Whether it was flying through the skies of Ivalice on his Ifrit, playing around Archadia when he was a kid, taking on monsters with the incredible powers that he was granted, or riding his Aegis War Bike such as he was doing now, Jaakuna had always, for the longest time, enjoyed the thrill of high-octane speeds. He lived that kind of life for the better part of the past couple of years. Long before meeting Wesley or Emiri or the royal children of Rozarria,  Jaakuna lived for the moment. He still does, but now with purpose. He lives the moment because of the people he met along this journey. He lives for the moment because of those who count on him. He lives for the moment for the woman who was currently holding onto his body for dear life, screaming as loud as her tiny lungs would allow.

[color=ed1c24][b]“Don’t worry, my love, we’re almost there!”[/b][/color] Jaakuna said to Emiri, his voice as loud as it can since the wind that they had picked up was roaring in their ears.

Jaakuna wasn’t wrong. As Emiri would soon see, the sight of Stigma soon came to view. As beautiful as ever, but there was obvious signs of the explosion. Jaakuna didn’t want to believe it because he had hoped it was false, but it was true. There was smoke around the smaller parts of Stigma, but it seemed like the main city wasn’t effected like the other towns.  He brought the Aegis War Bike to Stigma’s entrance, slowing the speed down to the bare minimum(15-20mph). He flew it over the entrance gate, seeing all of the people around. There were a lot of people gathered along the streets. Some holding flowers, some with their families. There was crying, some yelling, but if there was one thing that Jaakuna could tell just by looking at the scene, he would describe it as a mix of solemn and melancholy.

Jaakuna was about to say something, but his eyes looked back at Emiri, and he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to say anything that could potentially make the feeling worse. Besides, he knew if any answers were going to be given, the Royal Palace was the first place they should go. And so Jaakuna did just that. He aimed the Aegis Warbike towards the Castle where hopefully they would get some answers. Hopefully..

[hr]
There had always been a certain amount of awe-inspired wonder whenever the espers showed themselves to the group. As noted by Nadeline many a time, they were some of the most powerful - if not also magickal - beings in all of Ivalice. The way that they had powers beyond the strongest magick-user was simply astonishing. To think that the one that would probably be on the same level as Zodiark was in front of the group was a bit overwhelming, that much Wesley(and probably Savayna) could admit when they looked at each other.

As Ultima conversed with Grant, Wesley had to admit that Grant was getting a bit arrogant. Granted, he always had been a bit on the cocky side, but to boldly go where no man has gone before and say that the four of them were all that was needed, Wesley wanted to say something about that, but he couldn’t. He was frozen still where he stood. At first he thought it was because he was standing next to Savayna, but no that wasn’t it. He couldn’t place it, but something was holding him from saying anything. Even when the conversation went on, he couldn’t speak.

Savayna noticed Wesley acting odd. [color=lightblue][b]“Yo, you good, Wes?”[/b][/color] Savayna arched an eyebrow, somewhat concerned for the prince.

Wesley turned his head to Savayna, giving her a satisfactory nod. He didn’t want to alarm her. Truth be told, Wesley couldn’t exactly place it as to why he was acting odd like that. But, when Ultima  said something about battle, it hit Wesley that it would begin. It would hit him even clearer when Grant wasted no time, and fired his gun at Ultima. “Wait..” Too late. The shot was fired, but it barely grazed  Ultima.

[b]“For a Hume with such big talk, you sure don’t back it up.”[/b] Ultima taunted Grant, her left arm waving forward, arrows of light flying at the group.

[color=lightblue][b]“Blizzard!”[/b][/color] Savayna shouted, waving her Ice Queen sword at the arrows as a burst of ice magick shot from the tip, expanding when it  neared the arrows. It collided with them, exploding in a magickal display of white and icy-blue magick. 

[b]“An admirable attempt, Ice Queen.”[/b] Ultima was somewhat impressed. [b]“however, if you want to defeat me, The High Seraph, you will have to do much better than that.”[/b] She said smugly. 

As Ultima rose three feet higher, her wings would flap rapidly, sending several, little orbs of condensed light magick the size of golf balls at the group. There were so many of them that, while one exploding on the body wouldn’t be enough to deal a lot of damage, it would, however, do so in large numbers. 

Wesley, still somewhat frozen, looked at the balls coming his way. There were ten of them, all in a circle. As they neared closer to him, the fused, creating a large ball of light magick. This ball was the size of three basketballs, so it was indeed large. However, Wesley wasn’t paying attention. He saw the ball, but he wasn’t able to move.

[color=lightblue][b]“HASTE!”[/b][/color] Savayna shouted, accelerating her body with Time Magick. She tackled Wesley, able to get him out of the way in the knick of time. As seem from the crater that was left from the impact of the ball that was coming his way, Wesley would have been dead if it had hit. “What is wrong with you? Get your head together!” Savayna said to Wesley, looking at him genuinely concerned. [color=lightblue][b]“If you don’t, we’re going to have a real problem with the Holy Bitch.”[/b][/color] Savayna said.

[color=fff79a][b]“I-I”[/b][/color] Wesley was stuttering, not sure what to say because he didn’t know himself. [color=fff79a][b]“I’ll be fine. I was just overwhelmed.”[/b][/color]

[color=lightblue][b]“Well, get whelmed. We can’t afford to have you zone out.”[/b][/color] Savayna said standing up, helping Wesley as well.

As Wesley got up, and unsheathed his sword, he looked at Savayna and gave her a nod. That was all the confirmation that she needed.

Wesley noticed that there was a lot of other light magick orbs surrounding them. They were frozen somehow. Or maybe they were just waiting for Ulitma to give the command. Whichever the case, this was the chance that they had to take. [color=fff79a][b]“We have to combust those orbs before they move.”[/b][/color] Wesley said to the group as he and Savayna had joined them on the front lines. [color=fff79a][b]“Attack with all that you can!”[/b][/color] Wesley said, concentrating his magick into his Yagyu Darkblade. Flowing into the blade, orange and red magick literally was bleeding out. [color=fff79a][b]“Flaraga!”[/b][/color] Wesley shouted, unleashing a wave of non-elemental magick upon the orbs in front of them, the blast wave itself exploding a good number of the orbs in a brilliant display of white-on-warm colors of magick.

As Wesley did that, Savayna would do something similar to the orbs that surrounded the group to the left. Her sword raised. [color=lightblue][b]“Blizzaga!” [/b][/color]She shouted, sending out a wave of ice magick at the orbs. Like with Wesley’s attack, they exploded. Unlike Wesley’s attack, this was similar to when Savayna’s spell met with Ultima’s arrows. In that meaning icy blue and white appeared in a brilliant display.