Black Bull Headquarters

[Apollymi]

Of course, Hikage knew herself to be right about things which dealt directly with instinct and response. Beyond this, the age of this girl was directly questioned. She didn't know why this information was important to her understanding, but she supposed she had no problem giving it. "Juugo desu," she said with the same passive tone she always seemed to have. It would be rather surprising to most, to find out exactly how young this woman was, as her age dictated that she'd received her grimoire and become a Magic Knight as a commoner in an extraordinarily short amount of time. Without being a noble and being directly ushered in to the Magic Knights, she'd done it on her own merit, as well as traveling from whatever her home town in the Forsaken Lands was to get to Kikka in the Common Region all on her own.

Irrespective of this there was something more to the attack proffered by Leonis, there always seemed to be, and his other hand soon aimed to send the lass flying through the roof in a swirl of fire, with the apparent warning that it made two, and given their current closeness she couldn't avoid this attack. The secondary flame spiral would send the girl flying, but there was a grin was on the girl's face as she maintained enough of herself as she flew off to try and make the best of the space now forming between them. Her unknown reinforcement spell seemed to increase quite a bit while taking this hit too, mediating the damage. And while she didn't have something new to offer, she did have a new use of a previously seen magic. Using Leonis' ability to attack and defend and even counter-attack, the girl's actions as she fell back towards the ground had purpose. She'd simultaneously cast, two of the spells from her grimoire, as she hit the ground once more, causing the emergence of several of the Steel Hedgehogs from the ground as they began to roll up, and a hailstorm of swords to fall from the sky aiming to maim Leonis and a wide area around himself. While he dodged the strikes from above, the spinning hedgehogs from below aimed to maim him from various angles, the barrage was relentless, much like Hikage herself, but the only thing she could manage in the current situation.

[Bloodedge]

"... What." From Leonis, this single word was a question to the universe at large, though its tone implied more of a direct statement than it likely should have. He found himself looking over Hikage and finding nothing but pure disbelief in what he was hearing, versus what he could see with his own eyes and process with his own mind. "No. No way. You don't look 15 at all!" he said to voice his shock. Physically, as a person who would be considered a starving peasant from the Forsaken Lands, nothing about his added up. He didn't believe Hikage to be dishonest, but this was still very out of the ordinary.

Leonis wasn't given much time at all to mull over this. Hikage made use of a mana technique which could be likened to Mana Skin, and that allowed her to survive his attack with little to show for its impact. Leonis keyed in on this, but her landing resulted in him being put on edge. Steel hedgehogs erupted from the ground while steel blades materialized overhead to attack him on two fronts with virtually zero room for evasive maneuvers. Hikage had made use of his own offensive/defensive mix in this assault, and Leonis was now taking from her as well. He wasn't sure when or how she learned the technique, or why it seemed a little off, but he would also make use of Mana Skin while darting toward the green-haired girl. He did his absolute best to weave around the hedgehogs and blades, even occasionally using his explosions to make his movements more consistent. The sheer number of things attacking him simply didn't lend to him being able to escape numerous cuts and many stabbings. Reduction of intensity was all he could manage in the end. Leonis emerged from the barrage with blood trickling from many points along his body, his clothes torn to shreds in a way that matched - or even surpassed - the appearance Hikage's ensemble already boasted, and there were multiple knives still stuck in his back... but he emerged nonetheless. "Honō Sōsei Mahō: Reo Ruzēnasu!" Once again, Leonis opened his grimoire and called upon his flaming lion. Because they were no longer out in the open, this one was much closer to its standard variant's size, but it was still large enough for Leonis to sit atop it as it spewed a lengthy tongue of raging flames from its mouth toward the girl.

[Apollymi]

Leonis' question to the universe at large seemed to confuse Hikage. She would have figured he hadn't heard her correctly but as she opened her mouth to affirm that response, the young man began talking again. His words let her know he'd heard what she'd said, but was simply in a state of disbelief. "But I am fifteen. I look fifteen to me..." she said earnestly. Much like her earlier weirdness she simply had no context for the idea that she'd been weird, and none for the idea that she apparently didn't look her age. She didn't know if she should take it as a compliment like she did her apparent high tier skill or if there was something more to it.

It seemed her attack coming from her fall, was something which the lad had to work at to dodge. This gave her a bit of a breather, but mostly she still had to work towards an outpouring of mana to keep up the falling blades and the growing hedgehogs. She couldn't do much else besides grip a new blade and get ready for what was to come next. Eventually, Leonis made his way out of her constant barrage and once again used his lion to spray flames at the lass. They were long and instead of trying to dodge back and escape them, her instincts took her forward towards the lion and eventually to Leonis himself as she aimed to lash out at him directly from his perch atop the lion's head. Several quick stabbing motions would come from the girl's right hand aimed at the lad's torso. Because of their quickness they'd be shallow but she aimed simply to prolong her fight until such a time as she was either thoroughly beaten or she was satisfied by the fight itself.

[Bloodedge]

"So... does everyone who's fifteen where you come from look like that?" he asked. Frankly, he wasn't sure at this point if she understood why he claimed she didn't look fifteen at all. There were multiple reasons, but the girl didn't seem quite worldly enough to follow his train of thought. Perhaps this was for the better, but Leonis couldn't let it go for some reason. Moving on, the fire lion's breath attack did not meet its target. Instead, Hikage joined Leonis at his elevated level atop the lion, and aimed to stab him repeatedly. He very well couldn't be having that, though. "Ignis Columna!" he called out, relying on an actual defensive spell from his grimoire. A pillar of flames erupted from beneath him, actually seeming to come from the lion itself as the fires spread and spiraled around Leonis to defend him. Just the same, they were still made of fire, and as such had natural damaging capabilities as well. Leonis didn't care what the pillar accomplished, though. He was much more concerned with the spell he would be using the moment the lion beneath him faded, yet before his barrier fell. "Manazōn: Sol Linea!" Once again, Leonis made use of the spell which created a miniature sun and released a flame laser from itself. This time however, he used his Mana Zone ability to generate multiple copies of the spell in the area surrounding himself and Hikage. They were coincidentally placed in a way that would not overlap Leonis himself, but the total of seven beams would fire from various angles toward Hikage's front, sides and rear, as well as overhead. The only point of natural safety outside of some strange level of contortion was closer yet to Leonis, who stood inside of his own flame pillar. "So how did you end up learning Mana Skin, huh?"

[Apollymi]

Hikage thought about the question that Leonis had asked her. Thinking back to the town of Rayaka, she supposed there weren't many who managed to look like her, but she wasn't quite as starved as most, and was capable of taking care of herself. And before that, there was someone who looked after her. "No, they don't," she said with a nod. "Most of them look normal..." she concluded, but in her own mind most people had more normal emotional states. But she had no way of properly expressing this. Regardless this was still a fight and from her current vantage point, the defensive spell which caused her to initially back away from his person as a flame column shielded him from direct methods of attacking. Soon enough though, there was something more pressing happening as a collection of the solar flare type attacks that the lad was known for surrounded the girl and aimed to maim her in a way she didn't know how to deal with. "Shit!" she rushed forward, pushing into the flame column her trajectory would lead to her knocking into the other young man, tackling him if he did nothing to avoid him, but this was simply a matter of her moving in the manner most efficient to avoid damage. "Mana Skin..." she said thinking about it there was no recognition of the word. "I have no idea what that is," she concluded. This statement was true, her use of Mana Skin was instinctual and she had no idea how it actually worked.

[Bloodedge]

"... So you know you don't look fifteen?" he questioned further during the time he took to remove the extra blades from his flesh. All the while, Hikage was encroaching upon him via the easiest given method of avoiding his compressed flame beams. Leonis saw her moving through the column of flames, which led directly to her slamming into him. This resulted in him falling to the floor, where he landed on his back with a thud. "Ugh! No idea huh..." Given what he'd learned about this girl thus far, he wasn't all too surprised about her lack of knowledge. It could be said that if any type of person were to develop a strange form of Mana Skin accidentally, it would be one such as the girl who'd crashed into him mere moments ago.

Before making any effort to pull himself up, Leonis began his explanation. "Mana Skin is a reinforcement technique. Anybody can use it, but it takes training to use it consciously. Yours seems weird, though... nothing like mine or my sister's. I guess it's that instinct of yours making it happen now," he said. During this speech, his gaze was intensely fixated on Hikage's torso... until he furrowed his brow and decided to reach out with his right hand, which landed upon her left bosom. A look of utmost concentration was upon his face as he willed his hand to squeeze that which he'd come to grip. "Hmm... It probably wouldn't take much for you to learn real control over it."

[Apollymi]

"I mean, most of them have more stuff going on here," she said after having tackled the lad, she was pointing at her face, with her combat knife. Beyond all this the immediate fight they were in seemed to have calmed down a bit as the lad went into an explanation of mana skin. She didn't have to acknowledge his apparent grunt as she landed atop him, she simply backed off a bit to allow the lad to rise, but didn't abandon a seemingly advantageous position atop him. "Sou ka... I guess I'll work on it then," she said as it was explained that it was likely her own instinct which made this reinforcement magic manifest in the first place. Apparently though this was something which one could learn proper control over. Immediately though, there was something more pressing which was this lad's hand upon her left bosom which was rather sudden but didn't seem aggressive in a way which would require the girl to attack him. Still she felt strangely about it, her face flushed as she looked towards this lad with his supreme look of concentration. "Ano..." she started to say something but didn't know exactly what to say. The tingles she'd felt at the start of this fight, returned with urgency. She pushed on, in this moment aiming to press their lips together. She had no real explanation for doing this, but it seemed like it would satisfy her current feelings. She didn't seem to care about the lad molesting her chest, perhaps she understood this in some way, or maybe it was still just instinct.

[Bloodedge]

Hikage mentioned the others of her hometown having 'more going on' in their faces. Of course, Leonis could only assume this was a matter of Hikage's lack of facial expressions and the like, which probably contributed to her older appearance. Leonis remained focused on the girl's breasts for whatever reason he had. His squeeze was repeated a few times over, and the only thing that drew his attention away properly was Hikage's voice escaping her. "Oh. I..." At the start of his would-be explanation, Leonis was interrupted. His eyes widened to their limit as a pair of lips - belonging to the green-haired girl above him - pressed against his. From his own understanding of the girl, it was lost to him that she would even understand this sort of exchange, and it was hardly something that came to mind for him even during his molestation moments ago. "Hrmph... mm hmph..."

[Apollymi]

Whatever Leonis originally thought to say, it seemed he was surprised by the random display of affection provided by Hikage. The duration of the kiss was several seconds, through which Leonis seemed to be trying to speak. She'd pull back eventually and look into the lad's face, wondering exactly what was going on there. To her own satisfaction she found that this action had indeed done something to satisfy the tingles her body had developed. Golden eyes looked at this lad afterwards. "You're surprised..." she murmured. She didn't know what to make of her own actions, but she wasn't all together rejected so she felt she hadn't done anything wrong. This was a very strange situation and one which led to the girl seemingly abandoning the violence she generally sought out in the moment.

[Bloodedge]

Several seconds passed, and in that time, Leonis had no clue how he should be reacting. Hikage was battle-crazed, so perhaps she had taken his groping as interest, and used that as leverage to try and throw him off to gain the upper hand in combat? No, that didn't make sense at all. Had that been the case, Leonis felt she would have made her move to strike him already... but instead, she pulled away and spoke of his shock. "Well, I..."

Once again, Leonis was halted by the actions of another. In this case, his eyes widened again because of something he felt inside himself, rather than against his body. He could suddenly feel sweat waiting to form in his pores because of an overwhelming presence in the area. But... this was not the presence of high magical power or anything of the sort; it was instead the pure intimidating aura - likened to immense magic power in its own right - of the Black Bulls' Captain, Heero. The strawberry blonde returned from tending to Artem, and found his two newest members physically against one another, and all the structural damage to the headquarters living room because of what they'd done beforehand. "The whole ground floor is covered in blades and scorches. I'm holding you both responsible for this."

Leonis wasn't sure how to react to this presence. Over the years, he had been exposed to incredible magic power that counted amongst the highest in known history, but this feeling was something new and entirely different. He had no clue what sort of plan their Captain had in mind, but he felt he wanted no part in it. As such, he pulled himself from under Hikage, choosing to grasp at her hand as he did so. "Run!" he exclaimed. Taking off at full speed, he intended to sprint to and through the headquarters exit. Leonis would only stop this run if interrupted somehow, otherwise he would slow to a halt in the middle of the forest outside.

[Apollymi]

Leonis had been a rather talkative individual, and as such she'd fully expected some sort of explanation for the surprise currently in his face. Right before it would have been fully explained though, the girl got the impression that she was in trouble. She turned in time to see the approach of the Captain of their Squad approaching them with the full weight of his intensity directed at them. Hikage's heartbeat sped up, and she felt scared, and there was very little which scared this battle hungry girl. Most couldn't compete with her in any physical way, but it wasn't like murderous intent, but instead it was more like the power of the individual scared her too much. In the face of overwhelming threat, the words spoken by the Captain made it to Hikage's ears, she froze, but suddenly, there was a hand reaching out to her giving her a good bit of advice. As such she took it and took off with Leonis in the direction of the woods. And would only stop when he did, breathing heavily and experiencing both fright and exhaustion.

Strangely enough as the pair of individuals fled another was walking towards the front of the building. She appeared behind Heero placing a hand on his shoulder. Her hair was purple and cut in a mohawk hidden under a dark hood which was zipped up only enough to keep her from appearing naked. "What a strong new set of kids you got here. I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever have to do anything again..." she said with deep amusement in her voice. As she spoke the whole of the building restructured itself and the first floor was easily reconstructed from the damages caused by this pairs earlier actions. "Let it slide, hm?" she sighed and turned to go back inside after speaking these words apparently she was already done with whatever she was doing.

[Bloodedge]

Heero was joined by a tanned woman in a hooded jacket. She had something to say about the new recruits and his attitude toward what they'd done, but Heero didn't look as if he wished to 'let it slide' so to speak. He raised both arms, revealing that they carried metal buckets filled with various chunks of meat. "They're going to be in charge of feedings from inside the cage. And just wait 'til I find those mops," he said. Of course, this didn't mean he was going to chase these two. He was more than content to wait as long as it took for them to return home, that they might receive their punishment.

Meanwhile, Leonis was coming to a stop by holding his left arm out against a tree. He hadn't yet released Hikage, but he needed to lean this way to catch his breath over several moments. "Huff... huff... What the hell is with that guy? I didn't feel any magic coming from him, but I still felt like I was dying," he said. His list of complaints about this scenario could have gone on, but he came to realize there was something else he'd been meaning to address. So, he did. "And what the hell was that!? I thought you were trying to fight me."

[Apollymi]

"At least one of those people isn't going to mind something like that..." said the purple haired woman, she knew her Captain would likely be content to wait for this pair to return but by her own approximation it would likely be a bit of a wait for them to do so. She found Heero's attention to this matter to be strangely adult but that didn't really matter. "But do what you want, I think I am going back to my room now, until they come back. I'm pretty sure I only woke up properly because they were here..." she mumbled contentedly.

Meanwhile, a heavy breathing Hikage stopped moving for several seconds. She was still being held on to by this lad as such she was also against the tree he'd stopped for. After catching her breath a grin crossed her face, "I don't know. But that is why I chose him. He didn't feel annoying or actually like anything. It's almost like something is missing..." she mumbled not being able to think about this for very long. It seemed that Leonis took an issue with what she'd done before, and her impassive face rose to face his with her brows slightly furrowed. The amount of honesty this girl possessed would lead to her answering his question in the most honest way possible. "We were fighting and that was fun, but I felt all tingly again and I didn't think stabbing you would make that go away. So, I did something else..." the girl explained her position in that moment and most would likely find it strange. But given the now two times this pair had fought, and something similar the girl had done before, she figured her change in tactics would make sense to the lad before her.

[Bloodedge]

"I looked him in the face for a second... huff... it was like looking into an empty, endless well. Fall in, and you'll die long before you see the bottom of it." This was the best way Leonis could explain how he felt in the Captain's presence. That sensation didn't seem to be following them though, so they were likely both in the clear. This gave them the freedom to approach the conversation Leonis intended to have, mostly regarding the fact that Hikage had kissed him. "That's what counts as something else? Alright... I get it. That was probably my fault for the groping thing, but... I can explain," he said, taking another moment between statements to further right his breathing. "That... wasn't a romantic thing. Probably weird... yeah. Wanted to make sure they were real. Wait... what tingly feeling?"

[Apollymi]

"I want to figure that out one day..." she said of their Captain. She'd chosen him because he didn't feel as annoying as the other Captain who wanted her, and she hadn't been able to figure out why that was. Beyond this though, their conversation about the apparent intimacy between them. His explanation of this situation made her look at him, with that ever unreadable expression on her face. "Something I hadn't tried yet, so yes... something else," she seemed to think this was pretty straight forward, but as the explanation continued it seemed that he'd only been checking the realness of her chest for whatever reason, not that she'd had anything to say about the groping in the first place. "I didn't know it was possible for them to not be real..." she murmured. The tingling feeling existed before the groping and existed after, to be honest she couldn't really explain it so she simply tried to explain it the best way she could. "It was like being really excited, and it felt kind of numb and tense," she said as if it didn't matter to her. "But I felt like that before we even started fighting. Actually I kinda felt like that after our fight at the entrance exam. I assumed the fight would fix it. And then you started a fight with me... so we fought, but in the middle I still felt like that..." she explained. She supposed she had taken quite a liking to Leonis, maybe even from the point of their first fight.