Sky clear save for the occasional cloud allowing for the moon to bear down upon Era town, Headquarters of the Rune Knights. It was just like any other day for a majority of the people there. However, for this blonde haired individual, it wasn’t going to be at least that’s what he suspected especially with the task he had been given today. That task in question the transport and delivery of the Magister’s Index, a vital part of the rune knights which held important information regarding Council related matters.

His attire for such an occasion was vastly different from his typical gear rather than the flamboyant white and red robe and his khaki attire, he was wearing something far more formal donning a black pinstriped two piece cotton suit over a black silk shirt emphasised by the red tie that had a similar matching pattern. This was matched with black gloves and leather shoes before finished off with a fashionable pair of black slightly shaded sunglasses and a stylish hat.

This formal attire was due to the serious nature of the task itself. In fact it was such an important job that he, himself despite being now a seated knight needed an additional three others to assist him in escorting the index one of them he knew to be a rune knight, however the other two he had no information on, he was surprised that the Rune Knights had got the assistance from another organization whilst there are numerous Rune Knights but perhaps it was for other reasons no matter.

As he was yet to met all of the people who would be helping him today, Kon went to the caravan that the index had been placed inside before going up to the person who would be steering it, he was an honest to Illumin person from how he spoke and behaved. He had served the Rune Knights for over twenty years having gained a large amount of girth around his waist ignoring that he questioned him about their destination before awaiting his companions for the journey. Because this was a mission particularly a risky one he had brought along his staff wielding it as a cane and his Blitzle companion, Sparky. Petting his pet he looked ahead from the Rune Knights headquarters out to the gate of the wall that leads to the main path which ran down the hill towards the town.

[OOC: Adjusted the first sentence from the sun to the moon as to fit with the current timeline]

Era sure was impressive as well. This was the first-time Ace visited the martial city where the Magical Council and the Rune Knight’s headquarters rested. Even if he’d normally take his time to wander through the streets and different landmarks to get to know the place, Ace was there for a completely different reason. He had been summoned all the way from Crocus to Era. Having recently joined the Rune Knights, the blue haired mage had become sufficiently well known within the law enforcement organization that he had been promoted to a Seated Rune Knight. The job came with certain responsibilities though, and his job for the day was nothing but the first of his tasks as one. His superiors had briefed him on the details of the mission beforehand. He was assigned to an escort mission. The Magister’s Index, as it was called, was an important tome that contained critical information regarding different Magical Council matters. It was of utmost importance that its delivery to a secret location within the city proceeded without any incidents. Normally, escort missions were tasked individually to Rune Knights. However, the fact that the Index’s delivery was a 4-man group task spoke of its importance. The team consisted of 2 Seated Knights and 2 external members that had been hired externally. Ace couldn’t quite understand at first why the Council would hire people that did not belong to the RK, but after hearing the rest of the details it became all clear. The mission was to proceed secretly. In order to avoid any suspicion, Ace and his fellow Rune Knight were required to avoid using their usual Knight equipment. Instead, they had to pass as hired mercenaries that transported a caravan, reason for which the council decided to hire actual mercenaries for the job. Or at least that seemed to be the most logical reasoning. Either way, Ace was none to question orders. Avoiding wearing his knight attire that day, the young swordsman opted for wearing his favorite dark blue coat. Complimenting his look with high black leather boots, his newly obtained sword rested on his side. He truly looked like a caravan bodyguard.

A couple of hours before his mission started, Ace decided to make use of the time he had to inspect the route the cart carrying the Index would take. The mission would begin from the very headquarters of the Rune Knights. The building was truly a magnificent work of engineering. Almost describable as the perfect fortress, the home of the Knights was atop an 80-meter-tall granite mountain that stood within the heart of Era. Being one of the hardest natural rock’s in the world, the council’s base was protected from any attempts of climbing or attacking. A jagged stone pathway circled the mountain’s circumference as it made its way all the way to the bottom. There was only one way of accessing the path that lead to the top. With a 20-meters-deep pit artificially created to surround the mountain, the only connection to the city was a long stone bridge that arrived to a Rune Knight checkpoint. Security was usually of the highest order within the checkpoint, but it was still susceptible to infiltration. Either way, Ace was not that worried. The sides of the mountain had special magical lacrimas that could detect any intruders trying to approach the mountain from the air. If for some reason anyone had managed to penetrate the granite’s durable structure and tried to climb to the top, the lacrimas would immediately send an alert to the headquarters. The only real way to get to the top, was through the stone path through which the caravan carrying the Index would travel. The situation gave Ace hope. The city of Era was currently upholding one of biggest auctions in the continent. The streets were busting with people during that time of the days. Crowds of rich nobles, merchants travelling with their own caravans carrying merchandise for the auction and the general population excited for the week’s event would give Ace and his companions the perfect façade to blend with the crowd once they made it to the bottom. Within the packed crowds and endless carriages and carts that rich people brought along with them, the disguised Rune Knights and the other two mercenaries would be able to pass completely unnoticed. The only real moment the caravan could be truly targeted was during their way down the mountain’s stone pathway. This also posed an advantage. Since they’d be going from the top to bottom, Ace and his companions wouldn’t need to worry about an ambush from above thanks to the detection lacrimas that surrounded the mountain. If someone was foolish enough to attack them, they would have to do it on the stone 20-meters long, 10-meters wide bridge, or in the road itself.

Ace finally arrived to the meeting place after carefully analyzing the panorama. After all, he had been trained since young to lead men in battle and a fundamental trait for a general was being a good strategist. Looking at the distance, he could notice that one person already waited for him and the rest of the guard squad with the driver. As he got closer, Ace couldn’t help but smile. There was not a single thing that made the cart stand out. Neither the driver or the man standing guard looked to have any relationship to the Rune Knights or the magical council. Their disguise was perfect. “Ace du Lyon, seated knight of the Rune Knights. Pleased to meet you. Let’s work together and get the job done without fail. I’ll pay the drinks afterwards.” The swordsman extended his arm to the blond as he flashed a smile at him. Ace’s tone was friendly, he enjoyed meeting new people. By the looks of the man’s equipment and his pet, he seemed to be a strong fella. This mission was going to be a piece of cake.

On her travels, Tori ran into a courier who had delivered her a summons. He claimed to be looking for Tori on behalf of the Magic Council, delivered his letter, and was on his way. He must have used some kind of magic that enhanced his speed, the way he took off like he did. That was of little consequence however, as Tori opened the letter and read as she made her way to Era, learning that she was to guard a caravan guarding something called The Magister's Index. The blonde had no idea what it was, but if she was going to give her all towards a request from an average client, she surely wasn't going to treat a mission from the Council any differently.

After making it to the city gates, and looking around to get her bearings on the way through the town, the ice mage finally reached what looked like a military checkpoint. The letter said to report to the Council Headquarters, and if Tori was a gambling woman, she would bet that was the building high above the city and just past this stop. As she approached, she was stopped by two guards whom asked her business there. "I received this letter from a courier." she said plainly, handing the guard the summons. He nodded without a word and allowed her passage through. Once through the gate, Tori made her way up the winding stone bridge, taking notice of the surroundings. It seemed there was a deep pit around the base of the mountain, which itself was rather jagged on the sides, which would prove difficult for anyone to climb, should they be so inclined.

Upon reaching the summit, Tori noticed a large wagon next to a group of three. She sighed in relief since she didn't have to do this alone and would have someone to talk to. One person was a blonde man dressed in a rather expensive looking suit. He wore white gloves and black sunglasses, and honestly looked out of place, all things considered. The other was a blue haired man dressed in a matching coat and leather boots. He actually looked as if he was a fighter given the sword hanging from his side. The other was a black haired girl whose identity was revealed when she turned back towards the group after inspecting the cart, none other than Kazumi, a fellow Fairy Tail wizard.

"Well isn't it a small world." she said, giggling slightly and directing the comment towards her guildmate. She would then turn her attention to the other two and offer pleasantries to them as well. "Tori Lancaster. Nice to meet you both." she'd state confidently, extending her arm in greeting. Should either of the gentlemen offer his own hand, she would shake it with gusto. If not, she would simply retract her arm in an awkward silence. Once greetings were out of the way, she would go to inspect the wagon herself. A simple vehicle, it was 3 meters from front to back, providing ample room for cargo or passengers. The canvas on top seemed to be covering a wooden roof providing shelter should the tarp rip at the top. The back flap that opened into the wagon which zipped to the sides, she guessed to keep rain out. The front looked as if it had two seats for drivers, one in front of the whole wagon, where the driver was currently sitting while waiting for his passengers. There was also a raised platform above him, she assumed for a second driver as she had no knowledge of how these usually operated.

"Are we it? I can't imagine more than four people are necessary to guard a book." she inquired with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "I guess let's get moving. Not gonna get any younger." she joked as she climbed up to the high seat above the carriage driver. Once everyone had decided if they were going to ride or walk beside the wagon, the snap of reigns would be heard, followed by the wagon's movement. It went rather slow, considering the bridge it was now descending was full of turns. It wasn't until they reached the straight piece of bridge to the checkout did Tori say something out loud. "Well, I think the difficult part is over now."

One by one, each of the other members who would be with him for the escort mission arrived first with. His fellow rune knight was the first to reach him and the caravan he too was smartly dressed for such an occasion with the need of discreteness needed. Introducing himself he also revealed his status, Seated Knight to which Kon nodded wanting to appeal to the man he introduced himself. “Konstantin Sokolov, also the member of the Rune knights and Seated, it's a pleasure to have another knight completing this task with me I’m surprised the entire group is all Rune Knights though I guess extra help never hurts.” A little while later the third member of the team arrived, a fairy tail member. “Odd.” He thought to himself, the two groups hadn’t had the greatest past but no matter. He too introduced himself to her, though she seemed intent on “getting the show on the road” which probably mention to begin but there was one more to arrive and until then they would wait inside the protected walls of the Rune Knight Headquarters.

Eventually, the last member reached them who took notice of the fairy tail mage before the others until introducing herself and revealing truth her actions she was a fairy tail mage herself. Having extended her hand to shake the pair he took the hand firmly resisting the vigorous handshake with a tightening of his muscles. With the pleasantries out of the way the conversation lead to the mission at hand with the newest addition to the group seemingly questioning the importance of the book in some way with little room for back talk, Kon replied bluntly. “Do not make light of this situation, Lancaster, this book has information that people could abuse and have devastating outcomes if they acquired it, I hope to Illumin we are enough, to be honest, but yes we should get moving.”

Feeling no need to ride the bulky caravan with it going at a relatively slow pace, for now, he refrained from boarding it as he would have issues summoning quickly inside it, so instead, he would walk alongside it on its right side close to the rear wheel. The Fairy Tail mage commented once more however he refrained from commenting instead getting the paperwork from the driver giving it to the posted guard before returning with others that were now signed. Leaving the confinements of the Rune Knight Headquarters, they would pass over the bridge and onto the well-maintained road. The road itself was made from decorated hardened cobblestone that had endured decades of caravans carrying far heavier materials and was checked every day at lunch time by a slow, fat simple minded individual that wrote down any faults which there hadn’t been one for years. The path itself hugged the hill that the Run Knight Headquarters with a right side of the caravan covered by it, it was well lit with periodically placed lacrima lights that burned every night on the dot without stopping these were housed inside high standing poles.

It was 2.03am at night and the moon was high in the sky above the town of Era. Era was known as the headquarters of the Rune Knights, the lapdogs of the Magic Council that many would be happy to see be destroyed. The moon was full and sat high in the sky, its rays were dim barely lighting up the darkened night. There was barely a cloud in the sky on this winter night. Being winter, there was a light chill in the air but not cold enough to be a bother to anyone who might be out and about this very night.

Amongst the night of Era was a figure who was seated on a stone bench in the town square, right leg crossed over their left knee. The figure was waiting patiently for time to pass before it was time to begin the operation. The figure was an attractive young girl of twelve thirteen years with crimson red eyes and smooth milky white skin. Her black hair which was usually flowing loose had been tied up in a double bun with a jade needle holding it in place. Atop her head instead of her usual black and red gothic headpiece, the girl was wearing a red beret; her hair tucked up inside keeping it out of the way. On her left wrist was a plain and simple watch keeping time.

The lolita who went by the name of Yumi was not even wearing her clothing of choice, a black gothic lolita dress with matching garter belt and stockings, plus high heel black boots. Instead, she was wearing a set of armour composed of shoulder and breast armour, with matches laced gloves and boots. On the skirt of her clothing, the right side was a zip pocket containing a pair of cute black sunglasses. Attached to her left hip, being right hand but capable of using both, was a one-meter long sword. Floating behind her was a two-foot tall creature, hovering a meter off the ground, a Duskull named Venom. Down resting at Yumi's feet was a cotton sack that was wriggling about with sounds coming from it.

Yumi's eyes twinkled with mirth; she had been given an objective on behalf of the guild, her guild being Grimoire Heart, to retrieve the Magister Index of the Magic Council. Just what was the Magister Index? To be precise, it was a collection of important information that held secrets regarding Council matters. They had a spy on the inside who had already alerted them to the wagon they needed to hit; supposedly it would be protected by four individuals. The wagon had also been disguised as a merchant caravan to help hide its identity until it arrived at its secret location in Era. The task would not be an easy one as after all the Rune Knights quarters was a well-built fortress, which made it almost impossible to sneak into. But nothing would impregnable, find the weak spot and one could easily find a way in.

The mission was to take place at 3 am as that was when the wagon was to leave. This gave Yumi just udner an hour to get her plan into action. The path to the rune knights headquarters was littered with detection lacrima for air assaults and even though it was night, the path would be well lit with light lacrima providing sources of light so the escort and wagon could see their way to the town. Being that it was night time would come as a disadvantage to be moving a wagon about, especially when most of the merchants wouldn't arrive until morning or had already arrived to avoid travel during the night, merchants did not like travelling at night as it increased the risk of ambush from bandits. No merchant wanted their goods stolen. Being so late at night the streets were free of almost any person, not a single being in sight for miles, besides Yumi, Venom and whatever was in that sack of hers.

Yumi had arrived yesterday not long after lunch and had begun planning her attack, having over twelve hours to plan and formulate her strategy. First, she had visited the town, walking around it memorising the layout. Being seventy-five years old this was not her first visit in Era, and much of the layout had changed since she was last here. Being so old she learnt a trick or two to memorise her way around certain areas. With the layout of Era fleshed out she had begun objective two. She had left Era to scout the mountain pretending to be a tourist. To make the act believable Yumi had dressed up in a long-sleeved black top with a pink love heart on the front, long black and white sock like pants with a black mini skirt over the top, wearing black shoes. Her hair had been tied in pigtails, and she had put on the cutesy act to get away with the information she needed. Thanks to this Yumi had memorised the layout and watched as Rune Knights walked up and down the mountain, calculating the time it took them to leave Headquarters and reach the bridge roughly twenty-five to thirty minutes each time.

Yumi had then returned to Era to scout the city for a hostage, and she found one in the form of a little blonde girl no older than eight years old four feet in height weighing roughly fifty pounds, six hours ago at 8 pm. The little girl had been out with her parents to dinner and the three of them had been walking back home. They had decided to take a shortcut through a dark alley, that was when Yumi ambushed them, taking out the father with a single swing of her sword before knocking out the mother thanks to a punch. The demon had then hidden the bodies in a dumpster, she had then made sure there were no witnesses, there had not been a single soul in sight to witness the murder and kidnapping.

Yumi had then grabbed the girl, knocking her out with a chop to the back of the neck. The Lolita had then taken the girl back to the inn Yumi was staying at, an inn on the shadier side of town, so no one had asked questions. If they had Yumi's body count would have increased as without hesitation she was ready to slice someone's head off, but luckily no one had asked. Once she arrived back at the Inn Yumi had laid the little girl on the bed, making sure she was restrained with twisted bed sheets, before heading back into town. Yumi needed supplies for the task, supplies to make sure the little girl was restrained and to grab a pair of black sunglasses, they would be of use to Yumi later on.

Yumi had spent an hour walking around Era buying the goods she needed for her task, before returning back to the inn. When she arrived back in her room, the little blonde haired girl was still knocked out. Yumi was not surprised by this, as the blow would hopefully keep her dead to the world for three more hours. With the little girl out to it, Yumi proceeded to bind the girl's arms behind her back, before placing a collar tightly around her knee with a metal chain, these had come from a sex shop. For extra measures, Yumi had cuffed the little girl's feet with a set of ankle cuffs to stop her from running should the girl attempt it. Yumi then gagged her with tape to keep her mouth shut so she wouldn't scream before tossing her in a sack with a few air holes so the little girl could breathe. Of course, the Lolita had already warned the little girl when she awoke two hours ago not to make things difficult if she attempted to escape Yumi would kill her and all her friends. Yumi had lied saying she had been watching the girl and her family for weeks, that Yumi knew all the blonde's friends and would not hesitate to kill them. The little threat had frightened the child into cooperating, it helped when Yumi promised to let her go like that was going to happen.

Yumi was going to be facing a group of goody two shoe mages, and being so goody they surely wouldn't allow a little girl to be harmed in their mission, even one so important as this. So this is where Yumi was now up to, after buying herself her current armour, something called a Lancer set. She could have bought the lance to go with it but hadn't bothered as she would have had to sell her sword, and her religion was not one that threw a bright light onto spears, deeming only Axes and Swords were to be used, such was the Divine Word of her God Malum.

Yumi who went by the name of Carnage amongst her guildmates was a prolific worshipper of the Ancient God known as Malum, a Dark Chaos being who was called the Blood God and Harvester of Souls. Malum was a warrior who lived by a code. He craved the blood of powerful foes and their skulls to be added to his ever growing throne of skulls. She had worshipped the God for over sixty years, and her devotion had been rewarded only months ago.

Yumi began to stand up to her maximum height of four foot ten, her tiny frame only weighing one hundred pounds exactly. Yumi brushed her clothing off before reaching down with her left hand and grabbed the top of the sack. Yumi picked it up and threw the little girl over her left shoulder holding tight. The Demon began making her way through the dimly lit night towards the path leading to the mountain. Her companion Venom followed after, unlike her, the creature could see perfectly as he was a nocturnal being, hunting and surviving mainly at night.

Yumi was expecting to meet up with her comrade either in Era, at the bridge or just before the bridge. She wasn't sure who she was partnered with as to be safe they had sent coded messages to one another through representatives of their guild detailing out their plan of attack. Yumi and her partner or perhaps partners in crime had been very thorough in their plan fleshing out every detail amongst themselves; they did not want to leave any detail out. After all the task that had been passed onto them was important, with the Index who knows what they would be able to do. To take extra precautions they were using a code that required a key to decipher that was only known amongst members of Grimoire Heart, even if someone was to obtain the key they would be unable to use it. Due to this Yumi suspected her colleagues were from her own guild as they would never give it out to outsiders. Yumi suspected this even more as in the coded messages when they met they were to address each other by their guild codenames, which would be revealed when they gathered. One could say they were a paranoid guild, but it had allowed them to conduct their evil deeds unnoticed for many years.

The gothic lolita, who was a demon, made her way towards the stone bridge, sticking to the shadows, keeping her hidden so not to be spotted by anyone. She avoided the light of the lacrima and lamp posts in the streets so not to be seen by a witness. The last thing she wanted were witnesses; she had to make sure no one spotted her. With what was about to go down there would already be five witnesses no need for more. Especially for an operation such as this. Of course, Yumi was never planning to let the little girl live, not that the goodies would no it, after all, they would most likely think the blonde girl was there for leverage.

During her hiding and moving the little Lolita had spotted two individual taking the same route as her, two women. She did not know who they were nor recognise them; one wore a simple shirt and jeans, the other a blonde, both appeared to be unarmed. Yumi hung back so not to be noticed and watched them climb the mountain path turning quickly into specks in the black of night. Now and then she would see their shadows from the light reflected off the lacrima which lit up the jagged mountain path.

Yumi had waited to make sure the path was clear of anyone else, before continuing on her journey, by the time she arrived at the bridge she checked her watch to find it was 2.39am, they would soon be moving out. Yumi had to set up fast. On the bridge was a single Rune Knight waiting patiently for the wagon to begin its descent. The area was a checkpoint, how could Yumi see this at night? She could see due to light lacrima surrounded the checkpoint lighting the entire bridge up.

Yumi dropped the sack, twelve meters from the guard, who luckily for her had his back turned to watch the mountain path. Yumi bent down before launching herself forward to cross the distance in two seconds running six meters per second. She began drawing her blade, by the time he noticed and began turning but it was too late, she was upon him. In one swift motion, she drew the sword and drove the butt of her handle into the back of his neck with enough force to knock him down. Yumi grabbed the back of the body with her left hand threw him off the left side of the bridge. Yumi dropped down and moved the body under the bridge hiding it where it wouldn't be seen in the shadows. She then stabbed downwards a couple of times with her sword making sure the man was dead, the lolita wiped the blood off on the corpse and resheathed her blade after.

Yumi popped back up from under the bridge and retrieved the sack. Her familiar Venom floated over; he had taken cover in the darkness. The Lolita looked around; there was a few lacrima beside her lighting up the cobblestone road. Yumi approached one to her direct right. As Yumi approached she drew her sword with her right hand and struck down, a soft crack was heard as tiny web-like cracks formed at the top. The cracks spread out down the rest of the lacrima before a piece fell off and the lacrima died down, having been deactivated with force. The light dimmed from it allowing darkness to return on the right half of the bridge, but only in a two-meter radius around the lacrima. Yumi started going to work using her sword to smash twelve meters worth of lacrima that led from the bridge to Era creating a dark passage. With the night above it was complete darkness nothing could be seen. She had finished this by 2:53 am leaving not much time. The women she had seen earlier would most likely have arrived at the headquarters by now.

Yumi gave a silent command to her familiar, Venom, who then floated off into the darkness and taking up a position at one of the broken lacrima, three meters from the bridge on the left side of the road. It was to sit down leaving only its single red eye exposed that created barely any light. It would make him appear that he was a working lacrima, but faulty. Not only would he be keeping a watch on the road for her when the caravan started coming, but he could act as an early warning system. As for the other lacrima that were broken the surroundings were completely black, with just a little moonlight but it did nothing to light the area, they couldn't be seen so one could not discern what had happened to them, not unless they got close to them, standing at least 30cm from the broken lacrima. Hopefully, it would just make the escorts thing they weren't working and were just experiencing technical difficulties.

Yumi would then moving to take a position on the right side of the bridge, resheathing her icy sword. Yumi walked down the hill that led to the bottom of the bridge before moving into the shadows under the bridge to hide her form, the body of the little girl tucked in her sack. Yumi would position herself right under the end of the bridge ready to jump out. Yumi would then undo the sack and pulled the eight-year-old out holding tightly onto the chain which bound the kicks next with her left hand. The little girl's blonde hair was flat against her back, tears streaming down from her baby blue eyes, dressed in a pretty yellow and white winter dress, black socks and black buckle shoes.

The walk down from the headquarters to the bridge would take them a good 25 or 30 minutes arrival time 3:25am or 3:30am, enough time for Yumi's accomplice or accomplices to arrive. However, they were escorting a wagon on foot so it could either take them longer or they would reach the bridge sooner. In any scenario, she was calculating 15 to 20 minutes for earlier meaning they would arrive 3:15 or 3:20am, for late 35 to 45 minutes 3:35am or 3:45am. It all depended on if they left earlier, on time or were held up, whatever the circumstance Yumi would be ready and waiting. But by her calculations, they would not arrive until well after 3 am. If they left early, the spy would sneak out of the Headquarters to alert Yumi and her partner or partners. The spy knew a fast way down the mountain side to beat the wagon, though it only worked one way, down. Though it appeared they would not be leaving till 3 am as due to the current time 2:55 am on her watch there had been no action at the top of the hill.

For now, Yumi waited patiently listening out for the wagon disguised as a caravan. While Magic caravans were convenient, they had heard the word from the spy in the Rune Knight Headquarters the one they were going to be used was a horse drawn caravan. This meant Yumi just had to keep an ear out for the sound of the horses coming down the stone path, their feet clopping against the pavement, the wheels turning and the sound of the horses breathing. In her waiting, Yumi had drawn her Icy Sword with her right hand and pressed the edge of the sword to the neck of the little blonde girl. The girl had stiffened as she made muffled cries, tears flowing down her cheeks. Yumi made sure to hold the chain tightly with her left hand if the girl tried to run Yumi just had to tug on the chain and it would tighten the collar to choke the life from the tiny child.

Yumi cared not for the child's life and would gladly sacrifice her if it meant she could complete the mission. After all, Yumi was a member of Grimoire Heart a dark guild and was willing to do anything not only for her guild but to survive so she could continue to worship her God. As she remained there in the shadows, Yumi would mutter soft mumbles under her breath, low whispers that could not be heard. The whispers were chants, scriptures from her worship of Malum. She was praying to the Chaos God, asking him to grant her strength in this upcoming battle, to allow his divine essence to flow through her. Yumi knew well enough her God existed as it was because of him she had been reborn as a demon.

Important Stuff:

After his initial greeting, all of the members appointed to protect the caravan were now assembled. His companions name’s were Konstantin Sokolov, Kazumi Kiseki and Tori Lancaster, arriving in that order. Shaking both girl’s hands as they presented themselves, Ace introduced himself once again. ”Ace du Lyon, pleased to meet you.” Learning that both of them were from Fairy Tail intrigued him. This was the first time he met a member of the infamous guild. Within Era and the magical council, Fairy Tail was regarded as one of the most… troublesome light guilds. They were famous for causing havoc and trouble wherever they went. For Ace though, they seemed like a rather lively bunch. ”Interesting… Let’s see what a fairy is like up close”

When the team was finally assembled, the caravan began to move. Once the necessary paperwork was done, they crossed the inspection gate that gave to the cobblestone road. As the sound of horse hooves clacking in the stone filled the silence of the night, Ace noticed something strange. He was positioned at the right side of the caravan. The four-wheeled cart made a weird noise that caught his attention as they went through the gate. It sounded like some sort of creaking. ”Odd” The words were silent, trying not to make much noise so he could hear better. Paying attention to the wheel on his side, he waited to confirm his suspicions. However, there was nothing. Brushing it off, the blue haired mage attributed it to his imagination. It was deep in the night after all. He’d be normally sleeping at this time.

The travel down the road began without complications. Ace had decided to establish small talk with Kon, who was posted on the left side of the cart. ”I’m actually glad there’s another Rune Knight for this mission. How long have you served there?” Before Kon could answer, the creaking noise appeared once more. Ace was now certain, it came from the front right wheel. Suddenly shifting his attention to the wheel, he heard the unmistakable sound of a small metal object hitting the stone road. Squinting his eyes to focus better on the object, he finally distinguished a pair of screws and bolts that had just come off. The wheel seemed to try to hold its own load, however, it quickly began faltering. Ace had seen enough carriage accidents to know what was going on. The screws looked rusty. Obvious signs of a negligent inspection and maintenance, the metal structure of the pieces had cracked with the time. The reaction of the wheel after they fell though, gave off another important hint. It seemed that the pieces that held up the wheel with the front axis of the cart were completely busted. As the wooden structure began cracking due to the stress Ace quickly reacted. ” Careful! The wheel is breaking!” Ace’s notice would come with perfect timing. It would give enough time for Tori and the driver to get down safely before it collapsed under its own body and effectively stranded the cart. The caravan fell on towards the right side of the road. The cobblestone path was a pretty big one. After all, it needed to be wide enough to allow for multiple carts to go up and down the pathway at the same time without any problems. For Ace though, a 10 meters wide cobblestone path that went all the way from the top to the bottom seemed a bit of an overkill.

Once they were all safely on the ground, the rider approached the wheel to inspect the damage. “Yup. It’s useless. We’ll have to ask the headquarters for a new cart to replace this one. Seems we’ll have to wait for a bit now.” Taking out a small cage from the inside of the cart, the rider quickly wrote a note as he attached it to the leg of a small bird. Setting it free, the bird knew where it had to go. Soon enough, the headquarters would receive notice of the unfortunate accident and immediately send a new cart replacement. They had already descended 25 meters down the 80-meter-tall hill. As all of this happened, the defense squad were completely clueless to what happened below. Either way, the accident would delay them for at least a good 20 minutes. ”Shit… Guess there’s nothing to do then.” Leaning to the side of the mountain to rest, Ace unsheathed the saber he had just acquired as he inspected the blade. To be honest, it had nothing extraordinary. However, with his current pay, it was the most he could afford. For now, it’d do the job.

Description:

As the wagon continued down the stone bridge towards the Era streets, Tori stood above the driver on the extra platform and admired the darkened city in its beauty. The light lacrima that dotted the sidewalks coupled with the points of light that escaped from windows and doorways made a scene that perfectly mimicked the starry sky that hung above. The crickets chirping blended with the pitter patter of the hooves on the stone to play a symphony that could have been composed by a great musician. Below her, her three companions for this mission walked alongside the cart with hardly a word between them. It seemed that the group of four were all equally focused on completing this mission without interruption and, to that end, small talk could wait.

Tori could not help but remember what the man known as Konstantin had told her before they began their descent down the mountain. It seemed that Tori's initial thoughts of guarding a mere book were a grave underreaction. This book evidently contained highly sensitive information that could never be allowed to fall into the wrong hands, and the blonde man seemed worried that even the four of them weren't enough. Did he know something she didn't or was it simply him being paranoid? Regardless, they would have to deal with any obstacles as they came. As it turned out, that is precisely why Tori hopped on top of the high platform, for Tori had something she believed gave her an edge for a mission like this. Tori was a Dragon Slayer. Receiving a lacrima implantation not long before arriving in Era, she learned quickly that it heightened her senses, particularly her sense of smell. It wasn't enhanced so much that she could operate blind, but it did give her the ability to notice when strange scents were about. Because of that, Tori wandered the town for quite some time before meeting up with her compatriots to really familiarize herself with the very essence of Era, just in case she could have something in common should she meet a pretty girl who was also visiting the magic council's city.

Thinking of what her mission partner said, while also trying to figure out what sort of information could be in this ruddy book, Tori looked back down towards the city as they were nearing the end of the bridge that met with the city streets. She noticed, as surely her companions did as well, there was a section of the street almost immediately beyond the checkpoint that was abnormally dark. After a second, it dawned on her that the street light lacrima were all out for a section of the road. She could see where they continued later down the street, but could not judge the distance through the darkness dead ahead. The wagon stopped at the intersection of the bridge and the street that surrounded the mountain as the driver looked in both directions. "Well, this is peculiar. I've never seen a whole section of the lacrima to be out all at once like this." he stated, scratching his head confused. This caused Tori to be immediately on high alert as she did a quick surveillance of the area. She couldn't see anything, obviously, but that wasn't all that concerned her. Why was there no guard at the checkpoint? She had heard that this checkpoint to the council headquarters was manned 24 hours a day, just like the others that surrounded the mountain. It was at that moment that a gust of wind blew towards the group and it hit her. There was someone close by. She couldn't tell who or where, but something near smelled....off. She spent almost an entire day getting to know the scent of Era: the people, the shops, but this was...different. All of these things told Tori one thing; a feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something was about to go bad. Very soon.
She would address the rest of her group in a hushed tone while being ready to jump at a moment's notice. She may just be being paranoid now, but if what Konstantin said was true, there was no reason to leave it to chance.

"Guys...we're not alone."


OOC: Our current location is now marked with the red dot towards the bottom of the image. If I understood correctly, this is where Yumi and Erebus are waiting for us. If I am mistaken, let me know and I will fix it immediately.

Yumi located herself to behind a wall that connected to the bridge that was to be ambushed, she was hiding on the left side her left, the city of Era behind her as the moon hung high in the night sky. Thanks to the information sent from their spy they were aware that the bridge she was eyeing would be the one they would use for their travel route. Too bad they did not know the location of where the Index would be delivered, it would be easier to just ambush at the point of delivery while they are too busy unpacking the index and moving it to be focused on anything else. The lolita had her back pressed against the wall, cloaked in darkness, as she peeked around the wall, keeping a tight grip on her hostage. Her crimson hues peeked around the side and down the length of the bridge, there was still no sign of the caravan, but it had only just reached 3:05 am, they would hopefully not long left their headquarters and begun making their way down the mountain.

Yumi had plenty of time to wait for them and her partner to show up. It seemed Yumi would not be waiting long as her partner for this mission showed themselves to her, unveiling themselves from the darkness standing at a distance from the gothic lolita, as if cautious of her. Her eyes fixed towards him, red like blood pierced through the darkness as little moonlight reflected off her tiny body that clung to the city wall like glue.

Yumi's crimson hues danced over her partner attempting to get a good look at the individual through the night. He stood over six feet in height easily dwarfing her four foot ten frame, with long silver hair. Yumi angled her head to look up at his mask-covered face. She raised an eyebrow as she inspected the white steel placed face mask, she couldn't see a thing through it and wondered if the individual was even capable of seeing. From his physique, human gathered her partner was a man. Her eyes would widen slightly the moment he introduced himself as someone she knew, strategist the Grimoire Heart codename for the Adventurer known as Erebus. She had not seen him since Oak in the Swineherd Pub when something had come over her demanding she leave for the Worth Woodsea. It seemed she was not the only one to undergo change.

Yumi would take a single step close to him keep a tight grip on the chain holding her hostage, using it to drag the girl behind her. She did not seem to care for the safety of the child as Yumi dragged her behind, the collar tightening up around the tiny child's neck but she could not scream due to the tape around her mouth. Yumi came to a halt releasing the chain and grabbed the child by the back of her dress bringing her forward as Yumi addressed her colleague.

"It would seem I'm not the only one who has undergone a change. You appear different to when I last saw you. Especially since our battle in the tournament. I'm no longer the frail old woman I once was." Spoke the Lolita alluding to her identity as Carnage by mentioning their fight in the tournament. "While I do not know what you have become, I can tell you are not of the same race as I, a Demon." spoke the demonic lolita as she continued sizing up this new Erebus. Even from where she stood she could tell he had grown substantially since their last meeting at the tournament, tonight she may even get the chance to see how much.

Yumi raised her left arm taking a look at her watch it was 3:10 am, ten minutes had passed, and by her estimation, the caravan would be arriving soon, "Our targets should be arriving soon, we best get into formation as we discussed in our coded letters. I'll draw their attention, once you hear my signal you know what to do. As for my signal, you'll know it when I use it." With those words, Yumi would head back in the direction of the bridge dragging her little hostage along, back into a hiding position behind the wall, on her left side of the bridge. Yumi would casually peak out from around the wall, looking through the darkness to the well-lit bridge waiting for the arrival of the enemy, while Strategist would have left to get into position.

By 3:30 am Yumi could see movement down the twenty-meter long bridge as a group of people began to approach. Her eyes narrowed through the darkness as from the light of the lacrima she was able to pick out the caravan and the shadows of six individuals, one being the driver the other four belonging to the caravans guard unit and some weird zebra-like creature, most likely a companion or some summon beast. With the current numbers Strategist and Carnage would be outnumbered 2.5 to 1, but just because they had the advantage with numbers did not mean they would be superior. It all came down to how one acted in battle. Yumi could freely admit with her new youth that Erebus was a capable fighter, his skills in close quarter combat greatly surpassing her own.

As time ticked by Yumi watched them carefully, from her spot hidden behind the wall, her hostage behind her held in place by the chain attached to her collar. Yumi waited, even after they stopped moving at the end of the bridge appearing to talk amongst themselves. Yumi would also be waiting to allow Erebus to get into position.

Yumi remained still allowing time to pass; she would wait until they started moving again. Yumi was patient, having been on this planet for seventy-five years it taught you a lot of patience, she could outwait anyone. Even if it took ten, twenty, thirty minutes, an hour or even longer she would just continue to wait there, her little hostage not making a single noise, they dared not to upset their violent captor.

When they did finally start walking again to make their way across the bridge, Yumi would wait until they were in the middle of the bridge where they would take up a two-meter gap roughly with the size of the caravan, giving them a distance of eight meters to the end of the bridge in front of them and eight behind to end of the bridge behind them, to make her move. Once they were in place Yumi would begin exerting her demonic presence, she didn't know how strong they were or if any would be affected but she would release it as a precaution. When released her demonic presence would release a pressure of fear upon her enemies.

As she stepped out from her hiding spot into the darkness her demonic presence would flood forth across the bridge, to invoke fear into all who felt it. Even if there were those who could shake it off the pressure would still make itself known to them just not effect them negatively like it would those weaker than her. Yumi would end up standing at the very end of the bridge eight meters from the location of her enemy, only after they had started moving again.

As Yumi released her demonic presence an aura would form around her unseen in the darkness of night that cloaked her tiny body. Mana rolled off in the form of black flames cloaking her form, her eyes glowed a dark eerie red lighting up in the shadows. Yumi stepped out from the dark of night into the light of the lacrima on the bridge as her mana in the shape of black flames flickered around her petite form. In the demonic lolita's right hand was her one-meter long Icy Sword. In her left hand a three-meter chain that led to a black choker collar around the throat of her eight-year-old blonde hair blue eyed hostage, hands bounds behind the girls back with rope and ankle cuffs bound her feet together.

Yumi roughly used the chain to force the girl to stand in front of her, Yumi was four foot eight the little blonde four foot. Yumi would have walked out with the tip of her sword to the throat of the little girl, the distance had been eight meters, even if they attempted to speed forward it would take a second or more to get to them and by then she would react to slice the girl's throat open spraying blood everywhere, as Yumi's sword was primed at her jugular vein, cutting that open would kill the girl in minutes from blood loss with no way to repair the damage, unless they had a powerful healer.

With her sword primed Yumi spoke in a loud, clear voice, due to her mana and demonic presence being unleashed her tone had a demonic undertone and was full of malice "Stop right where you are or else I will cut her pretty little head off!" shouted Yumi and to show she would do it pressed the blade lightly into the girl's neck drawing a tiny drop of blood. The little girl's eyes widened with fear as she began to cry harder.

"I'm sure you wouldn't want to snuff out the life flame of such a young child now, would we? It would be a blemish on your record as Rune Knights and Light mages of whichever guild you are a part of, to allow such an innocent creature to wind up dead. So behave." Barked Yumi as she made sure to keep an eye on the guards protecting the caravan, the four humans, zebra creature and driver.

"I want you all to remove all weapons or items and throw them over the side of the bridge!" demanded Yumi her eyes glaring forward as she continued releasing her demonic presence. Whether they complied or not would be a different matter entirely, but Yumi had positioned her left hand while they would hopefully be focused on her blade to rest on the little girl's right shoulder. Yumi had stood behind the girl at a length to full extend her left arm, as the sword in her right hand slid around to position it's blade against the left of her neck.

Mana without warning would flare up around Yumi flowing into the palm of her left hand, black tongues of fire swirling around her limb encasing the lolita's entire left hand. The mana condensed into her left finger tip forming a black sphere the size of a golfball, all of this happened within 0.25 of a second before she fired the spell she had activated. A single black beam of magical energy with a diameter of 50cm cut through the air tearing towards its target. As quickly as the first was fired Yumi moved her left arm ever so slightly at seven different angles to fire seven more beams in rapid succession firing them all off within a second. The beams would traverse the length of the bridge within a second, but her beams were off course and not aimed towards the four guards, the driver or the caravan.

Instead, the beams went off course and struck the bridge around the group in a half oval shape, eight precise points with a desired effect. The moment the beams of black magical energy struck the stone bridge they detonated making a wave of dust and debris to rise into the air six meters high, ten meters wide and six meters long in each direction towards the edge of the bridge, leaving four meters of each end of the bridge untouched by the dust. The sound of her beams going off was the signal for Erebus to attack.

Of course if they didn't obey the dropping of their weapons and began a plan to attack, withdraw, or hold position Yumi would simply raise her left hand with a visible extension and fire her Renzoku Desubimi (Barrage Death Beams) in order to create a cloud of dust and debris to block off their vision. As she planned in the same manner as if they had dropped their weaponry and obeyed.

Should any rush out of the smoke and debris to attack her, the demonic lolita would make herself ready. She was even prepared to use her hostage as a shield to soak up damage. Her familiar during the commotion would have floated through the darkness sitting at the edge only a meter from its master ready to leap out and assist.

Spoiler:

The journey to the bridge had been surprisingly lengthy, it allowed him the time to remember the changes in circumstances between this mission and the many others. Primary change was with whom he was tasked to complete such a job. In the past he had only done jobs either by himself or by other members in his team who had known of his abilities and had been comfortable around Kon using them. With three unfamiliar individuals, Kon’s thoughts returned to whether or not he should inform them with Kaze by his side, Tori out in front and Kazumi hanging about he called them out as they continued to move down the mountain. “Just letting you guys that I utilise the dark arts for magic, I thought it might be pertinent to tell all of you so you didn’t get alarmed by a collection of undead beasts arising from around you…” His trail of conversation was cut off by the driver in front of him who was the first to notice the absence of light. It was too suspicious to be an accident as pieces of Lacrima were scattered against the ground reflected by the lacrima pole still lit close to them and the lights that shone from the sky. The Fairy Tail mage in sitting next to the driver was the next comment adding to his concerns with her stating the presence of others.

The driver equally concerned took out a match and lit the hanging torch which stood to his side in an effort to help him with seeing in the darkness. Kon picked up his own speed to talk to the two directly with his companion in front of him to the right, to try and get as much light as he could. As the eached the center of the bridge, they were confronted by an ominous being with the outward appear of a girl however it seemed like merely a facade with the truth behind her resonating from the aura that glowed from her. In one hand she wielded a weapon glimmering as if made from ice and holding a hostage in an attempt to use her against them.

Unfortunate to see a child being used for such a role whilst Kon found that method of persuasion unsavoury he understood others hesitance to counter it. He listened as the girl demanded they stop otherwise the girl's death would be on their hands thus would stain their reputation. Personally he was unfazed by the proclamation and taking a rough estimate of the distance between him and her.

he clasped his staff tighter with his right hand and pushed it onto the bridge. Just as the girl finished comment of: “So behave.” Kon shouted out in response with authority, unwavered from the aura that the girl passed off over any of the other members in the group. “I don’t know who you are, or what you want which i assume would be what’s inside this caravan let me make this perfectly clear, I’m not handing over anything to someone who takes people as tools to be honest I really don’t care what you do to the child, the risk of giving people like you vital information which could have dramatically worse outcomes than the loss of this girl.”

Demonstrating his willingness for sacrifice he looked dead into the eyes of the girl whom was holding the child captive before sending mana coursing though his staff and would brought forth two summons, his rat to the right of her and wolf directly in between the girl and themselves, both being just 1 meter away from her. Which would most likely be sufficient to have the girl who stood in front of them to kill the child herself. A tang of bitterness ran down onto his tongue, yes it was sad that she had died but it was needed to make the rest of the group recognise the lack of mercy that these people had. If the girl didn’t kill her himself would order his summons to go onto the child. Once the “Life flame” of the child was extinguished the beasts would be able to run amok by circling around the evil girl in the attempts to nip at the girl's legs which should otherwise be sufficient to distract her.  If the girl did attempt to cast off a spell, Kon would will the beasts to try and assault the extended arm or attempt to take the damage for them.

Regardless of the skill of the girl, it would still prove difficult for her to be able to withstand the harassment of the two summons whether or not they were actually dealing any damage to her. Sure she could tried and cut them away with her sword wielding arm however it was still a fight of two versus one and it would take Kon little to no effort to recast them using his staff. With two out of the three spells being used in his arsenal being used he would conserve the last one for now in the event that the group were attacked by any other attackers.

He was still protected himself by his Blitzle companion, Sparky who seemed disturbed by the events that were transpiring around him. Because of the different in power of the summon still in his arsenal, the white wolf, he would have to stay close to whoever was attacked first and would quickly cast his last summon to act as a shield. Of course whether or not and where they would be attacked from was another question entirely hopefully the others would have a better clue on to that and warn the rest of them. Still wielding the staff with mana coursing through it he looked around ready bring forth another summon the instant there was provocation.

Mana: 965/1090
Stats: Str: 1 + 10 Samhain's Staff, Speed: 3 End: 23 + 10 Seated’s Might aura.
Effects:  + 10 Endurance from Seated’s Might Sura.
     Unaffected by Demonic Aura.

  Weapon:

Samhain's Staff:

  Head:

Ranger Hat:

  Body:

Ranger Travelwear:

  Companion:

Blitzle:

Spells used:

For some reason, the tension in the air preoccupied Ace. As they made their way down the mountainside, the swordsman noticed that he was not the only one with a worried expression. Ace couldn’t quite put his finger to it, but something just didn’t seem quite right. As he looked at the starry night, Ace shrugged the feelings immediately. “May it come. Whatever shall come…” The silent words were spoken almost imperceptibly. They weren’t quite directed at anybody after all, but to himself. Walking alongside the right flank of the cart, Ace could see the night sky of Era easily. The journey down was a constant counterclockwise path, allowing him to always be on the side closest to the edge. Even if he could think of a number of people that would immediately tremble in fear with the sight of height, Ace quite enjoyed it. He liked observing the stars from roofs back in Peregrande; scaling some of the highest buildings in the Kingdom just to see how everything looked from above had turned him into someone fearless of heights. The martial city was completely emptied at that hour. The blue haired man even wondered if there was even going to be an event of such magnitude as the Auction to begin with. For some reason, the city seemed too asleep. Too quiet…

Time flew by and before he knew, Ace and his companions where almost at the base when the man known as Kon decided to break the seemingly artificial silence. “Just letting you guys that I utilise the dark arts for magic, I thought it might be pertinent to tell all of you so you didn’t get alarmed by a collection of undead beasts arising from around you…” A slight frown of confusion appeared on Ace’s face. Dark Arts? He wasn’t quite sure what was Kon referring to. However, he had heard before of the term necromancer. Back in the Kingdom of Peregrande, the necromancer was known as Him, whom dined with the spirits of hell. Even if the expression itself was enough to give off a dark and evil connotation, the culture of his birthplace was immensely different. Ace had just been in Fiore for a couple of weeks, but he could already tell as much. For him, necromancer were mages that held a special ability. One that was of great honor. To be reborn as a creature anew, with a soul filled with a fiery lust for battle was one of the greatest honors that a warrior that served the God of Battle and Courage, Axias could receive. Peregrande was a huge kingdom. A multitude of religions and cults were officially recognized throughout its lands. However, its nature as a warring nation had turned it into a land where the worship of the God of war, victory and honor was predominant. Before Ace could even respond, the squad was stopped with a signal from the driver. Ace turned forward, trying to see what was going on. They could see the bridge from where they were. The trail of lacrimas lit the path that the escort group would need to traverse. It was of utmost importance that the mission ended without any inconvenience, and yet, the path of light could only be traced to the edges of the 20 meter long bridge. Beyond that, a corridor of dark had already consumed the way that led into the city. Tori commented how they were not alone. Ace simply nodded.

Cautiously making their way to through the bridge, Ace placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to unsheathe shall he need. However, nothing would happen until they reached the middle of the bridge. The fresh night air suddenly became hotter. It was almost as if the atmosphere tried to consume itself, boiling in rage and despair. The area filled with a presence Ace had not felt in a very long time. An ominous feeling creeped from the edge of the bridge. A sinister aura, enveloped in such an evil that only one kind of creature could muster in existence. Ace prepared himself. Two small figures slowly made their way from the shadows. Two girls. Both young, and yet, Ace could tell they were dimensions apart. One of the girls was tied with ropes and chains. She was gagged to prevent a single sound escape her. As the black haired loli behind her held a chain on her hand and an ice sword which’s tip scratched the tender flesh of its victim, Ace discovered the source of such an evil aura. The tension in the air grew as she made her demand. The evil tone in her voice testified on itself on the veracity of her words. Ace’s heart filled with rage. He would not allow such an atrocity to be committed for as long as he was a Rune Knight. However, it seemed like he wasn’t the only one. Before he could even respond to the provocations directed at them, his fellow Rune Knight Kon took control of the situation. A tone of unwavering conviction and authority escaped the blonde. Ace was glad that Kon had raised his voice, managing to bring him back from snapping. The words he heard next were a bit fuzzy for him. Completely sharing the point of view that Kon expressed, Ace nodded at the evil girl with eyes of conviction. Kon was right, the Rune Knights would never allow her to take what they wanted, and even less to those that used people as tools. Furthermore, they didn’t really care about the child’s lif-….. What…? Ace’s heart immediately skipped a beat. He couldn’t be serious, could he? Above anything else, Ace’s priority was the girl’s safety. The unwavering conviction in Kon’s face seemed to be completely real. However, there was no way that a Rune Knight would seriously mean that. After all, Ace had previously met LeeAnn in Crocus, and yet for as little as he knew her, Ace could bet that she was not the kind to allow innocent people die. The next thought that came to the blue haired’s mind was that it was perhaps all bluff while he ideated a plan. Yes. That had to be… Ace immediately assumed he had understood Kon’s real intent. Little did he knew….

As the girl’s life disappeared from existence, a feeling of powerlessness inundated his body completely. Unsheathing his sword, the swordsman immediately dashed at Yumi without muttering a single word. In case Kon’s summons were the ones to kill the girl, his hatred would be immediately directed at him. However, above everything else Ace was a knight. And a knight knew which of his battles he had to fight. For now, he’d have to deal with Yumi. He’d make sure Kon paid for his actions in due time. If Yumi was the one that killed the girl, Ace’s hatred would completely concentrate on the black-haired girl before him. Before he even moved a meter, Ace would channel energy through his left hand and touch his saber’s blade with it, placing a golden seal on its body. This movement would be made whilst running, not wasting a single ounce of concentration or time on doing it. Even if his target was Yumi, Ace was still alert at all moments. He didn’t know if there were more enemies in the surrounding area, or if the evil girl could fire a spell at him while trying to fend off the summoned creatures that now attacked her. Still, Ace would dash through the 10 meters that separated him from Yumi through his right side of the bridge. Only a little bit more than a meter would separate him from the edge of the bridge and a certain death from falling to the cliff. If Ace was able to close the distance between them without encountering with any other situation, he would make use of the momentum to make a swift downward diagonal slash with his saber, aiming to begin at yumi’s right shoulder plate, cutting all the way down to her waist. Yumi would be too overwhelmed by Kon’s summoned creatures if she didn’t do anything about them before to block. If she managed to dispel them before Ace arrived, she would still have not much time left to react to his attack. If she did, the only way to block his sword strike was by blocking it or parrying it with a Tierce, blocking stance in which the defender assumes a high guard and directs the attack away from them to the outside. Since the sword Yumi used was one-handed, Ace’s life experience in swordsmanship told him it was the only effective way to avoid damage. However, the mage’s intentions were hidden beneath the slash. Once their blades clashed, Ace would immediately activate his spell. Chanting the word “Valor!”, a golden light would envelop the seal that he previously placed on his sword as two 1.2 meter long blades would come from out of it. Floating in the air, one of them would instantly charge at the skulled creature that hovered around the girl, relentlessly barraging the lolita’s companion with a frenzy of attacks, while the other would position behind her and slash with a downward diagonal motion her right bicep femoris. If by some reason she was able to avoid them, the floating blades would continue to assault her companion and her by revolving around them, striking without leaving a gap. All while Ace himself continued relentlessly attacking her with his swordsmanship. However, if anything happened in the meantime before he managed to make his first attack, Ace would be ready to react accordingly. Pressing both hands together, he would immediately summon a sword barrier to protect him if he needed. Ace was ready. His blood boiled with anger, and still, a hidden part deep within his heart knew that he was going to enjoy the fighting.

As the action took place, Ace’s thoughts were filled with a single chant he had endlessly heard before. It was one that the armies of Peregrande would intonate as they marched into battle. “He sits at his throne. A throne of skulls that shall adorn and testify for his might. Oh Axias. God of victory. Let your power flow through me! Let my enemies feel your wrath. Let my sword not falter. Let my heart not waver. For I honor the code of the warrior, and your strength shall scorch my enemies. Oh god of chaos. Grant me the glory.”

MP:800/925:

Tori watched from atop her perch as the events unfolded, keeping her senses sharp to her surroundings. Emerging from the darkness, two small girls emerged from the darkness; one bound by chains and held at swordpoint by the other. The one in control demanded that all belongings of the group be thrown over the bridge or the smaller of the two children would die right then and there. There was something about this girl that threw Tori off balance in her mind. She had never felt this way before, but now, a sense of overwhelming dread had overcome her body. She wasn't paralyzed or anything, but somewhat visibly shaken, although she did her best to hide it. But before Tori could react one way or the other to the loli's demands, Konstantin would hold his staff in front of him and shout at the black haired girl. According to him, the child's life was meaningless compared to the contents of the book left in their charge. Tori found his demeanor quite odd regarding the hostage, considering that up until now she was suspecting him of being a Rune Knight himself. But would a servant of the Magic Council be so cold and ruthless? While she hadn't been in Fiore longer than a year, she had heard of some who would achieve their goal no matter the cost, especially one of significant importance. While she understood the sacrifice that had to be made, she silently shed a tear as the the blonde man appeared to summon to undead creatures that would attack both girls simultaneously. Whether the child died by her captor's sword, or by the creatures summoned by her would-be protector mattered not, as the child let out one final scream before passing on into the next world. Tori made a silent vow to herself that when this was all over, that child would be given a funeral she deserved. No one should go through what she did. Almost immediately afterwards, the swordsman of the group would charge into battle in what seemed like a blind rage. He was plainly upset by the girl, understandably so, and thus attacked the evil child with a ferocious bloodlust. The ice mage could only hope that he would deliver the deceased child justice.

Out of her peripheral vision, Tori saw that her guildmate had jumped into action herself, seeing someone hanging off the side of the bridge, deploying a spell that looked like it enveloped her within a spiky ball of what looked to be crystal. Was she trying to force whoever it was to let go of the bridge and fall into the pit below? Regardless, there wasn't much Tori could do at this precise moment. On the one hand, Kazumi had placed herself in such tight quarters that the Dragon Slayer could hardly go into help her without risking one of them falling into the pit along with whoever fancied himself a magical spider-man. On the other, with Ace and Kon's creatures both attacking this murderess, the scenario didn't leave room for a fourth attacker.

For now Tori had no choice but to play the waiting game, much as she lamented the inaction. She stood on her platform, knees slightly bent in case she had to jump to safety. Her arms were out in front bent just as slightly at the elbows and ready to cast any of her spells at a moment's notice. All the while, she would casually sniff the air, keeping track of who's scent was in the immediate area. It wasn't too far of a stretch to assume that the two that interrupted their delivery were from a dark guild. It was also safe to guess that, since they had met the group en route and in the dead of night, that they had inside information somehow. While that was all guesswork, Tori made complete sense of it and of the possibility that if they knew the "Index" was to be escorted by four mages...why send two interlopers?

Rays of black light radiated from Yumi's left index finger even as the rune knight declared his intention. To him the index was far more important than the life of a single girl. The flames of black mana surged at Yumi's fingertips even as the group of mages reacted. The one who spoke had slammed his staff down upon the bridge, but even then it was too late, her spell completed. Magic could be felt surging from her tiny body gathering into her hand that would be prepared to fire the deadly beams of death to cause nothing but destruction and mayhem. Yumi showed no reaction even as the two beasts appeared a meter from her and her hostage's position. Her inner demon was telling her not to be afraid for they would not harm her, the summons radiated with a power of darkness, an immunity she held close to her heart.

Yumi's eyes watched as the summons charged forward, no doubt the rune knight was attempting to force her hand, but he would not. Yumi continued her spell not even reacting as blood splashed across the left cheek of her milky flesh. Her hostage was bisected and torn to pieces her intestines spilling out onto the bridge as a horrified expression appeared in the girl's eyes. Tears of blood spilt down the little girl's cheek as one of her lungs sailed through the air landing at the feet of the knights. As her corpse fell to pieces on the bridge her innards could be seen, ribs, spine all of it splashed across the bridge. A look would transverse the bridge in those dead hues proclaiming a single word 'why'. The little girl was asking even in death with her eyes just why her life had to be extinguished, why did this have to happen to her, why was it you were given the authority to say her life was not important. It was a look that would appear in the nightmares of those who saw it for many moons to come, constantly reflecting upon the decision that had been made to extinguish her life force in a most brutal manner. The pain she had felt clear in those questioning dead eyes. The kill would have been most agonising as her body was torn apart by monsters.

As the life faded the spell would fire, eight beams of magic 50cm in diameter would fly over the summons, missing them by a 50cm before descending upon the bridge and the mass of people who protected the caravan. The beams struck with pure chaotic fury, explosions rang through the air on impact of each of the eight beams. Dust and debris would be tossed up into the air. The dust would encompass the majority of the bridge from the middle expanding outwards six meters high, ten meters wide and six meters long in each direction towards each end of the bridge. The dust and beams themselves would not cause any damage but the debris that would fly up from the destruction of the bridge would. Little pellets of crushed stone would fly up and pelt from every angle. The explosion itself caused wouldn't hurt either but would possibly knock them about to disorientate them. Yumi would make sure to avert her gaze from the dust to the summons, so to avoid being blinded by the light released from Erebus's sword when the time came.

Yumi gripped her blade with her right hand as she did a backpedal two steps, watching the two summons turn their attention to her. The gothic lolita allowed a bloodthirsty smile to make its way onto her lips. Yumi's tiny feet touched the bridge before she kicked off with her left foot blitzing towards the two summons, a giant rat and undead wolf moving at rapid speeds of six meters per seconds, there was no more than a 60cm gap between them allowing her to reach them in 1/10 of a second. But as she approached she did not stop as she charged them head on. The lolita with her blade struck hard and fast as she lunged at the rat. She would thrust her blade aiming for its head, at the same time planting her feet into its cranium to deliver three blows simultaneously. She did this to allow all her weight to be pushed behind her blade to dig itself deep into the skull of the rat.

With her feet against its skull, Yumi would then use the rat like a springboard to kick off and up into the air tearing her blade out of its head.  Yumi launched two meters into the air and twisted her body with a surprising flexibility, in order to position herself above the wolf. Yumi used her small weight to bring herself down upon the back of the wolf driving her blade through the middle of its body with enough force and strength to tear right through. At the same time she would drive both feet into its back to try and break it. Yumi with her feet in the wolves back would kick off ripping her blade from the beast and land a meter in front of the wolf, where her sword would cut through the air from the right swinging to the left, aimed at the neck to deliver the summon a crippling blow. With each summon she would have dealt a multitude of blows, rat the impaling, two kicks of her feet both implanting into its head even the ripping out of her blade from its head. For the wolf the impalement of its back, her feet striking together for a double blow to break its back, the sword being removed from its back and slicing open of its neck.

Yumi lowered her blade to her right side, tip pointed at the ground, turning her focus to the dust cloud, by now Erebus would have struck his own blows, as she had swept through the summons. Looking up she spotted someone bursting forth from the cloud of dust to charge towards her. It was the other male who had been present amongst the group, other than the driver of the horse-drawn wagon. The man was charging with speeds of 6m/s and the distance of 10 meters gave Yumi plenty of time to react. It would take time 1.66 seconds to reach her and by then she would have long since reacted. With a flex of her muscles with her left arm magic poured through every fibre of her body boosting her strength, further enhancing it. A black aura surrounded the lolita empowering her physical strength.

Yumi would bring her blade up through the air, cutting through the night in a single swift motion. The blade met the diagonal slash of the pirate like sword her foe used with a loud clang. Even if she had not taken a proper stance and was standing there, there was a key difference between them, and that was Yumi's physical strength would easily overpower his pushing his sword away like it was a toothpick. Yumi's ears picked up the man speaking a word, next a golden light would encompass the night creating twin blades in the air. Yumi eyes them without a care and moved positioned herself directly in front of her familiar by taking a single step to the right, she would be in the middle of the bridge's width, roughly 5m from the edge of the bridge on each of her side. Yumi brought up her left arm, her palm would make contact with the spell sword aimed at Venom while the other struck her chest. Yumi showed no outwards reaction even as the spells struck her.

Yumi allowed her gaze to fall upon the man who had dared to strike at her. "I'm immune" was all the girl would say as she tossed the magic sword aside, her familiar would retreat deeper into the shadows disappearing from view, leaving only Yumi and the knight who dared to strike. Her words were used in a way to cause misdirection, while she was immune to darkness and non-element spells, by simply saying she was immune would apply no magic regardless of the element could harm her. With the two female mages busy in the cloud of dust there would be no way to prove that unless they attacked, that was of course if they possessed a magic that possessed no element or the darkness element.

Yumi sprung forth, with her much smaller frame she would aim to get in close to the rune knight. He was a little over six foot two and she was only four-ten. She would bring her right foot forward in front of the left when in range for her attack, prepared to push off her right foot if needed with the aid of a spell. Any attack he would attempt she would be ready to block, dodge or allow her armour to absorb the hit. She wore low-rank armour so it did not matter to her if it was to break. Yumi once in range would swing with her right arm bringing it across from the right in a horizontal slash aiming for the rune knights stomach. But the moment the blade was all the way across to the left Yumi would release her hold on it bringing her left arm up, her fingers would coil around it gripping her blade in a reverse grip with her left hand to then slash upwards on a rising diagonal from left up to the right, her right arm would have already descended down out of the way to avoid being sliced open. Even if her first strike missed she would step in when attempting the second for an even closer strike.

Should the rune knight attempt to avoid Yumi all together she would surprise him by kicking off the ground with her right foot in whatever direction he had moved in. A wave of magic would then propel her body forward in but an instant in that same direction to help close the distance. Her sword if in her left would be shifted into a regular grip, if in her right she would simply hold it normally, regardless of which hand she would perform a sword thrust aiming to impale her foe on her sword through his gullet. If worked once struck she would plant her right foot in his stomach and kick him with full force, using the motion to also launch herself back a good five meters landing in the darkened streets of era hiding herself from view to prepare her next attack. Depending on the level of endurance and strength, if his endurance was weaker than her strength Yumi could knock him out with those two blows. if he was out then Yumi could turn her attention to whoever remained, if not she would need to keep focusing on the rune knight, who would not be able to find her due to hiding in the darkness of the night.

Spoiler:

(OOC: Spell was not acknowledged so calling it, even though does not cause damage still kicks up dust and debris)

1. The main issue is that, no one paid attention to Yumi's lasers on the good guy side. So with that being said the timeline here would be Yumi's lasers peppering the bridge. Y'all kind of walked into this attack.

2. Incidentally no one also made reference to Erebus's posts also. Because his stuff operated on Yumi's spells and no one drew attention to it at all.

3. This is pretty clean cut as far how things play out. Ignoring Yumi's spell put you all in a terrible spot and Erebus followed up on Yumi's actions. Hits from Yumi/Erebus confirmed. Purely on the fact no proper reactions were made.  

Side Bar: For those in question about how and why. The defense team all ran onto the bridge and rushed into attacks. You guys ignored the posts mentioned, but even rushed into certain doom. With lack of proper description and placement you guys left yourself open to being placed to make sense of things. A lot of your actions could be even almost considered null due to ignoring. Because dust and debris were kicked up in result of Yumi's spell.

@Kazumi, As far as going from a sit down position into full sprint on a wagon. It is kind of hard to do that without some form of added spell that lets you dash at a certain pace then going into your own speed.

Distance, positioning etc etc.

With that being said let me write out the series of events in a TLDR form.

1. Yumi uses lasers on bridge.
   
2. Defense squad rushes in guns blazing
   
3. Erebus makes his attacks following up on lasers
   
4. Defense squad ignores initial lasers/no true reactions made against Erbeus's post
   
5. Yumi/Erebus hits confirm
   

Now with that being said,


Tori/Kazumi/Kon Creature/Npc Driver are out, with lack of END you have no pain thresh hold. Even with one cut you guys are in a world of hurt, considering he has almost double needed to inflict serious damage.

Thread is not over, those still in the fight can throw down until one side is left standing. Even if you capture the wagon still have to eliminate the opposition.  Now its Ace/Kon vs Yumi/Erebus. Good luck to those remaining in the post. You can now resume from this time stamp, 24 hrs continue.

OOC:

Yumi slid across the bridge as her two blows connected against the stomach of the rune knight who had so recklessly charged head on in towards her. As her blade buried into his armour she swung with all her might launching him back onto the bridge where he would land out cold to the world. Seeing as her first blows had worked there had been no need to retreat to the shadows with the follow up of her second plan. With a flick of a wrist Yumi swung the blade through the air as her mana died down, her enhanced strength vanishing, no need to waste any more magical energy. She had already used up around twenty-three percent of her magical reserves and would need to converse it for later.

The dust would begin to settle to reveal the caravan and those who protected it, the luminescence of the bridge and lacrima lit the bridge up unveiling her comrade in arms had taken out three of the occupants the driver and the two women, throwing one of the bridge, finally the companion and summon that protected the final male. Now the odds were in the favour of Grimorie Heart.

Yumi ran a hand down the blunt side of her sword as she shifted her stance bringing the blade down to her left side, sheathing it. Yumi settled into a drawing stance, while it was not a curved sword the effect would still be the same. Yumi would lock onto the remaining mage. Yumi kicked off the ground launching herself at max dashing speed of six meters per second. Yumi would cross the distance between herself and the gap, an eight-meter gap in 1.33 seconds. She would press her right foot forward, wrapping her fingers around her blade with her right hand and draw it lightning fast from its sheath. She would aim the blade up high to slice apart the front of the mage. There should be enough force behind her blade to render him unconscious with but a single strike.

Even if she missed or the mage retaliated, Yumi had high hopes that her able-bodied comrade, who had undergone some beastly transformation, would provide her with the necessary support.

Spoiler:

Yumi flicked her right wrist, flicking the blood off her icy blade. Both her and Erebus had delivered deadly blows to the final foe finishing him off together. Yumi sheathed her sword returning it to its scabbard, the hilt hitting the end with a loud click. Yumi straightened out her clothing, before bringing her left had to her lips and whistled. Her familiar floated out of the shadows and over to her. Venom came to a halt, while at the same time Erebus had approached the Caravan pulling the door in order to retrieve the Magister's Index. Their goal was long since over.

Yumi pulled her beret off before removing the needle from her bun allowing her hair to fall down, cascading down her back. Yumi shook her hair out, it felt much better with it being free of its confines. Yumi twirled the little needle in her hand as Erebus approached with the index and asked where she would be heading after this, as he would be delivering the index to Icarus.

"Perhaps I will look at heading to assist in the Ark. If you have the chance you should head to theseus. They might need your help." Yumi would turn around and begin heading back to town, "Take care of yourself, until we meet again." Yumi would disappear into the shadows her familiar following behind. As she disappeared her voice would echo over the bridge with her last words to her comrade "Do not forget what happened here today, spread it like wildfire."

[EXIT]