KESM: Terra Quatuor Chronicles

Blessing his meal with exaggerated reverence, Jon tore into a generous slice of Cumulodrake tail. The juices ran down his chin as he mumbled through a mouthful, "Mmmhh, Hayz, you've outdone yourself again." Taking another bite, he continued, "Can't get enough."

Hayz gave a subtle bow, accepting the praise. "A well-deserved feast, no? We owe a treat to ourselves. We wouldn't have the meat without your contributions too! So dig in." He emphasized the word with a wink before biting into his own portion, the charred edges crackling.

Jon didn't look up, too absorbed in savoring his meal, but his lips curved into a smirk. "Ah, it's only expected. A Mage of my caliber has to deliver."

Nearly choking on her meal, hurriedly gulping wine to calm the irritation, Emaila said "Acting all smug, are we? Whose calming circuit failed to keep the Drake down?".

Choking in surprise, Jon replied "Whoaaaa now. Try summoning a Tier-2 Fiend and then casting a complex circuit with barely enough Mana left to light a candle."

Sabbath, who had absent mindedly been pondering why Hayz's cooking was so good, let out a low hum. "Mmmhyh, the light from the circuit was visibly dim. But, to be fair, we were barely holding on towards the end. Your mana was faint…. your own reserves and the ambient mana, both gone. That dociling circuit? You were skating on fumes, it's a miracle you pulled it off."

Jon's smirk faltered, and his fingers twitched against his plate. "Yeah, well, what does it matter now? We're alive, aren't we?"

"Holddd." Hayz added, "Why didn't you let your Fiend friend stick around a little longer? "A few more passionate kisses with the Cumulodrake, eh?"

"Ah, that's the thing, the abomination I summoned from.... those pits.... was helpful, true. However, keeping it manifested for too long was equally as risky, for a myriad of reasons." "For starters, as you know, anything other than us killing the target is a death sentence, instant in effect, cause we didn't complete the mission assigned to us as Bound men. Also, I didn't fancy the idea of battling two Tier-2 Fiends. You know, due to the risk of the beast imprinting itself onto the battlefield. That's one I am not willing to take against a Severan Fiend…." Jon replied, with a half-laugh, half-cough.

"Good call." Emaila said, fully understanding the dangers posed by her kind.

Sabbath nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing. "It did hesitate, though. There was something…. off about all that: coming to meet us, attacking in frenzy, moderating its power before finally gunning for us in earnest. Didn't it feel like it was scared for some reason?"

Angie leaned forward with a mischievous grin. "You're saying it was scared? Of us?"

"Ha! gods no. It was second-guessing itself, and overcompensating, like it was afraid of something else." Sabbath replied.

"It was scared." Jon muttered, wiping his mouth with a sauced hand. "Not of us, though. Just as Sabbath said, I could feel its…. unease. At first it was gauging us, learning. Hayz's attack seemed to strike a nerve though."

"Right." Sabbath said, a hint of something darker in his voice. "It wasn't the fight that made it nervous. It was the fight it wasn't prepared for."

Hayz grunted, now eyeing its remains. "Checks out, it was young, not as experienced as a Tier-2 should've been, that didn't reduce its power, but it did limit the scope of what it knew how to do effectively, like using Aura. If it had matured…." He trailed off, taking another swig of wine. "Let's just say we got lucky. Its fear and inexperience saved us more than our skill did."

Angie's eyes flicked to Sabbath, who was rubbing his chin in contemplation, looking for patterns in the encounter, going over the details of the battle. Then to Hayz. "You think it was barely controlling its own Aura the entire time? Just manifesting electrical currents for the most part? Impressive."

"That's a neat trick for a beast." Sabbath muttered, finally standing upright and turning to face the others, his belly visible rounder. "The Fiend's raw instincts were enviable. It was using its own fear to adapt and grow. It wasn't just about its size or strength. That brain behind it, at some point…. It started communicating telepathically, through electrical currents."

The members of the crew all shifted uneasily from the fact that had happened.

Emaila leaned back, exhaling through her teeth, as her head rested on Jon's lap. "So it learned. And we didn't exactly make things easy for it. But hell, I'm still surprised it adapted so quickly." Thinking back to the beams "They came out of nowhere!."

"Don't get Me started, how many times did we almost die?" Angie's expression turned calculating, her cheeks red from alcohol.

"Phewwwww." Jon whistled, the memory of Sabbath saving him from the Drake's maw at the last second still fresh.

Emila, enjoying his warm embrace, spoke up, her voice carrying more than a little bit of curiosity. "So, what's your latest reward for winning yet another game, Sabby?"

Jon glanced over at her, his voice softening, almost ceasing for a second. He had almost forgotten how mesmerizing she looked under a full moon, on starry nights. A mutation of sorts, related to her Esper ability; Lightweave. Her blackened sclera reflected the night sky and crackling flame. Her skin and almost chilling, alien colour, a pale blue that seemed to absorb all the ambient heat and light, he replied: "I can never get over you Espers really, you have such weird abilities. Even the light I manipulate with magic works differently from yours."

"I know." Emila replied with a chuckle "Even amongst Espers, though, Sabby and that scoundrel of his have strange abilities."

"You'll get there soon, Axis 4 right?" Hayz said, trying for levity. Emaila only gave him a pouty look.

Sabbath was already back to his usual self, his hair still slightly tangled, but tied in a 'neat' bun. "Yh, the Drake's soul is now bound to the Chessboard. As always its abilities are painfully nerfed, but hey? A lovely addition to my arsenal, like the crows."

Pouring himself another drink, he raised his mug: "A toast, shall we?"