Rooted Menace

**Users Involved:** User:Ash9876, User:DamonDraco, User:Dal101,User:TheWitchofWhite, User:GranCrux, User:Sakura0Xavier, User:EmperorSigma, User:Arukana, User:Nearó Unlimited, User:GuyCivic, User:Shen Yi, User:Dragon Lord Erin, User:ComicMaster619, User:GeminiVIII, User:Great Achlus, User:TheOmniscientBear, User:KontonMan, User:BQD, User:Deathslaad
**Date Started:** January 21, X943
**Setting:** Era, Forest of Death
**Characters Involved**:
* **Rune Knights**: Cecilia Lambert, Knight King, Mason Warren, Bianca Kinobori
* **S-Class Mages**: Sebastian Vael
* **Sleeping Seven**: Saladin, Arwa al-Sulayhi, Solomon Dewitt, Ziyaad el-Farha
* **Golden Dragon**: Maxton Draconus, Daidalo Spiro, Noelle Parrish
* **Swan Hymn**: Cain Kaufson, Arthur Greyfang, Sarah Phim
* **Others**: Sakura Xavier, Jax Duman, Ambrosus, Macnia Gowan, Ginevra Rayleigh, Nero Atosaki, Gai Diyos, Axle Strider, Munin Reisende

## The Breathing Forest

Era, the main base of operations for the Magic Council, and a truly magnificent display of the Council’s power. It was a floating island, the same size as an established city, and it moved through the island regions of Ishgar without a single issue. Its primary locality was close to the countries Minstrel and Fiore, where the reign of the council reigned supreme.

Amongst the bustling workers and the tall buildings, a single woman stood in an office room of the central, tallest building in the city: the main headquarters of the Magic Council. This blond woman boasted a regal air, despite her youth, and was dressed in attire appropriate for a Rune Knight.

“Cecilia Lambert, Shield Unit: Alexander’s Captain reporting, sir!” The woman reported, saluting to her superior, who sat in the distance, his face unrecognizable through the dim lighting.

“Thank you for your punctuality, as always, Cecilia.” The man before Cecilia spoke. This man, who could not be recognized by his face, was the individual feared and respected by the world as the Knight Commandant of the Rune Knights, also known as “Knight King.”

“There is a mission I require you to attend post-haste. At the east of Fiore, past the remains of Magnolia Town, there is a particularly large forest. This forest has never been an issue prior to recently, however, we have received word that individuals are going missing in this forest, and that *ominous noises* can be heard.”

Cecilia responded in the midst of the Commandant’s speech, “Forgive me, sir. But...ominous noises? Of what sort?” Cecilia inquired. Situations like this rarely arose, and if they did, they were often accompanied with bad omens.

“From what has been told by witnesses, they appear to be noises akin to a wolf’s howl, or cry. But it is difficult to determine with recordings alone.” The Commandant responded, with a certain amount of urgency in his voice. “From what my scouts have reported, the forest is not simply idle, either. There appears to be a vast quantity of raw power emitting from it, but it does not match any known sources of magical power. Due to these unknowns, it has quickly rose to become a territory that Guilds are competing for Jobs, but it is also very high-risk area.”

“...A power that does not match existing records of Magic..? How strange…” Cecilia noted to herself. While she had encountered many beasts during her career, none of them boasted particularly strange magical energy. In fact, there were many consistencies when it came to magic energy alone. Then what was this...phenomenon that the Knight Commandant had informed her of?

“Cecilia.” The Knight Commandant sought to grab the Rune Knight Captain’s attention. “I need you to quarantine the southern access point of this Forest. The other points are guarded by river, mountains and swamps. They will be difficult for people to access without specific vehicles. Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to place quarantined barriers at all those sites with the situations in Enca, Caelum and Pergrande...but that’s for another time.”

Cecilia nodded in approval, “Yes, sir! Is there anything else you would like me to do while I am at the forest?” Cecilia asked eagerly.

“Take a small squad of Knights with you. Capable ones, of course, and investigate the forest to the best of your ability. If possible, find any missing people and retrieve them safely. Likewise, if you can determine the true nature of that forest, that would make our efforts easier.”

The man stood up, and walked past Cecilia at a brisk pace, his body framed with armor, and face hidden by the dim lighting. “I expect great things, Cecilia.” The man spoke, walking past and seemingly disappearing from view in the instant Cecilia turned around.

“The Knight Commandant...mocking me as always…” Cecilia pouted, before raising her spirits and leaving the office. She had a job to do.

Nearby the location that the Knight Commandant had given Cecilia, anyone walking could easily see a wall of black in the distance. Yet, it was no fortress, at least, not one built from bricks and iron. Leaves rustled, those who walked even closer would see that it was, in fact, a group of trees.

The Forest of Death.

Its trees varied greatly in size alone, some standing out, some hidden by others. Regardless of their individual sizes, they all stood taller than the soil surrounding the forest, making it seem as if it had its own grounds. Much like stated before, around it were many other environments, the most notable ones being a chain of mountains to one side.

From a particular distance, some kind of… howling reached to the outside. That day was quite windy, many currents passed by the forest, their formless echoes brushed by the leaves, by the rocks, by the wood. It overwhelmed whatever noises any animals, insects… humans could make. With the abundance of trees and their fat leaves, sunlight would have a difficult time illuminating its soils. Upon closer inspection, if one would even dare, they would notice how some of the leaves didn’t actually budge along the wind.

Closest to the southern entrances were the river from the east and the swamp from the west. Rivers were quick to be found inside a forest, after all, the water ran fast. However, even from such a close point, one couldn’t simply hear it. It was as if the water ran meekly, so that it stood quiet, its partial crystalline texture only made it less notable.

Silence, despite the numerous trees and flowers, only silence predominated.

“What...what is this…?” Cecilia could only speak in shock, jaw dropping at the site before her. It was not the magnitude of the forest that surprised her, nor the barriers surrounding it...but rather, it was the *sound* that the forest was emitting. This wasn’t a natural sound, not in the slightest.

It had felt like a wild animal overwhelmed everything. Nature had felt non-existent in this space. She could not hear the cries of the birds, despite the birds flying right above her. The sounds of the rapid river were silent, even though she could see it with her eyes. It was almost as if she was placed in a simulation.

“Focus, focus Cecilia.” Cecilia repeated to herself, trying to calm herself down. But it was difficult beyond belief. Everything in this area had felt completely unnatural. Her first instinct was to simply run away and ignore the problem, but she wasn’t raised as a Rune Knight to be a coward.

“First, we must quarantine this area immediately. Knights, stand back for a moment.” Cecilia commanded her subordinates, and they all took a couple of steps back.

“You sure you don’t need help, Captain Cecilia?” One of her subordinates asked, taking off his helmet. He was a youthful man, with darker blonde hair, and bright green eyes. This was Mason Warren, a member of the Artefact Detainment Unit: Cerberus. He wasn't a Captain, but he was noted among the various members of the Unit to be a particularly skilled Celestial Mage, with his skills being renown by those of his ilk as “Silver Star”, especially with his partner, Caelum.

“I’m fine, but thank you for the offer, Warren.”

As Cecilia politely refused the offer, Mason backed away. He had heard of the “Shield Hero” through mostly rumors, never being assigned on a mission with the Captain till this point. Despite her chivalric attitude, she was noted to be quite stubborn, something he finally saw for himself.

She breathed in, gathering magical energy and expelling it outwards from her being. Her aura took a bright golden aura, and resembled a shield at first glance. As she focused her magic further, Cecilia chanted, “Formula 21.” She wielded her staff, spinning it on the spot twice, before swinging it horizontally to her right.

Suddenly, a string of characters began to form from the furthest left part of the forest entrance, and in a golden line, they began moving rightwards in a straight line. The characters continued to be made, in a repetitive pattern, before finally the line ended at the furthest right of the forest entrance.

A golden wall shot up from the text, soaring upwards into the sky, and seemingly stretching nigh-infinitely. This was the Magic of Cecilia Lambert, Susanoo, a powerful form of Magic Barrier that truly emphasized the Captain’s skill.

“There we go. No ordinary Mage will be able to break or bypass this barrier, meaning that, even if we are there for extended periods of time, those who come to rescue us will surely be someone stronger than I am.” Cecilia affirmed her thoughts out loud while speaking to her subordinates at the same time.

“You are all prepared? We have rations and the like, don’t we?” Cecilia asked her squadron.

“Yes, Captain! We have enough food and water to last for an entire week.” Mason responded affirmatively.

“Good...but let’s hope we don’t need it,” Cecilia said, with an almost grimacing tone. The ambience of this forest did not appeal to her at all. Not only was it frightening...but it was dampening, almost as if being in this area was sapping away her happiness.

“Let’s go.” Cecilia said as she swung her staff. A part of the barrier that she had created had opened up for herself and her subordinates. She walked in first and made sure the others trailed behind her. As they all entered the vast forest, she closed the golden barrier once again.

She looked at the magnitude of this forest and could feel its magical power. She clenched onto her staff tightly. This wasn’t going to be easy.

Grass, the first thing Cecilia’s boot met was pure grass, yet, its squish wasn’t the only sound that reverberated. Much like a string snapping, the howling that echoed through the forest came to a halt, almost too fast, the rustle of the leaves disappeared. Seconds passed by, some of the Knights could feel as if the oxygen escaped their lungs.

All was soon tranquil once the rustle of leaves could be heard again, the sound of the water coming out, even if not too loud.

Sebastian had been wandering for the last three days, slowly picking his way through this foul place. Moving slowly so the forest wouldn't notice, drifting across a slow current of air so he wouldn't touch the trees, water, or ground below. Anything so it wouldn't notice, not again.

Three days ago he had entered this forest, looking for the origins of this forest, this Forest of Death. An S-Class mage from the guild Mountain's Oath, sent into the Lion's Den to figure out what had happened to the other mages, the other people. He hadn't found them, but Sebastian was pretty sure what happened to them. What had happened to him. Those people he had been sent to find, they were almost certainly dead.

"A light..." He whispered, hoping his voice wouldn't carry as he saw the golden glow in the distance. Sebastion changed his course, turning towards the light. For all he knew, it might be the forest trying to finish him off once and for all. But he had to take the chance, as continuing what he had been doing for the last three days would only kill him.

All that was left for him to do was to try and reach it, hoping beyond hope that he might be saved, even as blood dripped onto the ground below from his ruined arm and leg hanging limply at his side.

Genius, Sebastian's efforts and methods were fruits of how much hard work and thinking he had put into surviving. But, that was why, *it* sought him.

What gave away his presence wasn't even a mistake, after all, Sebastian couldn't just focus on stopping his blood from hitting the ground, else he fell as well. The quietness from before was soundly interrupted... Thud, the earth shook and some leaves fell, thud. Thud, thud, thud, a gust of wind went along, turning the leaves and grass to a certain direction.

Living beings, regardless of wielding magic or not, knew too well when a sensation dawned upon them. Especially, when something or someone observed them. "Haaaaaah," Some kind of steam blew around Sebastian's location, before he could even look up, some kind of transparent liquid descended to the ground. In fact, even if he did, the many trees and their leaves blocked out whatever it was, "Haaaaah."

*Not again...* The mage shuddered as he felt the presence above.

"Urknall..." Sebastian whispered, pretending to be unaware of the situation for a moment longer than he was. Hoping that he could trick the forest in giving him the few seconds he needed to break for it. His magic power was running low, the strain of the days weighing heavily upon him. But he wasn't quite out of it yet.

Air gathered on his palm, consuming the gust into a bomb of wind and air. A bomb that would hopefully buy him enough time to rush towards the light, rush to what was hopefully freedom.

Sebastian spun around on his cushion of air, changing to face straight up to the trees above. The air in the forest collapsed towards him, being consumed by the bomb in his good hand. Even the cushion he lay upon was consumed, as the spell grew larger and larger.

"Angriff!" He yelled as his back hit the ground, the ball of wind and air exploding out with a roar that could be heard across the forest. The back blast of the spell alone was enough to crater the ground underneath Sebastion, driving him into the soft soaking ground as a hurricane battered the trees above him.

Sebastion pushed off with his good leg, sliding up and out of the hole even as he conjured another cushion of air. This one moving much faster than the last in a last ditch effort to reach that golden light that was coming tantalizingly closer. This was it, his last gambit to escape this forest alive.

Cecilia and her squad of Knights had been slowly moving forward. They were attempting to scan their environment, trying to find signs of life and signs of magical activity. Much to their surprise, everything *within* the forest had been almost muddled entirely, as if they entered the ocean to try and find a specific grain of salt.

"This is really weird..." One of the Rune Knight subordinates spoke, revealing her face from her helmet. She was a bespectacled woman with brown hair tied in a braided ponytail. Bianca Kinobori, an expert in the use of Plant Magic, and a member of the Communications Unit: Ixion, found herself puzzled at the environment around her. This wasn't any ordinary forest, but she couldn't understand what was going on.

"Let me try something! One moment, Captain!" Bianca asked Cecilia, who had ordered the rest of the knights to stop and accompany Bianca. The eager Plant Mage headed towards the nearby tree and made contact with it.

"Plant Climber!" Bianca chanted, as she focused her magic to her hands, created numerous smaller vines that punctured the nearby tree. The vines would connect her sensations and magical power to the plant, enabling her to manipulate it and sense the true nature of this forest...

Or so she thought.

"Aaaaahh!!!" Bianca screamed suddenly, causing Cecilia and Mason to be puzzled and rush towards her, catching her as she was falling to the ground. The vines that she had produced died, and disconnected from her body, leaving her sweating and panting from the experience she just went through.

"What...what the hell is this forest...?" Bianca asked herself aloud, as she continued to look around. "The amount of power in this place is beyond anything I could ever imagine...it feels like it could surpass the Wizard Saints! Captain...we might be in over our heads..."

"...Thank you for your efforts, Kinobori. Unfortunately, we have to keep moving forward for the time being. If we find at least one survivor, we might be good to go." Cecilia said, helping her stand up and walk again.

"Warren, make sure Kinobori is doing well," Cecilia ordered, and the Rune Knight responded affirmatively.

They continued to move forward steadily, observing all their surroundings and keeping on the straightest path possible. Soon, however, they would hear a sound that felt like a burst of air from the distance.

"Did you hear that? Keep on guard, everyone!" Cecilia told her subordinates, as everyone took a defensive position. Intense winds could be seen in the distance, as a figure trailed forth. It was a human, male, making use of what appeared to be Wind Magic.

"Mage! Stop right there! We are Rune Knights, and we are here to help you!" Cecilia announced to the incoming Mage, who may have just lost control of his power.

Spinning her staff, Sengetsu, Cecilia chanted, "Formula 3!" Text appeared beneath Cecilia's immediate location, and as the Mage continued to burst forward, a wall with a sponge-like texture appeared before Cecilia, attempting to dampen the impact of the Mage's bursting speed without harming him.

Sebastian hit the wall hard, the soft texture of it stopping him gently, though the man still let out a small moan of pain as his shattered arm and leg hit the wall. He had flown towards the light as fast as he could without crashing, weaving between the trees in an effort to escape. Sebastian hadn't even taken the time to see if he had thrown off his pursuer.

He rolled off the wall onto the soft ground, ending up face down in the soft earth. He slowly pushed himself up with his good arm to look at the assembled rune knights. Pain could be heard laced through the disheveled man's voice as he uttered, "Leave, now... Before it's too late..."

This man was terribly injured. Just what could cause this sort of pain? As Cecilia looked at the Mage carefully, she had realized who he was. He was quite a famous S-Class Mage of the Guild Mountain's Oath, Sebastian Vael.

"Kinobori, apply first aid immediately and stop his bleeding. Warren, you assist her too." Cecilia ordered her subordinates, who began their work immediately. At the same time, Cecilia knew something had been odd about this forest, and Sebastian's injuries only confirmed it further.

"Sebastian, while you are getting recovered...I need to tell me all you can remember about this forest. Unfortunately, I cannot leave just yet. But I will protect all of us to the best of our abilities while we are still here."

As Cecilia spoke those words, however, she found herself puzzled. The brightness of the forest seemed to increase, and the clarity of her perception increased. Gasping, and covering her mouth with her hand, she saw dead bodies littered throughout the area. But she couldn't close her eyes, so with all of her mental strength, she swallowed down those images, and continued to keep watch over the forest, while noting that light had been seeping through the foliage now.

Mason and Bianca were in a similar state to Cecilia. The bodies had nearly cut off Bianca's concentration, as she had just applied an anesthetic plant to Sebastian to dull his sense of pain while summoning vines to begin patching up his broken bones. Mason, however, had made sure to keep Bianca concentrated on Sebastian, blocking the sight with his own body. Of course, even for him, seeing this gruesome place...was difficult.

"I got here three days ago," The man stated as he laid upon the ground while staring at the canopy of the forest stopping and starting as he spoke, "I had been tasked to look into the disappearances, probably like you have. It went fine, at first. I found the bodies you probably just noticed, judging by your facial expressions. Civilians who entered the forest before we knew what was going on, the first mages who had investigated this place, and even more I couldn't identify. But there's something in this forest... Something powerful, and terrifying. Two other S-class mages entered this forest before me. I haven't found a trace of either..."

"This cursed forest probably killed them, like it almost did to me. The trees move, the ground attempts to eat you, the light..." Sebastian's eyes widened as he noticed just how bright it had become. His voice almost shook as he uttered, "The light just wipes everything away..."

Sebastian groaned as he slowly lifted his uninjured arm. With a tone of panic, he stated: "I could barely stop the first one..." He had seen this light once before, three days ago. This was the light that had stolen the movement in his left arm. Now it was coming to claim the rest of him. "It has come back for me... The light..."

The injured man sat up slowly, ignoring any protests from those working on him. His arm burned as gravity pulled on it once more.

A grey circle of magic drew itself into existence as it flowed from his right hand, the eldritch symbols frantically writing them onto air as Sebastian drew upon the last of his power in an attempt to protect this group. Sebastian acknowledged that he was probably a dead man, but that didn't mean he wouldn't go down fighting.

"Leave now, while you still can..."

"I cannot," Cecilia responded, as her own magical energy flared upwards, and she began to spin her staff in various angles. "As the Captain of the Shield Unit: Alexander. I will not leave this place until you are all safe!" A tremendous amount of magic poured out of her being; a challenge to the forest, that seemed to glow brighter.

Such brightness was not the only thing that made itself present, however, whatever creature that had been lurking behind Sebastian had been gone, the water and leaves were all still again. The light upon the place had started to wander away from them. Everything had gone silent again, until...

A pitched scream echoed through the entire forest, making its roots and soil rumble vividly, "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" From the distance, in-between the leaves above them, the group would see a blinking star, from the same direction as the previous source of light. Rainbow circles surrounded the star for a moment and, within a heartbeat, it flashed into a gigantic form, illuminating all of the area and even its outskirts.

Boom.

Hissing with the sudden flash, the air itself got pierced through as it all focused upon Cecilia, Sebastian, and the other Rune Knights. Rocks and wood vanished into dust, the atmosphere tarnished in an array of colors, the scream continued to ressonate and reach everywhere. A cloud of yellow completely overwhelmed everything and everyone.

That was to be the fate of those that wandered into the Forest of Death.

## Chaos, Blooming Like Flowers

### Southern Entrance: The Plains

Sakura looked at Jax, she looked at the mages among him, then back at Jax and then at her feet. Restless as ever, Sakura wanted to dive into the forest despite its extremely uninviting looks. Jax had said it was just some forest who killed people 'supposedly' and now she could see where the supposed was coming from. Even though she hadn't entered - Jax had given her strict orders on acting and keeping up with the legal mages or her food would be halved - she could feel a presence like none other.

With one more look at Jax, she sighed. Like her stature in size, Sakura was bored and uneasy, a child at heart, mind and looks. She twiddled her feet from under her shoes before glancing at the symbol that she created. The symbol was quite simple, like most guild marks, it was an orange tail curled into a swirl that had black dots in places. Having sewn the symbol onto a skin-colored cloth to sell the idea the two were part of the guild, The Leaping Leopards, she couldn't help but frown. It wasn't bad but she could've sworn the circle on the far right had to go a bit more left. A few millimetres or two. She bit her lip.

Having stood with a few mages, politely waving but not really saying much to either, it was clear no one had done more than a glance or two at the symbol. It was placed on her right thigh, a place where most do not want to be seen peaking, but even though no one should know of such a small guild, never mind the symbol itself, it started to bother her. She itched to fix it.

Sakura, with great strength, decided to tug on Jax's arm. It was gentle, a sign she had used during times of fright or distress, but this time she just sighed. "Can I get like a snack or something, this waiting is making me hungry," she whined a little, staring at the backpack he carried. Food... the one and only thing that could distract Sakura over her own faults.

Jax had been looking around, observing the other mages. They had an aura of confidence, built through their years of magical training. Jax exuded the same amount of confidence, although it was a front. It was a skill he had picked up. The Forest of Death was rumoured to be dangerous, but the idea of acquiring high amounts of money for solving the problem enticed him more than it scared him.

As he felt Sakura's tug, his brotherly instincts kicked in. He looked down towards her, mouthing *"Whats wrong?"* before she spoke. He reached into the bag and pulled out a sandwich, which they had taken from a caravan on their way here. He tossed her the food, before continuing to look around. He didn't usually stay this quiet, but he knew that he had to observe the others. For now.

Sakura smiled and started tearing the crust off before slowly nibbling on the food. The tension was weird to see off Jax and although she wanted to bother her brother it was clear he wanted left alone. So, still restless, she walked with her sandwich and the crust and sat down, watching the forest.

The final member of Thunder Fang stepped out of the magic vehicle. His black hair sat over his forehead and peaked out like a shed. He turned back to the car behind him and looked at it for a moment. Surveying its make, he smiled a big smile before walking up to the window. There, he met with the face of the driver, his golden eyes looking at hers.

"If you put a scratch on her, you'll be homeless. And I ain't playin' either, Tianna." He threatened, tapping onto the car's door and turning back around.

The woman sighed and revved the engine, spinning the tires as she did. "It's okay, Max! She's in good hands, ya' know. I am an adult after all! Good luck on your mission and don't die~!" She screamed, smashing the gas pedal as though she had two left feet and taking off into the distance.

Shaking his head, Maxton turned around and met with the forest--the key location for their mission. All he could do was think back to what Marth stated about their mission. *"A missing platoon of Magic Knights?"* He thought to himself, before looking to both of teammates; Noelle Parrish and Daidalo Spiro, the other two members of **Thunder Fang**. By doing so, he was able also to scope out the other people waiting around with them.

Ruffling his nose, he took a mental note of the large magical signature of the woman along the large group. Pulling his hoodie over his head, Maxton held his hand down to his side and gave off a grin. "Let's get it poppin'."

Stepping out was one of the aforementioned team members, Daidalo, figure partially covered by his usual large cloak. Instantly, he had reached out for Maxton, "No, our orders require us to wait further orders..." Daidalo blinked for a moment at his own words, but proceeded, "We are to convene with everyone." With a hand, he gestured for the others that came before them.

Daidalo took no time in eyeing all of them, so that he could recognize them, even if by appearance alone. They were all to work together, were they not? Therefore, he had to learn about them as much as possible. "Greetings," Daidalo smiled.

One foot hesitantly touched the ground, then the other. Noelle could feel the grass gently graze against her ankles as she looked down at her feet. Following close behind her teammates, she awkwardly waved at the present mages. "The wind sure is nice around here..." she said, more to herself than others in a low voice. Her entire white and orange ensemble billowed against the breeze, however, with every step forward she took, she could feel an ominous presence. This was made evident by the sudden change of strength in the wind, even if it was for a brief moment, it nearly blew her hat off.

Tapping Daidalo's shoulder and lightly holding Maxton's hoodie, Noelle looked at them with eyes akin to those of a puppy. "Um...whatever is in there, we've got to be careful." They were new teammates but she had enjoyed the short time they had spent together and considered them comrade in arms, thus if there was danger, she thought she should let them.

Cain scoffed as he looked at the other mages showing up. He had arrived a while ago, and he was just looking around for his teammates. His hand instinctively hovered by the sheath of his dagger, yearning to go into the forest and wield the blade against whatever lurked within.

He bumped into a few mages but continued walking unapologetically. They should have seen him walking, they should've moved out of his way. Why would Cain bother to accommodate others? "Even the old guys not here yet..." he murmured under his breath. Usually Cain was the one who was late to events, and it was clear why. Being early stunk, he didn't have the patience to wait for others. The boy could only sigh as he kept walking around, searching for the other members of his team.

"Ahhhh! There are already soo many people in here." Arthur is heard screaming in the midst of the several mages came in search of completing the mission. "Little Cain is probably extremely worried about us, and I haven't seen Master Nolan in hours and worst of all I'm panicking." Seen in an extreme level of stress Arthur rapidly turned onto the only other member that is still on his company. "Miss Sarah am I over exaggerating?"

"What's there to be worried about? Even if Mast'a Nolli doesn't show, one of the Saints is gonna be with us." Sarah quipped back at the panicking teacher. "If they can't handle this, then well we're all probably dead anyways so there isn't anything to worry about. So just relax Arty." She finished with a confident smile. "So let's all just relax, wait for the Saint, and maybe get to know the people we're going in with."

A pair of individuals came floating down to the ground where all the other Legal Mages were congregated. The magical energy emitted from both of these two individuals was powerful enough that, even from a relative distance, their presences were noticed instantly, and everyone had turned to face them.

They had slowly descended onto the ground, until the sphere of air that surrounded them dispelled, releasing a gust of air that blew past the Mages and collided with the barrier in front of them. Muttering could be heard from the distance, and as the Guild Mages closed in, they could make out the faces of the two figures.

Nolan Houdini and Ivonne Houdini, famed faces in the World of Magic, with the latter being the prestigious member of the Ten Wizard Saints that had assigned this Job to the Legal Mages.

"Ivonne nee-sama!!! I'm telling you, just please let me come with you!! I need to make sure Swan Hymn are safe!!" Nolan annoyed his sister, tugging on her skirt while being dragged on the ground, as Ivonne continued to walk forward unattentively.

"Nolan, you're being an embarrassment you know." Ivonne shrugged off his attempts of persuading her, while his face (and her skirt) were being dirtied by the dust on the ground. Ivonne turned to face the group, and, as opposed to greeting them, narrowed her eyes and studied every last Mage that stood in front of her.

"Hmmm..." Ivonne continued to think, eyeing all the Mages up, down, left, and right. "You all seem fairly competent." Ivonne nodded. She then realized, as she tried to walk forward again, that a weight was holding her back.

Peering downwards again, the sight of Nolan trying to keep Ivonne stuck in place with his Vacuum Magic made Ivonne grin in amusement, before her brows furrowed inwards in anger, and her hair rose upwards. "Get off me, Nolan!!!"

Stomping the ground, a shockwave punctured into the earth and shook the ground, before a pillar of earth shot upwards from underneath Nolan, sending him flying into the air.

"A-aaaah!!!" Nolan shouted, as he continued to soar upwards and upwards. "SWAN HYMN!!!! IVONNE NEE-SAMA WILL KEEP YOU SAFE...PROBABLY!!!!!"

Nolan continued to fly away, seemingly without any care, before his presence and voice disappeared from the senses of the Legal Mages.

"Anyway, hello everyone. My name is Ivonne Houdini. I am the member of the Ten Wizard Saints that called you here today." Ivonne introduced herself calmly, dusting off her skirt and bowing to the Mages in front of her.

"Did you have any questions before we get started on our little expedition today~?"

Sakura looked from her sandwich to the pillar that now stood before them. It was erected in seconds and Sakura couldn't help but stare at it. It took her a while before she realized she was shaking. The Ten Wizard Saints were powerful, common knowledge to any and all, but this was something else for her. Swallowing down the remainders of her food with force, she kept staring blindly. A cold sweat dripped down before she got rid of eye contact and stepped back next to Jax. If she was to somehow figure out, Sakura was sure Ivonne would kill her before the forest even tried.

As Jax noted Sakura's nervousness, his protective nature came into effect. He reassuringly placed grabbed her hand, squeezing it before letting go. He wasn't going to let his sister get in harms way, he'd rather die before that happened. He looked towards the massive pillar that Ivonne had concocted in an instant. The power of one of the Ten Wizard Saints was...inspiring, almost.

Face still stuck on the forest, Maxton hadn't paid too much attention to the comical act between Ivonne and Nolan. He'd heard Ivonne's name plenty of times from Tianna, who'd called her a witch and every other name all because Donnell couldn't tame himself. He was aware, that much like his brother, she was also a member of the Ten Wizard Saints, but that didn't impress him. His focus had been solidified on the forest ahead.

"Yeah." Maxton simply responded to Ivonne. "My only question is can everyone else not ask questions so we can get this started." His words were like a command to the sun, which shined off of his clean half white half red hoodie and glistened against the Golden Dragon emblem that was custom patched onto it. If anything, he had pride.

Cain had let out an exhale of air from his nose as Nolan had shot through the air. It was funny, seeing the old man fly off like that. It was also a testament to Ivonne's raw power, something Cain kept in mind. But he kept walking until he found who he was looking for; the other Swan Hymn members.

He strolled up between the other two mages, patting them both on the back briefly to signal his arrival. "Hey, you two." he murmured, keeping his tone hushed. Cain said nothing more as the boy from Golden Dragon spoke. He snickered in response to Maxton's comment. "*Gutsy.*" he thought. But he wasn't against the suggestion. All Cain wanted to do was get in the Forest, and find out whatever was causing the disappearances. The premise of a fight was also on the table, and that's what Cain truly desired.

Seeing his master once again Arthur's eyes for a brief moment calm down, only to immediately panic back at the sight of Nolan's sudden disappearance. "I'm sure you were already expecting that." He said looking at Ivonne while regaining his posture. "Well, I guess that's it". Now with a somehow more firm and confident sounding voice, Arthur murmurs to himself "Time for the teacher to show his worth." And as fast as his posture changed towards taking for actions, he immediately changes once Cain shows his presence. "Little Cain you are here, I was soo worried".

"Got just one question, any idea what's in there?" Sarah asked the Saint casually. "Figure you don't, but having some idea of what we're about to run into would be useful."

"From the reports given to me, it seems to be a Magic Item of considerable power. Enough so, that even S-Class Mages haven't been able to make it out of this forest successfully." Ivonne moved forward. She didn't bother to take a further look at any of the Mages behind her, but noted that Maxton was highly motivated. "Try not to rush these things, Max-tan."

Ivonne looked at the barrier before her. She noted its complexity and knew the only woman who could conjure a barrier of this much strength and this many layers. "*Cecilia-chan...I hope you're okay...*" Ivonne thought to herself, before stretching out her right hand.

"Everyone, move back please. I don't need new Mages to be caught up in this." As she gave her warning, Ivonne released a considerable amount of power from her being. Pure white in colour, the aura that exerted from her was fearsome, but it was wrapped around her body, to prevent the others from getting engulfed in her power.

"Empty throne filled, Vessel of the great crown. Stage of the five elements, Invasion of the sixth. Witness fate as your souls ascend to heaven!" Ivonne recited an incantation, and suddenly, the fearsome aura that coated her being seemed to transform into a wispy state. It exited from her body, and, taking on the appearance of ghosts, invaded the very barrier that Cecilia had conjured earlier on. At the same time, a flood of visions appeared in Ivonne's mind, of Cecilia's fear, of the presence that she had sealed, and the intentions she had as she sealed this entrance.

The history and intention of this Magic were clear: they had to save the innocent from this disaster. Ivonne outstretched both of her hands, and subsequently moved them in a circular formation, unveiling a magic formula before her that had the symbols of five elements etched into it, while coloured a stark white. "Corona Magna!"

The magic formula had begun to rapidly rotate, and the magic power that floated in the air appeared to have an entirely different...*feeling* attached to it. Almost as if its restrictive presence vanished, and was replaced with a feeling of acceptance, and dependence on Ivonne herself. As the formula continued to spin, the barrier's presence began to soften, bit by bit, before suddenly...

The entire forest could hear the sound of glass, shattering.

It was an explosive sound that was echoed throughout every entrance of the forest. Any and all who had been in this forest would now know that Ivonne Houdini, the Ethereal, had made her presence known, and had broken the barrier that kept the forest at bay.

Just what effect this invasion would have...only the forest could tell.

"...I see what was being described now." Ivonne looked with a mix of morbidness and curiosity plastered on her face. "There is...an eery silence in the air. The barrier before us protected us from the deafening silence...but I suppose we can't afford to be babied, now can we?" Ivonne remarked with a grin.

"I won't enter the forest with you immediately. But I will keep a track on all of you." Ivonne mentioned, as she clicked her fingers. Three sprite-sized versions of Ivonne seemingly manifested into existence, each imbued with an element. Fire, Water and Lightning.

"Aquavonne, go with Swan Hymn. Ignivonne, go with Leaping Leopards. Elevonne, go with Golden Dragon."

The sprite-like beings dispersed and stayed with each of the three Guilds that took part in this operation. They were Ivonne's senses, and were her *link* with all the Guilds, should trouble be brewed in this forest.

While ordinarily she would have guided them within the forest, she was unable to do so. She could not shake off the feeling that she had to conserve power for...*something*. After she had connected her Magic with Cecilia's barrier, there was something odd about this entire situation. The magic that had been emanating from the forest...it did not feel like something that should exist in this world...

#### Tangled Wings

"Well boys, no time like the present eh?" Sarah stated as she started walking towards the forest, taking advantage of the now exposed opening whistling all the while. The light quickly disappeared behind her as she entered the woods proper, the groups fanning out to leave her with just her guild mates in tow. But that was fine, more groups meant more people whatever was causing all of this to happen had to pay attention to. She would just have to see whatever came her way and deal with it. But for now, now was the time to think a bit.

"So before I float the idea I got, either of you two have a plan for this mess?"

"Apologies Miss Sarah and Little Cain, I know that both of you see me, Professor Greyfang an extraordinary elemental mage capable of great feats." Arthur with great pride behind his voice proclaims to the two mages that probably see him as someone that is going trough several layers of craziness.

"But unfortunately I have failed you." He proclaims as he once again tries to keep a somewhat "normal" appearance. "I would love to hear your strategy Miss Sarah, as strategies do not fall within my specialties.

Cain turned to Arthur and scoffed. "I just see you as an old guy stuck with the job of teachin'. I don't give a hoot about who you are." he retorted, running a hand through his hair. He then positioned himself to face Sarah. "Go on blondie," he began. "Tell me this plan of yours."

"Well, from my understanding. Something is stalking and attacking people in this forest. So why not give it something to attack? I'll make a lot of noise and cast a few spells to get whatever it is's attention, then as it's stalking me, you two can ambush it. I'm durable enough, have to be for the stuff I've run into, that I can probably last long enough if it goes straight for me for you two to intervene. And if it's an animal of some kind, well trying to eat me is a pretty poor decision." She paused for a moment before finishing, "It's a bit on the risky side for me, but this way we can be loud on searching while still taking care to actually protect ourselves. Thoughts?"

"It is, in fact, a dangerous idea Miss Sarah." Arthur said for the second time since the beginning of this mission with a calm tone. "It's a risk but me and Little Cain should be strong enough to protect you if necessary."

The boy rolled his eyes at Arthur. "Don't fuckin' call me 'Little Cain'." the boy spat, getting agitated. He hated condescending names, they made him feel small. But Cain knew he wasn't, and so the mere idea of being thought of like that boiled his very blood. He faced Sarah and nodded. "Sure thing, birdy." he began. Despite his dislike of pet names, he was always one to call others different names. "As long as I get to hit shit, I'll be good."

"All right then, we got ourselves a plan." Sarah grinned.

"Envenomed Soul." Sarah announced as she held her hand to her chest. A purple magical circle appeared behind her back as she cast her spell, drawing a measure of her magical power to bring forth the poison from within.

Sarah's skin acquired a purplish hue as drips of toxic liquid rolled down it, being ejected from several of her pores. This spell made her entire body poisonous, rendering most close range attacks a terrible idea.

"Now try and keep up boys." Sarah finished before starting to walk off, loudly calling out for the missing people, the poison dripping off yet body leaving blots of death in its wake.

Cain clenched his fists as Sarah cast her magic. Not out of anger, but of excitement. As she walked off, Cain kept a steady pace behind her. Careful enough to avoid the splashing of the poison, but close enough that he could leap in to fight off whatever came her way. "Do ya want me to make some noise as well?" Cain called out.

#### Fanged Wood

Before Ivonne could finish her statement, Maxton had already dove head first into the forest without any regard of his teammates. Granted the electrons floating in the air, Maxton could sense there was something up ahead and he wanted to waste no time getting to it. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. One foot in front of the other, it seemed as though the more he ran the faster he'd ended up going.

Suddenly he stopped in his tracks as he planted his shoes into the ground kicking up dirt in the process. He looked to both his left and right with an eye of curiosity and proceeded to scratch his head. There was an awkward silence for a short period of time. Even the forces of nature we quiet.

"Uh, what am I supposed to be doing again?"

### Northern Entrance: The Mountain

Having long since arrived at the location which has been dubbed Forest of Death but chose to take her time in scouting the area after traversing the northern mountain range to reach said location. Glancing around the magical forest with a curious yet cautious leer Ginevra couldn't stop the shiver that ran down her spine as she took in the forests ominous presence making her feel as if she was a small prey before a large and intimidating predator before she willed herself to regal control. "So this is the fabled Forest of Death" She spoke softly to herself as she began to trudge towards the forest.

"The description of this place doesn't do it justice at all." She once again softly stated to herself as she took in the dark and rotted trees that spring upwards well beyond her vision is capable of seeing while casting an eternal shadow across the landscape, the overgrown moss, and fungi that covers the entire layout and the pools of black bogs.

Nodding to herself at her deduction she continued her journey being careful to avoid stepping anyplace that she couldn't see or was unsure of while simultaneously avoiding making any direct skin contact with anything in her path. "*I'm really beginning to think my assumption of this forest being directly or inadvertently linked to some form of Lost Magic or dark artifact was right*" she thought as the feeling of dread seemingly increased with step she took deeper into the forest. "Maybe I should have contacted another member of the Guild instead of coming her solo." Was the thought running through her mind as she noticed the dim in light the deeper she traversed.

Mentally smacking herself at her cowardice and slightly depressed thoughts she paused to gather her magic basking the darkened area in a pale yellow glow as an orb of concentrated magic hovered just above her head illuminating the path ahead. "Come on Ginevra your the Guild Master of the legendary and powerful mage guild White Forest not some preteen or civilian." She spoke aloud to herself as she felt her will and courage began to rush back into very core as if a spell was cast which caused her to push on this time with her guard fully up and a noticeable confident stride in her steps.

The orb summoned by Ginevra seemed to flicker slightly with every step she took into the forest, its brightness hovering over the grass and the trees, while a current of air travelled towards where she was headed. It blew by her hair and clothes.

Her feet made slightly audible sounds as they stepped over the grass and soil, yet, those weren't the only things she had stepped over. Indeed, should she hear it, Ginevra would notice that her boots also came in contact with wood, though, it didn't seem to be roots, otherwise the terrain wouldn't be so flat. After she had taken five steps, the wind current had seemingly gotten stronger, though, her hair flared in the opposite direction from before.

As she walked, the atmosphere around her seemed to brighten, while her own spell seemed to tone down.

It hadn't been more than fifteen minutes ago since he'd finally arrived, left his magical vehicle by the edge of the mountain path and ventured into the forest itself alongside the two skeletal minions that accompanied him. Being an avid traveler and seeker of riches, Nero had thought that his past experiences would've made this nothing more than just another walk in the park, but the seemingly never-ending rows of trees and dark atmosphere made it more of a hassle than he'd expected. He'd yet to hear or spot anyone inside the forest, as a matter of fact, he'd rarely hear anything besides the occasional snap of a twig or the rattling of bones of his companions. Which was even more annoying as Nero had already tried to spot any traces of corpses in the earth below, only to end up receiving mixed messages that prevented him from pinpointing anything specific for the time being.

"At least they got the name right..." Nero had only just begun conversing with his minions as his short attention span called for him to do something more than just walking. He couldn't deny the feeling that someone was looking at him from the back of his neck, the forest was certainly one of its kind as magic seemed too brittle though each fibre of its existence.

Reaching yet another point upon which his only way to his next location was to take a long way around, Nero stood facing a small pound that blocked his path from going where he *believed* to be towards the centre. He looked around for a moment and spotted a few sturdy trees not too far from each other inside the pound, seeing an opportunity before him, Nero had his minions reassemble themselves to form a short bridge from one tree to the other. Making sure to take hold of the sword, shield, bow and arrows given to each skeleton respectively before they arrived. "Can't complain too much about it though. There aren't any loud-mouthed brats, no one complaining and no one to mess around with." He continued to walk until finally reaching the other side of the pound, turning around to witness his minions returning to their normal form.

Only to start shouting, "OF COURSE IT'S SOMETHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING HERE AT ALL!" Nero expected the echo of his words to at least make him company for but a moment, but it was turned on deaf ears as the forest itself appeared to have swallowed it up as quickly as it came. Grunting to himself as he turned back around and ventured forth.

Seconds later, it seemed that Nero's echoes finally came through, "...THERE IS NOTHING HERE AT ALL." Passing by his frame just as he walked, the whole grass turned in the opposite direction, while the water at the pond budged formed a small ripple, which instantly stopped.

All of a sudden, since Nero had his back turned to the pond, a hiss came by and filled his ears. Hot, a blanket of white and grey exploded in all directions, sliding by the trees, leaves, not going upward due to the blockage of the trees being so next to one another. Thus, the fog that came by covered from tip to toe, from soil to high in the air.

One, with normal vision, could only glare a few feet ahead of themselves, before all was consumed by white. Should Nero glance back at the pond he traversed, he could notice that the water had been gone.

To think the sound of one's own voice could take such a long time to register when you rarely heard it from the other end, something which became evident for Nero as he'd stopped dead in his tracks as the voice came back to him. It was odd in just more ways than one, from the sudden resonance of audibility that had so far been unheard of and what came after.

The young mage had not taken notice the way the grass had shifted as his gaze had been on the world above him, nor the effects it had on the water behind him. His head lowered itself, shoulders and arms arched upwards and as Nero's entire body jolted in response to the hissing sound that had startled him. "Holy FUCKING spirits man!" It annoyed him that he'd been caught off-guard like that- only to have his body be put on even more edge as the mist all of the sudden wrapped around him. Almost as if by programming, the minions and moved in to cover him. The one with the bow pulling its string back and positioning itself behind its summoner while the other one covered the front.

Being the eyes and ears of the operation, Nero tried to make the most of the surrounding by looking around to see if anything else would follow it up. Almost missing the fact that the water was gone if he hadn't looked a second time, causing a response that wasn't the fright of a victim nor the smile of a madman- but the curious eyes of an adventurer.

On one hand, he could move forward with the original plan, or take a step back to see what he could find in the now missing lake. Gazing back to the front for a moment as he pondered and waited to see if the forest had any more surprises for him.

It was quiet on the way there, Axle had been traveling for what felt like hours in a caravan provided to him for the sole purpose of reaching his job site, the silence almost deafening to the point of making him feel uncomfortable. But the equal measure, it hadn't been 3 days since he'd last converse with his employer as to the nature of the job he was offered. Rustling through the contents of his bag, they made up what were but a few essentials, nothing too luxurious he thought, consisting of food and water, with another pair of clothes if the occasion called for it. The only item that really stood out was a document logging all the details pertaining to his job, merely comprised of scavenging and reconnaissance, with the disappearance of the local militia that was made up Rune Knights.

Upon arriving, the thickness of the atmosphere stood out to him immediately. The air, lack for a better word, was tense and thick from foliage, almost where Axle could feel his lungs weigh him down simply by taking a simple breath. From a distance, he could see a magical vehicle parked along the road, taking a moment to looks at before continuing on, *Talk about no class*, he thought, wondering what the owner is like to arrive in that bulky thing. From where he's arrived, he looked for his position on the map, he was halfway above the base of the mountain, leading him into a mountain trail led directly into the heart of the forest, "Well, guess it wasn't an exaggeration then." Just setting foot into the mountain sent a cold sweat barreling down, the presence it had alone easily earned it it's named, sinister in nature hadn't even begun to describe it. Taking a single leap, Axel charged atop of the tree branches, the length and volume being abnormally high for normal trees to compare, wondering if it had something to do with the forest that produced such a bizarre environment. Further in Axle, could hear forest, being littered with strange and unnatural noises coming from all manner of creatures, that even with the name "death" in its name, it was lively with all manner of activity.

Pausing momentarily, Axle let go of his travel bag, letting it rest along the ground so as to listen more closely to his surroundings, using his magic to hone his hearing, expunging the location of numerous creatures hiding and scurrying along the forest's floor and thick greenwood. It became evident that as soon as he had stepped into this locale, all manner of predators and animals had already marked him as prey, waiting fervently for him to let his guard down. "So it's gonna be like that is it?" Placing his hand along his waist, Axle let it rest on a small pouch carrying several keys in it, quickly flinching as he removed his hand, throwing the notion out of his mind instantly, thinking better to conserve his strength in the long run rather than expend it so early for such trivial matters. "Ugh, it wouldn't be worth doing if it was that easy." Picking up his bag, Axle scurried on ahead, increasing his speed and frequency in order to stay one step ahead from any other animals, in this instance, avoiding any altercations with other possible wizards.

Bushes were all scattered throughout the path that Axle chose to go, masking the creatures that he had assumed to be there. They ruffled, not audibly, making some leaves drop to the soil. Once one ruffled, one next to it followed, and the one next to the latter, and so on. Some were actually louder than the others, but, they stopped through no interval.

They never went too far away from where Axle stood, shifting their vibrations backwards so that they went around instead of proceeding. Looking at the leaves dropped by these bushes, one would find them missing.

Stopping his pace almost immediately, Axle pounced off the tree branch and back unto the ground in rapid alert, barrelling across the ground, frantically looking from all sides, his thoughts going a mile an hour as the bushes came alive with with activity. With a knee-jerk reaction, he could feel his back tense up, readying himself into position.

"Well shit, took em' long enough huh," he said, letting out a cough as he tried to catch his breathe. Taking a moment to feel the shaking occurring in the air, Axle paused for a moment to feel around for all the activity taking place around him, closing his eyes to take in the stimuli through his senses, quickly circling back through the mangrove and into a wider space within the forest where his field of vision would be less obstructed by the terrain. With open space in mind, Axle hoped that if push came to shove, and fighting was unavoidable, being this close to the mountain entrance would at least provide some measure of opponents for him to measure up the inhabitant's combat strength, doing so before traversing deeper into the brush.

Arriving at a large reservoir further in, he turned to face the front, leaning his back toward the pool of water, giving him full visibility of his background. Grabbing a small rock off the ground, Axle glanced at it for a few moments, throwing it several times up in the air, as if to weight it with the palm of his hand, grasping it rather powerfully before lunging it, following the rustling motion in the shrubbery hedge masking his assailant from his sight.

That aim was certainly on point, flying across the atmosphere, the rock thrown by Axle was, for sure, to hit the moving bush head on. Dust and leaves would have flown out of there, but, no sound of the rock hitting anything ever came. Just before it met the leaves, they rustled and danced away, something akin to a black hole opened itself from the bush's middle, then, instantly closed into itself without any audible sound.

Rock gone, sound absent, everything went into quietness once again. Rustle, the same bush moved from one side to the other, still sticking to the ground itself... then, the bush to its side rumbled instead, making itself quiet down.

This time, much rapidly, the ruffling shifted from one bush to another within a second. They shook the very earth beneath them, possibly taking Axle out of his own balance, still, no rumbling came from it, it just shook. Should one blink, they would miss that sometimes two bushes ruffled at the same time. Their actions had provoked some dust and leaves fell quickly from the trees above, some of these leaves, once they hit the ground, created small craters upon the soil.

### Western Entrance: The River

The Anemoi. A rudimentary Magic Item to the naked eye and a broken object to the untrained. Yet, to a proper Treasure Hunter, the Anemoi was the ultimate tool for adventure. For the compass would only point in the direction of the user's greatest desire. As if it dug deep into the spirit and deciphered the heart within. In Saladin's hand, it leads the group to this massive forest of death and destruction.

Things were quiet..or as quiet as a forest could be. *The Forest of Death,* Saladin contemplated. *Its always the blank of some horrible thing. If it was me, I'd name it the Forest of Second Chances. That'll catch them by surprise.*

The ebony mage looked to the others of his guild with a smile. "We're here." He said with a joking tone of fear. He scanned the members he brought along, saddened that he couldn't bring the entire outfit with him. But traveling in such a large group would be detrimental.

"Solomon, I'm hoping you're ready to raise some hell." Although Solomon was new to the guild, their previous mission proved that the purple haired stranger had the drive and similar ambition. His attention turned back to the rest. "I need someone to stick to the shadows and out of sight." Saladin offered as he started to walk towards the river.

Solomon walked along with the group, a little behind Saladin. He would occasionally glance at Anemoi, hoping for some better direction than *"Go East"* but he really couldn't complain. It was a magic compass after all. Solomon perked up when Saladin stopped the group and mentioned him by name. "I am indeed ready to raise some hell, put it right up there in heaven. That's how high we're gonna raise it." He nodded with a sly grin on his face. Then came the request for a stealth operative.

Now Solomon could sneak around alright but stealth was not his strong suit. He lacked the ninja-like grace that some of the stealthier mages had but he would certainly try. "Gonna be completely honest with ya Saladin, stealth is not where my magic or I shine but I'll give it a go if ya need it." He turned to the rest of the group. "Just gonna put it out there though, not my best. If any of you think you're better please say so."

"No," Saladin replied. His eyes rested on Arwa and Ziyaad. "Your magic and mine are better suited for the front lines." He said to Solomon. "I'd rather Arwa."

Solomon sighed with relief. "I couldn't agree more."

She smirked, nodding as she blended into the surroundings. When she spoke next, it was to the minds of her allies. "Try not to have too much fun without me. I'll be personally hurt."

Saladin smirked. Yes. This was their usual plan, for any threat would be drawn to them before Arwa. But he still remained vigilant, keeping his senses on Arwa just in case some crazed lunatic managed to capture her. That was the scary part of this formation...Although nearby, she still lacked the immediate support of Saladin and the others. But he trusted in her. More than he trusted in himself at times. "Come on guys." His final words before they entered the forest.

With the group of mages stepping feet inside the terrains of the forest, nearby howls would fill their ears, not too loud, but not too silent. Paws pressed over grass, provoking soft thuds, they seemed to get louder and louder, however, nothing could be seen approaching the group. Soaring by suddenly, the wind pushed some leaves, masquerading some of the thuds.

Yet, they continued, going either loud or soft. It was nothing short of an investigation, after all, one couldn't tell whom had wandered into the forest. Breezing by again, the wind got stronger, prompting the trees and some of their twigs to get pushed, creaking. When some of them creaked, the wind was seemingly too strong, as they didn't budge back to their normal shapes.

Although they did stop, the currents of wind came time and time, from the right, then from the left, from any direction. They didn't push anything that time, only slightly brushing by everything.

The continued sounds of paw steps and the unnaturally strong winds set on Arwa. "Um guys," she commenting, utilizing the link she created to reach each member, "seems we have company." Arwa fell silent again as she listened to the continuing approach. No shapes or shadows in the distance...that was weird; and disturbing. Not that she believed in ghosts...

Saladin covered his face to avoid having anything fall into his eyes. There was nothing there...but he felt something approaching. The leftover evolutionary trait passed down all descendants of hunter-gatherers. *Stay hidden.* He commanded. His voice as protective as ever. The young mage stuck his hand out, ordering his team to slow down. Let this thing come out to them.

Following suit, Solomon crouched down and watched closely. His ears focusing on the noises, attempting to identify what animal was moving through the forest, it certainly wasn't an Ailstag. *I don't like this* Solomon added softly. The unknown was always the worst. One hand hovered over his sword, his other ready to focus magic.

The sound of an engine echoed throughout the area as Macnia Gowan found himself looking at a sight unlike any other while he sat on his magic motorcycle. Before him, there was a large river which seemed to lead directly into a gigantic forest. "I've never seen this forest before," Macnia commented, scratching his head in confusion. "I'm pretty sure I would recall such an ominous-looking forest on my previous deliveries to Era."

As Macnia continued to stare at the forest before him, his eyes suddenly widen in a mixture of shock and fear as an unnatural aura echoed from the forest. The mere feeling caused Macnia to break out into a cold sweat as his knees buck from the sheer amount of pressure exuded by forest. His instincts were screaming at him that this forest was something beyond his capabilities as a mage and far exceeded his understanding as a human.

He needed to run away from this place. *He needed to hide somewhere.*  ***He needed to call for help.***

It was at that last thought that managed to snap him out of his fear-induced panic. The ability to help. It was something he admired since he was a child, watching his family help people in a multitude of ways. His father helped by forging weapons and armor for people, his mother helped people by teaching children and his brother went out and joined a Guild, doing who knows what to help people. However, even Macnia believed they paled in comparison to his mentor, who was helping him achieve his dream. Yet, here he was cowering like a child.

Taking a deep breath, Macnia forced himself to stand straight up as he glared at the forest before him. His master wanted him to deliver the parcel to Ms. Houdini and he would do so to the best of his ability. He wouldn't fault before a scary forest. Dismounting from his bike, Macnia placed his hand on the vehicle as it was bathed in light before it was transported within his pocket dimension.

"Don't worry, Master Donnell," Macnia said to himself, clenching his right hand into a fist. "I'll overcome this obstacle and deliver your message to Ms. Houdini! Just like you've helped me, I'll always help you." With his declaration made, he jumped into the lake as water splashed around him. Not deterred by the wetness of his clothes, Macnia kicked off of the ground with great force as he dashed towards the forest, unaware of the seriousness of the situation he would soon be in.

Squish, squish. Macnia's boots pressed rapidly and lightly over the surface, yet, they left no trail of smashed grass behind. Whilst he continued his sprint, squish, squish... squish, something trailed, also smashing the grass. Sunlight bathed some of the grass, narrowly passing by the leaves, the wind soothed by.

Squish, squish. His and the other, they were not in accordance to his, but, rather, came right after. It seemed whatever he could be carrying had attracted small companions. However, with the lack of light and the agglomeration of trees, it could be difficult to make out what kind of animal followed him.

Macnia's movement soon began to slow as he traversed through the eerie forest, coming to a brisk pace. Looking around at the foliage around him, he couldn't help but frown as he said, "I wonder what exactly lives within this forest. I haven't seen nor heard anything since I have arrived in the forest." As he finished this statement, his ears twitched as he finally noticed the sounds of the creature following him.

Glancing over his shoulders, Macnia stared behind him as he attempted to acquire a sight of whatever could be tailing him. Squinting his eyes into the darkness and trees before him, he frowned as he couldn't make out the creature. Macnia came to a full stop as he shifted towards the beast, shifting into a preparation stance in case it tried to attack him, eyes narrowed in anticipation.

Just like Macnia himself came to a halt, the beasts that followed him did the same, hiding just behind a few of the trees and the darkness itself. Several bright eyes stared at him, glowing green. Squish, they stepped on the grass, as if telling Macnia to simply carry on to his mission, no other sounds other than the small creatures stepping came through.

All of the forest around them seemed to be quiet, even when myriads of events happened in some of its areas, their echoes simply weren't enough to reach over.

Macnia frowned as his suspicions of the forest continued to grow as the lack of sound became evident to him. Macnia took a deep breathe as he calmed himself, realizing that it would a dumb move if he lost himself and panicked. The best course of action he could make would be to continue through the forest as turning back would result in him meeting though creatures who were previously tailing him.

With his plan set, Macnia turned around as he walked down the path set before him, albeit at a faster pace.

### Eastern Entrance: The Swamp

Everything was silent within the swamplands, perhaps it had been like this for a long time. Outside of those distant roars coming from *that place*, this land of murky water and moss trees seemed untouched. Unravaged by the dark and destructive power that emanated from within that accursed forest. A magic circle manifested above the unsanitary water, strange incantations surrounding the green invocation of magic. Springing forward from the circle was a strange rabbit creature, flapping its ears to keep itself from touching the defiling filth known as the swamp's water.

Not too long after it, roughly a second or two, maybe even less, a man exited the magical circle, one big step followed by another. He adjusted his top hat as his shoes dug into the filthy water. Something squished in the water, one would even question what such a dapper man would be doing in such a revolting place. He generated a strange aura, though there was no one around to dictate such a thing, something seemed off. But amidst this forest of suffering, he was merely a toy to whatever laid within.

"Thank you, Circinus. Take a rest, my friend." Ambrosus spoke, causing Circinus to nod in agreement as it's body faded to golden specks of magic. The man fastened the key back to his parasol. An odd expression on his face, not one of anger, or happiness, but something that seemed to be a controlled excitement in the contained a smirk.

He began to walk through the forest, opening his parasol and using it to shield himself from the non-existent rain. He could sense it, the ominous power resonating within this place. Whatever it was, it was something like he'd never seen before. And it merely enticed him more to discover the nature of this forest. And whatever was causing this disturbance. However, that hadn't been all he sensed. Twenty-two magic signatures, one had suddenly faded as quick as it appeared.

But another had truly caught his attention, power so immense there was no way they were a simple mage, perhaps even above S-Class. And all these magic signatures seemed to resonate from different sides of the forest, clearly he hadn't been the only person interested in the happenings of this famed place of despair. Ambrosus could only chuckle as he went on his way.

"I wonder...I wonder what awaits me within this place, the Forest of Death."

Wait, Ambrosius wouldn't have to. Much like a barrage, even if the atmosphere high above his head was covered with leaves and wood, droplets of... water fell upon the place. Painting the atmosphere itself in a green, it nevertheless was quieter than rain usually was. Not only that, it seemed to produce steam against the grass and Ambrosius's umbrella, quite slowly corroding both.

With the top blocked by leaves, however, the steam that gathered itself didn't go away, lightly limiting the vision of anyone who wandered there. Plus, as seconds passed, Ambrosius would feel more wetness around the soles of his boots, the water didn't seem to go away, instead, becoming something akin to a thin and new layer to the soil.

The place was not plain, some spots had more water than others. However, some of the deep places didn't have as much water as some high ones had, it stood there even if it should fall down to a lower area.

Ambrosus stopped in his tracks at the sound of hisses, nearly thinking he'd acquired a slithery new companion. That was until he noticed the steam, something from the atmosphere had begun corroding the foliage and even the man's parasol. He could only smirk as he examined what this compound could possibly be.

"Let us see, a green liquid of sorts." He glanced up for a mere second, noticing how whatever this substance was should've been blocked somewhat by the trees. This wasn't your every day rainfall, it's appearance had to have been some magical byproduct. Ambrosus would then notice the steam coalescing around him, scanning for any magical signatures that maybe closing in.

Lastly, Ambrosus couldn't help but notice how the falling liquid had formed a layer above the water. If memory served him correct, this meant the liquid had to have a lesser density than that of water. He thought through what he could gather from this sudden event, "Let us see; green liquid, acidic, lesser density than water." As an individual whom has been living for at least a hundred years, spending the first seventy or so of those years surrounded by books, containing information both magical and not, there was no doubt in his mind he could identify the substance.

While racking his memories, he searched around for a cave, or any secure location to shield himself from the rain until it would lighten up.

Even if Ambrosus seemed to possess nigh knowledge on the world around him, it seemed as if he couldn't notice that the liquid going around was... water. Droplets and large bodies swam around the area, while Ambrosus searched for a hideout of sorts, and carried within them what seemed to be stone pieces. Should the mage continue to walk, he would indeed see a cave in the distance, entrance human-sized and oval.

Carrying itself in many bodies, the water followed Ambrosus, using the rain that brought it to mask its movement. Like before, it seemed as if all of the area's floor had been flooded, this time, even areas higher than the holes in the ground.

Before Ambrosus would even step a few meters before the cave, the water had completely surrounded the area, provoking steam upon trees and grass once again. Suddenly, some of the stones that were swallowed along its body shone a weak green, travelling within the water and gathering themselves into one spot. Mimicking it, the water bodies flung themselves across the place, sliding by some trees without... burning them? A sphere swiftly formed before the cave's entrance, with the many stones at its center.

"Oh my." Ambrosus noted, observing how the water moved upon the trees, eventually collecting at the entrance of the cave before him. The way it all happened, it wasn't natural. Whatever this was had to be completely magical in nature. Something that intrigued him. "What do we have here?"

Ambrosus had a mischievous smirk, he still could detect those magical signatures all around the forest and now, more had begun to appear. As if creatures, or other mages had begun to emerge from the forest. But he kept his focus on that one magical signature that gave off overwhelming power. "I wouldn't be worried about me friend, you see, there appears to be a mage wondering your domain with overwhelming potential. Perhaps a Wizard Saint?" He knew reasoning with whatever this was would be beyond him, but any focus it would cause upon the one he spoke of meant less trouble for him. "I'd focus all your efforts on finding and eliminating them. I hate to say it, but they be the end of you."

"This is an entrance, right? I'll probably see myself in." Gai thought to himself as he looked at the swamp from the outside.

Seeing a fallen branch nearby, Gai went over and picked it up, studying the piece of wood up and down. It was roughly the same height as him and looked good enough to help him trek through the supposedly muddy and dense waters of the swamp ahead. Firmly gripping it in his left hand, he tapped the bottom of the make-shift staff on the ground, testing to see how well it may hold up when applying force through it.

"...It'll be good enough as it is. Hopefully, I won't have to do much fighting." Gai thought out loud. Taking a deep breathe in and out, he advanced his journey into the swamp.

The part of the swamp that Gai had proceeded into was quite dense and dark, forcing him to use his staff as a sort of detector for the ground in front of him. He stretched his arm out with the staff a few centimeters in front of him, giving him time to take action in case his staff detected a deep puddle in his way. As much as he didn't like the dark, he couldn't complain due to be stuck underground in a tomb for six hundred years. With his other hand, Gai pushed through shrubs and tall bushes that made up the vegetation of the swamp, most seemingly feeling with small thorns that tugged onto his rustic gi. After ten minutes of traversing the dark, Gai stumbled across some patches of light that broke through the swamp's trees, shining down on the environment that the swamp was on this side.

Murky waters layered with lilypads, brown-greyish trees that stood low and high over the ground, and shrubs littering most of the brown dirt ground. The croaking of toads and chirping of crickets could be heard from among the green, almost seemingly taunting Gai the further he continued on his way. There was a strange ambiance to this swamp that Gai had not felt that much before in the Ikinobiru Province, one that warned him about what lied further. *"Are there monsters here? Or other mages?"*

While Gai went deeper and deeper through the swamp's waters, the toads increased their croaking, not at any pace, however. Counting them was futile, yet, one only croaked after the other, waiting no longer than a second once its companion was done. Similarly, the crickets also sung louder, though, they sung in groups, rather than one by one.

Across the dark water, bubbles littered its surface, becoming no larger than the toads that stood by, still, it seemed that the water had a darker shade on some bits and a green one where Gai walked through. Some of them popped, producing sounds of variable loudness and spreading some of the mud.

The mud that flew from these dark bubbles landed on a high parch of land, instantly producing steam and sinking into the soil, although, no sound came from it. A part of the bubbles, instead of popping, flew out into the air, popping only much later. These pops also managed to spread the darker shade over the lighter shade.

Along the dark waters, an oval shape silently rose with a toad over it, empty eye sockets briefly appearing before it submerged once again.

“I’ve travelled through worse. This is basically a walk in the park compared to other treks I’ve walked.” Gai thought out loud, making his way with his staff scanning the ground in front of him. “...Not really feeling this atmosphere though, I’ve no idea how far my magic can bring me.”

Continuing on his journey, he could feel the water getting quite deeper and slightly more difficult to navigate. Rolling his eyes, Gai looked around for a bank that he could climb onto to dry off his shoes, noticing one not too far from him. The trees above him offered quite a bit of large branches that looked strong enough to grip onto, giving him an idea on how to get there. What appeared in his right hand was a golden and silver mace after a bright flash of red light, which Gai proceeded to point towards a branch and toss. However, the morningstar of the weapon was the one to leave his position, connected to the handle with a long chain that continued to spew out before the morningstar and its chains wrapped around a sturdy branch. Tugging, Gai felt to see if the branch would be able to lift him up from the murky waters, before making the chain draw back into the handle, lifting him up from the waters and towards the branch above, leaving his staff still in the water.

As he ascended into the trees, Gai could see the path laid out in front of him, noticing that there was a change in environment way ahead. All he needed to do was get through the swamp and he was there to this renown "Forest of Death". Deciding last minute that he would travel through the branches instead, Gai took the time to breathe for a moment whilst waiting for his footwear to dry off, sitting on the branch while swinging his legs back and forth to speed the process up.

Whereas before there were several light or dark markings on the swamp's water, as Gai had noticed, there were then only a small bit of light waters. All of the dark water completely enveloped the rest of the area, quickly swallowing up the last area, which was where Gai was standing seconds ago.

Big and sturdy trees would, of course, possess resilient branches, those didn't even budge or creak once Gai sustained himself. His strategy was quite intelligent even, by using the branches he would have a better look of the swamp and manage his dodge of the acidic water. However, at the same time, it would prove risky.

Before Gai could drift off and jump to the next branch, he would find that his weapon had been wrapped by several vines and leaves, heavy like iron. Akin to tentacles, they all circled from his weapon and sought to reach his very arms, immobilizing him wouldn't be too difficult, unless he was okay with falling into the water or had some ability to quickly deal with them.

Meanwhile, that same skull from minutes ago erupted in a myriad of bubbles from the water, its jaw hanging open. Although its head was skeletal, the rest of its body was covered in layers of water, "Haaaaah," Dark smoke came off its mouth, green eyes shone, its form rose through the air once it spotted Gai. On the center of its chest, there was a assymetrical stone, it also glowed a faint green like its eyes.

Tugging at Takara to remove it, Gai quickly found out that it was wrapped around in strong natural binds. Annoyed at the inconvenience, Gai gave one more look to his morningstar flail and pulled it away, this time allowing it to phase through the vines and leaves that held onto it. Swinging it so that it reached away from the vines, Gai also noticed that they had increased in length in an attempt to grab hold of him too, prompting Gai to act quick and figure out something else. Gai quickly pulled himself from his sitting position and looked for a nearby branch for him to jump to. Noticing one that was quite big for a sturdy landing and not too far, Gai immediately made his way over to it, swinging his morningstar so that it would once again grab the branch and swing him to it.

The swamp had the distinct smells of mould and wet wood, but a new prominent scent had been able to catch Gai's attention as he landed: smoke. The sharp aroma of smoke was quickly caught, with Gai not being sure of what it really was and wondering why he could only smell the smoke now. Nonetheless, Gai continued moving on and repeated the same method of transportation with all the branches, swinging through the trees and keeping off the water. *"Shouldn't waste too much time here, the exit doesn't look too far right?"*

A large gust of wind blew through the swamp, lifting a man several feet off the ground. As the winds calmed, they carefully placed the man onto the murky swamp floor, his foot sinking into a pool of mud.

"Disgusting." Munin Reisende mumbled under his breath before looking around and observing his surroundings. The swamp was exactly what he expected. Murky, dark, and very damp. As he explored more of the swamp, he tried his hardest to avoid stepping into the mud.

Munin spotted a clearing, making his way over to it. The clearing was nestled between several dark trees that towered over the rest of the swamp, and it was the perfect spot for his plan. Upon reaching the clearing he lifted one of his staves into the air before forcefully bringing it down. The ground exploded, sending a flurry of dirt, mud, and rocks in every direction. With the rock underneath now revealed he pointed his hand downwards. Seconds later a formula appeared around his hand, the rock he was aiming at now shifting, turning, and bending. A being resembling Munin lifted its arm out of the ground and grasped for its creator. The real Munin grabbed the Doppelganger's hand and yanked them out of the misshapen rock. A Munin-shaped hole was left where the Doppelganger emerged from, but Munin quickly caused it to collapse in on itself, hiding the evidence of his interference. The Doppelganger's stony flesh began to change and soften, taking the form of the real Munin. The two locked eyes in complete silence, the Doppelganger nodding, and original Munin passed the staves to stone Munin.

Original Munin clapped stone Munin on the shoulder before disappearing, not willing to risk his life in a situation like this. The Doppelganger continued its journey through the murky swamp, riding across the blowing wind created by a single flick of a staff.

Much like it happened where Gai was, the mudy water had varying shades throughout its surface, either lighter or darker. Bubbles popped from all sides, though, the ones that didn't, instead of popping seconds later, created streams of water that rose through the atmosphere and hit the top leaves.

Also, looking closely, it was noticeable that the bubbles weren't spherical, rather, they seemed to have a long and oval shape. And holes, holes... two on the top area and a large one on the lower, it opened briefly, as if trying to swallow something. Dark water gushed around, bubbles popping, others resurfaced at the same moment, repeating what the others looked like.

What came out from the gaping, however, was another swarm of dark water. Not only one came, several sprouted from the bubbles, from the streams, reaching far and spreading the darkness over the lighter water. Those that reached the ground and whatnot, likewise, produced steam and melted the terrain, some of them were fast as jetstreams, threatening to paint over the doppelganger that Munin created.

## Misery, Climbing Like Vines

The interior of the forest appeared to grow brighter as the intruders made their way in, one after the other. Only a few individuals knew what this would signify. Even as the world began to dip into the sunset, the forest continued to brighten, paving the path for every individual that made their way into this deadly forest.

In the core of the forest, an unusual phenomenon occurred. A shadow, without any true shape, seemed to be hopping its way around the myriad of branches. It was initially a slow movement, as if it possessed a thought process. With every branch, it stopped for a moment, adjusting its shape to look to a new direction, before jumping into another tree.

The movements began to be more frantic. With every jump, the shadow-like entity panicked. Something dawned upon it, something dreadful: it could not escape. From tree to tree, it jumped again and again, but to no avail.

And with its hopelessness, the forest howled once more...

In another, densely shrubbed area of the forest, an apparent emptiness could be found. In this place, there were no corpses, no people, no creatures, simply the tall shrubs and grass that should occupy a forest.

That is, until a small group of people seemed to fizzle into existence, as transparent glass-like pieces scattered across the floor momentarily, before disappearing into nothing more than light blue magical energy.

"It seems that we are alright, by some stretch of a miracle..." Cecilia Lambert stated, as a white light from her staff had dimmed in front of her. "Warren, Kinobori, I am sure you can sense the new presences in the forest, can't you?"

"Yes I can." Mason responded with a nod, as his appearance was unveiled as well. Standing next to him was a beautiful peacock, approximately half of his size, which had been emitting a bright light from its feathers before finally retreating them.

"Thank you, Pavo. Your feathers really helped us. Feel free to take a well-needed rest." As Mason stated that, he brandished a silver key with a peacock insignia on its hilt, causing the peacock to fade away into magical energy."

On the other hand, Bianca had been touching the ground in an attempt to verify the locations of others, by connecting her plants with the forest. While it proved very difficult, considering the weird nature of this forest, Bianca managed to do so with more success than her previous attempts. "My Plant Signal tells me there's a fair few Mages in this forest. But the forest's interference makes it tricky to guess who they are. Aaaaah, what a pain!"

As Bianca moaned, Cecilia chuckled slightly. "Even in this situation, I'm surprised we're all maintaining some degree of optimism. Unfortunately, though...we don't have too much time left. The forest is growing brighter, meaning everyone is in danger again. Kinobori, Warren, I need you two to form a team and move to the south and east, while Vael-san and I head to the north and west. We have to gather as many people as we can together, and break through this forest's hold over us."

Cecilia looked towards the S-Class Mage, whose injuries had been healed to a moderate extent. "Are you okay to keep walking, Vael-san?"

"I'm capable enough, though I'll need to rely on my magic to move with any sense of speed," Sebastian grunted as he tested the flexible cast covering his half-healed left side. He would need some time to recover from this, but it was better than dying.

"I'll keep up. We just need to find these people before what happened to me and you guys happen again. I doubt many of them are capable of surviving a shot of that magnitude, let alone being mobile afterward."

"Indeed. Let's get moving, everyone!" Cecilia, mindful of Vael, began to walk towards the north with him, while the others walked to the East. They had hoped their efforts would not be in vain.

### Delivering the Thunder

The sound of boots stomping echoed throughout the area as Macnia continued to travel within the Forest of Death. Moving the foliage which blocked his vision, he glanced around as he noticed the sound of the creatures which were once following him disappeared. Which meant they decide to finally leave him alone or were taken out by something else within the forest. Frowning at the thought before shaking it off, he moved the branches out of the way as he saw there was an open area in front of him.

"Welp, it's official now," Macnia said as he looked around the clearing he arrived at. Despite the eerie nature of the forest, this area seemed to be peaceful in a way. It almost made him expect to see some animals come out from within the forest to rest in the clearing. However, this didn't help to solve his current issue which he found himself in. "I am completely lost." He finished in a carefree tone, completely accepting the situation he was currently in.

Having been subjugated to his master's strange training methods, he was used to being in situations like this. It was not the first time he found himself in this set of circumstances. At least this time around, it was just a forest of doom. Before he could continue his thoughts, Macnia perked up as he heard the sound of voices nearby. Tilting his head in confusion he glanced in the direction of where the voices came from—the South.

Nose ruffling, Maxton turned his head left and right with a curious look in his eyes. Turning around, her ruffled his nose once more sniffing the air as his eyes met with Macnia. For a moment, Maxton remained quiet. His curious look changed into that of disappointment. "This man ain't what I'm looking for!" Maxton turned back to face his previous direction.

Sniffing the air further, he placed his hand on the back of his head once more. "Uh, wait. Where was I goin' again? Ah damn! Where's that weirdo Daidalo when I need him?"

Macnia could only blink in confusion as he watched the stranger look around the area as he sniffed the air like a dog. Scratching the back of his head, Macnia couldn't help but feel like there was something familiar about this person. Perhaps he met him in the past while he was on route to deliver a package? Regardless of potential past interactions, it was clear this person managed to get lost within the forest, being separated from his companion. The least he could do is offer some assistance.

Scratching the back of his head, Macnia glanced over to the dark-skinned individual once more. "Hey, did you end up getting lost in here as well? I can help you look for your friend in this creepy place," Thinking out loud, Macnia spoke, "I really wish knew how to sense Magic better but Master Donnell says that's a lesson for later."

Somehow, someway, Maxton managed to ignore all of Macnia's starting statements. He continued to sniff and look about, trying desperately to find just where he should be heading. With the nose of a dragon, it should have been easy, but the forest had been filled with strong sources of magic, that Maxton had no real way to figure out which was the right way. Even then as he attempted to break his limits, Macnia's chatter disturbed his focus.

*"And this guy won't shut the hell up."* He thought to himself, continuing on with his task. The word "Donnell" slipped from Macnia's mouth and it caused Maxton to stop dead in his tracks. "You said, master. How do ya' know Donnell?" Maxton asked, turning around instantly to face Macnia.

Despite the rudeness of Maxton, Macnia didn't mind repeating himself. "Well like I said, Donnell is my master. He has been teaching me for a long time now and in return, I deliver stuff for him," He said as he placed his left hand on his chin. "He usually makes me go to Miss Ivonne for some reason. Probably something related to the Magic Council." Macnia gave a shrug, displaying his lack of interest behind the reasoning of his master's constant delivery requests.

"So, how do you know Master Donnell? Is he like your dad or something?" Macnia inquired, noticing the similarities between his mentor and this stranger in terms of appearance.

"If you think that dumbass is my dad, then you're about as dumb as August." Maxton responded, loosening himself up a bit, yet still keeping his nose keen to their surroundings. He analyzed Macnia for a moment, his eyes moving up and down as he continued to look at the boy before him. Maxton studied everything that he could about Macnia, height estimations, eye color, body form, everything that there was about Macnia, Maxton store it into his memory. The Dragon Slayer gave off a look of disappointment.

Sighing he stated, "The hell is Donnell gonna' do with a scrawny kid like you. Heh," Maxton chuckled. "If he's your master then that means he's been training to you to be tough right?" Smiling he went on, "This is a turn, but let's say forget about us being lost for a moment. I want to test you out. I wonder who's better, his brother or his student."

"I'm not lost," It was Daidalo's voice that popped out of nowhere, his figure surging from a nearby fissure in the forest's ground, "I was merely trying to check this soil." His head had been visible to the other two mages, though his eyes were set on the ground, and his hand cupped his chin.

Then, his gaze were on both, "If you two are to fight, don't. That sensation will be back... I'm sure both of you have felt it." Daidalo tried to smile, though his lips didn't curve properly.

Macnia nodded in agreement, his smile leaving his face. "Yeah, I've been feeling the ominous sensation throughout this forest since I've entered." Glancing around with his hands behind his head, he was somewhat surprised at being unable to sense anyone nearby besides the two before him. It was almost as though the forest was masking everyone else.

Turning his attention back towards the Daidalo and Maxton, he was shocked to see a being made entirely of electricity with the appearance of Ivonne Houdini. "Is that you, Miss Ivonne? What are you doing here with such a sparking form?" He scratched his head in confusion at the appearance of the Wizard Saint.

"Shut ya damn mouth, Daidalo!" Maxton shouted, smashing his fist into his palm electrical sparks flew across the area out in front of him. Despite his words towards Daidalo, he had a large grin on his face which showed off his striking fang-like teeth. Resembling that of the large fangs from a dragon.

Punching his palm once again, even more electricity was dispersed though this time it tamed itself around Maxton's figure. "If he's trained by Donnell, then that means he's strong. I wanna see for myself! Forget about that sensation, I ain't going anywhere until I he accepts my challenge."

"I-I don't think that's a good idea." a feminine voice could barely be heard by the trio. Noelle wasn't gone either, she had followed right after Maxton and Daidalo, but her lack of presence, once again, surprised her teammates. She gazed at her surroundings and the electrical being. Somehow, it made her feel safer.

Macnia could only stare in annoyance at Maxton, having no desire to fight him. Shaking his head, he glared at the brother of his master. "Look, I really don't have the time to fight you in a place like this." However, as he said this, his magic power began to manifest in the form of a golden aura. "So, I'll give you a warning right now. Back off or else I'll make you."

"Both of you, simmer down, would you?" Elevonne stated, her voice crackling like electricity, and yet still dominating over the pair of Mages. She sighed, as electricity flowed out her being for a moment before she reigned it in.

"Delivery Boy, yes, I am Ivonne. Did Donnell ask you to go through this forest?" Elevonne asked him, making sure to stare down Maxton, whose combat impulses were magnified. "*Something is wrong with this forest...the magical energy I am sensing here doesn't line up with anything I've felt before...even my other selves feel the same way...*"

"Your master always has a knack of getting on my nerves...now I have more people to protect...Tch." Elevonne grunted as she looked towards the north, sensing peculiar magical energy.

"If you kids are done messing around, let's go. There are too many people in this forest...and something big is going to happen if we don't help them. I can feel it." Elevonne started to move forward, expecting the Guild members to trudge along behind her.

"Yes, ma'am," Macnia said as he looked away in shame, like a child being scolded by an adult. As his magic aura died out, he followed after Elevonne and asked. "So, what exactly is going on here? I already felt how wrong this forest is wrong but, if you are here, it must be something else."

Head popping out of the hole, Daidalo blinked several times, how had he not heard anything the others had said? Suddenly Noelle was much apparent in the area and some sort of sparking figure shone upon everything. "Wow!" He had said, forcing his expression to lighten up, only then, the figure had revealed just whom they were, "W-Wizard Saint-"

Sometimes, one stuttered because of feelings, they were either nervous or maybe amazed at something. However, other times were when they were physically held from perfectly saying something.

The area around them all shook, prompting Daidalo to erupt out of the fissure in the ground, leaves and dust flew around, going alongside some kind of rumble. It quited down. Daidalo landed beneath Macnia and, "Ivonne-san, right?" He held himself uptight, "I must agree with this man," Daidalo pointed at Macnia.

Maxton's eyes widened, as he gripped his stomach. "My stomach's startin' to feel weird.." Maxton claimed, looking to Daidalo who'd changed locations. Standing straight, "But I'm fine. That ground shake won't take me out the gam-." Maxton's nose ruffled left and right once again, followed by a couple sniffs at the air. Exactly what was going on could not be explained, but Maxton's nose had never led him astray before.. so he ws sure something had been up.

"I dunno what, but my nose has been kicking my ass since I got here." the teen claimed, "This ain't no regular, smegular forest. No wonder those idiots ended up going missing."

"M-Maxton-san, are you alright?" Noelle asked, running towards him. She gripped her staff tightly, ready to perform any healing magic if it was necessary. Seeing as how he managed to stand up straight and sniffed the air the same way a dog sniffs another dog's ass, she released her tight grasp. *"He's fine...I suppose"* she thought to herself. Then, she too, looked at Ivonne, wondering what they'd do next.

### Knowledge's Corpse

Sarah had been loudly calling for any signs of life in this forest for a while now, dripping poison behind her the entire way. While she didn't have sight of her two compatriots, she trusted that they would be following her. After all, what use was being bait if there wasn't a trap to go with it?

Cain moved steadily behind her, leaping from tree to tree. He hadn't activated his magic yet, as he knew he burned out rather quickly. But that was the cost for the immense power he would grant himself as a result. He watched as Sarah yelled loudly, a smile appearing on his face. He was feeling antsy as well, he wanted something to show itself so he could fight it, and beat it down to a pulp.

### Keys to the Sun

"Phew. At least it doesn't smell like swamp water anymore." Gai thought out loud as he began to venture within the woodlands. The change of scenery was quite refreshing, switching from murky swamplands to a forest was something that Gai needed after all that swinging. "Now, which way is the right way to whatever the mission was for?" He asked himself.

Taking a piece of paper from within his gi's jacket, Gai opened up the document to see what he had to do. Sure enough, he was at the Forest of Death, the only problem was he didn't know which part of the forest he was actually in. Maybe it wouldn't have been a bad idea to bring Aiko along, but how she behaved back in Magnolia wasn't something Gai was planning to tolerate any further. A red light flashed within his clothing and the morningstar mace he used before to swing from branch to branch appeared back in his right hand. Something about the name, Forest of Death, made Gai feel as though it wasn't going to be some walk in the park. Walking along an open trail that separated trees and shrubs, Gai cautiously followed through whilst holding the mace firmly in his hand, getting ready to swing it at the first thing that moved.

*"It's actually kind of peaceful here. I wonder if Ai-"*

A sudden scampering in the distance caused Gai's arm to naturally throw the mace forward, sending the morning star and its chain shooting towards the unknown target. Looking to where it was heading, Gai was quick to yank the handle back whilst concentrating on extracting the extending chain. Fortunately, Gai was able to stop the morningstar from crashing into whatever it was heading for, giving Gai a good view of his potential victim. Standing on top of a tree stump was a small squirrel-like creature, covered in orange and peach coloured fur. Its cheeks were puffed out with the acorn it had stuffed into its jaw, and if Gai was too late to stop his attack, then both the squirrel and its nut would've been cracked open.

"OI!" Gai yelled at the squirrel before marching angrily towards the animal, "Stupid critter. What d'you think you're doing out here?" He scolded the animal, returning the morningstar flail back into its mace base.

The squirrel surprisingly didn't make a run for it as it watched Gai approach it, twitching it nose while scratching its backside as he came closer. Gai squinted his eyes at the creature suspiciously, leaning in forward to the squirrels face in order to meet eye to eye. Seconds would pass as Gai and the squirrel looked at each other, both refusing to look away or even move back. After a period of complete silence, Gai got back up and stared down at the squirrel with an unimpressed look, rolling his eyes as he extended his arm towards it.

"Fine. Hop on up, we'll both find our way out of here." He offered, watching the squirrel leap from the tree stump and onto his arm before scampering along it to reach the top of his head. With the squirrel sitting comfortably on the top of his crown, both Gai and his new companion would carry on into the forest, now just looking for a way out.

Ambrosus took his time wandering, almost as if he was on a leisurely walk. Despite this, he knew where he should be heading. Or so he thought. The man could sense the ominous power, and it was gravely more intense now that he stood within it's place of origin. It had been difficult, scanning for the source of this twisted energy resonating from within the deepness of this forest. Even with all this uncertainty, Ambrosus still produced a confident and cocky smirk. Close, extremely close, Ambrosus had almost located the origin of this power until something else distracted him.

Three magical signatures caught Ambrosus's attention instantly, not because he hadn't noticed them before, he had detected all the mages who had gathered around the forest, and did his best to monitor their locations since entering the forest. It seemed everyone had found their way in, but these three caught his attention solely because of how close they were to him. Ambrosus twirled his parasol around a bit, observing, waiting. He wasn't entirely sure what type of meeting would occur, but he was interested nevertheless.

"You have a name bucko? Or am I just going to have to call you squirrel till we get out?" Gai asked, making his way through the natural path that was now littered with long patches of grass.

The squirrel remained silent as it sat still on Gai's head, continuously twitching its nose and wagging its bushy tail left and right. Whatever this thing was, it definitely wasn't like the squirrels back home, as this one seemed more behaved than most squirrel types. Letting out a loud, disappointed sigh, Gai continued on his way through the forest, using his mace to knock out any hanging leaves of branches that stuck out in his way. The rustling and snapping off wood didn't do him any good to stay undercover, as he was possibly the loudest thing in the forest at the moment, but he couldn't help it when he was left oblivious to the dangers that may lurk within the area. He didn't build too much of an interest with the people he's met so far on his journey, especially not that Nero character who opened up his tomb. Swinging the mace from left to right, Gai could feel that the squirrel had changed posture on top of him, now facing off to the side as if it noticed something.

"See somethin' bud?" He whispered while stopping in his tracks, lowering his body so that only the squirrel could be seen above the bushes. "Reckon we go make a run for it or we go investigate?"

Ambrosus seemed to walk alongside the man and squirrel as they made way through the forest. The foliage blinded one party of the other, yet Ambrosus kept track of Gai's magical signature the entire time. He moved with delicate steps, and he hadn't made a single sound from his mouth. As he kept walking alongside the two, Ambrosus failed to lose track one bit. When they suddenly stopped, he would be able to indicate from the man's magical signature also becoming stationary. Still hiding behind the foliage, Ambrosus continued to monitor Gai's every move. One would only wonder why, as a smirk grew on the mage's face again.

"Hello, young traveler!" Ambrosus excitedly exclaimed as he revealed himself from behind the flora of this malicious flora. A welcoming expression etched on his face, not too grand a smile, but a smirk that just made anyone want to open up to him. Ambrosus kept his face entirely in Gai's view, he knew how fearful humans could become of the unknown. "I see you've stumbled into this forest. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Ambrosus, and I'm what you would call the Sage of this Forest." Ambrosus stated, keeping the smile on his face. Of course his claim wasn't true, he was just as much an intruder to this place as anyone else, however Gai wouldn't know that, making this all the more realistic to the man and his squirrel.

Gai stumbled back a few inches after being jumped by Ambrosus, letting out a surprised yelp as the squirrel sitting on his head somehow kept its balance and position. Regaining his own, Gai let out a tired sigh before pointing the mace towards the 'sage', showing that he is armed to the surprise visitor. "You're not very smart, surprising an armed man when you don't have anything to defend yourself with." Gai responded, lacking sight of any visible weapon or tool on Ambrosus' person.

Ambrosus's expression remained, as if he was unbothered by Gai's threat. He was far too intrigued by the squirrel accompanying the mage. He was able to keep his interest hidden, pretending as if he'd been living amongst these creatures for awhile. He twirled his umbrella around for a bit, shaking it off and closing it in a single motion. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about me young one, I would've been perfectly fine if you attacked me. You see, this forest protects me. You how ever, need protection from this forest." Ambrosus stated, he felt the ominous forces at play in this place, and playing a game of charades with Gai, Ambrosus was sure his plan would work.

"Sure. Whatever. Know a way out?" Gai asked as he rolled his eyes from the stranger, looking around the forest for a path forward. Strangely enough, as soon as Ambrosus had jumped into view, the path suddenly reached a dead end as any way forward was blocked by more trees and bushes. *"Weird, the path looked so clear before. Maybe this guy's got something to do with it."*

"Unfortunately, you can't leave just yet." Ambrosus stated, once more sensing for all the magical signatures within the forest. Strangely, it was more difficult than before to do so, as if the dark energies plaguing this forest was attempting to blind his magical perception. "You see, something has begun to corrupt my forest-" Ambrosus continued to play the role of the Sage, "making it difficult for even I to traverse it now. I was lucky to find you, and I may need your help to restore this place to it's former beauty. You see, no one has made it out alive, and there's a reason for that." Ambrosus stated, causing a dramatic pause just so he can think up an idea, and surprisingly it didn't take long.

The man turned to face the center of the forest as he thought, making it all seem like part of a suspenseful speech. "The malevolent forces at play have begun swallowing all visitors whole, and unless we can cut it off at it's source, no one will be allowed to escape."

Once again, Gai rolled his eyes and began twirling the mace in his hand, if this guy was the so called 'sage of the forest', then he definitely wasn't going to like what he planned to do. The squirrel instinctively jumped off and landed by his feet whilst watching what Gai was doing. In continuous succession, the mace hurled its morningstar head into the sky above, the chain extending far beyond the leaves of the trees to where it had disappeared out of sight. Gai proceeded to swing the handle forward in front of him, watching as the chain moved through the leaves and branches before the monrningstar supposedly came to a stop far away. Itt looked as though it had reached quite a distance, with the chain trail in front of them being no straight line, hanging on different branches at different levels whilst heading off deep into the darkness of the distance.

"Shame I don't have time for that. You might want to take a few steps back." Gai suggested with a smirk while tugging at the flail, watching the chains jiggle far into the forest.

Walking over to a set of trees bunched together, Gai began circling around them to wrap the chain around its bases, just followed behind by the squirrel. He pulled and pushed the chain against the trees to secure a tight grip, with some bark of the tree being scrapped off due to the friction of the metal. Gai knew that it was about to get worse soon, so he looked at Ambrosus with a cheeky smile. After a few layers of chains was wrapped around the trees, Gai took an extra few steps behind them to sit down, waiting to see if Ambrosus was curious about what he was planning.

Ambrosus kind and warming smirk faded as he watched Gai do...whatever it was he was doing. The man took Gai's warning, moving back then leaping into a tree that was clear of whatever scheme the intruder and his squirrel were up to. Ambrosus took a seat on a thick and obviously sturdy branch, his right leg dangling from the branch with his left crossed over it. He held his umbrella, and the silver objects dangling on the handle close to his body. *"I wonder, what is he up to."* Ambrosus thought to himself as he waited to see what would come next.

The handle of the morningstar flail began glowing as Gai brought both his hands onto it, with the chain beginning to move back into the handle. From a distance, the feint sound of wood crunching and loud thuds could have been something of the imagination, as the rattling of the chains with the scratching of wood seemed to be the only prominent sounds at that time. Gai began holding the handle even tighter with a pressured look on his face, gazing at the direction that the chain was trailing off to. Although no one could see it just yet, Gai knew exactly what was coming from over there.

"Just wanted to. Get this in before. It comes. Sorry about the forest." Gai apologised.

After a few moments of extracting the chains, there was visible etchings into the tree where the chains were sawing into, caused by the friction of the chain links being pulled along the tree trunks. The pounding and wood crunching had increased in volume, as the rustling of leaves soon joined in the choir of strange noises. What Gai had been talking about had become quite visible, as the morningstar, now drastically increased in size, was approaching their position quick. Due to the way the chains had landed, the morningstar was flying all over the place as it broke through branches and smaller trees, taking out massive piles of leaves as it swept by. Gai was planning to make his own path through the forest by wrecking it, whilst also getting himself some sunlight at the same time.

The morningstar immediately flew right into the cluster of trees that Gai had wrapped in chains prior, and with the deep etchings into their bases made them easy to knock over. Thing was, they were knocked over to Gai's direction, quickly descending onto his position while casting a long shadow over his body. Not sure just how to react, Gai remained still, not out of fear but out of boredom which was quickly obscured by the trees that fell right on top of him. Unlike Gai, his squirrel companion had fled the area of impact by retreating to a nearby bush, out of sight and disappearing into the vegetation of the forest. With the morningstar at a complete halt, it was easier to see that it was now roughly bigger than Gai himself, compared to when it was back on the handle. Its massive size had obviously created a path for Gai to walk through, but with Gai seemingly crushed it could kindly be taken by Ambrosus.

From the other end of the morningstar's rampage, two individuals came forth. The forest had begun to brighten, but it was not due to the effect of Gai's rampage. Rather, it was *naturally* lighting itself: a dangerous sign. "Both of you, please stand down! We're the Rune Knights, and we need to speak with you!" A man in blonde, Mason Warren spoke to the two men who he saw on the other side of the now-demolished forest. As he felt the forest began to shake, he shuddered for a moment, before trying to maintain his composure.

"Yeah, what are you two doing, anyway!? Destroying the forest isn't going to help you! Say sorry to those trees!" Bianca Kinobori yelled next to Mason. To her, there was no excuse to destroying plants if they weren't trying to destroy you themselves. But then she heard the forest's grumble, and tensed up. "A-anyway...please listen to us, your lives on the line!"

Ambrosus's face had become bland at the sight of Gai's actions, as if he was unimpressed, but most importantly, he was disappointed. This man was reckless, destroying everything is his path simply because he could. Then he felt their presence, followed by hearing them, and eventually gazing upon the Rune Knights that stood before him. Ambrosus looked down at the two from the tree he was perched on, calmly relaxing and at peace as they spoke. "Yes, what happened to those trees was devastating, I tried to warn him. Perhaps he rather wanted himself dead." Ambrosus spoke, he knew there were sinister forces at play in this place, but he had no clue as to their exact effects. Aside from that *thing* that Ambrosus encountered in the forest.

Ambrosus then looked at Mason, fully analyzing his appearance. He felt he'd seen him some where before, and once he caught sight of a silver object on the Rune Knight's person, he remembered exactly who Mason was. "Ahh, if it isn't the Silver Star." Ambrosus spent much of his life studying any confirmed Celestial Spirit Mages, keeping track of all the keys they wielded, just he could one day claim them as his own. "Please, whatever we have to discuss, we can discuss as we are."

"*Sigh*, as you wish, then." Mason sighed, as he raised his hand to ensure Bianca did not say anything to anger the two Mages. "*Independents...It is unfortunate I can't arrest them right now.*" Mason grunted to himself internally, before beginning to speak. "We were Rune Knights who were dispatched here in order to find and ensure the safety of the S-Class Mages that came here. Unfortunately, things did not end our way." Mason began to speak, remembering the horrors of this forest one second at a time. "This place is incredibly dangerous, I implore you to come with us to ensure that we all survive in this forest."

As Mason said these words, Bianca was nodding all the way through. She added another point, "I'm a Plant Mage, so I'm an expert on all things forest. This place, though, is *beyond* weird. I've never encountered something like this. I'm sure you guys must have felt this too, right?"

"I thought this was a normal thing in the Fiore region..."

From behind the two rune knights stood Gai and a squirrel on top of his head, happily picking off red berries from a bunch in his hand. Despite having been seemingly crushed underneath the cluster of trees after his messy solution, he appeared to be in perfect condition with absolutely no sign of injury. Gai looked Mason and Bianca up and down whilst trying to figure out what kind of rune knight they were, as their uniforms didn't quite match up to the rune knights he's seen before.

"What kind of division sends their rune knights to this kind of place?" Gai asked, feeding a berry to the squirrel that sat on top of his head.

"Being babysat by Rune Knights..." Ambrosus spoke in response to Mason. He then gave them a peaceful glare, yet there seemed to be an aggression behind it. Nothing too noticeable, in fact, this form of expression shouldn't have been possible, yet Ambrosus had made it possible. "Come with you? Simply so you can lock me up? Even individuals such as myself wouldn't want to waste time rotting away in prison." Ambrosus opened his umbrella once more, the shade casting a looming shadow across his face. His attention to Bianca now.

"Yes, I noticed the impurities of this forest long before I even entered it's wicked grasp. It's wondrous isn't it?" Ambrosus gazed at Gai as he revealed his condition, as if untouched by the massive tree. Then his gaze turned to the squirrel atop the man's head. Ambrosus studied it, reaching at one of the metallic objects at the handle of his umbrella, keeping a tight hand around it as he continued.

"I've actually managed to find the location of what has been causing this, at least the general location." Ambrosus stated, something clouded his magic sensory from getting an exact location, having done the best he could to get it's general destination. "Reaching it is a different story. It would be grand for this place to return to it's former glory. I'm sure much of the wildlife here has been tormented by the forces at play here. We owe our very existence to nature, it's only fair we try to purify this place."

"We have orders to make sure that you are given one chance at reprieve assuming you assist us in this situation." Mason stated firmly, not allowing any of these two Independent Mages to get the other hand. Bianca stood at his back, turning to face Gai. The situation could get ugly at any minute, and the two Knights had to be prepared.

"If you come with us, we'll guarantee your freedom after we have been freed from this forest. *Assuming* we get free alive..." Mason added with a grimace.

Bianca tapped him on the head, "Don't be so negative! Captain Cecilia is here, isn't she?! We'll make it out alive!"

"I see..." Ambrosus stated, the shadow looming over his face hiding the smile on his face as he realized the situation at hand. "So, in other words, the mighty Rune Knights needs our help." Normally, one would expect some sort of flare from Ambrosus's eyes, yet nothing glistened to show any sign of Ambrosus's intent. "Only under one condition, I wish to challenge you for the Key of The Chisel when this mess is over with." Ambrosus rose his head after stating his demands, his face free of the shadow, but now it was easier than ever for one to look into Ambrosus's eyes and spot the emptiness. "Will you comply?"

"...Oh, you're Ambrosus, the man who always seeks out Celestial Spirits..." Mason noted, his expression becoming sour. "The fact that, even in this situation, you'd try to hunt down a Celestial Spirit...man, how bold."

Mason scratched his head, unsure how to proceed with this situation. On one hand, he could not bear to give up Caelum. However, his duties as a Rune Knight were of paramount importance.

"Fine. But you have to wager one of your own Spirits too after this." Mason responded, his eyes glaring into Ambrosus' own.

"Oi, you other weirdo! The other two have sorted their mess out, what are you going to do?!" Bianca yelled at the other Independent Mage, who, by her own standards, seemed to be the bigger threat in this situation.

"*We're running out of time...*"

"Well. If he's getting something then I'm getting something too." Gai said, scratching the back of his head. "I want to meet with this Miwa Umawhatever. Heard she's a rune knight or something, sent a few of her guys to terrorise an inn up north close to the border. That and I'll also want to know what's inside this key." He continued before grabbing a silver key from inside his gi's top. The key was blunt at the end with an insignia showing cluster of maroon rhombuses shaped to look like a cross.

Ambrosus lept down from the tree branch he'd been perched on, placing himself alongside the Rune Knights as their temporary alliance had been formed to combat the displaced sinister forces of the forest. With his desires settle at the moment, Ambrosus seemed to be in a place of delight, ecstatic at the idea of finally be claiming a new key after so long.

As Gai voiced his demands, Ambrosus looked over his shoulder back to the man, keeping his calm yet intrigued at the sight of the key, seemingly one for a Celestial Spirit. "Although I doubt you'll allow me, I could solve that second demand of yours." Ambrosus held an open hand outward, signalling Gai to hand him the key.

"Then your right to doubt, who knows what you might do once you hold it. If these Rune Knights have any sort of honour they'll simply show me what's inside and return the key." Gai said shooting down Ambrosus' offer. "So what then Rune Knights? I want an answer..." he demanded as he returned his attention to Mason and Bianca.

"Oh how could you!" Ambrosus dramatically shouted, pretending like he'd been wounded in one way or another by Gai's words, but he knew Gai was smart to not have trusted him. He held his chest and stumbled back, making painful groans in the process before eventually falling to the ground, one eye open. He gazed up to try and catch a glimpse of the sky, but his dolled eyes couldn't see through the branches and leaves that blanketed the forest floor. He laid there, waiting for the response from either of the two Rune Knights present.

"Oi, Warren! You're getting too much spotlight from these Independent Mages, and they're pissing me off because of it! We have things to do!! People to save!! So let's finish up with this drama!" Veins started popping on Bianca's forehead. It was unlike her to be this angry. But perhaps it was the influence of this forest, as well as the nature of these Independent Mages, that caused her rage to grow.

In that same instance, one could hear the sound of a heartbeat emanating from the forest. That power pulsated into the Plant Mage, and one could feel an ominous magical energy holding her captive. The brightness of the forest in that area dimmed a touch, as a bright green energy was emitted from her eyes.

"You Independent Mages and your unreasonable demands from the Magic Council...how **dare** you!?" Bianca exclaimed, and with her magical might, the scattered trees of the forest that were broken by Gai's attack gathered together to create two gigantic fist-like appendages, one launching towards Gai, and the other launching towards Ambrosus, at exceptionally high speeds.

All the while, Mason was caught off-guard and was thrown aback briefly by the surge of Bianca's power. "Kinobori...no! Grab a hold of yourself, damn it!" Mason looked towards the two Independent Mages. All political issues aside, he couldn't let a Rune Knight be held hostage by this forest's twisted power.

"Gate of the Chisel, Caelum!" Mason yelled, as a silver, orb-like apparition with a halo, appeared before Mason, before suddenly transforming into a form with two cannons on either hands.

"Fire!" Mason commanded, as two energy blasts were shot. One towards Ambrosus' general location, and the other towards Gai's. They managed to land against the wooden fists that were launched towards them, but only served to delay them by a bit. The true impact still had to be dealt with by the Independent Mages themselves.

"Both of you, evade that thing somehow and get into formation! We have to break Kinobori out of her trance, promptly!" Mason yelled, taking the form of the commander in this battle. He had no choice but to take drastic measures.

"I see..." Ambrosus muttered to himself as he sensed the nefarious energy encompassing and corrupting Bianca. "So that's how it effects you." As Mason panicked, Ambrosus slowly began to rise to his feet, unbothered by the current events taking place. As Mason called out commands, Ambrosus looked over at the Rune Knight, "Ah yes, and which formation is th-"

The man was suddenly cut off as the massive fist slammed against his body, launching Ambrosus as he made impact with tree standing behind him. The force hit the Celestial Spirit Mage with such force his hat had been knocked off, gently floating back to the ground where Ambrosus once stood. Even then, seemingly unconscious, Ambrosus kept a tight grasp on his umbrella and the dangling keys attached to it.

Gai on the other hand welcomed the fist with outstretched arms as the squirrel pounced off his head and other ground below. Initially it looked as though the fist was about to hit the mage, but it went right through him without a problem. The projectile flew right behind him and Gai continued on his way, walking slowly towards Bianca with a fox like smile on his face. *"I've got a Dispel that should work but I don't know how well the others can handle this without their own magic."* Gai thought in his mind, trying to think of a way to get at Bianca.

"Not going to lie. I thought my demands were pretty reasonable compared to the other guy..."

"...**SHUT UP!**" Bianca yelled. The arms that she had created dove into the ground once more. The ground began to rumble, and the plant matter in the immediate area, trees, vines and everything, began to collapse in on the party before Bianca, with her own figure being enshrouded by the same plant matter.

As the forest itself began to cave in on Bianca's former comrade and the two Independent Mages, her own body seemed to assimilate with the forest itself. As it reached lower and lower, Mason, who barely managed to avoid the collapsing debris, reached his arm out to the Plant Mage.

The Plant Mage, however, did not even look at Mason in the eye. Her gaze lay elsewhere, soft and saddened.

Just what was this forest..?

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!!!!!!!!!" Mason yelled at his own foolishness, before looking to the Independent Mages. "Caelum, gate closed!" Mason yelled, as Caelum disappeared from view. "Pavo, appear!" He yelled again, as a bright Peacock spirit appeared in view. "Shield us!" Mason pleaded, as the peacock obliged. Its feathers bloomed brightly, and with a rainbow color, a large barrier was created around Mason and his two -- current -- comrades.

As the forest fell and fell, the barrier was strained. The peacock was reaching his limit. And then, it was over.

But now, Mason had another task to deal with. "...Kinobori..." Mason lamented, sitting alone, wandering in the thoughts of his own carelessness.

With Bianca now out of the picture, Gai looked on at the quiet state of the forest. With his mace in hand after a flash of red light, Gai turned to see Mason pondering, a strange feeling of obligation to go up to the Rune Knight and comfort him. Gai thought against it, however, and stood where he did with an uncomfortable smile on his face, trying to make light of the situation. "So then Rune Knight. You still want to find a way out of this forest? Or do you want to go look for your friend?"

Suggesting one looked at where Ambrosus had landed after being struck, they'd fine that his body had no longer rested in that spot. Instead, Ambrosus could be seen dusting himself off as he walked towards his hat, even pulling his gloves back as they loosen up a bit during the encounter. Ambrosus leaned over to pick up his hat, before putting it on, Ambrosus tapped the side of his forehead with the tips of his fingers then finally putting the final bit of his attire together to once more complete his look.

Noticing the dismayed Mason, Ambrosus walked over towards Gai. *"If only I had that bracelet"* Ambrosus thought to himself. However, as he reached Gai, Ambrosus found his body turning to make way for Mason. "There's no reason to search for her, I know these aren't the words you wish to hear Silver-no, Warren was it?" Ambrosus held his hand to the sitting Rune Knight, offering his allegiance for the time being. "It seems your friend, Kinobori, has been taken over by the forest. Searching for her would be a waste, although it could be a stretch, I believe it's safe to say she's currently fighting to defend it's heart. Assuming we discover whatever is causing this, she may be one of the main forces this place will use to combat us. Then, we can save her from it's grasp."

Ambrosus had another idea, which involved containing, or suggesting whatever made this forest so violent was tangible, destroying the source of this madness. He hypothesized that doing so would restore all that was corrupted back to it's original state, Bianca included, however seeing as she fused with the forest in one way or another, he feared destroying the source could have another outcome. One that could result in Bianca's death. He chose to keep this to himself, aware that this information could harm Mason's mental state beyond what it currently was. *"Humans, so fragile."*

"Maybe its her time of the month? Give it a bit and I'm sure she'll be back to normal." Gai suggested as he tossed the mace in the air, effortlessly catching it by the handle as it came back down.

### Awakened Shield

Arwa breathed a sigh of relief as the sound retreated, returning her attention to the task at hand. A river crossing behind them and a forest in which they were submerged. She was tempted to whistle, if only to break the tension continuing to plague the environment. Seriously, it was stretched as taunt as a bowstring; someone needed to break the ice. "So....how's everyone's day going?" she called down the telepathic line, remaining in the shadows.

*"Oh just fine ya know. In a forest, it's kinda spooky. The usual."* Solomon replied back as he sniffed the air and began to listen to the forest. The Ailstag could very well be near.

### Sewing the Stars

Sakura stayed close to Jax as they walked into the forest. The two had ensured to lag behind and lose the traces of the legal mages. Though the extra protection may have been of use, the two didn't want to be found out. They had dived more to the left, Sakura had pleaded they ensured the golden wall would be a marker for their escape. It was rather weird at first. Sakura had tightened her grip on Jax and she had never felt so uncomfortable before. No matter how hard she wanted to, her anxiety was getting to her. The forest was getting to her. Sakura kept her right tangled into Jax while her left hand stayed by her side, almost stroking her needles for comfort. She kept deathly silent, scared that if she spoke no words would be formed, or worse, she would scream.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" A chibi specter of fire, Ivonne, showed up behind Sakura, in an attempt to comfort her. Though, her sudden appearance would have probably frightened the girl instead. "If you are too frightened to go on this mission, nobody will force you."

Sakura took a second, enjoying the comfort of someones voice before taking a double take. "I-Ivonne, when did you get here?" in some ways her presence enter a sense of calm, with her here she felt that Jax and her could make it out of this forest, however, this meant they were trapped under the persona of the Leaping Leopards. *Guess we'll have to take this mission as legally as we can. No chance for stealing goods for us,* she paused before sighing. Sakura had been hoping to find something cool too.

"Oh, just now. Sorry, I was making sure that I explained the situation clearly enough. Now then, I think our best bet is to try and enter the center of the forest as quickly as we can." Ivonne mentioned, as she began to lead the others.

Jax had been staying quiet rather often, something unlike him. He'd decided to snap out of it. He turned to face Sakura, pulling something out of his pocket. A small golden statuette, which Sakura would have known Jax hadn't had before. That would that there was only one way he could've acquired it; theft. He tossed it over to Sakura, a playful smile on his face.

Holding firmly unto his bag, Axle leapt across the nearby brush of trees, peering off to the distance with caution, only to spot a small collection of people huddled around the forest's foyer. Hanging from the branch, he took a moment to pause and collect his thoughts, recalling that it shouldn't be too surprising to find others venturing in the forest given the recent events unfolding inside. Pouncing from the side of the tree, Axle rolled up to Jax and the apparition of flames from across the side, taken aback momentarily at the construct before him before he could say a thing, glancing carefully at the foray that he and everyone present were moments from invading. Tucking his hands into his pockets, his keys jingled from across his waist, letting put a deep breathe at the solace that he wasn't the only one around. "Huh? Glad I'm not the only one here. Guessing we're here for the same reason," he whispered, quickly shifting his head to point at the forest.

The content of a new shiny object to play with had once again been ruined. A new person. Hopefully for the last time Sakura instinctively stepped back, flicking her fingers to her waist where a belt of pockets hung. Her fingers rested over her needles but luckily the voice had stopped her from flowing her ethernano into it. A small chuckle left Sakura before she looked at the man. As to be expected he was taller than her. "What is this? A party? Seriously does this forest just look so inviting to everyone!" she screamed to no one before sighing. "I'm sorry... dude," she hesitated not sure what even side he was on. "Forest," was all she said before looking at her object and putting it in her bag. As soon as that was done she clutched onto Jax's hand like a child. She squeezed twice, softly. A code they had developed between each other in a way to say "I'm scared, let's get out of here" without physically saying anything.

## Demons, Spreading Like Pollen

While the Mages that were assigned to this task had been in the forest, Ivonne Houdini, the mission's benefactor, stood outside of the forest. She observed the forest's nature through her elemental sprites, and saw all the happenings from the inside. In particular, the encounters with Independent and Dark Mages, possession of Bianca Kinobori, and the discovery of Cecilia Lambert were all beginning to unravel to her. However, there was one thing that Ivonne could not grasp: just what *was* this forest?

As she tried to figure things out through scanning the magical energy within the forest, an overwhelming presence took over her senses. It came from behind her, and she instinctively lost contact with the other Ivonne's in order to direct her focus on this new opponent.

The presence made itself known, but he wasn't particularly imposing. A tall, relatively lithe, but muscular man. Fair skin, black hair, he seemed to be your quintessential, average male. But there was something completely different about him. His body was littered with stains of *fresh* blood, but that blood did not seem to move in the slightest. His eyes were the same, a bloodshot red that stared directly towards the forest behind Ivonne, completely ignoring her.

"Who are you!?" Ivonne flared her own magical energy, attempting to grab the man's attention. If he had gone inside that forest, then the children she had sent there would be doomed. She could not allow that to happen, not by any margin.

But even with Ivonne's power directly before him, the man had hardly acknowledged her presence. It infuriated Ivonne, and eventually she resorted to an intimidation tactic. She erected a wall of earth that surrounded the both of them, and blocked the sky from view. "What are you after!?" Ivonne was in a frenzy for the first time in a while, for she encountered a presence that was beyond her immediate understanding.

"Me..?" The strange man spoke, looking at Ivonne with dead eyes. "That forest...I can feel my brother inside...No, not inside. Is my brother the forest..?" The man tried to look past the barrier Ivonne erected, but Ivonne kept his attention on her.

"Don't ignore me! Explain what you mean, this instant!" Ivonne exclaimed, out of both a desire to fulfill her curiosity, but also to protect the people that she was put in charge of.

"We are both children...of the Black Wizard. We must be reunited...that's all." The man continued to walk forward, seemingly unfazed by the provocations of Ivonne. "He is suffering...and I must put an end to it..." Without warning, nor even another word, the man jumped upwards with the full force of his might, and manipulated the blood on his body into a spear-like shape, which penetrated through the ceiling of the earthen barrier Ivonne erected, enabling him to escape without an issue.

Ivonne, who normally would not have let him escape so easily, was completely dumbfounded by the words that he spoke. "Children of Zeref...?!" Ivonne broke down her barrier, and looked at the forest once more, as the man had just leaped in. "...They can't be...**ETHERIOUS**!?" Ivonne spoke aloud, with a shock that had shaken her to her very core.

She could not delay herself for even a moment longer. Everything was on the line here, but most importantly, several lives, both in the present and the future, would be affected should Ivonne not stop this threat now.

The Wizard Saint focused her mind on the situation, and noticed that all of the Mages had been gathered in a single spot, though there was a lingering chaos between all of them. Independent, Dark, Legal...none of that mattered right now. She could feel it, the activity of the forest began to spark: the Etherious had infiltrated!

"Corona Magna." Ivonne chanted, and her body was enveloped in a bright aura, before it disappeared altogether from the area.

Within the forest, the others would begin to notice the small sprites of Ivonne, which simply followed along with the other Mages without any particular spike in activity, suddenly gather together. They began to fuse together into a barrier-like construct, which provided an avenue for the true Ivonne Houdini to materialize in, with her full body in-tact.

"Good job bringing everyone together, Legal Mages." Ivonne spoke with deathly seriousness. "But we no longer have any time to play around." Ivonne said, looking towards the tired figure of Cecilia and her accompanying Rune Knights, as well as one of the missing S-Class Mages.

"This forest's threat level is far beyond what we imagined...and we have to use all of our power to make sure we survive. So that being said..." Ivonne made a cursory glance towards all the non-legal Mages that were present in the area, hoping they were listening.

"To those who no longer wish to fight, please leave now. However, I cannot guarantee your survival if you do."

This was way more than what Arwa had bargained for. She had expected a few tussles, maybe give some dumb MC brats the slip, stunt on the legals, secure the bag, and go the fuck home. And divvy up the spoils of course; but this was as far removed from that as all bloody possible. That a wizard saint of all people was present made the woman's heart sink further; never mind the proclamation that followed. It made the unsettling aura she felt from the environment just a bit more acute.

"Um....you wouldn't mind telling me what we're facing? Cause I'm feeling bad vibes right about now...." Arwa said finally. She was all for leaving, but she wasn't the only one deciding that matter; besides, turning tail only to die would be a shitty way to go.