Fighting for Freedom

Link to Job: https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t2876-freedom-at-last
Job sign up approval: https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t39447p875-job-sign-up-thread#398224

Izou raced across the roofs, trying his best to keep his steps light as he ran at full speed. It was a futile attempt though, his armored feet crushing shingles every time they landed. It certainly wasn’t helping that he was running in full armor, armed with a long, red spear that he held in his right arm. Running equally fast on the roofs on the other side of the road was another person. The man, dressed in a black cloak and armed with two wickedly sharp sabers with jagged edges like the blade of a saw, was keeping up with him and was frequently throwing glances at the Dies Irae mage.

On the other hand, the red armored mage was barely giving him any attention. His eyes were completely fixated at the horse carriage that was being driven at top speed, recklessly mowing down anything or anyone that had not gotten out of its way, throwing the entire street market into pandemonium. Countless people down on the streets were either screaming in shock, in pain or cursing at the horse carriage. But they didn’t know what was truly at stake.

An arrow whistled through the air, forcing Izou to activate Combat Form, repelling the arrow as it struck him but despite the magical protection, the impact still hurt. A few more arrows flew through the air and struck his back, with one of them striking the back of his knee, causing him to stumble. It was another man in black cloak, wielding a longbow the same height as himself, shooting arrows of light. Izou dropped to his right knee, the one that was struck from the back, while the archer continued closing in on him, still shooting as many arrows.

The other mage on the other side of the road merely smirked as he raced on ahead, whistling loudly. It was a signal to the carriage driver and the driver obviously heard the mage with the dual sabers, as the carriage began to slow down slightly, allowing the latter to catch up. Gritting his teeth, Izou got back up on his feet and ran forward a few steps before abruptly disappearing in a flash of pale blue light, just as five arrows shot through where he had been earlier. The archer cursed vehemently and immediately stowed away his longbow to keep up the chase.

On the other hand, Izou reappeared just a second later right above the carriage, holding his hands out to find his balance. A loud thump near the back of the carriage drew his attention and he turned around to face the dual saber-wielding black cloaked mage. Without a single word, the two of them began a precarious duel atop the speeding carriage. The man was dressed like a cowboy, wearing a ten-gallon hat and black boots with spurs. The mage moved with extreme agility, swinging his sabers with ease with the occasional back kick, attempting to use his sharp spurs to slice through Izou’s throat.

But the knight errant wasn’t any easy target. Standing with a wide stance, Izou didn’t even move an inch as he fought back with his red spear, constantly swinging it to slash. It was deadlock, with the two of them unable to find any advantage over the other. And that was when the archer jumped in. Shooting arrow after arrow at Izou, the knight errant was forced to defend on both sides. His defense was slowly being overwhelmed and within a few more exchanges, he knew the jagged saber would claim his head.

However, the next moment changed all that. As one of the stall owners scrambled to pull his stall out of the way of the galloping horses, a watermelon dropped from his stall and rolled right under the carriage. The watermelon was squashed but the disturbance had caused the carriage to quake at the worst possible time. Izou dropped down low and the saber slashed through the air above his head, and with a smirk, the knight errant thrust his spear forward with a one-armed push.

The tip of the spear was blocked by the other saber but it was more than enough. It disrupted the swordsman’s movements enough for Izou to push his left palm out with force, releasing a surge of magical energy that struck the black-cloaked cowboy swordsman and threw him off the back of the carriage. Returning his spear to his Requip dimension to free up his hand, Izou then gathered a ball of flames in his now-empty right hand and threw it at the archer who was keeping up with them.

There was a shrill cry and the archer was suddenly slammed in the chest by a flaming bird, causing him to lose his footing and fall to the ground below, landing on top of a stall and crushing it.

The driver turned around to look with a pale expression on his face and Izou smirked in response. The knight errant clambered to the front of the carriage and dropped down right into the seat right beside the driver and with a single punch sent the man off his seat and rolling on the ground. Izou grabbed onto the reins and pulled them in tight, forcing the horses to slow down and eventually stop.

When the carriage did finally stop, Izou hopped off his seat and summoned his spear once again and tapped on the window.

“I am Izou Ikkouyou from the Dies Irae. You have nowhere else to go. Release the kids and come out with your hands in the air!” the knight errant shouted out, loud enough for the crowd that was forming around them to hear. Immediately, the crowd began to murmur to each other, the news spreading from one to another like a wildfire.

After a few minutes, the door finally opened and two men stepped down with their hands up in the air. They were dressed in the same black cloaks that the driver and two mages had worn. With a miserable expression on their face, the two of them alighted from the carriage, faced with the sharp tip of Izou’s spear.

As he held them at spear point, a group of Rune Knights began to make their way through the crowd. Between them was the driver, his hands tied up and his head hung low as he was brought over. One of the Rune Knights went into the carriage and five kids began to alight from the carriage one by one, their faces tearful and terrified.

“Thank you, Mr Ikkouyou for your assistance in this child kidnapping case. You can hand the perpetrators over to us while you collect your reward from the local office,” the leader of the squad exclaimed as his men came forward to secure the other two kidnappers.

“What happened to the swordsman and archer?”

“They were pros. They fled the moment they were defeated. However, they were hired mercenaries. We’ve got the mastermind now,” the man spoke up again.

“I see, good luck then,” Izou said as he turned around and disappeared into the crowd. When he finally walked out from the crowd, the young man was already back in his casual clothes and a cigarette held between his lips as he walked with a leisurely pace.

After accepting his reward for the job, the Dies Irae mage moved on to the next item on his agenda. He was to go to Mountain Village, meet up with a few others from the guild and exterminate a dark guild that had been terrorizing Mountain Village.

After half a day of travelling, the knight errant finally arrived at the rendezvous point. He had already seen two figures waiting, making him the last of the trio to arrive. When he finally approached them, the black-haired mage lit a cigarette before apologizing and introducing himself to the others at the same time.

“Hi, I’m Izou. I hope I’m not late.”

[1324 words]
[Total WC: 1324 / 14000]

Nathaniel had been following unusual activity of a dark guild for a week now, leading him to the Mountain Village through vital information he had extracted from a member of the dark guild to whom he had appropriately thanked before cutting his head off, and that was a day ago.  As it is his personal crusade, he would often go out on his own to eradicate evil such as this. Fortune would continue to favor the crusader however when he had received a message from his iLac while on his way to the mountain village that he had been assigned to formally hunt the dark guild down under Dies Irae official business. Perfect, Nat thought, and have been told additional information that he will be joined by two more mages from Dies Irae, making it even better. The message also contained coordinates for a rendezvous point  which was nearby, he only had to walk a few more feet to get to it.

At the site, Nat had time to relax and await reinforcements before they deal with their target. From his pack he took out a a transparent case which contained a slice of cake from his bakeshop. He indulged in the said cake as he sat down on the ground slowly savoring every piece he would take out with a fork he had brought along as well. He had been one to slowly eat a piece of dessert, as if analyzing every ingredient, taste and even how the cake was made. He would do this especially so with his own cakes so to see if there could be any room for improvement. Also because he only has this one slice and he would like to save it as much as he could. That being said, it had been hours now since he started and he wasn't even half-way through the slice. Fortunately, he didn't feel the time pass by.

Then, the winds suddenly grew stronger, and there was a beast in the horizon. It looked like a dragon. Naturally it made Nat stand up and prepare himself despite it looking benevolent. Not long after though, a young woman stepped down from the creature and introduced herself quite enthusiastically which reminded him of Masha. He couldn't help but smile at how cute she is, as it would appear that most of Dies Irae's members have infectious personalities. He listened to her intently which was rather enjoyable in his opinion, really interesting. What was more interesting that her companion was speaking to them both telepathically. And it seems to balance out Illya with her seriousness.

"I'm Nathaniel Stratford. You can call me Nat. he replied respectfully. Putting a hand on his chest as he spoke.  "I wield the light against the darkness of evil. And I personally welcome your supportive skills in our job. You'll do great, I just know it." he continued happily, making sure to cheer up the girl. Not long after, Izou, a man Nat had worked with before in Shirotsume arrived as well and this time, it was Yemaya who spoke for both her and Illya No need to apologize. It's fine. She's refreshing actually. he remarked before picking up his pack and getting ready to move out. "I suggest we move into town and stop some local trouble. Maybe capture one and get him to talk. What about you Izou?" he asked as he acknowledged Izou's tactical brilliance.

WC: 572
Nat's: 572
Thread Total: 2,594
@Izou @Illya Pegasus

While there was no change in his lazy expression, Izou was quite surprised by a large creature like a feathery dragon behind the youngest of the trio. He had never met Illya before, smiling slightly at the banter between master and pet, with the pet being the more rational one out of the two. The other member of the trio was Nathaniel, a fellow guild member as well that he had worked with before. The leadership and charisma that he exuded was no joke despite his current low rank in the guild but Izou knew that given the chance and time, Nathaniel would grow to become one of the many pillars holding up Dies Irae. The man got things done with military efficiency.

The three of them were quite balanced in terms of their personalities, with Nathaniel being the serious one, Izou the casual and Illya the excited one. With his arrival, the team of soldiers assigned to eradicate the dark guild terrorizing the village was finally completed and Nathaniel’s aptitude for leadership was naturally exhibited in a non-forceful manner that Izou appreciated. Izou listened to the man’s suggestion, lowering the cigarette from his lips before putting it back and took a deep breath before giving his reply.

“I agree with your idea. But we don’t want to alert the dark guild members too early as well. It would be better if we could do it one sweep. What do you think if we split up? Nat and I will enter the town from different locations and we each capture one member to interrogate for more information. Getting information from two sources would also help us cross check the information they spill, to avoid getting misled with the wrong information,” Izou suggested, adding on to Nathaniel’s original idea. Another puff was taken before the cigarette butt was suddenly alight with orange flames as it was pinched between Izou’s fingers, reduced to ashes that the black-haired male mage got rid of by flicking away.

He then turned towards Illya and her huge companion before speaking the next part of his plan.

“Illya and Yemaya will play a key role as well. Yemaya’s size would definitely put the dark guild into red alert mode, so I suggest that Illya and Yemaya can get a good look of the town’s layout from high above. Careful not to hover too low or they might find it suspicious. We only have three mages and one dragon to take down an entire dark guild, so knowing the layout of the town would be beneficial to us. Are you okay with this arrangement?”

As he waited for their replies, Izou pulled out a white pack from his pant pocket and pulled out a cigarette. A small wave of flames flared from his fingers and rolled down the cigarette, not harming it in the slightest until it reached the end and ignited the cigarette before Izou brought it up to his lips again. He took a peek into the paper box, frowning slightly as he saw that there was only three more left. Maybe he could buy one in the village later.

[524 words]
[Total WC: 3118 / 10000]