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BingellyIke's comments received an appreciative grunt from Chester. The Doma Flau lay quite close now. ”Your help will be valued. So far we've been putting off dealing with the ones we captured -the ones that call themselves the Lovers- until we get a better idea of what's goin' on.”
Before long the two made it into the arena. By the looks, a fight was just wrapping up, and a brutal one at that. Chester and Ike navigated toward the Frenzy plant seating, but detoured when they saw a familiar, towering shape among the crowds. ”Good morning, Enma!” Chester called, waving. He gave a slight bow to acknowledge the elegant lady Samir, saying, ”And to you, ma'am,” before pointed to Ike. ”Look who's back! Not only did the curse get broken, but we captured the little witch that did it to him!”
Barely-veiled contempt shot continuously from the eyes of Hyun to sting Marlene, Argus, and Jane like the prickles of pine nettles. The swordswoman took a deep breath to focus, before belting out to her subordinate, ”Jane! Go into the camp, find somewhere to stick your privateer, and bring back clothes for this girl.” Her brown eyes then burrowed into Marlene's. ”Miss, I do hope you've enjoyed your tomfoolery. Private Argus is an idiotic and troublesome ally, but he is a member of Frenzy Plant until General Sanders says otherwise. For the assault one of our members and the destruction of guild property, you are under arrest. I suggest you do not attempt to use magic.”
Other wizards raced through the trees, drawn like moths to the flame to the place where a red-black maelstrom had raged. Owen, Frenzy Plant's A-rank rapier-wielder, arrived first. Behind him came Ange Bolganone, the bespectacled glass maker, and on her heels were frigid Joakim and Leixia the archer, both sufficiently recovered from the wounds inflicted on them by Ike.
Finally, Jane arrived with clothes for Marlene, and at the same time, none other than Indigo, Frenzy Plant's premier sorceress, appeared. As the former piratess rushed to give Marlene her clothes, Indigo paced slowly around the scene, ignoring the perimeter set up by the other soldiers. In the manner of a librarian in her native habitat, she scanned every detail of the scene to memorize all that was out of order. After a minute, she decided. ”The detention tent is going to be quite full. Jane, if you please, use some sleeper cells to put these two under.”
Laughing nervously, Jane replied, ”Uh, beggin' yer pardon. Hyun said to leave my Privateer in the camp. I can run and get it smartlike...”
Indigo shook her head and threw a look at Hyun. ”No, it's fine. Joakim, don't you have a spell for sedation?”
To this, the northerner nodded, and stepped forward. In his light but peculiarly chipped accent he explained, ”It won't make them unconscious, but it will bind to their magic reserves. If they try and use magic, they will receive headaches, blindness, and dizziness.” He dutifully waited for Indigo to nod her approval. ”Right then. Brain Freeze!” A seeking package of sparkling mist wafted from his ribcage staff and headed toward Marlene. In short order another appeared and homed in on the prone form of Argus.
At the same time, Hyun approached Riona. ”My sincerest regrets that you arrived at a bad time,” she affirmed in a near-monotone. ”What can Frenzy Plant do for you?”
As if on cue, Jane appeared over her shoulder. ”She wants to join. Reckon we gotta find a C-rank for her to quarrel with. T' get a rank, ya gotta wallop someone of the rank in a fight,” she described for Riona.
Nero watched in silence the breakneck battle between mist and lightning, though in his head he knew of only one way for it to go. Since arriving, Phoenix Wing had proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that it would be pulling no punches. Plus, both Lazarus and Angelo were God Slayers. How did Phoenix Wing come to acquire such ridiculously powerful magicians in bulk? Of course, neither could last a second against his curses, but all the same the genie did not relish the prospect of getting on their bad sides. Except, of course, he did; the world was full of people to annoy and debase, and Nero would sooner choke down a hard-boiled scorpion than refuse the opportunity to irritate a single one of these gifts.
Chuckling at the thought, he pushed himself off of the railing and resumed his circuit of the main stadium walkway. On impulse he glanced back to where Nolan and Sayatachi had been exchanging foreplay a few minutes ago, and saw with some surprise that the amount of couples thereabouts had doubled. ”And they call me a weirdo,” he grinned before moving on.
After only a few seconds, he encounter an entire cluster of wizards sitting and babbling together near the edge of one of the sections. He saw a little girl who reminded him of Ayame, though with long, dark hair rather than short, peach-colored hair. Next to her sat a tall, slender woman with long, feathery black hair, who seemed to be clothed in a nebulous cloth rather than conventional attire. Some scars across her bare legs and shoulders gave her a troubled, woeful air. Nero also beheld a blonde kid, a young girl dressed like a Halloween witch, a featureless raven-haired guy, and a perky goth girl. They seemed to belong to no guild in particular—or else, they belonged to the same guild, but one so insubstantial as to have no identity. Regardless, they seemed like an ideal group to be peddled to in this lull in the Games.
”Wishes, wishes!” he called merrily, his unfailing smile bright as the sun now that the atmospheric anomalies were gone. ”Get your wishes here! Need something changed? Want to be more powerful? Are you or someone you love sick? Just ask good ol' Nero the Genie! No more than three, no less than miraculous! Ask, and it shall be given!”