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Post by Bloodbane on May 22, 2017 22:13:39 GMT -5
With that nagging feeling in the back of his mind now, the more Silver spoke about how she knew what she was doing and wanted to do what she needed without harming anyone, the more Rion found it difficult to shake the uneasy feeling. He said nothing while she was continuing to explain herself, though after a bit of silence he paused, hearing what she said about not being able to do this alone. As suspicious as he was beginning to feel about all of this, he felt that she was at the very least being truthful about her intentions regardless of what she was hiding in addition to her knowledge of the book.
"I'll do what I can, but no matter what happens, cutting off the source needs to take priority." He said, looking over to her briefly, before the two proceeded on their way, eventually coming upon the campfire that the other three were sitting around. He looked up to the ever-darkening sky briefly, looking back to Silver for a second before looking to the other three. "All right, the guards are getting people settled back into town... let's make sure they have nothing else to worry about." He said, before looking to Silver once more. "You'll have to lead the way. We'll cover you."
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Post by Arashi on May 22, 2017 22:32:02 GMT -5
After several moments of silence and being lost in thought, Silver nodded at Rion's mention of priority. He was right, after all. That was the priority here.
Truthfully, her only concern for her own life was because she knew she was one of the few out there- if not the only as far as she knew-capable of deactivating blight crystals. If this truly works like she thinks it will, she must remain alive to fix this mess. That was the point here; nothing else mattered, and her thoughts about herself and her powers did not matter. The objective was to save the people and she had to only think of that.
"...Yes, that is my absolute priority. Do not worry, it will be done."
As they arrived back at the campfire, Silver walked on ahead of everyone slightly, in the direction of the blight. Her demeanor seemed to change a bit; her words more cold, determined, and detached than before.
"Come. Kill anything that gets in the way, and be aware that whatever created the crystal may still be alive. I imagine it will be weak, but be wary." She looked back at the party for a few moments as she spoke, then continued walking forward. It would not take long for them to get there.
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Post by Sorrum on May 22, 2017 23:48:53 GMT -5
Aqua stepped out ahead of the group. In a fluid motion, she wielded Sharksbane and filled it with magic. The ice spear flushed with ice and two spear heads sat on both sides, ready for action. Anything that came near them would be skewered. Something felt off though. As they approached the area, things were quiet. Too quiet. Night had fallen by now and it would be strange to think that the attack from earlier was all there was. "Stay on your guard." She said to everyone. She felt eyes on her, but did not know where they were coming from. Yet.
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Post by Bloodbane on May 23, 2017 0:13:39 GMT -5
As Aqua proceeded ahead of the group, Rion could only bring himself to lightly chuckle. It seemed she was definitely every bit as eager to face off against this as Silver was... and if this truly did work, it was likely not to be the last time they would need to be this eager to stop the darkness from spreading. As they made their way to the tainted village, Rion paused momentarily. "Aqua, wait!" He called out, hoping she would stop before going too much farther ahead.
In the darkness, if one looked closely enough they may have seen a faint glow coming from underneath Rion's armored arm just before he held it out and generated an orb of light, illuminating the area around the party and revealing just why he had stopped Aqua; a small number of blighted corpses had been left behind, possibly as a means of protecting the crystal from attack. However, this group appeared to be smaller than the force that had attacked Aldur, although there appeared to be a few larger creatures among the group that stood between the warriors and their objective. They had made their way out from behind ruined buildings, shuffling around in the darkness in an attempt to surround the party. "Should have figured it wouldn't be that easy..." He muttered, before bringing the orb in front of him, shaping the light that formed it into what appeared to be some kind of pole weapon, which he then hurled into one of the larger creatures like a javelin.
"Get going, Silver! We'll hold them off!" He shouted as he rushed forward, ripping the light-based weapon from the creature. Getting Silver to where she needed to be was the easy part, however... Rion was not entirely sure how he was going to draw them away while also making sure none passed to interrupt Silver. Given how aggressive the force opposing the undead was, however, he hoped that would draw the undead to try and deal with them instead of Silver.
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Post by Sorrum on May 23, 2017 0:41:14 GMT -5
Two ghouls closed in on Aqua from either side. She positioned Sharksbane between them and fired both spears at once. The blighted humans flew off and impacted others. It wasn't strong enough to kill them, only hold them back. Aqua retracted the spear heads from the blighted humans and looked around at the situation.
Aqua fell back. Out here they should be far enough that Silver could get rid of the crystal, whatever it was she had to do. "Keep them back!" She cried out to the others. She stabbed at one of the oncoming ghouls heads, impaling it on her spear. She then yanked the creature around and threw it to the other creatures, slowing them down barely.
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Post by Arashi on May 23, 2017 1:03:31 GMT -5
Silver watched as Aqua charged on ahead. Though lost in thought still as they walked, she couldn't help but appreciate Aqua's enthusiasm. She would likely be a great asset to this mission...hopefully, she would be willing to travel with them a bit longer. This one was going to be as easy as it gets, she was certain. It would only get harder from here.
Her eyes darted in every direction as they walked, one hand on one of her swords just in case. It felt...off. There had to be more around, there was no way that crystal would be unguarded. Even more difficult, she could use her dragon form to get to the crystal quickly, but would need to use her human form for the deactivation process lest she risked...well, something she didn't want to particularly think about. While highly capable in her human form, her dragon form was no doubt more powerful.
As soon as Rion lit up the area, Silver quickly shifted to her dragon form and nodded at Rion. He and Aqua had distracted them plenty enough for her to charge forward without much care now. She propelled herself forward in a quick motion with her wings, charging through several of the weaker undead with the spikes on her head as she moved. She turned her head for a moment.
"Don't stay in the blight for longer than you need to!" She shouted at them, from inside the blighted territory now.
She then leaped in to the air and took flight towards the crystal, using her fire breath to take out several of the smaller, weaker undead as she flew by them. There were not many, it seems most had been used in the ambush trap; these ones appeared to just be stragglers. Luckily, there were none of the bigger ones on her route...yet. That would most definitely change, she was certain. There was no way she was getting out of this unscathed, but that was fine.
She landed on the ground a few feet away from the crystal. It was quiet, and calm...almost too calm. It was also dark; she was lucky she was a half-dragon, her night vision was pretty decent. Even still, all she could really see was the faint glow of the blight crystal lodged in to the ground.
Silver looked around, her head low, a snarl on her lips. She waited a few moments.
And then there it was; one of the larger brutes, slowly walking towards her with a deep growl. This one seemed particularly large.
Nothing she couldn't handle, though. She stood, waiting for it to make a move. Her lightning magic wouldn't be nearly as strong in here, so she had to rely on her strength.
Before Silver could even react, the beast lunged at her with extreme speed. So much for it being slow...
She jumped to the side, rather caught off guard by this beast. Okay, you want to play? Let's play, she thought. As quickly as she had dodged the beast, she went back at it with her fangs, aiming to bite it in the neck and swiftly behead it. The beast blocked this attack with its arm, Silver's teeth sinking in to it. She attempted to lift it and toss it, but...it was also surprisingly heavy. Just what is this thing?!
Before she had a chance to let go of her grip, the beast swiped at her with its other arm. She quickly released her bite, but was a few seconds too late; its claws cut in to her upper shoulder as she moved away from it. She growled, blood leaking from the slashes in her shoulder now. Great. Okay, quickly burning this thing was her only option.
With a powerful thrust of her wings, she propelled herself backwards and up in to the air. The beast attempted to jump up and grab on to her with its claws as she flew, but it just barely missed the mark and instead left a small gash on one of her legs. She circled around it in the sky just out of its reach and took a deep breath, then soon after a beam of fire launched from her jaws, directly at the beast. She managed to hit it, and it was lit on fire. But...it was still alive, for now, and it seemed angry. All she could think of is how lucky she is that nothing more than a tougher minion was guarding the crystal...
The beast, on fire, swung wildly in all directions. Silver landed on the ground a decent distance away from it, behind it. Its rage seemed to make it lose sight of her. Without much choice left, she charged forward and slammed in to the beast, knocking it a decent distance back away from the area with the crystal; though not extremely far. Her own fire hurt her a bit, but it was worth it. The beast stumbled backwards and fell; it was also pierced by her spikes and was now littered with several holes. It lay on the ground, on fire still, not moving. Silver watched it for a few moments, then approached the crystal slowly, doing her best to ignore her newly acquired injuries. Ugh. Hopefully it was dead; she wasn't entirely sure, but it was down for now. This was her chance.
She quickly shifted to her human form and sat on her knees next to the crystal, looking back at the hulking beast she had fought a few moments ago. It was still not moving...
She took a deep breath, and for a few moments, wondered how her companions were faring. Though she could barely see them off in the distance, nothing else was coming at her, so they must have been doing well.
Now, time to focus on the task at hand. She put both her hands on the crystal and closed her eyes tightly, wincing a bit with pain as she touched it. Ignore the pain...
She muttered some unrecognizable words, and her hands began to glow a dark blue. A few long dark blue glowing spikes appeared on her back, and she began to have a difficult time staying upright. Her body shuddered with...something. The glow from her body would be visible to anybody somewhat close to her, though she was far incapable of noticing anyone at this point.
The crystal flickered violently on and off as Silver kept her hands on it, flickering faster and faster. Soon enough, a small eruption of energy poured from its center, knocking Silver back off it and sending her back a decent distance. She landed on the ground on her back with a thud. She slowly sat up and opened her eyes to look at the crystal, but her vision was horribly wobbly; everything was spinning. She struggled to keep herself upright. The dark blue spikes remained on her back for a few moments before vanishing, but her eyes had a deep, dark blue glow to them still. She sat there on her knees, with her hands on the ground for support. Her mind was completely devoid; she could not think. Her body was shaking.
The crystal, though, stopped glowing. It sat there, shining a brilliant dark blue.
The beast she had fought earlier began to twitch....it then slowly began to stand up.
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Post by Sorrum on May 23, 2017 1:56:19 GMT -5
The fighting continued. Aqua fell many more of the monsters with Sharksbane, froze a few with a throw of her bolas, and used a pinch of magic to freeze the head of one that wasn't quite dead. She wondered if it's small size had meant it was a child. How terrible this magic is. She thought.
Aqua flattened one of the monster's heads with the flat of the spear head, and kicked it back, dead. It hit the ground and thudded, but much more loudly then it should have. The ground shook as well, as confusion grew. Aqua looked over in the direction Silver flew off in. Flames lit the scenery, the work of dragon's breath. A horrendous figure was rising in the dark, covered in bright red fires. The first thought that crossed Aqua's mind was why she agreed to come fight an ancient evil only talked about by old ones and story books, but another thought reached her lips first. "What in the world is that thing!?" Her shocked face covered by the visor on her helmet.
Well, whatever it was, it was trouble. Aqua knew this thing was dangerous, so she wasted no time. The blighted humans were thinning out by now, so she could prepare a spell. Aqua climbed up the side of a home with Sharkbane's help, and overlooked the battlefield. Only a few of the creatures noticed her jump up there, but there was little they could do. They didn't have a grappling hook spear weapon, after all.
Aqua sheathed the spear and pushed her hands together in front of her. She started glowing a bright blue, as a glyph appeared beneath her. Snow started falling around her and the temperature dropped harshly. Aqua muttered a few words under her breath, and after a few moments, magic energy poured from herself, the air, and the ground as all the heat and ice and water sucked itself into a single point above her in beautiful, cyan ribbons. In a flash of light, a sharp icicle appeared above her where the magic had swelled.
Aqua caught the magic ice missile with her manipulation over the element. First she noted how light it felt. The icicle was hardly the size and weight she anticipated, only coming out to the length of an arm and the weight of one too. The blight must be draining her power considerably.
She aimed at the blighted giant, few dozen yards away, and hurled the ice missile forward. It spun through the air and behind it a trail of blue magic that billowed like smoke. The missile fell short. It was aimed for the monster's head but instead pierced the right of it's arm. Aqua cursed at the hit, knowing by now that a strike like that was ineffective on these things. Her next spell would have to be even stronger. She put her hands together and started gathering mana again.
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Post by Bloodbane on May 23, 2017 20:02:44 GMT -5
"Got it!" Rion called out to Silver as he saw her fly directly towards the crystal. After carving a deep gash into one of the undead, Rion brought his hands toward the center of the light-based weapon, splitting it into two blades that he used to slash at the undead around him. All around him, the other members of the makeshift crew used their weapons and abilities to great effect, bringing the undead numbers down with relative ease just as they had in Aldur. However, as Rion looked in the direction of where Silver headed, his eyes widened as he saw the monstrosity that Silver was taking on. What kind of person had to die to make that?! Fortunately, it seemed she had managed to bring the beast down, at which time she had proceeded to do... whatever she had set out to do. "Keep an eye on that thing, no sense in all of us weakening ourselves further; I'll check on Silver." He said, before making his way deeper into the blighted region, bringing his arms up just as the shockwave from the crystal kicked up a cloud of dust at him, obscuring the area briefly.
"Silver...?" He said as he brought his arms down, seeing that she was shaking as the crystal appeared to lie dormant next to her. However, the closer he got to where Silver was, the more he could feel it; the darkness of the area was still around. Had she taken it in somehow? "Silver!" He called out as he made his way over to her. By this point, he was close enough to where a somewhat noticeable glowing could be seen from within the fabric sleeve of his gauntlet, though in her state he was no longer sure if she could even focus. She truly is crazy... she could have been taken over. Fortunately, he was at least proficient in combating dark auras with his own, although his ability to heal the wounds she sustained would leave something to be desired.
"You're gonna be all right... just hang on." He said quietly, holding his arms out as a glow could be seen across both arms, his bare arm revealing a series of runic markings that traveled up past his shoulder. As he channeled energy, a white aura began to radiate around him before beginning to shift over to where Silver remained struggling to keep herself up. As he began to push back against the dark energy within Silver, a purple-blue mist began to drift from her as he forced the darkness outward, the aura of light causing it to fade from existence as he began to overpower it. "Okay... this might not be so--"
Suddenly a powerful shock moved through Rion's body, causing him to drop to a knee as his light aura suddenly dispersed. W-what... but that was all of it... Surely he had forced the darkness from the small crystal out of Silver; the natural reaction to the dark energy had faded considerably... but not entirely. He brought himself back up to his feet, standing over Silver once more. She was able to absorb the energy of the crystal, almost as if she had a sort of control over it... Is this what she was hiding? He frowned, as a blade of white energy formed in his hand. He stood silently over Silver for a few seconds, almost as if he was deeply considering what he may need to do next... until the roar of the beast snapped him out of those thoughts.
Looking away from Silver, Rion watched as the other warriors threw all manner of elemental attacks at the creature, attempting to bring it down while also dealing with the debilitating effects of the blight field that had since dispersed. Fortunately, the attacks from Silver and the others appeared to have weakened it, making his job of finishing the beast a relatively simple one. "I have to hold out hope..." He said quietly, before hurrying away from Silver and towards the brute. Using the attacks from the others as a distraction, Rion leaped into the air, bringing the blade of light over head and piercing into the shoulder of the giant, causing it to yell out in rage and flail about as Rion held on tightly to the blade, seeming to use it as a means to remain latched to the beast. While Rion held on with his right hand, he brought his left arm off briefly, now appearing to channel energy into it judging by how a focused aura began to radiate from his gloved hand, encasing it in a glowing white energy as he drove it forward, gripping tightly onto one of the larger blight spikes in the beast's back and sending a rippling pulse through it.
The beast roared out in agony once more, but as it thrashed about it seemed to begin to slow down as the white energy continued to pulse through the crystal spike, the reason becoming more clear as it started to turn, revealing to the warriors facing the beast that from where Rion had grabbed hold, a light-blue formation of crystal began to spread across its body, centralized around the spike that was also beginning to change color. Eventually, the giant began to sway, and in what seemed to be a desperation move it reared back, attempting to crush Rion by falling backwwards, only for Rion to twist the blade and drag it out of the beast while pushing himself away.
Upon crashing into the ground, the beast continued to move about slowly, its movements growing increasingly stiff as the crystal seemed to encase its entire body until it finally stopped, at which time Rion stood alongside the beast and forced the blade downward a final time, a light building from inside the crystal and quickly growing brighter, until cracks began to break through and release the bright light. Finally, when the light could no longer be contained, the crystalline body shattered in a powerful burst of light. For a few seconds, Rion appeared to breathe heavily, though soon brought himself back to his feet as the blade dispersed.
"Whew, that was a close one... but we seem to have gotten out of it all right." Rion said, before looking back to where Silver was. "Er... you guys stay back, I'm not entirely sure what she did yet, and if the crystal's still active it'll be dangerous to get any closer." He stated, telling about as much of the truth as he could tell, since he had yet to really test Silver's theory about the crystal being completely inactive. He made his way back over to where Silver and the crystal were, looking over her once more.
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Post by Arashi on May 23, 2017 20:52:26 GMT -5
Silver simply just sat there in the same position as everything happened around her. She wanted to speak, but the world was a blur. As Rion extracted the newly acquired blight in her out, she regained her ability to think for a few moments, though only briefly...and barely. She was hardly aware of the fact that he was helping her, only aware that someone did SOMEthing to remove the pain. This gave her a chance to look at the now non-glowing crystal she had just deactivated and realize...she had done it. It was actually deactivated, and it worked. So, it was possible...
"I-it..worked..," She quietly mumbled out as the fight she was barely aware of went on around her. It was all a spinning blur. Her thoughts faded in to nothingness again; she began to struggle to stay conscious at this point. She stared blankly at the crystal now; a void in her eyes once more.
Shortly after the beast was defeated, Silver collapsed to the ground in a heap, blood leaking out through the cracks in her armor where she had taken injuries from the hulking beast. Her breathing was labored.
The aura of blight in the village was gone. No more beasts raised to attack.
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Post by Sorrum on May 23, 2017 21:19:45 GMT -5
Aqua gathered a surplus of magic. The spell she was going to cast would require twice the magic power the last spell took, but given the handicap this area was presenting, it would take longer. The ice chilled the air around her and snow fell like a blizzard. Nearly complete, she looked up to see Rion rushing the beast.
It all seemed so fast. He filled the beast with light magic of some kind that crystallized the beast, and shattered it. It was the most impressive use of offensive light magic Aqua had ever seen. Incredible. A half-dragon and an offensive light magic user. Who were these people exactly?
Things were quieting down now. Her companions routed the last of the blighted humans while she was charging her spell, so there was nothing else to do. Aqua quit channeling her magic into a spell, and soon the magic dissipated into the air. Time to check on Silver.
She climbed down the roof of the building and headed toward the dull light of the crystal, when Rion requested she stay back. What were they doing? He was standing over her, and what looked like the crystal lay next to her, yet dulled. What was going on here? This is why she wanted to ask questions earlier.
She stepped toward them prepared to interrogate them both, but felt her resolve falter. She'd saw them both fall down weakened by the enemies they were against. They were not her enemies. They were all fighting to stop this blight magic menace that ruined this village and Aldur, possibly others. But she still needed answers.
"I'll just stand guard, then." Aqua said. She drew Sharksbane once more and formed a spear tip on one end of it, ready for any more blight creatures to show themselves. She would defend Silver and Rion until this was over.
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Post by Bloodbane on May 23, 2017 21:46:55 GMT -5
Rion watched as Silver finally collapsed, despite him managing to at least restore her to whatever state she was in prior to the battle. At this point, his suspicions had all but been confirmed, but despite this he felt like it was not something worth mentioning. ... We all have secrets to hide, I suppose... He mused, before seeing Aqua make her way over to them. He looked over to her, then back to Silver and the crystal. "She did it. I don't know how... but she did it. It's completely dormant." He explained, before kneeling down, picking up the crystal in his right hand before lifting Silver up off of the ground, carrying her over his shoulders in a fireman's carry.
"We'll need to get back to Aldur... after that last one I'll need a bit of time to regain my strength." Another half-truth, but at the end of the day Rion truly did not have the means to heal the wounds the group had sustained, regardless of whether it was due to his own inefficiencies or not. "You can relax, you know... they're gone." He stated to Aqua as he walked past her, and in the direction the others were waiting in.
Once the group had gathered, it was simply a walk back to Aldur, where some guards had recognized the group from before and called for support upon seeing that they had been through a bit of a scrap, to put things lightly.
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Post by Sorrum on May 23, 2017 22:22:00 GMT -5
Aqua walked alongside Rion and the unconscious Silver. She'd need medical attention right away, so the questions would have to wait. Tell the truth, Aqua wasn't in shape to ask a dragon questions they might not want to answer either, so she would have to recover as well. She removed her helmet and took in a breath of air. They were soon surrounded by a team of guards that escorted them through the town. A crowd had gathered on the other side of the town gate.
"Hey! That's the girl who saved me!" Aqua turned her head to see the little girl she saved from the monsters attacking her grandfather. She was happy to see the girl made it to safety. She smiled softly and waved to the girl. Soon other people started cheering at the group's arrival. Aqua didn't know what to make of this recognition, but she was too tired to think about it now.
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Post by Arashi on May 23, 2017 22:25:19 GMT -5
Silver lay motionless for quite awhile as she was dragged out of the battlefield. Her mind was slowly returning back to normal at this point; the blight within her calming down. It took quite a lot out of her deactivating that crystal. Using blight magic was no easy feat; though it was something she was getting used to now.
She was hauled back in to town, where she could hopefully get a bit of rest. Though she would likely awaken soon, she needed to recover some of her energy; overriding a blight crystal is no easy feat.
Even for someone that can use blight magic.
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Post by Bloodbane on May 23, 2017 23:15:13 GMT -5
The group was quickly ushered to a nearby inn and given rooms for the evening as thanks for saving Aldur from the blighted undead. As Rion was led to a room to set Silver down in, an elderly innkeeper remained inside, stepping past Rion once he had set Silver and the crystal down, as a radiance began to form around her hands. "She should be fine shortly, but you should rest. Thank you, again." She said with a kind smile before Rion simply nodded and left the light mage to her work. Scratching the back of his head, he headed back out to where the group had essentially gathered, likely to plan out their next move before retiring for the evening.
"Hopefully Silver will be able to explain what happened... but one thing is for sure, whatever knowledge she has will be important in hopefully fighting back against this... and given how this crystal appeared suddenly, I'd say we're going to need all the knowledge we can get. Someone put it there, and judging by the experiences mentioned all around, I think it's clear that someone out there is trying to spread the darkness once again." Rion stated, still uncertain about whether he could really ask for assistance from anyone for this. "If anyone decides to turn away, I wouldn't think any less of you for it; seeking out the blight is a risky errand, crazy even... but if there is a chance that this can be stopped, then I have to take what I can get." He added, before turning back towards the rooms.
"For now, we should all get some rest. We've earned it. We'll have to figure out where to go next, but it will likely be the closest city to get those in charge aware of what's going on." Rion explained, at least to state what his next course of action would be assuming no better ideas, before heading off in the direction of the room he had been given.
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Post by Sorrum on May 23, 2017 23:52:05 GMT -5
"Wait right there." Aqua called out to Rion. She got closer to him so no one else would hear them. "Your ability to use light magic like that is astounding. I've got questions for you regarding that and that strange light you've been emitting from your clothes, and that dragon girl Silver too." She sighed. "Blight magic isn't famously known to be containable, so you and your friend have some explaining to do tomorrow. We may have saved this town and the next, but that doesn't mean I can trust you to keep going with this if you're going to keep secrets."
She too, felt tired, but had to say this. The events of today were too crazy to just leave alone without doing something to explain what had just happened. She'd be up all night thinking about it. She couldn't ask the dragon who stopped the blight crystal, however she did it, but this Rion character was available.
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