Last Hand of Fate (Private)

Who'd want to disturb a place like the Desert Village...?

The thoughts of the Solitaire could almost be read as soon as he heard about the events occurring in the village just north of Sabertooth's old guildhall. There was nothing in the desert of any benefit; no ruins, no treasures, nothing. The fact that a thirty-something plus group of people had set up camp there and been terrorising the locals was completely out of the ordinary and rightfully warranted investigation. As the closest guild Sabertooth took the job on and, as the guilds Ace with a bit of time on his hands, Marick felt he oughta be an example for how the members of Sabertooth needed to be. Thus he'd struck out alone to investigate and decide whether more assistance would be needed or if he alone could deal with the threat.

By now he wasn't all too far from the village and the closer he got, the louder the commotion seemed to grow. Smoke was beginning to plume up from one of the huts, suggesting that the group had lost their patience waiting for whatever it was they wanted and had begun letting loose. Marick let out a low growl as he gripped the hilt of his blade and surged forwards, his mind focused solely on reaching the village before more damage was done. He had no backup right now, but what he could do was draw the bastards out far enough so that they were clear of the village. Marick could then get some assistance from his guildmates and they'd be able to reach the village before any more damage could be done. It wasn't a perfect plan but given the circumstances it seemed there weren't many other options. He refused to put the village at further risk and have it destroyed by the time he returned.

~~~~

When Marick arrived at the village he was immediately aware of where the smoke was coming from. It seemed his gut instinct was right and that the group had set fire to a house out of impatience. From where the Solitaire was currently hidden he could see that all the villagefolk were sat in the center of the village plaza. Many men and women hugged their children in an attempt to sooth them while others attempted to plead with the thugs before them, to no avail. The sight was an ugly one for the Sabertooth Ace. He never expected something like this to happen so close to his guildhall. It seemed there was little other choice as he got to his feet and drew 7 cards before throwing all of them out at a small cluster of the bastards in the distance, striking them by surprise and causing them to look directly at him. One of them pointed at him before shrieking at the top of his lungs in a voice that seemed oddly familiar. "HE'S HERE! WE'VE GOT HIM!" Almost all at once the thugs turned their attentions to the blond-haired wizard and began making a move towards him. Thirty-plus men and women all edging closer to their prey. Marick didn't know what they wanted with him, but he wasn't about to find out here. He quickly turned his back on the horde and ran, causing the group to rush after him exactly as planned...well, not EXACTLY. It seemed that the group hadn't wanted treasure or anything of the sort. They wanted HIM.

The gap between Sabertooth's Paragon and his pursuers was growing slowly but surely larger the further he ran. But all the while he could still hear their screams of hatred and lust for his blood, sounds that were all the more unnerving due to the sheer fact that he'd no idea what he'd done or who they were. The only clue he had was the voice of the man that had shrieked to announce his presence and even that wasn't much to go on. Marick looked behind him for a moment to check the progress of his actions and was relieved - albeit suddenly concerned -  to see that, by the looks of things, the entire group had indeed followed him. His head whipped back around to check the distance between himself and the old guildhall where the teleportation lacrima was housed.



Marick slowly came to a halt with his eyes slightly wide as he saw a large group of figures all file out of the guildhall, all wearing the same clothing as the group that were pursuing him. The blockade of men spread out and began to encircle him, ensuring he couldn't break through to the guildhall. His head turned again to the group behind him and a sigh escaped his lips as he realised that they'd now reached him and had begun to encircle him from the back. In no time at all he was completely surrounded by number far exceeding the thirty-plus group he'd first expected. More were coming from all directions, the numbers becoming irrelevant as he realised that he had no choice but to fight and hope; hope someone would teleport down, see the situation Marick was in and teleport back to inform Zenshin. Until that time came - if it came - he would have to fight. He released the grip on his sword and began to look in all directions around him, waiting for the first strike. But it didn't come. Instead a single masked figure stepped forward, his entire body hidden beneath a long cloak that shrouded all except a long thin blade in place of the figures left hand that crackled with electrical energy.

"Apologies Marick...but I couldn't let you get away from us this time."

The Solitaire's eyes widened as he recognised his new voice. "Lucio..."
The figure removed his mask to reveal the face of the crippled mercenary, his facial expression one that was contorted into the ugly shape of sheer loathing. He raised up the blade attached to his hand and looked at it for a second before turning back to his foe. "Your 'Master' did a great number on me last time we met Marick. We intended to rough you up and make you realise the mistake you'd made in joining a legal guild, in becoming the Magic Council's bitch! But then..." Lucio shuddered as he grimaced, his eyes looking away as he remembered the events that had occurred that day. "...I lost my hand. Your so-called 'Wizard Saint' removed my hand without any sign of remorse and you...you stood there and WATCHED!" The now maddened eyes of the mercenary looked straight across at his former fellow. "YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO STOP HIM DID YOU?!"

The lightning wizard raised his blade up again, this time pointing it at Marick in anger. "I was unable to work for months! I had to watch my friends scrimp and save while I sat in the back hoping to find some kind of a way of fixing the damage...and as it turns out, they were helping me all the while. Thanks to the Toucan King managing to pull off a great job I was able to have this blade attached to my arm so that I could finally fight. But from that day Marick...from that day I made a vow to find you and make you pay for turning your back on me that night." With those words he threw his cloak aside, his body literally buzzing with electrical energy that flowed around him as he became progressively more pissed off. "Draw your blade Marick Lowell and face me! Face what you've created through your ignorance!"

Marick remained stoic in his position as he registered Lucio's words. "You made your bed when you continued to terrorise innocents as soon as you thought my back was turned. You lost your hand because of your own foolishness and ignorance to accept defeat when faced with that which is far stronger than yourself. You were given a chance and you squandered it. You should be blessed that your life was spared after your stupidity." he replied coolly, earning him a death glare from the lightning warrior. "I've said it before Lucio...you've never beaten me one on one. You've not matured in my absence...but if you insist then I will entertain you. But I will warn you now that I will not hold back like I have before. You intend to kill me here and if I must kill you to prevent that...then so be it."

The right hand of Fiore's Rising Star moved to the blade that was sheathed at the base of his spine, causing a group of wizards behind Lucio to prepare to attack. Lucio thrust his bladed left arm out to the side. "Don't you dare touch him! I will beat him alone!" he screeched and the wizards stepped back into the circle immediately. Marick drew his sword and removed the sheath and his jacket, kicking them to the side as he dropped them both to the floor. Blood would be spilled here today.

"Wow, that guy sure is something else. He was attacked by a wizard saint and lived to tell the tale?" Zenshin said from under the shroud of a black cloak to one of the older members of Lucio's gang. "What are you, new? Of course the boss survived, he's THE BOSS, and you'd do well to call him by that. A lack of respect could be confused for mutiny in this family" the gruff man said in response. "What happened to his hand?" he then said, amusing himself for a moment while watching his trusty ace and the man whose hand he'd removed face off. "Are you even listening you welp? Guess not, but I can't blame you for being such a pea brain. That 'saint' felt he had to teach the boss a lesson after he threw his sword to the ground and surrendered honorably. All of them are the same, no honor. None of them. And this traitor, Marick, he's the worst of all. He left the family after doing some really terrible things". "I see..." There weren't many words to describe the ignorance that Lucio imposed on his family or the lies he spread, but one thing was certain. If Marick didn't finish the job, he would. These guys really underestimate how much I know about what's going on around the guild. How careless

The stand-off between the two men seemed to last a lifetime, the tension building to extraordinary heights - although that could well have been the static from Lucio's lightning magic. But when the fight started it started hard and fast with Lucio making the first move as he launched himself at Marick with insane speed, performing a thrusting motion with his bladed left hand while charging up a powerful lightning punch in his balled right fist. The Solitaire responded by sidestepping the blade and bringing his knee up, throwing Lucio backwards a couple of steps. But he could do nothing about the punch that struck him in the gut as his opponent recovered at surprising speed. What Lucio was unaware of though was that this was unexpectedly a part of Marick’s immediate action plan. As Lucio's body his Marick's knee the card mage could feel the sheer magical energy running through his opponent. It was considerably more powerful and lively than it had been in previous battles and it was clear that Lucio's emotions were further pushing the boundaries of his magical limits. Unlike the lightning mage however Marick had been training with other growing wizards as well as Zenshin, a man with power far surpassing his own. His emotions were kept in check to keep his mind clear. Lucio had more power behind his strikes than Marick could put into them because of his heightened emotions, but Marick had an ace up his sleeve.

Lucio prepared another strike, this time sending a jolt of lightning through the air at the card mage before lunging in a quick slashing strike afterwards with a heavily electrified blade. There was no way that Marick could use his sword in this fight as the lightning would simply pass through the sword and jolt him. Thus as Lucio lunged the Paragon of Selflessness threw his sword up into the air and with his left hand he willed out his cards, the difference this time being that he didn't draw his usual hand of seven cards. Instead the entire deck flew around him, giving him the option to use whatever cards he wished. All the while his body was beginning to be coated by a slight crimson glow as he felt the blood of his ancestry beginning to heat up. The chimera blood was boosting his strength. The jolt of lightning struck him but he remained standing, taking the spell as if it were a simple flick to his chest. As Lucio drew closer Marick stepped forwards and struck first, his fist connecting with his foe's chin and sending him flying backwards. Before the man landed however Marick was still on the offence. He tapped three cards to cast them before punching the ground. Just as Lucio was about to land he was sent twenty feet into the air by a powerful fireball, causing the lightning mage to scream in frustration and agony. Marick then tapped another two cards and aimed them at the airborne mage, this time releasing a powerful jet of water to douse the flames and deal considerable damage, as well as send the mercenary flying a further fifty feet into the air.

Throughout these events his sword had remained airborne and had now finally landed ten feet away from him and five feet away from where Lucio would land. In the air the lightning mage managed to rearrange himself and was now headed back down at an alarming speed. Marick surged forward and gripped his sword but didn't stop. He continued his run and then lunged into the air to meet his opponent. The two men clashed blades about ten feet above the ground with the clang resounding around the otherwise silent vicinity before a snap could be heard and the end of a blade flew through the air and into the middle of the circle. As the two men landed only one landed on his feet. Lucio fell face first into the sand, his blade sliced directly in half and blood seeping from a slash across his throat. There was no question to his state. Marick landed on his feet panting from the sheer force that the two had pushed against each other in that short moment in the air.

Sabertooth's Ace looked at the ground where Lucio lay for a few seconds, nodding his head as a sign of respect for the fallen before raising his head and looking around at the circle of stunned mercenaries. Even before they reacted he knew what was coming and so he tapped two cards as the mass of warriors and wizards began their assault and released Chain Lightning, taking out eight of the countless bodies that headed in his direction. That fight with Lucio had been the calm before the storm.

Following Lucio's end, the crowd was very, very silent. A single sound could be heard, and it was the sound of applause. The cloaked figure was applauding Marick's performance, it was quite nice. "What the FUCK noobie!? The father of out family just got his throat slit and you're FUCKING CLAPPING?!?!" the man roared as others turned with looks on their face as if they could kill. "Hahahaha! I'm not part of your gang gruffy, settle down boy" he said, taunting the man with the disheveled beard. "IM NOT SOME FUCKING DOG" Gruffs said again before grabbing Zenshin's cloak as he backed off, and it came loose. With the cloak in his hand like some sort of loose curtain, the gangster's jaw nearly hit the floor as he saw who it was the occupied the cloak. "IS THIS A FUCKING JOKE?! SOMEONE TELL ME THIS IS A JOKE!" He was shocked not because he saw the same saint who removed their leader's arm, but a rather terrifying puppet. Hahah. Looks like the two-way commutations lacrima I installed is working quite well Zen thought with a grin on his face from the roof of a nearby hut, out of sight.

Zen waved his hands around and his puppet, crow, had its arms detached, revealing the sharp blades that kept them lodged inside the wooden husk. "For your repeat crimes, you are all sentenced to death" were the final words that came out of the puppets mouth in a rather cold tone before the blades were sent flying at the man who kept pestering him during the fight. Their deaths would be swift of course, but just, because if he didn't kill them here, they would kill Marick. And if he couldn't arrest them all, not here, there were far too many and there was bound to be some casualties. They have done nothing to redeem themselves since the last time he saw them in Hargeon Town. He only had one option left, and he wouldn't let them all live just so they could do this again and in larger numbers, they all had to die here. Zenshin was sure that Fiore wouldn't be too upset about the disappearance of a gang of terrorist who just take and take and take.

As payment for simply taking what they wanted when they wanted, he would take what they wanted the most. Their lives. With a dramatic movement of both his hands, the blades began swirling around crow, chopping down whatever gang members wanted to tackle his puppet down to size, always aiming for vital organs to end them quickly, painlessly, but without regret. He was not sorry. If they couldn't change their ways of taking, stealing, cheating, and murdering, then what reason did he have to let them live. Zenshin gave them their one and only chance in Hargeon Town, and they blew it over petty revenge. You have made the final bad decision you'll ever make

The voice of Zenshin hung above the sounds of Marick's crackling electricity and the clash of blades as he defended himself. With his trusted friend and guildmaster there he now felt far more confident in this situation. None of these men or women could match either of them one v one, but even despite that the two Sabertooth wizards were still at a disadvantage due to the sheer number of mercenaries around them. He couldn't afford to get complacent as he continued to bat away various poor attempts to slash at him. The loss of their leader had demoralised the horde but they weren't about to back down.

With the numbers around him beginning to get troublesome he called his cards back to him and brushed his hands across all of them while gripping two cards in particular; the Twin Jokers. The doppelgangers appeared immediately as Marick teleported outside of the group. Immediately afterwards the remainder of his deck - fifty two cards - were sent flying along with over a hundred more that his doppelgangers replicated, caused screams of agony to flow through the air as the one hundred and fifty six cards cut the mercenaries to ribbons. Those who were on the outside of the circle began to flee as they realised they were completely outmatched. But as the numbers dwindled so to did Marick's energy. His body seemed to be giving up on him a lot sooner than he'd anticipated and his head became woozy. The Paragon fell to one knee, then down further so that his hands were the only thing supporting him above the ground.

Why do I feel so...weak...?

It was then that he noticed a small trickle of blood rolling down the inside of his right arm. He followed the trail of the blood to his wound and his eyes widened in horror as he realised what was happening. The site around the small cut had turned completely black and was slowly spreading up his arm as some type of venom traveled through his blood stream. But despite how slowly his skin was infecting, his blood was already intoxicated - and not with alcohol like normal. His head got progressively heavier as he attempted to raise it to look around him. His eyes only just caught the sight of Zenshin before his body succumbed to the poison and he fell onto his left side, unbreathing. His pulse progressively slowed until it came to a complete stop. The only sign of movement left was the slowly progressing venom that was coursing through his flesh.

...I've no regrets...

By the time Marick was done throwing his cards around like a knife storm, the remaining ones fled quickly, but didn't make it very far before Zenshin's puppet hunted them each down and quickly disposed of them before they could get out of range. To anyone who saw the scene, it looked as though though a dark guild had passed through the desert village. What a mess this turned out to be. I hope the villagers won't be too upset with it... he thought before dispelling his Crow. Then Marick collapsed. What? he thought before link stepping to his ace's side and looking at the black, decayed skin that was quickly spreading from a wound. His eyes grew wide as he looked upon the wound and the effect of what the toxin was doing to him. "Those bastards. I wonder how long they planned on killing you Marick. This poison works too quickly for me to create an antidote. Unless I was planning on dealing with Hoobivuscis extract, you were dead the minute whatever nicked you did so" he said before falling to the ground in a sitting position. "Marick, you're going to die and I can't bring you back this time..." he said after thinking for a few minutes. All possible probable outcomes led for Marick to die. I always hoped that Marick would die in a grander way... but poison? That's just dirty. I can still bring him back, but if he naturally dies like this, who am I to stop it "Goodbye Marick"

-Outside the guildhall-

Almost as if in response to Zenshin's words Marick's pulse came to a stop. His eyes remained unmoving, his breathing ceased. To the uninformed eye he was, essentially, dead to this world. But his natural bodily actions weren't the only things to cease at this point in time. The decay caused by the venom that had been spreading up his arm and towards his torso had come to an abrupt halt just below his shoulder and about an inch above his wrist. If Zenshin were to use his Origin Perception now he would be able to see that Marick's entire body was locked in a set point in time. Not aging, unchanging.

-The line between Life and Death-

Marick hadn't even closed his eyes before he found himself in a very different environment to where he'd been moments before. He rubbed his eyes as they struggled to adjust to the change in lighting while his brain struggled with the fact his surroundings had changed in an instant. "Well, well. Seems I got there just in time kiddo." a voice spoke from behind him, gripping him under his arms and pulling him to his feet. The Solitaire pulled away from whoever it was who grabbed him and attempted to grab his sword...only to find it wasn't there. He looked around puzzled before looking at the figure. Whoever it was had dressed themselves in a blood cloak and wrapped their face in some type of bandage. Beneath the cloak was a dark grey robe with some kind of emblem emblazoned over the chest. "Who the hell are you and where've you brought me to?!"

The figure gave out a laugh, one that struck right down Marick's spine. It was rather similar to his own hearty laughter, albeit seemingly colder at the same time. The figure slowly reached up and pulled at the bandages around his face. "Well now Marick...is that any way to speak to someone who's trying to save your life? Pops didn't teach you manners very well did he?" he replied coolly. When he removed the bandages completely Marick's jaw dropped.

The Man:

"Still...he never taught me any manners either, so we'll overlook this matter shall we, son?" The man let the last word sink in for a moment before he spoke again. "Now...we don't have long. I used the remainder of my magical energy to pull you here and keep your body in a stable state, thus my physical embodiment will soon dissipate. Worry not, I'll still be residing here until you leave as I've managed to latch myself onto your own magical energy. Good news for me, bad news for you I'm afraid. As I'm dead and you're bordering death yourself, your Solitaire magic is diminishing. You will still have magic, but you will be unable to use any elemental magic unlike before. Still...I think that's a fair trade for me waiting here for thirty-two years and saving your life, don't you?"

Marick's jaw remained open the entire time, completely stunned by what was happening. This figure happened to be his father, had begun draining his magic rather than speaking through spirit, thus meaning Marick would have to start again in his magical endeavours in life. It was all a bit much to take in and it certainly didn't seem real by any means.