"The Banishers, eh?" Athelei spoke as a storybook was opened in his mind library, "I see... I was wondering who broke into my room. So, what questions do you need from little old me?"
Athelei stood before the Banishers who were all glaring at him. Call it a whim, call it an impulse, but for this encounter, he was going to be stealing word choices and phrases from characters in stories. All so that his normal behaviour wouldn't be exposed to possible enemies.
'At least, that's the theory... I wonder which it would be? Success or failure? But how am I supposed to determine the two sides?' Athelei realised a roadblock caused by his whimsical idea.
'...I would have to tempt fate if I want to gauge success and failure, but I guess I can save that for another time.'
Athelei inwardly shrugged and forced himself to focus on the encounter once more. He saw that among the six, half of them were men, while the other half were women. Two had long hair that reached their hips, two had medium length hair that touched their shoulders while the last two had short hair.
All of the Banishers had dark black hair and very pale skin. They looked vampiric and lacking life somehow aside from their red lips and calm eyes.
Hana frowned when she heard Athelei's words, allowing the latter to see slight annoyance in her gaze, "Are you a Nightwalker?"
Athelei raised a brow when he heard the first question, as he sleazily answered, "I'm surprised you know of such a title. I am, and I am not at the same time."
"What do you mean by that?" Hana's eyes twitched at the tone of voice being used to speak with her.
"Aha~ Well, I took the potion that turned me into one, but I am not under their little organisation. Call me a traitor, if you will. That's what they called me." Athelei laughed as he erased the features on his face for a moment before turning it back.
"I assume the story you gave the guild was a lie then, yes?" Hana asked another question after a brief nod. She seemed to be filtering out Athelei's rather erratic speech patterns.
"Half and half. I indeed found a Mystic Artifact that can change my body. Normal Nightwalkers don't have faces, and I do." Athelei spoke like the latter part of his sentence of half-truth was the most obvious thing ever.
But Hana had already filtered that out as she asked again, "Can I see the Artifact you mentioned?"
Athelei smiled when he heard that question as he promptly answered, "No."
"Why not?"
"I did not bring it with me," Athelei replied. Letting random people come into contact with the Nefarious Icon meant an unnecessary risk for him. He was not going to show it now, especially, since he did not have the special set of clothes he wore to hide its original appearance.
Hana narrowed her eyes when Athelei answered her so flatly. A more masculine voice then sounded out from the six Banishers.
"Friend, it's in your best interests to comply with our requests. You sound like a decent person, unlike those Exiled bastards we are normally assigned to deal with. Let us see the Artifact and Libra would bless you and Illyas will reward you." The voice was laden with a balanced mix of advice and threats in its tone.
The man sounded like a scribe holding a bloody knife instead of ink and quill.
Athelei chuckled as he made a show of empty hands, "My good friend, it is in your best interests that you avoid any interaction with the Artifact in my possession... Unless you want Illyas destroyed, that is." He threw the same half and half threat and advice back at the man, even going so far as to mimic his speech and his tones.
It sounded weird when two similar voices spoke to each other. Athelei's ability to change his voice by altering his fog-body came into play here.
Thus, there was a short silence as the Banished seemed to think a few things through. The man had an unfriendly glare plastered onto his face, but Athelei continued to stand there with a slightly smug smile and relaxed posture. Athelei was wondering what they were trying to achieve.
It was then that the threatening scribe-like man suddenly sprang forward. He angrily, and wordlessly struck, displaying Rank 2 Evolver speeds. He had unsheathed a single-edged sword, creating the iconic sound of grating steel.
The air whistled as the man swung, and two Mystic Pattern sequences lit up from behind his advancing figure. Green and brown hues of Tangible Will shot at Athelei like bullets. They left a trail of light and Athelei found himself bound in the blink of an eye.
He then felt his body crushed by an invisible weight as an enchanted weapon slashed towards him.
Fwhip!
Athelei narrowly dodged having his neck severed. The sword had only cut through half his neck, so it wasn't a problem at all.
"I thought I told you, I am a Nightwalker. I won't die—" Athelei had continued to copy lines from storybooks, but he had been cut short by the weird feeling he was experiencing.
"We know." The man growled and swung his sword again, "That's why we're prepared. Goodbye."
'I see,' Athelei thought to himself as he saw the blade whistling towards him, gleaming in the moonlight, 'That sword...'
Fwhip!
As the Banisher cut through Athelei's neck, the man felt relieved. The Nightwalker before him melted into a tuft of fog and dissipated. Nikiri Mist was gone.
"We're lucky he did not blow himself up," Hana clicked her tongue, "You're still so aggressive. I had more questions to ask him while he was at the brink of death."
"It doesn't matter. We should grab the Artifact and leave. He was obviously lying when he said he didn't bring it." The man scoffed, "Ignorant fool. At least learn about the rules of the kingdom you run to."
Hana just rolled her eyes when she heard the man's words. Lying to the Banishers was indeed an offence punishable by death, but the punishment was not needed instantly.
'Why did uncle have to give Gorou the mind-splitting sword? Now, he's becoming even harder to deal with.' Hana inwardly sighed as she gestured to one of her subordinates to search Nikiri Mist's belongings.
She then glanced at another one of her subordinates and asked, "Did you get the immortalisations you needed with the Record Artifact?"
The subordinate nodded as she sent the experience of killing Nikiri Mist to Hana.
"Sir Thiroe should be satisfied with us being able to do this. I doubt we can call it avenging his daughter though. The young lady of the Thiroe family had died in the battle of the God's Altar and not by human hands." Hana's subordinate commented, "Just because Nikiri Mist had her weapon, he was instantly targetted. If Nikiri Mist did not have connections to those damn Nightwalkers, we would've had a few problems."
Hana sighed lightly when she heard those words, "There are no ifs in this world, Momoe. As for what the master of a small noble family considers vengeance, we do not have to care about it—"
"Sister Hana! Sister Hana! I cannot find the Artifact you mentioned. All of Nikiri Mist's belongings are garbage!" Another voice had suddenly called out while Hana was speaking.
With a confused expression, Hana turned to her subordinate who called out to her, "What? That's weird. We all sensed his lies through our rings, right? He should have had it on him. Go over his stuff again."
Hana glanced at her five subordinates and they had all nodded in agreement. Nikiri Mist had been lying about not bringing his Mystic Artifact with him. Their common sense dictated that that obviously meant it was on his person at this moment.
With that in mind, the subordinate who spoke up about Nikiri Mist not having the requested item once again went through the rags and rusted blades in the man's possession.
Again, he came up with nothing. There were indeed only rags and a pair of useless weapons in the eyes of the Banishers.
"It's not here." He said with his brows creased as he shook his head and stood back.
"Let me see." Hana decided to look through Nikiri Mist's items herself, and after a few seconds, she mumbled, "...Weird. There really isn't a Mystic Artifact on him. Why did the rings react then?"
As though reacting to her words, a shadowy blur suddenly tackled Gorou as Hana was deep in thought. It came flying in from above like a bird of prey swooping in.
Thud!
"What?!" Hana heard the man grunt in surprise as he lost his balance on the rooftops. Gorou was about to fall into the nearby beast-infested waters.
Fortunately for him, he was a Rank 2 Evolver. With his reactions, he swiftly stabilised himself with a flail of his limbs and threw a punch at the dark body that had attacked him.
Boom!
A small shockwave shook as Gorou blasted a hole into the shadow's chest. Grey fog blasted out of the hole but was quickly pulled back to seal the wound.
"Nightwalker!" Gorou yelled when he saw the faceless man in front of him.
"I'll be taking this," A familiar voice echoed in Gorou's ear. It was half-laughing as it said those vague words. The rest of the Banishers heard it too, and their eyes dilated for a moment.
'Nikiri Mist?!' They all gasped before wielding their different powers. Lights of Tangible Will and even a pair of Mystic Pattern circles appeared, riling up a deadly amount of energy.
Hummmmmm!
Two huge fireballs were birthed from the Mystic Pattern circles and shot towards Nikiri Mist. As the pair of fireballs flew, they were then further heightened by two different colours of Tangible Will.
A brown and green-tinged pair of fireballs were then created. They blasted the water it crashed into, sending a spray of water in every direction and causing quite a large ruckus.
Splash! Boom!
A scalding pillar of steam rose from the blast, forcing the Banishers to back away a few strides, else they suffer burns.
"My sword!" Gorou suddenly yelled in shock, "That bastard took my sword!"
Gorou then ran to the edge of the rooftop he was on and dove into the dark waters. The look on his face was dire as his eyes tried their best to see into the dark waters... But before he broke the surface of the flooded street, a gaping maw suddenly emerged.
A sea beast was there to greet him.
"Damn it!" Gorou punched out, changing the trajectory of his fall to narrowly miss the abyss he was almost swallowed by.
But more beasts suddenly lunged at Gorou. It forced the man to fight in a manner he had not practised much—He had to fight barehanded and in the waters. Gorou was swiftly wounded, forcing two ropes of Tangible Will to pull him out of the watery hell-hole the Evolver found himself in.
"Nikiri Mist!" Gorou yelled in a rage as his companions tied him down. That sword had been an important weapon crafted by the one and only Peak Rank 3 Artist in the Holy Nation of Illyas. And although it was a prototype, it still had its perks and reputation.
"Give it back!" Gorou yelled again, agitation laced in his tone.
But there was no reply.
Hana, who had witnessed the two-second pilfering, felt her eye twitch.
'Gorou...you idiot... You actually lost the sword you were just gifted!' Her gaze was then drawn towards the chaotic waters where a few beasts had been drawn towards. Hana's brows were scrunched in bafflement,
'...But that Nikiri Mist... how did he survive? Could it be the work of his Mystic Artifact?'