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The Foul Marshes, an area inside the Spooky Forest devoid of most life. Normally a macabre sight, yet surprisingly peaceful at times. Was now covered in total blackness, as a harsh storm had taken hold of the entire Forest. And with it the darkest of Guilds, Savage Skull.

It didn't happen often, that a mage would look outside the window of the guild and actually comment on how bad the weather is. Mostly because their surrounding area was always covered in a gathering of clouds. Shutting out most of the sun. But when a storm would rage over the forest, when the sheer force of winds bellowed around their Hall, even then a mage of the savage caliber had to admit. That this was one hell of a storm.

Yet despite this godawful weather, somehow, someway a strange and cryptic letter had arrived for one of the more peculiar members of the guild. How it got there was a mystery, maybe it was the unknown, unrivaled skill of the mailmen. A true hero of the nation if he had ventured through this storm. Or it had been there all this time, hidden until the time was right to reveal itself to its recipient. Point being, first it wasn't there, and then it suddenly was.
Now normally this would be such a weird thing, but considering that the desk belonged to no one else then Dubhliann. Was a strange aspect on itself. As the man was known for keeping tabs on everything.

The letter in question, was sealed in a envelope made out the finest materials similar to saturated paper. Giving it a hard feeling exterior. Yet the obvious feel of extravagance surrounding the envelope wasn't what would caught mister Dubhlainns eyes. No, if there was one thing that would catch the mans eyes, then it was the dark purple colored seal in the middle of it. A spot made out of wax, with in it engraved, the ominous crest of the Crawfords. A gorgeously decorated letter C.

It’s disappointing to see that not one day in the spooky forest goes without the sunlight and yet everyday he would work at this place, he stops to think in wonder why it is that only this place in particular has always been covered by clouds? Could it be because of the malingering curse of the Lichborne? As long as there aren’t any recurrences happening in the Catacombs then there’s no need for one to worry.

There are no longer any cannibals residing in the guild and casualties that would usually occur in Savage Skull have come to a complete stop, hence Dubhlainn has achieved something that no one in the guild would have and that is the complete stability and steady recovery of the guild’s manpower. Reports were filed in every single day, important events are written in a ledger for Lord Harrigan to read in case of his return. From what seemed to be a guild of evil tyrants and thugs, it became a guild whose personnel have taken on a complete military approach. Everyday swordsmen, bowmen and riflemen were trained; those who were once peons now rank as soldiers of an army. Those who not possessed magical powers grew in strength and not a single member lagged behind on self-defense training.

While many of the guild members wallowed in their angst and regret, Dubhlainn took a step forward and revitalized the guild in a military fashion. The first time he entered the guild, he prefer to be working alone but when Harrigan left the guild, he made it his duty to assist Savage Skull in any way possible, starting from small contributions into what Savage Skull is today.

“The Right Man in the Wrong Place can Make All the Differences in the World”
That’s what they say and now more than ever from being scorned upon to becoming one of the most feared Savages who ever worked here.

Because of bad weather, Savages had no choice but to take shelter from the storm while continuing on their duties to watch the walls, the stables were closed, all doors that lead to the courtyard were closed shut and only through the liberated tunnels of the catacombs did they get by around the guild. As a matter of fact, Savage Skull is expanding towards the Catacombs itself, traps and burial coffins were removed in order to pave way to territory. Curses were dispelled, lingering enemies were removed and a boundary field was set up to keep the unholy dead suppressed from reaching their territory. Dubhlainn himself had just exited the Catacombs and headed up to his personal space only to have discovered the door was unlocked. He looked around for anything suspicious till he saw the letter, there was no mistake that it was Lord Harrigan, his guildmaster from whence he had joined sent it. He opened it to reveal the contents of the letter.

As Dubhlainn broke the seal, and opened the very letter that was send towards him. He could read it's contents under the faint illuminating flicker light from the nearest candle. However what it revealed to him was nothing out of the ordinary, just a simple status report. Possible alpha locations, short descriptions of possible assets. Even guard schedules and patrol routes. But nothing that suggested anything about Harrigans current whereabouts.
Maybe it was a courtesy, a small notion of appreciating that Dubhlainns work wasn't going unnoticed. That even though Harrigan was gone, he heard of the lieutenants fine work. Was it suggesting that Harrigan's presence in the guild was still there, even though he was probably at the other side of the world. None would know, but one thing was sure. For such a simple report to be directly addressed at Dubhlainn, was rather strange.

Now for the untrained eye, this very letter was exactly as it looked like. A simple report, nothing in detail. But Dubhlainn was for from an ordinary man, he knew the power of letters, the fact that it could conceal more then it would let on. It just needed a different viewing point.

The moment Dubhlainn would use his mysterious methods to reveal the real contents of this letter, he could finally lay eyes upon Harrigans true words.

Hearing of your recent endeavors, I must say, that I am truly pleased. Not only did you manage to momentarily stop the more eccentric members of our small society indulging themselves on our fine soldiers. But also managed to expand the guild deeper into the very heart of our darkness. However I do bid you use caution, for venturing to deep might not be giving you the reward you might hope for.

However, I suppose that is to be saved later for a more personal chat. Now let's focus on the matters at hand shall we. Unfortunately despite all of your good work, I must make use of your exploits once again.

For our age to come, for use to pave our way to our dominion. We need to sacrifice. One of our lesser guilds, Horned Decay. Rather decided to slowly turn towards the light, hoping that with the help of the Council they can escape the clutches of Savage Skull and the reign of the other major dark guilds. Naturally we can't stand for this, meaning that they need to be made an exemplary for the rest of the guilds.

I want them weeded out, massacred, and anyone alive subjugated directly into the Savages. How you do this is entirely up to you, as I Harrigan Crawford has complete trust in you and your capabilities. I besieged you good luck, and needless to say, I don't accept any form of failure.

It was strange, what’s the benefit of a letter carrying an outdate report on the guild? Unless there was something on it, if these words contained some kind of code or hidden message then there can only be a few methods to do this, it seems Harrigan was well aware that the letter might fall to the wrong hands so he must have disguised it, knowing him he must have used the most simplest form and scrabbled the letters whereas some would remain hidden, to put it short it’s written with invisible ink. Dubhlainn quickly damp the letter in lemon and water solution, afterwards it was to be heated by a fire affiliated lacrima as letters began to form up quickly.

There was no mistaking it, this was Harrigan’s writing, afterwards he burned the paper completely into ashes, concealing any evidence of his guildmaster’s orders. His target was one of the lesser guilds, probably a small guild that used to have allied with Tartarus, Basilik Fang and Savage Skull. Hence he must seek out the archives of any reports about Horned Decay. He never heard of it, probably because it fell right when Dubhlainn joined in, of course the real concern is that they have information on the dark guilds and must be eliminated before it does any harm to the big three.

Acquiring information on Horned Decay and its surviving members must come first, he ordered the old guards to fetch him any records or reports about Horned Decay, at least a lead where they could possibly be. Since this was an assassination mission, the use of explosives is ill advised as it would draw more attention.

“Find those records immediately, have the old guards search it, I wish to learn more of the guild alliance of old.” He was given several records of old alliances, splinter cells, fallen dark guilds and infamous guildmasters that fell upon nearly achieving their goal. At last he found Horned Decay’s old file, now it’s a matter of uncovering it and its whereabouts.

But wait.. how is Lord Harrigan getting this information? Could it be Mikomi? Perhaps something that can be investigated later but right now scanning through this file is important, chances are they could be coming to Era but there’s no harm into looking into their history first.

Horned Decay

Several years ago when Savage Skull was at its prime, Horned Decay was a guild defeated by Fairy Tail, its first guildmaster was put behind bars and was later replaced by another. The new guildmaster that time seek Savage Skull for aid as the entire guild was on the verge of collapse, a bargain was struck for as long as the guild agrees to the terms and rules of Savage Skull, Horned Decay will not fade. When the reign of the Lich began threatening Fiore and then was later defeated by the Kings of Ishval, splinter cells in Savage Skull started to question the main branch and its allies, Basilik Fang and Tartarus altogether.

As Savage Skull was the oldest and darkest guild, it acted like a mother to all lesser dark guilds. The Lichborne’s defeat signaled the slow decline of Savage Skull, power waned and members started to go missing one by one. Many splinter cell challenged Savage Skull, the main branch but ultimately failed by some of its most powerful mages, specifically the coordination of the Pillar Leaders that represents all disciplines and aspects of the guild. Knowing Savage Skull couldn’t be defeated at that point, the remaining splinter cells dissolved and started lives of their own, or if not new dark guilds that have yet to resurface.

Horned Decay before its defeat at the hands of Fairy Tail used to be based by the Phoenix Mountains, Eclipse Soul occupied the area when Fairy Tail defeated them years ago. They were a mining guild that later turned into a mages guild that had abused the use of Lacrima orbs and had control the market responsible for consumption.

The overall summary of Horned Decay was simply as this: Its first Guildmaster desired more wealth more power without restriction from the Magic Council from the Law and to demonstrate its growth, it challenged fairytail and waged war with it, the one who replaced the guildmaster simply wished Horned Decay would live on, but the guild ended up paying a huge price and that was being nothing more than insurgents for the three major guilds.

So if Savage Skull knew of Horned Decay’s whereabouts which a region north of Savage Skull, then the only place for its members to gather was at its old location deep within the Phoenix Mountains.

Dubhlainn closed the folder and gave it back to one of his cohorts and started walking towards the armory. One of his subordinates was concerned and asked Dubhlainn what he intends to do with Horned Decay, one of the old lesser Dark Guilds.

“That’s simple really, they might have information that I’m after.” The cohort implied that Horned Decay could not be located, even the Pillar of Hidden Daggers was having a hard time finding where they’d meet as the Hidden Daggers was based on assassination purposes, not investigation.

Dubhlainn had not said a word and left for the armory. Upon switching on the lacrima powered lights, an array of weapons were hung up on a wall, bullet cartridges, explosives and gun attachments, all the necessary equipment needed to carry out the assassination. However he doesn’t want to draw attention so explosives were out of the question.

He brought suppressed weapons, weapons that won’t produce much noise when he’s pulling the trigger.

He headed out into the night, mounting his horse towards the only location he knew that had information about matters of the underworld, Garan no Dou.

In a certain building in a district, toys and magical trinkets were bought, by children of all ages even couples but underneath the establishment was the place he desired to be, the contract based agency Garan no Dou, who had a wide network of informants, some were familiars, some were actual people and it was convenient that it exists here in Earthland.

Three knocks on the door and Dubhlainn let himself in, only to be greeted by the Old Magus’s secretary.

“May I see him?” Dubhlainn asked.

The Secretary simply nodded and directed him towards the door only to find the old Magus sitting on the couch and watching television, it was a cooking channel that he was watching. “Oi, Dubhlainn! What are you here for this time huh? You hunting for someone again?”
Dubhlainn was shocked, was he really that predictable? Then again he only comes to Garan no Dou when he required information about these kinds of things. He asked if he had any information about Horned Decay, want to know what the Old magus said?

“PFfft what makes a backwater guild so interesting to you huh?” The Old Magus’s eyes open, betting everything on a conclusion. “You want to find them so you could settle some matters with them for Savage Skull no?” He didn’t ask anymore as Dubhlainn merely nodded. The location file of Horned Decay was actually the most recent report that the old man had received from his scouts.

“Dubhlainn, do you miss it?” The Old man asked as he switched off the television and lay down ont eh sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling.

“Miss what?” Dubhlainn asked as he scanned through the papers and reports.
“Mirai…” The Old Magus uttered, causing Dubhlainn to violent close the folder.
“I rather not discuss anything about it.” Dubhlainn stated as he headed out towards the door, paying the old man a huge sum of money for it.

“This one’s free Dubhlainn but I do wish you’d talk to me a bit more, has working in the Dark Guild relieved you of those memories?”
Dubhlainn said nothing as he headed towards the door.

“I don’t dwell on the past old man.”

---

You know Dubhlainn didn’t always carry that expressionless look on his face, he was actually more livelier back then.

Really Master? What was he like?

Aha… he was one of the most successful and one of the most powerful members of his own military group, I know you read the file I have on him but that file hold false information on his background. I had it falsified for his sake.

You mean the part about him gambling his whole life after retiring from military?
No… that was all a cover up, his real story begins….

I first met Dubhlainn when my “adopted niece” rescued him from being part of Project Battle Born being run by Viktor Tarkovsky, at that time Viktor wished to create a new line of warrior and fighters who’s capabilities would surpass magic to which not even the greatest of creatures life had to offer would be no match for them, the power and strength to even rival planetary spirits themselves… the primordial for instance, and oh was he so wrong to thinking that his brand of warriors can match against one. The first batch Viktor sent out to hunt one of the Primordials were annihilated, Dubhlainn was the second batch for another attempt to capture and harness the powers of the Primordial, however due to circumstances he was freed from his control.

His life of fighting gave him new meaning and my niece improved his way of life but of course I’m more focused on my young niece but there were mentions of him from time to time that she and I converse, even the most hilarious ones.

Apparently after having such a difficult and abnormal life in his youth, despite all that he knew, he learned of love.

He fell in love?

Indeed, it was one of the best friends of my niece, if memory serves; her name is Gwendolyn N. Viere, a girl born with a sickness. It happened after I became Dubhlainn’s client for the first time and revealed his own capabilities to him.

---

Dubhlainn positions himself in an isolated spot, according to the reports he had read, one of Horned Decay’s members were to pass by here. After a short while, the validity of the information he got from the Old Magus was spot on as he followed the member into the hideout. He drew his pistol and proceeded to hide behind obstacles, he had to remain hidden until all the remaining members of Horned Decay were all in the same spot.

---

Dubhlainn was leaning on a wall, allowing his captain to go in first. As soon as his captain came in, Gwen was already waiting to congratulate her best friend on becoming a captain of her own military task force, feminine squeals and foreplays followed afterwards. The Captain summoned Dubhlainn inside the room, of course this wasn’t love at first sight, as Dubhlainn spent most of his early years in fighting, he wasn’t sure what to say and only uttered simple responses.

The conversation topics convered the Captain’s progress and Gwen’s improvement on her health to Dubhlainn’s past and history of battles, and finally a topic about Viktor takovsky the man who was actually responsible for Gwen’s deterioration in her health. It was a chemical test that spread out through the populace and Gwen was one of those who were exposed to it.

The chemical test was supposed to be a formula used to make super soldiers that is non-magical in nature but however it all went wrong and an explosion occurred due to Dubhlainn running amok while under his control which was a result of Viktor’s recent experiments.

Gwen’s condition was actually her body’s inability to produce the normal about of RBC and that she needs to stay in the hospital, anemia followed shortly afterwards and because of the lack of RBC her body weakened significantly. Dubhlainn would visit Gwen with the Captian every time they’d return from a mission or if they are idle, but its because of these frequent visits Dubhlainn and Gwen’s relationship grew as days pass.

I know, I happened to be Gwen’s doctor.

However the nature and condition of Gwen’s health gone from great improvement back to a heavy decline and it all started when the old task force returned to Mirai and were now under the control of Viktor Tarkovsky, not through the means of bio mechanics but through biochemical means. Dr. Viktor had developed a poison that was supposed to be forbidden, the Wincott poison.

This poison is more concentrated on permanent neural alterations, what it does it that it slowly changes the wavelength of the victim to that of its poisoner; eventually they’d have the same conscience, morals and ideals but not memories. The thing about it that its hard to revert the victim’s neurotransmitters back to the way it was, no matter how advanced technology is, there’s no known cure for it without completely damaging the brain.

That very poison was the poison that wiped out the task force my niece led; betrayal is seen in every corner.

A fight broke in the mountains and apparently Horned Decay expected for him to come, Dubhlainn started to conceal himself using one of his abilities and engaged Horned Decay, ultimately as a splinter cell, they work great together and probably powerful enough to take him down but it wasn’t as if Dubhlainn were to go down easily, no it wasn’t that simple to defeat Dubhlainn even with numbers. As usual he engaged the enemy without using much of his magic, other than what magic was really necessary.

Dodging spellshots was similar to dodging artillery from a long distance, explosions were everywhere and while the enemy abused their magic, Dubhlainn charged in and started to take them down one by one but every mage he takes down, tires him down as it required a great deal of endurance and energy to put all of them down for good, this was an assassination mission ordered by Lord Harrigan.

He must complete his mission at all costs without failure. His actions involve, slitting the arteries of the throat, shooting one at the head with a suppressed pistol but these are easily stated than done as a lot of them still remain and were good enough to actually push Dubhlainn into a corner.

---

At one point, Gwendolyn herself was captured amidst the chaos but Dubhlainn made it his priority to rescue her, while the other Task Force members were fighting against the rebels of the Mirai military only for Dubhlainn to fall into a trap, rendering most of his abilities useless and now has nothing else to rely on other than his skills and other weapons. Even though it didn’t hinder how much of a threat Dubhlainn can still be, it was a man vs an entire division of soldiers who hold the advantage through numbers and their own abilities. It wasn’t easy fighting a division of them as some tend to bounce of walls, airborne or equipped with strong shields, some were fast and some were marksman who barely missed their shots, all of this for the intention of eliminating one of the strongest members of the Mirai Task Force.

At that point however, Viktor Tarkovsky went missing when all the chaos ensued and it was concluded that he used the chaos to conceal himself completely, we aren’t sure for certain what quadrant he disappeared to.
Dubhlainn was on his knees, he’s badly injured and yet many more rebels still remain, there’s not even half of the division down and was met with a huge handicap.

“Don’t lose, don’t die… DUBHLAINN!!!!”

---

And thus with a powerful roar he charged forward, he who swore not to lose, he who swore not to die, finally drew his blade and charged at them without fear, without a second thought used the full extent of his powers at last, now Dubhlainn was even faster than before, stronger and swift and because that Horned Decay is used to Dubhlainn’s basic agility, they would have never expected he can go this much faster and deal more damage than he could.

“T-this guy, I’m pretty sure we inflicted serious damage but he keeps getting back up… there’s no way he could be standing from those attacks with pulled… no this guy, impossible he’s… he’s a monster!”

The rebels were soon dealt with, every last one but during the fight, Gwendolyn suffered a head injury as she was bashed to a wall. This caused Dubhlainn to go into a Black Rage which had defeated his enemies so quickly. Upon retrieving Gwendolyn, he carried her right in her arms in tears.

“Y-you’re scary Dubhlainn, but in a good way.” Gwendolyn murmured as blood runs down from her head.

“You were never given orders to protect me and yet you protected me voluntarily.”
“You’re someone worth protecting Gwendolyn…” That was his response as he carried her to the airship. For now, she was going to be alright, two people who had no families or had not remembered them were brought together by fate without knowledge, to Gwendolyn, Dubhlainn felt more like family to her.

---

The fight produced a blazing fire as the entire are Horned Decay was in, burns down in flames, the black haze from Harrigan’s bounty hunter disappears. The appearance reverts back to its original form and Dubhlainn was standing, choking the resistant leader’s neck and crushing it. His head was down, thinking and wondering if he could ever get the chance to fight by his own means and not someone’s orders. As much as he did really fight for Harrigan he can choose not to but then it would violate his honor as a knight, or that’s what he considers himself to be.

Until his wishes are realized, he will continue to serve him even if he dies in the line of duty.

Dubhlainn’s injuries were located in different areas, left part of his rib cage, both of his arms, his right shin, his left shoulder, by the back and his feet. He walks over to his horse normally as if he wasn’t injured at all but in actuality, much of his body screamed out in pain, all his pain receptor raised their intensity and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling to some.

Dubhlainn was simply used to it but when he arrived back to Savage Skull in his own dormitory, he collapsed onto his bed.

---

“You know I pitied Dubhlainn, he stubbornly refused to use magic even at these circumstances, he wanted to prove that relying on magic isn’t everything. We people are granted with power for a reason, if one doesn’t make use of their gifts, what good and purpose are they?”

“Magic isn’t everything master?”

“You see Kyrie, Dubhlainn has a complete understanding of magic, of course not the theory that follows but on its usage, magic is costly but in some situations magic cannot be casted in some areas like the neutral grounds. He knows that without magic, mages are nothing more than regular humans and never forgotten the value of being human, he considered himself a monster that wanted to become human more than anything.”

And Dubhlainn just lied their on bed, almost as if he just died in battle.

approved!