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"Don't worry, we have protection here" he said, finishing his food "Man, well, when you two finish eating we're getting again in track..." he was preparing some supplies, and get them into a bag and throwed it at Eldan's side "You're carrying it" he checked that he still got the inhalers in his pockets "Everything allright" he got out a pair of spiked gloves out "It's been a long time...." he putted them on and grabbed a wood ball, and put it on his pocket, and sitted down close to Takayuki

The girl didn't so much as twitch when the roots entered her chest, their pain indistinguishable from the pain she was already in, even while unconscious. But as Oni relieved her of her pain, her breathing relaxed and some of her color returned. "Oh thank goodness..." Lumina said in relief as her sister recovered. "Oh, thank you so much, Oni!" she said as leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. It definitely wasn't chastise or sisterly. She had experience. On another note, she also had soft lips. "The last time is happened, I was so scared she would die since I couldn't get her healed... Thank you," she explained as Namine moaned slightly and cracked open her eyes. "Namine! How are you?"

"..?" She could feel the healing as Oni stopped, reaching his limit. She smiled. "Enjoying the feel?" she teased weakly, laughing slightly as he turned redder. She nodded to her sister, whom helped her sit up enough for her to lean forward and kiss Oni's other cheek. It was just like her twin's, other then the fact that it was a bit softer due to her still feeling weak. "It's fine. We wouldn't mind doing that with someone as kind as you, Oni. Thank you."

"I'm not carrying your stuff. Especially with broken legs. If you are so weak that you cannot even carry your own equipment you might as well stay here."

Takayuki stepped up, “I’ll carry it!” She lifted up the bag as a familiar, yet creepy voice echoed in the hut. “What a sweet young innocent looking child. It’d be a shame if something were to happen to her.” Takayuki dropped the bag in fear. “Who-who is that? What is he talking about?”

Oni had not actually expended his magical energy. The twins had caused him to lose focus. Oni pulled his hands back to his chest; his face was painted red in his embarrassment. “I-I…u-um…” Oni was too flustered to say anything. “Well isn’t that sweet, now can we move things along?” Kisara had stayed too quiet for too long. “Y-yeah l-let’s...get um…w-what were we going to do?” Kisara laughed quietly to herself.

The twins giggled as they got to their feet. Namine still felt weak, but it wasn't the after-weakness anymore. It was true fatigue now, nothing a little bit of rest couldn't solve for her, thanks to Oni. "Well then, if you both don't mind, our house is nearby," Namine said first.

"We want to see what's left of it from the attack. Plus, I need to see if my Gloves are still where I hid them. Unlike my sister, I wasn't able to grab them before we fled," Lumina finished for them as they point to what could've been a structure on the other side of a stand of trees about 20 or so yards away. "Do you two mind?"

"Takayuki, let's go, you too, it's that kid from before, let's leave him to the council members", he got out, and saw the kid "You're coming with me!" he grabbed the kid and throwed him to a Cuncil member that was there "Just in time!, take care of him!" "Heheh, yeah sure" Yosuke grabbed Takayuki's hand "C'mon!" he said to Eldan, and ran with Takayuki towards Earth Country

((Right, posting. I do that sometimes. And with more than one character too, on occasion.))
Ben watched Ryan run away. He would have given chase, but something else demanded his attention more. And besides, the closest land mass was water country and even at full stamina no single earth mage should be able to get there alone, and that one was horribly injured. He lowered himself back to the ground and pulled Marcus's 'egg' towards him. The rest of the blood he let drop to the ground like rain. The blood armor that had been protecting him flowed out of his sleeves and pooled under a nearby body. He picked his friend up and hugged him. "Oi, don' go worryin' meh like tha'." Ben put a hand over his side after setting Marcus back down. "Punk go' me with tha' spear. Course, 'en yer blood 'ardens like mine, don't mean much. You a'right?"
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Khas stopped the jeep, it was loud and he didn't want to get killed because of that, so he ran towards the helicopter. He didn't know exactly where it had dropped it's payload, but it wasn't earth country and it didn't have metal's insignia on it. That worried him greatly. He was still a decent distance away from the point where he was to link up with that platoon too. He stopped a moment, putting his back to a large rock and closed his eyes, bringing up his mental topographical map. There he was, there was the jeep, there was the platoon and the known enemy locations, there were only a handful of locations where a drop like that could be made safely. Based on the model and how big the helicopter looked that narrowed it down to two likely drop points. He opened his eyes and sprinted for the closest one.
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Zanza rubbed his jaw. His interrogator had been a fellow offensive type metal mage and enjoyed punching people it seemed. He had gotten sick and tired of this. The man had gotten two friends to hold Zanza while he punched him and after the second punch Zanza had twisted around, forcing the punch to connect with the back of one of his holder's heads and he threw the second one into his interrogator. Before the man could get up he jumped on him and jabbed him in the throat, stopping what could have been a cry for help. His next blow was to a kidney of the second holder, a cry of pain overrode anything he was going to say. He threw him off the interrogator and left him to his pain. With the guard off of him the scarred man grabbed Zanza and they started wrestling. Eventually Zanza had managed to throw him through a wall and when he tore a hole in the metal frame to follow him the man started laughing and Zanza froze. A half dozen men, armed to the teeth, had their guns trained on him. The interrogator walked over and punched Zanza one last time in the jaw which about brings us up to date.

"Alright, you are who you say you are. For a demon you certainly keep your temper under control well." "I didn't earn the name for my temper." "Come on, let's get you something to eat. Your stomach seemed pretty empty to me." Zanza popped a jawbreaker into his mouth and followed the man. There was a strange device set up, and under heavy guard, on the other side of the compound. Oh well, not his job to worry about that.

((Updates, check the update section))
Oni shook his head, “It does not matter to me.” Kisara nodded, and added in, “Besides, a break would be nice, and you ladies probably have something nicer to wear at your home than this…” She tugged on the scorched clothes that she damaged during their prior battle. They followed the twins towards their residence.

The wood mage did not struggle; he merely breathed his poisonous breath in the face of his captor, killing him nearly instantly.

Takayuki laughed with the thrill of running. She had not run for fun in a while, though she did not know that they were running for fun. “Are we going home mister?”

Marcus nodded to his old friend, “na tha’ ya her’ ya I’s fin’” Marcus smiled faintly; he did not want to have Ben see him pass out. Marcus’s mouth was filled with blood however, and his own blood was pouring out of multiple wounds slowly. It did not help much that his arms were broken.

Raymond’s elite group had divided itself, each member heading in a different location. A lightning mage, famous for almost killing Hiro a year prior to his coronation into the Council, was heading towards Khas. Raymond headed for the capital city, and the others toward different metal bases.

"Yeah, we're going home.." he smiled to her

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He jumped behind the kid, and got out some more poisonous smoke "You have to know how to use it kid..." the kid fell unconcious

They laughed nervously. "Umm... We can't promise anything, Kisara," Lumina replied.

"But if we have something to spare, you can use it," Namine finished as the four of them started off.

Ten minutes later, neither twin was laughing or smiling as they stood outside of the small, partially burned down house. The roof had mostly fallen in and a wall was missing. A few bodies were scattered around, two of which the Twins seemed to pointedly ignore as they walked forward. Nearby, another Lightning crater could be seen, but unlike the last one, their were also large lines resembling the crater that had been torn into the ground around it leading outward. "Well, this is it. Please, make yourself comfortable," Namine said casually though both she and her sister was clearly unhappy about this.

"I'll go see about my gloves and something for Kisara," Lumina said quietly as she leapt away using her jet-like flames.

Khas felt the hair on the back of his neck rise and he threw himself to the ground as a lightning bolt streaked over his head. "Well now. I don't believe my eyes. The great General Shinto jr.." Khas felt a severe case of dread upon hearing that voice. He knew that voice, every general knew it. An assassin who very nearly killed one of the leaders of a country was someone nobody wanted to run into with a squad at their back, much less alone. General policy for dealing with a lightning mage, stay spread out, use earth shields to stop the bolts, and get in close. He only specialized in one of those things and he wasn't sure how good his odds were of getting that close without dying. He was fast, but he wasn't faster than lightning.

He rolled to the side and hopped to his feet for a half second before he dove to the side to avoid another bolt of lightning. It had come from a different direction and there was no telling how far away, the man had shouted, but that didn't tell him too much as he could of moved and had had no reason to close the gap. Khas slammed his fist into the ground, dozens of spikes shot up from the ground, peppering the battlefield with cover. "I hear you're pretty quick, jr., but are you faster than lightning?" The next bolt tore a hole through a rock directly in front of Khas and he had just enough time to throw himself to the side, the bolt grazed his left arm. He started to scream, but bit down on his lip instead. The arm was useless, at least for a little while, he was glad his spear could be shrunk down to a handy short spear for one handed use. So much for cover. Gravel. Fine, let's race. He probably hoped the first shot would kill me, so he's probably that way. The rest, and even the shout, were probably just to throw me off. Khas sprang from the ground and sprinted as fast as he could, throwing himself to one side or the other with earth magic to avoid a lightning bolt. When he came out from behind a pillar of earth he threw himself into the air as a lightning bolt streaked below and then did a u-turn. Khas reached out, grabbed the top of the tower as it extended and swung himself down beneath the bolt. When his feet reached the dirt again he threw himself behind the pillar and then promptly back out the other side, narrowly avoiding the bolt. It crashed through the following pillar as well. Looks like he's getting serious, but he can only do two 180 degree turns. Probably three or four. This guy was a renowned assassin and probably every bit the strategist he himself was, no sense risking underestimating him.

Khas got the briefest glimpse of his enemy before he dropped to the dirt, evading the double lightning bolt. One from dead ahead and one from the side. Khas extended his spear, sticking one end in the ground as he rolled to the side, the bolts channeling through the pole. Yep definitely just as good a strategist as me. Khas could, theoretically go underground and attack the assassin with magic, but he didn't want to find out what technique the man had developed for dealing with moles. It was evident enough that a few feet of dirt did little to stop his normal bolts, Khas didn't dare consider what a powerful one could do. He pushed the thought aside, picked himself and his weapon up, and kept sprinting.

((Sorry about not being able to post, Research paper had me bogged down.))
Takayuki nodded and looked to Eldan, “Are you okay mister?”

After a moment, the wood mage stood up, “You must have never fought another poison mage prior to now? Poison won’t work on someone who makes his own poison.”

Oni looked more surprised than Kisara, “See, now there’s your problem,” Kisara said pointing towards the area in which there was a wall. Kisara sat on top of what she assumed was left of the dining room table. “This place looks like it used to be habitable.” Oni was disturbed by Kisara’s flagrant sarcasm, but did not respond.

The glimpse of the man that Khas obtained secured his identity. The man was missing his left arm just as the tale of Hiro’s battle had described it. Hiro had used his light to blind the lightning mage shortly, and sliced off the man’s left arm right at the elbow with his legendary halberd. ”Shinto Jr.… I have heard many a great deal about you. I will cut you a deal for your life.” The man released lightning bolts as he spoke. “If you were to disclose the secret hiding place of Tsuchi for me, I will let you live a whole week after today.” An electrically charged bullet whizzed past Khas’s face. Though the bullet had not his him, a cut opened up on his face. “Whooie! It works!” The man’s voiced pierced the sandstorm clearly. “I’ve got seven more bullets for you, if you want to survive, I suggest that you answer soon.”

Other prisoners of war were not as fortune as Zanza. He could see them being dragged off towards the heavy guarded area, kicking and screaming. “No! I don’t want to die! Lemme go! Lemme go! You bastards!”

Namine chuckled, though it was rather flat and empty. "Yeah, It was rather nice before all this. Now, I've been thinking about to knock out the other wall so that we can get a nice cross breeze going in the summer," she replied sarcastically as she indicated the opposite wall. "But it's nice to hear you like the place."

"Sister!" Lumina walked in from the one other room in the house, a rather disheveled bedroom. "I found them! They were still under the floorboards where I hid them!" Lumina said semi-happily as she held up a pair of black, fingerless, leather fighter's gloves. They were slightly burned, but in great condition. She also held up a black, sleeveless, thigh-length sundress. "And I found this for you, Kisara. We never really liked it ourselves, so you're welcome to it," she explained as she tossed the garment to Kisara.

Zanza spared a glance at the prisoners. "Would it not be less of a strain on resources to just kill them? They can no longer serve their purpose now that you've captured them and they're not likely to have a change of heart and switch sides." He looked down at the grits? in the bowl they handed him, shrugged, and ate a spoonful. If it was good enough for soldiers it was good enough for him, although he would not be introducing grits flavored candies when he was finished here. No matter how much a kid might want to grow up and be a soldier, there was no way they would eat that.
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"Righ'." Ben held a hand up, stopping the blood loss and forming scabs over Ryan's wounds. "Saw an aid ten'. 'is way. Bit o' a walk." He walked slowly, mindful of his friend's injuries.
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The wind alone is enough to cause damage? How did I get myself into this? "168 hours is quite a long time when a war is going on, but I never admit defeat when I know I'm going to win." A wall of earth sprang up between them. Khas was anything but confident, but he was no a traitor and there was too much at stake to put Tsuchi in any more danger.

Khas spun on his foot and rolled evading the next bullet. Pain shot through the nape of his neck and he suddenly felt lighter. He spotted the black mass that used to be his hair, still bound by the silver band, fall to the ground as he leaped back to his feet shouting, "Do you have any idea how long it took to grow that out? Or how many people I had to beat the tar out of to keep it?" A human railgun, the bullets are probably extremely magnetic, so let's try that. A maze of earthen walls sprang up and a powerful bolt of lightning demolished several of them on it's way to where Khas had been. I do so love that minotaur story. Hopefully this won't take too long. He turned his radio on, "Lieutenant, I need your platoon at the following coordinates. Right the hell now!" There was no way they would get to him in time to help, but hopefully they would be able to stop this guy if he failed and maybe even recover his body. However, there was something that would get here in time. He changed channels, "I need artillery support on my location right now. Danger close, but that doesn't matter just fire. Pepper the area." It would probably take an entire minute for the rounds to arrive, if they arrived at all, but they should distract his enemy when they start hitting, and that would open up a window for him. For now, he would run like hell, hoping the lack of visibility would be an effective hindrance for his enemy's aim, and trusting in his own mental map of the maze to get him closer to his target.

"You're right... Then" He punched the kid in the face "Let's knock you..." he grabbed the kid and walked to the HQ of the council members

Kisara nodded agreeing, “I could knock it down if you want.” Kisara smiled back as Lumina re-entered the room. “Oh, this is so pretty though, are you sure I can have it?” She did not wait for an answer however, and stripped down right there, Oni’s cheeks turned red and he turned away. Kisara notably ignored him and slipped into her new dress.

“Oh they’ll die alright, and they’re not wasting resources, heck they are the resources!” A soldier replied as he sat down next to Zanza. “Haven’t you heard about the cannon?”

Marcus nodded peacefully, keeping an eye open, not only to prove, or even feign consciousness, but also for safety reasons. They did not defeat an enemy, the enemy simply escaped.

“Don’t try and waste time with me Jr. , I’m a very busy man.” The mage destroyed a few walls that were in front of him, entering Khas’s maze. “At this rate you’ll only get five days!” He places his gun in his holster; these bullets would have to last.

The wood mage grinned discretely as he was carried away. The fool is bring me to my own dinner.

Zanza shook his head. "I'm an enforcer, I've never concerned myself with military matters. Which reminds me. One of your groups was wiped out by that forbidden child I've been chasing. I'd like to get back to that if we're done here."
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Khas put a hand to the ground and activated a ground sonar to help him locate the metals he was looking for, and also to keep tabs on his new friend. There were indeed few of them, but there should be enough magnetic metals for his purposes and he thought he could get it done in time, but just to be sure. The maze changed. Ok, I've moved them close together, now compress compress compress. A dull metal ball was pushed up through the earth next to Khas and his spear tried to go to it, he made sure to set it down a few feet away before he picked it up. "This should work, at least once. Funny, I guess this armor's ceramic not metallic." He threw the ball when the artillery strike began, he would need his spear whether his current plan worked or not. He was kicking himself on the inside for not bringing a gun with him.

A little over a minute and a half after the call the artillery shells began dropping. Rather than seek cover like a person should he made a direct path for himself that would intersect with the assassin's. Shells landed all around, destroying much of the maze, a shell landed in front of Khas even. He was once again thankful for his armor as the shrapnel buffeted him and the force of the blast threw him into a wall and destroyed his radio. He picked himself up, ignored the pain, and sprinted to the intersection. He put his back to the wall as he waited three seconds spear in hand. When he turned the corner he saw the mage standing on the other end of the long hallway gun out and then he heard the shot, felt the shockwave, and saw the destruction as the bullet veered off course and into the wall. Khas smiled when a shell landed in the middle of the path. He got on the side opposite his magnet and sprinted forward through the dust cloud. He wasn't sure if it would work again, but he needed to close that gap.

Lumina nodded. "Yeah, it's alright. We have too many bad memories with it to want to wear it again. It's all yours, Kisara," she said as the Twins giggled from seeing Oni so embarrassed to see a girl strip. He was so innocent that it was kinda cute.

"And no thanks, Kisara. We have our own plans for this place now," Namine replied as she looked at her sister, whom was putting on her gloves to make sure they still fit and weren't too stiff or anything. "Lumina, I didn't want to ask you, but could you...?" The Flame-Twin flinched, knowing what she meant, before nodding and Jetting over the wall. Namine looked back at them. "Sorry, I need to do something real quick. Please, feel free to look around," she said to Kisara and Oni before disappearing into the bedroom Lumina emerged from earlier.

“Someone should be on it; you know how things work around here. I wish I could tell you more, but I cannot.” The man finished his grits and patted Zanza’s back. “See you later.”

“I don’t know how you did that Jr. All I do know is that you’ve wasted me a damn good bullet!” The lightning mage also did little to avoid shells. “You know. It’s cheating to call in an air-strike.” You just lost yourself 48 hours of life, if you take the deal you still get 72 hours. The mages was talking for the sake of talking. The explosions muted him, and the dust and sand kicked up by the shells blinded him. “Come out, come out wherever you are!”

Kisara nodded, and Oni replied, “Take as long as you need.” Kisara picked up the clothes and threw them towards Oni, “Thanks for the loan, Hun~” Kisara said sweetly. “Don’t mention it-” “Actually while we’re alone…I’m sorry about before.” Oni nodded and smiled, “Don’t worry about it, I’m fine…” Oni simply stared down at the floor, calling to mind the death of the old man. “I just hope… Never mind…”

((I'm gonna go ahead and end this battle. I hope I did the assassin justice.))
Khas burst from the smoke and as soon as he registered his target he loosed the spear. He had closed the gap faster than he had hoped and although the spear didn't kill the mage it provided a much needed distraction and at this range a slight distortion in the trajectory of the bullet. The spear shattered and Khas was pretty sure he felt a piece or two punch through his armor. His foot connected with the earth and with the push off powering it, his following punch landed like a rockslide into the assassin's arm, shattering a bone. Unfortunately, Khas didn't have time to dodge the blast of lightning that lashed out against him in retaliation. He felt his legs buckle under the force of the attack and he slammed his forehead into the assassin's skull before he fell.

Khas tried to push himself back up and made it about halfway before his arm collapsed under the strain. He looked up, as his neck was the only muscle listening to him, and saw the assassin climbing to his feet with blood running down his face and his arm hanging limp, yet still holding onto the gun. Khas saw the lightning in the man's eyes and tried in vain to lift himself one last time, but was thankful he couldn't when the artillery shell went off right behind his would be executioner. A little shrapnel battered Khas's prone form but the majority flew over his head. The assassin yet stood above Khas for the longest three seconds of the young general's life before the body fell forward face down. "Oh thank Gaia." As if to show Khas that he was in no way out of the woods an artillery shell blew up near him. He put his head down and hoped that the volley ended before a shell landed too close. On the plus side, he got to enjoy the sounds of his first called in live fire artillery barrage while he waited.