Defeat of the Lions: The Only Saviors

Defeat of the Lions Arc The Only Saviors

Blanco Quinten wasn't anybody's fool. He went through his life as if it was a game of chess, properly executing moves that would allow him to move forward and succeed. So far, he had done well. He became the most famous Rune Knight in all of Fiore, was strong enough to teach upcoming Mages his signature magic abilities, and was even able to found his own military branch, all courtesy of the Wizard Saints and Magic Council of course. All of these things were accomplished with well-thought out plans and were executed at the right time. No, Blanco knew what he was doing when he did it.

But not arresting Abraham that day was the biggest mistake of his life.

It was such a simple misson, too. Get in, bust Abraham and all his cronies for their crimes and affiliation with taboo magic and get out. Simple, right? But yet...it was the hardest for him to do.

Abraham had met Blanco when he was a Sergeant and Abraham had just become a Cadet. They were assigned to the same squad and had an intense rivalry, which over the years soothed into a friendship. Blanco was even around for Abraham's first crush. The pair had been delightfully and adorably in love. The young woman's name was Mariah, who had desperately wanted to be a Mage but couldn't after a horrible accident took her sight. Regardless, Abraham loved her entirely. He even said he would give her her sight back even if it took all his life to do so.

But, one day he actually did it. Which was a good thing, for a while.

The two finally got married and started a Guild together. The days before Abraham resigned were...odd. He wasn't as merciful when dealing with criminals as he was before restoring Mariah's sight. He broke both of the criminal's arms which was extremely unneccessary. The man had just shoplifted, nothing too serious. Abraham did not answer Blanco's questions when he was asked why he had done such things. In fact, after he got the Guild he didn't really contact Blanco at all.

Then the guild starting committing crimes. Not simple ones, no it ran deeper than that. The guild began killing, doing raids for books of all things. It wasn't until Blanco figured out they were destroying villages looking for ancient books of Black Arts is when he became extremely concerned. Black Arts Magic was taboo, and anyone who was found practicing it could recieve life imprisonment. More importantly, where was his beloved wife to stop him? There was no way she would allow him to do such things.

Blanco decided to pay Abraham a well deserved visit after he destroyed and incinerated a small village. He took a new lieutenant with him for the trip: a young man named Jordan Strife who he and his sister were left homeless and orphaned after a horrible storm wrecked Markia. The two infiltrated the guild with ease, but not before knocking down a strange child with hair as dark as the night sky. Blanco couldn't believe his eyes. Only inhabitants of Damarion had hair so dark! From there, it had been clear. Blanco could not arrest Abraham with the child around. She was obviously unaware that he had been the one to destroy her home. Abraham never bothered doing the killing during raids himself, so he had his members do it. Either she was well hidden the entire time or she's got an invisibility ability, she doesn't know they had been the people to destroy her village. With no other option, he left.

That had been years ago. Now, he watched as the news lacrima reported another destroyed guild at the hands of Running Lion's guild master and his beloved aces. The young girl he had met that day with the dark hair had been revealed to be named Gia Alabaster, a girl who had been sealed with over a thousand Etherious creatures to create her very unique Take Over ability. It took Blanco only one glance at Abraham's face through the news lacrima to know he had done it. This only angered the veteran knight even more. His old friend and once student was no longer the carefree delinquent he once knew.

And Lieutenant Strife, you ask? He still respected Blanco's merciful decision, but felt that the arrest could've happened anyway. Jordan too had dreams for starting a guild and went through with them. His guild was the most famous in Markia. He and his sister, Carly Strife, ran it together.

Blanco needed to stop Abraham's guild. These killings couldn't go on any longer. His military branch and the Magic Council would recieved backlash for their silence during these tragedies. Blanco sighed loudly. He couldn't ask for Jordan's help himself! It would make him appear as a hypocrite. Frustrated, Blanco banged his head against the desk.

"You know you'll hurt yourself like that, sir."

Blanco's head shot up to confront the voice that had entered his office. "Oh, its just you Sergeant Hughes. Thank you for your concern, I'm just stressed out is all." he assured the woman.

The bubbly girl frowned. "If there's anything you need you know it's our job to have your back, sir. That's what we're here for. Don't tell me you're sick of us already?"

Blanco chuckled. "No, no Lissa. It's just-"An idea suddenly burst into his head. "I may actually need your help after all." the veteran knight mused.

Lissa smiled and quickly saluted her commanding officer. "Yes sir! Sergeant Hughes ready for duty, sir! What are my orders?" she cited.

"Well, you see.." he began as he quickly briefed her.

Meanwhile...

"Pixie Flaiir!"

"Burning Claw!"

Two young teammates were locked in a fierce battle. But it was obvious who would win this time. A blue haired girl fell back onto the grass with her sword next to her, defeated. She giggled. "Good job Reed!" she cheered. The green haired man known as Reed Eaton blushed as his female teammate congratulated him. "Heh...I-it was nothing! You were way better Cara!" he humbled himself.

"I think both of you should just train harder." said a dark,broody voice. Reed and Cara turned to their leader and strongest team member, Haru Soto. Reed shot daggers at him while Cara pouted. He opened his mouth to retort when their guildmate called for them to come inside. "Hey guys! Master Jordan wants us inside, someone's here on urgency!" the Mage called. The three Mages quickly ran in to see what all the fuss was about only to find an old woman crying her heart out to the Guild Master.

"Oh please! You must help us!" she sobbed. "You must defeat those monsters."

"Miss, you must calm down." Carly patted her on the back and her brother spoke to her.

"Now, Ma'am tell us what is the issue?" Jordan calmly stated.

The old woman soothed herself and spoke again. "My village was destroyed by those ruffians from Running Lion! I barely escaped within an inch of my life. It was awful! Truly awful!" she began to sob once more.

Jordan stiffened. Running Lion had been the name of the guild that Blanco's former student/so-called friend ran. He knew of everything they had done and assumed Blanco would take his squad out to handle them once and for all. Nothing had happened yet, and here was the consequence standing right here in Miracle Fish.

Carly put her hands on the woman's shoulders. "Don't worry ma'am. We'll defeat those menaces to society. They've had it coming, too. Their master walks around thinking he's some kind of God. Well, he won't be a god after I shove my sword right up his-!"

"OKAY!" Jordan interuppted his sister. "Carly, I love you and everything but there's no way in hell I'm letting you go out to stop them on your own. It's too dangerous." he scolded. Carly pouted. "I'm going and you can't stop me." she stomped her foot. "No, you're not." Jordan said threateningly. The siblings glared at each other.

"Hey, Master Jordan." Haru spoke up. "What if Team Atlantic goes with her?" he suggested. Carly's eyes shone at the boy. "You mean it, guys?!" she cheered.

"I'm up for kicking some bad guy butt, it's like you said Carls. They've had it coming for years." Reed added.

"I'm in!" Cara shouted and the guild erupted in cheers. Jordan snapped his fingers and the guild fell silent. "Your mission requests are denied." he said looking at Carly and Team Atlantic. "Now-"

"So you're just gonna let these sick bastard's get away with it? They're killing people, Jord! What would Mom and Dad think of your decisions? You're a guild master for Kami's sake! Act like it!" the younger Strife sibling vented.

Jordan huffed. "Are you done now? You didn't let me finish. As I was saying, your mission request is denied unless I go with you." he repeated.

Team Atlantic's eyes widened. "Master Jordan, are you sure about this?" Reed spoke up. "You've said they're pretty dangerous. We wouldn't want you to get horribly injured over this."

Jordan smiled at the young man. "Thank you for your concern Reed, but I am much stronger than I appear. As your Guild Master, I would at least hope you'd have some faith in me. Maybe we should do your initiation battle again just to jog your memory?" he joked.

"U-uh no sir! I apologize, I was just worried about your wellbeing. Please don't pummel me again!"the green haired boy pleaded.

"Then it's settled!" Carly said. "Ma'am, we will take care of this matter as soon as possible. Please return to wherever you are staying, we will handle this efficiently."

"Oh thank you all, bless you children and good luck!" the old woman left the guild as they began their preparations for their trip tomorrow morning. As soon as she was a good distance away from the guild, the woman spoke into her hidden earpiece. "Sir, the mission was a success. Jordan and Miracle Fish are about to take this mission underway." she spoke quietly but clearly.

"Good job, Sergeant Hughes. Report back to base. Another job well done." Blanco praised.

Lissa detransformed from her old woman transformation disguise. She stretched. "Right away sir. Do you think they will be able to pull this off?" she asked.

"I have a great amount of faith in them, but if they fail they won't be coming back alive." he deadpanned.