Hey everyone! Thank you so much for still following my story! It's really great to know you all are enjoying it! I'll be posting chapters on a regular basis and I'm hoping that I've got you all on the edge of your seats! Who's Guildless? What's under the mask? You'll have to read on through a few chapters and find out!
Chapter 6: Inferno
As Brain gloated over his findings, Racer asked, "Brain, while I'm running this back, should I stop by our friend's place and let them know who we've seen?"
Hoteye exclaimed, "They'd pay us a fortune to know we've seen her! Oh yeah!"
Brain nodded. "Tell Diviner to pull back on the leash of his attack dog. She's been doing whatever she pleases for too long."
Racer admitted, "It'll be nice to have her off our backs. I always felt like she was spying on us for Shadow."
Wendy demanded, "What are you talking about?"
Brain turned. "Is it not obvious? The Demon's Shadow wizard Guildless. She's an annoying pest of theirs that they don't control like they should. She's been acting rashly these past few years, troubling other guilds."
Cobra growled, "I know the Alliance is only around so we don't fight each other, but man, I'd love to hear the screams of those wimps."
Brain assured, "You will. We'll have Demon's Shadow pick up their own trash before we dominate them, the rest of the alliance, and all the world, my friends."
Guildless was circling the forest, flying on her shadowy wings when she, like the others, was attacked. It happened in the form of several flashes of of red, which tore through her black wings like a knife through paper.
Guildless almost instantly went into free fall, the last of her shadow wings dissolving into the wind as she fell, tumbling to the ground. Her words lost to the wind, she yelled into the pulsing air until her magic activated. From the crevices of shadow in her clothes and beneath her hair, the shadows on her crept outward, slipping onto her skin like an infection. In seconds, she was pure black, dissolving from a humanoid shape to a streak of pure black.
She crashed silently to the ground, into the shade of a tree. When she emerged, she was humanoid again, the black receding from her skin as she panted, every breath echoing in her mask. She set her hands on her knees, catching her breath from the rapid fall she'd just survived.
"You haven't gotten any more talented, Guildless."
The wizard stood straight, her hand to her side now. Just as with her wings, her shadow grew several pointed objects, her physical hand mirroring this and she was then holding three black knives between her fingers.
The voice spoke from behind her again. "In raw power, you've always been increasing, yet you still have no style, no sense of art to your actions."
Guildless whipped around, flinging her knives into the darkness behind her. "And you've gotten sloppy. Still shining Diviner's shoes, Inferno?"
From above, the voice said, "Ha ha, so funny. No, I've been his personal assistant for the past three years. The three years you've been Guildless. Tell me, how hard is it to hide the emblem?"
Guildless closed her eyes. "A lot easier than you'd think, errand boy." Her ears strained to find exactly where his voice came from. "So, you got promoted from first-class kiss ass to personal messenger boy. Pretty decent for a guy who can barely light a match."
Inferno taunted, "At least I'm not going to be in big trouble with the master when I bring you back. He's been pretty angry, these past few years. Do you know how many times Doppelganger's been sent to find you? She's off in Brago right now on a tip. Luckily, I get to bring you back."
Guildless needed to keep him talking. "Or not so lucky. You know you'll never beat me."
Inferno chuckled. "Don't be so sure. I've gotten stronger over the years you've been gone. You might be surprised-" A long stream of pitch black energy struck him straight out of the branches, making him fall to the ground in a crumpled heap.
Guildless walked over to him. "Wow. I'm so surprised- you should've seen that coming."
The blonde boy on the ground wore black pants, his bare chest dominated by a guild emblem: a massive purple tattoo of demonic wings took his entire chest area. Guildless put her foot down on his chest, fist radiating black light. "You're pathetic, Inferno. You shot me down, then had no other ability to fight me."
Inferno scowled. "Pathetic? That defines your new company much better than me. Hanging out with legal guilds? You've fallen so low?"
Guildless fabricated another knife out of shadows. "More acurately, how could I have risen so high?"
Inferno paused, then grinned. "So, what now? I know you don't have the guts to kill me. Knocking me out won't do much good. There's no way this ends that you don't go back to the guild. Just wait until I tell Diviner you're here-"
"Wait?" Guildless' voice perked as Inferno's already pale skin lost all color. "He doesn't know yet?" She suddenly laughed softly. "Of course. Diviner still doesn't like anyone knowing where headquarters is, so if anyone wants to talk to him... They go through you."
Guildless laughed, a sound that sent a chill up the spine. "And you, in alllll your arrogance, thought to come get me without telling anyone." A soft red glow now emanated from the mask's eyes.
Inferno tried to scramble away, but Guildless stomped on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. She laughed again, louder this time. "Well, you may not think I have the stomach to take a life-" She leaned in, pressing the knife to his neck. "But I'd beg to differ."
Fear glimmered in Inferno's eyes, fear becoming pure terror as he looked into the red of his attacker's.
Yet Guildless suddenly hesitated.
You're not like them. You're not a monster.
The red light from her eyes faded as she pulled the knife away. Inferno realized what had happened, laughing at her. "I knew it. You can't do it! Not after what happened to-" A sudden flash of black, and Inferno was unconscious, a foot deeper into the ground.
Guildless quickly worked another Shadow Fabrication spell, creating black ropes to bind Inferno to the nearest tree, also blindfolding him before walking on.
Not a monster... Not yet, you're not.
