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Caster

"Nice try." Caster snapped his fingers. BRAZEN DOME. As the bright yellow lines began to signify the dome's borders, Caster grabbed Cody by the collar and threw him outside of the boundaries just as the dome shut.

It would have been dark inside if not for the skeleton's body providing a harsh light source. It squirmed around, trying to get a reading of a mana source, but inside their reality marble there was only Caster.

Fifty Seconds. Caster rested his chin in between his index finger and his thumb. That was the last of my mana, and I may not survive this, but I'm not letting some primal noble phantasm get the best of us. This is how I'm going out.

Forty Five.

Thirty.

The skeleton was motionless. It simply stood there, staring into space. There was a faint vibration in the air. In reaction it stared straight up. Curious, Caster looked up as well.

What in the... There was a tiny crack at the top of the dome. After a short pause, there was a more violent vibration. The crack became larger and larger with every impact. That's... That's impossible. The Dome is impenetrable! Soon cracks began to run down the side, and a few golden pieces fell down. Deprived of power, Caster fell to the floor as the dome shattered into pieces.

Fifteen... Seconds...

I'm sorry, Lazarus.

The skeleton immediately got a read on Cody again, who was watching from a few meters away. It immediately made a mad dash straight at him.

Cody Lazarus

W-what?! He let loose a barrage of bullets, but they bounced off the skeleton's body harmlessly. Cody found himself unable to move. Running in the opposite wouldn't contribute to anything.

Five... The gun reverted to a gauntlet.

Four... The gauntlet shifted into a shield.

Three... The skeleton closed in and grabbed hold of the shield as Cody raised it.

Two... It tore it to the side.

One. It reached for his face.

Kirin

Zero.

In a straight line from the tip of his wand to the skeleton's forehead, the temperature shot down to near absolute zero. In that instance, sound waves collapsed. Light gave way to darkness before returning to its normal state. In that moment, Nick's skeleton was crushed by the sheer force of the blast as the area around him scrambled to re-energize itself to conform to the laws of physics.

For a few seconds, there was nothing in sight but a gust of frost. Cody could be heard heavily coughing- a good sign, showing he clearly was alive. When the dust cleared he could be seen, glasses blown into the snow to his right, but otherwise safe. What remained of his attacker was a crushed mass of bones and impossibly cold ice. Under the pressure it crumbled to the ground, the bones collapsing into dust but remaining trapped in the ice.

Cody gave him a dumbfounded look. Kirin smirked.

"What, you've never heard of the Zero spell?"

He exhaled. "...T-thanks, Kirin."

"Let's finish this."

Henri

Henri had his eyes closed, the Sanctum Key perched on his pinky finger.  His eyes were closed, as if he couldn't tear himself away from his thoughts.

The main reason his eyes were closed, though, was that he wasn't sure he would be able to resist the urge to use the Sanctum Key to kill his enemies if he saw how much danger Cody was putting himself in.  Have to keep my mind on what's important... if Cody lives but the Key isn't destroyed, more people will be hurt...

But wouldn't it be better to grant you and Cody power, rather than someone like Nick?

No...

You're right, it's pointless anyway.  He could never love you.

The phrase "devil's advocate" appeared in some small part of Henri's mind that wasn't swamped by the incessant struggle in his brain.  This fight needs to be over quickly.

Raena, 2 years ago

“You must be mad!” Raena exclaimed in shock. “This plan is a setup for failure!”

“Raena, love, this is our chance to show our true power. By the end of today, all will know our names!” Josh exclaimed.

“Raena is right,” began a red-blue mage by the name of Andrea. “This is essentially a suicide mission!”

“Consider the glory! The power!” a blue-black mage exclaimed from the corner.

“What glory? We’ll all be dead!” exclaimed a blue-white mage from his perch on a desk.

“Come now! Have heart! If we are able to do this, we will be recognized throughout Yezin!”

Raena crossed her arms as she glared at the fearless pure-blue that was the leader of the group. “So, let me get this straight. You want to take over the school and kill Lord Senlevon?”

“…That’s the basics of it, yes.”

“I’m out,” The blue-white mage stood up to leave.

“Cody, you are making a mistake,” began Josh.

“No. I refuse to be apart of this.”

“If he’s leaving, so am I!” Andrea exclaimed passionately.

“Ann…Very well then. I expect to never see your faces again. Anyone else care to leave?”

Silently, two other mages left the room. Josh surveyed the meager number of mages that remained, mentally taking note of each one. Talbinlen, blue-black. Maria, blue-black-white. Darthemius, blue-black-red. His eyes rested on the final remaining mage at which they widened in surprise. …Raena, blue-green.

---

An explosion shattered the silence of the noble’s study, as Lord Senlevon countered Darthemius’s shower of lightning.

“I’ve been expecting you.”

“Darth, Duck!” Maria shouted as she cast her specialized spell Orderly Chaos. All objects and furniture in the room flew towards the powerful lord with but one objective: Destroy Lord Yori Senlevon.

Senlevon deflected each item with ease. “Maria, you really need to use different spells. If you use the same spell each time you attack someone you become highly predictable.”

“Cut her some slack, she is only a distraction after all,” hissed a voice behind him. Senlevon’s quick attack spell was cut short as his arms were quickly bound behind his back and a spell dampener was cast. “Raena, now!”

Raena slowly emerged from the shadows. She took in the room before letting her eyes rest on Josh. A sigh came from the girl as she mentally prepared a spell. “I’m sorry, Josh.”

Josh’s eyebrows raised, “What do you-?” He cut short as vines wrapped around him pulling him up into the air. His concentration broken, the spell damper he had previously cast dissolved. Senlevon uttered a single word and his bonds fell away. Raena quickly countered an attack from Maria as Senlevon disposed of Darth. In the end they both stood before the leader of the Blue Dragons.

“Damn you,” Josh said with a smile. “I should’ve known you were up to something, Raena. You will regret this.”

Raena raised a single eyebrow, “How so?”

A devious smile played across the defeated man’s lips. “Heimgesucht.” Before the two victors could react, Josh had vanished into thin air.

Senlevon let out a sigh, “We’ll worry about him later. Thank you for the warning.”

“Well, I couldn’t just let them kill you while I stood idly by,” the girl responded quietly. “After all, my father has supported you for years.”

“We’ll find him wherever he is. I can assure you. For now, go home where you’ll be safe. I will send my butler with you for protection.”

“Thanks,” Raena replied as she took her leave of the battlefield.

Now

Raena knocked slowly on the door to Lord Senlevon’s office. Tal was right to say Josh would haunt me. Though, I’m sure he didn’t mean it in this way.

Nicole

Nicole screamed, loud as a thunderbolt but still inaudible amidst the deafening grinding noise, as Madeline's halberd sawed through her formidable defense.

Her retreat cut off by a row of projectiles, Nicole could not escape the attack in time, and Madeline's halberd cut a half-inch deep line of red down her torso.

With a burst of mana, Nicole's shield exploded, propelling herself and Madeline in opposite directions. Both ended up hovering high in the air, Madeline's halberd tip coated in red and Nicole breathing heavily as blood dripped from her wound.

"You'll pay for that..."

With a small gasp, Nicole propelled a burst of mana into her wound, haphazardly stitching together the skin on either side of the wound.

The drops of Nicole's blood that hung in midair and on her clothing began, agonizingly slowly, to drift to a spot just past the focal point of Nicole's gaze. The crimson droplets collected, congealing, forming a tightly compacted ball. The ball then elongated, changing structure, until it was finally fixed into the image of a tiny, curved blade.

With a raw, primal scream from Nicole's throat, the blade shot forwards towards Madeline, twirling and slashing in midair, with the intention of cutting her to pieces.

Nick

Despite his greater strength, speed, and reach, Cody's reaction time in the combat was almost unreal, preventing any truly devastating blows from being dealt.

This battle would not end in a standstill! Snarling, Nick lashed out with a powerful kick, which Cody anticipated and rolled with, ducking away.

This gave Nick the opportunity to bend down, and slash one of his daggers across the ground. The small trench dug in the earth expanded, and its edges began to glow red.

Even though it was only a few inches across, and only an inch deep, the trench appeared as black as the void itself. From within, a skeletal hand reached up, grabbing onto the lip of the ditch and slowly dragging itself out. A literal, real-life zombie, only this one wasted no time before exploding into flame and charging at Cody directly.

Nicole

Left with no time to turn, and with a need to defend against both the explosive projectiles and the deadly halberd, Nicole took what seemed to be the only option -- she summoned a forcefield of her own. Throwing her hands up into the air, she brought into being a blood-red octagon in front of her and braced herself, prepared to weather the attacks.

Nicholas Hemingway, Assassin/Berserker of Hearts

...Huh. Well that's annoying as hell. I may as well end this. It's been fun, Cody, but it's over for you now.

"Let me show you..." This time, rather than taunting, the voice was menacing, and each consonant pronounced with a hard edge. "What it means to be... a servant." Nick deactivated his Presence Concealment, and appeared before Cody.

"Mad Enhancement."

A red hue began to envelop Nick's body, and his eyes again began to glow. Any semblance of life had receded from them.

He lunged forward, without a sound, too fast to follow, and was immediately met with the combat drone. However, unlike most Berserkers, Nick was also an Assassin, and he had once been a mage.

Deftly kicking aside the gattling turret as it began to fire, the spray of bullets went wide, allowing Nick to brace his free palm against the side of the machine.

After a second of it furiously attempting to right itself, the drone finally stilled, as smoke began to curl out from around the machine. With a shudder, purple flames began to consume the machine from the inside out.

Nick turned to Roger Bacon, already holding two daggers in each hand, and lunged forward.

Muramasa

Fighting with multiple blades against a single-blade opponent, especially when she had already been faster, put Muramasa in an advantageous position, as her former teacher struggled to deflect all the strikes and still find openings to attack. It wasn't long before Muramasa managed to deal a particularly debilitating blow, sinking one of her blades deeply into the side of his abdomen, but still he continued to fight.