Beating Out Misconceptions (Aegiel, Kihia, Axel, private)

The sky was blue, the sun was shining...the grass looked even greener than it usually did, which was a bit odd. He let it slide, because today was turning out mah-velously. Aegiel was ready for a serious work-out. He grinned, grateful at finally being able to exercise his underused magic. "Huuumm, deedaa-dum, mmmm-HM-da-dum." As a rule, Aegiel never hummed. But today was an exception. Kihia had offered him the opportunity to train with the powerful ice-mage, and Aegiel, surprised at the sudden show of generosity, accepted. He absently wondered who else was coming to the little training session, then shrugged. Who cared? He would be happy to meet anybody, really. A sliver of doubt wedged itself in the back of Aegiel's mind, but he brushed it off. Kihia wouldn't be so unfair as to challenge him one-on-one. Probably. Just then, footsteps sounded behind him, and Aegiel turned to get a good look at the newest arrival.

"...And so, that's how you weave a basket," finished Favonius. The walk to the sparring grounds between Cyrus and Kihia had been boring to say the least. Favonius was talking about basket weaving or something. It was apparently a hobby of his. Vulturnus fell asleep on the way there. As they got there, Cyrus saw another face, Aegiel if he remembered correctly. Kihia had said that he was going to provide help for the sparring match. He was assured taht Aegiel could not hear or see, the venti, and thought the same applied to Kihia. He was wrong.

Kihia's right eyebrow twitch as he tried to ignore the lecturing creature the entire walk there. He sighed, This was meant to be a simple combat training session... not a lecture from a random person about baskets... They then got to the training grounds and saw that Aegiel had already been waiting on them, "Its good to see you made it Aegiel... For todays training session you will be teaming up with Cyrus against myself." Kihia let that sink in for a moment before he continued, "I will take a position somewhere in the surrounding area..., it will be up to you two to locate and engage me... we will go until the sun is in the middle of the sky. Wait about two minutes after I disappear before you come to look for me..."

Kihia then nodded after he said this, Even with how far Cyrus has come along... he will have trouble keeping up with my movement... Kihia then turned to face the woods and then prepared himself to run. Kihia then ran full sprint to the woods and started to jump off the sides of the trees to prevent a trail from being formed on the ground. After traveling a bit he took up his hiding shelter in a large hollowed out space of a tree by a River... Lets first test their ability to track... if they find me... this will make a suitable training area...

Aegiel was delighted to hear that Cyrus was the one who would be his team, since he was the one who saved Meep at the Guildmaster's meeting. He nodded as Kihia told them of his plan, watching the ice mage sprint off into the distance. His face was solemn, but on the inside the Fatewalker was ecstatic. "Cyrus, would you let me take care of this challenge? I have a feeling you'll be hogging the spotlight when we reach the sparring portion of our training." Aegiel gave him a friendly grin. This test was right up his ally. Assuming Kihia hadn't laid any magical traps or veils behind him, Aegiel's Luck should lead him right to the sneaky ice-mage's hiding spot. He closed his eyes, spun in a circle, and began walking in the exact direction Kihia had taken, hoping that Cyrus would trust him and follow his lead. Aegiel might only be a D-ranked mage, but his deficiencies in combat were made up for by his various magical abilities and utility spells. Fate guided his footsteps, and he knew without a doubt that he would find Kihia.

Cyrus was still tuckered out from Favonius's speech, however, now was the time to be focusing on the battle between Kihia and the other two. Cyrus's partner was recognized as Aegiel, the owner of a snake whom Cyrus had rescued at the Guildmaster's Meeting. When he said he'd take then lead, Cyrus nodded. Could you do me a favor and scout the area for Kihia?I'm sure Aegiel has it under control, but I want to know how to prepare to fight him, he asked the Venti. Cyrus would turn to look at air. They had flown off somewhere. Great. Anyways Cyrus motioned for Aegiel to lead the way and he followed closely behind.

---

Meanwhile on Kihia's end...

Yo! Kihia! You can see us now if my theory is correct. So how's it going man? You've been a real help to our Cyrus, said Vulturnus, Favonius nodding in agreement. This would be interesting.

Kihia's right eyebrow twitched has he sat in his hiding spot... He was sitting there, has two miniature people hovering above him, seemingly trying to talk to him telepathically. What did I have for breakfast that would cause me to hallucinate...mini flying people... Kihia then shook his head breaking out of that thought and refocusing himself to ignore the two people hovering above him, They should be getting close... lets give them a small challenge along the way... Kihia then put his hands together channeling his magic energy to them. "Ice Make...Guardian..." Kihia watched has one of his new spells started to form ten feet away from the tree, Give our friends a good challenge as they get close... He watched has his construct nod at him and then start patrolling the area, he smiled This will catch them off guard... especially Cyrus sense he hasn't seen me use dynamic Ice make before...

Kinda was near. He could feel it, and his fast-paced walk began to slow. Aegiel's eyes were closed, but he needed no prompting to walk around trees, over stones and under branches. Unexpectedly, he stopped. Frowning, the Fatewalker opened his eyes, squinting into what appeared to be a small, open glade. "Huh. I could swear we were supposed to walk a little bit farther," he muttered to himself. Then he remembered Cyrus, and he spun around to face the white-haired mage, a sheepish expression on his face. "Cyrus, I think something's wro-OOF!" He saw stars as something blunt and heavy slammed into the back of his head, slamming the disoriented mage into the soft ground. He groaned, but had the sense to protect himself. He felt reality shift just the tiniest bit in his favor as he flopped onto his back in order to see just what it was that had hit him.

"Kihia, you sly villain," he grinned, recognizing the icy construct as something Kihia would have created. He squinted up at it, vision still blurred as it raised its arm/shield-thing and drove it down at Aegiel's face. The Fatewalker could only watch as the thing missed his prone body completely, it's fist slamming down on the hard ground next to him. An audible *CRACK* rang through the air, and hairline fractures ran the length of the creatures arm. Aegiel hoped Cyrus had something in mind, because between his semi-concussion and ringing ears, there was no way he was going to be able to avoid the ice-creatures next punch. Which, as it happened, was heading for his unprotected stomach that instant.

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Cyrus sighed. Did Kihia think that this was going to stop him? Sure the dynamic make was new, but it's not like Cyrus hadn't used that style of make magic himself. Cyrus then drew his sword. He dashed forewards to split the ice warrior in half, but was blocked in by the icy warrior combining his shields. The cracks that then appeared all over it's arms were clearly visible. Cyrus then proceeded to dislodge his blade and roundhouse kick the ice creation's arms into oblivion. The arms fell to the ground in pieces. Cyrus then continued his onslaught with a swift swing to the opponents torso splitting it in half. The upper half flew into the air and crumbled. Shortly afterwards the lower half did as well. "Come Sir Aegiel, let us continue to Kihia," he said, motioning for his companion to take the lead once again.

Oi! You're not imagining us! We're Venti! Real genuine spirits! Show some respect! Oi! Vulturnus angrily shouted with Favonius nodding even faster. He was quite miffed with Kihia. Vulturnus looked up to see two people walking towards them it was Cyrus and Aegiel.

Now listen here, although Aegiel here had the ability to find Kihia anyways, you were giving away his location. That's cheating, said Cyrus to the Venti, "Kihia, the true fight begins... now!" he said pulling out a crossbow and firing four bolts from it.

Kihia's right eyebrow twitched as he tried to maintain focus on the construct which was hard with one of the mini people yelling at him. Kihia faintly felt the magic fade away from his construct. He nodded, he knew that Cyrus could easily defeat it.

Kihia waited a moment and then heard movement behind him, "Kihia, the true fight begins... now!" Kihia nodded and said, "So it does...." Kihia quickly spun around deflecting each of the crossbow bolts from Icarus, "Ice make... Partisan..." Kihia then rushed at Cyrus and Aegiel,(ok how we are going to do this, we will leave off our posts with our character doing something, then make two additional sentences describing how your character would react if that action were to fail or succeed.) He then unleashed a spinning Kick towards Aegiel's legs to knock him off balance.

If it succeeds: Kihia will follow up by quickly grabbing one of Cyrus's arms and spin around throwing him into the hollow where he was hiding.

If it fails: Kihia will jump towards a tree and then jump off of it to make some distance between you two, and adopt a defensive stance upon landing.

Aegiel's wooziness had finally worn off by the time he reached Kihia. He was still amazed at how simple it had been for Cyrus to destroy Kihia's creation. That experience had taught him how much of a difference in power one "rank" can make, and he had resumed walking with a lighter step once Cyrus had smashed the creature into oblivion. Then they reached the spot where Kihia was, and Cyrus had surprised Aegiel once again by flushing out the ice-mage with his crossbow. He grinned, and opened his mouth to speak, "Hey, Kih-" and was cut off by a flying kick (and a quite graceful one at that) headed straight for Aegiel's legs.

The Fatewalker's eyes narrowed as he calculated the the speed at which Kihia was closing the distance between him. A mischievous twinkle appeared in his eye. He had all the time in the world. His back arched, two feet lifting off the ground as the D-ranked mage did a backwards handspring in Cyrus' direction, the serpentine blood in his veins giving him a huge (OOC: 50%) boost to his speed and dexterity. Kihia immediatly jumped sideways onto a tree and leapt off it, using the solid bark as leverage to get him to safety. As the ice-mage adopted a defensive stance, Aegiel's mind was whirling with possibilities and various probabilities of success. Cyrus is our only hope of defeating him offensively, so it is probably best that I support him first and foremost. Second priority would be to limit Kihia's magic as much as possible with close-ranged spells, and pray that my dexterity is enough to keep my from being hit by his magic .

Aegiel sprung into action, beginning by weaving Tangled Threads around Cyrus that would provide a solid defense against D-ranked spells. Aegiel hoped that the white-haired mage wouldn't be alarmed by the faint droning noise the spell would cause him to hear, and gave a quick signal with his eyes to show that it was Aegiel's magic. Then, drawing his staff, Aegiel rushed the ice-mage, feet blurring through the tall grasses as he prepared to feint to Kihia's left, distracting and locking eyes with him as Aegiel drew as close as possible. He wasn't overly worried about the close distance. Close-ranged battles were his specialty, after all.

If Aegiel succeeds in locking eyes with Kihia, he will cast Gambler's Luck, and follow that up by spinning his staff towards Kihia in a defensive vertical slash towards his unprotected arm which he was certainly aware enough to notice the first time. For sure.

If Aegiel doesn't succeed in locking eyes with Kihia (for whatever reason) he will still draw as close to Kihia as possible before expelling a toxic cloud of paralyzingly gas that has a range of five meters and lasts one post, in which it's target can't move.

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Cyrus watched as Kihia deflected his bolts and began a quick, albeit unsuccessful, assult on Cyrus's teammate. Next came Cyrus's attempt to attack. He focused his magic to form a creation he hadn't got the chance to use, and now seemed like the perfect time. "Cloud Make: Hand Cannon," Cyrus made a weapon in his hand and prepared it by setting it upon his shoulder. While Aegiel attempted to use another of his odd spells on Kihia, Cyrus fired one of the weapon's shots.

If the Shot lands: Cyrus will leap forwards and follow up with a swift strike using the make as a melee weapon.

If the shot misses: Cyrus will leap backwards and prepare himself to fire another shot.

Kihia took a small step back as Aegiel charged at him, Cyrus should have warned him not to charge headlong at me… Kihia quickly swung the blunt end of Icarus at Aegiel’s legs to knock him off his feet, he then let go of Icarus with his left hand grabbed Aegiel by his arm and spun around to throw him, He then saw Aegiel spit out a cloud of poison as he flew back and heard Cyrus behind him readying a spell, "Cloud Make: Hand Cannon," Kihia heard something fireoff behind him and ducked, letting the cloud bullet whiz over his head into the poison gas cloud making it disperse.

Kihia then turned around and ran to Cyrus, first attacking by swinging the blunt end of Icarus at Cyrus’s cloud handcannon to dislodge.

If this attack is successful: Kihia will follow up the attack, by spinning Icarus around and slicing the handcannon with the blade of the partisan. Then kicking Cyrus away from him,

If this attack fails: Kihia will be open for a brief second and then jump back to add distance

Aegiel flew backwards through the air, cursing his luck. He couldn't believe Kihia was that fast. Even with Aegiel's enhanced speed, he didn't have the necessary skill or experience to fight him close-up, it seemed. He deftly caught a low-hanging branch, bringing his short flight to an abrupt halt. He was thankful this was only a training session, or Kihia would probably have taken him out already with that frosty weapon of his. Aegiel growled, lost. What the hell am I supposed to do now?

Aegiel slithered to the ground silently, trying to make as little noise as possible. He kneeled down, letting Meep slide quietly from his sleeve and disappear into the tall grasses. Then he jogged in Cyrus' direction, ready to support his ally if it was called for. His serpent friend should at least be able to provide the Cloud Mage an opening to attack. Or so he hoped.

If Kihia doesn't notice Meep in time, the tiny viper will attempt to sink her poisonous fangs into his unprotected calf, dealing D-ranked damage. The she will coil her body and leap backwards like a spring into the tall grass to return to Aegiel. She can clear a distance of 10 feet at a time, and is very slippery.

If Kihia notices and avoids the sneak attack, Meep will attempt to return to Aegiel, who will assume a defensive stance near Cyrus.

Cyrus was sent flying by Kihia's next moves after his initial attack failed. Taking back up a stance next to Aegiel he began to channel Favonius's magic. "Aegiel be ready to back me up"

Alright then Cyrus, time for me, Favonius, to show my power, said the spirit, making sure both Kihia and Cyrus heard him.

"O great Favonius, Gentle King of the sky, Venti of the West, hear my plea. Give me the speed to soar across the world. Cloud Make: Armor of Favonius!" he said gaining cloudy armor all over his body. He then rushed forwards using his newfound speed and drawing his sword using a fake out technique, swinging at Kihia, backing up, swiveling around the Ice make mage's side and to his back, swinging the huge sword down towards Kihia on one of it's blunt sides.

If successful: Cyrus will follow up with a kick to separate himself from Kihia distance wise.

If failure: Cyrus will dash backwards to increase the distance.

The member 'Axilmeus Steel' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Normal Dice' :

Kihia winced a bit when he felt something bite his leg, he didn’t know what caused it but it went away as fast as it appeared, Kihia then looked up and saw Cyrus had casted a unique armor spell. Kihia watched as Cyrus flew towards him at high speed. Kihia recognized the feint as Cyrus attempted it and swung around behind him. Kihia gently nodded and spun around channeling a large portion of his magic power into Icarus, the Partisan blade rapidly grew five times bigger as he brought it upwards to catch Cyrus’s sword. Kihia threw Icarus upward as the enlarged Partisan blade caught the sword and carried it upward out of Cyrus’s reach(OOC agreed for this).


Kihia waited for a moment and then said, “That’s enough for now… take a small break before we continue.” Kihia nodded and watched as Icarus fell back down with the partisan blade dissipating, he caught it mid air and then walked over to the river. They certainly can hold their own…

Aegiel grinned, out of breath. He complimented Cyrus on his techniques and motioned for the Cloud Mage to follow him to the river where Kihia rested. Meep slithered up his leg and burrowed into his tee; probably feeling very satisfied with herself. As she should, he thought to himself, stroking the little snake's scaly head. He walked over to the river and bent his head down so that he was looking up at Kihia. "So, how'd I do?" He was relatively sure he had performed well, but he needed the Ice Mage's approval to be sure. The man seemed cold, but also blunt, which meant he was likely a very truthful person who would give Aegiel honest feedback. The Fatewalker was smiling, but his stomach was twisting from the anxiety.

Cyrus nodded when Kihia told them to stop. His armor dissipated. He had truly been caught off guard when Kihia created that massive Partisan, as he had never seen Kihia use that technique before. As they took their break, Cyrus walked up to Kihia. "What was that move you used back then? An advanced form of your channeling techni---" he was interrupted by an angry Vulturnus. 

OIII! CYRUS! PLEASE EXPLAIN TO KIHIA HERE WHAT WE ARE, AND THAT WE ARE NOT FAKE! 


"Wait, so you can see them too Kihai?" Cyrus whispered concerned and surprised that a third person was apparently able to see the Venti.

Kihia stood their studying the river, "Your magic Aegiel... is it solely meant to aid your allies? if so... you need to find a better weapon to aid yourself than a staff... other than that you did well..." Kihia went silent for a moment listening to Cyrus's question about the last technique he used... until one of the miniature people yelled again...

Cyrus whispered in Kihia's ear asking, "Wait, so you can see them too Kihia?" Kihia's right eyebrow twitched in annoyance and embarrasment, he had know idea how to properly respond to that question. He then whisper, "If you mean the two miniature annoying people floating in midair... then yes....I can..." Kihia paused for a moment to answer Cyrus's original question, "It is an advanced channeling technique... it forces the ice blade on Icarus to grow five times bigger... and have twice the amount of power... however it is only good for one swing due to the shear strain on my ice blade... Here let me demonstrate for you..." Kihia walked about fifteen feet away from the two mages, and then adopted a striking stance. "Ice make....Glaive..." Kihia waited a moment as the glaive blade formed on Icarus by taking aim at the cluster of four trees infront of him...

Kihia then channeled even more magical power into Icarus which made it start to glow with a light blue glow. The ice glaive blade started to grow five times bigger, Kihia then nodded when this was done and swung Icarus along his projected trajectory slicing through the four trees with ease. The ice glaive blade then cracked and shattered as the trees slid off the stumps and fell to the ground. Kihia nodded at this... That was good practice...

Aegiel sat down with a huff, picking at grass. The Ice Mage had told him to do the one thing he couldn't: turn his magic into an offensive weapon. Then Kihia had to demonstrate exactly what it was that Aegiel could not do, smashing a bunch of trees with a combination of his massive ice blade and Ice Make magic.

It was really, really frustrating. "But what can I do? Fatewalking cannot directly affect anything in the physical realm. Ugh, I just wish I could blow something up!" Aegiel pounded his wooden staff into the ground for emphasis, jarring his elbow and turning his bitter smile upside-down.

He glared at his staff. "And you! Aegiel's nose wrinkled, "You're just a blunt stick! How am I supposed to do any real damage with a stubby piece of wood like you? Huh?" He unsuccessfully tried to throttle the unresponsive thing before tossing it down on the ground, dejected.

M-m-miniature... an-nnoying... p-p-pe... KIHIA AVOA! I'll have you know that we are Venti! V-E-N-T-I! We just so happen to not only be the living embodiments of the four winds, but also the entire reason Cyrus can use magic. Calling us 'miniature annoying people' is one of the most disrespectful things I've ever heard. How dare you! Not only this, but..." as Vulturnus continued his rant against Kihia, Cyrus turned to Aegiel.

He heard him say certain things, implying that he doubted his own abilities or was at least frustrated with them. "Aegiel. Despite the limits of your magic, there's nothing stopping you from using your magic in ways no one would expect. With enough training and dedication, anything is possible. Kihia showed us an example of this today with his new channeling technique. Was it expected that he would do that? Does that seem like something Ice Make could naturally do? The answer is no. You just have to find what you personally can do. As far as your weapon, you just need to learn how to utilize it alongside your magic. Kihia channels Ice Make through Icarus, I can use my whip to turn my sword into a long range tool. You need to figure out how fatewalking would be able to work with the staff." Happy with his response he looked back at Kihia, who was still getting reprimanded by Vulturnus.

Kihia’s right eyebrow twitched as the red one had so abruptly started to yell and berate at Kihia, He sighed, If I couldn’t see you before… why didn’t you let Cyrus introduce you to save this confusion…? Kihia simply have them a cold hard stare waiting for a response, because in all due regard… they made him think he was going crazy… and they said he was being rude…

Cyrus was right. It was time to  step it up and think this thing through. Confidence! 

"How to combine magic and weapon...." Aegiel mused. He kicked off his sandals and dipped his feet in the cold river water, tiny minnows nibbling at his toes. Ripples spiraled across the slow-moving surface, mesmerizing the Fatewalker completely. Misdirection! Aegiel beamed, already dreaming up how to use his newest idea. I don't need to deal massive amounts of damage to someone. All I have to do is get close enough to find their weak spot.... He stared off into space dreamily, enjoying the quiet air.

Cyrus nodded. Although all three of them probably had room to grow as mages, Aegiel was clearly the most so. He was able to grasp concepts with ease, however, and clearly had the potential to be as great of a mage as Cyrus of Kihia, given the time. He was true Lamia Scale material, a person who could become a hero, if pushed in the right direction, which was what their master Zuo had planned for them. As Cyrus pondered this the Venti went silent as they thought about how to answer Kihia.

Kihia continued to glare at the Venti's for a moment and then turned to the trees he felled, Kihia spotted something he failed to notice before either because it was to well hidden or he wasn't paying attention. A recently finished birds nest had been built in one of the trees he fell, Kihia frowned and gently knelt down and picked up the nest. He looked around and then saw a nearby tree that would be suitable and nodded, he walked up to the tree and climbed up in a cautions but somewhat haphazard way and placed the nest in it's new spot, He saw a bird fly to the nest and glared at Kihia, he smiled and said, "Sorry for the disturbance little one..." He then slowly started to climb down the tree.