[hr][hr][center][h1][color=00aeef][u]L[/u][/color] [u]O[/u] [u]R[/u] [u]E[/u] [u]N[/u] [u]T[/u] [u]I[/u] [u]N[/u] [u]E[/u]   [color=00aeef][u]Q[/u][/color] [u]U[/u] [u]E[/u] [u]E[/u] [u]N[/u][/h1][/center][hr][hr]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ByEk1wI.jpg?1[/img]
[sub][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whtz44p9oII]♪[/url][/sub][/center][hr][center][b]Lorentine Queen, Main Deck, Outside of Cargo Hold | Nighttime[/b]
Carmillia[@Animus] | Zarra[@BreathOfTheWoof] | Dory[@Jasbraq] | Manfred[@Force and Fury] | Leon[@Jumbus] | Seung Eun-Ji[/center]

The fight continued on. With the Arcane Mages in an uneasy alliance with them, things were slowly but surely turning in favor of the students; at least in so far as defeating the Traveler's agents were concerned. As for the Lyre, that will be a complication of its own to handle. Obviously enough, it will be very unlikely for these temporary allies of theirs to appreciate it if the students were to try to take the Lyre for themselves. As for the moment though, the battle took priority for all sides involved.

Slightly away from the center of the fight itself, within the corridor, a tense situation were defused by the decisive action of Manfred Hohenfelter von Meckelin-Thandau. It was not a decision he made lightly, but as painful as it was, something he believed will be for the best in the end. With one smooth and precise strike of his hand, he knocked his own lover out. It was done so skillfully that Dory only had a split second to feel a sharp pain on her neck before passing out cold, going limp with the gun she aimed at Carmillia falling from her hand. Fortunately it did not went off as it fell and clattered on the wooden floors of the corridor, and now with her unconscious figure being held by Manfred, one of the crisis faced by the team had been solved.

Of course, there will likely be a [b]lot[/b] to solve later on a personal level between the individuals involved in causing Dory to be so distressed that she took such an extreme action, but it will be most wise to keep that for later indeed.

Surprised, Jens Becker von Magdeburg stopped in his tracks as he watched Manfred knock Dory out cold. He observed them both for a moment, not entirely sure yet that this wasn't a ploy to fool him. This doubt was erased as Manfred looked him straight in the eyes, telling him that his intervention is not required. Whether it be because of his own instinct or the way Manfred conducted himself or both, Jens Becker surmised that this was no trick, and that the gun-holding girl had truly been knocked out cold by the man before him. "Very well..." he said simply as he raised both hands briefly and nodded at Manfred before backing off.

Evanescence continued with her assault, shifting her focus on Hilde. She had pegged Carmillia as the least of the threat due to how helpless she looked, and thus believed that her Internal Chemical attack on the Perrench women will be enough to take her out of the fight. That was soon proven to be a mistake. Just as she was about to launch a more powerful Internal Chemical carnage on Hilde, she felt a sudden bout of vertigo affecting her. "What the-?" she muttered as she shook her head. Unsurprisingly, she quickly identified it for what it was; an Internal Chemical magic affecting herself. Just as quickly, she worked on purging the effects from her system while her eyes searched for the perpetrator, finding her gaze landing back on Carmillia. She frowned in anger, hissing.

"Oh you little bit-" was all that Evanescence managed to spout out of her mouth before a powerful explosion of heat struck her squarely on the torso. The brief time of distraction caused by Carmillia was more than enough for Hilde to build up and fire off an explosion of sufficient intensity against Evanescence, throwing her back violently as she slammed to the wall at the other end of the room. The Traveler agent slumped to the floors face first, the scent of burnt fabric and flesh emanating from her. Hilde watched on for a brief moment. When Evanescence didn't rise back up, she let out a satisfied huff and looked over at Carmillia, nodding her head in approval. "Much appreciated, young lady. I think that solved that annoying little problem, hmm?"

The last bout of action within the room came from the pair of Kineticists continuing to engage in intense contest of both martial prowess and Kinetic Magic expertise. For the latter, Forceful proved able to match his opponent, each performing a rapid series of drawing and casting of Kinetic enhancements one after another to keep the empowered physical fights going. For the former however, the Traveler agent realized rather quickly that he was out of his depth. He was trained in Kastäng pretty well. He liked to think of himself as a pretty good practitioner of the martial arts, even. Still, it wasn't enough. Not compared to the degree of training that his Tan Keoulian opponent had received. And thus, he continued finding himself being slowly but surely overpowered despite his significantly more imposing stature.

The last hammer that ended up deciding the bout, however, came not from Eun-Ji but from her allies whom both had a penchant for chaos.

A sudden thud from the trapdoor, followed by 5 seconds of silence. Of this, neither Eun-Ji nor Forceful particularly paid much attention to. They noticed the noise of course, but knew that taking their focus off of their respective opponent was not a wise thing to do. It was what happened afterwards that finally caused them to disengage, separated several meters apart from one another as they looked at the trapdoor to the cargo hold opening once. Then twice. Then thrice. Silently. And to make things even more bizarre, the great performer Leon Solaire came out of the Cargo Hold the same numbers of time. Again, silently.

It looked to be a blessing for Forceful who were about to be completely overwhelmed before all of it happened. Both Eun-Ji and Forceful kept their focus on each other while also watching the bizarre occurrence happening in front of their eyes. Eun-Ji quirked an eyebrow up slightly. It was obvious to her that this must be some sort of illusion performed by her comrade. And yet, it was also definitely not a typical form of illusion.

At first, it was mostly only Eun-Ji and Forceful that were witnesses to the strange show. That changed when the three Leons started waltzing through the room, each holding an instance of the Lyre in their grasps that they seemed to pretend to pluck. "HEY!" Forceful shouted loudly. "The Lyre! He's got the Lyre!"

At this, everyone's attention were caught, including the Arcane Mages. Hilde's eyes widened in surprise. She recognized who Leon was due to his fame, but she couldn't quite understand why there were three Leon Solaires and why they were all holding the Lyres. Forceful hesitated to give chase as the Leons continued to stride through the room, each one making exactly the same set of movements as one another, separated only by about half a second each. He was wary that the moment he moved, Eun-Ji will immediately react to take him down. Yet he knew he needed to make a decision; with Evanescence seemingly downed by Hilde with Carmillia's help, it was all up to him to secure the Lyre for the Traveler.

It was not easy for him however, as the magical show made him doubt his own sight, if not his sanity. [i]What the heck is the deal with the marble? What in hells is happening here??[/i] puzzled the Kineticist in his mind. [i]Am I the only one seeing all these? Did someone messed with my mind?[/i] As Forceful was contemplating all of it, the Leons then 'attacked' him with a poorly aimed blast of fire. By reflex, he jumped back, not immediately realizing that no heat can be felt from the flame.

Eun-Ji immediately took advantage of Forceful's reaction towards Leon's fake fire; she can immediately identify them as nothing more than Arcane illusion. Thus she sprinted right through the fire, enhanced by Kinetic magic and ready to finish the fight with a fatal stab from her dagger. In that moment, Forceful realized his mistake, eyes widened as he looked upon the death rapidly approaching him.

A split second later, he found out that death felt quite different from what he was expecting. He most definitely didn't expect it to be so painful to his pair of cojones. In reality, what he felt was not death for him but for several billions of his precious life seeds that just got killed by extreme blunt trauma induced by Kinetic-enhanced kick, courtesy of the Greyborn that had reappeared behind him. While it was doubtlessly unlucky for his microscopic brothers, it can be argued that this ended up being lucky for Forceful himself, as Zarra's sudden reappearance surprised even Eun-Ji for just a split second.

[b]"AEEEEEEEEEGHH!"[/b] her opponent shouted in agonizing pain as his hands flew to his own nether regions. It was cut short when Eun-Ji delivered a Kinetic-empowered jab to his neck. The surprise from Zarra's reappearance and the sudden shift in Forceful's posture, brief as it was, had caused her to reflexively struck Forceful with her empty left hand instead of the dagger in her right hand. Forceful slumped down, still holding his pulverized man-sacks, knocked out cold but alive. Lucky for him. Eun-Ji blinked once, looking down at her knocked out opponent and then at Zarra. She nodded politely at the Greyborn after another second of silence as a sign that she appreciated the assistance regardless of whether it was actually necessary or not. The result was still that the opponent was out of the fight, and that was good for them all.

"After him!" a shout from Hilde suddenly sounded through the air. She didn't understand what the Leons were doing, but when she saw that he continued to dance away with the Lyre in his hands, she simply couldn't take the risk of allowing it. It was part of her job to protect the cargo hold and the items within it, and she'd be damned to let someone take off with part of the cargo, even if that person was Leon Solaire(s) himself. Hilde didn't wait for the others to move, immediately taking off to chase after the Leons. Jens Becker did the same after hearing his comrade shouted, racing after the Leons as they ran through the corridor.

Thus once more, as if practically his natural calling to be the center of attention, all eyes were on to the famed performer and his magical show. Except there were three of him this time, each holding a Lyre and all doing exactly the same moves separated by about half a second each as they reached the other end of the corridor...
[hr][hider=Overview of the situation:]
1. Manfred: Knocked Dory out with a well-placed chop to her carotid artery, averting potential disaster. Currently holding the unconscious Dory, he saw the three Leons briefly reaching out as if wanting to help with Dory before they then continued to dance away pass him and Dory.

2. Dory: Knocked out cold by Manfred, probably for the best. Still, she would be able to easily figure out that it was Manfred that had knock her out. Regardless, her safety now lies in the hands of her allies.

3. Carmillia: Negated the effects of Evanescence's Internal Chemical attack on herself, and then counter attacked with her own Internal Chemical Magic to cause vertigo on Evanescence. Saw the three Leons danced pass with their Lyres.

4. Leon: Used one of his signature moves, Fantasia Act 1, to cause a rather complex sort of magical confusion to allies and enemies alike. Three instances of himself strode and danced across the area, last seen continuing through the other end of the corridor, about to enter the narrow passage that runs through the middle of the ship. After Evanescence was seemingly defeated and Forceful knocked out, everyone's attentions are now on to him as the three Leons are openly carrying their Lyres away.

5. Zarra: Phased back in to corporeality and gave Forceful a good Kinetic-enhanced kick between his legs, forcefully threatening the integrity of the agent's virile potency. Ironically, this saved the agent's life at the sacrifice of billions of his fallen unseen brothers.

6. Eun-Ji: Very briefly surprised by Zarra's sudden reappearance and kick to Forceful's nether regions, but quickly adapted and took advantage of it to take Forceful out of the fight.

7. The 4 Arcane Mages:
- Hilde Arnsberg von Regensbach: Took advantage of Carmillia's assistance to attack Evanescence, throwing her back and knocking her out with an explosion. Shouted for everyone to chase after the Leons.
- Jens Becker von Magdeburg: In response to Hilde's shout, he started to chase after the Leons, thinking of him as one of the Traveler's agents due to the three instances of him holding the Lyres and dancing away.
- Arne Voller von Meckelinburg-Kahler and Heinrich Wengeman von Glusdorf-Brandenstrass: Status unknown.

8. The Traveler agents:
- Evanescent the Internal Chemist: Counter attacked by Carmillia with Internal Chemical magic. Quickly purged the effects, but the brief moment was enough for Hilde to blast her with an explosion that threw her back and took her down to the ground. Seemingly, taken out of the action.
- Forceful the Kinetic Mage: Got kicked in the precious family jewels by Zarra, allowing Eun-Ji to easily knock him out as he doubled over in pain.
- Zealous the Blood Mage: Dead. And positively decomposing.
- Seer the Magnetic Mage & Firebrand the Arcane Illusionist: Status unknown.

9. Rioters and Revelers: Currently engaging in a brutal chaotic brawl in and on much of the Main Deck and parts of the 1st Cabin Deck. The spread of the chaos is gaining momentum.

*[b]For more details on the Traveler Agents and the Four Arcane Mages, please check the Discord server under the Mission-HQ channel.[/b]
[/hider]