Shadow of the Lichborne

It was always surprising to see the streets of Magnolia. Crowded with all types of people, loud chatter from the market stalls and generally everyone looked quite happy. Honestly, even Dahau had to admire the consistency of life in this place. After many hardships, battles and gruesome destruction Magnolia and its inhabitants had to endure over the years, the townsfolk always found a reason to live and laugh.

Yet today was different, not everyone in Magnolia was enjoying life to the fullest. As the heel of his boots clacked against the stone pavement with every step, various Magnolians would turn away from the merchant stalls and look anxious at the tall man who marched down the street. Even though they didn't know who he was, it was crystal clear that he had malicious intent. His entire demeanor screamed nothing except war, from the way he walked to the stern look on his face. Also, the two large warhounds that walked behind him really helped his case. Roughly the size of a car the hounds, which Dahau referred to as his Garm, glared at everyone who stood to close. A tarlike substance drooled from their massive maws every time they growled.
Dahau's cloak fluttered behind him, revealing the emblem of the dark guild Errings Rising. Which some of the townsfolk started to recognize. And some realized who this enigmatic yet dangerous stranger might be. Scared they whispered at each other; 'That's Errings Rising! What is a member of that guild doing here.' 'It can't be! Weren't they last seen in Hostia?' 'Hostia? Do you mean that town they attacked! 'Why is he walking here in the open like that!'

Dahau ignored the masses around him, they were right to fear him if he wanted he could easily obliterate this part of town without even lifting a single finger. His Garm alone could ravage through the streets, spilling blood unlike anything else. However today he was in Magnolia for an entirely different reason, there was an old war to settle. Once and for all.
After the events in Hostia the war machine from Errings Rising ventured out on his own because among the spoils Dahau had found something he thought long gone. From there on out he had followed a breadcrumb trail all across Fiore. Until he realized he had to go to the place where everyone thought it ended, he had to go to Magnolia. Unfortunately, Magnolia and its protectors weren't particularly fond of dark mages, especially one whose origin could trace all the way back to Savage Skull. Yet because of their old hatred, Dahau knew that any Fairy Tail wouldn't just simply come to his aid. He needed to scheme, he needed to submit one, he needed just the right leverage to make the right one bend his knee... and Dahau knew just the one.

Dahau ventured away from the main street, came around the corner only to set foot on a small clearing in the middle of the town. A small square with various small shops around and more importantly a school for children. And it was there Daha came eye to eye with the one he was looking for. Word may have gotten around, as the Fairy Tail mage was waiting for him. He stared at Dahau, who glared back in return. But for a moment Dahau's eyes shifted away from the Fairy to a small white-haired girl standing partly behind him. Dahau's stern face changed, his eyes glistened with malicous intent as the corners of his mouth twirled up into an ominous yet conceited smirk.
*Well... look at that... leverage* he thought to himself, right before his eyes turned towards the mage again.

'Hello there Leonard, it's good to finally meet you' he eventually said after a few seconds passed. His tone dripping with arrogance and anything but good intentions. 'I know we've never met eye to eye, yet you and I are undoubtedly bound by fate.  I was there you know. That day the people started to herald you as a hero... when you fought my puppets... so by now you might have realized who I might be. So let me formally introduce myself.'
Dahau placed his right hand against his chest and took a small polite bow, which felt more condescending. 'I'm Dahau, the very puppeteer behind that day'

Just like any other day that Leo was not out doing a job, earning jewels to sustain himself and Lina's way of living, especially since she had finished transferring to a school within Magnolia. At times like this, Leo is at his happiest. Simply spending time with his daughter, getting ice cream after class, talking about her day went, and occasionally helping a stray animal they come across. Truly, Leo saw great good within Lina. He could never see, imagine, conceive a day that Lina would bring about death and destruction. Unlike him in his younger days... Blade in hand, always ready to cut down... well... though they were evil... he still cut them down without hesitation... basically, bringing death and destruction.

Normally, Leo was ready to greet Lina with a smile and wave, happily being a normal citizen of Magnolia, not even needing to hide behind his hood as he soon discovered, after being around town these past few days, that no one remembers or even heard of Leonard Dragonbane, with the most they can scrounge up is that it's the name of the street where Fairy Tail can be found.

But this was no normal day, today was different, yet similar. Different because Leo simply stood still as the wind passed him by. And though it brought about an eerie chill he still did not move an inch. But similar in the sense that there was a familiar presence in the air. A dark presence. Lina did not feel this. How could she? She's ten. And while she merrily skipped towards her father, with a smile on her face, she noticed that something as off. For even though she was there, her father still did not move. Worry began to fill Lina, as well as fear. Because she knew only very very very evil things can make her father change the way he does know. There was no happiness or pride in Leo's eyes, only bad things that Lina doesn't even know what they're called yet.

Finally, Leo blinked very slowly, turning his head as he did. Lina saw this and turned to where he was facing. In front of them was a man, accompanied by two creatures. Leo had never seen this man before, but he felt familiar. Very familiar that made Leo utter a name under his breath, audible only to him. Fred.... that was the name that came to mind. And if it were true that this man had anything to do with him. He. Will. Die.

Facing his entire body towards the stranger, and Lina clinging to Leo's clothes from behind, he moved Lina away with his right hand "Hall. Now." he uttered to her, not even looking to her direction, instead he opted to stare into the stranger, and he into him. Of course, Lina was smart enough to know that was no time to talk or ask, she simply did her father's bidding and ran away. And this was all happening while the person was apparently talking, though Leo paid no attention to it. Dead men tell no tales after all.

The person was indeed the chatty one. Not that he heard, but he simply saw his mouth move while Leo readied to kill him. Crouched and with his right hand curved behind him, he slightly lunged forward before vanishing in thin smoke as he had used Shadow Blink to teleport while he the dark mage was still talking.

He reappeared behind and above the invader and now with his Vandarr Storm Pike held above his head with two hands he had intended to impale the enemy with it as gravity pulled him back down. And if he missed and struck the pavement instead, Leo will cast Wrath to strike the three heathens before him with lightning.

Post WC: 636
Total WC: 636

It was no secret that Mura was very, very curious about the doings in Midi as of these times where he had time and breath to just sit back and wonder. The government was pretty well-made, despite the fact that the Midians had the second-oldest royal heritage next after Minstrel; the Emperor of Midi with all of his rumors and myths, for instance the saying that all the Emperors of Midi are descents of the Dragon King (Owatatsumi, not Acnologia). Back when Mura was young, he found that to be totally made up, a fairy tale for the small kids… but now, after years of wonders, it wouldn’t be too farfetched for the Emperor to really have dragon blood in his veins.

One’s whole view of the world could change drastically, and Mura had been a Fairy Tail Wizard for a long time now. What his younger self thought of as the pinnacle of mystique, he now found as rather explainable and often quite underwhelming. He had to be very careful with these views of magic and mystery, for who knew what could crawl up behind him and flip him upside down again tomorrow?

A sigh escaped his mouth as he leaned his head on his hand at the office. His paperwork was covered for now… so now would be a good time to get something to drink.

“You know, I think I’m turning a little like Sorano…”
“…”
“…”
“… What? I mean tha-“
“No, you’re not.”
“Like her? As if.”

Well. That was a tough punch to the stomach. Arriving down at the guild hall with a sense of belittlement for himself and his efforts - accompanied by a sad look on his face - Mura strolled past most of the present members towards the bar. That drink could save his skin right now, but he was quickly pulled into a state of emergence by a sudden scream from the bartender. Mura made it to the bar in one dash and watched as the bartender was holding his bleeding hand with tears trickling down his left eye. “What happened here…?!” Mura asked him only to move his head a little to spot a knife flying right for his face. The knife, made out of steel, made no impact on the shaman as it turned to water by colliding with his face. As it landed on his feet as a small puddle of water, he noticed that none other than Lina was at his field of vision in front of him…

She looked livid. There was a vein on the left of her forehead that was pumping, and the assault on the bartender must’ve been very recently - as a matter of fact, Mura timed that break rather conveniently, for most of the members rose up to start scolding the little girl. “What the hell is she doing to our bar man and Master?! Hey, little lady-“ They were cut off by her suddenly picking up another knife and walking straight for the crowd who weren’t really that afraid of such a small girl with a butter knife. As a matter of fact, they were more worried about her and her whole ordeal; wasn’t she, like, the super-cute daughter of the strange, cloaked man who joined the guild not so long ago? Was this a prank gone wrong?

Lina’s movement was stopped completely by Mura’s magic. A cocoon of iron closed her body up, so that only her head was free. There was something sickening about her state, and Mura wouldn’t believe for even a second that it was her own doing. Of damn course, this must’ve been the work of someone else, and that possibility was no more than a big reminder of a past event concerning another young, innocent girl with a sick entity inside of her… and this time, Mura wasn’t going to let history repeat itself.

A quick flick with his wrist was fatal, however, as Mura removed the butter knife that he sensed was attempted to be stabbed into her own body. This time, he hesitantly restricted Lina’s movements more, so that she wasn’t able to just hurt herself in an attempt to torture the Co-Guildmaster. Mura used to be so confident in his magic, but right now, he felt so afraid of what Lina would do that he begged Kyuken: “Please, find Leo and bring him here. Now!” “R-Roger!” Kyuken asked as he, the blue spirit ball head, dashed out of the gates to Fairy Tail and simply followed the sound of blades cutting the air not too far away.

“LEO!!!” Kyuken screamed at the top of his lungs as he witnessed his pal on the verge of impaling another figure, “Leo! Your daughter! She’s not acting normal and tried to kill someone, we need your help…!!!”

WC: 804

In an instant, Leonard disappeared from Dahau's sight but a sudden burst of magical energy spiking behind him told Dahau where his assailant went. Sensing the sudden danger forced his entire body to move automatically, with the same terrifying speed Dahau disappeared from the very spot Leonard would strike him down.
The pike would pierce nothing but air and clash against the stone pavement, while Dahau remerged in a battle stance a few meters away opposite from the Fairy Tail mage. In the mere second, Dahau got room to breathe he stared at the very spot he just stood before. And what he saw turned his face from smug to anger, there hanging at the point of the pike, pierced into the ground was a familiar piece of black fabric. Ripped away from the richly woven cloak he wore behind him. Dahau managed to evade Leonards attack just in the nick of time, but not without getting out entirely unscathed.
But before Dahau could even respond with an attack of his own, he was already forced to go on the defensive. Following up with his pike attack, Leonard activated the ability from his weapon which called forth a lightning strike from the heaves aimed at Dahau and his loyal beasts. With a bellowing thunder, the lightning struck at his Garm and send them flying into the nearest buildings. The third strike made an impact just a second later, but only not where Dahau was standing. The moment Wrath was cast, Dahau could sense its very flow of etherano. A magical manifested attack powerful as this was easy enough for him to read and alter its course in the split second it would hit him. He threw his left arm into the direction of an empty classroom and the lighting followed by making a horizontal angle and hit the school building instead of him.

At that moment Dahau went on the offensive, he'd snapped the fingers in his right hand and four large cannon barrels appeared above Leonard aiming at him. Simultaneously they fired, while Dahau traced Leonard and disappeared from his own spot once more only to reappear in front of the Fairy. Dahau's arm was pulled backward and aimed low, gathering magical power into his very fist, and with unprecedented speed, he threw a punch at Leonards's gut.
If it made contact an explosion would follow sending the mage flying, if it didn't Dahau followed already up with another attack. He'd simply uttered the word 'chase' and either way if Leonard evaded his consequent attack or got hit, the cannons from before would follow him. Trying to strike at every location he'd might end up.

However Dahau would stop his continuous chase, upon hearing a sudden voice. As he turned towards it he could see a small blue orb flying above them as it shouted at Leonard, warning him that his daughter was in immediate danger. Dahau looked from the blue orb to Leonard, while the smirk from before returned on his face. He knew that the mages in the guild didn't know, that they grasped in the dark unknowing what they were dealing with right now. Hell, even his opponent didn't realized it yet. That his daughter was yet another victim in a long chain of corruption happening all over Fiore.
'A daughter is quite the vulnerability isn't it Leo' scoffed Dahau at Leonard upon seizing their current battle. 'Once an invincible knight but now reduced to a doting parent, running to his child's aid whenever something ails her. Not that it would do you any good, those fools over in Fairy Tail don't know what is going on and certainly can't help her, nor do you...only I can. I can see from the look on your face that you don't believe me, so go ahead go to her and you know right away that I might be the only one who can save your wretched offspring!'

Wordcount: 680

Leo struck down and hard with Vandarr, only to be met with the stone pavement. However, he was prepared, Leo was not in a fit of rage that the battle was not over instantly, he had Wrath to follow up his miss, but though it only worked to defeat the two dogs, who the stranger seemed to look unconcerned for. Indeed the foe is dangerous, and skilled he might add. Perhaps the familiarity the both share is indeed true and this man knows a lot about Leo than either Sorano and Mura ever had. Which is why he must not let him live. Even more so when he without any hesitation, redirected the lightning to a school. Shocked and worried that Leo might have hurt innocents in this battle gave himself a small window, an opening as he gazed upon the classroom, relieved that none was harmed, and that lightning only created a whole of intermediate size on the wall.

This, however, was just about all the time his enemy needed to close in the gap between them, made by his evasion of his own impaling. For just as Leo was about to pull Vandarr out of the ground, the evil mage he was up against had blinked right in front of him, his teleportation just as instant as Leo's Shadow Blink. Impressed, but not shocked, Leo acted rationally, meaning dodge the attack but still be within a distance from which his weapons can cut him down, pierce through him and kill him.

And so he did. Just as his enemy was about to hit Leo with a seemingly devastating punch, because it was imbued with magical power, Leo blinked behind him once again, posed to strike how through the chest. But something stopped Leo from burrowing the Storm Pike into the dark one's body. He slowly looked upwards, eyeing the cannons that suddenly appeared the moment Leo dodged the punch.

Ready to fire at him at the command of their master, Leo did what he thought would be unthinkable to his enemy: take the hit. But never the one to go down without a fight, Leo held aside Vandarr on his left head and proceeded to bear hug the opponent, lifting him up by arching his back backwards so that he would take most of his own spell's attack. Unyielding with his decision, Leo took the cannon fire like a man. The area peppered with cannon fire that set the two of them apart by an explosion that thankfully, harmed nothing else.

Now a few meters away from each other, Leo got up grunting as he recovered from the blast, surprisingly still having his weapon in hand that he used in aiding in his standing back up. Facing down with his enemy once more with fierce eyes, Leo charged him silently with his spear, but then, a familiar orb appeared. One of Mura's spirit orbs. He had called out that Lina was in danger in the guild. That she tried to kill someone. Shocked by this development, Leo's charge was halted, mere inches before the spear reached the target's heart. And it was at this point that Leo heard the enemy's taunt. Stating that parenthood made him weak. Though he paid no attention to this because the enemy doesn't know any better, for on the contrary, it was parenthood that made him who he is for Leo had been a father since he was 18. The father of Fairy Tail, and in all of his years of parenthood, he knows that the children come first, especially now that this is his literal and biological child he's talking about. No, it was the other thing Dahau mentioned that ticked Leo off, that only he can help his daughter right now. Never the one to believe an enemy for they could be lies, Leo simply equipped his boxing glove and gave the enemy a mean sucker punch in the face before running away to help his daughter.

Shoving all the people in his way, Leo ran as fast as he could towards the guild, bursting the hall doors wide open, seeing her little girl hold a butter knife with the intent to kill someone with it, not that she could. Or could she? Leo could think of many different ways to kill someone with a butter knife after all. In any case, he must save his daughter, and the guild from her. These were the thoughts that were immediately in Leo's head as soon as the doors burst open, and he was still running towards her. The moment he was near Lina, the little girl slowly turned around to face her father, but Leo didn't get much of  a look on her face as he was about to tackle her to the ground.

And so he did, tackling his daughter to the ground where they rolled around for a short while only to be released right after sending her daughter to roll towards the guild doors and Leo to roll towards the confused crowd. The reason this happened because of a very excruciating stinging pain Leo felt on his right shoulder that made him scream in agony. It was his dark family's crest sensing so much dark power in the vicinity. And though normally, Leo can bear the pain whenever it stings, this pain he felt now was on a different level. He had not felt this much pain, not since the entity called Lichborne attacked Magnolia and met his witch of a sister on the same day on opposite sides of the battle.

Still curled on the floor from the pain, Leo desperately tried to get up, while still clenching his right shoulder with his left hand, singeing  sounds were almost audible to all as the pain continued on, Leo desperate to hold it in, trying to get used to it by the pain. Now on one knee, he looked at the horror that is his daughter being a murderous child stand up and approach them, Leo tried to call out to her desperately "Lina! Lina Lightbringer! Snap out of it!" but it fell on deaf ears, Lina was clearly not herself. And in an attempt to defend everyone else, Leo called upon his Vandarr once again, slamming its butt to the ground that made it crackle with lightning a bit on the point where it struck the floor, readying himself for whatever attack Lina might throw at them. He was just thankful his daughter was not using her light magic yet. Who knows what strain it might put her in if she did.

Post WC: 1,104
Leo Total: 1,704
Thread Total: 3,949

Once the hall doors were burst open by the arrival of a terrified Leonard Dragonbane, Mura’s eyes widened. This was the pain inflicted upon a parent when they witnessed harm grab a hold on their offspring. The senior swordsman’s very facial expression seeded grief in people’s hearts inside the guild hall as Leo charged right for his daughter. Mura believed that he could help with whatever ‘issue’ Lina had for the moment - he still had to find out what her problem was, and why it was so spontaneous - but seeing Leo tackle his own daughter down was, frankly, something that Mura wished he had never seen. A parent should never go through that; imagine how his own father would have felt if Mura, his only child, succumbed into some kind of possession or tantrum of rage?

… What was that? The moment Leo was about to slow down rolling away with Lina after the wild tackle, a faint color escaped Leo’s shoulder and repelled him away from Lina towards Mura and the crowd. It happened so suddenly, as if an invisible force pushed him off. Mura crouched down quickly and put a hand on Leo, wholly oblivious to what caused the pain and pressure, but rather assuming that it must’ve been associated with Lina’s actions. Upon laying his hand on Leo, however, Mura sent his own magic power through the elder Fairy Tail Wizard’s body to identify the source of pain if it was of any magical nature… and it turned out to be an essence that reacted to what truly felt like dark, black magic close to them… like from Lina herself. That must’ve been it!

Mura had the ability to nullify Dark Magic. While still supporting Leo with his hand, a Limbo clone passed by them and sprinted straight for Lina while she was still blinded by the pain from the repulsion. Poor, little girl must’ve felt much worse than Leo given her age and build, since she did bump into the gate door herself. Once getting closer to her, the Dark Magic sensed earlier became… null? It was far from noticeable at this point, as if its purpose was to not be sensed by even S-Rank Wizards. That didn’t matter, for he sensed it earlier when it reacted with Leo’s unknown conditions. Mura was way too quick for Lina’s movement to cause him or her any harm, and a single pat on the forehead would be enough to channel his ability through her. A shockwave escaped her body, indicating the nullification of what was harming her from the inside, but…

While those outside didn’t see it, Mura suddenly felt as if he was in a whole other plane of existence upon his attempt to nullify the source of Lina’s rampage. It was a gloomy, foggy space with one surface visible… and that was the surface beneath his feet consisting of human skulls. He stood on an endless pile of skulls, no other types of bones were seen. This place… why was he here? He had to help Lina. His purpose shoved its way in, thankfully, as the plane that he stood in appeared like burning paper as it dissipated. That was his Dark Magic, a blessing from Hades that nullified other Dark Magic. However, before the entire picture was burnt away, Mura spotted another figure looking straight at him. No facial expression was seen due to the mask worn by the entity… a mask way too familiar… and the entity spoke to him…


Mura turned back to himself in the blink of an eye. He was still standing in front of an unconscious Lina, and he hadn’t moved a muscle for about two seconds. Trying to grab his composure again, he looked at Lina once more and lifted her head up gently in order to see if she was awake or not. She was breathing heavily due to exhaustion, but she didn’t react to any of his calls or pats. “H-Hey, Lina, wake up… wake up… w-wake up, now…” His words didn’t reach her. It was as if she was in a coma, a phase of absolute unconsciousness to the world around her.

The atmosphere around her, though, felt… pleasant, compared to earlier. His plan must’ve worked, but why was she unconscious? Did she injure herself too much from the repulsion? Did Mura, by any chance, hurt her with his ability? Since the Dark Magic should’ve been nullified, perhaps Leo would be relieved of the pain that drove him to curl on the floor… but this was way too shocking.

“Leo, I tried to nullify whatever Dark Magic resided in her,” he explained. The one Mura holding Lina was a clone, since the real Mura was by Leo. “But I saw someone while doing so… a tall person. They wore Lichborne’s mask…” The damned mask in their vault. The mask of a previous Guildmaster of Savage Skull. Mura remembered when Frey brought it back to their guild as a sign of apology for her previous betrayal, but… why did he see it in Lina now? The mask was sealed off by a vault of its own…

WC: 864
TWC: 804 + 864 = 1668

In horror Dahau stared at then end of one of his own cannons, there deep down the barrel he could see the orange glow of inevitable destruction intensify to the point of no return. Out of nowhere Leonard, his opponent had done the unthinkable and pulled off a rather unorthodox move. Within a mere moment, Leonard quick-stepped behind Dahau and grabbed him, only to lift him off the ground and turn towards the very artillery that was originally aimed at the Fairy mage.
While receiving the full brunt of his own attack, Dahau could feel that he got swept away by the force of the impact alone and send flying into the nearest wall, which crumbled by the sheer force of his own impact. 
The moment the smoke cleared and Dahau dispatched all the rubble around him, he noticed that his enemy Leonard was nowhere to be seen. All he was left with was a large crater in the ground that was covered by a dwindling curtain of smoke.
But Dahau knew where Leonard went, there was only once place he could have gone when his daughter is in danger, the only place he could consider a safe haven in these parts. Fairy Tail.
He stood up from the mess around him and looked towards the center of town and as he did he attuned his own senses to the magic in the town. 
It was a chaotic sensation, maddening for those that weren’t accustomed to it, but Dahau was well trained in the flow of etherano. And as the vibrant magic of this city engulfed him he could sense his opponent in the midst of it, along with several others close to him. Strong and powerful magic levels, which had to be other Fairies. Then he felt something entirely different, a sudden surge of ominous power peaked, so dark and familiar that it immediately snapped Dahau out of his own sensing mode.
‘Tch, this is not going according to plan’ he said to himself, after which he cracked his own neck

It didn’t took him long to reach the doors of Fairy Tail, after all, Dahau just had to follow where the magical levels were at its strongest and he knew that he would being lead to the only place worthwhile in this miserable town. His hounds, gradually rejoining him as he approached the building. Once there, Dahau stopped for a second, he could hear voices coming from behind, something was going on.
 In a split second Dahau mustered his magic in one of his fists, and punched into the large wooden doors. An explosion followed suit which blasted apart the entire door, splinters flew around and smoke filled the opening. And from it Dahau’s dark silhouette become slowly visible as he set foot inside the guild, his Garm walking besides him on each side. Several pentacles appeared in the air behind him as well, and from it large cannon barrels emerged, which aimed at the crowd inside.
He scanned the room, there were a bunch of mages here, but they weren’t really noteworthy, in fact Dahau would go ahead and assume they were nothing but small fry. Lower ranking mages, not nearly close enough to his own level. But there was a small scene that did caught his attention, in their midst there were two mages bent over a smaller figure. One he instantly recognized, which was Leonard the man he had been fighting earlier. The other one, took a second before he remembered an earlier battle where the two of them had met. Both of them were at the side of what seemed to be a young girl, her eyes close and rather alarmingly pale. 
For Dahau it was easy enough to piece together what happened here, because of the darkness that was stowed away somewhere beneath this guild, the girl probably got infected and they tried to dispel the blight inside of her. Not knowing that it wouldn’t have done her any good once affected by the darkness.

‘Look I am not here to fight’ said Dahau when he noticed that the other mages reached for their weapons or took on a battle stance ‘It’s more than clear that you have your hands full at the moment, I am just here to collect the very object that ails her, I am here to retrieve the Lichborne’s mask.’ Dahau waited a second and he could see from the faces around him that most of them still didn’t understand. ‘The very mask that you supposedly stowed away safely, isn’t doing you any good, its the Lichborne’s, his corruptions always leak through no matter what kind of protection you put up. Anyone unable to resist like young ones’ he said while nodding at the child ‘gets corrupted. I’ve seen it before, a lost loved, a dark past, weak willed individuals clinging to the ideal of good they all get corrupted at some point… and once the Lichborne has you in your grasp, he is never letting you go… even when you try to dispel his influence'’

WC: 874

Still panting heavily, trying to catch his breath from the pain he is feeling which was not only physical but also emotional and mental. Seeing his daughter twisted and corrupted in front of him was more than any father can bear. His lovable daughter fell victim to the mask of the Lichborne that Mura had told him about. Finally, the prophetic words came to light. And if such powerful darkness was taking hold of her, Leo shook his head as contemplated what must be down so that she will be stopped. Further enraged by the only plausible plan he could think of, he was more than ready to sacrifice everyone at this point, just so he would not lose his daughter.

Fortunately, it did not have to be that way as while he was on his state of duress, a comforting hand was placed upon him by an old friend: Mura. It was a tunnel moment so to speak, where everything just fades out and all that mattered that someone understood him, and tried to help him, and he was thankful for having at least one friend in these new times. And help he did, for in the while that was on bended knee Mura passed some sort of shade towards Lina that seemingly incapacitated her as well as dispelling the great dark from inside her, making the Kusanagi crest settle down.

Now capable of catching his breath, Leo stood up with the help of spear, Vandaar and looked upon his now fainted daughter. Slowly he made his way towards her, dropping down on his knees with the spear vanishing to thin black smoke at the same time and asking Mura’s clone to hand her over to him so he could cuddle her exhausted daughter because he was fully aware of how much power just passed through her body and the possible toll it took on Lina’s tiny frame. He held her close, calmly breathing close to her as if warming her and comforting her in his arms all the while Mura explained what he had seen as he was dispelling the darkness from his daughter.

However, before Leo could even move to address Mura’s concerns, the doors of the hall blew open and the doors along with bits of it flew into the hall, only to stop in mid air. And from the explosion, came the figure Leo had put in place not so long ago, still oblivious to the entity’s name. But as soon as he stepped in, the door magically flew back in place restored. The members at the hall who were bracing for impact slowly lowered their guard from the anticipated collision and moved to ready themselves for battle. Had this been the days of old, Leo could simply raise his hand to order them to stand down but this was not one of those days. Those days are gone but the had ignored some of its importance and now his daughter paid the price. Some however, still could not understand who possessed such power to undo the damage to the entrance. None had suspected that the old swordsman had power over these magically enchanted doors for it was he who put them up all those years ago. It responded to Leo’s will to be restored, an aspect of it that helped it endure every destruction the guild and the city had been through.

Once again leaving Lina to the clone’s care, Leo stood up and approached the man after his entire speech about wanting to help. He walked until he was right beside him, turning his head ever so slightly to whisper to him ”We’ll talk outside.” after which he turned his head along with his body slightly to address the original Mura to come with Leo for this by a gesture with his head. Once again, the people in the guild thought it odd that such a man had the nerve to request their Guild Master. But for those who had been at the guild during Leo’s arrival, they would know that they shared a familial bond that transcends positions in the guild. He turned to the door afterwards, and without even the slightest movement from Leo, one of the huge double doors opened for him slightly. Just enough for him to pass by, closing back again after he had passed through.

Once outside, he addressed the stranger once more ”Why should we trust you? And do you think we would just hand it over to you, despite its dangers?” he asked sternly with fierce eyes has hands curled into fists. ”You reek of the same darkness as Frederick did. You were once from Savage Skull, I presume. You could be aiming to resurrect Lichborne for all we know.” he continued while Archangel formed beside him. ”And though the honor of killing Frederick did not belong to me, you’re a more than enough substitute. So explain now. ”

Post WC: 835
Leo’s Total: 2,539
Thread Total: 4,277

Leo finally managed to recover from the strange magic that began pumping pain throughout his entire body like a stress ball. Mura gave Leo space to stand up again, and he watched as the worn out guildmate approached the clone of his to request holding Lina himself. Mura's clone, just as Mura would have done, let go of Lina in her father's arms and lowered his eyes in discomfort over the whole ordeal. Who deserved to see their obedient daughter thrash around like that? He wouldn’t wish to see his old friend like this if it meant doing the impossible. Sadly, the situation wasn’t sweet in explaining all the things itself, but it needed an outer source to give Mura and Leo an idea of what danger they had been suppressing for so long.

If Leonard Dragonbane was an old guildmate, then Dahau was equally an old enemy of Mura’s and the whole of Fairy Tail. His explosive entrance put Mura’s dukes up as he held Harusame and Futsu no Mitama, both pointing their sides at what looked like a dark silhouette of a hostile face. It was clear as day that Dahau had entered their guild hall unannounced and equally unwanted. The splinter-reduced doors slowly recollected themselves again, much to Mura’s surprise who never cared to ask how the gates to their guild hall always found itself restored the next day with all the guests that had passed through it lately. Besides, right now, it wasn’t within the focus field… his guildmates and Dahau were.

Dahau’s next words didn’t take Mura’s attention, however. He had history with this monster and wanted nothing more than to turn the tables from their previous battle, back when the entirety of Magnolia was under a raid from Savage Skull. After all that, why was he going to listen to anything that he said? Besides, Lichborne’s Mask was surely safe in the vault, but… then again, Mura couldn’t explain Lina’s outrage, and connecting it to the mask was not too farfetched.

Leo walked by Dahau and didn’t attack. But Leo was in a fragile state of mind right now; with his daughter unable to come to her consciousness, he would obviously want to find out a way to wake her up again. But Mura didn’t trust Dahau in the slightest and was shocked that Leo hadn’t cut his head off once he passed by, already.

“Oh, my… Mura’s all fired up, for once.”
“He’s not carefree, anymore. He’s a leader and a Guildmaster, and he gets what it takes to do quick decisions like this one. I say we rip Dahau’s soul out and throw it down into Hades’ toilet-“

Mura would want to go out and listen to Leo’s words, but there were still people inside the guild hall that he wouldn’t leave out alone. He stayed in his place, and when Leo and Dahau exited the guild hall, Mura’s clone phased through the walls and attempted to eavesdrop them, making its head and torso apparent for the both of them and with nothing but distaste and distrust towards the barbarian ex-Savage Skull mage.

It had been a while since he hated someone as much as now…

WC: 534
TWC: 1668 + 534 = 2202

‘Why you ask? Because of this!’

Dahau pulled back the sleeve behind one of his gauntlets only to reveal a black and blistering skin. The horrible affliction encircled most of his entire wrist and it was easy to notice that it had slithered up his arm, thus revealing that the sickness already spread to other parts.
This was only one of the many manifestations of the Lichborne’s corruption, some changed physical like an affliction, others mentally. Dahau even came across an entire village which has been taken over by this blight, its inhabitants turned into blackened abominations, mindless and foul.

‘I know what you’re thinking’ continued Dahau while looking at the Fairy Tai mage. ‘You got what you deserve and so on… but it’s not only my life what’s on the line here. All of Fiore is in danger, dark, legal or whatever you like to call yourself these days Leonard’ he said with a certain significant glance ‘it doesn’t matter, this time around the Lichborne is planning on taking everyone…. which is annoyingly easy since you self-righteous pricks practically offered Fiore up on silver platter by spreading out every remaining fragment of this monster’
And it was through these fragments that the Lichborne managed to keep a foothold into this world, it allowed him to continue his corruption to find root and eventually blossom into new decrepit ways. 
Right now Dahau knew of two of these so called fragments, one was the mask which was not so safely stored in Fairy Tails vault. The second one used to be under the protection of Blue Pegasus. There was a third one, but what it is or where it is remains a mystery.

‘Look I have nothing to lose here, your idle threats mean nothing to me. You can surely try to kill me, but let me assure you Leonard Dragonbane…’ he said while he nodded towards the guild hall ‘most of the pests inside won’t survive our confrontation. So just do us all a favor, stand down and give me the fucking mask!
Dahau enforced his words by raising his own magical power, the faint sight of a dark purple aura started to became visible and emit from his body. Showing that he was more than willing, as well as their current guild master, too. He surely knew it wasn’t an easy battle, Leonard as well as their current guild master were strong mages, but as strong as they were, they wouldn’t be able to protect their own people against the raw destructive force he could unleash upon them.
His Garm had also joined the fray again and started correspond with Dahau’s power, instinctively they started to growl at Leonard, a black tar like substance dripping from their large maws as they circled around the two mages.

Leo held Archangel to the man’s head as he was more than willing to explain the situation. Not surprising for him seeing as it was the only thing he had seen the enemy do since they met in the city, talk. The man also showed what seemed to be disease to him a thing he had only given a slight glance because he did not care he actually thought it was good he had it which was admittedly predictable for someone in his position to think of since he wants the stranger dead after all.

The entity continued to address him in such familiarity it was becoming unsettling for Leo but perhaps if he had been alive for so long to even mentor Frederick he might had been alive during Leo’s days as Fairy Tail’s guild master upon which he started to make a mental note to kill this person after their whole ordeal is over. Indeed these are petty squabbles compared to the threat the fragments of the Lichborne has over all of Fiore. Admittedly he still thinks the dark mage is trying to piece the old dark lord back together again and showing his afflictions had little to no effect on this particular theory. Not even the small speech about having nothing to lose swayed him none because he believes that once you had sworn your life to evil, it was at that point that you had lost everything. Why it might mean that if he fails or succeeds in reviving him, the Lichborne will kill this person. It might have been better if he killed the man now and they figure out a way to stop Lichbonre’s madness themselves the guild is home to various strong mages as far as he can tell. But for the sake of everyone inside the guild, he cannot take that risk the hall was shiny and new too and it would be a shame if they had to rebuild it just because Leo chose a more selfish decision.

Yes, he cannot allow anything to happen to the hall and all those inside it. They may not know it but to Leo, they are still his children, and he must protect them. An annoying weakness to be sure but if your weakness can only be found in a large city wherein getting there is half the battle, not a bad weakness in Leo’s opinion. All of these thoughts and his decisions were considered as he coldly stared down the mage who was more than willing to throw down with the swordsman only to make him sigh at how bothersome this is.

The dark mage tried to look intimidating, emanating his dark energies about him even summoning his large dogs all of which were nothing to Leo dismissing them as just empty threats to scoff at, especially since he had already made the decision to play along with his little game, for now. And in response, he simply rolled his eyes and waved Archangel towards the back of his head, dispersin to smoke before it could touch him, placing his hand all the way down back his hand while the so called “Garms” squirted blood from various parts of their bodies that looked to be slashes while Leo plainly addressed the man ”We’ll wait here while Mura gets the mask. And can I say how annoying it is that you know my full name?”

Post WC:574
Leo’s Total: 3,113

Seeing the marks on Dahau’s arm - more like withering skin tissue than marks - Mura started to come to terms with the strange fact that Lichborne… no, whoever possessed that mask or whoever caused this mayhem didn’t discriminate. See, Mura had never met Lichborne before - that name was but a name of history to him, a name belonging to one of (if not the greatest) enemy to Fairy Tail from what could be decades ago. Yes, maybe Dahau was making all of this up, but… Mura had trouble reading him and his intentions when they met the first time during their first clash.

This time, it was different. There was fear emanating from Dahau. Despite what he said to them, Mura could clearly see it leak out from his intimidating face.

The Guildmaster soared down slowly and stood on his feet, listening to what Dahau was telling Leo. Lichborne’s remains… they were scattered around Fiore as a means to prevent such a thing, a reawakening or a regathering. And now, Dahau was saying that that choice was the reason why all of Fiore was in danger. How enraging…

Dahau doubled up when threatening to start a battle here and now, pulling the members inside the guild hall into his rampage if they didn’t bring up the mask here and now. At this point, Mura closed his eyes, not wanting to be phased by the Garms surrounding them.

Leo simply let Mura have the duty of bringing the mask to them. Mura had half a mind to just destroy it with his… ability. Thinking of it now, he should have a name for that. An ability that nullifies Dark Magic at the very touch… but he was blank and busy at the moment, phasing through the walls and approaching the basement vault where the mask was stored among other things.

And on top of a prison pillar, where a spherical barrier was supposed to be active, the stony mask was releasing its magic ever so faintly. Only now, inside the vault itself, Mura could see the strings of magic escape the mask and flee the room, but he wouldn’t have been able to sense that from the main floor. Walking over to the mask, he prepared for any sudden bursts or assaults from whatever possessed it - which he was convinced of - as he grabbed it in a quick jab…

It didn’t stop leaking out magic… but that meant that it wasn’t Dark Magic. It was way too pure and concentrated to be that.

It keeps linking itself with other sources of magic… even mine… but also two other trails leading out of the town and towards both northeast and… south? No, one of those trails are too faint. Perhaps if Mura just simply tried to overpower the magical effects of this mask with his own magic power-

That proved to be a mistake, for it blistered with dark, electric surges in response to his magic. And it hurt… Mura’s hand was starting to hurt. Better bring this over to Leo and Dahau; if what Dahau said was true, then he would be expected to know how to deal with this…

“Dahau’s words make a little more sense, now… I hate it, but they do,” Mura huffed as he phased through the wall out, meeting Leo and Dahau with the mask held by his hand clad in an iron glove, “This mask is trying to hurt me even when I’m touching it… so I expect that you know how to completely erase this cursed thing from existence?”

WC: 599
TWC: 2202 + 599 = 2801

(OOC note: 'northeast' as in towards Clover Town from Magnolia, Blue Pegasus' previous location o^o)