As the ceremony had ended, Lucia had felt a somewhat odd sensation. The frozen goat head was not something that she expected, not in the slightest, and the other two she had no idea what to make of either. Apparently they were pretty impressive magics to have, but the girl couldn't help but feel that there was something odd about her now. A sort of chill had permeated throughout Lucia, though it wasn't one that brought discomfort alongside it. Just a bit off putting was all. As she got off of the circle and saw Cal go up to recieve the same kind of magic as her, there seemed to be an immediate difference in the bequeathing. Watching as she burst out into flames, it seemed to carry far more ferocity behind it then Lucia's own magic had. A look of worry and concern crossed her face, wondering if there was some sort of backlash from being a devil slayer that she hadn't felt yet. While she was going to go and try and comfort the girl, it seemed the giant bird man, Ra, had already gone to do so himself. As all the magics were continuing to be picked, it seemed that there were quite a plethora of these slayer type people, and soon enough, one of them went to walk up towards her. Since her victory to this point, Lucia had gone from elated, to annoyed, to panicked, to confused and all the way back to being annoyed. It had come full circle. Her eye twitching a bit, and that same anger vein crossing her forehead as before, Lucia looked to her annoyer and gave a false smile towards her, as she brushed the arm off of her. "Soul mates huh?" Straining to say it, like the thought of it made her want to vomit. "I'd think you'd have a better chance at being soulmates with that siren then with me. It's a shame that you couldn't be given Satan Soul though." As she said this, her smile seemed to twist into a more wicked one as frost started to form on her finger tips. After saying her piece, Ander had seemed to come to the conclusion that the two of them had thought in a similar manner. She felt that it was a bit odd, as he had mainly disagreed with her on almost every point she had said, which wasn't limited to just this conversation either. Nevertheless, he made for an interesting conversation partner altogether. As he had gone on about his own uncertainty, he then asked her a question that seemed to catch her off guard. As the question about her childhood had come, Charlotte's face turned a bit more grim and distant as she looked to the side. She seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before recollecting herself and dismissively stating, "it's not something so special that it needs any mentioning." As if she were in a hurry to avoid the subject, she then said, "it appears that the magic selections are beginning. It would be best if we went now." With that, Charlotte had walked off. As Charlotte had witnessed the ceremony go forth, the overall plethora of demon related magic was somewhat off putting to her. However, the most off putting was the one chosen by the lady Calxiyn. It's inherently malevolent appearance seemed equally as terrifying, as it seemed to reject its wielder, causing her to burst into flames. Charlotte wasn't quite sure what to make of it, though, Ra was one who could probably handle it. As her turn had come up, Charlotte stepped up to the circle and had received the magics to be bestowed to her by her destiny. Both Requip and Angel magic seemed to flow through her naturally, but with her body crackling with the power from the lightning dragon was one that surprised her. Nevertheless, her destiny was now upon her and she had fully accepted it. Walking off the stage, she went to see how everyone else would respond to their magics. After speaking with Zephyr for a bit, Aoki had eventually gone to the magic choosing ceremony quite like everyone else had. As everyone else had, she stepped up to the circle and accepted the magics that were to be bequeathed upon her. The first of them being the celestial spirit magic. Just the presence of it seemed to force her keyblade out, as the magic and the weapon seemed to react to each other. As she had gained the magic, she was bestowed the power of two keys, though she wasn't entirely sure what they did. Regardless, the next magic to be bequeathed to her was the magic of the Water. One that seemed natural, given her sea fairing nature. The last one, however, was a shock to her. It was one that didn't seem to bare any real mark, and just radiated with ra magic power. She had gone to accept it like all the rest, but as she did something strange happened. Sweat started to coat her body as she was immediately hit by a wave of fatigue. Her breaths became shorter and more frequent as she stood there, wondering what was going on. The next thing she felt was a sharp, yet constant, sensation of pain completely flood over her. As if her very life were being drained from her, she collapsed onto her knees, letting out a shriek of pain. As the pain persisted, runic markings started to form over different parts of her body. The blue markings started to pulse with magic, glowing vibrantly. As the marks had finally returned to a more dull blue color, the pain seemed to subside, but her exhaustion seemed to remain. Picking herself up, she wandered off the podium and went to sit down as everyone else gained their magics.
I SMELL DEMONS IN THE AIR! AND DEMONS REEK OF SIN! (Charlotte for demon war) MY BRO SMELLS SIN IN THE AIR! (Rho for demon barber of abddgeffdsbdgfebg) I REEK OF THE SEA! AND SEA REEKS OF SAILORS! AND SAILORS REEK OF SIN! (Aoki for the Island Expedition) I AM A DEMON, THUS I REEK OF SIN! (Lucia for magical Fairy stuff) Now then, for weapon purchasing. Lucia shall obtain a second pair of Improved Throwing Knives. Charlotte shall obtain Improved Tower Shield
For the young knight of justice that is charlotte I shall choose: Dress Up Magic! (Requip) THERE'S SIN IN THE AIR (Angel Magic) No Gods, No Dragons, Only Lightning (Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic)
After Lucia had beaten Calxiyn in one fell swoop, she was proclaimed the winner of the tournament...wait...winner? That couldn't be right. Lucia hadn't really paid attention to the fact that she was constantly winning, or that this was even the finals. She didn't think of herself as particularly strong. Nor did she think she was good enough to win. But...here she was, the winner of the whole thing. Huh. After a look of confusion had passed over her face, she listened to Evanora's brief speech and jumped in the air with joy saying, "I won!" Being completely ecstatic at the whole thing, she started to follow Evanora as she needed to go and do the whole magic ceremony thing. As she did, good old Beucette came to congratulate her...and subsequently annoy her. A vein of annoyance started to cross Lucia's forehead as the girl continued to yammer on and on and on. She was getting ready to give her a suplex to shut her up, but then someone else came. As Thomas came to congratulate her, she said, "thanks Thomas!" She blushed at his comment about her, while giving a V with her fingers, for proof of her victory. It was then that something completely unexpected happened to her. As Thomas leaned in, his lips connected with hers and one kind of feeling washed over her. Confusion. Lucia had zero idea how to react to this, never actually having been put in this sort of situation before, and thought that the whole act came out of left field. Her face flushed, turning bright red, and she kind of just stayed stationary after Thomas had finished. "Wh-wh-wh" she started to stammer as that was basically all she could do, her body pretty much frozen. In a complete moment of clarity, her mind trying to avoid the situation. "I got to- uh, got to go do something with Evanora really quick...I'll uh see you really soon Thomas." She put on a rather frantic smile, as she gave a quick wave and darted away from him to go the ceremony, thinking she'd sort this out later.
As Charlotte continued onward, it had seemed like the final match had ended in a mere blink of an eye. As it were, As Ander started to express his thoughts, Charlotte did think that they had merit to them, they seemed to venture away from what she thought about the entire ordeal. "Ah, well, fighting amongst guild members could lead to lingering animosity between them, though, I think it's something different than that." Looking at the entire crowd she said, "Ander, do you know every member in our guild? Do you know what each are capable of? I believe that this isn't a way to rank each other and breed some form of festering hatred and rivalry, but more so give us a way to recognize the strength of everyone else in the guild, and in doing so, recognize our own weakness. A way to give us something to aspire to, and someone to compare against. Besides, now that all the fighting has ended, there isn't a person, even the one who defeated me, within the guild that I've grown a hatred towards for this. If anything, my respect for everyone and my own arrogance in my strength has gone down." She thought back to her earlier feeling of frustration, and wished to turn that into nothing more than motivation. It was at his comment that she seemed to know where she belonged that she let out a small chuckle. "Oh? Do I really seem so confident in myself?" Thinking more on it she said, "I still feel as though I do not entirely know what my true purpose is in this guild, or where I am even going. All I know is where I wish not to head in life, and work to make sure that I do not go down that path."
Rho sat down next to Aias as the final matches were beginning. As he sat down, he went to look at who the combatants were, and made a simple, "oh" noise in surprise. Looking at the lightning fast girl, he then went to give a bit of a mischevious smirk towards Aias and said, "so the girl who beat you is in the final round huh. Frustrated?" His friend probably wouldn't show it, even if he were, as his general expression was as unchanging as Rho's own. But it was completely understandable, after how it had happened. Reclining back, he then proceeded to say, "my my, it's a shame though. Whomsoever wins doesn't matter, it's going to end in an instant regardless." Giving a bit of a sigh he then said, "bit of an anti-climax wouldn't you say?" Sitting down next to Zephyr, Aoki got prepared to look at the final rounds results. Given that his own loss was as obvious as hers, she said, "so, you didn't get so lucky either, huh?" She gave a bit of a sigh as she looked at the two combatants in the ring. "Man, the people in this guild are insane. And those two," she pointed towards Cal and Lucia, "have you been watching them. They're crazy strong." As she reclined back in her seat, she then started musing out loud. "So, I guess this is the way that we choose what magics we get, huh. What kind of a wizard are you looking to be Zephyr?" She then widened her eyes as she looked at the strawberry haired girl. More specifically, her weapon. Pulling out her own keyblade, she looked from weapon to weapon before just speaking her thoughts aloud. "Does she have one of these too?" Having been bested by Alisa, Charlotte felt a sort of sense of disatisfaction. She had been confident in her own strength, in her own ability to absorb the burden of others and take it on herself. Though, as had been proven by her fellow guildmate Alisa, she was far too weak. The though of it frustrated her, yet at the same time she could only admire the girl's strength. It was an odd sort of belligerence. Soon enough though, Ander had come along and tried to help her out. Charlotte walked alongside Ander as he had aided in her getting back up. Dusting herself off, she simply nodded to Ander. "I'm fine, thank you though." As she started to walk, she then looked at the two combatants. One of which, she knew far too well. While there was still a lingering animosity that Charlotte held towards her, she had mostly put those thoughts away since. Instead, all she could do was recognize her strength, and continue walking along. "Good job," she muttered under her breath. Still moving along, she then turned back to Ander. "How about you Ander, are you feeling alright as well?" After Lucia had brought down Alisa, she then went on to the next round. Looking at her opponent, her face lit up again. "Hey, Cal, good to see you too." Thinking on it, she mused out loud, "man, I've been seeing all the guys from the last mission each and every round here." Scratching the back of her head, she jokingly said, "guess that just goes to show we were the best group, right?" She then gave a thumbs to her opponent and said, "well, good luck Cal, and may the better of us win." As the match started, she dashed at Cal using Poison Edge.
As Alisa managed to barrel through her knives still, Lucia was pretty wary of her opponent who was charging at her with fire. As if the world continued to slow down, Lucia managed to see the path away from the attack and completely leaped over Alisa, dodging the attack completely. She then landed behind her, going into attack her with Poison Edge once more.
As Lucia had brought her knives down on Alisa, she saw her friend attack her with the same kind of attack that Aias had used against her. Reacting in an instant to the attack, she used her nimble speed and fast reactions to immediately hop out of the way of the attack. Jumping back away from her, she then proceeded to attack Alisa with Strike Raid.
Lucia had gotten ready to get these last rounds of the tournament over and done with. Feeling pumped up after her last few rounds, she got her game face on as she was ready to fight her next opponent. Then, out of nowhere, the arena just kind of changed and she was now fighting someone apparently different than who she would normally be fighting. Looking at her opponent, her face lit up as she ran over to her opponent. "Great to see you got this far too Alisa." Putting her hand out for a handshake, she said, "well, let's have a good fight. Good luck." After that, she ran back to where she was before and just sort of stretched out in preparedness for the match. Once the match had finally started, she took off as fast as she could, attacking Alisa with Poison Edge.
GG
Charlotte used barrier surge.
Charlotte used Wishing Edge.
Charlotte used Barrier Surge.
The last strike from Alisa didn't seem to hurt quite as much as the other, but nevertheless, she couldn't let her guard down just yet. Keeping her blade at the ready, she saw her shielded opponent coat herself in flames as she used a move that Charlotte was quite familiar with. Responding to the elemental assault in kind, Charlotte generated lightning around herself as she charged at her opponent with Thunder Surge.
Stratos, like the others, had remained pretty silent for the entire duration of his time in the room. He wasn't sure what to make of the whole thing between Base and Steel. Then again, he hardly ever knew what to make of basically anyone talking with anyone else, so this pair was probably no exception to that rule anyway. Then there was Oswald, trying to basically knock Mickey the heck out. As he explained why everything in this world was basically the mouse's fault, Stratos was pretty readily able to accept that. In fact, the entire situation gave Stratos a strange feeling of deja vu, one that he was able to identify why and could only sigh at the realization. As it turned out, though, Steel was somewhat special and actually had the ability to fight against the ink blots, and that he, Oswald, and Gus were going to go to some probably crazy doctor to find something out about what was going on with Steel's newfound ink powers. Oswald himself didn't seem to not crazy as he started shouting his complete distrust of the group towards them. Picking himself off the floor, Stratos scratched his head at the situation, as Oswald and the other two began to depart and Beuce started giving some sort of lecture to the rabbit. Turning to the white haired man, with a bit of a look of nonchalance on his face he said, "we're totally going to follow them, right?"
As the two fighters had bashed into each other with their barriers, Charlotte had felt as though she had done nothing, whilst still feeling the impact of Alisa's barrier. Nevertheless, she couldn't be discouraged from something simple like that, and instead went in to strike with a Wishing Edge on the girl. As Beucette came over to her to ask her to make a deal Lucia said, "I'd rather die first...and that doesn't mean you can sleep with the corpse either." Lucia went to strike at Beucette poison edge, but as it had turned out, the girl had some good reflexes and managed to avoid the strike. However, as this missed, she saw Beucette reeling up for another attack, to which Lucia was able to react accordingly. Hopping backward, she managed to avoid the attack altogether, leaving both of the fighters completely unscathed. Well that was a bit nerve wracking. Regardless, Lucia immediately followed up with a strike raid.
After having finished a pretty hard fought victory, Charlotte stood proud and ready for the next match. After taking a short breather, she walked over to face her next opponent. She seemed to be toting around a pretty large shield, and the impression she gave off was one that was steadfast and strong, if not a bit underwhelming in presence. However, that girl had been through as many matches as Charlotte had, which meant she had to have been strong, and there was no use in underestimating her. "May I ask your name, fellow guild member?" After hearing her response she said, "Well met. My name is Charlotte, and may the better of us win this fight." With that she drew her blade and charged at the girl with a Barrier Surge. Lucia was a bit shocked at the end of her last round. She had essentially gone entirely on autopilot in those last few instances, and hadn't realized what she had done. Feeling a bit overjoyed that she overcame that monster, she was almost in a surreal state of mind, which was completely broken when the next round came around. Looking at her opponent, her mood immediately dropped as she said, "oh...it's you." While Beucette was indeed a pretty annoying person to be around, she had fought alongside her enough to not really be surprised by her placing in the tournament. Cracking her knuckles she got into a more positive mood, she looked to Beucette and said, "alright, let's go fast as we can!" And with that, she used Poison Edge.
Aoki, landing a serious of blows on Charlotte started to see that the female knight was starting to be worn out. However, being slammed into by her barrier, she herself wasn't doing so well either. The two looked a bit worse for wear, but Charlotte still stood proud and ready for whatever the blue haired mage girl would throw at him. With both of their blades at the ready, they seemed poised to take the final strike towards each other, however before doing so, Charlotte spoke up. "What is your name, guildmate?" Taking breaths between words, she responded, "it's Aoki. And you?" "Charlotte. Well met Aoki. I thank you for this challenge, and may the better of us win." The two seemed to both smile at each other, in a sort of warrior's joy of combat, before beginning their final attacks at each other. Aoki, being faster, struck at her with fire surge whilst Charlotte went in to finish off with a sliding dash. After having struck him with her knives, Lucia was surprised at how quickly the man with the flaming chain came at her. Not only had he still managed to stand through the attack and shrug it off, he now towering over her, ready to bring her down. In that instant the rather plain man seemed to have the imposition of a terrifying beast, unstoppable and unyielding in strength. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion, and the attack seemed as though it were about to connect. Though, just before it could, Lucia managed to act reflexively, kicking off the ground and moving just fast enough to dodge the attack. Almost as if an immediate response, without taking a breath for anything else, she drew her knives once more and struck at the man with a poison edge, hopefully ending the fight.
Having struck him with all she could, Lucia was soon repelled by the force of the man's barrier. Having the wind knocked out of her, she tumbled across the ground and tried to bring herself back up from the attack. Despite looking at the man, he seemed injured, but way less than any normal person should. Not to mention now he shined with the light of his barrier now. Man, this guy was like a boulder. No, not just a boulder. He was like a rock! At this point though, there was pretty little chance for victory of Lucia's, and only if she managed to react and dodge in time or if her blades managed to stun the guy. The former of which, it'd be hard given her current state, and the latter of which...well she had no idea how that worked normally, it just kind of did. Nevertheless! She couldn't give up now, and so she decided to keep her distance and use Strike Raid. Aoki and Charlotte had essentially bashed heads against each other, and neither seemed to be budging. While Charlotte still seemed to be standing tall and proud, Aoki felt a little worse for wear. Nevertheless, she still felt like she could out muscle this blonde haired beast before her, and thus continued to strike with all of her might. Aoki struck at Charlotte with Wishing Edge, to which Charlotte responded to it with barrier surge. Rho hadn't thought of much before getting knocked out by the knives. Rather, he didn't do much at all. It had all happened pretty much as expected and Rho wasn't really surprised by the outcomes one bit. And despite it being a foregone conclusion, there was but one thing that went through Rho's head as he was knocked out. And that was simply: So that's what it feels like.
Rho had stood at the ready for his next match. Drawing out his blade, he observed the boy carefully to make sure he knew what he was getting himself into. Yes, the fight looked like it would be quite the troublesome one, as this young one seemed to posses a good balance of speed and strength. In spite of knowing that the match may have been over before he would be able to act, Rho had went to counter his opponent. After the attack had occurred, Rho used Binding Strike on Zwei.
