Noble arrangements [job]

Stepping back into the console room, Ardere folded his arms, gazing down at the holographic navigation system. Pondering how exactly this should pan out, he noticed they were getting closer to their destination. Poking a head out the door, he made a quickly hand motion. Start the cloaking, we're almost within range. Watching for a moment, as the musketeer began to channel his energy, then expand it around the ship. It was almost as if a veil of energy was placed around the Black Sun. To them, it would just look like a bubble of glass was surrounding them, but to the people outside, it would seem like nothing was there at all. Taking in some of the sweet Minstrel air, the fire mage tapped his foot. The cloaking field should last about half an hour or so, so we don't have too long. The one that will be placed on us individually will probably only last until we hit the roof. Nodding, he pulled out a small flask. It seemed they were going to have to be quick, which meant every second counted. Taking a sip of the warm liquid within the flask, he exhaled harshly. They were getting closer to the estate every second, and soon they would arrive.

After just a few minutes, they had journeyed across town, and onto the grounds of the estate. From what he could tell, it had been walled in by earth presumably by earth mages of course. But he did notice that there were mages on the roof, if they were attacked that soon the hostages would be put in immediate danger. Directing the ship over the estate, he parked it in the air, high enough so the engine sounds would not be as impeding. Turning the engine low, he kept it on as such. The activated auto pilot could keep the ship in place until the fuel ran out, but that would not be a concern. Stepping back out onto the deck, he tied off a rope to the side of the ship. We'll repel down onto the roof, and bust into it as quickly as we can without being spotted by those guys on the roof. Handing the rope to the man, he would turn it invisible just as Ardere dropped it, so he could make sure that it landed in the correct spot. One at a time. Putting on the repel clip, and tying it off to his belt, he took a deep breath. It never ends, he thought.

Allowing the man to touch him, he would be cloaked in a veil of invisibility the same as the ship. Repelling down the rope, he slid down towards roof, at a spot between where the guards were posted. One after the other, each mage would slide down. They left the man with cloaking abilities with the ship, just in case anything went wrong. Though he was quite sure Celica would deal with any possible intruders, being as territorial as she was. Landing down on the roof, their veil of invisibility would wear off in moments, prompting them to quickly enter the house. Seeming hesitant, the red headed musketeer sliced open the roof, creating a hole for them all to drop into. All four rushing into the room, but unfortunately for them it seemed they were not alone. He could hear a group of footsteps walking, as the inside door to the room whipped open. It seemed he could never get a break in times like these.

Quickly unsheathing his blade, Ardere noticed how many enemies were upon him. There was perhaps an entire squad of them, several rushing from the other sides of the room, around to deal with the musketeers. But the men who came through the door in front of the Fioran, six men to be exact, focused their attention on the fire mage, seeming to take the offensive with no hesitation. He had no doubt they were told to kill on sight, and he would react in opposition to that. Only so many of them could fit through the door, so he would dash forward with increased speed. He was much too fast for them to make a proper counter attack, but chunks of earth were flung towards him, which he would slice right through. His blade slamming into the stomachs of two of the men, prompting a feeling of fear from the others. With his mage strength, even more so than the average mage of his rank, he easily knocked the two men aside with his blade, using a headbutt on one, and a punch on the other for added effect. They were sent into a wooden table, crushing it with not only their weight but the force behind it.

Four men remained, summoning earth attacks to attack him. Quickly reacting to the men, who were a bit awe struck that their friends had been so easily disposed of, he called forth a shield of flames to block the attacks coming towards him. The barrier was large enough to both block the attacks, and blind the earth mages. Unfortunately for them, he could see through his own flames. Dashing to two of the men, and slamming his blade into their chests just as the flames dissipated, and spun his body around to perform a spinning kick which would send his heel across both of their faces to finish them off. These two men were flung just like the others, smacking against the wall with a rather large thud. It was quite the ruckus, probably alarming other guards, but he was sure they could deal with them as well. His main priority was tending to the family and the noble, though he had to make sure he didn't die getting there. Rolling to his left, he would dodge chunks of earth being flung towards him. Flipping up one of the tables near him, he would kick it at the two earth mages. As he expected, the table was nothing to them, and it was ripped to pieces. But it had given him a second to dash forward, putting their attention on the table, and slam the flat side of his blade into both of their faces, sending them tumbling across the floor. Looking at his clothes, they were slightly ripped up by chunks of earth that had just barely missed him. They were not strong mages, but they were a decent number. His main problem was trying to not blow up the house while fighting, luckily he had his trusty blade to rely on.

Having finished off the enemies before him, Ardere rolled his neck back and forth, creating several popping sounds. Rather than sheathing his sword, the mage tightened his grip on the red and white blade. The estate was more than likely crawling with enemies, of which he would have to dispose of. The hardest part was restraining himself and not destroying the mansion, though he imagined at some point there was going to be a bit of major property damage. Letting out a slight sigh, he walked back into the other room with the three musketeers. The scenes was littered with bodies of mages, it seemed they tried to put up a fight, but the women were too much for them. His assumption had been that they were quite capable in terms of combat, and it seemed that he was correct. Let's get going, we need to figure out where the hostages are being held. Noticing that most of the furniture was gone, paintings were ripped, or spots were obvious that they were missing. It seemed that these guys went to town and had a friggin blast in here, taking whatever they wanted. He found it almost disgusting that they could show such blatant disregard for other's property, but they were criminals after all.

The musketeers would sheath their blade, and cock their guns. They were ready for battle, and judging by the short work they had made of the men, it would not go well for the other side. Turning to what seemed to be a hall, he peered down it. There did not appear to be any enemies, but that could change quickly. Alright, the coast is clear. Taking his first few steps into the hallway, he could hear footsteps. Shit, he thought. The defenses in this place were unreal, either they really wanted that money or the noble had something they wanted. Though, perhaps that was just his paranoia, and they were rather professional criminals who liked to guard all of their bases. That seemed more likely, however Ardere could not help but be slightly skeptical. Keeping his blade up, he had a feeling they were not going to just walk through most of his estate.

Just as the group of mages entered the hall, Ardere felt a tingle go up his spine. A fissure of pressure and heat would form, prompting both he and the three musketeers to leap backwards several meters instinctively. The most proper way to describe what was occurring before the fire mage, was a portal to Hell opening up, like something he had read in a book. Admittedly, a sense of fear and adrenaline pulsed through his veins quicker than he has experienced before. He was not sure what the cause of this was, nor were the musketeers, and now their actions were purely instinctual. Rather than standing in the hall, as whatever fissure had erupted, they back a bit before the opening to the hall. Something appeared then before them, some sort of figure he imagined to be a beast or demon of sorts. Unfortunately he did not have ample time to analyze the situation, rather all four of the mages reacted on instinct. The three women had their guns at the ready, and each fired a piercing shot as the group jumped back a few more meters. It would be noticeable that these guns were not ordinary muskets, they were adept in gun magic. If the god slayer had to judge their rank in terms of how things were in Fiore, they would each be A ranked mages, the lead blonde one perhaps even an S rank. Regardless, the shots would probably be powerful enough to piss this monster off.

Acting along with the three mages, Ardere would also perform an attack, which would follow their blasts. While the three women were firing their blasts, and the group instinctively leaped backwards at more of an angle to avoid the beast, he would thrust his blade forward. Normally due to his jump backwards, his blade would not have reached the beast, but flames had formed around the blade. His Sword of Kings was now summoned and touching the beast easily. Large flames forming another blade over his own, one that reached even a length of ten meters. This was the blade he used to hunt beasts like this, though he never expected using it in such an enclosed space. Possessing several spells that could cause the beast to fall through the floor or cave in the house, he could not use them for fear of endangering the musketeers or the hostages in some way. He was certainly in what would be commonly referred to as a pickle. Whatever this thing was, he noticed blades of sorted pierce through the floors as it appeared.

It seemed that the musketeers bullets had dealt some damage to the beast, but before he could strike at it with his blade, the beast moved away from Ardere. Duck! Shouting to his comrades the fire mage spun his blade around above his head, melting through all of the walls in an attempt to hit the beast before it's next attack. Not only did he spin the blade with his increased speed, but due to the flames not adding any weight to his swings, a circular wall of flames formed above his head, almost like a fan blade spinning. Breaking the foundations of the room and the roof, he heard two cracking sounds; one being him destroying the roof, the other being what he imagined was the beast moving to the roof, prompting him to roll into the next room as this one collapsed. Scorching bits of wood and earth falling onto the floor, he imagined it had become extremely unstable. His blade right behind him as he rolled, it easily hit the beast that crashed through. The three women crouched, each firing shots at the massive hell beast.

Spinning around to face the large hell beast, his blade went right over the musketeer's heads and through the walls of the hall and the next room over. His constant movement, would be dragging around the ten meter long blade with him as well. Which seemed to be just in good timing to attempt to hit another beast that emerged from the depths of Hell, unsure if that was a literal or metaphorical observation at this point. Yare yare daze... Speaking in his native Midian tongue, which meant "Gimme a break". The combination of the beast, and the fire mage had dealt some serious damage to this level of the house, perhaps setting a blaze that he would have to take care of soon. Luckily he could indeed eat the flames of his blade, if need be.

Ardere tried to move out of the way, he even hit the second demon, but it was not enough. Several cuts lined his torso and sides, even a few moderate cuts on his legs. He was not near fatally injured, but he was hurt. It was strange, after being attacked he had expected death or at least a knock out, but nowhere fatal was hit. Blood dripping down his sides, he noticed he had dropped his blade. He could barely stand initially, but luckily he could rise a bit. He was conscious, definitely enough to notice the demons scatter back. Unfortunately he was a God slayer, not a Demon slayer. But he was alive, and there was a reason for that. If they came again, this entire estate was going down before he would allow those hostages to go unsaved. Restraining himself had been a poor miscalculation, but he still had his life for now.

The musketeers had taken some damage as well, but more from the debris than the actual monsters themselves. Struggling to stand, the red headed musketeer helped him up a bit. I've got you. What the hell were those things? Gritting his teeth, Ardere shook his head. It doesn't matter, we have to get to the hostages. Who or whatever summoned that beast, was not someone to be trifled with. Demons didn't just appear in this world for no reason, at least he didn't think they did here in Minstrel.

Looking down, his sword was still ablaze. Picking it up, he sucked in the flames that had set parts of the room on fire, having the entire place come down would not be a good idea. It was not a significant amount of fire, but he still couldn't be so sure. Rather than wasting time, he was going to make his way towards the bedroom where he assumed they were being held, but during the ruckus he had not noticed that was where they had landed. Moving back to the main room, he looked over to see a woman impaled by an earthen spike. Covering his mouth, he cringed a bit, the women as well. Dammit. Gritting his teeth, a bit of blood ran down his chin. As he turned his head, he saw a figure, like a man by the woman. Is tha- The blonde woman rushed over to the man, which he was under the assumption was the noble. There was something strange, almost as if he had turned to stone. It was a horridly gruesome sight, one he was bound to not forget for years to come. The woman seemed intensely pissed, pulling her sword towards the stone as if to cut it off. No! We'll take him back, perhaps he can be turned back. Sighing, he punched a small dent in the wall. This mission was not going very well so far, he was almost sick to his stomach right now, and was unsure if they could even save the noble. The fire mage felt anger spread throughout his body, and he was sure the women would feel the same. He did not know the man personally, but it hurt him that he had not made it in time. But this would not deter him from saving the other hostages, their lives were important too.

Still disgusting by the scene, Ardere knew they had to move on and get the other hostages, but something strange occurred before he could do so. Deactivating the massive flames around his blade, as to not set any more fires, he noticed some smoke entering the room. Clutching his blade tight, smoke filled the room, with a smell of ash. The women kept their swords drawn, and the other one slid back a bit from the man and his wife's corpse. A few tears were streaming down her face, but he could tell there was anger in there. Sadly, he was distracted by the strangeness of the smoke entering the room. Don't move. A woman, partially intangible it seemed, which made him assume she was the smoke he had seen before. He had never seen this woman, and by her looks he did not imagine she was from Minstrel. Something was going on here, and it was much bigger than he had previously been lead to believe. The women drew their flintlock pistols, as demons of many shapes and sizes appeared.

As soon as the smoke woman made her remark, the woman in the front let out an angered reply. You bitch! She was about to point her pistol at the would be leader of these demons, Ardere wrapped an arm around her and whispered into her ear. Not yet. The woman could easily break free of his grasp, but she knew it was in her best interest to cooperate. All of them weapons at the ready, the fire mage seemed less angry than before. His eyes were full of fiery, not literally but he was motivated. His eyes narrowed onto the woman, his hand clutching the red and white blade known as Clarent. Standing tall, blood dripping down his sides still. Who are you and what do you want? A black aura began to shimmer around his body, from his god slayer magic. He was obviously outclassed here, but that did not stop him from gritting his teeth, full of conviction. There was no sense in dwelling on failing to save the noble, but he could still save the hostages if he could figure a way out of this.

Watching the woman move towards the stone Townsend's body, Ardere kept his eyes on her at all times. For those seconds, it's as if none of the demons in the room were there, just her. He was not sure who or what the hell she was, but she had a power to her he had not been in the presence of since when he was back in Peace Village. The difference between that situation and this was, was the intensely powerful being in front of him was not his ally. Both he and the Musketeers were on edge, as they were presented with an ultimatum. The fire mage thought the woman he was holding back was going to get them killed for a moment, but she knew what they had to do as well. You won't get away with this! As passionate of a statement as it was, it was futile. He knew the minute she answered his question what kind of person they were dealing with, and it was not one who would respond to threats. Gritting his teeth a bit more, he actually decided to give an answer. Then we'll go get the hostages. Now.

Assuming the woman did not try to stop him, he would dash into the hall, knocking one of the demons aside if need be. Then hopped onto the banister, sliding down it until he reached the bottom level. The hostages were in the cellar, and probably in danger of being eaten by those bastards they injured earlier. Moving down to the bottom level as fast as he could, he waited for the musketeers. Which way is the cellar? Rather than answering, due to their strain on time, the leader ran off in a direction towards a door, and he would follow. Moving to the cellar, he was unsure of what would be down there, other than the hostages of course. He did not have much time to take in how bad of a condition the place was in, with ruined tables and paintings. His main focus was getting to the hostages.

Entering into the cellars, it was not as dark as he expected, in fact it was very nice. The cellar seemed to be as large as a floor on it's own, with several halls and rooms as far as he could tell. But which one were the hostages in? Listening for a moment, with his enhanced hearing he could hear some mild talking from one of the rooms. This way. As they got close to the room, he noticed large barrels outside of it, probably full of wine. This was a noble's eastate after all, he should expect no less. Looking at the entrance to the room, the door was closed. They were likely not expecting them, so they were in for a surprise. Kicking down the door, the four mages burst into the room. Able to knock out four of the men with their swords, mainly due to the element of surprise they had gained. It was evident that twelve men had been in the room, leaving eight more to deal with. They were lining the walls, surrounding the hostages. It was too dangerous to use magic in here, but luckily he was faster than all of the captors. The musketeer firing their pistols at several men, taking them out instantly, and slicing through any earth that came their way. Leaping upwards, the fire mage would kick one of the men into the other men, knocking them into the wall. Slicing through chunks of earth, the musketeers would deal with wind mages. After a scuffle, he would have a few scrapes from wind and earth, but he was not majorly injured in any way. Let's get these people out of here. Removing any restraints on the hostages, they seemed scared, which they had every right to be. Quickly moving the people out of the room, they would all exit. There's an exit to the courtyard though the coal and wood room. Nodding, the would move further into the cellar, but he then heard something.

Looking back behind them, he could hear footsteps getting louder and louder. Whatever was coming their way, it was a force even larger than what they had encountered in that room. Get them out to the courtyard, go The women would take the hostages into the coal and wood room, then out towards the courtyard. Ardere would follow them, but first he had to make sure they were not followed so easily. Reaching a leg up as soon as he saw the first mage turn the corner, he kicked a black orb towards the roof about fifteen meters away. Running into the room, and out to the courtyard after he did that, a massive explosion would be heard. Flames scorched the walls, the explosion causing the roof to collapse in on the charging mages, blocking their path to follow the rescuers. He was unsure if anything waited for them in the courtyard, but if there was they would deal with it accordingly. They had come too far to be stopped now.