The courtyard was buzzing with activity, Azix recognized a few of the recruits faces that stood in the center. He noticed the guards on each of the walls, spears held out at the ready. Garret sprung to the ready, calling for Acius to report. Azix listened as he was informed that a large force was surrounding the Villa in preparation for an attack. Garret asked him to take thirteen recruits and hold the North wall, making sure they moved unseen.
Azix looked around and realized that the bandits had to decide which tactic they wanted to use. Did they scale up the least defended wall or did they split their forces for every wall. If each wall looked barely manned, they would be more tempted to split their forces. With a nod to Garret to show he understood, Azix slid his staff from the hook on his belt.
"I'll hold them off with my life if I take the brunt of the attack."Turning to the mass of recruits, Azix cleared his throat to get their attention.
"I need thirteen volunteers with me." He pointed to the North wall.
"We will hold back the attackers from that position. Follow me."Thirteen recruits split off from the main group and followed behind him. As they approached, Azix looked over his group. He recognized two of them from the group of recruits when he had arrived at the villa. The girl who had thrown up when Azix played a prank involving poo stood close to a girl who looked like her sister. Azix briefly wondered why they followed him after such a poor introduction, surely such jests didn't invoke confidence in one's abilities. Shrugging it off, Azix held up a hand, motioning them to wait.
In a tone barely above a whisper,
"I am going to use a spell to make me invisible before we go up those stairs. Three of you will need to reveal yourselves as we go up there, but the rest should crawl, making sure to go unseen. Keep low until they start climbing over the walls. Remember your training, if you get overwhelmed shout out my name. I will clear an opening for you."After making sure the recruits understood, Azix began walking up the stairs. Orange Rukh fluttered around him before he
Vanished from sight. Once he was at the top of the stairs, Azix looked back to see that the recruits had followed his instructions. Wu Xeifeng, Wu Meixiu, and a boy he didn't recognize made themselves known atop the wall while the others hid.
Azix looked down from the wall to see a mass of fifteen men climbing up the walls. Their insignia caught his eye though, it was extremely familiar, a Black Crow on a banner of white. Azix clenched his teeth, the Black Crows were a bandit group he had given to Madam Trixie, the Pirate Queen. What were they doing here? Azix had heard that Trixie had lost control of them, but he hadn't expected to see the Black Crows again.
Focusing back to the task at hand, Azix glanced back to the recruits. Some of them displayed nervousness openly, others hid it behind a battle-ready face. It reminded him of the first mission Azix had taken his Grumptoes on, though he had kept the boys from direct danger. This time he was counting on these recruits to have enough combat training to defend themselves.
Wu Xeifeng and Wu Meixiu acted fast, cutting down rappel ropes as bandits tried to climb up them. The boy froze up at seeing so many attackers coming up the walls. Azix put a hand on the boy's shoulder, starting the young lad,
"The more ropes you cut, the less we have to deal with." Azix's tone was encouraging, hoping it would spur the lad into action.
Thankfully Azix's words worked, the boy ran up beside Wu Xeifeng and helped them cut ropes. In the end, two groups were able to make it up on the wall. To the left, six bandits stood, leering at the two sisters before realizing there were ten others recruits huddling behind the low wall. The recruits sprang up and went to work at holding the bandits off.
Azix turned to the right where a Black Crows General and three Black Crows bandits stood. The General began barking out orders to pincer attack the recruits, but Azix wouldn't let that happen. Whispering commands to the Rukh, Azix conjured his
Light Sphere spell. A five meter sphere of orange light formed in front of him, surprising the bandits. Not expecting a spell to appear out of thin air, their hesitation was advantageous for Azix.
With a flick of his staff, Azix sent the Light Sphere forward into the three Black Crow bandits. Their clothes would melt into their skin and sizzle, leaving behind second degree burns from the attack. The bandits scream of pain would pierce the night air, chilling the hearts of the other bandits attacking the recruits. Azix spared a glance back to see how the recruits were doing.
Wu Xeifeng and Wu Meixiu stood back to back, fighting off bandits. The boy who had frozen up earlier, leaped over the two, dropped to his feet and swept a bandit off his feet. The bandit stumbled forward into Meixiu's path. The Kouen girl grabbed the bandit and threw him off the wall with a move that spoke of honed practice. Azix smiled, their teamwork was admirable.
Turning his attention back to his own targets, Azix watched as the Black Crow General stepped over his burning comrades, searching for the magician.
"Coward! Reveal yourself!" The General held his
General's Blade tight in his right hand, with an air of combat experience enveloped around him.
Not wanting to seem a coward, Azix released the Vanish spell from around himself, to reveal himself to the Black Crows General. The General sneered at the orange magician,
"That was quite a trick, but I won't fall so easily."Azix shrugged his shoulders,
"That is hard to believe, Falcon fell quite easily to similar tricks." He smiled at the General's recognition of the former Black Crows leader's name. While it hadn't been Azix alone that killed Falcon, he had taken the credit for it when Madam Trixie asked.
The General's eyes narrowed,
"So, you are the bastard who thought to sell us to that cursed pirate Queen? An outsider can never control the Black Crows. I will enjoy killing you." With a speed not expected of a large man, the General charged forward to deliver
General's Fury at Azix's midsection.
Azix expected the attack, but not the speed, barely having enough time to conjure his
Clear spell. Black Rukh fluttered around him as a film of invisible force formed around him. The force expanded just in time to clash against the General's fury, knocking the General off balance and dissolving the spell.
Astonishment passed over the General's features at meeting a solid force, but recovered quickly. He charged forward again and swung his blade toward Azix's staff arm.
As his Clear spell dissolved, Azix was already conjuring another with hushed whispers to the Rukh. This time he used Black and Orange Rukh in combination to form his
Makihige spell. Two seven meter long tendrils constructed from Shadow Magic, formed around Azix. The writhing tendrils were sent towards the General at a flick of his staff, one aimed towards the Black Crow's sword hand and the other at his left leg.
The General wasn't so easy an opponent, he noticed the attack to his sword arm and with a quick motion, utilized
General's Shield to deflect the shadow tendril. The other tendril still made its mark, piercing into the soft flesh of his upper-left leg, cutting through the skin and partway into the muscle. The General wobbled for a moment before redistributing his weight to steady himself.
Azix could feel fatigue seeping into his body from slinging around so many spells, but he couldn't give up now. The General was not the kind of opponent you gave a few seconds to recover. Already, he could see the man calculating his next attack, instinctively gauging Azix's strengths and weaknesses. With such an opponent, you struck hard and fast, hoping to overpower them.
Gathering his will, Azix called orange Rukh around him once more, this time conjuring
Piercing Light. A one meter wide beam of light formed in front of his outstretched staff and sped into the General's chest, dealing second degree burns. The General cried out as he felt his skin bubble from the heat.
Ignoring a fresh wave of fatigue, Azix drew on his Shadow Magic once more, this time conjuring
Kage Youshiki. Since the last time he used it, Azix had an idea. Instead of using fifteen tendrils to make attacks, Azix had come up with a different way of utilizing it. A thirty-six centimeter mass of shadows formed in front of him. From the mass, two shadow tendrils grew to nearly seven meters in length. The mass of shadows was directed behind the General where the tendrils would launch forward, piercing into his arms.
The General had been distracted from the Piercing Light so much he didn't notice the second spell until it attacked him. Kage Youshiki's tendrils jarred his arms, knocking the General's Blade from his hands as he fell to the ground. Azix walked over to the general and kicked the sword off the wall into the yard below.
Turning back to his recruits, he watched as Wu Xeifeng performed a judo throw on the last bandit, sending him into her sister Meixiu. Wu Meixiu timed an uppercut on the man's chin when he was in range. A sickening crack could be heard as the man's neck broke.
Azix whistled to the recruits as they looked around,
"I need ropes to bind this man up. He will need to be questioned for information." Two of the recruits ran down the stairs to get the ropes while the others surrounded the general.
Azix looked to the boy who had frozen up earlier,
"What is your name?""Musashi Shinji, sir." The boy looked unsure if he was going to be scolded.
Azix smiled,
"While you froze up, you displayed good teamwork back there. Fear will always be there, but never let it control you. All of you did a great job. Now, check that General's mouth to make sure he's not hiding a pill."Azix looked to the other walls to see how they had handled their fights.
[1763/1500]
[140/300 magoi]
- Spoiler:
Name: Piercing Light
Tier: C -Tier
Cost: 20 Magoi (10 sustained)
Element: Light
Class: Offensive
Range: 20 Meters
Duration: Sustained
Cool-Down: 3 - Sustained +1
Description: Azix issues commands to the ruhk to create a narrow 1 meter diameter and 10 meter long beam of light that travels 15 m/s for 20 meters before dispersing. A direct hit from the beam causes C-Tier damage. If sustained, can reform and deal damage again.
Name: Light Sphere
Tier: C-Tier
Cost: 20 Magoi (10 sustained)
Element: Light
Class: Offensive
Range: 20 Meters
Duration: Sustained
Cool-Down: 3 - Sustained +1
Description: The caster creates a 5-10 meter diameter ball of light that travels at 15 m/s over 20 meters. The beam can cause second degree burns upon contact. If sustained, the beam of light can be reformed and do damage again.
Name: Kage Youshiki
Tier: B-Tier
Cost: 30 magoi (15 sustained)
Element: Light + Strength (Shadow Combination)
Class: Offensive/Supplementary
Range: 30 meters
Duration: Sustained
Cool-Down: 5 - Sustained +1
Description: The caster creates a 36cm mass of shadows that can travel within a 30 meter radius of the caster at 20 m/s. Two 6.9m long shadow constructs (tendrils, pincers, hands, etc.) stretch from the mass. Each construct can deal C-Tier damage in the form of the construct (crushing, blunt, etc.) or immobilize two limbs for 3 posts. If sustained, the caster may reform the spell and choose between dealing damage, continue the immobilization, or attempt to change target for the immobilization.
Name: Vanish
Tier: B-Tier
Cost: 30 magoi (15 sustained)
Element: Light
Class: Supplementary
Range: 30 meters
Duration: Sustained
Cool-Down: 5 - Sustained +1
Description: Provides Full invisibility by manipulating the light around an object. Azix can use this spell to hide himself, objects or people for up to three turns. Azix can hide up to fifteen people or a mass volume of 15 meters within a thirty meter range. If sustained, caster can reform the spell.
Name: Makihige
Tier: B-Tier
Cost: 30 magoi (15 sustained)
Element: Light + Strength (Shadow Magic)
Class: Offensive
Range: 5 meters
Duration: Sustained
Cool-Down: 5 - Sustained +1
Description: The caster uses his staff to create two seven meter shadow constructs around him. The constructs deal C-Tier damage each per post and move at 15 m/s. If sustained, the shadow constructs will reform and can deal damage again.
Name: Clear
Tier: B-Tier
Cost: 30 magoi (15 sustained)
Element: Strength
Class: Offensive
Range: 30 meters
Duration: Sustained
Cool-Down: 5 - Sustained +1
Description: The caster creates a film of force around themselves that pulsates outwards in the shape of a dome at 20 m/s. This pushes anything around the caster back up to 15 meters away. When the force hits something it deals B-tier damage or reaches 15 meters it comes back to cover the caster once again. If sustained, once per post another pulsation from the filmy substance will expand outward again.