#arco borealis

[magistrasa]

i made this sketch 748935720459 years ago and what better way to polish off old sketches than by trying out new coloring methods

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if you think that’s steamy, wait until you hear their wedding vows

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and one day she will also inherit his tacky clothes

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Skype Chat - Laying Down the Law

The prison system on Sonia's world is so fucked up

Like it's just this horrifying mixture of all the terrible qualities of humanity

The fact that Trutinius was turned into a prison colony just so Cosmius and Atarius wouldn't have to deal with their own criminals is only a taste of the awful

Until Sonia took the crown and Leon was like "yo, sis, tell your asshole government to stop throwing dangerous criminals into my borders," Cosmius didn't even have a single prison built

Because the way crime and punishment is structured, and the way society looked at it in the first place, if you committed a crime terrible enough to give you a prison sentence, society didn't want you anymore. You spent a couple years in the Trutinian labor camps, and you made a home there, because your old home didn't exist anymore.

There was NO safety net for people who went through the system and stumbled out the other end

However, this is mostly because the only people who got those kinds of harsh sentencings were violent offenders. The people who end up shipped off to work towards their redemption in Trutinius were almost all rapists and murderers.

Lesser crimes would be handled with a little more mercy. Usually, the sentencing would be things like community service, military service, rehab admission - but the wealthy sometimes get out of some of these punishments by paying money to some fund or charity or whatever and saying it's their act of redemption.

The death penalty exists, but it can only be handed out by the royal family. It's called the Right of High Justice, and it's fairly rarely used. First a case needs to be brought to the Queen in the first place, and then the Queen needs to be convinced that the defendant is so evil that death is the only course of action

Unfortunately, it's been used as a political tool more than a few times, since a trial is not actually necessary for the Right of High Justice to be used. Dion famously made use of it, probably more often than he should have,

Interestingly enough, it was Nayuta who set the foundation for prison reform in Cosmius. Mostly because she couldn't kill EVERYONE she had arrested. At first, she was just having every little miscreant sent to Trutinius so she wouldn't have to bother with them, just like everyone before her - but when Leon liberated the land, and the SAF holding cells were finally fit to burst under the pressure, she was forced to actually build prisons for all these people. Good thing she had so many prisoners to do the building for her! A lot of them died in the construction process, too, which would have been a real downer if the Cosmian people gave a fuck about their incarcerated brothers and sisters in the first place

Scones: "Dion famously made use of it, probably more often than he should have," AHHAHAHSDFLKS

People already thought he was an evil demon monster and then he goes around executing people without a trial, OF COURSE people are gonna be upset

Even when he's explaining "guys...... They posed an immediate threat to people's safety............. I was completely within my right.................... Listen to me"

Scones: how often does Sonia execute people

Very, very rarely

Because she believes so strongly in redemption

Once things had settled after she took power and all of Nayuta's followers were sent to the chopping block, I can't think of an instance in which she'd order an execution

Meanwhile

Arco is the exact opposite of both of them

Sonia was like "we can't kill ALL of them"

Arco laughed and said "watch me"

Sonia was a huge help in Atarius's final push for liberation when they slew the tyrant Nayuta had put in charge of the nation, so she was there for the bloody aftermath that came with the victory

Sonia was just like "yay the evil has been defeated!" and Arco was just like "hahahahahahhahahahahhah do you really think we're done yet"

Every victory party came with the living cremation of no less than 10 agents of the old regime's evils. Sonia did not have a lot of fun at those parties.

At those parties, Arco tried getting her to chillax a little by telling her that if she closed her eyes, the screams of horror and pain were indistinguishable from the shrieks of joyous laughter. That just ended up making her even more unsettled.

Scones: he's...... great.... Scones: omfg Scones: what's his wife think of all this

His wife cheered even louder than he did

In fact, she was the one who presided over most of the trials, while Arco was out looking over the reconstruction of the nation she'd be in the palace banging the judge's gavel and screaming "TEN MILLION YEARS DUNGEON"

Layla Borealis is God's gift to man

[magistrasa]

Skype Chat - Dead in the Water

Scones: Does Leon look anything like sonia

He looks a lot like Sonia

Arco is the one who looks most different from them, since he took more after his dad

And Leon takes after his mom a lot, whereas Sonia is a lot more of a middle ground between them as far as features go

Scones: do they remember their parents very well?

Leon and Arco remember really well

But Sonia doesn't, because, unfortunately, she didn't actually have that close of a relationship with them

Arco and his dad always spent time together, and Leon and his mom bonded over being normal, non-magical humans. Sonia, meanwhile, focused a lot on learning magic and didn't spend a whole lot of time forging a relationship with her family in her formative years.

 It's something she always regretted

Scones: well she ended up being one of the most powerful mages in the world soooo clearly that worked out p well Scones: leon and hyperdrive needed to get their shit together clearly Scones: also I love how leon takes after his mom and was also close to her...... that's cute....

Sonia doesn't have a lot of memory of her parents, but she does her best to share what she has with her own kids - hopefully making it so that they never experience the same regrets as she did in the process

One of her most prevalent memories is that they would sometimes go to a cozy house by a private, secluded lake - just her, her brothers, and her parents - and they'd stay there a few days before returning to their royal duties. It was one of Sonia's favorite places in the world.

Unfortunately, water and demons don't mix. Water is a holy element - it's why there are so many stories of demons being unable to cross rivers, or witches melting into puddles.

When she brought her new family to her favorite place in the world, she was genuinely heartbroken that she couldn't really share it with them

Scones: how does water melting demons work exactly is it upon contact or is like. radioactive Scones: could a demon go scuba diving

It mostly just drains their energy on contact and prevents their body from working right. Not necessarily LETHAL, but very dangerous in most cases

Getting splashed with water could stop Dion from being able to heal, and stop Nayuta from shapeshifting

They also just get super tired and could easily pass out

Scones: what about half demon babies Scones: oh right those drown... Scones: fuck... Scones: why'd I play myself like that

To be fair, there's really no such thing as a half-demon in the sense that your weaknesses or abilities get split 50/50. It's something you are or you're not. Aria isn't a half-demon. She's a demon with a human mother.

With this knowledge, now imagine how much of a hassle it is for House Harmonia to practice basic hygiene

Family bathing times in which Sonia is doing literally all the work and frantically making sure that none of her kids are face down in the water

Sonia often said they'd be dead in the water if she wasn't looking after them

She was, unfortunately, right about everything.

[magistrasa]

Skype Chat - Samari & Fae Culture

Samari actually doesn't make her first appearance in the story proper, but she's somewhat of a childhood friend of Arco's. Right after he escapes the fall of the palace, he flees to Atarius and runs halfway across the continent without stopping, eventually collapsing a little ways outside her village. She finds him and helps nurse him back to health.

She's from the Ishnu clan, a line of pureblooded Pyrrhai that had cloistered themselves off from the rest of the world to focus solely on their sacred duty. They are marked by their red hair and their golden eyes - but Samari didn't bear the name of the purebloods, and she always kept her eyes and hair under a veil. That's because part of the clan's sacred duty involves human sacrifice. Samari's mother and father were both sacrificed in the past, and she's instead raised by an outsider to the clan, who gave her a new last name and told the rest of the clan that Samari was her daughter, so that she might never see the ritual knife.

Arco and Samari are thus outsiders to the clan, and even though they live among the Ishnu people, they aren't told what this sacred duty is. All they know is the constant fear Samari is forced to live in. Unfortunately, Samari has a pureblooded friend who is selected as the next sacrifice and taken away to the mountain the village lives in the shadow of. Arco begins to suspect the worst, and convinces Samari they have to stop this madness and flee the village, or else they'll both be killed someday. So they sneak into the mountain and free their friend, fighting back the Ishnu cultists as they make their escape

Unfortunate things immediately happen

A little Pantonian history for you:

When the earth was new and the sky was young, the Goddess of Chaos looked upon Atarius, the land she had created, and her Pyrrhai people, whom she breathed life into from the dying embers of a flame, and she thought to give them all a gift. Fire was the goddess's holy element. What better gift than that? So she reached down to the world, and when she touched the land, everything burned. Forests and farmland fell apart in the fires, cities were reduced to cinders, and all the nation cried out to their goddess for mercy and reprieve. Chaos refused, seeing them as ungrateful for not appreciating the gift she'd so thoughtfully bestowed upon them, and turned away from her people to leave them to their fate. It was the Goddess of Balance who stepped in to end their suffering, and she sent down her bravest agents, the God of the North Wind, to control the flames and seal them away.

The scorched land became the Saad'ish Desert, or the Desert of Scorched Earth, and it never fully recovered from what the fire did. And the fire that did this to the land was called the Isha'aq, or the Flame Lord, a very powerful demon born from the Hellfires itself.

It turns out, the Isha'aq was not only alive and real, but it was locked up in that mountain Samari lived under - but it wasn't locked up for long. The efforts of the Ishnu clan were all that kept it from coming out and destroying the world. In fact, every time a sacrifice needed to be chosen, it was actually on a volunteer basis. Samari's life was never in danger - her parents and her friend all made a noble sacrifice, with her well-being in mind.

The three of them make it back to the village together, happy to be alive and well. But hardly a moment before their return, the mountain erupts into a fiery volcano, and the Isha'aq emerges, a harbinger of hellfire. The Ishnu village is the first to go. Arco and Samari are the only survivors, because she's the only one he can carry and run at the same time. They watch samari's home burn from the safety of the horizon, and they realize all too well that they've done an awful, terrible thing.

From there, the Isha'aq once again begins its bloody march, wiping out city after town after village after settlement. Soon, all the Pyrrhai people swarm to the desert capital of Katal Tyja, hoping to find what family survived and possibly escape across the sea. It's during this time that Cosmius received a massive influx of refugees - which didn't help the Nayuta tyrrany situation whatsoever. Samari wanted to look for her adoptive mother's brother, Haran, who could hopefully care for the children until they could figure out what to do next. But Arco had other ideas.

Allie: By children you mean the refugee Pyrrhai children?

I mean Arco and Samari

They went to katal tyja trying to find uncle Haran Lotte because Samari had no one else in the world

Katal Tyja was known as Hyrr's home. When she made the world, the first temple to her was built in Katal Tyja, and it's stood for thousands of years. The Goddess of Chaos could be felt in the city, and her presence was strongest in the temple. Arco knew the power of the gods, having seen his sister call upon them once. Even if Hyrr was known as an evil god, he had nothing to lose by asking for her help. So he went to the temple, and prayed for her guidance to defeat the demon and save the people he'd so foolishly doomed. Hyrr answered with a fetch quest and a friendly goodbye, as he raced out of the city to find the weapon the goddess had sent him to find. But when Arco left, Samari entered, and stood before the goddess with a request of her own.

Katal Tyja's final hours loomed ahead. The Isha'aq marched upon the ancient city, leaving a trail of fire in its steps. All hope seemed lost - but in that moment of darkness, Arco returned to the city, wielding the people's last hope. The weapon Arco found at Hyrr's vague hint was an heirloom from ages past - the Blade of Boreas, sword of the god that had defeated the Isha'aq all those centuries ago. But even with the legendary sword and all the powers of a wind spirit, he was still just a child, untrained and untempered. He fought against the Isha'aq, distracting it from the city and buying its people time, but he couldn't win. It was then that Samari stepped forward, to make the same sacrifice her family and her people had been making since the stirring of their blood.

Hyrr's gift to Samari was a lot more practical than what she granted Arco. She gave Samari the power to seal the Isha'aq away. No tricks, no ties, no loose ends. But the demon would be sealed inside her body, and the union of their souls would, without a doubt, lead to her destruction. Samari heard these terms and she accepted. When she stepped outside the city gates and reached out to take the demon's soul into her own, it was with a smile that she lay down and died.

Years later - decades later - an entire story later - Karin had only recently become the goddess of fire. And she learned quite quickly how difficult it was to manage something as powerful and volatile as the Hellfires of the demon world. Seeing her difficulty, the Goddess of the West Wind taught her how to make things a little easier for herself, by reaching into the Hellfires and creating something from it. Breathing life into the dying embers of a flame. What was born from that was a little fire sprite, who Karin was dead set on calling Flicker or Candle (Karin is terrible at names), but Arco stopped by, and recognized the sprite's burning red hair, and brilliant golden eyes. Samari couldn't remember who she used to be, but Arco could remember every last detail. He returned her name to her - it was such a pretty name, even Karin had to agree to it - and then they never spoke again.

Arco wanted to name his daughter after samari, but it's against Pyrrhos tradition to name your child after the dead

Also, even if he still wanted to, the fact that Layla named Skye and Gale with her dying breath kinda took all his naming rights from him

Allie: I love it. So I'm assuming the spirit looks different than samari Allie: I mean her sprit form doesn't look exactly like her

Pretty different. the sprite's hair, for one, is actually on fire, and her skin is also red, whereas it was brown when she was alive.

The sprite can also fit in the palm of your hand, which is pretty adorable. But when she's near Karin, she can grow to people-size.

Allie: Is there a particular reason she was chosen to be reborn? I mean since she doesn't remember who she was

Because samari and the isha'aq became one and the same when she took its soul into her own. And the isha'aq is always born, like a phoenix, through the Hellfires.

It was less of a recreation and more of a revival. But the situation made the revival a little. Off.

Allie: But isha'aq isn't dangerous anymore?

Neither samari nor the isha'aq exist as they used to

Samari still holds all the terrifying, explosive power of the Isha'aq, but she's something new, now. She's "both and neither"

Allie: What's her personality like as new samari?

She's a lot more passive and focused. She's lost most of that old innocent, earnest charm, to be sure, but what was left was a quiet curiosity that makes her more observant of her surroundings than participant in them. Though even in life, she was still rather careful and quiet.

New Samari is also very straightforward - which leads to her own particular brand of silliness that's difficult to describe. A lot of her personality is difficult to describe, really. I'm better at showing than telling xD

She hangs out with some other fairies, actually

A water fairy named River, who just so happens to be the Goddess of Rivers, and a snow sprite named Chill, who ironically pretends to be a fairy and makes fun of Samari for being a sprite, despite being a sprite herself

There's actually a huge fairy social hierarchy I set up involving Fae and sprites and all that xD

There are actually three different "kinds" of fairies: Sprites, the "lowest" rank, almost entirely excluded from fairy culture at large; Fae, the owners and namesake of fairy culture; and Dyne, the "great fairies" that have gone nearly extinct, with very few left in the universe

Sprites are looked down upon by Fae because they're "less real" - they're not born, like Fae are, but created or invented by the thoughts and faith of other people. A sprite's life blinks in and out of existence faster than most Fae even have the chance to take notice. So why let them hold a place in society, when that place will empty in an instant? They're brought into the world simply to serve their task in nature. Sprites are basically the slave laborers of the magical world. The only sprites that live much longer than a week are the sprites specially crafted in the hands of a god.

It's a huge bummer for Samari and Chill, who spend all their time managing sprites, seeing the entirety of their life cycles stuck in servitude, and then turning around and wondering what that meant for their own lives

Allie: So what kind of Sprite is chill?

Chill was made by Jadis, the God of Ice. Also known as Claude. She's a snow sprite, who manages a lot of the frozen wasteland in the upper reaches of the demon world

Allie: How long is her life span?

Their lives are tied to the gods that made them

They're less like sprites, actually, and more like familiar spirits. They're a lot more powerful than the average sprite, but they don't really understand their place in the hierarchy and only have that comparison to go off of

Allie: Interesting. What do you mean by familiar spirits? Is there anything that would give her away appearance wise as not being a fairy?

Familiars are beings that give part of their soul to a god, tying their life and their strength to their new master. This is part of why samari can assume a more person-sized shape when she's near Karin - familiars hold the most power when they're near their master

"Familiar" is usually a self-identifying term, however - it's not automatically attributed to everyone and everything with this relationship. It's usually just in reference to master/servant type relationships. Coal and Samari identify themselves as Karin's familiars, but Sonia gives part of her soul to Dion for the conditional immortality and no one uses the term for them.

Allie: Does that mean they live as long as their God?

Yes, they live as long as whatever they've given their soul to

As for samari's appearance: Fae have wings. Chill and Samari don't have wings. Chill crafted a fake pair out of some ice shards and stuck them to her back, using them to claim that she's a real fairy, but they're pretty obviously fake. Despite the glaring fraud, River fell for her bold lie hook, line, and sinker

River is the dumbest fairy in the whole world but she's so sweet and naive and I love her

[magistrasa]

Colors of the Sky /-1-/ Skye Borealis

“I’m worried about you,” her brother sighed, and she almost had to laugh. Skye doubted anyone could speak those words and sound any less convincing. Ever observant, Gale noticed her mistrust and moved to hopefully soothe them. “I’m serious, Skye. You’ve barely been sleeping, you can’t pay attention to anything anyone says… And your control over the wind is starting to wane. Anyone would be worried.”

“What do you care?” she asked skeptically. “You don’t care about mom. You don’t care about our name or our people. Sometimes, I’m not sure you care about ANYTHING, Gale. You’re like a feather, dancing on a breeze. You don’t take control of your life - but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong to!”

Gale looked deeply shocked, and genuinely hurt, to hear his sister’s scathing dismissal. “…I care, Skye,” he said softly. “I care about you. I care about dad, and… I care about Aria and Uncle Leon and all the rest. But I don’t care about the things… that I know are going to hurt me. I don’t want to be weighed down by things that don’t matter.”

Skye whirled around to face him angrily, tears clouding her sight. “She was our MOTHER!” she shouted in disbelief, horrified and enraged by what she heard him say. “She DIED for us, Gale! Don’t you get that?! Don’t you think that should be HONORED?! How could you say that doesn’t matter to you?!”

He didn’t know how to answer without making her more upset, but there was little else he could do but swallow his concern and speak his mind. “That’s why you can’t run like us.”

“…What?”

“Dad told me,” he said hurriedly. “Like I said… You’re being weighed down. To run like the wind is to know true freedom. But this obsession… It’s holding you back, Skye. That’s why you need to let go.”

“That’s not what it means at all.”

The twins froze at the voice of their father, neither doubting that he’d heard the whole conversation. Skye was sure he’d be upset with her for speaking such cruel words to her brother, but when King Arcadios looked at her, she saw no anger. Only a soft sadness, clouded in regret. “…To hold on to your past isn’t a weakness or a weight,” he gently corrected his misguided son. “Or at least… It doesn’t have to be.”

The king offered his daughter his hand, gesturing towards the balcony, where they might have a more private conversation. Evidently, Gale got his. It was about time she had a turn. So she followed her father outside, noticing quite quickly that the winds had died, and the touch of twilight left a chill on her skin.

“…She would have liked you.” Skye looked to Arco, but he didn’t meet her gaze. He instead looked towards the setting sun, with a smile on his lips. “She always hated how I wandered, always telling me how I ‘lacked focus’ and spent too much time chasing clouds, and not enough time making a life for myself. I never thought much of it at the time, but… She was right. Gods, how much time have I wasted? I can see that now…”

Skye hesitated, before venturing a question. “Why did she love you, then? If you really frustrated her so much…”

He laughed and said, “Isn’t it obvious? She wanted to live life as freely as I did! Even though she pulled my ear over it all the time, she wanted to be free, too.”

“So she became a queen?” Skye snickered. “She didn’t want to be tied down, so she got married, got pregnant, and got herself wrapped up in all the responsibilities of a nation?”

He shrugged and grinned. “She never made any sense to me either. But, in the end… That was what she did with her freedom. Those were the choices she was free to make.” He then paused, and his smile fell into a frown. “…She had the freedom to choose this, too. Whether she lived… or died.” Skye’s blood ran cold, but she didn’t stop him from telling his story. Her story. “By the time the doctors realized what was wrong with her, most of our choices had been taken off the table. We only had two: Bring you two to life at the expense of her own, or live a long life without ever having another chance of giving life again. These… weren’t easy to choose between.”

Arco looked Skye in the eyes now as he told her the tale. She’d never heard any of this before - only that her mother died giving birth to her. To hear it now was… difficult to process. “I wanted to give you up,” Arco finally confessed. “I only cared about what was in front of me. What I’d lose. But it wasn’t my choice to make. Layla was the one whose life was on the line. Layla was the only one who had the right to that freedom.”

“And… she chose us.” Skye’s voice rose barely above a whisper, as a tear rolled down her cheek. Arco nodded solemnly, watching his daughter’s pained reaction. “…Why did she do that?”

He simply shrugged and smiled. “Because that’s what she wanted,” was all he could say. “And now… what you want is to honor that sacrifice.”

“Yes!” she nodded, quickly rising to the call. “I… never got to know my mother. But I always wanted to! I’ve heard stories and read about her role in the revolution, and… Feeling closer to her has always made me feel stronger. I guess… that’s what I want, really. I want to feel closer to Layla Borealis.”

“Assan.”

Skye quirked an eyebrow at her father’s interruption, but he didn’t leave her wondering for long. “Her name when I met her was Layla Assan,” he sighed, looking as though he were speaking some long-kept secret. “Daughter of the ancient Assan clan. Her father was Nadir Assan. Her mother was Shannan Assan. And… her brother is Nahar Assan.”

Skye’s eyes widened in shock and she quickly asked, “He’s still alive?!”

“Somewhere, I’m sure,” he sighed again. “Last time I saw him was when your mother… was dying. I sought him out, found him in a desert city, and told him of her condition. I begged him to come see her again, one last time, and… maybe even be part of your lives. But no matter what I said, he refused.”

“Why?” she asked, as desperate as she was confused.

He laughed, though he sounded a little sad. “That’s… a long story, love. One that I’m sure he could tell you himself - if you find him. But as for me… Well, it’s getting late, don’t you think?”

“Where should I start looking?” Skye pressed, ignoring his obvious cue that the conversation was over. “I have to find him, right away! He could still be out there!”

Arco paused for a moment, looking into her eyes - or rather, at the dark circles around them. “Your brother’s right,” he finally told her. “You’ve exhausted yourself, Skye. We’re both worried about you. But… I know how important this is to you. So, how about this: I’ll tell you the name of the town I last saw him in, if - and ONLY if - you get plenty of rest, and a full meal come morning. You have to take care of yourself, Skye. You, before all else.”

“Yes, dad,” she begrudgingly agreed, but secretly there was no denying her dangerous lack of self-care. And though she was ever so eager to get started on her journey… Well, what was one night of rest?

With Arco back inside, Skye was left alone, and the wind returned to lift her heart and caress her cheek. In it, she heard the whispers of a thousand distant voices, and all at once, she felt at ease again.

“I love you,” she spoke quietly. And Skye knew the wind would carry her words to the other side.

[magistrasa]

Who to Fight: A Simple Guide

Symphonia Harmonia Yes

Now I know you’re probably thinking, “Sonia Harmonia is the strongest mage alive! How could you advocate fighting her?” But listen to me. There comes a time when you need to stare down danger, roll up your sleeves, and seize life. Fight Sonia. There’s not even a remote chance that you’ll win, but it’ll be fun, and it’ll be a sight to behold. And, hey, at the very least, she knows how to fight someone without killing them.

Leontius Iudicia No

Despite seeming like a fun, carefree kinda guy, you do NOT want to fight Leontius Iudicia. He is the one-punch knock-out champion and you’ll get all of the post-fight pain with absolutely none of the fun. Also, he’ll be really disappointed in you for trying to fight in the first place. Come on, man. The dude probably just wanted to hang out and chill with you, and you come at him with that kinda bloodlust? Don’t fight Leon. For once in your life, be cool.

Arcadios Borealis No

Arco will have you either on the floor or on a stretcher faster than you can throw a punch. You won’t win, and he won’t make it fun for you. You stand to gain nothing from fighting Arco. 0/10, would not recommend.

Dion Dissidia Absolutely not.

You will die. Dion is not the kind of man who fucks around with this shit. Even in casual spars with friends and family, he’s nearly killed his wife more than once, and he routinely puts Dog Boy Lucarhest in the hospital. Dion Dissidia does not pull punches. For your sake, I would stay away from it.

Artemisia Harmonia Sure?

Chances are you won’t beat Aria. There’s a SMALL chance that you will emerge victorious, but even then... you don’t want to take that chance. If you win, you’ll be sore for a week and you’ll have earned the unyielding ire of a demon princess. But if you lose, history has proven that Aria tends to show a little bit more warmth and respect to the people she knows she can beat the shit out of. But, you’ll still be sore for a week. So, if you’re into getting a pat on the back and a pseudo-complement from one of the coldest queens around, go for it. Don’t let me stop you.

Alexander Harmonia You monster.

Could you beat Alex in a fight? No doubt about it, he’s got the strength of a wet noodle. But does that mean you should fight him? No. Hell no. Why would you want to fight Alex? Don’t you think he’s been through enough pain and humiliation in his life? Does the idea of punching children until their issues with inadequacy and self-worth double in size somehow appeal to you? Stay away from my son.

Karin Haida HAHAHAHAHAHA yes

Honestly, the chances of Karin burning you alive are very, very high. She doesn’t have a good grasp on self-control, and she doesn’t even really know her own strength half the time, but here’s the thing. Do you want to die like a bitch? Or do you want to go out in a blaze of glory? Fight Karin. It’ll be fun.

Malta Riche Yes

Malta Riche will beat the shit out of you, sure - but then she’ll be your best friend forever. There’s a special kind of friendship forged only between blows and the exchange of fists, and those are the kinds of friendships Malta Riche holds dear to her heart. So, by all means, fight Malta. You may not realize it as you lay on the ground, bleeding through the nose, but it’ll probably be the best thing that ever happened to you.

Claude Winterfell Please.

Punch this pasty white kid square in the fucking jaw, he needs to get smacked around so he finally straightens out. If it’s hand-to-hand, you’ll win without a problem, but the guy’s quick with a sword, so watch out for that. Really, if you drop him after the first punch, the fight’s as good as won. Just kick him in the gut a few times and give him my regards. In addition, Karin will be friends with you afterwards.

Leo Lucarhest No

Only two things happen to the people who fight Leo Lucarhest: They die, or they never fully recover. The man’s got a mean punch and a killer kick, and if you fight him, you better have your funeral arrangements taken care of beforehand. You will gain nothing from fighting Dog Boy Lucarhest. Don’t fight him.

Laura Lucarhest Double No

You’re going to enter the fight thinking you’re fighting Laura, but you’re not. You’re fighting Leo. You think he’s going to sit by and watch as his master puts herself in danger? He can’t do that! He has to protect her! Fighting Laura is an even worse choice than fighting Leo because you managed to piss him off by picking a fight with the person he cares most about. That’s not going to convince him to go easy on you. Don’t fight Laura. Don’t fight Leo. Run. Just run.

Nayuta Nirra NO!!!

NO! NO! NO! NO! BAD IDEA! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!