Aftermath... [Open]

[Elf Royal Family-Group Account]

Arya, now safe within the confines of the castle, was not going to give up on saving this kid. The orb was already cracked; it didn't take much more of her power to make an opening out of what was already cracked. Withdrawing all magical forces from the building, she used it to force the orb open, keeping only what magic was necessary around her to keep her and baby from being trapped by the inside of the castle's infrastructure. The crack that resulted from orb was very satisfying; she couldn't take any chances about how to free the baby; he was the most important thing to Tomoyo right now.

No sooner than Rakeru was free from the magical orb did it disappear, the foreign object releasing a small residue of void energy in its place that began to melt the inside of the wall. Glad that she was able to save Lady Tomoyo's child, she immediately began to pour her magic through the building again, molding it to her will and opening a door for herself to take the child to a much safer place. He cried in her arms, not only from the ordeal, but because the inside of the castle walls were dark, and Arya had not ever held the baby, although she had played and cooed at him, so she was not familiar to him at all. She knew that to him, everything felt different and wrong. She tried to shush him, to calm him down, but even the baby could tell that something was wrong and she knew that it wasn't going to work.

But where would that be, exactly? She didn't want to leave the Realm, so to speak, because there wasn't anyone that she knew outside that could as carefully take care of--

Tomoyo's daughter. What was her name? See...something. Oh, goodness. That wasn't going to help. And as far as she knew, the child was in the Mortal Realm somwhere. She didn't have the time that it would take to find her.

Her own sisters? Aubrey and Ala. They had made the decision to align themselves with hell; they had just not left their home yet...but that was no good. They could not bring anything associated with their decision on with whom they aligned themselves to their home city--it posed too much of a threat for those who wanted to call them out as traitors or spies.

There had to be someone, somewhere...was there anyone personally, that she knew? She was sure that Tomoyo would not be happy if her unborn baby was unexpectedly unloaded onto someone that she didn't know or trust. And she didn't want to leave the child anywhere, considering what was going on--the castle could very well fall soon, with that brute swinging his sword out there.

She was running out of options, and there wasn't very many choices. Tomoyo needed all of the help that she could get out there. Why? Why couldn't she think of any person that could help her with this situation?

It seemed not. She sighed, knowing that she had no choice but to try to manipulate the walls from a place far away in the castle to keep the baby safe. Opening the door that she had made, she found herself on the castle's third floor. Proceeding down the hallway, still being able to hear the noise of the ground floor's commotion, she opened the nearest door, knowing that it would be a bedroom.

Using her magic over Dream, she pulled from her own mind her picture of a soft, blue, baby crib, hoping that it would be enough to lull the child into calm. However, as she went to lay the child down, she pulled back. She would not let this child out of her arms; she didn't want anything to happen to him, and she was going to be as safe as she possibly could be. Holding the crying baby in her arms, she tried channeled her magic through the building once more, to see what was happening in the hallway that she had left Avalon in. It was hard to concentrate with the baby's crying in her ear, and she knew that it would be a small while before she could gather herself enough to help anyone.

[Ilreg Douisis Ofu'ul]

With being restrained, every effort Ilreg made would be twice as strenuous, but he did not care, the lust of battle along with his deteriorating mental state and growing angry compensating for his lack of mobility. As Tomo used the magic she surrounded him with to pull him closer, a sword formed in her hand, lunging at Ilreg in no more than a second after the blade was formed.

Matching her speed at the cost of the solid spikes of Dark magic tore into his flesh, Ilreg did not wince as he held his blade to its side in front of his chest, thrusting once to quickly to parry the lunge, using the middle of his Icy rapier as leverage to push Tomo's own sword back. His second attack involved turning his blade forward, making a sharp 45 degree angle feint, before rebounding with a third quick circular slash.

It was while attacking Tomo that his Draconic senses were activated abruptly, the familiar feeling began to manifest itself in the back of Ilreg's mind as a new development caused his situation to change dramatically. The familiar feeling was that of another Dragon being present, in this case two Dragons, and Ilreg know exactly who they were based off their magic, which he could see as clear as day now. Remaining silent, Ilreg continued to fill the room with violently forming crags of Ice, struggling to advance as more of Symphony's black viscous, now frozen form began to break away.

"Even though I am bound you struggle against me, I will ruin your Kingdom before your eyes. I will reduce this realm into a frozen wasteland." Ilreg said with the look of murder in his eyes, pouring more and more of his magic into the connection between him and his captors, channeling his own magic to be equally as violent and sporadic when it arrived to them as it was in the room where he did battle. Ilreg now bid his time until his servants made their appearance.

[Avalon Carrister]

Avalon looked on as Arya jumped in front of him, using the very walls of the castle itself to bring the child into her possession and then disappear. His attacker called upon what Avalon assumed was the man's sprite to spirit the child away, but Avalon wasn't worried; his command was a bit too late. Avalon would trust his life in the hands of any Elf aligned with Hell, and Arya was pure of heart as well as powerful. He wasn't worried at all.

However, what he saw next worried him a lot. The man in front of them summoned a spiral of fire, throwing fireballs and sending heat toward Jiishita, screaming for Tomo's blood.

Avalon couldn't understand it. Was this man so blinded by rage that he didn't see that Tomoyo was standing, fighting right behind him? Turning to glance behind him one last time, he could see that Tomoyo and the twin elves were trying to bind the Dragon--for some reason he felt that such a thing wasn't going to work--Yomi was on standby for assistance because of her injury, and the room was beginning to cover itself in ice.

Waving his arms in the air, much the movement of a birds wings--graceful, delicate--he summoned a ribbon of water, weaving it across his hands, and the volume of the water he produced multiplied by two whenever the ribbon passed back through his hands. When he found himself holding a hefty wave full of water, he launched it at the man in front of him.

"Stop this nonsense right now!" he yelled, his water hissing as it hit the barrier of the man's fiery aura. But Avalon kept weaving with his hands, swelling the wave to replace what was lost, his actions not only increasing the amount of water he had to work with, but also increasing the force with which it crashed again the aura, knowing that it would eventually weaken as the ebb and flow grew stronger and stronger.

[Faf-ris]

Faf-ris and Cer-dra finally located where Ilreg was, stopping outside of the open doors of a massive room, the pair watched as Ilreg struggle to gain ground, his movements hampered by some invisible means, and a strange black material the was leaking his blood from its cracks covered his body. Cer-dra then shot a stream of Black light from his mouth that began to cover Ilreg's body, his draconic Dark magic helping to remove the dark material that covered Ilreg. At the same time Faf-ris caused water to seep and spill from all the walls, virtually flooding the room with water, infusing the liquid with her magic and causing it to bend to her will.

As the two Dragons worked their magic, the black substance around Ilreg chipped off further, his naked body now riddled with scars was being splashed with water that entered the room from all sides, causing his already dangerous icy protrusions to triple in size. The two now walked into the room, their footsteps becoming visible in the water which lie on the ground within the room. Faf-ris and Cer-dra then began to growl, as Faf-ris removed the veil of stealth around her body, standing in the room the size of a full grown tiger, her imposing features visible as she commanded the water to crawl up the wall, the room now completely saturated with her enchanted water as her sibling remained cloaked.

Her eyes glowing a bright yellow, Faf-ris turned her large body toward the other peole in the room, a women who appeared to be injured as well another person, this one a young looking man with daggers in his hands. Hunching her front legs low to the ground, she began to growl loudly, her growls causing the water to ripple as it encroached toward them.

[Elf Royal Family-Group Account]

Alvar and Alfeo could sense Ilreg's movement in spite of their barrier, and at this point there was nothing more that they could do. Attempting to apply more pressure could cause their barrier to break altogether, and then all of that energy that they built up would just be lost, never to be regained or reused. They couldn't risk that; it was foolhardy.

What Tomoyo needed now was numbers. Tomoyo was an experienced fighter; she didn't need a handicap. But now it there was another visitor in the castle, someone who was also causing grief for those in it.

Sending another mental shockwave to Tomoyo, the twin elves simultaneously released their hold on the Dragon, the sudden rush of reabsorbing their magic causing them to tremble as they opened their eyes. Everything around them was covered in ice. They stood, gaining their balance.

"Alright, Alfeo?" Alvar asked his brother, and the longhaired twin nodded silently. "Ready to fight?" he asked, and Alfeo shrugged. Their heads were spinning, but it was nothing a little action wouldn't fix, in Alvar's opinion.

"Keep your eyes on the castle, and we'll decide if we should stay together or break up from there," he added. Alfeo nodded again.

The scene of the fight was right in front of them, and they hurried toward the Dragon who was fighting Tomoyo.

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Taiyou grabbed his sword from the flaming from the ground and swung it full force into the man who was the target of a barrage of fireball from earlier, fire flying to wards his opponent as he felt his flames being doused behind him. Hearing Avalon's voice behind him, Taiyou felt the steam behind him, having heard the hiss of fire and water being combined. Turning back to see Avalon's face, "Nonsense? Nonsense! My family's death was not nonsense, you weak, kiss ass piece of shit." Taiyou said, rapidly heating the air in front of him with an open hand.



Hearing the crackle of of the superheated air, Taiyou used Oni to blow the extremely hot air at Avalon, the simoon's purpose was to evaporate the water as the wall of scorching wind at Avalon. "When Tomo is dead by my hand... I'll come back and smash your skull in." Taiyou said as he clenched his fist.

Taiyou then glowed brighter form the heat he was emitting, when heard the clash of steel in the background. "ONI!" Taiyou hollered as she teleported him into the front of the door. It was there he saw her, for the first time in so long, fighting a nearly naked man with white hair, while the woman whom spat venom at Taiyou in the bar was at the rear, nursing what seemed to be a devastating wound next to her a young man Taiyou had come to know as the king of the Fourth layer of Hell during his travels to his family graves, both of them confronted by what appeared to be a large monstrous dog with scales.

All the years of waiting, all the days of sadness and remorse and now everything he sought to destroy lie in front of him, Taiyou began to tremble with a mixture of different emotions. Anger, fear, regret, anticipation, they all combined as Taiyou began to radiate heat violently, slowly walking into the room, the water the surround the wall reacting strangely to his magic. Having entered the room, Taiyou smashed his sword against the wall, crushing it as if it were made of egg shells, leaving scorch marks before it collapsed and toppled over behind.

"TOMO, THERE IS NO WHERE FOR YOU TO GO NOW, NO MORE PEOPLE TO TOSS IN MY WAY, NO MORE DUCKING ME OR DODGING WHAT COME TO YOU TODAY. I HAVE WAITED, AND WAITED FOR THIS MOMENT, THIS DAY ABOVE ALL ELSE, AND NOW I AM HERE. THIS IS THE DAY THAT YOU DIE, BY MY HANDS, THE HANDS OF KANJIN TAIYOU, IN THE NAME OF MY FAMILY, SEKI, AND EVERYONE THAT HAS DIED DUE TO YOUR NEGLIGENCE." Taiyou spoke aloud, barring his teeth as he pointed his sword at Sanada. Today would be that Taiyou's day of destiny, having waited for this moment for so long, he would do all he could to bring closure to everything in his life.

[Tsubarisu Kojiro]

Kojiro continued to walk toward Illreg despite his "reinforcements". Fighting multiple opponents at once was something Kojiro had gotten good at over the years. With his back against the wall, Kojiro fought at his best.

Kojiro would have no choice other than to piss the Boss off......He wasn't ready to die just yet. Just like his last boss,Kojiro always seemed to have he guy pissed off and he could never put his finger on the reason why until he over heard a conversation between one of the flunkies and the Boss.

Kojiro continued to walk to wards Illreg, his anger growing at every step. When his Boss attacked the Dragon with the weapons, Kojiro instinctively ducked and dodged the attacks. When the Dragon attempted to strike back, Kojiro dodged that attack and circled around the Dragon. Shifting into his Herculean Hammer stance, Kojiro executed a kick strong enough to shatter stone in the direction of Illreg's back.

Kojiro's anger sparked the Berserker spirit within him. Inside Kojiro fought against it, not wanting to show his Boss what he was truly capable of. Doing that would only make the attempt on his life next time, that much more difficult for him to survive.

[Elf Royal Family-Group Account]

[I'm still rather sore that you ignored the floor crumbling beneath you by the way. It's not something that hard to escape from; you could have at least done me the courtesy of acknowledging the fact that it was being done. Too late to do anything about it now, though. Just try to keep up with all the stuff being done. It's a rather large battle.]

It was with a deep internal resonation within her that Arya realized that the castle's security system was blaring on. In her position as one with the castle, she could feel the damage that the building was taking. There was something covering the floor in Lady Tomoyo's throne room--which she knew from her own two eyes to be ice, and there was something doing damage to the walls, crushing the structure. Arya was not going to bother trying to fix it, because the security system would handle itself. Feeling her way through the walls, her senses broke into the throneroom, and she could witness the conglomerate battles as they came together. The large man was nearing Tomo, having attacked Jiishita and Avalon; there was now a large dog in the room, trying to help heal the Dragon, and there was the Dragon himself, a King coming to attack him from behind. Yomi was in the middle of the fray, watching but not doing very much because of her injuries, and her brothers were stalking their way into the fight as well.

Concentrating on the floor of the throne room, she decided to do what she could. She could not control the whole building, but the floor of the room would suffice. Moving her left hand and its fingers rhythmically up and down, spikes began to form from the floor of the building, pushing through the ice and whatever else was standing atop it. She formed them around those who were fighting, and under their opponent to knock them off of balance--one under the large man with the fire, another under the dog helping Ilreg. And yet another under Ilreg himself, now that her brothers were no longer hindering his movements.

In her right arm she still held the fussy baby, rocking it in the sporadic rhythm that she used for her attack--as she had thought, it wasn't doing very much good...

[Ongaku Migoto]

"...ke up... Wake up!" Migoto heard Chikara screaming as she battered on him. Struggling to hold his hand up, the blue Djinni began to slowly open his eyes, Migoto grabbed her hand before she struck his face again. "Chill..." Migoto said, sitting up. Holding his stomach. Migoto looked around and the loud battles outside the room banged into his sensitive ears, his eyesight still fuzzy. It was in that moment he realized that Tomo's youngest child, the infant Rakeru was no longer in his care. "Oh no! The baby, where is he... Oh god, Tomo, she's gonna kill me, I lost the baby to that guy..." Migoto screamed hysterically.

Standing despite his pain, Migoto could see the flames rise and icicles form outside the door. Then it dawned on him that his companion, the small girl and his most cherished person in the world was somewhere all alone somewhere in the castle. "Elizabeth!" Migoto said, dashing out the room, dodging the icy spikes that formed along the walls. Taking care to not injure himself, Migoto took caution while running the through halls of Tomoyo's castle, passing the room where Tomo was engaged in combat with a naked man, another man, the ruffian who stole the baby aim his sword at her back.

Bursting into Rakeru's room, Migoto looked around to see if the small girl was there, and she was nowhere in sight. "Dammit... no wait..." Migoto said listening to the air, hearing a small erratic heartbeat in the closet at the back of the room. Running over to the closet Migoto open the door to see the girl huddled in a corner terrified and trembling. "Lizzie!" Migoto said grabbing her, holding her close to his heart, streams of tears running down his blue face.

"Tony!? Tony, I'm so glad you found me. What's going on out there... it's so loud and I heard people screaming. I'm so scarred." Elizabeth said crying into Migoto's chest, gripping him just as tight. "Oh my god, Tony, where's the baby?" Elizabeth said realizing that he found her without the infant in his arms.

"I don't know Liz. Someone attacked me and took him, there was nothing I could do about it." Migoto said, his voice saddened as he regretted not being able to care for the Yami-ou's child. Migoto stayed with Elizabeth as the noise grew louder outside, closing the door, unable to do anything but wait until this nightmare ended.

[Avalon Carrister]

Cleaving through his water with fire, Avalon's opponent no sooner than that teleported away toward Tomoyo, giving some bold but not intimidating speech about how he wanted to kill Tomo and how he would bash Avalon's head in when he was done and blah, blah. It was nothing new. They had all heard it before. he was not the first powerful being who had threatened Tomo. He was not the first being to threaten the life of any ruler.

...the fire was a little scary, though. Very impressive and imposing.

While it had been enough to halt his water from extinguishing the large man's aura, Avalon did not stop churning the water in his hands, and as he continued to make pushing and pulling motions with them, the water returned twice as strong as before, Avalon using the water the douse the hall and whatever flames were left attacking Jiishita.

Turning away from that scene, Avalon looked to see that Tomoyo was now having to deal with both the Dragon and the brown haired man, and he had no choice but to rush and help. He had seen Chikara save the blue skinned man, and so there was nothing else here.

The floor began to shake beneath him, and suddenly Avalon froze, a foreboding feeling washing over him. Spikes of stone began shooting up from the ground, and it was in that instant that Avalon heaved a large sigh. If Arya was working magic, then the child had to have been okay. In that case, Avalon had to get Rakeru out of there. There was no other alternative.

Hearing scuffling noises, Avalon spun around again to see the blue haired man running madly down the hallway, and Avalon could just guess that he was looking for the little ones.

There was still one person who could help them with the baby; Cielle. She was in the Mortal Realm, safe and inconspicuous and already familiar with taking care of the baby. He also knew through Tomoyo that Migoto had been to the Mortal Realm before, with the other child that he had brought with him. Good. That would do. He didn't have time to do this; he shouldn't be taking the time out to do this. But knowing that Tomoyo's child was safe was something that would offer the Ha-ou extreme comfort. If he could get Migoto and the baby there and come back...that was all that he needed to do.

Breaking off in a mad dash after Migoto, Avalon used the pull of his magic to create one last wave for that spell, carrying him over the large hole in the hallway, dousing Jiishita yet again and carrying the servant over the Elder's head. Landing not too far behind Migoto, he realized that the Djinni was headed to the baby's room, and he burst in not too far behind Migoto, seeing him huddled in a corner, the little girl pressed to his chest.

"Are you two okay?" he asked first. He was jumpy, because this had to be done quickly. "The baby is okay," he said next, because Migoto looked too upset to be worried about anything else. "I'm going to get you out of here, but you have to take the baby with you, understand?"

[Sanada Tomo]

[please let me know if I ignored or didn't mention anything. It's rather hard to keep up with everything at once and my priority has been made Taiyou and Ilreg.]

Tomoyo felt a burst a magic ring inside of her as a warning as she turned her blade onto its side, the curved edge allowing Ilreg's parry to slide across it, shaving a miniscule amount of ice from his blade as she leapt back. If the Elves were sending her a warning this wasn't good at all. She was very lucky, as leaping back helped her to avoid his feint, but her felt her dress tear as a quick slash caught the side of her hip, just as she saw Kojiro attempt to deliver a kick to the Dragon's backside.

She took her stance, feet slightly apart for movement but close enough to quickly move into a lunge if necessary, her sabre held loosely in her grip, the curved and sharper edge pointing down toward Ilreg. She knew that the barrier had been let go; she could feel it, but she did not will Symphony to release her hold on the Dragon.

A stream of dark light washed over Ilreg, and while Tomoyo was curious as to its source, she did not look, making sure only that her senses were up to par. She would not have herself distracted while fighting opponent.

The dark light washed over Symphony's magic as well, weighing it down, trying to drag it away from Ilreg's person. But Symphony willed herself to hold on. She would stretch this manipulation of her physical form to its limit; until it broke. As the heavy light began to remove her liquid darkness from the Dragon, she spiked her form further, trying her hardest to root herself as deeply in Ilreg as possible, while at the same time, slowly recovering the areas that had been lost.

It was then that she heard shouting, and even though she still did not turn her head away from the dangerous Dragon, she became acutely aware of something burning and hot poised not very fa from her cheek. The essence of a Habbim accompanied this, although it was rather faint. Without even a thought a small barrier of darkness rose around the area of her face to curb how much of the heat she felt.

"TOMO, THERE IS NO WHERE FOR YOU TO GO NOW, NO MORE PEOPLE TO TOSS IN MY WAY, NO MORE DUCKING ME OR DODGING WHAT COME TO YOU TODAY. I HAVE WAITED, AND WAITED FOR THIS MOMENT, THIS DAY ABOVE ALL ELSE, AND NOW I AM HERE. THIS IS THE DAY THAT YOU DIE, BY MY HANDS, THE HANDS OF KANJIN TAIYOU, IN THE NAME OF MY FAMILY, SEKI, AND EVERYONE THAT HAS DIED DUE TO YOUR NEGLIGENCE."

She blinked, and spoke six words. "Tai. Coming here to kill me?"

"He had the aura of a Celestial, but I couldn't tell what choir or band he was from. I can't tell, you know, because I'm just not strong enough. He was really angry, and he wanted to see you....He was using fire, and I knew that I wasn't strong enough to redirect or control his fire, either." Those had been the words of her daughter not more than a few days before. "But he was going on about losing his family. They were special to him, and he wanted them back."

Echoing her daughter's words, Tomoyo said, still not taking her attention off of Ilreg, "You are going on about losing your family. They were special to you, and you want them back." It was not a question this time, it was a statement. As she spoke her own magic wound itself down her arm and onto her sword, invisible magic covering the surface, curves and hilt of her blade.

The irony of this situation was not lost on her, her eyes reflecting ice and her skin feeling fire. It was a poetic situation that one did not come across very often in their lives. One that any person had to address, even if it was only for a nano second, or you would lose one of those dear jokes that fate liked to play various souls. Tomoyo was particularly fond of these situations, and it appeared the fate was rather fond of delivering her into them.

[Yamazaki Chikara]

[guys know how to run a fucking party, don't you?]

The man jumped out and rushed out on her at the first sign of consciousness. She didn't know if she should hurry after her, but after he pushed the door open and made a big deal of fussing about the people in his care, she saw a wave of water rush down the hall, and it seeped into the room, making everything sopping wet, including Chikara feet and the bottom of her dress. She waddled her way to the door, trying to collect her husband since obviously no one was needing her help here...

[Takaishi Jiishita]

Jiishita felt a not-too-missed emotion make its way down his spine as the ground exploded in front of him: anxiety.

He was taken off guard by the explosion, although he had ran the moment he sensed the ground catching fire--it was melting underneath his own two feet and he didn't want to get burned. As he went flying down the hallway, he landed hard, scratching and ripping his skin and clothes. As the floor began to burn with the heat, it melted, and as Jiishita saw fireballs being hurled his way he desperately tried to keep himself from getting badly hurt, pulling with the little earth manipulation he had to bend the hot walls of the castle to his will. All that he could manage was a small wall of hardened magma, to exaggerate, he could feel the heat of the fire balls in spite of the wall; there hadn't been enough of it heated for him to use.

After they hit, he peered over his makeshift shield to see what had been done.

"Oh. crap."

A wall of fire was blazing its way towards him, he tried to raise his small defensive wall further to help him protect himself. He heat washed over him on all sides, his feeble defense shattering. There was only pain as he felt the flames scorching his body, and he felt his shield break--

and, just as he was going to try another spell he felt a wave of water wash over him, dousing his body, smoke coming off of all parts of his with a sizzle. His robes were badly burned, and his skin was red, having been burned by just the contact it had with the man's fire. Avalon was riding the crest of the wave, and Jiishita would never be able to express how glad he had been for the rescue.

He tried to stand, his body aching even though it hadn't been burned badly singed skin sending blaring signals of pain as he moved. But he had to do something more; Tomoyo was still in trouble. Leaning against the wall, he saw his wife coming out of one of the rooms.

"...Chikara..."

[Ilreg Douisis Ofu'ul]

The room in which the battle had started had now become a cacophony of various magics, as a large man wielding a flaming sword entered the room, the heat of his aura began to warp and melt Ilreg's Ice magic near where he stood, after which he crushed the wall with the weapon in his hand. He seemed to pose no threat to Ilreg from his perspective, as he made threats to Tomo from her rear. "Brazen fool, continue to prattle, bid me time..." Ilreg mused to himself, noticing his sword melting at tip Tomo chipped in their exchange, his attention waning as the pain further set in, focusing his attention back onto his sword.

As the spikes stiffened into Ilreg's cold flesh, they were met with some resistance from his aura, now covering more of his body as the black veil of magic continued to linger on his figure. Wrenching forward through the agony of his thorn ridden binds, Ilreg began to seep from his face, the Dragon began to bleed from his eyes and mouth, one from the strain caused by enormous pain he been fighting through since the start of the altercation, the other from the protrusion that tore at his body. "You must be joking to thing that you will fell me with your meager swipes of the flimsy utensil in your hands, when your magic doth nothing but annoy me." Ilreg said, his cold blood falling to the floor as he spoke.

Ilreg prepared to attack Tomo again when his hearing missed the swift steps of the Hellion King he'd attempted to intimidate landed a devastating blow to the exposed part of Ilreg's back, the force of the kick caused him to grip his weapon so tightly it cracked up the center, hunching over forward as the attack rattled his foundation, sending the thorned magic further into Ilreg's body, Ilreg clenched his jaw as to not cry out in pain as the fight was slowly taking it's toll. Ilreg could sense his aura covering his back again, noticing that the man's foot held some of his magic's residue, as he fell to his knees, stopping himself from falling over completely by slamming his hand onto the wet floor, still clutching his cracked sword in his other hand.

While he continued to force the magic on top of him to rescind by further channeling his energy into his body covering aura, Ilreg noticed that this magic was on its lonesome, as he discovered he was no longer forcefully bound anymore, able to plant his arm with little to no difficulty outside of the gnawing pain that engulfed him so. When it occurred to him that his speed was no longer hindered, a smile curled onto his blood soaked mouth. Feeling the subtle yet approaching vibrations underneath the floor increasing rapidly, amplified by the water that now covered the entire room, wall to wall, small spikes began to spring forth from the water's surface. Ilreg then lifted himself from the ground several inches by creating an immensely thick shield of ice around himself on the floor of the room, freezing the already enchanted water, as well as adding his own Ice magic to reinforce it. Taking notice of the spikes pushing past and damaging many of his own, then gained his resolve, his eyes beaming into Tomo's.

"Feast on this peon behind me, as well as the near dead whore clutching her weapon in the corner. As for the insolent, martially unchallenged bitch in my line of sight, her flesh will be mine to feast upon alone." Ilreg said to his companions, standing to his feet. Stepping forward, Ilreg froze the water in his path, the liquid crawling up his body, freezing onto him from the sheer cold of his aura. Forming a spiky, frozen mail of sorts. Locking in on the Icy on the foot of his assailant to his rear, Ilreg caused the magical residue to explode into icy, razor edged crystals, freezing the water near them as they grew in both size and volume in an attempt at damaging his foot and lower leg.

Concentrating the icy magic around him onto the black vicious tar, Ilreg then reformed his rapier instantly, it's gleam shone magnificently from the light of large man's fiery weapon. "Now, the soon-to-be devoured King of the fetid and rank realm of Hell, let me show you the ways of proper swordsmanship..." Ilreg said as his pseudo armor shattered off of his body, attached to it a frozen mass of jagged darkness and blood. Completely nude, and his scars now healing over the pouring blood, Ilreg's very presence stained the water on the floor of the room. Pointing his sword at Tomo's own, in a quick swipe, Ilreg froze the minute amount of Ice shaved from his own weapon as it melted on Tomo's own, into a large chunk of Ice to weigh her weapon down.

Dashing forward at an incredible speed, now unhindered, twisting his wrist as he raised his arm, Ilreg swung down from on high in a vicious slash that caused the air to shriek, aim squarely at Tomo's chest out of the range of the shield of blackness emanating from the side of her face. As his sword sped from high to low in that instant, freezing the water around his and Tomo's feet, as the tip of the frozen blade contacted the water resulting in an almost instant solidification.

[Faf-ris]

Although their master continued to be assaulted from all fronts, Faf-ris and Cer-dra both continued in their unspoken assigned tasks, to aid their master Ilreg, as well as heed his expressed wishes, to dispatch those in the room that might pose a threat to him by aid Tomo. While covering the shambling Ilreg in water as he drifted toward Tomo on his own feet, Faf-ris began to cover him with water, willing the liquid to crawl up his body as he froze onto himself to remove the dark affliction that plagued him. It was then that Faf-ris could feel the water she surrounded the room with moved from the under groth of several spikes.

Running toward the injured Yomi at a seemingly erratic pace, Faf-ris used her magic to navigate a clear and safe path at her target. Leaping off the water on which she ran, Faf-ris caused a large wave of water to fly from the wall, gliding over the now quickly forming whirlpool derived from her movements underneath her opponent. Barring her rows of serrated teeth as the foe, Faf-ris soared with an the intent of mauling the already injured hell, as thick mist formed around the dragon as she flew closer toward Yomi.

Still remaining under the cloak of invisible from manipulating the light in the room, Cer-dra followed thorough on Ilreg's command, treading through the water in the direction of Kojiro, the man who attacked Ilreg from behind. Extending his magic to the shadows in the room that were enhanced by both the copious amounts of water, as well as the light from the large man's flaming sword, Cerdra attempted to rush at Kojiro, but was impeded by a row of earth spikes that the Dragon narrowly escaped.

Soon the path to his target was blocked, and from his stationary position, Cer-dra used his magic to bring the shadows to life, feeling his sibling's magic in and using his own magic to cloak the newly forming spikes in the area, rendering them invisible except to himself, outside the small ripples in the water where they formed. Covering them completely with his magic, Cer-dra grabbed several of these spikes whole, uprooting them from the ground using the shadows under the water and hurled them at Kojiro, one after other in an invisible volley destruction.

[Kanjin Taiyou]

Taiyou listened as she repeated to him the words that sounded of the description of a common vagrant, someone not worth mentioning twice as they flew from Tomo's lips , hearing Tomoyo's voice for the first time in several hundred years, it seemed to the desparate angel she was almost mocking him, not even turing her eyes at he burning mountain of destruction at her back. As the enchanted water sizzled around his feet, Taiyou could feel the earth beneath him rumble in a steady motion, notcing that the jaged ice fromations on the floor near the wall all over the room began to crumble from the rocky crags that formed beneath them. Soon the rumble underneath Taiyou's foot turned into a stab from the sharp object poking from under the ground, tearing into the back of Taiyou's foot and reaching upward to tear into his thigh, as others were soon to follow forming a small enclosure of spikes around him.

Not buckling from the pain, Taiyou did not even wince, the sword he held outwards to Tomo began to glow, as the air crackled around it from the scorching heat, Taiyou channeling his rage to fuel his magic. "LOOK AT ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU, DO YOU THINK I CAME ALL THIS WAY TO BE BRUSHED ASIDE LIKE ONE OF YOUR DAMN SLAVES!" Taiyou exploded, and a surge of magic flowed from him to his sword, channeling his anger into his magic. So far away the time when he waited for this day, for the light source of life so wasted and gone. He feels the pain of a lifetime lost in what seemed a thousand days, through the fire and the flames he carried on with his attack.

It was then Taiyou shot what seemed to be a torrent of fiery death at Tomo's rear, a cacophony of various scarlet, aurelian hues, swirling in a molten stream of passion and rage aimed at the Yami-ou's back, hissing like a thousand agitated serpents. Parting the water in front of him as well as scorching the floor beneath it, the immense stream of heat flew at its target, the receding waters falling back only to sizzle at the heat from above. Taiyou no longer caring to honor an opponent that would not even look his direction as they addressed him verbally as the hated filled magics poured from the blunt tip of his terrible weapon, reducing the offensive earthen shield to slag with it's heat.

"Taiyou, that shit that's stabbing you, it's from the same fucker that snatched the kid from me!" Oni said to Taiyou, her Void magics working quickly to heal his wound, while further empowering his already potent fire magic.

"Then shutup and stop the shit now!"Taiyou said aloud, not caring to temper his voice, his sole concentration on destroying Tomo, even if she was already engaged in combat. At that moment, Oni finished the process of sealing his bleeding wound, Taiyou stomped the ground around him with his mighty strength, reducing the spikes that formed around him in to mud as they broke to pieces of hard earth in to pool of water around his feet. It was then Oni flew into the the ground following the force of Taiyou's stomp, extending her magic toward the source of the changing enviroment, the effects of her tampering local at first, as she continued to seep into the attacking magic they became more widespread, reducing the sharp earth spikes into mud, slowly becoming sludge as the effects of her Void Magic grew.

"You took the kid huh, well let's she if you can babysit and attack at the same time!" Oni said, fly toward the elf that remained hidden, following her magical signature to it's source as Taiyou fended for himself, in no need of her aid.

[Tsubarisu Kojiro]

His Boss would not be rid of him this time. Kojiro was still too young. He felt he still had too much to do in his Hellion life. Unlike the last time he was killed, this time Kojiro had more than the means to keep himself alive. The one thing that Kojiro's old boss had liked about him (and it had later become his Bosses main source of Aggravation) was how crafty and how much of a survivor he was. Kojiro could find away to survive an entire layer being decimated. He gritted his teeth at the thought once again of his Boss trying to have him done in.

It felt so good, as the kick connected to the Dragons back. Whenever an attack connected, Kojiro got such a marvelous feeling. It was the feeling that came with victory, because with every landed blow, one was that much closer to victory. Kojiro heard the Dragon bark orders at the other Dragons that were with him. It didn't matter to Kojiro, they weren't fast enough to keep up with him...no one was.

He laughed on the inside as he thought of himself being beaten by some low-class peons. In fact if he weren't so upset he would have had no choice but to just started laughing right then and there. It was then that Kojiro's ears perked up a bit. His affinity with wind told him that something wasn't right. Something was cutting through the wind at a tremendous speed and it was coming right to wards him. Everything had slowed down for Kojiro as he looked in the direction of the incoming Missiles.

Kojiro immediately begin to run along the wall dodging the volley as best as he could with lots of intricate flips and sidesteps. That was a good move and very smart move, no one had ever done that before. Of course.....It wasn't good enough. Kojiro would stay on the offensive for a bit, so as to gain some insight on the opponent he was fighting.

[Sanada Tomo]

[And Kojiro, I hope that you'll start using more detail with your posts in terms of when he uses his magic to be speedy. You really make it unclear and hard to distinguish when you're relying on magic and when you're not.]

There was too much going on in the building for her to keep an eye out for everyone all at once; There were too many sources of magic in the room as well, and the rambunctious nature of magic, by the definition of those who were fighting her, would not allow her to easily track all the paths at once. Too many rumbles and too much noise that had nothing and everything to do with her at the same time. The being in front of her required her constant attention, as she was rather caught between a rock and a hard place, so to speak; the others would have to keep themselves alive until she could get to them.

"You must be joking to thing that you will fell me with your meager swipes of the flimsy utensil in your hands, when your magic doth nothing but annoy me." Blood fell to the floor as he spoke, and Tomoyo supposed that she admired his confidence.

Tomoyo's body, despite the small and seemingly nonchalant phrases that she had spoken to Taiyou, was tense, waiting to see who would attack first. She would have to be quick if she hoped to actually get out of middle ground between them with the least amount of injuries as possible. The way she saw it, she was going to be sustain an injury of some kind between the flaming bat of a sword in front of her, and the icicle behind.

Without warning, Tomoyo saw Ilreg tense, Kojiro's foot connecting with his back. Ilreg did not go down easily. He gripped his sword, a crack going down the middle. He slowly got down to his knees, feeling the wet ground beneath him. Tomoyo knew that such a thing was not good.

The Ma-ou could feel his magic pushing against Symphony, and she silently ordered her: Do not struggle. Leave his body. I want you by my side. She knew without a doubt that Symphony had heard her, and looked for no response.

The black layer that covered Ilreg's skin began to move quickly, dripping onto the floor and slithering amongst the water to Tomoyo. Symphony left the shell of her spikes behind, knowing they would injure Ilreg if only a bit further. Upon reaching Tomoyo's legs at the floor, she cloaked herself, acting as a forcefield until she was needed to do anything else.

The room began to rumble, pieces of the ground erupting into spikes around the castle, and Tomoyo knew that the magic was one of the elves, and she wished that she had the freedom to advise them not to waste their magic when they could fight physically. However, they were their own beings and Alvar and Alfeo would do whatever they liked, she supposed, despite any warnings or tips she might give them.

Ilreg then covered himself in ice, rising above the ground, by freezing the water that was already on the ground. After doing so, he turned back to Tomoyo and looked her directly in the eyes.

"Feast on this peon behind me, as well as the near dead whore clutching her weapon in the corner. As for the insolent, martially unchallenged bitch in my line of sight, her flesh will be mine to feast upon alone." He stood to his feet after that, the magically altered water clinging to his body, freezing to become an outer shell. He then struck out at Kojiro without even turning to look at him, exploding the ice at his rear to injure his assailant.

Reforming his weapon, Ilreg spat, "Now, the soon-to-be devoured King of the fetid and rank realm of Hell, let me show you the ways of proper swordsmanship..."

The armor shattered from his body, the remains of Symphony's magical assault falling to the ground along with the broken pieces. He was completely nude now, and Tomoyo could see that Dragons--or at least this one--had a healing factor. He must have been powerful to use it in the middle of a battle. That, or injured more severely than Tomoyo had originally thought. There were a few droplets from the shaved ice of Ilreg's rapier on her own sword, and he froze it there. Tomoyo felt the magic lashing toward the weapon but didn't notice the weight, knowing that frozen droplets would not bother her swordsmanship one bit. IT was an amateur move, what Ilreg did, and Tomoyo registered that small fact in the back of her mind as she continued to watch for attacks from in front and behind.

It was that moment that he chose to attack, slashing at her from topto bottom, aiming directly for her chest. The air screamed as the swipe flew through the air because of all of the moisture in the castle.

Retreat, Symphony...

The shield around her moved to cover only her back, and, knowing that she was need the protection there, she attempt to quickly shift her weight--only to discover that he had frozen her feet to the floor. She did not panic. Such a thing could be easily remedied, but there was only a quick moment to prevent substantial damage. Without thinking her arm moved to the appropriate position, wrist pronated and blade pointing down, to parry his slash, the hilt and the base of her sabre at her chest to protect it.

"LOOK AT ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU, DO YOU THINK I CAME ALL THIS WAY TO BE BRUSHED ASIDE LIKE ONE OF YOUR DAMN SLAVES!?" Tomoyo heard, and felt the flames beat against her back, causing her pain even as she fought Ilreg. Symphony would have to deal with him, as he knew that she was in the process of doing, even if she had to suffer while she fought. She was not almost four thousand years old for nothing. She was not still existing for nothing, so she could stand it. Perhaps Tai's beating flames would melt Ilreg's encumbering ice.

Symphony's face and upper body seemed to extend itself from Tomoyo's own back, since the shield was there, and spreading her arms wide, her Human like image turning pitch black as her arms formed a dish-like shape, capturing and deflecting the flames that attacked Tomoyo's back.

[Uesugi Yomi]

Running toward the injured Yomi at a seemingly erratic pace, Faf-ris used her magic to navigate a clear and safe path at her target. Leaping off the water on which she ran, Faf-ris caused a large wave of water to fly from the wall, gliding over the now quickly forming whirlpool derived from her movements underneath her opponent. Barring her rows of serrated teeth as the foe, Faf-ris soared with an the intent of mauling the already injured hell, as thick mist formed around the dragon as she flew closer toward Yomi.

Yomi saw Tomoyo's predicament, and she wanted so very much to say something about it, but she was too much of a useless hag to contribute. She wasn't yet strong enough to fight the Dragon or the Fallen, and either one of them could kill her at a moment's notice. She could see Kojiro behind Ilreg, but none of that mattered much because he was worthless as well; but the Elves were running toward her and the battle field, and there were other beings in view. Maybe they would be able to help.

She felt the ground fissuring below her, and she saw the spikes errupting from the ground, some near her and some farther away. Not knowing quite what to do, she tried to keep herself alert of the battle. She was grateful to Tomo for bringing her back, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to die for the Ha-ou...no, she decidedly wasn't.

Without nothing to do, it was quite easy for her to see a wolf-like creature making its way to her to her at a ridiculous pace, and she immediately strengthened Nectar's shield around her. Using her wind magic, she immediately shaped a handful of thin but sharp arrows, throwing the group of twelve weapons into the mist that had begun to surround the dog's frame. She summoned her Kama directly after, although she didn't know what the power level was of this thing attacking her. She had to go on the defensive, which was basically worth shit. Gritting her teeth in frustration to her own weakness, she would just have to see who was better.

[Elf Royal Family-Group Account]

Alvar and Alfeo took off in two different directions, to two different targets. Alfeo headed towards Yomi, seeing her being attacked by some sort of canine creature, and he silently withdrew his sword, rushing in to immediately aid her in any way possible. Alfeo could see a cloud of mist in the air, sailing toward Yomi; he wouldn't make it in time but he could be there right afterwards.

Alvar headed in Kojiro's direction; he knew that no matter how brazen any of the people in the room were, most of them would need help taking down the Dragon. As for the other opponent, Alvar's opinion was that Tomoyo needed to lie in the bed that she laid. That was a personal problem and unless she specifically requested his help, he would focus on the Dragon.

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Arya felt the baby in her arms; warm, secure. However, at that exact moment she felt a force traveling through the castle--through her castle, as it were--and she was not excited at the prospect. The only thing that could travel that quickly through the structure would have to be something non-physical--a spirit. Great.

It felt like the same energy that had encased the baby. Her free hand drew back, halting her manipulation of the throne room to keep in reserve for the next confrontation. She worked her hands around the baby, an intangible force of light wrapping itself around the baby, sealing with a bright light before it disappeared. This would ensure that, should the baby leave her hands, it would be transported someplace safe--the first place that she could think of: the second layer of hell, in the palace Kawahira Ayaka, one of the few Kings no longer present in the building. She wished that she had better accomodations, and Tomoyo would be absolutely furious with the baby leaving the castle, but at this point there was nothing else that she could do, except prepare for the fight to come.