Arcane Tales

[Kentaro's nearby!]

*Kari smiles which considering she's shooting at something is probably incredibly inappropiate.*

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*Kentaro slides down the wall to the floor firing at the monster.*

Derek: <Let's go...>

*He sidles towards the direction of the shrieking.*

*As Lucien blocks the monster's sword, Allina slashes down at its arms with a light blade, cutting them clean off. It seems to be hollow under the linen, since all they see is pitch black. Still, the strips stay in place as the arms fall down to the floor. It turns around, getting pushed back a little by the shots, and hurls shurikens at Kari. They continue hearing gunshots from beyond the door to the dungeons.*

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*Olympe blocks the blow with both swords and counters with a double slash that rips a cross in the linen. It shrieks as it is shot, and spins quickly, sending kunais flying every which way. Kelphy and Derek slowly approach the group from behind.*

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*Trying to break free from the chains, the Brute Canupus struggles and releases a powerful roar. The house's roof starts crumbling and they both fall into a now utterly destroyed living room.*

Alto is dragged down with it and is the first to his feet as he buries his sword into the brute canupus's head.

---

Lucien attacks with a pair of shadow claws aiming to rip into the Pride.

---

Creed attacks with a blast of ice shuriken.

*Derek runs up toward the others.*

Derek: <Princess, let's help.>

*He begins casting Haste on the others.*

*Kari dives from the shurikens path, firing.*

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*Kentaro rolls away from the wall and fires upon standing.*

Allina: <Kari, why don't you try your new spell on Lucien?>

*It shrieks as Kari continues on shooting holes in its body and disappears. It reappears for a brief second behind Kari, leaving behind a shadow blade that flies into her. It then reappers behind Lucien and then Allina, doing the same, before reappearing back where it originally was and hurling a kunai at each of them.*

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*Kelphy nods and holds her hands out. A thick wall of water appears in front of Creed and them, slowing down and eventually stopping the knives in their tracks. The wall bursts and they fall to the ground. The monster fades into the background and the ice shuriken and bullets fly into the door and wall. It reappears behind the group, sending a flurry of shadow blades flying towards them.*

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*The monster roars loudly, blowing a powerful gust that hurls Alto back.*

Lucien drops to the ground grunting with the blade in his back, "Shit..."

---

Creed spins around and releases a wave of ice.

---

Alto is blown back.

"Rrr... Right!"

*Kari uses Valkyrie on Lucien.*

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*Kentaro gets down on the ground, laying on his stomach holding the rabbit under his free arm and fires at the monster as it reappeared.*

*Derek blocks and follows up with a dash toward the creature.*

Lucien stands, yanks the blade out of his back, and flings it right into the head of the creature.

*The blade flies through its head at high speed and crashes into the wall behind it in a small cloud of dust. A piece of the wall falls apart. The monster shrieks and turns into a light sphere that drifts upwards and disappears. Olympe walks out of the door to the dungeons.*

Allina: <Ollie!>

Olympe: <Who?>

~Kari, Lucien and Allina obtain 500 Gil!~

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*The attacks destroy the monster. It turns into a sphere of light that drifts upwards and fades away. Olympe opens the door and steps into the entrance hall of the mansion to see Kari, Lucien and Allina.*

Allina: <Ollie!>

Olympe: <Who?>

~Kentaro and Creed obtain 800 Gil!~
~Kelphy and Derek obtain 500 Gil!~

=====

*The monster throws the little girl into a wall and she passes out. It then jumps onto Alto and bites at its face. Through the hole on the ceiling, Alto sees a fleet of Aldanian ships fly in.*

Alto summarily head butts the Brute Canopus with enough force to break the things neck.

---

"Looks like we're all back together" Creed brushes himself off.

Lucien nods, "Crone is being persistent in killing us however..."

*Kari runs over to Kentaro who's holding the rabbit out to her.*

"Thank you."

Jade Rabbit: <What am I, a toothbrush?>

Olympe: <I don't understand, why didn't he just kill us? It's like he's playing with us...>

Allina: <Maybe it's his conscience.>

Olympe: <He assassinated General Eldi. Didn't see him have much of a conscience then.>

Kelphy: <G-General Eldi?>

Allina: <...That's not exactly true, something did-->

Crone: <Am I interrupting something?>

*Crone is standing at the top of the staircase, smiling at them.*

Kelphy: <Crone!>

Crone: <A happy reunion. How nice.>

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*Considering the Canupus is a large werewolf the attack only manages to stun him somewhat. He growls, blinking repeatedly.*

Kentaro:<She's your "Guardian", right?>

*Upon hearing Crone's voice, Kentaro spins around, gun drawn.*

Long enough for Alto to push it off him and make a decapitation attempt at it.

---

Lucien and Creed both prepare to attack Crone.

*Crone starts walking down the stairs, running his fingers through his silver hair with a slight frown.*

Jade Rabbit: <(I gue--who is that?)>

Allina: <Crone, we know everything now! We know you are from the ancient city of Yurion!>

Crone: <That's nice.>

*The rabbit gawks at Crone, glancing at Kari briefly.*

Jade Rabbit: <(So that's Crone? I thought he'd look more... You know, evil.)>

Olympe: <I don't care where you come from, I'm going to put and end to-->

Crone: <Calm down. *Sigh* Make a few monsters go wild, kidnap a princess, and suddendly everyone's mad at you. Anyway, I'm afraid I can't stick around for much longer, so let's make this quick, shall we?>

Allina: <You-->

*Crone holds his opened right hand out abruptly and strikes Allina with a lightning bolt, hurling her back across the room.*

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*The monster growls as much as it can as the blade starts cutting through its neck. It Returns. The little girl staggers to her feet, groaning.*

Girl: <...I want my mommy.>

Derek: <Crone... What's your deal?>

*Derek keeps his sword out.*

Alto sheaths the blade after wiping the blood off. "Then let's go find her?" he holds his hand out to the girl.

---

Creed is the first to attack before Lucien shadow hands erupt from behind Crone and transform into claws aiming to run him through.

*Kari holds on to the rabbit and both her and Kentaro open fire.*

Crone: <My deal? That is ...an interesting question. But this, all of this, it was never my deal. (Never my choice.)>

*Light ropes spring from the ground, wrapping around Creed's feet with great strenght. A light shield appears to block the bullets and he turns around and steps back, one of the claws raking his arm before he releases a blast of light that desintegrates them. The shield fades as he leaps over the rail to the right of the staircase. Olympe dashes towards him holding her sword out to stab him through, but he sidesteps the attack at the last minute, slashing across her back with a light blade. She falls to the group but quickly gets back on her feet, glaring at him as he backs away from her and the rest of the ground in the direction of the dungeon door.*

Olympe: <...I don't get it. The princess told us you were given the power to control the Aeldi a long time ago but, if that is true, why did you need Master Fahren's new control spell?>

*Crone frowns and grunts slightly, shaking his head. He waves his opened hand towards them, quickly firing three light sphere at Olympe, Derek and Kentaro.*

Kelphy&Jade Rabbit: <Watch out!>

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Girl: <...Mommy tells me not to speak to strangers.>

*She kicks his left leg and dives over the remains of a sofa, staring at him from behind it. Just then, an armored man is hurled into the house through a wall, landing next to the sofa as the girl shrieks. His chestplate, bearing the Aldanian crest, is covered in ice shards and there is one deeply buried in the right side of his neck. A pool of blood flows to the floor as he grunts. The girl widens her eyes, staring at him, holding her golden braid with both hands over her left shoulder*

Alto looks at the man and the girl and claps his hands together. Light flows from his body upward to his shoulders and down into his hands. "One of the techniques Master Fahren taught me was to solidify my light" he pulls his hands apart and swings them wide forming into a make shift stretcher of sorts. He places it on the ground and walks over to the solider and gently lays him on the stretcher before making it hover slightly with his mana. It noticablly taxing on Alto but he hides it the best he can. "Your mother's probably worried about you. We should go find her" he pauses. "I'm Alto Crive. I'm not a stranger now so please follow me to somewhere safe?"

---

Creed falls flat on his face and Lucien looks at Kelphy before placing his hands on his wakizashi.

*Kentaro drops to the ground on to his stomach and fires armor piecring shots at Crone.*

*Derek sidesteps away from the orb of energy and uses Lionheart on Crone.*