After learning of the special and unique pills that the Dark Magus was able to make, Alba had an obsession with finding this person. She already envisioned that with him by their side, they would be able to go beyond what they currently already were.
She had big things planned for the Crimson Crane, to become a worldwide force that could be utilized at will, with the aim of mainly protecting the people. It's why they were wanderers and helped out in cases adhering to any faction, and it was also why they focused more on getting rid of dangerous portals than the affairs between factions and governments.
However, she had received no luck. Time after time, there were no signs of this Dark Magus, and finally, when Dame was going to introduce him to them, he was nowhere to be seen.
It was leaving her to think that perhaps the world didn't want her to meet up with him. But what had come as a surprise to her was the children she had seen. The ones that were in the room were the ones that had caught her eye that day.
Was it a coincidence that Dame had brought her to these people? But there was one person missing—the hooded figure. At the time, she didn't put her finger on it, as her mind was filled with many things, but the hooded figure they were looking for, the one that was there that day, was he the Dark Magus?
The hooded figure with them as well, she thought it was just a stranger. She had only gone out here because she wanted to uphold her part of the deal. The Dark Magus and Dame were close, so it should have been someone she could meet anytime.
Meanwhile, his sister's situation, with her being injured, who knew how long she would be alive, or if she was alive at all.
Which was why the two of them had split up. Dame and the kids had gone to search for the Dark Magus and where he might be around the city, while Alba had gone off to the job intended.
"Alright, new plan!" Alba said. "Tilon, stay by the Dark Magus' side no matter the cost, and as for the rest of you, consume the green pills!"
Immediately, all of the members of the Crimson Crane took out the green pills with the marking of DM on them. Raze noticed them straight away; they were the Qi pills that he had created. These pills were the ones he had made with the level 1 power stones, so they wouldn't have an effect for a large amount of time, but still, it would be helpful to them all.
"Let's show the Dark Magus what we can do, especially when he's the one helping us!"
After taking the pills, everyone got to work again. The first one to strike was Elvlin; with his small frame, he swung the glaive, hitting the sword. He was moving just a little faster, giving him a little more power, knocking his sword more to the side.
Seeing this, Froma was timing her shots perfectly, and the arrows themselves were even moving through the air faster. They had crashed into Nabi's side, hitting his ribs. His Qi was protecting him from them piercing his body, but it was a big blow, and it wasn't the last of the blows.
Cronker had come from the back, aiming for the legs, he slashed towards the back of them, creating cuts near his achilles. Trying to slow him down. The blade didn't get through, but he was able to attack it more than once before going through to the other side.
Right after, Lilly with her spear thrust in the middle; the timing seemed odd to Nabi as he went to block it, but that's when the large sword from Kizer had hit the sword away, and Lilly thrust right into the stomach of Nabi. She lifted him in the air and stabbed at his body several times, one after the other, blood was starting to pour out of his mouth at this point.
"Give me a boost, Cronker!" Alba shouted, as she jumped, and Cronker went on his back, he then kicked both feet of Alba, sending her up.
Lilly stopped attacking for a moment, allowing Alba to strike again while he was in the air. She swung both of her blades in an X shape, and landed on the floor. Her visual Qi looked to have made petals as the large marking was left, and blood soaked Nabi's clothes as he was falling to the floor.
He could tell the rest were below him, and each of them was waiting for him. So he had no choice as he gathered his Qi and started to spin his body. The Qi and strikes were flying off his body in all directions like that of a tornado. Strikes were coming out everywhere, and the group needed to deflect them one by one. Thankfully, Tilon was still with Raze and Reno and was deflecting all of the hits.
As he landed on the ground, a large wave of Qi pushed out, making sure that no one got close to him, but when he landed for a second, he stumbled, and specks of blood were spat out of his mouth.
"Haha, typical, the great Crimson Crane… needs to use their entire clan to take me on, and you even have the help of some enchanted items, I see." Nabi was smiling, his teeth soaked in blood.
The Crimson Crane's effect of the pills would be wearing off soon, and they had already used up quite a bit of Qi. They needed to finish this now that he was injured.
All of them charged in at once again from all different angles. Rayna, who had been watching it all, some might have thought that she would have been hopeful in this situation, but she wasn't.
Having mustered up a bit of her strength from the strange plant that she was now next to, she managed to shout out a few words.
"No, get away from him!" Rayna screamed.
She knew what was coming. During her fight with Nabi, he had used it as well. Something that she had never seen before, something she had no clue how to react to.
Nabi raised his hand, and from the corner of his eye, he looked at Raze with a large smile.
'Just what is he… planning on doing?' Raze thought.
With his hand in the air, right at his fingertips, a few sparks started to appear. Soon after, it began to trickle down his entire arm. A strange blue trickle that was sparking off in all different directions.
The others thought that this was just a type of visual Qi, a new technique by the Dawn Blade clan they had never seen before, but they were wrong, they were very wrong.
"Who cares if I get in trouble. Paralyzing shock!" Nabi called out and slammed his hand open on the ground.
At the same time, the strange blue substance that was shooting all over the place spread right out on the ground, followed by a thunderous roar. The strike on the floor nearly deafened them all, and immediately, all of the Crimson Crane was hit by this attack.
It ran across the floor, hitting their bodies, causing them to freeze up. Almost immediately, they all fell to the floor on their knees, dropping their weapons by their sides.
Alba was trying to pick up her weapon, but a tingling pain was being felt throughout her whole body.
"What is this?" Alba said to herself. "What type of technique can do something ? Shouldn't only a Divine being be capable of this? Are you a Divine being?"
"No," Nabi answered. "I'm not a Divine being, I'm a mage."
The words, it was something that Alba didn't understand. What even was a mage, and why wouldn't her body listen to her?
She looked around at her fellow allies. 'Come on, just one of you, one of you… resist this!'
As she thought about her own people from the Crimson Crane, a realization had hit her. What about the Dark Magus? If it was affecting them this badly, then surely he would be hurt as well.
She managed to slowly turn her head, twitching it, as the sparks continued to try to snap it back.
"Huh?" Alba said in surprise. "How, how is he the only one standing and not affected by this."
Everyone had been affected by the lightning; all of them were down on their knees, all apart from Raze, as he stood there staring right at Nabi.
Rayna couldn't believe her eyes as she blinked a few times. It was a skill, even her as a middle-stage warrior couldn't resist this strange power.
'Who… is that guy?' Rayna thought.