Mashyuu and Kanix in: The Balance Core!

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

Kanix stood proudly next to her pet and she traveled along the path, eyeing the totem creatures she passed by. They didn't dare make a move toward her though, as if they didn't want to be touched by her magic with its holiness. A grin was spread across her lips, revealing brilliant, white teeth, but the motion soon dispersed as she heard Mashyuu call out her name. Beforehand, a loud thump could have been heard as one of the totem creatures collapsed to the ground in defeat. She was not aware of this, and fearful, the woman started racing toward the sound, trailed by her pet thunderbird. Her heart was racing and she soon skidded to a halt in anger, when she spotted Mashyuu with a defeated totem beast. Crossing her arms over her chest, the native woman tilted her head a little and looked at her partner with curiosity.

"I heard that you had come out here on your own to handle this dangerous job," the woman began when Mashyuu had greeted her. "As much as I know you think you're strong, I don't trust this island enough to simply let you do this on your own. So, I decided to take up the job and help you out with it, since it's the least I can do with how our. . . uh. . . previous job went." The woman felt mildly bad that she was more of a hindrance on the former job than anything when she had been pregnant. She had still fought, but it was a lot more difficult with a large stomach in her way and another life to defend. Not saying that she didn't have to defend Mashyuu as well, but her life had been far more valuable at the time. "Hopefully, you don't mind me accompanying you on this job; I know that you have a liking toward me with doing jobs."

Her giddy attitude had quickly shifted when her partner noticed the missing eye, the one that had been taken from her. A frown appeared on her face and she looked away from the Sabertooth mage, not really wanting to answer him. It hurt to remember the event, the way Sol had so heartlessly threatened to rip her child from her and now where were they? Ahote was missing and she knew exactly where the boy was; it was only a matter of time before they killed her dearest son. She bit her lip and fought back the tears over the thought of her missing child and being unable to get to him. Getting to Basilisk Fang headquarters would be near impossible for her with Sol still around, not to mention that her head was wanted. Clearing her throat, she was eventually able to look back at Mashyuu with a much more stern and cold look.

"Sol took it from me after he had threatened to cut Ahote out of me and experiment on him," she stated in a hard tone of voice. Venom seemingly dripped from her words and a dark aura had placed itself around her as a means of wickedness.

@Mashyuu , 1228 words total , notes

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

"Oh, I believe you are strong, Mashyuu, but I am more terrified of what lies ahead on this path that you're taking," the woman answered him. The magic power emitting from the center of the island was quite powerful even to her: she was scared of it. Of course, she would not let that fear show through to Mashyuu, she did not want him to see that she could be frightened. "No matter how strong you believe yourself to be, my dear, something out there is always stronger than you. It is not that I do not think you are strong, for you are, but it is the thought of losing you that deters me from letting you go alone. While you may not have faith in my feelings toward you, I do hold you near and dear to my heart, Mashyuu." Kanix gave him a soft smile; she appreciated that he cared for her and seeing how distraught he was, it struck a nerve.

"Please, do not speak so ill of Jaeger," she retorted, her voice taking on a tone of sadness as she spoke to him. "Jaeger did everything in his power to make sure that we, as a family, were happy, but he could not always be there. With me being out of commission for jobs before Ahote had been born, he was the only one providing for the family. When Ahote was stolen from me, he was out on a job and the moment he learned, he came rushing back to me. He's been just as distraught as I have been over the kidnapping of our child; he is a very caring man, Mashyuu. His son means more to him than anything in the world and for you to say he is 'good-for-nothing', hurts me." With a single hand, she'd beckon for him to go forward, only to have him walk past the broken totems and leave her behind.

Kanix sighed and followed after Mashyuu, Ancalagon trailing behind her, though lagging heavily because of the weight of the presence in the air. In order to stay by her pet's side, the woman fell back farther, residing beside the Thunderbird as they walked along. Birds screeched in the air and at first, the shaman paid no attention to it, feeling that it was natural, though it wasn't. Her eyes darted upward, catching the fake birds that flew through the air with ease and dove down toward them. Spreading her arms outward, the woman began chanting in the Nirvit language, a golden light appearing at her feet with golden runes encircling her. Seconds later, a stream of blue light butterflies engulfed Mashyuu and raised a shield up around him to protect him from the birds. Ancalagon, out of habit, screeched out and bent over his owner, aiming to protect her from any of the birds' attacks.

@Mashyuu , 3513 words total , notes

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

Ancalagon cried out at the stone birds that flew down toward Mashyuu and Kanix, lightning sparking from its eyes. He watched as the beasts crashed into the barrier that his owner had placed up around her partner in order to protect him. His eyes darted toward Rocky afterward, observing how that beast spewed out a stream of rocks toward the mammals. What good would throwing rocks at rock birds do? Wouldn't the damage be nothing against them since they are of the same element? Kanix narrowed her eyes as she took all of this in through her pet's eyes, concentrating on her thought process and what to do. To each their own, the opposite element was stronger to the next, but what was stronger against earth? Water. . . water was stronger than earth. Flicking her wrist, Kanix drew up a stream of water from a near by brook and wrapped it in her hand.

"I won't be able to hit them all at once, but I'll be able to hit a few at a time if that makes a difference," the shamaness answered. She stepped out from under the wings of her pet and looked to the stone birds now floating in the sky above them. Their initial attack had been thwarted and right now, they were simply circling overhead, as if planning out their next one. A grimace appeared on Kanix's face and she lifted the hand that held the water whip, jerking it forward to send the stream to the birds. The moment the tip of the water whip entered the sky and skimmed through the flock of stone avian, they scattered. Few had been hit and those that had been, instantly went down to the ground, their stone limbs twitching before falling still. She flicked her wrist again and sent the whip flying toward the right side of the split flock, crashing into a few more.

Fortunately for Mashyuu, this spell's effect was simply a water whip, so there was no necessary movement from him. Once most of the birds had been taken care off, Kanix pulled back the whip and let the water return to the brook. Ancalagon flapped his wings, as if he wanted to chase after the rest of the stone birds, but found he couldn't lift himself off the ground. "Sorry, buddy, but this place doesn't allow for easy flight; the gravitational pull is far too strong even for the likes of you," she stated. The woman would extend a hand and pat his side, receiving a nudge to her side from the toothed beak of her pet. "So, Mashyuu, what were you saying about me being able to hit them all?" Kanix tilted her head some as she said this. A chuckle left her lips, "I shall let you deal with the rest if you like, I'll be over here, waiting for when you're finished."

With that being said, the woman grabbed hold of some of Ancalagon's feathers and pulled herself up onto his back. She sat crisscross on his back, looking down at Mashyuu, then up to the birds in the sky, but her sight went black afterward. The connection she had between Ancalagon and herself had been cut off, not by any unknown or outwardly means, but by her own. There was no need for her to see anything right now, and using her ability would put strenuous negativity on her.

@Mashyuu , 4418 words total , notes

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

From where she sat upon Ancalagon's back, the woman felt the earth rumble beneath her, heard the breaking of stone as Mashyuu's spell was cast. She gripped tightly onto the feathers of her Thunderbird, but her facial expression remained steady and calm, listening to the rocket of the stone fist. Stone colliding with stone resonated into the air and Kanix took in a deep breath, breathing in the familiar scent of rock and dust. This smell, though, was different; this smell was peculiar to her, tranquil in a way, and she sat there trying to figure out what was enchanting about it. Mashyuu. . . every bit of that shambled stone had the strong scent of her partner mixed within it, and at the thought of recognizing the smell, she smiled. Her heart seemingly skipped a beat at his voice when he had called out the spell and skipped more at his heartwarming scent in the stones. Jaeger had laid claim to her heart because of Ahote, but deep down, a spark lit itself the moment Mashyuu had introduced himself to her.

Through the sound of falling dust and stone, the shamaness could hear the ragged breathing of her job partner, worrying her some. While she did believe in him to protect her, she knew that in turn, she, too, would have to protect his very essence: the core reason why she lived. Another deep breath in and Kanix closed her eyes, spread her arms out wide and began chanting in the ancient Nirvit language, but her summoning was quickly disturbed. Her thought process shut down and she stopped chanting, lowering her arms as she opened her eyes and stared into the empty darkness of her sight. Reaching a hand forward, the woman connected her vision to Ancalagon's once again, turning her face to look in Mashyuu's direction rather lovingly. A feeling ached in her body, one that she did not entirely understand, but it resided there in her, throbbing as if acting like it was telling her something. What was this feeling beating inside of her and what was it trying to tell her? Was she meant to listen to it or was she meant to ignore it?

Seated quietly on her massive bird, Kanix watched as Mashyuu pulled himself to his feet and bit down onto a piece of stone. He was so tired from all of the fighting, yet he still stood his ground and fought with every ounce of strength in his body that he could. For a fleeting moment, a single thought fluttered around in her mind, like a butterfly dancing gracefully over flower after flower: I love you. She had told Jaeger those three words before, but they held no meaning to her, like they held for her with Mashyuu; this was all different. Kanix was pulled from her reverie when Mashyuu called out to her, telling her to come over to him. Had he found something? Was something wrong? Carefully, she climbed down from Ancalagon, breaking the sight connection with him and shuffling her way over to the Earth Dragon Slayer. A frown crossed her face and she felt Mashyuu's calloused, working hands take hers into them; she felt her heart skip a beat.

Their hands clasped together, she let her gaze drop toward their intertwined fingers, rubbing her thumbs over the palms of his hands softly. The deep, resonant sound of his voice echoed into her ears and she paused the rubbing her thumbs against his palms. His next words took her by surprise, for even her mind hadn't thought a single moment that he would have told her this. She knew everything there was in this world because of her lineage, yet his expression of love was something unexpected. Her breath hitched in her throat and she nodded slowly at his words, looking back up to his face with her sightless gaze. Kanix bit her lip and tears streaked down her cheeks, blood and water coursing over the pale skin of the shamaness. In the moment Mashyuu had spoken to her, he pressed his lips to hers and she stood there frozen in place as he pulled away.

When she had finally regained her consciousness, she sucked in a deep breath of air to get  herself breathing again. "Mashyuu. . ." Kanix began, biting her lip once more and reaching a hand forward in order to grab hold of his for a second time. Interlocking their fingers together, the woman halted his walking and spun him to face her; the moment they touched, their vision connected. For the first time since she had met him, she was able to truly see what Mashyuu looked like up close and in person. Her sentence had been cut off as she stood there and looked him in the eyes with her single blue optic, unmoving. What stood before her was not just some voice in her head telling her things that would mean the world to her, but a man. Not just some job partner or friend she had to tolerate, but a human being who held all of the love for them both.

Her hand released his and she grabbed hold of his shirt collar; being a whole foot shorter than him didn't help that situation. Once his shirt collar was in her grasp, she yanked him down to her level and pressed their lips together in reply to his kiss. A moment had passed by and Kanix released herself from him, a blush covering the pale complexioned cheeks of her face. "I have held off my feelings for the sake of Jaeger and Ahote, but now, I can no longer deny what I feel toward you. Mashyuu, I, too, would let the world kill me if meant that you could live for another day; you mean more to me than what you believe." With that being said, Kanix huffed in a breath of the fresh air and fell silent, the blush on her face deepening. What had just happened between the two of them should never reach the ears of others, for who knows what would ensue.

@Mashyuu , 5956 words total , notes

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

Mashyuu's embrace was filled with love, full to the brim with the emotions that he felt toward the beautiful shamaness. Kanix did not want to release herself from the hold, but she knew that they had a job they must complete before all else. It was saddening, though she found herself able to easily pull free of his grasp, savoring the affection that had been given to her. In all of her life, she never knew a man could love as deeply as he did for her; that decade of punishment from her past had always told her otherwise. The cruelty of men was unending, even Sol had proven to her otherwise: no man was able to truly love a woman. His smile upon his face, that was all she strived for each day that she woke up without realizing that's what she wanted all along. She wanted to see him happy each and everyday for the rest of her life because it was him who had taught her not all men were bad.

With the tears wiped from her face, Kanix leaned her head against his arm, which led down to their intertwined hands below. They walked like this for what felt like an eternity, no distraction, no monster that came rampaging from the bushes. A shiver ran down her spine and before her sightless eyes and imaged flashed, bright, glaring, unavoidable to ignore. Mashyuu stood there describing what she was seeing in her vision; a tall, gruesome, and ugly stone monster on its way. She had just wanted to walk beside him for a little while longer, enjoy the moment peace and tranquility they were given. Now, the image plagued her mind like rats running through the streets, unable to never see what she had just seen. Feeling his hand remove from her own, Kanix straightened her posture, so that she was able to support herself on her own.

A low growl emitted from the shrubbery that the stone beast hid behind, a purr-like sound of a tiger in the dark. She did not like the feeling that swelled in her stomach, foreboding and dark, as if telling her death was on its way. As Mashyuu stepped forward, took the lead, Kanix couldn't help, but reach out to grab hold of his hand, simply to identify he was still there with her. After the little event between the two, she couldn't afford to lose him with how close they had just become with each other. Pulling herself close to him, she raised a single hand upward and from where they stood, beams of light shot upward. They danced over twenty-two meter circumference, crosshatching with each other and destroying anything in their path. From the shadows, a yowl sounded out as one of the beams struck through the stone tiger and broke part of its body.

Angrily, the beast charged from its hiding place, but as it did so, Kanix was unfortunate to have a beam strike through her. Her own spell, she had known, was one that would hit her regardless of where she had cast it from, a risk she was willing to take. Impaled by her own magic, the Nirvit-raised woman coughed up blood, watching the tiger as it advanced on Mashyuu and her. Blood spilled down her bottom lip and over her chin, splattering to the ground and weakly, she tapped her staff into the ground. It pulsated and a ring of white washed over everything in a fifty-five meter radius, healing any minor wounds and dousing the major ones. Evidently, Kanix collapsed upon the back of her true lover, standing there for a moment before her body grew too weak and she fell to her knees. While her staff's magic was healing her, it was the matter that she had been impaled rather harshly and quickly.

Shakily, a hand reached upward to where she had been impaled through the stomach, covered in the blood that coated the ground and her. Threats were nonexistent here, yet she had made the choice to cast one of her most dangerous spells in order to protect Mashyuu. As a result, the mix of her unholy forms and her holy magic did not get along and caused the calamity that was her injury.

@Mashyuu , 7202 words total , notes

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

Kanix glanced upward from where she was knelt behind Mashyuu, smiling despite the trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. "You have protected. . . me enough, Mashyuu. . . please, let me protect you. . . for once," she spoke slowly and deliberately. She coughed and blood splattered onto the fist curled in front of her face, the hand dropping to her side as she breathed outward. Her eye studied him for a second longer before it darted toward the prowling stone tiger, now missing half of its face. Damage had been dealt to it by the looks of the missing face, so she was glad she was able to cause such a disaster. For now, she would rest here and let her staff's aura pulsate around its fifty-five meter radius to heal her wounds. It was working, but slowly, so it would take a while before the wound was entirely healed and she was back to herself.

The next thing she knew, he wrapped his mother's jacket around her shoulders and left her in the care of Rocky. He was just a stone creature though. . . Where was Ancalagon when she needed him? The bird had been close by. . . Through her blurred vision, the shamaness looked around the surroundings for her Thunderbird, unable to find him. She could feel his electrical presence close by, but other than that, her senses were distorted from the injury. Kanix blinked her eye and focused all of her attention to her environment, locating Ancalagon just behind the trio. A bloody hand turned back and she reached for the feathered body that she had grown to know so well. Her fingers skimmed the soft plumage, coating it in the red paint of her life, but as she did so, her body gave way to weakness.

Battling ensued, but it was very distant to her, like her mind was cooing her into closing her eyes for a while. She didn't want to die though and she could feel her magic was working overtime to make sure she was healed. Ancalagon nuzzled her head with its beak, as if trying to keep her awake as well, and she used every ounce of strength to connect their visions. Kanix smiled up at him and breathed in harshly, gripping her hand tightly onto the chunk of feathers in her hand. A low rumble emitted from Ancalagon's throat and she giggled a little, making a motion with her mouth to tell him to hush. With that hand, she managed to pull herself back up to a sitting position, her eye moving back to the battlefield. The ground trembled beneath her and she recognized that as one of Mashyuu's spells being cast in retaliation to the tiger.

"I'm still here, I promise," she answered him, resting against the bodice of her bird, though she could feel the itch of battle coming from him. "Go on, Ancalagon, go fight. . ." The bird shook in his place, as if refusing to obey what Kanix had told him. Lightning sparked around in the vicinity, where it gathered at the beak of her bird, until it shot toward the stone tiger. Damage wouldn't be much to the tiger, considering it was made of stone, but some damage could still be dealt. The tiger yowled out in pain as the bolt of lightning struck the beast, causing it to pull its feet away from Mashyuu. She felt her pet shudder against her, as if hearing the cry of pain exhilarated what he felt during the battle. Kanix chuckled a little and watched as Mashyuu fought against the beast, taking a decent chunk out of its brain and batting it away.

"Hey, Mashyuu? I'll be okay, I promise, just give my weapon's ability a little while," the woman stated softly. She didn't want him worrying over her too much when she knew she would be just fine, otherwise, her magic would begin to shut down. Besides, this was not one of the ways in which her magic had envisioned her death for her, so she would not die. "My magic knows when I'm going to die, so it's okay. . . today, I am not leaving this world quite yet, all right?" Kanix would place a hand on one of his as a comforting motion, though wouldn't say anymore to worry him. The last thing she wanted to do was cause issues with him and wanting to protect her more because of her own stupidity. Her magic was dangerous to her in the fact that her secondary was opposite to its holiness; sirens were unholy.

Carefully, she'd pull his face down to hers and kiss his lips, squeezing his hand a little as she pulled away from him. "Stop worrying so much, you weirdo," the shamaness pointed out, giggling slightly and otherwise, smiling at him. "Look, the wound is already healing, there's no need to fret over whether I'm going to be dead or alive anymore." She'd move her hand away from the hole in her gut to show that most of it had been sealed up and stopped bleeding. A scar would remain there from the intensity of the heat from the light beam, but other than that, she was fine. "I cast that spell because I didn't know what was going to happen with that tiger, I didn't trust the power I felt from it. Then again, the intensity of magic seems to be amplified around here because of the presence of it at the island center."

@Mashyuu , 8709 words total , notes

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

Kanix momentarily blushed as Mashyuu told her not to use such a spell, unless they were against a foe that could kill them. When the blush went away, her eye flickered toward the pathway in which they would be heading down, ultimately hiding her face from him. "Yeah, I know," she answered him in a much quieter tone than previous, feeling the blush coming back to her face. "I wasn't entirely thinking, as the vision displayed in my head was far more amplified than it actually turned out to be." As unfortunately as that was, she had now given Mashyuu the opportunity to see just how destructive her magic could be. Despite it being a holy-based magic, it was far more powerful than she happened to make it out to be. She was lucky it was only one spell of hers that caused any real damage to her and not anymore than just that one.

She didn't know why Mashyuu gave her his jacket when it really wasn't all that warm to her; it was comfortable, but a missing sleeve didn't help. Not to mention, it had lightning magic imbued into its source and she was certain he could utilize that magic. However, she took the jacket and put it on, despite the pain received by the excessive movement of her upper half. Slowly, Kanix got to her feet and waddled over to Ancalagon, clambering onto his back and sitting crisscrossed there. The squad proceeded to head down the pathway, Mashyuu mumbling to himself about directions, then heading straight again. Kanix didn't say anything as he did this, but let her pet follow after Rocky and him, until they came to an abrupt stop. A giant, black tortoise had crossed paths with them and, to be honest, he didn't look to be all that happy by it.

Her facial expression shifted from calm and collected to worrisome and thoughtful as the large beast spoke to them. It asked them a question, one that neither of them could truthfully answer, but Mashyuu answered it anyway. How unfortunate that this black tortoise was an earth wielder and a wielder whose earth could not be eaten by slayers. So, when Mashyuu revolted and attacked the beast, he quickly found out that the earth it made could not be eaten. This was when he had turned to her and asked for help, but in all honesty, she wasn't certain if she had a spell destructive enough. They had just started battling, so it wasn't entirely necessary for her to summon Him quite yet, but she would eventually. Turning her attention to the tortoise, she sized it up and down and started thinking through all of her spells.

Raising her right hand, the shamaness swept it toward the left, releasing three large, crescent-shaped blades of holy energy. They swirled toward the tortoise, who, in retaliation to the attack, summoned an earth golem to battle them. As the blades crashed into the tortoise and pushed it backward, Kanix slowly rose to her feet and placed her hands together. With her pointer fingers spread why and the other three pointed as far downward as possible, she blew through the given hole. Out came a blazing inferno, blasting toward the tortoise in hope that she would be able to strike him with this as well. If not, perhaps the earth golem would get in the way and she would be able to take it down, so they didn't have to worry about it. When the spell ended, she plopped back down into her seated position and looked to Mashyuu, wondering if he wanted her to continue

@Mashyuu , 10,029 words total , notes

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

All of the flattery that she was getting from Mashyuu was beginning to get rather sickening to her; it was nice and all, but he needed to know there was a limit. Being complimented that she was a smart lady and that he would listen to her did not please her in the least. The only reason why she knew certain things was because of her heritage and the fact her magic let her do such a thing. If it wasn't for her all-seeing eye, she doubted that Mashyuu would even pay attention to her words at all. In fact, she began to wonder what she would be like if she didn't have the ability to see into the future or learn things about others. Would be a "dumb blonde" type of woman or would she retain some of the intelligence that he knew her for? As curious as she was about that, Kanix didn't think she would ever be able to figure out what she was like without her Fourth Wall heritage.

Kanix glanced at the three remaining paths that they had to go down, staring at each one for a second before moving to the next. The first path she had looked to lay east of where they were standing and looked to be the most daunting of the three remaining. It had an entanglement of jungle fauna nearly blocking the pathway, but what intrigued her most were the souls floating around it. While it was dark and menacing looking, something drew her toward that trail, yet at the same time, she knew she couldn't go down it. Tearing her gaze away from the footpath that would lead down to the Soul Dragon, her eyes danced to the south. That passage looked to be more welcoming than the first one she had looked at, as well as less formidable, but still. . . she felt she couldn't go down that one either. Instead of concentrating on that one, she let her gaze fall upon the final of the three passageways: the westward.

This one had a mess of jungle vines coating along the ground, but otherwise, it was the safest they could go down. Something prickled at the back of her neck, however, as she dug her heels into the sides of her pet to urge him forward. Ancalagon shook his head and started warily walking forward, as if he could sense his master's discomfort from looking at the path. She urged him to go a little faster and he picked up the speed, passing by Mashyuu and snagging hold of his hand. Kanix would pull him up onto the back of Ancalagon, forgetting that he was a Dragon Slayer and likely didn't realize Ancalagon wasn't just a ride. . . Their journey down this pathway would now begin, where already, the White Tiger would be stalking them from the bushes. Its stalking resulting in the goosebumps that she felt crawling down her skin as they walked down the trail.

She leaned back against Mashyuu as they traveled down the long passage, only to occasionally look toward the bushes. They seemingly wavered on their own, even though no breeze had passed through the area since they had started down it. "Mashyuu, do you feel like something is following us?" the woman inquired, snuggling closer to him the more she thought about it. Moments later, the sound of lightning crackling sparked in the air and she pulled the jacket tighter around her bosom. The only issue with this jacket was because her breasts were so large, she couldn't even zip it up around her. Looking back to the bushes, she even thought she had seen glowering eyes from the cracks of the leaves. Not liking the thought of there being something following them around, the woman quickly broke the vision connection she had with her pet.

As they edged along the pathway, she could already tell that even Ancalagon was beginning to feel uneasy on this path. Birds screeched overhead, like the stone totem birds they had defeated at the beginning of the forest they entered. Except, nothing came charging down at them and while the passageway was an anxiety ridden place, they reached a large clearing. It was empty from what Kanix could tell, but at the edge of the clearing, she could sense an immense mount of magical power. Perhaps, it was just the island messing with her limited transcendence, but at the same time, she thought it doubtful. Something sounded close by, like metal grinding against metal, or gears trying to churn to get something large moving. It brushed along the leaves of the jungle-like undergrowth, until a large, mechanical paw stepped out of hiding.

A low growl emitted into the air, though it sounded robotic and inhumane, yet all the while a tad animistic in nature. Peeking through the bushes came a metallic nose, followed by an automation face, red optics more machine-driven than anything else. Out stepped a massive tiger, known as the White Tiger, standing at ten feet tall, twenty feet long, four feet wide. This tiger was not like any other tiger either of the mages knew of, for standing before them was a robotic beast. Its jaw unhinged and gears could be heard churning and grinding against each other, working to activate the voice operator. A soft white noise emitted into the air at first, then a crackling, and soon a deep voice was speaking to the two of them. "What brings you here to the western side of the island?" it inquired, voice rolling over the white noise behind it.

It twitched and moved as if the wiring it was made from has become old and worn down, like it was starting to glitch. A malfunction occurred in its system, causing the tiger to freeze up for a second and the red of its eyes die down. "System error. . . enemy detected. . . annihilation in progress. . ." the words spewed out of its mouth as it stood before them. "I cannot let you past, you have trespassed on the sacred land of the White Tiger, and now, you must pay for it." Metallic vine-like whips formed from its backside and launched toward the Thunderbird carrying the two mages. Kanix scrambled to her feet on Ancalagon's back and climbed up to the top of his head, tapping him lightly with her foot. "Ancalagon, Star Scream!" she ordered, forcing the bird to lower its head and start gathering a ball of lightning at its mouth.

When the orb was fully charged, a single blast of lightning shot toward the robotic tiger, though to the naked eye, it looked like a snake. The snake crashed into the shoulders of the opponent, and sparks of lightning coursed over the metallic body. Despite this, the whips managed to wrap around the legs of her pet and pull him down, dragging him toward the beast. Kanix tumbled off the head of her pet and thudded against the ground, groaning and pulling herself to her feet. She fell down into a crouching tiger stance and breathed in deeply, her hands pushing downward, palms open and facing the ground. With her left hand, she drew lightning from the air and pulled it into a semicircle, this was followed with the same action from her right hand. They were pulled together and the tips of her middle and forefingers were connected, the lightning crackling together.

Kanix let her right hand drop away and stretched her left hand outward, releasing the bolt of lightning at the tiger. This, too, crashed against the metallic beast and resulted in the eyes malfunctioning to the point it was unable to see them. Her gaze shifted toward Mashyuu's presence, hoping that he was okay, despite Ancalagon having been pulled down. "Metalbender!" she called to him, her lineage allowing for her to be able to recognize the single elemental aspect of their opponent. "Careful when attacking him; metal's a type of earth material, and since you couldn't eat the previous creature's earth, I doubt you can eat this." Perhaps he couldn't eat metal at all, she didn't know the extent at which earth slayers were able to eat earth. Whatever he decided to do though, she would be there to back him up, and with the enemy blinded now, they had an advantage.

@Mashyuu , 11,986 words total , notes

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

Mashyuu sounded completely and utterly fine to her, and she chuckled at his answer to the comment about metal and earth. Apparently, metal didn't taste as good as earth did, but in all honesty, they probably both tasted absolutely horrendous. She was neither a Metal Dragon Slayer or an Earth Dragon Slayer, so those two elements did not appeal to her as a source of food. Sometimes, when she watched Mashyuu eat the earth, it slightly revolted her because in her mind, it was strange to eat non-fruit, vegetable, or meat things. Still, she was slightly curious to know what it taste like to a Dragon Slayer, seeing as they were able to consume the element. Did it. . . perhaps. . . have a better taste to them than it would if they were a normal mage? Like some sort of secret ingredient in it to make it taste good? Shaking her head, Kanix pulled herself out of her thoughts, just in time to hear Mashyuu ask if she could possibly melt the tiger with her fire.

In response to him she gave a slight nod, hoping that he had been looking in her direction when he had asked her that. She stood there as she waited for his command, listening to him call out for a war hammer and slamming it into the tiger. It rattled the area, which Kanix was able to feel through the tremors in the ground, but she didn't budge toward them. Another tremor came along as his war hammer slammed into a metallic wall that the tiger had drawn up. The next thing she heard was Mashyuu skidding backward as metal spikes pierced through his chest; this made her frown. He did not make any noise and that bothered her the most as she felt he was trying to hide that fact from her. A terrible choice really, as no matter what it was they were doing, she was always able to figure out what it was.

Despite this, he had told her the creature was six feet up in the air and dead ahead of him, though she could hear the tautness in his voice. Fighting the urge to go over and heal him, her attention shifted back to the metal tiger and she charged the pillar it was upon. Her right foot struck the base of the stand and carried her upward, bouncing along like a Naruto ninja until she was above the tiger. As she somersaulted in the air, her right foot came down upon the assailant, a blaze of fire swirling with her movement and striking her opponent. This was followed by the pounding of her fist, which brought another stream of fire coursing over the metallic body. She landed on the flat base of the pillar and as a final move, raised her right hand and foot, sending another stream of fire at the tiger. When each strike hit the target, the tiger yowled out in pain and raised a paw to claw at the legs and arms of its attacker.

Sections of its body were severely melted by the attack, resulting in the robotic beast fidgeting and stuttering in its actions. Its head twitched from side to side and steam began to rise up from the open parts of its body, where wires and gears could be seen. "S-system er-error. . . system. . . system. . . malfunctionnnn," the tiger spoke, its voice fading as it shut down. The red of its optics dulled out and the beast's limbs became rigid, until it started rattling and shaking violently in place. Hearing this, Kanix went wide-eyed and darted down the pillar to keep herself away from the possibly exploding feline. Just as she did so, the creature detonated into a bunch of shrapnel that scattered around and fell to the ground. Some of the debris pierced into her back, causing her to keel over and reveal tiny mounts of metal on her bare back.

She bit back the pain and straightened herself up, in which it would become more noticeable that her bone necklace was no longer around her neck. Her bosom was completely exposed to the only male in the vicinity that could even rectify something of that nature. Ancalagon, noticing the pain that his master was in, instantly went over to nuzzle his beak into her side carefully. This caused a small bounce to Kanix that jiggled her breasts that would likely entrance any man that saw them move. Gritting her teeth, she smacked the beak of her Thunderbird away, where she gained a pained screech in return. It was quickly followed by Ancalagon moving behind her and beginning to pull out the small bits of metal from her back. Relief quickly washed over her when she felt the pieces being removed from her skin, even though that was quite painful.

"There's a pattern to this job, Mashyuu; I figured it out," the woman begin, unaware that she was even topless in the first place. "It's based off of the Chinese Four Symbols, each representing the directions north, east, south, and west. We defeated the Black Tortoise, which is north, first, then we defeated the White Tiger of the West, next should be the Vermillion bird of the South, and last should be the Azure Dragon of the East." She didn't know if that was actually the pattern that they were going to go in, but that was her guess as to which way. Kanix hopped back onto the Thunderbird and offered her hand to Mashyuu in order to lift him up onto the bird. However, if he didn't want to ride because of his motion sickness, she wouldn't force him to get back onto him. "So, let's kick some bird ass, Mashyuu because I'm totally down with annihilating this job and returning to the laboratory."

@Mashyuu , 14,012 words total , notes

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

She had expected to feel the calloused, working hand of Mashyuu grip hers, but instead, sharp bones stabbed at her. This was when it dawned on her that her necklace had fallen off her when Ancalagon had been pulled down to his side. Kanix gripped the necklace tightly in her hand, then put it back over her head, letting it fall to its normal place. Meanwhile, Mashyuu had clambered onto Ancalagon and they started moving again, back down the pathway they had come. A well-defined body was pressed up against hers and she stiffened for a second, only to recognize that it was him. He made a small comment of how the tiger had ripped up his shirt and she could only laugh at the menial mentioning. "If you had liked that shirt so much, perhaps you shouldn't have been wearing it in the first place," Kanix stated.

It didn't take them long to return to the clearing where the paths diverged into four other paths: one to the East, West, and South, and one leading back to the laboratory. She didn't have to tell Ancalagon which one to go down, as he had instinctively turned down the path that would lead them south. However, as they traveled along this pathway, the woman began to notice that the heat was rising in temperature. Soon enough, she was sweating and wondering what was the reason behind the intense heat down this passage. Nothing alluded to there being anything volatile to them; nothing that would cause them any harm from what she could tell. What she didn't realize though was that they were upon the Vermillion bird's nest, where the bird, itself, roosted. Kanix did feel Mashyuu slide off from Ancalagon though, resulting her reconnecting her vision with her pet to look around.

Her eyes landed upon the phoenix and Mashyuu as they conversed with each other, only to watch as a ring of fire enveloped him. Kanix curled her hands tightly into fists, even gripping the feathers of her pet harshly into the palms of her hands. Mashyuu fired back with a rock bullet, but it ached in her bones to run over to him and heal the burns now over his body. It didn't help the fact that his pants had been burned off in the process, which made her chuckle a little at the sight. Yet, here she was, resting on the back of her bird when she should have been out there helping the Sabertooth mage. Shaking her head, she followed the movements of the two fighting beings, switching between the bird and her lover. Gritting her teeth, thoughts whizzed through her mind as she tried to decide what she was going to do about this.

As the battle continued, Kanix barely heard Mashyuu call out to her to finish it off, as she was still planning things. She remembered how the jacket could fire off a single bolt of lightning and he hadn't taken it back from her yet. Quickly, the woman shifted her single eye back to the Vermillion bird and she raised her arm, releasing the bolt. It blasted straight into the chest of the phoenix, causing the bird to release a pained cry and fall unconscious onto its back. "Three down, one more to go!" she stated in a happy tone to Mashyuu, reaching out her hand again to help him back up onto Ancalagon. Once he was settled comfortably, she urged her beast to turn around and head back to the clearing of the diverging paths. The heat of the pathway had toned down since the defeat of the phoenix, so she wasn't sweating as badly and as was rather content.

When they had come back to the five paths, she urged Ancalagon to go down the fifth of them that led to the east. This was far more peaceful than all of the other ones that they had gone down, and even prettier at that. It was almost as if walking through an enchanted forest, where one could meet their fairy godmother and mystical creatures. However, the path soon ended and before them was a crystalline lake, sparkling in the sunlight that shone overhead. Beyond that, an elongated beast rested on a small island at the center, silently watching the squad of mages and pets. As her pet stopped at the shoreline, it was then that the Azure Dragon had climbed down from its roost and swam across the lake to them. She blinked and watched its snake-like body slither through the water, never exactly breaking the surface.

"Distance tests a horse's strength. Time reveals a person's character," the dragon riddled as he walked onto the shore. "A moment of patience can prevent a great disaster and a moment of impatience can ruin a whole life."

Kanix blinked her eye and stared in silence as the beast riddled off words that she didn't quite grasp in that feeble mind of hers. "Your riddles are meaningless to me unless you can speak them in the language that I know," she retorted to the dragon.

"Do not fear the enemy that attacks you, but the fake friend that hugs you," he responded to her with a sly smile. "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do others." It swept its tail around and curled into a snake-like ball.

"I don't understand what you're trying to tell me, so if this is how you're going to treat your guests, then I call upon the Dragon of the North, Draco, come forth!" Kanix called out. Shimmering in front of her came a visage of a metallic-looking dragon, standing just shorter than the massive bird she rode. It's tail was long and sweeping, and it's body slender, yet menacing as it bared its fangs at its master's assailant. The first of its attack was that of hardening the armor of its tail and swinging it straight for the legs of the Azure dragon.

"He who strikes the first blow admits he's lost the argument," the dragon replied, opening its mouth to release a blue flame.

In response to the attack, Dragon had hardened its wings and flared them out, standing in front of his master to protect her and her companions. It would then launch itself back at the other dragon and slam one of its hardened wings into the dragon's side.

@Mashyuu , 15,912 words total , notes