57 Day of Rest: Ioune's Perspective

Most of the day had passed as the sun was quickly setting. Ioune spent most of the day shopping for a less conspicuous outfit and managed to get a simple white linen robe and cloak that still signified his role as a priest but would garner less attention. He knew that showing up at the capital in his high priest's robes would probably cause some concern for the citizens of Caladan Proper.

Ioune was walking through a field outside of town, he knew he was being followed and decided to take the conversation out of town in case a fight broke out. His assumption would be proven correct as Ice froze his legs to the ground.

"The High Priest of D'vrais, There is no way you will let me just walk away after the battle." Azura blinked in front of Ioune with a spell circle hovering over her palm.

Ioune stared silently at Azura.

"Not gonna deny it? That's a pity, I'll keep you in stasis for now." She snapped her fingers as the ice began to rapidly grow around Ioune.

"[Celestial Armament: Valor]!" Ioune shouted out as the ice shattered as a blinding light enveloped him.

As the light died down, Ioune was covered with a radiant golden armor, thick platemail enveloped every inch of his body covered in glowing white runes and spell circles. His helmet completely covered his face with golden wings that wrapped around the front of the helmet and spanned out from the back. In his hands were a golden longsword and large shield etched in anti-magic runes.

He thrust his shield forth as a shockwave shot out, shattering Azura's prepared spell. Azura blinked away, sending a dozen icicles towards him as he raised his shield to block. The icicles shattered as the runes began to glow.

Azura tapped her staff to the ground as a large four-layered circle expanded out, the grass that it passed froze instantly. Sensing the danger that the circle posed, Ioune released a pair of white wings on his back as he took to the air and swung his sword, sending a golden aura at the circle which broke a layer.

"Tch." Clicking her tongue, Azura reinforced the circle with a fourth layer once more and continued to expand the circle, freezing more grass and trees as Ioune flew away.

Azura sent dozens of icicles at Ioune, who weaved and slashed at the quick shards, sending waves of radiant energy with each slash at the rapidly expanding circle.

"Enough, Azura. [Celestial Armament: Spellbane]!" Ioune chanted as his sword was replaced with a golden halberd adorned with a bladed hook covered in anti-magic runes. He threw the halberd at the circle, completely destroying Azura's [Frozen Domain] spell.

"You aren't the only one with that kind of power. [Celestial Armament: Azure Lotus]!" Azura shouted out as her body was covered in frost and shards of ice, she floated up in the air as a flower of ice blossomed beneath her as petals wrapped around her, shielding her body.

"Seed." She said coldly as small snowflakes drifted about the battlefield, creating a minefield as the small snowflakes turned into seeds of ice that radiated cold, freezing the grass surrounding them.

Ioune narrowed his eyes and re-summoned his sword as he slashed out at a few of the seeds, destroying them to clear a small area of the field for him to control.

"Blossom." Azura said with a smirk as each seed burst open, several long tendrils stretched out of the small flowers that bloomed, some of the nearby tendrils lashed out at Ioune as he tapped his shield with his sword, causing a wave of light to burn away the tendrils.

However more tendrils erupted from the flowers and quickly wrapped around Ioune, freezing him in place.

"[Celestial Armament: Berserker]!" Amari blurred onto the battlefield, now donning a set of dark iron armor that had a crude look, the plating looked beaten and battered but in a way that made it look natural. Furs covered her waist, chest, and arms over some of the plating. Her helmet, although still made of dark iron, looked like a miniature head of a behemoth, with iron horns sprouting out from the temples of the helm pointed straight ahead.

She swung Freyr with a flick of her wrist, destroying a vast majority of the blossoms in one go. Ioune thought he saw an opening and charged straight for Azura, only to clash swords with Amari as she blurred in front of him. "That's enough, pretty-boy."

Azura charged a three-layered spell in her hand as Hoat'l crashed into the petals surrounding her, melting away instantly as his white flames surged forth. "Tha's enough fer now, lass." He swiped his hand, sending the flames forth, destroying the rest of the petals.

Ioune landed on the ground, dismissing his Valor armor set and his wings furled at his back and dissipated. Azura dismissed her armament as well as she landed on the ground, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Mind telling me what the fuck that was all about?" Amari said, dismissing her armor as she glared at Ioune.

Ioune smiled and nodded his head. "Just a friendly little spar to vent out some frustration." He said calmly as Azura spat on the ground in his direction.

"Bullshit, you're up to something, and I'm going to figure out what, eventually." Azura scowled at Ioune.

"Nay, lass. The boy ain't up to somethin', least not anythin' that'd harm us."

"We shall see." Azura turned and started to walk away.

"If you must know, Azulian Flame, Lord D'vorik has called for a full pardon of your crimes, if you are willing to help stop the Empress." Ioune said as he summoned a scroll, holding it up towards Azura.

"Bullshit." She said as she walked up and snatched the scroll, opening and reading the contents. Her eyes widened in surprise as she turned back to Ioune. "Why didn't you say anything before? We could have avoided that whole conflict if you had just spoken up!"

"I wished to see what you were capable of first. You are certainly powerful enough. I didn't expect you to be in possession of an Armament, though." Ioune said, back to his usual warm smile.

"Likewise, I thought the High Priest would spend most of his time on paperwork and other equally useless tasks. Although what surprised me, even more, is you, Amari."

"Hee." Amari grinned with pride. "Well, I just thought since we were showing off."

Ioune chuckled and shook his head. "Well I am certainly impressed, miss Amari. The Berserker Armament is difficult to control. I was hasty when I decided to try and knock out Azura so that I could deal with you, but you seem to have a handle on the rage aspect of the armor."

"I'm always pissed off, so a little bit of induced rage is nothing I can't handle." Amari smirked.

"Ah, which reminds me, what were you two doing out in the wilds? It's almost night time and you both should be resting." Azura said as she tapped her foot in annoyance.

Amari grinned and placed a hand on Hoat'l's shoulder. "Me and bushbeard were out on a date. Killed us a few goblins and bears, had a lot of fun!"

Hoat'l smacked Amari's hand away and glared daggers at her. "Grabbin' me by me boots and swingin' me like an 'ammer at gobbos is NOT a date! Ye nearly threw me right into tha' bears maw, ye did! Crazy lass!" Hoat'l yelled out as he stomped back towards the town.

Amari smirked and shrugged as Azura and Ioune looked dumbfounded.