It was a lazy morning, mainly because Nastasya didn't like mornings. She wasn't even awake at this time of the day because she would go around most evenings and nights because that's when she felt better. She woke up with a startle as someone was rappidly knocking on her door, "Go away!" she yelled and pulled the blankets over her head because the light was too bright to her eyes. She had not forgotten to pull the curtains but as usual Victoire had jumped on the window seat and sat there with her tail swaying left and right and enjoying the sun. Even though she was a fox and thus had no problem with the night live, the fox seemed to like the daylight as well.

She heard again knocking on the door and pushed her blankets away. It was very good that there was a door between her and the messenger because her eyes would have been able to kill. She yelled again for the messenger to go away, "Miss Oswald, it is a message from Doctor Mabuz." She grumbled unheard words and pulled up the kimono next to her bed and covered her almost naked body because reasons. She opened the door as small as possible and pushed her hand through to get the letter, "Thank you." she muttered before she slammed the door right in the messager's face. She yawned and stared at the note, she opened it with her long nails and stared with a dazed expression at the note. Not really reading what it said. Mabuz. White Claudia. Lucifer.

She threw the letter on the ground and simply climbed back into bed. She whistled and let Victoire nuzzle her and fall asleep again. Though her brain was slowly waking up, thank god she had just drank blood because otherwise that wouldn't happen. She sat up soon after that again. Damnit. A job and it was for the White Claudia. It even mentioned, the note, that there was more money involved this time for it was the last time that Mabuz needed them. She went to lay on the edge of the bed and tried to get the letter of the ground to read the time. In two hours. Fine. No sleep anymore if she wanted to be ready.

She stared at her room, where the clothing was now thrown around. She rolled her eyes around and simply stood up, letting Victoire whine as she threw the blankets over her little white head. She needed to shower after this night and get dressed. That would take some time and if she wanted to be on time, she had no time to sleep a little more. She should deal with it as usual.

Her shower was refreshing and made sure that she felt a little more awake than she did normally at this hour. It was probably also the fresh blood. She made sure her hair was dry before she pulled it up in a high ponytail. After she did that she fixed the make-up. First she used some foundation to cover up the grimoire Heart symbol on the back of her neck, she obviously didn't want someone to see that. After that she fixed the scars around her left eye and her eye lashes and so on. When she was done she went to look for something to wear and came up with a black leather skinny jeans and a dark red crop top.

It was already one and a half hour later and thus she decided to leave. She could wait a little if it was necessary. Together with Victoire she headed to Mabuz his little shop.

Another day, another letter from Doctor Stephan Mabuz, and another request for both Odin and Nastasya to do some deed. And once again it was the White Claudia. Honestly, if it wasn't the for interesting trips the serum always caused the two dark mages to undergo, Odin would have requested something a bit more exciting by now. But this was the last, Mabuz stated as such in his letter, and he was willing to pay out more for this last time. Well, it had better be interesting if this was the last time they'd ever have to deal with the serum. Either way, the pay was good, so there would be no complaints from Odin, as he got out of his bed in the Swineherd Pub and went to wash himself.

Standing in the shower, the water hitting off his face as it ran down his infected body, Odin thought about his life, and what he had done up until that moment. Showering was the only time he felt truly free, as it was the only time he could become engulfed by the water, as he watched it slide down his body, touching his entire torso equally. It was the only thing that did that. Having been infected at birth, Odin's salvation had come at the cost of his torso becoming green up to his shoulders and down to his waist, with cracks all through it. To many, it was a horrific sight, but not to the water, the purest creation which touched everything, no matter what the world thought. It was almost tranquil.

Around an hour later, Odin found himself standing outside of Mabuz's shop for what could be the last time, depending on whether or not the doctor had any other plans for the dark mage. It wouldn't take long before Nastasya and her pet Victoire would join Odin, and they would both enter, Odin choosing not to speak as they went about their mission, the first since he discovered what Nastasya could do as a vampire. Mabuz was his usual self, insufferable and irritating, but a clear scientist, as he brought both the two mages in his employ into the back room, which was once again empty of all things to allow them to complete their task.

This was the third time it had happened, and so no time was wasted y the doctor, who injected the two mages before stepping out of the room, but not before handing Odin a pocket flashlight. He also mentioned that they would have the ability to use their magical abilities to their fullest potential when under the influence of the serum this time, with a sly grin that he always used when knowing something he wasn't planning on telling that would be useful. No matter what it was, there was no time to ask, as the world went black, leaving only Odin, Nastasya and Victoire standing in the darkness, their feet resting on top of metal plates as was the norm under the serum's power. The noise was also still present, even if the sights were not: industrial complex and factory workers busying themselves with the sounds of the factory complex. It took a few seconds before the wailing was heard, causing Odin to turn and use the flashlight he had been given by Mabuz on the darkness, revealing three strange looking humanoid creatures that could easily be described as monstrous. The were coming from three angle, but all in front of the two mages. Holding the flashlight, and stepping back a few steps from the creatures, Odin spoke to his partner.

"Well if I'm holding this, you can take care of the first two. After all, I'm curious as to what you can do."

637/1000

It wasn't a long walk and Nastasya was simply thinking while her eyes fixed on the white fox in front of her. Without really looking and without really seeing, she simply walked through the people on the street as if she was a leaf, swaying from left to right to dodge elbows, bags, bodies and other items. However it wasn't really that necessary, the vampire was carrying herself in such a manner lately that people didn't dare to come to close to her. It wasn't that she had taken the moment to really be a vampire, it was more her anger towards herself, situations and so on. She had a plan, was working on that and well more like that. She didn't agree with her own plan and didn't like it, this made her grumpy.

The walk was too short to really sooth her mind. When she arrived, she simply noticed the odd behaviour of Victoire, running instead of simply continueing to walk, that her lilac eyes went to look up and see what was happening. Vic was simply happy to see Odin. Well it was at least something. She wasn't entirely sure at points what she thought but than again, that happened too much lately, "And here I thought I was early." she said with a soft smile, she didn't mind him to the very least. She trusted him the most of all the Grimoire Members she knew. Meh maybe Yumi. She shrugged as she continued to walk the last few steps and went to the door and through the door.

When she entered together with Odin, Mabuz simply looked up and stood up very hastily, his chair almost dropped. Her sharp eyes scanned the doctor but there was nothing that gave off what was happening. He didn't say anything, he simply beckoned them to come along and so she did. The little white fox again hiding behind her legs as Victoire always did when she didn't trust the situation. It made much sense but she might needed to train the little thing to become stronger and more aware of herself. But for now, that would be another moment.

Mabuz didn't say anything as he walked to the room where they had been before. The last time and the time before that. Though at the first time Nast was without Odin. He didn't talk, he didn't say anything, explain anything or whatsoever as if he was unsure himself but didn't want to show. He hit the syringe in her right upper arm and she stared at him with a hostility that he wanted to avoid. Before anything could happen, before the white claudia would take action, he said he would be watching and handed Odin a flashlight. Which was weird, but than again she didn't need it, she saw perfectly fine in the dark with her vampire skills.

The weird thing was that the last times Nastasya had gone through the white Claudia effect, Victoire had disappeared from her side. It had been the effect of the serum. Everything was going dark and changing back to the old abandoned factory scene and yet the white fox was a beacon in the dark with her fluff tail and hide. Nastasya stared at Victoire in surprise that she was here too and even frowned before she quickly got herself together again and looked around. She noticed that she didn't see any walls, no rooms, no doors, not like last time and her eyes narrowed a little. What was going on? That's when the noises came and Odin turned on the flash light. Even though she had been able to see fine, "I don't need it, but she does." she motioned with her head towards Victoire who was still behind her ankles if you looked from the point of the monsters.

So she would take two and they weren't that far away from her, she bit in one of her fingers to get the blood flowing and turned her hands up, a helix of blood appeared that was 4 meters width and able to hit the two she had her eyes on. The third however came closer to her, split his head open or so and tried to hit her with some acid like stuff. She quickly picked up Victoire and jumped backwards to avoid it, "That looks gross." While Victoire hit one of the monsters with a Icy Wind, Nast prepared for another round. Two slices of her Blood Sword on one gone and one more on the one that was hit by Victoire and they fell down and stayed down. Good enough for her. She turned to see if she needed to hold the flashlight for Odin or if he was able to get Lucifer to fight without the need of the flashlight.

Spells:

As expected from the olive green haired dark mage, Nastasya Crowe did not disappoint. He had never expected to, especially when it came to combat, and especially since she now had some new abilities she had yet to reveal to Odin. And now he got the chance to witness them first hand. Despite this, Odin still wished to challenge his partner in a sparring match, as they had done previously with Black, to make himself stronger. After all, it was one thing to watch someone fight, it was a completely different thing to understand their new abilities through combat. Besides, Odin had defeated Nastasya and Black once before, but that was when his partner had only used Shadow magic, which was now almost a long forgotten memory. She had new abilities, like being soundless and stronger when the sun was down, and the sky was dark, as well as her new Blood magic. These were things that Odin wanted to test out, as well as see how he measured up to his partner's new power.

But Nastasya showed him that she could certainly hold her own in a fight, as she went after two of the three creatures, or more that they came after her. She who didn't need the use of the flashlight to see, quickly attacking the two fleshy creatures with the help Victoire, using her new blood powers to dispatch them both. It was interesting for Odin to note that Nastasya needed to create the blood first before she fought, as she bit into her wrist to cause the blood to flow, before shaping it into what she required, in this case being a double helix and some blades, which she used to attack the two monsters. It was almost poetic, with one monster fighting another, but it did leave Odin to have to fight one of his own, and it didn't seem like that Nastasya had completely finished off her own foes, despite how weakened they now were. That meant it was up to Odin to completely finish them off this time, something he was more than happy to do. But first, he had his own to worry about, as it spat acid from its face. Not from its mouth, as was expected, no. Its entire face split in two and from the middle of the slit came a jet of acid, aimed straight for Odin. The dark mage decided not to dodge it, instead taking the brunt of the damage. However, it was not going to be him that took the damage.

Standing where the young mage had been, where the acid hit, was now a demon, a demon that felt no such harm as the acidic stream hit him. Sure, it was an annoying sensation that would have melted any organic flesh no doubt, but fire and brimstone were most certainly not organic, and that was what created most of the skin of the demon prince of darkness. Nastasya was a monster fighting other monsters, now it was time for the demon to show his strength.

The monster ran at him, and doing so it sealed its own fate, as it ran straight into a punch from Lucifer, as it connected its fist with the monster's face, before sending three more quick jabs to its body, and finishing up by placing a hand on its chest, and firing out a stream of hellish fire straight through, puncturing a hole in the creature's flesh as it went straight through, incinerating the beast as it fell to the ground, charred and impaled. That was one defeated, and now there only remained two more, both of which were almost dead as it was, and only requiring a small amount of damage.

As the first creature fell, the world around Odin started to change. It no longer showed black nothingness, it began to show images, images of a young Odin and his father, along with someone else who he didn't recognise. A woman that could only have been his mother. Odin saw himself, his younger self, become overtaken by the demon and lash out, slashing at his mother's throat and burning her, laughing as she screamed, a horrifying sight and one that Odin didn't know the reality of. He couldn't remember his mother, as she had died before he could have remembered her, and his father had never spoken about her. Had Odin killed her in a fit of rage, or had she just left him when he was younger. Was this truth or a fabrication by the serum, Odin had no way of knowing, but he had to finish the job no matter what.

Dashing towards the first of the downed enemies, Odin quickly dispatched the first with three punches, not letting it even stand, before activating two more spells to deal with the first. The first spell covered Odin in flames, which damaged the final enemy as it struck Odin , before the final spell sent out a fireball from Odin's palm, once again at point blank range. With two more punches, the final creature was defeated, which meant there was more to look at, as the room once again contorted and twisted to show another terrible sight, this time based on both Nastasya and Odin, as those final two had been defeated by the two together, combining their powers, and so giving a dual fear.

1546/2000

Spells Used:

She had accidentally not defeated the two creatures. Not outloud she cursed herself for her overconfidence, she should have checked. Even though the acid was oozing out of their heads, it didn't matter, she had turned to look to Odin to see if he needed help for the light. She doubted it but it was good to check if you were with two or actually three as Victoire was there as well. She shortly gazed at the fox that was at her heels to make sure her lovely companion wasn't hurt or anything else. She seemed fine and maybe a bit content with the damage that she did. She was alright with the fact that Victoire was trying, the little fox wasn't really a coward but she wasn't very brave either.

There was a moment, when she looked at Odin, whom defeated the third creature, that he seemed to freeze. Seemed to see things and she only looked left and right to understand what was going on but she didn't see anything, so it was a plain guess that what happened before: the fears that showed up, were there again. There must be something Odin was seeing as if it was like the doors they had opened on their last adventure. Which was also about the White Claudia liquid, this was something she could have expected. Odin didn't stay long in the freeze formation, it was a matter of seconds but long enough for Nasty to spot it. That's when he came back into action and finished the two creatures behind her. Which brought her to her cursing in mind and so on. And when the world started to shift and shape in the way she expected like before. It came because of the killing of the creatures, it was good for her she saw Odin in the dazed mood a few seconds ago, so she could put the things together.

It was like the first door they had opened together, only they weren't crusified but they were being tortured, on the exact ways that their non-human sides couldn't take. She felt like gagging about the looks of her own body, with dislocated bones and her fangs were definitely dripping in her own blood because she seemed to be coughing blood. She couldn't even look at what was happening to Odin, the vision of herself, betrayed by herself or Grimoire Heart, seemed to get worse and worse.

The real Nastasya couldn't actually get her eyes of the imagined version but she looked left and right to see if Icarus was here and as he was, he looked her right in her lilac eyes and grinned. As if this was no dream and she stared at her body and the blood and she felt again like gagging as if she changed places with the things in front of her, she could only see the eyes of Icarus on her and she felt like she was dying.

Not much later she felt a hard slap on her right cheek and she blinked, no one had been close enough to her to hit her but she felt the tingling in her cheek and some scratching at her left leg. She first looked at Victoire, standing on the left side of her. It was Mabuz that had hit her and she rubbed her right cheek with her hand as she stared at him in anger. Of course, dream. Whatever. However when she was over that of.. well shock she stared at the creatures around her, Mabuz, Victoire and Odin. They had been real. Mabuz woke up Odin and he kept laughing and gave her the jewels and was still laughing, "Goodbye." she muttered because she wanted to leave this crazy man as soon as possible.

Dispatching the other two creatures caused both Odin and Nastasya to experience the visions like the ones Odin had previously just experienced about his mother and her apparent death. Whatever Odin's vision had shown him, whether it was the truth or just a falsehood, it had been created by his mind, his subconscious, which meant a few things, a few very important things. For one, Odin not knew that he had met his mother, and his memories weren't completely gone. Somewhere, inside his head, he knew and remembered his mother, how she looked and how she acted. The White Claudia may have shown him horrific images of him killing a woman, but now he at least knew who that woman was, or had been, in his life.

This new vision was similar to the one from the previous White Claudia elixir, the door that had shown Nastasya and Odin being crucified by townspeople, as well as Icarus being present, watching and smiling as they were brutalised. Whatever the message behind that vision had been, it was returning to haut the two again. This time, however, they were not being crucified in the middle of Oak town. This time, they were in a small room, surrounded by only a few people, as they were strung up and shackled against the wall, before being hurt in the ways that they could be, from Nastasya being burned by the sunlight, and blood, her own blood, dripping from her fangs. Odin was being tortured in a much less unique way, with a big bruiser of a man towering over him, the man's knuckles fists wrapped in now blood soaked bandages, the blood no doubt having come from the burst lip, broken jaw and black eye that now disfigured Odin's face. It was the one perk of being a normal human being, was that he could expect any kind of torture that came his way, but this was not something he wished to watch any longer. In looking away from his broken body, Odin's eyes followed the same path as Nastasya's, who locked on to a man hiding in the shadows, a man they both recognised instantly, even with the shadows hiding him from the rest of the people in the room. Icarus, the second-in-command of Grimoire Heart, after the hidden master that no one had had any contact with, not even Yumi, who had been in the guild for the longest time compared to all the others members.

A sudden, stinging sensation hit Odin, and he was back in the room in Mabuz's shop, a few seconds before Nastasya herself was slapped back into reality. Scanning the room, making sure he was now truly back in reality, Odin couldn't help but sharply inhale as he noticed the three forms slumped on the ground, deceased creatures that had just been dispatched by the two dark mages. Looking at Mabuz for answers, the man simply laughed, and paid the two mages for their work. Taking his money, Odin left shortly after his comrade did, both intrigued by the serum and annoyed at Mabuz's lack of trust.

2077/2000

-Exit-