Lightning flashed across the night skies as a thunderstorm showered over the streets of the Mitakihara outskirts. Compared to the shining city of Mitakihara that could be seen radiating like a beacon even from here, the outskirts were a bleak reminder of what the city used to be like before its renovation by the mega-corporations that run it. Now a warehousing district undergoing reconstruction, two figures walked along the wet, empty roads in the heavy rain, and these two were the sworn guardians of the Warlock leader, Clyde and Ares.
After Clyde had finished torturing every single bit of information they could get out of the Warlock Hunters before disposing of them, Phantom had sent the two on an errand to find the Hunters' base and retrieve a certain device. This device was a weapon capable of destroying a Warlock's entire being, and being the very weapon that was responsible for Phantom's mangled state, the Warlock leader sent his two most-trusted warriors to see if this weapon still existed.
The metal suit of armor that was Ares' very body clanged loudly with each step to the annoyance of his companion who groaned as they tried to find the Warlock Hunters' hideout in this horrid weather. Like finding a needle in a hay stack, looking for a warehouse in a district full of them with only its number to go by was getting on Clyde's nerves very quickly.
"Where the fuck is that goddamn place? I ain't staying here till morning for a goddamn errand," he snarled, his fedora and tux all soaked and sticking to his body, "If anything, I bet all we're gonna find are piles of worthless garbage."
"Complain all you like, Clyde, but we have a task to do," Ares said, his sage-like voice reverberating through his helmet's glowing visor. But upon continuing to hear nothing but strings of complaints from his companion, Ares simply ignored him and continued looking out for their prize, and after what seemed like a wild goose chase, they finally received a stroke of luck, "Over there."
Clyde turned his head to where Ares pointed at and saw a specific warehouse down the road with a van parked outside of it, "Well, well, what do we have here?" he curiously said to himself and upon getting a closer look, they saw the number of the warehouse they were looking for. Clyde breathed a sigh of relief and tipped his fedora, "Lady Luck continues to smile on us, after all."
They passed by the opened gate and in front of the warehouse doors, the Warlocks saw two workers complaining to each other loudly over the rain about why the bay doors wouldn't open. Needless to say, the two men were speechless to see a tux-bearing figure and a suit of armor suddenly standing before them. The glowing eyes and mouth slits of Clyde's mask flashed blood-red as the hulking suit of armor behind him merely folded his arms and stared down upon the two men who were at lost for words.
"Evening, fellas," Clyde cheerfully greeted them before manifesting a rifle into his hands and gunning the two workers down in seconds.
"Unnecessary," Ares pointed out.
"Shut it. We stay out here any longer and the sun's gonna come up," Clyde knelt over the two bodies and stabbed his fingers into their necks, proceeding to drain what little life they had left before quickly turning them into decayed, empty husks that turned into dust washed away by the rain. While his companion shook his head at his recklessness, the armored Warlock stepped up to the large bay doors of the warehouse and with his bare hands, blew open a hole in the steel with a simple punch before tearing open a door for them.
Almost immediately upon entry, Clyde let out a groan of disgust at the stench of rotten military rations mixed together with the smell of oil and gunpowder to form a dreaded symphony that assaulted his senses. Ares could not perceive this due to his inability to sense smell or touch, so he simply looked around for a nearby power switch and turned on a pair of dim lights that barely illuminated the warehouse.
Wires were everywhere, some leading to a bunch of tables with boxes of equipment and others connected to laptops and computers that were covered in blankets of dust, "Jackpot," an eager smile formed on Clyde's mask and the Warlock switched on the computers while Ares went over to a bunch of crates filled with equipment and documents, "Looks like the computers are still working. You think we can find anything good?"
"Unlikely," Ares disagreed, flipping through the pages of file in his hand, "The Warlock Hunters wouldn't be able to have anything important after being disbanded for years. Just look for clues on the weapon Phantom asked us for so we can leave."
"Fine," he replied like an annoyed child before skimming through numerous documents in the computers, and just as Ares theorized, the computers barely had anything noteworthy besides files that the Warlock Hunters obviously wrote from what they could remember. There were no files that had anything on what they wanted, so the annoyed Clyde manifested his rifle again and gunfire erupted in the warehouse as spent shells showered on the floor, every bit of equipment suddenly torn to scrap by bullets until the Warlock was satisfied with how much holes he could put into each piece of electronics.
Ares continued to read the files in the crates, skimming through worn-out pages of information long outdated until he stumbled upon a list of names. Warlock Hunter teams, he could see, hundreds of government soldiers and hired mercenaries listed down with information that pointed out their current state. An immense majority of the names were listed as deceased, and the few that remained, Ares recognized them as people that Clyde had hunted down after hearing of the Hunters' disbanding. All in all, Ares didn't expect a single Warlock Hunter to reappear anytime soon.
"Did you find it?" Ares asked, tossing away the file.
"Nope," Clyde replied as he finished rummaging through crates of equipment and weapons and kicked them away, "Wherever it is, I don't think Phantom has to worry about anything that the Hunters made ending up in the hands of the Puerum Magi. They're just a bunch of stupid kids anyway," he said with a nonchalant shrug that Ares didn't appreciate.
"Fine. But we can't let any of this remain, lest they be used against us again."
"Easily done," Clyde assured him as he went up to a bunch of jerrycans in the corner and ripped open their covers before emptying their contents all over the crates and boxes while Ares exited the building. Humming like a child watering his garden, gasoline drenched every crevice of the warehouse, and once he was done, Clyde approached the exit, took out his rifle and shot out the lights. Sparks showered down and very quickly did flames erupt all over the Warlock Hunters' equipment as Clyde stepped out into the rain and wrung his wrists, "Now, that was fun."
"Let us leave before this attracts any unwanted attention."
"I hear you, big guy."
Stuffing his hands in his pockets as they left, the two Warlocks calmly walked away as the fire quickly spread across the warehouse, the few remains of the Warlock Hunters' existence now burning away into ashes as now, the conflict was between the Puerum Magi and the Warlocks. A bunch of teenagers with powers, up against numerous beings that transcended Humanity long ago. As Clyde looked forward to the day he could fight that Puerum Magi that nearly killed him a few days ago, he reminded himself to check whether or not Lucio Simplicio had failed and to bring back their remains if they did.
Clyde chuckled to himself, as the following weeks were going to be exciting.
It was early in the morning as Oriko had gotten up to prepare breakfast for herself and Kirika to the harmonica-like tune of accordion music coming from the radio. Having their meal in Oriko's expansive garden, butterflies flew from flower to flower as the garden sported a large array of types, ranging from the Ginsekai, to the Dolores, and the Strawberry Cup. These flowers grew under the morning light of the sun shining through the glass walls and ceilings, reflecting off the ornate dining set as the pleasant aroma of tea filled the air.
Sitting next to Oriko's plate of biscuits was a laptop lent by Kirika and inside the USB port was the pendrive that the Warlock leader had given to them merely yesterday. In it, Oriko browsed through detailed files that listed out every single surviving Warlock, numbering at least around 10+ having survived out of the 350 that were created and hunted down.
The first file she clicked on was about the very first Warlock, Phantom, who could once possess the living and still retains the ability to cheat death by simply attaining a new body made out of the remains of dead Warlocks. Clyde, the second to be listed down, was his top assassin with the power of absorption, allowing him to drain the life out of living beings to heal wounds and absorb objects to fire as projectiles. The third she read before closing the docuemnts was about Ares, the guardian of the opera, a living suit of armor with the remains of a Warlock bound to it to stay alive. These were the 3 heads of the Warlocks and have been surviving all these years in Mitakihara while guiding what was left of what used to be an army.
"How's it looking, Oriko?" Kirika spoke up, refilling her cup of tea and sticking three cups of jam into it.
"He was not lying when he spoke of detailed files," Oriko said, closing the laptop and sipping her morning tea, "The information has insight on every weakness the Warlocks have, from their fatal flaw to sunlight, to detailed sheets on the unique energies that the Warlocks and Puerum Magi emit. Intriguing," she curled her fingers together and crossed her legs as a smile crept onto her face, "It seems as if Phantom really does trust us."
"That's great isn't it?" Kirika had a sharp-toothed smirk as she stuffed her face with a sandwich, "We're just gonna use them while it's convenient, right?"
"Lower your tone, Kirika," Oriko spoke in a hush voice and narrowed her eyes, "I wouldn't think of that just yet. Phantom admitted he is still withholding information from us, information that we can only gain if we have his complete trust. If we're going to use them, then we're going to have to play this game for quite a while. We don't know just what he has in his hand just yet," then, as a butterfly landed on the tip of her finger, Oriko seemingly switched her tune to a cheerful glee, "Now, is the breakfast to your taste? I was wondering if a change of recipe was in order."
"Huh? Oh, yeah. It's pretty good," Kirika was wondering what was the sudden flip for when she suddenly heard a pair of footsteps echoing through the garden. Kirika stood up from her seat to meet the sudden intruder when Oriko simply told her to sit down.
The footsteps were loud and heavy, accompanied by electronic whirring with each step and the echo of labored, slow breathing. Following it was a mic-amplified voice with a raspy, dry tone, "Don't mind me. Just bringing a message from Lord Phantom."
Appearing in the shadows of the garden out of nowhere was Warlock 192, Krieg the Hunter, the files had designated him as. Unlike his companions, Krieg was a repulsive hybrid of flesh and cybernetics, bearing an artificial arm and a pair of legs crudely attached to flesh and bone through surgery while covered in damaged fatigues and a torn cloak draped over his body. His face was sealed behind a full gas mask that constantly let out steam with every labored breath he made with his artificial organs, a sight that made even Kirika grimace with disgust at this insult to nature.
"Speak your message, Warlock," an unfazed Oriko sipped her tea as the butterfly on her fingers flew off.
"Lucio Simplicio's failed," Krieg bluntly stated, coughing into his fist, "They were close, but the Puerum Magi killed them."
"You Warlocks are doing a pretty shitty job, you know that?"
"Kirika, manners," Oriko kindly insisted, tenting her hands and placing her elbows on the table in thought, "Well now, I assume the Puerum Magi are more resilient than either of us had expected. One failure isn't too much of a problem. Setbacks should always be foreseen, after all, with or without the ability of foresight," chuckling to herself, she looked at the Warlock with inquisitive eyes and smiled, "I suppose you are the next one that Phantom has assigned to take care of of the Puerum Magi leader?"
Krieg nodded with folded arms, "An important Warlock is coming soon. Phantom wants me to get the job done before he gets here. Just tell me where to go and I'll deal with him quickly," turning his back to the two with his cloak fluttering in the air, Krieg then slowly stepped back into the shadows with one last sentence, "Don't worry. I don't waste time with pointless chatter. The moment I find that kid, I'm coming back with his skull as a trophy."
Oriko had to stifle her laughter, amused by the arrogance that every Warlock up until now always seemed to bear. Bringing her tea to her lips, Oriko slyly replied, "We shall see about that. We shall see about that, indeed."
"Alright, time to eat!"
The sound of ceramics crashing onto the floor abruptly ended Mamoru's nap as he was jolted from his sleep to see Takuya having dropped his teacup on the floor, pieces of it scattered everywhere with hot tea staining the tiles, "Again?" Mamoru said while suppressing a yawn and getting up from his chair to fetch a rag from the shelves. At the moment, only he and Takuya were in the Freelancer club room as Tateyama and Hideki were practicing for the upcoming tournament, and Tomura was hanging out with Yuri in the library. With lunchtime having just started, things were as usual at school.
After finding a rag in one of the drawers, Mamoru turned around to see Takuya kneeling over the remains of his tea, and with a flick of his fingers, Takuya's Restoration magic channeled into the ceramic remains and started piecing the cup back together in his hands, "Ta-da!" Takuya beamed with a fixed cup in his hands, "Good as new!"
Mamoru simply sighed and continued cleaning up the spilled tea that was still all over the floor, "While I can see that you're making good use of you powers, I think you should be wary about where you're using it and not showing it off so freely."
"Roger!" Takuya chirped as he sat back down and refilled his teacup before chowing down on his lunchbox.
Once he was done cleaning, Mamoru nonchalantly placed the rag somewhere convenient and lied back in his chair to stretch as his back faced the room's curtain-covered windows. With no appetite at all to eat, Mamoru simply picked up the nearest piece of wood on the table and took out his chisel to start carving out something and kill the boredom.
"Oh yeah, I got somethin'-!"
"Swallow your food first."
Takuya washed it all down with a cup of tea and continued, "I got somethin' to tell you," he said while taking out his phone to show a GPS map of the city, "Last night, I kinda stayed up all morning looking up about stuff like missing people, areas with high crime-rates and other stuff like that," he then pointed to several highlighted areas of the map, "See this? I've been thinking of going to these places to see if I can find any Warlocks, find out any of their hiding places, and maybe even help some people in need if I come across anyone."
"Impressive," Mamoru muttered, still carving out the wood in his hands, "This is quite detailed - Wait, you're planning on going through this alone? Takuya, that's dangerous. I just told you to be careful about where you're using your powers, didn't I? And stop staying up so late, especially when you've got injuries to heal," he pointed to the medical wrappings that covered the injuries from last night's battle underneath Takuya's uniform to reinforce his words.
"Come on, I couldn't sleep! It's not like it's affecting me or anything," he went to take a bite of his food, only for Mamoru to grasp his hand and silently point out to the pen he was about to shove into his mouth, "Oh, when did that get there?" he laughed while scratching the back of his head and placing down the pen before pausing his words all of a sudden, "Really though, I just think that we should be doing a lot more than just fighting Warlocks. Helping innocent people is the least of what we can do with our powers. I mean, we were told to protect the city, right? Even if it means saving just one life?"
Mamoru opened his mouth to speak, only to find himself unable to answer as he lied back in his seat while thinking about his words. Gazing at his fingertips which flickered with the Recicio energy that ran though their bodies, he thought of last night when they talked about their battle against Zed and all the innocents that got caught in-between. Unlike Takuya, Mamoru honestly did not ponder much on thought of civilians, as it would only distract him from the Warlocks that were trying to kill them, "Are you that intent on saving people, no matter what?"
"Yup!" Takuya beamed with a smile so wide that Mamoru had to himself back from doing the same. His optimism was almost infectious, as was his idealism, which Mamoru envied him for being able to hold onto during times such as these.
Folding his arms, Mamoru seemingly pouted as he looked away and just continued carving, "Do you as you wish. Just... be careful."
"Roger!"
Going back to his meal, an air of silence subsequently filled the air as after a few minutes or so, Mamoru looked at the piece of wood in his hand which was now in the shape of a small crane. A proud smile grew on his face and the boy stood up to place it on the shelves with his other works when the door suddenly opened for Hideki, Tateyama and Sanbey on the former's shoulder to come barging in with lunchboxes in hand. Having just finished their tournament practice, the two reeked and were sweaty all over as the they closed the door behind them and sat down, Sanbey hopping onto the table to stretch his legs.
"I assume you two had fun?" Mamoru commented, fetching two towels from the shelves and tossing it to them.
Hideki shrugged and caught the towel to wipe his face dry, "Eh, practice's just child's play compared to what Sanbey put us through. You don't have wild creatures trying to tear your guts out, after all."
"Disemboweling or no, do know you can't actually die in The Center," Sanbey quickly pointed out, "I didn't tell you that so you would actually take your training seriously, but I didn't expect you to actually believe it."
"Hey, it looked pretty real to me!"
Ignoring the two arguing beside him, Tateyama quietly started eating to satiate his endless appetite when his sharp eyes quickly notice the bandages Takuya had underneath his uniform. He would've assumed Takuya tripped or something again, but when he noticed similar ones under Mamoru's uniform as well, he put down his chopsticks to ask, "Were you two attacked?"
His sudden question made the two pause and wonder what he was talking about before he pointed directly at their injuries under their clothing, "Oh, these?" Mamoru felt out the medical wrappings with one hand and the lack of any pain told him that his injuries had already healed at this point. Nodding, he calmly explained, "Takuya and I were attacked by a Warlock last night. It was close, but we pulled through in the end. If I remember correctly, it even told me its name: Lucio Simplicio."
The name rang a bell to Sanbey, who's ears noticeably perked up, "Lucio Simplicio? If anything, I'm impressed you two actually managed to take them down. Good work, you two."
"I'm worried," Tateyama muttered, resting his chin in his hand, "The Warlock attacks are becoming common. Too common. At this rate, they could attack us even in school. Zed attacked us even in daytime, so I don't think they'll hesitate when they see a chance."
"But at the same time, I don't think they are so reckless as to attack us without drawing so much attention," Mamoru disagreed as he tented his hands in thought, "Zed's attack was indeed not very convert nor expected, but I'd say it was to intimidate us into fearing for our lives wherever we went. There should be a pattern to their attacks. After all, they're attacking one by one, when they could possibly attack as a group instead and gain an easy advantage while having the element of surprise."
As the conversation suddenly became very tense, so did the atmosphere of the room. Hideki quickly chimed in to remedy this, "Either way, that means we better keep our guard up when we're alone or in the middle of the public. Especially you," he said while glancing over to Mamoru and sipping a sports drink, "You're gonna be headin' to Kazamino everyday after school, right? The Warlock's probably gonna see that as a prime chance, so don't get too comfortable. And do tell us if anything happens over there. Kazamino isn't all sun and rainbows like Mitakihara, either."
Mamoru silently agreed with his point. If he was going to visit his father everyday in the neighboring city, then he had to be wary of danger even more so than now. Then, there was the problem of Oriko and Kirika, two dangerous Puella Magi he had to find leads on. Homura's files had listed out another Magi named 'Kyouko Sakura' as a good start, but Mamoru pondered if he should warn his friends of these two Magi, as it could end up giving away his investigation of these two dangerous individuals.
Hearing a ceramic tea cup crash onto the floor again brought back Mamoru form his thoughts, and before he could say anything, Takuya pointed out with a smile, "That was on purpose. You had this really serious look on your face that worried me, so I'd thought that would snap you outta it."
"Didn't have to waste all that tea, though," Hideki snarked as Tateyama nodded in agreement.
Rubbing his temples, Mamoru let out a tired sigh and picked up his chisel along with another piece of wood to calm his mind, "My bad. I was just... tired, after what happened last night, that's all," having spent most of the morning thinking about Oriko and what she could be up to, the space underneath Mamoru's eyes began to darken as the boy found himself unable relax at times. Whether it was about Oriko or the Warlocks, Mamoru could not help but worry about what was going or what could happen.
After classes were over, Hideki and Tateyama went off with Tomoe and the girls to help patrol the city for Witches and also keep an eye on Kyubey to make sure it doesn't try anything such as recruiting Madoka and Sayaka out of the blue. Meanwhile, Takuya, Sanbey and Tomura had accompanied Mamoru back to his home to help him pack up his stuff for his stay in Kazamino.
"Bloody Hell, there must be something I've missed..."
In the large living room of the Tezuka household, Mamoru anxiously paced the room whilst biting his thumb and reading off a list of things he had packed up. His footsteps echoed off the marble tile floors, the boy walking pass arrays of priceless furniture while all Sanbey and the two Fujimaki brothers could actually do was sit on the couch and snack on some food that Mamoru's servants had prepared for them in advance. This had been going on for half an hour already and Mamoru continued to persistently read out his list.
"Clothes, towels, wood-carving tools, books..."
"I think you packed up everything you need, Tezuka," Tomura tried pointing out, staring at a large luggage bag as big as its owner, an ominous steel crate that only Mamoru knew what was inside, and a box full of power tools. The latter two were secured with a padlock and the two brothers had to wonder just what he was even bringing.
Meanwhile under the table, Sanbey simply kept quiet in the presence of Takuya's normal little brother and fetched whatever snacks he could get as to Tomura's view, the biscuits on the table simply vanished from the tray one by one.
Dropping onto the nearest chair to calm his mind, Mamoru crossed his legs and placed down his list for once as he drummed his fingers on the armrest, "I'd rather not leave anything behind so I wouldn't bring inconvenience to anyone. My escort shall be arriving in a few minutes and I need to make sure that everything is ready," snapping his fingers, a servant came out from the dining room carrying a tray with a glass of purple substance. The boy graciously took the drink and double-checked his list whilst taking slow sips.
"That's not wine, is it?"
"Grape juice," Takuya answered his little brother with a laugh as Mamoru placed down his list once last time and continued sipping his drink in thought, "Don't worry, Mamo', if you left anything behind, I'll just bring it over. You're coming back everyday for school, right? No worries then!"
Mamoru sighed, quickly finishing what was left of this drink before handing the empty glass to another servant, "I suppose so."
Then, there was a few knocks coming from the front door as one of his servants opened it up to reveal a young woman at the doorway dressed in a formal suit with both hands firmly at her sides. Short, trimmed hair and an apparent scar that ran down the right side of her face, Mamrou stood up to greet his escort who looked no older than 18 or 19 years-old even. But, despite her apparent youth, she had an air of formality and duty as she walked into the house and firmly shook hands with Mamoru while Sanbey and the two brothers watched on.
"I assume you are the one that Father sent for me?"
"Correct, Young Master," her tone was stiff, almost robotic, as she had an antiquated accent to boot. Hands back at her sides, she calmly bowed down and introduced herself, "I am Mikage. I have been serving Master Tezuka for several years, but now he has assigned me to watch over your well-being and health. I assure you that you will find my service exceptional," Mikage then took up Mamoru's luggage into her hands, absolutely unfazed by their weight, "Shall we get going?"
Noticing discipline that seemed almost military-like, Mamoru simply nodded, "Of course. Bring the luggage in and go ahead first."
"As you wish," she replied with another small bow.
As his escort effectively carried the luggage outside with some help from a few servants, Takuya and Mamoru shared a curious glance, "At least your dad sent someone to watch over you," Takuya smiled, "She looks like some kinda super bodyguard or something."
"Still, stay safe in Kazamino," Tomura added, "I hear a lot of bad stuff has been going on over there."
Grateful for their words, Mamoru smiled and bowed almost dramatically before he left, "Well then, I guess I should be going. Although Father always had an odd sense when it came to hiring certain people, I'm sure Mikage's at least efficient in her job," then, as he stepped out of the house, he looked at Sanbey over his shoulder and telepathically said to him, "Sanbey, I'd like you to visit me in Kazamino. Privately. I left the address of where I'm staying back in my room. I may have a lead on Oriko by tomorrow."
Being a secured link between the two of them, Takuya was unaware of the two communicating with each other as he got up from his chair and suddenly gave Mamoru a big hug before he left, causing the boy's face to turn crimson, "Alright! Have fun in Kazamino, and say 'Hi' to your dad for me!"
"S-Sure," Mamoru stammered, his face returning back to its original color as Takuya let him go, "I will, Takuya. Do take care of yourself," stepping out of the door with a small smile on his face, the orange light of the sunset washed over him as he approached the taxi outside his house, and with one quick glance at the sunset, the Puerum Magi frowned, for it was almost the time of the day when Mitakihara's most horrid secrets to start rising from the shelter of the shadows and strike. Getting into the taxi quickly, Mamoru waved his friends goodbye before the taxi drove off for the train station.
As cold winds blew in the city of Mitakihara, the silver moon hid behind dark clouds floating above the radiant city as Krieg, Warlock 192, stood on a rooftop with heaps of trash littered at his feet as he prepared for his mission. The oracle said that Tezuka Mamoru would be taking a train ride to the neighboring city tonight and will be well out of the range of the other Puerum Magi to gain their assistance this time. A prime chance to strike and clear night for a a hunt, Krieg thought, as his cloak fluttered in the cold winds.
Going through a wooden crate he had carried with him, Krieg had brought over explosives, kevlar, signal jammers, a few guns, and a custom butterfly knife. It was his standard mission gear, but Phantom had gifted him with one more tool: an injection gun and vials that contained the blood of Zed the Warlock. They had extracted some of the Warlock's blood before he had been sent to his death against the Puerum Magi, as they found the unique zombification effect the blood had on humans to be too valuable for them to lose.
Krieg's prosthetic limbs whirred as he reached underneath his worn-out kevlar and adjusted a small panel on his chest that was in charge of operating his limbs. With a few clicks and twists, Krieg hissed underneath his gas mask as he felt the prosthetic limbs crudely attached to his nervous system surge with electricity, all his servos switching to a combat mode that allowed his limbs to move at a faster pace. Once the pain was settled, Krieg stuffed all of his needed gear into a bag and slung it over his shoulder as he switched on his mask's built-in communicator.
"Krieg here, waiting at designated position," he coughed out the words under his mask, peering over the rooftop to see the monorail track under him.
"The Puerum Magi's train should arrive soon," Clyde replied over the comms, "Remember, Krieg, have some fun, but don't cause too much of a commotion or else Phantom's gonna tan our hides. Make it look like some accident when you're all done or something."
"Will do," bringing up a a pair of binoculars from under his cloak, Krieg looked into the distance and saw an approaching train, "I've spotted the target."
"Sweet. So, are you gonna add this kid to your trophy collection?"
"We'll see about that," taking off the cloak draped over his body, Krieg proceeded to strap on a brand new pair of kevlar, holster a pistol at his thigh, a rifle on his back, and on his belt, Krieg clipped on a collection of several skulls and fingers bones collected over the years. He took out injection gun he was given and inserted the vials into the chamber before spinning the gun in his hand by the trigger guard, "Let the hunt begin."
Sitting in the train with his numerous luggage at his feet, most of the train was thankfully quiet empty late at night as Mamoru had requested that they take the train at a less hectic time to avoid the crowds. With only himself and Mikage in the compartment they were in, his stoic escort sat on the other side of the train, still and wary like a statue. Meanwhile, Mamoru had his headphones on and was listening to a voice message from his father he had received a few minutes ago.
"Mikage may not look like much, but you can trust her to watch over you. She's been serving the family for years with little to no problems and has seen a lot in the line of duty. While we can barely find anything regarding her background even until now, loyalty isn't going to be a problem when it comes to her. Have a safe trip, and I hope to see you soon."
Repeating that message for the third time already, Mamoru pocketed his phone and stared inquisitively at Mikage who was looking out the windows and gazing at the numerous bright buildings they were passing by. Curling up in his seat to ward off the cold, Mamoru wondered if he could really trust this girl with his life. The train ride up until now had been nothing but complete silence between them, as Mikage was obviously the type to never start a conversation, only go with one. Mamoru had the urge to use his Control magic to get some info out of her, but he figured to go for a less intrusive approach.
"Mikage, may I ask you a question?"
She looked away from the windows and replied to him in the same stoic tone, "What is it, Young Master?"
He scanned her face, but couldn't find any trace of emotion behind it. Instead, he only stared at a pair of seemingly empty eyes that had nothing behind them but a will to carry out her duty, the very same ones Homura had, "I'd like to know a bit about you. What you were before you were hired by Father, to be precise."
"I take it that I'm untrustworthy?"
"It's not that simple," Mamoru firmly told her with a shake of his head, "It's just that if Father has practically placed you as my retainer, then I'd like to make sure that I can trust you without any sort of doubt," gazing at the scar Mikage prominently bore on her face, he further explained, "So, do tell me just what you've been through before my father employed you and why you chose to serve. That is all I ask of you, and I will not disclose any of this to Father or anyone else. I simply want to know."
The straight-laced bodyguard silently stared back at him, as if registering the question in her mind. After a few minutes, Mikage closed her eyes and answered, "Very well," standing up from her seat, Mikage went over to Mamoru's side of the train and sat down with his luggage in-between them. With her hands on her lap, she sat up straight and calmly explained, "I have been working for most of my life, jobs small and big all around the country. At a young age, I had taken up guard and mercenary employment before Tezuka Corporation hired me full-time."
Mamoru nodded with a finger at his chin, "And your parents?"
"I had none," she answered nonchalantly, "I lived in the streets until I started mercenary work. It was a simple way to live, and a lot of cities had the same kind of clients. Jobs were easy to find. All you had to worry about was surviving each of them," her eyes narrowed and almost unconsciously, Mikage felt out the scar on her face with one hand, "But a year before Tezuka Corp. hired me as a guard, I had taken some very... peculiar jobs overseas. Experienced strange encounters. Seen things that most wouldn't believe even with their own eyes."
This piqued the boy's curiosity greatly as he leaned forward in his seat and suddenly saw a single hint of emotion on his bodyguard's face: fear. It was subtle, but highly apparent for an emotionless one such as Mikage.
"There was a government operation in Egypt. Many mercenaries such as I were hired for the job and we had to clean up a few experiments gone wrong. But in the end..." her hand clenched into a fist and Mikage stared down on the floor with no other hint of emotion, "Most came out in body bags."
To an average person's ears, this would have sounded like a case of an operation that went terribly south, but to the leader of the Protector Servorum, he felt like there was a lot more to this story than she was telling him. Sanbey did explain to them that the Warlocks were artificially-created beings and had been in hiding up until now. But, before he could ask any more questions, Mamoru's eyes suddenly went wide as he stood up from his seat and drew in a sharp breath, much to the alarm of his escort.
"Young Master? Is something wrong?"
This sensation. This feeling of darkness suddenly enveloping you. A horrid feeling as if death itself was coming to personally greet you. Mamoru knew this feeling well and just what it meant.
Horrid screaming and gunfire suddenly erupted from the back of the train as Mikage quickly got up from her seat, pulling out a pistol from her suit's pockets and gesturing Mamoru to stay behind her. The bodyguard assumed that it was a bunch of guys with guns trying to take over the train and hostages for ransom, but Mamoru's senses told him one thing clearly: there was a Warlock on this train.
Stepping towards the door that connected this compartment to the next, Mikage cautiously peeked through the translucent windows and saw that the next compartment was empty, "This is Mikage, asking for-" she grimaced when she heard nothing but screeching static from her headsets the moment she tried to call for the guards waiting at the next train stop. Switching it off, Mikage kept an eye on the next compartment as she switched off her pistol's safety, "What's going on?"
Then, the gunfire abruptly ended with the panicked screaming. But it was only the calm before the storm as Mamoru took out his Warlock detector and on the screen, saw not one, but multiple signals appearing on the device's radar, and the number was even growing. Whatever lied in the compartments after the next, Mamoru sensed nothing but dread as he materialized his Soul Key behind his back. None of the Protector Servorum was here to help him this time. It was only him and Mikage. Without the presence of any of his friends, Mamoru could feel his hand start to shake like it did when he fought that Warlock head-on last night.
"Young Master, I suggest we move to the head of the train and-" Mikage suddenly heard a thundering noise from the next compartment, and when she peeked through the glass once more, a momentary look of shock appeared on her face.
Slowly pouring into the very next train compartment were the grotesque, shambling remains of the train's passengers. Every single one of them let out spine-chilling howls and moans of pain as all of them slowly dragged themselves to the compartment they were in, as if attracted to the residual Recicio energy that Mamoru emitted from his body.
Mikage stepped away from the door, and with a tone that sounded almost too calm, she quietly told Mamoru, "Young Master, please get to the head of the train."
"M-Mikage?"
The doors to the compartment suddenly burst open as the shambling corpses broke through the steel like paper with their bare hands. Upon gaining sight of the two, they released animal-like screeches as ear-piercing gunfire erupted to silence them. The ride was still an hour away from its destination and yet, all Hell had already broken loose on the train to Kazamino.
Warlock Stats Sheet.
Name and Code: Krieg, 192.
Destructive Power: B
Speed: B
Range: A
Durability: D
Precision: A
Development Potential: D
Abilities:
A Warlock barely kept alive with cybernetic limbs and body parts crafted by the Warlock's top researcher and scientist, Krieg mostly depends on enhanced sensory gear, scanners built into his mask, and mundane human weaponry backed up by years of weapon and survival training to take down his targets as the lost of most of his bodily functions had drained him of his ability to use his powers.
Weapons: Unknown number of weaponry stolen over the years and vials of Zed the Warlock's blood that can be injected into dead corpses to reanimate them as undead servants.