The Only Magic Should Be Mine

"Why are you siding with the people against magic when you're basically entirely magic?" Arnaluuk asked.

Odhran stopped flipping the coin he had stolen from one of the people employing him as a mercenary. "The way I see it, Pergrande here's doing us a favor. I mean, Bellum is made up entirely of the Council's lackies, right? Well the Council is a bunch of weirdos and losers, so I wanna beat them up! Oh, plus they're paying me a lot of money. That might be a bit more important."

"Perhaps that is fair enough," Jin-Ho began, sharpening his rapier. "But they have also completely outlawed magic. And considering your only friends are literal manifestations of magic..."

"Hey! You aren't my only friends! Seika and Janet like me! But again, it's mostly the money and that I just want to bully some council people."

"Well, yes, but is there a reason that you did not call for any aid from anyone else!?" Superbia objected.

Odhran looked around. He, just as the avatar of pride had mentioned, was all alone. He sat on a beach chair in almost the exact middle between the two army camps on, surrounded by Jin-Ho, Arnaluuk, Superbia, and Sweetie. Scorpio had taken a vacation because he actually managed to find a date in the form of an incarnation of Aries, so Odhran was left with just his Unknown Keys, which was perhaps for the best as they were much more competent for the most part. "Because we don't need those losers? Because I'm way better than they will ever be?"

Superbia took the thought into mind for a moment before agreeing, content with that truth. Odhran soon found himself approached by a group of Bellian soldiers, blocking out Odhran's precious sunbathing.

"Can I help you?" Odhran asked, lowering his sunglasses.

"Are you aware that you are in a warzone, sir?" the man in the fancy armor asked.

"Yes..?"

"This is a dangerous place for civilians."

"I'm not a civilian. I am Odhran Aegisbane, the greatest Celestial Spirit Wizard that the world has ever or will ever see! You dare call me a civilian?!"

The fancy armored woman sighed. "Apologies, Mister Aegisbane. If I can just either request that you leave the premises or if you wish to join the employ of the Holy Council of Bellum to-"

"OH! I knew there was something I was forgetting! I've already been hired by Pergrande, so..."

Odhran leisurely had gotten to his feet as he was saying that, grabbing the chair right as he finished speaking and bashing the fancy man in the face with it before all of the Spirits rushed ahead, ready to begin the battle.

All of the enemy soldiers immediately leaped into a combative position, most of them retreating a few steps back. "I'll let you lot decide who wants to kill who," Odhran said with a smile. "But I want these two fancy-schmancy losers."

Arnaluuk scoffed. "As if I'm letting you get away with trying to do something that stupid. I'm joining you."

Odhran shot a glare at Arnaluuk. "You're not gonna let this go, are you? Well, whatever. Fine, you can join in this real big fun. You other three take on the rest, got it?"

Jin-Ho chuckled a little bit. "Gladly, Aegisbane."

Sweetie smile, cracking her candy knuckles. "You got it, Odh!"

Superbia gave out an over the top cackle. "They'll know that I have come to crush their bones! Listen to me, mortals! I am the Avatar of Pride herself, Superbia! And none of you will be able to last against my magnificent powers!"

Odhran, too, smiled as he casually took a few steps forwards, his hands firmly in his pockets. Arnaluuk's trident materialized in her hand, for once pointed away from Odhran. Odhran dashed forwards first, his left arm snaking out towards the weird man. It was quickly battered away. "Force field, huh?" Odhran commented as he neared the man. The man pointed a finger at Odhran, who simply raised his own hand skywards as the beam of light bathed him entirely. Odhran saw the smug look on his face quickly dissipate when he walked through mostly unharmed, only commenting with a quick. "That was a little bit too warm. Next time, leave the burners a bit more... subdued for me, 'kay?"

A frown came to the man's face as his hand extended and tendrils of light fired at the God of the Celestial Spirit Realm. Odhran easily dodged those by simply altering the shape of his body through his powers of the Ark of Embodiment, his body becoming more akin to swiss cheese at moments as opposed to a human torso. When he reached the man's barrier, a gun materialized in his hand, firing rapidly at the shield. Soon enough, it broke, and Odhran celebrated by letting the hand with the gun in it transform both itself and the gun into an extension of his arm, grabbing the man by the neck.  Another set of lightbound tendrils pierced through his arm, cutting it away, just as Odhran had hoped. His free arm darted forwards, a sharp blade being the entire foundation of his arm. He stabbed the man in the stomach, yet he was surprisingly resilient towards being stabbed by a massive arm blade. The man grabbed Odhran's head and fired more tendrils of light into it, the now headless Aegisbane falling to the ground. However, he seemed to recognize something was amiss before Odhran could do his dramatic reveal, calling in another one of those pillars of light that was so annoying to endure. Odhran let his body become one with the dirt, emerging on the other side of the archpriest and punching away his hand as it tried to connect with Odhran's face. Odhran other arm became an ax, beheading the man in a single, quick slice. Odhran's own head reformed soon after, bearing only a slightly peeved look at the disembodied head.

"Honestly, some people are just too rude..." he said before snapping. The earth around the head formed into a form akin to a snowman, except made out of dirt instead of the common snow one would see in a snowman and the head being a human head instead of a very small snow ball. He looked around to see how things were with the rest of the combatants, and he was very pleased with the results of their impressive work.

Odhran looked over to see how Arnaluuk was doing with the fancily dressed woman, proud that his longest tenured Spirit was still holding her own, befitting of the one who had essentially cared for him most of his life. Arnaluuk fired out icicles from her hand, peppering the ground near her opponent, who easily floated out of the way. Event still, Arnaluuk kept on the offensive, slashing away at the woman, who still completely dodged. Just as the man did, the woman had a barrier around herself, protecting her from the swipes and slashes from Arnaluuk. The icy witch refused to let this deter her, continuing to lay on pressure with continual strikes and summoned spears of ice. Finally, the archpriest began to put up an offensive, rings of light emanating from her hands. She continued to make a retreat, firing off waves and tendrils of the golden light towards Arnaluuk, who made a quick thinking defense by raising a wall of ice between her and her opponent. Once the first wave of attacks from the archpriest came to an end, Arnaluuk's wall shattered into sharp spears of ice, darting towards the woman, whose barrier crushed them with ease. The woman slammed her hands onto the ground, a ring of light emerging beneath Arnaluuk. The magic circle trapped her inside, raining heavenly light down upon her, peppering the ground around her and piercing her icy robes and cutting her skin up.

"You are sure a tricky lot..." she scoffed once the barrage finished, yet the woman was unconvinced towards Arnaluuk's fall, firing out another series of missiles of light at the Spirit. Arnaluuk battered the entirety of the barrage away with a swipe of her trident, raising an icy wall in its wake. She charged forwards once more, her trident shattering into beautiful crystalline particles as she swung it at the woman, yet Odhran already knew that the fight was over. Arnaluuk grabbed the woman by the throat and stomped on the ground, surrounding the area around her with giant walls of icy spikes before performing an incantation to rain hail down upon the two of them.

"Are you mad?!" Odhran heard the woman's voice shout.

"I'm a Celestial Spirit. I'll be back in no time. You're just a mortal, though."

A beat passed before Odhran felt the power of Arnaluuk dissipate, the icy trap she laid beginning to melt. However, Odhran knew it would not be quick enough, yet he still manifested a revolver in his hand as a back up plan in case the woman managed to survive. Sure enough, once all the magic faded, the woman was on her knees, battered and breathing heavily. Odhran stepped up to her, placing the barrel of his technically imaginary gun against her head.

"Why the hell are you fighting for the anti magic kingdom, Celestial Spirit Wizard!?" the woman weakly spat out.

Odhran shrugged, keeping the barrel of the gun against her forehead. "Arnaluuk asked the same thing. Oh, Arnaluuk was the one that you just fought. She's pretty good, right? Anyways, mostly it's business against the Council. They're a bit annoying. Plus, if Pergrande decides to turn on their word, I can just crush them as well."

"As if you could. They specialize in destroying magic!"

Odhran shrugged again. "I have my ways. When in doubt..." He smiled as Hallow's Phantom materialized behind him, also holding a revolver. "I got other tricks up my sleeve."

Before the woman could say anymore, Odhran fired his gun, ending the life of the woman. He yawned a bit. Arnaluuk did a great job. Odhran would have to reward her somehow. Now he just wondered how the rest of the Spirits did against the other mooks.

Odhran had not got to see too much of Jin-Ho in action, so after clearing out the other soldier Arnaluuk valiantly took down with herself, Odhran manifested a sofa from his imagination, laying down on it, a hand propping up his head.

Jin-Ho stared down the soldiers around him, his blade held firmly in his hand. All four of the knights that came to confront the Zodiac looked him down, the poised, noble Jin-Ho waiting merely for them to arrive towards their deaths. One of the knights charged first, despite the protests of the other three. Jin-Ho easily dodged out of the way of the first few slashes, his movements fluid, as if made of water. A series of swipes and slashes continued coming the way of the Zodiac, who still continued to dodge between them with ease. At a particularly desperate slash, Jin-Ho spun out of the way on his toes, a quick thrust of his rapier poking the knight in the smallest of joints on his knee as it slightly bended. Jin-Ho took an expert step forwards, just a single step, and poked his rapier into the slit of the helmet for the man to see. The knight recoiled in pain with a scream, the tip of Jin-Ho's rapier now bearing a red shade. The knight once more charged ahead with a desperate attempt to strike down the Year of the Ox, the broadsword coated in a white light. Jin-Ho easily side-stepped out of the way, poking the knight in the back of the same knee that was stabbed earlier, sending him crumbling to the ground. He flashed his free hand out, a frying pan manifesting in it, which was quickly yet casually swung without looking to slam against the side of the knight's head. The soldier of Bellum fell unconscious as the frying pan disappeared one more and Jin-Ho prepared himself to continue his fight.

The other three knights looked at each other, Odhran swearing that he could sense fear in them despite not being able to see or hear them. The knights soon charged however, each darting separate ways to ensure Jin-Ho had to keep his focus on multiple areas. Jin-Ho managed to keep enough of a track on all of them to dodge out of the way of their strikes, grabbing the last one to arrive by the throat and tossing him at his compatriots, who dodged out of the way. Now Jin-Ho found himself on the offensive, rushing in towards the knights and stabbing at their plate armor. Despite the rapier failing to break through their armor, it was enough to continue to push the knights further and further back, keeping his opponents preoccupied enough to not think of a counter attack. Once the third one had recovered, he dashed towards the Ox, who side stepped out of the way, his horns growing in length and taking on a metallic sheen in their texture. The Ox charged at the two who were assailed by his rapier, both of the knights able to barely dodge out of the way. Jin-Ho managed to catch one with an arm as he charged horns first, slamming him into the ground before stopping on a dime, turning on his heel and dashing ahead with his rapier, feinting a blow to the other one's neck in order to slip around him and pierce the back of his knee. As a holy light erupted around the third one's blade, Jin-Ho's hand, just as it had manifested a frying pan before, not emitted a wok, capturing the blade. A beat passed before an eruption of light burst forth from the wok, incinerating the face of the knight, even beneath the now melting helmet. The wok soon disappeared, Jin-Ho taking a few quick steps backwards in order to get a little distance.

The two remaining soldiers stared down the Ox, who still had a very calm and confident look on his face. The two of them charged forwards once more, Jin-Ho sighing at their persistence that would only lead them towards their deaths. As the knights neared, Jin-Ho entertained them with parrying each of their strikes with his rapier, poking their armor to no avail as he easily bobbed and weaved through each of their strikes. This teasing, confident dance finally ended when Jin-Ho swung his rapier especially fast, shattering the sword of one of the knights as his off arm was slice by the other one's sword. He grabbed the knight with the broken sword by the neck after throwing down his rapier and swiftly swung him around, barreling over the other knight. "I apologize for your misfortune," Jin-Ho plainly said, applying extra pressure to the man's neck and tossing him for good measure, the current corpse crashing into the final barely standing companion. Jin-Ho calmly walked over to the last one and kicked him over, gently laying his boot on the man's neck. Just as before, he apologized to the man before stepping fully down. He proceeded to do this to the last two who were merely incapacitated, ending their lives with alleged remorse. Jin-Ho took a look over towards Odhran and bowed before making his ways towards the remaining two, who Odhran now moved his eyes towards as well, seeing how Sweetie and Superbia fared in their fights.

Odhran's wandering eyes led him over to where Sweetie was, casually flipping a gumdrop into the air like a coin. "You guys ready to have me beat your candy asses?" She said in a teasing voice.

One of the knights tilted his head a bit, very confused. "Um... aren't you the one with the candy ass? Considering you... y'know... are made of candy. Or, at least I think you are. I can't really tell without-"

Sweetie pointed in his direction with a sneer. "Yo! You're going to be the first one I kick a bunch. You wanna bring it on? Because I wanna bring it on and kick some stupid idiot booty!"

The same knight was about to speak up again, only stopped by a sighing cohort of his. The four immediately took off, ready to slice, dice, and otherwise make Sweetie into easy to consume bite sized pieces. Odhran did at times wonder what Sweetie tasted like, though he had not quite bothered yet to double check the rules behind her regenerative properties to eat a small piece, such as a chunk of arm, a toe, or perhaps even an ear. He noted to himself that he should do that at some point in the near future, or at the very least ask about it. As the knights neared, Sweetie stomped on the ground, an orb of balled candy of indeterminate flavor popping out as the female Celestial Spirit placed her foot on the orb, ready to use it as akin to a soccer ball - or a football, as Superbia insisted it be called. Both Odhran and Sweetie knew that football was an entirely different sport, regardless of what Superbia, Arnaluuk, Pudley, Noel, and Amittai said! The knights came within a close enough radius, Sweetie rolling her foot back in such a way as to pop the orb into the air, delivering a jumping kick soon after. The orb flew at a rapid pace towards the group of knights, who dispersed in the movement of dodging the incoming ball. Sweetie stepped on the ground again, the ball popping up high as she delivered another powerful kick, slamming the confused knight square in the face. Rather than wait for the others to converge upon her, she took the advantage, rushing ahead at a rapid pace and delivering a palm strike to the gut of the confused knight before grabbing him by the shoulder and arm, tossing him over her own shoulder like a ragdoll. As soon as he connected with the ground, one of Sweetie's hands quickly recoiled back and pressed forwards even faster like a piston, crunching the man's head upwards, Sweetie not really caring if that killed or merely knocked out.

The three knights stopped in their tracks as Sweetie got up, prepared in a fighting pose. "You guys ready to feel the heat? Because I'm ready to smoke your candy asses!"

"Work on the catchphrases," Odhran lazily called out, sipping a margarita. "You've already used candy asses. It's good, yeah, but you need a bit of... variety!"

Sweetie turned around and gave a cheery wave to Odhran and a salute. "Gotcha Odhy! I'll make sure to workshop them with Atsu and Ami!"

"Good choice. Though Pudley might enjoy some of it. Just a bit, mind, but probably enough to have some fun with it."

Sweetie saluted with her other hand, looking kind of ridiculous, though she was still aware enough to nonchalantly dodge out of the way of the incoming sword strike, countering with a palm strike to the head. The other two had arrived in short fashion, Sweetie dodging between them with some impressive dance moves. A breakdance disarmed two of them before she kipped up to her feet and delivered a superman punch to the helmet of one of the disarmed soldiers. She popped another orb of candy, this time leaping into the air high with it and slam dunking it into the head of the one she had just punched. The last remaining armed soldier kept her own pursuit up, slashing at Sweetie who dodged out of the way gracefully, kicking another ball into the air, this one significantly smaller in size, a baseball bat of candy soon popping out. She swung it full force, the gelatin softball bursting into many much smaller balls of gelatin, peppering the last two soldiers, both of which were now armed. Sweetie quickly regathered her footing, dashing ahead and delivering a series of spinning kicks, with enough force to push the soldier into the air before a giant hammer of hard candy formed in her hand and slammed down, burying her head first into the dirt. As soon as Sweetie hit the ground, an even smaller ball of candy popped up, Sweetie swinging a makeshift confectionery golf club at it, ringing against the last one's head. She rushed ahead once more, going for a palm strike to his neck, but held up just before contact, staring at the terrified soldier. She debated a moment before delivering a hefty kick to his groin, sending him collapsing in pain. She cheerily ran over to Odhran, kneeling beside him.

"Did I do good?" she asked.

Odhran gave a lazy thumbs up. "I like the ingenuity. Sports based combat. I'm interested to see how you'll improvise in combat next."

Sweetie seemed very happy by this, smiling ear to ear. "Got it, cap'n! I wonder how Superbia's doing?"

Just as before, Odhran's eyes now leaned towards the one who had been playing with her prey the longest, seeing how Superbia's combat would go.

By the time Odhran looked over to see how Superbia was doing, she clearly had been toying around with the weakest of the mages for some time.

"You really think simple humans can defeat me!?" the war cry came out. "I am a deadly sin! And I truly do mean deadly! Look upon me and weep! Whether for joy, fear, or awe, I don't care, I just wish to see you weep!" She gave a haughty laugh as a series of bolts of magic darted out towards her, the Avatar of Pride easily slapping them away with a lazy swipe of her staff. "Ah, but I feel the eyes of a god upon me! I am done playing with you fools!"

She gave one more haughty laugh before pointing her staff at the ground, shards of magic darting into the ground, pummeling each of the mages. The ones that stood struggled a bit, but once the shards burst, they had fallen completely. All eight of them, likely wounded prior, now all defeated. Superbia floated on over towards Odhran, just as a representative of the Pergrandian army approached.

"Why didn't you inform us of this forward party, Aegisbane!" the man with an incredibly magnificent mustache demanded.

Odhran raised an eyebrow and a finger as he finished off the last of his mimosa. "Because I could handle it by myself?"

The man shook his head disappointedly. "I heard from the brass you were a handful... either way, good work, I suppose. We'll be marching on their camp soon. Care to join?"

Odhran shrugged as he lazily swiped a key down, Lupa arriving and licking him in the face. "I suppose so. How much are you paying me?"

"We...we aren't paying you for how well you do for service."

Odhran gave a confused look, not knowing what he meant until a few moments later. "Oh! That! Oh, I know. I just don't actually know how much my service is paid for. I didn't actually make the deal, you know. One of my Spirits did."

The man looked baffled. "We... alright, fine, whatever. I'm not going to deal with you any longer. You can stay here and join up with us when we march past you or something. I... you are a strange man."

The man marched away, Odhran shrugging as he manifested a slightly burnt piece of toast to begin crunching on. "Wonder what that was about."

"I believe the man was wondering how to control you," Jin-Ho said flatly.

Odhran pouted a bit, crossing his arms. "Of course he was! Damn people trying to cramp my style! I'm a free man! I need freedom! Well, at least freedom for myself. I wonder if they'd give me a slave camp if I took over a city..."

Lupa barked.

"Oh, that's an even better idea! A slave city! Lupa, you always have the best ideas!"

Jin-Ho shook his head, the confusion transmitting like a disease from person to person. He left, Sweetie leaving soon after with a kiss planted on the cheek of Odhran.

"Dammit! I forgot to ask what she tasted like!"

"Likely not as good as me, Master Odhran!"

"Well, Sweetie is made of candy... and I do like Candy..." he whistled, Lupa bounding forwards. "Hey girl, I got a question to ask you. Can you lick Sweetie and tell me what she tastes like?"

Lupa barked. Superbia sighed as the two remaining Spirits faded to the Celestial Spirit Realm, Odhran still munching on the lackluster toast.