Content with the scouting that he had set to throughout Astera, Tomoe found himself at Astera's Pier on a day like any other. His paranoid gaze shifted from street to street, not making eye contact with anyone for fear of having his intentions exposed. He was here to see the incursion was stopped before it could truly begin - and in order to accomplish that he needed to be alert for time spans beyond what he felt necessary. It was at that moment when a very obvious sign that things were going wrong finally occurred: darkening skies and savage howls.

If only it were always this easy., Tomoe thought to himself and taking note of the eldritch forms that emerged from portals.

"A'ight, clear out, everyone! It's street cleanin' day and I'm the sweeper. Get behind me and it'll all be fine.", the eager samurai boomed, allowing the unsheathing of his blade to make a sharp noise ringing through the streets.

Tomoe noticed a blur of motion moving to and fro, seeing the townsfolk lagging behind to safety further away. He briefly noted it to be Sage, and gestured a wave to him amidst the chaos and confusion. With that, the roguish rebel sought out the demons, charging into the frontlines of combat to fight alongside any brave guards or citizens willing to defend their town. He arrived just in time to see a woman get cut down by the claws of a spindly, spider-like monstrosity that then charged towards the young boy behind her without hesitation.

"Oi!"

With a flash of red and ringing steel, Tomoe had performed a Lunge to position himself in front of the boy and redirect the ebony claws of the wretch. On instinct upon realizing he was still alive, he performed a counterattack by slashing at the spider's midsection which provoked a reaction of pain and rage as blood flew from its torso. Finding it to be sluggish in its reactions now that it had suffered an injury, Tomoe pushed on the offensive and plunged his blade through its head as a follow-up attack. He sighed with relief and briefly glanced backwards to see the boy he had protected, stunned in silence and looking upon his mother's corpse. He had received some minor scratches, but was miraculously still largely unharmed. Tomoe gazed back at him with sympathy and moved to lend a hand.

"C'mon. We gotta get you to safety, kid."

Their hands met, and Tomoe pulled the boy to his feet. Moving further away from the frontlines, the Joyan's eyes darted in search of Sage or any other guild wizards for backup. The battlefield was no place for the boy Tomoe was now charged to protect after all, and he needed to worry about his safety before returning to the front to continue fighting. Due to his own special potential as a combatant, the fact that he couldn't put one of the demons' foot soldiers down in a single strike meant that there was no way an average town guard or civilian could stand a chance for long. As the anxiety set in, so too did the determination to see the boy alongside him to safety.

---

Lunge CD: 2

[532/3000]

Wow… was it just him, or was it hotter out here in Astera than in Hargeon at the moment? Daiko had been noticing the sharp rays of the sun bake him like bread for the most of the morning, and only now did the rays seem to die down slowly as he had just bought an ice cream to cool himself down with. Despite being an odd choice of snack for a guy like him, he didn’t feel any wrongs in his belly as he devoured the milky product. “*munch*… O-Ouch, cold…” he moaned in a slight pain as he felt the iciness cling onto his teeth as a result of his rushed biting of the ice cream, a thing you just didn’t do…

He wiped sweat off his forehead and shooed Coda off his ice cream. No way could she eat that; she’d just get a bad stomach and puke all over him again. He wouldn’t take any chances with that, and he barely got to enjoy all of the ice cream himself due to a stranger passing by in such a hurry that mentioned forgot to watch out for themselves, resulting in a collision with the Fire Mage that made him drop his snack. “H-Hey, my ice…!” Daiko spoke up in pain, but his annoyed eyes soon turned into pure worry as more people began to move away from the shore. The skies had gotten way colder way too soon, and screams could be heard in the distance.

His feet almost crushed the wooden docks below him. There was a portal out in the middle of the crystal-blue ocean, and he only knew of one anomality that caused such things unannounced. It was demons! He saw them, too, as his eyes spotted creatures escaping the tunnel between dimensions with hostile and savage movements. They were more spiked than those from Orchidia, but Daiko was convinced. And once his eye activated its thermal vision, the monster underneath the waters couldn’t hide away from him anymore. Almost like fishing with his hands, Daiko just launched his crooked hand deep into the surface of the water from the docks and fished up the arachnoid creature which immediately began aiming its claws and probably venomous fangs at his arm. It soon met a sphere of fire as his other fist coated itself in blazes, but its legs pushed him off before he could properly aim at its head. If they were going to be that difficult to take down now, then he needed… help…

He might’ve just found what he searched for when he saw a swordsman move back with an innocent boy in his hand. Another demon had spotted them and made its way to finish the previous one’s job in murder, but Daiko jumped in-between and caught its attention. Both hands now coated in fires, he plunged them forward and sent the demon off with burns on its belly. Coda was far from the field, roaming the air and watching the crisis whilst keeping an eye out for the civilians.

“You animals can’t just attack any town you wish!!!”

WC: 519

Stats:

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Helmet:

Ring:

The foe braked by drilling its feet into the floor beneath it whilst being launched backwards by Daiko’s attack. It caused the floor to rip up by its sturdiness, but its stomach was injured by Daiko’s previous spell. To think that he was able to harm and damage devils… basically carnal, fiery entities… him, a mere Fire Mage. Wasn’t it a bit odd, though? They posed much more of a mystery and just as much a threat to him as to everyone else. He didn’t have any chance to ask them about all of this, however. They were his sworn enemies at this moment, having yearned to destroy what he aimed to protect.

He was just as nimble on his feet as he closed the gap between the two of them. Soon, the horned monster saw a furious Daiko in front of it with his fists clenched as he sent a right punch to its cheek, making its head bounce to the side like a rubber ball. He followed up with a left punch to its other side, and he continued this combo a couple times until he grabbed its horn with one hand to firmly aim a knuckle straight to its face. Demons bled too, and it didn’t faze him a single bit. The next punch was boosted by another Incinerating Talon to its head, for albeit the upper hand that he had, the demon was tougher than usual. At least, it was way tougher than those from Orchidia at that time…

It proved that statement with its evasion plus counterattack as it got tired of getting punched relentlessly. It sent an uppercut to Daiko’s belly and caused him to lose his grip on its head, in which the devil jumped back and made space between them. Daiko held onto his belly for a brief second, then looked up at the demon had called for back-up in form of several other, visually smaller goblins of sorts to aid it. It was foolish of them to form a wall, for Daiko’s next scream sent a wave from his bellow racing towards the group and slung them away like a game of bowling.

“Tsch, it sure feels like I’m wasting time with you. Where’s the big one? I know you have a leader…”

WC: 382
TWC: 519 + 382 = 901

Stats:

Spells Used:

Helmet:

Ring: