"Let's see...do they have any good jobs?" Raiza Blackwolf pushed a stray strand of her jet black hair out of her golden eyes while she looked at the FlashFire guild job board. It was times like this that she wished she took the S class promotion exam. S class mages always seemed to get the better jobs that came with even better pay. Maybe this year she'd actually participate in it. Maybe.
Raiza's hair was kept short in the back, but the front of her hair reached near her collarbone. "Here we go." Raiza currently was dressed in a black tank top, with baggy black pants that looked way too long for her four foot eleven, petite figure. At first glance, people tended to mistake Raiza for a teenage ballerina. Most days Raiza took it as a compliment considering the fact that she was actually twenty-four. Most days. After taking the job posting off the board, she descended the stairs towards the guild's lobby and front door. However, once she reached the door, she paused. "Oi, Reign!" Nearly on command, a young man with skin the color of caramel stood up from the bar.
"Relax, it was my only drink of the week." The green haired individual, Reign, answered the stares he received when he walked away from the bar. "Anyways, what did you need Raiza?" Reign's hair was significantly longer than Raiza's; reaching his shoulders but his side locks and bangs were a bit shorter than hers. He had been wearing a white, hooded vest with a deep v-cut black undershirt underneath. While his left arm was covered by the sleeve of the undershirt, his right arm was fully exposed. He wore low hanging white pants with a seemingly useless belt and had sunglasses perched upon his head.
"Come with me on this job and I'll split the money with you sixty-forty." Raiza waved around the paper that contained the information on the job, as if he was able to read it with it constantly in motion. And he didn't even bother to suggest they split the money fifty-fifty. Mostly because he knew how Raiza operated and if she asked anyone to come along with her, it was going to be an interesting mission. And considering that Reign was currently the second strongest member of their guild...well needless to say, Reign was curious to say the least. He nodded his agreement, and walked towards the door with Raiza.
"Can I come? I'm bored." Another young male with messy blonde hair stopped the duo at the door. Previously he had been sitting at a table chatting with a few other guild members, but he had left them once his interest in the job had peaked. He was roughly the same height as Reign, meaning he had a good ten inches on Raiza, but was a bit huskier than the lean Reign.
"I'm not giving you any of my money Michael. But if you can convince Reign to give you some of his-"
"Nope." Reign's retort to Raiza's suggestion came quick. But he had spent up the money from his last job and needed a few extra bucks to tie him over until he got a chance to take on another S class job.
"Not like I need it. I said I'm bored, not broke." Michael was S rank like Reign, albeit having been one for a significantly shorter time. But he was much better at money management than Reign was.
"Do what you want then." That was Raiza's way of inviting him along, Michael had learned. With that settled, the trio left out the door and towards their destination.
"It's a retrieval mission?" Michael seemed a bit disappointed when he actually learned what he signed up for. It was too late to back out however. They had already arrived at the large mansion that was their mission; taking to hide in a nearby bush to do a little recon. Two guards dressed in a large, baggy brown cloak complete with hood and armed with long swords at their waists stood outside of the gate. Raiza theorized that the mansion was more than likely full of them.
"Yes. You know the majority of my jobs are retrieval ones." Raiza rolled her eyes before continuing on. "We're looking for a book that can supposedly teach the reader some form of lost magic. So naturally, it's heavily guarded. It was stolen from the original owner by the owner of this mansion so he could sell it on the black market. Like I said, it's heavily guarded but if we transform into one of the guards, then we should have free roam around the area." Raiza was a complete master of the transformation ability. It's been said that she had never once been caught in her disguises. In one instant, she appeared to look like a replica of one of the guards she saw.
"Alright, but you take the lead. My voice slips in and out of character the longer I hold it. Sin magic: Envy!" A large, crimson "E" written in old English appeared on his forehead briefly, before he began shifting his appearance to that of a guard.
"Good, Reign. Okay Michael, do you know -" Raiza instantly realized that Michael had rushed the guards.
"Absorption Magic: Steel!" Michael touched the steel gate and his eyes shifted from his usual silver color to the color of steel, and with one punch he knocked out the guards. "I don't know transformation, so for me it's just faster to knock them out and steal their clothes." Michael began to don the guards' clothing while Reign and Raiza simply stared with blank faces. He then pulled their bodies into the same bushes that they initially hid in.
"Idiot." Raiza muttered, as the three entered the mansion. Raiza's plan had been working like a charm; no one bothered to say more than a hello to them. And even that only consisted of a few people. Everyone else simply nodded and grunted at their general area.
"How will we know when we find what we're looking for?" Michael tossed a book to the side into the pile he had created. They had discovered library within the mansion and decided it wouldn't hurt to look for the book in the one room that promised to contain books.
"It has magic runes on it. Bring me anything you find like that." Raiza's pile was neat compared to her companions, which meant she'd have a much easier time putting things back. "Reign, where did you go?" Reign found himself studying a white key within a trophy case located in the center of the room. Carefully prying it open, he removed the key and presented it to his friends.
"Isn't this one of the Celestial keys that Cheshire is looking for?
"She still won't marry you, even if you bring her that." Michael snickered, before returning to digging through the books. Raiza didn't bother to look up, but she was wearing a large grin.
"Shut up! That was one time and I was drunk!" Reign was really not paying attention to the task at hand at this point.
"Shocker." Raiza chimed in, once she finished putting her pile of books back on the shelf. "I don't think it's here. Clean up so we can keep looking. "The trio ended up searching the entire mansion from top to bottom, twice, before they found a set of secret stairs that lead to an apparent floor above the top floor.
"What's up with the giant doors that look like a portal to the truth?" Michael tapped on the large, iron doors that stood before them. The door was complete with magic runes and ornate drawings upon it; almost like a mural. After receiving a shrug from his teammates as an answer, he resorted to pushing open the door. "It's dark in here." The trio had walked inside and shut the door. Slowly, a column of lights flickered on and illuminated the room; a trophy case containing a single book sat in the background of a garage-looking area with an iron-tiled floor. That and a dozen guards along with two other individuals all were wearing a grin that just practically spelled out suspicion. The guards weren't really the issue, but the two individuals were obviously mages.
"So, what guild are you from?" The male who spoke had brown hair that spiked towards his right side. He had a few bangs in his eyes, but they ended just below them. He raised an eyebrow questioningly at the three.
"Excuse me, sir?" Raiza's voice was perfectly disguised to match the male body that she inhabited. It was deep and gruff in comparison to her usual feminine voice that was permanently laced with sarcasm and disinterest.
"You smell like a guild." The young woman stood up beside her partner, sniffed the air, and teased her long, black hair. She exchanged a look with her partner and ran her tongue across her sharpened teeth. Her sapphire eyes met his golden eyes, and the two nodded in agreement. "Moon Dragon Slayer Art: Moon Dragon's Claw!"
"Sun God Slayer Art: Sun God's Fist!" The woman let out a crescent wave of lunar energy at the trio, while the male shot out a long wave of solar energy.
"Virtue Magic: Diligence!" Abandoning his transformation, Reign turned back to his normal form and donned a blue "D" on his head and practically teleported away from the massive attack. Raiza transformed into a swarm of ravens and flew away from the blast in four different directions, before regrouping and transforming back to her normal form beside Reign. The crescent shaped blast came directly towards Michael, who simply chopped the wave in half with his arm. He shot a glare directly at their attackers with his iron colored eyes before walking to join his teammates.
"I know these two. The guy is Chaos Shadowglaive." Raiza extended a finger at the male. He had been wearing a black vest that showed off his tan, scarred chest, along with matching shorts and sandals. "And the girl is Luna Hoshi." Luna was wearing a light blue sweater that showed off her shoulders and black shorts with matching shoes. She appeared significantly less tan than her friend, as well as a few years younger. "They're mercenaries."
"And are clearly working for whoever stole the book." Reign added. While talking, the guards formed a circle around the FlashFire trio, with Chaos and Luna slowly entering. Michael took out the sword that he had stolen from the guard to go along with his disguise and unsheathed it. Silver. Just as he thought the blade was made of. Between the iron that lined the floor and the silver within the blade, he had more than enough material to fight with.
"So...how about this." Michael touched the blade of his sword, and absorbed the properties of silver. "Reign and I can take on Chaos and Luna. Raiza, you take on...everyone else. Oh and support us. "
"Oh, so you mean do all of the work. Of course." Raiza transformed into her favorite fighting form; a twenty foot black wolf like her namesake.
"Sin Magic: Pride!" Reign's forehead received a large, red "P" in old English font and he punched his own hand hard enough to create a shockwave from the force of the blow. "Let's do it."
"Sun God's -" Chaos pulled his hand back for another attack, when he was met with a hard punch to the face by Reign that sent him flying. Seizing the opportunity, Michael used his enhanced speed to run in front of the still airborne; dragging his fingers upon the iron floor before sliding to a stop. Chaos smacked into the Michael and came to a dead halt, before being grabbed by the leg and flung into one of the guards. To make matters worse, Raiza stepped on him as she ran by to bite another guard.
"Chaos! Moon Dragon's Roar!" Luna breathed in deeply, before shooting out a wave of lunar energy out of her mouth.
"Hold on!" Michael zipped in front of the blast and grabbed Reign's hand and tossed him into the air, before touching the ground to absorb some more iron. The blast hit him head-on, but he was nearly unharmed.
"Gotcha!" Raiza had been a rather large bird and flew directly over top of Luna.
"Drop me." Raiza happily obliged, but not before making a remark about how he was gaining some weight. "Virtue Magic: Chastity!" Reign's forehead donned a blue "C" as he shot out blue chains of light that wrapped around Luna's arms, legs, and waist; binding her in place. On cue, Raiza dropped to the ground in her regular human form, minus a largely hulked out right arm that appeared like it belonged to a gorilla's. She punched Luna hard and sent her bouncing along the ground.
"They're too strong..." Luna and Chaos were both badly hurt, but still standing.
"We're not giving up yet, Luna." Chaos glared at the trio. "Sun God's Howl!" Chaos shot a large wave of black solar energy out of his mouth.
"I got this. Sin Magic: Gluttony!" A large, red "G" appeared on Reign's head, and he faced the oncoming blast with his mouth wide open. The blast went directly into his mouth and disappeared.
"He...he ate it..." Chaos frowned and seemed distraught that it actually happened. "Wait..." Reign's cheeks swelled up, and he spit out the blast that he ate, albeit slightly more powerful.
"Moon Dragon's Heart!" Luna blocked the blow with a shield of lunar energy which exploded upon contact; while the duo were protected, Reign did manage to take out the last guard. Smoke blew over the area and once it faded, Raiza was right up on the two in the form of an Anaconda. She wrapped herself around the duo and held them tightly in place.
Michael began using his speed to run around the room; touching the downed guard's swords to gain more silver, and thus more speed. "Pride." Reign formed a red "P" on his forehead, and he began gathering energy in his right fist. Like a rip cord, Raiza quickly unwound herself from her opponents and sent them spinning and disorientated.
"Sonic..." Michael approached Luna and used all of his momentum into one solid punch. "...Boom!" True to its name, a large boom filled the room as his blow connected, and Luna flew into the wall on the opposite side of the room as Michael slid to a stop.
"Paradise Lost: Lucifer!" Chaos channeled all of his energy from his Pride form and punched Chaos dead in the chest. The energy of the blow caused Chaos' chest to scar in the shape of the Sigil of Lucifer before he flew into the wall alongside his partner.
"You three...why are you so strong...?" Chaos barely was able to keep his eyes open from his wounds.
"It's the strength of our bonds. The strength of our guild." Reign answered.
"And what is the name of your guild?" Like her partner, Luna was barely able to speak.
"FlashFire. You all should come and join us there whenever you can walk again. We could always use some new members in our family." Michael smiled, as the two passed out.
"Mission complete." Raiza grinned, as she grabbed the book and the three left out the door. The guards whom were still in the lower levels watched the trio leave out, but made no move to stop them. They knew there would be no way that they would survive the encounter considering they had just beaten their strongest allies without too much hassle.
"Think they'll come join us?" Michael asked, as the three reached the train that was going to take them within walking distance of their guild. Reign and Raiza looked back towards the horizon and Reign couldn't help but smile before he boarded the train.
"Yeah. I think they will." Reign answered, as the three found a seat and prepared to enjoy the long ride home.