Saving the Fairies(Job w/Yona)

Job Info/Sign Ups:

"Yona!" Cirven's voice called out as he put out a shield of electricity that prevented his subordinate from attacking a man who they had just stopped in Magnolia. "We have no reason to kill him at all like that. We have already got him so we don't need to do that." He stood between their target and Yona to further prevent her from attacking the man. They stood in one of the many alley streets of Magnolia where they had just subdued a man the Magic Council were after for stealing from them. The man was not strong at all and his magic was focused on used illusions which the devil was able to see through as well as Yona with how weak they were. They worked on weaker mages and Rune Knights but Cirven and Yona were completely different. Cirven placed a pair of magic suppressing hand cuffs on the man who was too scared to speak for a few seonds after dealing with the duo. "I..I...What are you going to do with me?!" Cirven picked the man up over his shoulder and started to walk with him like he was some sort of living luggage. "We are here to take you to the MC. They had a warrant out for you to be apprehended for stealing from them. Nothing personal but we took a job and will be finishing it." He spoke out as the man struggled over his shoulder to get away. "Yona, we are taking him to the MC members here so we can get this over with. We will talk after that."

Cirven walked out of the alley where he was brought into the crowds of people. Crowds who looked at the somewhat slender devil who was holding a man over his shoulder with ease as he made his way through the area like he was some sort of unearthly phenomenon. The CEO did not show much of a difference from if he was walking through the city regularly and just moved through casually saying excuse me as the man over his shoulder struggled and tried to plead with everyone around them for help but no one helped. As weird as it was, people knew not to help the man as anyone with cuffs like that was usually a criminal and not a victim. Later, Cirven dropped the man onto the floor in front of the feet of the Rune Knights who happened to be in the city. "You might not know me but I am Cirven Mizune and this man is Yusepe Calsvere. He is the same man who recently robbed the MC of a chunk of their jewel. I have apprehended him and made sure he was properly restrained so he would not be a threat to you guys, not saying he was much of one though." The CEO spoke out as Yusepe tried to crawl away but the devil stepped onto the chain between the cuffs to prevent him from going anywhere. "No..No.. No!" Yusepe struggled to get away but could not do so. "You are the CEO of the west Fiore Trading Company, right? You guys have been helping us out all over with our problems. I never thought I'd meet the man who was leading a group of people who were so helpful. It is weird for a company like yours to have so many mages though." Cirven grinned at the man. "Maybe but in our line of business we end up needing way more muscle than most companies. A lot of people want to steal from us and prevent our jobs from going well. Plus it ends up being cheaper in the end for us to have our own members be mages so we don't have to call on any guilds to help us and pay them. Also lets us do jobs that mages would do so we can make more jewel. Lots of benefits to this." The devil explained himself as if Yusepe was not under him struggling to get away. The Rune Knight who spoke nodded and then grabbed hold of Yusepe. "Sounds pretty ambitious but it must be working if things are still going well for you. Thanks for the help, sir." Cirven nodded to the Rune Knight who took Yusepe. "No problem. Tell those in charge to send the jewel to Tolgalen." The devil turned away while waving his hand. The entire time he had not paid much attention to Yona at all to show that he had was disappointed in her actions.

He lead her towards the outskirts of the city where the forest was and started to walk into them. "Yona, follow me. I am going to show you something." He started to walk deeper into the forest without more words to her. They were walking for around twenty to thirty minutes through the forest when Cirven made a turn that lead to a make shift path towards a old wooden house. "Home sweet home, right?" He spoke out as they approached the home. He figured she would not get what he was saying so he continued speaking. "This was one of my first homes. I remember actually being happy here before everything." He looked around the area and walked towards a tree near the home. He reached out and touched it which caused a hidden compartment to open in the tree. "This tree used to hold my mother's ethernano. Her power." He stared at the tree as some sort of nostalgia came over him over when he first found the tree and took the power out of it.

WC:

Yona had stopped in her tracks, hand outstretched and a bead of sweat forming upon her brow. She had chased the damned man through the streets for a solid five minutes. The wiley man and his illusions causing confusion for those around them and civilian people just getting in her way. She exhaled, breathing moderately hard. "Are you kidding me? You heard what he called me! Plus... he's a criminal. Aren't we supposed to catch the bad guys!?" And then the Hisamori female snorted derisively. Fair- catch but not kill. That had been the deal after all. Catch but not maim was probably out of the question too. Yona shrugged, pretending nonchalance as Cirven lifted up the man and carried him through the streets. She made sure to stand beside Cirven, to his left and not close to Yusepe whom he carried on his right.

Cirven mentioned they would talk after and Yona took that to mean that she was better off staying silent now. And so the green haired woman stayed, softly plodding beside him until they stopped in front of the Rune Knights. Yona looked down, hiding her anger at the Rune Knights. She had nothing against them as individuals, but as the folk who never came to her family's rescue and who never investigated the fires, Yona held a strong grudge. She bit on her lip but kept her cool otherwise throughout Cirven and the Knights' pleasant exchange. Despite her own mood, she had noticed Cirven's pointed ignoring of her as they had walked. She would have scoffed at him for it, but she needed to improve her relations with the leaders of the guild, not worsen them. After attacking him in person, Yona doubted she would be given many chances of mercy or forgiveness.

As he started to walk towards the forest and out of the city, Yona was even more calm. Being under the sky, the trees, that made her feel a hundred times safer than being surrounded by buildings. Yona was going to ask him what he was going to show her as they trekked for a solid half hour through the forest, stepping over roots and crunching on dead leaves. Yona plucked an infantile leaf from its sprig as they walked and toyed with it between her fingertips. When they reached the path, Yona herself was plucked out of her own meditative thoughts and dropped off in the presence of Cirven's home. Her eyebrows knit together as she strode down the path and looked the building up and down. "It's... actually kind of nice," Yona admitted. It reminded her of a neighbor's house she had grown up besides. She stepped up close to the home, hoping to peer in through a window or two and see what was inside now.

From behind her she heard an odd sound, like something unclicking or unsnapping, and when Yona turned her head she saw a compartment opening up from a tree. She turned away from the home and walked towards Cirven. "Before everything? What does that even mean?" Yona peeked into the compartment to see if there was something inside, was ethernano something physical, a crystal? A wand? A magical mushroom man? She didn't want to sound harsh because the comments seemed to dwell more in past events than current ones, but Cirven wasn't making much sense. What did this tree have to do with anything? What did this place, his mother have to do with anything? How was this going to tie back in to the job they had just made short work of? When Yona thought about it, she really didn't know anything about the man who was her guild leader.


WC: 617

He stared at the tree a for short time as the memories of gaining his mother's ethernano and with it a new magic, cycled through his mind. All the memories of working with his sister and her best friend, the nun Kiersa in their team called Holy Tempest as part of Sabertooth rushed through his head. "This tree marked the first time when I held some sort of power. Where I felt strong enough to take on the world but I was wrong..." He let out a short sigh. "This actually was the first step I took into losing more than I could imagine because of my pride and overconfidence in myself. I took up assignments and even though my allies were around, I acted like they were not there and fought like I was alone just to find out time and time again that I was not strong enough and needed them. Something I wouldn't learn until I lost those around me one by one because of my selfishness. There was more to it than that but what I'm getting at is you are heading down a similar road where your confidence is going to lead you or others to being hurt." His eyes had trailed around between Yona and the tree as he spoke but when he got near the end of his small lecture he locked eyes with her. "You need to get stronger, right? I can agree on that and relate to that. You can use what power you have to help those around you. Remember to not become selfish and overconfident in your actions. Learn to work with your allies and learn to think more before you act. I don't expect you to learn this over night or something at all. It is something that I have not fully learned myself but I expect you to try to before you go down a path like I did and lose more than you could imagine." He didn't know if his speech would persuade her at all but he hoped that it would help her understand why he was so persistent in wanting her to better herself. "That was pretty much all I wanted to s-" He stopped abruptly in his speech as his ears caught the sound of something near them. It sounded as if something had moved in the house he grew up in.

Without speaking he moved to the home near them and walked inside it. It was a dusty house that looked as though no one had been inside of it for years but there was a noticeable amount of the dust moved in certain areas showing that someone or something had been there. The first room was a sort of living room area while a kitchen area was connected to it on the other side of the room. There was then a hallway that lead to three doors. The devil moved around the home silently looking over the living room area and kitchen area that was near it but found nothing. He moved down the hallway and reluctantly opened the first door where a the devil saw a small fairy child laying in his old bed. The female child woke up and quickly let out a yelp while pulling the blankets over her body and crawling into the corner where the bed met the wall. "Hey, hey. We don't mean any harm but I'm just wondering why you are here? This is my old home after all." The devil's words were suddenly met by the sound of the last door in the hallway opening and a blast of water being sent at him from what looked to be an older fairy woman. He lifted his hand up in front of him and used his devilish power to absorb the water sent at him causing the fairy who attacked to look on confused. "I take it you don't take kindly to strangers all too much, huh?" He spoke out sarcastically before continuing. "Like I said, we don't mean any harm and only want to know why you are here."

The fairy woman gathered herself after listening to the devil's words. "You look like the kid that is in the pictures around here." Cirven nodded to her and she calmed herself a bit but did not let up her guard completely. "I'm sorry but we needed a place to stay because of our village being attacked by fairy poachers. My name is Liece and my sister in that room is Del." Cirven raised an eyebrow to the flying fairy in front of him. "Didn't know there was a fairy village near here." She nodded to him. "Not many people did because we had it hidden under magic but those evil twisted men found a way around our magic and attacked us." Liece's eyes started to swell up with tears. "They killed many of us and plucked our wings off right then and there. They even killed my father, the leader of our village and took his wings like some sort of savages." Cirven's face took on a stern look. "Where is this village?" Liece's head shot up to look at Cirven. "You don't plan on going to fight these men, right? They are savages who tore my village apart piece by piece and we barely escaped even with my father's sacrifice." Cirven grinned to Liece. "Sorry but I tend to be good at dealing with men exactly like that. Comes with the job, I guess." Liece flew towards Cirven slowly and realized the shape of his ears. "You're a-" Cirven jumped in and cut her off. "You noticed, huh? Yeah, I am not human. I was always half but gave up my humanity to achieve a goal and now use this power to try and better the world with situations like this." Liece did not believe what she was hearing from a devil but gave in but Cirven had other plans before she could speak. "Don't worry about telling me where to go. I have your scent so I will just use my nose to find the area with a similar scent to yours." Cirven turned around. "Make yourselves at home. I will make sure to get your village back for you." Liece grew annoyed and yelled out which stopped Cirven from walking. "The village is down the path a bit and then to the right but other than that who the hell are you!?" She called out causing the CEO to let out a chuckle. "I am Cirven and this is Yona. We will be your saviors today so stay here and wait for us to return." Cirven simply walked out and didn't wait for Yona to catch up with him or for Liece to talk anymore. "So weird..." Liece let out as they left.

WC:

Yona stayed fairly quiet as he spoke. She was interested in what he had to say about his past, even if he didn't divulge much, but she was also aware that she she was kind of on thin ice. In fact, Yona was pretty sure the whole reason he dragged her along for that dumb little mission was to see her in action. With her violent outbursts, the way she attacked friends and foes alike, and the way she threw her anger at even Cirven himself not that long ago was undoubtedly unforgotten. Yona didn't know what Cirven did with those guild members who did not live up to his standards and had no intention of being thrown in some hole somewhere or 'accidentally misplaced'. Yona needed to be on her best behavior and at least try to show respect. He told his story, albeit in vague pieces, and then launched into a combination admonishment and lecture on her choices. Few teenagers enjoyed these, and the nineteen year old was no different.

Still, Yona listened and nodded respectfully. She wanted to tell him that she didn't need to think before acting, she didn't need any allies, but that wasn't exactly true. The young mage had noticed in herself that she was not going to improve any unless she started behaving around the guild. Working with others was an important way to take down massive enemies and having at least one friend might not be the worst thing if she was trying to find the murderer from her own past. She wanted to say that there was no way she could lose more than she imagined because she had already lost everything she had with value to it. And Cirven knew that, she thought bitterly. He had lost something or someone of value too, it was implied. Perhaps, she could lose more, but she sincerely doubted it. Despite her thoughts, the woman could at least acknowledge that this was the first time Cirven had taken a kinder interest in her and he was trying to offer wisdom to help her. This softer side of him was something she had yet to really see and she could tell he was genuine. She inhaled deeply, thinking about what to say back when Cirven broke his serious gaze upon her and walked away.

The female made a face in confusion and tilted her head as he headed towards the house. "Cirven?" She said cautiously, bewildered. The willow haired woman trailed behind the man even as he seemed to ignore her. She looked around the dusty old home and wrinkled her nose a bit. Why were they in the house? Had she missed something? "Cirven?" She whispered again, not knowing why she was whispering. When they entered the bedroom, she was surprised to see a faerie child. Yona just stood there, emerald eyes wide, hardly able to believe her eyes. A child. With wings. Yona blinked. Had she been living under a rock? Was her life in the mountains really so secluded? She really needed to travel more, she thought briefly. The kid gripped the blanket and another faerie, a woman entered the room, spraying Cirven with water.

He lifted a hand and absorbed the minor attack, which how he did it was still a mystery to Yona, but it was no surprise. She had seen him do plenty odd things without explaining them thoroughly. Never before had she felt more like a country bumpkin than she did standing in this home, Cirven's home, surrounded by so many mysteries. Why hadn't her father taught her about any of this? She stood there silently, feeling a bit awkward and out of place. Her normal air of confidence, superiority, and high intellect had vanished and she looked more like a person with a ghost inside her bones: her mouth agape and her eyes wide and her face clearly expressing a loss in understanding, like a child attending a university level exam.

Yona listened to the plight, hardly able to believe it. Poachers of faeries? People actually found these folk and tried to kill and exploit them? She supposed the darkness of humanity was hardly ever a real surprise but Yona herself was feeling eager and excited, the confusion slowly wearing off and hundreds of questions taking their place. Yona was just waiting for Cirven to stop talking to ask them of Liece herself. She straightened her back, closed her mouth and narrowed her green eyed gaze on the faerie woman. And then she heard from his own lips, an admittance of being non-human from Cirven as well. She had always thought the odd appearance the various abilities were from his magic, from training, from being powerful in whatever it was that he was able to be powerful in. Yona rubbed her temple, feeling like her head was literally exploding with information. There were so many questions, there were so many mysteries; how many things did she believe which were wrong? When she looked up again, it was because she heard the door close at the front of the home. "S-sorry," Yona hastily said to the faerie woman before darting after Cirven. Her questions of Liece would have to wait.

"You signed us up for what?" Yona asked, catching up to Cirven in a hurry. She walked at a quick pace, trying to match his longer strides. "And what do you mean you're not human? Were they really faeries?" She shook her head letting out a laugh of disbelief, "There must be some kind of joke. Where are we going?" Yona asked, looking up at Cirven perplexed.

WC: 1558

The situation had escalated into the territory of the unexpected with the devil finding fairies hiding out in his old home but he was able to keep his composure and not do anything overboard like kick them out or even attack them. He instead took a job from them where he was saving them with Yona helping him. It all probably happened so quick that his female companion needed to be clarified on everything going on. "Fairies do exist just like your and my peculiar hair colors. Yes it is different but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Fairies tend to hide from the outside world and as a kid I had interacted with a few here and there when I went out with my mother in these woods. Never did anything bad come from it though. I doubt they would remember me too but I do feel obligated to help where I can. Call it some form of heroism or something." He grinned as he lead the way towards where Liece had said to go. "We are heading to the habitat that the fairies live in order to save those that we can from these poachers. Fairies have parts of their bodies that are worth a lot on black markets due to them being so hard to find. Those parts are used for all types of magic and more." He spoke as he made his way through the woods. They had to stray from the main path as Cirven was following Liece's scent through the area. This forced the duo to have to move through bushes that he guessed the fairy had hid in with her younger sibling from the poachers. The thought annoyed him to think about as he knew what it was like to have your family forcefully ripped away from you by someone and having no control over it at all but he kept his composure instead of showing his anger because he knew it would not help them at all.

After traveling for what felt like a couple hours Cirven's high sense of hearing was able to pick up on the sounds of voices coming from ahead of them. He made sure to move more stealthy as well as signal Yona to do the same as they moved closer to the source of the sounds he was hearing. He managed to find them a place in a tree that he signaled Yona to silently and jumped up into while making sure she could make her way up also. They were able to look down towards the fairy village that looked like it was being ransacked by a group of humans. The humans were pulling the fairies around like some sort of cattle. They fairies were chained and some even gagged so they could not talk while others were beaten by blunt weapons which was not a nice sight to see as the fairies only averaged around four inches tall. The devil grew visibly angered as he saw this. "Yona, these guys are high on the evil side of the spectrum but we cannot sink to their level so do not kill them unless deemed necessary." It was less that he was telling his companion that and more that he was telling himself that. He hated any of these types of people being in the world and looked forward to ridding it of them which if he was able to put on his mask, he would have but he was out with someone who was not familiar with the darker side of the guild and because of that was not able to react in the way he wanted to. He looked around what he could of the village from where the tree was and found that there were some tents set up that the fairies were being taken into. He knew they needed to focus on saving as many of the fairies as they could before anything but it would go much easier with a distraction of some sort. "I want you to stay up here." He spoke out as his mind started to form a plan. "I will jump down and play a sort of distraction for these guys while you focus on going to each of those tents and releasing the fairies. We can't risk them being used as some sort of hostages against us as we fight against the poachers." He waited for a short time after speaking and then jumped down from the tree where he landed on top of one of the poachers with a claw of purple electricity swiping across the man's chest.

"Yo! I'm here to stop you from going any further with your little operation here." Cirven spoke out just before multiple poachers aimed their ethernano ranged weapons at him and started to fire them. The shots were in different types of magical elements but the CEO of the WFTC was used to situations like this and dodged around while attacking what men he could and fulfilling his part of the plan as a distraction for the poachers. "Get him! We can't let this job go to waste! After we deal with him we can sell his parts too if anything!" One of the men yelled out as the battle started between the devil and poachers.

WC:

Yona trailed Cirven easily through the wood, having lived most of her life in the mountain village the woman was more than experienced with troubling terrain and thick foliage. In fact, she would have insisted on leading them forward but Cirven clearly knew the direction of the hidden village and she did not. The green haired nineteen year old looked over his way, taking note of his pointed ears, just peeking out from under his hair, and his interesting heterochromia affliction. She could tell he was used to being on his own or being the leader. She could tell that he must have had a troubling past. She also knew he was willing to do things which were ethically questionable in order to serve a greater good, like show her images of her terrifying past. Yona had mostly forgiven him for that and she assumed he had forgiven her for the bout in the hall that day too. What she could not figure out was why was he so dark, she could tell deep down he fought some sort of demons, or past memories, but why did it still bother him after all this time? Was this man, strong and powerful, but still wounded what she had to look forward to as her best option in life?

Yona noted his explanation of faeries seemed reasonable, though he avoided answering her personal question of him. There were plenty of things she didn't know or believe possible; perhaps there was nothing that was truly impossible. When he spoke of the poachers using the faeries to sell their body parts, Yona made a face. "That's disgusting," She said horrified. It was one of the worst things she had heard. Frankly, if they found any poachers, Yona now daydreamed of ways to rip them to pieces. Maybe she would pull off their arms and see how they liked it. Through the hours of travel, Yona kept quiet, not wanting to give the pair away as they sought out a hidden location, and as Cirven motioned for her to climb up into a tree, the green mage was close behind him. And there the faeries were, dragged and beaten and gagged. Yona clenched her hands and slowly began to move, a faint green glow of her magic around her fist. Cirven stopped her and insisted she not kill and in response she gave a look of utter astonishment, perplexed. "Are you kidding me?" She hissed.

Yona hadn't even believed in faeries before but seeing them now so tormented, the female ached to put all the poachers in similar positions. The worst possible death she could fathom was through fire, and her thoughts lingered on murderous intentions until Cirven leapt down from the tree. "Why do you get to be the distraction?" She said, starting to argue as he fell, but seeing the way he avoided all the items and weapons headings his way made her frown. Well, he was better at it apparently than she would have been. Yona climbed down subtly from the tree and made her way around, circling the camp from the other side. She saw a row of six faeries all chained together with loose links, no real need to make them expensive ones it would seem when the poor things so clearly felt defeat. Yona lifted up an arm and shot out three shoots of bamboo, each one piercing through a chain link and freeing a faerie.

Given how distracted the poachers were by Cirven the three freed faeries set to work freeing the other three without asking questions or calling attention to themselves. Yona was grateful that they weren't stupid. The female heard them threatening Cirven, interested in harvesting his parts. She couldn't see what they could see, but whatever made him non human made him likewise valuable. Yona doubted Cirven would struggle with the poachers much and followed his orders, opening the back of the nearest tent. It was small and the fabric was thick to protect those living in it from weather and wind but not from evil men. Her green orbs gazed around the single room tent, noting a small tailors bench, a hearth dug into the ground, and a shelf of books and fabrics. Great, best place to find weapons, Yona rolled her eyes annoyed. It would be easier to arm the faeries and let them kill the poachers- then Cirven couldn't be mad at her.

A group of five children and two adults sat back to back in a circle, restrained by thick ropes: all of them small, frail looking, and frightened. "I'm here to help," Yona said lifting her hands and speaking in a placating tone of voice. "You need to get out of here and take shelter. Find the main trail, there is a large house where Liece and Del are hiding out. It is safe there." Yona pointed through the tent, "Go now while the men are all distracted and do not return. Save yourselves," The woman insisted, hoping they would listen to her. Yona found a pair of scissors and sawed through the rope, undoing it and holding up the back of the tent for the faeries. None of them argued with her, though the adult male touched her shoulder as he passed by. "Thank you. We shall never forget you and your kindness." Yona made a face unsure of what to say to that and then he was gone.

She poked her head through the opening of the tent, near the front to observe what was happening. At least six humans were unleashing attacks using weapons and Yona actually had to cover her mouth to hide her giggle. Cirven was avoiding all of the attacks and it was ridiculous how hard they were trying to hit him, frustration evident on their faces as they shouted at her leader. "Stop moving and fight!" "Surrender or die!" and her favorite: "You can't prance around forever!" Yona saw no other guards, just a couple of dogs lying near the largest tent, watching with slight interest. Were there such things as faerie dogs? She blinked and then shook her head. "Got to stay on task," She whispered to herself. Yona slipped into the next tent, and the next. Releasing three children and three adults from the middle one and four teenaged faeries from the third tent entered. So far- no weapons really found. With only two more tents to go, it was weirdly small for a hidden faerie village, Yona thought to herself. Something here wasn't right. There were more faeries than poachers. Where were all of the others? Were the faeries all dead, did the poachers all leave? Were the only poachers left these laughable humans with decent weapons? And why were all the faeries she had found so complacent- were faeries just not the excitable passionate sort or did they keep their mouths shut for fear of something worse happening to them? She had to find a way to communicate that to Cirven.

WC: 2766

HP:
MP:

Spells:
Bamboo Rend:

"It is kind of impressive that you guys are able to distinguish the parts of a body that will cost money so well that you figured out what I was. Maybe after you are laying beaten and battered on the floor you will think of a different line of work for such a good set of investigative eyes." The devil spoke out as he moved around the area dodging the shots of magical energy that was sent towards him. He could tell the men at this time were not the most experienced with catching the their prey as their shots were off and they were not trying to actually predict where he was moving after each dodge so much. It was almost as if they were much more green behind the ears as a group of amateurs would be. The thought of there being someone or another group of stronger enemies caused the devil to engage in attacking more than just stalling for time with his dodging. He did not want to become overwhelmed by the numbers against him if suddenly some of them started to wise up or they got reinforcements. He waited until he found a moment where he could get enough distance and time between his dodges and threw out his eight knives towards the enemies in front of him while also shooting out a quick shot of lightning that hit and downed one of the men. His knives caused the men to yell out in fear as they had started to cut down each man as the others watched. They tried to fire upon the flying blades but found themselves out of their own league as it only seemed to give the knives an opening to rip through their bodies.

Cirven let out a sigh after each man was brought down by his attacks. Their wounds were not severe but could be if they were left to bleed out where they laid. "I swear... It is like I can't get an actual challenge much anymore. Have I gotten that powerful or did the enemies I face just get weaker?" He mumbled out to himself as he walked towards the group of bodies he had just accumulated in front of him. He looked them over to see if any were conscious and found that one of them was still awake from a coughing fit the man suddenly got into. Cirven grabbed the man by his clothed and lifted him up into the air while four of his knives pressed themselves against his enemies body. The knives were not pressed hard enough to pierce his skin but they were pressed hard enough to give the threat of it happening. "So I have a few questions. If you answer nicely then I won't put holes through you courtesy of the knives pressed against each of your shoulders and thighs." The man fearfully nodded his head. "Who are you guys?" The man had started to sweat from the pain he was already feeling as well as the situation he found himself in. "We-we a-a-are Brenan's Poachers." The man let out in a fear filled stutter. "I have heard a bit about you guys. Sounds like I will stop what profit you would get here though and have you each arrested for what you are doing. Are there more of you? Who is your leader?" The man continued to get more flustered by the situation as he looked at the knives pressed against him and the devil of a man in front of him. "Th-there i-is more of us. We separated while the other group went to go check if any of the fairies had managed to get away and capture them. O-our leader, Brenan is with them. He will find you and pun-punish you for this!" The man spoke out with some sort of built up optimism but then yelled out in pain as one of the knives pressed against his body pushed through his thigh. "Oh, sorry. I lost my control over that one a bit." He then dropped the man back onto the ground. "I hope that your leader is strong with the pride you have in him. Would be a let down otherwise." Cirven quickly moved one of his knives at the man and cracked him with the hilt of it knocking him out.

"That loyalty was a bit scary. It actually gave him enough courage to speak against me in as much of a bad situation he was in. This leader must be-" The devil stopped speaking as he suddenly felt a burning sensation through his chest. He looked down to see some sort large arrow protruding through his chest as he felt blood come out of his mouth. "I didn't even hear that or anything else!" He thought to himself as a surge of magical energy came over him and caused him to drop to a knee from the pain that erupted out across his body. He had a high pain tolerance but when it was at such high ferocity he could not help but be affected. "Did you do this to my men..? Interesting.." A manly low toned voice spoke from behind him. Cirven turned his head to look at the man but as he saw his face the man send a surge of magical energy across his body again which caused him to fall to the ground with a loud grunt of pain. "Who said you could look at me?! You are my trophy now, devil! I will rip you piece by piece and sell you for a high price for each part they buy. You can only imagine how rich you will make me. After all, you will be dead by then and won't be able to see it." The pain had wracked Cirven so much that his vision had become blurry and he could not move for a short time. He figured the magical energy affecting him was not something regular and was meant to stun or subdue him. The sound of multiple foot steps came from around him. "Search the tents and see what we have left for fairies. We will have to go hunting for those who got away if so but they are no longer a priority with the amount of money we have just stumbled upon here, boys." Brenan spoke out as he continued to look Cirven over before grabbing his gun and firing upon the devil again shooting out some sort of net this time over him. "What do we do with our fallen, sir?" Brenan stared at his subordinate silently before responding. "We leave them to rot here. They are a bunch of failures in my eyes after all."

Cirven's vision and feeling in his body started to return and he tried to move but was suddenly hit by the magical energy again surging over him. "You might want to stay down. Anytime you move like I do not want or do something I do not want I will hit you with that magic again. You are like my pet now, boy. Better get used to that though I am surprised you have stayed awake from having an arrow pierce through you and from the magic that arrow possesses to stun you. It has enough power to stun down and knock out a dragon from what I was told. I might need to get a refund on it at this rate. It doesn't matter though because I will just continue to use it on you until you are obedient." Brenan grinned at the downed Cirven who only grew angrier as the poacher continued to speak.

WC:

Yona had slipped into the next tent, finding it empty. She frowned, then remembered the group which had been chained outside. Already free, she thought to herself. She was unaware of what was going on outside: the fallen guards, the interrogation which brought to light the horrible name 'Brenan's Poachers' and the way that Cirven had dug his blade into the poacher's leg. By the team she peered out of the tent once more, readying to get to the last tent, her green eyes caught sight of something she thought she would never see. Her mouth fell open as a large arrow plunged into Cirven's chest, her body frozen knowing that there was nothing that she could do to stop the projectile.

Her mouth closed slowly, as thoughts ran through her mind at blitz speed: Cirven was fine. He's the guild leader. He is the most powerful person in the whole guild. Nothing can take him out, nothing can stop him. She pierced him through with bamboo that one time and he was thankful for it. But her lips parted again as her heart slowed to a stop, skipping a beat when the man she had assumed would be able to handle anything was brought to his knees. There was blood on his lips, she could see the shiny red glisten from where she stood in hiding, and her feet itched to lunge outside and fight. Whatever had hit him was certainly not a normal arrow and whatever was holding him there on his knees was certainly not low level magic.

Yona watched as a man almost as tall as Cirven approached him where he knelt. He was of average build, nothing special, older though with greying blonde hair, giving him a frosty sort of appearance. His dark brown eyes and the creases around them suggested true pleasure at harming her leader. She clenched a fist as he spoke, calling Cirven a pet, insinuating his death, even detailing that he would be selling Cirven off piece by piece. "That's it," She said under her breath. Her anger started to blind her. That bastard had Cirven. That bastard... called him a pet. To make someone feel helpless and weak... Yona knew how that felt. And she was positive that Cirven did too, with all his 'don't make mistakes like I did' speeches. She started to take a step forward out of the tent and shout, "You son of a--"

A hand clasped tightly over Yona's mouth while another grabbed hold of her arm, twisting it behind her back in a firm and painful grip. She was jerked backwards into the tent and her voice had been muffled. She started to panic, kicking pulling on her arm, trying to bite the gloved hand over her lips. "Shh, shh, stop that now," Came a harsh male whisper. Whoever had her by the arm kicked her right leg, knocking her to the ground inside of the tent. "Don't be stupid, they are going to find you here. I am trying to help!" She struggled and then stopped. Did he say... help? The green haired woman paused and the grip on her mouth and arm relented. A hand was stuck out in front of her, but she stubbornly ignored it in order to get back up on her own. She came face to face with a guard the same age as her.

He looked injured, there was a limp to his leg and she saw a slash across his cheek, drying already. He was a poacher and she felt an intense amount of unease. "You're just trying to slow me down!" She contested and he groaned rubbing his head. "Sure, I ain't happy bout the money I am going to lose, or that prick who cut my face and twisted my ankle up. But damned Brenan just said he was going to leave anyone injured for dead. That's me too!" He shook his head. Yona nodded and frowned as footsteps were heard coming closer. She couldn't argue with him right now. She grasped him by the arm and put it over her shoulder. "You better hobble fast then, they are going to be combing the woods too."

And then she dashed for the trees, her chest aching to stop and go the other way. This was what Johann and Cirven had been talking about. Ignoring her emotions, pushing past them, thinking with a clear head... but doing it was like torture. "God Cirven," She whispered to herself. The woman bit her lip and looked over her shoulder, back to where Cirven was kneeling before Brenan. "I swear I am coming back for you. I swear I won't let them hurt you. Just hold on." She narrowed her eyes and then put on a burst of speed. The guard with her said nothing as the abandoned the tent and shifted into the trees like they were a part of the forest. Yona knew how to hide better than they knew how to seek, or at least she thought she did.


WC: 3610

HP:
MP:

Spells:
Bamboo Rend: 1/2 Cooldown

Cirven was too busy dealing with the stunning magic that had taken over his reactions to notice that his partner on this job almost made her presence known. He looked up as he started to hear her voice but did not see her. He thought that she had finally figured out how not to listen to her emotions and think logically in situations like this. She was by herself in doing everything and because of that she was forced to come up with a plan to save him or else something worse could happen. It made the devil grin to know that she was out there thinking about her next move and planning something rather than rushing into things blindly. He didn't know his words would affect her so quickly but something had to happen for her to not react so quickly.

The other poachers looked over the area and the tents where they found that all of the fairies they had captured were gone now. Brenan let out a sigh as he stood over the net covered prize he had just obtained. "They might have gotten away but we can get them back. They are nothing but small fry to us, just like you are." Brenan smiled and put his boot on Cirven's side so he could nudge him and have some sort of show of dominance. Cirven attempted to use a surge of electricity coming from his body to hurt Brenan but found that he could not use his magic at all. "You figured it out, huh? That net suppresses the magic of anyone or anything that is inside of it. You are little more than a walking waste of space with that net over you." Brenan grabbed the arrow that was through the devil's chest and pulled it up giving Cirven the idea that he was wanted to stand up. He had little choice but to comply to the physically given order and stood up. "We have some hunting to do here but before I do any of that I wanted to look you directly in your eyes as I carve away at you. It gives me more enjoyment to watch the look of despair form on the face of my prey as I hack away at them." The graying blonde haired man walked around Cirven a few times as he scoped out what he had caught and then stood in front of him. He reached to his back where there was a large sword and pulled it out. "Now I wonder if you are a screamer or a squirmier? Maybe both?" Brenan let out a laugh as he held out his blade and aimed his attack. He lifted the blade up where he planned to swiftly bring it down but a voice called out to him. "Boss! We have found some tracks over here that look like they are from someone other than us or that guy!" Brenan let out a loud grunt of anger and turned himself to look towards who called him. "Grr! Go and find whoever it is! I will be dealing with this one here!" The other poachers looked a bit worried about the order. "Are you sure, sir? That guy did a number to the other men we had here and-" Brenan pulled out a ethernano pistol from his side and quickly shot the man who was speaking, instantly killing him. "Anyone else who doubts my skill or orders will be gunned down like him. Now go!" He yelled out his men who were stunned to see Brenan kill one of his own so suddenly. The other seven poachers moved off into the forest area to find the owner of the other footprints they had found in order to follow the orders they were given and not become the victim of their strict leader.

"Now where were we...?" Brenan turned his attention back to Cirven who had not moved a muscle from where he stood. Brenan lifted up his blade back up and swung it down towards the devil.

WC:

Seven poachers were making their way into the forest and the only sound that gave away to Yona that she and the guard might be followed was the loud gunshot from the camp. She felt sick to her stomach. Was it Cirven? Did Brenan just kill... her vision started to blur and the nineteen year old shook her head hard. She dropped the guard against a tree and wiped her right arm over her eyes. Now was no time to get emotional, to cry or to fear. She was going back in, but not without a plan. She looked to the guard who was thoroughly untrustworthy and huffed. "What's on your mind beautiful?" The guard asked and that gave Yona an idea. She had forgotten how easy it was before the guild to manipulate others, especially men, to do what she wanted.

Yona scratched her head and then nodded to herself. She had a couple options. She actually could cast a pretty small spell with big consequences, something that would distract and hinder anyone caught inside of it. She also had decent results when using her natural alluring body with her magic. "How many of them are there?" Yona asked looking towards the sound of footsteps approaching. "How the hell should I know?" The guard answered. Yona strode towards him and kneed him hard, unexpectedly in the groin. He crumpled and groaned loudly, whimpering on the ground. "If you don't help me, you're going to be killed. Either by me, or by Brenan it sounds like. So, you don't have many options here. What's it going to be?" She put her hands on her hips as her plan formed in the back of her mind. Time surely was running out.

"All right, all right princess. Damn, you're fine but you got issues," He leaned back on the tree from where he lay still trying to recover. Yona glanced around and grabbed a vine off a nearby tree. She wrapped and bound him to the tree he was leaning on quickly, giving him instructions as she did so. "Your job if you want to make it out alive is to keep those guys tracking me busy going off in another direction. I don't care what you have to do, but I need time. Can you give me that..?" "Fletcher. Orwen Fletcher. And yeah, I can do that." "In return, I'll see you forgiven your crimes. As long as you vow to find a new job." Yona didn't trust him in the least, but it was going to better her chances, so it was worth a shot. The man squirmed a bit under the vine ropes.

"I'll have you know I never planned for this life or something. I only joined cause my friend did." Yona scoffed and turned away from him. She had no interest in hearing his sob story or his excuses. She wasn't even sure she would keep her end of the bargain. All she was focused on was getting Cirven out of there and she had just the spell to start her off right. The group of men were close, she could hear them breathing and crunching through the path that she had just rambled through with Fletcher. She was right on the edge of the small camp and if she snuck a look around the thick tree trunks beside her, Yona knew she would see the camp clear as day. She put her two fists together and concentrated her magic within her, and then she set off at a run.

Yona knew how to move in the forest, making very little sound, leaving very little trace. She grew up in the mountains, she grew up in a greenhouse, and the female lived to understand what it was like to be one with nature. She hoped that would offer her some protection as she dashed around the entire camp. It took a couple of minutes, the whole camp less than a quarter mile around, but there were plenty opportunities for this to blow up in her face. Meanwhile, Fletcher had his own work to do. He obediently had moaned and groaned horribly from his place, making it easy for the seven poachers to find him. He told a tale of a green haired female who had taken him hostage, dragged him up here and tied him and beat him. With a grim smile, he informed them that he wanted to be there when the poachers found her but would settle if they would go get her and bring her back. His poacher-comrades had untied him and all but one had raced onwards into the forest, going deeper instead of circling around on the path which Yona had actually made.

It wasn't exactly perfect, but when Yona appeared back by Fletcher's side, completing her circle around the camp, that one poacher who had stayed with him, clearly saw her. Fletcher shouted out helpfully, "That's her! That's the one who tied me!" Yona growled under her breath, thinking to herself that at least her spell had been able to be completed. Now the entire area which she had encircled was filled with exploding seed pods, a mine field of minor damages. If any of those within the area she had wrapped her magical spell around took even a single step, he or she would experience a terrible surprise. And for every 3m of movement, there would be another explosion, another attack. Yona believed such a spell would have to attract attention, distract the leader, perhaps injure him. If she knew anything about leaders from Cirven, it was that they could be highly sensitive and paranoid in confusing situations like these.

WC: 4554

HP:
MP:

Spells:
Bamboo Rend: 2/2 Cooldown
Jabillo Alarm:

The sword moved down towards Cirven and came inches away from hitting him before the net covered devil stepped out of the way of the attack. His dual colored eyes staring at Brenan giving off a feeling of intimidation that caused Brenan to stutter with his next words. "Y-Yo-You! Do you not understand your situation!?" The leader of the poachers yelled out and then caused the arrow that was still through his prey's chest to illuminate with power and send a shock through the devil's body again. Cirven only grinned as the magical power surged through him. "You must be pretty dense..." He spoke and then started to move closer to Brenan. Brenan stepped back away from his enemy who he thought was subdued by his attacks and spell inside of the arrow. "H-H-How are you doing this!? You should not be able to move!" A grin formed over Cirven's face as he continued to approach the retreating Brenan. "It is easier to be found than it is to find." Cirven spoke out holding the grin on his face as his red eye started to glow. Brenan quickly slashed his sword towards Cirven but was only able to cut through the air as the devil kept up his slw pace towards his target. Brenan jumped back and regained some of his composure before charging forward with some sort of newfound confidence. He lunged towards the devil in an attempt to bring his blade deep into and through the chest of his enemy.

A look of pure surprise came over his face as his blade stabbed through the devil causing him to start to laugh and cheer as if there were people watching him. Cirven's body went limp under the blade and he slumped forward. "You were nothing! You were on your last legs already and just acted like that in order to get a sneak attack in! I will take pride and enjoy taking every part of you that I can sell!" Brenan yelled out in some sort of self proclaimed victory. "What if I did that to you?" A almost silent voice spoke out and then suddenly Cirven's hand came up and gripped around Brenan's throat before slamming him onto the ground causing him to release the weapon that was through the devil. Cirven pulled the sword out and licked his own blood off of it as he stood over the man. Brenan started to try and scamper away but Cirven pulled the arrow out from his chest and stabbed it through Brenan shoulder and into the ground where it pinned him in place. "Shall we start....?" Cirven grinned and stared at the man who could not escape him now. He lifted the sword up and brought it down towards Brenan causing the man to yell out in a shrill of pure horror.

Back in reality, Cirven had escaped and watched Brenan who was caught up in a mental illusion that felt real to him. With each slash of the weapon Brenan shook and let out a scream of agony as Cirven found himself a place to lean on a tree and watched the man react to the mental attack wracking his body and mind. After some time Brenan ended up on the ground foaming from the mouth from the experience while Cirven kept him inside of the illusion to pay him for every person and thing he had killed in the past.

Cirven's ears twitched as he heard the sound of others nearby him and then heard the voice yell out That's her! That's the one who tied me!. He released the spell on Brenan but the man was beaten completely and mentally so badly that he could only lay on the ground foaming from the mouth while the devil grabbed him by his clothes and held him up as he went to where the voice had yelled out. He managed to find out where some of Yona's planted bombs were and dodged them on the way to finding where the bomb was. "Your boss is done for." He spoke out and then threw Brenan on the ground near his men showing them the condition he left them in. "Do you really want to keep fighting when your supposed best was left like this after trying to deal with me?"

WC:

Yona clenched her fists and faced the poacher directly. She lifted an arm and took a couple quick steps forward, readying for a magical strike, trying to catch her breath from the fierce and quick run she had just taken. But it was too little, too slow. The poacher was more ready than she was and hurled a bola at her. The cord hit her just below the knee and three weighted balls swirled around her legs, entangling them in a way that was extremely efficient. For a moment, as Yona tripped and fell onto her hands and knees, she caught sight of concern in Fletcher's eyes. He had been playing his part, but he hadn't wanted to go so far as to put her in real danger. After all, Fletcher's main goal was getting out of this mess with some dignity and all of his limbs in tact.

Behind her, Yona could hear the explosions of several seed pods going off, indicating motion in the camp. She had no idea if they were hitting, or whom they were hitting, but of course she hoped it was Brenan. Yona tried to get to her feet but the other poacher was faster, aiming a swift kick for her jawline that sent her toppling backwards. Yona let out a cry as her unbalanced form rolled like a rag doll several feet backwards down the steep hill, just outside of the camp. It took the breath right out of her for a moment. Her body stopped when it hit a rock and she sat up a bit dazed. "Don't kill her!" Fletcher shouted, reaching out a hand. The other poacher gave pause to look at him, a question in his expression. Yona lifted up her arm and launched out three shoots of bamboo from the ground, up through the legs and torso of the poacher. One sliced through each of the legs, but the third angled opposite shooting through the poacher's back and coming through his stomach. The howl of pain that emanated from the man's throat made Fletcher turn pale.

Yona grinned to herself, wiping blood from her split lip. She was dazed and sore, her legs still entangled. But for this moment, she was in much less danger. Her fingers moved trying to undo the damn bola from her legs, but it was more complicated than it looked. Fletcher limped down the hill to her and said, "I am just going to knock her out, we want her alive for Brenan." His face was pale still, trying not to look at the grimace on the other poacher's face, and trying not to look at the bloody bamboo shoots either. His voice was shaky and the other poacher didn't buy it at all. "Traitor! Traitor!" He shouted.

From above them, the six poachers who had been sent off were clearly returning. Their loud voices and footsteps made that clear enough. A series of arrows were let loose from above them, one striking Fletcher in the shoulder, one striking Yona in her left leg, but the other three missing them entirely. "Forty percent accuracy isn't so great," Yona hissed through her pain, trying to make light of the situation. She jerked the arrow out of Fletcher's shoulder and he whimpered and ducked down behind the rocks she was leaning on, hiding like a coward. "Don't worry, I'll protect you," Yona said, rolling her eyes inwardly. She stabbed at the cord a few times, cutting it to ribbons and trying to free herself. The six other poachers revealed themselves from above as Yona sawed through the cord. Yona could hear footsteps as Cirven emerged from the camp behind her, carrying forth a body of a wriggling barely functional man. He asked if poachers dared to keep on fighting and Yona smiled. A sense of relief spilled through her and relaxed her muscles because there was no way that they would continue to fight now.

"There's no way that's Brenan. This is a ruse. Surrender or die," called out a poacher with a bandana in his blonde hair. It appeared they assumed Brenan's form was an illusion of some sort. Frustrated, Yona licked her lips and then lifted her right hand, blowing a kiss to the poachers. "Oh come on now, boys. You wouldn't hurt a beautiful woman like me," She trilled. Part of her wanted to show off to the guild leader that although she was hit and still mostly entangled in the bola, she was not defenseless. The blown magical air lifted up on the wind, carrying to the poacher group and immediately took effect. Four of the six wavered, dropped, and began tumbling down the steep hill, having fallen asleep. The two who were unaffected yawned, but otherwise looked fearfully down at her and Cirven. Yona looked up at Cirven and shook her head, "I can't believe you almost made me save your ass! What kind of leader are you?" Deep down, she wanted to ask if he was okay, her face unable to hide the concern she held for him despite her abrasive words. Her green eyes scanned him for injury, moving up and down his form.

WC: 5420

HP:
MP:

Spells:
Jabillo Alarm: 1/3 Cooldown
Bamboo Rend:
Poppy Repose:

"Each of you are fairly dense if you believe that your leader was actually that strong in the first place." The CEO spoke bluntly about the claim the other poachers had about their leader, Brenan not being the one that was just thrown like some type of sack of potatoes in front of them. He was about to react but his companion was already ahead of him and used a spell to cause most of the group of men to fall asleep and tumble down a hill behind them. He again was about to further confront the poachers but was stopped by his emerald haired partner scolding him for being captured. He then noticed her eyes looking him over. "Yona, I have been through more battles than you can imagine and have done much worse in most of them than you have probably dreamed of. I'm fine, so don't worry about me. It was all a plan to get them to come out and it worked pretty well." The two poachers had started to back track and were about to run away when Cirven jumped into the shadows near them and quickly traveled through them. A fake of himself appeared in front of Yona and continued speaking as the real Cirven came out of the shadows in front of the poachers and fought them. "Disregard that behind you and listen to me. You did really well with those guys and making sure the fairies escaped. Showed you could think more for others and less for yourself when things do get more serious." One of the poachers skid next to them unconscious from a hard shot that the real Cirven had dealt him. "Just think of this whole thing as a test and you passed with flying colors, okay?" The fake Cirven bent over and started to use some rope on the poacher's unconscious person to tie him up as the other poacher was slammed hard against a tree from another of Cirven's attacks, leaving both men unconscious. "Who is this last guy? I know he isn't going to run or attack because he yelled out for them not to attack you earlier but do you trust him?" The fake Cirven walked over to the other now unconscious man and tied him up also as the real Cirven spoke.

WC Completed:

The green haired mage sat back in against the tree, her long green hair framing her face in a messy flare. The poachers tumbled down the hill asleep and she felt like she could start to relax. Yona observed Cirven, her concern and her wariness lowering into just amusement. They thought that they could run from Cirven? Truly? She chuckled a little and when Cirven returned to speak with her and gave him a sigh and a wave of her hand. "You're lucky I like you." The truth was that she was very glad he was all right. She had no idea what she would do if he wasn't. He insisted that he was fine and had been through worse. Yona looked at his chest, wondering if he was still injured and then looked down at the bola still trapping her legs together. "Damn, I hurt all over. Is this what training with you is like?" Her mind thought it over and recalled how her bamboo had stabbed right through him when she had met Akeya and Akryn in the guild. If he was perfectly fine after that, then Yona should have knew better than to think an arrow could bring him down. She couldn't believe that she had really fallen for that the same way that the poachers had.

Cirven created a doppelganger of himself to handle the two poachers she had missed. Her eyes moved up the hill to watch him deal with them until he instructed her to pay attention. Yona's green eyes moved back up to him and pursed her lips as he began. He praised her for how she handled the situation and for how she had rescued the faeries. "Of course I put them first, did you see how gangly and ill suited for a fight they were? But thanks, I am glad I passed your test."

She pulled at the bola again and stabbed at it with the arrow frustrated. The cords were mostly broken but it appeared a metal wire was inside of the woven rope that held the bola together. "That guy is Fletcher. I made a deal with him. I told him we would forgive him and find him some other crappy job if he helped me out." Yona didn't much care what happened to Fletcher. He was unreliable, though he had some spirit. Maybe he would be better off moving crates on a boat or going back to school. The man looked and acted like a child! As Yona struggled with the bola her injuries started taking effect, her adrenaline not keeping off the pain as well as before. Her jaw started to swell and bruise a bit and her lip looked puffy. Her clothes were dirty and there was even a tear in the right leg of her pants. "Want to maybe help me with this?" Yona asked and then shook her head. The plant mage grumbled as she twisted the bola back around her legs, trying to undo the knot since she could not break the cord itself. This was an abysmally simple weapon and she looked embarrassed to be handling it so poorly. Either through training or more jobs, she hoped experience with Cirven would help her from being so easily duped by his charades in the future.

As for the faeries, they all managed to escape. Yona hoped her bravery and Cirven's incredible skills were enough to keep them vigilant as they located any of their missing brethren. She thought about the faeries still in Cirven's house and wondered if Cirven was just going to let them all live their now.

WC: 6027