Facing Facts. (Mashyuu's B rank Exam.)

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After years of learning magic, honing his skills and fine tuning every little aspect of his life, Mashyuu the Earth Wizard joined Sabertooth a legal guild that held the ability to help him find his mothers killers. Only a few weeks after joining Sabertooth, Mashyuu was handed a letter stating his childhood friends were in trouble and needed his help. Upon arriving at the address stated in the letter he learned both his best friend and his first love had been changed into terrible zombies. Mashyuu returned home to let their families know when the village was attacked by demonic plants. During the battle Mashyuu was nearly killed but saved by a small stone elemental named Rocky. Since then the pair had gone on a series of adventures, growing stronger and stronger...


Brown steel toed boots padded and crunched against rough sand and stone. The dirt that slipped under Mashyuu's feet kicked back and settled again just before hitting Rocky, who was just a few feet behind the Earth Slayer. His blue eyes stung from the dry air in the early morning sky but for one reason or another it just wasn't hot enough to make Mashyuu sweat. His dead mother's one sleeved jacket rested firmly on his strong body and as he came to a stop Rocky patted up up next to him. Smiling meekly Mashyuu looked down at Rocky then back up, before them was a large mountain top and at it's peak was a massive tower. Even with his Dragon Slayer eyes Mashyuu couldn't see anyone atop the mountain. But he was down wind and his nose picked up to many scents to pin down on any one person.

Mashyuu hadn't been to the Sabertooth guild hall in months, after a job with a beautiful young woman he was given an invitation from a dark Wizard to come to a tower in the desert if he wanted to face his family's killers. The journey took much longer than Mashyuu thought it would. But it seemed that at last he had arrived. He clapped his black and red leather covered palms together and grabbed a piece of stone on the side of the mountain. "Alright Rocky, you wait here and I'll be back when I take care of things up top." He ordered the dog sized Earth Elemental. The small animal whimpered and trotted in a small circle then stopped to lay down.

"Are you sure that is such a good idea Mashyuu. With the book of secret arts I have taught you new spells. Don't weaken yourself climbing the mountain by hand. Find a safer way up." The spirit in his Dragon's ring called out to him. The Earth Slayer released the stone he was about to climb in response and snapped his fingers while walking past Rocky's left side. "Come on boy, let's find a stair case or something to walk up. I wouldn't want to leave you here. Just in case something happens while I'm gone."

WC: 504

Together with Rocky, Mashyuu walked around the massive mountain and for a long while he was sure that the mountain would never actually come to an end. After a long walk he came to a winding ramp that constantly switched back. He smiled warmly but his tan skin paled as he felt a warning radiate from his draconic ring. He twisted around to see if he was being attacked from behind then knew it was from above. Mashyuu dove away while Rocky ran as fast as it could to avoid the massive shadow that was developing above them.

Mashyuu rolled away and sprang up on his feet and twisted around to see what fell towards him. As the smoke from the earth shuddering impact settled Mashyuu could make out a mountain of a humanoid standing in front of him. The figure came to a full stand and towered nearly fifteen feet tall. Mashyuu winced with fear but kept his feet planted firmly. He looked over at Rocky who was standing near the dry and grey skinned monster and shook his head side to side to warn Rocky not to attack just yet.

Blue jean covered knees bent to ready to move as his blue eyes darted around the monster. It held a large club with a wicked spiked nail going through the top of it. It was covered in rust and blood. The monsters yellow eyes locked onto Mashyuu and its spiked teeth curled up into an evil smile. Mashyuu half smiled while fear flooded him. "Don't fear it Mashyuu, this creature can't defeat you. I'll do what I can to help." Mashyuu nodded his head up and down, forgetting the ring didn't actually see but sensed.

The monster took two steps forward and was already upon Mashyuu. It's massive club raised up high. Mashyuu watched his foes weapon holding wrist as it twitched and Mashyuu knew he had to move swiftly. He rolled to the left, feeling the impact of the spiked club as it dug into the ground. He came up on his knee and a foot while extending his palms out. "Stone blast!" he called out and a cone of earth launched from the ground and pelted the monster in the leg, just barely clipping the creature in the side of the knee.

The monster swiftly spun around and swang it's club again but Mashyuu sprang up and flipped backwards over the club. It was strong but slow, it wasn't able to keep up with an unarmored Mashyuu. Rocky started to bark but Mashyuu held his left hand out. "Don't, I've got this one." He shouted. Mashyuu reached his right arm back and felt golden electricity crackle through his body before he extended his hand and a massive bolt of lightning lanced out and crashed into the recovering monsters chest. The monster was blown back from the force of the blow, it stumbled backwards and went wide eyed. Apparently the creature couldn't handle electric attacks. It crashed to the ground, screaming in pain until it went silent.

Mashyuu twisted his head in confusion then walked up to the monster and kicked it's head. It didn't respond but it's tongue rolled out of it's mouth and soaked the dirty sand under it. "What the hell is this?" He asked while looking around. Mashyuu shrugged his shoulders and made his way up the switch back.

WC: 570

Mashyuu stopped half way up the switchback mountainside and looked up. Now a thick layer of sweat was covering his face and dripping to the sandy ground under Mashyuu and soaking the dirt near his brown boots. He could sense magical energy now, it was so strong and Mashyuu was sure that he wasn't as strong as whoever had killed his mother and best friends. "Ya know Rocky, when I was a kid I didn't know why whoever up there killed my mom. But while we were in Motor City I found out why. There is a demon that can only be summoned by offering the blood of a caster for each element. That made mom a prime candidate. She was an earth and thunder user. But that monster never came. I can stop it if I can take this guy down."

Placing his back to the wall of the mountain, Mashyuu slipped down and rested while looking out to the sun that was now high in the sky. This could have been Mashyuu's last chance to get revenge for the death of so many. Would he be able to cross that line that made him different from so many other Wizards in the world? Mashyuu honestly wasn't sure but this would be the moment that changed his life.

A few minutes passed and Mashyuu pulled himself off the floor while patting Rocky's head. Mashyuu made his way up the mountain again, the shadow of the tower cast an ominous cloud over the Earth Slayer up until he came to the massive tower. It stood some twenty feet away from him and two guards dressed in black robes with hoods pulled up over their faces stood at the ready with a long spear in each hand.

Both the guards waved a hand out in front of them and a magical rune appeared in front of them and their spears lit up with magical power. Mashyuu took a swift series of steps forward until he was sure that he couldn't be knocked off the edge of the mountain. The two dark Wizards raced forward towards Mashyuu and Rocky, the spells they cast increasing their speed as their spears cut through the air faster than humanly possible.

The young brown haired Wizard readied his body for combat and pulled his left arm forward and up at the elbow sharply. A stone wall launched up four feet in front of Mashyuu and the spear slammed into the wall he put up, stopping fast. Mashyuu ran around the right side of the wall and threw his right foot up into the mans skull. The brown boot cracked bone and sent the man flying off his own spear. The Dark Wizard crashed into the side of the spear held by his friend, knocking the spear away from Rocky as the small Earth Elemental jumped up and slammed it's head into the jaw of the man in black robes. The Wizards jaw smashed up and teeth cracked together while Rocky suddenly grew spikes on it's back. It rolled into a ball and crashed into the man's hip, ripping flesh and dropping the dark Wizard from sheer pain.

WC: 532

Both guards fell in a heap at Mashyuu and Rocky's side and remained motionless for a long while. There was a strange and awkward silence hanging in the air until a loud clapping coming from the tower. The skin smacking against skin carried through the air and an iron door swang open. A figure in a set of brown robes that hung loose over a body, masking a build gracefully stepped from the tower. A hood came up over the head of the figure and cast a faint shadow over the figures iron mask covered face. Mashyuu twisted to face the figure and he instantly knew who it was.

"You killed my mother! And my friends!" The figure stopped and tilted their head as if examining Mashyuu at length. A gloved hand came up with a single finger pointing to the sky. "No..... My father killed your mother. I killed your first girlfriend, and your best friend....After I killed my father, a Sky Wizard." The voice echoed out from the mask in front of the figures mouth but it was clearly a woman. The figure stalked to the left of Mashyuu while Rocky came to stand at the Earth Slayers side.

"It turns out the demon summoning spell has a time limit on the blood sacrifice. So I had to start over. My fool of a father was the first to die. In order to keep the spell from resetting again I had to offer up two normal human souls. That has given me time to track you down. I figured that you would like to join your mother. Does that bother you Mashyuu?" Mashyuu's blood ran cold in his veins for a moment while he watched the woman stalk around him. His blue eyes reflected the light in the sky while his upper lip curled into a snarl. He couldn't start eating the rocks around him now to hit Dragon Force the figure would react to fast for Mashyuu to hit any real stride with the magic.

While Mashyuu was headstrong when he joined Sabertooth, he had learned to look at situations around him and think before acting. However knowing that he could never get revenge on the killer of his mother and having his friends killer standing in front of him made Mashyuu twitched with anger. The Dragon Ring urged Mashyuu to refrain from attacking for the moment and Mashyuu stopped himself from attacking. The woman stopped near the edge of the mountain and moved her robes slightly to reveal she held a long blade on her curved hip.

Swiftly she drew her blade and extended a palm. A blast of freezing ice came flying for Mashyuu and Rocky. The ring throbbed for a moment and signaled for Mashyuu to cast a new spell he had been working on. "Earth Dragon's Dome." Mashyuu reached down to the ground and gripped the ground and pulled it up and over him and Rocky. A large dome of earth blocked the blast of ice, dispersing the spell's harmful effect. Mashyuu could hear and feel the dome tremble under the terrible power of the ice spell. Rocky whimpered and looked up at Mashyuu, wondering if the Earth Wizard could defeat the woman even with the Earth Elemental's help.

WC: 551

From outside the dome of earth the woman spread her arms wide and lifted off the ground. She extended a hand up to the sky while another hand pointed at the dome. Behind her mask full lips started to mumble some sort of strange magical words then from the sky a bolt of lightning crashed into her raised palm and coursed through her body. From her other hand the electrical power surged and slammed into the dome, shattering the earth shield and blinding Mashyuu and Rocky. He went wide eyed and covered his ears with his hands. The sound was deafening, he knew that if he had been struck by the blast he would have either been killed or been brought close to death.

As he moved his ears and looked to where the woman was he realized she was gone. Again the blast of electricity jutted out towards Mashyuu and struck his chest hard. The blast sent Mashyuu off his feet and flying towards the tower. He slammed hard into the wall and crumpled to the ground. He hit the ground in a heap while groaning in pain. Mashyuu pushed himself up on his hands and knees while his shadow danced. His shadow jumped up and produced teeth while it took on the shape of a small demon. He could feel his magical energy drain a bit from the summoning of the Dark One. It moved to help Mashyuu up. The two looked at the woman in the sky and both ran for her.

The Dark One jumped up along side Mashyuu and the Earth Slayer grabbed the creature by the arm and tossed it further along. She took aim again and blasted a third bolt of energy. Mashyuu focused then changed to a bolt of lightning, riding her spell up to her palm. At the same time the Dark One teleported through the air and landed atop the woman's head. Mashyuu appeared in front of the woman and his fingers curled into a clawed shape. With the woman blinded by the sudden appearance of the Dark One she had no idea what was coming.

"Earth Dragons Talons!" He shouted and slammed his fingers into the woman. Four slashes appeared on the woman and the Dark One. With Mashyuu's Dragon Ring and gloves his magical power was increased even further, knocking the woman out of the sky while Mashyuu started to free fall.

The Earth Wizard started to fall swiftly through the air and teleported in a poof of smoke, only to appear on the ground some ten feet away from the tower while the woman slammed into the ground in a heap. She didn't move for a moment but started to sit up as Mashyuu stalked towards the woman. From the ground a staff of rocks launched up and into his palm. He took the weapon and slammed the staff into the woman's shoulder, knocking her back down while he stopped at her feet. With the Dark One still out and about the Earth Wizard's blood lust was starting to boil over. He could feel the sting of the burn mark from her spell ripping through his body but he managed to keep the pain at bay from the sheer anger he was feeling for her.

WC: 549

The Dark One limped up to Mashyuu's side while licking it's dark lips with it's sharp and forked tongue. It rubbed its clawed hands together before it vanished in a poof of smoke and became Mashyuu's shadow again. It was only then that he heard the spirit in his ring calling out to him. "Mashyuu! Mashyuu! Don't hurt the woman any more. Keep her alive. You are better than she is." The Earth Wizard trembled with rage for a long moment while he glared down at the woman again. He spun his staff around in his hand and whispered under his settling breath. "I should kill you, but the Magic Council needs to know about your plans to summon a demon. Tell me what it is and they might go easy on you." The Earth Slayer tried to reason with the woman.

The woman propped herself up on her elbows and started to chuckle lightly. "I'm not going to tell you anything about the demon. Just know that only one more life is needed to summon it. And it won't be summoned here! I have followers, others that are out looking for the final offering. You can't stop me now, the Magic Council can't stop me either. This world will soon bow to a terrible force." The woman laughed. Mashyuu lifted his staff and slammed it into the center of her mask, knocking the woman out with a strong blow and show of force.

Mashyuu hoisted the woman up over his shoulders and whistled sharply. Rocky ran up to Mashyuu's side and barked twice. "Yes, yes. We got her. But now we have to find where she is going to summon this Demon and what it it's going to be. Then we need to figure out how to fight it. I don't think we can actually stop her followers from taking the last life needed to call the thing forward." Silently Mashyuu walked back down the switchback mountain's walkway to head for a local Rune Knight outpost to turn the woman in...

WC: 346
Total: 3052