If there was one thing that Brad could admit about the country he was currently in, it was that they were always having one problem after the next. At least the country he came from had had a single problem in his lifetime; the insurgency that led to the death of the royal family barring him. A shake of his head would throw his mind back on track for what he was on his way to do. In the Ancient Ruins there was supposedly a vault that held an innumerable amount of treasures that had been sealed away by the original ten Wizard Saints of Fiore. It was something like a millenia ago, but the time was not what mattered right now. What mattered was that a treasure hunter by the name of Harper Goldenshine had supposedly found it and were not inside. Even worse he had been known for his misuse of artifacts such as those that might be down in the vault, and the Magic Council were afraid of what might happen if such a person got hold of something extremely powerful that was not meant for them to ever have access to. This council, which seemed like a crumby thing for a country to be run by, had sent out requests to all the guilds to go and try to stop them before anything was stolen so that they can be displayed in Era's Museums so all might see the artifacts in a safe place. It was something he could not disagree with, and a deal from a man known as Count Sparrow made it even better to go along. Being allowed to take an item from the vault as his own? The Prince of Caelum could not pass up a deal at something magical in nature that he could use for himself. If he was lucky he could even find something that worked in tandem with the requip armory he had with him. Maybe something that could repair durability? Or maybe something that made his hits more powerful! Who knew, maybe he would find something that had such a great utility to it that he would grab it over the other ideas that floated around in his head.
It took him a while to find where he needed to go, but he finally made it to the entrance of the legendary vault of fantastic items that had already been found. It was quite funny, really, that items that had been hidden long ago were now being searched for a second time. It was like a very old scavenger hunt had been set up forever ago and now they were the group of children that needed to find them all to win. The entrance was already open, and it was clear others had already made their way inside. A few, cautious, steps would be made as he entered so his eyes could adjust to the different lighting before he began at a swift pace to catch up to anyone that may already be inside. It was quiet in the first parts of the place, the silence slowly getting to him as he made his way through each passage he thought was the right direction for where he needed to go. It was not until he began to hear panicked voices of some men that he realized he should probably pull a weapon from the holder space he kept them in, just in case they were not friendly and attacked him upon noticing Brad was there.
The Prince would choose his ice elemental blade, Ice Brand, for now and pull it from the pocket dimension. The sword's blade was cold to the touch, and those hit with it would find out that the snowflake rune actually caused the weapon to emit an aura of ice that damaged as well when the blade struck something. With a steady grip with his right hand, the man would continue at a slower pace so that he did not give his position away. It would be a few minutes later that he would begin to hear the words clearer, and they seemed to be worried about events happening farther into this dungeon-like place.
”Hey, I heard someone say that the bosses apprentice got killed by some mages that have gotten through. Boss is gonna kill us all when he finds out we were slacking off and not at our posts during that time.””Shut up! He ain't gonna find out we were slacking off! With our luck those same mages will kill him too! Then we just take the loot we already got from this damn place and get lost to do our own thing!””I dunno man, what if they don't get him? What if he kills both, or they set off a trap and he never even sees them until he finds out his apprentice is dead?””Well, then we tell them that a few of the gang were double crossers! They killed him, and we got them back! Surely we can find someone that was a suspicious person among our dead, right?””Really dude? Making one of our own into the bad guy? That's just wrong”The conversation seemed to be more of an argument as he listened, so he tried to sneak on through only to find himself at a dead end. With no where else to go, thinking he must have missed another room back the way he came, Brad Clad tried to sneak by again. Sadly, and for reasons he would never understand, one of the treasure hunters was talking while looking away from the group. This treasure would look eye to eye with Brad as he turned the corner to check to see if the coast was clear for him to sneak through, and would not give the Prince a chance to even say anything in his case on whether he was a friendly or not. Just as he brought his head back the sound of a bullet ricocheting against the walls of the place could be heard. Shit...they had guns!
'Well, here's hoping it's just the one that has them...' Waiting back where he was, the man listened intently to see if they would say anything to each other. To his surprise, two more voices would add themselves to the mix instead.
”Woah! What are you doing shooting like that! That bullet whizzed right by my head you dip!” New voice one would speak loudly, and it came from somewhere on the other side of the room that the others were in.
”Well, if you had been here you would realize I just shot at someone that's listening in on us right now!””What?! Well, don't use your guns right now! It's too close quarters for you to risk bouncing bullets off the walls and killing us instead!””He's right, you know. Just pull out that dagger of yours that you call a precious family heirloom and just stab the cheeky bastard!”Another name would join the group, this guy telling the other voice to just up and stab Brad after coming over to him. It was a good thing he had a sword with him, alongside an arsenal of other weapons he could use if needed. The Caelum prince would stay absolutely silent as he awaited to see what they could do. Would they actually all come at him? Or was this guy going to be the only one to do anything?
”Well, I am NOT going to try and fight someone alone. Not with people already dying down here!””Oh, so now you're gonna be a bitch about it? Fine, all five of us will go. But if this guys you claim is there gets shredded to pieces by just one of us I'm going to do the same to you.”Well, this was it. This was going to be his first fight while inside the vault. Five sets of footsteps could be heard coming towards him as he prepared himself to fight back. It was as those sets of steps made noise just around the corner that Brad would lunge out and swing the sword towards where they were. The sword would not strike anyone, but that did not matter right now, and four of the five men would gasp at the sudden attack. Unfortunately for them, they did not realize what all the sword could do. A sudden burst of ice would erupt from the blade that would knock all but one of them to the ground. Remarks about how cold it was could be heard from one even as Brad swung from right to left at an angle and hit the still standing man across the temple with the flat of the chilled blade. A mix of the extreme cold, extreme pain, and the location hit would bring him to the ground; blacked out and no longer able to fight. A few daggers would reach for his legs, Ice Brand being used to easily knock them out of peoples hands while he had the advantage of being on his feet.
One of the treasure hunters took a chance to try and stand, though his unarmored body quickly found out what the flat of the runic blade could do to him. This treasure hunter would get knocked to the ground just as the prince summoned the Storm Spear into his left hand. The Storm Spear was a runic weapon, similar to Ice Brand, that instead dealt elemental damage of the lightning variety. The spear would be smashed into the ground before Brad used it to let loose a burst of lightning that would shoke everyone that was here next to him. Most of those that had been there when he came around the corner ended up passing out, though a single man remained conscious.
”No! I will not let you kill me! If I die, you die!” With this said he would pull something out from in his vest, an item that was clearly a bomb of some kind, that he would slam into the ground. It was most definitely an explosive of some kind, and Brad had no want to stay near them with that kind of threat. Not having much time to run, or any other way of escape, the requip mage would throw his sword into the other hallway and teleport to it at the same time. A small roll would put him around the corner as the explosion went off. Having been so close by when it went off, the ringing in his ears would take a moment to clear. A shaking of his head as he stood up with clear his vision enough to see someone else running at him with a panicked look upon their face.
”Help me! Oh my god help me! It's after me and it's gonna kill me! Please man you gotta help!” Brad was not prepared for helping anyone at this time, and the 'it' that he claimed was going to kill him looked like an oversized bunny. What kind of bunny would kill a man? That question would have quite the clear answer when the creature caught up to the man with an arrow in his left shoulder blade; this bunny would. As the running man got within ten meters of Brad, who was now on his feet and had both of his blades in hand, the rabbit would catch. It was a quick death, the way it happened, but it was still gruesome to watch. Those big hands, those oh so big hands, would reach out and touch somebody. More specifically one would reach out and grasp the entirety of the wounded treasure hunters head and squeeze. The crunch made Brad wince in pain, and miss the rabbit dropping the body to the ground. The loud thud that the body made would make him look back over to see the large monster bunny looking at him with a strange curiosity.
”Hey there big guy...I uh...I am NOT with those guys. As a matter of fact the room behind me just got blown up while they tried to kill me!” The words he made seemed to fall on deaf ears as the creature simply waved at him before darting off farther into the place. Not knowing where he needed to go, and realizing that whatever that thing was was not with the people he was racing against the clock in here, Brad Clad would give as silent of a chase to the creature that he could. After a while he would come to a room where a girl with extremely long, white in color, hair seemed to be searching around this dark place.
”Uh..excuse me. I came here on a job from the Magic Council. Do you happen to be working the same job, or should I be making myself scarce and carry on?” It was mid sentence that he would see the rabbit looking back at him again, the eyes giving him a chill as he had never seen a monster of that kind before. It was most definitely magical, but he could not quite figure out if it was a pet, a summon, or some other being that the girl had with her. He was not going to ask just yet either, as he was not even sure if they were friend or foe until they spoke in return. While the man would put both weapons back in the holder space they belonged in. He had plenty more he could use, and did not think those two last much more combat with all the marks they already had in them from the previous fight. At worst he would pull the rest of them out at the same time and become a tornado of blades while he escaped.
Mind racing for all situations, the princely figure stood straight as if in some kind of diplomatic meeting with another noble. It was automatic for him, really, as he was unsure of who this girl was. His mind simply assumed she could be some kind of royalty. Whether a goddess, a priestess, a ruler of some nation, or even a bandit leader; all of them deserved a manner of respect when being dealt with. And as his lessons in diplomacy and public manners he had had as a child, if one does not know the status of one they are dealing with you should treat them as an equal. Why equal? Well, when you are the top of the ladder in the country there's not much better you can treat them as.
[2443/6300]
Note: Using the first usage of my lacrima milk for this job.
Edit for another Note: Using my Lineage ability to also find a Strong+ Armor in the job.