Hunting Hunters (Job: Irina, Jin)

The member 'Irina Naginata' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Jin wasn’t aware of the new enemies that had appeared; he only noticed Irina moving around for a little while. After that, someone fell off the area where Jin had left Irina, for a moment his heart stopped thinking that it might be Irina. However, when he looked up and noticed her, he relaxed a bit; it would have been unbearable for him if something had happened to a friend he had left behind. It was true that he had only left her there so he could take out the foes that were awaiting them but still, he wouldn’t have forgiven himself for leaving her for a while. Regardless, Jin and Kaya made their way to the weak foe who was barely conscious. ”Did they hear us? I was too reckless”, Kaya leapt on top of the injured treasure hunter forgetting that she had shrunk back to her chibi form. She smacked the face of the treasure hunter around with her tiny paws, the guy was so hurt that he fainted as a result. ”Why you attack us, ya big lil meanie you!!! You hurt grumpy lady, I hurt you!!”, apparently Kaya didn’t care that the guy fainted since she didn’t stop hitting him. Jin deducted that the guy fainted from the fall and Kaya’s punches or strikes weren’t even registering as hits.

”Now now, he’s already unconscious Kaya” he gently said as he removed Kaya from the treasure hunter. The bullet wounds weren’t bleeding anymore but the pain was still there, it would take a little while for the pain to subside. He would have to get them looked at once they would return but the good thing was that the bullets had caused only a flesh wound. Considering the amount of damage Jin had endured in a few other jobs, this was nothing. Jin and Kaya made their way back to where Irina was so they could regroup. He noticed that someone was with Irina and from the looks of it, it wasn’t an enemy since the two weren’t fighting. ”A strange place to find a friend” commented Jin as he got closer to the two ladies. ”Kuuuu…” Kaya coldly stared the new female who had just appeared, making a strange sound Jin had never heard before. ”Please don’t mind Kaya, she means well” nervously said Jin as he scratched the back of his head and smiled. ”I’m Jin, pleased to meet you” said Jin as he stretched his hand which was shaken by the female, ”I’m Nova, pleased to meet you too Jin-sama” replied the shy female.

Irina watched as Jin and Nova shook hands however that didn't seem to stop Nova from clinging her Irina's waste. Great a clingy obsessive type. Irina though to her self looking over at Jin with the most annoyed face she could possibly make. "Why do I always get the odd ones?" She asked him while trying to push away Nova a bit. "You can let go now." She stated attempting to get back on track this was certainly the most annoying thing she has ever had to deal with.

After finally getting Nova to let go Irina found herself needing to sit down, her ankle was feeling much worse than it did a moment ago probably due to the amount of footwork she pulled off. She sat down and pulled off her boot to discover the foot being quite swelled. "Well ain't that just swell." She grumbled completely oblivious to the pun she just made. She wasn't going to be able to do much in her current condition. "Jin you can cool it right?" She asked turning to her partner while Nova watched from a shy distance. "Um what's your name?" The girl asked Irina as Irina never introduced herself. "My name is Irina." She stated with a sigh, she was still a bit annoyed about the previous altercation. She spent a moment to think while allowing Jin some time to cool off her ankle. She realized that they now how an agent of their target before them, she would be perfect for guiding them right to Harper Goldshine or whoever he sent in his stead. "Oy, you know where Goldshine is?" She asked Nova with a rather blunt tone. "He's our intended target, and I don't intend to leave empty handed." She explained to the girl who was seemingly snapped out of a trance. "Uh yes mam whatever you need mam." She said as if she was just ordered rather than questioned. "You can cut the formalities." Irina said returning to her previous annoyed tone.

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Word Count: 336

Jin couldn’t help but find Nova a tad bit funny, she was clinging to Irina like a little kitten. Kaya being a kitten (sort of) herself in a chibi form, wasn’t really pleased with Nova. Probably because she was the only kitten in the group before, now there was another behaving like a kitten. The attention that would’ve been normally directed at Kaya would now be divided; she wasn’t that much an attention freak but she had that childish side to her.

He would’ve laughed if Irina wasn’t injured, her pun was funny but kind of dark. Jin would never laugh if his colleague was in pain, even if it was as trivial as this one. He nodded and sat down, putting his hand on Irina’s swollen foot; he had made his hand cold so that when he moved it on her foot it would reduce the swelling. He had also reduced the temperature of Irina’s foot so the swollen part slowly reduced its size back to normal. Jin stood up again satisfied that Irina’s swelling was now finished, he didn’t know if that was good enough though; he couldn’t do much about the pain if there was any left. ”Well at least the swelling’s gone” he said looking at Irina’s foot once more.

It was a stroke of luck that Nova had become an ally, now they had the perfect guide and a way to get to their target. ”That’s perfect then, we should recover first and then head straight for where Harper is stationed”, he was happy about how things had turned out. ”Harpy who?” inquired Kaya as she looked at Jin with a bit of confusion, Kaya never did pay attention to Jin’s initial explanation of jobs. ”He’s the bad guy we’re supposed to confront”, that was the simplest form of it and easy for Kaya to understand.

Jin then sat down nearby, he was feeling a bit hungry and from Kaya’s expression so was she. ”I wonder if these guys had some food on them” he said out loud as he stood up and walked to a back pack left by one of those weak guys Irina had knocked out. He opened the bag and found a bunch of explosive material in it, along with it was some bread and some other leftovers. Jin took the leftovers and gave them to Kaya since they didn’t seem like something he could eat, he broke the bread in three parts and gave one to Irina and Nova. He sat down once again, eating the bread.

Irina let her foot rest for a little bit, Jin was certainly convenient except for when it came to remembering to bring the food they had gathered back at the guild hall. "You forgot the lunches we packed didn't you." Irina said as she was tossed a bit of bread. Her bread seemingly vanished in an instant. "We need to find Harper ASAP I don't want to spend another second down here with an injury like this." Irina stated as she make the ever familiar gesture of requesting more food towards Jin despite the fact that she knew she wasn't getting seconds. After a moment of not receiving more food she stood up and beckoned for Nova to stand up as well who instead of getting up plopped a whole loaf of bread in her hand. "I take it you like eating too." She said as she also started eating a whole loaf of bread which also disappeared quickly, Irina didn't even wait for her response to eat as the bread was already gone. Nova stood up and handed Jin a full loaf of bread as well. "Jin-Sama also gets a loaf of bread, it's only fair that way." She stated. Irina seemingly dropped her entire annoyed impression of Nova completely now that she had supplied good amounts of food. "You are a genius." Irina stated. "Now can you please lead us to where Harper is?" Irina said, her face would have glowed with her smile if it was capable.

Nova promptly turned her tail and started to guide the two Black Rose mages through the ruins. "This way, Mr. Goldshine is already attempting to enter the vault." She stated. Irina was slightly skeptical of their guide, for all she knew it could just be an elaborate ruse to get them lost on the other side of the ruins. Irina reached up and gently grabbed Nova by the shoulder and whispered in her ear. "If you are leading us into a trap or the wrong way, I will personally kill you." She threatened the woman, the last thing she wanted was to be delayed out of a job. Even though Irina knew her words would shake the young woman a little bit she was certain that she was honest, otherwise light wouldn't start to come into view. "Goldshine and the rest of his men should be around here." She whispered announcing that there was now going to be a rather large fight, Murasame seemed to agree with this as the sound of heavy rain began to echo throughout the ruins, an announcement caused by Murasame that there will be bloodshed.

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Word Count: 440

The member 'Irina Naginata' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

”Ahaha, apparently I did” he replied nervously, he was a bit unprepared in that respect. Thankfully, they found food on the defeated treasure hunters and Nova was kind enough to give them even more, Jin took the one she offered since he was still hungry and ate his share. ”Thank you Nova” he was happy to have enough food for both himself and Kaya, not to mention Irina was satisfied by it too; so win win. Jin wasn’t one to doubt anyone’s intentions and may be that was a mistake on his part. However, he just believed that Nova was on their side so when she began leading the way, he quietly followed and so did Kaya. Kaya had nothing to say since she simply followed Jin’s decisions. She had been happy with Jin so far so she had no reason to doubt him.

He couldn’t hear what Irina whispered into Nova’s ear but he thought that it must be something scary to make sure Nova wouldn’t lead them into a trap. He wasn’t one to profile others, it was more of a instinct. He didn’t judge people he tried his best to understand them, Irina wasn’t an easy individual to understand but he was trying. Thanks to Nova, the two Black rose mages were lead straight to where their target was. Jin expected it to be a party since this was where the main treasure would be, the group did specialize in treasure hunting so it would make sense for them to be closer to their goal. After stealthily walking for a little while, they arrived at a clearing. It was now raining, the sound of water making its way to the grounds of the ruins through the cracks on the roof was echoing everywhere. It was like little bombs were falling from the sky; more like war drums signaling the beginning of a final battle.

Jin carefully walked to the edge since they were at a higher vantage point, it was like an old but large venting shaft apparently where the group was now. They were looking down on quite a few treasure hunters but neither looked like a promising foe. Jin counted a total of nine treasure hunters from there, he turned to look at the two ladies. ”So, what’s our strategy? I think my previous strategy was reckless and it would be better to avoid that this time. So what should we do Irina?”. Unlike last time, he thought it would be better to ask Irina for her opinion so he wouldn’t make another mistake this time.

Irina sat against the wall observing their enemies movements for a short period of time, they seemed to remain in groups of three despite being at an advantage. "It seems they have some sort of gang issue, they stay segregated to their own groups as they patrol." She whispered back to Jin. She quickly began calculating a plan to deal with their current situation as she turned to face the small group behind her. "I would suggest our guest remain here, Kaya should be able to handle the one group just fine." She turned back to face the chamber with the hunters. "Hey I'm useful too." Nova began to protest loudly alerting all three groups of hunters to their presence. Irina turned back around face Nova with a horrifying expression. "You just blew our cover you idiot, next time you do that I might just cut out your tongue." Irina threatened still trying to be quiet causing Nova to back off with terrified eyes. "Also the first reason why you wont help here, your swordsmanship skills... are trash." She worded quite harshly as she turned back around noting that the three gangs of hunters were still separated. "Jin you handle the group on the right I will take the left, and Kaya have fun with the group in the middle." She spoke in a hasted tone making a strategy up on the spot and immediately spring into action darting between pillars and piles of rubble, knowing full well that the hunters would be following her shadow with their eyes. She would have to wait until Kaya and Jin began their own attack to draw the attention of the groups, or so she was thinking before she changed her mind. Rather than letting them be the distraction Irina would act as the cannon fodder this time round as she spring from a pillar right at the group on the left side locking swords with the first member.

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Word Count: 326

Irina devised a plan after looking at the movements of the groups in front of them. Having almost endangered Irina the last time, Jin was going to do as she told him to. Her plan was basically divide and conquer, they were going to hit them at the same time. Jin looked at Kaya to confirm she was okay with handling a group on her own, she was skilled enough to take on this kind of foe. The thing was, she was a large target and against people who had ranged weapons it would be a bit tough. Regardless, if Jin and Irina took care of their foes, she wouldn’t be in danger. Jin could also summon his warriors if they were needed but he was saving them for last. ”Be careful Kaya, you too Irina” he whispered to the two of them. It was a fight and getting injured was part of battle but he still didn’t want them to be hurt. It was part of his nature, he was kind and caring like that. Thanks to the newbie, their cover was blown and they had no choice but to make the move.

As per instructions, Jin aimed for his group and Kaya charged at hers; as she moved ahead her size once again began to grow and she turned into the giant saber tooth tiger once more. Irina had already confronted her group at that time but Kaya didn’t waste much time, Jin too had appeared out in the open. Even though Irina probably meant to be the diversion their timing was almost simultaneous.

A large arrow appeared on top of Jin’s head and propagated towards his targets. They were staring at the large tiger who had charged at another one of their groups. So the sad individuals ended up getting directly hit by the cold based arrow. They were pierced and frozen thanks to the direct hit, Jin ran towards them and kicked one’s head, the one who was still awake. Using his spell: Bird of Hermes , he had taken out his opposition with one swift move. Kaya was like a giant wrecking back, she got to her group and swiped her claw at one of them. Her gigantic strength threw that poor hunter quite a few feet away. The other one attacked her from behind who was countered by her tail, she flicked her tail and he was off his feet. She then stepped on top of him crushing him into unconsciousness. The last one fell victim to her ferocious bite, it wasn’t life threatening but he sustained the most injuries. And with that, the battles at Jin and Kaya’s end were over.

Irina stared at the man in front her, he seemed at least decent with a blade as opposed to the group she had faced earlier. His partners taking their assumed advantage to take swings at Irina's back side while he blade remained locked with her target, however that's exactly what she wanted them to do. Just as the began their swings Irina lightened her grip on the deadlock allowing for her opponent to push back a little and as soon as she deemed herself in a perfect position took one quick leap back narrowly dodging the attacks that would have struck her in the back and causing the man in front of her to stumble forward right into those attacks. As the man crumpled to the ground in pain as the two slashes left both his shoulders cut wide open which left the other two to deal with Irina. As they turned to look at her in shock she once again sprung into action making quick sweeping swings at one of the mans legs leaving the man immobilized himself. Finally she turned to his partner who took no time in making sure that she never got a chance to strike at him. "Hoo seems like you aren't just for show." Irina taunted sarcastically as the man angrily glared at her. "Damn you, I will ki..." The man was cut short as a blade came down on his shoulder while Irina's sword still remained locked with his. Irina had once again pulled Nemesis back into action rendering the man unable to defend against the second sword as it tore through his body rendering him severally wounded and out of the fight like his two partners. "Shame, I really thought you would be worth something." Irina turned only to look on as a what appeared to be a massive door began to slide open from the inside. "When was that there." She said as she watched on as 5 men armed with more cannons stepped out ready to dish out a hammering.

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Word Count: 340

The member 'Irina Naginata' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

While Irina attended to the remaining foes, Jin decided to leave them to her. He was expending maryoku like crazy and that made him tired. Kaya had transformed two times by now, so instead of reverting to her normal form, she stayed in the large saber tooth form. That way, it expended less of Jin’s maryoku but it wasn’t that much of a difference. It was also because he suspected the ruckus they had caused in this attack would acquire more attention. They would probably be dealing with a few more foes because of this attack. He sat on the ground, leaning against Kaya who looked keenly at Irina. Due to her superior skills at sword play she made short work of her foes. Jin couldn’t help but be impressed and once again think about acquiring weapons for himself. However, having a weapon was one thing and being skilled at it was another. ”I wonder how many of them are here, we did deal with quite a few so far. If this keeps up, we won’t be in any shape to face the real deal”. It made him worried, this was probably a job for more than two mages.

Right after Irina, dealt with her foes, a door began to open making the distinct creaking sound. Jin stood up and noticed 5 more individuals ready to take on the tired Black Rose mages. ”More of them, this is my chance. I’ll attack them before they can attack us”. Like the ones from before, they were armed with cannons. He could disarm them using his heat magic but that would take some time. There was some distance between him and the treasure hunters. To speed up the heating process and to cause some damage, he used one of his spells. ”Miniplosions!” he said as heat based explosions erupted around the door that had yet to be opened completely. The explosions caused some damage but heated up the weapons and the rest of the work was done by Jin. However, one lucky shot was fired probably out of shock and headed straight for where Jin was. He was having a bad day perhaps, Kaya leaped into action. She grabbed Jin and pulled him out of the path of trajectory just in time.

Now he had used even more of his magic, sweat dropped from his forehead. Kaya realizing that Jin was getting tired headed for the unarmed treasure hunters. Using her size and brute strength, it didn’t take her long to overpower them and knock them out. ”I suggest we hide for now, I’ve used quite a bit of my magic” he said looking at Irina. He wasn’t going to make the decision by himself and ask her to follow it. It was a team effort so he intended to discuss it with her and derive a solution to which both agreed.

Irina watched as Jin and Kaya quickly disbatched the new arrivals however their actions didn't come without risks. Jin was starting to get tired and it was evident in his actions as they were starting to get sluggish, Jin clearly wanted to take a break however given that there was a rather large door and the number of hunters guarding it, it was highly likely that this was the vault with many anxious hunters inside. "Jin you are pushing yourself too hard, there is more than one person here." Irina stated as she took a stance over by the door. "And as much as you would like to take a break, I doubt whoever is on the other side of this door is willing to let you have that break." She stated with a rather harsh tone. "You need to conserve your energy a little bit more, if you didn't have Kaya here,I doubt there would be much left of you in your current state." Her words aimed to sting even more, though they weren't very kind Irina's intention wasn't to be mean but instead to be caring.

As Irina finished her little speech clapping began to echo from inside the chamber, which after taking a quick peak concluded was indeed the vault of the ruins. "Bravo Bravo" The man voiced as he stepped to the edge of the doorway whilst ending his clapping. "You have done quiet well to get here and deal with this crummy dipshits." He said as some of his beaten down men tried to look up at him with disgust at what he just called them. No doubt the man before the two mages was indeed Harper Goldshine the big cheese so to speak of this rag tag band of misfits, and he wasn't exactly unarmed either. "You have managed to impress me, perhaps you would like to give up on your previous employer and join me, there is much more in store behind me rather than those oppressive slobs." He certainly wasn't very appreciative with his words and Irina wasn't ready to fall for his tricks and she had no idea what Nova's current state of mind was, who for some odd reason decided to sneak up next to Irina. "I believe I will pass on your offer Goldshine, I for one believe that those items you are plundering would be better suited being left in that vault you are in rather than out on the black market, and I'm hoping my college will agree with me." She stated as she walked out into the gap left between the doors. "Jin I will fight them, You should save your energy and back me up." She stated holding her weapon up as 5 more of Goldshines men took stance around him and prepared to take aim. "How about it Mister Goldshine, would you fight honorably, or will you be a coward and let your men handle this for you." She made her claim to the challenge barely making a grin. "I will make you rue the day you spoke those words." He said angrily.

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Word Count: 519

The member 'Irina Naginata' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

As much as Jin would hate to admit it, Irina was shouting at him for all the right reasons. Just to help out Irina he had gone overboard and used up a lot of maryoku. Though, it would prove useful now since she would be in better condition to face off against those who came. However, he needed the rest now having spent so much of maryoku. ”Yeah I’m sorry Irina, I’m going to rely more on you now” he said as he sat down on a nearby stone. His body was sweaty, his muscles were tired and his breathing was a bit unsteady. He had exerted quite a bit in a very short span of time and they had been fighting continuously for a long time now. Jin hoped that the ones who came afterwards would be weak enough for Irina to take out easily. It’s not that he underestimated his comrade, it was just that he didn’t want her to be troubled that much. May be Jin was too caring for his own good and his game plan was all wrong from the beginning. Despite having fought side by side, he had exerted himself just for Irina to be comfortable. In a team, that isn’t an advisable strategy and now he was realizing his mistake.

Kaya stood next to Jin as he rested, still in her large form to protect Jin from the incoming foes. ”I’ll have to apologize to Irina properly after this. She might think that I was underestimating her and that isn’t a good feeling”, he made a mental note. His trail of thoughts was interrupted by the sound of clapping. He raised his head to look at the source of the sound and his eye balls stretched as he noticed who had just appeared. The famous Harper Goldshine, a mage known throughout Fiore. They had come looking for this professional treasure hunting mage but this was the most awful time for him to appear. Jin was thinking of catching his breath but with Harper would he really be able to do so? Irina was right when she scolded him for exerting himself too much. The only option he had for now, was to wait and trust that Irina would hold out long enough for him to recover some of his energy. If he wanted to do some real damage, he would have to finally summon the spirit warriors and attack along with Kaya. Not only that, he would have to time it just right with Irina’s attack to overwhelm Harper.

Would they really be able to pull off such an attack or was this the end of the black rose mages?

Irina stared down Goldshine and his thugs, his thugs were slightly more well armed than the rest, all 5 of them had a cannon but they also had some sort of side arm as a secondary weapon as well. Worse case scenario, they take those guns out right after they fire the cannons and unload into what's left. Irina made note as she prepared a strategy, the damage sustained by Nemesis was far to great for the weapons defensive capabilities to be utilized again without repair. Irina simply took up her stance there was no option but to take out his men before they could fire. "This might hurt a bit." She said however what she didn't expect was that such words would provoke all of Goldshines men to open fire at once.

To the untrained eye it would seem as though Irina simply god bombarded leaving nothing but a massive cloud of dust where she once stood, but for those who could see she actually sprung into action the moment Goldshines men opened fire. She didn't dare move out of the way such an action would leave her comrades behind her vulnerable instead she aimed to cut and deflect the cannon balls as they came, the first was easily destroy with a downwards swing, leaping a little above the ground she managed a somersault spinning twice to render two more cannon balls useless follow up with a cross slash to remove the remaining two cannon balls from action. As the dust cleared Irina was revealed to be crouched with light burns from the cannons explosive power leaving the hem of her coat scorched, she gasped for air as her arms shook from the vibrations that rung throughout her body. "Impressive, however I fail to see how much that hurt us." Harper gloated referring to Irina's comment before the cannons opened fire. "My sword." She blurted out. "What?" Harper asked confused. "I was talking to my sword." She stated as she stood up holding Murasame's undamaged blade before her which shuddered as though it was screaming. All of Harper men dropped their weapons in awe as a true master of the sword stood before them.

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Word Count: 365

Meanwhile, Jin was at a dilemma. Kaya’s continued transformation still exhausted his maryoku while she was also the only defense he had for now. After giving it much thought, he looked at Kaya who nodded and thus shrunk to her normal chibi form. If he wanted to help Irina make the final blow then he would have to conserve more of his energy. ”I will only have a single chance to be of use to her. Irrespective of the fact that it hits or not, I won’t be able to attack again” he thought considering his current situation. Thanks to Irina’s superb skills as a swordsman and a mage, he could continue to rest for now. However, he wasn’t sure how long he had until he would have to jump in. The opening that he needed could happen at any moment and he would have to be prepared for that.

Kaya crawled on to Jin’s lap since he was sitting. The men saw Jin who was sitting casually and were frustrated. His actions were being interpreted as arrogance and pride while he was only trying to catch his breath. Never before had he faced such a situation where he had to rest because of the exhaustion of maryoku. He remembered to have taken a severe beating once when he was on a job with Myra and they saved quite a few female slaves. Harper was a mage of a different caliber and the damage that Jin would end up with in the worst case scenario: was something he didn’t want to imagine. ”If I’m attacked, the only trump card I have are my spirit warriors. They won’t be expecting that so if I use them now, we lose the element of surprise”. There was only way to do it then and he didn’t like it; however, he didn’t have much choice.

Jin only hoped that Irina would be able to see through his act. He stood up and placed his left hand on his chest and appeared to have troubled breathing. ”Sorry… Irina” he said in a very slow tone and then he fell face first on the ground. Indeed, his plan was a simple one which could be seen through only by experience. It wouldn’t have been convincing if he was alright but he wasn’t. He actually had spent quite a bit of maryoku so his performance was more than convincing.

Irina stared at her opponents as some of the weaker ones started to scramble in fear, afraid of what she just did and what she might very well be capable of doing. Goldshine however wasn't phased, clearly he didn't care about his own men that much. "You wimps need to stop wimping out, it is only a one versus six." He Bellowed trying to get them into order."You guys have more than just cannons use those damn sidearms." He barked and 4 of the men complied all drawing their weapons while Goldshine turned to look at Irina. "Looks like you are still outnumbered missy." He said with a grin while Irina reached back and drew out Nemesis. "Quite on the contrary, it is actually three versus one." She stated noting her partners Jin and Kaya and in a sense she was also referring to Nova though her usefulness was quite limited. "That is a bold statement considering your situation." He once again taunted as he raised his arm as to signal the four that were still following his orders to fire when his hand went down, but there was something else about it as if it was giving off magical energy.

Irina held up Nemesis as the four bumbling fools with guns unloaded, they didn't even come close to hitting her, they may as well have not even pulled the trigger. "I swear I have to do everything around here." Goldshine mocked them as he lowered his hand swiftly aiming it at Irina. As Irina had suspected Goldshine casted a form of magic creating some sort of ice in the air to launch at her from the darkness, However she was prepared. Swinging Nemesis at the large sword like clear mass whilst activating Brutal Vengeance gave the blade an even sharper cutting edge, the vibrations allowing her to cleanly cut the crystalline construct clean in half which prompted it to crumble from the vibrations after making contact with the ground. Something was off about it, it wasn't cold like ice and it certainly didn't shatter like Ice. Irina put her finger on the explanation. "Crystal Make magic, that seems interesting." She said as she checked Nemesis which had its blade ripped to shreds with that single action. "No wonder it wasn't cold and was a lot stronger than I anticipated." She said as she threw the now useless sword at one of the henchmen hitting him over the head for a concussive blow. "Likewise I didn't think you had a weapon that could cut through something so tough." Goldshine stated in his first claim of praise towards Irina. "But it seems your weapon is no longer of any use to you, and it doesn't seem like have another one. So it should all be over from here." The Hunter mocked as he put his hands behind his back. "Besides your friend doesn't seem to be in any condition to assist you any longer." He noted how Jin had passed out in the commotion. Irina Turned in shock at what happened, had one of the stray bullets hit him was he already in that condition. "JIN!" Irina shouted as she began to run to him not taking not the 5th henchman who previously didn't fire his gun had returned and put three rounds into Irina's back side, one in the upper shoulder, one in the lower leg, and one straight through the abdomen. Irina tumbled forward as the shots pierced through her body leaving her to land face first in the rubble not to far from Jin's position. "I always have one of my men save a couple rounds so that he can catch people off guard, and you fell for it wonderfully." Goldshine mocked as he made the first steps since he arrived on scene approaching Irina.

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Word Count: 637
Nemesis is out of commission!
Health: 85%

Jin could hear the battle continue since he wasn’t really unconscious. Thanks to Irina he had now caught his breathe and recovered some of his magic. It was almost time for him to go all out, all he needed was an opening. Provided his plan of playing possum had succeeded. He had assumed that Irina would be able to see through his act but he was wrong. When Irina noticed Jin and rushed towards him, she fell victim to a few bullets. Something that Jin hadn’t taken into account when devising the plan. He immediately realized that his plan had miserable failed and caused harm to his friend. Something that he would never forgive himself for: getting his friend hurt. Irina fell face first nearby and Jin stood up as he calmly walked towards her. He placed his hand on her head assuming that her consciousness was still intact. ”Sorry Irina, for the pain and trouble I caused you” he said as he cooled down her body temperature to stop the bleeding from her bullet wounds. He couldn’t be sure if that procedure would always work but it had worked for him until now.

”Playing possum I see, how weak. You managed to get her injured, quite the plan” taunted Harper. Jin stood up and stared into his eyes, their gaze met and neither spoke for a little while. The two veterans seemed to stare into one another’s soul and realized the depth of one’s convictions. Jin didn’t have to reply to what Harper had said he just had to show that he won’t let any further harm come to his friend. ”Stay out of my way, maggots” Harper instructed his subordinates to back off as he realized that the battle was entering its final stages. For the moment, it was a situation in which a rat is cornered and a cornered rat is a dangerous thing. ”Come, show me what you’re capable of” said Harper as he raised his arm and gestured Jin to attack.

Thanks to Irina, Jin knew what they were up against. He had heard about Harper’s reputation so he wasn’t going to underestimate the foe that stood before him. Jin summoned two warriors to fight alongside him while Kaya remained on standby. Both warriors were twins and had agile athletic bodies. The weapon they carried were boomerangs, so Jin intended for them to take care of long ranged attacks. A large arrow appeared above Jin’s head and he launched the arrow towards Harper with great speed. The arrow was generated because of Jin’s spell: Bird of Hermes. The warriors took positions towards the left and right of Harper and launched their attacks in synch with Jin’s attack. Jin didn’t want to see if his attack had landed, he prepared to for one final blow as he decided to fuse two of his spells together. The arrow hit and resulted in a large wall of flame, had it managed to hit Harper? Or had Harper been able to defend himself? Even if the arrow was defended against, the boomerangs launched towards him weren’t any normal things either. If they managed to land a hit, it would still cause considerable damage.

Irina found herself losing consciousness her blood pooled on the ground, it seems Goldshine preferred to play dirty and it seems Jin also had tricks up his sleeve. Irina's vision blurred as she felt her body temperature cool, an effect thanks to Jin's doing. The bleeding didn't stop but it had long since been reduced passed the life threatening stages. Irina simply laid there her head facing in the direction of Nova who only stared on covering her mouth with tears streaming out of her eyes, the poor girl was terrified, she probably didn't even know Goldshine used magic or that his tactics were nasty. She tried to move but no motion came of her efforts only pain. "You're pathetic!" Several voices echoed in her head followed by childlike laughter. "You should have just let use handle it from the start." The voices taunted. Movement, Irina managed to clench her fist as Jin prepared to face down Goldshine, she could hear their voices but it was all soft and quite. "Are you really going to fight in that state?" The voices asked. "I... wi... fi..." Irina's words were incomplete as her hand started to push her off the ground, she could hear the sounds of crashing and destruction, Jin was fighting and he needed help, he was in no condition to be fighting.

Pain... it was an odd sensation, Irina didn't even know she was hurt on both shoulders, the pain felt like something was burning itself into her skin. She once again found herself laying on the ground as the pain surged through her body, but with that pain came power, something that Irina herself was unaware of. A mark burned itself into Irina's shoulder burning a hole in her clothing to show it off to the world, and with the appearance of this mark the wind seemed to change focusing on Irina. Goldshine grinned as he looked out from his crystal defense, though he took a few hits they ended up being pretty minor, Jin seemed to be nothing more than an ant to him in his current state. "Is that the best you got? Perhaps I overestimated you." He taunted as he released a chuckle which was cut off as he watched Irina raise to her feet behind Jin, Murasame coated in a thick spiral of wind. "I... Wi... Fi..." Irina's words were still incomplete though they were much easier to hear now. Irina turned to face Goldshine and Jin only to reveal that her right eye that had previously been closed had been opened showing off it's demonic appearance while a glowing mark burned through the shoulder on her clothing. "You're like an unwavering dog, just die already." Goldshine barked as he ordered his 4 remaining men to go and stomp Irina into the ground only to watch on in horror as each one was severed at the torso their bodies shredded apart by the whirling torrent of wind around Irina's blade. "GOLDSHINE!" Her words were now loud and clear as rage overtook her.


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Word Count: 508
Archmages Seal: Activation Wind 4 posts
Current Health: 80%

Jin was surprised as his attacks hadn’t managed to cause any significant damage. ”His defenses are faster than I thought. If only I had more time to rest”, he realized his weakness. Jin didn’t have enough stamina and maryoku for this fight, he needed more strength. This was no time to indulge in these thoughts though. He needed to deal with the matter at hand. With the use of his previous spell, he was back to his earlier condition. He had only recovered that much maryoku in this much time. ”Ah well, I’ll just give it my all”, he made a final decision.

Soon after, Irina stood up on her feet again determined to fight Harper. To make things more easier for her, Jin decided to make one final attack and leave it all to her. He could feel her demonic aura since she wasn’t that far away from him. The symbols that had appeared on her body were of ominous nature. Not the kind that Jin had ever witnessed before. This was no time to ask about that either, even if she had this aura, it was still Irina. He knew in his heart that despite the appearance he could still rely on her and he was going to do so. ”Here I go” he said to Irina without turning his head to look at her. It was almost like saying good bye, that’s how his tone had suggested it. He wasn’t sure if his attack would prove to be useful but he was going to try his best.

The preparations were complete, the two warriors fetched their boomerangs and waited for Jin. Jin summoned up cold based projectiles using his spell: Piercers. He launched them towards Harper, who deemed them unworthy to cause any significant damage and simply decided to dodge. This was not a single spell though, right when those projectiles got close, they exploded. This was the fusion of the second spell : Miniplosions. The explosions caused were also cold based, so Jin intended to reduce the temperature of the entire area where Harper was. Even though it was slow but it would prove useful to dull Harper’s sharp movements. The cold did make it difficult for the body’s muscles to move with their natural ability. Right after the explosions, the warriors launched quite a few boomerangs from each side and Jin rushed in for the one final blow. An armor made of maryoku appeared around his right arm as he got closer and closer. Right when he got next to Harper, he aimed a straight punch for Harper’s torso using the cold element. He had finally launched the one final strike and his signature move: Emperor’s armor. The attacks from earlier had managed to cause considerable damage and then cued with the attacks from the warriors from two different sides, his signature attack managed to land a direct hit.

Harper was sent off flying as Jin stood all sweaty and breathless, he had used a lot of maryoku to make this happen. With the last of his strength he turned to look at Irina as he smiled: ”I’m counting on you”. With those words, he fell to the ground having no more energy to continue.

Irina barely moved for a while, Jin had free reign to attack Goldshine all he wanted for this moment. Irina was actually trying to regain a proper conscious state even though she was standing. Nova watched in horror from the sidelines as Jin finally collapsed from exhaustion, she herself didn't know what to do and given Irina's current state she was afraid to intervene. Irina watched as Jin collapsed listening to his final demands, while Goldshine recovered from Jin's assault. "You damn dogs, I don't even know who hired you but I can tell you this, I will make this tomb your graves." He barked launching another sword like creation of crystal at Jin's now unconscious body, clearly he wasn't too interested in letting him pull another possum prank. However Irina wasn't about to allow her comrade to get hurt any further even in her half unconscious state, lunging into action she blocking the large blade, the wind grinding the entire thing into tons of chunks. "Damn, that sword what the hell is that." Goldshine barked clearly on the edge of losing it. "Goldshine..." Was Irina's only response as she seemingly vanished from Goldshine's line of sight. "What the..." Goldshine was cut off as his back was ripped wide open by the wind sheathed blade of Murasame. "GOLDSHINE!... Irina once again repeated as she once again vanished only to strike Goldshine's legs. "Damnit at this rate..." Goldshine panicked as he found some of his barrings and finding where Irina's current position was and began to cast a spell. "Crystal Make, Dragon!" He announced as a dragon flew forward aiming to crush Irina in its massive jaws. The impact of the dragon hitting the ground where Irina stood was large leaving tons of dust and rubble flying all over the place. "Take that you harlot." He muttered as if finally satisfied with defeating his adversary when he froze when a single word was whispered into his ear from behind. "Goldshine." Before he could even turn to face Irina several slashes hit him from all directions the wind enhanced blade grinding away flesh while the blade itself did it's own damage.

Before the dust from Goldshine's previous attack had settled, Goldshine was laying on the ground barely alive left at the mercy of Irina who had severely mauled the man with pure swordsmanship alone. Irina's right eye was once again closed though the mark on her shoulder remained glowing and the wind still wrapped itself around Irina's blade. Irina found herself on her knees, once again in a conscious state of mind. Her actions however managed to cause the bleeding to increase leaving her in an even worse state that before. Dragging herself over to Jin she sat down lifting his head and rested it on her lap. "I think next time, I should be the one who over exert myself." She whispered as Nova finally crawled out of her hiding spot and as if she knew what Irina was going to ask was already armed with medical supplies. "You could have ran." Irina spoke to her as if she knew exactly how scary she was when she brutalized Harper. "Your swordsmanship is still beautiful even if you are scary sometimes." Nova explained as she began to wrap bandages around Irina's Shoulder. hmm maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to teach. Irina thought to herself.

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Word Count: 565
Archmages Seal: Activation Wind 3 Posts
Health: 70%

Jin had lost consciousness and his grip on time, who knows how long he had slept in a strangely comfortable and warm place. His head was pretty comfy which prolonged his sleep. After a while, he finally moved and woke up. He opened his eyes to find Irina to be very close and the warm place to be her lap. She was all bandaged up and so was Jin, though his injuries did sting quite a bit. He sat up and looked at Irina and then looked around to find their opponent face first on the floor. He wasn’t surprised nor shocked, he expected the outcome. ”We did it!” he said as Kaya who had been sleeping all this time on Jin’s stomach woke up and shouted ‘yay’. He could notice that he had worried Nova, Kaya and Irina too probably. ”Sorry for making you all worry” he said as Kaya leaped and smacked his head, ”Don’t make me worry again, hmph!”.

Jin was now feeling some sort of strength since he had been resting for a while. He stood up and walked towards Harper who was no longer conscious. Jin tied up his hands since they were supposed to capture him and keep him from doing anything suspicious. After that, he walked through the door that had opened and found the vault. The vault that was supposed to keep the legendary items of the first wizard saints. Powerful weapons capable of wonderful things but also destruction in the wrong hands. As instructed, Jin begins to pile up all the secret weapons and locates a mode of transportation. They needed to be careful with these weapons while they took them out of the ruins. With the help of his friends, they came out of the ruins with the weapons in their possession. Jin told the local law enforcement about Harper’s location and they rushed in to locate and apprehend the once famous mage.

After that, the two mages along with their pet and pupil went to deliver the weapons to ERA; who had promised to keep them safe. As thanks, both of the Black Rose mages were given one legendary weapon each. Jin thanked them and finally the two were off to make their way back after a long and testing job.