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Aoi let out a small gasp and cry as Tsuna dashed forwards in a flash with a monstrous strength and tore the two twins from each other. "Tsuna!" Micha'el called, staring in disbelief. Kaito was the first one to receive the punch of justice, it left him stumbling to the side and tripping to the floor, holding his cheek in agony as Tsuna went on to finish the judgement upon Kotaro. In moments she was on top of him, pinning him down and punched him too. Kotaro couldn't do anything to stop her by the time she was around his neck. "Tsuna stop!" Lottie called out, Micha'el began to pull out his Aria as Tsuna shouted at Kotaro, but he didn't have time to cast anything because Kotaro's twin brother was already there. As soon as Kaito was onto his feet he glared at his target, pushing away from the ground with such speed Team Sun was surprised. Once he got closer to Tsuna he shouted "REMOVE YOURSELF FROM MY BROTHER!" He delivered a powerful kick to Tsuna's side that threw her aside. With one hand he helped up Kotaro and in the other he cast an incantation as blue magic began to swirl at his fingertips. Kotaro coughed through Kaito's speech, "I'll teach you to behave, just like I taught all those bullies years ago" Kotaro grinned at his brother. His magic glowed around Tsuna and suddenly she was being levitated off the ground. Kaito then summoned his sword to his side and got ready to attack. As Kaito dashed across the ground a wall of white light appear and fogged over as soon as Kaito struck it, piercing it with his blade and becoming stuck only half way towards Tsuna. "UGH!" Kaito cried out, "what foul and blinding magic is this?!"
"It's mine" Micha'el said, "and should choose your battles more wisely."
"Yeah! How dare you be so rude to Tsuna-"
"Rude?!" Kotaro said from behind. In this moment Micha'el wall shattered and Tsuna was placed back onto the ground as Kaito's magic wore off. Kotaro then continued to point at the wolf-girl and said "The Therian is the one that started this, our condolences are nothing but sincere! Just another reason why we had to come here - your team is utterly incompetent in all contexts - you'll never live up to the reuptation of Team Elixer - as for us... Miss Truesvale will notice our superiority... one day."

"Alexis will never equate your selfish superiority to worthiness. Don't you get it?!" Micha'el lashed out, throwing his arm aside as Tsuna came closer to them holding her side in pain. Lottie came beside the girl, but not wanting to do or say anything that might irritate Tsuna further. The twins laughed, "You underestimate our ability" they both said, then Kaito added "at Merlin Academy we are the best and most respected students by all the other students. You ought to remember that. Now I bid you farewell. We have a mission to complete on behalf of the king. " With that said the two of them strolled by, their expressions dropping to nothing as they blankly stared ahead, going on about the rest of their day with their hands in their pockets. Micha'el let out a great sigh, then looking to tsuna, "c'mon" he said to everybody, "we need to complete our mission too, then we can get out of here and return to Evermoon".

((ok i've got something cool planned!!!))

It was not long until Landaras had come to greet Team Sun in the middle of the camp. The tree canopy kept the undergrowth dark and if anything a little damp, even the morning rays were finding it difficult to creep into this Vardant infested woods. When he approached he was alone but seemed to have some orders. "The sun watches over you, Team Sun" he said in greeting. "We have a slight change of plans to your mission. Our scouts are divulged information regarding the leader of the Vardant in a nearby fort, the one we were going to steal cursed stones from actually. Now, I know it is slightly uncouth to send children of your kind into danger, but in our kingdom warriors are trained from youth. That is what your schools are doing, correct?"
"Well.." Micha'el began as he pushed up his glasses to his eyes, "Aoi's academy is the first line of defence against enemies from the east, so, I guess so."
"Good." Landaras grinned, "The man we're hunting is a traitor to the sun, he goes by the name of Aurelius. He was once a magister to the King but went mad for magic and delved into this forest some time ago. But now - we have him! If your team would kill him I can assure you a bountiful reward"
"Oh! Does that mean a good mark?" Lottie asked, clasping her hands together, Landaras looked down at her with a raised brow until he finally said "ah, yes. The finest of marks for whatever academic system you fools use these days. You will have to clear the fort from the ground up, Aurelius stands at the top of the tower, above the tree canopy. You might see your friends their too, they greedily accepted this same task a few moments ago. Their insatiable need for pressing forwards first is quite uncanny of those unfavourable orcs." Landaras seemed to shake his head discretely at the horrid thought of an Orc being anywhere near here.

Landaras gave an approving nod when Tsuna made her remark. "I saw it all" he said, putting his hands on his hips and almost cocking a hip like most Sun Elves did, "I wouldn't have stopped it, you three should have joined in. Ohwell."
"His Sun Elf traits are showing..." prodded Lottie to Aoi, who gave a small giggle and agreed. Micha'el stepped forwards, "we should get going then" and with that they left.

____________________________

Team Sun was nearing the fort that they had to invade, along the way Micha'el had wondered a great many things. Firstly, was it really safe sending a young team of students into something like this? Sure, back home in Occulas students would be sent off on missions all the time, students were after all usually the most skilled and healthy. The only other defenders Occulas usually had were veteran Lords and Ladies or the army of Asmodius. Which, lets be honest, is an army of not very unique people. Micha'el sighed, he sometimes wished that Declasia's Royal Guard was more involved, but alas, the Guildeam's relationship with Declasia and her guild was... still rocky. He hoped perhaps in the future Delorius'tatem would join the Guildeam. He was then wondering about Tsuna and whether she would be mentally fit enough to go through with this, but of coarse she would. If anything this would be a good way for her to let off steam, surely?

When they arrived it was giving Micha'el flashbacks to the Darkness of Lucifial. Back then he was defending Neutral City alongside many of the other students of Hope Academy, but here the battle seemed one-sided in their favour. Monsters with green flesh and glowing veins rushed out of the windows and doors, it looked as though the fort was build entirely of gigantic shards of dark, almost black, green shards of rock or crystal, but was then crafted to look beautifully dark before being worn downa fter years and years of nature and rain. There was a large bridge where many Sun Elves were taking a stand and throwing magical abilities that glowed like the sun. Missiles after magic missile, Vardent were thrown away and obliterated, sometimes one would get through but a Sun Elf would pull out a long gold and red sword and slice the beast in two. Micha'el stood on the nearby hill watching it all. As the others lined themselves up beside him he felt by now that he was taking initiative, Tsuna needed time to recollect herself before leading, but that didn't mean he would take away from any of her leadership. He believed in her. "Team Sun is here!" called out a Sun Elf, and in moments the scattered elves were positioning themselves in patterns in one fluid movement. Altogether they cast out a magical spell that glowed again like the sun. From them came a burst of warmth and golden magic, it wisped around their bodies and burnt the flesh of any and all Vardent nearby. Micha'el felt the heat touch his skin, but it was soothing and did not burn. After a few moments and after the Vardent were gone an elf shouted "Go in, we've cleared the majority of the Vardent on the outside, it's down to you to weed out the parasites within!!! FOR THE GLORY OF SUNSPIRE!"

With that as their cue Micha'el jumped first and ran past the formation of elves, giving one of them a nod as he passed and cast out his book, it levitated in front of him at all times. Lottie came afterwards and held out her glaive beside her as she ran besides him, and Aoi after her with her wand in one hand. Movement came from within the fort as they crossed the tainted bridge, and then a voice rung out from above the trees, it said "KILL THE TRESPASSERS, DEFEND THE TOWER AT ALL COSTS." It sounded positively demonic... Then the monsters rushed out! The first was a gigantic brute that was entirely green and looked like it's armour was wood attached to its skin. It's eyes glowed green and its arms were sharp, as well as the back of it's beast-like head and sharp jaws. It stomped towards them and dived for Micha'el but Micha'el was able was able to jump up and over it shouting Lottie's name. She proceeded to dive beneath its legs and skid across the bridge with her glaive pointed up. When she struck it a dozen other blades quickly joined in quick sucession from all different angles. The beast fell and tumbles towards Aoi who almost gave a little cry but she held it together and pointed her wand. From it came a great arcane blast that blew the corpse away and over the bridge to clear the way for her. Three more smaller Vardent then came rushing at Micha'el, and this time he cast a spell that strung them all together with white lines and he threw them like a bundle towards Tsuna, "Tsuna!!!" he yelled.

Soon enough... they were to be in the heart of this place. But first, they had to cross this bridge alive. More would keep coming to stop them, but these were the easy mobs... Micha'el waited with anticipation for the boss.

They were fighting the Vardent well up until enough of them were beginning to group up and cause a problem. However Tsuna came up with an idea and alerted the team. She ordered them to all fall back and without hesitation they did so. The girls ran first, Lottie making sure that Aoi stayed close by, and then Micha'el was in the middle but very quickly became suspicious. Tsuna was staying behind, purposefully. She had better not do something stupid. They all turned around to see her mouth the words 'goodbye' from her lips. Micha'el chest sank as he watched her destroy the bridge's edge and run behind the flames. Micha'el shouted and dashed forwards but the fire burst up like a geyser and stopped him from going any further. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists together. He shook his head aggressively, "What's the point?!?!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He felt like he had been betrayed, like everything he'd been through with Tsuna was useless, what was last night he thought? What was that moment of understanding he thought he felt? He honestly couldn't read Tsuna anymore. "Micha'el, what do we do?!" Lottie asked just as an elf shouted "She'll die in their alone!" Micha'el clenched his fists against just as Aoi came to his side too, worry in her eyes. "We follow her" was all he said as he commanded the Aria to open, it's golden-edged pages flicked open and from it white light, runes and circles glowed above the parchment. He thrust his hands forwards and divine energy forced the flames to blast away and douse.

Micha'el leapt across the edge with Aoi in his arms, beneath him was a great chasm of rock and debris, but that didn't stop him. Wings of white light grew from his back, and like a messenger of the gods he was able to glide across without any trouble. Lottie quickly followed, she jumped across the gap, landing on a rock formation before continuing towards the fort. Micha'el landed on the other side, letting Aoi down and his wings vanished, Lottie quickly leaped up from beneath the ruins of the bridge. Just as they were about to follow Tsuna into the fort the giant gate dropped down in front of them, blocking their direct back to her. "There has to be another way!" Lottie said, observing the area. Aoi then pointed towards the left, round the side of the fort there was a walkway and a small set of doors that looked like they hadn't been used for a long time. Micha'el thrust his hands towards it and a ball of white light shot towards it, crashing into the wooden doors, it blew stone, wood and debris aside. "This is the last time she does something by herself - or she's no longer a part of our team" Micha'el ordered, heading towards the destroyed archway.

Inside there would be corridors and large rooms, some with different purposes, some more deadly and enemy filled that others. But at the top of the tower was Aurelius, the most powerful enemy here. Micha'el just hoped he could get there before Tsuna.

When Micha'el stepped into the first room they were met with the foyer, or what he could onyl describe as a foyer anyway. It was a large circular room It was quiet, too quiet. Although, Micha'el couldn't help but imagine this as one of those games kids play. He never did though, he lived the games at Hope, games bored him ever since. "Tsuna?!" Lottie shouted, spinning on her heel to observe the room, there was a large archway on the other side leading to some corridors, she began stepping towards it but then the sound of monsters echoed out. "Vardent!" Micha'el shouted. They all looked up to follow the sounds, the stone bricks began to fall and dust blurred their view for a moment until a dozen Vardent exploded from the room above. Each of them jumped backwards to evade the surprise. It was just a few moments until Lottie got into stance and burst forwards with her glaive outstretched. "Micha'el!" Aoi called as a Vardent came close, it's green skin and purple eyes gawked down at her, reading to bring down it's mantis-like appendage. But in one swift motion Micha'el came dashing between them in a flash of white light. In his hands where two curved daggers, glistening silver and white as the monster fell to the ground and began to rot away, flakes of green and black vanishing with each second gone bye. "Shoot anything that comes close" he said, holding up his blade and commanded them to transform into two hand crossbows. They were compact and made of silver and white metal, the ammo was conjured as if by magic by the command of the Aria which now levitated behind his shoulders. Lottie sliced and diced between several Vardent already, and then came down on another and twisted her glaive and several spectral blades erupted from its body. "Five down!"
"That makes six" Micha'el said, noting the one he just killed. "Seven!!!!" Aoi shouted with a squeal as arcane magic exploded from behind him, the corpse of another flying past him and stopping near Lottie. The last five where opposite them, one of them clasping onto the wall. It wasn't like the others, this one was much larger and humanoid. From it's torso came two pairs of arms and in one spare hand it clutched the air. A purple light lit in it's palm, a sickly purple, the kind you'd expect to mean 'poisonous' or 'life draining'. And that's exactly what it did. The four other Vardent writhed in agony as their purple life force was drained from them and gathered in this one's palm. As it did so it absorbed the energy. Micha'el observed in horror as it's head began to char away in purple flames and crumble apart, from it's neck appeared a maw of teeth and purple light in contrast with it's bright green blood that seeped from the cracks of its dull armour. It leaped down to the ground, hitting the floor with a great thud, it first came for Lottie. Micha'el shot twice at it but to no avail, Lottie dashed and the monster missed, but it's second arm came round to hit her again. A blue light erupted between her and the monster, Aoi forced an arcane barrier between them to let her get away. With a smile, Micha'el ran up to the monster and jumped onto it's back whilst it was still leaning. With another jumped he flpped and shot down at it's back with shard-like bolts that glowed white hot in it's skin and exploded. The Vardent scurried forwards and Lottie stabbed the ground, her spectral baldes each copied one at a time until getting closer and closer where three blades stabbed down into the monster's destroyed spine. "You... are not prepared!!!" the Vardent yelled, its voice booming. It's sentient?! Micha'el thought with a shudder, but then it dropped to the ground completely and began to wither like the rest. That was when they heard fighting nearby and instantly ran to find Tsuna.

As Tsuna began to fall it was as if her breath escaped her, everything surely would turn to black, hopefully quickly, painlessly. She knew all of that would be wrong. But suddenly a flash of white light rushed past her and a pair of not-quite real wings, followed by a sparkly blue arcane energy. It was like an u-draft that quickly got stronger and stronger, forcing her body to float in the air before suddenly being forced back upwards from where she came. Micha'el landed on the top ledge where she fell, his wings vanished and then he came down onto a Vardent with a stab from a long white blade. "Ignis Caelum" Micha'el said, opening his palm towards the Vardent. The Aria glowed and suddenly the Vardent's skin near him turned white-hot, peeling and flaking, cracking like dry stone. Pushing his palm further he forced them all back into the wall where several of them burst into white flakes. Those that did not where suddenly greeted by a different sound. Lottie called out with a battlecry, "THIS ONE'S FOR ALMOST KILLING TSUNA!" and stabbed her blade into the Vardent, pinning it against the wall as it's breath escaped it's body. Then Aoi could be heard letting out a small yell as she blasted another Vardent off the staircase and down the chasm between the steps. With the Vardent gone for the moment Micha'el turned to face Tsuna. Lottie's and Aoi's faces gasped and Micha'el thrust towards Tsuna's face with his sword.

But he missed her. Instead the blade went through the head of an approaching Vardent, he quickly steered its body beside them, then running it towards the wall behind Tsuna and silently twisting to kill it. He was breathing heavily, his shoulders moving up and down quickly until he slowly turned to face Tsuna again. This time his face vacant and his eyes not quite as pure as usual. If anything, the blue in his eyes was darker. He left his blade in the Vardent, letting it's hanging body begin to wither behind him as he said "the next time you leave us I'm not coming back to stop you. After this mission, if you do that again, when we go back to Hope, it's just gonna be me and Lottie. Got that? Unless you start treating us like a team, we're gone!"
"B-but, just stop doing everything by yourself! We want you to stay, that's what he means!"
"No" Micha'el said, staring Tsuna in the eyes, void of emotion. "I don't want liars getting in my way. I want to fight with teammates, whether you're a teammate or not it's up to you. But up there" he pointed towards the archway that seemed to keep going up. "Up there there's no I, there's no you! There's just US. But maybe you like being alone, I wouldn't know. Because so far whatever understanding I thought we had - it's gone."

There was a moment of silence after Micha'el ruthlessly tore through every defence Tsuna might have had. Even now he could hardly bare to look at her, he was equally upset and distraught about her selfish choices. He couldn't make himself be kind not now. Lottie's lips parted and Aoi stood nervously when her name was brought up, she didn't like being in the middle of arguments like this. Micha'el scowled, almost biting his lips shut as she began to break down, tears streaming down her face like he had the night before. But then she got down to her knees and began to bow, as if pleading like a commoner to her superior. Micha'el's eyes widened as he stared down, this isn't want he wanted. "Get up." Micha'el said, a look of disbelief or even disappointment on his face. "Micha'el stop"
"No Lottie." Micha'el continued, he then took in a deep breath and pulled Tsuna's arm up to make her stand. He then put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't just beg and grovel, no one is anyone's superior out here, or back in Occulas for that matter. I can't forgive you for the stress you've caused. But I might be able to move on - if you work with us to stop Aurelius." Micha'el seemed to still be overcome with anger, but he was doing his best to stay calm and start breathing normally again. "Only then will I believe your tears are real."

With that mixture of emotions Micha'el brushed past her and began taking up the last set of stairs through the next corridor, leading to the very top of the tower. Lottie stood anxiously, as well as Aoi. The brunette bit her lip before stepping up to Tsuna and looked up to her. "He'll forgive you - I know he will... I believe you... but I also believe him. You guys just need to work it out, kay? C'mon" Lottie finished with the best smile she could muster and patted her on the shoulder as she began to follow in Micha'el's footsteps. Aoi then stared at Tsuna as she passed too, unsure of what to say and deciding to just stay out of the argument. But as she followed her teammates she only hoped that they could put this little hiccup behind them and manage to stop Aurelius.

And Aurelius was something on Micha'el mind the most. He had a feeling there was something much larger going on in Otherearth than anyone else was letting on. He just didn't quite think everything added up. Bringing Occulas' most skilled students over to Otherearth to help defend against the Vardent and educate the students. From what he's heard in the streets of Evermoon, the Vardent have only recently been on the rise, apparently due to Lucifial's attack on Magic Earth last year. But... well. From previous experience he just thought something bigger was coming.

Theme for the battle.

Micha'el continued to rush up the staircase, it was the final journey before hopefully finding Aurelius and putting an end to his tyranny over the southern forests of the Sun Elf Kingdom. The light appeared at the end of the staircase, he could still hear the others chasing him up the steps and at first he was baffled to see sunlight so brilliant in such a tainted forest. But then he remembered something, the tower peaked above the forest canopy. Micha'el came to a skidding stop at the top, covering some space on the large circular flat roof. There were four, blade-like corners that stuck up at the edges of the floor, but the rest was un-walled. Across the platform he could see a man with his back turned to them, his skin a pale, ghastly green with black cracks, seeping green. His clothes looked as though they were once majestic robes of Sunspire, but now they were tattered and tainted.

Lottie stopped beside him, gasping and tensing her body, putting on a stance with her glaive at the ready once she saw Aurelius. Aoi looked over Lottie's shoulder, holding her wand between both hands over her waist. "Is- is that him?" she whispered, and Lottie nodded, having a gut instinct that it was. Micha'el tilted his head down towards the ground, biting his teeth together as Aurelius began to chuckle, a low rumble that turned into laughter as he began to speak. "Do you have any idea... what the Vardent has to offer?" Aurelius' accent was well-spoken, just like the rest of the Sun Elves, but his voice, it was tattered too, as if almost broken. Tainted. Even still, a crescendo could have played as he did, it was an enigmatic aura that the Sun Elves had about them no matter where they went, a majestic, narcissistic greatness that you couldn't hate them for after everything they've been through and still survive. Aurelius turned around to face them, his face covered in the same cracks, but on his face they tinted purple, not green. His eyes burned with green energy too, as did his finger tips, like tiny emerald daggers. His long ears, once pointy and proud, now seemed to appear as though withering, like they had once been pierced with the most ornate jewellery in Sunspire only to be ripped out with the slightest tug, a testament to how weak his skin must have become.

"You underestimate the power of the Vardent, everyone does. The Elves... the Orcs, the Therians and the blithering Aether. They have always been here... always. And yet... they continue to fight." Aurelius laughed again, shaking his head and rising up with a grin. "It is all for nothing..." Aurelius raised his hands up, purple flames growing in his palms and a devilish grin spreading on his lips like a mad clown as he threw his vardent magic at them. "Watch out!!!" Micha'el yelled, throwing himself aside with Tsuna as they avoided the assault together. Lottie and Aoi both dived in the opposite direction, coming close to the edge of the platform. Lottie took note as she got to standing again, "careful of the edges!"
"you'll be dead before you touch the bottom, I promise!" Aurelius shouted, hurling another purple bomb at them. Lottie let out a scream but just as she thought she might die a magical glow appeared in front of her. Aoi was holding out her wand and summoning forth all the arcane energy she could muster, it glowed brilliantly, as blue as the sea and the stars as it absorbed the purple explosion. "Aoi" Lottie said, and Aoi replied "go get him!"

Micha'el put all his anger aside and turned to Tsuna, "you ready for this?" he asked, and bit his lips together. "Keep him busy!" Micha'el yelled, whipping his hand to his side as the pages of the Aria flicked open and opened to a particular page. In a flash a familiar spell was cast, in fact it was the first spell he ever cast against Tsuna. A white light raised up from the book and spread out. In moments the forest canopy just below the top of the tower, and the sunny horizon and clouds above was sealed away by a magical white dome of pure seraphic magic. Lottie recognised the spell, they needed to last long enough, or atleast let Micha'el last long enough to let the spell charge so that it might transform him into an angel for a limited time. The good thing was now that it was cast, Micha'el doesn't have to focus on it, it will charge by itself. "Haha!!!" Aurelius scoffed, "traps will not work against me." The Vardent infested elf raised his hand and purple magic cracked on his fingertips. He then looked up as something roared in the skies above, but they couldn't see what it was through Micha'el white dome. "I don't like this" Micha'el stated to Tsuna, and just as he finished the dome shattered, a gigantic purple and black mass with green flames crashed into the side of the platform, breaking away a small portion of the very large circle. Purple stone and green flames spewed outwards and threw Micha'el aside as the trauma of his barrier breaking hit him, causing his nose to bleed and his eyes to burn for a few seconds. Lottie then dashed forwards, passing Tsuna a glance, before swiping her glaive through the air. Twelve spectral glaives soared through through the air in a line towards Aurelius. As the light of the sun and the fresh air above the tree canopy seemed back in following the breaking of Micha'els magic, Aurelius spun and avoided the attack. Aoi turned her wand into a staff and began to sing, as she always does, casting a slight buff to everybody as well as conjuring a small arcane bubble around herself and Micha'el until he shortly recovered.

((okay so Aurelius is basically a mage with sun elf abilities that are tainted by Vardent energy. He can also summon down those meteor-like things xD Time to fight, you have permission to make combos with the others and have minor reactions from Aurelius ^_^))