As the duo had landed on the top of the mansion, she looked around as Zephyr had asked her if she had any sort of conspicuous ways of getting inside. Aoki thought about it for a moment and saw that there was a window that lead into the building at the top here. Pushing on the window, it didn't really seem to budge, most likely because it was locked. So she pressed her keyblade against the window and heard a clicking noise as if to say that it was now unlocked. She pushed against the window, only to see that it still wouldn't budge. Wondering if it wasn't actually unlocked, she then realized that this window probably opened outward rather than inward. Well that sucked. Thinking more intuitively into it, she pressed her blade against the window, and kept pushing. And then the window gave out as the blade just pushed its way through the thin glass. They were too far up the mansion for this faint shattering to most likely be heard, and Aoki just stuck her hand through the hole, pushing the window open as she gestured towards the window and said "tada~"
As Lucia had given up her knives to the cause of making the wand of light, Lucia simply had a bit of a pained expression on her face as she said, "no, it was uh, nothing." Sighing after that, she walked away and looked at Thomas who still seemed to be down and just sort of polishing his rifle. While she was about to walk over to him, Amanda walked over to her and asked her a question. "Oh, those knives, well they were a pretty important gift from a friend of mine. She gave them to me so that I could go on adventures like her, so I figured they'd probably work as something important to forge the ring out of." She then looked at Thomas and said, "yo, buddy, buck up over there. We're about to go fight that wizard dude Wenlock, a perfect time to strut your stuff and show what you got to everyone."
As the group from that weirdly pretentiously named city had come back, Jackie noticed something. One, she was no longer gushing over the beauty of the Freya and Lexi romance that had been going on here. And she realized why this was. Because the person who was originally with the trio, the presumed brother to Freya of this terrible love triangle had appeared. It seemed that Freya's attention was immediately diverted towards him and the romance between Lexi and Freya had stopped for the time being. Jackie was then a bit confused by what happened next as they just sort of stared at each other intently...wordlessly. She wasn't quite sure why they were doing this, but instead of inquiring she walked over to Zavion and patted him on the shoulder, trying to speak quietly to him saying, "listen, Mr. Brother of Freya. I see that you want to talk and, I guess look at your sister and friend, but you interrupted a very touching moment here. Now, I know you love her like a sister, but, you should probably let her down on you not having romantic feelings for her, so that this love triangle between the three of you doesn't get more complicated." She then smiled to him and gave him a thumbs up, as if he were sure he had understood everything she had just said. It was at that point that the cheery mood in the room seemed to turn more somber and dark as the Great Forest had come back. Charlotte and Blanc seemed ready to take on the man as he taunted everyone in the room, only to leave without...well anything happening. Lucien seemed to just pop back into the scene and shrugged as he said,"damn, that little fucktard got out of here scott free. Ah well, at least he's gone now." Lucien casually, with a pretty neutral expression kept walking along the library and casually picked out a book. He looked at the group and said,"ah cool, we're all here now, or at least implied to be. We can get to the next stage of the legend now," and fruitlessly search through another set of worlds. But hey, maybe someone wouldn't die this time. Meanwhile, back in the Olympus Colosseum, Rinox shrugged at Zephyr's comment and said, "it's an acquired skill." It was then that the group seemed to go back to the Disney Castle on their own accord, which made Rinox just sort of teleporting into the background of the world much easier.
Rho had simply followed as he was instructed to do so, when entering the Everlue Mansion. It seemed that these two noblemen in their group seemed to be well acclimated with this man. Well that was good, that meant that they'd be able to carry on the proceedings of stalling in a much a more easy fashion. Rho didn't really know what to do as a servant, so he just sort of followed what everyone else was doing and calmly stood there, not daring to sit with the rest of the nobles. Rho then started to wonder how Aoki and Zephyr were doing in their infiltration mission. ---Meanwhile Outside the Mansion--- Aoki had watched as everyone had gone into the mansion, and then said, "alright Zephyr, let's get this mansion bur- book stealing, out of the way." Right, Daybreak. That was their mission. Right. She and Zephyr ended up walking around the mansion as not to be seen approaching from the front. Aoki then looked at Zephyr and said, "alright, what I'm about to show you will probably not make any sense at all, but trust me, it's our key into this place." Chuckling as she said the word "key," Aoki then summoned up a magical weapon that just sort of appeared out of nowhere. Spinning it around, she threw it up, only for it to come down as a totally different shape. Seeming to have a long frame with a pointed end, with a seat that seemed meant for only a single person, with handles to hold onto and use for steering. Hopping onto it, she said, "alright, get on. Like I said, pretty conspicuous." Once Zephyr got on, Aoki slowly climbed out of the forest and eventually flew over to the roof where the next phase of their break in would take place. After the group had finished their gem collecting, and Aidan was talked down by Hasu to keep the gem where it was, they left the area to go and get the forging going. It was then that they seemed to need metal to make a ring of love, and Aidan had offered up his sword. However, Annika seemed very opposed to it, and seemed to wonder if there was anything else they could use for metal. Lucia was a bit uncomfortable about it, and seemed to think she got what the metal that was needed was, and would have totally been fine with Aidan using his sword to forge the ring with, but...it was his only sword. He didn't have another one that he could use when they were to face off against Wenlock. Not to mention it was probably something important to him, so it couldn't be easy to part with. "I...I think I have something." As of right now, she had two pairs of throwing knives on her. One that she bought once she came to the guild and one that she had on her person when she came to the guild. The one she started with was a bit special, as it had been a gift from her friend. One who had always gone around adventuring, one who Lucia had always admired and her inspiration for wanting to go on her own journey. She had given Lucia this weapon so that she could go on her very own adventures. And prior to this mission, they seemed to carry her pretty far and were all she really had with her when she got to this guild. Nevertheless, she had to give them up so that they could continue, and had to part with them so someone else could keep something precious to them. Being nice sucked. "Here you go Aidan," giving Aidan the knives she said, "I think these will make a proper substitute for your sword." After her taunts had come back at them, Charlotte had successfully guarded against the attacks directed at her and Ra and retorted back at the girl. "So what does that make your own strength that can't cut through this feeble power?" She then taunted Dale as well by claiming she had some sort of mental link with Boreal. Charlotte retorted as well saying, "and yet you still know nothing of the man before you. You could only know of who he was, not who he is, and not how he's different from that man before." Charlotte didn't actually know about how much Dale had changed, but she was trying to keep his spirits up and not let him be baited into provocation by this girl. Seeing as she had a lightning barrier around her now, Charlotte thought it ill to charge in with blitz, and so instead he used cure on Veilen and went to shield him.
As Cal had let loose her attacks and taunts alike, Charlotte had been one of the ones to be better off from the attacks. It seemed that both Ander and Veilen had taken quite the abuse, and so Charlotte realized that there was only one thing to do now. If they were going to overcome this powerful foe, they would need to use the full power of their teamwork against her. Charlotte was wondering how she was this powerful, when as Veilen pointed out, falling off a boat sprained her ankle earlier, but that would be a question to be answered at a later time. Now there was only one thing to be done. "Your unjust power, that which exists solely to harm, will not prevail over our power to protect. You who would rely on thedark moon to fight a demon, prepare to be eclipsed by the light of the sun that is Sapphire Eclipse." With that Charlotte used Barrier Surge and flung herself in the barrier at Cal. When that was over with, she then went to go and make sure that Ra would be shielded by any attacks that came his way by getting ready to intercept them.
Charlotte had readied her blade as Ander seemed to monologue at both Cal and Boreal. Taunting the latter and trying to bring him to their side all at the same time. Avoiding needless conflict was good and all, but there were times when diplomacy didn't make much sense. This was one such occasion. Regardless they seemed to be preparing some form of ritual which meant that they had to defeat their guildmate with express purpose now. There was also something about the way she spoke. The words that came from her mouth sounded all too familiar. They sounded just like the kind of drivel that came from Ezekiel's mouth before they had fought and defeated him. Tightening the grip on her blade, she said, "You believe yourself to be power incarnate then? You, who claims to have cast aside all manner of friendship in exchange for helping a fool with his impossible deed. No matter. I do not know what sort of delusion you are experiencing right Miss Demon, but by our hands together we will stop you where you stand." With that said, Charlotte struck at once with Blitz. Rho had simply gone along with the plan wordlessly and bid farewell to the duo of Aoki and Zephyr. After an offscreen changing moment, the servant Rho had simply stood behind his "masters" awaiting themselves to be allowed sanction into the Everlue manor. Rho had to keep the calm look on his face as he found this team of Z-(letters) and Vance to be all too amusing, and could barely contain the smirk inside from watching one act superior over the other and the other ready to burst on him. Not to mention the sordid implications Vance felt necessary to add. However, he simply silently stood there and awaited their presence to be allowed in. Aoki, meanwhile, had been with Zephyr awaiting the signal to move in. Once Edric's drunk voice told them that they were all in the clear to go, the duo had left to go and infiltrate the castle. Zephyr seemed to wonder how they were going to go about getting in, and so Aoki got to thinking. Thinking about how to get up on that roof. "Hmm," Aoki had a pensive look on her face as she said, "I suppose climbing would be a good idea. Or we could try and fly up there," the last comment Aoki said with a bit of a chuckle. She then looked at the height of the mansion and said, "okay, nevermind, climbing seems to be a terrible idea." She then thought on it some more, and realized that they could indeed fly their way up there. "I got it. I know how we can get in, but it's a bit on the conspicuous side so we should wait until these guys aren't outside anymore to notice." After having pulverized that piece of slush into the ground, they then went deeper into the cave to find some gems. While Annika picked up a gem, seemingly one that they needed, Aidan seemed to go and pick one up himself despite the clear warning. Without being able to stop him, Lucia braced for the entire world to explode or...something like that. However, nothing happened. Which meant one of two things. Either A), a trap thing would happen as they try to leave, or B)....exactly what Thomas had come up with as well. However, with that done, Lucia said, "alright guys, let's go forge us a magical wand of light."
Ancel had given a smirk to the king as he had accepted the challenge. Damn, fighting a strong opponent didn't come around like this every day, so this would be quite the treat. It was then that pretty boy, the king's son apparently, had come in to tell him something about skills and age and whatever things that he didn't really care about. Looking over to Trevor, that was definitely his name, he gave an unamused expression as he said, "that's wonderful. I am far too impressed by that statement to actually seem like I care. But trust me, I value what you said." Turning his attention back to the king he was given the option on whether or not he wanted to have his pact partner fight alongside him. The answer was obvious. He and Medea were a dynamic duo. Fire forged friends. Two halves of the same coin. Every fight they did, they did together. "You're on your own." Ancel looked at the snake, feigning a look of hurt on his face as Medea continued, "I'm not getting involved in this stupid match you got yourself into." Shrugging his shoulders he looked back to the king of the elves and said, "well there you have it. Sorry that my partners being a spoil sport, but it'll just be me against you." It was then that they were all invited to a feast by this king, and that their duel would have to wait until after the food. Well that sucked. Regardless, Ancel walked alongside the rest of the group, only snickering at the little green midget as a dragon looked ready to roast him. Iota had continued to be wary of the situation, given that this king seemed to trusting, however she was taken a back for a second when he had essentially told his son to marry her. As the son in question had basically told her that he wasn't interested in settling down and meant no offense by his statement, Iota simply said back, "none taken." She was now not entirely sure what to think of this king. Given how he interacted with everyone, he seemed like a rather spirited man, but she wasn't sure if that was attributed to him being energetic or an idiot...or both. As she was getting ready to travel alongside the rest of the group, the leprechaun that had belonged to the crippled girl seemed to say something that he would have rather kept private. As the dragon that had appeared alongside the elf king's son pinned the small creature to the ground and the fox lady had helped him, he seemed to try to plea for his innocence and use the girl as a shield. It had appeared that this leprechaun was a lower form of life than Iota had previously thought he was. With her one visible eye, she looked straight at Stewart and with a look of cold malice she stated, "there is no room for traitors in this group. And if one innocent must be traded for the rest of the group, then so be it." She had seemed to be gripping her sword tightly during that statement, as if ready to draw it at a moment's notice. After that, Iota had decided to continue along with everyone else to go to this feast.
After getting by another large slam attack, Lucia had seen that everyone, including the cave, were seeing worse for wear at the moment. This was a large problem to deal with for sure. Not to mention that Thomas had gone down and seemed to be out of it for right now. Well, that was a bit of a problem. Thankfully, Zwei had seeemed to be on the scene and readily healed him up to get him back on his feet. With everyone up and the snow golem seemingly on its last legs, Lucia did the only thing she could, which was just run at it and use Quick Blitz on the ice golem.
As they had gotten to the area where both Boreal and Cal were, something strange had happened. Rather than just trying to talk Cal down here, Boreal had instead put a mask on her face that made things seem to change. Charlotte...really didn't know Cal at all prior to this mission, and the fact of the matter was, that she didn't really spend all that much time with her during this mission anyway. Regardless, from the short moments she'd spent with her and even based on the short time she heard her counter rant Dale, there was something completely different about her now. Not just that the appearance was a dead give away, but the general air she felt around her was completely different as well. While Ander had seemed to talk her down, that had seemed completely ineffectual in this current scenario. Which would mean that their only option at this point was to fight both her and Boreal. Drawing her sword, Charlotte gave a glare to Boreal as icy as that which his magic was specialized in. "I do not know what you have done to her, nor do I feel like hearing any words from your delusional mouth to explain it." She then turned to Cal, "however, as our guild member, you have a lot to explain and will do so once we bring you back from this abominable ruined temple. And if you are not willing to come peacefully, than that leaves only one other option." She then pointed her blade at Cal and said, "so then, I will give you no quarter in this fight as I would feel you would me none. So let us begin."
After having let loose her knives once more, Lucia looked at the ice giant. It didn't seem to be letting up any time soon and so Lucia wouldn't be giving it any sort of breathing room to work with. That being said, this thing hurt. It was like if a truck had a fist and decided to punch you with it. If this continued on any longer than it was going, there was a good chance that the cave collapsing in would the least of their worries. Going in, Lucia let loose another blitz attack at this giant hulking ice giant.
After having examined the passage way, Charlotte had deemed it well enough for the group to leave through, and so she had trecked her way back to the rest of the group only to hear some pretty harsh things. It had appeared that Cal was, not just in denial of Dale's claims, but vehemently denouncing it. While Charlotte didn't have the best opinion of Dale, she definitely sided with him, the man with prior experience with Boreal, over Cal, who had been held captive for the grand majority of the time with him as her guard and had the possibility of developing some form of Stockholm syndrome in this short amount of time. While she was about to report her findings, Dale then seemed to lash out at her, truly angered by her words. He then proceeded to go into, moderate, detail of his past and his relations with Boreal. The fact that they were brothers wasn't so much of a surprise as they had both seemed to share a past and an appearance. The extent to their bad blood, though, was something that she had not expected. Charlotte had no real family to speak of, so she had always imagined having one in a rather positive light. So this kind of false family that Dale had had was not something she could really comprehend. Nevertheless, after he was done saying his piece, Cal had done something...stupid. She yelled at Dale for being an uncaring brother or something of the sorts, and had apparently missed the entire part where Dale had said that Boreal had hated him from the beginning and that there was no way they could have been friends from the beginning. She also didn't seem to understand the idea behind an inferiority complex that Boreal most likely had. In fact, she even seemed to have this notion that freeing the demon was the best course of action at the moment. A demon, that some truly experienced wizard gave his life to temporarily put an end to. And she wanted to release it with nothing more than a few novice guild members, one of moderate experience, and Boreal. And perhaps that giant rat as well. Charlotte was wondering just what was wrong with Cal's head. There was a bit of an awkward atmosphere after Cal had most likely flown off into a terrible predicament, Charlotte just turned her attention to Dale and said, "regardless of what she says, I'll help you in anyway I can to help you stop Boreal and this demon from being released." It was then that something bothered Charlotte. Charlotte then said, "in addition, we should find a way to end this curse over the island as soon as possible. I have my suspicions that it is somehow linked to both of our current threats, but in what way I couldn't say." She then started walking towards the path she had examined and called out saying, "the path is clear for us to traverse through."
After having struck the beast with her knives, Lucia was feeling confident in how easily this giant would be taken down. And so, she stepped back once more and was about to get ready in dealing another swift blow to this giant creepy ice sculpture. Running at top speed, Lucia jumped in the air and used Quick Blitz against the creature. Charlotte simply nodded at Dale's suggestion to go explore the cave pass and see if it was a secure route to take as an escape from this cavern. The less time they stayed here, the better as she was a bit unsettled by the large frozen demon. Charlotte had continued down the pass and examined. However she ran into quite the problem. Skyheart himself had absolutely no idea what was in this exit they were to take. Like, at all. Other than that it existed, that was about it. So uh, I guess she just sort of continued to examine it and if everything checked out then Charlotte would go back to the group and tell them it was suitable escape route? Sound good? I think it does. If it's not clear to go through...well then that's an entirely different scenario but whatevs.
As the gang had continued to find the stone of ice, they eventually found a giant staircase that lead them, probably to where they were supposed to go. As they continued to walk forward, they eventually got to an area with a giant evil snowman. Well, that was completely unexpected. However, it seemed that there was a fight upon them, and Lucia hadn't been in a fight in lord knows how long. Presumably two days because that's how much time passed during their journey, she guessed. Taking out her knives, Lucia got ready to charge forward, going faster than everyone else here and struck at the giant with a blitz attack.
As Aoki was soundly turned down by the man and walked back to the rest of the group, she walked past them so that she could get changed out of the ridiculous maid outfit, and then she rejoined them. There was now a burning passion in Aoki to see through this mission and kick that Everlue's ass- er, get the book. Yes, right, the book. However, were the mansion to just happen to burn down while they were looking for this book and good old Everlue just happened to be in there when it happened then...well it would be a truly tragic day for everyone. As she continued to think about tactical plans of vengeance and the like, it had appeared that Vance had come up with a plan that required posing as noblemen and their servants and the like. Aoki nodded and said, "alright then, sounds like a good idea. Granted, we'd probably have to set up an elaborate disguise for me, since having a blue haired girl with something covering her face after a maid candidate just got turned down would seem pretty suspicious." Aoki thought on this a bit more and said, "in fact, we could probably split up and I could just go with Zephyr's suggestion to go sneak in while a good majority of the attention is focused on these unannounced noblemen coming for a visit." After bringing up her idea she then looked to Zephyros and said, "Also...why are you still a girl if the maid plan failed?" In all honesty it was a tad bit creepy. Meanwhile, Rho just sort of silently agreed and nodded to the plan that Vance had come up with and waited for the plan to be set in motion. Having gotten Thomas back up off the ground, she was a bit annoyed by his sullen attitude that persisted until they had come to the shopkeeper who was also a thief or robber or something illegal. Didn't really matter, however, Lucia just sort of watched and listened as the people tried to barter with the shopkeeper. She wasn't the best at it, so it was a good thing that Amanda and Hasu were on the ball with hitting every button that they need to and now they just had to go find that gem of ice lit by...the morning sun? Well, stranger things had happened...right? Regardless, on their way out, Lucia noticed that Thomas had been trying to woo Scarlett over with a gem that he pulled from somewhere, and then took a mental note that Thomas was an exceptionally bad liar. Regardless, she looked to the rest of the group and said, "we should probably be really careful when we get to the chest. If a man turned into ashes because of it we don't what kind of curse this thing might have associated with it." After all the points about whether or not the temple was safe to enter, it was still their only bet to find both Calxiyn and the source of the curse, and so they ventured onward. After traveling for a good deal of time through the corridors, they had come into a large empty room, which Dale then went to point out all the reasons that people were most likely inhabiting this temple. That just meant that they were all the closer to finding at least one of their goals in this temple. It was then that a man who bore a striking resemblance to Dale had come into the scene and the two not having so much an exchange as the one attacking the other had occurred. Next thing she knew, the entire party had fallen down into a large cavernous like area. After dusting herself off from the hard landing, Charlotte brought herself up and looked at the monster before her. There was something entirely unsettling about it and something terribly evil as well. It was then that she turned around and had noticed Cal was there as well. Well, that was awfully convenient. As Dale had freed her, she went on to tell them about the demon Deliora and how it had presumably killed the blond haired man above, Boreal, Dale's father and the entire village he grew up in. She nodded to Veilen's suggestion and said, "aye, we should do everything we can to prevent whatever Boreal plans with this demon. Though, first and foremost, it'd be best to find a way out of this cavern."
Lucien Stratos After the entirety of their enemies had either been felled or just ran away, Lucien just brushed off any sort of dirt that on his jacket in the altercation and just looked around to see what everyone else had been up to. Bartholomew looked a bit funny seeing as he still seemed to retain some of the burns from being set on fire, Audrey and Alisia were doing what they did best and Sherridan was just sort of rangering about. Then there was the grand spectacle that was Dane and Samsara. The little white haired girl had managed to somehow piss of the ever so charming reaper, and he couldn't help but snicker a bit how badly this whole teacher student thing blew up in their faces. Regardless, they still had their own job like thing that they had to be doing, and that was finding the hero or something. Honestly, he felt like this whole hero thing was slowly becoming less relevant the more they went on, but hey, it wasn't dropped completely yet, so might as well keep going on with the show. After Dane had asked the question and Sherridan's response, Lucien figured he'd go answer the friend of the forest's question. Though, it was a bit of a pointless answer as Lucien just looked at him like he was a tad slow in the head when he said,"you want to know why this merry band of assholes and children are in the forest, do you? Well, you kind of already answered your own question when you said, we were looking for some hero. This," he just spread out his arms motioning to the entire forest effectively, "just happened to be one of the oh so glorious areas this hero capable of usurping a goddess may happen to be." He then looked back at Sherridan and said, "so, since you seem to be a seasoned local of this majestic treeland, would you happen to know of any caves around the area that may or may not hold some ancient heroic figure in them?" Better to just get the answer straight from this guy rather than spend any more time wandering aimlessly in the forest with this crowd. After doing...whatever it was he did, Stratos wasn't actually too sure what the back laser was, it had seemed it had been 50% effective. As in, it took out Hunter, but Gwen still seemed to be up and kicking. And absolutely fine. Well, that was a shame. She then retaliated to his back laser with...regular bullets. A bit underwhelming really, but there wasn't exactly Stratos could do about it. As he got hit in the leg with one and the arm with another he just threw up his free hand and said, "alright then, you win. I'm done here." He then looked at Rinox, who seemed to just give him a bit of a wave, before Stratos broke his glare away from him. He ultimately knew that by himself, and after getting hit like this, there was probably no way he could take Rinox on right now, so he just decided to throw in the towel now before he ended up worse off. A giant defeat sign loomed over his head while a giant victory sign appeared the opposing team, and while Stratos was beginning to leave he then looked at the group and said, "wait, if you're looking for the hero why were you even fighting in this tourn-" before he could finish he was ejected from the coliseum area and flung back to...uh, The Lanes Between I guess? Stratos wasn't even really sure how he got to Olympus Colosseum in the first place, but uh, that was neither here nor there. So he just sort of decided to fly back to Riel whilst healing himself along the way.
Buying Thunder Palace (12-10=2) Equipping Four Star
After having dealt their combined assault of attacks, the angel seemed pretty upset with how everything had ended for her. Aqua, as it turns out, was a really sore loser and just broke the orb and skedaddled off. Zephine would have chased after her but she was a bit on the slow side and even more so tired out from the fight. However, with the orb broken, the world seemed to breaking now, and that was no bueno. Trying to leave immediately, it appeared that they couldn't really get out of here through conventional means, but good thing Styme seemed to be on the case and no just about everything needed. Walking over to the rest of the group, Zephine spun her scythe around ,turning it back into an orb, and clutching the thing. Stretching out her arm and putting her orb alongside everyone else's she said, "yeah, let's all go home now."
After getting hit by a large blast of water, again, Zephine was starting to feel pretty hurt by these attacks. However, she wasn't about to let some injuries, even if she were in the danger zone from them, get in the way. And it still inspired confidence in her fighting. After all, if she were taking all the hits right now, as she had wanted to from the get go, then that just meant everyone else was doing fine. Being unhampered by this water, Zephine continued to attack at the angel.
Zephine, starting to feel a bit worse for wear, continued with her result regardless and struck back with her scythe once more.
Zephine followed suit with everyone else and decided to strike while the iron was continually hot, going in and slashing with her scythe at the angel of water.
