Whispers of the Unknown

**Date Started:** November 11th, 2022
**Date Completed:** Ongoing
**Next Role-Play:**
**Users Involved:** User:Ash9876, User:ComicMaster619, User:Dal101, User:EmperorKamui, User:KontonMan
**Setting:** Ishgar (Seven)
**Characters Involved**: Vigor Crest, Axle Strider, Mack Malloy, Sarah Phim, Caesar Avalon, Eric Buckler, Olivia Monochrome
* **Mentioned**: Hezar Afsan

## Forbidden Pillage

"Man, I can't believe you idiots pulled that off!! Ahahahaha! We got prodigies in the makin', apparently!" A loud and rambunctious voice spoke in a concealed forest. There was a group of individuals, six in total, two human women, one human male, and two elven men. The sixth was the man speaking, who was a man with dark blue hair, a distinct scar above his eye, and adorned in armor with a sword latched onto his shoulder presently.

"I hope you're listenin', cause Arachne Web only takes the best of the best as Dark Mages! Ya' wanna be the ones that rule the world, then you better hope that scroll makes you strong! Well...even if you become a monster, you'd at least be a useful pet! Ahahahahaha!"

The man laughing caused the others to gulp. These were all, at one point, regular citizens who had awakened Magic in their daily life. For one reason or the other, all these people were left for dead. Whether it was an accidental misdemeanour, or tragic accident that was caused by their sudden surge in magic. All five of these people had no other choice but to enter the dark side. In order to reclaim their life, they would go to any length.

The man speaking to them was none other than Vigor Crest, a S-Class Dark Mage of Arachne Web, more specifically, a member of its strongest team: the Eight Webs. He was a monstrous combatant, with a penchant for breaking convention and forcing even the greatest martial artists on their back leg. Throughout the continent, he was also known in some circles as the "Avant-Garde", a man who constantly pushed forward against any opponent, and broke through any conventional fighting style with his unorthodox Magic and swordsmanship.

While the five had steadily made their resolve as their hands shook, one of the women there was resolute in her choice. There was nothing left for her but to become the strongest. Whether she became a monster, or a superpower...did not matter either way. She simply needed strength, at all costs.

"There it is, and not a minute to spare," exclaimed Axle, trudging along the rock road that lead straight into town, almost agasp at the grandeur of it all, with a lush of forest life growing in the backdrop of this rural settlement. He could feel the cold air whip at him from across his ears, almost prompting him to to warm himself up, it was a clear sign that they were on the eve of winter, wearing nothing but a long overcoat and a pair of winter gloves, he blew into his hands in an attempt to stave off the cold from freezing up his fingers, holding onto a map that led straight into meeting for the job. As Fox Tail's newest rookie, he found it rather appropriate for Cassandra to send him out on his first job as some sort of initiation, and as such, it was only normal to see where he stood on the totem pole in comparison to the other members.

“Man, at least we're not out in the boonies this time or some damp cave,” he sighed in relief, looking down at his keys, contemplating the last two jobs he was a part of sending him to less than reasonable territories in Earth Land.

Looking over the buildings, he was looking for the guild house in the neighborhood that would serve as their temporary base, with a guard showing him around town to point him in the right direction. As far as he knew, it was a joint collaboration between guilds and independent contractors, something that rarely ever occurred in their profession, with an alliance of this nature only created when a great enough threat a single guild couldn't handle inadvertently arises. Which only raised the question on what on earth kind of the job required them to enlist so many mages to manage a single request.

Arriving to the meeting early, Axle was more than content to wait for the rest of the party to arrive, able to hear a thunderous roar bellow from behind the door. With all the shouting taking place in the guild building, Axle was more than content with waiting out in the reception area, crouched down, glancing at the magic regalia and the obtuse decorations one would expect of a guild of exceptional age. Shifting into place, Axle couldn’t help but smile, reflecting on his words, having realized this was his first job as legal mage, having recently become a member of the Fox Tail Guild, and he wasn’t about to fumble the ball on his very first request on their behalf. With his keys jingling right beside his waist, he gritted his tough in a combination of tension and frigidness, his teeth chattering while he waited, inhaling deeply to clear his sinuses.

"Alright Mack...no magic today. Just use the blades." Mack Malloy was worried. Pacing back and forth as he waited for others to show, there was a moment of regret for taking this job. He had just agreed to take the job without thinking about the finer details, he didn't want to disappoint Lady Cass since she had asked Mack herself to take the job. But now that he was here, he wondered why so many A-rank mages were taking the job, not including him of course.

It was fine though. Mack could play support, right? Wait for opportunities to open up from the others while he delved in and used his rapiers. There was no chance he'd use his magic.

Mack spotted a somewhat familiar face in Axle. A new member of the guild, and while Mack had been there longer than he had, Axle was still an A-rank mage. He stood at attention and gave a curt bow towards Axle. "Greetings...Sir Strider." he stood back up. "It's a pleasure to see a fellow Fox on this mission."

"Mack? Well I'll be, I'm glad to have a familiar face in the crowd," he responded affectionately, standing straight up to greet his fellow guildmate, grabbing his hand with both of his own, giving him a small relived smile. Although there was a difference in rank, Axle appreciated him for his seniority, as he had a multitude more more experience in working with groups in stark contrast to himself that, until recently, was an independent mage. Given the nature of Mack's magic, Axle knew they were going to have to rely on each other to compensate for the other's weakness, glancing over at his rapiers as an indictor.

"Frankly, I can't see which way this job's going, just hope we take off running without a hitch, I can't see Cassandra being all that happy if we botch the job," he shuddered, not wanting to ruin his first impression and embarrass Mack at the same time.

"Hello Hello," came a cheerful voice floating through the wall, followed a moment later by a head, then the rest of a person. Sarah Phim exited the wall, having decided to just float through this way into the reception area instead of walking around the building to the door. The ghost mage had traveled with her partner for this mission all the way from Delphinia town, the home base of the Swan Hymn. A joint operation was always weird since you never got time to truly know your new dance partners before you had to get into the swing of the things. But alas, poor Yorick. That was just the way things turned out.

Setting her feet down on the ground after ending her floating spell, Sarah spoke to the two Foxes in the room, "You two must be the Fox Tail members Master Nollie mentioned, a pleasure to meet you." Sarah paused for a moment before adding "Our last dance partner should be showing up in a moment, he had to take the long way around."

"Oh, I should introduce myself. My name is Sarah, mage of Swan Hymn. Resident Ghost Mage, singer, and purveyor of tricks, songs, and stories." At this point a pair of blue figures seemed to latch onto Sarah's shoulders. The blue ghosts stared incessantly at the pair of mages, tilting their heads at the pair before waving, "Oh, and these are Do and Re, two of my familiars."

The door to the room slowly opened with a sharp creaking noise. Walking in was a man suited on armor and blue clothing, a hood on his head obscured his face. “Sarah, you have to stop phasing through walls at random. I think others here are beginning to think this place is haunted.”

The man removed his hood, revealing the blonde hair and teal eyes of the man as he looked upon his partner and new acquaintances. “I suppose that wouldn’t be far from the truth at least.”

The man turned his attention to the Fox Tail mages. “Nice to meet you, I’m Caesar Avalon. I pull historian duties outside of magecraft.” Caesar turned back to Sarah, sure that the eccentric woman had introduced herself from the muffles he had heard outside. “Further, I’m the better singer of the guild.”

Mack was about to respond to Axle's show of kindness as the other two showed up. Mack instead gave a quick nod and a smile to Axle before facing the other too, listening intently to what they had to say. He was, admittedly, freaked out at how Sarah had appeared, but a knight was supposed to remain composed.

But listening to them would let him learn more about them. How they could all potentially meld into a team. Mack gave them both a curt bow. "Greetings Miss Sarah and Sir Avalon. My name is Mack Malloy, C-class mage of the Fox Tail guild."

"I see you are all here." Another woman's voice came peering through as she made herself known. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties, with shoulder-length brunette hair, a primarily white and brown coordinated outfit, and more importantly, a distinct monocle on her left eye. "I am Olivia Monochrome, the Overseer of Seven's Grand Magic Library. Thank you for coming her as urgently as you have."

Another man came from the same location, seemingly after making his rounds. "Hmm, this is no good." He looked up, and realized everyone else was already here. "Oh, hello everyone. I'm Eric Buckler from Butterfly Effect. Since I was in Seven, I was called in first." Eric took his stand among the other Mages, as he waited for Olivia to explain the details of the mission to them.

"I shall explain the situation to all of you immediately. After all, your first question must be why is there a necessity for so many high-ranked Mages." Olivia began to speak. Eric already knew all this information, so he immediately made a serious expression, but he did not say anything, to avoid the others being distracted.

"A few powerful magic tomes have been stolen from he Grand Magic Library. While most tomes possess magic that are difficult to learn, and thus, aren't as high priority of a threat, these tomes are on a completely different level than the others. Their effects can be instantly harnessed, and can transform even mediocre Mages into threats that even S-Class Mages couldn't dismiss." Olivia spoke, adjusting her monocle.

"All five tomes of this category have been taken at once. We believe that the operation was conducted from within the library's staff, and we are thoroughly checking both old and new staff for any suspicious individuals. However, your task is to pursue these individuals who have stolen the tomes and, if possible, retrieve the tomes."

Olivia paused, as she tinkered with her Monocle once more. In a moment, a magically projected map of the entire area was brought to light. This was the Mapping Monocle, Olivia's signature magic monocle that absorbed the Ethernano of all locations it witnessed, enabling it to project those locations astrally at any point the user desired. "This is the area that the thieves are thought to be located. All surrounding cities, small towns, forests and other major areas where escape via train is accessible have been blocked by our local Guilds. We require all of you to enter this area and perform your duty."

Olivia turned off the map. "Magic vehicle transport has been arranged outside. If you do not have any further questions, I wish you luck."

"*If I remember correctly, this tome was one of Hezar's research projects...Let's hope we live to tell the tale to him.*" Eric thought to himself. He kept his inquiries to himself, for he knew the identity of the tomes themselves were well-guarded secrets. He waited for the others to ask any questions they had.

"Just the standard ones," Sarah replied curtly and efficiently, keeping with the tone of the conversation. "Any idea how many, who they are, and any idea what to expect." They had used a massive amount of resources to contain this group to one area, then hired outside help in order to actually deal with it. These tomes were clearly important, but with what little information was provided to them, Sarah could only assume that the library did not want any information about these leaking out. So they picked two outside guilds with hefty ties to the council and good reputations to deal with the problem. Which made sense. "Beyond that, I'm ready to go whenever."

Caesar raised his hand to his chin. There was a lot of possible danger, but very little information considering the risks involved. "These tomes... what can we expect? Surely they didn't steal five copies of the same book. Should we expect high-caliber elements? Slayers?" Caesar suspected they wouldn't divulge much, possibly fearing the assembled mages here may take a peak for themselves given the opportunity. However, he would take what he could get to prepare for it mentally.

"My questions falls in line with the others." Mack said. "I'm curious as to what sort of magic was unleashed by these tomes, Miss Monochrome. I'm not able to use my magic, so some foreword would...er. Uh. Help me out."

Olivia expected these questions, and she answered in turn. "Five tomes have been stolen, and they are all of...similar types." Olivia had to deliberately choose her words carefully. These were tomes that were sealed away from general use due to being forbidden. "They do not possess typical Magic stored in them. Think of these tomes as...catalysts to a greater power. Their intended effect was to accelerate the development of the Magic Origin. How they will react to the Mages who have stolen them is something even I cannot predict. All I can say is, if these individuals are not strong enough, they will lose control of themselves."

Eric figured that would be the case. Tomes that had manipulated the Magic Origin in an attempt to advance the technique employed by Arc of Time. It was certainly a novel concept, and the intentions were most likely good. However, as all things, failures were to be expected. "*But I had heard the progenitors of the experiment were dealt with by Master's former guild...How are those tomes not exterminated yet? And who would know about them...*"

"Great power huh. It's funny that they knew what to find in the first place, especially in a place as a big as a library, are you sure its just them we're supposed to be worrying about?" Axle made no attempt to hide his accusation, letting his shoulders relax for a moment before tensing up again, almost knocked as he inch over to Olivia, hand tuckered into his pockets. "They couldn't have gotten as far as they have without help, you said it yourself, but my question is: how I be worried about you?" He let the question hang in the air, his tone and eyes not reflecting skepticism, but carefully examining the librarian for any reaction he could get. He wasn't about to disregard the possibility that other mages or staff could be involved in more direct means through the course of their journey, and he wasn't about to get caught unaware if the chance existed. As far as he knew, Olivia could be just as culpable as the rest, given her position.

Listening to the new information, Sarah was as certain as ever that there was more to this, but most of the information they weren't being told probably wasn't going to make a difference. At bare minimum there were five significant threats of unknown ability and potency waiting for them after they reached their destination.

"Considering we don't know exactly what exactly is waiting for us, either in number, ability, or capability, should you really be coming along?" Sera asked out loud, directly addressing Mack. "If you can't use your magic, the rest of us may not be in a position to protect you.'

Pausing for a moment, she added, "Worst case scenario is we are fighting at least five S-class opponents, albeit if they used a book to shortcut their way there they probably aren't as skilled as the rest of us. Not to be mean Mack, but going in there without being able to use magic is risky at best."

"I should be fine, Miss Sera." Mack patted the sheathes by his waist. "I'm an adept swordsman, and my blades were forged and then enchanted by Miss Vance. Worst come to worst, I assure you I won't allow myself to be a liability."

"Easy enough to judge when you got anonymity on your side huh. As far as you need to know, I KNOW he's got your back, but how do I know you got mine?" Flipping the question back to her, if the worst case scenario did call for 5 mages of similar level to a guild master, he had to be sure she wasn't simply puffing hot air.

Caesar tried his best not to roll his eyes. "Please refrain trying to instill discord amongst this hardly even started party. Sarah is a lot of things you wouldn't be aware of. However, you can trust her to not leave you to die and you can trust me. If you want trust, then fine. My magic of choice is Guardian. I am built to maximize defense and offense in one fell swoop."

The man turned towards the Butterfly mages. The tomes posed a risk, even an idiot with the greatest power in the world should still be feared to some extent. Best case scenario, the three proper magic users would be fine and Caesar would trust that the swordsman wasn't completely useless if he was sent on such a task. "There are five tomes, but how many thieves do you anticipate? A book isn't usually meant for a single reader. Depending on that, it can prepare us for the level of seriousness we will need."

Caesar already accepted this probably wouldn't be a typical fun adventure, but that was alright. So long as the job is done and the tomes are safely returned, such activities can be saved for later.

"Yeah, we should probably focus on the things at hand." The ghost mage sighed at her guildmate's response. Worse came to worse, the younger Fox Tail Mage had acknowledged the risks. She didn't like that for something that was ostensibly A to S ranked the Fox Tail guild had sent along a C-rank member. But that wasn't her decision. "I can handle any reconnaissance once we get there. Unless this a permanent base I doubt the walls are so heavily enchanted that my familiars can't phase right through and scout what's ahead. So we should be able to see how many we are dealing with ahead of time. And if it is a permanent base, well then we'll just have to improvise."

"You can attempt to analyze me all you want, but..." Olivia responded to Axle, before she poked out her tongue, revealing a symbol that resembled something akin to flames. It was a brand that was used to control individuals' actions with the possibility of incinerating them at any moment. The Burning Heart Seal was what it was called. She retreated her tongue, and adjusted her monocle. "As you can see, I have nothing to do with this particular action. We have been attempting to research who among our staff could have been responsible, but we cannot divulge any suspects. That said, you may leave internal investigation to us."

Olivia finished speaking. "I surmise there is no more questions for me? If so, I will escort you to your vehicles."

"Yeah, let's get going. The longer we wait the more time they'll have with these books." Sera shrugged as she began walking out the door, "I don't think further conversation will be all the productive either."

"I agree with Sarah, it's best to go ahead and start this mission," said Caesar as he turned to his new allies. "Any mysteries will unfold themselves with time. I understand your reservations Axle, but for now I think it'd be best to push it to the back burner. I'm happy to help should... any of your concessions meet the light of day." Caesar turned to Olivia. "I trust you have given us all the important details that you can at this point. Point us in the direction."

"Very well, please follow me." Olivia spoke, and Eric soon followed after her while the others paired up with their respective Guild Mages. Olivia and Eric were slightly ahead of everyone else, and Olivia noticed Eric's intentional pace.

"Yes, Buckler?" Olivia spoke in a whisper, only referring to Eric.

"Those tomes..." Eric whispered back, "Are they the ones...?"

Olivia briskly begun moving ahead, "You know full well I'm not at liberty to speak on that. Any speculation you have can be made outside of these walls."

Eric sighed. "Guess so."

Moments later, the crowd of Mages reached their vehicles.

Olivia turned to face the others, "These are pre-charged with magical energy so you may conserve your own for the battle ahead. I pray that you are able to accomplish your task successfully." Olivia bowed, and returned to the library.

Eric took the first motorbike and sat on it, "I hope you all know how to ride these. Either way, I'll lead, since I have home advantage. Make sure to keep up."

As the Mages all left one by one, there was a single man who stood on a tree in the distance. He seemed to have perfectly masked his presence despite the level of Mages present, and once he was confident they were all preoccupied with the journey, he snapped his fingers. A magic circle that was tattooed onto his cloak disintegrated, and he was able to grin once more. "The journey's begun, which means my role in this library is finally over."

The man pointed his index finger upwards, and two magic circles formed, one on each of the man's shoes. He began to float, and simply walked across the sky, until he reached a certain hillside.

"Oi, Gosner, why'd you make me wait so long!?" Vigor shouted, and the man now identified as Gosner sighed as he landed on the ground once more.

"Do not be impatient. I set up enough of a situation to grant our dear number eight some precious time to get accustomed to her Magic." Gosner responded, taking off his cloak. Underneath was a white-haired man, with distinct black horns on his head and a monocle on his left eye. Much like Vigor, he was a member of Arachne Web's Eight Webs. A truly powerful Dark Mage.

"Yeah yeah, I'm sure you were ogling at that overseer. C'mon." Vigor sighed and they began to move.

"Hmph, I long abandoned that woman, fool." Gosner exasperated, and followed him.

Sitting at the top of the magic four wheel vehicle, Axle simply followed Eric's lead through the forest, occasionally moving the stick whenever the terrain became rougher to manage. He was thankful for Olivia, given their destination, and the level of enemy they were potentially about to face, he wasn't sure just how far they were going to be on the road, and appreciated the fact that they didn't have to expend any energy on their part to get there, leaving them fresh for the fight was was going to come. Although it was leisurely to move this far out in the countryside, all he could see was an endless wash of trees and rocks as far as the eye could see, an ideal place to hide in an ocean of familiar vegetation and identical natural formations that stretched on and on.

"We're almost there, give or take 10 minutes. Whatever you gotta do, do it now," he belted out, his voice rising above the engine and metallic clatter of the vehicle's motion.

His eyes were darting around in every direction, dissecting the mangrove of trees for anything suspicious or out of place, almost to the point giving him a migraine, a combination of paranoia and expectation had taken its roots. For all he knew, the outlying forest was all but enchanted with traps and unsuspecting enemies or worse, with their group all huddled in one vehicle did little to alleviate his bad feeling. But at the same time, he did find it amusing that wizards of various different guilds were all sharing one room under the same small roof, all on the same job no less filled him with some relief.

"Sir Buckler?" Mack approached the Butterfly mage, offering a curt bow. "I've heard word of you from Miss Vance. I'd like to say that I feel quite relieved knowing that you will be at our sides. I hope to gain some knowledge from seeing you in action."

He turned to face the others, offering them the same bow. "The same goes to all of you. I know I may seem like a liability, but I will not hold you back. I'm excited and honoured to see you all at work, and hope to learn from you all."

Caesar himself found riding the vehicle fun. However, he could not fully focus on it. His mind was else where. He didn't want to complain too much, he had already accepted the job along with his guild mate. This didn't ease his mind though. He still felt as though there was a severe lack of information, too much risk that could come into play. *I guess we simply have to play this smart.*

Caesar heard the call of his newfound ally, bracing himself for their arrival. He trust his own power, he trusted Sarah's, and he hoped that Fox Tail would't play things fast and loose. Caesar had a lot to prove and things he wanted to accomplish and this mission could prove to be a vital asset in moving him along.

Sarah smiled softly from her spot above the seat, one of her ghosts in her lap. A merry tune was hummed upon her lips, an upbeat little ditty from her home town. Everyone had there own ways of dealing with the pre-fight jitters. Some, like Axle, just kept themselves busy, either by checking for ambushes, checking their equipment, or even just finding something to do with their hands. Caesar on other other hand was more of the brooding type, keeping his thoughts to himself as he stared off in the distance.

Then there was Mack, who mostly just seemed like the type to hate silence, which Sarah could appreciate. After all, she sung whenever she was waiting, and she hated the silence. But well, that's just kind of the person she was.

"Well, hopefully you should learn a lot Mack." Sarah spoke in warm tones before adding, "But before that, I have a present for everyone as a number of the singer's familiars popped up, singing as they appeared, "Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do."

"I'm going to give each of you one of my familiars. That way, even if we get split up, we can always find each other again." The ghost-mage explained, four of her familiars splitting off from her to settle on the shoulder of each of the other mages, Do for Ceasar, Re for Mack, Mi for Axle, and Fa for Eric. "Now, these familiars of mine do have limited intelligence. They can follow simple instructions, but they aren't sentient, so they can't make decisions on their own. They also always know how to come back to me like the good little ghosts they are." She smiled as she spoke, an expression matched by the ghosts themselves. "The reverse is also true as I always know where they are. I am capable of casting spells through them as well, though the further away from me they are the harder and less efficient it is."

"Though that being said, if anyone has any last minute comments to bring up," The floating mage added, "Now would be the time to do so. As Sir Axle mentioned, we're nearly there."

"Ah, thanks for the compliment, Mack." Eric bowed. Similarly, he acknowledged the comments made by Axle, Caesar and then Sarah. "Since we're nearly there, let's stop here. I do have one announcement to make before we head into this battle." Eric stopped his vehicle, and expected the others to do so behind him.

"The nature of this spell...I think I have a good idea of what it is capable of. I was contractually obliged to keep my mouth shut in the library, but you all should have an idea of what you're dealing with here, and why so many were called for this Job." Eric spoke with a grim tone.

"I'll ask first. Do you all know what the Second Origin is?"

"Another, typically unused, part of the Magic container." Mack quickly answered. "If someone unlocks it, their magical power will undergo a dramatic boost. But there's an easier way of understanding it. It's just awakening the full extent of one's Magic Origin and power. And awakening your Second Origin isn't always, safe, right?"

"An answer almost directly from the textbook!" Sarah teased before turning a bit more serious. "I'm aware of it, but I've never actually seen someone unlock it before. The few mages I know who have did it well before I knew them."

"Yes. Because the Second Origin can grant such a massive increase in one's power, there have been several attempts at extracting its power through non-natural means. Most Mages of a high enough caliber naturally awaken their Second Origin by placing themselves in stressful situations, but there is one other confirmed method. That method was Arc of Time. By manipulating the time of an individual, one could accelerate the awakening of their Second Origin and obtain that power earlier than what's naturally possible."

Eric paused, "The tomes described by Olivia are no doubt one of the many attempts at replicating Arc of Time's success. One of the magics in these tomes is called...from what I can remember, the Origin Breaker. It is a risky, foolish attempt at increasing one's power by breaking the boundary of the Magic Origin. This boundary is not excluded to just the Second Origin, but the entire body. One's magical sensitivity increases tremendously, and if one cannot reign in their power, it is said they become nothing more than beasts possessed by overflowing magical energy."

Eric left from his vehicle, "Make sure we all collaborate on this request. If I'm correct about this, we'll be facing beasts unlike anything you've seen before."

Caesar similarly got off of his vehicle with a frown. To awaken a second origin, something Caesar has yet to accomplish, was a feat of great wizards. To carelessly force it open, with all the risk involved... "Are we sure the thieves don't have a purpose? Not to justify the theft, but this seems like a lot risk for an unreliable reward." The knight began to approach Eric. "The danger of this seems to rise the closer we get." That said, Caesar was not complaining. Such a quest could be of great value to his aspirations and help him grow even stronger.

Letting the vehicle cease all movement, Axle parked it off to the side, leaping off the passenger seat to where the rest of the group gathered. He took a moment to bask in the atmosphere, to say it was anything but hospitable was an understatement, he could feel the hairs on his arms stand up. “Fast and easy power, regardless of the trouble it brings, it's just like them to chase an easy fix Caesar,” he retorted, giving him a gentle tap on the shoulder, “besides, borrowed powers got nothing on what we bring to the table.”

He found it ironic, if the tomes gave fake power in a brief instance, Second Origin was the polar opposite, power tempered through long- term experience, more parallels he found the longer the job went on. From the map Olivia provided, this was but the first of many steps to take to get where they needed to go, into the deepest regions of this spider's nest.

“With their base so close by, we should probably sort our positions, until we get there,” he muttered, gazing off to the woods that stood between them and their destination.

“I’m a Celestial Spirit Mage, so I’m not that great at face-to-face encounters, especially when they get up close, so I can cover our rear. Anyone one of you care to take point?

"I'll take point." Eric spoke, "I'm a Shadow Mage, and Devil Slayer, after all. Plus, this is my hometown, it'd be disrespectful for me to be in the back line, eh?" As he walked forward, he paused and briefly blinked. "Uh, Caesar, yeah?" Eric clarified the man's name before speaking. "You're probably not wrong about these people having an ulterior motive. In fact..." Eric stroked his chin to gather his thoughts, "The way they were able to sneak into the library and take the tome in the first place...is proof that there's someone bigger at work here."

Shaking his head and reinvigorating himself, "We better prepare for the worst. C'mon, everyone." Eric stepped forward, but stopped there.

The moment he entered the range of this forest, he felt a monstrous magical energy unlike anything he'd ever encountered before. "So many...properties..." Eric stuttered, "W-what is this...incredible power?"

The source of the power could not be seen directly, but what the group of Mages would feel with their senses would be nothing short of shocking. A monstrous magical power that adjusted through so many different properties that the others would find themselves in a kaleidoscope attempting to decipher its true nature.

"Whatever this is...Let's stay in a tight formation..."

"I'm adept with my swords. I can get in close no matter how small the opening and strike." Mack whispered to the others, following right behind Eric in the front line. Yet as he felt the monstrous surge of arcana, he faltered. What did it take? To have power as intense as that?

"I think the tomes didn't just force their Second Origin, Sir Buckler." Mack unsheathed his red hilted blade. "I think that mass of arcane power is...an amalgamation? I think it's possible the thieves have been forced into one being. It's just a theory of course, I could very well be wrong."

"Awakening the Second Origin is immensely valuable. I wouldn't fully count out Buckler at this point," said Caesar as he held his hand to his chin, thinking again. Second Origins, immense magic, all of it seemed like strands of a bigger picture. However, Caesar had to acknowledge even small images could pack a lot of detail. Whether this was some grand plan or just small scale attempts to become stronger, the job was set. "Not to sound brash, but we should begin the tome retrieval. I think we have all we can really use at this point for information."

Caesar acknowledged the ghost on his shoulder, a gift from Sarah for the message. "I have already said my primary magic is that of Guardian. However, just to prevent any confusion, it is a magic that allows me to conjure a magical entity and its tools. There are many..." Caesar trailed off trying to find the words. His eyes lit up when he seemed to find them. "There are many stages to the magic, forms to its usage. I'll start off mostly with weaponry, but if it gets sticky I will use the larger forms. For that, I'll be sure to make space."

"As for me, I'm a ghost mage, using an old magic referred to as Spectra." Sarah replied nonchalantly. "It's a bit tricky to explain, but mostly it uses music to harness the power of ghosts. I can mostly fight from any range, but I prefer not to be up in people's faces." She paused for a moment before adding, "Don't be surprised if I dip in and out of walls and the ground though, being able to move through solid objects is such an easy way to keep out of harm's way. It becomes a lot harder though if the object is heavily reinforced with magic."

## Chaos Conductor

"Ah, I can hear them. The sound of despair, of hesitation between every beat..." A feminine voice spoke. A woman with a soft face, lavender hair tied into a ponytail, and wearing a dark bodysuit. With nothing more than her fingers swaying upwards, she seemed to command a presence in front of her that, realistically, should have been much beyond her.

The monster that the Mages assigned to this Job were all feeling...was no more than a puppet in the hands of this woman. "My soldier," The woman spoke, as she rose her hand upwards, while her fingers continued to face downwards. "It is time...to strike." Her hand flipped, fingers facing the sky, before she clenched her fist tightly.

The monstrous entity before her roared as it came into view. It was truly a diabolical creature, blacker than onyx, with four tentacle-like appendages for heads, each only bearing an eye, another eye in the center of its body and four legs it used to walk. Its roar caused its power to flare up even more, as an ominous black-magenta magical energy gathered at its central eye.

"RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGH!" It screamed without hesitation. The attack...had begun.

Where the Mages had gathered and were inching forward, suddenly they would see a dark light envelop their vision. It was a blast of raw magical energy that flew directly towards them, incinerating everything in front of it, while only barely keeping the ground in-tact.

"SHIT! EVERYONE, DEFEND NOW!" Eric screamed as he begun his maneuver. He outstretched both of his hands and shouted, "SHADOW PAUSE!" He flared his own dark magical energy as his shadow extended beyond himself and attacked the shadow of the blast that sought to decimate them. Thankfully, the blast did not completely incinerate everything beneath him, allowing Eric the time to conduct this defensive maneuver. However, the blast was far more than he could handle by himself. He needed to be reinforced, lest his own shadow rip apart from the strain.

"HURRY!"

“A goddamn monster, whatever happened to fighting Dark Mages?!” Axle bellowed, his eyes examining the contorted mess of flesh and limbs attacking them, unable to make heads-or-tails on what he was looking at; a half-strewn abomination sloppily stabled together from parts unknown made it obvious it was anything but natural. *Whoever had the bright idea of bringing it here in the first place must have been crazy* he thoguht. Drawing up his hands slowly, Axle hesitated for a moment, almost jumping off his heels to retaliate before stopping short of exposing himself. For the time being, he had to play the “role” he had taken since the start of the job, a simple Celestial Spirit Mage, nothing more than surface deep, since he didn’t know who was watching them. Taking a deep breath to compose himself, he changed tactics, reaching for his keyring around his waist.

“Open the Gate of the Shield! Scutum!" Swinging the silver key through the air, a light shimmered through around him, expanding and forming into a large shield, a face emerging onto the surface of the weapon, belting out a hearty laugh.

“Ho ho, quite the predicament, how’re you getting out of this I wonder,” Scutum butted, flying off to his right arm’s forearm.

“The same way I always have, with both hands in front of me.” Axle let his left arm rest on Eric’s shoulder while the other in front of the Devil Slayer, his Spirit shielding them directly from the front. As he raised him above, Scutum began to glow, his eyes and symbols highlighted, created a bright green light that stretched out in front of them, contorting and reshaping into a barrier in the form of a large shield that stretched from their small party to the incoming attack. Among the Celestial Spirits, Scutum was one of, if not, the most durable among them, with complete lack of offensive power to compensate his substantial defense, made best suited to hold back this attack.

“Wall of Scunti!” Upon contact, sparks and fire flew in every direction, reminiscent of a weld touching metal, the exchange set numerous trees on fire, thankfully with none so much as moving toward their group. Gritting his teeth, Axle held his ground alongside his fellow mage, turning his head.

“Whatever that THING is isn’t normal. Me and Eric’ll hold him here, take him down but be careful, I don't think he's alone!”

“I’ll create a smokescreen!” Mack darted around the formed barrier, blades being pulled from their sheathes. He leaped up and whistled. The sheathes on his waist found themselves below his feet in a sudden surge of speed, as Mack took off flying with them as “air skis”. Even airborne, Mack’s footwork was something else. He glided through small openings in the creature’s stance with rapid speed to avoid its eyes finding him, his body moving like a flower in the wind.

He found himself directly above the creature, a blade in each hand. Frost covered the blue hilted weapon while fire ignited the other. Mack clashed his blades together to create a massive explosion of steam directed down at the creatures back. An intense heat to not only burn the creature, but a layer of mist to mask his teammates’ movements.

A sonorous dirge echoed through the clearing that the party and monster now inhabited. A song broadcasted by over half a dozen locations. Sarah sang softly as she crouched down her voice clearly coming from both herself and those of the ghosts holding onto her shoulders.

Safe from the attack directly in front of her, she used this chance to respond in kind. Whatever this beast was, it didn't seem all that intelligent. So the best choice to strike at it would be to take advantage of the steam billowing down over the creature's form and its current focus on its beam of energy.

Rivers of blue flowed down the mage's arm as her ghosts sank into the ground below, their tethered forms tied back into the ghostmage's back. Slipping through the ground before popping up in four places around the clearing off to the side, the ghosts turned to catch the monster in a crossfire of spectral energy.

"Spectra Spike!" Sarah sang as magic circle appeared over each of her four familiars mouths.

A torrent of ghostly blue spikes sputtered forth from the ghastly ghosts, hosing the beast in a torrent of peppering explosions, each aiming to wear it down more so than to strike one decisive blow as the shots came from four separate directions to both damage and disorient it.

Caesar conjured his magic into the form of a bow, its magical composition giving it a light glow. The Guardian: Bow was a reliable spell, allowing for a powerful ranged offense. With it, Caesar took aim at the monster, firing a volley of magical arrows with a single snap of the bowstring. However, Caesar was no idiot, the release of such a spray of arrows could harm more than just the target. As such, he focused his magic, having the arrows converge on the beast. While he aimed for the eye, the beast's movements made the arrows strike its side, seemingly causing little damage as they struck.

"For a band of Mages casually put together, their coordination is surprising..." The woman spoke, but a malicious grin soon enveloped her lips. "Excellent, they shall gain a taste of my soldier's powers!"

Once more, the woman flourished both arms. Lavender magical energy poured out of her being and a song-like lullaby emitted from her presence. She wouldn't allow another song to touch the ears of her dear soldier. Immediately, the beast could hear the song being sung to its crazed ears. "*Roar, black beast of the underworld. Cry out and break the mould!*" A poem-like chant hummed through the beast's feral mind, and gave purpose to its aimless actions.

"Nngh...wait, what-!?" Before Eric even had the time to thank Axle for his assistance in defense, the blast, instead of pushing forwards, dispersed *outwards* from being released, completely smothering the ground and trees in dark magical energy that quickly removed all signs of life from whatever it touched.

Eric blinked. "W-what...devastating power...Wait, Mack, watch out!!" Eric yelled, but instead of running forward he decided to focus his strength in a single area and forced his shadow to stretch to join with Mack's. "Shadow Tug!" Without warning, Mack would be forced backwards as he was strung along with Eric's shadow, retreating to safety in anticipation of the beast's next attack.

Even though the mist would have served as a good distraction, and the the spikes would have no doubt done some damage, this monster was by no means over. "RRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAGH!!!!" Its roar caused the birds even from miles away to migrate away, as it released a surge of dense magical energy from the action all across the immediate area. Anything not fortified with an appropriate level of magical energy was quickly exterminated. The mist, Sarah's spikes, and everything else that wasn't Axle's shield and the Mages it was fighting.

With the mist quickly dealt with, the woman who manipulated the beast hummed once more.

"*Divide and conquer the land, spread your heads like your hand!*"

The beast obeyed once more. Its multiple heads were hoisted back closer to its stomach-like part, before they split equal distance between themselves and appeared, truly, like a hand seeking to crush the mages underneath it. From each head, strong, dark magical energy was once more gathering. This time, rather than a beam, they were covering themselves in the magical energy, before intending to slam against the mages that fought against them, in a bid to expose them directly to the malefic, corrosive aura that pervaded the mist just before.

A small distance away, atop a bed of trees with full view to the scene below, Gosner and Vigor were observing with delighted expressions.

"That monster probably has just as much raw magical energy as any of the Wizard Saints, and she is able to manipulate it so easily...how fascinating." Gosner observed.

"Heh, guess Master Arachne was right about little...uh, Ingrid?" Vigor responded.

"Inger. Inger Saeki is her name, Vigor." Gosner sighed.

"Right right. Well, let's see what those kids can do. It'd be too bad if they lost too easily."

"Indeed. If Mr. Aria is correct about his assumptions of this generation of Legal Guilds, it'd be unfortunate." Gosner ended the conversation, before both Vigor and himself returned to observe the fight at hand.

Mack could only scold himself in his mind as he was yanked back. He hadn't thought everything out like he was supposed to. Instinct had driven him to move. A tactic that had almost gotten himself disintegrated by whatever that mist was. Getting rid of the beast was going to be an issue. This much raw arcana and it hadn't been driven insane? Was it some new kind of intelligent magic beast? Mack doubted it would've gone undiscovered for this long.

Was this thing mindless? It seemed coordinated in its attacks. Brief pauses before switching to something new. Could it be controlled by something? Someone? It moved like some did when Lady Cassandra took control of someone for their benefit. There were a lot of questions racing through Mack's mind. But he needed confirmation. That was what a tactician would do.

"*It was nothing against you, boy. I am a General. You were just a pawn in my plan.*" **his** voice range through his head.

But a Knight would run in to protect what was right.

"There's a chance this thing is being puppeteered! Avoid and search for the brain!" Mack yelled. He glided to the side on his hoversheath, his blue hilted blade crackling with frost. It'd consume the majority of the enchantment for a while, and he'd have to have Miss Vance bless it once more. But it would be worth it.

Mack moved out of the way of the creatures path with a wide arc, unsheathing his blue hilt and swinging it towards the forest as he pressed a button on the button of the hilt. A massive wave of frost and ice unleashed itself from the blade and towards the forest, the blades hum of arcane power dimming.

He aimed to freeze a large portion of the forest. If this thing was being controlled as he suspected due to it's near perfect movement and it's ability to adjust quickly to the group at large, there had to be a brain. If Lady Cassandra had a range to control others, so would another mage for they were always far less than she was.

Freezing the forest would either cause the being within to avoid and move, creating a more potent motion that Mack trusted himself to be able to track. Or the brain would shatter the ice and would have to do so from a central point. Which Mack would be able to locate and find the brain at the site, or at least attempt to track her from that spot.

While Mack was dashing off on his own again, Sarah decided to remain a team player for now. Her song took a slightly different pitch, her spirits pulling back out of the ground even as they began to shift up and forwards. A single shield wasn't going to stop an attack from multiple angles at once.

She familiars on Eric and Axle's shoulder joined the tunes, stretching outwards in order to meet the tendrils even and power began bubbling up through them.

"Spectral Wail!!" The Ghostly Mage sung as her familiars approached each of the approaching tendrils. Magic circles once again formed in front of the familiar's maws, four simultaneous copies of the another spell echoing forth as a wave of blue energy slammed against the dark spears aiming to puncture down on the group. Power fought power, and for the moment at least, stalemated the monster's attack. It wasn't permanent, but all she had to do was hold it back briefly and that would be sufficient."

"This won't hold for that attack for long, Everyone make your decision on whether to follow Mack and track down this thing's brain, or stay here and keep it busy. Caesar, I'll stick with you on this one."

"Not bad," Axle marveled, admiring the use of the ghosts she had given them to hold back a titan of an attack. But his astonishment quickly reverted back to focus, centering himself on their current predicament, glancing over to Mack freezing the forest on the far corner of his peripheral vision.

Axle didn't like the fact Mack of all people was the one running around looking for whoever was controlling the beast, not out of lack of ability, but a limitation of it, so adamant on not using THAT magic until the situation was grave enough to warrant it. It didn't help that he could only assume the one that was controlling such a beast from a distance was someone who was an A-Rank or above, and would lead to a dangerous confrontation if he weren't prepared for it. The best he could do was distract the creature so it wouldn't head for his direction and exacerbate matters even more.

"No sense sending everybody to do the same thing huh? Then I can hold the fort while he goes looking since we already have our hands tied. I just hope it doesn't bite him in the ass later." Given his current abilities, Axle was best suited for holding back and distracting the large creature, leaving the rest to decide for themselves what course of action they would take.

Raising his arm up, the space around them began to distort and warp, each of them enveloped in spheres of green and sapphire magic, vanishing just before the beast could follow through with its attack. Teleporting behind the creature, the group re-emerged together from empty space in one piece, raising his shield in advance for the next attack.

Inger, who had been controlling the monster from the forest, was surprised to see Mack reach the conclusion so quickly. The moment that the ice had attempted to freeze her, she leaped into the air, reaching the same elevation as the beast itself, and avoided any damage from the enormous wave of ice that Mack sent out.

"Hello, everyone~ I hope you have enjoyed battling my soldier here." Inger greeted the legal mages with a bow. "My name is Inger Saeki, those who hail from Seven...perhaps you have heard of me." Inger's melodic voice was entrancing. Even in the midst of battle, awareness had dulled to those who heard it. The smooth rhythm caused any friction to momentarily disappear, even if she were the enemy of the mages before her.

"Inger Saeki...no, the Chaos Conductor?! But you were a member of Seven's national army, how did you-!?" Eric exclaimed, but Inger gestured for him to be silent.

With a snap of her fingers, the beast retreated to her side, and she stood atop its highest head, opposite the mages.

"Indeed, that's me. The woman whose song invigorated our army to continue marching forward. But I was defamed. Labelled a witch by our own allies, and cast aside."

"...I had heard the rumors you forced soldiers to kill each other-"

"Wrong. My power wasn't capable of those things at that time." Inger spoke a bit more harshly. "But what does it matter. Arachne Web has taken me in as their final member of the Eight Webs, and I am the only successful user of Origin Breaker. They understand my value far more than your foolish country."

"...You survived Origin Breaker!?" Eric exclaimed, before finally sensing the enormity of Inger's magical energy. She wasn't lying. Power like that was not naturally possible, even for most S-Class Mages.

"Indeed. But let's ignore me." Inger responded, before pointing to the beast that stood beneath her. "You're aware of how many tomes were stolen from the library, so, who do you think this is?"

Mack glided through the air, landing on the ground in front of Axle as the sheathes landed back onto his waist. Eric seemed to have heard of this woman. A member of the national army? She had been powerful enough before, but Origin Breaker had to have made her into a monster.

"All of them." Mack gulped. "The ones that stole from the library. They became...that."

"No loose ends and all that," Axle added.

"Inger huh," Snapping his fingers repeatedly, Axle could recall the gossip that flew around the community spanning from Seven to Ishgar a while ago, although how much of it was true or exaggerated was left up to debate. The only thing that was rooted in absolute certainty was the just how powerful they made her sound, compared to word of mouth, it did her an injustice to what stood before them today. But what stuck out to him the most was the name of her group, having encountered it fairly recently somewhere else, but as to where he couldn’t remember. Just as it lingered at the tip of his tongue, a bolt of realization had struck, recalling his and Mack's last job from nearly a week ago aboard a train transporting a Yehuda noble.

"Arachne? Wait. Hold on, your THAT Arachne Web?! The same assholes on that train heist to Yehuda?” With one last snap, Axle crossed his arms, lifting a single finger toward Inger, "isn't it a little demeaning for Seven's grand commander to throw herself in with criminals?" *Eight Webs* he thought, if its members were Dark Mages of equal or greater level to hers, and with a party of five against her's of eight, this wasn't going to be easy. They'd have to be smart if they were going to stack the odds to their favor.

Turning to face their Devil Slayer, Axle could tell he was more familiar with the term than the others were. "Eric, what exactly is an 'Origin' Breaker', is it anything like a Second Origin?"

"Turning people into these monsters? How utterly diabolical!" shouted Caesar, doing little to hide his utter disgust with the reveal. He allowed his bow to fade away and opened each of his hands. From them, magic began to swirl and form into a pair of magical blades, swords to complete the knightly appearance of Caesar. While Caesar wanted to charge in and slay the woman for her despicable magic, he knew he had to wait for a moment. One, he too had no idea what an Origin Breaker was either. The second would be, depending on what it was, perhaps they could force her to turn the people back to normal.

Caesar turned to the Devil Slayer as well. "Much like he asked, what is it? Do you think these people could be restored? I know they are thieves, but it would feel wrong to put them down like... like this." Caesar felt sincere sympathy, becoming something you didn't intend to become. Alas, he knew that should their fate be permanent, he had to ensure the survival of his group.

"Don't spout your morals at me." Inger spat venomously back at Caesar. "This was all of their own choices. They knew the potential consequences, and were overwhelmed by a power they could not handle. Truly, the only people to blame here..." Inger paused for a moment, "Are those who rule this world of Magic, that monitors and restricts any power at the slightest notice of disorder. Truly...what a shameful system." Inger didn't hide her own disgust either, refusing to even look Caesar and the others in the eye as she spoke. She was fully done with this foolish world.

"Origin Breaker..." Eric gulped, "As I mentioned earlier, it is a spell that transforms one's entire body into the Magic Origin. As opposed to simply force the Second Origin open, it transforms the entire body into an extension of the Magic Origin, granting someone power even beyond the standard awakening of the Second Origin." Eric stared closely at Inger, realizing the sheer magnitude of power she possessed in this very moment. "One of the members of my Guild was researching this spell after its inventors were defeated by my master during his tenure in Chimera Heart. I didn't know that those tomes had been archived...nor did I know it was even *possible* to survive that spell."

"Yes, he is correct." Inger interjected, "That spell is configured in a way that most people who attempt to obtain power with it fail to do so, and the Ethernano that is suddenly absorbed into their being quickly gets contaminated by their emotions and pain, which results in what you see before you. Mere clumps of magical energy that now take on a beast-like form."

Inger chuckled, "As to how I survived. Well..." Inger flared up her magical energy even further as a lavender aura poured out of her.

"Tch." Eric formed a, fairly transparent, wall of shadows in front of everyone to prevent the impact from dislodging their position.

"Let's see how well you perform against this monster of magical energy, and maybe I'll entertain your curiosity. Do be warned though..." Inger's magical energy once more took a lyrical tune, infusing the monster with power previously unseen. "I won't perform such basic attacks any longer."

"Regardless," Axle said, taking a key from his waist, "we can't let you walk away with what you've done. One way or another, you and the tomes are coming with us." As it stood, things were only going to get a lot harder from this point on, escalating as Axle perceived the significant growth of the creature's magical power. They were going to stand any fighting chance, they had to do the same. Spinning the key between his fingers, Axle swiped the key through the air, glowing with a blinding silver light that shimmered in the sky, heavily contrasting Eric's wall of shadow.

"Open the Gate of the Champion! Hercules!" From the sky fell a large tower of a man, donning black armor and white hair that stood nearly 9 feet tall, his giant arms crossed as he gazed at the abhorrent monster in the opposite direction, appearing right beside the Mage who summoned him.

“Ahhh, this air, this STENCH, what an ugly sight to see after all this time,” commented Hercules, turning his head to examine the rest of Axle’s party before turning to see the mage himself, “I take it that creature is the focus of my wrath this time?”

“Not exactly.” Pointing his finger directly overhead, it was focused squarely on the woman who was supplying the creature with ammunition. “Her. I want her out of here.”

“Very good,” he chuckled. Extending both hands out, Hercules began to gather a large amount of energy into both hands, glowing a brilliant yellow hue that began to spread out around them, pointing them toward Ingel. Using Erick’s shadows as cover, Hercules had a clear line of sight of his target, attacking from several meters away, aiming to detonate and blast the entire area where the Dark Mage resided, alongside anything that stood in her general vicinity.

Axle would only look on, gripping his shield even tighter, simply waiting for an opportunity to open up for him to get close enough to her for a counter attack.

"Bindings of life and death... split into eight. Bind the entire world under one net." Sera chanted quietly. She had been silent during much of the previous moments, focused on listening to this person's sickening viewpoint. Even ignoring the horrendous nature of what had occurred to the people in front of her, this woman just so casually insulted everyone present, both dead and living. She had done monstrous things in the name of power, and was currently manipulating the dead for her own power.

There were very few things Sarah could stand less. Her own magics tested the boundaries, but at the end of the day, she didn't disturb those that was gone. She simply used magic power to emulate their essence. And watching someone be so cavalier about controlling the remains of those spirits, she couldn't help but feel disgust.

So if she wanted to see some real magic, well... That just meant it was time for her to put in a serious performance.

Sarah's song hadn't faltered during the fight so far, as her magic fell and rose with the music. Her fingers weaved between each other as a number of her familiars poked up from the ground around the monster and master.

"Spectral Binding Net." She stated loudly as she pulled her fingers apart to reveal a web of blue energy between them, her familiars arcing up into the sky as they formed a magical net around the pair.

She didn't expect this spell to last long, not against the kind of magical power that the two were putting out. But as she pulled her hands apart and the net came down to pin the pair down, she determined that the net didn't need to last very long, an instant where they were forced to take Axle's attack head on would be more than enough.

The woman's cavalier attitude rubbed Caesar the wrong way. Maybe the victims came into this willingly, maybe she lulled them in with empty promises. The point stood that humanity was lost and she merely saw the remnants as pawns for her own chess board. Caesar knew all too well what it looked liked to be used and the tragedy that could come from it.

The knight gritted his teeth and his magic began to swell. "Great Guardian, lend me your power!" growled Caesar as the magic began to form into a figure around him. A ribcage formed but it continued to develop into the upper torso of a giant, even larger than the summoned Hercules himself. "Guardian: Body!"

The swords Caesar had conjured earlier reappeared in the hands of the giant in a larger, stronger form. However, the allies he had with him appeared to be going for a longer range of attacks. As such, he opted to follow suit for now, he could find an opening for the blades later. With that, he moved the arms of the spectral being to reveal a second set of arms. "The Guardian protected the world by holding the four pillars of the sky in place, at least that's how the old story goes." He could go on, but now was not the time. That is, unless, his story bored the woman to submission.

Instead, a bow formed in one of the hands of the giant and the magical bowstring was once again drawn back. However, when released now, arrows the size of lances shot forth from thin air. The lance-sized raced towards Inger, the assault presumably masked by the dust of Hercules' detonations. The sheer number and size of them, as well as acting akin to buzzsaws, could maim the average person with ease.