An Unforeseen Anguish

A Conniving Scheme
The night was cool and quiet as a light fog rolled through the forest on the outskirts of Onibus Town. Within the rows of trees stood a concrete building that exuded such evil energy, that no creature dared to go near it. This was the home to some of the darkest mages of Southern Fiore, a blood-thirsty group that called themselves Chaos Prophet.

Once part of a larger dark guild, called Shattered Dusk, this group of cold-hearted killers was forced to disband after the now resident guild of Koma Inu had drove them out of the city. But under the determination and lustful revenge of Beezlebub, otherwise known as Gavin, members were able to band back together to carry out the destructive plan of its new leader.

Sitting inside the second story office of the makeshift guild hall was none other than it's master, Gavin. His eyes skimmed over pages and pages of data and reports as a maniacal smirk dressed his face. ''It is only a matter of time now before my plan is finished. Then I will be able to take back what is rightfully mine...'' His dark bliss was rudely interrupted by the noise of a poison-laced tongue speaking, "Master, we have just lost test subject number 76 due to ethernano profusion. It seems the subject was not able to handle the magic contained in lacrima...Results have shown that a mage must possess great skill and magic prowess in order to become a second generation dragon slayer, but subject 76 did not make the cut."

"Yes, well I suppose not all of the test subjects can work out as successfully as you did, son." Gavin says as he continues to thumb through the reports on all the other test subjects. "Now Hyuga, how many more subjects do we need to complete our plan?"

"With subject 76 gone, we will need 2 more successful subjects in order to finish." Hyuga says with a serious tone. "The cognitive re-calibration has been successful on all subjects, the problem has been finding mages who can handle the lacrimas filled with Lightning Dragon magic, as well as Fire Dragon magic."

"I see, well no matter. We will just have to find some more low lifes to be able to experiment on..." Gavin calmly says as he toys with the value of a human life. It has been a few years since his guild was disbanded, but Gavin has never lost sight of his goal. The city of Onibus, as well as other towns in Fiore, rightfully belong to him. It was his own mistake for trusting his subordinates to handle a whole town, and their ineptitude got them beaten by a single mage. ''That wretched Samarra Inari, her and her Koma Inu guild think they are so high and mighty...well this time I am handling the issue myself. So be prepared you mangy mutts, because you won't be around for much longer.''

"You know, I have an idea of where you can find your little 'test subjects'..." Gavin and Hyuga turn to see one of their guildmates leaning against the threshold of the door. This red haired mage was sporting a black leather vest that showed off his guild mark perfectly. With his arms crossed over his chest, he showed no respect to be in the presence of the guild master and his S Class mage.

"What are you talking about Raikou?" Hyuga says as he glares down the Lightning God Slayer.

"Well my so-called adoptive family is quite skilled with Lightning magic...those damn privileged bastards are probably one of the most skilled lightning users this side of Fiore. If you wanted to get one for your experiment, I know the perfect place to find them. My 'brother' is part of the Koma Inu guild, and he said that his cousin from Archer's Cross is coming to visit. She is known as the Lightning Progeny of the Inari Family, so she would be perfect for that Lightning Dragon lacrima you were talking about earlier. And I'm sure you could find some other suitable candidates if you were to ambush the guild..." Raikou says, more interested in his armband than the two mages in the room.

"I thought you weren't interested in my plan Raikou? Although your statement is rather intriguing..." Gavin says with sudden interest.

"I don't care about your whole 'Destroy Fiore' plan; all I want to do is destroy the Inari Family... It is their fault for letting my mother die... those inept fools will pay for not protecting the one good thing I had in my life." Raikou says with clenched fists.

"Hmm...Although I have no interest in your petty family revenge plan, I do find it interesting about the possibility of finding a suitable candidate for my experiments. And an Inari you say? I would love to see the horror on Samarra Inari's face as her family member destroys her precious guild..." Gavin says as he laughs to himself.

"Should I prepare the guild for an attack?" Hyuga asks, turning back towards the master of Chaos Prophet.

"Go tell Uriel to put together a team to go break my brother out of the Magic Council; I will need him later on to carry out the plan after we have all our dragon slayers ready. Then prepare the rest of the guild to ambush Koma Inu and kidnap ourselves some potential candidates." Gavin directs Hyuga, a small smile across his face.

== An Announcement Cut Short == --The next day over at the guild hall of Koma Inu--

Things were rather peaceful at the guild after all the excitement of the Grand Magic Games. Samarra was very proud of how her guild members fought, and she was rather excited to share some more good new with them, After talking with some of Koma Inu's guild members, she had finally decided what she was going to do with the prize money from winning the Grand Magic Games. She told everyone to bring any younger siblings to the guild hall to hear the announcement, for they were planning to use the money to help build an Academy outside of Magnolia town to help teach young mages the ways of magic!

The guild had come back to life as family members began entering the guild around late afternoon. Some people brought their siblings, while others brought their parents as well. Nova and Kaden were looking very happy with their mother finally at the guild. Kaze was showing his dad, Kage, around the guild as well. Other's were busy sharing stories from the Grand Magic Games and relaxing on the couch. Samarra smiled at the happiness around her in the guild hall, but she was somewhat saddened, "I thought she would be here..."she said to herself.

Just then the doors burst open and a melodic voice shouts, "Sister, I am seeking your companionship!" A giggle follows shortly as the young teen makes her way across the guild to smother Samarra in a giant hug.

"Kalina you made it! I'm so glad you're here! I was beginning to worry you wouldn't be able to pry yourself away from your new guild." Samarra laughs and returns the hug of her younger sister.

"Oh no, you know how Valencia is, she wouldn't be mean and keep me away from seeing my family. Is Kaze and Uncle Kage around here to?" Kalina says as she looks around the guild.

"Yeah, they went down a few levels to the training ground. You know how Kaze can be; always wanting to show off his power." Samarra jokes and walks with Kalina up the stairs to the lounge area above the bar. They take a seat on the couch, as the last of the family members make their way through the doors of the guild.

"Yeah I know." Kalina giggled."So tell me sis, what's this big announcement you have? The rest of my Archer's Cross guildmates are pretty excited to hear about it. Although I'm sure you would tell Valencia at the next Alliance meeting anyways." Kalina asks as she bounces up and down on the couch.

"Geez, you can't wait a few more minutes while the rest of the people come in?? Well no matter, I'll let you know first because I was hoping you would want to attend... But we are going to use the prize money to open up Koma Inu's Magical Academy, where we will teach young mages how to use magic, develop battle techniques, as well as other school classes like history and philosophy. What do you think?"

"That sounds amazing! I can't wai--"Kalina begins to say, but is interrupted by Zero addressing the guild's master.

"Inari, it seems that all the families are here. So you should probably make the announcement soon. Just wanted to let you know." Zero says and offers a warm smile to both of the Inari girls.

"Thanks Zero, I'll make it in just a few moments." Samarra says and waves back to Zero who is already making his way back down the staircase to go talk with Greed and Layla."So what were you saying Kalina?"

"I was saying that I would love to take classes at your school! It would be hard to do that because my guild travels a lot, but I could make it work." She smiles at her older sister, "Now go announce it to the rest of the members! I am sure they are very excited to hear!" She motions for Samarra to stand and walk towards the edge of the balcony that overlooks the main guild hall.

Samarra stands up and takes only two steps towards the balcony before she is knocked over by the whole building trembling. A loud crash can be hear outside, followed by more trembling. Samarra looks towards the door and sees that it is slowly disintegrating, as if it is being melted by acid. She sees many figures step inside, and that's when Samarra recognizes the guild mark on their bodies.

Shattered Dusk...oh no...Shouting at the top of her lungs to the whole guild, Samarra yells out, "Quickly, all family members head down to the lowest level and lock yourself in. All Koma Inu members be prepared to fight, we must protect our home and our families!"

It seems that other guild members have taken notice of the dark guild emblem already and are quickly shuffling their family members down the staircase towards the basement level.

"Kalina I need you to go down to the lowest level too. I can't afford you getting hurt here." Samarra says and pulls her sister towards the staircase. Ripping her arm away from her sisters grasp, Kalina shouts,"No! I am an official mage of Archer's Cross now, that means I can help and fight!"

"We don't have time for this Kalina! I can't focus on fighting if I am to worried about you not getting hurt. If you are really a mage, then you will be smart and head to the lower level. There are ordinary people down there who have no magic abilities. A real mage would be smart and go down there to protect them if our defensive lines fail. Now go!"

Seeing that her sister has a point, Kalina reluctantly heads down the staircase to help protect the innocent lives. As Kalina descends she hears one last loud bang and glaces back to see that the guilds whole front wall had been destroyed. Standing in the rubble was a group of dark mages that were just thirsting for blood. It was clear that Shattered Dusk had once again declared war on Koma Inu.

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