The worst part of recovering from serious injuries, to her, wasn't the constant pain, lack of mobility, or even that she was constantly tired, hungry, and uncomfortable. No, by far the worst thing was how boring everything got. Diana lost an arm and a foot among the other injuries she sustained in that mage fight, which made walking hard and doing anything useful even harder. On top of that, people were acting weird and like they had to keep an eye on her, so it was even harder than usual to get into any trouble. Not that she really had the energy for it in the first place. Diana managed to mostly entertain herself with reading, but at this point she had so much pent up exasperation in her that she had to do something interesting. She didn't even care if it was a mage fight at this point, she'd take on mundanes just to flex her muscles a bit.

Fortunately for her, that didn't seem necessary. The rumors spread through the academy that the Isabellos were going to do something again, something she wished they told her, so it looked like she had some options. Her lesser injuries had mostly healed. Her arm was growing back almost up to the elbow, and most of her foot, save for a few of the toes, was back. She could move fine. Fighting with one arm would be annoying, but the handicap sounded invigorating at this point. It's not like she cared that much if she won or lost, so this was fine.

Diana trotted through the new world, trying really hard to not be dazzled by the weird architecture and other things she hadn't seen before, in order to catch up with whoever was doing something here. It didn't take her long to find the shadow mage, if only because she was used to his stupidly subtle tactics by now. If he wanted to get their attention he was going to need more pizzazz than that. Diana decided to help him emphasize his point by ramming her spear through their door.

"You should have told me you were planning something. I've been dying over here," she sighed. "So what are you trying to do? We turning this building to rubble?"

---

SUPPORT: Being injured is the worst, come on let's show these people what we can do!

This was the second time that Karma was visiting this world of seas—on accident, and happened to stumble upon a bizarre location that he couldn't help but delve into. The mass security stopped him from getting far, which was perhaps for the best, but other than getting lost in the storm of all the alluring buildings and practically entering a maze, the man had little reason to listen to them. He wasn't here for any particular reason, surprisingly. Moreover, he was trying to look like he hadn't just stumbled onto this place with no idea how to get out because in his mind that was not too 'elegant' looking. Yes, he might admit that his confidence fell each time he came to this world—which was really only the second time, but it wasn't his fault that it was so easy to get lost here!

It was when Karma had finally managed to reach a commotion of some sort that he had felt a sense of relief. He had a feeling that there were other mages here, considering commotions and gatherings hardly occurred without one, and for some reason that drove some ease to his senses. After all, mages meant portals, and if one of these mages knew the way back to the normal world, he would be happy to leave it at that. Meaning, he wasn't going to get into a fight, quarrel or even a misunderstanding. He was gonna ask for the nearest portal and go on his way.

Perhaps that wouldn't be as easy as he thought.

"Shadow?" It was like the previous encounter, who had, by the way, left Karma with a shadow for a finger, wasn't enough for this guy. "Is this the Lord's way of pushing me to cleanse you or what? Nevermind that, I'm gonna ignore the fact that you sliced off my finger and—" and then he noticed Diana and Ponytail.

"Wha—did he do the same to you?" He nodded towards Diana's half cut arm. "Damn, you're pretty scary, boy. Anyways, can someone help me get the fuck back to the normal world, please? Ponytail, you look like you're a great navigator, help me out."

Supporting: I'll help you if you help me

It was only a matter of time until the Isabello Empire made its way to the newly-connected universe. Jack counted himself lucky to have caught word of their specific plans from gossiping students during his cleaning rounds. There was no way he'd pass up another chance to finally put a stop to their reign of terror. It hadn't gone so well in the past, but this time, he had a plan to bring some backup with him.

A few days prior, Jack had snuck into one of the fancier palaces of the Early Renaissance, merged with a room that had gilded embellishments, and used his power to grow more gold out of the walls. Then, after paying a goldsmith to teach him the basics of gilding, he had modified one of the many storage rooms in the restricted areas of the Academy to have gilded walls - turning it into Jack's own personal infinite gold generation source. The work was rather shoddy, but actually bringing a mundane goldsmith into the Academy proper would've been a violation of the rules, so it was completely out of the question.

A shortage of money was never a serious problem for a mage, since magic powers lent themselves well to taking whatever one wanted. However, an overflowing pile of flawless gold bars gleaming with a mirror-smooth sheen still looked really impressive, and that was what Jack was counting on. Bribing people to do the right thing... Was this what Hikaru had meant by using his powers for good?

The first couple of mages Jack talked to weren't interested, but Rook seemed quite happy to go along with the plan. Jack hoped that this might pave the way for more cooperation in the future. But all that would depend on how well this plan went.

Jack's upper body emerged from a grand archway overhead, hanging upside-down as he cast his eyes across the soon-to-be-battlefield.

"Careful, there, Isabellos. When you're up against me, the buildings have a habit of fighting back."

---

OPPOSE: Actual staff members unite!

Under the impression that he'd have a few minutes before rampaging mages came and tried to tear down inhabited residences, Tristan was not in any particular rush while waiting for the residents to answer their door. Or, as was more likely the case by the decor, waiting for the residents to send their butler to open the door. He was also not really paying any attention to his surroundings, since he was assuming he'd at least have time to get the one building cleared out before people made it through the portal.

The spear materializing from behind him and stabbing the door he was waiting by informed him that he was mistaken.

"Diana?" he asked, then spun around quickly, a look of confusion plastered across his features. "Aren't you supposed to be bedridden or something because of-" Suddenly, he stopped and stammered for a few moments as he noticed the missing limb. "Well, because of that?" he finally asked, pointing. He considered making a fuss about it, but lowered his hand as he realized it'd be a moot point anyway. She was already there, and convincing her to leave was probably far more effort than it was worth.

"I'd heard you were out of commission for a while, and Vieri was busy with whatever. Figured I'd con some people into showing up and picking a fight, so that we'd have instant leverage over the city. Vieri could do what he wanted from there. Right now I'm just wanting to get these folks out and about so they don't get crushed when the upcoming fight demolishes their house."

He barely had time to finish explaining the context when a welcome voice chimed in from behind. Tristan turned to wave at the only help he'd taken the time to arrange before Rook's words actually took root. Last he checked, the constructs he currently had clogging up the Academy kitchen to make a banquet fit for royalty because she was supposed to be helping. Now, though, it was sounding like she was getting in the way. Aside from the obvious betrayal being a problem, he thought he'd have more time for getting things set up. He wasn't ready for people to start showing up and smashing things.

"Huh? Wait, no, hold up-" he sputtered, trying his best to protest, when he caught sight of a familiar and incredibly unwelcome shock of red hair. Oddly enough, he was coming from further in the city instead of the portal, but that probably wasn't important. What caught Tristan's attention was that Red was still missing his finger. He stared at the missing digit, oblivious to what was going on around him, as he leaned back against the house and slid down into a sitting position.

"So you didn't even get the nurse to fix that for you, huh?" he sighed, mostly to himself. "Well, I hope you learned your lesson and aren't planning on causing problems, at least. Let me... Let me deal with the current situation, and I'll show you the way back to the portal. Shouldn't take too long."

The arrival of the other two staffers almost went unnoticed. Fortunately, Tristan did catch the voice of the janitor, which mostly brought him back to the land of the living. He wasn't surprised by either of the new arrivals, honestly. Jack seemed to have a personal vendetta against the Isabello's by this point, which was increasingly understandable, and the Nurse had been disagreeing with Tristan's actions ever since the night the flying spaghetti monster showed up in old timey Italy. Neither were surprising, but one of them was surprisingly welcome.

"Hey, Clean Up Crew," Tristan called out glumly to the young janitor. "Is there any way for you to safely remove people from a building? There's still civilians in this place behind me. Wasn't expecting you guys to show up just yet, so I was still doing the prep work. Still, no reason for them to get hurt because I screwed up, yeah?"

There it was again, everyone speaking in an all too incoherent way for Karma to place the pieces together. It didn't help that he had trouble paying attention to it all when nobody mentioned a resolution for him or any kind of help, only receiving a small lecture from Shadow. Was this boy still unaware of his position? Did he think slicing off a finger or two would bring Karma down to his level? He surely must've misunderstood.

"Are you stupid—... you know what, forget it. I'll put you in your place after you help me out." Karma's voice lowered towards the end in hopes that the boy wouldn't hear him mumbling and change his mind. "And what nurse? It might've been convenient for you to inform me of one before I left since you're so concerned about me now." The redhead didn't exactly understand what nurses did yet, but he could do so much as guess, and from the looks of it, they operated medical services. He didn't know any mage that with healing powers, so it was definitely useless to look for one.

Even when the two mages arrived and began participating in the mystery of a conversation, Karma couldn't help but yawn. Today was perhaps the only day he didn't feel like moving, even though he couldn't help but admit how entertaining their abilities were to fight against. It was perhaps more of an anxious issue than a lazy one considering he was still in this world—that he by the way hated. The plan was to ask for help and go, thus there was no need to join in or comment on anything in particular.

Rook covered her ears as Diana’s voice reverberated off of the walls and streets. “You’re going to have to tell me the story sometime.” She laughed in return, shouting louder than she had been before. “But for now I suggest you stop your modes of world domination and we get to just a bit of the smashing to hurry our good wealthy merchants along.” She was lowering herself down into a battle-readied stance, arms guarding her front, legs wide, and eyes locked on Diana the Conqueror. “Mages or buildings will do, but it’s hardly an argument to the mundie higher ups if you don’t have something to show.”

She could guess which one of Karma’s nicknames was hers. “Yeah, sure, I’ll help you back after this is over. Tell you what, you’re old enough for drinks, right? Winner pays for the other’s tonight.”

It was comforting to know she wouldn’t be at it alone, either. And of all the company she could’ve had show up, her two fellow staffers were just about the very best she could’ve hoped for. A confident smile had grown wide on her face.

“Protecting civilians? No problem, that’s half my job on a normal day.”

---

Diana and Karma activate a COMBO against Rook Spellmeyer which ensures that they can take their openings and causes her action to automatically fail!

Prediction (Sense) by Jack Mason triggered by Diana results in SUCCESS, +20% combat advantage

Prediction (Deduction) by Rook Spellmeyer triggered by Tristan Carter results in FAILURE due to COMBO effect, +5% combat advantage

Interference (Illusion) by Diana against Rook Spellmeyer results in SUCCESS, +10% combat advantage

Interference (Illusion) by Tristan Carter against Maia Castelo results in SUCCESS, +10% combat advantage

Prediction (Sense) by Jack Mason triggered by Karma results in SUCCESS, +20% combat advantage

Aggression (Disruption) by Karma against Rook Spellmeyer results in SUCCESS, +30% combat advantage

Prediction (Absorption) by Maia Castelo for Jack Mason results in PARTIAL success due to not being triggered, +10% combat advantage

---

Current conditions:

None.

Current advantage:

Jack Mason Maia Castelo and Rook Spellmeyer have 55%
Diana Karma and Tristan Carter have 50%

Current openings:

Jack Mason can EXPOSE the other side at a cost of 15% combat advantage, causing resolution order to favor his side regardless of power level for the rest of the battle!

Diana can CONFUSE Rook Spellmeyer at a cost of 5% combat advantage, preventing her from taking openings for the rest of the battle!

Tristan Carter can CONFUSE Maia Castelo at a cost of 5% combat advantage, preventing her from taking openings for the rest of the battle!

Karma can SOFTEN Rook Spellmeyer at a cost of 10% combat advantage, preventing her from suppressing powers for the rest of the battle!

(Click here to send in your next round's actions! The next round's deadline is in 48 hours!)