Ode to Loveless

Fire was all he remembered; Fire, destruction and the faces of his parents as a dragon ripped into him. Tragedy had an interesting effect on people. It could tear them apart and leave only a shell of a person. It could leave vengeance to hunt down the very thing that caused it, or it could leave the desire to never let that tragedy happen again. Hakora was forced to watch while trapped under depree that had crushed his now healed arms, the destruction of his village by dragons as the gods did nothing. This showed weakness in the gods and they were not fit to rule mankind. Hakora had sought out the power to destry the gods and dragons and free mankind which would require killing and this brought him to Savage Skull.

Savage Skull, an odd name, but the oldest and more infamous of the Dark Guilds. If Hakora wanted to be the strongest possible to dismantle the god's throne then he should join the darkest and strongest guild. He approached the guild hall and pushed open the door as if it was natural for him, like he already belonged. He took in the sight of many guild members, but from reading he knew what to do and did not ask. He was not trying to be arrogant, but he could not afford to look helpless. He made his way past the staring eyes and murmurs of, "who is the new guy?" He approached the Job Board and began looking over it. If he wanted to join he should start by proving himself. He saw a job that was to escort a young nobleman. He ripped it off the board and went to a table to study it.

"Being a little hasty aren't you?" called a voice from the adjoining table. The silver haired mage looked at the new person who had just brazenly come into the guild, grabbed a job from the guild's board, and sat down as if he was already one of them. "I guess it's my job to dish out the cliché's." Za'cha sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose before staring straight at the new guy.

"I'll ask this once, and I expect an honest answer, or else. Now, who are you and what are you doing here, and if you give me something flippant like "looking for a job", I will decapitate your little head right here and now." the Dark Mage said, pointing to between the man's legs just in case he didn't get the reference. "And trust me on this one... I'm one of the nicer people in this little gathering. So, care to answer?"

Hakora read through the job of the dark escort and did not give sight to the person who had addressed him. Ah yes, a threat, a flaunt of power, so many ways Hakora could respond to this. He could simply continue to ignore it, but that would surely enraged the power hungry person addressing him. He could submit and merely answer the question, but that would show submission and Hakora could not submit when he needed power. Then there was another option which was the path Hakora took. Hakora pressed both hands on the table as he slowly stood still not looking at the one who addressed him. Hakora folded the paper neatly as he accepted the job and moved away from the table. He walked slowly towards the door and as he passed the table where the one who addressed him time almost seemed to stand still except for the two of them. Hakora side glanced to the guild member who addressed him, not giving him his full attention. "Oh words, how they are empty. Threaten me again and I will destroy your very soul with no sympathy." Hakora's words left his lips only loud enough to reach the other's ears. Hakora did not wait for a reply as he made his way to the door fully expecting this to create anger in the man and a fight to be born.

It would be as he reached the door that the man in red would feel a slight tug on his coat. "Excuse me mister, but I think Zazu asked you a question." the voice sounded like a child and if he turned he would find that it did indeed belong to a child. A child wearing a tatterred red dress, a child with pale grey skin, a child with one eye closed. A child who had been watching the guild members whilst invisible. A child whose mere appearance caused several guild members to back a way. This child was Sinali, head of the pillar of decay and one of the strongest mages in the guild. Self-proclaimed undead queen and a girl responsible for the death of one of the magic council's inner circle.

"Its rude not to answer people." she said crossing her arms and making a huffing noise. She hadn't heard his response because he had spoken only just loud enough for Zazu aka Za'cha to hear. So to her he had ignored Zazu entirely. If she had heard the threat made to one of her toys, and she saw everyone in the guild as a toy, she likely would have enacted punishment first and spoken later. Sure he was in a different pillar, but he was in the guild and this man had threatened to break him. "Rude people get punished." In order to see his reaction to her and his knowledge of the guild she had compressed her power so that she seemed like a D rank mage. It was a fun game of what would he do and how much would he get hurt for it.

She was annoyed for the ignorance of another member, but moreso because she did not know he was. He could be a spy, a new member, a former member from before her time returning. Anything. As a person who liked to experiment she hated not knowing things and besides curiosity killed the cat and as she always said Beati Mortui.

"Oh this one is a veritable feast~" smirked the Dark Celestial Spirit named Pride that lay nestled within Za'cha's body and mind. The Dark Mage sighed and shook his head. "Bad move, especially with that clichéd little threat." he said, standing up and preparing to summon his Martyrblade when he saw her appear and draw his focus. "Sinali..." Za'cha muttered under his breath, taking a half-step back from the seemingly young girl. Mainly so that when the inevitable happened, he'd at least be outside of the splash zone. He did not pity the poor bastard though.

"Wheee!" A cheerful voice echoed through the guild's hallway as a 15 year old silver haired kid skated down the stairway banisters on the soles of his feet, knocking over a few fellow guildmates while doing so. Getting a whole bunch of curse words hurled at his sensitive little ears as he flew down the rail. Ugh, this kid was all play. But not many people complained considering he also enjoyed working hard. Even for a 15 year old he was still at his childish phase, most likely due to his cheerful and upbeat nature, very different to what this guild was used to.

He hadn't been in this guild for long, only a few days now as he was sent here from a Wizard's school, figuring it was the only place where they'd accept someone so...Strange. But he was yet to meet the Guildmaster or even the person who would lead his "Pillar". Interesting name for a team, he really didn't know much about guilds. Although he did know that they were supposed to be good. Eh, what did he care about being a goody-two-shoes all the time? Getting into trouble was even more fun, as he was doing now.

He leapt off the banister and onto the floor, still sliding with the momentum and crashing a passerby straight into the jobs board, completely shattering it into a million wooden splinters and knocking the poor guy out cold. "Whoops! Sorry! You also might wanna pick up your teeth!" He chuckled before turning his attention to the three people standing near it. One of which caught his attention, a certain grey skinned child. She looked young but she also looked dead, meaning she was probably older than she looked. "Are you a zombie!?" He beamed towards Sinali, completely unaware that a man had the life of his package threatened only moments ago.

Hakora felt a tug at his coat. This Mage had the audacity to pull on his coat and this was not good for him. The ground at Hakora's feet began to crack and glow as Hakora was about to blow up a small area around him, but then heard the voice and the cracks stopped short of reaching the young girl. Hakora turned his head to look at her and saw her appearence. The light reversed bak to Hakora and only left cracks. He turned to face her and studied her. Young girl, grey skin and one eye closed, her identity was not secret to Hakora as people of nite were studied by Hakora. "Sinali, pillar of Decay if I am correct." Hakora was not the type to challenge everyone and their brother to battle, but his idea of challenging the weaker Mage brought his presence to attention with a piller Mage. " I am Hakora Rhapsodos, Crash Mage. I am here to join and gain the power to reach my goals. I am on my way to do my first job unless you would like to talk or watch the young one over there attempt to make good on his threat." Hakora was now completely facing the little girl with one eye, prepared to close his eyes if she revealed to have a satan eye or something. He also became aware of other eyes on him and the one he had met the threat with a promise had stood in preparation to fight and would easily be put down if he tried anything.

Sinali smiled slightly as she saw the cracks form and then saw whatever spell he was trying to cast revert as he took in her appearance. It seemed he knew who she was and was wise enough to answer the question now that a pillar head was present. Particularly as said pillar head was Sinali. "Go play in the world Cracks." she said nicknaming him. She wasn't particularly happy with the nickname. It didn't quite suit him, but it would do till she thought up a better one. "Unless of course Zazu wants to play?" she said glancing at Za'cha who had a sword drawn.

Normally, she would punish this mage herself for being rude and not introducing himself to her or (at least as far as she knew) the other pillar heads sooner. It seemed off one would join a guild and then ignore everyone else in the guild. Particularly if they were seeking power. Personally Sinali was using them as stepping stones and keeping an eye out for potential converts to undeadhood. However, even she knew that power was not something one gained alone. At least, not easily. The legal guild's and their friendship bonds that defied all reasonable magical laws proved that much. However, it seemed that Zazu wanted to punish the man himself and in truth he did have more right as it was his question that was not answered and still to her ears it was him that was ignored entirely.

Besides her attention was drawn away by someone on skates causing a bit of needless destruction and then addressing her asking if she was a zombie. She tilted her head and looked at him. "I am Sinali." was her response. Anyone in the guild who knew that name would know that she was indeed a zombie and saw herself as rightful ruler of all undead, and eventually the world once it was converted. "Rudeness is punished here mister." she said warniningly. This man had the audacity to address her and ask a question without even introducing himself. That annoyed her for some reason. So much in fact that her closed eye opened a fraction. Those who knew her even slightly began to back away a bit more.

So this arrogant bastard finally gives a god damned answer... and then goes and insults him further. "Young one?" he asked, bemused. "Moron, you're what? A year older at best!" he snarled, Tessa looking over at the self-proclaimed Crash Mage from within Za'cha's mind. "Shall we?" she purred, the Dark Mage slowly nodding to the words that only he could hear. "Bit of a waste, but it'll definitely shut him the hell up." he said before tapping the pendant hanging around his neck, and the Weapon of the Apocalypse, Death's Scythe took shape and form into his grasp.

He let its unholy power fill and flow through him, and burst towards the Crash Mage at speeds that would break records in world-wide sporting events. He swung the Apocalypse Weapon straight towards the mans ballsack, the unholy blade shrieking out, seeking the bone within the man's flesh. "Learn your place new boy." said Za'cha, almost chuckling at the thought of this arrogant bastard trying to stop the unstoppable weapon.

Stats:

Damien was pretty much completely innocent at this stage, having arrived at a point where he had no clue what was going on. There seemed to be some kind of intense Mexican standoff going on however, Damien thought he should probably avoid the fighting. He wasn't gonna vaporize more of the guild's facilities than he needed to. "OOH OOH." He cheered. "A FIGHT! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!" He chanted, he pumped his fists in support of his guildmate. As he did this he didn't seem to get out of the way at all, preferring to get front row seats to the action right here.

What was going on? What had the new kid done to already have beef with some of the guild's higher-ranking members? In any case he digured he should stop annoying the zombie chick...for now anyway. If she was in the mood to kick some ass she'd probably end up fighting him too, not what he wanted in truth.

"

Hakora's body was not quick without his magic or the use of his sword, at least not like the Death Mage who had turned a pendant into a Scythe that was like nothing he had ever seen before. Hakora's mind, however, was much faster which possibly meant he had ADHD, but who knows. Hakora began to think, he could not use his magic, not yet and did not want to draw his sword yet. He merely looked to his right and saw a table to heavy for him to move quilkly and a bench for sitting that wasn't. He moved quickly a few steps forward and grabbed the bench and with all his power he swung it with enough momentum to launch it as the coming mage. Hakora then ran at the mage and lept off the ground and onto the flying bench. As the bench came within range to hit the mage Hakora jumped over the the mage doing a front flip and landed behind him with his back to the mage. He then pivoted and turned with the added momentum of the pivot sending a strong punch to the back of his head. Sure the mage could just turn and attack, but only one problem. Hakora was less than an arm's length away and the Scythe was longer than an arm. Scythes were deadly and this one the worst of all, but it's fault lay in its length.

Za'cha noticed that all kinds of hell had now broken loose throughout the hall. "Fine by me." he snarled, raising an eyebrow as his prey decided to try and throw a bench in his direction to stop him. "Camlann Array, Haematoclarent!" he invoked, the armour forming around him, even as the sword appeared in his hand. With a single swing, the bench was rent in twain, and the man was apparently gone.

He then felt something strike him in the back of his armoured head. He turned his gaze towards the man and smirked beneath his helmet. "Sorry, were you trying to tickle me?" he asked. The Ex-Quip mage turned around to face the man and looked down at the Scythe in his hands, sighing. He then put the Weapon away, it dispersing back to being a pendant beneath the armour.

"Quick tip new guy. There's always something or someone more powerful than you are." he said, taking up a stance with his sword. "Consider this your entrance exam." Za'cha smirked before he flexed his free hand in the universal gesture of Bring It On. He turned his attention away from the new guy briefly though. "Oh! And Mathurin! Start running cus your arse is next!" he yelled above the noise of the fighting guild-mates, although there was a twinge of humour to his tone before he looked back at his own opponent. "Now then... you can certainly dodge... but can you actually fight?" he wondered aloud.

Spells Used:

Sinali's tone had been ignored. Zazu had launched an attack at Hakora and someone had started off a brawl. A chair flew over and hit her in the head bending her back slightly. She stood there bent for a bit and a majority of the room froze and went silent. She slowly stood back up to her full height and her eye opened to its full amount showing the savage skull emblem on her eye. "Is it playtime?" she asked with an evil grin stretching out one arm upon which a wolfhead ring resided. The ring began to glow and then formed into a chainsaw gun that she liked to call Growler. With a slight amount of focus the chainsaw began to rev and she began to laugh in a creepy childish fashion as she walked into the middle of the brawl. Those that were still fighting and had not seen her now felt her approach as she flared off her magic power. It had such a dark feeling. It was like death was walking towards them. "Nobody wants to play?" She said tilting her head and then suddenly she leapt off the ground at a random bystander and knocked him to the ground. She stood up standing upon her chest and aimed the gun at his forehead slowly lowering it till the edge of the chainsaw was just a fraction away from touching the skin.

She watched as his eyes widened in terror and smiled before moving her head back and laughing again. Suddenly her head roated a full 180 degrees and then she leapt into the middle again. As she leapt her body rotated round so that it was back into normal form. She grinned broadly and then fired off two random shots of magical energy from the chainsaw gun. These shots were purple skulls with glowing red eyes. She did not aim them. Just fired them off.

(OOC: Guys I want to sincerely apologize. I didn't think a fight would break out so fast, but my magic hasn't been approved yet and I am not applying for god slayer position. I promise to continue this ASAP as I believe it is quite an awesome power.)

Hakora was not impressed, his punch was held back and the man was wearing armor, it was more of a warning to not underestimate Hakora, yet his arrogance was astounding. "Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance." Hakora took a deep breath as his magic began to release which released the feeling of death, but much more different than Sinali. Hakora's magic was the result of his extreme exposure to death and his power to hurt souls that for 5 meters around Hakora felt like you were standing in the River Synx. Hakora charged his fist with his magic and this time sent a gut punch at Za, but as it neared a small seal formed sending magic at Za's gut that would punch into his soul. Za was stronger than Hakora, but Hakora was in point blank range and so maybe it had enough power to get through his armor. It wouldn't hurt him much, but the pain of being hit in the soul hurt mor than the actual damage. Damaging the soul not only hurt someone's health, but also their magic as attacking the soul was like attacking the roots of a tree.

Za'cha briefly grimaced beneath his helmet as some sort of... sensation washed over him. "Ooh, now this is interesting..." cooed the Spirit of the Weapon of Death within the silver haired mage's mind. "Novice mistake though. He's telegraphing." muttered Za'cha, Pride merely grunting. "He knows that... he wants you to know he's coming. This little mongrel's arrogance is tremendously so." the Dark Celestial Spirit said, sounding bored with the whole affair. Za'cha's body tensed as it braced itself for whatever the new boy was planning. "Well let's see what he can do." he said before the man threw a punch towards his gut.

"I'm not impressed so far." Pride scoffed until the punch phased through Za'cha's armour and went through him as if the man wasn't even there to begin with. The silver-haired mage blinked before feeling his knees slowly buckling from the sheer pain of the blow, even with the defensive power boost from his Anti-Demon Slayer set. "The hell was that?" he snarled, looking at Pride. "Somewhat more impressive than anticipated. Seems this fool has a reason to be arrogant... his magic strikes at the soul..." he mused. "Like Conquest..." the Scythe of Death's Spirit said, in reference to her "sibling" weapon.

Za'cha let out a slow breath to force his body to focus through the pain as it died down, and looked back at the new man. "Alright, I'll admit... not bad. Something I'll need to work on adapting to." said the armoured magus. "But... now you're in too close." he said before he went to use the pommel of his sword to try and ram it into his gut in a reverse grip before then going to bring the sword in an upwards arc, aiming to travel from the man's left hip, up towards the man's right shoulder.

Hakora huffed slightly, he didn't really care if he impressed someone or not. Hakora began to build magic within his body, but doubled over as a hilt came into his stomach which caused him a lot of pain. He then looked up as a sword went through him like he was a ghost because now he was with the use of Spirit Body. Hakora then used Za'Cha's shadow and phased through it. He then came out of a shadow on a support beam up at the ceiling and grabing his stomach as he became solid again. He hoped there was no internal bleeding, but after a moment he caught his breath and began to speak, but doubted it could be heard from this far, "Even if the morrow is barren of promises, Nothing shall forestall my return. To become the dew that quenches the land. To spare the sands, the seas, the skies I offer thee this silent sacrifice." There were three sentences here and so Hakora filled them with soul magic and they created three strands that shot at Za'Cha and if they caught him they would bind him and begin draining his soul which meant it would drain his health and magic.

The senseless fighting came to an abrupt end, when every single person in room started to fall down to the ground in excruciating pain. Caused by a horrid and shocking sensation of pain that was to be felt through their entire spinal cord. This was not your average pain from a wound that would subdue in time, no this was a continues torment until something... someone decided it was enough.

After what probably felt as an entirety for the Savage Skull mages, the pain subdued. Disappearing just as fast as it had appeared. However what came next was something far more frightening then the pain they had endured.

It began with a ominous single sound, the clacking of the heel of man's shoes against the stone pavement. It resounded through the entire room, as it became louder with each step as it closed in.
Those that were closest to the approaching steps, start to back away. Knowing very well who those sounds belonged too.
Then from out the shadows it self appeared Harrigan, wearing an extravagant velvet red suit that screamed nothing more then wealth and arrogance.

'So do tell me...' he started with a cold and foreboding voice 'how it is possible that the darkest mages of Fiore... Savage Skull mages... are fighting in my main hall as nothing more then common street rats'

Sinali was surprised that Harrigan had interfered in the brawl. She recognised the feel of his magic. She knew it from the genetic memories she had taken from him and had seen it in action on numerous occasions. She did not want to admit fear, but Harrigan was a man who could destroy her quite easily. She had to bide her time and wait before she could deal with such a mage. She focused and her weapons returned to their jewellery form and her eye closed.

"Hi Mister H." Sinali said cheerfully and sweetly in the typical innocent way. "We were just playing a game to introduce the new guy...plus someone threw a chair at me and so had to be punished." She doubted this would work, but it was worth a shot.

Hakora stood high in the air on a support beam holding the ceiling and casting a spell when his soul script shattered and he gripped the beam for support as pain washed over him. This pain was beyond anything Hakora had ever felt, but he was not screaming, he was laughing. Though this pain was great, his mind was not affected and so a thought crossed his mind. Clearly someone with this much power could help Hakora reach his dreams and so this whole serade had all come together. Hakora had choices when Za-Cha had confronted him and Hakora chose one choice; to use Za'cha as bait to bring out the guild master.

Once the pain had left Hakora he caught his control and lept from the ceiling landing in front of the Guild Master. He saw the young child who was a pillar leader change her demeaner which only proved this man's power. Most would think it wise if Hakora respected and cowarded in front of this man, but cowering in the face of power did not reach Hakora's plans. Without fear, but with respect Hakora walked slowly, but deliberately towards the guild master. "I am the new guy and this fight is my doing. Punish me however you see fit, bring me near death or kill me if it suits you." Before Hakora continued his words he was now within arm's length of the much stronger mage. "But after you have punished me as you see fit, know the reason I did this. I wanted you to show yourself and then offer my life to you in however you need it and all I ask for in exchange is that you train me in the power to slay all the gods and dragons and make this world burn in a cleansing fire." Hakora meant it, if this man wanted Hakora to feel pain or even death, but Hakora needed power and this was the fast and most successful way so he stood infront of death himself without fear and looking him directly in the eyes with confidence.

"Seems this fool's magic seems designed to evade his own destruction..." sneered Pride as Za'cha's sword simply phased through the man before he then subsequently relocated, and tried to further damage him. Za'cha used his sword as a barrier against the spells, smirking to himself as the magic crashed harmlessly against the weapon. "Seems there are limits to its penetrative qualities." the human said before he fell to his knees in absolute searing pain, his armour and sword dispersing in motes of magical energy as he clutched his skull and chest.

When the sensation passed, he panted for breath and slowly stood up to get his bearings once more, the ominous clack of heeled shoes reverberating across the hall. Harrigan, Guild Master of Savage Skull... and this arsehole newbie is brazenly declaring that he engineered this entire brawl, just to draw out Harrigan?! The Dark Celestial Spirit Pride gave an almost amused snort of ethereal breath. "His arrogance knows no bounds... raw and unfettered... One has to wonder how Harrigan will handle this little upstarts declarations." remarked Pride, Za'cha remaining silent as he waited to see the reaction of the Guild Master.