The City of Nerris

Hal smirked and retracted his hand. Well, he didn't know if this kid had a brain or he was just having sheer dumb luck because if he had indeed shaken Hal's hand, he would have fell for Hal's magic. Hal chuckled slightly at Nicolas' stubbornness and the insult he threw at the other pair. Nicolas was never a man for charming things, huh? Hal looked at the teenager, his interest on the teen had just moved up a notch as he heard him said that he was wanted for murdering people.

Smirking, Hal said lightly "...I'm pretty new here so I haven't heard about those things...yet..." He chuckled lightly and asked "...want to drink some coffee and update the newest information for me...? consider the fact that we're both Black Mages and we should help each other, huh?..." He shrugged his shoulder and continued "...and don't worry, my power isn't related to poisons so you won't have to worry about me putting weird things in your drinks..." He smirked again and asked "...though you shouldn't go around and vaporize things like that...it might attract...unwanted attention..." He cocked his head to one side and asked Vlad "...so, you're coming?..."

Turning his head, Hal asked Nicolas "...tsk, tsk...you're mean to them again...what did I tell you about being mean to people? It's not good for business...besides..." He leaned closer and whispered in Nicolas' ears "...they're not the ones I'm looking for...I just want to obtain information..." ' though they're certainly interesting enough...' he mentally added with a light chuckle.

"Well then who are we looking for?" Nicholas bent over slightly and whispered back, "I have a right to know considering you're probably going to have me tail them sooner or later just so you can get to know your target. I'll show restraint for now though, unless these two wish to keep talking on and on about how great they are. This is why teenagers shouldn't normally be mages. They aren't really smart and boast about their deeds to the world quite often."

Nicholas straightened up and went back to staring at Vlad and Klaus. They were decent, decent at the very best until their real skills were put to the test. He would be sure to watch them for the moment.

Vlad tilted his head at Nicholas, smirking. "Well, we wouldn't want to be stupid magic users, now would we? We're only teenagers, we need our education." He laughed. "In all seriousness, it's because nonstop killing would get boring after a while. Normal humans are so fragile and stupid. They can only defend themselves with guns and such. Easily breakable objects. Yawn. Besides, the only people I'm interested in fighting are white mages. They don't die so easily." "Indeed. They are so determined to live, but they use nothing other than the same old weapons. One can get used to it and kill them before they annoy us. Humans are the prime example of hypocracy." Vlad chimed in.

Vlad grinned at Hal's offer. "Sure, why not? Although, you shouldn't be talking about attracting unwanted attention Mr. I Don't Freak Out About Suicides In Front of Me." He chuckled.

"Something isn't right about that guy." He thought. "Although, I guess Klaus and I are the only ones that haven't fallen for his nice guy act. Still, I guess I don't have to worry yet, considering we're on the same side... I just don't completely trust this Hal guy."

Apparently, Klaus thought the same thing, as he continued glaring at Hal and Nicholas. "C'mon Klaus. This is the first time that someone invited us out in a while." He chuckled. Klaus looked back. "At once, sir." he replied "Now, now, Klaus. Don't be so formal. We're around the same age, you know."


The two followed Nicholas and Hal.

Aurelie, scanning the street, waited for a moment longer and then crossed it to catch Miraze up. Miraze had left the corpse and begun to move away into the crowd.

One thing was for sure, Aurelie hated seeing corpses. Not that it was squeamishness, exactly. It was awareness.

Too many people found it too easy to kill. Killing was easy. Rage or battlelust, even a cold-blooded decision could justify the act. Too many walked away without looking closely at the result. Not in their heads, anyway. Easier to avoid thinking about something than comprehend it. Or to dismiss it as unimportant, which was the same...

Before, she looked like she’d been a pretty girl. The horrible, slack stillness would be replaced by coldness and then would go stiff. The inanimate carrion would decay. Eventually only bones would remain. A waste.

Who had she been? Why had she been killed? The stink of magic was all around, sure enough. Why had a mage felt it necessary to kill her? Was it a random death, or was it of importance?

The girl’s face was sagging into it’s death mask, but the terrible smile still remained. Mind magic, then.

Aurelie looked over towards Miraze, then made a quick gesture towards the end of the street. A couple of figures could just be seen walking up. They backed away down a nearby side alley and watched as the mages began to talk. One of them vaporised the corpse, and then, moments later, they began to walk away.

“So. Do we follow them?” Aurelie murmured to Miraze quietly. She held out a hand to Miraze, not to offer assistance but so that Miraze could drain her power easily if she chose it.

Miraze had been trying to pinpoint the location of the sudden spike in magical energy when she noticed Aurelie weaving through the crowd towards her and frowned a little. Of all the luck ...

Aurelie wasn't the best person to be around corpses. Death affected her badly. Though she wasn't one of the people who squirmed at the very sight of blood or corpses, Miraze had been with her long enough to know that death generally had a negative impact on her. She sighed, wishing she hadn't dragged the poor girl into this, but she knew that given a chance, she would do it over again. Not only had she been in desperate need of a Spell-Link and Aurelie's abilities almost perfectly complimenting hers, but if she had left Aurelie alone, someone else would have done the same thing, most probably adopting a worse method in the process.

Miraze gave Aurelie a grateful half-smile as she pointed towards two figures walking up. As she listened to them converse with the ones who had killed the girl, she frowned. True that she didn't have much regard for life, but squandering people so wastefully wasn't something she approved of, despite being a Black Mage.

One of them vaporised the corpse, before starting to walk away.

Impressive ...

“So. Do we follow them?” she heard Aurelie murmur, before sighing at the hand held out towards her
"Haven't I told you before? I'm not going to use your energy. I hate doing that," she chided gently, before turning towards the four headed away from them, wrapping Aurelie and herself up in an illusion and using another to mask their energy, taking out a tissue to wipe the blood she coughed up as a price. The illusion was strong enough to fool even experts, unless they had had experience with this particular type of masking illusions. "Lets go." she muttered, voice a bit garbled from trying not to taste the traces of blood left in her mouth.

Satosha looked down at the girl and sighed. It had seemed as though she would be no use in trying to get information. He could see that she was bleeding, so he ripped a strip out of his shirt and tied it around the wound.

"There, that should hold until we get to the hospital." He grunted, as his entire body ached, not to mention the gash in his arm. He pushed aside the pain and lifted the girl onto his back again. "Alright, the hospital is a block away, so you'll have to hold on till then." He said. He started to walk forward, every step sending pain through is body. 'Man...this is gonna suck.' He thought to himself. As the two made their way down the street Satosha's eyes drifted to a group of people talking across the street. He recognized a couple of them as students. However, he could sense the same thing from them as he could from Suzuki, magic, yet theirs was a lot more sinister feeling. Perhaps one of them caused this explosion. 'This isn't good. I'm in no condition to be fighting right now, and I got to get her to the hospital. I guess I'll just have a make a run for it.' Satosha grunted in pain as he began to pick up the pace, near sprinting to the hospital.

"Satosha, what's wrong..." Suzuki whispered as she limped behind him on their way to the hospital.

She could see that Satosha was staring at a group to across the street. "That's two people from my class I think," she voiced to him as she put her hand on his shoulder and continued running when Satosha picked up speed by using Satosha as one would use an arm rest. "I walked into the classroom when they were talking and making arguments against people at school. They're not very nice, so I think we should-"

Before she could say a word. Nicholas turned around and faced her and Satosha, having sensed her energy as well as his. He voiced, "I hate to break this to you all you wonderful plotting Black Mage friends of mine, but those two might overhear us and want to stop us." He pointed to where Satosha and Suzuki were and clearly saw they were running away.

"We better chase them down," he warned.

Klaus tensed up as he sensed the presence as well. He turned around, along with Vlad. "Oh. Look. Apparently Satosha and Suzuki are magic users then, considering you sensed them, right?" He asked. "Correct." Klaus replied. "Oh well. You know what to do, right?" Vlad sighed with a chuckle. "Right." Klaus said to him as he transformed into weapon mode and Vlad grabbed him.

"You know, you never did show me your ability, Klaus." he said slyly. "Right. Swing. I know how to stop them." Klaus replied, as he began to glow an aura that was the same color as the one he uses during his transformation. Black with sparks and wisps of orange, yellow, red and purple. Vlad swung him, and as he did, a giant crescent moon shaped projectile of energy crashed into the building next to Satosha and Suzuki, causing a couple big explosions, the ruble blocking their escape route. "Nice!" Vlad laughed. "What was that?" "I call it Negierung Puls, or Negation Pulse, in English." Klaus replied. "That's not all it can do."

Vlad jumped towards them, laughing and teleporting every couple seconds. He looked into an ally, and he thought he saw two girls, one with purple hair and one a brunette. He grinned at them and saluted with two fingers as he looked forward again, pursuing Satosha and Suzuki. He appeared in front of them via puff of smoke made out of dark energy, because of the teleportation. "Well, this is a surprise. It's a shame we're kinda enemies now." He chuckled. Klaus transformed. "Yes. My apologies." He said.

"I honestly wasn't surprised that you were a magic user, Satosha. But Suzuki? That's interesting. Oh, by the way, I meant to thank you for what you said about us. Even if we are outcasts. But que serah, serah, right?" Vlad chuckled.

Aurelie had bitten back a retort at Miraze's words. Miraze might not like draining her magic, but Aurelie sure as hell didn't like seeing Miraze coughing up blood. There was no time to argue, though, not as the shadows lengthened and then pulled around the pair. They were shielded from gaze, but talk would draw attention to themselves and make keeping the shadows together more difficult.

Instead, she'd scanned the four up ahead, weighing them up. A handsome, even debonair young man with perhaps just a hint of arrogance in his smile. Next to him, a man who was obviously his Spell-link. Now he flagged up in her mind as a serious threat, with a pair of daos clearly visible and an attitude suggesting a serious bodyguard. Next to them, a duo that she instantly termed 'the punk and his psychopath'. Not subtle... his albino look contrasted with his Spell-link's Edward Scissorhands style. What with the pallor and the stitching, he looked... well, he had beaten eyes, but there was definitely crazy in them.

The punk had used his powers to disintegrate the corpse. That meant that it was presumably the other Mage who was the mind-mage. He looked it too, practically oozing charm. It grated on her, especially knowing what he was capable of.

A lie.

Well, she'd keep observing them for now. She retrieved her smartphone, intending to look like she was some harmless kid idling to a casual observer. Of course, a casual observer would have to be capable of penetrating the veils around them, but it never hurt to be careful. She lifted her eyes to see them accosting a couple of people. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make them out as clearly as possible. A pretty Asian girl, and a dark-haired guy that she mentally labelled as another punk. Maybe a decent guy, though, seeing that she looked hurt and he seemed to be looking after her. Or were they Mage and Spell-link?

Even as she had that thought, the punk asked his Spell-link if he'd sensed them. Settled, then. Moments later she nearly jumped out of her skin as the crazy guy transformed into a scythe - now that was unusual in itself - and then the massive explosion erupted. She watched carefully as the albino punk started popping in and out of existence, reappearing all over the place. Now that would be hard to factor into a fight. She considered several potential moves against him in her head. It was at that moment that he seemed to notice them, offering a sardonic salute before haring off after the other two. She guessed that he hadn't fully penetrated the illusion and that he'd just seen them as a couple of shocked-looking girls.

Then she realised that the rubble he'd brought down had taken down their escape route. She felt anxiety building. On the one hand, these guys had identified themselves as Black Mages, so technically she was on their side. On the other hand, those guys looked less card-carrying-Evil crazy. They were also in big trouble. Her more calculating mind, developed through her months of working with Miraze, told her to stay put and watch. If the girl had any sense she would use whatever power she had to escape, and then they'd have information on them both. On the other hand, this was a fight that threatened to be four against two with no easy escape route. At least it looked like this guy intended to toy with them for a bit first.

She looked to Miraze for confirmation.

Satosha stopped immediately as the rubble collapsed before him. He grunted as he knew they had been found out. Looking at the boy in front of him, he recognized him as Vladmir Scythis, a student in his class. As for the others, he couldn't recognize them. However, it didn't take a genius to see they weren't here to be friendly.

"Magic user? I'm afraid you lost me. I'm just a normal guy, forced to witness as you bastards try to end the world. I don't know if your after Suzuki here or what, but I need you to get the hell out of my way!" He eyed up Vladmir. From what he saw, he had magic powers, as well as a scythe as a weapon, a bad combination for a regular guy like himself. Satosha sighed to himself. "Well, if you are after her, I suppose I could just leave her here for you...Its not like I have any reason to interfere with you damn mages." He paused for a moment, then grinned as he threw off his ripped, tattered shirt. "But, she is just a girl, and that wouldn't be very gentlemanly." He looked over his shoulder to her. "Hey you, get the hell out of here. I highly doubt I can hold them off for long, but if you're lucky perhaps you can get to safety." He held is fists up, readying a combat stance. 'Damn, looks like this is it for me. What a crappy day. Oh well, I should have known something like this would happen sooner or later.' Satosha put on a calm smile.

"Come on, you mage bastards."

Miraze frowned, regarding the four figures before them contemplatively.
It was already confirmed that they were all Black Mages, and it was at times like these that Miraze regretted being one. Alliances were really not her type.

Cursing herself for ever coming back to Nerris ( who knew it would have changed this much? ) and the White Mages for being so adamant on revealing magic to the world ( Wouldn't that go down well? Especially looking at how everyone different, whether beneficial or not, was labelled as an abomination and hunted down in this world. Miraze thought sarcastically ), she focused on the people.

The two pairs of Black Mages seemed to be completely opposite of one another. The dark-haired Mage with the white-haired Spell-Link looked suaver, smoother and more experienced. He was probably also the one with the mind magic, seeing as how the other Mage ( who was white-haired and had a dark-haired Spell-Link, she noted with some amusement - unwarrented, given the situation. ) was the one who had arrived later on and had annihilated the corpse.

Her eyes widened a little bit as the dark-haired Spell Link transformed into a Scythe. How unusual and interesting at the same time. This was her first encounter with Mages this powerful. Suddenly she found herself not wishing she was against these guys anymore.

It would have been nice if she could have just stayed outside this stupid war, though.

The 'Oh - God - He - Can - Transform - Into - A - Scythe' Guy suddenly looked their way and threw them a salute.
She could already tell he hadn't seen through the whole illusion, which was problematic in itself since these people didn't seem to be the ones to simply erase the memories of any random bystanders and be done with it. They would probably kill them in the goriest, most demeaning way possible. Case in point : the random girl who was made to commit suicide. Mond control was one of the only forms of magic Miraze would never, ever use, even though she had something rather similar to it.

Even though they could always throw off the illusion, Miraze really, really didn't want to be dragged into anything with such 'psychopaths'.

Wasn't there a saying that went something like "With friends like this, who needs enemies?"
Miraze found it strangely fitting, even though they weren't her friends. Not even allies, even though they fought for the same aim. They didn't exactly look reliable enough.

Sighing, she considered dropping the illusion of rendering them invisible and only keeping that of cloaking their energies, but it would be even more suspicious if the others suddenly looked at a previously blank s[ot and found two supposedly human girls had popped up there. Not to mention the risk of the whole 'Hey look somebody saw us lets gut them as well for the heck of it' they would be running.

And it doesn't seem like we can escape ... she thought, eyeing the rubble blocking their escape route.

"Come on, you mage bastards."
She glanced at the boy challenging the scythe duo, mentally applauding his courage and the fact he was ready to take on Mages even though he clearly knew what they were capable of in his state, before kicking herself.

You're sympathizing with somebody who is probably better off eliminated. the voice she had labelled as 'Observer' noted distantly, leading Miraze to thin her mouth, annoyed at still feeling useless things for others. Even if she didn't actually have a strict sense of Right or Wrong, this just looked unfair.

Miraze noticed Aurelie's questioning look and sighed, her way of saying "Do what you want to."

"I'm not about to get the hell out of her Satosha! They're going to chop you up and then me next!" Suzuki stated as she watched Vlad teleport in front of them with Klaus's scythe like form in hand. She felt a crescent wave of energy rush past and Satosha and destroy a nearby building.

"I don't suppose there's a way we can talk this out is there?" she spoke concernedly to Vlad and Klaus. ""If only I could help out somehow..."" she thought to herself.

Nearby Nicholas waited for his masters orders before deciding to do anything with the two intruders, actually four. Klaus and Vlad had noted someone else and he looked in the direction they had and noticed oddly placed shadows across the street. There was another group of mages here.

"Lord Zador this really has turned into a street brawl between the two magic groups, or maybe just one group and some bystanders. I'd like to see what the people in the shadows over there are doing here." He pointed towards Miraze and Aurelie clearly pinpointing where they were.

Aurelie sighed inwardly. The bodyguard was sharp, she had to give him that. Maybe next time Miraze would use her power to make sure they were cloaked thoroughly.

Well, she had no interest in sticking around. The Black Mages sure as hell didn't need them to even the odds, and she deplored the idea of an allegiance with them, at least not yet. The White Mages... well, either they would survive, or they would die. If they survived, they wouldn't identify her and Miraze with the Black Mages. So a win-win situation, really.

Still, she certainly could try to even the odds. It would be tricky though...



In the moment of distraction, as everyone's attention went towards the alley for an instant, Satosha found himself feeling oddly light-headed. Suddenly it seemed to him like he had his back against the rubble, and the guy with the scythe was looking furious as he teleported around and around, trying to get behind Satosha. Then scythe-guy aimed his scythe at Satosha, a pulse beginning to form that would blast him. Satosha realised, and lunging forward inside the reach of the scythe he went to grab -




There. Breaking through even for an instant against a man with innate resistance was ridiculously hard, but it might help him. The momentary disorientation he would have from the dream-sending was worth it. Of course, now her head was spinning.

Still, Miraze's illusion hadn't actually broken. She would have liked to have stuck around, but it would have gotten them nothing they wanted. Instead she stepped forward slightly and spoke, her mouth like the smile of the Cheshire Cat in the gloom that still obscured them both. "Oh, don't worry about us. Us girls always enjoy... checking out the talent, you know? Now unless I'm much mistaken... it looks like you've got this one covered."

Now to make like a tree and leave. The alley behind wasn't a complete dead end - there was a wooden fence but nothing insurmountable. Dragging Miraze back into the deeper shadows of the alleyway, Aurelie helped boost her over it and then scrambled over herself. They would certainly run into those guys again...but better prepared, and this time Miraze might have made up her mind about what she wanted from them. Aurelie held out a hand, much more meaningfully this time. The only way to reinforce the weakened illusion and make a getaway would be if Miraze used Aurelie's power.

Hal yawned, honestly bored with the whole thing. The group was beginning to act like a bunch of children now and truth to be told? it was draining his patience pretty quick. He turned his head when he sensed Nicolas' annoyance and raised an eyebrow, listening to the man's words with mild interest.

"Lord Zador this really has turned into a street brawl between the two magic groups, or maybe just one group and some bystanders. I'd like to see what the people in the shadows over there are doing here."

Hal inclined his head and said softly, trying not to drawl to much attention to himself "...suit yourself, Nico...I still want to observe their powers a little more...after all, people did say power-playing was the most interesting thing..." He gave a small chuckle and smirked as the group seemed to ignore him. That was good. Excellent even. The more they fought with each other, the more information he could truly learn about them. How they fought. Their strengths. Their weaknesses. Their personalities...and many, many things more. After he had gained enough information about them, from the black mages to the white ones, the rest of his plan would come out quite easily and nicely. Hal's mouth twitched again liked he was trying to suppress a laugh from the ironic of how things were turning out. Oh, he had to admit. Those mages weren't the all-bark-but-no-bite kinds and they had the strengths to pack up their words if the magics he was sensing in the air were correct, of course. He just needed to be a little more patient. After the fights had ended, he would be the one who took the most advantages.

Vlad laughed at Suzuki's question. "Why are you worried? I have no reason to kill you yet. So, you're safe for now. I may be a black mage, but I'm not a one without some sort of moral code. I'll kill someone if I feel the need to. Just be sure to stay outta my way for now. In case I miss." he chuckled.
"There, Satosha. Now you don't have to worry about being all chivalrous and shit. I admire that though." He said. He lifted the scythe again, charging it. " Now, let's see what you're made o-" He began to say, but saw that Satosha collapsed. "...What?" He asked dryly, eyes widened. He looked over in the alleyway and saw silhouettes of two people. "Aha!" he exclaimed with a laugh. " Magic users..." Klaus stated. "One minute." Vlad told Satosha, who was still dazed, as he teleported into the dark alley. "Afternoon, ladies! Thanks for the help. It's always nice for a show to get participation from the audience, you know?" he chuckled with a very sly, almost snake-like grin. "Hope I didn't blow your cover and all. Enjoy." he chuckled again, walking away with his right hand up in the air, teleporting afterwards.


He teleported in front of Satosha again, who regained his senses. "Sorry, I'm back. It's always good to be a gentleman." He said, charging his scythe up again, as Satosha leaped towards it, grabbing on to it. Vladimir simply cackled. " Oh my god. You're more of an idiot than you seem!" he shouted, as the aura traveled over to him, causing another explosion.

Vlad did a backflip. He threw Klaus up in the air, who spun in circles, as Vlad bowed. "Hope you're all enjoying this." He said dryly as Klaus hit the ground, transforming back into his human form. "Oh, what a wonderful crowd we have today. A tough guy who just got dizzy for the hell of it, and two beautiful girls in the back pretending to be ninjas and such." He laughed, clapping sarcastically. Then he turned to Hal and Nicholas, surprisingly. "And of course, my two favorite people. Old Man Spell Link, who's all, back in my day, black magic was practiced by the most elite of asshol- I mean, assassins. You are all inferior when compared to my hypocritical coat of arrogance!" He taunted, looking Nicholas in the eye. "And the ever so charming Halbert Zador." he continued, looking at Hal.
"Oh well. It's been fun, but I'm bored now. I'm gonna be a loud mouthed, sarcastic, rebellious teenage bastard elsewhere. Plus, I was looking for the person who destroyed the school, anyway. Thank you for the fight, Satosha. Keep on training. Girls? Thanks for helping. Give yourselves a round of applause for me, will 'ya? Stay frosty." He chuckled, as he walked away and teleported with Klaus, who said "Auf Wiedersehen" before he left with his partner.

I can not believe I left that stupid assignment in school.

Caviste stomped irritably along the pavement, hammer thrown unceremoniously over one shoulder and a small rucksack slung over the other, barely a mile away from her home. After finding out it was missing, she’d had no choice but to walk the distance back to school. It was graded. It had a place in her final report. It was due the next day. She cursed herself for not bothering to do it earlier, putting it off until that day. Luckily for her, the common neighbourhood school wasn’t too far, and she could just see the tallest point in the school peeking out among the other buildings around it. She quickened her pace subconsciously, her worn-out body hurrying itself to hurry and get there and back before it gave out.

Not that she believed it would, only having spent a day at school, after all. But dragging her hammer back and forth for these few weeks were starting to take its toll, slowly but surely.

Perhaps she needed a bag specifically for dragging it around.

There her destination was, just in the distance. She could almost just see the sign, saying ––

She hurtled into something, bouncing off and landing on her bottom on the pavement, slightly dazed but mostly unhurt.

There didn’t seem to be anyone else around to witness the catastrophe. Curse Newton’s Laws anyway.

Through her blurred vision, the object she’d run into was draped in a professional white. Whichever part of her brain which was still functioning right told her it was a young woman, clad in a white business suit. She hadn’t gotten the time to closely examine the woman before running up to her, instinctive and infallible manners drilled into her by her father kicking in automatically.
“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going. Are you al––“

Her sentence cut off abruptly.

Careening backwards, she scrambled hurriedly around on the ground. Her rucksack was lying forgotten in a corner, but it was forgotten in lieu of her hammer. Wrapping her hands tightly and protectively around the handle, she held it up in a defensive stance, a few metres away from the woman who had gone from fragile to dangerous in mere seconds.
She was glad of her hammer’s protection now. She was going to need it.

Colliding with another person was never something one really expects or prepares for. There's the logistics of mapping every persons' erratic movements and how many of them never seem to pay much attention to others. Apparently even Karen wasn't able to break away from the mold and wound up on the ground staring at a schoolgirl wielding a hammer; not the usual mannerisms one takes when apologizing for their mistakes causing others harm but it was rather amusing. Planting her feat flatly on the ground, she rose gracefully from the dusty walkway and stared at the newly armed projectile. She only broke her gaze to make an attempt at brushing the scuffs and dirt from the back of her pants, finally giving up on the hopeless endeavor with a sigh and a returned look at the one who had caused such damage.

"Do you make a habit of knocking down strangers and then threatening them with hammers?" She took a step towards her target. "Foreign maybe? No you don't have the complexion of exoticism, perhaps you're a savant?" She took another few steps, halving the distance between the two before stopping and snapping her fingers with the feigned realization. "I got it!" Her eyes narrowed and she tapped into her abilities once more, lunging her forward at a momentum that would shame a jet, without all the negative G-force involved obviously, and wrapped her fingers around the soft arm that she had deemed her prey. "You know who I am." With that she gave the wrist a twist that had the usual result of sending the everyday rabble to the floor.

Renjou just stood there with a dumbstruck face glued to his face. He had witnessed some dunce head guy making a fool out of himself before but this was outrageous, unbelievable, out of question! Mages and their Spell-links had just using their magic in a public place. For God sake, public place where normal people and civilian walking around! Then as if suddenly snapped, he ran toward them while took off one of his hair pin. Reconstruction magic.

“Brethren-in-arms withdrawing for the distance of 8 sun and standing still; blue bolt, white bolt, black bolt, red bolt; sinking into the ocean together seeking redemption-”

He bit his hair pin and snapping it in two, legs still ran toward the mages direction while still spelling incantation.

“Twenty eight mansion, four symbols; dragon tail, tiger fang, turtle shell, phoenix wings-”

He stopped. One of the broken hair pin was dropped to the ground while the other part was thrown to the sky.

“Shiji no Kekkai.” (The barrier of four beasts)

Both part of the broken pin disintegrated. Its particle spread wide and made a giant transparent dome. At least inside barrier the Mages and Spell-links would not hurt any normal people. Ren looked around, damn there’s still left some people with little magic potential. They were still remained inside even though their magic was so tiny to the point almost non-existent. If only he had a Spell-link, but he was too cowardice to ask Sirsi. He was afraid she would get hurt.

“Oh well.”

He scratched his head and approached the Mages. He hoped he could stop their non sense fight with ‘talk’ even though he didn’t have Spell-link and dare he say ‘absolutely weak’.

Suzuki, unsure of what to do, continued to watch the fighting until a guy with red hair ran over to the fight and pulled out of his hair what looked like a hair pin. She saw him begin to chant and then a strange, transparent dome surrounded the area where she had been. She found herself somehow on the outside of the barrier, no thanks to what Vlad had done to move her away from the center of the fighting. Curious as to why Renjou had done this or what he had done she walked over to him hesitantly and said, "Hey, um, I hate to ask, but can you explain what's going on? A lot of civilians have been hurt over at the school I know. I was headed over to the hospital with someone from the school until we got ambushed. I don't know why, but that guy Satosha says this seems to be a fight between magicians. He also says I'm a magician too."

She waited for Renjou's answer hoping that he would give her a proper answer since he was not occupied with fighting. He looked kind of like a student from her school, so she assumed from the fact that he was around her age and no older looking than this. If he didn't have the answers she would have no idea what to do since she obviously couldn't throw herself into the fighting, and hadn't wanted to in the first place. She was glad Vlad, Klaus and the others that were trying to hurt Satosha hadn't killed either of them quite yet, but she wasn't sure how long he could hold out if magic allowed someone to chop through parts of buildings with relative ease. She went to Renjou for the simple fact that if he was a mage she'd be in better hands with him in terms of receiving protection and learning a concept she knew little about within a few minutes.

Nicholas felt Renjou's transparent barrier come up around them and thought, "On second thought, I'm not going to chase the people that I was going to. I can't chase them now with this barrier up." Nicholas looked across the battlefield trying to figure out who erected it and saw Renjou on the outside of it. He could clearly feel from where he was standing that Renjou was weak, but extremely smart. Generally, Nicholas liked to work in the shadows, but because of how Vlad and Klaus seemed to approach their work it that this would be impossible now.

"Hey kid!" he cried out in Renjou's direction, "Thanks for keeping us contained I don't know what those two youngsters would do if they got bored with our current target. Oh wait, maybe they have..." Nicholas looked back to where the fighting had taken place and saw that Satosha seemed to be still standing where he was, but that Vlad and Klaus had left.

The woman slowly stood from the ground, smooth as a dancer, brushing herself down from her collision with both Caviste and the pavement, seemingly unfazed. She spoke to her.

“Do you make a habit of knocking down strangers and then threatening them with hammers?” The woman took a step forward. Caviste took one back.

"Foreign maybe? No you don't have the complexion of exoticism, perhaps you're a savant?" the woman said, and Caviste could hear her insincerity. Panic welled up inside her before she could feel even mildly insulted by the cutting words. Did the woman know? Was she going to simply leave her alone, or would she attack her? She attempted to follow her every movement with her gaze, trying to judge whether or not she would strike, and if she did, where. Her fingers curled and uncurled around her hammer repeatedly, nervously.

The woman snapped her fingers, like she’d just realized something.
"I got it!"

And then she was gone. It was like she’d teleported. She had only just gotten up to her feet, and then a flash, and she was right up in her face, fingers wrapped around her arm, mouth forming words.

"You know who I am."

Caviste flinched and dropped her guard. She let the blow bring her down to her knees, hissing in pain and annoyance but making no movement in retaliation whatsoever. She knew her mistake now. Her immediate lunge for her hammer must have tipped the woman off about her sight. She made a mental note to act as normal as possible before reaching for a weapon as stealthily as possible if such a situation were to crop up again.

She also knew how dangerous these people were. It would be best not to anger them lest they do…something, anything to her or anyone she loved. Not that there were many, but still. She tried to pick her words carefully, but stuck with pretence and redirection of the “conversation”, hoping the woman wouldn’t notice.
“How did you do that?” she croaked.

As the explosion knocked Satosha into the air, he hit the ground with a heavy thud. 'Damn, I guess that was to be expected...' He thought, coughing up blood. He felt a sharp pain in his chest. He knew he had broken a few rips. He looked and seen the Black Mage leave, and gave a small sigh. 'I guess I must not seem worthy enough to kill. Pretentious prick.' As Satosha tried to get up he immediately fell back down. Even shear willpower wasn't gonna help him up this time.

"What a crappy day...Dammit, why can't I have just one damn day where I can go to and from school in peace?" He asked rhetorically. Suddenly, he felt his strength leaving his body. "Ugh, I can't even stay conscious anymore. Well, I hope that Suzuki girl got away." With that last sentence, his vision blurred, and finally, went black.

Vlad and Klaus appeared in a forest, which was still in the town itself, but pretty far away from any civilization. Klaus surveyed the area as Vlad calmly walked in between a group of trees. "Why here?" he asked. "Simple. We made ourselves known, and the fight got pretty boring, so why not spend the time wisely and train?" he chuckled, as he teleported near a tree, kicked it while he was in the air, barely making it shake.

"I see. I have a question though, sir. Why didn't you kill Fraulein Rhodes and Frau Quinton when you had the chance to? You have the power to vaporize them with barely moving a muscle, and yet you didn't." Klaus asked, with a slight growl, though, it wasn't clear if he did or not. Vlad laughed and Klaus just stood there, waiting for a response. "First, don't call me 'sir', or anything like that. We're on the same level. Without me, you'd have no powers, without you, I would be incredibly weak. And second, it's like I said to Suzuki. I only kill people who are worth it. Suzuki did nothing wrong, and she was nice to us earlier today. And Satosha is way too skilled to get murdered right then and there." Vlad explained to his partner. "Oh. I see. But he will most likely return to have a rematch." Klaus told him. Vlad laughed again. "I would be disappointed if he didn't."


Vlad extended his arm towards a tree, his hand open. "Now, be quiet for just a sec. I need to focus on performing a technique I haven't tried since I met you." He sighed. "What are you planning on doing?" Klaus asked, curious. " Oh, you'll see. Let's just say that teleportation and disintegration aren't my only powers. I held back for two reasons. One, I haven't perfected it yet, and two, I don't trust Nicholas and Hal enough to use it in front of them." Vlad said, as Klaus silently watched from a distance. His eye widened as a ripple in the area in front of Vlad's palm rippled, almost as if the entire forest was actually water. Suddenly, that space opened up into a vortex of dark colored particles, and leaves began to float towards it.

"Amazing." Klaus muttered. Vlad chuckled in response. "Yeah, black hole generation. Just one of the many talents I offer." he grunted, as the technique seemed to be putting a strain on his body. The black hole seemed to gradually get bigger and the vacuum stronger.

"Be careful." Klaus warned him. His attention shifted to the tree in front of the black hole, which began to tilt towards Vlad and become unrooted. Suddenly, it flew out of the ground, right as Vlad collapsed and the space returned to normal. The tree was heading straight for Vlad, who was almost completely helpless, and just watched in horror as it came closer. Klaus' eye widened and he shot a beam made of his aura at the tree, which, this time, instead of exploding, began to rapidly dissolve and rot away as the aura progressed in covering it. By the time it hit the ground, the tree was nothing more than a rotted, partially dissolved trunk right next to Vlad. "That was awesome... How did you do that?" Vlad asked, still in pain from focusing so hard. "I can manipulate void energy like you, but not in the form you use. The type I use inverts a force. The tree was strong and alive. The opposite of that is dying and weak. When I destroyed the wall of that building, the wall itself was made of stable material. An explosion is not stable." Klaus explained.

"Cool. Let's practice that, when I'm done regaining my strength." Vlad chuckled with a sigh. "Of course." Klaus explained. He looked in the direction of the city. He wondered if the sounds of their abilities were loud enough to be noticed all the way over there.

“Hey, um, I hate to ask, but can you explain what's going on? A lot of civilians have been hurt over at the school I know. I was headed over to the hospital with someone from the school until we got ambushed. I don't know why, but that guy Satosha says this seems to be a fight between magicians. He also says I'm a magician too.”

He blinked in surprised and then scratched his head.

“Uh, you’re a Mage?”

He eyed her from head to toe. Well, she seemed to have high magic so maybe she was Mage. He sighed.

“I explain latter for now…” He moved his gaze toward the barrier.

“Hey kid!” One of the Spell-link called him. “Thanks for keeping us contained I don’t know what those two youngsters would do if they got bored with our current target. Oh wait, maybe they have...”

A frown grazed Ren's expression for a moment before it back to its playful manner.

“You’re welcome, Ossan! But don’t worries the barrier will break after the bystander’s memory get altered which will happen in…” A loud shattered noise and the transparent barrier disappear. “A second.” He finished lamely. Damn, he was much weaker than he thought.

Still eyeing the Spell-linker he talked to the girl beside him.

“Well, I dunno what’s going on either. The reason why you got ambush… maybe because you’re a potential-Mage and her potential-Spell-link. You know-” He angled his head to general direction. “Mages have this ‘better-than-thou’ tendency and usually this cause a fight between them.” A fool one at that he mussed. “And for the last question, no, you’re not a Mage unless you perform least one spell. So, worry not, you still can get your normal live back.” Or not, he inspected the mess around them.

“Uh oh, it looks like your potential-Spell-link passed out. Wanna help him?” He mentioned toward the guy who just passed out. Without waiting for her reply he took off another hair pin and threw it to the passed out guy direction. Reconstruction magic

“Under the name of shirogane sōzokujin. I command the mask of all creation, the holder of truth and temperance, the reverser underworlds, bid under my demand, eight immortal, seven prosperity, fifty six rules.”

The hair pin was glowing and the light enveloped the passed out guy. Then its light was waning slowly and the hair pin disappeared. That should help him in a minimum degree. But, hey, it was better than nothing.

“Come on.” He told the girl and approach the passed out guy

As Aurelie and Miraze had hurried away, Aurelie could already hear the wail of the police sirens in the distance. Unsurprisingly, the cops were showing up to investigate the reports of an explosion.

Then there was an odd shimmer, and she was aware of the rush of some sort of shield as it passed over her, the energies called in to protect the street she'd just left behind. She looked up as it glanced over her. Presumably the Asian girl had some kind of shielding power, she guessed.

After crossing a few streets, Aurelie hailed a taxi. A proper taxi too, not just a saloon car with a sign on it. Giving him a destination that was a quiet suburb across town, she settled back to talk to Miraze for the ride. She waited until he slid back the safety glass, then lowered her voice so that he would find it hard to hear them.

“Miraze, you need to tell me what you want,” she murmured. “Do you want to rule the city? Do you truly want any part in the war? You see, I think there’s something missing here. Maybe what you should want is to find out the secrets of magic. It’s odd, don’t you think, that we don’t know why there are mages? Or why there are Spell-links?”

She shook her head and went on. “Have you noticed that people with the talent for Destruction tend to be aggressive, or at odds with the world, whereas those with Creation generally seek to preserve it? Sometimes magic is hereditary, but not always. How and why does it appear in someone? When did this war begin, and why? Was it just ideology or is there someone behind it all?”

“In any case, before we go any further... you know I back your play, but you need to decide what the game we’re playing is. I’ve got a few things in mind to work on whilst you’re deciding.” She gestured up ahead, indicating their destination. “One other thing. Around those guys... call me Dusk. It’ll be safer.” She grinned at Miraze.

Miraze gasped a little as Aurelie grabbed her and boosted her over the wall.

Really, she should so have expected that.

As she landed on top of the wall, reaching a hand towards Aurelie to help her up, the dark-haired Mage suddenly apeared in front of them. But for the fact that Miraze was used to surprises by now, she would have fallen right off.

She was surprised when the Mage told the two he would let them go. At least, she was pretty sure he would let the boy go as well. Now she kind of wished she had stayed around long enough to find out, but that would have been just inviting trouble.

Well, more trouble than they already had, that is.

... at least he didn't kill them ... not like she cared anyway. It would just be sad to see people die without a chance to defend themselves.

She could hear police sirens in the distant behind them, and some sort of a shield was put up, going by the rush of energy.

As Aurelie hailed a taxi, she collapsed in the seat.

"Maybe I should start putting more strength in illusions from now on." she mused aloud, purely for Aurelie's benefit so she didn't feel guilty. Of course, she knew that there was no way she could have strengthened it farther without either using Aurelie's energy or severe consequences to her own health, and Aurelie knew she knew, but Aurelie probably also knew hoiw much she hated being a parasite ( because really, that was exactly what she felt like every time she 'took' her energy.)

"Are you alright?" she asked Aurelie, before realising she was already speaking.

“Miraze, you need to tell me what you want,” she murmured. “Do you want to rule the city? Do you truly want any part in the war? You see, I think there’s something missing here. Maybe what you should want is to find out the secrets of magic. It’s odd, don’t you think, that we don’t know why there are mages? Or why there are Spell-links?”

Aurelie shook her head before continuing.

“Have you noticed that people with the talent for Destruction tend to be aggressive, or at odds with the world, whereas those with Creation generally seek to preserve it? Sometimes magic is hereditary, but not always. How and why does it appear in someone? When did this war begin, and why? Was it just ideology or is there someone behind it all?”


“In any case, before we go any further... you know I back your play, but you need to decide what the game we’re playing is. I’ve got a few things in mind to work on whilst you’re deciding. One other thing. Around those guys... call me Dusk. It’ll be safer.”

Miraze smiled a little smile. "You already know me quite well, I would prefer to stay out of the war ... I personally think that if our existence is revealed we will be in serious trouble of persecution, but really, that's hardly for me to decide. I don't care much about things like that either way, there are other better people to worry about that. But I do want to know the origin of all these. If I need to get involved because of that, I could bear with it.
You are pretty observant for a fifteen year old! I have noticed that ... maybe its something in the type of energy? If we attribute the more destructive forms of magic to, say, something like Dark Energy, and the constructive ones to Light Energy, then maybe Dark Energy taints the human brain in some way, alters their nature somewhat. Or maybe people have powers according to their natures.
As for the other questions, they are things I have often wondered. I somehow don't think 'There was a God' is very accurate. If there was a God or Goddess who bestowed magic upon mortals, who was it and how did they have the ability in the first place? And of course, like all wars throughout history, this might be just a ploy to gain more power on someone's part as well.
Dusk? As you wish. You should probably call me something else too, I really don't want to give them more of a clue than absolutely necessary. Call me Alice." she decided on a random name based on her favourite book as a child. Honestly, she couldn't think of anything better right now, she felt drained. Those Mages were far more powerful than anticipated, and when Aurelie used ability, Miraze had ( oh so stupidly, because she should have known by then it was futile ) tried to strengthen the illusion to conceal Aurelie's location.

Which was a failure, and had only resulted in more blood and fatigue.

She paused and took a deep breath.

"But you need to tell me what you want, as well. We could go back and work from a theoretical angle if you so wanted. I'm aware that the moment you became my Spell-Link, its not my decision alone anymore. Its not necessary for us to stay here if you don';t want to. It certainly seems dangerous. Speaking of dangerous, I believe I have already remarked on your apparent desire to get me killed? If, for some reason, I really am killed, I swear my ghost will haunt you for the rest of your life." she sulked, noticing with some apprehension that it was getting easier and easier to assume the role of a normal seventeen year old girl when in Aurelie's presence.

It's cold.

Miraze didn't want to get this feeling of normalcy.

'This red colour looks so pretty.. I wonder where it comes from?'

The five year old looked at the woman in front of her, lying there motionless.

"Where does this red stuff come from, Dana? Where does blood come from? Why is there so much blood here? Why is there blood all over my face? Why is there blood on my dress? Why is blood dripping down the wall?"

"Dana...? Why aren't you replying? Dana?"

She could hear shrieks in the distance, but she was too busy screaming herself.

Dana was dead.

Her first friend was dead.

The reason for their fight was forgotten as she sobbed, on her knees and knowing all along it was her fault for getting angry at her and telling her to diedieDIE.

As a child, bad things had always happened to those around her, especially when they brought out violent emotions in her. She never wanted to lose control of her emotions like that again ....

Its just because I've grown comfortable, that's all. I can still cut her off if the need arises.