Okay so chapter 4: Loyalties is up. I know i haven't been working properly so here goes next update
Thanks to those who have stuck with me. Eheheh, R&R
Disclaimer: I do not own RO, the characters in the fic are either characters of my friends or my friends themselves or figment of imagination. Any resemblance is not intentional.
"RUWACH!" casted Naix instinctively. A blue orb circled them and immediately revealed an assassin.
The assassin was wearing a Kitsune Mask. It completely hid his face. His katars were still dripping with crimson red liquid.
At first glance he seemed like an ordinary assassin. However both of them spotted a distinct characteristic. The assassin's left arm was heavily tattooed. The tatooes formed a pattern. It was the cycles of the moon ending with the full moon in the mouth of a wolf.
"I know that pattern, you're a memeber of the Wolfhounds. Your part of the Banished Ones.!" Vincent said as he recognized the pattern.
"Smart kid! Not many people know that. Then again you are a sage." the assassin said in a muffled voice as he wiped away the blood with a cloth.. "It was a good thing I came in early or I would never have seen you leaving with the book. Now hand me it over."
"What book?" Naix said innocently.
"Don't play with me." The assassin lurched forward to attack Naix. Naix immediately casted Safety Wall.
"SONIC BLOW!" the rapid blows immediately dispersed the pink barrier. The force of the blow, though buffered, was enough to knock Naix off his feet.
The assassin then turned to Vincent. "Give me the book!" "Never" Vincent replied as he took out his spare Damascus as Naix gingerly stood up. That was when both he and the assassin attacked.
The Assassin was quick, however Vincent was quick too. He dodged blow after blow. After dodging a close slice, which nearly cleaved off his head he dove forward for the kill. The assassin reacted with perfect timing and deflected the attacked with his katar.
Both stepped back to assess the situation. They looked at each other for a moment, then in an instant both had charged. The assassin took more time and managed to land a few cuts on Vincent's arm. Blood trickled out of the wounds. Vincent reacted by launching several blows most landed on the assassin's armor. Then suddenly his Hindsight activated and bolts began raining on the assassin.
Both stepped back again. The flesh wounds weren't deep and Naix easily healed it. The bolts weren't enough to stop the assassin. He quickly chugged down a White Potion.
Naix had barely buffed him, when Vincent launched himself. The assassin did the same. The assassin's fighting style seemed quite familiar to him and suddenly Vincent had an idea. It was a technique taught a long time ago to him.
"When you can't seem to disable your opponent, go for his weak spots. One of these would be under the chin. When you plunge your knife, quickly change direction to send a blow to this area."
Vincent concentrated hard; he plunged his dagger then swiped at the mask. The force of the blow knocked the assassins mask off. The assassin countered by kicking Vincent hard and sent him down to the ground.
Vincent ignored the pain in his side as looked up. His guess was right! Without the mask the assassin's face was revealed. No wonder the assassin's style was familiar. It was his master, Flamehound!
"Well, well, my student you have done a lot of growing since I last left you 8 years ago." He said as he looked at me. He had changed a lot in the 8 years since I last saw him in Morroc. Back then he didn't have the tattoo. Back then his face had fewer lines.
"You know him?" Naix said as he approached slowly.
"Yes. He was the one who trained me in my Mage days." Vincent said without taking his eyes off Flamehound. He had always been trained to watch the enemy. What better time to practice this than with the man who actually taught it to him.
"Why? Why do you need that book? Why did you join the Banished Ones?" Vincent asked.
"You both look fairly intelligent. So I'm gonna tell you. I'm pretty sure both of you sensed a disruption in energy field lately"
Both of them nodded. Lately many of the more sensitive people had sensed a disruption in the usual flow of energy around them. Naix and Vincent belonged to this select group
"We have found the cause of this disruption. We've been following up on this lead ever since King Tristan banished us."
"Rightly so! You people tried to kill the king. What in the world were you thinking doing that with only 12 people in your guild.?" Naix piped up.
"There are many things you should understand. First of all, we did not try to kill the king. We were betrayed by one of our guild members. Jigen was the wizard who tried to kill the king. We were all implicated because we were at the castle."
"That's not good enough." Vincent said
"Let me continue. After Jigen betrayed us we went into hiding and launched our own investigation. So while we were in the depths of our hideout that bastard tried to kill all of us. Only 6 of us managed to escape. We tried to find an explanation for his actions and what we discovered was disturbing. It turns out that demon is the son of the Doppleganger. As for what he's up to I can't tell you yet. Not unless you join us." Flamehound explained.
"You're gonna need proof to convince us that story is true" Naix said as he slowly took out his arc wand.
That was when a weird breeze came rushing into the hall. A portal started to open up. But this place was enchanted so as no one could warp in or out. This portal was however different, instead of the usual white light, darkness emanated from the portal.
"Look what you did! Now that demon has sensed the book! Now you're gonna get your proof!" Flamehound said as he took a fighting stance. "Cast Land Protector now!"
Naix and Vincent got ready. Both could feel something sinister about this portal. Vincent went through the preparations of his spell. Suddenly shadows slipped out of the portal. They gathered together and slowly an outline became clearer. It was forming the outline of a wizard. "LAND PROTECTOR!" Vincent shouted and the ground beneath them started to give off a protective glow.
The wizard's outline was now clear. This wizard had strangely blank eyes. "So, it seems I have a welcoming committee." He said as he looked around. "Flamehound, what a pleasant surprise. Have you come to die in front of me?" the wizard taunted and gave out a small laugh. "Anyway enough of the pleasantries, hand over the book"
"No!" All three of them said.
"You bastard, your life ends here Jigen!" Flamehound said.
"Well then I'll have to take it myself…" he said and his eyes began to glow. "and kill you!"
Naix immediately started buffing both Vincent and Flamehound. Almost instantly the wizard sent a ball of lighting through the air "JUPITEL THUNDER!" he screamed. All of them had never seen a wizard cast with that kind of inhuman speed. Then again, they felt that they weren't up against a human."
Vincent almost didn't have time to react. Luckily he was able to cast Magic Rod and the lightning vanished harmlessly.
"I hate sages. Well no matter there is more than one way to skin a cat." Jigen said as he took out his daggers.
In a flash he had started dueling with both Vincent and Flamehound. Dodging blow after blow and striking with every opportunity, he skillfully wove between both of attackers. Finally he slashed low and managed to wound Flamehound in the leg and Vincent in the arm. He retreated for a moment and wiped away blood from a slash on his cheek.
Naix quickly healed both of them. "Stop it you priest! You're wasting my time" Jigen screamed. At that moment the Land Protector disappeared. The wizard smiled and immediately started chanting. "DARK SAFETY WALL!" immediately dark barriers started forming around him. "Now to finish you off" Even in the dark barrier it was clear he was casting one of the wizards deadlier spells. Lord of Vermillion!
"Stop him!" Flamehound said as he charged. Blow after blow landed on the barrier but nothing happened. "SONIC BLOW!" quick and powerful blows followed but it only succeeded in diminishing the barrier slightly.
Vincent thought to himself. He was casting Land Protector, but he knew he would never beat the wizard.
"LORD OF VERMI…" "MAGNUS EXORCISIMUS!" blinding white light immediately filled the hall. "arrghhhh!" screeched the wizard. The barrier dispersed and all of them could see Jigen was screaming in agony. The spell was doing it's job, causing intense damage to demons, however unlike a complete demon, he wasn't burning.
Jigen hurriedly cast a warp portal and disappeared.
Naix fell to the floor. Casting the spell had been exhausting. "You were right, I recognized that wizard. I was one of the people who caught him. I guess we owe you an apology" he said as he tried to regain his breath.
Vincent came out form the library a bloody mess. Naix was exhausted and Flamehound had bled quite a little. However unlike the sages uniform, his assassin garb was quite effective at hiding the blood stains. "What does that demon need with this book?"
"He needs it to make sure we don't seal off Glastheim again. We have found out that he's trying to free Glastheim. The details are still a little hazy but that is the general idea."
"If he manages to do that chaos will spill all over the midgard!" Naix said, this revelation was definitely disturbing.
Suddenly they heard a scream from behind. "What are you doing! Get away from that traitor!"
All of them turned around, Francis was standing in the doorway, brandishing his sword.
"Francis! Don't! There is something you need to know"
It was too late, Francis had charged toward Flamehound. "SOUL STRIKE!" Vincent screamed and Francis was knocked back, hit the wall and passed out.
"That should cool him down." Vincent said as he looked at the shocked expression of Naix.
Suddenly all three of them turned around. "SIGHT!" Vincent said and a second assassin was revealed.
This assassin had the emblem of the Rune-Midgard tattooed around his left eye. Naix immediately turned ghostly white. "You're Jonix, leader of the Royal Assassin Guard Squad(RAGS)."
"Don't expect to be allowed back in Prontera or any other city for that matter. You have chosen to join the banished one." With that the assassin ran away. All three of them tried to catch the assassin. "VENOM DUST!" a strange green dust suddenly filled the room. This had the effect of immediately stopping all three of them.
"This is bad." Naix said.