[Job] Dark Nemesis (Noheme and Haru)

Noheme couldn’t help but yawn as they walked through the busy city of Talonia. Even if she was told that this was urgent, she just didn’t quite feel like searching for some criminal today. But since Haru, the young dragonslayer insisted that he wanted to do this job, she had little option but to go with him and see to him finishing this whole mess, as well as maybe teaching him a thing or two during their little adventure. Though she would much rather stay in her room at Fairy Hills. She had recently got herself a new duvet that was rather comfortable.

In fact, she was getting dangerously addicted to just staying in the bed for most of the day, unable to resist the pleasant warmth and feeling of the cloth above her pressing against her bare body, considering she always slept with no clothes on, instead of getting up and doing her work as a mage. But hey, she was a goddess at the end of the day, so she felt like she could be doing anything she wanted. And the truth was that there were only very few individuals actually powerful enough to stop her from that, none of them yet daring to actually challenge her.

In any case, she could not help but wonder about their target. Alkazar as he was called, a mage and a doctor of some sort who was experimenting on mortals in order to further the advancement of science. Something people did not like because it was at the expense of lives lost. Though truth be told, Noheme also lived in a society like that. She was worshipped by many and given plenty of sacrifices. So she actually did not quite understand what was so wrong about this whole situation. Regardless, she decided to follow the contract’s goals.

Still, it all sounded awfully dull. But then again, everything seemed to sound boring to the goddess that lived for thousands of years and already did so much in her life. Right now, she could at least harvest some entertainment from the hungry gazes of passerby humans, some simply recognizing her as the strongest mage from Fairy Tail guild, while others would quickly recognize her as a woman that many would dream of. Of course, she did not grace them with even a single look in their direction. She was a mean tease like that, at least from time to time.

At least it didn’t take too long before they would arrive where they had to be. What appeared to be a fairly standard home on the outside was actually an entrance to a laboratory and a prison of the man they were to defeat. Well, he did do a fairly good job disguising it as a regular home, safe for the fact that it was pretty barricaded at the moment. Honestly, what were they thinking? This was no way to make a secret entrance to a lab, not at all! They were doing it all wrong and it made Noheme facepalm internally.

If they wished for any success at all, then they needed to run a front operation. Something like selling spices/teas or even weapons to adventurers and mages. While in the shadows, they would use profit earned through the front to enhance their black market equipment and do their little experiments. This train of thought also made the vixen realize that maybe she defeated few too many evil operations at this point, learning exactly how these things should operate in order to be at least a smidgen successful. Apparently, she would have no problem turning to the dark side with this kind of knowledge.

“Do what you will. Won’t learn anything if I hold your hands.” She would then also reply to Haru when he addressed her before going in. Really, the boy did not even have any intention of being lead by her here, did he? And his temperament was the same as always, too. Instead of forming some sort of strategy that would get them in, he just approached the guards and revealed his goal directly, only to then proceed and knock them both out. Using his magic, nonetheless.

In reaction, the fox girl simply took out the small fan and held it in front of her face, as was her usual gesture, almost a signature one. This way, no one could ever fully read her expression and that was the point. To throw those in front of her off, as she would express herself to them while also detaching the physical traits associated with emotions. While that too could be seen as her toying with the poor mortals, it served a greater purpose this time around. One that she had yet to reveal to anyone, actually. Not that it really mattered at all.

“Haru, do you realize who you just defeated?” She would walk over to one of the two guards, looking down at his currently motionless body. “These guards could have been hired without knowing what is going on here. Same as our very own guild being possibly hired by an individual with ulterior motives that would be not disclosed to us.” As such, he could have very well hurt innocent people. Not that the goddess cared, but she knew that there were people who would probably want the boy to grow up into a decent human being.

That said, more guards had shown up and there was little to no time to continue their talk. This entire place was clearly swarming with defensive forces, which only reinforced the fact that they were indeed at the correct address. Though they currently only faced two guards, who were to say that there were no more inside. Regardless, the vixen watched patiently as Haru started rampaging once more. Truly, the more she observed him, the more he reminded her of a certain wild animal. Or perhaps even herself in the past, when she first incarnated into this world and had a very specific vessel.

Sometime during that fight, one of the guards even tried to attach the girl. Though the water balls that were so casually spat at her were deflected in an even more casual matter, as Noheme used nothing more than her bare hand to slap the water away as if it was not even magic at all. Something of this level could not even really hurt her, even if it was a direct hit. But she still didn’t want to have her clothes wet, at least not yet. She was not about to walk through the entire house naked.

Finally, the fighting would come to an end and the two guards actually managed to get away to the vixen’s surprise. Though she could very clearly sense the bloodlust that was manifesting in the boy’s body and actions at that very moment. For his own good, he managed to suppress it, for now. But if this were to only get worse, she probably would have to get a bit more involved from now on. So as the boy started talking and asking about what they should do next, the girl just casually walked around him and folded her fan.

Putting it away she would suddenly embrace Haru from behind, putting a lot of her weight against him, not that it was a problem in any way, but also pressing her bosom against his back while her hands pressed against his chest. “What we do now is…” Before finishing her sentence, she would suddenly grab hold of his shirt and sharply turn around, tossing the boy into a nearby wall with ease and with enough force to break the wall apart with his body. “…is talk about you, boy~.”

Finishing her sentence, she would then walk over to him with a grin on her face as she looked down at his body. “Your mother cares a good bit about you, and if something were to happen to you on a mission with me, I would lose my chance to end up in a bed with her. So from now on, you will hold back when fighting against fragile and very much mortal enemies, got it? You are easily absorbed into your emotions, and that is something that only leads to a warrior’s quick demise on the battlefield. You are better than that.”

Saying all that, she would offer a hand to help him get up. At least that much she should do after tossing him like a throwing ball into a wall. “You are still young, especially for a human. But you do wield great power, so make sure to use it properly. There is little that is more pathetic than wasted potential. Not to mention, I’m quite fond of that dragon stamina you are showing so far, so it’d be a damn shame if you were to die before that could be put to a proper use~.” With those words, she would move over to him and give him a wink before turning toward the house.

“The laboratory and prison are supposed to be underground, so the top part hardly interests us. So go ahead and show me what you can do, take the lead and find a way inside without killing or permanently injuring anyone we may or may not encounter on the way. If you do, I’ll be forced to stop you with my own power, and that might not be so good for you in the end~.” Teasing him some more, she would let the nine tails dance behind her as she observed and listened what he would do and say. The boy was an interesting one, so at least she wasn’t too bored right now.

The question of morals. To many, following them would give their lives some semblance of greater good. To others, they would just hold them back. Noheme personally leaned more toward the latter group, as she herself was perfectly willing to sometimes to vile things in order to get her way. But then again, she was not even a mortal. The same rules did not apply to her as they did to them. She was far too different. She had grown up in a perfect solitude without anyone teaching her anything. And yet, she was here and still able to see some difference between good and bad.

If that did not speak volume, then she had no idea what did. But if nothing else, she at least understood the boy’s frustration about it all. “I understand perfectly. You, humans, adore your free will, even if it allows you to ruin lives of those around you. But if they do not deserve any mercy, then consider this - imagine you were hired by someone to protect them against a dark guild. But once you have successfully defended him, got paid and left, you would discover that you actually protected a man who has created a weapon of mass destruction and released it into the world.”

Concealing of information was fairly standard in this world, after all. Or simple “adjustments” to certain words to make them much more good-looking. “The people would then point at you, for you were the one who protected him even if you did not know who he really was. Would you willingly let these angry people execute you on the spot, for you deserve no mercy for protecting him? Whatever your answer to such question is, the point stands all the same. If you are willing to kill someone, then you must be willing to be killed as well, in a sense.”

Because the same rules applied to everyone equally, even if they were the ones making those rules. Or at least it would be like that in the ideal world. But it was precisely those heroes that strive for this perfect world where justice would always prevail. But then, what of the harsh rules these heroes create. It almost became the goddess’ favorite hobby to question them, drive them into a corner by pointing out how they would break their own ideals. Because mortals were imperfect in such way. Almost never ready to admit their own fault.

They could spend hours upon hours discussing such almost philosophical matters. But the time was of the essence and they had to move on, Haru even coming up with a plan. One that did not actually involve any violence and could be considered smart. Though only under the condition that this place was actually known to the underworld and that they accepted offers from people that were not a direct part of this organization. It was worth a try, of course. After all, even if the plan went awry, they could very easily fight their way through.

“Playing captive after climbing to the peak of absolute power… The melody of the universe that forces everything to move never ceases to amaze me, truly. Very well, let us get this over with.” She offered herself as the bait for this, though she did not actually anticipate Haru to make such a move on her, considering he was still a youth all and all. The physical vessel Noheme resided in couldn’t quite help itself and let out a yelp in response, followed by a sigh. While it would normally be fun to indulge in something like this, the shift between serious and comical atmosphere was just way too drastic with this boy.

So as they marched up to the manor, she would make sure to return the favor in a way by having one of her tail go up directly to his face and start wagging from one side to the other, effectively slapping the boy several times over before they would arrive at the guard post. The way they all started fighting over her was almost comical, especially given the amounts of jewels they were offering. Either these people were unbelievably poor, or stupid. The goddess currently resided in a vessel of a nine-tailed fox, after all. That must have been worth at least 15 million jewels rather than 15 thousand.

But since they were in the middle of an act, she had to make sure to make it believable, by squirming and blushing, as if she was trying to get away from all this in desperation. She even allowed a soft moan to escape her mouth when she was groped, followed by internal cackle at Haru’s apparent jealousy in what just happened. It was his plan that made this even more delightful. Either way, they managed to get in mostly peacefully. Once allowed to roam freely again, she would shake her hands and stretch a little bit.

Well, they certainly got inside. Now they just had to figure out how to stop this whole charade. “You wouldn’t, actually. Even if the manor is large enough, there is no way these old walls and floors would be really able to hold all the equipment necessary. Our target must be underground. And while we could search for the hatch…” She would instead pull out her trusty hand-held fan again. There really was a much simpler solution to all this. With a grin on her face, she would grip the fan and suddenly swing her hand with it to the side.

In that very moment, the fan started expanding and changing in a black light, suddenly turning into a katana. This was the secret behind her favorite toy. It was actually a sealed form of her weapon that she always carried everywhere with her. While she was a slayer, she actually used her magic in a pretty different way. Regardless, she stabbed the sword into the ground and twisted it. The sheer force of this opened up a large crevice as the ground was forced apart, surprisingly silently. “Looks like I hit the underground chambers on the first try. How fun~.”

Not waiting at all, she would jump down and in few seconds, land on a pure white flooring. It was some sort of rather empty sterilized hall that had doors everywhere, seemingly leading to other rooms where the actual experiments were happening. And since it seemed that there was no one in the hall, her entry was entirely unnoticed thanks to her ability to not make any sounds at all when moving and interacting with this world. Now she just had to wait for Haru so that they would either charge in or discuss their next move, and possibly some other matters as well before they would shut this place down.

When working as a mage… no, when living in a world like this one, you had to be prepared for absolutely anything. For an entire situation changing completely and being turned and twisted around in mere moments. Not only a few seconds after Noheme landed on the sterile white floor, the dragon boy would be right behind her. And despite managing to get into this place with a clever plan to fool the guards, he completely threw away all intentions of sneaking around and taking the master of this house by surprise. Instead, he decided to directly challenge him, completely blowing their cover with a single mighty scream.

It actually managed to take the Moon Goddess by surprise, as she had expected him to be a little bit more docile at least until they would find the man. But he decided not to wait. Suffice to say, there was a slight frown on the fox girl’s expression now. Changing the way they were doing things so suddenly and without any warning directed toward her was… unwise to say the least. Not that they had to actually fear anything at all, considering she was here in the first place. But the boy had to learn the importance of striking first, else he would eventually succumb to a stronger foe.

That, however, was a lesson to be learned another day. A good many events started taking place, one after another. And honestly, a second surprise came much sooner than the girl expected. Alkazar actually showed himself at one point, a move extremely foolish. No matter his magic and power, or even plans, Noheme could have ended it all in a single instant right there, when he revealed his physical body to them. But she decided not to do so, not yet. She wanted to see how the boy right next to her would take it all, the fact that the man toyed with them, or at least attempted to.

To be perfectly honest, the vixen held absolutely no feelings for the mutated beings. The changes done to their bodies and brains were most likely irreversible, mortal creatures like humans were just fragile like that. Killing them, even if it was in a painful manner, was nothing more than a sweet release of death, mercy on their souls. And yet, Haru allowed himself to be agitated by this and proceeded to run rampant. But at least it seemed that he did still have control over his actions, unlike that one moment before when he nearly lost himself in the lust for blood.

As they proceeded into another room, Noheme would just simply start looking around, admiring the handiwork of the mage with living magic. It was most certainly a very special type of magic that she had yet to see from this close-up. Not only that, his experiments were also somewhat fascinating. Although they have all very clearly failed, meaning that the girl did not have all that much interest in the bodies only after the basic look from afar. It was a shame, really. Humanity had to sacrifice something in order to advance, but one had to recognize the point of simply wasting away good material.

Hearing few sounds from the other room, she noticed that Alkazar came back out while Haru remained behind, probably dealing with something on his end. “Oh dear… this is somewhat awkward, isn’t it? You believe that you can capture me, or at the very least, get a sample from my body. You recognized what this body is, yet you think something like that… how foolish. One tail for every 100 years. And once all nine are obtained, the spirit fox ascends and gains its standing among gods themselves. That is why I chose it, for it was rather fitting~.”

The mage was approaching as she spoke, using his magic on the scorched hallway again. But before anything could reach the goddess, she would strengthen her grip on the blade in her hand and assume a fighting stance. “You have already learned how to infiltrate an enemy territory, Haru. Now to learn how to throw stealth away and break it all~.” With those two simple lines, she would spin one place as she performed a 360 degrees wide slash. One that created a wind force all around her, pushing Alkazar into a wall before cracking it. Or perhaps cracking it was a weak expression.

Every single wall in the entire underground lap started shattering into pieces at that very moment. And every piece of rubble started going up as if the gravity had turned upside down. In that very moment, every living creature nearby, including Haru, was forced to the ground, either completely pressing against it with its whole body or at least kneeling. That was the power of her magical energy weighing down on them, literally forcing them down. But the fact that no one could even feel it? That surely must have been the scariest part of it all.

In mere seconds, the entire house above them came apart, as did the ground. And in another few seconds, the light from the Moon would illuminate the battlefield. Instead of an underground lab, they were now in a massive crater created by a single individual, every piece of the lab and the house floating above them and slowly falling down around the land, though carefully enough not to hit any populated part of Talonia. Something major was going down, something that Haru could have noticed more than anyone else present at the moment.

Because he came here with the vixen. He knew that it was in the middle of the day. And yet, there was a moon shining down on them. And not just any moon, it was crimson red with a symbol of a nine-tailed fox at its surface. All shadows in the area would start gathering around Noheme, as her own shadow turned beautiful golden color, the air all around suddenly taking on a divine feeling. Since all of the walls were now gone, Haru was able to see it all, as well as be able to easily hear his mentor.

“Do you see it all, boy? This is the power of what this world classifies as an H-ranked mage. A power that most people who actually have it, are far too scared to use it. For it could destroy them, as well as those around them.” But Noheme was different. Even if there was a chance that this spell would backfire somehow, she would take it anyway. She hardly cared about anyone around her, safe for few select individuals. Slowly, she would approach the mage of living magic and smirk. The golden shadow would creep up beneath him and bring him into the air, coiling around his body.

It would eventually reach his neck and start choking him. At the same moment, the weight forcing Haru down would be lifted as Noheme allowed him to move by blocking off her own magical energy in his general direction. “So after everything you have learned today, what is your judgment? Are you truly willing to let this man live, knowing that he refused your offer from before? Do you actually want to kill him? Fufufufu, if you do, then you don’t even have to stain your hands, as I can easily do it for you~.” She wanted him to make the decision, control the madman’s fate. It was an important lesson for a warrior.