[h2][center]Terra Infirma Secret Guild Hall, Mountains outside Hargeon Town[/center][/h2]

Jonathan Grimmeld was a very proud man. He was guild master of the second strongest dark guild in the entirety of Fiore and answered only to the guild master of the powerful Dark Legacy, a man most only knew as the Wielder of the Storm. Thanks to that kind of autonomy, his guild’s wealth and influence had only grown, despite the rooting out of several of the lesser dark guilds by the likes of Phoenix Wing and Dragon Fang and, more recently, Wolven Pyre. The latter of the three, he’d been assured, would soon be dealt with though, so he wasn’t overly concerned with them. In fact, he was in the midst of conducting business as usual, interrogating a shop owner who’d suddenly had the spine to refuse to pay protection, when one of his A-Rank members who’d been on perimeter duty came running in. “Boss, we got a problem.”

Jonathan turned with an annoyed grunt and nodded. “I’ll be right out.” Turning back to the shop owner as the mage left the room, who was barely conscious, he smiled darkly. “I’ll be back in a moment to continue our conversation, Mister Oudon. Stay right there.” Turning with a chuckle, he left the interrogation chamber and closed and locked the door on the off chance the beaten man tried to escape. Heading down the hall to the security room, he stood in the doorway, annoyed. “Alright, Angel, what’s going on? Some Light Guild do-gooders stumble into our territory again? That’s hardly a reason for interrupting my fun.” Angel, the green-haired young woman who’d gone and gotten Jonathan from his interrogation, faced her guild master and pointed to one of the camera feeds, where a single man wearing a duster over dusty leather armor, slightly clawed gauntlets on his hands as he looked dead at the source of the camera feed.

Jonathan laughed and grabbed the intercom. “Boys and girls, we have a guest at senser 4 on the east side of the base. Joey, Hannah and Garrom, go say hello to the poor sap.” Three affirmatives answered the intercom and the dark guild master set down the mic. However, Angel still seemed nervous as the man then began walking towards the camera. Jonathan wasn’t worried about it at first, except the man didn’t stroll past when he reached the hidden observation machine’s position, but stared right into it. “Angel, how long did that man stand there for?” The man’s black hair was stirring something in the guild master’s memory, but he couldn’t quite place it yet.

“About ten minutes, boss. Usually most people will come in and move through. Hell, we don’t really see anyone but hunters and such through this sector. But something abou-” Her answer is cut short as the man finally speaks.

[color=0FC3D8]”Jonathan Grimmeld. By now I would hope that whoever you have watching your perimeter has gone and fetched you. Terra Infirma has been found guilty of the practice of participation and solicitation of illegal jobs and using dark magics. By decree of the Magic Council and the Royal Family of Fiore, you are to be given ten minutes to all come out and surrender.”[/color] He grins as he turns around, the mocking words of the three dark mages Jonathan had just sent out coming through, laughing and whooping and telling this man how he’d screwed up real bad by hanging out in Terra Infirma territory. [color=0FC3D8]”But then, I was never really good with time.”[/color] The guild master had no chance to either answer the man or warn his guild members as the duster moved back to reveal twin revolvers and suddenly the man’s identity raced to the front of Jonathan’s mind. Dark Legacy had warned about him, an elite Mage Hunter, the last of his Order,but deadly enough to be a one man hit squad who specialized in hunting dark mages. Knowing the danger his guild was in, the dark guild master did the one thing he could and hit the emergency alarm as the entrance to the hidden guild hall sealed itself shut.

One of the three whom the guild master had sent out, Joey, barely managed to catch the sound due to his Wolfman takeover and suddenly he was concerned. [i]The boss sealing the guild hall over one guy? Wait, but we-[/i] His thought’s cut short as one of the two revolvers comes free of its holster, the sunlight glinting off the light blue metal and a round exits the barrel of the gun, the enchantment engraved upon it glowing brightly. Garrom, a street fighter who’d mastered brawling, was the first target and took the round to his chest. Fortunately, the enchantment kicked in before the bullet entered the body and chains ensnared the man from ankle to chest. As he tumbled to the side, Hannah moved in with a manic grin, unaware of the danger she was in, swinging her favorite magic hammer with wild abandon. Hannah was one of the guild’s S-Class dark mages, her hammer Tuddles acting as a catalyst for her unique version of Crash Magic. While previous examples of the magic had simply caused difficult to repair damage, Hannah’s could turn everything within fifty feet in front of her into a hot mess and anyone caught in the zone of impact would be reduced to little more than messy puddles of what used to pass as people.

However, as Joey moved to flank the man in the duster, his claws bared and the form’s bloodlust taking over, it was clear Hannah wanted to make a smear of the man personally as she didn’t aim for a more general impact to try and catch him, laughing like a lunatic the whole time. It proved a mistake as the man’s footwork matched his aim and marksmanship. She swung from the left, he spun underneath the blow and danced back even as she swung back to try and catch him. Joey lunged at him from his left and the man’s counter attack, a spinning roundhouse kick, caught him in the side of the head and sent him sprawling away from the pair even as he backflipped away from an uppercut from Tuddles and its wielder. [color=0FC3D8]”Miss, I hope you’ve made your peace.”[/color] Joey’s bloodlust and dazed brain barely had time to register what he’d said, but before he could call a warning to Hannah, the man moved in between swings, the barrel of one of his revolvers kissing the bottom of her chin. [color=0FC3D8]”Boom.”[/color] Two shots, two down as Joey struggled to his feet and the man turned to face him, one round from each revolver spent.

“What the fuck was that?!” Joey had never heard of Rune Knights taking a dark mage’s life before and so when he captured Garrom, he figured they were dealing with a member of an elite Rune Knight unit. But watching him end Hannah without a second thought…”What the fuck are you even?! Rune Knights don’t kill anyone!” The man snorted at the comment, taking more of a fighting stance as Joey used his takeover magic to move from a Wolfman to a Snakeman, a rarer and harder to find take over that Joey had spent five years hunting in a country across the sea.

[color=0FC3D8]”Boy, if I was a Rune Knight, your street fighting friend wrapped up in chains would have been more than enough to handle even the best of what I had to offer.”[/color] Striking hard and fast, Joey’s tail moved to knock the man off his feat, but instead, he was hit with intense pain as the end of his Snakeman’s tail flew from the rest of his body, magic energy glowing from the blade mounted under the right hand revolver’s barrel, his body having just finished a cutting motion. Even as the shot forced him back to his human form, he shifted to the Bearman takeover, charging forwards to try and tear his opponent apart with his brute strength and powerful jaws. The duster clad man merely chuckled and dodged around the clumsy charge, two shots resounding from the revolvers as they blew out Joey’s kneecaps. Now the young man was trapped in his human form and couldn’t move anymore. The mage approached slowly as the young man, now panicking as he realized the danger he was in, tried to crawl away. Thoughts flew through his mind unbidden, first of denial, then anger than outrage, and then, as a heavy boot planted itself in his back and stopped his panicked crawling, acceptance. [color=0FC3D8]”Sleep in peace, lad.”[/color] A fifth shot rang out, and one more dark mage found their life snuffed out without their permission.

The man in the duster breathed in deep and glanced at the brawler, who’d given up breaking out of the chains. The man had worn himself out trying and now he could do little more than lay there and pant. [color=0FC3D8]”If you don’t stop trying to get loose, I’ll have to put one in your dick for good measure.”[/color] The dark mage’s response was to flip off the duster wearing man and resume heavy panting. Garrom knew when he was beaten in strength and skill, an important skill to get out of street fighting alive and this man...Garrom didn’t want to pick anymore of a fight than he already had. The man in the duster turned away from the combat area he’d just turned into a slaughterhouse and approached the location he’d marked the dark guild’s members coming in and out of most frequently. It was all of two minutes of feeling around before he found the barely noticeable crevasse that was in the middle of the front doors in the boulder’s face. He could also feel the magic seal that was supposed to keep the door from being forced and that made him smile again. Holstering one his revolvers, he flicked the breach on the other open and replaced a spent bullet casing with a new one, the enchantment glowing brightly.

[color=0FC3D8]”Knock knock, Terra Infirma.”[/color] Firing the round dead center, the doors blasted inwards upon its impact, causing harm to the two dozen dark mages who had expected him to force his way in far more traditionally. Most of them ended up with broken limbs that prevented any further resistance, but the ones who had managed to find their footing by the time the man in the duster passed by found themselves in chains. His method of clearing out the dark guild was fairly standard for the lessons he’d learned growing up, though performing them on his own as he was now made the process take longer than if he’d had a proper squad of three. [color=0FC3D8][i]Ah well, do what you can with what you got, as dad would say…[/i][/color] It was after finishing securing the mess hall he found her, a green haired gal who was attempting to use Song Magic to seduce him and lower his guard. There was no hesitation as the bullet fired from his revolver found its way through her forehead. [color=0FC3D8]”Siren Song magic. That’s both rare AND dark. Take that secret to your grave, soulless wench.”[/color]

The last room he entered was the Guild Master’s hall. It was standard for guild’s associated with the True Patriots alliance he’d found, as those who worked under a trio of powerful dark guilds often benefited greatly from it. As he pushed open the double doors, the sight of Jonathan Grimmeld greeted him, the man’s unique dark air magic flowing around him. “You took your sweet time getting here, Mage Hunter.” The figure in the duster didn’t reply, instead allowing the doors behind him to close as he reloaded both revolvers. There were no non-lethal rounds in the cylinders this time and wouldn’t be unless the man was sure he could afford to capture the Dark Guild Master. “Not in a talking mood? Good, I prefer getting straight to the fun anyways.” Not granting a reply, the pair lunged at each other, the right revolver taking aim….

[hr]

Back in the clearing where the first two Dark Mages had died, the Rune Knights were still pulling out the members of the now disbanded Terra Infirma, the right hand guild to the head of this crazy alliance that Arthas Drenmur had spent the last year and a half hunting. The captain grimaced as what was left of the guild master was brought up and turned to the Mage Hunter. “You couldn't have at least [i]tried[/i] to bring them in alive? These guys knew stuff.” Arthas grunted.

[color=0FC3D8]”He wouldn’t have talked and you know it. Besides, the Dark Air magic did more damage to him than I did, seeing as more powerful spells suck the oxygen out of the body to empower them. I just...finished the job.”[/color] The captain’s sigh was audible within the town itself almost.

“OK, fine, so maybe he wouldn’t have. Still, your job is to-” The mage hunter stopped the captain mid-sentence.

[color=0FC3D8]”My job is to find dark mages and their guilds and deal with them. The methods and techniques used to do so are mine and mine alone to decide, [i]captain.[/i] So do not presume that I am unfit to do anything simply because you lack the spine to do so yourself. Dismissed.”[/color] While it was clear the Mage Hunter’s words had caused a level of irritation within the Rune Knight Captain, he didn’t argue and left to make sure that removing the captured and wounded was done before nightfall. Arthas himself simply sat and watched, taking note of the dark mages who were being cooperative and those who refused to even act like they would cooperate for future reference in his report back to the Magic Council.

Speaking of, as he took a sip of the coffee one of the Knights had given him, he wondered again if he should still send his reports to them. Phoenix Wing had exposed a deep rooted corruption within the old Council and it raised questions about the integrity of such a body. [color=0FC3D8][i]Ach, too much thinking on it. For now, wrap up this assignment and we’ll worry about the rest later.[/i][/color]