Today's Job? City Patrol.

A peace treaty, huh? Aliarey wasn't sure whether she was amused with the idea or just plain ol' didn't care. Politics went over her head, and it was often a dull topic to her anyway. She supposed peace was good and all but was it really going to be so simple as signing a piece of paper? Armies would come to a sudden halt at the impressive mystical powers of signatures? Granted Pergrande sure got its ass kicked if the news report from a while ago had the numbers right. It was a big country though. Rich too. Those it lost were probably just a drop in the bucket compared to what they had left hanging out at home. It made Alia suspicious. Not because she was smart and or had any knowledge of anything behind the scenes. Maybe Pergrande was really a country full of wimps that recognized being put in their place as losers. She didn't know. She just had a bad feeling, and she learned a long time ago to not ignore it completely.

Well, regardless of whatever was going on with the whole treaty thing she still found a way to be a part of the whole world-changing event. The Ishgar Symposium needed some mages to play security. That meant there was a job opening. That meant it paid. That meant she would have more jewels to play with at the end of it all, just like she did with the war between Bellum and Pergrande. She took it instantly because why not? It was just a job to patrol the city and make sure things stayed safe and orderly. Easy peasy compared to the actual war, and she certainly got off easy with that too. There was nothing to tell her not to be confident and secure with her choice. What was the worst that could happen? It was Joya. Whatever happened in Joya? Besides the current event that wanted to bring some peace to the continent. That was her line of thinking before arriving for her new temporary job assignment.

Now, after barely even being in Felidae City for a lengthy period of time, Alia could tell that the tension was thick. Chaotic even. She didn't particularly like it. The sights of the city itself weren't enough of a distraction from everything else going on. There were some that supported the treaty, yes, but strangely there were also those that were completely against it. When those two sides clashed it wasn't exactly the most pleasant of conversations to listen to. Alia kept her normally loud mouth shut. She didn't care either way and she had a feeling she'd only make things worse if she said as much. There wasn't anything violent going on so it wasn't as if the security patroller label required her to act in that instance. Besides, she would rather have her patrol partner with her. Diana.

Before even taking the job Aliarey had contacted Diana via iLac to see if she would come too. Aliarey liked jewels and she originally thought nothing could go wrong when taking the job, but she wasn't entirely stupid. She wasn't going into some random country and putting a target on herself alone. Someone was coming with her. Hence Diana was brought in as backup. Or maybe Diana had always intended to join the patrol all along. Alia didn't know. Alia didn't ask. She was just going to think what she wanted and say Diana was the mega strong backup for the "just in case" scenario.

Speaking of Diana, how was she going to find Aliarey in that huge busy city? Because of the whole treaty thing the streets were even more crowded than they likely were on any normal day. Aliarey had already kind of started walking the streets and found herself in some kind of marketplace. They hadn't exactly planned a meeting point beforehand. Mostly because Alia didn't know a thing about the city to even give a landmark. Details. Heh. She supposed that the best thing to do was at least attempt to communicate another way. With a solution in mind, Aliarey took out her iLac and went into her messages to make a new one.

Hey! Things are kind of tense in this place. Are you here yet?

Boom. They'd message each other until they found one another. Brilliant! Message sent.

(Word Count: 730)

-Felidae City, Joya-

Diana had entered Felidae City roughly fifteen minutes ago and felt like she had just finished a marathon. The trip from Fiore to Joya had been a long one and she had covered it all on foot. As a result the green-eyed blonde was not feeling very chipper, but she would recover enough to do the job which she had been hired for today.

That job?

She was going to be a temporary part of the Felidae City Patrol for a historic occasion.

That occasion was the Ishgar Symposium for Peace. Today Bellum and Pergrande were supposed to sign a peace treaty that put an official end to the recent conflict between the two countries. Diana was genuinely surprised by the announcement that the two countries were looking to make peace with one another. She thought that the hostilities between the two countries would linger on for months, if not years, but here they were looking to make peace.

According to news reports she had seen on the new television she had finally bought for her home only days ago, Pergrande had gotten a bloody nose in the border clash. Diana was among the many mages who had fought for Bellum, so she had done her part to give Pergrande a bloody nose. As both a mage from Bellum and a participant in the border clash Diana should have been ecstatic about the possibility of peace, but she had serious doubts that the treaty would last very long once it was signed.

However, worrying about whether the treaty would last was not what Diana was being paid to do today. She was being paid to help keep the peace in Felidae City, the atmosphere of which was so tense that the tension could be cut with a knife. Groups both for the treaty and against the treaty were out in force and were not shy about making their opinions known to anyone within earshot. Diana barely looked at the groups and instead focused on the palpable tension in the city. She had felt that same "calm before the storm" sensation just before she had fought against Pergrande's forces in the border clash.

Wearing her purple short-sleeved t-shirt with black skirt, white thigh-high stockings, and black tennis shoes, Diana looked more like a tourist than a temporary peacekeeper, but the backpack of supplies on her back and Saint Sinner Valentine slung on her right shoulder made it clear that she was not here to go sightseeing.

Diana had considered leaving Saint Sinner Valentine at home to avoid raising tensions even higher by carrying a weapon in public, but not knowing what enemies she might run into today made her decide to bring it along despite the risk. The weapon offered her a wide range of ammunition choices with different properties that she could switch to on the fly. She had access to normal ammunition for ordinary opponents, Armor-Piercing Bullets for use against armored opponents, Silver Bullets for use against spirits, Anti-Mage Bullets for use against mages, and even less-than-lethal Heart Bean Bags in case she was instructed to limit the use of lethal force.

In fact she had taken the precaution of loading Saint Sinner Valentine with the Heart Bean Bags in case someone tried to steal the weapon from her and either use it against her or use it to disturb the peace. If a troublemaker managed to steal the weapon the first magazine it fired would be full of less-than-lethal rounds; that precaution would give Diana time to deal with the troublemaker and take back the weapon before anyone got seriously hurt. The versatile ammunition choices was why Diana had decided to carry the weapon with her. Having a weapon with access to different types of special ammunition for use against different types of opponents was never a bad thing to have.

Diana heard the iLac in her right pocket go off and she reached into her pocket and pulled the device out. She swiped the screen and learned that Aliarey had sent her a message. It was a short one asking if she had arrived in Felidae City yet.

Diana moved off to the side of the street she was on to avoid blocking foot traffic and rapidly typed out her response.

"Yes, Aliarey. I am in Felidae City." Diana typed out the response and sent it. She was not sure how exactly she was going to find her partner in a timely fashion, but the two of them would work something out. Besides, the two blondes had an uncanny way of running into one another no matter how improbable their meeting was. They might end up finding one another before they had to resort to making fancy plans.

[Post Word Count: 794]
[Diana's Word Count: 794/4,000]

Aliarey stared at the iLac screen, taking her eyes off of it only to make sure she didn't run into anything or anyone as she walked. Diana's response to her message came quick. A large grin formed on her face as she read the short reply. Thank god! It was getting dull patrolling on her own. And... honestly kind of dangerous. She wanted support before things snapped, which hey, was bound to happen eventually. Money could have been made off a bet if there was a stand around for that sort of thing.

Aliarey stopped walking and leaned her back against the wall of a small building. One of many that acted as borders to the marketplace. She began to type out her response. 'Sweet! We should probably find a way to meet up. I'm in some kind of marketplace. I think maybe the main one? It's freaking huge. Where are you at? Is there a landmark I can track?' The thought did occur to her to use either her summons or even Scout to find Diana, but the city was way too big for that. Finding one person in that mess of a crowded city would be like finding a needle in a haystack, and the last time she tried that it didn't go over very well. She needed something more to follow. Something larger. Maybe a statue or type of building that was unique.

After sending that message Aliarey continued to play around on her iLac while waiting for a reply. There wasn't anything too interesting there. Just some apps and re-reading some messages from Trey and Professor Otto. She doubted there'd be enough time to start up a game so she passed over all of the game apps. To others around her, she seemed distracted enough. That was when a trio of Joyans came running past her and stopping at the corner of an alleyway path that led to a different sector of the city.

One began to talk before being shushed by another. "Shhh, quiet! People will hear you!" They all looked around to make sure no one was noticing them. Aliarey barely gave them a glance when they ran past, but her ears were catching the conversation. Or as much as she could with their whispers. She wasn't a being of super hearing nor was she a slayer. "Is it true though? Are the rebels really here?"
"That's what I heard. It gets worse though. They're not here to just protest the treaty. Rumor is they're bringing a bomb to the city!"
"What?! That's crazy! They'll hurt people that aren't even involved!"
"They are dangerous, but maybe they have a point. This whole treaty business doesn't sit right with me. Joya should have never gotten involved. Now at what's happening."
"We should get out of the city while we can."
"Shouldn't we tell someone?"
"If they're already here there's no time. The bomb might already even be set to go off. We have our own skins to think about. Come on!"

And that was that. The trio scuttled off down the alley. They clearly weren't interested in putting a stop to their kin. Not at the expense of their own lives. Honestly? Neither was Aliarey. A bomb was extreme. She was fairly certain she couldn't survive the blast of one even with the magic of the Draovis core. It was never put to the test. If there really was one around it needed to be found quickly. Maybe there was even time before it was set. The Joyan trio was just acting based on the rumors they heard throughout the city.

'Diana, I just heard some rumor going around about some rebels and a bomb. I'm not sure if it's true but we got a problem on our hands if it is. See if you can find out anything.'

(Word Count: 644
Aliarey Total: 1374)

After sending her message to Aliarey the green-eyed blonde clutched her iLac in her right hand and started moving again so that she did not hold up pedestrians. Diana walked and looked around her at the new place she was in. Despite her not being here for tourism the blonde could not help but to look all around her and feel a sense of curiosity at her surroundings.

She had never been to Joya before. She had only the faintest idea that the country existed and she knew next to nothing about it. Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of another text message. She walked off to the side of the street and stopped against a wall after making sure that she was not cutting in front of anyone. Once she had stopped Diana opened the text message screen and read the new message from her friend.

The message started off by stating that the pair should try to meet up soon. Aliarey then informed Diana that the former was currently standing in a large marketplace. After that Aliarey asked where in Felidae City Diana was before inquiring if there was a landmark that the blue-eyed blonde could use as a reference point to locate Diana.

Diana looked up from her iLac screen and looked around her for any distinctive buildings or landmarks. She was not seeing any right away because of her location... standing next to a wall was not conducive to learning the lay of the land. Recognizing what she needed to do, Diana held onto the iLac as she started walking again and began looking around for anything distinctive that she could tell Aliarey about.

The green-eyed blonde's search was not going very well. All of the buildings looked the same and she could not see any statues, any signs, or anything else that stood out in the area. Diana continued to walk and look and was coming up with nothing, so she decided to ask Aliarey to describe the "marketplace" in a little more detail.

"Aliarey, what does this marketplace you are in look like? Is there anything special about it like a statue, its location, anything like that?" Diana asked her friend through a text message. She had barely sent that message when a new one had come in. Diana wasted no time in opening up and reading it. What she saw was deeply worrying.

Aliarey had sent the message to warn her about a rumor she had happened to overhear. That rumor involved rebels and a bomb. Aliarey was not sure if the rumor was true or just hearsay being passed around by excitable locals, but she impressed upon Diana the dire nature of the threat should there be any truth to what she had overheard. Aliarey then ended the message by tasking Diana with finding out what she could about the threat.

Diana frowned.

Not only was she lost in an unfamiliar city, she had just been tasked with determining the truth behind the rumor of an explosive being somewhere in the city.

"I will see what I can find out." Diana dashed off a quick message to Aliarey. Once it was sent she lowered the device and continued her walk through the city with a new objective. In addition to finding Aliarey she also had to keep an ear out for anything that might substantiate the rumor. That was going to be quite the challenge.

Diana walked along and did her best to listen for any loose talk. She was not sure if the locals would talk freely in the presence of an armed stranger, so she tried to look less threatening by acting like a lost tourist. That would not be too hard because she was genuinely lost.

[Post Word Count: 628]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,422/4,000]

Aliarey stared at her phone screen after sending her message asking Diana for some details on her location. A new message had popped up. Way too fast for it to already be a reply for the one she had just sent. She swiped her finger across the screen to open the message and resisted the urge to facepalm after she had read it. Diana had asked her pretty much exactly the same thing she had asked her! They were still nowhere closer to finding out where the other was in that huge city. She had asked it first so technically shouldn't have Diana been the one obligated to answer? "Are you kidding me? Ugh, Diana, Diana. I swear." She was agitated now, but she'd get over it by the time she found her friend. She'd have to. Else Diana's glare might just disintegrate her on the spot if she got on her nerves too much. The next reply came in before she could answer the question. Good. They were now on the same page and on alert for anything suspicious.

'I think it's the main one in the central city. There's a waterfall here, but I can't really call that very unique. I've run into at least three.' Aliarey lifted her gaze from the iLac screen, her cerulean eyes scanning for anything that stood out. She found one. 'Ask someone where they can find Joyan Tea Party. I think it's some kind of tea shop. Should be a good enough landmark to lead you here. I'll stay here and do some scouting in the meantime.' Sent. The iLac was put away in her pocket after that. Now for the being productive with her job assignment part of her day. If that rumor was true she needed to find out more about it. Preferably before the bomb blew up.

Seeing a Rune Knight on patrol Aliarey thought to ask him if he knew anything. Probably not since he looked pretty damn calm but... well... Rune Knights were trained to be that way even under the whole we're all going to die circumstances, right? Hell if she knew. She walked up to the uniformed knight and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, surprised at first but recovered quickly enough to attempt a greeting before she opened her own big mouth to interrupt him. "Hey, you're part of the security around here right? So am I! I just don't have the official knightly label or uniform. It's temporary. Just for today kind of deal. You know, just trying to get some spare jewels while walking off those calories from last night's dinner. Anyway! You hear anything about some rebels trying to set up a bomb around here or anything?"

The Rune Knight looked puzzled. Not so much because of the rebels. Everyone in his unit was informed about them the moment the first round of rumors were being whispered from Joyan to Joyan. The mention of a bomb though was new. "There have been some reports about the rebels but nothing about a bomb. Is that accurate information?"

"Just something I heard. Figured I'd ask and get some information so I can stop it before the city goes boom. The exploded look doesn't look good on me and I did have plans for tomorrow so I'd rather not die. I guess it's a good thing I asked since you knew nothing." Aliarey patted him on the shoulder and smirked. "You troops better get moving and figure out where this bomb is. It might go off way before I find it and..." Actually, what the hell was she supposed to do once she found it? Shoot it? She wasn't some bomb expert! Well, she'll figure it out later if she had to. Maybe Diana would know how that stuff worked. She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, you know. I'm going to keep asking around. I'll let one of the other uniforms know if I find anything." Aliarey stepped away, first waving her hand and then making a lazy and silly salute as she twirled around to go in the opposite direction. Talking with Rune Knights wasn't really something she enjoyed doing, but she had to get over it just for that day. There needed to be way more eyes and ears seeing and listening for signs. Way more than just Diana's and her own.

And Aliarey did continue asking around. She asked that same question to every single person she ran into whether they were a Joyan native or not. And no one knew anything! Or were just keeping quiet but holy crap! She expected to have found some snitch or informant that was willing to at least sell their information. Some might have thought it pretty dumb of her to just openly go around asking about the rebels. That could bring trouble to her and others obviously. Of course it was dumb! But what else was she supposed to do? It wasn't as if the world worked in such a way that she'd conveniently run into a lead just like that and with zero effort!

"Okay, the last distraction worked. Let's start here next. If we keep this up the Inquisitor and the others can keep going secretly and make the move for the final stages of the plan."
Three goat-like Joyans were huddled together, kneeling to the ground and talking. Loud enough for Aliarey to clearly hear every word. They seemed to think that they were alone. After all, many of the others in the city were busy protesting elsewhere or just being a part of the crowd to spectate the day's event. They didn't anticipate even a patroller to waltz right into their little abandoned corner of that sector's marketplace.
"That's the bomb, right?"
"Yeah, we keep this up for a bit longer and then split before it goes off. We're supposed to get word of when everything's good to go but in case we hear nothing we will leave the city after we've set up a few more distractions."
"Right!"

A lead. Right there. With zero effort. "The world does work like that. Huh. Now isn't that something?" Alia didn't take too long to process that bit of luck. She learned long ago that she was generally an unlucky woman and questioning any tiny bit of the opposite always led back around to the unlucky side. It was best to just accept when it came and adapt. "Hey! Uh... don't move or whatever it is security is supposed to say." As she yelled her demand she used her magic to summon one pair of pistols and pointed it at them. The yellow and black weapons shined as the sunlight bounced off their surface. They looked fancy but in actuality, they were glorified tasers. Sure she could put some oomph into their shots to make them way more lethal. That was their magic, after all, but she didn't intend to hurt the trio or kill them. She just wanted to ask some questions and figure out what was going on. Blasting people for no reason was a good way to get on the radar of the Rune Knights that were quite literally around nearly every corner. Aliarey definitely wanted to avoid that mess. "What's this about a bomb? Are you three part of that rebel group that is trying to make my easy payday way more difficult than it has to be?"

The trio flinched when their conversation was interrupted. They quickly stood up fully on their hooves and faced the eavesdropper. Truly an intimidating and powerful Rune Knight had caught them discussing their plans! Fear and alarm were in their eyes until they realized the lack of uniform the stranger was wearing. A normal civilian? HA! "Oh, it's just one of those foreign mages that were hired to patrol around."
"Yeah, you're right. I think our boys already took care of some of them. I guess it's our turn."
"Ugh, we really don't have time for this."
"Well, we can't just let her walk away. She's seen us and even heard mention of the bomb. What if she goes and tells? Every knight in the entire city will be on the hunt for the Inquisitor."
The three each put a hand to their own chins and looked up thoughtfully.

Aliarey blinked at first as the three talked amongst each other. Every comment she heard clearly and every comment that reached her ears made her more and more puzzled. What the heck? Did she really look like a tourist with nothing more than a sticker badge to serve as proof of her authority? Well she did have a Rune Knight symbol sticker on the chest of her clothing she supposed but she was clearly not a wandering tourist with no magic to back up the intimidation! She was strong enough to send most running for their lives if she so much as sneezed with a weapon in her hands. "Hey! I asked a question!" God being a law-abiding citizen was so annoying. It was so much easier to shoot and ask the questions later. She was pretty sure the rumors she heard were accurate and those three were totally in on it and needed to be stopped, but Aliarey was afraid of getting herself into trouble if she didn't do it the "good" way.

The center Joyan rebel stared at her and frowned. "Uh, you asked two questions. And well.... Sorry!" She snapped the fingers of her raised hand and from that simple quick motion a spell had been activated. Out of thin air, vines materialized around Aliarey and grew. They began to wrap around her tightly. In seconds before she could react beyond a surprised yelp she was bound and cocooned in the green ropes of nature. Only her head was left to pop out of the trap so she could breathe. "I was trying to be nice! Now you're in for it! When I get out of here I am going to- Ahhh!" Aliarey had been making short hops towards the trio. The girls were flabbergasted at first but then giggled at the silly attempt. Even more so when the blonde fell over and began to roll away from them. All that could be heard by Aliarey now were their fits of laughter and their goodbye. They had vanished! Or possibly just ran off behind a wall. It was hard to tell while rolling away.

"That's it! I'm done! No more being nice!" Her rolling had come to a slow stop. Now she was dizzy, annoyed, pissed off, and wanting to toss those Joyans into a trash can and send them rolling off the mountainside! Aliarey struggled with her bindings but had made little effort to get out of them. Without having access to her hands she couldn't even use a turret disc to disintegrate them. Maybe she could try teleporting out of them? Call on a Draovis droid? She had options but couldn't think of the more logical ones with her mind in the state it was. Instead, she chose the most illogical one. "DIANA! Help!" Shouting for her teammate when she probably wasn't even around to hear it yet made complete sense, right? Totally.

(Word Count: 1878
Aliarey Total: 3252)

As Diana continued to walk around Felidae City it became painfully obvious to her that she was utterly lost. It should not have come as a surprise considering she had never been here before, but with the possible threat Aliarey had told her about and the pressing need to stop it in case there was substance to it, being lost was a luxury that she could ill afford. She needed to meet up with Aliarey and do it soon. Thankfully a new clue came in on her iLac.

According to a text message sent by Aliarey, the latter was standing in a place that was possibly in the center of the city and somewhere with a waterfall. Diana frowned. That particular clue was not very helpful. Fortunately reading the message to the end gave her something a little more substantial. Aliarey was in the area of a place called "Joyan Tea Party," an establishment that was possibly a tea shop.

Armed with that vital clue, Diana finally had something solid to go on. She approached the nearest person and did her best to play the part of a friendly tourist to ask them where Joyan Tea Party was. She hoped that the sight of a red assault rifle slung on her shoulder would not be too intimidating to the person she asked.

-In the center of Felidae City, forty-five minutes later-

After a few failed attempts to learn the location of Joyan Tea Party from people who seemed to be too busy to talk to her, Diana had finally gotten directions to Joyan Tea Party thanks to the help of a friendly local. She followed the instructions she was given to the letter and after navigating the dense crowds found herself standing in an area with both a waterfall and an establishment named Joyan Tea Party. Diana gave a small smile as she was standing in the place her friend had told her about, but that smile soon faded when she realized that Aliarey was nowhere around despite saying that she was going to be here looking for clues in her last text message.

Oh well.

Now that she was in the area described in the text message, she needed to find Aliarey and join up with her so that they could hunt the rebels as a pair. However, that was easier said than done. This place was big and she did not have the slightest clue where her friend had disappeared to. Diana took a quiet breath and quietly exhaled.

Would it kill Aliarey to stay in one place long enough for Diana to find her?

Diana shrugged off the thought and began her quest to find Aliarey. She took a step forward and began looking all around her as she searched the immediate area for the blue-eyed blonde. There were no free food or free drink booths set up for this symposium, so the huntress' work was cut out for her.

After doing a sweep of the immediate area Diana had come up with nothing, so she decided to take her search deeper into the area. She walked forward at a decent clip and was coming up with nothing again when she thought she heard screaming from somewhere nearby. That was something worth checking out. Breaking into a jog, Diana set out for the approximate area the screaming was coming from and listened out for it as she hunted for its source.

As she adjusted her course as necessary and drew closer to the last known location of the screaming she thought back to it and thought that she had heard someone scream her name. There was only one person in this city who knew her name. It had to be Aliarey.

Diana followed the sound to its source and eventually found Aliarey lying sideways and bound up in a ball of vines that covered everything but her head. The huntress immediately went to work freeing her friend while keeping an eye out for whoever had done this to Aliarey. Diana began the slow and tedious process of removing the vines by hand because she did not think to bring a knife or have a spell that could cut through the vines.

-Ten minutes later-

It had taken a lot of work and a lot of patience to get to this point. She had been unable to completely free Aliarey, but Diana had loosened the vines enough for her friend to stand a good chance of getting out of them now. Diana stepped back and looked around her for the culprits responsible for Aliarey's predicament, but she was not seeing anyone. She then turned her attention to her fellow blonde and spoke to her.

"Aliarey, are you all right? Are you hurt in any way?" Diana asked Aliarey, whose facial expression clearly showed her displeasure with what had happened to her.

[Post Word Count: 814]
[Diana's Word Count: 2,336/4,000]

The requip mage continued to struggle in her bindings, still lacking the mental capacity to use her magic or find a way around to improvise cutting her way out of them. That tended to happen on a daily basis anyway but it got worse when she was ticked. All she could think about was how stupid she was for getting herself in that position and how stupid those humanoid goats were for daring to... to... who the hell wrapped and encased people in a ball of vines anyway?! She made a blanket out of a monstrous man-eating sheep before. She had no trouble finding a way to do it with them! They would pay when she got out of that trap. If she got out of that trap.

"Diana!" Aliarey screamed in relief when she finally saw the green-eyed heroine come to save the day. She did that a lot, didn't she? She should probably get a gift basket someday as a thank you. She squirmed in her bindings enthusiastically. Aliarey had never felt such joy at seeing anyone. Granted, it was pretty damn rare that someone actually came to save her ass too. "You're here! Quick, help me get out of this!" The words were a bit wasted since Diana did not need to be prompted. Her friend was already at work trying to remove the vines. The slow way. She didn't have anything to cut them with? Not even a spell? "Just shoot them. They'll fall apart or disintegrate or something." Her eyes widened immediately after saying that as her mind processed the suggestion fully. "Wait! No. Don't do that. With your insane godly power, you'll probably disintegrate me too! Ah! Slow way it is then." She was not happy. Not at all. As she lied there waiting for Diana to figure out the vine puzzle Aliarey fumed. Those slow minutes just made her angrier and angrier. Those soon-to-be ugly blankets would pay dearly.

After what seemed like a century Diana had made good progress at loosening the vines. It didn't take much for Aliarey to loosen them further. Some twisting allowed her to get her hands free. Her Laser Tasers had long since been dismissed. A different pistol was called in their place. One of white, gold, and black. The blue circle on the barrel of the gun and near the rear sight glowed with energy. It was armed and ready as always. Aliarey aimed at her vine bindings and fired. A blue particle beam released from the gun and hit the vines. As a result, the point of impact began to fall apart as it turned into mere dust that floated into the air and eventually turned into nothing at all. The rest of the vines followed the same example as the effects of the shot spread. Aliarey was finally free of her prison.

Aliarey jumped up and began to dust herself off and make sure everything was working. Thank god those vines did not have thorns or she'd have more to worry about. "Yeah, I'm fine. Stupid, but fine. Argh!" She threw a short tantrum by stomping her feet and then kicking over a trash can and some wooden crates that were right there in her range of anger. How she hated that feeling of being a complete idiot. Worst yet was that Diana had to see it. Sure her fellow blonde probably didn't think that she was often paired with a genius, but Aliarey was fine to settle for at least being described as competent. So much for that.

A deep breath was taken to calm herself somewhat. At least long enough to speak to Diana as a human should. She shook off that anger, both physically and metaphorically, and faced Diana with a calmer demeanor. "Thanks for the save. I might have let my guard down just a little bit. So many Rune Knights around here has me trying to play nicer than I normally would. I'm not doing that again. Forget it. Besides, they'll probably let anything I do go if we get that bomb taken care of and I have the lead. The ugly goats that tied me up are a part of the whole thing. Now we just have to find them and go from there. Easy. Peasy."

She figured that Diana would be on board with the idea. That was why they were there technically, after all. Even if she wasn't though she didn't care. Those goats had made it personal. They were going to be humiliated just as she was. No. Worse. They didn't hurt her physically but she was definitely giving them something to think about while in the prison hospital. Or whatever it was people like that go to when injured and taken into custody for major crimes.

Aliarey would make use of magic that she had never displayed in the past. It wasn't ready. The outcomes were unstable and unpredictable. She had no choice though. It was the quickest way to find those ugly cloven-hooved ninnies and deal with them. She turned to face the direction that the criminal Joyans had run off to. Then she closed her eyes and tried to connect with the lacnite technology that was in her body. She could feel them swarming around inside. The lacnites knew her intent and answered.

When Aliarey opened her eyes they were still blue, a sign that she was still the one in control but that was also because she had only activated a small portion of their true power. They were glassy though, almost looking as if they were artificial. Even the color of her eyes was brighter as if they were lit up like a lightbulb or laser lights. But with their new look came an ability that she did not have before. She could see through the walls of the city, through the people, through everything, and at a great distance. All she had to do was focus on what she was looking for and keep looking until she found it. In that case, those three Joyan girls that had pissed her off and were connected with the bombing rebels.

Blood began to leak from her eyes. It was a side effect to the spell being used way too soon. Aliarey didn't care. Trey and the old man could solve that issue later and it wasn't as if her eyes were going to explode. She didn't intend on keeping the spell active for long. Just long enough. "I found them," Aliarey muttered when her sight finally landed on them. The goats were giggling as they ran around. They had set up a distraction and it was going just the way they wanted it to. Vines were everywhere and people were fleeing the scene before they got hurt from the overdose of nature. "Time to go, Diana. Straight ahead and to the left. Look for the vines and people screaming."

With that said Aliarey began to run off. At first at normal speed, but her body started to spark and cover itself with some sort of electric radiation. In a blink of an eye, she was gone. Her speed had picked up drastically. The only evidence of her being there was everything she had crashed through on the way. If Diana couldn't follow at those same speeds or go by the given directions she could always just follow the path of destruction.

(Word Count: 1240
Aliarey Total: 4492)

It had taken quite a bit of time and effort, but with Aliarey helping out by shooting away some of the vines with weapons the latter had summoned the task of freeing the blue-eyed blonde from her vine cocoon was eventually accomplished. Diana took a big step back and gave her fellow blonde some space as the latter began to make her displeasure known by stomping her feet for a few moments before following up by knocking over a hapless trash can with a forceful kick and then kicking some unfortunate wooden crates. Diana watched her partner rage against the humiliating situation she had been found in without saying a single word. Aliarey was clearly unhappy with what had happened to her and was not shy about showing it.

After a brief rampage spent terrorizing innocent inanimate objects that happened to be nearby the blue-eyed blond eventually calmed down and began speaking to the huntress in an unusually calm voice. Diana had never heard Aliarey talk so calmly before, so the former was immediately clued in that there would be no humorous hijinks from here on out. No amount of free food, free drinks, or drum sets would distract Aliarey from the revenge that she wanted on the goat people for humiliating her like they had.

Diana paid particular attention to the blue-eyed blonde's words about how the metaphorical gloves were coming off. She was going to take down those goat people and there was a good chance that lethal force was on the table. Diana did not have any problem with that.

"Very well then. We will track down these goat people together." Diana calmly replied to Aliarey, not praising the latter for her newfound resolve to stop the rebels or condemning her for adopting a ruthless attitude towards the goat people. Instead the huntress let it go at that and would let Aliarey lead the way. in this case it was best to stay out of the blue-eyed blonde's path so that she could direct her fury solely at those responsible for humiliating her.

Diana watched as Aliarey turned to face a direction, presumably the one her attackers had went in after leaving her behind. Then as soon as she had faced the direction she suddenly closed her eyes. When Aliarey finally opened them again her eyes had changed in ssmall but noticeable ways.

Aliarey's eyes were still a striking cerulean blue, but upon closer examination they had changed. They looked to be artificial like an eye depicted on a stained glass window. That change was paired with a new brightness of eye color that was comparable to looking at an LED light. The huntress took those changes in stride, but what happened after a little bit was not something Diana could so readily shrug off.

Aliarey's eyes eventually started to bleed!

Seeing Aliarey bleed from the eyes was not something Diana saw every day and it was a little unnerving. As long as Aliarey did not start speaking in a really deep voice while her head spun around without breaking her neck everything would be OK. Diana took a quiet breath and watched her partner for any signs of medical trouble stemming from the changes, but as it turned out there was no need for alarm. Aliarey had located the goat people deeper in the city and had given the huntress directions to follow to find them... and her.

Without further delay Aliarey began to run in the direction of her enemies. The more Aliarey built up momentum her body began to throw out sparks like she had become electrically charged. Once that happened it was a matter of moments before the blue-eyed blonde completely disappeared from sight. At least she had left Diana some instructions to follow her by before darting off at warp speed.

Diana took a deep breath and started to run after her partner in an attempt to catch up to her before the action started. While Aliarey had put on quite the light show the green-eyed blonde was moving at a much slower speed and was not nearly as flashy. Diana followed both the directions she had been given and the convenient trail her partner had left behind while heading towards the rebels. She just hoped that she could get there before Aliarey ran into trouble.

The goat people were likely expecting her to come back for another fight and Diana wanted to be there to help Aliarey when the fighting started. However, Diana would need to hang back a little so that if Aliarey got entangled in vines again she did not get caught in them too. Diana did not think to bring Ami on this trip, so if both blondes got trapped in vines there would be no air support to bail them out of their predicament. If both blondes got trapped the rebels might decide to dispose of both mages on the spot instead of risking them getting free and going after them a third time.

It went without saying that they would have to be very careful when they found and confronted the rebels.

[Post Word Count: 856]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,192/4,000]

Aliarey had no doubt that Diana was following her. She was always there before and had even come to her aid only a short moment ago. The sniper would surely follow her at least until the bomb was taken care of. That gave Aliarey the confidence to go after the Joyan rebels as swiftly as she had. Not that she had any complex thoughts going through her mind regarding the backup. Something was either too dangerous to get too involved in in the first place or she was too pissed to think about the consequences and repercussions until it smacked her in the face. Currently, she was in the latter phase of thinking.

With a mix of teleports and quick actions of mobility, Aliarey made her way to where she could see those three Joyan mages. Their antics and the results of them causing trouble could also be seen. Their combination of nature and earth magic worked to cause quite the disruption. Now instead of people gathered to discuss and witness the whole peace event they were fleeing the scene in an attempt to find somewhere safe to get to. Not that anywhere was particularly safe as later events would soon reveal, but as far as they all were currently aware of the rebels were the only threat to their existence. Aliarey would change that. Not to be a heroine but because they had embarrassed the wrong mage. And that whole being paid thing, of course. Can't exactly ignore the whole reason she was even there in the first place. The motivation to do the temporary job was high.

In a blink Aliarey appeared in front of one of the three trouble makers, having used her magic to speed herself up again. The air got colder as a blue icy light appeared around her left hand, and within her grasp a light blue pistol materialized. She wasn't asking questions that time. Before the enemy Joyan could react a shot was fired and hit her, the magical shot of ice spreading around her body and completely encasing her in a prison of ice. That one wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. In her right hand materialized a different sort of weapon that she rarely used but did come in handy every now and then. It was a favorite rarity; the chain revolver. She used it to fire at some vines that were acting wildly and targeted her, teleporting out of their range again a second after and then unleashing the chain itself towards the next closest of the goat trio. The chain stretched and then wrapped tightly wrapped around the Joyan rebel. With her strength, Aliarey pulled on it and changed its course towards the third rebel, taking its screaming captured target with it as extra weight for the impact. The ground shook then. A desperate effort of the third earth mage. She had tried to make an earthquake to make Aliarey lose focus or fall down in the middle of her plan, but it was too late. The chain, and the Joyan rebel that had already been captured by it, hit the last of the trio. The impact was hard, sending both flying into the wall of the nearest building and creating a huge hole in it.

The building wasn't entirely abandoned either. It didn't even belong to folks trying to hide or those just minding their own business until whatever the hell was going on outside was over. What was behind that wall and staring into the outside world completely dumbfounded were more rebels. Or so could be assumed considering they were surrounding a large device that looked like a bomb. Was it the bomb? The one that they were looking for? Was it possible there was more than one group trying to plant bombs throughout the city? Hell, how was she supposed to narrow it down if that were the case? Well, whatever. That looked like a bomb so she was just going to assume that it was the right one. The next group of heroes could go find and claim another one. That one was all hers and Diana's claim.

Surrounding the bomb were two antlered Joyans with freaky reptilian tails, a lion guy, and some cat chick wearing a totally unfashionable cape. The cat chick sneered. Unbelievable. She then ordered the two antlered Joyans to act next, seeing as their original distraction had failed. It was so hard to find sidekicks that were competent and not completely amateurs.

(Word Count: 751
Aliarey Total: 5243)

Following the trail Aliarey had left for her, Diana ran as fast as she could to try and catch up to her companion before the latter bit off more than she could chew. Diana was worried that the rebels had anticipated the angry Aliarey catching up with them and had prepared countermeasures that might ensnare the blue-eyed blonde a second time. As it turned out, Diana did not need to worry about the blue-eyed blonde being immobilized again.

By the time she spotted her friend Aliarey had already taken care of three of the rebels. Diana assumed by the number of them and the fact Aliarey had dealt with them first that those enemies were the ones who had bound the blue-eyed blonde in vines and left her where Diana had found her. For some odd reason it pleased the huntress to see that her friend had gotten revenge on the ones who had humiliated her earlier.

Two rebels with horns from an animal she did not recognize and reptilian tails that resembled a snake's hanging behind them flanked an odd object that was obviously of great importance to them considering that they were standing next to it instead of far away from it.

Diana looked a little closer and noticed that those rebels were not alone. With them were a lion man dressed in elaborate plate armor and a cat woman wearing a bright red cape. Diana assumed that they were part of the rebels, but she had no idea what made them so special aside from their attention-grabbing outfits. They could be powerful rebels entrusted to be the last line of defense for the device. Or they could be the rebel leadership here to make sure that no would-be heroes thwarted their plan.

Diana did not have all day to ponder that mystery, so she took immediate action before the surprise of her arrival wore off and the enemies acted. Unwilling to risk hitting the device with a stray shot and possibly set off an explosion, Diana instead slung Saint Sinner Valentine onto her right shoulder and thought on her feet. She formed the fingers of her right hand into the shape of a gun and aimed towards the enemy standing to the left of the device.

She aimed for their forehead and fired a Rubber Bullet spell. The projectile hit the target in the forehead and caused them to yell in pain as they clutched their head, but their partner did not stand idly by. The second horned enemy moved forward a few steps, then pulled out a spherical bomb and lobbed it at Diana. The huntress saw the projectile coming and ran forward to avoid it, dodging it and narrowly avoiding being caught in a sticky web that had formed after the explosion. Diana suddenly stopped running and aimed herself at the enemy.

Diana performed a Reaper's Sprint dash and quickly closed the distance with the enemy she had hit with the Rubber Bullet spell. Once she reappeared she struck first with a punch to the face and followed up with a kick to the stomach, both of which connected and dealt even more pain. Their colleague was swiftly approaching from the right and the others were likely to join the fray soon, so Diana had better finish the fight before she was surrounded.

Turning to face the bespectacled enemy charging at her, Diana raised the index and middle fingers or her right hand and pointed them at the enemy. She then fired a Spirit Drain Beam at the target and the beam connected with their chest, eliciting a yell of surprise. Despite the pain he continued to run towards Diana and she waited until he stopped before charging at him. The enemy hurriedly reached for another bomb to throw at her and Diana reached him and hit him in the face just before they could pull one out.

The enemy fell backwards and landed on the ground, where they were hopefully unconscious. Diana then turned and faced the first enemy, who had produced a bomb and was ready to throw it when she aimed and fired a Spirit Drain Bolt by punching towards them with her right hand. The fist-sized bolt of pale blue magic hit the enemy in the chest and caused them to slump to the ground in defeat along with their inert weapon, leaving Diana still standing without a scratch on her. That was when the armored lion man took matters into his hands.

He silently raised his crossbow and fired a crossbow bolt at Diana's head. Diana spotted the arrow out of the corner of her eye and ducked just in time to avoid a lethal head wound. Diana popped back up none the worse for wear and spotted him charging towards her with his great axe raised above his head. The huntress raised her right hand, formed it into the shape of a gun, and aimed and fired a Silver Bullet at the lion's raised right arm. The bullet hit the wrist but did not stop the man from swinging the ax in a downward chop aimed right at Diana.

The green-eyed blonde jumped back just in time to avoid being split vertically down the middle and hurriedly took Saint Sinner Valentine off of her right shoulder and aimed it with one hand at the lion man when he quickly sprinted at her and swung his ax in a one-handed horizontal swing aimed at her midsection. Diana jumped back again just far enough to avoid being cut in half at the waist, but her midsection was lightly scratched and was threatening to bleed any second now. Her midsection was also exposed thanks to the axe blade cutting the fabric of her t-shirt.

Diana frowned and faced the lion man. She tapped the heart on Saint Sinner Valentine to switch to Armor-Piercing Bullets and waited for the contents of the magazine to switch from Heart Bean Bags. However, the lion did not wait for the switchover and charged again, swinging his axe at her neck. Diana ducked under the attack and raised Saint Sinner Valentine, which was now loaded with Armor-Piercing Bullets. She aimed with her right hand and fired five rounds at the lion's chest, hitting with three of them with no visible effect before he drew back his weapon and swung at her with the flat part of the axe.

The swing connected with her right shoulder and sent Diana flying several meters to the left, where she hit the ground and went rolling another meter before coming to a stop a short distance from Aliarey and dropping her rifle, which slid to a stop to the left of Aliarey's feet. Diana lay on the ground for a few moments before hurriedly getting up and hurrying to collect her rifle. The fingers of her right hand grazed the grip of the rifle when a crossbow bolt hit the bottom of the grip and sent it sliding just beyond her reach. Diana was impressed with the lion man's accuracy, but he had picked the wrong mage to engage in a marksmanship duel with.

If any of the rebels had ever read Roman mythology, they would know that Diana was not someone they wanted as an enemy.

Diana turned around and faced her enemy while standing at Aliarey's right side. She frowned deeply and produced Silent Hunter, her old sniper rifle she had not used in quite some time. Diana thought it appropriate that she use a rifle to hunt a lion.

"Come on, Aliarey. Let us stop them together." Diana said to her friend with a visible look of displeasure etched on her face.

[Post Word Count: 1,284]
[Diana's Word Count: 4,476/4,000]

Things very quickly got way more interesting once Diana had shown up mere seconds after those ugly goats were dealt with. Turning them into a blanket would have to wait. Diana had caught up and reacted to the situation immediately. The two antler Joyans were distracted and ultimately lost against the green-eyed blonde. Then came the armored lion, who saw Diana as more of a threat than Aliarey and targetted her. That was fine. That meant the only one left was the catgirl that had set all of that day's rebellious acts in motion. Well, not that Aliarey was aware of that. She didn't exactly ask for an introduction before acting.

The take over of her eyes was still in effect, allowing her to scan the guarded object and conclude that it indeed was a powerful explosive device. That... sucked. She didn't have magic that was so fine in accuracy and small in range. Her magic covered entire areas or had projectiles flying everywhere. If anything like that hit the bomb it could go off. As much as she enjoyed the everyday explosion that was usually when she wasn't in range of one. She might could escape by using her magically enhanced mobility, but Diana probably couldn't. Her pay would probably decrease too for poor performance or some technicality crap like that. Ugh. Why was something so easy at the start now suddenly so difficult?

Just for laughs Aliarey called her chain revolver back to her and threw it out again, aiming for the cat lady. Like she thought, it was a useless attempt. The Chorda Inquisitor was quick to act and was able to utilize take over magic of her own. She became covered in thick scales that made her chain bounce right off without doing any damage whatsoever. In fact, it was a tad bit worse than that. The scaled cat grabbed onto the chain and broke it with a tight squeeze. Whatever monstrous creature she was magically connected with was it sure gave her the power of a better defense and strength. Aliarey couldn't pull her away from the bomb even if she tried with that going.

Aliarey watched as her requip spell vanished after being shattered. So much for that. It looked like Diana wasn't having much luck with the armored lion either. Reacting to her will, pieces of metal materiliazed and formed into a small lacbot with glowing green lights upon it. The summon hovered around Diana, spinning around her a little while shooting off a gentle green beam at her body. Its purpose was one of healing and with its scanners it could detect damage from her brief encounter with the armored lion.

"My team support kind of sucks so that's about all I can do," Aliarey admitted, knowing full well that her magic was not one that supported allies. It put them in harms way most of the time if anything. Healing and defending weren't the type of spells or strategies that she preferred using. "We need to get that cat away from the bomb. I can't do anything with her right by it. Unless..." A reckless plan formed in her mind after seeing her teammate holding that fancy sniper rifle. There wasn't time to think of anything more than that. Already she was having to shoot the crossbow arrows that were being shot at them. It was only a matter of time before the two felines stopped playing around and got way more serious. Not only was the actual bomb likely ticking, but it was also only a matter of time before some Rune Knights came over to handle the situation. Neither team had the time to dawdle. "I keep them both occupied and you try to shoot them down with that sniper rifle. It'll actually be easier than you think." The last line was added for reassurance. Aliarey could just call on the Draovis droids. They haven't really been fully tested on the field but well.... it had to happen at some point, right? Why not now?

(Word Count: 677
Aliarey Total: 5920)

Diana stood by and let her companion's little droid do its thing as Aliarey laid out the plan for them to take on the rebels standing in front of them. While Aliarey served as a distraction Diana was to keep her distance and snipe at them with everything she had. Weapons, spells, whatever. If it could be used from a distance, Diana was to use it on the two remaining rebels to take them out of the picture and clear the way for someone to disarm the device before it was too late.

"I can do that." Diana replied to Aliarey's plan. Her going toe-to-toe with the bomb-throwing rebels and the lion man was not the huntress' best plan, but she had taken the two bomb-throwing rebels out of the picture, leaving only the armored lion man and the cat woman. That was a good tradeoff for a sliced shirt and a few other minor wounds.

The lion man fired a crossbow bolt at Diana's head and the green-eyed blonde ducked under the bolt thanks to reflexes developed over years of being a mage who traveled to dangerous places and took on dangerous enemies. She quickly stood back up and fired a Full Metal Jacket shot from Silent Hunter at the large lion's chest. It punched through the armor but did not seem to have much effect on him. He quickly aimed and fired another crossbow bolt that was aimed at Diana's left arm.

Diana quickly ducked and only sustained a grazing wound to her left shoulder as a result. Diana popped back up and fired another Full Metal Jacket round, but the lion man ducked under it and fired another crossbow bolt aimed at the green-eyed blonde's chest. Diana saw it coming and spun to the left, narrowly avoiding it. She tried shooting at him one last time... she aimed a Full Metal Jacket at his chest and fired but he effortlessly avoided it with an impeccably timed forward roll, popping up and shooting back with another crossbow bolt that grazed her left shoulder a second time.

Diana frowned. A marksmanship duel was not getting her anywhere because the lion man was holding his own. in fact he was more than holding his own... he could teach her a thing or two about marksmanship. It was time to up the ante.

The huntress shifted Silent Hunter to her left hand, then began channeling pale blue magic into her entire body. Aliarey and the two rebels could see a pale blue aura forming around Diana. When the spell was ready Diana jabbed her right index finger towards the lion man and the transformed cat woman, who had taken on a form that was hard to describe. The moment the huntress had jabbed her finger towards the enemies two basketball-sized balls of pale blue magic were fired towards the enemies and homed in on them.

The lion man tried to dodge the incoming projectile with a sidestep, but the Spirit Drain Seeker aimed at him hit him in the chest and sent him to one knee, which was the most Diana had seen him react to any of her attacks. The second Spirit Drain Seeker hit the transformed cat woman but did not seem to do much of anything to her. In fact she made eye contact with the huntress and smirked.

Diana frowned. She was going to wipe that smirk from the cat woman's face, but first she had to deal with the lion man, who was already back on his feet. The huntress dodged yet another crossbow bolt aimed at her head with a timely duck and aimed a Spirit Drain Beam at his chest. She fired it at him and by some miracle he dodged it with a last-second sidestep. Diana frowned again.

She needed to take him and the cat woman down before it was too late.

Diana might have to take more drastic measures, up to and including killing the last two rebels. While she would have preferred to leave them alive so that they could be taken into custody, she believed that the authorities would understand if she killed them considering how dire the situation was. However, she would exhaust all her other options before going for the kill.

Diana channeled pale blue magic into her body, then channeled it into her right arm until the arm looked like it was flickering. She then thrust her right arm outward with the palm pointed towards the lion man, firing a shimmering pale blue beam of magic at him. The combination of the Spirit Drain Seeker hitting him and the effort to dodge her Spirit Drain Beam must have worn down the lion man because he was unable to dodge the Soul Sniper.

He was hit in the chest and collapsed to one knee, but he exerted himself enough to aim and fire a crossbow bolt at her head. Diana ducked just in time to avoid it, but the timing was close because she had ducked fast enough for the bolt to whizz by the top of her head. She immediately stood up and used her right hand to feel the top of her head. Thankfully she was not bleeding from a graze wound, but had she been any slower she would have taken a crossbow bolt to the forehead.

With the formidable lion man lying on the ground and presumably unconscious the only adversary standing between the blonde mages and the device was the transformed cat woman. She was going to be a tough opponent to take down, but Diana and Aliarey had to find a way to defeat her. A lot of innocent lives were at stake and failure was not an option.

[Post Word Count: 958]
[Diana's Word Count: 5,434/4,000]

All right. Diana agreed. A plan was set. Aliarey was ready to do this. Without using her magic that would get way too close to setting that bomb off. She just had to use a bit more of her physical strength to get some punches and kicks in. It wasn't really her style really... that was more what the rest of her blood relatives did as part of their magic and talents. But hey, at least that meant she had some of that tradition in her to have some idea of what she was doing. Add a bit of mobility magic and she could get in a hit and get out before either of those rebels knew what hit them. It'd be easy. Call on her robotic summons for some backup if necessary and then Diana could take them out while distracted. It was perfect! Until it quickly wasn't.

Sure it was expected for the two rebels to do something. The armored lion guy started by firing a crossbow bolt at Diana. Okay. It was Aliarey's moment. She could take care of the guy once Diana ducked and got going. The requip mage readied herself... and then watched in confusion when Diana instead fired back instead of taking off to get some distance and park herself somewhere safer so she could work on sniping from range or something. Back and forth the lion guy and Diana went. "Uh...." Aliarey blinked and got back to just standing there. She scratched the back of her blonde-covered head. Had she not been clear enough with the plan? It was rushed and totally not the best she could have come up with, but it was still something. "Did I miss something?" It was rare for Aliarey to actually feel stupid even if she proved time and time again that she wasn't the brightest bulb in the shed. Now she felt it. Again. Twice in one day.

With that plan out, they were pretty much where they were before Diana got her butt knocked back against the lion guy during the first round. Aliarey blew out a puff of air, causing her blonde bangs to rise up and move aside away from her eyes. Her cerulean eyes had gone back to normal as the spell that had transformed them had ended by choice. They weren't needed anymore really. There was a mess on her face to clean up as a side effect to using that partial take over but that'd have to wait until later. The chain revolver and the cryo pistol were also both dismissed. She needed to get that cat away from the bomb before she could make use of any weapon.

So came the next brilliant idea to cross that mind of hers. Why stop at just using her mobility and teleport tactics? She had plenty of spells that increased her physical strength as well as her magical power and speed. Why not just use them all too? Brilliant! That cat wouldn't stand a chance! Haha! She wouldn't need to use the Draovis droids after all or risk accidentally setting the bomb off with a turret or wild offensive spells. With a snide glance and smile sent towards the Chorda Inquisitor, Aliarey connected with and activated the lacnite technology within her further. The core also mildly awoke to access a portion of its power as well. As a result, Aliarey could feel their energy mixing with her own, increasing different aspects of herself. It was a wonderful feeling.

And with that, Aliarey disappeared and reappeared next to the rebellious Joyan. Credit would be given to her. The Joyan was just as quick naturally and reacted to it by facing where she suspected Aliarey would appear next. The first instinct had been to use her hardened scaled body to deflect any physical blows with ease. It worked the first time. Even the second. And the third. But the scales were beginning to crack while under the enhanced physical assault. They were meant to be strong against normal physical blows and maybe a few magical versions, but the amount of damage they were absorbing right then was a bit outside the durability they had. Add the rapid teleports and mobility into the mix and it was a difficult setup that was starting to make the Chorda Inquisitor go cross-eyed from trying to keep up with the movement. She was stuck on the defensive with very few gaps to break the cycle and retaliate. Even then she too had to be careful or else her power would set the bomb off prematurely as well. Magical offensive tactics were dangerous for both sides.

After what seemed like way too long, the Chorda Inquisitor moved, using her own natural agility to do so. No longer could she allow herself to be that close to the bomb while also allowing that physical onslaught. Her partner wasn't finishing that other mage quick enough so stalling was now out of the question. Any minute now the place would be crawling with the city's defenders. That was a bad move on her part even if she had the intent of immediately switching to the offensive.

The lacnites within Aliarey acted as their own entity. Most of the time they were dormant and harmless. After all, they had never been in a combat scenario where they were truly needed to do much of anything but exist. Aliarey using more of that technology woke them up though. One by one the ones in her body communicated with those that got lost in her requip storage dimension some time ago by using their host's magical link to the place. One by one those lost units answered. They appeared much like a requip would and replicated, starting on her arm and covering it all the way to her hand and going even further than that like a quickly growing limb that was sharper than any spear. The living metal extended, almost too quickly for the Chorda Inquisitor to react in time to avoid a critical blow. She managed to slide and jump away in time. The lacnite limb managed to cut through the rest of the defensive scales and cause harm. A large gash was now there along her midsection, but it was preferable to the actual stab she would have gotten instead if she had stood still. It wouldn't slow her down much.

As the strange metal extension retracted back to the blonde mage, the inquisitor used her own magic. Her legs transformed into those that belonged to the quickest of monster cats and her natural feline Joyan claws became longer, stronger, and much sharper. Now it was her turn to take part in the quick-moving madness. The two would use their speed and mobility to try and get a hit in while also dodging before any harm came to them. It was nearly a stalemate but the Inquisitor was much more used to using her powers than Aliarey was, whose magic was experimental at best. Even she started to slow down and ended up with cuts of her own that narrowly missed being fatal. The healing lacbot was still on Diana and Aliarey couldn't focus enough on it to make it change targets so it'd heal her instead. It wasn't until the lacnites acted on their own again that Aliarey gained a much needed opening. The external lacnites left her body and split apart to orbit around her. They sent out a small pulse that was just large enough to affect someone that came within melee range of Aliarey, which the Chorda Inquisitor did. In that instant the Joyan's active magic was neutralized, leaving her defenseless long enough for the requip mage to act. Which she did, by attacking physically once again and even going as far as to hit her where she had already been wounded previously.

The Chorda Inquisitor screamed and toppled over, hands going to her midsection where the wound was now throbbing even more painfully along with much more bleeding. "No... this is... not..." She didn't bother finishing that sentence. The sounds of several pairs of boots running along the ground could be heard with her sensitive ears. The security for the Symposium was near. It was too late. Unless she could set the bomb off right then. A statement would still be made even if she wasn't there to be a part of the aftermath later. She just had to get to it and set it off. Or find a way to make it go off from where she was. But it was too late for even that. The moment she lifted her hand in an attempt to cast another spell she fell over completely and went into a state of unconsciousness.

That left with no more rebel enemies to deal with. Diana and Aliarey didn't even have to do anything further with them. The Rune Knight security came in and took over that as well as the task of dealing with the bomb that remained. Crisis averted.

(Word Count: 1510
Aliarey Total: 7430)

Diana's Total: 5434
Thread Total: 12,864