As the dragon unleashed destruction all around, Lavinia kept herself well out of harm’s way, dashing across rooftops and leaping deftly from one to the next. Unlike some of her more intrepid companions, she was perfectly happy to fight from a safe distance and let others handle the less-than-enjoyable task of withstanding the furious assault of a giant rampaging dragon.
This turned out to be to her benefit, since all those tail sweeps and that wave of fire were all targeted at the mages on the ground, thus sparing Lavinia from the worst of carnage. A quick Bram served to protect her from the stray flames and shockwaves, and those irritating roars she swiftly dealt with by filling her ears with blood. The fluid acted as a cushion, protecting her eardrums from the noise without completely shutting out her sense of hearing. See that, Grasidia? I can take care of myself! Hmph!
That said… Her problems weren't over yet. Somehow her pathetic and morally uptight guildmates (whom she totally didn't care for and wasn't worried about at all) had managed to survive that barrage of attacks, but now the stupid lizard was powering up and healing itself. Healing itself! The absolute nerve of the thing, thinking it could just undo the damage Lavinia had so gracefully inflicted upon it! Such impunity called for immediate and disproportionate retaliation, to be carried with the favorite tool of any good villain:
Gratuitous fucking violence!!
That last attack she'd made? That had only been the setup. Now it was time for her to put her plan into motion, and murder this thing harder than Grasidia's social skills murdered any attempt at polite conversation. “IMPALER!” she shouted, clenching her fist. And the dragon's body erupted all at once.
She'd scattered blood all over it with her opening salvo, and the wounds inflicted on its eye and wing by herself and Holly had made it bleed. Now, all of that blood spread across its body simultaneously began to extend horribly sharp spikes in every direction. Across the dragon's side, crimson thorns shot outward, pushing at its scales and spikes and prying them apart. Its bloodied wing was torn apart even as it regenerated, any further healing stymied by massive blood clots that now looked like a horde of giant crimson sea urchin. Its eye socket, and for that matter the entire side of its face that had been stained by the bleeding from that wound, would be likewise engulfed by a mass of seething murderous stabbery, tearing apart its newly healed eye as soon as it was formed and quite possibly driving into its mouth and gums as well.
All in all, a solid return on her investment... But wait! There was more!
"HELSING!!!"
All those bloody spikes embedded in the dragon's head simultaneously accelerated to terrifying speeds, driving themselves into its skull from point-blank range. Even if they didn't quite penetrate to its brain, the sheer force of their sudden change in velocity would whip the dragon's head to one side, quite possibly snapping its neck or at the very least leaving it concussed and momentarily vulnerable to further assault.
How'd you like THAT, you filthy animal?! Lavinia grinned maliciously, enjoying the sight of its suffering. Even if her move just now likely wouldn't finish it off, she'd made a very clear point: she wasn't going to let it heal from any attack that made it bleed. With any luck, her guildmates would get the message, and paint the damn thing red from head to toe...
The blood mage was dragging her feet as she followed the others out to where Grasidia's giant leaves lay waiting. Work was already a pain to begin with, let alone when it had a high chance of mortality thrown in. Lavinia liked being alive, spent most of her free time being alive, and the prospect of potentially having to stop being alive was something of a turn-off when it came to her immediate motivation.
There was no getting out of it, though; her guildmates would get suspicious if she tried to stay behind. Besides, shouldn't she think of this as an opportunity? After all, someone was likely to die on this mission. If that happened, then no doubt the others would be plunged into despair... And that kind of shock made people easy to manipulate and corrupt! The sadistic sparkle reignited in her eyes. Yes! I'll play along, do my part like a good little mage. And then, when someone inevitably kicks the bucket, I'll take everyone's sorrow and twist it into a vindictive grudge against the entire world!!
There was only one uncertain detail in her ingenious scheme: who to let die? Lavinia's brow furrowed as she contemplated the issue. Obviously it couldn't be Ria, since she was a sweetheart and also made sandwiches which were very tasty. She could rule Gwen out too, partly out of respect for Ria and partly because Lavinia secretly enjoyed the views she got when the ice mage was boldly strutting about. Grasidia was... tempting. But then, it would be a real bummer if the S-Class were to die before Lavinia got to carry out her plans for vengeance!
Maybe Holly, then? No, she was too cool to die. And Felix was only a child; even a completely irredeemable villain like Lavinia had to have some standards when it came to children. Luke kept to himself and rarely annoyed her, so she supposed he could live... And Lilliana was a walking mystery, no way could Lavinia let her die without getting a chance to figure her out.
Lavinia's frown deepened as the options narrowed down more and more. Leon? Too useful, she might need a strategist on her side one day. Zenith? He had a wit about him, she'd miss his sharp tongue. It'd be useful to have Marduk taken out of the picture, but at the same time he was one of the only people aware of how much of a threat Lavinia truly posed, and for some reason she kind of liked having someone validate her that way. Asher... nope, his smithing skills were too valuable for the guild. And even if Cloven was a bit odd, she couldn't help but feel a kind of kinship with the strange boy.
"Aaaaaaaaargh!" She cursed to herself, scratching at her head with one hand. Damnit! I don't want to lose any of them just yet! Maybe she could, like, let them come really close to dying but then swoop in at the last second to save them, and then exploit the trauma of a near-death experience to corrupt them? Or something like that?
She was still pondering the problem as she stepped onto one of the leaves, where she stood tall and proud until the sudden take-off bowled her over onto her butt.
By the time they reached Era, she'd somehow managed to find her feet again and was standing right at the front of her big green vessel, arms folded firmly across her chest in an imitation of a cool pose she'd seen Holly do one time. Ahead loomed the burning city, the horrifying monster, the imminent prospect of certain doom.
Okay, Lavinia, you can do this. She took a few deep breaths, digging deep into her reserves of villainous bravado. Is the future Dark Empress of Fiore going to let herself be intimidated by one measly dragon? NEVERRRR! As Grasidia went zooming off to begin the attack, the blood mage shouted out in her wake, addressing the dragon directly:
"I shall give you one chance, you unsightly little lizard! Surrender now, and I might let you live on as my pet!"
The beast was clearly terrified by her pompous threat. Having briskly dispatched Grasidia, it flapped its wings and produced a gust of wind that sent the giant flying leaves hurtling off in a chaotic spiral— but alas, the dragon struck too late. Lavinia had already leaped off into the air, her robes billowing out behind her as she summoned her favorite book of all.
"Sanguine Grimoire... Impaler!"
A crimson flood burst from the pages of her magical tome, coalescing beneath her feet in the form of a massive spike more than six feet long and one foot wide at its base. She balanced on its edge with practiced elegance, pointing with her free hand and calling out once more:
"Hellsing!!"
Her makeshift lance shot off like a rocket, and Lavinia went right with it, riding it as if it were a surfboard as she hurtled past the dragon and extended her grimoire out towards it. A thick spray of blood blasted out from the ancient volume, painting a line of splattered red across the monster's head, wings, and body; anywhere she could hit. Some of the fluid would mix with the smoke particles around its face, forming a viscous mixture that would be hard to shake off, and any that missed or dripped away end up falling to the ground to feed the growth of Grasidia's plants.
Without pausing for even a second after her strafing run, Lavinia vaulted off her ride and came crashing down on a nearby roof, hopefully escaping any immediate retaliation. Her blood-spear, however, flew onward... streaking straight through one of Marduk's portals. Assuming he'd kept the exits on target, that dragon was about to receive one hell of a poke in the eyeball!
Lavinia's eyes sparkled with devilish glee. At long last, her plans had come to fruition! After that sudden announcement, there could no longer be any doubt: the Guild Master had been driven completely insane!
Her lips curled into a wicked smile. With this, her fellow guild members would doubtless lose faith in that silly old Torys, and find themselves looking for a new leader. This was her chance to take over for real, to kick out the old Master and rebuild Fenixtear in her own image! Standing up tall, she began: "Oh dear me! It would seem that..."
She trailed off, sputtering a little, and then tried again. "It would seem..."
This didn't make any sense. Torys had just waltzed in and told everyone to go and fight a literal dragon. It was the most reckless, foolhardy, and utterly raving bonkers suggestion Lavinia had ever heard.
SO WHY ARE THEY ALL TAKING HER SERIOUSLY?!!
She paused for a moment, standing there all menacingly and looking quite awkward. Then her victorious expression deflated a little, and she shuffled quietly across the hall to join Gwen.
"...Would seem that you're desperate enough to ask for my assistance," she finished. Then sighed dramatically. "Oh, very well! I'll lend you my power... but don't think that it comes for free. You owe me now, oh yes..." She tried her best to make that last part sound all spooky and Machiavellian, but really she had no idea what she'd ask in return, if anything at all. This morning had been going so well, and now everything was spiraling out of control.
Marduk's little comment drew a sharp look from the blood mage, her mind racing at the implications. Did this geezer mean to stand in her way? She didn't want to have to hurt an old man, but she definitely would it if came down to it! Most definitely.
"Don't think that being aware of my aims makes them any less inevitable," she shot back, careful to keep her voice low and not to let any anxiety slip into her tone. "The guild master is sharp, I'll admit it; she's thwarted all of my efforts thus far. But it's only a matter of time until her underlings succumb to my charms. Only a matter of time..."
She trailed off, suddenly distracted by the naked Gwen waltzing around the room. Lavinia's cheeks flushed a deep red, and she quickly adjusted her glasses, trying to hide the fact that her eyes had lingered a second or two too long upon the ice mage's bare skin. Not charmed at all, nope nope nope. Seeking another target, she turned towards Grasidia, glaring daggers across the room at the quiet gardener.
Despite her entreaty, the S-class mage still hadn't spoken a single word. Is she deliberately ignoring me? Well that's... She can't just... DO that! Scowling, Lavinia made a mental note to draw up an elaborate plan for vengeance against this horrible slight. Maybe she could buy Grasidia a really, really smelly plant as a surprise gift, and then guilt-trip her into taking care of it forever. That'd teach her!
Then a more pleasant smell alighted on a nearby table, and Lavinia put her vindictive plotting aside for a moment to give Ria an appreciative nod. See, THAT one knows how to treat me with respect... When she became the Dark Empress of Fiore, she'd made Ria the Mayor of Crocus, and shower her with gold and accolades. And Grasidia could go shovel manure on some dingy farm in the boonies.
"See?" she said, glancing back to Marduk and gesturing triumphantly at her sandwich. "Already they scurry to obey my every whim! I didn't even have to tell her I was hungry." The moment didn't quite merit an evil laugh, so she settled for an ominous chuckle before happily digging in.
The absolute desolate wasteland that was Fenixtear's job board had Lavinia secretly grinning with delight. Ha ha! This guild was on the verge of collapse! Not a few months into working here, and already her mere presence was driving them all to ruin! Just a little longer now, and her 'fellow mages' would have no choice but to seek out less legitimate work, taking on nastier and dirtier jobs until they lost all their humanity and became corrupted hollows of their former selves. Yes yes, it was only a matter of time...
For the moment, though, the lack of work conferred some even more important benefits. For one: nobody could accuse her of slacking off anymore. Oho, you say that I'm just lounging about on the sofa with my book all day? Why yes... but that's only because there is NOTHING ELSE AT ALL TO DO! AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAAA!
Her epic internal cackling escaped into the world as a tiny giggle, unbeknownst to the villainous mage immersed in her own cruel schemes. It was hard to catch her attention at all when she was like this; she could happily spend hours reading in her comfy seat without even noticing if the whole building was crashing down around her. As it happened, though, Grasidia managed to open the door at just the right angle that a flash of sunlight bounced off the doorknob and reflected in turn through Lavinia's glasses. She hissed with irritation, blinking rapidly and removing her spectacles to rub at her eyes with one hand.
"What's this, then?" Now that the monster had been roused, Grasidia's deflated state did not escape her notice, and she spoke loud enough to be heard across the tavern. "Has something managed to bring low even the great S-Class mage?"
Curious, she closed the sinister forbidden tome she'd been perusing (which incidentally contained some very useful tips on home cooking) and replaced her glasses, staring balefully over at the guild's resident gardener. Grasidia might be a bit hard to talk to sometimes, but that didn't mean Lavinia was just going to sit idly and watch her be miserable like this. "Come now, don't just keep it to yourself. Speak your darkest thoughts, let loose all your suffering and despair!" Maybe talking about it would cheer her up a little.
Name: Lavinia Lucardi Age: 19 Guild Mark Location: Right shoulder
Magic Type:Sanguine Grimoire A Holder-type magic that uses an ancient forbidden tome to create and control blood in various ways. Blood needs to be exposed for the magic to work at full effectiveness; its power over blood in someone else's body is far more limited.
Bram: Raises a thick protective layer of blood to defend a target.
Impaler: Extends sharp spikes or blades from the user's own blood or any exposed blood within their line of sight.
Helsing: Fires blood in a target direction at high speeds. Ordinarily this just blasts a big stream (like a giant water cannon but with blood), but it can also be used in combination with other spells for different attacks (ex: launching spikes created with Impaler).
Strigoi: The user takes control of their own blood, buffing their speed, strength, and durability. However, in exchange the range of their other spells are cut down by half. Deep red markings appear on the user's skin while this is active.
Nosferatu: Controls the blood inside a target to hold them in place. Against weak enemies this can be completely immobilizing, but those with trained muscles and/or magic that enhances their physical abilities will only have their movements slowed a little. If the user is able to consume some of the target's blood, however, the effects become much stronger.
Harker: Controls the blood inside a target to boost their physical attributes. Essentially this applies the effects of Strigoi to a different target, however the caster must consume some of the target's blood for the spell to work.
Carmilla: Controls the blood inside a target to induce minor physical effects. Examples would be increased heart rate, a sudden blush, a feeling of warmth, etc. The range of this spell is normally around six feet, but it can be used at much longer distances if the user has consumed some of the target's blood. Not very useful in combat, but can be used as a charm and negotiation skill outside of it.
Bathory: Heals an individual's wounds by submerging them in a bath of blood. The regeneration isn't instantaneous, but within five minutes it can get a heavily injured target back into fighting shape. This spell can ever restore lost limbs and body parts, so long as the target is submerged within a minute losing them. Regenerating a missing limb (or something of similar scale) will take 1-2 hours.
Lilith: Allows for the transfer of magical power by sinking one's fangs into a person's neck and drinking their blood. This can be used to drain the target of their power and boost the user's own magic, or to give up some of the user's power and strengthen the target's magic. The longer the 'bite' is maintained, the more magical power may be transferred. However, once the connection is broken, both the caster's and the target's magical power will return to normal after a while.
Stave of Blood: Transforms the Grimoire into a deep red staff for use in close combat.
Rain of Knives: Summons a crimson cloud that rains small, sharp blades of blood over a wide area. Can be maintained as a persistent effect, but doing so drains magical energy extremely fast.
Destroy Sacrifice: Extremely powerful but extremely dangerous offensive spell that causes part of the user's blood to explode out of their body in a devastating shotgun blast. It's a spell on par with the S-Rank in terms of raw power, but using it even once will leave the user severely injured.
Magic Rank: A
Strengths: - Cunning: Lavinia is a wily magician who's perfectly willing to use dirty tricks to achieve her objectives. Whether it's misdirection, sneak attacks, or simply taunting an enemy to try and provoke them into making a mistake, she'll find a way to get the job done. - Grit: Though it's hard to motivate her to go all-out, when she does fight with her life on the line she becomes insanely hard to take down. Her pain tolerance is almost inhuman, and her willpower strong enough to simply power through injuries that most mages would find debilitating. She's also able to resist magical charms and mental effects quite well, so long as she's aware of them. - Kindness: She'll never admit it, but she's the kind of person who gets a big rush from seeing others smile, and who can't bring herself stand by while innocents are in pain.
Weaknesses: - Creepy: Her appearance and magic make her seem like she belongs in a Dark Guild, and her weird personality and lack of social skills don't help much either. Most people tend to get a negative impression just from meeting her. - Slacker: Doesn't like putting in effort, and avoids hard jobs. Unless there's something vital on the line, she'll often admit defeat in a fight well before she actually reaches her limit. She mostly does just the bare minimum amount of work needed to stay in Fenixtear, and even that's only because of the Guild Master threatening to kick her out if she doesn't pull her weight. - Nearsighted: Her vision isn't good over long distances. She wears glasses to correct this, but if they're damaged or broken she'll have trouble using ranged magic and perceiving distant objects.
Personality: An evil demon lord bent on taking over the world... Or at least, that's the kind of aura she gives off. Lavinia is a haughty young woman with a mildly villainous streak, the type who'll never miss a chance to pull off an ominous laugh or loudly proclaim her superiority. Snarky and seemingly misanthropic, she'll happily trash-talk foes and companions alike all day long, making it clear that she's only playing around with them until she's ready to embark on some grand secret scheme which may or may not involve world domination.
Deep down inside, however, she actually likes Fenixtear and wants to be accepted by her fellow Guild members. While she does genuinely have evil plans cooking away at the back of her mind, she keeps procrastinating on ever getting started with them, being happier just staying where she is and living life as a 'good' person for at least a little longer.
History/Bio: Lavinia was born into one of Fiore's most infamous Dark Guilds: a clan of ruthless assassins and mercenaries known as Vampire Mirror. As the child of the Guild Master, the little girl became a sort of mascot for the evil mages, and spent much of her youth around the most devious and devilish types Fiore had to offer. Young and impressionable, she soon began to imitate their behavior, adopting classic Dark Guild habits like calling people 'trash,' acting super overconfident in her own abilities, and using cheap tactics to get what she wanted. She even learned how to stab things good!
However, life with Vampire Mirror wasn't all fun and games. Her parents sought to mold her into a successor to their evil endeavors, and started putting her through brutal training almost as soon as she could walk. Their harsh methods were supposed to make her into an unstoppable stone-cold killer, but over time had a somewhat different effect: though Lavinia became extremely tough and able to deal with pain like it was nothing, the trauma of being put through the wringer at such a young age made her averse to fighting in general. Because she'd come to subconsciously equate 'going all-out' with 'pain and suffering,' this would later contribute to her lazy tendencies as an adult.
Beyond that, however, as she grew older Lavinia found herself feeling more and more uncomfortable with her surroundings. Yes, she got to spend time with lots of powerful and badass mages, but when she came to understand the awful deeds that Vampire Mirror was committing across Fiore, she started to have doubts in her own identity. Her kind and gentle nature had started to flower, but she had to fight to keep it suppressed, lest a good deed be taken as a sign of weakness and lead to her punishment.
Then, suddenly, the world as she knew it came to an end.
Deciding that Vampire Mirror had grown too large and too powerful to be ignored, the Magic Council hunted down their headquarters and organized a joint assault with some of Fiore's most powerful guilds. The mercenary clan fought viciously, covering every inch of ground in the corpses of their enemies, but they were outnumbered and outgunned. One by one the dark mages died or were captured, until only the Guild's inner circle was left.
Realizing that the game was up, Lavinia's father hid her away in a secret underground chamber, sealing her out of sight. The last thing he did before he left was apologize that he couldn't complete her training, and make her swear to one day resurrect Vampire Mirror and build it greater than it had ever been before. With tears in her eyes, she watched him vanish from sight. Alone and helpless, she cowered in a dark corner as the earth shook around her, the Dark Guild making its final stand up above.
A day later, the young girl crawled up out of the wreckage of the guild headquarters and set off on her own, dead-set on taking her revenge. A plan quickly formed: she would secretly infiltrate Fiore's legitimate guilds, destroy them from within, free the imprisoned members of Vampire Mirror and then take over the universe!
However, not only was she still young and inexperienced, she was also a weird little girl whose unique magic made many people turn away in fear or disgust. No sane guild would take her, and for a few years she simply bounced around from town to town, taking on jobs by herself in the hopes that she could build up a resume and eventually secure herself a spot to begin her grand evil scheme.
Now that she was free from the constraints of her villainous upbringing, however, she found more and more that she actually kind of... liked doing good deeds. Most people remained wary of her, but on the rare occasions that someone thanked her for her help, Lavinia's heart swelled with hidden joy and pride. As time passed and good deeds accumulated, she started to think about power and vengeance less and less, though her demon-lord-like demeanor never really changed (old habits die hard).
By the time she found a guild crazy enough to actually accept her into its ranks, e.g. Fenixtear, the would-be world conqueror was feeling downright uncertain about her goal. Yes, she needed to use this opportunity as a stepping-stone to kickstart the downfall of Fiore, but on the other hand the guild members were so nice and cool and darnit, maybe if she just waited one more day before trying to pursue her revenge...
And so it went. Lavinia has been part of Fenixtear for months now, and she still hasn't put any evil plots into motion. But they'd better watch their backs, because she'll get to them one day, honest! Soon, the world will tremble before her might! UFUFUFUFUFUFUFU!
(Sometimes she gets drunk and says that last bit out loud, but nobody really believes her.)
Extra: She's at her happiest when curled up with a blanket and a good book.
Name: Lavinia Lucardi Age: 19 Guild Mark Location: Right shoulder
Magic Type:Sanguine Grimoire A Holder-type magic that uses an ancient forbidden tome to create and control blood in various ways. Blood needs to be exposed for the magic to work at full effectiveness; its power over blood in someone else's body is far more limited.
Bram: Raises a thick protective layer of blood to defend a target.
Impaler: Extends sharp spikes or blades from the user's own blood or any exposed blood within their line of sight.
Helsing: Fires blood in a target direction at high speeds. Ordinarily this just blasts a big stream (like a giant water cannon but with blood), but it can also be used in combination with other spells for different attacks (ex: launching spikes created with Impaler).
Strigoi: The user takes control of their own blood, buffing their speed, strength, and durability. However, in exchange the range of their other spells are cut down by half. Deep red markings appear on the user's skin while this is active.
Nosferatu: Controls the blood inside a target to hold them in place. Against weak enemies this can be completely immobilizing, but those with trained muscles and/or magic that enhances their physical abilities will only have their movements slowed a little. If the user is able to consume some of the target's blood, however, the effects become much stronger.
Harker: Controls the blood inside a target to boost their physical attributes. Essentially this applies the effects of Strigoi to a different target, however the caster must consume some of the target's blood for the spell to work.
Carmilla: Controls the blood inside a target to induce minor physical effects. Examples would be increased heart rate, a sudden blush, a feeling of warmth, etc. The range of this spell is normally around six feet, but it can be used at much longer distances if the user has consumed some of the target's blood. Not very useful in combat, but can be used as a charm and negotiation skill outside of it.
Bathory: Heals an individual's wounds by submerging them in a bath of blood. The regeneration isn't instantaneous, but within five minutes it can get a heavily injured target back into fighting shape. This spell can ever restore lost limbs and body parts, so long as the target is submerged within a minute losing them. Regenerating a missing limb (or something of similar scale) will take 1-2 hours.
Lilith: Allows for the transfer of magical power by sinking one's fangs into a person's neck and drinking their blood. This can be used to drain the target of their power and boost the user's own magic, or to give up some of the user's power and strengthen the target's magic. The longer the 'bite' is maintained, the more magical power may be transferred. However, once the connection is broken, both the caster's and the target's magical power will return to normal after a while.
Stave of Blood: Transforms the Grimoire into a deep red staff for use in close combat.
Rain of Knives: Summons a crimson cloud that rains small, sharp blades of blood over a wide area. Can be maintained as a persistent effect, but doing so drains magical energy extremely fast.
Destroy Sacrifice: Extremely powerful but extremely dangerous offensive spell that causes part of the user's blood to explode out of their body in a devastating shotgun blast. It's a spell on par with the S-Rank in terms of raw power, but using it even once will leave the user severely injured.
Magic Rank: A
Strengths: - Cunning: Lavinia is a wily magician who's perfectly willing to use dirty tricks to achieve her objectives. Whether it's misdirection, sneak attacks, or simply taunting an enemy to try and provoke them into making a mistake, she'll find a way to get the job done. - Grit: Though it's hard to motivate her to go all-out, when she does fight with her life on the line she becomes insanely hard to take down. Her pain tolerance is almost inhuman, and her willpower strong enough to simply power through injuries that most mages would find debilitating. She's also able to resist magical charms and mental effects quite well, so long as she's aware of them. - Kindness: She'll never admit it, but she's the kind of person who gets a big rush from seeing others smile, and who can't bring herself stand by while innocents are in pain.
Weaknesses: - Creepy: Her appearance and magic make her seem like she belongs in a Dark Guild, and her weird personality and lack of social skills don't help much either. Most people tend to get a negative impression just from meeting her. - Slacker: Doesn't like putting in effort, and avoids hard jobs. Unless there's something vital on the line, she'll often admit defeat in a fight well before she actually reaches her limit. She mostly does just the bare minimum amount of work needed to stay in Fenixtear, and even that's only because of the Guild Master threatening to kick her out if she doesn't pull her weight. - Nearsighted: Her vision isn't good over long distances. She wears glasses to correct this, but if they're damaged or broken she'll have trouble using ranged magic and perceiving distant objects.
Personality: An evil demon lord bent on taking over the world... Or at least, that's the kind of aura she gives off. Lavinia is a haughty young woman with a mildly villainous streak, the type who'll never miss a chance to pull off an ominous laugh or loudly proclaim her superiority. Snarky and seemingly misanthropic, she'll happily trash-talk foes and companions alike all day long, making it clear that she's only playing around with them until she's ready to embark on some grand secret scheme which may or may not involve world domination.
Deep down inside, however, she actually likes Fenixtear and wants to be accepted by her fellow Guild members. While she does genuinely have evil plans cooking away at the back of her mind, she keeps procrastinating on ever getting started with them, being happier just staying where she is and living life as a 'good' person for at least a little longer.
History/Bio: Lavinia was born into one of Fiore's most infamous Dark Guilds: a clan of ruthless assassins and mercenaries known as Vampire Mirror. As the child of the Guild Master, the little girl became a sort of mascot for the evil mages, and spent much of her youth around the most devious and devilish types Fiore had to offer. Young and impressionable, she soon began to imitate their behavior, adopting classic Dark Guild habits like calling people 'trash,' acting super overconfident in her own abilities, and using cheap tactics to get what she wanted. She even learned how to stab things good!
However, life with Vampire Mirror wasn't all fun and games. Her parents sought to mold her into a successor to their evil endeavors, and started putting her through brutal training almost as soon as she could walk. Their harsh methods were supposed to make her into an unstoppable stone-cold killer, but over time had a somewhat different effect: though Lavinia became extremely tough and able to deal with pain like it was nothing, the trauma of being put through the wringer at such a young age made her averse to fighting in general. Because she'd come to subconsciously equate 'going all-out' with 'pain and suffering,' this would later contribute to her lazy tendencies as an adult.
Beyond that, however, as she grew older Lavinia found herself feeling more and more uncomfortable with her surroundings. Yes, she got to spend time with lots of powerful and badass mages, but when she came to understand the awful deeds that Vampire Mirror was committing across Fiore, she started to have doubts in her own identity. Her kind and gentle nature had started to flower, but she had to fight to keep it suppressed, lest a good deed be taken as a sign of weakness and lead to her punishment.
Then, suddenly, the world as she knew it came to an end.
Deciding that Vampire Mirror had grown too large and too powerful to be ignored, the Magic Council hunted down their headquarters and organized a joint assault with some of Fiore's most powerful guilds. The mercenary clan fought viciously, covering every inch of ground in the corpses of their enemies, but they were outnumbered and outgunned. One by one the dark mages died or were captured, until only the Guild's inner circle was left.
Realizing that the game was up, Lavinia's father hid her away in a secret underground chamber, sealing her out of sight. The last thing he did before he left was apologize that he couldn't complete her training, and make her swear to one day resurrect Vampire Mirror and build it greater than it had ever been before. With tears in her eyes, she watched him vanish from sight. Alone and helpless, she cowered in a dark corner as the earth shook around her, the Dark Guild making its final stand up above.
A day later, the young girl crawled up out of the wreckage of the guild headquarters and set off on her own, dead-set on taking her revenge. A plan quickly formed: she would secretly infiltrate Fiore's legitimate guilds, destroy them from within, free the imprisoned members of Vampire Mirror and then take over the universe!
However, not only was she still young and inexperienced, she was also a weird little girl whose unique magic made many people turn away in fear or disgust. No sane guild would take her, and for a few years she simply bounced around from town to town, taking on jobs by herself in the hopes that she could build up a resume and eventually secure herself a spot to begin her grand evil scheme.
Now that she was free from the constraints of her villainous upbringing, however, she found more and more that she actually kind of... liked doing good deeds. Most people remained wary of her, but on the rare occasions that someone thanked her for her help, Lavinia's heart swelled with hidden joy and pride. As time passed and good deeds accumulated, she started to think about power and vengeance less and less, though her demon-lord-like demeanor never really changed (old habits die hard).
By the time she found a guild crazy enough to actually accept her into its ranks, e.g. Fenixtear, the would-be world conqueror was feeling downright uncertain about her goal. Yes, she needed to use this opportunity as a stepping-stone to kickstart the downfall of Fiore, but on the other hand the guild members were so nice and cool and darnit, maybe if she just waited one more day before trying to pursue her revenge...
And so it went. Lavinia has been part of Fenixtear for months now, and she still hasn't put any evil plots into motion. But they'd better watch their backs, because she'll get to them one day, honest! Soon, the world will tremble before her might! UFUFUFUFUFUFUFU!
(Sometimes she gets drunk and says that last bit out loud, but nobody really believes her.)
Extra: She's at her happiest when curled up with a blanket and a good book.
A few floors above Johann, Lancer gently smiled. "Well done, Master. A fine assessment, and a wise precaution." She was glad to know that he was looking out for himself. He might have been young, but he was capable and respectful, and she appreciated both of those traits in him... He could stand to be a little more confident, however, she thought to herself. An emperor would not have 'tried to propose' a plan, he would simply have carried it out, drawing his allies along with charm and cunning and regal charisma. Johann might not have been a monarch, but to command Fu Hao was to hold a power greater than kings, and all the responsibility that came with it.
She sat back, watching Baldwin leaping over rooftops in the distance as lightning flashed bright on the horizon. The spell was nothing powerful enough to have affected her, but the sight made her heart speed up a little, excited by thoughts of what must be going on out there. "A storm falls upon our allies," she commented to Johann, careful to keep any hint of impatience out of her tone. "Have you told them of your plan?" She didn't want to force his hand, not cut him off and start acting on her own. Yet she felt that he needed a little push, perhaps, something to quell his doubts and nudge him towards a decision.
"It is well that you should seek advice," she said, her tone soft, "But no matter how wise or well-learned the mages of Red would claim to be, only you are fit to be my Master. I trust in your judgement more than any of theirs; I obey your word and no other."
No sooner had Maeve uttered those words than she would be forced to back them up. All but three of Alba's remaining flock had abandoned their search in favor of an all-out assault, and now they came tearing through the woods like an angry swarm of hornets, closing in on the exposed Master. Within moments, she'd find herself pelted from all sides by suicidal bat-golems trying to overwhelm her weapons and magic with sheer speed and numbers.
Enjoy it while it lasts. In her workshop, several miles away, Alba began to chant.
"היזהרו מאלון השואב את השבץ. אני קורא למייקל, וגם לגבריאל, אתם מכים את מי שיגדלו את רצון האל."
The words came thick and fast, pouring from her mouth like a flood of living water, like the rain itself. This was old Kabbalah, powerful Kabbalah, not the kind that a mage would dare deploy under ordinary circumstances. Indeed, it was only because of the special conditions that existed tonight that Alba was able to use this freely at all.
She was well aware, however, that no brute-force use of golems would suffice here. The enemy Master had taken to the field with spear and sling and runes, entirely confident in her ability to survive. A warrior such as that would not lose in any kind of battle.
And so Alba would not fight her. Only crush her like a bug, using the most unfair and one-sided means at her disposal.
"היזהרו מאלון השואב את השבץ. אל הספירות אני מגיע, מקבל את אורו של עין סוף. מכתר תחילה, זורם לחוקמה ואז לבינה"
From Ein Sof first, the limitless emanation of divine light. Then flowing through each of the Sephirah in turn according to their natural order. The remainder of the incantation served to further refine and direct, adapting the spell to the specific conditions of the situation.
Power swirled around Alba now, filling her workshop with a blazing golden light. Her own reserves would not suffice for this; and so she grit her teeth and took the ivory dagger in her hand and drove it into her shoulder, stabbing up to the hilt. Mana surged into her Circuits from the Mystic Code, and for a few brief moments Philoctetes would feel his movements become swifter and easier, as his Master was overloaded with magical energy.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, she chanted on, her soft voice growing harsh and wrathful as blood seeped from her wound.
"ובינה עד חסד, וחסד לגבורה ואז תפארת. ומתפארת יורדת לנצח, ואז הוד, ואז הקרן יסוד."
From Keter to Chokhmah, and then Binah, Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. Surging towards Malkuth, from whence it would be unleashed into the world. To one unfamiliar with the Kabbalah, the order may have sounded arbitrary upon hearing it. Yet a single glance could reveal its true nature...
... The Lightning Flash.
Lightning, the incarnation of divine fury. Odin was a Pagan deity, and the use of his symbols was an affront to God. Alba uttered this, and the light swelled, eager to smite the one who had incurred its wrath.
Lightning, the herald of the storm. Tonight the skies were filled with clouds, and rain lashed down upon Blackrock below. Alba uttered this, and the magic flourished, taking on its natural form. The clouds churned, the downpour over the distant forest steadily intensifying.
Lightning, which struck tall trees and set them afire. Maeve fought in a forest, and just as the Sefirot formed the Tree of Life which carried through it the Lightning Flash, so too did the trees draw lightning in the material world. Alba uttered this, and the power seethed, hungrily eyeing its prey where she fought amidst the towering trunks and fallen leaves.
As the last of the golems hurtled madly towards the Master of Genghis Khan, Alba cried out one last time:
A thunderbolt seared itself into the eyes of the two Khans, a lightning strike more furious than anything the storm above should have produced. A low rumble echoed for miles around, audible to each and every participant of the war. Across Blackrock, children awoke in their beds, wondering how close that bolt must have struck for it to be heard so loudly.
And at the center of everything, for the blink of an eye, a bright line arced between Maeve and the sky, as the heavens themselves were unleashed upon her with all their might.
***
Back in her workshop, Alba collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted. Her skin gleamed with the sheen of sweat and blood, and her ivory dagger lay cold and inert within her, its stored mana having been completely drained by that last spell. With a hiss of pain, she pulled it out, tossing it aside.
Her movements were sluggish, her body sore. Archer was still taxing her resources, and an injury that she would ordinarily have healed in an instant would take about a minute to recover. Unless there were any golems left on the scene, she wouldn't be able to tell if she'd succeeded, but regardless of the result she likely wouldn't be making another attempt tonight. Even I know my limits...
That didn't mean she would be sitting idle, however. As she climbed to her feet and regained her elegant poise, Alba chewed her lip, considering. She and Archer were strong enough on their own, but the lack of coordination among the Black faction had been evident tonight. It would be worthwhile to establish more direct lines of communication, to see if she could rope anyone useful into her plans for the coming nights.
In other words, time to pay a visit to Caster of Black.
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