He was informed that pirates had granted them a ‘friendly’ visit at the harbor in Port Hargeon, but to hell with being bedridden and missing out on all the brawling. It was dead clear to the Take-Over Mage that being bedridden, sick and injured was such a torture if you possessed a heart as adventurous as his own… waking up every day with aches and barely enough energy to enjoy the mild, windy sunshine darting through the window – it was soooooooooo bad, abhorring, unbearable- urggghhh…

Coda had kept him company the most during his sick stay. The little soldier bird had grown closer to him, almost nuzzling her sharp beak under his arm for comfort and to tell him that it was all going to work out later. The previous events leading up to and during his death… and where he found himself during all of that… it felt unreal, even as he reminisced it here and now. Kerii had been so helpful to inform him of what she experienced while helping out the Phoenix, but it still felt like bits or puzzle pieces were missing in it. Every 500 years, this would happen… wait, did that mean that Daiko would live for that long? What did that mean?

Would he ever… really die? What if he outlived everyone around him – then what? That felt depressing to think about, for then he’d prefer to just die of regular, old age if he could rejoin them in the hereafter. All in all, the episode made him remember death quite often, and maturity began to grow on his face.

Thankfully, despite the oddness, he didn’t lose his mind and stayed patient with his weakened form and rehabilitation. And it appeared that his patience paid back by allowing him to recover before another month had passed by. The cane was discarded, he was no longer in his pyjamas, and his hair had regained its youthful fire in all the rainbow’s colors. And just in time, too, for a certain arrangement adviced by Alisa; since a handful new members had joined the ranks during his absence, a training regime was planned to take place at the Azure Beach. As he had finally recovered his former strength, Daiko wasted not a second to join in on the fun – his old guildmates back in Lamia Scale would belittle him if he didn’t immediately start lifting his weight and mana around as vigorously as possible.


He came very early to the beach, and he might’ve been a little hyperactive. Constantly jumping up in the air as a way to warm himself up, it’d definitely be a surprise for his old friends to see that he wasn’t wearing green anymore. His outfit was now an azure-blue, sleeve-less dress complimenting the name of the beach itself, held together by a red sash. It took him forever to find this dress-like tunic, though, but it was all worth it since it reminded him of what his mother used to wear. He even ditched the old, red gloves he used to wear out, drawing some inspiration from Alisa and Sofia as they kept their choice of clothing fresh and new all the time. Both hands and arms were now wearing long, black gloves with a little thickness for combat, and his left arm proudly carried the Mero Gauntlet once more. Around his neck was his mother’s necklace, which he had always worn and would never let go of.

Coda kept circling around his head as he warmed himself up a bit, but he could already feel his fists shaking. For some odd reason, he really wanted to fight someone… he needed to see just how much he had recovered. Just how battle-ready he was. If anything, he felt like he could give Alisa a greater challenge than… well, last time. God forbid that display repeats itself.

“I know I’m the first who showed up here today, but I feel soooooooooooo late to everything else… it’s a little nerving, b-but just a little!” Despite his awkward predicament, he didn’t want to look like a loser in front of his underclassmen, so he kept his head held high and mighty without showing that timidness he usually possessed, “So, uh… I’m glad I can help out here, Alisa, but should I train them the good-old Lamia Style or Pegasus Style?” Alisa hadn’t been a member of Lamia Scale, and despite how long ago that guild was going around, it was a clear advertisement for them that people knew just how hardcore they bettered themselves through some of the most excruciating training regimens. He, Arisa, Kái and Kerii had all been through that hellish endeavor, but it was a huge contributor to their present prowess.

Then again, Daiko felt like it had mentally scarred him a bit. He wanted to take pride in it, but there was something messed up about how inhuman it was. Of course, he wanted to tone it down for the newbies, but it was also about the aura in the training itself.

WC: 843/4950

… Wait, maybe he should’ve worn a little less than what looked like a dress. No, no, no, wait, this wasn’t a dress-kind of dress, was it? No, no, it was fine, he asked and all… the tailor highly suggested that it’d suit him, but seeing Alisa in quite nostalgic training wear (with good memories of their crossed paths back in Baska) made him so aware of what he was wearing. He even braked his jumping and began gazing over his short shoulder sleeves, his gauntlet, his red sash… urghhh, you know what, never mind that! Who cared what he was wearing – as long as he could fight in it, it was good to go!

N-No, that didn’t mean that Sofia or Alisa could ever convince him of wearing some ridiculous maid outfits or somethings- w-wait, why was he even thinking of such a scenario?! DAMN IT, STOP PANICKING, DAIKO!!!

… Maybe it was the events prior to today that kept him slightly on edge concerning those two girls, specifically. The departure of Kerii, too, kept him slightly saddened when he heard the news, but man… was he an awkward human being? It felt as if his relationship with the two of them had slightly changed ever since he confessed like the dying man he was back then, but it made him… somewhat more aware of their feelings too. But Daiko, man, he always thought too much about things like this. His mind kept spinning and running, not realizing that he was glaring holes through her face until she spoke up to him…

Her voice hadn’t changed ever since they met back in Baska. It was a very pleasant, playful voice that she carried proudly, a voice and tone and a way with words that Daiko kept associating with her whenever his ears caught them. And seeing her don her training wear made him realize that she must’ve gone on a lap or many more around the town earlier… despite the fact that Daiko aimed to wake up early for the sole purpose of showing up here. She was so dedicated to her training that it made him feel slightly ashamed of himself… he who felt like taking pride in adjusting himself to Lamia standards was simply overwhelmed by her. That much was true, if you asked him – she was the Guild Mistress of the guild he was now in, additionally.

It felt so… heavy at first. To think of her like this every time they met. To admire her so highly that it messed with his thought process. To adore her like a living idol, to aim for her approval in his work… he said, back in the bed when things looked grim, that he loved her. He even had the audacity to say that he also loved her wife, Sofia. Surely, that was an affront? A mockery to usual manners of humans, right? Surely, they should’ve felt off about him… being like that… which he could not leash.

And yet, with all those roots starting to form in his heart – roots that Illumin may forbid from ever setting their home inside of him in the future, roots of self-loathing, self-hatred, embarrassment and shame – she didn’t say a single word of judgement to him. He was wrong, he knew that… but just because you knew you were wrong on how you saw things didn’t mean that you could always ignore your own, twisted thoughts. His brain was weird.

It all just blew away. Her intriguing words challenging his ‘Lamia Style’ simply just… blew all his doubts away. So what if he had feelings for the unattainable? So what if he embarrassed himself a little earlier? So what if he couldn’t control his feelings?! She and Sofia would never think any less of him for any of that. They promised so.

He looked so… content for a brief second. It was as if Alisa’s mere presence brushed his anxiety and fidgeting away, quite ironic as that would sound. He could proudly say that Alisa was his best friend.

“…”

*Peck* *Peck* *Peck* *Peck* *Peck* *Peck*

“W-Wh- Coda, I’m here, I’m here, s-sorry for spacing out… uhh, Lamia Style it is, then!” Shaking all his doubts away, it was time to have a rematch of the ages – Daiko was no longer a promising mage with potential as he was back then. S-Rank meant S-Rank, and that too he could take pride in. “You don’t have to hold back this time, you know I can survive anything at this point…!”

He quickly crossed his arms in that recognizable stance of his, for it had been so long since he performed a full Take-Over. Simply engulfing his body in orange blazes until no flesh could be seen, and exchanging that with what looked like a homage to the Phoenix embedding his skin from head to toe… it was so thrilling! He had missed this feeling! “Okay, hmh… what would Shahr-something or Aguero start out with…?”

… Well, back when he was training with those two Guildmasters, they mostly just used him as a punching bag. He couldn’t do the same to Alisa, and he didn’t want to lunge her around! Then again… she was Alisa, and he couldn’t just hold back against a training partner like her! Therefore, he raised both hands up and let out a deafening shriek that sounded more like a monster than a human. Imagine those pterodactyls from the movies; yeah, sort of like that. Even if technically being a warning, he didn’t want to let her start off that cheaply – Alisa was far too valuable to play around with! His hands manifested one, red Magic Circle that darted down his body until it touched the sandy ground, and that was when a burst, an explosion, a spherical fire wave emerged from his body and travelled in all directions.

WC: 980
TWC: 1823/4950

spoiler:

Nervously the wind mage made her way over to the two training on the beach, their magical energy surging over the sandy scene. Raising her arm up to cover her eyes in order to avoid the stinging that would entail should even a spec manage to lodge itself within them, she'd wait for a more opportune moment, not wishing to disrupt them. Standing there awkwardly for a few moments, her beloved exceed would pop up from behind her legs where he had taken cover from the sandy blasts.

"They're going to wipe Hargeon off the map at this rate." He grumbled as his golden eyes lingered on the form of the black-haired woman, "Oh it's her again." He commented, clicking his tongue, "Looks like you're going to get beaten up if you practice with them." he added curtly.

His words struck true, causing the young woman to grow nervous, they were in fact slinging around much more magical energy than she'd ever be capable of. Still, moping and doing nothing about it wasn't going to solve anything. Instead she herself should start her practice of the magical arts. Strolling up a little closer, but not too close lest she find herself caught in some spell accidentally, Kailani took a deep breath of ocean air, composing herself.

Today she was going to try something a little out of her comfort zone, creating a small protective shield for herself. Back on the pirate ship when she'd been the focus of three enemies at once, she'd only managed to deal with a single one herself, requiring the assistance of others to protect her from harm. From such an experience the wind mage had become determined not to be a burden on any future battles due to her inability to defend herself properly.

Tapping her two wrists together, she'd send a wave of her mana towards them, a magic circle lighting up before her as she wove the wind into the form of her choice, compressing it slowly to make a small decorative shield that attached itself to her right wrist. Swinging her arm around to test it, it appeared solid enough, but would it truly protect her from harm. She glanced over towards the other to guild members doing battle. Well, definitely not against someone of their caliber, her eyes trailed down to Nimbus who still seemed intrigued by the ensuing commotion of crystal verse flames.

"Nim, hit this for me." Kailani blurted, tapping him on the head with the shield, quickly gathering his attention. albeit with an irritated expression.

"W-What? Oh, sure." The feline sighed, taking a swipe at the magical air that shimmered purple in the sunlight. As his claws met magic, it scratched it a little, but ultimately it remained formed. With a small satisfied smile, the elven girl thanked the exceed with a small pat on the head. Well, it could at least take some damage before breaking, a good sign. Not the best spell, but it most certainly would come in handy in a pinch. The only issue was that it had taken her a good minute to cast it, she needed to work on that. Glancing back towards the duo momentarily she took another deep breath. Well, she had time to practice recasting it now she supposed while waiting for the two of them to finish what they were doing.

Spoiler:

Once Alisa had cast her magic seal, Daiko immediately felt the tension expand. His element might’ve been considered wilder and more destructive, but… he knew that Alisa possessed a Magic far more mystic and untouched than Take-Over Magic. From the first time they teamed up against the invading demons a handful years ago, she had become an ideal damn Demon Slayer! She possessed Magic that held the sole purpose of slaying demons, and he was among the few lucky ones who got to witness it firsthand…

It riled him up beyond belief! His breath was a blaze, his heart exploded, and his eyes whitened out in a mixture of fury and awe. Alisa pursued her type of beauty, while Daiko… pursued purity – the type of purity seen in the wilderness. It was made awfully clear that he was raised by beasts, in one way or another.

His explosion travelled fast, and it had the advantage of covering all angles around him. It was efficient for making space during a tense close-quarters combat, but Daiko was sure that it could reach the Demon Slayer from this range too. Once Alisa responded, however, he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, unseeable in the sea of flames that he was bathing in. “Huh?!” he groaned at the sight of a larger magic seal underneath his feet, watching it force through his flames as he felt his legs getting caught in a painful wave of huge shards… n-no, it felt like his legs were turning into shards themselves!

So darn annoying with spells coming up from the ground like that… in all honesty, one should think that Daiko had gotten experienced in fighting those types of opponents, but Earth Magic of any nature was… surprisingly uncommon in his eyes. Fair enough, he could always respect his namesake and seek for the skies.

“HURAAARGH!” With one, powerful roar, he used a jet of fire from his mouth to propel himself up in the air, while a pair of wide, blazing wings dug out from his back and began flapping to keep him airborne, “H-Hahah, I missed this! Sorry, Alisa, but if the ground is your ally, then the sky’s mi-“ His epic proclamation was cut short by the view of his legs… or whatever was left of them. Despite his alerting leap to avoid her spell, she had crystallized his lower body all the way up to his knees, and most of the crystallized tissue was completely erased. Now, if he were any ordinary Mage, then he would’ve begun to bleed out at this point – safe to say, the crystallization had also welded his huge wounds shut, which indicated just how deadly her Secret Art actually was… and he could even feel the crystallization continue deep into his wounds, as if they were invading his blood streams like s-s-some kind of, uh, virus or parasite.

One would’ve likely suffered a loss by now… but Daiko grinned madly. This was where his true power showed itself – he didn’t need to have reacted faster earlier, for he could afford acting recklessly and zoning out in the midst of combat! Suddenly, his wounds released jets of fire that burned away any signs of injury, pushing out residue crystals from his wounds and manifesting as legs once more. In the blink of an eye, the fires died out and revealed a new pair of perfectly fine shins and feet. “… I’m not gonna let you hit me all the time!” was his last warning towards her before doing a backflip midair to gather tempo before diving down towards her like a hawk on the hunt, crossing his arms midflight. A pair of magic seals dug into those arms and allowed him to pull a pair of bright, solid flame swords out, with which he pointed one’s tip towards Alisa while the other was held back to ready for a consecutive counter-slash.

Poor Kailani would have to wait a while… hopefully, she could reap some fruits herself in the meantime.

WC: 670
TWC: 2493/4950

Kailani shot a big grin back at Alisa, humbled that demon slayer had even noticed the small wind mage sitting on the sidelines.

"Greetings Guild Master Alisa," She replied, lowering her body into a bow, "I am good, I was going to train but..." her eyes began to glisten in the sunlight, "I'm more than happy to simply sit and observe the two of you!" She exclaimed. If she had a tail it most certainly would have been wagging like an excited puppy. It wasn't often that the wood elf got the chance to see two powerhouses like Alisa and the firey bird man do battle.

She had only seen the flaming man around the guildhall, never actually spoken to him, but unless she was mistaken, Yuurei had referred to him as Dai-something, Daito? Daipo? She honestly couldn't recall, but she was aware of just how strong he was from the few minutes of watching him battle Alisa. Not many could even attempt to keep up with her power.

Nimbus rolled his eyes, clearly uninterested in watching the fight unfold. Seeing as they were probably going to be here for a while he began to stroll down the beach in the opposite direction to the battling duo. Scouring the sand for something.

He clearly saw the armor of crystal manifest around Alisa’s skin, but his momentum was far faster than his thought process. Still, his blades of fire made contact, searing cracks into her ridiculously tough armor which even left his arms quite sore. His blades, too, began to dissipate, having lost most of their power behind the last clash – apparently, manifesting objects of fire was still on apprentice level for the fiery Take-Over Mage. Yet, he hadn’t expected her to surround herself in armor that quickly-

“PFUUUUUUAHHHHH!”

All air in his lungs escaped with that knee strike. It felt as if his eyes almost popped out of his skull, and he was definitely left open after that last attack for this to happen. His feet, too, hit the ground and kicked sand up, while his eyes looked veiny and nigh enraged. Now, it really did feel like a battle to the death… and nothing less was going to get through Alisa at this point. She was too strong for anything other than that.

Reflexively, still suffering from the knee strike, he lifted both arms to cover his chest, but the small space between them was intercepted by Alisa’s fist that dug into his ribs with immense force. Still, this time he had braced for the pain, and magic began to bristle through his skin while he expected another strike from her. That was when Kailani’s name was called up by the lithomancer, which drew the Fire Mage’s attention over to their freshwoman. Blazes began to dot out of Daiko’s skin where Alisa had injured him, repairing the damages dealt to his skin and bones while he noticed something. “… You’re under my tutelage now, Kailani!”

He was her upper now! For the first time in Daiko’s life, he felt… responsible… for a fellow guild mage? He had to take the opportunity to grow more, y’know, become a role model and stuff – screw all of that weird ‘time and place for everything’ stuff, it was decreed already!

“That does remind me… Alisa, you know martial arts, right?” This ought to have been an interesting topic.

WC: 353
TWC: 2846/4950

Damn it, now he couldn’t pale in comparison to Alisa! Not in front of his very, very new pupil – no no no, that wouldn’t do, he’d want to impress her and the rest and actually make the cherry-haired sorceress eager to train with him. He needed a good start with his pupil, which any tutor could get behind; a good kickstart in your growing friendship and camaraderie as well as sync and that spark, y’know, that was necessary to form a good training bond. That was necessary!

He was able to keep up with Alisa’s magical prowess, but what she excelled drastically in was exactly what the Fire Mage had gotten an interest in lately – one’s purely physical skill. Specifically, might we add, the skill of a martial art. As far back as Daiko could remember, he never… never really punched in any special way. He never kicked in any special way, either. He was trained to just do well against opponents, and his Magic usually carried him through most battles if he had to be honest.

Alisa, however… she put a lot of emphasis on physical arts. He could tell from training with her, and it had kept him curious to know if he’d be able to train in martial arts too. Surprisingly, the end of that road led him to something entirely unique.

He nodded, simply, at her inquiry about him getting interested in martial arts. “Maybe it’s not real martial arts, but… I cooked up something of my own,” he explained shortly, moving one hand forward and bending it with all fingers straightened sharply. The back of the hand was pointing towards Alisa, while black ash began to leak down from both it and the hand pulled behind his back.

“Although, every time I use this stance, ash begins to leak out. I guess it’s still Magic, in the end.” Still, the stance was unlike what he had conjured before. His previous spells didn’t require such a solid, straightforward but calculated stance – they most’ve required reactive stances or positions where he could allow the fires of the Phoenix to emerge from his body for situational purposes. He was ready to strike like a serpent lying in wait…

WC: 370
TWC: 3216/4950

So it was real, martial art… he was very confused about that for a while, but if Alisa of all people approved it, then it must’ve been the truth. It made him feel much better about the amount of time he’d spent getting the stances correct.

He did find himself completely lost in one of her last remarks… he was still using the fires of a phoenix, right? Did he take the fires out of the phoenix? No, surely not… the fires came from the phoenix, but it wasn’t like the phoenix wasn’t there. Uh, did he take the phoenix out of the fire- wait, wasn’t that just the same thing? Urgh, why was it so difficult to understand? Surely, it wasn’t that complex… it was just a phrase. Alisa probably would shake her head if he expressed his confusion, so he just kept quiet at her words and nodded. One thing was clear; she wanted to test his martial art out.

His left arm was stretched forward, his upper palm bent to the side and aiming at her direction. His weight was also spread between both legs spread wide, and that was when a red magic circle suddenly embedded the sandy floor beneath him. It quickly rose up through his figure, emitting a black smoke with glowing embers and crackling sparks, covering his body and hiding his limbs. When he readied a clenched fist, it was under the cover of the smoke, but the fast dash forward revealed his intent to send a heavy punch straight forward to plant onto the center of Alisa’s torso. The ash around his fist glowed up in flames and accelerated his punch.

WC: 279
TWC: 3495/4950

Her guards were up before he could land his punch on her torso, just another expected outcome when fighting against the likes of Alisa. She always had her guards up, and she was just as skilled in cracking through Daiko’s own guard with the follow-up of three blows to his poor chest. His breath was forced out in those three hits, releasing small chunks of what looked like ashen spit – henceforth, he was stepping back a few, small feet away from her and looked like he was thoroughly flinched by the quick exchange. With his balance trembling in the air, he looked way too open… and then, he couldn’t help but cackle.

Using the off-balance of his to his advantage, he performed a rapid spin and lunged his right leg out. Another smaller magic circle had travelled up his foot at that point, and spinning clockwise allowed him to weaponize his right heel for a heelkick, further manifesting a thick cloud of glowing ashes between him and Alisa. He was thoroughly utilizing the ashes manifested from his Fire Magic to give extra oomphs to his attacks, and he knew that he couldn’t afford to be too worried for the safety of a Wizard Saint like his Guild Mistress. He… genuinely enjoyed her praise and desired to hear her words of approval once more.

Maybe it was just the dying embers of his previous confession. Maybe…

The ashes within the wave reeled up by his heelkick appeared to blister. It would be dangerous to force through that smoke without armor.

WC: 259
TWC: 3754/4950 (Using 2550 WC to learn D-C-B-A Spells from here, 1204 WC left)