[Job] Mercenaries With A Bargain (Akeya)

Job Details:

"Nine Steel? Yeah, I've heard of them." The man scratched his beard as he peered at the stranger from behind his market stall. He was just here to sell his wares, which were various tools and trinkets made out of various metals. The day had been going well when this person had showed up at his stall and asked after a group called "Nine Steel", and he was wondering if he should tell her to go away or not. "Not sure what business of mine that is, though. Nor yours." Then again, her appearance made him feel like if he refused to go along with what she wanted she might become... troublesome. Or maybe the term dangerous was more appropriate: her inhuman appearance, combined with a fierce glare as if she was ready to stab him with her gaze alone, wasn't reassuring regarding the peaceful nature of this encounter.

However, out here in Desierto ruffians were a dime a dozen. A tyrannical regime which left most of the population in poverty meant that survival was a struggle, and a struggle that often ended up being resolved between people. There were those that tried to live out their lives slaving away, most of their productivity serving the few elite, but there were many who would rather strike out on their own, risking death under the merciless sun of the desert or at the hands of their fellow men, in return for breaking free of the trappings of a twisted society. And while those lawbreakers might be untrustworthy they were still humans, and thus could often be found in the markets just like their law-abiding kin.

As such, the merchant wasn't about to cower and hide away from this woman, no matter how dangerous she may look. Ruffians would often rely on their scary reputation to get what they want, but if they actually started trouble they'd often find themselves in more trouble than they could handle. So far as the merchant was concerned, this woman fell within the same category.

"A mutual acquaintance told me to find them. But you're correct that the details are none of your business." The reply was curt and formal, a pleasant voice speaking cold words. Akeya had no reason to tell this merchant why she was looking for the mercenary gang, but she had heard from others that this person might be able to help her contact them. He looked like an innocent trader of goods, but supposedly for more loyal customers he also had a secondary trade: that of a weapons dealer. Powerful weapons, either magical or non-magical, which were used by bandits and thugs and rogue mages. Of course, within the boundaries of Desierto's territory selling such equipment was tightly regulated, as the Three Desert Kings didn't want the populace to have the capacity to rise up and rebel against their oligarchic regime. That was only natural, when you'd set up a system to serve the wealthy.

So where would this man be getting his wares from, and how did he remain unnoticed? With the assistance of those very same outlaws who were also his clients. For the outlaws having a method to obtain weapons was crucial, as there weren't many who could survive for long in Desierto without any weapons to bolster their combat capabilities. That, or submitting to the government and being protected in return for being little more than servants. This man was hardly the only one, but outlaws would strike deals with merchants who were willing to supply them with equipment to help those same merchants become wealthy. A mutually beneficial agreement, even if there was always the risk that one side would betray the other in the hopes of being well-rewarded and not having to fear the wrath of the ruling class any longer.

This man, in particular, was supposed to have dealings with Nine Steel. Nine Steel was a mercenary group consisting of nine powerful combatants, each relying on their weapon skills combined with magical weapons. Individually they were already strong, but together they were a fighting force worth fearing, as they were said to be easily capable of defeating an army of standard soldiers hundreds of time their own size. If this were true, then their combined might was comparable to that of the most talented magic users of Fiore.

The problem was that they were willing to be hired for relatively little money and by any customer regardless of affiliation. They appeared to have no ideology beyond turning their capacity for violence into a source of income, and as long as the customer could pay their wages there wasn't anything they weren't willing to do. At least, nothing that didn't boil down to fighting and killing. One probably shouldn't try to hire them for chores. But in this case, their latest client hadn't paid for them to perform any small tasks: the rumours were that Nine Steel had been hired by the Ironheart Pact to serve as a mercenary force against the Luminous Covenant. They were small in number, could mobilize easily, and unless appropriate measures were taken they could take down fortresses by themselves. They were practically an elite strike group which could only be handled with utmost caution.

Now, Akeya had nothing against letting people fight for whatever cause they wanted, nor was she opposed to letting people fight for money. She herself was a mercenary, after all, even if she was affiliated with Fairy Tail these days and wouldn't do anything that would get her excommunicated. While she may be acting the role of a member of the guild she was, by nature, an assassin. She would eliminate those targets she was assigned to eliminate, either because she was paid for it or because she was given other incentives. An assassin couldn't complain about other mercenaries doing exactly the same thing, unless they wished to be an irrational hypocrite.

But she would interfere with Nine Steel's business, because she was now on the side of the Luminous Covenant. If a band of mercenaries as powerful as this one began to cause trouble all over Ishgar, disrupting trade routes and killing key figures in the war against the Ironheart Pact, the consequences could be disastrous. While Akeya held no feelings of loyalty towards either Fiore or the Luminous Covenant she was keenly aware that if the Ironheart Pact won this war it would be bad news for all those who used or relied on magic. And as a dragon, she very firmly fell into the category of creatures who wouldn't fare well if Pergrande got its way and began destroying everything that was related to magic.

The merchant in front of her, not privy to her thoughts, frowned deeper. "Look Miss, I don't know who that acquaintance might be, but bothering me isn't going to help you any. You'd be better off asking the red sands." Desierto was one of the economically weakest countries in the entirety of Ishgar, all its wealth concentrated at the top of the social hierarchy with minimal investment into expanding its economy. Ironically, however, the sands that formed most of the land would often look like gold in the sun. On the other hand, it all depended on the lighting: if one looked at it from another angle, in the right circumstances, the sands could look red like rubies.

"The sands won't answer, for they are neither rubies nor gold." Akeya had been waiting for the man to give her the opportunity to say the passphrase. According to the "acquaintance", a thug who also had dealings with this merchant but didn't know enough about Nine Steel to allow her to bypass the weapons dealer, the passphrase was what was used to get access to the merchant's secret wares, and might also get him to talk about his other customers. Of course, getting that information out of the thug had taken some effort: outlaws weren't inclined to spill their secrets if they could avoid it.

The merchant raised an eyebrow, but otherwise didn't show any outwards response. The passphrase was unusual enough that one was unlikely to say it by accident, so whoever this strange inhuman woman was, she knew what she was doing. Interesting, although the merchant was more interested in doing business and not getting caught. "That may be so, but you still shouldn't go around asking stall owners in broad daylight about such things. Only a fool would talk about such things out in the open." The man glanced towards an alleyway, long enough that Akeya could memorize which alleyway it was. He then let out an irritated grumble and rubbed his beard again. "So, are you actually planning to buy something?" His hand swept across his wares, and Akeya was quite certain she saw his hand linger above a particular item, small and unremarkable. It looked like some kind of artistic paperweight, three different metals interwoven to form a small tower. Most likely a reference to the three rulers of this land and their political power.

"...Sure. I'll take that." Akeya pointed towards the paperweight, and the merchant quickly snatched it up and gave it a final polish before handing it over. "Pleasure doing business with you. Hope you come back soon." The price for the paperweight was insignificant, so Akeya paid for it without bartering. The merchant might be relatively well-off for the society he lived in, but as someone from Fiore she could say that the prices here were laughable.

However, she had received the key to her next step. The merchant's words had been both vague and precise, giving a clear idea of what she should do next. The merchant would be giving her more details after the sun had gone down, in the alley, and the paperweight was most likely meant to serve as evidence that she was the same person who had bought it. It wasn't the most thorough of security systems, but they were close to the edge of the sultanate: it wasn't like the merchant regularly got royal guards inspecting everyone. She wondered if this man had actually sold anything meaningful to Nine Steel, or if he merely supplied them with disposables like caltrops and throwing daggers.

Well, she could ask that once they met at night. For now Akeya would study the paperweight as she wandered through the streets of Desierto, towards the inn  where she could rest and meditate until night fell. It was quite well-made, the three metals each having a distinctly different colour and interwoven intricately so one might think it was one solid piece. She wondered if the design was meant to imply that the Three Desert Kings were in harmony and cooperated with each other, which was as laughable as Desierto's economy. No doubt the three political factions had gotten accustomed to the balance of power and were no longer wholly invested in toppling the other two, but most likely they would take the first opportunity to become sole ruler of the desert kingdom. Although if reports were to be believed, the one who was supposed to be the servant of all three might be the true power in Desierto...

Well, thoughts for later. For now she'd have to wait.

Current Appearance:

WC: 1,878
PWC: 1,878/10,000

Fortunately, Akeya had plenty of experience with waiting. One of her more recent jobs had given her so much experience with waiting that by this point a single day was barely worth noting. As she sat there in her room in the inn, silently meditating, she pondered if that was a necessary development for a dragon. Dragons might have the benefit of a virtually unlimited lifespan if not killed, but they were born and grew up just like all the more short-lived lifeforms. Did other dragons grow up already accustomed to a different perspective on time? Was it normal for a dragon hatchling to consider a year to be short? It was hard to say, because it was not what Akeya herself had experienced and she hadn't had the opportunity or the thought to ask anyone else before. When she was little she imagined that her perspective of time had been the same as that of humans, and it was only exposure to infinity that had caused time to both shrink and expand for her.

She was pretty certain, however, that anyone who perceived time as a human would, would not be able to handle thousands of years of being alive. Beyond a certain point one would go mad waiting for something to happen, waiting for things to change, waiting for some kind of stimulus. Akeya had gone to the world of dreams and experienced a world where time was a mere suggestion, and she had waited for more years than she could count to accomplish her mission. Afterwards her thoughts had been in disarray, but once she had the opportunity to sit down and digest everything she had learned she had managed to adopt that perspective in a more limited form. She wasn't the same as she had been in the world of dreams, where time meant less than nothing, but at least she could now say with confidence that she wouldn't find waiting centuries for her goals to be achieved to be a horrible fate.

Immortality was a tricky thing, after all. What did one do with so much time? Even the least talented of individuals could achieve great heights in their chosen task if they had so much time to improve themselves, practise, and train. To spend each day as a human would, would most likely not be the right way to approach life with such timespans. The twilight dragoness believed that if one had many years then one should undertake projects which took many years to reach completion. Not merely some profession or art, which could be perfected within a few decades if one was skilled enough: projects which could last centuries.

In comparison to that, a day was little more than a deep breath. The dragoness sat there in her room with her eyes closed, emptying her mind and observing her surroundings without expectations or needs, as the sun rose through the skies, climbing to its summit and then slowly falling back down to the horizon, where it would disappear and the world would be shrouded in dark. The stars would shine brightly amidst the void, and the moon would act like a poor man's imitation of the sun to shine silver light onto the desert sands, providing at least some illumination to those whose business required them to move about when others were asleep.

As twilight fell Akeya opened her eyes and wordlessly arose, looking out of the window. It was time. She placed her hands together and wove light and dark, merging with both and disappearing from the world of the material. As a lightless shade, she departed through the window, into the night, and into the streets below. The inn itself was still a beacon of warmth and light, as the people who stayed there had not yet given in to the need for sleep. Other houses were going dark one by one, shops closing down and lights going out. From the guard post, armoured and well-clothed men and women were lighting up their lanterns as they prepared for the night patrol. The desert might be hot and scorching during the day, but during the night it would quickly reach freezing temperatures. The guard patrols would have to ward off the cold even as they kept the streets safe against those who would attempt to commit crimes under the cover of night, although the watchful eye might notice that not every part of the town received the same amount of attention, and some guards would leave their shift with their wallet a little heavier than before.

Fortunately, the hateful attitude Desierto had towards mages meant that, in a remote settlement like this one, they had little in the way of methods for dealing with those who relied on magic to remain undetected. Tools which allowed one to turn invisible were rare, as such magic was complicated and often had limitations that made it difficult to use. Magical tools had the advantage that they could be used by anyone, but they had the disadvantage that they were often very single-minded in usage and weren't suitable for more complex task. A sceptre meant to produce water would not suddenly turn into a water cannon just because the wielder needed to defend themselves, whereas someone who could use water magic and who wasn't a complete failure had little difficulty producing either a stream or a high pressure hose.

The invisible dragoness made her way through the streets, back towards the market where the merchant's stall had stood during the day. It looked like the town required the merchants to clear up their stalls at the end of the day to keep the place tidy during the night, and to avoid someone from trying to be cheeky and build an actual house in the plaza. Which would explain why each stall had looked like it was well-made, but very minimalistic. Easy to assemble and disassemble. The alley that the merchant had indicated without words looked the same as it had during the day, and there were no guards nearby. Akeya dismissed her veil before stepping into the alley, holding the paperweight hidden for now.

She hadn't been entirely sure how the merchant would make contact once she arrived at the location. His instructions had been vague enough that it wasn't like she could just follow them to the letter and receive the information she needed. However, in the alley there was nothing but a couple of boxes, and a beggar wrapped up in thick cloth to ward off the night's chill. At first it looked like the beggar was asleep, but then his eyes opened and he looked up at Akeya, studying her with a mixture of curiosity, fear, and expectation.

"Sorry, Miss, but I'm using this alley to get some sleep. Could you kindly leave? Or, perhaps, give me a little something so I can get through the night somewhere warmer?"

Akeya looked at the beggar with cold eyes, considering her options. It could be a trap, it could be unrelated, or it could be what was required for her to get what she wanted. There weren't any guards in the area, so even if it was a trap she should be able to get away... and it wasn't like she would care much if the merchant was caught, either. Although she might have to break him out of prison to get the information she needed, but that might actually be helpful since it meant he'd be owing her a big favour. Desiertan law didn't take kindly to those who helped outlaws. Pulling the paperweight out of thin air she showed it to the beggar. "This should be worth something, I think." The metal used was of good quality, and while there wasn't a lot of it a smith could separate the parts and melt them down to reuse them for something more productive. Or just use it as a paperweight: wouldn't want your paper to fly away.

The beggar nodded, and held out his hand. "That is worth more than just money, Miss. Uncle Paroh says it's worth more than gold." If Akeya was remembering correctly, Paroh was the weapons dealer. The beggar continued after Akeya placed the paperweight in his hand. "I don't know what deal you've made with Uncle Paroh, and it's better if I don't know. But he wanted me to tell you that the information you seek can be found to the north, where stones jut out of the sand like the teeth of a shark." Evidently, the beggar wouldn't even begin to guess at what a shark's teeth would look like. "He also said that you should remember your purchase." As the man fell silent and spoke no more, Akeya concluded that that was everything that the merchant was willing to tell her. It was frustratingly obscure, but the weapons dealer was clearly doing his utmost best to ensure that nothing could be traced back to him, and that the beggar couldn't betray him either. Sure, the beggar could go to the guards and tell them these simple instructions, but it would be rather difficult to turn this little information into a conviction.

Akeya waited a couple more seconds, then held up some money. "That trinket might be valuable, but for tonight you need zarah." She waited for the beggar to eagerly stick out his hand, then dropped the coins in his palm. It wasn't a lot, but she imagined that from the perspective of a beggar it was already a lot more than they had expected to get out of this. "Tell Uncle Paroh that he should be careful who he sells those two, if they're that valuable."

The beggar nodded, but Akeya was already leaving the alley around, weaving light and dark around herself to become invisible once more and depart from the town. While the desert's freezing night might deter the humans it wasn't going to slow her down, and she didn't want to waste too much time on this mission is she could avoid it.

Besides, if she needed to eliminate Nine Steel to remove the threat, she'd probably perform better if she ambushed them at night.

Current Appearance:

WC: 1,703
PWC: 3,581/10,000

At night the desert was even more desolate than during the day. Both times the sands were largely empty, flowing hills formed from ages of wind picking up sand and throwing it about until it formed into sharp-ridged slopes. However, during the day the warm light made it feel large and timeless: during the night, the silver light of the moon made it feel lifeless instead. The sand was a colourless grey, its actual ochre colour barely noticeable unless one strained the eye to see or produced their own light to banish the moon's pale illumination. Akeya flew over the desert, north of the town, over the ridges while her emerald eyes scoured the sands below. She was keeping low, invisible underneath her veil, as she didn't wish to encounter anything other than the people she was looking for. She didn't know everything that lurked in the sands, and she would rather not be caught by surprise by some kind of high-altitude monsters that thought invisible dragons were food.

At best, it'd delay and irritate her. At worst, it might actually force her to abandon the mission. Neither option was desirable.

The benefit of the desert, of course, was that it was easy to find what you were looking for if that thing stood out from amidst the sands and you were actively looking for it. Throughout the ages the wind and the sands had managed to wear down a lot of things that might have existed previously in these lands, but stone remained extremely resilient, even if a sandstorm could carve surprisingly deep into the surface. As such, a landmark based around a set of stones was about as reliable as you could get in the desert, unless the landmark only needed to last for a couple of weeks. Even the cities that the people of the desert build would eventually fade away, as the owners destroyed each other and the sandstorms ripped through the structures and slowly broke them apart.

The desert symbolized both infinity and impermanence, which was both intriguing and rather ironic. The desert itself was eternal, whereas nothing in the desert would last. Akeya kind of liked the desert, but at the same time she'd also be glad once she was done here and could leave. She wondered how many of the people that lived here would take the opportunity to leave if they could. Life here was brutal, and quite often short. The people at the top of the food chain made things even more difficult, and many people would die for little reason other than that they were not considered important enough to be kept alive and supported. And yet, people tended to form attachments to the place of their birth, where they'd grown up. She wouldn't be surprised if most Desiertans would rather live and die amidst the sands than move to greener pastures.

Spotting her objective in the distance she flapped her wings and accelerated, shooting through the air towards a series of stones which were sticking out of the sand, forming a curved line and each having a jagged appearance. Akeya had to admit that it did indeed look a lot like the teeth of a shark, so she had to give credit to Uncle Patoh for that. Must be quite convenient, to have such a landmark available to serve as a hint towards where to find a mercenary group. How many others knew about this place, and had decided to use it for their own purposes? Her mental map told her that this landmark wouldn't be directly on the way to any of the other settlements in Desierto, and it was far enough from the settlement she'd just left behind that someone leaving the city's boundaries would just stumble upon it. Most likely some criminal had been fleeing the guards and made it this far, then survived long enough to tell someone else about it. That, or Patoh knew some merchants who didn't travel the usual routes. Those who had illegal dealings could benefit from taking paths unknown by others, after all.

Her clawed feet touched the dry sand, the twilight dragoness keeping her invisibility active for the moment as she studied the stones. Their appearance did not suggest that they were artificially created: rather, it just looked as if a bunch of stones of similar size had endured the same winds for long enough that their appearances weren't too dissimilar. Stranger things could happen, after all. The big question was, how would these stones turn into the hint she needed to locate Nine Steel?

She slowly walked around the stone formation. The individual stones didn't reach higher than her chest, and while they were described as teeth they weren't sharp enough to actually cut anything. Their rough surface might scratch one if they brushed their hand across it, but nothing else. The wind would try to polish the stones, but the sand picked up by those same winds would carve into the stone, turning the surface rough like sandpaper. Over many years these stones would probably have been worn down to nubs, and calling them shark's teeth would no longer be accurate either. Still, more reliable than anything else in this place.

The beggar's advice had been for Akeya to remember her purchase. The little paperweight, three pieces of metal interwoven to form a tower. The price had been cheap: twenty-seven zarah. That was next to nothing in jewels, which made sense considering that it was nothing more than a paperweight. On the other hand, even compared to the other trinkets sold by the man the price had been low... Wasn't he worried people would try to buy it without knowing its purpose?

She shook her head. Twenty-seven, three metals. Most of the time such hints were buried in the numbers. Twenty-seven divided by three was nine, and there were nine stones. Convenient, truly, that the hint to find Nine Steel was hidden inside a stone formation consisting of nine parts. She squatted before all the stones, peering at the features that adorned their surface. Scratches and ridges, small but noticeable. She couldn't immediately find anything that stood out.

What else had there been? Well, the paperweight had been well-made, and the structure implied harmony and cooperation. Three forces working together to hold up the tower. With nine stones she wasn't entirely sure what that would mean, other than that perhaps each stone formed a part of the puzzle. What else was there? As she'd studied the paperweight she'd noticed that something had been inscribed on the bottom. It had been written in Desiertan, and so far as Akeya could tell it was some sort of prayer. A common thing for someone to sell to strangers at the border of the kingdom, who were intrigued by the culture of the place.

What else was there? The passphrase might also be a clue. "You'd be better off asking the red sands. The sands won't answer, for they are neither rubies nor gold."[/color] Maybe the sand around the stones had something to do with the information? Akeya looked at each stone in turn, the shark's teeth which stood there in the middle of the night, unmoving and as timeless as anything could be in this place. At least there weren't any strong winds at the moment, she Akeya didn't have to deal with any sandstorms.

The dragoness spent several minutes carefully studying the teeth from all sides, going over everything the merchant and the beggar had told her. The paperweight had been the key to get here, and according to the beggar it would also be the key to move beyond here. What if she combined everything?

Each stone was part of the answer... the sands wouldn't offer an answer... and the answer was underneath. Akeya came to a halt and stared at the sand, an idea forming in her mind. She stuck out her claws palm down, feeling the dark underneath the sands and taking hold of it. She flipped her claws upwards, palms now facing the starry night sky, and slowly lifted the sand around the stones up and out of the way, moving her hands to the sides to drop the ochre mass where it would no longer obscure the answer she'd been looking for.

The stone teeth reached deep into the ground, and about a meter below where the surface had been before someone had painstakingly carved something into the shark's dentals. Stepping into the little excavation site she herself had created the dragoness studied each carving. It was written in Desiertan, of course, and each piece was fragmented. However, as she studied each fragment, memorized it, and compared it to the other fragments she realized that there had been another hint in the paperweight: three teeth would work together to form a full sentence. She tried various combinations, until combining the fragments from every third teeth starting from the right gave her three sentences.

"Nine Steel can be found to the west, where the mountains stand red and tall.
Their hideout is obscured by a magic tool that makes air look like stone and resist all intrusions.
To open the way, strike the barrier nine times in quick succession, each strike enough to shatter rock."

Well. Now that she had the answer she was looking for, Akeya figured it was about as good as she could have asked for. She also knew which mountains they were talking about: to the west there was a region which was rich in iron, to the point that the mountains looked like they could have been made of rust. In the past there had been regular mining operations there, but as workers kept disappearing eventually the costs of sending labourers there and protecting them from whatever was hunting them down had made the government relent and leave it alone. That had been years ago, longer than Nine Steel had been active.

That was curious, but Akeya had one mission for the moment. If she had to take down some desert creatures along with Nine Steel, that was simply what she would have to do.

She'd gotten what she came for, so it was time to move onto the next step and actually meet the people she'd either persuade to stop accepting money from the Ironheart Pact, or kill to ensure they no longer had a choice in the matter. As powerful as they were, Akeya didn't think they'd be able to beat her as long as she didn't do anything stupid. She'd just need to be careful with their magic weapons: she hadn't been able to confirm what each weapon did, and even if they were mere magic tools and lacked the creativity and versatility of an actual magic user they could still become extremely dangerous depending on what exactly they could do.

Gathering the night sky she formed large claws of dark, and used them to scoop up the sand and push it all back into the hole she'd created mere minutes before. Better if she didn't make it too easy for other people to find Nine Steel: their hiring wage was low enough that some merchant might get funny ideas. Uncle Patoh apparently preferred to merely sell them things in return for protection, but it would only take a single greedy merchant who didn't know the limits of what their money could achieve for Nine Steel to destroy that settlement and install a new ruler. After which the Desiertan government would ruthlessly suppress everything in the region and weaken its military power, which currently was an important issue for Akeya as they were allies in the Luminous Covenant. Worse, if such an incident broke out then it could possibly be traced back to her. She was keeping herself safe by not giving anyone reason to hold a grudge against her, and those that might have held a grudge against her were all dead. Earning the ire of the Desiertan government would not help her in any way and might in the long run shorten her life expectancy.

Once the sand was back where it was supposed to be, and Akeya had gone over it a few times with her claws to ensure that it didn't look completely unnatural, she once more took to the skies and flew away, off to the west. It was time for her to meet Nine Steel, and see if they could be reasoned with.

If not, their hideout could be turned into their tomb.

Current Appearance:

WC: 2,092
PWC: 5,673/10,000

The mountain range was easy to find, as it stood out from the dunes like a sore thumb. Several sore thumbs, in fact, and each one was several hundred meters tall and gleamed in the moonlight. The concentration of iron ore must be enormous for it to have the mountains actually reflect the light like that. It wasn't as bright and shiny as solid metal, but it nevertheless was a lot more reflective than any stone had the right to be. Except possibly obsidian, which wasn't even real stone. Akeya was grateful for that, however, since it meant that she didn't have to waste time looking for it. She'd already be busy trying to find the entrance to the hideout. The hint had told her that there would be a barrier, but it hadn't told her the exact location of the barrier. Fortunately, the barrier was magical in nature, and she was quite good at spotting magical contraptions. Even those which were designed to be hard to find.

An assassin wouldn't be very good at their job if they didn't know how to catch those that didn't want to be found, after all.

Flying around the mountains Akeya scouted the slopes and the surrounding sands, invisible beneath her twilight veil even as emerald eyes took in every detail that stood out to her. The mountains, aside from their red and shiny nature, had a particularly sharp appearance to them: the crags and outcrops had no mercy or gentleness to them. Probably another side effect of the metallic nature of the stone that formed these behemoths that reached to the skies. She watched the flow of magic that was ever-present in this world, the background radiation that suffused everything. She looked for abnormalities, where the flow of magic was disrupted or altered, where another source of magic was present. At the same time she also looked for parts of the mountains which didn't look entirely natural. Even for these mountains a perfectly smooth surface would stand out.

After having circled around the mountains three times Akeya finally picked up on a small magical presence. It was concealed to the point that it was easy to imagine that it wasn't real at all, which might be why she'd needed to fly past it three times before her mind decided that it was not just a figment of the imagination. Changing course she dove towards the ground, flapping her wings to halt her descend and touch the sands gently as she stood before a particular part of the mountainside which didn't look that strange. However, now that she knew what she was looking at she noticed that there were some abnormalities: it was like this part of the mountain had been ever so slightly pressed inward, and the edges were too regular. if you didn't know what you were looking for you'd think it was just how the stone was formed and wave it away as unimportant. It was only the fact that she could tell that this thing was a construct of magic that gave it away.

Now, the hint had told her that she needed to strike the entrance nine times in quick succession. That in itself seemed easy enough, although it hadn't informed her what counted as quick succession, and she was also pretty sure that using this method to get in would alarm Nine Steel that there was an intruder. So she had a choice, now: either she could enter the way she was intended to go, and try to be diplomatic, or she could stealth in and kill them all. If she chose the latter there was no reason to believe she could fall back on the former, but if she chose the former the latter was still on the table if negotiations broke down. That, and she prided herself on not resorting to murder to solve all of life's problems. People who thought that murder was always the solution  tended to be lying to themselves when they said that they were just being pragmatic.

She was an assassin, not a sociopath.

Each attack would have to be strong enough to crush rock, so she shouldn't hold back too much. Raising one claw, Akeya willed the scales on that claw to shine, the light extending into the freezing air and detaching itself from the scales like wisps of glowing smoke. From her other claw came streaks of dark, and combining the light and the dark she formed nine scale-shaped projectiles, each one a tiny patch of twilight that shone without illuminating its surroundings.

With a quick motion she willed the Twilight Dragon's Scales to shoot forward, each projectile flashing through the distance between their starting point and their target to strike the barrier with enough force that, if it had been normal stone, each projectile would have gone clean through. Instead, as all nine the projectiles hit, the barrier shimmered and faded away, leaving a large cleft in the mountainside for Akeya to walk into and meet Nine Steel.

Recalling what energy was left from her attack the twilight dragoness stepped forth, leaving behind the pale desert night to enter the dark depths of the mountain. To her eyes it made little difference: she could tell that after the first couple of meters the tunnel quickly became cleaner and more regular, indicating artificial shaping of the stone to make it more comfortable and secure than the unstructured entrance the mountain had offered. As she walked deeper and deeper, the tunnel developing a significant downwards slope, unlit torches became visible on the walls as well. They didn't light up even as Akeya passed them, and they didn't appear to be magical either. Most likely one of the people in the hideout would take care of those if they thought that someone needed help getting inside.

She kept track of where she thought she was, and when she was pretty confident that she was close to the heart of the mountain the tunnel opened up into a large chamber, circular in nature and with a tall ceiling. The dragoness, having little choice, dispelled her invisibility and stepped into the chamber, looking around with emerald eyes. It looked like an underground arena, with most of the chamber forming a large circular fighting floor surrounded by an elevated ring. There weren't any obvious ways to get from the arena floor to the tribunes, so she assumed that you were meant to climb or fly your way up. Perhaps the people in the spectating ring would help you get up. There were nine doorways embedded in the walls of the chamber, each accessible from the spectator's ring.

As soon as she noticed them a figure stepped through each doorway, each armed with a different weapon and each holding themselves with a confidence that indicated that they knew how to use those weapons, and weren't afraid of what might have entered their hideout. Nine people, each confident and powerful warriors, now walking to the edge of the spectator's ring to see the intruder.

"Well, well, well, that's not something you see every day. A dragon lady?"

"More importantly, we had no reason to expect your arrival. How did you find this place?"

Akeya resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the first one to instead focus her attention on the second. It was time to see if diplomacy was worth pursuing here.

Current Appearance:

WC: 1,239
PWC: 6,912/10,000

"I imagine I came here using the same channels many of your clients use. I just didn't wait around and give you time to prepare." Akeya replied to the second person's question. Most people wouldn't go all the way from searching for Nine Steel to invading their hideout within the span of twenty-four hours. Most likely Uncle Patoh had some method for alerting Nine Steel that a new client was coming their way, but Akeya had moved a lot faster than most others who came all the way out here just to have a talk with an infamous mercenary gang.

"The shark teeth thing?" A third person asked, and Akeya nodded worthlessly. That same person rolled his eyes. "It's nicely symbolic, I guess, but I always felt like it was too on the nose. Anybody could imagine that if you're looking for a group called Nine Steel, nine stones shaped like teeth might be a hint."

"That hardly matters if our guest here used the appropriate channels to reach us. I do hope that you cleaned up after you left: it'd be a hassle to put everything back into place otherwise." A fourth person addressed Akeya. The dragoness studied the nine people standing above her, looking at her, judging her. Their personalities and temperaments clearly differed from each other, but their behaviour seemed more like the bickering between friends than the terse relationships some mercenaries would have with each other. "I did put the sand back, yes. I would rather not have anyone suspect me of being involved with you if it could be avoided."

"Why, you almost make it sound like you don't like us, dragon lady." The first person spoke up again. "And yet you came here to find us. Do you need us to perform some sordid task for you, of which you'd rather nobody ever learned that you paid us to do it?"

They were all casual. Very casual. Akeya could tell that they were paying attention: if she did try anything they would quickly react. However, at the same time they didn't appear to be concerned at her intrusion. Even her appearance didn't bother them, aside from the first person who seemed to be intrigued rather than intimidated. None of them appeared to have any talent for magic, either...

Was their confidence a sign that they couldn't tell how powerful Akeya really was, or were they just that confident that they could take care of her no matter how powerful she might be? Even Desierto knew of dragons, so her being draconic should give them pause. Instead, each one was talking casually, as if they had no reason to be concerned. Well, perhaps that was a good thing: if they were on edge then diplomacy would be difficult, as even non-hostile behaviour would be interpreted negatively and she'd have to deal with the uphill struggle of convincing them that she wasn't here to hurt them. Unless they didn't give her what she wanted.

"Rather than needing you to perform a certain task for me, I need you to abstain from acting." Akeya figured it'd be better to not be vague about this, and just explain why she was here. "Rumour is that you have been hired by Pergrande to execute attacks on important economical and military structures throughout Ishgar. I'm here to cut your ties with Pergrande." Leaving aside the rest of the Ironheart Pact, Pergrande could not be allowed to win the war against the Luminous Covenant. Other people could take care of the open warfare: Akeya would prioritize undermining the war efforts of the enemy, as was her duty as a specialist.

"...You want us to break with a client?" The fifth person spoke up. "You're asking a lot of us. Normally we wouldn't acknowledge your accusations, but it seems you already know enough that there's no point in denying it." The second person interjected. "She only has said that she's heard rumours though." The fifth person shook his head. "If rumours were all they were, then she wouldn't have come all the way out here. We might as well speak plainly." Akeya had been quite certain that Nine Steel had accepted payment from Pergrande, but it was still gratifying to have the mercenaries themselves confirm this.

"We've already made an agreement with Pergrande. We don't care for this Ironheart Pact, but we are being paid to fight, and so we shall. Breaking such an agreement is no light matter: Pergrande could make life very difficult for us, and beyond that nobody wants to hire a band of mercenaries who will abandon you at a moment's notice. From a business perspective your request is unacceptable."

"I'm aware that this is a serious issue, but it's necessary." Akeya held up a clawed hand. "First of all, this is no mere political leveraging from Pergrande. Pergrande is at war with most of the continent. If it becomes known that you're in allegiance with Pergrande you might find yourself without work once they lose the war." "Are you saying that you think Pergrande will lose the war?" Akeya turned her gaze to the third person. "Pergrande may be the single largest military power on the continent, but their actions will turn all but the most closely tied allies against them. The only way for them to win would be to turn the rest of Ishgar against each other, and being the biggest military power means they'll have a hard time convincing anyone that they aren't the biggest threat."

"So because they're the biggest powerhouse, they're going to lose? That doesn't make a lot of sense, dragon lady."

"It's politics and strategy. Being the most powerful makes you a target and will force others to band against you to survive. As the strongest you are reliant on sowing discord to prevent that from happening, but if the others know that you're reliant on discord..." Akeya shook her head. "Pergrande doesn't have the political finesse required to avoid turning into the continent's single biggest enemy."

"That's all well and good, but that doesn't guarantee that Pergrande will lose. And even then, we're mercenaries. We go where we're paid to go, and breaking a contract is bad for business."

"If you break your contract with Pergrande I can help you form a more beneficial contract with Bellum. Desierto only has such abundance in magical weapons because of trade with Bellum, so with such a contract you could get your hands on even better weapons." Desierto had little to offer to other countries: it truly depended on positive relationships and theft to get by. "Bellum has more need of military assistance than any other country right now, as they bother Pergrande. With such conditions you could get very cushy terms."

"So not only do you want us to betray a client, but you want us to immediately form a new contract with the enemy our first client paid us to fight?" A sixth person spook up while they shook their head. "Do you have any idea what that would do to our reputation?"

"Right now, aside from the military conflict, a political war is being waged in Ishgar. The Ironheart Pact consists of nations with a xenophobic and militaristic attitude. Accepting a contract from the Luminous Covenant would mean that you're allying yourself with the countries that are trying to protect the people from tyrants and warmongerers."

"Does that really matter? We're mercenaries, warmongerers are good for business."

"You were complaining about your reputation. For most people warmongerers are bad news."

There was a short silence as the nine people exchanged glances. Finally, after what felt like at least a minute, one of them spoke up. "We've heard you out because you managed to catch us off guard and reach our hideout, but I don't think there's enough merit in what you're saying. Unless you can sweeten the deal there's not much point to furthering the discussion."

Akeya frowned, then sighed. She had hoped otherwise, but it looked like it would have to come to this. "Well, another argument is that, if you don't break your ties with Pergrande and ally yourselves with Bellum, you might not live much longer." That certainly caught their attention, some of them shifting their weight and others narrowing their eyes. "Hey hey hey, dragon lady, you know what you're saying? You threatening us in our own hideout? That's rather gutsy, you know?" The first person gave a short laugh, but his grip on his weapon had tightened.

"Pergrande is a threat to all magic. That includes people who rely on magic weapons. If you refuse to see reason then I'll have to apply some force to ensure you do." Akeya's emerald eyes were cold as she looked at all nine of her potential opponents, studying each of them. Who would strike first, who would try to reach for her blind spot... "Whether I can take all nine of you together is hard to say, but I can promise you that not all of you will live to see the sunrise. I have reason to believe none of you want to see the others die." Their relationship was too casual. They might act like they don't care, but humans couldn't help but to form bonds. Besides, their reputation as nine powerful warriors meant that a single death would already make things more difficult for them: they'd either need to find a replacement quickly or take a hit to their reputation. Clients who didn't pay as well, and questions about if they truly were so strong.

"...You're playing a dangerous game-"

"How about we put that to the test?"

Akeya shifted her attention to one who hadn't spoken before this point. They didn't appear to be much different from the rest, but their interruption didn't seem to cause much irritation. More reason to believe these people got along well. "Breaking a contract with a client is not something we can just do on a whim. You've made your arguments, but if you want to convince us you'll have to prove yourself worth listening to. Finding us so quickly may be impressive, but it's no cause for us to blindly go along with your words."

The other eight warriors frowned, but then slowly nodded, some faster than others. "You know what? Sounds good. Let's fight, and if you win we'll do as you ask. Fighting for Bellum might be more fun anyway."

"...If it puts an end to this argument, then we might as well."

"She wouldn't stand a chance against all of us at once though."

"That's easy enough to fix. Just have her fight us one on one. If she can defeat all nine of us independently she's strong enough that her words hold weight."

"I can agree with that. Besides, if she's correct then Pergrande might take our weapons away once we've done our job." It seemed like at least one of these people was taking the threat of Pergrande seriously. Akeya took several steps back as she cracked her knuckles. It looked like diplomacy had worked... to some extent. "I've got no issue with duelling each of you, but since we're doing this for the sake of resolving the argument I imagine we won't be fighting to kill."

"Not much point to killing if you don't get paid for it, you know?" The first person jumped from the spectator's ring into the arena, his mace gleaming in the light of the lachrima that illuminated the large chamber.

"I'll be going first dragon lady! I am Danros!" He waved at the other eight warriors with his mace. "Hey, if we're doing this, why don't we all introduce ourselves first?"

"...I am Terg."

"I am Pylare."

"My name is Rul'as."

"...Kirziv."

"Mine's Dolovan."

"I'm Orthyn."

"Karl."

"Ingrid."

Akeya resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She really didn't need to know all of their names. However, if she wanted this to work it'd probably be better if she just went along with it. "My name is Akeya. Shall we begin?"

Current Appearance:

WC: 2,015
PWC: 8,927/10,000

As the fight began Rul'as activated a magic device which caused the floor and the walls of the arena to be covered in a web of line that glowed a pale cyan, which also covered the entrance through which Akeya had entered the hideout. "This arena is where we train against each other. The magic tool will prevent your fight from damaging it. Otherwise we'd spend ages fixing the place every time we decided to try out our weapons." The woman explained. Akeya nodded as her eyes remained fixed on Danros and her stance lowered, her balance shifting to the balls of her feet. He used a mace, so he must rely on powerful strikes. It would be better to dodge than to block: she might have a dragon's strength, but Nine Steel consisted of respected mercenaries. She couldn't just expect herself to be able to shrug off whatever they did without any concern. And then there was the concern about what his weapon might be able to do...

Danros didn't appear to share Akeya's cautious attitude. He gave her a grin as he dug his toes into the sand and charged towards her, mace held with both hands and already raised for a powerful strike. Akeya waited for him to get close before dashing to the side. She wished to observe his combat abilities before she moved in for the "kill".

However, Danros surprised her. Without missing a beat he shifted his direction and came straight for her, bringing his mace down in a devastating blow that would most likely mess up her skeleton, dragon or no dragon. Akeya hastily brought up both arms to block the strike, forming a shimmering barrier around her forearms that helped soften the blow. While the barrier wasn't strong enough to completely reject the strike it at least reduced the impact so the mace didn't break Akeya's arms.

To further lesson the impact Akeya let herself get pushed back by the attack, noticing that around her clawed feet the lines that covered the arena glowed and shimmered as they absorbed the energy that would otherwise have carved lines into the ground from her talons. Interesting... some kind of magic tool that redirects energy. Towards a specific source?

No time to think about that. The dragoness charged forward, realizing that if she just let Danros do as he wanted he'd keep performing charges himself. And apparently he was swift enough on his feet that dodging him would also be difficult: that sharp angle was far beyond what she would have expected him to be capable of. His infamy as a mercenary was well-deserved.

Danros's expression was pleased as Akeya brought the fight to him this time, raising his mace to catch her claw with the hilt. He then twisted the mace, pulled it back, and performed a thrust, aiming to crush Akeya's ribs. The dragoness ducked underneath the attack and slammed both her claws into the man's stomach, sending him flying while blood poured from a circular set of puncture wounds where her talons had dug into his flesh.

Danros caught himself with both feet, feeling the wounds on his stomach. "Fast. Well then, let's go further dragon lady!" Holding up his mace he held it sideways, then slammed the palm of his hand against the butt of the hilt. Akeya had only an instant to wonder what that was supposed to do when her forearms exploded, launching her backwards and against the wall of the arena with fresh blood spraying onto the ground.

The dragoness let out a pained hiss as she hit the wall, the lines absorbing the energy of the impact as well. Her pain came from her forearms, where skin and scales had been ripped away to expose turn muscles and a lot of blood. Exploding forearms... It didn't take her long to figure out what that meant. That mace could cause explosions on surface it had hit!

With her arms disabled Akeya relied on her legs to dodge and duck out of the way as Danros charged her and tried to smash her while she was reeling from the explosion. The man followed her, this time trying to catch her with an upwards swing that would have shattered her chin if she hadn't leaned backwards to avoid it. Her arms were already starting to heal, but she didn't think she should let this man place bombs to his liking while she waited for the regeneration to finish...

The rest of the fight consisted of Akeya using her fast legs to evade and dodge, letting Danros swing his mace and hit empty air. Sometimes he would hit the ground, and whenever he did that Akeya had to note to not come close to that spot again, as the man was quite willing to use his weapon's magic to detonate those spots like landmines. The eight onlookers saw their companion cornering the intruder, but they also noticed that he wasn't actually getting a lot of hits in after the first explosion...

Eventually the fight was settled through a simple matter of speed. Akeya had refrained from using magic, in part because she didn't want to tip her claw and in part because she believed that Nine Steel would be more inclined to listen to her if she defeated them with physical skill. But once Danros had delivered another swing that had slammed against the ground and was about to detonate it to launch Akeya the dragoness shot forward, the contrast of her body amplified as she used both light and dark to enhance her speed. Dark was unhindered and unbound, and light was just extremely fast.

Jumping up into the air, Akeya kicked the hand which was about to slam against the butt of the mace's hilt. Spinning she slammed her tail into the side of Danros's hide, leaving a trail of twilight behind, then when the man toppled over she slammed her clawed foot down onto his torso, pinning him against the ground and pressing down with enough force that the man understood she could shatter his ribs if she wanted to.

"Ack!" Danros spat out. Looking up at Akeya he considered trying to break free to continue the fight, but another push from her clawed foot had him letting go of his weapon. "You know what, dragon lady? Good enough. You win." He made sure to speak loudly enough that the other eight heard it as well, even if that was a bit challenging with the dragon's claw limiting his lung capacity for the moment.

With Danros announcing his defeat Akeya lifted her claw and walked away, giving Danros the opportunity to gather himself and leave the arena so the next combatant could enter. While the man had been defeated he hadn't received any significant injury: rather, Akeya had managed to put him in a position where the odds of him being able to come out on top had been small, so he surrendered. In contrast, the twilight dragoness was only now regaining full feeling of her arms, rubbing them as the skin closed and the scales regrew. She could imagine that against someone who wasn't as specialized in speed and agility as her that mace would be an absolute monster. Danros's striking power was enough that he could inflict serious injury to a dragon, and those explosions had enough power behind them that he could bring down buildings with them.

Current Appearance:

WC: 1,242
PWC: 10,169/10,000 (Completed)