[Ch.6] Attack on Council

[crocoduck]

For all of Druid's faults, he had one redeeming quality that had kept him alive up until this moment.
His personality was extremely abrasive and aggravating, and it had led to him ending up in many undesirable situations where he was in definite and immediate danger. What saved him all those times is what saved him now. His intelligence.

The eyes.

Druid spotted it just as it spotted him. He was surprised off the bat to realize that the eyes were moving, as spider eyes did not usually do such a thing. Which also meant that this beast did not function nearly the way he expected, for the eye continued to track him as he moved, despite the camouflage. He noticed this before the spider spoke, and was already deep in thought.

If it could see through his camouflage, that meant the eyes could either see a special wavelength of light or perhaps it could see polarized light like the Mantis shrimp. Considering the absolutely mythical nature to the creature, however, it was much more likely that it had a magical aspect, such as being able to "see" magic or souls or more abstract things like bloodlust. He'd heard of vaguely similar things before. He had no time to figure out for sure, however.

One thing he knew for sure; those were his first targets.

“ i sEe yOu"

A chill ran down Druid's spine. Never had he heard such a simultaneously creepy and beautiful thing before. The words came from the child attached to the spider, but they were clearly coming from the actual spider. The voice not only sounded bizarre and consistent with damaged vocal cords, but the very mannerism of the speech was that of somebody that was never taught to speak properly, something inhuman that didn't quite understand or care about the elegancies of language. There were emphasis on sounds that needed no emphasis, and it sounded... wrong

Either way, it meant this creature could SPEAK. Which in turn meant it was sentient, which made it so much more dangerous and fascinating at the same time. Druid HAD to dissect it.

His legs tensed as he froze in place, hearing the sound. If the creature could see him, and it could speak and was intelligent enough to have an ego that allowed it to taunt him, then it meant an attack was likely coming next. But what kind? What was it cap-

Oh. My. God. This is the greatest day of my life.

Druid couldn't help but manifest the thought, watching with absolute fascination as the child attached to the spider reared up and spewed a torrent of spider webs from its anus. Which was impossible.

Both the spider and the child had completely rearranged anatomies. Most spiders had several glands at the end of their abdomen which they released through a highly specialized organ called a spinerette. Yet, this child was just spewing it out of its anus, which means either it had specialized organs/anatomy, or the spider was somehow channeling the silk through the child? FASCINATING. Was the spider itself capable of shooting webs? Did it have spinerrettes? Was this boy's web merely magical, thus the ability to be released without the proper anatomy?

So many questions, only one way to answer them.

His body glowed bright green, making the invisibility pointless as Druid took advantage of the powerful legs he currently owned. Cheetahs and like-animals had one overwhelming advantage over other animals; acceleration. The powerful legs kicked off a mere half-second after the webs were shot out, allowing Druid to think and escape at the same time.

The sudden burst of speed threw him just to the left of the range of the webs, at the same time as the green glow around his body disappeared. As the glow disappeared, his hybrid body became visible once more, but it had been altered yet again. Instead of octopus skin, he now had 8 octopus arms sprouting from his back, and each of them ended with the sharp, venemous barb of a scorpion's tail. Yet even then, his body glowed green, preparing to release the magic he would need for the next transformation he would inevitably need.

Having side stepped the attack, Druid now sprinted forwards with his incredible short distance speed. He aimed to get just in front of spider thighs, but moving as quickly as he ever had. He aimed to jump forward, sending all of his barbed tentacles forward at once as he did so. If successful, the 6 of the venomous barbs would stab each spider eye, while two others would stab the child's eyes instead, and this would all happen just as Druid landed from his sprint. The moment he made contact, he would kick off powerfully from the ground again, back-pedaling instantly, aiming to do a quick hit and run.

He did not enjoy combat, but he did enjoy the endless possibilities that his magic provided him. He enjoyed mixing and mashing all of the animals that he studied with such fervor and passion, and now, others could see the deadlier aspect of the passion.

[CJ]

Monkey smiled in relief when Elrond's ground cage sprang up underneath Qi and him. It held them perfectly still, insuring even if the summon had to obey his master, he wouldn't have a good chance to break the spell.

"No need for apologies," Monkey said with a smile. "Thank you, Elrond."

"Don't hurt him!" Qi shouted as tears poured down her face.

Meanwhile, Horse cheered with a silent "sqwee" motion when Elrond stopped him from crushing Azriel. He rested his human foot on the earthly shield. The deep black eyes on his horsey head twinkled in admiration for the guild leader.

---

Glancing about him, Apollo realized he was horribly, horribly alone. Spider Thighs was the only Oracion Seis member left in the room, if one didn't count Elly's corpse. In his mind, Apollo thought Elly died by Azriel's hand. Where was Astral Lance and Aether? They was gone, leaving him alone to deal with Elrond and the other mages. Apollo came to the conclusion that he was just being used. Astral didn't care about whether or not the siren lived or died. The reward was a lie. Everything was a lie.

If he didn't die here, he'd be executed, but that was the best possible outcome. If the Council wanted him to live, he'd be imprisoned again, gagged so his powers could never be used. And if they found out that he could use his magic on his eyes, they'd blind him.

His heart raced and it became harder to breath. Years of darkness emerged in his memory. He never thought he'd ever have to worry about being locked away for years again with no one to love or speak to. A long seeded rage grew inside him for the woman who stole him away from whatever lands he originated from, before he could form any memories of them. He had killed her years ago, but in his panic and despair, he saw her in Elrond's place. She sneered at him, still breathing and grinning, despite the rope wrung tightly around her neck.

Before Apollo would have been able to respond to Elrond, he was greeted with a fist to the face. Black blood few out his broken nose, splattering onto the stone surrounding Elrond's fist. Soon after, he was taken to the ground by Jupiter's enchanted marbles, which pelted his beautiful skin.

There was silence. The siren laid motionless on the ground. For a brief moments, it seemed the ordeal was over.

Then Apollo opened his eyes. He let out a painful sigh that sounded reminiscent to a retreating tide, sucked in by deep waters. Standing up, he wiped newly formed black blood from his nose. His glassy eyes stared at the mages before him in contempt.

"Trouble? Trouble! Trouble is the stub of a toe, a brief sense of woe. I am not trouble. Call me truth, reality doubled. Speaker for your heart, the voice calling in the dark. Lies have shadowed your eyes, life is what you despise. You feeble weaklings, no more than my mere playthings. What is your purpose if it is not to serve me, for in leaving forever will you grieve. Rather than simply bid adieu, you know what you must carry through."

It was Apollo's last shot, the most devastating suggestion he could give.

"KILL YOURSELF."

Darkness seemed to fall about the room. All light, all hope began to vanish from the minds of those who could hear Apollo.

"Qi, stop!"

The small summoner's empathy and mercy got the best of her. She was completely under the influence of the command, biting into Monkey's hand as he tried desperately to keep her from chomping off her own tongue.

In another part of the room, Cassandra, the girl who came with Apollo during the raid, started to painfully bash her head against the floor.

Elrond had seen this behavior before. In the Harvest Festival, another girl attempted suicide for no apparent reason. Had she been under the same spell?

Apollo began to laugh crazily in what he thought to be his victory. Even this laugh created ripples of magic that would repel mages away from him. There were one, maybe two among them whose magic and will were so powerful they would be immune to the spell, but the siren didn't know it.

---

Eliza frowned and shrugged her shoulders.

"OK. Please, be careful, Miss. The ponies and I believe in you."

Suddenly, Elly would see that she was apparently warped toward the cafeteria where Azealya ran to. Eliza the child had vanished completely from all her senses.

The unwitting member of the Oracion Seis would feel her ears were still clogged. If she felt at them, she would see that at some point, Eliza had put cute pink earplugs into her ears. This was especially important, considering the swan song of Apollo happening in the very same room.

[Shark a' Pult]

"Oh... well this makes things easier. What a nice girl."

Elly was surprised to find herself in some sort of cafeteria, which she hadn't expected Azealya to have ran off to, but once the illusion lifted she caught a fleeting glimpse of her teammate tearing off down some corridor. With little else to do, Elly took up pursuit, though not nearly as fast as Azealya even if she hadn't slowed down in passing yet another teammate of hers still in the cafeteria.

"Hey Aether... you might want to get out of here, there's like a bunch of mages attacking the place I think. Or helping out, either way, they're enemies."

She didn't wait around for a response, and picked up the pace in making for the exit to the cafeteria. Eventually though she was waylaid yet again, by the sudden onset of escaped prisoners. She didn't want to risk anything and so merely opted to hide from the lot in a window nook behind a curtain, but got the feeling that as hectic as things were, they could only get worse with all these persons on the scene. She was glad at least that she wouldn't be stuck in the middle of it all, and once the escapees had passed, she continued in her pursuit. Of course, she had been delayed a fair amount, that by the time she managed to locate Azealya, it seemed someone else had beat her to it. Rounding the corner, she opted to hang back a bit and try to stay out of sight for now, partly to watch from concealment and see how Azealya reacted. Mostly though because she was surprised and perhaps a little worried to see Mark back so soon after she had walked him outside of the city no so very long ago.

[Kuro]

Spider Thighs swiped at the incoming enemy with one of his blade-like legs, aiming it reflexively at whatever tentacles would dare try to touch the child.

And yet, that left six tentacles unaccounted for.

The barbs sunk into the eyes with a multitude of sickening squelches, white fluids spurting out from the attack. The high-pitched, tortured wail of a child rang throughout the room, the sound made even worse by the occasional sudden pitch change from the damaged vocal chords.

The spider’s body writhed and twitched in place, a leg occasionally attempting to reach its eyes in some unsuccessful attempt to soothe it. The eyes were now bloodshot and leaked both red and white in some ghastly mix spilling to the floor.

“AhhhAAHHhaHGhh! hURt! IiiTtt huRRtTt! bBAdD fOod, ffOod bAD! eAt yOU sLOWlY!”

It would not be able to detect magic for some time. However, it still had a sense of where the enemy was thanks to its hair-based sensory system, and soon enough it turned towards the food’s direction. Spiders crawled out of the various holes in the child’s body, and only some moments after did the spider unleash a rushing swarm of thousands of the spiders towards the enemy, all of them coming at him like some horrific beam. Like they had with Jericho, any spiders that did not hit the target would simply crawl from whatever they had hit towards him. Since the spider was still working with the ice attack Jericho had inflicted on it earlier, the spiders were cold to the touch and attempted to burrow into Druid’s body, digging right past the flesh so as to bite and freeze him from the inside-out.

---

The diamond fist connected and Dofun’s spin stopped instantly. It stopped so suddenly that Dofun was thrown forward from the momentum, flying right into the second attack.

With a sickening crack, Dofun was sent hurtling through the air and tumbling onto the ground, no doubt to the sound of cheering prisoners. The clown ended up with back facing upwards, his face hidden. It took him a bit of a while to catch his breath and get up with a groan, hopefully before Batalie had decided to seize the opportunity. He put a hand to his face and froze.

No.

Dofun continued to run his hand across his face, wobbling in place as he did so, his back turned to the enemy.

[newb23]

Ian ran down the stairs after Mark. He had lost sight of him but could hear his voice through echoing up the stairs. It helped that he shouted a lot. Following the noise Ian ran into the room, coming up behind Mark. Standing in front of Mark was a woman whose name Ian didn't remember but he knew he had seen her on the rock.

On the ground was another woman who also was with them. Scratching his head it took a moment for Ian to absorb the entire scene as well as make out what Mark had said. "So you're not actually on our side. Well then I guess I can help him out this one time," Ian said as motioned towards Mark. "Or he could go take care of other things while I tidy up here."

----

At Apollo's latest command the two bears stopped their attack and turned their attention towards Lakin who was making his way towards the edge of the building. Realization seemed to dawn on them as they quickly ran over and tackled Lakin to the ground, refusing to let him up until Apollo had been silenced.

[crocoduck]

Druid grinned at the results of his attack, as it taught him so much. He lost two octopus arms, rather painfully, and he was certain an attack was coming soon, but he learned a few things. First) This thing was, in fact, alive. It wasn't just some incarnated magic entity, which was one of the very many possibilities Druid had concocted about the nature of this beast. Secondly, it could feel pain. The wail it released upon being struck told Druid that not only was it sentient, but it felt pain, which was a useful attribute to whoever was fighting it. Thirdly, the child was incredibly important. That was perhaps the most important fact he confirmed. The spider immediately protected the child, while failing to protect its own eyes.

Was the child some sort of host? Was the spider a massive parasite that lived off of the child's magic? Off of his biological nutrients? Was it something more abstract, like living off his soul or his willpower or something? Or perhaps the child wasn't a source, but many an addition or a conduit. Perhaps the spider couldn't use its ability unless it had the child, maybe it focused his magic and allowed it to be manipulated. Maybe the spider's sentience came from being attached to the child. In all of these scenarios except for the nutrient parasite, it meant this child was special. It had some special ability or special soul that made it power-up the spider, and Druid in no way wanted to harm that connection. He had to study it.

As always, all of these complex thoughts pass through Druid's brain in a flash, so rapidly that most would consider it impossible. He finished the thought in the middle of Spider Thighes yelling out with his fascinatingly creepy voice.

Druid knew his magic reserves well, and he was at around half. He had been stewing some magic to transform since his last attack, so his next transformation wouldn't take much out of him, but he had to start paying attention to his magic use. He could transform into a dinosaur hybrid with venemous tentacles and a bombardier beetle's explosive glands in his hand, it would end things quickly, but that would be with the intention to kill. He had to keep the creature alive, which made things a lot more complicated. Venom was still the answer.

The problem was surviving and getting close enough to deliver the ven- .. oh. That'd make for a good combination that would possibly not only deliver a strike to the creature, but also defend against the onslaught of spiders he was now seeing. It'd have to be successful though, for it was going to be very magic draining.

Still using his powerful legs to dart to the side, attempting to side-step the attack, Druid observed the beam of spiders while also focusing more magic around his body. The beam had not yet reached him, but he knew his side-step would only help avoid the initial attack, and even then he might not avoid it completely. His legs were powerful and fast, but they weren't magically augmented, they had their limitations.

The green magic around his body disappeared suddenly, being replaced by a whole new set of features. His octopus arms were gone, as were the wings atop his head, but the remainder of his body stayed the same with the addition of porcupine quills everywhere. This had to have been the most concise, concentrated and complex transformation Druid had ever done, for he made it so all of his skin, even the transformed portions, had so many dense quill structures that there wasn't anywhere, not even on his face or in his ears, that didn't have quills protecting it from anything bigger than a fly. These quills were modified in two ways, the keratin that gave them their strength was replaced with the chitin from the Hercules' beatles shell, making it even stronger than before. The ending touch, however, was the venomous gland that was now located in the center of each quill and was secreting a venom that coated each of the quills. It was wasp venom, specifically that of a parasitoid wasp that paralyzed its prey and then laid eggs within it.

Anything that touched the quills would not only be impaled, but they would find the entire immediate area that touched it become numb and paralyzed. An entirely new combination that Druid had never done before, and that had drained his magic so that he was now at 1/3 of his magic reserves, hopefully enough to deal with the current situation.


As he feared, his evasive maneuver was only marginally successful. The outer edge of the beam of spiders still caught against his right side, striking at the layer of quills. The spiders were impaled as he expected, but unlike he expected, he witnessed each quill it impacted become suddenly frozen, which was very bad. He also witnessed the remainder of the spiders that missed him moving towards him after they made contact elsewhere, meaning he was far from safe.

He couldn't let his quills get frozen, it would make them fragile and potentially cause them to break upon contact, but more importantly, it would freeze the venom and prevent it from working. That was the current state the quills on his right side. Luckily, he was emanating body heat and the quills would hopefully thaw very soon, but for now, his right side was no longer useful for his current plan.

Sprinting forwards, Druid both headed towards Spider Thighs and away from the army of spiders that were now pursuing him. His legs made quick but short jumps, allowing him to dodge incoming attacks so that he my come close to the right side of target. If possible, Druid would then strike with his left hand, the talons attempting to pierce the head of the child. If the spider immediately went to protect the head like Druid expected, he would change the angle of his strike so that the incoming leg would hit the quills on his arm. At the same time, druid would jump (now stuck to the spider's leg) and kick out with his left leg, aiming to strike at the next spider leg that was near him, also aiming to have his quills penetrate that location.

The idea was to not cause physical damage, but instead make contact between the spider and the venomous quills, forcing the spider to lose control of two of its legs.

OOC: Summary is that Druid made venomous quills that paralyze what they touch, and so he sprinted towards ST. He aimed for the child, expecting ST to attack, and then changed his attack so that ST's defense would make him touch the quills, and then he jumped (now attached to ST's defending leg) and kicked out at the other, nearest leg.

[Hitotsumami]

As Astral Lance went through scroll after scroll, looking for whatever information he could, Noil was using a very interesting device.

As he said Astral's name, this information appeared in the book: "Gender: Male Age: 25 Magic: Electricity Magic." Beyond this very basic info, it also gave a short summary of the mage's history. Born in Fiore, the mage spent most of his time as an adventurer until he came to the attention of the Magical Council two years ago. He showed incredible capabilities and wished for a seat in the Council, and since Rank 3 was missing, he got the job. Recently, however, Astral Lance has abdicated his seat.

The summary ended there. However, below that, there was a reference to a second Astral Lance.

It was a short summary of an Astral Lance that existed one hundred years ago. There was only a short mention of this Astral Lance being part of a dark guild by the name of Nightingale. He was also once part of the short lived Oracion Seis. The information ended there, but there was a short note that current Astral Lance may have taken the name of this ancient one to continue the role as the antagonist against the Magical Council.

While Noil continued to read, Astral Lance had found what he had been looking for.

In front of him upon a podium was a massive book, almost as large as Astral himself. Upon the dark purple, worn cover was the title: "A History of Demons and Sorcerers in Earth Land."

He opened the book and the page suddenly flew from one to the other. Astral caught names as they flipped: Usiel the Uncontrollable, Salael and Thamot of the Two Pyramids, Pesbon of the Deep, Atalon, Achlys, Baal, and then, it suddenly stopped. The pages were black and the text was white, and at the top of the first page was the word: "Asmoday"

"Yes, yes!" shouted Astral. The text first appeared in some kind of ancient language, but as Astral read it, it translated upon the page into something he could read. The first few paragraphs talked bout Asmoday's beginning, her relationship with her brother Asmodeus and the legendary Mask, but this was not what Astral was interested in. He wanted the recent information. The last sighting. He wanted to find her.

So he flipped through the dozens of pages of text until he reached the very last one. He read it aloud.

"One hundred and two years ago, Asmoday was seen leading the forces of the Oracion Seis in partnership with the legendary guild Fable against Samson, an evil sorcerer bent on controlling the sun. The records do not know what happened when the three forces collided, but only that none of the mages of Fabe, nor Samson, nor Asmoday and the Oracion Seis were seen again. However..." Astral turned the page. "Asmoday original location, a Cave of Crystals, has been located, and this is known to be the place in which she was bound for thousands of years. When it was last investigated, however, there was no sign of her."

"I know all this," cursed Astral. There was only a few lines left in the records. "The Magical Council's superiors, the Three Magical Kings, however, have tracked a small remnant of a magic that is peculiarly similar to Asmoday's. It was tracked to a small Dark Guild in Fiore called Atrum. When Atrum was disbanded, the mage by the name of Atrum from which the Dark Guild got its name, joined the Renascence Guild. No further information is known, but the Three Magical Kings will continue to observe."

Astral's Lance jaw dropped and he took a few steps back in awe. This had told him everything he needed to know. Of course, he couldn't be certain the Asmoday of which the book told was the actual one, but it was all he had to go on. It was all the records had.

"Noil, we're getting out of here. I have all I need. But first, let's go find the rest of the Oracion Seis. They should all be up in the meeting room. Let's go!"

But before they could do anything, there was a huge noise of a wall breaking down near the entrance of the Record Hall. Astral spun around to see the dark figure of Mark, Rank 1 of the Magical Council.

"This is the work of Noil Jauquard," muttered Mark. "I will not let either of you escape, not again."

"Oh great."

---

Mark had left Ian to fight Azealya Thorn as he went to go down to the Record Hall, where he was sure Astral Lance had gone. Azealya didn't try to stop Mark, for she knew she didn't have that kind of power, but she was sure Astral could handle himself.

She then talked to Ian. "So I guess I'm your opponent now, huh? Well, better you than that monster. But whatever you try, I'm not giving up this girl."

Asmoday lay asleep, leaning against the wall, while Azealya Thorn guarded her. She stretched out her arms and dark red spikes poked through her skin. "Let's see what you've got!" Raising her palm, small red spikes shot out. If any of these were to hit Ian, he'd feel slightly woozy, and if enough of them hit, he may even fall asleep.

---

Elrond raised an eyebrow as Apollo began muttering on the ground. He glanced at Azriel who didn't appear to be up for any more fights. Luckily, it appeared Jupiter couldn't punch Azriel, no matter how he tried. "Well good," said Elrond. "Jupiter, it appears we've taken care of this guy."

Elrond didn't pay any attention to Apollo's muttering. He pointed to Spider Thighs where Druid was fighting "All that's left is--!"

Elrond collapsed face first onto the ground. His eyes had gone completely white. Moaning, Elrond pushed himself back up, but he found he wasn't in the Magical Council HQ anymore. None of his friends were around, and neither were Apollo or Spider Thighs or the Council.

Though from everyone else point of view, Elrond was laying on the ground motionless, in his mind he was in a totally different world.

"It's my room," said Elrond, looking around. He was sitting up on his bed. Across the room was a shelf full of books about magic. His pet dog, long passed now, was sleeping on the floor. Overall, it was a very peaceful, nostalgic scene. So much so, that Elrond totally forgot that he was supposed to be fighting the Oracion Seis.

Suddenly, however, the door to his room swung open. Fire poured into the room, spreading from the floors to the walls, setting his books ablaze. Stepping into the room, through the flames, was his father.

"DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE, SON?"

Elrond gasped and sunk into the corner of his room, as far away from the flames as he could. "Father..."

"DO YOU SEE WHAT YOUR OBSESSION WITH MAGIC HAS DONE TO YOUR FAMILY? WE'RE ALL DYING."

"I didn't mean it!" yelled Elrond. "I just, I just wanted to be like Validus--"

"VALIDUS WAS A DEMON, SON, NO BETTER THAN THE ANCIENT ONES. HE ABANDONED HIS FAMILY AND LEFT THEM TO DIE, AND NOW YOU ARE DOING THE SAME. HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN US? WILL YOU LET US BURN? WILL YOU LET YOUR MAGIC CONTROL YOU?"

"I want to be brave! I just want to help others! I want people like me! I don't want to hurt you or anyone..."

"IT IS TOO LATE! I AM DYING. YOUR FAMILY IS DEAD. KILL YOURSELF. THAT IS THE ONLY REDEMPTION. KILL YOURSELF AND NEVER USE MAGIC AGAIN! NEVER AGAIN!"

"No..."

"KILL YOURSELF."

"No, please!"

"KILL YOURSELF!"

Elrond gasped in air. His vision returned. He saw Apollo in front of him. What had just happened? What was going on? He tried to move, but he couldn't. What alarmed him the most, however, was that, deep inside, it felt as if something had died.

Elrond hoped that the other mages, that Jupiter and Qi and her summons, were still there, could still move. Elrond could do nothing. He noticed, that his face was wet, and it was because he had been crying.

---

Jericho had heard the song. It him him like a tsunami, so strong that he felt like he'd be blown out of the Magical Council. Perhaps it was good that Jericho was asleep, for the song, even though it was very powerful, was more like a distant whisper. Because of this, he, at least, could resist it, unlike Elrond who had been hit at point blank range.

And it was good that he did, for his magical ice attack was almost done being prepared. His aim: Apollo.

Just need a few more minutes, thought Jericho. Just a few more, and he could end this.

---

Batalie had no idea what Dofun was doing, but he didn't care either. All the prisoners were pumping their fists in the air, cheering at the top of their lungs.

"Do it now, Batalie! Take him out! He's a sittin' duck! Finish him and then lets escape this place once and for all!"

"My pleasure," chuckled Batalie, cracking his diamond coated knuckles. He ran as fast as he could at Dofun's back, pulled back his fist, and then punched forward as hard as he could, aiming for the KO.

"Light's out, Clowny!"

[Mise™]

”Hmm... You have the same name as your ancestor.” Noil misunderstood that part of what had been written about Astral Lance in the council's book, but other than that he felt like he understood Astral a bit better. Even then he was not sure if this was a partnership worth pursuing further. At least for now it seemed like helping Astral would help Noil himself.

”Hmm... I see. If the book states that Oracion Seis were never seen again then why are you here?” Noil commented as he listened Astral reading the book of 'A History of Demons and Sorceress in Earth Land'. ”Very well, we shall leave.” And so Noil returned the book he had been reading to where he had taken it from. Sure he would have liked to take it with him, but the book itself stated that it could not be taken out of the council building and he doubted it was just a bluff. There probably was some sort of spell that would not allow him to take it very far.

”There is no need for us to fight.” Noil spoke quietly so that Mark would not hear, but Astral would and then used his magic on the nearby wall. Astral might now get a better idea of how it worked, with his touch Noil turned a part of the wall to be like a cloth and with his fingernail cut the cloth and then walked inside the wall. ”Follow me and be quiet.” Once they both would be inside the wall Noil would sew the wall shut, in an instant, and it would be just like it had been before, with no way to tell it had been changed. Once inside the walls Noil would slowly and quietly sneak by so that Mark would not find him and hoped Astral would do the same. Even if Mark were to discover them he could always just dig deeper. There was a reason why Noil had been locked in here, no normal prison could have ever held him in, he could have escaped anytime and no one could track him down.

---

”Oohh... Don't worry.” Aether told Elly. He was very aware of his own immortality and knew no one or nothing could harm him and thus felt no fear, even though maybe foolishly so. That being said soon afterwards Aether did start wandering around the council building, but did anyone really care? He did come with the Oracion Seis, but got fired on the spot and not only that he was seemingly completely harmless. Sure he was an abomination given life by a forbidden and forgotten spell, but no way anyone could be able to tell that.

---

”Kill yourself.” That was the order Jupiter heard coming from Apollo and due to it's magical nature he felt like he should comply. Though only for a second. ”Hell no!” With his colossal magic reserves Jupiter could not be bossed around like this. Punching Azriel had been fun so he had no need to try to struggle too much against that order, but killing himself was something he would never do.

”I'm tired of your damn bullshit!” Jupiter walked to Apollo, while all his marbles flew back in to their bags. Jupiter would then try to grab Apollo by his hair and then punch him in the face and then punch again and then again and again and again... Unless Apollo would be able to break free from the grasp or avoid getting grabbed all together Jupiter would keep punching until he was sure Apollo was unconscious and then would punch a few more times, just for good measure. Jupiter would not let him fall on the ground until he was done.

---

When he heard Apollo's order Azriel grasped strongly on to his flaming sword and then with a blank stare on his face he stabbed himself. And soon afterwards the sword disappeared and then the wings and eventually the angel transformation in it's entirety reverted. Azriel was lying on the floor in a puddle of his own blood, still bleeding from the most horrifying looking wound and no matter what anyone would try they would not get any response out of him.

[CJ]

Apollo's laughing immediately stopped when Jupiter started to repeatedly punch him. Oddly enough, as he kept punching him, the man seemed to be become heavier and heavier. Eventually, he stopped moving and remained very still.

At this point, the siren's spell would be broken entirely.

As his body hit the ground, black tears streamed from his swollen eyes. His beautiful face was unrecognizable. His glistening white hair was knotted and frayed.

"Kill me," he gasped.

It was only loud enough for Jupiter to hear. It would sound as alluring as his commands before, but this one would feel more like a plea from a person Jupiter truly loved. Gone was the pretentiousness. All that was left was a weak and despicable creature.

"I don't want to go back to the dark. Kill me, please."

---

"Elrond!"

The guild master would hear Qi, hobbling toward him with Monkey not far behind. He would see that the two had somehow broken out of the cage he had created. When Apollo's magic stopped, Qi realized what had happened. Seeing Elrond and the others defeated, she channeled her own magic to Monkey and Horse in worry and despair. They then tore apart the cage, allowing her to go free.

"I'm so sorry," she said, kneeling down. "I thought he was our friend. I was so foolish."

Qi teared up, seeing that Elrond was crying. She wiped her face as Monkey patted her on the back, crouched next to her. His hand was punctured, bitten by Qi when she was under the siren's spell, but he didn't seem to mind horribly. Horse knelt behind Elrond, watching on silently and cringing at the bloodied Azriel and motionless Casandra, who he assumed to have died.

"Who was that man? And what is that horrible spider child? Who are these people, Elrond? How could they do something so awful?"

[newb23]

Ian blinked slightly as Azealya called Mark a monster. He knew his brother had incredible magic but he never quite viewed him as a monstrosity. Instead Ian simply saw his brother as someone who's magic made him cockier than he should be. Many people tried to piece together why Ian hated Mark and Ian preferred to let them guess than reveal the reason.

Slowly Ian touched the scar that adorned his face. Shaking his head, he stared back at Azealya. "That monster happens to be my brother," Ian said as he waited for Azealya to make the first move.

Ian got exactly what he wanted. As the woman shot the spikes at him Ian quickly brought up his arm, the skin on it rippling and bubbling. Suddenly the bones in his forearm ripped through the skin and enlarged. Where there was once an arm now held a shield of solid white. Though it appeared as bone it had an odd shine to it almost like steel.

The spikes slammed into the shield, though a few did manage to make it past and embed themselves in Ian's shoulder. The effect hit Ian slightly as he teetered for a moment before shaking his head and focusing back on Azealya.

Without any hesitation Ian whipped up his other arm and pointed his fingers at the enemy in front of him. Skin bubbled and tore again as small dagger like blotches of blood flew out of Ian's fingers and towards the woman. If Azealya was to be hit it would feel like steel daggers digging into her flesh.

Ian was quick to chase after the blood daggers towards Azealya. Just in case they did not hit Ian quickly made a scythe of bone and flesh though it had the same gleam as before. Bringing it to his right side, Ian slashed quickly to the left, aiming to cut Azealya in half.

[Shark a' Pult]

Elly was surprised her hiding spot was good enough, that Ian just happened by and missed her entirely. She simply took it as a blessing, but didn't want to push her luck. Instead she just continued waiting, watching. Ready, in case Azealya couldn't handle Ian or simply getting that other woman away. If she couldn't handle the situation, then Elly planned to get involved and ideally warp away with Asmoday. Where wasn't exactly important, just away from Ian at first, and then to look for Astral.

For now though, she just kept watch.

---

"Oh dear, looks like they've made a real mess of things."

A blur of color that looked like an animation smear coming into focus, and Alden stood with telescope in hand outside the magic council building. He looked a little battered and was missing his helmet, but otherwise seemed ready for action. Some question as to what happened to him while the rest of the guild traveled here via Elrond's flying rock, but there wasn't time for any of that right now.

There was still a number of escaped prisoners between him, and where he needed to go. Drawing his sword and shield, he stood at the ready.

"Alright, let's do this."

[Kuro]

The spider raised an arm to block the food’s attack, unknowingly acting exactly as the food had intended. The quills impaled the leg successfully, causing the spider to swing the blade at the nearby food and stop it’s moving around for good.

Or at least, that’s what it tried. And yet, the leg didn’t move at all. In it’s confusion, the spider didn’t attack quickly enough to bar the food from inserting more quills into it. Now both legs moved no longer, causing the creature to wobble.

no

what happen

cannot move

legs no move

not fair

not fair

NOT

FAIR!

A scream of frustration sounded out from the child as the creature fell forwards, nearly flattening the child on the floor. Instead, the child sat limply, the creature occasionally trying to stand only to fall several moments after.

Still, there were the spiders chasing after Druid. Those cold, hungry spiders.

And when they were close enough, some of the swarm leapt at its prey.

---

Dofun jumped high into the air, easily dodging Batalie’s attack. In the air, he began to shine. The sunlight reflected off of his clothing, now made of diamond. He looked down as he began to fall and growled.

In a matter of seconds, Dofun came crashing down, his body coated in diamond, including the foot that was coming to slam into the top of Batalie’s head.

Thankfully, the sun and the movement made it hard to see just what Dofun had been hiding. There was one thing that some may have noticed:

The mask he had been wearing laid on the ground, shattered and useless.

Nothing to hide his face anymore.

Or the emotions beneath.

[Hitotsumami]

Astral knew quite clearly what Noil was doing. Using Noil's power, Astral knew, was most likely the best way to get away from Mark. After all, Astral didn't want to fight. He had his information. What he wanted now was just to get upstairs to the rest of his group, gather them up, and leave with Elly as quickly as possible.

As Astral went to jump into the hole in the wall Noil created, Mark suddenly dashed forward faster than Astral could move. Mark grabbed Astral's leg, and slung him against the floor, splitting the ground. Lifting him back up, he swung him down again.

All around Mark a bright green-blue aura could be seen, though it was not just a visible effect. It was magic itself, and if one get too close or touch it, Mark's magic was so strong that it would even burn them. Already, Astral's leg was almost blackened.

Astral raised an arm and shot off a flurry of electric blasts into Marks' face, but the magic surrounding Mark dispelled it before it could cause any harm.

"Noil!" shouted Astral. "Get upstairs, now! At the top floor you'll find a spider, a man in a mask, and a little girl named Elly! Get out of here and I'll follow close behind! Our mission is--!"

Mark slung Astral across the room, crashing into five bookcases in a row. Mark spun around to face Noil. "I am not planning on letting you get away either!" He dashed with the same great speed for Noil, though if he could catch him in time was yet to be seen.

---

One floor up, Azealya was fighting against Ian.

As the blood daggers flew towards Azealya, she raised her arms in an 'X' shape and a the spikes piercing through her body created a makeshift shield. Though it did block the daggers, it did not completely block the pain.

Lowering the shield, she was surprised to see Ian already there upon her, but she reacted quickly. Jumping forward, she attempted to wrap her arms around Ian, neutralizing his attack, and then, if possible, she would send meter long spikes out of her body in all directions, aiming to impale the mage.

Still, Asmoday sat upon the floor, but she was no longer asleep. Slowly, she opened her eyes, but her vision was still blurry and she was still too far out of it to totally know just what was going on.

---

Up another floor, Elrond slowly got back up to his feet, Apollo's magic finally wearing off with every punch Jupiter delivered to the man. He was also glad to see that Qi was back to normal as well.

"Can't be sure," said Elrond, answering Qi's question. "All I know is that their threatening the Magical Council, so we have to put a stop to them. We've stopped this one.." Elrond glanced down at Apollo and then asked Jupiter to please stop. He turned his attention towards the rampaging spider monster. "And that's the only one left."

Though Druid appeared to be handling the fight well enough, Elrond did not want it to go on any longer. "Let's give him a hand, guys. I won't let any more people die here today."

Running towards Spider Thighs, Elrond raised both of his hands and by doing so, two pillars of stone formed out of the ground, flying to either of Spider Thigh's sides. Elrond then slammed his hands together, and both pillars would fly at Spider Thighs in the same motion, aiming to crush it.

Around the same time, Jericho had finished the preparation of his magical attack. Finally opening his eyes, if anyone looked at him, they'd be pure white. Slowly his entire body would change from skin and clothes to an icy, glowing figure. Even the ground beneath his feat started to freeze.

"Ice Dragon Slayer Secret Technique: Absolute Zero."

Jericho jumped through the air. No longer did he appear to be a frail old man, but now a seasoned warrior. Punching the air, a wave of ice flew at spider thighs, and if Elrond's attack didn't work, he'd hope his would, for if it did touch Spider Thighs, it would freeze him solid.

This, combined with whatever attacks Druid, Qi, and Jupiter would do, might just have been enough to defeat the monstrous spider.

---

Outside the magical council, Dofun was fighting against one of the escaped prisoners, Battalie. Though Batallie could indeed become stronger and harder than diamond, it took time. Specifically, it took two seconds. During the first second, Battalie would return to his original human form, and during the next second, he'd turn into the metal he'd wish to be.

The problem was that Dofun came down faster than even a second, and a diamond against the skull slammed his face into the ground so hard that the entire area around was split.

Without a single word, Battalie had been defeated.

In awe, all the prisoners did not know what to do. It was not only that their leader, Batallie, had been defeated, but that in the place of the clown was now a creature more horrifying. They took the chance and ran as fast as they could, streaming away from the building, hoping to never see Dofun again.

It was around this time that it would appear Alden had returned from his own adventure, he might see Dofun close by, and perhaps together, they could decide what to do next.

As for the escaped prisoners, not one went against Adlen, but, if possible, ran around him as quickly as possible, an expression of absolute fear painted on their faces.

[newb23]

Ian hadn't expected Azealya to react as quickly as she did, though he did not seem to surprised. Nor he seem very alarmed when she went to wrap her arms around him. Realizing that he had to much momentum to move out of the way he simply dropped his blade.

As Azealya wrapped her arms around his body Ian's body began to bubble and several spikes of his own would erupt from his. These seemed to protect him from most of the woman's own attack though several of her spikes did get trough and punctured Ian's skin.

Coughing up blood Ian's vision began to blur a bit. Without waiting to pass out Ian jerked his head at the blood puddle that had formed on the floor. Several whip like forms rose out of the blood and began to thrash towards Azealya aiming to knock her off of Ian as well as slash into her arms and back.

[crocoduck]

Never had he faced such circumstances. This was the most physically demanding experience of his life, and it was only getting harder. His attack was successful, but he was suddenly on the defensive. He had never had to try this hard in the very few moments he had been forced to enter a combat situation, it was usually an easy domination. Spider Thighes was no easy opponent, however.

Thinking quickly, Druid considered his options, while acknowledging that he had very very little time to think, as the spi- what the hell? What are they doing? Druid caught movement in the corner of his eye as Elrond erected two massive pillars, aiming them clearly at spider thighs. It was at this same moment that Druid noticed the others moving to do the same.

No. NO. "NOOOOOOOOO"

For the first time in over a decade, Druid experienced and displayed despair and rage. It would be the first emotion other than curiosity and apathy that this guild would have seen Druid experience, and it would have been powerful.

They were going to kill it. They were going to kill his specimen.

He couldn't do anything about it, could he? He could only avoid the damage. His magic reserves were 2/3s depleted, whatever he did next would have to be big and it'd have to be FAST.

There's no fucking time

The panicked thought entered his mind as his thoughts failed to move quickly enough. He could see both the beam of ice spiders and the pillars of earth moving rapidly towards him.

Focusing, Druid resorted to desperate measures. His eyes flitted in every direction and his mind temporarily filled with images that scared him. Images of interesting animals being destroyed, of his specimens being destroyed, his books, his archives, his knowledge, his magic, all being taken from him. He flooded his own brain with that which scared him most.

The body could be tricked into altering its perception of time. If the eyes moved rapidly enough, the body would be confused into thinking it was in a high-speed dangerous situation, especially when coupled with the adrenaline being pumped thanks to the fear-inspiring images. All in an effort to increase his thought processing.

It was a cheap ploy and it didn't buy him much time, but it was better than nothing.

Think.

Druid tore his attention away from the now visibly slower attacks coming his way. His only real defensive option was to turn into a blue whale, if he wished to protect himself and the spider. If he were to do that, however, he'd squash the spider and kill it immediately. Nothing would be able to resist the size and weight of a blue whale suddenly spawning on top of them. If he made sure not to land on the creature, he would make it so it wasn't hurt at all, which would be extremely bad as it would have its strength while Druid stopped all of the guild's attacks, protecting it, while depleting his own magic completely, making him unable to stop the creature from killing everybory, or even worse, escaping and being unable to be studied.

The blue whale was the only thing with the size and durability he needed to protect the creature, at least the only extant creature. His only other option would have been a prehistoric creature such as a dinosaur, thanks to its equally large and powerful legs and maneuverability. He could try to mish-mash a bluewhale with limbs, but nothing alive could maintain the weight of the whale unless he made a massive plethora of elephant legs, and he didn't have enough magic for that. He had the magic for one last giant transformation, with perhaps a slight augmentation or two. Nothing else. But he had never transformed into a prehistoric creature before.

He had considered it before, calculated the possibilities. His magic required intense knowledge of the creatures he transformed into. It required months of research per organism, as well as first hand experience. He only knew of dinosaur research and had only seen dinosaur fossils. He had no way of knowing their true anatomy, and that made the transformation impossible...

Maybe.

Druid had felt his battle capability increase exponentially during this fight alone, perhaps the same was true of his magic? No. Don't be foolish, magic and combat ability doesn't just increase, the imagination does. Druid was just gaining experience and becoming more creative for combat, perhaps the same was necessary for his magic.

If he could just imagine the dinosaur, and recreate its anatomy, it could work. He knew the anatomies of hundreds of reptiles, he knew the skeletal structure and had read considerable research that projected what the creature's anatomy would be like. Perhaps that was all he needed.

Regardless, he was out of time.

His cheap tactic's juice ran out, and the flurry of attacks were less than a second away. He had no choice.

His body instantly and suddenly erupted into a light show of a beautiful green magic that spewed from his body. The sound of matter suddenly appearing into the universe in massive amounts filled the air, and all around would likely feel the pressure of air pushing against them as a massive chunk of the air in the room was displaced. It wouldn't be surprising if some ears were actually popped.

The roaring didn't help either.

A terrific and terrifying roar filled the room, as the massive dinosaur bellowed into the air, crouching over the spider protectively as it did so.

It was a spinosaurus. Weighing 18 short tons (36,000 pounds) with a length of 60 feet from head to tail. A behemoth, that was still covered in venomous quills. Quills that would prick against the entirety of the Spider's body, if it did nothing to protect itself. They would also prick and paralyze anybody that was within range during the transformation.

Druid's plan was to block the incoming attacks through sheer size and force distribution, but he failed to calculate one thing. He was a genius, but he wasn't perfect.

The weight.

This floor, or at least this particular area of it, had no way of ever being built in expectation of over 36 thousand pounds of force to suddenly land on such a tiny area. Unless there was an amazing building structure, Druid was going to obliterate the floor beneath him and the spider, and perhaps beneath many of the others in the room as well.

In the end, it seemed Druid may have done more harm than good.

Regardless of the effects of his transformation, he would not be able to keep this up for more than 30 seconds. His consciousness was already fleeting, thanks to the sheer magical exhaustion of using up almost every last drop of his magic. The worst part, however, was that the transformation was a failure. He managed to reproduce the majority of the creature, but he could feel the incompleteness of it. His massive heart was attempting to beat, but was only managing to spasm sporadically at a steadily declining rate. His lungs were good for that one, massive bellow, but it seemed his diaphram was failing to relax and draw air back in. Somewhere along his body, blood circulation had gone wrong, likely due to improper vessels, as he could feel the entire lower body pulsating painfully.

Worst of all, he had absolutely no physical senses except touch. His neurons were working enough that he could feel pain and pressure, but his eyes, his ears and his nose weren't working. He had made a miscalculation, it wasn't clear where, but it was a big one.

30 seconds was all that he could handle before everything died. Which meant that at the 30 second mark, his body would suddenly and spontaneously revert to normal, leaving him unconscious.

The massive creature suddenly diseappearing would cause a momentary, but massive, vacuum in the room. Sucking in objects, debris and people from around them if they weren't careful or managed to resist, which would bode quite dangerous for Druid.