Dinner Party with the Rich and Famous (Open)

The two guards got down on their knees panting and looking as though they were very thirsty. People with good eyes might notice that a peculiar black spot had appeared on their tongues. They looked up at Sweet Mae, sweating and breathing heavily.

"That's enough."

A third man had appeared, emerging from the door behind the two guards. Though her wore the same suit as the pair, he gave off a totally different impression. Ingrid shifted her gaze to Sweet Mae, observing how she reacted to him and saw that her expression hardly changed. This man was not the Don either, nor was he someone the candy mage acknowledged in a similar way to Ingrid, despite his more imposing figure. Unlike the pair however, he seemed to know better about how to deal with dangerous magicians.

"The Don will meet you now but... well, you'll see soon enough."

He led them through the room which was a lot more spacious than it looked from outside. It was one of the meeting halls. When they reached the wall on the other end, the man pulled out a remote from his pocket and pressed it, causing a screen to come down from the ceiling. The screen turned on and the image shown was that of yet another man in a suit sitting in front of a desk but a shadow was cast on the upper part of his body making it impossible to see his face. They couldn't see his face, but Ingrid had this strange feeling that he was smiling. This was the Don that Sweet Mae was talking about.

"Good evening. I was hoping to return before my escort started looking for me, but it seems certain things went awry and I will have to change tonight's plans quite a bit. My sincerest apologies for not having taken the opportunity to meet and greet the Lowen heir in person. As an Arcana candidate, you deserve better."

That settled it. Whoever this man was possessed deep connections with the magical community or was a magician himself. Knowledge of the Arcana was one thing, but specifically identifying her as an Arcana candidate was information that Ingrid knew wasn't privy to anyone outside the community. Mages had infiltrated this party and she couldn't help but feel disappointed with herself for letting such a thing slip under her radar.

"I would have preferred that you introduced yourself anyway but at the moment I am more concerned about you explaining yourself."

Sweet Mae's hand shot up into the air, like an eager student who knew the answer to the question just uttered by the teacher. Honestly, the candy mage was just elated that she once again knew something that meanie Ingrid did not.

"Let's not spoil the surprise. You did your part properly correct?"

The candy mage nodded. "Yes, I claimed and took over the dessert table just like you said! Their cake was sooo good! But I think people will like mine muuuuch better!"

Ingrid sighed. She had a feeling it was something like that.

Kristen watched as the two guards reacted to the Candy Mage's mints. It appeared to be some kind of mind control or sedation, and Kristen noticed that on their tongues was an interesting black mark. Before anything else could be done with them, however an additional person - not a guard, but dressed similarly - poked out his head and soon after ushered the group into the room. A screen was brought down in the main room and a mysterious man's figure appeared on it, head hidden as to not reveal his identity. This was the Don.

Then Ingrid, Sweet Mae and the Don started exchanging talk about certain Mage shenanigans about Arcana and magic and whatnot, and Kristen felt out of the loop. She made a confused face at the terms that were otherwise unrecognizable to her, but she was also able to deduce that Mages had a key influence in the set up of this party.

"I suppose I should introduce myself as well." Kristen spoke up, dropping into a brief curtsy. "Kristen Opprotune. Acquaintance to Ms. Lowen, a patron of this party, and Nephilim."

She rose back into her original position. "The Mage business probably isn't something I have a right to poke my nose in, but as a patron of this dinner party, I'd at least like to have a little insight on what you have planned tonight."

Ingrid had almost forgotten that the Nephilim was still with them too; introducing herself as Kristen and inquiring about this evening's "festivities" in more detail. Meanwhile, the silver-haired witch was already texting away on her phone advising her people to "dispose" of the cakes. There was no telling how many had already gotten a bite out of them but she had a feeling that things were not going to be that simple. She took note that no one made any effort to stop her from sending a message so even this was within their calculations.

"A Nephilim? How rare. It seems it's true that the Lowen heir is fond of collecting mystical oddities and relics. If you would permit me to brag a little, I possess a rather impressive collection myself. I try to refrain from obtaining articles that are still alive though. Speaking from experience, they are quite difficult to store and maintain. I have had the privilege of showing Sweet Mae around my gallery and I believe she found it most outstanding."

"That's right! I still remember how that last one tasted. It was amazing!"

"You can look forward to the next gift then."

And that answered how the Don managed to get the candy mage under his thumb. Ingrid figured it should have been the most obvious thing. Sweet Mae did not respond well to direct threats. The best way to motivate her into doing something was the carrot rather than the stick. At the very least she was taken in enough that she would forget the reason she was here was because she was annoyed by his recent actions. Also as expected, the Don dodged their queries as well.

"By the way, I'm surprised that you can be rather bold Ms. Lowen. Even I would not do anything to purposely incur the wrath of an Arcana mage. Well, not on myself anyway. The Fool is often treated like a wild card. Often misunderstood. Often underestimated. But with the right motivation, quite possibly one of the most dangerous ones around."

Suddenly a second screen began to come down from the other wall. It was a shot of the party on the rooftop. Several waiters could be seen carrying the cakes from the buffet table and taking them back inside. A man was supervising them who could be clearly identified as the Lowen family butler. Ingrid's eyes widened as a momentary ominous silence filled the room.

"I'm out of time. But I do hope you enjoy the rest of the evening. It was a pleasure meeting you."

As the screen with the Don went black, Ingrid felt her spine tingle at the sudden surge of magical power behind her. It was a two-sided trap all along. If they left the cakes alone, the guests would have been at risk. If they disposed of them as they just did, Sweet Mae would most definitely not take that lightly if she found out. In her haste, Ingrid underestimated how much the Don knew about the candy mage and thus she neglected to advise her people to be discreet with their movements. What a failure. But now was not the time to dwell on it. She had an angry Arcana mage on her back who was most likely not in any mood to talk things over.

Sweet Mae's magic flared, and the entire meeting hall was instantly turned into candy. Anticipating this, Ingrid entered and exited a portal on the opposite end of the room as the wave of magic passed. The two guards from earlier were not so lucky, turning into candy sculptures on the spot. The third man with the remote had vanished from sight. The outburst at the table earlier was nothing more than the candy mage being annoyed. Right now, they had a real fight on their hands.

The Mages were quite the scholarly sort, weren't they? Kristen sweatdropped when the Don referred to her as one of Ingrid's collectors items. Sure, she was one of the last Nephilim alive, but wasn't the point of keeping up a species to stay alive?

It was hardly important though, as the Don had dodged both Kristen's and Ingrid's inquiries. Kristen had noticed that while the Don was talking, Ingrid had been tapping away at her phone. She didn't know that she was trying to recall the cakes that had been put out by Sweet Mae, though, until an additional screen had dropped down to show live security footage of Ingrid's people getting rid of the cakes.

In hindsight, Kristen figured out what was happening then. The Don excused himself from the Skype call and in an instant, Sweet Mae released her magic across the meeting hall. While Ingrid had ported away, Kristen brought up her forcefield to take on the incoming wave of arcane. Cyan-white light enveloped her body as she tanked the magical fallout of Sweet Mae's magic release.

"Oh dear." Kristen sighed, "You're very fond of your cakes, it seems." Kristen tried to catch Ingrid's gaze, mouthing 'Now what?' Kristen knew only the few abilities that the candy mage had exhibited in her outburst before. Anything else was unknown to her, and she would rely on Ingrid's knowledge of the other sorceress for her to devise a plan.

Perhaps what the Don failed to take into consideration was that Ingrid was very much well-equipped to deal with the rampaging candy mage. If she wanted to kill her, it would not be too difficult to just put a bullet through her skull and get it over with. The problem was she did not. It wasn't out of compassion or sympathy. Considering recent events she was far more valuable alive than dead. As far as incapacitating her without killing her was concerned, it would already be a challenge to do so normally, but their current situation was compounded with the fact that they were in a building full of civilians and people whom Ingrid was not quite ready yet to reveal her special abilities too. That left her with limited options. First things first, they had to get Sweet Mae out of the building. Turning the entire floor into candy would weaken the structure and cause the rooftop above them to collapse: the same rooftop where the large party was still being held.

"Silver, take her outside."

Ingrid's Silver Knight materialized in front of her and charged towards the candy mage at high speed. The goal was to knock her off the building itself by forcing her through the window or wall. Silver was summoned for its speed to get this done as quickly as possible before she could turn more of the floor into candy.

While Sweet Mae was not fast on her own, her spells were pretty much cast at the speed of thought. She raised her hand and conjured a nearly uncountable amount of licorice between her and the knight forming some sort of complex net. The knight tried to hack it away with his spear but found that it could not break them easily at all. Suddenly the licorice ropes began to move to try and wrap themselves around the knight who was just narrowly avoiding getting captured.

"Her licorice has gotten much tougher since I last saw her. Power is not Silver's strong point but he should be able to smash through a concrete wall with those blows."

Kristen watched as Ingrid summoned a silver knight to knock Sweet Mae off the building. It was true, the candy floor/ceiling wasn't going to be healthy for the building. Kristen supposed the candy mage's constant presence in a combat mentality would worsen this.

Suddenly, Sweet Mae summoned a licorice net between herself and the knight, and the knight struggled to get through the net that was tougher than it seemed. Ingrid said the knight wasn't the most powerful, but could still break through concrete walls. Well what if the licorice was stronger than concrete walls? Kristen charged up her Smite Gauntlets, circling away out of the path of the knight should he break free.

It wasn't that Kristen doubted Ingrid's abilities, but it was more or less that she doubted Sweet Mae's licorice net was that weak. Wait. Nevermind. Kristen fired off the Smite Gauntlets at two key points in the licorice net that would have secured it to the floor. Hopefully that would help Silver out in breaking through the net.

The Nephilim was making herself useful, thankfully. The silver knight took advantage of the momentary opening to rush through, preparing to swing its spear at the squishy mage. Unfortunately, Sweet Mae had quite an impressive amount of tricks up her sleeve. Before the silver spear could make contact, a giant block of hard candy appeared right on top of the knight and crashed down on it. The weaker candy floor would be unable to withstand the the impact and promptly shattered as the knight was forced down to the floor below them by the candy block.

Cracks began to spread all over the candy floor of the room and up the pillars. This was what Ingrid had wanted to avoid. Upstairs, the people felt the impact and shaking. They probably thought there was an earthquake and panic obviously ensued as they rushed to the stairs and elevators. The rooftop was about to collapse and it was doubtful that everyone would make it out in time.

But at this point the silver-haired witch did not have the luxury to worry about others. As the dust from the crash cleared, Ingrid found that she was surrounded by Sweet Mae's muffin men, who lunged at her from five different directions. She opened a portal directly below her in response and reappeared on the balcony outside the window. If she could not force the candy mage outside, she would have to lure her there instead.

Ingrid was the sole target of Sweet Mae at the moment and didn't even pay any mind to the Nephilim's actions. That was probably a good thing. Her earlier intervention suggested she was willing to help and had pulled her weight so far. The muffin men smashed through the window, escorting the candy mage as she walked outside as well. Since the silver knight was still trapped under the candy block, it seemed Ingrid would have to deal with the problem personally. Looking up, she could see her butler on the rooftop level, nodding to indicate he was prepared to assist but she signaled him to stay out of it. Right now she had the "advantage" of having the candy mage's full attention. And her plan involved not giving that up just yet.

When the candy floor underneath them crumbled and broke under the weight of Silver and the hard candy block, Kristen summoned her wings and started beating them on the spot to keep her balance and position. She then noticed that Ingrid had lured Sweet Mae and her muffin men out onto the balcony, and she then noticed the block of hard candy still crushing Silver. Kristen then formed a strategy.

Kristen extended her hand in the direction of the candy block, using telekinesis to lift it off of Silver on the floor beneath her. With Silver now freed, Kristen raised the candy block into Ingrid's field of vision but still behind Sweet Mae and her muffin men. Doing this would hopefully show the silver-haired sorceress that her minion had been freed.

Now, what would Kristen do with the block itself? She decided to put the block down for only a moment before firing Smite Gauntlets at it to break it up into five sharp candy shards. After this, Kristen lifted each shard with telekinesis above the muffin men before impaling each of them through the top center and into the floor. Like toothpicks through cheese stuck in a Styrofoam plate.

As muffins, Kristen doubted they would be killed by this action, but at the very least, the thick shards of hard candy would keep the constructs from moving. Kristen quickly darted out behind the balcony before the roof would collapse then, wondering if the freed Silver Knight would be able to help this situation any further.

As Ingrid surveyed the situation and tried to calculate her next move, the Nephilim granted her a simpler option by releasing her knight from its predicament. With the floor and roof collapsing anyway, it felt rather pointless now that she went with her most lightweight familiar in consideration of the structure. But despite its inability to get through Sweet Mae's magic with brute force, it still had its speed to take advantage of. While Kristen impaled the muffin men, the silver knight was quickly jumping from section to section eventually getting up close to the candy mage.

Sweet Mae looked up in surprise but at that point there was nothing she could do about the knight swinging the blunt end of its spear at her with all of its might. The candy mage was punted clear off the balcony, several of her bones shattering on impact from the blow and causing her to cough up lots of blood. It was highly likely several of her organs were heavily damaged as well. She ended up crashing through the window of a building next to them. Meanwhile, Ingrid opened a portal going to what remained of the rooftop as the balcony beneath her feet soon broke off from the side of the building due to the floor it was attached to collapsing.

Perhaps it was counter-intuitive to the original intention of not killing her. It was not as though the candy mage possessed durability any different from your average human. But in Ingrid's mind, broken bones could be mended and ruptured organs could be healed. For as long as the subject was still breathing, all hope was not lost. If she died from this, well that was bad luck.

Speaking of deaths, Ingrid turned around for a moment to see what had become of the rooftop party and if the guests managed to get out in time. It was mostly a mess but she could hear the distinct sounds of groaning from pain from among the rubble. It looked like there were some unfortunate victims after all. But she could not care less about them at the moment. Her current priority was to recover Sweet Mae who had gone silent after crashing into the other building.

Aiming for the gaping hole in the window, Ingrid opened yet another portal. But as soon she stepped out, her feet began to sink into the floor that was all soft and sticky. Meanwhile, licorice ropes appeared out of thin air and bound her in place before she could raise her arms to do anything. On the opposite end of the room the battered and beaten candy mage was slumped against the wall, probably unable to move, but she was definitely still conscious. Ingrid felt the bindings tighten. Sweet Mae was trying to crush her.

Kristen followed the punted candy mage and Ingrid into the next building, noting the fact that there were civilians at risk in the building where the party had taken place, but figuring that the sound of part of a building collapsing would raise enough alarms around the city for other heroes and enforcers to come to the rescue.

Kristen doubted the candy mage was in any optimal condition after a blow like that, but followed the two anyway, and crashed into the building with two charged shots of her Smite Guantlets. She landed a few feet away from the caramel pool, seeing Sweet Mae battered but still conscious, greatly injured but still trying to fight Ingrid.  A few well placed Smite Gauntlets to each licorice rope in a similar fashion like she had freed Silver, and Ingrid would be freed from Mae's grasp.

It was moments like this that reaffirmed Ingrid's recognition of the Arcana mages. Even someone of questionable intelligence like Sweet Mae possessed the ability to drive her to a corner when serious or desperate. This was not a Sweet Mae you could see everyday. Such a display of magical flair was an incredibly rare happening as the candy mage was normally quite averse towards fighting even when angry. But if Ingrid was to maintain her position of being "above" her she would have to utterly defeat her just the same, even if the silver-haired witch had to "die" while doing so.

That "death" however did not come. The Nephilim had arrived with another timely assist, freeing Ingrid from her bindings before she could get crushed. Sweet Mae's honey trap still kept her from being able to move though and that put them at a stand-off. Theoretically speaking, the silver-haired witch was at the disadvantage, being in perfect position to get turned into something sweet should the candy mage activate her ability. But Ingrid was not out of cards to play yet. As if to remind them of this, there was a distinct sound of something crashing through the window in a room below them.

Sweet Mae proceeded to play the card that granted her the best chance of winning. Her magical aura flared once more as everything in her vicinity started to turn into candy, the wave closing in on the trapped Ingrid. But right before it did, something smashed through and shattered the floor from the room below. It was the silver knight who up until this time was making its way up the building to assist Ingrid. Without wasting any time, the knight smacked the candy mage once more with its spear, this time to the side of her head, nearly taking it off. No amount of willpower would let her stay awake from that. As proof, the honey trap disappeared from under the silver-haired witch and the candy wave stopped.