Wizard Saint and (Future) Warlord

-Mountain Village, in a tavern-

Wearing her green, white, and gold outfit with Argent Gloves on her hands, Silver Longsword in its scabbard on her left hip, and Ses Revanche hidden in her right boot, Leona entered a tavern in Mountain Village. She had been traveling through the area to get out of the guild hall and get a momentary escape from her problems, which were many. There was a lot of guild-related paperwork to be done, a lot of her gear needed upgrading, she needed to look into acquiring a laser pistol to better suit her "weapon and magic" fighting style, and she needed to start studying for a GED exam.

While on her way back to the guild hall to return to reality she decided to stop by a local tavern to see if she could pick up any interesting rumors that could lead to an interesting adventure. Leona had ended up going into a nondescript tavern that really did not have anything special to make it stand out. No special name, no special theme for the decor, no special layout, nothing. At least the atmosphere was pleasant enough.

Leona walked across the tavern while doing her best not to cause a scene by her mere presence. She looked around her and saw a platinum-haired mage sitting off to the side while drinking in the presence of some very strange company. The Wizard Saint saw a woman in elegant blue clothing, a wolf, a giant man who looked like a walking mishmash of different types of pastries and candy with a cupcake for a head, and a skeleton wearing a rather nice black suit with antlers on his head. Leona did not look at the scene too long because it was impolite to stare, so she looked away and soon sat down at the wooden bar on a stool four seats away from the end of the right side.

Once in her seat Leona remained quiet and waited to be served like an ordinary person instead of using her name and title as a way to get quicker service. While she waited she began to think back to her problems, which were numerous. She had so much to do and so little time in which to do everything.

[Post Word Count: 380]
[Leona's Word Count: 380/11,000]

Leona sat patiently at the bar waiting to be served when she saw someone approaching her out of the corner of his eye. The Wizard Saint turned a little and noticed that it was the well-dressed skeleton with the antlers or horns sticking out of his head... she was so tired that she was not sure what they were. As he approached he asked her if she was a Wizard Saint. He then bowed to her and introduced himself as a Celestial Spirit named Amittai and informed her that he had been summoned by the platinum-haired mage Leona had spotted on the way to her seat.

Confused by the odd sight and more than a little winded by her journey, Leona listened to the well-dressed skeleton continue to speak to her. Amittai stated that unlike his master he kept up with news in Fiore. As a result he recognized her and stated her name and titles as proof of his claim. Leona was mildly impressed by his knowledge and listened for what he had to say next as Amittai pulled a seat up next to her and sat down, but before he did he praised her for her humility before going on to speak further.

When he sat down beside her she faced him and the conversation took a dark turn as Amittai revealed that he, the other Celestial Spirits, and his boss were here to kill her. He claimed that it was nothing personal... Leona was going to be killed for the reputation boost the platinum-haired mage stood to get for killing her. The blonde frowned and moved to stand up when a dark mist rolled out of the skeleton's eyes and she began to see the ground beneath her suddenly drop and form a deep pit with a yawning black mouth inviting the Wizard Saint to drop in for a permanent visit.

Leona panicked and began to sweat as her mouth dried out... her worst fear had just come to life. She was deeply afraid of heights and no amount of willpower could make her get over that deep-seated fear. If she moved a muscle to get out of her seat she would fall into the abyss and no one could save her. She need not have worried about moving because she found that she could not move a muscle even if she had wanted to.

She was paralyzed and teetering on the edge of a long drop!

Leona sat paralyzed as the mist filled the entire tavern and Amittai flipped a coin a few times before stating "no time to monologue." and placing a single finger on her head, presumably to prepare for a killing blow. Out of the corner of her eye she witnessed the platinum-haired mage manifested a gas mask and got out of his seat before changing an arm into a large fleshy blade and walking towards an old man who was powerless to escape the platinum-haired mage.

The mage knelt over the man, then asked the man about what he was thinking about and what he feared the most before launching into a monologue that told Leona his name. The platinum-haired mage's name was Odhran Aegisbane and he was the God of the Celestial Spirit Realm. Leona was pretty sure that was a self-appointed title, but she could not disprove his divinity while she was paralyzed. She needed to get free, but how could she?

Odhran knelt down beside the man and stabbed him with the large fleshy sword, then addressed the Wizard Saint. He asserted that while she was powerful, she was no god. He then stated that she was going to be a martyr to inspire fear in the world. Once that was done he would proceed to crush the hopes and dreams of everyone in his path as he marched towards a position of unassailable power.

Leona felt a surge of adrenaline as Amittai's attack prepared to fire directly into her head. She had to break free of the paralysis. She might have been dangerously naive in allowing Amittai to get this close to her to use his dark mist, but she was not going to die like a chump. She was especially not going to give Odhran the pleasure of getting the reputation boost he was looking for. Leona would save the people in the tavern and send him and his Celestial Spirits packing.

Powered by a mix of adrenaline and sheer spite for Odhran, the Wizard Saint clenched her teeth and forced herself to rise from the bar stool, struggling to her feet and eventually forcing herself upright with one final surge of adrenaline; the moment she stood upright the floor reverted back to normal. Now that she had freedom of movement back the polite and well-dressed skeleton was going to be the first to go down. She took a half-step back and powered up with Gale Force, causing her hair to blow about even though there was no wind in the tavern. She then launched a right-handed Hurricane Punch that hit Amittai twelve times in the torso, her right arm moving so fast that to observers it was a blur.

Before the skeleton could recover and fire off his attack Leona put the index and middle fingers of her right hand together, then channeled silver magic into them. Once the spell was ready she swung them towards the skeleton's neck and decapitated him with her Silver Blade spell. Once the skeleton was gone Leona turned her angry green gaze towards Odhran. She would have to mind the other Celestial Spirits he had out, but she could handle them. Leona took a few steps towards him with the intention of putting his claims of godhood to the test.

[Post Word Count: 960]
[Leona's Word Count: 1,340/11,000]

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Leona strode towards the self-proclaimed "God of the Celestial Spirit Realm" and was somewhat surprised when Amittai survived his decapitation long enough to pass word to his master that he should have focused on the Wizard Saint first. The Wizard Saint strode towards Odhran and saw the giant man who looked like a mishmash of candy and pastries move to block her from getting to his master. He swung a mace and sent forth a meteorite of candies and cookies that hurtled towards Leona at a fast clip.

Leona, not wanting to let the meteorite hit the tavern wall and risk destroying the building or hurting anyone hiding behind the bar, deliberately tanked the meteor by raising her Argent Gloves in a defensive pose in front of her face. She felt it hit her and staggered back, but she recovered in time to see the candy man approach and swing his mace at her. Leona made the defensive posture again and felt a sharp impact from the mace, staggering back a second time before recovering. Leona could not use her long-range spells because of the confined space of the tavern and the presence of civilians, but she could certainly use her sword.

Leona drew her Silver Longsword and immediately went on the attack. The candy knight defended himself against the blonde's onslaught with skill and determination, determined to trade his life to buy time for his master to enact his plan. Each swing of the Silver Longsword was met with the shield being raised to block it, then a precise counterattack that forced Leona to parry or evade the counterattack. The Wizard Saint was fighting a skilled opponent with something to protect and could not help but to feel a certain amount of respect for the candy knight doing his best to protect Odhran from the angry blonde.

When "Sir Pudley Tafferton" complimented Leona on her worthiness to be his opponent, Leona could not help but to comment back.

"You're pretty good too, Sir Pudley Tafferton! I don't have anything against you, but I can't let your master win!" Leona returned the compliment without sarcasm and delivered her version of "nothing personal" to him like Amittai had done to her mere minutes ago. She knew that she could not dissuade the candy knight from his task. He was determined to sell his life as dearly as possible for Odhran and he could not be swayed.  It was a pity that the candy knight was in the service of someone like Odhran because Sir Pudley seemed like a good candy man to know, but Leona could not let pity stay her hand. She had to win.

The candy knight bashed outward with his shield and Leona raised her left arm in defense, barely blocking the shield from hitting her in the face. Her arm felt a pressure as the shield hit it, but having her arm hit was a lot less dangerous than taking a shield to the face. Leona recovered and saw that the new shield Sir Pudley had was large enough to box her in and severely limit her options. The only way around the determined candy knight was to go through him, but his enormous shield had formed holes and he was stabbing at her though them with a lance made of rock candies.

Leona knew that such a move was stalling for time and Sir Pudley was doing a good job of it. However, she had to get through to stop Odhran before he could successfully enact his plan. Leona attacked the shield with her sword and dodged the lance thrusts the best she could, slowly but surely chipping away at the deceptively sturdy shield. She was making progress, but she was not making it fast enough because she could hear Odhran shouting orders to his other two Celestial Spirits. Odhran then shouted at her.

"Wizard Saint!" He shouted.

"You stand before a God! Bend your knee to me!" He bade her in a voice that was far different from his earlier tone. Leona scoffed. He was no god.

"I'm not bending the knee to you!" Leona retorted defiantly as she continued to hammer at the cookie shield barring her way. It was slowly starting to crumble, but it seemed to be infused with Sir Pudley's determination because the cookie shield was just not giving way no matter how hard the Wizard Saint struck it. Leona's attention was momentarily taken off of the candy knight and drawn to her surroundings, which began to take on a rather ominous appearance.

The cracks in the wooden walls began to drip red sap that looked a lot like blood. The floorboards beneath her feet began to crack and shake and the roof began to spew forth spiders, but that was not all that was going on. As if all of the preceding were not bad enough, the sky began to take on an ominous red tint. Just what was Odhran preparing to do?

Leona turned her attention back to Sir Pudley and narrowly avoided a lance thrust to her left leg, sidestepping the attack and striking the shield with a downward two-handed power chop. She must have been wearing Sid Pudley down because he called out to Odhran that he might not be able to hold out much longer. Hearing that declaration, Leona renewed her attack in the hope of breaking through before it was too late.

Odhran promised that when the platinum-haired mage created a new world, entered his own kingdom, and reality itself was his to control, Sir Pudley would receive a kingdom worthy of the candy knight's efforts. If Odhran was really going to follow through on his promise of reward and was not just leading Sir Pudley along with false promises, the candy knight would receive quite the kingdom for his efforts. Leona could not let Odhran win today because she was determined to not let his ambition come to pass. Nothing good could come from someone like him gaining control of reality.

Leona was not impressed with Odhran's rant near the end of his monologue. He was no god... if Leona could get to him she would be happy to disprove his claim. However, the tone of his laughter was more than a little disconcerting. He had clearly gone off the deep end, which did not bode well for Leona or for anyone in the tavern. Things were about to get very bad.

[Post Word Count: 1,078]
[Leona's Word Count: 2,418/11,000]

Leona had held back too much power in preparation for confronting Odhran himself and now she was going to pay the price. Sir Pudley's powerful shield had delayed her long enough for Odhran to put his plan into action. As a result of her folly Leona was going to be in for a hard time.

Leona noticed a solid mass of ice wrapping around her legs way too late to do anything about it and was stuck in place as a result. Just as the chill began to set in the wolf from earlier zoomed in from nowhere, slashing at her with both of its paws: fire was in the wolf's left paw and earth was in its right. Unable to move, Leona protected her face with her arms and was hit with fire on her left arm and earth on her right arm. Leona groaned from the hits and dropped the defensive posture long enough to use her Silver Longsword to parry more prods from the candy knight's spear... they were mostly a distraction, but if Leona slipped up he could still land a lucky hit and stab her in a critical place.

Leona observed Sir Pudley shorten the shield for a moment and saw Odhran himself leap over the shield with two bladed arms, one of them a thick sword and the other a... chainsaw? Leona clenched her teeth and did her best to parry the blows with her own sword while her legs were frozen in place. Leona was so busy carefully parrying attacks from Odhran that she failed to notice what else was going on until both Odhran and that wolf jumped back; Odhran jumped back to hide behind Sir Pudley's shield that had expanded again, causing the blonde to suddenly feel very exposed.

The ice around Leona's feet began to melt and Leona was suddenly blindsided by a sharp, harsh wind that began to blow around the area. She took the hit and recoiled from the impact, but now that she had gotten her mobility back she could get back in the fight. Knowing that she had regained her mobility, her enemies were not letting up: the wolf began to dive bomb Leona with swipe attacks that she dodged. Sir Pudley got in on the action and began prodding at her with his spear, keeping her from being able to hit the dive-bombing wolf by making her focus on dodging spear strikes.

Leona took a risk and landed a sword strike or two on the shield between dive-bombing attacks, but they did not deal nearly enough damage to finally break the shield. After those ineffectual hits she kept dodging both the wolf and the spear thrusts from the candy knight, but she risked making a sword strike against the shield every now and then to keep Sir Pudley on the defensive instead of letting him emerge to go on the attack. Leona continued to dodge both the wolf and more spear prods while the world changed around her.

"Watch and learn, Saint! I am a god of creation, I am a god of reality itself! Behold the power I possess over this fragile, feeble reality!" Odhran declared. Moments after making his declaration the area had indeed changed according to his will.

Now instead of bleeding walls and cracking floors Leona was standing amidst sandstone ruins with sand beneath her feet. The new scene reminded her of the sands of Desierto, but now was not the time for nostalgia, not with Odhran and his summons trying their level best to kill her. They were making a good effort... despite Odhran's obvious lunacy his tactic of choosing an enclosed tavern full of civilians as the battlefield was a sound one because it took Leona's ranged spells and crowd control spells out of play. He was also good at coordinating his summons because they carefully coordinated their attacks to leave Leona very little room to retaliate against one of the summons without exposing herself to harm from another.

The flying wolf fluttered a few meters away from Leona before suddenly diving to the ground and sending out a wave of earth energy at her. Since there were civilians who stood to be hit if Leona did not stop the wave, she put herself in the path of the attack and took it to keep the civilians from getting hurt. After that came a series of attacks from Odhran's other summons.

Sir Pudley led off with a swing from his lollipop battleaxe that Leona just barely avoided with a sidestep as it descended and missed her right arm. Next came a burly ox wielding a rapier that was thrust forward at her as she turned to face him. He missed plunging the rapier into her chest by Leona performing a well-timed sidestep to the left but tore the right shoulder of her outfit and grazed the shoulder, drawing blood. Leona ignored the pain and bleeding and performed three large jumps back, narrowly avoiding taking a hit from the wind spell from earlier. However, just when she thought it was all over Odhran fired a teddy bear with an explosive in its stomach that landed right in front of Leona and went off just as she raised her arms in front of her face to shield it from the blast.

Leona's ears rang from the blast and she lowered her arms to find that her outfit sleeves from the wrist to the elbow had been shredded, exposing her arms from the elbow down except where the Argent Gloves covered her hands and part of her forearms. Leona had taken a few strong hits, but she still had plenty of energy left in the tank. Now that the flurry of attacks had abated for the moment the time was right for the Wizard Saint to start fighting back and her first target was the honorable Sir Pudley. That deceptively durable cookie shield HAD to go if she wanted to have any hope of winning this battle.

When the smoke cleared just enough to see the candy knight Leona put away her Silver Longsword, then maneuvered to align herself with Sir Pudley. Once that was done she stepped forward and disappeared in a "flash step", reappearing in front of him and using a Sonic Slash with her right hand coated in a sharp blade of wind to cut the candy knight across the midsection. She then followed up with a right-handed Hurricane Punch, landing all twelve hits on his torso. She then finished with a Silver Blade spell to his neck that decapitated him, removing the cupcake from the rest of his body.

Sir Pudley and his cookie shield were now out of play. Despite that small victory Leona needed to stay calm and think clearly in order to win the big victory. She quickly put some distance between her and the rapier-wielding ox and focused on maintaining situational awareness over blindly launching counterattacks. She still had that wolf, the ox, and that woman in elegant blue clothing to deal with in addition to Odhran himself.

Leona took a deep breath and began to use her brain instead of just her muscles. She began to prioritize the threats still standing.

Getting rid of Sir Pudley and his shield helped her indirectly pressure Odhran because he would no longer have a mighty defense to retreat behind if he got too cocky and overextended himself.

Getting rid of the flying wolf would give Leona some room to breathe and concentrate because she would not be subjected to swift, repeated dive-bombing attacks or those earth magic attacks.

Getting rid of that woman in blue would take both that immobilizing ice spell and that wind attack out of play.

Getting rid of that rapier-wielding ox would give her still more room to breathe and take another summon away from Odhran.

Getting rid of Odhran himself would win her the fight, but that was not possible while his summons were still active.

With the ringing in her ears starting to subside, Leona remained where she was and watched to see whether Odhran himself or one of his summons would attack next. She was raring to go on the offensive and take the fight to Odhran, but she needed to use bursts of controlled aggression to take out his summons first. If she blindly charged at Odhran she could get surrounded by his summons and would pay a high price for her folly. Leona would continue to play the waiting game and dodge attacks until she got a chance to strike back.

[Post Word Count: 1,434]
[Leona's Word Count: 3,852/11,000]