Chapter 1: Silver Gate Key

What's a weirdo like you doing here?"

A young boy around the age of 16 smirks at the approaching cloaked man. He has long brown hair swept to the side, dark brown eyes and dark olive skin.

Although his figure is slim and seems weak, the kid carries a special key around his waist, a celestial key.

"Heh. Just summon your spirit kid I'm not interested in conversing with children."

The kid ignores the taunt and turns his back to the man unworried. On the back of his neck is a special insignia, a light grey eagle.

"So why are you here? Only master Mitto knows I came here."

The cloaked figure swept his hand and a white banner flew out with the symbol of a broken halo.

"I'm afraid you've been cut out of the picture young Zabrak. It really is hard to trust people, isn't it?"

Zabrak's eyes widened as he looked at the banner flying past him. Then he quickly turned and looked back to the hooded man.

'When did Broken Spirit betray Grey Wing? We just signed a compromise two months ago. It's impossible that Broken Spirit would betray us, otherwise it would lose it's legitimacy as a legal guild and become an enemy of the kingdom!'

Zabrak's hands drew closer to the key on his waist as he pondered over the appearance of the hooded figure.

He didn't recognize the mask nor the robe despite it's unique design. There simply wasn't any bounty hunter in his recollection that wore such strange clothes.

His robe was mostly pitch black with dark red trim, along with peculiar gray metal braces that covered his sleeves and the bottom of his robe.

The most strange thing about him was his mask, despite the man not producing any magic signature his mask glowed an eerie red.

"I suggest you give up Zabrak, master Mitto specifically asked me to bring your body in one piece so they could bury you. They wanted to reward your sacrifice."

Slowly, the harsh words sunk into Zabrak's mind. The betrayal of Broken Spirit, the sudden appearance of a mysterious man, the strange end to a conflict between guilds that lasted over two years...

'Did master Mitto sell me out to Broken Spirit in exchange for a peace settlement?'

The shocking revelation made Zabrak's body tremble with an rapid influx of negative emotion.

"No!"

He pointed his key at the man with an angry expression as his magic power burst furiously.

"I call on you Aquila, the grey eagle!"

A bright gray magic circle formed as a grand grey eagle appeared with a loud screech. It's large body dwarfed both Zabrak and the hooded man as it stared down its prey with sharp eyes.

"I presume that this is the opponent?" Aquila said in a deep magnificent voice.

"Yes, make sure to capture him. I want this bastard alive."

Aquila nodded to it's contractor before flapping it's wings. Two strong waves of wind crashed into the space in front of it with a loud crack as it released a spell.

"Wind Magic: Wind Cracker."

"Don't resist kid, master Mitto would be sad to see your body in pieces."

The hooded man calmly put his hand inside of his robe as he looked at the fast incoming attack.

"I really hate dog fights, but I'll make an exception for such a strong silver key spirit."

Irritated, Aquila responded in a sharp tone, "Don't compare me to the rest of my brethren."

The hooded man let out a low chuckle just as the waves of wind hit his body.

"You should know not to be so arrogant, no matter how strong you think you are you're merely a failed copy."

As the wind made impact with his body it completely shattered revealing a small illusion lacrima on the floor.

"On your right Aquila!"

The large bird clumsily turned it's head just in time to see the very same hooded figure fly straight towards it.

Unlike before, wings made of black iron sprouted out of the man's back, allowing him the ability of flight.

Three wrist blades sprung from his arms as he dug himself into Aquila's right wing. In one sharp swing he managed to completely cut off an entire wing spanning almost eight feet in length.

"AAAHHH!"

"AQULIA!"

Helpless to do anything, Zabrak watched as his companion, a friend that had been with him since birth, fell to the ground with a third of it's body gone.

Baam.

The giant body of Aquila hit the floor in a miserable state and the masked figure floated down to the ground next to it.

His iron wings began to slowly melt into a case on his back as he patiently walked towards the sniveling Zabrak.

But Zabrak wasn't paying attention to the unknown bounty hunter, instead his focus was on Aquila's broken body.

'How could I have let this happen? I should have ran away as soon as I figured out master Mitto betrayed me. Had I gone to report to the magic council immediately he wouldn't have died.'

"Don't be so sad, physical death doesn't mean anything to celestial spirits. In some ways they're practically immortal."

The man leaned down and grabbed Aquila's key before swinging his wrist blade cleanly across Zabrak's neck.

"Oh?"

Ignoring the slumped body laying on the floor the hooded man looked at a strange blue panel floating in front of him.

[Certain conditions have been met. New blueprints have been unlocked.]

[•Teleport Key:

This item is a special key that can teleport people to others, the item relies on the magic signature of two willing parties to teleport people.

Items Required To Craft:

-Silver Celestial Gate Key

-Space Lacrima]

[•Enhanced Spacial Ring:

This item is a special ring that contains its own separate space in which items can be safely stored, this item relies on the users magic power to work.

Items Required To Craft:

-Silver Celestial Gate Key

-Spacial Ring]

"Interesting, unfortunately Aquila's key is too valuable to be wasted so hastily. There's a reason why Zabrak was considered Grey Eagle's rising star."

"Still, it's an improvement from my basic items."

[•Iron Water:

This item is a special liquid like metal similar in durability to iron that changes form when infused with magic power, this item relies on constant magic power from the user to keep a solid form.]

[•Magic Jammer:

This item is a small robot that can hide the magic signature of anything it's attached to, it relies on lacrima to continue working.]

[•Wrist Blade:

This item is a metal brace that can extend to form sharp blades, this item requires no magic power or energy source.]