[Job] Diviners in the Dry Desert (Gaia/Itori)

"I assure you, madam, that we shall do everything in our power to ensure the success of your mission. Should we fail Sabertooth shall claim full responsibility and dedicate more manpower to this project. However as it stands we believe that using more resources should be unneeded." Itori patiently explained to the head of the research team, Knalla. The researcher didn't appear too happy with the current situation, but the kitsune was trying her best to convince the woman that she didn't need to worry.

She and another mage from Sabertooth had accepted the task of helping out a team of researchers which was trying to make it rain in the Forgotten Deserts. If they could accomplish their task it would prevent the deserts spreading themselves out and could also increase the amount of oasises which could be used to establish settlements and trade routes. While it was unlikely that they could use this method to erase the deserts completely it would at the very least make it more habitable for both the civilized species and other living beings.

The issue being that their artificial cloud which was supposed to make it rain had been bombarded by a lightning storm and no longer functioned. Given that the desert was a dangerous place to be the researchers needed mages both for support and protection, since they couldn't easily get the giant lachrima out of the skies.

Itori and Knalla were currently at the airport located nearest to the desert, an outpost not large enough to be called a town. The head researcher wasn't planning to accompany the group, but did want to ensure that their departure would at least proceed without issue before she'd return to her own duties. The current issue being that she didn't believe that Itori and Gaia, the other mage, would be enough protection for the job.

"That's all very well, but we can't afford the resources to keep trying this again because your guild didn't send enough mages the first time around. I can't use promises and compensation, this needs to be done right the first time around." The woman wasn't being hostile, but she also wasn't hiding the fact that she wasn't pleased about the situation and wasn't going to use flowery words. Itori didn't mind that, since straightforward people often respected reason and common sense as long as they weren't of the unreasonably stubborn type instead. The kitsune bowed slightly, then indicated herself with one hand while displaying all five of her tails.

"I do understand your concern and the need for this project to be completed without any delays or failed attempt. As mages of Sabertooth we will ensure this for you. My companion, who should be arriving shortly, is an Ace of one of the strongest guilds in Fiore. I shall support her and together the two of us should be able to handle anything that might interfere with this project with little difficulty. Furthermore both she and I have abilities that can be dedicated to detecting any incoming threats which might otherwise be difficult to detect in advance."

The head researcher folded her arms, still not looking completely convinced. However eventually she let out an annoyed and somewhat resigned sigh. "Well, all right then. If you've got an Ace with you it should be fine. Just don't think that if you fail you'll get away with an apology and some promises that you'll send more mages next time. This project is important and if you don't do your job properly you'll learn just how important it is with your own body."

The threat was somewhat vague, but the kitsune ignored it and instead smiled. "Thank you very much for your trust. We shall complete our mission without fail." Knalla nodded curtly before turning around and walking away, heading for a group of researchers who would be boarding the airship as well and talking with them about the job at hand. Itori could listen in on them, but rather than letting them know about how sharp her hearing was by blatantly eavesdropping she looked out over the airship which was almost ready for departure, and then towards the desert they would be traversing with it. Somewhere up there was a massive lachrima designed to generate enough water for it to act as a raincloud for an extended period of time. She could see why Knalla didn't want to risk this failing: beyond the possibilities of making the famous Forgotten Deserts more habitable it was also a test to see how far technology could go these days. If this lachrima could be repaired and then successfully fulfil its intended purpose it'd show that the magic kingdom of Fiore had advanced to the point where they could use technological means to alter entire landscapes and biomes.

Walking over to the edge of the large platform the airship was docked at Itori gazed out over the expanse away from the desert, where vegetation was still sparse but there was at least grass, trees and animals. From that direction she was expecting her companion to arrive, Gaia the Tarot Mage. She was the last mage that Itori had to meet from the latest generation of Sabertooth mages, and one of whom she'd heard some interesting things. Apparently she could use her tarot cards both for divination and combat magic, which was definitely an interesting trait to encounter in a human. Kitsune relied on older methods for divination if they had the talent for it, but Itori had lived long enough to know that just because a method was older it didn't mean it was better. She was curious to see how impressive Gaia would be. As an Ace she had to be someone who managed to impress Kite, a feat which wasn't easy to do.

The weather also was good for this kind of mission. The researchers weren't happy about the lack of rain, but Itori was pretty sure that of all the things one could wish for while riding an airship, a storm from the heavens wasn't one of them. Come to think of it, despite her long life she hadn't often travelled through the skies. That in itself would make this an exciting experience.

WC: 1040
TWC: 1040/7000

Itori's ear twitched, and she quickly finished what she was saying to Knalla before turning towards Gaia and bowing. She waited for her fellow guild member to finish what she had to say for the head of the Magic Science division before greeting her. "Ah, greetings lady Sabin. With your arrival we should be able to depart in but a moment. And no, there have been no issues of significance. Our client is just expressing due concern about the vitality of this expedition, so I have been trying to assure her that we will succeed." She looked back towards Knalla. "As you can see madam, we are not taking this undertaking lightly and will ensure its success."

Knalla meanwhile clearly was done with the conversation, leaving the two mages to their own devices. Hearing the chirping Itori looked towards Noya, smilng gently and leaning forward a bit before making the exact same chirping sound, as if a sonic mirror. Looking back up at the Ace she nodded. "Agreed. I must admit that I have not often enjoyed the opportunity of flight myself, so this will most likely be an exciting experience for the both of us." She followed after Gaia onto the ship, tilting her head as she could hear the whirring of machinery and the humming of magic. Once she was inside of the ship she explored it further, her eyes nearly closed as instead her ears swivelled in every direction. She wasn't an engineer and wasn't planning to build one of these things herself, but it was a very rare contraption so the sounds it produced formed a song Itori hadn't heard often before. It was different from those land vehicles the mortal races had invented: it had something smooth to it. From Itori's experience land vehicles had a roughness because in the end they all had the goal of dragging themselves and any passangers or cargo across the land. The airship sounded more like something that would swim.

She looked around at the Ace's loud musing, but seeing that Gaia was already diving into her iLac Itori didn't respond and instead just continued to listen. Now that the airship was also moving she could hear the air flowing around it, dust particles colliding with the hull and scraping against it before disappearing into the vast expanse behind them. As she had suspected, the sounds coincided a lot with that of swimming, although at a faster pace as the air lacked the weight of the ocean.

Glancing at Gaia's iLac once more Itori considered the usefulness of having such an item herself. It was one of those modern things which she wasn't entirely certain about, but it seemed a useful way to carry around information. She'd have to look into it once they were back at the guild. For now the kitsune stood as she waited for the destination to come closer while her ears remained sharp, the world around her a constant cacophony of various particles of the world interacting and dancing with one another.

She could tell when they reached the desert because the sound of the air became energetic and strong. Looking outside of the airship she saw the dunes of sand, wondering what it would look like once their expedition had been completed and more water had been supplied to the desert. It wouldn't be an instant process, but she could imagine green slowly overtaking the scorching desert. She would be waiting to see the end result.

"It looks enchanting in a way, although I am worried that with all my fur I will have trouble adjusting." She wasn't made for this kind of climate after all. Shaking her head briefly the kitsune stepped over towards the window and looked down, studying the strange creatures that Gaia had spotted before shaking her head again. "I have not often entered the desert, so I am afraid that my knowledge on its flora and fauna is limited."

Being exposed to the heat of the desert full blast had the fox-tailed mage hesitate, already feeling the heat build up inside of her. She created the weak illusion of a breeze moving across her body to somewhat alleviate the warmth while she looked around. When Gaia called her over she obediently arrived at the Ace's side, frowning thoughtfully in response to the question. "Given my limited experience with such devices I would be of more use protecting the researchers, although if I notice something strange in the device I will definitely report it as quickly as possible." She looked back at the researchers. "Once they have gotten a hold of the last locaton we will be flying through the air again, so we had better not move too far away from the airship." With that she closed her eyes and began to listen closely, receiving all the sounds the desert had to offer while patiently dividing them into varies categories. Pitch, volume, origin, and all other types of information were processed inside her head while she searched for something which didn't sound like it was a natural part of the desert. Lots and lots of sand, a surprising amount of small critters hidden underneath the sand, the sound of those strange animals quickly scattering... It took a couple of minutes before she heard the sound of something with too regular a shape for it to be natural. Opening her eyes she peered into the distance... noticing a bunch of clouds floating through the skies. While that wasn't the only gathering of clouds this was the one which created the strange sound, so that had to be the one.

She quickly reported her findings, and while her word alone wasn't enough proof the researchers were able to verify that they had found the lachrima and that they could nearly start on the second part of the expedition. While they were on the ground they wanted to make some preparations and gather some materials first, but there was little time before the two Sabertooth mages were once again called to enter the airship so they could depart for their actual destination. Unlike Knalla, who still appeared to be too worried about the possible results if things went wrong,the rest of the researchers seemed pretty amiable. Competent too, as when some of those animals returned they used some modified flashbangs to scare them off.

WC: 1063
TWC: 2103/7000

Hearing the comment that she didn't need to address Gaia so formally Itori almost smiled, hiding it behind one of her wide sleeves. While she definitely didn't do it on purpose she couldn't deny that on some level she found it amusing how people reacted to her polite mannerisms. Nearly everyone told her that it wasn't necessary. She supposed that she could just adapt her speech patterns to match theirs, but she was so used to this older and more polite style that she wasn't sure if she wanted to completely abandon it.

Her musings aside, it was truly a sight to behold when the ferret responded positively to Itori's chirping. While the little critter didn't move from Gaia's shoulder the kitsune could practically hear her vibrate with the desire to move about in excitement. Adorable.

"I thank you for the offer, although I believe I will be able to handle it for now. I will be sure to ask you if the heat becomes too much." She looked out towards the skies, where soon there would be rain thanks to their efforts. "And once we have accomplished our mission we shall have more than enough water for everyone." Normally she wouldn't have made such a statement of utmost confidence, but given how Knalla was already uncertain enough about how well the Sabertooth mages would perform she wasn't about to add to that doubt by making it sound like she wasn't confident in their success.

With the tasks clearly divided amongst the two of them and the lachrima located it was time for them to dive into the thick of it. Going back into the airship Itori checked the edge of her blade as the large vehicle took off into the air and began to fly towards the clouds containing the artificial rainmaker. Even here on the airship she was paying more attention to what she could hear than what she could see, the rushing of the wind for the most part ignored together with the song of all the parts of the large construct whizzing and whirling away. She could hear footsteps of animals making their way across the sand dunes below, but those were unimportant. What was important was the sound of wingbeats heading towards their objective. Luckily Gaia had also noticed them and already had a plan for dealing with them. The more they could let the researchers focus on repairing the lachrima the sooner they would be done.

"We will make sure that they will not disturb your work. You can rest easy and focus on the task at hand while we do the same." Itori said to help the researchers feel more at ease with the decision to turn away from the fighting so they could get the rainmaker working. They pulled out a variety of small devices as they began to tamper with the thaumaturgical machine. This gave Gaia and Itori free reign with the birds that were approaching at high speed.

Watching the dragon summon the kitsune had to admit that she was impressed, but they weren't in a situation where she could afford to just watch as the summons engaged the opponents.

She nodded in agreement when Gaia stressed that they shouldn't harm the birds, given that they were native creatures of this land and bringing rain to the desert would be kind of useless if they went around killing all the creatures that lived in it. There might be humans who didn't care about the presence of all these non-sentient creatures, but the five-tailed fox was neither human nor that kind of bastard. And she didn't think that these researchers were the type either, so if she was too reckless taking care of the bothersome birds they might consider it a poor job.

With Gayle using brown birds to distract the assailing avians Itori smiled back at Gaia while tensing her body. "I do not believe that help will be required, but thank you nonetheless." With that her entire body turned semi-ethereal, vague outlines of the background visible through her form while at the same time she appeared to be made of some ghostly substance. Launching herself she shot forward out of the airship at a much higher speed and acceleration than one would expect from a creature of flesh and blood. Within seconds she was already in front of one of the birds. Planting her feet on the bird's large back she touched its forehead with one hand and whispered something, then launched herself towards another bird. The first bird looked confused for a moment, then flew away as if nothing had happened and it never had a reason to come here in the first place.

This process was repeated with every bird present, the kitsune somehow standing on top of their backs without issue despite her being larger than the winged nuisances. The intelligent mind would have deduced that Itori's body was currently not entirely physical, which would explain why she was nearly weightless and didn't seem to have any issues accelerating to her top speed at insane rates. Once she'd convinced the last of the white birds to turn away she jumped on top of the airship. Shielding her eyes with one hand she looked around, trying to ignore the scorching sun that bore down on her. Aside from the clouds they were currently flying right next to the sky was almost completely clear, which should make it easy for them to spot anything else approaching...

The entire airship shook and Itori almost fell off when something narrowly impacted with the mechanical flyer. Looking down Itori didn't immediately spot any extensive damage, but she could see one of the pieces of ballast slowly falling down to meet the soft ground. Lowering her gaze she saw a whole bunch of small flying creatures which honestly looked like fish with steel wings. Sharp steel wings. More like fins which were big enough to act as wings. And apparently cut ballast loose? The five-tailed fox had experienced a lot of things, but this was the first time she encountered this creature.

Jumping down she drew her sword as another of the flying fish zipped towards the airship. Catching the clear intent to cut into the vehicle with its sharp fin-wings Itori blocked the creature with her sword, somewhat impressed that the wing didn't show any sign of tearing or breaking after the hard impact with her weapon. Planting her sandalled foot on the unusual visitor's face Itori kicked herself back onto the airship while at the same time launching the fish backwards, gathering magic in one hand while keeping a solid grip on her sword with the other.

"I do hope these are not your usual desert creatures. They appear to be quite vicious and durable."

WC: 1135
TWC: 3238/7000

Itori had to admit that this wasn't her preferred battlefield. She wasn't a warrior at heart so no battlefield was her preferred battlefield, but even amongst all the non-preferred battlefields this one didn't rank very high. It had a couple of issues that she was having trouble completely compensating for, and while she wasn't about to give in she was wracking her thoughts trying to think of a way to make this a bit easier.

The first issue was the most glaring: kitsune aren't natural fliers. While they were capable shapeshifters and Itori did actually have some prior experience with being a bird that was a long time ago, and 'some experience' didn't equate to 'can fight as adequately in the air as on land'. She knew that kitsune could learn how to fly without the use of wings once they became older and stronger but it looked like she wasn't quite that good yet. And even worse than trying to fly while in a body suited for it was trying to fly in a humanoid body with some wings attached so she wasn't even going to try that one. Humanoids simply weren't built for flight. If you looked at the structure of flying creatures you'd quickly notice that they were almost always top heavy and had short hind legs to reduce the amount of body that would be trailing behind them in flight being nothing more than dead meat. Of course having some additional body parts did help with the stabilization but the amount of lower body humans had was a lot more than necessary which made it more trouble than it was worth.

So this fight, up in the clouds, trying to find of critters which somehow took offence to the airship trying to repair the rain lachrima? Not the best place for her to showcase her abilities. She relied more on melee combat than ranged attacks as well, so that made it even more of a hassle for her.

The second issue was that she was protecting something much bigger than herself. Bigger, slower, with worse mobility and less methods to avoid or recover from attacks. If it had just been her she could have evaded and turned ethereal to deal with the brunt of the attacks coming from these steel-winged fish-bodied assailants. Instead she had to guard the ship against them because they were very insistent on attacking the big flying construct rather than the mages.

The third issue was that she wasn't dealing with a single big enemy. She was dealing with a swarm. Two swarms in fact, as next to the sky slicers some more of the wyning gulls showed up. Not nearly as problematic as the sky slicers, but the five-tailed fox would still have preferred it if they'd stayed away and let the humans do their thing in trying to turn these barren deserts into lush forests and grassy plains.

Well, whining wouldn't improve the situation. While she was considering their situation Gaia had summoned another dragon, this one clearly water-oriented going by the name, the colouration and the fact that he was holding an overflowing cup. With him dropping a lot of water onto the sky slicers (and other birds) once they got too close at least that kept a part of the assailants busy, so the vixen took the opportunity and got to work on the rest. Fortunately Gayle was still doing a good job keeping the wyning gulls busy, so at least she had time to think.

As some more of the sky slicers flew towards the ship Itori crafted an illusion. From the perspective of the fish-shaped birds there suddenly was a mountain blocking their path, and while the creatures were unusually aggressive they weren't about to smash face first into a giant wall of rock. Evading to the side they tried to loop around and charge the ship from another direction, only to once again be facing a mountain.

Having pressed her hands together Itori had closed her eyes and was focusing on her ears. Eyes could only look in one direction, ears were omnidirectional in their sensory. While it was very subtle she could pick up on the movements of the sky slicers and the way the wind flowed around them, which allowed her to have a decent grasp on their locations. Now that she was standing still and not getting distracted by her sight she could begin crafting several illusions at the same time. The simplest one was the aforementioned mountain, which she kept reforming in different shapes and locations to keep the steel-winged nuisances confused and unable to question whether it was real or not. She also created some illusory birds of prey that were several sizes larger than usual which lunged at sky slicers which tried to slip between the fake mountains. Suddenly having razor sharp talons rip past your head, missing you by an inch, was enough for the sky slicers to pull back and reconsider attacking.

With Gayle keeping the wyning gulls busy and Apalala striking at the sky slicers with water (which was ironic in a way) Itori could do her part in keeping the remaining nuisances occupied. However she felt like they weren't getting anywhere: they were keeping the birds at bay, but they were doggedly persistent and it looked like the amount was slowly increasing. Not entirely surprising considering that the airship and the rain lachrima stuck out like a sore thumb in an otherwise almost completely empty sky. She didn't know how long the researchers needed to repair the rainmaker but if it took too long she and the dragons would be forced to use some more aggressive methods to discourage the attackers in a more permanent fashion. While Itori had been able to persuade the first group of wyning gulls to leave that was partially because those hadn't actually directly attacked the airship.

"I understand and agree with the desire to not harm these birds they are quite persistent in their desire to interfere with our work. While we can manage so far if it keeps up like this we might have to resort to more drastic measures. We do want them to make use of the rain that this lachrima will be producing but if they get in the way of completion..." She didn't finish that sentence not to make it sound ominous, but because she wasn't entirely sure what the answer was. She didn't want to harm the creatures either, but she was torn on whether that meant they might have to resort to potentially lethal measures.

As she pondered this her ears twitched and her attention was pulled away from the current semi-battlefield. She could hear something large moving through the skies in the distance, and heading their way. It was still far off so it would take some time before it reached them, but it only took several seconds of listening to ascertain that it was definitely coming here.

"Could someone look to the southeast? I believe a bigger threat may be heading our way, but I need to concentrate on deceiving the current assailants." Even as she spoke she was constantly crafting new illusions, although she was becoming more daring with them: before she'd used mountains and oversized birds of prey, now she made the sky slicers and the wyning gulls feel as if big gusts of wind were trying to blow them backwards while the air was filled with illusory projectiles. She was careful not to have any of those fake attacks land, partially because the birds might figure out that they're fake and partially because while she could make them feel the pain that would ruin the plan of making these birds not treat the rain lachrima as dangerous.

WC: 1,300
TWC: 4,538/7,000

Itori was glad that Gaia had summoned those dragons to help out. They were more than doing their share in keeping the airborne assailants at bay, given that rather than raw firepower what they needed right now was more hands. That and dragons were always useful allies to have, given their tendency of being ridiculously strong. Still, it was clear that the summons were also beginning to reach the end of their patience with the wyning gulls and the sky slicers, which was no surprise to the fox: even as she was continuously forming new illusions to keep the birds confused she found herself pressing her jaws together and her tips of her tails flicking behind her as if she wished to lash out at something. As patient a soul as she was a constant barrage of noise and annoying little birds would get on anyone's nerves.

And then things got even worse as Gaia followed up on Itori's request to check out the southeastern skies only to confirm that something else was also heading this way. The only upside of that was that Itori found her lips quirking into a small smile despite the circumstances. She found herself honestly curious what this creature looked like, for it to be described as a lizard with wings but at the same time decidely non-draconic. In these western lands that would almost be called a contradiction of terms. In any other situation she might actually have stood up to have a look.

But that wasn't to be, because even as her partner on this job stated that she'd take care of the big threat Itori was still stuck fending off what felt like an endless horde of noisy angry birds. She nodded to show that she had received the message, but beyond that most of her brain was occupied with the task of making the birds think that every time they got close to the airship a gust of wind would blow them away and force them to focus on regaining their balance in the air before they could resume their assault.

The gusts of wind were actually a lot more effective than the mountains: while they didn't provide as solid-seeming an obstacle the birds had zero reason to not believe those gusts were there, which meant that for those sky-borne nuisances the gusts were effectively real. And she could catch several birds with one illusionary gust, pushing them off course and leaving them squawking or shrieking in indignation without becoming even more hostile than before. For a bird gusts of wind were entirely natural, they weren't going to blame it on the strange metal flying thing even if said gusts of wind seemed to only occur when they tried to approach.

But even with that efficient method of keeping the airship safe Itori could tell that this wasn't going to keep working. Her brow was furrowed and she could feel a headache building. Illusionists could make fantasy reality, but since a lot of those powers were in the mind of the deceiver and the beholder it didn't come without drawbacks. The current drawback was that Itori was forcing herself to contort reality in too many places at the same time for minutes on end. And they weren't static illusions either, so she constantly had to pay attention to small changes to make sure the illusions remained realistic enough for them to be able to actually effect the birds. Paying such close attention to so many things at the same time would give anyone a migraine, if they were capable of doing it at all.

However she still wasn't going to resort to more violent measures unless it looked like there really was no other recourse left for them. The violent answer would be less of a burden on her mind and would probably be even more effective but it'd be wrong on a moral level. The kitsune had to catch herself before she got too distracted by the internal moral debate, which would certainly have caused her to drop a couple of illusions in the process.

When she heard a voice addressing her she opened her eyes and looked at Apalala, her vermilion eyes showing worry and intense concentration even as she tried to pay proper attention to what the aquatic dragon had to say. Flight...? She didn't think that would help at this point, but maybe... "You have my gratitude for the offer, but I can only think of one task you could help me with. Our current strategy will not remain effective for much longer, so I must resort to a more drastic approach. If you could aid me in reaching the top of the airship I would be grateful." She could probably have made it up there by herself, but she didn't want to abandon her illusions just yet so having Apalala take care of the moving about would free up some brainpower for her illusions.

With the blue dragon's help she got to the top of the airship quite easily, above where everyone else was desperately working on the lachryma which was meant to provide water to this long-neglected desert. The five-tailed kitsune gave the summoned dragon a quick bow before once again returning her focus to her work. Illusions weren't going to keep working, eventually the birds would get through if only because Itori simply couldn't focus on so many things at the same time. No single mind could, at least not without a lot of talent and a lot of training. For all her long life Itori didn't have the kind of training that would allow someone to maintain focus on several dozen different things at the same time with each thing getting as much attention as most people would give to only a single thing at a time.

So she'd have to do something a bit riskier. It was risky because even if it worked it'd mean she was quickly draining all of her energy to make it work, so if repairing the lachryma took longer than she could hold out she'd effectively becomes useless and the sky-barge would most likely crash.

Forming a spherical cage with her palms and fingers Itori poured a large amount of mana into the space between, forming an orb which glowed with a shimmering, ethereal light. It was like beams of light worming their way through twisting waters to the bottom of the ocean, but with a pale and wispy quality that was signature for ghosts and spirits. Once enough mana had been poured into it the five-tailed kitsune forced it to rapidly expand, the orb harmlessly passing through herself, the airship and everyone in or on the flying metal constraption until the ghostly sphere had enveloped it in its entirety. Taking a deep breath Itori then forced the ghostly barrier to cross the realms and exist in both at the same time, in time for several birds to slam right into it as it now functioned as a spherical defence against assailants from all sides.

As the spirit ward manifested to block out any hostile entities regardless of whether they were flesh or spirit the ghostly light dimmed somewhat to instead be replaced by amorphous shapes drifting across the surface of the barrier. Never did they form anything which could be recognized, but they still lingered in the mind and some of the researchers would later swear they saw strange things just beyond the barrier. Itori's spirit ward simultaneously connected the physical and the spiritual realm and created a barrier in both, blocking out that which she wanted to keep out but also allowing residents of both realms to catch glimpses of the other regardless of their own attunement.

With the barrier up Itori didn't have to bother with the illusions any longer: as long as she kept pouring more energy into the ward the birds wouldn't be able to touch the ship at all. Even the wyning gull's screams were dampened, protecting both the kitsune's poor sensitive ears and everyone else from the harmful vibrations. It was an immense relief to no longer have to pay attention to so many things at the same time to such extents, but she could also feel that despite being a five-tails she couldn't keep this up for long. A single bird's attack meant nothing, but when there were dozens of them their attempts at clawing their way through the ward was a constant drain.

Breathing a bit heavier than before the vermilion-eyed spiritualist looked over towards where Gaia was engaging the large threat, the winged lizard which somehow most definitely was not a dragon. If the other mage couldn't keep that one from attacking the sky-barge they'd all be in trouble, because Itori held no delusions about how well her ward would hold up against an attack from a creature as large as the massive skyfaring vehicle she was trying to protect.

WC: 1,493
TWC: 6,031/7,000
TTWC: 10,966/14,000

With the spirit ward up Itori could breathe a little bit easier. While it was slowly draining her energy at least it was easy to maintain, so the kitsune took this time to take a quick breather and survey the situation. The little nuisances were almost all gone by this point, only a few left to scratch and claw at the barrier which refused to budge under their weak attacks. The two dragons Gaia had left behind to help defend the airship had done a good job helping take care of the birds without harming them too much.

She could see that a lot of the birds were either too exhausted to keep attacking or simply lost the drive to keep going, turning around and flying away as their persistent assault had zero effect on the airship that was busy restoring the lachrima meant to let rain fall on this barren land. This was a relief, since it also meant that the amount of energy needed to sustain the barrier sharply dropped. It dropped even further as the dragons took care of the remaining small fliers, leaving the five-tailed fox with little to do but watch as the only real threat left was being distracted by Gaia and the third dragon.

While Itori could see how this definitely wasn't a dragon she was still somewhat amused by the fact that a flying lizard would look so unalike the typical mental image of a dragon that people would actually not call it that. Given how easy it was for people to slap names onto things it was amazing, really. She as an illusionist was perfectly aware how easy it could be to make people believe that something was something else as long as you knew exactly how to nudge them in the right direction.

But that wasn't the most pressing concern now. The most pressing concern was figuring out how to deal with that huge flying lizard.

"It will remain even if I move and perform other actions, but doing so would halt the link between me and it that allows me to keep strengthening it. From a creature of size it would take several blows at best before the ward would fall." She pointed at the flying lizard with one tail as she kept her hands folded together, a smaller orb of the same ghostly light hovering between her palms. The small orb could be considered a representation of the bigger ward, allowing her to strengthen the barrier through it.

"As for what that creature is, I must admit that I am unsure. It does not look like magic formed an important part of its creation, but nevertheless it is a lot larger than most other airborne creatures, reptilian or otherwise. I imagine that just like with the previous assailants it will depart once it has been suitably discouraged." Of course the small issue would be that it would take a lot more to discourage a creature of this size. Merely hitting it a couple of times would just enrage it. Maybe rather than discouragement distraction would be more viable...

As Gaia engaged the flying lizard Itori went through the options in her head. Her tails were spread out behind her, only swaying very slightly as her hands remained together to maintain the sphere which linked her energy to the spirit ward. The screech the beast let loose was... rather underwhelming, but Itori wasn't going to complain about it because she'd already dealt with enough noisy beasts today. If one of them wanted to be softer than expected that was all right with her.

Seeing that despite Gaia's attempts the flying lizard was still approaching the airship Itori readied herself for impact. The very first attack at least should safely be caught by the ward, but she wouldn't know how much energy it would take to keep the ward up afterwards until that first hit had landed.

"Understood." That was her simple response to Gaia's shout that they should stop playing it safe and instead go all out to prevent the lizard eating the ship. The kitsune broke the contact between her fingers, the orb hovering between her hands fading away as the kitsune instead began to form a whole forest of ghostly flames around herself. The foxfires danced merrily even as she watched the colossal winged reptile get blinded by Gaia reflecting some light into its eyes. The spirit ward could hopefully take one hit, after which she'd try to follow up on it.

Sure enough, while Gaia's distraction certainly helped keep the winged lizard at bay the great beast wasn't going to be dissuased that quickly, and after shaking off the blindness it circled around and charged the airship from another direction. As it opened its mouth it gave another screech before colliding with the spirit ward, the magical barrier absorbing the impact quite well so the airship itself remained untouched. Nevertheless Itori could see that if this monster was allowed to keep biting and clawing away at the ward it'd quickly yield, so she didn't hesitate in acting.

Stretching out her hands as if throwing something all the foxfires she'd been forming all flew towards the lizard as one, smashing into it to to the sound of it screeching again. At the same time she formed an illusion of a large wave of flame washing over the lizard, pushing it backwards and scorching its scales and wings. The winged lizard, being hit by the very real spirit flames at the same time as the much bigger wave of illusionary fire, had no reason to disbelief that this was happening and because of that was quickly pushed away from both the airship and the barrier that protected it. That said the spirit ward was a lot fainter than before, the swirling shapes looking like weak ripples in water.

While the winged lizard was busy trying to get rid of the flames that it believed were eating away at its body Itori looked over towards Gaia, throwing her voice so her fellow mage would her her words clearly despite the distance between the two of them. "My ward would not be capable of withstanding another attack, and the beast also will not remain distracted forever. I urge you to aid in chasing it away for good."

WC: 1,057
TWC: 7,088/7,000 (Completed)
TTWC: 13,109/14,000