Noble arrangements [job]

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.

As the group entered the courtyard, as if from a scene in a movie, they were surrounded by many enemies. Ardere's eyes narrowed onto the woman with black hair, the four standing in front of the group of hostages. It seemed there was going to be a fight, and at this point he was willing to use the full force of his god slayer magic. Hell, he was ready to call in his ship and napalm this whole damn place. But before there was any sort of confrontation, a woman made her presence known. She was a rather large red headed woman, which he imagined was the product of some sort of magic rather than her actually being a giant. As her foot slammed down, it seemed she would be their savior today. Forming earth around the bastards in front of them, and taking them out. The amount of earth she had at her command was impressive, probably the most he had ever seen. There weren't many mages on this level of strength in the country, let along the continent. It was always nice to see one, especially one on his side. Though he could not help but he overwhelmed with a bit of fear and confusion, he was kind of mad he didn't get to be the one who put the black haired bitch and her army down.

The thing that most confused him, was the body of the Ms Townsend, but since she was an earth mage apparently, he imagine she had cured Mr Townsend somehow. They were lucky the woman had arrived, she did not seem to be from Minstrel, but she was definitely someone of importance. The earth was rumbling, barely allowing him to stand at this point as he watched the onslaught that had occurred. The heat and the intensity made him sweat a bit, the ground shaking sending fear through not only his body but those of the musketeers and the hostages. Screams and shouts were heard as the estate was demolished, but the army of enemies along with it. Whoever this woman was, she had saved the day. Though she did not seem to are about the estate, then again he was a noble and could rebuild it. He should be happy to just be alive at this point. And once it was all over, he would wipe some sweat from his brow. It seemed that the heat had actually gotten to him a bit, something he was not used to. Once it was all done, he would guide the hostages out of the area. Looking over to the large woman, he shook his head a bit. This country was certainly strange. I guess I should thank you, for that. Looking over, he would whistle and make a hand motion as he watched his ship cease to be invisible. The Black Sun would slowly descend from it's position, the loud sounds of the engine restarted and his phoenix squawking in annoyance of the situation. The ship would land down and Ardere would lean against it. It seemed this mission was over, but he still had many questions left. Who was the woman in black, and who was this woman? Why did they kidnap the nobles? It seemed like more was going on here than on the surface level, but this was not his country. Though if it concerned him, he would find out soon enough.