The Apex Predators [The Hunter w Triatath]

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Kite had just entered Sabertooth’s tavern, the ground and anchor that had a teleportation lacrima that granted access to the main guild hall for Sabertooth. He was greeted by a few of his guild mates and tavern patrons before he entered the teleportation lacrima and entered the main Guildhall. Kite reappeared and made his way to the food line. Typically when he wasn’t out on jobs or if he decided that he would get out of his cabin he would make visits to the floating castle in the sky and for its fine dining.

Kite was in line for about five minutes before it was his turn. Upon being asked what he would like to eat Kite looked over the menu with a quick glance but that was only a formality at this point since he knew exactly what he wanted to eat.
"Yeah, I’ll take the Pancake platter " he said to the clerk pointing at the menu. “ How would you like your eggs sir?” the clerk asked with a look that only a mother could love, it was clear that he wasn’t having that good of a morning  so farbut Kite didn’t care much for that as long as his food wasn’t affected. "Scrambled and I would like an extra side of bacon...hmmm and let me get a cup of coffee just black " he completed his order then stood to the side waiting for his food. The clerk brought him his tray lush with delicious looking food. Kite smiled and left some extra jewel for the clerk as a tip, the smile that appeared on his face was almost priceless to say the least. Kite took his food to the nearest table and chose a seat before he started to eat. "This is going to be an amazing breakfast " he said as he began to dig in.

As his the time passed while he had consumed his food and relaxed a bit at his seat letting several hours pass as the guild was filled with more and more people but one stood out among the rest. “Did Haretsa and Triatath already leave?!” someone shouted out. Some other members made the claim that they had causing the new comer to curse out of frustration. Kite stood up upon hearing his teammate’s names and walked over his fellow guildmate. "Hey I think they left on a mission but If you want I can take a message " he said. “Kite! Shit this could be bad. That job they went on… I had scouted that same one out and that place… that ruin where the original ten wizard saints…” Kite put his hand on the man "Just spit it out man what’s up, can’t be that bad " but it was a big deal, Kite was informed that there were over 90 men lurking in those ruins, all treasure hunter who can be and are hostile.  Kite had left the guild in a haste and went home to prepare himself for a fight. He had grabbed himself his sword and his armor and used a teleportation Lacrima to transport himself over to where the battle was taking place.
After the flash of the teleportation lacrima Kite found himself about a mile out from the ancient ruin location. Kite could have teleported directly into the ruins or even at the entrance but there were too many unknowns in this upcoming battle and had no problem hoofing it to reach his destination.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

      Judging by the massive amount of ancient runic inscriptions on the enormous circular rock that stood before the young Slayer’s gaze as well as its sheer size and location, Haretsa knew that it was highly likely that this was in fact the location of the Original Ten’s hidden treasure. The only question now was simply how to get inside. ”I wonder how exactly you’re supposed to open this thing.” Haretsa began thinking aloud, swimming around the Void in circles as she thought. ”It’s probably some kind of incantation or perhaps even an object with similar runes to open it, but even then that doesn’t help me at all. Opening this thing normally would be way too loud and I’d be noticed in a heartbeat. I’ll just have to find a crack in the door I can slip under!”

     With that, Haretsa slithered among the shadows towards the large door as the big mage from earlier made his way into another room. She was really hoping that the Original Ten didn’t exactly take into account a mage that can travel in the shadows when they were planning their security for this treasure. She would find out soon enough, as after a few moments of searching, the young Slayer managed to find a tiny crack underneath the door that most people probably couldn’t even see. ”Found ya! I hope this works!” she exclaimed, charging towards the small opening in her shadow form; bracing herself just in case of a possible magic barrier preventing her from entering.

    Fortunately, this wasn’t the case at all as Haretsa made it through to the other side without a problem. The only problem she noticed was she couldn’t see anything but a mass of gold above her. Slithering up the shadows on the giant room’s walls, Haretsa was able to see the whole room now and it was quite a sight to behold. The room was rather dark, but that didn’t hide the fact that it was filled to the brim with the gold coins and bars that were used as currency before Jewels were introduced. Several different kinds of jewels were mixed in with the piles upon piles of gold ranging from things like amethysts to rather large emeralds. There were even several artifacts from the time of the Original Ten Saints hanging all across the walls from staves to swords to strange, glowing orbs that served as the only real illumination in the room with the door sealed up tight. ”Holy crap there is a lot of freaking stuff in here! I can’t even see the other side of the room from this wall! Alright, I managed to beat those gem numbnuts in here, now I just gotta figure out what to do. There’s no way me and Tree can carry this out all on our own…”

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

It took Kite about forty five minutes to make his way up the various hills to reach the area where the remains of the ruins began. However the closer he got, the more he noticed just how quiet it was. Kite stopped where he was and dropped down to the ground so he was as flat as he could get and laid still for a moment. "That’s strange... " he said to himself. He remembering what he was told while he was still at the guildhall during the morning, how there was a report of over 90 men scouring the ruins. "There is plenty of open area here. If there were 90 men, heck if there were even half of that I would definitely hear them from here" he said to himself calculating what the current situation is. "Good chance that there are men patrolling the perimeter to prevent complications." Kite grinned when those words escaped his mouth. "and that would be me " he said as he moved his hands up and planted them to the side as he popped himself up to a standing upright.

However the second he did just that he looked to his right and saw something of interest, standing their with his mouth hanging wide open staring right at the demon slayer. Kite looked at him, his red eyes locked in a cold stare and saw the man’s hand reach the sword that was secured around his waist, seeing this caused Kite to let a sigh escape his lungs in one quick huff. "Now I know what you are thinking, and the answer may surprise you " he said to the man, hoping to get him to not engage in a fight with the sabertooth mage however that seemed to have fail. For with in a blink of an eye the man Kite was staring at drew his sword and slashed it looking to cleave Kite’s head clear off his shoulders. His eyes widened and quickly ducked underneath the slash just in time to avoid the attack, with only a few strands of hair cut off the top of his head. Kite hadn’t gotten a chance to spin to face before the guard gave decapitating Kite’s head clean off his neck, having to react quick Kite reached over his shoulder and grabbed the handle of his blade, unhooking it and then bringing it up slightly connecting with the enemy’s blade. Kite spun 180 degrees and then backed up creating some distance from him and the guard. "well then " he said as he swung his sword with a downward strike which the guard evaded and swung back, Kite brought the blade back down to block the strike. "close but not close enough " Kite lifted his blade up over his head causing the enemy to do the same and with force Kite drove the blade down into the ground with enough force that his gigantic sword snapped in half. Kite reached across and hit the man with a backhand that sent him back. "Whoops, looks like I broke your toy " immediately after hearing this the man shouted at Kite. “That wasn’t a toy, it was my favorite sword!” Kite smirked "Fine, use mine " he said as he effortlessly tossed the gigantic sword at his opponent. Seeing how Kite was able to handle the weapon the man held out his arms to try to catch it but the weight caught him off guard and he fell back with the sword on him. Kite jumped on the already two ton sword and added more weight to the already crushed ribs. Kite threw a stiff right hand to the man’s jaw hoping to have knocked him out. Thinking so Kite grabbed his sword and started to head towards the ruins but stopped when he heard the sound of the man he just fought spoke into a communication lacrima requesting for back up. "Now why did you have to go and do that for? " he said with a disappointing tone in his voice. Kite lifted his sword above his head and turned it so the blunt part of the blade was turned out and he drove it down right into the man’s gut effectively knocking the wind out of him and most likely cracking a few ribs. Unfortunately the time to celebrate wasn’t going to happen. Kite looked down towards the ruin, then to his right and left and took note of the men coming his way to deal with him. "Looks like they sent a welcoming party to greet me. Being the guest of honor, I can’t disappoint " he said to himself readying his weapon he waited in place to see what these guards would have to offer him. With the element of surprise gone Kite let loose his magic aura, letting the white flames envelop his body.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

     As she floated within the Void staring out at the mountains of gold sprawling before her, Haretsa couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy for some reason. She sat there on the wall as one with the shadows with her eyes scanning the room rather cautiously once she identified the strange feeling as if someone was watching her… or at least, looking for her. The young Slayer couldn’t sense anything in the room with her nor in the Void, so was she just imagining things? She was about to shrug off the feeling until she remembered the large mage that was on the other side of the runic door. ”Shit, can he sense me somehow!? No, no that’s not possible unless he uses shadow magic. He sure didn’t seem like the type, so I’m sure I’ll be fine… but… I’m not gonna take any chances.”

    With that said, Haretsa began slowly inching her way through the shadows back towards the crack in the treasure room’s door. Once there, she could here the large man’s footsteps pacing back in forth as he stared at the door before him. ”I swore I just felt a magic signature on the other side of this blasted thing. There sure as hell wasn’t one there before, so what the hell is it? No one could have gotten into this damn thing without me knowing it… so is it a ghost? IS ONE OF THE ORIGINAL TEN’S SPIRITS HAUNTING THIS PLACE TO PROTECT THE TREASURE!?” he began panicking, to which Haretsa merely sighed. ”Really? He seriously thinks that I’m a freaking ghost? I guess that makes things a little bit easier!” she laughed to herself, slipping her way through the crack once more. However, this caught the attention of the man as he turned his attention towards her presence. ”Wait a second, that’s no damn ghost, that’s the magic signature of that brat girl from earlier!!” he exclaimed, causing Haretsa to panic slightly. ”Shit! How the hell did I just forget that he can sense me!? ….AND WHY CAN HE SENSE ME!? Gah, worry about it later! Move dammit, move!!” she yelled at herself, taking off at full speed through the shadows back the way she came as the man ran back into the other room, presumably to grab his weapons.

     With her cover blown, Haretsa knew that she would need to find Tree. While she had told him to simply deal with the guards out front, she wasn’t going to risk the safety of her friend for anything. She needed to confirm his location before she ended up blowing this place to the starlit heavens of the night sky. Luckily, Haretsa was capable of traveling at speeds well beyond what she could reach by sprinting whilst she was in the shadows. This made being able to pick up on Tree’s magic signature that much easier; Haretsa stopping dead in her tracks the moment she felt it. ”Wait… he’s below me? All I found while I was down there was an old, disgusting sewer system…. WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING DOWN THERE!?!?”

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Kite looked and watched as the small group of men coming at him, all with the intent of killing him for one reason or another. While he had the time he took it upon himself to take a small headcount while he waited after all he had a small amount of time to kill "Let’s see, one two three…..do do do…...hmm lets see twelve? " he said outloud as he used his finger to physically count the number of heads there were coming for his. Kite smirked as he lifted his hand up and started to focus his magic into the palm of his hand, the flames would grow a bright white in color with the heat starting to spread into a large circular concentration of heat. "Don’t think I just came packing a giant sword did ya? " he smirked while pouring more and more of his magic power into this make shift lense of heat "Flame Demon’s! " he spoke in a prolonged manner and paused before he could finish saying the spell’s name, he wanted them to get closer before unleashing the spell. Due to how dark it was it was very unlikely that a single man could actually see the concentrated heat, but there was no way he would be able to hide what was to come, timing was everything here.

The group of a dozen men closed the distance and luckily for Kite, it was rather quickly and so his grin appeared, first hid by the darkness, but soon the grin would have been able to have been seen as the many ripples of white fire sprouted inside the lense of heat and had a bright glow of white. "Inferno Burst! " he shouted unleashing twelve blasts of flaming projectiles directly at the group of men. A handful of them dropped from the impact of the attack but more than half were still upright and still coming for him. Kite took his massive blades and swung it back behind him and with a great force he threw his sword like a disk right into two of the men sending them crashing onto their butts with a 2 ton sword on top of them, it was unlikely that either of them would have been getting back up anytime soon and even with that the lot of the men still charged, unphased by his actions thus far. "Well, If they won’t head my friendly warnings, time to go on the offensive " he said as he balled up his hand into a fist and smacked into his open hand. Kite waited for the first one to charge with his sword drawn, and already in a slashing motion for him to act. Kite ducked under the first slash and avoided the first assailant and set his sights on the man behind him who was completely caught off guard by this and the elbow Kite had driven into his throat which drove him on his ass. He was holding his throat and trying to breathe. Kite wanted to go to town but he didn’t forget the first man who he evaded and turned just into to see the man swinging again, only this time he caught the man’s hands and positioned his hips correctly and performed a hip throw tossing the sword wielder onto his friend who was clutching his collapsed windpipe. Kite looked up at the rest of the men coming towards him. "Don’t worry guys, I left some for you too " he said as he lifted his head up and looked at the incoming threat and white flames started to leak out from the sides of his lips what were slightly parted. "Flame Demon’s Rage! " he shouted and released a large stream of hot fire right on those jackasses engulfing the lot of them in his flames. Several of them after the blaze had passed were on the ground holding their various burns they had received from the most recent attack. "gotta find my sword " he said as he picked it up off the men who were still stuck under it and brought down the dull side onto of the men cracking and breaking their ribs. Kite crouched down next to them and smirked "So I am looking for some people, friends of mine you see and they are somewhere in there " he spoke clearly and seriously. "If either one of you tell me I won’t hack off your limbs...clock is ticking " he said as he held the sharp edge pressed onto the closest one’s shoulder.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

     With Haretsa being unintentionally noticed, there was little time for her to wonder why or how Tree had ended up in the sewers. She needed to get him and get back to the entrance as quickly as possible to blow this whole place to the damn moon. She rocketed her way through the hallways, making her way down to the sewers where her fellow guildmate was wandering around in circles for some strange reason. Not wanting to touch the sewer water, Haretsa slithered along the walls of the area, sticking her upper body out from the shadows in order to address Tree directly. ”Ugh, this place smells awful!! No time to explain, just take my hand because we need to get out of here, now!”

    However, Tree seemed to be content wandering around in circles right where he is. Once Haretsa got a good look at his face, she realized that the poor bastard looked nearly drunk in a way. ”Did you get high somehow off the damn fumes from this place!? How even… Shit!” the girl cussed, grabbing Tree’s arm and yanking him into the Void with her. ”Good thing you’re used to high speeds, it means your arms won’t get torn off from this… DAMN YOU REEK!!” she exclaimed, wrapping her guildmates arms around her neck before blasting off once more for the exit to these damn ruins.

     Haretsa could hear the man from earlier shouting as loud as he could for his men to wake up as she raced for the ruins exit. If she didn’t reach the exit in time to set off the dynamite, then they would be in some pretty serious trouble having to go through ninety or more mage’s to get back to the treasure. Haretsa wasn’t about to turn tail and run and at this point the treasure hunters might take their frustration out on the townsfolk of the Mountain Village, so she needed to make it in time. Fortunately, Haretsa finally saw the moonlight poking in through the entrance as she rounded the next corner. Tearing through the entrance, Haretsa brought Tree to one of stone houses far away from the central building of the ruins before ejecting him out of the shadows. ”There, you oughta be safe here. Now to deal with the rest of these idiots…”

    Slipping back into the shadows once more, Haretsa jetted over to the entrance of the large center building. Once there, she hopped out of the shadows fully with her arms extended down the hallway and her wrists placed together; gathering up a 3 meter tall pillar of flames in front of her. ”Rest in pieces, ya greedy bastards. FIRE DRAGON’S INFERNO DIVIDER!!!” she shouted, sending the pillar flying down the hallway for the first set of dynamite and gunpowder she had set up. The moment this magic left her fingertips, Haretsa booked it as fast as she could to get away from this place as her spell exploded; setting off the dynamite and the chain reaction. The resulting set of explosions shook the very foundations of this ancient stone building, causing it to collapse in on top of itself more so than it already was; more than likely killing everyone left inside the ruins. Haretsa turned to watch the structure cave in on itself from all the explosions, feeling only minor guilt for what had just happened. ”They were selfish fucks willing to kill anyone to get some stupid treasure… They deserved it..” she murmured to herself, reaching into her pocket to pull out her pack of candy cigarettes. Now arose the challenge of getting back to the treasure as the Magic Council had requested, but with Haretsa's ability to merge with the shadows she knew this wouldn't be too much of a problem.

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Kite had positioned himself in a crouched position next to nearest enemy and held pressed the sharpened blade into the man’s shoulder. He didn’t have to press for the blade downwards in order to cut into his flesh, the weight of the blade itself did it for him. The man started to scream as the blade slowly cut into him "This can end the second you tell me where my friends are " he said to the man calmly, as if he wasn’t doing anything wrong. The opposing swordsman laid there as his friend tried get up to aid him. However the Demon Slayer wasn’t about to have anyone that and brought his sword up off the man he was cutting on and slammed it into the man trying to get up and then brought it down on the both of them across their necks. He had no intention of ending their lives but they didn’t need to know that detail, in fact he it might work to his favor to roll with it. "So, my patience is starting to slowly vanish. To compensate for this the distance between my sword and the ground is also going to vanish even if I have to go through your neck to do so. SO! Last chance. "

The slayer paused and adjusted his grip on the blade. "Where are my friends " he asked with a more serious and cold tone. The men looked at each other and then at Kite with no answer to his ever pressing question Kite shrugged and made the motion like he was about to drive the sword down "Suit yourselves " but stopped when one man pleaded “ Look we didn’t see nobody but you so we don’t know who you are talking about let alone where they could be.!” Kite heard this answer and considering what the men thought he was going to do he was inclined to believe them. "Well, that doesn’t help me one bit now does it…. " he lifted his sword up and rotated it in the air and drove down the blunt side right down across their heads knocking them out. Kite turned to face the ruins and let out a sigh "Damn it guys where the hell are you " he said deciding he would brave the ruins to find them and started to walk in that general direction. The slayer froze into place though, within about a second after he started to walk the ruins that were once a head of him had erupted in a ball of fire, rocks were melting and debris was smoldering. Kite’s eye then widened with immediate concern "Haretsa! Tree! " Kite now found himself in a dead sprint heading towards the ruined ruins.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

    Haretsa stood before the massive pile of rubble that was once the ruins of a city long forgotten to Fiore. It may have not been the most orthodox way to get things done, but the Gem Brothers were now no more. ”I hope no one’s going to be too upset about me trashing the ruins…” the cream haired mage thought aloud as she chewed on her candy cigarette. She knew there wasn’t much that she and Tree could do against that large of a group and that this was really the only option, so she simply hoped that the Magic Council would understand. ”Well, I know Tree’s gonna be out of it for a while, so I guess I should make my way down there… How to get everything out now is the only problem.” she mumbled, taking a step towards the ruins.

    The moment that Haretsa took that step, her eyes widened as she felt a magic signature coming from the rubble. ”There’s no way anyone could be alive after all of that!! Magic signatures must just take a while to fade after someone’s died… Haretsa reasoned with herself. Despite this reasoning, the magic signatured seemed to be making its way closer and closer to the surface. Haretsa’s ears perked up as she could hear the distinct sound of a drill piercing through the earth at an impressive rate. Sure enough, that very same drill made out of some incredibly shiny crystals emerged from the rubble of the once main building to these ruins. What emerged along with that drill was the large man Haretsa had lead her to the ruins in the first place; completely clad in a matching set of crystal armor that looked only slightly damaged from the massive chain reaction that Haretsa had set off. ”You’re a clever little bitch, aren’t ya? I’ll thank you for getting rid of those men for me as well as Harper! He didn’t have a damn clue as to what the hell was happening so I’m positive he ended up dead like everyone else. Now I, Fin Balgar can have the treasure all to myself once I get rid of you!” the man laughed, revealing his true intent just as Haretsa had suspected.

     While Haretsa was angry at Fin’s greedy, disregard for life, she knew that she couldn’t rush in against him. ”Great time for Tree to be completely out of it… I wonder if I should use Fusion Force, but I’m not sure if I can take him down in that short of a time… Dammit, I should have just brought him with me in the first place and he wouldn’t have gotten hopped up on fumes…” she thought to herself, waiting for the man to make his move.

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Kite’s head wasn’t focused on his surroundings, it wasn’t focused on that possibility that there were other enemies around him. The only thing that was on his mind was getting his late ass to the destruction that was ahead of him. "Damn it! I swear if they aren’t okay I am going to barbeque this entire area  " he thought to himself tightening his grip as anger began to surge through his body. After crossing the threshold, Kite barreled into the ruins but stopped when he saw the various layers of debris that was scattered and essentially reduced to charcoal. Kite looked around the area and didn’t see anyone, or well anyone living. Within a few seconds after entering the ruins and travelling several feet he noticed something, something that caused his eyes to widen and his jaw to hang open. It was a human body buried underneath some rubble. It was enough to cause Kite to freeze before crouching down to actually check on the random person he discovered. "a person… " he placed his hand around the neck and extended his index and middle finger and pressed it against the man’s neck to check for a pulse. There was nothing "He is dead.. judging by how little he is burned, he wa either crushed by the debris or the force of the explosion caused some serious trauma to his brain….Wait. Wasn’t there suppose to be 90 people here or something… as well as Hare and Tree…I sure hope they weren’t caught up in this " he said to himself. Kite looked ahead at the deep halls of the the ruins and sighed "I don’t have time to check everybody I find to see if they are alive… right now I have to find my friends...hopefully alive " he said not even wanting to speak about the possibility of his guildmates meeting their end here.

Kite kept walking, looking at every corpse he passed looking for Hare’s cream colored hair and sabertooth mark on her shoulder but after about a minute or so there was no sign of her, this was good. It was possible that she escaped the blast and at the moment that had prompted Kite to prepare to call out for them but stopped when he heard the sound of a voice coming from up ahead. Kite, using stealth tip toed closer and hid behind a broken wall and peered over to see a large man spoke. ”You’re a clever little bitch, aren’t ya? I’ll thank you for getting rid of those men for me as well as Harper! He didn’t have a damn clue as to what the hell was happening so I’m positive he ended up dead like everyone else. Now I, Fin Balgar can have the treasure all to myself once I get rid of you!” he said boasting to someone and a grin was practically stamped on his face when he saw who the man was talking to. "It’s Haretsa… and only Haretsa without Tree? question for later but for the time being, it’s time for some thrilling heroics!” he said as he took a deep breath and removed himself from cover and charged at the man and leaped over his head and when he was right above the large man the white flames sprouted out from his body and begin to swirl around his body until it was concentrated to his extended arms and swirled just around his arms  "Flame Demon’s Commandment! " he shouted and a stream of swirling Fire shot down right on top of the man who addressed himself as Fin Balgar and engulfed him with the attack. The momentum from his jump carried him over to Haretsa after he fired the attack skidding to a stop next to the Fire Dragon slayer. "Hey Haretsa, nice to see you again.  "

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

    Oddly enough, it was neither Haretsa nor Fin that made the first move. Instead, the first move came from above Fin in the form a swirling stream of bright white flames from Sabertooth’s own Flame Demon Slayer, Kite Willhelm. Kite skidded to a stop right next to Haretsa after his attack and said that it was good to see the young Dragon Slayer again. ”Likewise. I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to fighting on my own with Tree hopped up on freakin sewer fumes… I don’t even know how that managed to happen for crying out loud! Regardless of that and how you got here so quick, I’m glad you’re here!” the cream haired mage explained as she watched the Demon Slayer’s flames burning against Fin’s Crystal Armor.

     Once the flames had faded, Haretsa could see that parts of Fin’s armor were beginning to melt away. ”Well, I guess his armor’s pretty weak to drastic increases in temperature. I guess his whole magic is since I saw him with a drill a few moments ago… Good thing high temperatures are something we sort of specialize in, huh Kite?” Haretsa snickered, her eyes changing to a fiery red as she readied herself to charge in. ”I’ll take the right side and you take the left; don’t give him a chance to breathe.” she explained before taking off to the two Slayer’s right.

    Fin’s attention was glued on Haretsa as he readied his arms; doing his best to keep Kite in his peripheral vision. ”Crystal Make: Arrow Storm!” Fin cried out, unleashing a barrage of crystal arrows towards Haretsa as she ran. She did her best to dodge these arrows, but a few of them grazed her arms and legs; though it was nothing major. Gathering up shadow flames in her right arm as she ran, Haretsa waited until Kite was in position before unleashing her attack. ”BLAZING SHADOW DRAGON’S FANG!” she called out, thrusting her arm towards Fin and unleashing a stream of shadow flames in an overhead arc at him. ”Annoying little fire bitch!” Fin exclaimed as he quickly turned towards the attack and threw his arms up to guard against Haretsa’s assault; creating a good opening for Kite to come in and strike.

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Right after skidding to a stop after firing his attack he greeted Haretsa with a simple introduction which she had returned to him. She quickly explained how she was in a situation where she would have had to fight this big brute on her own due to Tree somehow managed to inhale sewer vapors without her knowing and took himself out of the fight. "Well, sure sounds like you had your hands full. I hope he is okay " he said right before Haretsa had asked him how he had gotten there so quickly and mentioned that she was glad he was there. Kite smirked as he turned his body to face her, crossing his arms while he was facing her "Well unfortunately It wasn’t until later in the day that someone came to the guild mentioning something about over 90 treasure hunters here. " Kite waved lifted his right arm up dismissively "I would have gotten here faster but before I could actually make it to the main parameter of ruins I somehow drew the attention of men patrolling my area. However seeing as this place was just blown to smithereens seconds after dealing with them, that might have saved my hide. " he said while recalling the events that had just transpired moments before finding her but soon smiled "but I’m glad I made it in time to catch this lug off guard " he admitted to her. Kite recrossed his arms and turned his head so his eyes were fixed on the large man who was the target of Kite’s Flame commandment spell. The white flames dispersed in a swirl and revealed the large man still clad in a crystal like armor with bits of it melting away thanks to his attacks. Kite was thinking it but it was Haretsa who spoke out loud about it mentioning the apparent weakness the armor had, which was intense heat and as Haretsa mentioned, that was their specialties.

Haretsa took a combat stance after letting out a snicker while Kite uncrossed his arms and widened his stance getting ready to contribute to the upcoming battle. Kite waited for a moment after Haretsa charged to the right before he made his move and charged to the left looking to perform a pincer like attack on the man who called himself Fin. Kite watched upon his approach as Fin unleashed a barrage of crystal arrows all aimed at Haretsa, most of the arrows were avoided but a few managed to graze her but that didn’t slow her down. Kite was in an ideal spot and finally Haretsa unleashed a shadow filled flame attack which crashed into Fin who had turned his body into the attack and defended against it. Of course Kite managed to hear the him call her which set him over the edge. "Better watch what you say to my friends! " Kite had charged at Fin and had his arms crossed across his torso with white flames gathered and swirled in place until Kite performed a slashing like motion and two streams of flames extended and formed into blades. Kite quickly altered his blades paths and brought them both down making an X like slash, melting it right into the man’s armor weakening it in the process. Kite jumped back as Fin turned to face him clearly in pain from the slash to his back and through his armor. “ Crystal make Waraxe!” he shouted creating a large battle axe made out of pure crystal and started to stomp his way over to Kite with the axe raised above his hand and brought it down, performing a downward vertical strike looking to split Kite in half. He dove out of the way and watched as the axe smashed into the ground bringing up smashed rock and ground. "Ya missed dumb ass. Come and get me! " he said drawing the dunder head towards him, exposing the weak spot on his armor that he created on the back of the armor.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

    Kite launched himself straight towards Fin’s back the moment that the treasure hunter decided to block against Haretsa’s spell. Kite’s assault left a rather large portion of Fin’s back armor missing and his taunting of the large man left the melted portion of the armor exposed to Haretsa. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, the cream haired mage began to quickly jump about the debris of the ruins to close in on her prey. She pulled one of the crystal arrows from earlier out of the ground as she approached Fin’s exposed backside; hurling the arrow at him as if it were a spear.

     Luckily enough for Fin, Haretsa’s aim wasn’t for any kind of vital area, but the arrow still hit home. The large man let out a shout of pain as the arrow dug itself into his skin. Haretsa continued her approach as she readied a punch to drive the arrow even further into Fin. However, the large mage managed to shrug off the pain just enough for him to spin around with his war axe in hand to try and slash Haretsa in two horizontally. Luckily, Haretsa was able to throw herself down to the right to avoid the attack, but she didn’t make it off completely scott free. The blade managed to graze the top of Haretsa’s shoulder as it swung by, but it only managed to draw a small amount of blood due to Haretsa’s tough skin. The other fortunate thing was the other ability that Haretsa’s skin had developed; causing a small burst of fire to explode at the moment the axe impacted it. The explosion wasn’t anything major, but it was just enough to knock the axe up and catch Fin off guard, leaving the melted spot on the stomach area of his armor wide open. Haretsa quickly took advantage of this opening by pushing herself off the ground towards Fin; delivering two left jabs and a right cross followed up by a strong knee straight into the man’s stomach. This quick combo from the young Dragon Slayer would leave Fin stunned just long enough for Kite to take advantage of the man’s exposed backside with the arrow still sticking out of it.

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

Kite dodged the incoming attack, knowing that meant that the opponent will not wait to continue an onslaught of attacks Kite brought both of his flamberges up in front of him, holding them so the blades crossed each other in an X like pattern and braced himself for the almost inevitable attack that would be coming for his head. However instead of the sound of the axe whooshing through the air, the sounds of screams filled the area. Fin soon spun in Haretsa's direction swinging the large axe at her which revealed to Kite The large man's exposed back with a crystal spike sticking out his back.

Kite had an idea, seeing that spike now as a target he was prepared to drive it in further but before he could the smell of blood filled the air as the large axe grazed his guildmate's shoulder but as a surprise an explosion erupted from the wound of the slayer which knocked the axe up and out of the way. Kite watched as the Fire dragon slayer went to work and landed a sick combo of punches and solid knee into Fin's stomach causing him to bend over trying to catch his breath and Kite wasn't about to let that fly. Kite released his flamberges and gripped his massive broad sword and turned it so the width of the blade was facing outward and with a jump and over head swing being of the sword down onto the arrow driving it through Fin's back and poked out his stomach. While the pain must have been excruciating Fin spun in Kite's direction swinging his crystal axe with one hand looking to slice Kite in two but Shamash was lifted up and Kite braced it with both hands and caught the blow but the force was enough to send Kite skidding back. However Fin fell to his knees and slammed his fists into the ground and screamed "crystal make harpoon" and from the ground a sharp spike like crystal shot up in front of Kite and was driven right into his right shoulder piercing through. "Gahhh!!" he yelled as blood trickled down the spike. Fin's stupid ugly face had a smug smirk on it "what's the matter tough guy? Got nothing to say now?" He said to him to which Kite moved his lips and didn't have words escape them. "Don't try to beg for forgiveness I won't give you..." Kite yelled not letting the hunter finish. "Imbecile! I said dodge this jackass!" he yelled out. Unknown to Fin, Kite was setting Fin up for Haretsa's next attack.
.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

     Seeing her guild mate approach, Haretsa jumped to the side just in time as Kite drove the arrow through Fin; causing it to poke out through the large man’s stomach. The cream haired mage couldn’t even imagine the pain that was shooting through the behemoth’s body. Her hazel eyes widened as she watched the man bring his axe around and slam it into Kite’s large sword which sent her guildmate skidding backwards several feet. Fin would then drop down to his knees and slam his fist down into the ground; causing a harpoon to pop out and pierce through Kite’s shoulder. ”How tough IS this freaking bastard!? He’s got an arrow coming out of his damn stomach and he’s acting like that didn’t even happen!!” Haretsa thought to herself as she dashed forward.

     Pulling back her right arm as she charged towards Fin, Haretsa held her palm out forward as her entire hand became engulfed in a brilliant flame. This Fin person really did have no situational awareness whatsoever, as he was too focused on Kite to even notice Haretsa approaching until it was too late. ”FIRE DRAGON’S RIFLE PALM!” the young Slayer exclaimed, thrusting her palm forward straight onto the open wound on Fin’s back. The fire from her hand poured into and burst out the other side of the wound; sending the arrow all the way through as well as burning Fin’s insides in the process. This caused the behemoth of a man to drop his axe down to the ground. Haretsa quickly picked up the crystal weapon and slammed it into Fin’s kidney area; knocking him away from the two Sabertooth mages. ”Well, his insides are now literally on fire.” Haretsa commented, effortlessly tossing the large war axe away as Fin screamed in agony. ”As much as I want to let him just suffer before he dies for being such a greedy little bastard… Let’s sandwich him between my Roar and your…. um… whatever your spell was that’s like my Roar.” Haretsa suggested, shaking her head at such a dark thought. She never enjoyed when her mind seemed to accept those kinds of things as normal, even if it was for someone willing to kill others for their own personal gain, so she tried her best to ignore those kinds of thoughts. They just happened to slip out every now and again from the usually happy go lucky Dragon Slayer.

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

As Kite stood there with the long spear like crystal sticking out through his shoulder he couldn't help but wanting to kick himself for being so careless and underestimating how durable Fin was. "I should have kept my guard up Instead of thinking that he was falling to his knee thanks to the pain" Kite winced as he tried to adjust his posture which made the end of the harpoon bounce a bit.

Kite looked up and locked eyes with Fin, who was focused solely on him and not Haretsa. Seeing an opportunity to help cause some damage he stood up straight as best as he good and replaced the wincing look with a grin. "It will take more than this to take me down" he said to the man boasting as well as distracting Fin, keeping his attention on the Demon Slayer and it worked. Fin had approached slightly and has a menacing grin on his face. "Looks like someone doesn't know when he is beaten. I'll fix that" he declared which made Kite laugh the second Haretsa had began her charge with a fire engulfed hand. "and you' ugly and forgot how to count, I'd fix that but" he paused as he looked towards Haretsa and smiled as her hand was already on its way to Fin's back "too late" had the next noise he heard was Fin yell in pain as the flame attack shot the arrow lodged in his stomach out and it flew past Kite's face.
Kite then heard Haresta's suggested tactic of sandwiching the Hunter in their two roar like spells, the comment of her saying she wished him to suffer before death made a chill shoot up Kite's spine but he ignored it as he put his left hand on the harpoon, squeezing as tight as he could around the base of the would while his right hand held it steady down the base of the shaft. Kite dislodged the harpoon from his shoulder and tossed it aside. "alright let's do it" he said as he inhaled the flames into his mouth,"Flame Demon's" he said as the flames started to sprout out from his mouth and he pushed his head forward and opened his mouth "Rage!!" he shouted as a plume of White fire rushed towards Fin who was in too much pain to move out of the way.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

     With Kite’s acceptance of her plan, Haretsa quickly rushed over to the other side of where Fin had landed; gathering up flames in her mouth as she ran. Once on the other side of the treasure hunter, Haretsa quickly grinded to a halt and spun in place; staring the large man dead in the eye’s as flames dripped from her mouth like molten lava. ”FIRE DRAGON’S ROAR!!” she shouted, exhaling the violent plume of flames from her mouth at the same moment that Kite had. When the two copious amounts of flames collided onto Fin, a large explosion engulfed his body completely; lighting up the night sky in a brilliant display of whites and oranges as Fin’s screams of agony being overpowered by the sound of a dragon’s roar echoing throughout the mountains. When the flames had settled down, there remained the scarce ashes of the man once known as Fin littered with tiny fragments of crystal.  

     Haretsa let out a heavy sigh as she shook her head rapidly. She never enjoyed having to kill anyone, even if it was a person like Fin who did terrible things to people. Yet despite this, there was that constant nagging in her mind that enjoyed watching those kinds of people suffer the same way those Dark Mages made her suffer when she was younger. It was something that she was relatively good at keeping tucked away, but it was growing to be more and more of a problem as of late. Shaking it off even more, Haretsa walked up to her guildmate, who seemed to be dealing with his injury rather well, and placed her hand on his good shoulder. ”Now that that’s done with, let’s go make sure we can still get into that treasure room so the Magic Council doesn’t get pissy that I blew this place up…” Haretsa admitted, dragging her guildmate down into the void and bringing him to the treasure vault that she had found earlier.

       It took a bit longer to reach this time due to everything being in shambles, but Haretsa finally managed to bring Kite into the treasure room. ”Damn, they really built that door to freaking last.” Haretsa commented as the two emerged from the shadows; the mountains of gold, various jewels, and artifacts sprawling out in front of the two Slayer’s. This was Haretsa’s second time seeing this treasure trove of goodies and it was still quite a sight for the young Dragon Slayer to behold.

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

While Kite concentrated the flames to his mouth Haretsa made her way to the opposite side of Fin so she could be properly positioned for the combo attack. The plume of white flames stuck the hunter hard from his side while the orange colored flames struck the man from the dragon slayer's side sandwiching Fin which caused a violent explosion filling the night sky with bright orange and white flares. The force of the explosion was also large enough to push Kite back a bit from his stance. The swirl of flames that had surrounded Fin fluttered and vanished into thin air revealing the treasure hunter was nothing more than a pile of ash. Kite let out a sigh of disappointment when he saw this. He was hoping to see the man in a kneeling position with his head craned back with his mouth hanging wide open, most likely from his yelling during the attack. Kite would have looked over the body curiously to figure out what it was that finished him. "hmm it would have beena toss up. Either the burns from the flames, the molten crystal armor that has hardened all over his body, the very thing that was keeping him propped or it was the force of the two spells crashing into him...or all the above" he said to himself pondering over it, but it was pretty boring that he couldn't get the chance to piece it together.

Kite's unusual thoughts were interrupted by his friend Haretsa who pretty much stated that now that Fin had been dealt with it was time to see if the vault was accessible to them still. "I guess that means you know how to get to the vault " Kite had asked just as Haretsa took hold of him and brought him into the void which she used to travel in. In a matter of minutes Kite was now inside a massive room that contained the treasures of the ruins. There were dunes made out of gold instead of sand, there were jewels spread everywhere and artifacts littered the ground. Kite's eyes sparkled as the gold and jewels shined and glimmered in the dim light. Kite let a grin appear on his face "Well it's too bad I'm not a thief otherwise I'd be a very rich man right now.  "

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

  ”You’re really funny…” the cream haired dragon slayer sighed sarcastically; punching Kite’s good arm as she walked past him. The gold beneath Haretsa’s feet stretched on in piles as far as her eyes could see in the large room that the two Slayer’s found themselves in. ”Jeez… how much gold did these guys really need to stack up in here? This could feed the entire country for years without a single problem… so why the hell did they lock all of it away in an underground vault?” Haretsa thought as she wandered about the room a bit aimlessly.

     After walking around for a bit, the young girl’s happened upon something rather odd. It was a scroll that was laying on the ground next to a large chest full of who knows what kind of priceless gems. The scroll seemed rather out of place compared to the countless amounts of gems, artifacts, and gold coins strewn about everywhere, so it peaked Haretsa’s curiosity rather severely. Walking over towards it, Haretsa knelt down and picked up the scroll; turning it about in her hands to examine everything about it. There was nothing immediately special about the scroll, no adornment with gems or any fancy decoration about it, but the real surprise came when Haretsa unraveled it. A large symbol was inscribed upon the scroll’s parchment and at first glance Haretsa could barely make heads or tails of what exactly she was looking at. The symbol contained a pair of angel wings and what looked somewhat like a set of pistols, but that was the most Haretsa was getting out of what she was staring at. Remembering the job poster stating the Magic Council was willing to offer one of the artifacts among this treasure trove as a reward, Haretsa decided she would take this scroll and try to find out more about it.

    Standing back up on her feet, Haretsa gave the room another quick lookover before turning back to her guildmate who was also exploring the room. ”Hey Mr. Thief, wanna help me out with something?” she called out to him, waiting for Kite to give her his full attention before explaining what she had in mind. ”I want you to help me gather up as much of this gold as you can carry on you. The people in the Mountain Village could use some of this and I can think of a few other towns on our way back to the guild that could use it as well. The Magic Council ain’t gonna miss a few coins, I’m sure.” Haretsa explained, loading her pockets up to the brim with the gold coins.

     Once she had finished, she waited for Kite to decide if he wanted to help or not before escorting him through the shadows once more and back out to the crisp mountain air. Once the two had reemerged, Haretsa headed over to the stone building she had placed Tree in and slung the unconscious sod over her shoulders; making her way back to the Mountain Village to help spread the wealth and send word to the Magic Council that Harper and the Gem Brothers were no longer a threat.

"You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

- Kite

It would seem that Kite's little joke about how if he were a thief he would be rich didn't go unnoticed. The dragon slayer sighed and responded sarcastically that he was funny and knocked his good shoulder with her fist as she walked by. It didn't hurt but, he had expected the small little jostle would aggravate his injured shoulder but instead of a wince from pain he let out a chuckle and shook his head "hey all jokes a side you can't say I'm wrong. Also a point of interest, it might a good idea to to not hit a man who is hurt. " he retorted as he began to follow her into deeper into the vault. The one question about why so many men would be here to loot, there is so much treasure here. Unfortunately more questions rose in response to his one question. "How much treasure is here, why is it here to begin with and if the magic council knew this was here why have they not reclaimed it... Something stinks but it's far above my pay grade to look into this " he thought to himself and started to explore his own way while Haretsa took notice of a scroll of some sort. He wasn't sure what he would find here, if there would be anything worthwhile but before he got a real good chance to search he heard his dragon slayer friend shout out to him but not by name but called him "Mr. thief, which brought his focus from the floor and the treasures that littered it up to the cream haired girl.
"yeah? What's up? " he asked her turning to face her, holding onto his hurt shoulder with his good arm. Kite listened to her plan on how she intended on taking as much loot as possible and donating it to the villages that they would go through on their way home as well as the mountain village that was nothing but poverty. Kite nodded "well seeing as I did come all the way to help I guess I would be rather crappy of me to not aid you. And do you really have to call me that" he said as he turned and walked his way over to some coins and jewels and with his good arm scooped up some and lined his pockets as much as he could with one arm. He hummed to himself once his pants pockets were filled to maximum capacity "I don't think this is enough but how do I... " he looked down at his boots with his pants tucked in and smiled "bingo  " he said as he started to fill his pants with coins and stuff so that up his pant legs would be full of jewels and coins. "Alright Haretsa I am loaded to max here" he said joining her before making their exit through her shadows. When they reemerged she walked to where Tree had been hidden away and slung him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "this isn't right, he doesn't get to fight Big and ugly and some somehow he makes out the best here " he said referring to not only sleeping but getting carried. He followed Haretsa as he walked with her towards the villages with the coins clanging and clinking with each step he took.