As the time for Luna to meet her squad approached she had finally reached the guild headquarters, signing in at the front desk as protocol dictated before heading down to the locker rooms.
The lockers were for people to store their civilian clothing and personal effects while out in the field, the hallway was rather empty today though. Usually it was full of divers and support staff moving back and forth, coming in and heading out. Today only a few support staff that worked in the HQ could be seen, all looking busier than normal.
"Strange, i wonder where everyone is"
Not knowing what the problem could be because no emergency beacon was sounded, Luna continued on with getting ready. Removing her light blue sun dress she had on and her undergarments, her body felt free as the cool air around her brushed her naked skin; a faint blue aura surrounding her.
Lunas body wasn't one of delicacy but rather a marvel of the human form. Her breast were perky and sizable but one could she the strength of the muscle behind them. Her stomach flat and her waist thin, the definition of her abs and back/core muscles showed the effort of training for battle. Her buttocks were firm, lifted and ample, while her legs were truly a marvel, both showing the definition of power and endurance, the body of a top athlete.
By the average mans desire she was a woman of unattainable beauty, but those were the men who didn't care for the warrior Luna Ember had made herself into. Those were the men she disliked the most, the ones who see a trophy to be won or a woman that would make for god breeding stock.
As one looked closer at her naked form, one could see her effort across her skin. Her pale nipple of her right breast showing the healed cut of a beasts claw that pierced her chest piece across her sizable asset, from when she was on her first dive. Her legs and ass while a beautiful sight to watch move, drawing attentive party's lust for her to the forefront were covered in bruises and cuts.
The worst of the worst of Lunas scars is the large marks on the side abdominal muscles, from when she took the horns of mutated haze beast trying to save a squad mate who later died from their injuries. To this day Luna blames herself because she believed if she were only stronger they would still be alive, and their family would still have them with them.
Though her naked body was a sight to see, Luna began to put on her armor. The thing though was her armor choice, as it was made to work along with her ability which she rarely used; the Azure flame of the Ember clan.
Many people believe the Ember clan undeserving of their position in the 7 great families, but they would be dead wrong. The Ember family's power was unique, and powerful for a price.
MÁNI god of the moon and carrier of the blue flame while not the strongest god, had an ability unlike any other. The Azure Flame of Rebirth was the name it was given, and the Ember clan were it wielders.
The first layer of Lunas armor was a skin tight fabric that hugged most of her buttocks, drawing the rest up the front of her body to again encase most of her breast; barely even covering the nipples. Then a thin metal clasp that hooked behind her neck kept it from falling down, yet still extremely reviling as a majority of her back was exposed.
The second layer was a form fitting chainmail that sat low on her shoulders covering her arms and torso, but again leaving her back exposed.
The third layer was light blue cloth armor that was reinforced with a sturdy leather, it wove around her neck and draped down to her calf muscles. It was tied into place along her lower back covering most of the other gear and legs, except it had long slits all the way up to her hips allowing for better range of motion.
Last and final layer was the fourth layer which consisted of knee high armored boots, and a chest piece that laid on the leather around her neck and strapped around her lower back with layered abdominal piece allowing for bending. Shoulder guards attached to the top, and tied around her arm, to keep them in place.
Luna further accented her armor with a black hooded cape and a sword belt. Though she didn't like using her ability she never wanted to go into battle without being able to have access to it, because it could save her life and the lives of her squad mates.
{{{{{ AZURE FLAME OF REBIRTH}}}}}
-flame aura: give self and/or allies an aura of concentrated fire. Attacks of any kind carry burn/fire damage.
-healing flames: decreases the amount of time an injure takes to heal on allies. Rapidly heals user automatically.
-reborn in flame: known of only by those who worship MÁNI, god of the moon.
{{{{{ Ember Clan }}}}}
All things have a cost, MÁNI's power needed to be absorb through the skin so that the organs weren't damaged. The more skin one had free the more power they could access, though the modest found this a hard thing to overcome.
...
After finishing up with her gear Luna moved to the observation deck to meet up with her team, while they waited to head out to the fields. As she climb the stairs the sound of cheering began to increase in volume, until she opened the door into the deck and was struck by its full force.
Seeing her teammates at their normal table Luna joined them, still unsure what was going on; or why the deck was so full.
"What's got everyone so excited?!" Luna yelled over the crowed.
~ "Luna! Oh yeah an Unblooded just reached the final stage on their first try! He's got some fancy footwork i must say!" Rose yelled back to Luna.
"What! That's amazing, what's his ability?" Curiosity evident in her voice since the amount of people who have reached this point in the trail on their first try could be counted on a single hand.
~ "That's just it, he hasn't used one that we know of yet. Just some weird style of martial arts,... more like he was dancing if you ask me."
"Haha. Teach a fighter to dance and you got a fighter that dances, but teach a dancer to fight and you've got a deadly warrior. Haha" the idea of someone dancing in an actual battle, absurd but peeked Lunas interests.
The need for talented divers drove the guild house to advance their technology to help with recruitment, to allow for perspective factions and families to watch potential prospects in action. The observation deck being one of these advances as it looked over the testing area, on the walls and tables were monitors that showed a video feed of the live test, and there was even a private stream set up for the stronger factions and families upon request.
Looking at the monitor in front of Rose, Luna watched a lightly bronzed skin man with obsidian hair cut in a kinky Faux hawk actually dancing while holding a sword and shield.
'Peculiar' was the only thing Luna could think as she watched his movements that looked familiar, for some reason.
**ROOOOOAAAAARRRRRRR**
While lost in her thoughts a loud roar was heard, being her attention back to the monitor. While this test was made to push a person to their limits, rarely did people get faster as time went on but that was what everyone was seeing.
The newbie all of a sudden seemed to get a second breath but in the process his shield became useless. His speed increased and it seemed like his strikes become more targeted, drawing his second sword after losing his shield.
Each time the testing orb went in for an attack, the man dodged out of the way so gracefully that it looked choreographed. This only lasted a short period as his blade followed in the footsteps of the shield; shattering into a Thousand pieces like the thin layer of ice not fully frozen.
A normal person usually would lose hope but the warrior continued moving, setting their jaw and fighting on. His resolve to fight on began getting the seasoned divers blood boiling, ready to head out and fight the haze beast.
"Ayden?!"
As Ayden was moving around his face finally was at a viewable angle to the camera. The shock of seeing him again so soon bringing Lunas warrior nature to the forefront of her mind, a desire to spar and see how she stacks up against him.
Aydens movements began to seem like he was luring the orb, the keen eyes of seasoned divers picking out the oddity's. Sensing the ending coming everyone was on the edge of their seats. When it finally came the divers finally fingered out what he was aiming for, the orb core!
The orb shoot forward and seemed to connect with Aydens chest, but an odd sight occurred as the orb continued forward as if fazing through him all together. It was not the end though as Aydens secondary blade came down on the orb; the orb flew across the room slamming into the wall, the outer shell shattering like his blade.
The crowed erupting in cheers as they saw it, the rare sight coming to pass. The 30 some minute trial finally coming to an end with a bang.
...
"MEDIC!!!! Medic to trial room 1." Genes deep booming voice cutting everyone's excitement short as their eyes were drawn to the body on the floor, Aydens body covered in cuts. His skin visible on his chest as the orbs final attack a lot closer than all of them thought.
Aydens body limp, the orb shattered, his blades all shattered but only one thing crossing Lunas mind as her worry for Ayden passed as she saw Gene relax confirming that he would be fine.
The thing crossing her mind
"Sometimes their are no conventional methods to kill the bogeyman" Aydens words showing new light to what it could of meant.
Coming back to the present Luna set her jaw,
"Everyone,....." waiting to get everyone's attention on her squad "let's get ready for raiding!"