[Winter Wonderhell Event - Aspen & Eoduun] Protecting Peace of Peace Village

Event specifications:

Aiming for A rank WC: 3000

Glancing down into the cup before herself and out of the window, Aspen took another sip of this magical drink called "Coffee", the girl had never experienced something quite like it before, the precious resource not broadly available in the rather cold and barren climates of her homeland. Still, it was quite the wonder. It was consumed boiling hot, sometimes with things to make it less ... offensive to the tongue such as sugar or milk, it simultaneously warmed you up and energized you. Aspen preferred her coffee black, without the excessively sweet ingredient to take away from the admittedly bitter but wholesome taste of the beverage. Taking a sip from the liquid before centring her attention once more on the book before her, she was once again immersed in her studies, paying little attention to her surroundings, the cafeteria in the Silver Wolf guild hall blurring into a mess of intertwining noise and movement, nothing to worry about. Aspen had spent some good time reading, writing and learning the recent few weeks, catching up in terms of knowledge about all things magical and the country of Fiore as well as the rest of Earthland. While she had been in Pergrande, she had received little to no information about either of these things, she remembered hearing about Fiore in passing before, but most other nations were, without much hesitation or sugarcoating, declared enemies for toying with the threatening and dangerous magic of this world. The country she knew most about other than Pergrande, the term used rather loosely in this scenario, was probably Sin, and only because she had been stationed at the wall over the course of her career in the Paladins a few times.

Thus she would spend the beginning of this snowy day, every day was snowy on top of this mountain anyway, sitting there in her chair, eating her breakfast and drinking her nice cup of coffee while reading through this curious book, "Earthland and You", it was called, describing in detail the various nations that made up this part of the vast planet. Bellum she had heard of, though this one, too, had been declared enemy. Enemy number one, in fact, the cultures of Pergrande and Bellum clashing fundamentally. Aspen knew of the propaganda that was distributed back in the motherland, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that most of it was designed to raise morale and dull the senses, so she had always paid little mind to it. Immersed as she was, she barely noticed the figure approaching, seemingly heading directly for her, letters in hand. "Ms. Azarov ?", Aspen's gaze remained locked to the book before her. The voice rang out once more "Ms. Azarov", Aspen's head swinging around, looking at a woman stretching out a hand for her. "This just came in for you. Letter from the Magic Council, it seems", fumbling with a what appeared like a small stack of letters before handing the piece of paper over to Aspen, making her wonder if everyone in Silver Wolf would receive one ... or just specific mages ? She had, after all, helped with the extermination of the monstrous Halloween creatures a little while ago when ... when that dreadful personality change had happened. "I see" she spoke briefly, taking the letter from her and almost ready to turn her head back to the studies when the guild staff simply continued "I also have order from Mr. Saarinen to inform you that he expects you at Peace Village", Aspen's normally rather stoic and emotionless expression lighting up with curiosity. "I see", she spoke briefly once more, rising from her chair and immediately hurried to the exit of the guild hall, leaving behind a rather confused staff member and a half-finished plate of scrambled eggs.

Hurrying down the mountain that Silver Wolf had made its home, a metallic plate that she controlled, created from the iron key, which served as a snowboard hastened her descend quite a bit, Aspen arriving at Peace Village only a few minutes after her guild ace had arrived from the looks of it. She approached quickly, her expression still emotionless, though the spark of recognition finding its way to it. "Good day, Mr. Saarinen, Sir", she suppressed the urge to salute. Old habits die hard. "You have requested my presence ?". She waited for an answer, though before she would even receive one, a large, enormous portal ripped open space a good deal behind her, the sudden and intense red, green and ice blue glow filling the street.

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Word Count: 760
Word Count Total: 760 / 3.000

Rolling for enemies

The member 'Aspen' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Spinning around, the girl turned in one swing, one hand immediately rushing for the Iron Key on the chain around her neck. These portals had appeared out of nowhere, Aspen unsure what to make of the sudden appearance. All she knew was that she had been ordered to this place, and now, from the tears in space itself creatures began emerging. Was this a common occurance in Fiore ? Did this happen often ? It was somewhat similar to the things that had transpired a couple of months earlier when the black dust had started falling from the sky. Monsters had appeared suddenly and without warning as well, and that black dust ... Aspen was still embarassed thinking back on the personality change when she had fought the terrors along with some mages from the alliance.

Her thoughts returned swiftly to the situation at hand, there wasn't much of a choice, after all. Within a few moments the road was filled with a diverse set of strangely altered holiday tropes given physical form. A group of elves had slowly started forming before them accompanied what seemed like two massive polar bears. Aspen had definitely seen those before ... and knew how dangerous they could be. Along with the group of twisted christmas beings also appeared what looked like ornately decorated pine trees, Aspen had also heard of those before, a lot of people in the motherland celebrated this ritual, but she, for the most part, had not been among them. Now that she was thinking about it ... she had celebrated christmas before, had she not ? The memories of her parents and the small, but beautifully wrapped little gifts she had gotten year after year until ... best not think about it right now. The fools had let their caution slip and they had paid the price. Aspen had known better than to show regret.

Without much thought the girl transformed the Iron Key into the dull, grey submachinegun, a light blue flash of light indicative of the magical energy released by the spell. By this point, it had been part of her life to wield and use these firearms of her own and Pergrande's make, so the movements had already transitioned into muscle memory, the girl simply pulling back the charging handle of the weapon, the bolt snapping in place as it chambered the round. Her mentor brought up a good point. Diplomacy wasn't Aspen's strong suit, weapons and technology was what she relied on most of the time, but there would be no harm in trying. "Good Question, Sir. I think we should attempt to-", her sentence cut short abruptly when one of the polar bears turned into their direction, releasing a mighty roar, Aspen's hand moving in reflexe, pushing down the trigger of the gun. Muzzle flash after muzzle flash lit up the end of the gun, explosion after explosion echoing through the air as she dumped the entire magazine of 25 shots into the creature, blood splattering before finally, the gun fell silent, and the monstrosity collapsed, the white fur tainted by streaks of crimson. "Uhm ...", the girl's face immediately turned red upon realizing that diplomacy had seemingly been eliminated as an option, the rest of the group, now enemies, centering their attention on the two Silver Wolf mages entirely, none to happy with the turn of events. "... my bad", the girl quickly spoke, her face still expressionless as she dropped the magazine and quickly loaded another one, though her cheeks vibrant with red glow. It seems like she had embarassed herself with being rather trigger-happy.

Well, all they could do now was fight in what would probably prove to be a rather exhausting bit of combat, but ... it would certainly be more fun this way, wouldn't it ?

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Word Count: 637
Word Count Total: 1.397 / 3.000

It seemed like the little light show had ultimately sealed the path the two mages would now take. Aspen silently cursed herself for jumping at the slightest sign of aggression, her training getting the better of herself this time. The entire group of invaders had now turned, centring their attention on the members of Silver Wolf, causing Aspen's cheeks to flush with red even more, a somewhat stark contrast to her still stoic expression, the gun still tightly clutched between her hands. Though it appeared that that wasn't her only faux-pas, her mentor turning to her seemingly irritated by the explosions which had burst from the muzzle of the gun. Aspen had completely disregarded the fact that the other mag was a slayer as well, though ... for a brief moment, this fact derailed her train of thought. Why was it that the other was irritated by the gunfire while she herself, also possessing heightened slayer senses, had no issue with it? For the time being, the girl attributed this fact to her familiarity and training with the weapon, her thoughts zooming back in on the task at hand when her mentor conjured up a bow of what appeared like pure acid. So much for that. Still ...

"Sorry ..."

She muttered the word quietly and monotonously, it was hard for her to admit a mistake, after all, though she cared about the opinion of the other mage, and would try not to get on his bad side, the hit to her pride a relatively small sacrifice in comparison. Though it seemed this was not important right now. Without much delay, the hostile group resorted to more aggression, snowballs beginning to hail down all around the two mages, Aspen raising an eyebrow in response. Was this supposed to be some sort of joke she wasn't getting? The bombardment proved to be wholly ineffectual, making her wonder why they would even waste their time like that. She sighed. Perhaps this would be easier than originally anticipated? That train of thought was reinforced by the fact that the shot released by Eero zapped through the air and smashed into one of the elves, the creature immediately beginning to dissolve with the acidic material he was now coated in under screams of agony. The mage certainly wasn't without strength. Though, to be fair neither was the girl. When her mentor prompted her to show him what she got, for the first time today, her stoic expression would light up, and her lips would curl into a slight smirk. "It is my pleasure", her eyes flashing with vibrant amber glow as her irises changed to reptilian slits.

She wasn't too experienced with Dragon Slayer magic, her Iron Key Holder magic more her forte, but she had gotten pretty decent at controlling the flux of ethernano through her body, still, this time she would rely on the key for strength. The weapon in her hand flared with faint, light grey glow briefly, the aura spreading to the girl before subsiding, Aspen feeling the focussed magical energy course through her body before she dashed to the side, the gun still clutched in one hand, the other, open palm stretched out towards the group of enemies. The speed boost she had received from her mentor helped her maneuver quickly, a swirl of metal appearing out of nothing surrounding her hand before she shot of a small projectile of liquid iron at the group, the attack slamming into the ground before exploding into a burst of metal fragments, one of the elves eviscerated by the power of the blast, a couple nearby elves looking severely hurt by the shrapnel.

It seemed like the group wasn't going to take that without retaliation, though, the other polar bear roaring loudly before its massive form came charging forward at the two Silver Wolf mages. Immediately, the gun in Aspen's hand started liquifying, changing shape, elongating before solidifying once more, the soldier girl now holding a black blade. Instantly, she lifted it up, 5 identical blades appearing above her, hovering there for a second before all simultaneously launching at the charging polar bear. 2 of them slammed into the ground beside the creature, throwing up ice and snow as they impacted, but the other 3 had found their mark, embedding themselves in the creature's flesh, the white fur immediately stained scarlet red, though this did not seem to phase the bear much, only serving to make it angrier as it now descended upon the girl, swinging one of its massive claws for her. "Shit". Instinctively, Aspen raised her free hand, the skin beneath her jacket changing colour as a reaction, turning into a layer of hardened steel scales, the attack bouncing off the hardened metal without much effect, Aspen only knocked back by the momentum of the attack.

The Metal Dragon Slayer grinned. This magic proved to be highly efficient. "My turn", she spoke before dashing forward, ducking underneath another wide swing of the creature before surrounding her free hand in a swirl of metal before driving it deeply into the flank of the creature, the polar bear releasing a pained roar as it was launched back violently when the spell took its effect, hurling the monster into the side of a building. Momentarily, the creautre would be paralyzed by the impact, Aspen quickly raising her hand, the two baldes that had crashed into the ground returning to her side before launching off at the polar bear once more. Still dazed by the impact, the enemy had no chance of dodging this attack, the Silver Wolf mage aiming carefully before finally, with a spurt of blood, the blades drove themselves into each side of the monster's neck, the creature twitching one last time before falling to the ground, unmoving.

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Word Count: 967
Word Count Total: 2.364 / 3.000

Enemies:

Elves: 2/9
Polar Bears: 2/2
Christmas Trees: 0/2
Santa Claus: 0/1

The member 'Eoduun Eero' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Dispatching of the last remaining polar bear, Aspen turned just in time to see her mentor making some sort of strange, fumbly gesture with his thumb. She was unsure how to interpret this, she had never seen this, but the circumstantial evidence did suggest this to be a sign of approval, perhaps? She would make sure to inquire with greater detail later. Before any such inquiry could happen, the other Silver Wolf mage focussed his attention on the rest of the opponents they still had to face. In a skilful display of both magical prowess and tactics, however, her mentor seemed to be one step ahead of the issue, throwing up a shape of acidic material that appeared like a flower, though quite a lot more deadly in nature, some of the elves either dissolving outright as their flesh was burned asunder by a relentless onslaught of acid or collapsing from the noxious cloud of poisonous gas released by the spell. It was quite the phenomenal display, really, especially for the young dragon slayer. So this was the power that someone with those abilities could reach? Her stoic expression changing ever-so-slightly into a pleased smirk, the realization that she had made the right call filling her with a sense of satisfaction. Still, Eero pushed on, leaving behind the heavily damaged elves to take care of as he went for the bigger fish.

So, it would be up to her to take care of the smaller ones, naturally. The little, normally so festive creatures were barely holding on though, it seemed. This would be a walk in the park for the soldier girl. Her eyes radiating with amber glow, she would do after her mentor, throwing herself into the fray once more as well, bursting forward in a full sprint towards the elves that had now regrouped away from the flower to escape its deadly reach. Aspen hesitated not, coating her hand in swirling, liquid metal once more before she already descended upon the first elf, catching the creature in a state of arguable agony and surprise, her extended fist slamming into the enemy's face and launching it off its feet with considerable force and speed, the creature skidding over the cobbled stone road of Peace Village, leaving a trail of blood as it travelled before finally coming to a stop, it's body remaining unmoving.

The other two elves whipped around, both immediately raising their pointy candy swords and hurling themselves at the girl with a snarl, Aspen once more allowing the ethernano to flow through her form freely, vanishing in a swirl of liquid metal before appearing to one the elves' right flank, the teleport effect nigh instantaneous, both creatures startled, overwhelmed by the sudden change in course. The girl, of course, still had her sword, drawing back the blade widely before swinging it down, the weapon burying itself into the elf's chest, a spurt of blood bursting from its mouth and the wound before she pulled it back, the elf tumbling back before finally collapsing forward. There was no time for taking a breath, however, a sharp pain in her side causing Aspen to spin around, seeing the other elf swinging the candy sword in apparent, uncontrolled fury over the loss of all of its comrades. "You little ...", she grit her teeth, jumping back and away from the out of control Christmas helper, dropping to the ground. The small slash at her side had already begun healing, closing itself back up when she placed her hand on the cold snow and dirt, allowing the magical energy to surge through it. The technique was, of course, relatively new, untested, but there was no better moment to try it out, chains of brass coloured metal bursting from the earth all around the area and beginning to wrap around nearby enemies, if present, holding them in place and crushing them violently, the elf included. The chain wrapped around its body nigh instantly, the tiny creature letting out a pained yelp for the last time before the chain pulled close, snapping its neck, its limbs falling to the ground as this one, too, had been dispatched of.

That, however, wasn't all she had to give. Now that the elves had been cleared out, she was intent on helping out her mentor, who was facing the rest of the combined christmas forces further ahead, calling out "Sir, you better take some cover" before grasping the Iron Key around her neck, copying the item with a brief flare of light blue energy. This copy was infused with magic, and without delay, the girl threw it as far and as high up as she could, the item exploding in a brief, bright flash of magical energy, the air above the rest of the monsters suddenly filled with all manners of knives, daggers, and blades that hovered in place for just a second before bursting down towards the invaders. If all went well, the blades would skewer their bodies and weaken them substantially so her mentor could finish them off with ease ... at least that was the plan.

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Word Count: 853
Word Count Total: 3.217 / 3.000

Enemies:

Elves: 9/9
Polar Bears: 2/2
Christmas Trees: 0/2
Santa Claus: 0/1