It had been about two weeks since Chaos and Luna joined FlashFire. The two had fit in fairly well; although Luna had admittedly been more social than Chaos. Currently, Luna was locked in a heated debate with a few members of the guild about which ice cream was the best flavor, while Chaos had been trying to read in silence. He kept getting interrupted by one of the other, more timid members of FlashFire; Rex. Rex had short brown hair with numerous bangs that hang around his face. His onyx hued eyes shimmered with curiosity. Chaos looked up from his book finally; making note that Rex was fairly skinny and frail looking for a mage. His yellow, sleeveless vest was zipped all the way up and his hands nervously tapped his knees nervously through his gray pants.
"I didn't hear a word you said. Repeat." Chaos had terrible social skills. He typically either accidently portrayed himself as awkward or mean. He figured this time it was the latter considering Rex jumped a bit.
"I asked what book that was." Rex stammered as he spoke. The stuttering made Chaos remember he met Rex once, when him and Luna first entered the guild. He stammered through his introduction then too. Chaos actually felt bad for the kid.
"Oh erm...A Day in the Sun." Chaos and Rex sat in an awkward moment of silence. "You can read it when I'm done. Tear it and I'll kill you. Not really." Chaos quickly added the last part when he saw the fear on Rex's face.
"Look what I found." The voice belonged to their Guild master, Shin Lineguard. Shin was a fairly short man at only five foot six, but he more than made up for that in raw power. He stroked his long, white beard as he spoke. Chaos and Luna both wondered if his voice was enhanced by magic. More than likely, they determined, it wasn't. Their Guild master had a powerful and commanding aura that made people listen. Behind him stood perhaps one of the tallest members of the guild yet. He had short, spiked blue hair with a silver streak just above his right eye and left ear. His eyes matched his hair color with a brilliant shade of blue, and it seemed to mesh well with his rather muscular physique. His lightly tanned skin was currently being showed off by the fact that he was shirtless. His guild symbol rested right above his heart; the twin F's were yellow and surrounded by storm clouds with a ring of fire within them. The man reeked of power, but was unfamiliar to Chaos and Luna.
"Zerak!" Michael jumped up from his nearby seat. "Fight me!" Michael had a pretty much one sided rivalry with Zerak. The giant was the most powerful member of the guild, and the only one to reach SS class. He had been away for a year on a mission for the guild, but the thought of defeating him gave Michael all the motivation he needed to train in his absence.
"Sure, I never resist a good fight. But let's make it interesting. I'll take on the whole guild. Whoever isn't afraid of a nice, friendly ass whooping can meet me down in the training room." Zerak grinned, before heading down a set of stairs close to the front door.
"Well I'm going. Who is coming with?" Michael planned on leading the charge and was lingering in front of the stairs. Most people backed out, knowing that Zerak seemed unbeatable.
"I'm in." Reign patted Michael's shoulder. Raiza was off on a mission of her own, so their usual trio was down by one. Even so; Raiza wasn't as combat oriented as the two anyway. She might not have even joined the fray anyway. But Reign wanted to see how long he could last, considering he was only about ten S rank missions away from becoming SS rank in their guild. SS rank required that you held the title of S rank for five years, as well as complete five hundred S rank missions.
"Is he really that strong?" The thought had Chaos interested. He had to see what this guy was all about. It took some real gonads to challenge an entire guild.
"I don't know, but I'm out. We couldn't even beat those three, let alone someone who can take on the whole lot of them." Luna referred to the two ex-mercenaries' terrible defeat two weeks prior. Instead, she decided to go with a few other members of FlashFire for ice cream.
"Maybe if I flash him, we can get a lucky shot." Cheshire twirled the key that Reign had delivered her in between her two fingers before adding it to her belt with the rest of them; three in total. As curvy and busty as Cheshire was, she currently could distract any man with her body and beauty. Her low cut black shirt and matching skirt revealed most of her brown skinned body to enhance the effect of her seductiveness. Her brown hair was kept in a high ponytail that fell to her shoulders. She had a large collection of bangs swept to the right side of her face and a slightly smaller collection swept on the left, with a single red bang that hung down the center of her face. Chaos had mixed feelings about the model; somewhere between disgust and arousal.
"Wait for me!" A young female with jet black hair ran up behind the small group. She had purple streaks going through it and it hung down to the middle of her back.
"When did you get back, Aysu?" Michael questioned as his fellow guild member came into view. In truth, it was a miracle that Aysu had clothes covering the reddish-brown skin of hers. She currently was wearing a sleeveless red top that wrapped around her neck, leaving most of her back and shoulder blades visible along with her stomach being visible as well. Over the top part of her breasts was an open rectangle showing off her cleavage. She had black fishnets on her arms which stopped at the middle of her bicep and the bottoms wrap around her middle and ring finger on both hands. She had black pants that stopped at her knees, and was barefoot.
"Yesterday. Oh, you're fighting too? Chaos, right?" Aysu had gotten back yesterday from a mission and barely said two words to Chaos before leaving to go rest. She seemed to have a lot more energy today though. The small party descended down the stairs behind Zerak and into the training room. The room itself was massive, curving itself to look like a coliseum. The floor had been filled with pillars that seemed to be haphazardly put into place, and there were seats overlooking the ring. Slowly, the weaker members of the guild that didn't go out for ice cream began appearing within the stands.
"Just you five huh...wait, who is that guy?" Zerak pointed at Chaos
"Chaos. I just joine-"
"Oh. It doesn't matter. I just wanted to know your name." Zerak interrupted Chaos. "If you're in this guild, you're family. I trust everyone's judgment." Zerak flashed him a thumbs up.
"So what kind of magic does this guy use?" Chaos leaned over to whisper to Aysu.
"True Storm God Slayer magic. He's essentially a demigod." Aysu quivered with both excitement and fear. Chaos had heard of True god slayer magic before but he honestly thought it was a myth. He had never once met someone who mastered that form of magic. "Dark Tidal Wave!" Aysu started the fight, sending a wave of black water at her opponent. He responded by summoning a blizzard and freezing it. Aysu's magic dealt with the dark water of the hydra. She was technically a water dragon slayer, but both humans and dragons debated on weather the hydra qualified as a true dragon. Wasting no time, Cheshire withdrew a white key from her belt and kissed it. The key had the symbol for the sun upon it.
"Open; gate of the sun, Sol!" A blinding light appeared and out came a tall being that was composed of pure light. Only it's orange eyes were capable of being seen. The white keys were keys of the solar system, which rivaled the power of the keys of the zodiac. Cheshire currently had three, but she was on the hunt for all eleven. Sol shot a blast that melted the ice and turned it into steam.
"Sun God's fist!" Chaos used the chance to charge in and strike.
"Wait, no!" Reign charged in after Chaos. "Sin magic: Gluttony!" Reign appeared in front of Chaos just in time to absorb the powerful bolt of lightning in his mouth that Zerak shot, and spit it back at him. Even though Reign was the second strongest in the guild, and almost an SS rank, the difference in strength between him and Zerak was as though they were night and day. Chaos attack did manage to connect however. Michael then followed through with a punch to his jaw with his steel-enhanced strength.
"Don't let up!" Aysu sent another Dark tidal wave towards Zerak, and Cheshire followed up with commanding Sol to shoot a ray of light. Chaos and Reign both slid behind Zerak to escape the Dark Tidal wave, while Michael jumped into the air.
"Sin Magic: Greed!" Reign's body glowed slightly, and a small energy string shot from his body and latched itself onto Chaos'.
"Sun God's Howl!" Reign and Chaos cried as they shot a blast of black solar energy from their mouth. While in the air, Michael dug into his pocket and pulled out a dimed size piece of amber.
"Sorry, and thank you for this chance." He spoke to the stone as though it were alive, before absorbing it. "Earth!" Michael made the ground beneath Zerak turn to spikes and shoot up at him, as all the attacks hit Zerak.
"We're doing it!" Chaos exclaimed while Zerak was covered in smoke from the impact of the attacks. The five regrouped to plan their next attack.
"No we aren't. He hasn't used one attack. He hasn't even used a fra-" Michael stopped his explanation when he felt his clothes begin to rise, and watched static filled the air. "What the hell...wait, oh no!" Michael looked around to see the effect had covered them all.
"Crap! Sin magic: Gluttony!" Reign stood his ground and opened his mouth to prepare for the attack.
"Zeus." In the calmest voice possible, Zerak summoned the most powerful bolt of lightning that the group had ever seen. It was absorbed into Reign's mouth, but he was instantly floored before he could shoot it out. "He's gotten better. I didn't think he could absorb that. Ah well." Reign opened his mouth and unleashed the powerful attack that he had just absorbed straight at Zerak. "Susanoo." Zerak summoned a powerful hurricane that ate both his own attack and twisted up everyone in the arena and knocked everyone unconscious. "Guess I win." Zerak turned and saw Michael and Reign slowly rise to their feet. Reign was more injured than Michael was due to previously absorbing the blast. "Oh, clap clap clap." Zerak applauded the two in a half mocking fashion. "You two have gotten strong in my absence."
"Yeah, and now we're going to beat you." Michael pressed his hands into the ground, causing the earth below Zerak to open up and engulf him up to the shoulders. His amber-enhanced powers wouldn't last too much longer, so this was the last chance they had.
"Virtue magic: Temperance!" A blue "V" appeared on Reign's head and he began to swirl with white holy energy. He wasn't able to move from that spot, but as a result he gained the ability to shoot out energy blast. Michael put his hand on Reign's back and transferred the rest of his magic energy to him.
"Together!" Michael shouted as the duo poured all their remaining magical energy into a blast that engulfed Zerak and turned the whole arena white. But the result was lackluster at best. Zerak had a small, insignificant cut on his cheek and chest, but that was it. And yet, Michael and Reign couldn't help but beam with pride. That was the most damage anyone in the guild had ever done to him.
"I actually felt that." Zerak rubbed his cuts in shock. "Allow me to reward you." Zerak rushed towards the two, whom had expelled all of their energy. He threw a fist at each of them; who met the attack with eyes of determination and fearlessness. The eyes of a true warrior, Zerak remarked to himself. He really was proud of them. "True Storm God: Poseidon!" When Zerak's fists were inches away from the duo, he unleashed a fierce tornado from the two that crackled with lighting. The blow hit them square in the chest and propelled them towards the stands; knocking them out as well as nearly everyone who was in the stands due to the sheer force of their impact. "Oi, Rex. Shin. Help me carry everyone upstairs." Rex, who was in the stands jumped up and quickly complied out of fear. Shin, who was upstairs came down shaking his head and picked up a few limp bodies. Within ten minutes, everyone was upstairs.
"Alright, now that everyone is out the way. Zerak, come with me so we can get the weekly shopping out the way. And you're paying since you caused all this mess." Zerak shrugged his shoulders and threw the Guild master his wallet before walking out the door. "Rex, watch over everyone for me. Make sure no one chokes on their tongue."
"But wait, all by myself?" The two completely ignored Rex as he stammered through his complaints and left. In defeat, Rex hung his head down in shame and sat around the unconscious bodies.
"Open up!" A few minutes later, a small group of men knocked down the door to the guild and ran inside. Rex jumped up; noticing the symbol on the first man's right cheek represented the Screamers guild. Ordinarily, they would be an easy defeat, but so many came at once and Rex wasn't a good fighter. He was nervous and nearly started to cry as he watched the Screamers members start to destroy the area around him with their Swollen Muscle magic. But he had to do something. In the end it was still his guild. Even if he just held out until someone got back...
"Stop!" Rex screamed as he stood up. His knees were trembling but he wasn't going to let that stop him. One of the men charged at him and he looked around for the closest person he could see. Michael. "Sovereign magic!" Michael was consumed in a bright light and disappeared. Sovereign magic took the target and turned them into an object that represented the persons personality and strengths. The only problem was, Rex had no way of determining what someone would turn into beforehand. Once, he had a person turn into a wet noodle, and another time his father turned into a bomb. He lucked out though. Michael became a large, metal shield that was able to stop the punch from his opponent. But he couldn't fight like this. He knew Cheshire was out; the last time he used her she turned into a rather obscene toy. Aysu was a possibility, but she was too far away. But Reign was close enough. Rex ran over and used his magic on Reign, as his form vanished and he became a lance. It was rather obvious to Rex that the two would complement each other. He figured Raiza would become armor or a steed or something similar to complement the two. His magic also took into consideration the bond between friends and lovers. Rex charged one of the men and stabbed with the green streaked lance, before quickly blocking with the multi-metal formed shield. He had a way to fight now, but he was in no way trained with either a shield or a lance. And making two objects was stressing his magic. But he just had to hold out hopefully a little longer.
"Why don't you just give up, kid." The man whom Rex had figured out was the leader spoke; swelling his right bicep up with his magic and charging at the FlashFire mage. He blocked with his shield, but he realized too late that the blow was supposed to be a distraction for the kick that was delivered next. Rex bounced upon the floor; returning Michael and Reign back to their unconscious, human forms.
"Somebody, help!" Rex closed his eyes and cowered, as the same man ran for him.
"Plant Dragon's Poison Ivy Chain!" Poison Ivy wrapped around the man and held him in place, allowing Rex to slip out his grasp. "Rex's savior turned out to be the youngest member of the guild, Neta whom was riding on top of Raiza in wolf form. Neta was only twelve, but had already nearly mastered her Plant Dragon Slayer magic. Her goldenrod hair was styled in two high ponytails and she had large, green eyes. Today she was wearing a rather long, blue t shirt with black bicycle shorts. Her face was rather round, and she was short with chestnut brown skin. "You okay, Rex?" Neta hugged Rex before standing in front of him. Rex had to admit, being saved by someone three years younger than him was sort of embarrassing, but he needed the help.
"You actually fought? And took one out?" Raiza stayed in her wolf form and simply spoke while in it. On the way in she had noticed the man that Rex managed to pierce with Reign in lance form was slowly bleeding out and at this point was kneeled over and out of the fight. Raiza was more surprised than impressed, considering that Rex had the lowest completion rate in the guild. One of the men charged the trio, but Raiza was on it. She jumped and quickly turned into a large serpent; wrapping around the man and then biting his shoulder. "I was speaking." She hissed as he fell to the floor. The men were rather weak, but there were a lot of them. That was the main problem. Neither of the three really specialized in taking out multiple people. Well, Raiza could but she usually did so by turning into one of their weaknesses or into teammates and taking people out by stealth. Obviously, that wouldn't work here.
"What's this?" Zerak had entered as well, glancing at the scenario. "Oh, Neta and Raiza are back. Yo." Zerak barely paid any attention to the enemies in FlashFire's headquarters.
"Big brother!" Neta waved; her teeth showing as she smiled wide. The two weren't actually brother and sister, but Neta referred to everyone in the guild whom was stronger than her as her older siblings.
"Don't 'yo' me. This is all your fault. If you didn't keep challenging everyone to a fight, the others would have just stomped them out. Hell, if I didn't come back from my mission with Neta when I did, who knows what could have happened. Even Rex had to fight." Zerak had a rather shocked face when hearing Rex had to fight. "Now, clean up your mess."
"Fine." Zerak's demeanor changed. He didn't appreciate his guild being trifled with. "Trash...disappear." A dozen bolts of thunder appeared from the sky and hit the remaining men and they dropped to the floor instantly.
"What the hell is happening here?" Shin came in a few moments later carrying a few bags of groceries. Immediately, everyone began talking at once. Rex nearly bursted into tears, Zerak kept shrugging his shoulders, Raiza attempted to slap Zerak, and Neta was simply trying to calm everyone down. "I don't even care anymore! Clear this trash out my guild, someone fix the door, and someone help me perform healing magic so these brats can wake up and put groceries away!"
"But, only you know healing magic..." Raiza informed her Guild master.
"You better learn!" When Shin raised his voice, everyone scrambled. Zerak ran to fix the door, while Neta and Raiza tried their best to support Shin as he used his healing magic. Overall, Rex had to admit as he tried his best to stay out of the way; it was just another average day at the FlashFire guild.
