Melody of the Abyss

((ooc: excuse some of my unoriginality in using the script here))

Jade frowned ever so slightly. He had expected that the Order would attempt to pursue him, he had taken the Fon Master out from under their noses after all. He just hadn't quite expected an attack to come so soon. It would seem he had underestimated the Order's ability to track down the Fon Master.

Before he could give the others any orders, he had to get a better idea of the situation. The best way to do that would be to contact the bridge. Of course, this landship was well built and there were communication devices sprinkled all over the ship. It was only a short walk to the nearest one in the hallway.

"All of you stay here. Ion's safety is up to you three."

He didn't wait for any responses. Tear and Anise would know better than to question in a situation like this, and they would be able to handle any problems that would occur. He had no time to answer questions, he had to get a handle on this situation fast and ensure that the men were ready to act before they were attacked, and Tear and Luke didn't need to be involved in this battle. He quickly was in the hallway and took a hold of the communication device.

"Bridge! What's going on?"

He received a response quickly from the captain. "A large flock of griffins 20 kilometers ahead! Total number unknown! Contact in approximately 10 minutes! Commander, requesting permission to open fire with all cannons."

"You're the captain. The ship is yours."

Immediately he got another response. "Understood, sir." Then over the loudspeaker he heard, "Large swarm of monsters 20 kilometers ahead. All hands, battle stations! Repeat! All hands, battle stations!"

Jade knew at that point, the men would quickly be ready for the incoming attack. His own duty was to ensure the Fon Master made it to Baticul. For now, he remained in the hallway to ensure that Luke, Tear and Anise would not need to engage in combat.

This was definitely not a normal attack. Very few would make use of monsters that could easily attack allies instead of enemies. He did remember hearing of one among the Oracle Knights who was capable of controlling monsters, one of the God-Generals, she had to be among the attackers. If that was the case, he truly couldn't predict how this would go. The Order definitely was playing for keeps here. They wanted Ion, and wouldn't hesitate to wipe out the whole ship to get him.

((ooc: by the way, a question, what God-Generals besides Arietta will be here? Those of us involved may want to talk in IM or something to plan this all out for who takes what roles.))

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Luke sort of jumped at the fact that Anise was clutching at him. How odd it was for someone strong enough to be the Fon Master Guardian to be seeking protection from him? In any case, he took a look at Anise, and at Ion. How the heck could such a shrimp protect the Fon Master? Shaking his head, he made a decision. "Ion, Anise, Tear, let's go this way." He kept the door open. "Anise, do you know a safe place on the Tartarus, or should we get out?" He turned to Anise, not sure of what to do.

Tear nodded. "Protecting the Fon Master is our top priority right now." She also followed Luke out of the hallway, along with Ion.

As they stepped out, the group could see Jade just a few feet down the corridor.

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astralrain.livejournal.com

That alarm was annoying, and the blaring hurt her ears. Arietta could only hope that some of the other soldiers made it to the bridge soon and shut it off. She would've gone to take care of it herself, but she had something more important to take care of first. That, of course, being that she needed to find Ion.

So, the God-General moved as quickly as she could, thankful that her small size allowed her to squeeze past others easily (and the fact that there was a liger by her side likely helped clear a path). It didn't take her too long to find the Fon Master either, although she was less than pleased to see the group he was with. Anise was bad enough, but those other people too...

"Stop right there!" Arietta demanded, as she stopped to block their path.

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Jade did not look pleased when he saw Luke and the others come into the hallway. He had to admit, he expected at least Luke to come out, but he didn't expect Anise to endanger Ion like that. Tear he understood though, she had to mission of keeping Luke safe, no matter how idiotic the young noble may act.

Any scolding he could give those four was unfortunately interrupted by the arrival of a small pink haired girl with a liger. This must be the infamous Arietta the Wild he had heard about, since he highly doubted even her own men would be that close to a liger.

He stepped forward, the only option now being to ensure that he stood between this God-General and Ion. "I don't think that will be happening."

Without turning back, since he didn't want to leave this girl an opening, he said for Anise and Ion, "Anise, take Ion and run. You remember the next location, right?"

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"A Liger...!" Luke was a bit shocked. They were the same monsters that attacked Engeve when he and Tear visited, that he and Tear had to kill to make sure Engeve was sick... and kill their queen, as well. He wondered, though, why ligers would align themselves with the Order of Lorelei. If anything, cheagles make sense, but not ligers. Then again, cheagles were hardly as menacing as ligers- shaking his head, Luke tried to get back into focus. So much for trying to move the Fon Master to a safer place.

Drawing his sword, Luke realized that several of his opponents this time were human. Staying behind Jade, the far more experience soldier, Luke looked back at Tear, Anise, and Ion. "Anise, can't you take Ion down that corridor? There has to be an exit over there of some sort, right?!"

Readying her stave, Tear took on a battle pose. "Arietta the Wild." She knew of the dangers, and there was no way a civilian like Luke could defend himself against her. In these crowded conditions, however, there was little anyone could do. "O melody beckoning toward the abyss. Tue Lei Zwe Kuloa Riou Tue Zwe..." Preparing the arte 'Nightmare', Tear began to sing.

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((OoC: Er... "sick" = "safe".))

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astralrain.livejournal.com

With the exception of Ion and Anise, Arietta didn't yet know any of the others by name. She did, however, know that they were her enemy. Not only were they friends with Anise (which would've been bad enough, in Arietta's opinion), but they were the ones responsible for her mother's death. She had every intention of making them pay for that, but she needed to get Ion first. If she attacked now, there was a chance that he would get hurt, and she wasn't about to risk hurting him in any way.

Getting Ion wasn't going to be easy, though. That much was made clear when one moved to stand between her and Ion, while the other two drew their weapons. That was troublesome by itself, what made things worse was the fact that Anise was trying to leave with Ion.

"No!" Arietta couldn't--wouldn't--let Anise take Ion away again! She gestured with her arm for her liger friend to chase after the Fon Master and his current Guardian. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately depending on how one looked at it, it was at that moment that the Tartarus came to a sudden stop, jarring the people aboard.

The girl stumbled a few steps and the device she had been holding flew out of her hands. She'd been instructed to use the fon slot seal on Ion, but... she just couldn't! She couldn't do anything like that to him, which explained why she hadn't used it yet. "Ion!" Thankfully his and Anise's retreat had insured he was too far back for the device to affect him, but she still had to make sure that he was all right. Only when she knew he was okay would be focus on the others.

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Jade had prepared a fonic arte to use on the young God-General and as he was about to unleash it on her, his balance was thrown off by the sudden stopping of the ship.

Odd, the bridge wouldn't do such a thing, not without warning. That must be a sign that the bridge was no longer his, but now belonged to the Oracle Knights.

He placed a hand on the wall to steady himself and was about to start casting the arte again when he saw an object flying towards him. He tried to get out of the way, but he saw it much too late, it hit him dead on.

The moment he saw the strange glow he was enveloped in and the feeling in his body, he knew just what it was. A fon slot seal. This was the last thing they needed now, and why had the God-Generals brought such a thing with them?

He was brought to his knees quickly, the seal weakened him fast. He was at a very distinct disadvantage now. But maybe he could surprise the enemy. He brought forth his spear and in an instinctive reaction, he lunged at the girl.

He would have hit her, if one of her Oracle Knights hadn't stepped in between and shielded her. His aim was true though, he could see that from the rather large hole in the knight's armor. The knight was dead before he even hit the ground.

But he still had a God-General to deal with. She was the more dangerous of all those in this hallway. She was his next target, even with his fon slots sealed, he still had his spear and years of experience at using it.

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((OoC: Tarei, that post is fine :) In yor next post, Anise can fall out. Depending on how long the scene with her falling on top of Balir is going to be, you and Nadia can split that off into a separate log.))

Luke had the unfortunate position to be close enough to witness Jade's spear puncture the Oracle Knight, and have blood spill all over the floor of the hallway. His eyes widening, Luke almost lost it, falling down to his knees and clutching his head.

"Tch..." Tear knew that being a civilian, Luke wasn't prepared for something like this. Then again, was being a soldier synonymous with being comfortable with death? Shaking her head, the Tartarus' abrupt halt interrupted her fonic hymn, unfortunately, and seeing the Colonel hit with a fon slot seal wasn't making matters any better; he was their ace in the hole.

Trying to pull himself together, Luke turned his attention to the liger that passed them and was after Anise. "Whoa, puppeteers are really amazing...!" It crossed his mind to attack the animal from behind while Anise took the front, flanking the enemy, and thought that to be the best course of action. He then made his move.

"Luke, no!" Tear tried to stop him, but it was too late.

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astralrain.livejournal.com

The fon slot seal hadn't affected Ion. Good. It had, instead, been released on the man that had been closest to her. That was... good too, she hoped. At least now she had a reasonable explanation to give as to why it hadn't been used on Ion. Assured that the Fon Master was safe, Arietta turned her attention to the others--only to find herself looking at an Oracle Knights back.

The God-General took a few steps back in surprise. Why would one of the soldiers be standing in front of her? She received her answer soon enough, as the Knights body fell to the ground. It took only a couple looks between the fallen Knight and the man who was suddenly a lot closer to her, for her to realize what had happened. If it had been one of her monsters that had taken the hit, she would've reacted more strongly; he emotions would've gotten the better of her and she likely would've immediately lashed out at the one responsible. As it was however, it had only been one of the human soldiers and that made it... acceptable. Not okay, but acceptable since Ion was the only human she cared strongly for.

Nevertheless, an attack had been made, and now Arietta needed to retaliate. Ion was still with Anise, but as long as she was careful to keep her attacks away from them it would be okay. Hoping that she was correct with that thought, the wild-bred girl prepared to cast an arte.

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Jade could definitely tell this girl meant business. She didn't seem bothered in the least bit, as he expected of a God-General from their reputation.

He was curious why she'd use a fonic arte with an enemy so close to her who was forced to use a weapon. Even if he didn't deliver a fatal blow, she'd be interrupted fast. Did she have no weapon besides fonic artes and monsters then? Interesting that she'd be sent to lead such an attack then.

That didn't mean he'd go easy on her, she was the enemy, this would not end until one of them withdrew or was dead. That was the way things worked in battle.

He readied his spear for another attack on her and lunged towards her. However he seemed to find yet another of her Oracle Knights in his path who took the blow for her. The Knight went down, but his his wasn't as true as the last one, the Knight was still alive, for now.

The Malkuth Colonel quickly made a decision to leave the downed Oracle Knight as he was for now. The immediate threat was with the girl, he had to at least interrupt her arte, or else there was a risk of all of them getting hurt, including the Fon Master. That was not an acceptable outcome. She didn't have any further men in the near vicinity, just her monsters.

Then one of the monsters came at him, probably trying to protect the girl. Any thought of trying to attack her was definitely not going to work. However, his usual quick thinking came up with an idea to deal with the monster and the girl at once. He gripped his spear with two hands and pushed the monster towards the young God-General using the flat end to assist him.

If it worked, her arte would be interrupted by that. If not, he could hope the monster would serve as a shield for them.

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OOC: xD There, not very funny >> but she said it! >>;; so uhmm, so new log with Anise and Balir?XD; She has to hit the ground soon >>

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((OoC: Yeah, Tarei's that's fine <3 And since I saw you respond to Balir's log already, we're good. Considering that they're outnumbered, surrounded, and at a severe disadvantage with Ion defenseless, I figure within the next few responses we can wrap this up with them getting captured and jailed.))

Well, that wasan unexpected turn of events; even moreso that Luke didn't expect Anise to be a potty mouth. But again, Luke was scared stiff from the display of violence Jade was performing. Of course, he was a battle hardened soldier, but Luke prayed that he would never have to experience this again. Still, he did freak out a bit, and noticed that Ion was now defenseless without Anise.

"Shoot..." Tear didn't know what to do. Jade was weakened considerably from the fon slot seal, and Ion was defenseless. Of course, she doubted that the Oracle Knights would kill Ion, but the Colonel Jade was another story. "Banishing Sorrow!" Mowing an enemy Oracle Knight out of the way, Tear attempted to make her way to Ion. Her attack left the Oracle Knight dead, with their blood pooling up on the floor.

"Augh..." Luke covered his mouth. He honestly felt like throwing up at the sight of all this killing, but he knew that Tear's objective was to save Ion. He had to help. Taking out his sword, however, he noticed he was trembling. Unfortunately, an enemy soldier noticed this, and saw him an easy target; coming at him in full force, Luke had no idea what had happened... but it was reflexed.

Blood dripped down the blade of his sword, and covered his fingers. As the Oracle Knight coughed up blood, that blood landed on Luke's face.

"AAAAAAAAUGH!" Luke quickly pulled the sword out, and the knight fell on top of him, dead. Unable to move, all he could do was scream bloody murder.

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((OoC: Err, don't mind the icon. I'm NPCing Arietta for this post since July will be out of internet this next week due to the holidays. Pardon, since I've never played Arietta before.))

Unfortunately for Jade, the Oracle Knight he attacked also rammed into one of Arietta's ligers; while the liger wasn't hurt, Arietta definitely took notice. "How dare you!" She snarled, as a fire-based fonic arte then accidentally hit one of the lighting-stones in the corridor; Tear was blinded by this, though a majority of the Oracle Soldiers were lucky enough in that their visors blocked the light.

With Tear blinded, Luke in the state he was, and Anise overboard, Arietta calmed down and looked Jade in the eye, as Oracle Knights got between them to protect her. Another Oracle Knight held Ion, with a sword against his neck to let Jade know that if he made a wrong move, bad things would happen. "Jade the Necromancer, your allies are incapacitated, your fonic artes sealed, and Ion is surrounded by the Oracle Knights; your best bet right now is to surrender." As she spoke, she knew that Oracle Knight holding Ion would have to be punished for dealing with Ion so severely. Other Oracle Knights moved to block the communication pipes to the bridge, so that Jade couldn't have access to them.

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Jade didn't need the Knights to block communications, the mere fact that the ship was stopped showed the bridge had been taken. He knew the captain wouldn't stop it in the middle of an attack, it gave a chance for the enemy to send reinforcements.

"So now the Order stoops to harming their own leader and going against his wishes? I don't believe for a moment that you would harm him."

Of course, there was the fact that even if they were indeed bluffing, the next move would be to go after Luke or Tear. True, Tear was a soldier and prepared to lay down her life, but Luke was a civilian who shouldn't have been involved in this. That and it would not exactly help their mission to allow a member of the Kimlascan royal family to be harmed even if it was due to the boy's own stupidity in not following instructions.

Jade considered his options. At this point, for the time being, he was alone and outnumbered. He had two people who could not get injured in the process. If he feigned compliance for now, they at least had a chance for escape. They could catch up to Anise and still accomplish their mission. This girl obviously wasn't aware that taking them prisoner on their own ship wasn't exactly a smart move.

"However, it does appear as if you are correct on the matter of surrender being the best option. Even one such as myself can't kill hundreds of monsters and Oracle Knights alone."

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