32 Aftermath 1.5 Gotta collect them all!

Lex stood in the currently vacant district eight in front of an old brown shack with a frown plastered  on his face.

"Are you sure this is the right place Xavier?" Lex said while looking behind him skeptically.

Xavier who was still in his ninja attire only nodded.

Scoffing at Xavier's silence Lex returned his gaze to the old shack.

"Let's not waste any time then"

~Meanwhile inside the shack

An old woman in her mid 80s sat in a chair in a barren shack and stared at the medallion wrapped around her. 

The  medallion was rather simple. It held the symbol of strength, it being an arm flexing it's biceps, and was round and gold plated.

The woman herself was not so simple though. 

She was a short 5'3 woman with brown skin, purplish eyes, dark brown hair, a frail figure, and various tribal tattoos plotted on her. 

Now though she was old, she was still a top class beauty, in terms of  old people anyway. 

Moving on.

*Knock*Knock*

Two loud knocks came from her door.

Standing up the woman proceeded to reach for the door handle but stopped abruptly. She felt bloodlust and killing intent coming from behind her door, sure it was hidden well, nothing less than a Rank SS could detect it but this old woman was not normal in any sense of the word.

Backing up the short old lady gripped her necklace tightly as she felt a mass of mana gathering outside.

*Boom!*

Then in an instant the entirety of the shack was obliterated.

~Back with lex (First person pov)

As I put my smoking hand to my side I heard the displeased scowl of my companion Xavier.

With a frown plastered on my face I turned to see what the problem was.

"What is it Xavier?."I said with Obvious irritation. 

Xavier as always looked at me with his cold dull blue eyes, but this time they had a well hidden anger in them.

"  Are you trying to compromise the mission? You could have destroyed the artifact with that blast of yours. Not to mention the sound that made could alert the whole district."

After listening to Xavier's rebuke I scoffed before turning back to the crater.

" First off if an artifact could be destroyed by something as weak as that it doesn't deserve its title." Continuing I looked over my shoulder.

"Secondly, with how many people have been put on getting rid of those parasites no one would mind a shack exploding, at least not instantly."

"Finally I'm quite sure the artifact is just fine. After all it's owner is currently above us."

When I said that an old lady came barreling down from the sky directly towards me.

*Boom*

Jumping backwards the woman landed onto the ground with a loud boom, cratering the ground and picking up dust. 

With a single swipe of the hand the dust was quickly dispersed revealing the old woman who had a wild black aura violently flickering around her.

I raised an eyebrow at the aura surrounding her but brushed it off, after all, things like this are quite common when dealing with gods and other higher ranking beings.

Smiling at her when I noticed the golden necklace wrapped around her neck I said" Well would feel kinda bad if I had to hurt or kill an old lady so how about I give you a choice. One I kill you take the artifact and me and my partner walks away, or two you give me the artifact and we wipe your memory."

The woman simply growled at me with her already large aura increasing its size tenfold. Before answering.

"Son you should already know which choice I'd pick." the woman said with steel in her eyes.

"I see...Death it is then." I said losing my smile while shaking my head, before turning my head around to my partner.

"Xavier, your up"

With no response Xavier disappeared without a second's notice and reappeared in front of the

Old woman, blue steel kunai in hand ready to pierce her brain. However the woman showed no sign of surprise as he did so.

The blade was merely an inch away from her head when, in a single fluid motion the old woman slapped the Kunai to  the side and grabbed the offending hand before launching a possibly devastating punch to the chest at Xavier.

Seeing this I quickly threw my left hand in front of me and summoned a black and silver magic circle. Pulsating my magic forward, which took the form of air thin silver strings, at a speed that would leave most baffled I near instantly made my strings connect to Xavier's torso before pulling him to the side with full force.

While I was successful in puppeteering Xavier to doge the initial attack I couldn't remove him from the vice grip the old woman held him in. 

But, I wouldn't need to worry. Xavier taking advantage of the momentum granted to him by my string pull managed to reach behind the woman and place a small piece of paper he summoned up with an even smaller blueish-white magic circle.

Then with a motion that looked similar to a person pressing a button with their thumb the piece of paper detonated.

*Boom*

A small scale explosion rang out throughout the area picking up some dust as the woman wavered in her grip allowing Xavier to jump back and gain some distance.

Releasing Xavier from my strings he gave me a nod of thanks before turning his attention to our enemy.

The woman's attire was ripped and tattered, not leaving much to the imagination, and she had a multitude of first to third degree burns scattered around her body. Even still she stood ready and willing to fight.

Giving my partner a look that said "we need to end this quickly"  he nodded seemingly understanding what I meant. 

With that we both took off at top speed leaving small cracks and a black and blue trails behind us. 

When we reached the woman she, with a dangerous glint in her eyes punched the ground with a force unlike anything I've faced, causing the ground to ripple and break apart.

Caught off guard by this admittedly good tactic, we were both unable to react as the old woman grabbed both of our faces and roughly slammed them into the ground. 

Feeling the pressure on my head increase and hearing my partner groan in pain I couldn't help but do the same as I silently summoned a nearly invisible magic circle to summon up some strings.

As I did this the woman growled as she began interrogating us.

"Who. *Huff* Are.You. And. What. *Huff* Do. You. Want." She said with distressed Short and ragged breaths. 

Secretly I Motioned for Xavier to distract her while I get my strings attached to her nerves Inside her arm.

Moving his eyes up in down in acceptance he began talking in his usual emotionless tone.

"Who we are is of no importance to you." Xavier said coldly, only to wince as the woman gripped his head harder and lifted him into the air so he could see her Purple eyes glaring at him.

"I Suggest. That you don't. Piss me off. More than. You already have. Boy!" She said angrily with less effort while looking into his blue orbs.

Watching as cold sweat dripped down my partner's head I redoubled my efforts in gaining control her arm.

"Fine, my name is none of yah business and me and my partner are here to take a certain item." Xavier said with a straight face.

The woman seemed to lose the angry glow in her eyes for a moment before they reignited with the fury of a thousand suns.

"It seems that I'm only wasting my time with you. Let's see if your friend over there will talk once I crush that head of yours." The woman said demonically without any struggle.

Hearing this, my eyes widened before my mind clicked informing me I had successfully taken control of her arm. 

With not a single second of hesitation I forced her arm to gather magic around itself before piercing the woman through the chest and heart.

The woman's face morphed into one of shock surprise and hatred as her eyes slowly dulled until no life was present Signifying her death.

.........….

(3rd person) 

Unknown to Both lex and Xavier the old woman's death sent a signal that all other god artifact users felt. 

Their job just got a lot harder.