Reim Empire

[Apollymi]

"Huh? What do you mean?" these were the words of Shadiya who didn't understand what he was getting at. She still didn't think herself much when compared to people like Fudo, Yasmin or Malik but she did at least have in mind a thing she wanted to do. Though she didn't know how much her idea would sit with the others she was now friends with, she figured since it wasn't bad, they wouldn't shun her for it at least.

Meanwhile, Yasmin was sitting beside Nasira applying bandages to the girl's cuts and bruises with apparent knowledge of more than a little first aid. Just like she'd realigned the nose of Fudo earlier she did so kindly and swiftly. "Hm, seem like you're about done. Baki, you're up next." she said as she let Nasira go. "You know I didn't need this..." mentioned the black haired girl who didn't even want treatment in the first place. But such a thing just made Yasmin stick out her tongue at the girl. "I don't remember making it an option~" the pink haired girl chimed in apparently only very serious about her overarching goals and taking care of her friends. The girl's reaction made Nasira smile. "Thank you." she said to the girl who simply brushed it aside because she would have done it regardless. But she heard laughter coming from the other room and smiled. "I guess, Shadi and Malik are back too~" she mentioned.

And now it was only left to decide who would be informing the group of trainees that they were now targets of the empire. Erza stood knowing that no one else would really want to go and offered to tell them herself. "I have no problem relaying this message." she mentioned to the group as she turned and stood getting ready to go tell the newest group of kids some interesting and apparently bad news.

[Bloodedge]

"I mean there are two kinds of Dungeon Capturers. The first is the guy who gets lucky, who just has the skill to make it through and reap the benefits. The second kind comes with or without the skill, but is someone I think is fit to be King... Someone with resolve. Knowing Shula, it's always been hard to tell what makes her choose a candidate, but now I'm glad to say we were chosen by the same Magi."

As Bakura stepped forward to receive the unavoidable treatment of Yasmin, Fudo sat in an open window, looking out at the night sky. He could also hear noises from outside the room, and indeed, he also attributed the voices to the two missing individuals from their group. "Mm. I wonder how Shadiya's training went."

[Apollymi]

"Oh... I hadn't thought of that." said Shadiya. She didn't know that her goals would be the reason that she'd been chosen by Shula to become a leader. She found it odd that anyone would even appreciate the sort of thing she wanted for herself and anyone else who chose in their lives. Still, she was happy this young man appreciated the sentiment. "Thanks, me too." mentioned the purple haired girl. She was quite relaxed at this point.

Nasira hopped off the place she'd been sitting and freed it for Bakura to take her place. She found it strange that Yasmin chose to take care of her friends in such a way, but attributed this to the girl's very caring attitude and the kind of life she'd led up to this point. If Bakura got to Yasmin, she would begin the same process with the young man, cleaning and bandaging his wounds from his days mischief. "I am also kind of curious, we should check on them." she said of the pairing of people right outside. But as she spoke she also worked on fixing up her Household Member and soon enough he'd be ready to go as well. Nasira stood by the window next to Fudo a small smile on her face, apparently appreciating the kindness shown to her by Yasmin. "You're all finished now too, Baki." the girl said after double checking her bandage job she seemed satisfied that he was alright and stood opening the door to the room all of them had been occupying. "Come on then~" said Yasmin as she headed out and into the open space occupied by Malik and Shadiya.

Meanwhile, Erza was making her way over to the villa which housed the group of trainees. She'd make it there a bit after they all gathered in one place, mostly because, she was trying to figure out the best wording for the things she had to say.

[Bloodedge]

Bakura stretched away the feeling of tightness in his body when he was fully bandaged up. "That's better. Thanks Yas," he said. With this done, he began making his way toward the next room. Fudo, though hesitant to move from his place of comfort, was curious enough to look for the others as well. When they entered the room Malik and Shadiya inhabited, Fudo was even the first to speak. "You two look like hell. Must have been rough."

[Apollymi]

"No problem, Baki~" Yasmin said as she disappeared into the other room. Once there, she and Nasira both heard Fudo's assessment of the status of their two newer companions and this caused the pink haired girl to chuckle. Nasira could only nod her agreement, but as they entered Shadiya looked up at the group of four and her eyes widened. As at least two of their number looked to be a bit worse for wear than they had been the last time they'd seen each other. Fudo's words didn't escape the girl and she simply waved him off, though she didn't make any quick movements either. "Yeah, I feel like I'm dying but apparently that's normal." she said as she tilted her head up. "What about you guys?" she said looking back and forth between them and trying to figure out how they'd come to be in such a state.

It would be then that Erza would arrive within the house and having heard the statement made by Shadiya she found the proper opening to broach the subject she'd been sent to talk about. "Your friends here, didn't experience rough training." said the red haired young woman before she turned her gaze to the group at large. "Uzma thought it'd be prudent for you all to know that Sorio likely considers you four prime targets. And that he's declared war on Artemyra so... staying away from the palace in general is recommended." stated the young woman, but she was no one's baby-sitter she wouldn't tell a bunch of people what to do, and she instead waited for any questions that would come from the group at large.

[Bloodedge]

"Well, we-" Fudo was prepared to explain their situation, but he had not anticipated the interjection of one Erza Nicolaides. The woman spoke of the consequences stemming from their invasion of the royal palace. What they had to do with a war against Artemyra, he did not know, but he would soon enough think it through. "He sure has a hunger for power if he's deciding to use us as an out to starting a war. If you ask me, though, it's just more reason for us to return to the palace. Sorio has something that I didn't anticipate. Yasmin and I had a very interesting run-in with a Fallen Magi today."

In the meantime, Malik loomed over Bakura with his right arm raised at the elbow, his left hand lifting the other arm's sleeves. He lowered his fist onto the white-haired boy's head, and Bakura felt the shock throughout his entire body. "Just gonna rampage the palace without me, huh!? The nerve!"

[Apollymi]

"A fallen what now?" these words were spoken by the Magi known as Shula. While Erza simply managed to look stunned. If the pair of them survived such an encounter they had far more going for them than expected, or such a person was up to something. Either way, it was way more than the group of them should ever have encountered on their first day out. As such she simply hear out this conversation for the sake of having something to tell the others, she posted herself up at the door and waited for the speech to end. She said only something in passing to Malik. "You're already on the prime target list, if they didn't go to get caught, you would have made it so." Erza mentioned.

It would be Yasmin to consider the conversation at hand much to the dismay of the Magi currently in their presence. "A Magi, using black Rukh not one of you three. I was shocked... 'cause... in all the books Shadiya has... it says there are supposed to be three Magi."

[Bloodedge]

"Wouldn't matter. I would have been able to get us out of there, no problem. Could have taken down Sorio too." Since he'd gotten his minor frustration out by punching Bakura, Malik pulled his sleeve back down and took a seat once more. Regardless of the advice given to the others, he intended to return to the palace for reasons of his own. But, that would come at a later time.

"We've known for a while now that there was a fourth Magi," Ali said as he entered, having returned from his outing with Samiya due to the curiosity surrounding the two Dungeon Capturers. "There are Dungeons that were opened by none of us. The extra Magi being Fallen is a surprise, but even a Magi can Fall."

[Apollymi]

Shula had been about to speak but her words would be lost to the ones spoken by Ali. When he finished speaking of this fourth Magi Shula spoke up. Though she supposed it was possible for a Magi to fall, there had to be more than four. "Umm, actually... I have a brother who is also a Magi so that would be five. But I doubt he opened the dungeon you mentioned earlier." said Shula who was apparently now counting the number of magi there were.

The next one to speak would be Samiya who had also returned to have a look at whatever had caused the commotion of the Rukh between the two chosen Dungeon capturers. "Wait a minute... Shula you have a brother?" she said seeming to be new to that particular information. Of course this would soon be lost as Yasmin mentioned a bit of information she'd previously forgotten but had been meaning to bring up, now that she had encountered another Magi she remembered. "Hmm, actually it might be more than that... Kaarim mentioned a white haired Magi in our fight and the woman we faced had black hair." the pink haired girl mentioned.

[Bloodedge]

"Well, a brother, I can understand being a Magi. That would make sense of the fourth. The other two..." Fudo was having a hard time believing the existence of six Magi at once, but he believed there to be some way to rationalize this. "Could it be possible that Kaarim was wrong, and the woman we dealt with today was no more than a liar?"

"No such luck," chimed Dio, who entered behind Erza, and alongside Jellal. "Minerva's the real deal. I've seen her raise Dungeons, and that's something only a Magi can do." To clarify what went on at this precise moment, Jellal stepped forward. He knew Dio to be the man responsible for Bakura and Nasira's capture, so he knew what bits of information needed to be addressed, at least for those two. "Don't be a moron, Dio. To all of you... this man is one of ours. I apologize on his part for any roughness he may have used when he apprehended you two in the palace, but you should know he did so to keep his cover."

[Apollymi]

Speaking up for the first time in a while, the purple haired girl yawned but contributed a bit since this conversation was getting rather interesting. "Kaarim could have lied, but... the guy from the Ko Empire also mentioned the white haired Magi." she chimed in seeming to be a bit indifferent. She did a lot of reading on this sort of thing and had no idea what difference having so many Magi would make unless they all decided to go after a single goal together.

After her statement would come the explanation from Dio about the apparent Magi woman who'd been faced by Yasmin and Fudo earlier. It was a bit disheartening, but given that information it would seem that there were quite possibly six Magi in the world today which was a bit much by anyone standards. The apology and explanation which came from the blue haired man about this giant golden guy took Nasira's gaze away from this man as it was explained what he'd been doing in the palace to begin with. And though they'd not met under the most amicable of circumstances, she wasn't really upset as this man had done nothing to her. "No need to apologize he didn't do anything. Also, sorry I kicked you." said Nasira who turned to be receiving a look of confusion from Yasmin. She'd explain but a bit later if she was asked. All this while Erza looked confused, she hadn't expected these two to join here here. "Jellal and Dio... hmm, if I'd known you wanted to chat too, I would have waited for you." the girl mentioned only to continue to stand where she was and sort through the unnecessary information until she got to the meet of the problem.

[Bloodedge]

"Dio!" Malik exclaimed after the burly male spoke. He launched himself at the blonde in a blazing fury, only to be grabbed by the crown of his head and swung around wildly. "Give it up, kid. You're still not ready for one of us," the man said as he aimed to throw Malik. He stopped mid movement, though, as he would have launched the younger male directly toward Shadiya. This change of heart resulted in him tossing Malik over his shoulder instead.

"... More importantly, you should all be mindful of what you do while you're in Reim. The messenger from Artemyra should be on his way to the palace now, and that's likely to cause an uproar."

[Apollymi]

The shout of Malik and his subsequent handling by Dio made Yasmin's eyes widen. It was quite a sight to see a man so physically imposing simply man-handle another adult male without much problem. Beyond that the swift change in direction from towards Shadiya to over the man's shoulder was a bit surprising. Erza would simply duck her head to allow the young boy the free space to fly out of it before returning to leaning against the door frame, as she had been for the last few moments. "And you kicked this guy? Good for you." she mentioned to Nasira who chuckled. "Yes, well obviously it didn't accomplish much of anything." the black haired girl stated. Only to have the conversation soon enough be diverted back to an apparent messenger from Artemyra who was due to arrive the following day. This information caused Yasmin to look to Fudo mostly because she assumed he'd jumped to the same conclusion she had. That given the treatment of supposed child spies, she didn't really want to know what would happen to a supposed messenger when they arrived. They had to at least warn this other individual of the potential dangers.

[Bloodedge]

Perhaps this group would one day have time to relax, but Fudo acknowledged that this day would come no time soon, considering all that unfurled before them. Considering the information they received from Malik on the day of their arrival, it was the most tactically sound idea to side with Artemyra in the coming war. This left the decision of helping Artemyra's representative both tactically and morally right. "It's settled, then. We'll intercept the messenger before he reaches the palace."

[Apollymi]

Yasmin could only be relieved though not entirely surprised that Fudo had come to the same conclusion she had. Afterall, they were quite a bit alike and it wouldn't make much of a difference. One Magi who'd been very quiet spoke for the first time in a while, and surprisingly enough it was Samiya who spoke. "Artemyra? My first King Vessel is from there." she muttered while thinking about this supposed fallen Magi. Given this information, Yasmin was a bit less worried about the country as a whole, since Samiya, Ali and Shula all chose reasonable people, she could count on that person being much easier to negotiate with than Sorio would be. As such, Yasmin nodded her consent to the plan of making sure the messenger from Artemyra found safety before approaching the Reim Palace.

Surprisingly enough it would be Nasira who spoke of the plan in a more concrete way. "So, I get that we are going to save the messenger whoever they are, but... how... 'cause wasn't the first part of this conversation about how us four..." she then remembered what Erza said about Malik and exchanged numbers. "I mean five aren't supposed to go near that palace." she mentioned. Not that she had any problem going there but... it seemed like a bad idea for any of them to be put in such close proximity to people who quite obviously wanted them dead. "I'll go." these were words spoken by Shadiya who seemed to be half asleep in the chair she occupied.