ChaoZ: A Royal pain in the elves.

Jex stood there, waiting.

"Okay."

Unsure as to what to reply to anything that was happening.

Riaden walked past the hole and instead put his hand against the wall and closed his eyes.
The Hole itself was cracked and the biggest crack was just long enough for four people to see through the slit.

On the other side the Prince was walking around the room holding a golden Mask in his hands. A woman was there too, she was standing in the middle of the room, unmoving. Her cloak covered her face but her figure and clothes gave away that she was female.

"Now what?"

Rol whispered. Clearly confused as to what their purpose was, again.

Jex looked at the female the Prince spoke to. He did not know who it was. He had no idea who either of them were but moved forward, listening to their conversation.

"Now we listen."


"What he said. Gather information and stuff."


"Shh."

The Prince was still pacing around nervously. The woman on the other hand looked completely calm. "This isn't going to work. It worked to get us this far but.."
"It will work. Do not worry."
"Ofcourse I worry! If this fails ...."


"Like I've been saying from the start, you don't need to worry. Everything is going according to plan." The prince turned to the woman and waved the mask in her face. "What plan?! To me it looks like there's no plan at all! We run to this temple and get my father. My mother will be expecting us to return immediatly. If she finds out we aren't heading back to the citadel.."
"By the time she finds out we're not returning to the citadel we'll already be in the second temple.

By the time she finds out why we are there we will be at the third temple.
By the time she manages to respond we'll be across the border."
"Even if you're right we still need to return once we get all the artifacts! And they'll know we're coming! And why would my men follow me to the other temple? They still think we're saving their king!"

"Your men will be replaced by better soldiers. Soldiers only loyal to you."
The prince grumbled. "Only loyal to you, you mean."


"Is there a difference? What is yours is mine and what is mine is yours. Right darling?"
"Don't call me that.." The prince turned away from her.
"You still don't trust me? After all this time?"
"Maybe I'd trust you more if you told me what gods damned plan is! Even with the artifacts we can't just march into the citadel with your soldiers."
"Our soldiers, dear."
"You keep saying that but we both know that they'd never be loyal to me. Dark elves don't bow to men."

The woman responded to this by dropping to one knee.
"Is she going to propose to him?" Ziome whispered.
The woman then took off her hood. Underneath it was long white silvery hair. And the dark grey-ish skin that only the dark elves have. Her dark red eyes looked up at the prince quietly.


"What the hell are you doing if my men see this.."
"Then I'll have to kill them all a bit sooner than we planned."
"Again with the we. This is your plan, not mine."
The woman rose back to her feet. "You were the one who asked me for help. If I hadn't come up with this plan you would never have been king. Your mother enjoys ruling too much to give you any real power."
"I know but.. "
"She'd probably do the same to you as she did to your father. You don't want to be poisoned and locked up into a dungeon, right?"
"Of course not." The prince sighed.



"The Queen did what?.. "
"If this is true then.. The Queen lied to us."
"Maybe the dark elf is the one lying to the prince?"
"Stop talking. If they find out we're here we're screwed. And it doesn't matter. Everyone lies, we just have to do our mission. And Rol, tell that pet of yours to stop making that noise.. wait that noise isn't coming from here.."
"What noise?"
"Where's that damned beast?"
Indeed, Fluffy was nowhere to be seen. In fact the last time he was seen was after escaping the spoilers. (Really he wasn't mentioned in ages. You can check.)



"Your highness! We've found something lurking in the hallways!"
"What?"
A soldier came bursting into the room. The woman turned around and put up her hood in an instant. The soldier didn't seem to have noticed anything.
"A manticore. It attacked our men. We managed to subdue it though. What should we do with it?"
"What? I don't care. Kill it."
"How did a stray manticore wander in here without the guards at the top noticing?"
"I don't know. What does it matter?"
"Someone is watching us.."
"What?"

"Hmmm, I may lack the responsibility to care for a pet. I have seemingly forgotten about my manticore. Excuse me fellows."

Rol nodded and smiled at his guild mates, before surrounding himself in a shell of shadows and ramming through the cracks they were using to spy.

"FLLLLLUUUUUUUFFFFFFFFFFYYYYYYYYYYY NOOOOOOO." The bounty hunter yelled, revealing himself to the two he was spying on. 


"Hello there soldier man. WOULD YOU TAKe ME TO THIS MANTICORE SO I MAY RELEASE IT AND CAUSE AN EXTENSIVE AMOUNT OF DAMAGE TO YOUR FORCES? Thank you."


In order to look intimidating Rol, rather than dropping the shell of shadows, expanded it creating a wavy mess of shadow tendrils behind him, which also blocked the view of the hole from the people in front of him.   

Jex looked frowned. What was happening? Was it the Queen at fault or the Prince? Are they working for the good guys or the bad guys? Unsure, he shook his head. He was hired by the Queen and he'd continue working unless she is proven guilty.

At the mention of Fluffy, Rol could not resist to burst through the door and cause a scene. His shadows expanded, blocking the view of the rest of the group from the Prince, female, and guard. He shied behind the wall, clenching and opening his palm repeatedly. Wisps of light magic trailed from his palm to his fingertips.

"AAAH! its a Slender man!" The guard fleed in terror at seeing Rol.


"You fool there is no such thing as a Slender man! Guards capture this not so slender man!"
At the prince's command a group of guards stormed in and pointed their swords at Rol.
The prince and the dark elven woman retreated to the back of the room as it filled up with guards. "Attack him!" The prince shouted.
The guards charged at Rol.


Meanwhile behind the walls Riaden signaled to the others to run.
"We can't leave Rol, the spoilers.." Ziome whispered.

"If they take him down they will see us. We need to go, the mission is more important."
"Do you have any idea what Kiro would do to you if you left behind a guild member?"
"Fuck Kiro."
"I don't think you're his type."

"Yeah, keep 'em coming. That means less potential threats to the manticore." The bounty hunter said, in response to the swarm of guards entering. 

Rol holstered Pew and Pew (filled with rubber bullets) and started firing away.  

"Oh boy, what a crazy distraction. I'm surprised the elf dude's lady friend could tell I was watching them. 'I' singular. Just me. Nobody else." He continued to iterate the 'fact' he was here solo while dispatching of guards without moving from his place in front of the hole.

"Roltharus can handle himself."

Jex said with certainty. He had gone on many a duo mission with Rol and he knows very well the capabilities of the uncaped crusader. A few guards he could deal with.


"I can stay here if you'd prefer. We got the Shinergy."

Smirked, and nodded. Asking for input from the group, however there may not have been enough time to hear their response.

"Fine. I guess Rol can take care of himself."
"..." Ziome still looked worried but nodded.
They snuck away as Rol was dealing with the guards.

None of them managed to get close to him. Each time they tried they got a ruber bullet against their helm. Making them stumble back.
"You incompetent fools! It's just one guy!"
The dark elf stayed silent.

---
Meanwhile the others got back to the place where they jumped down. the magic circle seemed still be in effect.
Riaden jumped from wall to wall and easily got back on the floor above them. Az and Ziome floated up with their broom and sword. 

---
One of the guards got fed up and threw his sword at Rol. It headed straight at him.
More guards ran into the room. There were at least thirty of them. Any more and they wouldn't be able to move.

---
The group made their way through the spiral path. There were no guards here. Seemed like all the remaining ones were downstairs with Rol. No sign of Fluffy either.
---


"SURRENDER OR WE KILL YOUR BEAST!" The prince shouted.

A shadow swatted the incoming sword down before it reach the bounty hunter. "Try harder."

As more guards entered the room, Rol began to move his shadows about, they didn't seem to be doing anything, but in reality they were placing explosives on the walls and floor of the ruins. 

"Kill my beast you say? Since I'm entirely sure you do the lying thing I can't trust you won't kill Fluffy once I surrender. Plus if you're trying to force me to surrender with a threat I can assume your guards have nothing else packing.. Hahahah packing.. That coulda been a dick joke." Rol chuckled. "So that means either you or your lady friend over there have to step up and deal with me, mano a rolo. Or you can kill 'my beast' and see what happens when I'm angry." Rol taunted, if anything too dangerous were to happen he'd cause the explosion and disappear.

Jex ran with the ground, looking behind him. Rol should be alright... Right?

He shook his head, trusting his guildmate. Looking up as everyone started leaving the ruins, he held on to his staff with his right hand as it shot up, pulling him along.

"Where to?"

"Don't think that these few guards is all I have. I have hundreds more waiting outside the temple. You and your beast have nowhere to run."
"My prince, you have what you need. Let me deal with this one. You need to start moving there is not much time left.. I will catch up."
"But.. You're right. Guards retreat we need to move. We can't linger here."
"What do we do about the beast."
"Lock it up and leave it behind."

The prince and the guards move out of the room and close the door. Leaving Rol alone in the room with the woman.

----
"I don't know. We could leave through the same way we came but then we have to deal with the spoilers. Or we could go all the way up but then the rest of the guards will be waiting at the temple entrance."


"If it was just me I could sneak out just fine but you guys just HAD to come along. This is why I don't do group missions."


"No you don't do group missions because you're a jerk."
----


"Now that they are gone we can stop pretending."
The woman removed her hood again. Revealing her dark skin and white silvery hair once more.
"That was a nice move there. Distracting the guards so your friends could get away. A shame that they have nowhere to run though." The woman grinned.
"Or they could hide and hope the guards don't find them on their way up."

The door where the guards had left the room was gone and so was the hole behind Rol.
The woman pulled a sword from under her robe. "Now If you were to leave the prince alone then I could let you and your friends and even the pet go free. But we both know that you'd never do that. Otherwise you wouldn't have been sneaking around in here."

---
"Footsteps.. the guards are coming back up here."
"What?! Then Rol.."
"No, Rol wouldn't be defeated that fast."
"We need to get out of here before they catch up."
"But we have nowhere to go."

"Hmm. Well, I did not do nearly as effective of a job as I was hoping." The bounty hunter sat down. His guns still unholstered and shadows being just as erratic as he is.

The threat against his guildmates didn't really mean anything to Rol, the guards weren't exactly a horrifying force. Although the Prince and the Lady may provide as issue. Noticing the 'escapes' disappear he looked around irritated.

"God damn it. You better have actually manipulated reality to make those things disappear because I fucking hate dealing with illusionists. Jeez."

Rol yawned. "Man, the bad guys have to stop making shitty offers like that. Aren't exactly the most trustworthy source."


He eyed the sword the Lady drew. "Well, since you've already done the villain thing where you offer our release, how about you continue with the streak and feel so confident about killing me you tell me our plan. Eh?"

"I agree illusions are just tricks. No fun. This however is no silly illusion."
She tapped the floor with her foot. And slowly the stone floor became a steel one. The walls and ceilling soon followed.
"Can't have you breaking the walls again and escaping." She grinned.


"I fear there's been a misunderstanding. I said I would have released you if I thought you were going to leave us alone. But as I'm not that dumb I never actually intended to let you go, nor did I offer.
And I don't plan to kill you either. I'll just let you rot in here. Of course I won't leave you alone in this room."
She waved a hand and a cage appeared next to her. Inside of it was fluffy.

"I wonder which one of you will be the first to succumb to their hunger and eat the other."
She said as she stepped into a portal that disappeared as soon as she was through it.

Inside the cage fluffy was doing his best to break the cage and escape but couldn't break through. The lock was too strong.

----

A portal opened in front of the others and the dark elf stepped through. A glimpse of Rol and fluffy in a steel room could be seen before the portal closed.
"Did you think I'd let you escape?"
The dark elven woman blocked their path by making a wall appear behind her. They were trapped in the spiral hallway now. And the prince and the guards were closing in.
The woman smiled at them.

"Actually, you misunderstood me. I gathered you were being rhetorical so was I. Like, yeah, you were referring to if I wasn't such a nosy female dog you would have 'let me go' but I was simply saying that you'd try to kill me regardless." The bounty hunter sighed.

Fluffy appeared and the lady left. "What a female dog, am I right Fluffy?" The bounty hunter asked his Manticore, petting the beast through the cage with shadows. He ignored the remarks of the Lady her attempt of being a big bad was weak shit. "I'll get you out after I get me out." 

Gathering his own six shadows around his arm he formed a drill like blade. Rol struck at the steal wall where the hole was before the Lady made it disappear. "I gots beef with Lady." He had broken steel before, but it was a lighter alloy, one specifically used by his 'fellow' Blooded Fangs Commandment to create her mechs. If he could get through though, it would take time.

"I wonder if her holding the sword had any affect on her power? If she's only able to manipulate things if she's holding something of that material? Can she just do steel things and she made the sword? Is she just reality bending and the sword made her think 'ooh steel'? All these questions." The bounty relayed his questionable monologue before recalling the explosives he placed. "They're probably gone too, but detonating them can't hurt." So Rol used his detonator while he continued to strike at the wall with his arm.

Jex instantly turned, throwing his knife the instant the lady popped out, striking the wall to her right, still inexperienced in the art. She smiled at the group yet he looked at her eyes. He raised scrunched his nose in anger, stand and fight it is.

He walked towards where the knife had lodged itself in the wall, pulling it out and putting it back in his back sheath. In one swift motion, he pulled out his bowstaff.

"Who does she think we are?"


Facing the mouth of the cave he waited for the guards and Prince, strands of white magic swaying where his right hand met the staff.

Fluffy whimpered in response to Rol. The manticore was obviously very stressed out. It didn't like cages, not one bit.
The steel was tough but Rol's drill blade arm thing did seem to put a dent in it. Maybe it would give in eventually.

---

As soon as the elven guards arrived the woman had her hood back up. Somehow this hood was enough to conceal her dark elven identity.
The Prince and the Guards came upon the guild members. "I found more intruders my prince."
"What?! More? Guards excecute them!"
The guards dashed forward with their swords drawn.


"I'm getting tired of this shit."
"Ziome stay back. We'll handle this."
"O-okay, mistress."

Suddenly a loud explosion could be heard from below. "Was that Rol? Figured he wouldn't be stopped that easily. Guess that means we don't need to do this the quiet way anymore." Az grinned and drew a magic circle in the air with a triangle that pointed up inside. She put her hand on the circle just as the guards were right in front of her.

----

The explosives made a lot of noise but most of them seemed to only have made a bunch of large dents. Only a few of them made a hole. And the largest of those holes was barely large enough to put a hand through. The steel made the sound louder than it was and the room kept shaking for a while after.
Fluffy was covering his ears and trembling in fear but otherwise alright.
The shadow drill seemed to be slightly more effective. But it would still take a while before the hole was large enough to crawl through.

Another explosion suddenly occured above. The steel room was shaking again. But less than before.

-----------

When the smoke cleared the guards were all down on the floor. Some were trying to get up but none of them seemed to be able to. A few embers were still burning but they didn't last long. There wasn't much flammable material in this old temple.
The Prince had been standing behind his guard and was only slightly wounded. He had trouble getting back on his feet though.

The woman instantly appeared next to him and offered him a hand. He took her hand and finally managed to get up. "My guards!."
"Were going to be replaced anyway. This way we don't have to do it."
"True enough. But we can't let these ... these intruders stand in our way."
"They won't."
The lady stepped up and drew her sword again. She walked towards the group.

Az drew another circle. And fired a smaller fireball at her. The dark elf simply waved her hand and blocked the fireball with a wall of water that spouted up from the ground.


"Ziome, I'm going to need a bunch of mana potions for this one.."
"Yes, mistress!" Ziome rummaged through their supplies for mana potions.
"A little help from Jex and Riaden would also be greatly appreciated."

"Shhhh. It'll be okay Fluffy. Just think about the food outside." The shadows still petting the manticore in an attempt to calm him down.

The bounty hunter changed his focus, using his drill blade to chip at the biggest hole in the steel room.

"Hi Ho Hi Ho off to work we go." Rol sang, chipping the steel away slowly trying to make a large enough hole Fluffy could fit through.

Jex spun his staff. He allowed his magic to flow through it, attaining a better feel of the steel rod. A trail of light followed the rips of the staff. In one quick motion, he spun it forward and whipped it towards them, pointing the end at the opposition.

"Sagitta Magica! Series Lucis!"

5 arrows of light burst from the tip of the staff and sped at the elf.

The dark elf waved her arm again and a portal opened. The light arrows went through and it closed again. Az took the oppurtunity to send another fireball at her just when the portal closed. Another wave of her and and the wall of water was back to block it.
Glacy jumped on Az's shoulder from somewhere (Where even was the little furball all this time? Hidding in a plothole probably.) and shot an ice shard at the water wall and froze it.
Az charged forward with her sword kai in hand and smashed through the wall of ice towards the dark elf.

---

Meanwhile the hole in the steel wall was gradually growing. It was probably big enough for fluffy to squeeze through if he tried hard enough.
Fluffy himself had calmed down a bit. The lack of more explosions helped a lot. The cage still bothered him though. He tried to bite through it but failed.

---
Meanwhile somewhere random outside the temple a portal opened up and struck a tree.
It fell over but nobody heard it.

The bounty hunter chipped away at the hole a little more to give more leeway for the manticore to get through. 

"Okay bud, step back a bit. And by that I mean stop biting the cage." Rol used to the petting shadow to gently try to pull Fluffy of the cage. He then returned his own Shadows from the shadow drill blade to their original form bfore manipulating them between the space in between two of the cages bar and pushing as hard as he could muster.

Jex Cahill stared at her. From what it seemed, the elf could control space and had water-efficiency magic. He watched as the ice nullified the water magic, but that wasn't gonna fix the space magic.

"I wonder the extent that she can use it for."

The cage's bars were though but did seem to bend slowly.Fluffy realized what was happening and watched impatiently.

---------

The dark elf blocked the giant sword with her own normal sized sword. She grinned but so did Az. "Kai."
The giant sword opened its eye and released a surge of electricity. Knocking back the dark elf. Az then drew another circle quickly and blasted a fireball at her opponent.
The dark elf tried shielding herself with another water wall but Az had fired from too close and the water wall didn't make it in time.

-----

Meanwhile the cage bars had bended enough for Fluffy to fit through. Fluffy was too impatient and jumped through before Rol could move out of the way and knocked him over. The Manticore stood on Rol and looked down at him, unsure of what to do.
---

The dark elf grunted. She had been knocked over and the sword had fallen from her hand. She held up her hand and an orb of dark looking energy grew in front of her.
Az meanwhile was drawing a circle slightly more complicated than the ones before.
A blue fire ball shot out at the same time as the dark elf fired the orb of energy.

---

Another explosion. Fluffy got anxious and lowered his ears. But the explosion was not nearby enough to freak fluffy out. He looked back down at Rol and growled.
But then he just licked Rol's face/mask and bolted away, jumping through the hole.

----

When the dust cleared both Az and the dark elf were standing. The walls were slightly less standing, they crumbled apart slowly. Az grunted and drew another circle but nothing happened. "Shit ran out of mana, Ziome!"
"Right!" Ziome grabbed a mana bottle and held it out to her mistress.
But as Az turned to grab the mana potion the dark elf fired another dark orb at her back.