[center][h2]Damian Gerard|Beneath the Arena[/h2][/center] As Damian made his way out of the arena, he found the exit crowded by little figures. Wood, cloth, clay, straw...they were all dolls, some with button eyes, some with pins in, some hilariously misshapen, but the playthings of children and witches nonetheless. In response to the Blade's approach, the little things lurched and stirred to life, too slowly and feebly to possibly be mistaken as threatening. Unsteadily they achieved their feet, and stood huddled, as if waiting for Damian to pass through the door. He was beaten to it, however, by a squat [url=http://pre07.deviantart.net/97ff/th/pre/f/2015/122/6/2/japanese_witch3_by_anastasiareddress-d8rv6a4.jpg]figure[/url] in white furs and mask. She waved away the other two medics. The dark, narrow eyes of the mask regarded limp form of Hyun with a look of permanent intrigue, though the emotion that flowed from behind it was very different. [color=29AB87]”Poor girl's had a rough day,”[/color] she said in a sorrowful, motherly tone. Morimato Tsubano raised her staff, singsonging something under her breath, and the senseless woman began to float out of Damian's grasp. [color=29AB87]”I'll take it from here. I'm the guild healer, you see. For the Games, I joined the Crocus medics. They've got some good stuff, but nothing like my Marsh Songs.”[/color] Slowly and gently, using a sublime, multicolored, misty light emanating from her lanterns, she buoyed Hyun down to where her dolls stood, hands stretched upward to receive. In response to the activation of Tsubano's lanterns, their own hands pulsed with a similar glow, and where they touched the pain was subsided and the tissues kept from jostling together. Tsubano began to walk down the hallway after her dolls, keeping the stream of light swirling around her patient. She paused, however, and looked back at Damian for a moment. [color=29AB87]”I heard your challenge. Maybe you should walk with me, and I can tell you a little about how the people I know feel."[/color] Damian knew that there was a number of interpretations for what he'd just said and he expected a rather long line of Frenzy Plant mages to be knocking on his door after the last of today's battles was done. But he knew that the matter would never be allowed to rest until they got whatever they determined was equal to fair play for today. However, before he could continue too far with the train of thought, he noticed the dolls standing and moving and the masked woman approach him. He didn't argue when she took Hyun and had turned to follow anyways when the woman suggested he walk with her and listen to what she had to say. [color=FireBrick]"Well, it's better than walking in awkward silence, I'll admit that."[/color] Matching the woman's stride, Damian walked in silence for a couple minutes before speaking. [color=FireBrick]"For the record, I entered that arena with no intention of destroying anyone's dreams."[/color] Beneath the mask Tsubano's expression was inscrutable, but by her tone she didn't seem too upset. [color=29AB87]"Yes, yes. But someone had to win that fight, and it wasn't going to be her. She could take on nearly anyone under the sun with her magic and her sword skill, but she reached too far with you."[/color] The witch sighed, looking down at Hyun's face, frozen in a look of desperation. [color=29AB87]"She hasn't been improving for about eight months, you know. She reached the peak of her ability. I spoke to Zander, and we agreed that she probably could retake her throne at this point. At least, she could defeat the enemy leader. After her defeat, she had no army, and no matter how strong a single woman can't win a war. She was afraid of going back, and losing again. I think she needed this. Not the defeat, but the fight. Win or lose, she needed something to change. Either to become proud enough to return home and try again, or to be humbled enough to banish the thoughts of home, queenship, and her family altogether. She'll be better off, if she ever awakens. Unfortunately, I don't suspect she will."[/color] Tsubano and her horde of dolls reached a room. They transposed Hyun from the critters' clutches to the bed, and Tsubano sang an eerie, chanting song. The croaks of frogs and songs of crickets could be heard as an ethereal music played along, filling the air with damp fog and blotting out the electric lights. When it had gone, Hyun's wounds went with it, but true to the witch's prediction Hyun did not awaken. [color=29AB87]"She has lost the will to live,"[/color] Tsubano diagnosed remarkably matter-of-factly, as if describing a dead rat she'd found. [color=29AB87]"I will have to find other methods."[/color] Shuffling to the side, she motioned for Damian to lean close. [color=29AB87]"Frenzy Plant may not ever take you up on your challenge. Until today they've never seen a swordsman more ruthless or powerful than Hyun, and your display knocked her out of the water. You've terrified them."[/color] She paused to let that sink in. [color=29AB87]"Zander might try you later, but perhaps not. He has incorporated his magic into his swordsmanship style, and if there is the slightest chance he will lose, he will not commit. Kilo and Mercury are both physical powerhouses, and plenty angry, but they will not chance it either. If there is anyone you should be worried about, it is Demetri and Xyster. The former once beat our guild master in a fit of rage far less warranted than this, and Xyster's Reaper magic simply happens when its prerequisites are met. Surely you heard her manifest her scythe? She did not control that. If she wants to hurt someone, it happens. Both have hidden depths of power, not too unlike the 'Second Origin' phenomenon I've been hearing disturbing rules about. Even if they do not challenge you, they will not hold back against any of your allies, reasoning that all of your guild members are like you. Every tale we've heard about Phoenix Wing seemingly confirms it. I'm not so sure of you myself, but then, I'm crazy. I'm sure the Blade of Phoenix Wing will have no problem from a bunch of measly claimers."[/color] She cackled and left, leaving her dolls strewn around the room. Outside, she passed a thin teenager in a gray shirt and purple cloak. He was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, and a wide smile was on his face. He didn't move as the witch passed, but clearly he had heard the whole thing. Damian watched the old witch leave and sighed, taking a seat next to his unconscious opponent and looking at her. After all he'd done, he was still able to find someone who'd describe him as terrifying. In hind sight, someone of his age, even as a kid, displaying the kind of skill his father had at thirty plus years of age could be described as terrifying, even if Damian had never used the description. But now...his whole guild was at risk and it was his own fault. [color=FireBrick][i]Terrifying? Is that what that really was to them? Hell, I just wasn't going to go down without a fight...[/i][/color] With another sigh, he stood and looked to Hyun, watching her breathing a moment before leaving the room. However, the boy standing outside the door drew his attention. [color=FireBrick]"Any reason you're stalking around outside the infirmary?"[/color] The bespectacled kid chortled, putting on a derisive expression. [color=d8BFd8]"My friend, you just won the biweekly 'how many things can ya say wrong in a single question' award! Big honor, lemme tell you. But first, lemme tell you that this entire part of the building's the infirmary, I haven't even tried to be stealthy, and I haven't moved in three minutes. But yeah, if I'm to strangle that ridiculously-misconstrued abomination of a sentence into decent language, I do have a reason for being here. It is, however, on a need-to-know basis. Fortunately for you, since I'm not in the mood for dislocations today, you need to know! Hyun here's an old friend, I've had her best interests at heart as long as I've known her. Thought I'd pay her a special visit. Hah hah hah!...entendre."[/color] He offered Damian a dazzlingly white, stunningly sincere smile, and readjusting his glasses in a very self-secure manner. [color=d8BFd8]"More importantly, any reason you're sittin' around inside the infirmary? Don't you have precious guildmates to try and convince that you did the right thing by rearranging my pal's bones? I bet the lovely Penny's just pining for your reassurance right about now. Perhaps if you were to stay here with my friend, I oughta go and say hi to yours. Let her know the Blade's sympathizing with the enemy."[/color] In two months, seemingly, Nero had changed. Not only had he not gone through with his initial plan that he'd confided in Damian, but he'd grown even more unabashedly snarky. He was being truthful, however. Some time ago he had met Hyun at the Frenzy Fort, and at the moment he wanted nothing more than to be alone with her. Damian grimaced and repressed his inner urge to deck the suddenly familiar face's state of consciousness into that of unconsciousness. [color=FireBrick]"Should have known I'd run into you here. As for her bones, the worst of it was a dislocated shoulder which has been healed. In case you missed it, I tried to get her to back down and she wouldn't. But I'm not in the mood to argue with a diluted genie in any case. Floor's all yours."[/color] And with that, Damian reclasped the cloak bearing Phoenix Wing's emblem around his neck and headed back towards where Phoenix Wing Team B was, but then decided to redirect to where the rest of the guild was watching from to converse with Master Jamie. He needed to know so he could tell Team A about the sudden difficulty increase for them in the games. Stopping at the door to the infirmary, Damian looks back towards where Hyun and Nero were. [color=FireBrick]"Pacifice honesteque, Hyun. You've earned your share of both."[/color] And then he was gone. Nero entered the room and stood over the still body of Hyun. A strange, almost hungry look passed over his face. Slowly, and very delicately, he reached a pristine white-gloved hand toward her. The fingers brushed against her stomach, and then went inside, passing through the skin as if it were water. He rooted around within for a few seconds, then took hold of something and with definite precision pulled it out. Catching his breath, he lifted the thing up, dangling it in the air. It was a grotesque, gray-blue tumor, covered with branching spindly growths. When looking at it, Nero got the sense that it was horrible enough to devour hope. Eagerly, he plopped it onto the nightstand before jabbing Hyun's side. [color=d8BFd8]"Wakey wakey, swordmaiden."[/color] Hyun's eyes flashed open, and she flinched, blinking. It was a moment before her eyes focused. She recognized Nero's face, but not his name. [color=DA70D6]"You.."[/color] Then she caught sight of the awful thing on the bedside table. [color=DA70D6]"Ach! What is that?"[/color] Nero crossed his arms. [color=D8BFd8]"That...was your despair. Look at it! Grody! It's been festerin' inside you for a long time. A few minutes ago, it got a growth surge, and it woulda been terminal if I hadn't come along. I'm not here about that, though. I've got a present for you. The witch said you reached your full potential a while back, but I've got a little something-something that can take your power to a whole new level."[/color] Nero reached inside his pouch and pulled out a glowing, golden diamond prism. He grinned at it a little too wildly, for it represented his conquest. [color=D8BFD8]"Turns out the Law of Manifestation doesn't just work on traits. It works on spells too. I really had to get a guy way in my debt to get this. But desperate people will do anything for a solution, won't they?"[/color] The swordswoman shivered. [color=DA70D6]"What are you saying?[/color] [color=D8BFd8]"I'm saying that before I arrived, you lost the will to live. You let despair consume you. Now I'm doing you a big-time favor, but it doesn't come free. I'm cutting your despair..."[/color] Suddenly, a knife flashed in Nero's hand. Hyun's eyes widened, but before she could scream, the tumor of despair shrieked instead as the blade sliced through it. [color=d8bfd8]"...in half. It is despair that motivates you after all. You'll have to find a way to get rid of the rest on your own."[/color] Seizing half of the tumor, Nero abruptly jammed it into Hyun's chest. She gasped as the despair returned to her; the other half withered and turned to ash. The dark mage seemed satisfied, all but for one thing. [color=d8bfd8]"Now say it."[/color] [color=DA70D6]"Say what?"[/color] [color=d8bfd8]"That you wish for more power. Come on, I've got to hear it, haven't I? Your first wish."[/color] [color=DA70D6]"I...I wish more power."[/color] Nero's squinted eyes opened wide. The pupils seemed very, very small. [color=d8bfd8]"Your wish is [i]granted[/i]."[/color] Then, Nero infused his golden prism into her in the same manner, and Hyun was shocked to feel a new strength surging through her. The world, however, was growing blurry. The last thing she saw before blacking out again was Nero's smile, but the last thing she heard was: [color=d8bfd8]"Now you owe me a great deal. What is the price of a new lease on life and the power of Cancellation Magic? If I ever figure it out, heh heh,"[/color] the genie held his fingers up in a phone gesture. [color=d8bfd8]"I'll give you a ring."[/color] Then for the second time that day, Hyun's world went dark, and Nero left her to dream.