They managed to get within 200 meters before the alarm was raised. Mark had men up on the battlements, waiting for their arrival, but with groups going in and out all day it wasn't until they were close that the guards could identify them. The team started running, their high attributes letting them close the distance within seconds. They still weren't fast enough though, as a group of men appeared from the gates and blocked the entrance. The team stopped ten meters away from the men, ready for anything.

The silence stretched out, both sides staring at each other with the tension palpable. Michael scanned the eight men in front of him, trying to guess what classes they might have by the weapons the carried. Three of them carried shields, likely tanks, and the rest carried an assortment of weapons. One carried a pair of scimitars, another had an assortment of knives in various straps. The final man carried a Staff, similar to Olivia's, but where hers looked like carved obsidian with glowing red cracks his looked like a frosted piece of glass in the shape of a staff. Both had knobs on the end, because otherwise they wouldn't be magical staves.

The two groups stayed in silence for a few moments, Olivia and the staff guy staring at each other, before Olivia broke the silence.

"Let us through John, you're not going to stop us."

The staff guy, John, smiled a sad kind of smile. "You know I can't do that. I like you Olivia, you and I were good friends and you saved my ash more times than I can count, but Mark's real poshed about the token. Wanting your head kind of passed." He sighed. "I talked to him, he let me come to you first. If you hand over the token you can walk away. You'll be banished, and he'll kill you if you ever come back, but we won't chase after you."

Olivia stared at him for a few seconds. "If you know me then you know I'm not going to do that. Mark has to go down, he's a bully and a tyrant and he won't stop until someone stops him."

John's shoulders slumped. "You're really not going to give up, are you?"

Olivia didn't say anything, she just kept staring at him, her gaze unflinching.

"Fine, guess we're doing this the hard way. Olivia Bennet, I am taking you in under suspicion of theft. If you resist then you will be branded a criminal and a kill order will be given. If anyone interferes then the same will happen to them."

Olivia smiled, the first time since this started. "Don't worry, I won't fight, neither will any Turkton citizen."

John paused, eyes squinting. "What are yo-, wait, who's that?"

Michael smiled. "Thanks for clumping together." With that, chaos was unleashed. Michael Dupli-Cast Vine Traps on the men, catching everyone but the mage. Fortunately he wasn't a problem as he was currently flying into wall, curtesy of an ursine uppercut from Hazel.

The team burst into action, sprinting around the entangled men or, in Damiens case, using their faces as springboards to go over them. They burst through the gates as notifications appeared in front of everyone in the town.

Warning!

Turkton is under attack!

Take up arms and defend your town from invaders!

Current attackers:

- Michael Volker (No Affiliation)

As soon as the announcement rang out Michaels name appeared floating above his head in glowing red letters, attracting the attention of everyone nearby. Michael immediately bolted through the gates only to dodge an arrow at the last second, one of the archers on the wall trying to take him down quick. Michael leaped onto a nearby building, taking the fight to the rooftops and avoiding the crowd of people who had come to look. Most of them were likely non-combatants but that didn't mean they wouldn't take a potshot at him and he didn't want to take the risk.

As he landed on the roof he could hear Hazel spreading chaos down below, not hard when you're 300 pound bear with magical powers. Michael wasn't all that worried about her, with all her defense spells running she was almost as tanky as Sam. Listening to her through his on he could feel how happy she was, treating it all as a big game. Michael on the other hand, was in a far worse position. Up on the rooftops he was out of the crowds but now he had very little in the way of cover. Worse, since he didn't want to kill anyone, the book was meant to be light, with his high AP any of his attacks might seriously hurt or kill people so he couldn't really go all out.

He did snap off an arrow at the archer currently aiming at his face. He'd blunted all his arrows in preparation but the archer had apparently not expected Michael to fire back and took the arrow in the chest, the force of which toppled him over the wall.

Michael braced himself for the kill notification but when none came, and several warriors did, he hightailed it across the roof. Reaching the roofs edge he leaped toward the next, spinning in midair and firing an arrow at the men chasing him. It would have looked amazing if the men hadn't dodged. It would have looked even more amazing if he had stuck the landing. As it turns out, trying out an unpracticed maneuver that required lots of skill and precision whilst being chased by enemies on all sides is a somewhat difficult thing to do.

Michael managed to turn the tumble into a roll and sprang to his feet, only to duck as a Arctic Spear flew through the space that his head had just been occupying. Looking towards the source Michael discovered that John had recovered from his unscheduled flight and apparently wasn't happy with him. Snapping off an arrow at the icy mage Michael continued his run, the group of warriors coming up behind him. They weren't going to catch him any time soon, Michaels agility and their heavy armor making the gap in speeds insurmountable, but Michael didn't want them to get too close in case one of them had a charge skill of some sort.

As Michael leaped for the next roof he fired off a Boulder Toss aimed at the roof behind him. The boulder smashed through the roof causing a large portion of the roof, along with a large portion of the warriors, to fall into the house below. Michael didn't get to see his handiwork however, as he was too focused on the rogue currently stabbing him. The man had taken advantage of his high Agility and Stealth to reach the roof ahead of Michael and set up an ambush. If it wasn't for his exceptional reflexes then Michael would have ended up with a knife in his neck, rather than the arm he used to block.

Michael tried firing off a Magic Arrow at the rogue but he disappeared into stealth too fast, the spell couldn't lock on to him. Michael froze, his senses straining to catch a hint of the rogue. He didn't have time to mess around but he couldn't just leave his back unprotected. He closed his eyes, slowing his breath, until he suddenly came into a moment of peace, of stillness. The world faded away, the shouts and occasional screams as some poor fool got Hazel'd receding into the background.

In that moment of stillness, Michael heard it. A near silent footfall a meter behind him. Acting on instinct he activated his Vine Trap spell in that spot. It was fortunate for Michael that the stone the building was made of was considered as 'earth' by the System otherwise the spell would have failed. Vines sprung up and wrapped around the rogue, his Stealth wearing off as the spell trapped him. Coming out of the moment of stillness, Michael quickly left the scene, though not before giving the man a solid punch to the face.

As he ran Michael cast a Novice Heal, the wound on his arm closing as the Mana went to work. Mana was going to get scarce if this went on for long but blood would make things slippery. He Dodged an arrow, his senses working overtime, and kept running. With his high Perception most archers and mages weren't an issue, so long as he had room to move.

Michael checked on Hazel through the bond and found she wasn't doing so well. Her Health was at 70%, her Mana at 60 but they had her cornered. Following the bond Michael came across the scene, Hazel in the middle of the street with a dozen men surrounding her.

Not slowing down Michael jumped on to one guys head, firing an arrow into another's and casting a Vine Trap on the guy currently trying to shove a sword into his self-appointed daughters side.

As he was using the guys head as a springboard Michael shot a guy in the chest and fired off a Magic Arrow into another guys leg.

By the time the men reacted Michael was already on another rooftop, speeding away, and Hazel had burst out of the circle.

Michael and Hazel had one job which could be described in one word: Chaos. They had to cause as much chaos as possible in order to buy Olivia as much time as possible.

Olivia was nervous.

Everything was going according to plan but she still felt nervous. Well, almost everything. John had been a surprise, one she hadn't anticipated. The plan had always been for Michael and Hazel to buy them time as they made for the System Console at the center of Turkton. The challenge for Mayorship could be made by anyone but it could only be made from the System Console. The run in with John had been difficult, he had been a friend for several months after the Manapocalypse, their mutual enjoyment of magical bombardment sparking friendship. When Olivia and her team had started to fight back against Mark and his increasingly despotic leadership John had stayed, throwing his lot in with Mark.

The betrayal had hurt, and seeing him standing there, trying to stop her, had hurt again. The conversation had taken too long, eating up time that they didn't have. Fortunately Michael seemed to be extra disruptive, she'd seen quite a lot of Turks men running towards the gate.

If she was honest with herself, the thing Olivia was worried about most was Michael. She knew he could handle himself, he was stronger than anything Mark could throw at him, but she still worried. It had been his idea to cause a distraction, to give the team the best chance possible, but she still worried.

Still, she could not afford to get distracted. Her team had gotten all the way to the center, taking a circuitous route to bypass any roadblocks. If Turks men got their hands on her or her team before they got to the console then the could arrest her on some burpshirt charge and stop her from making the challenge. They entered the central plaza but stopped dead in their tracks. In front of them stood over thirty of Mark Turks men, including the man himself.

Mark was dressed in full plate armor, glowing blue runes etched into the metal, with a greatsword strapped to his back and a shield strapped to his arm. Turk had started out as a shield warrior, a self styled 'protector of the innocent'. To be fair, he did start out as one, saving a lot of people with his shield. As he changed his fighting style changed as well, he stopped using his shield and started relying on his sword and then his greatsword. He stopped tanking, letting others deal the damage, and started using his blade to hammer away at monsters, enjoying the feeling his strength gave him.

Mark smiled, his entire being radiating confidence. "Hello Olivia, it's good to see you again. Have you been well?"

Olivia scowled. "Cut the shift Turk. I'm here to stop you, to take Turkton and make it a good place, one where people aren't just entertainment or slaves for you and your men. I'm also going to change the name, Turktons a stupid name."

Marks face darkened, his fists clenched. "Shut you stupid bench. You're under arrest for theft of a town token and if you resist, and I really hope you do, then I am going to personally rip you to pieces."

Olivia smiled a sad smile. "You were a good man once, you helped a lot of people. It's sad to see what you've become. Let me though, I don't want to kill anyone, but I will if I have to".

Mark smiled and opened his mouth, likely to gloat about the impossibility of Olivia and her team beating them, but he never got a chance. His words were interrupted by a boulder to the face. It didn't kill him, not even slightly, but it did send him flying backwards. Like a bowling ball smashing into pins Mark smashed into his men, the boulder still kissing his face.

Marks men as one turned towards the source to find Michael standing there, an arrow nocked and a smile on his face. Spells and arrows started flying between Michael and Turks men but Olivia wasn't paying attention, she was busy weaving through Turks men under the cover of invisibility.

Invisibility potions were as expensive as they were rare. The ones in the system store were prohibitively expensive and they rarely popped up on the outside. Rare does not mean never though, and Olivia had gotten her hands on one weeks ago but had never had a reason to use it, until now.

The potion only lasted for 30 seconds but it only took her 23 to get to the console. Before she activated the console Olivia took in what was happening. Mark was rallying his men, staring at the wall that Sam had raised when the chaos erupted. Michael was running around the roofs, sling spells and arrows and dodging ones in return.

With a smile Olivia turned her eyes back towards the console.

Michael was having fun.

He had led dozens of men on a merry chase for a long time, plenty enough for Olivia to reach the console but he sensed something wrong. The amount of men had been increasing at first, the plan had been working, but then it stopped. According to Olivia Turk had over 60 men under his direct control but there was half that number currently chasing him.

Fearing the worst Michael poured on the speed, aiming for the town center. At his max speed Michael could outstrip all but the fastest of his pursuers, and he had already knocked them out. Arriving at the central plaza in seconds Michael found the sight of a man in full plate as well as thirty others. And standing across from them was Olivia's team.

Michael wasn't particularly worried, they had planned for the possibility. That being said, he didn't mind adding a little chaos to grease the proverbial wheels. Since the full plate man was likely Turk he didn't mind seeing if the guy could take a boulder to the face. He launched the spell and quickly nocked an arrow, striking a pose. When everyone looked up he grinned, right up until the spells started flying.

He yelped, literally, and started dodging and firing back. He made sure to aim at arms and legs rather than heads and threw a few spells in for good measure. Seeing that Sam had raised an Earthen Wall he made his way over. After sending another Boulder Toss at the possible Turk he dove off the roof and behind the wall, landing in a heap.

Looking up he saw Sam and Anne looking down at him, smiling and frowning respectively. "Quite an entrance there lad" Sam remarked.

Michael was about to reply, make some sort of quip, when an announcement rang out.

"Announcement! Olivia Bennet has challenged Mark Turk to the Mayorship of Turkton. All individuals within Turkton will be transported to the Challenge Arena momentarily."