Day 03: The Masquerade Ball; Ceremony Proper [Open]

The figure didn't seem to flinch or even budge, the threat of the crossbow falling on deaf ears. As it stood, Higini stared into them as Cassima made her proposal to try and take the thief's loot while she was busy. "But... wait..." He said, blinking in confusion. "That person... there's something familiar about-"

And suddenly, the commotion at the ball was heard, spooking the man's lights out. "Yikes! What the hell!?" He let out, perplexed by the sudden noise. And when Cassima suggested going to check, the body of the shrouded figure jerked slightly, as she quickly ran towards the two of them, her speed enough to actually swat the thief's crossbow with one hand. Did this person possess some supernatural speed? Or maybe there was something about those two that called her attention...?

Once the figure stood in front of Cassima and Higini, it turned to face the man first. "You must get out here, as fast as possible." It said, the voice of a hardened young woman ringing on the alleyway. And then it turned to Cassima. "I don't know who you are, but make sure he is safely taken away." She said, before leaning a bit closer to her. "Do not do anything foolish." Her voice turning more grueling with that, before she turned away, and ran from where the three came from, apparently running to the source of the commotion.

As for Higini, the man was left blinking in astonishment. "Was... Was that..."

"Kassandra?"

------

Up until then, the match was a rather exhilarating one. Goibniu's eyes were glued to the arena as Eun and the apprentice duked it out, so much so that he didn't notice the intruding figure walked right into the dome, and proceeded to shatter it completely! Goibniu was completely stunned by the situation, as the stranger demanded the leaders themselves for some artifact, and decried them for apparently ignoring some gods? What was this person talking about?

But apparently, he didn't come alone, as a new figure appeared when the golem tried to strike him. The scene was rather tense, as Goibniu remained on his seat, not sure exactly what to do. However, his paralysis ceased for a moment, when a familiar figure appeared to speak to the intruders, it being none other than Jinn! And as he called forth the Expiate, Goibniu felt the automatic impulse to stand up. He had his identifier on his pocket, and his pistol right under his jacket, his own pride for his creating making him too stubborn to keep it away for such an occasion.

And then... two officers were eradicated. Utterly. He saw two good men be turned to charred corpses, just as he was about to move and accompany his fellow officers. Instead, Goibniu remained there, standing right next to his chair with his hand right under his jacket, as everyone else started running away. What was he supposed to do? Run away like everyone? But shouldn't he help the Expiate?

"... Aha!" He thought to himself, as he looked at the table for a small moment. He still had the element of surprise on his side, as he took the commotion to his advantage to quickly duck under the table, the cloth protecting his presence as he prepared his pistol. Taking a peek while he remained hidden, he kept his weapon ready for anything that might happen. If such dangerous fiends are labelled for death, then well placed shots should do the trick!

Right?

Things had went from exciting to terrifying in a matter of seconds. The two strangers were surrounded by the Expiate but showed no concern whatsoever. Jinn's fistsclenched so tight they vibrated with his anger upon seeing his fellow officers die near instantaneously.

"Send word to the barracks," Jinn ordered the officer closest to him. He was shaking, probably one of the greener soldiers. He looked between the ginger and the strangers before nodding and running off to send word for reinforcements.

"Officers!" Jinn barked, waving out a hand in signal, "Crossed Eight point barrier formation!"

With a shout in confirmation, the officers spread out to carry the order. Eight officers equipped with shield and spears created a wide circle around the strangers,their shields held towards them, glowing with some defensive magics. Meanwhile, the remaining officers spread out, drawing and raising crossbows at the ready with four officers wielding staffs positing themselves in a square surrounding the shield circle. The shield officers started chanting, their shields unfolding outwards into large kite shields in which they slammed and wedged into the ground. The shields extended beams of light between each other, forming a massive magic circle that formed a barrier entrapping the pair.

All the while, the staff-wielders were chanting, drawing runic symbols and shouting in unison. "REINFORCE!"

A beam of magic shot from each staff and crossed each other with the barrier in the center, the shimmering dome becoming increasingly more focused and solid.

And yet with all of this, the strangers showed little interest. The witch girl glanced around. She closed her eyes as if sleepy and raised a hand. The pole she rode on like a horse floated into the air on its own. Then she raised a finger and drew a circle in the air. In a flash, the polearm spun around and the barrier shattered. The shielded officers got blown back, their shields cleaved apart and their arms heavily lacerated.

"Fire!" Jinn ordered. The dozen or so crossbow officers let off a volley of bolts shooting through the air faster than any arrow could, but a foot away from either of their targets, the bolts stopped in midair.

The witch opened her eyes slowly and with one finger made a lazy flick motion. The bolts floating in the air fipped over and shot backwards. Most of the officers dropped their crossbows and shielded their vital areas, getting away with just being knocked back by the impact, but some didn't react fast enough and sputtered as bolts drove into their necks or chests.

Ignoring all of this, the knight started walking off towards where the royals were seated. The Witch looked around boringly when she noticed a small body lying on the ground a distance off, some enkidu girl that got knocked out from the impact of her landing. She raised a finger and the spears of the fallen soldiers lifted up into the air and pointed to the unconscious body. Then with the effort of brushing away dust from your shoulder, she flicked her finger down and the spears flew downward like a volley of arrows.

She watched as the debris cleared, only to find a bunch of spears harmlessly wedged into the ground.

"Hff, just in time," Jinn exhaled, crouched a safe distance away. He set Eun down and then turned back towards the chaos, an angered look in his narrow eyes. "No more sugar, sweetheart. I'm authorizing lethal action now."

His arms blazed, covered in blue fire up to the shoulders, the heels of his shoes ignited, spinning fiery pinwheels.

"Witch Hunt art. Judgement Fire," Jinn announced. "Inferno Baptism!"

The Witch's eyes narrowed. She turned herself to face Jinn and raised her palms upwards, balls of fire igniting in her hands.

Meanwhile, the knight was making his slow advance, when his stride was stopped by an armored man.

"You're not getting any closer," Duke Charmr smiled pleasantly as if he was having a conversation over tea.

Without a word, the knight breathed out fire, engulfing the man the flames. However, as he stopped and the flames died out, Duke still stood there, a shimmer of light surrounding his body.

"Ward," Duke smiled, holding up his left hand, the ring on his middle finger shining. "See, I'm not actually much of a mage. That's Winter's jurisdiction. However, you can say my fighting instincts are top notch. Magic Rings are just perfect for me really."

With slow and calm motions, he drew his sword, a longsword with a translucent blue blade, the handle and guard studded with a rainbow of jewels.

"Attribute boost-self. Gravity-imbue," Charmr chanted, the rings on his right index and middle glowing in response. "Let's see if that overgrown sword of yours isn't just a gaudy decoration."

The black-knight stared blankly. Then slowly, his arm reached back and grasped the long handle on his black sword. With a pull, he freed the overgrown blade from his back and slammed it into the ground at his side.

"Tell me, does my opponent have a name?" Duke Charmr asked nonchalantly, sliding into readied stance.

"..... As.... calon..." the knight spoke with his mouth moving. "The... Noble..."

"Never heard of you," Duke stated plainly. "Too bad such a fine man must die today."

The rest of the nobles were more than shocked when the Eisen court just randomly vanished out of thin air. It wasn't long, however, before the Expiate intervened. The Saorisian king was about to step forward and draw his sword, but he would be stopped by a tall and lithe officer. His hair was a golden wheat color and his sharp, strained eyes a bright azure.

"I'm going to have to ask your Highness to stand down," the man said with a husky voice.

The king's eyebrows furrowed.

"Richard, if you think I'm about to let innocent people flee in terror and just run off to hide you're sorely mistaken," he said.

"Especially my people," Alanna added, but the officer would only glare. "I'm going to protect them!"

"If both of you fight and die, then you won't see to protect them another day," he said firmly. "Officer Brettmann has this."

Shortly enough, a large mechanical carriage started approaching. It's bronze and brass metal legs and walls blending in with the now fiery sky and atmosphere. Inside already was the Stahl consul.

"Everyone in here," he said. "Leave this to the commander and his men."

The sultan was quick to rush in, but Alanna and Alexiel lingered for a moment before reluctantly following in.

"I'll send my mages at once," Alanna said as she went in.

The King meanwhile stared at Richard. As the fighting between the Expiate and the two assailants got worse, however, he gritted his teeth and went inside.

Once he did, the carriage closed and started to rush away to safety. The officer, meanwhile, tugged on his pin which glowed with a Cartic mark. In it, he whispered.

"Delilah, we're going to need your unit. Brettmann will only hold for so long."

It was then he noticed an odd individual not running away but lingering near his table before hiding. It was an Enkidu, oddly enough, and one with a prosthetic arm. Richard raised an eyebrow.

"McCrae?" he murmured to himself.

He was going to approach, but decided it was not wise. As the battle proceeded, he narrowed his eyes and readied his cutlass. It wasn't going to do to simply attack now. He had to do something else.

Without making his presence any more noticeable, he retreated and vanished into the crowds.

***

With Maia distracted by the explosion, the blonde girl would notice something glowing under her feet. It was a bright glyph with Cartic marks on it. The next thing she knew, she would feel her body flung into the cover of trees and bushes as the golden shards continued to rain. She'd also see Liseran rush front and center, casting several glyphs as she sent a fireball hurling towards to Mephistopheles.

The cat would fly out of harm's way and merely smirk.

"Whoops. Too slow," he chortled. It would be cut short as a piece of earth jut from the ground in the shape of a spike trying to stab him, and missing shortly. Liseran and Maia would feel the earth tremble and perhaps lose their balance in the process.

"You can try, boy, but your alchemy is slow too," the Incantus snarled.

Meanwhile, noise continued to come from the general direction of the ball. The boy turned to Liseran.

"Sister, do you think that's the others?" he asked.

Liseran looked at the sky. "Yes, they could be starting the attack," she said hesitantly, looking at Maia as if she hadn't wanted her to hear that.

Mephistopheles, from the branch, grinned.

"Oooh~ it's starting! I can't wait to see you rebels behead those nasty Expiate officers~!" he said. He spread his wings and started flying.

"STOP!" Liseran demanded as he started flying away. She sent ice shards flying after him, but they failed. She then turned to Maia and the one she called Will. "We have to go back. We can't let him disrupt anything!"

And then to Maia specifically, as she held her wrist, "I know you want to stay, but you need to leave. I'll get you out of here, and then I want you to stay away from the city as much as possible, understand?"

***

As Kassandra struck the thief's crossbow out of her hand, the girl would cry out and try to reach for it.

"Hey!" she shouted.

The sound of screams and explosions in the distance caught the girl's attention as it did everyone else's. Cassima and Higini might be able to get a glimpse of the girl's face.  Her eyes wide in panic and her teeth gritted.

Once the cloaked girl vanished, she'd grasp for her crossbow on the ground and stare at the two before making a mocking salute.

"Sorry you two, but I have to join in on the fun over there," she said. "Lots more to steal when people are panicking!"

With that, the shadows would seem to envelope around her until she was pure black. Once it did, the shadows slid past Cassima and Higini back into the direction of the ruckus.

Cassima was about to go back to the hall with Higini to investigate what was going on there with the explosions and screaming, but she was stopped by the other figure who told Cassima to keep Higini safe and for him to get out of there safely. "Huh?" Cassima listened to the figure.

She didn't know who the figure was and she didn't know that much about Higini, but she knew that he seemed to be a pretty nice guy and he needed to be safe for the woman's sake. She nodded and grabbed Higini's arm. "She's right, we should go. We could get hurt if we stand around here...Or worse, slain." Cassima turned Higini as she moved towards the thief.

She wanted to see if she can get the bag back before her and Higini leave.

All the while still holding his hand.

"Who's Kassandra?" Cassima asked Higini.

There was a look of hesitation in Higini, as he saw the shrouded figure of Kassandra run away, with Cassima held his arm and tugged him to run away with her. "... Yeah, we should!" He said, as they saw the thief slipped away from them, aiming to run... with Kassandra, it seems. Was her vanity so big, she would dive head first into danger? "She's... she's my best friend." He replied to Cassima, as the two ran away. "If she's here, then that means there's big problems afoot. Although... I don't know what she's doing here in the first place."

------

Goibniu's eyes were wide open, as he saw all the efforts the Expiate did to stop the two intruders failing miserably. Just was kind of strength did they possess? Barriers? Gone. A volley of arrows? Completely deflected. Some of the officers weren't lucky enough to dodge that attack, and it made it all the harder for him to watch, but he needed to keep an eye at all times, needing to find the right moment to strike.

This lead him to see Eun being blasted away, and luckily rescued by Jinn as the Witch tried to impale her with spears. A mix of concern and anger flowed through his body, but it all crystallized when he barely managed to hear Jinn's words. Lethal action has been authorized, and Goibniu knew what he had to do.

Given the show of remarkable strength the new people possessed, Goibniu believe that maybe a simple shot wasn't going to suffice. This was something he reserved for emergencies, but given how he already saw good officers be reduced to literal ashes today, he felt this was enough of an emergency; the enhancements in his pistol. Focusing as much as he could, he tried activating the hidden functions of his weapon, causing the artifact to gently glow and heat up, while he started peeking from under the table.

Aiming at the head of the Witch as she prepared her incantations to fight Jinn, Goibniu prepared himself for the firing, with the objective to either execute or at least cause severe damage to one of the intruders. And once he felt his armament ready, he silently took a deep breath. "Take this, you fiend." He thought to himself, as he finally squeezed the trigger, as the enhanced bullet traveled  at an astonishing speed, leaving a light blue trail. Surely not even a Witch like her would be able to dodge that, Goibniu thought.

Surely!

*clang*

Goibniu's bullet hit something in the middle of its trajectory. The bullet harmlessly clattered on the ground. Not too far away from it was a small knife, seemingly coming from nowhere.

The clouds started to part up above, showing some glimpses of moonlight. As it did, a large shadow was revealed cast over the square. Perched atop the church, a cloaked figure was there staring at the scene below in silence, its hood pulled over its head, its ragged cloths rustling in the wind. On their face was some sort of mask, striking red in color. Its visage resembled the faceplate of a human skull.

The sound of gunfire was about as subtle as a heartattack. The witch turned her head towards Goibniu's direction but barely gave him a glance before turning away with a bored expression.

Suddenly the tables lifted into the air, the dining cloths fluttering like ghost shrouds. They spun around in the air like a phantom ball dance before simultaneously throwing themselves towards Goibniu like a hazardous dogpile.

At this moment, Jinn closed the distance between him and the witch in blinding speed, throwing a flame-imbued punch at her. Then moving by itself, the witch's mount swung, it trajectory aimed to cleave the expiate officer in half. However, with amazing reaction speed, Jinn  swung his guarding hand in the way, catching the spearhead with his flame magic protected hand. He flipped over the spear and spun his body in the air, swinging a downward heel-kick towards the witch who floated five inches backwards and avoided it. Jinn's axe-kick hit the ground resulting in the stone cracking in a five foot radius.

Jinn spun around, reading ahead that the Witch's spear will fly at him again letting him narrowly deflect the edge with a swift punch. The ginger officer fought off the flying spear with only his hands while the witch floated in the air ten feet away, positioned like she was sitting on an invisible chair cross-legged.

Meanwhile, the mysterious black knight and Duke Charmr clashed. The black knight wielded a wide sword with a blade as long as a spear. His swings were wide and slow yet he did not leave himself opened. He moved and twisted the large black blade to block and deflect Charmr's blows and waited for the moment to strike. His moves were practiced and precise, the sign of a skilled warrior.

Duke Charmr was no slouch. His glinting blue blade struck swiftly but precisely. He pressed forward constantly, taking advantage of the difference in their weapons, making it so the black knight had as little room to swing his own blade as possible.

"You're very skilled," Duke compliment in his flurry. "I wish I could've dueled you as swordsmen, but today I must face you as an executioner!"

With a dash, Duke pressed the edge of his blade against the black knight's, pushing against one another in a battle of strength. However, Duke freed his left hand from the handle of his blade raised a fist. Three of the rings on his left hand glowed and his fist was covered in a black flame that sparked some sort of energy. Duke threw a powerful punch, the impact pushing the black knight back and causing them to stumble. The Archknight used this opening to thrust and his blade ran threw his opponent's stomach.

"Victory is mine!" Duke roared, pushing his sword upwards, the blade cutting up the stomach, through the chest, and exiting out the shoulder. The Archknight grinned but his expression turned to shock as he lept backwards, putting distance between them. His opponent's torso was split in half vertically. By all rights the battle was over. The body merely stood there completely still and yet something was wrong. There was no blood.

Red energy crackled in the wound as it slowly pulled itself together, snapping into place and sparking, leaving no sign of the damage even on the armor and cloth. The black knight cracked his neck and tipped his head as if silently asking "Are you done?"

"What are you...." Duke muttered.

The moment Cassima and Higini arrived at the scene, they'd be met with people running away from the square and the dining area. They'd also witness the combat between Jinn and the Witch and the Duke and the strange dark knight. The girl in the hood was nowhere to be seen and whether or not they were going to try and engage in the fight was up to them.

Meanwhile, the tables hurling towards Goibniu would stop midair. A bright white glyph floated in front of the Enkidu serving as a barrier. As the Cartic marks on the glyph spun, they'd then turn a bright blue in color. The tables would then start hurling back towards the Witch while she was fighting with Jinn.

"I didn't think your recklessness extended outside your duty hours, McCrae," a raspy voice would say as a figure drew closer to him.

The figure was none other than Commander Veiller. Wearing a decorated military uniform, he had a rapier pointing in the direction of the glyph, suggesting he was the one who had conjured it. He gave Goibniu a sharp look.

"McCrae, I know this is out of regulations, but I am going to need you to step up and help properly," he said. He pointed at the Witch. "Give Brettman the upper hand. Only you're capable of temporarily nullifying the effects of her magic. As for me..."

His bright blue eyes would settle on the black knight fighting with Duke Charmr.

"I'll handle him."

From his side, the Commander would yank a pistol and toss it on the ground next to Goibniu. "Just in case you need extra gunfire."

And then he fled.

As Charmr was engaged with the dark knight, Richard stopped a short distance. He then raised his rapier perpendicular to his body and closed his eyes as he cast forth more Cartic marks to appear. The dark knight would see a bright glowing light under him with several Cartic marks. Several for binding, several for slowing an opponent. And one for an explosion.

If Charmr was adept in Cartic marks, he'd understand to start fleeing.

Maia felt her body lift off the ground and land among the trees and shrubs, the golden shards spread around the area. She felt one narrowly miss her head but soon felt her bun undo itself. She looked down to see strands of her blonde hair littering the ground. She placed her hands to her head, her hair still went past her shoulders but it was now choppy and uneven. Maia was going to need to get a haircut when she got home to fix this.

She stood up quickly and gripped her dagger, approaching the fight again. Though, it didn't last long, as the earth began to shake, causing her to fall to her knees for a moment. Her eyes widened as Will and Liseran mentioned "the others" and "they".

As Mephistopheles flew off, Liseran grabbed Maia's wrist and urged her to leave. A harsh expression formed on her face. She glared at the girl. "Excuse me, but there's no way I'm leaving. I'm assuming it was you two morons that caused all of this! You should know better than to meddle with Incantii!" She said coldly.

Maia snatched her wrist away from Liseran. "I don't what is going on, but if those screams are any indication, then I assume it isn't good. If your little group of rebels is behind this, then I assure you, Liseran, there will be hell to pay," She turned away for a moment. Maia let out a deep sigh. "I'm not the best fighter in the world, but I can do it. And my conscious won't sleep easy if I allow people to get hurt while I run away like a coward. I won't allow myself to become that person."

She turned to give Liseran one last look, gripped the dagger she was carrying, then turned towards the commotion and began sprinting towards the chaos. Hoping to the gods that everything was going to be ok.

Cassima tried her best to get her and Higini to the hall and avoid the thief at all costs, it was here that Higini explained that it was Kassandra who was with them just now, a friend of his. "She's your friend!?" Cassima shouted aloud.

"Probably to kill that other figure that was there just now." Cassima bluntly replied to Higini as the two arrived at the hall to see everything in chaos.

"What the hell--But before Cassima could finish, she turned towards the Dark Knight and was surprised at the battle that was happening. Needing to find a cover for her and Higini, she looked around and noticed a table nearby, which she raced towards and grabbed before turning to Higini.

"Over here, help me flip this table over so it can be cover for us." Cassima told Higini.

"What in blazes-!?" And to his utter surprise, the bullet somehow managed to not hit the Witch, and instead it was completely stopped by a stray knife, thrown precisely to deflect it! Just what kind of material was that knife made of to stop an enhanced shot with the stopping power of a bull? Goibniu's curiosity over the properties of the stray were pushed away as he noticed the Witch actually saw him, only to turn away with a bored look. Okay, his cover is blown, might as well step in. "Hey! Do not look away, fiend!" He announced, as he pushed the table away to make a dramatic appearance. "Officer Goibniu McCrae of the Stahlmin Expiate division reporting in! And I won't let you fiends spoil this... festival...?" The sound of the table hitting the ground should have been heard by now, but instead, there was nothing. Confused, Goibniu trailed off as he turned around, seeing that to his surprise, the table was floating. All the tables were floating!

And they began to launch themselves towards him!

-----

Higini and Cassima were trying to escape the area and get to safety, but they had to pass close to the commotion to do so, which made him hope Kassandra wouldn't try to check. "Yeah, she is. Childhood friend. But she suffered-" He said, before he noted that Cassima was actually heading back to the ground zero instead of the other way around. "Wait a second! We were told to run away, not head back!" He announced, as Cassima pointed to him the Dark Knight fighting the Duke. "Huh?? Who are they?" He said, looking rather exasperated, while Cassima asked him to get one of the tables to cover them. "C-Cover?? No, we need to retreat!"

-----

Man, those jogging sessions were seriously paying now! With all the speed he could muster, Goibniu was now running around the area, doing his best to dodge the tables hurling themselves at him. At least the fact it was many tables being thrown at him at once meant that some would collide with each other, but the close calls he had were starting to exceed the fingers in his hands, and he would rather use his feet to run than to count at the moment.

However, his luck would run out as one bad step caused Goibniu to trip. The Enkidu was not able to get up in time, and could only turn as the tables were hurled at him, the fear of being crushed and left out of commission in his mind as he used his arms to cover himself. He knew the impact would be made soon, but then... nothing. He felt no pressure, no contact, nothing. Confused, Goibniu slowly moved his arms away, seeing the tables floating in midair, before being thrown again to the Witch thanks to magic.

"How the..." He muttered, as he heard a voice speak to him. And when he turned to it, he saw that it was none other than Commander Veiller! "C-Commander Veiller!" Goibniu scrambled to quickly get up, giving a proper salute to the Commander, as Veiller ordered him to step back into the fray properly, and aid Jinn in battle. "But Commander! My ability... could also nullify the magic of the Officers as well!" He was a trump card against the Witch, and admittedly, he actually didn't think of that before, but would disarming the Witch be worth also disarming Jinn and the others?

And perhaps to compensate, the Commander handed Goibniu one of his own hand, making the Enkidu wield two pistols akimbo style! "Woah! ... Alright. I won't let you down, Commander! Good luck with your battle!" He said, giving Veiller another salute, before he turned and ran towards the battle between the Witch and Jinn. A shame the Emperor wouldn't be around to see a fine display of Enkidu might tipping the scales.

-----

Damn, that was a big battle going on.

Kassandra got closer to the commotion, and saw that it wasn't an ordinary scuffle. A powerful mage and a strong warrior? What were they even after? Kassandra was taking cover in of the stray tables that missed to hit Goibniu, as she tried to see if the authorities can handle the situation or not. She definitely wouldn't want this danger to leak outside the festival and spread all around it.

However, one wrong turn and he managed to spot something in the distance getting close. It looked... like a young girl, and she held something in her hand. Was it a knife? What was that girl even thinking? Seeing as how the battle didn't need her input at the moment, she decided to make a run for it and approach the girl. Once she was within reasonable distance, Kassandra spoke up. "Oy, you! What are you planning on doing?" She asked Maia, looking at her with a stern look.