[color=thistle][h3]Io[/h3][/color]

{@manorbreakthroughpeople}

It had been some time since Io had drained a mage mid-spellcast. Truth be told, she found a certain amount of glee in it: Perhaps it was simply the bending of mana to her will, or snuffing a burning warmth with a cool stillness. Either way, having been starved of energy for so long, the exhilaration of the plundered mana was something even Io - one divorced from her own mortal senses as an undead - found herself carried away with.

But before she could reach the apex, pressing forward and draining until there was nothing left, it was suddenly ripped away from her. In the arms of Shizuka, her reason returned to her. '[color=thistle]Shizuka... Stopped me? But I was almost there...[/color]'

In the pouring rain, one could almost think there were the lightest trace of tears in Io's eyes. "[b][color=thistle]Shizuka... You bully...[/color][/b]" Io whispered, her face flushed (a symptom of her body processing the stolen arcane energy - probably). She was so brimming with energy that she had ended up saying something strange.

The enemy mage's yelling reminded Io that she was, in fact, in the middle of a battlefield - and she immediately focused on the ethereal blades. She had mana to spare, and needed to quickly protect everyone. Io quickly mouthed an incantation for a simple, but strong barrier between the Task Force members and the mage's conjured projectiles. They were potentially overkill in their defensive strength, but Io knew that in these moments mages would try for desperate but dangerous gambits.