Nightmare Lilith |Private| Rei & Zar|

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Rei was unsure of what they were doing in this place, Zar had barely told her anything. All he had said to her before they had used the shadows for quick transportation to this abandoned, spooky place was that they were going out to have another training session, but this time it was going to be a real hands on battle in the field, against a much stronger enemy... Two ranks higher than she was, an A rank ruthless mage who had been going on endless genocide killing sprees nearly wiping out an entire guild in one of these killing sprees. She was excited to meet this blood thirsty mage, she herself was beginning to enjoy murdering anyone that stood in her way. though she hadn't had the opportunity to slit any throats since she hadn't left the lair until now, it was rather large and she never had a reason to leave. Zar treated her well, his training was very rough. but she liked it that way. 

She and Zar had teleported through the shadows in order to get here as fast as they did, which was close to the speed of light. The first time she had been teleported it had left her dizzy as hell, but now she was getting used to it. Especially now that she had shadow running through her veins, which was how  her arm and eye had been rebuilt. she enjoyed them and was internally in Zar's dept for his kindness to give her a new start at life. "so... were here to defeat this mage, but not kill them?" she asked Zar, turning to look up at him through his thick demonic appearing armor. She wouldn't kill them if that wasn't the plan, unless it was her last line of defense she would, however she was still building up adrenaline on the inside, this would be one of the most challenging fights she has ever had to face, even with Zar with her, this mage was still two ranks about both of them. This was going to be interesting... she couldn't wait.

The mission Zar and Rei undertook today was one that didn't bring any good feelings to him as they arrived through the shadows into the Haunted Village. It was as decrepit and desolate a place as he had been told, and seen for himself on a previous mission nearby. This was truly a land where no sane person would dare find himself wandering around in this village devoid of life, and the simplest sound of happiness from any child that may have once resided here. It was , however, the best place for those select few individuals that wished to remain far from prying eyes that would judge their work as inhumane and an affront to nature in its entirety. It's exactly the opposite of where Zar would hold up because of the obviousness of its location, but this lunatic mage seemed to not care due to her high ranking and an apparently astounding amount of power she wielded at her fingertips. He wasn't worried in the slightest since they would only have to wear her down enough to subdue her for the job's completion. It would be a challenge dealing with her use of tormenting one's memories with a doll she had been reportedly using on anyone who had previously come after her.

Rei remained quiet through most of the trip as Zar thought, but once they arrived she questioned the reasoning behind apprehending such a dangerous criminal rather than outright bringing her sentence to her doorstep. "It's the simple notion of embarrassment that comes with being brought before a panel of pompous officials who hold your fate in their grubby hands. It's also a good way to teach you self-control for when I request the capture of someone or something by you. Do you think that's a fair enough reason to bring her in alive for your own benefit?"questioned Zar, walking forward to inspect the village for any clues to Lilith's whereabouts and coming up empty with a preliminary scan of the perimeter they inhabited.

Rei thought for a moment about what Zar had told her, yes, he was right. She did need to learn to have more self control, since most of the time if she was being threatened by anything, even if it was some sort of possessed dummy or shadow like in her lessons she would outright just destroy them. She couldn't understand why before she met Zar that she spared every soul she encountered, now it just didn't make sense with the way she thought. But if she were to be told by someone to spare someone that would benefit her, then yes she would spare them since it would be furthering her abilities and strategy in battle.

"Yeah, now that you say it like that it makes more sense to bring her back alive, if that's what the council has requested of us." She said in a calm tone as they walked around. She scanned the dark woods over and over again, looking left and right at all the abandoned village homes as they approached what might have been the town square at one point, but now all that remained was a rotten and rusted fountain covered in dark overgrowth. As she and Zar began to enter the clearing, she began to feel a bit more vulnerable due to the lack of cover. She approched the once fountain looking centerpiece in the middle of the small village town, dark or dead trees dotted the area, the village looked like it had been burned to the ground years and years ago, and all that was left now were the ghosts of the dead refusing to leave the place they once called home. It would make sense for this small yet powerful mage to come here, to this secluded place. But Rei was suddenly caught off guard when she heard something rustle on the crusted leaves behind the trees....

The member 'Rei Katsura' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Their search continued to provide no substantial evidence to Lilith's whereabouts, leaving them wandering around broken down buildings like insane asylum patients attempting the same thing over and over again. Every building's interior seemed to be the same: broken furniture littering the ground, dust piles the size of a small child, caved in roofs covered in mold, and the absence of life creating a void of depression that encompassed the entire village. It was a sorry state for a village to wind up in. Zar wondered what the village used to be like before it became a graveyard of sorrows; what were the people like who inhabited it? Did they live happy and fulfilling lives until the bitter end or did hard times and starvation plague them with every action they took such as most of the world experienced in trying times? He would never get his answer, and wouldn't delve any further than the small inquiry of his mind for his job now was crucial and required every ounce of his focus for both of them to survive.

He turned his attention back to Rei only to find two floating swords behind her. They came from the buildings and slowly made their way forward, raising their blades up as the closed the distance. "Rei, get away from there!" he shouted, appearing out of her shadow, pushing her away and slicing at the blades in an effort to knock them away. His sword passed directly through them. Zar's confusion grew as he cautiously put his hand out to grab the floating sword.It passed directly through it; They were nothing more than an illusion. He expected it to disappear as most illusions did after discovery, but these seemed to linger evermore. Zar walked over to where Rei was collecting herself after he had shoved her away. A faint whirring sound came from above, and as he turned upwards to the sky, he stared into large gleaming spear points raining down from above.

With mere moments, to spare, he grabbed a firm grip on Rei's shoulder and melded into shadows with her as the spears passed harmlessly through his shadow form. When the blades finally ceased to fall upon them, Zar was on full alert searching for the culprit that put their lives in danger. As with before, nobody was around that he could sense or hear, adding to his already mounting frustration piling up. He turned his attention back onto Rei, releasing her from his shadow meld. "Are you alright? Forgive me for the suddenness, but there was little time to act or else we'd be impaled onto the ground before us."

Rei was completely unprepared for everything that was about to come next, she was on alert, but the attackers here were not the types of enemies Rei was ready or prepared for, or like anything or enemies she had ever encountered before for that matter. The swords behind her were completely silent, as they were just floating in mid-air with no sign of what or who could possibly be controlling them. All she heard was Zar shouting at her before she turned around to see the disembodied swords only a foot or two from her face. She reared back in surprise as she was caught off guard but by then Zar had shoved her out of the way of the floating swords as she stumbled to the side and crashing onto the moldy, dusty, loose and cold earth that littered the abandoned and haunted looking village. But by the looks of it, It was definitely haunted with hostiles like these.

As Rei fell to the cold dirt floor she quickly began to scramble away as she attempted to stand and stumbled before she caught herself. She watched as Zar attempted to fight the swords but it didn't seem to be going very well as the swords themselves seemed to be impossible to touch hit or anything, as if they were ghosts swords of some sort. Though they did seem like they could do some damage if they wanted to.

After Zar had gotten rid of the swords, he turned to Rei, who was still a bit confused but yet again there was little time to react as Rei looked to the sky... How the hell do spears even get up there!? they were so evenly placed from one another and poised to fall and impale them. He could hear Zar shouting as she was once again pulled into the realm of shadow, She could feel Zar holding her arm until all the spears were done falling out from the dark clouded sky.

"yeah yeah, I'm fine though. thanks Zar.." Rei trailed off feeling a bit embarrassed that she wasn't ready to defend herself.

The member 'Rei Katsura' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Their moment of relief would soon be cut short by the whooshing sounds of more spears plummeting down upon the hapless mages, forcing Zar to grab onto her once more so they weren't impaled by the spears the second time around. Once the spears finished sinking into the ground, creating a pin cushion art piece around them, the sound of childish laughter could be heard all around them, echoing throughout the night sky. It surrounded them, encompassing their every sensory organ's senses as it terrorized them from afar. Zar had never heard such a menacing laugh from a child, one that filled him with dread and sweat running across his brow. His eyes scanned bakc and forth throughout the village looking for the source of the menacing giggiling, only to find another pair of swords coming from the side of a building.

He sighed at first, taking his gaze from the harmless distraction, but then saw movement from behind the blade and moved into action swiftly through the shadows. Just as he came out of the shadows, he saw the long hair and silouhette of a child running around to the other side of the building. Shadow stepping to the next part of the building, he was yet again too late to catch the rascal and was left empty handed. He brought himself back to Rei to inform her of his failure, but he was stopped dead in his tracks, instinctively bringing out his blade as he locked eyes with that which lie before him. To his dispair, Zar found the girl perched carelessly beside Rei, giggling and humming away and turning in fake surprise at his presence there. "Oh hello big fella. How do you do? Did you like my games you've been play so far? I made them extra exciting with real pointing things just for big strong mages like you guys!" she said, letting out another god-awful fit of laughter that had terrorized them before.

Rei was more prepared this time around as the spears and disembodied swords came out again to play. She dodged through the shadows as Zar had taught her, she went in the opposite direction as Zar however in search of the girl. She sounded like she was in every direction, laughing with an inhuman laughter she had never quite heard before. she had heard things similar to it, the insane laughs of psychopathic mages out for blood and the joy of breaking bones in torture... the memories gave her a small shiver down her spine. She didn't understand why, but it didn't phase her anymore the way it used to.

As she was thinking of where to look she could hear Zar curse behind her as if he had lost her. alright, she might be over here then...

Rei dashed around the fountain as she thought she saw a shadow. "get back here you little bitch!" Rei cursed between gritted teeth as she chased the girl in circles around the fountain, "catch me if you cannnnn!" she squeaked, and again continuing with her insane laughter. Rei grunted as she chased her, until she suddenly disappeared. Rei quickly looked up, seeing Zar standing a few yards away from her. "what?" Rei asked, before hearing the girl talking about her games behind her. Rei noticed just in time to dodge a spear that would have pierced her right through the spine. Rolling out of the way, a spell whizzing in her palms ready to attack.

"why you little!-" Rei growled as the girl only smiled innocently at her. "what? I was only playing! your both bigger than me anyways, no way I could fight you guys!" she said as she twisted slightly back and forth holding her small doll in her right hand. Rei already knew what this girl was capable of, she was lying for sure. But Rei still wanted to try and fight her despite that. if she could just get a hand on her, she could blind her, giving them an advantage. but as she rushed forward the girl suddenly dodged sending Rei tripping over herself and landing in the murky fountain water. she sat up with moss on her now wet pink hair, looking at the giggling girl as she ran off again. "HEY!" Rei shouted, thoroughly annoyed.

This girl was unlike any other child he'd encountered in his life of traveling and battling that which the world had brought to bear against him. She was a demented little monster with power far surpassing that of Zar and Rei combined. The full extent of her magical prowess was yet to be explored fully, something he wished to avoid if at all possible but was a clear and constantly looming threat to them on this mission. If they could continue to entertain her childish games of death and merriment then perhaps they wouldn't have to end her life after all. Zar could use more funds from the guild to put into his research and the prestige that came with being able to contain rather than exterminate the target as was also detailed as an option of this particular job. It ultimately laid upon their shoulders of how they would proceed from this point onward, while their lives lay in the hands of a child willing to kill others for entertainment.

As Rei attempted to subdue the girl, only to end up face first in the murky water's surrounding them, Zar laughed with the girl to her surprise and giddy glee. She came closer to him and smiled up toward him, seeming to examine his helmet for an unknown reason. "Mister," she asked in a politer tone, "Why do you wear a helmet and armor? Are you trying to hide something in there? It doesn't seem very comfy to wear all that stuff on your body." Zar couldn't help but feel slightly amused at her curiosity and entertained her inquiry by removing his helmet, revealing his young looking face and mid-length dark hair to both of them. "It's to keep my body safe from harmful things in this big scary world like those spears you were using on us for your games. If I didn't have these on or my powers, I'd be turned into a skewered piggy." Zar stated in a tone that suggested he was talking down to the child in an effort to appeal to her age.

She pondered his answer for a moment, twirling her hair with her index finger as she thought of what Zar had said. When she finally understood she giggled lightly, nodding in approval. "Gee you must be real smart mister. Smarter than your girlie friend over there, falling into water," she exclaimed, giggling louder. He played off the notion the girl had made about Rei and decided that he shouldn't put her down much if she was to remain cool in this situation. "Now now, that's not a very nice thing to say to my 'girlie friend' companion. You'll hurt her feelings. Now, even with her clumsiness, she is an extremely skilled mage and I wouldn't have asked her to accompany me if I didn't feel she was up for the job of being my second." He hoped his words would be enough to dissuade Rei from taking any further action against the girl as he attempted to draw her into a false sense of security. "I do have an important question to ask of you. We're here looking for a powerful wizard that's causing a lot of trouble to good people. Do you know of any other girls that fit this description?"

Rei was beginning to find it harder and harder to contain her building annoyance and anger towards this little prick that was talking to Zar. He seemed to be having quite the pleasant conversation with her, until she overheard her comments which caused her to bite down her teeth together as her fists began to tense up. "that little bratty innocent bitchfaced-" she said quietly only to herself as she stood up out of the water and slammed her fist into the molded angel stature on top of the fountain. the area she had hit cracked the solid stone before running up the sides of the statue, the arms and wings were the first parts to detach as the entire structure went crumbling and falling into the same murky old fountain water Rei had only fallen into maybe five or so minutes prior.

Rei inhaled through her nostrils and exhaled out her mouth as she walked over the edge of the fountain to stand on the solid old crooked cobblestone and took her hair in one big wet lump to the side, where she ran her hands down it to push out any access water. before putting it back behind her head, she turned to see Zar and the girl just staring at her. she then began to do the same with the rest of her clothing, looking over at them with her one blue eye and smiling. "sorry about that, I just hate being wet. And angels are overrated, so I decided it looked better in pieces in the fountain." she said with a sense of calm that was definitely not there before. "but yes if you would please, tell us if you know anyone like that?" Rei asked the small girl. The small child blinked for a moment before she thought for a moment. "Depends, what kind of trouble?" she said with a smile hugging her little doll close to her chest.

They each had to be careful on how they approached the little girl; if she became uncomfortable or bored with their questions then she might find it more fun to toy with them some more and possibly even kill them. To their great relief, she has shown no hostile tensions toward both of them once they all settled down to talk and hear her side of the events leading to the games they had been forced into playing. Rei's anger was growing considerably with her fall into the water, demonstrating her strength on the innocent angel statue that had once stood at the epicenter of the fountain. Zar was deeply impressed with her physical strength having increased so quickly after his gift to her, but also felt it had left a taint of uncontrollable anger inside her that might one day take over her actions if she couldn't keep it in check. Apart from his worried thoughts, he had full confidence in Rei's ability to adapt to her newfound strength and find a way to keep herself in control of her body.

"You have nothing to worry about Rei, we all need to let off steam every now and then unless we want to explode at the wrong times. You should treat every action you take as a calculated strategical move with all the pro's and cons that come with your decision to act. That's the reality of the life we lead and something you should never forget as you grow into a powerful mage in the future," said Zar, offering her a warm smile to express his confidence in her in case his words fell on deaf ears.

Zar's attention was brought onto the little girl who had been eagerly awaiting them to finish talking to one another so she could give her answer. "I've seen someone like that around here before. They are always full of happiness and ready to go on adventures. Do you two want to go on an adventure with me to her place? It's just on the other end of the village in the inn," excitedly bouncing at the prospect of more fun adventures awaiting them and her new 'friends.'

Rei took in another deep breath and shook her emotions out by shaking and jumping back and forth as if she was getting ready for a race. she ran her shadowy fingers through her hair before taking the ponytail hair tie she had brought with her to take her very long, and now wet hair (which frankly, also made it very heavy) into a bun on the back of her head the best she could to keep it up and out of her face. As she was doing so, she looked over at zar as he spoke those words to her. he was right though.... her anger was one of her biggest flaws and weaknesses, once someone got under her skin like that it was a lot easier for her to get distracted and taken down. she really was trying to calm herself down and look at every decision she was going to make and the outcome of it before she made it, but her brain just didn't function in the same logical way it did for Zar.

As Rei finished putting her hair back, she listened to what the little girl had to say and answered her question. "sure! we'll follow you" Rei said and smiled at the girl trying to look as genuine as she could, since somewhere in that small body was a lot of power, stronger than both Rei and Zar combined. They needed to play it safe....

A smile rose across the girls rosey cheeks as she grinned, skipping over to Rei which caused her to step back in alarm before the girl clasped her small fingers around Rei's palm and began to pull her in the direction of the in. "yay! come on then! lets go!" she giggled with Rei in one hand and her doll in the other.

Rei's method of calming herself seemed to have resulted in the desired effect as she calmly addressed the girl in a sweet manner rather than the barking of a dog toward another of its kind like before. He was glad to see Rei come to her senses in time for their true mission to commence. They would learn everything they possibly could about this dangerous wizard girl before they made any move to subdue her and bring her into custody. If they were to act prematurely then all could be lost in an instant due to their blunder. Zar followed the two of them as Lilith dragged Rei further into the town, passing by broken down shops with creaking signs falling off their hinges, doors opening and closing from the wind, and the return of that feeling of emptiness that they had first felt upon arrival.

The house that Lilith brought Rei and Zar to was surprisingly intact compared to the rest of the architecture within the town. There were no signs of the neglect and disrepair that befell the rest of the town visible upon this establishment that they were about to enter. It was nothing special in the way of looks, but it was as if the stone and woodwork hadn't been scarred by the passage of time since it was originally constructed. Lilith dragged Rei inside with her, followed closely by Zar, and made their way through the home. Just as the exterior of the home was pristine and sparkling with perfection, the inside of the home was combed over with the touch of a skilled butler with countless years of service. Not a speck of dust collected on the smallest section of the room for all to see. Fanciful decorations adorned the entire house from drapes, vases, and all the way to pictures of wild untamed magic. It was almost too good to be true, and Zar remained skeptical of this place's questionable appearance.

When he had finished his inspection of the house, he rejoined the two of them at the foot of the basement steps that led to 'Lilith's" hideout beneath the town. Giggling as she went, she took them further into the darkness, away from the happy outlook the inside gave off. It dawned on Zar that it was more than likely one of her illusions meant to bring about a false sense of safety before she revealed her true colors to them and made her move to end their lives.

Lillith's grip on Rei's hand was more than strong, she wasn't even holding her hand back at this point. she was forcefully being dragged by lillith away from the middle of the broken, abandoned, and rather dead looking village where they were only maybe less than thirty seconds ago by the angel fountain that Rei had personally beaten into a million pieces. They passed house after house at what seemed, or used to be, a neighborhood type street. There were lamposts with spots in the top for lamps that could be lit to light up the streets. There was an occasional cement block on both sides of where there used to be some sort of road, though it was obviously never paved before. At least Rei never saw any cobblestone or anything of that sort anywhere. 

Most of the houses they passed were nothing but a foundation at this point. some still had pillars up, others the walls were up but the roofs were caved in. others looked like those "grow your own" little animals with seeds on them due to the entire structure of the building overwhelmingly covered in vines and vegetation from ground to the tip of the roof, it looked as if it would have been interesting to walk into, the greenery was so dense it seemed like it could be rather soft. 

Rei was snapped out of her thoughts when she was suddenly gripped harder by lillith. Rei silently winced on the inside due to feeling as if Lillith was going to dislocate her fingers. She could already feel the strength of this girl and all she had experienced from it so far was only from holding her small palm in hers. Lillith held the doll in her other hand close to her side as she pointed to a house in front of them. there were still other houses down the street, but out of all the houses, or once to be homes in this place, this was the only one that seemed to have a full roof, walls, and even doors. the windows were still in tact, for the most part, some were broken and curtains blew with the breeze on the inside. "Is this where you wanted to take us?" Rei said in a normal tone, as to hopefully increase Lilliths false sense of security. 

Lillith nodded and smiled at Rei as she continued to grip her hand, and opened the door to the inside of the home. it was actually pretty nice on the inside, she expected everything to be covered head to toe with nothing but dust. lillith must've known how to clean, or else it should be covered in dust. The home looked rather comfortable as well, each room was furbished with couches tables and lamps. one even had an entertainment lacrima. There was  a kitchen table, and an island with full utensils to make food with. Most of which seemed to be weapon like, however. 

That was the first thing in this home that began to put Rei secretly on edge. She didn't let it show, but the fact that there was an axe next to a scythe followed by a sword and a very large kitchen knife sitting in the kitchen meant something was not right here, and Lillith was taking them to the heart of it. Luckily for Rei, she had brought a camera with her that was built for stealth missions like this. it didn't flash, it didn't make noise, she didn't need to focus it or fix the brightness. in fact, it didn't even look like a camera. It was a small glass lacrima that was about as big as a large marble. all she had to do was hold it up in the right direction, and it would snap a silent picture. 

Rei was ready to pull the photographic lacrima from her pocket to take a picture of the unusual weapons when her hand was tugged again, but this time it was down a staircase, into the basement. Oh boy, a basement. Why do all bad things always seem to happen in basements? Rei thought to herself as they walked down the unfinished wooden steps until they yet again went through another door. this time it opened up to a large room, there was a little mattress on the floor with a small pink nightstand. there were pink blankets on the bed surrounded by stuffed animals. similar to the one she had now, all of them weren't normal, most of them were a bit unsettling... 

Thats when Rei began to notice the horrible smell that was now beginning to fill her nostrils. She crinkled her nose in disgust. But she knew this smell, she was more than familiar with it... it was blood. the smell of rotting or decaying flesh began to fill the space. Rei looked at the cement floor, only then did she finally notice the large tracks of blood and bloody hand and footprints, the same size as Lillith's feet. She began to look around, trying to find the source of the stench. she looked back at Zar behind her, who had the same startled look she did. "Want to see my collection?" Lillith smiled at them, as if nothing was wrong in the slightest. She let go of rei's hand and skipped around a corner. Rei followed, only to find a guild's worth of dead bodies sitting stacked on top of each other like pigs. Rei tried to maintain a normal look, the sight didnt scare her as much as she was afraid of what lilith might do to them too if she found out why they were really here.

The collection of bodies that Lilith showed to them stood about three feet high in all corners of the room with various shapes and sizes. Their personal effects had been set directly next to one of these body piles, all ranging from numerous types of swords, shields, and bows all the way down to magical staffs that radiated with energy still pulsing through them. He expanded his senses throughout the dark corners of the room where the bodies lie and found that not a single soul remained in this room as it appeared all of them had been within this house for quite this time. They had all rotted considerably with small critters scurrying around their soft, bony corpses, nibbling away at any flesh that remained on the bones, and when that didn't satisfy them they began chewing on the bones and sucking out the marrow. It was accompanied by a horrid stench that filled Zar's nostrils like none he'd dealt with prior to this encounter. He'd had his fair share of dead bodies kept within his hideout for research purposes, but none had been kept around long enough to 'ripen' as much as these sorry sod's had time to. He had to give Lilith where credit needed to be granted of course, for there weren't many A-rank mages, much less an eight-year-old A-rank mages, with a body count this high under their residence.

Steeling his nerve, Zar approached the mounds and sifted through the corpses to see if he could deduce the causes of death from what remained of their mangled corpses. To his surprise, most of them, save for a few, had no symptoms of death to discover upon their rotting corpses. The ones that didn't seem to have died of natural causes had gaping holes throughout their bodies the size of the spears that had once threatened the lives of Zar and Rei earlier into their journey here. It was a troublesome thought to see the results of what might have befallen them had he not acted so quickly. However, he was also thankfully he had seen it and been able to make it this far with their chances having dropped greatly on seeing these corpses. They'd beaten the odds this far so what was to say they wouldn't continue to do so the remainder of their time here? Zar approached the girl from behind and kneeled down, placing a hand on her shoulder as she turned to him with a smile on her face. "What is it Zar? Do you like my collection of people? I did it all by myself every time someone came to hurt me." She said, giggling with glee. Zar cleared his throat and spoke calmly to her, keeping his voice at a level tone as to not frighten her. "Yes my dear Lilith, you are worthy of your standing in the magic world. Far moreso than some of the mages that I've come to know. Perhaps you might even be stronger than the mages who sit on the magic council and disapprove of your beautiful art you've created."

The air in the room turned stale and cold as a wave of anger and highly potent magical energy encircled the center of the room where Zar and Lilith stood. It expanded rapidly, putting pressure on Rei and Zar, bringing them to their knees as Lilith's growing anger and frustration at the mention of the council overpowered them. Surprisingly, when Lilith saw what it was doing to them she stopped suddenly and abruptly, causing them all to collapse to the ground completely. The power this girl was at such a level that even her mere presence brought mages to their knees with just the will of emotions brought to bear. It's no wonder she amassed such a tall mound of bodies in a short time of activity on the Council's radar. If she were allowed to continue and mature without guidance then the entire world would be at risk of destruction from the unbridled rage of an eight-year-old girl with a knack for slaughtering powerful people. This made him realize that a fight with Lilith was inevitable at this point, and it may be impossible to bring her in alive, much less bringing her in at all with how easily she could bring them to heel without even meaning to directly.

"The magic council are a bunch of old meanies who think its not ok for me to be playing on my own and doing what I want. I hate them and they can never just leave me alone. That's all I want is to be left alone with my dolly and meet some nice people like you two. You're nice mages, not like these doofuses who kept trying to hurt me." The girl runs over and holds onto Zar's leg, looking up at him from down below. "Please sir," Lilith pleaded, "Don;t let the bad men hurt me. I just wanna be left alone. I just wanna be left alone. I just wanna be left alone." She began to sob into his leg and slowly sunk to the floor as Zar joined her, patting her on the head and offering what little comfort he could. The moment of sadness wouldn't last soon as she turned her head to where they had previously been standing and saw a letter and magic-nullifying cuffs laying on the floor rather than being attached to Zar's waist where they had been before. They must have been pulled off by the immense pressure of her magical power earlier and he hadn't even noticed. He sat where she had left him, stunned and fearful at fearful for the impending doom she was about to release. He tried to reach her before she could grab the letter, but by the time he got up and came to her side, she had already read through it and dropped it to the floor with tears forming in her eyes along with the anger from before returning.

"Zar... Rei.. tell me this isn't true. Tell me you're not liars and weren't sent by those dummies at the capital to kill me. I trusted you, and brought you to my safe place because I thought we were going to be best friends. How can we if this is true?!" Lilith yelled, sending a shockwave that knocked Rei and Zar to their knees once more and kept them in that position. Knowing that no rational amount of persuasion would work, Zar did the only thing he could at the time that had a chance of saving them her full wrath; he told her the truth. "I'm sorry Lilith, its true. All of it is. But we weren't going to kill you. We wanted to bring you in. That's why we brought those handcuffs for your safety." By the time he had confirmed his lies to her, Lilith had already given up on listening and released a deafening scream that shook the foundations of the building, shattering windows and causing cracks to form all around. The sheer force was enough to cause Zar's vision to blur and bring him to the edge of unconsciousness, but before he passed out, he could hear her voice change to a sound that made him feel fear like he'd never felt in his entire life. Lilith's voice became decrepit and deformed, a loud demonic screech replacing the sweet innocent girl of before as she laughed at them in their misery. "Very well then, if you wish to capture me then let's play my favorite game; hide and go die! If you find me, you have to capture me before I kill you. Simple really even for you pathetic mages." That was all he heard of her before he succumbed to the darkness and silence that followed it.

Rei had a sheet of what she hoped to be a clean cloth lying on the floor, it had some dried blood on it but at least it didn't smell like decaying human flesh. So Rei picked it up, and covered her mouth and nose to block out the horrid stench that filled the area. she casually took pictures in the background with the small light capturing lacrima that was only the size of a marble in her hand. she had her hand holding the light capturing lacrima facing the opposite way of lillith and Zar, in hopes that she wouldn't see it suddenly turn on them and try to kill them before they were ready for her to. It was going to happen, but at least they could get some pictures of the evidence before the entire building, or the entire village was completely obliterated. She wasn't exactly paying much attention to what Zar and Lillith were talking about however. She could over hear enough of their conversation in order to piece out what was going on. So far it seemed like Zar was trying to flatter her as if the piles of dead bodies was an accomplishment to be proud of. but Zar mentioning the Wizard council seemed to turn out worse than he thought. who knew that would send Lillith suddenly over the edge?


the sudden air turned cold as rei and Zar were forced to their knees by what felt like pressure or a sudden increase in gravity. Since Rei had been half in la la land, not really paying attention, the sudden anger from Lillith surprised her as she fell to her knees as her whole being began to feel heavy. But it was lifted after a moment, as if Lillith actually trusted them enough that they wouldn't hurt her. that was her mistake, but she didn't need to know that. Not quite yet, at least she hoped Lillith wouldn't figure it out. [/size][/font]


Rei took a deep breath as the pressure realeased itself from them and Lillith began to tell her frustrations on how she hated the magic council and why. It almost made Rei feel bad for the girl, but then again...there were dead bodies along the walls. if anything, she deserved it more than some of what would be considered some of the most dangerous criminals.


But then rei noticed that the handcuffs they were going to use to restrict Lillith and her magic were now laying on the floor... Zar must've just stuffed them in his pocket along with the letter that laid next to the handcuffs. it was a big careless to do so, but it just meant they would be starting this fight earlier than sooner. But after Lillith seemed to be heartbroken, her whole being seemed to change, something similar to what these dead mages expirienced, the dark, deadly and horrific side of Lillith.


Her game of hide and go die. Oh boy, wasn't that going to be fun.


Rei hid her small camera in one of the pockets of her armor making it secure so that lillith wouldn't freak out even more. She ran off to who knows where, and rei sighed leaning against the cement wall of the basement. [/color]"Well... what now, chief?" [color=#000000]she asked, seeming pretty relaxed but her anxiety was beginning to build up on the inside.

Zar awoke shortly after the explosive power of Lilith knocked him unconscious from standing in closer proximity that Rei had been during the conversation. He felt a deep seeded resentment for Lilith making him look like a fool in front of his protege with rage and bloodlust overpowering his senses momentarily. No one had ever gotten the best of him quite like that in all his years alone in the world. If he couldn't keep himself conscious in the face of opponents stronger than himself, how as he to improve his abilities later on when progression and improvement are required for survival in this world of ever growing dangers? Zar's questions soon came to center around Rei and why she had woken up before him. Could she have remained conscious the entire time solely because of the distance between her and Lilith's powerful presence, or was her power growing at such a rate that it could surpass Zar in the future? These theories deeply disturbed Zar as his goal, by default of wishing to learn all forbidden arcane knowledge the world had to offer, was to become the most powerful and wise wizard. That would become a pipe dream if the mage he'd been training became more powerful than himself only after a few short months of training together. If these theories began to bear fruit later down the line, Zar would have to come up with a way to increase his power faster that she could keep up with, or make her training impossible for her to continue with until a time came when he was far out of her reach on the magical scale.

In truth, all of this could end up being mere speculation and paranoia stemming from the ridicule and belittlement of Lilith's power crushing him into an unconscious state, but Zar would continue to ponder this development all the same. He finally began to rise off the cold stone floor, the stench of death returning to invade his nostrils once more and stretched out his sore muscles before approaching Rei who watched from the wall awaited his orders. "We do as Lilith requested and play her game, but we will have our own twist on the game. We will remain undetected and in doing so, surprise her when we get the chance and bring her down with all we have at our disposal. We'll need to waste no time worrying about her well-being while fighting her when she's in this state of being or else we'll find ourselves in one of these piles before long." He closed his eyes and began opening himself up to the magical energy that remained in the room, signaling out Lilith's magical aura from their own, and using it as a guide to follow her tracks. In the time she had him knocked unconscious, Lilith had covered a large distance of the town and ended up on the western edge of its borders where the town hall resided. The trail wrapped around the building multiple times before entering its confines and entering every single room available within the structure. To Zar's amazement, she had thought ahead of herself and planned to confuse them if they tried to follow her magical aura to where she was hiding. It reiterated on the fact that she was no ordinary seven-year-old, but in fact thought with the mind of a battle commander in the prime of his life with countless years of experience in subversion and stealth maneuvers. Zar's admiration toward who grew his resolve to bring her in alive further as she was a resource that shouldn't be thrown into the cold embrace of death so early with as much progress as she's made on her own. If he could have even a few moments of unsupervised admittance to her while she was jailed, it could lead to breakthroughs in the magical world like no one had seen in their lifetimes and he would be responsible for that.

With her location tracked down, Zar beckoned Rei to follow him out of the basement and on the hunt for Lilith within her new playground of death for them to delve into. It took them fifteen minutes to walk the length of the town from where they were to the town hall and witness the scope of the building that would be their grave or ticket to ending this threat once and for all. It remained untouched just as the house they had previously stayed in, but unlike the other ones, he could tell this was no mere illusion and that the building had remained unscathed from what had befallen the rest of the town. The skillful marble work that went into the columns holding up the exterior of the building's patio glowed brightly in the moonlight, illuminating the hardwood and stone that made up the building itself that stood sixty feet tall into the air. He pulled the doors open with a loud creaking echoing throughout the interior of the building and continued to linger as it traveled throughout the house until it dissipated. When they entered the house and looked around at the expensive decorations, paintings, and furniture that exemplified the wealth of the town's leader, he was bewildered as to why none of this had been ransacked and looted after all these years of neglect. The sinister giggling from earlier echoed in kind to their noisy entrance and reminded him of who resided within this abandoned town, answering his inquiry quicker than he had time to ponder and bringing the full scope of their task at hand to bear.

Rei's head throbbed tremendously after the explosion went off. It wasn't enough to make her pass out, but it felt as if her heart had suddenly moved into her head and was pumping at an alarmingly fast rate. the ringing in her ears seemed to compliment the sudden blurry vision she had been gifted at the start of lilliths game. Joy, the whole package of pain. But it soon began to die down, enough to where she could at least see normally again. the ringing got quieter, but when she looked over it seemed as if Zar was passed out. Rei was about to jump to his aid but he stood on his feet shortly after. He explained to her where they would be going, he seemed like he was in pain, probably the same type of headache that she herself had gotten. she struggled with picking up the aura's of other mages, but she was getting better at it... but lillith's was so strong she could definitely sense it for sure. it was stronger than almost every mage she had ever encountered, at least, when it came to combat... she had known plenty of very, very powerful mages through her life. none that the ever really associated with, though. if anything she saw those that were higher than her as obstacles in her path. Mountains to conquer, only things that needed to be beaten and overcome. especially after all this time she had spent feeling weak and helpless because of them. belittling her for having what seemed like a plain stupid, and useless magic. Just a good for nothing girl thinking she could be something more, but not everyone gets a chance to be special in this world. Rei had that lesson drilled into her head one too many times. and she was down right sick of it.

Rei had gotten a little carried away in her own thoughts and had been unconsciously following Zar as they headed towards a the biggest building in the desolate village. it was very surprising, the building seemed practically untouched... it could use a little dusting, but all the marble and furniture were still there! why hadn't anyone looted the place? everything was still here... it was definitely unsettling. Things only got worse when Zar and Rei could hear the phycotic laughter of a little girl down the hall. "great.. what do we do next, cheif?" Rei stood there with her hands in the pockets of her armor. she sighed, trying to pinpoint which way the laughter was coming from.