[center][color=7bcdc8][h3]Vivian[/h3][/color][/center]
[hr][@AzureKnight](VRA), [@Rezod92]
Well, at the very least Vară had finally spoken up. It seems her ire had been building the entire time, though Vivian was feeling a bit of that after Kazenosuke laughed at her words. ...What an arrogant man. But, there was a difference between the boasting of a coward, and the words of one obsessed with strength. Kazenosuke was definitely the latter, and was meaning it when he said that the three of them could take him on at once. As in, [i]he[/i] could wipe all three of them out at once. [color=7bcdc8][b]"He's deadly serious, little mouse. And it looks like he's riled Vară up enough that we can't talk about it further."[/b][/color]

Folding her arms against her stomach, Vivian's legs would suddenly sharpen to needlepoints as she balanced upon the tips of her toes, freezing over to become deadly weapons that scored the dirt beneath her and froze it gradually. [color=7bcdc8][b]"Well, truth be told, I did want to witness your bladework. Show me if your passion for it matches mine,"[/b][/color] the glacies said, tossing a lock of hair over her shoulder before beginning to glide towards Kazenosuke, earth giving way to ice as she slid along it. Vară's new form and overly flashy attack would be suicidal to attempt to coordinate with, but Vivian could at least cut off the ronin's escape route behind him, poised to strike if he moved as she expected. As for the Mouse...Rat...Sneak...she could find somewhere to insert herself, Vivian imagined. Preferably not between anyone.
[hr]
[center][color=fdc68a][h3]Matsuri[/h3][/color][/center]
[hr]
While Matsuri had planned for the Varjans to set fire to the forest, she wasn't quite prepared for them to be so zealous about it! She expected a torch or something, not a full-on flamethrower spell.

Now, the temple was likely in danger if this fire got out of control...let alone the shinobi that might be hiding out here. Matsuri's magic wasn't great enough to conjure water or anything like that...but she did have an idea for how to keep the damage to a minimum. It was something her father taught her about in case there was an accident and a bunch of the surrounding woods caught fire...fire can't exist without fuel, and something for it to jump to. Sort of like how fire jumps down the length of a fuse to light at the "fuel" inside a fireworks, making it explode. Fire was ravenously hungry, but died super fast if it didn't eat. As such, matsuri would make sure to starve out this forest fire before it became a problem.

With her Kyubi Buster now ready, Matsuri would capitalize on the confusion her illusion was causing. Out of the corner of her eye she did spy that a few of the brigands were being dragged into bushes but...for now, she just had to take care of what was in front of her. She imagined these Varjan mages could dish out heat but not take it themselves...and as such, would fire her Kyubi Buster straight into one's back, hurtling them towards the inferno as the fireworks' brittle shells came off in stages.

First was the initial [i]pop[/i] of the outer casing breaking upon significant impact, causing the projectile to speed up enough to drag a grown man along with it.

Second, the fuel ignited properly, and began to emit sparks in a whirling vortex as it traveled, starting to throw white hot sparks at the brigands, mages, and cloud the area with a bit of smoke.

Stages three through nine were all mostly various stages of explosive power, and with the pyromancer's body blocking one direction, all the sparks would only find purchase on his robes, or the tree and brush the shot had passed, starting the controlled burn that Matsuri had hoped for.

Aware of how open she'd left herself, Matsuri would immediately produce a Bang-Bang Bomber with her magic and toss it after igniting, hoping to disorient the Varjans enough that she could make another getaway.

[color=fdc68a][i]"C'mon...if there really are ninjas hiding out here...I hope I can at least hold out long enough for them to deal with this! Who else would be nabbing Varjans into bushes?"[/i][/color] Matsuri thought as she backed up, trying to manifest enough of her energy for more ammo.