21. Those who know.

The girl, having decided after a moment, jogged over,catching up with silver. "Is what they say about you true? That you nearly crippled the asari nation?" The girl asks curiously,no malice in her words or actions. "Yes and no, i accidentally killed a large portion of their lower ranked troops and...a portion of remaining civilians, in an all out desperate attack.you see,me and micah and a bunch of other mercenaries had been driven back to the wall,battling a literal wall of armored beasts, from steel fur wolves, to iron elephants and even a stone horn rhino, and many other things, i had been severely poisoned at one point and nearly every one of my skills was locked, so I couldn't even fight at my most powerful. In a last ditch suicidal move, i dashed deep into the tide and unleashed what is now called a mana storm, it devours any mana, whether its in something or not, and if forced will dig through your meridians to your soul, draining lifeforce through your mana gates, At the time i didnt even know it could spread and cover such a huge area, anyway the mana it absorbed had to go somewhere, it either filtered into the storm bolstering it or funneled into me, expanding my mana well, or...causing severe mutations, thankfully it didnt alter my appearance too much, id have chosen death if i lost this cute face. Dont you think?" Silver gives the girl her best kitty watery eyes, seeming cute and innocent, making the girl blush and become a tad awestruck like one would with such a cute animal. "Dawwwwe, I can agree your very cute" Silver taking the chance to change the subject teases the young girl. " what are you a pervert? Finding a girl cute? Ha" She says playfully as the two reach the booth, where a new line of mercenaries has appeared, many wearing their gear already as they wait, at the front is a burly bald headed man, standing well over six feet, though still a smaller man than micah, going to show how abnormal Silvers group of friends are. The man takes a tentative step forward to the booth, and asks softly in a deep rumbling voice, though it sounds shaky, as if anxious or not completely confident in himself or what he may be asking. "Um...excuse me, are you by chance, Miss storm...of the asari? My friend had described her as redhead, short, and missing an arm at the shoulder, hearing tales of your feats, I had to meet you in person, and maybe i can earn a spot on your new team, ah to live in the glory of a rising legend, my family name can only dream!." Silver smiles, already knowing that many will know her as storm before silver now for quite some time. "I am, but I am not the one to challenge, micah, the neko male thats in the arena, I'm sure youve seen the rules, so challenge him, and hope for the best, this one beside me is the first successful victor so far, and only 9 spots available, so try your best." Silver states, and only glancing at the fight when it starts, only to see the male get slammed out of the arena immediately like a sack of potatos. "Well I guess i wont have a professional fan on my team, of well" Silver shrugs, moving on through the challengers, many in line now are those directly from the asari forces that know her, or there with some one who does, attempting to try out, but many fail, until a middle aged dwarf steps forward, black hair and beard, wearing a very heavy set of armor and carrying a very large hammer that looks much like a meat tenderizer than a war hammer. Challenging micah, when the fight starts, and Micah dashes forward, the dwarf being faster than one might think in the heavy armor, dodges to the side swinging the huge hammer with speed and force as it whizzes through the air with a whistling sound, but just before it impacts micahs chest. He manages to catch the handle, this is where his strength stat gets to shine as, even with all the power behind such a large hammer its stopped dead only an inch from his chest. The dwarf not wasting a moment pulls back, using a faint amount of mana on his arms, legs, and hammer swings,strikes, and dodges deftly, micah strikes leaving dents in the armor causing the dwarf to grunt, but otherwise show no signs of faltering, given the fact that micah is a cut above many in strength, a sign that the dwarf might be some form of tank class. But alas, taking a beating isn't everything in a fight, as micah grapples him, gaining a firm hold on his helmet. Before the dwarf has time to escape his clutches, he bares down squeezing hard, the groan and grunt of pain from under the helmet a sign of the stresses the helmet and wearer are enduring. The helmet slowly crumples from the force, a show of strength of those who thought this challenge seemed a bit too easy. Eventually the dwarf yields showing a two finger surrender, before micah lets go, and the dwarf falls, in too much pain to remain standing and a group of healers rush onto the arena, tending to the dwarf with haste, taking off the helmet, before carrying him off on a stretcher. "Oooooh so close, a minute more and he wouldve had it" silver says not batting an eye, as contender after contender step up to the challenge, of all sorts of civilized races, even beast tamers in the mix. Eventually after several hours of fighting throughout the day, trio of girls wearing matching cute witches outfits, with the tall and wide brimmed hats, and black skirt, though none them have the same colored hair, one is a red head, one is dark blue, and lightly shimmering in the sunlight and the last is blonde. The trio jabbering away, their sentences seeming eligible to everyone else, but the three seem not only engrossed in whatever topic, but quite animate, the blonde bouncing on the balls of her feet, the red head speak with her hands as she talks, and the blue one likes to shift her head a bit, making a cute but chaotic scene, probably why they stick to eachother. They eventually step forward, putting their applications down before rushing to The arena, the first up is the red head, and she starts the fight in an unexpected flare, her outfit, and hat, igniting in dark rich flames, as she raises her arms, a torrent of fire is unleashed towards micah, the heat, unexpectedly intense as she covers the entire distance with fire, a wicked grin on her face as she already thinks she won. Only micah is tougher than he looks, jumping up and over the torrent of fire, even though he was covered in it, he ignores the burning flame, and advances as its not even making a scratch past his hair yet. "It wont be that easy to win!" He roars forcing the fire mage to dodge and engage in melee, but she shows a tremendous amount of skill as she dodges and even parries with her fire, using both offensively and defensively, even using it to boost her speed like rockets strapped to her. Eventually, the heat and strain get too much for micah and he calls, with under half a minute to spare for her, he surrendered declaring a wounded state. Medics rush over putting micah out and healing him quickly as she bounces over to her friends triumphantly, and the group start chatting again, the blue haired one steps up, and seeing this, silver decides to give micah a much needed break hopping down in the arena. "Tag out for awhile, catch a bite and let me stretch my legs for awhile..." Giving a short but obviously relieved nod as he nearly runs up the stairs before silver can change her mind, making her laugh at his antics. "Alright, alright, gunna change it up a bit, last 1 minute against me or land an injury or one that will make me declare it as last fight, or lose, simple right?" The blue haired girl only gives a nod before assuming an aggressive but open stance, one usually typical for mages on big casts.Seeing this silver prepares everything, being mindful to pull the power on the turrets in her mind, while also planning for the worst. 'What does this little girl do?red for fire?blue for water?lightning?oh lord i hope its not lightning.' Is all she can think about as the timer clocks down to zero and the fight is on. Just as silver uses her mana storm around her and attempts to summon one of her turrets, thunder rumbles, as a massive bolt strikes down, the light blinding everyone for a few seconds, the power apparent as the turret was destroyed, but...like the monster silver has become, with the storm still sizzlimg and crackling with leftover lightning, a cold sweat dots her brow, realizing quickly that it may not have killed her, but it wouldve hurt like hell. With that the battle is on and the storm is summoned, one summoning turrets to fire rounds at the mage, and set the arena on fire, keeping her backed in a corner as silver dodges bolts of raining lightning slowly closing the distance, a minute goes by and she hasnt even managed to truly pressure the girl as she had summoned a small barrier of her own as the mana bullets strike, they are disintegrated on impact with the lightning, this ability of lightning control is remarkable, rivaling an anime character or something as it forces silver to struggle against it, though it cant harm her it still takes a toll when hitting her mana storm, that first bolt both consumed a considerable amount of mana and bolstered her pool slightly the combination polar opposites and confusing. A testament that gems are hidden everywhere, when one starts digging. After two minute, silver finally draws near getting hit several times by the lightning,her own speed unable to match it perfectly. But before she can even take a chance, the blue hair girl expands her mini storm and the barrier electrifies Silver, bypassing her own storm, causing her to be stunned in place, and not even a second later, a rain of hundreds of bolts strike down rapidly digging into her mana wave even though some is replenished its destroying the mana in the path. The reason? Is a special lightning, the end's lightning or to demons, hell lightning, even though its summoned by mana its destructive enough to destroy most if not all forms of mana. Eventually Silver's barrier falls, and she is struck with the remaining bolts, gritting her teeth, as it starts tearing into her body, the power splitting skin, burning veins, sinjing hair, only for it all to heal up and repeat, the scene gory and unstoppable as those watch, her flesh on her face burning down to bone only to regenerate in a moment, the display of her healimg factor, makes many who had thought she seemed easier than micah realize she is like a final boss compared to him in this since, her mana pool being the only thing letting her survive the onslaught as the mutations she underwent at the asari mission, giving her body the ability to use mana to bolster itself and speed up her recovery. The issue is, what happens when it runs out? In the flash of only a few seconds, the bolts cease, and silver slumps a bit, panting from the pain, her muscles twitches, but a bright almost crazy smile on her face. The reason is obvious no? She has two very powerful mages, one fire one lightning joining her team, this alone now makes 3 total members, and if the third girl is a mage anywhere close to these two? The devestation the four of them can wreak on any battlefield...Shaking the thought out of her head, Silver stands up shakily. "Good job the two of you passed but theres still one of you left, so, what's your class? A light wielder, or something like that?, I noticed how your hairs matched your ability." Silver says, though the crazy look still on her face, makes the blonde a bit nervous she still speaks up swiftly. "Oh, actually, im a healer, i dont have any combat skills other than ranged heals." The girl shrugs, acting as if this would give her a free pass on the one on one fight. "Regardless of class you have to fight, you wont always have a body guard so you will need to learn to survive, or to take a hit, so you still wanna be on my team with them?" With those words, The blonde goes pale, her friends smirking as they push her forward. "Go on, we told you this leader does things differently,all you have to do is survive, or beat her like me!" The blue haired girl says, her satisfaction for managing to wound Silver, the legendary storm, apparent.After a moment the blonde walks down, nervous of the upcoming fight. "Friendly tip, dodge and focus on healing yourself as you move and fight, since you dont have much offensive skill, ill fight as a brawler, but be warned, im tiny but hit like a flying brick." With this, Silver gets to her corner, brushing some ash off herself as she waits for the countdown to end. As the fight start, silver moves forward,turning into a blur for the crowd as she covers the distance in barely a few seconds, throwing a hard punch into the blonde's stomach, which sends her skidding back a few feet, spitting a bit of blood, but then a golden mana surrounds her, healing her internal wounds even before the next punch can meet her jaw, even though she moved to dodge, silver doesnt take it easy on her, redirecting her punch by only a bit downward, in order to make the hit, knocking the girl off het feet, a dark purple bruise already forming, though it started healing immediately due to her mana focusing. 'At least the pain doesnt distract her from healing at least.' Silver thinks going to curb stomp the girl, which the blonde quickly rolls out from under and scurries away panting and pale,fear filling her eyes as she watches silver closely. "Y-youre a lot faster than i thought, when you were fighting my sister you seemed kinda slow." The blonde says, anxiously. Without a word, but showing a smirk, Silver presses on with the fight, the girl taking blow after blow, managing to dodge a few, mainly when dodging into Silvers left side, a full two minutes pass quickly, the blonde, drenched in sweat and trembling from the constant strain gets better and faster at dodging, showing a high capacity to learn and adapt in combat, though Silver is every bit of a monster only holding back enough not to kill the blonde as the two spar, at 3 minutes, the fight stops. Silver turns away, smiling cheekily, as the two sisters rush over to tend to their now collapsed one. "Congratulations, you all somehow made the cut, im surprised she didnt crumble under the pain, most healers dont have such tolerance." Silver says before going back up to the booth, where Micah is still cramming his face with brisket and nachos."4 members so far, 2 mages, a swordswoman, and a healer, id like at least two tanks and some supports, a few more melee or ranged combatants, preferably a multirole setup might work. But, its late, and I feel bad for making you fight so much, granted very few even made you break a sweat, but lets call it here, and...if you want you can crash on our couch for the night. We will pick it up in the morning after breakfast with more specific roles for everyone, and I trust that you have the applications for our first 4 right?" Silver asks, her eyes soft as she looks at micah's slumped and exhausted shoulders. "Yea, i got em, and thanks for letting me crash at your place, the drive to my dads place would be rough now, and another thing, I may have a couple people who are interested that will fit at least one of your criteria, ill let them know tonight, their all guards for the wall, but only part time until they can find a mercenary outfit, and knowing you? We will be a bit of everything. And hey...where did you get the name armored foxes from?like its cool but neither you nor me are foxes." Micah responds as he finishes his meal, packing everything up before passing over a small manilla file with all of the applications. "Oh, you got company behind you....commander." He says that with a smirk looking over her shoulder at the trio. Looking over, Silver is a bit surprised, but remembers she didnt tell them where to meet up later. "Right...So girls, we are glad to have you join us, tomorrow at noon, me and micah shall be there with a swordwoman, whom is still inexperienced but quite talented, will be joining us, show up at saint tella's barbeque, and yes the meal is on me, any questions?" Silver asks,showing a rare pinch of patience.