An Introductory Exam (The Test)

A test of mettle was no new activity to Julius. Many a...client had wanted him to prove his skill before they would employ him properly. Fewer, but plenty still, also refused to meet him until such skill had been exhibited. Thus, when his guild master, who he had not had the pleasure to meet even when he received his guild mark, sent her servants to deliver him his first task he was not bothered in the slightest. Apparently this job tested one's aptitude for the various optional positions in the guild, and was standard to nearly every new recruit. He was not particularly overjoyed that the raiding portion was required when both his realms of expertise were informant and looter adjacent, but he was not one to shy away from a challenge or an order.

Apparently word has gotten around of some kind of upset in the settlements under the guild's authority, yet again. His Queen, reasonably, finds the repetitive attempts to seize her territory...trying. Julius, while not personally familiar with the queen....yet, was less than inclined to allow a lady's displeasure to stand. As such, he had brought his preferred death dealing set of daggers with the intent to send a clear message that such insurrection should not be repeated henceforth. He ran his fingers gently along the steel blades that lined his belt underneath his boorish peasant disguise. It had been a while since he had sent a message in blood. He simply hoped he had not become rusty in the interim.

Descending at last into the village proper, Julius made his way as nondescriptly as he could towards a small gathering of....rather green looking swordsmen. By the way they held themselves and their blades even Julius could tell they were fresh recruits. The first few seemed quizzical as they watched an unknown face approach them, but the one furthest back had a look of suspicion on his face. It appears that he would be the primary target when violence began then. Not just yet however, Julius needed information. As such he raised a hand, and gave them his best dopey grin as he greeted them.

"Hullo there sirs. Some mighty fine blades ya got yerselves there. What might ya be doin with em on such a fine day for tillin'?" Julius mustered up his least refined possible speech pattern to help add to the poor farmer disguise. Based on the friendly looks of the front most guards, and the now quizzical rather than suspicious look of the rearmost, it had done much to help him already.

One of the guards raised a hand in response and happily chimed up. "Ya haven't heard? The "New Law" is back again with their toughest guys yet. This time they're sure they can take any of them there Errings Rising upstarts that come to stop 'em! We just finished roundin up the townsfolk what don't want to comply and put em in the townhall so we's could give em some convincin." The youth narrowed his eyes at Julius. "Don't reckon I know you. But that don't matter too much as long as yer willin to work with us. Whaddya say?"

Julius cast a glance back at the large building just past a few small cottages. Surely the only building one could conceivably call a town hall in this ramshackle village. From here he could just vaguely make out what looked to be maybe three or four more men stationed outside of the town hall. Presumably they would stand guard while the leader and perhaps his first in command took care of business within. Julius let out a light chuckle. Now he understood why this was an introductory job. These "New Law" types must be complete amateurs with how they go about their troop distribution. One should never have a group of novices so completely isolated and lacking at least one experienced leader.

Reaching up to his eyes, he removed his contacts as he came to the realization and acceptance that there would be no need for particular tact or cover with this job. As he stored them in on pocket, the guardsmen spied the knives on his belt and drew their swords. Julius gave them a cocky grin, his real eyes visibly unsettling them. "Now hold on there, children. You would not want to die for a cause led by an incompetent now would you? How many times have these little...revolutions gone well for you folks down here?" He palmed a dagger and raised the point towards the swordsmen. "I offer a more than kind choice. Simply put down your weapon and return to your home or whatever village you came from or simply hide out for the next few minutes, I do not particularly care. If you do so you get to live another day, if not..."

The silence spoke his intentions enough and after several long moments of fearful contemplation four of the five tossed their swords to the ground and ran off in the direction out of the village. That left the suspicious eyed one who Julius had intended to just off from the start anyhow. Bouncing the dagger in his palm, he eyed the young man as he took an offensive stance. It was honestly rather pathetic. Had the more trained members of this "New Law" done nothing to prepare these fools for when they were attacked. Poor form considering they obviously knew Errings Rising would respond poorly to such an intrusion on their land.

With an exasperated sigh Julius lifted one hand palm upwards. A small portal blipped into existence silently above it. The novice swordsmen took a step back and swapped to a more defensive stance, clearly unsure of how to deal with whatever magic Julius was about to use. With the same hand Julius made a dismissive gesture towards the man, who flinched in preparation for an attack spell. Unfortunately for him it was nothing so flashy. Just the appearance of a second, silent portal just behind him. Without ceremony Julius stuck his dagger wielding hand through the portal and struck for the back of the young man's neck as it exited the one behind him. True to form, the blade sunk in to the hilt between the base of the young man's neck and his spine. Per usual, he was dead before he hit the ground.

Such poor sport was nothing to be particularly proud of in Julius' opinion. He withdrew his arm from his portals and dismissed them as he approached the young man. Julius slit his throat for good measure and then wiped the blood on the corpse's clothing. Turning his attention to the town hall, he bit mindlessly at his thumb nail. What kind of half assed uprising was this? Street urchins in his home town did a better job attempting to rise against the police. Putting his knife back on his belt, Julius summoned a new pair of portals and stepped through one, exiting from the paired one on the rooftop of the cottage nearest the townhall. He took a crouching stance as he eyed those guarding the hall's doors. How to proceed, how to proceed...

WC: 1,197/1,197

Julius had to admit, even he was somewhat unsettled by the screams he heard coming from within the town hall. Torturing the townsfolk into cooperation was not what he imagined this little insurrectionist group would be up to. Mayhaps roughing them up slightly, sure, but not what appeared to be full scale torture. Biting the edge of one thumb again, he eyed the four guards at the entrance. He could likely kill a number of them without alarming those inside thanks to the screams. However, he would have to time it just right. He preemptively opened one half of a paired portal set under his feet. Until he opened the second it would not allow his entry, which was exactly as he wanted it. Drawing a dagger with each hand he awaited the right moment to strike.

Several minutes passed before he saw the opportune moment where two guards stood ever so close together, both facing away from the hall. With a smirk Julius opened the second portal above and slightly behind them in the air. With predictable suddenness the ground fell out beneath Julius as his portal allowed him to pass through. With great swiftness did he drop, blades at the ready, directly on top of the two men from behind. His daggers found home as each sunk into the base of their necks. He ripped them out as the men dropped dead, and he rolled forward as one of the remaining guards swung his sword through the space Julius had just occupied.

With a flick of the wrist he threw a dagger at the man's throat, but unlike all those to this point this man seemed to actually know what he was doing. Without any wasted effort he deflected Julius' dagger and it tumbled away in to the snow. Immediately the man began closing the distance, and as Julius threw a small glance over one shoulder he found the last man was closing in on him from behind as well. Well now, flanking tactics...perhaps there was a small amount of hope for this "New Law" group yet. However, not enough hope to allow these two to survive.

With a contemptuous laugh and a flick of the wrists as the two men swept their blades at his torso, Julius opened a new pair of portals just in front of and behind him. The two swordsman's blades meant to pierce him instead found their way home in the bodies of each other, as they passed clear through Julius himself. As the pair attempted to pull back their weapons out of their compatriot, the one behind Julius seemed to lurch and then fall into a pool of his own blood. The one in front of him however... now he had a proper amount of grit. He had managed to turn aside from his companion's blade, "only" being grazed along one side. Stepping back and changing stance, the man prepared to swing his blade overhead at Julius. He had to give it to the man for trying his best to the end.

Flipping his daggers about in his hands, he caught the descending blade while high enough for its' momentum to be minimal. Sliding down to the hilt, and giving a full bodied twist against the man, Julius disarmed him. At the same time he lashed out with a kick aimed at the man's knee. With a look of surprise and anguish the man crumpled as his knee was turned inward. As Julius stood over the man, he was surprised to find him still attempting to strike at him. Out of seemingly nowhere did the man produce a dagger. By Julius' moderate knowledge of magic types, this man had just used Requip. That would go far to explaining why this man was more competent than the rest, he was a fellow mage as well as a combat veteran.

Julius stared down at him for several long moments, the man gazing back at him with steely eyed determination and...perhaps an inkling of doubt. Julius' eyes tended to have such an effect on people. Though he imagined being nearly gutted, having his knee kicked in, and being disarmed by some scrawny man in peasant's garb did not help the matter. Julius flicked his head in the direction of the village exit. "Leave and I will not pursue you. Remain and you die like the rest. Never cross our guild again." The downed guard searched Julius for a sign of deceit for several long seconds before tossing his weapon aside and nodding.

Taking several steps back and turning towards the door to town hall, Julius rolled his neck a time or two. Based on his count there could be no more than two enemies remaining inside. However, they were likely to both be equal to or more competent than the man Julius just beat. Perhaps a little bit of psychological warfare might dissuade them from even fighting Julius. Julius' eyes scanned about as he pondered how to go about said mind games. As his eyes settled on one of the fallen men's swords he smirked ever so slightly.

WC: 853/2,050

Julius stood atop the roof of the town hall, a light, self-satisfied smirk on his lips. Grisly work, certainly, but he was never one to shy away from actions that were sure to get results. Judging based off the screams and the size of the building, Julius carefully chose his spot to drop through to those gathered within. Opening a portal, he fell lithely to through the roof and set down upon the town hall's floor a few dozen feet behind a pair of rather well armored and imposing men. Well, one far more so than the other. Julius spied precious few spots where a blade could sink home through the larger mans armor. The back of the neck was a no go on this man. However, as the hulking warrior turned towards Julius he found that his throat was remarkably open. Over confidence? Stupidity? Julius would find out shortly.

With a flick of his wrist, Julius opened a horizontal portal in front of the two men facing him. With sickly, meaty thumps four roughly decapitated heads fell from the portal on to the floor. "Gentleman, gentleman, gentleman. I must say, for a group attempting insurrection in a dark guild's territory I would have assumed you were some morally upright fools." He eyed the slumped over, bleeding forms of several civilians against the walls of the room. "However, I see that only the fools part was accurate. Such sloppy work and sloppier troop deployment. How ever did you survive to this point?" Julius' eyes flicked from the large man to his compatriot. To his pleasure the smaller of the two seemed to be backpedaling at the sight of the heads and Julius' unsettling crimson gaze. He did so love when those bothersome eyes came in handy.

Unfortunately for the smaller man, his leader seemed to pick up on his fear and reluctance to engage Julius. With a dismissive clicking of the tongue the man waved the hand not wielding a human-sized sword. To Julius' surprise chains seemed to leap from his fingertips and wrap around the man several times, crushing his torso and silencing his short lived screams. Then with an aggressive shout of effort he swung the man at Julius and released him as a hurtling human projectile. Julius was not expecting that, and could only thank his reflexes for allowing him to dodge mostly out of the way. Unfortunately, the flying man's legs clipped his shoulder anyway and Julius was subjected to a bright flash of pain and a feeling of numbness travel down his left arm. The dagger he held in that hand clattered to the floor as his grip loosened involuntarily, however the sound was drowned out by the flying man smashing through the hall doors. Julius grimaced, more out of disappointment that he had not been ready for that than in pain. He did not have time to chide himself though, as the man had lifted his sword and began to charge him.

Stepping back through the outer wall using a portal, Julius found the cool air and snow to be pleasant on his aching shoulder. He did not, however, find any pleasantry in the great sword that cut clean through the wall where his portal had been and went through the space his head had been not two seconds earlier. Julius had to give it to this man, he was clearly not the layabout his subordinates had been. Playing about would get him killed with this man, and Julius could not bear the thought of dying before he met the supposedly ravishing queen that led his guild. Taking several dashing steps back as the man exited through the hole he had cut out of the wall, Julius activated the "demonic" abilities he has had since his youth.

Well, he activated two of them at least. Julius had found out the hard way on one job that activating all four of his demonic powers led to him being completely incapable of magic for a short time. Even using only one or two reduced the strength, distance, speed, frequency, and duration of all his portals. It had led to several choice predicaments since he had begun experimenting with magic. However, he would not need the full breadth of his magic to deal with this man. Indeed, as he activated his abilities he almost seemed to fade away with the wind and snow. As invisible as the air itself, and nearly as swift thanks to the second of his demonic abilities enhancing his physical capabilities. To his pleasure he had found that magic sensory did not seem to be capable of detecting him in this form.

Sprinting through the snow, Julius had the storm itself to thank for covering the sound of his approach. As he closed the gap he awkwardly pointed his lamed hand to the man's left and opened a modestly sized vertical portal. Predictably, the man turned in place paying attention to his magical sensory and honed instincts and swung his great sword through the space Julius' should have occupied by his reckoning. Unfortunately for the man, he instead felt an agonizing line of burning pain along his wrists as Julius slit them on his way past. With a roar of pain and rage the man dropped his sword, his own hands now incapable of supporting the heavy weapon. He lashed out with another magically summoned chain at the space Julius had occupied a moment before, but his efforts were in vain.

Before he could muster an attempt to find Julius once more, his eyes flew wide with surprise and panic. He attempted to look down but could not, nor could his weak hands remove the blade Julius had thrown into the hollow of his throat. Julius appeared once more to the man a scant ten feet away. Admittedly Julius would not have bet on himself against the man in a fair and open fight, but fair fights were for fools anyhow. Watching the man crumple to the ground as he began suffocating on his own blood, Julius turned away. He could keep the dagger as a parting gift. Julius had a number of empty houses to loot before returning home. It would not do to keep a queen waiting.

WC: 1,046/3,096
Final WC: 3,096

The Test - 500 words
D rank Freeform - 500 words
D rank Freeform - 500 words
D rank Freeform - 500 words
D rank Freeform - 500 words
D rank Freeform - 500 words