The shadowy figure glided through the dark alleys of Death City. It looked up at the moon, past the brim of his tattered and stitched hat. It was a brown pointy hat, tears and holes scattered around the wide brim. A small black belt had been tied around the middle of the point to cover up a large tear and a small dagger had been thrust through the belt. He pulled his brown and threadbare cloak tighter around him as he tore his eyes away from the insanely grinning moon.
"That thing always gave me the creeps…" he grumbled, stalking through another alley.
Finally he found what he was looking for, but he was far too late. The Kishin Egg, a bearded man wielding a bloody machete had already torn open the poor woman and was gripping the rubbery blue orb in its hand, drooling mouth wide open.
"No! Don't you dare!" he shouted, throwing a punch at the foul creature. The wretched thing roared more in surprise than pain, dropping the soul as it stumbled. As the beast charged at the cloaked figure, he scratched madly at the cobblestones with a clawed iron coated finger. Jumping backwards as the Kishin egg swung at him with a bloody knife and stepped on the scratching the figure was drawing earlier. The figure leapt away and pointed two of his sharp iron fingers at the rune inscribed on the ground.
"Explode!"
The cobblestones bulged and cracked before blowing out in a violent explosion of fire, tearing apart the kishin's leg. The kishin screeched in pain and the figure ran in and stabbed it through its head with his sharpened iron hands. As the kishin egg fell to the ground, it unravelled to reveal a pulsating red orb. Reaching out, the figure pulled a glass jar reinforced with bands of iron from his pocket. Grabbing the soul, he opened the jar and stuffed the evil soul inside.
"Damn those lazy Meisters." He sighed, tucking the reinforced jar in his cloak pocket. Looking over to the other soul, he watched it bob and sway in the air. "I wonder if the body's okay."
Needless to say, it wasn't. The carcass of the woman was bloodied and torn until it was unrecognisable. All the figure could see was torn lengths of straw blonde hair and, nauseatingly, pure blue eyes that even in death stared into his. The eyes were five metres away from the rest of the corpse.
"That's just disgusting." He said covering his mouth with his iron bound hand. "It's a good thing I brought another jar."
Meanwhile, on the rooftops overlooking the dark alley, two figures sat crouched down looking at the figure as it carefully inserted the soul into the glass jar.
"What do you think Sid? Is it a Witch?" asked the woman.
"I dunno Nygus. I've never heard of a male Witch, or one who killed a kishin egg. I wonder what he's going to do with those jars?" the other mumbled.
"We'll have to follow him. What's that he's scrawling on the wall?"
The figure had walked up to a nearby wall and was scratching at it with an iron finger. Slapping his palm on the rune, he shouted a word.
"Teleport!"
The brick wall seemed to open up, the brickwork like many rows of rectangular teeth before swallowing up the Witch.
"Damn. He got away." Sid spat.
"Yeah. We should report this to Lord Death." Nygus nodded.
"Wait a minute, I think I can track him. But if we don't hurry up the trail will grow cold." Sid thought aloud. "Let's go."
"What do you mean? He's not using soul protect?" Nygus asked as she turned into her weapon form.
"Nope. This guy will be easier to find than I thought." Sid nodded.
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
The cloaked figure emerged from the ground, coughing and wiping dirt from his clothing. He could have been spotted at any time in Death City. He was glad to leave when he did. Checking the inside of his brown cloak, the two jars hummed with their distinctive lights. The pure soul's jar hadn't cracked yet, thank goodness. The figure parted the cloak to reveal the black cloth jerkin underneath and the matching loose pants. Like the rest of his outside appearance, his brown boots were scuffed and dirty and came up to his ankles, the end of the boot curling up and around at the end of the toes. The figure's face was illuminated in the sickly moonlight under an unkempt mop of greasy black hair with two empty red eyes shining dull underneath.
"Welcome back to the Badlands." He grumbled, kicking a loose stone off the dusty ground.
The warlock continued to walk until he reached what he was looking for. The old stone structure his mother made for them to call home. A small iron hatch jutted out of the rock, but it looked sealed shut by rust and neglect. Laying an iron clad finger on the rune inscribed on the hatch, he recited the old incantation.
"Know that there are no enemies, open for me if you please." He said, remembering his mother's voice just like when he told him the incantation.
The hatch groaned appreciatively and gently creaked open. Ducking as he stepped inside, he didn't notice a small pebble lodge itself between the rock and the hatch as it swung closed. Clapping twice, the yellowed arcane lights glowed, revealing a workshop of sorts. Jars of various things lined the walls, charts and diagrams were framed and hung up on the wall and a mat of straw and animal furs had been heaped in a corner to serve as bedding. A cracked mirror hung above it, framed in what may once have been an exquisite gilt frame, now tarnished and chipped showing the cheap wood underneath.
"Home sweet home." He shrugged.
Picking the two jars out of his cloak pocket, he opened a glass cabinet standing in the corner of the dome. In it were several jars filled with kishin eggs, each of the jars bound with iron. Carefully placing the newest member into the storage cabinet, he took out the other jar and looked at the blue soul within. Looking back to the cabinet he furrowed his brow then smirked slightly.
"I've always wanted to try this." He said.
Setting down the glass jar on a roughhewn table, the figure rolled back his sleeves, revealing the dull iron gauntlets that extended to his elbows. Rushing over to a cauldron set in the middle of the room, he began gathering reagents from around the room and adding them to the now roiling pot.
"Thirty five litres of water, twenty kilograms of carbon, four litres of ammonia, one point five kilograms of limes… No, wait, just lime! Oh well, at least she won't smell bad. Eight hundred grams of phosphorus…"
As each object was added to the bubbling cauldron, a shadow under the ground ran a hand over his weapon and prepared to strike.
"Now… For the final ingredient." The warlock said, wiping droplets of sweat from his young brow. Delicately picking up the jar, he strode over to the cauldron and dropped the soul in. The arcane fire beneath the cauldron crackled and spat and the sound of hellish screaming filled the air, causing him to leap back in shock.
From the flesh coloured liquid, a congealed hand slapped over the side of the cauldron. A deformed bald head soon followed, half formed eyes starring wildly around the poorly lit workshop. The rest of the human body followed, slapping its way out of the cauldron, the fire now extinguished underneath it. It landed on the ground with a thump and blonde hair grew rapidly on her head until it hung down to her shoulders, her bright blue eyes burning underneath her hair. She looked around still breathing heavily.
"Are you alright miss?" asked the warlock, causing her to reel back slightly. The woman examined her body and blushed when she realised she was completely naked! The warlock blushed as well and took the brown cloak off his back. "Here, take this."
"Th-thank you." She said in a croaky voice, wrapping the threadbare cloak around her. "What happened? The last thing I remember before blacking out was… Blood. So much pain and blood…"
"Well… You didn't black out. Much worse I'm afraid. You died. You were about to be eaten by a kishin egg, but I managed to stop it before it could eat your soul."
The woman looked over to the glass cabinet filled with Kishin eggs and shuddered slightly. As she tried to stand up, she stumbled and crashed against the cauldron.
"Whoa! Let me help you." He said, leaning in to her up.
"I'm fine." She said, looking around the workshop, the cauldron and back to his scruffy figure. "You're a witch!"
"I prefer the term warlock, but yes, that's what I am." He said, helping her to her feet. "But you need to get back to Death City. I'll see what I can give you for the road."
The woman sniffed at the air and then sniffed at her forearm. "Why do I smell like lemons?"
"It was actually limes, but it was a small miscalculation on my part. Think of it this way, at least you won't have to bathe for a while." He said while rooting about in a copper bound chest in a darkened corner of the room before pulling out another brown cloak, this one in a little better condition, and draping it around himself. From the chest he also pulled a large and raggedy bag and stuffed some sparse provisions into the pack.
The woman looked inside the now clean cauldron and stared into it. "How did you actually bring me back? I thought it was impossible to resurrect the dead."
"Well you weren't dead exactly. Your soul was still intact and held within one of the jars you see those kishin eggs are in. I couldn't just leave you there to fade into nothingness, so I decided to make a new body for you. See, my mother had specialised in flesh golems. She could create artificial people."
"That's horrifying!" she shouted, stepping away from the cauldron.
"However, they were very handy to have around the house. Anyway, I just thought that since flesh golems are basically humans, I scaled up the recipe slightly and put your soul into your new body. Honestly, I never thought it could work, but this is an amazing find!"
"Why did you have to use me? Couldn't you use one of those kishin eggs over there?" she asked, pointing to the glass cabinet.
"Are you insane?!" he shouted. "I couldn't do that! The results could be catastrophic!"
"Sorry." She said, looking at the ground.
The warlock sighed as he tapped at the ground with his foot and noticed something that unsettled him. "No, no. I'm sorry. You're in a very delicate balance right now, if you're disturbed too much, your body could collapse and I'll have to start again. Not to mention your soul may become damaged."
"You mean if I become too stressed I'll die again?!" the woman panicked.
"Calm! Please!" he pleaded. "You won't die if you just calm down!"
The woman shuddered slightly and took several deep breaths, pulling the cloak around her a bit more. "Alright. I think I've calmed down."
"Excellent." He said, pulling the pack onto his shoulders. "Now we have to get out of here."
"What? Why?" she asked.
The warlock drew the dagger from the sheath on his hat and wrapped the woman in his cloak as he inscribed a rune on the ground with the dagger. "Because we're being watched."
Sid and Nygus leapt at the warlock from the shadows, only to be impeded by a wall of rock falling from the ceiling!
"Teleport!" the warlock shouted.
The warlock and the woman disappeared into the earth as it swallowed them up and the rest of the concrete igloo collapsed, destroying the workshop, the glass cabinet and the souls contained within, and all traces of the warlock and his exiled mother. It was good to be prepared for anything.
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
On a grassy hilltop, hundreds of metres away, the warlock and the woman burst forth from the ground and landed on the ground, the warlock coughing and spitting dirt from his mouth.
"Never could quite get the hang of that one…" he coughed.
The woman had already scrambled to her feet and was about to run, when something stopped her. She stood over the young warlock and helped him to his feet.
"Thanks." He said, coughing once more before sliding the dagger back into his hat.
"No problem. You brought me back to life. The least I can do is help you up." She shrugged.
The warlock stood straighter and looked over to the horizon and saw the sun peek its lethargic spiked head above the horizon.
"Well, it's probably best if you go back to Death City." He said, wrapping the cloak around him a little more and dipping the brim on his hat lower. "I'll have to start again somewhere else. How tiresome."
"I'm not going back." She said with an air of finality.
"What?" he asked.
"If I go back, then people will ask me why I'm not dead. Eventually, they'll learn about you, if that Meister hasn't reported you already." She said, balling her fists. "Besides, I'm not about to let my debt to you go unrepaid."
The warlock was slightly at a loss for words. "Are you sure? You're just going to throw everything you had in Death City away?"
"I lost everything when I died. Now I have nothing but a new life." She said. "And I may as well spend it following your butt around."
The warlock thought for a moment before nodding. "Then let's go. I think I know a town that's friendlier to witches and warlocks more than most."
"Meaning they'll only stab us to death instead of burning us alive?" the woman hazarded a guess.
"Slightly friendlier than what you're thinking." He said, starting to march in the direction of the rising sun as the woman followed him.
The woman followed the warlock for a while before realising something. "By the way, you haven't told me your name."
"My name? Well, I guess I should give you the courtesy if you'll do the same for me." He said. "I am Insidious. Insidious the Warlock."
The woman blinked before putting a hand to her chin. "Insidious? That sounds a bit…"
"Intimidating? Ferocious?" Insidious hazarded.
"Unfitting." She said plainly.
"Rub it in why don't you." Insidious grumbled, dipping his head lower. "My mother was really into the whole secret name thing. I can't even remember that fake name from the old village. Started with an E though."
"Well my name is pretty plain compared to yours." She said. "The name's Sophia. It's good to be traveling with you."
"It's good to meet you Sophia." Insidious said.
"So you're a Warlock? I thought there were only Witches." She said.
"To my knowledge. A Warlock only being a male Witch. I never liked being called a Witch." Insidious explained.
A confused look crossed Sophia's face as she examined her body a little closer. "I don't think my breasts were this big before."
Insidious blanched a little and stopped walking. "Oops. I don't think I'll be able to…" Insidious began before being cut off by Sophia.
"No! No it's perfectly fine! You don't have to do anything at all!" she said, waving her hands.
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
"We've been walking for hours! Why can't you teleport us there?" Sophia whined.
"I've already told you, I can only teleport to where I've made other unused teleport runes! Teleportation isn't just some kind of magical travel eliminator." Insidious said irritably.
Sophia continued to grumble as they walked down the dirt track to a small looking town with several tall church steeples.
"This is the place. Wickhaven." He announced.
"So this is that town full of Wi- people you were telling me about?" she said as a passing field hand looked at her oddly, but shrugged and continued on his way.
"Yeah. Hopefully we'll be able to find a better home here and get some new clothes. Most of my stuff is so moth eaten I've used said moths to make some of the fabric." Insidious said.
"How did you-" Sophia asked before Insidious waved a hand to stop her.
"You do not want to know." He deadpanned.
The two strode into the town and Sophia pulled her makeshift cloak around her tighter. "Are you sure you didn't have anything else? I feel so weird walking around here like this."
"I'm sure. If I had anything else, I would have given it to you." He said, patting the bag of coins in his coat pocket. "Don't worry. I'll buy you anything you want after this."
"Anything?" she said, eyes lighting up.
"I promise." Insidious nodded.
To this, Sophia grabbed Insidious by the arm and ran towards the nearest clothing shop.
A bell clattered overhead as a woman stepped out from behind a curtain. "Welcome to my shop! How can I help you?"
Sophia began talking madly to the tailor woman as Insidious stood there, the conversation completely lost on him. "Uh, Sophia? I'll just be out buying reagents. I'll be back in half an hour." He said.
Sophia nodded before turning back to the tailor. "Okay! So anyway, I want it to be sort of like a…"
Insidious stepped out of the shop and back into the street. He couldn't help but feel eyes burning into the back of his head as several eyes turned to him, one after another. He ignored them and stepped into an alchemy shop.
"Welcome, welcome! What is it you need young man? Buying reagents and potions for your mistress, hmm?" the old crone of a shopkeeper grinned behind a stained counter.
Insidious looked around the shop and grabbed a few rolls of parchment as well as a few quills and ink.
"Thank you and please come again!" the crone behind the counter cackled as Insidious dropped a few coins on the counter.
Insidious nodded wordlessly before stepping out of the shop and immediately bumping into someone. "Sorry."
"Humph. You're quite alright young man." The small man said, straightening his top hat. "So long as it doesn't happen again. Now run along."
Insidious stepped out of the way of the short, well-dressed man and returned to the busy side streets of the market. He bought a few more things before seeing the sun dip into the horizon. Picking up his bags, he strode back to the tailors and stepped inside.
"I'm back!" he said, although Sophia was nowhere to be seen.
"Ah! Just a sec! I'll be done soon!" called Sophia from a nearby dressing room. Insidious was approached by the tailor woman and began conversation.
"Ah, Mister Insidious. Your friend has a very… peculiar taste in fashion, but I believe that I made it work."
"Peculiar? How so?" Insidious asked.
"Well, let's just say that you may be surprised by her new appearance." The tailor chuckled.
The curtain was pulled back and there was standing Sophia, the brown cloak still on her back and mended, but underneath she wore a revealing and figure hugging black leather outfit that only barely made it past her privates and black leather gloves that extended to the middle of her forearm, ending in a metal band ringed with small studs. She also wore thigh high black leather boots which, where Insidious was fully expecting high heels, he saw a much more practical flat sole. Her hair was tied in a long ponytail, a round spiked ball tied around the end.
"Sooo, what do you think?" she asked, glee dancing in her voice as she shook her ponytail a little. "I was really going for the whole evil seductress look!"
"What do I think?" he said, face turning red. "Well…"
"Ah don't be shy. I know I look damned sexy!" she grinned.
"That's what I'm concerned about. Are you seriously going to wear that on the street?! In broad daylight?"
"Hey, at least I'm keeping the cloak!" she said, folding her arms.
"But I can't let you wear that!" he argued.
"Aw, but you promised!" Sophia grinned again.
Insidious sighed. "Yes. I did didn't I?"
"Now, there is the matter of your clothes." The tailor woman said, gripping the ragged cloak between two fingers. Insidious jerked forwards and readied his gauntleted fists before relaxing again.
"Sorry. Just a reflex." He said. "I think all I need is a patch job."
"But the matching clothes would be such a great combination!" whined the tailor.
"Yes, but I don't want to look like she does." He huffed.
"Hey! I thought you'd be happy to have such a sexy minion!" Sophia said.
"Since when were you my minion?" Insidious asked.
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
In the end, there had been modifications to Insidious' clothing. His hat, boots and cloak were now in perfect condition, and the cloak had been repaired as well. His hat had been dyed a much darker brown as well as his boots, and his jerkin and pants had been repaired as well. His gauntlets, which he was reluctant to part with for even a second, had been sharpened and cleaned while he wore them.
Insidious and Sophia were now walking back to the hotel where they were staying, their boots clacking on the cobblestones. Insidious stopped and glanced into the shadows.
"What is it Master Insidious?" asked Sophia in a mysterious sounding voice.
"I just told you five minutes ago not to call me that. And I don't mean to alarm you," he snarled, drawing the dagger on his hat from its sheath. "But we've been followed again."
Sophia whirled around and was immediately knocked to the ground by a small rubbery mound of meat that stood about half a metre in height with four stubby arms ending in fat, jointless fingers and had a mouth roughly as big as its entire face. A second one appeared and launched itself at Insidious.
"Flesh golems!" Insidious shouted, stabbing the wretched thing while Sophia struggled with the one attacking her. "Though whoever made these things had about as much skill with Golemancy as a garden slug! There's no care put into it at all!"
"Oh yeah?" shouted a voice from the shadows. A young woman dressed in a black robe and shoulder length brown leather gauntlets leapt out with two large sickles, one in each hand and connected by a length of spiked chain.
The woman charged in, waving the sickles randomly as she babbled and screeched unintelligibly. Narrowly dodging an overhead strike, Insidious blocked the second swing with his dagger. Gripping the spiked chain with his gauntleted hand, he tugged at the chain and pulled her closer before slamming his knee into her gut. The woman bucked over before Insidious slammed both his iron fists into the back of her head, knocking her to the ground. The cultist screeched in pain and dropped her strange weapon as Insidious quickly tore a small rune in the flesh over her spine.
"Paralyse!"
The woman froze as stiff as a board before she could grab a hold of her weapon again. Insidious stood up and grabbed the two sickles as he walked towards the prone form of Sophia.
"Man, fighting sure hurts a lot more than I thought." She grunted as she wiped blood from a deep scratch on her cheek. "Why the hell did she attack us anyway?"
"Not a clue. But I do have some good news. I got you a present." He said, handing the sickles to Sophia.
"What the hell is this?" she said, examining the weapon.
"A weapon. It doesn't seem that practical, but a weapon is a weapon so you should keep it." Insidious said.
"Yeah. But who was that 'we' she was babbling about while I was getting my teeth kicked in by a side of beef? Does she belong to a cult or something?" she asked.
"I have no clue, but it's probably best we don't stick around to find out. Come on. Let's get out of town before that woman unfreezes. That rune's only going to last a few more minutes."
Unbeknownst to the two, seven looming shapes were standing on nearby rooftops.
"That was fast." Muttered one, unable to believe what she just saw.
"That was so cool!" another one almost shouted. "What do you think, Kid?"
"I agree with Liz. It was all over too fast to accurately gauge their strength. One thing we can be certain of though is to stay away from those runes of his."
"I say we should just rush 'em! Catch 'em by surprise!"
"We can't just kill him! Lord Death specifically told us to capture him!" chided another voice.
"I have to say it Maka, I'm with Black Star on this. We can just catch him by surprise, kick his ass and get back to Lord Death. Easy peasy." Said an easy-going voice.
"I don't think that's going to be an option. I only noticed the woman that attacked them when Insidious noticed them, so I don't think we'll be able to sneak up on him successfully." said another woman.
"So we've gotta hit him head on?" grinned another.
"You bet, Soul." the girl nodded.
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
Insidious and Sophia had made their way out of Wickhaven before daylight.
"Alright, I think we're far enough away now." He said, stopping on the top of a grassy hill. "Come over here."
"What are you going to do?" Sophia asked, drawing closer. Passing an iron finger over some faint embroidery on her cloak, Sophia watched as her arms disappeared before her eyes. "Ooh! That's so cool!"
"Yeah. The thing is, I don't have invisibility on my cloak, so I'm trusting you to watch my back out here. They won't be able to notice you, so if I get attacked, you'll be able to get the drop on them." Insidious explained.
"You want me to fight people?! I'm not that strong! I was just a baker in Death City, not a Meister!" Sophia argued.
Insidious rubbed the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb. "You know how I revived you using modified Golemancy, right?"
"Yeah? So?" replied the invisible Sophia.
"Try punching a tree as hard as you can." Insidious ordered.
Sophia raised an eyebrow. "What? I can't-"
"Just do it!" he said loudly.
There was a brief period of silence before there was a loud crack. The side of a nearby oak tree had a gigantic split in the wood, a fist shaped indent in the thick trunk. Leaves fell from the top branches as the silence returned, heavier and more awkward than ever.
"Feeling confident yet?" Insidious asked.
"Yeah." said the somewhat shaky disembodied voice.
"Good. Now let's keep going." He said.
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
The two kept traveling down the road, the invisible Sophia managing to stay silent most of the time. They got several odd glances from traveling salesmen when Insidious accidentally responded, "We don't want anything."
From under the wide brim of his hat, Insidious saw something shuffle in the bushes. Picking up a stone from the road, he etched a rune on the surface with his sharp iron finger and tucked it in his pocket. Eventually, the road reached a point where the path cut straight through a hill, forming a sort of valley. Expression darkening, he stopped as he glanced upwards.
"What is it?" Sophia whispered, slightly startling Insidious.
"It's a prime spot for an ambush. You go up the left hill. I'll go straight into their little trap. If you throw the sickles far enough, you'll be able to swing across if they're on the other hill." He said quietly.
"What if they're on both hills?" Sophia asked.
"Then we've still taken down two thirds of them." He said, striding down the path. As soon as he was mid-way through the valley, two people appeared in front of him. Two teenagers, a boy with white hair and a girl with pigtails. There was something vaguely familiar about the girl, but he couldn't quite place it.
"That's as far as you go, Witch." Shouted the girl.
"Warlock, actually." He frowned under his hat's wide brim. "I have no reason to fight you. So if you'll just excuse me, I have places to be."
"Well, I guess it's the easy way then." The boy grinned, revealing a row of jagged teeth, one of his arms turning into a black and red scythe blade.
Insidious drew the dagger from his hat and tossed the rock in his pocket at the two. The rock bounced and skidded on the flat cobblestone road until it came to a stop at their feet.
"Is that the best you've got?" asked the girl, gripping the scythe in both her hands.
"Explode." He said.
The rock at the girl's feet glowed briefly and exploded into a shower of tiny rocks as the girl jumped backwards to avoid it. Insidious rushed in with the dagger, stabbing at her arm. The girl blocked it with the scythe blade and swung at him, but he blocked the blade with an armoured forearm.
"No way!" she exclaimed.
"Way." Insidious growled, slashing at her with the dagger. She managed to doge out of the way but she got a deep scratch on her cheek for her trouble. Pink blasts erupted around Insidious' feet as he dodged out of the way, several shots going through his cloak. "Damn it! I just paid for this cloak!"
Above the battle taking place, Black Star was sitting in wait, Tsubaki in Shuriken Mode. "This is the most boring plan ever."
Tsubaki's face appeared in the blade of the giant shuriken to communicate with her wielder. "You have to be patient Black Star. Stick to the plan. When Maka and Soul step out of the fight, we switch to the Enchanted Sword and restrain him while Kid administers the knock-out formula."
"I know the plan Tsubaki. What I'm wondering is where that dude's girlfriend has gotten to." He said, staring down at the Warlock, who was dodging, blocking and back flipping out of the way of both Maka's scythe and Kid's shots.
Black Star only narrowly dodged the whistling sickle slicing overhead as it sliced through the tree he was hiding in. When he landed on the ground of the hillside, he saw an angry blonde woman in revealing leather clothing.
"Geez. I wonder if she's sisters with Blair." Black Star muttered.
"Let's just get this straight you blue haired idiot." She said, grabbing the spiked chain and spinning one of the sickles while holding the other. "Insidious is not my boyfriend! I'm twenty eight for Death's sake! I'm no cradle robber!"
"Whatever. You're still friends with him, so I'm gonna take you down!" he shouted, tossing the shuriken at the woman. Ducking under the shuriken, the woman jumped sideways when the shuriken came hurtling back! Rushing closer, the woman slashed at him with both sickles and had to dodge again when Black Star swung the giant shuriken over his head and buried it in the ground.
"This isn't working Black Star!" shouted Tsubaki. "It's too cramped with all these trees in the way!"
"I know! Transform! Smoke Bomb mode!"
A huge cloud of thick yellow smoke burst forth from the shuriken, enveloping the whole of the hillside.
Sophia watched as the yellow cloud rushed towards her as she pulled the invisible cloak tighter around her. The invisibility thingy was still going, so that was a bonus. Soon the smoke cleared and she could see the blue haired idiot standing entirely still, like a sitting duck! Rushing up behind him, she whipped her cloak back and put both sickle blades up to his throat. "Got you now!"
"Shadow Star." Black Star muttered.
"Huh?" Sophia gasped.
The boy turned brown as what looked like autumn leaves blew off, revealing a black haired woman underneath.
"What the… Where's the runt?!" she growled.
"Right here!" came a shout from behind her, but it was too late. "Black Star Big Wave!"
Black Star's elbow crashed into the woman's back as Tsubaki dodged out of the way but as she did she noticed that the woman's eyes started glowing an eerie blue colour. Black Star followed up with a supercharged punch that sent her flying into the road below.
"Sophia!" shouted Insidious, a shot grazing above his eye causing blood to flow into it. "Damn it!"
Insidious ducked another shot, scratching at the ground with a finger as he moved to get Sophia, but Maka had other plans.
"Oh no you don't! Let's go, Soul Resonance!" she shouted.
The scythe grew to massive proportions as it glowed brightly, but Insidious seemed not to notice.
"Witch Hunter!" Maka screamed as she brought the scythe around.
A huge crescent of energy ripped through the air, screaming towards him. As soon as he touched Sophia, he scratched a rune on the ground and shouted.
"Teleport!"
No sooner had he said it than the wide crescent of energy ripped through the air and crashed into the hill behind where they had just been not milliseconds ago.
"You know Maka, that never works." Muttered the scythe.
"Shaddup Soul! It's not my fault!"
Ignoring the shocked looks of the meisters, he carved a rune onto Sophia's body, as well as one on the cut above his eye.
"Heal." He muttered, waving a hand over the rune.
Insidious could feel life returning to Sophia as her eyes snapped open. She scrambled to her feet and readied her weapons again, putting a protective arm in front of Insidious.
"You monster! Enslaving a soul!" shouted the girl.
"Enslaving? What the hell are you talking about? I saved her while you Meisters were too lazy to do anything! A kishin egg in your own city was able to kill her undetected!"
"A kishin egg?" said a voice on the opposite hill as he stepped into the light. "No, a Meister was sent to dispatch it. Sid was too late to save the soul, but then you showed up and stole it."
Insidious was slightly uneasy in the presence of the other pale teenager standing on the hill above him. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Death the Kid. And you must be Insidious, the so called Warlock."
"Death the Kid?" Insidious echoed in disbelief.
"Death's son?" muttered Sophia. "It can't be… We can't fight him!"
"That's right. And we have orders to bring you two in." The girl said, readying her scythe again.
Insidious thought for a while. He looked up at the two Meisters on the hill and the one in front of him, trying to think of a battle plan. "Sophia, get out of here."
"What? No way! I-" Sophia argued.
"Now! You'll only get hurt!" he shouted, stepping towards the scythe wielder.
Sophia looked like she was about to run, but Death the Kid pointed a gun in her direction. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Insidious looked unfazed by Kid pointing a gun at Sophia however, and focused his attention on the girl before him. "I suppose I'd better start taking this seriously."
Tossing the dagger through the air into his left hand, he reached into the cloak with his right hand and slowly drew out a thin black rapier, the slow ringing of steel filling the air.
"I haven't done anything except exist, and yet you want to kill me because of that? Well I'm not going to the Grim Reaper without a fight." He stabbed the ground with the black rapier, cracks spreading to four large runes etched into the sides of the hill. "Explode."
Dirt and rock from the hillside flew into the air as the grassy hills collapsed, sending Death the Kid tumbling and burying an unfortunate Black Star. Sophia looked at the destruction and wrapped herself in the invisible cloak, running to find a good vantage point.
Maka ran at Insidious, scythe trailing behind her. Pulling the rapier free from the ground, Insidious blocked with the silver dagger and lunged at her with the rapier. Maka barely escaped impalement as Insidious left a deep gash in her side.
"Maka! Are you okay?" shouted Soul.
"I'm fine. We have to stop him here!" she shouted, lunging into another attack. Insidious dodged the wild overhead strike and carved into her shoulder with the dagger. Leaping back to avoid another swipe, Insidious rushed in and ducked another slice while sheathing the dagger in his hat. Laying an iron hand on the girl's shoulder, he activated the rune.
"Paralyse!" he shouted.
Maka's arm stiffened into its awkwardly bent shape, unable to move from the shoulder downwards. But before Insidious could do anything, Black Star's voice rang out from the rubble.
"Trap Star!"
Unnoticed chains that ran below the dirt and rock rose up into the air and started moving, constricting around Insidious. His arms were pinned to his sides as Black Star leapt from a mound of loose dirt and ran closer.
"Gotcha now!" the energetic ninja cackled. "Black Star Big Wave!"
Black Star's elbow impacted with Insidious' face as he tipped backwards before slumping forward, held in place by the chains. Maka felt feeling return to her arm as it returned to her control. "That was too weird. Thanks Black Star."
Sophia's cloak returned to its normal form and before she even knew what was happening, she was knocked out a quick pistol whip by Kid.
"Alright, now that that's been taken care of, let's get back to Death City. Father will be waiting for us." Kid nodded.