Winter falls on Dagger Corp.

Well, this was a first, Artemis was surprised when he got the call. Stating he had to return and assist in the protection of one of the Dagger Corp. Headquarters, and not just any of them, one of the main offices in Era of all places. His family didn't often reach out to him for assistance, was there some alternate reasoning behind this. They knew full well that he had no affiliation to Black Rose anymore, maybe they figured seeing as he wasn't busy with Guild work these days that they would make use of him. He was, after all, one of the faces of the company, even if it was just as the Owners oldest Grandson.

Artemis arrived in the centre of Era; he could see the office building in the distance. He wondered if the others had got his message, he had contacted two people to join him. The first being his younger brother Apollo, mainly trying to figure out what it was that the family were summoning him for exactly and if he was to be there too. He had left a message to explain where to find him if he couldn't get back to him beforehand. The second individual he had contacted was a relatively new acquaintance. Someone he knew had done a job for Dagger Corp. but didn't work directly under them. Artemis didn't have anyone he could call for back up, and the guy had saved his life. With the promise of the pretty pay package, he hoped the guy would show up.


As he approached the large corporate building that was Dagger Corp, Artemis spotted the matter at hand. His sharp demonic eyes capturing it's details before he even got close. Situated at the entrance was a portal of sorts, glistening a mirage of red, green and icy blue. Around it several Dagger Corp. employers surrounded the portal, pointing various As he got closer, Artemis stepped up to one of the employees he recognised, Francis Laine, a member of the board that worked directly under his father. "What's the situation?" He asked, not bothering with a greeting. Mr Laine glanced up at Artemis; he didn't seem surprised to see the Dagger heir. "Mr Dagger, Sir, The portal appeared about an hour ago. Several creatures have already emerged from it and attacked some of the employees. They are ... curious in nature." Art scowled, a question coming to mind. "Don't we have a system that would normally handle these things?" He asked giving the boardmember a meaninful look, he was sure Mr Laine would know full well what he was hinting at. Mr Laine shook his head. "There have been some complications at our Crocus branch. They are tied up there with your father." He explained, Artemis nodded. This didn't really seem like the type of work expected of the Dagger Corp. employees, most of them were paper-pushers after all. This was likely why he had been called.

"Fine, just make sure the employees stay back," He said sternly, Artemis's normal playful nature had gone. This was a serious matter, he didn't like getting involved in family matters, but here he had no choice. He had to do his part, especially because he knew he couldn't hide the result from them. They had a direct view of his today. He stalked towards the portal, seeing its edges ripples, it began to stir, and suddenly creatures began to pour out of it.

As Artemis moved closer to the portal, his red eyes would eye incautiously; he could feel a strange, unfamiliar magic emanating from it. One thing was certain, Artemis had never encountered a force such a this, even with all the various monsters he had encountered, none of them carried this kind of signature. So to know what to expect was impossible. He watched as what emerged from the portal first was a vast group of tiny humans, Christmas elves from what Artemis could presume. Looking at them felt strange on the eyes, the looked somewhat like a negative image, armed with candy canes and snowballs. His eyebrow cocked upwards, Seriously... He thought, baffled at the sight of such ridiculous looking creatures. This is the threat to Dagger Corp. He continued to observe, as the creatures began to engage with the others around them. He watched, they weren't especially dangerous, but they were a pain to deal with.  If their numbers got too high, they could be a real problem. Following the boisterous elves quickly were four much bigger white polar bears. These beasts, Artemis could tell, were a little bit more reasonable of a threat. Attached to his belt was a small hatchet sized axe, Artemis unhooked it, spinning it in his palm. The hatchet, otherwise known as Red Dwarf, would expand to its full size. Approximately a metre in length, with deadly sharp blades on each side of the red ruby stone in the middle that gave off its own magical aura. Artemis lowered the weapon to his side, gripping the handle tightly, ready to throw when he needed to. His eyes returned to the portal as from it, the most bizarre creature entered the area, emerging from it a giant walking tree, "What the-" He muttered, utterly shocked at the sight of this newest beast. He could help but wonder, what kind of Christmas freakshow was this?

He caught a familiar scent and looked around. Spotting his younger brother making his way over to him briskly. He heard his brothers word and shook his head. Oh boy, that would be nice,  "Sorry to disappoint bro, but whatever this shit is, the company didn't authorise it." He said looking back at the portal once more, he sighed, this was some weird shit indeed. How could creatures like this cause so much havoc for the company? It seemed highly farfetched for them to have to be dealing with this. Within the next moment, Deleronark appeared amongst them. This time with white-hair rather than brown, Artemis had encountered the mage, regardless through Artemis knew it was him. Artemis offered the guy a nod; he heard the guy talk about moving furniture and having a drink. It was clear the guy was using a facade of sorts, Art arched a brow at him, smirking slightly. "Not sure if we're gonna get round to it tonight dude, looks like we got to crap to clear up here." He said with a nod towards the strange creatures. He watched as Deleronark, proceeded to introduce himself as Damien to Ren. That was curious, but he didn't question it. Whether this was just another one of his names, nicknames or alias to hide his true identity, it didn't matter. He knew the guy was secretive, and for good reasons. He would just have to remember to use that name, on this occasion.

He could see the monsters looming slowly closer, spreading out towards any observing civilians in the area. "Looks like chit chats over lads, let's get this over with." He said in a droll tone, clearly none too happy with this task. He began walking away from the two; he spun his axe in his hand before launching it into the air. The axe soared across the plain, slicing its way through three elves that were scuttling their way in his direction. If the elves didn't look so creepy, he might have felt bad about killing the small humanoid creatures. But they were a pest and part of the reason he'd been dragged here in the first place. He left the other elves to the guys before moving towards a polar bear that had began to run towards the woman he recognised as a receptionist for Dagger Corp. She screamed trying to back away from the volatile beast. Artemis raised his palm, summoning several pearls of darkness. The spread around him for a moment, before shooting out, striking the polar bear from several angles. The beast roared in a feral rage, turning it's furious gaze to Artemis. It began to bound towards him, forgetting about the Receptionist that had initially been its primary target. With this beast, Artemis could understand why they needed to be handled; these monsters genuinely seemed a little menacing. Red Dwarf whizzed through the air towards him. He caught it, before launching it straight towards the polar bear. The creature attempted to move out of the way, only to have the axe embed itself in its shoulder. The beast roared, craning its neck as it tried to reach for the axe with its maw, only pushing its blade deeper into its flesh. Artemis opened up a void in his palms, from which long black thorny tendrils would pool out, making their way towards the polar bear. Wrapping themselves around the beast and squeezing it tightly, so it was unable to move. The creature thrashed against it's binding, Artemis's axe being forced even deeper into the wound.

Artemis closed the distance between himself and the beast, pulling forward Morte's magic, he would allow it to change his hands. The skin of his hands and arms were slowly turning black, the muscles on his arms growing thicker in mass. His fingernail's transforming into thick long black talons. As he stepped before the polar bear, Artemis reached over and grabbed the beast by the back of the neck, pinning it to the ground with his powerful demonic claw. Reaching for Red Dwarf, he grabbed at the handed, yanking it out of the creature sharply, ripping through his out thorny binds. Still holding the Polar bears head in place, Artemis would raise the axe up before bringing it's crashing down through the back of the polar bear's neck, slicing through flesh, bone and ligament. The polar bear stopped moving against his grip, falling dead still. Artemis would let go, yanked the axe out, he didn't need to check, he knew the creature was dead. He turned and began to walk towards the next polar bear, his serious expression fully prepared to do it all again.

Artemis had genuinely hoped that when Deleronark appeared, the three of the would be able to get on with the matter at hand with litterl conflict. It seemed however this was not to be the case. Although Artemis had been fine with him referring to Artemis as a friend, his younger brother had not. Artemis watched the two of them interact, hearing his brothers sharp-tongued responses to him. Artemis, quite comically pulled a face. "What..." He muttered as the two carried on talking, like was he seriously getting dissed by his fifteen year old bro. Ren even tried to make Artemis feel guilty for doing something that apparantly he had done before. Asking if he trusted him. "Huh?" He said completely confused. Ren was usually so chilled about Artemis's business, not really concerning himself with who his brother spent his time with. Yet now he was making Artemis feel bad and the twenty-two year old did not have a fucking scooby as to why. Before Artemis could put Ren straight, it seemed that Deleronark had been none too pleased with the treatment Art was getting. Surprisingly jumping to his defence, even going to far as to mention his father. Artemis's expression was one of extreme awkwardness. He decided to inch between the two, so that if either of them attacked. He would be in the way to block it.


When Deleronark stopped talking, Artemis held up in hands in a peaceful gesture. "Okay, okay, as fun as it is to watch this little cat fight between you two, I really gotta pitch in. Ren, I do trust you, but regardless of that I don't need to divulge the personal details of every friend or acquaintance I make to the family. Damien is right. You're assumptious was hella rude lil bro. Just because the family don't exactly like me, doesn't mean other people don't. Believe it or not, I'm somehwta likeable at times. So yes, I do have friends, sure some of them are just drinking buddies, and yeah okay a fair share of beneficial relationships with ladies. But Damien and I have been through some pretty intense shit recently, he's helped me a lot, and I trust him. I don't expect you to trust him too. But Ren, Damien came here at my personal request. So as you're big brother, if you respect me at all, you'll at least play nice, for my sake." He told him, hoping that he would get through to him. He knew Ren didn't mean to be insulting, he had just grown up with the family mindset of not trusting outsiders. He understood where the little guy was coming from. He would in turn to Deleronark, or Damien in this case. "I appreciate the back up dude, but my little brother is just cautious, from what you know about me, you can understand. Just mind the 'yo daddy' comments from here on out, okay?" He said with a grin. He personally didn't mind Damien's comment about his father, but he knew Ren was a little more loyal to the family than Artemis. Also Art knew how intertwined in the family's affairs Damien was, his comment wasn't entirely unwarranted, had it been someone else. Arty would've socked them in the mouth. Just for fun.

After getting into the fight with the elves and the polar bears. Artemis had been working away at another polar bear. Just about finishing it off, when he spotted Deleronark go for the tree. The polar bear fell dead at his feet and he began to join the guy in dealing with him. As Deleronark shot at the tree. A present burst forth, Artemis ran forward, attempting to deflect the attack. However just as he got close the present exploded, sprinkling him with a glittery substance. "What the-" He yelled, attempted to turn. Only to realise he could no longer move. He was frozen in place. "Crap, I can't move." He couldn't even turn his head to look around at the others. "Yo, think you two can settle your differences for a moment and kill that thing." He called out, from the corner of his eyes he could see a few remaining elves eagerly making their way towards him. Candle canes waving manically in the air. "HURRY." He barked loudly, hoping that they would actually listen to him. He really didn't fancy getting beaten to death by a group of fucking Christmas elves.

Ren's argument against Damien wasn't exactly the easiest to stomach, Artemis didn't really want to get into it. But the kid didn't exactly have it easy, Artemis could feel himself shutting down the more Ren spoke. He was spilling way too much; it wasn't even that much of an issue that it was Damien he was telling it to. But there were a lot of employees around, some of which were probably trying to eavesdrop no doubt. Artemis's face was a picture of stone; he had just about had enough of being made to feel shitty. For just a moment, he had the unusual desire to shout at his little brother. To tell him the cold hard truth; it wasn't Artemis's desire for him to shoulder the families affairs. Art just wanted to be free, and it wasn't Ren's place to protect him from his family. Even if Ren wanted to, he couldn't anyway. His family had a plan for him, Artemis knew that. Ren's belief that he was somehow shielding him was nothing but naive and wishful thinking. It was clear that his family were taking advantage of Ren's willingness to work instead of his brother.

He closed his eyes for a moment; this is precisely why it was easier, distancing himself. He loved Ren, but his brother was a burden to himself. If he didn't so willingly oblige to his families wishes, they would probably force the work on someone else. But what could Artemis say, he knew if he tried to dissuade Ren from his position, things would grow complicated. If Lucarius or Mephistopheles heard of such interference on Artemis's part, well the punishment would be unthinkable. Ren didn't see it, what they were capable of, the darkness. Artemis could only do so much to shield him from that, as much as he hated it, Ren playing the families good boy, kept him safe.

"Ren, how about remembering where you are." He would reply coldly, glancing over at the employees that were watching them, before moving on. At least the two of them weren't fighting anymore; he would much rather deal with the matter at hand then play referee for a spat between his brother and his friend. After being frozen in place by the exploding gift launched by the walking Christmas tree. Artemis was left with no choice but to watch the scene unfold. At first, his brother, made a rather shocking joke, referring to him as a sparkly vampire from some basic teen fiction books — a comment that had heard him a rather pointed stare from his older brother before he went off to hack away at the tree which was already receiving a fire-based attack from Damien. Artemis would strain himself, trying to move, but it was no use. For now he was stuck, left with no choice but to rely on the protection of his friend and brother.


Artemis heard the roar and glanced in the direction of the beast, hearing Damian comment, he scowled, watching as the guy ran off in the bear's direction. "You think I like standing here!" He barked irritably, "It's not like I can use-" He stopped himself, frowning. Wait, could he use magic right now? He wondered, pulling the magic from within he created an orb of demonic energy, a black orb of darkness and smoke floating a short distance away. "Oh." He said, before creating several more and launching them face first into some approaching elves, knocking them back off their feet. He laughed at the sight, pleased that he could at least still use his magic. It wasn't as fun as fighting hand to hand, but at least it meant he wasn't useless. He summoned several more, sending them off after various targets. It wasn't long before the Takeover mage found himself growing bored. Damien returned, asking how they were, Art threw him a sarcastic smile and began talking in a voice of false perkiness. "Oh you know I'm just practising for when I decide to become one of those street-performers that look like statues, see if I can earn some jewel, think I'm getting quite good. SERIOUSLY DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M OK?" He barked the last part irritably. He was seriously over this entire situation; surely there was some way to become unstuck.

In his moment of contemplating what to do, there was a rumble; another portal opened up a short way away. Bigger than the others. Art craned his head in its direction, red eyes widening and from it's emerged a giant and rather menacing looking man. Wearing a red suit, with furry white edges. A black belt with a gold buckle, and long red hat. His aged face scowling angrily in their direction, his eyes glowing an ominous red. The Santa would flex his muscles, causing his shirt to rip off in a rarely overzealous manner. Artemis rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath he would sigh. "I'm so over this Christmas shit."

It seemed that the simple act of telling his little brother to watch what he was saying, causing him to flip. Artemis sighing, rubbing his temples, he'd just about had enough of this situation. He got things were tense for Ren, but for once he just wanted to hang out with his little brother, without getting an earful from someone about family matters, "Ren please..." He began, his voice was tired, strained. "I'm not trying to upset you but can we just... forget the family bullshit for once and get the job done. I'm sorry Ren, I know it sucks for both of us, Pandora too, but like it or not this is the hand we were dealt. I agree that's it's not fair, but I'm only telling you to stop because having our dirty laundry aired out for the world to see, doesn't suit any of us. Which is exactly what you're doing right now, I ask you to stop because what your doing right now isn't fair to either of us. How much you want to say about yourself is your choice, but frankly, the world doesn't need to know how our family treats me, that's between them and me. On top of which, I don't fancy being dragged into another meeting with Father and getting another scolding, I'm sure you don't want that either. So let's just calm down, get rid of these pests and call it a day." He said, he turned from his brother. Not wanting to talk about this any more, this brief encounter had somehow given Artemis a migraine. After facing the creatures and getting stuck, he threw Damian a 'look' at his Christmas tree comment, something that could be read as 'Don't you dare'.

After Santa's appearance, Artemis glared idly at it. Hearing Ren's comment, he rolled his eyes, "Seriously Ren? That's obviously not the real Santa... not that Santa's even re-" He stopped himself, glancing around. He'd almost spilt a huge secret in front of an audience; there were a few young people watching, young people who still probably idolised the fictitious old man with a sack. That was close. Artemis waved his hand at the fake Santa, "Obviously, he's an imposter." He said pointedly, only then realising that he had moved his arm. And therefore, could move his body again. Artemis would hop from foot to foot, letting out a laugh. "Aha! Get this guys; I'm free. Oh shi- Santa, yeah" He said watching as presents suddenly burst out from Santa. Artemis's body felt weird like himself grow stronger at first, then taking some damage too. Artemis shook it off, shaking some of the glitter off of his body. He marched towards Santa, watching as Damian unloaded several shots into his body. Artemis summoned more pearls of darkness around himself, manifesting a horde of orbs. He spread his palm, once more releasing his Thorns of Purgatory. The vines would shot forward, wrapping themselves around Santa's body so that he could not avoid the onslaught of orbs coming his way. After the orbs smashed into the old man, Artemis would flick his palms outwards towards the man. Releasing a giant pulse of demonic energy that struck his body face on. Santa would grunt as it smashed into him, buckling slightly from the hit. Just a little more, and this would finally be over.