Nightmares, Pathetic ones at that.

Alexander took the hand, tentatively at first. While he was trying for Lilith's trust, she far from had his. He had seen the display before, and was not about to hand himself into any ploy she may have. Still, as he saw more fear, and the bravado faded, Alexander's grip tightened. Even then it was weak, but one could at least feel pressure. He followed closely behind the pair, letting Yugi guide Lilith and Lilith guide him in turn. He remained silent. There were things he could say, but he felt no need. Yugi was more than enough to handle the situation now. His time in the spotlight was over, and now he was to transition into the background once more.

Still, he clung to Lilith. He couldn't explain why, even noticing it as odd himself. Almost protectively, he hovered behind her, hand encased in hand. He watched Izayoi, curious now how she was handling the situation. Whether it was the threat of death she had faced earlier, or the death of her pride, she looked in mourning. At least, that's what he believed. His other hand reached out, a soft tap on her shoulder. While the rest of him was neutral, this was his attempt at comfort. He couldn't very well travel with her if she was still upset, lest she risk bickering with Lilith again and cause more complications.

"Now then, are our affairs in order, or is there more to be done?" Posed to no one in particular, his question was more his thoughts aloud. "I believe we should stop by Lilith's abode and gather belongings now, correct?" He gave her a soft smile, natural seeming but full of venom behind the mask. While he cared little for her emotional well being besides keeping her placid, he did wish to inspect her home and belongs, as well as the results of her magic on her parents. There was much valuable information that could be gleamed from it, provided the rest of his part would follow.

WC; 339

Izayoi sighed heavily as again Yugi interjected himself in a situation he was not welcome in. She sighed as the man next to her had a minor freak out. "Chill out..." the man looked back at her and calmed down completely. Izayoi finished the bottle and sets it down, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She didn't bother looking at them, figuring it was Yugi again, but the voice that followed told her it was Alexander not Yugi. She sighed as Alexander pulled her away from her self pity, Izayoi pointed at one of the bottles behind the counter. "Mind if i get that for the road?"

The old man looked at Izayoi then looked back to the three behind her. "Yeah i think you might need it." The old man stood up and went around the bar, picking up the bottle she had pointed to. "Here, I how this help you... erm... I didn't get your name." The man held out the bottle.

Izayoi took a hold of the bottle and smiled weakly, "Izayoi Burakkurōzu... My you can just call me Izzy i suppose and you are?" Izayoi took the bottle from the mans hand and moved to to the small pack behind just above the flat of her back.

The man nodded and moved over to a small fridge and pulled out some sandwich stuff. "My name is Alzrik, and shes not leaving till shes had something to eat." The old man made up 5 ham and cheese sandwiches and set them out for each person, then as he was putting away the sandwich stuff he pulled out two bottles of juice. "So little lady... Apple or orange?" The man held out two bottles of juice, "I May also have grape." The man offered a warm smile to the girl, hes terror earlier had been more out of surprise than anything. The man would wait till she choose a drink before setting it down. "Now i may not look it but I'm pretty good with spell breaking so if yall don't mind me tagging along, i might be able to help with your little mishap."

(OCC: Please do not control this NPC, he is gonna be story important to Izayoi.)

Alexander watched the new figure carefully, not taking his eyes off the strange man. He finally had a grip on the situation before him, and he wasn't interested in letting it go. Another party meant another person to meddle. He may seem harmless so far, but so did Lilith in appearance. Alexander trusted no one, especially those who put themselves out for others with no cause. Too many times had he be scorned and abused; the effects of slavery never truly left him. There was a motive behind Alzrik. He left his sandwich in place, Alexander hadn't eaten actual food in centuries. His body subsided on life energy alone, so it was a waste for him. However, Lilith took hers eagerly, looking at the man with a small smile. "....Grape." She still seemed nervous, not entirely recovered from the previous events. Or perhaps it was a distrust of the townsfolk themselves? Questions ran through Alexander's head as he considered.

Following the group, he hovered behind Lilith still, his hand still containing hers. He couldn't understand his own behavior now. Going beyond his own purposes, he was remaining close to Lilith. He already had her trust, or he assumed so, yet he continued to comfort her. A small feeling was plaguing his mind now, and for all the knowledge he had he couldn't understand it. Too long had he lived in neutrality. For once, he was at a loss for words. Still, he had to ignore it for now and focus on the target ahead; Lilith's home. He had a list of things to watch for and gather there, and couldn't deal with the distraction.

One could tell that they were getting closer, as the general state of the town and number of people outside was decaying. Whether they hadn't heard the news yet, or were avoiding the area because of it, as they reached the house not a soul could be seen beyond their own party. The house clearly hadn't faired well; signs of disrepair everywhere. The lawn was unkempt, various letters and other litter scattered across, and the windows were thick with dust. How long had Lilith lived with her parents sealed. Shame seemed to cross the girls face now, her hand tightening into Alexander's. "This is my house..." For once, Alexander's face broke out of it's stasis, concern and confusion clear. Without even thinking, he pulled Lilith back slightly, resting her against himself and tightly holding her hand. Again his body moved without reason. Why was he acting this way?

Despite the fact Izayoi had been trusting of the old man, she honestly was holding out for treachery. Something she knew much of and had no wish to suffer from it, nor did she wish to let this child suffer. She was ready to use the last bit of her Vital Force to end the man if she had to. She even found herself resting on of her hand resting on her blade, ready to strike the man down if he did anything so much as mildly threatening. She found it quite amusing, she could tell the other two were just as ready to act as she was. She kept walking not more than a step behind the man, they reached the girls house without any fuss. The place was a wreck, it looked like it had been some time since the curse had happened, either that or her parents were terrible. Izayoi sighed and pushed the gate to the yard open, she looked around then turned back to the girl. "So little one where are your parents so we can undo your mistake?" Izayoi motioned for the girl to take the lead, while she looked at Alex a gave a nod. She hoped that Alex would let the girl free, the old man stepped up.

He looked around for a second, "hmm seems we got our work cut out for ourselves." He turned back and looked at the girl. "So lets get the enchantment broken then we can get to cleaning the place up." The man pulled some gloves from his pant's pocket and put them on. He started humming to himself as he cleared a path to the front door, he seemed at place with the horrors that he had seen. Like he was used to breaking spells, and dealing with rogue mages. Izayoi made a mental note to ask later when they were done.

A world where magic was aplenty and available everywhere was a world where strange things could happen. Magic could be marvellous, intimidating, fantastic, terrifying, horrific, beautiful, all kinds of things. To ask whether magic was good or evil would land you in a debate that would never end, as people tried to point out all the atrocities committed with the use of magic while others show you examples of how magic had done amazing and astounding things which could never have been done without magic. If there was an answer it would most likely be that magic was good or evil, depending on who was using it, how they were using it, and why they were using it.

However in this situation there was no doubt that the magic was of the evil kind. Akeya flew high up in the sky as she scanned the ground below, ignoring the cold winds that blew up here. Winter had already come, but rather than hindering her she felt refreshed by the chilling breeze. As somebody who had been born and raised high up in the Phoenix Mountains winter wasn't a stranger to her. Rather it was a close acquaintance, one who she had met many times and had gotten an understanding with. She had explored the Phoenix Mountains aplenty during her youth, having gotten a good understanding of the mountain range. However in the here and now she was looking for something at the edge of the mountain that she had never found before. A village to be exact. One which merchants and travellers tended to avoid because of the bad reputation it had.

Whether it was truly haunted or not wasn't exactly Akeya's business, and the half dragon didn't care too much either. What she was focused on was the story that there was a very young mage here who nevertheless possessed incredible power. Of course that wasn't a unique thing: there were plenty of examples of mages who had awakened their powers early on in life and who had turned out to possess amazing potential from the very beginning, age only having improved upon an already incredible ability and skill. However in this case it sounded like the young mage had not gotten a good grasp on her abilities, because the stories about what she had done with it were rather worrying. That or she had a perfect grasp on them and was just a horrible person. Could be considered even worse than if she was just randomly lashing out.

The girl has been known to go around killing nearly anybody they encounter, with a specific focus on dark mages and dark guilds. And it turned out that she had enough raw power that she could massacre such a guild on her own, which was no small feat. Whatever else the girl was, her strength couldn't be ignored or waved away. Whatever fate had given her that power had not been joking or mucking about. Which only made it more important that the girl was quickly subdued and taken to the Magic Council where they could make sure she couldn't do such things again. Although why they had chosen Akeya for this job... Maybe because if things went south she would actually be willing to kill a little child without feeling guilt or remorse. Funny how those traits which most people would call evil in this scenario gave her a very useful edge. Assassins would always be useful.

Catching sight of a village down below Akeya quickly spiralled down, her tail trailing behind her as the half dragon descended towards the village. She hadn't seen this one before, and its description fitted what little she had been able to learn about the village which was supposed to be haunted. The most important trait was that the village had a path leading straight to a shrine high up in the mountains. Apparently the villagers themselves thought that shrine was the source of the problems which were classified as signs of hauntings. But at the same time none of them had bothered trying to get rid of it. They were too used to it by now, and too scared about what might happen if they tried. Akeya snorted at this. She had nothing against believing in ghosts and the like, since they pretty clearly existed, but to be scared of a shrine and then not even try to do anything against it...

Landing on one of the rooftops Akeya looked around, her blindfold allowing her to see the magic of the world that was hidden from the naked eye. Combined with her strong sensory powers she was able to locate at least two sources of magic power in this village. One of them was most likely the little girl which had been causing so much havoc: the magic was powerful, it originated from a living person, and it felt like a magic power which had been used a lot and with brute force rather than carefully and with precision. The mark of a beginner...or a child. Akeya turned into a shadow as she quickly travelled over the rooftops until she could see the source of the magic power in the distance. What saw her actually somewhat surprised her. There was a girl all right, but right next to her there was a more mature girl, one who quite clearly wasn't human. And there was some old man in front of them, making his way towards some abandoned shack which the other two were just looking at. Had the dangerous uncontrolled girl found allies? The half dragon kept a distance for now, glaring at the three down on the ground in front of that house. She'd have to find the right time to strike and take the girl down so she could take her to the Magic Council. Killing would be a lot easier, but Akeya was something of a perfectionist. If they demanded her alive she would bring the girl alive, regardless of whether she now had companions or not. The job also didn't state that any allies of the girl had to be brought in alive...

Izayoi watched as the old man made his way into the house, having to force the door. Izayoi was about ready to follow when her allys said they needed to leave. Izayoi tried to convince them to stay but was not successful. Izayoi watched as her ally's excused themselves and left, she was not sad to see them go honestly. Well that was not completely true Izayoi WAS sad to see alex go, but she would deal with it. She returned to the little girls side, whom had been left standing at the gate to her house, nearly in tears. Izayoi walked up behind the girl and set her hand on her shoulders. "hey it will be ok." Izayoi was still wary of the child but could not afford to show it. "Lets go with him." Izayoi stepped to the girls side and offered her hand.

The little girl looked at Izayoi's hand for a bit then took it after a few seconds. She was clearly as wary of Izayoi and Izayoi was of her. "This is all my fault." the girl sniffed. Izayoi gave the girls hand a squeeze and lead the way into the house. Inside the house was dark and dirty, it clearly had been some time since the curse had began. Izayoi looked around the house, She entered the kitchen and found a table only set for two, which Izayoi found curious. The food that was on the table was rotten and giving off one hell of a smell, Izayoi could hear Lilith crying to herself. Izayoi looked around the kitchen some more and caught sight of a third setting... this one was set up in a corner of the room and was on the floor. Now Izayoi was worried that this girl had be wrong and perhaps the people here had diserved what they got. Izayoi moved to the living room some more and looked around, adorning the walls were family photos. Izayoi smiled until she realized that Lilith was not in a single one, instead there was a girl with blond hair. Izayoi looked at Lilith, she had raven hair, "Do you have a sibling?"

Lilith looked at Izayoi. "not any more... she died..." Lilith said between sobs. "Mommy and daddy said it was my fault she died..." Lilith added.

"Hey in here." Called the old man from one of the bedrooms, "I found her parents." Izayoi move to where the old man was. She entered what looked like a childs room, it was adorn with toys and other such things. The old man was kneeling next to a large doll house, "they are here." The man pointed to Two very human like dolls. "I can undo this but... well" Izayoi nodded to the man. "Very well."

Some of the people who had been with the target looked like they were planning to leave, Akeya's ears picking up some thing that they said even though she was a good distance away, crouching on top of the closest building and watching them from that distance. One of them, the girl with the fox ears and tails, apparently wasn't happy about the idea of the other two leaving, but eventually they left anyway, leaving only the fox girl, the old man, and the target. For Akeya's part she thought it a stroke of good fortune that the others left. She was confident enough in her abilities that she was pretty sure that if push came to shove she would have been able to figure out how to take out the target and deliver her to the Magic Council without letting the others stop her, regardless of whether she had to kill them or not to do it. However one of the two that just left had a significantly stronger magic presence than the rest of the group, except maybe the target who had been described as having extremely developed magic abilities, especially for her age. Not having to deal with that powerful mage would make the job a lot easier, and as long as she was on the job Akeya didn't feel like making it more challenging for herself.

That could be said to be a contradiction with her tendency to be a perfectionist, but closer examination would reveal this to not be the case. Akeya was a perfectionist in that since the job said that it was preferred if the target was brought to the Magic Council alive she would bring the target in alive. She knew that she could do it, and the job said that was what they wanted of the mage that accepted the job, so she would. However anything which wasn't in the job requirements or preferred approaches she would immediately do with the easiest method possible without hesitation. The job didn't say anything about allies or friends of the target. It didn't say how many there were, if there were any, any what to do with them. That meant that Akeya had free reign in how she would deal with them. Her own preference was that she could just take the target and leave, without the others noticing until it was already too late. That way she didn't have to worry about them at all. After that came killing them, since killing somebody was actually rather easy if you lacked the psychological barriers that most people possessed when it came to ending another being's life, which was only stronger for other humans and humanoids.

But if they were going to be so helpful as to leave, effectively removing themselves from the equation, that was better than all the other options. It didn't require Akeya to do anything to deal with them, besides staying hidden which she was going to do anyway. The job didn't say that she had to deal with them, and the most efficient approach would be to leave them alone if they weren't going to get in her way, so Akeya just watched them leave before returning her focus to the target and the two that still remained. So far as she could see the amount of raw power in the group she had to deal with had just now at least been halved, maybe even more. A stroke of good fortune indeed. Although Akeya still wasn't going to strike just yet. First she had to figure out what they were doing, and wait for a good opportunity. The fox girl was keeping a close eye on the target right now, and the target was also keeping an eye on the fox girl. Akeya didn't know what their individual abilities were, but jumping in right now could cost her dearly. Better to stalk them for a bit longer, using her multitude of abilities which allowed her to stay hidden even from other mages to keep an eye on them while thinking of the best action.

Slipping down from the building, climbing down like a gecko before returning to her crouch on the ground, Akeya watched the old man try to open the door to the abandoned shack, displaying some ability in dealing with magic barriers. Interesting. The half dragon's tail swayed from side to side even as the shadows kept her invisible to the naked eye. Was there something of importance in that shack which had been protected, and which they were trying to steal or just grab? The job had talked about the target as if the only thing she ever did was kill and destroy, even leaving guilds ruined with a particular tendency for wiping out minor dark guilds. An idly curiosity flitted through the half dragon's mind as she looked at the target, wondering if maybe the target could be directed towards one of the major dark guilds and deal extensive damage to it before being taken down, making it easier for the Magic Council to finish off that guild. However it was idle because that was too unlikely and impossible a plan. If the Magic Council could just send people towards dark guilds like that they would have mobilized the major legal guilds already. They couldn't send anything towards a guild of which they didn't even know the location.

The old man had finished unlocking the door, and the other two followed him inside. Seeing no other choice of action left Akeya followed them, like a shadow flowing silently across the ground before slipping inside, the run-down nature of the building meaning that there was no limit to the shadows that she could hide in. Trailing the three who had broken into the shack Akeya watched them with narrowed eyes. The old man split off from the group while the others stuck around in the living areas, the half dragon now clinging to the ceiling, once again like a gecko, as the shadows kept her hidden and secure. She could be positioned right above them and unless they had been hiding the ability to detect her all along they would never be any the wiser until she made her move. She kept following them like this even as they rejoined the old man, who was kneeling next to a doll house. The half dragon felt that she could probably have taken the target while the old man was away, but she had to admit that she kind of wanted to know what they were looking for. This place didn't have the feeling of being the hiding place of something powerful or important at all, and Akeya had something of a six sense for that. Dragons were very good at finding treasure, and apparently being a half dragon had given Akeya something of a weakened version of that. She could travel across the land, beelining for some treasure miles away, but in a house like this she could with fairly good certainty say if there was treasure to be pillaged here.

Izayoi watched as the old man picked up the dolls, he then pulled out some chalk and started drawing out some Formula's on the floor. Izayoi watched her attention focused on the old man, but there was a nagging on the back of her mind. She turned around and scanned the room behind her, nothing... but something felt wrong... she felt like she was being watched. You know that feeling... the one where the hair on the back of your neck stands on end? Its what she felt right now, she sent out her will and had the legions return from the outside. She looked at the two of them as they came into the room in a hurry.

"Something is wrong..." Izayoi looked at Lilith, whom was still holding her hand. "Keep a eye out please..." The Legions bowed to her and started searching the house. Izayoi was afraid of someone attacking the little girl without knowing she her situation, she had been horridly mistreated. Izayoi was not happy about the entire situation, she had been in something simular... but not the same, Being forced to do what every a man wants... was far worse. Izayoi hoped that she had stopped this little girl from becoming a monster. 

Izayoi returned to the old man and found him in the middle of some kind of incantation, the formula that he drew on the floor was glowing slightly. Izayoi picked up the girl, who immediatly clung to Izayoi. "Please don't let them hurt me!" Lilith cried out as the dolls started to change. Izayoi looked at the girl and patted her on the back. 

"we will fix the mistakes we made then go home." Izayoi ruffled the girls hair. "You can come home with me if you want." Izayoi finished as there was a flash of light, Izayoi looked up to see to people laying where the dolls were. They started to stir after a while, sitting up, Lilith was shaking like a leave in a hurricane, Izayoi hugged her close and waited for something to happen.

Akeya wasn't one to try and claim that she knew exactly what others were planning when she didn't actually have enough information for such a claim. There were people who believed they understood people enough that they could understand what they were doing and planning a lot quicker than Akeya felt was safe. If you drew conclusions too quickly you could end up planning yourself into a corner as you tried to plan around the plans you thought your opponents were planning. To get an understanding of what somebody was doing you needed to carefully observe and carefully draw conclusions. Act too fast and it could backfire and cost you more than the time you thought you saved by being fast with deciding what was going on.

However right now the half dragon had to admit that she wasn't any closer to figuring out what the people here were planning. They obviously had interest in what was in that doll house, even though the half dragon still was pretty sure there wasn't anything too important in there. No jewels, no small treasure, no magical items. There was some magic in there but it wasn't enough to warrant too much attention, and it didn't feel like something stored away inside a magic item either. If Akeya had to make a guess she'd say that it felt like something inside that doll house had been affected by magic, but even so it wasn't too strong. It could perhaps draw some minor attention and people could try to look for the source to figure out what the magic was coming from and what exactly it was doing, but these people were moving with too much purpose for that. They knew what they were looking for. So why where they rummaging around inside that thing?

Eventually the old man fished out two dolls which quite clearly were the source of the magic that Akeya had been feeling. Even if she didn't have the hint that they pulled exactly those two dolls out of the house she could see the magic through her blindfold. Those dolls weren't precious magic items. Even if one extracted all the magic that they contained they'd still be better off just hiring a strong mage, who could give as much magic and would probably be less of a hassle to deal with. However the old man was now drawing what seemed like magic symbols and formulas on the floor. The half dragon was just getting more and more confused about this group of people. Who were these two who were accompanying the target and what were their intentions? The target most certainly didn't look like she was in control here, even though she was by far the strongest mage in the area. In fact she looked nervous and uncertain, as if she wasn't sure if what they were doing was a good idea. This coming from the target who supposedly had pulled apart entire dark guilds on her own. It was a puzzle and Akeya couldn't find the solution. She'd have to wait for that old man to finish whatever it was he was preparing. She could read magic formulas, but they hadn't been completed yet so she wasn't too sure.

The fox girl on the other hand appeared to have realized that they weren't alone, or at least got an itch as she began to summon some rather nasty looking minions to explore the area. Luckily enough these minions apparently weren't able to see through Akeya's invisibility, although nobody ever bothered to look up anyway. It was an interesting trait Akeya had observed in most human beings. Looking up was not something most people were used to or did when they were looking for something. They would look around, down below, every direction which stayed on the ground, but as soon as something was hidden above them they could take ages to find it, and most of the time the only reason that they could find it in the end was because something or somebody gave them a clue. Combine the fact that she could stick to the ceiling with the fact that she was invisible in the darkness that filled most of this shack and Akeya didn't really have to worry about being caught. However if that fox girl had become wary that meant she wasn't the average mage. The half dragon would have to be careful in how she moved if the fox girl was such a perceptive person. Between her and the old man Akeya would definitely have to target the fox girl first if she needed to eliminate them. The old man so far didn't appear to have any magic abilities which were actually that useful against an assassin like Akeya. Dispelling magic, using formulas, these abilities could be very useful but they weren't combat oriented. And even if he could dispel magic mid-flight that wouldn't work since Akeya used almost all her magic to get close enough to slit throats, not to create magic attacks.

Speaking of the old man, he had finished drawing his circles and was now preparing the dolls for something. Eventually he activated whatever he had been preparing, and the dolls began to grow and change, becoming less like dolls and more like actual people. Akeya watched with confusion and curiosity as the two dolls turned into a man and a woman, both unconscious but still alive. What was this about? Why would these three bother to free those two people, who didn't appear to have any special abilities, especially when the target looked downright afraid? And the fox girl was also protecting the target and telling her that she'd protect the little girl. This most certainly wasn't the behaviour of a psychopathic mage and her allies. And what was that about fixing mistakes?

Akeya was a half dragon, and beyond that she was fairly intelligent. It didn't take too long for her to decide that she didn't have enough information about the situation to make a decision about what she should be doing next. She could continue the job of capturing the target and delivering her to the magic council, but now she was made curious and uncertain about whether that was the right choice. Maybe she should first at least try to figure out what was going on, even if that might make her lose her element of surprise... At least she could communicate with them without giving them any information about what was talking to them and what their intentions were. Akeya slipped into her shadow form, allowing the shadows that now made up her body to spread out, before speaking, her voice sounding rather hollow and not coming from any one direction. Her shadow form had some really nifty uses to it.

"What is this? What behaviour is this for the slaughterer of many? What fear could you have for two weak humans? Have your human emotions controlled your mind?"

Better to appear as some kind of ghost so they wouldn't question her as much. At least a form of shadows couldn't be seen in a place of shadows, making Akeya even harder to detect than when she was still physical.

Izayoi looked at the two parents as the stood up and looked around, Izayoi glared at them she heard one of the legions in the other room. They looked at the old man, Izayoi and Lilith, the father looking very angry. "WHAT DID YOU DO YOU LIT..." the man quieted down very quickly as one of Izayoi's legion's came racing out and put its blade right up to the mans neck. Izayoi was about to speak when she realized what was off about the house... she didn't hear any bugs. Izayoi though about all the things that would silence bug so completely like that, a predator.

"hey... we have..." Izayoi didn't get to finish her sentence when someone spoke.

"What is this? What behaviour is this for the slaughterer of many? What fear could you have for two weak humans? Have your human emotions controlled your mind?"

"Well then i guess your our predator?" Izayoi kept Lilith close, turning to look around. Behind her the legions pushed the parents to the floor, Izayoi was expecting a fight so she wanted them out of harms way. "Old man... protect Lilith.. i won't let her go back to the way she was." Izayoi pushed the child out a bit a knelt down, "Hes going to take you and make you safe, don't get involved at all." Izayoi smiled and nodded at the old man. He took the girls hand and pulled her near the parents, placing his knee on the father to keep him pinned. He spoke a enchantment and a barrier went up, but not before her legion stepped out of it. She sighed to herself and spoke again, both legions now joined her. "The human mind is frail and when those whom should be protecting you do the exact opposite... things get problematic. Even more so when you don't have complete control of your magic... And from what i have seen her magic is emotion based so when she became desperate enough she lost herself to her emotions..." Izayoi took a step forward, one of her hands resting on her blade. "So are you the reaper? the Police? or just someone here for revenge?" Izayoi was ready for a fight, she didn't want to let this child fall into dispair again, she couldn't, if she did she would never be able to live with herself. Nobody had come to her aid and she had endured 200 years of slavery... she would not abandon the child, she would be the rescuer.

The scene that developed in front of her eyes continued to give new information for Akeya to process. The male that had been freed from the curse that had turned him into a doll in the first place appeared to recover faster than the female, as within half a minute he was already standing and looking at the ones that had rescued him. Or at least, at the little girl that Akeya was supposed to capture and return to the Magic Council. He didn't look very grateful though. In fact, he looked furious, and the words that he spoke reinforced that. He yelled at the little girl as if he didn't care about anything that was happening around him, his anger blinding him as he immediately lashed out at the target. His behaviour indicated that he knew the target, and that he didn't like her. Although even if that was the case, ignoring about the others in the room just so he could yell at the girl wasn't a smart idea in the slightest. Losing sight of what was around you could get you killed. It was only luck that saved him this time. Luck which made the fox girl that had been saying that she would protect the target decide to give the angry man a friendly warning instead of just immediately getting rid of him. That minion moved pretty fast, being able to close the gap and place its sword at the man's neck before the man could even hope to react. That could be a problem if she actually had to fight. The half dragon wasn't slow herself, but if both those minions were that fast they could actually pressure her. Not to mention that she didn't know how much the fox girl herself was capable of. Well, enough dawdling. Time to see what exactly was going on.

Akeya watched impassively as the little girl was sent over to the old man, who in turn took over the restraining of the angry man before putting up a barrier which left only the fox girl and her minions accessible. That was annoying. The barrier looked like the kind which she couldn't just get rid of with the waving of her hand. And no doubt the fox girl would not allow her to focus properly on the barrier if she did decide to treat all the people in the room as targets and tried to take them down. The question was, did they arrange it like this because they believed that the fox girl would be able to take care of whatever was questioning them, or because they didn't have any other options available to them? The two adults who had first been dolls were not included in the calculations because the first glance had already made it clear that they possessed nothing which could pose a threat. No magic ability, no physical training, they were just your average peasants. Unimportant and uninteresting. The old man had some tricks up his sleeve, as he had been the one to approach the house first, no doubt testing for traps, and then had shown the ability to break whatever curse had befallen the male and the female. And now he had that barrier, which looked quite sturdy. So he at least had some abilities.

However from what she had seen he didn't have any combat potential. The barrier was strong, true, but it was a barrier which completely prevented interaction between the inside and the outside. It wasn't a barrier one could afford to use during a fight unless they had spells which they could activate and use outside the barrier, and the old man didn't appear to have any of those. It was a fully defensive barrier. More than that, all the tricks that the old man had shown so far had taken some preparation, and were more about dealing with magic than channelling it himself (excepting the straightforward barrier). Checking and dealing with traps, removing a curse... Useful in many situations, but not a battle mage. In a fight he could only be useful if the enemy was kept busy while he prepared something, and that was only the case if he actually had something harmful prepared. Which she doubted. The last potential enemy underneath that barrier was the actual target, who looked like she was in no mental or emotional state to fight. She had been shocked and diminutive the entire time. That didn't mean that she couldn't fight if forced, but she was not as dangerous as she might have been if she was in control of herself. Well, dangerous to Akeya. She could likely cause a lot of damage to everybody in the room if she lashed out wildly, but that would work in the half dragon's favour since she didn't have any reason to care about anything in that room. Still, she had a lot of raw magic power, so the fact that she was underneath the barrier meant that the fox girl believed that she was the better choice if a fight broke out. She didn't trust the target to be able to fight properly as she was now.

As for the fox girl herself, Akeya wasn't sure about her skills, but those minions made her wary. She wasn't sure what they were, but they looked like they could actually hinder her, and the fox girl appeared capable of controlling them without even gesturing with her hand. Or maybe they were semi-autonomous, just doing what the fox girl wanted them to do but not exactly under her control. Either way, better to try and keep the advantage here by not showing her actual form, instead filling the shadows in the room so they couldn't pin down her exact location, nor figure out what exactly she was. As the fox girl talked Akeya pondered. The way the fox girl put it the girl had been confused and lost to her emotions, which would have to do something with how the man immediately became angry once he saw the target. Abuse? That would mean that the target wasn't an actual dedicated killer. She was just a loose cannon who lashed out at everything because she was mentally and emotionally unstable. That still didn't put her in a good spot, but it was a bit of a step up. For now Akeya would continue talking.

'There is a bounty on the girl's head. Preferably she would be captured and delivered to the Magic Council, but her life may be taken if capture proves too difficult. Of course, this bounty was placed based on the assumption that this girl is an indiscriminate killer, who should either be contained or killed. They didn't appear to realize that instead we are dealing with a little child who lost control after her parents abused her. Although even if I told them that I don't know if they would care about the circumstances.'

Izayoi had to stop herself from laughing, the comment about the magic council show how much they were a joke. Izayoi paced a bit, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, so far the answer had eluded her. She would keep talking until she figured it out, in her mind she went over the eight thousand years of magic she had seen.

"The Rune Knights don't care about why or how, all they care about is that someone is punished, not even someone that is guilty. Nor would they ask why this girl was pushed to such extremes... no they will just lock her up and throw away the key. No... i wont allow that... I will teach her the error of her ways as well as to be better."

Illusion magic? no... a invisiblity spell? no she could trace that... a projection from another area? no it didn't explain the silence... Izayoi kept looked around as she waited for another hint...

"After everything i have been through i won't condemn someone for losing control in a situation like this. No... if i did that i would be a hypocrite, I spent 200 years as a slave doing everything that my "master" could think of... things that i never wish to remember. Want to know the kicker? The man was a Legal mage... and in good standing with the magic council. Funny right... a man who can take a child and use her for every dirty pleasure his mind can come up with... and they sat by and let it happen... Did HE get punished? No... i killed him... i killed him for my freedom... Want to take me in for that to?"

Izayoi ran more magics through her mind, looking at every detail of the house she could think of. She cursed herself for not being ready for someone else to be after the girl, it should have crossed her mind. After about 15 second she had narrowed it down to what she figured to be three magic types... One, some kind of puppet magic... which would mean something in the room didn't belong... Two, Shadow magic... often used for clandestine mission and other things. Three, Maze magic... She would be screwed if she was already mazed... but that would mean the mage knew she would come here. Izayoi sighed heavily and picked on of the magics... it seemed the most likely

"Come out of the shadows were i can see you please... I don't like talking to someone i can't see."

As Izayoi spoke all three of her legion came to her, presenting themselves so that the person might come forth.

'From the way you speak one could assume that you believe every action, no matter how vile or disgusting, could be forgiven as long as you had a valid excuse for why you did it. As interesting a philosophy that might be, the problem you are facing is that the Magic Council and the Rune Knights that they command do not agree. They are afraid that if they were to allow for forgiveness more and more people would begin committing crimes the moment they believe to have a valid excuse. The ones who are supposed to govern the mages of Fiore are afraid of dark mages, so they rule with a fist which is meant to be made of iron, but is more like stone. Hard, but brittle.'

Akeya didn't really have a lot of respect for the creators and enforcers of the law. She had yet to tell anybody in her guild, even Akryn, about her actual reason for joining the guild. Partially because none of them had ever asked (they probably thought of it as too personal to just ask about out of the blue) and partially because she had the suspicion that not all of them would react too well if they ever learned. Akeya didn't join because she thought upholding the laws was important. She didn't join to protect the people. She didn't join because joining a dark guild was unthinkable for her. Her reason was completely devoid of any honour, altruism, ethics, or anything else that could be seen as good or moral (she would love to see somebody try to find a way to make it sound good. It was impossible, but maybe Akryn would try anyway because he didn't want to accept that his teammate was actually one of the most utterly selfish and heartless of people he would ever meet). Akeya joined a legal guild because the Rune Knights wouldn't come after her as long as she was part of a legal guild and didn't break any of their precious laws. That was all there was to it for her. She had taken the position of Rising Star #2, but honestly she didn't see why she would have that position. It wasn't even like she had ever pretended to be anything else than selfish and apathetic towards the lives and misery of others. The best explanation she could think of for why she would be a Rising Star is maybe that the Magic Council had been impressed at her ability to get things done. She might have joined Blue Pegasus purely for her own sake (and because as a shadow dragon she didn't want to have the White Dragon Slayer as her enemy), but she did believe in doing her job.

Unfortunately for both herself and Izayoi that persistence when it came to fulfilling the task she was given could become a problem. As the fox girl explained that she herself had been enslaved and abused mercilessly for two centuries by a legal mage the half dragon considered her next move. So far as she personally was concerned none of the people in this building besides she herself really mattered. They could live and die without her batting an eye at either possibility. She didn't really care for the fox girl's story or opinion either. She was mostly listening to see if there was anything of use in what she said. Her task was still the same as before. Locate the kid who had caused such devastation, and either bring her back to the Magic Council for judgement or kill her so she wouldn't become a threat in the future. That was her task, and she was considering whether she would go through with it. The fox girl was behaving as if she believed she could protect the target if needed, but Akeya, confident in her own ability, was pretty sure that if she decided so killing all the people in this room would be child's play. Even Izayoi, who was clearly the best fighter in the room as long as the target herself was too conflicted mentally to act, should not be able to hold out for very long if the half dragon decided to just kill everything. And even though Akeya didn't really care about the fate of the child, she hadn't cared about the lives of her opponents in other missions either. Her determination to do what she had to do was neither fuelled nor hindered by the circumstances of the ones that got in her way. Why would she let this time be any different?

On the other hand, she didn't care. It was a bit of a double-edged sword. She didn't care, so she could kill without suffering from the psychological issues that most people received when they killed others. She didn't care, so she might as well leave them alive. Akeya always thought that made a distinct difference between her and an actual psychopath. A psychopath was more likely to kill than to leave alive if given the choice. Akeya just considered the best course of action, and wouldn't hesitate to end lives if that was the best course of action. However that didn't solve the puzzle at hand. The half dragon was still thinking about what to do. Izayoi might notice that the unseen presence hadn't reacted to her story about having been enslaved for two centuries, only to free herself by killing her captor.

When Izayoi made the request for her to come out of the shadows, repositioning those minions of hers to defend herself if Akeya did show herself and decided to become violent, the half dragon had to resist the urge to chuckle. The fox girl was actually pretty smart, if she had already figured out what method Akeya was using to keep herself untraceable. That was somewhat worrisome, actually. Did she figure it out through sheer intellect? That would make her intelligent enough that Akeya would have to increase her danger level, since such a smart opponent couldn't be judged by their amount of magic power and their raw abilities. If somebody was intelligent enough with the use of their abilities they could be several times stronger than you might think at first glance. Or did she have a way to actually track Akeya down? That would also be troublesome, if less so than if it was done with nothing but intelligence. However what nearly made Akeya chuckle was that the fox girl seemed to honestly think that just because she had guessed that Akeya was using the shadows (which was true) the half dragon would suddenly show herself at her request. There was no reason for Akeya to do that. Even if Izayoi knew she was in the shadows, they were in a rundown shack in the middle of nowhere. And it was rather dark outside as well by now. There were shadows everywhere. Well, she might as well give the illusion of cooperation. The half dragon made a form of shadows appear in the entrance of the room, wondering whether the fox girl would realize it was not actually the person she was talking to. The shadowy form had no real details, but the outline would make it look like a ninja of unknown gender.

'I don't really care for either the Magic Council's demands or your story. I just came here because I was given the task to return the child, either dead or alive, and even if I don't find the higher ups very important I do want to accomplish the task I was given. If you want to save that child you'll have to give me a way to fulfil my task without actually giving me the child. An interesting puzzle, wouldn't you agree? I can think of one or two ways that you could do that, but I'm not sure if you'd be willing to use them. You do seem like one who finds ethics important, after all...'

Akeya was regarding Izayoi carefully now. She wanted to see if the fox girl could figure out a way to give Akeya what she wanted without giving up the target. It was most certainly possible. The question was whether Izayoi was capable of it.

Izayoi didn't fall for the shadow clone, their is no way it would be that easy. She didn't ignore it though, she had confirmed the magic of the user. This changed the idea of how to combat the threat, but she felt that the person didn't really care about what happened just that they finished the job. Izayoi kept ready for combat but was running ideas how to get the other hunter out of her hair. She frowned and looked at the old man and child, looking through the Legions.

"A legion..."

Izayoi smiled and patted the legion closest to her, they had given her a idea, she could make a body without giving it a soul or mind. She would make a living body similar to a human, thankfully she knew human anatomy quite well. But would the person allow it, or was she hell bent on taking in Lilith.

"I have a idea... you have noticed my summons correct? Well i control what they look like and how the work."

Izayoi eyed her surroundings looking for any signs of the other person, She didn't want to unsummon her legions until she could see the other person. But she didn't want seem hostile, Izayoi sighed and dismissed the Legions.

"Please step out of your shadows... I will make a body that match's the girl, you will take that body and give it to the Rune Knights... and i will take the real girl and give her the life she should have had not..."

"The hell you will!"

The girls farther decided to speak up, Izayoi shot him a glare and quieted him down quickly. She figured he would do something unless she deal with him, she walked over and the man did exactly what she figured he might. He grabbed Lilith by the throat, pushing the old man aside, and gave it a squeeze. Izayoi turned to face him and she narrowed her eyes, and glanced at the old man. Who held up 3 finger subutly, Izayoi waited until the exact moment when the old man dropped his barrier and summoned a guild legion which rushed forward before the man could even react. The Legion skewered the man in the shoulder and drove its blade into the wall behind him, which it the released the blade. The Girl rushed over to Izayoi sobbing, Izayoi sighed a breath of relief. The girl had not reverted meaning it was not to late, meaning she could be saved.

"So what say you?"

Akeya was still spreading herself through the shadows that filled most of the room, looking at her opponent from all sides as she thought of the best way to deal with this. She already had thought of several ways that she should be able to take down the fox girl without risking harm to herself. The fact that she didn't know the fox girl's exact abilities required her to add a certain danger level which she mentally called 'unknown variables', but even so she was pretty confident that if it came down to it she could kill everybody in this room and sort out the bodies without being wounded enough that she would be vulnerable afterwards. Although she still didn't like the looks of those minions that the fox girl was controlling. She wasn't sure what they were, but they looked like they could actually cause quite a bit of trouble if he didn't disable the summoner before she could command them to act.

Fortunately it looked like the fox girl didn't want an encounter either. That at least meant that Akeya could decide how and when to attack, if she felt like it. Izayoi was smart enough to stay at the ready, but her stance made it clear that she was preparing to defend and react, not to jump out and attack herself. Which was good. On the other hand it was also clear that the fox girl wasn't tricked by the shadow image that Akeya had created. Which was bad. Well, not exactly disastrous. Akeya hadn't really been planning to depend on that thing a lot. But it did show that this fox wasn't that easily tricked, which upped the danger of attacking her a bit. Not so much that it made it impossible to take her down, if that became necessary, but Akeya wasn't one who sought the thrill of a challenge. She would take challenges and seek them out, because the best way to improve was to push your limits and hone your edge on the most difficult of tasks, but that didn't mean she would make anything more difficult that it needed to be. In fact, a good part of her improving relied on her taking a difficult task and finding ways to make it less difficult. Improving her ability to see the most efficient solution was just as important as her ability to fade into the shadows or her ability to fly.

Eventually the fox girl spoke up again, asking her a question. Or at least, she was asking the shadows a question and hoping that Akeya would reply. Luckily the shadow dragoness wasn't planning to be uncooperative if Izayoi could find a way for the both of them to achieve their objectives. Akeya only needed to give the Magic Council the one who had been destroying the countryside and wreaking havoc. Or at least gave them what they would believe was the target. Simultaneously the attacks had to stop, because otherwise obviously the real menace hadn't been caught. The fox girl for some reason wanted to protect the target and keep her safe, most likely sentimental reason (reasons that Akeya didn't really care about, but then again she cared little of most reasons used by humanoids anyway). As long as the fox could provide her a body which she could hand over to the Magic Council, and kept the target from causing trouble in the future, the half dragon wouldn't bother her any longer and be on her way.

Although before she answered she first watched the little drama of one of the powerless humans, the male, trying to harm the target. Akeya was still hidden in the shadows, and watched the scene without any real emotion. From where she was standing it was just pointless. The man should know that his life was in the hands of the others in the room, the exception being the powerless female, and that he could only decide what to say and do: his fate was not his own unless the others granted him that. And beyond that, what the hell was he trying to achieve? Honestly it just seemed like he was acting petty and nasty for the sake of being petty and nasty. It should already have been clear that the girl was no longer his to control. From the way the girl acted she was utterly terrified of him, but he honestly was just a worthless, weak, pathetic, unimportant human. Attacking the girl only got him the pain of having the fox girl nail him to the wall (the legions counted as an extension of the fox girl). Did he really think that by throwing a tantrum anything would change?

Izayoi might be surprised when the man, after she had already disabled him, suddenly got pierced in several places all over his body. The old man had lowered his shield, meaning Akeya could for now use the shadows inside that area as well. Each wound inflicted on the man came out of nowhere, the very shadows striking at him, and more importantly each wound was on its own fatal, although none of them would immediately kill him. Akeya hissed from the shadows, sounding rather annoyed. Her voice has a somewhat reptilian quality to it this time, slithering and cold.

'Worthless. You will die before the sun rises again. During that time you will suffer. And not because you tried to harm the child. You annoyed me by being an utter fool, not realizing that his life was no longer his own. If you had stayed quiet and allowed those of actual importance to decide what to do you might have survived to live out the rest of your short, pathetic and useless life. But you had to go and give me a reason to get annoyed. Now stay silent and suffer before death claims you. If I hear a single scream I shall extend your pain, and every scream after that would only make it worse.'

Akeya's voice returned to its original quality after that, turning back to Izayoi while leaving the fool of a man in the pain he had inflicted upon himself.

'The mission demands that I prove that the body I bring belongs to the target. It specifically stated that a corpse along would not be considered proof. Do you have a way around that? Personally I am actually curious what kind of proof they would want me to take, if the body itself would not suffice. Maybe they want something they can torture into confessing?'

Izayoi sighed, why was the magic council so inept what proof could be used to bring back besides a body. Izayoi sighed and waved her hand, which dismissed the guilt legion and knelt down to Lilith.

"hey little one i need a bit of your blood, so I'm just gonna prick your finger for a drop ok honey?"

The girl nodded as Izayoi pulled out a small knife, she pricked the girls finger and collectd the blood in the palm of her hand. She then tossed it in front of her where it changed and formed into a exact copy of Lilith. Izayoi turned and tended to the girls bleeding finger, the copy got up to its feet and stood there lifeless. Izayoi smiled at the girl and then turned back to the copy.

"there is your proof the body of Lilith, kill it with your magic and turn it in. Everyone in the city will confirm it her the likeness will not change and these to won't remember either." 

Izayoi walked over to the mother and place her hand against her head. Her memory's were full of sorrow and sadness over the fact she could not protect her daughter. Izayoi didn't care she had let it happen, Izayoi saw in the woman's mind that she could have done something, done anything really but she didn't. Izayoi ripped the memory's of what happened and replaced them with new ones, ones where her daughter died at the hands of a mage. After which she overwhelmed the womans mind causing her to fall into unconsciousness. Izayoi then moved the the father and did the same thing, after which she sighed and took Liliths hand.

"There they parents will confirm you killed their daughter, wait until they wake up then slay the clone in front of them. They will not remember my presense here at all. Now good day."

With the stage set Izayoi left he house, she would show Lilith the bright future she could have. Izayoi could not do that in Tartarus and so she would leave it.

Akeya watched as the fox girl managed to make a perfect copy of the target's body. At least, Akeya couldn't see the difference, and she both had sharp eyes and was very perceptive. If she couldn't see the difference then most likely the people of the Magic Council couldn't either. Being able to create living bodies with that level of detail and precision wasn't a skill which belonged to just any mage. This fox girl must have some really impressive talent to be able to pull that off so easily without any real preparation aside from gathering the target's blood. The half dragon wasn't exactly impressed, but she took note of this Izayoi and that she was somebody she should be wary of in the future. She briefly considered killing her anyway to avoid having to risk dealing with her later on, but eventually decided against it. While Izayoi could become a serious threat if left alone Akeya would rather wait for a time when she was actually giving a more direct reason to be killed. The fact that the fox girl was on her guard right now also played a big role. Akeya was pretty sure that she could kill everybody in the room without sustaining any serious wounds...but she wasn't entirely sure. Better to leave that challenge for when it was actually necessary.

The half dragon stayed hidden and unresponsive as Izayoi finished the rest of the preparations, which included showing Akeya that she could alter memories and knock people unconscious without actually attacking them physically. Another hint that this Izayoi wasn't your run of the mill mage. The ability to summon and control those strange creatures, the ability to use blood to create a perfect living copy of somebody (watching that soulless body breathe was kinda creepy. Or honestly just creepy as hell), and the ability to alter memories were all abilities that signified a serious threat if made an enemy. Akeya waited for Izayoi to finish all her preparations, only speaking when it was time for the fox girl to leave and allow Akeya to finish her own mission.

'Greetings.'

So the fox girl had managed to think of a method to save the life of the girl and still allow Akeya to finish her mission. Of course she would have to wrangle a bit to get the Magic Council to accept that the only proof they would get would be the corpse of this copy, but the half dragon really didn't know what else those humans had been expecting. If they had more information about the target than that she was young, powerful, and going around making a mess they hadn't told the half dragon, which meant that the half dragon couldn't find a way to properly identify the target and use it as proof for the Magic Council. Honestly in a scenario such as this one the Magic Council should be sending the Rune Knights, since at least those they were willing to trust instead of demanding something as ridiculous as actual proof of a target they didn't even know anything about.

Even until the end Akeya hadn't shown Izayoi her actual form. That at least should help in the future, since the fox girl shouldn't have any way to identify her should they meet again. The half dragon waited until she was completely sure that the only people left were herself and the two worthless humans called parents of the target before she stepped out of the shadows, stretching her draconic wings and her long reptilian tail. Standing in front of the copy she studied it once more before shifting her attention to the unconscious humans, waiting for them to finally wake up. The fox could at least have given her an estimation of how long it would take before they would regain consciousness. It also seemed that she hadn't realized that the father wouldn't be able to confirm anything. His annoying behaviour had resulted in him being stabbed in several vital spots, and while he was still alive he wouldn't be alive for much longer. Akeya had made sure that the wounds looked like they could easily have been made by more mundane weapons instead of her shadows, so nobody could trace his death back to her. Except for the mother...

Akeya looked down at the unconscious humans, considering this. It might have been something she had done in a moment of sheer annoyance at the foolish human's stupidity, but she hadn't anticipated that the fox girl would have the woman remember a mage killing her daughter. Which meant that even if the wounds couldn't be used as solid evidence the woman could still accuse Akeya. The half dragon sighed, annoyed at both herself and the fox girl. As annoying as the man had been maybe it would have been better to leave him alive. She was pretty sure that she hadn't actually let her annoyance take control over her: it might have influenced her decision but her decision was still based on cold logic. The man was useless and even a problem. Not understanding his place and position he behaved like a child throwing a tantrum because another child was given something. She honestly didn't understand why he had behaved like that. Was he that determined to make his child miserable that he wouldn't even tolerate her being taken away by somebody kinder? Normally children were abused because they were a nuisance, but this man seemed to take the very concept of his child being happy as a personal insult. Which sounded like the kind of malicious intent that wasn't of any use to anybody. Being both malicious, stupid and weak meant that you would die sooner or later anyway.

Regardless, she had to get rid of the female as well. She'd find other witnesses. It wasn't as if the target had been particularly subtle with their rampage and overabundance of magic. Signalling with her hand another shadow came and pierced the woman through the heart as if stabbed by a spear, leaving her to die without ever waking up. Akeya then had the shadows swallow up the copy's body before she left, finding herself some witnesses to prove that this copy was indeed the target before returning to the Magic Council to hand them the destructive menace.