Ultimate End

Empowered by the strength of his comrades, Gaven hurled himself to his feet. Drawing Bladvak, he flipped the blade to the reverse, ready to try out his new theory.

He eyed one of the mages in the group and let fly a powerful strike

Activating Combat Mode
Gaven swung with the reverse of his blade but at the last moment, changed his mind from fear and unfamiliarity--hitting with the blade and causing 36 damage. Nevertheless, he felt stronger. So too did his Seal materia, reaching level 2. Having collected ten souls--the last from Jacken--Gaven was enlightened with an ability, Muramasa. He could call on the spirit of the Demon Blade Muramasa to confuse his enemies or, if the demon was so inclined, sentence them to death.

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Priest spit as Gaven finally threw himself into the fight. This kid was completely useless. He seemed much more of a burden than anything.

"Why do people insist on building things when they know it must fall?" he howled, releasing another explosion of energy from his blade "Why do people cling to life knowing that they must someday die?"

"I-I don't understand," stammered Gaven, giving a quick glance in Priest's direction.

"And you never will."

Conflict Resolved
The cool frost falling through the air was ripped in a strong gale by the blade emitted from Priest's gladius. The blue energy sweeped into the other three mages and rent them in two, dealing 672 of their 420 HP. He kept going and 684 sliced their bodies again, leaving more melted piles of plasmid goop. Among the steaming melted flesh was a magical materia that one of the mages had been intending to use. Sap was found.

The hallowed souls of the Valkyries gazed upon Jacken and Priest for their valiant battles. Or so Jacken had been imagining for one cloud-nine moment. At that time, another set of mages stepped in. Extremely pissed that their comrades had taken a fall. It took all of two seconds for Jacken to react; he snapped his fingers and called upon Thor's mighty hammer again.

Activating Combat Mode
Much less effective now that his target was a Fire-equipped mage, Jacken's call to the gods was answered with a weaker bolt of 56 damage. He absorbed enough weave back to restore it to full. The memento of his past life, a red ribbon, poked itself out of Jacken's coat pocket. Seeing it flutter there was a reminder to what he could do--or not do. He could resist any ailment with Ribbon. He gained a new ability.

Priest raised his blade as another group of mages approached. They moved slowly and jerkily, stopping as the tip of the blade pointed at them.

"Gaven, you are weak. You must learn to feed your strength; feed it with your hate. Your rage. In your blood there is untapped strength but you refuse to use it."

He dropped his sword in a wide, over-handed arc. A blade of crystalline energy spilled forth towards the mages.

"There is immortality in ruthlessness. You're a reaper. Your job is to collect souls. The more souls you collect, the more powerful you become--SO WHY DO YOU WASTE YOUR TIME? IT'S LIKE YOUR NOT EVEN TRYING. Why would you take a job like reaping if you weren't going to use it to your full potential? You're wasting your time."

Conflict Resolved
Priest was so confident in his kill that he didn't bother swinging a second time. All of his might went into his blow causing 648 damage to all of the mages, completely slaughtering them all. When the melted globs of spattering flesh had settled, Priest felt stronger and noticed his Fire 2 materia glow and level up to 3. One particular mage had been packing the heavy heat of a Mega All which Priest happily snatched up.

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The snow continued to quietly fall, collecting along the folds in Gaven's scarf. His hair was powdery and soaked, and he was tired.

Priest was right. Why was he a reaper if he didn't use the skill to it's full potential?

"Teach me how to be strong, then" Gaven said, shaking.
Priest looked him up and down, brow furrowed. "I can't teach you that shit. Strength is learned through death. Look into the eyes of the thing you fear most and use it to your advantage."

Gaven's head throbbed, a painful sensation shot through his spine. Priest's words hardly made any sense. He sunk to his knees and dropped his sword, wretching.

Modulation Phase
Gaven felt stronger while watching Priest. He felt as if he was growing inside every time that insane bastard cut a swath through random, faceless mages. His Ice materia grew too, to level 2.

It was hard to keep up to Priest. Jacken was having to take cheap shots at every mage just to match one fourth of his pace, and not even a fourth every time. The corrosive feelings of inadequacy crept into Jacken's mind as he heard words for Gaven that may as well have been meant for him too. The spell kept tracing itself inside his mind over and over. The Bolt spell which he now murmured, "Strip away the ground with glistening blades! Bolt!" with his hand raised high into the air and the wind whipping at his face.

Activating Combat Mode
The stalwart glint in Jacken's eye did not betray his cast as a peal of thunder opened up from the giant maw of the starch-white sky. A white flash barreled down and rent the ground briefly, exploding the heart of one mage having caused 288 of his 200 HP in damage. The surge of energy didn't stop there, Jacken now felt even stronger and more capable as a mage. His Bolt became level 2.

A bolt of lightning split the ground, it's glowing fluorescence illuminated Priest in the early morning darkness. The wind changed direction, tossing wayward snowflakes aside. He stood over the shaken Gaven.

"I want you to get off your ass and fight," he muttered, grabbing him by the rough of his neck and pulling him to his feet. He shoved Gaven towards the three remaining mages. Four more were headed their way.

"You kill those three and I'll take the last four. I'm starting to get really sick of this."

Activating Combat Mode
Priest switched parties and one of the mages got a free shot. Absorbing some of a puny fireball dispatched at priest, he only took 40 damage from it.
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Gaven stumbled forward uneasily, the taste of bile staining his lips. Snow crunched underfoot. He raised his sword, mustering his courage, he followed Priest's orders. He felt the rage; he fucking hated Priest for the way he treated him. What gave him the right to tell him off like that? He seemed to be trying to teach him something, but he's such an asshole.

He gripped Bladvak with all his might, his facing curling into a sneer. He targeted a local mage and let his six foot blade sail through the air in an imitation of Priest's baseball bat-like swings.

Activating Combat Mode
Not having been too experienced with Priest's fighting style, Gaven swung too sharply and promptly lost balance, falling flat on his ass. The mages in front of him merely sneered and one of them sent a bolt of lightning into his body, shelling it for 0 damage. Gaven, for all his bumbling, had still been able to use the nodachi as a lightning rod into the soft soil beneath the snow.

The tide of battle suddenly turned when Priest had Gaven do it on his own for a change. The boy was a screw-up alright. Jacken would have taught him how to properly cast magic instead, except Gaven didn't seem to know how yet. He was a good lightning rod though. Spotting the one that had cast the spell, Jacken made sure not to touch him with his own Bolt attack, lest it be cut in half. He aimed at one of the others, praying for a water mage. raising one black-fingernailed hand into the air, clutching at an invisible ball, Jacken bellowed, "Swirling lightning, gather and strike with power! Bolt2!"

Modulation Phase
The almighty fist of Odin crashed through the sky and lifted the mage off of his feet several meters into the air before exploding into a fine pink mist from 504 damage of 300 HP. Jacken's magical weave was replenished fully from his Absorption. He felt so much stronger now with this new-found power. Strong enough, to even con the immaterial world itself. He could outsmart the Weave by dancing his magic into existence. What if, instead of an incantation, he traced the same power through his dance? He could cast for free. He gained this ability in an instant.

A swath of burned-hair blasted Priest's nostrils as a wimpy fireball did it's best against his unstoppable power. The fact that the mage had even dared to fight back against him made Priest's blood boil.

He gripped his blade with both hands, roared with might that shook the trees, and laid into the group of four, sending a massive wave of energy blasting through their ranks.

Conflict Resolved
The insane Priest held his sword with true hands, steadying it before melting the bodies of four unlucky mages with 804 damage and then again for 768, bringing the total rape-toll to 1572. The mage that cast fire on Priest suffered the most. Priest noticed that one of the mages had been planning to use a small green orb of Mystify on him. He picked it up just to spite the little fucker. It had belonged to the one who cast Fire on him.

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Gaven's face burned with embarrassment as yet-again he found himself sitting uselessly on his ass. He lept to his feet, steadying his weight as to not fall again, and lashed out with measured precision just as he was taught.

Modulation Phase
The insanely long nodachi plowed through the robed bastard who dared try to shock Gaven. It hit him in a critical area--right in the jugular vein for 216 damage. All of the various souls that had become unto him, bestowed another Reaper ability to this shinigami-in-the-making. But it was Jacken whom Gaven really took notice of this ability from. Using the power of Kikuichimoji, Gaven noticed that his sword was capable of being cast as a magical attack and long range. He felt so much stronger now. He even found an herb growing about--a Remedy for curing his status ailments.

"Wow, Gaven actually got one." said Jacken, stunned. He hadn't meant to sound rude but at this stage, it really didn't matter. There was one last fish to fry. And Jacken planned to do it with lightning. Okay, he thought, I think if I dance this out, I won't have to expend any weave.

Jacken's feet moved automatically to the rhythm of a hundred clapping lightning strikes. The Kaminari itself would rain down upon his opponent in the form of Bolt 2 with this vigerous tap-dancing. Tap, tap, tap, just like the strikes of lightning he invisioned. He could feel the weave bending to his will and he wasn't even having to speak or expend energy. It felt really good. He felt powerful.

Conflict Resolved
Six bright blue streams of plasma descended from the sky, vaporizing the last lone mage into dust after receiving 648 damage. The greasy ashes-turned solid glass remain a grave marker for this fool among fools who dared challenge a more powerful magician.

Alaric bought himself a nice new scimitar and an Iron Bangle for 75 gil and equipped both items, along with his Leech materia.
And walked with Alice to Bone Villiage.
"Nice to meet you." Alaric said politely as they made their way to the eerie, wrong-looking place od dust and death.

Pocketing the new inventory and equipping the Iron Bangle, Darian pulled his blade from its sheath and shouldered the blade, "Time to kill some kidnappers."

Darian watched as Team A started their attack, sending bodies flying every which way as they started their attack. This may make our job of extraction a little easier. Everyone is being pulled to their position... He turned his attention to the lines of defenses that surrounded their entrance point. "Alright let's do this!"

Darian charged down the hill, pressing forward like a large enraged bull. Keeping his momentum he passed through the first defensive line and spotted three soldiers standing behind the first line. Grabbing his blade with both hands. "FEEL JUDGEMENT!" he roared as he unleashed an All Attack on the small group, pushing the blade off of his shoulder, unleashing the mighty swing.

Activating Combat Mode
Darian started the combat with a stupendous miss.

The carrion crows cawed overhead when Alie walked through the pegged entrance to Bone Village. It was a ghastly sight. Body entrails were impaled from spears stuck into the ground. Some decayed, some bones, some still twitching half-heartedly. There was a bloodbath, a sea of vitae, running from a nearby drain. The smell, it was overpowering. Alice had to rip off a piece of her sleeve and tie it around her mouth to keep from vomiting everywhere. Her eyes told the story of what was happening in her bowels. The place had a fine gossamer mist, and dead souls of those recently departed seemed to wail faintly from within it. The Judge to her left was already in a fight--and by the looks of it, not doing to well. Alice's whole body shivered but she shook herself back to reality. She was in this for gross or good.

The nearest footsoldier to the Judge would have a metal fist rammed up his nose.

Activating Combat Mode
Alice's first punch broke the soldier's nose for 32 damage and the second, slammed into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending 24 damage from his body.

Darian caught his balance from his idiotic miss. Next time, aim before striking. He noticed that the female Martial Artist had joined him in battle "Thanks for showing up, apparently I wasn't ready this morning!" Darian concentrated and took aim, grasping the blade in both hands again and unleashed All Attack for a second time, hoping concentration and actually taking aim instead of aimlessly swinging would hope to pay off.

Combat Phase
The sword hit all of the enemies with a white energy blade causing 150 damage. The mage Alice had attacked writhed in pain as his body melted. Headband was found on one of the soldier's scalps. Darian takes it and pockets it.

Alaric joined battle with a broad grin, nearly dancing a jig so great was his joy. Even the rather grim surroundings couldn't ruin his good mood.
"Oh, how much it gladdens me to join in battle like this! ALL WILL FALL WHO STAND AGAINST US! WE ARE THE TIDE OF HISTORY, THE FIST OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, THE HURRICANE OF PAIN-CAUSING SWORDY.......PAIN!" Alaric shouted gleefully.

Gripping his blade with both hands to double its striking strength, Alaric ran forward and directed a vicious slice of his scimitar, newly named The Terrible Swift Sword, at a ugly-looking footsoldier trying to bring a short sword to bear on him.

Activating Combat Mode
Alaric's scimitar was a crescent moon, gliding down from the early morn sky, rending the flesh from the bone of a soldier. He was knocked back after taking 176 damage, and finally fell to the ground and bled to death from the wounds inflicted by Darian and Alaric. He felt stronger now, as though his hits would hurt a lot more.

Solomon tossed the Gil towards the shopkeeper and walked out with a new iron bangle and Steal, and proceeded to rendezvous with Team B for the extraction of that dumb broad.

"Well, lets rock!"

After equipping the bangle and Steal, Solomon twirled his spear as he charged the first mage he saw and with a magnificent leap he brought the tip of the spear down where the mage stood. The spear head sliced the air like a warm knife to butter.

Activating Combat Mode
The air was the only thing sliced by Solomon's spear when the highly trained soldier sidestepped the obvious jump attack. The soldier counterattacked him with his sword for 31 damage.

With the last of those ridiculously-numbered magic users out of the way, Jacken trekked back into Rashad's room via the secret entrance. The so-called "princess" was waiting, examining random things in the room now that she was unbound and not creepily placed upon Rashad's own bed. Jacken secretly hoped he hadn't raped her. It must have showed on his face (because he meant it to), for her reaction changed to a shake of the head. Relaxing a bit, Jacken spoke clearly; "Alright, the side we came to rescue you from is completely safe. We should go now. We've got chocobos we can glide back on."

The berserker's daughter nodded silently and pecked Jacken on the cheek for his heroics. His face got hotter, ears got redder, and he let slip the faintest smile before bounding away toward the chocobo. Well, this is going perfectly. It looks like an extraction, she's coming along happily, and soon we'll be doing what is necessary. Jacken thought.

Both of them mounted Jacken's chocobo and it took off at a trot before opening its wings and lifting off to glide up to the rallying point. Rashad would be waiting in the thick forest beside Darius. Just as Jacken thought of the man, there his form expanded into view as the bird touched down.

With only one soldier left, Darian shifted his weight to his back foot and turned his body, holding his blade like a baseball bat. He aimed for the midsection of the final soldier, hoping to either cut him in half or do some serious Damage.

Combat Phase
The mighty swing of Darian's blade thrust a gash into the skin of the soldier, bypassing his leather shirt and dealing 138 damage of his 200 health. The soldier bent to one, knee as he was so critically wounded but then his eyes grew hot and he struck back for 24 damage. During his frenzied counter attack, the soldier's Iron Bangle flew off and landed right at Darian's feet.

Solomon grit his teeth in pain as the soldiers blade had cut his flesh. His eye glanced over at Darian as he griped his sword tight and charged the last soldier. If he missed, Solomon wouldn't he flipped his spear up and swung horizontally at the soldier's knee caps as a roar belted from his mouth.

"Hiyaaa"

His eyes focused on his target.

Combat Phase
It didn't take a rocket scientist to tell that Solomon's swing was angled enough to miss again. The soldier jumped anyway, figuring it was better safe than sorry, but it proved to be unnecessary when Solomon didn't hit him. However, it gave the soldier the advantage he needed and struck Solomon for 51 damage as he was recovering his momentum; critically wounding him.

Solomon resolved that he was getting hit just waaay too often. He understood that if he used Caution, he could avoid half the damage anytime he went into combat. Solomon learned this new ability.

A gust of wind grew, starting as a light murmur and grew into a quick gale. A small twister of dancing snow and ice formed and dissipated. Priest was momentarily mesmerized, unconsciously scratching the back of his head. Jacken had ditched them and boarded his chocobo back to the meeting ground. Sheathing his blade, he followed.

Modulating Phase
Priest was too distracted to notice much of the goings-on, much to his advantage because Rashad must have lost a Poison materia as he was walking to his hidey-hole.
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Gaven was slightly disconcerted with the speed at which the battle had ended. He felt uncomfortable and empty with the battalion of dead soldiers laying at his feet.

He followed Priest, mounting one of the two flying chocobos that remained. These birds were trained to take them to a designated area, without the help of being directed. Which was good, since neither Priest nor Gaven knew the first thing about these overgrown pigeons.

When they touched down they found Jacken, the girl, and another man waiting for them. The man was familiar... he had a rather intimidating looking goatee and mustache, but Gaven couldn't put his finger on it.

Modulating Phase
It didn't take long for Gaven to cotton on to what Priest had found. The kid decided to do some quick eye-flicks himself. After giving the snowy ground a once-over, he realized the mage was extremely careless for having dropped a Hell materia. That's way too powerful to just leave laying around.

Alaric felt surging bloodlust within him as the chaos of battle played out around him, but some faint stirring of his idealism called to him through the haze of violence, a voice thin and distant as through a heavy fog.. Their foe had proven duplicitous throughout this whole conflict, using he corpses of their mages to fuel their awful summoned abominations. Could this disorganized resistance be nothing but a mere verneer of distraction, intended to tire and confuse But a tall soldier spat on the ground in front of Alaric, eyes gleaming with cold fury as he drew his sword. He had a strange feather on his cap, marking him as some sort of commander.

Suppressing his violent nature for a moment, Alaric called out in his booming to the man and to the other warriors of Bone Village

"This conflict could continue until most of us are dead, and your village is a burned ruin. Or, we could attempt some form of reconciliation. The mage who kidnapped the girl is who we're ultimately after. If you dissolve ties with that fiend, this conflict will be over.

Think of the lives of your subordinates, commander!

Are they worth wasting protecting some savage, treacherous dog who feeds the bodies of its servants to awful beasts? I swear to you, on my honor, that we will have a fair and just peace if you will help us get justice for the Mayor, and his savagery will sleep. Put if you do not swear off this terrible collusion with these bastards, then...you will be remembered for signing your people's death warrant.

So, to all of you warriors of Bone village, I make this plea, that you join us in putting down our arms and gaining a stable, lasting peace.

What say you, Commander?

Alaric stood at the ready, sword pointed down at his side, eyes fastened on the cool grey eyes of the commander, and waited for his responce.

Modulating Phase
The soldier with the feather in his helm was indeed a commanding officer. He announced "MADJAI, second class; Herod." called the copper-skinned warrior. "I hereby authorize the remainder of my men to stand down until further instruction." he said, and at once forty or so other infantrymen lowered their guns and various weaponry. "We will parlay for the meantime." said MADJAI second class; Herod.

The boots of the MADJAI clunked awkwardly as he hobbled toward Alaric. He got as close as his nose, scowled at him and then let a single tear shed. "You killed my best friend with that scimitar of yours. His name was Ulric, he has a dying brother and two grandchildren in the village. We may exchange words now but what words should I give them?" his disgust was palpable. But he backed off a bit and began the real parlay, switching to a much more businesslike tone and projecting his voice.

"You all killed two of my men, and severely injured four of them. All without provocation, all without warning. I don't even know your faces. None of you are wanted and Amun-Ra hasn't sent the any criminal list this week matching your descriptions. Who are you and what do you want?" he began. But before he allowed Alaric to answer, he continued.
"You, obvious Judge." he pointed to Darian, "You killed a brand new recruit. He was seventeen annuals and getting married in three days. Today was his first day in the field. And you alone injured four of my men. With that young lady's help--" he pointed an accusing finger at Alice.

"But I can see that she merely injured him to stop your insatiable bloodlust. 'Feel Judgment indeed', you coward." Herod spat in the ground but turned his eyes back to Alaric. "What says the motivational speaker? I tell you what, take this on good faith that you'll answer my questions truthfully." and Herod handed Alaric a Champion Belt.

The MADJAI's words struck Darian like an arrow through the heart. I... I was just following orders, wasn't I?

He sheathed his blade hard, the hilt clanking against the metal tip of the sheath. Walking over to Solomon, he pulled out his Restore materia, activating it and letting the aura engulf Solomon, then walked over to Alaric and stood beside him. He remained silent, contemplating the words that made him stop in his tracks.

Modulating Phase
Solomon was healed for 92 damage as a warm glow swaddled him in comfort. When Darian stared at the ground for a moment, he noticed an abandoned Glove weapon and picked it up.

Alaric speaks calmly and clearly.
Your leader's child has gone mad and made off with the mayor of Modeoheim's daughter. We've been sent to get her back by any means necessary. We've already had to deal with aggressive villagers and supernatural beasts summoned against us, and our blood was up as we moved up to your position.

We assumed you were a part of this mad kidnapping gambit and preemptively struck, seeking to balance out your advantage in numbers via surprise. It would appear we were mistaken in your involvement.

I apologize for the unnecessary deaths of your men. Such things are a sad part of this violent damned time we are in, and you must keep in mind that we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your leader's wicked son and his cruel games.

Now then, I must ask you to tell us where we might find the leader's son and if you have seen the mayor's daughter here? As soon as we have her safely with us, we can leave this place and allow you to go on with your lives.

"ENOUGH FROM THE MURDERER." Yelled Herod. The MADJAI behind him raised their weapons once again but Herod merely spoke;
"So diplomacy never occurred to you? Someone was kidnapped from your sovereign soil and you saw fit to suddenly invade the territory that the kidnapper fled to and kill indiscriminately? Oh no, this will not do." The Second-class paced back and forth. There was a catlike ferocity and grace hidden behind his lumbering steps, as though his rank were not bestowed haphazardly. After stroking his dark mustache several times, he looked up at Alaric and the Judge.

"So. Here is my order: you must return to Darius and tell him that he will meet with Lord Hadad of Bone Village to discuss Rashad's suspicion of kidnapping. There will be no more bloodshed here unless it is you." Herod's eyes gleamed wickedly at Alaric, daring him to challenge his words. "You understand the great leniency I am showing two murderers, yes? This accusation is serious, and if you are wrong, there will be no mercy."

Herod waved them on, and barked an order to his men to attack if they did not comply. One of the soldiers appeared antsy, another was crying and looking down at the corpse of his fallen comrade. Herod himself withdrew a longsword for indimidation, and chanted, Disaster cries out to smash all... just before a frosty glitter descended onto the blade, coating it in a glaze of thick ice.

Amun-Ra MADJAI Second-Class Herod was serious. And if they didn't return with Darius, he fully intended to march on Modeoheim.

"So, why exactly are we going here again, Mard?"

The older man tried to ride his chocobo harder, to put more ground between he and Lem, and hopefully muffle out the incessant questioning. If he continued this, his assessment would be poor indeed.

"Still with the no talking thing, huh? ... Guess I'll just have to amuse myself, then. ... Sir.", and as if to emphasize the point, Lem kicked his chocobo into a sprint, leaving his older superior in the wake of upturned snow. Of course Lem knew why they were there. A request from the mayor, some fuck named Darius. Yes... Lem had readily volunteered to go, but had he known the assessment would be done by Mard, he would've re-thought it. Stale fish, that one.

Upon entering Modeoheim, he immediately looked for some sort of shop-keep to rid himself of excess crap he picked up along the way, and possibly pick up s'more.

"I wonder where the Darius guy is anyways... Should probably ask around." Lem mused as he dismounted, and started walking.

Modulating Phase
"Hello there traveller!" a man beckoned. "You look like you could do with some wares. I just restocked. Last group nearly ran me dry."

Enemy Away, 100 gil. (1)
Rod, 50 gil (4)
Tsukuyomi, 500 gil (2)
Titan Armlet, 200 gil (3)

"I'll buy any of your magic materia for 150 gil each."

After finishing with Solomon, he used Restore on himself. He stood next to Alaric as the MADJAI threatened war. Darian stepped forward, "We shall leave, no questions asked. We will inform our leader of your wishes." Darian wanted to say more. He wanted to justify his killings to the MADJAI, but it would be useless. It would only cause more problems, and perhaps his life.

He placed a hand on Alaric shoulder as a sign that he should come along too, "Come on, let's go before we cause more trouble." He slowly walked away, his hand fiddling with the hilt of his blade. Murderer. Please, the man who killed my sister is a murderer. This is war.

Modulation Phase
As Darian turned away, one of the injured Amun-Ra security team had spilled a bag and hastily picked up its contents. But he nodded off a Smart Consumer materia which seemed useless for him to pick up. Darian picked up up and pocketed the thing. He felt victorious for holding in his unjust wrath and it made him feel a little stronger.

Herod called out to Darian, "We are Amun-Ra security force and I work with MADJAI corp. We are not your enemy. If president Hadad's son committed a crime, bring the charges against him formally. Good day." With that, the MADJAI second class turned to his troops and began summoning medics to carry the injured and dead away. In no time at all, their forces were completely within their stone houses and huts.

"Rashad." Jacken cordially greeted the mage. Suddenly, Darius' daughter panicked and tried to get off of the chocobo and run. Jacken made a motion to catch her but 'accidentally' struck her across the brow and she tripped over the saddle and dangled with her face in the snow. Rashad frowned and slowly stepped toward them.

"Oh Jacken, Jacken. I can't have you harming the poor girl. Now just hand her over to me and we'll be done." Rashad Malachi's yellowed teeth glittered from behind his skull. Before Jacken could comply, Darian the Berserker cried out in sight of his daughter. "Lenna! Hold on, Lenna, Jack Kelvin has you. You're safe. Two of my men here will protect you from this scoundrel!"

Jacken noticed the use of his fake name, Kelvin. He also noticed that Darian was tied up with metal cables. Apparently he was captured. Jacken knew what to do now. If by some stroke of luck, Darian or Lenna ever escaped, they would hunt him down...unless he went down in battle and never got up. This was going to be his greatest show on Earth.

Without hesitation, Jacken turned to Rashad and bellowed, "Foul beast! I will slay thee with the fortitude of ten thousand Sirens!" and charged with his puny sword breaker.

It would be obvious to Rashad what he was doing. Using that ridiculous line, charging headlong into battle, not using magic. Hopefully Rashad could make this look good too.

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Alice was crying. Sobbing tremendously at the loss of life that took place here. She ran through the forest, away from her team. Away from all of this. So what if her dojo had sent her on this mission. She was working with murderers and bloodthirsty barbarians. She kept running, and ran clear out of sight.