In The Name of Love

As Zac's continuing rivalry with every archer in Ivalice marches on, Zac begins to make his way over to the chemist, shooting the Chocobo with a barrage along the way.

--

As does everyone else.

~Lesalia~

*The Chocobo warks feebly, dropping dead. As Seraph pretty obviously lacks healing spells of any sort, he steps back, firing a quick lightning bolt at Lilith, which bounces off of her Mirror Mail at Zac. Regardless of that, the Archer shoots him, putting him in critical condition, as the Chemist moves towards the bird. The knight is preoccupied sword fighting with Lilith.

~3~
===================================
~Lesalia~

*Sab finds a stone with the mortar around it having been scooped away.*

The thing bounces off of his Reflect Mail as well, and goes wherever the fuck it goes. He then chases down the Chemist, who presumably has his back turned to him. Zac then uses Plunder Weapon on him.

--

Sab stands up, unsure if she actually found the bomb or not, "Uh, hey! Someone get over here! I think I found the bomb!"

~Lesalia~

*Euryale runs over.*

"Yeah...yeah, it looks like the original stone was removed, & then replaced with this one. The bomb is probably inside."
========================================
~Zeltennia~

*As a matter of fact, he is not facing away. Zac steals his weapon so I will finally hear the end of it, & Lilith takes responsibility for healing his sorry ass. The spell, unfortunately, struck Ovelia, killing her. The archer fires on Zac, determined to bring one of them down, & Seraph teleports away.*

~3, 2~

Noct and Mortal arrive on the scene. Sab looks a bit panicked, "Right, so, what do we do?!" She then put a hand over her mouth, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell..."

--

"Thank you Lilith," Zac said. He then shoots the Chemist with a barrage, point blank. Won't do anything special, but the mental image makes me feel good. He then makes his way over to Ovelia.

~Zeltennia~

*The Chemist uses an X-Potion on himself & runs away after the assault. Lilith is trying to kill him, but the knight is being a white knight, so she stabs him in the face, finishing him off. Just in case Zac can't save Ovelia, she makes her way over towards her.*

~3, 2, 1~
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~Lesalia~

"Right, you can't destroy it with magic, because it's not alive...well, let's at least get it away from the house, maybe that will be enough."

*Euryale gets down & starts pulling the block out of the foundation.*

Zac makes his way over to Ovelia, and begins to search for a Phoenix Down before realizing he doesn't have one, "Fuck, Lilith-- Oh, you're already coming." With that he turns and shoots the Chemist with a barrage.

--

Mortal and Noct begin to help dig it out as well.

~Zeltennia~

*The Chemist is now dead. Lilith administers the Phoenix Down to Ovelia, then escorts her away from the battle so she can't be archersniped.*

"Are you alright, Your Highness?"

<Yes, thank you.>

*Ovelia begins chanting her Aegis spell again.*
================================
~Lesalia~

*Now that they have it out of the wall & rolled away from the house, they can hear loud booms coming from various other points in the city.*

"What do we do, just leave it here & stand back?"

Zac then shoots the archer with a barrage, hoping to take care of the 'archersnipe' problem entirely.

--

"Uh, I guess so," Mortal said, not knowing what else to do.

"Shouldn't we get it further away?" Noct asked, though she was backing up anyway, and pulling Sab behind her as well.

~Lesalia~

*At that moment, the block blows apart in a small flash of fire & smoke that sprays chunks of concrete over the yard. Euryale wraps her arms around Mortal, stands in front of her, & presses her face into her chest. When the coast is clear, she looks around & lets go.*

"I guess he really wasn't bluffing...."
==============================
~Zeltennia~

*Once he kills the archer, the knight snatches up the yellow crystal that the Chocobo leaves behind, healing him back to full. Lilith once again uses Murasame on the group.*

~3, 1, 0~

Noct did the same for Sab. She looked down at Sab when the dust settled and saw she was fine, a quick look showed Mortal and Euryale were well as well. Noct let out a quick sigh of relief, "I guess he wasn't... Just glad everyone is alright."

Sab was still clinging to Noct, "You... saved me."

Noct looked down, "I wouldn't go that far. Even if I didn't step in front of you I doubt you would have been harmed."

"Yes, but you didn't know that, and you still did it..." Sab finally let go, blushing a bit, "Thank you, Noct. It means a lot to me that you cared."

Mortal was also finding herself ready to swoon, but simply said, "Thanks Euryale. You're not hurt are you?"

--

Zac shoots the Knight with a Barrage and begins to make his way over to the body that is about to become a crystal.

~Lesalia~

"No, I'm fine."

*A skeleton passes in front of the gate.*

"That doesn't look right."
=========================
~Zeltennia~

*Turns out I can't count & everyone is dead.*

"Will you be all right, Your Highness?"

<Yes. Tell me, who were those men? Why did the one who was in charge flee without seeing to my demise?>

The battle is won:

Noct furrows her brow, "Agreed... What the hell is going on?"

Mortal ran to the gate and checked out what was happening.

--

"I'm not sure," Zac said.

~Lesalia~

*Outside, several buildings were on fire & the Lionsguard was engaged with Skeletons, Aevis, Ghosts, & Ahriman. Several knights had already been put to sleep or turned to stone.*
==================================
~Zeltennia~

"He's a criminal specializing in murder & vandalism. I have no idea where he suddenly gained all of this influence. But we need to get you back to the castle, & double-check to make sure all of the fake guards are gone."

Zac let out a small sigh, glad that they were able to get Ovelia back.

--

"It is like a war is going on outside," Mortal said, "There are fiends everywhere."

~Zeltennia~

*When they arrive at the castle, there is a throwing star stuck in it. The star has a note on one of its points. Only it isn't a note so much as a drawing. One side has a crude stick figure in a dress & crown with a knife in her back & a spurt of what they imagine is either blood or a leg. The other side has a bunch of triangles, conveniently labelled Sal Ghidos, with red scribbles over them.*

"...Delightful. He should have become an artist."
==========================
~Lesalia~

"How very, ah, fiendish."

*Euryale walks over to see what the Hell she's on about.*

"Oh. That's a bit of a problem. They must have been led over from Mt. Bervenia."

"Clearly," Zac said, "We should go tell Delita that her Grace is alive and well."

--

"What should we do?" Sab asked, looking around as well.

~Zeltennia~

<I will inform him. And please, do not stay in the city on my account.>

"You say that, but we can't very well leave you here, when Seraph is clearly threatening you. We're tasked with your protection."

<Can you ignore the hundreds of other lives he's also threatening? All for a Princess, who isn't really a Princess?>
======================================
~Lesalia~

"While the guard is out here, Ramiel is free to fortify the Royal Palace as much as he wants. I think we should go there quickly, & put a stop to him before he becomes too strong. I don't know about you, but I don't really want to serve under a King who plants bombs in my home, & has monsters invade my streets."

"Good point, lets go," Noct said, flying off to the castle. Mortab follows.

--

Zac kind of agreed, so he kept his mouth shut.

~Lesalia~

*The park route seems to be the easiest way to go. However, just before they get there, they are hemmed into an alley by Floating Eyeball. The threat is ended when Roatha kills it from behind.*

R"Can someone explain to me what all of this monster business is about?"
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~Zeltennia~

*Ovelia enters the castle.*

"...If we split up, do you think we'll each be strong enough to handle one of the threats?"

"A man named Ramiel is holed up at the castle," Mortal said, "Declared himself king, then put bombs in the homes of nobles."

--

"I have confidence in our abilities to handle ourselves, but... I'd worry about you if we split up," Zac said.

~Zeltennia~

"To be honest, I am not convinced that I could handle all of these mercenaries on my own. So maybe it's best if you save Sal Ghidos. Unless it's too much."
==================================
~Lesalia~

R"I've never heard of him before. Are you sure he didn't fabricate his name?"

E"I'll ask him when I'm beating him to a pulp. Not to get too side-tracked, but what are you doing here?"

R"Looking for some maniac who's after the Zodiac Stones. But I haven't turned up anything on him, so I might as well help you."

"I'll do it," Zac said, "Just, take care of yourself until I get back."

--

"Great, lets walk and talk about it," Noct said, continuing to fly off towards the castle.

~Lesalia~

*When they arrive at the castle, the doors to the basement are left wide open. The staircase is wide enough for 2 people to fit through side-by-side, & continues on down for as far as they can see.*

R"Oh, I do not like the looks of that."
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~Zeltennia~

"And you as well."

*She raises an arm like she's going to give Christian Side Hug, then awkwardly transitions into a salute.*

"You're not alone, but there is precious little we can do about it now," Mortal said.

--

Zac saluted as well, then gave her a small hug, "I'll be back. Take care." With that, he was off to Sal Ghidos.