Friction Hearts

1.3.2

It was highly unlikely that Chief Ockham would activate the bomb without ensuring Willow was a casualty. Willow was untouchable, safe inside the guild house. Therefore Nobuko and Clarion should be safe traversing Dahlia streets. However, Nobuko knew that assuming a foe, nay anyone, would make the logical decision was a fool's gamble. Nothing was guaranteed.

It was a harrowing experience, running around in the blast radius of a Lorne Bomb. Sirens set the scene. The wailing hi/lo hounded them, demanding a full town lockdown. A constant wailing that echoed down empty streets and bounced off walls, down lanes, into alleyways, with the strangest tinny quality. Night had fallen, another clear summer's night, but the light of the stars faded far before ever touching Dahlian streets. Dahlian buildings were short as a rule however, with few exceptions. It left the skyline clear, and allowed for Nobuko to make out the outline of rising smoke against the stars. Her destination. Dark metal street posts, the old gas powered type, guided the pair along their path. The gas-posts were an oddity to Nobuko, their light meagre compared to the lacrima lamps of the cities. Frustrating, when dark grey cobblestone and darker wood swallowed what little light they offered. Two blinks worth of light, sprinting. Five blinks of darkness, hesitating. Two blinks breathing. Five blinks holding. Two blinks, wide eyed, scan the scene. Five blinks, squinting, twitch at shadows.

Even Clarion was on edge. Dismissive of Lorne's skill as she was, no real rune mage would sacrifice an arm on a whim. Clarion was good at dissembling, but her expression was a tense one. Flawless, but fixed as sculpted stone. It wasn't all just from the pain, because Clarion had started with it before the arm fiasco. Nobuko mightn't have caught it if she hadn't known what to look for. Clarion right then was what Lady Eulalia Morrow had defaulted to awaiting rescue, held at knifepoint watching a dark mage drive a pipe through Nobuko's chest.

So Nobuko was surprised when Clarion decided that now of all times was an appropriate one to make conversation.

"So, Earth Manipulation. I suppose the Union have you instructing her."

Nobuko's stared straight ahead, answered carefully. "One of my duties."

"Not going so hot then, huh? Bet the Union's not happy."

Treading dangerous ground there. Very Clarion. Nobuko had read all terms and conditions prior to Willow and her signing the guild forms. Frantic Heart was legal and recognised, certified by the Magic Council and the Mage Union respectively. Not rare by any means, but it had done little to help Nobuko place Clarion on the Council/Union spectrum. Clarion was unusual in that she maintained strong relations with key figures of both factions - downright antagonist relations with both too.

Clarion spoke again when Nobuko didn't answer. "Earth mages need stability. Manipulation actors, even more so. It's recommended that you settle."

'Another recruitment pitch?'

Nobuko supposed that was true. Clarion knew it. As a rune system's mage she would have great deal of general magic knowledge and a passing understanding of the main elementals. Probably had taken most of the same classes Nobuko had too. They'd attended the same university, anyway. Except Clarion hadn't graduated - expelled for bad behaviour, not for lack of academics. They'd attended a decade apart but the tales of Clarion's antics were still repeated to this day.

"Not an option with Chief Ockham about, unfortunately." Nobuko smiled, apologetic, but not really.

"Well then it will be very soon! And the Union is likely to consider Frantic Heart the best option."

Impossible. Nobuko spared a second to flicker her gaze to Clarion, and got a Cheshire grin in return.

"Dahlia's fairly out of the way, and you need that right? For now at least. Having Willow joining a guild would look a lot more organic too, you know? Less suspicious."

Siren sound faded to the back of Nobuko's mind. She did not let herself stagger or pause in her run, relaxed every facial muscle, but Nobuko let the entirety of her attention fall onto Clarion. Because right now, Clarion was the biggest threat to the mission.

Clarion winked, teeth glinting in the dark. "Surprise."

"Just a bit of one, yes." Nobuko laughed politely. What did Clarion know?

Last night Clarion had conceded much too easily to the six days rather than seven to apprehend Chief Ockham and convince the Frantic Heart mages to remain in the guild. Clarion had also retreated to her office for that night, not her room. It had rung alarm bells for Nobuko then, and was what jumped to mind now. What favours had Clarion called in? Nobuko dearly wanted to believe that she had enough capital for the Union not to screw her like this, but the Union was a powerful institution wont to throw its weight around. Fickle, unstable, made of hundreds guilds, pulling itself in all manner of directions at one time, but a very useful ally. One Nobuko needed to keep.

The Mage Union also had an agenda that aligned with Nobuko's own. Public perception of mages had dropped in recent years, a response to the events of the past decades or so. The 10% had one-too-many a times brought Earthland to the brink of extinction, and the 90% were balking. A slow, insidious notion, seeping in from the edges of Fiore. Nobuko gave it a decade before things went out of hand. Certainly there wasn't any rioting in the streets. Anti-mage sentiment was generally met with derision, but it wasn't the surprise that it used to be. Bad business for a bodyguard business with a primary workforce of mages. Preventative action was necessary, and the rise of anti-mage sentiment rode on the backs of variety worries. Most Nobuko couldn't help, but some were worries with names. Mikalei Tran. Natsu Dragneel. Akita Rikimaru. Estela Livingston.

Willow Jenson.

The Union had contracted Nobuko for the year, a bodyguard in name, a mentor in spirit.

Willow Jenson's re-introduction into society had been entrusted to Nobuko. Nobuko herself had left her teens with a bloodbath in her wake, entered adulthood grief-stricken with a fury blood couldn't sate. She'd earned the reputation of a violent, unstable, vengeance-crazed murderer and been slapped with the responsibility of managing a bodyguard company before the blood or tears had dried on her face, when half of Fiore wouldn't trust her to cut their grass.

Because 'Nobuko Kobayashi' was a worry with a name.

And less than a decade later, Nobuko Kobayashi's reputation was stellar, her business thriving. Much of that Nobuko would attribute to her PR team, but she certainly didn't get this far riding on the backs of others.

'Teach her to be like you.'

"You'll find the Union has a vested interest in Willow's continued membership in Frantic Heart."

No. No, they couldn't possibly expect Nobuko to succeed with Clarion Jones' name attached to Willow. Attached to Nobuko. Nobuko kept her gaze forward as she ran, bit her tongue.

Except Nobuko knew better than to expect logic.

'Damn it.'

But Nobuko was a professional. She laughed. "Oh, really? What happened to 'no catches'?"

"I have no catches for Willow. Didn't say anything about you or what the Union might have in store." Clarion's voice was intentionally innocent, her smile intentionally smug. "Unfortunate, your misunderstanding."

Nobuko hated – no, loathed that kind of semantical, mental gymnastics bullshit. She smiled back at Clarion, pleasant as a summer's breeze. "Unfortunate, yes."

"Fortunate that Willow trusts you so much. I'm sure she'd stay in Frantic Heart if you recommended it. You'd avoid some troubling consequences, anyway." Clarion shrugged. "Just something to think on."

"Thank you for telling me." Nobuko displayed nothing but gratitude in voice, tone, and posture.

"You're very welcome." Clarion grinned. "Glad that's settled."

This was far from over.

They ran to only the wailing of sirens for long seconds. Nobuko considered her options.

"Hey," Clarion interrupted. Nobuko braced herself for another of Clarion's bombshells. Literal or otherwise.

"Since you're the only one that gets what this" – Clarion wiggled her bandaged, ink-drenched right arm in the air – " means, do me a favour and keep quiet about it, yeah? I'm not asking you to lie, just don't mention it."

The audacity. "I won't be lying for you." Nobuko gave her an admonishing look, and Clarion rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised you'd want to keep it a secret." It was a sacrifice Nobuko expected Clarion to hold over Willow. Or one she would brag incessantly about.

"Oh hell no!" Clarion snorted. "I want a damn parade in my honour after that!"

Yes. There it was.

Then Clarion grimaced. "But Ollie's gonna freak when he finds out, and we really don't need that right now."

Nobuko nodded at that. Fair enough.

They were very close to the smoke now. Nobuko could hear faint shouting through the lowest tones of the hi/lo wail, smell the ash in the air.

"So, why the arm and not a leg?" Nobuko started before they'd have to split, because it bothered her.

Clarion hummed. Her lip quirked even as her teeth clenched. "Dahlia's got a heck of a better chance of surviving this with me sans-arm and mobile. Frantic Heart needs Dahlia – this damned guild will work out if I have to give an arm and a leg for it."

Another mystery, just why Clarion was so invested in this. It made no sense. Jibed with none of what Nobuko knew of her. Clarion Jones had been an independent mage for the entirety of her career, had never shown interest in guild lifestyle, much less attaching herself to a guild. Not publicly at least. Why now? Why here? What was Frantic Heart, really? And why did she need Nobuko and Willow? Why any of this?

"Plus, Willow will die of guilt if I don't save everyone!" Clarion was still talking, was now gesticulating wildly. Nobuko got the sense that she liked to hear herself talk. "Ergo as Guild Master, I have to save everyone."

And again with the 'Guild Master' talk. It irked Nobuko. The way Clarion always said it, always pushed it. Like they were playground children playing Magic Guild.

'Is that it then? Some game?'

Clarion took one look at Nobuko and raised a brow. Then they've moved on from gaslight, and Clarion's face is overtaken by shadow. Her voice penetrated the darkness. "Am I taking this seriously, you asked?" Very suddenly light illuminated her, and Clarion smiled with teeth. "Deadly."

"And what do you think this is?" Nobuko cut to the point, because sometimes the simplest solution was best.

"My magic guild," Clarion fired back immediately. "Duh."

Hm. Nobuko could feel the muscle around her left eye try to twitch. She didn't let it.

Clarion was bulldozing forward anyway. "And the Guild Master take care of their mages! As bad as I know you think being trapped in Frantic Heart is, I'd like you know…" Clarion met Nobuko's eyes with her own now. Gold, unblinking. Nobuko is glad this time when the darkness comes to drown her face. But Clarion waited for that second of light to speak her next words.

"I am fully prepared to die for you."

'Oh. So she's insane,' is Nobuko's first thought, followed by a great deal of doubt.

Clarion snorted out a laugh. "Don't get me wrong. I can't say I care about you guys that much – except for Ollie. I mean, I'm sure we'll all bond eventually" – Clarion sees the doubt on Nobuko's face, and her lips quirked the slightest – " or not, in our case. It's just – "

Ahead their paths split. Nobuko must go forward and Clarion must go left, into an alley on their side.

Clarion was already turning into it, facing away from Nobuko. " – I don't do half measures."

And that, at least, Nobuko could understand.

Clarion disappeared and Nobuko forced her words out of mind. It did no good to worry now. Annoying. Manipulative. Insane. it didn't matter in the end. As long as Clarion was useful to the objective. Right now? Clarion was necessary.

And Clarion could be dealt with later.

Nobuko slowed approaching the shouting. A row of wooden Dahlian buildings were lit up in flames, bright, unnaturally red. Magical. It was a slow travelling blaze, like gel had been poured over the walls and lit by a match, with short peaks that licked up the dark wood and produced abnormal amounts of dark, ashy smoke. The scent invaded Nobuko's nostrils, brushed at her throat and made her cough. Nobuko covered her mouth to breathe through her fingers coming closer. Guards had already arrived at the scene, were making a valiant attempt at maintaining the blaze with the benefit of filter masks as they worked. Balls of light hovered over their heads like beacons, lighting their way. Floating Lacrima light, two shared among the five guards. The Council never lacked for quality equipment, but tended to be stingy with their rural forces. Nobuko was grateful for sight regardless.

Nobuko watched as three guards held their staffs aloft, a triangular anti-magic field springing to life between them. The guards moved as a unit, rushing forth to dispel the magic in a swath of fire along a wall. A lone guard followed their path to smother the flame with a fire extinguisher, while the last guard shot beams at the building with his staff, ramming himself into the wood to make an opening and releasing billows of smoke from within into the night air. Nobuko realised why when a group of civilian spilled forth from the smoke out of the opening and onto the streets. Hysterical, some cried in relief, but the home guard didn't have time to offer comfort, were moving onto the next blazing building without a second's pause.

Nobuko frowned. Steady progress, but too slow. And as short and sluggish as the blaze was, it was steadily creeping up the properties. A headache and a half to put out with that sort of technique, and while Nobuko didn't know the long-term effects of inhaling this particular magic smoke, it could mean nothing good.

"Tailwind!" Nobuko casted to shoot herself into the heart of the flames and blast away smoke, bought herself a couple seconds before the fire would consume her position.

Contrary to popular belief, the first and most important spell of all fire disciplines was dispelling flame. Nobuko couldn't call herself a fire mage in good conscience, but she could perform this spell at least. Nobuko manifested her magic circle underneath her and concentrated, directing mana around her until the sigils were an adequate simulation of the basic Fire Dispel Ideal. Feeling for the magic of the flames, she attuned it to her own and pushed. "Dispel!"

Magic fire all along the street dimmed at once, but did not go out. No matter, all elements existed in a balance. Strong wind trumped weak flame.

"Gale Force!" Nobuko gripped the air and spun, pushing the wind out and smothering all flame at once. Smoke dissipated into the wind when Nobuko directed air up.

The home Guard startled, turning to Nobuko as she stumbled. The void the castings left in Nobuko's reserves had made itself known. 'Damn.' That was no average Pyrokinesis or Red Inferno flame. Much too stubborn, took much too much mana.

A guard ran to Nobuko, gripping her by the shoulders to steady her. "Ms Kobayashi!" The guard exclaimed, voice somehow not muffled by the filter. Most likely Council provided equipment. "Thank you!"

Nobuko turned to see a familiar women. The Guard's mouth and nose was covered by the filter mask, and what wasn't uncovered was almost as dark as the soot that powdered her face and hid her features, but Nobuko recognised the tight ponytail of hot pink hair and pinched expression to be one of the Guards at the briefing. How convenient.

"Guard Chen." Nobuko righted herself in Guard Chen's hold. No time to waste. "There's a bomb in Dahlia with a blast radius of the whole town. Change the sirens immediately, everyone must be evacuated."

"I – " Guard Chen blanched. She let go of Nobuko. Took a blink of a second to gather herself, and she stood straighter, all professionalism. Nobuko was reminded of their Captain. "You're positive?"

Nobuko nodded. "Yes. But don't worry!" She beamed. "Everyone will be safe outside of town limits." If Clarion could manage her part of the plan, at least. "Please spread the word. Focus your efforts on evacuation. Frantic Heart will handle the rest."

Guard Chen only hesitated the slightest before nodding back, mouth a tight line. "Understood, Ms Kobayashi."

Good. Nobuko smiled. Guard Chen almost reminded of a Kobayashi recruit.

Guard Chen summoned her force to her. Nobuko got a good look at them, soot-stained and harried as they were. The first was a middle-aged man, at least a head taller than the rest of his force and broad, with chin length blond hair complete with goatee. The one that rammed himself into the door, Goatee limped as he ran, clutching a shoulder. He was followed closely by a much shorter, baby-faced boy with wide terror-filled blue eyes, clutching a fire extinguisher to his chest like a lifeline with his Council appointed staff balancing awkwardly in the crook of his elbow. Baby-faces uniform was too big on him, and he couldn't have been a year out of his teens Nobuko couldn't help but note. The last two were a pair of twin women who sported identical brown, shoulder-length bobs, with square, bespectacled faces, and solemn countenances. The least fazed by their situation, going by appearances, but they lagged behind the men as they ran, tired. As Guard Chen relayed Nobuko's information in blunt terms, Nobuko thought the four Guards took it rather well. They were obviously shaken, but defaulted to stand at the ready awaiting orders - though Baby-face's knees shook the slightest. With that exception, Nobuko took it as mark of competency and decided she liked the Dahlian Home Guard. This lot at least.

Guard Chen pointed to Goatee. "Nerine to the Main Guard Station. Start the evacuation sirens!"

"Count on me, Chen!" Goatee took off.

"The rest with me!" Chen directed her force toward the gathered crowd of mutterings civilians. Too far away to hear their conversation, but close enough to pick up on the uneasiness of the guards meant to protect them. Said guards steeled themselves approaching, but the tension didn't leave their shoulders.

Guard Chen's face turned grim as she faced Nobuko. "Irma Minx took off towards Fosters Street after she was done here. Hurry. The orphanage is along that way – "

Nobuko clasped the women's arm and beamed, she spoke loud enough for the civilians to hear. "Don't worry, we have it handled!"

Guard Chen blinked, then gave her a thin smiled. "Thank you. We'll be along to provide backup as soon as we get the civilians safe and settled."

Nobuko nodded. She didn't even have to ask before one of the twins handed her a filter mask and controller cuff, and was very happy for it. One floating lacrima light moved to hover a meter over her head, and glance at the cuff revealed it to have half a charge left. It'd do. Nobuko attached the mask to her face and began towards Fosters Street.

"Good luck!" Baby-face's wobbling voice called out after her.

Nobuko gave the boy a thumbs up, though she wouldn't need luck. She couldn't have asked for a more perfect match-up, after all.

A better match-up than she thought, it turned out. And perhaps worse. Nobuko skulked at the edge of Fosters Street atop a building. She crouched in the shadow of chimney as she studied her quarry. The floating light had been dimmed to a glow with a movement of the controller cuff's slider. Other adjustments had the floating light hovering at Nobuko's feet, just over the roof tiles by her side.

Irma Minx, as per her description, was a women with skin dark as Dahlian wood and a mane of purple braids down to her thighs. Lanky, practically skin and bones, the dark mage almost faded into the night dressed in a robber's all-black ensemble, but Nobuko could follow the shine of two yellow eyes as they raced down the street, never mind Irma's bright red magic circle. Irma shot past the length of wooden buildings opposite Nobuko, hands outstretched to touch wood. Thick, dark smoke billowed from the points of her every limb. Wherever finger or foot touched down on wood or dark grey cobblestone, the space lit up red-orange like burning coals. The light faded quickly, lasted no more than second before smoke poured forth from the red-orange light to smother itself. The smoke didn't fade, was quickly filling Fosters Street like a fog. Nobuko could make out light in the windows of some buildings where smoke billowed from the walls, but sparingly few civilians were brave enough to take to the streets and escape the smog. Irma didn't bother to give chase to the one or two that did, steadfast in her mission to consume the street. Nobuko, watching Irma at work, almost wanted to rule out Fire Magic as a possibility in favour of Smoke Magic. Almost. Irma sprinted forward, magic circle dragging at her feet, approximately three meters by three meters, shining as bright a red as her flames. Not a Smoke Circle, much closer to a Fire Circle.

If you could call it that. Nobuko bit her lip. She'd never witnessed anything so far from an Ideal in person, almost didn't believe the pictures in the briefing. The manifestation was tortured thing. Horrifically warped, and writhing. It Pulled itself into every shape but a circle at each of Irma's steps. The lines and sigils held within jostled in place, spilling out of the "circles" boundary with every twitch of Irma's finger, every turn of her head, blink of her eyes. Nobuko balked at the sight, hesitating at her perch. And it wasn't some inborn mammalian fear of fire that kept her back, but a mages built-in aversion to wickedly unstable casting.

'Unhinged.' Against a skilled, proper fighter, there were certain things you could expect. You could trust that such a mage operated within the bounds of certain rules, because not doing so was the height of stupidity. In Magic especially there was danger in reckless ignorance - In a fight, it was a danger that went both ways. As dangerous as Irma was to herself - and mis-casted magic was dangerous - she posed the same danger to Nobuko.

Still, Nobuko bristled at the site of the mangled circle. She despised ignorance. Recklessness. And most of all...

Nobuko was the Kobayashi heir. She lived and breathed the elementals. Adolescence had been a blur of gruelling, thorough training by specialists of variety elements until she'd settled on Wind Magic. It was why even with their different specialisations Nobuko was more than qualified to mentor Willow. Nobuko had the theory burnt into her brain. Even now, Nobuko could adequately perform the first basic spell of each of the main five as well as the auxiliary Light and Dark elements - which, while not quite part of the main five, were important in the same way black and white were not exactly colours but were nonetheless important in colour theory. Every one of Nobuko's teachers had instilled a deep, abiding respect for the elemental disciplines within Nobuko.

Irma Minx spat on that.

Irma approached the building of Nobuko's perch. Nobuko covered her eyes with both arms. Face nestled the crook of her elbow, she leapt from the building. Ducking and rolling, Nobuko slid a finger over the controller cuff, set the floating light to a flash bright enough to light up her eyelids behind her arms.

"Storm Bringer!" Nobuko called hitting the ground. A tornado blasted outward from her. Darkness fell behind Nobuko's eyelids for all of a second as the force rocketed the floating light away, but the magi-tech knocked into Nobuko's side rebounding back. Took a bit to recalibrates itself back into position.

Irma fared worse. She'd shrieked, slamming into the building's side. "Rise!" she managed.

Breathtaking heat overwhelmed Nobuko, had her buckling to the ground when it felt like all the oxygen on Earthland had burnt away. Nobuko dimmed the floating light, ducking into another alley to observe the scene.

Fire had exploded from the fog of smoke that filled Fosters. Pockets of black smoke even now were swirling together, sparking like flint-stone and lighting up in swirling fire pillars. They spiralled up, rising to merge into a wall of flame, higher than every building on the street. It roared in Nobuko's ears, made her mind go blank for the sheer heat of the wave that swept over her.

But none even close to Nobuko's position. Nobuko held her breath. Coaxed magic into cool air around her, and wind to circulate. Sweat beaded Nobuko's brow, but she kept her sights on Irma.

Irma twisted in the wreck of the building, flash blind and scrambling. She clutching her bleeding side and blinked rapidly. The dark mage hissed, limping forward blindly onto the street. "Sonutha - show yourself, coward!"

Nobuko was preparing to cast another spell when Irma sprinted to dive into one of her flame pillars. The biggest one, at the largest clearing of space in the intersection between Fosters and Miltonway. Irma whirled in place, arms held high.

"Death Spire!" she called.

Nobuko felt her eyes narrow. Irma wouldn't dare cast that sort of spell with those sort of circles.

But there Nobuko went, expecting logic again. The spiral fires converged on Irma's position, arching even higher then sinking into Irma like water in a drain. Flame spun in place with her, converging into a colossal fire tornado as wide around at the eye of the storm as Nobuko was tall. It tilted toward Nobuko.

"Wind Cushion!" Nobuko called, pushed a quarter of her reserves into the spell and huddled in on herself.

But the tornado imploded in on itself before it could even make its way to Nobuko. The wind cushion shielded Nobuko from the heat and flame, but Nobuko was lifted off her feet, went flying. Her back and shoulder made contact with one of those blasted gaslamps and she hit the ground. Nobuko hissed in place. She rolled forward into a crouch a second later when a fireball threatened to melt her face off.

Irma was haggard with magic exhaustion following that failed spell, standing across Nobuko and breathing an unsteady rhythm. Magic burns ran up Irma's arms and legs. Nobuko could see because Irma's clothes have melted into her skin. But the damage didn't look permanent, would maybe even heal without scarring. Irma stared down at Nobuko with wild, yellow eyes, showing too much white. "Bring me the girl. I have it in me to try that again."

Nobuko didn't doubt it.

"Her name is Willow," Nobuko said after a second. She wiped blood from her lips and smiled, pleasant with crinkling eyes. "If you'll act as her murderer, please have the courtesy to use it."

Irma's jaw locked.

Figured. Liliger Depth's modus operandi since conception had consisted of the classic general banditry. Petty thefts, robberies, assault... etc. The escalation in brutality had coincided with the arrest of former Liliger Depth Leader Hiroki no-last-name in the Autumn of last-year and following failed breakout attempt. Hiroki's trial had been clear-cut and quick, the man currently awaited the death penalty scheduled for the Spring of this year. Liliger Depth were not necessarily cruel, just desperate. The running theory was that Chief Ockham had promised some sort of save for the former leader. The details weren't relevant here, however. What mattered was that core Liliger Depth members displayed a propensity to ignore reason and attempts at diplomacy, but didn't fancy themselves villains. Few did. Even attempted child murderers.

Nobuko slipped into her fight stance as Irma does. "Try. I dare you."

Because Nobuko was confident in the outcome of this fight. She'd had enough time to observe now. Nobuko could see why Irma's magic would be mistaken for Red Inferno, an easy mistake to make without the elemental expertise, but she had no idea where'd they'd gotten Pyrokinesis from. Irma's spirals were too uniform, she displayed no fine control. Those particular bright red flames were characteristic of Red Inferno however. Except while the vortex patterns of Irma's flame suggested Red Inferno, to Nobuko's expert eye it seemed to be more a mishandling of the magic on Irma's part rather than the proper mechanism of the magic. The smoke exactly didn't fit either.

'Embers,' Nobuko had come to realise. Another bright red magic fire, and while Embers smoke was characteristically light and airy and its flames lacking in spiralation, Irma's warped circles pointed to serious error in casting technique. Considering that, Nobuko couldn't expect the magic to fit exactly into any box. Nobuko was fairly sure in her diagnosis, anyhow. Information was half the battle, and as for the skill in countering it…

There were certain golden rules to live by as a mage. Don't stick around against exponential spell series. Don't engage a warder at their home base. Generally, don't engage enemy mages in environments that favour them i.e. an ikebana mage at a flower festival. Subsequently…

Don't pit an elemental user against a Kobayashi Mage.

Nobuko beamed at Irma.

A chapter? Updated less than a week from the last chapter O.O A miracle!

It's also miraculous to me how many users with submitted OCs are still active! 4 so far :D All with OCs I want to keep, so very good for me haha

Whaddaya think? And what do people think regarding Clarion's motivations?

Goatee/Nerine created by Cheshire Neko-chama

Review Replies

Reduced20:
Hope you enjoyed this one too. A bit on Nobuko's motivations, Clarion poking a dragon, much more stuff you haven't seen than in the last chapter, and a bit of a fight :D

MaMcMu:
Thank you for the interest!

Mary Allen:
You're still here! :D Great! I would have dragged Lumi and Arlet along with me even in the event of a rewrite, buts it's awesome to know you'll be following along and there to answer my questions if I need :D

And yep! I've written like 30k omg. And credit for Nobuko's personality goes to Reduced20 :D It really is fun to write!

Haha! Clarion is a lot of things, yes. I never expected her to be anyone's best girl tho! I wonder about your thoughts on Clarion after this chapter :)

Ah, okay. We're definitely not going into smut here so I guess I'm safe xD

Glad you've enjoyed reading :)

Cheshire Neko-chama:
You're still here too! I'm so happy! Goatee/Nerine would be here regardless, but I thought you would've loved the cameo and it made me sad you might not see it :,D

And the check-ups aren't necessary, don't feel bad :3 I'm already chuffed about your long review xD

Frantic Hearts is where my daydreamings go, yes xD To some other fic ideas I don't write as well, but Frantic Hearts is definitely my most developed story and therefore funner to add to.

Yep! The saying goes "we're all the main character of our own stories." Clarion is Lumi's friend in "Luminis' Story", and Clarion is Nobuko's antagonist in "Nobuko's Story.'' We'll see which role each OC plays in each other's stories over time :D

Yeah, haha, I also get the feeling Nobuko will end up playing "the straight man" lots!

I loved the idea of Rune Magic too! I've always wanted to see a Levy-centric fic that turned her into a BAMF lmao (As for if Clarion is… that's a spoiler xD)

I'll take your advice into account, and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter then haha