Press The Repeat Button;; Striving For Everything;; Job

1,104 words of 7,000 words.
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Everything was drowned out in the pitch black shade, nothingness surrounding the woman entirely, becoming all encompassing enough to make someone believe they were not awake, that they may not even be alive. It had not been the first time in her life that Jiyu had faced this sort of darkness, but it still disoriented her, not instantly allowing her to realize she was indeed still among the living. Once her brain caught up with the fact she was alive, caught the feeling of heavy cloth over her optics? The mage instantly knew what was going on and her heart started turning every drop of blood in her body to nothing less than pure fear. Jiyu had been blindfolded before, the last time her sight had been taken from her like this, it had lasted for years, she had lived through years of hell and she wasn’t so sure she could do that again, even if she had no other choice! Even knowing she had to calm her brain down, use her advanced smell and her hypersensitive hearing to find some way out, figure out her surroundings, it was impossible for the girl to calm herself to any degree. Simply being blindfolded in some unknown place was enough strain for a normal person, on top of this Kazehime had her past experience, her entire body aching at the memories becoming a physical pain due to the strength of them, tears instantly soaking through the blindfold. She couldn’t do this again, there was no way she would survive round two of this hell! Jiyu didn’t want to survive a second time, she hadn’t even ever done anything to incite this, yet here she was again, surrounded by darkness, paralyzed by it, sniffling sounds coming from her, chest heaving.

“So you can still cry.” the voice rang so familiarly in her ears and the Inugami’s heart dropped further down, body moving to shift, attempting to shy away from the sound, only to find she was bound tightly. Just like the last time? They had locked her arms together behind her back, she could feel metal shackles against her ankles as well, though she would have preferred her legs be shackled together as opposed to the way they were currently shackled, the chains attached to the cuffs on her ankles and right above her knees did not reach far enough to allow the woman to close her legs. Jiyu knew where this was going, where it had likely already gone while she was unconscious and her entire body simply went limp, she couldn’t fight, not again, why didn’t they just kill her and get it over with! “Burn her enough, she’ll cry and scream even if it seems she can’t anymore.” it was another voice from the first one, but she still knew it, sure some of the voices in her range happened to be new, but most of them she could remember from the first time she had been held like this, and thus she knew what the rest of her life would involve if no one came to save her, at this point her brain basically shut down entirely, everything going numb, drifting off as she realized everything she had done amounted to nothing, processed what was going to happen to her once more.

Kazehime could no longer hear anything clearly, she didn’t want to, the wind user knew they were talking about her, aware the older voices were teaching the new unknown one’s how to hurt her. The blindfold was soaked and she had stopped crying already, there was no escape, she had to take what they were going to do, and eventually being cut off from her element by the magic canceling cuffs would take her life, ending the suffering, all she could do was wait for that day. A shrill scream emitted from Jiyu’s mouth echoing around the stone walls of the prison building as pain ripped into her side, spreading across her ribs, her entire flank engulfed in blazing agony, weak body thrashing about even though she knew there to be no escape from the torch pressed against her flesh. After a few seconds, the source of flame was removed, but she could smell her own flesh burning, knew the damage that had been done, was able to smell the flame as surely as she felt it’s heat when it returned and pressed against her collarbone. She didn’t bother trying to time how long they tormented her, nor did she bother keeping track of everything they did to her, all she knew was that by the time she heard the cell door bounce closed, a good fourth of her body was covered in burns once more, while another fourth was open bleeding wounds.

Apparently, they had kept an eye on her because the second she was alone, the chains that had been holding her cuffs to the jail cell loosened considerably, maybe even snapped. The people holding her? Knew that without her magic she did not even have the strength to bite them, they just chose to have her immobilized to make tormenting her easier. “Don’t you think she may try to escape?” they knew better, these people had already broken her once, they very well knew that they didn’t have to do it once more, there was no more fight left within her. “MA1 knows better after all this isn’t her first time with us.” the laughter faded away as they walked away, and she couldn’t bring herself to care. The only thing Jiyu could make herself do? Was curl into a somewhat fetal position on the ground, realizing once more via sensation that her hair was the only cover she had. Once more she was being held prisoner by an unknown collection of people, no one knew she needed to be rescued, she was entirely alone once more and the only thing she could feel past the pain they had put her body in was the numbing cold of how utterly on her own she was. Even if she had tried to make some impact, become a renowned mage and such, no one was going to notice she was missing, unlike when she ran away from Peace Village there was no one! Any family she had believed she was likely already dead, and everyone she had met since knew her as a free-spirited flake who might just vanish simply because of some whim, there would be no one looking for her and the thought once more started her crying, the sobbing causing her whole form to jerk slightly.

Job Details:

"Damn it, it's really cold! Should have asked Kite to come along so he could at the very least keep me warm while I flew us here." Mashyuu complained while leaning forward into the icy wind. The flying mass of earth he and Itsu were atop was all that he had to cast some of his spells with. Luckily now that he was a God Slayer, he could create earth out of thin air, but he couldn't create the molten stone magma, thus cutting him off from a good chunk of his more powerful spells. He still had his gear though and that would come in handy, plus Itsu wasn't a slouch. "So where are we going exactly? What is this job? You rushed out as soon as you read the letter, didn't even ask for me to come along. Good thing I was drinking by the front door of the bar today. You were supposed to help put the guild back in place with the new rooms!" Itsu shouted at Mashyuu. "An old friend has been kidnapped. I'm not the type to let someone I care about get taken by pirates of all people. Plus this friend is really cute. You know I can't resist a hottie in need." He glanced back at Itsu and winked his glowing blue eye...


Mashyuu and Kite were standing over a round table in the center of the bar, looking over the blueprints to the new guild house. Mashyuu rubbed his forehead and grinned wide then gave Kite a thumbs up. "If this is all we need to do, I can have the rooms made in about a day, the bigger places like the assembly hall will be a little tougher but shouldn't take much more time than that. Leave it to me." He punched his left hand into his right palm and was about to go get to work when a stranger entered the bar and shouted. "Is Mashyuu here!? I have an urgent message for him!" Mashyuu waved the stranger over and took a note that was presented.

Mashyuu, I'm sending this letter to inform you that a dear friend of ours, Jiyu has been kidnapped and is currently being taken to an ice fortress. I could not stop her kidnappers myself and have been terribly wounded. She once spoke of you and as such I have sent messages to every major city to find you. Please you have to save her. Of course I'll pay you for the trouble and wish you nothing but luck. In addition I have called a trading company to scout the area while their ships are out to give any extra information they can find. Keep this paper on you and check it should it shake. It is magical and I can send more messages via the paper. Simply scroll the paper up to erase this message and let me know you have received it.

Mashyuu's glowing eyes narrowed as he scrolled the paper up and his normal brown robes flashed and transformed into a set of heavy black jeans, a red tee shirt and black winter vest with no sleeves. He shoved the paper in his inner pocket along with his supplies that the guild had been giving him and rushed out of the bar. With a simple flex of his arms, a massive chunk of earth exploded out of the ground and started to carry Mashyuu off. Itsu, who had been drinking by the front door picked up her katana held in the red scabbard and joined her friend and team mate on his flying rock, unsure of where they were going but unwilling to abandon her friend when he acted so quickly...


A cold, bone chilling wind blew past the duo, Mashyuu started to grind his teeth to keep them from chattering while Itsu moved behind her friend and used him as a shield against the biting cold. He circled the glaciers from high above the sky, scanning the area below after following the scent Jiyu had left near the area. It was faint but he could recognize her scent in most locations. "Mashyuu it's right there!" Itsu shouted and pointed to what Mashyuu had confused for a naturally made bridge of ice. Mashyuu scowled and flexed his black and silver gloved fists a few times to get his blood pumping. Whoever was stupid enough to kidnap one of his friends was going to come close to death if he had anything to say about it. Slowly he started to drift down towards the bridge and jumped off the large rock. He landed on the slick path, his spiked brown boots digging deep to keep him safe. Standing at the center of the bridge he started towards the land mass ahead of him where two large frozen gears rested on either side of the bridge. Four guards wearing heavy white coats looked at the sight of Mashyuu and Itsu who had joined him bravely, walking toward the guards and the four started to assemble and run at the Sabertooth Wizards. Each guard carried a spear of ice and wore spiked boots to keep them firmly on the ground.

Itsu drew heatwave and in the cold region the steam that kept the blade sharp could be seen rising from the blade with every second that passed. Wind kicked up around Itsu's body and blade thanks to the amulet she wore around her slender neck. "I got these ones Mash!" She called out and charged forward. Itsu met all the guards head on and snapped her blade up, deflecting a lunging strike from a spear, knocking the blade up into the air then brought her weapon down as her wrist pulled the blade back. "Flash Fire!" She shouted and slashed the air towards a guard coming up on her. The blade launched a fire ball straight into the guard, melting the mans spear and part of the bridge, not to mention setting him on fire, making him a beacon for any who needed to find the area.

WC: 1028

"I require your assistance CEO of the West Fiore Trading Company. I know that your guild specializes in dealing with trade but they also have a specialty in helping others against any type of evil. I have already called on another to deal with the evil of a kidnapping that happened for this job but I wanted your guild to be a sort of back up for them. All I need you to do is patrol over the Silent Glaciers and deal with anything you would see as peculiar. Your destination is the Silent Glaciers. This paper is magical and if you scroll up you it will tell me that you read my message. I will be able to continually speak to you through this paper so keep it near you."

The now demon CEO of the West Fiore Trading Company and Captain of Black Sails felt uneasy about the request offered to him. It wasn't the job that bothered him or even the note sent to him by the nameless person, even though it should have been. It was the area that he was being asked to go to. The snow covered area of the Silent Glaciers. All he kept doing was looking over the magical paper in front of him over and over as his mind wandered over his past. All he could see was flash backs of being there in the past as practically a willing hostage while his sister was held captive by Cor Torva. The Silent Glaciers held one of the dark guild's many headquarters at the time but now all that should be left of it was ruins of what was after Cirven destroyed the place as he did most of the Cor Torva buildings. He wanted to take the darkness of his past and destroy every trace of it though it was not like he was simply trying to just hide it from anyone. He was forced to kill back then and would have done it again because his sister's life was on the line. The only difference now would be that he would find a way to keep her alive.

"Sir..." A voice called out to him and broke him away from his thoughts of the past and returned him to where he was. He looked around the room he was in and realized where he was. He was in his office-like area of one of the West Fiore Trading Company's airships where he sat behind a desk. The person who called him and now stood in front of him was Alisha. Alisha was the popular bar maid turned into a popular secretary after the disappearance of the first Captain of Black Sails and her close friend, Anastasia. Alisha had been a great help to Cirven during his transition to taking over the guild and even helped in hiding the guild members from people finding out about the guild's guise as the masked pirate/mercenary guild.

"Oh, hey Alisha. Sorry about that. Whats going on?" Alisha gave Cirven a concerned look because he rarely called her by her name like that unless something was going on. The demon usually called others by some sort of nickname that he thought up, especially when he knew he would be around them for awhile. It was his way of getting them to like him because it showed it took him actually paying attention to them to give them a name but it usually ended up with them disliking him. His usual nickname for Alisha involved how voluptuous she was which seemed to strike a nerve with her until Cirven went back to calling her by her name. He never failed to bother her first before calling her by her name though. "No random nickname about my breasts or anything?" Cirven grinned at her and opened his mouth to speak but Alisha quickly spoke out before he could. "Captain, we are coming up over our destination now. We will be patrolling the area to try and find anything suspicious like the note said. Should be a simple job." Cirven nodded his head to Alisha and looked back down at the paper in front of him. Alisha moved closer to Cirven until she stood just in front of the desk. "Cirven, what is going on with you?" The demon broke away from staring at the paper again to look at Alisha. "It's... It's nothing. I just need some fresh air." He forced a smile onto his face and folded the paper up before placing it into one of the pockets on the inside of his coat then standing up and making his way out of the room. Alisha knew something was wrong but did not exactly know what to say or do to get him to come out with it.

Cirven moved through the airship with his hands placed in the pockets of the pants he wore which was typical but his eyes were looking at the floor in front of him like someone who was lost. He only broke from this gaze when other members of the guild called out to him to say hello which prompted him to do the same back. Not too long after Cirven found himself on the deck of the ship and looking out over the area of the Silent Glaciers below them. There wasn't much to see at all just mostly a white ground with ice protruding from it in various areas. The job seemed like it would be a very boring one as not many things could be seen in the area because no one really lived in it due to the cold weather is harbored. It didn't help that all it caused Cirven to think of was his time as that willing captive of Cor Torva and then the deaths that he caused, even his own sister's. "Cirven. The men said you looked different today also. what is going on?" His thoughts were interrupted again by the same voice from earlier. The dual eyed demon looked at his secretary. "This place isn't the best area for me. I have a sort of history here." Alisha raised an eyebrow to her Captain. "A history? Like what?" Cirven turned his head and looked back at the ground below them. He was going to continue speaking but something caught his eye. There was a building below them. A building that should not have been there at all. "Alisha, keep the men on the ship. I'm going down there. I will call you if I need any help otherwise stay here." Cirven then quickly jumped off the ship and into the air where he used his ability of electromagnetism to fly down to the ground. "Captain!?" Alisha called out to him even calling him captain while they were not supposed to be known as pirates but he was too focused to listen to her now.

"I destroyed it. It can't be here." He mumbled to himself as he came closer to the building. As he was about to come onto it he saw a brilliant flash of colors coming from one side of it and quickly flew towards it where he found two people he had met in the past. One of them were fighting some type of guards while the other was waiting. Cirven didn't wait though as he flew in quickly and grabbed one of the guards by his throat where he slammed him into the wall. The guard tried to attack with his spear but Cirven's limbs lit up with black electricity and he used his hand to cut the spear into multiple pieces. "Hey, rocky and pal. Sorry to come in so abruptly but I have some questions for this guy and possibly his friends if you doesn't answer correctly. If you excuse me." He spoke out to Mash and Itsu who he had worked with previously in their crusade against some gods in a different dimension while keeping his eyes locked onto the man he held up by the throat. "So before I impale you and add some vibrant color to the ground tell me what this place is?"

Spoiler:

2,091 of 7,000 words
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Everything was cold and normally that would alarm someone but right now it was the only comfort available to Jiyu so she fully soaked in the chill surrounding her, not making any effort to fight it off because she really honestly did not want to. Given the choice only between being cold and having flames pressed against her, she would take the cold every single time, thought it was so rarely left up to her. Now that she was being held captive once more, Jiyu knew that there would be a lot of things that were no longer left up to her. Having been through this once before, the wind user knew what she was in for, how much she would suffer before being cut off from her bound magic eventually took her life. Kazehime only wished she had become a stronger mage before being taken once more because than the separation from her magic would kill her much quicker than it currently would! At the moment there was even the slight possibility they would realize the separation was harmful and restore it sometimes just enough to keep her alive, which would be even worse, without the wind she felt so entirely alone. For years? Her element had been attached to her, part of her, whispered to her, tickled her neck, and now it was just not there, she was left on her own and it was suffocating making breathing harder than it already was past her injuries and emotional stress.

A subtle commotion of guards running past her cell towards somewhere else caught her attention briefly, the loud sound of their steps unmistakable. Within a few seconds? She could not hear nor smell anyone close to her cell and her brain calmed back to misery from its overwhelmed state allowing the woman to sit up. Moving into a sitting position? Was not easy when one had no use of their arms nor hands to aid them, but she managed it easily enough bare feet gripping the cold floor beneath them as she sniffed the air. Kazehime could not exactly figure out what was going on within the building, but she did collect that something abnormal, something they did not quite entirely expect was taking place. Whatever was going on mattered little to the girl though because she had entirely given up, alone she did not have the willpower to push herself into fighting this for a second time, knowing all the pain and abuse she was in for, it would all only be made worse if she behaved rebelliously. At this point the only thing she could do was behave and take whatever they wanted to do against her, it didn’t matter that they had no reason, that she had never done anything to them, this was her life again now, she couldn’t push against that, not on her own.

Something rough and warm touched her upper arms, resting there for a few seconds causing her to tense for a second believing it to be some sort of flame or such before realizing the sensation was more like the kind created by hands against her. Suddenly, the scent of strawberries filtered through the air, weaving into every part of the space around her, preventing her from telling exactly where it was coming from. The electrical feeling was what let her know what was going on before she would have pieced things together otherwise, there was a ghost in the room with her, not that it mattered. “What are you doing.” it was dripping with this light French accent, almost like Astrid's voice but stronger, more confident than the other girl. Jiyu did not exactly know what spirit was now embracing her, but she guessed it was related to her childhood friend somehow, considering the similarities in voice. What did this ghost want with her? “Are you really going to give up like this Mikka?” the ghost tugged on her slightly, pulling her to stand and she had no response except for just letting that happen, staying silent. What was she suppose to do?

She really didn’t want to but eventually, the woman was convinced to get up and walk slightly, realizing her restraints were actually no longer really connected to anything, if she wasn’t locked in the cell then she could just walk out! They really believed her broken enough to just leave her lying there, to do nothing besides cuffing her arms together and blindfolding her in order to keep her captive. Honestly, they were likely right, until pushed she had been pretty much entirely broken, without that little shove she would not have gotten up. Was she really that pitiful? The woman leaned against the bars of her cell, unknowingly leaning against the door, of course, she figured out what she had leaned against when she fell because the door swung open, they hadn’t even bothered properly closing her cell up, that was how broken they believed her! At this point, she might as well try to escape anyways as they were making it far too easy anyways. Jiyu’s will was not exactly restored, but honestly the insult of them thinking so little of her that they had not even locked the door, that was too far, she might as well prove she was still capable of being trouble if she wanted to be. So she left the cell.

Even if the choice was likely to end up causing her trouble later on when she was caught and forced back into the cell? The exposed girl really couldn't bring herself to care about that fact anymore, she would care later when she was in pain because of it, but for the moment she just knew that she could not stay in the cell anymore! Being underestimated was something that really did anger her in the end, but at least it got her moving.

The member 'Jiyu Kazehime' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Rolling Enemies for Cirv and myself.

The member 'Mashyuu Kumonosu' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

It couldn't have been planned better really, as if on clock work, Cirven came out of nowhere and caught one of the guards by surprise and pinned him fast to a wall of ice that was holding the bridge. Itsu waved at the swashbuckler with one hand while using her other to swing her super heated sword up through a spear of ice, melting it with a heavy stroke of the sharp weapon. As she did this, Mashyuu continued his stroll towards the massive front doors of the fortress, completely planning to use the large chunk of earth that was floating behind him in order to break the doors down. Honestly it was the fastest and most direct way to get to Jiyu and Mashyuu didn't want to waste time. "Good to see ya Cirven, I'll meet you at the gate once you finish up your questions. Itsu, wrap it up over here and lets go." Mashyuu demanded of his friend as he walked straight past the battle field. Itsu nodded in Mashyuu's direction while jumping back and cutting the side of one of the guards necks, not killing him by any means but taking him out of the fight. As she landed her free hand made a quick wave and pushed out towards the final guard, the one that Cirven didn't have. "Time to put you on ice! Torrent Cannon!" Itsu launched a blast of cold water straight into the guard, the magical energy chilling him to the bone before the man found that the water froze solid instantly due to the cold air, turning him into a frozen statue on the bridge...

At the towering front doors, Mashyuu was about to command his mass of earth to collide with the ice gates when the ground on either side of him started to rumble. A wide grin crossed the lips of the God Slayer as he took up his mountain stance, keeping him from tumbling over from the quake in the ice. "Cirven! Don't stop for me. Itsu and I will catch up to you!" He shouted over his shoulder as the ground at his flanks exploded and two massive half frost giants just shy of eleven feet tall exposed themselves to the trio of Wizards who had come to save Jiyu. Mashyuu looked back and lowered the flying chunk of stone on the ice with a simple movement of his hand. The two giants brandished drills that looked like they could be used as clubs, clearly used for digging through ice and let out a mighty roar. "Oh man, I'm gonna send you guys packing back into those holes you climbed out of. I promise." Mashyuu said with a cocky tone to his voice as he started to bounce on the balls of his booted feet while he lifted his arms up into a fighting posture. Mashyuu knew he had to get the giants away from the door so that Cirven could get through without any worries and thus opened with one of his more flexible spells. "Light Dragon's Domain: Transition!" He commanded. From Mashyuu's body a faint blue light exploded out, enveloping a field fifty meters out in every direction, letting the God Slayer feel every object in the area. Suddenly Itsu was standing to his left and a frozen gear at his right, both the giants stood in place where the gear and Itsu once were at the edge of the ice bridge. "Alright man! Coast is clear, I'll handle these guys, in fact. Itsu go with him to make sure that everything stays cool. He won't need the help but I don't want to have to worry about you in this fight." "Mashyuu! You know I can take care of myself in a fight! I'm not some helpless hussy!" Itsu shot back and stamped her foot. Sand leaked out of Mashyuu's body and formed in his palm, quickly spinning and stirring to life with each passing nanosecond. "I know Itsu, it's why I bring you along on these jobs." He said with a grin plastered on his face then charged forward, one hand holding the small twister of sand.

Both giants charged at the same time Mashyuu did and hoisted their weapons up high to try and smash Mashyuu but went wide eyed as he pushed his hand out and released the sand twister. "Secret Art: Earth Gods Sand Twister!" The small twister exploded into a mighty tornado of sand that smashed into the giants, first merely bludgeoning them but then the twister threw them back onto the narrow bridge (For giants that is) and held them in place while it continued to smack and cut their blue bodies. Itsu rolled her eyes and placed her blade back in the scabbard then turned to follow Cirven, knowing full well Mashyuu would be okay.

While the Giants were held in the sand twister, Mashyuu jumped inside of it and rooted himself at its center, a simple plan in place. Stone started to fall off his body like it was a second skin and littered the ground around him. Soon each of the Giants would be off the bridge before they knew it, falling into the icy waters below. As the twister died down Mashyuu clapped his hands together and shouted. "Earth Gods Barrage!" The stone that had fallen off his body rumbled and formed into giant fists then launched out in every direction around Mashyuu, smashing into the giants, knocking them off the bridge in one might blast. Mashyuu stood and waited for the sound of bodies hitting ice water and a pleased smile creased his lips. "Well. That wasn't so bad. But something tells me its just gonna get much worse before it gets better. Sadly that took a few of my stronger spells to deal with both of them so quickly. Oh well, I'll let Cirven deal with the next group." He mused to himself and turned to catch up with the others.

WC: 1010
Total: 2038

While more enemies showed up Cirven held down the man and glared at him as if nothing else mattered but the answers he wanted. The thing was truth be told, it was that way. Cor Torva had shaped up everything in his life over and over again in order to use him and took away from him more than he could stomach at times. After all, his entire being was thanks to them. His birth, the way he fought, the darker side to himself that he hid away, the death of what family he had and more was all because of one dark guild that continually poked their head into things over and over again. A dark guild that he thought he had rid the world of but he stood holding a fear filled man up against a wall of one of the Cor Torva headquarters that he destroyed in the past. "Looks like you like the sound of impalement." Cirven reached his electrified arm back in order to slam it into the chest of the man but as he did so the man finally broke and spoke out. "Hey, hey! Stop! This is just a job for me! I don't know much at all but that they rebuilt this place recently in order to continue some legacy of some past organization! I don't ask any questions and have only heard what I know from their conversations near me!" Cirven held his hand back where it was and stared into the man's eyes and face as he spoke. He sighed after listening and moved his electrified hand towards the man who let out a yelp of fear but instead of impaling him Cirven placed his hand on the man's chest to help hoist him up and threw him off the bridge they were on into the cold water below. "Pick a better job next time!" Cirven yelled out to the falling man.

Cirven had paid little attention to Mashyuu and Itsu while they dealt with some of the enemies around them but he did not feel like he was in any danger. He knew the two could handle themselves and knew Mashyuu well enough that he knew the man would back him up which he did as he got the giant men away from the door so that Cirven could go into the building. He even had Itsu go with him to back him up, though the demon felt like he didn't want any sort of burden in any way. He knew Itsu wasn't just some regular woman but still they weren't dealing with any regular enemies. "I'll see you when you catch up, rocky." Cirven called Mashyuu a nickname he figured suited him and turned to look towards Itsu. "Keep up, sassy. I'm not really wanting to baby sit during this infiltration. Can't say that either of us can afford to do that at all." He then rushed into the building where they were greeted by some more spear wielding guards. Cirven sighed at the sight. "These guys are hired goons. They aren't even worth the time of actually fighting so..." Cirven took in a deep breath of air and closed his mouth causing his cheeks to puff out. Black electricity danced out from his mouth. He then fired off a blast of black electricity engulfing all that stood in front of them. "Thunder God's Bellow!" He yelled out as the blast engulfed the enemies. All that was left in front of them was the unconscious bodies of the guards and sparks of black electricity from the powerful blast. "I would say ladies first but the faster we get through this the better." He then continued moving through the building.

He moved through the area as if he knew where he was going which was the truth. He somewhat expected Itsu to question it but he wouldn't respond if so. It wasn't the time for him to start answering questions like that now. It could lead to an opening that they would be waiting for. He took the girl through a corridor that sent them into a open area. "There used to be tables and books here. It used to be filled with different lab equipment..." He spoke out loud as his mind helped him see how the area used to look. "I didn't expect you so soon, Failure." Cirven's head darted towards the sound of a voice that came from another entrance into the room. A man clad into a silver armor holding Jiyu with chains holding her arms behind her back and shackled to her legs where she could barely walk. There was also four guards with him. "You are Fraen Hosten. One of my mother's lackeys in Cor Torva. Did you get too tired of being a low life even to them that you tried to raise yourself up to their level by rebuilding this place?" Fraen gave a grin to Cirven. "Always was a pleasure speaking to you. I always did feel like I was above you so it was always nice, especially when I got to put you in your place using your sister as leeway. How is she by the way?" Fraen's grin widened after he finished speaking and sparks of black electricity erupted off of Cirven from the anger he felt. "Whoa there. Don't get too angry. I have a hostage you know. Wouldn't want to hurt her would you?" Cirven stared at Fraen and then at Jiyu. "You are right. I wouldn't want to hurt a hostage at all." A whip of black electricity came from out of Cirven's hand and he flung it towards Fraen and Jiyu hitting both of them before they could react. Fraen took the hit on his armor but looked on at Cirven with a concerned look as Jiyu took the hit and the illusion vanished revealing that was not Jiyu at all but a mage using magic to look like her in fake chains. "This thing isn't just for show, you know? Happy you could bring your sister here so that I can show you how it feels to lose one, Fraen. Nice to see you, Frelen." Cirven spoke out and pointed at his nose.

Frelen who posed as Jiyu huffed in air from the pain they felt but then stood up with a face full of anger as she regained her composure. "Screw this faking act! Men attack!" She called out as four more guards appeared all wielding other magical weaponry. "You are just a failed piece of trash that deserves to be thrown out just like the other failures! I don't know why we went through all this trouble to get you here! Attack them men!" Frelen yelled out in more anger. Cirven gave a confused look to Frelen after she spoke and was going to question her but before he could a flaming blade came ripping through the air towards him forcing him to dodge and change his focus. Some of the other enemies attacked too and as they did the two siblings made their way out of the room leaving the guards to handle Cirven and Itsu.

Word Count:

2,968 of 7,000
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The ground was entirely frozen against her feet and as she ran through the hallways she was beginning to despise that, it was starting to numb her feet making the movement hard. Of course? The fact a good portion of her body was covered in burns and there was a clear reason for her to be in pain besides for that, combined with the fact she was still bound with magic canceling material keeping her hands behind her back, didn’t help whatsoever. The only thing really keeping her from getting recaptured too quickly was the fact her advanced hearing and sense of smell aided her in avoiding people running around whatever this place was. By now? She knew they had noticed she was gone and she could hear people being yelled at to find her, the guards and such did not bother being quiet, which was a flaw on their part, to not know about or not take any serious consideration of her senses if they were aware of them. If someone could hear and smell the way she could? That should be the first thing someone wanted to disable on someone like herself, otherwise, it was just nearly impossible to catch them unless you happened to by chance be faster than your target or happened to get extremely lucky. Since they had not done anything to disable her senses it said something to the fact her opponents lacked any real common sense or maybe knowledge of her, that or she was being used like some pawn for some other goal or as bait, something like that. Jiyu honestly couldn’t consider it too deeply right now, if she did that she would freeze up and that would just make recapturing her far too easy for these jerkish brutes it was disgusting that they had taken her in the first place but to it would be entirely on her if she made getting their hands back on her easy!

Those sensitive ears of hers soon picked up the sounds of fighting nearby, distinct and easy to detect since the people invading the ‘prison’ did not really seem to put any stock towards stealth. Heading towards the people who currently seemed to be fighting the one’s who had captured her seemed like a fairly good idea. Jiyu didn’t know if the new people within the building were a friend of foe, she couldn’t smell them yet and she could not clearly make out their voices, but clearly, they were enemies of her current enemy, it would have to do for now! Of course making her way towards the fighting also meant that it slowly became much harder to dodge and avoid all of the guards running around the castle. Kazehime had expected reaching the only potential allies around would not be easy, considering commotion tended to draw in people, but it still sucked having as hard of a time getting there as she was, especially since she was still blindfolded! Seriously it was an accomplishment though, not many people could say they could navigate an unknown place while dodging guards when they could not see anything whatsoever, heck she was barely managing it.

“GET HER!” by the time she neared where Cirven, Itsu and Mashyuu happened to be fighting some guards? Jiyu had managed to pick up some unwanted follower’s, mostly a lot more guards and a few mages who had tried to deceive her but been unable to as a result of her sensitive nose. Kazehime didn’t know much about the people trying to catch her since she was still blindfolded, but she did know she had managed to enter the same room as her goal before someone finally managed to grab onto one of the chains dangling off her. “GOT HER!” she couldn’t bring herself to scream, just whimper as her body impacted the ground again when the guard pulled on the chain causing her body to jerk and fall.

The rescuers had finally gotten close to the person they had come to the frosty area to save, the goal was in sight so to speak; However, the sight was not a pretty one. A single glance at the object of the rescue was enough that anyone would be able to tell they had been too late to entirely save her, to stop anything bad from happening! Kazehime was covered in raw fresh burns, bleeding cuts, she had blood somewhere that spelled something very bad, especially when combined with the fact she had a white substance some places on her and the only piece of cloth on her was the blindfold which was soaked with tears. Jiyu was close enough that they could save her, but it was clear they had not been able to protect her and any scars she had carried before would likely be even deeper now. Of course the only thing on Kazehime’s mind right now was the fact it was all pretty much over, she had failed to get away and now she was going to be dragged back to that cell for torment far worse than what they had already done, especially since she was cut off from her magic by the cuffs she was now too weak to fight back.

Mashyuu waved Cirven off as he shouted and called the Earth using Wizard Rocky, it was the name of his old stone pet that was now the guardian of his daughter, the young lady he hadn't seen since his near death. Cirven, nor Itsu knew about his daughter though and showing any emotion like that would simply cause more issues than they solved. Instead He continued on with his battle against the giants...

In the building Itsu laughed at Cirven when called Sassy. "Damn straight! Now let me tell you how nice it will be to not babysit Mashyuu. C'mon, lets bust some skulls cutie!" Itsu winked at Cirven and followed behind with her weapon drawn, the heat from the sword dragging behind her, melting a line in the ice floor to show the way they went should Mashyuu need a path to follow. Itsu nearly swooned when Cirven used his Thunder Gods Bellow, a type of attack that she had not seen Mashyuu use but knew that most Slayers had some sort of breath attack, she wasn't sure why Mashyuu didn't have them, it was something she would have to ask about the next time. "Ya know, if you want to get through this place faster, I can turn into a ram. That should help..." Itsu offered until Cirven said something that took her by surprise. It was as if he had been here more than once."... Hey have you-?" Her voice trailed off when he started to talk about how the room they came to was mostly all wrong and a pair appeared that clearly knew who Cirven was...

Heavy foot falls carried Mashyuu leaps and bounds down the hall as he raced, following the trail Itsu had left. He could smell the pair and knew he was getting close. Quickly Mashyuu rounded a corner as two figures made an escape and a fight was breaking out. One swordsman slashed down at Cirven, barely missing the man who jumped back while Itsu pointed past the group of fighters where the two that Cirven knew were escaping. "Revive!" She shouted, creating a copy of herself that saluted the pair of Saberooth's and the guild master of Black Sails then turned and started to carefully follow the pair of kidnappers. Mashyuu jumped into the fray, over Itsu's shoulder and lifted his foot, catching the blade of the man that tried to cut Cirven with the spikes on Mashyuu's boot. "Ya know, I don't have all my magic since there is no earth here. It takes a lot of focus to create the earth I need for my offensive magic. That means that I have to rely on my gear for the most part. I'm not okay with that. You guys should really run." Mashyuu commented while lifting his foot up and spinning it to disarm the fighter. Itsu snapped her weapon out at the now disarmed swordsman and hurled a fire ball at the man, burning him in the process. Mashyuu pulled his right hand back and clenched his fist tight, twisted around and sent his hand out with a wicked punch. "Super Dragon Fist!" He announced, activating the magic within his fighting gloves. A massive dragon of dark magic exploded out of his fist, lancing through two guards, sending them crashing through the ice wall of the room they were in, cutting the number of fighters down.

Mashyuu took a quick look at the scene around him but just as quickly returned to the fight at hand, he could smell Jiyu all around as if she had been dragged through the room more than once, or more than one person who had touched her recently had passed through the area. "Cirven, got a spell to clear the room or do I have to melt this ice?" Mashyuu shouted in confusion while ducking a strike and jumping up to send his strong knee crashing into the mouth of a guard while Itsu kicked that man's knee in, causing him to buckle to the ground thanks to the pair's dual attack.

WC: 680
Total: 2716

The fighting had picked up with the Hosten siblings retreating after their talk with Cirven with Itsu close by. Cirven knew the girl would have a list of questions for him to answer but they didn't have time to talk as multiple weapons were flung about towards them over and over from their attackers. Cirven was taking the defensive causing him to dodge and parry attacks aimed his way. He didn't want to take a chance and block any of the attacks because he had little doubt that the enemy would give him enough time to retaliate. He wasn't exactly human anymore but that didn't mean pain could not become a factor to him in a battle.

The attacks had become more and more relentless on him too possibly due to the enemy feeling some sort of empathy of the anger that one of their leaders was feeling towards him but the demon had been trained at a young age multiple times in ways to deal with enemies of such a caliber. You just wait for your moment to strike and take it, even if it is only a short time. Cirven had thought of something else to do though while dodging. Make it seem like the enemy could not hit him even when they tried over and over and mess with their morale while also tiring them out from the wave of attacks they threw out. This caused the enemy to grow angrier though and they just continued to attack over and over until finally the demon created some space between him and his attackers where he came up near Itsu and Mashyuu who had just made it into the room. The space between him and his attackers was created due to Mashyuu's attack on the enemy just in time when Cirven moved. It was almost as if the two had some sort of the same wave length when it came to fighting and at times even their prideful mindset. There were multiple cuts on Cirven's body from him going on the defensive. None were grave in any way but if either Mash or Itsu looked they would see the wounds heal up completely at a super fast rate.

"Good job with sending that clone after the twins, Itsu. It might distract them long enough so that they don't get away or at least too far away. Last time I dealt with them they weren't strong enough to even take one of my attacks but it looks like that has changed." He spoke to Itsu as if she knew his past already with the twins. "A spell to clear a room? You have some sort of mind reading power? Just trust me here." Black electricity started to spark off of Cirven's body and then it all extended out around him, his allies and to the enemies around them. Cirven an his allies would not be harmed by the barrier created but the enemies around them would all be shocked intensely by the attack until it dispersed. Each enemy fell to the ground unconscious and possibly barely clinging to life for who they had chosen to side with. A few of the enemies managed to stay standing from the attack but Cirven used his speed to quickly deal with them with a series of quick slashing strikes from his hands being made into electrified claws through his magic. "Hopefully that is good enough for you." Cirven smirked at his allies.

His smirk stopped as his nose wrinkled up from a scent he caught onto as well as some sounds of voices coming from the hall the twins had ran into. "Let's go." The demon darted off to the doorway the twins ran through and looked to see it had three corridors they could go through and on his left was what his super senses had picked up on in the form of the prisoner they were after to save. "Jiyu! Stay still!" The demon yelled out and almost simultaneously through out four of his eight knives at the woman who was held in cuffs that he quickly recognized. His knives flew quickly through the air and cut through the cuffs that held the girl as there captive as well as even hitting the blindfold on her head to allow her to have her sight. Cirven then started to move towards her in order to help her more but did not know if the other dog demon would react crazily from her stay in the icy fortress.

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