Sabertooth in: An old Friend and New foes.

Horses that could eat the flesh of men? What a legendary animal. Mashyuu was actually excited to see what these animals were actually about. Maybe he could tame one and claim it as a trophy for his own. He was stalking through the woods with his hammer slung over his shoulder, a guild mate in toe, seemingly stronger than Mashyuu but only for now. The Earth Wizard lightly stepped between twigs while his nose flared up and tried to catch the scent of a horse. All he could smell was dog however it wasn't a dog that he had ever seen before. But something worse... Werewolves.

Mashyuu turned his attention towards Imai and spoke in his deep tone. "Hae you ever fought a Werewolf before? I can smell them al over the place but can't get the scent of these damned horses." He slowly started to pull his hammer over his shoulder and held it firmly in his right hand, letting the magic in the weapon flow through him, making him heavier and slower but hit stronger than ever. "Something draws near." The Slayer looked over his shoulder and grinned. "You see it don't you? The stables some five hundred yards away." Mashyuu lifted his mighty hammer and pointed it down a line of thick trees.

WC: 219
Post: 1

Behind the Earth mage was a red-haired cosmic nerd, a scholar-in-training type of guy, none other than Imai himself and his pet that held onto his back with all its might which appeared not to be that much as it could sleep and all. How did all this start, one might think? Well, this stranger showed up at the Guild Hall and specifically asked Imai and Mashyuu to help him regain his precious pets, mares. Legit carnivore versions of horses that seemingly had a big value for someone. Although, they had been stolen and moved to the Cursed Lands, whose trees and shrubbery they were passing at this moment…

Mashyuu suddenly asked if the cosmos mage had ever fought Werewolves before. With a sweat drop, he replied: “Ehh… not really. I’ve fought various things, but not walky-talky dogs..!” He waved his hand back and forth to deny the fact that he’d ever fought a real werewolf before; perhaps in dreams, awake or not, but never in real life.

However, as they got closer to the center of the forest, movements were to be spotted. Someone was approaching them… but his eyes stopped at the view of some open area with small, wooden tables here and there. Quietly, he waited for the obvious ambush that would attempt to havoc them with tools, not weapons, but tools. “Don’t get too cocky!” he spoke to them all; as one of the grooms ganged up at Imai, he received a foot that was shoved up from behind. While still turning his back to the attacker, Imai swung his knuckle at his teeth that were leaving their home, flying off like splinters from a punched log.

WC: 282
Post #2

Great, both of us are in a forest with Werewolves and neither of us have any history with the animals. Mashyuu thought to himself as an ambush was sprung, the only good thing about the ambush was the fact that they were currently only fighting what looked to be groomsmen for mares. Imai sprung into action and flashbacks of a battle the two had engaged in months ago came to mind, almost causing Mashyuu to get attacked. A hammer swang by Mashyuu's head, missing his shoulder by a mile and a half. This was however enough to bring Mashyuu out of his trance and caused him to counter attack with his massive hammer.

With a great heave up, Mashyuu twisted at the waist and angles with the hammer held high, only to bring it down as hard as he could with both hands. One hand held the bottom of the hammer's handle while the other directed the flow of the weapon down straight into the shoulder of the caretaker, cracking bone and ripping flesh while dropping the man to a knee. Mashyuu pulled the hammer backwards like a golf club and swang it up, connecting with the man's jaw, sending him sailing through the air and into a tree, back first. Normally Mashyuu would have felt some sort of remorse for harming someone so weak in such a horrid fashion but with a new life force stuck inside him he couldn't help but grin at the weakness shown by the man with the horse shoe hammer.

WC: 258
Post: 3

Now, the other and last groom suddenly approached Imai by trying to help his colleague, whose teeth looked nasty from his point of view. Two versus one appeared like any favor to them, but really, with that lack of offensive getup, then they were up for a white flag. They both took one side of Imai as they charged, being 95 degrees away from each other by Imai’s view. Meanwhile, miniature stars were born around Imai’s hands as a blue fog engulfed them, pleasant to the eye but with a harming intention. Suddenly, his left hand had grabbed onto a groom’s face, whose entire body was in shock by the action. It wouldn’t take more than a moment until a barrage was sent at the same groom, while the other got knocked back by the back knuckle of the red-haired Sabertooth mage.

Last-mentioned appeared knocked out, in which Imai suddenly grabbed the legs of his last opponent, swiftly beginning to spin his body around by the feet. The man shouted in horror as Imai warned: “See you later!” Instantly, the grab was released and let the groom get launched onto a tree nearby, same tree as Mashyuu sent his opponent at, having the groom’s belly lean onto a branch as he was soon to puke from the experience…

Wiping a little sweat off his headband, he looked back at the hammer mage. “If I was a horse… then where would I hang out? Any ideas?”

Stats:

WC: 282 + 245 = 527

A wide grin spread over Mashyuu's face. "Looks like you still got it." Mashyuu complimented Imai for his quick skill in combat. He dusted himself off and let the hammer fall to the floor, its head denting the earth below it. His blue eyes darted around, rapidly checking to make sure that they wouldn't be bothered with any other forces that might have been waiting to ambush the pair. "I guess I'd go to the stables, I don't know where else you would put a group of full grown horses." Mashyuu reasoned while turning to face the home that the horse groomsmen had clearly came from.

He sighed and hoisted up his hammer, slinging it over his shoulder the magic slowed his movement a great deal, causing him to lumber towards the building. "Hey, I know you are the higher ranking Wizard at the moment but, would you mind flying ahead and scouting the place out a bit? I would really hate to get jumped if we can help it." Mashyuu stopped about ten meters from the large building and watched the area, waiting for Imai to return with an all clear or for the sound of combat to call him to arms.

WC: 206
Post: 5

Hm… if there would be stables in this forest, then it would most likely be located in another open area… either that or inside the building before them. “Full-grown horses… I wonder why they are called mares, then,” he speculated. It would make sense if they resided in the building that Mashyuu approached; however, the Earth Mage suddenly asked a favor of Imai. It was a large forest, lots of shrubbery and good places for potential ambushes to appear at any time. Hammer had noticed that and wanted to make sure that the area was all-clear, so that they wouldn’t have to mind stepping into grooms on their way out again. “Roger that,” he replied with a grin, before he dived into the bushes with a trail of blue fog and white dots leaving behind…

The scene moved fast as Imai charged, passing several trees in a row without hitting into one. Sei began moving its eyeball around the cave to widen its clairvoyance, but it too couldn’t spot any lifeforms that intimidated them. It was weird, for now, but he guessed that it was clear and decided to return back to Mashyuu. On his way, a group of guards spotted the trail of light and followed it, revealing their location in front of the building with three fainted grooms. “OI! INTRUDERS!” they roared as Imai began to sweat; he barely assured Mashyuu anything, but quickly went behind the hammer mage, "AFTER THE LITTLE ONE! THE RED-HAIRED CHILD DIES FIRST!" “Ehm, I should’ve looked a little better, that’s on me,” he quickly excused, while laying two hands on the Earth Guy’s back, “I guess that they’re all yours. I’ll support you with this spell!”

Stats:

WC: 527 + 284 = 811
Post #6

"Well mare could be short for something else like Nightmare, if they eat humans then that could strike fear into someones foe." Mashyuu reasoned before Imai flew off. Idly Mashyu stood by, waiting for Imai to return from his scouting of the area. Suddenly Imai shot out of the woods and behind Mashyuu with three guards coming out of the wood work to attack. Mashyuu swallowed and placed his wedding ring on his finger while saying a silent prayer. Don't let me fall here. Not until I can get revenge for my failure. A half moment later Mashyuu was hit with a pair of hands on his back as Imai cast a support spell. The boost to strength too much for the Slayer, breaking his hold on the God inside. He howled in rage as his fangs jutted out and his body bulked up in size. He looked at the three guards charging and tossed his hammer aside while slowly drawing upon the guards.

His legs spread the grass around him with every step while the three guards readied their swords and shields. Mashyuu stepped up to the three of them, his arm shooting out to block a blade as an invisible force deflected the blade aside. Mashyuu slammed his head into the shield of his attacker, knocking the man backwards while splintering the wooden shield with no effort. As he pulled his head back a streak of crimson blood ran down Mashyuu's face, at the same time a blade cut down Mashyuu's chest, leaving another shallow cut thanks to the ring Kanix had left him. "Earth Gods combo: part one." He muttered then jumped back as three stone pillars all shot out of the ground, smacking the guards into one another. The moment he jumped back he growled with primal anger. "Earth Gods Explosive Field." Under the men the ground lit up then exploded, knocking the men off their feet before lighting up again. "Come get it friends." Mashyuu baited the men as they pulled themselves up and the ground started to glow again, ready to blow.

WC: 354
Post: 7

What the hell just happened to the hammer guy? As soon as he noticed the aura from Imai’s supportive spell, then his body began to change, fangs jolted, his size increased and much more. “EEHH!?” Imai’s mouth was touching the ground now. He never told him that he could do that. What was that power, that mana which Imai hadn’t felt earlier? Was it some kind of transformation that boosted Mashyuu’s fighting capabilities? Or was it some burden that strained him from using all of his devastating potential? Nonetheless did he change the battlefield with a rather wild expression as he would resemble a beast going crazy.

They were all launched back by his assault. In the blink of an eye, Imai watched a huge amount of rocks on the bare ground where Mashyuu looked down at the guards that desperately crawled up to continue the battle. Imai walked towards the busy earth mage and patted him with a grin on his face. “Talk about finishing the job! That was flawless!” he commented with sparkling eyes, “So… should we just continue? I guess that those dudes don’t want to pose any threats… or wait…” The mentioned reached up from the dirty ground, angered and hurt as well. Comically, he suddenly pushed one down again as the man screamed ‘Damn it, not again’, which kind of made Imai’s day. “You aren’t getting up again for now,” he warned them, “Not until you tell us exactly where the mares are.”

WC: 811 + 248 = 1059
Post #8

Imai stalked up to Mashyuu and patted his back, causing the Wizard to spin around and almost cast a spell on the younger Wizard from a rage that the God held for all life when it was awoken. The brown haired Wizard looked down at the red haired boy and grumbled. "The house has a basement with an elevator. Lets get moving." Mashyuu roared then turned as Imai pushed a man back down to the ground. A moment later the ground exploded behind Imai, killing the men as Mashyuu pulled the ring off and pointed at the hammer he left behind. The ground rumbled and rolled, dragging the hammer to Mashyuu's hand while he walked up to the wooden house and lifted the hammer. "Knock, Knock!" Mashyuu shouted and slammed the hammer into the door cracking it in half and knocking the door in on itself.

To those who stood in the house, talking among themselves a man, glowing in a blue light with wild brown hair and fangs had just knocked down their door, in truth a god had just been kind with making an entrance. Mashyuu hoisted his hammer back and without asking who the men were he tossed his hammer as hard as he could into the face of a man, snapping his neck from the raw power in his arms and the magical power of the hammer. "Imai, find the basement. It's time we put an end to all of this."

WC: 248
Total: 1285
Post: 9

Mashyuu appeared quite surprised by the young star mage’s presence as he was patted from behind, which caused Imai to back off with his arms flailing back in shock. “. . .” Sweat dropped off his face by the surprise, but as far as went, Mashyuu appeared to calm down for now. He was still the same, which pleased the red-haired cosmos freak. “Alright, alright…” he mumbled in relief, before a large explosion was triggered before his feet; the remains of the previous enemies were hauled away by the explosion that Mashyuu lent out. “WATCH OUT!” he roared, mainly to himself as he dashed away. Somehow, the atmosphere felt heavier with the transformed Mashyuu… not to mention that it was difficult for the mage to conclude whether the enemies were still alive or not.

As the Earth God entered, he immediately spared not the next opponents and smashed his hammer into the face of one of them, asking the star mage to find the basement. He spun around the room, investigating every hole and watching the rest of the crew having their eyes on the entered deity. He was getting nervous about Mashyuu’s atmosphere, but he had no time to waste! Although, it wasn’t him who found the basement, but Sei; the little alien woke up by the fierce feeling of a god nearby and flew towards the nearest place to hide, as in the entrance to downstairs. Imai just barely moved his head towards the little guy until a huge member of the guards rushed upon him. Suddenly, a telescope was planted into the belly of that same man, who breathed out in shock and got launched a few meters back, astonished by the force that just punched all the breath out of his lungs. Imai quickly waved towards Mashyuu as a sign: “I found the entrance! Hurry up and beat their asses and get down here!” His head would disappear into the stairs, while darkness surrounded the horse-smelling hallway…

WC: 1059 + 331 = 1390
Post #10

A swift bend of the knees had Mashyuu avoiding being beheaded by a small curved blade made for cutting corn of the stalks. In a blur of brown and red Mashyuu swept his leg out while spinning, taking the groomer off his feet all while he turned to face the source of Imai's voice. "I'm leaving the mares to you, I'll catch up when everyone in here is finished off." Mashyuu shouted. His hands planted forward as he rolled and avoided a giant push broom coming down on the back of his neck. Being able to feel the vibrations in the ground warned Mashyuu of when anyone on foot got to close for comfort or when they stopped to make an attack. He sprang up, jumping with the roll and threw his fist out, at first nothing happened but the ground under the house shot through the wooden floor and slammed into the man Imai had sent flying, pinning him to the wall and knocking him out at the same time.

Mashyuu landed on the ground, whipped around and watched two men, one with a broom and one with a curved blade charge from the Wizards flanks. Just as they started to swing Mashyuu exploded in a burst of sand, reforming at the broom holders left side. "Brooms my good sir, belong on the floor." Mashyuu gripped the broom firmly and twisted at the waist, swinging the man holding the broom through the air and tossed him into the man with the blade, sending both men tumbling into a near by wooden wall. Mashyuu lifted both hands up and rushed forward, jumping as the men pulled themselves up. He aimed his body for a window while his hands grabbed the men's faces, dragging them backwards so their bodies smashed into the wall but their heads were yanked with Mashyuu as he crashed through the glass, giving the two men terrible whiplash and causing them to fall over, out cold and likely with serious head trauma. Casually Mashyuu walked back around to the front door and picked up his hammer. He took one look at the men who were out cold and laughed to himself, Imai's power boost at last wearing off. "Well that was the pick me up I need. But now I should have lunch before I go fight again." Mashyuu took his hammer and smashed it into the wooden floor, causing stone to fly up from the force of the hammer. Mashyuu started to feast, replenishing his magical power then made his way to the basement to help Imai out.

WC: 435
Total: 1720
Post: 11

Now that mares came to mind, Imai remembered what the client had wanted; not to let the mares have taken any damage at all. Damaged pets weren’t valued, anyway, in which Imai pulled his telescope a little longer to let it be used as an obstacle remover. Just in case if he had to athletically leap over any mare, then he was ready. Sei was holding onto his back again, tightly, but feeling a little ill behaved. The smell down here was unbelievable and even made Imai hold his nose; he couldn’t imagine how Mashyuu would have had it. “Damn, smells like Death laid a huge sack down here,” he complained while having no idea of where the mares would be. The hallway was quite long, and as he could see with his eyes in the obscure room, no mare was to be spotted. The feeling, though… as if something, or someone, was lurking from the shadows… just waiting for the right time to feast upon the meal that walked its own way down here…

His hand was firmly grabbing onto the telescope in worry as he couldn’t predict where to watch out for the mares. Were they even locked up at all? Were they free? Could they pose a huge threat to Imai? How bloodthirsty were they? How many were they? Lots of questions circulated around his red-haired skull, but no answer as given, until he let out: “Mares… wherever you are…-“ A cracking sound like something that your mouth could do was heard further into the hallway, in which Imai braked in shock. “. . . . .” Now, the only question that soared around was ‘What was that?’. His curious footsteps turned into small, sneaky movements that moved him closer to a broken door in the end of the hallway. He gulped in anxiousness, before laying a hand on the handle. Slowly, he focused his grab, but as Imai collected all his courage, a faint light bursted out of a single, tiny hole in the old door. It illuminated a tiny beam that crossed the hallway for a brief second, while Imai’s eye was caught by the small light. Perhaps a lamp was turned on the other side? He wasn’t quite sure, but Sei was tightly holding more and more of his jacket as the light from the other side grew larger and larger…

From the first floor, you could feel a minor earthquake from the explosion that was triggered by the paranoid enemy that was soon to appear. The door was blasted away, and Imai just barely caught his foothold again as he, too, was pushed away by a mighty force. He had screamed out in surprise, but focused his look at the dust that rose from the point. A shadowy silhouette darted forward, causing a cloud of dust to surround its figure as it separated from the global dust cloud. A few coughs could be heard from the figure, in which Imai could conclude that it was an adult male. However, as the figure’s form was to be revealed under the dust, a mare made its appearance; riding past the owner and rushing right at Imai’s position. It must’ve sensed the magic that emitted from that boy, which could’ve given it quite the bloodthirst. He had no time to waste, again; leaping up at the right moment, he landed his hand on the mare’s back to leap forward and towards the thief, sending a kick to his throat. “Stealing is bad!” he roared as the thief was launched into the other room again, crashing a few furniture meanwhile. “Argh!” the thief yelled, “What the- I’ve been found! Damn that!!!” Imai quickly made his way towards the male’s place, while the thief clenched a fist. A large amount of magic energy was focused, in which Imai reacted quickly by creating a black hole before his very face. The thief was about to punch the star mage, but luckily, the gravity ball teleported the punch and caused a white hole to appear right beside the very same thief’s face, causing him to punch himself which triggered a light explosion to push them back. “Phft!” Imai let out, “Hey, don’t wreck this entire place! You’ll hurt the horses!”

Stats:

WC: 1390 + 710 = 2100
Post #12

As Mashyuu started to climb down the ladder to the basement he felt the ground rumble and dropped down the ladder, landing with a hard thump, dirt springing up and settling. "Earth Gods Sand Skin..." Mashyuu muttered, letting the lose dirt crawl up his body to form a protective layer around his flesh. Suddenly he started to run towards source of sound echoing in the halls. He stopped when he saw a mare, felt the way it walked and got attuned to its weight. His eyes closed and he brought his hands up, catching all the mares by the legs up to the powerful underside of their bodies so as to not harm them with the dirt in the ground and held them firmly. "Okay, now for Imai and the guy who started this mess." Mashyuu said to himself.

He stalked down the halls to hear furniture splintering and a man cursing under his breath. He rushed as fast as he could, hoping that the man didn't do any harm to Imai while Mashyuu was around and honestly being the bulkier of the two, should have gone down the halls first. Mashyuu slid to a stop when he saw the room the two were fighting in. Already Imai looked like he had taken the man down a few pegs but Imai himself was starting to look a little drained. "Imai, tag out, I'm fresh and ready to fight." What he hadn't told the boy was that on the way to him Mashyuu had eaten as much as he possibly could, keeping himself on the edge of hitting God Force. He pulled a large stone out of his pocket and swallowed it like a pill. The moment it hit his gut his body erupted in a dark red, almost brown light. His body bulged up and fangs shot out of his mouth. He lifted his foot up and before it visibly touched the ground he appeared in front of the barbarian who was swinging a punch at Imai. Mashyuu caught the fist in his palm, a shockwave of magic hitting Mashyuu but blocking the younger Imai and keeping him from harm.

"Part one." Mashyuu grumbled, sending three pillars of stone up and into the gut of the man, sending him flying through the air. Before he landed Mashyuu had cast a spell on the ground, causing it to light up. The Barbarian landed hard and the ground exploded, sending him once again flying through the air. Mashyuu raced to the man and as he hit the roof of the cave Mashyuu threw both his palms up, driving them into the mans chest and jaw, cracking bone and knocking the man out cold. The reddish brown light faded from Mashyuu's body and left the man staggering like a drunk. "Okay Imai, you deal with the horses. They should be calm now. I'll clear a path to the surface."

Together with Imai, Mashyuu used his geokonisis to clear a path from the tunnels up to the surface of on the edge of the forest where the old man had requested their assistance. With a job well done, the Sabertooth Mages made their way home, pay in hand and a friendship reforged.

WC: 543
Total: 2263
Post: 13

The horses were left out for Imai to take care of, now. Mashyuu had showed up in the middle of the battle, watching Imai’s drained state and suggesting him to finish things, in which the star mage nodded. He leapt away and watched Mashyuu go out against the mare keeper, crushing his jaw and body and leaving him cold. As that was taken care of, Imai watched the mares as they rampaged towards him; he quickly landed on the first’s back and rode off with its wild attitude, shouting: “I got it! I got it, almost!!!” Mashyuu’s words about them being calm appeared not to be the case, but at least he had some control over them. He was assured that they could lead them to the client, save and sound.

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