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]

Leona took a deep breath and looked at Odhran's assembled spirits. She had taken out two of them, but the wolf, the woman in blue, and the ox were still on their feet. She would need to take care of them before she could take on Odhran. She expected him to let his spirits do all the fighting, which was why she was more than a little surprised when Odhran began to slowly approach her.

"I suppose it was my fault for underestimating the abilities of a Wizard Saint." Odhran complimented Leona. Whether that was a genuine compliment or not was up in the air, but Leona did not have time for playing word games. She wanted to get rid of him and his spirits. They had done enough harm for today and she could not send them packing fast enough.

"You've definitely done well so far. It's been quite a while since I've had even one of my Spirits fall, let alone the two you've slain so far and you don't even look close to stopping!" Odhran complimented her again after getting right into her face. The odd fellow was way too close for comfort, so Leona decided to give him a pointed reminder that invading her personal space was a bad idea. She prepared to stab him with her Silver Longsword while he talked to her and acted friendly.

"This certainly is fun. Well, it is for me." Odhran continued talking as if they were best friends. Leona frowned. Attacking a tavern full of innocent people and causing property damage was "fun" to him?

Having had enough of his nonsense and unwilling to delay giving him a pointed reminder to back off any longer, Leona moved to stab the rambling fellow. The sword was halfway to him when some kind of skeleton grabbed the blade and halted its progress in mid-air before it could reach Odhran. Leona could not conceal her surprise at this unexpected development.

Odhran actually seemed offended by her stab attempt and launched into another mini-speech.

"That was incredibly rude, ma'am! I come here for an armistice and to give you a bathroom break, adn you respond by trying to stab me! No wonder so many people hate the Council! It's me, I hate the Council. I can clone myself. That's why it's many people. Plus all of my Spirits share my worldview." He said to her. Leona knew that she was naive, but she might have finally met someone who was more naive than her. He had sent a spirit to paralyze her and then try to kill her before the fight started and he was lecturing her about being rude by trying to stab him after he got way too close to her?

"I suppose I ought to put on my game face." He said and began walking away before snapping his fingers to put on a suit of armor and starting to twirl a key around his fingers. Leona was deterred from pursuing him by the skeleton spirit that had caught her sword earlier, but she was also deterred by the suspicion that he was deliberately trying to lure her into overextending herself. She remained where she was and Odhran pulled out a bar stool and sat on it, facing her as if he was watching a sporting event from stadium seating.

"Now then, break time's over. Need a water, Saint? Coffee?" He offered to her.

"No thanks." Leona turned down the offer of drinks. She had made a lot of dumb mistakes over her career, but accepting drinks from an enemy mage would be one of the biggest she could ever make. The drinks were probably laced with either a poison that would weaken her over time or a paralyzing agent that would take effect immediately and leave her wide open to attack from Odhran and his spirits.

"'ll keep them waiting for you right here. Anyways, bathroom situations sorted out? Good. Let's get going then!" Odhran announced the restart of the fight. Leona was glad to have a brief break, but she was even happier that he had finally stopped talking.

Odhran sure loved to hear himself talk.

Leona saw the ox and the flying wolf immediately go on the attack; the ox poked and prodded at her with his rapier while the flying wolf dive-bombed her and aimed claw swipes at her face. She parried the rapier thrusts while stepping backwards and narrowly ducked under the claw swipes, almost losing her footing when she ducked as she stepped backwards. However, nearly losing her footing when she did had an unexpected benefit when it revealed to her the telltale sign of the lady in blue preparing an ice attack.

Leona quickly jumped to the left just before the ice attack manifested and avoided it, but she was oblivious to the threat from above until it was already whistling down on her. Leona looked up and saw a rain of arrows descending on her! She had to take evasive action before she caught an arrow through the top of her head and was taken out in one shot.

Leona used a short five-meter Zephyr Dash towards the side of the tavern to avoid the worst of the arrow storm and ducked, weaved, and dodged the rest. She avoided the remaining arrows by sheer luck and eventually weathered the storm by nothing short of a miracle. Thankfully she did not take an arrow to the knee... or to the head.

When Leona emerged from the arrow storm somehow intact she noticed that the flying wolf and the lady in blue had disappeared and been replaced by a skeletal Santa Claus and a purple-skinned young woman with pink hair. The ox swordsman created a wok to slow the Wizard Saint down and Odhran spoke again.

"It is time..." He said simply.

"SPIRITS OF THE CELESTIAL SPIRIT GOD, PERFORM YOUR ULTIMATE MANEUVER! THE FALLEN STARS OF THE HEAVENS, METEOR OF GREAT POWER! LEND ME YOUR AID! I CALL UPON THE SPIRITS AND UPON THE HEAVENS AND UPON THE STARS THEMSELVES TO GRANT THE MIGHT OF THEIR FEROCIOUS HOLY BLAZE UPON THIS FIEND! COME FORTH, GREAT POWER, ORDINE! HELLFIRE OF THE CELESTIAL GODS!" Odhran called out.

The moment he finished speaking Leona was in for a series of attacks from all five spirits at once.

Leona was pelted from behind by a hurricane of soot, ice, and coal and the illusory desert that reminded her of her home country was ripped away. Next Leona was hit with a barrage of diamonds from the front that was cast by the purple-skinned young woman with a staff. Having weathered those two attacks and having lost a good chunk of the sleeves of her outfit, Leona was in for more trouble as the same skeleton that had caught her sword earlier fired a powerful pair of eye beams right at her and a young female archer fired an arrow of dark energy at her.

Leona narrowly avoided the eye lasers by stepping out of the way but was struck by the arrow of dark energy and took a painful hit to the chest. Last but certainly not least was the ox swordsman, who was charging towards her. Leona knew better than to challenge the charging ox and sidestepped followed by an evasive spin, easily avoiding its charge.

Leona had taken a few hits, but she was still strong enough to fight. She had to be if she wanted to get out of this alive. She had to take more of those spirits out of play, but which ones should she go after?

[Post Word Count: 1,274]
[Leona's Word Count: 5,126/11,000]

Leona had taken a few hits during that last combined attack from Odhran's spirits, but she was hanging in there. She was trying to figure out which spirit to take down first when Odhran got out of his seat and launched into a rant. He chastised his spirits for being unable to take down a "single woman" despite outnumbering her five-to-one and vowed to take matters into his own hands.

Leona was somewhat amused by the rant. If Odhran had done any research on Wizard Saints, he would have known that they were very powerful mages who were hard to kill. Oh well... he would just have to learn that lesson the hard way.

Her amusement soon faded when Odhran snapped his fingers and turned the surroundings into scenery featuring stars and a night sky. When she instinctively looked down her stomach did a flip when she saw nothing but darkness and more stars! Leona had to calm down... she was not falling, but her fear of heights had come up for the second time today and she needed to put a lid on it before Odhran clued in on that and began exploiting that weakness.

Once the new scenery was in place Odhran launched into another rant that was lengthy and informative.

"Is it too much to ask for a single Wizard Saint to die at my hands so I can be the most feared Warlord in the world? I mean, look at them! Janet is cool and whatever, but what about those other two Warlords!? Trinity or whatever the hell she... he... it... whatever Trinity is!? She's way worse of an Ace of Elysium as me! I mean, Seika's fine too, I have no issues there, and she honestly kinda scares me but she just has so much potential for evilness! But Trinity?! She's just a wannabe me! I'm way better than her in every way and yet she's the one that Janet trusts with the guild when she's out and not me? Trinity's the Warlord?! I'll punch her in the face next time, I swear. Oh, and the audacity of someone not in Elysium being a Warlord? Blasphemy! We can't have circus clowns be scary! Clowns aren't scary at all, though there was that one movie made based off that one book by Shawn Queen, That. I suppose Dimesmart was a bit intimidating... oh well. It's still nowhere near a living god, a deity above the rest of the world standing amongst the mortals! I am a bonafide god of reality itself! And yet, no one bows! No one lets me rule! No one listens to my damn orders!" Odhran ranted, giving Leona a few names that she did not recognize but were obviously of importance to him given how he ranted about them. She also learned that Odhran wanted to become a Warlord. That speech bought the Wizard Saint just enough time to suppress her acrophobia before he could pick up on it. Now that she was in the right frame of mind to focus on fighting again Leona was ready to begin taking down Odhran's spirits.

However, the Wizard Saint's focus was shaken when her sword suddenly turned into a balloon snake!

Why did it have to be snakes?

Leona momentarily panicked and dropped the sword. Odhran came in guns blazing with two revolvers he had summoned to his hands and Leona began to dodge the incoming rounds. She watched the bullets burst in pink puffs as they hit the ground around her. Leona kept her cool as she dodged the bullets with graceful spins and well-timed sidesteps.

Odhran drew close enough for an attack and Leona took the chance to use a Mach Straight as a prelude to a magically enhanced punch combo of Mach Straight leading into a Mach Uppercut, but to her surprise a pink wall of bubble gum caught her attack!

Leona did not have very long to be surprised because Odhran began an aerial assault by flying around on wings and firing his revolvers at her until he landed and turned the revolvers into a dual-bladed saber. Leona quickly drew Ses Revanche and began to parry Odhran's sword strokes without even bothering to try and attack because the knife did not have the range needed to strike him without leaving herself open to counterattack. The Wizard Saint and the aspiring Warlord danced around each other without landing any solid hits until Odhran stomped the ground and changed the scenery back to the desert.

Odhran tossed his saber into the air and the ox swordsman moved with surprising speed and grace to catch it. He then stabbed with the rapier and slashed with the saber. The archer fired a flurry of arrows at the Wizard Saint and Leona ducked under both attacks only to be hit by one of those ground waves from the flying wolf.

Leona recovered just in time for Odhran to dive towards her with the skeleton's arms punching in a rapid-fire flurry. Leona was able to block some of the punches but her arms took a few hits. Still, that was better than taking all of the punches to her face or her body.

As soon as Odhran finished his attack the purple-skinned woman went on the attack with her spear. Leona began dodging the spear while the archer fired another arrow of darkness at her that barely grazed her. She noticed that her sword had been returned to normal, so she quickly rushed to it, scooped it up, and put it in its scabbard. Leona also noticed that the archer had disappeared and in her place emerged a strange-looking young woman who looked like living candy.

The candy woman rushed forward and engaged Leona in hand-to-hand combat, attacking with a mix of martial arts strikes from numerous different styles. Leona was kept busy fending off the candy woman as the flying wolf zoomed in for dive-bombing attacks and Odhran himself attacked from time to time. There were so many attacks to dodge that Leona took a hit from the candy woman here and there, but the Wizard Saint was managing to hold her own. The skeleton spirit eventually missed with a punch that she dodged and made a massive hole through the tavern's wall. Leona stole a quick glance at the hole and was glad that she had not been on the receiving end of that punch.

She looked up and noticed that the tavern's roof was barely staying up and the people trapped inside were still prone on the floor trying their best to avoid being hit by all the magic flying around. Leona had limited herself to using her Silver Longsword and magically enhanced martial arts strikes out of fear of hitting the people if she missed with her ranged spells. Wind Blast and Silver Tempest were not exactly precision spells and she did not want to hurt the people she was supposed to be protecting. Her restraint had put the Wizard Saint at a great disadvantage, but it was paying off because the only people getting hurt by her magic were Odhran's spirits.

She noticed that Odhran and his spirits had moved outside the tavern, which meant that the candy woman was left by herself. The Wizard Saint was determined to take her down so that she had some breathing room, so she immediately went on the attack. Leona quickly Ses Revanche back in her right boot and then disappeared in a "flash step", reappearing in front of the spirit and performing a horizontal slash with a sharp blade of wind covering her right hand directed at the candy woman's midsection. The Sonic Slash spell hit and the candy woman briefly paused and put a hand over her midsection, then resumed fighting.

Leona quickly drew Ses Revanche and began fighting the candy woman with fist and knife. Now that she was free from attack by Odhran and his spirits the fight was a lot easier. The spirit put up fierce resistance; she blocked several punches and even landed a hit to Leona's face with a mean right jab, but when Leona channeled magic into her left hand and left arm for a Hurricane Punch and landed all twelve punches to the torso, the candy woman was left vulnerable to a finishing blow. Not wanting to let the tenacious enemy rally for another exchange of martial arts strikes, Leona shifted Ses Revanche to her left hand, put together the index and middle fingers of her right hand and forming a fist with the rest of her fingers. She pointed the index and middle fingers down at her right side, then channeled silver magic into them.

Once the spell was ready Leona slashed at her opponent's neck with a Silver Blade spell and decapitated her. She disappeared and Leona finally had a moment to breathe. The reprieve would not last for very long, so she had better use it wisely.

Leona shifted Ses Revanche back to her right hand and held the dagger against her heart, causing a magical circle to appear below her and move up her body. The circle moved up her body and Leona felt a bit of her vitality return: if she remembered correctly, the ability she had just used was called "La Remise à Neuf." It was a handy ability that would keep Leona on her feet a bit longer, which was exactly what she needed considering all the hits she had taken up to this point.

Leona pulled Ses Revanche away from her heart, put the knife away in her right boot, and drew her Silver Longsword again. She would need its reach for when Odhran and his spirits went on the attack again, which would be very soon once he learned that the candy woman had failed to defeat Leona.

[Post Word Count: 1,642]
[Leona's Word Count: 6,768/11,000]

After defeating the candy woman and earning a bit of breathing room for herself, Leona was preparing for Odhran and his spirits to come after her again. They had hit her hard, but the Wizard Saint had defeated three of his spirits and was still able to stand despite all the hits she had taken. She had held her ground so far, but she had better not get too confident. Leona was still outnumbered five-to-one and if they made another serious and coordinated effort to take her down she might not be able to hold them off again.

"This is the power of a Wizard Saint, huh?" He asked her in a calm voice.

"I suppose the Council's lapdogs can't just be picked out of a hat. Maybe it would have been better for me to go after a weaker Saint. Arnaluuk always gets on my case about not preparing enough in time. Well, this was always something I wanted to do. Killing a Saint would get me enough renown to last me a few lifetimes. Of course I would study this. Saint of Courage, Guild Master of Silver Wolf. Leona Jarnefeldt. Rumored to be on par with the Gods of Ishgar. And who am I? I'm just an Ace of Elysium. I'm not a Guild Master, I'm not a Warlord, heck, I'm not even regarded a Coming Storm anymore. Not gonna stop me from trying to kill you, though. I've determined that this is what I want to do." Odhran said to her, revealing a little more about himself.

Leona learned that he was wanting to take her down for the immense boost to his reputation if he somehow accomplished the feat. She also learned that her opponent was once a Coming Storm and that he was a current Ace of "Elysium." Leona now knew what exactly was motivating the odd fellow, but it did not change anything. She would show him why he should take Wizard Saints more seriously. At the end of his mini-speech Odhran then gave her a thumbs-up.

"I was gonna shake your hand, but you'd just try to stab me again. I suppose that's understandable." He said to her. Leona saw that he had learned something from this encounter, namely not to try and be friendly with her after using the well-dressed skeleton to paralyze her and then go after the innocent patrons of the tavern. She would be glad to teach him more lessons about why picking a fight with her was a bad idea.

The skeleton with the powerful punch materialized behind Odhran as he changed from his armor to a more casual look. He claimed that a casual look sometimes made him a bit more intimidating. Leona frowned. He could change into whatever clothing he wanted, but he was still going to get a harsh lesson in why Wizard Saints were not easy targets.

"I'll bring the fight out of the tavern. You're holding back because you're wanting to keep them safe, right? Never understood the care for collateral damage, but to each their own. I want to fight you at full strength. Maybe this is a way for you to rest up. One and a half opponents is much more difficult than five or whatever it was I was doing." Odhran said to Leona. The Wizard Saint was surprised that he would make such an offer, but she was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He was either really confident that she had been weakened enough for him to defeat without the aid of his spirits or he was so desperate to win that he was throwing caution to the wind and counting on surprise to level the playing field. Still, she had to answer the call to battle, so she left the tavern.

-Outside the tavern-

Leona stopped outside the tavern and took a deep breath. She had done well so far, but she needed to stay focused and not get overconfident. If she could do those things she stood a good chance of forcing him to retreat, if not outright winning.

The skeleton spirit had extended its skeletal arm for a handshake, but Leona refused to take it. It was an obvious setup for it to grab her hand and hold her in place with one hand and hit her with a powerful punch from the other hand that was aimed at a vital area. Instead Leona waved the skeleton off and readied herself for a fight, one which Odhran soon gave her when he rushed in for hand-to-hand combat after the skeleton had taken her Silver Longsword from her.

Odhran had approached her for hand-to-hand combat, an area in which Leona had plenty of experience. He started off with a style reminiscent of boxing and made rapid punches aimed at her body, landing a few hits to her abdomen and chest. Leona landed some hits of her own and the two continued to square off until he switched to a style that she did not recognize. She went into a defensive posture and did not make many attacks during that time until he cartwheeled to avoid a punch and thrust his arm out, extending it into a blade. She had not expected that kind of attack, making it fortunate that the blade had missed her ear.

After that he stomped the ground, sending her sword into the air. She caught it by the grip and faced Odhran, who had waited for her to be ready before he went on the attack. His skeleton spirit fired a blue laser from his eyes and Odhran extended arm blades on both sides of her in an attempt to box her in. She narrowly dodged the laser by a margin so slim that the beam cut away more of the fabric on her right shoulder and missed her skin by an inch.

Odhran formed a hammer with his two arms and swung it around without really aiming the weapon. He was presumably counting on her panicking and running into the hammer while trying to avoid it. Leona remained calm and easily dodged the slow and unwieldy weapon, refusing to attack while the hammer was in play. Eventually he swung the hammer around one last time before exchanging it for the dual-bladed saber from earlier and went back on the offensive.

Again Leona took a defensive posture and focused more on parrying than landing hits because this was her first fight against an opponent wielding a dual-bladed saber. Despite her deft parrying she took the occasional light scratch on a non-vital part of her body like the front of her leg, but she could survive those wounds and they did not hamper her movement. Eventually Odhran performed a backflip and the skeleton spirit fired a red laser.

Odhran charged towards her and extended a blade arm towards her. Leona slashed at it on instinct and ended up severing the limb. She had just scored another small victory that could lead to the big victory if she kept a level head.

"Damn, you're strong. Plus I haven't been super serious like this in a hell of a long time. Kudos, Saint." Odhran praised her strength. Leona kept a straight face and kept quiet. However, Odhran was no slouch. She had not been pushed this hard in a fight since the duel with Aven Alveron during the Fairy Festival in Magnolia Town a little over two years ago.

"I've had enough solo fun with you." He then commented. Soon the scenery changed yet again, this time to one with flowers and greenery. Leona was startled by the change... she had not been expecting that. She looked around her and saw that the tavern itself had trees holding it up for the time being. Hopefully the people inside would take advantage of the unexpected boon to escape before the structure collapsed on top of them.

"Elysium. The promised land. A place where everyone, no matter their background, no matter who they are, can be equal. The land where human and animal, Spirit and mortal, are side by side. It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? Of course, just letting that around without any supervision would be asking for disaster. That's why we need leaders. That's why we need the masters, that's why Elysium must exist. Elysium is paradise. Elysium is the ideal world, where nothing wrong can happen. I boast about statues to myself, I boast that I am a king, and that is because I still am. I am one of the people destined to lead the upcoming new world. Look around you. Look at what I can do. Look at how I am the king of reality itself." Odhran boasted. While what he had just done was impressive, he was still not the master of reality. He was also not a king. Leona would show him that he was mistaken on both counts.

"Take, eat. Let it rejuvenate you. It will not be as effective to you as it is to me - the gardens of creation themselves only bend their will to those I trust as allies - but it should still be delicious. My Ark of Embodiment creates lies. Any food I make with that would provide no sustenance. My garden? Quite the opposite." Odhran bade her to eat from a pear tree that had grown up beside her. Leona remained silent. For all she knew he had poisoned the fruit and was wagering on her being so weak that she would eat it to heal herself. She might not be the smartest of the Wizard Saints, but she knew better than to accept food offered to her by an enemy.

He then summoned the purple-skinned young woman with the spear, the young female archer, the winged wolf, and the ox swordsman for another round of fighting. Leona was tempted to bring in her own summons to level the playing field, but she held back for the time being. He was likely studying her and learning what she could do, so she would keep her summons a secret for a little bit longer.

However, if things got desperate enough, Leona would call them out to fight.

She could not let her pride get herself and innocent people killed.

"I get why you want to stop me. You don't trust me to be an adequate leader of the world. Maybe you're right. But this is my destiny. I can't shy away from destiny like that." Odhran said to her. He was right. Leona did not trust him to be an adequate leader of the world.

"Come, when you are ready. Let the gardens of the new world be the battleground for our fight. Let this new world in my image be the end of your old world. Let red blood paint the green canvas of Elysium." Odhran bade her with open arms while approaching her. Leona took a deep breath and readied herself for the next round of battle. She had to stay calm and keep situational awareness, but she could do this. She could send him and his spirits packing.

Once she was ready she began slowly walking towards him with a facial expression and posture that showed she was ready for a fight.

[Post Word Count: 1,886]
[Leona's Word Count: 8,654/11,000]

Leona listened to Odhran talk to her before hostilities resumed. It was like the calm before the storm all over again. The adrenaline was pumping throughout Leona's body and she was ready for a fight despite all the hits she had taken.

"Cautious, aren't we? It makes sense. After all, this whole duel began with me attempting to slaughter dozens of innocent people. Paralyzing the room in fear, as well. The pear is poisoned, that's what you think. I know. I can see it. Your loss, I suppose." He said to her. Leona had likely handicapped herself by refusing the gift of a healing fruit, but she had serious doubts that the offer was genuine. She had no reason to trust Odhran after all of the stunts he had pulled in the tavern. Why would she trust someone who had vowed to kill her and was doing everything he could to fulfill that vow?

It would have been foolish to accept the "gift" from him because the fruit could have easily been poisoned. That poison could have either killed her outright or left her so weak that his summons could easily finish the job. She had made a lot of dumb mistakes over her life, but taking a gift from someone who wanted her dead was not going to be one of them. Leona would trust in the power of Ses Revanche's healing ability to give her enough of a boost to help her get through the fight with Odhran.

And what a fight it had been.

This had not been a skirmish with dime-a-dozen bandits who thought that they could take on a Wizard Saint just because of their numbers. Leona was fighting a genuine Dark mage and he had given her a tough time. In between his strategy of using the well-dressed skeleton to paralyze her so that she would be off to a bad start, outnumbering her with summons, forcing her to go and stay on the defensive, and using the tavern and its patrons as a shield so that she could not use her most powerful spells without wrecking the place or hurting an innocent person, Odhran had picked his battleground well.

Now they were in his "Garden" and they were away from the innocent people, but that did not mean that she had carte blanche to let loose with her magic. Odhran's summons were still willing and able to defend him and even now they were moving to bar the way to their master.  The rapier-wielding ox took the lead and the flying wolf stood to its left. The purple staff-wielding summon was behind the flying wolf while the female archer moved behind Odhran and to his right. Just like earlier, Leona would have to get through the summons before she could attack Odhran directly.

But before Leona could decide which summon to try and take out of play first, Odhran snapped his fingers and the respite was over.

Leona instinctively looked behind her and saw a lot of vines erupting from the ground. She dodged them with a jump forward. Big mistake. Ahead of her a wave from the flying wolf was racing towards her. She jumped to the right to avoid it and narrowly dodged it... it was so close she could feel dirt being kicked up onto her left leg. The rapier-wielding ox flew towards her with glowing horns and sword at the ready. With only seconds to dodge before she was either hit with the horns or run through with the sword, Leona jumped to the right to avoid the descending ox.

Leona dodged the ox only to find herself facing a veritable storm of diamonds flying straight for her. Leona quickly commenced dodging them by weaving from side to side and ducking but ended up with a few grazing wounds to her arms and shoulders plus a few minor wounds on her midsection; there was even a small scratch on her left cheek just below her left eye from where a diamond had grazed her when she ducked to avoid taking diamonds to the eye. The skull's laser beam was fired just above her head, making jumping not an option. The summons continued to attack her with teamwork and precision, not allowing her any room to make an attack on them or on Odhran.

If she tried to make an attack now she would leave herself open to a series of blows that would become fatal, so Leona remained on the defensive despite her adrenaline-soaked mind urging her to risk everything on winning the battle with one powerful attack aimed at Odhran. She parried the expert sword attacks of the ox, dodged the furiously swiping paws of the wolf, avoiding the purple-skinned summon's sweeping staff swings, and Odhran's relentless and ever-changing attacks.

Just when she thought she had an opening to take the fight to the summons the ranged summons covered the retreating ones and making it very risky to attack, even with ranged spells. Keeping on the defensive and parrying any attacks that got near her, Leona managed to survive this round of attacks without a scratch. She was not sure how much longer she could do this, though. She had been at it for quite some time and she had already taken quite a few hits.

"Well done, Saint! You truly are impressive! My hands have never shook like this before! You've truly shook me to my core. Never had I thought I would be afraid, let alone that be from the possibility of losing. I suppose you aren't a Wizard Saint for no reason. Truly, you've made me into a cornered animal, but you know what they say. A cornered dog fights back. Or something along those lines, I'm not certain." Odhran said to her. Leona was mildly amused by his confession. He had good reason to be afraid of losing. He had even more reason to be afraid of her.

"Man, I am an idiot. No matter. I think we should be getting ready to end this, Saint." Odhran said next. Leona paid close attention to that remark. She was not sure if he was on the ropes like she was, but she was fairly certain that he was going to throw everything and the kitchen sink at her in one last attempt to take her down.

Odhran clapped his hands and the Garden disappeared. Then the spirits rushed into battle with the ox standing between her and Odhran while the wolf attacked from her left and the purple-skinned summon attacked from her right. Leona saw them coming and jumped back to avoid being caught between them. She landed on her feet and saw arrows heading right for her head and body, so she ducked under the first few and backed away from others while weaving to try and avoid being hit.

The purple-skinned summon alternated between firing more diamonds and closing in for staff swings that the Wizard Saint dodged and parried respectively. The ox came in with sword thrusts aimed for points that would cripple or kill her, but Leona managed to either parry the thrusts or dodge them. The skull kept firing its lasers at her, forcing her to forgo opportunities to eliminate one or more of the summons in favor of dodging. The arrows kept coming, forcing her to dodge to avoid becoming a pincushion and costing her more opportunities to attack the summons and buy herself some breathing room.

Her adrenaline-soaked brain was screaming at her to fight back, to come out swinging with her most powerful spells and take out the summons before going for Odhran himself, but with the way the summons were covering one another, there was no way to attack without taking a hit that she could ill afford to take at this point. She would continue to remain on the defensive until just the right moment presented itself. However, if the "right moment" did not present itself soon, Leona just might have to take a big risk and take a hit or two in order to make that moment for herself.

If and when she got that moment, she had better make it count because she might not get another.

[Post Word Count: 1,374]
[Leona's Word Count: 10,028/11,000]