Wanted (Job | Jet, Ardere)

Spoiler:

The first job he received after joining the Rune Knights and it was to investigate a string of murders down at the lower docks at Hargeon town, and from what he has been told so far when he and his partner for the mission were being briefed is that they believe a local miner by the name of Jacob Goodnight is the epicentre for these murders. The local authorities had attempted to take out the man but had failed and lost one of their own in the process. With nowhere else to turn to they sent a request to the Rune Knights in hopes of them having an easier time to take down this mammoth of a man.

Jet had just arrived at the town, late at night with the moon and lacrima powered lights illuminating their path. The cobblestone roadway was barren, considering that this was a port town Jet assumed that it would be a lot busier than this but with the most recent murders taking place around this area no wonder everyone stayed inside, lights off and curtains drawn across every house he passed with the occasional eye popping through to see if it was the behemoth or not. Jet had been sent in at a later time compared to his partner to allow at least one of them to gather more information from the locals during the brighter hours of the day. All he could do now was wander around and wait for his partner to make his grand entrance.

The salmon haired fire mage had arrived in Hargeon earlier in the day, not the easiest journey, but it was a quiet one. He breathed in the air, and coughed immediately; fish. Ardere was not the most fond of the smell that fish emitted, so he sighed and continued to make his way towards the docks. The smell of fish was not completely overwhelming, but it was enough to make him a tad bit irritated. The town was a nice one, with very few magic users, so there tended to not be explosions every five seconds. Then again, the thrill of being a mage was not something he disliked, by any means. He was training to become a rune knight now, so he had to get used to traveling.

As he was walking, he ran a pale fingers through his hair, holding a book in his other hand. Over the years he had adapted to reading while walking, and still being able to not run in to people. The fact that it was late at night, with the bright moon illuminating the sky ever so slightly, meant that he wouldn't have to worry about running in to people anyhow.

After a few more minutes of walking, he saw a young man waiting close to the docks, but not too close. Looking around to see if anyone was watching, Ardere made his way over to the man, closing his book. "Been waiting long?" With an arched eyebrow, and a calm demeanor, he posed his casual question

After a few moments he made his way towards the docks and just stared out into the open ocean which was now tinted black with sparkles of white reflecting off the surface of the water. He hadn’t seen a view like this since he left his home to join the Rune Knights. He had been standing there for at least half an hour and didn’t even notice the man approaching him. The time to feel nostalgic is over, your comrade is here. Aeternam whispered in Jet’s mind, causing him to turn his head towards the tattooed man just as he spoke. “If I were waiting any longer I would’ve been turned to  stone.” He responded, turning the rest of his body around to face the man. “What’d you find out about Jason? Any clues as to where he’ll strike next?” he questioned.

Ardere smirked slightly and stretched his arms a bit before responding to his partner's comments. "Well, being made of stone would be useful in a battle, but not practical I suppose. Sorry if you were waiting though pal, let's get to it, shall we?" Then the young mage asked a question, certainly a reasonable one due to the circumstances. [color=red]I did some asking around, and didn't get much. But from what I can tell, he's not going to stop killing, even with the knights on his tail.[color] Some men loved the challenge, almost as if they wanted to be caught. The salmon haired recruit peered out at a lighthouse, not too far from their view. A place he regularly hangs out in after work is in one of these warehouses, not sure if he's down there, or if he's on his way. Might as well take a look I suppose. Slinging his arms behind his head and neck leisurely, he was still clutching the book as he made his way down towards the closest warehouse. The mission had only just begun, but the eerie feeling he got from the darkness made him wary. Of course he didn't show this emotion on his face, he appeared calm and collected, but he was no fool. This Jacob guy had killed several people, even for mages he could prove to be problematic. All for the sake of being a rune knight, he reassured himself.

Jet sighed at the response he received from his question. He turned to face the five warehouses that covered the lower sections of the docks. “One lead is better than no lead. Is there anywhere he goes often?” The young mage asked, hoping at the very least to get something that they could go off of to find this murderer, and he got his answer. One of the warehouses that he was staring at would be the place they would find him, and from what he could tell only one of them had their lights on. “A warehouse does seem appropriate, it would allow him to sneak up on and attack victims that would wander in there without a clue, perhaps going to investigate an oddity.” He rattled on as he began to follow the man. “He could be smarter than the higher ups thought.” He kept his arms to his side as he walked, staring at the closest warehouse, and the one oddity among the others.

Ardere observed the warehouses, the third one from the left seems to be about right. "He may be clever, but I doubt he's expecting us." The fire mage looked at the front entrance, but decided that it was not in their best interests to enter that way. "By that I mean, he'll be expecting rune knights, just not us" Slowly walking around the warehouse, he noticed a side entrance, exactly what he was looking for. Chances were he was not in there, but rather gathering information on his next kill. The man they were sent to hunt was no man, he was a monster, and monsters got what was coming to them. Stroking his chin, the salmon haired mage chose to enter through the side door, peering around the corners before actually walking through however. He was not in the business of getting his head chopped off by a meat cleaver because he rushed into some psycho murderer's warehouse. "Seems clear." He whispered. They were in a section of the warehouse with scattered furniture, bits of blood, and bags everywhere. The stench was appalling, and the appearance matched it perfectly. Disgusting, he thought.

“Regardless of what he would be expecting we should keep on guard.” He said, moving behind his comrade as they moved around the warehouse to look for a side entrance, upon finding one Jet patiently waited for the elder knight signals to enter the warehouse. Before he even entered he could smell the faint odour of rotting flesh, something that he was accustomed too after what happened in his home country but couldn’t help covering his nose, still he pressed on inside at the sign that the coast was clear. As he entered the stench only got worse, but the sight was another horror entirely. Bags laying on blood soaked furniture, a few hung from the ceiling that seemed to drip at the presence of a fresh kill. But the most gruesome sight so far had to be the carved body that was on a table in the centre of the warehouse, chest and stomach cut then ripped open but from this angle he couldn’t tell if the organs within were still inside or the gender of the recently brutalised victim. If it weren’t for the civil war he would have probably thrown up at the scene displayed before him, but this wasn’t the first corpse he saw and in his line of work he doubt it would be the last.

Before he could move towards the vile display before him his body had begun to turn around, Aeternam had taken control of his movements for a small frame of time and it weren't for him doing so he would have been cut straight down his back. Aeternam had entered his armored form and managed to instinctively grab hold of the wrist of a very tall, muscular man with a meat cleaver in the hand of the wrist he caught, a smaller carving knife in the other and a chain wrapped around his shoulder secured in place by a meat hook. Surprised by the sudden transformation the behemoth stepped back, losing grip of the cleaver allowing Jet to quickly release and grab the cleaver. He couldn't do much with the tool in its current state, and in doing so turned the weapon to himself and plunged it into his chest, allowing the symbiote to absorb and assimilate the butchers weaponry into their arsenal.

Just as quickly as he plunged the weapon into his chest his symbiote began to work, quickly stringing together an exact duplicate of the weapon in its own material. "Not as much reach as I'd expect of a murder weapon, but you've kept it's edge sharp." he told the man as he began flipping the blade around in his hand before catching it by the handle with the sharpened edge facing outward "Jason Goodnight, you are to be trialed over nine counts of murder along with the attempted murder and assault of a Rune Knight, lay down your arms and come quietly or we will be required to use excessive force."

Ardere was looking around the room, checking under the tarps, the blades, the blood. There was nothing to be found, this man kept everything hidden, he truly was a bastard. It was hard to imagine not feeling horrible after killing someone, but the fire mage had been raised around evil men, so he knew their train of thought. Picking up a book, he dusted it off and examined it's spine, as well as a few of it's pages. Hmm. He was always about acquiring more knowledge, so he slid the book in with his other. Turning around to tell his partner they were getting nowhere, he noticed something, his immobilization. Oi- He stood there was he plunged the blade into himself, his own partner. What the heck kind of guy was this? Leaping over the furniture and sliding behind the murderer, he creates a small fire ball in his hand as a form of intimidation. When you're done doing whatever it is you just did, partner- But then he was cut off, and his partner was already threatening to put him on trial.

Jacob growled slightly, he was surely a brute of a man, but he was not completely disarmed as previously thought. He pulled out two large knives, similar to the one Jet had stolen from him, but instead of attacking the mage who just stole his weapon, he chose what he probably thought to be the weaker link, Ardere. Unfortunately for him, this was not how a match with a mage would go. He was spouting off about how he hated mages as he began slashing with his blades, but unfortunately for him, the fire mage was naturally faster at base than most mages of his rank. Dodging each slash, he would slide in and slam his palm into the man's stomach, sending a blast of flames that would cause a painful yell, and him to be knocked back to Jet. 'Impact Palm' A counter attack was expected. Your turn, let's try for alive, not dead though. This man was a strong fighter, but he was no match for two mages.

Mp: 90%

Spoiler:

He got into a low stance as the large man began to charge towards him to prepare for an attack but was surprised as he rushed passed him in an attempt to attack his partner instead. He stood back up and turned towards the ongoing battle. The large man clearly had a physical strength advantage but the salmon haired mage had the speed advantage, easily moving out of the way of each strike before going on the counteroffensive and blasting the large man back towards him and Aeternam.

Using the momentum from the force he’d grab at his arm, ripping the carving knife from his grip before being pushed away from the behemoth, pressing the blade to his arm, the symbiote reaching up and wrapping around the carving tool and absorbing it, assimilating it into his armory. Jason turned around and grabbed onto the chain and hook going to swing it around like a metal whip to get some distance between the two mages.

So far, the two mages were taking care of the brutish man efficiently, but the battle was still not yet over. Ardere would slide to the left of his partner, both a slight distance from their opponent. Ducking low, he would swipe his right leg at the large man's ankles, 'Searing Kick.' sending a large arc of flames, attempting to burn them. Luckily he had distanced himself enough from his partner to not harm him, even though he was confident he would be able to move out of the way. Their enemy jumped upwards, but was unable to completely dodge the flames, his feet were now burned, however still usable. The man had been taking damage, and it was clear he would not win, but yet he still kept fighting, as was the nature of a man like this. A man who killed with no regret, a hulk of a man. After his feet were burned, the man would throw his remaining knife at the head of Jet, before attempting to grab a sickle from the table near him. Hopefully, Jet would be able to stop him. But to ensure this, the fire mage jumped over the table. Now the man had to guard two sides yet again. It was up to him to choose to attack, or be disabled by Jet. Either way, the two rune knights still held the advantage. Might as well give up now, you can't win. Eyes narrowed on his target, his battle mode was beginning to slowly sink in. His magical aura, which was a red in nature, was now present.

Mp: 80%

Spoiler:

The blaze of his comrade’s flames had caused the behemoth to fling the chain into the air, towards the direction of Jet and his comrade, the chain wrapping around Aeternam and locking in place just as the hulk of a man threw a knife towards his head. Before the knife could reach his head Aeternam sucked in and absorbed the chain and hook, assimilating it into the arsenal and quickly moving his head away to let the knife barely skim off the hardened surface of the helmet and impale itself into a nearby wall. He’s going for another weapon, we need to restrict him. Aeternam proposed within Jets mind, quickly formulating and creating the same chain and hook that had just been flung towards him within Jet’s hands, who started to begin to swing around the hooked end and fling it towards the sickle, the hook catching on the blade. “This is your final chance, surrender or be exterminated.”

The man was consistently begin disarmed, Jet and and Ardere had the advantage yet he would still not give up. The man attempted to pull on the chain, but the fire mage was not having any of it. Sacrificing his magic, the salmon haired mage would enter his lineage, but before the murderer knew what hit him, he was already begin punched by an invisible fist. Technological Superiority, it changed his body, into that of a mechanical being, with a few tricks up his sleeves. One of the main abilities of his lineage was the ability to turn completely invisible for a short time. Being invisible, the psycho killer could not see where his attacker was coming from, and was extremely confused. Unfortunately for him, this lineage also came with enhanced strength and speed, and he was struck twice in the head. I really didn't have to use that, but I figured it'd be kind of fun. Don't want to see a fellow knight get hurt, so let's tie this bastard up and bag him in. Reappearing, he would deactivate his lineage and prepare to return this man to his rightful place, a prison cell. But for a brief moment, Jet would be able to see the mechanical wings, and the cannon attached to his arm. Ardere had not yet revealed his lineage to anyone, but it did need a test run. Going into a real battle without having used it before would be unwise, and wisdom was one of his few redeeming qualities.

Technological Superiority:

Jet kept a firm grip on the chain, moving slightly as the chain was pulled towards the madman before an invisible force had began to assault the behemoth. His head knocked forward, his strength quickly dissipating from the pull of the chain and the man began to kneel over, dropping the sickle just as another invisible blow to the back of the head knocked him to the ground, unconscious. His comrade had appeared before him like a flash, wings upon his back and a cannon replaced his arm briefly before they disappeared. He would question what he just saw but decided to keep quiet. "My chain won't last that long, we'd best use the stuff we have on hand." he proposed, quickly forming a knife from the leftover mass he absorbed from disarming the man from before, throwing the weapon up and cutting down one of the chains which hung from the ceiling and using that to tie up the behemoth. "I'll call in the guards of the city to get some assistance taking this mammoth to a cell." he said as Aeternam reformed himself out of his armored form into Jets casual attire.

Ardere nodded and grabbed his books before assisting in tying the man up, they used the chains from the room, and one of the bags. Heavy bastard. The two mages had not known each other for very long, but they had accomplished a great deal so far. Putting this murderer in his place felt good, but odd, considering the fire mage's past. He never envisioned himself being on this end of the handcuffs, it felt right. Smirking a bit, he sighed. Time to go home and crash, but first he would get some reading done. He was well on his way to be coming a rune knight, full fledged, which was great but he needed to get some rest. Running his fingers through his salmon colored hair, the fire mage completed his mission. Time to get out of this fish town, he thought. Ardere. He shook his partner's hand, and went on his way. They had beaten Jacob the murderer, a fitting first journal entry for his travels as a rune knight. He was not one to be sappy or emotional, but it was hard not to feel a sense of pride. Hmph. There were books to read, and bottles of sake to drink.

~End of mission~