Bandit Wars (Zack/Job)

Lindsey turned over to where he was pointing, the same smile on her face before her eyes were locked onto the tall highlander that was coming for them. The boy would place his own sword out as well, ready to fight alongside the Celestial Spirit. And finally, Ignite would place two balls of fire above her palms, her smile no longer that of one that was a mother, but now her average competitive one. Lets get him! The boy would exclaim before placing his sword forward in command, and Lindsey would start off by running on all fours with excitement on her facial expression as she would charge towards their enemy. Ignite would follow her up from behind on only her legs like she would normally do before taking the approach from above, doing so by jumping into the air. Finally, Elyx would then follow up by running in the same fashion that the She Phoenix was running in. It would take a little bit to follow up to them, but thanks to Lindseys boost, they did not need to worry about the speed in the end. The highlander would strike first, aiming a spear end at the Neko quickly. His light brown eyes would shoot up wide when he had witnessed this, and a new energy had awakened in him as his facial expression went from neutral to angered. His body blurring as his speed would be completely used, he would block the impact from hitting Lindsey. Due to the strengths of the impact, Elyxs body shoved into the rocky ground below them, but he was able to stop the impact. You will not hurt my child like that... Because if you do, I'll send you on a one way ticket to hell! And like that, the wind around them would begin to spin as the Celestial Spirit took a turn in the battle, she was able to control the very air around them after all.

The Highlanders spear pushed forward, outranking Elyx in strength, but his strength was not enough to completely get to the boy in a quick manor. In a minute, the boy would tire out. Ignite took this role to save him by charging towards the Highlander with her left hand made of fire, aiming it towards his stomach. However, their opponent suddenly vanished upon impact, so the She Phoenix was unable to land the hit. Lindsey however was much more aware than that, and her wind was able to reveal that the enemy was right behind Ignite. The boy would cover for her by jumping up once again with the blade behind his back before slicing downwards, both the spear and the blade meeting once again. The spear struck to the side, only to be ducked before an uppercut slice was performed, causing the giant to stumble back a little bit. Lindsey would help out by slicing her dagger at the back of the highlander, causing him to stumble forward instead. Finally, to put an end to the battle, Ignite would jump up into the air and kick the man with the target being the neck, which would instantly knock him to the ground. All three of them had won that battle, but there was a lot more to be done. Still though, he would smile as he rubbed Lindsey behind the ears to show that he appreciated her help, and was glad she was safe.

Zack stood silently observing the two battles with a smile on his face. On occasion he would seem to blur through the battle field to seemingly random locations, but wherever he stopped one of the bandits was managing to overcome gravity. There were very of these occasions though. He smirked slightly as he thought about these people. Those who were overcoming the gravity had a lot of potential. It wasn't often you got a chance to face something like this and their bodies were finding ways to fight it. Unfortunately, they weren't able to also fight Zack and in this gravity field which didn't effect him in anyway shape or form he was basically a God compared to these bandits. Then again he was a god. A god of ishval anyway.

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Tikaani meanwhile was facing the knight who had not yet declared his name, but seemed bent on killing her for her spear. He had offered her the option of death or giving up the spear, but to her giving up the spear would be like death. She would be betraying everything she believed and her entire race. None but the chosen ones of the daemon fae, or as they were more commonly known: demon fairies, got to wield this weapon or the other legendary artefacts. Even their common swords were better than most which was why she was so annoyed this man was wielding them. He was not of her race. The only one who had the right to wield them outside her race was currently observing the battle.

And yet it was not the swords that were proving problematic. His requip magic, known as the Knight, was not really that devastating. In the hands of someone who knew better how to wield the blades then perhaps it might be dangerous, but they were easily blocked by her spear. No, what proved problematic was that armour. No matter how she struck it the impact was sent back against her and sent her flying. It was almost as if it not only took the impact, but amplified it. As such her body was damaged more than should be expected. Yet there had to be a weakness or how would this man have got it from the angel fae?

The usual armor weak points, such as the joints, were covered by chainmail that reflected the impact like the plate did. The only different was that the impact was slightly weaker. Suddenly, she was struck by both an attack and by inspiration. A tiny needle struck into her side stabbing into her. She hadn't seen it coming. She'd blocked a sword strike and got struck by a needle. A needle that faded almost instantly into nothingness. Yet how did this give inspiration? She'd been right to strike the chainmail. The issue was her attacks were too thick. She needed a thin enough attack to get through the chain. Something like these needles.


"I know your weapon. The Desert Sting." she said causing him to smile and clap his hands slightly in mock admiration. It was another treasure of her race. When it struck a target it released a small needle that stabbed into the target doing a bit of extra damage. Normally, it would also poison the target but the demon fae were immune to the poison used in their weapons. She hadn't recognised it initially because the weapon had been repainted or somehow disguised. She wondered what other weapons he had stolen. "Seven Virtues: Charity." she stated and grabbed the spear in the middle and pulled it apart. As she did so it formed into two swords, one a golden blade coated in a thin aura of flame and the other a white blade coated in a thin aura of ice.

Magic:

There was one ting that they needed to do before they could leave the scene though, and that was prevent the last of them from fighting. The gravity spell was putting them all up, but they all still wanted to go. After it would release however, there would be many laid out bodies. So what was next? Probably to bring the highlanders body off of the battlefield. Elyx would make this attempt on his own by lifting the man by his collar. However, apparently he weight more than 3 ton, because his dead weight body was not moving an inch. Ignite and Lindsey would give him quick back up for that though, they would each take one leg of the man to help pull him up. That would be 9 tons worth of strength to loft with, almost the minimum that an S ranked mage is able to pick up on his own.

With their team effort, they were finally able to pick up the highlanders and !pe him around the battlefield. It was a lot of work, since no one was really keeping track of where they were all heading, so an occasional arrow might fly by one of their heads and startle the body. They had to press forward though, once they bring the body to the end of the battlefield, they would help finish off the last of the opponents that remained untouched by the gravity spell. The limp body of the man almost made it to the end of the battlefield until one of them began to subtly lower it due to the strength that was needed. Turning back to see that it was Lindsey, he too would drop all of the weight on them. The She Phoenix took a bit of time to understand why that had been done, but once she did, she placed down the body with her own strength as well. Peace.

That was about as far as they could bring him, though not at the end of the battlefield, they were pretty close to it. Besides, what more could they do even if they did need him to be at the edge of the battlefield? Elyx would then look over to Zack and the lady like being as they were in battle? Sort of? He could not quite tell, but it looked like there would be bloodshed with a bit of taunting from the lady. Pulling out his blade, he would pace over to there in no hurry what so ever. His physical strength was still recovering from the heavy lifting that had just been done. Finally, he would arrive right to where Zack would be, followed by the She Phoenix and Celestial Spirit and She Phoenix.

Tikaani charged in with the twin blades of the seven virtues and swung one at him. It hit the armor and fire was sent into her burning her shoulder, but that was merely a feint. Her real blow hit him one one of the joints with an icy slash. The physical blow was thrown back at her, but the magical one was not. No, it froze the joint in blades. He stared at it in shock and then in a rapid series of movements she struck at the other joints freezing them in place. Every time she struck she was hit too, her body was covered in cuts, but soon his entire body was frozen at every joint and his feet were frozen to the ground. He couldn't make gestures with his hands because they wouldn't move and so his swords just hovered there. It seemed he had become rather reliant on this armor and its fighting style so that when it was screwed over it couldn't do much. She stepped forward towards him her swords dissapearing. Without even a blink of the eye she stared at him and then removed his helmet. His head was now exposed and he was unable to move. Perhaps if it hadn't of been for the gravity he could of broken free through brute strength, but resistant that and resisting the ice made things difficult.

"Do you concede defeat theif?" Tikaani said her swords reforming and being held at his throat. He gulped and the very tip of the blade cut into him ever so slightly.

"I concede. You are a greater fighter than me and for what its worth I will return the weapons of the daemon fae to your people. Just do not kill me I beg of you. I do not wish to leave my son as an orphan." Tikaani stopped and her weapons vanished. She turned and began to walk away.

"I will check in with my father...if you have not returned those weapons in one month then I will come after you again and your son will become an orphan." she said and then transformed into her tiny form and flew into Zack's mantle who had appeared in front of the man in a blur. As she shrunk the gravity spell dissapated and the ice dissapeared, but the man did not try to attack. It seemed he was a true knight and bound by his word even if he was a bandit and a theif. The men were still unconscious including the large giant of a man Zack seemed to be lifting with little difficulty and dumped him down by the knight.

"I did not wish it to come to fighting, but you forced my hand" Zack said. "Whilst we await for Giant to wake up I want to ask you what this war was about."

color=yellow]"The Pyjacks and the Buzzards recently took part in a job together. The results of which were supposed to be divided evenly between the two clans. However, when we returned back to our lands we found that half of the treasure we had acquired was missing. It was clearly the work of the Pyjacks. Only they knew we had the treasure so only they could of taken it. When we asked them to return the treasure, which was ours by right, they refused and denied all knowledge. They were clearly lying so we arranged this little sortie to sort out the situation."[/color] he said calmly as he glared daggers at the Pyjack leader. Zack mulled over this information and then using some knowledge of acupuncture he had received from his journeys managed to awaken the giant.

He let out a bellow and rose to his feet swinging his fist at Zack, but Zack caught it one handed and then twisted the man into a throw slamming him back into the ground and knocking him unconcious again. He sighed and once again awakened the man who once again attacked him. This time when Zack blocked. "I can go at this all day, but I really don't want to. All I want to do is talk." The giant spat at him and he sighed before slamming him into the ground again once more knocking him unconcious. This time when he was awoken the giant looked at Zack and did not attack.

"Third time's the charm I suppose. Right, Giant of Caerbanog. I have spoken to the Buzzard Leader. According to him your clan stole something from him. I don't care if the treasure was acquired through legal means. Did you steal it from the Pyjacks afterwards?"

"No, they be the bloody scunners who stole our cut. Got back to the loch and was about to sail to our wee bonny isle when we noticed the missing loot. Then they had the gall to come and accuse us of theft." he replied and Zack mulled this over. Two stories, both which could have an item of truth in it. THey both thought half their treasure had been stolen by the other. It seemed unlikely to be the case. Was one of them telling the truth? Or were they both falsely accusing one another.

"Hey Kyler...you got any magic in you to detect a lie? I want to get to the bottom of this situation."

The story was odd, a bit vague, but not because of the oddly chosen diction, but because the way it was said made no sense to him. I think I can supply you with someone who can do just that dad. Hey Lindsey, I think I might have to close your gate, you did well. He would explain as he turned over to the Neko. He would gently pat her head in a comforting way with his left hand before slicing the key with his right hand to the side, closing her gate before placing the key back into the pouch. Now he would return a key to his hand, not a silver one, but a normal looking one. However, it served more purpose for this situation that they had in hand. I open the gate of the Chronicle Blade, come forth, Toka. He would announce before slicing the key downwards, the light once again revealing itself to blind the eyes of those who can not see the Celestial gates. Once it cleared out, a swordwoman with a long elegant blade and silvery hair appeared and revealed herself in front of everyone. Her facial expression was casual for the type of being she was. What do you want, and make it fast! I don't have time to deal with your crap. She would explain his her hands on her hips and her eyes closed. Elyx had no time to waste, he did not need her to leave and begin her cooldown. Not that he believed she could force her gate shut quite yet. We have a liar among us, that man over there is saying a few odd things that don't make sense, I don't think we can have that. Mind if you help us out here?

He would point his finger to the man who explained, the one with the flawed English before Toka opened her red eyes, it was clear that she was displeased to say the least. What!? No, you better start telling the truth to the one you are answering to before I pump a few holes. She would explain as she would walk up next to Zack, her blade pointed forward to the man to make sure that he knew that she was not joking. Facial expression angry, Elyxs pleased, he would turn his head over to Zack. You can take things from here, Toka will not let a single lie go past her. She would rather hear the blunt truth, so don't hold back with the questions. Hands placed in his pockets, he would watch the scene unfold. Hopefully there was something that they could get from Toka being there, and the man was lying. Otherwise, this would have been a confusing truth that they had to figure out, and honestly, they did not have time.

How....coincidental. It was almost too perfect that Kyler had a celestial spirit on his side who could detect lies. This was very useful. Perhaps it would be worthwhile Zack investing in getting an item of sorts to detect lies in the future. Or perhaps training with the Chronicle's Blade to add it to his own magic arsenal. It would certainly have its uses. For now though he had a situation to deal with. He could question Kyler on the situation later. There was more important things afoot.

"In front of the Chronicle's Blade I  say truthfully that I do not believe that either of you are lying about the treasure being stolen." Zack said calmly. There was no reaction from Toka to these words so it was clear he was not lying when he said these words or the next. "Nor do I believe either of you is lying about you not being the ones who stole it. However, answer now in the prescence of our lie detector that you did not steal the treasure from the other." His gaze focused on the Giant of Caerbanog and he beckoned the man to speak his piece.

"I already told ye. I dinnae steal any treasure from the corbies. I would nae ever break a bargain ye ken?" the highlander said silently. "I swear it on me life and that of the pyjacks. I'll swear it on the whole bloody highlands I dinnae steal any treasure, but if they dinnae either then I got no bloody clue where it went ye ken?." Zack looked over at Toka who had not reacted in a negative fashion. It seemed that there was no lie in his voice. He nodded and then looked at the knight questioningly.

"As I said before I believed my treasure stolen. I did not steal any either. I would not go back my word. I am a knight after all. As the giant said, if they did not steal my cut then I have no idea who did. My men's homes were searched to check that none of them was trying to cheat the rest of us" he stated calmly and once more there was no violent reaction from Toka. Both of them were telling the truth.

"Your war now has no purpose. Neither of you stole from the other." Both of them looked like they were about to say something but Zack's eyes glinted with a sudden fire and he raised a finger to his lips telling them to be quiet. "Return to your lands in peace and fight no more. The treasure is lost. I will perform my own investigation about this lost treasure and will return to this location at noon in one year to tell you my results. However, I make no promises that I will have found it in that  time." The two men looked at eachother glaring, but Zack once more raised a finger to his lips to silence any further words from them.

"If I hear of any further conflict between your two tribes then I will not be as nice in my negotiations and I will not hesitate to allow the magic council to use whatever means necessary to bring the conflict to an end. Am I understood?" he said his wizard saint jacket forming on his shoulders once more. They both grumbled in agreement and headed off back to their sides of the battlefield to await the waking up of their men. "Kyler, Jean, let us return to town. This job is complete." With that he began to walk back towards the town awaiting the others to follow.

"I didn't know you were a celestial spirit mage Elyx." Zack said in his much more normal and jovial manner once they were far enough away not to be heard by the bandits. "Now my question is...do you know who I am?"[/color]

And with that, they would make their way to leave the scene, Toka not looking too satisfied with one of their answers. Coming up in between Elyx and Zack, she would explain what she believed bluntly. That one with the messed up English could use a good ass kicking, such a load of crap. However, it seemed that the other man is covering up for the other bandits. He said it must have been stolen, but made no direct accusations towards them, as if he were afraid of admitting it. That is all I gathered, so excuse you Elyx, and dueves. With that, she would close her gate and leave the scene, not even daring to come out. The boy would not force her, it was best to leave the Tsun alone whenever they wanted space. They did get the data that they were after after all. With a smile on his face, he would pace along with Zack and Ignite before the Wizard Saint would then address him with a question. Turning his head over to him, his head would tilt over to the side. Well, I can tell you the most I do now. Zack Rose, Wizard Saint, and Guild Master of Blue Pegasus based on my current knowledge. Why do you ask? Elyx would ask as he would place his hands in his pockets. It was a somewhat casual question, maybe Zack was trying to get the boy to understand him a little better. Exchanging a bit of data perhaps? It was questionable, but not completely unreasonable. And all Elyx was doing was assuming that these might be the cases, so he decided to keep all of those things in his head until this conversation went on. Ignite would be more or less just walking, not even thinking anything of it. Instead, she was thinking of the jewel reward that came along with the job, and being a treasure hunter, how would she be able to refuse? A smile on her face as he palms were behind the back of her head, it was a job mostly done. Zack said he would look into it to find the truth if he needed to, and the boy was willing to trust him on that one, so he planned to let it go from his hands. If Zack needed Toka at any time, he would gladly summon her to help him. Zack had that much trust, he did not go back on his word, he stays on the path that is ethical, his power blows the minds of many and can defy physics, in the end, he was just about an all in one of a mage. That is where Elyx would like to be.

Interesting, the knight was covering up something. Perhaps the two's words were true, but truth was ever a fog. What they saw as true could have elements of falsehood. Truth like beauty was truly in eyes of the beholder. "Thank you for your help Toka. Say hi to the king for me." he said with a wink causing her to glare at him before she closed her gate. Interesting that she too seemed to not know the truth behind him. Elyx's response suggested he too did not know. That was not as surprising as not all celestial mages were even aware of the existence of a 13th gate, let alone that its embodiment was freely walking the world as the leader of the Blue Pegasus. It did not matter. He had merely been curious. "You'll know in time. Come to me when you've learned a bit more about the celestials...it might prove lucky for you." he said cryptically with a sly grin on his face. It really didn't matter at all to him whether Elyx found out or not, but giving him the goal might allow him to grow in strength. He liked making people stronger. It would make them more of a challenge if they ever had to fight and would also make it so they were less likely to die. If there was one thing he hated more than anything else it was his friend's dying. He would rather himself die, even if that was near impossible now, then have his friend's die. It was why he specifically set challenges for his own guild, who he saw as family, to help them grow in the best way possible.

"All we have to do now is to hand in this job and collect the reward." Zack said calmly the fancy robes fading away as he stretched his arms. "That went a lot better than I hoped and a lot worse than it could of." He sighed deeply considering how it could of been. He also had a lot to look into. "When I go looking for the truth behind these thefts...want to come with? We make a pretty good team. Plus i'm sure you want to see this through to the end. Get a bit of closure aye sonny boy?" He added finishing with a chuckle. It had certainly be fun acting the part with them. "We should do some acting jobs. You two are pretty good actors." He then winked at Ignite and offered her a sly grin. "And if I did have a wife I could do a lot worse than you hunny pie." He wondered how she would react to that. He could already imagine how Tikaani would berate him for it later, but he didn't mind that. SHe was always berating him for flirting.

Hm? I do not know where you are getting at, but I guess I could use a bit more research. All right. He would explain, still very much confused as his lips were in a straight position, sort of like a child ignorant. That was pretty much what he was anyways, and he knew that he was ignorant to whatever Zack was getting at. Looking over to Ignite, she would shrug her shoulders one time before they both looked back to him as he then continued to speak. He asked Elyx if he wanted to come along when he opens up this case to investigate this once again. The boy would nod his head, because this could determine a lot based on the result of the investigation. I'll gladly go along, it could serve to be an interesting case for us to look into. Besides, who needs to worry about anything when you are on their side? And hey! The son thing was an act, don't call me sonny boy! The boy would explain with a grin, his teeth revealing this time. The last part was meant as a joke, nothing serious, and he did not really mind nicknames. Elyx just wished he was more playful so that he would give nicknames to other people. Not only does he not play as often anymore, but when he does try to, he is not even that good at it. Fortunately, he had two fun allies by his side that were able to train him. The She Phoenix being one of them, she was all sorts of playful and almost had no care in the world while he was safe. And then there was Iza, who has made it her personal goal to make his life a living hell. Yet despite this, he still makes sure to keep her in check and shut down any of her attempts to do something stupid. What made it hard was how freakin stubborn, it was annoying to him. Still though, she knew more about having fun than he did. Maybe when he was a D ranked mage, he would have been able to have just as much fun. But then Fiore shaped him with jobs that made him a lot more responsible.

Aw, you flatter me love. Maybe we could talk about this over some dinner, your treat of course. She would tease, she has been flirted with so many times, she embraced it and tried it out on some people sometimes. The difference was, it normally was just so she can have things work in her favor. Gripping her wrist gently, but firmly, he would pull her away from the Wizard Saint. Maybe next time lovebirds. Hey Zack, I'll turn in the job and send you your share of the reward. If it does not arrive within 10 days, feel free to come by to my home and I'll give it to you personally. And with that, he would turn over before walking with a smile on his face. Ignite would wave happily towards the Wizard Saint, and then, they would exit the scene.