Culling the Field

Running through the roadways of Magnolia were three individuals who appeared to be fleeing for their lives. No one could say from what besides a blur of red that was accompanied by a series of angry clicking noises. The unlucky trio who were making frantic attempt after frantic attempt to try and depart from their current situation was as follows: a ditzy Ice Witch, an arrogant but generic Sword Mage with a short fuse, and a calm-and-collected Gunslinger who was running behind the two others while periodically turning around to fire a volley of carefully aimed bullets in order to slow down whoever or whatever was pursuing them. "Doesn't seem like we'll be losing that guy anytime soon, Brother...", a conclusion the Gunslinger came to as he quickly kept pace after another interval of shooting rounds. "I CAN F**KING SEE THAT DON", the Sword Mage, his day literally going from zero to a hundred in a matter of moments, exclaimed with open outrage. "How in the F**K did it come to this"

"Maybe it was that one time Cliff tried showing off and accidentally deflected one of your Explosive bullets into that bakery", the Ice Witch giggled without a care in the world as they found themselves surrounded by increasingly fewer people. "If you can't think of a way out of this mess then shut up Sally", Cliff barked as he suddenly came to a stop, a look of pure horror came to color his features quite vividly. "Well... I guess we know what happened to Carl..." Right in front of them was the crumpled form of their other traveling companion Carl, who was literally painted black and blue by the various bruises and welts he's suffered from a brutal beating. Holding the unconscious body of lumps by his collar was a boyish-looking young man clad in a simple red robe with a white chef hat resting plainly atop his head. The realization that the one hunting them not only caught up to them but also cut them off while also carrying their fallen cohort only elicited Cliff's one and only shocked expression before things went South for all of them. "OH.MY.GOD".


Billiam Feyson, and his odd apprentice Martian Moonie, were already in the thick of it as the bakery's rush hour of the day came rolling in and customers came filing in one after another with requests for custom jobs or perusing through the wide assortment of already made goods. It has been almost three weeks since the kind baker allowed the hellion of a boy to work at his shop under him, and he came to appreciate how steadily the now tamer child was integrating into society. The two would work in the shop and, after some time was spent giving proper instruction, the teacher and student would work in silence. This carried on to a point where each was able to anticipate and interpret what the other did or needed. The two shared much in common, neither of them had any relatives to speak of nor did it seem to bother them that the set of parents for each of them was just not there in their lives. Trivial matters aside, Billi made a gesture signaling for Mars to give him the powdered sugar to add some finishing touches to the tray carrying only two fruit pies as a treat for themselves on a job well done when something crashed through the store window followed by a loud thunderous bang that shook the store.

Scrambling out of the kitchen and into the storefront where the blast occurred, the two were greeted by the sight of four fleeing punks with red hair and a large gaping hole where the front door and window should be. The interior was a literal disaster zone with burns everywhere and display cases broken into or warped. Calmly yet sullenly, Billi took up a broom and began sweeping the debris. "Take a few paid days off... I'll give you last week's due upfront tomorrow...", Halting his sweeping for a moment, Billi came to realize something, "Oh... and here's the key to the basement... don't lose it".

The next day, Martian Moonie was actually doing his laundry, a chore that took him quite a while to learn how to do before he was trusted to do it himself. The gathering of each article, the separation between his wardrobe-- a collection of simple and identical red robes-- and his chef hats and boxers, what detergent to get and where to apply it, what machines to use, and how long. Luckily, a number of very patient regular customers who use the laundromat's services were able to convince the magic-hating oddball that the machines responsible for turning dirty clothes into clean ones weren't run on magic. It seems that, according to them, the driers, the washing machines, and even the lights and change dispensers were powered by something called "Electricity", a form of energy that occurred and was found in Nature. The owner of the establishment was usually the one to observe him and would sometimes help him in his sorting and usage of one of the machines. The proprietor was a tough woman who was quite sizeable and built like an ox, she often wore a stern or even wary expression on her face due to the off-and-on visitations by hoodlums or errant members of an infamous local guild accidentally or intentionally causing trouble. Her name was Natasha.

Despite her stony demeanor, Natasha would often help those in need and sometimes serve as a sort of shoulder to lean on when the occasional housewife or runaway teenager was in need of some advice to somewhat help with problems at home. Of course, it was still hard to believe that she was partially responsible for turning a dangerous feral child into a somewhat decent individual whom she has had no problems helping, save for the fact that she had absolutely no idea in the world where he came from or what he was doing prior to his sudden appearance in Magnolia. "Here let's split the pile... folding the clothes will go much faster when there are four hands than two". Natasha would help Mars finish up so that he would go on his strange yet hopefully merry way, the start of her assistance taking the form of her putting on a set of special gloves before she handled the manchild's clothing.

There was a story behind the robes that Martian wore as the materials that lined the interior of the robes had properties that were meant to siphon magic from whoever was wearing them. Natasha had to take precautions when touching the inner fabric as her being born with some marginal capacity for magic meant that she would be negatively affected. Oddly enough, Mars handled his robes as any person would a normal shirt. After some time, the manchild turns and gives a bow of appreciation before he took his things and left. Carting his robes that were carefully tucked in a crate placed atop a pull wagon, the peculiar young man was walking to what he considered home in a stupor, not really paying much attention to what was happening around him save for various mentions about a quartet of red-haired mages going about throwing their magical abilities around and boasting about becoming the new hotshot members of the local wizard guild that was in the area. There were even some angered voices saying that they would post a job form appealing to some outside parties to take care of the problem.

"Da Wae..." an inquisitive utterance made by Mars, his interest in actually hunting down magic users was not only aligned with the concerns of some of the townsfolk, but it was also validated in that he would be paid to get rid of them in a manner he found fitting: beat them and show them the superiority of his might.  


The group wasn't particularly hard to find, as the four-- mostly the sword mage who was sauntering in front of the other three-- were parading themselves around in the main roads as though they owned the place. Most of the bystanders simply averted their gaze, not wanting to deal with an unnecessary headache if they could avoid it while others stole quick glances and rolled their eyes in exasperation. As the four continued their procession, a lone figure clad in a red robe came to stand in their path to obstruct their advance, the young man's right hand having a copy of the job form clenched in his hands. It was showtime.

"Ey, check out this 'ere li'l snot", one of the three standing behind the sword mage, a burly yet clean-shaven man with short spiky red hair grinned, his eyes a mixture of menace and mockery as he took in the sight of what appeared to be a child, "Poor bugga must be lost, yeah", the meathead's assessment came out as more of a question than a statement, though the amusement in his tone was obvious to even Mars. The boy in the red took in a single breath and exhaled it, the air around him began to shimmer and warp as a heat haze began to emanate from his body in preparation for the physical exertions he was to perform. "Brother something seems off about that one...", Donovan the gunslinger noted this with the very same keen eyes he uses to aim while Carl was cracking his knuckles and popping his neck for the beatdown he was itching to throw at the one person who had the audacity to stand in their way.

"What's he gonna do, throw cray--" before Clifford could even finish his sentence, a blur of red zoomed past him and straight for Carl, who couldn't respond quick enough to make use of his partial Takeover magic to defend himself from the fist the was now jammed firmly and painfully in his abdomen. Withdrawing his fist, Mars stood there for a moment as he watched his first opponent double over in pain, the muscular man falling to his knees and struggling to breathe while vomiting what remained of the meal he had prior. The heat continued permeating throughout Martian's body while the three others were forming magical seals in preparation for releasing retaliatory strikes through each of their intended magic specializations.

The hunter has found his prey and is poised to pounce.

Mars turned around at his own pace, unconcerned with the incoming attacks that were aimed at him. First came the Ice Witch's spell, as a mound of ice was forming on and around the red-robed boy's feet in an attempt to keep him in place as a means to guarantee a clean hit from the spells the remaining two would cast. The gunslinger fired two shots while the sword mage released a horizontal wave of blue energy from his blade that was coming in fast, though not to the same extent as the bullets. The ice-binding that was meant to glue Mars to the ground easily broke apart due to both the heat coming off of the non-mage and the force he exerted to break out of the ice. Not wasting his time to evade the two other attacks, the angry apprentice baker sprinted into a charge right at the three magic-users and then went down to skid and slide on the ground to avoid the projectiles while closing the distance between himself and his prey. The one magic-wrought sword slash dissipated into nothing and the rounds used in the shots were normal bullets charged with the user's magic where their inertia was stunted after traveling a certain distance and then harmlessly fall to the ground.

"HOLD IT", bellowing just beyond the group that was about to come to blows was Carl, who was getting back on his feet, his left hand on his stomach from the damage and lingering pain dealt onto him by that one punch, "The li'l shit's MINE". Seething with an air of killing intent, the strong-man of the troublesome quartet surrounded himself with a violent aura of magical energy as a seal formed under him, he too was preparing an offensive now that he was pissed enough to take this supposed fight more seriously. Carl not only grew more muscular, but his whole body was also increased in size and was now covered in blue fur. "Ya like this punk", with a snarl, Carl would snicker with sadistic anticipation to carry out his grisly retribution upon the one who humiliated him, "Ya better watch out... can't hold myself back when I'm like this..."

In mere moments, a duel ensued between the boy in red robes and an enormous beast-man whose mere steps shook the ground within the immediate vicinity. At this point, the part of the town where the conflict would take place was blocked off with protective wards and barriers after people were evacuated and brought safely beyond the barricade where all entry or exit would be barred off. Clifford, Donovan, and Sally all fled before the barriers were fully erected, not wanting to get caught up in the carnage wrought by their middle brother's Beast Soul rampage. The majority of the battle between the manchild and the blue monster consisted mainly of Carl hurling his fists down at Mars in an attempt to beat him to a pulp while Mars would scurry to either side of the mammoth-sized man and deal as many hard jabs to his large adversary's exposed back as the opening could afford him. Magic seals appeared each time the Beast Soul user attempted to use spells to augment the destructive power of his strikes so as to cause small quakes on the ground to unbalance the elusive little guy.

It was a war of attrition where Carl began to tire quickly while Martian has yet to show any signs of fatigue, the boy was overflowing with both his heat haze and his sheer abundance in vigor. In fact, the baker apprentice's initially minor attacks were gradually increasing in potency, as each of his punches was landing at three specific spots that he would target repeatedly and in quick succession. Even when the larger of the two combatants regressed into his normal human form and had no energy left to continue, the vengeful youth still had so much more rage to hurl at him as he mercilessly continued beating a now defenseless and powerless mage. Some onlookers who managed to catch a glimpse were horrified to see a grown muscular man being brutally beaten to an inch of his life by a relatively more diminutive young man who was still thrashing at his victim wildly. It all culminated in an act in which only a few other deeds could surpass in the level of savagery. Mars took his time stomping on Carl's arms and legs until the bones were broken only to turn the man over and began jumping up and down, trampling all over the now pitiful fool's back. He would live, but he will never become a proper wizard from this point forward.

Having caught up to the rest of his quarry, Martian simply let one of his victims fall limply to the floor while he prepared to face the other three. Sally's normally bubbly demeanor dissolved and turned into dread in that she might share the same fate as one of her older brothers. "Cliff... this won't be a fight you can win on your own... we might have to use that if we want to get out of this...", Donovan, in his still calm tone, was actually sweating profusely. Carl may have been a brute and was even a bit overbearing at times, but he always had their backs no matter what they did, so to see that the strongest of the four siblings was reduced to a bloody pulp struck fear into the otherwise relaxed gunslinger. Clifford, in his lack of wisdom and to stroke his own ego, saw this as his opportunity to prove that he should be the De Facto leader of their band, as it was only fitting for the eldest child of their family. Still, a sense of foreboding crept up on even the sword mage himself. "N-Nonsense... Carl just underestimated his opponent and s-see what that got him...".

Mars continued his slow approach, his instinctive prowess for combat coloring his thought process, he wanted to tire his prey out, whittle them down until they were too weak to even flee, then he will strike and take the prize that is his to claim. "Brother... please...", pleading and on the verge of tears, Sally beseeched her sibling, causing Clifford to flinch at the sight of his normally cheerful sister begging desperately for help where he then relented. Part of him feeling some measure of relief in doing so. "F-fine... if it can help you two sniveling runts feel better then so be it...", Together, the three remaining siblings clasped hands and began pooling their magical powers as one, each of them synchronized with the others as they kneaded and shaped their magic. "Unison Raid: Petal Flurry Maelstrom". From the three mages came forth what appeared to be a vast multitude of delicate-looking white flower petals that then moved quickly en masse to surround Mars.

Each petal was a thin shard of ice lined with sharp edges of magical energy being guided remotely from a distance. Hundreds upon thousands of these pedals were flying around and encircling Mars as they slowly encroached upon him to slice him up. The ice that made the petals when they came in contact would melt due to the heat that radiated out of the weirdo, but the magic blades persisted slightly longer before dissipating into nothingness and managed to get some slices in, though the cuts were shallow. It would appear that the trio's gambit was paying off as their pursuer found himself in an inescapable barrage of blades that would inevitably bleed him dry if not kill him outright with a well-placed swipe. That was at least what they assumed until Mars made a charge right for them, his toughened hands swatting away a number of the petals as he closed the distance. They then made the mistake of focusing the attack into a torrent in order to push him back and hopefully kill him with the magic's force, but the wild student of bread slipped passed it and struck down the Ice Witch first, Mar's fist smashing so hard into the young woman's face that she lost a couple of teeth upon impact. The gunslinger took aim, but the feral child was already upon him before he could pull the trigger, his legs were swept right under him and caused him to fall on his back where the red marauder proceeded to punch him squarely in the face. Cliff was about to get the drop on his assailant after the chaotic interloper made quick work of his siblings, bringing his sword down in an attempt to land a killing blow, only for Martian to quickly turn around, catch the sword mage's weapon bare-handed, and then proceeded to snap it in half without even breaking a sweat. "P-Please... have mercy...", Clifford was scared shitless, his pants freshly moistened by still-warm piss. "INTERNECINE", Mars would yell at the top of his lungs as he beat the three mages senseless while his own wounds were still bleeding, breaking their bones so they couldn't run, and then tied them up when he was finished.

Martian Moonie clapped and dusted his hands off, looking at his handiwork with a dopey grin. It was to his hope that the people would see his trophies and praise his accomplishments. The four menace mages, moaning in pain from broken bones and severe bruises, were tied to wooden crosses where they would stay overnight and be seen by the townsfolk. As they were seen, the people looked at the display with a mixture of both shock and awe. While they wanted the troublemakers to be stopped, some of them didn't wish the intervention to be this extreme. Some, however, harbored thoughts that this wasn't severe enough, that ALL mages should be taught this lesson and leave the non-magical commonfolk to their peace or take their spell-casting nonsense elsewhere. All of this didn't matter to Mars, who returned to his home so that he may work the next day, all that mattered was that he would be given his fruit pie. Eventually, the four mages would be brought down and treated for their injuries. When they were recovered enough, they would be discharged and then escorted out of Magnolia on the ground that they never set foot on its soil again. They haven't returned since.