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VIII
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"You're confident you want to do this, right?" Evanee inquired to the ex-thief who was already in his offensive stance and ready to pounce.
"Hell yeah I'm sure! You're going down, Ev!" Rylo eagerly replied. "Here I come!" Before the black-haired male had even completed his sentence, he lunged forward with a fist reared back, preparing to swing. The dragon slayer had not budged an inch, but a split second prior to his fist connecting with Evanee's jaw, she had caught his hand in her palm, as if it were the baseball and she wore the glove. He couldn't even blink before a stone encased fist was rammed into his gut, sending him flying backwards from the sheer force of the blow. The S-Class emitted a low grunt as he tumbled across the grass – which left his bleach white dress shirt stained green – but quickly collected himself and dug his fingers to the ground to halt any further movement.
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From inside the guild, the two new recruits, Caelestis, Victoria, and Flynn, all watched the fight ensuing in the front yard.
"Evanee-chwan is definitely going to win!" The newest green-haired mage exclaimed.
"I wouldn't let her catch you calling her that..." Flynn suggested. Right after, he grinned, noticing their ace catch and swing at Rylo before he even had time to inhale. "Now that's speed. Not as speedy as me, but speed nonetheless!"
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"You won't get rid of me that easily!" Rylo shouted back to Evanee. He stood, and took off again in a sprint towards the SS-Class. Upon reaching her, instead of throwing a traditional set of physical assaults, he ducked down and balanced on his hands and head, now spinning rapidly to utilize his break dancing skills as his means of melee. At first, it had caught Evanee by surprise, allowing several of his kicks to connect with her mid section. She had shown no change in stature or emotion, but there was no doubt Rylo was powerful, and would be leaving a few marks on her from that.
As he was focusing more on landing hits on Evanee, rather than defending himself, when she had bent down onto her hands and one knee to throw a sweep kick at his wrists, Rylo barely had the time to launch himself into the air and narrowly avoid it. However, the SS-Class was already in a position to throw another attack that he wasn't expecting.
With her hands planted firmly on the ground, a copper seal formed beneath her opponent, "Dragon Cyclone," Evanee chanted, releasing magical power at the same time, which ultimately caused a vortex of dirt and debris to spring from the land and engulf him, pelting him with blunt stones and sharp shards of rock. Rylo's clothing was torn, along with surface wounds in his flesh. He developed bruises along his torso and legs.
However, he knew his limits, and he knew he would not be able to withstand the full attack – especially since Evanee never dialed her power down. So, the magician opened up the wristlet of his sleeve. "Nothing up my sleeve!" He called out, and just like that, he had activated his reverse projectiles trick, and absorbed Evanee's vortex. It was almost like a black hole. The only difference is, what goes in, eventually comes back out.
It never failed to make Evanee sneer. She hated when people used her own attacks against her. The dragon slayer pressed her arms down before propelling herself up so that she may land on her feet. At the same time, she had been drawing in a deep breath. Her cheeks were puffing out as her head was tilting back. "Roar..." Evanee threw her head forward, and fired off an extremely concentrated tornado of extremely sharps shards of stone – capable of shredding more of Ry's flesh – "of the Stone Dragon!" The attack raced towards the damaged mage at an alarming rate, but luckily...
"Reverse Projectile!" Rylo shouted as the roar was released, and lifted his sleeve, firing his own "Dragon Cyclone" blast back at Evanee. The two attacks collided, and rested in a stalemate for several moments before resulting in a devastating explosion.
"Nothing up my sleeve," the male again stated with a smirk.
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"Those brats sure have gotten stronger," Caelestis said as he watched closely, intently observing the powers of both mages.
"I want to fight the winner!" Flynn added on... Quickly, if not immediately, of course.
"...Soon..."
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Immense amounts of dust and debris where now sifting through the air, hindering visibility to the point of near blindness. But, to Evanee's advantage, this was only handicapping Rylo in the long run. As a dragon slayer, her impeccable sense of scent was unmatched. He may need to see her to attack, but she did not need to see him.
The magical pressure within the area rose. A faint buzzing sound was barely audible from Evanee's general direction. A copper aura was being emitted from her feet with lengths that rose and fell in a smooth pattern. There was no doubt that it had been Evanee's Stone Drive mode, the first of two supportive Dragon Slayer magics.
With her sense of sight rendered useless, her sense of smell increased more than it even needed to be. Now, she used it to carefully sniff out Rylo and pursue him with enhanced speed. Her two fists were encased in stone as she approached his front, making her visible just in time so that he could watch her throw a punch with her dominant right hand into his gut, and follow up with an uppercut from her left. As if this would not have been enough with the stone itself, Drive mode had beefed up her strength, and the result sent Rylo flying back yet again.
This time, he had no way of stopped his tumbling as he released a loud grunt, followed by a groan, and ending in him being rendered unconscious.
"... Good fight, ya' damn clown," Evanee spat as she descended from Drive mode and wandered into the guild, leaving Rylo there to deal with himself... When he came to, that is.
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Inside, Caelestis waited for Evanee, and when she walked in, he immediately questioned, "so, where did you run off to, Ev?"
It took some willpower, but she hadn't twitched at the nickname this time around.
"I was taking care of business," she responded, "why?"
"Usually the Master is informed when one of their members is off to a mission."
"So... you're mad?"
"Not mad."
"Nah, you mad."
"...I-..." Caelestis let out a sigh and shook his head, "never mind. We gained two new female members while you were gone. Introduce yourself and give them the ritual tonight, please."
"I'll think about it," she grinned, trotting up to her room.
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Rylo finally regained consciousness after an hour and a half, though he was still in the meadow. He sucked his teeth and folded his arms. "Nice to know the guild mates are willing to help the S-Class...!" He sat up, stood up, and rubbed his head slightly at the throbbing before walking back into the guild to find Flynn and Victoria examining the growing request board. He darted over to them and placed his arms around either of their shoulders. "Lookin' at jobs huh?"
"Yeah..!" the female blond replied, "Flynn and I were actually looking to make a team and go together..!"
Flynn nodded, confirming her statement, and flashed a smirk, "things will get done quicker with two! Then we can take more and get our names out there fast."
"You know," Rylo began, a slight grin creeping up on his face, "you get more opportunities with an S-Class accompanying you."
"Are you suggesting...?"
"I certainly am! You two would make lovely assistants!"
"Heh, count me in!"
"Aye, and me!"
The S-Class team addition then spun the two lower class mages around and guided them upstairs to where the higher requests were kept.
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The only reason Evanee had left her room today was to fetch a snack from the kitchen. But of course, the two newbies Caelestis had talked about were sitting in the loft, and ran up to her the moment she stepped off the stairs.
"Evanee-chwaaaaaaan! I've heard so much about you!" One exclaimed, causing her to sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose.
"I've heard about you too, Evanee-san!" The blond added on.
Greeeaaat, Evanee thought to herself.
She pointed to the one with green hair, then to the one with blond. "Give me your names and magic. I don't particularly care about the other things right now, I'll figure out with time."
The younger, giddy, seaweed-green-haired girl started off.
"I'm Tasmi Julie Vasquez the III! But you can call me Sam! My magic is Light Manipulation!"
Next, the slightly older, calmer, blond haired girl began her introduction.
"My name is Melanie Hasani. I'm a first generation Aqua Dragon Slayer."
"Fantastic. Your initiations will be later in the evening, now go away."
Melanie obliged right away, but as Tsami began to leave, she turned, and pulled Evanee into a tight embrace. After a moment, she released, and skipped off in glee, leaving the dragon slayer to stand in astonishment.
"... I really hate newbies..."
