What a chaotic day this was. All the fighting, all the killing. All the undead returning to a grave that, thanks to their magical origin, had never actually been theirs to begin with. Oh, well. Same amount of chaos and death either way. And Van hated every single bit of it.

Having left Raina's tree, Van strolled down the streets, masking his disdain for all the blood with a smile. Seiryu was truly a nice place - so many trees and bushes, and so close to nature. Where there wasn't wood, there was green, easily the best colour on the spectrum. That made it all the more shameful that he'd have to contribute to its destruction, especially considering Raina was, in all likelihood, enjoying the show from her vantage point.

Well, that was the way the cookie crumbled sometimes. He sighed, continuing his stroll and playing a tune on his violin as he looked around, empowering zombies at random and changing their eye colour from pink to green - an obvious improvement. Some of them grew in size, too, all the better to menace the civilians. But he hadn't forgotten the primary objective here, either.

He had to keep his eyes and ears peeled for anyone capable of fighting off the threat - after all, they would be worth keeping an eye on. And he found quite the buffet, indeed. Wizards in purple, valiant knights. Humans and demons alike fighting the monsters. Even the White Tigers were here - all the more reason for a demon like Van to remain out of plain sight.

As he shifted from street to street, a green cowl concealing his features, he took note of all who might come across as competent. As a man versed in the telling of tales, remembering their faces and skill sets was child's play. It was a fun way to distract himself from all the carnage by making up backstories for all the adventurers he witnessed fighting the monsters. Like that wizard from earlier - he had to have been a haughty scholar-type out to discover the secrets of magic in the best way - through empirical research. The salamander in black, a wandering swordsman taking up the blade to try and carve a purpose in this inherently meaningless world. That white-haired, white/teal-robed sorcerer - well, no need to go into his baggage. As for the blue ninja, he must've been a gentleman thief out to best his equal and opposite in the White Tigers, and-

Wait, was that Calypso?

Well, now, this certainly got a tad more dire, but if there was anything he could trust in, it was Calypso's strength. Still, it couldn't hurt to watch, right? And maybe if he joined in, he could get her back on task more quickly. With a low hum, he moved closer, ready to help his friend at a moment's notice while remaining hidden. He watched everyone and everything closely, musing to himself all the while.

"Oh, what fun, to watch a clash of good and evil - such ripe antiquity almost brings a tear to my eye! Assuming that ruffian really is on the side of good, that is. I certainly hope so; I've always had a soft spot for heroes. Here's hoping our Calypso managed to find one..."

.........

Now that she was in battle, Calypso knew she had to be ruthless, so she turned on her battle instincts and faced down the army of Tigers before her. The trembling in her body was absent, and she almost seemed like a different person entirely. Right now, she had the advantage in both longer range and a vantage point, so she stayed where she was, firing arrows happily at each of her targets and watching them all fall down.

For their part, they had to learn to adapt to her shots, forcing them on the defensive while they raised their blades to block. It would have been an important lesson to test the Lance's advice, but alas, most of them had simply learned to tune out his rants. They weren't exactly wishing they had listened, but had they, perhaps more of them would have survived the attack.

"You craven trickster!" one survivor gritted his teeth, pointing his sword at Calypso as his comrades fell beside him, one after another. "Come down and fight with honour!"

Calypso looked at the man, mildly shaken by his anger, and took a deep breath, focusing on the opposition as she whispered under her breath. Two lights emerged by her sides and began circling her, while her body was surrounded in a sparkling red aura, and she nodded quickly.

"As you wish."

She jumped up, her leap freakishly high as she looked down, and as she descended, the unlucky swordswoman beneath her raised her blade to defend herself only for her blade to shatter against the nymph's boots. Calypso remained stoic and serious as she stood in the centre of their formation, wasting no time as she spun around and smashed her foot into the woman's head. Her unlucky victim shrieked as she was sent flying into another, toppling them both over. The Tigers looked at one another, beginning to consider that maybe, mistakes had been made today. But if they could persevere through said mistakes, the King would smile upon them. To surrender to a demon? Madness. They acted in one mind - mori quam foedari - and made their charge towards the nymph.

Meanwhile, their leader paid absolutely no attention to his men, instead focusing on the blue-cloaked man in front of him as their blades clashed over and over again. With a mad grin on his face, Sully kicked rapidly, the blades on his shoes flying through the air and narrowly missing Sly with each strike. Whenever he found the chance, Sly would move in with his own daggers, which Sully would just as hastily dodge.

"What's the matter, little Sylvester?" Sully asked mockingly, watching as Sly grunted in annoyance - how dare his foe be just as agile as him! "You look a little stressed! Why don't you lie down for a little?"

"You're one to talk." Sly replied, watching Sully's movements closely and waiting for an opportunity. "So much bloodlust - I think you need to chill out!"

As he said that, he stomped on the ground, and a thin sheet of ice began to spread across the ground in all directions. Sully, understanding the intent here, shook his head quickly as he jumped back, somersaulting mid-jump. "Ha! Your pun is as weak as your magic!"

He landed on his hands, remaining upright without much visible trouble as he quickly began to spin around, quickly approaching Sly, his legs suddenly having become even deadlier weapons than usual as he turned breakdancing into a form of attack. Sly kept his distance, drawing a throwing knife and tossing it at his torso only for the man to swerve out of its trajectory.

"You know what your problem is?" Sly asked, whipping out a weighted chain from his cloak and twirling it around. "Your life revolves around me way too much!"

He drew closer to Sully, and the latter's bladed kicks became more focused. He slashed at his torso, and Sly avoided each hit. Sully then leapt up from his hands, trying to stab Sly in the chin with a mighty flash-kick. Sly was swift, however, and he leapt backwards, twirling his chain once again. As Sully landed on two feet, Sly took the chance and tossed the chain at him, wrapping it around his leg.

Sly smirked, and as Sully raised his other leg to try and cut himself free, Sly tugged firmly on the chain, forcing his rival to lose his footing and fall onto the ice, sliding towards him. Sully flailed about, trying to stand up, but he couldn't stop slipping on the ice. As he tried to get up, he glared venomously at Sly, his smug demeanour gone as he clenched his teeth tightly.

"You think you've won? That you're better than me?" he spat, retracting his shoe-blades and putting his hands into his cloak. Sly, raising an eyebrow, let go of the chain and tossed a handful of knives at him, each one piercing his body in various places. Sully clenched his teeth, pulling out a collection of spherical bombs slotted between his knuckles.

Forcing another psychotic grin, he tossed them between himself and his rival, and as they exploded, Sly made sure to hold his breath. He was all too familiar with the gas that resulted. It had just the faintest hint of a white colour, but he knew it was toxic to inhale. Sly stepped back, but he saw the gas spreading, and at once he began to worry - what if it got Calypso before he could warn her?

Van had that same worry. He didn't know what those bombs did, but he could put together context clues and take a few good guesses. But now that she seemed to be in danger, now was the best time to take action, for Calypso's story was not yet meant to end. So he closed his eyes, beginning to play a quick little ditty on his violin as magic swirled around his body in the form of what looked like a green musical sheet.

"As the sun rises with an encroaching noon, let its light protect you - I declare thee immune."

The rotating musical sheet now appeared around Calypso's body, and as she felt his magic flowing into her, feeling like a saddened smile, she realised her friend was nearby and looked back to see if she could spot him. Van, who had been behind a nearby tree, quickly played a slick lick on his violin before teleporting behind Calypso in a melodious burst of sound, using his bow to parry away a blade of wind magic that had been aimed at her.

"Eyes on the fight, Callie." he warned playfully, shaking his head as he pulled off his bow to reveal a rapier sheathed inside it. Hearing this, she blushed slightly, shaking her head and keeping her eyes on the enemy.

"I-I was focused!" she stammered feebly, earning a chuckle from her elven companion as they faced the fight ahead of them.

In the meantime, Sly stared down at Sully, who at this point was the human equivalent of a pincushion as he ripped Sly's knives out of him, panting heavily. "Had enough, Sully?"

"I've never heard a dumber question." Sully replied, shaking his head. "Being around you is insufferable enough even without all the knives you stabbed me with."

"Yeah, I'm quite the sharp one. Stay jealous, Sully." Sly winked, smiling slightly as he twirled another knife between his fingers. "Any last words?"

"...oh? What's that behind you?"

As Sully pointed behind him, Sly raised an eyebrow as if to say 'I'm not falling for that old chestnut'. His hands remained on his hips as he stared at Sully judgementally. Without warning, however, Sully spat into his widened eye, causing him to hiss as he held his eye in great discomfort. While his rival was distracted, Sully scrambled to his feet as quickly as his injuries would allow, and made a break for it, leaving the White Tigers at the mercy of the heroes.

Once Sly recovered, he saw Sully had vanished and turned back around, sighing slightly. He wasn't going to be a problem for the rest of the day, so he could focus on helping Calypso and the mystery newcomer. But he momentarily paused once he saw just who that newcomer was, Viera's words echoing in his mind as he stared at the fencer before him:

"If you meet a green-haired elf with a violin, don't trust him. His name's Van, and he's the most annoying Deliverer."

And as he fought alongside them, he began to wonder - did that mean Calypso was a Deliverer, too? He couldn't help but dread the possibility that the cute and seemingly innocent nymph he'd met today was working to destroy the world - especially now that he was seeing her in combat. Maybe it was a different green elf...

Once the Tigers were all defeated, most of them dead, the elf exchanged a fist-bump with Calypso before the duo turned to face Sly, both of them smiling. Sly smiled back, though his eyes lingered on the elf, who was the first to speak.

"I thank you for your help. It's always nice to see we have human allies out there." he exclaimed, taking a gracious bow. "What is your name, sir?"

"Just call me Sly." Sly replied. "And it's no problem at all. I take it you're a friend of Calypso's?"

"Only the greatest - unless she has something different to say." Van chuckled, while Calypso shook her head slowly.

"...sorry, Sly. He and I go way back."

"No hard feelings. We just met today." Sly smiled slightly, shrugging casually. "What's your name, elf buddy?"

The elf watched Sly very closely for a brief moment, something Sly noticed and returned in kind, before returning to his smile. "Van Engelis, sir!"

Sly flinched momentarily, but it was barely noticeable, and gave a bright smile to hide his worry. "Van, eh?" he said. "You did a good job."

"Of course I did. I'm simply excellent." Van flipped his hair as if to get across the point that he was, in fact, excellent. "But you weren't bad, either."

"Y-Yeah! Good job dealing with that leader guy!" Calypso praised, making him smile.

"A rather praiseworthy warrior, I'm sure." Van chuckled quietly. "Much as I'd love to stay and chat, Calypso and I have places to be, and we really must be on our way."

"Well, then, don't hold back on my account!" Sly gave a small wave. "Later, you two."

With an exchange of farewells, Sly parted ways with the other two, going off to try and deal with the crisis as well as he could. Meanwhile, Van and Calypso went their own way, walking side by side before Van, once again, broke that silence.

"That 'Sly' character...we ought to keep an eye on him."

"You've got that right..." Calypso murmured, her attention not quite on Van, who raised an eyebrow in amusement as he noticed this.

"Listen closely, Calypso. We may be in agreement that he's a handsome devil, but that's not why I said that." he said, and at once she began to pay close attention to Van, a blush spreading across her face. "That man knows more than he seems."

"Oh? How do you figure?" she asked.

"Did you see how cautious he seemed around me? How about his reaction when I told him my name?" Van explained. "He's familiar with this name, and he knew to be wary of me. Which doesn't make sense unless someone told him about me beforehand."

"I-It wasn't me..." Calypso murmured shyly, causing Van to nod slowly.

"You are not on trial here." he reassured her. "I speak of Viera."

"Ooooh...she would go badmouthing you, wouldn't she?" Calypso mused. "You think he's aligned with her?"

"I wouldn't doubt it." Van sighed. "We ought to be careful, much like he was with me. I imagine Viera herself is fighting elsewhere as we speak..."

Happy to have made some progress in their objective, the two of them remained together for the time being, hoping things would go swimmingly from here on out.