Desert Blindness

**Date Started:** September 7, 2021
**Date Completed:** Ongoing
**Next Role-Play:**
**Users Involved:**The ancient terror, ComicMaster619, Njalm2, MrHeavenTrampler
**Setting:** Forgotten Desert
**Characters Involved**: Stalker, Karl Plaster, Tobias Belthamere, Faust Mephist, Ulrich Schwartz

## Return of the Alphas

In the Forgotten Desert in the land of Fiore, a group of merchants fights against two strange creatures. They are completely purple, have two hind legs and look like a cross between a beetle and a fish. As they screech and charge towards the group of 6 merchants, one of them falls to the ground with a sword slash.

"SHIT!" screamed one of the men as the other creature came at him and bit him to death. Blood splattered everywhere as the remaining 5 men screamed before knocking the creature down with several spear strikes.

**"GOOAAHH!"** The creature screamed in unholy pain as it bit another man's arm before falling over dead. The creature lay dead in the desert along with one human while the rest of the merchants gasped for air, one vomiting from the side of the face while the other treated the wounds of the other injured men.

"Damn it, SHIT! It was supposed to be an easy mission. And now we lose one of our men. At least we got two of those bastards. I hope the pay is as good as promised!" the leader spat as he reached for the lacrima to contact the person who would pay them. The heat was killing them, and he realized he was having a hard time punching in the number. Why the hell is it so hard to enter the number!

"Come on!" one of the men yelled, "I want to get out of here and get the money!" he yelled as he kicked the body of one of the creatures. But after a while, the leader managed to dial the number.

"Damn, finally!" the man yelled and stopped kicking, "Now it's time to go!"

***"SCCCCCRRRRRREEEECCCCCHHH!"***

interrupted an unholy roar as the sand exploded beneath their feet. The leader and one of his men managed to jump out of the way as the last two of their men, the corpses, fell into that huge hole. The sand fell like rain as the leader tried to regain his composure and spot his last men to his left. They looked at each other before a huge hand slammed down on the last man as the sound of crushing bones was heard and a huge head with sharp teeth emerged from the ground, slowly creeping up on the leader. The leader panicked and charged with his sword, only to have it break on the creature's jaws, causing him to begin hyperventilating.

"Hello?" a soft voice rang out from the lacrima as the person watched what was happening. He only saw the leader of the group rush to the lacrima and scream for help before something massive hit him and the signal was lost.

Karl Plaster, the Pillar of Trading, sighed at this memory. It was a waste of time to order these men for this mission. He should have requested mages in the first place. Maybe they could manage to capture one of the stronger specimens so that they would have enough resources for the seal-alloy. He drinks his tea while sitting in this amazingly good restaurant. He doesn't mind waiting a little longer for the mages to arrive or contact him, but he fervently hopes they will succeed, because he doesn't want to waste his money on new communication lacrimas every time.

Faust entered the restaurant where his appointment with this mysterious customer was. He was about to run out of money, so his only option was to look for some jobs he could accomplish and get a quick buck before he went on to splurge it on women and alcohol once again. In spite of having had to live through this less than ideal situation of being half broke numerous times over the years, he had not even considered changing his lifestyle. He liked living above his means, as proved by his terrible credit history, and he was prepared to do whatever it took to continue living this lavish, over-the-top lifestyle. Thus, he had found this job after looking for advertisements at a legal guild where some of his contacts worked at.

He strode with his chin up and a smug look on his face through the reception, and when the hostess was about to ask him if he had a reservation, he simply flashed a smile and gave her a sidelong glance, without even bothering about what she was about to say. Strangely enough, she didn't pursue the matter. The expensive clothes he was wearing, coupled with his arrogant demeanor seemed to be enough to convince her that he was a valuable customer.

"Mr. Karl I presume?" He asked as he assessed the man from head to toe and extended his hand, expecting a handshake.

Walking through the desert sands, Ulrich marched steadfast as he wobbled back and forth through town, wearing nothing but a large poncho, tattered rags for clothes, and an exaggerated sombrero that barely gave him any shade, riddled with countless holes through the straw-lined rim. "Aaaagh, the scorching sun, dry air, and sand all over the place, oh man, its going to be a great day," he muttered enthusiastically, his legs already fumbling around due to his scrawny physique. "It's my lucky day, I'm telling, you can only strike out for so long, I mean, the cards don't lie, it's LITERALLY printed on the cardboard."

Pulling out a single card, Ulrich pointed it in all manner of directions like some raving madman, all the while talking and muttering to his hat outload, the bystanders doing their best to ignore him and distance themselves from the stranger as much as possible. His erratic behavior finally leading him straight ahead of a large restaurant, extraordinary in design in comparison to its surroundings, Ulrich glanced through the door to make out anyone of personal note, sighting two gentlemen of that stood out from the crowd, not because of something as superficial as magic, but rather on the way they dressed, spotting one sharply dressed patron accompanied by another who's subtle features evoked some manner of experience not commonly found in traditional labor.

Rushing past the receptionist, Ulrich crashed smack dab against a waiter's shoulder, brushing him away to seat himself around the two gentlemen, a large crash of glasses, plates, and other utensils echoed through out the room, drawing the stares of nearly all the customers in the restaurant.

"OH MAN! Who says desert doesn't look great this time of year," Ulrich echoed, lunging his poncho against the table, the sudden motion throwing sand all across the onlookers near their spot and the beverage of the stranger seated away from him.

"I got goosebumps man, when they said 'send the idiot in the top hat' I almost lost it," taking off his flannel shirt, what lied underneath revealed a wrinkled black tuxedo top, appearing in stark contrast to the flimsy rag he used for a shirt just moments ago. "I mean, they never pick me for anything. Imagine my surprise when the guild master personally picks me after everybody else was too busy, it must be some kind of talent thing or something." Dusting off his pants, the color and shape of his baggy trousers grew and refitted themselves into tuxedo pants.

"I'm all pins and needles, seriously, this could be it, my break out role, really separate myself from the herd." Undoing his sombrero by pulling out the straws, Ulrich created a little pile right beside his seat, unveiling a black figure hidden underneath that soon took the shape of a black top hat with a bright red band that he flipped upside his head. "I gotta tell ya', things are finally starting to shape up for Ulrich Schwartz...hmmmm...who the hell are you guys?"

A few moments after Ulrich’s arrival another mage strode through the door but this one could not be more different, draped in black robes of the finest silk tied snugly together with two different sashes one pink with striking golden circles, and the other a mesmerizing shade of marine blue, a rush of desert wind seized ahold of his cloak and caused it to billow outwards spectacularly just as he passed the threshold which caused several onlookers to openly stare, awestruck by his silhouette.

It was an old saying in the Belthamere Family that clothing makes the mage, and whilst Tobias disagreed with his brothers on practically everything on that front he held no objections, it was imperative to present himself as favorably as possible to win the respect of his client. Ultimately, he looked entirely out of place in this locale compared to the other recently arrived magi but he gave a soft smile nonetheless followed by a slight bow like the upperclassman that he was and twirled his golden goatee before giving proper introductions.

“Pardon my late arrival, my name is Tobias Belthamere and I am here to lend my services to this Job that you posted, I presume these two gentlemen are to be my companions for this little excursion, pleased to meet you!”

Karl Plaster has second doubts about his decision, but he has to work with what he has. The first exudes an aura full of arrogance and ego, not that this is a bad thing, often it is very valuable to impress or dominate the competition. He hopes, that he back that up with his actions. The second... strange, but after life with Anabella Newman, nothing earth-shattering. The third, however, makes him frown a little. Not because of his looks, not because of his personality, and not because of his choice of words. No, the name was the problem. A Belthamere. One of the descendants of one of their few competitions. Now he hopes they fail and get eaten. But that's not his problem now, let the other Pillars take care of that. Now he has a job to do, as he grabs his counterpart's hand and gives him a handshake.

"It's Mr. Plaster and it's a pleasure to meet you, I'll get right to the point," he said as he pulled a vision lacrima out of his pocket and placed it on the table where it visualized images of strange creatures.

"As explained on the job poster, your mission will be to find and hunt down a Stalker specimen, a race that has a high value to our organization and cannot be seen by other people. It doesn't matter if the specimen is dead or alive, all that matters is that you catch one, but not a wisper specimen," he said as he showed a picture of a bipedal creature, a mix of beetle and reptile in purple, "These specimens are only rank B monsters, but they are all over the desert and hunt in packs, but are less valuable and useful than the adults." Karl continues and then shows two more pictures, one of a giant lizard-like creature with a huge jaw and two giant arms and another that resembles a giant beetle, both purple in color.

"These are both A-class monsters and very dangerous because they hunt underground and have very strong physical powers and a defense against any kind of damage. They react to vibrations and sounds, so I would recommend avoiding both of these until you are prepared or find one before it finds you." said Karl as he took a sip of his drink before pulling out another lacrima and placing it on the table.

"Please take this and contact me if you catch one of the specimens, don't worry, call me immediately, don't move and be quick or you risk more of these creatures coming to you. Also, report back to me after two hours and the mission will be suspended until the next day. Do you have any questions?" Karl finished, giving the mages a chance to ask questions.

"Yeah, about the payment, this is my bank account. Fifty percent down payment before doing the job, the rest after the job is done." Says Faust as he takes out a slim platinum card with some strange, resplendent symbols on its surface.

It's one of the cards used by the Bank of Alosna, the city-state where he hails from. Although Alosna has bad reputation for housing individuals of dubious backgrounds, and being headquarters to more than one shady organization, their bank's sophistication and trustworthiness are considerable. As he waits for Plaster to grab it and transfer the money, he stares intently onto the man's eyes, as if he were trying some sort of passive-aggressive intimidation tactic.

Tobias' smile faded slightly as he witnessed the horrors that they were up against, somehow he had not expected the monsters to look quite so... monstrous? It was distressing to think that he was heading out into the desert to find monsters like these but what other choice did he have if he wished to make a career as a mage. It was ultimately his lot in life he figured, and it wasn't that he lacked confidence in his magical prowess, far from it actually. Gathering his wits about himself, he let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm good. If we have a deadline of two hours for the day we don't really have time to loiter about in here now do we?"

He did not really take that much notice of Faust's antics at this stage, it would be unwise to antagonize his companions under these circumstances given that his life might very well soon depend on them.

Throughout the conversation, Ulrich shuffled a deck of cards with his hands in order to stop his hands from fidgeting, placing a great matter of attention at the very nature of the quarry they were set to hunt. Peering back and forth between his companions, the creatures posted on the job request wasn't the run of the mill beasts most wizards were accustomed to, they were more "monster" than he was comfortable with dealing. "If capture is the name of the game, it makes me wonder if any of us has right set of tools for such a task hmmm," Ulrich mumbled, his cards bursting not even a second later as he shuffled them incorrectly, flying in all kinds of directions. "Aaaagh," trying to catch them mid-air, Ulrich's expressed darted from embarrassment to cold indifference, throwing a single card unto each of his teammate's person amidst the foray of cards falling all over the place, using Illusion Magic to change the texture of the cards to resemble their clothes, making them indistinguishable from sight and feel.

Lying against the ground on all fours trying to pick up his playing cards, Ulrich turned to face his compatriots, showing them a wide variety of cards in his possession, "from what Karl describes, I suggest we maintain some manner of communication for the rest of the job," pulling out three cards with the letters "CALL" written in bold on them, he handed each of them to his teammates, his expression contorting into a half drunken smile.

"I figure if someone gets lost, they can let the others know, last thing anyone wants is to die in some hole in the ground right?" Picking his hat from the table, he took one step forward, only turning to face Faust, picking out a card from his deck and extending it straight to his face, peeking back and forth repeatedly, almost to compare them to the card and the mage's face, bursting into laughter a moment later. "Oh man, you're lucky numbers are 2-34-18, and I'd watch out for ceilings if I were you."

Karl has seen their antics and well...nah, still pretty reasonable compared to Anabella or the Bioleck twins. But one thing satisfies him, the concern on the Belthamere's face, but one thing annoys him is that this mage is standing in front of him holding his card. With a polite smile, he carefully slides it back to Faust.
"I beg your pardon, sir, but payment is not possible before the job is done. We must take into account your death and the loss of all the items you were carrying, including the money. And even though I'm sure you'll give me the money back, if you don't pass the mission, we don't pay with cards, certainly not from Alosna," he explained kindly before turning to Tobias.

"And don't worry, the deadline doesn't exist to wait because of my patience, but for your safety, gentlemen. I've heard rumors that if you stay in the desert too long, you can't find your way out. And it doesn't start until you're in the middle of the desert," he corrected Tobias before standing up. Suddenly a small purple portal opened and he reached for a bag, a very large bag.

"If you mages are able to kill or capture an A-class monster, the Company is willing to give you 900.000 jewels as a reward, and for each additional wisper you happen to kill and transport without attracting an entire army of these creatures, we would give 5000 jewels for each specimen. But I strongly advise against that as well, because these creatures come in groups of hundreds if the latest reports are true. Also, if you choose to communicate, communicate very quietly and not much. I've heard these things have excellent hearing," he explained, holding the bag before opening another, larger portal.

"This portal leads to the middle of the desert. Report back to me when the task is complete or after two hours so I can get you back to safety." Karl finished waiting for the mages to respond.

Excellent hearing, he said, that did not bode particularly well for someone whose magic relied on incantations, which meant that it would be much wiser to take a moment to cast his spells right now, even if it was rather unorthodox to do so in the middle of a crowded restaurant but nevermind that, at least he could give them a show to make the food more palatable. Stepping out unto the middle of the room, a slight bit away from his group he assumed centerstage and with a flamboyant gesture and a strategically precise rustle of his cape he commanded the attention of the many patrons as his eyes drifted away into trance and he spoke aloud the cryptic words that empowered his magic.

*Rise ye faithful hound of mornings, lights and kaleidoscopes, open palms, clenched fists, refract, unite and divide the stars in seven places*.

With a dramatic flair of his cape and a twirl that was not strictly necessary, motes of light numbering five in the colors violet, red, blue, blue and orange sprung out of nothing to conjoin themselves around his right hand in an orbiting pattern. Tobias reversed his previous motion and with another dramatic flair he raised his left hand as he spoke with all the theatrics of a trained actor.

*Rise ye faithful hound of mornings, flares and constellations, tolling bells, rising swords, reflect and pluck the seven from the sky that I might hold them in my unworthy grasp*

An emerald sheen of light momentarily sliced through the dim illumination of the restaurant as upon his left hand now shone a bubbling green nimbus of energy.. with his preparations complete he remained behind for a moment longer playing with his goatee whilst a few members of the crowd showered him with applause.

“Thank you.. thank you and in particular thank *you*. Alas, this was but a momentary diversion to improve your appetite but as it happens I have places to be!”

Spinning on his heels as he returned towards his compatriots and the portal, the lights still dancing around his hands as if locked in place, he briefly spoke another word and his cape flared out yet again, billowing with such perfection that it was almost as though it had been *enchanted* to do so, which it naturally had been. It remained this way as he stepped over to the portal and without any further ado flashed everyone a smile before passing through it flashing a white smile.

"Oh man, I mean, wow, that was something wasn't it," Ulrich clammed to his comrades, ecstatically, giving him a round of applause for the theatric display of his magic. Holding his hands together, Ulrich stood on his tiptoes, his face bursting out into a colorful smile, his eyes lit up in child-like wonder as the only thought running through his mind being *how* *good it'd feel to beat the shit out of him*, "geez, now you got me feeling all fuzzy inside," he mumbled to himself, almost tempted to go right now if it wasn't for the time sensitivity of their job, but it was neither here nor there, as there were more important things to do than indulge himself now of all times.

Taking a deep breathe, Ulrich calmed himself down, tightening his bowtie as he gathered his cards and traversed through the portal, the first thing he felt was the drastic change in temperature and the intensity of the heat, becoming quite apparent they were truly sent in the middle of the desert. With the sun peering down on them, Ulrich was now more than ever grateful for carrying his trusted hat, providing some measure of shade since by the look of it, they were surrounded by nothing but sand dunes as far as the eye could see. Nearly collapsing to the sandy floor, Ulrich was panting and wheezing, trying to catch his breathe as his throat dried out, nearly downing his entire canteen of water in a single gulp, "bwaaaa...uugh...what the hell man, how is this not bothering you?"

Wiping the excess water from his lips, Ulrich sat crossed legged on the soft ground, the combination of his irritation from the heat and waiting for the rest of their company had him doodling various shapes and pictures on the sand, eventually taking out his deck of cards as he, at first glance, began to throw them at random, creating three different piles, almost as if he was playing a game. Before he could throw the next card, Ulrich glanced very closely at it, the picture shifting into points on a map, unveiling the location of his three compatriots, the closest being Tobias, while Faust and Karl were countless miles away, still currently in town relative to where they were, relieving what little doubts he had left concerning the portal, actually doing what it had set out to do,

"If that's how you do things, then don't expect me to risk my life to accomplish the mission or anything like that, as I'd normally do. Since we are all gentlemen here, your word is enough for me. However, do be aware that in the unlikely case that you went back on your word... Well, I think you get what I mean, Mr Plaster." Says Faust as he flashed a psychopathic smile at Karl, before stepping into the portal.

He got immediately teleported, and upon coming out, he could immediately tell this place was definitely considerably far from where he had been. The atmospheric pressure had varied greatly. Right now, if his estimations were not wrong, they were at least one thousand feet less from sea level than before. Faust looked around, only to find Ulrich playing with his cards.

"Well, I guess we can get going can't we?" He said loudly, hoping to get Ulrich out of his daydreaming state.

Karl looked after the last of the mages who went through his portal. Did this guy really think he could intimidate him? It's not the best idea to mess with the customer. But he doesn't have time to think about it any further. As a pillar of the trade, he needs the most patience; after all, he is one of the people who represent the company to the public. And once you have won the sympathy of the public, it is very difficult to find out and accuse the other side of the business. When Karl finishes his thoughts, he closes his portal and sits down on a chair while he takes out a watch from his suit. Two hours. That's how much time they have before they can't be sure. He hoped they caught one of the older specimens so they could evolve in their production, though a dark side of him hoped some of them got eaten.

The group arrived at their destination and the portal closed behind them. The heat of the desert is almost deadly for a normal being. The group must have been on a higher position, because they saw some interesting places far away on the summit. On the east side was a cluster of huge rocks that stretched far away, making it impossible to see what might be behind the rocks. On the west side, the sand slowly stops as it becomes a bit more rocky and penetrates deeper into the ground, forming a huge canyon that doesn't show how deep it is, but from the beginning of the canyon it looks like stepping into it should be possible as the depth starts to increase from that point. In the direct direction, a little further away, the group saw a structure that resembled a tree, but only with their eyes it is difficult to see what else is there, because compared to the other two places it looks like it is even further away from them. Other than that, they saw nothing but endless seas of sand that did not reveal what might be behind them, as only the sound of the wind could be heard and the few sand particles that were dragged along.

Tobias had arrived through the portal first and he he immediately regretted his fashionable attire, the heat was overwhelming despite him choosing only the lightest garments he could find, he could not help it if his outfit was incomplete without at least two sets of pants in different color, two sashes, three robes and the largest most comfortable shoes he could find! Looking around the place he grimaced at the sight of the canyon and decided that he would much rather visit the place with the rocks.

"If perchance we are to put this to a vote might I be so bold as to recommend that we stroll over to those wonderful rocks over there? Clusters of such magnificent size is sure to provide a haven for the creatures we seek and it puts us in the shade besides, it would not do if we all, or namely me, perished from the heat before we even reached our destination."

Using Tobias' cape for hood to keep himself out of the sun, Ulrich perched himself on the ground beside the bearded mage, trying to look toward the same direction that the man suggested, glancing and wincing to make out any shape out in the distance, only to uncover another one but vastly different from what the mage described, witnessing a tree-like formation similar to some sort of tower out in the sand dunes, something that stood out from the rest of the formation he could see. *If there's a building, there's got to be shelter* he thought, and if it was indeed a tree, even more reason for beasts to flock to the only vegetation in the desert. Wobbling back to his feat, Ulrich fixed his hat, pointing to the strange edifice as to inform the group of another possible direction.

Flicking his wrist, a powerful gust of air flung all the cards he had thrown to entertain himself up in the air, flying up his sleeve as if it were some sort of performance, "Well I say we go that way, where there's trees, there's gotta' be water, and I'm betting that's were the Stalkers are," he mumbled, salivating at the thought of a spring or oasis being nearby for them to recover, his temperament meek as he wasn't used to the heat, his frail physique becoming all the more evident that he was physically the weakest member of their party.

"Well well, I see we all have differing points of view on how to proceed. I was going to propose exploring the canyon. It seems to me that the shade of its caves might be a good shelter for the beasts we are looking for. Not to mention that a canyon could have been formed as a result of a river's erosion. However, if we can't really come to an agreement, I say we draw one card each from the deck. The one with the highest value gets to decide. We'll naturaly have to use your deck." Said Faust as he sniffed the air. His senses were extremely keen for carbon, which was an abundant element in organic matter. To him, both the tree where Ulrich wanted to go, and the canyon which he had proposed to go to, smelled like carbon might be there. As for the rocks, the silicium in the sand and their other minerals, namely calcium and iron in the form of hematite, overshadowed carbon so much that his sensitivity was not detetcing anything from them.

When the group drew the cards, Ulrich got the highest value, which meant that the group decided to walk the middle path, to the tree. The hike was unspectacular and exhausting, as the hot sun mercilessly burns everything on the ground. After a solid walk of almost 1 hour, they reach their location. A dying tree, the leaves completely brown as some of them have already fallen to the ground, on the edge of a dried up oasis. Or probably was an oasis, that has only a large circle of wet sand that can be up to 4 meters deep. What stands out, however, is a structure on the bottom of the oasis. A purple structure that somewhat resembles the shape of a withered tree and has a size of two meters. Other than that, nothing else stands out except the carcass of a camel, probably 20 meters from the tree, with only a few pieces of flesh still stuck to it, as most of it was just a skeleton.

Faust grabs a rock and throws it with all his strength towards the tree-like structure. It simply hits it, before bouncing off. Nothing else happens. Once he has probed the purple object, he proceeds to jumps into the circle of wet sand, and walks towards the camel. He crouches down andsticks his hand into the corpse, feeling its insides, or what was left of them.

"As I expected. It's fresh. No wonder there was no rotting smell. However..." Before he can finish his sentence, the hairs on his scalp stand on end, and automatically, he turns his skin into graphene.

**BOOM!**

He feels an extremely strog force hit him from his flank, and send him flying abou fifty feet from where he was previously. A second later, he crased against a nearby boulder, which serves to stop him from being thrown even farther. He feels an accute pain coming from his abdomen, and when he looks down, he sees a tiny, bu deep cut. His pupils shrink. It'd take a extremely sharp blade to cut open his graphene skin. In fact, he was confident that even a normal A rank mage would struggle to do so, unless they had a special offensive magic focused on sharpness and cutting. Breaking it through brute force with blunt weapons was nigh impossible for an average A rank mage. The assailant this time was clearly no ordinary creature.

"Everyone, be careful! This thing's hiding somewhere near! If anyone has detection magic this'd be a good time to use it." He shouted to Ulrich and Tobias, as he stood up and adopted a fighting stance. He could heal the wound later using Cell Redistribution. Nevertheless, while his Carbon Devil Slayer magic was active, he could not make use of said magic. If he had higher magic power reserves, he could very well use both, but as he was now, he was lacking in that regard. After all, it took time to increase one's magic power, even for someone with his aptitude.

At his companion’s request Tobias withdrew a single silver key from his robes and channeling pulses of magical power through it he announced to the world as he twirled it in mid-air and opened a portal to the Celestial Realm.

“Gate of the Chisel, Open!”

Detection Magic was not magic of a sort that Tobias could freely access but he had formed contracts with a Celestial Spirit with such capabilities. There was a flash of light as a large spheroid being of metal appeared floating in the air next to Tobias, its form swiftly changing into that of a large floating cannon, as its scope began to track the strange creature that flitted about underneath the dunes the large cannon began to fill with energy until at last it’d lock on and fire.

The beams of green light that burst forth from Caelum penetrated the sands below and sought to destroy the unwelcome creature in one fell swoop. Tobias could only hope it would succeed as he had no real alternatives to dealing with hidden opponents.

After explosions were heard under the masses of sand, silence fell. After a while, the same purple tree-like thing emerged from under the sand and grew and grew as the sand masses were pushed away. As it continued, a huge creature emerged from under the sand, completely purple and at least 20 feet tall. It resembled a giant rhinoceros beetle, as the tree-like thing was the end of its horn. Six eyes scanned the surroundings before focusing on the mages in front of them, all of whom glared at them. The creature's body had a few scratches on it, probably from the last attack, and it looked pretty pissed about it.

**"SKKKRRRRREEEAAAACCCCCHHH!"** the creature roared before lunging at the group of mages and swinging its horn at them.

With the threat at hand, Ulrich threw cards all across the sand dunes around them, spreading them out to encompass a fair bit of area surrounding the large creature. With the party holding unto a fair number of his already, it opened all manner of possibilities for him to exert his influence, but the only thought being their immediate survival. Ulrich knew that if he was struck just once, he wasn't getting back up, with this in mind, the cards began to glow a splendid blue hue of light, quickly engulfing them as each mage were being drawn into the cards, Ulrich included, quickly vanishing from their initial location, waiting at just the last second before the creature could trample all over them.

Each mage had arrived at a location where each of the cards he had thrown landed close by, arriving on the opposite side of where the beast had initially arrived, Ulrich using his cards to effectively function as a gateway for them to teleport from harm, with the cards serving as points he could travel to, "**Teleport Card**," Ulrich muttered, throwing a pair of cards across the beast's back that began to radiate with electricity, effectively using Lightning Magic in the hopes of injuring the creature.

The creature was confused when it learned where the mages had gone, and emitted a cry of pain when it was electrocuted. Although the creature was among the slower of its evolutionary line, it was also the most resilient and deliberate of its kind. Of course, this makes the damage from the lightning magic minimal, as it only gets a few scratches, but no more than it, as its shakes the cards off on its back.

**"SCCCRRRREEAAACCHHH!"** the creature roared as it turned around and prepared to strike again while casting its natural gift. Either they forget or they are around long enough to call for reinforcements, because the sound of the fight will attract more of its kind. Now this fight was one of speed and magic versus toughness and strength, while time was ticking for more of this creature to show up.

Magic Power gathered in Faust's right fist, forming even more layers of graphene, increasing its toughness and resilience. Although this wanton consumption of magic power would further reduce the time he could use his Carbon Slayer Magic, this was most definitely not a battle of attrition. As soon as the creatures' herd came, it'd be game over for them. As this was happening, on his left hand, sand from all around him started gathering, and forming the shape of a spear. However, the spear was made of a grayish silvery crystal, it was silicon carbide, a material that was almost as hard as diamond. Truth be told, he had been lucky. The sand around him was the perfect material to make silicon carbide, as it was made out of 2/3rds of silicon. He just had to add the carbide.

*"Let's see how you deal with this."*

Faust did not waste time as he spun and threw the spear with unmatched speed a the creature, which was about to attack Ulrich, who had angered it with his lighting magic. The spear's speed was such that a sonic boom was produced.

Tobias spun into action as his comrades managed to distract the beast, he surveyed the battlefield and noted how his own attack with Caelum earlier seemed to have little if any effect upon the beast, it barely seemed to take damage from the cannon, it was unfortunate that he was unable to do much against it without spending resources, but he had no choice, unlike the mission in the mines a day ago or so his current arrangement of Ars Prisma was not nearly as powerful. It was the weakness of relying upon such fickle magic, even if the spells it could cast were often disproportionately powerful to compensate and most importantly in this situation, they were also very fast.

Faust’s offensive prowess seemed without a doubt to be the greatest and most reliable amongst his allies, and unlike himself and he supposed Ulrich, the Dragon Slayer seemed to have a great deal of physical resilience as well, hardly unsurprising given the nature of his magic.

It would take considerable resources for Tobias to attempt to match his level of offence in this situation, but it was far too early in the mission for him to unleash the spell that lay nestled within the violet mote of energy that spun around his wrists. Instead he cautiously followed Faust’s movements, observed as he accumulated magical power and fashioned an incredible spear of a kind of crystal he could not recognize. Remarkable to be sure.

And the moment just as Faust unleashed it, his hands were already in motion and he uttered the name *Prisma Ventus*. As the orange mote blinked out of existence and vanished, a sudden focused squall flew through the air at extraordinary speeds, focused and directed at the tail-end of the thrown spear and as it made contact it dramatically enhanced the speed of the projectile, and the slight vortex it generated even caused the spear itself to spin like a drill, as Tobias performed an improvised Unison Raid with Faust, creating a projectile of incredible speed and extraordinary penetrative strength.

The creature looked up before a projectile flew in its direction. Its eyes widened, knowing it was too slow to dodge when the spear touched its upper armor pieces. The armor of a stalker, especially a bulldozer, is quite tough and can take a lot of damage, especially magical damage. However, like any other armor, it is weak against penetrating damage no matter its origin, and the combined power of the two mages was enough to penetrate the Bulldoze's armor. **"SKKKRRRREEEEAAACHHH!!!!"** the creature screamed in pain as the spear lodged in its torso, green blood seeping from the impact. But the pain quickly turned to rage as the creature glared murderously at the group, sending out more waves of its confusion magic to slowly but surely affect its prey. But now the creature must be thinking. Two prey did little damage, one does a lot of damage. But two support the one with the most damage. Deciding which one to attack first, the creature charged at Faust with its horn, but with the intention of pushing Faust back so it could attack the weaker ones without the influence of the others.

Faust face turned stern upon seeing the Bulldoze charging at him.

*"Fuck. This is no good."* He thinks as he instinctively extends his arm and gathers sand into the form of a shield, turning it to silicon carbide. Although this shield is less durable than his own skin, it's a couple times thicker, which should be enough to withstand the beast's horn for some time. Although the beast had clearly shown intelligence, from Faust's perspective it was a dumb strategy to go for him first, as he had already been proven to have the best physical defense. Besides, the one with the most mysterious and varied spells was Ulrich, and even Faust could from his lightning earlier that he had been holding back. If it were him he would have gone for Ulrich, and then come back to him. After all, his claws had been plenty effective in surpassing his defense earlier, so at least the beast knew it could deal him damage. Attacking with its horn clearly showed a lack of understanding.

"Tobias, Ulrich! Cast your most powerful magic now! Try and push the spear strong enough to skewer this brute!" He shouts, just as a metallic clang sounds. Faust holds his ground for a couple of seconds before the shield is broken into dozens of fragments. The horn aims to puncture his skin, but he barely manages to grab it with both hands before it makes contact. Normally, puncturing his skin is nearly impossible, for his only weakness lay in sharp items that could cut it apart, but he does not pan to take any chances.

The force of the impact is such that his body gets assaulted by the aftershock, and a trace of blood seeps from the corners of his mouth before he is sent flying once again, and he lands about thirty yards away.

Watching Faust tumble all that distance, Ulrich marveled at the strength packed in by that beast, the dragon slayer's words ringing in his ears still, *cast your most powerful magic now* it said, pondering for a moment as if to churn it around, coming up with an enthusiastic reply, lifting one finger to emphasize his point further. "No," he mumbled to himself, the tone of his voice overshadowed by the loud screeching of the raving animal. From what he had displayed, the group only knew about his Card Magic and Fortune Telling, and as far as everyone was concerned, that was all he had to offer, deciding to leave his three other magical abilities a secret for when he needed it most. Puffing out his chest, Ulrich bellowed out as loud as he could in an attempt for his voice to rise above the roars, "stand back, I'm giving it all I got," he said exaggeratedly, as if trying to get the point across, laying it on thick as he pulled several cards out from his lapel pocket.

The best he could do was throw some cobbled together spell and pretend it was something of worth, simply charging his cards with more magic than usual in order to deal significantly more damage than he would normally do in a vain attempt to pass it off as an "ultimate" attack. "No, no, no, mayb—no." Taking his time to sort through the cards, Ulrich threw the ones he didn't need off to the side as he kept looking, "how'd you get there," he chuckled to himself, tucking a card into his pocket. Finally reaching the four cards he was looking for, they levitated into the air, the space around them ripe with magic as the elements that comprised the desert became much more evident from the appearance of these pieces of cardboard. The temperature began to rise to the point of flames bursting out from the card and setting some of the sand aflame.

Wind escalated quickly, uplifting the sand into a small hurricane that span faster and faster around another card. The sand beneath the third card began to muddy and dissolve as water from the air and underneath the soft earth began to rise up into a pool that formed a large body of liquid around the card. The final card caused all manner of rocks and earth to rise from the sand, protruding up to flat around the card as if it had its own magnetic pull. Slamming both hands together, Ulrich let the cards fold onto one another, dragging all four elements together in a violent display of fusion.

"**Royal Break**!" The cards melded together, whatever elements they had hovering around them completely bleeding together to form a mass of black magic that fired off into the beast's direction, taking the form of a dark blast with multiple magical symbols and circles embed along the back of the stream. To the most common wizard, it would have appeared as a simple attack, but to the more experienced eye, it held a powerful similarity with the forbidden spell Abyss Break, something that was used exclusively by Dark Mages, with the only obvious change being in how small it was and the "royal" from royal flush added in front. A far cry from the real version in terms of power, it did demonstrate a thorough understanding of the source if Ulrich was able to replicate it, letting the beam head straight for the spear lodged into the beast, the speed if nothing else he hoped would be enough to push the rest straight through it, and if it missed, it would at least do some damage if it landed.

The creature was annoyed at the little one, strong enough to block his attack, but with a final snarl pushed the human away, suprisingly hard, but nothing compared to his strenght. As its turns his gaze to his target his eyes wided as a black...something get shot by his target and before it could react, the attack connects.....right...into....his wound.
**"SKKRRRRREEEEEEAAAACCCHHH!!"** the creature screamed in pain as the attack connects and it get engulfed by a big explosion. As the dust cleared out, the creature breathed hard as the spear drived deeper into his body, more blood leaking out of his wound, while it get multiple burn marks on his body, but while weakly, it is able to get slowly up , breathing hard and glaring at Ulrich, approching him slowly, determined if its dies it will drag one of them also into the death.

As the monster hulked forwards, there was an incandescent flash of ruby-colored light as in the background, above Tobias’ pointing finger, a small ember flared, shining with such ferocity that it almost resembled a miniaturized sun. Tobias had hoped that his earlier action of support would have been enough, but his companion had been unable to finish off the creature even with his help, he supposed it had been a mistake to use Ars Ventus in that manner as opposed to simply presenting an equal offensive of his own, it was an error he would correct now.

If he exerted his actual capabilities, Tobias was an exceptional battlemage, the trouble was that each of his stored spells could only be used once each before he had to perform the whole convoluted ceremony once more.

His finger moved in ribbon-like patterns, forming streaks of red light in the eyes of any onlookers due to the intense light, then he brought it up and thrust it away from his body pointing at the monstrosity in the distance.

“Prisma Ignis!”

The ember blossomed in an instant, growing from a small point into a massive fireball easily as large as if not even larger than the monster they were presently fighting, lurching forwards across the sandy dunes and emitting such intense heat that a path of freshly-fused glass followed in its wake. Roaring, the great fireball would seek to crash into the monster and through the amazing power it possessed sweep it off its feet and drag it away from his companions before culminating in a fiery explosion to end the monster's existence before it might do any more harm.

The creature breathed hard, as it's stalked to its prey ready to slay it, but before it could reach him it feeled one thing. Pain. It's back feeled a hard impact, as its body get engulfed in flames, the heat burning it alive, before the explosion ends, revealing the creature complete burned and weak, it slowly crawled further to Ulrich. "SKREEAaaaaacchh......" came out of the creature before colapsing two meters infront of Ulrich, dead.

The graphene layers that covered Faust turned back into his normal skin, and he let out a long sigh. His head was feeling dizzy, a proof that he had lost some blood due to his earlier wound. However, it had already started closing, so the bleeding had almost stopped. He approached the corpse, and kicked it t turn it around before he made sure the beast was dead.

"Well, this is it boys. Well done." He says to both Tobias and Ulrich as he takes out the lacrima Karl had given him, and turned it on.

"Mr. Plaster, we're done with the job." He said after turning on the visual communication lacrima and pointed it to the dead Bulldoze beast. Just as he was doing so, several beastly cries sounded out from the distance. They were very similar to the beast's.

"I think hurrying up a little would do us no harm. This thing's friends seem to have noticed its absence." He added, waiting for Karl to open up a portal.

"So Karl~. How's your mission to obtain the stalker plates going~?" A mocking voice spoke to Karl about Lacrima. "Choke on some crystals, Gwen. It's not so easy to get people to hunt down beasts compared to just digging in the dirt with your hands." Karl retorted angrily, earning a tick on the front of Gwen's head. "Fuck you, portal sucker, you know it's very difficult to find the best prospecting sites and make the competition go away at the same time!" yelled Gwen before calming down again, still angry, "but I have a message from my brother that if that fails too, he'll go out and get the stalker plates himself, he's almost out of them." Gwen informed Karl. Before he could answer, he got a call from his Lacrima that made him smile. "You can tell your brother he doesn't need to go to the desert." said Karl before ending the call and responding to Faust's call when he saw the image of a dead stalker. A bulldozer! Looks like it's his lucky day to invite the right people for this mission. These beast is more than enough for the next few weeks. "Good work, mages." said Karl in a calm voice, well aware of the creature's screams in the distant background. As long as he remembers or sees the place, he's able to create portals there, so a desert that has several places that look alike doesn't make his portals as effective for finding this beasts. But thanks to the visual image, it wasn't much of a problem for him to create a portal under the big beast that made it disappear completely before opening a portal under the mages and sending them into the bar. Just in time, as a crowd of wispers showed up in the location, confused as to why the source of the noise had suddenly disappeared.

"Good job on your mission, mages." said Karl with a polite smile. "I was right to organize the mages, and the company will surely thank you for procuring this beast. Here's your reward." said Karl as three small portals opened and placed a bag of 900,000 jewels in each mage's hand. "Of course, if the company needs capable mages for a mission again, we will consider you our first choice." said Karls, before again flippantly opening a larger portal behind the mages. "This portal should send you to the nearest city with a station."

Dusting off the dirt and sand off his clothes, Ulrich was more surprised that they had made it out in one piece, with relative damage all things considering, his gaze peering back to the dragon slayer. Compared to the rest of them, he couldn't complain, although he would have like to bring the beast back in one piece, circumstances would not allow for such luxuries. Extending his hand out, he caught the teleported bag of money, surprised by the sudden appearance from thin air, he wasn't to keen with having such elaborate tricks thrown on his end. Gazing at the portals, he couldn't help but marvel and stare at the wizard Karl with a mixture of intrigue and subtle annoyance, hidden behind a smile of gratitude with receiving his pay as they agreed upon before the start of the mission at the café. *He might be worth keeping an eye out for, especially with his magic* he thought, feeling somewhat of a kinship with the young man, giving off the impression that they may yet meet again in the future but under different circumstances, and in his case, under a different name.

Ulrich shook the bag several times to make out the weight, taking out a stack of bills to count the jewels to confirm he was handed the correct amount, more than satisfied with the quantity given the nature of the job. Throwing the sack into his hat, the bag's size too large to fit into a simple top hat, but against common logic, seemingly disappeared into the hole, almost like magic as cliché as it sounded. Glancing at the group of mages that he had foughten with neck-and-neck for what he had spent the greater part of a day with, Ulrich felt more than satisfied with everything that had transpired and was a peace with leaving, "oh man, what a day, liked it, lived it, loved it," he mumbled, flicking his wrist to call back the cards he had lent them, alongside the cards he had hid on their person, initially tempted to simply blow them up once things had calmed down and flee in the confusion, but having a change of heart after everything was said and done.

Throwing his top hat back on his head, Ulrich picked up his suitcase, throwing over a trench coat over his shoulders, slowly waltzing over to the portal, turning to take one final look at his comrades, "If you're ever in the neighborhood, don't be shy and just come knocking, I'll just knock the damn door down for you," he said bashfully, waltzing through the portal. Taking him to what looked like a terminus, Ulrich glanced to where the portal had sent him, almost disoriented in the way it had suddenly dropped him off, looking at whatever signs or directions to hint as to where he was. Filled with some relief, he glanced up to the schedule, with the newest arrival coming to the station, its next destination leading to a city with close by the harbor. Searching through his pockets, Ulrich didn't have anything but junk, knives, and several cards crumpled up wads of cardboard, finally finding the correct card he was looking for in his breast pocket, pulling out a particularly odd looking card that gave him directions to the Island of Enca. The surface shifted from a queen of hearts-esque design into a map that showed the coordinates to where the guild he wanted to join was located.

Letting out a sigh, Ulrich loosened his bowtie and collar, tightening his hat and his smile faded into something more casual and unfeeling, a loud voice transmitted from the speaker going off, "this train is leaving in the next 5 minutes." At first, Ulrich was almost tempted to simply buy his ticket from the counter by the station, using the jewels he had earned from his job to board. But upon closer reflection, it wouldn't make much sense for someone in his line of "work" to pay for what he wants, rather, it would make much more sense to simply take what he wanted by force, and remove anything that got in his way. "Pffft, I'm a criminal, since when do criminals need to pay for anything," Ulrich surmised, shrugging his shoulders as he walked past the ticket counter and in the direction of the train, all of the passerby's alerted by the loud whistle to signal its departure soon. With nearly all of the citizens boarding, Ulrich was the only one left standing by his lonesome, the only other presence being the guard. Walking to the train door without a ticket, Ulrich did nothing to be sneaky or hide the fact that he didn't have a ticket, not bothering to provide so much as a single excuse in face of the conductor, a detail that was not lost on the platform conductor who stopped him before he could step unto the train.

Grabbing him from the his arm, the man pulled him off to the side, Ulrich's eyes lighting up with severe expression of annoyance and disregard for whatever he had to say. For there was anything he couldn't tolerate, it was people touching him, even more so for those that would cause him any sort of discomfort, especially pain. And with the attitude and force the conductor was taking with Ulrich, his naturally calm and suave disposition boiled over into a sadistic mindset, his smile brightening up to reveal sharp jagged teeth, his magic increasing as his hat began to shake. "I just saw you, no boarding without a ticke—," before he could finish uttering another word, Ulrich cut him off, rubbing his eyes in irritation that things had turned out the way they did, "how terrible, it's so sad, another idiot who can't help himself," he cried in an over the top manner, almost fooling himself into believing those words, but his ecstatic look painting another story entirely. Grabbing the conductor by the same arm he was holding, Ulrich's shadow traveled up across his back, stretching up to his hat, allowing it to grow in size, the look of horror all hut evident in the face of the conductor.

Ulrich's hat broke open, a slit forming across the front of the band that formed into a giant mouth, reveling a row of teeth akin to some ferocious monster that proceeded to bite the conductor's head clean off in a single chomp, his hat bursting out in a crooked smile, belching before returning back to its original shape, leaving Ulrich as the only passenger left to board, simply pushing the body off to the side as it fell back to the station, nothing stopping him from now getting on. "I've already wasted enough time today, so I can't play anymore, people to meet, first impressions and all that, can't keep HIM waiting," he muttered callously, not batting so much as an eye to the event that took place, simply picking up his suite case as he waltzed past the entrance, closing the door behind him, his nonchalant presence resuming not alerting anyone of what had just transpired mere seconds ago, all the while Ulrich looked for a place to sit.

Placing his suite case on the rack above him, he chose a seat at the furthest part of the cabin by the window, letting his hand lean on his cheek as he stared off through the clear view, taking in the scenery as the train started to move, taking a deep breathe as he finally had a moment to himself, sighing a breathe of relief as tucked his hat on top of his face, hoping to catch some sleep while journeying to find the dark guild located Enca and meet with its master, "what a great day," he remarked.

*"Interesting individulas."*thought Karl as the final mage left the resteraunt via his portal. They were useful, even though he disliked most of them from their personality. However he has the feeling he or atleast the company will encounter this mages more then once. "Ehm, excuse me sir. Do you want anything else to drink?" asked a waitress, getting Karl out of his thoughts. "Oh apologise lady, I zooned out, please forgive me and take that as the payment for the great drinks and feast." Karls said opening a portal behind him, giving the joung waitress a big bag of jewels, causing the eyes of the waitress to widen. "WAIT SIR, THATS TOO MUCH!" the waitress tried to call out, but Karl already left the though his portal.

He appears again on a complex,where he saw the corpse of the bulldoze getting tranported by people. A very huge specimen of the stalker. "Do you enjoy, what you see?" a voice asked behind Karl, causing him to turn around and see who it is. Paytson Bioleck, the Pillar of Production and the brother of the annoyinng Gwen Bioleck, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Well I should ask you the question." Karl answered causing Paytson to chuckle. "Well I would lie, that I finally have stalker plates again, without going to the desert myself. This should be enough for atleast a month worth of seal alloy. Thanks for helping me out Karl. By the way, how were the mages you get for the mission?" Paytson thanks and asked Karl. "Well beside quicky and stupid personalities, but I met someone interesting, a brat named Tobias Belthamere." Karl answered with a sneer, causing Paytsons eyes to wide. "You dont mean this Belthamere, the one family-!" "The one family, which specialized producing lacrimas and one of the many thing we should either get rid of or claim as ours." the Pillar of Prodction gots interrupted by a deeper and gente man voice, coming out of a communication Lacrima. "Sir!/Boss!" Karl and Paytson answered at the same time, causing the voice to sigh. "I make a group call with all pillars and again it is FREDERICk, I am your friend! No need to be that formal! But this is interesting. A possible way to get access to the Belthamere family. I already will send Gwen to make a offer to work under the The Company and planned if they disagree, to send Anabella Newman and Brutus Porter to make the heads dissapear. However with this brat we may able to find another way to make them work underneath us, if they disagree with us. Even though that should be our smallest concern. Other then that, Maxim Starov continue work with Project Polymerisation, soon beside our dominance on the market, in whole Earthland we will also grow in dominance in everything else. So my friends work hard, soon we will be united under one banner!" Frederick finished his speech. "YES, Sir!/You got it Boss-man!/Y-Yes Bosss!/It will be done, Boss!/Okay Bossy!/You wish will be done, Boss!" six voices of the pillars answered at the same time. **FOR THE LAST TIME; DONT CALL ME BOSS OR SIR!"**the voice of Frederick screamed angry and loudly, as his shadow reflects a figure, which should not belong to his body.