Diverting another Great Flood (TacticalFallacy and Riohorse)

"Yes, you are right," Dawn nodded, giving out a rare uncustomary smile in happiness, not just because there was actually some genuine praise and support for the village's plan, but also she was pleasantly surprised that this Rune Knight gladly provided her help for their risky cause. It really lightened up her spirits seeing this, a great relief from the large amounts of stress that her serious, professional demeanor had piled on herself. It was actually rather rude and inappropriate to give such a joyful smile given the seriousness of their impending situation, but when a person had been heading a village to undergo such a large project for a good length of time, she was at least entitled to give in briefly to their own anticipation of their efforts finally coming into fruition.

At least, that was what Aldous thought when he noticed the woman's smile. Truthfully, he felt a little jealous of the woman Dawn, being able to actually succeed in something and to witness the rewards of her and the villagers' hard work and planning.

"The wall itself is only missing one key component. A component that we need your help to supplement. While we have the means to block the flood from smashing into the village, recently we have been having several consecutive bouts of torrential mountain rain over at the basin, thus there has been much concern that even with all our preparations, we might not be able to handle the force. That is why we needed mages to watch over the process, providing support when they are needed."

"Not only that...," Dawn's voice went down to a soft whisper as she looked nervously at the villagers down below at the ground. She even cupped her mouth with her hand as she spoke to the duo. "While I am very certain that the village has tried to prevent any outsiders from getting in, I am not sure whether the ones trying to destroy us will target our....., if you say, diversion barricade this time..." Dawn gave a small smile in acknowledgement of Freya's naming of their structure. "However, I just feel, somehow, that they would but I do not want the villagers going out to a manhunt at this crucial time. So I hope that along with support, you can help us with security. If they do target us, it won't be explosive lacrima this time though, given our own use of it. It might be true Explosion Magic. At least, until sundown, please stay with us. I know it's not what you came for, but we really will need your help."

"So long as you can pay us, you will be fine," Aldous assured the woman with a stoic expression, while at the same time giving a quick punch on the bell of Abraxis, who was growling back at Freya for the stones that she had placed in his path so subtly, as well as having an eyeball-contest with the beady eyes of Orochi, which was weird because Abraxis had no visible eyeballs, nor should he have them in the first place. Aldous could only sigh at the un-professionalism of his compatriot.

Tori smiled back at Dawn, glad to see her smile and having a feeling that all the stress of keeping the villagers under control and planning a way to stop the flood, would sure start to take its toll, hoping Dawn was not working herself to hard and that they could help relieve the work load. She listened and nodded fully prepared to help strengthen the barrier, knowing she wouldn't have any trouble moving trees or boulders due to her Earth Manipulation magic. She wondered what kind of magic Aldous used remembering what looked like a seal flashing when he attacked the cats, wondering what other spells he had up his sleeve.

Freya frowned as Dawn expressed her worry about whoever blew up the levees before, targeting their diversion barricade, knowing if this happened the two mages and the villagers would be in danger of drowning. She looked down at Juke understanding now why he was so pedantic, and ground her teeth angrily, it was unfair that these villagers had to live in fear of being drown in their own homes. Freya nodded at the women if it was required she would be happy to stay after sundown. Freya looked at Aldous her expression suprised and then annoyed, she was also expecting the villagers to pay, but annoyed that Aldous had to put it so rudely and abruptly. She chuckled as Aldous punched Abraxis, ignoring the bicycle's growling.

Orochi, stared down at Abraxis aloofly, his tongue darting out, before looking away and promptly falling asleep in Freya's hair. Freya made her way back down the bottom of the wall glancing around the village before declaring she would be right back to Aldous. Freya walked off towards a cluster of house standing near what looked like a water tank, probably containing the villages drinking water. She snooped around looking behind trashcans before her gaze fell upon some cleverly hidden tools inside a trashcan, Freya grimaced and pulled the tools out which consisted of a crowbar and several pairs of pliars. She walked back to where Aldous and Dawn were "I don't think whoever previously blew up the levees was alone" she whispered "And I'm guessing some villagers will be missing some tools" she said her gaze sweeping over the group of villagers wondering if the perpetraitor was amongst this group.

Aldous tried his best to ignore the annoyed expression that Freya gave him. He held no disdain or contempt against the girl for giving him that face, for he perfectly understood her reasons for it. In fact, it was more of his fault that he had not considered the Rune Knight's own feelings about his actions and just acted without properly thinking through. But even if he did then, Aldous knew that he would had still said the same thing. Freya may not agree with his focus on money but in the end, that holds little bearing and influence on his own trust in his ideology and his chosen focus in life. However, since they are working as a team, Aldous realized that it was best that he keep in mind his own words and try to work as well with Ms. Freya as possible, while at the same time maintaining his integrity to himself and not trying to be someone he is not. Thus, Aldous continued to stay attentively silent, watching Freya walk down the wall to do her own little investigation around the village.

The only question he really wanted to voice while Freya was gone to was this to Dawn: "So, may I ask where are the children and the elderly of the village? Are they in a safe location?"

"They are safe. Before we begin the explosions on the levee, we had all of the village's children and elderly moved to a small encampment up the hills, out of reach of the flood in case we ever......fail." Dawn obviously hesitated before she said out that last word, the fear and uncertainty in her plain as day. She even had her hand gripping her chest, as if it could support her. "May I ask you a question, mage?"

"Go on." Aldous complied, deciding not to bother with correcting Dawn with his name.

"Do you truly believe that we can succeed? Honestly?" Her question was considerably way too late in this context, but Aldous found it perfectly understandable. If it was asked before the levees were blown up, such a question was precautionary. However at this stage, it was more of a seeking for assurance, an allaying of fears in the calm before the storm. It sought a lie, an absolute denial of the inevitable possibility of failure, to bring one's heart at ease.

But it was not Aldous that gave the reply. Instead Abraxis was the one who did. "Lady, you see me? You see my partner here? You see that moss-haired brat and her little slimy reptile?" Aldous face-palmed himself at how Abraxis referred to Freya, who was now coming up the stairs of the wall, returning from her investigation, with what seemed like tools in her hands.
"All of us should have tasted failure at some point and we know how bitter it can be. That is why no matter how bitchy the situation gets, no matter how big the chance of failure may be, we still strive to be the best we can be, to drive towards a success no matter how small the probability was. We know, that if we chose to sit on our monkey butts and just whine like a chicken sissy about how bloody difficult attaining success seems, then we can never get there."

Aldous felt himself give a small smile and a resigning shake of his head. Abraxis could have put in a better way given the bluntness of his speech, but his message was true.

"I don't think whoever previously blew up the levees was alone."

Aldous' eyebrows creased into a deep frown when Freya finally reached the group and gave her conclusion from the investigation. A group of perpetrators? That would make logical sense, given how much lacrima would have been needed to adequately blow up the levees back then and the unlikelihood that one person would have been able to carry all that.

Dawn shook her head, as if in disagreement. "Every time we caught the traitors who damaged the levees, they were notable for being quite different from one another. We could not see a clear pattern in terms of the culprits, beyond that they had a grudge against us. One of them, a woman of the village who had a feud with another villager, managed to kidnap me and then tried to pose as me, using my position as a cover.(OOC: Omega and Marros) That was the first time the flood happened. The second time was with three men who criminals that thrived on pillaging and thievery.(OOC: Apollo and Reapers Muse) The third time was by a little girl, who had a grudge against our village for banishing her criminal parents.(OOC: chelvaric and Josef) The fourth and last person was another one of the villagers, a middle-aged man, and Juke's brother. That time Juke was the one who stopped him before he could do it, so no mages were needed."

"So all of them had a reason to harm the village huh?" Aldous commented thoughtfully. After a few short rounds of walking around in deep thought, Aldous asked Dawn a question. "Some of them were villagers, right? Then why did they not act sooner?"

"Maybe it was because they needed time to get the equipment they needed." Dawn slowly suggested.

"Exactly," Aldous nodded as he struck on a possible lead, "The lacrima. Whoever had supplied the criminals with the explosive lacrima, had in turn given them the means to do what they always wanted to do but could not before. Under the guise as a person who just wanted money, that person might be intentionally goading people to explode the levees, while keeping his hands clean at the same time. That's what I think the missing link. Dawn, did any of the other mages catch the person who was selling the lacrima?"

"No." Dawn shook her hand as she realized and understood what Aldous was saying. "All of the mages were focused on the people who did the deed, not the supplier. None of them tried to pursue the matter further. In fact...." Dawn pursed her lips, placing her finger against her chin as she was in recollection of one of the incidents. "The one who tried to pose as me. She had been seen with a shady figure before. No one got a clear look at his face but it was definitely a man."

"That might be our man." Aldous said, when Freya showed them the tools that she had found hidden in one of the village's trashcan. A crowbar and pliers? "The walls here are thick enough to withstand a lacrima explosion straight-on. However...." Aldous kneeled down as he looked over the wall's edge. Seeing what he wanted, he pointed for Freya and Dawn towards the space between two of the tree trunks used to construct the wall. "If a lacrima were to explode INSIDE the wall, between the trunks, then the wall will be compromised. Pliers can be used to weaken the binding ropes and a crowbar might be used to make the space bigger for a lacrima to be placed inside."

When Aldous noticed Freya gazing at the crowd of villagers, he quickly put his hand on her shoulder, shaking his head as he spoke. "Our enemy might have explosive lacrima on him. If we jump the gun and scare the snake hiding among the grass, he might just be willing to use them and if he is in that crowd, that is an extremely high likelihood that a lot of people, innocent people, might get injured or even killed. So don't try to make him suspicious that we might be on to him. We have his tools. He will get desperate as the flood nears. All we need to do is to wait and keep an eye out on the wall."

Freya got to the top of the wall just as Abraxis finished his insparational speech and laughed to herself, the bicycle sure could be bluntly honest. Freya listened to the list of people who had tried to wreck havoc on this village and wondered how this peaceful looking village had collected so many enemies. "So you think, the person selling the lacrima could be the cause of all this" she said turning to Aldous "Are their several people selling lacrima in the nearby area?" she asked Dawn "Because I'm guessing you bought your explosive lacrima from somewhere, it could be the same person" she said thoughtfully gesturing to the lacrima bordering the wall.

Freya smiled at Aldous, under that unruly hair he was very intelligent she thought, looking at the small gap in the wall he showed them, it was entirely plausible that placing the lacrima inside the walls was what blew up the levees successfully everytime. She nodded Aldous' logic was smart. She jumped slightly when she felt his hand on her shoulder looking up as he told her to act unsuspicious she stood up and turned away from the villagers, trying to act unsuspicious but not succeeding very well as she kept darting glances at the villagers, Orochi waking up and hissing indignantly as he compared the traitor to a snake, as the snake thought very highly of himself.

"That's right," Aldous agreed with a curt respectful nod at Freya's thoughtfulness. He had been on such a roll that he had forgotten about the villagers' own lacrima source. Looking over the wall's far side, Aldous wondered whether he should jump down and inspect the lacrima.

"You mean Mr. Noah?" Dawn replied with a brief gasp of disbelief, her teeth biting her under-lip as she tried to understand the possibilities of it happening. "He is a frequent visitor of the village, a wares-seller of sorts, as well as a good friend." She explained to the two mages. "We trusted him enough to the point that we were willing to reveal our plan to him, as well as ask him for assistance in providing the lacrima for us. If he knows our plan and he has been behind all this......." Dawn's eyes widened, as if she had just recalled something. Something which she revealed in horrified breath. "There is a pattern to the last floods. Every time we had one of the floods, every time we are attacked, it would always be just after Noah visits and then leaves the village....." Dawn almost seem to stagger, incredulity at the idea obvious in her face, before changing in what seemed like sorrowful resignation. "Oh my god.....w-why would he do this? Against us?"

"We cannot be sure of anything yet, Miss. He might not be the one." Aldous tried to assure her but when he did, he did it half-heartedly. In fact, in the back of his head, Aldous was already convinced that this Noah was the true mastermind behind the attacks. The undeniable fact that some of the past criminals were also villagers of the village pointed towards a person who already had much background knowledge and exposure to the villagers and the frequent visiting Noah fitted that criteria. As an outsider, Noah could have seen the grudges that the villagers would have taken for granted, noticed the signs of hatred that the villagers would have ignored. He could have known which buttons to press, which words to say, to turn on those ticking time-bombs within the village and once they were ready to explode, he provided the fuse to do it.

"What do you think, Freya?" Aldous felt guilty that he was pushing to the Rune Knight the responsibility of how to tell Dawn the very possible truth that a good friend she THOUGHT she had known was the one behind all this. However, he was sure that , as a Rune Knight tasked to protect the people, Freya had better ways of dealing with people than himself and thus he allowed the little girl to take the reins, while he himself stepped back from the two, his eyes narrowing at what seemed like a hooded figure suspiciously stirring through the crowd of villagers. It was too disadvantageous to act now, if that person was Noah. Right now in the heart of the crowd, if that figure was the one, he now has the entire crowd as a sizable hostage.

Approximately now, as the sun began to get dangerously near the horizon, the group has about ten minutes before the flood was scheduled to commence.

Freya smiled sadly as Dawn told them with disbalief that they had told Mr Noah the lacrima seller all their plans, she didn't want to jump to conclusions but it seemed like Mr Noah could be a number one suspect and she had a feeling Dawn knew the answer but didn't want to face the truth. She felt sorry for Danw, she had never been betrayed by one of her own friends or allies but she understood what Dawn must be going through. She nodded to herself the lacrima seller, would have the villagers complete trust and access to any tools or intel he needed.

She looked up as Aldous prompted him to comfort Dawn and tell her what the evidence showed who the traitor was. She smiled at Dawn "I think you already know the answer to that question Dawn,I'm sorry you had to find out Mr Noah's true identity, but at least now we can take action and save the lives of the villagers and stop these floods once and for all" Freya said placing her hand and Dawns shoulder "Not to worry thought, thats why we're here to save your village and bring the traitor to justice" she said turning around to see where Aldous was looking stopping mid sentence and staring at the hood figure "Aldous what should we..." she said looking up at the horizen and gasping they did not have much time.

"We should stay calm."

That was what Aldous wanted to say and was about to say as he opened his mouth to utter those readying words, but at that very moment, all hell suddenly broke loose. On the opposite side of the village, where he and Freya had arrived from and where most of the forest was located, eight bright, almost startling flashes of intense light blinked across his vision, before eight corresponding bangs ruptured the air in shockwaves, while the ground where the lights had been had now erupted under the ringing impact of the distinctively lacrima-based explosions, all of which were noticeably not near enough to even touch the village. In fact, the explosions, now burned out into smoldering pillars of smoke, were within the forest

A distraction? That was Aldous' first thought as he turned back to the hooded figure who should have been in the crowd. However, much to his horror, the crowd had also reacted to the lacrima explosions, giving out yells and cries of confusion, wondering out loud what was this new threat while at the same time scrambling among each other, causing a very chaotic mess. Not only that, in this cacophony of panic and havoc, that hooded figure had slipped away and Aldous realized he could no longer detect his presence. "DAMN IT!" Aldous swore under his breath as he was about to go down to the ground to search for the now very likely suspect, but a few more screams of help from the distance of the opposite end of the village brought his attention back to it.

That was when he noticed the animals, now having gone absolutely rouge and out-of-control, charging into the village. At the head of the feral herd were three large white bulls, at least equal or above with Aldous in height, each with four dangerously powerful horns on their head. Tyranan bulls. Not good. Those could easily take down houses with one charge. If they get to the wall..... Trailing behind them were a large group of those Nightgale cats, nine in all, while two trios of green-fured Urion monkeys were also yapping their way as they intruded into the village with frightening fervour. "Freya, I'll stay here at the wall with Dawn and provide long-range support. We'll both watch out for the culprit! Also, target those three bulls! They are the main threat." Aldous warned as he jumped off the wall, standing his ground right in front of it.

And with that, only nine minutes were left before the flood was to come down.

The member 'TacticalFallacy' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Monster Dice' :

Freya gasped as she heard the explosions going of in the far distance, her head snapping up in alarm feeling a slight tremour in the ground. Realising full well that explosions were not endangering the villagers in anyway, but she clenched her fist anyway angry as she watched the forest smouldering before her eyes, the traitor was in for it now. He had endangered the lives of many villagers time and time again, cause the normally peaceful animals in the surrounding forest to become aggravated and attack at the slightest provacation, and yet it wasn't enough he now needed to burn and destroy mother natures plants.

She grimaced as the villagers scrambled around running around uttering cries of distress and panic, someone needed to get down there, she realised the hooded figure was no longer amongst them just as Aldous shouted she hissed frustrated, now that they didn't know where he was he could be making a move to sabotaged the diversion barricade "Dawn are there any other way, that someone can access the diversion barricade from here" she asked rushed knowing there would be people standing guard here but not wanting them to be caught unaware from the traitor intefering from another entrance, knowing with the villagers panicing it was up to the two mages and Dawn and Juke.

Freya shook her head trying to think of what to do when she saw Aldous look into the distance, praying that it was nothing to serious. She looked up to see the large mass of distressed animals charging from the now burning forest. Her eyes widened at the large bulls leading the mass, instantly recognising them as tyrannian bulls, groaning hopefully the bulls wouldn't pick up on her and dawns scent, otherwise the bulls could be a problem especially with those dangerous looking horns and their large frame, they could easily rampage through the houses utterly distroying them, she shuddered at the thought of what they could do to a villager standing in their way. Behind them she could see Nightgale cats and Urion monkeys and groaned just what they needed with the impending flood.

Freya turned around as Aldous told her what to do blinking in suprise, he wanted her to go and tackle those bulls, she let out a small breath as he said he would provide long range support and take care of the wall aswell as the culprit, well both the mages would have their hands full. She nodded her head and jumped down off the hill, softening the ground and taking of towards the bulls her eyes focused "Will do Aldous! Right Orochi you try and keep any Nightgale cats or monkeys away from me" she yelled the snake untwining itself and growing slithering along beside her it's large tail ready to swat them away. Freya skidding to a stop "Hey, you stupid bull get out of here" she yelled as the bull swung round it's gaze fixing on Freya and snorting as it charged towards her "Strangling vines!" she yelled three vines shooting towards the bull, deciding to use three not wanting to risk missing. She smiled as she saw Orochi spinning his tail around and hissing at any cats that decided to come towards her. She squinted her eyes and concentrated the ground around her trembling and shifting as she created a mini earthquake around her hoping to unbalance the bulls and scare away the nightgale cats, a few up them yowled and ran off towards the exit of the village, but there were still many left, she turned focusing on the bull, her vines would hopefully entrap.

She smiled as one of her vines snared the bulls legs wrapping around it and constraining it whilst it snorted and struggle, the bulls struggles alerted the other two and she puffed slightly turning to face them and grinning she had a plan in mind but it would use up lots of magical energy, but if she could get these two bulls out of the picture they could focus on the flood, as the cats and monkeys did not post much of a threat. She turned towards the first bull "CRUMBLING EARTH!" she yelled jumping up and bringing her index finger down as a crack sped towards the bull. She din't waste any time and turned towards the other one "Orochi watch out" she said as she ran towards the other bull, the snake slithereing towards cover, Freya grinned to herself as she put her arms out beside her and started to spin sharp sticks flying as she became a blur, she laughed now she would be protected from any rampaging animals and would also damage the bulls and any cats or monkeys stupid enough to come near her, she breathed heavily but still span knowing the spell was almost over. "EARTH BARRAGE!" she yelled, the bull managed to dodge the crumbling earth but the two monkeys had scampered off, one being hit by her second attack, the bull was hit aswell but not as many times as she had hoped. Freya breathed heavily, the two spells had taken a lot out of her and she swayed on her feet, knowing Orochi's tears couldn't replinish her magic, she looked up at the bulls, 1 was struggling on the ground, the other reeling from her attack but there was still one of it's feet and fightin, she gasped trying to stumble, off but knowing it had her scent and it was a matter of time before it caught her, "ALDOUS!" she yelled suddenly afraid, not sure how much magical energy she had left.

OOC: 3 attacks Freya's vines, 3 blocks bull

The member 'Riohorse' has done the following action : Dices roll

#1 'Damage Dice' :


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#2 'Block Dice' :

OOC: Freya's Crumbling Earth and Earth barrage
1st attack crumbling earth
1st block bull
8 attack Earth barrage 6 to bull/2 cats and monkeys
8 block 6 to bull/2 cats and monkeys

The member 'Riohorse' has done the following action : Dices roll

#1 'Damage Dice' :


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#2 'Block Dice' :


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#3 'Damage Dice' :


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#4 'Block Dice' :

"DAWN!" Aldous yelled out to the silently shocked woman still on the wall's top, the steelness and ferocity in his now battle-bolstered voice snapping Dawn out of her astonishment. "GET YOUR PEOPLE OUT OF THE FIELD!" Aldous commanded as his eyes narrowed at Freya taking on the first bull, vines snatching up the bull by the legs with great strength, while her enlarged snake had taken the task of fending the more smaller animals with great ease due to its terrifying size. Deciding he had to help out as well, Aldous aimed his fingers at two of the
Nightgale cats that were now interested in Freya who was now in the spotlight of the rogue animals, firing out two Breach Lines at the felines, one for each, hoping to take them by surprise from the sides. He was trying to be economical with his usage of his spells. Maybe he should invested more attacks in. Aldous could not really decide, as one of the cats was now knocked out when one of the lasers collided into it with a ringing mini-bang, while the other laser just flew right off its target in an obvious miscalculated miss.

Meanwhile, as the two mages engage the animals, Dawn heard Aldous' specific orders and realizing that the villagers were in danger if they panicked in a disordered fashion, decided that she needed to take action. Giving out a loud sharp yell over the noise of the fight, Dawn prompted the disarrayed groups of villagers to get back together and to run to the safety of the houses. Thankfully, due to her natural de facto command over the village and the fact that the chaos had not lasted long enough to irreversibly set the villagers in panic, the people were more than willing to respond to her direction, grouping back together to run towards the houses, away from the battlefield. Dawn herself also got down from the wall, chasing towards the groups. Probably to better direct and coordinate her people, as well as to make sure that any injuries were properly taken care of. The face that she had on as she run, Aldous noted that it was determined and focused, devoid of the previous disbelief and pain that had overcame just a few minutes ago.

His vision losing sight of her as he refocused on the battle at hand, Aldous looked left and right first for any sign of the possible culprit, but there weren't any. He was about to try to sense out this hidden enemy with some concentration, when Freya shouted out his name in a desperate voice, causing the man to quickly spin around and his eyes widened in surprise when he noticed that Freya had suddenly expended a large amount of magical energy, sending one of the bulls reeling and struggling to stay on its feet, but the third bull was now almost on her, getting ready to charge. "Like I will let you!" Aldous yelled as his left hand shot up, four dot-like seals appearing on his finger-tips. Blasting his last four Breach Lines at the bull, Aldous' eyes frowned in a pained cring as the bull swung its large massive head, knocking and breaking the four lasers into evaporating fragments in the collision. His attack did however manage to cause the bull to take its eyes of Freya, so Aldous had given the girl a chance to counter-attack.

However, deciding that this was a chance to test out one of his newly learned spells, Aldous shut his eyes as his left and right hand extended out to the sides with open palms, the relevant seals now beginning to activate around the appendages. In his right hand, a single condensed line of seals, with flowery-like patterns on its metre-long length, materialized, allowing Aldous, now opening his eyes, to grab it. Just as he did, the line burst into black energy, sputtering about in intense, powerful crackling, as a vague-edged and bristling energy blade was now in his Aldous' hands, the lightning-like energy having no effect on its master. At the same time, a cross-shaped seal appeared on Aldous' left forearm. Clenching his fist, Aldous felt his nerves twitch a little at the application of magical energy, as the new seal activated, forming a black boxy cross that is strapped to his forearm, appearing like some sort of light-weight buckler. Indeed, that was the function of the new cross, while the sword was, obviously, meant for close-combat.

But now, Aldous needed to use them together, as he placed and lock his sword into the middle of the cross. Feeling additional magic energy intensify at his immediate use of his spell's ultimate form, Aldous tried his best to control the new form of his dual spells - Amaterasu Formula #15 and #16, respectively "Sword" and "Cross". Aiming it at the last bull, Aldous' eyes intensely trained on his target as he tried his best to steady the powerful spell now on his arms. "CROSS-SWORD!" Aldous yelled out as perspiration ran down over his body in his intense battle to control his spell.

However, he failed.

It was to be expected, of course. He had too little experience with Formula #15 "Sword" to adequately control the blade's offensive power, let alone to control the combined form. But as the crossbow-like spell fired straight out of his arm, Aldous felt his concentration break just a little and that was enough for his wavering arm to just slightly bend down under the magical weight of his spell. It was enough. Now fired at a slightly downward angle, the magical projectile got closer and closer to the ground as it sliced through the air, getting at least two metres in front of the bull before the two-metre-long shaft smashed into the ground. Even then though, the projectile's power was still visible, as the twenty-centimetre-thick arrow tried to smash through the floor, sending a large wave of upturned rubble in front of it, piercing through the two-metres of ground between it and the bull with ease. While it was too low in to get at the bull, the arrow and its rampage through the floor was still enough to cause the bull to lose its balance, even launching it with an upturning of the ground two metres into the air, exposing it to attack from Freya, while the arrow continued on unimpeded in its battle with the ground.

Eventually, the arrow would stop and pittered out, but not before smashing through twenty metres of rock-solid ground, creating a metre-long ditch that was half a metre deep. The sound and sight of the arrow mercilessly smashing its way through was also enough to intimidate the two trios of monkeys, sending them into a panic as they headed out for the exit, afraid for their lives if another such arrow were to come breaking through.

"FREYA NOW!" Aldous, realizing that the situation turned out better than he could hope for, yelled at the young girl to take out the last bull with the opening he had given her, as the airborne bull was left helpless to an attack.
OOC:
Dice 1: Two Breach Lines against two nightgale cats, one each. Taking target by long-range surprise, thus no block rolls.
Dice 2: Four Breach Lines on the third Tyranan bull.
Dice 3: Tyranan bull block against attack.
Dice 4: Cross-Sword attack against Tyranan Bull. First attacks cause bull to stumble, hence no ability to block.

The member 'TacticalFallacy' has done the following action : Dices roll

#1 'Damage Dice' :


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#2 'Damage Dice' :


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#3 'Block Dice' :


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#4 'Damage Dice' :

Freya squeezed her eyes shut bracing for the impact of the bull, opening her eyes in suprise when it didn't come and looking up seeing one of Aldous' laser shoot past, the bull brushed it aside easily, but it bought Freya some time to plan a counter attack. She gave a quick glance at Dawn who was ordering the paniced villagers, Freya hoped they would not be caught in the cross fire nor, the flood. She looked towards the diversion barricade paniced, there couldn't be long now till the flood came crashing down the river.

She shook her head and refocussed, watching in awe as she sense the magical energy around Aldous, knowing a powerful spell was about to be unleased. She turned her gaze away from the magical arrow and ran over to Orochi sighing in relief as his healing tears, healed her. She tuned back to the battle just in time to see Aldous' arrow miss, she gasped in frustration wishing that his arrow had hit, knowing the effect would have been tremendous. She grinned though as the monkeys scrambled off frightened by the arrows impact.

Freya looked up as Aldous shouted out a command, she nodded and ran forward, watching suprised at the bull arching through the air. She didn't have any powerful spells left, but she could still manipulate the earth. "Right on it Aldous!" she said manipulating the earth below the the bull into upwards spikes, she puffed slightly with the effort, who new this job would involve using so much magical energy and they still had the flood to divert! She sighed wondering what an S-rank quest would be like, if this was only C.

Falling down on one knee at the exertion of his last spell Cross-Sword, Aldous felt himself trying to grasp onto his breath as he looked on in triumph as the bull finally fell on top of the spikes below it. While Freya's magic power must have been so used up that her spikes were not strong enough to support the bull's falling momentum, it was still good enough to knock out the bull as its body collided into the spikes, breaking them apart but still feeling the impact from those hard points. For a few short moments of defiance, the bull tried to get up, but in the end, in one final thud, the third bull collapsed into unconsciousness.

"Thank goodness....." Aldous felt himself huff and puff in stress from his magic usage. He still had approximately a third of his magical reserves, along with that thing inside him. His sagging head looking up towards the animal herds, Aldous felt his heart skip a relieved beat as the nightgale cats were now stayying their distance, their luminescent eyes widened at the disposal of their bull leaders, while the monkeys were nowhere to be seen, having long been scared off.

Noticing that Freya was kneeling on the ground, tired from her massive amount of magical output, Aldous' judgement lapsed for a moment as he stepped forward and ran up to the girl, putting her arm around his shoulder as he helped her up, concern written over his face at her fatigue. Unlike him, whose magical usage is not that much due to him using Seals, he had forgotten that Freya's magic involved moving the earth, which would no doubt be very exhausting, especially for a budding D-rank. Picking her up back onto her feet, Aldous narrowed as he placed his hand onto her stomach(no pervert), a dark glow streaming through from his hand to her stomach as he transferred half of his magical power to her. He almost stumbled at the exertion but the thing inside him chuckled as it held him up, preventing him from collapsing. 'Always trying to be a hero, huh~?'

"S-Shut up." Aldous cursed against that thing, as it gave a hoot of maniacal laughter in his mind. It found it amusing, that thing, to see him in this weakened state, when he most needed its power. Even more uplifting is the fact that right now, right here, Aldous had made a very critical mistake. Not just when he left the wall alone.

But also when he allowed Dawn to leave to help the villages.

"HELP!!!" Aldous' eyes widened in horrified fear as he realized what could possibly have been the worst possible situation actually happening, turning towards the source of the sound, located just in front of the wall. And there she was. Dawn, her face filled with pain and terror, was standing there, her throat being throttled by the large gloved hand of that hooded figure he and Freya had been suspicious of this entire time. However, this time, the figure had dropped his hood behind his head, revealing his old, wrinkly face, with white hair flowing down his back, as well as a pair of hard narrow eyes with blood-red irises. That, as Dawn tried to utter out under his vice grip, was Noah. In his other hand, which he was keeping between him and Dawn, Aldous had no doubt that he had an explosive Lacrima primed and ready to explode if either he or Freya made a move.

"You know what to do," Noah gave a harsh yet gleeful growl as his iron-grip on Dawn's throat deepened once again in a fierce display of superiority. His face was in a wide and literally insane smile, as those eyes of his clearly projected blood lust.

"Destroy the wall for me."

Only 5 minutes were left before the flood was to come crashing down, as the sound of rumbling could be heard from the top of the hill where the wave of water was expected to come from.

Freya gave a weak smile as the bull crashed to the ground unconcious and the several animals backing away from the pair, falling to her knees and looking over at Aldous who looked as worn out as she was, the spell he cast must have taken a lot out of him and she was suprised as he ran over to her supporting her with his shoulder "A..Aldous what about..you" she said as she felt the magic energy streaming into her gasping in suprise {color=blue] "No take it back...you need it!" [/color] she protested but flicked her hea dup as she heard a desperate shout.

She looked over at Dawn slowly her eyes pained as she saw the hooded figure with his hand around Dawns neck and let a stream of curses, from the looks of it Dawn didn't have much time left her lips were already turning blue. Freya shook her head in dismay, how were they going to get out of this one, Noah had an explosive lacrima primed if they tried to attack but he would also kill her if they did not destroy the wall. These were the worst possible turn of event, both her and Aldous were lacking magical energy and Dawn was at the brink of being killed. She looked up in dismay as the rumble of the impending flood could be heard. Orochi hissed menacingly at Noah but not making any aggresive moves "Noah...You don't know what your doing, you just need to calm down" she said her tone soothing, taking a tentative step towards him her hands held up. Reading Noahs movement carefully, not seeing anything but revenge in those bloode red eyes, wondering what had made this man so twisted. She turned to Aldous "What do we do?" she asked horrified.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!! ARE YOU SEEING THIS?" Aldous felt himself give a small jump and a gasp when Noah burst out cackling, his hand turning around to make Dawn face him face-to-face, as he pointed mockingly at Freya. "Did that little girl just said that I have no clue at what I'm DOING?!! BWAHAHAHA!!!" Arching his spine back as he looked up to the sky to allow his maniacal laughter to soar to the heavens above, Noah was clearly in hysterics. "Young lady," Noah murmured, still chuckling, as his head now came back to eye Freya with those beady, murderous eyes, "I've been doing this for three years now. And I had to spend another two years before, demeaning myself as a simple wares seller, to get the trust of the losers of this gullible village. I can assure you, Rune Knight brat, that I am as calm as I can be right now." Noticing that Dawn was slowly losing consciousness, Noah grinned evilly as he loosened his grip on her neck, but the nails on his hand now dug into Dawn neck, as he jolted her awake with the pain, prompting Dawn to give out a loud cry of pain. "Ooops, I can't have you dying just yet. Your employees have yet to do what I want." Noah hooted in sadistic joy as his nails continue to draw out more screams of agony from Dawn, who now had tears running down her bloodshot eyes.

At that point, Aldous did not know what to do. He was truly without any ideas on how to stop Noah. Most unfortunately, Noah was in a perfect position to keep a watchful eye on both Freya and Aldous, and the lacrima in his hand meant that even if Freya could surprise him and separate him from Dawn with her Earth Magic, they would not be able to move fast enough to get Dawn out of the explosion. "Why not just use me~?" That voice, that sickening voice in his head, resounded once again as it cackled, obviously enjoying itself at the sight of the stand-off, like a cock-fighter relishing the sight of two cocks fighting it out in bloody combat.

"Never." Aldous retorted mentally as he finally managed to re-steady himself back up to his full height. Not now. He could not use his lineage. If he used it and tried to attack Noah, he would be fast enough to completely prevent the lacrima from exploding. However, there was no guarantee that Dawn might not be in his way and if she was, his inner self would not even hesitate to take her out as well. These were Aldous' thoughts, the very words that went through his head and they then sparked an idea within him. Looking past Noah and Dawn and at the top of the wall, Aldous' eyes widened at the sight of Abraxis, who he had left there, looking down at the scene and almost looking primed to jump on top of Noah from behind. There was no indication whether Abraxis knew that Aldous had spotted him, for it was difficult to discern from a featureless bicycle. However, Aldous decided to place his trust on his partner, no matter how dumb that might seem to be. "Why did you do it, Noah? Why instigate people to flood this village? Was it hate? Revenge?"

"HAHAHA! Is that what you think I am doing this for? Petty revenge against a mere village?" Noah gave a snort of repulsion, as if offended by Aldous' suggestions. "If I had any notion of revenge against this village, I could have easily destroyed the entire place with just a few well-placed lacrima! WHAT I REALLY WANT, ARE THE RUNE KNIGHTS!!"

"R-rune Knights.....," Aldous muttered under his breath, keeping his head down and his eyes covered under the shadows of his onyx-coloured hair, as he allowed that thing inside of him to slowly creep out into the open. It altered his personality, as his persona begun to wrap. This was most noticeable in the change in his speech. "What shit have they ever done to you?"

"NOTHING! Nothing at all! You don't seem to get it, do you?" Noah laughed as he shook Dawn about playfully, like a tyrannical kid with his little toy. "The atmosphere. It's changing. Right now, just around the corner, we dark mages are about to rise up, kids." Cracking his neck gleefully as he continued to speak, Noah begin to pace about, his hand still on Dawn's neck. "We will overthrow the Magic Council, make all you legal guilds grovel at our feet and bring about a new age of freedom and power!!!"

Though he was not normally one to mock his opponent, Aldous was notably abnormal right now in the first place. A wide smirk of insanity streaked across his face as he cheerfully wondered how stupid his opponent must be to leave himself so open, just to give out a little monologue. It was pathetic. A disgrace to all dark mages.

"So I decided to help out the cause. Get a little chaos in this part of the world. I thought, if I can make enough flood incidents happen in this area, I would be able to attract some big names from the Rune Knights and then take them out with one giant lacrima-filled flood. But alas, all the Rune Knights have been sending nothing more than petty D-rank mooks to do their dirty work and I could not take out any of the higher-ups in the order. And when I got the news that the village was going to drain the basin, from the mouth of this little lady no less...." Noah cackled as he pointed knowingly towards Dawn, who gazed at the mages with guilt in her eyes. "I was frustrated. Now I have no choice but to just sink the entire village and just let the Rune Knights take the blame for this failure!"

"They really are pathetic, your higher-ranks." Noah snorted in mocking laughter as he aimed his words towards Freya, eyeing her with obvious disdain. "You know, the village would not have any troubles at all if your superiors just decided to change the landscape and drain the basin with just magic. Yet, when the village was so obviously in trouble and mages after mages were needed to prevent the flood, none of your people decided to even try to think up of a solution to end the flood threat and your superiors just lazily allowed little D-rank mooks like you, girl, to solve their problems for them!"

"Maybe they are not even that strong in the first place! They might just be fat ugly politicians sitting behind the efforts of people like you! IF THAT WERE TRUE, THEN IN THE WAR THAT IS TO COME UP, YOU WILL BE CRUSHED!!"

"Oh really, is that what you think? You sorry excuse of a dark mage!" Aldous howled all of a sudden as he gave a large roar, his eyes now filled with hatred and evil glee, as the thing that was within him finally begun to fill him out with its corrupting grace. "WHAT-?" Noah could barely utter out a responce before Aldous continued on in his dark cackling, his inner persona now going on full swing.

"Do you seriously think that I give a piece of crap for that lady you have in your hands as a pathetic meat shield?" Now being pulled along by his dark side, Aldous winced internally at his own words, while his other self licked its lips in glee as it carried on, exhilarated at the lack of chains on its actions.

Freya flinched and took a step back at the mans maniac laugher, a flash a fear in her eyes. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand as the man leered towards her, not liking the reek of dark energy coming off him. She bristled indignantly as he called her a Rune Knight brat, feeling her chimera blood stirring inside her but pressing it down, she would need it to stop the flood. Her eyes widened as Noah abused Dawn "No!Don't hurt her!" she yelled the earth rumbling slightly beneath her and her gaze darkening, but containing herself knowing if she tried to attack it wouldn't do her, Aldous or Dawn any good. She followed Aldous' gaze squinting as she saw his annoying bicycle and smiling slightly to herself, if the bike could get them out of this she would definetly owe him one. Freya grimaced at this realisation and hoped Aldous had a plan up his sleeve or there was an opening for her to attack, because she really did not want to owe the bicycle.

Freya's head snapped up and she gasped in horror as Noah said his real target was the Rune Knights. She tilted her head as she listened to Aldous speak, sensing something off but choosing to play dumb. "Fine it's the Rune Knights you want so leave Dawn alone your quarrel is with me and my fellow Rune Knights, don't bring innocent civilians into this!" she said raising her head defiently and looking at the man in the eyes, her eyes widened even more as the man continued "NO! you and the dark guilds will never win, the magic council, the rune knights and the legal guild will stop YOU!" she yelled fuming "If you think, I'm a petty D-rank then your wrong, and you'd never be able to take out the senoir people in the rune knights, they are way out of your league" she retorted back, turning to Aldous, and flinching at the insanity on his face, her snake slithering closer to her hissing warily. Freya suddenly felt as if she was alone, her parter Aldous no longer on her side and she shuddered, wondering what had come over him. She trembled and turned back to Noah "Don't talk about my superiors like that! They would never surrender WE ARE BETTER THAN YOU!" she screamed, her anger coursing around her as the earth around her gave another tremour, she was about to run towards Noah and take him out show him what the Rune Knights were really made of when Aldous, answered Freya gaped shocked at the voice talking through Aldous, knowing it wasn't him "A...Aldous look at me" she said stepping forward and looking at Aldous' eyes. Giving a small scream as she saw the hate, anger and murderous intent in them, knowing she had to stop him before he killed any of the towns people or Dawn "Aldous SNAP OUT OF IT!" she yelled grabbing his hand and trying to pull him away, knowing her strength wouldn't match his put pulling any way.

No matter what Freya said, it did not stop Aldous. No matter how many times she pulled at his arm, not a single shred of his care or attention was even taken away from his cold hard focus down onto the dark mage Noah and his now weeping hostage, the grin literally becoming an ear-to-ear snarl of glee. His hands now flexing into almost-claw-like positions, Aldous continued to speak as a possessed man, the thing inside him cackling away as it pulled the strings with absolute excitement, unable to keep its exuberance at its freedom to control the body, while the real Aldous just sat at the side on a mental chair, sighing away at the chaos his other side was about to bring.

"I CAN EASILY CRUSH YOU! YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A PATHETIC DARK MAGE! MY MASTER WILL BE INFURIATED AT THE SIGHT OF YOU!" With an accusing finger, Aldous wrenched his arm out of Freya's grip and pointed it at the stumped Noah. "LOOK AT YOU! ALL DUMB AND COWARDLY, HIDING BEHIND A SIMPLE PIECE OF MEAT!"

"DO YOU KNOW~? I CAN JUST OBLITERATE YOU AND THAT WOMAN ON THE SPOT AND STILL HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO STOP THE FLOOD! AND YOU WOULD HAVE DIED A MEANINGLESS DEATH?!" And those words were all that were needed to reveal Noah beginning to perspire, the grip on his hostage wavering as his fear of death begun to surface, while the man stammered out with a less than confident tone of voice. "Who.....who are you? Are you not a Light mage? W-Why do you not hesitate despite the hostage in my hands?"

"Because I do not give a shit about anything other than my money~. I was told I could get paid if I just stopped the flood~. It did not matter who paid me, be it that woman or the entire village. I will get my deserved payment~!"

"You.....You are bluffing....." The man almost took a step back, almost letting go of Dawn, but not quite yet. He was however, so obviously terrified that he seemed on the very edge to just abandon his hostage and make a break for it before he was slaughtered by Aldous.

"Oh I'm not bluffing! I WILL SHOW YOU THAT RIGHT NOW!" His hands dancing in front of him in amazing grace and dexterity, the still smiling Aldous begun to draw a seal. However, this time, the seal that Aldous was drawing was completely bogus, he was in reality just drawing randomly and just trying to get the general shape right. In the end, within ten seconds, he was done. Two large and hollow circles were each above and below both Noah and Dawn, while six other hollow circles, three for each side of their target and decreasing as they get closer to their two, each glowing ominously as magic power flowed through them. While Dawn just gazed at them with shock, it was Noah who was both surprised, shocked and utterly horrified.

"A-A-Amaterasu Formula 100!!!!!" Noah gasped as he recognized the shape of the spell. "Impossible......Only one person could use it......And that person is dead......Unless......" Noah seemed to realize as he stared back at Aldous, his fear jumping to new levels. "Master Hades.........there were rumours that he had a student. One that was said to have died 17 times under his tutelage and was yet so strong that he could be revived each time perfectly and getting stronger with each time he returned back from the dead. Don't tell me-?!" His inner fear now going all-out, Noah almost screamed like a little girl as he finally let go of Dawn, turning to run in an effort to try and get out of the blast he perceived was about to come.

Unfortunately, for Noah, this was what Aldous was waiting for. The truth is, the Amaterasu Formula 100 would not activate without the correct details and specific lines. The one that Aldous had drawn was a mere fake, a simple imitator that is just making use of its general shape. It would do nothing more than look fancy and then fade away as wasted magical energy. Even though his dark persona was at the reins, Aldous had at least managed to convince it to join in his ploy. And right now, his plan was about to reach fruition, as he spotted the window of opportunity when Noah had released Dawn. "NOW!" The real Aldous who had been watching from the side yelled mentally at his other self, who cackled back in hearty laughter. "I KNOW!!! HAHAHA!!!! THISISGOINGTOBEFUN~!!!"

"LET'S GO!" Aldous cheered out-loud as seals begun to materialize around him, as he activated his Seal Floater ability. That was the signal and Abraxis took it. While Aldous begun to shoot forward towards Noah with the enhanced speed of a bullet, Abraxis jumped off the wall from his side behind Noah, planning to land right on top of him.

Freya gasped as he wrenched his arm out of her grip, falling backwards onto her butt, shaking her head hoping there was still a shred of Aldous' normal self left inside that body. She looked up at Dawn who was shaking and weeping uncontrolably, Freya shuddered at the freakish grin plastered across Aldous' face, wondering to herself how on earth Aldous' had become this monster. She clamped her hands tightly over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut as she crouch on the ground not wanting to hear the maniac babbling, not wanting to taint perspective of her companion, knowing before whatever took him over he was a kind and considerate person and that person was still in there. Orochi slithered up to Freya curling around her crouched form to protect her while she struggled with Aldous' alternate persona.

She opened her eyes tentavily hearing one of Aldous' seals being cast, she smiled thankfully at the snake who looked up at her with beady eyes, she looked at the Noah and Aldous' not being able to here their conversation she wondered what they had been saying, then shook her head glad she hadn't. She glanced up at Abraxis seeing him leap off the wall, Aldous' shoot forward towards a fleeing Noah. She sprang up, she needed to do something, the flood was about to come down and she was pretty sure Aldous had a plan but not sure how much of it was sane. Orochi slithered up into her hair as she ran towards dawn grabbing the traumatized womens hand and pulling her towards a village house occupied by several villagers, leaving her there as she sprinted towards the wall. Freya ran up and down peering through small chips in the wood and running her hands along the wall hoping that there was no explosive lacrima hidden inside them, she gave a sigh of relief they still had a chance of diverting the flood. She started to turn around just as a loud explosion went of, she whipped around her hand going to her mouth as she saw the puff of smoke and metal where the levees were supposed to be and the torrent of water gushing out. She shook her head "No...why did this have to happen" she said as she ran towards the levee "Earth Wall!" she yelled her hands forward as the earth infront of her rose up in an arch trying to block the water from gushing out any further. She looked behind her hoping to see Aldous or Abraxis.

Aldous had to move quickly. As the fake Formula 100 dispersed into the air as predicted, much to his chagrin as he hated throwing away so much magical energy uselessly, Aldous' eyes watch intently as Noah, who, in retaliation, was trying to activate his lacrima, was then struck from behind by the falling Abraxis, caught by surprise at the bicycle's interruption. Not missing a step, Aldous took three large bounds as he reeled up his left leg, unleashing it at his last leap as a hard round-house straight into the jaw of Noah, causing the man's head to snap up with a crunching noise coming from his now broken neck. While the real Aldous inside his mind cringed in disgust at the quick and sudden death of the dark mage, the other him did not even give a shred of care, his smile not even faltering one bit. In fact, his other self had been more dancing than kicking, relishing the sensation he got at having the off-chance to flex and control this body.

While the now deceased Noah, his eyes rolled up into his sockets in a death stare, fell flat onto the ground, the glowing lacrima that had been primed fell off his limp hand, losing its light as its controller's mind now ceased to exist. Wherever that woman Dawn had went, the controlling persona did not really give a piece of crap about it, but the real one did and so with his strength of will and dominating control, Aldous took the reins away from his other self, pulling his body to take a look, while the thing complained helplessly, pissed at this sudden intrusion on his control. When the two came back into his vision, with Freya pulling the heaving and partially traumatized Dawn into the safety a house. Good, they are safe.....

Or so he had thought.

BOOM! All of a sudden, a thunderous howl rippled through the air as the signature sound of lacrima exploding came to his ears once again, but this time more as an echo that had came down from a very high point. "Is it-?" Aldous gasped as he turned his head to look up the valley slope, where the levees should be at the very top, blocking the flood from going any further until the appointed time. Which, it seems, to be now. And it seemed right now, that the conjecture by Dawn that the torrential rain had made the basin even more swelled with water was right.

Crashing through the valley, smashing through every piece of foliage in its way was a massive flood front, its closest waves, tainted brown by the erosion of earth along the way, almost as high as the wooden wall itself and it surged forth with great strength that Aldous immediately knew at one look that the wall, the force-buffering lacrima and the boulders are simply not enough to stop the sheer brute force of this wave. They needed something to push back at them, to stall the force just enough so that it will wash over and ensure that it is too weak to destroy the wall upon impact. There was only one thing that Aldous knew he had to do.

While Freya had rushed in front of the wooden wall and brought up a second arched wall of dense earth in an attempt to prevent the flood from overwhelming the village, Aldous rushed up towards her, ignoring the warnings and yells from the moaning Abraxis, who was dizzy. In fact, the roar of the incoming flood, now halfway down the slope towards the village, drowned out Abraxis' voice, washing it away under the torrent of sound that rivaled the water waves.

By the time he had jumped off the wall to Freya's side, the water are now just a third away from the village wall, with Freya's Earth wall just about to collide into it. Taking this window of opportunity, Aldous yelled at Freya, concern laced in his now steel-like voice, "GET TO SAFETY!!!" Without waiting for Freya's answer, Aldous closed his eyes as he focused on draining his already low amount of magical energy into the vault inside the mind, allowing himself to be void of magic, while his soul, his other self, cackled inside his head as it was allowed to take over.

His lineage activated.

A massive spiritual arm, grey-coloured and skeletal-like formed over his shoulder and with it, along with the last shreds of his own control, Aldous grabbed Freya and forcibly lifted her off the ground, not taking no for an answer. Just as his other self re-took the reins to fully unleash the Spirit Warrior, Aldous solemnly placed Freya on the top of the wall, his irises looking even sad for a moment as he locked eyes with her. But that only lasted for so short a time, as his eyes then narrowed into feral slits as a wide grin slithered across his face, his persona taking over with a loud "YAHOO!!!". Turning back towards the flood, Aldous' eyes glinted with glee as his full spirit revealed itself.

At first, it was just the skeletal arm, but then from the shoulder joint, the rest of the ashen spiritual skeleton formed, transforming into a large humanoid being with an unusually angular draconic skull, standing at least as tall as the wall of water that charged towards its domineering stature, now just ten metres away.

"HAHAHA!!! THIS. IS. SO. MUCH. FUN!!!!" Aldous, the other one, screamed and hooted in joy at the top of his lungs, as muscle sinews begin to form over the basic skeleton, condensing into solid musculature that begun to truly shape this otherworldly Spirit. Its massive arms now fully-coated with muscular fibers, the Spirit Warrior opened its cavernous maws, giving out a bellowing roar, just as the Earth Wall that Freya had brought up crumbled under the massive force of the waves.

"OH YEAH!!!!!" was the last thing the Aldous in control cackled in challenge against the flood as he raised his Warrior's powerful arms in preparation of the flood. A loud and crackling "BOOOM!!!" rang and shook the air as the massive grey Spirit Warrior smashed straight into the flood.

Freya gasped and trembled slightly struggling to keep the wall intact, sweat appearing on her forhead as she tried to hold the wall in place. Freya heard a shout from behind her, unable to her clearly due the rumbling of the impending flood, her eyes widened as she saw it smash the wooden wall to pieces heading straight for her and her earth wall realising her wall would not hold and she would be swept away with the flood she was about to activate her own lineage when a large grey skeletal looking arm clamped down on her shoulder lifting her up onto the wall she blinked suprised staring into Aldous' eyes a small smile appearing on her lips as she realised Aldous was still there, still sane.

She looked away so as not to see the transformation that had come over him taking a moment to glance at the warrior like thing before looking over at the group of villagers huddled on top of one of their house yelling pleadingly. She was confident that Aldous or whatever he was could stop the flood, but she didn't want to take any chances She nodded guess nows my turn to activate my lineage she thought as she gave a small suprised cry as she felt the strength of a lion surge through her blood as her lineage responeded to her thoughts. She looked down at Orochi and ran along the wall landed nimbly on the ground as she jumped off running towards the villagers looking up at Aldous sad that she had put herself in danger that he had tried to avoid her from, but she couldn't just stand around and do nothing she need to get the villagers to safety. She stopped by the house they were huddle along, grabbing the nearest three people to her and tossing two over her shoulder and two under her arms, chuckling to herself as she realised how funny she must look carrying to full grown men. She ran towards the woods smiling thankfully at the start of higher ground she tossed the villagers she had been carrying and ran back to the rest taking 4 more and grinning at Orochi as he grew slithering around two as she ran back to the base of the mountain leaving her snake to look after the other as she made one last trip back to the house grabbing Dawn and her companions hands pulling them towards the other "ABRAXIS! Come we need to get to higher ground...Aldous will be fine LETS GO" she yelled as she ran towards the base of the mountain looking on anxiously as Aldous' lineage form plunged towards the flood. She wrapped her arms around herself as the villagers huddled together. She looked down at Abraxis and smiled slightly worried for Aldous and the villager.

His lineage. Spirit Warrior....It might be powerful, it might have been something he has relied on for so long, but against this natural disaster, it had obviously reached its limits. While the other self of him was just cackling away maniacally as it bashed against the wave of water, sending more and more up into the air with its brute might, Aldous was watching grimly from the sides, from his lone seat in the spotlight of his mind.

It was not enough. His lineage was just not enough to stop the flood's power. Eventually he will be crushed and the flood would still retain enough strength to overcome the preparations made by the villagers and wipe out the village entirely, essentially ending the livelihood of these people. Aldous could not allow that; he kept repeating that to himself as he begun to stand back up to his feet, pushing himself off from his mental chair and begun to walk towards the reins his other self was currently taking hold. "Finally decided to make a move~?" His other self mocked as it gave another burst of cackling hoots, setting off another four more fully-fleshed out arms to extend out from the Spirit Warrior's body and then smashing all of their giant palms into the flood front. By this time, the water had accumulated and completely stopped under the pressure of the Spirit Warrior's mighty strength but it had not lost its momentum, as clearly shown by the now giant water-front that was twice the Warrior's height and threatening to spill over and swallow the Warrior and the village.

Aldous could not allow it but if he did not allow it, he could most possibly die. For that moment of doubt, as he stopped just beside his other self inside his mind, Aldous' eyes, dull like the most unpolished of stones, watched the scene unravel before him from his mind's eye, almost unable to try to make a decision. Every time, like right now, his arms begin to move up to take the figurative reins from his wayward persona, but something struck in his heart and would cause him to move his arms back in hesitation.

It was something he should not be ashamed of.

"Not ashamed of? Have you lost your mind, kid?"

That voice. He knew that voice. Instinctively, Aldous turned around to search the landscape of his mind, looking out for that silhouette he was so familiar with. The one he had trained under, fought under and lived under for 13 years of his life. But there was nobody, not a soul other than he and his persona in this mindscape. What was happening, he realized then, was a memory reflexively playing in his mind.

"You have died 16 times and came back each time. Why on Earthland would you be scared of something that you have defeated so many times?"

"That is why you SHOULD be ashamed for your fear, brat, for you have done what mere man can only dream of. AND THAT MEANS A THOUSAND MORE FORMULAS FROM YOU!!!" Aldous felt a shiver ran down his spine, as he felt himself being naturally lulled towards the charisma and the firmness of this voice, the voice of the only one who could call him Master.

"However, if there is one fear you should not be ashamed of, it would indeed be death. A meaningless death. It stabs within us a natural desire: to find meaning in the lives that we have been given. And to die without finding that meaning, is the most terrifying thing you will ever face. That is why soon, I will be finding Zeref and finally rid myself of that fear."

"Hades....." Aldous found himself unconsciously murmur under his bated breath, as cracks finally begun to appear across the Spirit Warrior's ethereal arms. "I might not have agreed with your misguided morals or your brutal methods, but you were my greatest teacher. A 'father' that I will never forget. And if there was ever one thing that you were right about, it was that."

With an air of both resignation and determination, Aldous nudged his smiling other self aside, as he finally retook the reins of his body and the Warrior. His grip on his control firmer than ever before, Aldous gave a roar of frenzy and rage as his Spirit Warrior did too, while the entire spiritual coating turned from its bone gray to a blinding pure white. This roar would reverberate throughout the valley, sending soundwaves that vibrated the very air, rumbled every eardrum in the vicinity and show off Aldous' decision: "I WILL NOT DIE A MEANINGLESS DEATH!!!"

Retracting all six of its massive arms back into its body, the Spirit Warrior continued its awe-striking howl as the flood front now smashed straight into its skeletal torso, threatening to flow around it. But Aldous, standing within this skeleton did not even moved an inch as the Warrior's head begun to shrink and descend, it's spine too getting absorbed back into Aldous. Soon, even the torso and ribs begun to swiftly return to Aldous, allowing the water, now moving in these faithful few seconds, to get ever so dangerously close to the now vulnerable man. And this vulnerable man had his arm outstretched out towards the water and around this arm, was the draconic head of his Spirit Warrior, all of its spiritual essence and constitution forming and gathering within its now opened maw, which was parallel with Aldous' arm.

At that moment, time seemed to stand still and Aldous could appreciate his surroundings. The swish and swash of the flood water was like that of an aggressive ballet dancer, dancing to the fast tune of a battle song. The air, rushing through his hair, clothes and his soul, felt just like a stream of holy cleansing water, washing him off and relieving of the burden set by his past sins. As the flood water begun to surround his lone figure on the slope and were almost about to swallow him whole, Aldous let loose.


BBBBOOOM!!!! Almost equivalent to that of a dragon's roar, the dragon's head sitting on his arm letting out a massive five-metre-wide beam of white spiritual energy. Sending winds rushing about by the sheer force of its power, the entire essence of the Spirit Warrior was now collected and condensed within this gargantuan beam. Totally overwhelmed by the dense energy, the flood was bisected completely into two as the beam shot up the slope, just sailing over the now exposed ground, its sheer momentum enough to flip over the surface of the muddy earth, while at its sides were high walls of water being pushed aside.

It was enough. It was more than enough. All its momentum taken out completely by the beam's power, the flood waters slowly and steadily crashed towards the village wall, not even needing the explosive lacrima to buffer its now diluted force. As the waters obediently begun to sulk away on the diverting trenches that would eventually lead towards the two rivers, the flood is already beginning to settle, forming one long wide strip of water that flowed down the valley slope, the beginnings of a new river.

As for Aldous, a few seconds back, he was falling towards the ground as the waters surged up to sweep him away, his body completely disabled by his irregular usage of his Spirit Warrior. But before he was swallowed into the depths, Aldous gave one small smile.

At the same time, Abraxis, who was just about to get to Freya along with the rest of the villagers, had his attention stolen back by the ascension of the massive spiritual beam slicing the flood. From his position, he could not see Aldous past the village's wooden flood wall but he immediately feared the worst. Without a second thought, Abraxis' wheels dug into the ground as he braked himself to turn back and begun to speed towards Aldous' position on the valley slope. "FREYA, HELP ME OUT!!" He cried desperately.

Freya sat at the mountain base her face creased in worry as she stroked Orochi mechanically her gaze fixed on Aldous' in his lineage form her face pale. Freya held her breath as the Spirit Warrior stood infront of the impending water the water threating to spill over she could sense some hesitation in Aldous' movements and her eyes widened in worry wondering he had planned and whether she should move the villagers higher up the mountain. She stood up her looking around before turning back to the spirit warrior seeing the cracks appearing on his arm, emiting a slight glow and giving a moan not having a chance to say anything as Aldous gave a roar, she stepped back startled but grinning she grabbed Dawn and gave her a huge hug "He's gonna do it, he's gonna save us!" she said joyously.

She looked back at Aldous freezing for a moment as she saw the spirit warrior shrink in size back to Aldous' human, her draw dropped and she gave a shrill shout "ALDOUS WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" she yelled frantically starting to run forward gasping as she saw the skull flash a blinding light towards and she slowed down her jaw dropping at the massive magic blast as it diverted the waters she blinked as the wave of built up magic energy flashed knocking her over, she stumbled but quickly scrambled back up running over to Aldous' she was so amazed after all he had done he still managed to pull off that. She smiled as she ran over but her grin quickly faded as the waters surged up towards him picking up his body and drifting him away "ALDOUS!" she yelled sprinting towards him as she waded through the water reaching out to grab his hand. She struggled through the water and grabbed his arm still having the strength of her lineage she pulled hims out of the water onto the dry land, puffing as she slapped his face worridly "Aldous...Aldous wake up" she said shaking his shoulders "Dawn we need some help here" she said worridly looking around for Aldous as her snake untwined itself from her hair dropping a tear onto Aldous she held her breath as the tear dissolve hoping is had worked, as she wasn't sure of the extent of his injuries she thanked Orochi as he slithered back into her hair realising how good his tears were knowing they would definitely be of use in the future as she waited for Dawn and Abraxis and Aldous to wake up she gave a quick glance to the village sighing many of the houses were ruined and the soil was drenched in the flood water, she didn't know how long it would take to repair...