Raiya chased down the pub mix with her umeshu, clearing her throat before speaking.

"That's a fair point, and I don't see any reason to lie to you. I do want to leave. I think this entire team, all these paragons, getting involved with the Arcanocracy, it's all a huge waste of time. I have better things to do, other tasks that require my full attention. And I have to admit, your meddling has cost me dearly. The only thing I can say is that my personal honor system prevents me from leaving at the moment. I'm looking for any way I can to get out of this, though. Every moment wasted here is a moment I could spend looking for my parents' killer. At the moment, though, there is no way for me to legitimately leave. So, until then, I'll be waiting to find an opening." Raiya explained.

---

Felix was happy that Zuri was enthusiastic.

"Well, if there isn't anything else you'd like to ask me, I do believe we should get you all to your mission." Felix said.

"If you're here because your sense of honor dictates it, we have something in common. I'm sorry for my inconvenience, but I'm afraid I don't think I'll be dropping dead anytime soon. Until then or the end of this 'waste of time' it looks like you'll be stuck with me." Nemo replied, munching on another one of the snacks. "Either way, I think it's time to move onto a brighter topic. All this dreary mission talk is gonna end up giving me a headache." Nemo suggested, tapping his head with his palm.

Travis continued to observe Zuri as Felix taught her the basics of how to utilize her mana through casting of magic. At one time, he fought back the urge to giggle once Zuri had brought up the use of a wand as a medium to cast magic. He admitted that it was a rude thought but in hindsight as she was given the lesson about magic, it was nevertheless a common if not somewhat of a stereotypical response from one who was now participating in the art. Though arguably, he himself was not so far off when he had begun his own training in the use of magic.

"Well done, Zuri!" Travis clapped his hands in applause to Zuri's summoning achievement.

Raiya rolled her eyes at the "Looks like you'll be stuck with me." statement. Raiya was a bit irritated that Nemo came right out and said what she was actually planning, but she figured that Nemo knowing her plan wouldn't stop random happenstance from taking Nemo off her hands. She was not about to change her plan, but maybe, just maybe it was time to change her approach.

"A brighter subject? Okay, what's your favorite color? Let me take a guess first..." Raiya looked Nemo up and down. "Is it white?"

Nemo leaned forward, checking the areas around him as if to see if anybody was watching before softly replying. "How did you know?" in a tone of faux-paranoia. "Yes, I'd be somewhat of a fraud if it wasn't. To me, the color white is like a canvas waiting to be painted upon. It represents possibilities. I like that." Nemo explained.

"Tyrian purple is a close runner up though. It originated as a highly valuable dye secreted from predatory sea snails originally known as Murex. And I've been known to be fond of the color black when it comes to attire." He added. "What about you? Oh, and I've been wondering. What do you prefer with weapons besides the sword. Firearms and knives."

Raiya let out an utterance of a laugh, that may of sounded a bit more like a scoff than a genuine expression of mirth, at the trading of sarcasm.

"Y'know, your reason for liking white is not far off from my reason for liking red," Raiya explained, "Canvas being a theme and all... I like to think of the ground as my canvas and the blood of my enemies as the paint. The more of it there is, the bigger the picture I can craft. Of course, the same could be said about my living victims. I like to see them come back to face me, to see their scars that I have carved into their bodies for them." Raiya smiled wryly with content. "So, I would say blood crimson is my favorite color. I am also partial to electric blue. There's nothing quite like feeling the rush of electricity surge through you before releasing a massive destruction spell. The blue flash that occurs after the completed circuit of a discharge is very beautiful." Raiya continued, "And I suppose you and I share the same taste in the color black. It serves its purpose keeping me shrouded in the darkness of night, and serves as a warning to those who dare seek to defy my gang, that the eternal blackness of death is ready to greet them in retaliation..." Raiya used her hand to fan the hair behind her outwards dramatically "And c'mon, every girl knows that everything matches with black." She smiled.

Raiya let out a exaggerated shocked exasperation, "Weapons besides the Sword? This is blasphemy!" She exclaimed. "I mean, in all seriousness," Raiya dropped her chair down to level and flicked her hand out, materializing her Beretta 70. "If we are talking about concealed carry, you can't go wrong with the 32 caliber ACP Beretta 70. It's small and light enough that swinging it out at a moments notice is no problem." Raiya explained. She placed the gun down on the table beside the pub mix. "Though if we are talking about a covert mission and the mission needs some stopping power..." Raiya flicked her hand outwards materializing another, larger pistol. This one had a suppressor attached to it and looked a bit heavier than the small Beretta 70. "My favorite choice is the Heckler and Koch USP-45 ACP... Raiya placed the larger metal handgun next to the Beretta. "Though, I really do prefer my sword when it comes to fighting my enemies." She explained.

"I think of my duels like pieces of art as well. Same goes for the spells I use and the destruction they cause. I'm certainly not someone who is afraid of blood either. I can see how somebody would like that shade, I often find myself lost in it's radiant color sometimes." Nemo replied, resting his cheek on his palm. "Speaking of black though, has anybody ever told you that you have very pretty hair? The color is quite fetching. I especially like your... antenna? It's rather cute." Nemo said, referencing her unique lock of hair which went up or down depending on her emotions. Nemo figured it was probably tied to her electric abilities. The nature of Nemo's compliment was uncertain, on one hand, he could of genuinely wanted to tell her, but on the other, he might just be trying to get a reaction out of her.

"Well I can see why you prefer your sword so much. Those guns are stock. Built in a factory. Reliable? Sure. But far cries from real crafted pieces." Nemo commented, spinning out his pair of opposite colored revolvers and placing them on the table. "These were modeled after the single action army of the western era. The aethermetals were tough to find on their own, but the grips were especially challenging." Nemo said, picking up the standard sized silver colored one by the barrel. He tapped the glistening white grip of the weapon. "Do you know what this is? This is a unicorn horn... do you even know how hard it was for me to find a unicorn?" Nemo asked, as if the thought itself was bringing back insanity inducing memories of the task.

"The other was taken from the horn of a European black dragon." He added, putting the weapon down by it's smaller counterpart. The cost of the materials used in the two heavily engraved guns was probably near priceless to some people.

"It would probably take all day to go through my collection of revolvers, so how about something different. Semi-automatics. These are just a couple I have on me right now." Nemo said, spawning multiple guns and putting them on the table in a line. Every gun seemed to be engraved and crafted out of some sort of magic infused material.

"Black Widow Luger, with a custom vintage suppressor. Perfect for tasks that can't be too loud." Nemo pointed to the all black gun. The suppressor seemed to be fitted integrally to avoid lengthening the barrel as much as possible.

"Israeli Desert Eagle, for tasks that need to be loud. Made from the melted down electrum of ancient shekels. Grips constructed from the wood of a native fig tree."

"The standard 1911, modeled after the classic first generation. Works in all situations. Silver like aethermetal taken from a Witch Hunter's prized weapon. Mother of pearl grips from a great shen clam."

Nemo leaned back. "Small blades are fun too, they can make the situation more... personal." He placed the Kris military dagger he used before on the table, followed by a gut knife clearly used for skinning, an Italian stiletto switchblade with a kris styled blade and black handle, and finally a large bowie knife. "But let's not forget my favorite. The butterfly knife." Nemo finished, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a silver colored all metal balisong. Nemo gently flipped it open, revealing a kris style aethermetal blade. He began idly flipping it around in his hand, fiddling with it to keep himself busy. Now that Nemo was done, he was quite literally surrounded with weapons.

Zuri wanted to learn so much more about magic but it was time to head out for a mission. "I'm sure I'll be able to learn and experience a lot more during the mission, I just hope I won't be dragging you guys down for being so inexperienced.." she replies Felix with a slightly worried but positive look. She looks over to Travis and says a simple "Thanks!" before redirecting her attention to Felix and asks "So.. will you be opening a rift or.."

Felix nodded his head at Zuri's question. He walked over to a brown box on the wall. The brown metal box was thin and its face was about 7 inches square. It had one button towards the bottom of the face, and one large black circle in the middle of the face. Felix pressed the button at the bottom and immediately a crackle of noise house-wide indicated that the PA system was in use.

Felix's voice rang throughout the manor.

Felix turned towards Zuri and Travis, "Let us be off then." Felix said, then he turned towards the exit and began his trip towards the living room.

---

Raiya blushed for a moment at Nemo's compliment. And it took a moment for her to rationalize to herself exactly what the nature of the compliments were. She didn't look into it too hard, after a moment she figured that it must be some sort of trick.

Raiya turned her head and scoffed, "Black hair is overly common from where I come from. So common in fact that our language had to come up with other words to describe people because of how homogeneous everyone looks. Complimenting the color of my hair is like complimenting a rock for being solid and blunt." Raiya explained a bit irritated, "One of those description words is, 'アホ毛 (ahoge)' which literally means 'stupid hair' and it is used to describe the 'antenna' you so thoughtlessly pointed out. Do you know how many times I have tried to get rid of the damned thing? It just keeps growing back. And no amount of gel will keep it down either." She said exasperatedly, "I even resorted to extreme measures, trying spells to nuke the bastard, but no matter what I tried it kept coming back, like a giant middle finger from God Himself." Her arms were v-d outwards as if pleading, begging for, at the very least empathy. "I have a feeling that even if I grow old and my hair turns grey and begins to shorten and fall out, that wretched thing will still be there, mocking me. I bet even when I am dead and in the grave, for hundreds of years anyone who stumbles on my skeleton will find that stupid lock of hair sticking up out of my skull like a monolith to commemorate my misfortune." Raiya had her head tilted down in a pose of defeat.

Then she leaned back in her chair as Nemo began to take out weapon after weapon. Many not just rare, but outright unique pieces that could be worth a small fortune to the right buyer. Raiya cocked in eyebrow in an expression of being impressed. "This is quite the collection you have here. You could arm a small militia with these. Or sell them to fund a full army... You even have some balisongs, I've been a fan of those myself but never really considered carrying one." She smirked, "I keep many of my own rare pieces behind glass back at my penthouse. Although, I didn't really show you my custom kusari-tanto. The chain is enchant-" She began to explain, about ready to call it forth before she heard Felix's call. "Well, I guess we must be off. Maybe you'll get to see my kusari-tanto in action here very soon." She suggested as she stood up and down the rest of her umeshu. She placed the glass down firmly, making a small knock sound come from the table. "Let's go then." She said as she began to walk towards the living room which was only about 20 feet away from where they were in the dining room.

She plopped herself down on one of the sofas, waiting for the rest of the team to arrive.

"You're very welcome," Travis kindly smiled as Zuri accepted his congratulatory response. With that, Felix had then announced their mission was now starting over the mansion's PA system as the three of them left the laboratory. As he left the basement, he turned to the both of them, "allow me to prepare a few things. I shouldn't be long."

Without waiting for an answer, the Untalent separated from the group and hastily made his way be to his quarters. He certainly was not properly equipped to participate in the mission and he rather avoided a fight in his perfectly good morning robe. Of course, he mostly wanted to avoid any fighting if it could be helped. Upon accessing his room, he immediately cast away his robes and dressed into his trademark trench coat and checked all of its compartments to verify his current inventory. Once he looked the part, Travis then wrapped a couple of cargo belts around his waist and around his chest and back before taking an array of small items and placing them within each pouch.

Once the small things were done, he then walked to his mythical chest of untold deepness, opened it and reached into is infinite confines. He retrieved several tomes and a few larger items before taking out along horizontal long box whose physical dimensions betrayed that of the chest it was recovered from. Opening the box revealed a row of greyish capsule-shaped items all lined in their slots up in a perfect row. A small tab inside the lockbox produced a low green hue, illustrating the sub-text below it that the contents were charged.

"Perfect," Travis said to himself as he pulled several of the capsules and housed them each within the inner pockets of his coat. Each of the objects he retrieves had the texture of a smooth but foam-like make-up as if it was intended to act a sort of an encasement.

He soon stored the closed box within the chest before sealing it and began making his way to the door. Just before he could get past his desk, he then realized that he still had with him the runic plans that blinded their Paragon earlier. Travis quickly took out the parchment but eyed for a moment as he was nearly ready to place it on his desk. He then began to ponder about its other applications as Felix announced before, speculating on what it also capable of doing. With a small groan, he opened up the plans and grabbed a crystalline case from his desk before imprinting the rune's design into the hexagonal prism. Chanting a quick incantation over the case, he then stowed it too within his trench coat, before leaving the plans on his desk and hurried out of his room to join the rest of his team.

Nemo sat at the table by himself now. He flipped his balisong knife closed and placed it back into his pocket and then started to de-spawn all the weapons he brought out, finishing it out with the two tumbler glasses. He picked up the bottle of umeshu, the medium sized bottle only had about one fourth of the liquid it started with left. Nemo checked to see if the coast was clear before unceremoniously chugging the rest of it.

Eventually he appeared in the living room and sat down on the same sofa Raiya did. Nemo leaned over onto the armrest and looked to his manadial to glance at the time. No other members had reached the room yet, so Nemo figured he had time for at least one more question while they were still on their way. "Have you ever done something that you really regret?" Nemo asked, quieter than usual. He only looked over to her once he had finished speaking.

Zoey simply melted through the shadows in the corner of the room, flopping in an arm chair like she'd been there for hours. She felt a bit like she had, and she was glad to finally be getting out of this cabin. For some reason, it vaguely reminded her of a large fire. But maybe that was just another nightmare.

She noticed instantly that the room smelled a bit like alcohol. Fantastic. Stealth mission, lets drink. Solid. If she gave a damn, she'd probably be able to tell which drink. But she really didn't give a damn. At this point, she would consider just getting on the boat without something going horribly wrong a successful mission. She eyed Travis and wondered if he was coming. She assumed he was, but she didn't really see him as a stealth operative. In fact, he reminded her a bit of the guy Cyril from that TV show... which was it? Archer, that's right. Capable of maybe doing something good, but more likely to be a punch line. She was so positively astonished by this line up that she started thinking of drinking herself. She had a small vial of moonshine. After all, she might need it for when his all goes horribly wrong. At worst, the damn thing would make her drunk enough to find the humor. At best, soaking in the moonlight of a few nights might help give her a boost. Either way, she was already coming to grips with the fact that this mission might already be majorly boned.

Raiya tilted her head to the side, "Something I regret? Do you mean besides making a drunken bet with you that essentially chained me to a team of misfits and vagabonds...?" Raiya pursed her lips and put her index finger up to them. "I regret putting my faith into an organization that would betray me and toss me aside. I regret ever thinking of Felix as a brother. I regret not being strong enough to take down Thadeus myself when I had the chance. Other than that, no I can't say I have any major regrets." Raiya replied.

Travis had only spent a few minutes preparing and arming himself upstairs before returning to the main lobby and into the living room where most of his team had gathered, "I hope I didn't keep everyone waiting. Is there anything we need to go over before departing?"

Something seemed to be on Nemo's mind, but he jumped on the opportunity to change the subject once it presented itself. "What history do you have with Thadeus?" Nemo asked. "It seems he'll be a recurring cockroach in our journey, so I wouldn't fret too much about not defeating him. I'm sure you'll get another chance."

"You're just in time Travis, we're almost all here now." Nemo responded. "There isn't anything I can think of to discuss now, but I'm sure that will change once this show gets on the road." He added.

Zuri follows Felix over to the living room. She looks around at the others as more people started to show up. Listening to the things Travis and Nemo said, she has no idea what was going on, but all she knew was to try to help her team in any possible way in order to recover a dangerously powerful relic.

Raiya's ahoge began to vibrate with energy as her anger surged. Thinking about Thadeus irritated her above all else.

"Cockroach indeed... He is the lowest of the low, and the one responsible for me being excommunicated. He experimented on villages, razed them to the ground with agnes spheres for no logical reason. The worst part is that he wasn't all that powerful for an arch-mage. It was nepotism that got him the position he holds. Because of his family ties, he was given access to a high seat and all the political power that it comes with. The funny thing is, he could not stand Felix, because Felix was the genuine article, a real powerful mage worthy of the title of arch-mage. You should have seen his face when he first saw Felix's manaegis. A mixture of jealousy and rage. The thought still make me smille." She finished with a grin

---

Felix entered the living room where everyone was gathered.

"Well, if there is not anything else to keep you... allow me to open the portal." Felix drew the cross glyph in the air in the middle of the room, opening a rift to what looked like an alleyway between warehouses near a harbor of some sort. "Off you go." Felix finished.

"If all of his titles were handed to him it's just another reason he shouldn't be much trouble for us in the long run." Nemo replied. "Am I to presume that his brother is the Papal Magi now?" He asked afterwards.

Nemo got up, walking over to the portal. "Here goes nothing," he commented as he passed through. After reaching the other side Nemo examined his surroundings. The smell of saltwater flooded his nostrils; they were definitely close to the docks. Luckily, being placed in the alley meant nobody was around to notice them.

Nemo brought up his manadial, getting a better map view of the area. Two small markers dotted out Nemo's position and where they needed to be. Judging by the distance, they were only about eight minutes away from the endpoint. He waited for a couple moments to let the group cross over and then began to head off towards the objective.

Zoey crossed over after him, also looking around. They appeared to be in some sort of alley. It wasn't too dark yet, but it was close enough to smell like the ocean brine. She followed Nemo and the rest of the group, watching their surroundings carefully. She also double-checked that her illusion was up; didn't need to freak anyone out yet.

The rift looked mesmerizing as Zuri stares through it for a few seconds before she walks through it. 'A quick method of transporting multiple people to a completely different location.' she thought as she wandered a few steps around to examine her surroundings and reminded herself to keep quiet so she doesn't cause any unnecessary attention. She stood close to Nemo and waited for the others to step through the rift.