Reim Empire

[Apollymi]

"Oh well, I guess we are. But you get used to it." said the black haired girl who would follow-up the acknowledgement of their oddness with an introduction of herself. "I'm Nasira. I suppose that means you're the representative from Artemyra then?" she asked because she'd missed this boy's initial introduction. Not that she was upset with his presence, after all she was a firm believer in the more the merrier. Beyond this, Yasmin simply nodded at the girl's words and chuckled when Aiolia mentioned they were all strange.

Meawhile at the palace while a meeting between Sorio and Shaka the member of Shadiya's Household took place, a black haired woman dressed in deep red cape and white linen pieces. She had random pieces of gold and jewelry looked on from her position behind this man at his left. Her red glowing eyes piercing through this individual and noticing the culmination of Black Rukh from his person and his resolve to apparently preserve his own way of life. "You don't say..." Minerva said chuckling finding the pretense of this boy's speech amusing.

[Bloodedge]

"That would be me. Aiolia. Aiolia Angelis," the boy said with, once again, the most courteous of bows. "Pleasure to meet you." It seemed like things were finally dying down now that Nasira's fight against her trainer was over. But, such was the perfect time for random occurrences, and one was surely about to occur. Over the course of this meeting, two pillars had come from the colosseum; one fire, and one light. In this moment, Malik himself flew over the colosseum wall, landing on the ground near the group. His body was battered and beaten, and he had barely an inkling of Magoi remaining in him. Tears streamed down the pink-haired male's face as he reached out with one hand, hoping someone - anyone - could save him from the hell that was this training session. "H-... Hide... me..."

"... Intriguing." Sorio seemed to be taking an interest in the boy before him, and as a magician himself, the black Rukh beginning to fixate themselves to this lad did not go unnoticed by Reim's emperor. This was good. Here, he had an ally in the form of another individual like himself; one that simply wanted to do away with the inconveniences fate had thrown their way. "What say you, Minerva? Would you have this boy amongst our ranks in this war?"

[Apollymi]

Nasira bowed in return liking this new guy a bit already. "Nice to meet you, Aiolia." she managed to say, before only a few seconds passed and none other than Malik could be seen on the ground nearby. His presence and plea to be hidden made a bit of laughter escape the pink haired girl but she still went to give the young man a helping hand. "Rough day, Malik?" she asked rhetorically extending a hand to the young man with a smile on her face. "Come on, up you go." she said to him wanting the apparently crying young man to pull himself together, and using her body to try and pull him into the standing position. "We've got a new friend, don't set a bad example." Yasmin had finished this statement, but the words heard next belonged to the old small pink haired woman known as Uzma. "Leave him, you brats are next." she said pointing to Yasmin and Fudo. This, of course, made Yasmin pause still holding Malik's hand. "And suddenly I feel like I might need to be rescued."

To the Emperor's question a smile came across the Magi's face, "I'm sure we could make use of him for the war." she said with a knowing smile. This boy didn't even know what he was getting himself into. He was simply taking the shortest route to apparently getting what he wanted. Still it would be better if he was properly equipped during his time as a spy for them. "Here, why don't you take this with you?" she said offering the a black jeweled metal clawed gauntlet. This would allow him to use the Black Rukh with the kind of magic he leaned towards naturally. "Your Household Vessel doesn't work right. So you might need this~" Minerva chimed with a happiness usually unseen in her.

[Bloodedge]

The pink-haired male's entry led to Aiolia being stunned once more. He didn't know who this person was initially, but the name he was missing was soon spoken by Yasmin. 'This is the Malik they were talking about?' he thought, wondering how one who could create such magic as what he saw earlier could be in this predicament.

When his hand was taken, Malik felt a great wave of relief. It was as if the hell he'd been through had finally been removed from his life, but this happiness could not have been shorter lived. Uzma made her appearance known to the lot, and with her arrival, she sought to claim his savior for her training session of the day. This caused Malik's heart to sink. None would be able to save him on this day.

Looking up to the black-haired woman, Shaka claimed this magic tool she had to offer him. Though he did not know what this was, or what it would do, he believed that these people would see his desires fulfilled. That was all he needed. Shaka discarded the Household Vessel he wore, replacing it with the gauntlet given to him by this woman.

[Apollymi]

Yasmin finished what she'd been doing giving the boy a bit of comfort since he was apparently more than a bit sadder than she should have been. "Not to worry, Malik. We'll be back soon enough, just try not to be so down about it, okay?" she asked him with a smile on her face giving his hand a gentle pat on the other side before letting it go. She then turned to face Uzma and bowed. "I guess we're up then." she said following behind the woman who was now walking away and giving a wave to everyone else. "Come on Fudo. She said you too~" she mentioned not ever one to be stuck in such a predicament by herself. While this happened Nasira kind of appeared beside Malik and offered him a hand up instead. "Come on, training can't be that bad now can it?" she asked, knowing that she'd spent all morning getting her butt kicked by Jellal. Uzma on the other hand was leading what she assumed to be the two young dungeon capturers with their intertwined fates into a large open area in the Colosseum which had a really large boulder and lots of rocks otherwise the space was unoccupied.

At the palace the laughter of the Dark Magi could be heard. She couldn't believe this young man had so easily discarded that which had previously been sacred to him, only to take what she'd given without even asking about what would happen as a result of him taking it. What an amusing boy he was. This only made her wonder what had caused him to wander down this darker path in the first place, though prying at a time like this was a bit unnecessary.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course. I was waiting for you to be ready," Fudo said to the pink-haired girl, having already resigned himself to whatever trials Uzma had to offer them. When Yasmin was also ready, he began to move, following in Uzma's tracks until reaching the mostly open space of the colosseum. Meanwhile, Malik was being raised from the ground by Nasira, and whining all the while. "That's not training. It's like the continuous touch of death while you don't have the ability to be dragged into the next life. You're just... stuck in limbo while the world around you tries to tear you apart by every cell in your body. I need... I need... a caretaker!"

[Apollymi]

Uzma was now standing before Fudo and Yasmin pacing back and forth in front of a boulder which was many times larger than her person. And as she did this she began to explain the purpose of undertaking the start of their training with her. "All the Gladiators start their training with me. Such is done, to make you stronger physically and magically. Many more times than you would normally be capable of. The hopes of course, to make you about as I am." she stated plainly which made Yasmin glance in Fudo's direction. She was such a tiny old lady that the thought of her being physically strong at this point was a bit outlandish. But magically strong that could be anyone.

Meanwhile Nasira found herself laughing at Malik's rather absurd metaphors. "A caretaker? Hmm, that seems like a pretty tall order given what you just said about how your training makes you feel." mentioned the girl, who found this to be overall pretty funny. "Settle for a friend, I can commiserate, I got beat up by Jellal all morning." she said with a swift nod.

[Bloodedge]

Uzma's claims of her strength were just as strange to Fudo as they were to Yasmin. As such, when the latter looked his way, he had nothing to say on the matter. It wasn't quite that he was in disbelief, but rather that he wondered precisely what sort of strength she could have been referencing. Surely it was nothing to be trifled with if she spoke of it in such a way as this, but that was indeed a bit much to take in. "Ah... Well, that explains the venue. Go on then. Show us."

"A... friend..." said Malik. Within moments, the pink-haired young man sprung to life, taking Nasira's hand into his while wrapping his other arm around her. In this moment, his eyes sparkled, and his voice righted itself from its previous tortured state. "Yes! We will console each other as equals and ride off into the night, where we will keep each other safe from our torturers for all eternity!"

[Apollymi]

Uzma looked at the pair of youngsters pausing in front of the giant boulder she'd been pacing in front of. When she stopped she looked at the boulder and reached out for it with her left hand and surprisingly enough she picked it up without seeming to break any motion or sweat. Of course doing this she turned around and continued talking because she was still explaining. "This kind of strength training is meant to be done, so that you don't have to have massive muscles to be powerful, it's only failed once." she said tossing the boulder over her shoulder for both Yasmin and Fudo to watch it land with a thud. "And to be clear you won't immediately be fighting or trying anything, just moving should provide you with a good enough work out for the next couple of weeks." Uzma explained. Yasmin just managed to look stunned. "Note to self, don't make this one angry." she said aloud but in hushed tones only for Fudo to hear.

Meanwhile Nasira was soon put into a half-embrace by the boy known as Malik who still seemed to have given up his solemnness in exchange for some pure outlandish thoughts about running away from their responsibilities. "You really are an odd man. I don't believe in running from my torturers. I'm going to beat them, you should aim to do the same." Nasira slamming her right fist into the palm of her left hand. It seemed that Fudo's assertion that she was a particularly lively individual was indeed correct.

[Bloodedge]

Fudo had come to expect a demonstration of strength by Uzma, but in this case, expecting something was very different from seeing it happen. His brow furrowed during the lifting of the boulder, and only did so even more when Uzma went on to say that moving would be ample training for them during the coming weeks. Though he accepted that this training was likely to be very efficient, and was just as likely to yield incredible results... he still didn't quite like where this was going. "I think I'd rather fight her than deal with whatever she's about to throw our way."

The feedback from his most recent exclamation was not quite what Malik was hoping for. In fact, the words of Nasira made him lose his energy all over again. "Mmfh! There's no beating that old man. Have you seen his eyebrows!?"

[Apollymi]

"You're right not to like where this is going. But it's about to happen." said Uzma. But curiosity was more in Yasmin than fear of this situation, whatever it was about to be, "Who was the failure?" she asked seemingly interested in the negative outcome. "The big blonde guy you met yesterday, Dio. He ended up all muscled up... Everyone else didn't gain too much mass though." she said with a curt nod. And with that said the old woman moved her hat and pulled from beneath it a wand which was more or less a plain stick which seemed like it could have been plucked from any random tree. "Good, if there are no questions." she said the follow up to this would be the casting of a very complex spell, using the wand as a conduit. And when she was done, a pair of magoi based cuffs would be around the wrists and ankles of both Yasmin and Fudo. These cuffs would make it nearly impossible for both of them to move without putting everything they had into the movements, both their physical muscles and their magoi. And after it was done Uzma just watched as, she could only expect interesting things to happen.

"Of course there's no beating him, when you already look defeated at the start. What happened to confidence?" she asked of this young man who seemed to have completely lost himself again. She sighed then because she found it almost astonishing that this one was as powerful as he was, if he didn't think it was done so that one day he could surpass the man who taught him. After all, the point of doing such things was to find the next big challenge and top it, regardless of the type of challenge it was. "Also I am sure you could have angry eyebrows too if you wanted."

[Bloodedge]

Fudo sighed while mentally preparing himself for what was to come. However, there was no preparing for this. The cuffs of Magoi around his wrists forced his arms together, and the ones around his ankles did the same for his legs. He nearly fell over where he stood, but in spite of the surprise of what happened, he managed to regain most of his composure. "Magic bindings?" he questioned. There was an immediate effort from Fudo to separate his arms and legs, but in spite of all his strength, there was nothing to be done aside from a small bit of movement.

"Why would I want angry eyebrows?" asked Malik. He was quite certain there was simply no end to Makarov's training at this point. After all, he had been at this for a year, and it was getting no easier for him. Malik could only wonder how Shadiya fared, considering her starting point was the same as what he went through at present. As for the confidence of which Nasira spoke, he couldn't say there was much present within him. Makarov had a tendency to break his students of any such thing. "I think I'm gonna just..." Without the ability to complete his final statement, Malik lost consciousness and fell to the ground in a deep slumber.

[Apollymi]

Yasmin was no better off than Fudo. Her wrists and ankles came together and she also fell to the ground. She was a bit stunned but didn't immediately try to move. Fudo's mention of magic bindings gave her some sort of idea of what was going on here, and this made her chuckle just a little, after all this situation was quite ironic. Even so, it would be Uzma who answered his question in her usual brash manner. "I call them Spirit Cuffs. Basically... they're like weights for your Magoi. They lock in your magoi and restrict your physical movements. The only way you're going to manage to actually move, is by exerting one hundred percent of your physical strength and one hundred percent of you magical strength. Doing so will increase the threshold of your Magoi to a much greater place, while training your body to fully utilize it. Given what you brats have shown yourselves to be capable of you should be able to move about... but not much else for a while. But you should know the rest of your training won't stop while you get it together." the woman finished up her sentence and waited assuming the pair of children before her would eventually be able to stand. Yasmin hearing the information given would try to separate her arms and sit up. And though it would take quite a few minutes of struggle she would eventually be able to do it. "Wait a minute, did you just say our other training aren't going to stop. You mean, we're expected to fight like this?" she asked this was utterly shocking an idea.

Meanwhile, Malik had questioned angry eyebrows and why he'd want them, which made Nasira shrug, and went on to pass out pretty much on the spot. This was such an odd thing to do, but she supposed if she was as tired as he was, she'd also have fallen asleep like that. Still it seemed like a bad idea to leave someone passed out in the courtyard and thus she aimed to pick the boy up and throw him over her shoulder carrying him into the villa so he could at least sleep on a couch or something until he felt better. "Eh, falling asleep mid-conversation. What an odd man." he stated plainly.

[Bloodedge]

It was disturbing to know that these 'Spirit Cuffs' as Uzma called them were to be semi-permanent affixes to the pair of Dungeon Capturers. Even though he could understand this method's merits, the fact that he had to put forth so much effort 100% of the time just to do something as simple as scratching his nose made it feel like a form of torture. But, he would persevere. He had to. Keeping up his physical effort, he also forced his Magoi to the surface, to the best of his ability. This was indeed a struggle, and Fudo broke a sweat long before he managed to slowly pull apart his wrists and ankles. This was certainly the most difficult thing the teal-haired male had ever been required to do for any reason, but if he could manage through this, he would be much better off for it. "Alright then. When do we start training like this?"

[Apollymi]

It seemed that both Yasmin and Fudo had struggled and managed to at least regain some control of their extremeties. If Uzma was pleased by this development, her face didn't show it, she simply went back to pacing and explaining this situation. "Like I said, you brats will have a hard enough time moving around... so, you won't get anything past the sort of thing you did yesterday until you're ready. But... you'll find that to be significantly more challenging." she finished. It was now Yasmin's turn and after more struggle she was finally able to separate her ankles as well. She was now sitting and breathing as if she'd run a marathon but she was recovering steadily. "This is that soul crushing sadness... I feel it creeping up." Yasmin said in a manner rather reminiscent of Malik just a few moment's prior to this one. Still she wouldn't give up it was just a matter of adjusting to forcing all of herself into every single motion and that wasn't something she was used to. A tsk could come from Uzma. "These brats asking about more training, and one of you can't even stand up yet." she said. This made Yasmin look at the woman and stick her tongue out. "I like it down here, I'll get up when I'm ready."