"Of course the lair of some evil chick is surrounded by dark, dense woods." Will complained, pushing a branch of a tree out of his way.
"They are just normal woods. Any woods are dark when it's night time." Zach said, cutting his way through the brush with his sword.
"Maybe we shouldn't be talking, we are getting close to the manor..." Nick sighed, following behind the two. They didn't seem like they knew what they were doing but he could only hope they would be able to at least save him if things went bad. After all, they were stronger than him, though Nick had not actually fought them to know for sure. They did come recommended from a man who could kick his ass with one hand tied behind his back.
Currently, after three days of travel in a horse pulled carriage, they were finally approaching the home of the general. They were close enough to see the top of the building peeking over the trees but not close enough to actually see the entire building. Nick was feeling both confident but doubtful at the same time, he would have turned back by now if he was not with two people actually qualified to take this quest.
"This place doesn't seem too heavily guarded, I can only see one guard so far. I will take care of him." Zach pulled out his dagger and left the woods, the cover of darkness concealing his form and the grass muffling his footsteps.
"Once the body drops let's make our way up, try to be as quiet as possible." Will said, watching intently.
"Says the guy wearing chain, but alright."
Will laughed in response as Zach came up behind the unsuspecting guard, placing his hand over his mouth before slitting his throat. Once the body hit the ground both Nick and Will began to advance closer to the building in crouched positions. "I think I hear another guard, stay here and don't make a sound." Zach got closer to the corner of the building, peeking around before quickly hiding behind the corner once again. He held up a finger in front of his mouth to signal the other two to keep quiet as he picked up a twig.
Zach snapped the twig, Nick could hear footsteps begin to quicken towards their position. Zach pulled out his sword, not making a sound as he did so. Once the guard turned the corner his head was removed from his body with one swift movement, his body and head falling to the ground with separate thuds. If it was not so dark out Nick might have been disturbed, luckily he didn't have night vision if he kept his demon blood suppressed. "I'll circle around once and take out any more guards, you two wait by the front door."
As Zach ran off Nick and Will made their way to the large double front doors of the large manor. "Well, this is going a lot smoother than I expected." Nick said in a hushed voice with a sigh.
"Don't jinx it, this isn't the hard part. You could have gotten this far on your own, once we get inside is when things are going to get hard." Will was unusually serious, understandable in this kind of scenario.
After a few seconds of silence and looking around Nick leaned against the wall of the building. "Well, I don't put too much stock in superstition. Though, I never put too much stock in there being such a thing as demons and now it turns out I am one so I guess I shouldn't dismiss the possibility of jinxing."
"Heh, you will come to learn that people in our line of work take superstition very seriously. Superstition can be the difference between life and death for some people when they go on quests. It never really hurts to be superstitious."
"I'm sure I could come up with a few examples given a few minutes but an argument right now won't help anyone."
"Yeah. We should probably stop talking, we don't know the placement of guards in the building. We could have already alerted a couple of door guards for all we know."
Nick decided Will was right and closed his mouth as he waited for Zach to come back. It was nearly 30 seconds until he came back, his sword dripping with blood. "Seems they had a guard for each side of the building, whoever this person is they must be important. Either that or just rich."
"Well, she is a general in a criminal syndicate, so..." Will replied, turning to the door and grabbing one of the metal loops that worked as both a door knocker and a handle. Zach did the same as they slowly opened the large doors into a well lit mansion. It seemed hazardous to Nick to have torches lighting up a mostly wooden building but he wasn't going to question it. "Wow... I'm jealous."
As Will grumbled about his jealousy Nick began to look around the hallway that the door opened to, it was lined with doors and opened up into a large foyer. The floor was covered in a decorative red rug and the walls were covered with paintings. It didn't look like the house of a criminal but Nick was not exactly sure what the house of a rich criminal would look like. The only criminal's house he had been in was Billy's and that isn't exactly a fair standard. Still, the house looked oddly innocent.
"Stay quiet as we enter the foyer, there are likely a couple of guards stationed around it. There is a good chance we will be spotted, so prepare for battle." Nick took the cue from Zach's words and actions, telling Azara to transform into a shorter sword than usual so he could use it inside the building. "Well, that was unexpected. We will have to talk about that later." Zach said with a curious expression
Nick didn't think it relevant to tell them about Azara, when asked about his lack of a weapon he always managed to dodge the question. Eventually Will and Zach stopped asking about it. Once in the foyer they began to look around, only growing confused as there was not a single guard anywhere. "It isn't very nice to come into a lady's home uninvited. I should have you arrested." A woman's voice said, coming from the balcony at the top of the stairs in the foyer.
When Nick looked up he recognized the person immediately, it was the woman they were after. She was holding a glass of what looked like wine and had one guard on each side of her. She was wearing a tight purple dress, she looked like she was getting ready to head to some kind of formal event. Her brown hair was done up in a bun and her green eyes did not even show a hint of fear. "I take it you three are from the guild, then?"
"Well, no use in lying. Yes, we came here to dispose of you for the guild." Zach said, taking a defensive stance.
"Right. You guild men are always such a pain in my ass, not only do you take out the bandits who I employ but one of you also took out one of my top earners recently. What was his name? It was something like... Ah! Billy."
Once his name was brought up Nick's eyes lit up, pure hatred in his stare. "Oh? A demon child. It seems I hit a sore spot, were you perhaps the one who took him out? Is that why you are here? Did he rat me out in his final moments?"
"Something like that." A lie. "Regardless of my motives someone like you deserves to go to hell right along with him."
"My, you are quite a rude little boy. I think I will take my time killing you." Sabrina snapped her fingers before pointing down at Nick and the other two. "Kill the two men, bring me the boy alive."
The two men jumped over the balcony, rushing towards Will and Zach with their swords drawn. Zach and Will did the same, rushing to them before swinging their swords which seemed to be easily blocked. Nick was not sure who to help, he could also use the time to rush at Sabrina. "Last time I checked I believe my bounty was an A-rank quest, right? These two should be enough to deal with you two. Run wild, boys!"
At Sabrina's command the man currently clashing swords with Will parried and sent an elbow directly into his jaw, making him stagger backwards a few steps in a daze before receiving a punch to the face that knocked him out cold. "Well, that was fast..." Sabrina said with a disappointing tone as she took a sip of her wine."
"Will!" Zach shouted, his momentary distraction almost proving to be fatal as the man he was fighting took his hand away from his swords hilt to grab a dagger on his belt, slashing towards Zach's face. Somehow he was able to hold back Zach's sword during the sword clash with only one hand like it was nothing. "What the hell?" Zach was backing up after narrowly avoiding the slash, he seemed just as confused as Nick was.
"Man, A-ranks are a lot weaker than I remember. Maybe I should have taken you two out on my own. When I was an A-rank in the guild my comrades could have taken you out with one hand behind their back."
"What do you mean when you were an A-rank?" Nick asked, breaking out of his momentary daze.
"Hmm? Oh, you didn't know? I was a member of the guild like five years ago. I was going to be promoted to an S-rank before I realized I could be making a lot more money working for the other side. I had my team killed off in an ambush and faked my death before joining the syndicate. Obviously my 'death' did not last long, but I guess I never really expected it to be permanent."
"Oh, well this time I will make sure it is permanent." Nick said, though his threats were cut short thanks to the man who knocked Will out swinging his sword at him. After jumping to the side to avoid it the sword cut into the hard wood floor on contact like it was cutting through straw.
"Big talk. How about you deal with the enemies in front of you before focusing on me, eh?"
As much as Nick hated it he knew she was right, there was no way he would be able to get to her until these two were dead. Zach was having a hard time in his fight, using his fire magic to attempt to try to get the upper hand though the other seemed unaffected by it. He was overwhelming Zach both physically and magically. This isn't good. Zach and Will should be roughly on par with Dario and they are getting completely overwhelmed. I can't win in a sword fight.
"Azara, glove form."
"But-"
"Glove form!"
As Azara turned into a glove both Sabrina and the man who he was currently fighting grew a confused look on their face. "Let's do this the old fashioned way. Unless, of course, you are scared to lose." Nick figured the only way he could win this was by using his shock magic in one all out blast. After that point it would be up to Azara, though this situation was grim. An A-rank, a B-rank, and a demon up against two A-ranks and an S-rank. It would be fine if Azara's power wasn't limited by the familiar contract.
After a confused glance at Sabrina the man stuck his sword in the ground and brought up his fists, ready to brawl. After a fist fight with Dario he knew he didn't stand a chance, however, this was also his only chance to win this fight and possibly escape this place with his life. "I don't know what you are up to, boy, but I admire your courage. No matter how foolish you are to abandon your weapon." Sabrina said from the sidelines.
After she chimed in the man instantly launched a fist towards Nick with blinding speed, Nick had no way to dodge and could feel his nose break on impact. "Fuck!" He shouted, staggering backwards. How many times has my nose been broken in the past few months? He quickly regained his composure, though the room looked much like it would if he was drunk.
His head, if I hit him in the head with all of my magic maybe I could even kill him. Nick quickly moved forward and threw a jab of his own towards the much taller man's face, his punch was easily deflected as a fist was firmly planted in his gut, bringing him to his knees. Before Nick could even hope to regain his composure a knee hit him square in the face. He fell onto his back, his body refusing to move. Not yet!
Nick gritted his teeth and brought out all of the demonic energy he had, this dulled the pain and dizziness enough so that he could stand back up. "You sure are a determined kid, I'll give you that. End this, Hugo."
At Sabrina's command another fist was heading straight for Nick's face. As much as he wanted to dodge in the split second that he saw the fist coming for him his body could just not move fast enough. Once the fist impacted his face all he heard was a deafening crack as he once again fell to the floor. He could feel the demonic energy leaving his body as pain crept back in. Slowly darkness was overcoming his vision.
No, dammit! I can't pass out now! If I pass out now Will and Zach will die! I can't let that happen.
"Azara! I don't care how, just lend me all of your energy somehow!"
"I'll try."
Nick had learned very briefly from his demonic energy instructor that sometimes demons can lend other demons a bit of their energy if they need it, he never really considered the fact that Azara might be able to do the same for him until now. Once he felt Azara's energy seeping into his body he began to force out whatever energy he had left, letting it mix with Azara's to give him the boost he needed.
"Thanks." Nick telepathically said to Azara.
Just before Nick's world faded into darkness his eyes shot open, the red in his eyes much brighter and deeper than it had ever been. That was not all though, his fingernails were blackening and elongating which was a first for him. He could also feel a weird sensation as his teeth seemed to become sharper and elongate. He slowly stood up, a power he had never felt now coursing through his veins. He couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"Good gods, I think you may have hit the child so hard that he went mad. Knock him out for real now, will you?" Sabrina said in an offhanded manner as she took another sip of her wine.
This time the henchman's punch was much slower, slow enough for Nick to dodge and cut down the man's forearms with his new claws, using them as if it was second nature.
"I could get used to these." Nick said, paying no attention to the now screaming and bleeding man in front of him. As he observed his claws he saw another punch coming out of the corner of his eye, barely dodging this one. "You seem slower than before, what happened?" He mocked.
"I said bring him to me alive, don't be afraid to harm him as long as you don't kill him." Sabrina said with a frustrated sigh at Nick's sudden boost of power.
The man threw a quick right hook with his wounded arm, Nick easily ducked under it and swiped at the man's ribs with his claws. It did not do as much damage as he hoped but it did create four large gashes. The man yelled out in pain as he took a few steps back. He gritted his teeth before sending another punch Nick's way, this one was slightly faster than before. Nick countered this by punching his fist, unleashing half of his mana as a shock wave on impact.
Nick grinned, expecting the man to scream out in pain as his arm broke... only that is not what happened. The other man returned the grin with one of his own, grabbing Nick's wrist and yanking him forward, planting a knee directly into his sternum. The feeling of a couple of his ribs breaking sent a wave of intense pain through Nick's body. He collapsed to the floor, in too much pain to get up even with the boost from both Azara's and his own demonic energy coursing through his veins. "Dammit..." Nick groaned.
He could feel the presence of his and Azara's mixed demonic energy lessening as his nails and teeth shortened and turned back to normal. As this happened the pain ravaging his body only became more intense. What he was feeling now did not even compare to what came next when the man who he was fighting stomped down on his rib cage to add insult to injury. The pain was too much for him to handle, all the demonic energy left his body as his world slowly faded to black. This time he had no choice but to welcome the loss of consciousness, this world fading as the other one came into view.
--Sabrina's P.O.V.--
Sabrina watched in slight amusement as her henchman, Hugo, stomped on the boy's chest and caused his to black out. Though, her slight amusement quickly turned to confusion as the kid and his equipment began to fade into a blue light right before her eyes. "What the hell?" Was all she could say, she had never seen such a thing before. She had fought people with demon blood many times over her thirty years alive but she has never seen magic like this, if it even was magic. "Hugo, grab him!"
Hugo attempted to grab the boy, his hand phasing through the demons boy's fading body before he was eventually completely gone. "Dammit... Well, it is no matter. Dispose of those two humans, make sure there is no trace. Take anything of value they have on them." Sabrina watched as Hugo shoved his sword through the chest of the one wearing chain mail. Sven, her other minion, did a similar execution on the other man who got knocked out not long before the boy.
"I will be in my room, before I wake up tomorrow hire a few more guards for outside." I need to write a damn report to send to the others. This boy could be an issue in the future if he isn't dealt with.