A figure with a furious mask wearing a dark armoured coat was stood just past the gate. Just behind it, a beautiful lady was staring straight ahead. It was Arke and Cyrille. Beside them, broken rusted chains from the gate that they had just forced open.

The ground shook as a thunderous road pierced through the area.

In the middle of the clearing, illuminated by rays of moonlight, A Drake, a four legged beast that resembled a wingless dragon, was laying down- or more like chained down. Dozens of weapons were impaled into the ground that surrounded it. Upon closer look, they were actually impaled into long dead skeletons with what looked like flowers blooming near them.

Dozen of large chains were entangled around it’s hard iron-like scaled body. Each of them were held onto the ground with countless spears and sword being used like stakes.

The only thing that could still move a little was the Drake’s head. Though, it’s entire face was covered in multiple steel plates and a chain was loosely wrapped around it’s jaw, just enough to let it roar but not enough to let it bite down onto the chains around it’s body.

Without a hint of fear, Arke walked forwards. The Drake turned it’s head towards him and let out a muffled roar. The snow that piled onto the Drake shifted and fell. The chains wrapped around it also creaked as if it could break at any moment.

“T- that’s what you meant. I was expecting something more grandiose” Cyrille turned to Arke. “Still, must’ve been a lot of work to get a beast here.”

Arke ignored Cyrille’s first remark. “Agreed.”

In this world, Beasts were monsters that existed since ancient times. Unlike other monsters, they’re much larger, stronger, faster and smarter. They were separated into four different types. Dragons, Wyrms, Wyverns and Drakes. Drakes in particular were among the strongest and toughest, they also had the best sense of smell.

While it obviously wasn’t impossible to capture a Drake, it was still difficult and mostly not worth the effort.

“So, should we wait” Cyrille whispered.

Arke shook his head. “No, there won’t be any need to wait for long.”

The expression on Cyrille’s face didn’t change, as if everything that was happening was completely normal.

The two walked towards the Drake, stopping just a few meters away from it. Upon closer look, rusted spears were pierced into it’s limbs. Similarly, rusted swords were pierced into where it’s eyes should be. A rather cruel fate.

It was kept alive for a single purpose-

“It wasn’t easy getting that thing here, y’know.”

“That’s what I just said” Cyrille grumbled under her breath.

Behind the two, three armour plated adventurers appeared. From their movements, it seemed that they were also magus, specifically fortification magus, as normal humans wouldn’t be able to move easily when wearing heavy full plate armour like that.

“You wouldn’t know exactly how many men I lost just to get that monster here” a familiar voice said. The man’s armour stood out among the three. Standing side by side, he was a head taller than the other two. “Though- the lives of people I barely know aren’t worth much by themselves.”

It was Ragna. He spread his arms and gestured towards the skeletons that were spread around the area. Near those skeletons, glowing roses bloomed under the moonlight.

“Still, I give you two applause for not being scared off by that Drake. Normally, most other adventurers that come to Langite would think better and steer away from any sign of a beast” Ragna laughed. “Not many people are willing to jump so quick to their deaths.”

“I guess you could say we’re a bit psycho then. Not right in the head” Arke glared at Ragna.

Behind the two, the chains constantly rattled as the Drake moved and tried to break free, but to no avail.

“I don’t disagree, we’re a bit messed up” Cyrille chuckled.

“So-... was this what you were after?” Ragna gestured towards the glowing roses with his giant mace. He held it with one hand as if it weighed nothing. “If it is, take a handful and leave… Now.”

Arke gazed at the area around them, slowly turning his head from one side to the other.

“...”

“... … Well?”

“No, not exactly. Though, it’s nice to know that your whole proclamation yesterday wasn’t just for show. It’s refreshing to see” Arke said as he turned his back towards the Drake.

“I did say that- but I guess I wasn’t clear enough when I did, so let me rephrase it.” Ragna slammed his mace onto the ground. “This is our territory. If you’re not here for anything, then leave.”

“Isn’t that a bit rude to newcomers” Cyrille responded with sarcastic tone.

“Shut your mouth bitch” an unknown adventurer said in an annoyed voice.

At that moment, more than a dozen bowmen rose from the ruined walls. Their bows were aimed down at the two in the middle of the room. Just past the gate, three crossbowmen also appeared along with an escort of a handful of adventurers. At the same time, two of the armoured adventurers beside Ragna walked forwards and raised their shields and swords.

The adventurers surrounding Arke and Cyrille moved in coordination with each other. It seemed that a fight was about to break out, until.

“Stop” Ragna’s loud voice resounded within the ruins. “Don’t do anything unnecessary” Ragna slammed the tip of his mace into the ground much stronger than before. All of the adventurers lowered their weapons slightly. He then turned towards the two.

“We’ve got the upper hand in this situation right now” Ragna looked at Arke. “Faulken” he uttered before turning to Cyrille. “Shizu” he added.

Two unfamiliar names, or at least it seemed like it. But, those two names were the names that were on the adventurer IDs that Arke and Cyrille had shown.

“If you’re not here for anything, then leave. I’d rather not cause a dispute or problem by having to kill another clan’s people.”

Indeed. Everything was as Ragna had planned, he had the upper hand. The bowmen on the wall had great vantage point and could easily counter any melee oriented magus. The crossbowmen behind him could pierce any light to medium armour that the two could possibly wear, and if one of them was a caster or ranged type magus, the crossbows’ bolts could easily strike before they could.

“To think that you’d just stroll up here like this though, I wasn’t expecting that. But even if you tried to do anything, we’re already prepared for whatever you could throw at us.”

In front of Ragna, and himself included, were the vanguard of his formation. No matter what Arke or Cyrille did, they knew they could easily fend them off and buy time for their ranged allies to finish them. Their confidence was boosted by the fact that Arke and Cyrille did not have any weapon on them.

Even if the two could escape somehow, he had three trackers still tailing them, it would only be a matter of time before they found them again if they decide to come back.

“So, this is my last warning, leave” Ragna took a dignified pose.

By the information that he had gathered on the two, he had created an almost fool proof plan. In his mind, and everyone else’s, they’ve already won without having to lift a finger. The only thing they had to wait for was for the two to obediently nod and leave the ruins with their heads held low.

Or so they thought.

“Kill? Aren’t you getting a bit ahead of yourself Mr. Ragna.”

A strange response came from Cyrille as she began to chuckle.

“We’re here for one simple reason.”

“And what would that reason be” Ragna’s voice became stiffer as he lifted his mace. “Let me warn you now, don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

The adventurers raised their weapons once more and took aim at the two just in front of the Drake.

Arke had looked up at the sky as Cyrille took one step forwards. The adventurersknew that they had the upper hand against the two in front of the Drake, that’s why they hesitated to do anything. Though, that was exactly what Arke and Cyrille had needed.

Cyrille took another step forward and lowered her stance. As if she was about to cast magic. Though, even before she could do anything, a bolt flew through the air, aimed at her head.

Arke’s expression turned into a wicked smile behind his mask, though, nobody else could see it.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

As Cyrille lowered her stance, the area around her distorted. Though it only lasted for a split second, it looked like fragments of reality cracked. In that instant, black armour materialized on her body from head to toe. What looked like fragments fell from the armour and disappeared before hitting the ground.

The bolt that was fired at her glanced off her helmet.

In an instant, the adventurers on the wall had let loose their arrows. But, it was too late. Cyrille had slammed her foot onto the ground and launched herself forwards. One of the armoured adventurers swung his sword down with incredible speed and force.

Cyrille used the outside of her forearm to deflect the strike away before plunging her shoulder into the man, knocking him onto the ground. The crossbowmen tried to aim at her, but Cyrille had already moved and purposely kept the other armoured adventurer in between her and the crossbowmen.

It was at that point that Ragna had realized that something was off. But too late- the men he brought had stuck to the plan. The crossbowmen prioritized Cyrille while the bowmen focused on Arke.

In front of Cyrille, the armoured adventurer held his shield up as he charged forwards. Instead of exposing his body, he chose a safer route and swung his leg, aiming for her knee. In response, Cyrille also swung her leg.

“Agh!?”

The sound of steel shattering resounded. The man screamed as his plate armour shattered when it made contact with her armour, breaking his leg in the process. Though, Cyrille’s black armour didn’t even deform in the slightest. Less than a moment later, Cyrille grabbed the man’s face.

“You guys aim for Faulken then deal with Shizu! I’ll prot-”

Ragna was interrupted by what looked like an explosion that occurred in front of him. Cyrille had slammed the man’s head down into the ground with enough force that, even with the heavy plate armour, the man’s body flew into the air as the snow exploded from the impact of his head into the ground.

The sound of the impact caused the Drake behind them to lift it’s head and roar at the commotion that was happening. Even if it could not see, it could smell the blood that was just spilled and it could hear the chaos that was unfolding in front of it.

“D- Damn it, Crossbows, fall back while firing!” Ragna yelled as he raised his giant mace and stood between the crossbowmen and Cyrille while not blocking their line of fire.

“Come on, you pieces of filth.” Cyrille dodged the crossbow bolts as she kept launching herself from side to side. “If that’s all you can do, then your lives are as good as forfeit!”

The man Cyrille tackled earlier was on his feet, though a dent was clearly visible on his chest piece from where Cyrille tackled him. His stance was bent and his head was tilted down-

“What are you doing” Ragna yelled.

In that instant, the man lifted his head and realized Cyrille was almost right in front of him. He tried to block, but Cyrille quickly changed directions and got behind him while pushing him forwards. As he staggered, she grabbed the back of the man’s neck and armour, placing him between her and the crossbowmen.

“C- Cap-” The crossbowmen stopped firing for a moment.

“D- Don’t stop firing, you fools. Do you want to die!?” Ragna screamed.

Of course, no matter how corrupt one was, many adventurers still had never killed another human before. Even if they did, the one the crossbowmen was aiming at was most likely someone they’ve known for a long while.

But that hesitation was all Cyrille needed. With a crunching sound, she crushed the man’s neck and threw him to the side before launching herself towards the crossbowmen. In their panic, they fired while retreating and all missed except for one bolt that had only bounced off of the black armour.

Cyrille realized that the crossbowmen weren’t firing bolts made to pierce heavy armour. With that knowledge, she stopped dodging.

“D- Demon, stay ba-” Panic began to completely take over the adventurers.

Ragna tried to block her path, however his armour’s weight slowed him down and Cyrille had dashed just in front of him, into the group of adventurers to his back.

“-meone help! Don’t let her get nea-”||“-he cross bowmen to the back while we ho-”||”-didn’t we have everything planne-”||”-stop yapping and start shoot-”||”-Ragna lied to-”

As the adventurers panicked, Cyrille had reached the group. One after the other, the adventurers acting as the rear guard fell in quick succession. Then Cyrille hunted the rest down. It was a slaughter. Even more so that Cyrille had no weapon and had to use her fists.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Just before all that happened, a black sphere like… thing... materialized from thin air, encompassing Arke. It looked like a shattered glass sphere was around him, though there was no glass. Only the black crack-like design of the black metal.

As the arrows flew, the cracks shifted and moved quickly. The arrows simply glanced off the areas where the cracks constantly converged.

Most of the bowmen had a cold sweat drip down their cheeks. They were told that Faulken- Arke- was a melee oriented magus and not a caster. That was the reason that their first move was to shoot at him from all directions.

The bowmen ignored Cyrille in her armour. Though it wasn’t because they were following the plan, but because even with the vantage they had, it was still difficult for simple shortbows to penetrate any kind of full armour. Though they weren’t exactly sure if it was truly armour that Cyrille wore either.

At this point, a the sound of a loud impact resounded paired with the Drake lifting it’s head and roaring in response to Cyrille’s chaos.

“Hhmp… they’re doing well enough, I guess it’s my turn.” Arke’s face twisted into a wicked smile.

The sphere around Arke had suddenly increased it’s size. At the same moment, reality distorted around his arms for a fraction of a second. Black crossbows materialized on each of his hands, it looked as if they were attached to his arms by web-like black steel.

“Don’t stop firing” one of the bowmen yelled.

And, indeed, the bowmen all began to shoot their arrows one after another, but it was futile, Arke was simply stood leisurely in front of the Drake. The cracks constantly shifted, deflecting the arrows.

“-it’s no use! The arrows-”||”-What are the crossbow-”||”-What about the-”

The bowmen kept firing as fast as they could without any coordination.

“Fire in a volley on my-”

Before the man could finish, a black bolt had pierced his head. Though, Arke hadn’t even lifted his arms to aim. Rather, he was staring at Ragna.

“W- What’s happening, ho-”

And another.

“Huh, Zeke are you o-”

And another.

The bowmen had stopped firing arrows and duck behind cover. Their faces showed nothing but fear. Even though Arke didn't fire his crossbows, or even lifted them, black bolts still pierced their comrades.

It was around that time that the cracks that were protecting Arke had fragmented and slowly fell apart, disappearing into nothing. He raised his crossbows and started to fire black bolts at Ragna. It was also this time that Cyrille had broken through and was dealing with the crossbowmen.

“There’s a third! Keep your head down and find him!”

Indeed, the only explanation that they could think of is that there’s a third person that they haven’t seen. That's why they had kept their heads down and stayed behind cover until they could find the one picking them off. But reality was much different-

Unbeknownst to them, above in the night sky, dozens of distortions appeared one by one in different locations. Each time it did, a bolt would fall.

Another bowman was struck, though, this time the bolt aimed for his shoulder.

The bowman writhed in pain as he grabbed his shoulder. “D- damn it, fall back, we need to wa-”

Finally, a bolt pierced that man’s head.

Now, only handful of the bowmen were left. Fear had completely consumed them. Maybe they could survive if they simply didn’t move.

After a brief respite and having gained hope that they would survive, a dozen bolts began to fall into the areas where the last few bowmen were. There, screams of pain resounded for a few seconds as the bolts continued to fall into those spots. One by one, the screams slowly vanished. Arke counted exactly how many bowmen there were on the walls. And he made sure that every last one was nothing more than a corpse.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Ragna staggered as bolts kept glancing off his armour. He purposely kept his front towards Arke’s barrage. The back of his armour was much weaker than the front, especially the back of the helmet. Not because of a design flaw, but because adding the same thickness would make the armour much heavier than it already is.

The two magus laid unmoving in front of him. Behind him, Cyrille’s slaughter had just ended. To his flanks and above him, corpses of the bowmen that Arke had just wiped out. Yet, he did not falter. Cyrille had walked up behind him.

“This is what you get for getting on a high horse like that” Cyrille had a smile on her face under her black helmet.

Ragna clenched tight onto the handle of his mace. “I thought I hadn’t underestimated you” he grumbled under his breath. “I had everything planned out.”

It was true. Ragna had everything planned out. But, that’s exactly what Arke had expected. That’s exactly why Arke had planted subtle misleading information everywhere he went. A wicked smile was present behind Arke’s mask.

Ragna clicked his tongue. “But don’t think I’ll go down as easily as the others” he screamed as he turned around and swung his mace with full force down towards Cyrille.

“Too slow.”

Cyrille had stepped to the side to dodge. While she was fast, it was still a fact that she wore heavy armour that restricted her movements. At that moment Arke had also stopped firing.

“Agh!”

Ragna tried to grab Cyrille, but again, she simply stepped away. A mistake on her part as Ragna twisted his body and did a full turn, using momentum and the power of two Catalysts, he managed to hit Cyrille and sent her flying towards the Drake.

Arke began his barrage once again- each bolt glanced off and some even shattered.

“Ah! Hahaha, How does it feel to-”

His words fell flat as he noticed Cyrille standing just beside Arke.

“Feel to what?” Cyrille chuckled.

Arke had stopped firing by this point.

What Ragna didn’t see is that just before his mace had hit, parts of Cyrille’s armour detached and acted as a buffer, weakening the blow. She had also taken a few other steps to ensure that the impact wasn’t as severe. Though, it’s hit was still evident with how Cyrille’s arm was limp.

“Tsk….” Ragna readied himself for a tough battle. “Even if you two are strong, my armour won’t break that easily.”

“With our weapons, yes… it’ll be difficult to do that. For us.”

Arke walked to the side of the Drake and Cyrille walked to the other. It was then that Ragna noticed something off about the Drake. It’s head was locked in place, as if it were staring at Ragna. Only then did he notice a viscous liquid was covering parts of his armour.

“Night Oil” Arke calmly stated.

“Hahaha, you know how Night oil and Drakes interact, right Mr Ragna?”

A wave of realization… and fear… had struck Ragna. Night Oil was a potent ingredient for poison and healing. Though, it had a side effect. It’s scent would attract beasts. As if bees to honey. Even worse that among beast kind, Drakes were notorious for their sense of smell.

Ragna took a few steps forwards almost immediately. In response, Cyrille kicked one of the large chains- shattering it. Ragna promptly stopped and took a step back.

“Wait! Y- you wouldn’t dare. Langite is close from here” Ragna desperately uttered. “You’d kill thousands if you let that thing free!”

His desperation was born of his fear. His armour was thick. In fact, it was probably thick enough to survive being eaten by the Drake. The thought of having to slowly die from being digested by the beast came to his mind. While most adventurers were brave, they were also cautious. And death was one thing all adventurers avoided at all costs.

“Then we’ll simply stop it.”

“A- Are you insane!?... that’s a Drake… It took five of our magus to weaken it enough and chain it here. Even then, it’s scales are much thicker than my armour! Do you really think it’d be that easy to stop it!?”

Arke’s cold eyes looked at Ragna from behind his mask. “If we can’t. Ah what was it you said earlier- ah, yes-... the lives of people I barely know aren’t worth much by themselves.”

At that moment, Arke fired a bolt, shattering another chain. The other chains tugged and strained as it took on more pressure. Ragna slowly realized exactly what kind of person he was dealing with, but he still had some doubts.

“Are you serious? Thousands will die. Thousands of innocent lives” he emphasized.

More bolts severed a couple of chains. Ragna’s hands began to tremble. By this time it was obvious that Arke wasn’t bluffing. Even for a veteran adventurer, the thought of facing a Drake was a fearful thought… even more so that he’s soaked in Night oil. If it was simply against Arke and Cyrille, Ragna thought he had a chance or he could at least buy time for the trackers to go back to Langite.

“W- wait, I surrender! W- What do you want? Gold? Territory? I can get you what you need if you tell me! Just listen to me!”

Though he tried to use reason, it didn’t seem to affect the two in front of him. With little choice left, he leaned forwards and was about to charge-

“Ack!?”

A jagged spear pierced through the sky and impaled itself into Ragna’s leg. Though, due to his armour’s thickness, it didn’t penetrate completely and stopped just as it pierced the other side.

Ragna bent down onto his knee. His entire being felt as if it froze. It shouldn’t have been possible for his armour to be pierced that easily. In his head, he could only think of one thing.

“T- they’re just toying with us” he whispered to himself as his horrified eyes looked at Arke’s furious eyes.

“Did you really think you ever stood a chance?”

Stood a chance?

“W- Wait! If you spare me, I- I can help you contact the Adventurer Guild’s higher up! I can assist you! Just- please, Wait!”

Arke froze at Ragna’s offer. Cyrille turned immediately towards Arke. In Ragna’s mind, he thought he found a rope that he could tug onto to be spared.

“Y- Yes! I can connect you with the higher ups! If you spare me!”

“Hooh… now that’s something that might be worth your life” Cyrille said.

“If- If you promise to spare! To give mercy, I- I’ll do it! In fact, you don’t even need me to be there!”

“Oh- then show us some proof” Cyrille responded.

Ragna found what they were interested in. Hope. There was hope that he could survive. As an Adventurer, he knew the value of life. And he wasn’t one to put his pride above his own neck.

“H- Here” Ragna clumsily reached into a pouch on his back and threw a steel medallion towards Arke. “That’s one of the only w- ways to contact a messenger… w- wear that into any hub in our territory and one should-... approach you.. T- there! Please.”

Cyrille took the medallion from the ground.

“Hoooh, it’s the real deal.”

“N- now please, spare me” Ragna lowered his head.

“Who said we’d spare you” Arke said as another chain was severed by his bolt.

A chill ran down Ragna’s back. Once again, he thought that he understood what the two in front of him were thinking. And, once again, he’s been had.

“She said that it might be something worth your life. But, frankly, your life is already forfeit. Even if you refused to give it, we could easily just take this from your corpse.”

“B- But I can personally-”

Another chain was severed, it was then that the remaining chains all snapped simultaneously as the Drake rose from the ground. It held it’s head high and let out a fierce roar as the chains around it’s mouth creaked. The crossbows and the black metal pieces on Arke had dissolved into dust.

“You’re nothing more than a pawn- a puppet- a guard dog. There’s nothing you can possibly offer us aside from this-”

It was true- Ragna was bluffing. A bluff that he placed his life on. And failed.

“D- Die in hell you demons!” Ragna stood up despite the pain from his leg and prepared himself, but, it was too late.

The Drake charged towards him, passing by Arke and Cyrille as they simply watched. A loud clang resounded as the Drake pinned Ragna to the ground with it’s claws. The chains around it’s mouth creaked as it tried to force it open, though it wouldn’t break.

Ragna desperate slammed his arm onto the Drake’s leg as it tried to open it’s mouth. Though, after a few moments of trying, the Drake suddenly hammered it’s maw into Ragna. It must’ve gotten agitated when he began hitting it’s leg. Everytime it’s maw hammered into his armour, the armour slowly bent and groaned.

“In between the loud clanging sounds, Ragna’s desperate cries for help resounded.

This lasted for a few moment before it finally died out. From behind the Drake, the two simply stared as the Drake lifted what seemed to be half of Ragna’s mangled armour before swallowing it whole. It did this two more times with the remaining pieces of mangled armour before turning around and sniffing the air.

It’s head pointed at Arke. As if confirming where it’s next prey was, it roared.

“Your turn Arke” Cyrille said in a flat tone as she jumped backwards.

At that point, the Drake was already charging at full speed towards Arke. Though, something felt eerily off about him. Even in the face of a charging beast, he didn’t even move a single step.

It became clear why when three gigantic jagged black spears fell from the sky and impaled the Drake. The shockwave was powerful enough that Arke had to brace himself in order not to get blown away. A thunderous, ear shattering sound resounded within the clearing and into the forest. Though, three spears fell, only one had actually pierced the Drake. The other two had landed in front of it. Specifically, the two landed where the Drake could have gone.

Fragments of the Drake's scales scattered throughout the area around it. The snow that was underneath it just a moment ago was blown away by the shockwave.

Arke stood in front of the Drake, his glowing eyes simply glared at the beast in front of him as the snow and debris from the impact slowly fell from above. It was an eerie sight. As if looking at the grim reaper- a heartless existence.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

A little earlier, outside the place where Cyrille and Arke were. A hooded adventurer was running towards the town, Langite. As if his life depended on it, he ran. Passing through a different path than he took earlier, he desperately tried to duck left and right, to throw off anyone who was tailing him.

But, it was for nothing. A dagger had cut through the air and dug itself deep into the man’s leg.

“Agh-” the man cried as he fell onto the snow, sliding a few feet forwards.

“You shouldn’t run so fast. You might trip.”

A slender figure walked towards him from behind. The figure was holding a dagger that was similar, if not exactly the same, as the dagger buried deep into the man’s leg. Just by how fast the figure ran and caught up, it was obvious that they were a magus, a Catalyst user.

The man tried to pull out a dagger from his back. Though it was futile, the figure had noticed the subtle movements underneath the cloak and threw the dagger it was holding into the man’s arm.

"Agh!?"

Suddenly, loud clanging sounds resounded from afar. These were the sounds of Ragna’s armour being bashed by the Drake. The man’s face twisted in terror as a cold sweat ran down his face.

“Calm down. I’m only here to ask a few questions” the figure kneeled beside the man. “How many of you are there?”

Silence.

“Well, I wasn’t one to expect you to talk that fast.”

The figure placed a piece of cloth onto the man’s mouth before grabbing the dagger in his leg and digging it deeper.

“Let me ask again, how many trackers are there?”

Again, the figure wiggled the dagger, making the man’s face grimace. The figure looked at the man’s eyes. “I have all day to do this” the figure uttered as it was about to move the knife once again.

“Three! There’s three!” the man’s frantic muffled voice could just barely be understood.

“Are you sure?”

The figure slowly pulled out the dagger before digging it back in. Tears slowly formed on the man’s face. The snow just beneath the two had already turned into a crimson colour.

“Yes” the man repeatedly screamed.

“I see. Well, I thank you for your help” The figure grabbed a third dagger and quickly slit the man’s throat.

The figure took out the knives and wiped them onto the man’s cloak before standing up. It recalled the two other adventurers that were hunted down earlier. Just like this man, all three were tasked with following Cyrille and Arke and presumably reporting back. Though, none of the three would ever finish that mission.

“Call the others that are on standby near the forest’s edge” the figure said as it turned it’s head.

There, behind the figure, a hooded scout was partially visible through the side of a ruined wall. In response to the figure’s words, the scout paused, for a moment it seemed as if the scout was glaring at the figure accompanied by his tongue clicking, before nodding and silently disappeared into the ruins.

The figure sighed and it’s eyes turned to the ground. Even with half it’s face behind the mask, the figure’s eyes showed sadness. “The least you could do is act like you like me if you’re going to work for me…” the figure grumbled under it’s breath before taking a deep breath.

Suddenly, an ear shattering sound echoed through the forest accompanied by the ground shaking. It’s origin was close, in the same direction as the loud clanging sounds from earlier.

Turning towards the direction of the sound, the figure pulled out a single edged dagger with an intricate design. It looked more like a decoration piece rather than a weapon, or, at least it did until it’s constructs started shifting around. Where it’s edge would be, there was now a disposable, extremely sharp piece of metal.

“It’s time to go to the next target-”