The Hunt Continues (The Slayer Project job w/ Ardere)

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

    ”I...Y-yeah, I’ll be fine… Let’s go.” Haretsa responded quietly with a rather shaky nod, following her guild master as he proceeded to dash down the narrow hall leading deeper into the facility. Haretsa looked down at her left arm, the light underneath her hand wrap and gauntlets still shining brightly as the two mages continued onward. ”Am... I the only one who can see this damn light? He didn’t seem to notice it at all… Great, he’d just think I’m crazy if I told him now…” Haretsa thought to herself, seemingly oblivious to the sounds of footsteps headed in her and Ardere’s direction from afar off. She had wanted to warn her Guild Master of the beast that plagued her mind for the sake of the civilian’s safety, but now she wasn’t sure if he would even believe her story. Haretsa had been researching the topic heavily since she had joined Infinity Hydra and the entire concept of Acnologia having any kind of child with someone seemed to be nothing more than a mere fairy tale; one that Haretsa was living out every day of her life. She’d most likely be laughed at if she claimed to be of Acnologia’s bloodline. People’s opinions of her never really bothered Haretsa before, but it seemed to bother her now that it pertained to something that made her a threat to everyone around her.

    Being so lost in her own thoughts as her body seemed to move forward on auto pilot, Haretsa didn’t even notice Ardere becoming a blur of black flames as he charged down the hallway at an even faster rate than before. At this point the approaching forces had entered the same long hallway as the two Hydra’s; one of the six men turning into lightning and arcing over the blur of black flames that charged onward. The man reformed behind Ardere, staring at the blur in confusion as he flicked up the hood of his robe. ”Is that one of those freaking intruders?! The hell is with this damn heat?! Ah well, now’s my chance to str-” was all the man managed to blurt out before Haretsa ended up colliding with him; sending them both down to the floor. ”Ow!! Watch where you’re going, ya freakin idiot!” the man exclaimed, as Haretsa pushed herself up off of him. ”S-sorry Ardvark… I was just… lost in thought I guess.” Haretsa quickly apologized, not fully registering just who it was she was talking to.

    ”Who the hell is Ardvark?” the man asked rather puzzled, standing up and turning to face the woman that had knocked him to the ground. His eyes widened as soon as he saw Haretsa. ”Hazel eyes… cream white hair… Y-You! You’re the one who burnt down our lab in the forest far east of Magnolia ten years ago!!” the man shouted, causing Haretsa to snap back to her full senses. ”We lost a lot of progress thanks to you! It’s taken us nine of those ten years to get back to where we were in terms of research! Now I’m gonna pay you back for what you did to valuable Dragon Riot property you little witch!” he exclaimed, his hands sparking with lightning as Haretsa turned towards the robed male. ”Dragon Riot? Wha-”” was all she could say before she was cut off by a large bolt of lightning in the shape of a dragon’s head gripping her in its maw and slammed Haretsa into the nearby wall before exploding with a violent surge. Thankfully Flect had absorbed most of the damage from the spell, but it still managed to break through a bit of her armor and hurt Haretsa herself. ”Ow… I was asking a question... fucking rude…” Haretsa grunted out, standing to her feet and readying herself. She wasn’t in the best mental shape right now, but she knew she needed to fight; especially since this man knew about what happened to her ten years ago. Her search for this group had been rather fruitless, so she needed to make sure she kept this bastard alive to get whatever information she could out of him.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

   Haretsa had little time to think to herself as the robed mage charged towards her; lightning crackling down the hallway as he approached with his fist ready to strike. ”Damn he’s fast!” she thought, forced to use her flames to propel her hands up to catch the incoming strike. As the man’s fist met with Haretsa’s palms, flames erupted from the girls back just to keep herself from being driven back from the force of the speed assisted strike. The intense amount of lightning magic coursing around the man’s fist began to overload Haretsa’s armor and surge a bit through her body. Before the man's magic could completely break her armor, Haretsa quickly pulled her knee up to strike him square in the chest. He was too quick however, transforming his whole body into a bolt of lightning to dodge her attack. ”Hah! You’re too damn slow!!” he taunted, dancing around Haretsa as a lightning bolt.

     ”Turning his body into lightning itself… can normal lightning mages do that or is he a Slayer like me…?” Haretsa thought to herself, her flaming red orbs darting around the room to try and keep an eye on her opponent. He came flying at her from behind with a kick, requiring more flames from Haretsa’s body in order to keep up with the speed and block the attack. ”He’s fast, but his strikes or no where near the strength they should be if he was a Dragon Slayer…” Haretsa surmised as the kick collided with her held up arms. She had sparred with plenty of different Slayer’s to be able to tell the difference in their strength compared to a normal mages. Quickly grabbing onto the man’s leg, Haretsa began to pull the man over her head in order to slam him down to the floor. However, this was met yet again with the man changing himself into a bolt of lightning and getting away. This ability of his was beginning to irritate the cream haired mage quite a bit. If she wasn’t able to counter attack, then she’d just have to land a hit before he could.

   Flames began dripping like molten lava from the young Dragon Slayer’s mouth as her eyes followed the darting bolt of lightning around the narrow hallway. The man darted towards her once again for another punch; giving Haretsa her opportunity to strike. ”FIRE DRAGON’S ROAR!!” her voice echoed out followed by a dragon’s violent roar; the tattoo on her back burning red as a violent plume of flames rocketed their way down the narrow hallway. ”OH SHIT!!” the man exclaimed, realizing there was nowhere for him to go as the flames took up the entire hallway. The raging fire blasted into the man on its way down the hall before it erupted violently. Once the explosion had cleared, it was clear to see that the walls of the hallway were severely warped and scorched from Haretsa’s attacks; the man lying on the ground not much different. There were several burn marks on his robes and light burns across parts of his skin; his robes having to have been magical to protect him from worse damage. ”Ow… forget this bitch was a Dragon Slay-” was all the man could utter out before Haretsa rocketed her way towards him, bringing down her leg hard across the man’s neck. Her Roar had hit the man good and she needed to take every opportunity she could to attack him while she could before he ended up turning into lightning once again.