Author's Note

Woohoo fight scenes!


Hiyori wrinkled her nose in the blood red light, staring up at its source in mild distaste. "So you're telling me… that your scarf…"

"GLOWS?" Hibiya finished his partner's sentence for her, albeit exponentially more enthusiastically, ogling Ayano's glowing red scarf as if he'd found the Holy Grail.

The Dark Knight chuckled awkwardly, twiddling the luminescent object in question between her fingers. The red scarf wrapped tightly around the neck of her armor was, indeed, glowing brightly, illuminating the otherwise pitch dark cave with crimson light.

"Yep! It glows!" she chirped as they continued to walk through the tight passageway. "Pretty cool, huh? I dunno why it glows though." She put a finger to her helmet as if in deep thought, the glowing eyes beneath the visor squinting as she tried to concentrate. "Hey, Shintaro, why does my scarf glow?" she finally asked her partner, calling to the Mystic at the back of their formation.

The young man scowled, although that seemed to be his neutral reaction to any and all happenings. "You dropped it in the mud by accident, then you tried to wash the mud off of it in a huge puddle of bleach you find lying around in the forest, but it was actually a huge puddle of nuclear waste," he explained, rolling his eyes.

As soon as Shintaro said that, Hiyori's pink eyes widened in shock and Hibiya audibly gasped, clutching his staff as he struggled to think of all the radiation that must have been bombarding his body ever since they'd entered this dungeon with her, and Ayano made an "Ohhhhhh!" sound, as if this was news to her as well.

"Nuclear waste? T-T-That's a little-!" he began stammering out.

"Dangerous?" Ayano finished, looking back at the two younger Mages and then shrugging. "Well, I'm a Dark Knight! Everything I do is dangerous," she admitted, looking back down the path they were walking. That sentence struck Hibiya in a moment of clarity.

Everything I do… Is dangerous… he thought to himself, considering what it must be like to live life as a Mage that fights by giving up their own wellbeing. Could that be the most selfless magic of all? Sacrificing yourself for the good of others… He gave a sidelong glance to Hiyori, who continued walking at his side, albeit quite a length further away from Ayano than before, still eyeing her irradiated scarf with great distrust. Hiyori would never use magic like that selflessly. To increase her powers by any means necessary, then, perhaps…? He thought back to the way Hiyori had made the summoner beg for his life and teach Hiyori his powers, before she turned them on him to murder him seconds later.

Perhaps. No, probably. But she'd never put herself in harm's way for the sake of others. The Black Mage in question glanced over at Hibiya as he was stuck in his reflections while still staring at her, giving him a dirty look and sticking her tongue out at him in disgust, causing him to quickly turn away and look back down the path they were walking. For a split second, he began questioning whether he truly did want to be down here with her after all, before shaking his head and banishing the doubtful thoughts into the trash. Well, that's alright, I suppose. I don't mind taking on that role for the both of us. I am a White Mage, after all.

"Oh, oh, we're here!" Ayano's excited voice snapped Hibiya out of his introspection, and he looked up to see that there was indeed a light at the end of the tunnel. Stepping out with the others, he saw that the dungeon opened up into a wide, empty expanse of green grass, with a blue sky above them, as if they hadn't just spent the last twenty minutes walking deep underground. The tunnel that they had just walked out of was set into a gigantic cliff, one that spanned upwards for miles. Before them stood a small stone arch, identical to the one that led into Panzermast at the bottom of the upside down tower.

On this arch, was inscribed three words. Floor One: Daze.

Immediately, Hibiya pointed up at the clear blue sky with an intense look of concern on his face. "…How." was all he could say. He looked to Hiyori, but she only shrugged. Ayano shrugged as well, her scarf no longer glowing now that they were in broad daylight. Finally, Shintaro rubbed his chin, as if considering how this sky showing up so deep underground could be a possibility, but then he shrugged as well.

"Magic," was his only answer. Everyone but Hibiya nodded sagely at this piece of information, while Hibiya just leaned on his staff and sighed. This was going to be a very long dungeon.

Hiyori peered out from under her large hat, shielding her eyes against the artificial sun. "There," she said, pointing off in the distance. "I'd bet you anything that's our destination." Indeed, partially obscured by the roll of the hill was the flat roof of a building, sticking about a foot out of the ground, the rest of the building buried underneath the rustling grass. A single door stuck out of the roof, leading down into the building.

"Haven't you been here before, Adept?" Shintaro asked indifferently, not bothering to look at Hiyori while he asked. "You of all people should know exactly where we're going."

"Haven't you researched anything about Panzermast before coming here, idiot Initiate?" Hiyori retorted, just as indifferent, yet with a thin veneer of poison on her words. "The layout of this dungeon changes based on who enters it, to give a challenge based on whatever combination of Mages comes in here. This wide expanse was not here last time. Now let's go," she commanded, already setting off towards the buried rooftop. Hibiya was close behind, and Ayano took a few steps forward, giggling at the sour faced Mystic.

"It's true, you know," she admitted. "You didn't do your homework before coming here! Off we go, Shintaro!" With that, she dashed off after the pair, and Shintaro followed, grumbling about rude, uppity little girls.

They continued on for a short while through the sea of green, walking in a square formation. Hibiya looked about nervously, concerned about when this "challenge" Hiyori mentioned would show up, until Hiyori punched him not too lightly on the shoulder.

"Cut it out. You're going to attract monsters if you keep displaying that kind of fear, you know," she lectured. She looked off into the distance, as if playing back a memory in her head. "Besides," she continued, her voice softening. "Just do your job and watch my back, and I'll be sure to keep you safe too."

Rubbing his shoulder, the White Mage nodded, though inside he was quite shocked that Hiyori would ever act the least bit considerate to anyone, a thought that he decided would be wise not to express.

"Ah!" Ayano suddenly exclaimed, and the group turned its attention to her. Perched on her helmet was a strange sort of batlike creature, with a green body and large tan wings. What was most shocking about it was that its body seemed to largely be made up of a gigantic eyeball, which was darting from each member of the party to the next rapidly.

Ayano reached up to bat at whatever had decided to take a rest on her armor, but Shintaro quickly grabbed her arm. "Don't. Move," he ordered sternly. Ayano's body stiffened inside of her armor; when Shintaro spoke like this, she knew things were serious.

"You have an Ahriman perched on your helmet," he explained. "Weak in terms of constitution, but they're quick and nimble, and they can fly. They have some kind of energy beam attack that comes from their eye, so we're going to need to-"

As if to illustrate his point, the Ahriman suddenly started spasming violently on top of Ayano's head, and turned its body up towards the sky. The eye in the middle of its body started glowing with some strange white light, and a beam of energy shot out, rocketing up in the sky like a flare. With that, the winged creature shot up off of Ayano's helm and flew away.

"…and the most dangerous thing about Ahrimans is that they always come in huge packs," Shintaro stated with a defeated expression. Sure enough, the sound of dozens and dozens of wings filled the air, and the ground itself seemed to vibrate with fury of a beast hunting its prey. Without a word, Ayano unstrapped her sword from her back, holding it tightly with both hands. Shintaro held his rod at the ready as well, and Hibiya scratched his back with his staff, sighing.

"Elemental weaknesses?" Hiyori asked loudly, raising her hands, ready to cast whatever maelstrom would be necessary to get them out of this mess.

"Well, Ice, but-"

"Hibiya, stick close to me and spam Protect. Let's go commit genocide, partner." Hiyori ordered, interrupting Shintaro and laughing darkly, her ribbonlike hair already fraying slightly with the magic in her body preparing itself to be expelled.

At that moment, their foes descended, like spiders from their webs. It was clear that they were eager to feast on fresh Mage meat, and here was a feast just waiting to be harvested. Already, some of their bodies began to spasm, signaling the beginning of their attack.

Hiyori dusted her hands off on her blue jacket, and nodded back at Hibiya, who nodded back. Despite any mishaps or bad blood between the two, they did make an excellent combat team. The two dashed off up the hill and onto higher ground. Half of the Ahrimans followed them up, eye beams already striking the ground beneath the childrens' feet.

Meanwhile, Shintaro and Ayano stood back to back on low ground, both their weapons raised, as the other half of the herd circled around them.

"Keep them debilitated, Shintaro. Use your best judgement, I know how many nasty spells you have up your sleeves," Ayano advised. Although she seemed airheaded most of the time, the truth was that Ayano was the strategy master on their team. Shintaro was only more intelligent in raw knowledge, and perhaps common sense.

"Understood," Shintaro confirmed. He turned his head to look her seriously in the eye, or the glowing circles in her visor that served as her eyes. "Keep this clean. Don't tear yourself up unless you absolutely have to."

Ayano looked down solemnly at the ground but did not reply. "Let's go," she said quietly after a while, and charged forward with her sword.


"KEEP UP WITH THEM!" Hiyori bellowed over her shoulder at Hibiya, both her hands raised over her head. She quickly turned her head back to the threesome of Ahrimans diving down at her. "BLIZZAGA!"

Static popped and crackled along Hiyori's arms as the Ahrimans neared the ground on their descent, and a giant glacier rumbled out of the ground towards the Ahrimans, soaring up to impale them. However, they were too quick, and they pulled back up with a few beats of their powerful wings, and they escaped the sharp cold of Hiyori's ice spell. They spasmed too, and beams of light came from the three of them, shooting towards the Black Mage at bullet speed.

Luckily, Hibiya made sure to pay close attention to his partner at all times and with a loud "Protect!" the beams fizzled out against a scaled wall of solid light that appeared before Hiyori. The three foes flew back up to their pack of twenty something companions, circling above them. If they all decided to attack at once, it would be over.

"BLIZZAGA!" she called again in distress, but the spell had just as much effect; when the blizzard rose up towards the pack, they just retreated once more, and went back to circling, not a single one touched.

The White Mage came up quickly to Hiyori's side, paying close attention to the herd for more spasming. "Hiyori, they're too fast for Blizzard spells, they'll just fly away! We need to-"

"SHUT UP!" Hiyori shrieked, her face contorted in stress. She took her hat off and tossed it away down the hill and fell to her knees, clutching her head as she began trembling violently. Static crackled across her body once more, but this time with even more fervor. Hibiya could see her eyes rolling around in her head as she screamed in pain, magic overloading her body, and he suddenly realized what she was trying to do.

"HIYORI, NO-!" he jumped forward at his trembling partner, trying to tackle her in order to break her concentration and cancel the extremely dangerous spell, but at that moment the pack of Ahrimans dove down towards the Black Mage, sensing weakness, and he was knocked away by the great wind of their flapping wings.

Finally, just before the pack struck her down, she spread her arms out, her head thrown backwards and her eyes glowing with the pink color of her irises. "BLIZZAJA!" she roared, her voice cracking in pain as she invoked the most powerful ice spell known to Mages.

A sound comparable to a sword being unsheathed sounded through the air, and a forest of ice sprouted around the vulnerable Black Mage. Pillars, spikes, hills, and other formations made of ice rose up and laid waste to the Ahrimans, as some crashed into the ice and crumpled uselessly to the ground, and others were split down the middle when a spike came up from underneath them, spilling intestines and vital organs, the eye falling gruesomely out of its socket. More and more ice was generated around Hiyori as her pained screaming filled the ice wasteland of her own creation, and more and more of the ice was stained with Ahriman blood, soaking into the structures and running down the sides.

Finally, the screaming stopped, and so did the ice creation. A moment of deathly silence rang out for a short second, then the ice formations began to retreat back into the ground, soaking the soil red as they disappeared beneath the surface, leaving no holes or craters behind. There in the middle of the crimson battleground knelt Hiyori, as a few more giant, painful spasms wracked her little body. As soon as her eyes stopped glowing and returned to their normal dull pink, she collapsed to her side and stopped moving.

Hibiya chastised himself and Hiyori under his breath as he ran up the hill towards his partner, and dragged her quickly into his lap.

"L…L-let go of me… you s-s-son of a…" Hiyori tried to push Hibiya away, but instead clung to his robes, too weak and freezing cold to exert that kind of energy on him. Already, her teeth were chattering from the extreme temperatures that had inhabited her body throughout the course of Blizzaja.

"Hush up and let me heal you," He muttered, shaking his head. "Remember how bad of an idea it is for you to use –ja spells? They're too much for you, your body is too small to house that much magic. Man, who knows how much damage you did to your internal organs?" He tutted at the Black Mage, who just groaned in response. "Alright, let's see. Curaga." Hibiya's hands started to glow with soft white light, and he held them up over Hiyori's body, stitching together whatever internal damage she had. Hiyori shifted about in discomfort for a while due to her insides being forced back into place, but then she was still, and breathing normally once more.

"Well… you know it's my job… to fuck myself up… for your sake," she rasped, laughing quietly at her own comment, her eyes struggling to stay open.

My sake? Hibiya thought to herself. Hiyori never, ever spoke this way. This was way past the considerate words she had for him earlier. What is she-?

"But as long as… you're there… to patch me up every time," Hiyori continued weakly. "Then I really don't mind… if that's what keeps you safe, Shiro…" With that, Hiyori finally lost consciousness, her exhaustion getting the best of her.

Hibiya froze as if he'd received a Blizzaja of his own to the face. Shiro?

Who's Shiro?


"SO DOES THAT SOUND LIKE A GOOD PLAN? DID YOU HEAR IT ALL?" Ayano screamed at Shintaro over the loud flapping of their half of the Ahriman herd, swatting one away with her sword.

"Yeah, I think so!" Shintaro replied, twirling his rod around and deftly pointing it at an Ahriman that was spasming just a little too much for his taste. "Umbra!" he called out, and a ghostly white circle appeared behind the creature, ensnaring it in a cloud of darkness. The now blinded monster flapped quickly in panic, bumping into other nearby Ahriman and interrupting their eye beams. "It's better than nothing anyway, we can't do anything on the ground against these things," he continued.

"OKAY LET'S DO THIS!" Ayano dashed up to her partner's side and leapt quickly in the air, while Shintaro swung his rod underneath the Dark Knight, catching her on the end.

"See you on the other side, partner!" Ayano chirped, as she gave him a quick salute and put all her weight on the rod, carefully gripping her sword with both hands. Shintaro merely nodded, and with a grunt he swung the rod with all his strength, sending Ayano flying into the airspace occupied by the herd.

At that point, the Dark Knight began to spin rapidly in the air, holding on tightly to her sword so that she became a whirling tornado of death. She flew straight into an unwitting Ahriman, tearing it open, and into another one, and another one, ripping apart each monster she came into contact with.

As soon as her flight led her to the edge of the herd, Shintaro, who had been keeping careful watch, pointed at the Ahriman closest to her with his rod. "Break Seal!" he commanded, and a similar ghostly circle appeared behind the Ahriman, this one pale grey. When the circle ensnared the monster, its skin began to turn to stone, and with a few last terrified flaps of its wings, the Ahriman quickly was petrified.

This was Ayano's chance; spotting the Ahriman statue in midair about to succumb to gravity, she quickly turned herself around in midair and placed her feet on it, pushing hard against it and launching herself once more in the correct direction, eviscerating even more of the batlike creatures on her way back to the ground.

Finally, she approached the ground near Shintaro, a struck the soil with her shoulder, rolling to a stop, her sword skidding a short distance away. Dripping with Ahriman blood, she pulled her helmet off quickly, her long brown hair now sticky with sweat. "How'd I do?" she asked happily, as if she'd done nothing more than paint a picture.

Shielding his eyes against the artificial sun, Shintaro peered up into the sky. "Ah," he said. "You missed one. "

"Awww, poo!" Ayano complained, puffing out her cheeks. "I'd aimed myself so well and everything! Well, at least I didn't have to use Darkness this time."

Shintaro simply chuckled and with his rod pointed up sharply at the last remaining Ahriman, which was floating a short distance away and seemingly panicking, realizing that it was the only survivor against these bloodthirsty Mages.

"Break Seal." A few seconds later, the shattering of a stone statue against the ground rang out across the vast grassland, and all was silent.


"HIYORINNNNNNNNNN! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ayano sobbed loudly, fat tears mixing with the blood on her coal black armor.

Hibiya could only stand a little further away in concern as he carried his unconscious partner in his arms. Hiyorin? Really? "R-relax, Miss Ayano… she's not dead, she's just asleep. She got… a little ambitious. But we're both okay."

"O-O-Oh thank goodnessssss!" the Dark Knight wailed as she sniffed loudly, and then proceeded to lean on Shintaro's shoulder and sob some more, who could only offer lame pats on the back in consolation as she stained his (no doubt expensive) robes with her tears.

The four had met up at the buried rooftop, next to the door that led down into the building. As Hiyori could not continue in this condition, they agreed to camp for the night and continue down Panzermast tomorrow.

As Hibiya carefully laid Hiyori down on the concrete using her huge hat for a pillow and Ayano built a campfire while trying not to burst back into tears, Shintaro stared suspiciously at the door. It was made of metal, and it had a chrome plated, round doorknob. He reached forward cautiously, as if afraid that the doorknob would bite him, and turned the cold metal and opened the door.

"Yep," the Mystic muttered. "This is definitely where we need to go, at least."

There, framing the stairwell down into the building, was yet another stone archway, with yet another three words inscribed into it.

Floor 2: Toumei.