This chapter took a little bit longer than I thought to finish. One of the new characters in this chapter is courtesy of lordsoftheRoses (Veil). Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!
October 18, X790
In Clover's prison, there were two dark wizards bound by anti-magic cuffs and sitting in a prison cell. They were the wizards that Spiral, Sakura and Jason had apprehended on their first mission. The sound of a door opening got their attention as a young woman with billowy orange hair tied in a ponytail, red lipstick and wore a black corset, black skirt, black leggings and black high-heeled shoes walked up to their cell.
"No… no way!" One of the trapped wizards said. "M… Madame Dream Le Rouge (Age 27)! How did you get in here?"
"You should know considering you work for me." Le Rouge said. "Now tell me… How exactly did you get caught?"
She leered at them with an intense glare that frightened them.
"It was a group of extremely powerful legal guild wizards!" The other trapped wizard shouted. "They completely overwhelmed us! We never thought they'd be that strong!"
"Hm… and what guild did they hail from?" Le Rouge asked.
"I-I think the name of their guild was Phoenix Dawn." The first wizard answered. "They were pretty new a few months ago, but I've heard they recruited some pretty powerful members already!"
"… That is all I needed to know." Le Rouge said as she closed her eyes. "… Omar."
Suddenly the two wizards started screaming in agony as wounds started appearing on their bodies out of nowhere. After being cut too many times the two wizards bled out and perished in their cells. Le Rouge started walking toward the door she came out of and into the main lobby of the small prison, where all of the guards and civilians that were there were in some sort of deep sleep. A dark-skinned man with short hair and wearing a black jacket with a white shirt and leather jeans stood at the door.
"Any idea who messed with the Bladed Foxes?" He asked.
"Apparently it was a guild of rookie wizards." Le Rouge answered. "Don't worry, we'll make sure they learn what happens when they mess with the Bladed Foxes."
The two left the building and the people inside the prison started to wake up from their sleep, confused by what had just happened.
October 22, X790
In the town of Roseshade, Hikari was at Spiral's house trying to cook something.
"Let's see…" She said. "First I add this… and then this…"
Knock, knock, knock.
"Hold on, I'm coming!" Hikari called out.
She went to the door, opened it and let Jason inside.
"Hey, Spiral still isn't back yet?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, I've been looking after his house while he's been gone." Hikari answered. "Right now I'm practicing my cooking so that when he gets home I'll have a nice dish prepared for him. Once he sees how well I'm able to clean and cook, he'll practically be begging me to be his wife!"
"I think you're waaay too excited about this." Jason said with an anime sweat drop. "But you have a point. Spiral's month of training should be over by now and he'd definitely appreciate you making him a home-cooked meal after being away from home for so long."
"So what'd you come here for?"
"Uh…" Jason rubbed the back of his head while holding a few wet comic books. "I asked Spiral if I could borrow some of his comic books and I ended up spilling water on them."
"… I'll be sure to tell Spiral to kill you later." Hikari said with an innocent smile.
Meanwhile, Sakura and Flora were walking down the streets of Roseshade until Sakura started sniffing around.
"What is it, Sakura?" Flora asked.
"… He's back." Sakura said before running into a dark alley.
Flora followed her and in that dark alley she saw Foster sitting on a crate as if he was waiting for her.
"You!" Sakura said.
"Please, be quiet." Foster said. "I have a favor to ask of you, but I can't go too far into town without possibly getting recognized."
"Why would I do you a favor?" Sakura asked.
"I helped you defeat that demon."
"… Fair point."
Foster handed a fairly large bag to Sakura. She looked into the bag and saw a massive amount of money in it, which caused her jaw to drop.
"Wow! That's a lot of money!" Sakura said. "Where'd you get it?"
"Those Dark Guilds we take down, I take some of their loot." Foster answered. "How do you think Crime Sorcière is able to get food? Anyway, I want you to go buy a very specific item for me."
"… Huh?" Sakura and Flora both cocked their heads slightly.
Far off in the distance, an airship was approaching Roseshade and at the helm were six wizards. Two of them were Le Rouge and the man she spoke with earlier.
"Based on our intel, Phoenix Dawn is based here." The man said.
"Excellent work, Omar Wolf (Age 31)." A male voice spoke as he approached the front of the helm. He looked upon the city as it was getting closer and closer by the minute. "The city of Roseshade… so full of many different riches… It's like hitting the jackpot. Tell the men to start invading. Only kill any who bear the mark of Phoenix Dawn. We don't want to lose any potential merchandise."
"Weren't her orders to kill everyone in the town?" Omar asked.
"As long as she doesn't know… You will follow MY orders." The other man said.
Sakura and Flora were walking out of a jewelry store and headed back toward the guild hall.
"Why did he want us to buy that?" Flora asked.
"Did you not pay attention to what we just bought?" Sakura asked.
"Oh, I paid attention." Flora answered. "I'm just still baffled by his strange request."
"… Speaking of strange…" Sakura said as she pointed toward the outside of the city.
Flora looked over and they both saw that a giant airship was approaching the city. Sakura squint her eyes to make out an insignia on the airship. The insignia looked like an orange fox's head with two swords in its mouth.
"That's the symbol for the Bladed Foxes!" Sakura said.
"Why are they here?" Flora wondered.
"Considering our last run in with those guys, I doubt it's anything good." Sakura said. "Come on, Flora!"
Sakura ran off in the direction of the ship until she was out of town and right under the airship with Flora following right behind her. Sakura breathed in deep and puffed out her cheeks.
"Forest Dragon Roar!"
Sakura shot a breath of cherry blossom petals right underneath the airship. It shook a fair bit, but the ship only received a small amount of damage.
Back on the airship's helm, the six people stumbled slightly from the power of Sakura's attack.
"What was that?" Le Rouge asked.
A visual feed was provided to them via lacrima vision and Sakura was in the center of it.
"Her right hand…" The man in front said, looking at the guild insignia on Sakura's right hand. "She's from Phoenix Dawn! Omar, take her out!"
"Yes, sir!" Omar said as he nodded.
Back outside, Sakura checked out the bottom of the airship to see how much damage she was able to do.
"Crap, that didn't do a thing!" Sakura said to herself. "Flora, could you help me fly up there?"
Before Flora could respond to the request, a pack of transparent, shadow-like wolves charged from the airship right toward them.
"Forest Dragon Blossom Blade!"
Sakura swung a series of cherry blossom petals at the wolves like a sword, but the wolves fazed right through it and struck Sakura, knocking her down.
"What… what the hell are those things?" Sakura grunted as she got back up.
"Your attacks can't kill what's already dead." A male voice spoke. Omar appeared before Sakura and Flora, with the pack of wolves standing right behind him.
"You must be a member of the Bladed Foxes." Sakura said.
"Surprised you recognized our emblem." Omar said. "But I ain't no ordinary grunt like those guys you beat up a few months ago. I'm one of their big wigs: The Hexagon Swords."
"… 'Hector's got bored'?" Sakura asked.
"Hexagon Swords!" Omar shouted. "We are the six most powerful wizards in the Bladed Foxes, including our Guild Master. My name is Omar Wolf and I happen to be the third strongest. Bad luck for you, girly."
As the airship arrived over the town, several of the Phoenix Dawn wizards that were out and about in Roseshade looked up to it. The townsfolk also looked at the ship flying above them. Several dark wizards started to come out of the ship with the help of their wind wizards and they started to terrorize the town. The citizens were all being rounded up and herded into the town square. However, any dark wizards that landed in areas where a Phoenix Dawn wizard was waiting were having difficulty completing their tasks.
Jason, with gusts of wind around his arms, was taking out the dark wizards with ease. He kept swinging his winds around and knocking out the wizards with ease.
"What's with this guy?!" One of the dark wizards panicked. "Nobody said that Phoenix Dawn had powerful wizards like this!"
Jason quickly took out the last of the dark wizards and looked around the surrounding area.
"Looks like the townspeople managed to get out." Jason said. "I just hope they're not in a panic… and that the others are doing as well as I did."
Jason heard the sound of footsteps approaching him and turned around to see that it was a beautiful woman. She was a stunning beauty with tanned skin, raven hair, emerald eyes and wore a belly dancer's top that perceptively increased her bust size with a see through cloth over her belly and bottoms like the bottom of a Bikini with baggy see through leggings which showed off her slender legs. Over her shoulders she had two long, gold ribbons and at her side a large, curved Arabian sword.
"Are you a member of the Bladed Foxes?" Jason asked.
"…" She remained silent.
Jason simply readied himself for a possible attack.
"Tell me… what kind of girl do you like?" She asked.
"… What?!" Jason exclaimed.
"My name is Veil (Age 26), one of the Bladed Foxes' Hexagon Swords." She said. "So tell me, what kind of girl do you like?"
"That's none of your business."
"… Shame. And you're so cute, too. I guess I won't be able to give you a proper dance before you die." She said as she pulled out her sword.
In another part of town, Aqua was busy trying to guide the townspeople to safety.
"Everyone, please go to the guild hall and take shelter!" Aqua shouted. "We promise to keep you all safe!"
After the current crowd of townspeople managed to be guided to the guild hall, Le Rouge approached Aqua and she turned around to see her.
"Thank you for corralling our prospective slaves." Le Rouge said. "It helps make our job that much easier."
Aqua brought forth her water sword and readied herself for a fight.
"Who are you?" Aqua asked.
"I am one of the Hexagon Swords of the Bladed Foxes: Dream Le Rouge. It's safe to assume that you're a member of Phoenix Dawn? … Good." Le Rouge pulled out several throwing knives and held them between her fingers. "I'll take pleasure in bloodying that pretty little face of yours."
In another part of town, Haru was fighting off dozens of Bladed Foxes wizards with her flaming punches and kicks.
"Come get some!" Haru shouted. "I can take you all on!"
"Oh, Haru, you haven't grown up one bit, have you?" An old, male voice spoke.
"Wait… I know that voice…" Haru said.
The dark wizards parted to allow an old man to get in front of them. He had a long, white beard and wore a Chinese hanfu (look it up on Wikipedia) that was red with golden rims with white sleeves.
"To think that I would meet you here, under our current circumstances." He said. "It is quite the coincidence."
"… Master Yao?" Haru asked.
A/N: What a twist! Here's the first major action arc! I'll be going to an anime convention tomorrow, so who knows when I'll get the next chapter up!
Now for a shameless advertising plug: I just posted a new Bleach fanfic Orihime Nightengale! So if you're into M-rated fan fiction, go check it out!
If not, then stay tuned for next time!