It's hard to balance fear;; Balance Core;; Private

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Jiyu had this intense and never ending fear of fire, she only had one other fear beside it that could seriously affect her and was unavoidable! Of course she was not revealing her second fear, but it was nothing compared to the way she reacted to fire. Jiyu could not handle any sort of fire, it brought her to her knees, brought tears to her eyes, made her skin go pale as a winter ghost in the snow against the full moon. Most people? Had illogical fears for no reason, but this sorceress fright came from a very real and logical source, actually two sources; When someone spent years being blindfolded and burned, after having their mother die in flames? They tended to become afraid of any sort of fire, and that was Jiyu’s story, tortured by fire after it had already taken her mother from her at the age of seven. Of course, the mages mother had allowed herself to burn to death, in a bid to save her daughter’s life, which had worked. Now, Jiyu went through life knowing that she never would have positive experiences with fire and did not want any. The only thing Kazehime sought from flames, was that they stayed away from her! Expect for Makoto of course, the kitsune was her responsibility and thus she was not able to escape flames when it involved that little kit, but any other sort of flame could stay far, far away from her. Sadly? This also included her fellow Ace  in Black Rose, the Ace Of Diamonds, she wanted nearly nothing to do with Magna whatsoever. The last time she had went on any sort of job with that man? She had embarrassed herself to the ninth degree! While she lay curled fetal in the alleyway, he had to go turn in their task and then find her before returning back to Rose Garden, all because she could not handle a little fire. So she wondered now why, knowing of her intense fear and wielding cooking magic, which had to involve fire, he asked for her presence!

Bare feet scraped against the hardwood floor of the entry way into the silver moon cafe, her eyes darting about every few seconds. Upon receiving a note under her bedroom door that he wanted her to go on this ‘Balance Core’ mission with him? Kazehime had been extremely confused, and even considered the fact he might be making fun of her! However she brushed it off, because she doubted he’d start picking on her now after saying nothing when knowing she had a fear of fire, she took a mission that involved cooking. Still, she was confused as to why he would want to partner with her, knowing of the fear she had towards something that had to be part of his magic. Jiyu never considered he might have been impressed by how hard and devote she hung in during that mission, how even near passing out, she kept up the job until closing. In the wind mages mind? That was just part of doing one’s job, nothing akin to bravery or a proof someone could rely on her to some degree.

Tearing apart her brain for some reason that Magna had asked her to go with him on this mission? Jiyu played with the hem of her daisy dukes, pale skinned, sharply claws fingers tracing the garment until they found the black rose mark on her stomach and traced it up until her hand became distracted by her ebony hair, orange tips and bangs highlighting it. To say the Ace Of Hearts was nervous about this mission, was an understatement, she had no reason in her own mind, nothing suggesting why he invited her! Not knowing his exact reason for inviting someone he knew was bad with fire? Jiyu was unsettled and brought out all the stops! Shifting around she could feel her sheathed dagger against her breast, the quiver for her arrows cutting between the mounds, aiding in ensuring her bikini top stayed over her chest. Weight settled on her hips, one side coming from her hand fan which hung in a belt loop on her right side and the counter weight coming from Night Hunt on the left. Despite her weapons thought? Jiyu still did not seem to boast any armor, dressed skimpy as normal, her nearly past waist long hair being her most modest article, lacking Marschal’s jacket now that she had no reason to be ashamed of her body once more. Plus? She had found out putting her tail beneath something was very uncomfortable, the large fluffy appendage nearly wrapped around her leg, as her hand finally found one pale elfin ear and started toying with it, before contenting itself in tucking her locks behind the appendage.

Was this man just not going to show up on her? Maybe he asked about this whole mission thing as a fucking joke, to make her look foolish standing around waiting for him all day! Glancing up at the clock, she shook her head and laughed, she was still slightly early and last she checked he didn’t live within the inn itself like she did. Jiyu? Lived in a small room, one of the simpler rooms with a dresser, closest, a mirror, an area rug and a bed sided by a night stand; Of course, she had a bathroom attached. However apart from that, she needed nothing else of her room, she did not bother securing anything more lush, heck her bed  was even a single mattress instead of something like a double or queen! “You were almost late Manga.” she chuckled, walking forward when she saw him walk in, her finger pointing to the ticking clock as she approached him. Of course? He had twenty minutes before the appointed meeting time, but for someone who rose with the sun and had trouble sleeping to start with; Well Jiyu had a different sense of time and it’s value than most people. As the idea of time crossed her mind? Mythica invaded it once more, but she promptly shook off her thoughts of the dark mage, who she suspected she was far ahead of. “So, are they providing us transport, or do you need a lift?” considering the feathers tucked into her hair? She did need not even need ships or such anymore, she flew on her own and could take one other person along with her in flight, at least in theory. As of yet? She had not flown with someone else on the feather. Oh well.

Why had Magna, the ace of diamonds and one who cared about the happiness of others more than most, invited someone along on a job who ws ainherently afraid of a core part of his magic? No, not just a core part of his magic but a core part of who he was? A spirit of fire, the spider monkey he dubbed Toasty, dwelt within him so it was clear fire was an integral part of who he was. Besides, he was a chef and what good was a chef who didn't know how to use fire to some extent? Yes, fire was very important to him and yet he had invited someone on a job who was deathly afraid of it. Her fear was so great it had caused her to curl up into a ball. So what was his reasoning? Was he attempting to mock her? Was he attempting to help her get over her fear? Did he have some great use for her? No, not at all really.

The truth was he had no real reason for inviting her other than wanting to get to know her more. She had become an ace recently, the ace of hearts, and joined him amongst the Black Rose guild's most elite mages. As such it was likely they would be sent on high level missions together in the future and the only time he'd worked with her was in a kitchen. That wasn't exactly the best place to judge her skill or learn how she fought or anything like that. In truth, he wasn't exactly the type who favoured combat related jobs, but he did go hunting for high level ingredients and fought big beasts to get some of them. So he did have combat experience. She did not know how he fought either. Today they would learn much about eachother. That was the whole point of this task. He'd worked with another of the aces, Irina, before and today he would work with the ace of hearts in a combat situation. In the future he hoped to work with all of the aces at once to perhaps do some realy dangerous job or some jobs to really get the guild some recognition and funding. They were still rather small since Lavantir had been wiped out by Cassie.

When he entered the room he was accused of being almost late and glanced across at the clock. By his calculations he had at least twenty minutes before he was actually due. It seemed both of them were the type to arrive early to insure they weren't late. "Sorry about that. Was preparing some food for our trip. I know you're not a big fan of it so thought i'd do it here" he said calmly with a slight smile though if you looked at him you would notice he had no bag or anything like that on him. All he had was his knife at his waist and a slight bulge in one pocket. Magna carried all of his ingredients and meals in a pocket dimension. A pocket dimension that seemed to exist outside time somehow. Everything that entered there remained in the state he put it in for no matter how long he put it in there. He'd theorised that perhaps he could access things he had not actually put there yet, but couldn't because he didn't know how to access them as he didn't know what they were. Perhaps if he gained some sort of foresight ability. However, if he did would he then still have to put them into the storage in the future or not? Would it cause a paradox and lead to a lot of negatives? It was tricky and rather metaphysical in its way.

"Well my thought was to get a coach to the dock and then get a boat across to the location as i've still got a bit of cash from my last job, but if you have a better way i'm all for it." he said with a grin. He didn't mind saving money because after all if he saved money then he could use that for ingredients or equipment later. "So how do you propose we get there?" He didn't recall hearing about any transport abilities or transport that Jiyu posessed and Magna heard most things. He did work in a bar and restaurant after all, which allowed him to hear most of the gossip and goings on. He sometimes even traded a meal for a good bit of info providing it could be backed up somehow.

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If he truly did care most about the happiness of others? The man had a very funny way of showing it in Jiyu’s opinion! Heck she almost considered going around with him worse than the exam Izayuki had given her only a few days ago. Dealing with fire spirits, was an activity she never wanted to repeat; Once her exam was over, she had been unable to even make her way back to the guild, she could only lay there and hug Makoto. Speaking of that small baby kitsune? The creature was standing beside the one who had adopted her, looking up at Jiyu with large eyes and tilting her head to the side, not quite getting the fact that Kazehime could be gone for an extended period of time. In fact? This was the first mission the wind mage was embarking on after her exam. “Maka, stay here and be a good girl, you can’t come with me, this could be dangerous, watch over our room while I’m gone.” she crouched down and the kit leaped at her, wrapping it’s paws around her shoulders and nuzzling her neck, tails draped against the ground sadly. To say the creature was dejected and sad? Was an understatement, she detested that Jiyu went out sometimes and told her to stay behind, she knew of her new adoptive mother’s fear and did not want the wind mage to encounter fire without her there as protection! “I’ll be back as soon as I can be, we’ll get pizza the night of my return, alright?” While Jiyu tried to console the fox kit who was distressed about not coming with once more? Makoto had changed gears in her focus, and decided she disliked the man who was seemingly going with her parent figure! The kitsune deemed him lackluster in ability and grace, decided he’d be unable to protect Jiyu if flames came into the picture, and the hatred on her face told the story, her fur glowing dimly as she glared at him. “Maka Be Good!” Kazehime did not even realize the exchange Maka had attempted with her mission partner, standing  up with a satisfied smile, once the kitsune exclaimed she’d be alright. Honestly? She would have to start teaching Maka to speak better, but for now she had a prior enchantment, something else she had to do before she could tutor the small fox in better speech, this likely dangerous mission she promised to accompany Magna on, this came first! “Go back to our room than precious.” The kitsune vanished and started heading back, Jiyu watching for a few seconds. Even if she feared the flames Maka could produce? The kitsune’s mother had died leading hunter’s away from her child, just as Jiyu believed her mother died to prevent her status as a half demon from being  known. Considering the similarities in their mother’s deaths? Kazehime had been unable to take down Koto in order to stop her burning citizens, and she’d been unable to leave the kitsune alone, so she adopted the small fox.

“That’s good.” she supposed it was beneficial that he had prepared all the food prior to coming to meet up with her. At least he was keeping her fear in mind to that extent, a level that would make simply existing in the same space easier. The saddest thing about all this? If it wasn’t for her fear of fire, teaming up with a mage like him would be an amazing thing, and the unision raid if they ever achieved one would be amazing since her magic naturally boosted fire magic! However such things were impossible, the ace of diamonds and ace of hearts would likely have drastic trouble working together at some point, simply because her fear of fire was something she’d never be able overcome. Jiyu shook her head slightly, glancing over at him, wondering how she would be able to pull off giving him a ride when she could barely maintain her composure at this distance. If she truly offered him a ride on her feather? She had to be on it as well, which meant they’d end up touching somehow, and she wasn’t sure if she could take that! Sighing slightly she gave a slight smirk. Right now? It was time to show off how much she’d gotten stronger since he’d went on that cooking mission with the little malnourished and scarred human girl! Fang’s showing she motioned for him to come outside “My transport is free.” she explained briefly, knowing more would be needed soon, pushing the door open and going for one of the feather’s tucked behind her ear. Explaining that the tiny like two inch long feathers you kept tucked behind your ear, could transform into something large enough to carry two people and fly? Could be a tad bit hard for someone to grasp, so she decided to demonstrate first “Feather.” she woke it up and the item quickly grew in size until it was about her height in length and several feet wide, floating in front of her. Now that she had the feather out and in flight form? She turned her head, angling her body slightly to look at the cook. “This is my suggestion for transport, it’s free, decently paced, the only hitch is you might have to hold onto me, just to be extra safe, since I’m guessing you’ve never been on one before.” After she spoke? The half demoness stayed silent, after all now it was all really his decision. Waiting for his reply to her proposal of transport, the wind witch leaned back on her heels causing her body to lose it’s balance and fall back onto the feather, tail lashing around as her behavior started to catch the eye of people walking around. Hopefully he would not make her wait all day for his reply, body moving to perch entirely on the feather, knees up to her chest with her arms crossed over them.

It seemed, much like himself, that Jiyu had a companion who was important to her. One that she wanted to keep safe above all else. The fox however did not seem happy with him and looked at him in anger the fur glowing slightly. In response his own eyes began to glow red ever so slightly and his monkey like tail twitched slightly. He however was rather quick to hide this. He shook his head with a note of irritation. That was the first time Toasty had come forth in such a way. The flame spider monkey normally remained as just a voice at the back of his head but it seemed that this time it had seen the kitsune as a direct challenge and had decided to respond. It seemed the two spirits were growing stronger slowly as he did. Perhaps they fed directly on his magic power? It did not matter right now, but he noted he'd have to practise with them more when he got back from this job. His mind turned to thoughts of his own companion, the warrior spirit Aegis. The spirit had been sealed in his knife form for a while now, ever since his encounter with some werewolves where the knight had taken a fatal bite. He'd shown himself briefly as a spirit to convince a demon not to attack him, but that was the last he'd seen or heard from the spirit. Any time he tried to communicate he did not get a response, but instead got a feeling that it was not yet time and to leave the knight alone. Something had changed within the knight, but what he could not tell.

"If you want i'll cook the pizza for your meal when you return. I have a few new recipes to try which I think you'll enjoy. Don't worry i'll prepare them far away from you." he said with a smile. He didn't like the fact he couldn't cook around her. One of his best skills was his showmanship in a cooking. Watching him cook was generally enough to whet the appetite if the smell or look was not enough. His cooking was a true feast for the senses. He even had some dishes where the sound of them cooking was like music for the ears. Of course, the best bit was the taste, but still if he could improve the other sensory pleasures then that was a bonus. "Though of course you're welcome to say no." he said with a shrug. Soon after the two began to head outside where he was shown a feather that rapidly grew into what was supposed to be the transport to get them to their location.


He observed the feather for a brief moment working out the logistics. If it was capable of carrying two people, and he was sure it was as otherwise why would Jiyu suggest it, then the two would have to get uncomfortably close to stay on it. This was reinforced by Jiyu mentioning he'd have to hold on to her lest he fall off. "I haven't been on one before that's true, but I also won't need to hold on." he said and tapped the gauntlet on his left hand with the gauntlet on his right. "These two allow me to fly to some extent so if I fall off i'll be fine." Besides, if he knew Jiyu as well as he thought he did then he doubted she'd be comfortable with him touching her. She had no issues with her body from what he'd seen, but as he wielded fire and contained a fire spirit she might not be happy with him being the one touching her. As he thought this another thought crossed his mind. If she was so scared of fire then why was her animal companion from earlier a fire spirit. That seemed a rather odd choice to him now that he thought about it. After all, it was clear that the beast wielded fire. A mystery to be sure and one he hoped to solve on this journey.

He chuckled ever so slightly as she fell backwards onto the feather, but stifled it quite quickly trying to disguise it with a cough before joining her on the feather keeping as much distance as he could. Using his tail he had quite a good sense of balance and enjoyed climbing so he should be ok without falling off. "So how long have you and Maka been friends?" he asked curiously as he waited for the feather to take flight. "Meaning no offense, but she seems an odd choice of companion considering your phobia." Though in truth he perhaps could not speak much on this. After all, his companion was a knight and that seemed an odd choice for a chef when creatures like the Blue Nitro, which Gala(the other chef in the guild), existed. They were beings of pure appetite and skilled chefs in their own right and yet he had the ancient  warrior Aegis. The reason for this wasn't so much a matter of choice, but instead a matter of lineage. He was a descendant of the bloodline of the pot knight and Aegis had sworn his life to defend the bloodline of that ancient knight. The bond was so strong that even after Aegis' death he carried on serving the bloodline. He was truly Magna's best friend and someone he worried for greatly, especially recently.

"What made you accept my request for this job anyway?" he asked. He knew the ace of hearts wasn't exactly his biggest fan, mostly due to his use of fire, and thus it seemed odd she'd accepted. She didn't have to after all. Before she was an ace he could of perhaps used his authority to compel her to go on the job with her, but now she was an ace he did not have that authority. They were both equals. Not that he'd ever of used the authority. Besides from in the kitchen he hated to give orders and he only gave them in the kitchen when needed. Most of his chefs were trained by him and knew what he expected.

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Makoto was more than simply an important companion, pet of sorts to the wind mage, the fox kit was so much more, even if few people knew what she truly was to Jiyu! The female had developed trouble leaving out with the idea she was leaving the orphaned kitsune all alone for the duration of her missions. However she had to fight past the guilt, because Kazehime had to go out on these missions, even the one’s that did not request for her presence by others, she just needed to keep going. If she stopped her mage work? The half demoness would not be able to cope with herself too well, it would just slowly kill the girl, now that she was so synced with the wind and her magic, she couldn’t imagine not using it as often as she did! Yet, she still felt the pit of her stomach get sick when she told the toddler like vixen to go back to their room and just wait for her return, patiently, maybe in the same way she’d waited for her mother to return before realizing the older kitsune was dead; The same way Jiyu spent years watching their rebuilt front door in hopes of seeing her mother walk back through the door. Somehow, she could never shake the thought now, whenever she went out, the demoness feared doing the same thing to Maka that her mother had already done, leaving the kitsune all alone in the world once more! In some ways, that could be prescribed as her greatest fear, hurting someone she cared for so much. Since she spent so long being unimportant to anyone besides herself? Kazehime was still growing adjusted to the fact she had several people who would miss her now if something happened on one of these missions, the fact that kit would likely wait at her door forever, waiting for pizza they’d never had and not believe anyone when they tried to inform Maka she’d passed. Such thoughts haunted her brain until Magna had spoken again and brought her out of the dangerous reflection, causing Jiyu to look at him and need to take time in order to get the look out of her eyes. In the end? Maka was something most people would see as some sort of pet Jiyu kept around; But to the wind user the kitsune was basically her adoptive child, one who suffered the same cruel early death of their birth mother that Jiyu herself had endeared. Even with those feeling however? It was impossible for Jiyu to keep herself out of harm's way, to remain somewhere safe to raise Maka. When the dust settled, Kazehime had to be doing something and most of the time what she did was dangerous and risked her own life. At the very least, when every single day came to a close, the wind mage could lay down where ever she was, very confident in the fact Maka was safely laying in their bed within the silver moon. So long as she knew that? Nothing else really mattered.

“Would have to do it somewhere besides my place, my room doesn’t have a kitchen.” she lived beyond simple in terms of what a woman with her body and status could acquire. Honestly? The way Jiyu was simple and easy to please, was one of the few things that remained from the way she had grown up in Peace Village, everything else had moved to make way for her life as a mage. After her statement, she offered no reason for lacking a kitchen in her room, for she supposed that he would already easily realize the reason she did not have one. Someone who feared fire as Jiyu did? Could not simply have a stove or such in the same area they slept. At the moment, she could barely look at him, her tail fur standing on end as she felt her feather shift with his weight being added to it. While she had heard his explanation on how he would be fine? Kazehime still held some concerns, for the wind user did have a habit of going rather fast on her feather’s, so she wanted to make sure he’d be alright. However she would not press being held onto, especially when they both knew she did not actually want him to touch her. “Just promise to be careful then.” but she was anything besides displeased with how this ended up. At least this way, the only contact they had was her toe against his knee, as she kept her fluffy tail curled into her own lap, away from him. While she already figured he’d never touch her without asking permission first? Jiyu was still extra protective of her recently grown in tail, due to it being the most sensitive location on her entire body, privates included. If someone got their hands of her tail, she would be out of control entirely, they would have her. Even if he was her ally and guild-mate? She did not want to risk magna ever lording so much power over her physically weak body, her gorgeous body, but still very weak due to the suffering no longer evident except for pale discoloration around her wrists and lower legs. Yep, he was correct in assuming she no longer had any issues with her body once more, and that she was very proud of it, for good reason.

He waited until they were in the air, already over the ocean, to start asking questions. In the back of her mind? She thought about how clever he was, saving the questions for a time when one of them would have to go plunging into the ocean, if she wanted to avoid talking with him. “Makoto wasn’t a choice, she’s an orphan, one of the people in Rose Garden killed her mother, her father died fighting another kitsune to protect them years ago, she was burning people, hurting them in rage caused by her grief, I took her in to stop her, she needs me.” and no one had been there for Jiyu when she needed them, back when her own mother died even her father drown himself in a bottle of whiskey instead of holding his daughter! Somehow? It made the wind user feel better, that even though no one had been there for her, she could still be there for someone else who needed someone to hold their hand and tell them it was alright, that badly. Kazehime rarely thought about Maka being a fire fox and the kitsune herself avoided using her flames around the wing mage. However when Jiyu was away the fox played with her flames plenty, heck one day they might come home to the guild accidentally burned down.

“Made me?” she quirked her eyebrow as she glanced back at him, chuckling as she realized that magna believed she had the option of refusing the request in the first place. If someone was talking about free will versus anything else? She was able to refuse to come along with the man who wielded her biggest phobia. However one also had to consider the pride someone held when considering if they could refuse or not, and Jiyu held too much pride to refuse coming along with her fellow ace! From the very second the note had been slipped under her door? She had been fated to accompany him, there would be no timeline, expect one that had her bedridden unable to move, where he went on this job without her, after requesting her aid! Especially now that she was a canine, helping out those like him, who could be considered part of her pack, was embedded into her blood itself. Jiyu could have never refused his request, no matter how much she had wanted to. “There’s no logical reason for me not to come with you, is there?” it was clear she considered her fear of fire illogical. While it did have roots in her past, in two different places? Jiyu still felt it was silly to be so afraid of the element.” You’ve never done anything to harm me.” she really should be watching where she was going, however she turned around to face him, most of her body anyways. Who were they going to run into in the sky? “A fear rooted in the past is no reason for me to refuse. You're my guild-mate aren’t you? I’m suppose to help you.” The witches velvet voice faded. No matter the level of her mind and body wanting to ignore him and stay away from his flames? It was just never going to actually be able to happen, because of who she was internally.

“We’re here.” when she finally pipped up again, her feather was descending towards the small boat docked at the shore of the island they were suppose to be going to. “Feather.” she held her hand out, standing up slowly, causing the item to vanish from under them and fly back into her waiting hand, her body being gently lowered the remaining five to ten feet by the wind that she also used to fight.

"I'll cook it in my room, store it in my pocket dimension and bring it to you fresh as the moment it came out the oven. Any topping requests?" he asked casually treating the fact that he would have to cook it in his own kitchen and deliver it as a minor detail. He paused briefly as he considered the idea. "I wonder...maybe I should start a food delivery side business..." he said going slightly off topic. If he and Gala cooked meals, Magna could then store them in his pocket dimension and go to the location rapidly. With the help of someone like Jiyu he could deliver to quite a lot of areas. He'd have to consider the profitability of course as whilst he'd love to cook for everyone in the world whenever they wanted it would not be wise to bankrupt himself to do so. If he did then who would deliver their meals? He could even add a charity side to it and send food to people who needed it desperately. Perhaps Jiyu would be willing to help. They could deliver food to the victims of fires for example. Well, those who survived the fires anyway. "Eh that's a thought for another day." He said and dismissed it for now. He'd think more on that if they got back safe.

So the little kitsune, the fire spirit fox, had been adopted by Jiyu because of certain events. The events in rose garden were not one he recalled hearing about and if it wasn't for the fact he felt the topic might be a little sensitive he would of enquired more about it. However, it wasn't important just a matter of curiosity. The feather itself was not perhaps the safest way to travel, nor was it the most comfortable, but the view was spectacular. It was a shame it only held two people as he'd love to take Shade on a magic feather ride, but sadly that wasn't an option. "It was very kind of you to take in someone who wields something you fear. You are a braver woman than most with a bigger heart than most." he said with a faint smile. He wasn't sure that he would be able to do such a thing. He didn't have a fear quite as crippling or anything like that in truth, but still he was an understanding fifteen year old. "If you ever want someone to keep an eye on her whilst you're out on a mission feel free to ask."

"You have a fair point there." he replied in response to her answer about the job details. She didn't really have any reason other than her fear of fire to not go on a job with him. To a lot of people a phobia was illogical, but a phobia of something like fire, considering he'd seen burns on her, was not that illogical. "Though I don't like the thought that you were compelled to come just because I asked. After all, if you have other plans then feel free to say no. I'd rather you come of your own free will rather than some compulsion due to us being guildmates." He felt a bit bad that he was was perhaps belittling her coming with him and decided that it would be wise to clarify what he meant. "Though I am glad you came. I think, as we're both aces and might be sent on jobs together, that we should try to learn how to work together. After all, if we don't know how to work as a team then the team becomes truly a recipe for disaster." He truly was glad she came and more than just for that reason. "Hopefully, we can work together more in the future as friends rather than just guildmates, but we will see I guess." he said with a smile as the feather began to descend. With a wink he stood up and backflipped off using the gauntlets to slow his descent. They fired compressed kinetic energy in small bursts to propel him through the air. By using smaller bursts he would merely slow his drop. This wasn't him showing off. It was demonstrating one tool he had at his disposal and which he hoped would come of great use. The Black Velvet gauntlets were a powerful weapon and tool.

He watched as the feather shrunk and vanished. Her own descent was unnatural yet he could see no obvious reason for her slowed descent. It wasn't drastically slower, but it was certainly slower. Perhaps she used some form of gravity or air manipulation magic? The only job they'd gone had been working in a restaurant so the two had not actually seen anything of how the others worked combat wise or magic wise. Well, she'd likely seen him summon up ingredients and tools, but nothing more. That was something he hoped would change after this job. "So...let's get going. There's a path ahead...seems the best way forward." By some strange instinct he felt trying to fly would not be wise so for now he decided to go by the path. The job had little details except that there was a lrge source of magic and some eternano scientists wanted it recovered. The divide island was mysterious. It was said that the legendary warrior Zack Rose had fought here when a rift had opened between dimensions. Though that was several years ago and no-one really knew what happened to him. One day he was the guild master of blue pegasus and the next he was gone without a trace, a new guidmaster in his place.

"Let's proceed with caution. We don't know whats here. It could be nothing, but it could be dangerous." he suggested and placed a hand on the knife at his waist closing his eyes briefly in almost a prayer like manner Aegis. I know you can hear me. I know you can't help yet, but please protect me if not in body then in spirit. Be the guardian of me as you've always been A sense of serenity came across him. It was almost as if he had his answer.

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So that was how he got things around so easily and why he could afford to make their food for this mission ahead of time! Honestly she had been somewhat curious as to how he could do that sort of thing. Pocket dimensions were something she had to be familiar with, she knew of other realms thanks to Leila’s magic, but she did not know about who spaces with infinite room that could be contained in one’s pocket, it seemed incredibly convenient to be brutally honest, she kinda wanted one of her own, even though she had no use of it. If given enough time? Jiyu could find a way to use any given thing, maybe she would use the pocket realm to hide in! Could he put people in there? Now was she was wondering about unnecessary things, like could he slip into it himself, maybe he would sleep there if this mission lasted a long time. If he did sleep in it? How would she wake him up when it was time to set out again. Kazehime was thinking of so many small things she did not pick up on his delicious plan for food, one’s she’d approve of it she ever became aware of them. “Pepperoni.” she heard his topping request thought, and her mind swirled with the possibilities. For the moment, her fear when unthought of as her mouth water, body leaning back slightly which would cause a slightly amount of greater contact between them as she put her chin in her hand and with a dreamy look started speaking again with her tail starting to wag in her lap. “Oh sardines, bologna, chicken, there are so many options for meat to top pizza, and then there are cherries.” that last one was weird for someone who seemed to exclusively eat raw meat, well shocker she ate cherries too, though mostly it was just cherry flavored things. “Everything's better with a cherry on top!” she smiled over at him, clearly demonstrating that food was something she actually rather enjoyed, when it was a discussion of her eating it, or just food being given to her, so long as fire remained unmentioned. Also the wind mage seemed to believe that you could throw anything together as you pleased and it would eventually taste good.

Jiyu was overly nosey about everything and that was how she had first found out about the fire spirits causing trouble. However she had never intended to become part of it. Instead? Her involvement had started when Izayuki had directly sent a note requesting for her to take care of it and report back. Kazehime could still remember how terrified she’d been every single second of that night! In fact she could not recall how she had made it out of the darkness of that evening, alive. Yet when she woke the next morning with a kitusne draped across her chest, the half demoness remembered the events that took place, realized she was B rank and the Ace Of Hearts, which suited considering she had solved every issue save one that night without really fighting. When you feared something like she feared fire? That was not an easy task, heck just to speak to Koto for the first time, she had to blind fold herself, so she wouldn’t see the fox fire and change her mind. It was good her co-passanger had not inquiered further thought, because the wound concerning her mother and such was still too deep, the male would end up in the ocean if he asked the temperamental sorceress about anything deeper. Also mentioning her feather was uncomfortable transport? Well let’s say that the wind sorceress found her transport very comfortable and sometimes spent hours laying on this thing up in the sky, just being rocked there by the wind. Honestly, it felt like heaven, that was the best sensation ever and one of the few times she felt completely calm and at peace. The only time she felt safer than when she was in the sky? Was when she was with Marschal, right against him, right next to him, there with the man who saved her life. Oh, and Leila made her feel comfortable too.

“Eh I don’t quite know about that.” Normally she was boastful about her positive attributes, her magical power and her body mostly, it was weird she brushed off that compliment so easily. Maybe? She was starting to realize he was a fire user again, it wasn’t the truth, but it was a possibility. The truth was that Jiyu thought herself selfish for it really, it would have been wiser and easier to give Maka to someone like him, and yet she kept the kitsune when others were just as capable, because of some kinship she’d seen in their pasts! Jiyu did well thought, despite her slightly selfish motive and inexperienced in caring for others so deeply. In fact the girl's heart had been fairly closed off since she was seven years old. “Maybe feeding her, she must get tired of raw food all the time.” even though Koto was the real wild animal and Jiyu was just a half dog demon, the woman seemed to enjoy things raw much more than her adoptive daughter did! She really didn’t know if she’d truly ask him to watch her yet, since she wasn’t even willing to let Marshcal or Leila baby sit the kitsune, and would rather leave her to the whole guild for extra safety, instead of entrusting the kit to a single person. As her hype from their talk about something to fill her stomach with, faded, the wind user scooted forward on her feather once more, checking to confirm the distance between them, and that they were touching as little as possible. However at least now Magna had proof it was not she had a problem with and that in time he might be able to win him over, at least until he started up a fire.

While Magna did understand part of her phobia towards fire? Being burned as a method for torture and forcing her to eat for two years, that had just cemented it further in, the savage fear had been there before. If it was not for a wound much deeper than the one that made her afraid of the dark sometimes? Jiyu might not even be afraid of fire, but it had taken the person in the world most precious to her, and that could never be undone no matter how much time passed the world by. “Of course I do.” there was that obnoxious borderline annoying confidence and faith in herself again, playful smirk on her mouth. She chuckled at his comment about something along the lines of not wanting to force her hand and such, imped on her life. “Oh, I’d be out doing something dangerous anyways, it’s practically my middle name.” seriously, even if her reason for coming directly was because he asked and she owed it to him? She could have ended up tagging along on her own whim as well if she was bored enough, even with his fire wielding, not that she’d ever let him know she was fully and willfully tagging along if she just tacked onto a mission uninvited. Eh, now her thoughts were getting screwed again, but it didn’t matter, they were almost there.

Once she was gracefully standing on the ground, lowering from her tip toes, the female payed attention to the last words he had said and dealing with his flamboyant exit from her feather. ‘Yeah but can you do it without the gauntlets?” she chided it playfully, saying nothing to his wish to become friends, her eyes averted slightly. This time comparing a dog to a skittish deer would be accurate. While Jiyu did not want to hold her fears against the monkey tailed man? It was hard to not do such as thing considering how deeply ingrained her fear was. However, as he had said, somehow they needed to be able to work on a team together! Kazehime thought it might actually be possible through, considering most of her magic was like a trap, or better cast away from a vantage point, away from close combat. In her thoughts, she failed to realize he started walking, but it was no big deal as she easily caught up in a few steps, due to her demon blood making her naturally swift. “Didn’t I tell you? Danger is my middle name; We’ll be careful.” the wind user then darted slightly ahead of him, before slowing to be next to him, repeating this several times.

Until.

A distinct buzzing sound filled the air and she caught sight of two distinct things, a flurry of about 30 birds above them and ten totem heads surrounding them. “These don’t look like much, why don’t you let me get them.” she smirked slightly, walking forward, accenting every sway of the hips, each step and tail swish, all to make sure their attention was on her and not him. Considering they were not very intelligent? This worked like a charm, and they all lunged for her. To someone who did not know her primary or secondary magic, it might look like she’d frozen up or something, in over her head as her arm finally lifted for an arrow. However before she could even really showcase her magic? “Damn they didn’t even make it past my aura? Weaker than I thought.” a few of the birds fell against her, one into her hands, but they were useless now, entirely defeated and deactivated by an unseen force that had any nearby animals running in fear, able to sense her demonic aura. “Next enemy is yours then? If it looks anything like these” for now this seemed to be casual and rather easy fighting. Clearly, they would help each other when needed, but for the moment it did not seem either of them would need help with these simple enemies.

Based on her words, and his previous knowledge of her, it seemed the pizza she desired was one that was very heavily meat based. That was quite easy to do. He had many meats of many kinds and many cheeses and tomatoes and other sauces that went well with them. Depending on the meats he chose, which would likely be her list and a few more, he'd have to come up with the best combination to truly make the pizza the best version it could be. It wouldn't be too hard or so he hoped, but this hope was dashed when she mentioned wanting cherries on her pizza. Now Magna was not a stranger to odd choices of toppings or even just odd mixtures, but he'd gone to many pizza restaurants in his time such as the Pizza Shack, Calzone Planet, Triominoes, Question and a few other and not once had he come across cherries as a pizza topping. A slight grin came to his face as he considered the challenge. This pizza was not just going to be a celebration of mission success for Jiyu, but a challenge for him. He would create a new pizza dish that would be sold at Black Rose. Perhaps he could get Gala involved as his knowledge probably exceeded Magna's own. He was only fifteen whilst Gala was decades old though still looked young due to his yokai heritage. Plus he had a blue nitro on call and blue nitro were basically embodiment of pure appetite. Yes, Gala might prove useful here for advice. Magna was proud of his skills, and justly so, but he knew he wasn't an expert on everything and still had a lot to learn so he wouldn't turn down help and advice from people unless he knew said help and advice was wrong from his  own research. Though this did not mean he would take the advice as gospel, but would keep it under consideration, test it and use it if it proved to actually be useful. "The pizza will certainly involve cherries in some way." he said with a slight tone of mystery to his voice. He did not mention how he would use them. In fact, he doubted he'd put actual cherries on the pizza, but the flavouring of cherry...well that was something he was sure he could use. Perhaps a cherry cured bacon instead of maple.

To his further surprise it seemed she didn't think she was kind or brave to take in the fox pup, but Magna truly felt she was. It was not something he felt he could of done and so the fact she had made her a lot better of a person in his eyes. At first he'd seen her as just another mage of the guild with a fear of fire that could leave her catatonic, but now he was seeing a different side to her. She had a caring side that seemed to go beyond her dutiful nature earlier revealed. It seemed too that she had a maternal defense of the kitsune in that she didn't want Magna to look after her except in the form of feeding. It was understandable. Right now they were just mages from the same guild who had worked together and were working together. There was no other bond between them really or at least not yet. Perhaps if he didn't wield fire to such an extent then he might of became a friend or someone a bit closer than 'ally' at least. However, fire was a key part of who he was just like her fear of fire was a key part of who she was. "Aye but even if danger is your middle name and you'd be doing something dangerous anyway...if its got importance to you then feel free to do that first or instead of coming with me." He didn't want her to feel pressured into anything. Her fear of fire likely made her not want to work with her too much and thus

"No i can't do it  without the gauntlets...though I can get down from places quite well even without them. I just need walls or something" he said with a chuckle. Though he did have an idea in his mind about how to improve the gauntlets. What if he added a pair of boots to do it that used the same principle. That way his kicks could be much stronger and he'd have a bit more variety to his combat. That certainly sounded like an improvement to him. A new ingredient to the recipe that was his combat style.

As they headed forward with her performing some strange darting motion before slowing to his pace over and over a faint buzzing sound began to fill the air. Soon after that 30 bird-like things appeared that seemed to be the cause of the buzzing. Jiyu made the comment that they appeared weak and he was in truth in agreement with that. He shrugged and nodded as she asked him to let her go get them. He stood there calmly watching her as she swayed forward drawing the eyes of all the birds, and Magna to some extent to her (he was a young teenage boy after all even if he had a girlfriend). The birds dive bombed her as she raised her hand and then suddenly they all fell down dead. He blinked in surprise as he saw that and heard her comment about an aura. He'd heard of such things, but had never seen them in use before. They seemed to be rather useful as you could easily take down weak enemies without doing anything. He tilted his head and paused wondering if he could do such a thing with his magic. Perhaps using some kind of heat or cold. He could manipulate the air so perhaps he could do something like microwaves and cook those who came close? It could potentially work.

"Aye i'll take the next bunch though I don't have many area spells." he said though this was perhaps a little bit of a lie. He did have area spells, but most of them used fire and fire was something he would try not to use today. The fact he couldn't use it did betray a weakness in his magic or more in his combat style. He relied heavily on his heat stacks to bring down his opponent. Without those he couldn't dish out half as much damage. On a mission like this where he'd try to keep his fire spells off limits he was stuck. He needed to find other ways to cause damage or disable his opponents. There had to be a way. Perhaps he could generate stacks using his ice spells as well? "I really need to learn some more spells."

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Since Jiyu was a dog, the short Wind Mage was someone who adored the taste and scent of meat! Also? Ever since becoming half demon she had craved even more for the tantalizing flavor of raw still blood soaked meat. However Jiyu had also come to accept the fact she had to restrain her desire, because even the blood of a fish, even her own blood, could make her dog demon instincts and desires rise unto a point where she could barely control them anymore! Thus she spoke words magna likely thought he would never hear from the ace of hearts. “Just make sure all the blood is cooked out of the meat.” Since he was feeding her, the half demoness would hate to suddenly decide he looked tastier than the pizza did! Kazehime was always afraid of being some sort of blood lusting monster, since she knew little about being half demon and even less about the surge of power and heady emotional pleasure she endured whenever she consumed blood. Each time she had blood? The way she changed scared her. So Jiyu chose to not focus on those thoughts but instead on the fact he'd accepted her challenge of incorporating cherries! The witch knew she had weird tastes, and to have him rise to meet them was amazing. Maybe? He'd be able to overcome the fire barrier between them, by shoving her full of good food! Considering just getting hyped in conversation was enough to allow her to touch him slightly without flipping. Clearly Jiyu was no better than your basic animal, and she clearly didn't care to change that, especially when it came to her stomach! If someone ever pointed it out though, well no one ever had, so the mage did not know what she would do. Not that it mattered much, it was highly doubtful a cook would pick on her for really loving her stomach filled , since it was his job description to make sure people had full stomachs. “Cherries and sweets are amazing.” She was no food expert, no connoisseur, her weird tastes ensured that, but it was beyond painfully clear that anything edible which also suited her tastes was the way into her heart or at least her good side! “So what are we having to eat later?!” She had no doubt he would feed them before this mission was over, since he had stashed food in his pocket dimension. And? Since he seemed to aim to please, she suspected whatever he had in store would be something she would enjoy greatly, especially since he did not have to cook it in front of her. Also if he introduced the woman to cherry flavored bacon, that would be her breakfast everyday for some time!

In terms of sides to Jiyu that Magna had left to see? There were many of them! When she first met someone she would come off as very one dimensional due to the distance she liked to keep between herself and others, to prevent her heart from being hurt and wounded once more. However even Jiyu did not know everything about herself, she had spent so long running, that now she sometimes barely knew who she was past it. Often times when someone thought they were discovering something about her? She was discovering that same thing right alongside them! Owning a large enough heart to face her fear for a child who needed something she had once cried out for, but never received, to give what she knew was needed? Was something she never expected from herself, always having see herself as strictly task oriented and self centered. However sometimes things that's touched so near the heart could cause one to behave differently than they would otherwise.

“Eh, it's no fun being in danger alone anyways.” She shrugged it over her shoulder with a slight chuckle, bare feet scraping across the ground gently. “And for reference I don't actually even have a middle name.” Lest he think her parents actually assigned her the middle name danger! Hey, maybe that was something she could do, legally change her name to Jiyu Danger Kazehime, that would be a neat stunt to pull for sure. “But you know when we get back, I'll change my name to add it as my middle name.” She laughed at the glee of this, fading into chuckles as they walked along, smirk covering her pale pink lips and a slight flush on her face due to her hysterics. Yeah, it would be a riot if that actually became her full name. Also it was hard to pressure someone who had the confidence Kazehime possessed, at least now that her body was healed save for minor discoloration around her wrists and on her lower legs.

“Well you have trees here.” She pointed it out passively, feet barely seeming to touch the ground. Even without the gauntlets she figured he'd be good here, considering all the trees they were walking throught. “So what are you anyway? The tail.” She had done the same thing to other people too, marshcal namely, she had yet to ask anyone besides those two men what sort of existence they happened to be. Unless someone was clearly not all human in her opinion? She never asked such a question. Jiyu highly doubted that Magna could be all human with his tail. Hopefully he wouldn't be offended by her question and if he was than she'd just think he was too sensitive.

“Ha you have no area spells and I have too many. We might be able to work well after all, maybe.” If she could stay very far away from his fire while they fought together? Than it was remotely possible they could function together! Of course there were other spell kinds past area and close combat. Jiyu tended to forget any spell that was not a range of some sort thought, which was only natural for someone who could not afford to let a strong enemy near then. If anything strong got near the witch? Her body was just too weak to take the hits.

“Can't really help you there unless you wanted to learn wind magic.” She chuckled, stating it more as some sort of joke. Though her wind magic would be a good compliment to his fire, since it boosted such elements. “Somethings coming.” Her ears twitched and nose flared, we she confirmed it was no boss, she stepped back behind him a bit. “You can take this one as priory agreed.” And watching each other was a good way to learn about their different magics and how to work together.

Cherries and sweets were amazing were they? Well, that was true in its own way, but in truth any food item could be amazing if cooked in the right way. A simple cheap egg could have a truly powerful flavour if it was frozen first to compact and focus the strength of the flavour. Cherries did have a lot of uses. Sodas, toppings, filling, jams and more. However, he'd never used them in a main before. Then again he had used pineapple on pizza before and that was sweet to some extent. It wasn't the same as cherries, but it did have potential. Perhaps he could use a cherry jam or a cherry based honey as a topic. That was when an idea came to his mind. There was a species of tomato that had a cherry flavouring. If he used that as the base sauce for the pizza then cherry would be a key part and he could build on that. He was still tempted by the idea of cherry cured bacon though. "Aye, they really are. Though I have a few fruits in my pocket that are a bit better than your average cherry." he said cryptically. He had one in particular in mind that blew any cherry out of the water. The legendary rainbow fruit though now he thought of that in appearance it was like a rainbow coloured giant cherry. Perhaps he could use that with a bit of work.

"I certainly prefer working with people rather than working alone." he said and once more his hand went to the knife at his waist. He did not know what he was going to do if Aegis did not wake up from whatever state he was in. He'd already had to adapt quite a bit, but he'd relied on Aegis being there and it would change things a lot. It wouldn't just be losing an ally. No, it would be losing a friend. Not just that. It would almost be like losing a part of himself. He chuckled at what he assumed was a joke about changing her name, but now that he thought about it perhaps it wasn't a joke. It did seem like something she might actually do and that in his mind just made it all the more entertaining. "Maybe I should get a middle name too. Magna Victus is a rather short name after all. What name would you suggest?"

He looked over at the trees and then down at his tail at the next comment she made. The trees were like home to him a bit and whats more he was able to move more freely in them. The question though was what exactly was he nowadays? He had gained monkey traits, but had that changed his race? Or was it just something all humans could potentially do if exposed to the water that unlocked the animal spirit within. "Would you believe i'm human?" he asked looking at her wondering how she'd react to such a statement. "Or...I was at least. Back in the old guild hall, when I first became an ace, Kakuma got me to bathe in a special pool and that awoke the animal spirits within me. That awakening caused by body to change and develop the spider monkey traits you see now. The question is does that make me any less human?"  It was an honest question to her. He didn't really know what to class himself as nowadays. Was he human? Was he monkey? Or was he something in between? Or was he closer to the likes of a yokai now? They had part animal traits after all. Then of course there was the cerberus lacrima whose powers had given him the titles Asura and Demon Chef. Did that make him less human? "I also have a special lacrima that has granted me the powers of the cerberus and is especially dangerous again canines and spirits."

"I wouldn't say I have no area spells. Its more I don't have access to a lot of them right now, though even if I did I wouldn't have many." he said in response hoping she would understand what he meant and realise he would be holding back for her sake. However, that did not mean he was completely defenceless. No, he had a lot of tricks up his sleeve especially by using his fusions. He was trying to use those fusions to overcome his weaknesses. His body, like hers, wasn't as suited for close combat as others might be. He preferred to keep his distance. That was Aegis' part in his combat. He went in close holding them in place and Magna struck with his powerful combinations from safety. Perhaps it was that fighting style that had caused him to become hurt? Was it his fault Aegis was trapped in his knife form? He shook his head. He couldn't dwell on such things because if he did then he would fall into despair again. He owed it to Aegis not to let that happen. He'd almost lost Aegis from his despair last time it happened. He wouldn't let his sadness bring him down again. He would get Aegis back somehow, some day.

"Well, air pressure is something i'd like to look into some more." he said when she mentioned learning wind magic. He didn't want to learn wind magic, but pressure was something that could be used in cooking and he had at least one usage for it so far. He hadn't used it in spell fusions yet so it would be interesting to see how that worked. It was at that point that another flock of the birds came flying in though strangely some of them had totems on the back that began firing off shots of something. Obviously, not something pleasent.

He moved forward swiftly and began to dodge between the spells before deciding to try and invert the very spell he'd been thinking on. To those with keen eyes they would notice that in the area the birds were flying in the air seemed to become somehow thicker before suddenly all of them froze solid and dropped to the ground shattering into pieces. "Well...that worked to greater effect than I thought it would. Seems combining cold with dense air pressure causes the cold to become a lot more intense thus almost instantly freezing it. A good combination to remember. What do you think I should call it?" he asked her curiously. He was considering something like flash freeze, but that didn't really incorporate the pressure side of things that well. "It looks like things are going to get tougher the further we get in. That or they saw what you did to the first birds and decided to keep their distance using those totem things." It was an interesting question in truth. Were they just naturally getting stronger as they got closer to whatever the source of the magic power was? Or were they adapting to face the pair of mages? The next group would perhaps confirm that because if they were somehow adapted to cold then they would be adapting. It didn't make sense for them to just randomly gain resistance to cold as they got further in.

"Its odd they are coming at us so directly. With those weapons they could of easily sneak attacked us from the hilltops nearby or even hidden in the trees." he said looking at the trees with a curious look on his face. He walked towards one of them and struck it at the base with his gauntlet using the concussive energy to shake the entire tree. As he removed his fist it was clear that he'd damage it very heavily. He shrugged and with simple ease picked up the large tree and hurled it in the direction the birds had come from. "Perhaps that will keep them off our backs for a bit as we go further."

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Total WC so far: 11723 (turns out Jiyu's first post was 1100 not a 1000)

“I don’t really know.” Who was to say he wasn’t human? He was not like her, he did not have the blood of something other than a human running through him! If he still wanted to identify as human? Who was she to stop him, in fact she wanted to be human again, even though she never had been human to begin with. When he mentioned a strength against canines? The female looked at him, quirking an eyebrow at the boy. “I’m a dog, well half dog demon, but I guess with your thing it would function the same? We’ll have to be very careful to avoid cross fire.” from what he said, it sounded like he was some sort of canine slayer! With his use of fire and now this? She took an additional step behind him, putting a little more distance between them. Honestly, she didn’t dislike the boy himself, but everything he was, he could kill her so easily, even by accident, he was dangerous to her. Sadly, it looked as if revealing his cerberus lacrima only put him nearly back at square one with her. Thought? It was better than what her reaction would have been if he hid it from her.

It felt like they had been walking for hours and the wind witch was tired of it, her weak body reaching it’s limit on this trek. Even if she was much better now? Unless she had adrenaline from battle or something affecting her, the lack of physical strength she had, still often came into play. Jiyu bit her bottom lip as she tried to keep up with Magna, eyes narrowing slightly at his back as she decided to just be done with all of this manual labour that people called walking. With the wind whispering at her neck, softly, temptingly and comfortingly? The mage didn’t even know why she had walked in the first place, she doubted she could fly to the middle of the island or whatnot, her feather’s had went whacky shortly after they landed, and she would not try to legit fly to the center, especially since she couldn’t take Magna with her without use of her feathers; But that said nothing to becoming too lazy to walk! “I am done with this, not walking anymore, wind.” the half demoness spoke up and it would be so easy to assume she was speaking to him, however that was anything but the truth, Jiyu was literally speaking to the air surrounding them,talking to thin air. However unlike most people who talked to thin air and were nuts, because it was never going to reply, the wind adored the girl enough to amuse her. The first thing that happened was her hair suddenly whipping around as if a strong breeze had surrounded only her, and then she jumped off the ground. Unlike most leaps though? Jiyu never came back down, she stayed suspended about a foot in the air. “Better” it had to be weird to see a woman suddenly start to float. Prior to even considering offering her companion an explanation? Jiyu took time to tuck her hair back behind her elfin ears, which was semi-pointless, considering her whole body was now the wind’s plaything and it chose to fan her hair out behind her as if she was under water, so it had not been in her way anyways. “Oh yeah, this must look confusing as hell, want me to explain?” she wasn’t to explain her bond with the wind, unless he actually wanted to know, otherwise she would just be wasting her breath. Kazehime now floated along after Magna, seemingly quite content now that she no longer had to take even a single step, her movement being taken care of by the same wind she used to fight. With this new ability? Her body would likely never get stronger, because she would rely in the wind. However that was not all bad, considering the wind would always be there for it’s mistress anyways, and she lasted a little longer when using her takeover’s, plus with her powerful magic, there was no reason to ever really work on her physical strength. Besides? In the end all she would get for such an attempt, would be misery and pain for days, her body was too weak to really strengthen.  

“You have no respect for the ground, do you woman?” the voice broke through everything else, and the wind witch finally looked directly ahead, her floating causing her to look as if she was the same height as Magna. Was this thing going to fight them? It looked like the turtle could be important, but honestly it was so small, and she could only focus on that and wonder if other people judged her because of her height as well. “I’m a wind mage!” she cared little for the ground, especially since she could probably float forever if she needed to, and even if she couldn’t, no ground mean nothing to impact when you fell. However she would keep these things from the turtle, as if they had to fight him to pass, knowing of her thoughts would only anger him. “Well it doesn’t matter, you must fight me to progress.”  so she had been wise to keep her thoughts within her own mouth. Oh well, she had a plan for taking this turtle down anyway. However she would have to do one simple thing before enacting the plan, and exercise great control over her body's movement. “Paw’s.” she touched her hands together and brought her heels together, suddenly the skin from the tips of her finger’s and toes, up to the bend of her elbows and knees, transformed into dog paws, claws erupting a second later. “Magna, get him off the ground.” however before she could through with any plan, she was shouting at the cook, because the turtle was controlling the field, and she had barely missed being impaled by an earth spike! For the moment? She had to trust the male to get the turtle off the ground, because she was balancing on a branch, and damn well wasn’t going back onto the ground until he was off it!

The awareness of him being a canine type slayer seemed to have caused another rift between them. He had not thought about her being part dog or anything like that and so of course finding out he was a cerberus slayer and did extra damage to canine was going to cause fear on her part. He clenched his fist in annoyance. He'd finally been getting through to her and now this new barrier had formed probably putting him back to step one. It was also annoying because now there were two types of spells he could not use in case he accidently hit her because she'd likely die very easily if he used a fire soul spell for example. The fear had caused her to back away and stand a bit behind him. Now he didn't even have a chance to talk further with her, not even about spell names. He'd probably stick with flash freeze for now. It wasn't the best name, but it worked quite well as it did instantly freeze things.

The walking was getting on his nerves as well, but in truth he didn't have any real way around it. He could use the gauntlets, but they were likely to attract attention and he'd feel bad if he left her behind. She might take it badly or think he was reacting negatively to her newfound fear of him. He turned when she mentioned that she was done with walking. The term wind was a new one as she'd not called him that nor would anything suggest that he would be called such a thing. It seemed though she was actually talking to the air itself because shortly afterwards it lifted her into the air and he nodded in appreciation. "Thats a neat trick. Maybe I can work out a way to do something similarly with my air pressure." he said offhandedly. He shook his head when she asked if he wanted an explanation on her floating. He could guess it was something related to her magic, but that was all he really needed to know. "Its part of your magic...doesn't surprise me that a wind mage can use the wind to fly...talking to it is a new one though."

It wasn't long before a voice spoke out. A voice that critcised Jiyu and her disregard for the ground. It seemed she was quite flippant about it just using her type of magic as explanation. He smirked slightly, but instantly went serious, his eyes glowing red, as the beast manipulated the ground to send a spike of earth at both of them. He twisted round it and then moved grabbing it and hurled it back. Her idea to throw the turtle in the air was good. If the turtle merely manipulated the ground it might need to touch it and besides in the air it would be a lot easier for her to hit. He grinned and ran in whilst it was distracted and darted round behind it grabbing it by the tail. "Fool. You can't lift me. I am stone. I am immovable." Magna just grinned in response.

"Wanna bet?" With that he let out a groan of exertion and began to slowly move his body in a circle. The turtle let out a gasp as it began to be lifted off the ground as Magna spun. Slowly but surely the speed began to increase and then he spoke again. "Have a nice flight Mr.Turtle." And with that he altered his movement bending his body slightly and hurled the turtle straight up into the sky. "All yours Jiyu."

As it flew up into the air, heading so high it became almost a speck in the air, it let out a scream. "You may have thrown me but the other guardians will destroyyyyy youuuuu" Magna tilted his head and then ran a hand through his crimson hair thinking on that. More creatures like this or different? He guessed different because if they were the same then they wouldn't be a threat if this one wasn't. Unless of course they were just bigger, but he could lift 1000 times his own weight and if he'd really tried he could of thrown it a lot higher than he had, but he wanted Jiyu to have her chance.

Whilst he waited and watched her attacks against it he considered her earlier question about food. He had numerous things prepared, but it seemed that meat would be a good option. Perhaps the meat stew he made? No, he knew exactly what she'd like. She'd go wild for his meat buns. They had the best meat he had available and the best seasoning. They dripped with meat juices. He'd even added some pork potatoes to add to the meatier flavour.

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“Well I can’t float or fly without the winds help, it’s a contract so I need to let it know when I want to make use of the bond.” she offered up the reason she had spoken to her element out loud and made herself look insane, because he at least deserved that much, maybe. Right now thought? She was more afraid of him than anything else, to have him controlling fire was one thing, her fear of fire was ingrained but she didn’t consider it who she was, on the other hand no one even Jiyu could deny her status as canine! The fact he could easily slay canids, was cause for alarm when she was considered into the picture. However she was at least thankful for his honesty, but she knew never to try to practice sparring against him or such, even one mis thrown hit from this man could potentially kill her, and she wasn’t ready to die at the moment, she wouldn’t be ready for some time. Of course? Who was ever ready to die. Kazehime shook her head as she floated, the wind wrapping comfortingly around her, tugging at her hair eliciting sweet little pricks of sensation as it continued to ensure she knew of it’s presence, trying to distract the sorceress from her own head. “Considering I just saw him throw a stone tiger, I’d reconsider your words mister turtle.”

Jiyu was now sitting on the same low branch she had used to catch her fall when she’d been thrown by the turtles magic. Instead of reentering the fight right away? She just sat there crossed legged, waiting for the male to do what she had requested of him, wisely staying out of the way of a mage who could kill her so easily. As he prepared to throw the turtle into the air? Jiyu held one forepaw over her tail, to activate it’s take over so she could make use of both, since they went well together. “All defeated.” she echoed after Magna, leaping up now that the turtle was rendered unable to use his magic. The second they encountered in mid air? She landed four quick hits with her wind cased paws, and from the damage that magic did, she chose to simply curl into herself and let her tail ram into his head, sending him back to the ground. Easily Jiyu landed on her feet, slashing her hand forward to send a single wind blade out, as insurance the beast actually became defeated. Clearly? It was taken down, he could easily be made into turtle soup, or, maybe she didn’t even need to eat him in a soup, she licked her lips at the prone little animal, her canine instincts starting to take root once more, tongue lolling out as she gulped audibly. Right before she would have pounced? Jiyu noticed where her mind was going “I’m going to go ahead!” she darted without even waiting for him, her speed double his due to her demonic blood and her takeover.

“I am your next opponent, prepare to die!” she arrived to the sight of a tiger lunging at her, apparently alerted to their presence by the turtle being thrown in the air. This opponent however? Could not manipulate the ground itself, so the wind witch simply pushed her feet backwards to dodge it’s attack by launching into the air and landing on a nearby branch. Even though Magna was the monkey? The dog seemed to be using the trees more, pushing off the branch quickly enough to dodge once more, tapping the air as she went. “Hunter’s shot.” and the bullets ripped into the tiger enraging him. “Hurricane cloak.” she was buying time and keeping it focused on her, Magna would arrive and take care of it like she took care of the turtle, he had to! Normal enemies? Jiyu dodged easily and got enough distance between herself and them, due to her speed, but the tiger almost matched her, so she could only attack and buy time for her companion to catch up.

“Damn hurry up boy!” she barked it out as the tiger slammed it’s paw into her, pinning her to the ground as it snarled from pain due to her winds tearing into it’s flesh. “Get off me!” she than bit the tiger’s paw, which he saw, but was confused when he did not feel any pain, heck he was fairly sure his opponent had not even broken the skin of his furry paw! How was it possible for someone’s body to be that weak? Jiyu was just considering the fact she should have forced herself to walk behind magna despite her speed, and that he owed her a six course meal when this was over! She did not like being pinned down like the tiger had her.

As the turtle flew high into the air Jiyu went after it launching her own series of attacks which when combined with gravity not only slammed the turtle into the ground but made quite a deep crater. The shell of the creature was heavily cracked and liquid began to pour out into the crater. IT was almost a natural soup bowl of turtle blood. Not that turtle blood was that good an ingredient really, but the turtle it self was. Now that he observed it a bit furtherhe noted that whilst its outer shell appeared strong it was artificial and made of earth. Its real shell was beneath revealing it to be a soft-shell turtle which worked excellently as a burger. It would also make excellent soup. As Jiyu ran off ahead using the wind to aid her footsteps he quickly slid down into the crater and using his knife, as well as a few summoned up tools and a bit of magic, rapidly removed what was left of the shell and sent the turtle into his pocket dimension. It was a fairly large creature and so should make quite a few burgers and pots of soup. He just hoped it tasted like regular soft-shell turtle. Otherwise he'd have to do some experiments to either bring out its true flavour or so as not to lets its true flavour overpowere everything. Food cooking was truly a balancing act, especially when it came to spices.

Once the turtle was stored he headed after Jiyu using his gauntlets to propel himself along. Not along the ground, but along the walls as this allowed him to cut the corners and make up some of the distance between them. He didn't have her speed, but he did have a certain level of skill and was a guy all about efficiency. With his natural running speed, the gauntlets and his cutting of the corners he soon caught up. Though apparently it wasn't quite soon enough.

He arrived just as she attempted to bit into the tiger's paw. The tiger might of wondered how someone could be so weak, but it wasn't expecting an explosion propelled flying kick to the face that sent it flying off of her. "Sorry about the wait Jiyu. I didn't think you'd run into anything so quickly so I gathered up the turtle for later. Took me a bit longer than I hoped as you did a real number on it"

That was then the tiger walked forward sniffing the air and growling. The growl however seemed a bit of a chuckle at the same time. "Cerberus slayer. I have to thank you. That three headed dimwit was such an annoyance. Plus it makes you a tad easier to beat. You're far less effective against my kind aren't you?" it said as it padded forward and suddenly blades of metal came flying at him as the tiger also charged. Much to its surprise though Magna pulled a large frying pan out of nowhere and blocked the metal strikes before hitting the tiger with an upper cat.

"Just because I can't hit you as hard...doesn't mean I can't beat you." he said as the beast literally backflipped from the impact. "Besides, compared to Kaya you're a mere kitten." he said referencing the sabertooth that he had been on missions with in the past. The mention pained him slightly as Kaya and her friend Jin, another ace of the guild, had returned but then vanished again. He missed them terribly, but not as much as Aegis. He and Kaya had been very close friends. She'd brought him out of his shell a lot. The tiger got to its feet, metal armor coating its body. Magna wasn't an expert on metals, but he knew a bit and the metal it was using was lightweight and strong. Titanium or something of that ilk. That would be tough to penetrate but all armours had a weakness. Unfortunately, he couldn't exploit the weakness in his normal way though. Normally, he'd use fire to super heat it, but that wasn't an option. So he'd have to attack the joints. Unless Jiyu had a way of getting the armor off. The beast laughed as blades of metal began to swirl around it before forming into what appeared to be a large cannon as well as two blades at its side. It looked very reminicsence of the shield liger from the popular lacrima vision show Zoids. Which meant that cannon on its back was like a railgun. It would send high speed projectiles at them that could tear them apart. They had to take it down now. That meant he couldn't be Mr. Nice Guy. He had to use some spells he didn't normally use due to their cruel nature. This beast was gonna fry.

He flicked a droplet of oil towards the creature. It did not even attempt to dodge. It merely laughed, but its laughter was stopped as suddenly the oil expanded surrounding it and began to bubble. It wasn't fire, but it was super heated oil that should seep in through the pours of the metal and essentially cook the cat. The metal would merely amplify the heat and seal in the flavour. "Deep fried tiger." he mused as an idea. It wasn't something he'd considered, but perhaps Jiyu could taste it once it was done. Or at least that was the idea, but suddenly the blades began to whirl and the oil burst apart. With swift motion Magna dispelled it and the creature glared at him. Some of the armor had melted in the heat searing to its body and what fur and skin was seen was heavily scorched. "Bah i should of coated you in batter first." he said with annoyance. This opponent was going to be tricky.

"Any ideas Jiyu?" he asked hoping the super heated oil attack hadn't left her catatonic as it wasn't fire. That was his hope anyway, but who knew.


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The blood had begun getting to the wind user, her canine instincts flaring up and begging her to lash out at the turtle, consume the blood she could smell slowly leaking from it. However the half demoness remembered what consuming blood these days did, the way it drove her towards the brink of something that felt like insanity. Honestly? Blood would not drive her crazy, she just needed more of it with her dog demon state and she was neglecting her need for it, so even a drop of her own blood could make her go into a lustful state for the substance. Jiyu was so afraid of the changes caused by being half dog, that she made everything worse on herself by pushing away her new life state, instead of accepting it. “I know I did a number on it.” as he mentioned having brought the turtle with? The blood of it again attacked her nose, and she guessed some must be left on him, oh god, how was she going to cope if being near him triggered both her fear and bloodlust?! The heady scent, even from the little he had on him, was affecting her senses, making everything focus in on him, eyes narrowing as her mouth opened slightly, watching as he took care of the tiger. However the wind witch was actually starting to hunt her own companion, eyes tracking her movement and her tail lashing low to the ground, pupils dilating. Only the knowledge of him being a canine slayer kept the dog inside of her at bay, pushed it back down as the tiger brought up the fact, she panted for her own control, vision blurring at the edges before focusing back in. For now, she could keep her control, but she feared being around the scent of blood too long, would change that fact, and prayed he had not noticed the predatory way she stared at the fight for several moments.

“Deep fried tiger.” she echoed after his words, not having realized what was going on, sure she had felt the heat, but it had all been too fast for anything to really sink in. If she had still been right by the tiger? She likely would have reacted slightly badly from the heat and sight of bubbling oil, but at this distance, it did nothing to her, expect leaving a clueless look on her face. Could she eat tiger? Well she guessed, padding forward on fours and sniffing at the corpse, she could always try to eat what he had inadvertently prepared. “Never had deep fried tiger before.” she pushed at the metal and due to the heat it had been exposed to, the armor game off easily and she lowered her head, taking a few good moments to finally with her fangs and claws working, get to the meat. Sometimes, she really hated how weak her body was, but she did have powerful magic, so she supposed that evened it out sometimes. Either way, the blood was heated away, so only meat remained and she bit into it, using her claws to help sever it. “Not bad.” she just ate some deep fried tiger, and she could still smell the turtle blood on him, and oh gosh, she was getting so hungry! “We should get moving.”

She seemed to be done with something she had been interested in only seconds before, and it was odd, for a dog to so easily lose interest in a fresh freely offered carcass. However there was no real direct reason for her to be questioned about it, so she stormed ahead slightly, only walking this time. Yet? She was still swift and her tail lashed back and forth before him. Kazehime was paying no attention. “And Now You Face Me!” the feminine voice broke through to her as heat got closer, and she looked up, suddenly being met with the large beak of a pheonix nearly in her neck, it’s flame covered body surrounding her, claw raising. The bird did not need to do anything to bring Jiyu down, it reared back as she just fell, body collapsing to the ground with a loud thud. Now? She was laying at the talons of a phoenix, fearful expression on her unconscious face, body unmoving, breathing barely there as her body still knew what was just outside her blacked out state!

Clearly she would not be partaking in this fight, and at the moment her life was in danger, the bird glancing down at it’s felled enemy, trying to decide what to do with her. Since the bird did not know of Jiyu’s fear, it had no idea why the woman had fallen so easily and was confused, trying to decide if the unconscious girl was worth killing.

It seemed, much to his surprise, that the super heated oil had been what took down the tiger. Sure it had broken free of it, but the super heated metal touching its body combined with the fatigue of the assault just caused it to fall down dead. That was fortunate as without resorting to actual fire spells he doubted he had much left in him to actually be able to take this creature down. Then again as it was super heated he could of chilled it with an ice spell for extreme damage and that would of definitely finished it off. Superheating then superchilling was one of his ultimate combinations. Fortunately, it wasn't needed this time and so he could save some magic power. It was shortly after the death of the tiger that Jiyu took a bite of it and commented it as not bad in taste. She'd even removed the armor which made things a little easier for him and so he was abl to store the tiger in his pocket dimension as well, but whether he'd serve it was another matter. It reminded him of Kaya to some extent and he'd never serve her as a meal. Perhaps though he should serve it otherwise the meat would go to waste and he didn't like waste.

It wasn't long before the dog demon went heading off ahead again, but this time when Magna caught up it was a lot quicker, but it seemed she was in a lot worse condition. The reason being that the opponent was a bird made of literal fire. A phoenix and a pretty big one at that. With her fear of fire so great it prevented her getting close to people who just used fire as a tool then an actual fire of this size and this heat was likely to do what had exactly happened. It had rendered her unconcious and in a state of danger which, if she'd been alone, would likely have been the end of her. "Leave Jiyu alone Phoenix. Your opponent is me." Magna said walking forward unfurling the headband from his arm and tying it about his brow his eyes glowing red. Both of these were signs he was getting serious.

The bird let out a series of screeches which Magna realised was it laughing before it spoke. "You little dog slayer? Why would you want to help a dog demon?" it asked spreading its wings wide showing off its rather impressive wingspan. "And who are you to tell a phoenix what to do. I should incinerate you just for that." It said the heat from its body seeming to grow more intense. If Magna didnt react quickly then Jiyu would be the next one to be deep fried. He spun his hand and a large frying pan appeared which rapidly extended to move under Jiyu before retracting bringing her to him. He slowly tipped her off and then stood ready with the large frying pan at his back. "You think your little pan will save you from my flames?" Magna just smiled in response and the bird let out a shriek before hurling feathers of flame at him.

With skill and precision, almost in a dance, Magna moved and struck knocking the feathers away so they scorched the landscape instead of him or Jiyu. As he moved and struck at the feathers he went closer. His theory was if he got too close the feathers wouldn't be able to be used without scorching itself. As he got closer though the bird just took to the skies and began to fly about raining down flaming feathers upon the environment. Magna quickly moved so that his pan was once again covering Jiyu. He had no choice. He couldn't let her be hurt by this phoenix and she couldn't defend herself whilst unconcious. Of course, this put him at risk. He couldn't defend himself and her at the same time. That meant he only really had one choice in the matter. He had to go on the offensive. He struck the pan in between some rocks and extended it so that it would cover Jiyu and save her from most attacks.

With his gaunlets he propelled himself in to the air. It was time to face this creature head on in its own territory. The bird swung round its wings spread and looked at him in surprise. It had not expected him to be able to fly, but once more it let out its strange shrieiking laugh and began to beat its wings. The air began to heat up and spin and that spinning gave Magna and idea. It was time to hit this creature where it really hurt. He flew straight at it suddenly and began to spin rapidly himself till he formed into a kind of drill. This drill seemingly, almost impossibly, split into three and those three all converged straight on the phoenix piercing through it and coming out the other side as a single drill which stopped when it hit the rock side revealing Magna clutching on with six arms, three faces, and a second tail (this one was like a snake complete with the head).

The phoenix let out a gasp as suddenly it was surrounded by a triple layer bubble of water. The water did not seem to extinguish its flames directly, but they were slowly fading. "The water of the river of the underworld does not extinguish flames, but it does drown the spirit of the one wielding them." Magna said calmly. "My Underworld Guardian Hydrocutter is quite effective." The beast suddenly fell still and the bubbles dissapated. SLowly, almost in slow motion really, the phoenix fell to the ground where it was suddenly rapidly ignited in flames before turning to ash. This ash only lasted a moment before igniting rapidly and forming into a new phoenix. Magna readied himself and leaped down the extra arms, faces and tail fading.

"Do not worry cerberus slayer. I will not harm you. You have defeated me and did it well. You and your companion can proceed. Beware the soul dragon for he is stronger than all of the other guardians." Magna nodded and walked over to Jiyu and picked up the pan. With a gesture of his hand he conjured up a small amount of water and splashed it on her face hoping to wake her from her stupor. He wasn't sure it would work so he sat down next to her to wait. Eventually she would awaken. "Good luck" And with that the phoenix rose into the air and flew off towards one of the mountain peaks leaving Magna and Jiyu alone.

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She could not even think straight, nothing broke through the turmoil of darkness that had swallowed the wind witch. Nothing passed through her mind, her heart pounded and her breathing shallow, the claws of death creeping up on her as heat washed against her body. Once the source of fear was removed and her prone form could no longer feel the flames, no longer knew something made of flame was anywhere near her? Small click begun going through her head, and slowly she started to be able to have somewhat lucid thoughts within the darkness once more, brain struggling to figure out what had happened to her, what had caused her to pass out so suddenly. When she remembered that there had been a massive firebird looming over her, the wind witch almost passed out once more, struggling to stay conscious long enough to figure out if she was dead or alive, safe or still endangered. Herr sea blue optic caught sight of the frying pan and her forest green eye caught sight of the way it’s handle was propped, wedged between some rocks. In the middle? She was laying in some sort of makeshift fireproof tent, and she recognized the frying pan from when Magna had used it once earlier, her head falling to the side as she slipped into blackness once more. Right now, she was bodily safe so she had to let her body go through the motions it was forced to endure whenever she got surrounded by flames like that, cold sweat from fear breaking out all over her mostly exposed body, seeping into her hair sprawled beneath her as the wind tried to cast over her and comfort her. However nothing could help Jiyu right now, expect time to flush the memory of being surrounded by her greatest fear.

Magna finished off the fight and the phoenix retreated, giving them the okay to pass and removing itself from the equation. However? Kazehime had no idea this had happened, most of her brain stuck in blackness to block out the panic induced in her by flames. She simply laid there, waiting for her body and brain to agree she was done being unconscious, bitter over the fact this was something she could never fight against and that she had left Magna to face that bird all on his own, he had brought her for help on this mission, now he was helping protect her! Some time passed, but she hadn’t known how much, only that something wet splashed against her face, causing it to scrunch up and her nose to flare. Suddenly, the scent she had been trying to keep out of her nose as much as possible, filled it to every corner, the blood of the turtle. In her current state? She could only let that heady smell fill her body, invade her and corrupt her mind as it went, consuming her with the desire to take all the blood she wanted from whatever the nearest source of warm still running blood, happened to be! However she knew that source was Magna, she had to get her mind clear before she woke up, or else she might try something regrettable, he could end up forced to fight her or else she might try to kill him against her own better judgement and wishes. Even though she had been a half demoness for weeks now, Jiyu did not trust herself at all, and rather feared her own mentality concerning any of the change’s she endured related to her transformation.

Nothing mattered as the scent of blood filled her nose further, her senses honing in on it, the thundering heartbeat and even breathing of the man sitting beside her, it was just all becoming too much, and she was not even awake yet! When the canine did wake, it was suddenly and her movement was swift, body rolling over to place herself on all fours, eyes shining with the light of a predator, focusing in on Magna who had been sitting beside her, waiting for her to wake up. Why did he have to stay so close?! The female struggled for her own control, but she had lost all of that, paws carrying her forward, snarl erupting from her throat as her tongue darted out, going right for the exposed blood on his hand. The second the first drop hit her tongue? That rush engulfed her once more, she could feel herself becoming stronger and once consumed she did not think herself capable of stopping it. Her tail lashed from side to side, her tongue having made quick work of the blood on his hand, and she hoped it satisfied her need, however she felt her mouth opening and knew what came next. Quickly, her jaws were trying to lock into his hand, her claws digging into the ground as she tugged backwards, because his skin had not broken. Luckily, Jiyu’s body was too weak to actually bite into his hand, but that did not mean the half dog demoness was not trying her damn hardest to break his flesh, head shaking violently and a growl coming from her. Right now, she couldn’t even see him, all she could see was a fresh source of warm blood, right in front of her, and with skin skin so thick she couldn’t break through, so clearly her paws now moved forward with the intent to claw at him until skin broke somewhere, eyes dark.

Magna had been sitting there quietly waiting for her to wake up. There was little he could do until such a thing happened. Sure he could go ahead and try to beat the soul dragon or whatever the hell was up next, but that would mean leaving Jiyu here unconcious and defenseless. There was of course the possibiltiy she'd wake up before anything dangerous happened, but if she did and found Magna had abandoned her then any chance of a friendship would be gone. Sure he could explain he'd gone off to deal with the rest, but that wouldn't be enough. He was certain Jiyu had some trust issues because it seemed she was unwilling to get close to many. Marschal seemed to be the only one who held her trust and even then he wasn't sure it was 100%. He didn't know how long it would be before she woke, but he hoped it would not be long. She'd merely fainted rather than getting knocked unconcious. The bodies natural recovery should bring her back or so he hoped. What he had not expected or hoped, because such a thing was not something he'd hope for, was for her to suddenly growl at him and for her tongue to suddenly dart over his hand licking the remnants of the turtle blood off.

That alone was strange, but if he considered it was Jiyu and she didn't like the idea of touching him because of his fire power then why would she suddenly lick him? He knew she liked her meat rare or even raw, but to lick his hand? That seemed a bit of a stretch. As he considered these points it went a step further and she bit onto his finger, which wasn't covered by gauntlet. Her head began to shake violently as she pulled back trying seemingly to tear the skin from his hand. What this was wasn't Jiyu any longer. Or at least not the Jiyu he knew. She was like a wild dog trying to break through his flesh but her body was not that strong and so she was failing. As her claws came out he reacted in one of the only ways he could think of and flicked her lightly on the nose using the gauntlets concussive power to add a bit more to the blow.

He hoped that this would not only stop her biting him, but perhaps bring her back to her senses because otherwise he was going to have to fight her until she woke up from whatever bloodlust currently held her mind in its sway. It was not something he relished doing nor something he really wanted to do. The flicking of the nose had been bad enough, but it was a traditional technique for disciplining dogs and he didn't have much else at his disposal. An idea came to mind and he conjured up a spray bottle of water which he shot at her as well. Perhaps the combined effect would help. "Bad girl. You don't bite people." he said with a commanding and disparaging tone. He hoped she didn't find this too bad of him, but he wasn't sure how else to deal with her without fighting seriously.

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Jiyu was going to blame Magna for all of this, there were no if ands or buts about this, all of it was his fault for touching the turtle while it bled and than coming into her presence afterwards! However it was hard to blame someone for something that had no went horribly wrong, when  you were still trying desperately to tear their flesh apart, and failing miserably. The tiger? Had been softened by Magna’s magical cooking, but the boys own flesh did not suffer such effects, and thus the wind witch would likely be unable to tear into him, even using both her claws and fangs, unless she could gather enough sanity to go for his neck or stomach; Course at that point, she would realize what she was doing and stop! For now though, the dark eyed girl was glowering at him and making pitched snarls in the back of her throat, pricking his hand with her fangs as she tried to dig them in, he likely could not easily pull out of her clawing and biting grasp, but she didn’t have the physical strength to do any real damage, even with her demon blood surging. Right now? She looked like nothing sane remained in her, but a small piece of her brain knew what was going on and knew it was wrong, she was misbehaving, becoming the monster she feared being. However the temptation to taste blood again, was too great!

The sanity screaming in the back of her head, kept telling her what was going on and that she should try to snap out of it. Part of her? Feared he would hate her forever now or perhaps just straight up try to slay her, to save the rest of the guild from an experience like this! That side fought desperately for control, unaware he had already figured out something was wrong with her, just from the fact she feared him and was now touching him. She had no idea what was coming, but she had not expected him to flick her nose, which was humanoid, in what she suspected was an attempt to bring her back to reality. As the drown out sane side of her mind considered this? The craving that acted for her, became enraged and growled pitched, especially when he sprayed water in her face.

He didn’t really know her past, that the water might  prove effect due to memories, but the water was enough, spraying in her face like the sea did when she sat on the bow against everyone’s recommendation. The relation? Allowed her sanity to take root within the predatory thoughts once more, and even thought she was unable to push them  away, she was in control of her own body once more. Jiyu looked as bloodthirsty as when she first woke up, darkened eyes gleaming, but she now was able to release his hand and pull her paws so she was crouching with her front paws between her hind one’s, glowering at him. “I’m not a do- I am a dog, damn it.” the fact she still tried to tell people she was no dog sometimes? Proved the fact she was still unadjusted to her own half demon status, suggesting more to the fact this had been a lapse in control due to her demonic blood. “Wait a second!” her eyes flashed as one paw rubbed her sore nose, and her ears twitched, everything finally processing at a delayed time due to the state she had been in. “You Flicked Me!” she snarled it out, exhale deep and drawn out as she finally stood up, feeling water drip off her face. “You sprayed me!” her tail started lashing and her fangs bore, but she wasn’t lunging at him or trying to tear him up anymore, so that was good. “Bad Girl?!” she echoed it after him, seeming to get more angered with each word, the wind whipping her hair up somewhat as she growled deep in the back of her throat, a guttural sound as she slowly started walking forward. Once she was right in front of him looking up at the boy? “Don’t think I’ll forget that~” she chimed it, voice filled with laughter and something akin to playful malice, eyes narrowed at him. One of these day’s? He would suffer for what he had just done to her, the hit to her pride he had just dished out, the look on her delicate face promised that.

“Right now, we have a limited window, consuming blood- The effects will wear off and I’d like to make actual use of them against whatever opponents we have left.” She trembled slightly as she spoke, eyes darting to places a canine would strike when hunting, flush coming to her face as she giggled. Once she turned away from him, the female almost seemed to teleport a few feet away, her speed over doubled now that her heritage was in effect. “Come On Monkey~” he could have killed her or abandoned her in the last few minutes, but that didn’t really process yet. The only thing on her head? Was dealing with last enemy and getting out of here, her takeovers were reaching the end of their range, and her blood effect would eventually wane too, she wanted to make use of both to do damage in this upcoming fight!

“If you can beat me and promise to keep the secret of this island, you will be granted a legendary weapon.” he spoke, and Jiyu scoffed, jumping from one foot to the other and arching her arms, interlocking fingers above her head before cracking her knuckles. “Let's see if you survive first.” she was so different like this, so much less control, blood lust seeming to be in control of her. Could she be trusted not to actually murder the dragon in this state? “Hmpf, little dog know your plac-.” his words cut off when he realized the attack of soul magic he had just launched, was less effective on her, and she barely flinched, sure her body was damaged she had nice little scrapes all over, but she still managed to stack attacks onto him! Quickly she surrounded his body in wind and fired bullets made of it at him, and than let loose her wind blades and blasted a tornado ball at him, laughing afterwards. Slightly, she glanced behind her to see if Magna would arrive to finish the dragon off.

Once the fight was done? Night hunt would glow slightly at her hip, reminding her of it’s presence and new upgrade.

Her reaction had been worse than he'd anticipated. She seemed genuinely furious. Had he perhaps gone a bit too far with what he had done? Had he ruined the chances of any friendship ever blossoming between the pair? That was unclear, but what was clear was that she intended to get her revenge at some point in the future, but that for now she wanted to use this blood, somehow, to defeat the final opponent. He dreaded to think what revenge she would seek, but soon headed after her to see her facing a dragon who appeared to be using spiritual energy as a weapon. Well, it seemed he was finally going to get to try something.

He ran forward in front of one of the uncoming blows of the dragon and opened his mouth wide inhaling deeply and draining the attack in. Instantly, he began to feel new magical energy flow through his body strengthening him. "Bleh your attacks taste awful." he goaded. "And they're so weak too. Haven't you got anything stronger?"

"YOU DARE TALK THAT WAY TO ME MONKEY? I AM THE SOUL DRAGON." it said and then roared out a huge beam of soul energy, but that energy was precisely what Magna wanted and he inhaled it down causing the creature to blink in surprise. The three faces formed, and his six arms were not present as were the tail. However, fur began to coat parts of his body. Some of it red, some of it white. It matched his tail to some extent. His appearance was growing both more doglike and more monkey like. Three auras formed around him. One red, one blue and one white. The three sides of Magna. The three heads of the ceberus slayer. Behind him three towering figures formed. A red monkey wielding a knife, a white monkey wielding a hammer and a blue canine wielding a frying pan. "what are you?"

"I'm the cerberus slayer...turns out i'm a soul dragon slayer too." With that he blasted himself forward at speeds few could match and struck at the heart of the dragon with an energy blade. The blade was strengthened greatly and lengthened too so it easily reached the heart of the creature which toppled over. Once the heart of the soul was severed the real heart stopped pumping and it was basically instant death. He stood there observing the creature and then placed his hand upon it. Instantly it vanished appearing back in his pocket dimension and in its place was a simple crystal orb. Energy shot off from this orb straight into Jiyu's weapon empowering it, but nothing went to Magna. The orb just floated there radiating magic power. He stared at it for a while and then took it in his hand. Instantly he felt new knowledge, new power flowing through him. He had not gained a weapon in the conventional sense. He'd gained knowledge. The most powerful of weapons.

ENd job