent. 'Ya think?' There was a wind mage among the group. That was good news for Kyran.

"I'll give you one chance to surrender!" Kyran called down. He analyzed the shield quickly. It wasn't top notch but it would absorb enough damage to keep Kyran at bay. During that short time, the mages outside the barrier could attack with impunity. He'd have to deal with them first. "We are the Dawn! We are inevitable! We will not surrender!" The mage fired another spear. This one was avoided easily. 'At least you attempted diplomacy first' Eae grumbled as Kyran grinned slowly.

"Then you leave me no choice!" Kyran said sucking in deeply. Mystical green wind appeared accenting the action. "Sky Demon's... RAGE!" Pure power spouted from the slayer's mouth. The Dawn members barely had time to scream. The column of light green wind cut through them easily. The shield held for a moment before crumbling. The remaining Dawn members collapsed from Kyran's spell moments later. He slowly closed his mouth cutting off the spell. They were down. No reason to kill them unnecessarily. They weren't demons after all.

The blood mage turned toward the portal. How were Leah and Victoria doing? Had they also found groups of mages? A rumbling caused renewed screaming from any remaining civilians. Kyran looked up at the portal. There was an odd mixture of fear and anticipation in his heart. Something was coming. Something large. Something powerful. Whatever it was didn't want to wait for the portal to close. It was probably some end game for Dawn. A large smile crept across Kyran's face. He couldn't wait to meet it.

WC: 829
2,158/1500

Spells&Stuff:

Victoria listened to Kyran and learned that he wanted them to seek out enemy mages believed to be prime players in the attack on the festival. Victoria was eager to end the attack because her mission as a Sabertooth mage was to guard the world from threats of an otherworldly nature. She believed that the Fire Sprites and Light Elementals comfortably fit the definition of "otherworldly" threats. She also had a personal reason for her zeal in exterminating the threat coming out of the portal.

As a former member of Black Rose and one of the only ones still around, she was obligated to protect Rose Garden from threats. She interrupted her thoughts to watch Leah pull a vanishing act and climb a rooftop leading to the north, one of the directions that Kyran wanted the group to cover. With the north being claimed by the other mage, the brunette would be going west to search for the mages.

"Looks like I'm going west." Victoria declared to no one in particular since Kyran had taken to the sky to find enemies. She hurried off to the western part of town to prevent it from being destroyed by the enemies raining down from the portal.

-Western Rose Garden-

Victoria hurried to the western part of the city and paused in place when she spotted two male mages wearing cloaks standing in front of a bakery made out of bricks. Inside was a black-haired young woman wearing a red shirt under a white apron hiding behind the counter in fear of what was about to happen to her and her shop. The two men turned their attention from the bakery to her.

One of the cloaks was red and the other was yellow; that was likely a hint as to the nature of their magic, but they could also be deliberately misleading her in drawing false conclusions. In the end it did not matter what magic they used because they would be stopped by the end of the day.

"Your efforts will be in vain!" The yellow cloak-wearing man boldly asserted.

"Summer will ascend to its rightful place as the ruling season of the year!" The red cloak-wearing man declared. Both of them raised their hands and began to channel their type of magic, which was fire for the red man and light for the yellow man. Victoria put her hands together and fired a Taser Spark that hit the light-wielding mage in the shoulder, causing him to yell in pain and fall to the ground, where his legs started twitching uncontrollably as electric current danced through his body. The fire mage launched a cone of flame at her that licked at her legs and deposited several sparks on her right leg, catching the hem of her shorts on fire.

Victoria frantically patted out the sparks, burning her hands in the process but preventing the rest of the garment from catching fire and distracting her even more. The fire mage laughed at her and launched another cone of flame in her direction that would have caught her right sleeve had she not ducked. Victoria aimed and fired a Derringer spell at his left shoulder, hitting him and making him yell.

Victoria rushed at the wounded enemy and delivered a fist to the face, knocking him onto his back. She was about to kick him when a spear of light hit the left pauldron of her armor and stuck out of it, causing burning pain in her shoulder. The light mage had recovered and joined the fight... not that it mattered.

Victoria jumped back to avoid a cone of flame to the face, then ducked to dodge a follow-up fireball lobbed at her that hit the brick wall a good distances away, where it dissipated and left a black impact crater the size of a baseball. She brought out a Flashbang and threw it in their direction, then shielded her eyes. The device emitted a BANG and the enemies screamed, giving her enough time to take one of them out of the fight and turn it from a two-on-one to a one-on-one fight. Victoria chose to deal with the fire mage first.

She rushed up to him and hit him with a one-two punch combo to the face, then finished with a forceful straight to the face. The fire mage sprawled to the stony ground and fell unconscious, leaving only the light mage remaining. Victoria hurried to deal with him, but he recovered in time to infuse his fists with light and ran to meet her in hand-to-hand combat.

Victoria landed two punches to his chest but took a right cross to the face in return that burned her cheek like she had just gotten a sunburn. The light mage went for an uppercut that Victoria sidestepped just in time to feel the heat of the light-infused fist rush by her head. She retaliated with a side kick that hit him in the chest and staggered him. He opened his hands and pushed them outward, firing needles of light that embedded themselves in her armor and her face, causing burning pain wherever they hit.

Victoria ignored the pain and sprinted at the man, who was caught off guard by her action. She slammed into him with her shoulder, then jumped on top of him and began to beat him with her fists. She landed on top of him and landed eight unanswered punches in the face, then punched him one last time and knocked him out.

"Lights out, asshole." Victoria snarked at the unconscious mage who was now gifted with a badly bruised face. She stepped away from him, removed the needles of light from her armor and face, then focused her healing magic and cast Field Hospital to bring herself back to health. Once that was done she took a minute to catch her breath before waiting for the next enemy to present itself.

[Word Count: 1,006]
[Victoria's Word Count: 2,430/1,500]

Slowing her approach as she neared the source of the flames, just in time to witness four streams of flames light up the sky. The whoosh of hot air stung her eyes and face but Leah held steady and peeked over the top of the roof. Her eyes wandered around the street, and finally she found her quarry. Two males, their hands aflame. One of them was whooping and cheering as the other male threw out another blast of flames from his hands held outstretched in front of his chest, the horizontal column of flames punching into a shield made entirely out of water. The mage behind the water shield strained to hold the flames back, his knees almost buckling as the intense heat from the flames began to get to him.

The fire mage continued putting more pressure and in a sudden explosion of steam, the entire water shield was shattered, the flames throwing the water mage off his feet and onto his back. Upon closer inspection, Leah could see that the water mage, a man in his fifties, had other burn marks on his limbs, with the upper part of his clothing burnt with multiple holes in it. And despite the injuries so far, the man was still getting back up on his feet.

“You imbeciles!” the man roared as he performed a pulling motion with both his arms, and then thrusting them to the front. Two spears of water formed and shot forward in the direction he was pointing, but the two fire mages, young and cocky guys in their early twenties, simply created a ring of fire in front of themselves. The twin water spears evaporated when it neared the ring of fire, leaving nothing but steam behind.

“It is the night of Lord Cernunnos, and those wielding light and flame shall be blessed!” the one on the right shouted out.

“And judged be those who stand in his way!” the other one continued in comedic fashion. Leah raised a single eyebrow before pulling out her P220 pistol. The water mage looked adamant to fight it out, despite being on the losing end. It was obvious that this Lord Cernunnos that they spoke of was giving them some kind of boost in their powers. Otherwise, Leah had no doubt that the water mage could have easily taken care of the two upstarts. But it was losing battle and if he wasn’t careful, it wouldn’t be the only thing he was going to lose.

As the battle restarted between the two sides, still only one fire mage battling it out against the older water mage, Leah skulked around the rooftops in a slow manner. The only way she could take down the two fire mages was through assassination. A head-on fight would give her no benefits at all. With the P220 loaded and silenced through magical means, Leah threw herself back into a portal and reappeared from a similar portal in the next second above the idle fire mage, dropping down behind the mage, her legs slightly bent to absorb the impact.

Two gunshots rang out in the night amidst the mage’s excited shouts, quickly turning it into howls of pain. When she had dropped to the ground, Leah had directed her aim at the mage’s thighs, shooting them from behind. The mage instantly dropped to his knees, screaming again in the process. The other fire mage turned around in shock to see two bleeding holes in his partner’s thighs and a girl standing behind him. Rage took over his expression, but before he could do anything, a cube of water as tall as he was smashed into him and sent him flying into the wall.

“Good one, mister!” Leah called out, with the water mage letting out a relieved smile. But the smile faded as quickly as it had appeared when multiple gunshots ended the whimpering mage’s life, all of the bullets directed the back of his head. Blood and brain matter splattered out of the messy wound, to which the assassin had dexterously avoided having any spilled on her by jumping back as she shot. The gunshots roused the other fire mage from his daze, climbing up from the ground with a furious look on his face.

As he raised a hand to shoot out a fireball at her, the girl reacted equally fast, firing off three shots at his arm. She blew off his elbow with the final shot, prompting an inhuman scream from the mage as the flames disappeared from his hand. He cradled it with a whimper, and for once, fear began to seep into his expression. He had never fought anyone like this girl before, the rules of combat completely ignored.

As he withdrew, each step gaining speed, while still watching Leah, the latter grinned again and fired off as many shots as she could, peppering the mage’s body with bullet wounds. She only stopped because the weapon was continuously clicking with each press of the trigger, the magazine emptied.

“You’re welcome,” the assassin said without so much as a bat of eyelid, jumping back onto the roofs towards the portal.

[860 words]
[Total WC: 3016 / 1500]

Kyran watched the portal intently. The rumbling was increasing every few seconds. It was getting closer. The mages he'd dealt with groaned loudly. A few attempted to roll over. 'Maybe you went a little overboard?' Eae said, disapproval clear in her voice. The blood mage didn't much care what the angel thought. There had been a threat and he'd dealt with it. That was what they were meant to do. They weren't dead. Some of them probably would never walk again but they weren't dead. That was what mattered. The reputation of WFTC was intact. The angel flapped her wings against his mind. 'Idiot!'

The redhead never had a chance to respond. A massive leg pushed its way through the portal. This was it. Whatever was coming through was the reason behind the panic, the attacks, everything. Perhaps it had even managed to orchestrate it all. Kyran could barely contain his excitement. Something new and a strong opponent to fight. This was perfect. He looked around for any civilian wind mages. Fighting this thing at full power would be a dream come true. There! The blood mage lowered himself toward a cluster of wind mages. They were holding off a group of Dawn members.

The creature continued to exit the portal. Its horned head was level with the rooftops. Its furred chest was nearly as wide as a wagon. Talons tipped each of its curled fingers. It appeared to be an uneven mix of man and beast. Power exuded from its form. Taking a deep breath, the creature threw back its head and roared. Mages with light or fire magic began to glow. Their magic grew more powerful. It hit harder, struck faster. Those that had summoned the creature fired spells into the air. An impromptu response to their god's roar.

"Hit me with your wind spells!" Kyran cried out. He flung his hand toward the Dawn members. Red-white vines sprouted from the ground. They rapidly enveloped one of the opposing mages. The wind mages looked at Kyran like he was crazy. 'They're not wrong. The Dawn members sent a lance of fire into Kyran's shoulder. He scowled at them. They were cutting into his ability to fight a strong opponent. "Have a playmate! Izanami of Rage!" Blood gathered at the ends of his fingers. When it burst, there was a tall mass of dark hair. Hair that stretched out rapidly to encase the members of Dawn.

"Now that they're dealt with. Hit me with your strongest wind spells." Kyran said, somehow keeping his rage under control. The mages all looked at each other. As one they raised their hands. Each spell they fired off, Kyran absorbed. He felt his power growing rapidly. 'You're lucky they didn't try to damage you.' Eae chided once the onslaught was done. Kyran ignored her, saluting the mages. Now he could face the monster at full strength.

The slayer reached deep inside himself. The lacrima that his brother had forced into his chest had been an unexpected boon. Now it would help him go toe to toe with a monster. His body changed subtly, his fingers growing small talons, his ears becoming slightly pointer. His canines grew sharp while his irises turned catlike. White wind mixed with green wind wrapping around his body. Kyran now exuded an aura of holy wind. Power flooded his body. It was exhilarating. He'd only managed to reach this state once before. It could get addicting having this much power flowing through one's body. 'It's the last thing we need you getting addicted to.' Eae grumbled while Kyran rose into the air once more.

He dismissed his ring and dagger. They'd be of little use in this battle. The gauntlets he only kept for added protection. The rest of his spells were kept intact as well. Their benefits outweighed any negatives. The creature was ignoring him. It had turned its attention to the carnival. It almost appeared as if it was enjoying kicking things over. Was it a simpleton? That wouldn't make for a good battle. Regardless, time to get its attention.

A spiraling column of light green wind struck the creature in the side. It bellowed despite not having taken much damage. Cernunnos turned towards its attacker. Who would dare strike the god of Summer? Kyran's next spell struck Cernunnos in the face. Black tendrils slammed into its skin before retracting. They left behind a ruined eye and several black rings that ate into its skin. The tendrils danced behind the wind Slayer. A taunt for the creature to counter-attack.

Cernunnos didn't disappoint. A beam of light slammed into Kyran's midsection. He felt his black spirit absorb some of the damage before dissipating. No time to recast it. The blood mage slammed into several buildings from the force of the spell. He laughed, spitting up blood. Now, this was a fight! He flew back towards Cernunnos, spreading rubble in his wake. "Yes! This is what I wanted! Come! Hit me with everything you've got, monster!" Kyran shouted. He gathered his strongest spells. It would be a fight for the ages.

Wind ravaged the battlefield. Light and fire decimated the earth. Whatever remained of the carnival was swept aside in this titanic battle. Kyran threw spell after spell. He was struck again and again. Nothing stopped his insane laughter as he clashed with Cernunnos. The blood mage had entirely forgotten about the other mages, the civilians, everything. All that mattered was this battle. Both the mage and the monster were weakened. Every spell Kyran threw that managed to find its mark drained Cernunnos a little more. Every strike Kyran took threatened to knock him unconscious.

Kyran could feel the end of this fight drawing near. Cernunnos could feel it as well. Each combatant paused. This strike would be their last. Kyran gathered a spell in one hand. It wasn't powerful but it was the best his tired arms could handle. The fighters nodded in respect to each other. A colossal boom echoed through the square. The scene froze for only a moment. Kyran's hands were on Cernunnos' chest. The monster's fist was flat against Kyran's body. After that moment, Kyran began falling from the sky. Some watching cried out in horror. Their champion had been defeated?

Then it became clear. Cernunnos was slowly disintegrating. Sparkling motes rose into the air all around him. There was a smile on his face. He looked down upon the unconscious form of his foe. Despite being thwarted in his plans, the monster bowed to his opponent. It had been a good fight. With the bow, Cernunnos disappeared entirely. Rose Garden was safe once more.

WC: 1112
3,270/1500

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