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[PP-F4] The Fall of the Ascended (Celestial Ascendants)


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Jonathan stood upon the fourth floor, the very floor in which they had founded their guild. Since then, several months had passed and the players within their ranks had grown to be strong and capable frontliners. Within the last month, their ranks had swelled with members. Since then, they had held a few meetings, and ti actually had become hard to keep track of alll of the players. They had reached up to forty members and the Paladins and Sentinels had worked their tails off trying to keep track and allow each and every individual to grow. The task seemed almost impossible  as they could hardly train on a personal level  with any of them. They held meetings about once a week to tally what had happened and to give the Paladins and Sentinels a chance to catch up with one another and hopefully become familiar with faces. 

With the meeting just ten minutes away, players had begun to show up, Jonathan only being able to name a few of the faces. They were in the clearing of a forested area, with tree trunks to be able to be used as seats. With being out of the way, they could expect to be left alone by players more so than if they were in the town. He knew it would not be long before the other Paladin's and Sentinels arrived. "Hopefully we can make some good progress today" he muttered, unable to be heard except by the ones in closest  proximity. 


The day was upon them. Sarah and Orik had completed their mission. They had increased the numbers of the players within the CA, and had successfully made motions for the guild to be all gathered in one place at the same time. After a small meeting with FearX, they had decided the next meeting of the ascendants would not only be the perfect time, but the perfect place to stage the ambush. Chaos had left the talking with the "enemy guild" to FearX. The plan was ready to be set into motion. Chaos stood, battle ready. His weapon remained sheathed at his left hip, his hellhound sitting at the right. The Sins began to collect around him. Morzan's face held a grin, making ti obvious he was overjoyed to be able to immerse himself in such a grand fight. Raven's facial expression was hidden under her black bird mask. He knew she didn't enjoy fighting as much as the others, but none were as precise with the blade as her. Luz seemed worried, knowing that she wouldn't be hurting none, but the lives of her comarades depended on her. Aya was out gathering the Red Claw guild. Finally, Fyre's face was unreadable. She had mastered hiding her feelings and not even he could tell what she was thinking. She appeared battle ready however. "Let's go find FearX. Remember, the goal is to prevent as many casualities as we can. It'll look bad on us. However, if it comes to a life or death situation, kill is preferred over being killed. I don't want any of us to fall over such  a small part of our plan"

 

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Kasier looked up at the leaves that of the brown, oak tree that stood on the tallest hill of the first floor. She could see the faint blurring of the nature that currently filled her eyes with the green hue reflected back at her from the sun's light. It was as if she was falling asleep, but she wasn't. She was on the verge to, yet she couldn't for some strange reason. She felt unsettled, which was basically like her usual self, since she was always worrying about her safety and the safety of the people around her. But today, she felt an extreme discomfort at the at her heart. It was as if every beat was a heavy stomping of a dinosaur stepping towards a dreading prey. Every beat of her heart seemed to be dragging her deeper into a certain void. Kasier sighed, closing her blood red eyes as she felt a tiring sensation rush over her. She could stay there forever. She didn't particularly FEEL like doing anything. But then, she heard an insect buzzing near her right ear. Opening her ear, she sees the blurry images of three young players looking down at her.

"Ello? Hello? Teacher!" One of them seemed to call out. Kasier yawned, sitting up before rubbing her eyes while staring at the three players standing before her. "We beat the level 5 boar, just like you said we would!" Her attention turned to the player on the left - the support player of the group... the most kind out of the three youths of the team. She was the most fitting to be the healer out of all three of them. She would sacrifice herself to help anyone, and she would definitely be surpassing Kasier as a healer in a couple of months. Skylar was her name. She was the blonde girl who was shy out of battle, but during battle, would call out all the shouts. She was what every healer should strive to be... unfortunately, she was too young to lead at the moment.

"Too bad, she's all too busy dosing off all the time..." The boy next to her mumbled. He was the blonde's brother, and he was obviously the troubled middle child of the group. His name was Tang, and his dark blue eyes combined with his pale, light skin was an obvious sign that he had yet to meet any real troubles in real life. In fact, he would probably the only troubling one out of all the three children there. Kasier sighed, "sorry about that, I knew you guys weren't going to have trouble with the boar. It's one of the easiest enemies out there, after all. Besides, you guys are just going through target practice." She then looked at the third player of the group. His name was Bill and he was the quiet tank, a bit fat for his age, and definitely one of those kids who were given much snacks to eat and be spoiled with. Kasier yawned. "Our guild meeting starts in about 30 minutes. We should get there early. I'm going to ask them to promote you guys, since you all have been working hard and all."

With a small cheer from the Skylar, a smirk from Tang, and a small hint of a smile from Bill, the three players set out for the fourth floor, where snow was constantly filling the grounds of Aincrad. Today, however, she thought she saw red snow for a second. After she rubbed her eyes, though, it turned back to the normal, shiny white that it had always been. Weird. She thought, following the three enthusiastic young players into the meeting room. "I've arrived. Quite early compared to the last few times. Seems like it's just you here, Jonathan. I'm bringing these fine folks with me to hopefully get them out of apprenticeship and possibly into sentinel status."

@Morgenstern @Kyot0 @Itzal @Beat @Shield @tricolor_mina @Sey

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Resting on the top of a tree, or more specifically one of it's higher branches, Itzal looked at the forest of floor two from overhead.  He usually trained apprentices here and it had indeed been quite a while since he had any.  Or trained anyone for that matter.  But even more so, it had been a while since he had used his parkour skills.  Well beyond exercises that is.  Not only was it a useful skill to have at times, but it was very enjoyable for him most of the time.  Helped him calm his mind and such.  An odd form of meditation in his opinion, but an effective one for him as an individual, though it did little for him today.  Velnia sat on his shoulder, over the black padding of Niger Natio.  His hood was up but his face cloth was down, revealing his face if viewing from the front.  His left hand rested on the pommel of his sword Yakimba, while his right hand helped keep him steady on the branch he was perched on.  He was silent as the gentle breeze blew against him and the trees.  Normally people would lose their balance, but Itzal had learned long ago how to move with the trees and the wind, keeping himself from tilting too far or losing control of his balance.  It was a skill not many had but was very useful indeed.  He had been teaching his new apprentices parkour, well.  Two of them.  Out of his three apprentices only two were interested in learning the art of parkour.  One of them was naturally skilled with it, while the other was still working his way around.  His students were Herald, Matthew and Vex.  Matthew was the one who didn't take up the parkour lessons mainly because his body wasn't attributed to the skill, nor was his, well.  Courage.  He was the more stealthy one of the trio.  Herald was one of the ones interested in parkour, but was also wanting to be a dps player.  Itzal considered him the jack of all trades type of individual.  With Vex, she not only wanted to train in parkour, she was a natural at it.  She was very stealthy and wanted to take on the rogue like build.  Itzal believed her to be the truest scout among his students.

As he thought about them he noticed someone approaching from behind.  He turned his head to get a look and spotted her through the trees as she made her way to him.  She was wearing cloth clothing designed for travel, and colored to blend in with her environment.  On her side was a dagger as well, and she wore a hood that hid her brown hair from view.  When she arrived she said:  "Is it time to go participate in the meeting Itzal?"  He stood up on the branch to face her.  "...Yes....  Though you could have just checked via messenger.  We don't always have to use parkour in every scenario."  She nodded and grinned.  "True, but I'm fairly certain you know as well as I do that it's a hell of a lot of fun."  Despite Itzal's current mood he couldn't help but chuckle a tiny bit"True.  Alright come on then, let's go get Herald and Matthew.  We'll head over to floor four as soon as we can.  Hopefully this won't last long..." 

When they had reached the fourth floor, all of his apprentices noted how much easier it was to handle it after having obtained the survival skill.  Itzal nodded.  "However it doesn't remove the feeling completely.  At some point I'll have you guys fight in the middle of the coldest place known in Aincrad, as well as the hottest, until you are able to ignore the temperature no matter what the conditions are.  Though if you are on fire or frozen, you should probably deal with that."  His three apprentices laughed at that and soon enough they reached the meeting spot.  Itzal soon saw Jonathan and Jenna.  He passed Jonathan with a simple nod and stood next to his fiance with a small smile towards her.  "Glad to see you made it.  I might have left if you weren't here,"  he told her, softly so only she heard.

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The seven virtues were getting ready for battle in private.  They all knew the rules, they all knew the objective.  Fearx was in his own room, preferring to put his armor and weapons on manually rather than them just materializing on him.  As he put on his golden armor, as well as the golden wings, he could feel the power seeping into him from the stats he had equipped.  He had grown in levels, and gained powerful equipment since this alliance had started.  He was certain Chaos had as well.  He then took his spear and walked outside of his room.  The virtues excluding Sarah due to her mission were there waiting for him.  Azrael, virtue of patience.  Grela, virtue of diligence.  Michael, virtue of chastity.  Morgana, virtue of liberty.  Aragorn, virtue of abstinence.  And Joan of Arc, virtue of humility.  These six were here waiting for him to lead them all.  Chaos approached with his own, though he was short a few.  One because he had infiltrated the guild.  Another because she had to lead the red claw guild.  A third was someone close to Chaos who betrayed him.  "I thank you for following me this far.  Hopefully what we accomplish today will help to bring down the arrogant, as well as those who seek nothing but power and strength from the front lines.  This is the first step to reminding them why we fight on the front lines.  That this game doesn't matter.  It's the escape we long for.  No deaths.  That's one of the objectives.  Remember that.  Let's go seek out Chaos and the seven sins." 

@Morgenstern@Kasier@Beat@tricolor_mina@Sey@Shield

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  • 2 weeks later...

He turned and looked at the players who had gathered. Four players had arrived in total to the meeting. Two had followed him after a brief training and two were DPS's  that he didn't  know the names to. He guessed Beat didn't have training with them. There were five tanks training within the Ascendants Roster. Two under him, two under Shield,  and one under Orik. His two had interesting personalities. The first one to have joined  was named Trevor. Jonathan had taken him under his wing even though he wasn't actually sure which role he would fall under. It turned  out being around Jonathan had influenced him to become a tank. He knew that out of his two apprentices, Trevor would be the one to put everything on the line to save someone's life. It was a quality that was good for a tank. Also a common quality of deceased tanks. His second apprentice went by the name of lance. He carried a more carefree attitude, and while Jonathan had to pull him back from time to time, he normally let the guy have his fun. As a veteran player, he had seen and even experienced the lax nature while training. The amn's build was more Bruiser than even Jonathan. He carried no shield, but instead used  a two handed spear paired  with Heavy armor, accuracy item, and a healer familiar. He could take hits, but surely dish them out even having just reached Tier Two.

 "HEY YO TEACH!" A voice came calling, interrupting his personal thoughts. Jonathan turned his head to see Lance heading toward him. "Got any training routines planned until the meeting starts? I'm bored and have enough energy to take on an entire army!" Jonathan chuckled. He smiled before saying, "No worries, after the meeting we can go out on a trip and get some training in" As they spoke, one of the Tank Sentinels had moved into the area. Orik  made his way up, followed by  his apprentice. Fromm what he heard form the Apprentice, Orik never actually liked to fight for some reason. Unless the Apprentice got himself into trouble, the Tank Sentinel hardly ever moved into action. The other would be arriving soon.... Words broke into his mind, words from the recent boss fight. 'What kind of stupid and terrible leader are you Jonathan?' He tried to push the thought away. It had nagged at the back of his head for a while. He had failed to keep his seriousness in the lat boss fight, and after what Aereth said.... Had he failed to teach the apprentices something important that Aereth had to figure out for himself. 

 


 

He stopped as he seen FearX, his Since following suit. He grinned before opening his mouth to speak to FearX and the Virtues. He knew he would have to be careful with his wrods as he knew the allied group hung and analyzed every word he spoke. "Today marks the day that we begin to put a nail in the foot of those who think themselves as untouchable gods. Today isn't our day, but those who can't raise a torch and a blade themselves. We fight for those who are forced down into the dirt every day by the greedy nature of the strong. They will realize after today that they can't just forget those who lie on the ground. It is by their own blind eye that they will fall, and we will straighten the very path of Aincrad itself. I am proud to work with you on this important mission" He chuckled a bit. "Well don't I suck at giving speeches" 

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It was not uncommon for Shield to take a little extra time arriving at meetings, in particular after training missions. His apprentices, two promising young tanks who had both forsaken the sword for the shield, hung at either of his shoulders as they trudged through the drifts of snow towards the meeting spot. Although unscathed himself, the two trainees looked the worse for wear.

"I know that we're supposed to be learning discipline," grumbled Ajax, the larger of the two trainees. "But it would go a lot faster if we could bring a DPS along on our missions." He was tall and fair skinned, which was deceptive as his stats made him quite sturdy despite his lanky and fragile appearance. Damien on the other hand was short and stocky, which made him seem more tank-like by appearance alone.

"He's got a point," Damien added apologetically, giving Shield a sheepish smile. "We'd probably be a good two or three levels higher if we could mow through mobs a little faster." Ajax nodded gesturing with his hand as if to offer actual physical support to the argument rather than just moral support. Both sets of eyes remained on Shield who kept his gaze forward.

"If you're going to get far in this game," Shield repeated, causing both of them to roll their eyes. Still, he continued, wishing to hammer home the point while they were more tired and less likely to argue. "Then you have to have the fortitude to get through long slogs just like these ones." It was no exaggeration to call them as such. Since his level drove up the stats of anything they encountered up on the twenty first floor, the lower leveled trainees were continually swapping in and out and hiding behind boulders to recuperate. "You can't count on people being there to help you through the most important quests. Hell, most of the important equipment I found to add to my build were the result of soloing quests that weren't mean to be solo'd by tanks."

"Even your shield?" asked Damien, his curiosity now piqued.

"Especially my shield," Shield replied. "This was part of a quest chain that couldn't be repeated, and most players needed to take a separate route in order to try for the drops that helped their build, or else had already done it."

As the apprentice players begrudgingly silenced their protests, they rounded a bend in the path and found the gathering of stumps where the other players sat. Shield gestured for his companions to sit and did so himself once they were properly seated. He gave the other members a nod and settled in to await the meeting's start. "Sorry for the delay. These missions tend to run long sometimes." Ajax snorted at the word 'sometimes' which Shield ignored.

Edited by Shield
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  • 2 weeks later...

Itzal watched as some of Jonathan's apprentices approached.  He also saw their new Sentinel Orik approach along with them.  Itzal's two apprentices Herald and Matthew walked over to mingle with the other apprentices, greeting each other and prepping to share stories of their training experiences.  Vex stayed beside Itzal and he turned to look at her.  "You don't have to be with me all the time you know.  Go on, chat with them.  Make some more friends Vex."  She looked at him for a moment, clearly not very interested.  "Itzal, I really don't feel comfortable interacting with the others today.  I want to learn from you and the other paladins."  Once again, she had caused a small smile to form and placed he his hand on her shoulder.  "I understand that.  But you can't just spend and focus all of your time on work and training.  Take some time to relax, loosen up.  It's good to just hang out with others from time to time, healthy too."  Vex crossed her arms as she looked at him.  "Healthy doesn't really matter too much in this world Itzal..  But you are my mentor so I'll do as you ask."  She pulled her hood up and began walking over to the other apprentices.  Itzal looked at her as she did so.  She reminded him of himself back then, disconnecting himself from others to get his work done.  Of course, he was descending into that stat himself with everything that had been happening lately...  He turned to @Kasier @Morgenstern and @Shield with a blank face.  "Alright, let's start the meeting.  What's the topic and are the apprentices joining us?"

While he spoke, Katie walked over with some supporters as her own apprentices.  She also had made sentinel rather quickly and was very glad to have met these people.  She really enjoyed their company~  She just hoped no one would be harmed in what was to come..

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After Chaos joked about sucking with speeches, Fearx chuckled and patted him on the back.  "I agree, why don't we leave the speeches to me alright?"  Fearx turned to Chaos.  "Alright, so the Red Claw is in position correct?  By now the Ascendants should have assembled, meaning that the player killer guild will strike any moment.  What was their name again?"

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  • 2 weeks later...

He would watch as Itzal would move to Kasier, only speaking silently with her. He was not happy with something, Jonathan could easily tell that for sure. Had he also been dissapointed in Jonathan's performance at the boss raid? As the third and last Sentinel arrived with a few apprentices, Itzal would turn to them and ask what should be on the agenda for discussion. It was rather abrupt and it seemed like Itzal was trying to get these done as fast as possible.   Jonathan looked at the five people in front of him. "After all this time training, I believe many of them have deserved to be promoted to the rank of a Sentinel. If no one is in disagreeance, I think we should get on with that" He looked over and seen Shield. He still didn't really like the man, even if he had to admit the man was much more level-headed than he. While in large meetings, Jonathan tried to keep his own thoughts and anger to himself, allowing him to appear uncaring that the man who appeared to rival Jonathan was in the room. Jonathan had once tried to let his problems with Shield go, but being young and not completely matured, it just wasn't in his nature. 

Awhile back, Jonathan had spoken to an old fisherman, one that played the sterotypical old man full of wisdom very well. Who said that with life so short and a world full of wonder, it would do him no good to be burdened by grief and anger. Words that Jonathan took to heart, but hadn't yet made the advice a reality. The old man promised him something right before Jonathan left. 'When the day comes that you too meet Judgement, you will understand and completely forgive your friend' Jonathan had left him, telling himself that the old  man was crazy. He had bigger issues to deal with, such as figuring out what it meant to be a better leader. He couldn't watch this guild fail. 

Orik watched his apprentice, Jager, move  off to sit with the rest of the apprentices. Over time, he had grown fond of the young man. He considered him a true friend. After getting to know him, Orik made a promise to himself that Jager would not be hurt. Jager would be under the personal protection of Orik himself. He became a tank to protect those who he loved and cherished as friends. His eyes would glance up to Sarah, a woman he had hardly talked to although she was on the same mission as him. 

A clang of metal would be heard nearby, and rustles of leaves would be heard, moving in on the group of the Ascendants fast. Footfalls would be heard, dozens  beginning their ambush on the unsuspecting Ascendants. 
As Chaos and FearX's plans would come to terms it would begin.... The end of the Ascendants. 

 


 

Chaos chuckled to his friend as Fear requested that speeches be left with him. Chaos would answer FearX's first question with a nod. The Ascendants would be left alone with the Player Killer guild for five minutes before intervening. Fyre had already reported to him that the enemy guild was dressed all in black, meaning it would be  easy  for them to piece together exactly who the enemy was  apart from the Ascendants. As Red Claw attacked, He would be confronting Morgenstern, and FearX would be confronting Itzal. the Sins and Virtues were to keep the remaining Ascendants out of harms way as much as possible until the end. That is unless the Ascendants showed Hostility towards them. Once the Pker guild was weeded through and Morgenstern and Itzal left out of the way, they would leave the Ascendants to Terror and oblivion... the result of Chaos and Fear. 

As Fear asked his final question Chaos would simply reply, "The names of the newly deceased I believe would be better going unsaid" Brandishing his blade, Chaos would smile and say, "We are on the stage in five" 

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Kasier sat patiently. One by one, the other paladins and their apprentices arrived, and even some of the newly promoted sentinels had come. She didn't have much to say to the guild, since she was not nearly as intelligent as some of the other members, like Shield, Itzal, Jonathan, etc, so her role in the guild was not nearly as important as theirs. Originally, Kasier wanted to distance herself from the guild and only go for the meetings when necessary. However, she developed quite a good relationship with the members of the guild, especially her own apprentices. They were children, and watching them makes her feel... kind of like a mom. Kasier sighed, it was too early for that, but even so, she could not help but imagine what the future would be like if she already feels like a mother. The apprentices that she is teaching had made their way to their other friends and begun to mingle with them, and Kasier felt a sudden wave of sleepiness that had suddenly arrived all of a sudden.

Perhaps she'll catch a snooze real fast, and then promote her apprentices at the end of the meeting. Even so, she felt an uneasiness that kept her awake, but she's not sure why she felt this emotion all of a sudden. She sighed, placing her forehead on the desk and yawning, it's going to be a long meeting.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Jonathan's words of achievement on the part of the trainees was certainly true. Shield had pushed his recruits hard, and they had shown great promise. They were a little underleveled to reach the next rank, and as such Shield had only brought them along to support their fellow trainees. If the Ascendants were to really live up to their ideals and hold one another as family, then that meant showing support for one another. Ajax had dragged his feet, especially knowing that it was scheduled immediately after a training mission, but Damien had shown no real protest. Shield gave a nod in support of Jonathan's words. He did not have more to add at the moment, and since this was about the most cheerful that the paladin had been in his presence for some time, he did not want to speak up and shatter the fragile peace.

In the mean time, there was a different noise that caught his attention. It was nothing out of the ordinary. Metal on metal. In a fantasy RPG, any number of things could cause such a noise. It was the sound afterward that worried him.

That's a lot of footfalls...

He leaned forward and muttered to his trainees, "Probably nothing, but keep your eyes up, boys." He swiped through his inventories and pulled out a second tier mass heal potion and uncorked it. Ajax and Damien's health bars both crept back up closer to full, the last of their cuts and scrapes melting back into their skin and disappearing.

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  • 2 months later...

While waiting for an answer he began to think about his apprentices, and the training he'd been putting them through.  They had worked very hard and he focused on three aspects above all else:  Survival, personal skill, and moral focus.  He wanted to keep anyone from making the same foolish mistake players on the previous floor raid had made to the best of his ability.  Protecting a floor boss instead of clearing the boss raid was equivalent to betraying every poor soul who was trapped in this game, desperate to get out.  There were children in this world for crying out loud!  Morgenstern was among those he was angered at.  He had seen what the boss did to his fiance, as well as what he did to Jomei's own fiance and he had the audacity to encourage him further?  No.  As far as Itzal was concerned there was far too much wrong with the frontlines as of right now.  Which was why he wanted his apprentices to be able to discern right from wrong.  In addition to this, they had come far in level and skill as well, and he believed they were ready.  Vex more than ever.  He actually wondered if she could replace him so he could take some time away.  Not just yet, but soon enough.  When Jonathan spoke up he turned to the apprentices, gesturing for them to come over if they hadn't already.  Vex was one of the first to come over.  Before they could get started however, Itzal heard the sound of feet, and so did Vex and his other apprentices.  While Shield was stating that it was probably nothing, Vex and Itzal had already activated Reveal and Detect, scanning the area for enemies.  Itzal's eyes widened and he drew his sword.  "Think again Shield!"  Vex also saw it and was extremely worried.  Itzal turned to Matthew.  "We're going to need backup!  Message the emergency list I gave you!  Stay behind us now!"

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Fearx and Chaos went to the site and were watching from a position they couldn't be discovered.  Too far away to be detected and blending in with their surroundings.  He looked at the six virtues and the remaining sins.  He then turned to Chaos and spoke softly, only the two of them hearing the other.  He knew the end result, regardless of what happened.  "Well, looks like we'll both get our wish.  You'll have the Celestial Ascendants taken out, crippling the already torn front lines.  And I'll have my duel with Itzal.  Remember, the lives of everyone in Aincrad are going to be in your hands.  You can't fail them, get them out of this death trap.  And remember to lead with respect, not with fear.  I've enjoyed our time together Chaos.  It's been nice having a friend like you, working beside you."

@Morgenstern @Shield @Kasier

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As the apprentices walked forward to the rest of the group, heavy footsteps were heard coming fast. Shield told them that it was nothing, but best to be careful. Jonathan nodded, they had to understand that it was probably some players fighting in the distance and monsters wouldn't stand a chance against this many players all at once. That's when Itzal, voice quite tense as his eyes widened. "Think again?" Jonathan stammered. He drew his sword just as Itzal had done, punching his left hand forward to extend back out his shield. Jonathan shouted orders to his apprentices but Jonathan's mouth wouldn't move. "Uhhh" seemed to be all that was able to come out. A black armored figure with his face shrouded came out of the woods first. His attack was aimed towards one of the DPS apprentices. Beat hadn't attended, so it was up to him to do something about it. He lurched to the right, his body acting on instinct. A longsword stabbed into his shield, repelling the blow and staggering the orange player. Jonathan would make a simple returning slash, but the player would regain balance and deflect the blow off his sword. 

His initial fear began to fade. Was it just this one player? "What do you want?" he demanded. The man would sneer and several others would pop out from the forest, each donning the black armor that garbed the first man. 'What do we do? I can't protect this many people at once if they were to all attack!' Thats when a man stepped forward and pointed his blade forward. "Commence attack!" was all that would be said before the tide of players bore down on the Ascendants. 

The attack would begin and Orik would nod grimly. He turned to Jager and said, "Use it now, there's no time!" The apprentice, confused, would fumble out a teleport crystal. His job wa to support the Ascendants until his allies arrived and than he would move out to support them. With Jager vanishing in a blue light, everything that was his personal duty was finished. 


As they stood in a hidden spot, he would nod as Fearx would name off the successes for both of them. It really was true that Fear only wanted to fight with Itzal. He was unsure of how that would go for him. Fear would explain to him that he needed to succeed for the good of Aincrad. "Well, I will have to learn to think more like you. This mission has been much more successful thanks to you. I have also enjoyed our time together, maybe in the future we can meet up again on non-business terms. Doughnut?" He would offer the man a chocolate doughnut slipping one into his mouth with his right hand at the same time. 

@Shield @Kasier @Itzal

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  • 2 weeks later...

Shield was about to react when he felt a sensation that was all to familiar. A blade in his side. He turned to look only to find Damien, his mouth twisted into a wretched smile standing triumphantly beside him. Not only had his countenance changed, but so too had his gear. Not to mention his cursor color, which faded from a bright green to a glaring yellow with his betrayal. His defensive equipment had been forsaken for light armor and a short sword whose edges were tinged with a deadly green tincture. A paralysis symbol appeared on Shield's health bar, and his frame froze. This was not the first time he had been stunned, but it was not the status effect that most haunted him now. His jaw held firm in his head, unable to move like the rest of him. Ajax spoke the words he could not. "Damien, why?" hissed the tank apprentice.

The damage dealt to Shield was not nothing, which told him that Damien had been hiding levels and skills from Shield and the others. It was an oversight he would have to deal with personally later on. Still, his health bar halted abruptly and immediately ticked back up to full. Damien, on the other hand, saw his health gauge plummet, dipping immediately down into the yellow portion of his health from the defenses that Shield still had up from their mob grinding. The confident betrayer's grin fell. He had underestimated his opponent.

Ajax let out a roar, charging at his traitorous comrade. "I trusted you!" he called out, activating the only weak sword art he had to use. Despite its weakness, Damien's defenses were no match for the assault, continuing to dip even lower with each slash. "We broke bread together!" Ajax bellowed with another forceful slash. "We told each other about our homes and families!" The yellow dwindled away to nothing, leaving only the angry cherry red of his last thirty percent.

With a curse and a sweep of a cape, Damien vanished. Ajax pelted off into the fray, calling out curses of his own as his rage went unsated. "Come back here, you coward! Don't you think you can escape your justice!"

The rest played out painfully slowly. The air behind Ajax became much more substantive and took on dark hue as Damien's name tag materialized. A gush of red particles spilled out of Ajax's sturdy back, his health bar sweeping rapidly from full, down to half, down into the red, and inching down to nothing. Shield wanted to shout out, urged his paralyzed limbs to move, but they refused. The icon that held him captive began to flicker, but there was no time left, nor did Ajax have any health left. With a crashing like that of glass, his body burst, scattered into countless shards of light which were all that remained of Shield's loyal apprentice. The fragments drifted through the air and then melted away like snowflakes among the sheets of white that covered the ground.

Shield's body came unfrozen and he stumbled forward just as Damien vanished once again into thin air. He caught himself, looking in either direction

Edited by Shield
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