[center][h3][color=B22222]Somewhere in the Desert[/color][/h3][/center]

The obliteration of Bert's snake column by Lucas, as impressive as it was, formed only one step in Bert's plan.  By sacrificing an artifice of his spells, he had forced Lucas to play his hand.  The implausibility of the idea of a multi-bodied water monster using ash magic and destruction magic went either unheeded or purposefully ignored: now, he knew the general shape all but one of his foes' powers.  Bert glanced at the remaining wizard, the girl clad in white, and jammed a finger upward to summon a series of spikes beneath her.  Just like that, the final set of cards lay on the table; even as Amaya propelled herself his way, he drew smug satisfaction from having found her to be an ice wizard.  With Lucas still on the ground, Nolan indisposed, and Fleo stuck in a wall, Bert was able to devote his full attention to Amaya as she approached.  Moving his hands into a defensive pose, Bert summoned a curved barrier of sand directly in front of him only a moment before Amaya made contact.  At the touch of her fist, ice spread out and encapsulated the structure, allowing the force of her punch to shatter it into pieces and expose Bert to attack.  With most of her momentum spent on her technique, however, she left herself open.  [color=B22222]“Not good enough, monster!  Supine Sidewinder!”[/color]  This time, a smaller snake column of sand appeared, shooting directly from Bert's fingertips.  It hit Amaya with carrying force rather than impact force, intended to put distance between the Ice Dragon Slayer and Kalahari Bert.  If Amaya reacted quickly enough, however, she could prevent herself from being thrown back to the Sand Tumult below.

Meanwhile, Fleo succeeded in pulling herself from her sand tower, after which she couldn't stop herself coughing and gasping for air.  [color=C2B280]“Any longer and I mighta suffocated,”[/color] she grumbled aloud, and looked up at where Bert was in the process of blasting Amaya.  With no thought for teamwork, -an area of fighting she rather lacked in- or moving to a less-exposed area, the dusty woman climbed onto her tower and declared, [color=C2B280]“Shinkuhakai!“[/color]  She began to reel on of her hands back, as if filling up an enormous syringe, charging a Vacuum Rupture.


[center]-=-=-
[h3][color=d8bfd8]Nero – Balsam Village[/color][/h3][/center]

Neither Sasha's diminutive stature or her angry look evoked further sympathy from Nero.  He snickered at her rather pathetic outburst and, knowing that Sasha had turned her back to him and rationale alike, was happy to forget his in-progress rebuttal.   Still, although he felt no compassion for the mage clad in white, he couldn't suppress intrigue at Lazarus's situation.  [i]Watched at all times, wasn't me, wasn't shoe man.  A sickness curse woulda been easy, but getting physical poison inside him?  That must have been some trick.[/i]  Try as he might, Nero could not remember for the life of him if Lazarus had eaten or drank anything during the train ride.  Soon after, Trinity joined Sasha—no big surprise there.  One of the reasons that guild goons like them used to look down on others was, after all, the cloying attention they gave to one other.  The minstrel's comment, surprisingly, struck a nerve with Nero, not because it wounded his pride but that he'd heard it before.  [color=d8bfd8]“Always how I look,”[/color] he whined, [color=d8bfd8]“Puppet this and wax that.  No creativity.”[/color]  He held his arms up in a gesture of helplessness as Trinity suggested with flair that the sudden illness could be conquered by the power of love.  “Now why didn't I think of that?”[/color]

Prince, meanwhile, revealed a trove of knowledge about Galuna Island.  [i]Haunted?[/i]  Nero mused.  [i]Manticores?  Love 'em![/i]  His near-fatal encounter with a polymorphed Ginger had not been forgotten.  [i]And deadly poisons.[/i]  [color=d8bfd8]“Neat place!  When's the field trip?”[/color]  He joked to himself, neither serious nor expecting a response since Lazarus had arisen from his poisoned stupor to rage weakly at Trinity of all people.  [color=d8bfd8]“Hey now, I'm the one you get mad at.”[/color]  Before the angelic man could turn his anger Nero's way, however, he slipped into the numb relief of unconsciousness.

A voice from the doorway caused Nero to look over his shoulder.  He broke out into a wide smile to see Shujin in the flesh, and full of wrath to boot.  Finally, there was something he could properly deal with.  The dark mage pivoted around fully, so that he was facing Shujin head on, and stuffed his hands into his pockets.  [color=d8bfd8]“Shoe Chin!  I was just talkin' about ya.  Thought maybe ya had something to do with Lazarus's condition—you were ready to spear him earlier.  Could be wrong, though.  Who cares?  I'm not out for justice.  But I'm gonna say whatever I want.  If you've got something to prove, well, all ya need to do is knock me over.”[/color]  Nero placed his feet together and held his arms out wide, arrayed like a balancer and daring Shujin to hit him.  [color=d8bfd8]“Should be pretty easy, I'm darned skinny.”[/color]  Tilting his head back, Nero stared at the sky, every inch of his being egging the metal wizard on.  His smile remained wide, for no matter what Shujin chose, the genie won.  If he backed down, Nero would be spared some pain, and if the dark mage took a dive, he'd have free reign to retaliate.  [color=d8bfd8]“Go on, give me a big shove.  Or even summon your cross and skewer me, I bet you'd feel great!  Come on, be your sister's white knight!”[/color]