Queen's Court [Sapphire Intro]

-Sabertooth Guild Hall-

In a rare moment when she was not slinging drinks at the Red Dragon Inn, Victoria was browsing the job boards looking for something new to do after playing Whack-A-Cult in Silent Cemetery. Maybe she should go finally get a bartending license so that she would be legally covered if some patron tried to sue her over something. Or maybe she should go try to find her real parents, but that meant going to Capital Crocus, an activity which was about as appealing as being chased by angry dogs. Or maybe she should finally find a way to revert to her shorter original form so that she was not mistaken for a succubus again by that weird Serena chick.

Maybe.

In the meantime, she would go see if any drinks needed slinging at Red Dragon Inn. That was always a fun job that brought in decent tips and allowed her to meet new and interesting people outside of combat. Victoria would head to the inn and see if Will needed any help before sauntering behind the bar.

Wearing a blue t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts with white tennis shoes, Victoria was about to exit the guild hall and make her way to the inn to see if they needed help when she spotted a very tall blonde woman who was over a full foot taller than Victoria. The newcomer also had long blonde hair and almost no clothing save for black magic covering vital areas and her right arm. Victoria had heard of Requip Magic for armor and clothing, so maybe that was what the blonde woman was using. Victoria calmly approached her and spoke.

"Hi there, I'm Victoria Sheridan. How can I help you?" Victoria asked the taller blonde. The tall woman had the magic signature of a novice mage. Chances were good that she was looking to join Sabertooth and get stronger.

Even though the star mage was perfectly capable of opening his own portals, he felt like giving a nickel to the delivery brand that brought his old stuff from his bedroom in Shirotsume all the way to Ace of Spades. A young, healthy oy like him slowly bored himself to death with the same mags and papers that he read on a daily basis for years, so when he finally hit the nail, then it was time to switch out and refresh himself. And what was better material for his wood-and-sandpaper business than nostalgic doujins that he hadn’t read in years? It felt right.

That was mainly what he occupied himself with when he was free of his duties as an Ace of Sabertooth; it was his own business, and whoever degraded him for that could kiss his butt. Although, it really had some negative results in the form of him walking around with a manga in his hands, not even using the privacy that he had in his bedroom anymore and just taking it with him whenever he needed a drink at the Red Dragon’s Inn. Most of the customers didn’t bat an eye and let the man read his shit, but he felt slightly self-aware in the presence of guildmates. That was why he flung the doujin into a portal before spotting-

…

He stood still for a second and heard the girl introduce the…

…

This day just took a turn.

So there was a near-naked woman in the inn, he didn’t need to squint his eyes to make up the contours of her pleasant areas, and she was approached by a brownette who claimed to be Victoria? Okay, no, he had seen her before in this form, but what… what?

Her magic nature was identical to Victoria’s. It was her, alright…

“V-Vic… w-what even, I never asked, but-“ he began talking to them as he approached the pair, donning his mainly blue set of clothes as usually accompanied by his white scarf, “I could’ve sworn that you, like, had short, black hair… am I going nuts?” He spun around her to check every angle, utterly confused at her being. “What. Even. Is. Going. On. What. Happened. To. You-“

At a point, he got dizzy and stopped his circulation around Victoria, his eyes forming spirals to reveal his dizziness. “Ugh… and, uh, w-who’s that? Someone you know? Why is she near-naked?”

WC: 404

Victoria found the tall blonde to be a bit strange but otherwise amiable, which was fine by her. The brunette was a bit of an unusual character herself. Her refined name was at odds with her drinking and fondness for a good fight. Itori, Nenet, that Haruyuki dude, and other people who had met the Sabertooth mage could provide plenty of testimony to that effect. Before Victoria could address the tall blonde a guy came in and expressed amazement at her drastically altered appearance.

Victoria recognized the voice as that of Imai, the redheaded Sabertooth Ace she had worked with on that job to retrieve some cattle from a giant and his two-headed watchdog. It had been awhile since she had last seen the excitable Ace and the last time they had worked together she was "Normal Victoria" with the shorter body and black hair. Now she was "Tall Victoria" with the taller body, different hair and eye color, and much more attractive.

"You're in luck, Miss. I can't help you very much, but this guy can. Imai here's an Ace of the guild. He can help you join Sabertooth." Victoria said to the tall blonde who had expressed an interest in joining Sabertooth. She then turned to Imai.

"It's a long story, Imai. One day I woke up looking like this and had to go buy some new clothes in a hurry. I'm still trying to figure how I got to be this way, but I've been busy with work." Victoria said to the redheaded Ace, giving him as much detail as she could on her sudden transformation from short and masculine to tall and feminine. She did not have very much to go on and she did not have time to go digging for more clues because her services as Sabertooth's second-most powerful member were still in demand from the guild's clients. Victoria was always ready to help, especially if the job involved a lot of fighting and high pay. She then gently reminded the Ace of what he had to do next.

"You're up, Imai." Victoria said to him, letting him know that it was time to do his thing and tell the newcomer all about Sabertooth.

Y’know, Imai was usually happy to see new gals join the guild. More eye candy and all, but even a lecherous youngster like him could sense crazy in people. Sapphire, with her outward appearance, was ringing some alarms in his head, and getting hit by her for glaring a bit too much on certain areas was the least of his worries, which was somewhat untouched area in his experience. Was she… was she even aware of her garments, or lack thereof?

Anyway, once she spoke, she sounded… surprisingly average at first. Her rash voice showed something in her, an air of primal heritage. He could taste the air, and by that what her magic aura reminded him of, but it would look weird for him to stick his tongue out just to do something like that-

Ah, well, he did it. Up in the air, his tongue flickered a little to taste the air as he looked up at the ceiling and moved his head a little bit. It tasted… like licorice. Salty, sour, and unfiltered. Blunt, rough, and burning. Not fire-like burning, but… siphoning.

Well, maybe he would be the weirdest in the group now, but it turned out that the new, blonde gal amidst her rather formal speech suddenly kicked it up a notch by openly intending to beat their guild and ‘steal the pack’. Did she… was she threatening them? What kind of open threat was that? Was she on drugs?

“… U-Uh?” Imai couldn’t help but catch himself off guard when Victoria alerted him, “W-Wait, hold up… so you wanna join? But you just said that you wanted to beat us… I thought that you were threatening us for a second, hehe…!” He laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head, pushing his headband showing the famous Sabertooth Guild Mark on it a bit downwards. Once he adjusted it with both hands, he continued: “Hmh, let’s see… I can taste magic from you, and you look buff as hell. Why shouldn’t I let you join the guild? Lemme think about it… … … … … …” His speech died out, and he just kept staring at her. At this point, she hadn’t done anything or said anything to him; not any squeals like a basic gal, no growls or hisses to intimidate him, and no slaps to rebuke him for ogling at her sweet and subtle chest, surprisingly smooth skin - wherever the black marks didn’t cover her, really - and tomboyish but honestly cute face and long, spiky hair.

“… Do you… need clothes?” he asked her, “I’m pretty sure we can get you some clothes. Have you been wearing… whatever that black stuff is up until now? What happened to you? You look worn out, girl! Don’t tell me you’re hurt or something! If so, don’t worry! We got top-tier healers in our guild who can patch you up in no time-!”

WC: 489
TWC: 404 + 489 = 893

Victoria was mildly amused by Imai's reaction until she noticed his anxiety. Maybe she had thrown him into the deep end before he was ready, but as a Guild Ace it was his responsibility to be ready to greet new guild members at any time and stand ready to answer their questions. Imai was particularly thrown off by the tall blonde's lack of clothing... or was the black shadowy magic substance clothing? Victoria had no idea.

She listened to the tall blonde state that she wanted powerful warriors to follow. It took only a few moments for Victoria to come up with several names that she could toss out to the blonde. Chief among them was Samira Nassar, the Goddess of Humility who was far and away the most powerful mage Sabertooth could field. Second was Victoria herself. Third was a tie between Luna Mira and Shirokawa Itori, who were both hard-working mages and no slouches when it came to combat.

Fourth was a tie between Kenna Terryhain and Gaia Sabin-Dyer, the Guild Mistress and Ace of Sabertooth respectively. In fifth was Sarah Stone, the redhead who was always up for a good fight. In sixth was Imai himself. With that many powerful mages around, the blonde was sure to find a "powerful warrior" or two that she could follow without issue.

At that moment the tall blonde challenged Imai to battle after her left arm had blackened with what looked like scales and a pair of metal arms with claws on the end grew out of her spine and took on a life of their own. Victoria was not sure if Imai could handle the blonde's challenge, but she did not want to subvert the chain of command and take over the fight, making the Ace look weak at a time he really needed to look strong. Maybe Imai could talk the newcomer out of it or Imai would ask Victoria to step in since she was far stronger than him.

"I'll just step to the side and let you two talk this out." Victoria said to them, stepping so that the blonde and Imai could see each other without Victoria being in the way. What happened next was up to them. Victoria had healing magic and would be on standby to heal both parties if she needed to.

Victoria only hoped that she was making the right decision by doing what she did.

Okay, fair enough, she didn’t want any more clothing than what she got on right now… y’know, Imai could live with that. It wasn’t such a big issue. She even told that the marks protect her, and given by her attitude and next words, she must’ve gotten informed by many about her lack of clothing. Annoying, huh? Being told to behave when you just wanted to live a little… Imai couldn’t relate. Nope. Not at all. Shut up.

Gladly, she did intend to join Sabertooth. Imai knew that Sabertooth used to have crafty and physically ruthless members - and perhaps Sarah fit that category too - so maybe this blonde woman wouldn’t stick out that much. Maybe she would grow accustomed to them.

… W-Wait, what was up with that ideology? Also, how proud was she to not want to follow authorities if they were, what, physically weaker than her? Magically weaker? Who cared about stuff like that?

She was really getting on his nerves…

And now, she just wanted to fight him. He hadn’t even done anything!

Her hand manifested a shadowy, clawed grip akin to that of a ferocious monster from a fairytale; it was extra clawed on the edges from his view, and some black liquid dripped from the tips of the claws. Were they poisoned? Should he be worried? When she manifested metallic arms just as clawed as the big, left arm of hers, he figured that he couldn’t exactly talk sense into her - oh boy, when did Imai become the sense of reason here? Everything was turned upside down.

Sigh…

Hehe, this could work for some venting. Imai had been training for a while, and now that he rose to his new rank, he wanted to test himself and also see where this strange lady stood at. Assuming combat akin to fighting Kenna-nee back in the cave in the Mysterious Canyons, he simply replied: “Uhhh, I was in the middle of reading… alright, alright, I guess I’ll fight you and show you our strength, de blah de blah de blah- follow me, then. Can’t annoy our guests here.” He walked pass her and exited the inn, appearing outside on a path where there was more space. The ground was dusty, but it functioned as a temporary battlefield.

His scarf flapped majestically in the faint wind that rustled through them outside. He clenched his fists and eyed his sparring partner most of the time, saying: “C’mon! You’re the challenger, so you go first! But I’m warning ya - I’m a lot stronger than you think! You should be a little careful!”

WC: 436
TWC: 893 + 436 = 1329

Victoria was somewhat surprised by the levity with which Imai had accepted the challenge. She was briefly concerned that the trio would incur the wrath of Kenna by fighting, but then when Imai took the fight outside the inn the brunette knew that they would be in the clear in more ways than one. Besides, she was a witness to the tall blonde's challenge and could and would vouch for Imai if he were questioned about what had transpired. Victoria hurried to follow the two so that she could bear witness to what was about to happen.

Once they were outside and safely away from others Victoria stood back and watched the fireworks begin. Imai had a cavalier attitude towards the challenge and it showed in his dialogue with the new member. He sounded like he was doing her a favor just agreeing to the duel, which indicated that he was either sure of winning or he was about to get served an entire pan of humble pie. Victoria would stand back and watch, intervening only if it became necessary.

The blonde led off with a jumping attack aimed for the Ace's face. Victoria was not sure if the attack did anything and neither was the blonde, who immediately stabbed herself and began pumping something onto her body that seemed to power her up. The tall blonde's veins began to turn purple and her canine teeth extended... she must have augmented her abilities with some kind of energy, though the brunette was unable to tell exactly what kind of energy was used. Victoria had done something of the same thing with an ability she called Bullet Time, but using it only required conscious effort to activate it, not stabbing herself and filling herself with energy.

After empowering herself Victoria heard the blonde call the name "Gore Howl" and emit a howl that could hurt people as well as crack the ground in a radius around the tall mage. Victoria was at a safe distance and was thus unaffected. The brunette looked towards Imai to see if he had been hurt by either attack.

She happily accepted his offer and went for the first hit; too bad he wasn’t just going to let her actually harm him. The clawed jab aimed at his face didn’t push him, so when she realized that, their blonde and strange sorceress proceeded to stab herself in the chest with her own hand to cast a spell on herself. Her veins lit up in a purplish, eerie aura, and it looked like she was slightly transforming. Imai couldn’t make up the huge chance except the more potent amount of crazy mana that she definitely planned to hurl at him, but he figured that he should throw a spell or two himself just to see where this would go.

Her magic reeked of demon, now that he sensed it clearer. That lad had his fair share of experience with demons; Kenna-nee was a demon, Itori was arguably a demon, he had met other demons, fought other demons, ogled at other demons, y’know, the ordinary.

Her wounds closed again, and she spoke out ‘Gore Howl’, which was followed by a terrible voice ringing out that was sharp enough to shatter rocks and the ground beneath them. Anyone close by would’ve had their eardrums fractured by her voice… buuuuuuuuuut!

Imai had quickly formed a black hole between his fingers. It was one of his smaller, black holes that he mainly used to troll people with, but it served a much better purpose now. With his head dived into the black hole, he spared his ears of the terrible scream while the rest of his body still outside easily took the spell’s howl. Once the beastly lady was done with that spell, Imai would pull his head out again.

“… Okay, my turn!” he declared while picking up a single, loose rock the size of a golf ball from the fractured ground. He had only one purpose with it - to throw it at Sapphire with full force. Like a seasoned baseball player, he moved his hand back and readied his aim before launching the rock at the human-demon speaker, and for the brief moment that it was midair, the rock had a tail of heat behind it due to the ridiculous speed that he threw it at.

The speed would be enough to crack up a crater underneath Sapphire’s feet if she didn’t evade it.

WC: 393
TWC: 1329 + 393 = 1722