Kage no Sekai [Magic | IC | Episode 1]

[Sraelyn]

Marcus and Irina

Ah, Mittlerstadt Music Hall, a wonderful piece of architecture and craftsmanship as well as a cultural staple of the eponymous city that would, once again, host the annual reunion of the Mages Guild. From every corner of the world would come mages, spirits, representatives, and basically anyone else who aspired to be someone in magic society. Backroom deals, alliances, subterfuge, connections and a whole lot of ego stroking, all of these were performed annually in the place that witnessed the rise and fall of many great houses. What a marvelous place to be at.

Once outside the buses, Caine explained the three possible tasks and what each of them entailed, yet Marcus had no doubt what he'd prefer. Even if it was in a room filled with the most pompous members of magic society that would gaze upon him condescendingly, it would also be a place of opportunity to those that knew how to play the game. He was the heir of his house, and even if they weren’t an prominent one anymore, making some sort of appearance at the ballroom would be a good stepping stone towards amending that travesty.

The only possible problem would involve Irina being a bit overwhelmed at the sort of situations that could arise; and right on cue he felt a slight tug on his sleeve, looking down to find a large pair of eyes looking up to him
“Are we going on ballroom duty?” inquired the spirit in a quiet, almost whispering voice. Sometimes Marcus felt as if she could read his mind.
“Do you think you can manage that?”
The answer came in the form of a timid nod.
“Then I suppose we are. It will also give you the chance to show that nice dress you bought.” Marcus ruffled slightly her hair, something met with an embarrassed protest and a slight flustered smile.
That problem seemed to be put of the way for now, luckily they had brought clothes according to the event, a charcoal three-piece suit for Marcus and a flowing white dress for Irina. They both moved towards the ballroom, while making a last check to the gun in his underarm holster. He hadn’t brought his rifle, as he seemed it too much for today’s assignment, hopefully there would be no need for it. They approached Endriel, a black haired boy, and what looked to be his short stocky spirit.
“I guess we’ll be joining you guys on sector two.”

[Forest State]

---

Nico Lucius

---

Nico could see through Rosalie’s smile somewhat. She was naturally observant, or maybe it was a learned skill, but perhaps more importantly she had been in a lot of positions herself where she had faked smiles. More often in recent years than before, but even in her past life before… Before everything had changed and this became more of a job to her than a passion, and one that she wasn’t always too fond of, at that. This wasn’t the time to contemplate her path and choices in life, however. She kept her mind focused on the task, but she did make a mental note.

A mental note of the similarities between herself in the student in front of her.

“You two are also familiar,” she said, looking between Nico and her spirit and the other pair that had showed up, Lucas and Adrial. “I guess I have something of a fan club by now.”

She laughed darkly. “Not that I ever wanted one of those, but hey, you’re all welcome to join me here in the hallways if you feel like that instead of… Dealing with people. Either inside the ballroom or outside, on the streets. Not sure which of those two is the more terrifying option for a bunch of newcomers like you, I can say that the former still scares me a little bit even with all my experience,” she continued.

Vatnar and Archie also showed up with their spirits not long after she made that statement. “Oh, more people. Not complaining, I guess. More hands on this job makes it easier, we have a lot of area to cover and we’re going to get a good yelling at if anything slips through that shouldn’t. So we’ll all cover each other’s backs in this and make sure nothing happens, right?” she said, with a shrug.

Nico looked down at her watch and determined that it was time to start. “There’s enough of us right now, I wouldn’t say we need anyone more. The regular police are on hand if we need any support, after all. There’s already a situation I’ve been told we need to respond to, though. Specifically, one of our own has gone off the radar. My superiors have told me to keep an eye on Juno Helena Kunze today, and yet she’s seemingly gone AWOL and CCTV footage shows her leaving when everyone was gathered in the parking lot.”

“I… Can’t go into the reasons right now why we’re supposed to keep an eye on her. But Vatnar and Archie, you guys just showed up so can you and your spirits head out and try to find her and Arios? Sweep around the perimeter, see if she’s there, if she’s not head back here and I’ll have to tell the higher ups. They might not be happy, but can’t blame us for not trying. Rosalie and Autumn, Lucas and Adrial, you guys can come with me. We’re going to head out looking for someone that seems sketchy from what those same higher ups have said. Wanted me to look for ‘em.’

---

Endriel

---

The second sector wasn’t the one that was expected to get the most people, but maybe that was a good thing. Not everyone could handle the art of social politicking, and even if they were only doing security, if they had to interact with the patrons here they would be expected to… Adapt to how things were in this society. Well, more accurately, this society within a society. The upper class mages of prominent were much different from typical ones, and having this many of them in a room at the same time seemed to bring that out of them. For some people here, the feeling would be familiar. For others, it would be completely alien.

Endriel had no strong feeling on it one way or the other. She didn’t live that high life but she had been around it frequently and it had probably molded her more than she wanted to admit. Even if she had never been a fan of following the every command of some high ranking great house member just because of their position rather than merit. Still, she couldn’t deny that many of them did deserve respect on merit - the great houses were considered great for a reason. And having all of them gathered in one place was a sight to see, even if their numbers were a bit thinner at the start of the week than they would be later.

They tended to not risk putting all of their eggs in one basket and sending too strong of a delegation to these meetings. After all, fighting wasn’t just common, but expected at this point. Not at an event like this but on the streets between hotels and when mages were out in the city. Those fights tended to be quick, destructive, and brought too much media attention to the world of magic. At least according to the Guild, who was putting guards on the ballroom floor partly to make sure something like that didn’t happen here.

“I’m not sure how much we’re going to have to do, kids,” she said when she was approached by her students who had joined the second sector. “Most of the fights between these guys happen outside of events like this, not on the ballroom floor. Regardless, we’re here to respond if anything like that does happen… But for now, let me ask you something. Do you know how to handle a vampire? Because that’s what we might end up dealing with.”

She sighed, glancing to the side. “Higher ranking people say there’s a vampire here on this ballroom floor that some of the great house people want gone because, well...Vampire. So it looks like we’re going to have to talk to some people after all. That is, find out if this guy is supposed to be here. Get him out if he’s not. Explain why we can’t get him out if the great houses complain about being around a vampire and us not doing anything about it. And generally, try to reach a peaceful outcome.”

“But don’t let your guard down just because of what setting this is. I’ll tell you this right now. Might not be politically correct but it’s true. You should never turn your back on a vampire.”

---

Cayne Rayden

---

The situation out front was getting more and more interesting, if interesting meant something more along the lines of ‘going to explode soon.’ Most of the protesters, they were feeling pretty confident and maybe even cocky depending on how you looked at it. A lot of them were anonymous. Clad in all black and matching their other protesters to give no signs as to who was who in the crowd, making it harder to identify them with their clothing style and their masks obscuring any details. The masks that some of them had also kept them from being identified immediately as vampires or demons - both of whom were always present when Xenofront was protesting something.

It was hard to tell how many of the crowd were regular humans and how many of them had dangerous magical ability, and when an answer to a question like that couldn’t be found, the Guild tended to lean towards the more pessimistic estimate. It’s better, after all, to prepare more than necessary rather than not preparing enough and getting caught in a bad position.

The position that they were in right now, however, with the building to their backs and the wall of protesters across the street from them, wasn’t one that bothered Caine Rayden. Perhaps Caine was a little too confident, but it just didn’t get to him much. He was his usual self, bantering about the enemy to his students.

“Well, if Xenofront wants to play the game of violent methods, we can show them violent methods. The Guild’s got more guns and mages than they do-”

Before Caine could finish his sentence, there was an interruption in the form of a projectile thrown from the crowd, which crashed at Caine’s feet and broke into glass shards. Looked like it had been a beer bottle. It hadn’t been thrown at Caine despite landing so close to him, but had come from a rather off throw from the crowd that was targeting the people still filing into the music hall for the event that had yet to officially begin.

“Bloody hell. Looks like things might have kicked off a bit,” Caine said a few moments after the bottle hit before turning to the group that had assembled not too long ago on the sidewalk next to him. If there was a time to look intimidating and brandish weapons, which was a large part of this assignment, it was right now. “What do you all say? Are we staying over here or going into that crowd to try and find and arrest the person that threw that bottle this way?”

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa

Gabriella flinched slightly in surprise as the... She couldn't tell what it was shattered next to Caine, glass flying everywhere. If it'd been aimed at Caine, whoever had thrown it had been an extremely poor shot. If it hadn't, well... They were an even worse shot, almost hitting Caine instead of whomever their intended target had been. She let out a sigh, seemingly reluctantly raising her grenade launcher, reaching down to her belt and pulling one of the grenades there and sliding it into the breech of her grenade launcher, not chambering it yet.

"I suppose we, unfortunately, must. Well, not must." Gabriella spoke slowly, thinking as she did so. "If we do go in, we have no idea who threw it, and we'll be right in the middle of a very unhappy crowd that could turn on us at any moment. If we don't, they'll be emboldened by our inaction, and more likely to escalate. Neither option is good, and they're not going to turn over one of their own just because we asked nicely, and I'd much rather have at least some semi-quasi-sort-of-reasonable justification on our side before it turns into a massacre. I'm just one person though and not the only one out here, I'll follow along with whatever the others suggest. Both routes have their advantages."

And their disadvantages, but, well, she wouldn't mention that. Really, the protesters were lucky they hadn't hit Candace. She didn't need to be following her spirit as she hacked, slashed, hewed and burned her way through the crowd of protesters indiscriminately, making sure none of them got a lucky shot in.

As fun as that might have been to watch.

[Forest State]

---

Edge of the Future, Chapter One

【ＫＮＩＦＥ＇Ｓ　ＥＤＧＥ】

Part Three

I am a soldier of no nation… And yet I fight anyway. Why do I fight? Because I care about this, as acting as the police of the magic world and fighting demons and vampires and mages and anyone else who would like to hurt this society? Because I feel like this is my fight. No. This has never been my fight. This society isn’t my own. These people aren’t my own. But… I fight to defend them. I think.

Or do I fight because of what I lost before? Because I think that it’s what she wanted?

Even after it’s been years I can remember that night in my mind freshly. I guess you could say it’s the night when I was born. Or more accurately, the night I wa summoned. I stood there under that night sky and saw the girl that looked impossibly young to have summoned someone like me - she had to be about fourteen or fifteen at the time, and yet she was all alone with no parents, no family, no anything. Somehow she was still able to hold her own when it came to magic, even if her teaching was… Minimal. She had tried the summoning ritual multiple times. This was the first time that it worked.

From that moment, I knew I wanted to protect her.

However, we were in a dangerous place. As the stronger one of the pairing, the spirit, I could survive more than she could. And so I killed. I killed, and killed and killed. We were in a war zone, so it was natural. I killed Hezbollah, and I killed foreign mercenaries, and I killed Al-Sham, I killed everyone that was in our path and was hostile to us. Even came face to face with the IRGC at one point. Took them out too, after a rough battle. All in the name of protecting the one who was weaker than me. The Assyrian Christian girl who would have given anything to live a normal life - to be able to use her magic for anything other than supporting me in my violence to protect her.

Eventually we did get out of the situation that we were in. Her magic skills were a ticket out, we were able to find the Guild and she should have been able to make a career out of it… Which was also my introduction to the Guild. But despite protecting her all that time before, I couldn’t do enough. All my skills weren’t enough to save her when we came across the Black Circle in the field and had to go up against them. My current path could have died back there. Why would I keep fighting to the Guild when the master that brought me there is gone, never to command me again? Why would I care about the problems of humanity when I’ve never been a human? Why would I care about this society that I don’t quite fit into anymore without a master?

I can’t answer those questions yet.

Maybe it’s because it’s what she would have wanted. Maybe it’s because I don’t have anywhere else to go. But I’m here anyway. Still fighting for the Guild and still fighting their enemies such as Xenofront and the Black Circle. Even if I can hardly tell myself the reasons why. Maybe I was just born to fight. After all, it is what I did through my entire past.

---

“Don’t stand out is the best advice I can give. Stay on your toes, keep your eyes open, and do what other people are doing. I can’t tell you everything because I wouldn’t be able to go over every detail that way. Just keep in mind that this isn’t like any place you’ve been before in your high society parties and the like, this is much different. You could call this… The dregs of low society, in a way,” Night said, turning around to face Chelsea as she put on her own mask and made sure it was fastened. She wasn’t someone that this place would have an immediate hostile reaction to, but it would be best if her face still wasn’t visible. She didn’t like leaving too much of a trail with things like this.

It was surprising, being here. Last time she had been here had been when she still had a master - a master that had an ill advised sense for where a mage who was in the Guild should go and where such a mage should stay out of. This place certainly fell into the latter category. The vampires here were shady types. They were hardly integrated into society, many of them were probably the kind of people that the Guild often ended up deployed to deal with. However, this subculture wasn’t the worst one in the world for someone from a far away land who may as well have been just as much of an outcast as anyone inside the Mystery Club.

Not German, but not the same as any others who managed to get into the country from Syria. Hated by most of the latter group, even. Neither world had been the right one for her master and while Night herself didn’t know what it was like, she remembered clearly the pain from it that had resulted in her master spending more and more time around questionable subjects. Maybe if he had spent a bit more time around them, she wouldn’t have ended up in the firing line for the Guild against the-

No. This was no time to think about that kind of thing, about what could have gone differently. They needed to get on with their task, and Night needed to put away her old memories. They didn't need to come into here emotional, either. They’d have enough problems without dealing with someone getting stuck in their feelings. She watched as Lyvia and Hayato climbed out of the van and put their masks on, too. Even if Lyvia, being the wild girl that she was, looked reluctant to even wear one. Hayato, on the other hand, was calm with the entire situation. He didn’t quite have a neutral expression, but he had one that was of… Acceptance. Like he’d been in places like this many times in the past and it wasn’t much of a bother to him.

“You’re all with me, also. Stay somewhat close. Not too close, though, as it might look threatening to the others,” Night added as she started towards the entrance, gesturing for the others to follow her.

The guard at the front door seemed to have different ideas about letting them in, however. “I don’t know where you think you are but you’re not getting in with a big group of humans,” that guard started. “This establishment is for-”

The attack seemed to happen in a blur. Something had moved from behind Night and suddenly the guard was slamming against the wall with the force of someone that had just been hit by a car, and Lyvia was standing there. It seemed like she’d used her knee for the attack, jumping into the guard and hitting him with enough speed to send him straight to the ground in one strike, most likely with broken ribs and a concussion from when his head had hit the brick wall that was directly behind him.

“That’s dealt with,” Lyvia said, turning around to face the others, her face slightly bloodthirsty from the sudden rush of violence before she calmed back down into a normal posture, shifting and putting her hands on her hips. For as dangerous as she was, she could shift to appearing quite normal when she felt like it.

“I don’t think you’re making this much easier on us,” said Hayato, the main one that Lyvia would actually talk to on this team. Of course Hayato was the one. Of everyone, Hayato was the one other than her that might be… The least stuck up and the least influenced by high mage society. Someone else that was rough around the edges and used to places like this to an extent. “Then again. I wouldn’t say I ever expected it to actually be an easy task.”

He looked back to the one that had been declared the leader of the team, still not quite trusting her but waiting for her word before moving in. “So what shall we do, dear leader?” he asked, a bit of sarcastic bite in his voice. “Move in before we get trouble for this? I suppose we risk getting it inside but that should be… Fun, to say the least.”

[Castelia]

Archie and The Witch King | Mittlerstadt Music Hall

"Can do, Instructor. I'll have her back here before you can say... well, nothing. Forget it." Hearing Lucius' words, Archie accepted his orders without any hesitation. If it keeps me from going inside that damn hall, so be it.

Turning to the other mage who had just arrived, Archie addressed Vatnar. "Vatnar, wasn't it? Hey, we can do this two ways. One, we split up. We can cover more ground this way, but we'll have to deal with any threat by ourselves. Or the other: we find this Juno girl together. We'll have to take more time to look for her, and we'll cover less ground, but at least if there's any threat, 2 pairs is better than one."

At this point, Archie started walking to the right, intending to search the perimeter in a counter-clockwise pattern. "So, you decide, compadre. If you wanna team up, just come with me. Otherwise, go in the opposite direction, we'll meet at the front, then keep walking and searching again till we meet back here, alright?

Raising his hand at Vatnar in a friendly "see ya later" gesture, Archie continued to walk, The Witch King following closely behind him.

[Durmatagno]

Rosalie Morrigan and Autumn

"She can see through your smiiiiile."

Autumn grinned and elbowed Rosalie, whispering into Rosalie's ear as Nico spoke to them, handing out her assignments. Rosalie elbowed her back, shushing her, though it was all playful in nature. Nico was somewhat right about the fan club, though it was to early for anything so serious. Instead it was more of an idle curiosity, and maybe some admiration about someone that seemed to handle herself without a partner. Regardless, she was right. Rosalie nodded at being told to stick close to Nico, following as needed.

"Never did like crowds, or people much. Always preferred my own privacy over the mingling, cajoling, kissing up and generally trying to impress people that don't care about you except for what they can gain from you....."

Autumn elbowed Rosalie again, whispering something quietly into her ear. Rosalie sighed and nodded.

"Yeah yeah, I know. Anything we should expect from them? Anything in particular to be on the look out for?"

Autumn pipped in after Rosalie was done.

"Anything in particular to be on the lookout for if things turn nasty? Or just general 'be on alert' status?"

Both of them had switched to a more serious mode, joking and chatting was for when they weren't on a mission.

Nadia Tiernan and Éadaoin

"Well not all of us can head out there now can we? Even with the cops, some of us have to stay up here so they don't think they can just rush it."

It was Éadaoin that spoke as a bored looking Nadia scanned the crowd. She was obviously armed, as was Nadia, but they hadn't drawn anything or started acting tough. Though for Éadaoin she generally looked fairly scary to the everyday person, though not a group like Xenofront. If a fight did break out they'd need to drive them away from the building. This assignment was as much crowd control and direction as it was looking and acting tough.

[Forest State]

---

Caine Rayden, Candace

---

“I don’t see your runes helping you right now,” said Candace, looking to Gabriella with annoyance as she drew her sword from her side and balanced it across her shoulder. The thing was huge and Candace herself wasn’t that large compared to the sword she wielded, but she could lift it quite easily. The advantages of being a spirit, and a strong one at that. At least in terms of physical strength. Her actual magic was still considered subpar, even if few spirits were truly weak when it came to magic.

“Situation pops off that you couldn’t prepare for and what are you going to do? Head indoors and start painting?” she asked, summoning her armor at the same time as she spoke. Now that things were getting real, it would be a good idea to have it, and she pulled the visor down to cover over her face. This wasn’t the right time to have this argument, however, about how she felt like her master didn’t have much to offer her. They could have that one after they knew how things turned out here.

Spending time arguing would be a waste right now.

“I say we take direct action. Then again, I tend to lean in that direction,” she said with a dark chuckle, sliding the edge of her blade against her armor and creating a loud scraping sound before she moved the blade so it was being held in front of her, pointed slightly at the crowd across from her. “If I go in there, though, don’t expect pulled punches and mercy. I don’t think that terrorists deserve it personally, but I know that others might feel differently.”

“Pussies,” she added, letting the tip of her sword touch the ground as she kept one hand on the hilt. She was a good fighter but she wasn’t exactly one that was in tune with the sensitivities of the modern world that she had been summoned into. Many spirits weren’t, opting for a more pragmatic approach instead.

“Cops aren’t going to be able to handle this themselves unfortunately,” said Caine Rayden, taking the situation a bit more seriously now that the drama was really picking up. Another object came flying towards them - a bottle that Rayden stepped out of the way of, shattering on the ground just like the first one had. “I could deal something of a blow to them by messing with the ground under them but I don’t think the city is going to be happy if we cause property damage. That should be saved for if things go south, and while there’s plants in the area… They’re too small. Weeds growing between the sidewalk aren’t going to make useful weapons.”

Rayden looked down at his phone but looked back to the group. “I could also call in my spirit Kalian, but Kalian is generally better at taking the crowd out of the question than preventing things from escalating. His weapons are made to shoot to kill, not to stun or cause panic,” he continued. “So I believe that would be out of the question for now.”

It was time for Rayden to look to Bu and Éadaoin, who had provided suggestions. “While it would be a good idea to get this crowd to disperse, we don’t exactly want to be the one to strike first with overwhelming force. Believe me, I’m not a fan of it. I’d like to gut Xenofront and anyone who supports them, but it’s not going to look good if we beat up an entire crowd because they threw a couple of bottles. And these are the kind of people to not go easily if we tell them that they have to break it up.”

Which was the point when something else hit the ground and shattered, another bottle that was a bit different. Because this one had a rag in it and the ground caught fire as soon as it hit, causing Rayden to back up and Candace to also take a step away, even though the fire couldn’t actually hurt her. “They have molotovs, we’re going to have to do something,” Candace growled, itching for a fight. “Instead of hanging around and hoping it doesn’t escalate anymore.”

---

Nico Lucius

---

“Seems like we’re looking for an angel which is a bit strange since angels tend to be a lot more integrated than the other nonhuman races but doesn’t mean there’s never angelic troublemakers. Basically someone that was seen walking around here but doesn’t have the proper identification. Was reported by someone else on the staff here but not the security staff, and so we’re being sent to check this out and potentially deal with it. Last time they were seen was somewhere backstage but we don’t have camera coverage everywhere and so we’re going to have to look for them ourselves,” said Nico as she started walking down the hallway, heading in the direction that would lead them around the main concert area that was being used as the ballroom for the event tonight.

“We don’t have a full description of who we’re looking for but we think the suspect is male and we’ve been told that the suspect also has four wings - which isn’t that uncommon for angels, but it gives us something more to identify the suspect with. Just be careful… Angels tend to have strong magic, both in their natural light magic and sometimes with other types of magic. They can get the jump on humans like us and even on spirits if we aren’t careful. So I’ll say the same things that would apply in any situation. Move carefully, pay attention to everything.”

She paused, turning fully to face Nico and Autumn as she spoke seriously. “Just one decision is often the difference between life and death. Never forget that.”

She removed a block of metal from her pocket and started to shift it into a round shield that would go on her arm, using her magic. While she did that, she opened a door and started leading the group towards a door that would take them backstage in the main concert hall, which was already filling up. “Let’s start the search in here.”

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa

"Implying that people like that-" Gabriella waved her grenade launcher in the general direction of the crowd of protestors, "Deserve the honour of me tailoring runes to fight them specifically. I have my weapons, I have my strengthening runes, that'll be all I need against a crowd of ingrates like that. I'd prefer to have my armour too, but I can make do." She shrugged helplessly. She was a Bianchi-Costa, and this was a formal event; attending in anything other than smart dress, even her own suit of rune-inscribed armour, had never been an option for appearance's sake.

There was a loud click as she chambered her launcher's grenade, flicking it backwards and the barrel clicking shut snugly as another bottle flew out of the crowd, smashing to the ground next to Rayden as he stepped out of its way. That had been deliberately aimed at them for sure, but as Rayden said, they sadly couldn't just beat up an entire crowd just because a few bottles had been thrown.

Then the molotov hit the ground and shattered, Candace and Rayden both stepping away from the puddle of flaming alcohol or petrol or whatever mix they'd put in it.

Gabriella sighed. Well, if they wanted to play hardball, they could play hardball.

"I guess it's a good thing I never got time to put the runes on the grenades that would only make them stun instead of riddle the area with shrapnel and lightning." She said, turning slightly to look towards Candace. "But, yes, I do believe that a molotov is... Not a blank cheque, but it's enough to break up the crowd with force. Do try not to kill... Too many of them Candace, but it isn't exactly my fault if they all absolutely insist on jumping in front of your sword when you were just trying to knock them out peacefully. Not like I care if they live or die."

It wasn't like she'd feel much remorse for it, really. They were on the side of Xenofront. Her parents had fought Xenofront, and so had her grandparents. They knew the risks. They were the enemy. Always would be, until they dealt with this in a more... Civilised manner. She just didn't want to make them into martyrs.

[Theyra]

Vatnar Eldursson

"Okay, Thava let's go", that was all he said to Nico before turning to face Archie. He quietly listened to what he said and watch Archie leave. "Well that is a plan", he thought and he started to walk down the hall. As he walked down the hall, he could not help to think about the person they are going to try and find. Juno Helena Kunze, that name does not ring any bells and why was Nico asked to keep a watch on her. Which seemed to have failed and now he and Archie have to see if Juno is still on site.

Vatnar turned his head and looked at Archie briefly before looking ahead. He does not know much about Archie or has met him before. Though he has not really met with any of his fellow classmates after two weeks at the academy. Not that bothered him, he was used to being lone and prefer it at times. He knows that Thava kinda feels the same way but, he also knows that she thinks that he should at least get to know one of his classmates. But, this is not the time for it, now is the time to find someone. Maybe afterward he can try and get to know someone.

Vatnar finally reached the door and pushed it open. "Okay I now to find Juno" and Vatner went with splitting up and went the opposite way that Archie was going.

[Gudmund]

Nico Lucius

Lucas Deccan & Adrial Elysium | Mittelstadt Meetings

For Nico's squad, Lucas could recognise most of the others, recalling them quickly having recited their names as to not forget. There was Vatnar and Archie, along with their Spirits Thava and... the Witch King? Moreso a title than a name, but at least he was easy to distinguish. Those four would be searching for someone called Juno and Arios. "Whereas I, and Adrial, will be accompanying Rosalie and her spirit Autumn with instructor Nico."

With all that sorted their group moved onwards. Their target was a male angel with four wings, something like that would be difficult to hide, even Adrial's two wings were a dead giveaway most of the time. As their group came across a door leading to the backstage of the main concert hall, Lucas and Adrial had already prepared themselves. Lucas was holding a Mana Trap spell card ready, while his armoured Spirit on the other had formed a shortspear with a blunted edge, using the remains of her normally full length spear to form a long wire rope noose as well.

Once he saw that Lucas chuckled, fully aware that she could control the rope with her magic, "What's next? Shaping your helmet into a cowboy hat?" he joked, getting jabbed in the stomach by the bottom end of Adrial's spear in response. Seeking to lighten the situation, Lucas moved on to speaking with the others, "don't you guys find it a bit odd that I'm the only one in our group without metal magic?" he asked, his stature easing off into a more casual one, continuing with a hint of sarcasm, "I honestly feel a bit out of place, like a classical musician playing in a metal band."

Nethertheless, despite Lucas' actions he made sure to enter the room fully alert, Adrial taking the vanguard as she usually did.

[Confederation of the Equator]

[minecraft villager sound]

[Forest State]

---

Candace

---

“Try building some muscle in the first place instead of relying on strengthening runes,” Candace snarked back, looking forward with her sword in her hands and getting ready to go after the crowd that had just thrown a molotov in her direction. “And they can’t complain much when they’re the ones trying to burn the place down, all we did to them is stand there. It’ll be the last thing they ever throw, though-”

She was going to finish her sentence when there was a quick call out from her right, particularly from the instructor Caine Rayden. “Incoming, above!”

Two words. Two simple words but two words that said a lot of things. Candace stepped to the side in case there was an incoming projectile but when she looked to the sky she saw that it wasn’t another projectile but another person entirely, someone with a pair of wings that looked demonic in nature and a glowing aura around their right hand that indicated magic - magic that was charged up and ready to be launched quickly in some kind of attack, or used for defense. The capabilities of the figure weren’t known yet. The only thing they could tell was the figure was moving towards them fast, keeping its balance at an odd angle by manipulating the wings carefully.

If one was falling at an angle where gravity or some other law of physics would correct them and send them into a different position, it was possible to mitigate the effects by adjusting for them using something else. Planes adjusted for crosswinds to stay on a specific course even when physics said that they should be pushed off of it, and skilled users of wings could use their own body for it. And in this case, the person was an expert, falling straight down but at a slanted angle where the charged up magical energy was facing the right way to accurately hit Candace.

She identified the figure as female and quickly made a mental note about how potentially lethal the enemy was before taking a step back. Didn’t even know where that enemy had come from either, although the most obvious and likely answer was the roof. They should’ve had tighter security on the roof, but fliers were just one more thing to account for in a situation where they already had a lot on their minds, including things that were arguably more important such as interior security.

“Fucking-”

Candace didn’t get to finish her sentence before the shot fired off and took her by surprise. Her opponent was nearly at the ground, it would take incredible dexterity to focus on attacking at this range without hitting the ground hard and likely breaking a number of bones. She swung her sword in the direction of the blast of energy hoping that she would be able to block it or divert it, and she did make contact with it… But it just caused the part that had impacted the blade to explode into a number of pieces, catching her by surprise as it seemed to disintegrate at the particle level and spread into the air before disappearing already.

“Fucking hell.”

She was able to finish what she had tried to say earlier this time as her opponent suddenly reduced speed and flipped to her feet to avoid making a rough landing, seemingly not caring that she was giving her back to Gabriella and Rayden. No, she was looking at Candace, not in the mood to give up the hunt after she had already begun the duel and damaged the weapon of her opponent. Something which hadn’t been done before because of the powerful properties of the sword. The demonic being, or whatever it was, it did seem human enough with black hair and skin that looked human rather than demon, smiled at her as she took a step back and dug in.

“That’s all you got, eh?” Candace asked, still confident and cocky even if she didn’t one hundred percent believe that confidence herself if you asked her to tell the truth. After all, someone hadn’t broken her sword before. But neither party moved yet, each one knowing that the other had lethal power and not wanting to risk getting caught exposed. Still, the protesters were something to think about. Because as the two of them faced off in their duel which right now was a one versus one, there were a couple of more objects thrown in the direction of the Guild’s group on the sidewalk - molotov cocktails, each one dangerous if it landed in the general area and the fire spread, as they did with that kind of weapon.

It was very much a ‘fucking hell’ kind of day for the Guild, at least their team responsible for the security at the meetings.

---

Nico Lucius

---

Backstage was a pretty busy area. There were food servers getting ready to bring out the food that would be served on the ballroom floor, there were higher up figures preparing for when they were going to address the crowd, there were a few VIPs who had gotten into here through connections and were mingling with drinks in hand, and there were others working less known jobs such as carrying crates back and forth or managing the sound systems. It was easy to get lost in the sea of people in what seemed like a cramped area - not because it was small but because this event had it practically filled to the max.

Didn’t make it easier for them to find the person that they were looking for, unfortunately. Angel with four wings sounded like the description of someone that would be easy to find but keying in one one individual person when there were so many others around in close proximity could be a challenge, which was maybe how their angel had managed to slip back here and apparently stay there, too.

There was one place to look, however, that they hadn’t bothered to check before, which was upwards towards the scaffolding that ran across the entire roof in the main concert hall and held up the lighting system among other things. It was also present backstage and-

Nico raised her shield in time to absorb the impact from a number of hard light crystals which had been sprayed at rapid pace by the enemy that had suddenly shown itself. “Looks like we found who we’re looking for, let’s try to deal with this without tearing the place up too much,” she growled, gritting as some of the stray crystals went into her leg and forced it to shake, dropping her to one knee as she kept the shield raised for the rest of the onslaught. It had went on for… Maybe five seconds, all of the crystals aimed at the Guild team that was looking for the angel - who was flying a bit above their heads and who was in the process of dive bombing them from the scaffolding.

“Think about this fight now. We’ll find out later why it’s happening.”

And as she spoke, the angel touched down, landing on top of some food server and practically crushing them as a tray went flying and there was a noticeable crunching sound because of the speed of the incoming angel and the angle that they had hit the server, one where a broken neck wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities. Whoever they were dealing with here wasn’t playing around, and drew a sword from his side, one with a long reach that would be harder to use in these close quarters but would also be quite good at keeping the enemy mages out of melee range.

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa

She didn't get a chance to respond to Candace, her head jerking up as Caine shouted out a warning and she sidestepped gracefully in the opposing direction from the direction Candace had stepped, the runes that covered her body from neck to toe flaring brilliantly into life briefly. She squinted, looking upwards, watching in silence as the figure fell to earth, guiding itself in with its wings.

She dropped her grenade launcher as the figure landed, drawing her pistol instead as the figure let off a shot of some form towards Candace who swung her sword to block it, the shot exploding as Candace swore loudly.

She stepped forwards, sliding her pistol back into its holster and drawing her sword in a single motion, her eyes locking onto their opponent as she brought her sword up into a guard position, held vertically in front of her chest. The demon had chosen Candace to fight; that meant it was her responsibility to help.

"This one's ours, handle the protesters." Gabriella said, keeping her eyes focused on her foe's back, not hesitating as she stepped forwards once more, her sword slashing out, aiming at her foe's chest while her attention was focused on Candace. She'd have preferred to just shoot her, but with Candace on the opposite side of her she didn't want to shoot and risk accidentally hitting Candace.

She'd never hear the end of it if she did and they both survived after all.

---

Chelsea Eleanor Bianchi-Costa and Ashley 'Ash' Gryfe

"More my kind-of scene then." Ash said, sharing a wary glance with Chelsea. Neither of them were particularly happy about this, neither had been particularly happy about any of this right from the very first time they'd assembled as a team. Ash had been in the field longer than some of their team had been on Earth; he'd long since learned to trust in his gut and instincts without a second thought.

And right there, his instincts were screaming that this was the mother of all bad ideas as he watched the other two 'members' of their team get out of the van. He wouldn't trust either of them with anything that could vaguely, conceivably be considered important; one was too wild and unrestrained, the other he just disliked for reasons he couldn't place yet.

But neither of them said anything as they followed Night towards the club's entrance, not saying any of their concerns about the others. They didn't need to after all. They knew each other well enough. The guard at the door, no, that was too strong a term, he was just a bouncer, moved to block them and she opened her mouth to protest but she didn't get a word out before Lyvia rushed past them and drove him into a wall.

Chelsea let out a barely-audible exasperated sigh. Why hadn't she just said no and gone back into retirement and told the Guild to find someone else for this?

"Sarcasm will get you nowhere but an unmarked early grave." Chelsea said, not even turning to face Hayato, her voice emotionless. Missions were no place for personal feelings, although she couldn't say she'd be particularly sad if their new team members died on the job. "And yes. We go in, we get what we came for, we leave before that fucker wakes up. Let's go." She nodded towards Night while Ash glared at Hayato, his face invisible beneath his mask.

Anyone who mentioned 'fun' when it came to missions was an idiot beyond compare. A boring mission was infinitely better than a 'fun' one, since the 'fun' ones tended to result in tactical fuckups and people getting maimed, injured, killed, captured or otherwise fucking themselves over while still completing the objective.

[Durmatagno]

Rosalie Morrigan and Autumn

Rosalie and Autumn didn't hesitate to get moving. A shimmering barrier of translucent purple energy formed around them as Autumn erected an energy shield around them, warhammer in hand. The crystals that came for the pair smashed against the barrier, or deflected to the side, Autumn moved forward and expanded the shield around her to surround Nico, as she had already been hit. While she did that, Rosalie used her magic to bring the serving tray that was sent flying to her. From there she reshaped it into a pair of sharp rods which she then launched, both with her strong arm and her magic, to either side of the angel. They were wide, obviously not going to hit, instead crackling yellow electricity appeared, connecting them in a magical circuit of sorts. It was designed to limit the angels options.Either duck low, go high, or take the hit, assuming he didn't have a way of shielding or deflecting it.

Autumn held her position, she was missing hte armor she usually loved to be encased in, but her own barrier was still around. She twirled the warhammer so it's spike was readied instead of the hammerhead, she'd rather hopefully break the enemies blade than purely bat it out of the way. The moment Nico was moving again, so to would she.

[Forest State]

---

Juno Helena Kunze

---

The group of two which had been dispatched to find Juno would find her once they went outside and looked down the street behind the music hall, the one just outside of the gates to the parking lot. It was here that the familiar black haired and red eyed girl was standing next to a car, door open as someone else was climbing out of it. The other person was a lot more unfamiliar. Most likely a human instead of a spirit unless they were using some kind of masking trick, female, blonde, and while it looked like the person would fit in here, it was hard to explain just why.

Maybe it was because of the light but noticeable golden armor that the woman was wearing that made her seem like she was notable. Maybe it was just the way she carried herself or the fact that she had a sword at her side that was adorned with crystals around the hilt and a blade that had a curve to it - it was clear that this one was meant to be used in combat rather than for ceremonial purposes, even though the woman was bringing it to a party like this. Juno looked comfortable around her. Maybe more comfortable than she had been around anyone at the academy.

They were talking about something but they weren’t speaking in a loud enough voice that Vatnar would be able to hear the specifics of their conversation just yet without coming closer, and coming closer would expose his presence. At least, that was the case until Juno nodded at something and started moving forwards - heading directly towards Vatnar at the edge of the parking lot, specifically the back entrance that Juno had slipped out of in the first place.

“You were looking for us,” she said plainly, when she saw the person standing there near the back entrance and facing the street they had just come from. The woman in the golden armor was behind her, hand on her sword for a moment but relaxing once she saw that Juno wasn’t moving to fight the person. It wasn’t hard to tell how Juno had figured it out. The situation was obvious and she wasn’t stupid.

“What are you going to do? Tell the staff I have someone unauthorized here?” she asked, raising an eyebrow as her voice took on a slight taunting tone. “Or are you going to indulge the curiosity that I know you have and ask the two of us something?”

---

Candace

---

“I’d rather have a master that could give some real support right now but since I don’t have that, I’m just going to have to get by with what I do have,” growled Candace through gritted teeth, holding her sword in front of her in a defensive position and waiting for the next attack by the enemy. She planned to use her magic quickly when that happened, to see if she could put up a fire wall before the opponent reached her. Risky, but that was her style. She had never been a safe fighter and if she had to risk the opponent getting through and getting a free swing on her while she was flat footed, she would risk it.

Even if it might put her life on the line against an opponent like this.

“You might not want to handle this yourself,” said Caine, but before he could add anything more, the possible demonic being charged forwards towards Candace, her wings spreading wide behind her back. Candace did get up the wall of fire but that didn’t matter much when the being was able to go straight over it, firing off a blast of energy which disintegrated the sidewalk as Candace desperately hopped out of the way of the blast and managed to avoid it by the virtue of her own agility. While the being was still in the air, it turned.

She was facing Gabriella now and she hung in the air almost still for a moment as she spread her wings and let them catch the air underneath her, the current letting her stay in her current position for a moment before they started moving again and she went into a dive, carefully angling her body so she was set to collide with her shoulder slamming into Gabriella’s body in only a few seconds if the girl couldn’t get out of the way.

Two versus ones were bad odds for most people but in this case the demonic girl looked perfectly comfortable - because her skill seemed like it was a class above everyone else in the area right now, at least from the opening salvo. It remained to be seen if she could keep it up over the course of a longer fight.

[Gudmund]

Nico

Lucas Deccan & Adrial Elysium | Mittelstadt Meetings

Lucas cringed at the audible bone crunching from the poor food server, questioning the assailants not-so-subtle entrance. Adrial never had to land like this, even with only two wings, so he was honestly struggling to find a reason for such a brutal landing. Nico was hit, and the few crystals heading towards Lucas clinked off Adrial's armour, who was already standing in front of him. The backside of her armour had pooled to the front, sealing all the gaps and hardening her defence. Pouring his mana into the Mana Trap spell card, Lucas faced the sword wielding angel and activated it. Within the next moment, five ethereal chains of condensed mana erupted from the ground seeking to bind the angel like coiling snakes, turning around before he could see the affect Lucas started rummaging through his deck for a shield card to use on himself and Nico.

In the meantime, Adrial simply stood by to shield Lucas, not wanting to interrupt the other two squadmates who might already be doing something. Her weapons were focused on the hostile angel, the lengthy sword he drew would be troublesome for even her to fight against. Nethertheless, she doubted this single person - if he was really the only opponent - would be capable of fighting all five of them single handedly.

Smirking at the opponent, she spoke, "It's nice knowing our target came straight to us, saves us the time of finding you ourselves," she gloated, motioning into a more casual stance to provoke him, "this will be quick, of that I am certain."

[Sraelyn]

Marcus and Irina

“Indeed it is” he responded to Lucian with a slight smirk, “ballroom duty isn’t for everyone I suppose.”

Once Endriel had explained what would be the task of Sector two and their imminent objective, Marcus started walking in a different direction than the Romanian and his spirit. A vampire in their midst certainly made thing quite a bit more interesting. Under other circumstances, separating to find heir target might not be he beat idea, after all a vampire could pose a very real threat if they were caught by surprise. However, in a room filled with some of the most powerful mages around, and considering that this possible unwanted visitor was seen more as a nuisance than an actual threat by security, coving more ground appeared to be the better option. As long as security had done at least a mediocre job, this should be rather nice and easy.

“They look like they are nice people.” Said an almost whispering voice to his side, bringing him back to reality.
“Lucian and Haunn? I guess they do. Must be nice to find another spirit that’s close to you in height.”
“I’m not that small you know.” She protested while pouting. “Besides, I can change size whenever I want… I just choose not to.” The last part barely audible.
“Of course you can. Let’s pay attention though, we need to find that Vampire.”
“What does he look like?”
“Now that you mention it, I have no idea. No one asked Endriel really, but my guess is she doesn’t know either, she would’ve given us some sort of description otherwise.”
“Have you ever fought a vampire?” It was so like her to keep the stream of questions going, sometimes curiosity got the best of her.
“Can’t say I have, but I wouldn’t mind giving it a try, I’m sure the both of us can manage something like that. Anyway, no more questions and follow me, I have an idea.”
“O-okay.”

They continued skirting along the edges of the room, Marcus taking a glass of champagne from a server and taking a few drinks while watching the huddled groups of mages and anyone who might look suspicious or out of place. He reached a group of young people, all human in appearance, chatting away amongst them, probably scions of powerful Houses. They could prove useful, just put on a fake smile and sound as obnoxious and condescending as them and they will shower you with all the gossip in the world, and maybe a clue that would help in his search.

“Oh, excuse me, I’m terribly sorry to bother. I have just heard that there might be an uninvited vampire roaming around the Hall, has any of you seen him? I mean, it’s not like I have anything against them, but you know how their kind tend to be… I’m Marcus by the way, don’t think we’ve met before.”

[Forest State]

---

Mittlerstadt Music Hall Ballroom

---

Marcus would end up speaking with a table that looked like it mostly had members of some of the regional houses in southern Europe, Greeks and Italians and a couple of Croatians in the mix, probably below the level of the great houses in terms of relevance but still higher than most mages. Well, they were definitely higher up than the majority of mages, their houses were quite relevant in their own regions even if they weren’t the same global names as some of the others that were in this very building right now.

“Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure there was someone walking around here that looked strange, gave me vampire vibes and it looked like the guy had the right ID around his neck but I can’t give you all the details. Didn’t see him for too long,” said one of the boys at the table.

The boy paused and turned to look around the room. “Probably still on the ballroom floor now that I think about it, he would be… Someone wearing a white suit from what I saw,” he continued as a couple of others around the table nodded. “Then again, I’m not saying he’s guilty of anything. Just saying I happened to get vampire vibes from him, it’s not usually that hard to tell which ones are vamps if you know what you’re looking for.”

---

Nico Lucius

---

Nico recovered quickly but the shield was nice, as it absorbed a couple of blows before she was fully standing up once again and tracking the enemy with her eyes - she kept her own shield raised, it was instinct by now even if she was standing behind the other one, the energy one that had been made by Autumn. However, the target was on the move once again quickly and was flying up and backwards, shifting stance with the sword and holding it as if it were a javelin for a moment.

“Look out-” Nico started, but the sword was thrown at Autumn before she could finish her words, rocketing through the air as the angel avoided the chains and moved erratically and presented a hard to hit target while avoiding the attacks. She cursed. There wasn’t much she could do right now, not against an enemy like this assuming the enemy did have some kind of defensive ability. It was just intuition but she would be shocked if he didn’t, this angel was one that was for real in terms of magic skill and control. Still, she had to do something.

She reached for her waist for the weapon that was at her side, picking up the M1911 pistol at her side and open firing a couple of shots - both of which would miss because of the way their enemy was swerving and avoiding getting into a compromising position. She had to come up with some kind of plan, they weren’t going to win like this.

“Those chains that you just used… Let’s try that again. But you’re not going to be able to use them from the front, that guy is too quick. See if you can get around and the rest of us will keep the pressure up, if we can do something about that mobility we can take him out,” she said quickly, raising her shield again instinctively as another rapid spray of crystals hit her like a machine gun, some of them hitting the surrounding area and breaking plates or glasses.

---

Knife’s Edge

---

“Your serious and formal demeanor will lead you to an early grave on the streets,” said Hayato in a quick retort, going back to his experiences not with the Guild but on the streets where magic was very much an unregulated thing and where it was another weapon such as a pistol or a knife - on those rough streets, which Hayato had been mixed up with despite his family coming from a wealthy background, Hayato had received training that he considered far better than what Chelsea could offer. At least based on what he could see so far. She didn’t seem to be the type of leader that could relate to someone like him enough to work well together, but that was just his luck.

He’d already been exiled to come here and join the Guild. It made sense that he’d also have some of the worst luck when it came to finding a commanding officer.

“The streets respect strength,” Lyvia added as she pushed her way into the club itself along with Night and Hayato. “They have a problem with what I just did… Then I just need to use a bit more strength and make them see things differently.”

They weren’t here to make a scene however. They were here to find out information on the Xenofront cell that had been terrorizing Europe and getting away with it. They also weren’t here to party, but some of the members of the group would have no problem with acting like that was what they were here for. After all, it helped to blend in. One way for trouble to break out quickly would be if the inhabitants of this place assumed that their visitors were from the Guild and were here to raid the place.

Of course, they really were from the Guild, but in this place, a raid would be counterproductive to what they were trying to do.

“Welcome to the Mystery Club. Blend in, or don’t. But if you don’t, I can say right now that we’re going to have a much harder time coming out of here with what we want,” said Night, having to raise her voice slightly to be heard over the bass of the music that was playing in the background. She pushed her way through the dance floor effortlessly - with Lyvia getting a bit more caught up and slipping away from the rest of the group to join that said dance floor, and she brought the group towards the bar counter.

“I’m looking for Janine,” she said, speaking to one of the bartenders, who raised an eyebrow but seemed to recognize her. Of course he did. Her past hadn’t been spotless after all. “And you can ignore the group… They aren’t going to cause trouble, even if some of ‘em do have sticks up their asses,” she said, gesturing over her shoulder to the others that were with her.

“I can get her,” said the bartender, heading into the back for a moment before coming out with a blonde woman who looked like she might as well be one of the street mages that Hayato had referenced earlier, a number of magic related tattoos running up and down her arms which were exposed by the black tank top she was wearing. She looked to Night with surprise - and looked to the group behind her with suspicious eyes.

“And what would bring you here?” she asked Night, leaning against the counter but keeping a hand to her side. Likely to reach for a weapon if she felt like she needed to. When someone was experienced in the streets, it wasn’t hard to tell who the feds were. And Chelsea and Ash both gave off the vibe of being feds, it was something that was hard to shake without practice.

“I would say I just wanted to talk, but since I don’t lie to friends… I’ll say that there’s actually someone here that wants to talk to you about some things.”

[Theyra]

---

Juno Helena Kunze

---

The group of two which had been dispatched to find Juno would find her once they went outside and looked down the street behind the music hall, the one just outside of the gates to the parking lot. It was here that the familiar black haired and red eyed girl was standing next to a car, door open as someone else was climbing out of it. The other person was a lot more unfamiliar. Most likely a human instead of a spirit unless they were using some kind of masking trick, female, blonde, and while it looked like the person would fit in here, it was hard to explain just why.

Maybe it was because of the light but noticeable golden armor that the woman was wearing that made her seem like she was notable. Maybe it was just the way she carried herself or the fact that she had a sword at her side that was adorned with crystals around the hilt and a blade that had a curve to it - it was clear that this one was meant to be used in combat rather than for ceremonial purposes, even though the woman was bringing it to a party like this. Juno looked comfortable around her. Maybe more comfortable than she had been around anyone at the academy.

They were talking about something but they weren’t speaking in a loud enough voice that Vatnar would be able to hear the specifics of their conversation just yet without coming closer, and coming closer would expose his presence. At least, that was the case until Juno nodded at something and started moving forwards - heading directly towards Vatnar at the edge of the parking lot, specifically the back entrance that Juno had slipped out of in the first place.

“You were looking for us,” she said plainly, when she saw the person standing there near the back entrance and facing the street they had just come from. The woman in the golden armor was behind her, hand on her sword for a moment but relaxing once she saw that Juno wasn’t moving to fight the person. It wasn’t hard to tell how Juno had figured it out. The situation was obvious and she wasn’t stupid.

“What are you going to do? Tell the staff I have someone unauthorized here?” she asked, raising an eyebrow as her voice took on a slight taunting tone. “Or are you going to indulge the curiosity that I know you have and ask the two of us something?”

"Well, I was only looking for you Juno", Vatnar said calmly. Thava was standing behind Vatnar and she was in a relaxed pose but was quietly watching the pair. "Not your friend over there" and Vantar got a good look of Juno's friend. He very much had the curiosity to who Juno's friend was. He has not seen her before and he could not see any special markings to a house on the armor. She does not look like a spirit so he guessed it was a human. Not many would be wearing golden armor and be carrying a sword like that if they were not apart of a wealthy house. "I will probably tell the staff about your friend seeing how she is the reason why you left without saying a word. And yeah, I would like to indulge my curiosity and ask you two something. Mainly your friend", Vatnar pointed to her. "So I will simply ask what is your name? I will start with my mine, I am Vatnar and the spirit behind me is Thava".

[Castelia]

Archie and The Witch King | Mittlerstadt Music Hall

Unaware of everything that was happening inside, and outside, the music hall, Archie and The Witch King continued their search for Juno, moving towards the opposite direction Vatnar had taken. By this time, they were halfway through their planned search path and were nearing the front entrance of the hall, where Section 1 had gathered.

Both mage and Spirit were chatting amicably, but it was noticeable from their movements and appearance that they were both prepared for combat. Their favored weapons, Archie's family sword and The Witch King's flail, were on their hands. They were both looking towards opposite directions, covering a 180 degree field view in order to guard against an ambush from the front and sides.

"So, as I was saying, German pistols are definitely the best ones out there, but you can't deny that Italian pistols have style. Have you ever seen an old-school Beretta?"

"Master Archie, I'm sure you already know, but Spirits don't use firearms. At least, not any Spirit that we know of."

"In any case, I really sho-"

Archie stopped dead in his tracks. Immediately, his mood turned sour as he saw a familiar mage standing just a few feet away, the mage's back turned towards them. He was looking towards the side of the hall, his eyes closed and appearing lost in thought. Having seemingly detected Archie's presence, he turned towards the mage-Spirit pair, gave a soft smile, and gave a warm greeting, "Hello, Archibald. I was wondering if I would ever see you again. It seems that despite your best wishes, fate has decided to bring us together."

The mage appeared to be in his early 20's, with his appearance being almost eerily similar to Archie's. One would have mistaken them for brothers, if not for a few details. Compared to Archie's dyed blue hair, the man possessed white hair similar to the color of ash. His eyes were sharp and pure black in color, contrasting with Archie's soft golden brown eyes. His skin was pale, almost as though he was dead, and the black clothes he was wearing only served to highlight his deathly pallor. His body was lithe, and his movements carried with them the grace seen with a ballerina.

"What the hell are you doing here, old man?! I thought I said I never wanted to see you again! Get the fuck out of here, Isaac!" Not bothering to hide the hostility in his voice, Archie shouted at the man before him. He was the person Archie hated the most in the world, the very symbol of the life he was trying to escape.

Trying to placate Archie's growing anger, Isaac began stepping backwards while raising his hands, but he kept his eyes locked with Archie's. "I didn't come here to fight you, Archibald. I merely wanted to know how you were doing. Is it so wrong for a father to be concerned with the well-being of his son?"

Archie scoffed at his father's words. "Concern for my well-being?! Where the fuck was your concern when that bitch tried to brainwash me into becoming a slave? Where was your concern when the family locked me in a dungeon for weeks? You don't give a fuck about me, Isaac. You only care about one thing, and that isn't me."

"I swear, I didn't know what they were doing to you. All they told me was that you were being trained, and that you were... uncooperative. If I had known what they were doing to you, I would have saved you. Believe me, please."

"No. You're a fucking liar. You think I don't know just how manipulative you are? I'm not going back to that fucking prison."

"Son, please-"

"Enough!" Archie then drew his sword and charged at Isaac. With only a few feet between them, Archie closed the distance almost immediately. He then swung the sword, intending to hit his father's head with a high blow. Despite the seemingly deadly attack, Archie wasn't fighting with lethal intentions. He knew that Isaac was a superb mage, a veteran of several deadly duels against other powerful mages. Archie only intended to scare his father into going away. He knew he had no chance of winning, so he decided to go with a surprise attack and then disengage almost immediately.

Seeing the sword coming down on his head, Isaac's reflexes kicked in almost immediately. Instantly summoning a water blade on his right hand using his mana, Isaac parried Archie's blow, bringing both of their blades down to the side. Faster than Archie could react, Isaac, using his free hand, then drew a magic circle at Archie's torso. Suddenly, Archie was thrown backwards when water blasted out of the circle, causing him to land flat on the ground a few feet away.

Isaac, concerned for Archie, then began to approach the younger mage, who was now standing up. Archie immediately readied his sword upon seeing his approaching father, pointing the blade at Isaac's torso. Seeing this, Isaac decided to intimidate Archie into backing down, inadvertently doing the same thing his son was. Trying his best to put on a condescending smile, Isaac pointed his summoned sword at Archie, matching his son's fighting stance.

"Archibald, you can't defeat me as you are now. You know that." Hearing this, Archie scoffed before smirking.

"I know that, Dad. But I'm not alone."

Realizing immediately what his son meant, Isaac then dove away to the side. Almost instantly, a massive flail landed just where Isaac had been standing, breaking the concrete into pieces. If he hadn't moved immediately, Isaac would have been hit.

"Ah, I see. Two on one does make your chances go a bit higher." Isaac watched as Archie and The Witch King began to moving in opposite directions, intending to take on Isaac from two different directions. His blood beginning to boil, Isaac gave a hearty laugh and then smiled. "Well, then. Archie and The Witch King, show me what you got."

[Durmatagno]

Rosalie Morrigan and Autumn

Autumn cursed and twirled her hammer. The sword was moving to fast to dodge, and she didn't have her armor, so instead she swatted at it with a practiced sweep of her hammer. With how fast it was moving, it didn't stop it entirely, but it deflected it enough that it slid to the side of her energy barrier, opening a gash in it before going down behind her somewhere. She quickly repaired the gash and leveled her hammer in her hand, it was a well made hammer. Enchanted and well reinforced, Autumn had confidence in her hammer. Rosalie had made it, and Rosalie would never fail her on purpose. She moved after surviving the sword to Rosalie's side, where she begin weaving her magic alongside her....friend. Electricity and energy shielding weaved together into a net, spreading above the angel and slowly curving around him and restricting his movement.

"Chains, now!"

Rosalie yelled out. She knew the angel could probably get through either if he really wanted to, but neither were appealing options, especially as her and Autumn's net would electrocute him as it restrained him.

Nadia Tiernan and Éadaoin

Nadia and Éadaoin stayed to the side, both ready to move when and if they needed to. Éadaoin in particular ready to move Nadia somewhere more out of danger, somewhere her time sensitive magic would have the time it needed to take hold. Both had their swords drawn, and thick, thorny bark was spreading across Nadia's skin as shadows seemed to come to life around Éadaoin. Éadaoin's red eyes almost seemed to glow with anticipation of a fight, but with Candace seemingly in a duel, neither her or Nadia made a move that could risk hitting their ally, they just prepared for an opening.

"Éadaoin, when the time comes, use the PH."

"Got it."

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa

Gabriella's eyes tracked the probable demon as she charged towards Candace, out of the reach of her own weapon and unable to further pursue her from the wall of fire Candace had created so she stopped, stepping backwards and moving her sword back into the guard position in front of her, holding it ready in case she had an opportunity presented.

She didn't have to wait long before she did as the figure turned to face back towards her, spreading her wings out and hanging in the air for a brief moment before they moved again as she dove downwards, angling towards her.

She'd trained for situations like this. Instinct took over and she stepped diagonally, to the left in front of her, turning as she stepped. One should make sure one dodges, but ensure that one puts one's self in a more advantageous position afterwards. She slashed out with her sword as she turned, aiming for where she'd been standing, trusting that their opponent had landed there and not hesitating or checking she was actually there with her eyes.

---

Chelsea Eleanor Bianchi-Costa and Ashley 'Ash' Gryfe

Neither of them bothered to dignify Hayato with a response as they entered; they'd been in this business for longer than he had, and in Ash's case, longer than he'd been alive. Experience would talk for itself, soon enough. He might've been slightly out of practice, especially considering this was Germany rather than Italy or America, but he'd figure things out soon enough.

Adaptability meant life, after all.

Chelsea nodded slightly towards Night as they entered; she didn't want to be here, and so she'd prefer for this particular mission to be as quick and clean as humanly possible. Were it her usual team, she'd have had the utmost confidence with this, but this wasn't her usual team. Instead she was stuck with some unconventional loose cannons, both of whom seemed to actively desire to aggravate her at every possible opportunity.

They made their way across the dance floor, skirting around the edges to avoid getting in anyone's way as thy headed towards the bar.

"Hayato, make sure she doesn't do anything too stupid. Or at least if she does, make sure it's the least stupid possible thing." Chelsea said as Night talked with this Janine, presumably their contact. The last thing she needed or wanted was Lyvia starting a fight while they were meant to gather intelligence.

Ash stepped forwards, placing an arm onto the bar and resting his chin on his hand as he leaned down, Chelsea remaining silent. He was better at this kind of thing, less prickly, less concerned with class and more with the job.

"Just a few things." He said, not smiling as he placed his other hand onto the bar. "I'd prefer to get this out of the way as sooner as possible, and no doubt you would too. Cell 5, everything you know, and then we'll get out of here."

[Gudmund]

-Nico Lucius-

-Rosalie Morrigan and Autumn-

Lucas Deccan & Adrial Elysium | Mittelstadt Meetings

"Alright, here we go!" yelled Lucas, hyping himself for his next task. Activating the Magic Armour spell card on himself, seeing as Autumn had things handled with Nico, Lucas then sprinted underneath the four winged angel to get a better shot. Ending up behind the preoccupied opponent, Lucas noted that his previous chains were off target, hitting the floor below instead of actually attaching to the angel himself. Lucas couldn't stuff this up now, seeing as the flying opponent had more than tripled its target size after unfurling his wings; not to mention the support from Rosalie and Autumn, whose electrified net was draped around the angel. Heeding Nico's orders, Lucas activated his final Mana Trap spell at Rosalie's signal, this time making sure his sight was essentially boring into the target.

To his side Adrial rose into the air herself, keeping a safe distance from the four winged angel using her blunt trident, likely so she could just mock the opponent up close. Feeling his card pulse, Lucas watched as five ethereal chains once again appeared, only for them to harmlessly erupt from the angel's own body with no hope to escape them. At this point, Lucas had drained almost half his mana pool, feeling quite sick for using his more powerful cards in such quick succession. Combining so many layers of magic he took a knee, watching the angel struggle to get free with a smile on his face.

"A shame Adrial couldn't show her stuff, the moment she tries to hit the bastard she'll just get in the way of our ranged magic," he thought, observing his Spirit circling around the soon to be cocooned angel.

[Forest State]

---

“Hanne Danzig… Sometimes associated with the Schwers, in the past. Sometimes associated with the Raydens in the present day,” said the woman in the golden armor. “And the one that was responsible for most of the training of the other mage that you’re talking to right now. I don’t… I don’t think this warrants going to the staff about, yes? The Mittlerstadt Meetings have plenty of people. Famous mage houses, reporters, I believe that the best mercenaries should also be allowed in, yeah?”

At which point Juno took a step forward towards the one who was facing down with her and her friend, looking slightly crossed but keeping it somewhat in check and speaking calmly. “Yeah, why are you trying to start trouble where there doesn’t have to be any? We just need to see someone and from what I’m hearing elsewhere there’s more pressing things you need to be dealing with right now!”

---

Nico watched as the angel moved to get the sword once again after it had been knocked away and embedded into the ground, but this wouldn’t work as the chains managed to catch onto the figure of the angel quickly enough before it could move that the angel was now bound by them, flying straight upwards but not being able to get much altitude because of those said chains. “Good work,” said Nico, before pausing. “We’re going to want to talk to this guy but we also want to make sure he isn’t a threat before we do anything else… We want him unconscious for now, when he wakes up we can think of figuring the truth out.”

---

Hayato sighed as he was sent away. “Discounting my experience and sending me away to deal with something minor isn’t going to help you. You may have been in the game longer but this isn’t your element… You should take some help and advice from the people that know what they’re doing,” Hayato said as he walked, pausing and looking over his shoulder at Ash and Chelsea with a glare before heading off in the direction that Lyvia had went, looking for her in the mass of bodies on the dance floor - considerably more comfortable there than the others who were on this team, aside from Night.

“Dumbasses…” Night muttered under her breath as they sent Hayato away and approached the bar itself, where Janine was. Now that she thought about it, she should have been the one to do the talking. However, it was too late for that, because they had already opened their mouths. And they were going about this entirely the wrong way, in the way that could get someone killed for their ignorance in a place like this. “Fucking…”

She kept her words silent and under her breath but it didn’t stop her from feeling the full frustration of the situation. “You don’t know what kind of place this is, do you?” Janine said, offering a massive but fake smile as she looked around at the place around them, gesturing her arms wide as she looked back to Chelsea and Ash, leaning in close while keeping the smile up - but using a tone that contradicted her smile completely. “We don’t talk to the Guild here, you’re going to have to go elsewhere…”

“And if I did know anything about Cell Five, I don’t think I’d have a reason to tell you. Like I said, this place follows the code. Death before dishonor and all. So what are you going to do? Kill me? Don’t think you’d get the information you’re looking for that way, however,” she continued, not in the mood to talk. “And I’m a bit disappointed in you, Night… Bringing the Guild here. Oh, how have you changed.”

[Lunas Legion]

Chelsea Eleanor Bianchi-Costa and Ashley 'Ash' Gryfe

"Chelsea, leave us." Ash commanded, his tone not inviting any dissent despite the fact that this was most certainly far worse insubordination than anything Hayato had done so far.

"But-" She began to protest, only for Ash to turn his head, his brown-grey eyes piercing into her own.

"Leave." He said again and Chelsea stood up reluctantly, grumbling.

"I'll go make sure the others aren't being idiots, I guess." She said as she moved away, leaving Ash, Janine and Night alone.

"I knew what kind-of place this was, once." Ash began, his voice low. "Granted, back then this city had a wall running through the middle of it, but still. Guess times and people change. We didn't exactly have that whole death before dishonour code back then, it was every freelancer for themselves. Xenofront or not. You cared for the money, and that was it. Ideological fanatics existed, sure, as did, well, us, but they paid just like anyone else if they wanted our services."

"Anyways," He continued. "What I'm getting at is... I suppose you could call me a relic of a dead era it seems. We did things differently there. But if you don't know what we want to know, well, I suppose we have no reason to remain here and we'll have to resort to other means of information acquisition. I trust Night enough that she's probably not lying about you knowing something, and unlike my partner, I'm far more flexible in what I'm willing to do for things like this. Honour's a fickle beast. In my experience, honour doesn't keep you alive, or warm, or give you anything but a nice warm fuzzy feeling that's useless. Unless you're a zealot of course, but you're not a zealot, are you?"

Ash let out a chuckle. "No, if you were we'd not even be talking. There's going to be something you want that we can provide, no?"