"Memory-Make: Night of Falling Stars!" Rufus chanted as his magic crest appeared behind him before nine bright bolts of yellow lightning shot up into the sky, the crowd watching in awe as they all reached their apex in the air before curling back & heading back down towards Alexei.
However, the Raven Tail mage in question didn't look concerned as he spun the flagpole behind his back, waiting until the spell were near him before slashing it above his head.
Instantly, the flag itself whipped out and Rufus frowned as his lightning dissipated on contact with the flag, watching as the flag swayed in the wind before he frowned as a storm of paper shikigami shot out from the flag towards him.
"Memory-Make: Shrine of Turbulent Fang." Rufus chanted while swiping an arm towards Alexei, who frowned behind his mask as the shikigami neared Rufus only for a series of whirlwinds to appear around him like a shield & diverted them all away.
"Shikigami: Explode." Alexei chanted and Rufus' eyes widened as all of the dozens of shikigami glowed a deep yellow before exploding with a sparking boom, barely able to raise his arms in a cross-guard before gritting his teeth as a storm of flames & electricity sent him flying through the air.
Alexei was not one to let the opportunity go to waste as he spun his flagpole before rushing after Rufus, who flipped through the air and landed with a soft thud.
"Memory-Make: Waves of Weeping Sirens!" Before he could even stand upright, the ground under Rufus bulged outwards before a water vortex surged upwards.
"Absorb." Alexei however was not one to let that stop him as he aimed his flagpole at the waves before throwing it with a grunt, Rufus frowning as the flag expanded & completely absorbed all of the water before shrinking back to its regular size.
"Shikigami: Reflect." Alexei chanted as he caught his pole while coming to a skidding stop next to Rufus, thrusting the spear tipped pole and waiting as Rufus ducked under the strike before activating his spell.
Immediately, Rufus' eyes widened as paper shikigami surged from the flag and wrapped around him, Alexei leaping back just as the shikigami dolls swiftly transformed into a giant bubble of water that surrounded him from all sides.
"Explode." Alexei chanted as he stomped the butt of his pole onto the ground and the crowd watched in horror as the bubble quickly lit up before exploding with a devastating boom.
"So, the flag on your pole allows you to absorb any spell aimed at you which allows you to reflect it back with either the flag or by using shikigami dolls. By how it can expand & how the flag is durable enough to withstand my spells, I assume that you used jutsu shiki to give it those abilities while also powering it with a lacrima you embedded somewhere inside it." Rufus hummed as he appeared from thin air behind Alexei, who slowly turned around as the crowd roared.
"I-I can't believe it, folks! All this time, we thought that Rufus was on the ropes, but we along with Alexei was just being led along as the real Rufus was figuring out his opponent's strengths & weaknesses! This is what Sabretooth is all about, people!" The announcer exclaimed with glee, Alexei frowning behind his mask as he tightened the grip on his flagpole while Rufus smiled in amusement as he reached up & tipped his hat towards his wary foe.
"I thank you for your magic. Fighting you showed me that there is still magic out there that I can learn, so allow me to return the favour. Memory-Make: Karmic Dance of the Burning Shikigami." Rufus chanted and Alexei froze as hundreds upon hundreds of shikigami rushed out from the magic crest behind Rufus, each of them glowing brightly while droplets of magma dripped from their bodies.
"Absorb!" The urgency could be heard in Alexei's voice as he spun his flagpole before swinging it through the air in front of him, the flag quickly bulging outwards before wrapping around him in a tight cocoon.
"Memory-Make: Forget." Rufus chanted with a smile as he walked forward, Alexei gritting his teeth as the flag dropped limply onto him while the shikigami around them dissipated in the air.
"Memory-Make: Banshee's Wailing Tears!"
"Fuck you, Lore!" Rufus smirked at Screecher's shout as his magic crest surrounded from all sides, Alexei only given a moment to try to move away before his body froze midair as supersonic cries shot at him from all sides.
"Memory-Make: Blade of Thundering Judgement!" With a final smirk and a nod to Alexei, Rufus turned around and the crowd watched in awe as a storm of black lightning erupted from Rufus' magic crests and rained down upon the Raven Tail mage trapped in between them.
"I-Incredible! With precise yet elegant movements, Rufus Lore takes the win for Sabretooth!" The announcer roared along with the crowd as Alexei's unconscious form became visible, Rufus simply having an amused smile on his face as he made his way back to the Sabretooth booth.
Eric, however, had an excited smirk as he watched the man leave, Bacchus noticing it and chuckling as he looked down to see his own hands trembling.
'Maybe this won't be such a boring time, after all.'
"Congratulations to Eric & Bacchus, who despite both not coming first, showed Fiore that we're not average fodder to the top dogs anymore!"
"To our wild buddies!" The guild roared as they all raised their glasses in unison, Eric simply rolling his eyes as he saw Bacchus lifting an entire barrel of whiskey instead.
"Sorry I couldn't get that first place for us." Eric apologized to Goldmine as the guild master sat down, to which he simply blinked before Eric was surprised by the man bursting out with laughter.
"Ahahaha! Hahahaa! Who cares about that shit? Besides, who needs you winning when you scared everyone to death with the Dragon Cry?"
"Yeah, we know you're nearly unbeatable when using it, but I thought you struggled to use it along with your own personal magic?" Bacchus asked with a frown and Eric smiled as he shook his head.
"I can only use my Dragon Slayer magic with it because the staff is made out of the body of a dragon and there's a few million dragon souls trapped inside it."
"…Say what?" Guy asked with a raised eyebrow, the shock visible in his eyes along with that of everyone else's as Eric chuckled.
"Yeah, I learned about that during my training with it. Well, calling it their souls is a bit of an of the Dragon Cry as having the ethernano of millions of dragons contained inside it and only I can use all of that for myself."
"So, you're saying that if you had attacked that MPF today…"
"It would have been the equivalent of using thousands of Imperial Flaming Cuspids without really exerting myself."
"…Dear, could you warn us next time you want to blow up the city?" Flare asked with a nervous smile before she groaned as Eric gave a sheepish grin.
"More like the country, but sure, I'll try my best."
"I can't even look at you right now without feeling death looming over my shoulder. I need a drink." Leo muttered as he stood up and walked over to the bar, Bacchus Warcry and Guy following after him while Screecher laughed as Eric noticed Goldmine staring at him.
"Got something on my face, Master?"
"…I really made the right choice forcing you to become a mage a year ago. Am I the best or what?" Eric simply rolled his eyes at Goldmine's words as the man stood up with a shit-eating grin, Flare giggling while Screecher rolled his eyes before turning to Eric.
"So, when are we having that party for you & Flare leaving the guild?"
"W-What?" Flare asked in surprise, Eric raising an eyebrow in response to Screecher's smirk.
"What the hell makes you think we're leaving the guild?"
"Well, you can't exactly live be on the King's council if you're stuck working at a guild."
"Did you tell him?" Flare whispered as she looked at Eric, who shook his head as he looked at the Sonic Mage with a hum.
"Can I ask how you heard about this?" Eric asked before frowning in slight confusion as Screecher smirked while tapping his ear.
"I'm a Sonic Mage. Isolating & listening to different vibrations is quite easy when you can vibrate your own ethernano to match that of the atmosphere's."
"So, you were listening in on us?"
"I was. By the way, most of us don't care about you not having Gravity Magic. You're still Eric Creed the Dragon Slayer to us no matter what." Screecher said with a smirk and Eric smiled as he nodded before looking at Flare.
"Should I tell him?" He asked and Flare frowned as she looked towards an amused Screecher.
"Promise not to tell everyone until we're ready to do so?"
"I promise, Flare. I swear on my pride as a Quatro Cerberus mage." Screecher promised and Flare continued to stare at him for a while before sighing.
"We were thinking of retiring after the Grand Magic Games."
"I see. A final battle before you're stuck being a noble for the rest of your life?" Screecher asked and Flare smiled as Eric wrapped an arm around her shoulders while nodding.
"Yeah. Going on missions with you guys & fighting S-Class monsters is cool & all, but a time will come where I need to calm down and I would love to have peace of mind knowing that I have a stable home to return to."
"Besides, I've never been a fighter and the political world sounds like my type of challenge." Flare chimed in and Screecher chuckled as he nodded.
"It does and thankfully, you have the brains or else the nobles would have eaten this one alive."
"I'm sitting right here." Eric grumbled with a huff, to which Flare & Screecher just laughed harder as the Dragon Slayer huffed.
"Hahaha! Ah, I'm going to miss you two, but if this is what you want, then we will support you as much as you can. So, how many children are we looking at here and can I be the godfather to one of them? Maybe all?"
"Whoa there, buddy. Let's just get the wedding over and then, we'll worry about that kind of stuff." Eric spoke with a blush, Screecher smiling as Flare nodded along with a slight blush on her face as well.
"Y-Yeah, once the wedding is done, w-we'll think about all the other stuff."
"You make it seem as if the universe would go out of its way to stop you two from getting together." Screecher spoke with an amused smirk and Eric snorted as he nodded.
"With how unlucky I am, it's better to expect the worst thing imaginable. Who knows what could happen?"
As the full moon shone down upon the beautiful structure that was the palace called Mercurius, all was not peaceful in the castle itself as a soft hum echoed in its undergrounds.
Far beneath the depths of the palace itself, stood a sole structure. Its doors had the design of a sun on the front with a darkened moon below it.
The lower section of the door from the sun past the moon was a dark blue with golden line, the upper section a light green & split into twelve segments while around the sun were several circles.
The innermost circle connected the moon and twelve holes, a hole in each segment while a set of steps lead up to the double doors with two pillars standing on either side of the door as an arch connected them.
Atop the arch was an emblem of an eclipse sun, with additional support pillars placed on either side of the large gateway that was fashioned in the shape of a leg.
As strands of moonlight reflected off of the many mirrors & reflective surfaces scattered across the castle, some of the strands were somehow capable of reaching the deep bowels of Mercurius, soft humming echoing from the gateway as more & more moonlight reflected off of it.
As the gate's humming began to increase in frequency more & more, its doorway began to open by itself as a dark scarlet & violet light shone from its inside, the door barely halfway open before a pair of clawed & scaled hand grasped the doors from the inside.
Soon, another pair of hands that looked similar to the first pair of hands appeared above them before a clawed foot stepped through the gateway, a leg covered in tattered black pants slowly stepping through before a familiar ragged skirt with a thick silver fur waistline appeared.
As the second leg came through, a monstrous roar echoed from the inside of the gateway as a four-armed being pulled themselves through while pulling closed the door behind them, taking rasping yet menacing gasps as two pairs of vivid scarlet eyes scanned the room around them.
'Super Archive, activate Scan Mode.' The being chanted as they slowly stood upright, their upper body, outer arms & upper thighs covered in thick scarlet scales while a crimson sun tattoo shone brightly on their chest.
Draped across their shoulders was a cloak covered in black & red scales and grasped tightly in their upper left hand was a familiar staff that pulsed with power.
As their eyes finished scanning the environment, the being took a deep breath before letting it out softly, lifting the hood of their cloak to hide their face and hiding their extra arms under the cloak before making their way out of the basement.
'We're almost there. Just a couple more hours and this timeline will finally be gone.'
A/N: Like I said yesterday, this chapter is just as short as yesterday's because this was at a time where writer's block was beating my eyes. Hopefully, you guys aren't mad at it like some were yesterday.
And now, like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories(Not many. Just three at the moment). If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until next week...
Ba-Bye~!