A test of Courage

Zuo was presently a mile outside of Hargeon town away from any homes or private property. The land around him was a wide flat valley covered in tall grass only a short distance from the beach. The sun was bright, everything was tranquil and all seemed well with the world. That would soon change. For Zuo Cii had invited every single mage of Lamia Scale to this field for a special guild wide activity. The old man felt he had been slacking off in his duties of training a new generation of heroes for the future so this was his solution. Today they were all going to learn an important lesson in.... spoilers. With that Zuo sat down in the middle of the field in the tall grass waiting for his guild members to arrive. Today was going to be a fun day.

Ren cautiously stood on the border of the field, afraid to step any closer. He had received an invitation to come out here, and he felt incredibly morbid about showing up at all. He knew exactly what laid in fields of tall grass: Snakes. Mountains of them. Especially in warm weather, they would be out there. What if he stepped on one and it attacked him?! The mere thought made him want to run away. "Zuo? Are you out there? If you don't say anything I am going to assume your not there are leave!" Ren warned. He cautiously poked the grass with his foot, flinching just in case any snakes slithered out. Ren's final resolve was that he would not step foot in this grass until he was sure it was safe.

Why had the guild master called her and her guild mates at such a random time? The girl had shown up by herself, of course Ren was here as well, acting like a child as always. She had worn her favorite satin gown, the bangs of her long blonde hair were held back with embroidered pins. Lately she has been trying to keep her habit of overdressing to a minimum, but today she couldn't help herself. Her appearance must always be kept at peak condition.
Ophelia placed a hand on her cheek and let out a small sigh as she waited for her guildmates to show up, maybe they were just as confused as she was? She has yet to have a conversation with the guildmaster, she hadn't even recalled talking to him once, so currently the girl was rather lost.

Kihia sighed, Zuo had called the entire Guild out to a field a mile out of town, why? Anyone else’s guess was as good as Kihia’s. The idea of another outing… I just pray that no one tries to get me to swim again… Kihia sighed as he continued walking into the field he saw Zuo Cii standing in the middle of the field waiting for people to arrive, he walked over to the Guildmaster of Lamia Scale and bowed, “Hello Master Zuo, may I ask what is the reason you summoned most of the Guild out here?”

Aegiel sprinted into the designated meeting spot, panting. He had ran the whole way from Hargeon, terrified of being late. He looked up. There was Master Zuo, Bunny-Boy, Kihia, and Miss Kutalai. That was all. He collapsed in the soft grass, chest heaving. He really needed to do some weight-training. Run a marathon or two, maybe wrestle a few bears. He toyed with the idea for a bit before sitting up, groaning. He gave Bunny-Boy (Ren) a friendly wave, motioning him closer to the small gathering as he seemed to be having second thoughts. He smiled in Ophelia's direction as well, deciding to be a bit more reserved in his greeting to the well-dressed "Madame". He would have greeted Kihia, but he appeared to be in the middle of a chat with Zuo, who was sitting cross-legged on a patch of flattened grass. Aegiel wondered what the wily Guildmaster had in store for them.

Talen smiled as he came to the field that Zuo Cii had summoned the guild to. With the bright sun on his face and the gentle wind blowing through his hair, Talen was reminded of spending time in his youth with Artemis. As Talen continued the wallk to the rest of his guild mates he saw Ren, poking at the grass with his foot. He also saw a women that he assumed was Ophelia, he had yet to meet the mage, but he had heard that she liked to be well dressed for all occasions. As Talen approached the guild master, he saw Kariline, standing with her arms crossed, Kihia, talking with Zou Cii, and Aegiel who was simply stranding there.

Talen walked up to Kariline and asked, "So, do you know why we are here?" The Celestial Spirit mage had given up long ago trying to figure out what went on inside their guild masters head.

Ni-Ju stepped off a game trail at the edge of the field where everyone was supposed to meet. stopping to check his pocket watch he realized with a start that he was several minutes late. "Always happens."
he mumbled to himself ruefully, plodding towards the group of people in the middle of the field. As he approached he could see four men and two women surrounding a man who from the descriptions he had heard could only be the Lamia Scale guildmaster. Recognizing Kihia as the one talking to the guildmaster, Ni-Ju politely waved before sitting down cross-legged a few feet away. Rummaging through his pack, Ni-Ju pulled out two large glass bottles of lemonade and a dozen small glasses.
"Would anyone care for a drink?".

Running... so much running...

Cyrus had been moving as fast as he could for the past 15 minutes to get to the clearing where Master Zuo had called his guild. The Venti were staying behind as they would have simply complicated things between people who could see them and people who couldn't. When one of the attending members offered Cyrus a drink he, gladly accepted. "I'll have a glass, thank you. I don't think I've seen you before. My name's Cyrus Kuma, could I have your name as well?" he asked.

Zhu smiled softly as he walked into the field and arrived at the location where most of the guild was already sitting and waiting. He couldn’t really understand why the guild master had called everyone down here, but he knew that it was something important. He really didn’t want it to be like the last guild meeting they had, but he had faith that it wouldn’t be like that. He looked around and spotted a few of his comrades and some of the members of his team. Still he was ready for anything and he had a new toy up his sleeve in case things got too crazy. He took up a position next to Cyrus as he was the closest to him.

So many sunny days lately, almost never an overcast or rain, always bright sunny days with the most difference being just some white fluffy clouds in the sky. This day wasn't any different, sunny, bright, white clouds floating in the sky. The meadow had long blades of grass and was dry and wavy against the wind. They were a roughly mile away from Hargeon and in this known, but usually quiet place.
Walking into the grass, among the others that came first, was Naraca Breaker. His clothes were the same as they usually were. A black tank top, dark blue loose shorts with a sash around his waist and a little side orange cape on his right leg followed by going bare foot as he often liked to do. His massive great sword was strapped to his back and he had tough, white wraps around his left wrist.

The sun was nice today, he thought, not too bright to be blinding, but bright enough accent the meadow around them. It was warm as well, the wind balanced out any feelings of too much heat. Such a tranquil location really, one that a person could get lost in. The air was sweet, rich to breath in. So strange as they were so far from nature yet able to taste lushness of the smooth natural air around them.

Walking further in, he saw quite a few members of the guild. Some he hadn't met yet as well. He noticed Kariline, Talen and Kihia right though followed by Zuo who sat in a mediation. The day was so nice he thought he might just sit down and enjoy it as well. Yet not before greeting his comrades.
"Hey!" He called out, addressing everyone as he arrived.
He saw Talen already asked his question for him so he didn't feel the need to ask why they were here. Yet a man from the guild was offering what looked to be lemonade.
"I'll take one" He replied to Ni-Ju.
He hadn't met that man before, yet he was sure whatever they were all here for would cause him to get to know the man.

"Names Ni-Ju Hachi, pleased to meet you." He said handing full glasses to both Cyrus and Naraca.
"Im still pretty new to the guild so I haven't had much chance to meet everyone." He carefully poured himself a glass and leaned back against a small rock. "Im not very experienced but if I can be of any service please don't hesitate to ask."

Ren began to shriek loudly as the earthquake started, and the shrieking only got more intense when a giant torso began attacking. "WHYCAN'TWEHAVEAPEACEFULMEETINGFORONCE" Ren wheezed as he shut his eyes firmly and cowered in fear. That thing was gigantic, he was sure everyone could deal with it, they were high rank right?! Calm thoughts, calm thoughts Ren thought to himself, Ren opened his eyes for a second and saw the thing again, and he no longer felt so calm. CALM THOUGHTS CALM THOUGHTS I'M GOING TO DIE Ren began hyperventilating. And kind of crying.

Everytime that old git plans something, it always ends up being a horrible day... Kara thought to herself as she slumped across the town of Hargeon. She'd had no intentions of turning up early or even on time. What was the point when she knew that Zuo was likely about to put everyone's lives on the brink YET AGAIN for the sake of some kind of a test - which Kara was certain was a codeword for 'amusement'. Yet despite all her negativity towards Zuo's actions she had decided to turn up anyway, albeit in her own time.

"WHYCAN'TWEHAVEAPEACEFULMEETINGFORONCE"

That shriek was unmistakable and made Kara sigh. Zuo was indeed at it again by the sounds of things, and Ren was - once again - freaking out. As the lavender haired maiden looked up she immediately understood why; another earth golem not unlike the one she'd faced for her exam. She'd not been able to dent the creature that time and it wasn't likely she'd be able to this time either. Still...her guildmates were here this time, and that was enough of an incentive to drive her forwards.

~~~~

Kara's hand clasped over Ren's mouth as she stood in front of him, waiting until he was silent and somewhat less anxious before removing the hand and putting both her hands on her hips. "I warned you last time to keep calm didn't I?! You're a mage, and a good one at that. The only reason you're not great is because you overreact to the slightest things!" She turned her back on her guildmate and faced the golem as it struck the ground a few meters in front of her. "If you're going to just stand there and panic then you might as well go back to the guildhall. But if you're up for this challenge...well, you had better get your head into the right place otherwise that golem isn't going to look nearly as threatening as what you're going to get." Her voice was somewhat sinister at the end of the sentence before she lowered her hands by her sides. "Amethyst Make: Apollo's Armor!"

----

HP: 100%
MP: 90% (-10%)

Apollo's Armor:

The Earth rumbled as Zuo placed his fists to the ground. She knew, she knew this was going to happen. She steadied herself and looked around, guildmates seemed to be waiting for this, and Ren was shrieking in terror; The normal. Kari watched as a huge behemoth golem erupted from the earth. Zuo vanishing inside of it. Yup, they were all going to die. It pulled it's arm back and at that moment, Kari was more sure that he was having fun pitting themselves against him, rather than teaching them teamwork.

The golems fist flew at them all and she activated her gauntlets, firing one shot she rolled way from the impact. It was a good idea to wear these, but perhaps she should have worn more clothing. She was going to get all scrapped up.
Looking around, she took into account of who all was here. Kara had joined them as well, who took action immediately and downed herself in her make Armor. There was also Kihia, Talen, Naraca, Cyrus, Ophelia and Ni-ju." She had not experienced a few of them in battle so this was going to be interesting. But what was more funny, was that the person who could effect the outcome of this battle the most, was Ren.

"Ren!" She yelled back, " We need you! Lamia Scale needs you. Your a water mage. Earth is weak to water naturally. Help us!" She said, trying to reach out to him. With that, she summoned Azure, her Ice demon, who stood nearly 8 feet tall and was 4 1/2 feet wide. He was large, big enough to carry Kariline on his shoulder if desired. They were going to have to work together to defeat him.

" There are enough of us to surround him! Talen, Cyrus! Kara, Naraca! Keep his fists busy, keep him concentrated on you. " She yelled out, it wasn't the best to yell out a battle strategy in front of your opponent, but they didn't have time. " Kihia come with me, and everyone else, hit him hard with all you got. " She wasn't sure how many other mages they had, and she wasn't even sure if most of them would waste their time with this " event ".

Kihia grimaced, he had faced another of Zuo’s golem forms before, but he could feel this one was different. This one was far more powerful but another difference between back then, he was as well. Kihia looked around, “If this is a test for the entire Guild so be it Master Zuo… Everyone stand your ground!...” He stopped for a moment and looked at the various members of his team that were there, “Let us all fight together, let there be no fear in our hearts, we are stronger together… we find courage in one another!.... Let us show our Guild Master the fruits of his labor!”

Kihia waited for a moment, …If I am going to live by those words….I to…must find the courage to continue on… He planted Icarus into the ground and threw off his trench coat.(he is wearing a sleeveless T shirt) He then put his left hand on the bandages on his right arm grabbing them. He waited for a moment and then ripped apart the bandages to reveal his Ice prosthetic.

Kihia waited a moment and unsheathed the Geruks, I store within these weapons…Ice make…Chained Partisans… Kihia felt his magical energy go into them and nodded, “Naraca Catch! Tap the centers when you are ready!” Kihia threw the Geruks towards Naraca, and then nodded at Kariline, picked up Icarus and took off towards the golem.

I am going to bring back that strategy… Kihia dodged a incoming punch from the golem and then jumped onto its right arm. Kihia then continued to run up the arm  to the shoulder, “Ice Make… Partisan!!” He got to the Golem’s shoulder and jumped high into  the air, May this be a true symbol of what all everyone has taught me… Kihia then started to channel a large amount of his magical power into Icarus(Cryo Overload Activated) A bright flash of magical power emitted from Icarus and  then the ice partisan head  grew five times bigger as he thrusted into the Shoulder of the Golem. Seeing that it managed to puncture into the shoulder two feet he nodded and broke it off of Icarus.

Kihia then jumped high into the air, and started to spin Icarus. “Ice make Ring!!” Kihia then took aim at the weak point in the shoulder, This should definitely be enough to separate the arm…. Kihia focused on the single point where he had stuck the overloaded partisan blade. “Ice Make… Spear Storm!!” He let himself fall as he directed all 18 ice spears to the single point to aid in the process of breaking the arm off, I have given you all the opening… make good use of it….

---

MP:70%
(OOC Note)Sorry for breaking posting order, A few of us misread ZUo's instructions in LS Skype chat, keep in mind now that Ophe needs to post next,(after Aegiel's post)

Aegiel easily avoided the golem's first lumbering smash, his legs blurring as he sprinted his way out of danger. The blood of his serpent ancestors hissed through his veins, making his limbs more flexible and his movements even quicker (50% boost to speed/dexterity). Two mages with whom Aegiel was unfamiliar with went on the defensive, one barking out orders like she ran the place. Which she very well might have, since Aegiel was still relatively new to his Guild. Then, out of the blue leapt Kihia, neatly piercing the creature's arm after giving the stunned Lamia Scale members a ten-second pep talk. Aegiel shook his head ruefully, at a loss at what to do. He had a nasty feeling that his magic was wholly incompatible with Zuo's, his lacking the brute strength to pierce solid layers of rock.

It was one of those times when all Aegiel could do was use his head. He recalled the raven-haired wizard telling Ren that he was their best chance of success, and made a split-second decision. He streaked over to the quivering water mage and assumed a defensive stance, his back to Ren. As he slid his staff out of its leather strap, he bent the laws of reality a tiny bit in his favor, granting him Unearthly Grace. He followed it up with another protective spell, this time centered on Ren. He hoped his Tangled Threads magic would be enough to protect the cowering boy, and prayed that he would find the strength to act. If he didn't, Aegiel's attempts to protect their best offensive asset would all be for naught.

MP: 90%

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

As Kaligos walked into the field of combat he could already tell that he was late to the party as it was. Somehow even Kara had already gotten there ahead of the earth dragon slayer. It still felt too early for Kaligos to even be up yet. He hadn't even eaten breakfast today, and so he could hardly blame himself for getting lazy, at the same time when Zou showed off what they were fighting against many thoughts came to many different people.

Some saw fear, the moment of their death. Kara saw a challenge he could see that much just in her eyes, but Kaligos... Kaligos saw something that no one else in the guild could, he could smell something that no one else could. There guild leader the strongest man in the place was an earth magic user.... And he just cooked Kaligos breakfast!

The smell of the golum was actually tantalizing. The earth magic used was unique, it was salty, but not dry, Savory, but not sweet, and the aroma had just the right amount of spice to it. He had never smelled anything remotely like it, even Kara's cooking for as good as it was hardly compared to this... creature of beauty. Where many men would rather run and fight, Kaligos could only feel his mouth watering, and not from the challenge, but from the promise of food!

Kaligos didn't bother casting a spell, in his mind he hardly felt like it was needed instead he ran towards the golum, and bit into it's flesh. The powerful jaws of a dragon that feasted on stone, and boulders crunching down on the creatures skin and breaking off a chunck of rock. It tasted better then it smelled!

This meeting took a turn for the worst. Ren appeared to be blubbering like a baby and flailed about to dodge the large fist. Ophelia picked up the end of her dress and ran back. The girl's body appeared to contort as she raised her leg and kicked the air, her form was graceful and clean, odd for such an aggressive girl like her. Through gritted teeth she managed to yell, "Rock Form Kick!"
The ground rumbled underneath her as a large leg shaped statue shot it's way out, this was Ophelia's futile attempt to help her guildmates, though she knew the golem could easily slap it away.

Her breath appeared to grow tense and quick as she attempted to focus in on the large golem. Surprisingly, Ophelia managed to stay calm and collected, unlike her more timid friend, Ren. As her foot landed on the ground, she moved some hair from her face and stood back, watching how the others handled this. Most were skilled in battle, and secretly, Ophelia was impressed by their magic, something that she tried to keep to herself.

Spoiler:

Talen was not surprised when he saw Zuo turn into the golem. Slightly annoyed, but not surprised. "And here I was, hoping for a picnic." Talen said with a slight bit of sarcasm and he jumped out of the way of the giant first.

Kariline yelled instructions to himself and the rest of Serpent Soul. Talen nodded, yelling back "Understood!" the summoner trusted his team leader's judgment and strategy. The celestial spirit mage reached for two of his keys and took a deep breath. It was not often that he attempted a double summon and it could take a lot out of him. "Gate of the Huntress, I open thee, Artemis! Gate of the Harpy I open thee, Aello!"

The two female spirits appeared next to Talen and gave each other dirty looks. "Why is she here?" Artemis asked with a very annoyed look on her face. "I was about to ask the same thing" Aello said in response. "Both of you, focus! We need to distract that golem!" Talen did not like yelling at celestial spirits, but he did not have the time to try and talk it out with them, he needed to try and distract Zuo so the others could go on the offensive. Instead of continuing to argue the two spirits nodded at Talen, understanding the urgency and putting aside their dislike of each other for the time being.

Artemis quickly fired three of her arrows at the golem's face. She drew back a fourth arrow, but before firing it she closed her eyes for a second before mumbling something to herself. The arrow started to glow with a warm golden light before she fired it at the golem.

At the same time as Artemis was firing her arrows, Aello started flying around the rock golem's head. Scratching it with her claws, and after orbiting it a few times, she beat her wings together shouting, "Gale Blast!" buffeting the side of the golem's head with the concussive blast.

Talen knew that her spirits were probably were not doing much damage to the guild master's construct, but he did hope that they were annoying him.

Ni-Ju poked his head up from the grass, studying the situation carefully before attempting anything chancy. Spotting a better location to observe his guildmates magic, Ni-Ju slowly worked his way into position a few yards from the dark haired woman, Kariline, settling himself low in the grass. "A little more time." He whispered. "Just a little more."

As his master's hand descended upon the gathering of mages Cyrus leaped to get out of the way, but was nevertheless sent flying by the giant punch. As he got up he leaped backwards. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to leave the Venti behind. "Cloud Make: Hand Cannon," he said, creating his weapon in his hand, "and... Bullets!" he let fly three small bullet like cloud projectiles from the index finger on his other hand. He then ran towards Ren Hengi, a guildmate of his, firing one of his shots from the hand cannon to follow up his bullets, "Ren, we need to work together. As water mages, we theoretically have the best chance of fighting a rock monster. The only question is how we get close to it."

As the great earthen Immortal appeared Zhu was quick to summon up his new two. In his hands appeared the great sword he called “Dragon Cleaver” the blade was heavy, but he was capable of jumping away from the Giant. He quickly slammed it into the ground with all of his might. As he did so a shockwave was sent through the ground 25 meters in front of him and it was sent towards the Giant made of earth. This was Dragon Quake and it would help make the ground a lot more unstable hopefully it would drop the giant down to his knees and allow everyone else to attack him.

As he continued to back pedal away even farther away he switched weapons once more and summoned up his famous Green Dragon. He finally stopped moving and simply took up position ready to fight. He didn’t know what he would do, but he knew that he couldn’t let himself be killed by this golem. Where he landed happened to be close to Talen. He looked to the Celestial mage and nodded “Bravo on the two spirits at once Talen. I’m right here if you need me. I figured you are smart so you can think of a plan and tell me what I can do to help.” He looked back at the construct ready to jump away at a moment’s notice.

80/100%
0/4 Dragon’s Quake cool down begins
Green Dragon Begin

From the beginning Naraca wasn't exactly sure what to think of all this, some test involving everyone? What could it possibly be?
Zuo started to walk away from them once everyone was here.

No hope of success, it wouldn't be over quickly. These words brought a tensions in his abdomen, and something him he should reach up for his sword, which he did. His grip remaining loose on the hilt of the bandaged blade. He looked around and made note of where everyone was, he had a feeling he would need to know this for later.
Zuo proceeded to hit the ground with his fists and recite a spell he had heard about once before. Only in passing in the guild, "Rise Earthbound Immortal" was the phrase.

Then suddenly, from all around them several mounds and piles of earth, rock and dirt all began smashing together in a loud and thunderous display of the Guild masters earth magic. It was fast as well, Naraca began to walk backwards as he watched the piling of earthen materials grow bigger and bigger before it began to form and shape. It was becoming some kind of building maybe, were they going to do something inside? Well that was a logical way to think about it at first, however it then grew building sized arms.

A...A monster? This was going to be alive? Naraca's eye's widened as he had to tilt is head way up to look at it.
Zuo molded inside of it, then the golem made a fist.

Strength...So him there strength, all of it.

Naraca continued to walk backwards, pulling out his massive great sword in the process. The golems fist pulled back, upon seeing this the man quickly went from walking backwards, to running away from the fist. His speed was like a blur and he was able to get enough distance between him and the fist in no time as it smashed down into the ground with an earth shattering boom, shaking the ground in the process.
He ran far away enough and ended up being close to Kariline who was currently shouting to someone named Ren that he was needed.
Ren...Yes he was that water mage. Naraca's head turned to the man who was afraid and was being consoled by Kara and protected.

Kariline began shouting orders, Talen, Cyrus and himself to keep the golem busy...

"No that won't..." He whispered before his own mind stopped him as it thought for just a moment.
Naraca had spent a long time in the military, as he looked up at this giant he could hear the orders, and the strategy of his commanding officers coming back to him. They had often had to fight wizards that were much stronger then they were, having to use technique and careful planning to bring them down.
This golem reminded Naraca much of those days, and also the times he had to work with the military to fight his younger brother...Who was much stronger then everyone in the city combined. If they were gonna do this, they had to do it right...

Karline, a Demon Summoner

Kihia, an Ice Mage

Talen, a Celestial Wizard

Kaligos, The Earth Dragon Slaer

Cyrus, a Cloud Wizard

Ophelia, a Rock User

Zhu, a Warrior Holder type

Aegial, user of "Fatewalking" magic

Kara, an Amythest user

Ni-Ju, a copy Wizard

Ren, a Water Mage

Some he knew better then others, yet all of which he knew the names, and at least the name of there magic.
Then there was Zuo, a man considered immortal, an SS ranked wizard. No doubt this was a hard match, but thinking about it, all of there power combined should be enough...Just the question of how to use it.

Kihia threw Naraca some kind of spear looking weapon, he caught it out of instinct before he was snapped back to the situation at hand. The Ice Boy then proceeded to jump up it's arm and run up it. For now the big man slipped the geruk into the sheathe of his great sword so he could have one hand free and his sword in the other.
The boy could fall, in fact the boy made it up quickly, he was going to fall shortly at that rate and from how the golem was moving around.
His feet slowly lifted off the ground until they were hanging just an inch off the ground as he proceeded to levitate himself.

"Kariline" He said while looking up at the golem.
"I'm gonna need you to trust me and get back farther back, take Talen and Ni-ju and use your range" He explained before raising higher in the air, he watched Kihia go up the golems shoulder and attempt to stab it.
Naraca's leadership and military mind was talking now, he hoped Kariline would trust him as a plan began to form in his mind.
"And summon your flying demon" He added before pointing his finger at Cyrus and Ren.
"They need to get in the air"

His body tilted horizontally in the air before he suddenly shot forward like a rocket. Kihia fell from the golem's shoulder and would hit the ground soon. Naraca raced through the air, wind whistling in his ears.
"Kihia!!" He called out to get his attention as he got close.
He made sure to maneuver around the golems arms as best he could. One close enough, Naraca wrapped his arm around the man's body, stopping his fall.
"Gotcha" He said, satisfied before continuing to fly forward and go underneath the massive golems armpit, extending his sword upwards and attempted to make a quick cut on it arm, mostly just to test to see how tough the rock it was made of was. Regardless of if it actually hit or not Naraca would then loop around it and upwards to get to it's upper back.

He didn't have to time to assign everyone tasks, he hoped everyone know what they were best placed with this thing.
Regardless, being up high in the air and behind the golems upper back was a good place to be for the moment. He knew what he and Kihia could do, yet it was up to everyone else now to move to there respective spots to prepare for battle.

_____________________________

MP: 100%
Attacks: Greatsword, B ranked + natural strength, B ranked = A ranked attack