"Insidious? That sounds a bit…"
"Intimidating? Ferocious?"
"Unfitting."
"Rub it in why don't you." Insidious grumbled, dipping his head lower. "Mum 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 snorted. "The name's Sophia. It's good to be traveling with you."
"Well it's good to meet you Sophia."
"So you're the last Warlock?"
"To my knowledge. A Warlock only being a male Witch. I never liked being called a Witch for some reason."
A confused look crossed Sophia's face as she examined her body a little closer. "I don't think my boobs 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!"
*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."
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."
"So this is that town full of Wi- people you were telling me about?" she said. 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."
"How did you-"
"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.
"Anything you want. I promise."
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.
"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 bought several things he needed. A large jar of powdered rock salt, several blocks of coal, a bag full of feathers and a few planks of wood. Tossing a few coins on the counter top, he stuffed the reagents into his bag.
"Thank you and please come again!"
"You're welcome." He said, stepping out of the shop and immediately bumping into someone. "Oh! 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!"
"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 a conversation.
"Ah, Mister Insidious. Your friend has a very… peculiar taste in fashion, but I believe that I made it work."
"Peculiar? How so?"
"Well, let's just say that you may be surprised by her new appearance."
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 top that extended down to cover down to her pelvis and black leather gloves that extended to the middle of her forearm, ending in an arc of spikes facing away from her body. She also wore thigh high black leather boots which, where Insidious was fully expecting stiletto heels, he saw a much more practical flat sole. Her hair was tied in a long ponytail, a wide silver band wrapped 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!"
"But I can't let you wear that!"
"Aw, but you promised!" she 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!"
"Since when were you my minion?"
*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 dyed black and a red pentagram embroidered onto the back. 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, rubber like mound of meat. It 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 one of the wretched looking things through the face 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 or finesse 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, 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 tripped her over. Stabbing into the woman's back, the woman screeched in pain and dropped her strange weapon as Insidious quickly tore a small rune in the flesh over her spine.
"We will destroy you, heathen!"
"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." She grunted as she wiped blood from a deep scratch on her cheek. "I need to be able to fight back. I got my ass handed to me. Ow, ow, ouch."
"Well, good news. I got you a present." He said, handing the sickles to Sophia.
"What the hell is this?" she said, examining the weapon. "It looks really weird."
"Whatever it is, it looks like it could do some damage." 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?"
"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."
"He's too good for that. Even I couldn't see that woman hiding in the shadows. 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?"
"You bet, Soul."
*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."
"You want me to fight people?! I'm not that strong! I was just a baker in Death City, not a Meister!"
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."
"What?! I can't-"
"Just do it!"
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?"
"Yeah." said the somewhat shaky disembodied voice.
"Good. Now let's keep going."
*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."
"What if they're on both hills?"
"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."
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 grinned, 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."
"What?"
The boy turned brown as what looked like autumn leaves blew off, revealing a black haired woman underneath.
"What the… Where's the runt?!"
"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. 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!"
The scythe grew to massive proportions as it glowed brightly, but Insidious seemed not to notice.
"Witch Hunter!"
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 beam 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 breast, as well as one on the cut above his eye.
"Heal."
Insidious could feel life returning to Sophia as her eyes snapped open. She scrambled to her feet and readied her weapons again.
"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 Keishen Egg in your own city was able to kill her undetected!"
"A Keishen Egg?" said a voice on the opposite hill as he stepped into the light. "No, a Meister was sent after it after detecting your presence in Death City. 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. "Sophia, get out of here."
"What? No way! I-"
"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 his friend however, and focused his attention on the girl before him. "I suppose I'd better start taking this seriously. If I don't, my friend and I are going to get hurt."
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 to you people except exist, and now you want to kill me for something I didn't even do? 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!"
Maka's arm stiffened into its awkwardly bent shape. Before Insidious could do anything, Black Star's voice rang out.
"Trap Star!"
Unnoticed chains that ran below the dirt and rubble 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.
"Black Star Big Wave!"
"Damn it!"
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 was once again under 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."
