Murmur Burns
(Village of Umi)
It was all going well, they had made it to Umi without attracting the wrong type of people to them. The villagers already trusted them, under the wrong impression that they were the protagonists in this setting, and Ravenna was working hard to make sure her plan had moved smoothy, using her magic to make the invisible. When she shoved her wrist into his mouth he had licked her wound, if only to see her squirm a bit. Doing so was starting to turn into a routine, and it was not necessarily a wise one. Her blood tasted odd, more like sweet food than what carried oxygen throughout the body. More important than that was the strength it would bring him, and he was truly a greedy person at heart.
Without her body distracting him he was left to study their competition; Amaranth. There was The Reaper, or Issabella Carrington. Such a person was both exciting and concerning. She was strong, but troublesome, smart, and he hoped she wouldn't catch onto who they were so quickly, if at all. If it came to the worst of it they would have to wipe Amaranth away too. Then there was the Wraith, Amaya Tanaka, who's dark based magic shouldn't be a match for Zangreus. There was Browen Northwind, who didn't threaten Murmur in the slightest, though he wouldn't overlook his presence and abilities, and there was also a person he didn't recognize. A black haired boy who must of been new to Amaranth, as he had at least a little information on all their members.
But out of all these mages, his eyes focused on one. A brown haired kid who had a paper thin body, Sidney Allen, none other than his loyal informant. Murmur's eyes narrowed, the action going unnoticed by him. What was he doing here? The boy's magic was too weak, nothing special, and his mental and physical state wasn't anything to boast about either. He would be in danger here, there was no doubt about it, and he really didn't like what was his to be damaged, or permanently broken.
From there their situation started to become less than ideal to him. Murmur looked between the members of their team. Kiev obviously wasn't at his prime, there was something wrong. Was he sick? He didn't doubt that he couldn't hold up his own during the mission, but one did not underestimate the power of infection. There was a reason why pestilence was a sign of the apocalypse, it could take down even the strongest of men, and though Kiev was more than exceptional - he wasn't one of them.
He wasn't worried for Kiev himself though, but his ability, and what burden he would turn into if his illness did more than persist. He had grown fond of the man, though he had long ago stopped looking at people with what could be considered true companionship. If anything, people were tools, and too often they were less than that. But Murmur was happy to play the role of a concerned friend, and laid a hand on the other man's shoulder momentarily. The action that could be considered comforting or worried didn't last long, as his hand soon returned to his side.
Murmur always looked after his team, he never wished them to be hurt, but keeping an eye out for all of them would prove to be difficult. Though in this case Kiev was more or less impaired, and they were under Ravenna's strict orders to protect Melinoe, though he personally had a little more faith in her than that. There was also Zangreus, who he didn't have much work experience with, and not knowing exactly what to expect out of him was unsettling. Along with this there was Ravenna, who didn't need taking care of, yet he would look over her regardless as she was such a rash human being. Then there was Sidney, his connection to Amaranth - who gave surprisingly good reports, especially when Murmur convinced him to sneak around and read important documents. He couldn't let his little pet get hurt, but if he acted recklessly that connection would be severed. If that was the case, he'd have to end the young Allen's life himself, which he didn't necessarily want to do.
'
Come,' This wasn't out of his ability range though, he could handle it, and Murmur wordlessly followed their leader towards the mines. Thanks to her spell they weren't seen by anyone else, but they could see just fine. His eyes landed on a girl, lounging on a large boulder at the entrance of the mine. She didn't look very old, maybe sixteen at the oldest, if her looks were deceiving. There were people walking in and out of the mine, and only a few looked at her, the rest focusing their fearful gazes to the ground.
So this was one of the feared members of Seven Virtues, just a child. He knew they had a specific rank, going from strongest to weakest, and automatically assumed that she was near the bottom, if not the weakest of the seven. There was a long, dark sword in her hand, and he could sense there was something off about it. The people who dared look at her moved their line of vision to her, towards the sword, as if it had personally offended them. Murmur glanced over to Ravenna, then to the mine. They certainly couldn't slip in without being noticed, even when invisible, as someone could easily run into them and break the illusion. That would leave them with the underhand. No, he looked back over to the girl, if they used the element of surprise getting rid of her should be easy enough.
Industria
(Village of Umi - Mines)
She was small, short, but anyone believing her to be weak would meet an unfortunate end. The girl brushed her short blonde hair back, a trait shared amongst her master, and most of her siblings. Only the
odd ones deviated from the patter. Honestly, the twins presence upset her, there was just something about them that made them different from the rest of them. Industria leaned back, but she wasn't around them right now, they were busy on another mission, something to do with a dark guild that had yet paid their debt to them. She didn't envy them, they had to do all that fighting and work, and while she didn't mind combat she also wasn't fond of it. Around her were the poorer people of Fiore, miners, who were currently under her and her brothers control, lest they disobey and meet the consequences. This was much more preferred, she barely had to lift a finger to get them to work.
A feeling tugged at her chest, it told her of danger, Temperance was fighting an enemy right now. The girl did nothing but roll her eyes and sit back up on her boulder. "How annoying." She yawned, stretching. He could handle killing them off himself, he didn't need her help. If he did then she'd ask master personally to kill him off for being weak, pathetic scum; though she knew he would just bring him back after he died. That was even more bothersome, she wished her loud mouthed younger brother would just stay quiet. Maybe she would cut off his tongue
again after he was done slaughtering the opponent. Better yet, she would tear apart his vocal cords this time, and replace them with metal shards so they could never heal.
Industria stood from her seat, tightening the grip on her sword as she did so. If there were nosy people fighting Temperance, then she had to assume that they weren't the only ones worming around. If she was attacked, she had to be ready. The girl glanced to her sword, which held the abilities of fire, lightening, ice and wind at her disposal. The blade was also changeable, being able to be made shorter, or longer, curved, spiked, anything. Electrocuting people was the easiest, it was her biased way for attacking, but she could be flexible. Anything to get rid of the opponent fast and quickly, she wasn't second to the twins power and strength for nothing. If they weren't such a unit, she was sure that she'd even be regarded as the deadliest member of Seven Virtues.
Sidney Allen
(Village of Umi)
"
Sidney, I need you to focus, please." The words snapped him back to reality. A town being held hostage, and a dark guild trying to obtain a weapon that would give them great power. Right, he couldn't afford to space out anymore. Sidney forced his finger nails to dig into his palms, not hard enough to puncture the skin, but the pain helped him focus. It was more of a habit than anything, he had done the same thing when listening to the tutors his parents had hired. Only back then it was just his education that would suffer, this had not only the lives of the villagers at stake, but the lives of his team mates, and his own life being threatened as well.
The people around him began discussing a battle plan; what would be the best course of action? It was clear that they needed the villagers to evacuate, get them out of here safety, because once a fight burst out then there was no guarantee that bystanders wouldn't be hurt in the crossfire. The thought of someone getting hurt if they weren't successful settled into his stomach, making him feel sick. On the other hand they couldn't let Seven Virtues get Aozora either, because once they had it the chance of defeating them plummeted. It was one thing to fight against a small number of high ranked mages, but with their abilities along with the one from a legend, it may as well be nearly if not completely impossible to defeat them. Either way, Sidney kept quiet, assuming it would be better to let those more experienced handle this.
"
Our priority is not to retrieve the stone at this moment, while we can split into two teams we do not know what we are up against, it may not be too wise until we are sure." Izzy's voice echoed in his head, the word burning into his mind. Telepathy was still an odd thing, it worried him that she could dig into his mind, and such concerns mirrored on his face. It was the sensible thing for her to do, and Sidney was almost positive that she wouldn't do such a thing even if she could, so he bit down on the inside of his cheek to keep his mind at what was happening around him - not on his own insecurities.
He watched as their leader changed her armor, his mind automatically counting the pixelated squares that surrounded her. She was looking past the trees, and Sidney gripped onto the straps of his backpack, trying to prepare himself for any form of action. If anything, he could possibly distract an enemy, or use his magic to lead away villagers and use himself as a distraction. Though, nothing he made could stay animated at a large distance, he'd have to keep that in mind. Perhaps if he had the chance, he could even use Joffrey the red and gold lion to retrieve the Aozora, if it was ever left unattended that is.
As he was pondering, foolishly letting his attention be divided, a bring ball of flames flew towards them. For a moment Sidney had thought his feet to be sewn to the floor, yet someone had grasped him, yanked him away before the fireball could do any harm to him. "
We don't have time to plan anything anymore." The words seemed far away, his heart was pounding and blood roared in his ears. He clutched onto the the skirt of Izzy's armor, it being the closet thing to him, and his knuckled turned white. Breath. Inhale, exhale; he couched himself mentally, the worst thing he could do is fall apart so quickly.
The boy was able to get himself together rather quickly, the attack had been a surprise, but it wasn't the worst that could happen. The adrenaline moving through his body would help him stay alert, especially when it increased later. "
Amaya, your team needs to stay out here and rescue the villagers, if anything buy us time until we get back with that wizard out there." Izzy was looking at him again, her expression and body language was painful, as if she wasn't confident in her decision, always worrying. His eyebrows furrowed, his hands let go of her skirt, all that worrying was starting to rub off on him.
Brilliant black wings sprouted from her back, he took a few paces away from her as she spoke more orders. They would be fine as long as they listened to her, right? It was hard to think otherwise, in his eyes she was nearly idolized. She was leaving now, both her and Sikes, to the mine, even though she didn't know who or what waited there. The situation was complicated, but he could describe it in one simple word -
scary. "Be safe." Sidney finally spoke, despite the words not being in anyway useful. To him it was admitting that he was worried as well, and that he wanted to see them again in one piece.
In the background there was approaching footsteps, moving closer and closer to where they stood. The figure had decided that they would check out the disturbed area, where pesky insects were loitering around. Besides, the villagers would not dare try to escape, or run away, by now they were too afraid to. Fire was sparking from his fingertips, he would let himself have a little fun with this, as there was nothing more exciting than seeing the life being burned from another person's eyes.Though such sounds were not heard by Sidney, too focused on the splitting of the two teams. He could feel his magic, ready to be pulled or tugged at any moment, every bit of it under his skin. Its full potential was yet to be obtained, but he was prepared to move, and do what he could to help the others. His teeth stopped biting down on his cheek, leaving a slight taste of copper in his mouth. He would do all he could to help, even if it put his own well being at risk. After all, it was better him than anyone else.