Ursa Den

Garland, being a wee bit prideful, was not in the barrier group when the barrage of stars fell upon him. Instead, he opted to use the one spell he knew to increase his strength, put his axe on his back, and just try to survive the onslaught of stars through sheer power. It worked for a short while. He didn't immediately collapse, but after a while, it just proved to be too much, and he was overtaken. When he did fall, however, it was as the platform stopped, with the assault following suit.

He got up, using his axe as a crutch of sorts, as the spring water was splashed on him. He stood up straight afterwards, feeling better, and glared at the ring leader as she began to speak. He wasn't very pleased at the moment.

When she asked why she did the thing with the stars, he remained quiet, with a great personal struggle as he wanted to be snarky at the moment, as he still wasn't entirely comfortable around everyone yet.

Wild Card watched as more and more happened around him, shaking his head and then holding his arms out to the sides. "Alright guys. Might as well do something before things go really south." He said with a sigh, obviously annoyed at the fact he had to do this - if not to protect the group then to protect his suit. With a small flick of his wrists (mainly for show) a continuous stream of purple backed cards flew out of his sleeves, quickly sealing the areas where the stars were pouring in, layering themselves to add more protection but ultimately having to fan themselves over larger areas as other's magic dwindled.

Eventually Wild grumbled, but he never took his eyes off of the runic cards. This let him see the fact that the constant barrage of stars tore away the corners of the cards, letting many in as the cards took time to repair themselves. These stars smacked against Wild's body (along with others), throwing him side to side and often knocking him to his knees, but he always got up, if slowly.

Sophie would be able to see Lavender walk out of Wild Card and hold his arms up to the cards, his deep purple eyes lighting up as it seemed that he was the one controlling them and not the dark blue pegasus, and this was correct. The centurion had given a quick glance to Lancea before the defensive dome was created, and decided to have words with him later on about his actions, but for now, keeping up the protective field was all he could do.

Back to Wild - his suit was now scorched due to the stars striking him, and upon seeing Krix fall back he now watched as the cards created a complete dome around all of them to fill in the gap. This also meant that there was much less layering of the cards, meaning more stars got in than before and Wild was hit more and more often. Finally, just before the barrage ended, Wild fell to his hands and knees (still with his top hat on, oddly enough) and the cards flew back into his sleeves while he was pelted with the magical stars... then it all ended. Giving a small cough and breathing deeply after being winded a few times, he turned to look at the Guild Master with a frown, obviously showing his distaste for what just happened, it mainly being the fact he felt he had to use the Runic Cards.

Speaking of which, the cards quickly zoomed to keep his hair and hat from being touched by the water as it was thrown at him, though his clothing and the rest of his body were covered with it. Luckily for the pegasus it dried off incredibly quickly, leaving him spotless and feeling relatively better after that event. Lavender right now smirked, turning to Sophie for a moment before walking back to Wild's body with the smirk still on his face, as if something went as planned. "Oh I don't know. Maybe you did the things 'cause of what the big fella suggested, or maybe you did them 'cause of what the portal guy suggested. Maybe both. Maybe you wanted to beat us up before we have a chance to beat you up later on. Who knows?" He replied, giving a small chuckle at the end and standing up straight afterwards. "I'm willing to guess the Diamond Dog said it right. Our ability to work as a group, even though we have only met one another today, and to gauge what power we have already. As for a third thing, I have no clue."

Sophie whimpers, frightened, as the newest barrage of stars come in. She continued feeding what meager amounts of mana she could into the shield, wile Iron Talon wrapped around her. However, fear turns to curiosity when she sees the Wild Cards begin to act, watching with no small amount of confusion as the dome of cards formed. She soon realizes the drawbacks of this though, cursing herself for the lack of a shield spell. Iron Talon draws on more of her magic, able to flicker in and out of reality, deflecting stars as best he can.
Sophie sighs in relief when the stars stop, Iron Talon winking out f visible sight and returning to her side. Thus she is totally unprepared when the bucket of water hits her. Sputtering, about to yell, she suddenly realizes her bruises and sores no longer hurt. The griffon at her side sighs. Unlike Sophie, he had gone through a similar trial to this once before. Not one with stars and moving platforms, but the goal was similar. The healing at the end was very similar. He would explain to the confused mare later.
Sophie raises a shaky hoof. "To... promote teamwork" she ventures, unsure of her answer.

Lancea was confused and enraged when his body began to freeze, feeling the same feeling of failure he did before. Before he was completely frozen though, something changed. His once golden aura turned black, his features began to twist and distort, his teeth growing into fangs, one of his golden eyes turning red and glowing, and his armor became strangely distorted and black to match the aura. All he could see now was that same battlefield. Every one of his soldiers becoming ash and blowing away in the wind. And before him stood the cause of it, distorting to become the Guild Master.

Lancea let out a roar, shattering the ice around him as he suddenly vanished, then reappeared in one of her blind spots, going at an extreme speed with his fist about to connect with the Guild Master's head. Lavender would be able to see Lancea's exact movements, leaping over the guild master, gaining space for the run up, running up next to her and bringing his fist back to strike her with as much force as possible.

Lunar's smile noticeably vanished as Lancea's presence began to darken. A few moments before, she was chuckling at the wise cracks from Zen and nodding at the answers that were about team work and power. Then, Blade lurched over as the giant pony misused their contract together and stole the energy that the young colt had promised to give. The constant drain was sucking him dry and would kill him if it lasted longer than a few minutes, that was if he was lucky.

Lunar didn't know what had made Lancea become the monster that he was now, but knew that he'd need to be stopped quickly, so that it wouldn't harm those around them. While, he was behind her, the berserk pony might have noticed a bright white star shine from her back. If he had or not, his fist hit the wind instead. She'd appear right above him and bring her foot right down on his head, even with being fueled by the extra power, he was knocked into the ground. When he tried to get up, the Guild Master placed her hand on his head and a large blast hit him at point blank range. If he moved and his presence was still dark, the Guild Master would simply kick him through the pillars of rocks that were nearby. If he had went unconscious or his presence would return to normal, the Guild Master would use her magic to gently place him into the springs nearby.

If she had to resort to the first option, then she would turn to face the being that she defended herself against. Those behind her were able to see the white star on her back as well. "Third was to test my own ability. Now, get that colt into one of the springs before he falls over" She said while walking towards Lancea as a purple outline formed around her. It was made out of power magical energy and seemed to radiate it, but yet it felt different than regular magic. All magic gave off a presence, some sense of thought, some sense of emotion, yet this felt like the energy of a primal animal. The power she was displaying was beyond some of most magic users. Her power and speed were ridiculously above that of regular people, she was the Guild Master of the Den and Lancea was going to have to face all of it if he was to ever defeat her.

Blade at this point was still on his feet though his legs wobbled as he grew weaker by the second. They would give out on him if not aided soon, but when he was put into the pool, he seemed to be a little better. His body naturally taking the water and partially replenishing his magic reserves in order to prolong his life and to restore him completely if the drain stopped.

Sophie, noticing Blade's worsening condition, runs over to him. "Hey, hey! What's wrong." She remembers the spirit bond he seemed to have with the crazy pony. Maybe... Maybe the pegastoplian was draining him somehow? He was a spirit yet manifest, and it taxed Sophie severely to materialize Iron Talon, and when she could it wasn't at anywhere near the power level Lancea was displaying. Guessing the problem was over-consumption of mana, she began trying to feed her own to Blaze. She hadn't really done this before, and could potentially worsen his condition further. Normally she would've had one of the mage spirits she had met at the tower accompany her, but Iron Talon was the only one who wasn't bound to some sort of location or object. Sophie knew how to break such bonds, but she was too inexperienced in gathering up quantities of mana that large.

Feeling rejuvenated, Krix grit his teeth and growled as Lancea's very being began to change, and after that first attack, he all but slammed his shield back onto his arm in preparation. He couldn't hope to physically keep up with that speed, but his magic moved at least a little faster. When Lancea went for the second attack, Krix spiked his shield into the ground while it was surrounded in his stone grey magical aura. A simple barrier wall spell started to spring up between the guild master and the berserk Lancea. Not a full dome since that took longer to make and Krix was going for as quick as he could, but a simple wall was a different story. Still it was going to be close if the wall would finish forming before the attack came.

Zen however continued to watch from his prone position, his eyes more falling on the weakening Blade and contemplating on what actions to take. "Hmmm, I could intervene here, but I'm none to sure what would happen if I did. Removing Blade from this dimension would certainly cut the crazy thing off, but would it just disappear? Would the link re-establish as soon as he came back? Hmmm... just too many chances yet and I've shown off enough for now. I think I'll just sit here a while more and see what happens. It goes on for too much longer and I suppose I'll have to do something if only just so we can get a move on," he thought to himself impatiently.

Lancea saw the star, right before his face hit the dirt. He lay there, his distorted mind attempting to formulate a plan. The moment the blast was about to hit him, it hit a glowing barrier around him. Magic Resistance. Lancea let out a roar as she kicked him away, spreading out his wings to completely alter his momentum and gain footing on the stone pillar, and his lance appeared in his hand. He leaped down, now holding the lance back and gathering energy to charge it with lightning. "Rending Sky Form..." He was gathering a vast amount of mana, despite being almost out.

Wild Card just sat down and watched the spectacle play out before him, really wondering why the tall and bulky pegasus had just gone and attacked the Guild Master, but she had mentioned testing her ability, so he just shrugged and watched, taking out a deck of regular cards just to shuffle them idly as he really didn't want to be in the middle of what seemed to be a duel.

Those who could see spirits would then see a pair of large, faded purple-ish grey wings flew out to either side of Wild, even though his wings were still tucked in. These wings had armour along the tops of them, able to fold around a pegasi's flight and also sharpened. Soon the wings flapped, and the spirit of Lavender Gladiolus rocketed towards Lancea during the charging of his attack, followed by several of the Runic Cards, much to the surprise of Wild who's arm was jerked to the side because of the cards flying away. These cards formed around where Lavender's hand was and he reached out to grab the lance handle from behind while he maintained his speed, folding in his wings so as to not hit the other spirit and hoping it would be enough to wrench the weapon from Lancea's grasp to stop him from going through with his attack. As an added measure to make sure he at least stopped the attack, Lavender altered his flight course - with a quick opening of his wings - after grabbing the handle so that he was going upwards.

To all those who could not see spirits, all they would see it the Runic Cards form a hand that flew around and grabbed the lance before flying around some more.

Blade couldn't take it anymore! He was going to die like this and all because that stupid not had chosen to go insane right now. He had hoped that the Guild Master could knock some sense into him, but right now he was on the verge of being completely drained by the knight. Blade had to stop this and it had to be done now. So, with a clenched fist, he said "come to your senses" and used the few binding spells that he had on Lancea for the dumbest and random of scenarios. He had hoped that only one would be able to stop him and keep him from wasting another for this. The words coming a few moments after Lavender, or well the cards in Blade's eyes, made the attempt for the lance and possibly pry it away from Lancea.

Meanwhile, the Guild Master was simply building up her power, higher and higher as Lancea continued to drain in more mana. A magic circle formed underneath her feet and a violet aura radiated from her person and then seemed to solidify around her in the shape of a much hairier animal that had paws. Yet, while she was using a large amount of magic, she didn't even seem to break a sweat and her eyes remained their regular color instead of turning completely white like unicorns normally do when pushed to use higher grade spells. She didn't care about the barrier separating her between her and Lancea, only knowing that she had stop him before he let loose that spell and get him outside so that she could deal with him there. Yet, Lavender might have saved them from the spell before things got too out of hand.

Sophie continues trying to keep Blade from being drained of all his mana. She wasn't confident enough in her magic to attempt to sever the bond between them, or even weaken it. She didn't even know where to begin. So for now, she would continue feeding mana to Blade, hoping that someone would be able to calm down the spirit. Preferably without killing it, since Sophie wanted to ask it about its history.

Lancea shouted something as Lavender suddenly disarmed him, and right before he could react, there was a sudden burst of red light from one of Blade's hands. He felt the insanity, the hate and the anger wash away, replaced by a sudden bout of clearheaded-ness. He realized something terrible. The magic he had gathered didn't have a focus point, and was extremely unstable. Before he could react, the magic exploded, knocking him and anyone near him away. Lancea hit a nearby will with a resounding crack, and he landed on the ground face first.

Lavender steadied his flight path and looked down at Lancea, just as the magical explosion happened. The cards enveloping his hand broke from each other and scattered around the room, while Lavender himself was pushed back into a pillar, though being a spirit he left no mark on it whatsoever. With the cards' dispersal, the lance he was holding dropped to the floor a good distance away from Lancea, and eventually Lavender picked himself up and shook his head. "How could you be so stupid!?" The spirit asked angrily, holding his halberd so it stood on the floor in his grasp.

Wild Card during this was rather curious as to what had just happened, clasping hold of the cards in his hand so they didn't get blown away by the explosion far away from him. "Well... that was something. I wonder what all that was about." He commented idly, seeing the Runic Cards floating softly back to him and sliding up his sleeves again while he resumed his card shuffling. "No clue. Looked pretty cool though." "Can't argue there." He said, mostly to himself.

With his shield already implanted in the ground from using it as a focus to create the small wall between the master and Lancea, Krix was already braced and ready for the explosion, even if he wasn't quite expecting it. All he really had to do was duck down just a bit so he was more behind his actual shield and the explosion would hardly effect him. In it's wake, Krix's ears were the first to twitch and swivel to the sounds of the others in the room. He then stood up while pulling his shield from where he'd planted it and looked about the room to see who was still on their hooves, who'd chosen to try and duck behind him during the explosion, and if there was any more he himself would need to do.

Zen on the other hand was far enough back that he wasn't really worried about the explosion, and simply continued to watch what was going on from his suspended position in the air a short ways away. His wings weren't flapping, yet there he stayed without a care in the world. In truth, it was more showing off as a couple of hidden portals inside his red coat, but outside of him gave a sturdy enough surface to lay down on to create the illusion of floating in mid air without actually managing to pull it off. "So, we finally good to go then?" He asked partially rhetorically.

Garland opted to stay out of the whole situation with Lancea, and chose to just observe. Whilst he wasn't against stepping in, and certainly thought he could handle it, he saw that it was being taken care of, and opted to just sit back, judging Lancea for losing control of his emotions, and for deciding that now was the good time to go crazy. And for calling his attacks, an action he thought of as somewhat silly.

Then the explosion happened. He was caught off guard, and was knocked backwards; not off his feet, however. When he recovered, he glared at Lance, and, not wanting a repeat of what just happened, tensed in case he needed to act.

The Guild Master's widened as she saw the blast coming and quickly teleported in front of Blade and Sophia, a barrier forming around them and herself. She would wait for the blast to finally subside before finally lowering the barrier around them. She glanced around, checking to see if everyone was alright and most seeming to be so outside of the colt and the spirit that he had possession of for whatever reason. Speaking of the young stallion, she turned towards him and the one that had been holding him up during the whole ordeal.

"Miss, mind getting him into the pool? He needs his mana restored after taking such a drain." She would wait for compliance before she finally sighed, her magic levels dropping from what it was and the star symbol, something that only were spirits or could see spirits would be able to notice, on her now fading away. Her gaze shifted to Zen, "Not at the moment, but soon." She said before looking over at Lancea once more. Then, made her way to him, sparing a nod over to Lavender if he paid her any attention.

Blade's breathing had calmed a bit despite his whole body being dead weight for the one carrying him. His eyes were barely open and it was energy to see why the protection was needed. The magical blast would have put him into an even worse state. His gaze would wander over to Lancea before muttering something towards the giant pony.

Sophie nods, hefting Lightning's weight and moving over to the pool. The star symbol interested her. She wasn't familiar with it, but perhaps one of the spirits around here would know. Once she got to the pool (assuming she could find it) she would gently slide Lightning into it, begin careful not to drown him. While Sophie wasn't as strong as a dedicated warrior, she was certainly stronger than a emaciated scholar who didn't always remember to eat. She grew up in the frozen north, after all.

"So, what now? Guessing we continue on with what was gonna happen before tall, armoured and wrathful blew his fuse?" Wild Card commented idly, still shuffling the cards in his hand. He then stood up with a beat of his wings to help him off the ground and looked around at the others, mainly at Blade with slight concern and then at Zen with curiosity and confusion. "Hey! You up there, stop defying physics and at least show us all you're flying with wing movements or something." He called up to the portal controlling pony in a joking manner.

Meanwhile Lavender walked closer to where Lancea lay and crouched down, placing an armoured hand on the other spirit and making sure he was only unconscious. Upon confirming this fact, he made his halberd vanish and readied himself to lift the larger pegasus. With a brief mental count and a mutter of "No pegasus left behind", Lavender lifted Lancea up and was now carrying him. The spirit did notice the Guild Master's nod to him, and nodded back in response. This sight would also be strange to those who could not see spirits, as Lancea would just be floating for them. Wild had to double-take several times before shrugging it off as "this place is magical".

Zen chuckled a little as he was addressed, but didn't bother getting up from his current laying back position. "Nah, I'm pretty comfy where I'm at," Zen replied before just rolling over, creating new portals beneath him so that he was still laying down in mid air, but now he was on his stomach. Then Zen began moving the portals over towards the rest of the group to join them.

Krix remained silent for the moment as well, his one good eye scanning the group but not saying anything.

The pool wasn't just a little distance away and was about the size of small pond. Once inside, the colt's breathing started to become more and more gentle. His magical energy started to come back to him as his body was healed by the healing waters. It only took a small while for him to be able sit himself up without any assistance. "Thank you." He muttered softly.

The Guild Master watch silently as Lavender picked up his old comrade. She glanced over at Wild, "This is a Guild Hall. What do you expect?" She said, having the feeling that the Lavender might not want to revealed just yet. Her smile returned to the mare as she spoke and quickly checked over everyone's condition. "But, yes let's get back to the tour of the Hall."

"This place is one of our many training facilities and is mostly meant to test out maximum output of your magical abilities. The pool over there is a thing of healing water that speeds up the healing process a hundred fold."