Mashyuu in: A Return to Minstrel

Job Details:

Mashyuu had left Itsu to help a fellow Sabertooth Wizard and a set of Musketeers free some nobles while the God Slayer dealt with a few something just as bad, the kidnappers leader. Ferdinand Ibáñez, a cult leader who wanted power in Minstrel hired the goons who had kidnapped the nobles while he delivered a speech from a book written by one of his followers at a local church to some of the leaders in the Kingdom and Mashyuu planned on confronting the man and arresting him before the man he had decided to call Fred could convert anyone else into his cult. After explaining that the group would be splitting up to take down everyone at once Mashyuu took off, walking into a crowd headed for a large white marble church while the others went to meet up with the Musketeers that needed help freeing the nobles.

The sun had hit its highest point in the sky, signaling noon in Minstrel, one hour until Fred began reading from his book. Mashyuu had dealt with plenty of scum in the past and knew that some people, especially the ones who used cults tended to use magic from books to convert others and as such Mashyuu reasoned that the book Fred would read from may in fact have some sort of strange mind altering magic to it. Mashyuu, in the middle of a group of people stopped in front of the church Fred was going to speak at. Local police, something similar to the Rune Knights, patrolled the area with K-9 dog units at their side. Mashyuu's glowing blue eyes darted around the grassy field that surrounded the massive white stone church and counted the guards. At least sixty police patrolling the outside area. No idea how many are actually inside either. Gonna be tough to just walk in if he is only speaking to a select group of people. Mashyuu reasoned. The brown haired man sighed and checked his gear, black gloves with steel plates to allow for blocking and striking metal weapons, his cross that could create a magical bow was chained to his left wrist and his parents clothes had taken the shape of a black vest with matching pants, and a red tee shirt while his boots were laced up to his mid calf. Everything was in order and now it was time. There was no way around it since his eyes were glowing and he didn't look normal at all. He would have to storm the church and hurt people that he might consider friends normally.

WC: 430

Mashyuu stepped up to the front gate of the church, each of the large hinged doors shut tight with a chain holding them bared. He focused his power and let sand and dirt from the ground roll up his body and compress on his flesh. "Earth Gods Sand Skin. Lets start off simple while I deal with the police." Mashyuu whispered then bent his knees. The Wizard jumped up over the tall bars of the iron gate and flipped over the barricade, landed in a three point stance while ten of the police patrolling started to shout warnings and rushed the Wizard. Mashyuu lifted his left hand while sliding his right foot back to brace when a large dog jumped at him and snapped its maw at the God Slayer. Mashyuu grabbed the dog by the snout and threw its face into the ground as hard as he could, causing it to bounce off the ground while an officer fired off a shot in Mashyuu's direction. The brown haired man pivoted at the hip, evading the gun shot and aimed his left hand at the officer, his magical bow materialized in his palm fast enough for Mashyuu to fire off four arrows into the chest of the archer, then kicked the dog so hard it bounced across the grassy field and laid still at the foot of its master. A second cop rushed up behind Mashyuu and struck him in the back of his head with a pistol. A bright flash exploded out of Mashyuu and the sand skin spell he cast exploded out from around him and sand smashed into the cop, wounding him and knocking him backwards in the process. The God Slayer grinned and twisted around while pulling his right hand backwards and shouted while aiming. "Sky Breaker!" His fist smashed into the chest of the officer, blowing him through the gate from the force of Mashyuu's strike, bending the metal and leaving his head between the bars. A second shot rang out and dug into Mashyuu's back, the magic from the gun drawing a light trickle of blood. He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, allowing his clothes magic to activate. "Quick Silver." His body flashed for a moment then became wrapped in a flexible metal case. A wide grin spread over him and he rushed the officer that shot him. Mashyuu grabbed the man by the face with his right hand and smashed his left fist into the officers gut repeatedly until the man went limp in the God Slayer's grip and fell to the ground. Before he could fall completely, Mashyuu twisted with the man still in his palm, using the body to swat away another dog like a rag doll. Mashyuu discarded the body and pulled his right arm back, black energy swarmed around his hand and Mashyuu struck out towards three officers. "Super Dragon Fist!" A black dragon of pure energy exploded from Mashyuu's hand and smashed the trio back into the church itself.

WC: 508
Total: 938

The trio of guards Mashyuu struck smashed into the wall of the church and fell to the ground in a messy pile of bodies. At this point people outside of the church were either screaming and running or cheering Mashyuu while he ducked a dog's lunging bite and then stood up, tossing the dog aside as if it weighed nothing. In a way it seemed like these men and dogs were never ending, even though Mashyuu knew what he was getting into. "Should have just jumped through the window up top..." He complained to himself while jumping up to smash his knee into the face of an officer as hard as he could. Mashyuu came down and rolled past the officer that Mashyuu had knocked out with a single well placed knee to the jaw. As he finished his roll, his hand waved up and the ground before him split. Molten stone washed up out of the ground and rolled over a set of five dogs, leaving nothing left in the wake of his magma attack. "Earth Gods Molten Blast!" He shouted while he stood up. A pair of officers with guns drawn looked at one another and took a step back while a third and fourth set came up behind Mashyuu, still protected by his fathers quicksilver spell, and drove their guns into the back of his head, only to find the strikes reflected back upon them, breaking their noses in the resulting magical effect. Mashyuu growled with anger and twisted around, his fists lashed out like only a brawlers could, catching each man in the throat and chest hard enough to stop them from drawing breath long enough that they passed out, but would live. When an effective firing squad lined up to Mashyuu's left hand side in the courtyard of the church Mashyuu spun to face his attackers and cast another spell. "Earth Gods Basilisk Wall!" A massive wall of stone sprouted out of the ground with three dog heads looking down at the officers, freezing them all solid, turning them each into a stone statue. That seemed to be all of them but Mashyuu was unsure for how long. He sighed and turned to face the church. "Something tells me I'm just getting started here." He muttered under his breath and smoothed out his uniform as his quicksilver spell ended and his flesh was once again revealed. He cracked a wide grin and headed for the front door of the church, ready to continue the fight or talk, whatever would come first. Either way, he had a Preacher to defeat and a book to destroy.

WC: 443
Total: 1381

Mashyuu stood outside the church and looked up the stone wall. He sighed for a long moment and glanced over his shoulder wondering how Itsu and Celeste were doing with rescuing the hostages that were being held in their own home. No time to worry about that. Itsu is a capable mage and I have to trust that Kite wouldn't have sent Celeste if she was not going to be helpful. He thought to himself and walked up to the stone wall. He took a large bite out of the wall, then jumped up and took another bite. With two chunks of stone missing from the wall Mashyuu used them as holes so he could place a hand and foot then started to eat again as he climbed the wall of the church, eating and restoring his power all while he climbed the building to the large round window atop the church. Slowly he came to the large stained glass window and peered inside. Ten Musketeers and the Preacher, Fred were inside and looked to be getting ready for something. Nope, you aren't getting away from me this time Fred. The last time Mashyuu had ran into this guy was at the Tower of the Sun where he was kidnapping women and converting them to join his cult. Mashyuu beat the man but he escaped and was allowed to continue on his path of strange evil. Today though that was all going to end.

The God Slayer swallowed a lump that was building up in his throat and leap't up, breaking through the stained glass and came to a stop inside the stone church's second floor. The Musketeers all turned while Fred kept his back to Mashyuu and pulled a white hood up over his head. "Ah, Mashyuu. It's been some time since we last met. You nearly killed me but I escaped. Tell me, are you here to put an end to my speech before it starts?" He asked. Mashyuu growled while cracking his knuckles inside his armored gloves. "Fred! Give me the book and I won't snap your legs like the twigs they are!" Mashyuu shouted in anger. "My Son, I'm afraid I cannot do that, nor will these men allow you to take the book as if they don't try to stop you, their favorite Noble will be killed at the hands of my followers. Enjoy the speech." Fred replied and headed out of the room, leaving Mashyuu and the Musketeers inside the large office area. The ten men drew lethal looking rapiers and Mashyuu frowned silently. "I'm really working on that too. Come on guy's let me past and nobody will have to get hurt." He reasoned but the Musketeers weren't going to listen and all charged forward!

With ten men charging, Mashyuu knew he needed to be a little extra careful. He shouted and a burst of power exploded out of him, a faint screen of light flowed off his body and acted as a deflective shield so that strikes would glance off his body, not keeping him safe from harm but cause strikes to do less harm to him. He raised his hands and started to bounce on his feet to warm up his body. His right hand shot forward, the metal of his gloves catching a blade and threw it up as he stepped in towards the group and drove his left fist up in an uppercutting motion into the jaw of the first Musketeer to reach him. Mashyuu stepped into the crowd with a twist and drove his elbows into the faces of two more musketeers, the series of attacks wasn't enough to knock anyone out but with three men so quickly struck, the musketeers all decided to try and do something else. They spread out and surrounded Mashyuu while taking aim at the Wizard. Their weapons started to glow, alerting Mashyuu to danger as he himself started to ready an attack. His body seemingly sparked with magic as he sent his power into the marble ground of the floor and shouted. "Earth Gods Barrage!" The ground shot up around him and created a series of striking fists that smashed into the men and pushed them against the walls of the room, even knocking one out of the window and one through the door Fred had closed on his way out.

WC: 738
Total: 2119

With a Musketeer out of the window and one tumbling down a flight of stairs, Mashyuu had leveled the playing field a bit. At least in theory. The Wizard smirked and glanced at the others in the room. To say he was a bit uneasy was an understatement but he had to keep up the confident face to keep the Musketeers off guard. He could feel a blade cutting the air and coming down atop the Wizard and Mashyuu lifted his right hand to catch the blade in his palm, the metal in the palm clanged against the steel of the rapier. His body tensed and flexed while the other fighters all moved in, each one coming at a different angle towards Mashyuu. The earth user frowned and grabbed his initial attacker by the collar of his shirt while moving to switch places with the man. "Sorry about this!" He shouted as the Musketeers all hit their friend with various spells, leaving the man a smoking husk of a fighter, not dead but so hurt that Mashyuu doubted the Musketeer would move for a month or more. Three down, seven to go. Could Mashyuu take them down quickly or was he going to get a beating?

Mashyuu's face twisted with shock and worry when he dropped down and ducked a swiping sword that was aimed right for his neck, just barely evading the slash. A lock of his hair fell to the floor and he frowned. "Hey! I'm not killing anyone, lets try to not kill me too eh?" He shouted. The brown haired man came up and threw his elbow out to hit the man who swiped at his head. The Musketeer's face snapped back and he clutched his nose to try and block out the pain. Mashyuu charged and tackled the man to the ground, then rolled forward to keep distance on the men. He didn't mind fighting a large group of men but getting surrounded by fighters with swords wasn't something Mashyuu wanted to deal with. He rose to a knee and lifted both arms, deflecting two sword strikes to make them glancing shots that barely nicked his shoulders all while he stood up and spun to face his foes. "Alright, I've had enough of you guys! Earth Gods Explosive Field!" Mashyuu caused the ground under the remaining Musketeers to light up with a golden hue and explode up, throwing everyone off their feet and to their backs. Mashyuu took the chance to dispose of his foes by waving his left hand and forcing the ground to tremble and roll, throwing the Musketeers out the broken window, atop their friend and took a moment to wipe the sweat off his brow. "Okay, we are getting there... I think."

With a heavy thought Mashyuu walked over to a statue that was sitting on a glass shelf against the wall and picked up the hefty stone object. He was still not full on magic, even after eating his way up the wall and absorbing the sun light on his way into the building. Mashyuu pinched his nose and opened his mouth as wide as he could while tilting his head back and dropping the statue down his throat, swallowing the object entirely. He wiped his mouth after swallowing the statue and patted his belly, feeling a bit more of his power restored, as if he wouldn't need to rely on the potions he carried in a safe case against his chest under his gi.

The wizard stepped out, through the doorway that he had knocked down and looked around the area. before him was a flight of steps that went down, and on each side of him with a door at the end of each hall. Mashyuu tried first to sniff the air for Fred's scent but couldn't track it down to one spot, it seemed the man had traveled all over the church, likely due to some sort of tour. Mashyuu frowned and checked the door to his left first, the large spacious room was empty, but had pews and a religious shrine to whatever god was worshiped in Minstrel. Next was the room to the right. Slowly he pushed the door open and went wide eyed when what he thought were hundreds of gun shots rang out, each slamming into Mashyuu's chest dropping him to his back from the force of the over all impact. Mashyuu hit the ground hard and groaned as the world around him spun and he passed out, the last thing he saw, Fred walking up to the Wizard and kicking him in the face...

WC: 776
Total: 2895

Mashyuu slowly awoke, his eyes lifted open in the slowest possible way. His shoulders ached with pain as did his wrists when he realized that he was being held up by old rusty chains and cuffs off the ground at least a foot. First his head moved to check his binds and he noticed his gear was missing, aside from his clothes of course. "Ah, you have awoken. Splendid. I thought I was going to miss you before my speech. I'm surprised you managed to survive all those shots. Clearly the God we put inside you is the reason for that. Yes, that's right. I am a member of the cult that tried to raise the demon with your soul. Instead you were possessed by a God. Tell me, is it a strong one? Even after giving your body the energy needed to continue life?" Fred asked with his hands behind his back. He flashed a toothy grin from behind his pale lips and scoffed at Mashyuu for a moment. "Honestly it doesn't really matter. You are going to die here or convert. One way or the other. Don't try to use your magic. These shackles keep magical power at bay and won't allow you to use your inner power. Notice the vents. Five to be exact, all will help carry my voice to you as I read from my book and convert everyone who has come to see me to the order of the rising light. You will be my most devout and powerful follower. This will be a glorious day! Enjoy the spoken word my son." Fred boasted and smacked Mashyuu across the face to draw blood. A wicked sneer spread over Fred's face as he wiped his hand clean on Mashyuu's brown gi and left Mashyuu in what he assumed was a dungeon.

Two guards with half plate armor stood in the room with swords at their hips, watching Mashyuu like a hawk while the brown haired Wizard tried to recover his wits. "You guys don't happen to have a smoke on you do ya?" He asked. The two men scoffed and one opened his palm, thick smoke billowed out from the guards hand and swarmed around Mashyuu's face. He inhaled the fumes and held the smoke in his throat, he was only joking about the smoke but decided to make the best of the situation. Mashyuu watched the men carefully, knowing that eventually one of them would get annoyed and come to check up on Mashyuu. He struggled in his chains but couldn't find a way to loosen them in the slightest. His glowing blue eyes darted around to try and spot where his gear could have possibly been. There, next to the door out of the room was a small chest with a lock on it. That's it. That is where my gear would be. Why do these nut jobs always keep gear in the same room as the captive? He thought to himself and started to choke on the smoke, unsure of how long he would have been able to keep the smoke in his chest without coughing.

WC: 529
Total: 3424

He knew that Fred wanted him to hear the reading, it would enact the spell that was in the book Fred would read from. The guards would know that too and the Earth Wizard was counting on it. He continued to hold the smoke in his lungs, slowly fading while his eyes rolled into the back of his head. One of the guards noticed the way Mashyuu started to thrash about in the chains and slowly stop. The pair walked up to Mashyuu as he stopped moving and checked his pulse. "Hey, he's still alive. We need to wake him up." The smoke wizard stated almost in a panic. The other guard moved in on the seemingly out cold earth user. When the guard was only a few inches away from the Wizard Mashyuu opened his mouth and released all the smoke he had held in his lungs out into the face of the guard. The man started to inhale the smoke and choke. While he staggered, Mashyuu lifted his legs and wrapped them around the head of the Guard, yanked hard and broke the mans neck in one attack. The other guard growled and rushed Mashyuu, slamming his fist into the God Slayers abdomen, knocking the air out of the Wizard in the process. Mashyuu rolled his eyes and started to flex his body again, struggling to loosen the chains while building up a healthy sweat. If he could just get his body to slip out of the binds then he could fight back. Again a blow fell into his body, causing Mashyuu to shudder and groan as he tried to catch his breath again. "Heh, my girlfriend hits harder than you. This is foreplay for me." Mashyuu joked and spat at the man who was watching over him. "Release me from these chains and I can heal your buddies wounds." Mashyuu suggested and the guard scoffed while looking at his friend. "...This guy is dead, not important to me." The guard replied.

It was true, the guard would die if Mashyuu couldn't save him in time but the Earth Wizard had faith that the still standing guard would give Mashyuu another good strike or so. The Wizard spit on the guard, letting his snot run down the mans face. The guard snarled and smashed his fist into Mashyuu's face as hard as the guard could, nearly knocking him out. The impact of the guards fist knocked Mashyuu back so far that his hands slipped straight out of the chains and he smashed into the wall behind him with a heavy thud. Mashyuu laid still for a long moment while he collected his wits, and breath. Slowly the guard started to walk towards Mashyuu, in a way, afraid he had killed Mashyuu. When the guard was standing at Mashyuu's side he nudged the Wizard with the toe of his boot, Mashyuu didn't move, a feign to trick the guard into letting his guard down. Like a dream, the guard dropped to his knee and Mashyuu placed his hand on the ground. "Earth Gods Combo: Part One." Mashyuu muttered. The ground under the guard shot up, three pillars smashed into the man and knocked him backwards. The guard smashed against the wall of the basement and started to fall, only to transform his body into smoke and stop himself from crashing against the cobblestone floor.

Mashyuu sprang up and took his mountain stance while the cloud of smoke reformed into the guard. He clenched his fist and a spear of fog formed in his grasp. The man smirked and lifted his weapon while aiming it at Mashyuu's chest. The glowing eyes of the Wizard narrowed and he tried to give himself time to think. He had no idea if the guards weapon could pass or form around solid objects to strike at whatever he was aiming for. Would armor even be worth it at this point? "Light Dragon's Domain." Mashyuu whispered, creating a dome of blue energy that surrounded the room. As his spell completed the guard charged Mashyuu and stabbed at the Earth Wizard with the spear. "Transition!" Mashyuu shouted, teleporting away while the chains he was held to took his spot. Mashyuu touched down on the ground and winked at the guard. "Buddy, it's gonna take a lot more than that to take me down. But hey, you have a really strong right hook." Mashyuu clapped while walking around the room. "Ya know, I haven't had a fight without my gear in a long time. What was it? Oh the Road Fighters Tournament was the last time I had a great fight without my stuff. Wanna see how good I really am?"

Both combatants started to circle the basement, glaring at one another. Mashyuu's hands clenched into fists, the wizard almost forgot what his hands felt like without the leather gloves on them. He swallowed a lump and flexed his body then twisted to run at the guard. Mashyuu sprang off the wall at his left, struck out with his right fist and caught the guard in the face, forcing the guard back a pace. "Dragon Gods Meteor Swarm!" The God Slayer shouted and pulled a tile out of the ground then lit up the tile with holy light and fired it off at the guard. In the same moment the guard thew his fist forward at Mashyuu, causing a thick cloud of fog to explode out of his palm and surround the meteor that Mashyuu launched at him. The God Slayer drew a deep breath and focused his power into one powerful attack, ready to end the fight before it truly began. "Earth Gods Molten Wave!"  Mashyuu shouted while he swept his leg out, causing a ripple in the ground to pulse out and trip the guard before a massive wave of molten earth exploded out of the ground and washed over the guard, burning him so horridly that his body went into shock. With both guards down Mashyuu dragged their bodies next to one another and exploded into a golden light, healing the wounds of the guards just enough to not kill them. A few moments later Mashyuu was standing in his gear and walking out the door Fred had, back on the trail of the evil Priest.

WC: 1061
Total: 4485

Mashyuu placed his hand to his head and shook it. Even after he healed his wounds his head was still pounding. The guard had hit him hard enough to rock his brain around in his skull easily. The Wizard sighed and looked at the vents in the room. Small but could easily carry sound if loud enough. He didn't hear any voice, meaning Fred hadn't started reading from the book yet. He was still setting up, Mashyuu still had time to stop him. The Wizard took a moment while outside of the room in the basement he was in to lean against the wall and think for a moment. This place is a fortress. No two ways about it. There were easily sixty men outside, no telling how many more are in here and I have to keep my magical energy up as high as possible because a fight with Fred isn't going to be easy. He's gotten much stronger since the last time we squared off. He might be as strong as me at this point. Luckily he uses light magic and I can absorb it. I still need to stop this guy though. But charging him and having to fight all his goons at the same time plus him will be a real problem. It's gonna be best to just search this place and take down as many of his thugs as I can before he can call them. On top of that I need to do this quick before Itsu and Celeste get into any trouble so I can help them out too. Hopefully the Musketeers they are with won't let anything terrible happen to them. Mashyuu thought to himself and pushed off the wall. He had no sunlight to absorb and had to rely on his gear, the potions and stone to keep him going for as long as possible.

He released a held bit of air and walked through a hall, and pushed a swinging door open. Mashyuu smirked when he saw two guards sitting at a small table in a kitchen, playing a game of cards. The two men looked at one another, unsure of if the priest had read from the book and converted Mashyuu yet. They both put their attention on the Wizard and thought for a long moment then stood up, kicking their chairs out while drawing a revolver each. They opened fire on Mashyuu while he pointed to the ground and lifted his arm up at the elbow. "Earth Gods Stone Wall!" The rough wall of stone exploded out of the ground and deflected the gunshots as if Mashyuu was wrapped in steel armor. Mashyuu took a step back on his left leg and smiled wide until two swords ripped through the wall and cleaved it to rubble. Mashyuu was shocked to see that the men were strong enough to destroy his wall (Even if it was one of his weaker spells.) It didn't matter though as He ran a few paces backwards again and started to spark. "Lightning Leap!" He commanded and transformed into a bolt of electricity. The golden bolt of Electricity ripped through the the hall and smashed into both guard while passing through them and reformed back into Mashyuu. He twisted around while crouched on one knee and kept his left hand extended. A magical bow erupted out of his left arm and his right pulled back the string of arcane energy. "Hail of Arrows!" He shouted, firing a volley of arrows into both men's backs, knocking them out in an instant.

Mashyuu cracked his knuckles and neck, a wide grin spread over his face as he was starting to feel limber again after being strung up for the Gods only knew how long. Happily he stalked through the hall again and stopped when he saw a set of stairs winding up to the next level. In all honestly he didn't eve know where the steps led to or how far below ground he even was. Mashyuu frowned but figured it was best to start there. He climbed up to the point that he wouldn't be able to jump to reach then started to eat the steps behind him, not only restoring some of his lost power but cutting off the path to follow him. Mashyuu patted his belly and felt content as his magical reserves were restored. Luckily he hadn't been using a ton of magic in each of his fights and was able to slowly recover what he had used over time. He started up the steps again when suddenly he felt vibrations in the ground coming closer towards him and rapidly. "Great. Someone actually heard me fighting after all but took forever to come check things out. Wonder what's up with that?" He grumbled as he stopped and realized that due to the curve of the steps he couldn't get a full swing on any strike he made. Things were about to get a lot harder for him on the steps.

WC: 844
Total: 5329

Footsteps thundered through the stone steps as the men drew on Mashyuu in the narrow area. It didn't take long for Mashyuu to realize that he was not going to get very far if he kept moving and if he went back he would only be cornered. He had to fight his way up the steps and hopefully not get surrounded and knocked out again in the process. The Wizard cracked his neck and started to hop side to side in the stairwell while keeping his magical power building up in his hands. He had a few tricks up his sleeves that the men coming down the steps wouldn't enjoy very much. As he saw the first of many police officers with bruises (clearly the men Mashyuu had attacked outside) round the corner of the spiraling steps, Mashyuu pressed his palms together and held light in them that was starting to swell with energy. When the second and third officer rounded the corner Mashyuu extended both palms and shouted. "Light Dragons Holy Shower!" Blasts of pure holy light rocketed out of Mashyuu's palms in the shape of crosses, smashing into the first five guards, knocking them out yet again. Their bodies fell forward and the men tumbled down the steps hard, bounced past Mashyuu and fell into the hole he created when he started to eat the steps away. Lazily Mashyuu glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. At least they weren't dead right? No need to take it easy on a group of thugs who wanted to kill you even if they themselves were being forced to do something they didn't want to instead of standing up for what they thought was right at any cost. Mashyuu had no time for people who couldn't even ask for help in a situation like that.

Again he could feel terrible tremors in the ground but felt them moving much faster. "Dogs..." He grumbled and started up the steps again, this time pieces of the wall around him ripped off from the rest of the stone workings and formed a sheet of heavy armor on his body, leaving only his head exposed to any real danger. Mashyuu ran up a few steps then came to a sudden stop and ducked his body, throwing his shoulder forward. He had already felt the pressure on the steps of a dog jumping to round the corner with a snapping bite from its wicked maw. Mashyuu managed to catch the animal with his shoulder, as he came to a stand he threw his shoulder back with all his might, hurling the dog behind him to force it to crash into the ground. Mashyuu reached out with his right fist and smashed his knuckles into the snout of a second hound, making the dog release a weak whimper and tumble down the rest of the steps. "Earth Gods Extension!" Mashyuu shouted and pulled his hands together. A geokenetic force pulled stone from the room to float before Mashyuu's hands. He pushed out, causing the stones to catch two more dogs in the ribs as they started around the corner, knocking the dogs against the narrow wall, not killing them but knocking them out in one fell swoop. Mashyuu jumped past the out cold dogs and made a silly comment as if he owned them. "Good boys... Second time in my life ever seeing a dog and these ones attack me. Go figure." As he finally got to the top of the steps he felt his jaw tighten, a small group of officers, ten to be exact each had their pistol aimed at Mashyuu's chest. As quickly as he could, Mashyuu turned around and ducked his head low, bullets rocketed into Mashyuu's back but his suit of stone armor managed to block all ten shots and remain mostly intact on his body with no harm done to him. "Oh... I'm alive. This is good news. Now, time to kick some more ass!" He shouted and spun around to face the ten men who were now drawing police batons.

Mashyuu stepped into the large open chamber that had casks of wine lining the walls and raised his fists while looking around. "Am I the only one that thinks it's weird your church has a giant basement with wine here? I don't know but being trashed at church just seems like its bad in some way, don't you agree?" He commented while the police started to surround him. Two officers moved in at the same time. Mashyuu blocked one strike with his forearms and stepped out of the way of the other strike, placing himself between the two officers as his hands came up to smash the metal knuckles of the gloves on his hands into the men's jaws as hard as he could, sending the two officers flying backwards almost like toys. The men crashed through a cask of wine each, lining the floor with red liquid that would surely be sticky later. "I don't suppose the other eight of you want to surrender do you? I gotta say it would really be the best option at this point." As it was, the guards didn't seem like they wanted to talk and this time all eight guards attacked Mashyuu at once, his arms moved in a blur, deflecting a few batons as he gave some ground, not wanting to risk taking a hard hit at this point when he still had so much further to go. His teeth grit together while his glowing blue eyes darted around to keep pace with each strike that came his way, barely allowing for him to keep up with the eight slower attackers.

"Oh enough of this." Mashyuu muttered and dropped down, placing his hand on the ground. Under the group a bright light flared up and then the ground rumbled violently. "Earth Gods Combo Part Two!" He shouted, the ground split under the guards and dropped them on the bottom floor of the church. Mashyuu grinned and dusted his gloved hands while laughing. "Sorry to upset you guys, but I'm not in the mood to waste all my energy on you basic goons."

WC: 1040
Total: 6369

Fred walked behind a podium of carved wood that held the image of a creature with the features of a human but the wings of a bird on the front of the podium. Atop the podium rested a book that was massive, pages of old paper, the book was open and a page marked. Really though the book was just filled with phrases about life and death but enchanted with magic to make the words seem as if they were something more and would convert those listening to the books spoken word to the mind set of whoever spoke from the book. Fred cleared his throat and looked up from the book at the seventy people in the back of the church, all sitting down to hear the man's reading.


Fred Started to speak, his powerful voice carried through the church's halls and various rooms on the ground floor, allowing anyone who was near by to hear his every word. As he finished the first verse of his reading a few people stood and applauded the Priest, already being effected by his devious magical book. Fred smiled and politely raised his hand and motioned for those standing to remain seated so he could continue. In his heart though he simply was holding out hope that Mashyuu hadn't passed back out and was actually hearing Fred speak, slowly being converted to the cult leaders way of thinking.

Mashyuu in fact was rushing up the steps to the ground level, after battling his way through two sub levels of police and guards. Luckily he hadn't ran into any more Musketeers who were indeed the Earth Wizards friends. His body heaved and forced him to keep running even when he didn't think he could go on, with a loud crash he exploded out of the basement and onto the ground floor, through a wooden door that was resting at the side of Fred while he was speaking. The patrons of the church all gasped with shock when Mashyuu stopped in the door frame to catch his breath and glared at Fred while wiping a streak of blood from his cut lip. "Sorry to disturb this fireside reading Father, but it's past your bed time!" Mashyuu shouted and indeed it looked like the sun was starting to set. He needed to finish things up here so he could go and make sure Itsu and Celeste were doing okay for the most part.

Fred turned to face Mashyuu, his purple robes hung low, masking his body down to his feet and covered his arms and hands entirely. He cracked a sly grin and spoke in a calm tone. "Ladies and Gentlemen. I believe it would be in everyone's best interest to leave the area so that you don't become harmed during this exchange. As a Priest I will do what I can do handle the situation without resorting to violence but it might not be able to be helped I would not be able to live with myself if anything happened to your beautiful souls. So please, exit the church in an orderly Fashion." Fred calmly spoke to those in the building. Quickly the men and women filtered out of the room and once they did Mashyuu spoke in an amused tone. "Didn't want your potential followers to see me defeat you for a third time Fred?" "Oh Mashyuu. Your bravado is going to get you killed again. In fact I wanted to make sure nobody would witness me removing the head from your shoulders and putting that Goddess that kept you alive into the body of someone more worthy. Me." Fred's grin never left his face as he opened his hand and a wicked curved blade slid down into his grasp, revealing itself to Mashyuu.

"Oh Fred, you are gonna need something better than a sword to beat me. I know it is going to be hard for you to remember but I used to carry a sword of light around and used it to kick your ass last time. That was a handicap for you. Now that I'm back to my brawling ways you don't stand a chance with that thing." Mashyuu chided the man and the two didn't waste any more time in charging one another. Both men shouted as they made their strikes. Mashyuu's left hand came up to use the metal in his gloves to deflect Fred's sword strike while his right hand shot out and struck at Fred's left knee. Fred countered quickly though, side stepping the strike while twisting his blade in mid air to turn and cut Mashyuu's left shoulder, flaying flesh from his body with the sharp weapon. Mashyuu cried out from the pain of the blade ripping through his skin like a hot knife through butter and broke away to catch his breath. "Interesting. That strike should have taken your arm off your torso, but a force pushed my blade, making it a glancing blow. You must have some sort of lightscreen up to protect yourself at all times. You my friend are full of surprises!" "And you got faster, but you still won't like how this all ends!" Mashyuu shouted back. His hand grasped his shoulder to make sure the wound wasn't going to need healed at the moment and thankfully it wasn't the worst thing he had endured on this day. But now he wanted that sword to simply give to Itsu. The two had met up three times now in the church and were only now coming to blows, Fred was winning but the fight was still young. Again both men charged but this time, Fred's left hand darted forward, hurling three daggers at Mashyuu. "Not this time, Quicksilver!" He shouted, wrapping his body in a magical silver armor. When the daggers made contact with the God Slayer the weapons bounced back at Fred and while he managed to deflect two of them, one cut his leg, spilling blood onto the marble floor of the church.

WC: 1054
Total: 7423

Fred stumbled as the dagger cut through his robe and leg, blood spilled on the floor and he nearly slipped in his own blood but managed to catch himself and back peddle when Mashyuu sent a flying knee at Fred's face, wind from the force of Mashyuu's strike impacted his face but nothing more. Fred glared at Mashyuu and let his sword activate some of its hidden power. "Flash Fire!" He commanded and swung the blade in a wide arc, hurling a massive fire ball from the heated silvered weapon. The Fire Ball smashed into Mashyuu in the blink of an eye, wrapping the Wizard in fire. While he normally wouldn't have been very harmed thanks to his armor, it was indeed metal and heated very fast. Mashyuu screamed with the pain until a set of five stone shells shot out of the ground. "Earth Gods Stone Soldiers!" He commanded. One of the stone soldiers wrapped around Mashyuu's body, putting out the fire in the process, then all five of them slid along the ground and charged Fred at the same time. This was it, if Mashyuu could get in close and deliver one solid strike he could beat Fred with no problem! Or so he thought. "Gods Eye!" Fred shouted as the five statues drew upon the man. In the blink of an eye Fred side stepped the one at the far right and dragged his blade up the back of the golem, cutting Mashyuu's back in the process and sent the Wizard crashing into the floor while his soldiers crumbled to pieces in the process. Mashyuu stumbled to his feet and started to laugh while blood steadily ran down his back and he could feel the burn of air hitting his muscles. "That blade is wicked sharp. Does it know any other tricks? How do you keep it so sharp?" He asked, trying to buy time to come up with a better plan of attack than simply charge in and hope a strike landed.

"Why indeed it is. And to keep the blade sharp, when it is not placed in its scabbard it constantly produces a minor heat, hot enough to evaporate blood in an instant. Now, allow me to show you its other special skill... Blue Diablo." He announced, then the sword became wrapped in a blue fire that also outlined Fred. It seemed heatless to Mashyuu as Fred wasn't even wincing from the fire that now surrounded him, but there had to be more to it than that right? Mashyuu condensed light in his palm and launched it at Fred, wanting to keep the man at bay for as long as possible. "Light Dragons Holy Rain!' blasts of holy light struck Fred, doing almost nothing to the man in blue robes. The fire around him fizzled and popped before reforming along his body while Fred simply smirked with pride. He was clearly not worried about Mashyuu's measly spell. "Okay then, how about this. Sniper Elite!" He commanded and lifted his left hand, forming his magical bow and in the blink of an eye drew back the bow string while forming a massive arrow in his fingers then released the arrow from his fingers. The arrow ripped through the church and smashed into Fred, creating a massive explosion that knocked Fred off his feet, smashing the man into the podium that held the book. Fred grumbled while collecting himself and dusting off his now bloody and singed robes. He wanted to attack Mashyuu on the spot but decided to see if Mashyuu would fire a second blast through that bow of his. Rapidly Mashyuu started to fire off a few more shots but they were weak, barely doing anything more than drawing faint pricks of blood. "Light Shield." He whispered, creating a round shield of solid light around his arm.

Once again he charged Mashyuu and this time Mashyuu struck out with both fists, smashing a left fist into Fred's shield while his right hand caught the flaming blade in Fred's hand. The blue flame of the sword wrapped around Mashyuu's body, not burning him but showing where Mashyuu was. A blue light poured out of the God Slayer and he vanished but the blue fire remained around the path he was traveling, allowing for Fred to twist around and fire off a second fireball into Mashyuu as he reappeared, sending the God Slayer into the wall, leaving a dent in the wall behind him as he bounced and landed on the ground in a heap. "Ughh. Gods you hit hard for a skinny guy. I haven't been knocked around like this in a long time. Say, that shield. Is it a spell or an item?" Mashyuu asked silently. Without a word Fred charged Mashyuu and dragged his blade along the ground while Mashyuu started to stand. "Okay, new spell. Forbidden Art: Earth Gods Living Armor!" For the first time, Mashyuu used a spell that he had been practicing since before he ever hit the Rank of A. Just before Fred could strike Mashyuu, sand exploded up from out of the ground in the form of Mashyuu, blocking the holy man's strike while Mashyuu built up power in his hand and clapped, charging the area round him with magical power. "Earth Gods Barrage!" He shouted, sending a shock wave through the church that created hundreds of stone fists that smashed into Fred, shattering his shield and sending the man out to the edge of the spells radius in one shot. Fred twisted around and puked from the rupture of his body from the sudden strikes that hit him. Both men were standing on their last legs and at any moment one of them would fall. Fred glared at Mashyuu who was standing with his arms crossed at his chest while the living sand he created stood at his side in the same manner. "You're cocky for a dead man Mashyuu!" Fred shouted while spitting out blood.

Mashyuu nodded his head and laughed at Fred who was clearly starting to feel the same fear that Mashyuu felt at the start of the fight. "What do you think? One more good exchange of attacks, see what happens? Winner take all right?" Mashyuu had one more very tricky spell up his sleeve that he was going to end things with but he needed to get Fred out of the church for the simple fact that he didn't want to do any more harm to the church and his planned spell was very destructive in nature. Mashyuu charged forward, the sand rolled along the ground right in front of him and when Fred went to attack, the sand sprang up and shoved his sword arm aside while Mashyuu tackled Fred so hard he went crashing through the wall behind him. Mashyuu and Fred both rolled into the back of the courtyard of the church while groaning from the pain of crashing through a solid stone wall. It was gonna take a lot to take down Fred, but he had already disarmed the man who was holding the wicked blade. Mashyuu reached out and picked the weapon up, swinging it around in his hand while admiring the weapon happily. "Yeah, Itsu is really gonna love this thing. Just gonna take a few moments to get it to her." He commented.

Fred pushed himself up and glanced at Mashyuu with his blood boiling. Who was this man to take his weapon? "Itsu... that is the beautiful young woman who wears the dead skull on her head and does jobs with you right? I didn't know she was here too. After I kill you, I'll cut her heart out with that sword in your hand." Fred warned the God Slayer and charged Mashyuu. Mashyuu tossed the sword back into the church through the broken wall and rolled aside, evading the charging Priest. "Earth Gods Molten Wave!" Mashyuu commanded the earth to roll and explode out to wash over Fred, burning his body. Fred growled with rage and spun around to face the God Slayer. Mashyuu was amazed to see that Fred was hardly harmed, his light magic had shielded him from a disabling blow. Mashyuu jumped backwards as far as he could and his foot stomped into the ground hard. "Secret Art: Earth Gods Meteor Blasts!" He shouted. A volcano exploded out of the ground and launched a meteor into Fred, then a second and third. The impact created a thick smoke screen while Mashyuu stood, watching the area Fred was standing at, looking for any sign that the Priest would still be standing. When the smoke cleared, Fred was out cold and laying on the ground helpless...

WC: 1471
Total: 8894