An Open Contract

Crocus was Fiore's capital city. Definitely, it would be one of the most protected and most lawful region in this side of Ishgar. Most of the people that lived here were the rich and royal, having earned a cut in the noble city through reason of birth, or connections, or having amassed enough wealth to be respected. Dia wondered what it would be like, being a renowned dark mage and living in a place like this. Perhaps with a lot of political clout, such could be pulled off. And that was why she detested most politicians to the core of her being. To her, they were no better than dark mages, because their corrupt actions caused widespread suffering, pain and misery. The only difference was that while dark mages were vilified, corrupt officials got to shake hands with the king, laugh false laughs and sip tea with those dainty tea cups.

Disgusting.

A politician had brought her to Crocus today, but while she was not invested in killing as many government honchos as she could, this particular one held a special place in her heart. He had been one of the people from her past, a past that she sought to erase with blood and wrath. Already, her vengeance had begun, and she had impressed herself by killing Le Trompe, thereby cutting off the little finger of the Hand of Doom. The Hand of Doom had been a group of five pirate lords, who operated off a ship bearing the same name. They had been her last lesson in torment, before she managed, through luck and near death, to escape them more than four years ago. Returning to Earthland a changed woman, both in flesh and mind, she had learnt that the Hand of Doom had since disbanded, most of them seeking to slip into normal society with their ill gotten gain. Seeing an opportunity, she started working towards eliminating all five of them. Of a surety, she knew she would be no match against the first three fingers, and even the Ring Finger, but with some subterfuge, and playing the right cards, she might be able to get close enough to slice off that finger too.

The quarry for today was not the Ring Finger, but an associate, who by gaining the favors of the upper class of Crocus, was close to connecting himself, as well as Dia's enemy with powers that would make them nigh untouchable. Fortunately for her, someone else wanted him dead. That was politics for you: many of them were treacherous backstabbers, but they turned their noses up at getting their hands dirty. She had picked this contract, because it was a priceless opportunity to cut the ground from under the Ring Finger. Little by little, she would encroach, weaken them, until she was close enough to plunge the dagger right into their heart...

"Don't you just feel like blowing up this place?" Hexter muttered, as some aristocratic looking youngsters sniffed with disdain at his clothes. Their eyes tended to dwell longer on Dia, who wore a black tube top, black leather pants and black leather boots. She had a jacket of similar material and color, but it had been draped on the bench beside her, allowing her fiery hair to spill onto her pale shoulders. Acting like they were not there, she looked over at Hexter, and chuckled at his face. "Admit it; there's a part of you that wants to dress like them." He gave her a blank stare, like he couldn't comprehend her words. She gave up trying to poke fun at him. "Our client said that we might be working with someone else. Did he say who?"

Hex shook his head. "Other than that he was looking for another suitable dark mage, no." He looked a little aggrieved. "I don't think the prick had faith in our ability to do this." Dia only shrugged. "A time will come, my dear Hex, when anyone who offers us such an indignity will pay for it in such a way that no one else would dare it again. But now is not that time. Right now, we're in a growth phase." She looked around. "How do we even identify our tag team mate?" she asked. "For starters, they won't look like all these milk drinkers milling about. Maybe tall, foreboding, a little intimidating, I don't know."

Dia laughed. That sounded more like a text book villain. She was a dark mage, and she didn't even look it. But then, she was yet to make a name for herself...

Blue eyes scanned the bustling streets of Crocus, how did he find himself here again? Oh yes, another assassination target, it was the most frequent request and they were one of the easier ones to use to spread your name around, that is is if they didn't request to kill someone like a magic council member. Another politician trying to get another politician killed, how ironic, at least this time he accepted such jobs of his own free will, unlike when he was in Bosco, day after day he despised them on how useless they were. Scanning the streets again he sighed, currently he was on the second floor of an abandoned apartment building, that supposedly was marked for demolition soon. Picking up a small napkin, he cleaned the suppressor of his FN pistol as he turned around.

Another irony.

The hunter had become the hunted, it looked like his little camera stunt a few weeks ago had caught the attention of Bosco authorities, he was still wanted for blowing up the whole project, and it looked like a new iteration of 'special' operatives was being bred, as on the back wall, another masked individual bled, leaving a pool of blood under him, the only distinctive thing that he had was the watch that was glowing on his hand. "So, can't you tell me a bit more about this 'new' directive? They seem mighty interested in getting back at me, I thought every big fish was in the facility that night." He asked as he got closer, pulling out a small knife, poking at one of the open wounds that the other man had, as he grunted in pain. "I don't talk to traitors." He spat blood in his face, staining Killua's mask with a red spot. "I didn't expect much, but at least you could have spared my clothes if your gonna be a sore loser." He said and stood up from his crouched position, aiming his pistol at his head, before placing a clean shot right in the middle, the suppressor muffling the sound.

Taking the watch he placed it in the backpack that he had, hoisting it up. What was he supposed to do again? Oh yes, the politician, requipping the pistol away and back to his normal clothing, a white T-shirt and dark blueish short pants, but he still kept the backpack, he would look more like an ordinary kid and would not draw eyes.

His client mentioned something, another person that he would work with, he did get a bit of detail on who to look for at least, as he was a bit late for the actual meet-up with the client so he got the job later. He could most likely take this job solo, but he didn't mind being paired up with another person, as long as he got paid in full, everything would be okay, and he had someone to watch his back if things went south.

Finally, he exited the old apartment going into the bustling streets of Crocus, all the citizens oblivious that chaos may ensue in their peaceful capital. Walking between the crowd of people the young dark mage looked around, searching for their partner while tuning out the civilian rumbling as best as he could, looking for any clues as to who that person is. Fortunately for him, he caught a part of a conversation when he passed by a bench, oh how casually they talked about dark mages in the public. He smirked, he liked carefree people, he would be too, but it was drilled into his system to take things more seriously. He carefully manueverd

Leaning against a small tree that was conveniently placed behind them, his back towards them. "Tall, foreboding, a little intimidating? Yea that does sound good, unfortunately, your not getting that. It looks like you didn't get much information from our so 'great' client on who you're teaming up with." He said, already knowing the answer to his last question. "So do you have any more information for the target, cause I didn't get much.. The name is Killua by the way, and I'll be your partner for the job it seems." Finally pushing himself from the tree and turning towards them.

As one, Dia and Hexter turned to look at the person who had made that statement. While Hexter's indifference darkened ever-so-slightly into a suspicious glare, Dia only smiled more brightly. She would have liked to tease him a bit, and tell him of the crimes of  eavesdropping, and how, being on the dark, unscrupulous end of the law, she might have to 'silence' him to preserve their secret, but she was sure he wouldn't be plussed much about it. he had already revealed that he was already privy to the information that the client had not informed Hexter and herself of whom exactly would be on this mission with them. he also knew they were after a certain target, but he seemed unsure of the details. Dia wondered whether their client revealed some information to one, and not to the other, just to make things a little more... fun for them. One way or another, the youngster that turned to face them was certainly the one they were waiting for.

"Tall, foreboding, a little intimidating..."

She laughed that silvery laugh again.

Hexter, on the other hand, did not seem so amused. "Uh... ain't you just a kid? This isn't some high school..."

"Hexter!"

Dia's voice was not necessarily forceful, but it bore a note of warning that stopped him in his verbal tracks. His questioning look in her direction was replied with a reproving glower, and he turned back to face the white haired youth who had introduced himself as Killua.

"Apologies, Mr. Killua. I spoke out of turn."

Dia sighed and tucked a thin lock of hair behind an ear. Left to Hexter, he would lapse into an uncomfortable silence. It wasn't because he was proud, and was bristling for her unspoken rebuke; it was because, naturally, Hex didn't speak much to people, seeming to favor his quips every now and then, while leaving her to drive the conversation, unless the other person was chatty enough. She gave Killua an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that, Killua. In his defense, many people would hastily jump to that conclusion, seeing as you look so young and all. Still, if you're as young as you look, when I was younger than you currently are, I harbored some oh-so-dark thoughts myself." She extended a hand. "Pleased to meet you, Killua. I'm Dia, and this lanky grouch here is Hexter." Hex gave him a formal nod, in the way of greeting. Dia then scooted to one side, making space for Killua, so that she was right next to Hexter, who was at the other end of the bench. "Sit, please?" she offered.

Whether he sat or did not was up to him, and she would not take any offense at his response to her request. Instead, she would go on to the issue at hand, starting from the last question Killua had asked. "Well, I know quite a lot about our quarry. Name's Edger. Calvin Edger." She fished in a pocket of her jacket, and pulled out a folded photograph, which she handed to Killua. "Recently became a lower lord of Fiore's court, and from what I hear, he's starting to make waves. Seems like he knows how to butter up those in higher places. Word has it that he did his fair share of backstabbing and blackmailing to secure a seat, but I really don't care."

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her laps. "Our dear little client is feeling kind of jealous that Edger is more manipulative than he is, so he wants to nip Edger in the bud, so that he doesn't gain more influence and lord it over him in the future. Me? I want to get Edger before he gets into the ranks of the untouchables, the ones really close to the royal family. Oh, and I need to ask him a few simple questions, first. So, we kill him after i get my answers. Okay with you?"

Once Killua was done answering, Dia would ask: "So, what's your modus operandi? You come in with loud booms, or you're the stealthy assassin type? I'd like to know a little of whom I'm working with, if it's all fine by you."

Killua chuckled at Hexter's comment, he didn't mind it at all. "Highschool? What's that, sounds terribly useless." He joked. He knew what it was, technically he went through most things that they got through high school, the normal children that it, or rather teens, but they went over it as quickly as possible, there wasn't much time they could sit on it, as he got thrown as soon as possible into real combat simulations with rubber bullets before they went with live rounds, the weak didn't survive.. Survival of the fittest was the motto, being even 1 second late meant that you could be dead in the exercise.

"Don't worry about it, I've got that a lot, so I don't mind it."

"I am as young as I look, not some weird old guy in a child's body. I used to think about the things I do, but I've done them so much, that at this point it's the only way for me." He explained, as she introduced herself, Kil accepted the handshake, before sitting next to her. "It's good to meet the both of you."

The young dark mage smirked as Dia explained the job to them, something that the client refused to do as Killua was 'late' for the briefing, he didn't care much it was something that he had to take care of before going to meet him and if he didn't complete the job it would be whatever to him, but at least his partner for the job had the details. It was ironic, the same as it was in Bosco, one politician disliking the other one and it depended on who had better connections or a bigger pocket to either threaten him into abandoning his position or outright forcing him out of the picture.

"I doubt the backstabbing is not true, politicians usually do each other in, one way or another, the bigger the pocket the easier to climb." He said, grabbing the file and looking it over, inspecting every detail that was laid into the file provided to them, as he placed his elbow on his leg, supporting his head with one hand. "Lower court huh, I doubt he would have big people behind him, at least until he gets higher if he gets the chance that is." He said, closing the file and moving it towards her if she wanted to get it back, he didn't need it anymore, he got most of the useful information out of it.

Leaning back, he looked up into the bustling street. "Of course his jealous, stupid politicians looking on how to get revenge on each other for one getting a higher rank, what's new." Rolling his eyes he continued. "Looks like you have some personal beef as well, don't worry I'll make sure we take him in alive until you get what you want that is, after that he's dead meat."

"I don't really mind how we take this on, I can go both ways either with a big explosion or enter stealthily just to get him out of the picture. I may not look it, but I am ex-military from Bosco with a fair bit of kit still left on me. I also have Thunder God Slaying magic, what about you?" He didn't mind saying the last part, even if it was crucial for him currently, she would see when get pulled out his equipment when they got close either way. "I would prefer stealth if we can, we are in the capital, I don't think either one of us wants to deal with an angry mob of Rune Knights." It was a bit of a problem that they were in the Capital, and that the Rune Knight HQ was also here. "But if you have a plan, we can go with it, even if it's going in big, I have some explosives with me." Standing up, he picked up his backpack and stretched out. "Do you have any information on where we can find him, or our great client wants us to do absolutely everything for him?"

WC: 683
TWC: 2859/14000

Dia laughed at the way Killua wrote high school off as "terribly useless". Come to think of it, she had no formal education, although she had learned to read and write basic Fiorean thanks to her many years of servitude on the Hand of Doom. She had always found it odd that one of the five leaders aboard the ship, in fact, the "official" head, so to speak, and second most powerful, loved keeping journals and records and files... but she detested the paperwork itself. Nobody else on the ship wanted to do it, and all those clumsy, careless, drunken slobs would probably be more harm than even useless when surrounded by stacks of papers. Of course, the work that nobody wanted automatically fell on her shoulders, but prior to that time, she had been as illiterate as a stick insect. She had been forced to learn, under harrowing circumstances, to read and write neatly, and her fear of enduring more punishment, or worse, having to clean up after Le Trompe, made her a very willing and able student. The "accident" with the Tome of Tongues had magically broadened her literary abilities, but she had suffered horribly to the point that it literally cost her her life...

... and eventually returned it to her with the option of revenge. She pushed her mind away from thoughts about her past. There was little point dwelling on the Fingers of the Hand of Doom who were beyond her reach. Patience was key in dealing with powerful, influential enemies. Killua also had no problems with allowing Dia to question their target before neutralizing him, and that pleased her. It would have been nice if she could extract Edger from his premises, so that she could have all the time in the world to squeeze the truth out of him, but seeing as she had no ability or item to do so, she would have to make the interrogation brief and effective. She thought a bit about the techniques she could use to get what she wanted, then pushed the thought to the back of her mind. That was the beautiful thing about the human brain: it remained aware of problems, and subconsciously worked on solutions without its owner actively thinking of it.

Dia slowly smiled as Killua mentioned the things he was capable of. "Oooh, a boy of many talents. I like." She suddenly cocked her head to one side, looking at him inquisitively. "Bosconian 'ex-military', you say? I've got to admit, that's something. You must have been conscripted at a rather young age... guess that explains why you have no respect whatsoever for the high school." She chuckled. "And a Thunder God Slayer... Can anyone learn Slayer magic? I've always wanted to be able to eat dangerous stuff."

She straightened her back and stretched her hands over her head. "You want to know what I can do? Well, I'm good at looking really cute and batting my eyelashes at people to get my way. That aside, Hex here can hit people without having to touch them, and I have a little dangerous trusty tool that lets me fight at long range." Her shoulders dropped, and she sighed dramatically. "I know, I know; I'm supposed to have some really cool magic at my fingertips, taking on an assassination mission and all that, right? Well, just think of me as a moth in metamorphosis." She gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I won't hold you back at all."

When the white haired boy stood and picked his backpack, Dia also rose to her feet. "Well, our 'great client' only dropped Edger's name. I did some personal research on my own. I am so going to bill him for that! Come, let's walk. I may as well show you where he's calling home nowadays." She set off at a leisurely pace, and Hexter walked behind, silent as usual, with his hands in his pockets. "Edger lives in the Market District, his first step towards moving closer to the Royal Circle. He hasn't been here for up to three months, but he's already trying to make a name for himself. Oh well, his obituary news should sell well, then. He's got a big compound, spends almost half his money hiring bodyguards and hookers. He's not yet married, because I think he's been trying to get himself into a position where he can safely wed a noble's daughter."

She glanced at Killua. "You strike me as prudent enough, Killua, so I suggest we strategize before we get our hands dirty. Would you prefer we did this in the day, or under cover of night? I agree with you that stealth is the best way to go; we don't want those Rune Knights crawling all over us in a place like this. Either time of day has its pros and cons, so we should carefully consider those before we plunge into this."

"I guess I am a boy of many talents, didn't have much choice, it was make or break and break meant death." He said casually, it was something that he had gotten used to, even though he hated the program, he couldn't deny that it made great soldiers, ones that were specialized for special missions in deep enemy territory if a war between nations started, though they never reached that point as they were made in peace times. "Yea, we were really young, didn't get to experience much of a childhood. And for High School? I just went over the stuff they in a year and a half while they take so much time, so yea, kinda useless." He chuckled by the end of this and at her remark of eating dangerous stuff. "I don't know, this was kinda pushed on me as well, soo, I've heard that there are these lacrimas that give you such powers, but they are rare, I learned mine from an actual God before he went on his way."

Rolling his eyes, Kil chuckled again, batting eyelashes and looking cute, oh boy it was turning out to be a more interesting job, but he listened in, he knew that she wouldn't have been accepted to do something like this if she didn't have a little for her name to go around, it's not that everyone can accept a higher level so to say, assassination contract. "Hm? Not really, I guessed that if your on this job you can do something, it's not that everyone can waltz in and take such a contract for an official's assassination, that being said, some people just want to send other's to their deaths so anything is possible."

"But I've had my fair share of tools so I know what a decent tool can do, even without magic at your disposal, so I'll hold you to your metamorphosis, let's see how you blossom." He smiled. As she stood up, he listened to what she had to say about their client. "Yea, he's not even getting his hands dirty and he's trying to play smug, not gonna get him far." Following behind her, Kil listening in on more information about their target, at least she knew a lot about what they needed to do, where to find him, and such, unlike him, walking in blind. It was something he hated, the lower the information the more chance of failure, and this time he was going into the unknown, he still had much to learn about fighting mages, as they were a rarety while he was in Bosco's special ops.

Kil whistled lowly "He's moving up the ladder, but if the info's correct, he doesn't care much for security with all that blackmailing and backstabbing going around for him, strange, you think a man like him would be more cautious, everyone can hold a grudge, strange." It was weird, nothing special was mentioned for bodyguards, so they were most likely normal, and if hookers were permitted, he didn't care much about protection, maybe he was quite discreet with his backstabbing, and not many people knew about it. "It would still be best to be careful, even if we see normal guards and nothing special." He groaned afterward "Wed a noble safely, politics seems so boring and complicated at the same time." He rubbed his templates a bit.

He looked back at Dia, thinking about how it was going to be best to enter this situation. "We can do some recon during the day, see the layout and stuff, and get him at night, fewer rune knights to deal with, but we have to be sneaky as well. I don't really mind, I prefer at night, less Rune Knights to respond, but if you have a plan we can do it during the day, as I don't have any idea, for now, I'm trying to think of something, I'm having a bit of a hard time though..."

WC: 664
TWC: 4348/14000

Dia was interested, very interested, when she heard that Killua had been taught his magic by a god. Yes, that was how it usually was: First Generation Slayers, as they were called, usually learned their magic from the souce. So, dragons, demons and deities went about, teaching people magic... She wished she was that lucky, because even though she could say that she had some connection to a deity, too, the being in question had seemed to only want to hijack her body back then. To the goddess' credit, it had been done to save Dia's life... but of course, Dia was her vessel, and no one wanted anything bad to happen to their best car or something. Also, she had been having a seriously hard time harnessing the goddess' power, and it appeared that Telversa, for that was her name, had cut her off from using magic, until her capacity increased. So, in the interim, she would have to rely on Hexter's power and her weapon. Who knew? Maybe Telversa would teach her some kind of Slayer magic when she had better control of her power. Dia almost laughed. Knowing the goddess, it was a no-no. At least, Killua did not seem to underestimate her when she told him that she told him indirectly that she didn't really have any serious magic of her own to rely on. She would not disappoint his opinion of her.

As they walked and discussed about their contract, Dia took note of the landmarks she had scribbled down when getting herself a description of the way to the target's domiciliary premises. She was pleased that Killua preferred the night as the time to work; daylight's advantages were that it was noisier, and thus easier to mask sound, and it was easier to see. But that second one was also a grave disadvantage, for the enemy would also be able to see clearly. With the night, man's most relied on sense was diminished, and prudent and crafty souls could take good advantage of it. Besides, most people slept in the night. Easier to sleep a dagger between ribs when someone was unguarded.

Dia slowed to a halt and gestured with her head. "There's Edger's compound," she said. "It has high walls, as you can see, so that's an advantage, in my opinion. Some areas of his compound will be less guarded, as infiltration would be less expected from such regions. As you favor being discreet, which I wholly approve of, I think we'll be doing some wall scaling tonight." She thought for a bit, then gave a small sigh. "Beyond knowing the way to his place, and knowing from observation that there are two guards always posted at the main entrance, I know next to nothing about the interior of his mansion, or how heavily patrolled the compound is. Our greatest weapon should be speed." She smiled slowly. "Unless you can create a fireball large enough to incinerate the building in a flash, and teleport right after that. That would be helpful."

She resumed walking, following the road like any other tourist trying to get the best out of the Market District, but she was already running her reconnaissance, checking out areas of interest and what might pose problems when the mission was under way. Conversation always made people less conspicuous, unless said conversation was abnormal, so she picked a topic to discuss. It would also be a good way, if Killua had the knowledge, to learn more about potential enemies.

"Have you ever had a run in with the Rune Knights? I should like to know a thing or two about them, just in case we are ill fated to meet. Do you know what kind of weapons they wield? Their armor? Compared to an average mage, how powerful are they?"

As they walked the young dark mage was taking in the market district, still bustling with people, going from shop to shop. He was taking in as much information as possible, even if it would tend to be useless, them advancing during the night was something that would be quite useful, to many people in the capital, you couldn't account for every single eye that could spot you during infiltration and if it was a more interested civilian, they would either have to kill them if the chance comes up or risk being swarmed by Rune Knights and Edger being alerted to their presence. The element of surprise was quite big, he wouldn't expect to be assassinated in the capital's market district of all places, while no doubt he had some precautions and wasn't feeling as safe as being in the Royal part of the capital, he was still in a fairly good place.

Killua stopped behind Dia as she halted, pointing towards a compound before informing him that it was Edger's residence. The white-haired boy let out a whistle, it was quite fancy, he sure had riches so most likely he would have one or two stronger guards, maybe more he couldn't give an estimate based on this, he didn't know how many bodyguards would take for a job, he knew that he himself would charge an obscene amount if it was to guard a political figure.

"Hehe, I may have something that can level the building to some degree, but you may not get the chance to talk to them, and the whole HQ will be after us. I guess wall scaling it is, should be fairly easy, seeing as the wall was made to be fancy, I can see some parts where you can place your hands and feet." He said after examing the wall, he would like to get closer, but it may raise suspicion, it was best to make him think he is as safe as possible. "The goons should be easier, but seeing as this is quite fancy, he may have some guards that 'may' cause a problem. We'll see once we get in, element of surprise is on our side for this case, and for the most part, even if they see us, they don't have an idea of what we are capable of."

Kil followed behind her, inspecting the wall a bit more before he looked back towards the front. "The faster we can move in the compound the more time you'll have with Edger, I may be able to extract him if you need more time but that will be tricky, let's hope you'll get enough time for whatever it is that you need him." He said moving a bit close, so they could have a conversation in a lower tone.

"I haven't had run-ins with them, I know that the general soldier is not that strong, but for others, I don't know, I know that they have numbers. As for weapons and armor, I don't know, they have some standard-issue armor, and weapons and magic depend on them from there. Let's get out of here, wait for nighttime."

As the cold night fell, they found themselves close to the compound again, it was pretty late, only drunks and a few others moved about, going home.. "It looks like it's going to be easy to maneuver not many people."He said moving towards a dark alley that would lead to the sidewall, away from the main entrance, as they moved Kil was enveloped by low blue light, as his clothing changed, now it was his 'Vanguard' outfit, he wanted to make a bit more inconspicuous, they were in the capital so he didn't want to get the Rune Knights on his tail soon. "Let's get this show started."

As they got close to the wall, he placed a hand on it, feeling the material and if it's slippery, to his surprise it was quite rough, making it easier to climb. "This isn't going to be hard to climb, the material is quite rough and it's not that high.." Moving a few feet back, Kil prepared to run, taking a deep breath, he sprinted.

Making a jump right before he would collide with the wall, he planted his right foot on the wall some feet up, pivoting it slightly, he extended his reach a bit more, before grabbing the ledge, pulling himself up above on the flat portion of the wall. Looking around he noted that it was a bit dark, a few rooms were lit, but nothing special, looking below him he was that no guards were there. It was a small garden, that went around the compound, the building itself looked quite large, with a lot of entrance points, windows and more, they could both be useful and cause issues, he hoped for the first.

"Looks clear, you can get up." He said, looking down towards Dia, he would extend a hand to help her up, in case she would need it.

Looking back down, he noticed that a guard was making his way around the wall, shifting his feet, he jumped down, the guard had looked up from the noise, but he was met with the body of the young dark mage tackling him to the ground, Kil then requiped a suppressed pistol, wasting no time, he pushed the pistol into his head and pulled the trigger, a silent noise went about, but it wouldn't all that loud to alert the other guards at the front entrance.

Pulling his body, he moved it to the side so it was right next to the house, avoiding the possibility to spot it from a window. He looked back up to see if Dia was up there to mention her to come down.

"Okay, looks like the building is quite large, a bit larger than I expected, I noticed a few lit rooms, we can check them out first, if Edger is having some 'fun' with someone, it could be easier to find him and deal with him as fast as possible, and I don't think we have much time before they find this body.."

"Let's find a way inside, the longer we stay out here, the bigger chance we get spotted."

WC: 1049
TWC: 6035/14000
Spells Used:  Requip: FN 509 Tactical Suppressed

Like herself, Killua had not faced off against any Rune Knight, but he knew a thing or two about their common foot soldiers. Dia herself had tried to carry out some research on Fiore's primary law enforcement agency, as she was sure that her path might lead her to cross blades with them down the line. What she knew about the police force of the mage realm was more or less common knowledge: the leaders of the Rune Knights were rather famous, as was to be expected, holding positions reserved for the most powerful "Light mages". Light... the concept of light being good was relative, as far as she was concerned, but that was a lesson in philosophy for another day. Today, there was someone to kill.

She nodded at Killua's suggestion to reconvene here by nightfall. She was done showing him the place, anyway, so there was no point hanging around here. Whatever she needed to take note of had been done so; all that was left was to begin the stealthy assault on Edger's premises under cover of night. "Well then, see you around, Killua," she said with a light wave as she turned and walked away to find something cool to drink. Much of her day would be spent resting up, so that she would be fully awake and alert at night. She and Hexter spent a little more time wandering about like sightseers, before retreating to the cool of the room they had rented.

It was not difficult to find their way to this place at night. It was a little beyond the "witching hour", when, according to some ancient writer, "none but the wolf and the murderer is abroad." Dia met up with Killua, Hexter following silently behind them. They walked into an alleyway; there was almost no one out at this time, though Dia suspected that a city such as Crocus would have patrolling guards. They would have to be swift, decisive and effective. She watched as Killua requipped into a more tactical outfit... or had he transmuted his clothes? Whichever one it was, Dia thought it was a nifty spell to have, that could change one's clothes as situation demanded. Perhaps, with a more powerful transmogrification spell, she could even pass off as someone else. That would be very, very useful.

Killua scaled the wall with ease and a practiced agility. She looked at Hexter with a slight grin. "He's an impressive kid, isn't he?" Hexter shrugged in his indifferent manner, though his words agreed with her. "Yeah, he does move like someone who's had military training." They waited for Killua to give the "all-clear", but there was no need to help them over the wall. With a command from his mind, Hexter lifted himself and Dia silently to the top of the wall, where they both perched in a crouching position. Standing upright might have seemed cooler, but it was very unwise, as they would be more easily spotted. Both of them were dressed in dark clothes, so that they would easily blend in with the shadows.

At that point, they noticed a guard walking below them, coming towards their direction, but Killua leaped onto him before he could respond, knocking him to the ground. By the time Dia and Hexter had dropped silently to the garden grounds, Killua was already dragging the body to hide it close to the wall. Silently, the two crept over, and listened to his plan. It was sound  enough, given their current equipment and objective. Dia nodded. "Alright. Let's find a way in."

As Hexter moved to peer into a lit window, Dia drew out a snow white feather, so white it  seemed to glisten in the night. She clutched it in her hand, unwilling to activate it yet, in case it interfered with her movement, due to its size. She looked over at Hex, who gestured to them to come over. The window he crouched close to led into a kitchen, where three of Edger's staff had been working. Their backs were turned to the window, but their bodies were stiff, like they had  been seized by an invisible force. Hexter silently opened the window and climbed in. Dia followed him. She stood in front of the three cooks, their faces white with fear. "I'm a reasonable person, and I'd like to keep this brief. Tell me what I want, and I'll let you go. If you lie, you die. Try to raise any alarm, and it won't end well." She glanced at Hex. "You can release that one's mouth," she motioned with her head at the one in the middle, an elderly woman. Hexter did not move, but the woman visibly relaxed.  Instantly, she took in a deep breath, no doubt going to scream, but a sickening popping sound stopped her short. Her eyes bulged, then she slumped to the ground, obviously dead. Dia shook her head, her expression irritated, as the other two made muffled sounds of horror. "Goodness, it is so hard to follow instructions?" She looked into the eyes of the man, terror written all over him. "You're next. You'd better behave." His body relaxed, but unlike the first cook, he didn't attempt to make any loud noises. "Please, what do you want with us? We're just lowly..." "Shush! I'll ask the questions. Where's Edger? Is he home?" The man paused, then shook his head. Dia nodded slowly. "Right." She looked expectantly at Hex, but there was something dark in her eyes. Hex understood. The man's head turned one-eighty degrees to the back, with a sharp crack. Dia closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. Then she turned to face the other cook, who still half stood, half floated, tears streaming from her eyes. "You look like a smart woman, so I'll give you a chance at life, which you'd better not muck up like your friends. I'll ask you some questions. You lie, you die. You scream, you won't even manage it before your heart goes out right through your back. You cooperate, you live. Nod if you agree."

The woman nodded. "As you can see, I can tell if you're lying, so don't waste my time. Now, what did Edger eat this evening?" The woman looked slightly surprised, but as Hexter let her mouth go, she replied, "Rare steak and..." Dia cut her off with a raise of her hand. "Good enough. Where is he, now?"

"His bedroom..."

"On the top floor. Where?"

"At the end of the hallway to the left, once you climb the stairs..."

Dia put a finger to the woman's lips. "Good, good. You've earned your life." She nodded to Hex. As the woman's eyes widened, she suddenly jerked backwards, as though an invisible force and delivered a powerful blow to her stomach, then she dropped to the floor unconscious. Dia felt pleased with herself. Her mind games had worked quite as expected. She had no power to read minds, but having used the first as an example, and asking the second a question which she was sure she knew the answer to, and meting out judgment instantly on their failures, she was sure the third would be more than eager to cooperate.

"Top floor, end of the left hallway," she said to Killua, as she produced the feather once again, and this time, activated its power. Pegasus transformed into a golden spear and shield. The shield she strapped to her back, while she wielded the spear. "I've got a better idea, Killua, one that will not jeopardize the mission in any way. Once we get Edger, I'll be the one to extract him immediately. Don't worry, he'll still die before I leave these grounds."

Killua nodded as he followed behind the duo, keeping an eye out for any other guards that might see them or the body of the other guard sooner than expected, the more time they had before the place was on full alert, the better for them. As they had reached a window Kil had no idea what was happening, as he wasn't able to see inside from his partners, he watched Dia pull out a white feather but did nothing with it. Hesitating? It seems so, he wondered what it did, and he would most likely find out later during the night.

He noticed that they entered and Hex had gestured them in, he was the last to enter through the window, giving one last look to the outside, before hoping in. Noting that this was the kitchen he looked at the three unmoving cooks. Fear? No, he was proven wrong as he saw that neither was moving even a little bit. Dia giving the order to release one of them proven his theory that it was some type of magic coming from her companion.

Placing himself near the door, he closed his eyes, focusing on any sounds that may come from the other side thanks to his enhanced hearing. He opened one eye as he looked into the interrogation, Dia had already killed one of them, he was interested in how she was going to continue the interrogation, at the moment they didn't have any information if Edger was in the compound and if he wasn't he would become harder to reach. Security would be upped around him all the time, if it wasn't in general, it really depended on how cocky he was, being untouchable. Still listening carefully while watching as she interrogated the second cook, he found it odd, it was so quiet, it felt like there were no guards in the building, no chatter, no pacing, nothing. Maybe there was a spell that was limiting this, making it so nothing interrupted any beauty sleep that their boss could have, still it was odd. A sickening crunch brought his attention back to the cooks, the second cook was dead, his body lay on the floor, his head turned back one-eighty degrees back, phew, savage. They didn't pull any stops, and it proved useful, the youngest cook soon spewed everything that they needed, confirming that Edger was here to them, before being knocked out.

"Top floor huh, how surprising... You have a knack to interrogate, I'll say that." He said watching the feather from before transform pushing himself from the door and turning towards it, he pulled his pistol up, readying it, if someone was behind the door.. Turning the knob he slightly opened the door, slowly poking out into the dimly lit corridor. As he saw that the corridor was clear, he lowered the gun to his side and mentioned for the two behind him to follow. It wasn't long before they went through the highway and reached the staircase. "I was just about to say it was too quiet.." Looking up at the staircase, at the top of it stood two large figures, almost identical to each other with a few small differences. One had a short mohawk going for it, while the other one was bald, clothing was almost the same, the bald one wore a biker's jacket and the other one a plain brown sleeveless T-shirt, both wore dark blue jeans. The most notable thing was the height of the two, they were towering above him, and were even quite a bit taller than Dia most likely. Both were incredibly bulky as well.

"Look brother, the little runts are finally making their way, I got tired of waiting, did you kill all the grunts on the way? Hahaha." The one with the mohawk one laughed as he leaned forward.

"Yes I can perfectly see them brother, I grew rather tired watching them from the camera, you should have killed the young cook, since she spilled everything, after we're done here, we'll have to deal with her, you could have at least spared her the pain afterward." The one the bald one said, in a more formal tone. Showed who was the brains and brawn of the duo.

Camera? Kil wondered, he was sure that there were no electric or magnetic field lines that looked out of the ordinary in the kitchen, unless it wasn't magic, he would have spotted it.

"Nah, I don't think so, you're not gonna even get the chance." Kil said, quickly aiming the pistol at the bald one, two bullets quickly went flying through the barrel of the pistol. His brother however quickly went in front of him, the bullets hit center mass, but instead, a metal hitting metal sound was heard, the bullets fall to the ground and light smoke was rising from his chest, now blackish metal had formed around his chest, disappearing slightly after.

"Nah ah, you ain't getting Mael like that you little freak." The biker wearing one said, as the now named Mael moved to the side and threw a black metal rod at him with a surprisingly fast speed, Kil, in turn, focused magic into his pistol and fired off his own bullet directly into the rod, both of them colliding and stopping in place, he had successfully intercepted it.

"Oh looks like this little guy could have some skill, let's play around with them for a bit Gael." Mael said, as another rod-shaped into his hand before splitting into smaller ones.

"So one can shape those black things and use them as projectiles, the other can apply them to his own body.. and they are quite tough from the looks of it.." Kil said in a lower tone so his partners for the job could hear him.

The area was big enough for them to fight, but in any case, they would have to be fast, as soon as the real fighting started it was bound to attract more attention. "We have to be fast if we don't want the whole capital on ou--" Kil couldn't say more as Gael dashed forward, what surprised him a bit was that the black metal had now shaped around his arm like a weapon, his hand becoming a short scythe. He had speed as well as potentially dangerous magic, the young dark mage was forced to move back and Gael followed him, attempting to slash him in half. He had no time to glance at the other mages around him, as each swing was close to chopping him in half.

He was able to charge lightning through himself, giving him the needed speed boost to keep enough of a distance as he dodged the last one, he flipped backward onto his arms and spun in one place, kicking out with his legs to send out a whirlwind of lightning that traveled through the hallway. Catching the bodyguard off guard a bit as he was hit with a torrent of lightning coursing through his body. "You little bastard, hahahaa, that stung a bit, but it's feeding time." He said and put Kil on the defensive again. He was definitely going to have a tough time with this.

WC: 1173
TWC: 8535
Spells used:  Requip: FN 509 Tactical Suppressed - Armor Piercing, Thunder God's Whirlwind

Gael color: ff9933
Mael color: 339966

Dia smirked at Killua's compliment on her "interrogation" skills, and gave him a gracious nod of appreciation. Words would have to be few between them, so that they would be less prone to be taken off guard by any surprise attacks. After all, this was the enemy's domain. They might have skills and strength on their side, but they were in uncharted territory. It was not safe to take any chances, especially when one was not immortal. At least, not yet. One of these days, from the things she'd heard and seen, she hoped to be.

Killua held his equipped pistol in one hand as he led the way, and Dia followed him, with Hexter bringing up the rear. They met no guards, no patrols, no servants as they proceeded cautiously. Like Killua, Dia was now of the opinion that something was quite amiss. It was too silent, like the quietness was staged. And of course, that meant a trap. While she was not necessarily keen on walking into an ambush, she was curious to find out just how much she could manage herself in some serious altercations. The Ring of Blood had bolstered her confidence in herself. Perhaps this mission would, too.

As they reached the staircase, Killua commented on his misgivings about how quiet the  place had been. Too quiet, in fact. There ought to have been a bit of bustle as the servants cleaned up for the night, but resistance had been rather light, like they were being invited into the mansion. Looking up the stairs, Dia saw the answer looking down at her, Killua and Hexter. Immediately, something about the odds screamed at her:

There were just two of them.

That was a little bit concerning, but it was also exciting in some way. These two had been  obviously assigned on guard duty, and they were purportedly strong enough to work on their own and not require any extra support from Edger's staff... except for being collateral damage and cannon fodder. Dia smiled slightly, her expression calm and unruffled, as she looked from one to the other, trying to assess their personalities. Hex had a similar expression, but he wasn't smiling. He even looked slightly irritated, but he didn't reveal anymore than that.

From their clothing and build, Dia would assume that these two were toughs: rough, bloody and violent, and their discussion proved her right. They would probably be loud and aggressive, trying to overwhelm their opponents with sheer power and brute strength... although, now that she had listened to their first sentences, she was sure that the one with the mohawk was the dumber one. She shrugged when the bald one tried to put the blame of brutally murdering the cook Dia had spared on her.

"She had a pretty face, and was rather helpful," Dia replied offhandedly. "With more people in the world like that, wouldn't it be a wonderful place?"

They had mentioned monitoring the assassins, even though Dia was not sure she had discerned any sort of cameras or other observational devices. Whatever that meant, it was almost certain that Edger would be keeping track of this battle. Defeating the two roughs would only afford them a little window of time, where they might be able to grab Edger and do what they wanted with him. For now, she  would focus on this fight. Catching Edger could become a legit issue when they were victorious.

Killua, being the pragmatic fellow, instantly tried to fell "Mael", the baldy, with two shots from his sidearm, but the dumber one used his body as a shield, the bullets letting out a metallic ring as they collided with his skin. Or, to be more accurate, his skin had taken the properties of something else, which was strong enough to deflect gun fire. And the other one? He suddenly flung a rod, with surprising speed, at Killua, but the young man, in an impressive display of marksmanship, shot the projectile out of the air. Dia was able to get a clearer look at it, then. It was metallic, seemingly of the same material the dumb one had used to protect himself and his brother from Killua's bullets.

Killua already had an idea of their capabilities, which he subtly shared, and Dia nodded slightly. "Got it. Mohawk is the tin man, Baldy throws construction rods." But before much could be said in the way of strategy or combat, Gael had charged, taking Killua for himself, while the bald Mael stood sneering before them, one hand full of small metal rods. Silently, Hexter stepped in front of Dia, his golden eyes on Mael.

"Oooh, what's this? A gentleman, trying to protect his girlfriend?" Mael taunted, as the rods, about six in number, slowly began to levitate above his palm. Then with a sudden arm movement, he snatched three out of the air and threw them at Hex, sending the remaining three at another part of his  body, only moments later. Hexter gestured, and all six rods came to a quavering halt in mid-air, his telekinetic Safeguard  protecting him from being hurt.

"Pfft! I got lots where those came from!"

This time, it was one rod that was thrown at Hex. However, the moment, he stopped it, the  rod exploded into many more, about ten, which suddenly continued their journey as if they had not been previously stopped. While it came as a shock, objects at inertia cannot attain maximum speed in less than a heartbeat (okay, they actually can, but thankfully, that was not the case, here), and that afforded Hexter enough time to skip aside as the rods hurtled past Dia and drove themselves into the wall behind them.

"Cripes, you guys are boring!" Mael sighed. "Best to just kill you off fast and see how the runt..."

He didn't get to finish the statement as he suddenly frowned, then jumped to the side as a wave of power rustled the air where he had previously stood. Slowly, a grin spread over his face, as two rods appeared, one in each hand. "Oh, so you do have some tricks. This should be fun." He looked at Dia, who still kept behind Hexter. "And what does your spear do?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "I just hold it, and hope my boyfriend does all the fighting... or better yet, that someone comes and impales themselves on its sharp point. It happens a lot more than you'd think is possible."

Mael laughed "Whatever you say, bimbo."

That was good; he needed to keep underestimating her. The results would eventually shock him.

The masked dark mage attempted to take a glance at what was happening to his current partners, finding it a bit hard as his current situation was taking his attention fully, or he would find himself missing a part of his body. Gael continued his assault, slashing at his head with each movement which was countered by Killua by dodging, he didn't have a melee weapon and he loathed to have one right now, it would have improved his current situation a lot.

"Quit moving your shrimp, I just wanna slice you up a bit, nothing else." Gael said with a psychotic tone, grinning slightly as they were reaching the edge of the corridor, soon he wouldn't have any more space to run to.

"Yeah right, I prefer to keep my body parts, thank you very much." Kil said, his mind racing at any opportunity he would have to counter and stop the offense of the significantly larger person in front of him, he did take some damage from his lightning whirlwind, however, he had a lot of endurance, it didn't take him much time to recover, seconds maybe from the sudden shock that had engulfed his body.

"Ohohoh, I feel like your getting slower, you might wanna pick it up if you don't wanna be missing a body part." Gael laughed maniacally as he picked up his speed more and more, Kil doing the same in order to keep himself alive.

"Checkmate brat." The guard yelled as Kil hit his back against the wall, a swing from the side of Gael coming towards his head. Kil looked surprised like he would panic any moment, as the black metal sort of thing, shaped like the end of a scythe came at his head. He smirked, ducking and moving to the side so he would be on the left of his opponent with surprising speed to his attacker, the blade coming close to cutting his hood revealing his face and hair, the hood flopping to one side, half-cut, he pointed a finger aiming it at Gael's exposed chest, black lightning crackling to life around his index finger. "Suprise~" The young mage chirped as the concentrated black lightning fired from his finger straight into the upper body of Gael, specifically towards his hearth, he wanted to end this as soon as possible.

A few seconds passed waiting for any sort of reaction, what came next was nothing he expected. Suddenly the larger male jerked and spun around, delivering a strong roundhouse kick into the hired assassin's side sending him through the wall into the next room. Pulling himself from the ground Kil, as a small line of blood trickled down his face, glared towards Gael as a small line of blood fell from his face, smoke rising slightly from his chest, as the black metal had protected them, still, a small crack could be seen that slowly regenerated, his left leg had transformed into a metal club. 'So that's why it hurt like I was hit by a train.'

"Cheap move brat, I like it, you might have gotten someone else with it." Gael laughed slightly. At this point, the dark mage had fully risen, hands tightening into a fist as electricity crackled around him. "Ooo, someone looks mad." Gael continue to taunt the young dark mage as he moved a bit closer to the hole Killua's body made on impact.

Cracking his knuckles, Kil prepared to dash. "Let's take it up a notch? You spiky-headed freak." Dashing he quickly engaged Gael, not letting him transform any body part into anything more than armor. Gael was matching his speed, he slipped at some points, but the height difference made it hard for the short mage to land any lethal strikes unless he overstepped.

His quick strikes kept the mohawk guard on the defensive, a fist was thrown when blocked it was covered by a kick making him constantly on the move or to block, keeping his armor as Killua's speed didn't allow much time for transformations on his body parts to more offensive ones.

Kil dropped all offensive maneuvers, diving under his opponent's guard, concentrating more lightning into his palm, and aimed at the lower abdomen of Gael. As he was able to touch it, he was quickly met by another kick, but this time the young dark mage crossed his arms in front of his face, taking the brunt of the metal kick as he slid to a stop not too far away from his opponent.

"All that offense, those moves, for what to touch me? What are you, a circus clown, hahahaha." Gael laughed, thinking that he had the upper hand in the exchange yet again.

"Think again, spiky." While the soldier clicked his fingers together, the mohawk haired guard looked at his abdomen, more precisely at the place his opponent was able to touch him, there he saw a glowing blue insignia, soon dark lightning engulfed him as he screamed at the unexpected surge as it felt like his body was burning from the lightning that coursed through him.

Kil smirked, this time he was the one to get the laugh out, he didn't leave his opponent much time to recover from the shock as he soon appeared right above him, his hands grabbing his head, as he drove his knee straight into his face, barely moving the giant of a man. Suddenly, two arms wrapped themselves around him, surprising the dark mage.

"Piledriver time!" The mage that was supposedly paralyzed yelled, as he performed a suplex the young dark mage into the ground head first. Smoke rose from the ground as they crushed the wooden floor beneath them.

The mohawk mage was the first one to appear from the smoke, jumping a few feet back, as blood slightly trickled from his forehead. The smoke slightly cleared, revealing Killua standing up again, a thin line of black lightning could be seen around every inch of his body, underneath the constant stream of lightning that was around him. In the last moments, before he was roughly suplexed, he was able to activate his lightning shield protecting himself from most of the damage.

"You're one crazy psychopath, who just grabs someone with lightning coursing around him and suplex's him into the ground." Killua said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Hahaha, you're good kid, I was really hoping that you weren't down after that one, they don't really stand and I've been having fun. It's rare to entertain yourself guarding someone." The guard said rather loudly.

Kil stapped forward, electricity dancing around him as he prepared his next attack. They had to get this over with fast, with all the noise they were making, it was bound to attract attention fast.

WC: 1132
TWC: 10767
Spells used: Lightning Shield, Thunder God's Mini-Railgun, Thunder God's Insignia

Since Hexter was the one taking most of the heat of the fight, Dia could look around to see how Killua was faring. For the most part, the white haired younger mage was avoiding most of the mohawk punk's attacks. She wondered if she couldn't quickly slip in an attack to destabilize Gael, and give Killua the upper hand, but she was sure that Baldy might capitalize on that, and attack her. True, Hexter had done a fair enough job protecting her, but there were obviously times when she would have to dodge by herself, like the last attack that Baldy had executed, the one that involved one rod splitting into ten. If she even wanted to help Killua, she had to dispose of Baldy... but she was getting ahead of herself. Speaking that way made it look so easy. They had not even managed to land a hit on him, yet.

"Let's be frank, here; this guy is no pushover, Hex. we're going to play smart," she said quietly, so that only Hexter could hear her. He nodded, still keeping focus on Mael. "Just give the command, boss." "First, as much as possible, do not block his attacks outright. It might be better to deflect them. I don't know the extent of his telekinesis, but for now, let's assume that he can't control those rods once they've passed a certain distance from his body. I'll try to get an attack in while you're pulling one of your own, and let's see how best we can use the environment against him."

Mael twirled the rods he held, as he put up a show of patience, waiting for them to attack. "Come now, what are you lovebirds mumbling about? I could give you a room if you really want... in hell, of course!" He threw the rod, but something was a little off about the trajectory. Hexter barely had to move, as the rod drove into the ground in an almost upright position, right in front of him. "Careful, Hexter, something is not right..."

Mael ran at them, grasping the remaining rod with him like it was a baseball bat. Dia hadn't really expected him to be the close quarter type, since he had seemed very comfortable with just throwing stuff. Hexter held off attacking until he was close; that way, it might prove more difficult to avoid his Telekinetic Onslaught. Mael swung the rod. Hexter stepped away to avoid the blow, and raised a hand, just as the rod connected with the one that was stuck in the floor. There was a strange ringing sound; strange, because it sounded muted, but the only way Dia and Hex could describe it was that they felt the ringing in their brains. Hexter's arm remained outstretched, but his eyes widened in surprise and confusion, as nothing happened.

Mael laughed and kicked him in the face.

As Hex went flying backwards, Dia rushed forward, thrusting her spear at Mael. He parried the blow with his rod, and made a very subtle gesture. Instinctively, Dia sent the shield behind her to guard her rear. It was very likely that he was planning on an attack that would catch her off-guard. True enough, she felt something thud into the shield, which hit her from behind, pushing her forward, right into Mael's headbutt. She grunted with pain and backed away, her hand covering her bleeding nose.

"Ugh! You stupid piece of..."

Mael swung the rod in his hands at her head, and she quickly raised her spear to parry the blow. He pushed forward, pressing attack after attack, forcing Dia backwards as she tried to keep his weapon from hitting her. Her skill with the weapon was the only thing keeping him from beating her to a pulp, otherwise, Mael was toying with her. "I really had high hopes in you two, but you're just disappointing. Wonder if I should play with you a little longer, or..." He brought the rod down in an overhead strike, and while Dia effectively warded against it by lifting her spear above her head to intercept it with the shaft, Mael's blow had a surprising amount of strength behind it, forcing her down on one knee.

"This is where you croak, bimbo," Mael said, conjuring up another rod in his hand.

Dia felt the air rippling towards her from behind, and she could virtually feel Hex's fury riding on it. Mael looked up surprised, then quickly struck both rods together. There was another one of those strange ringing sounds, and the telekinetic force dissipated instantly. However, it was enough for Dia to scramble to her feet and dodge around Mael to get to his other side.

"Your stick things have anti-magic properties. That's inconvenient," Dia observed, as she grasped the shield of Pegasus and hefted it on her other arm. She was now in the position Mael had been in when this fight started, and that meant that there were no rods behind her, so she didn't have to worry about any surprise attacks from behind. Hexter stood on the other side of Mael, his face dark like a thundercloud, his forehead bruised from where Mael had kicked him. Dia wiped the remaining blood off her face, her expression settling into something more serene, though it was obvious she was still pissed off.

"You punks think you have the advantage, surrounding me like this? Well, let me take things up three notches!

He threw up a rod and snapped his fingers. The rod exploded into many more rods, each one driving into either the floor or wall, so that they were all over the place. hex and Dia managed to avoid any rods that came their way, so fortunately, neither of them was injured. "Let's make some noise!" Mael yelled, as he struck one of the rods with the one in his hand. It was like the resultant sound leaped from rod to rod, so that eventually, all of them were emitting that same anti-magic frequency.

Hex backed away for a while, then with a strange look on his face, turned, ran to the balcony and jumped over it, falling down to a lower floor. Mael stared after him without moving a muscle, a mix of amusement and surprise on his face. Then he burst into raucous laughter. "I don't believe this! Your boyfriend just split! Oh, this is so hilarious. Hahahahahahahaha!" Getting control of himself, he said in a more even tone, although he still had a stupid grin on his face: "Guess your daddy didn't tell you that assassinating people was bad, huh? Your boyfriend, being such a lily livered weakling, isn't going to get far before the Rune Knights get him, but you... I ain't letting you get anywhere, bimbo."

"Baldy," Dia replied calmly, "you know nothing about my life, or my 'daddy', so keep 'em to yourself. And you know nothing about me, or the person you're guarding for that matter, so..." she trailed off, a mischievous smile slowly creeping across her face. "Say, I think Edger should be just right behind me, down this hallway, right?" Mael stopped smiling. "You turn your back on me even once, and I'll gut you like a..."

"Now, now, let's not be so violent," Dia answered with a laugh. "I don't intend to turn my back. I jut walk backwards, if that's okay with it. Used to practice doing it a lot as a child, so I'm pretty good at it." She took a step backwards. "See?"

Mael charged, and she deflected his blow with her shield. Now she could use one arm to defend and one to attack. She wasn't going to say anything about the runaway Hexter, because she was sure that he had a reason for doing so, and she didn't want Mael to get suspicious about his exit. Now that Mael was focusing on physical combat, she was sure she had an ace she could use against him.

She just had to watch for the right window of opportunity.

A bright light flashed from one of the windows in Edger's complex, filling out the dark night before it slowly died out into a smaller more constant light. Killua had launched another series of lightning-infused attacks at Gael, but again both stood at a stalemate, no one getting the upper hand on the other mage.

"You know I just wanna get that politician and I can go, this is getting rather boring." Kil said, dodging another metal slash aimed at his head.

Gael laughed, as he lunged again. "I can ask you the same thing squirt, just stand still so I can get another fat paycheck for bringing your head on a silver plater"

"Yea, I'll pass on that." The hired assassin rolled his eyes dodging yet another life-threatening attack from the bulkier male. The damage they had inflicted on each other had definitely slowed both of their movements down a bit, getting kicked by a metal club through a wall was something that wasn't on the dark mage's list.

Black lightning violently began to crack around the slayer as he increased the voltage that he was putting out significantly. It was time to end this and get their target before this place turned into a mini battlefield between the two hired assassins and anything in the capital that was 'good' decided to show up.

"Ooh, sparky calm down, please." Laughing maniacally Gael charged forward, transforming both arms into scythes and charging forward towards Killua.

Kil in turn charges as well, a plan already devised on how to fight the mohawk haired brute. Letting one arm fall behind him, a whip made of pure black lightning manifested, dragging it across the floor as the two combatants came closer and closer to each other.

Gael attempted to slash Killua's head clean off, a dangerous move for both of them, as Kil slid under the attack, throwing his left arm out that held the whip so it could wrap around Gael's own right hand as a strong current of electricity shocked his whole body. As Kil prepared his next move, his slide was suddenly stopped, and instead, he was being dragged and thrown back towards his initial position. Crashing into a wooden table, the young boy quickly looked back at his opponent as he didn't waste any time getting up. Shocked, as the hulk of a man was able to move, let alone throw him back while all that electricity was coursing through his body

What he did notice however was as the man attempted to move, he was barely able to take a step forward, it looked like he was slightly immobilized, or did something with his magic, he still hadn't shown much. Taking this opportunity, Kil quickly requipped his MRAD sniper rifle, his finger quickly going into a specially made socket as charged electricity, the sniper itself lighting up in a few places as Kil quickly aimed, taking a shoot at his chest that flew with electricity surrounding it towards Gael.

He didn't want to waste time to aim a perfect shot, one that would finish the fight, as pulled the bolt back and continue to load the next bullet, he was able to see the massive shield made of metal blocking the overcharged bullet from doing any serious damage.

Attempting to load the next special round even quicker, Kil didn't waste any time hoisting the riffle back up, but as he did he was met with the front of the massive shield, black metal spikes protruding from it as they either dug into him or nicked him, before being thrown away into a few more wooden chairs.

Grunting, Kil pushed himself a bit, still laying on the floor among the debris of wood as he looked in the direction of the bodyguard. Who in turn was on one knee, the metal surrounding him disappeared as he breathed heavily. It looks like he wasn't able to completely block out the bullet with his shield, as a stain of blood covered the upper right portion of his jacket.

"You're quite the tough kid." Gael coughed, some blood dripping from his mouth as he attempted to push himself.

"Sorry.." Kil said as Gael looked up to the prone mage that was in front of him, his hand in the same pistol motion as before as electricity was already gathered. Before Gael could say anything the bullet of lightning had passed through him, a single thud could be heard before Killua groaned again from all the wounds spread across his body. The electric aura around him ceasing as he concentrated most of the lightning to the tip of his index finger, bringing it closer to his skin, using the high voltage to slowly burn his wounds making them close.

It wasn't long before he stood up, taking one last look at his fallen opponent. "You were good, you fucking brute, god damn this was painful.." Kil said, as he moved to take a look at himself as he passed by a mirror, he was quite bloody, that last spiky shield did a number on him, he had multiple bloody stains on his clothes and even a small part of his silvery hair had some red stains on it.

He shrugged it off and moved towards Dia and Hex, Gael was strong and if Mael was as strong as his brother they might need help, he didn't know how good his partners for the job were in real combat.

WC: 915
TWC: 13025/14000

Dia was no pushover when it came down to physical combat, but against Mael, she was outgunned.  As they clashed weapons, it became more and more evident that, while she was probably more trained in the art of trading blows, his speed, strength and ferocity more than made up for her advantage. She was almost at her limit, struggling to keep those rods of his from connecting with her flesh. And she had learned from experience that getting hit put her in a greater disadvantage. The rods seemed to vibrate a lot, and the frequencies at which they vibrated caused different effects. There was the magic canceling one. There was another, which he was currently using, where, on contact, the rod would release a powerful burst of vibration, which made blocking it feel like that jarring effect one experienced when they struck an unyielding object too hard with a tool. And at the few times he had scored a hit, she had experienced a powerful jolt that always almost made her drop her weapons. She would have found it safer to revert back to her old stance: wielding the spear with both hands, while she allowed the shield to float around her and defend in such a manner. At least, if Mael struck the shield, she wouldn't suffer from the vibrations. However, the still buzzing rods were effectively canceling out the magic around them, and that included Pegasus' levitating powers.

Mael was obviously enjoying himself, but Dia couldn't afford to let him know that if this kept up, she would soon lose her cool. Hex was nowhere to be found, though she had reasoned that he might not be able to do much, what with those magic canceling staves. She was going to have to rely on a Deus ex Machina event, or think hard and fast, and outwit him. She quickly chose the latter. Relying on an unexpected event to save one could only be carried out with the utmost assurance by those protagonists in all those action vids. Dia began to give ground, allowing Mael to beat her backwards. She dodged as much as she could, and blocked whatever she could not dodge, but it was a very painful thing to do. Still, she knew that getting a direct hit would be even more agonizing, so she gritted her teeth together and continued playing on the defensive.

"What's the matter, bimbo? You don't look so calm, now. Don't worry, you'll be spared. After Gael is done killing that short brat, we'll hunt down your boyfriend and rip him apart. You, however, we'll save for Edger. He should like to know who hired you. But you might actually end up wished we killed you, when..."

"I know all about Edger and his inventive torture techniques, so you can save yourself the trouble," she snapped, ducking under a blow and jumping backwards immediately after, so as to put some space between them. Mael was not interested in letting her off so easily, and he rushed forward, aiming a blow at her face. Her shield came up to block the attack, but with a powerful blow, he knocked it clean out of her hands, then swung next for her knees. The spear came down to deflect it, and she hissed in pain as she felt the shock rush through her body. She staggered away, but he came forward, this time bringing a rod down towards her shoulder. This time, Dia did not dodge.

As the blow descended, she thrust forward with her spear as viciously as she could, aiming right for the center of his chest. Belatedly, he realized the dangerous plan she had carried out, and tried to knock aside the spearhead with his other hand. Judging from the fact that he had had to react to a pointblank attack, and the second fact that the spear did not run him through, one could say that his defense was somewhat successful. It did rip his shirt apart, though, and cut a gash across his chest. Mael screamed as his blood flew, a cry more induced by rage than pain, while Dia stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, her arm hugging her broken shoulder. Mael looked down at his chest, then at the fallen woman. "I will make you regret that, bitch!" he snarled, as he stormed forward, raising a rod above his head.

But it was far enough.

The shield of Pegasus flew all by itself to intercept the powerful blow, and as Mael struck it, the "eyes" of the horse shield glowed brightly and fired off a beam of blue light. Unable to dodge in time, Mael  tried to block it with his staff. But that was exactly what Dia wanted, and her plan had been successfully hatched. Normally, if she had given this fight her all, and attacked as much as she could, she might have given Mael a bit of a run for his money. But she had chosen to allow herself to be forced back, and in so doing, had slowly and subtly lured him out of the range of his magic canceling metal sticks. Once out, she tried to force him to make a powerful attack, which he had done, but now, she could use her mind to guide the shield into protecting her. And she had activated Pegasus' "Hard Head" ability. Mael would now discover that the beam of light was not supposed to be touched at all. His expression was one of shock and helpless rage, as his body refused to move. Then the rage turned to fear and panic, as the rods he wielded slipped out of his hands.

Slowly, Mael rose into the air, as his body contorted in very unhealthy ways, and then Hexter revealed himself, floating up from somewhere beneath to hover a few feet above the top floor. "Sorry for putting you through all that," he said, as he gestured sharply, and Mael crashed through the wall and went outside, rocketing off into the night to goodness knew where. Hex looked down at Dia and reached out a hand, his expression softening slightly, but Dia pushed his hand away. "You can coddle me later. Find Edger. He mustn't escape. And watch out for traps."

Hex nodded, then bolted towards the room that the interrogated cook had directed them to. Dia activated the healing technique of Pegasus as Killua came within range. A fountain burst out of the shield, healing both their injuries and restoring them. Once Dia felt the numbness leave her shoulder, she got to her feet and hurried after Hex, the spear and shield trailing after her. Ahead, she could hear shouts and gunfire, but as she approached, she saw that Hexter had it all under control. The last of the guards that protected Edger went through a window, while the target of their assassination squirmed as hard as he could, caught in an invisible grip. She had wanted to try abducting Edger, but perhaps a quick, thorough interrogation would suffice here and now.

"Had himself holed up here with a bunch of guards," he said over his shoulder. "He's all yours, Dia."

Dia walked into the room, her spear hovering at her shoulder. It was a surveillance room, filled with monitors that had been smashed apart by the bodies of guards. No doubt this was the place Gael and Mael had monitored their progress through the mansion. Seemed like Edger had been cocksure of their abilities, and that pride had cost him. "Let's make this quick. I'm not here to kill you, Edger. I only want information. And don't waste my time lying, or giving me that overused 'no, they'll kill me', because I already loathe you immensely, and wouldn't mind harming you severely."

Hexter, at Dia's gesture, dropped Edger into a chair, but held him from getting up. The politician's face was pale, and he licked his dry lips. "Uh... you must have mistaken me with someone else. I swear I don't know who..." he began, but she cut him off. "Remember the Hand of Doom?" Edger blanched even further. "Glad you do. Hex, break his thumb for wasting my time and reminding me of some gall I'd rather forget."

Edger screamed, as a crack was heard, but he  couldn't move his other arm around to hild his injured hand. "Fortunately, Edger, humans have a lot of bones. I used to clean up a lot after you and La Trompe, if you can remember, and I learned a thing or two. Heck, you even practiced a thing or two on me, so trust me when I say that you'd be wise not to offend me further."

Edger stared at her, terror and wonder written all over his face. "Who are you?"

Dia kicked him in the face. "I'm the one asking the questions. Don't you ever listen? Hex, instead of breaking his index finger, why not slowly pull..."

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" he screamed.

Dia nodded at Hex, and he released his telekinetic grip on Edger's finger. "It's just a few simple questions. Answer me straight, and I'll turn round and walk away, instead of burying this spear in your face. Don't answer me, and I'll make sure the Rune Knights won't find enough of you to be identified with. Are we in agreement?" Edger nodded. "Good. And remember, I can tell if you're lying. You remember what I did with the cooks." Again, he nodded.

She asked him about a dozen questions, most of them being questions about the Hand of Doom which she already knew the answers to. She hid the real questions she was interested in, sandwiching them among seemingly important but unnecessary inquiries on the trivia of his pirating days. Once she had obtained the information she was after, which were the location of an artifact the Fingers of Doom had handled, and the whereabouts of the Ring Finger of Doom, she nodded.

"Alright. That will be all. As I'm a woman of my word, I won't kill you." She turned to go. "I didn't say anything about my friend here, though. You can try to strike a bargain with him if you want. The lad is very reasonable. He's all yours, Killua."

She gave Killua a wink. "I think it's best we split in different directions, yeah? We'll be harder to track that way. So, guess I'll be seeing you around, yeah?"

By now, the Rune Knights would have been alerted to the fighting, and would have been headed for the mansion, so the sooner and more surreptitiously they escaped, the better. Hex picked Dia up with his telekinesis, as she deactivated Pegasus into a harmless feather once again, and they floated out of a broken window and into the darkness, their black clothes helping them to blend in with the night.

Taking his time to get to where Dia was so he could get a bit accustomed to the pain he was feeling, he was just in time to see the other brother being contorted into shapes he didn't think the human body could do. Painful was the only thing he could describe before his lifeless body was thrown away. "Ouch?" Was the only thing he could say, before a fountain of healing, restoring most of his strength back. Useful.

There wasn't much time for him to say anything as gunshots rang through the building, the young dark mage followed swiftly behind Dia but soon they saw the guards flying through the wall the same way Mael had, Hex coming with what he could only think was their target for this job. Killua entered the surveillance room, interested as to how he didn't see anything with his electro perception, as Dia began her interrogation Kil went ahead and searched through some filing cabinets, taking anything that seemed noteworthy, in his world and opinion information was power you could buy a lot of things that money couldn't.

Kil's attention was brought back to the person they were here to assassinate as Dia finished up her interrogation, a lot of interesting things were said in the room or at least things that interested the young dark mage, this Ring of Doom had piqued his interest and it was something he could look into in the future.

But for now, it was apparently his turn to act. "Haha, let the kid finish the dirty job." He joked as he went in front of the now trembling. His head turned towards Dia as she addressed him "Yea, best to split up. I'll see you around." He did a small wave before a bright flash enveloped him as he was left alone with the corrupt politician, a flight suit, helmet and jetpack were now what the young dark mage was wearing. "P-p-please, I can give you a lot of money, status, clear your name. Y-you can work for me, I-i'll do anything." Edger screamed attempting to buy his way out of the gruesome situation he found himself in.

"You know I would consider that, but if I let you live, I won't probably get another contract, let alone my pay." He said as two little balls with flashing red dots appeared in his hands. One was dropped to the ground and it rolled away as if it had a mind of its own and plated itself somewhere, the second one was dropped in the surveillance room, Edger watched them with renewed fear of what was going to happen, a pistol was also now in the hands of Killua as he pressed it againts the forehead of his squirming target and pulled the trigger, blood dripped slowly around the face of Edger as his hands fell lifelessly to the side.

Kil exited via the same window that his partners had and the jetpack's engine on the back kicked into life, filling the dark night with bright red light as he flew upwards. When he was far enough he looked down and clicked his fingers, the compound was soon enveloped by a bright light as it exploded, if Dia was still somewhere close they would surely be able to see the fireworks. "As if I'm going to leave the capital without causing some chaos and covering our tracks." He said, looking as more and more Rune Knights squirmed towards the raging fire. Kil himself looked up and his jetpack roared slightly as he went into the clouds, flying away from the capital.

WC: 604
TWC: 15443