Leave Mertz to Bangaal

Mertz was probably the guard captain for a reason. Well, his ability to extort others probably had a good part in putting him there too, but he seemed to hold his longsword competently. Perhaps this was the best chance for Bangaal to let her chaos magic run wild? She'd been begging for an opportunity and this was the most dire one you'd had yet, which could really use the application of some unpredictable sorcery. You gave her your wish: keep Mertz occupied or take him down.

"Ho ho! Who do you think you're talking to, Lavender Vin? Bangaal will make short work of Mertz! This is her chance to try all sorts of chaos magic!" Bangaal laughed in response. When she turned her head, you saw a scary gleam in her golden eyes and her grin spread wide behind her semi-transparent veil.

Mertz's eyes narrowed in thought-- perhaps hesitation-- before he stepped forward, gripping his longsword's hilt with two hands. "That one's a djinn, isn't she? Legends say they're tricksters who can split apart into smoke. But if you lot are so powerful, how come there's so few of you left? Stands to reason, to me, that you all cut in two as easily as anything else." A smug smirk spread across his bearded face. "Let's test that out."

Belit's bare feet spun in a 90 degree arc down to the dirt path and began a slow, hypnotic dance, her coin-ringed belt reverberating in the silence of the cavern. "Hmmm? You really think you, a human, has the power to extinguish a djinn? There is a harsh lesson in chaos magic coming, Mertz Guard Captain!" The djinn began to raise each arm up and down in time, swirling more of her red smoke around her forearms and fingers as she did. "Do you understand the origin of chaos magic? No, Bangaal thinks not! If you did, you would understand how foolish your theory is!"

"I'm not here for a history lesson. I'm here to make you history," Mertz spat back, rushing with his sword raised.

You couldn't afford to watch the outcome right now. You had to turn your attention to Nil Riiche, quickly!