[Skyfreix 17, 0100 A.R]
[Transcendent Dawn Camp]

Current in-game time 10:06 PM

The warmth emanating from the hot springs was already driving away all the dirt from Tamaki's body as he stepped into the steamy bath. He already had his towel around his waist, smirking proudly before taking a step into the bath. After all of that trouble, they went through, a bath was the only thing he wanted to do right now.

Yet, before he could take any step further, Sylvia's voice boomed from the side of the wall beside him. Yelling; "Heads up!" with a loud voice, and before he could react, a dozen eggs rained down above him, one landed square on his face and then causing a mess.

"Am I doing it right?" An unsure Filicia threw eggs at the other side of the wall, she was only trying to be respectful of the 'Marked One's' culture, and apparently throwing eggs at the men's bath was a tradition which they do, said Sylvia. Though Filicia had mixed feelings about throwing this much eggs at Tamaki.

A quick, "You're fine, just keep throwing more eggs until the evil spirit is cleansed out of his body, I assure you he's enjoying it too," from Sylvia followed up with a big fat thumbs up reassured the lass. The Mage was dead sure that she'll receive an ear-full from her sister after this so she made sure to enjoy the moment, and by that, she also began throwing some eggs of her own at the other side of the wall.

They could hear the sounds of feet scuttling across the other side of the wall, presumably Tamaki hiding from the hail of eggs. Come to think of it, how did they get so much onsen eggs? Sylvia just shrugged it off and continued; "Watch out for the boiled ones! They hurt and also sting!" She warned the other side before throwing said boiled egg. Her eas catching a noise of something solid hitting another solid object, a low disoriented groan came soon after.

"Bull's eye," The Mage grinned victoriously while Filicia shot a concerned look at the wall, hoping that Tamaki's doing find after all of this. "Give me five Fili-tan!⁓" Sylvia raised her hands to give Filicia a high-five with the young girl doing the same, unsure if she was doing it correctly.

"Are you sure he's fine? I think I just heard a thud." Filicia said.

"He's fine, he's fine, he's a marked one, he won't die to a boiled egg to the head," She was quickly dismissed by the Mage. Filicia couldn't completely argue with her logic as it was a given fact that Marked Ones are much more durable than most people.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, the men's bath was a massacre. Eggs and eggshells littered the bath as if a war had just broken out, confusing Surgiu and Aldyn as they came through the entrance. They expected a bath, not a school cafeteria after a food fight broke out, Tamaki's unconscious body floated on the water surface, eggs covering him from head to toe.

A while later, the young lad, Tamaki, rubbed his forehead at the area in which he was hit a while ago. It took Surgiu and Aldyn quite some time to make him conscious again, pretty much a hassle if Surgiu says so himself. Fortunately, Tamaki only received a couple of lumps on his head as there was no internal bleeding even after hitting his head flat on the tile. How he survived was thanks to him being a player.

"Let me guess, Sylvia happened?" In a blunt yet knowing stare, Surgiu was able to express his own annoyance at what happened. The boy nodded, further clearing his suspicions. 

"On behalf of her, I and Surgiu are sorry for that," Aldyn apologized.

"It's...fine..." he held his head as to keep the world around him from spinning. The concussion from the blow earlier still left him disoriented quite a bit.

"It should be from now on since Viola's taking care of Sylvia right now," As Surgiu said, at the next bath you could see Sylvia receiving an ear full, literally, as Viola pulled her by the ear while scolding her in front of Filicia. The young girl only stood there, unsure of what to do other than dip her head below the water.

"What do you mean he's fine!? The boy just hit the back of his head against a rock thanks to you, and you're gonna writ-" You get the point. An hour after the sermons and pestering, they all finally took the time to properly relax. Viola covered her mouth as she let out a giggle while talking with Filicia, the young girl was explaining how Sylvia and Tamaki met her, and the Bard found the tale quite amusing.

"And then the next thing I knew, they were both passed out on the ground in front of me," said Filicia. "Thanks to them I was saved from the trouble of getting abducted."

"But in the end, you still got covered in sewage thanks to them," Viola told her, openly allowing Sylvia to hear them while the Mage paddled at the deeper part of the bath.

"Hey! We didn't mean to!" Sylvia pouted.

Current in-game time 10:34 PM

They left the bath satisfied and refreshed. Sylvia even did a skip as they stepped out of the bath along with the others. Filicia began apologizing towards Tamaki even though the lad made it clear she wasn't at fault.

"I needed that so badly," declared Sylvia while hopping up and down around her sister as a child would.

"I feel so refreshed, I love taking hot baths," stretching her arms, Viola walked ahead with a rejuvenated gentle smile on her lips. She allowed her shoulders to relax as she slouched her body forward. Tamaki and the others came up from behind, also stretching as they did so.

"Thanks for letting me join you guys, I really mean it," Filicia said with gratitude. She already had her cloak covering her face, she took notice of the moons' placement in the sky, going wide-eyed as she saw the time, "I do apologize for not being able to hang around for a while, but I need to go do something..." she genuinely regretted the fact that she could not stay longer.

Sylvia placed her hands around her hips, "How come Fili-tan?" She puffed one of her cheeks while asking.

"Are you sure you need to go now? I mean, I'm fine with it but Sylvia's going to keep sulking again when you leave," the Assassin of the group shot a look at Sylvia, expecting her to lightly punch him on the shoulder which she actually did. "My point is justified."

"Wil we meet you again?" Tamaki asked. He knew his answer by just looking at Filicia's eyes, a smile was what she gifted him before saying; "I hope so..."

"Is it really that important to you?" Viola inquired, asking gently as she did. Filicia paused for a moment as they all heard a sound.

Growlllllll...

Viola turned to check on Sylvia only for the Mage to shrug at her before they all directed their attention towards the girl. The young girl awkwardly covered her face with the hood of her cloak as her feet shuffled uneasily beneath her. They all sweatdropped at this.

"That's a no-no, nope. We're not allowing you to leave on an empty stomach," a victoriously smug smile formed on Sylvia's face as she took Filicia's arm and dragged the girl away against her will. The others chuckled lightly at one another as they followed the Mage from behind.

The town's streets had a lively touch to them, like a carnival the bright gentle lights emanating from the magic lamps imbued the air with life. Various people walked around the party as they passed by open-air taverns, taverns which instead of having customers sit inside, they take them outside to be able to marvel at the stars. Some of these pubs had singers openly giving performances to people.

They would end up seeing food stalls around the corners of the walks, it was like a festival, children laughing ran them by. Inhabitants and Mark Ones stood side by side, both laughing and drinking. At the side, Viola was watching a band doing their performance at the center of the plaza, people watching ranged from children to old geezers drinking spirits.

"Behold! The biggest fortress of food!" The Mage presented to them a large building complex, five floors high, it had Asian inspired-motifs which decorated it from inside-out. Mandarin characters are written boldly at the front gate of the restaurant for everyone to see. 龍碗 (Long wan) formally known as the Dragon's Bowl.

The others stood in shock at the sheer size of this building, it was indeed a fortress compared to its other competitions which are either small pubs and eatery. One question came into mind as they looked at it, "How are we supposed to pay for food in that place? It looks like even a glass of water costs a few thousand golds here." Surgiu snapped.

Sylvia turned around with a smile, she clapped her hands together in front of her while smiling sweetly. Surgiu, Aldyn, and Viola's foreheads appeared to crease while a single vein pulsed on their heads. Tamaki and Filicia both stood beside one another, looking at the four quarreling while sweatdropping.

"We're not paying for that!" Viola shouted while the other two nodded beside her in agreement.

"B-but-" Sylvia stammered while trying to reply only to be cut off by Surgiu.

"-No buts! We're saving our reward money for the journal locks!" Said the Assassin. "At least try and look convincing when begging!" The Mage looked at the three with a pout as tears formed at the corner of her eyes, causing them to stop scolding her. The longer they stared at the Mage's expression, the more the guilt swelled inside them.

"Mommy look! They made that girl cry!" A passerby's kid pointed its finger at them, causing many eyes to lock onto them. Tamaki and Filicia awkwardly shuffled to the side as to not get blamed.

"How cruel of them...poor girl," A couple whispered to themself while walking. Invisible arrows pierced the three of them from behind as they kept their crumbling facade.

"Excuse me, dear mistresses and sirs, if you are not here to eat, I suggest you leave. You are making a scene in front of our restaurant," a man wearing what seems to be armor plating with dragon designs, probably the restaurant's own security, told them.

"U-uh no! W-we're going to eat!" Aldyn stammered to reply, he said it by reflex and he hated himself for it.

"Is that so? If that's the case, let me give you adventurers a seat. How many are you exactly?" The security asked.

"S-six!" This time Surgiu answered.

"I have just the place, please follow me." They were led into the building by the man. Sylvia let out a triumphant grin as she ran ahead to the man's side along with Filicia and Tamaki, leaving three defeated adventurers.

Sometime later, Surgiu shook his coin purse which was once filled to the brim with five hundred gold coins, he whimpered like a dog as a dust cluster fell out instead of a coin, "Our money...gone...how come you two don't look worried about the money we spent?" He shot a glance at Viola and Aldyn who were both chowing down at the feast which they bought with their hard-earned money.

After finishing a bowl of noodles, the two of them turned to Surgiu, blood coming out of their eyes as they cried out blood instead of tears. The Bard and Vanguard had forced a crooked smile, "Eat up or our money will go to waste." They both said.

"I dunno about you three but this fried rice is delish!" Sylvia happily declared as she ate slowly, savoring her food in contrast to the three who ate like pigs. Not that she spent her own money or anything.

"If it weren't for your little trick back there, we wouldn't be here eating while flat broke!" Surgiu directed a finger in her direction.

"Our money...all gone..." Viola began breaking down into sobs while she ate a steamed bun. Violently gobbling down the food while she mourned for their loss.

"I lost my shield doing that task..." Meanwhile, Aldyn downed a whole bottle of mead to up his spirits.

Filicia couldn't even take her spoon into her mouth regardless of how much she wanted to eat. She felt bad seeing the three of them mourning, she tapped Tamaki's shoulder, "I kinda don't feel like eating right now..." she whispered.

"I feel the same..." Tamaki whispered back, looking at the three with pitying gazes, the two of them can only watch in silence at the awkwardness of the scene. Aldyn ended up getting drunk and began sulking while Viola and Surgiu ferociously ate their meal, causing the other customers to shoot judging stares.

Yeah...I'm not hungry anymore...Filicia and Tamaki mentally thought of the same thing.

After receiving a warning from one of the staff, referring to the scene in which Sylvia and her party were causing, the Mage let out a sigh and then took off her witch hat to pull out a bag of coins. She tossed it towards Filicia and Tamaki, "You two go ahead and buy something for yourselves, I'll take care of things..." she let out an eye-roll as she turned to her broken teammates.

"..." The two decided it was for the best that they leave and took the money given to them. They spent a while wandering about the streets, deciding which place to eat from, after all, they were only kids given some pocket change by their aunt Sylvia.

Eventually, the two of them agreed on a little shop at the corner of the plaza. The shop was small and sold European cuisine, something Tamaki and Filicia haven't tried before. They got a seat for two which was pretty decent as the table they were in had a candlelit at the center, a couple of original paintings adorned the walls giving the place a cozy feel to it. 

Although, there was still an awkward silence between them as they sat in front of each other, yet their eyes won't meet. More like Tamaki avoided eye contact since Filicia only kept quiet since he was quiet. A minute later and their order came to their table, a large slice of pizza, cut into a heart shape, "A..." Tamaki saw the waiter nod to him as it went ahead and left them.

"Is this a type of bread? I haven't seen anything like this before," Filicia's curious eyes inspected the food given to them, for her it was almost considered alien, she waited for Tamaki to eat as to not look like a fool.

"You use your hands, like this," Tamaki took a slice and began eating. The girl's eyes sparkled as she watched him, she did the same and was surprised to find how delicious it actually was, she covered her mouth as a form of etiquette while chewing.

Looking at her right now, Tamaki saw her as nothing more than a normal girl, thinking about it he had no reason to feel tense around her. "Like it?" She nodded to him making him smile, courses came one after another, they enjoyed each and one of them while they received free violin music given to them by the waiter. The mood was calm and oddly silent.

Wiping her mouth with a napkin, Filicia saw a couple kissing behind Tamaki, causing her to retort her gaze and look away. It was rude watching a couple share a kiss, though she noticed that people around them were doing the same thing, leaving them the only two. Tamaki awkwardly laughed as he looked away, "Phew, is it getting hot in here, or is it me?" He tried to signal her.

"I agree, how about we excuse ourselves?" Filicia was quick to pick up with the gist and followed Tamaki's lead. They both nodded at each other in agreement. They stood up, walking to the entrance but before they could leave, a bunch of armed men entered the building.

One of the men bumps into Filicia, almost making her fall down if it weren't for Tamaki catching her. The girl whispered thanks to him which he nodded, they were both shoved aside as a dozen more men wearing green hooded men rushed into the building, their faces obscured by an animal bone mask, though they were wearing the same uniform as that of the Transcendent Dawn members from what Tamaki can tell.

"Excuse me but do you have any reservations?" The waiter tried tending towards the man to enter first.

In a low deep baron voice, the masked man produced a blade from thin air and then aimed it at the waiter's neck, making the man gulp, "Get down." The masked man said.

Tamaki attempted to reach for his staff, hoping that he could try and help but Filicia caught his hand before he could even react, she eyed him, signaling 'Don't try to be a hero.' Which he can only agree to.

A dozen more men poured into the building and raised their weapons at the customers of the restaurant. "As of this moment, your lives are under our control. If you value your life, get on the ground, and stay shut." The same man from before commanded.

Although they made one mistake. All of the customers were Marked Ones. In a single fluid motion, weapons and magic projectiles littered the room. Fighting broke out as the players fought the green-hooded men in a showdown while the men did outnumber the players, the Marked Ones were obviously stronger from the looks of things as they easily cut through the men's ranks. To Filicia's surprise, the waiter from before was already wiping the blood from his rapier which he brandished.

As surprised as Filicia was, she had to react quickly and shove Tamaki out of the way as a beam of light cut through the building. "Oi oi oi', I thought I told ya, dimwits, not to provoke the Marked Ones. Now I have to get my hand dirty again," a snarky voice sounded through the dust cloud. Most of the Marked Ones who weren't able to defend or cast their shields fast enough either got decapitated or merely injured.

Tamaki could make out a silhouette of a man having eyes that glimmered in a golden hue from behind the smoke cloud, he wore the same attire as Muzui did when they first met him. Even going as far as to copy Muzui's katana strapped to his waist. From what Tamaki could see, the man looked nothing like Muzui as his hair was blue and his face had a much-defined cheekbone than that of Muzui's. Unlike Muzui, however, the man had animal ears above his head, resembling that of a wolf's.

"My apologies sir, we were trying to apprehend them but they fought back even though we threatened them," one of the robed-men said, well duh, anyone would defend themselves when threatened.

"You think I don't know that? Don't forget they're Marked Ones, they don't fear death." The man stated. He turned towards the crowd of Marked Ones gathered at the corner, they were all calmly observing their situation as they have learned to not charged ahead like an idiot from all the adventuring they've been doing, "Listen up you maggots, I'm Muzui Hanzo, the swordless swordsman if you don't want to die and become the enemy of Transcendent Dawn, I advise you put your weapons down."

"You expect us to do that?" One of the Marked Ones shot.

"You gotta do better than that to threaten us," they said.

"Swordless swordsman my ass, we gave that title to you cause you weren't a dick." A female player of the Priestess class taunted.

"One v' one me you fuck and I'll make you eat your swordless ass." A Luar raised his hammer while laughing. The Muzui-fake let out a sigh as Filicia and Tamaki slid into a safe hiding place, behind the counter with the receptionist; who was in fact a Pugilist. 

"I honestly didn't want to do this..." While the Marked Ones were letting out taunts, the fake Muzui did the same stance as to what the original did from what Tamaki can recon. The posture, the sharpness, and even the aura exuding from him were the exact identical to the original technique. 

Right in front of Tamaki's eyes, a single flash and instantly the whole group of Marked Ones went into high guard, all of them quickly attempting to block the invisible blade only to feel their body get sliced in many different angles before falling down to