"Sonic Boom!"

A slash of white wind would knock down one goblin, as another one approached.

"Flash Kick!"

Using his signature spell to kick his leg upwards and slam into a goblin's jaw, Christian panted, looking over the goblin he had just defeated. He felt a bit accomplished - he had been fighting off these little demons for a bit, having slain about 4 so far (2 of these with his bare hands) and he was doing his part. There was just a single one left in the area now.

Chrisitian had just been in the forest, so when he saw and heard the commotion in town, he was quite concerned. Slaying demons wasn't exactly his shtick, so he'd like to make this quick. Still though, he had fought off a few now, and he was starting to get the hang of it. If this was all there was, this would be a piece of cake!

Still though, Christian had to be on his guard. While this area didn't contain many of the goblins, there still could be places in which there were large groups, which would be deadly in numbers, especially considering Christian had been slacking on learning new techniques as of late. He had a limited toolset right now, so even this was putting much more of a strain on him than normal due to having to use extremely weak techniques.

Christian approached the last goblin, lunging at the beast as it attempted to slice at his face. Moving out of the way of the demon with a swing of his torso, Christian delivered a kick to the Goblin's ribcage that would knock it down. Having used the majority of his of- wait, actually, all of his offensive techniques, he would have no force but to fistfight it.

The goblin rose, as Christian went for a kick again, this time his leg being caught by the goblin, causing him to fall onto the ground. The goblin flung at Christian's face, clinging onto him and scratching his face a couple of times, causing him to bleed. Finally, Christian regained some control and flipped the goblin over, using his superior weight in order to pin it down and choke it.

Christian would stand up, panting as he rest his hand on his knees, catching his breath. That was close. It seemed as though he was done, but, well... he couldn't ignore that big one in the corner of his eye forever. Perhaps he'd head over there...

415/2400

Mana 850/900:

Oh god, this smell was unbearable. Even from the secluded shrubbery deep in the woods surrounding the town of Orchidia, a certain Fire Wizard was disgusted and thus distracted from his spell practices by the smell of dread and ungodly omen. He could smell the flesh of humans from his present position, and that was unusual for a guy whose sense of smell wasn’t even that good. Rather, he deduced it to be a warning given by the animals’ reactions; he heard and saw the shaking bushes revealing paranoid creatures who went for the run, leaves falling down as they were pushed away by wind gusts of flying birds, and even Coda was too shocked by the event that had reached this place… she barely wanted to leave his shoulder.

So the demons must have reached Orchidia, already. Obviously, Daiko wouldn’t wait a single second, because lives were at risk. He effortlessly passed through the leaves, branches and trees in an approach towards the main roads, but he soon eyed a counter-approaching danger that went towards him from the front. Dark, disgusting claws managed to cut off a few hair strands off of his head as Daiko ducked in evasion to the slash from a goblin-like creature with an ill intent painted onto its face. However, he was still accelerating through the woods in his dodge, so he rolled his feet and grabbed a nearby log with his inner shin and thigh, spinning himself around with enough time to grab the log with his hand and get a good stance upon it. The creature took its time to hide away in the bushes that covered over half of the surface below him. It would have been a smart move against any aero-present predator that roamed the air above it - like that of an eagle or a hawk - but it shouldn’t underestimate their sense of sight. Daiko pulled in a good amount of air into his lungs via the nostrils, then clenched his grab on the log. His entire body boiled and lit up like pure, molten metal poured down in a blacksmith’s oven. He grew out sharp feathers on his arms, legs, front and back, and two large, crimson wings bashed out from his shoulder-blades. A cocoon had formed itself around him during the transformation, and with his left hand, he ripped off pieces of the fire cocoon to crack it all like a hard-boiled egg. The transformation was complete.

He waited no longer - the goblin or demonic creature hadn’t attacked him yet, which was to his advantage. He rocked his head forward rather intensely before releasing a red magic circle in front of his left eye. The magic circle buried itself into his eye without harming it, instead causing his vision through that eye to change into heat vision. In a cold forest in the middle of the winter, the demon’s heat quickly appeared as it had approached Daiko and was almost 3 meters close to him. If not for the heat-vision, then its ambush would have surprised him more than that, but he quickly grabbed its hands which prevented its razor-sharp claws from reaching his skin.

Sliding dirt followed him as he slid the demon’s head across logs, stones and ground. He ended its tour with a solid throw through a nearby boulder - its massive size met the flying demon and caused it to splat on impact like a bug. Daiko slowed down his running speed and looked around, since he was no longer in the deep reaches of the forests around Orchidia - the town itself screamed with mourn and dread at him. There was blood everywhere… he quickly sped up and ran around to find any survivors, but his mind told him to shut his mouth in case if there were demons nearby. Did that little ogre from earlier do all this? Or… how many were there? Coda could only keep a safe space from above.

He heard cracking sound from miles away that could only reach him if it was the crack of a giant building. He turned his head to the right during his sprint towards the main road, eyeing what looked like a giant ogre with ravenous teeth as long as Saber Cats’. His feet moved him towards the town’s plaza where he found various bodies hanging around, some impaled onto trees and windows, while others were left torn apart on the ground. This was way too hopeless to even look at for him… he even spotted the movement of a nearby corpse-like woman. Her exotic, blue hair was overshadowed by the exposure of a damaged, blood-coated skull, but she was still moving, somehow. She was the first person that Daiko met this far today.

He soon found himself in front of her and kneeled down, wishing that he could still save her life. She wasn’t making any sound… too worried for her, he held an ear of his close to her mouth to check if she was breathing. A terrifying possibility proved itself as the case; her muscles were retracting and exposing at random due to organic fracture and dislocation from what he wanted to stay awake and alive. Her body was moving… but her throat revealed a pool of blood dripping from a rift on it. It was too much to bear, and the Lamia Wizard wanted to puke by the sight alone.

The cause of this damage around the plaza turned around a corner to eye Daiko. Standing over 6 feet tall was a demon with a bit more humanoid features than the previous one, including his choice of weapons being an axe and a sword. It had relentlessly tortured this woman while she was helpless, and it wanted to do the same with Daiko. Hoping for a knock-out, it swung the blunting edge of the axe towards him, sending Daiko into a nearby store through the window. He was busy to have his head lowered, and yet he barely raised his arms to not block the attack. Rather, the demon noticed a lack of axe in its grasp, and upon looking down on its palm, it met itself with a quick end of the battle by having its very own axe plunged to its face, thrown across the space between the Fire Wizard and itself.

His eyes were burning. His hair was burning. A deep, crimson flame enveloped Daiko, and his muscles cracked by the increasing heat. The window from where he was launched through began to melt as he walked out, his entire body itching to kill them all. A trail of blood also dripped down his forehead with little of his attention at it.


Another demon with an axe was approaching one of the other defenders of this town. This individual was blonde but yet seen as mere entertainment to the monster. However, it didn’t expect to be tackled by an upcoming fist as Daiko released a jet fire to boost the velocity of his punch. He sucker-punched the demon away and prevented it from sneaking up on the Wind wizard. Pushed down, the demon soon found its axe missing - Daiko intented to grab it and lunge it into the demon’s chest multiple times with each hit causing the fires covering his head to rise up more and more.

WC: 1227/2400

Spells Used:

Stats:

The day started out just like any other. It was a cold wintry morning, and the inhabitants of Orchidia were out and about. As the Draken got ready for the day, she thought about taking a request. It seemed that it would be a good day for one, but first, she thought that she would spend a little time meditating. It was something she did quite often at the time she had amnesia. She couldn't say if it helped or not, but it made the elf more mindful. Realizing that she had not done it since she accepted Ëala into her life, Kerii sat cross-legged on the floor by her bed and rested her elbows on her thighs. She lifted up her hands and touched her thumbs to the tips of her middle fingers. Her breathing became slow and concentrated as she cleared her mind. A comforting feeling of peace and serenity washed over the mage, but before long, it turned into that same strange feeling that she had when she was in the market street and the forest. The elf tried to open her eyes, but she somehow couldn't. She tried to get up from her seated position but her body would not budge. Her pulse quickened as she started to fuel with a sense of panic.

Suddenly, everything went quiet. Kerii could not even hear her own breathing. After a few moments, she could hear a voice mumbling something, but it seemed to have no origin. It was as if it was directly coming from her mind. The voice became louder, but she still could not hear what it was saying. A minute passed, and Kerii could finally hear what it was saying. "Get out," it hissed in a hushed, sharp tone. The elf's eyes shot open and a chill went down her spine. Before she had time to comprehend what had just happened, her hearing began to return and she could hear screams in the distance. Concerned, Kerii walked to the window and saw people running for their lives.

She darted out of her room and ran into the streets. Going towards whatever people fleeing from, a bad feeling built up in her chest. Eventually, she saw what looked like a demonic goblin chasing after a citizen. Human blood was dripping from its claws, which was good enough reason for Kerii to run up and attack it. As she did so from behind, it didn't notice that she was there until it was too late. She snapped its neck and before the citizen had any time to thank her, she continued in pursuit of the larger threat.

The closer she got, the closer to a horror scene Orchidia became. The streets were decorated in a sanguine color with dead bodies littered everywhere. If they were not deceased, they were on the brink of death with injuries so grave Kerii was unsure that her magic could heal it. More of the goblin-like creatures populated the area. She did not have a weapon, but was able to kill a few with her bare hands. Though she could fend them off, she did not do so while remaining unscathed. Their claws slashed across her skin causing superficial wounds. It was not anything serious and did not impede any of her abilities, but she was sure that she would feel it more once the adrenaline wore off.

Despite the blood and gore that painted Orchidia red, Kerii was not yet at the heart of it. Although she tried to remain vigilant about the lesser demons that were rampaging her town, one escaped her notice. It did, however, make her painfully aware of its presence when it slashed her across the area near her scapula. Wincing, the elf whisked around and immediately cast a spell. Vines shot out of a magic circle and slammed into the demon. Though it caused no damage to the little creature, it got it far enough from her for her to react and some up with a counter attack. As with the first one she killed, she managed to snap its neck as well. These little demons in small amounts weren't anything she couldn't handle, but she had a feeling that that they didn't come alone. She suspected that they were due to a good portion of the carnage though. Kerii was a mage who knew how to hold her own, despite the lack of offensive spells, but sadly the same could not be said for most ordinary citizens.

Delving deeper into the chaos, Kerii finally came across some other mages who were trying to fight against the demons. Much to her surprise, one happened to be Christian, the young man she met a while back in the market streets before she departed to Sieghart. Other than a few scratches, he luckily didn't seem to be too injured. In this area though, there were more than just those few pesky demons. There were others that were taller with a more human appearance. They certainly did not look like grotesque goblins that had crawled straight out of the abyss, but sickeningly appeared more threatening. As she did not know any spells that could cause damage, the elf feared that she would only get in the way if she attacked the demon head on. She could, however, help fend off the lesser demons and heal her fellow mages, should they need it. At the moment, nobody looked seriously harmed, but with those humanoid demons posing a greater threat, the Draken feared that could change rather quickly.

WC: 927/2400

Mana 1057/1080:

Another wintry morning greeted Orchdia. One like any other Ren thought as he came back from his walk in the river. Knowing full well he would only have time to enjoy the scenery in the mornings when he was the most free, he was out of the town when the demons attacked.

A wave of unease washed over Ren as he left the forest. After that wave of unease Ren began to hear the screams of the demon’s victims, of breaking bones, tearing flesh and deranged laughter. The knight looked horrified as the blood filled streets of Orchidia greeted him. His blue eyes scanned the area. Many small demons were congregations over the bodies which were not turned inside out. They slashed their claws at the still alive pedestrians, laughing menichally. Others bit into them, ripping large pounds of flesh from them. Ren was frozen solid. He was nowhere near prepared for this. Even though he knew he could not stand around and do nothing, his brain was not giving his limbs any commands to move.

A sharp pain around his calf brought Ren back to the real world. A small demon that moved away from the group latched onto Ren’s leg with its sharp teeth. Ren gritted his own teeth, a rage now filling his eyes as he winded up a punch, a magic seal appearing, catching the attention of the rest of the demons. Ren’s muscles tightened up in response to the spell, which caused the demon to lose his grip and later it’s life as Ren’s fist came thundering down, smacking against the demon’s skull into the hard ground, totally shattering it.

Now with quite a few more demonic eyes on him Ren would have to prepare for a few more attacks. Many small goblin like demons came running for him, hoping to rush him and catch the dark haired mage off guard. Ren instead crossed his arms, causing one to be coated in a harsh wind. So when some goblin like demons jumped up teeth first to try and knock down Ren, they were caught in the spiraling wind. This would in turn rip their small fangs from their mouths, causing them great pain. Now with some out of the way Ren moved his cross arms outward, as if making an X in the air. Another magic seal appeared as a x shaped blade of wind flew through the air, taking out a few more by slashing them in a vital area. Around the now panting Ren was puddles of blood spilled by the demons. Ren looked around seeing the carcasses of innocent people lay on the street. His stomach turn as he saw the still alive but brutally wounded people. A voice in his head told him to help them as his mother would. But another louder one told him to fight them all to stop anyone else from being hurt. Shifting his gaze to some falling buildings Ren limped his way over there. It seemed that he had taken a little bit more damage than he would have wanted, especially from that goblin who bit around his leg. As he got to that area, Ren found more mages who seemed to be fighting the threat too. He would also give them a hand any way he could.

As he made his way closer he noticed Kerii, the Lamia scale elf. He recalled her saying she was very good at healing spells and since he had taken some bad damage he thought it best to head over to her. “Mind giving me a hand?” He would ask her as he got close enough, pointing to his bad leg. He was still limping over to her. He kept an eye out for some other demons. He was not too sure about how strong Kerii was, but he knew that with his endurance buff he could take a few strong hits.
Wc 654

Mana 825:

Christian was simply resting, so he didn't notice the massive beast that may have been making it's way behind him. Hearing a collision, Christian looked behind him to see that there was a boy with dark hair who managed to bring down the sneaking beast. Surprised for a second, Zane sighed in relief knowing that his head wouldn't be chopped off today. "Ah, thanks for that." Christian said, leaving a thumbs up at the boy who now seemed to be grabbing the demon's axe. He figured that he would let the boy do the honors: Christian couldn't say he fond of giant axes much either.

Christian knew he was a bit over his head here, but he would at least be able to formulate a plan. Looking around, he noticed Kerii, the girl he met at the mall, and another boy nearby. Her boyfriend, perhaps? Regardless, now wasn't the time to be thinking silly thoughts like that. They all needed to band together quick, or else chances are they might be overcome alone, especially Christian himself.

"Yo, this way! I think we should all try to stick together." Christian yelled to the other two, as he looked back at the dark haired man in the meantime. "Nice to meet you. While I'd like to properly introduce myself, I don't think either of us have time for that. We should all work together for this one. I feel like there's something rather sinister cooking up here, though it may just be a hunch." Christian looked around him, only to see one of the huge demons in the back. You're seeing that huge demon in the distance, right? I'm thinking that if we focus on taking that one down first, things will probably get easier."

Resting his hand on his chin, Christian wondered if he should be honest about his strength with this man. Christian was very weak now, and without assistance he probably couldn't defeat any of the smaller demons in the area. Perhaps he should just say it while he could, even if it was somewhat pathetic to admit. "To tell you the truth, I'm not nearly as strong as most of you likely are. But we're all in this now, so might as well walk it together." Christian noted, as it would only hinder all of them if they split up. Besides, Christian wasn't somebody who would go charging in recklessly - he was sure that he wouldn't cause too much trouble for the group of mages.

"Alright, I'm ready to go when you guys are. Just say the word, and we'll go get that big bastard stomping around the town."

856/2400

The taller demon was now lifeless on the ground with its head and chest chopped apart by its own axe. It was humiliating to die by your own weapon - that was why mastering yourself and your own weapon was of upmost importance to fare well in combat. The opponent would try to find any advantage. Prevent them from doing so, and strike them at their strongest and weakest spots indiscriminatingly. It was a very one-track mind, but Daiko needed to send those demons back to the hellish pit where they came from. Whoever drove them to do such abominating acts deserved even worse than this.

He heard a word of gratitude from the blonde brawler behind him. Turning around, Daiko’s glowing, yellow eyes spotted him once more and returned the gratitude with a smile. “No issues…” he replied with a quiet tone. There were other demons lurking around, but some of them stepped back to hit other areas. Soon, it was revealed that two other people entered the area; he quickly recognized Kerii, his elven guildmate, but the dark-haired male was a stranger in Daiko’s eyes for now. He hadn’t met him before, but perhaps things would grow out more during this attack. Nobody knew what the future held in store…

The blonde was about to greet, but they were both on the same page; in the middle of a bloodbath, it was hard to greet and exchange names and all that. Instead, he was smarter than Daiko already as he came up with a suggestion; the huge demons in the background were likely the greatest threats to the town now. If they took them down, then that would hopefully cause a domino effect.

“Ah, so with their bosses down, they’ll lose their boldness…” he summed the plan up. He was ready to charge at the big boys right here and now as he flapped the giant, red wings on his back. Sadly, he wasn’t fully fledged yet to be capable of flight, but he did calm himself down a little. Losing his sense was a bad idea when he was accompanied by others.

“I’m ready now,” Daiko replied to the blonde male, “The quicker we get it taken down, the better.” He rose up on his feet and eyed the distance into the injured town where the enormous demons waddled, his eyes regaining the fierce, wrathful glows from before. Then he dashed off without warning, sprinting across the street and catching the attention of some lurking demons who were waiting to ambush. One demon jumped out to bite Daiko’s legs off, but it found its head stomped upon in the midst of the Fire Wizard’s sprint - with such acceleration, its head splattered on the ground and left it dead. In the meantime, Daiko was eyeing the large demons in the background, willing to push through an army of demons if necessary to reach the fiercest of threats.

He kicked himself off the ground heavily, launching himself onto a wall as he climbed up. He reached a higher ground on the roofs, and from here, he got a bigger perspective of the damage dealt to Orchidia. It pained him to see his town in danger, and it fueled his fire even more.

WC: 544
TWC: 1771/2400

By the time the elf had gotten past the horde of goblin-like demons, there were none within the visible vicinity, or at least, not at the moment. She was sure that the little monsters would eventually hear the ruckus the mages around her were making and come in an attempt to feast, though she imagined they would find the residents of Orchidia an easier target. It was a horrifying thought, but it was sadly the truth. She would never wish death via demons on her worst enemy, so to see innocent citizens being attacked was heart wrenching. One question she had though was why. Why Orchidia? Though it would doubtlessly be a terrible outcome regardless of the town, Orchidia was very near and dear to the young elf. It was the home of her guild, the very thing that gave her purpose in life. Her heart skipped a beat. Lamia Scale. Her guild mates. She had been so absorbed in the immediate danger that she didn't even think of what was happening at the guild hall. Part of her wanted to depart in order to check on everything, but the better part of her knew that there was a threat to be dealt with. Though the mages she was surrounded by looked perfectly capable of handling the demons, they could still need her help. After all, even though she rarely stated it out loud, she was a rather talented healer.

Looking for anyone that she could help in some fashion, she heard a familiar voice, which she knew belonged to none other than Ren. As he asked if she would lend a hand, she immediately turned to face him. The Rune Knight limped towards her, his leg dripping with blood. "Ren!" she exclaimed, relieved to see a familiar face. "Yeah, one moment." She pointed her finger at his bad leg and from a magic circle, clove oil splashed against it. It was mildly scented, but would have a soothing feeling as it healed his wounds. She didn't expect it to fully heal his leg, but to her surprise, it healed his injuries significantly better than the healing spells she normally practiced. Whatever the reason, she would not pay much attention to it. She would just take the ability for what it was and pray that it lasted throughout the battle.

Once Ren's leg was healed, she heard Christian call over to them, advising that they should all stick together. It was a good idea. They would be stronger as a whole rather than being in smaller groups. Agreeing with his suggestion, the Draken would head towards his direction, motioning for Ren to follow if he did not already. A winged-man joined in as well. Christian then proceeded to say that introductions would be nice, but they obviously had little time for such formalities. He immediately delved into the battle plan, first pointing out that there was one of the larger, more humanoid demons off in the distance. Striking down that one would likely prove easier to deal with the rest of them. Christian made note of the fact that he was not as strong as the others were, but it was fine in Kerii's eyes. "I can heal if anyone gets hurt," she reassured. Going in, the elf was nervous that her healing abilities were not strong enough to help everyone, but since she recently saw how greatly she improved, confidence was now reinstilled in the mage.

The winged-man with glowing eyes concurred with Christian's plan and took off in pursuit of the demon. Kerii would proceed to go as well, but kept a distance so she would not get in the way of any attacks her fellow mages would throw at the demon. There were some lesser demons that seemed to try to deter the fiery male, but he seemed to deal with them rather swiftly. Clearly, he was more than capable of taking care of himself. She hoped that her comrades were as well, but would be there for them just in case.

WC: 927+675=1602/2400

Mana: 1035/1080:

As Ren limped over to the Elf, she called out to him. Ren could not tell if she was glad, shocked or worried to see him here. Well as for Ren he was extremely glad to see the Lamia scale member. She was quite the healer and the bite wound was rather annoying and he knew Kerii could help with the flowing blood and deep gnash. Once he was close enough, Kerii pointed at his wound, causing a magic seal to appear under his afflicted leg. Ren was not too sure what splashed against his leg, but whatever it was felt very refreshing. Since Kerii was an Elf she naturally used nature magic. This led Ren to believe that it was some sort of dew from a plant that she manifested to heal his would. Judging by the size of the magic seal, Ren figured that it was one of her weaker spells, yet it managed to totally close the wound and remove any pain Ren suffered from it. Granted his leg was not hindered but there was still a numb pain from where the goblin like demon’s sharp fangs pierced his calf muscle. Ren sighed, expelling all his worry and pain. “Thanks Kerii.” He’d say, not bothering to bow. Given the circumstances he figured that she could forgive his lack in manners but since they were on a battlefield, bowing and leaving yourself open like that would spell disaster. “Glad you decided to come back to Orchidia.” Ren said with a small smile. With their last meeting she made it seem as though that given how she was a travelling Lamia Scale mage that they would be unlikely to meet again. Thankfully she did decide to come back and was brave enough to combat these fearsome demons.

Ren looked over to the dark haired boy who seemed to have taken down one of the bigger demons and claimed his axe speaking with the fair haired boy. That being said he only saw them speak for a moment before the fair haired boy called over to Ren and Kerii. He called them both over saying it would be best to stick together. Ren silently agreed and looked to Kerii as if to say “Let’s go with them.” Kerii already seemed to be on route, perhaps knowing those wizards also. Even though it was the smarter move to join with as many other mages for a strength in numbers type approach, Ren prefered being told to join those other two rather than deciding so himself. He was not sure if they wanted help or weather they would only be distracted with his interference. Many other knights Ren knew would rather fight solo and not have to worry about any underlings dragging them down, thankfully these two did not share that same point of view. This kind of decisiveness rarely left Ren, even on such a bloody battlefield. Making their way closer Ren overheard the blonde speaking in his usual tone. His insight into the battle was that by taking down the hulking demon in the distance, the rest would fall with it far easier.

The dark haired mage seemed to agree with the blonde. Ren’s pale eyes trailed over him. He seemed to possess a take over magic as far as he could tell. Giant red wings, glowing yellow eyes and from what the wind mage could discern from the charged demon not too far from them, he used a fire magic. The type of take over the boy could have used seemed to be that of a beast. An animal soul take over would have more delicate features but this one was far more regal and tough looking. Given the element and the appendages, it seemed to be a phoenix take over, but Ren was not positive about this so he would have to inquire about it later. Just as the blonde had said they could introduce themselves later as now was neither the time nor the place.

Kerii and Ren also agreed with the Blonde’s plan to take out the big demon. It was decided by all four of them that it was the right course of action. Ren figured that the dark haired boy with Take over magic would lead the charge since he had the most power, or at least that’s how it seemed. He had taken down a bigger demon no problem while Ren had quite a bit of trouble with the smaller ones. The blonde also admitted that he was probably not as strong as the rest of them. And Kerii was more of a healer like she said. Ren listening to the others was now rolling his wrists, hoping to get access to his basic spells again. “The most I can do is take hits.” He then said basically saying that he would take hits for the other, as the tank of the group if needs be. He said this after Kerii told the group she could heal. Ren could not imagine that he was much stronger than the blonde haired boy in front of him. At this point, Ren knew he would need to train far harder to appease his family and his own morales. Looking from Kerii to the dark haired boy he knew that there was a large gap between his power and their’s. After this he would need to properly train his mind and body.

All in agreement the dark haired boy took off, leading the rest of them to the large demon. Ren would follow Kerii, hoping to keep their healer safe. He was not sure how sturdy she was but he was sure that with his buff he could take some extra hits, then she could heal him once more. While he was thinking over the best way to keep the elf safe, the Take Over mage quickly ripped through some of the smaller goblins. Ren looked in amazement, his pale blue eyes unable to fathom such well executed power. After this battle Ren had his mind made up about how he wanted to move forward.


wc 1025+654=1679

Mana 800:

Christian wasn't sure if he hated demons or not. He hated vampires for sure, but that was mainly due to a personal run in with one rather than his own pre-set ideals. This was the first time he ran into demons in his life, if he remembered correctly. He certainly didn't like the buggers, running around and killing everything and all, but if he had to tell himself the truth in his mind, he probably hated Vampires more. Something he probably shouldn't say, considering he didn't know any vampires that had killed anyone. Perhaps that night still haunted his mind a fair bit.

The entire crew around him seemed to agree, including the girl who had said that she would be willing to heal anyone who ended up getting hurt. Normally, this wouldn't mean much. But knowing that someone was willing to reverse most of the damage he could take, well, it made Christian think that perhaps going all out on this demonic wave wasn't a bad idea. Not that he'd be of much use, but he would have to just be reckless with the cards he was given if he was to get anything done in this town right now.

It was settled then: he could use as much of his mana, energy as he wanted and take as much damage as he needed: he had someone right there that could back him up. There really was no better thing to ask for when fighting a whole bunch of these things. Unless, well, the healer got hit. But hey, she seemed like the kinda girl that could handle herself. Christian decided not to worry TOO much about her as to focus on taking care of the threat, but if she screamed for help or something he would most likely come running for her.

The dark haired boy seemed to rush forwards, and Christian decided that he would do the same as he followed him. It was crazy, he didn't know this man's name, guild, anything about him: yet he felt he could trust him somehow. Christian didn't tihnk it was because of any interaction between the two either. When it came down to it, demons pouring through a gate and killing literally everyone was just something that most people would band together about. Right now, there really was nobody else to trust, with most of the people around them being, well, dead. But that was alright, because nobody else had to die. And Christian, along with his comrades, would make sure of that fact.

Christian followed the boy he spoke to earlier, and ran through a horde of smaller demons with him. There was no use in fighting these ones now, as the real goal here was to take out the commanders. Christian yelled forwards to the boy, who seemed to have jumped his way up onto the rooftop, to remind him of this fact.

"We can run past the little ones! Let's go for the big guy!" he yelled out, as he dodged a demon that was hoping to claw at him. As he ran, Christian did a backflip, using Flash Kick to hit one of the medium sized demons in the jaw. This wouldn't kill the thing by any means for the time being, but what it did do was buy him some time to run past him. Christian didn't think that he would be able to run up any walls like the other boy, but he was able to climb up a nearby latter to reach the top of a building that ran on the other side of the street. Running across the rooftops which were easy enough to jump over due to their close proximity, Christian approached the bigass demon.

As he approached, Christian made one last call to the man. "I can't do much to hurt it, so I'll just draw it's attention!" he said, as he would approach the big demon's spot. Christian would yell to it as loud as he possibly could.

"HEY! COME OVER HERE!" he yelled, as the demon moved its head slowly to the side, noticing the young man. Christian gulped, as he would quickly begin running the other way to another rooftop, as the demon's hands would begin to demolish the building that it saw, in an attempt to knock it over to chase the irritating boy.

What was the point in drawing it's attention? A couple of things. The first was to leave it unaware to the others for a bit. The second was to open different angles of the demon, in case his comrades could possibly find a weak point.

As Christian hopped across the next rooftop, a couple of smaller demons he was fighting earlier had made their way up, surprising Christian and all hopping on him at once. Taking a lotta damage from their scratches, Christian's face would be covered in blood now, and his clothes had started to rip. But that was alright, as he would use a sonic boom to rip through one, using the rest of his strength to break through the rest, tossing them off as quickly as he could as he panted, running to the next rooftop as the demon continued to follow Christian.

This was going to be very tough, but there wasn't really much else he could do. The worst case scenario was his comrades didn't pick up on his plan, but they luckily seemed pretty smart. He could leave the rest of it to them, this was his part to play. Being the bait wasn't exactly a job he wanted, but when it came to a giant demon that was wrecking Orchidia and killing a lot of it's people, you took whatever you could do. After all, if you didn't, you would end up food for the demons just like the rest of them. And Christian had already experienced being a meal, albeit with a vampire and not some raging demons.

And he wasn't gonna again.

1856/2400

Mana 800/900:

”Roger that!” Daiko spoke back to Christian. He offered to draw the giant demon’s attention, and despite sounding like a dangerous task, what did the Fire Wizard have to doubt in the blonde’s capability? He didn’t even have any remembrance of ever meeting him before today. It seemed just like back with the sea serpent - crises brought a bunch of strangers together. It was soothing in as a regular fact by time, and he was sure that the others at the very least had a subconscious awareness of that fact.

His feet must be agile, because by the looks of it, a single swipe from one of those demonic giants could break down the entire roof that he and Christian were standing on. Good thing that Coda decided to stay away, since her aerial attribute might have mattered little in the face of a being who could reach several stores high up. The blonde wizard’s words, however, brought Daiko back to the main deal - he was going to distract the demon, huh? It was obvious that the others were to find a weak spot on the monster, while Christian confused it with his taunting.

The next action of his was a blazing leap from the building as the demon’s bare fingers almost crushed him and Christian. In a wrathful attempt, it broke down the roof with a single palm. Luckily, Christian had moved away in time, but Daiko was found in the air after having jumped only at the very last second. He was forced straight up by his sudden movement, so there was further down to the surface. Therefore, he found it necessary to just grab the demon’s wrist as it raised its hand up to follow Christian. He used the powers of both his arms to cling onto its arm with little movement from his part to keep the demon oblivious.

Albeit closer to inspecting any weaknesses - as he theorized its neck and head to be most vulnerable - he was kind of moved away from the others too. It would prove bad, since help was dearly needed, but then he began realizing that not everyone was up for climbing up on a demon like this. Didn’t matter, just having them in sight was enough. With one of his arms, he waved towards anyone from his previous position, hopefully Kerii and her raven-haired friend, so that they could follow up.

He began climbing up on his feet too, using all four limbs to maneuver towards the demon’s back, whose skin was likely the least sensitive. Anatomies aside, he was aiming for its neck, and he had a feeling that it needed more than Fire Magic to slice a mortal wound into the neck of a giant monster. Maybe Christian could help? Daiko had seen instances of the blonde using some kind of… Light Magic? It was bright in color and emitted such themes of Light Magic, but…

Ah! The neck was right there. And thanks to Christian, the demon hadn’t spotted him yet. Despite so powerful, they sure were dumbfounded and made Daiko stand out like an absolute genius. “Alright, show me what you’re hiding, monster…” Daiko mumbled as his Therman Vision activated. The neck was an important body part, since it covered many veins and blood clots and… all that blood. Daiko figured that throughout his observed realization that it was the easiest kill point when hunting down rabbits.

And deer.

And any other prey.

So the demon’s neck should have some important vein, and since veins transported blood, he just had to find the hottest spot. Finding it rather quickly due to the demon’s size, Daiko released fires from the palm of his hand and used that fire uniquely to boost the speed of his jab. His hand was buried into the demon’s neck, and the first injury was dealt.

WC: 647
TWC: 1771 + 647 = 2400+/2400

MP: 1568/1620 (-25 MP, 30% Mana Reduction by INT = -17,5 MP)

As Kerii ran after the fiery mage from a respectable distance, she found Ren and Christian began to do the same. While the Rune Knight stayed closer to her, Christian went along ahead with the other Lamia. She was wondering if Ren would do the same, but he seemed a little reluctant to do so at the moment. Before they all went in pursuit of the larger demon, he said that the most he would be able to do was act as a tank, which Kerii had to say she was a little surprised about. When she met Ren, he did not give off that as an initial impression. He told her that he utilized wind magic, which wasn't always known for its defensive properties, though she supposed any element could cover just about any field of magic, even if it was not immediately obvious. All it took was the right skill set and a little imagination.

There was a group of lesser demons approaching, all with a similar goblin-like appearance to the others they had went through before arriving at this location. The fire mage and Christian swiftly dealt with them. They were both quite nimble. In fact, the blonde was able to do a back flip rather easily while attacking a slightly larger demon as well. Though it did not seem to kill the demon, it certainly stunned it, leaving Christian and the other mage plenty of time to pursue the larger demon. Speaking of which, part of their plan seemed to be Christian distracting it... and it worked.

Kerii didn't know how intelligent demons were supposed to be, but the wind mage's intentions were rather obvious. The elf had expected the greater demons to be smarter than that, but it seemed like she was incorrect. If the demonic goblins had done the same, that would be much more plausible; however, it seemed as if her suspicions were incorrect. Perhaps all the demons that infiltrated Orchidia were like this: mindless beings whose sole purposes were to wreak havoc. This prompted the question, 'why?' Nobody had said it out loud, but she was sure it had come across everyone's minds at some point. Rifts did not just open in the middle of a town for no reason. Children were often taught from a very young age that monsters purely existed to cause terror. In some cases, that was sickeningly true, but in others there was a reason. Even if said reason was not morally justified, it still existed.

In order to gain some ground on the larger demon, the two mages went up on a roof to attack. Needless to say, in order to be able to assist if anything aroused, Kerii followed, but again kept her distance. A few other demons had made their way to the roof as well and began to attack Christian. He took quite a beating, but seemed to be functional. Still, the elf did not like the look of the state he was in. She wanted to heal him. Her gut told her to, but she did not want to get in the way. He was still distracting the large demon and likely had a plan in mind. As she was wondering what the best plan of action would be, she heard the sounds of familiar snarls. Probably being drawn to the commotion, another group of lesser demons had made their way to the roof. Kerii now did not have to make a decision. She would have to deal with the demonic goblins so they would not be a nuisance to either Christian or the other mage who was attacking the larger demon. Viewing Kerii as fresh meat, one of the demons jumped at her. She immediately trusted her arms forward, shooting the demon back. It smashed into two others, making the three tumble down. They scrambled to get back up in a daze, but there were a few other unharmed ones left. If Ren was still with her, hopefully he could help, but for the moment the elf would target the demons that were already hindered. They would be easy enough to kill, which meant she could handle the other demons on her own if need be. The elf dashed towards them. They were a bit sluggish in their movements, but was still able to nick Kerii in a few places. She was still able to defeat them though, throwing two off the roof and snapping the other's neck. Once she had finished dealing with them, she would turn to face the rest of them, unless they were defeated already. Regardless of the status of the remaining demons though, she would still be on the lookout for the rest of the mages. She didn't think that anyone would be getting out of this battle unscathed.

WC: 1602+803=2400+/2400

1012/1080:

From the looks of things the group had split up in two. Ren running with Kerii to act as a tank and The blonde running with the dark haired boy. Or well climbing may be a more suitable word as they got on top of a building to have a better vantage point. Ren was not too sure about that since the demons were easily tearing through buildings like they were made from clay rather than stone and brick. Still they must know what they were doing. Both were strong mages and gave orders to the rest, which so far seemed to be working. As Ren ran with Kerii the blonde shouted another command to them and his own partner. He said to dodge the smaller ones and go for the bigger ones, or rather just leave the smaller ones for later. Well it was in line to what they agreed on before in that Taking out the bigger demons would probably deter the smaller ones making them easy to pick off like the insects they were, still if he was pushed Ren knew they would not be too disappointed should he need to fend off some of the smaller goblin like demons. While Running Ren couldn’t hear them speaking as easily as before but could make out the damage they were doing and the basic idea of their plans. The nimble blinde made a few flashy movements, both in style with his backflip and magic with his light spells to take the attention of the bigger demon. It seemed to work, leaving him the sole target so the dark haired mage could do some damage. Quickly moving the blonde got out of the way of the palm strike which caused the roof they were standing on to cave inward, making rubble fall all around the building but mostly inside. The dark haired boy had acted quickly, latching onto the demon’s arm. Now moving around to his back the dark haired take over mage quickly and swiftly dealt with the giant. Ren saw some bright flames shoot out from the boy, causing the demon to roar in agony. It seemingly did not notice the dark haired mage climbing him because of the blonde’s efforts to distract it. The plan had been a resounding success.

Meanwhile himself and Kerii were now only climbing onto the roof. From the ground they could see a few of the smaller demons congregating to interfere with the blonde’s plans. Or perhaps they only noticed the blonde being a large distraction and they were craving some fresh meat? Which begged the question as to how they managed to get into Orchidia in the first place. Ren had figured a rift to the abyss had opened in the middle of town, taking everyone by surprise. Although it was extremely rare, the odd time rifts did open of their own accord, bringing out large demons with them. But something was definitely off about this. For the most part what little Ren did know of demons and their behavior was that they rarely travelled in such large numbers. The main reason they do is to cause as much havoc as possible, but this horde was beyond big. It’s almost as if this was planned. Reaching the roof however Ren knew he had to focus once again. Either way weather those thoughts were accurate or not both he and Kerii climbed onto the roof to exterminate the vermin so the blonde and dark haired boy could finish of the demon. Ren was surprised about the number of demons on the roof and became even more concerned for Kerii. Turning his head slightly to catch her in his peripheral vision he saw that she was doing just fine. Better than fine. She was easily shoving them off the roof and snapping their necks. Ren was both impressed and shocked that someone who claimed to only be a healer could do so much damage. Speaking of Damage his gawking at the Elf caused Ren to be struck by another demon.

This one did a running leap, throwing all of its weight to Ren’s chest. The blow knocked the wind out of the mage as the demon began to claw at his face. Ren quickly crossed his arms to summon a quick veil of wind around his arm, which he then sent into the stomach of the demon who was over him, using a swift punch as well to make sure it stayed down. Luckily Ren’s face was not too badly cut but it was still bleeding slightly. None of the claw strikes would leave any scars like the one on the left side of his face. Still the pain was enough to annoy Ren. Making his arms into an X shape, a blast of wind came from a magic seal in front of Ren, making contact with a few demons who just climbed on top of the roof. This made most of the fall off, breaking some bones as the reached the ground. Those who remained had been knocked over and a moment away from having their skulls kicked and punched in by Ren. After a few more scrapes the majority of them were either off the roof or dead on the roof. The Rune Knight looked to Kerii, who seemed relatively unscathed aside from a few scratches. He went over to her, seemingly wanted to have his minor wounds healed. He also had a look in his pale eyes, almost as if he was waiting for her to act so that he could follow her.

wc 941+1679=2400+

mana 725:

Zane's plan seemed to have worked, as he managed to jump to a building where he would finally be safe, but not without hurting his ankle first. He would probably need the healer to check up on that.. it may be broken by now. Panting, Zane would lay down on the rooftop as it seemed the big demon was defeated and done for for, which was certainly something that the crew would feel accomplished for. Now, he'd probably go and ask the healer to heal his foot before he would focus on taking out the leftover demons, if they even were still around with their commander gone and everything like that.

Making his way down a staircase, slowly thanks to his ankle, Zane finally arrived on the ground, as he limped a little bit, approaching the healer of the group. Only now did Zane fully remember her name: Kerii, the girl that he had met at the mall. Wow, it had certainly been a while. Zane's face was covered in scratches, his pant legs torn and bloody, and his ankle pretty much fractured or even broken. Needless to say, he didn't walk out of this battle unscathed.

Zane would wave to Kerii, trying his best to smile even with the intense pain on him. "Hey there Kerii, mind giving me a little treatment for my wounds?" he asked, as he pointed at his face, then his legs, then his ankle. Zane was't in any rush though, he would wait his turn. After all, it seemed like the others did a lot more than he did. In fact, this entire battle was a really big wakeup call. Zane was quite frankly very weak when it came to the mages of Fiore, and pretty much everyone he had met to do outscaled him by a long mile. Still, he did his part with the limited options he had concerning his abilities, and overall he was pretty glad that he helped. Sure, of course anyone would feel good about stopping a bunch of demons - who wouldn't? But there was something else.

Above all the glory and self-worth one would get from protecting the people, Zane earned something much more valuable. He earned perspective. These demons were a lot stronger than any of the mages he met today, and the only reason they all were able to defeat them was thanks to teamwork. Especially that dark haired guy with the firey magic. He seemed to click especially well with Zane. If there was ever to be another gate that opened up and let a bunch of demons running through, Zane would make sure that he would try and find that guy. Then again, being in the same place twice while these kinda things happened would certainly be unlucky. While Zane didn't mind protecting the people, he could certainly say that he wasn't in any rush to go out and do it all again anytime soon, that was for certain.

So here they were, they had taken down one of the big ones, with the other one perhaps being taken down by another group. Sighing somewhat relieved, Christian decided that he would just wait for his turn to be healed and get out of here. He wondered how much of the city would of been hit. Was there even anywhere to sleep anymore? He would just have to see.

2420/2400

ROLLING FOR BOSS

The member 'Christian Zane' has done the following action : Spin

---

'Dice 100' : 4

It was strange. The groups wounds had suddenly been healed rather abruptly, almost as though some pulse of rejuvenation had reached them and restored not only their physical strength, but their magical strength as well. Zane hadn't been looking at the rift, so he couldn't of made out it was something from it just yet. While being suddenly healed wasn't something that most would complain about, in this sense it was odd. Why would defeating demons just suddenly make all of their wounds go away?

Zane wasn't much of a thinker, but even he could tell something was weird. He looked around the small city block the group was in the middle of currently. On one end, 30 meters away, there was a 4-way intersection. The other way, there was a 3-way intersection in about 20 meters of their location. This was a small block, but it was packed in by two rather high buildings, seemingly some sorts of apartments, one of which Zane had just climbed down the ladder of.

Stomping his foot on the ground, Zane noticed his broken ankle he had gained had been healed too, not just the scratches on his face and legs. Kerii seemingly hadn't done anything to Zane yet, so it couldn't of been her.  Zane's worries began to come into mind more, as he silently thought about why this would happen. In his mind, his inner thoughts described what could of went down.

There can't be a device from the knights that could do that, unless I missed some big news breaking out. And there's no way it was some sort of message from somewhere higher up, or else none of this would have happened in the first place. At the same time, I can't see the demons wanting to heal us. Maybe the others have some sort of idea?

Christian spoke up, looking side to side to see if there were any demons left in the area, which there seemed not to be currently aside from corpses. He spoke to the group. "That wasn't just me, right? What could it have been that caused all of our wounds to just up and heal?" Something was fishy here, but Zane couldn't put a finger on what it was... yet.

Explanation:

Ren had chosen to stay behind and was able to deal with the rest of the rest of the lesser demons. Though Kerii could have dealt with them on her own, this made her life a little bit easier. She wondered if Ren would have been of more help assisting the fire mage, but he seemed to be quite capable of handling the situation. The Rune Knight sustained a few minor injuries as well from fighting the demons and silently walked up to Kerii when the two of them were finished. Perhaps he wanted her to fix them, but she would not. They were relatively minor and the Lamia would rather use her spells on someone in more dire need of them. Not to say that Ren's wounds shouldn't be taken care of, but the elf had a limited number of spells she could use.

Next, Christian came up to them as well, limping. She couldn't see any blood dripping from his leg, so she assumed that it was either a sprain or a break. Gesturing to his scratched up face and injured leg, he asked to be healed. He certainly looked in worse shape than the Rune Knight. Nodding her head, Kerii held up her hand prepared to cast a spell, when suddenly something happened. The rift opened and everyone's wounds seemed to heal on their own. Not only that, but her physical and magical energy both seemed to be rejuvenated, and she imagined that was the same for her allies. Christian seemed to be confused by this as well, and even stomped with his bad leg to check. He seemed to be fine, and asked what could have caused that phenomenon. Kerii touched the back of her shoulder and was surprised to see that the gash had disappeared as well. Equally confused, the elf shrugged. "I have no idea... but I have a bad feeling about it. I think we should go look." Kerii highly doubted that a powerful healing mage did it, or else their presence would surely have been made known. The only abnormality that was going on was the rift pouring demons into Orchidia. Though she had no idea why something so destructive could remotely do anything good, it was the only semi-valid cause she could come up with. If it was indeed the rift, something else surely must have happened.

As Ren went up to Kerii for his wounds to be healed, the blonde haired boy also came up. From what Ren gathered as he walked up he seemed to be in much worse condition than he was. While Ren had a few bad scratches the blonde had a few bad gashes. It was only when they met up with Kerii that they all realized that their wounds had healed themselves. The two seemed to cover Ren's thoughts on the matter. It was indeed very weird that all their wounds had gone while their mana was replenished. Not only that but it looked as though most of the demons were gone now. Granted they had done a good job killing the demon spawn, however to think that they killed them all was a very big stretch. Just to make sure that they were all fully healed, Christian stamped his foot on the ground, which must have obviously been in pain before this. He was totally fine after doing it too. Ren had no clue what had happened but did agree it was weird. Whatever did this was unidentified, therefore it was something to suspect and therefore investigate. Whatever the rest of the group decided on, Ren would follow the order.

Daiko had to grab his foothold again, because his attack might have dealt enough to the large demon warrior. Its pained roar followed up with a collapse, and he hurried in leaping off of its neck and onto the wall again. Due to the demon’s size, a lot of collateral damage found its place; a few windows were knocked and shattered by its falling hands, and the road underneath it cracked by its impacting back.

Daiko managed to grab onto the wall, but the part that he held onto was cracking down slowly. He almost flustered with fright and began climbing up on his feet before running away from the edge of the roof where bricks and debris would slide off and fall down onto the fallen demon’s body.

“Phew… I’m beat,” he let out triumphantly, “Still, there are many more. Keep up the spirit, man…!” He eyed Christian at that point whose wounds visible from earlier had seemingly vanished. That was odd… did Kerii do this?

“… Wait, didn’t Kerii heal you?” he asked Christian in disbelief. What would that mean, then? Was there another healer in the area? Now that he thought it through, it was the most reasonable explanation, but…

… Oh, his wounds were healed too. He felt a sudden ease through his hands that he had dirtied a lot today, the strains and sore parts returned to their former, fresh states. That was a very unique type of healing magic in Daiko’s own explanation, because at this point, he didn’t know how he should explain it himself. If only he turned his head a little, then he too along with the rest of the group would have spotted the rift that oozed out an energy that took the credit for healing their injuries.

“… You see that light over there, guys?” he asked them whilst pointing towards the output of the rift from previously. It left a glow visible enough for them to track down. “I swear, if more are coming in…” he began to speak angry omens under his breath, “Let’s see who it is, now…” The Fire Mage leapt from the roof again, this time using the large demon’s belly as a trampoline to soften his fall. Coda was soaring high up in the air and kept a safe distance from the ruckus on the surface.

"Maybe it's the demons coming in!" Daiko called up to the other three wizards fighting alongside him, "Let's close their way in or something!" Then he would cross the streets of Orchidia to find out what that light had brought in. Please don’t be more demons, please don’t be more demons…