Master of Wind (BP Event)

The sun hung over clover as if it had been suspended in time, it's slow travel across the sky signifying the significance of the daylight hours for many of the people who hustled around the town and guild alike. The calm in the air could be seen as either just a simple peaceful day, but for the more superstitious type it might have been seen as a calm before the storm, and boy were those superstitions going to come true today. Far to the north a group of sellswords had set up camp and we discussing tactics among each other, this only happened to be one of many camps that had been set up most recently many under the influence of the same master group. Their intentions lay unknown and their presence has been well hidden with a strange type of magic that the leader of the master group had cast. Their discussions had been cut short as a purple light enveloped them all and a loud voice began to bellow. "Stop your chattering, this starts now." It shouted, it was quite clearly a woman who had been sent from the master group to assist in infiltration. The strategy was simple invade Clover with multiple small groups of brigands without being noticed and crush the wizard guild that was established there, and of course make off with the prize that they had been paid to collect from the start. Of course the first part of the plan was unnecessary but the leader was simply twisted that way.

The town of Clover remained calm through most of the day, unbeknownst of the havoc that would have been unleashed on them this afternoon. That was until the sun found itself blotted out by the moons mass, a solar eclipse, a bad omen for the ages. Panic didn't ensue but many started to feel the chills run down their spines, it was then that a group of sell swords appeared in one of the many cellars of Blue Pegasus, their objective to cause a ruckus from within the guild while several others caused havoc outside the guild. These men were already drawing their weapons and preparing whatever spells their feeble minds might be capable of managing when one felt a cold tingle down his neck. "WHO'S THERE!" He called out turning around to find the room empty, causing everyone in his group to look at him and start laughing.

Several floors above the cellar Natalia sat, today had been a good day as she found herself with minimal lapses in magical overload but she sensed something that shouldn't have been present in one of the cellars. Natalia had a unique form of sensory, the use of snow to collect information by sensing when it made contact with an object or it melted prematurely, yet today she detected something rather warm in one of the cellars that was meant to be kept cool. Immediately she began to skip off to inform the guild master of her findings. Coming up to Zack's office she began to knock. "Master, are you awake?" She asked with her quiet voice which could barely be heard on the other side of doors.

Zack stood silently in the centre of his room a letter in his hand. He did not move for a while, merely staring at the letter. Was today the day when he would hand over this letter to the one he had written it for? He sighed deeply. So much had been on his mind as of recently. The guild had received heavy damage from the priory, the recent assasination attempts both inside and outside the guild, and just being a guild master. On top of that he had the monkey king to worry about as well as the four sky kings and sky emperor Shangdi. So much on his mind. So much that it was almost overwhelming. Then of course he had the final piece of his nightmare, the spirit Ophiuchus who had allowed him to grow to such heights of power, but now wanted the body to himself. He wanted control and Zack had seen what letting Ophiuchus take control was like. It would not end well for people. So with all his other stresses he also had to keep his mind strong so he could keep control. The only time he truly felt free from stress was in combat. Something he could focus his entire body and mind on and a time when Ophiuchus and his consciousnesses became closer to being one. Yet he could not relay these troubles on others. Even Tikaani, formerly known as Devon, was not the right sort of person to be burdened with this. She would try to solve everything herself and that was something she could not do. No, in truth he needed friends who could relate to his issues, but sadly he had none. The closest was probably Aiyana, who too was now part celestial spirit. However, she did not have one like Ophiuchus. No, her body was completely her own now, even if it was that of a celestial. He was truly alone in his situation. Once the letter was handed over a few of his burdens would dissapear and he could go with Tikaani to pursue the others. Then perhaps he could find a way to remove Ophiuchus but not lose the power he had gained whilst bonded with the serpent bearer. He sighed deeply. It was not likely to be the case any time soon.

He twisted the letter in his hand staring at the name on the front. Well, it wasn't so much a name as single letter. The letter had the potential to go to two people, but which it would go to hadn't been decided yet. He went over to his desk and picked up a pen scratching down a second letter. Again this did not confirm or deny who it was going to. He sighed deeply raising his pen for another stroke when there was a knock at his door. The voice was familiar, it was that of Natalia ,and as such didn't cause him to tense up too much. She was a strange one. In terms of raw magical power she probably outclassed even him, but she had no means to control it and it surged out randomly. He'd lost count of the amount of times he'd had to defrost people or rooms.

With a flick of his wrist the letter flew across the room and into a safe which immediately closed and locked before entering the wall. The wall then sealed over perfectly showing no sign that there was anything behind it. "You may enter Natalia." Zack said calmly though in truth he was worried. It was rare for people to approach his room unless they wanted something and Natalia wasn't the type to want something that much. Had there been another assasination attempt or something similar? He flicked his wrist and his sword, currently resting in a bracket on the wall, flew over to him and sheathed at his back. If there was trouble he was definitely not leaving without Serpens.

Clover town was becoming more and more familiar to ember, but then again she had to because of how close she was becoming with it's guild. She apparently not only had a relative there(which she was still not sure of), the remains of her poor speeder bike dusty was still in the guild, and she had to collect a passport that was sent to the guild instead given to her at the time. But it wasn't like she disliked the guild, not now after learning more information behind the people who attacked it. In fact, she probably needed the guild since it was becoming more part of her problems and possibly the answers to those problems.

So that was why she had made her down to the guild on foot, wearing her usual riding gear without the helmet and goggles but still had the white scarf with her. She also had a makeshift sheathe for her new blade that she had recently recovered from thieves. The sheathe itself covered the blade with a makeshift wrap of cloth, leaving only the black sharp tip exposed from it that hung from her side. As she made her way down she noticed it grew a little darker, and looked at the sky to notice a solar eclipse was starting. She only glanced at it and continued to make her way to the guild, she remembered how the village elders told that a solar eclipse most likely meant something big was going to happen, good or bad. But she din't want to think too much on that, and continued down until she was at the front of the guild. She didn't pay any mind to any other of the people as she  passed by, as she was only concerned about finding the people who she had met before, and entered through the front doors scanning the crowd. "Hey!" she yelled aloud into the guild hall "Is zack, akryn, or natalia around? I got business with them!"

The town was cloaked in a veil of dim darkness many of the towns people started to feel dark vibes, the air of the town started to wreak of a dread only thought of in the books of legend. The dread forced the townsfolk indoors and many of the shops closed along with them, whatever had afflicted Clover had an aura almost as nasty as Zeraf himself. In the center of town stood a heavily armored man, one could not see any of his features or his build due to the armor which was colored blacker than night itself. Sheathed at his side a sword as sinister as his armor and in his had a rather well worn book emitting the same sinister Aura the permeated the town. "And so the night cries out to be released from the light of the sun." The man read from the grimiore in a voice echoing of darkness. "And so, the hunt hath begun." He announced as he slammed the book shut.

The Dark Knight:

In the Blue Pegasus guild black mist began to seep into the halls as the soldiers that had previously been warped there through magical means began their silent assault, searching for any member of the guild that was unaware of their presence. Meanwhile in Zack's office Natalia stood to deliver her urgent message. "Master, I detected something out of place and rather warm." She announced with somewhat lost breath. "I felt it in the freezer where my snow usually wont melt, whatever is in there appeared suddenly and is a lot warmer than the freezer itself." She again made her statement more clear yet still quite out of breath. Behind them stood someone else who asked if they would like a bite to eat which Natalia would have obliged to had she needed to catch her breath.

Back down in the lobby of Blue Pegasus where Ember stood, the invaders snuck along their blades already slightly bloodied from weak members of the guild who hadn't even detected their presence. The blood was clearly not enough to denote casualties but enough to announce that they had inflicted harm on the members of the guild. Their new target was the young girl standing before them as they began to make their approach and attack.

Back in the streets of Clover the sellswords that infested the town had a much different task ahead of them. Their task was to hunt down members of the guild all the same but instead they were tasked with the setup of safe zones to prepare their conquest as well as prepare for vacating the vicinity when the time came. Among them a young man who appeared to be of much lower quality of skill compared to the rest of the group wandered about rubbing his head a bit as if he were bored. "Man, this place is quite dull, I wish someone would come around and liven up the party a bit." He grumbled in a rather tired tone of voice, but this was all just a show to draw out his target. He could sense them, the rather large mass of magic power of strange nature, coming from the direction of the guild, he wanted to have fun with this one and fun he was going to have.

Young Mercenary:

((OOC: Because Lumina has been having issues and stuff going on IRL I decided to skip them and allow them the ability to pop in whenever they want into the post order. So don't be alarmed if they butt in.))

Natalia was truly worried it seemed and her tone was quite serious. She'd obviously ran up here which proved she was worried. On top of that he knew how powerful the freezer was and how much Natalias understood the cold. He also knew how powerful her own cold was. If something was making that melt then it was powerful. He pressed a random panel on the wall and then spoke his voice amplifying and echoing through the halls.

"Blue Pegasus. There are intruders within the guild. Form into groups and defend your guild and each other. Your lives are the priority, but if you can bring down the intruders without sacrificing yourself then do it." he commanded and then his voice turned a bit more threatening. "And this is to the intruders. I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. What I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you leave my guild now without hurting you, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will end you." He turned his gaze onto Natalia and the one offering food.

"You two are with me. Our first priority is to find Ember. Its possible these intruders are the same ones who attacked her village and tried to destroy the guild before." he said firmly and began to walk down the hall focusing on trying to detect Ember or any unfamiliar magic signals. "Natalia your sensory is pretty good. Search for Ember and the intruders, but do not exert yourself." He knew she didn't have the most precise control of her power, a power that eclipsed even his own, but he knew that what control she did have could prove useful. As he reached out with his senses he noticed something. He could not sense Akryn or Akeya anywhere. The latter was skilled at hiding and might be stealthily trying to take them out. Akryn on the other hand was too brash to hide. He was also chief of security. He didn't recall any missions that he could be off on so it was possible he was in town drinking. It was annoying in truth as Akryn's strength could be useful. He also didn't sense Shuhei which meant one of the most powerful mages on the continent wasn't here to help either. That meant it was up to Zack to quell any wizard saint class opponents or even A ranks. He may have to risk giving Ophiuchus more control via a spell. It would be limited, but they could do with the numbers potentially.

For now though he would hold back on that option. He would also hold back on using the guild spells, even though they could potentially save lives. He did not want to waste them.

Seru took a deep sigh before she began feeling extreme levels of magical pressure all of the sudden.  Alone, they didn't really amount to much, but these were multiple levels of the same magical energy, which is what gave her the fright; there were many sudden invaders, or so was he guess.  Quite a few came from Blue Pegasus, and the others she felt came from the town.  She was certain that with how many mages Blue Pegasus held that they would be able to protect themselves, but the same couldn't be said for the civilians; sure, there were guards and mage patrols every now and then, but for the most part, it was a very safe town that didn't need much of that, which got Seru worried for the civilians.  The worst part about all of this was that there was one particular power that was far above everyone else, and she was concerned that there wouldn't be many mages that could deal with it.

She didn't run towards the collected magical pressure, however.  In fact, she walked there at regular speed, with her left hand appearing to grab onto an invisible hilt as he right appeared to be ready to unsheathe an invisible blade, though, in reality, there was honestly nothing there, she was only getting ready for the situation should it be called for.  As she walked by the streets of Clover Town, it was completely empty and silent; no one dared going outside, which Seru found quite odd.  In this type of situation, people would be fleeing in a panic, yet, everyone was inside their homes; she could see them.  What felt even more unnerving was the fact she hadn't encountered any enemy so far.  Not a single one.

She eventually got to a point where there were she came across all of the mercenaries that were concentrated together and her tattoo was on her left shoulder, very clearly visible.  "It's a Blue Pegasus member!  Get her!"  Immediately, three of the many mercenaries rush towards Seru with their standard blades.  One was faster than the others, so he pulled ahead and swung towards Seru with and overhead swing; immediately calling upon Excalibur she nimbly swept under his attack and performed an upwards horizontal slash towards his groin and chest, just barely cutting him but causing enough damage to take him out of the fight whilst not killing him.  He fell over after dropping his sword, leaving two of the charging mercenaries.

They both tried to simultaneously attack her from the front and her right side with standard slashes.  She parried the frontal attack with enough force to send the man backwards, immediately using Leyline Manipulation to surprise the other attack by moving as pure, bright cyan magical energy behind him as she quickly knocked him out by hitting him with the bottom of her hilt.  The other attacker was somewhat intimidated and retreated back to his group, regrouping with several other mercenaries and they all approached her slowly; she counted about six in total in that group, though there were still many more.  Where was the major power she sensed among them, though?  Seru was only concerned about him because the rest didn't pose much of a threat; she based this off of the skill level they presented earlier and their magical presence.

Now..., she thought to herself, using Origin Perception to attempt to see past the crowd and spot the major guy, Where are you?

Seru's Origin Perception in use (eye modification):

Spoiler:

After ember called out she was met with no answer, she realized that the few mages that were in the main hall were rushing elsewhere? She continued to walk into the nearly empty guild hall curious of what was going on to cause this weird situation, the eclipse was not helping to soothe her. She looked down a corridor and realized their was someone slumped over, she saw slight movement from their chest. Alive but incapacitated? She then grew the suspicion that the guild had been infiltrated by some kind of enemy, most likely bandits or mercenaries. And then the movement from the shadows, the spell swords had kept to the shadows enhanced by shadow magic to keep them out of sight. They knew however this cover would be blown once they launched an attack, but they doubt she could handle so many of them at once. However at this point zack's voice would have come up on the intercom system and announced the current danger that the guild was in, confirming ember's suspicions.

She then became more aware of her surroundings paying attention and looking still at the slumped person in the hallway. She thought to why they would incapacitate and not kill who they find in the guild. Why leave them alive, surely these were not mercenaries or bandits with morals were they? It would not make much sense to have a moral group to attack a guild that had mages leagues beyond their own power. She then picked it up, very soft and careful footsteps coming from behind her. A guild member would not had been so careful with their foot steps, meaning this was a trap. It was clever, wound one of the mages and wait for others to come to their help and ambush them with their guard down, she knew enough from her own experience. But the question was did they know she knew that?

She started forward into the hallway to get a closer look at the person, the spell swords matched her movement closing in on her. At this point they would have prepped and charged forward, half of the spell swords with melee weapons buffed themselves with strength augmentation while the other half in the back would have charged up their spells and provided long range cover, or so was planned. And for a moment it seemed to work, the spell swords with weapons neared aiming to strike ember. Ember already knew of them though, and in a instance she vanished into the air. The spell swords who charged forward and looked around, yes she was still around but where? The ones who remained behind wondered to..until she reappeared in front of them with her blade drawn without it's sheathe. And with a smile she brought a wide swing in front of her delivering a slashing blow of all in front of her. At this point though the melee spell swords would have started to charge on her, and ember had to make a choice. Does she focus on these sword and hammer wielding spell swords, or does she make sure the more spell oriented spell swords are out for the count?

Her choice made, she spun forward encompassing herself into a sand cyclone and sped forward of her. The ones who were caught by ember's slash were hit by the cyclone hard and most of those hit would have been knocked out, a few were left with mortal wounds or merely injured by the sudden appearance of the cyclone. The ones with weapons would have had to stop and stare at the cyclone suddenly created, few of them charged at it and were rewarded with being thrown back from the power of it. Ember though while in the storm had spun herself endlessly, she had succeeded in getting rid of what she thought was the bigger threat of the group but she still had the rest of them to deal with. So she moved forward, in the direction of the entrance, knowing once this ended she will need room to deal with so many enemies, including the possibility that she may need to escape from the guild. However she was unaware of what was going on outside of the guild, and as she moved spinning in the sand cyclone while still in the guild hall forward the rest of the spell swords followed the sand cyclone while keeping their distance, biding their time in when it would end since they were unsure if ember could even be touched in that cyclone of sand.

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