Sparks of conflict (BP EXCLUSIVE EVENT)

Song magic. That was pretty unique. He didn't know any members of the guild or any of the guilds he'd been on a job with in the past that had such a magic. He was quite interested in seeing how it would work. However, right now the four were just sitting here. Xierak arrived and left some supplies for them to use before heading off after the rest of Team Rampage. The question that he had been asked though intrigued him.

A celestial spirit mage and one of the ones with a golden key no less. It seemed he had picked up on Zack's...otherworldly origins due to his intimate knowledge of celestials. "Well, there is a reason I seem like one of your spirits." he said with a grin an idea forming in his head to challenge this young mage and give him something to do whilst they waited. "But I won't tell you exactly what. Let's say 13 is my lucky number." It would be interesting to see if the celestial spirit mage would be able to work out exactly what that hint meant. It was one thing to know about celestial spirits and the golden keys. It was another to know about the Celestial Spirit King and the one who resided in his shadow...the 13th gate Ophiuchus.

It was this point that the song mage began to sing. It was obviously more to herself then for their benefit, but it was quite a beautiful song nevertheless and one he could enjoy whilst sitting there just able to hear it on the edge of his hearing.

Chapter One: The Waiting

Axos sighed. He was useless in this guild for now, it seems. Although the man who was leading the charge was trying so very hard to to be a leader, when it seemed to be silly that he would call everyone in the guild and only use the stronger folk. Axos looked around him. He was with his team, Dante and Ana. Ana looked incredibly sad, so Axos just sat down next to her. "You know, just because you have weaknesses in some areas, does not make you useless. In my eyes, you are perhaps the most useful one there is in this guild. Not everyone needs to be someone who does damage. Without a support in the back, I would probably die instantly. So, thanks Ana." As he told this to Ana, the other mage he hasn't met yet asked him what his magic was. He probably felt it best to tell him... some of the truth, at least. It is hard to discuss the other being inside of him without being asked too many questions. [b]"My magic is Chaos Magic. It is a form of Heavenly Body Magic, with a bit of a more neutral slash darker feel to it. It is very offensive."

OOC: SORRY

What a marvelous day for an adventure, Shuhei thought as he gazed through the open window of his office. The White Wizard sat at his desk behind numerous stacks of unfinished paperwork, that to him looked like the iron bars of a prison cell from which he could not escape. He scribbled away at the documents, writing his signature where required and skimming through all of the necessary parts and skipping most of it. He sighed, looking out the window once more. What a marvelous day. A sudden pop outside drew his attention from the documents at his desk. With curiosity he looked outside to see some of the younger mages dueling. With excitement he watched, until the doorknob suddenly began to turn. Quickly Shuhei sat back down to make believe he'd been working hard as Leon, his exceed waltzed in with another stack of papers. "Got another load for you Master!" Shuhei's face hit his desk.

"Come on, just a few more hours and you'll be done!" With his face pressed solidly against his desk he replied. "Dear god of mercy end my suffering!" Leon sprouted his wings and flew high enough to place the extra papers on top of an already tall stack. "Just be glad I filled out most of the paperwork for Akryn already. Honestly, taking half the guild on some personal quest... He better bring back some good loot from it or he'll get an earfull." Shuhei tilted his head up and looked at Leon in surprise. "Quest?" Leon paused. "...Yes, he took a party of mages including Zack Rose to the Phoenix Mountains to reclaim some family vault. Apparently his family hoarded some valuable artifacts... Or something..." A wide grin stretched across Shuhei's face. "Master, no! You have work to do!" Shuhei stood up from his chair and stepped on to the windowsill. "I'll only be gone a little while, I'll be back in a flash!" "Master!!!" Quickly Leon transformed in to his combat mode and attempted to grab Shuhei before he took off, but in a flash the White Wizard was gone! Leon sighed as he looked out the window. "God damnit, not again..."

Xierak narrowed his eyes under his hood after hearing Akeya’s report, he then lifted his nose and started to sniff the air. A strong wind blew against them from the direction they were heading and he picked up two smells coming from upwind, one smelled metallic in origin, and the other… “Akryn…” Xierak then went quiet as he started to suppress his magical power as instructed, “One of them smells like you…” Xierak then dashed up a cliff side, using his sharp claws to rapidly climb up and onto the cliff side. He then crouched down on all fours taking off his hood entirely. He scanned the surrounding cliffs, trying to see if he could spot the people Akeya had sensed and the two he had smelled. Xierak then let out a small growl and then slid back down to where Akryn and Akeya were at, “I Couldn’t see anyone suspicious in my line of site… even from the altitude I had climbed to…” Xierak then sighed looking the direction the Vault was said to be, “I have a bad feeling about this…”

Akeya quickly nodded in reaction to Akryn's question. They were indeed at the edge of her ability to sense them, which was at least a small blessing. They were all significantly less powerful than these three magic sources, so even if those three were as good at sensing magic as Akeya Team Rampage should not yet have been discovered. Of course, that wasn't completely sure: while Akeya was sharper in sensing magic than most mages that didn't mean there couldn't be still better sensors. And she could only sense those three because they were so powerful. There was no telling whether they had some specialist for detection with them that just happened to not be strong enough for Akeya to catch them at this range. And there could be enemies of similar strength as those three which she didn't notice because they were suppressing their power...

"Those three that I can sense are at the limit of what I can sense, so roughly one quarter of a mile away. If they have the same sensitivity to magic as most mages do they should not yet be able to sense us, but if they are as sensitive as I am then they already know that we're here. And I can not confirm whether there are any people around besides those three, because either they are too weak for me to sense them at that distance or they are purposefully hiding their power."

Akeya said all this without much emotion or reaction, just plainly reporting what she knew. However that feeling of knowing that there was trouble coming was still there, and she was pretty sure that she wasn't going to shake it any time soon. Three H-Ranked mages...if she was correct. And if there weren't more of them. Blue Pegasus was one of the biggest and most famous guilds in the entirety of Fiore, and yet it only had three H-Ranked mages, at least that Akeya knew of. And she knew quite a lot about the members of her guild because she was often in the guild hall, and constantly sensed them. She had no idea where these powerful mages came from, but if there turned out to be some dark guild or group of rogue mages which had that much raw power... The half dragon was pretty sure that a lot of people would have shivered at that thought. The main reason she didn't shiver was because she just wasn't that expressive. But she still had that feeling of unease.

Akryn was already giving new orders according to this new information she brought him, and they were pretty sensible ones. Except for one part, a part which Akeya found important enough not to just leave be. She personally did exactly as Akryn asked, suppressing her magic so that she would become harder to detect. She really didn't like doing it: it made her feel numb in a strange way to be suppressed like this. However she was somewhat used to it by now, quite often having to hide her presence during jobs (seeing how her main approach was to be as stealthy as possible), so she ignored that feeling and just made sure that she wouldn't be the one to give them away.

Once she was sure that she was properly hiding her magic signature Akeya headed after Akryn, who was already moving at a fast pace. Luckily she could still use the shadows to become hard to spot even without using magic, so while following Akryn she slipped from shadow to shadow as if she was one herself, although she was trying to still keep a metaphorical eye out on the magic around them. If those three began to move she'd have to immediately warn Akryn. Team Rampage by now had become strong enough not to just be pushovers, but these guys were still on a completely different level. A direct conflict could only result in utter defeat.

While the three of them headed forwards a shadow was left behind where Akeya had been before Akryn ordered her to hide her magic presence and follow him. After a couple of seconds the shadow headed the other way, back towards where the rest of the expedition was waiting.

---

The ones waiting for Team Rampage to return would eventually notice that there was something moving on the path in front of them. However the only thing they'd actually see was a shadow, moving from one dark spot to another while heading towards them. Eventually they would see that there was in fact nothing there that was casting the shadow. The shadow was what was coming towards them, as if an autonomous being.

Zack might be able to recognize that shadow as what Akeya's pet, Korikami, often looked like when he didn't want to show himself or when he was just being lazy.

Akryn frowned as he heard Xieraks description of the scents. The metal one was likely Malvis, an old foe that had nearly taken Akryns leg completely off the first time they had met. The one that really disturbed Akryn however was a description of someone that smelled a lot like him. Why on earth would Xierak be smelling so-

Akryns train of thought ended abruptly as he suddenly dropped to his knees and slid along the ground, bending backwards to duck underneath a sudden, and large, scythe that swung from behind a rock. It would have cut Akryn clean in two if he had not sensed it in time. As Akryn slid he threw his body weight to the side, rolling onto his front and grabbing at the ground to slow himself and look back at his attacker. Stepping from behind the rock was a short, thin, lean man, roughly Akryns age with long silver hair and a large black scorpion tattoo on his abs. Malvis, the metal mage. Akryns eyes suddenly widened in realization as he sensed two more wizards in the immediate area suddenly, b ranks like his team, one of them very familiar. Akryn cursed as he stood up, drawing his sword. He had rushed head first into a trap, trusting in Akeyas sensing abilities and not accounting for the enemies likely abilities and skills. If they had caught team rampage like this, then they likely knew about Zack and the D ranks as well. "Akeya Xierak, back to Zack now! The enemy was most ready for us. We need to retreat and re-" He suddenly froze, eyes widening again as he felt an extreme power suddenly appear behind him and a voice whisper. "Do you truly believe I will let any escape so easily?"


Akryn leapt forward, away from the H rank that had seemingly appeared behind him, drawing one of his daggers as well and spinning to face the man, a tall, muscular man in maroon, sporting a beard, eye tattoo on his forehead, and a metal covered right arm and left leg. Two aces. As he watched the other two mages made themselves known as well, the rose mage Akryn had faced before and an odd cloak wrapped being holding a staff and sporting a feathered headdress. Akryn swore under his breath, as even he could sense a sudden surge in power back near Zack and the D ranks. He had led the entire core group of blue Pegasus into a scorpion tail ambush! "XIERAK! AKEYA! To Zack, now! I am ordering an immediate retreat of all blue Pegasus members. We are sorely out matched. I will attempt to slow these ones, now go that is an order! Make sure the new members get out safely." Akryn said before rushing back in at Malvis.

Malvis laughed at Akryn and drew back his scythe. "You're an even bigger moron than before aint ya! As if you could do anything to stall Scorpion Tail aces!" He screamed in an irritating high pitched voice, before swinging at the charging Akryn with a short, heavy chop, leaving plenty of the haft back behind him. As he did though Akryn dropped to one hip, releasing his dagger and sliding under the strike and past Malvis, only to reach up and grab the bottom most grip of the iron mages scythe and pulling, allowing Malvis' H rank strength to work against him as with one pull Akryn shifted his momentum, into a swing along the ground, bringing up one leg just in time to catch a confused and surprised Malvis across the nose, sending him flying backwards into a nearby rock. "I am not a weak D rank this time, metal man." Akryn growled as he readied his sword.






MEANWHILE, back at Zack, a sudden surge in magical energy from the ground and behind Zack and the others would be the only warning they received before massive tree branches would begin erupting from the ground, ripping the earth apart, sending stone and dirt flying, and throwing, pummeling, and possibly even skewering any one caught unprepared or aware. An entire two mile area was suddenly covered in a tall, thickly grown forest in the blink of an eye, sending a small avalanche down the mountain, as three beings stepped seemingly from thin air, two weaker D ranks and an H rank. The H rank was tall, bald, and incredibly muscular, sporting five oclock shadow and sunglasses. He wore only a leather vest on his chest, leaveing his chest bare to show a large black scorpion tattoo. Down his right arm were six tattoos, seemingly of guilds, two of which Zack would know of, Radiance Shining and Dawn Star, guilds that had been mysteriously swallowed by the earth, all of them with a red slash through them. On his other arm was only one tattoo for now. A small blue horsehead with wings. The H rank smirked as he threw his arms wide. "Wizards of blue Pegasus! Rejoice! The map changer himself has come to claim your heads! Yours will be a quick and glorious death!" he shouted with a wicked gleam.

The battle between scorpion tail and blue Pegasus had begun.....

Zack noticed Korikami in its shadow form and raised an eyebrow. What exactly was it doing back here? Was this a message from Akeya to join the others? However, he didn't have much of a chance to think as suddenly a huge surge of magical power erupted from the area and suddenly the area was suddenly a forest. What's more a powerful mage, on par with him at least, had emerged with two that were probably on par with Anastasia and Axos.

"I'm afraid the only death around here is going to be yours baldy. You will not harm my friends" Zack said unsheathing his sword and flaring off his own magic power as a show that he was not afraid. At this moment a small green light appeared from his pocket and formed into an armored figure wielding a spear. This was Devon. Zack's 'pet' but more truthfully his companion. A powerful A rank fighter. Zack normally didn't call her out, but in this case he could not hesitate. It was time to bring out everything he could. Another sword formed in his hand. He wouldn't use his ultimate abilities yet, but he didn't hesitate and lunged forward at high speed towards the mage planning to use his speed to slice this man clean in two. He knew what those tattoo's meant. They were guilds that this man had wiped out. He also knew what the tattoo on his chest meant. This was another Scorpion Tail mage. He had fought one of them before and barely survived the fight. This time would be different. He had people to protect and if there is one thing that brought out the most of Zack's strength it was protecting his friends. "It is time for the scorpion to be trampled beneath the hooves of the Pegasus."

He just hoped this one wasn't as heavily armored with magic as Balrog had been. Even all Zack's might had barely been enough to penetrate the skin. If he could end this quickly then he would save his guildmates. His magic senses had picked up other mages as well. Near where Akryn was. More scorpion tail no doubt. He had to end this quickly.

Xierak watched as Akryn had begun to move, and not a moment later a large scythe was swung at Akryn which he had avoided by ducking down, Xierak on the other hand jumped high into the air, and watched the scene unfold underneath him, two incredibly powerful mages with two mages that were on the same rank as Team rampage, had appeared out of the blue, and whats worse, they were apart of Scorpion Tail…. Xierak then heard Akryns frantic orders from below and this made him let out a deep growl… Xierak then saw a plume of razor sharp rose pedals suddenly shoot up from underneath him and he swerved quickly to the side. Xierak then flew downward at an incredible rate of speed as he began to channel his own magical power to his fingers. He saw the Scythe wielder coming back with another swing of the scythe however, Xierak had no intention of letting that swing even come close to finishing.

Xierak then  flipped over at the last second and slammed his right foot down on the scythe bending it in half as well as driving it into the ground, “LIKE HEC WE ARE JUST GOING TO LEAVE YOU AKRYN! WE FIGHT TOGETHER!” He then pointed his fingers at the flamboyant looking mage, “Rapid Gravitons Bullet!” Xierak than let loose eight shots of condensed gravity spheres all within a second of each other. The flamboyant mage had then gestured towards Xierak “What an ugly be-“ The Scorpion tail mage then got hit in the right shoulder by one of the bullets and then a second one hit his stomach. TO which he quickly then jumped out of the way as the remaining six Graviton Bullets flew past him. He then placed his hands together and focused on the area surrounding their entire group, “Now to the Skies, I will show you how well we can stall! World of Gravitons Law!” After he said that fifteen landmasses ripped out of the ground including the ground right underneath the group, lifting them all into a floating battleground in the sky…

Akeya was worried. This didn't happen often. Well, that wasn't entirely true: she was very often concerned and focused on finding possible flaws in her decisions or those of her allies. To improve you first had to try and find what you're doing wrong. Somebody who couldn't accept the fact that they weren't perfect could never get close to being perfect, even if reaching it was an impossibility. So in that sense of the word Akeya was worried pretty often.

The difference here being the source of the worry. Normally Akeya's worry is about what they did wrong, but it was focused on refining and improving. This time she was worried about what she did wrong, because she got the feeling that she could very well be leading herself and her team to their deaths. Akryn was trusting her to correctly sense their enemies. And normally that was fine. Akeya was, after all, the one with the best sensor abilities. It wasn't a boast, or a bluff. It was simply a statement of fact. People of a higher rank than her were better, but that was because they were just more experienced and powerful. Compared to people of the same power level and experience, and the half dragon would stand above the others in terms of sensing magic and magic sources. So to rely on her when it came to sensing mages was normally not a bad idea.

However this time their opponents weren't normal. They weren't predictable. She had already confirmed the presence of at two people who were strong enough to rival Blue Pegasus' best. In such a scenario one couldn't follow the normal assumptions and expect them to work. They didn't have much of a choice: Akeya still was the sensor. But she was pretty sure that she was no longer a trustworthy as she normally was. The enemy could trick them. The enemy certainly was powerful enough. They most likely were experienced enough. And as a pessimist Akeya also assumed they were clever enough. To believe otherwise would be foolish optimism. But she couldn't tell Akryn to just disregard what she said completely, because even information that most likely was incomplete was still better than no information at all. She could only hope that he shared her wariness.

And now it was shown that she indeed was not reliable in this situation. Five enemies, three of them once again as strong as to oppose the aces that Blue Pegasus was so proud of, and yet Akeya hadn't been able to sense their arrival. A shameful display for her. If they got out of here she'd have to train intensively to try and overcome that weakness. But that was a question for later. She had to focus on the here and now. These enemies weren't pushovers. Two of them were already strong enough to face her and Xierak and Akryn on equal grounds. The other three were much, much stronger. This wasn't a situation they would be able to get out of without some severe wounds to pay for their stupidity of walking right into the trap.

Akryn tried to command her and Xierak to retreat. A command that couldn't be obeyed. Even if Akeya wanted to, which she didn't, these ambushers wouldn't just let them go. And their chances of being able to escape when they were the centre of attention were too low. And if they left Akryn wouldn't survive. That much was certain. Of course, it was foolish to throw her life away for Akryn if she wasn't sure if either of them would survive if they did that. But in this case she had no other choice regardless, so she just shook her head. Escaping had become an impossible option the moment that they had stepped into the trap. Instead she tried to find a way to hide in the shadows, and from there on plan her next action.

Fortunately Xierak, their big companion, gave her that opportunity when suddenly he raised several platforms into the sky, a display of surprising strength that suited Akeya just fine. Their enemies needed some time to regain their footing. Not enough time for Akeya to strike, but enough for her to immediately jump off of the platform that she was standing on. Thankfully she had been able to see it coming, having become rather used to the tell-tale sign of Xierak preparing one of his bigger spells. And even in broad daylight she now had plenty of shadow to move in.

After jumping off of the platform she attached herself to the underside, her scales quickly merging in with the shadows until she was practically invisible to the naked eye. From here one she inspected the situation around themselves a bit more calmly, and also shot a glance at the rest of the expedition. Unfortunately she could sense that those were also under attack, and at least one of the assailants was strong enough to match Zack. The three newcomers would be completely useless in that fight. Akeya wasn't even sure whether she, Akryn and Xierak together could be of any use against three H-Ranked mages. Yet they had no other option but to try. Crawling across the underside of the platform Akeya aimed for the edge which would be closest to the person that Akryn was fighting. He was one of the strongest, and the most aggressive one apparently. Disabling him would immediately change the course of the fight heavily. Although to do that she had to surprise him, which included suppressing her magic signature so others wouldn't have an easy time spotting it.

---

Before Korikami could actually reach Zack and the others the second side of the ambush was also triggered, the shadow fox unharmed but still separated from the ones that he was supposed to contact. Korikami stayed inside the shadows, two unblinking white eyes appearing as he stared at the forest that suddenly surrounded him. He could smell the ridiculous amount of magic used for this trick, and also the one that had given the forest that much magic. It was a bad scent. It smelled of danger, of a creature too strong to oppose.

Korikami whined to himself for a moment. He was supposed to deliver the message, but quite obviously that was no longer a valid option. Even if he could reach Zack in the midst of this Akeya wouldn't want him to give them outdated information. On the other hand, she could be pretty strict when he tried to decide what to do about the big stuff instead of just doing what she told him to do...

For now Korikami hid in the shadows, watching the confrontation between Zack and this Map Changer. He couldn't think of anything better to do. His mistress most likely was now also occupied with other things...

Akryn was used to Xieraks magic by now and so when the very ground underneath him began to fly he was one of the first to regain his balance. It did him little good however as in response to the sudden shifting of the ground Malvis leapt backwards, and then shockingly, off of the rising stone platform. For a moment Akryn thought Malvis had foolishly jumped back down to the ground, but he had barely had the idea when Malvis dashed it by rising through the air again, two large, shining wings having sprung from his back, made of metal and shaped like angel wings. He rose to thirty feet above Xieraks platforms and threw his hands into the air with a look of ecstatic wickedness. As he did so a massive surge of energy would begin to flood the area, and a magic circle would appear above the iron mages hands. "The Master has ordered us to destroy any little ponies that got in our way. Third tier restriction removal." He said giving Akryn a wicked grin as the magical circle rose from his hands, soaring into the sky and expanding at a ridiculous rate. "That means this time little boy I don't have to hold back! Today the scorpion destroys the Pegasus!" Malvis cried in ecstasy, as the magic circle began to spread across the sky, giving off an aura of menace and threat.


Meanwhile on the ground, the man with the third eye tattoo, named Kratos, had managed to avoid Xieraks little spell and was watching the ensuing battle with a smirk. The three b rank mages would be out matched by Malvis, there was no question of that. If Marduk the Map Changer could finish off the blue Pegasus ace and his allies quickly then this would be considered a great victory for the dark mages. Even as this thought crossed his mind however, Kratos would feel an immense magical power appear next to him. He turned his head slightly to look at the new comer, an absolutely massive being wrapped in sand colored robes, with matching wraps around his arms and hands and an iron mask covering his face. A satchel of weapons hung from his back, a golden spear in one hand, and a necklace with a jewel hanging from the others, all taken from Akryns family vault. Kratos frowned at the new comer, but wisely held his tongue on reminding the new comer of his mission, instead choosing a different road. "Sir. Lord Mirasol will not be pleased if you delay yourself with a battle. Surely we do not require your power here. These will fall easily by ou-..." he began to say but suddenly shut his mouth as the massive man turned one eye towards him, a single glowing dot of orange from the darkness. Kratos wisely bowed his head and took several steps back, showing great deference here. He would not be the one to force this issue........







MEANWHILE!


Zacks strike was far to fast for the map changer, and his sword hit him squarely in the chest. But rather than cut him in two as intended, The Map Changer was only sent flying backwards, but stopped when a large stone wall rose from the ground to catch him. He crumpled to a seated position on the ground, a massive gash on his chest, which would quickly begin to seal however as what looked to be tiny branches would begin stitching the wound closed and leaves began growing over it. The dark mage would raise his head, grinning at Zack. "You must be Zack. Balrog warned me of you. Yeah, fast as hell and a lot stronger than you look. Zack the speedster of blue Pegasus. Yeah youre zack. Zack the sentimentalist!" He said before swinging his arm in a horizontal motion down. For a moment it would seem nothing had happened, before suddenly the entire mountain side from his point down would begin to shift and slide downwards. "Tell me Zack, you fast enough to save your friends from nature herself?"

These guys had a lot of raw power and insane defensive capabilities. This one had survived a powerful slash from Zack and shrugged it off as it was nothing and now it looked like it wasn't. The wound had stitched itself back together. On top of that he had now began to send an entire mountain side crumbling down towards his allies. "I'll show you the meaning of speed." he said and with that he flew towards the oncoming mountain at high speed and swung his sword in a horizantal arc. "Ninpou Nagareboshi no Ha" he shouted and a huge explosion of pale blue energy erupted from his sword destroying everything its path with its 25m diamter and 80m range. IT was a truly powerful attack and one of Zack's strongest. It was based on the technique known as Meteor Blade, learned directly from the Celestial King. With this much raw power it would wipe out a large amount of the descending mountain and push aside the other parts so that they went around where his allies were instead of directly onto them.

Without even hesitating he turned back to the map changer. "Ninpou Ryusei Gun, Ninpou Ryusei Aki." he said activating two other S rank class spells. Powerful magic began to radiate around his body in a pale blue aura. The force of the raw magic power surrounding him was causing his hair to rise and spike up. What's more the hair seemed to be changing colour becoming closer to blond. Though rather than a solid colour it was flickering between his normal hair and the blonde. Electricity seemed to crackle around his body. Then suddenly with a blur he was in front of the map changer. "Ninpou Juoken." he said striking the target straight towards the face. Should his target happened to have tried to dodge then from Zack's fist a fist sized blast of light in the shape of a lion's head would of erupted that travelled 75m in a single second. If either Zack's bare fist or the lion's head hit the target a huge explosion would occur damaging everything, except Zack, within 10m. Zack had aimed for the physical blow because that way he would do his enhanced physical damage further enhanced by Juoken.

"No-one is going to die here today except the mage's of Scorpion Tail." Zack said with a determined note to his voice.

Magic:

https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t14097-ten-no-kichi-way-of-heaven

Xierak jumped back onto another stone platform to gain some distance as the metal mage flew up into the air and Akeya took to the shadows, I need to give Akeya as much Shadows as possible to give her a home field advantage… Xierak then focused on three platforms that were towards the western horizon and flicked his wrist making them rotate 90 degrees on their X axis making their flat sides face eastward and casting long shadows across various other rock islets. That shoul- He was cut off suddenly when a stream of rose pedals tore across his left side ripping through his robe and lightly cutting into his thick hide. “You know you should focus on me don’t you?” He looked at the rose mage with strong intensity of anger in Xieraks orange eyes. He had to taken to the skies on a cloud of rose pedals, however this made Xierak laugh, “For one who has such a flashy magic, you sure know how to leave yourself wide open!” Xierak then extended out one his arms and yelled out, “Graviton Gate!” A slight distortion seemingly appeared infront of Xierak causing the Rose mage to tilt his head in confusion, “What on earth are yo-“ Before he could even finish that sentence Xierak entered into the gravitational field and appeared right in front of him traveling at speed, Xierak then clothes lined the poor mage causing him and Xierak to land on another slab, “How dare you hit me! Rose Curtain!” Suddenly a giant cloud of rose pedals erupted from around the Rose mage and hurdled towards Xierak, that’s when he got an idea, He extended out his right arm, “Graviton 3g compression!” Suddenly all the rose pedals got compressed into one single orb, “What on earth do you plan to do with that??” Xierak only chuckled and flicked his hand towards the metal mage whose back was now facing them, “this! Gravtion H Smash!” At those words the sphere of rose pedals hurdled towards the winged metal mage, if it hit home the sphere would release all the rose pedals giving off the impression that a case of friendly fire had just transpired.

---

World of Gravitons Law will last for three more posts

Akeya had been planning to try and quickly strike at the opponent that Akryn was facing while Akryn took the task of distracting him. She really preferred it when she was the one initiating a fight, because if she did it correctly she could kill the opponents before they had the time to react. However right now that wasn't possible: the ones who had initiated the fight were the adversaries of Blue Pegasus, and even more unfortunately they had done so on their own terms, without warning, and when team Rampage had been completely unprepared. An assassin certainly didn't like being in this kind of situation: it was the worst spot to be in for somebody whose main method of dealing with opponents was taking them down without an actual fight, sneaking in their houses in the night to slit their throats, slipping poison into their food, never actually exposing themselves to battle, instead seeking maximum efficiency. None of those methods were available now, and Akeya wasn't happy.

However this still could work. The opponent was absurdly powerful. He was powerful enough that she and Akryn didn't even stand a ghost of a chance if they only relied on a frontal assault. Like children they stood in front of an adult, a man whose magic power was enough to overwhelm that of her own and Akryn's, nearly making her dizzy with its sheer magnitude and power. As somebody who has a talent for sensing magic it is not always pleasant to be near somebody with so much magic power and no intention of keeping it reined in or harmless. Malvis wasn't here to play around or test their worth: he was opening his throttle as far as he could, planning to take the entirety of Blue Pegasus out. These Scorpions had most likely already raided the vaults that Akryn had wanted Blue Pegasus to empty so they could keep all the valuable artefacts safe. Now the only thing left for the Scorpions was to get rid of the only people who knew about the new powers they had gotten their hands on.

But a sneak attack should still be possible. Akryn and her together couldn't defeat this one enemy even if they worked together perfectly. At least, if they fought together perfectly in a frontal assault. Akryn wasn't a weakling that he would just be destroyed within seconds, even against an enemy like this: he was an experienced fighter, so he should be able to hang on, keep Malvis busy, and offer Akeya time. The half dragon carefully used her abnormally sharp fingernails and tail to move forward on the underside of the platform floating in the air, also using her wings to keep her balance. She didn't really have any way of sticking to surfaces that were upside down. What she was doing right now was more like advanced wall climbing combined with an awkward sort of flying. However, it seemed to be working: the plateau cast a good shadow for her to hide in, and she was still advancing rather quickly. As she once again reached out with one hand Akeya tried to think of what the best way to try and assassinate Malvis would be. With some luck Akryn could keep the guy facing himself so she could just slit his throat from behind...

At that point something fell from the plateau that Akeya was clinging to, which quickly turned out to be Malvis. This made her falter, as she instead stared at the man she was planning to kill through her blue blindfold, making sure that he wouldn't actually feel her gaze. Her focus was always so intense that her glare nearly had physical weight behind it, but now she increased her focus even further, sharpened it to a blade. A blade that was ready to strike if necessary, but now was still invisible amongst the shadows. How had Malvis fallen from the plateau? The idea that Akryn had thrown him off was one that Akeya was keeping in the back of her mind, even though it had low chances of being truth. He could stand his ground, maybe, but unless their adversary was being particularly stupid Akryn could never have just thrown him off. For now the winged girl watched the fall, readying herself to jump after him and slit his throat while he was falling.

However then the reason for the fall was revealed: Malvis had created two wings to fly with, large, dark, and reflecting the light of the sun. Wings of metal. To have those actually help him fly must have taken a lot of doing. He had jumped down so he could make use of the falling speed to get airborne. Those metal wings most likely couldn't immediately get him up in the air. He would need a running start normally, but this time he had made use of the fact that the ground that he was standing up was floating above the actual ground, jumping off and as soon as he had gathered enough speed swooping back upwards again. Akeya frowned as this all went through her head, still not moving as she tried to quickly think of her next move. Now that he was flying she couldn't really assassinate any more. Not until something distracted him for long enough for her to end up right behind him.

And it was unlikely that that was going to happen. Akryn, so far as Akeya knew, couldn't really fly. He was a wind mage, one who most likely could use his magic to create a spell that would allow him to stay airborne for longer than a normal person would be able to, but if he could actually use that for flight as skilfully as somebody with wings or other flight abilities this half dragon would be surprised. And there was nobody else left who could act as the distraction. Using her shadows would just alert Malvis that she was trying something. And as she had concluded before, any and all attempts at just frontally assaulting him would be fruitless. In short, right now she couldn't really do anything about Malvis, even as he made a magic circle in the air that made her eyes widen. This was most certainly not a good situation, even if she was a more straightforward fighter. They were vastly outnumbered, and their opponents were not kidding about. They were fully planning to kill every Blue Pegasus member here, and they had the raw firepower to do it. The rest of the group sent to take care of Akryn's family vault was still busy back there. Only she and Akryn were here, against several mages, both of B-Rank and H-Rank. She honestly was starting to feel like they would be better off if she grabbed Akryn and quickly retreated, returning to the other part of the expedition and helping them escape as well. The artefacts in the vault were already a loss, and while Zack most certainly was a powerful mage he couldn't stand up against all this.

Then another presence arrived. One even worse than the H-Ranks that were already present. One with enough raw strength to dwarf the H-Ranks. Akeya felt herself shake, then frowned and forced herself to calm down. Powerful or not, as a half dragon she wasn't going to let herself be forced into submission that quickly or easily. However she couldn't deny that the situation had just gone from bad to worse. Even the other Scorpions appeared to cower in front of this man. And she couldn't blame them. She didn't know what the hell this guy was, but she was very doubtful about him being a human, even a powerful human mage. His magic presence was terrifying, more terrifying than just raw strength could even cause.

Instinctively realizing that she had to keep away from this new threat Akeya let go of the plateau that Akryn was still standing, flying away from the robed danger that now dominated the battlefield merely by being there. However the moment that she left the shadow something flew towards her. She dodged it, but only managed to do so because she sensed the magic, and because of her blindfold which allowed her to see magic as clear as day. The object that flew towards her was...some strange kind of magic orb? No, it wasn't just a magic orb. It was a shell of magic. What kind of attack was that? Akeya's eyes trailed the path that the projectile had followed towards her, ending up at one of the other Scorpions there. The strange, somewhat undersized but bulky mage, only two parts of his form revealed from beneath the robes that covered him: the headress atop his head, and the long staff he was pointing at Akeya. The half dragon hissed, sensing that this one most certainly wasn't human. And she didn't like the scent of him.

As she moved he once again shot that projectile at her, several times, forcing her to dodge. Curiously enough he appeared to know where she was heading, and was aiming the projectiles in such a way that the only way to dodge them was to head towards him instead. Akeya's frown intensified as she tried to use her shadow dash to get away, but the moment that she began to turn into a shade a new obstacle appeared: in the middle of the air, a barrier made out of magic. Formed faster than she could dash through it. She was forced to abandon that plan or otherwise crash. That barrier had been formed extremely quickly, but it still looked very solid and not inclined to be broken. Akeya growled softly as she looked once again towards what apparently was to be her opponent. He was really getting on her nerves, so she turned around and flew straight towards him. Curiously enough when she did that he did not fire his projectiles. Maybe he really wanted to fight her head on?

Without a pause Akeya spun while flying towards him, gathering speed before releasing a drop kick, aimed straight at the head which wore that feathered headdress. But before she could connect she hit something else. Another barrier, this one formed as a shell around the mage, which crackled as she hit it but held, and even bounced her back. With some effort Akeya managed to regain her balance, landing on the plateau several yards away from this nuisance, who still had done nothing but look at her and point with his staff to cast the spells which forced her to come closer. However for Akeya's eyes she could see that the entire plateau was now surrounded by another barrier, with no gaps left to exploit. Apparently she would have to deal with this one before she could even think of doing anything else, either helping Akryn or fighting the other mages.

---

Meanwhile Korikami was still mostly just acting as an observer. Zack and his opponent were simply too powerful for him to do anything with. Zack's assault had proven that just trying to overwhelm the one who liked to alter the landscape was not going to work, and beyond that the Shadow Fox didn't really have much that he could do. At least he didn't have to worry about that mountain that was sliding down towards them. Even if Zack hadn't managed to destroy it a Shadow Fox wasn't threatened by something like a mountain falling on top of him. After all, a mountain couldn't crush a shadow.

The other fight that was going on was...interesting. And by interesting it was meant that Korikami did not have a single clue what was going on. The girl mage from Blue Pegasus, the one who had been with Zack before that forest had separated them, was apparently trying to deal with two opponents. Two very...small opponents. The Shadow Fox would have scratched his head if he had a hand instead of a paw. That was rather odd. But he supposed he could still help her out by eating those little guys... At which point something strange began to happen to the girl, making Korikami pause. He was now sitting on top of one of the many branches that was available in this forest that hadn't been there half an hour ago. A branch above Anastasia and her opponents. Something was happening to her, and the Shadow Fox for now watched as he tried to figure out what.

Akryn growled in frustration as he looked to Malvis. This was bad. Blue Pegasus, for the first time ever it seemed, was out manned, out gunned, and out maneuvered, all at the same time. All over his ridiculous and personal errand. If they stayed they would lose, that was a given. But if they fled then he would lose all chances he had at getting at that vault, any chance of securing some truth. Neither option was a great one right now, but as Akryn weighed the options, with that gigantic new magic circle in the sky, his choice became painfully clear. The vault was lost. Escape and life was not. First thing was first, he needed to free up Akeya. Her shadow movement abilities would be key to any escape from such murderous and powerful mages. So, first thing was first....

With a sudden rush Akryn was off the side of his platform, one sword raised high as he leapt out, aiming to fall down towards the barrier mage that was currently giving his ally such a hard time, aiming to bring his deadly blade down and cleave the mans head clean in two. If he could provide a decent enough distraction then perhaps Akeya could finish him off. It was a good theory, a strong plan. It was one that never was to be tested however as Malvis showed a surprising amount of speed. Akryn was focused on his target, intent on his mission to strike down this nuisance, and so much did he underestimate just how fast Malvis was, that Akryn was caught completely by surprise.

As he fell towards the barrier mage a thin, gleaming sliver of steel would appear in his vision quite suddenly. Malvis had flown up behind the falling Akryn and simply extended his hand out, a new scythe forming in his hand, with the blade in front of Akryns face and arced down. Akryn had been to focused and was not prepared for this and his face collided with the scythe which bit deeply into his face, cutting through skin, bone, muscle, and eye. The force of the hit jerked on Akryns head, his body going forward and then up a bit as his head went back and down and he began to flip backwards, his face now cut as he fell. He cursed himself even as he let out a cry of pain and slammed into the ground behind the barrier mage, cursed himself for messing things up once more. He had truly led his friends into a mess.......


Meanwhile Marduk took Zacks blow directly to his face and was sent flying backwards to slam into, and then through, the side of the mountain face, the force creating a crater and causing a small avalanche covering his body. That had been one hell of a blow, one that would have felled any normal opponent. But Marduk was no ordinary opponent, something that was made painfully obvious for Zack as the entire mountain began shaking again before a massive pillar of stone would erupt from the ground, right whrre Marduk had been, aiming to smash into Zack like a battering ram. If that didn't work though, perhaps the sudden dozen or so similar pillars extending from the cliff side above them and arcng down, all aiming to pummel Zack into the dust, like massive malevolent snakes, would do the trick, smashing into the ground with resounding power and causing the side of the mountain to shake and send more loose debris going down the mountain towards Anastasias position where she fought her two odd opponents.....

Zack began to rapidly dodge the pillars using all of his speed to do so. A small orb of light emerged from his pocket and he spoke to it. " Get Anastasia and anyone else still around. Get moving towards the vault. I'll take care of this guy. They are under your protection now" Zack said as for a short while the pillars stopped coming due to missiles of light shattering at their base. He needed the guild members to get clear because what he was about to unleash would likely destroy most of the surrounding area. He had no choice though. This guy's magic was proving too dangerous to hold back against and he sensed other mage's of this class nearby. He had no choice but to kick things up a notch and right now he only had one easy way to do this. It was time to show his true face. Just as more pillars began to come at him once more he spoke again. "Gate of the Serpent Bearer I open thee. 13th Gate Unlock." With a huge surge of magic power his body let off a tremendous amount of light which the pillars seemed to be held back by as they tried to hit. Dozens of pillars struck at the growing light, but none could penetrate it.

Suddenly with a tremendous shout the pillars which had struck from every angle and hidden the light entirely shattered into pieces causing a huge dust cloud to form. With a mighty sweep of his sword the dust was blown away revealing Zack in his true form as the embodiment of the 13th gate Ophiuchus. He was now 8ft tall and on his left arm was large horned serpent which was clamped down upon a sword whilst his zanbato swirled around him controlled by his mind. On his right was a large wolf head from which a large cannon protruded. "Daiko Taiho." He roared out and from the cannon fired a huge blast of energy in the shape of a snake which went straight for where he could sense Marduk hiding. This would travel at 30m per second for two seconds. It was quite fast.

Zack stood there waiting to see what Marduk's next move would be. As soon as he pinpointed his location Zack's sword would become cloaked in an aura of fire, lightning and light and he would charge at near instaneous speed to the location and ram the sword straight into Marduk. What's more the other sword, the one that was orbiting him would begin to spin rapidly like a buzzsaw aiming to slice Marduk in half. He did not like killing, but he hated those who killed for greed even more. He would not allow his friends to die here.

----------------
The small green orb of light meanwhile had darted through the rubble and arrived near Anastasia before forming into its full size revealing it to be armored woman wielding a spear. What was most unusual about her were her wings which were insectoid but appeared to be composed of light instead of membrane.

"No time to explain. Zack told me to get you out of here and towards the vault." she glanced around raising an eyebrow. "Are you the only one left? If so we need to get out of here now before..." and it was at that moment that Zack activated his takeover. "...well before that happened. Leave the fighting to Zack, we even came on this suicide hunt for...or at least try to at least"

Magic:

Akeya was studying the cloaked adversary standing in front of her carefully, and she knew that he was inspecting her just as thoroughly. Every time that she attempted to make a move she could sense that he was preparing the magic to create a barrier that would prevent her from moving in any way that he did not like. That could only be done if he was studying her very carefully indeed, because even when she used her Shadow Dash he had anticipated her movements nearly perfectly.

However it was also curious how even when she was caught off guard by his barriers, forcing her to leave herself open to a potential attack in her attempts to not crash into the solid wall that appeared without warning, he would not actually move to attack. After having shot those...barrier bullets?...he had only used barriers that would keep Akeya from moving further away, while also making it impossible to actually attack him. The most logical conclusion was that he was just here to keep her busy while the others finished off Akryn.

Speaking of Akryn, while she was still trying to figure out a way to deal with this frustratingly effective tactic she saw her team captain dive down at the cloaked mage, only for his own opponent to rudely remind him that he still existed by appearing right next to him and ripping out his eye. The half dragon's own eyes widened as she saw Akryn smash into the ground helpless, then narrowed as a hiss escaped from her mouth. She wasn't going to say something so foolish as 'how dare you!', because it was Akryn's own duty not to get himself harmed and yelling that to your opponent was kind of a stupid thing to do anyway, but she did not like seeing her ally get harmed like that.

Actually, she felt a lot angrier than she normally felt when something annoying happened. She gave Malvis a glare that should have killed him on the spot, her stance becoming lower as she clenched and released her fists, her tail angrily lashing out behind her as her wings unfurled halfway, her stance becoming a lot more aggressive and threatening than it was before. The barrier mage lifted his staff, ready to deal with the fact that apparently the half dragon was going to fight with a lot more fervour now. Or at least more fury, which would still mean he had to be more careful.

At which point Shuhei showed up, pretty much turning the entire systematic execution of BP upside down as he destroyed the grand barrier that the cloaked mage had erected to keep Akeya and Akryn from running, and also proved to be a great distraction. Not wasting a second Akeya immediately dashed away once she caught Akryn, unfurling her wings fully and moving away as fast as she could. The mage with the headdress, who had created a floating barrier to stand on after Shuhei destroyed the earth platform, pointed his staff at the two of them, but by then Akeya had already reached one of the shadows generated by Shuhei's light show, slipping away like a cat's shadow while carrying Akryn. The barrier mage watched them leave, then turned around and pointed his staff at Shuhei instead, a low mumbling coming out of the hidden mouth as a new barrier appeared around the mage, along with several small spherical barriers that hovered around him as he waited for this new opponent to make his next move.

Akeya meanwhile tapped Akryn's shoulder, trying to see if he was still conscious. If he was she would speak, her voice tense.

"Where to?"

---

Korikami watched as the fight between Anastasia and her opponents suddenly was ended rather abruptly when some kind of darkness surrounded the songstress, a darkness which made the Shadow Fox hiss. That wasn't the kind of darkness that he liked. He also didn't like how suddenly the sky was filled with a new light as Shuhei began to bombard the pillars that had arisen to stab at Zack. This place was quickly becoming rather dangerous even for the Shadow Fox, who reluctantly jumped down at the same time as the fairy reached the female mage, after the glowing small creature had spoke using his tail to point towards where they were supposed to be heading if they wanted to reach the vault.

Akryn was indeed still conscious and by the time Akeya had reached him he had already regained his feet, one hand holding his newly torn face, his other hand still holding the sword. "I'm fine! To the others, time now! We will head to the vaults, cautiously this time, gather whatever may be left, and split. Zack and Shuhei are good but they are sorely outnumbered here. At the same time, I don't think I could look any of the guild in the eye again if we returned empty handed and beaten from this." He said as he sheathed his sword and turned to grasp her shoulder, still covering his new wound.

Still, even as they planned to flee Akryn couldn't help but feel painfully aware of that massive magic circle in the sky. It was now a whopping three miles across! Whatever was going to come from that would be devastating to everything below, and with a sinking feeling Akryn realized that wasn't just them. "Actually, forget the vault. There is a small village not far from here that is going to get caught up in that massive spell. We go to the others, grab em and go there to evacuate. We have lost, that's plain, the only question now is how we take it."


MEANWHILE

As the ash and smoke rose from Zacks attack, shockingly a pair of massive wooden hands would erupt from the ground, shooting up at an arc to try and squash Zack between them. Not far away a familiar shape would rise from the stone of the mountain to grin at Zack tauntingly. "I have free control over everything on this mountainside, you really think I would be so easy to beat as one giant blast? Seriously?" He said before making a fist and thrusting it towards Zack, huge chunks of stone tearing out of the mountain to fly at his location, trying to smash him from the sky.

Seeing that Akryn was not yet out of the fight was good, although Akeya doubted that he could actually participate in any serious confrontation as long as he had that new wound on his face to worry about. For one thing, she was pretty sure that he had lost his eye when that blade tore through his flesh, and even if he didn't it would distract him. That, and he was bleeding rather strongly.

The half dragon prepared to head straight towards the vault, carrying Akryn, when suddenly her teammate told her that they should prioritize saving some village that was nearby. Looking up Akeya knew what he was thinking. That magic circle up there looked like it was going to change the landscape here permanently. She didn't know what it would do, but it was too big, and contained too much raw magic power, for it not to have some tremendous, and dangerous, effects. Anything in that area which wasn't protected in some way would most likely end up lost. So naturally, Akryn wanted to save everybody in the area.

However...

"If there's a village then they're already dead. We don't have the ability to get so many people out of the range of whatever magic is being prepared up there. The best we can do is group up with the others and get out of range ourselves."

Akeya looked at Akryn, still moving towards where she knew that she would find Korikami, who had the command of following the others who had stayed behind. Her team leader either had the choice of following her, or trying out his own plan of saving that village. Either way, from the looks of it he wouldn't be able to convince the half dragon that they should try to save that village: she was displaying her usual focus and stubbornness, and unfortunately right now that included believing that attempts at evacuation would be a waste.

---

The shadow fox halted as he saw that the girl, or whatever it was that was possessing her, was now looking straight at him. While still emanating that kind of darkness which made Korikami hesitate to get closer, in sharp contrast to how he would usually react to darkness. He wasn't sure how he should react now, so he was relieved when the fairy managed to get her to stop staring at him and instead move towards where he believed that they should be moving. He looked around at where the fight between Zack and the other powerful mage occurred. He didn't believe he could be of any use there, so he went after Anastasia and Devon, sticking to the shadows as his white eyes watched the masked girl from behind. He still wasn't particularly happy about the darkness that surrounded her.

When the other two went low to avoid being detected Korikami stuck to the current shadow that he had been inhabiting, looking in the same direction as Anastasia and Devon. Some kind of humanoid construction, meant for travelling. And only one person guarding it. Apparently the fairy wanted to try and take the vehicle for themselves. However the masked girl kept acting... well, in a way that made Korikami rather wary of her. Although, to be fair, he himself and his master weren't exactly the most safe of people to be around either. Akeya might be controlled, but also rather cold and apathetic. But for now he'd just help Anastasia out. With one of her arms dangling like that she most likely needed at least some backup.

Although he wondered what the man meant, that only one of their own could have such a dark aura. What kind of group was that blind guy part of?

---

The cloaked barrier mage watched as Shuhei began his fight with the two other Scorpion mages, not yet interfering as instead he kept bolstering his own barriers and the spherical barriers that were floating around him. The White Dragon was too strong an enemy for him to confront head on, so instead he would have to see if he could exploit his weaknesses. Although even recognizing Shuhei as too strong for him to handle normally, he still looked unfazed as Shuhei pulled out his Dragoon form. If anything, his grip on his staff tightened and he took a step forward, almost as if intrigued.

If Shuhei thought that he would be easily dealt with though, he'd have to take a closer look. While the barrier mage's aura wasn't as impressive as that of his two allies, he wasn't some weak pushover either. That, and the barriers that he had created looked like they were changing. At first they had been barely visible, but now they looked...reflective? When light touched the barrier he had formed around his own body it was bounced back and scattered, leaving only a distorted view of the cloaked mage himself. The barrier spheres floating around him had become even more reflective, now looking like shining orbs.