The deep places

In this place so close to the Phoenix mountains, there was always a harsh breeze passing down from the frozen peaks that chilled the skin. Looking around the village, old memories of a past life came to him. The amount of children that had died here just to be used as fuel for a demented wraith. Before Solmar had destroyed her and her minions, the wraith had told him exactly why she had killed all of them, claiming she heard the whispers of a dark god that promised to bring her back to life if she could provide him a soul pure enough. In her eyes, there were no souls more pure than those of children, untainted by experience and hardship. While part of him could understand the reasoning behind it, Thagirion had come to the conclusion that it was probably unwise to deal with forces one could not see or hold accountable for anything. But even with the wraith and her minions banished, that was not the end of it.

There was always danger in these mountains, either from wild animals such as bears or mountain lions, bandits and brigands, but also from far more insidious forces. While not many were aware of it, there was a place on the mountain on the western side where elemental forces had faced one another in a battle to control the area. It was there that the elemental lords of wind and fire had both perished, but not before scarring the terrain for many years to come. Ever since that time, that part of the mountains had never truly been the same ever again, though that went both ways. Due to the way in which the land had been scarred and saturated by elemental forces, strange new minerals had begun to appear there that were in high demand already. Ever since the fighting ended a year ago, followed by the excavation of the first minerals, the Mountain village had started constructing large mines.

Funded by a rich company that helped them distribute and aided them in sales, the mines had gone deep into the mountain, stretching far into the deep places where humans should not be. When the elemental forces clashed, many fire elementals and earth elementals had retreated into the depths, where they were now at times disturbed by all of the mining operations. This obviously caused quite some altercations, leading to people being crushed or charred to death, though the elementals getting destroyed gave rise to more minerals being formed out of their lifeblood mixing with the earth and soil. By the time the people responsible for funding the operation heard of this, they started hiring capable individuals who would venture down into the tunnels. Some were hired under the guise of “preventing casualties” among the workers, while others were simply hired for their combat skills and told to go down and destroy a bunch of elementals.

To say that these mountains had seen great hardship and strive was an understatement, though that was exactly why Hanzo had come here. Being one of those people that had been hired for the simple purpose of getting rid of the elementals, there were others that had also responded to the same call to arms. Whether it was to protect the workers or simply for the sake of killing for money, it did not matter a whole lot to him. Depending on how things went, he could either work with them or have them work for him, it did not matter which to him. Wearing the traditional shinobi garments of his clan, Hanzo had come from Hosenka in order to earn money to bring back there. It was the purpose for which he had been trained, to do these kinds of dark deeds and see to it that the treasury remained filled and future students could be raised for the same purpose. It was what one might consider to be a never-ending loop, at least for as long as the reputation of the clan remained and the treasury kept being filled.

Waiting at the foot of the mountain, the member of the Ten no Michi clan barely felt the cold as it was one of those physical issues he had learned to repress. Another thing he had learned to repress was his magical signature, allowing him to blend into the darkness in order to assassinate just about anyone before being noticed. Meditating at the last building in the village before it was all a steep, uphill walk to get into the actual mountains. Considering how the sun had come up from above the horizon about two hours ago, it made sense to believe that the others would likely be here soon, after which their journey could begin towards their undertaking. With the warmth of the sun to accompany them, the road towards the mines would at the very least be pleasant. Because even though he would not allow himself to feel the cold, the fact that it was detrimental for his body was nothing to scoff at. If he was to kill elementals with his blade, he wanted to be in as good a condition as possible, which was why he was meditating until the rest of the party made it to where he was.


883

appearance:

It had been a long since Libbier had gone out of her way to do a job this far away from where she usually stays, but then again, ever since Rakshasa got disbanded, the time spent between jobs has been increasing greatly, especially for someone like Libbier that has some issues to deal with herself, issues that can cause real damage to her surroundings if she cannot suppress them. Still, food costs money, double that for sweets, and she cannot live without food. She certainly can live without sweets but that would be hell and she does not want to live in hell. Her exceed friend, Nero, is also a first-class glutton, and his very large body also has a correspondingly increased sustenance cost, but luckily he can put it to work doing some hard labor with decent pay for himself. It's a steady income for both, as Libbier's jobs are rare and far in between even if they pay larger amounts for far less time spent.

And this is why Libbier is currently making her way towards the location of her new job. For what she was able to understand it was a simple search and destroy the type of job where she had to look around within some mines for elementals and dispatch them. She was wearing her usual combat attire as, for bad or for worse, she did not have any kind of problems dealing with nature's temperature, be it high or low, it all felt mostly the same for Libbier, so she was comfortable even if she suddenly found herself in the top of an ice mountain or the middle of the desert. At least when it was regarding the temperature, she still disliked both none the less, desserts for being too dry and the sand gets in everywhere, ice mountains for tending to have far more zero vision snowstorms than she would like.

Thankfully, she didn't have to walk all the way to these, far from the beaten path, villages alone, as Kindred was with her. This mysterious being that had a dual personality, much like herself, while at the same time having these personalities control individual bodies while still managing to be a single entity. It called its separate personalities as Wolf and Lamb, always referring to itself as we unless talking with itself. It was weird, but Libbier had managed to grow accustomed to its quirks, and also learned a lot from it on how to control herself, or not control herself has it had put it, in order to avoid losing herself. It also had the advantage of being a spirit body that did not require food, so that was a plus.

"Bah. I wish Nero was here so I could fly to the location on his back.", Libbier complained to no one in particular.

"That is true.", Lamb replied before Wolf added, "But we would miss all the prey along the way."

"That was nothing more than hunting to eat... well, for me to eat, you just had fun chasing rabbits and deer as you pleased."

"I wonder what prey we will find soon.", Wolf imagined as Lamb reassured, "Worry not, master, we will not fail you. For we were born from you, for you."

"So you say, but I do not yet understand how this magic works so I will check the veracity of those words with my own eyes."

Kindred did not reply, although Lamb did not her head in acceptance to Libbier's decision.

Soon enough they arrived at the base of the mountain they were supposed to meet with the rest of the subjugation team they were to be part of. Libbier never shied away from making new friends, but she was always wary of meeting new people. There did not seem to be that many villagers around the village as Libbier walked around the outskirts to avoid crowds, to begin with. When the rendezvous area was within sight, Libbier noticed she was not the first to arrive as a large man stood there, dressed in all black while carrying two swords on his back. It screamed assassin no way you looked at it, and Libbier imagined his first victim had possibly been fashion itself. But then again she was not one to judge too much, after all, one can not argue preferences.

"Hello, there!", Libbier called out as she approached, "This is the meeting point for the subjugation job right? My name is Libbier."

Libbier introduced herself as she stretched out her hand once she was close to the man, while Kindred stayed back keeping watch.

769//769

Feeling the approach of several “people”, Hanzo could clearly tell that the one leading the troop was a mage that was stronger than most of the ones he had met in the past few months. While this was not exactly a feat of strength on account of how he had been secluded for most of those months, the shinobi magician had come across a few others mages. Their magic was quite different in feel though, but that did not really matter. By the time this person came close enough to him to prove that it was in fact one of those he had been waiting for, he opened one of his eyes ever so slightly in order to create an image in his head. Spotting two strange looking creatures accompanying a female mage, the first thing that came to mind was that they were either allies she had summoned through her magics, or actual creatures from a different plane of existence that were here for the very same reason.

No matter what the case might be, being around more combat oriented folks would decrease the odds of the enemy focusing their attentions towards him. As a shinobi, he worked best when all eyes were not on him, allowing him to dispatch enemies before they could respond to his attacks. Only really being here to create a list of confirmed kills he could take back for payment, Hanzo did not really care much for making friends along the way. The Ten no Michi code of conduct stated clearly that people were supposed to stick to themselves, as attachment made one weak. Attachment meant people made decisions that were not based on logic and training, but based on matters of emotion, this being the reason why shinobi of the Ten no Michi clan earned their lord more money and generally lived longer.

“… Hanzo. I take it you’re also here for the subjugation quest regarding the elementals in the mines. Good, additional hands are always beneficial towards establishing a profitable outcome.”

With that, he closed his eye and continued his semi-meditative state, not bothering to shake hands or exchange further courtesies. He had been prepared to embark on this job several hours ago, and he was just about ready to leave the last member of their team behind. When in this line of work, time was equal to money, meaning wasting time was the same as wasting money, and that did not work for him. Willing to give the guy thirty more minutes before he would set out to do the job with just the two of them, or rather, the four of them, he wandered whether or not this Libbier person was willing to go along with it. From her introduction, it seemed that she was here for the subjugation, not so much for the actual killfest that he had signed up for. It was however for the sake of maintaining the cover of the people he was working for that he would not state to be here for reasons other than ensuring the safety of the miners.

For the time being, he would bide his time and wait for the final member of the team to arrive, or head on up the mountain with or without Libbier to claim his just due.


1436

As much “fun” as it was to meditate while waiting for the sun to rise further and further, Hanzo was quite pleased to see that the final member of their party announced himself. Under the guise of meditation, he himself had constantly been scanning a wide radius around himself for anything of note, and just as much as Libbier had been a person of note, it seemed that this new person was to fit into the same category. While most of him felt about right, there was something rather ominous about him, or maybe not so much about him as it was something coming from inside. Due in part to his nature, Hanzo was quite adept at finding out that which was concealed from normal sight and senses, believing this to be the case in this particular situation. He had seen and fought demons before, though this was different, convoluted in ways he could not unravel at this point in time.

That said, if given enough time, he was certain that he could figure out what this guy was hiding. And luckily enough, the three of them would be spending enough time just traveling to their next location, not to mention the time they would spend inside the depths of the mines while fighting beings of elemental origins. Keeping his sensory abilities going did not require a whole lot out of him, and since the process was in and of itself concealed from mortal means of sensing, it made it easier for Hanzo to not just keep an actual eye on his surroundings but actually get a far wider and more precise view through his mind’s eye. As he would not figure out what was going on with this guy at this point in time, internally speaking, it seemed wise to move things along. Deciding to leave it for what it was for now, Hanzo rose to his feet in response to the rather half-assed greeting provided to them by the new arrival.

“Osokarishi..”

Looking at the currently unnamed man with now opened eyes, Hanzo made sure to take in as much about this person as he possibly could in what little time they had before their departure. While the word in itself did not mean much, he figured this man nor the woman that was accompanying them would not know what it meant. While the word itself could be translated simply to “being late”, the word had taken on a different meaning to him. Back in the dojo, the temple and the lodgings where he had spent his life, certain phrases and tales had been drilled into his skull by those that taught him most of everything he knew. Believing many of the locals of his home to be aware of the tale, Hanzo believed a quick explanation would be in order, both to let the man know what his current feelings regarding the situation were, as well as in the spirit of moving things along.

“My people tell the tale by the name of Yarunosuke Oishi, a teachable moment for times such as these. As the story goes, a retainer by the name of Yarunosuke arrived too late to bid farewell to his lord, only arriving after the latter had committed suicide by disembowelment. Thus leaving Yarunosuke a warrior with no master, nor a cause. Though simplistic, it teaches us the importance of being on time, and banishing tardiness..”

That said, he did not address the fact that the man had rudely kept from sharing his name with the group, feeling that him not doing so meant Hanzo did not need to do so either, a fair enough exchange. After his little speech regarding tardiness, the shinobi did not say much else as he nodded towards the mountain and simply started walking. Being fairly certain as to where he would need to go in order to reach the mines, the locals of the Mountain Village had established a rather easy to follow trail that would guide the miners back and forth between the village itself and the mines deeper in the mountains. Figuring that the two, along with their entourage would likely follow him, he would not make any attempts at stopping or slowing down to wait for them. His stride was of a decent pace, though it was by no means too fast for them to keep up with. If it came down to it, he would just take on the job by his lonesome, though he welcomed the help.

 
2189

"...Ok?", Libbier said to no one in particular, as she slowly retracted her hand as she realized the man that had called himself Hanzo would not reach out his own hand. Instead, he just made a small remark on how more helping hands on the job were useful and returned to doing what he was doing... whatever it was, possibly meditation. Libbier looked back to Kindred, but all she got from it was Lamb raising her shoulders and not caring much about it, and Wolf letting out a low growl aimed at the man. Both responses were something that Libbier had already gotten used to getting, as for someone that affirmed to live for her and not fail her, neither really helped her much outside of battle.

"Well, at least its good to know I'm in the right place, I guess.", Libbier said to Kindred as she walked to it as Hanzo did not seem interested in striking a conversation. She was used to the silent moody types due to her time in Rakshasa, so she didn't think much of his behavior. Then a new guy appears, coming from the town. Libbier can almost tell from his looks that he is not the fun type.

Almost as if sensing something from the newcomer, Libbier feels her other-self trying to take over, as the iris of the left eye turns momentarily red. Kindred, who was checking out the new arrival, notices the sudden albeit change on its master's disposition. Being an entity born from the same power that is locked inside Libbier, Kindred had the keen senses to notice the fluctuations on that power, and even if from the outside it only looked like Libbier's eye color changed for a few seconds, Kindred could clearly see the second owner of its master's body gleeful look when she saw the man that had just arrived as if sensing something no one would normally notice.

Quietly Lamb placed her hand on Libbier's shoulder, while Wolf was keeping an eye on the man that had failed to introduce himself but was clearly going to join on the job.

"I'm ok.", Libbier whispered, "It just suddenly flared up for some reason."

Libbier felt slightly frustrated as she had been training to contain her other-self for a long time, and even after Kindred's insightful advice, she had only been able to fully contain it when she was not under stress. And even so, she had just failed to truly do so just now.

As this was happening, Hanzo began to talk about a story for some reason. A story that by his own standards was simplistic, and yet Libbier could not fail to complain in her mind. He had just said that a story with a man killing himself was simplistic. What kind of story with that kind of scenario is simplistic? Especially when it comes to talking back at someone arriving late? Seriously.

"This job is going to be so much fun.", Libbier said sarcastically to no one in particular, as Hanzo just suddenly starts to walk towards the mountain without saying anything else.

Still, this was the job she accepted and she still needed to do it to pay her own expenses, so she follows without saying anything herself. If everyone was going to be like this, at least she hoped that they would be professional and efficient, otherwise this was going to be a very long, painful job. Right now, Libbier was wishing that Lily was with her. If not to have someone she knew around to talk to, at least to heal her already tired mind.

Kindred followed soon after, Lamb staying close to Libbier's right and Wolf to her left.

619//1388

“….As a lone wolf, I can tell that makes exactly zero sense, though it was a good attempt.”

Replying to the slowpoke, Hanzo walked on with the other two mages, headed towards the part of the mountains where they would be able to enter the mines and begin searching for their query. Being the kind of person that he was, he had already started to wonder what kind of things he might be expecting from these two in terms of offensive or defensive spell powers. Since one of them was accompanied by two otherworldly companions, it left a bit of speculation as to what they were capable of, as well as whether or not they had any powers of their own. More so, it left him with the thought of whether or not she was a summoner, or if she had other magical powers in store for the sake of these battles. With that, his attention went to the other guy, who has as of yet not shown anything as to what he was capable of yet, though this would remain this way for very long it seemed.

After using a spoken command, a group of mechanical constructs formed and began hovering above the ground. These things called “drones” were most likely yet another piece of human ingenuity, which was something he had come to enjoy about them. When the summoner brought up that some rogue elementals might have made their way out of the mine and could be making their way to the village, Hanzo could not help but shake his head in disapproval. The mines themselves were several kilometers away from the village, a thing they had apparently done for good reason, it being exactly to make sure no rogue elementals would pose a threat. This meant that if any did make their way out, they would probably run into them along the way, at which point the three of them would surely dispatch the lot of them if their numbers remained within manageable quantities.

“If any of them did make their way out, we will see them long before they reach the place. That is, unless they either fly over us or tunnel beneath us, though those are possibilities I myself am not equipped to handle.”

Speaking honestly as his swords would not do a whole lot to help him fight against those that were gifted with the ability of flight or those who could move beneath the earth, he hoped that he hadn’t jinxed the group by bringing up these possibilities. Coming up against things he could not kill because they were out of his reach would be quite upsetting, even for someone who had trained to keep his emotions under wraps. So once the drones started doing some scouting, Hanzo just kept on leading the way towards their destination while ignoring most of the remarks made by the people he was supposed to be working with. He wasn’t daft nor dim, so he understood entirely well what was intended with certain remarks, things such as sarcasm even making their way into the strict training facilities of the Ten no Michi clan. Controlling his urges, the stride continued.


-----Roughly Two Hours Later-----


With the drones keeping watch over them and making sure to also look for any potential runaway elementals coming from the mines, their journey towards their location was rather uneventful. Although boring, it was a good thing that the elementals seemed to contain themselves to this place. Given their past, they most likely believed the depths of the earth to be the only place that was safe for them while they were barred from returning to their elemental plane, especially their respective lords had been slain in an attempt to take all of earthland and turn it into a place more suited for their kind. As elementals stuck to their own kind, it was highly uncommon for those of different types to stick together, which was why claims of fire and earth elementals living within the deep mines struck Hanzo as odd, as well as interesting.

His time alone in the village had allowed him to do a bit of questioning into why this might be, which was also why he had heard the tale of the mage who had fought against four elemental lords at the same time, destroying the lords of fire and wind on the same spot where they had now built the mines. As the lords of water and earth had died in different locations, the location of the mine being the epicenter of a great battle seemed to be a strange coincidence to many. But the only thing that seemed like a strange coincidence to Hanzo was that two types of elementals were holed up in the same place without actively trying to destroy one another to gain the favor of their betters. Wondering whether these guys he was with had any idea as to what they were about to step into or if they had even done any kind of reading into the situation, he felt like it was up to him to at the very least try to inform them of it.

“Before you go wandering in, there is something you should know about this place. Some time ago, several elementals were slain here. And not just any kind of elementals, but the kind they call Lords, possessing the kind of power that could eradicate cities and reshape nations. Some believe that this is why this place became the primary location for the new minerals found in these mountains.”

Taking a short break to let his words sink in, Hanzo imagined this was exactly the kind of thing these two needed. Not because they seemed like they were idiots, but because they seemed like the kind of people that did not much enjoy heeding the words of others. In a way, that would work out to their favor once they went about fighting the actual elementals, seeing as they would not be needing constant orders and pointers as to what they needed to do. However, when briefing them on some of the things they needed to know beforehand seemed like information that would likely be falling on deaf ears. If he did not tell them however and they got injured or killed because of it, there was the one positive in that he would not need to share the bounty with them, though there would be no honor in it. As such, his personal code dictated him to share his findings with these guys before allowing anyone to approach the mine.

“Also, there is a unique situation going on down there. Sighting of fire elementals and earth elementals living in the same cavern systems is not just rare, it simply never happens. But for whatever reason, these mines are the exception to the rule as scorch marks and blunt force trauma are not uncommon in the attacks, while the victims have been quite clear in describing their attackers. Regardless of the reason behind it, be ready to encounter more things that are out of the ordinary, for where there is smoke..”

With that, there was no longer any reason to keep anyone from moving around him and venturing closer to the mine. As there still seemed to be work going on in the upper levels of the mines judging by the lights and sounds from inside, it seemed relatively safe to assume that the danger was contained to the lower levels. For the time being, they had all the time in the world to make their way into the mines and find their targets, mark them for elimination and get to doing the deed.


3477

The fact that her other-self had flared up for no reason was still lingering on Libbier's mind. It's not normal for such thing to happen without some kind of stress being applied to Libbier in the first place, be it physical or mental. And yet, it happened out of the blue without prior notice, as if there was just something that was drawing it out by force. Could it have been the new guy? It did happen on his arrival but it could have just been a coincidence. Libbier could not really be sure if it only happened one single time.

Looking back at the new guy did not cause the same reaction to resurge. All that Libbier could feel was the normal levels of weird as she looked at the interaction between the other two men. All the lone wolf remarks did was make Libbier look at Wolf, as she hoped he would never start making this kind of one-liners, which made Wolf tilt his head wondering why she was looking at him. As she was thinking this, the new guy suddenly summoned a number of things that looked like machines, but Libbier could not really tell as she didn't usually interact with the modern day's technology, especially ones related to movement and transportation, so she couldn't be too sure.

"Those are some interesting looking beings.", Lamb commented, before Wolf adding with an eager growl, "Can I hunt them down?"

"I do not think those things are alive, to begin with.", Libbier answered to Lamb, before stopping Wolf, "And no, that's clearly an ally, so no, you cannot hunt them."

Certainly, it was not something one would see every day, but considering the situation, it was nice to see that Lamb and Wolf would not change that much regardless. Even so, after hearing the words of Libbier, Lamb moved as if she was highly interested in the drones that had begun to disperse and get into the position their master wanted them to be. Wolf was really eager to pounce on one of the drones, to the point that Libbier, while listening to what the drones were going to be used for, had to actually grab one of his ears, as she knew he would certainly go off on his own if she didn't.

Well, it's not like she didn't understand the mentality of the new guy wanting to be sure no elemental got past them, but she was pretty sure elementals were rather hard to miss. But she could be wrong so she decided against rebuking the idea, especially since he had already gone out of his way to send the drones. That and Hanzo pretty much said what she would have said so no reason to go around repeating stuff.

---

After a couple of boring hours filled with walking, the group was still progressing at a reasonable pace, and although Libbier was pretty much bored out of her mind since she couldn't freely explore the caves, Kindred was still its normal self, as Lamb walked with no care in the world, while Wolf stayed in high alert. Libbier suspected that Wolf was acting as a scout more to find prey than to help the group with their task.

After a while, Hanzo began to talk about something that he had learned about the situation. It was nice since Libbier had pretty much rushed over for the job and had no time to learn the story behind the location. Usually, she just explores at her own pace and figures things out as she goes along. Still, the idea that this area was inhabited by beings that could eradicate cities, moreover several of them, was rather interesting and Libbier was glad to know about it, although she didn't really know what to say about the fact that said elementals had been slain.

As Libbier was thinking about this new information, Hanzo continued, added the fact that this location seemed to be housing both fire and earth elementals, and the attacks suffered by the people around here showed signed of both elementals. But this left something on Libbier's mind as she reached for a hand-sized rock that was loose on the floor. The attacks had signs of both elementals, but were they done by each elemental separately?

"Can we be sure about this information?", Libbier asked as she began to heat the rock on her hand. As the rock turned liquid Libbier began to manipulate it with her magic to form what looked like a small doll shaped figure, "Is there a chance that there are elemental fusions happening here?"

It was just speculation on her part, but it could also explain the reason for both fire and earth elementals to be in the same area. After all, Libbier had seen her fair share of weird foes, enough to be able to imagine some pretty strange although not impossible possibilities before she even got to confirm things, and something like a magma elemental caused from the fusion of both fire and earth would cause the same kind of attacks. Even if none had been spotted, there was always the possibility.

860//2248‬

All of this talking about elementals and a fusion of elementals felt rather stale pretty quickly, because there were reasons as to why he had come here, and doing research into the nature of these otherworldly beings was not exactly one of them. That said, he had gathered up enough information to know what he was likely going to be up against and what he should be prepared for. So while swords would most likely not be the best means of fighting such beings, swords enhanced with plenty of magic would surely do the trick even if it meant him having to get close to them first. So while he pondered on that and listened to the explanation that seemed almost a bit too smart to be coming from the guy that had come up with faulty lone wolf statements before, he felt that the reasoning made a lot of sense. So when he said that there were likely some of these hybrids inside of the mountain along with a faint sensation of corrupt ethernano, Hanzo felt the need to chip in and angle the conversation into a rather specific direction.

“Well, as I had mentioned before, the mines are directly below a site where the four elemental lords once fought one another, and where two of them met their end. When their respective lord died, most of the elementals in the direct area got vacuumed into a portal that transported them back to their own dimension. Therefore, it makes sense to believe that the ones who managed to keep themselves from being transported back where powerful enough to anchor themselves here somehow.”

Once he finished explaining, his mind went towards whatever the source of this corrupt ethernano might be. While he had a pretty good idea as to what it might be, he hoped that it had not been the reason why these elementals had managed to stay here, and get stronger to boot. So while it did not matter a whole lot to him if elementals were capable to mix breeds and create more powerful offspring, it did bother him that there was something beyond his sight that had kept these elementals around long enough for them to attempt such things. After all, it had been a year since they had gotten stranded here in these mountains, and the literal lifeblood of their fallen lords had seeped into the very soil, giving rise to this new mineral these humans were boldly mining away at the cost of their own lives. They were after all, making a very conscious choice of going into the mines, knowing they could get attacked or killed at any time when the elementals began to rampage again.

“If these hybrids are in fact real, that means that the mission will be that much harder, as dealing with animate elements is hard enough as it is. As such, I believe the best way to deal with this problem is to head straight down to the lowest possible level and see what this place will throw at us. Once we head in, ignore the workers or we’ll likely be here all day.”

With that, Hanzo made a quick hand gesture, signaling that he was going in before walking towards and through the entrance to the mine. Once inside, all natural light quickly faded and made way for light made by old fashioned torches. For places like these, lacrima based lighting was most likely too expensive, especially since there were these rogue elementals running amok and destroying whatever they got close enough to. As expected, it did not take long before the workers noticed that mages had entered the tunnels, leading them to lay down their work and come at them with lots of questions. So while Hanzo simply powered through without making eye contact, he still heard and registered all of the questions thrown their way. Asking if they could go and find a lost relative or friend that had gone missing down below, asking them what was going on and if their superiors had been lying to them about there only being some earthquakes, the usual kind of question asked by frightened people in a bad situationed environment.

Making his way out of the forming mob, he left them behind him without acknowledging them, both because he did not want to waste time and because he did not know what to tell them that would make things any better. At this point, there was nothing he could say that had any legitimacy as none of them knew what they were getting into yet, and that was the long and short of it. Regardless, he maintained his confident stride towards the elevator shaft that seemed like it had not been used for some time. That said though, it seemed surprisingly sturdy, even though it really had to be if it was going to go up and down with large amounts of mined minerals in carts and barrels. Luckily for them, it only had to carry a handful of people down into the bowels of the mountain, meaning the elevator would not be under nearly as much strain as it normally was. By the time the entire party was inside of the elevator, he started turning the mechanism that would lower them at a gradual but slow rate, as going too fast might cause complications no one would want.

“It will likely be a few minutes before we get down to the bottom, so lets use this time to discuss strategy. If we are about to face beings that the outside world has never seen before, as well as whatever they have been cooking up down here for the past year, it might be good if we were all aware of our strengths and weaknesses. Knowing what to expect from your allies might mean the difference between living and dying down there…”

Uncharacteristically throwing that out there for the rest to hear, he truly felt like this would be by far the best way to handle the unexpected threats they would face down there. Even if they had a figment of an idea as to what was coming, none of them would truly be able to tell and arm him or herself against it. As such, if the whole team was aware of what the person by their side or having their back was capable of, it might lead them away from any unnecessary deaths and mistakes that might leave them gravely injured. That said, Hanzo first tossed the idea out there to see how the others would reply. Because if they were to refuse, he would not go as far as to let them know what he could do either. In the worst case scenario, the last thing he wanted was for them to be able to use that knowledge against him, meaning he would only let them know about his magical abilities once they agreed to the terms by sharing a thing or two about their own abilities. It was only fair after all.


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According to the lone wolf guy, the chances of the elementals fusing were very low, but the same could not be said of the chances of their offspring having both aspects of their parents. Well, in the end, the results would be the same, its not like it would change there being fusion ones or not, their job would be the same regardless. Corrupted or not, the elementals had to be dealt with.

Libbier let the small magma elemental wanna be on her hand fall down as it had done its job of been an easy example, and the hot magma quickly cooled down as it hit the floor. Wolf, who seemed focused on the small being closed in and smelled the now hard rock, but since Libbier was no longer moving the dollish figure, he quickly lost interest and returned to Lamb's side and aimed again at the drones he could see. Lamb of course kept him in line with a look.

Hanzo then gave his own take on the possibility of fusion elementals, mentioning the elemental lords that had once existed in this place, and how it could be troublesome if they did exist since the remaining elementals would be the strongest ones, to begin with. Then he mentions that they should ignore the workers.

"Wait!", Libbier exclaimed, "There are still workers inside?"

Libbier never imagined that, considering the need to hire mages to deal with the elementals, there would still be miners within the mining area.

Following Hanzo inside, LIbbier was surprised to the number of people standing around the elevator entrance. It was almost like they were waiting for them and quickly swarmed around the group. Feeling a little overwhelmed by the sudden mob surrounding them, Libbier fumbled on her attempts to reply to the numerous questions thrown at the group.

"I... Wait... I don't...", Libbier tried to start an answer before another question was thrown at them, "Let me..."

With this, she tried to follow Hanzo, but maybe his stoic look made the people give up on asking him anything, and Libbier's attempt to answer made her an easier target and she was flooded. Seeing this, Kindred moved in, with Lamb grabbing Libbier's hand to force her to follow, while Wolf quickly moved around the two, letting out audible growls to force the miners to open a path. Libbier was glad they were with her, otherwise, there was a good chance she would become confused and not be able to move forward fast enough and maybe even have her other side take advantage of that confusion to take over.

The group quickly moved to the elevator before Libbier even had the chance to realize what was happening and prepare herself. As the elevator began to move, at a snail's pace, Hanzo suggested that they shared their capabilities in other to better organize their strategy to fight the elementals that had been living in the mines for over a year. His mention that they should share their strengths and weaknesses was ironic considering Libbier's current condition. This condition being she being on the ground with her head on Lamb's lap, as her eyes were violently spinning and all she could do was groan as her sense of balance was completely wrecked by the moving elevator.

One of her greatest weakness, being a dragon slayer, with two different elemental slayer magic at that, caused her to have an absurd amount of motion sickness that pretty much left her completely incapable of any action. With this, the rather weird situation, where their master was completely out, Lamb was giving Libbier a lap pillow while gently patting her head, while Wolf looked at it as if he was looking at a completely hopeless person with a seriously disappointed expression.

Since her master was completely out, Lamb answered for her as she combed Libbier's hair.

"I guess I will have to answer that in my master's stead. As you can see, the master suffers from severe motion sickness while riding anything.", Lamb started, and while Libbier wanted to rebut it and say that she could ride on Nero's back just fine, she was currently not in a condition to say anything, so Lamb continued uninterrupted, "She has rather weak control of her magic when it comes to long-range attacks of magical nature and is currently suffering from a condition that makes it risky for her to be in fights where allies are present for extended durations."

Libbier wondered what the hell Lamb was thinking in blurting all that out, but another wave of dizziness hit her so once again, Lamb continued, "As for strengths, Master has exceedingly high melee combat capabilities as well as a good range of support abilities for both her and allies alike, as well as the ability to absorb magic from magma, fire, earth and ice elements. Furthermore, she is cute."

Libbier was surprised as Lamb started to number her strengths, but for good or for bad, failed to listen to the last sentence Lamb uttered due to her motion sickness.

There was nothing she could do. Being a dragon slayer she had already accepted that this would happen every now and then, even if she did not enjoy it in any way... well maybe she enjoyed being pampered by Lamb a little, but her pride took a hit for being taken care by someone that called her 'master'. The way Wolf looked at her didn't help either.

Even so, the elevator would stop eventually and she would be able to move again immediately when it did. It's not like the elementals would be able to use elevators as weapons to deal with her... right?

948//3196

Watching as the woman suddenly went down in what was just about the weirdest display of motion sickness he had ever witnessed in his entire life, Hanzo came to conclude that these kinds of things affected different people to various degrees. He had heard odd tales regarding specific types of mages being particularly harshly affected by things such as motion sickness, be it on a boat, a chariot or in an elevator. If this was that same type of deal, it made sense to him that this Libbier woman was a Slayer mage of some sort, though he really couldn’t be sure about that kind of stuff just yet. At this point, all of that was just an assessment based on hearsay, as well as the shared experiences of others which had made their way over to him at some point in time. So when one of the creatures started to provide the group with the things the woman was capable of, Hanzo was pleasantly surprised.

Stating that she could in fact control various elemental magics ranging from lava up to ice, it meant that they would most certainly have an edge when it came to dealing with actual elementals. If earth and fire elementals were to be their enemies, being able to use their own elements against them and even overcome one of them with ice magic, that would most certainly be useful. However, the fact that she possessed little to no ranged prowess and had to do it all in close range meant that both Libbier and himself would find themselves fighting quite closely as he too was the kind of fighter that did not possess a whole lot of ranged capabilities. After all, he wielded a sword through which he channeled most of his magic, and a shooting sword was not exactly his type of deal. While on the topic of capabilities, the “lone wolf” was the next to do a bit of sharing.

Bringing up his guns, he seemed to be the type that was capable of dishing out hits from mid to long ranged distances, making him the person that would stay behind while Hanzo and Libbier would hold the frontlines. With her followers by her side, the shinobi was under the impression that if they were all combat ready, holding the line and dishing out hits from up close while being covered by someone who claimed that he could kill a target with a single shot would bring them the victory he desired. More importantly, if it all went as well as he had pictured it in his head, chances were that none of them would even have to risk injury as long as they managed to work in unison. The ranged one-shot kills mixed with the mage that possessed the very elemental magics they faced almost seemed too good to be true, though Hanzo did not want to question it at this point. If things did turn out to be just that however, he still had an ace up his sleeve.

“Indeed.”

Speaking in response to Libbier’s follower and the gunner who had turned his attention towards him after they had both finished sharing what they were capable of, it had now fallen unto him to let his temporary compatriots know what he could do. In response, he lifted up his arm and reached behind his shoulder, taking the sword and scabbard from his back and holding it in front of him. To most who would look upon the handle and scabbard, it would not be that much of a stretch to come to the conclusion that it seemed rather ornate, perhaps more like the kind of sword one would mount in their home as decoration. Grabbing hold of the scabbard with his left hand and the hilt of the katana with his right, he unsheathed part of the blade to show that it was pitch black and released some kind of hazy black smoke. As he pushed the blade back into the scabbard, the haze strangely moved along with it, drawn back into it as it followed suit.

“As you might have figured, I too am a close ranged combatant. All my life, I have practiced the art of the sword, and the art of silent killing, a form called “Muon Satsjujin”, soundless murder. I work best when my enemies do not know that I am there, and it is quite easy for me to remain hidden for as long as I wish to remain unseen. The black magic I use however, is quite volatile, and works best when channeled through a medium such as my sword. Without it, the indiscriminate attacks might cause the mines to collapse around us, so I choose to limit myself to fighting up close.”

Sharing just a glimmer of what he was capable of, he did not feel the need to do as the gunner did by divulging what he had done to provide him with combat experience. Neither Libbier nor the gunner needed to know how he had honed his skills by murdering dozens of civilians, rogue shinobi and warriors from other clans for the honor of his own. To him, the Ten no Michi had been the only way of life that he knew, and he had therefore shut off his emotions to the rest of the world a long time ago. At this point, all he truly cared for was that his and their honor remained upheld, and that he finished all of the jobs and missions he took on for their combined sakes. He was after all one of their finest blades in the dark, perhaps unequalled in assassination without being seen or noticed by anyone, at least up until the point where he wished for his targets or bystanders to know exactly who was doing the killing to send a message.

When a soft thud resounded through the elevator, it seemed that their conversation had covered most of the time they would be spending in there as it slowed down its descent. They were just about at the bottom now, meaning they would reach the lower levels of the mines at any second, probably something Libbier would appreciate most out of all of those involved. Placing the katana over his shoulder and on his back, Hanzo prepared himself as the elevator finally came to a grinding halt. Grabbing the door with both hands and pushing it open, what they saw was a dimly lit quarry that stretched on for about twenty meters. At the end of those seventy meters, it seemed that there was a much larger open space, though they could not exactly what was out there. All Hanzo could see was that the dim light came from up there, meaning that this was most likely the place where the elementals came from. Stepping outside, he did a bit of detective work before moving onward.

“The ground here seemed scorched, while overturned and crushed over here. And over there, it is not scorched but almost entirely molten down and cooled over time. If these elementals burn hot enough to melt down rock, your theories might in fact check out. Follow me, quietly.”

With that, he sunk through his knees and moved through the roughly seventy meters long corridor towards the end, where the quarry turned into a massive open space. Moving quietly and quickly, it was as if his footsteps barely made any noise, like a shadow in the night. Upon reaching the end, Hanzo noticed that the corridor did not just lead into an open space, but that there was a rather steep ledge going down about twenty meters. But at the end of what would be a twenty meter drop, it seemed that what they stumbled upon was some sort of living ground and spawning location for elementals of fire and earth alike. With the ceiling being high above them, the open space seemed to stretch out for hundreds of meters in all directions, going far enough into the darkness to where Hanzo’s sight could no longer reach. Spotting elementals of various shapes and sizes, the terrain down there seemed to be a mixture of many jagged and sharp rock formations, as well as streams and pits full of lava, which seemed almost alive.

Due to their elevated position, it was likely that the elementals had not found them yet, or that they simply ignored their presence for the time being, though it was quite clear that this was not just your average “Go and kill this monster for a reward” type of quest. Trying to turn around and talk to those that had come down here with him, Hanzo was interrupted before he could utter a single word by a low pitched howl that echoed throughout the underground space, causing the very ground to shake and churn. In response to it, the elementals that he could see retreated into the ground or wandered into the fiery pits of lava, leaving the place barren and devoid of life. To Hanzo and the other two mages however, it was now common knowledge that the place was far from abandoned, though it also just became clear that there was something out there in the subterranean darkness that ruled over all those that dwelled there. Either that, or it was feared enough by them to where a single howl could send them into hiding. Whatever the case, it was now up to the rest of them to venture into the unknown, or to turn around and leave this particular stone unturned.


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Keeping her eyes closed, as seeing the world spinning around her did not help her condition, Libbier listened as the other two party members began to number their own strengths. Libbier was not happy to hear someone else saying that she was incapable of long-range combat, especially since she had taken an extra effort to get her hands on a sniper rifle that would allow her to have a decent capability at ranged combat. The man even went as far a showing off his own rifle, or at least that's what Libbier assumed since her eyes were closed so she couldn't see it to be sure.

"Woo. That looks like master's stick.", Lamb said, which made Libbier certain that the guy was certainly showing off his weapon. This made Libbier show her own, but Lamb calling it a stick and her current situation made her rethink that idea.

The man seemed to also notice the disadvantage of the long-ranged weapon, which although obvious was one that took some experience to acknowledge. Since her own strength was close range, it was not really a problem for her, but seems that man had a backup weapon for such situations. Wolf seemed a little interested in the small weapon momentarily, but since it didn't seem to move like the previous things the man had brought out before, he quickly lost interest.

The other man, Hanzo, then began his own explanation, and Libbier could already see what he would say. She had already predicted what Hanzo's abilities were when she heard it. Long story short, he was a freaking assassin. Art of silent killing? Yeah, assassin all the way. Of course, her other prediction was martial art monk due to all the meditation that was done. As for the volatile magic, it felt a little like her own, as she couldn't really use most of it in such a close environment.

The elevator soon came to a halt and Libbier's world quickly stopped spinning, although she still felt a little sick from it, she was at least already able to get up on her own two feet. Or she would if Lamb let her. It seemed Lamb was enjoying patting her head as she didn't seem to want to stop. Libbier had to force herself up, and if Lamb was not wearing a mask, Libbier could imagine she would be seeing a sad face right now. That or a mischievous smile, it was hard to tell with Lamb some times.

Getting out of the elevator, Libbier was greeted with a weird sight. Well, not really considering they were in a mine, but unusual non the less. As Hanzo moved in front of the group, Libbier had time to fully recover in the short walk they made. She could smell the remnants of the fresh burned stone around the area. It was clear they had arrived at an area where they would surely find elementals. The area was clearly burnt to the point it was easily noticeable that no normal fire was the cause of it.

Hanzo stopped to check the area and he himself noted that considering the type of damage of the area, there was a good chance that the elementals had indeed achieved some form of fusion. Wolf was clearly not enjoying the smell, but he wasn't one to complain, especially as it meant that he would soon have prey to hunt down. Libbier on the other hand did not think much of it, as it was just a job to pay the bills, and she would fight what she had to fight regardless.

As the group moved further down the narrow path, they reached a wide area where a lot of elementals were standing. Libbier could see elementals and immediately glanced at Lamb, to which she quickly grabbed Wolf by the ear to prevent him from lunging forward to chase the elementals. That had a too good location to take advantage of the element of surprise, there was no point in losing that advantage due to Wolf.

It was clear as this was going to be a messy fight, and Libbier was about to start discussions about the engagement plan when a loud sound something caught everyone's attention. The elements were clearly aware of the source as they quickly scattered to the seven winds. Something was out there, and it was not something simple to deal with for sure. The current location's light did however prevent them from seeing too far. For that Libbier decided to use her magic eyes to check on the situation ahead.

Using Left Eye of the Dragon, Libbier's irises began to glow with a faint blue light, while her left eye pupil stretched vertically to resemble that of a reptile. As she did, the darkness disappeared and she became able to see the area as if it was an open space in broad daylight. Not only that, she became able to see farther and with greater detail, while magic was now also clear to her sight as if it was a transparent coat with a color that was unique to each individual. And what she saw was beyond what she was expecting. The absurd amount of magic and heat made things difficult to distinguish at this range still but she could tell it was massive in size.

"Can you explain the details of the job again?", Libbier asked with a complicated smile on her face, "Because I'm pretty sure that is not just a simple elemental standing there."

Left Eye of the Dragon" - 5 posts:

922//4118

“The details of the job were quite simple, kill any and all elementals that pose a threat to the miners and the mining operation. That said, I don’t think it likely that the men and women up top had even the faintest clue as to this … hollow, being down here. To be fair, I doubt anyone had an idea as to any of this being here, or they would likely have shut down the mining operation already.”

Even though he realized it when he said it, he imagined that the miners would likely have left if they had known about it, though the people in charge of them would likely keep the operation going by just offering more money for the work than they could refuse. That way, if a bunch of them died during an elemental attack, they could say that they were given plenty of money and were aware of the risks. It seemed like that was often the case when rich folk were dealing with the lower class, they did not even treat them as fellow humans. They were just fodder to be tossed into the furnace so they could be foreseen of wealth and luxury. But even if that were to be the case, there was not a doubt in his mind that anyone who could see this being with his or her own eyes would know better than to venture down into this place, or to send down someone else, knowing that they would most likely not make it back out alive.

“Whatever it is that is back there, it is the source of the dark magic that was sensed, of this there can be no doubt. That said, the fact that it has not done anything to attack the miners itself is probably the sole reason why the mines themselves are still operational. All I can say about it at this point is that it feels powerful, and clever.”

In truth, there were rarely ever any combinations that spelled as much potential doom as a mixture of being both very powerful and very clever. If someone was just very clever but extremely weak, one could just blow them up before they could get to pulling any of their shenanigans. If someone was just very powerful and as dim as a candle, that meant that by proper plotting and strategizing, one could still overcome their sheer power. But to face a combination of the two meant that the one holding the power was also strategizing against them, just as plans were being made to face it. At that point, it all really came down to whether or not they were more clever than the thing they faced, or possessed more raw fire power to balance the scales, or tip them in their favor. As Hanzo watched the terrain, he tried to map out every elemental he could sense while listening to the muttering of the gunman.

Whenever someone started just talking to themselves for whatever reason, it often gave rise to the people around them believing that they had some kind of mental disability or were just straight up deranged. While Hanzo did not want to pin these things on anyone just yet, he figured it best to just wait it out and see what came out of it. After all, maybe this was just the guy’s process of handling his own magic, which had his “drones” going around the place to do some recon of his own. And judging by the magic Libbier was using, which was strangely a magic he could remember from the past, he knew that she was doing the exact same thing. While he was already prepared to go down knowing that the rest of them were at least aware of the danger around them, he waited around until the gunner was done talking to himself. Unfortunately, this took quite a while, though it eventually ended up in him sharing a thing or two with the party that he deemed useful.

“Alright, that is good to know. I already had my suspicions about those things, seeing as they are either setting up a trap or are clearing a path for us to walk on over to whatever it is that is orchestrating the attacks on the upper levels. Regardless of intent, I think we should walk towards it while we can. Sooner or later, we’re going to have to fight anyway, and the longer we wait, the more time they have to plot out their response to us being here.”

With that, he nodded at the two before taking a step back and leaping across the crag and down to where the elementals had hidden. From there, it would be a rather straight forward path towards the source of the most powerful magical presence down there. Slowly trailing ahead before the others would follow, he made sure that these elementals were not just going to pop out and take them out one by one. Moving dangerously close to where he knew one of them was hiding beneath the ground, he figured that it was most likely waiting for direct orders from whatever it was that was ruling over them down here. Wondering whether or not he was right in assuming that the big cheese was planning on meeting with them or if they were just waiting for all three of the mages to touch ground before attacking, the assassin imagined that it could potentially be both of those things. For now, he would keep himself contained as he now awaited the other two to join up with him.


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