Holiday Reconaissance

The man couldn't quite decide how to categorize what exactly he was seeing around him. He was currently stuck somewhere between crazy and deranged to filthy and degenerate. The Fioreans were a class all for themselves, that much was for sure. They littered the street like the filth they were, all nationalities, all races, and all sorts of levels of arcana intermingling with each other out in the open in a big, disgusting melting pot of shit. The Pergrandean Paladin kept these thoughts deeply locked within himself, of course. He was playing a role, as was so often the case. This, however, was more pleasure than business, if he was being honest with himself.

Nestor Azarov's original objective, the complete destruction of Plumed Serpent, turned out to be a joke. After what those mages had done in Felidae City, after the attack on the Imperial Envoy, he had expected more from them. So much more. And yet, when he had arrived there, it was naught more than a steaming pile of incredible incompetence. Their leader was a groveling rodent, and not long after he had infiltrated that guild, it had simply dissolved entirely, its members scattering into the winds like dust. Oddly appropriate after what happened in Joya. Still, these two mages, the twins with the silver hair, had not been there when he'd arrived. His secondary objective of dispatching them was, as of yet, unfulfilled, but the higher-ups wouldn't care too much for that as long as he had results to show. And boy, had he gotten those, so much faster than he had initially expected...

...leaving Nestor with a lot of free time on his hands.

He still had that objective of his, of course, but that would all take time. Time to consolidate resources and gather intel on the deFleur twins, Yurielle and Yuliana. In the meantime, he would infiltrate another one of Fiore's mage guilds. The last one hadn't proved to be much in the way of entertainment for the Paladin from the Empire of Pergrande, hadn't proved to be of much worth for Pergrande's plans. It was of little consequence. With that organization now gone, the empire would shift its focus, and Nestor would accordingly turn his. His objectives in Fiore were diverse, and the infiltration and intelligence-gathering duties he fulfilled were simply one of many. He'd picked one of the bigger ones for this round of fun. Fairy Tail. A widely known guild located in a serene little city called Magnolia, a place Nestor had arrived at not long ago.

Which brought him to his current occupation, of course.

He'd arrived a couple of days ago, planning to use his extra time before seeking out the mage's guild that had taken residence here to scout out the city and internalize its layout. Just in time to catch a strange tradition that was native to Fiore, it seemed. He'd read about it before, of course, but the nature of these festivities was nothing less than asinine to the Esper. It was Halloween.

Or, more specifically, a Halloween festival. A truly stupid holiday. Something that celebrated the birth of their nation, or the birthday of their monarch. Those would be events worthy of joyous celebration. Not some superstitious bullshit to scare away spirits. It was simply more proof of the fact that where witches and their spells were left unchecked degeneracy would run rampant.

Still, the activities that these people had thought up for these festivities made for a more or less amusing first impression. Quirky would perhaps be the word that Fioreans would use for things of such nature. An excellent opportunity to learn about Fiore, its customs, and its people in any case. If one wanted to beat an enemy, one had to have a thorough understanding of why they did what they did. How they expressed themselves, how they spoke, how they acted. Their language. Their art. Their culture. Infiltration was a systemic undertaking that required extensive knowledge, and Nestor had long since realized this. That's why he was one of the best at what he did, and why the Empire of Pergrande valued him thus.

He would readily partake in this festivity, no matter what the Paladin from the Empire of Pergrande actually thought behind the mask he wore, the role he played here. And so, for this evening, it seemed that Nestor Azarov had a new objective: Collecting 3 Skull Tokens handed out by Event Staff here in Magnolia. A joke it was, that much was true. At least it was an amusing one.

More or less by chance, Nestor had found himself near a maze where he was quickly recruited for a little party game. And why not? Participation yielded one of these neat little tokens he needed to participate in the Halloween festival, and the job they offered him was an enticing one. A little exercise for the Pergrandean. He was to play a "killer" hunting victims through a cornfield maze. A little play in adrenaline for the would-be murdered, a little bit of tag for the one with the knife. No magic allowed, they said. An anti-magic field covered the impromptu labyrinth. How fortunate for him. They were so set on the fact that people would play fair for this game. Nestor sure was glad. He wouldn't use magic, but his psionic abilities were entirely exempt from this, naturally. Poetic, in a sense. He would make full use of his gifts. Life wasn't fair, after all. And besides, a nice little massacre was just the thing to get his blood pumping, even if it was just played. A hunter and its prey... how exhilarating.

The man was given a white mask and a knife. Touching other contestants with this knife would "kill" them and take them out of the game. Victims had 15 minutes to find the exit to the maze. Simple rules, all in all, right? Man, this would be so much fun. Nestor got into position, the would-be victims spreading through the corn maze with a small head start. And then it was time.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

The Paladin readied himself and switched gears. His stance shifted, his right hand grasping the toy knife so firmly that the material bent in his grip. Underneath that mask, a wide grin spread across his face. It was showtime.

"Go!"

Nestor dashed, his speed inhuman. Within a second, he had caught up with the first unsuspecting participant, dragged the knife across their back as they were fleeing, barely even aware of what had happened to them. First blood. This would be a cakewalk, almost too easy. He kept moving, and again, only a second or two later, the next person would fall victim to the killer. Screams echoed through the cornfield. They were screams of genuine terror, for the killer was oozing with real bloodlust, massacring his victims one after the other with swiftness and agility that defied human logic. Some mages would probably be able to keep up with his movements, had it not been for the anti-magic field. Another second passed, and another victim fell. He turned, sprinted, dashed, and killed another one. Pretty sure that one had pissed himself. He ran, rounded a corner, then stopped. The exit? Huh? Was... was that it? He looked, finding himself facing the bewildered event staff. "You... you're the first one out? Dude... you took out everyone in there in just 30 seconds?! Are you even human?".

Oops. He'd gotten a little too serious there. "My bad, haha. Used to play a lot of tag with my siblings so I got really good at it". Nestor laughed it off, taking off the mask and giving it back in exchange for a token.

"Man, you're something else..."

Was that a hint of fear in the other's voice? Oh, how fun. These people would love what they had in store for them in the future.

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Post Word Count: 1,324
Word Count Total: 1,324 / 2,000

Still... his siblings, huh? Now that he'd said it out loud he couldn't help but wonder how they were doing. Little Sofia and Anastasia were still back home with their parents. Sofia had to have started her training by now, but he didn't know for sure. He hadn't been home in a bit, and writing home was simply not feasible in his line of work, though he longed to return. It was only natural. Arkadi was on a mission similar to his own somewhere here in Fiore, he knew. Maybe he should ask his contacts for a bit of info on his younger brother soon. And then, there was still the matter with Irina...

She'd gone radio silent ever since Nestor had discovered her here in Fiore. It was one of the reasons he remained so continuously interested in this nation and the events that occurred within it. The first extraction attempt, of course, had been a massive fucking failure. After that, she'd gone into hiding... until recently. She'd been spotted in Crocus, Fiore's capital city. Either she'd gotten careless or she was planning some shit, but from what Nestor knew about his sister... well, Irina wasn't stupid. Far from it. One of the Paladin Candidates with the most potential he'd ever seen, and he'd come across many in his time. Too bad she had to ruin all that. Ah, well, there was no helping it. He'd simply keep an eye on her and attempt another extraction when the moment was right. What kind of brother would he be if he didn't at least try to reunite her with her family, with glorious Pergrande, and with the Paladin Order. The Empire may owe him a favor for all his hard work, after all. It was no use making plans in advance, though. He'd have to wait and see until he got to a more solid point in his plans. And until then, well-

"Hey handsome, what's got you lookin' all gloomy?"

Nestor turned his head. He'd zoned out, sure, but the voice came from a stall not far from him. Two women, both dressed in witch costumes, staffed some kind of pop-up candy store. Seemed like one of them was selling drinks, too. "Why don't you take your mind off of everything for a sec and have a drink? Comes with a token, too, mister". He stopped, chuckled, then gave her a big smile. "Who'd I be if I passed up such an offer?". He stepped closer, giving the woman a nod, the witch already extending a hand with a glass bottle towards him, a deeply purple liquid swirling within. "So, what's in this stuff, anyway?". She giggled. "That's a surprise! You'll have to try it to find out". He raised an eyebrow. "Down it goes, then. Cheers". Seemingly without thinking, he would uncork the glass bottle and down the whole thing in one swig.

The effect was immediate. "Woah". He could feel his teeth grow, his physicality change. He was genuinely surprised. Nestor hadn't experienced a magic-based transformation of such a nature before, and it was a strange experience, to say the least. Some might even call it morbid. "Hehe, you're a real vampire now! Don't worry, though, it'll only last an hour or two. Nothing lasting". Nestor grinned. Part of the mask. He fucking hated this. As if having to swallow this magic-tainted piss hadn't been disgusting enough. His physique had been forcibly changed by arcane means. That was an insult to everything he stood for. He felt gross, wanted to vomit the drink he'd swallow out, but that wouldn't change a damn thing. He had to endure, had to play nice. All part of the mission. Anything for the mission. "Why don't you take some candy, too? If you win at the cup game, it's free". He was familiar with that simple party game, giving the other witch a nod, and she immediately placed a chocolate bar under a cup, then began shuffling three of them around with an unseen kind of magic. It started slow, but grew faster and faster until any ordinary person would've had massive trouble keeping up. Not Nestor, though. As soon as she stopped, he immediately pointed at a cup without hesitation. "That one". She smiled. "Well, that was no fun. Good guess. Here ya go". She lifted the cup. A chocolate bar, as expected. The Paladin reached out, grabbed it, tore the plastic wrapping. He needed that now to get the disgusting flavor of magic out of his mouth.

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Post Word Count: 1,324
Word Count Total: 2,081 / 2,000