Power of the Phoenix

The Tables Have Turned
"Augh-dam-dam-dam-dammit!" Swartz sputtered out a string of curses head over heels, his body crashing through a number of trees, leaving a wake of Darkness Magic from the impact he felt. Moaning he got up and rolled his neck around, sighing with aggravation. Arching a brow up he could see that his new enemy -he forgot his name...was it Vicky?- and that already put him on edge by making his hair stand up, his skin crawl and sweat bead down his face. "Crap-Crap-Crap-Crap! Where did he go?!"

Turning his head to the right, the left, turning to look behind and then finally below he knew that only left one place. Above.

Looking up above, Swartz's mouth gaped as a giant steam engine made out of Light howled out its tell-tale whistle, making him almost disbelieve what he was seeing. Shaking his head to shake off the shock, he reached up to toggle the collar on his neck...something he had to do several times just to keep up with this bastard of an enemy. Bringing up the dial from seven to six, the light made even his shade covered eyes blink, accidentally setting it to five by mistake. This way his power thrummed so wildly that a similarly white pillar of light that he manifested when turning the dial from 10, its lowest setting, to 9 when he fell into the river, the power of his Ethernano was enough to cushion the train just inches above his head.

"Boom-Boom! You're Gone!" Swartz cackled as he clapped both hands above his head, creating a brief spark before the unleashed Pyro Magic was generated above his white locks. A devastating tower of flames tore into the magical construct, blowing through it and tearing it into glassy fragments of its former glory. When it was erased, he was taken aback by the Majestic Armored Wizard barrely down with his Banishing Ray Sword in hand. Reaching for a sword hilt sheathed along his coat-covered back, he unsheathed it and parried his enemy just as he made proximity, causing an incredible clash of Ethernano that flashed and detonated around the two of them.

With a fiery geyser of Pyro Magic unleashed through the sword, forcing Victor to counter with a wave of Light Magic himself. Both forces curved around the two Mages, roaring out and spreading out devastating that continued to burn and indent the land around them. Crack after crack webbed the cindering earth, flames rolling off the surface of the soil that continued to be ransacked. Tendrils of Ethernano poured out from their bodies, blowing away the ground around the forest, creating branches of which the river came into contact with the phenomena, boiling it into vapor instantly and sending waves crashing across their vicinity.

Amidst their burning collision, Swartz found himself seeing a brighter gleam escape Victor's visage. Clashing against his face, he jerked back with a shout of pained surprise. Feeling his sword maneuvered away, a palm thrust struck his chest, following a kinetic blast of Hard Light Magic sending him flying back and ending the rivers of force their clash created. Crashing head over heel, he stabbed his sword into the ground, halting his backward drag.

With the armored Victor approaching with a gleaming ray that formed an intricate handle and a guard that resembled feathers, the shimmering construct he held lowered to his side and his majestic person walked towards him. Their surroundings was thick of sulfur and ash, dancing embers crackled around and the renewed rush of water through the cracks of the ground showed the calamity they've caused through a mere struggle of magic against magic. It almost seemed like half a kilometer of their surroundings was boiling, burning or completely burnt to the ground with only fragments of foilage, shrubbery and life showing what used to be there.

"Heh...I have to admit, it's been awhile since I've fought someone this good," Swartz admitted out loud, resting his cross-guarded blade onto his shoulder, leaning to the opposite side while another hand waved in an exaggerative manner. He spoke even as his enemy's sword dug into the ground, producing an intimidiating trench of sparks that produced a dazzling effect next to his radiantly lit armor. "I mean, that's saying alot. I've fought the Sorcerors of Midi. The Mage Knights of Caelum. The Punishment Force by the Council, and even tangled with the Kingdom of Fiore's band of executioners, the Garou Knights. Best fight I've ever had was against...uh...huh, I can't remember for some reason..."

Scratching his chin as he craned his neck up, he found his senses tingling at the sudden appearance of a shimmering streak of Victor's crouched body. With an arm pulled back with his sword, it extended to be the size of a tower, swinging out to crash into Swartz's side. What the prior found surprising was the sudden reveal of an enormous muscular limb, pumped with blood and dark grey in skin tone. With the sleeve ripped off by the disproportionate growth of size, he smiled viciously as the bulky limb shattered the blade and swung out to punch Victor's backpedaling person.

"NGH!" The Phoenix Guild Master grunted out, feeling his armor crack as his whole body was thrust with a column of pressurized wind tunneling out from the path of Swartz's gargantuan limb. Feeling himself moving past the crater and crash through several additional trees back towards the moving Ark's gleam, the man could only produce a pulse of Light Magic and halt his momentum. To his surprise he saw Swartz already upon him, his feet blowing a stream of flames beneath his soles to propel perpindicularly aligned soaring person at him. Leaning forward and crossing his arms over each other, he uttered out loud as a considerably large glass window of multiple colors thrust up from the earth in a gout of bright golden light coming from the soil. "Majesty Window!"

The flames roared against it, curling around its borders to burn sizable trenches for a dozen meters behind the flame obscured shield that protected Victor. What didn't however was the simian appearing fist crashing through the window in a single impact, forcing him to cross his armored arms and take the blow standing. A vibrant flash emanated from his body producing frictional pressure, absorbing the damage through additional fissures of damage across his particle formed plates, but holding back with a warping groan. Gritting teeth with a visible strain, Victor sneered at the offending fist while Swartz laughed from behind his monstrous appendage.

"I'm impressed! I don't think anyone's ever stopped the Titan Arm before," He crowed out, splaying his teeth magnificently. "Reminds me of the time I-"

"You," Victor whispered, manipulating the force of the arm to pull himself around the limb while sending Swartz tumbling forward. Spinning around in a dazzling twirl, he crashed his fist into Swart's gut with a loud pop of pressure, following which he added the force of his Divine Ray Fist that shockwaved him sputtering a series of curses before landing a dozen meters away. "Talk too much, Dark Wizard. You leave yourself too open. If you keep doing that, you'll hand victory to me on a silver platter."

"Kaff-Kaff-Kaff, that was a good punch. Lecture? Not so great," Swartz replied as his massive arm regressed back to normalcy. Stabbing the sword into the earth, he pushed himself up with a heave, watching Victor's eyes glare at him with a stoic potency that nearly unsettled him. The nagging feeling he felt that kind of stare bore into him before was uncomfortable and make him shake his head. Running his free hand through his white locks, he sighed out loud. "I have to admit, even at this level you're giving me a hard time. Who knew that you guys would come to this city at the time our plans were almost complete. It's almost like my idea brought bad karma to me, heh?"

"You should have stayed discreet. In the shadows, and away from the public eye. I wouldn't be so pressed to be involved if you haven't harmed my future customers that are the citizens of this town," Gesturing with an open arm, Victor's voice raised as a distant explosion followed by a resounding roar akin to a Dragon's sounded. The light of it speared up into the heavens, its visage remarkably akin to those mystical beasts of old. It struck a chord of awe into both men, one of pride and the other with surprise mingling with apprehension. While the other one lowered his glasses to reveal his awestruck red eyes staring at the diminishing light, Victor continued. "If you harm anyone who can be a valuable asset to this world and my company, you're going to get the wrath of a very angry businessman."

It was something that clicked a few lights in Swartz's head. The distant sounds of fighting had ceased atop the flying Ark. It was an unsettling thought to believe that his subordinates were slain and done so with such style. Grinding his teeth he felt a buried fury rise up to the surface, bubbling out to the point his body began to produce sporadic tendrils of Ethernano. Turning his visibly glowing irises of blood and spread mouth of snarling molars, he breathed heavily as his body prepared to launch a berserk bordering attack on the man in front of him.

"I'll teach you to be so high and mighty with me, you piece of-!"

"Swartz, dearie?"

"-BEAUTIFUL BABY!" Swartz cried out in the middle of his angry spat, practically making a giddy squeal of adoration upon placing his hands to connect with his one adoration. The tensed Victor felt himself almost open his mouth in surprise just how quickly the man's attention span could change on the fly; not to mention just how volatile his temper was becoming through a simple exchange of words. "I'm just great, Gorgeous Cheeks! How are you my Dazzling Light of Life?!"

"Oh, you're such a sweetheart!~" Elaine spoke through telepathy, smiling as she held her own forefingers to her temples as she held up what looked like an ornate globe the size of a sports ball. Held up by a bronze pedestal that had a rod pierce through it at a perfect vertical angle instead of an angular side to depict accurate planetary rotation, there was special hidden switches and dials where her hand presided over the stand's handle. Smiling victoriously at the item she was searching for in her grasp, she continued her speech while a smugly grinning Ketchum leaned against a nearby alley wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "We found it Handsome! We found the Astral Dial, disguised as a globe of all things. Though it's fitting, given how it will symbolize our take-over of the whole world."

"Heh," Swartz began to snicker, turning to look over at Victor, grinning widely at him to the point to show his malicious yearning to rub something into his enemy's face. "I got an idea. Why not give it a whirl?"

"I think I know what you have in mind, Cutie," Elaine purred out in a sultry tone, raising the globe-shaped device over her head. With the sphere rotating at a high speed, the top of it which focused like a prism with magical energy spiraling up into the air, unleashing a conical dome that overlapped the entire city and beyond. It'd appear like a drastic wave of consuming energy that sparkled of cosmic colors of the most deep blue to the brightest sapphire and bleeding scarlet.

With Victor's gaze contracting and his breath hitching, he found himself for the first time in a great while that he was unable to stop what was to come. As the shell expanded over him and then over the Ark, it turned inside out, becoming an umbrella that swallowed the sky above like a canopy. Spiraling up into the sky, the light seemed to retreat into the device, now still and silent as a thrum of instantaneous movement had occurred. Elaine smiled as the sight of Victor's person looking around, finding himself understanding just what kind of phenomena occurred.

"The Ark," He exhaled, looking over at the large construct now presiding over a stretch of burning infrastructure the town had, including the now crushed Skyhawk that was parked within the smoking structure Diana had used. "What...Teleportation Magic?!"

"Indeed, big man," Elaine purred out, now earning Victor's attention, her body strutting forward to Swartz's side. Sliding around to embrace the man whom was now giddy as a little boy to be next to a lovely woman in concealing yet voluptuously outlined red. Grinning with ruby red lips, her dazzling eyes twinkled mischieviously at Victor as she held up the object of worth to her. "This is why we captured the town's populace as we combed through every single item of worth here. The Astral Dial, a device that uses a powerful Ethernano battery of arcane design that manipulates the fabric of space to transport and alter space itself. It is now the Black Brier's trump card, and our key to taking whatever we want in this world, beyond even Ishgar."

"And look at you now," Ketchum announced, his body emerging from Swartz's shadow, his body revealed with a coat clad person and his fiery red hair enhanced his casually menace gleaming in his eyes. "All alone, and without back-up nearby. With your precious customers nearby along with the girls you brought to a battlefield, I'm sure you're now in over your head. What will you do now with the odds stacked against me?"

Victor remained silent, weighing his options. He knew that the ability to escape was always within his grasp, but it wouldn't be able to save the people nearby. With Wess and Noriko close by, he could count on their support which would make fighting them easier. If he kept the fighting away from the Ark, it could take some residual shockwaves and just fight within the city's limits far away. Diana could keep the girls safe, tired as they might be, and he'd manage on his own.

Smiling, he let out a relaxed laugh, so smooth that it made even Elaine retract her grin with her cohorts. Victor's Light Armored person dissipated, revealing a tattered cloak that was stained of mud, water and scorched marks. But still, he grasped his Sceptre with one hand and held it up with a challenging posture, a light shimmering from its center as his whole body produced an immense pressure that howled like a hurricane that crashed against the ground and shook the foundations of the city to its outskirts.

"I haven't been challenged like this in over a decade. I believe you -Black Brier- have earned the respect from me to treat you as a serious threat needing to be crushed," Victor stated with a soft smile that betrayed the intensity of his blood that pumped through his veins. Clacking his Sceptre's pommel onto the ground, the wind ceased and the aura around him defused. Calling out with a a fierce expression that overlapped his pleased visage, his shout invoked the renewal of clash between himself and Black Brier's Elites. "COME!!!"

It was something that Diana felt flabbergasted by. One instance they were home free, the enemy pursuers beaten and the leader was currently fighting her Master. But then, it looked as if a dazzling array of color that came from the depths of the cosmos overlapped them. A jolting pressure and an instant later they were no longer in flight. They were still and landed upon a stretch of the city, one which she knew had just crashed over the Skyhawk they had cleverly hidden.

Now she wished it wasn't parked inside the city at all.

"W-W-W-What?!" Maria gawked out, turning from Morgan to look every which way with shock, horror and awe, all rolled up into a series of stutters that showed her fright. "B-B-B-But how did we g-g-g-g-get here?! Wha-Wha-What's going on?! Someone p-p-p-please tell m-OW!"

"Come back to the real world, Maria," Yui sighed as she slapped Maria across the face, bringing her back to the present. Turning around, she while still surprised surveyed the area. Her adventures with Noriko had allowed her to experience similarly startling phenomena. The sight of a pillar of smoke where Morgan's Darkness Light Dragon's Roar had struck made her realize they had been brought back through some form of Master Teleportation Spell. "Teleportation, plain and simple. The question is how were they able to bring us back?"

"It was the Astral Dial."

"What?" Yui turned, nearly jumping out of her skin as she witnessed a standing Thought Projection of Victor appear beside them, once again shimmering with instability as his current body required more of his focus than in two places. "Eep!"

"Dad!" Maria yelled out with gladness, despite their situation. She wanted to jump into his arms and give him a bear hug. But, with how unstable his projection was, she knew that even with the Thought Projection Ring she wore it'd be near impossible to maintain contact.

"Before I explain," Victor held up a hand to cut off Diana's opening of the mouth, promptly causing her to pout her lips and furrow her brows with dejection. Turning his head to acknowledge Maria and then a very tired Morgan, he squatted down to her level and smiled gently at her. "I wanted to congratulate you and ask how you are feeling? I could see much as well feel that level of Magic you've obtained. I'm so proud of you all for overcoming your obstacles with such cohesion. But regardless, are you feeling alright?"

Morgan was sitting on the deck of the Ark, trying to rest even a little from burning through far more magical energy than she ever used before. After the weird and crazy light show ended, she began to wonder what kind of magic was going on before it dawned on her that they were somehow right back into the smoke-saturated city. The mere thought of having to deal with any more of the Black Briar Gang’s minions absolutely terrified her. After the kind of battles she just won, she knew that her reserves were too dangerously low to even think of joining another sustained encounter.

As Yui explained the reason for their current situation, she was about to ask how it was done, but before she could even begin to form words, Maria had beaten her to the act. And to her delight, the one who answered was a thought projection of Victor.

“Father!” she yelled out, wishing she could will her body to move to get to the projected doppelganger. But she was unable to so much as push herself into a standing position without feeling the dull soreness and heaviness of her limbs turn into a sudden pain. Every part of her begged for the sweet embrace of sleep, a call she did her best to deny.

When her father’s illusionary duplicate knelt down next to her, she wanted him to be there, in the flesh, even though on the other hand she understood why such a thing wasn’t possible at the moment. As he congratulated her on what she had done, she smiled. “I’m alright, just exhausted.”