Chapter 5 - A Productive Meeting

"You can come in now." Loki said, unlocking the door for Phe and the other Mermaid Heel members. The green haired woman offered him a small smile as she walked in, but otherwise, she didn't comment about how he continued to wear the Rune Woven Armor while they were inside their room.

Phe spared a glance to the vigilant Honedge that floated in the corner of the room, and Locki could see her tense as Honedge's bloodshot eye regarded her. "I see you have an… interesting pet."

Locki stepped in front of Honedge, knowing that the Pokemon would consider murder as an appropriate greeting. "Member."

"I'm sorry?"

"Honedge is a member of my guild." Locki clarified more for the ghost sword than anything. He worried what it might do if anyone called it a pet. "I'll be leaving it here to aid K."

That seemed to get a rise out of the sword. It spun to him, and a low screech echoed in the silence of the room. Locki paid it no mind, knowing that he would give something away if he rose to the irate ghost's challenge.

"Just protect her, you piece of scrap." Locki groused. Honedge screeched lower this time. "We can do what you want later, so [don't argue on this]."

Phe shuffled awkwardly while Jingnan and Izzy moved so that they were an entire room's length away from the sword. "I don't mean to be rude, but is… Honedge safe?"

"Not at all." Locki answered easily, caring little for the twisted expressions of the Mermaid Heel members.

"O- okay…Then, should we really leave it with-"

"Hone!" Honedge cut her off as it flew over to the sleeping Kagura. Phe and the rest flinched as the sword stabbed down into the girl's shadow, disappearing without a trace. Like that, they couldn't argue anymore; either too scared to or worried that something might pop out of their own shadows.

Locki coughed awkwardly, feeling partly responsible for the sudden dip in morale.

Luckily, Kagura took this moment to awaken. The girl groaned loudly as she stretched like a cat. Her hazel eyes dreamily opened as they took in her surroundings instantly. Locki caught how her body tensed at the new environment before she relaxed as she caught sight of his figure. Once more, a shot of guilt pierced the teen's heart at the seemingly small action.

"H- hello…" Kagura then took note of the Mermaid Heel members, getting up and bowing to them. She delicately walked over to stand beside him, and Locki found the girl's eyes watching him for some instruction.

"Right, here." Locki took her look as a sign to start their planning and reached over to the note he had prepared earlier while he had a panic attack. "Read that."

"Uhm…" Kagura silently took the note, and Locki saw Phe look curiously at him.

"It's in case we had left before she woke up." Locki shrugged. "I was worried about her being hungry, so I wanted to tell her there were some snacks in my pack. You all can have some if you want."

"I'll pass." Phe denied.

Kagura had seemingly finished the note as she wrinkled it in her small hands. Her eyes alternated between him and the paper for a couple moments, and Locki could see some tears gathering in her gaze for a moment. Silently, the girl stuffed the note into her mouth and chewed.

"Should we… go?" Phe had apparently had enough weirdness lately. Whether it was Honedge or Kagura's actions, Locki knew that the woman had grown increasingly unnerved.

Locki nodded and moved to follow her lead. He spared one last look at Kagura before shooting a glance at the confused Jingnan and Izzy. Finally, he looked at the eye that popped out from Kagura's shadow. "Remember, if you're hungry, there's food in the bag."

Locki closed the door, leaving the trip behind as he walked out of the inn with Phe. The two traveled in silence for a little while, and Locki took the time to see that there were not as many people out right now. He was used to more boisterous parts of towns and cities where the residents and travelers partied into the night, so such a quiet atmosphere was slightly awkward.

However, that didn't mean the teen would be the first to talk. He kept Phe's figure in his gaze, and he saw how tense she was the closer they got to the tall building in the center of the town.

Finally, she broke the awkward atmosphere. "So, is your magic related to that Honedge creature? I know you said it was a member, but…"

"No, mine works best at a range though." Locki offered. "What about yourself?"

Phe chuckled. "You really are tight-lipped, huh? Shouldn't we account for each other's magic if we're going to work together?"

"No offense, but my magic works best when not many people know what it does. Besides, we just met— we'll get in each other's ways more often than not."

"I suppose you're right… But, you seem very prepared. How long have you been a mage for?"

Locki narrowed his eyes under his helmet. It wasn't like he wanted to antagonize her; his upbringing was the primary cause, and the whole situation was forcing him to be wary of every worst possible scenario. "I've been a mage since I was young. You seem pretty experienced as well, though. Your proteges seem strong."

"They only unlocked their Magic Containers pretty recently." Phe waved, seemingly happy to finally discuss something. "As for myself, I like to think that I am one of the more experienced members of Mermaid Heel."

"Is that so… so, you don't follow their doctrine of hating men?"

"That?" Phe asked, scrunched up her features as if in distaste. "No, I know some gals have had problems with guys, but I'm not one of them."

Locki nodded to himself. "Sounds like it."

"Yeah? So what about yourself, mister tall, dark and brooding? You seem like you got a story. Don't think you can ask me about myself without saying anything."

Locki held back an annoyed groan. He knew he couldn't just brush off everything, after all. "I don't have much to tell you. I joined my guild a month or two ago, and I guess I have been… training, for a lack of the word, before."

If you considered drinking, partying and trying not to get stabbed in an alleyway as training, then yes, he trained extensively. Maybe a little too zealously at times, too.

"You don't seem like a newbie."

"I prepared for Vulcans." Locki shrugged. "Maybe not well enough, though."

"You can prepare for Vulcans? Do you have something for their Take-Over magic? How does that work?"

"Well," his armor clinked as he waved his hand. "It's not much. I left it with K, anyways."

"That's sweet." Phe said, smiling. "But, how would she know how to use it? Didn't you say she just joined?"

"The instructions were on the paper," Locki said, eyeing her from the corner of his vision. "Aren't your proteges there for her protection, though? If everything works out, she won't need to use it."

"Yes, I believe they should be able to protect her from any Vulcans that slip through our grasp."

Loki scoffed at her empty assurance. "Let us pray that that is the case."

"Just what are you implying, L?" Phe narrowed her eyes on him. "You know, I have tried to apologize for my earlier actions, but now you are just being rude. Must you be this incorrigible?"

Locki took a moment to think about it. He had been a bitch lately, but he knew it was half stress and half paranoia. The blonde had no reason to trust her words and even more of a reason to suspect her.

Was it rude? Yes. Did he care, though? Actually, he did a bit, but that was only because he didn't know her magic.

As such, he just shrugged. "Let's just get this over with."

"Let us." Phe huffed, stalking into the building she had led him to.

It was of similar make to the inn. A multi-story building with clear signs of some kind of magic being used. The stone walls were just a bit too smooth to be natural, and the windows looked like they had stone formed to fit around them instead of the other way around.

Locki paused as he walked through the doorway, sparing a glance behind him. As he had been expecting, the roads were clean.

Phe ignored him as he walked in. Though, Locki didn't notice as he was led up to another room in the building. Immediately, he found the room bare of anything. No chairs or tables decorated the space. Light trailed through a window that lay in the wall, and standing between him and it was the supposed employer.

Locki sighed at the encounter, feeling wholly validated on his concerns.

His armored feet tapped the floor nonchalantly, feeling how hard it was. Across from him, the employer, wearing a white button down shirt and blue suit jacket, smiled at him from across the room. It was a disarming smile that would have worked on anyone in any other scenario.

Locki scoffed at the audacity, and almost felt insulted when he realized that their plan was so simple. Lure mages in and grab them; simple and foolproof. Perhaps, he should have expected it from apes with more magic than sense.

"Welcome, thank you for coming to help. My name is Justin Vrake, what is-"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. [Just attack me]." Locki cut off the Vulcan wearing someone else's face.

Take-Over Magic was always a weird topic. The magic let their user absorb the body of whatever they were attuned to; for some that was insects and others that was animals. Seldom was it that they were attuned to magical beasts or other creatures.

Vulcans were an even weirder case than that. They had originally been humans who were experimented on, and now they were so genetically different that it was hard to even call them an ape anymore. However, their magic lets them Take-Over the bodies of humans, and essentially possess their bodies.

By taking over someone, the Vulcans could use the magic of the person if they were a mage. They could even access the memories of who they took over, granting them an extra layer of subterfuge. However, even in the case that a Vulcan is smart, they weren't what one would consider geniuses. Savants for magic and little else, some might say.

Locki knew that a lone Vulcan could perfectly subsume a human form, but seeing one in person was a different experience. He couldn't tell it apart from an actual person, really. Yet, their effortless transformation and disguise was just too easy to see through when paired with everything else.

They were idiots, Locki would say.

Though, he was surprised that Phe stood behind him, blocking the exit of the stone room. He had been on guard against her, but he didn't expect her to be possessed by a Vulcan. Her actions spoke of a mage who was experienced in many missions, and the hidden messages he thought he heard in her speech seemed fairly consistent. Was he just overthinking their interactions?

"Maybe she just isn't that strong." Locki mused aloud.

The Vulcan across from him scowled. "Do you not understand what's about to happen?"

Locki gripped the hilt of the Enchanted Rapier at his waist before the Vulcan exploded into movement. They were faster than humans had any right being; faster than Locki as well. The Vulcan blurred in his vision, momentarily disappearing from view.

Despite that fact, the teen felt a smile tug at his lips. He already had enough for his Curse to work. "You both don't know, but you're already cursed."

Locki's eyes suddenly widened as he found a fist right next to his face. He hurriedly ducked a telegraphed swing from the Vulcan who had charged him. After the creature missed him, it fell slow through the air like it was suspended in syrup.

"What is this?" Phe screeched from the entrance where she hadn't moved. Locki could see her veins popping out as she struggled hard to move.

The Vulcan in the blue suit slowly turned towards him, seemingly struggling with the same affliction.

"Ten individual facts about yourself." Locki said, unsheathing the rapier entirely. "That's all it takes to stop you. Even then, all I need is a couple to slow you enough to my level."

Once again, their movements slowed considerably. Locki smiled to himself as he felt his small test to see if the knowledge of his Curse counted as a fact that he could use. It probably wouldn't work if there were a bunch of people who knew, but his Curse worked exponentially based on how rare the information was. Ten individual facts was just a number he threw in randomly.

[Earthland Curse – Cursed Knowledge] was a finicky piece of work. The more he knew about the target, and the more the information that he knew about them was known to a very small number of people, the better the curse he could inflict upon them. For now, all he could manage was a simple slowing curse, but that should change in time.

Maybe… Hopefully.

Of course, with such an overpowered Curse, there were a number of limiting factors he had to consider. Range was a big thing as he could only invoke his Curse on everything within ten feet of himself, and he needed to have seen them in the last couple seconds or else the curse he applied would wear off. In addition, the Curse sapped his stamina fast since his other magic only occurred randomly and he wasn't used to a constant drain.

Still, it was magical enough that Locki ignored those bits of information. After sixteen years of his boring and useless magic, he finally had something that seemed too good to be true.

Reveling in finally being able to use magic, he walked leisurely to Phe as Ghastly's poisonous gas started to waft out of his shadow. The male Vulcan growled at him, moving at a speed that Locki would hesitate to call slow.

It was upon him before he could think further, but he easily stepped aside as it swung. However, Locki found that it slowly came to a stop as he pointed the tip of his rapier to Phe's throat. The woman was in fact moving since he hadn't found ten different facts, but she was so slow that he could easily follow her.

"Human… what do you want?" The Vulcan asked carefully. However, Locki could see the light of a magic circle spin to life in one of its palms. Another magic circle was forming next to Phe's head when they thought he wasn't looking. A stalling tactic to retreat maybe? The teen knew he couldn't be too careless even if his Curse worked.

Locki pressed his Enchanted Rapier closer, and the Vulcans both flinched in slow motion. Their magic slowly came to a halt as they realized they were caught. "Gastly, start filling the room."

The little gas ball floated out of his shadow and appeared in front of the two. Their eyes warily followed the Pokemon as it opened its mouth. Purple smoke began spilling from its mouth, falling down like a waterfall and spreading over the floor.

"Human stop! If you want that girl with you to leave alive, I would stop resisting!"

Locki paused. However, Gastly continued to fill the room with more noxious fumes, and the teen could see the little gas ball was furious. Its eyes were tilted and glaring at the Vulcan.

"Vulcans are annoying." Locki said finally. "You guys are immune to almost all poisons, have strong enough bodies to resist weaker blades and you all adapt to whatever environment you live in. But, you forget the caveat of Take-Over magic— the mage gains the strengths of whoever they take over, but they also gain the weaknesses."

The Vulcan's eyes widened as it hesitated to move. Its confidence faltered as Locki pressed the point of his weapon against Phe's throat. "Wait, wait! Don't you care about that girl?!"

It panicked more as the gas started to reach their knees. Gastly had kept the gas contained to their room, so the room would soon fill up. Seeing that its options were dwindling, the Vulcan chose to back down, and Locki calmed down the irate Pokemon. Locki had the upper hand now.

"... how did you know?" Phe whispered from her position. At this point, she had given up resisting, standing perfectly still with Locki's rapier pointed at her neck. "You… you left something with your companion as well as that… thing. You knew this was going to happen."

Locki leaned closer to the woman mage, eyeing the male Vulcan whose face was set in a grim frown. He honestly had no idea what she was talking about. "Of course I did. Your plans were insufferably simple."

"Bullshit!" The male Vulcan started. "We had already tricked five mages before you came. How were you the one to figure it out?!"

We? Locki took a moment to realize how concerned the other Vulcan was for Phe. He had heard of lone Vulcans finding mates when they met another, and he supposed that these two had somehow gotten together and then miraculously led a different Vulcan pack to inhabit this town. It was an absurdly convoluted series of coincidences, but–

"You two are a couple." Locki said, and he felt his Curse strengthen, supporting his words. They groaned as their movements slowed even further, and Locki felt like they took several seconds to take a breath. Two invisible hands seemed to manifest in his sight, restraining the Vulcans further.

"H- how?" The male Vulcan asked, and Locki saw the fight leave the creature's eyes. They thought they were beaten.

Locki was milking this image that formed in their heads, but he knew that his Curse would run out before any support came to reasonably deal with them. He knew what he needed to do next.

"Gastly," Locki motioned over to Phe. One thing that was overlooked often in Take-Over magic was that those who were possessed died a slow death while the mage took over everything about them.

For humans possessed by Vulcans, they normally had a time limit of five days before their memories and lives were taken by the creature. Mages normally had a larger margin to work with, but the teen wasn't too optimistic with his chances that Phe was alive.

Still, it would be better if he turned in her corpse without signs of him killing her directly. The Magic Council had a fairly strict policy against the murder of mages, and he wasn't quite ready to appear in court against a Mermaid Heel out to blame someone. It might be a dangerous instant, but he'd get rid of future problems if he didn't directly kill Phe here.

And Locki felt confident enough to get through this now that he knew what his Curse could do.

"What are you-" Phe was cut off as Locki's armored hand covered her mouth and nose. Gastly looked at him for a moment before giggling in a high-pitched squeal and sending its poisonous gas through his fingers.

The woman's eyes widened as her body strained under his Curse. Tears began gathering in her eyes as they fell in slow motion across his hand. Even still, Locki kept a firm grip on her as even her slow motion thrashing needed him to focus to hold her steady.

"Stop! Do you want to kill them both?!" The male Vulcan screamed from behind him, and Locki turned to look at it, refreshing the Curse on it.

Locki smiled to himself, feeling the panic settle in for both the Vulcans. "Like I said, Phe and Justin are caught within my magic. I have enough time to deal with you both and then go pick up my charge later."

"You'd be labeled a dark mage for killing a mage!" The Vulcan hurriedly said, but Locki could see a glint of intelligence in its eyes. He sighed internally at the creature's who finally got it.

Out of his vision, Locki felt his Curse's hold over Phe loosen. Its grasp on her weakened considerably as he let her collapse to the floor, and he noticed another creature within his range that he could curse. Without a second to spare, Locki tightened the invisible hand's hold over the Vulcan as it rapidly approached his side.

He braced the instant he knew he misjudged their speed, and the impact sent him reeling as he tumbled head over heels across the room. He wheezed as his back crashed into the wall, sending a spike of pain straight through his body.

Coughing, Locki hurriedly cleared the tears that gathered in his eyes and looked up to refresh his Curse on the male and female Vulcan. His Curse took hold and he did it just in time as the female one had already arrived close to him while the male had taken to starting up whatever magic it could use.

Locki dove out of the way as the female Vulcan's massive fist slammed into the stone wall he had just cracked. A white blur hit the stone, and then the wall gave way with an explosive rush of air. Stone blocks flew outside as a gust of wind met Locki's face through the slits in his faceplate. Gastly's noxious cloud gradually fell out of the large hole in the side of the building, falling down the side like a stream of water.

The teen spared a second glance at the sudden hole in the building, giving him a clue on the scene outside. A shiver went down his spine as he saw the figures of more Vulcans stalking the rooftops of nearby buildings with several of them circling the inn he left Kagura at.

Locki bit his lip as he focused back on the female and male Vulcans who were most likely the leaders of the group. The female had finally shown her true form, and the young guild master could safely say that Vulcans were as ugly as their pictures suggested.

Its height towered over his impressive six foot something, and it was forced to hunch its wide, muscular shoulders away from the ceiling. Eyes that seemed to comically bulge out from its conical skull stared at him with anger and murder.

The Vulcans were vaguely humanoid with long arms that trailed all the way to the ground even if it stood up. However, in this crowded space, those arms could cover a good amount of space for the cramped room. Its thick fingers curled up into fists as its body swayed inside the dwindling cloud of gas.

"Ook, Oah, what are you going to do now, hooman?" the female Vulcan laughed in a deep, grunting voice. It gestured to his Enchanted Rapier that had been knocked out of his hands when he had been hit.

Locki frowned, refreshing his Curse both the Vulcans. The male was still wearing the human mage, and while he was moving slow, the teen could see that its magic was about to be activated.

"NoOo Oah you don't!" The female Vulcan said as it saw his attention, rushing him at a reduced speed.

Despite his Curse, the teen knew he couldn't dodge. He was much too slow, and the Vulcan took up too much space in the room for him to dodge reliably.

As such, Locki sucked in a shallow breath as he watched the Vulcan's massive fist close in on him. Staring at the incoming punch, it looked as if he was staring at a wall of meat the size of his upper body that came at him at a breakneck speed.

"Now!" Locki yelled as the fist hit him. His vision went dark for a second, and he only regained himself when he felt his back collide with a wall. Then, that wall gave way as he suddenly lost the feeling of ground on his feet. He went weightless momentarily before he grabbed the long white fur that coated the Vulcan's arm. Below him, he saw the pieces of the wall shatter as they hit the ground.

"Get o- Oargh! Ahh!" The female Vulcan screamed as Gastly, wielding his Enchanted Rapier in its mouth, rammed Locki's weapon straight through one of its legs. "Get oOff Oah! Ah!"

"No! How dare you!" The male Vulcan yelled from back in the room.

Locki ignored his body yelling at him to stop as he climbed up the struggling Vulcan, pulling himself back into the room. He was forced to hold on tight as Gastly drove the Enchanted Rapier into its other unwounded leg. It thrashed around, swinging its arms to and fro as he struggled to maintain his grip. He rolled awkwardly as he threw himself back into the room from the back of the female Vulcan.

Almost immediately, he hurriedly scrambled backwards as a spear made of stone shot down from the ceiling. Locki ducked as another spear came from the wall, piercing the air where his chest had been.

Hooking one fist back onto the female Vulcan's fur, Locki swung himself out of reach from another row of spears that formed out of the floor. Gastly shot out from where it had been hiding, and the teen grabbed his rapier from the Pokemon's jaws while in the air. He landed right on the back of the female Vulcan right as a row of spears stopped the second before he was hit.

"You fucking bastard…" The male Vulcan glared at him, and Locki could see why.

He had finally placed the point of his weapon at the back of the female Vulcan's head. His legs were wrapped around its large neck with his feet hooking around each other for him to support himself. Locki breathed hard as the female Vulcan wailed silently from its injuries, taking the moment to rest.

"Hoo, this feels like I am the villain here." Locki said between breaths. The male Vulcan sent him a scathing glare.

"W- we ook can talk this out, hooman." The female Vulcan said weakly. "You should understand that we are a tie, so we should instead look for a comp–"

Locki cut it off by plunging the rapier into its head. There was no resistance as it went straight through, and the force of the blow tilted the Vulcan's body enough that it toppled over instantly, slamming its face and the rapier into the floor. The impact jarred the teen as he reel backwards from the sudden movement. He hissed in pain as his injuries from the previous attacks were jostled suddenly.

"W- why… why? We were surrendering…" the male Vulcan faltered at the sudden kill. Locki found that its eyes were empty as it stared at the body of the female Vulcan. "We could've worked this out… why?"

Locki pulled the rapier out, finding it slick with grey matter and blood. Though, its tip remained unbroken. "Do you think I would trust anything you guys say?"

In addition, Locki knew it would be easier to fight one of them instead of two. And since these guys were the leaders, Locki knew that the rest of the pack would panic without their direction, meaning he would have a better time dealing with the rest outside.

"Trust? Yes… trust. Is this the fate of my race?" The male Vulcan looked up at him, and Locki couldn't help but find its emotionless gaze. "Must we Vulcans live like animals? Must we always run from mages? Can we not find love? Can we not find peace? Even this," the Vulcan gestured to its body. "This body gave me the reasoning to find more… and yet, you took it away."

"Gastly, ready your hypnosis or whatever illusions you can do." Locki whispered. He couldn't act just yet since the Vulcan's attention was completely on him, and the young mage worried what the incensed Vulcan would do.

"I think this is the first time I ever hated something in my life." The Vulcan continued. "I am going to break you, human. Then, I am going to capture that girl and rip her apart in fr–"

The second it had looked towards the inn where Kagura was, Locki had thrown his rapier at it. With how close they were, the teen wasn't worried he would hit, and had struck the Vulcan straight in its chest. The blow had lifted the Vulcan in human skin up and nailed it to the floor as it fell down.

"N- not like this…" the Vulcan reached to the handle, grabbing the hilt in its hands. Its grip was weak and the Curse that still afflicted it slowed it down enough that it couldn't remove the weapon. Tears of frustration ran down the Vulcan's face.

Locki's eyes widened as the Vulcan's body lit up with a series of magic circles. Tens of different magics seemed to be activated at the same time as the clear tears that ran down its face turned to blood. Even with Curse still in effect, the Vulcan made them faster through its sacrifice somehow. They were already in motion, and even killing the Vulcan now wouldn't stop them.

Its lips parted as another magic circle formed on its tongue, and Locki was already rushing towards the body of Phe. He grabbed her body and tucked her close to his chest as a sound rattled his eardrums.

"Ah. Ah! AHHH!"

"AH!"

"OOAK!"

"OOHK AHH!"

Locki stumbled as the Vulcan screamed and the pack outside mirrored its roar. The screeches continued as the building rumbled. Without a second of hesitation, Locki ran towards the hole in the wall closest to him.

However, he was a second too late.

"[Stone Make Magic]," the dying Vulcan began, and with its last breath it said, "[Burial Coffin]."

The holes in the wall instantly disappeared as a row of stone spears closed off the opening. Another row of spears criss crossed the last one and the scene kept repeating indefinitely till Locki couldn't see out the hole anymore. He grew a bit desperate as the window to the room shattered as another row of spears tore it apart.

Locki swallowed heavily as he saw the smooth parts of the wall grow conical points that slowly emerged as the tips of stone spears.

"Fuck me…" he cursed as the tips followed him. He idly hoped Kagura had a better time than him right before the onslaught of stone spears shot towards him.