Paper, Heroes, and Beasts, Oh My! (Job: Axilmeus Steel and Aura Sparks)

It was just before noon on a Thursday, Sigurd was at the Clover Town zoo. Recently, his mind had been racing, due to his concerns about the recent events concerning the appearances of an organized group of monsters terrorizing his homeland. Troubling to say the least, for certain, but the magic council wasn't revealing any information, if they had much at all, concerning what these rogues had come from. Ultimately, this meant that Sigurd could not do anything about the issue, and so he decided to take the day to himself and visit the zoo he was presently lcoated at.

At the same time, though, the invasions had made him uneasy, and underneath his blue and white checked button down and khakis was his armor. Though it was certainly not comfortable, he had put the extreme pieces, such as the larger metal plates, and the helmet, in a bag he was carrying. Though he wasn't convinced a situation would arise any time soon, he wanted to be prepared to fight. Perhaps, given the magical nature of Fiore, someone had invented a better way to haul around armor discreetly, but alas, this was the way he had to go about it for now. Luckily, the need for a tote bag allowed some space for him to bring additional recreational supplies.

He pushed his glasses firmly into his nose and looked down at his hands to the sketchpad and pencil he had brought. Then back up to the giraffe, who had been his subject for the past couple of hours. He had gone through sketch after sketch of that particular animal without coming up with anything he thought was satisfactory, and so he continued to repeat the process, aiming to improve his artistic skills. Taking a break, he took a sip from a slender water jug he had brought, and looked around at the other guests. There was one in particular who caught his attention.

Her blue hair was without a doubt what gave her away, but Sigurd certainly had a knack for remembering faces. They had never been introduced to each other, but she was a fellow mage from Crystal Swan. It's unlikely that she knew he was a mage as well, given that he was in disguise, but she might have seen his face in town, given that he did live there, claiming to be an average citizen. Not looking to risk his identity, he went back to sketching the giraffe.

WC: 412/4500

Aura had been lazily reading a book that very day, but she felt something in her bones that made her believe that something bad was going to happen that day. She closed her book as she looked up in fear that there was going to be some catastrophe. Being a orphan on the streets, Aura learned that she had to trust her gut if she were to ever survive. She remembered the day she was encaptured by people who seemed like nice village folk, but in the end they were awful people. Aura had the same feeling she had now that day, but she didn't listen to it. That caused her to be locked up for a few days. If she wasn't able to use magic, she probably wouldn't be where she was now. As she shivered, she began to think about what possibly could go wrong today.

She didn't exactly know what was going to happen, but she knew that there was some big event happening in Clover Town that day. It was the opening of a new zoo, and although it seemed like it was just going to be a normal day for it, it just meant that the town was going to be as vulnerable as ever there. So many kids and adults, were going to be there to visit the mass opening of all the cool new animals, that no one would be able to pay attention if something bad happened. There could be a bomb set there, and no one would notice because of the commotion of the kids and the noises of the animals. So, Aura decided that she had to get there before it was too late, and her suspicions were true. When she arrived there, they said that entry was free due to it being opening day. Aura raised her eyebrows and thought to herself, "Damn, this is bad. All these people here, means that it will be hard to evacuate everyone when something bad actually does happen. I may need some of my summons to guard the perimeter.

So, Aura smiled back to the lady and walked in. With a quick movement, she found a dark area where she could secretly summon a few of her summons to help and scout the area for any suspicious looking individuals. As she looked down towards the ground, she enlarged her storybook and reached into 2 of its pages. After only a few moments, she summoned her friends, "The Gingerbreadman" and "Jiminy Cricket." She summoned them so they could be discreet but quick. With that, Aura told them their task and watched as they began to scout the area. In the mean time, Aura would do some scouting of her own.

It wasn't long until she came towards the giraffe area. She didn't think too much of it, but she saw a strange man near the giraffe area. The giraffes seemed lovely this time of year, but for now she had to focus on the man sketching them. She had to know that this man wouldn't be the one who caused immense trouble here. So, she walked over to him and said, "Hi, my name is Aura. What's yours?"

wc:535
tc:535/4500

Sig was putting the finishing touches on the giraffe he was sketching. This one in particular was turning out pretty good, in his humble opinion. He was just putting the finishing touches on one of the spots of the giraffe when a voice shocked him, causing his pencil to skitter across the page in surprise, as he had been completely immersed in his handiwork. He looked up to see the blue haired girl from earlier who he had recognized as a mage from Crystal Swan greeting him.

Oh shoot, this was the last thing I wanted to happen... he thought to himself. Of course, his goal was simply to be an observer in the zoo and keep an eye out for any potential threats. That being said, he wanted to stay relatively hidden, and interacting with a mage is hardly discrete. That being said, so long as no one else took notice, there shouldn't have been any problems. Ultimately it would do him good to interact in a positive way with his guildmate. It couldn't possibly hurt to develop a good relationship with her using his civilian persona, given that he was taking up residence on the guild airship, meaning it would not be unexpected for Sig to engage with Aura on other occasions. In addition, learning about her now would make interacting with her for the first time as "Darknight" easier, allowing him to set up a good first impression.

"It's nice to meet you Aura, my name is Sigurd. I don't believe I know you," he said, while putting away his stuff, while nodding to her ankle, "Crystal Swan, huh? I'm a resident of Crystalli actually, so I suppose I owe you my thanks. What a coincidence we both ended up here in the zoo on opening day," he said, lightly chuckling to himself, "So then, Miss Aura, what brings you to Clo---"

Sigurd was stopped short when he heard a scream from the other side of the establishment. "Heroic" instincts kicking in, Sigurd shot up and grabbed his bag, and then turned to Aura, eyes widened, "What was that?" He asked, before deciding to go and check it out himself, running off to where he had heard the yells coming from.

When he arrived on the site, the sight he saw was terrible. Running amok were monsters, terrorizing the commonfolk. They all seemed bestial in nature, and the cages around the area were busted open. Sigurd ran through the possibilities, first and foremost considering the chances that the very same monster army who he had fought off two times before had somehow tampered with the creatures at the zoo. Realizing, however, he should be prioritizing people's safety, he once again felt his adrenaline rising. Seeing that Aura was also around he turned to her, "Aura, as a mage, I feel as though you're the only one here capable of fighting those things... I wish I could be more helpful..." he looked to the side, feigning helplessness, "But at the very least, I'll direct the civilians out of your way! Good luck!" he said, and ran off, beginning to gather and direct said frightened townsfolk towards the exit.

As he was doing so, he was attacked by one of the beasts. It seemed to be some sort of mutated canine, with scales covering its body. It was enormous, for a wolf. It brought its claw down onto Sigurd's back, slamming him into the ground. Pain coursed through his body, but his distraction had allowed a family to get away. Looking around, it seemed that the giraffes he was sketching had also been mutated and were going berserk. On that side of the zoo, the zookeepers were attempting to handle the situation themselves, but on this side, it seemed to only be Aura working on the situation. Realizing this, he ducked behind a nearby shack where they housed food, and as swiftly as he could, changed into his Darknight armor. However, due to the potential length of this action, he summoned his most trustworthy summon, Godot. The white alien hero rushed out onto the field, firing a laser at the wolf who had attacked Sigurd, while his master prepared himself for the battle.

WC: 704
Total WC: 1116/4500

Aura had saw the man sitting there. He seemed extremely suspicious, but apparently Aura had just stumbled upon a resident of the Crystalli. Aura's serious face turned into a happier and lighter face. Since she knew that her spirits were capable of finding things suspicous, Aura decided she might as well get to know more about her fellow resident of the ship. Before Sigurd could finish his current question, a scream came from the direction away from the both of them. Aura saw as Sigurd jumped to action the same time she did. Aura sensed magic coming from the man, almost as though the scream triggered it, but Aura had no time to question it. For now, she had to worry about the people in trouble. So, she began to run to the scene in hopes that she wasn't too late.

As she looked around the area where the scream came from, there seemed to be cages busted open and monster like animals roaming the area. They were viscous, way too viscous. It was as though they were triggered by the sense of humans. Aura had never seen animals like this before, so she called back her spirits. As they came back quickly, she heard as Gingy explained to her what was happening. He said to her in a high pitched but serious tone, "There was a man going into the cages of the animals. I saw him inject this serum into them, which is why this is all probably happening. I don't know where he is now, but I tried to run after him. Before I could actually reach him, a beast caught up to me. He seemed to strong for me to fight, so I just ran back to you when I got your call. Please don't be mad at me for letting him go." With a frown, he used a puppy dog face on Aura. She didn't really need it though, because she completely understood that the situation was tense. She just held him in her palms and laid a gentle smile upon her face. With that, she sent both Jiminey Cricket and Gingy back to their keys.

As she saw Sigurd go towards the crowds, Aura knew that she would be able to defeat at least a few of these animals. She wanted to protect the crowds, but with her being the only mage her, she thought that even only getting 2-3 of the animals would do good. The less the monsters, the less the families to get hurt. So, she flipped to two different pages. In each one, she reached into them and pulled out a golden key until both were in her hands. As she raised them into the air, she said aloud, "You are both strong and powerful women that have shown your worth to me, so come out and help us! We need your strength to help us defeat these mutations. Open gate of the Vengeful, and gate of the Paired Fish! I call you to my aid, Pisces and Little Red Riding Hood." With that, 2 golden beams of light shoot out of the keys. As the lights disappear, a 3 girls appear. Two of them seem to be mermaid like sirens who look even more beautiful than anybody else, as well as a girl with blond hair, in a hood. Both summons look at Aura, ready to do what they need to do to defend the area. As Aura looks at the summons, she says to them, "Red, I want you to take try and take on the alpha of the group. If you challenge him and win, they will no doubt flee from the area. There is no way they will be able to survive if they lost the one they looked up to lost to a girl. Pisces, I want you to defend Red while she is in the duel. I will also need you to be able to defend any families you see in danger but once you do, both of you will have to get back quickly." With that, her spirits nodded as the group went to do their tasks.

Aura began to get families that were injured, or hurt and began directing them towards the exits. Her spirits however were in action and ready to get rid of one of the groups. As Red charged towards the alpha of the group, the other wolves backed away to let their leader teach Red a lesson. However, she wasn't going to let herself be defeated. With a quick motion, she took her scythe and slashed it across the neck of the wolf. It began to bleed, but he wasn't dead just yet. For some reason, it seemed like the wolves were more resilient than originally thought. Usually a cut to the neck would kill any animal like a wolf in an instant, but their mutations must be what is making them insanely strong. With that, Red got about 4 more slashes in before the wolf finally retaliated. Red saw that it was beginning to feel weakened from the bleeding cuts she gave it. Although she felt pain in her side from the wolf slashing at her, she knew that she could finish it quick enough. Before she could get to her plan, a wolf jumped at her. She screamed in fear, but got off clean due to the shield Pisces gave to her. With a sigh, Red jumped towards the alpha and slashed at him once with one swing and another time with a reverse swing. The alpha cried out and tried to slash at Red, but the shield Pisces had was clearly doing work. As the wolf got hurt by his own attack, Red took this opportunity and swung around with her cleaver. With a yell, she said aloud, "Red Cleavage!" That then left the alpha bleeding on the ground in pain as Red stood over it. She knew that before she could get these wolves to stop hurting people, she would need to kill it. So, she grasped onto the handle of her scythe and let its power unleash. As she unleashed its power, a red light came from it and shot straight up. The wolf cried in pain as it saw the beam, but that didn't stop it. As the beam came straight down towards the wolf, it whimpered as the beam hit it and went into the cuts on the wolf. As the red light disappeared, what was left was the dead alpha and it's pack members in fear. As they ran away in fear, Red smiled as she congratulated herself from the victory.

Thankfully, Aura had been able to get out the rest of the families still stuck in the zoo. That didn't mean too much though, because there was still a lot more things to get through, before the town was safe. Aura knew her job was not done yet until all the mutations were dealt with. It was as though it was right on queue that there was a loud rumbling feeling beneath the feet of Aura. As she looked up, she saw as 6 menacing gorillas came rushing towards the area. Aura gulped and said to the new mage that appeared and said, "Hey, I know you just got here, but I could use some help here. We will probably have to split off who does what. I will take care of half of the group if you can."

wc:1251
tc: 1786/4500

notes: You should probably read it even though it's long. Sorry XD

Godot, the Defender of Earth, or so he was called by Sigurd and his creators, zoomed into the scene, firing off his signature concussive beam by tapping on his temple and emitting a laser from his forehead gem. The wolf he hit was sent flying against a cage, but as that was happening, another wolf leaped on the alien hero, and tore him down to the ground, throwing him against the stone pathway that wound threw the zoo. Godot, however, wouldn't go down so easily, and quickly shot up, nailing the beast that attacked him in the jaw with a solid kick. Despite this, however, he was now facing down two wolves on his own. Luckily, his canon stated that he was trained in at least 6 different kind of space-martial arts, and was used to facing down swathes of demons in his storylines. With a swift roundhouse kick, he managed to land a hit on a wolf, but it caught his attack, and bit into his calf. The hero winced in pain, but kept his attack steady, and pushed the body of the assailant wolf into the other enemy, managing to produce enough force to send them both through the air. The first wolf mutant was more damaged, and stumbled a bit when he landed, but the second wolf managed to ground himself just a couple feet away, it lunged forward to Godot, aiming to finish him off, but was met with a black armored fist. The attack was surprisingly strong, nailing it square in the jaw, and causing it to dive off to the side, tumbling and kicking up a significant amount of sand. This drew the attention of both wolves, and the snarled as they faced off against their new foe.

Clad in his nightmarish visage, Darknight had entered the scene. Sigurd held his left fist high into the air, putting on the deep, confident voice of his alter ego "Citizens of Clover Town! I am Darknight, Defender of the Void!" a wolf was running up to him while he spoke, but as he did so, he had his right hand on the hilt of his blade, allowing him to draw it and parry the beast, causing it to collapse of exhaustion. Who knows where these beasts came from... it's probably best to try and down them without killing them, in case of any possible scenario...

As he thought this, he continued his grandstanding, for the sake of maintaining a hopeful demeanor, "Fear not, a hero is here!" he proclaimed, and leapt forward, driving his sword into the leg of the remaining wolf, disabling it. He nodded towards his ally Godot, as a show of thanks for holding down the battle until he got there, and then took a formation in which he put his back against his summon. This way they both covered each other's blind spots. With this new formation, they prepared to fight the next round of wolves. It seems as though the ruckus they had caused had attracted a significant number of other mutant animals to them. Despite the fact that they were significantly more aggressive than they should have been, it seemed they had some semblance of cooperation. As Sigurd analyzed his opponents, he checked his surroundings. It seemed the last few civilians were successfully escaping, much to his relief. He also noted Aura's summoning ability. It was interesting, and quite the coincidence, that two summoners belonging to the same guild would end up in the same area, but the mage supposed it could be chalked up to a wizard's intuition. It wasn't impossible for Aura to have felt the same air of danger that Sigurd had been feeling all day, likely in relation to this occurrence. At the very least, he was glad to have another magically empowered individual on the scene, as the sheer number of these monsters would have been far too much for Sigurd to deal with by himself. Not to mention, they were strong. The few times they'd landed hits on him, he certainly felt it. Godot also showed significant signs of damage, although due to his alien physiology, he didn't bleed, though there were dark spots on his body, which implied his skin had been pierced or bruised.

At the same time, Sigurd realized that now was his chance to make a good impression on his fellow mage. It would be best to operate as if she had an eye on him, although he knew she would be battle capable enough to focus on her fights, he figured she'd notice him sooner or later. Leaping forward with his sword, he brought his hilt down on the top of one of the beasts heads, and sent a message to Godot, who followed through, grabbing it by the neck and throwing it over his shoulder. In tandem with his teammates maneuver, he performed a backflip landing on the belly of the beast, causing it to whimper in pain, before bounding off to fight another one of the beasts, as Godot finished the wolf they had just tag teamed with a solid karate chop from his right hand, before he zoomed off, feet pounding the earth looking for another enemy to subdue.

Locking onto another wolf with his gaze, Godot collided with him, the full force of his body catching the monster off guard, as he used his strength to take off into the air, carrying his enemy with him. Godot was not empowered with flight. Instead, this was a pure feat of strength, and Godot felt his legs giving out as he ascended. He had a plan though, he flipped over and began to dive back into the earth, the wolf's head and his own plummeting towards stone. As they descended, Godot closed his eyes, knowing that this attack would be enough to subdue his foe, but he was also far too damaged to continue fighting. That being said, when they hit the ground, Sigurd could feel the potential of his magic return to him, as his favorite summon disintegrated, his noble sacrifice not only defeating a foe, but also freeing up Sigurd's magic power so that he could change up his strategy. Silently thanking his friend for his noble act, Sigurd raised his hand and called out the name of a new summon, Rebel, Defender of the Dark.

Sigurd had been fighting a wolf for the duration of Godot's battle to little success, this wolf seemed to be pretty strong, and was parrying him just as fluidly as he was being parried. With a new summon the tide of battle shifted in favor of the young summoner. Without warning, the demonic hero he had summoned lunged forward with sharp claws, digging them into the hide of the mutant. With relatively no time to respond, the mutated animal recoiled, which gave Sigurd the exact chance he needed, to strike it with his sheathed sword, the concussive blow knocking out the monster. Rebel looked around, reporting exactly the same thing Sigurd was observing. It seemed to be that there were several other wolves around them, preparing to attack. Seeing no other option, the summoner insisted that they take on all three, and although Rebel was concerned at the logistics of the two on three fight, he could not deny his master's request, and charged his claws with necrotic energy. He lashed out his arms, using his signature attack: Hades Whip. The magical energy seared into the flesh of the wolf he was targeting, and his elastic arms retracted, pulling him in for a physical showdown. Sigurd meanwhile, focused on the other two wolves. Though he was down on numbers, he mainly focused on ducking and rolling, trying to divert their attention and waste time while Rebel took down their friend, hoping that with this strategy they'd stand more of a chance.

It seemed to be working as Rebel was slashing away at the wolf's hide. Thanks to his demon physiology, the melee attacks on Rebel weren't nearly doing as much damage as they were to Godot and their master, Sigurd. Rebel was going to attempt to tear it to shreds, but Sigurd told him off in advance, as he knew his own summon's personalities, and foresaw that idea coming into the demon's head. Rebel settled into obeying him, and decided simply to use his claws to pierce it in several sensitive points he had located while battling the monster. The shock to its nerves was enough to knock it out, and also served to startle the two opponents that Sigurd was trying to take down. Once again, Sigurd used his allies actions to create an opportunity for his own attacks. After all, it seemed that for a battle trained summoner like himself, that was the way to go. He knocked one of the beasts to the side with a heavy tackle, and readied his sword to attack the other, but both of them perked up their ears, and ran off. Looking to his fellow mage, it seemed as though one of her summons had slain the leader of the pack, and they were now on the retreat.

Sigurd ran over, but as he did so, he saw several mutated... it seemed to be some kind of ape running towards both him and Aura. He nodded when she provided feedback on the situation, "I suppose there isn't any time for introductions. Let's subdue these apes, before anyone gets hurt, he suggested, hoping to convey his willingness to help, before tracking out the best path of attack to allow the two of them to split the enemies.

WC: 1,611
TWC: 2,727/4500

Aura looked over towards the masked man as she saw a tiny strand of the same hair she saw before. She wondered where she'd seen it, especially since she knew it was recent. However, she knew that it wasn't time for that now. So, she looked over to the man and smiled. She did a small little giggle and said, "Guess not" as she put her face back into a serious position as she waved Red and Pisces to follow her. With determination, she ran towards the 3 gorillas and directed them away from the armored person, in order for them not to clash on accident. As she ran the other way, she stopped and looked towards the gorillas as they angrily looked at her. She saw rage fill their eyes as they ran straight towards her. As she stepped back, Pisces and Red stepped forwards with determination in their eyes. Red prepared her scythe as she ran straight for the group of gorillas, with Pisces's shield still on her.

As she charged into the group of 3, she slashed at each one of them once, leaving a noticeable gash on each of their arms. Blood bean to seep out of them, but they didn't seemed too affected by the bleeding, and just kept charging forward. Red didn't expect this, which made her step back a bit, in fear of how durable these beast were, Red began to take a step back as they rushed towards her. At the same time, all three of them slammed their hands down upon Red, being stopped by the shield. All of a sudden, 3 beams came out and knocked all three of them back. With this point of vulnerability, Red jumped at one of the apes, as she made a complete 360 in the air, making 2 deep gashes in the chest of the gorilla. It seemed to be wearing him down, because as she did this, it fell down to its knees as it sort of passed out. All of a sudden, a fist from behind her came down upon her, as it broke the shield. Luckily though, most of the damage was received by the shield, but that didn't stop the rest of the damage to go through. Red felt pain course through her body as the gorilla became knocked back by the beam from the shield once again. Before it could land on the ground, Pisces glared at it and sent out 2 sound waves towards him. The waves were strong, allowing the gorilla to be sent back a meter or 2 as it slammed into one of the gates in the area hard. Aura looked in awe as she saw her summons do quick work of the gorillas there. Now, there was one left with very little damage to its name. Now that its friends were down, it grew in way more anger than Aura would've thought one could go in to. It was as though it was going berserk. With a long and quick jump, it jumped straight towards Red as it slammed her into the ground. Not long before it did, Pisces sent out a sound wave and damaged like the other gorilla. Something was odd though, it didn't move...it was as though its rage was keeping it up. As he pinned Red down with one arm, he lifted up his other as he slammed it right down on Red. With a scream, she evaporated into gold dust, as it traveled straight back to Aura's book. As she looked down at her book, she gaped open her mouth in awe, and saw a little tear fall down her cheek. She rubbed it down, and said to it, "You did well Red, rest well and be safe." She rubbed past the other tears and said to Pisces, "Pisces, make that gorilla pay for what he did. They both nodded as they screamed out a sound wave right towards the gorilla. With a large force, he was sent back into the gorilla from earlier as he was knocked out cold.

With that, Aura looked over to see what that stranger was doing. She had really hoped that that man hadn't died, because she had real hope that he could help in this situation. She always had expectations low, because she didn't really expect her life to be lucky after her whole family died in that fire. It made her feel like she had the worst luck ever when it came to others. Every moment on a job with someone, she believed they were going to die because of her.

wc:770
tc:2556/4500

Sigurd realized that the apes were closing in on them, as Aura went on to do her own thing, Sigurd pointed towards the one gorilla who was coming to attack him and his demonic ally. In a flash, Rebel lashed out and latched onto the beast. Rebel's long, terrifying claws began to dig into the beasts, flesh, as it tried to swing its arms around in an attempt to knock off the parasite, but in doing so dropped all its defenses. It seemed that so far none of the animals they were fighting had any ranged or magical attacks, and were entirely using their physical skills to try and combat the mages. Because of this, clinging on to the massive bodies in just the right spot meant that the simple-minded opponents had no way of reaching them. Sigurd was prepared to charge directly in, using Rebel's distraction as an advantage, when a fist came out of nowhere, slamming into Rebel, and sending both him and the gorilla he was on flying. Sigurd had been so lost in thought the he didn't notice the other gorilla that had shown up. It let out a cacophony of sounds which Sigurd interpreted as some form of laughter, and the other ape was angry at it, though it soon calmed down enough to focus the energy on fighting Sigurd. Finally a third gorilla emerged from around the corner. The light that was coming from the ground where it landed told Sigurd that his second summon had been crushed under it. It seems that the tides of battle had shifted towards the monster's victory, going from two to one in favor the mage to three to one against him. Not wanting to allow himself such a great disadvantage, he summoned his next ally.

The strain of casting the summon was not as great on his body as he was expecting. Could it be that one of Aura's summons was boosting his pool of magical energy? That certainly seemed to be the case. Regardless, his next summon Robo-Defender 03: Trois, took to the battle field. The robot was equipped with sword and shield, and the green magnets that made up his body shone brightly in the sunlight. He pointed his sword at Sigurd, and the mage felt energy course through him. This summon was able to boost his ally's strength by a significant margin, and even on his own was known by Sigurd as being one of the most formidable physical fighters in his arsenal. Trois and Sigurd nodded at each other and both rushed the two closest gorillas. However, at the last moment, the dodged to the side, causing the gorillas to miss their counterattack and simply knock large pieces of the pathway into the air with the incredible force of their punches. Now that those two were sufficiently occupied, the third one was wide open for an attack. It attempted to swing at its foes, but as it attacked Trois, Sigurd slashed one of its knees. In response it kicked Sigurd to the side, but Trois was able to use his sword to land a massive blow in its other leg, causing it to stumble and topple over, knocked out.

Sigurd rose, brushing off dirt. That hit hurt, but he was still standing. He and Trois now faced the two remaining apes, both of whom were turning to face the mage now. It seems that the best line of attack now was to take them on one on one, which with the strength boost he just received, would be possible. He communicated this information to Trois and both of them ran forward to combat their foes.

The gorilla who was fighting Sigurd raised its massive fist and brought it down upon the mage, but was caught off guard when, while his fist was raised, he was met with a powerful fist to the face, which knocked him over and into the ground. Before it had time to recover, Sigurd swung his sword in an X-formation, causing cuts to appear across its chest. He finished his combo with a divekick right in the jaw, securing the knockout. He looked over to find that Trois was giving him a thumbs up, the other gorilla having been beaten by the robot.

Sigurd spun around to check on how Aura was doing. He noticed her having finished off the other three gorillas, and there didn't seem to be any other enemies anywhere nearby. He took a page form Trois's book, and raised his fist in a thumbs up to his ally, before he felt the ground start rumbling, causing him to take a more defensive stance to once again prepare for battle.

WC: 784
TWC: 3,511/4,500

Aura felt the ground beneath her shake as she saw her newly founded partner defeat his set of animals. With a breath of relief, she was glad to see that they were alive, and defeated the Gorilla's that Aura had asked him to defeat. She was glad he didn't die, because she could not handle this alone. As she looked over to the noise of the rumbling, she saw an elephant like creature, and a tiger like creature approach them. Aura couldn't believe her eyes. Those beings looked very fierce, more fierce than was she had seen before. Those creatures prowled the area. The tiger was more aggressive than the elephant, but the elephant was more destructive than the tiger. Both Aura and the unknown man would have to be very careful about which animal they would choose. Either one could easily kill the other if they picked the wrong animal. So, Aura thought very carefully. After moments of thought, she looked over towards the man and said, "I will take the elephant, you can take the tiger." With that, she began to run off towards the elephant. She knew that she would be able to abuse his slowness very well. Her spirits were fast, fast enough for her to defeat the elephant with ease. She believed that the other man could out battle the tiger. He obviously had some strength in him, which meant he would do well against the tiger.

With that, she raced off towards her chosen target with full speed. As she raised her keys into the air, she summoned out Medusa and Goldilocks to the field. Goldilocks seemed very ready to fight, especially now that she was in her chaotic form. As she rushed towards the elephant, she took out her dagger and jumped towards it. The elephant tried to knock her back, but it was too slow. With that, a deep gash came across his legs. It screamed in pain and turned over towards Goldy. It began to raise up the leg that wasn't wounded as it tried to come down upon her. With that, Medusa raised up her bow and shot out an arrow straight for the leg. On impact, the leg moved out of the way, as it stomped the area right next to Goldy, missing her by only a few inches. With a breath of relief, she began to take advantage of the planted leg. So, she ran away from it and stopped. All of a sudden, she began rushing towards it. As she came near the Elephant, she began running vertically on the Elephant, as though she was defying gravity itself. With her dagger, she made a deep gash across the back right leg of the creature. The creature was definitely looking weak, now with the arrows and gashes coming out of it. All of a sudden, the creature became a bit more berserk. It shook itself violently, not wanting Goldi to be on it anymore. As she flew across the zoo, she collided with the gate. She obviously took some severe damage, but that didn't mean she would back down that easily. As she made a devious smile towards the elephant, she began running towards him. Medusa shot three arrows towards the beast along with Goldi. With those arrows and Goldi's attacks, the elephant began to collapse. It was obvious it was becoming exhausted from the pain. What was needed, was just one more hit. Goldi lifted up her dagger as she made one deep gash within the elephant. With that, it became knocked out...or maybe even dead. It was a long and tiring fight, but Aura still needed to know that her partner was safe. Looking over, she saw what he was up to at the time.

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Though the beasts that arose from the next wave were indeed striking, Sigurd wouldn't say that he was surprised. Clearly some sort of large operation was going on at the zoo, causing a mass mutation of a great number of exhibits. While Aura gave the instructions, Sigurd simultaneously acknowledged them and charged towards the tiger that he was told to face off against. Sigurd gave a mental signal to his robotic partner and the two of them split off, Sigurd going to the left flank of the tiger, while Trois ran alongside the right side. The tiger at first directed its attention towards the mage, which necessitated him to raise his guard. Unfortunately for the beast, this set in motion his plan.

The swipe from the tiger was mighty, it's paw holding plenty enough power to send the armored summoner flying. Speaking of his armor, were it not for it's plating, the beast's claws would have easily pierced his skin, seeing as it was able to produce tears alongside his chest and arm plates. However, while it was focusing on him, Trois, had managed to use its fur as footing, and ended up on the beast's back, as he plunged his sword down into the beast's ribs, causing it to roar and reel in pain. Sigurd sheathed Gilgamesh, and gripped onto the leg of the tiger at this point. He felt the power from his mysterious "Glory of the Slayer ability" kicking in and supplementing his already mighty strength boost from Trois's ability. Using this power, he managed to start dragging the giant cat by its paw, and threw it into a nearby wall.

That maneuver had taken a lot out of Sigurd, and he stumbled backwards, battle torn and clearly worse for wear due to the current struggle he was engaged in. The tiger saw his weakness, and, angry that it had been manhandled, got up and began to prowl towards him, eventually speeding up and leaping. Its jaws met, however with a sturdy pink spherical entity. The creature had been baited, and Sigurd switched out one robotic companion for another. Zwei's sturdy metal shell barely struggled as the beast tried to collapse its jaws, but in doing so it dropped its focus from Sigurd. Though Trois was no longer there to boost his attack power, his lineage still provided a boost. He dropped his weight into his right foot, and twisted his body, launching a forward kick right into the tiger's face, launching the enormous beast to the side, as Zwei dropped out, right in time.

During this sequence of events Zwei's ability had activated to provide both Sigurd and Aura a boost to their defenses, in case another enemy appeared. As Sigurd pondered this, he realized that that would most definitely be the case. What sounded like a lion's roar mixed with the rumble of thunder, echoed throughout the area. Many remaining animals who were fighting zookeepers throughout the park began to flee, and a beast began to round the corner...

WC: 504
TWC: 4,016/4,500

Aura felt herself becoming more resilient than usual. She looked over to the summon the masked man had created, and wondered if that was the true reason why she had been feeling the way she was. Also, she couldn't believe that the man over there was a summoner. Aura had expected him to be some sort of requip user, especially with that armor of his. Pondering why he dressed that way, Aura heard something. As she averted her gaze from the man, she looked ahead to hear a lion's roar. Ahead of her was an animal with the head of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, and the wings of a bat. With a surprised look on her face, she said anxiously and quietly, "Its a manticore..." She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was the thing of fairy tales, and yet it was right in front of her. Sure, she was able to summon things like this onto the field, but to actually see one right in front of her, it was astonishing. This was real, her celestial spirits were basically just figments of the celestial world. They were still stories to other spirits of the celestial world, but they were able to become real life creatures in the real world due to the celestial world being so odd. As she looked at the beast, she saw it spread its wings. It was almost beautiful in the brightness of the day. Sure, she sounded like a crazy person, but to see something from the storybooks like this in real life...it was sure something. All of a sudden, the creature looked towards them. With that, its eyes glared straight towards them as it unleashed a loud roar. That was the moment Aura began to prepare for the fight ahead. She looked at the other man, waiting for him to take the first strike.

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tc:3500

Seeing the manticore arrive, he decided to take the first initiative and head towards the beast with his summon. He leapt from the ground and swung his sword vertically, and produced a cut across the face of the monster, causing it to reel, while Zwei attempted to plunge his own blade into the front left leg of the manticore, however, the beast was barely fazed, truly by Sigurd's attack. It easily knocked the mage to the side, and sent the summon flying before it had the chance to land any hit. Sigurd barely managed to stand after such a tremendous hit, and realizing its strength, told Zwei to stay back. He knew that Aura would receive help from Zwei's attack boosting aura, and couldn't risk losing. Seeing as Zwei had sustained a significant amount of damage, it was safer to have it take a back seat to the action to continue boosting its compatriots' power.

After strategizing, Sigurd decided that he would attempt to finish off the Manticore as fast as possible, before it could do any more damage to Aura or the zoo itself. He ran up a brick barricade, and launched himself from it, gripping onto the back of the massive mutated lion, before lodging his sword deep into its flank. Although he managed to land a hit, Sigurd was then knocked off of the monstrous foe's body when it thrashed about. Though the thrashing didn't send him very far, the mage was then met with the thwip of a whip like tail, which sent the man hurtling by where Zwei and Aura stood, lodging him firmly into another barricade of the zoo. Though the damage was great, Sigurd was holding on to consciousness. If he was knocked out, then Zwei would disapear, and Aura would have an even harder time of it. He instructed Zwei to funnel all of his power boosting aura into Aura and whatever summons she would produce.

WC: 324
TWC: 4,340/4,500

Aura saw as her ally made a valiant effort to defeat the manticore. However, he seemed to need that other summon in order for the two to be safely. That meant he couldn't really do too much with his options. Aura knew the limitations of summoning, knowing he wouldn't be able to do too much while there was already another summon on the board. As he got hit down, Aura wanted to go and heal him with her turkey summon, but she knew that she had an obligation to keep him and the citizens around her safe. In order for her to do that, she would have to defeat the majestic manticore in front of her. As she looked down at her book, she realized that Medusa and Goldilocks were still out, waiting for her orders.

Aura put a determined look on her face, knowing that she could not let this creature live. No matter how amazing it was at the time of day, she knew that sooner or later, she would have to kill it. As she looked forward, she told Medusa and Goldi to get ready. With that, Goldi prepared her dagger, and Medusa her bow. As Aura looked to them, she said, "Go! Show it that you will not be put down into the stories as failures. Show them that you can defeat this beast. Don't just be a story, be a legend." With an encouraging tone in her voice, the two of them grunted in aggreance as Goldi charged into the beast head on. With a loud yell, she grasped onto her dagger tightly as she ran through it. As she grasped the dagger, she became a shadow, instantly dashing through the beast as a shadow. As she looked behind her, she saw the beast clearly wounded from the strike. In its rage, in began running straight for Goldi with its scorpion tail ready to strike at her. As it came up to Goldi, it lifted up it's scorpion tail and brought it down upon Goldi. Luckily, the summon from before had seemed to boost the protections of Goldi, allowing her to walk it off. Although she still seemed to be in pain, she looked like she was way better than she should've been. Thanks to that, she got a clean hit off on the beast, allowing for Medusa to land an arrow on it. As Aura looked around, she began to go over to the hooded stranger, wanting to heal him up. However, she didn't have the proper magic to summon another summon without taking out Goldi or Medusa. So, for then, she would just stay by the soldier preparing for something unexpected to happen.

While this was happening, the gorgon and Goldi went to work. With a quick slash, Goldi made a cut on its leg as it growled in pain. As it did, Medusa unleashed a flurry of three arrows at it. That sent it into an even bigger pain, as it clawed Goldi, knocking her away a solid 5 feet from the creature. As she skid across the ground, she growled and gritted her teeth, wiping away the blood coming from her cheek. With a voice filled with anger and spite, she said to it, "How dare you think you can take me on like that. I've defeated bears bigger than you can ever be, so don't think you can just claw me across the face and get away with it." As she said this, she ran towards the manticore with all the strength she could muster up and unleashed a powerful blow across its face. In pain, it brought back it's arms as it brought them down upon Goldi. With a yelp, she became crushed by the claws. Although they did bring an insane amount of pain towards Goldi, she knew that she would still be able to stand. So, she did and with that, she yelled over to Medusa, "Now!" Looking up from her ally and saw as Medusa opened up all of her eyes, creating a beam that was shooting straight towards the unsuspecting creature. With that, it arched its back in pain as it began to turn into stone. It tried to get free of the wicked spell, but it was no use, he was slowly turning into stone. As Aura looked back towards her ally, she heard Goldi and Medusa continue to hit the solid stone. After a matter of mere minutes, Aura heard the crackling of stone as it hit the ground. Aura felt her heart break as she listened to the sound with a look in her eyes that she hadn't felt in a long time. However, before she could cry her tears, she heard a small voice in her head.

Wondering what it was, she said back to it, "Yes?" With a deep voice, it replied back to her, "You care for me even as I die, why? Is it because you hate loss, or something else? After all, I am just a simple manticore." In reply, Aura said to it, "I have always loved the way manticores worked, even as a child. I thought they were one of the most amazing things in the whole wide world. The second I had to kill one, I guess it made me feel saddened. It's almost like a little girl needing to kill a unicorn." With an understanding voice, the manticore said to her, "Well, I guess I shouldn't let someone as strong and respectful as you see the last of me. So, I guess I might as well give you my celestial key." Before she could question it, the voice disappeared and she was left to her own devices. So, she summoned her key of the turkey and began to heal her ally back to health, wondering what would happen after that. Would things just go back to normal, or was this zoo ruined forever. Aura wouldn't know for a bit, but for now she could just wonder.

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As Sigurd struggled to get up, he bashfully expressed his gratitude for his guildmate's efforts, both in taking down the manticore, as well as in patching him up after he got tossed around by the beast. Without her, there was no doubt that he would have ended up dead. He began counting the enemies they had faced in his head, and assured himself that there was no way he alone, even with the help of his powerful summons, would have stood any chance against that many rampaging beasts. Luckily, however, it seemed that all the animals at the very least had been sedated, and there was no need for any more combat.

"Thanks again, we must be pretty lucky to both end up here at the right time. I suppose there needs to be some investigative work done about what exactly caused this whole mess, but I don't think that's our area of expertise. Why don't we tell the workers what we observed, and head back to Crystal Swan," he laughed heartily, "and how does a round of drinks on me sound..." he paused, realizing Aura had yet to introduce herself to Darknight, "I'm sorry, I've seen you around, but I don't know your name."

In any case, he would return to his guild and settle down with some nice warm tea.

WC: 222
TWC: 4,562/4,500