Welcome to Gaia! ::

Herald tried to start manipulating the steel of the dome, but then he felt his mind get weaker. Realizing that his mind was being interfered with, he became very desperate...and full of rage. More than the fear of their mission and secrets coming to light, a deep causeless hatred with buried in him had found an excuse to emerge. An image of a corpse and blood-covered soldiers flashed in his mind, and Herald soon pulled a dagger out of his bag. "ROT AND DIE LIKE THE SCUM THAT YOU ARE! DAGGER FORGE!" The dagger expanded into a dome full of giant blades pointing inward, layered under the steel sphere and looming ominously over the entire group. Forgetting that the others were there, Herald attempted to skewer Thero with the blades from all sides, but since his mind was weakened only one grew towards the enemy. Behind Thero, Waru became increasingly frightened by the insane look on Herald's face and the daggers filling his view. "B-bad...if Waru stays here, he's gonna...I gotta get outta here!" Waru closed his eyes tight and just decided to teleport as far away as he could from the area, abandoning Thero as Thero had abandoned Tsugaru.

Thero saw Zerkon notch a sword onto the bow and then lower it, and smirked triumphantly. As Thero saw Lia charge at him, however, he intensified his stealing power towards her, trying to rob her of all thoughts at once. When Herald shouted at him in rage and the daggers appeared, Thero's face went pale and he just barely managed to dodge one of the dagger spikes.

Back in the mansion, the minotaur was stuck with the three arrows; two in its back and one in its shoulder. Enraged, the beast charged at Silver, intending to punch with its giant left arm.

Shinia gets grabbed by Zafrina all of a sudden and Shinia levitates with Zafrina. "Woooah!!" Meanwhile, Lia strikes her sword at Thero! "HAAAA!!!" Lia kept aiming the sword at Thero violently. It was then her eyes widen and stopped. "...M-my... head..." She drops her sword and clenches on her head. "NO! GET AWAY!!" Lia wobbles a bit backing away, sensing the dark magic surrounding her. She could feel the black evil curse seeping through her neck where her scar was. "Da...mn...it...Not...her..."

Herald was busy trying to focus his mind and launch the fatal dagger, when all of a sudden Lia almost cut his arm with her sword. The mysterious rage was buried again, and Herald came to his senses. That's right...the plan was to capture him alive. Ladencia, take over. Herald abruptly pushed Ladencia to the surface without warning, disorienting him. Lia's sword again almost came near them and Lia almost cut him again. Wh-whoa! Dangit, warn me next time, you... After this is over, you and I need to have a serious talk! Ladencia focused and brought magical energy to his hand. "Vice Impact!" An orange shield appeared in front of Ladencia's left arm, and he used the wind gauntlet's powers to launch the shield towards Thero.

Thero was horrified that his magic was taking so long to affect Lia, and so he began to take all kinds of elemental lacrima out of his pocket and toss it at her. However, the lacrima just hit the sword and the attacks dissipated off of it, and so he just tried dodging the slashes and was being forced back towards the wall of daggers. When he saw that his magic was finally taking ahold of Lia, he decided to take the chance and dash past her towards the bag of books lying at Zerkon's feet. However, Ladencia's Impact shield hit Thero smack dab in the face, exploding and sending Thero dangerously close to the dagger wall again. Deciding that he was fighting a losing battle, Thero then decided to displace the mental energy he had stolen into the group's minds...but in the wrong order! He intended to confuse the group by placing one person's thoughts in the head of another long enough for him to grab the books and find a way to escape. So, hoping his plan would work, he threw several flash lacrima towards the group and dove straight for the books.

The minotaur punched the portal, and therefore his own hand, and roared out in pain. The beast decided to try a change in tactics and went to tackle Silver with all of its strength.

For a few long minutes, Shinia's healing magic didn't appear to have any effect on Tiresia. The seal was spreading slowly, tracing down her spine and wrapping around her throat as if it had a choke-hold on her. Suddenly, the esper mage coughs as she struggled to breathe. Tiresia was still unconsciously trying to fight back a battle she was possibly losing.

Sorry big guy Silver said before the anomaly the previous portal created began to act out. Cracking his knuckles, Silver summoned a portal in front of him large enough for the minotaur to go through it. The portal he had summoned however had no exit point, this was because of the anomaly that was created; it severs any portal links nearby. If the minotaur were to fall through the portal, it would briefly send any parcel it has to the void. The void is the space between dimensions, a dark and sinister place that leeches from any living thing inside it.

Silver had already planned ahead when the minotaur would fall through, he had no intention of killing the creature. Once the minotaur is fully banished into that realm, Silver would dispell the portal and summon a new one to create and exit point from the void. This would allow him to retrieve the minotaur, whom by then Silver hoped to be too weak to fight.

Shinia's spell plus Kharne's magic channeling worked. The seal spread even slower and eventually stopped at her spine and her throat. Tiresia is still incredibly weak and having trouble breathing.

♦ Zafrina Myste ♦