Check of Reality

**Users Involved:** User:EmperorSigma, User:DamonDraco
**Date Started:** November 28, X943
**Setting:** Unknown
**Characters Involved**:
* **Present**: Rhys, Ivo, Kariss, Julio, Kenton Damon D. Draco, Asta Gustavon, Marth Silvamillion, Lamaria Ketchum
* **Mentioned**: Lucifer, August Draconus, Kaide Draconus

## Destined for Death

Rhys walked through the forest with his head down and hands etched into his pocket. He grits his teeth, before banging the backside of his fist into a nearby tree. "How'd I get myself into this shit?" He asked, mentally cursing himself for his most recent decision. A guild? Joining a guild? Never in this lifetime had Rhys thought about doing such a thing. How would he even fit in? It wasn't that he would take up space, but that his ego was larger than two guild halls combined.

"Wait, where am I?" He asked himself while looking around to try and grab a better handle on the situation. If anything, aside from his ego, Rhys' biggest weakness was his horrible sense of direction. The perception of time was much different in his comprehension compared to others. In his mind, he'd only been walking for about ten hours, though in reality, the young mage had been strolling for an entire hour. He had come too far into his journey and he had no intention of turning back.

Holding his hand up to his side, black tinted wind generated and tamed itself into the palm of his hand. Thrusting forward, he pushed the wind at the array of trees before sweeping them from their roots and knocking them all down with a loud thud. As they collapsed the ground shook like a brief quake and Rhys simply brushing his hair from in front of his face.

Not too far away from where Rhys had been "training", something more sinister had been unfolding...
"You ain't going nowhere girl!" A rusty voice shouted within a small shack. It belonged to an overly muscular man who sat in the middle of two other men, gripping the head of a young girl.

He smirked at the girl, grabbing a hand full of her purple hair as he forcefully lifted it as though she were just a ragdoll. "You gave us such a hard time, you even took out a few of my men. But it's all worth it." He claimed, releasing her and pushing her head up against the wooden wall as though he had intentions of causing head trauma.

"Aye, boss! You sure we should be handling her like that?" One of the men asked, looking to the girl out the corner of her eye. She struggled to lift herself up and being tied up in rope made it no better. The man couldn't look her in the eyes and instead, turned his full attention to the man who had been designated as their boss.

"Scoring two for one should have been good, sir." He continued on, "We got the girl and we even got a Lacrima, Boss Ivo."

Ivo laughed as he chugged a wooden cup of alcohol. "You're right, that'll get us some good points with Lucifer! To think we'd be able to take the Lacrima and the girl all at once." Turning his attention to the girl, he smiled. "You rich fuckers sure know how to have some good treasure!" Eyebrow lowering, he bent over to realize she'd been crying. "Hey! Cut that out you whiny pansy! We don't wanna hear it!"

His shouts were nothing more but fuel to her tears. *"P-please"* she mumbled, tears rolling like a waterfall. *"I didn't mean to hurt your f-friends."* She continued to cry, the tears soaking her long white dress. *"I-I can't control my power..."*

"Hahahaha! We knew we'd lose someone trying to capture you girlie!" Ivo boasted, "Your power is the reason we sought you after all." He confirmed, glaring at her like prey. "Why do you think the others kidnapped you? You've been kidnapped four times including this one. You have a power that allows you to breakdown anything you touch. But you can't control it. It's why we wrapped your hands up, Kariss!"

Turning his back to the girl, "You don't know how much you and this lacrima will net us in jewels. Lucifer said he'd pay 4,000,000 for the Lacrima and 20,000,000 for the girl." Slamming into his fist into the table and squatting down so that he looked Kariss in her face, he continued on. "Geddy Goods will certainly be on top and its all thanks to you!"

Lifting his leg, Ivo kicked Kariss in the face with his oversized boot. From the damage, she screamed in agony as her face was left with the print of the boot. Her tears rolled more and at this point, her screams continued to grow louder and louder as she begged for freedom and release. Her brown skin turned purple from the frowns and Julio, the man who had felt pity turned his back and smashed his face into the corner of the room.

"Julio, the hells your problem! Ah, whatever. Kenton, pick the brat up and shut her the fuck up while you're at it!"

At that very moment in time, something rumbled from out of the shack and, without another moment of hesitation, a blackness reverberated through the location instantly. Like a spark bursting through, the dark sliced over the shack and split it open in two, one to the left and to the side, narrowly missing its residents by hair strands and generating a cloud of dust, which rose higher than the trees. Still, the ground beneath them caved considerably, at least two meters, creating something akin to a ravine, but way smaller.

From not much afar, shining eyes stared at the trail of destruction caused by nothing but a single attack. *His* right arm was pulled out of the ground, having missed the target of the attack, a small Goblin. What a day to hunt some monsters and put the money on the table.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Damon D. Draco held his stomach with a normal hand and a dark one, his skin was almost pale, his hair wild and black. "That thing is really fast, but... what's this..." He stared at the shack further, wondering if there were any kinds of content. "Hellooooooooo," Damon cupped the air in front of his mouth, "Anybody there?"

Kenton had already tied Kariss up more, restricting her movements entirely while also tieing a rope around her mouth to keep her from talking. They'd spent a couple of minutes talking amongst themselves and drinking, Julio consistently trying to convince his comrades to take their treatment on the young girl a bit lighter.

Then, there was a shout in the distance. Kenton, Julio, and Ivo stood to their feet simultaneously. They each gave one another the *look*. Ivo turned to face his comrades, "You two stay here and guard her. I ain't gonna let 'em get the chance to make it in here. Guard the little bitch with your lives, you know this already."

Heading to the door, Ivo swung it up and walked outside, slamming it shut. Squinting his eyes, he looked across the way to Damon. "Get the hell out of here if you know whats bests for ya!"

Damon's laughter was cut short by both Ivo's words and the change in his own expression, his eyes sharpened and his mouth went thin, his previous target went amiss completely, yet he cared not. Closing the distance between them with a leap, Damon spun vertically in mid-air, aiming a kick towards Ivo from above. However, this kick was fueled with dark and purple energy, being relatively larger than what Damon's leg seemed to normally be.

"Hello there," Damon mused in that timeframe.

Through the use of his **Artiglio Buio**, shadows had come forth in the form of his lower leg and expanded outwards, creating a clawed foot that sought to smash Ivo to the very ground. This had been the very spell that Damon had used to attack beforehand and that caused quite a bit of destruction as it missed the target. Yes, this new target deserved for nothing but to be squashed by the might of his boot, though, in that case, it was his shadow boot.

"Damn pest!" Ivo exclaimed, slamming his palms together the ground quaked as Damon's shadow boot closed in. A square outlined the ground before it shot upward like a protective pillar in front of Ivo. The same thing happened behind him, though rather than going upwards it arced and smashed against the pillar in front to act as a form of support against Damon's strike.

Walking around the pillars, Ivo gave a soft laugh. "Haha," he rubbed his bicep before stroking his small beard. "I think I know you." he continued on, eyes squinting as he continued to analyze his opponent. "Yeah, I read about you. You're that brat, Damon. You go around doin' what you want. Dark and Legal Guilds have been talking about you in the Underworld, trying their hands at recruiting you but you won't pledge your allegiance to anyone."

"Well damn, I guess I could take your head too. That additional 50,000,000 will fit us well!" Removing his palms from each other, he held one towards Damon. "**Earth Spray**!" He exclaimed, as a barrage of earth shot from the palm of his hand in the form of oversized bullets. Had any of them from the wave landed, they'd sure penetrate his skin and deal some serious damage.

Damon's expression went unchanged at Ivo's remarks, someone knowing him? Nothing new in the book, if anything, it was getting quite old, people were often after him due to the reward placed on his head. After all, it was supposedly easy money to make, a lot of criminals were ganged upon. Yet, Damon was not just any criminal, he was a mage, not even a dark one.

When Ivo provoked a swarm of bullets to be fired at Damon, the latter simply expanded on the shadow of his foot. "**Organismo Buio**," He uttered, prompting the shadows to diverge the trajectory of some of the bullets to behind him, almost richocheting off the black mass. However, one or two of the bullets had somehow passed through the shadow barrier and grazzed Damon by the side of his arm, making blood come out.

"Tch," Damon's sharp eyes and thin mouth remained just like that, as if he couldn't bother or wasn't able to shift his current emotions. Still through his latest spell, the shadows expanded forth and fell over Ivo's body, seeking to cascade him over and disorientate him. That way, Ivo would be open to Damon's next attacks while not attacking himself.

With a leap and a grin, Ivo tried opening a gap. His intention was to remove himself out of the range of Damon's shadow, but he had simply failed to do so. The spell fell upon Ivo, closing most places for escape. He had no idea the purpose of the spell, but he found it mentally smarter to not make contact with it.

Taking a stance, tightened his muscles opening his pores so that crumbs of rocks could come through. Earth began to mold around his body like a set of armor covering him completely from head to toe. **Earth Armor** was the technique, though because it was so sudden it wasn't as potent with its defensive properties like any other time, but it would surely lessen the damage for whatever was to come next.

"Heeeeh," Damon arched down both his eyebrows and mouth, eyeing the hard surface created by Ivo's new spell. His subsequent course of action was rather simple, the shadows exploded forth in a scream of darkness that spread across the area, black devoured the colors of the scenery, pressing against Ivo's armour further.

Damon sought on pressing Ivo hard over the ground below them, cracks already spread throughout its form from the sheer pressure exherted due to the point of contact between them. In order to quickly finalize the entire sequence, Damon added his other foot into the equation, doubling over the amount of soaring shadows.

Shadows covered the area, seeking to swallow Ivo as though they were the living entities. Ivo's defensive options were few, but it was at this back against the wall moment that he cherished the most. Falling into the ground essentially merging with it, Ivo let off a wide grin at Damon as he and the earth had now become on. This not only allowed him to briefly escape Damon's attack but put him a in a much better position than before.

"Well, well, Damon. I didn't expect you to be this versatile. So I think it's best I fight you my way..." Ivo echoed as he continued to conceal his presence from Damon. The ground shook before two giant slabs of rock appeared at Damon's side. They sought to crush and squash him like a bug, hoping to end his life in the process.

Meanwhile, in the shack that the kidnappers had been using to hold Kariss, Kenton had been teasing the young girl. His hand holding and gripping her hair, he looked her in her face before extending his tongue and licking along her cheek. "They might think we need to turn you in at perfect condition, but I don't." Kenton claimed.

Releasing his grip, he threw her head into the wall to which she released a loud scream followed by a flow of tears. "P-please stop, I'm begging you!"

"Beg?!" Kenton asked, smiling deviously with no remorse for his actions. "You can beg and please all you want, girl. But I ain't got no feelings for nobody in this world. Money makes the world go round and as long as I can fill my pockets with jewels," Reaching into a bad near his feet, Kenton went on to smile even further.

"And with this here," He said, drawing a box opening its top to reveal a spherical object with an aura moving around within. "I'll be able to stash enough dough for myself to get my own business up and running."

Julio's eyes widened before dropping his jaw, "Wait, how'd you get one of those?!"

"Hahahahaha! There's so much you just don't know Julio. Its a man eat man world. It's the same kind as the one we snagged from the girl's father, Julio!" Kenton grinned, "You remember that mission I went on and didn't retrieve anything? This is what I actually managed to get, but I couldn't tell the boss cause he'd cut us only a fraction of what these are truly worth."

"I'm tired of following his suit! Once we turn the girl and the lacrima over to Lucifer and his group, I'll kill the Boss and take everything for myself!" Kenton's grin turned to a frown before he lifted his leg and kicked Kariss in the stomach. "So I don't give a damn what condition she's in!"

"Ahhhhh!" Screams were carried with the winds, along with the sudden quake of the earth, both meshing and colliding against Rhys' current area of resting.

"Damn," he cursed to himself, lifting up from the tree and running off towards the path of the screams. "Seems like I've got some action!" He smiled, increasing his speed with each step as he sought to find the source of this all.

Back to Ivo and Damon's fight, through the former's spell the earth soared and crushed Damon from both sides, this made what seemed to be liquid to burst out from the the thin space between the rocks. It splashed from all sides, however, rather than the awaited red tone, it had a purple one instead.

A voice echoed. "Think you can kill me just like that?" Damon uttered from within the mass of shadows, forming his limbs out of that same *liquid*, his head appeared first. Suddenly, the liquid rose through the air, leaving the earth blocks behind, more parts of Damon's body were visible.

Then, through a breath, the liquid became even wider, sending itself towards the entire area where they fought. They cut through the air, as evident by their lance-like tip. There were dozens and dozens of those, seeking to attack anywhere that Ivo could have been.

Revealing himself, Ivo leaped from the ground like a mole flipping in the air, effectively dodging a few of the lance-shaped tips with extreme acrobatics. Landing to the grand, his large figure was but like an open target, lances striking him before he could even make another move.

Even then, his body had been covered in the earth-like armor from earlier and all the strikes did were chip at it. As mentioned earlier, it was rushed when he initially summoned the armor, and between that time he took no proper actions to enforce it and solidify his defenses. As a lance made contact he grunted each time, his armor cracking and chipping off of his body like a layer of dead skin.

Ignoring Damon's question, Ivo responded instead with a frown. Lifting his hands up, the ground split into chunks of earth before breaking apart and forming into an array of spears behind their summoner. In a sense, it was much like Earth-Make, yet it was only his ability to utilize Earth Magic in such a way that he could control not only what he could generate, but the existing element as well.

"You're becoming a pain in my ass, Damon." Ivo said, holding a single finger up as his armor began to slowly regenerate its broken pieces. "The only way to even be able to deal with you will be by killing you! DIE!" He exclaimed, commanding the wave of earth spears to attack Damon in the form of a rapid bombardment. While his body had been an extension of the liquid, Ivo simply sought to attack the entire substance and even his "physical" form with the hopes of striking him in a fatal location.

## Saving Wind

The abuse on Kariss had continued for a few more minutes. Though the duo of thieves may have been adept in fighting riff-raff they hadn't sharped their skills to the point of sensing their opponents. As if hit by a moving truck, the opposing wall of the building came crashing down. This was vital as the battle between Damon and Ivo had been going on on the opposing side of the building.

Debris filled the inside of the hideout and the two thieves let out coughs as the tried to regain themselves. Julio reacted first, "What the hell?" He asked, initially thinking it was the battle between his leader and the one he'd actively been fighting. But, from the sound of it, his leader had still been in the heat of his battle so whoever this was, was without a doubt a newcomer to the battle: more trouble to put it simply.

Holding out his hand, Julio generated wind in the palm of his hand and pushed it outwards to clear the debris revealing Kariss and Kenton in their same locations, but a dark-skinned teen standing on the opposing side. "Who the hell are you."

Before responding, Rhys took the moment to survey the area. There were three people there and initially, he thought that's how many opponents he had. But, thanks to his unique form of magic, he sensed the presence of two others.. That number had immediately increased to five. He smirked, "Me? Look-" He paused, looking to the trio before him again. He skipped over it earlier due to his quick analysis, but after looking over it again he picked up on it.

Rhys trembled as his eyes fell upon a locked up Kariss. Though he had no confirmed idea of what they had been doing to her, but the ropes, bruises, and tears told him all he needed to know. The nasty look Kenton gave was just the finishes touches. He gave them both a glare. They may have not known the significance behind it, they had essentially become his targets.

Eyes opening, tears continued to fall down Kariss's face. "P-please," she stuttered and struggled to get the word out of her mouth. "H-help me please."

"Help you?" Rhys asked rhetorically, "I'll do more than that. I'll kill them both!" Without another word, Rhys dashed across the room entering the personal space of Julio in almost no time. Fist drawn back, Rhys struck right for his gut. There were no enhancements made into this strike. He laced it with no magic, it was just a normal punch filled with his rage. As it connected, he drove it deeper into his gut crushing Julio's lung causing him to fall backward with white eyes.

Kenton was completely caught off guard. Leaping back, he did what he could to create a gap between himself and Rhys. "The hell is your problem. Do you know who the fuck we are, kid? You're stepping into something that ain't got nothing to do with you."

"No, I'm stepping into something that's got everything to do with me. I ain't no hero, but I'd be damned if I let any of you lay another finger on a little girl. Your kind disgusts me more than those that try to take from me. Scum," Rhys spat on the ground, "More worthless than my saliva hitting the ground."

Opening his palm, blades of wind formed and hurled their way towards Kariss, cutting her ropes loose freeing her. After that, the wind blew from his body as he took up a stance readying himself.

"Oh, you utilize wind magic. Just like me, it seems." Kenton said, waving his hand taunting Rhys to come forward, "Then we'll cause a massive hurricane with the clashing of our magic power!" He shouted, using his waving hand to perform some sort of unusual motions. A magic circle appeared first and then the winds around commanded under his spell and gather into a giant spiraling tornado. With a simple thrust, Kenton sent his spell hurling at the still-standing Rhys.

The thief knew that if his spell connected, he'd swallow Rhys up and carry him far away from their hideout. This would supply him with enough time to grab the girl and run away from not only this scene but his boss as well. "**Storm Bringer**!" He yelled, calling out the spell's name.

The Phoenix Rising mage simply frowned at Kenton's spell and even released a bit of hot air from his nose as though he were a bull. "The disrespect of comparing our magic will not be tolerated and you'll pay for it," Rhys claimed, watching as the tornado approached him with its raging winds, but he ensured Kenton heard him through it.

Opening his mouth, the spell began to shrink before withering up and making its way to Rhys's mouth and ultimately his stomach. His frown combined with his signature glare, creating an all new look; one of immense rage backed by what was to come after.

"W-What the hell?!" Kenton asked surprised by the feat Rhys had just displayed. "There's no way!" Kenton hesitated, "You ate my spell. I only know of one that can do something like that. You're a Dragon Slayer!"

His eyebrow raised, "A what? What the hell is that? A dragon variant?" Rhys grew slightly angrier, not only was Kenton incorrect, but he disrespected him once again. "How dare you compare me to such an inferior being? I am Wind God Slayer Your mistakes and previous sins will be paid for with your blood!"

Meanwhile, on the ground where Kariss had been, she was simply stunned by Rhys and while her injuries were too grave for her to make any movements on her own. That wasn't the only thing that froze her in her tracks. It was Rhys and the way he carried himself. Whether it was good or bad wasn't the case right now. It was his fearlessness and the might he possessed.

"A Wind God?" She asked lightly.

"Hey," A faint voice said next to her, Julio. "I'm sorry for everything I've participated in, but please believe me," he began to cough heavily, blood falling down the side of his mouth. "I never knew it was going to come down to hurting you. You need to get out of here in case Kenton or the boss finish their battles."

Kariss forced herself to move to Julio's side. "I-its okay, mister! I could feel you were different." She then lifted her head to look back at Rhys and Kenton. "To be honest, I can't even more mister. But we need to get you some help."

"That's good." Julio said, smiling at Kariss. "I couldn't live with myself knowing I couldn't at least express that much. And don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Trust me, worst has happened before." Coughing again, he moved his hand closer to himself revealing a sphere of magic resting in palm. "This is the relic your father had that they wanted to take. With it, you'll be able to get away from here."

Forcing his hand up, Julio pushed the sphere into Kariss's chest.

Back to the battle between Kenton and Rhys, Kenton was still shocked by Rhys' abilities. "A God Slayer? You made that up. No such thing exists, you aren't fooling me, kid!" Smashing his hands together, Kenton formed a sword out of wind. "**Wind Make: Sword**!" Running towards Rhys at full speed, Kenton swung the sword over his back, "You won't get in the way of my plans, kid!"

"What is with you people?! Are you not aware of your gods?" Holding his right hand back, he forced the existing wind to gather in the palm of his hand into a sphere. Just as Kenton had done, Rhys kicked against the ground and dashed towards him. His single lunge crushed the wooden floor beneath his pressure. "**Wind God:**", he started, inching closer and closer to Kenton.

Time slowed around the two, or at least that is the picture the narrator had been trying to paint. Kenton swung the sword down ready to cleave Rhys in half. And Rhys continued to run closer in hopes of getting in close enough to land his upcoming spell. As the sword came down, Rhys weaved to the side, effectively dodging it and getting within striking range.

Thrusting forward at Kenton's abdomen, Rhys drove the sphere into him just as he threw his punch into Julio. "**Sphere**!" He ended, calling out the spell in its entirety. As it smashed against Kenton's stomach, it ripped through his first layer skin while forcing itself against his gut. Rhys's hand flew back in one direction, while Kenton himself was thrown in the other, crashing through the front door of the facility all the way past Damon and Ivo's fighting grounds.

Rhys began to pant heavily. It was true this was his first attack, but he had not fully recovered from his battle yesterday. He was still low on magic power and his body was still suffering from the injuries given to him by Draven. He began to bleed along his face, closed wounds slowly reopening.

"Huff," The God Slayer puffed as the smoke cleared revealing his shirt ripped into shreds revealing portions of his chest and the Phoenix Rising Logo resting there. Turning slowly, he faced Kariss who had been glowing with a bright blue. "A-Are you, okay?" he asked, slowly approaching her before falling flat to his face.

## Saved By the Mantle

Eyes following the flying body of Kenton, Ivo couldn't help but direct his attention behind him. His hideout had been destroyed and all that he could see was the inside of the building collapsing. "What the hell?" Ivo asked, turning back to face Damon. He didn't have much of a choice, so he did what he figured was best and called his battle with the mage off. "We will meet again, Damon D. Draco. But for now, I must go."

Clapping his hands together, the earth quaked and shifted into a slab launching Damon in the opposite direction far far away. He used up a large chunk of his magic power to do so, but trying to deal with Damon as well as investigate just what the hell had happened on the other side would be next to impossible.

Running over to the hideout, Ivo quickly found a defeated Julio and Rhys whom he had no idea of his identity. He looked around further and saw that Kariss had been standing in the middle of both Julio and Rhys's bodies. "What the hell happened here girl?" He asked, slowly approaching her, kicking over both Rhys and Julio's body as if they were toys.

"Julio you and that damn Kenton are the biggest disappointments since my own children. Look at you, both of you defeated, but by who?" Ivo huffed, stepping forward towards Kariss extending his arm out to reach for her. "You. You've been causing trouble since you've been here, first Damon appears then my two most trustworthy men get defeated?"

"I still don't know who did it," He paused and looked to Rhys. "Was it him?" He asked, looking to the silent Kariss. "I asked you a question you little bitch!" He shouted, lifting his hand preparing for a strike, but he was stopped.

"Don't move." She ordered, her eyes tucked as she let the shadows make up most of her face. "If you do, I will be forced to hurt you. I do not want to do that."

Ivo's eye twitched, "Just who the hell do you think you're talking to!" He shouted, continuing on with the back side of his head.

Though, before he could properly make contact, Kariss had leaned back dodging his attack but at the same time, she prepared her own. She kneaded the magic power in her stomach causing it to expand beyond its normal size. "**Sea Dragon's Roar**!" She shouted as a magic circle appeared, and a release of concentrated magic in the form of water burst from her mouth towards Ivo throwing him away as she struck him.

It seemed that sphere that Julio had been holding was not an ordinary object. It was a lacrima, a very special lacrima containing magic: a Dragon Lacrima. This one, in particular, possessed the power of a Sea Dragon Slayer. It was the "relic" that Kariss's father guarded for so long. The reason why many people sought to kill him. In her moment of need, Julio saw it best to implant the lacrima inside of Kariss with the hopes of her using the boost in magic power to find a route for escape. But she didn't. She decided to fight back.

Rhys slowly lifted his head, he was in too much pain to lift his body. "What the hell, girl. You should get out of here. His magic power. He's strong, I don't want everything I just did to be in vain."

The ground quaked once again and coming into view was something that neither Rhys nor Kariss had been familiar with. Hell, not even Julio could identify what this was. What they mistook for a quake was actually the ground shaking from a giant beast approaching the vicinity. No, the term beast was incorrect. As it came into full view, it revealed itself as a golem made of stone.

"You shoulda taken his advice little girl. Forget the deal with Lucifer, you've already screwed over my plans with the lacrima, so now I have no use for you." The golem spoke in a cracked voice, "Oh, I'm sorry, you're unaware. This is the form I take on when people piss me off and they've signed their ticket to the afterlife. Here, let me show you what I mean." Lifting his leg, Ivo aimed to kick Kariss. This was the kick of a golem 7 times the size of her so it would surely break or destroy whatever it made contact with. In this case, it would be Kariss.

Still lying on the ground, Rhys lifted his finger and create a breeze of wind strong enough to push Kariss out of the way for the most part, but the tip of the golem's foot scraped her and threw her against the wall. As she collided with it, the wall broke covered Kariss in a layer of wood as though it were the material being used to bury her.

"I thought you were out of magic power." Ivo said as if he were able to sense the reserves someone had left. But to be honest, Rhys' condition had that written all over him. "But I know you're not in a predicament to do that again. You're only delaying the inevitable anyway."

*"Shit,"* Rhys thought to himself, balling his fist up as he cursed at himself. *"I can't do that again, I should have just used it to push her away. Hell, I should have just grabbed her and left when I had the chance. Now I have no magic power left at all. What kind of god is only good for one spell and one punch?"*

By this time, Ivo had been standing over Rhys looking down on him as though he were an ant. His lifted his foot and hovered it over Rhys's body. "That's where you belong boy, don't feel any pity. On the ground, lying on your stomach, a perfect position to end off an insect." Then, the dark mage laughed hysterically. "Do you have anything else you want to say?"

Rhys chuckled, "Tch, you'd best humble yourself when speaking to a god."

"That's cute." Ivo responded, lowering his foot over Rhys's body.

Just before Ivo's foot could properly crush Rhys, an appendage stretches across the area, lifting his foot up so that it wouldn't drop down and flips him onto his back shaking the entire area up. He was giant, so as he collided with the ground, he created a crater as though a meteor had been dropped. "What the hell?" Ivo asked, slowly lifting his golem form back up. "Show yourself!"

"Well, well, would you look at that." A new voice said, entering the view. He was a man, standing a six with feet with long red hair that had been partially tied into a ponytail, and possibly his most noticeable feature was the long scar across his eye. His body had been shrouded in some sort of red bubble-like liquid. "I was on my way to the guildhall and noticed some big ass rock in the way. Didn't think I'd find you, Ivo the Golemancer."

Ivo paused after he had finally identified it. "That red hair, the magic power, and that scar. There's no mistaking it." He said. Ivo was well aware of who this man was. "It's you, Red Knight of the Phoenix Rising guild, Asta Gustavon. I heard you were on an important mission, there's no way you are back in Stanmore City so soon. More importantly, what are you doing here, at this exact location."

Holding up the backside of his hand while the liquid around his body dissolved into his skin, Asta revealed the guild mark on the back of his hand glowing. "When within a certain distance of each other, if a guild member bearing the symbol is in danger, our guild marks glow. Seems the boy's a member of the guild, but I'll be honest, I don't even know who he is."

Rhys mustered the strength to lift himself up and much like Ivo, he knew who Asta was. A flash from the day before played in his mind like a replayed: *That's good Asta. We will be awaiting your arrival, the context of that mission is VERY important. I'd like to know everything as soon as possible if you don't mind. Plus, there's a new unique member I'd like you to meet."*

*Asta began to laugh, "Hahahaha, a new member? Unique? Come on Marth, did you pick up another patch of riff-raff to stain up the guild even further? I keep telling you master, leave the stray on the street or you'll infest the entire guild with their diseases. Do you see it yet? Almost every time we talk there's another and another. This time you claim he's unique? He's probably trash like the rest of 'em. That oh-so-soft heart of yours will get Phoenix Rising into deep trouble one of these days."*

"You," Rhys mumbled to Asta who'd been standing at his side. "I remember you, you're the guy with the attitude that had been talking to Marth over that stupid device."

"Eh?" Asta said, lifting his eyebrow. "OH! I remember, guild master Marth said you were unique or some shit. Wait, but look at you on the ground. Hahaha!" Asta laughed, "What's unique, guild master? The way he's laying on the ground? That's just pathetic. You look like a little insect laying there. Your skin is dark, like August, you're a beetle. HAHAHA!"

Asta's words did nothing but anger Rhys, evident by how he tried to lift himself up. Instead, Asta simply placed his boot on Rhys's back. "Stay put, beetle." Asta said, "I don't need you getting up and getting in my way. I don't want to accidentally kill you since the master claims you're "unique". Who's the girl with?" Asta asked.

"She's with me, now remove your foot from my back so you can atone for your sins!" Rhys demanded.

"With you? But she doesn't have a guild mark. I mean..." Asta turned his head to the unconscious girl and gave her a good look. "I'm not a judge, neither am I some sort of doctor. Be she looks a bit too young to be with you. We do have jail time for stuff like that you know, kid. Just saying."

Rhys spat, "The hell are you talking about. Not like that you red-headed mongrel! I came to save her from this stump." He said, clearly talking about Ivo.

"Ah, understood. Well just lay there for a bit longer, you don't have any magic power left anyway. And what you did, I drained away. Just in case you tried anything to get in my way. I told you, I can't have that happening. To be honest, I'm surprised you even have the energy to stay awake. Well, in that case, you'll at least be able to witness me kick this guys ass for even trying to play with the guild's name."

Ivo grumbled as he looked down at Asta. "Don't get me wrong, Asta. You are strong, I give you that. And you have acquired plenty of notable accomplishments as a Wizard. Even then, you are not ready to take me on." Rubbing his hard chin, Ivo moved as though he had been trying to figure something out. "Yeah, you are far from ready, boy. You're lacking right now. At least call that other Wizard, August of that Draconus family. He's for sure much more of a match for me, stronger of course."

For a moment, Asta was silent. His emotions bottled up and were all released around his face. His eyebrows furrowed and his nose twitched. "The fuck you'd just say?" Asta asked as though he wanted clarification for what Ivo had just said.

"August Draconus. Call him instead. He is much stronger than you, you will not be able to defeat me."

"Good, thank you for clarifying that." In the blink of an eye, a form of magic power had gathered around his body in the same form as the spell before but instead of red, it was brown. It was less of a form and more of a cloak draping down his back like an actual piece of clothing, yet it was nothing more than his particular magic. Cloak Magic and this was the **Power Cloak**.

Dashing forward, Asta threw himself up into the air directly at the golem's chest and pulled his fist back. "Power Cloak: **Super Punch**!" He shouted, slamming his fist into the chest of the golem completely destroying it in a single blow even striking the core of Ivo's body, knocking him out with that single punch.

Landing back to the ground, the S-Class Wizard turned his back and Ivo's body crashed into the ground. "August is nothing compared to me."

## Bargain on Members

Following the events in the forest, Asta had taken a passed out Rhys back to the guildhall and caught Marth up on the details...
Back at the guildhall in the infirmary, Rhys laid on a bed. His eyes slowly opened and as they did, he could see the figure of three people. One was Marth, the other was Lamaria Ketchum, and the last was Kariss-the girl he'd just saved from the thieves.

"How in the, what happened?" Rhys asked, looking to the three individuals. "Last thing I remember," he began, lifting himself up so he could plant his back up against the bed frame. "That Asta guy came and saved us. Then he kicked that golem's ass. That guy is a real asshole." Rhys stopped and looked to Kariss. "You're okay?! That's good. You're so strong, kid."

Marth smiled, "Yes, she's fine. But you shouldn't move much. I took a while to administer the medicine and healing process." He then swung his hand, "Yeah, Asta's quite a handful, but he's already left on a mission. So it's fine. We tried to take her back to her family, but she insisted she wanted to stay and said she had no more family. I felt it was best to bestow her with the official marking of the guild."

"Yep and I even got her some cute clothes, doesn't she look fantastic?" Lamaria asked.

Rhys turned his nose at Lamaria and continued his sights being locked onto Kariss. "You look very good. Glad to see you've recovered." But then, that's when it hit Rhys. "Wait, Kariss, right, what happened with that power. That guy, when I ate his wind he mistook me for what you instead said."

Placing her finger on her bottom lip, Kariss thought for a moment. "Oh, Mister. Hm.. what was his name. Uh, Julio! Though he was apart of the thieves, he was a really nice guy! He said he implanted one of these," She reached into her pocket and drew a small red crystal object that radiated with magic power. "He said my dad had been guarded it and it was why many people tried for his life. A Dragon Lacrima! That's it!"

Marth and Lamaria's eyes widened, but Marth act first. Extending her hand out, she handed the lacrima to Marth to which he began to observe it. "This is a very very rare relic and you mean to tell me they had two of them?"

"Uh, yes. Something about intended to trade me and the lacrimas over to a guild. I can't remember the name, I'm sorry." Kariss apologized.

"No, there is nothing wrong. So, it seems we have another Dragon Slayer among us." Marth gestured, quite surprised. "Our guild is turning into something I didn't think it would, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. I am grateful that you were willing to join our family, Kariss." Marth then looked between Kariss and Rhys. "What would you two like to do with this, since it was technically your find. You can take it and implant it into yourselves, or you can turn it over to the Magic Council."

Rhys shrugged his shoulders, "I didn't find it, Kariss did. She deserves to decide."

Kariss hummed, "Well, they said they were going to sell it. Is it possible I could do that? I want to be able to repay Rhys and the other guy for saving me."

Lamaria giggled, "Well, Asta isn't the type to accept money. Trust me, I dunno maybe you guys could use it to get started or something. I'm pretty sure, the guildhall is starting to get cramped, and this little lady isn't going to leave your side any time soon." She said, words directed towards Rhys.

"Oh you, I remember you. Tch," Rhys rolled his eyes.

"HEY YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE RUDE!" Lamaria shouted.

"Haha, okay calm down you two. Then I'll send it over to Donnell, I'm sure he'd be willing to give you compensation for finding it. But it's going to be a lot of jewel. If I were you, I'd honestly recommend maybe buying a house in the city somewhere." Marth then turned to Kariss once more. "But still, I can't get over it, a Dragon Slayer that does not bear the name 'Draconus'."

Shocking. The moment froze around Rhys has he lifted his head and hand up. "That's it. That name, Draconus. August!" Rhys slammed his fist into his palm, "Who is August Draconus, guild master? Asta got pissed when the guy mentioned that August was stronger than him.

"Hahahahaha! Well that seems about right!" Marth laughed, "That makes sense why Ivo was in such bad shape when Asta brought them in. "Asta and August are old rivals. They are the same age and they've always been at each other necks since they were children. That was when guild master Kaide was still around... good times. We haven't seen August in quite some time, he left to figure out what happened during the "**Blank Period**". We've been hearing about how he's defeated plenty of dark guild across the continent. I like to think Asta is pretty salty about August's leave."

Rhys balled his fist, "So, then he is strong? Is he stronger than Asta?"

"Eh, it's hard to calculate. Asta specializes in a unique form of Magic known as Cloak Magic. By forcing his magic power outside his body, he can order it to wrap around him in the form of a cloak or haori. But, these cloaks can take on various different properties. Examples would be like his Power Cloak, which increases his physical strength. Or his appendage cloak, which allows him to create appendages. And August is an absolute monster, we can just say his magic is extreme heat. They've battle ninety-eight times, Asta has won forty-nine and August has won forthy-nine. Asta is just looking to break their tie."

Rhys shook his head, "Yeah, so he is strong then."

"But, it's nothing to worry about for now, Rhys. All that matters is that you grow strong and into a proper mage to create your own path. Plus, you never know. There might just be a rival for you too." Turning around, Marth smiled and waved them off. "I'll get this transported to the Magic Council as soon as possible and once the payment has come through I'll give it to you in full."

Lamaria rolled her eyes at Rhys and turned to Kariss with a big smile. A sudden change in expression and acting in just a single moment. "What do you say, are you hungry, Kariss?"

"Yes!"

"Alright, let's go then."

"Rhys, do you want to come? I know you're hungry too, you've been sleeping for two days now!" Kariss explained.

"Sure Kariss," he smiled, "Just grab me anything and I'll be fine. No onions though."

Again, Lamaria rolled her eyes. "Ya know, if you treated everyone the way you treat her. You'd be such a better person. But right now, you suck"

"Hey! Watch who you speak to and watch your tongue."

"Yeah, yeah."