Good news everyone I worked overtime to complete this.
To adress the anonymous reviews.
Mike: Yes, Requip is a caster type magic. I specifically called The Knight a Hybrid magic by making a distinction between the armors and the requip part. The Requip part of this magic is undoubtly a caster type but Erza fights by channeling her magic through the armors like in a holder type. That's why I called it a hybrid. Secondly no you misread that(also a mistake on my part) I wrote subduction what I meant was subjugation and what you read was seduction. A major difference between those. And the initial mistake has been fixed. It now reads correctly subjugation.
Jake: It's not like it really matters, especially since it's a year difference at most. It's completely negligible. Also your opinion that the Slayer type magics are the "cool" ones is your opinions. I myself find them dreadfully boring.
That aside. Here you go. Chapter 14. Enjoy.
The three occupants of the room, Erza 'Titania' Scarlet, the Fairy Tail mage, Naruto Uzumaki, the notorious dark mage 'Crimson Reaper' currently disguised as an idependent mage calling himself 'Thousand Master' and lastly the mayor of Hagure, Mugo, heard hurried footsteps rushing up the stairs.
"Mayor Mugo!" the previously upbeat voice of the receptionist Eriko was much more desperate as she hurried up to the trio "Mayor Mugo!" she called out again sounding very desperate
"What is it, Eriko-chan?" Mugo inquired with concern and saw her grim face "Something happened again..." he noted with a sense of dark foreboding
The young receptionist girl nodded "Those things they are back again." she explained with disdain at the mentioning of the Imps "They've set fire again. This time they set fire to old man Roku's bar."
Mugo was biting his thumb "This isn't good. This is not good at all." he muttered, all the liquor the old man stored in his bar would provide great fuel for the fire
"Tell us where we need to go. After all we have been hired to take care of these problems." Erza stated with determination and Mugo realized that the two mages were still here
"Right, of course." It had completely slipped Mugo's mind that both the one that called himself Thousand Master and Erza Scarlet were still next to him. The combination of facing a potentially very dangerous and destructive fire with his complete lack of sleep did make certain things slip his mind "Eriko-chan please lead these two mages to Roku-jiji's bar. I'll fetch Himaru-kun and rally some people to help with dousing the fire."
Eriko nodded and looked at Naruto and Erza "Please follow me. We need to be as fast as we can." the blonde and scarlet haired mage followed the young receptionist whose speed was faster than either of them had thought likely of her.
"These damned things." Mugo growled out and rushed down the stairs after the trio had sped away. At the bottom of the stairs the lethargic Himaru was already waiting for him "Good you've already moved your ass." the mayor joked despite the situation
"Tch, I'm lazy but I don't want anyone to get hurt." Himaru commented annoyedly at his employee's joke " Let's just go Shicho."
The black haired mayor and the receptionist Himaru rushed off to rally more people to help with dousing the fire.
Erza and Naruto followed Eriko who was hurriedly running past dozens of buildings before taking a sharp right and stopping "There!" she pointed to the bar which was set ablaze, flames were freely pouring out of the windows and the heat coming off the building was completely palpable.
A few of the more brave people that were still out at this time were watching the fiery spectacle with bated breaths with concern on their face. On top of the building were many small black figures, normally hard to make out in the dark colors of the evening they contrasted very well against the bright orange yellow flames of the fire.
"Ghahahahaha!" the Imps laughed out in amusement at the dangerous spectacle they had caused. Imps were capable of human speech but generally they conversed with eachother in a horrible, high pitched gurgling sound. When they spoke however it was a high pitched, nasal voice that was uncomfortable to listen to.
"Hahaha. Stupid humans." the Imps danced at the mayhem they had caused "Can't do anything but watch. Everything burns down. Everything burns brightly."
Erza frowned in anger at the taunting imps and in a flash had changed her armor. The armor she was wearing right now was predominantly dark red in color with parts of it being orange and black. The orange parts were shaped like flames and the other parts being reminiscent of dragon limbs. The upper body armor was somewhat like a one piece bathing suit since it lacked pauldrons, which exposed Erza's shoulders and it went down to her groind but left a part of her legs exposed. The gauntlets sported orange decorations with claw like protrusions on the greaves were shaped like dragon claws and possessed orange knee guards with black parts extending up to the upper part of her thighs. Furthermore two dragon like wings were attached to the breastplate and her hair was tied into two pigtails by clips that resembled the horns of a dragon. In her hand was a large dark red sword with the exception of a black part in the middle of the blade and the orange decorations on the hand guard.
"Flame Empress Armor." the scarlet haired woman declared and jumped towards the imps. She used the burning sign of the bar as a stepping stone and landed in front of the group of imps. Her first scan of the group was that there were overall about twenty of the imps on the roof of this building. With a slash faster than the imps could react she slashed the one closest to her into two pieces. Bright green ichor, which she supposed to be the imps blood, pooled on the roof of the burning building.
"Gah!" the remaning Imps shrieked in panic as one of their own was dispatched "Stupid girly!" one of them tried to growl with its high pitched voice but more than failed "Fireball!" the spell of the Imp did not malfunction and an orange ball of fire shot towards Erza who tanked the spell without any visible damage thanks to the effect of her Flame Empress Armor. Her eyes glowed in the dark with her scarlet magic power as she mercilessly cut two more of the imps in half.
'Okay that is pretty hot.' Naruto thought with lust rising within him. The already very sexy and beautiful scarlet haired woman was clothing herself in even more red and skimpy clothing all the while mercilessly cutting those pesky imps in half. Naruto burned that image into his mind.
"Ahhhhh! She's a demon." one of the imps cried out in pure irony and hopped away onto the roof of the next building "Run away!" the remaining imps declared cowardly and followed the first one of their group to retreat
She took a look at the retreating imps and decided to follow them. She could not allow them to cause any more problems. Erza walked to the edge of the burning buildings roof "Can you take care of this fire on your own? I'll go after the Imps and take care of them." While her Sea Empress Armor allowed Erza to use water magic in her attacks it was not the best suited for the kind of finesse required to douse a fire.
"Sure, go after them. I'll deal with this here." her temporary partner called out with confidence 'At least he is dependable.' with another burst of magic she changed her Flame Empress armor for her flight armor. The flight armor was very skimpy and the armored parts were decorated with the pattern of a cheetah's fur. With the enhanced speed that the armor granted she would be able to catch up to the imps despite the headstart they had.
Erza disappeared in a burst of speed and followed the small, black, imps across the rooftops of the town.
Naruto summoned his magic power with the intent of dousing the fire with a few well placed spells but stopped when he heard a faint cry for help.
"Help." there was heavy coughing "Help me!" another heavy coughing fit followed the second cry "I'm in here."
"Y-you've got to help old man Roku." one person stuttered in fear as he grasped Naruto's cloak
"Please help him." another one pleaded and Naruto gave an inward sigh
'Just great.' he thought dryly 'I've got to play good samaritan.'
He pried off the hand that was touching him "Calm down will you." he grumbled over the crackling fire "I'll get your old man out of there no problem." He once again concentrated on the feeling of his magic and called it forth "Water Barrier." his whole body was enveloped in an orb of water much to the amazement of the people around him.
The water would protect him from the heat of the flames and would serve well to take care of any fire that might be blocking his way. Now with the orb of water encasing his body he walked towards the entrance of the bar. Fierce flames were burning behind the door making it difficult for Naruto to open the door "Knock, knock." he joked as parts of the water barrier twisted as a sign of being manipulated "Water Burst." a large beam of water burst forth from the bubble and knocked against the door, bursting the wooden entrance to smithereens and dousing some of the fire behind it.
"I am..." this was followed by a series of coughs "Here!" the man cried out from behind the counter of his bar. Two large beams of wood had collapsed in front of it making access very difficult, for most people that is.
"Too easy." Naruto rolled his eyes and sharp, pressurized beams of water shot from the barrier around him "Water Slicer." the large beams which had barred further access were cut into tiny pieces. Naruto meanwhile continued his path towards the barkeeper.
The old man had pressed himself as close to the floor as he could to prevent most of the smoke from entering his lungs but the heat around him had already taken a toll on the mans body. The old mans skin was red like that of a lobster and littered with blisters.
Roku looked up to see a strange large form above him. He couldn't quite make out what it was so he assumed that it was another of those things.
"Stay away! Stay away from me you filthy beast." the old man scrambled away from his saviour in the believe it was a demon
"Stop this you foolish old man." Naruto grumbled in annoyance why did all old men have to be so difficult to deal with?
"No, stay away! I said stay away." Roku tried to back off further only to notice a wall of flames behind him, absentmindedly he tried to defend himself with a nearby bottle "I wont yield to you filthy beasts! You wont claim me like you claimed my granddaughter!" he threw the bottle, completely forgetting that alcohol burned quite well. Weakened as the old man was the bottle sailed completely off course and shattered spilling the alcoholic liquor over the ground fueling the flames "Ooops." apparently the old man had realized his mistake
"Exactly, oops." Naruto growled and had enough of the old mans antics. If he didn't want to come on his own he would have to use force. A watery appendage burst forth from the bubble of water and wrapped tightly around the barkeeper. Roku.
"Let me go you fiend!" the man cried out and fell into another coughing fit
"Just stay quiet and keep your mouth shut." right now Naruto wished he had gone after the imps, dealing with these unreasonable people was madness. The old man was about to open his mouth once again "I said keep your mouth shut. If you don't I'll knock you out." Naruto's eyes flashed red for a second intimidating Roku enough for him to keep quiet.
While the old man had tried to strain and break free from the wet appendage that locked him in place he had realized that it was futile as the thing holding him was much too strong.
The alcohol fueled fire made advancing quite difficult and he could hear the fire roaring madly behind him as it had finally consumed the liquor shelf behind the counter.
"Water Wave." a wide arc of water burst from the bubble, reducing its size heavily as the liquid impacted against the fire. The fire shrunk long enough for Naruto to make a mad dash with the old man at his side. He made it past the door and the fire roared back at full force, like a mad beast, hungry for everything in its wake.
Naruto left the building with the old man in his grasp "Here take care of him." he carelessly tossed the old man to one of the nearby people. While he had been occupied with rescuing the old man Mugo and Himaru had gathered a lot of people willing to help with extinguishing the fire. They had collected a lot of water to use in their attempt.
"Don't!" Naruto screamed out as the first person was about to pour water on the burning building only to stop at the scream "You can't douse a fire burning on alcohol with water." he had been lucky enough that the fire only had begun to use the alcohol towards the end as fuel and only the high amounts of pressure that his water magic used to smother the flames prevented it from spreading even faster
"Then what are we supposed to do?" the Mayor asked with gritted teeth. If they let the building burn the surrounding buildings would soon catch on fire as well.
"Just let me take care of that." Naruto stated and gathered a lot of magic power. He had never attempted Air magic on such a scale. Heck, he hadn't used much air magic to begin with "Hopefully the old man wont be too angry with me." Naruto let a small smirk grace his lips as "Aerial." it was hard to see but a small shimmering line of wind surrounded the complete building, engulfing it in a shimmering dome. Sweat poured down Naruto's brow as he kept manipulating the magic. The flames spread much more slowly.
This particular spell lowered the oxygene levels in a particular area which usually meant that anyone inside would suffocate. However it also worked wonderfully to stop fires as a fire would soon miss the oxygene to keep itself going. Normally this spell was made for small areas accomodating for the size of an adult human or maybe a few but Naruto had super-charged the spell with high amounts of magic power to expand the area to encompass a two story building. He had to use nearly all of his concentration to keep the magic power of the spell stable enough until the fire would be extinguished.
Soon the people were cheering and congratulating when the fire had been stopped. The building looked quite bad. A lot of it had caved in towards the end and quite a lot of the wood was completely black charcoal.
"Good work." Mugo congratulated him with a tired smile "Thanks to you nobody was hurt and the worst has been averted."
"Yeah, yeah." Naruto waved him off as he felt tired, trying to recover from the amount of straing the spell had put on his body 'Adapting a spell on the fly for use on a larger scale than it is intended to takes a lot out of me.' he bemoaned that fact
By removing the oxygene from the area the area essentially turned into a low-pressure environment which meant the air outside of it was trying to flow inside of this area. So aside from having to keep the spell completely stable and the matrix of it from breaking down he had to keep all the wind trying to flow into the area, out of the area.
Naruto snapped his fingers "I know I forgot something." since he had released the spell rather suddenly all the air that had strained to enter the area did so at once. A huge gust of wind swirled towards the building and the force behind it caused the building to collapse into shambles.
"My bar!" Roku cried in dismay in between a few coughs, the smoke had taken quite a toll on the old mans body. The barkeeper swerved to Naruto "You stupid hooded punk! Because of you my precious bar is in shambles."
"Shut up old man." honestly you save someones life and they decide to be ungrateful about it... only old people could behave that illogically "You should be happy that you got out of there with your life, old man." Naruto reminded him coldly. He had no need for the complaining of ungrateful old men.
Roku jerked back and sighed "You are right..." he conceded with a sigh "It's just... after my granddaughter had been taken by those things this bar was all I had left." he explained "My apologies young man. My anger just got the better of me."
Meanwhile Erza had chased the imps all over the town. Her Flight Armor had allowed her to catch up with them and dispose of another three of them reducing their numbers to fourteen. Apparently the imps had realized that they couldn't escape all at once and had split up all over the town. The scarlet haired woman mercilessly splatter the green ichor that was their blood all over the ground, however she had to massively strain herself even with her flight armor to catch up with every last one of them. The last one she had hunted past the city gates into the wilds but he proved to be still to slow. A swift kick sent the black demon flying into a nearby tree which caused the imp to cry out with its shrill, high pitched voice. Erza approached the downed thing, having switched back to her regular Heart Kreuz armor in the meantime. Her armored boot came crashing down on the imp, pinning the small body to the ground. A simple one handed sword was pointed at the imps throat.
"Now tell me who is behind your attacks." Erza demanded to know of the demonic being who let out pained gurgles.
"Not going to tell you anything, girly." the imp responded defiantly and Erza glowered at him, her scarlet aura spreading
"We will see about that." she said cryptically promising to get the information she desire out of the small demon. Suddenly a fast and thick glob of something orange slammed into her with the force of a mortarshell. Erza staggered back as she noticed a strange orange liquid on her armor. The liquid hissed and sizzled dangerously as it attempted to eat through the armor.
'Acid!' Erza realized and readied herself as a large red something charged out of the shadows of the woods. It was followed by two more of the things.
The thing was red and about the size of a large dog. The backside of the beast was covered in black spines and out of the head of the thing sprouted two dangerous horns. The beast had no eyes only a large fanged maw which dripped with the orange liquid that clung to her armor. The liquid let out a dangerous hissing sound each time it dripped onto the ground. She would need to avoid contact with the acid if possible.
The top part of the beasts maws sprouted large black strands towards their backs with golden colored rings that were prefectly spaced across the length. The two longest of these strands stood high in the air and were split revealing red flesh, muscle, skin, Erza didn't know, beneath it.
"Doggies!" the imp cried out happily, as it seemed to recognize these beings, only for one of the 'doggies' to snap its maw shut around the imps body. The small black demon didn't have time to cry out in pain as it was ripped apart and dissolved in the acidic liquid which dripped from their mouths. The dog happily crunched on its meal as it completely devoured its meal.
Erza was disgusted that these beings devoured one of their comerades so willingly.
The 'dogs' began to growl as they circled her. Erza readied her sword. The first of the dogs lunged at her, maw extended but was cut in half by a quick slice of Erza's sword, spraying green ichor all over her. The other dogs were now more wary as one of their own had been eliminated. One of the two shot another glob of acid at her with high speed which Erza barely managed to dodge with the little time she had to react to the attack itself. The glob of acid impacted against a nearby tree and ate straight through the bark causing the top half of the tree to crash down onto the ground. Another one of the dogs approached her from the side and one of the black strands on its back shot forward, which Erza didn't expect. The strand gripped a part of her unexposed flesh and Erza could feel her magic power being drained.
The scarlet haired woman quickly swung her sword in a wide arc cutting off the tendril that was attached to her which stopped the magic drain. As the dog howled in pain the other one tried to clamp its acid filled mouth around one of Erza's limbs only to get punched away by one of her gloved fists. Erza's sword blurred through the air and cut off another one of those tendrils that was approaching her.
"Enough." a rough, deep and gravelly voice called out from beyond the trees and the two dogs perked up and growled at Erza but they seemed much more subdued "Back you stupid mutts." the same voice called out and the two last dogs gave Erza one last growl before they tailed back in the direction of the voice
"Not so quick!" Erza called out and tried to follow the two beasts
"No." the deeper voice interjected and she couldn't make out anything about the owner of the voice, the only thing she saw was something large and metallic flying through the air. It looked completely unrefined like a large metal slab except for the large pole like handle which was wrapped in something like leather or cloth. The handle was gripped by two armored hands "We fight later." the voice declared and slammed the weapon down on the ground. The earth in front of Erza was split and a huge amount of dust was flying through the air and completely obstructed the mage's vision. Erza coughed as some of the dust filled her lungs and her eye was teary. When she had recovered and the dust had settled all that was left was the cut on the ground but no sign of the dogs or the mysterious voice that had ordered the beasts around.
"Damn it." Erza cursed in frustration as she slammed a gloved hand into a nearby tree, cracking the bark. She had led the, possible, leader of those demons escape. She would have to return to her partner with empty hands. Erza trotted back towards the city and noticed the distinct lack of fire. At the very least her partner 'Thousand Master' had accomplished his task.
"So we can get two rooms in the towns in completely free of charge?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow and Mugo nodded "Isn't that a bit much." he wasn't one to complain about free stuff but as one of the 'good guys' he had to at least appear humble and uncomfortable with taking 'advantage' of the mayor's kindness.
"Of course it's the least we can do for your help. Without your help Roku-jiji would have burned down along with his bar and the fire would probably have spread to many more buildings and burned down a good part of the town before it could have been stopped." Mugo bowed deeply in gratitude "Please accept this small token of our appreciation."
"If you insist." Naruto spoke slowly trying to appear hesitant "Then we will gladly accept your generosity."
Mugo took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes "I am the owner of the inn so it is no problem if I provide you lodging for free." he gave a tired smile and yawned "I would appreciate it if you informed Scarlet-san about this as well. You can find the inn about a hundred meters down this streets." he pointed towards the street going south "And then on the right hand side. Just inform the receptionist that I've given you permission to book two rooms for free." Mugo gave another yawn "If you'll excuse me I'll be getting some well needed sleep." Naruto gave a nod and the mayor left him alone, waiting for Erza.
With all the silence and quiet around him he noted the dark feeling of opression and uneasiness that suffused the air of this city. It was an entirely unnatural feeling. This was not a natural phenomenon someone was obviously causing this feeling on purpose and Naruto wanted to know who it was that caused the feeling and why this person caused it.
However the hooded blone didn't have much time to muse as Erza was walking towards him. She had returned from her imp hunt but seemed quite disgruntled by something. In fact she seemed quite angry or disappointed going by her expression.
'The question though is...' he thought as Erza came closer 'What is the reason for that.'
"So how was the imp hunt?" Naruto decided to ask and Erza looked apologetical at him
"Please punish me." she looked at his shadowed face and Naruto was shocked at Erza's behaviour. She wanted him to punish her? What kind of joke was that? Although his eloquent "Huh?" was sufficient enough to convey his confusion
"I failed. I let the potential leader of the demons escape." she stated disappointed in herself and held up her cheek "Here." she pointed at her face "Hit me. I need to atone for my mistake."
Naruto took a deep breath. Apparently the level of professionalism Erza had adopted was quite unusual. She felt that she had failed in her dutiest and needed to be punished for it.
"Now, now. There is no time for that." Naruto tried to talk her out of it "Nobody ever said you had to take care of everything by yourself." But Erza didn't seem to drop it so he gave her a soft pat on the cheek "There." he grumbled in annoyance at her persistance "Now then. Why don't you tell me what has happened. Meanwhile we can go and take our two rooms at the inn. The mayor was generous enough to provide them for us."
Erza gave a silent nod and the two began to walk towards the inn.
"I followed the imps in my Flight Armor and despite them scattering I managed to eliminate most of them." she recounted clinically "I had cornered the last one and decided to interrogate him."
"How many imps were there?" Naruto decided to interrupt Erza "Initially twenty."
"Hmm..." twenty was big for a group of imps but some Imp Lords managed to get that many under their control "So the last one was the Imp Lord then?" Erza shook her head, no "So there wasn't any imp that was larger than the others or that otherwise stood out?"
Erza shook her head again "Not that I could tell." and Erza noticed her companions dissatisfaction at that piece of information "Is there something wrong with that?"
"You could say that." Naruto replied with a sigh "Imp Lords are usually among the groups they lead, especially a group as big as twenty should have had their leader amongst them." Naruto explained and Erza frowned. She didn't know much about demons but her partner did seem to know quite a bit about them and if he regarded something as highly unusual about them then it was likely something to be concerned about.
The two arrived at the inn, a nice little thing that had a certain charm about it. They entered the building and walked up to the counter where an older woman was sitting.
"Hello, you two. What can I do for you?" the old woman asked friendly, carrying a smile on her face
"We would like two rooms. The mayor said we could have them free of charge." the hooded mage informed the old woman
"You must be the two mages then." the two seemed a bit taken aback and the old woman laughed "Word travels fast especially since you helped save the old booze geezer." the woman cackled at the mention of Roku. She turned around and pulled forth two keys one with the number fourty two and the other with the number fourty three on it.
"Here you go." she handed them the keys "Have a good stay."
Erza and Naruto then decided to continue their conversation over a hot meal.
"So what happened after you had cornered the last imp?" Naruto desired to know the end of her interaction with the demons she had hunted.
"I was attacked by these strange beasts. One of it shot a glob of an orange acid at me. I had to change my armor after the fight because of that." she didn't want to know if the acid would dissolve her skin as fast as it had the imp. She described the beasts she had encountered to her companion "Can you tell what kind of demon they are?"
"Can I?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and before Erza could say anything "Of course I can." a replica of the beasts floated above his palm but again it flickered and wasn't very sharp for her. It bothered her quite a bit but she didn't know why it was happening.
"These are called Fel Hounds. One of many dog like demon species. They like imps are lesser demons and they form packs. Fel hounds aren't very easy to submit to anyone. They are fiercely agressive and headstrong. As you saw they quickly devoured the downed imp instead of helping them. No amount of imps or Imp Lord would get Fel Hounds to obey them. They must be under the command of someone else, a much stronger demon." Naruto explained and continued to teach Erza more about demons " As for their power. Well Fel Hounds are stronger than an imp but a lot of their strength is centered around their jaws instead of pure body strength. They possess a good deal of speed and agility but lack in intelligence. They are almost purely driven by instinct. Aside from that Fel Hounds lack most senses. They can't smell anything and they don't see anything. All they have is a sense of hearing,touch and taste. However they have a special type of sensing." the large strand in the image enlarged "The strands are tentacles. These tentacles are very sensitive to magic which allows them to hone in on mages quite well and the largest one, the one that look like they are split, with them they can drain magic from their target. The reason they aren't part of the attacks on the town is that they can't sense non-mages. I believe that is why they attacked you. Your large magical aura attracted them in this barren waste of non-mages. Aside from that as you have noticed they have caustic spit. However the spit does have problems eating through metal. Flesh, bones, skin all that, on the other hand, is no problem. Beyond that they have no aptitude in magic but they are quite resilient against magic themselves." Erza filed that knowledge away for later use "What else happened? You mentioned someone that you think is the leader of the demons?"
"That's right." Erza confirmed "When I was fighting three of those Fel Hounds, is what you called them right?" her companion nodded "I managed to cut one of them in half and would have dealt with the other two as well but a voice called out to them an stopped them. I couldn't make out anything about the demon beyond that he wore a pair of gloves and the weapon he carried with him. It was a large blade, which looked more like a slab of iron and it was attached to a long pole that was wrapped in blue colored leather or cloth." the scarlet haired mage explained "He said something about fighting me later and then slammed his weapon down into the ground. From the point of impact to where I was standing the ground split apart. Additionally the resulting cloud of dust robbed me of my senses long enough for them to completely get away."
Naruto hm-ed mulling over Erza's recount of events "Well that demon is our best lead but he doesn't have to be the instigator of everything." Erza raised a questioning eyebrow
"What do you mean? He controlled those Fel Hounds didn't he?"
"He certainly did." Naruto admitted with a nod "But that doesn't mean he is the whole mastermind behind that. Just from a pair of gauntlets and a weapon I couldn't tell you what kind of demon species that thing is but I'm pretty sure that's not the mastermind. That demon is more than likely merely tha handler for the Fel Hounds."
"I guess that could be the case as well." Erza conceded and shook her head "Tomorrow we'll have to figure out a way to track down these demons. They must be hiding somewhere outside of the city."
"That is very likely." Naruto agreed "The mayor advised us to visit the shrine in the morning. Apparently the shrine elder and the miko are the only ones with some amount of magic power in this town and they've been investigating the phenomenon around the town for a while now. They aren't fast enough to deal with the Imps on their own and certainly wont we able to deal with any of the Fel Hounds but they, at least, have investigated this longer than we have so their information should provide useful."
"A shrine? How rare." Erza commented with interest. While Fiore wasn't intensly biased towards either western or eastern believes as it lacked any sort of official religion or believe system a lot of people in Fiore did tend towards western culture although that was largely in ways such as architecture. Still shrines with a real miko were a real rarity. So Erza was quite interested in seing the shrine and meeting a real life miko.
"I will be going to sleep." Erza informed her companion "You should do the same, Thousand Master."
"Certainly." however Naruto did stay up for quite a bit longer as he tried to discern the strange behaviour of these demons. Large imp groups without a greater imp? Fel hounds at their side? Large demons with weapons? A strange, ominous feeling hanging in the air? It couldn't ever be anything simple.
Unknow Location
He had collected the stray Fel Hounds which had wandered off on their own when they had sensed a rather large and delectable source of magic. The magic had come from a scarlet haired swordswoman. While he had not seen her fight, not that it would have been very conclusive against mere imps and fel hounds anyway, he had sensed that she possessed a considerable amount of skill, something he whished to test himself against. But that would come later, currently he still had orders to follow. He ignored the hundreds of high pitched voices of the imps causing ruckus. When he was stopped by an imp. It had the same black skin color, the same sulfuric yellow eyes, the same elongated ears, the same horns but the thing was slightly taller and had multiple piercings inside of its elongated ears.
"You! Vanguard!" the imp lord called out angrily but with the high pitched voice of these things it was hard to feel threatened "Where are the men I sent out to cause destruction and mayham?"
Vanguard scoffed at the thought that the small, insignificant imp lord could threaten him "Watch your tongue Xaxus." Vanguard growled his deep, rough voice rumbling in the space around them "I am not your wretched childrens babysitter." Vanguard spat and lifted his heavy weapon with practiced ease up and slammed it down in front of the imp lord Xaxus. The sulfuric eyes of the imp lord widened in fright as Xaxus realized that he was talking to someone infinitely stronger than him "I apologize oh venerated Vanguard." Xaxus spoke with a sickeningly sweet voice and gave a humble bow despite it making him feel visibly uncomfortable "I merely wondered where the ones that I sent out today are. I did not intend to disrespect the venerated Vanguard of our lord."
Vanguard gave an unconvinced grunt but decided not to comment on the imp lord's poor acting skills "The imps you sent out today were killed." Vanguard informed the black skinned demon whose eyes widened once again this time in shock. After the shock had subsided the yellow eyes narrowed in anger to miniscule slits "Killed? By whom? None of those humans in that town are capable of such a thing?" Xaxus growled angrily even though it was incapable of sounding threatening. Vanguard looked absolutely uninterested. He didn't care one bit about the imps. They were mere cannonfodder. Easy to replace and easy to send into battle "The humans in the town hired mages, strong mages. One of them attracted some of the more hungry fel hounds." Vanguard answered Xaxus who looked shocked to the core as the small imps jaw was comically hanging down.
"One of them managed to attract Fel Hounds from here?!" the distance between here and the town was quite a bit the mere fact that a magical aura had managed to reach, even magic sensitive beings like the fel hounds, was absolutely impressive. The owner of the had to be undoubtly strong "One of them killed my imps, yes?" Xaxus asked for confirmation from his superior the Vanguard who nodded. Xaxus released an impressive string of curses in his gurgling impish tongue "What are these mages like?"
"Don't know about one of them but the one that killed your imps was a red haired woman. She was quite skilled with the sword." Vanguard noted with a hint of anticipation at a fight between them
'Of course you would take note of something so useless you moronic brute.' Xaxus thought but didn't dare to voice those particular thoughts
"So some stupid wench managed to kill my imps?" Xaxus gritted his teeth in anger when Vanguard nodded "I'll pay that filthy wench back for that. She'll pay dearly."
Vanguard gave a shrug at the imp lords behaviour. He didn't particularily care much for the schemes Xaxus or any of the other imp lords under their command cooked up.
"If you are still concerned about your children then let me remind you that you have more than enough breeding material to replace them easily." Vanguard noted dryly and fixed the imp lord with an annoyed stare "If that is everything you are bothering me with I have my own things to attend to."
Xaxus nodded quickly to return to his dealings, leaving Vanguard to himself.
The large demon continued to walk to the place he intended to go. It didn't take him long to arrive at the fel hound kennel. Dozens of the red fel hounds were gathered, pacing angrily, growling at nothing in particular and the two which had dared to step outside and attack someone on their own were already patiently waiting for him. Vanguard glared at the two of them angrily, not that they could tell but they could feel the anger in his magic aura which caused them to shrink and press themselves closer to the ground.
"So you thought to simply waltz outside because there happened to be a large source of magic running around?" Vanguard asked rhetorically but the fel hounds couldn't answer. It was not like Vanguard cared if they could have answered or not. He didn't need them to answer only to listen "Stupid mutts." Vanguard roared and stomped harshly on one of them crushing the body under his foot with a sickening squelsh. He then turned to the second of the two dogs which had returned "I haven't forgotten you either." it was the dog whose drain tentacles had been cut off. Vanguard brought his heavy weapon down on the body of the dog and split him cleanly "All I have to do now is report to the boss." he commented to himself and left the kennel. Insteadly the other dogs made a mad dash for the two corpses and began to hungrily devour their fallen brethren.
Vanguard continued his way towards his boss chamber. He knocked on the door and was told to come in. He briefly saw a black, shadowy, formless vapor with two ruby red orbs inside of it vanish into thin air before his boss turned around to face him.
"Ah my loyal Vanguard." Vanguard's boss sounded pleased with his servants appearance. Vanguard kneeled in front of the person in front of him. His gloved hands rested on the handle of his large weapon "You were out this night, weren't you? Put those unruly mutts in their place right?"
"Yes." Vanguard confirmed with a nod "Some of the more hungry fel hounds were eager to devour a rather large source of magic that had hunted down the imps that were sent there this night. The humans of the town have hired two mages."
"Yes, I know." Vanguards boss stated uninterested "Master has already informed me of this. One hooded, with a certain darkness about him but very strong and a woman with scarlet hair. She too is of considerable strength." the demon said and looked at his impeccably clean fingernails as if entirely disinterested by the conversation "Master has declared his current vessel to have outlived its usefulness and desires the scarlet haired woman to be the replacement. With a vessel of that power his recovery should speed up much faster than it currently does."
"Then I will give order for her to be captured." Vanguard said and was about to rise from his position when his boss halted him
"No. We will let them come to us. With the amount of imps and fel hounds we have attacking the town would be stupid, they would never get anything done with one magic swordswoman and one mage there. We'll let them come to us where they can easily be overwhelmed and taken care of. If we lose any of the small fry then it doesn't matter, they are easily replaced."
Vanguard bowed "If those are your orders then I will oblige." Vanguards superior waved his hand and dismissed his servant, leaving him to his own devices.
-Bestiary-
Fel Hounds: Evil demon type, Lesser Demon
Strength: High(Jaws), Average(Rest of body)
Speed: Above Average
Agility: Above Avarage
Intelligence: Low
Endurance: Above Average(Magic), Average(Physical)
Magic Power: -
Magic Control: -
Notable features: Caustic spit, heightened magic sense, magic draining appendages
Fel Hounds are one of many dog like demon species. Their overall intelligence is low as they run on instict. They are headstrong and will only submit and let themselves be handled by very strong demons. They live off of magic which they have to drain from their victims. In absence of that they will devour living flesh with just as much gusto even the corpses of their brethren. However flesh will usually not sustain them for very long.
-Spell Grimoire-
Arial: Caster Type, Elemental Magic(Air), Offensive, Supplementary
Rank: C+
Arial creates an area in which the amount of oxygene is gradually lowered suffocating those inside. Additionally the difference in pressure will cause those inside discomfort and pain.
Water Barrier: Caster Type, Elemental Magic(Water), Defensive, Supplementary
Rank: B
The mage creates a sturdy barrier of water around themselves which can withstand quite some punishment. The water of the barrier can be siphoned off to be used in other water spells as well.
Water Burst: Caster Type, Elemental Magic(Water), Offensive
Rank: C to B
The mage fires a highly pressurized blast of water towards its target.
Water Slicer: Caster Type, Elemental Magic(Water), Offensive
Rank: B+
The user sends scythe like blades of water towards their target slicing cleanly through most things.
Flame Empress Armor
The flame empress armor reduces the strength of fire by 50% making the user nigh immune to ordinary fires and highly resistant to every but the strongest flames. Furthermore the blades of this set allow the mage to channel fire magic through them.