Chapter 6

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Ace woke up the next day, ready to fight.

"More like ready to kill…" Ace shook his head. He found his sage uniform on the bed and wore it. In his head, he reviewed every single spell that could help him today. His gaze moved to the bed beside his and he sighed. He grabbed his dagger, tucked it underneath his robes and went out to the arena, letting the door slam shut. Kat awoke at the bang of the door but quickly went back to sleep.

Ace slowly trudged towards the arena. When he got there, he saw Scythe, his arms around his huntress. He looked away, partly because he was jealous. He found another place to stay and there he meditated until the fight began. Ace opened his eyes, "It's time," and stood up.

Quickly he went to Scythe's side.

"Ready Ace?" Scythe asked eagerly, katars disengaging.

"Always am…" Ace grumbled, playing with the dagger in his hands.

The knight, with the priest they were fighting stood on the opposite side of the arena. Both tensed as they waited for the signal to start. A whistle was blown and each geared up for the fight.

Ace concentrated hard. He conjured up a long wall of flame from the ground beneath, stopping the knight from his charge. He saw Scythe jump the wall and gave Raven two gashes on his armored chest. The knight groaned in pain. Ace turned his head at the figure behind Raven as soon as he saw the knight's wounds close.

"Stupid priest…" he swore to himself.

"Concentrate your magic on the priest," Scythe yelled as he lunged at the knight. Ace turned to face Avalon.

"Damn it…I wanted to fight the knight…But you'll have to do…" he said, advancing on his target. His mouth moved to the words of the spells in his head. He stopped only to see his spell's completion. Red hot bolts hit the priest, burning him. To Avalon's dismay, he couldn't heal the sores on his body.

"Nice work Ace! Now I can concentrate on Raven," Scythe yelled, getting ready to slash the knight once again. Ace paid him no attention.

"Surprised? It's called Magnetic Earth!" Ace explained to the man before him, all the while conjuring up another spell. A suppressed scream came from Avalon as he lightning bolts hit him on the chest. The sage laughed at him.

"How do you like it?" Ace cast a stream of ice towards Avalon as he saw the priest bring out a huge swordmace from behind him. Too late, he was frozen. The sage smirked evilly, sending chills down everybody's spine.

"AHHHHH!!!!" Avalon screamed in pain. Sparks of lightning electrocuted him. His frozen state only doubled the torment.

"One final blow…Choose, burnt, frozen, or fried?" the smirk was still on Ace's face.

"Oh, I think I'll choose for you…" Ace walked around the weakened form of Avalon, chanting his spells. The priest looked at him in horror; he was too weak even to heal himself.

"Guess this is the end…" he let loose all the energy he had built up inside. Atop the priest's body, a huge sphere of crimson red appeared. It crackled and grew in size. Then, several spears of fire erupted from within it, aimed at the priest below. He was burnt to the skin soon after. No longer could he stand the pain and collapsed on the arena floor.

"The winner is…Scythe and Ace!!" Arthur said regretfully. Ace saw the assassin run to Ann and Michael, The huntress hugged him hard.

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A lone sage walked the halls of the Zenith base. He saw Scythe again, bags packed.

"Guess they're leaving…Maybe I should too…There's nothing left for me here…" Ace sighed as he reached his room. Inside he saw Kat sleeping on her bed.

"She didn't watch…" he climbed onto his bed and rested.

"You were terrific Ace…" Kat whispered as Ace slept.

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After a few hours of sleep, the sage stood up and went to the bathroom to freshen up. He noticed an empty bed with only a letter on top.

"I'll read it later…" he said as he picked it up and put it in his robes. Inside the bathroom, he wet his face and his hair and pushed it back with his hand.

"I think I'll visit the town…Not much to do here until the siege…" he told himself. He walked the halls once again towards the entrance. As soon as he got into town, someone yelled out his name.

"Ace! Hey man!" it was Jack Nols, the rogue.

"Jack! Hehehe," they gave each other high-fives.

"Where's Kat?" Jack looked around hopefully.

"Uh…She went somewhere…" the sage said, a tone of sadness present in his voice. But he cheery rogue failed to notice it.

"Oh…Less fun for her. C'mon Ace, the rest are waiting near Payon Cave," Jack said as he started walking.

"Huh? Why?" Ace walked with him.

"Yep, we heard something's up at the bottom of the caves," Jack replied.

"Really? Is it Moonlight?" Ace blinked once.

"Huh? Yeah, Moonlight is up. How'd you guess?"

"Just a hunch?" Ace told him. Jack felt like Ace was hiding something from him but he shrugged it off as they neared the cave's entrance. As Jack said, Nicholas, the hunter, Lance the bard and Regan, his dancer friend were waiting there. Each said their hellos as they walked inside, They quickly traversed the caves.

"No sweat…" Lance commented.

They were at the entrance of the bottom level. Nicholas released two arrows at a nearby sohee.

"Why are there so many? Was it like this before?" Jack asked, dropping to ground, exasperated.

"Something's happened…I'd better contact Father soon…" Ace whispered to no one. After they had rested a bit, all of them entered only to see a pack of ninetails waiting for them.

"Wait…Ninetails…That means…" Regan started to say. A bell rang at her words and a small shadowed form approached their group. Nicholas and Lance readied arrows on their bows as Jack and Regan took out a dagger each.

The figure disappeared only to reappear behind Ace and pulled on his robe. Ace wasn't even a bit shocked. He lowered his head to Moonlight's mouth, and then she whispered something in his ear. To the group's surprised, Ace smiled.

"What's up with these two?" Jack relaxed a bit, lowering his dagger. The others did the same.

"Guys, you can all relax here, they won't hurt you," Ace told them.

"Huh? Why?" Regan asked.

"It's okay Regan. Moonlight here is a friend of mine," Ace smiled looking at Moonlight. The four stood their, mouths dropped in surprise. They couldn't believe it. Ace was actually friends with a monster, Moonlight no less.

"Just who is this guy…" Regan mumbled to herself.

The other three sat down as the ninetails neared them. They tensed again but relaxed once more when the foxes laid their heads on their laps.

"This isn't so bad," Jack said out loud, stroking the fox's head. Ace and moonlight were talking once more.

"I think Moonlight likes Ace…Hehehe…"Jack whispered to the group and they laughed together. Then Ace walked towards them.

"Guys, I have to go now, time for the siege," Ace explained. They all stood up and said goodbye to him.

"And don't worry about them attacking alright?" he added. They nodded their heads.

"Nice seeing you again, wanna go exploring again sometime?" Jack asked them.

"Sure, we'll talk," Ace winked. He took one last look at Moonlight, waved and smiled then broke a butterfly wing. With that, he disappeared.

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Sorry it's a bit short...I'll try to prolong the next chapter.