A vast snowy plane far up in the North lies a fallen van filled with slaves of different races.
The one the GOA agents are after is a young elf kid, white hair and dark skin, striking emerald eyes that shows innocence all over.
Step
Step
Step
"What's your name kid?"
A man with pale white skin, almost as white as a snow, dark black hair and empty eyes. The man was of small stature so it was easy to mistake him for a child.
' gosh why do I have to do this? '
Glancing at Leah subtly, she gave him an amused grin and turned to walk to the captain.
"I... I have no name big brother..."
The elf kid sniffles. Calling Han a big brother with such a childish tone of voice miraculously pulled on his heartstrings.
' damn it! '
"R... Right, say when we get you to safety, how about we think of a good fitting name for you huh?"
The young elf girl nodded and was carried by Han, doing so though, he suppressed a desire to let out a deep sigh and gritted his teeth.
' I'm some babysitter now? '
He then took the kid along with others in the armored van to Valtan who has a magical tool that can produce warmth.
Checking her radio, Raven presses on some buttons and speaks:
"This is Captain Raven of Northside Gate Operators and Authority, we found the primary target, requesting to be picked up."
Krsshhhhh
Beep beep!
" Well if it isn't my favorite Birdy ~"
A rather hoarse voice coming from a man was heard through the radio...
Did that dude just call captain Birdy...?
Sighing, Raven continued:
"Shut it, Seiji. We're done with our mission, the Seekers are safe and we need transport."
There was a slight pause with only static coming through and finally, the man named Seiji responded.
"Closest one in your position is Oowashi..."
He paused and sighed.
"She'll arrive in 15 minutes atleast, good luck with her..."
The radio finally turned off.
Raven sighed and walked over to where Valtan and the Seekers were, they've made a campfire somehow to keep themselves warm. The slaves stayed inside the broken van with the charm Valtan used to warm himself.
Turning around, Valtan greeted her and handed her some warm food.
"The children have eaten, we were waiting for you, how long till transport arrives?"
He asks while take a big scoop of the food.
"15 minutes…"
She says in a resigned tone of voice.
Valtan tilted his head,confused he asked:
"Is that not a good thing, captain?"
Huff
"It's Oowashi."
"Oh. . ."
That was surprisingly all that was needed to say to get a man like him to quiet down.
Raven stood up to to get some space after having her meal, meditating in such cold weather. Elmira is currently trying to aid the older captives of the van, since her presence scares the children.
' tsk I don't have some demon inside of me, I'm good with kids! '
She sighed and glanced where Will, Leah, and Han are.
Will was trying to show of some weird acrobatics with a smug look on his face.
Leah is comforting the sleeping elf girl along with other little ones, while being bandaged by Han.
"Look here, you got grazed by the bullets."
He wrapped a bandage a bit too tightly making Leah flinch.
"Watch it."
She hissed, glaring at Han with a fearsome look but still a bit pained by the small wound.
Looking at the way Han was carefully tending to Leah, and how Leah kept stealing glances at Han, Elmira couldn't help but grin.
" Ah~ youth..."
" Indeed."
" Such cuties."
Glancing at the old man and the woman she was tending to, they both exchanged silent nods.
* * *
A few meters away from the van, Raven currently has her eyes closed, breathing steadily and radiating a cool sense of impressive concentration.
Fwooosh...
Raven furrowed her brows and stood up putting her katana back on her belt.
Glancing at Valtan, she gave him a quick tap on the shoulder before walking towards Leah.
"Hm, captain?"
Leaning down, she whispered to Leah:
"Keep the kid with you at all cost."
She then glanced at Han who's looking at the both of them confused.
"Tell Elmira to get all the elderly inside the van..."
She paused and added:
"You get all the other kids inside as well."
Han clicked his tongue but he couldn't ask, it was obviously urgent if captain was looking at all of them like that.
Everyone did their part swiftly and urgently, they did not know why their composed captain Raven urgently told them to do something with such a look on her face.
They did not know yet. . .
All the slaves have now been loaded in the van, Han stood up top on the roof with Will who's transformed once more by the side.
Taking a step forward, Raven unsheathed her blade and muttered something under her breath.
[Using Title abilities]
The voice whispered in her ear.
...
...
fwsh. Fwsh. Fwsh
Fwsh
Fwsh
Fwsh fwsh
Fwsh fwsh fwsh
Whoosh
Fwsh
Fwoooshhh
CAWW
CAAWWW
"Scavangers of the sky, hear my call."
One
Two
Ten
Thirty
Eighty
Two hundred
Three hundred
One thousand
The sky was littered with crows.
The sound of wings flapping and birds screeching.
Black feathers replaced the snow flakes, black feathers that could cut stone.
Hwoo...
The smell of blood...
[Sky Weave]
[Bloodlust Activated]
The murder of crows swirled around like a mad tornado, a large spiral that could kill.
A bloodlusted murder of crows.
"Weave the skies and tear who ever dares to challenge my blade."
Countless birds soared everywhere.
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
Blood
' Found you. '
Her blade caught the scent of blood.
A red trail was seen through her eyes, she narrowed it to three shadows hiding behind the veil of snow.
Commanding the entire swirling murder of crows, she aimed it towards where the trail is leading to and made them dive down...
And down.
And down.
And down.
And down.
And down.
And down.
And down.
And...
Down...?
The trail of blood suddenly disappeared, but her blade was still colored in crimson.
' what...'
The wind.
The wind disappeared.
What happened to the wind?
Quiet.
It was too damn quiet.
Looking back, she looked at the confused faces of Valtan, Leah, Han, Will, and Elmira.
And three other people.
Three?
"Fools, all of you!"
Easily shaking the odd feeling of forgetfulness, Leo flung Will's arms towards the eerie looking shadows.
Two of the three shadows jumped away to attack separately, the slender shadow easily dodged the barrage of very fast kicks and punches and blocked and redirected everything else.
[Dismount]
Activating his ability, a mirage split from Will's body.
"AAARGHH!!"
Lunging at the slender shadow, he lent out a few clawed swipes cutting the wind and the stone around him.
Will followed and and flashed a blinding light and then rammed the shadow at it's side causing it to fly back, seemingly unaffected, the shadow snapped it's fingers and magical circles filled with an eerie glow appeared behind them.
BAAANNG! BAAAANG!
will easily dodged it, sidestepping he dashed disappearing in the blink of an eye and then hitting the enemy from a blind spot and then running again. Leo wasn't affected by whatever that magic attack was, he smirked and unleashed a dozen more attacks cutting the air.
***
ZWIIIIIP
SSSSHAAAA
' What a wonderful first mission! '
Gritting his teeth, he let out a pained hiss, coughing up a bit of blood.
Leah was protecting the van along with Valtan, so him and Elmira were the only ones left with dealing with this annoying opponent of theirs.
"Where's the accuracy?"
The shadow laughed with a mocking tone, dodging more of Hans quick and already accurate slashes.
"You pain in the bum!"
[Death Coil]
[Venomous]
His heart grew steady, the world slowed, his perception enhanced... Yet... The damned shadow was still moving, Elmira was going to intercept and he knew that.
Their enemy was too agile and quick, dodging and slipping through any attacks they send upon. Valtan cannot help them since he was supposed to defend the elf child, if one were to divert their attention then the damned shadow will easily snatch the kid away however the hell he was gonna do it.
"Just one shallow cut..."
He whispered.
The sound of rattling echoed through the shadows ears disorienting him for only a second.
How fun, a second was all I needed.
Both his blades.
the jet black dagger.
The pristine, pale, white dagger.
ZWWAAASHHH
ZWWIIIIIIEEEEEEP
it cut...
The shadow recoiled and dashed a few meters back and looked at himself.
"My oh my~"
Han grinned widely.
Elmira already stopped in her tracks looking in awe at what the hell just happened.
"I was only planning on giving you two shallow cuts~"
Han inhaled the scent of the pool of cold blood.
The shadow.
The shadow was looking at his arm that was cut in half, and a deep cut on his shoulder. Looking at the pale white kid who's grinning from ear to ear, his dark hair and gleaming black eyes filled with a craving of blood.
"Urgh... Well that's new"
The shadow coughed up some blood...
And then collapsed.
Wait.
Something's wrong.
What was I doing again?
Huh... What did I just do?
Why...
Why are my hands red?
No, no, no...
My...
My blood... It's my blood...
Looking up, he saw a gruesome sight.
Elmira was unconscious, Leah was trying to fight for her life protecting the kid behind her, while Valtan was trying to keep the elusive shadow at bay.
' What... A wonderful first... Mission...'
HIISSSSS
Clenching his fists, he felt something tug at his index finger.
[Target found]
[Venomous toxins 100%]
And with that he fell asleep.
***
"You're... Annoying."
Raven says spitting out blood.
Her enemy was again, another shadow. This time though, it wasn't resorting to cheap tricks or anything alike.
However it did look just like her, albeit only the monotone shading with zero color scheme.
The shadow taking the form of Raven unsheathed it's blade and took on a stance.
Sigh
[Bloodlust Active]
She did not know whether shadows bleed, yet she still decided to activate it either way.
Time to find out.
[Murder Ground]
CAAWWW
CAAWWW
CAAWWW
They lunged at each other, the sound of steel ringing and the wind being cut.
It was a spectacular thing to witness.
Noticing another shadow far away, she gritted her teeth.
' tsk. Another one. '
Why did that small shadow of a dot seem awfully wrong though?
Whatever
No time to think, she's battling with her shadow so she cannot afford to be distracted.
Bringing her blade down, it was easily blocked as if expecting it to happen, the shadow unleashed a fury of familiar slashes and combos.
SWIIISH
WOOOOSHH
SLAASSHH
"You're even more annoying."
It easily avoided all the possible places she would have blocked and then aimed at the places she wouldn't have expected those strikes to come.
Side stepping, she spun around midair and slashed at its head only then did it cut it...
There was no blood, but her body feltore fired up and bloodlusted.
Dashing towards it once more, she raised her blade and brought it down, the shadow did the same.
***
"What the hell happened to your arm?"
The slender shadow asked clicking her tongue in disdain.
"Some kid out smarted me, but he's... Asleep."
Sighing the other shadow butted in, now in it's original form:
"You always have your guard down, it shouldnt have taken long."
All three looked at the GOA agents.
Raven was still holding her ground but she's caught in the bloodlust of the battle, unable to think. Will has passed out along with Elmira, her golden armor dirtied and cracked, blood splattered all over.
Valtan was knocked unconscious, the agile shadow found it's weak spot and hit him directly at it, taking him down.
Leah was sprawled on the concrete road, she wasn't passed out she was just unable to move. Han was beside her, the vemon worn off and wasn't able to finish the annoying, and agile shadow.
"Get that savage woman out already."
Sighing the shadow who had one of its arms sliced in half, raised it's other hand.
....
...
.....
....
...
.....
....
...
..
.
Where did my hand go?
Where did my hand go?
Where did my hand go?
Where did my hand go?
Where did my hand go?
Blood splattered, his hand disappeared.
An eerie figure suddenly came into sight.
A man, in dark clothes, long black hair was fluttering with the wind. His face was concealed with a half kitsune mask, It's color was black with long narrow eyes that covered what's underneath, long pointed ears, the material it was made of seemed like it was both wood an marble.
' how the hell... '
' where did he... '
' when??? '
All three shadows were shocked, unable to move even a millimeter from where they stood, not a muscle, not blinking, not even taking a quick breath to steady their wildly beating hearts.
The man had an aura filled with eeriness but at the same time there was no visual sight of magical essence that's flowing around him, not even mama or energy.
The masked figure gave them a small smile, the pale white skin, whatever was visible, was creepy beyond the limits of horror and terror.
"How troublesome..."
The masked figure sighed, it's smile disappeared and finally faced them fully.
"All three of you are weak."
They couldn't see it...
They couldn't, yet they felt as if they were being stared down by a great deity, a god even. Was this person even a divine being?
Or is he some demon?
"I'm no demon, or a divine being, no need to worry."
His voice was so nonchalant and carefree it was scary, his tone of voice was hushed and sounded sweet like honey... Yet he still exuded an intense presence of major authority.
The closest of the three shadows stumbled in his place, the eyes behind the masked figure felt like daggers on his soul.
" AAAAÀAAHHHH!!"
He screamed.
He fled.
And he fled.
And he fled.
And he fled.
His screamed died down.
Reduced to nothing but a cloudy mist of red, there was not a single trace of his body left other than the splattered blood on the snow and concrete.
[You've killed a Lower Sage of the Mystic Class]
He sighed then pierced the two remaining robed figures, the slender one did not dare to move an inch... But it's partner was not brave enough.
Step...
He tried running, he didn't make it far, didn't even look like he tried. He wasn't even able to disappear into the shadows or even fight or flee for his life, straight up death, pulverized to nothing.
The last shadow gulped, her eyes quivering underneath her veil.
"A girl?"
The masked man uttered to himself.
He sighed and turned to face the agents fallen at the van but then...
ZZZWWWAAAAAASSHHH!
A long swift slash tore through the air, reaching the skies.
The slender figure dodged it in the nick of time and felt the need to run, but she couldn't, if she did she would have also been pulverized into nothingness, like she didn't exist at all.
Raven sheathed her sword back and exhaled loudly looking Infront of her
The masked man, no longer has a mask...
Cut I'm half, it fell to the ground.
The blindfold was cut as well revealing empty eyes that reflect nothing... Not like Han's dark eyes...
Completely empty... There were no colors, not even a hint of it.
There was a small cut reaching from his forehead to chin, a drop of blood fell but it was easily and quickly healed, like it didn't even happen.
"Huh..."
Suddenly, a radio from Ravens belt rang loudly:
"Oowashi here, I see a shadow a few meters Infront, it seems down so I suppose shooting at it won't be needed."
Raven was confused.
But what about...?
The man was gone, disappeared, not a single trace left...
There was one though...
***
Several hours after that all transpired...
The Seekers were put into a hospital to receive care, Valtan was the most injured of all of them since during the battle, he took several hits from the three shadows at some point.
Step
Step
Step
Raven walked into the chiefs office and bowed deeply.
"I've come for news on the blood sample."
Right.
The blood sample.
She was able to cut a bit onto the mysterious man's face, just a tiny bit and her sword will absorb the blood.
The chief turned to her.
The chief was big, broad shoulders and a gray beard. Scars were all over his face and one of his eyes were covered with an eye patch, he tossed a folder of filed and then said in a deep, tired voice:
" Not a sign, I don't know who you cut down to get that blood sample but..."
Ravens eyes widened in shock.
There was not a single profile or any similar blood type, not even the race or rank of the mysterious masked figure.
"... Who ever that drop of blood belongs to, doesn't exist."
The chief shrugged and turned to work on the other papers on his desk.
Raven excused herself out, and closed the door behind her.
She was confused.
The machine that humanity has used to profile people and their race, even the monsters, and the reason they were able to fight back against such monsters...
It didn't detect anything.
How could that be?
" A ghost...?"
She muttered to herself as she walked onto the streets of Northridge, far back in the gates of the Inner Grid.