Dead Men

During her time as an inquisitor, Agatha had met a lot of Primes. And she had seen a lot of them die and retire. From Jahn Vu to Keith Alderwolf. But Desmond? Alive. The thought was beyond her and yet it actually wasn't that surprising.

"You look like crap, Agatha." He said teasingly. "Want me to give you a hug?"

"Gross, I don't like dead men." Agatha said.

"Haha. Good one."

"Hello?" Hikone called, "It's a nice reunion you have going on but we have a job to do."

"Just a second." Desmond said.

Instantly, Jhin appeared out of nowhere, his hand on his sheathed sword. He slashed at Desmond, missing him by a few inches. Desmond took a step back, impressed by the boy balancing himself on the edge.

"To think you were actually blind." Desmond smiled, "Interesting."

"Surrender now." Jhin said, "You are going to be surrounded in a few minutes."

"You clearly don't know me, huh. Pity. They don't talk about the old Primes anymore. Such a shame. I should reprimand you Agatha."

"You not my boss."

"That hurts." Desmond said raising his hand high. Jhin gripped the handle of his blade tightly. "Things would have been a lot different."

Desmond striked faster, letting his hand fall as a blade of pure energy was released, slicing the edge in to smithereens as Jhin fell. Agatha stepped to strike him down on for his hand to already be at her neck.

"Tsk tsk tsk." Desmond shook his head in disappointment. "You ought to care more about your friends."

"Desmond." Hikone said.

"Yeah I know."

The figure stood menacingly in the air, his long hair flowing upwards with his arms folded. Oz Vlazencroft had arrived.

"Want me to take care of him?"

"Obviously. I prefer not to waste my energy on small fry when the big deal is waiting in the shadows." Hikone said turning to the woman that emerged from the shadows.

"I would have actually preferred if you remained silent." Donna sighed, "I recently got my hair done."

"Shame." Hikone said. "So did I."

The chaos started with a rumbling.

Sharon and Damien were as usual playing the piano, while the others conversed, listening in on the ambience produced proudly by Damien. Dymond and two other inquisitors came in, but one of them left, still horrified of the sight of Ernst.

Then the rumbling started.

Damien stopped, looking up. Sharon dropped the book on his lap and rushed up the stairs along with Ernst. Dimitri and Kanon followed suite, only to stopped by a black wall. Slowly and eerily, a metallic figure emerged from it.

"Greetings, Inquisitors." The figure said, removing his hood. "I have been assigned to prevent you from reaching the Grand Prime Inquisitor."

"There's only one of you." Dimitri said, "Against the best the Inquisition has to offer."

"Famous last words," Kanon whispered.

"Shut it." Dimitri whispered back.

The figure shook his head as the black wall faded off. "Arrogance has killed many men, young boy. You may be skilled in the art of killing daemon, but you lack experience."

"Against you?" Ernst asked, drawing his bow, "I've killed my fair share of mercenaries."

"No." The figure said, raising his hands, "Against {technology}"

Metal objects began to shoot out from the ground, separating the inquisitors gathered. The objects, structured like centipedes broke in and out of the building, tearing apart the structure until it was reduced to rubble.

At the same time, from the falling debris, Edgar Lionharte emerged, battling the First. Edgar cut through rock, but the First hid from his view, emerging from behind and kicking him down. As he landed on the ground, a sound wave shot at him to which he deflected with his sword, albeit pushed a few meters back. Edgar swiped the air with his finger, instantly slashing Joseph across the shoulder. In a blink of an eye, Edgar emerged in front of Joseph, ready to kill him. The first pulled Joseph back, blocking the attack with his black javelin.

Edgar smiled, looking at the strings that had embedded themselves in his right hand. He glanced at Gerald Tason and back at The First.

"Nice teamwork!" Edgar smiled, "But not enough!"

The strings snipped as Edgar crouched, with two fingers raised. A thin white circle formed round him, shielding him from the thrust of the First.

Out of nowhere, a bloodied Ernst emerged, firing a volley of arrows at the assailants, separating them from Edgar. Joseph returned to strike Edgar only for a hand to catch him by the sleeve and fling him across the landscape. He tumbled to the ground, groaning as he got up.

"Looks like its just you and me," Edgar said, disabling the barrier. He grabbed his sword, spinning it round and pointing the blade at The First."

"Fine by me." The first said, pointing his javelin at him.