The Rose Garden Raid (Fraag)

Normally, Rose Garden was such a lovely place to visit. A location filled to the brim with shops, magic and more shops that one could possibly count. It was a shoppers dream and on any other evening, the streets would no doubt be filled to the brim with people, searching for a bargain, the street lamps illuminating the humans with beautiful magically created lighting. That was not the case tonight, however, as those who had enough sense to stay inside most certainly did so and those visiting the place from elsewhere had quickly dived into the first building that they could find. There was a presence, one far darker than most, who was currently making her way down the main street of the town, her aura radiating with such darkness that it was enough to send a chill down the spines of anyone who felt it. Her reason for being there? That would be revealed in time but for the moment, she was simply embracing the pleasure that came from spreading such fear with so little effort.

Medeia, dressed in her usual combat and rather revealing outfit, had received a rather intriguing letter from a pair of female mages who had sought her aid with a task. A bold decision on their part but the dark being had always appreciated the bold, at least when women were concerned anyway. They had been rather thorough in their research of her and had been able to tantalise her with their use of rather suggestive language. So, despite her natural suspicions that they may be leading her into a trap or something, she had agreed to meet them. In the end, it turned out that her suspicions had been for nought. They had both been rather charming in their own way and once they had explained the situation to her, the angel had rather swiftly agreed to their offer. They needed someone with enough firepower in order to aid them with a theft and the raven haired woman certainly fit that criteria and as soon as they had mentioned that the target of the raid would be a vault of magical artefacts, she was more than motivated enough to accept.

The two mages who had hired her were flanking her, one on either side, both more than ready to get down and dirty themselves.

The one on her left was Maxima, an exceptionally tall, nearly seven foot tall woman who wore a luchadore’s mask with a matching lioness leotard. She was incredibly muscular too and Medeia could not help but glance over towards her now and again. She was cocky and arrogant but she had a fire in her stomach that the witch could not help but admire. The angel had no doubt that she would go far, as long as she kept her ego in check, which was frankly the largest obstacle in any career, let alone one using the magical arts.

On Medeia’s right stood Seles, a petite woman standing no taller than five feet. A quiet character who had barely said a word since the Ace had met her. Like her partner, she was also dressed as a luchadore although her mask and outfit was based more on a wolf, a grey colour. Her build was rather more slim than Maxima’s but her body was well toned, with Medeia having no doubt that she could handle herself in a fight. Still, her quiet nature did give the holy being pause for thought and Medeia could not help but ponder as to what she was thinking. There was a calculating look in those blue eyes.

“I hope you’re ready to see some blood and guts tonight, Angel.” Maxima laughed, a wide smirk crossing her features. “It’s been quite a while since me and Seles have taken on a job this big and we’re both dying to get stuck in. You with me, Seles?”

The other mage simply nodded and replied. “I am. Let’s deal with these fools and claim our reward.” Her voice was little more than a whisper but her blue eyes all but confirmed her agreement.

As the trio walked, a large building came into view at the end of the street. It looked more like a bank than anything and as the three women focused upon it, they prepared themselves for battle. There would be no subtle robbery here, no simple in and out, they would obliterate anyone they met and take the most valuable items they could find. Approaching, a number of human silhouettes soon could be seen, guarding the entrance, apparently aware of what was about to happen. Medeia was unconcerned by that and judging from the body language of her partners, neither were they. Would it make any difference? No. No mere guards could stand in the way of Medeia’s desires.

“Charge!” Maxima yelled, to the amusement of the witch, before charging forwards and leaping straight into the fray. The guards were completely unprepared for such aggression and were soon being suplexed and thrown all over the place by the rampaging lioness. It was beautiful in a savage sort of way and the smirk on Maxima’s face grew wider, the longer the fight went on for..

“She always does that.” Seles uttered with a sigh. “We will clear the way for you, Warlord. Please destroy the defences and show these moronic fools your power.” With that, she would deftly sprint after Maxima and was soon in the battle too, her deft strikes and graceful movements making the guards look like complete amateurs.

Medeia would simply draw her sickle from her back, before walking towards the group as well although rather than fight, she would simply walk through the battle. She trusted the two melee mages enough to know they would handle the situation and not once did any of the guards even get close to harming her. After a few moments, she was on the other side of the brawl and headed towards the large metal door that would be the next hurdle for the trio to jump over. Maybe calling it an obstacle was an overestimate in truth, as the angel simply walked up to the door and delivered a powerful slash with her sickle, the gems on the weapon glowing as she attacked. The force was such that the door was cut in two, allowing the dark haired woman to continue unimpeded. Behind her, the sound of broken bones and screams could be heard as the two luchadores continued to strike the hapless guards.

(1091 Words)

This was Nita’s first visit to the town known as Rose Garden, and she was beginning to feel that this place could very well be one of her favorite places in the whole nation of Fiore. It was quite a beautiful place, but that was not what made it rather enticing to the Luminous Rose mage, for Fiore was a place replete with amazing and marvelous things, a country as beautiful as it was dangerous. The special allure of this place for the Pergrandian mage was the fact that it seemed to be all about magic, from the lightings, to the buildings to the décor, even to the food. Everything, one way or another, was heavily influenced by magic. This might not have been so amazing for those who had lived with magic all their lives, but Nita did not fall into that category. As someone who had grown up without the ability to use magic, and had lived in a place where magic was not only considered strange but evil as well, magic was still such a novel thing for the Pergrandian, even though she was now capable of using it. And it was the versatility of this energy, considered by her own people as malevolent, which made the young mage amazed. The applications of magic were almost infinite, and the study of these applications promised a rather promising and exciting field of endeavor.

For the Pergrandian, study was less of a task and more of a pleasure, and as is done with most activities of leisure, Nita had chosen to perform her learning activities on magic with leisure. And this was why she was presently seated at a table in an open air bistro-like restaurant, enjoying a cup of tea and a few cakes to go along with it. While the average customer would simply buy the food because it was food, and meant to be eaten, Nita had bought the items she currently had before her, in order to study them. Of course, eating was the most important part of the study, and would come last in the study curriculum, the first part of the study being physical observation. For all intents and purposes, the cakes looked quite natural, though the tea was anything but. It was opalescent in color, which was certainly not what normal tea looked like, and every drop seemed to have been imbued with a thousand miniature rainbows. Nita was of the present opinion that this drink alone could be studied for days, but sadly, her enjoyment was extremely short-lived.

She seemed to feel the miasma, just at the same time as everyone else, who quickly hurried indoors, packing whatever they could and leaving that which they couldn’t. Although Nita had a hotel room which she had booked, she wondered what people who had no place to hide in would do. For a moment, the blonde mage sat alone at her table, then downed her tea in one gulp and rose to her feet. If the look of the multi-hued tea was wonderful, the taste was to the tongue what the sight was to the eyes. Unfortunately though, there was very little time to savor such an amazing drink. The Pergrandian sighed. She would have to investigate this case, whatever it was. It did not take too long for her to use her magic to pinpoint the location of the origin of this dark energy she felt. It was most likely another mage. That was enough to make the taste of the tea in Nita’s mouth sour. In a basic sense, it had been abuse of magic that had caused the pogroms that created the virtual genetic extinction of magic in Ishgar’s largest nation. It was such a pity that people never learned from the past. Until the end of time, people would still abuse magic, and most of them did so simply because they could. It was things like this that irritated Nita to no end. Using her Blink, the Luminous Rose mage vanished in a puff of runes and black smoke.

“Are you having fun, Seles?” Maxima yelled in glee, after chokeslamming an unfortunate guard who had been stupid enough not to get out of her way. The wolf-garbed villainess rolled her eyes. “We’d be much faster if you’d focus on the—Maxima, look out!” There was too little time for Seles’ giant of a partner to respond before Nita appeared in the air in a puff of runes and darkness and spun, performing a graceful flying spin kick which sent Maxima barreling away to crash into a pile of rubble. The Pergrandian turned to look at Seles, an annoyed expression on her face. Despite the fact that she knew that neither Maxima nor Seles was responsible for the dark power she had felt, Nita wanted to deal with them first. It would be just horrible if she ended up having to deal with two flies when the bigger threat was engaging her. “If she’s Maxima, you must be Minima. And let me guess, your team is called Extrema or something, right?” The only response Nita got was a raised eyebrow. “Seriously?” the blonde Pergrandian gasped, a look of disbelief on her face, ”the largest and smallest value of a mathematical function? You’ve never heard of that? Yeesh! What do they teach kids these days?”

Maxima burst forth from where she had been flung, looking as enraged as could be. “Who’s the idiot that dares--?” Her eyes fell on Nita, and she paused. “A runt?” The blonde mage’s brows furrowed as her eyes widened in annoyance. “Me? Runt?! Who’re you calling ‘runt’ you over--” she suddenly paused in apparent shock, then slowly tuned to look at Seles. “Impossible.…” she said, seemingly flabbergasted. Then with a whoop of joy, the Pergrandian began to dance. The two luchadoras watched with disbelief as she gyrated to a tune only she could hear. Then she ended in a cute but slightly comical pose, a satisfied smile on her face. “And what was that about?” Seles asked, crossing her arms. “Oh nothing,” Nita replied, seeming to calm down, before she shrieked with pure delight, “except for the fact that YOU’RE SHORTER THAN ME!!! Oh happy day!” Maxima had taken this time to sneak behind the rejoicing blonde mage, before springing to grab at her. “Gotcha, you annoying--” But Nita simply evaded the lioness-themed wrestler, so that Maxima almost stumbled into Seles. The two villainesses would look to see Nita holding two technologically impressive looking staffs, which fused to form a large shoulder-mounted cannon. “Oh sh--” Maxima began.


Without waiting for them to respond, Nita pulled the trigger, engulfing the two in the blast from her SCRam Cannon. “Sorry, but I have bigger fish to fry.” She was sure the owner of that nasty miasma would be aware of her presence. Now to bring that mastermind to reckoning, whoever they were.


WC: 1153
TWC: 2244

It appeared that there was far more loot inside the building than the witch had been informed about and as she glanced up to see levels upon levels of vaults, her eyebrows rose too. This was more than just a vault, it was a warehouse of them, housing more items than the dark being could probably count. The entire town's supply of stock must have been in there and as Medeia pondered about what the value of the warehouse in total must be, she began to focus on her magical senses, attempting to pinpoint the vault which radiated with the most power. The wrestling duo had spoken at great length about the quality of the items that they sought, rare and precious weapons, devices and tools made by the darkest of individuals. Curious to be hiding such things in the middle of such a friendly town, she mused and the raven haired woman assumed that either the people of the town were unaware of just what the warehouse housed or they were arrogant enough to believe that they could prevent a dark mage such as herself from acquiring them. The owners of the warehouse would certainly come to regret their decision, regardless of the reasons for doing it.

Her senses soon picked up on a rather ominous source of darkness based magic and the angel wasted no time in heading in that direction, her sickle lightly held in her right hand in case there were any further guards. The hope of them defeating her was zero of course and any fool stupid enough to try and face her would soon discover that. There were still sounds of battle coming from behind but as Medeia moved deeper into the warehouse, they soon faded into insignificance for the time being. Her partners had spoken so confidently that they could defeat any foe and so she would let them prove themselves rather than do all the hard work for them. They would not learn anything if she carried them, after all and Maxima for one definitely needed to learn a lesson or two regarding her anger and arrogance. Yes, the lioness grappler was lovely and bold but she was rather stubborn too. Perhaps taking a few hits would be good for her.

Unfortunately for both herself and the imbeciles that began approaching her at that point, it seemed that she was not going to have a nice and simple stroll towards the artifacts. Her slayer enhanced senses were rather swift to pick up on any human and she most definitely became aware of them quicker than they had anticipated. Her right arm rose and her grip on the sickle tightened, as about half a dozen more guards came into view. Each one was wielding a blade of some kind and unlike the ones guarding the outside, these seemed to be more seasoned. They seemed surprisingly unafraid of her too and as the six men came into the light, they each raised their blade, resulting in the weapons to start shining with a different element.

“It is futile for you to stand in my way.” Medeia uttered irritably, completely uninterested in the fighting force before her. “You will not be able to push me back one step, let alone force me to leave. Do not waste my time and simply withdraw. Make any aggressive movement and I will slaughter all of you.”

One of the guards stepped forwards and replied in a rather smug tone. “Slaughter all of us? I find that rather hard to believe. One mage against the six of us? Spare me the false bravado and just surrender to us. The authorities can deal with…”

His words were violently cut off as Medeia’s weapon struck him in the temple, before returning to her head like a boomerang. The attack had not even appeared to have been that powerful but such was the natural raw power of the witch, the guard instantly collapsed, bleeding from the head, lying motionlessly on the warehouse floor.

“A fitting fate for a male with an ego.” The Warlord uttered coldly, her sickle shining with magical power. “Now get out of my sight.”

With that, she slammed her sickle into the ground which unleashed a powerful blast of natural energy that ripped through the remainder of the guards, setting them ablaze, as well as launching them away from Medeia. A powerful spell although all of hers were and easily enough to deal with the remaining guards, leaving them to lie alongside the first one who had fallen. The Ace felt no sympathy towards them and without sparing them a single glance, she would resume in her search, stepping over them without a care in the world. They could blame their wounds on bad luck, the gods or the fool who had started the fight, it mattered not to her.

It was only after the brief confrontation that she sensed another presence, one that was not only familiar but also the complete opposite of her own. One that radiated with light rather than darkness. A smile crossed Medeia’s features then and whatever irritation she had felt towards the guards was swiftly replaced with another emotion. It had not been all that long since she had last come across the owner of the magical signature and had been a rather entertaining encounter to say the least. Maxima and Seles would certainly struggle against Nita and the dark haired woman assumed that the blonde would soon come after her too. Amused by the notion, Medeia increased her pace, as though she was trying to escape from the Luminous Rose mage. The truth could not have been any more different in fairness but with such a lovely chaser, how could she not take the opportunity to toy around with Nita a little more? She did not consider the legal mage to be an enemy as such and they had hardly left on bad terms the last time around.

This job was going to be far more entertaining than she had thought.

(1010 Words)
(2101 PWC)
(3254 TWC)

As the powerful shoulder-mounted cannon deconstructed into its constituent nanobots and reformed into the two technomatic omnistaffs which Nita gripped, all seemed quiet before her, as the dust from the SCRam cannon's electromagnetic grenade shell slowly settled. The SCRam cannon was quite impressive bit of technology. Nita made a mental note to consider using that weapon more often, never mind the fact that it was actually designed to be more of an anti tank designed artillery. But a good number of mages were strong enough to make tanks seem like a joke, and Nita had rightly judged that Maxima and Seles would not be too fazed if they had had to face a tank. Hence the feeling of satisfaction from making a good judgment call. She could sense the forms of the two villainous luchadoras lying where they they had been flung by the blast. That was good. She knew they were still alive, but they appeared to be down and out for the count. This way, there wouldn't be any annoying distractions or inconvenient interruptions that would occur when she took on whoever was powering this troublesome heist. There seemed to be the sounds fighting deeper within the building from which Nita could sense the dark presence that she needed to focus her attention on.

There was a burst of dust and flying debris, and Maxima was behind the blonde Pergrandian, and arm already cocked to throw a blow quite capable of demolishing a concrete wall. “Don't think such a little amount of fuss would be enough to take down the great Lioness, you little bitch!” the enraged giantess roared, as she flung the punch. Without turning to face her, Nita simply stepped out of the way, the blow missing her by just a few inches. Without allowing Maxima to recoil, the Luminous Rose mage spun, lashing out with one of the technostaffs, which slammed into Maxima's knee, sweeping her left leg out from under her. As the luchadora found herself being forced to take a knee, her descending jaw connected with Nita's foot, as the latter blitzed her with a graceful somersaulting kick. The force of the kick lifted Maxima off the ground and sent her smashing into a wall. “You should stay down, Brachiosaurus. You're only making it more painful for yourself,” Nita said with a sneer, before turning to the entrance of the building that had been opened wide by the magic of these criminals. A vein popped on Maxima's head as she rose to her feet. “Who're you calling Brachiosaurus, you pretty little shit?” the Lioness growled, rising to her feet. “If it will make you feel any better before I smash your doll face in, I hope you know that burial costs are cheaper for shorter people.” With that, she charged at the Pergrandian, this time attempting to tackle her.

“Noted and filed under the 'Absolutely Useless Information' folder,” Nita replied, leaping over the giantess, much to the latter's amazement. “And while I've sometimes felt the pain at not being as tall as I'd have loved, it is a far more acceptable existence than having so much of your biological matter used up in growth that there wasn't enough for cerebral neurons.” The insult was punctuated with a heeled stomp, which brought Maxima crashing headfirst into the road. There was a grunt, and the Lioness remained still. Nita waited to see if Maxima would attempt to rise and try to fight again. After all, her likes were of the sort to have so much pride in their abilities that being knocked down only made them more willing to get up, until they were knocked out for good. There was no response from the wrestling amazon. The Pergrandian snorted daintily, a derisive expression on her face, before she turned to Seles. The She Wolf remained unmoving. Seemed like things were settled here. Now it was time to take on the big bad. Nita hoped whoever it was wouldn't be much of a challenge, seeing as she had some cake to get back to sampling. However, there was another side that was hoping for a fight. Her little skirmish with Maxima had excited the Luminous Rose mage, or at least the part of her that bore the Aspect of Strife. With a burst of runes and darkness, she was gone.

After about four seconds, Seles rose to her feet, a disgusted look on her face, as she walked over to where Maxima lay. “I did warn you, you overgrown idiot,” she said, squatting beside her partner. “That girl is a cut above the usual idiots pretending to be heroes. With that cannon attack thing, you should have known that she was going to be trouble.” Maxima sat up, not at all knocked out and looking very pissed. “Lay off on the insults, Short Stuff. Nothing will give me more pleasure than twisting that bitch into submission as she begs for mercy.” Seles shook her head. “That, my dear, is a very unlikely possibility, unless we play it smart.” Maxima looked at her expectantly, waiting to hear the plan. “Haven't you figured it out? What do you think Medeia's part in this whole plan was?” Maxima shrugged. “I'm not totally sure; bringing her along was your idea, and although I'm not complaining, the only reason I agreed to inviting her was to see at the end of the day who would outlast whom in--.” Seles placed a hand on her partner's lips with a chuckle. “Let's save the naughty talk for the bedroom. Inviting Medeia to handle this place's defenses includes any pesky people we'd not be able to deal with. Like that blonde skank. I'm sure she's gone to face Medeia now, and while I'm not worried about our Warlord's ability to deal with her, we can still attempt to surprise her, creating an opportunity for Medeia to attack her if she hasn't already. So, let's proceed quietly and cautiously from here on.” Maxima sighed. “That's why you're the brains, Seles. The world was so much simpler when everything could be solved by a piledriver....”

Meanwhile, Nita's calculation of the trajectory of her teleport was perfect, for as she puffed into existence, who would be rounding the corner but Medeia herself. As she saw her opponent, the Pergrandian's eyes widened with recognition, and her face slowly turned red as she remembered Talonia. “Oh! Oh no. I mean, hi. It's been quite a while, hasn't it, Medeia? Yeah, so seeing you're somewhat of a reasonable person, I don't suppose we have to fight, right? If we can settle things peacefully like last time, that would be splendid. So while I'm not overly enthusiastic about it, can I persuade you to leave if you-- if um--” she stumbled over the words, rather flustered, as she remembered the details of why she had eventually not fought the dark angel. Clearing her throat and trying to look annoyed despite the telltale redness of her face, the Luminous Rose mage blurted out, “you know what? Forget I said anything. What do you want here?”


WC: 1183
PWC: 2336
TWC: 4437

The trail of dark magic became stronger over time and Medeia did not have to try all that hard to find the way. There were definitely some rather potent devices and the angel’s mind began to drift as to just what the people of the town were hoarding. Rose Garden was hardly a militarial place, after all and Medeia mused that perhaps the owners of the items were simply selfish and desired to make a profit. Well, that was most definitely not going to happen now and by the time the angel was done, there would be nothing but an enormous mess for them to deal with. Of course, simply keeping such items was dangerous and the dark being had seen for herself just what could happen if used by someone who was too weak willed to command such things. Items of darkness could ravage the mind and enslave a soul so easily, traits that Medeia found quite appealing to be honest, ones that were quite similar to her magic. She did adore having control above all else and there was nothing that gave her more satisfaction than that.

After a few minutes and coming to what seemed to be the hundredth turning, Medeia would take a left and continue with her search, the source of the darkness seeming to be at the end of the corridor. Yet, before she could take more than a few steps, another source of magic seemed to block her path and after a moment or two, a very familiar figure appeared in front of her. A smile flashed across the angel’s face at the sight of the beautiful blonde and her sickle, still held in her right hand, was returned to her back for the time being. The dark mage did not wish to harm the lovely woman before her, given how their previous encounter had ended and the raven haired woman hoped that perhaps there was a way to avoid a fight. Despite her wish though, Medeia was rather sceptical of that happening this time. No doubt Maxima nor Seles would desire revenge against the legal mage for beating them and the angel had no intention of alienating either of them. They were her partner for the day and even a being such as herself knew that there was a code of conduct of sorts. Medeia had signed on to aid them with their task and their enemies were her enemies for now.

That being said, Medeia would have to admit that she found it rather difficult to view Nita as such and considering the look on the beautiful blonde’s face, the difficulty only increased. The Luminous Rose mage clearly remembered their last meeting and the tone of her voice resulted in Medeia’s smile widening slightly, her purple eyed gaze becoming playful. A familiar look indeed and one that Nita would no doubt recognise. On any other day, she would have pushed the blonde into continuing with her first thoughts, as she was indeed curious as to what Nita would offer her, in return for the robbery ending then and there. Medeia had a hunch, of course she did, one that naturally had to do with a short but pleasurable touching of lips. It was written all over Nita’s face and her expression was so adorable that a chuckle escaped from her. The blonde was far more naive than Medeia had originally thought and it had only been at the end of their previous encounter that she had discovered that.

“Hello to you too, Nita.” She replied in an amused tone. “As much as I would love for us to come to a sweet solution to our predicament, I am afraid that it is not an option this time around. I am on the job today, you see, a task that requires me to acquire some items from one of the storage areas here and I would hate to let down the two lovely ladies who hired me. Judging from the ruckus outside, I am going to assume that you have already met dear Maxima and Seles. I hope that you did not injure them too severely, my dear, otherwise there will be trouble. They are under my protection and I have become rather fond of them, even if Maxima is a little spirited.”

Looking beyond Nita for a moment, she would nod her head briefly towards the direction of the dark aura. “I believe the equipment that I seek is just down this corridor and I am afraid that one way or another, you are going to have to stand aside and let me retrieve it. I am not certain as to just what these items are but I can sense the darkness that emanates within them from here. They will be of great use to both myself and the lovely tag team who so dearly wish to increase their strength. Better we have them then leave them to rot in this warehouse, yes? I can guarantee you that they will be treated with all the love and care that they deserve. I do adore such artefacts and no matter how many I find, the appeal of them never dies.”

As her gaze returned to the blonde, she would briefly look over the beautiful legal mage and then speak again. “If I remember rightly, I mentioned last time that I have a habit of flying off with those that I find appealing and if you are unwilling to stand aside…I believe that will be what will happen today. I want what it is in that room and if you do not move then I will take you with us and you can spend some time in our company. Maxima and Seles have rather devious minds and I am not sure if they will be as gentle as me, especially after you took it upon yourself to beat them up. They seem like the vengeful type and no doubt you picked up on that while fighting them."

(1004 Words)
(3105 PWC)
(5441 TWC)

As Nita had expected, Medeia seemed happy to see her, that naughty smile appearing on the dark angel's face. The Errings Rising Ace had even placed the large sickle weapon that she wielded on her back, quite the opposite of an aggressive response. While a part of Nita was hopeful that Medeia was not so interested in fighting her, she couldn't help but wonder if this wasn't just a ploy to lure the Luminous Rose mage into a false sense of security before attacking. The truth was that while Nita did not particularly hold any hard feelings towards Medeia, she was quite content to not let there be a repeat of the happenings that had concluded her interaction with the dark angel back in Solemn Park. And Medeia had certainly not come here to look for trouble as had been the case back then in Talonia. It was more likely that the Errings Rising mage was here on a mission, with something to steal, if not someone to kill. Seeing that it was Rose Garden of all places, where so many magical items were to be found, Nita was more willing to go with the fallen angel being here because something of interest was here.

As Medeia explained her purpose for being in Rose Garden, it revealed that Nita's speculation as to why the dark mage was here was correct. And despite the fact that she was right, the realization did not please her. As a matter of fact, even if Medeia had not come here to steal, Nita would still not have been pleased. Because in the usual 'light vs darkness' scenario, Medeia would have to be the offensive, and she would be defensive. Even in sports, defense had more disadvantages. Sometimes, Nita felt irritated about the way life seemed to have been balanced. It was even like that in video games. While the baddies had rather simple and straight forward missions like assassination of a target or stealing an item (come to think of it, wasn't this very much like a video game scenario?), the good guys had the irritating missions like 'Defend the Castle Mob', and said mob would be extremely stupid and seemingly desirous to die, with the way said mob seemed to engage its really defective intelligence by giving the baddies all available opportunities to attack. In any case, Medeia wanted to get some items, and Nita did not want her to. It seemed rather straightforward, and if it remained as straightforward as this, the Luminous Rose mage was very sure she would not complain.

"Well, this is very heartbreaking," the blonde mage replied in mock disappointment, losing to the temptation of not taking things so seriously. "I'd never imagined that you would decide to choose two strangers over me. I'm so hurt. Did our meeting in Solemn Park not have any value at all? You are too cruel, Medeia. Too too cruel." She shook her head. "But heartbreaks and betrayals aside, your demand that I stand aside is very reprehensible. Think about people other than yourself for once!" Now on hearing that, it was likely that any listener would suppose that Nita's chastising words were aimed at Medeia because the latter had invaded this storehouse without a care for the lives of those who had been commissioned to protect it. Such listeners did not know a thing about Nita Fortune. Sure, she felt it was wrong for Medeia to have come here the way she had, but she knew from observation and experience that if talking was enough to put down the baddies, Earthland would have been a much more peaceful and happy place. Nita's next words simply proved that she was being humorous. "I mean, do you know what would happen to my reputation if I just walked away and left you here to do whatever you wanted? Shame on you."

The Pergrandian mage closed her eyes and huffed, as though letting go of the disappointment, and then fixed her gaze once more on the beautiful villainess before her. "In any case, this looks like a very uncomplicated thing to consider. You want to take things that don't belong to you, and my mama said that it's only bad children that take things that don't belong to them. And that is why, Medeia dear, you need a spanking, and a thorough one at that." There was a pause, as Nita seemed to consider something. "I think I'm gonna need a preeeeeety big paddle, though." Yes, there was the potential for all that to sound dirty. No, Nita had absolutely no idea about that. Her body posture became more alert, as the blonde mage prepared to attack, and then she suddenly threw up her hands in exasperation. "By everything that is just and good, don't you fools know death when you see it? You should just run away and hide!" It was very likely that Medeia would have detected the two guards trying to sneak to a vantage position from which to attack the dark angel. Since their cover had been blown by Nita's rant, the two men revealed themselves from behind the next turning in the corridor behind Medeia, although one of them seemed genuinely displeased that they had been called out.

"You should have just kept talking, instead of just screwing up our chance of surprising that thief, you stupid little hussy," the aggrieved guard said. Nita turned and looked at him, her hands resting akimbo on her hips as she had an ironic smile of utter incredulity on her face. "Stupid little--?" But the second guard, who seemed to be of inferior rank seemed to have noted something important, which he was in the process of letting his superior know. "Um sir, she may be right. I don't think we have any chance against that woman. I recognize her face from the news. Fiorean security termed her the Warlord of..." there was a pause, "...Lust." Even in the not so bright corridor, the first guard's facial color change was very obvious, as he turned his ashen countenance to his companion. "Eh?" was all he could dumbly say.

"Ah good," Nita chimed in, "at least your friend still has a great proportion of his brain cells still metabolizing. Now both of you, if you want to have a tomorrow to experience, just turn and keep running. And don't stop for-- wait, did you just say Warlord?!!" Nita stared at Medeia wide-eyed. Yes, to say that Medeia was dangerous was an understatement. But the most persistent thing at present in Nita's brain was the thought of the stupid mobs that always seemed to want to test how quickly the villain in the game could kill them. But this was real life, not a game. These weren't mobs, but people with real faces and names and loved ones. Okay, the first gut that spoke had a rather stupid face (maybe that was just Nita being biased), but still a life. And thus existed the obligation to protect them if she could.

"Ah, shit. I mean, congratulations?"


WC: 1182
PWC: 3518
TWC: 6623

There were very few who could amuse the witch as greatly as Nita and Medeia simply smiled once more as the blonde made light of the situation. It was not exactly difficult to tell that the legal mage was playing around up to a point and the dark haired angel had no real problem with it. They both knew what their roles were in the game of life and Medeia was as likely to make fun of them as the blonde was. However, she still had a job to do and as much as she wished that she could pause the task she had been given and instead fool around with the blonde, her work came first. Still, she was hardly irritated by the Pergrande woman’s words regarding her getting in the way although the thought of possibly having to forcibly move her was rather unpleasant. There seemed to be little option unfortunately and as the blonde's posture changed, Medeia’s did too, her hands beginning to channel with magical energy. Maybe she could just knock the blonde out and fly off with her? An intriguing thought and one that was certainly more pleasing to her than having to deal serious damage to her opposite number.

Just as things were about to step up a notch, Medeia’s slayer enhanced senses picked up on the two figures hiding behind her and the smile that had been on her face vanished in a moment. She did not have to turn around to detect that they were male and that was enough to annoy her immensely. Had they not seen the other half a dozen guards that she had removed already? The idiocy of men and their ridiculously sized egos. By stepping in, they had sealed their own fates and the restraint that she had towards Nita would most certainly not apply to them. They were going to lose their lives, here and now. The fact that one of them seemed more intelligent than the other meant little to her. They had made a grievous error and as usual, it would fall to Medeia to correct it.

She was ominously silent during the exchange between the blonde and the guards and it was only afterwards that she spoke, not even looking at the two men, her gaze still on Nita. “Well, there goes my surprise. Yes, the government of Fiore decided that I had made enough of a nuisance of myself to become a Warlord, a curious title to be sure but one that I am quickly becoming used to. I rather like it to be honest and I am sure that I will be able to live up to the responsibility, if I can even call it that. Doing whatever I wish is hardly that.” A chuckle escaped her at that point but it was the type that could cause the hair to stand up on the back of one's neck.

“That being said, I can hardly sully my own reputation, can I?” She continued after a moment's pause. “If anyone is going to be dishing out a spanking here, it is me but I appreciate the fact that you have started to indulge in such things. I guess our little encounter in Solemn Park affected you more than I had thought. Has Ms.Fortune been teaching you her dirty secrets?” It was a double jibe, both at Nita and her other half but there was something in the witch’s tone, as dark as it was, to suggest that she was being humorous. “When this has all been settled, I will have to see just how much she has taught you.” Filthy but what more could be expected from the Warlord of Lust?

It was only then that she turned slightly so that she could see the two guards. “You two, however, will not have that pleasure. If you know anything about me then you will know that I have no tolerance for men and for disrupting my mission, you will have to be punished for it. Your fellow guards are already laying all over the warehouse and I see no reason as to why you should not join them. In fact, since you claim to know about my position, perhaps you also know of this?”

Pulling one of her books from her belt, Medeia would fondly caress the cover. “When I became a Warlord I discovered this book, one that can only be wielded by an individual who thrives in the dark. It is a most lovely item and I adore the power that thrives from it. I doubt you two can feel it, as feeble as you are but the spell that this book houses will turn you two into dust. I have not used it before but I truly desire to now. This is the power of the Apocrypha of Obscurity, experience it and perish. Know what it means to get in the way of the Warlord Of Lust.”

The angel knew that the force of the spell would cause severe damage to the warehouse that they were in but Medeia was confident that she could control the power of the book. This was no weak spell and ranked in the top four of five, or at least that was what she would say. A spell created for a single purpose, to slaughter all those she deemed her enemy.

Taking a breath, the dark mage would start to utter an incantation, in a language that was as old as time itself. As she spoke, the tome rose into the air, before opening and starting to flick through the pages, evil magic beginning to swirl around the book. Medeia began to shine with energy too, her powers seeming to join with the books, a warning that pure hell was about to be released. Only then did the mage turn completely, so that she was facing the guards head on. They were both paralysed completely by fear, eyes drawn to the pulsating book, unable to move a muscle out of fright, knowing the end was coming.

Time was short and the moment of destruction would soon come.

(1024 Words)
(4129 PWC)
(7647 TWC)

It seemed like Fiore had a place of ‘honor’, not just for the virtuous folk but for the baddies as well. Nita had interacted with a Wizard Saint before, the first she recognized to have met, if her memory was working properly. And between seeming like a really nice fellow, and his disposition to heroics, these seemed to have made him available for such a position. As such, it was reasonable to surmise that someone treading the opposite path was going to be flagged. The Pergrandian had to admit that the name seemed like a title. Very likely that some of the baddies would probably be trying to tick off as many wicked things in their ‘evil to-do list’, in order to get the attention of the authorities and get a title such as that. In any case, ‘Warlord’ sounded badass, and the blonde mage felt slightly annoyed that having such a bad reputation would result in earning such an apparently prestigious title. She had to hand it to Medeia though, if she were to go by the dark angel’s words, that the Errings Rising Ace did not really give a damn about the appellation. In any case, she seemed unwilling to live unworthy of the name.

Once again, Medeia steered the conversation towards dirty matters, although Nita was not without blame in that regard, seeing as she was the one who brought up the idea of spanking. She actually had no idea what the more lascivious meaning of the word meant, but she would be lying if she said that she had no idea of what was on Medeia’s mind, judging from the naughty expressions and the wordings that the dark mage was using. ”Wh--what on earth are you talking about?” the Pergrandian asked, trying to channel the outrage she felt into anger, although she wasn’t particularly successful. ”I haven’t started indulging in any untoward or improper behavior. Our encounter in Solemn Park didn’t teach me anything… except that I do have to be extra careful whenever you’re around. And ‘Ms. Fortune’ hasn’t been teaching me her—dirty secrets. If you must know, as my full name is Nita Fortune, I bear the right to be referred to as Ms. Fortune, so there. And as for the… usurper who took advantage of a moment of weakness in order to surface, I can only say that I have taken great pains to curtail such reprehensible behavior, and prevent it from repeating itself. And at least I can say this with some level of satisfaction that your interest in seeing what naughty things I have learned will leave you very disappointed.”

Unfortunately, though, as Nita had known, simply talking with Medeia would not keep the attention of the dark angel away from the unfortunate guards who had dared show their faces, and thus seal their fates. Because although Medeia was a rather lustful creature, Nita had been quick to realize that her opponent wasn’t the sort to get easily distracted. Remembering their interaction in Talonia, how the fallen angel had kept returning to her ability to harm the bystanders in the park, despite all Nita’s attempts to make herself the angel’s focus, Nita had been afraid that it was just a matter of time before the hapless guards found themselves at the focus of Medeia’s attention, something, as the dark angel had pointed out, that would not be good at all for them. And there was one thing Nita was sure of: most baddies didn’t even have anything such as scruples, and Medeia was most likely not an exception. If Nita attempted to appeal to mercy, of which she was sure Medeia had none, she was sure that the dark angel would simply attempt to use the opportunity to debase her, and if this debasement was entertaining enough, the guards might be able to escape with their lives, although there was nothing preventing the dark angel from killing them, even after being entertained by the groveling of a virtuous soul. All that was left was to take action, to attempt to save the lives of the guards. That would be her primary focus. Oh, there was also the problem of fighting Medeia. Nita decided to take everything in stride.

The book Medeia pulled from her belt most definitely looked like a classic textbook of evil. Just looking at it was enough to give Nita the creeps, although there was that part of her that was quite eager to see what details were stored within the pages of that unholy manuscript, the Apocrypha of Obscurity, as it had been named, and a rather catchy name it was too. In any case, the contents of the book were a secondary issue. As Medeia began chanting the incantation, Nita could feel a very dark and oppressive power emanating from the book, as its pages flipped untouched, turned by some unseen eldritch hand. As someone who was proud of her own magic talents (okay, not very proud, because a part of her resented how she had come by it, and the influence it had on her), Nita could boast that she had knowledge of powerful spells, but the power she could feel radiating from this evil book was something she had not felt before. She spun on her heel, even as she blinked out of the material plane and back into it in the space of less than a heartbeat, to reappear facing Medeia, now standing between the dark mage and her quarry. The spell was already being cast; it was unlikely it could be prevented from being unleashed now, and while Nita was fine with serving as a body shield for the guards, if the spell was wide-ranged (which was very likely, seeing as Medeia had few things to lose by rampaging here), the blonde mage’s sacrificial intention would be of no use. She had no choice. She had to use that spell.

Nita began to glow, even as the Apocrypha of Obscurity turned of its own accord to face her and the shivering guards behind her. At first, it was a gentle light golden glow, but it quickly intensified into something fiercer, as holy light radiated from the young Pergrandian. ”Both of you, run!” she called out, as she held up her left hand. The paralyzing fear that had held the two men in its grip seemed to be broken by the holy ardor that emanated from Nita, and they broke into a run, returning the way they came as swiftly as possible. But it would not be swift enough to escape the looming threat of impending death. From the pages of the Apocrypha, a blast of pure energy erupted, which would have killed the guards in a split second, had it touched them. The blast however rushed to connect with Nita’s open palm, and there was a bright flash of light, and all was calm. There was no sign of the destructive blast that had been set to wreak havoc only a second ago. Nita had managed to use her strongest spell, the Seal of Doom, to ‘doom’ the attack and erase it from existence, but at what cost?

Her knees wobbled slightly, but the stalwart Pergrandian forced them to hold. That spell was not cast so trivially. Her breath came out in short pants. ”Let them go,” the Luminous Rose mage said. ”If it will make you feel better, they will go out there and you’re your praises… and also mention that a stupid little hussy saved them.” Yes, it was a disease; Nita could hardly ever be serious, and in the rare moment she did become serious, she could hardly remain in that state for long.


WC: 1285
PWC: 4803
TWC: 8932

There was a small part of Medeia that hoped that Nita would simply let her attack but it was a long shot to put it mildly. A chance for heroics had shown itself and as the dark being had learned rather well by now, it was an opportunity that a mage of high moral standing just could not let pass. So, as the blonde appeared in front of her and attempted to negate the spell of her book, the raven haired woman could only smile, far too absorbed in her incantation to stop. The two spells would clash in a lovely display of light and darkness, resulting in the beam of energy that the item had fired to vanish into thin air. It was rather disappointing that she had been unable to see the damage that she could deal with her new book but it was only a momentary regret. The time would come when she would be able to set it off properly and truthfully, it had taken a rather potent spell of Nita’s to stop it. The angel could tell that from the shaking of the legal mage’s knees. Whatever she had cast had taken a toll.

Was she annoyed that the guards had escaped? Somewhat but the fact that they were out of her sight was a pleasant one and for the moment, she was willing to let them go. If she ever ran into them again, there would be no mercy but for now they would survive. Of course, they might just end up running into her partners, who the dark being was certain would be looking for a scrap after losing to Nita. No doubt they would love the chance to bust out a few wrestling moves on the hapless idiots and Medeia pondered if perhaps she and the duo should cause a little more damage, one the job was done. A celebration maybe. That, however, was a thought that she had to push aside for now. The job was not done and the beautiful woman before her seemed adamant about not letting her get her way. The Ace had to admit that she was reminded of someone else for a moment. Another legal mage that she had met recently, one who was equally as desperate to save lives, a green haired woman who actually wished to become a true hero. A noble goal in its own way, she mused but not an easy one with beings such as herself around.

The book would drop at this point, its power used up for the time being and Medeia gently plucked it from the air and returned it to its rightful place at her hip. As disappointing as the result might have been, she had learned one important detail. The book recognised her as its mistress, which pleased her no end. It would be a useful tool in her travels and lethal to all those who could not escape its wrath. Of course, she had plenty of other weapons and spells at her disposal and she was hardly defenseless. One spell hardly made a dent in her magical reserves and she was already beginning to come up with a plan of attack, even if in the back of her mind she hoped that perhaps she would not need to harm Nita that badly. She was such a delightful soul. In fact, as her attention returned fully upon the legal mage again, whatever irritation that had been in her purple gaze had seemed to fizzle out. Her thoughts were returning back to the playful and mischievous.

“Congratulations. You successfully saved those hapless fools for the time being but at what cost?” Her tone was curious and as she tried to get a read, her eyes naturally drifted for a moment, as though she believed she could tell that from a mere glance. Well, that was one description anyway, in truth she just could not keep her eyes off of Nita. “If I cast another spell with the same amount of power behind it…could you negate that? As intrigued as I am to find out the answer for myself, perhaps I will leave that for another day. I would hate to destroy what I have come all this way to acquire, after all and a proper fight between us would no doubt bring this building down on our heads.”  

She took a step forward and continued after a moment. “So, now that you have saved those two, is your desire to be a hero satisfied for now? Will you just step aside and allow me to retrieve what I seek? I have already told you what will happen if you do not and as much as I would love to share some quality time with you, I will give you a chance to walk away. I will tell you now that it is an option that I rarely offer but you are such a dear that I cannot help but feel charitable. We have so much in common, after all.” It was hard to deny after their conversation the last time they had met and although Medeia was partly teasing the blonde, there was a hint of truth too.

She briefly sighed then and chuckled. “It is such a shame that we cannot end this with a kiss like last time. You are a good kisser, Nita, if a little inexperienced and I was hoping that we would get to do it again one day. Still, if you refuse my offer and do not stand aside, I suppose I will have the time to teach you once I carry you back to my hideout.” A win win scenario for the dark haired mage but just as she was about to finish her latest musings, she added. “By the way, do me a favour and slap the next person who calls you a hussy. Scumbags such as those guards should not treat you in such a way and the only way they will learn is if you force them to. The last male who referred to me as such most certainly regretted his decision.”

(1025 Words)
(5154 PWC)
(9958 TWC)

While Nita had been able to successfully negate the ominous spell from the Apocrypha of Obscurity, she could not help but feel a surge of alarm when Medeia asked what she would do, if the dark angel decided to release another spell of a similarly powerful magnitude. Nita was inwardly praying that this was most certainly not going to be the case, that Medeia had used her strongest spell in her arsenal, in a bid to play a mind game of dominance, and frighten the Pergrandian maiden into surrender with the possibility of having other such spells tucked away somewhere and waiting to be used. But deep down, the Luminous Rose mage knew that this was most likely not the case. After all, someone who had been recognized by Fiore, enough for the person to have been given a fancy title, would most certainly have more spells that were worthy enough to, as Medeia had so aptly put it, ‘live up to the responsibility’ of owning that name. But Nita could not show that she was afraid, and so simply replied by giving a curtsy. ”You flatter me, milady,” she said with a demure smile. ”If you decided to cast another spell with similar devastating effect, I suppose it would be just reasonable for me to faint, and hope that you wouldn’t be so dastardly as to hurt an innocent, defenseless maiden. But I’m glad you realize that a fight between us would be rather displeasing to the both of us in the long run.”

Medeia stepped forward, asking whether Nita would step aside and allow her to go on ahead and get whatever it was she had come here to get. In response, Nita simply teleported again, to reappear where she had formerly been standing when she had come face to face with the dark angel, blocking the way forward with her petite frame. Medeia was as prudent as she was powerful, and Nita was sure that another person would have probably assumed that Nita was at her rope’s end, and simply turned to walk off and get the item of value, opening themselves to a surprise attack from behind. Medeia’s single step forward meant that she was still keeping her full attention on the Pergrandian. Though she was still playing with Nita, the Luminous Rose mage felt a sense of satisfaction that she had been able to make the Errings Rising Ace acknowledge her as dangerous to an extent. ”Don’t be so selfish, Medeia. You’ve gone and gotten yourself a fancy title, and inspired me to get one too. If I just ran off and left you here, I have a feeling that my desire to gain a title like you have would suffer. But I really appreciate your offer of letting me walk away. I hope you don’t think me rude, but I shall extend the same offer to you. If you leave now, I shall not pursue you. I’ll even let you take your wolf and lioness playthings with you. Sounds fair, no?”

Of course, Medeia had to go and spoil it all again with her dirty talk. ”A good….” She covered her face with both hands, as she felt her cheeks beginning to heat up. ”Oh Medeia, stop saying such naughty things.” She actually wasn’t being sarcastic this time. It was incredibly difficult to maintain complete seriousness with the dark angel constantly embarrassing her and making her feel so hot and bothered often. This was one of the reasons she was not so pleased to be the receptacle of the Primordial’s power. Before she had been cursed (maybe it was a blessing though, if one chose to look at it in a different light) with the powers of the Primordial, she had been so much more respectable. Thinking about it, Nita noted that while Medeia would still have made her face red, if they had met and Nita did not have the powers of Celestial Fate, the dark angel would probably have realized that she was much more prudish, until she became the bearer of the Aspect of Desire. Ah well, it was best to find the advantage in what one had. And to be fair, without the Celestial Fate magic, Nita was certain she would never be able to stand against the dark mage as she could now, even though there was still so much she lacked in experience. Her hands dropped from her face, a more resolute expression on it now. ”I almost feel evil for telling you this, but do you know that one of the reasons I wanted to save that skunk’s life is so that I could have the pleasure of slapping him? Oh no, not another one of your ‘we think alike’ sermons now, please.”

And that was when Nita realized she was in trouble. A mace suddenly seemed to materialize out of thin air, just inches away from Nita’s head. Thanks to her superb reflexes, she managed to dodge it, but realized something was wrong. With her power and speed, she would normally have dodged it so easily. However, she had barely managed to evade it, and with great difficulty. There was a sense of alarm and fear, as she realized that she felt so much weaker than before. And it wasn’t because she had used up a lot of magic against Medeia. Nita knew what fatigue felt like. This wasn’t fatigue. This was her feeling almost normal. Before she could respond, the wall beside her exploded, and out came Maxima, grabbing her in a vicious bear hug. “We’re back, Angel,” Seles crooned, almost in Medeia’s ear. “And once again, brain power saves the day. My magic power is the ability to erase my presence, and that of anything I cast a spell on. That’s why I’m the Wolf.” She said that last sentence with a good deal of pride. “That mace over there, Lady Medeia, seems to be one of the more powerful artifacts. It dramatically drains the power of anything it comes in close proximity to, once its enchantment is activated. So I cloaked it with my magic, and flung it at Ms. Goody Two Shoes over there. Still, I must admit she has amazing reflexes. I didn’t expect her to dodge the mace when my concealing enchantment wore off. And let that be a lesson to you, Maxima. Think more often before you act.”

“There’s no thinking to be done now,” the Lioness yelled in delight, “just some pitiful begging that—ugh!” Her victory rant was cut short by a well-aimed knee to the groin by Nita, whose suspended position allowed her the space to swing her leg back and deliver a crushing strike where it hurt most. Maxima left her and doubled over in pain, as Nita fought to shake off the pain from the punishing bear hug. Seles, however, was not letting go of the advantage. The smaller luchadora rushed from Medeia’s side, grabbing the mace from the ground as she did, and swinging it into Nita’s tender ribs. Nita gasped, as Maxima recovered, grabbing the young Pergrandian and delivering a rather brutal but graceful somersaulting powerbomb, using the centrifugal force that came from righting herself after the front aerial roll to smash Nita head and shoulders first into the floor. That would be enough to kill a normal person, but Nita was made of sterner stuff. Yet there was only so much punishment she could take after being drained. As her consciousness faded, she realized that Maxima was still holding her in a rather humiliating position, as the Lioness called on her partner to count to three. And with the realization that she was in Medeia’s hands, the darkness came.


WC: 1287
PWC: 6090
TWC: 11245

Things had escalated rather quickly and honestly, Medeia was not exactly unhappy with the result. She had not raised a single finger during the confrontation between the three women and allowed her partners to do the work for her. It was lovely to watch them work with her own eyes and they did fight so well together, despite the differences in both style and personality. The angel was becoming so fond of them and she truly wished that they would one day garner the power that they both seemed to wish for. Would the items aid them with that? Probably but if the mace was anything to go by, these artefacts were not ones to be used without due care and attention, something that the holy being briefly pondered about. In the hands of a wild woman like Maxima, the result could be catastrophic but there was a part of the witch which actually wanted to see that. Her wisdom and lust for destruction briefly clashed within the dark haired woman’s mind but in the end, it was not her decision. What the two wrestlers did with their artefacts was entirely up to them.

Seeing Nita be thrown around though was not all that pleasant though and once the duo had well and truly knocked her out, Medeia would approach the redhead lioness and speak. “That is enough, Maxima, you have won the match and now can release her. I do not want any further harm to come to her as I have other plans. We will take her with us and have a little fun with our lovely opponent. Leave her to me and I will keep an eye on her while you two have a look inside the vault. We can deal with sorting out who gets what later.”

The lioness did not look all that pleased but eventually let Nita go. “Alright but since Seles has already claimed the mace, I get the next pick.” She then stood up and made her way towards the vault at the end of the corridor, before channelling her magic power and blasting through the heavily fortified door with a single punch. “Too easy.” With that she was quickly inside the vault, getting her hands on as many of the delightful items as possible and placing them in a magically created sack.

“You could have damaged the artefacts, Maxima.” Seles said with an exasperated sigh, before following her partner inside and helping her to retrieve the goods. “Clumsy oaf.”

With the duo busy, Medeia was left to handle the beautiful legal mage. Nita had definitely taken a battering and with a slight frown crossing her features, Medeia would place a hand on the woman’s forehead and use her healing senses to see if there was any severe damage done. From what she could tell, it was not overly serious although the Ace could definitely tell at this point just how much magical power the blonde had used to negate her attack. It had taken an enormous amount of power and the Warlord had to confess to herself again that it had been quite a feat but it had also shown Medeia the blonde’s limits, which she would most certainly remember in future. It certainly explained why Nita’s reaction time against her partners had been so slow. Her magical reserves were low after the negation which would naturally affect her physically too.

Despite the blonde’s injuries, Medeia did not heal her at that point and instead began to summon something else. A coil of purple colored rope would soon fall beside her and the witch wasted no time in binding the legal mage, its power nullifying any magical spell that the gorgeous woman could come up with while bound by it. Arms, legs, torso, Medeia’s tying would ensnare allow the blonde very little wriggle room, her knots having been mastered due to centuries of experience. Her breathing quickened slightly as she continued with her work, unable to hold back just how much she enjoyed this, a lustful smile crossing her features. To say that it was a hobby of hers was a gross understatement and she had lost count of just how many beautiful women had found themselves in the same position that Nita was in. To her, it was the ultimate form of control, to have someone literally helpless and at her mercy. A craving that she had desired since she had first escaped that damned prison and one that had only become more potent over time.

By the time she was finished, Nita would not be going anywhere, her gorgeous form having been completely immobilised by Medeia’s handiwork. At first, the angel had only been focused on making sure that her…what was the word that humans used? Frenemy? Was unable to move but after a while, she had taken it a little further by performing ties that would enhance Nita’s already well developed body. No doubt the blonde would blush like crazy when she saw herself but that thought only caused the witch’s smile to widen. Perhaps she should take a picture of her on her iLac as a memento?

She was enjoying herself far too much and as she heard the footsteps of her two job partners as they returned to her, Maxima carrying a now full sack of artefacts, she finally tore her gaze away from Nita’s bound form.

The lioness laughed as she looked at Medeia’s handiwork. “Not much chance of getting out of that, is there? You have definitely done this before, Medeia.”

“Of course she has, stupid.” Seles replied with a roll of the eyes. “Warlord of Lust, remember? I bet she has a dungeon full of women tied up just like that.”

Medeia’s smile briefly became a knowing smirk as she took the unconscious legal mage into her arms, before standing up. “Naturally but for the time being, we will have to make do with dearest Nita here. Let us leave this place for now and go somewhere a little more private. I have a lair nearby that should do the trick and we can have some fun of our own. You both did a wonderful job and I believe that our success calls for a celebration. Would you two agree?”

“Absolutely.” Maxima responded.

“Lead on, Medeia.” Seles added.

With that, the trio would waste no time in leaving the warehouse and disappearing into the night, escaping with not only their ill gotten loot but the lovely Nita too.

(1085 Words)
(6239 PWC)
(12330 TWC)

For a moment, Nita floated in the empty void that characterized unconsciousness, unaware of time or space. But soon, her mind began to regain sentience, and she soon began to pull herself together. She was not yet awake, more accurately within the space between reality and fiction, what many people referred to as the world of dreams. She was still trying to recollect why she was here, when she heard laughter. It seemed to come from all around her, and something seemed to be trying to form in the darkness. But it remained unformed, like a vast empty cloud, and just seemed to billow around in some directionless wind. Nita knew what this was. It was the presence of the Primordial within her, a sort of manifestation of that being’s consciousness. If anything, she was glad for one thing: the Primordial had not manifested as Primordials normally did when they made incursions into Earthland’s dimension: as grotesque beings with rather massive heads, some having heads that were many times the sizes of their bodies. They sometimes tended to have other nightmarish attributes, but it was head size that freaked Nita out to no end. Why they chose to appear that way, Nita had no idea, or maybe it was simply how the human mind chose to perceive them. It was more likely that latter.

”Hello, little Nita. It’s been a while since we last talked, hasn’t it?” came the voice, a disembodied whisper that bore absolutely no extra qualities aside the fact that it was sound. It was impossible for the ears to determine whether it was a masculine or a feminine voice, whether the voice was gentle or harsh in timber. It was just a voice. ”I have nothing to say to you, so buzz off,” Nita replied, trying to concentrate enough to break out of the dream world and wake up. ”Don’t be so glum,” replied the voice. ”If not for me, you wouldn’t have this great power you seem to have no problem with using at your every whim.”

”If not for you, I would be at home in Pergrande, not some castaway in a far off land,” Nita shot back, ”so don’t even try to pretend as though you’re this benevolent creature who has loaned an ingrate its powers, yet who keeps getting thanklessness for all your wonderful boons. If you had had your way, I would have suffered a fate worse than death, and you would have been free to commit all your atrocities. Why should I be grateful to you, when I am, more or less, your prison?” The shadow laughed again. ”And a rather impressive prison your physical shell has been, hasn’t it? With my favor, you seem to be becoming quite the popular one, don’t you?” Nita was getting annoyed now. ”My physical body had nothing to do with your favor. I am the result of good genetics, a healthy lifestyle, and exercise.” The shadow laughed again. ”Left to you, you’d have been hiding under those shapeless sacks you used to wear back in Pergrande. My influence has better improved the noticeability of your—shall we say—assets. Assets that people like Medeia seem to be rather interested in.”

Oh no. Medeia. Nita remembered everything now. She had been blindsided and smashed into concrete by the wrestling villainesses, and what she had been scared of had happened: she was now in Medeia’s possession. ”I need to get back!” the Pergrandian stated in alarm. ”Oh, don’t be such a chicken,” the shadow said, ”you’re perfectly safe, even if you might be a little—ah—uncomfortable when you wake up.” There was a disembodied chuckle. ”Look, you incorporeal dunderhead,” Nita yelled, fuming now, ”why don’t you, or most people I’ve come across , just stop thinking about yourselves for once and think about others? My primary reason for needing to get out of here is because when I faced Medeia, I was the only one who could stand up to her in that moment. Now I’m unconscious, who will stop her from laying waste to Rose Garden, or killing whomever she feels like?” There was silence for a while, then the shadowy cloud spoke again, its voice more subdued. ”Yes, we did never start off on the right foot, but you’re lucky, you know? Although I think it’s quite funny and ironic that a Primordial of Fate such as myself should suffer an untoward fate such as this. I suppose it’s what you humans call ‘Karma’, to end up in the fate I had hoped to inflict on you: disembodied, forever a passenger in the mind of a hostile body, devoid of true identity. And it’s your identity that I admire most about you, your force of personality, your refusal to back down even when you’re in over your head, as long as you believe what you’re standing for is right.” For the first time since her discussion with the disembodied entity, perhaps since claiming the powers of Celestial Fate magic, Nita sensed profound sorrow from the entity that had turned her life upside down, and she felt sorry for the Primordial. There was a short sharp laugh, as the disembodied presence shook off the dolorous emotion. ”And there you go again, Nita Fortune. You sensed my sorrow; did I mention that emotions are one big, messy crutch? And now you feel compassion for me, because you know we cannot lie to each other. Why do you pity me?”

For a while, Nita was silent, the she said, ”Because I don’t like to see people suffer.”

”I’m not a person. I have no identity. Do you know my name? Have you ever asked it? Don’t bother, because I have no name. A name is a symbol of identity, of which I have none, so I’m not a person. Also, a person has behavioral attributes. I have none, only realizing that I have leached a portion of yours, and have ended up being more like you. So I don’t qualify as a person. Spare me your sympathy.” Nita chuckled. ”That’s so cliché, the villainous ‘save your pity’ rant. I’m sure you must have realized that if you’d leached qualities from me, so have I from you. After all, where did my outrageous dress sense, my curiosity and my interest in martial activities come from? You’re annoying, but that’s because you’re a person. And though you feel you have no identity, if you decide to cooperate with me, maybe we can do something about it, after I get out of whatever dastardly thing Medeia has cooked up for me.” There was some silence, and then the Primordial said, ”This is unexpected, but I’ll take up your offer. You need to stop seeing me as a bad influence though.” Nita felt the world of dreams fading. She was beginning to awaken. ”But you are a bad influence, though.”

She awoke in a strange room. It was certainly not the store in which she had faced off against Medeia. Her head was swimming, but aside the banging headache, she didn’t feel hurt, though her posture was wrong. As her brain quickly cleared, she realized she was restrained, and in a rather undignified position. Nita uttered a loud shriek, before a giant hand clamped over her mouth. ”Stop squealing like that, little bunny,” Maxima said, a menacing grin on her face. ”I might be tempted to start the action if you continue like that.” Nita had no intention of reasoning out what the ‘action’ was, so she bit the hand that had been placed over her mouth and got a slap as payment. ”She’s so annoying!” Maxima complained, nursing her bitten hand. ”I wonder why Medeia doesn’t just allow me to crush her skull.” Nita noticed that the room seemed to be a small living room, with a number of chairs, with Seles seated on one of them. Medeia did not seem to be presently around, but Nita had been bound by some strange rope that made it impossible for her to cast spells. There was also the issue of her current literal position. Seles rose and walked over to her partner, stroking Nita’s cheek as she came close enough. The Pergrandian mage snapped at her hand. ”Well, you have to hand it to her, she is spirited,” the Wolf luchadora said with a laugh.

Meanwhile, Nita’s mind was racing. The rope she had been tied with had been fastened to something on the ceiling (her position didn’t allow her to see what), and while said rope was long enough to not live the Pergrandian suspended, it ensured that she would not have any mobility, otherwise. If the rope could be freed from the ceiling, perhaps she could free herself. But how would she deal with Seles and Maxima without her spells? A plan began forming, as she remembered just how hotheaded the Lioness was. It was time to try to manipulate that to her favor, though she did see some degree of pain being involved. But as the saying went, ‘no pain, no gain’. The two wrestlers’ discussion seemed to have shifted to numbers, and they were paying little attention to Nita. ”Can you guess what my favorite number is?” Maxima was saying, a naughty expression on her face. ”Hint: it’s a two-digit number, and the two digits look similar.”

”It’s 22!” Nita blurted out. The two wrestlers turned and looked at her surprised. ”Well, that came out of left-field, but I don’t suppose that’s the answer.”

”No,” Maxima replied, ”but I’m curious. Why 22, little rabbit?” Nita grinned defiantly. ”Because if we apportioned numbers to the letters of the Fiorean alphabet according to their position, the sum of the numbers of the word that best defines you would be 22. 1, 16 and 5.” Seles quickly did the math and got a worried look on her face. ”Hey, it’s not wise to anger--”

”No no,” Maxima cut in, ”I don’t get those numbers. What do they mean?” The grin remained on Nita’s face. ”A-P-E.” Maxima punched her so hard Nita suspected something had broken. The Lioness was livid now. She raised a bulky hand again, but Seles stopped her. ”She’s just trying to get under your skin. And you know that Medeia doesn’t want her hurt.” Maxima began lowering her hand, though she said defiantly, ”I might enjoy whatever punishments Medeia gives me for breaking her new toy.”

”New toy better than old ape,” Nita intoned. This time, Seles could not stop Maxima from inflicting another more vicious blow. The Wolf tried pacifying her teammate, but Nita wouldn’t let her, always throwing in comments about Maxima’s being an ape. Eventually, Seles shrugged and walked to the door. ”Can’t understand why you’re so hell bent on suicide. But I’m not going to be here when Maxima kills you, so Medeia won’t ask me for an explanation.” By this time, Maxima had already descended on the defenseless mage, who kept calling her an ape. Until Maxima could take it no more, and gave the Pergrandian a mighty punch that sent her across the room and into the wall. As the dust from the damaged wall settled, Maxima’s angry expression changed into one of worry, as Nita stepped out of the dust, dropping Medeia’s rope. ”Well, thanks for freeing me. I don’t think you’d have done so if I had asked nicely, yes? Your lioness outfit really suits you though, not gonna lie.” Maxima was however dashing at her, realizing her mistake but trying to cover it up with bravado. ”Your half-assed attempts at pacifying me won’t work. Now get a taste of the Lioness Muscle Buster!”

Seles had by this time found Medeia, and was wondering how to tell her that the dark angel’s newest plaything was being killed by an irate Maxima upstairs, when the ceiling exploded, with Nita and Maxima descending into the room amidst the rubble. The Pergrandian rose over the unconscious form of the Lioness, as she flicked her hair out of her face. ”Take that! Pergrandian Muscle Buster Reversal!!” she announced, giving an impromptu name to her winning maneuver that had destroyed the floor of the room they had been in. Then she noticed Medeia and Seles. ”Hiiiiii. So, uh, that’s the exit door there, isn’t it? I’ll be making use of it then, if you wouldn’t mind.”


WC: 2060
PWC: 8150
TWC: 14390

To say that Medeia was annoyed at what had just happened was an understatement. She had been rather looking forward to sharing some quality time with Nita once she had finished having her evening meal and now not only was her meal all over the floor but her ceiling also had a gigantic great hole in it. She did not need to be an expert detective to understand the reasons for it, as her slayer senses had detected the sounds of raised voices, not to mention the sounds of fighting, moments before the roof had come down. The witch supposed that she should have expected something like that, given how short tempered Maxima was and Nita’s gifts with speech. The blonde was awfully good at manipulating those around her and the angel mused that the redheaded lioness was just another victim of the legal mages prowess. Still, Maxima had earned a punishment for allowing all of it to happen and the ropes that had bound Nita would be considered rather gentle compared to the luchadore would be wrapped in but such things could wait for the moment.

Her purple eyed gaze would briefly cross to Seles and for just a moment, the angel looked as though she would lash out at the wolf themed wrestler but Medeia was able to control herself, understanding that the woman had at least had the guts to try to warn her about what was happening, even if she had been a little too late. With that in mind, the raven haired woman simply said. “Check on Maxima and make sure she is alright.” Her tone was rather calm and cold for the moment, the cogs in her head turning as she began to formulate her next move.

Seles needed no further instruction and darted over to the remains of Medeia’s rather lavish dining table, checking on her rather battered partner. After a few moments of throwing aside pieces of debris, she came across the unconscious lioness and slowly tried to revive her. She appeared to be rather concerned, which the angel was rather surprised by in a way. Of the two wrestlers, Seles was certainly the more guarded and had an ability to shield her feelings that Maxima certainly did not. Perhaps there was more to the secretive woman than the angel had first thought. Something to discuss later, maybe.

Her order given out, Medeia would then suddenly and momentarily vanish into what appeared to be sand, before reappearing directly in front of Nita, in a similar way that the blonde had done so in the warehouse. “It is such a pity that you decided to use my latest lair as a wrestling ring, as I had just finished decorating. I expect you to pay me back for the damages, Nita, one way or another.” She uttered dryly, her purple orbs bearing into the heterochromic ones of the legal mage. “I suppose I was asking too much for you to simply not irritate Maxima and behave yourself. Next time, I will make sure that you are gagged at all times, as you do have quite the dangerous mouth on you.” Her tone did not give an awful lot away as to how she was feeling about the situation although as always, there was a glimmer of desire in her eyes. “Such a shame that you managed to get free for I was quite looking forward to having some fun of my own with you.”

She became a tad more serious at that point and her expression darkened slightly. “Unfortunately, I am afraid that I cannot let you leave just yet. You see, both Maxima and Seles are under my protection and I do not take kindly to seeing my lovely lioness being beaten to a pulp in front of me. So, I am going to kill two birds with one stone. I am going to deliver your punishment and have the fun that you robbed me of at the same time. There is no point trying to fight me off as I know for a fact that you were severely drained after blocking my spell and the beating you took in the warehouse. Do not worry, my dear, I will let you go when it is all said and done although I cannot promise where and when that will be. If you just submit to me without a fuss then no one else will know but if you fight…well, maybe a few pictures might just leak for the world to see. It is not something that I wish to do but a lesson needs to be taught here, Nita and you have made quite a mess, one that I now need to clean up.”

Taking a step forward so that she was mere inches from the legal mage’s lovely form, she would speak one final time for the moment, her voice beginning to thrum with magical power, giving it a far more ominous tone. “The choice is entirely yours to make, my dear but know that if you try to fight me here then I will not hold back and as I am sure you can imagine, my magic is night and day when compared to Maxima’s.” She would then slink around the back of the legal mage, her arms wrapping around Nita’s waist without a care in the world, leaning her head close so that she could whisper into the legal mage's ear. “Put aside the heroics, just this once and do what is right for you. There is no one here to save and this can all end without any further need for violence. It can be just the opposite in fact, as I was sorely hoping that I would be able to teach you a thing or two upstairs. I know that you enjoyed our kiss back on Telonia and tonight would have been the next step. It can still happen, if you just come with me rather than me having to drag you, kicking and screaming. Who knows? Maybe I will let you have a little fun with one of the wrestlers too, since you and Maxima cannot seem to keep your hands off of one another.”

(1037 TWC)
(7276 PWC)
(15427 TWC)

Yeah, Medeia didn’t look too happy. That was quite expected. It wasn’t like you would go screaming ‘brava!’ and giving an applause, when someone you’d been expecting to be a good girl and stay all nice and quiet and tied up had just made a gigantic hole in the ceiling, trashed the interior décor of the room above and the one below, and dropped one of your associates through your dining table, while you were having dinner, effectively ruining the sanctity and moment of that most necessary evening meal. And all of that in one single explosive move to boot. In all the times Nita had interacted with Medeia, she had only seen the dark mage express her rage towards individuals of the male gender, never against a fellow female, and even when Medeia’s patience had seemed to be wearing thin in their meetings both at the Solemn Park in Talonia, and the warehouse here in Rose Garden, the dark mage had always showed a level of longsuffering that was highly unnatural (in the Pergrandian mage’s opinion) for those of villainous tendencies, as long as the person she was interacting with was of her gender. This time, though, it looked like the Errings Rising ace was going to attack Seles or do something more worthy of her status as a being who was connected to rage on an elemental level.

To Nita’s surprise, though, Medeia simply commanded the Wolf to check on her Lioness team mate. The Pergrandian quickly moved out of the way, and then placing her hands behind her back, with her eyes turned upwards and whistling a random tune, tried to look as involved with the mess around her as the stars twinkling merrily outside. There was a swirl of sand which suddenly materialized into the dark angel, directly before Nita, who yelped in surprise and took a step backwards. As the dark angel spoke about expecting full payment, the Luminous Rose mage held up her hands in a placatory gesture, an appeasing smile on her face. ”Uh, once I get my guild salary, I’ll do something about the damages. Some of the décor designs were pretty wonky, though….” That reply was probably not going to help matters. And being the person Nita was, while most people would have considered now to probably have been the best time to keep quiet, especially as Medeia had taken note of her “dangerous mouth”, the Pergrandian maiden was more likely to speak when stressed, and this time was not going to be an exception. ”Gag me?” she said in actual alarm. ”Gags don’t look comfortable. There’s obviously some heavy violation of human rights in the application of gags. Besides, won’t gagging be counterproductive with all your interest in kissing? Ah wait, that didn’t come out right….”

As the dark angel’s expression and tone darkened, Nita mentally prepared herself for battle, although she was not too confident on the outcome as being in her favor. It seemed as though the dark mage had decided that punishment was necessary. The nature of the punishment was simply left to the imagination. What was most annoying was that Medeia knew that Nita was not in peak form, after having expended a good deal of magic power, and suffering Maxima’s brutal assault. But it was also likely that Medeia would have begun to understand the nature of the light mage standing before her. If Nita was anything, it was stubborn, and even in situations when she argued with those close to her, she found it difficult to give ground. With someone as Medeia, who she regarded as an enemy of sorts (‘of sorts’, because Nita wasn’t used to being an aggressor, and was more used to the conventional position of defending herself when an enemy attacked on sight, which Medeia never did), there was almost no grounds for a reason to submit quietly. The threat of what might happen if she fought was not very comfortable to ponder on, but that was not strong enough to dissuade the Celestial Fate mage from attempting to defend herself, or make good her escape, which at the present moment seemed like the most reasonable course of action she had to take. ”Uh, if it’s something you don’t wish to do, you could always overlook the unpleasantries and let me go. After all, to forgive is divine, right?”

Medeia’s closer proximity was uncomfortable, but Nita decided to stand her ground and not step back any further, a last act of defiance. The threat carried on the magic infused with the dark angel’s voice increased the Pergrandian’s heart rate, but she simply furrowed her brows and stared right back at Medeia. Since she had decided not to move, she remained still, even as Medeia circled her and embraced her from behind. With Medeia, Nita felt that she had ‘put aside her heroics’ back in Talonia, just to make sure that nobody got hurt, and although that had happened, it had not ended as the Pergrandian would have preferred, an issue that Medeia kept referring to over and over again. She would have to live with that, she supposed. In any case, the fact that there was presently no one around to save meant that Nita could concentrate on defending herself or trying to escape without having to check that people weren’t being slaughtered while she did so. But for now, the dark mage holding her and whispering in her ear was too much. ”Yeah, I love learning as much as the next girl, except that I’m not too interested in what you want to teach me,” she stated, pulling away and turning to face Medeia, her cheeks already beginning to color slightly, as she had an inkling of what ‘the next step’ and Medeia’s definition of ‘fun’ were.  Okay, the lack of interest might not have been entirely true, but Medeia wasn’t a prime candidate for such affairs. ”I also don’t want to have any ‘funny’ activities with any of your wrestler pets over there, because while Maxima and myself can’t seem to keep our hands of each other, perhaps you slightly glossed over the part where the slap and tickle sessions were meant to kill me. Unlike you, I’m willing to forgive that gross misrepresentation of my person. And I think Seles despises me. I’m taller than she is, after all. Besides, do you know what I was dreaming about when I was out cold? The forces of Law and Order gave me this significant mandate to do an audit on all those items you’ve stolen. So, maybe you could just help me with a list of what you stole, and I’ll check to make sure the list is fine, and then you let me go. Do we have a deal?” The Pergrandian held out her hand.

A slight moment passed, then she cast a sidelong glance at the still unconscious Maxima. ”She’s okay, right? I could heal her as an added bonus.” That was just to mask the fact that she was feeling a bit of concern for the opponent she had smacked through the ceiling. Maxima was rather strong, and her own strength, especially when facing strong opponents created the temptation of going overboard, like she had with the ‘Pergrandian Muscle Buster Reversal’. ”Um, sorry about your dinner, and the ceiling, again.” That last bit was said in a much more quiet voice.


WC: 1236
PWC: 9386
TWC: 16663

At least outwardly, Medeia maintained her rather more intimidating body language, allowing the blonde to squirm when faced with it. She could not have fully hidden her irritation if she had wanted to, given her affinity with anger but such was her control over it, the witch was able to prevent herself from becoming overwhelmed by her own rage. That had not always been the case and when she had first come to terms with her abilities, she had been rather more volatile. Such was the way of things, of course and as she had grown and mastered her skills, Medeia had come to truly understand her gifts and how best to use them. Now, anger was simply another toy for her to play with, both her own and that of others. She was the mistress of rage at this point, a title that was probably just as apt as the one that the council had given her. Yet, she had to admit that she proffered the one she had been given. Lust was far more entertaining than rage and of the two emotions, Medeia most definitely enjoyed the former more.

Nita was nervous and that was rather easy for Medeia to detect, resulting in the blonde speaking even more, which actually caused a smile to cross the angel’s features. She spoke about a multitude of topics, mostly in response to Medeia’s previous comments but regardless of the subject, the purple orbs of the holy being never left the luscious legal mage. She was listening intently to every word although given that one of those topics was to do with being physically silenced, Medeia found it rather amusing. Nita had missed one important point regarding that specific subject though and once they were face to face again after the blonde had pulled away, the angel decided to touch on that subject first. “I am not human and I care little for those rights that you speak of, Nita. Besides, you talk as though being silenced is an unpleasant experience. You would be surprised as to how many of my partners actually believe it to be the exact opposite to that. As for kissing? Well, lips are not the only part of the body, are they?” Her gaze briefly lowered to look over the gorgeous blonde’s form, before returning to her face. “If you understand what I mean.” Teasing Nita about such things was such fun.

“I am not sure if I can just let you go. As I said, I have a responsibility to these two and I would not be setting a good example if I simply allowed you to walk away without being punished. They are oh so new on the paths that they have decided to walk and it has fallen to me to help them. An attack on them is an attack on me and it is only right that I do what they did not have the strength to do…regardless of my own feelings.” Her tone was almost regretful at that point, difficult to detect but there nonetheless. Would she reveal her own reluctance to others? Unlikely but she was oh so fond of the Luminous Rose mage and the desire to truly harm her was just not there. It had never been there. If she was honest with herself, it rarely was when encountering other women. It stemmed from her own early years, both her own and Priya’s. Both souls had been forced to grow up in a patriarchal society and the effects of which had left scars which would never truly heal.

Stubborn and tenacious as always, the blonde had attempted to talk her way out of the situation and Medeia rose an eyebrow. “Judging from what you were saying while you were out cold, I would hazard a guess that you were speaking with someone else. I hope that you were willing to hear her out this time.” They both knew who she was talking about but given they were not alone, Medeia did not go into any further detail at that point. The offer that the blonde made then was somewhat unusual and the Warlord pondered as to just what Nita was up to this time. She just wanted to know what had been taken? With no desire to retrieve them? The angel was sceptical of that and her gaze turned whimsical. Still, she took Nita’s hand when it was offered to her but rather than shake it, Medeia pulled the blonde gently towards her. “If you wish to examine the items for yourself, I will not stop you but no funny business otherwise…a gag will be the least of your worries.”

The blonde’s last words caught the raven haired woman slightly off guard but after gazing towards the two wrestlers briefly, she nodded. “Assuming Seles will let you get close enough, I will allow you to heal dear Maxima but be careful Nita. Do not turn your back on my precious wolf for too long, as there is more to her than meets the eye.”

That being said, Medeia would let go of the blonde and head over to where a large statue was sitting, seemingly out of place compared to the rest of the remaining decor. The angel would proceed to place a hand upon it, resulting in a slight grating sound, as the bag of artefacts would emerge from inside it. A fitting hiding place for her ill gotten loot and while Nita would handle the healing of the redhead, Medeia would take a seat, watching the scene before her as she began to have a look through the items, most of which responded to her aura with a similar one. These were not artefacts for the weak and soulless. They required a strong mind and will to control, both of which she of course possessed. Oddly enough, they reminded her of another object that she would once gone after, a staff that had unfortunately got away from her. These items had the same sense of menace behind them which certainly intrigued her.

(1015 Words)
(8291 PWC)
(17678 TWC)

Unfortunately for the Pergrandian maiden, it seemed Medeia was not so up to speed about human rights, and not due to a lack of knowledge, but a lack of interest, since she could no longer be counted as human. For her part, Nita was not sure she was convinced about the dark angel’s comment that being silenced could be an enjoyable experience. Whatever the mechanisms behind making gagging a ‘delightful’ event, the Luminous Rose mage was not interested in finding out, maybe at least not at the very present moment. Inwardly, she cursed herself for being so transparent, in issues of amatory predispositions. That had been the reason Medeia had always been so successful at getting her flustered. It was likely that the solution to this problem, as it was with almost every other endeavor in life, was to gain experience in the matter. But Nita preferred to gain experience indirectly, until she found a soulmate. Medeia’s casual and unbridled approach to such things was discomfiting. Ah well, it was the burden that Nita would have to shoulder for the meantime. Who knew, maybe enduring spats with the Errings Rising mage could be a form of training on how to handle such matters….

”No, I have no idea what you mean,” Nita answered hotly, in response to the dark angel’s naughty remark about kissing, her face bright red again. ”And you should stop saying such dirty things.” With the way Medeia looked at her, it wouldn’t be too difficult to imagine what the Warlord of Lust had in mind, but Nita decided for her own sanity not to allow her thoughts run in such directions. She had bigger problems to face, one of them being getting out of here without having to endure Medeia’s intended punishment, which the dark angel seemed quite insistent on administering. As a matter of fact, Nita was not sure that Medeia didn’t actually want to ‘punish’ her, and though it was obvious that said reprimands would not be violent unless the Pergrandian resisted (as deducted from Medeia’s earlier threats), punishments were punishments, and in Nita’s opinion, physical punishments could be more bearable than less obvious chastisements, especially when such were directed against less tangible things like values and ethics. ”Wow. I didn’t think you had an honor code,” the Pergrandian said in mild surprise. After all, Medeia had initially struck her as a fickle opponent who cared nothing for being bound by anything, physical or conceptual. ”I think I’m beginning to respect you a teeny weeny bit.”

At Medeia’s mention of her speaking while she was out cold, Nita’s expression changed to one of slight alarm. ”Wait, I was…? How embarrassing,” she muttered, averting her eyes. Medeia had consistently seemed to be a fan of her getting more social with the Primordial in her head, ever since the incident at Solemn Park, and it seemed that the Primordial had been pushing more and more as well to become more eminent in the Pergrandian’s mind. While getting knocked out was the last thing she had desired this evening, there had been the advantage of her having a more protracted discussion with the Primordial, and beginning to feel empathy for them. Aside that, she knew next to nothing about this esoteric being, except that its presence inside her mind was the source of her powers. With a great deal of fondness and sorrow, Nita remembered that her father had always used to encourage his family to look for the silver lining in every dark cloud, to strive to find the good side of things, and people. Nita knew that she had developed much of her morals from the man, though she was much less accepting of human nature than he was. Still, compared to many people she knew, she was many degrees more compassionate than most. Her mother had often said that one did not need to understand to forgive. Looking back, though her time with them was short, Nita had had great parents. She was surprised to see that her eyes were watering, which was not desirable. As she did not trust Medeia, she felt it unwise to show vulnerability before the dark angel. The Pergrandian quickly sniffed, and said, ”there’ll be time for discussion after we have concluded business here.” Fortunately her voice held, and the moment of emotion passed.

Medeia’s consent to her request to look at the stolen items was actually quite surprising. The Pergrandian wondered what the dark angel would do if she picked one of the items and suddenly tried to use it to fight her way out of here. Medeia was not stupid though; it would only be an idiot that would assume that the dark angel was making a poor judgment call by allowing the Celestial Fate mage to look at the stolen items. Perhaps the dark angel was trying to tempt her to try to fight her way out, so that the Warlord would be justified in making a gag ‘the least of Nita’s worries’. Nita found that thought surprisingly jocular, and could not hide the mischief in her voice and smile as she replied, ”oh, I’m almost a hundred percent positive you’re praying that I attempt some funny business. Naughty, naughty.” Nita’s request to heal Maxima was met with approval, after some consideration from the dark angel, and the Pergrandian bowed dramatically. ”Your graciousness is overwhelming, milady. And don’t you worry about me getting close to Maxima. I am quite charming when I have to be.”

So saying, she began to approach the Wolf luchadora, who watched her as though desiring to tear out her throat the moment she came within striking distance. ”Hello, dearest Seles,” the blonde mage said innocently, giving the glaring woman a sweet smile. ”If you don’t mid, could you just scoot over a bit? I’d like to do a little bit of damage control.” For a moment, it seemed that Seles was going to react violently, whether physically or verbally, but then the Wolf silently rose to her feet, and left Nita with Maxima, instead of just giving her space. ”You’re too kind, sweetie,” the blonde mage said, as she knelt beside the unconscious Lioness. Propping her into a sitting position by leaning her against a fragment of fallen ceiling, Nita planted a kiss on the giantess’ cheek. She was sure Medeia would have good cause to disturb her again, but unfortunately, planting a kiss was the way to administer the healing. She did have another healing spell, but it was more costly to use, and Nita thought it most necessary to conserve her energy at present. Maxima stirred and groaned, slowly regaining consciousness as the healing spell took effect.

Meanwhile, Seles walked up to Medeia. ”Forgive me if I’m speaking out of turn, but what on earth do you think you’re doing?” she hissed. ”We should be punishing her severely for all her meddling, instead of allowing her to traipse around here. We ought to make an example out of her, so that people will know better than to interfere with us. Think about it, if she decided to play nice, and you let her go after having fun with her, won’t people lose the respect and fear that you’ve instilled in them as a Warlord?”


WC: 1215
PWC: 10601
TWC: 18893

At first, Medeia focused upon what she was doing, examining the items that they had stolen with a respectfulness that the angel rarely showed anything or anyone. She knew what these pieces were capable of, having experienced the full force of a similar weapon before. It had been a staff, one that could corrupt and control the minds of those that it was used upon. Naturally, it would eventually enslave the mind of the user too, which was precisely what happened, resulting in a rather amusing encounter. She had not gotten her hands on the staff that day but the experience had given her all reason she needed to be somewhat in awe of such things. The dark haired mage could feel a familiar sense of darkness from the artefacts in her hands and there was no reason for her to suspect that these were any weaker. Study would be needed before the angel could truly use them safely but she was rather pleased to have acquired them, nonetheless. Overall, the mission had been a complete success, even if Nita’s interference had made the job more complicated. Still, the angel never minded complications, as they spiced things up a bit.

Her attention was rather swiftly diverted elsewhere though as she heard a familiar sound, one that she knew incredibly well and to her slight annoyance, her gaze came across Nita kissing Maxima on the cheek. It was typical, she supposed. Medeia had spent the entirety of their encounter on Talonia trying to steal a kiss or more and here was the blonde stealing one from the groggy redhead. The reason why she had chosen to do so did not matter to the witch and there was just a moment or two where her hands tightened around the object she was holding at that point, a rather ominously sharp and jagged dagger. The angel prided herself on being the master of her own feelings but she would be a liar if she said that there was not a brief second where jealousy seemed to take over. She would not forget that kiss in a hurry and already the wheels in her mind were beginning to turn. Medeia had been willing to be compromising with the blonde and this was how she repaid her? It irritated her, more than it probably should have. Nita was one of her favourites and with that came certain obsessive tendencies.

It was somewhat good timing that Seles chose that moment to approach her and after listening to the wolf themed wrestlers own complaints, Medeia would gently return the objects to the bag and place them beside her, before pulling the petite woman onto her lap. Seles stiffened for a few moments but once she realised that Medeia did not mean to harm her, she slowly relaxed, scowling at the sight of Nita and Maxima before them.

Medeia placed her lips beside the wrestler's ear and chose that moment to respond. “Would they? Or would they become even more fearful and respectful, knowing how easily it is for me to capture and play with their precious legal mages? Luminous Rose, Sabertooth, Rune Knights, I have had my arms wrapped around mages from each of those organisations and in doing so, my reputation has grown. Lust is as my aspect, not war, not vengeance and not anger. I am a predator of the most dangerous sort and when women fall asleep at night, what they fear more than anything else, is to wake up and find these purple eyes of mine staring down at them. I am the most dangerous dark mage who walks this earth, Seles and I do not need to butcher everyone I see to prove it. True power is to be able to defeat someone without casting a spell. To be able to charm, manipulate and bend those around you to your will without lifting a finger.”

It was difficult to tell whether Seles was understanding or not but the wolf’s shoulder relaxed even more at that point and if Medeia did not know any better, she would swear that the wolf had almost become enamoured with the angel’s words. Chuckling, Medeia’s gaze would follow Seles’s to Nita and Maxima. “I can understand your frustration though. You believe that Nita is making fun of us by behaving as she does and I will not stop you if you desire revenge. She is strong though and I warn you that if you try and attack normally, you would struggle to do any real damage. Yes, she is weakened but still, she is a powerful mage and both you and Maxima have already fallen to her. Yet, if you truly wish to attack her then I will not stop you. You are dangerous, Seles, far more so than Maxima and I believe that you have the potential to go far…”

Medeia’s hand would briefly vanish into the bag, before reappearing with the mace that Seles had used during the warehouse fight and placing it into the wrestler’s hands, covering them then with her own. “From the moment you used this mace in that fight, it became connected to you, binding itself to your will. The more hatred and anger you feel, the more damage it will deal and perhaps with this, you can score another blow upon Nita and wipe the smirk off of her face? I admit that there is a part of me that wants the same thing. Seeing her kiss Maxima in such a way is causing my blood to boil…”

At that moment, she would gently kiss Seles on the neck, instilling her with some of the angel’s own potent powers. The wolf woman’s eyes widened with surprise at the sudden rush, her body becoming surrounded by a blood coloured shield, her magical power rising fast. “What are you doing to me?” She uttered, turning her head so that she could see the witch.

“I am bestowing you with one of the strongest defensive spells in my arsenal and with that, you might just be able to make a mess of Nita’s beautiful face or if you are feeling particularly bloodthirsty…” She paused again for a moment. “There is a small settlement a short distance away from here that has been making a lot of noise. Maybe you could use that lovely mace to convince them to quiet down a little? Use that anger inside and have some fun with the gifts that I have so graciously given you. You have spent enough time sitting on the sidelines and in Maxima’s shadow, show me what you can do.”

A smile crossing her features, she would gently release Seles then, the wolf luchadores body shining with not only the power of the witch but the ominous aura of the mace too but what would she do?

(1143 Words)
(9434 PWC)
(20036 TWC)

As the world began to come into focus for the giant wrestler, Maxima slowly opened her eyes and turned her head, to see the unwelcome sight of Nita smiling at her. The Lioness’ face quickly contorted into a scowl, and she tried to move but was too weak to. ”Well, would you look at that, someone looks pleased to see me,” the Pergrandian said, a teasing grin on her face. [color:6a4b=ffcc00]”I don’t know what you’re doing to me, but you just give me a minute to get up from this place and I am going to wring your neck and twist your head off your shoulders,” the redheaded villainess spat with rage. Nita responded with a comical pout. ”Stop being such a diva, you. If all you’re going to do is sit there and threaten your benefactor, then perhaps I should just stop wasting my time and energy healing you. And I don’t see you ripping my head off, in any case. You may have forgotten what happened to you when you tried to use your Muscle Buster on me. Has anyone told you that it looks like such an indecent-looking move? Shame on you for trying to do something that coarse to me.”

Seles was talking with Medeia, but the Pergrandian couldn’t quite catch what they were saying. Well, good for the both of them looking so snuggly like that. Maybe if they got distracted, she could try to see herself out, except that most of the time, they were both looking at her, and Seles had maintained that ‘I want to rip your throat out’ expression on her face. Seemed she was not particularly a fan favorite here. Nita took solace in the fact that these were the baddies, so if they all wanted to rip her heart out, then she was probably doing something right. Medeia’s hand went into the bag of goodies, and the dark angel retrieved that annoying mace that had been responsible for putting her in this difficult situation. Still more whispered words, and then the mace was placed in Seles’ hands. It seemed like the time for punishment was nigh, only that before, it had been Medeia who had seemed eager to dole out the punishment. Seemed like she wanted Seles to have a bit of fun as well, and Nita was almost certain that Seles would not be as gentle as the dark angel had professed to be.

As Medeia’s power coated the Wolf luchadora in a blood red shield, Nita concluded with some degree of resignation that the dark angel finally wanted her face bashed in. She had absolutely no idea why though. But to an extent, this was an improvement in the situation. It had always been difficult to fight a noncombatant opponent. Nita only wished that she was feeling stronger. Well, life was not fair, was it? As the glowing form of Seles rose, Nita focused on her, praying silently that Medeia would stay where she was to watch the proceedings. Seles held forth the mace, and some parts of its head split open partially to reveal a glowing orb within. Then a bright beam of light emanated from the head of the mace, aimed at the Pergrandian mage, but Nita, already expecting an attack had moved in time, dodging the beam. The ray struck the wall behind Nita, and a good portion of the wall turned into dust. ”What are you, crazy?!” Maxima screamed in alarm. ”That thing almost hit me.” Seles laughed. ”Like I could be concerned about that. You’ve always looked down on me, Maxima. But I’m no longer in your league. Nobody’s ever going to look down on me again. But since you’ve worked as a teammate with me, I’ll still give you the chance to tag along… as my sidekick, shortly after I remove this bitch from existence.” The mace head opened once more, preparing to fire.

”Hey, I’m not the one with the dog theme here,” Nita protested, moving away from Maxima. The Lioness could not defend herself, so standing close by could probably just mean a stray blast might hit her. Maxima for her part was not taking this new experience well. ”I always saw you as a friend, Seles. How could you do this to me?” she asked, looking like she wanted to cry. Seles shrugged. ”I’ve always been in your shadow, Maxima. No longer. You’ll realize soon that I now cast a rather large shadow. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to fit into it just fine.” The Wolf turned to look at Nita, who just stared at her with a blank expression. ”Wow. You’re really an idiot,” the Pergrandian stated with a deadpan face. That snapped Seles. The Wolf acted as though she was going to fire, then suddenly charged the blonde mage, swinging the mace at her. Nita evaded the blow, and as the mace head touched a chair, the chair turned into dust. The Luminous Rose mage lost no time in making a riposte in the form of a roundhouse kick, which sent Seles out through the hole she had made when she had initially tried to shoot Nita.

”Really?” Seles asked with a laugh, as she rose to her feet unharmed, ”was that the best you could do? Oh, I almost forgot, Medeia told me of some noisemakers nearby who are begging to be silenced. Since you seem to love butting into other people’s affairs and playing the hero, why don’t you stop me from reaching them?” So saying, the Wolf fired a hole in the further wall, and escaped into the night. Maxima glared at Nita, then burst into tears. ”You! You’ve turned my Seles against me. I’m gonna get you for this,” she sobbed, ”and I’ll hurt you real bad.” It was Nita’s turn to snap. ”Okay, good. And this is my fault how?” she exploded, clenching her fists. ”That’s what I just love about you villains: you’re as selfish as can get, with absolutely no modicum of responsibility. You abuse your power to get what you want, without a care for who gets hurt, and when it backfires, you get to blame everyone, everyone else, except the major culprit, YOU! I hope, for your sake, that we never meet again.” She turned to go, then paused. ”And Medeia, you may laugh and feel all secure and untouchable, but if any lives are lost wherever Seles is going, I will require their lives at your hand. I may not be as powerful as you, but I will die doing it, if it comes to that.” And with that, she vanished in a puff of smoke and runes.

Finding the people Seles talked about wasn’t difficult. It was a small settlement not far from here. While Nita could have tried looking for the Wolf, she suspected that Seles would probably give her the slip, owing to the Wolf’s wily nature, and get to the settlement before her, which would end horribly. Getting to the settlement first meant that she could try to warn the people there before Seles came. Though it was a small settlement, it seemed to have a relatively active night life. Thus, not a few heads turned when the Pergrandian maiden appeared out of nowhere. ”Everyone, listen to me. Something dangerous is coming here. Get as far away from here as possible, and if you can’t, hide!” Initially, the settlers were wont to make light of the situation, with a few trying to flirt with her. ”Do I look like I’m joking?” Nita asked, and whether it was her natural gift of making people listen to her, or something else, a feeling of foreboding seemed to settle on the place. Then they began scurrying about, but too late.

”Bad news travels fast, they say,” the Wolf stated, slinking out of the shadows, holding a young girl hostage. ”So what are you going to do now, Ms. Goody Two Shoes?”


WC: 1326
PWC: 11927
TWC: 21326

It appeared that Seles had a far darker heart than even Medeia had thought possible and as both the wrestler and Nita vanished to continue their battle in the hamlet nearby, the angel spent a few moments simply pondering to herself. She had watched every moment of the confrontation with rapt attention of course and the holy being truly believed that Seles did have the hatred that was required to become a dark mage but could she control it? That was the question now and the raven haired woman had no intention of simply waiting for news. She had been the catalyst for all of this and it was only right that she be there to see the results of it all. Would she interfere? No, probably not. She would watch and see what the wolf would do with her new found power and just as importantly, what Nita would do to stop her. As always, it was little more than a game to the Warlord and what was most delightful about this one was that either way, she won. Either Seles would prove that she was worthy enough to teach further or Nita might just take a step down the darker path herself. Both resolutions were acceptable to the purple eyed woman.

With that in mind, Medeia finally stood up and prepared to follow the duo, sealing the bag of artefacts and attaching it to her belt. The weight would hardly affect her and she was unwilling to let them out of her sight. They required her presence to keep them in check and there was actually a part of her that was considering giving one or two of them to the people of the hamlet. She was uncertain as to whether such artefacts would be as effective on non mages but experimentation was always fun and after witnessing what the mace was doing to Seles, her intrigue only increased.

Yet, as she reached the large hole that Seles and Nita had left through, both her thoughts and movement were interrupted by Maxima’s voice, its usual brash and arrogant tone replaced by something far softer. “What did you say to her to act like that, Medeia? I have never seen my Seles behave or speak like that before. Is that who she truly is?”

The redhead’s face was a mess at this point, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. It was not an expression that the dark being had expected to see but Medeia did not chide or mock her for it as she turned to see the wounded lioness. “I just told her a few home truths, Maxima, about what was needed in order for her to become a real dark mage. One who is willing to do anything in order to become successful and grow in power. I think that tonight's events have brought out all of the anger and jealousy that had been building up for quite some time. I do not think that she was lying about anything she said. It sounded like the truth to me.”

The redhead tried to respond but her words simply turned into more sobbing, her heart appearing to be breaking at the news of it all. The fire in her eyes dimmed and waves of sadness were crashing against her in an endless tide. It was a harsh realisation for her to come to terms with but one that she apparently needed to. Medeia was not unsympathetic and understood betrayal better than most, both as the betrayed and betrayer. She did not plan on saying anything more and the angel once again moved to go after the other two but finally Maxima managed to speak again. “Take me with you. I do not have the strength to move on my own but I need to see how this all ends. Please, Medeia.”

For a few moments, Medeia said nothing, giving Maxima that all too familiar gaze that seemed to be able to stare right into the soul of a person. A part of her thought that it would be a rather dangerous move, given Maxima’s current state. Yes, Nita’s spell was doing wonders but as a potent healer herself, Medeia was well aware of just how fragile the lioness was. It was a risk and the angel did not truly wish to see any further harm come to the redhead. That being said, she was slightly moved by the woman’s plea and in the end, she decided to comply with the woman, out of fondness more than anything.

With that in mind, the angelic being nodded her head and approached the trembling wrestler, before leaning down and picking the woman up, as though she was weightless. “Very well, my dear Maxima, we shall go after them together but regardless of what happens, you must stay at my side. We will watch but not interfere. Do you understand?”

The wrestler could barely get a word out but nodded her head, before pressing her head up against the witch’s body, crying her eyes out into the rather ample chest of the ancient deity. At any other time, Medeia might have made a rather dirty or sordid remark but just this once, she let it go and with a brief rotation of her shoulders and the summoning of her regular wings, the two would vanish into the night, heading for the village.

The trip was rather short and after only a few minutes, Medeia and the giantess reached the small village, the atmosphere already rather dark and ominous. Maxima gently trembled in the arms of the angel and with at least a touch of consideration for the still recovering woman, Medeia would choose a rooftop a fair distance away from where the source of the darkness was stemming from. They could both see the situation that was taking place before them but there would be no interference, as the dark mage had mentioned previously. Once they were in place, Maxima would finally stop clutching on to the angel and turn to watch the spectacle along with the witch, Medeia’s arms wrapping around her as a source of comfort.

(1026 Words)
(10460 PWC)
(22352 TWC)

Nita’s normally golden hair paled as she saw Seles with a captive. For a moment, she thought it might be useful to use her telepathic platform to instruct everyone to get away from the area as quickly as they could, but she decided against it. Panicking people hearing sudden strange voices in their heads were only likely to lose it more, and the apparent hysteria of someone or people who didn’t seem to have any visible triggers could easily make Seles savvy to what the Pergrandian wanted to do. At present, she had an advantage here, and it was one she hoped to use to the fullest: Seles did not know the full extent of her capabilities. So far, she had only shown the two wrestlers that she could use Requip magic, which was a pity. It would be more difficult to take the Wolf by surprise. And yet, with the other tricks in her arsenal, Nita was hopeful that she could turn things to her favor. Hopefully, nobody in the settlement would die tonight. But that was only if the people around played it cool and didn’t do anything stupid. Sadly, human stupidity was a factor whose correction for error could never be sufficiently accounted for.

”Let her go, Seles,” Nita said, looking over her shoulder at the Wolf standing behind her. ”This is between you and me. No one needs to be involved.” The diminutive luchadora laughed in response. ”Nobody is telling me what to do. No, I’m the one who’ll be doing the ordering around. And if you manage to learn to heel properly in the few minutes I intend to spend in this miserable place, maybe I won’t go on a massacring spree. Now, raise your hands and turn slowly, so I can see your hands.” Nita suspected she knew what Seles wanted. With her hands in the open, the Pergrandian would not be able to use her Requip without Seles seeing what she was doing. But perhaps another mistake Seles made, and a mistake common among people who realized their above-average mental capabilities early in life, was that the Wolf assumed herself to be the smartest person here by far. Nita had no idea whether she would outperform Seles in an intelligence test, but she did know something that seemed to present a new advantage: due to her normally flippant behavior, coupled with her naiveté in certain fields of experience, many people thought she was much less intelligent than she really was. This was one of those days that she was glad she never put too much effort into convincing them otherwise.

For a while, she didn’t move. Then came a frantic voice from the gathered crowd of people, ”Well, do what she says! Do you want my daughter to die?” The owner of the voice was a hysteric woman, clutching and being clutched by someone who was probably her husband. ”Yes, please do as she says. We don’t want anyone to get hurt,” the man echoed. To the Pergrandian’s surprise, voices among the crowd began to grow, all calling for the same thing: to do as Seles wanted. Of course, it was easy to see why Medeia had no respect whatsoever for the human race. Nita knew that Seles was simply trying to gain the advantage here, as fighting Nita one-on-one would not go well for the Wolf. Seeing as the people Nita had been struggling to protect had turned against her in the blink of an eye, simply for the hope that one of theirs would not get hurt, the Luminous Rose mage knew that if she were another person, she would have just walked away and allowed Seles to do what she wanted. But she could not do that and be able to face herself in the mirror the next day. Her quick thinking mind had already come up with a plan, but in the end, a lot of it would depend on chance.

Although Seles had asked Nita to raise her hands first, the Pergrandian began turning first, raising her hands slowly. This meant that one hand would temporarily be obscured from Seles for about a second. On that second rested Nita’s plan. She summoned one of her M.A.D.A.M guns, immediately using her Glamor spell on it as it materialized, turning it into a rather thin, nondescript ring on her pinky finger. No one noticed, as the shadows on Nita’s side facing away from Seles were deep enough to prevent even those in the crowd facing the Pergrandian from seeing what happened. Now she stood facing Seles, hands raised in the air, with the latter none the wiser. ”On your knees,” said the Wolf. No response. ”I said, on your knees!” Seles roared, grabbing the hostage girl by her hair and raising her mace. Raised voices encouraged Nita to stop being selfish and comply. She did. ”Now, come over here on your knees, there’s a good girl.” Nita silently complied, even as the plan she had suspected Seles of having seemed to be unfolding as expected. Having been a victim of the mace, Nita had realized that it messed up the ability of one to expend magic power, unlike Medeia’s rope, which made spell casting totally impossible. The beams that the mace could fire most likely disrupted the physical structure of things to turn them to dust, giving the Pergrandian an idea of the true power of the mace. It was a disruptor. When sealed in its default state, it disrupted the generation of magic power. When used to fire a beam, it disrupted physical forces of attraction, down to the molecular level. A truly fearsome weapon, with its power being channeled through the orb that lay hidden within its sealed head. But Nita’s saving grace was that it didn’t seem to work on passive effects, nor abilities that required no magic power to cast. She had come to that conclusion back at the warehouse when Seles had hit her in the side. If the mace totally canceled all forms of magic, it would have most like broken her ribs fatally.

Having drawn close on her knees, Nita looked at Seles. ”I’ve done as you asked. Please let the girl go.” Seles’ response was to swing the mace viciously into the side of the Pergrandian’s head, sending her to the ground. ”What did I say about making demands?” growled the Wolf, swinging again at the Luminous Rose mage’s left temple, a blow deflected by Nita using both arms to shield her already bleeding head. ”If you were scared of what Medeia wanted to do to you, I almost feel sorry for you, with what I have planned for you tonight. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll be too broken physically or mentally to continue your hypocritical vocation as a light mage.” She struck again, eliciting a scream of pain. ”Yes, what a beautiful sound. Scream for me again, Nita.” But the next blow was met with a defiant silence, angering Seles. ”You know what?” the Wolf said, still holding her captive by the hair, while she tried to use her foot to roll Nita over, ”maybe I’ll tell you my plans, so that we’ll both be looking forward to the festivities. Humans are rotten, everyone of them. They’ll run roughshod over others, just to secure their own safety and comfort. I mean, look at what happened here: I’m the one doing the injustice, and yet you’re the one being told to do what I want, because the only thing that humans understand and fear is power. I have no idea why you light mages carry on as you do, trying to help the weak. Your types disgust me. But I’ll make an example out of you. So, here’s what’s going to happen. First, since you seem to act all innocent and modest about the earthier things of life, I’m going to get all the men here to ‘educate’ you. Those who don’t will die a protracted and very painful death. Consider this as service to the community. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as them.”

She managed to turn Nita over, only to stare down the nozzle of a tiny gun. Before she could react, Nita shot her full in the face. ”I preferred the more quiet Seles.” The shot sent the Wolf flying, as Nita said to the hostage girl, ”run!” Because while she knew that the M.A.D.A.M guns were powerful in their own right, one shot would not be able to knock out Seles, much less kill her. And Nita would need to reload before she could shoot again. Her magic power was still to disrupted to perform any normal spells, but she still had a few tricks up her sleeve. As expected, Seles rose, full of rage, as she pointed the mace at the thickest portion of the crowd of bystanders. The mace head opened, the orb within glowing ominously, but Nita had expected the Wolf to react like that, and had already thrown a pebble she had picked and enchanted with Divine Arms. The stone flew with impeccable aim and slammed into the orb the moment it was about to fire, and there was a bright flash that turned both the mace, and its wielder, to dust.

Th Pergrandian silently drew herself into a sitting position, staring at the dust as silence reigned around her. This was her first actual kill.


WC: 1577
PWC: 13504
TWC: 23929