Sagrada church wasn't quite as impressive as Odin had seen in other cathedrals, like Oakland or the Kardia Cathedral in Magnolia, but that made sense honestly. Despite being home to a dark guild, the church in Oak was kept to a high standard by the priests in the town. After all, the guild Phantom Lord had no quarrel that Odin knew of with the church, and potentially even they had some shady deals with the church, which amused Odin to no end. He hadn't met many Phantoms, in fact he only knew of one that had announced it: Shura, and he had certainly been an interesting case. That guild was certainly one of unique individuals, and perhaps not necessarily as evil as everyone made it out to be. After all, Grimoire Heart was the name that struck fear into the hearts of men, not Phantom Lord.

The Kardia Cathedral, on the other hand, was obviously kept in a very elegant condition, as it was situated in a very nice spot in Magnolia. Odin hadn't had the chance to visit the cathedral on his first visit to Magnolia, but he had walked past and definitely witnessed its beauty. The home of the Fairy Tail guild, a guild who again Odin only knew one member: someone on his list of people that would pay, of course a light guild would work with the church and keep the cathedral in good shape. After all, it was good tourism for the town.

Dahlia, on the other hand, worked in its own way. There was no such guild that protected the church, or the town itself. The cemetery of the town was massive, due to the unnaturally high amount of villagers that died every week, potentially every day, but the church itself was kept in rather low condition, probably maintained by a small force of priests at Bishop Santos' behest, but the constant attacks made that task nearly impossible to complete.

Odin stood at the front doors of the church, waiting for his partner Nastasya to catch up. They had both decided to try out the catacombs of this church, as the ones in Oak had proved very fruitful for an adventure, and see what they could find. If they found slimes, or other such creatures like they had before, there was to be a competition to see who could kill the most, something that Odin was very excited by. If he had blood, the idea would have it boiling, as he had a chance to now practice with, as well as show off with, his new abilities and magic. He had a limited number of spells, but also had plans for how to improve, he had just required a target to practice on, something it seemed like he was about to be getting a lot of.

475

She had taken a moment to stare at the church, she looked up at the small little peak it had and had the church in Oak looked a bit broken in the beginning as Yumi had pointed out, it now looked far better and also far more beautiful than the one here in Dahlia. Whose walls looked dirty, with a lot of ivy. Would she have been a mere human that had no power or whatsoever, she would definitely not feel very comfortable looking at this place. But hey only weird people lived here, people that died every single day and so on, so she basically couldn't care.

She frowned shortly, wondering what would be the best approach as she took the last steps to catch up next to Odin. In Oak it had been a shut door that they had opened quickly and had closed behind them to hide in the catacombs that had circled down and gone on and on and split up and the like, a true maze. They still had not checked every route or well not Nastasya perhaps Odin had gone back. Obviously the two of them had not been in the catacombs here for they weren't even a hundred percent sure that there were catacombs, so they couldn't find a door that would lead from outside towards the church, their only way was to go in and find the door or the stairs towards the catacombs from the inside. A far more certain option than walking around the forest and farmlands to find it.

She wondered some more while she walked closer to the door, her hand outstretched to open it. Would the Sagrada Church be more happy to see them enter instead of the church in Oak? Even though Oak should be used to Phantom Lord mages it clearly didn't like people talk about chaotic evil things or perhaps they were hiding. Bishop Santos had worked with her a couple of times, trying to show the outside world that he was a nice guy, which he definitely wasn't. She shook her head a little and within this seconds of lingering, she took the door handle, a big brass round and pulled it towards her and taking steps back to open the door, "We should simply find the entrance to the catacombs." She muttered and looked over her shoulder with a smile before she entered.

Obviously the bishop was there and he turned around to look at them, "Anyway that I can help you two?" He said and for a second Nas doubted he had met Odin before but his eyes didn't speak of surprise, which most people would if you saw a walking skeleton, "Skip the nice behaviour, we are looking for the catacombs." She simply said with a sneer remark.


468

It took only a few minutes for Nastasya to catch up, and upon her arrival she commented on simply finding the door to the catacombs, and not hanging around for too long, something that Odin felt was like unnecessary worry. There was nothing in Dahlia that could truly harm the two mages. The strongest creatures were the lycans and the vampires, and neither of them had any reason to hunt down Odin. Beyond them, there were the villagers, none of whom had any real combat ability, and the Rune Knights within Dahlia were all but passive, not bothering to enforce the law or their position in the town. The law was lazy, the creature's didn't care, there was no one for Odin to fear or concern himself with, not in this town. There were only a few individuals that had caught his attention, those being Adarian and Santos, the two members of the community that paid him. They also both hated each other, but Odin had no reason to care about any of that, more just interested in making each of their lives as hard as possible. Selling weapons to both sides, as it were, and making a profit from the chaos. It kept his life interesting, and it wasn't like he was going to get caught anyway.

As the door opened, a man stood, having no doubt heard their entrance. A man draped in the whites of the priest looked at the two mage's, but his face was hard and cold, despite the friendly words and smile that went with them. It was the Bishop himself, no doubt having been tidying up after a mass when he heard the door open. he asked if there was anything he could help them with, no doubt somewhat surprised that one, potentially two, of his client's had come to his house. Nastasya seemed to know him well too, just like Odin did, as she asked him to drop the niceties and show them where the catacombs were. The smile stayed present on the man's face, as he welcomed the two mages into his church. The moment they were in and the door was closed, he turned to face the two, the smile gone and his face twisted into mild anger as he spoke, with a harsh and commanding voice.

"What kind of fools come into my home at an hour like this. I hired the two of you because I thought you were intelligent beings. Clearly I've been mistaken. What would the fellow priests think, or even the townspeople, if they saw me conversing with a vampire, or a Lich of all things. I'm trying to consolidate power in Dahlia, if you two pose any more threats to that, Dahlia will no longer tolerate your presence."

The skeletal form of Odin remained still and calm, before his voice echoed within the walls of the church, "Forgive us Bishop, we meant no disrespect. We seek to enter the catacombs, and fight the beings that will no doubt plague them." Odin was playing the apologetic game, trying to appease Santos and make him answer their question. Not out of any fear of the man, but because he knew better than to antagonise a client. The Bishop nodded, satisfied at the reaction, and pointed to a door situated behind his altar. "Through there are the stairs down to the catacombs. Do what you wish, but do not come out through this exit. The catacombs themselves are very old, and there are many different exits. Use another them when you leave, and don't return to the church unless I call upon you. Now leave."

Nodding with a slight bow, Odin made his way towards the the door, glimpsing behind him to see what Nastasya would do. As much as his guild mate was a proficient fighter, and gifted in the ways of magic, she wasn't without her faults, and her hotheadedness was not something Odin felt the Bishop would be willing to deal with this late.

1157

She had only wanted to find the catacombs in the fastest way possible and this guy, this idiot Bishop who had used her for the easiest job that there were to be done, thought he could demand her to do things differently if she wanted it. She simply turned her head a little to the side, and with this tilted look stared at the man. If only he looked tasty, she might drink is blood but she would gag probably if she did. Before she could say anything, which was a very good thing, Odins poke and she simply turned her red eyes on her guild mate and thought it perhaps best to shut her mouth. She simply didn't agree with this man and she wouldn't mind if Dahlia was left in a darkness if she simply turned his head away from his body, but she didn't, she remained staring over there.

The fact that they would be able to sort of serve him when needed but that he yelled at them the moment they came to the church, just because she was a vampire and Odin a Lich, really? Because she had noticed by his demeanor that he was familiar with Odin and thus she guessed he would have done some sort of same jobs as she had done. A very interesting concept.
She had to restrain herself from making any comment the moment he pointed out where the catacombs door was, behind the altar. Oh please this guy could have seen this as a favour but instead he only saw it as a problem. She simply rolled her eyes and pointed out her tongue the moment the Bishop wasn't looking anymore. Childish but she felt that it was needed for she couldn't open her mouth and retort at what he had just said. It wasn't satisfying but it was something.


She quickly followed Odin and made sure that Victoire would be inside the next small hallway before she closed the door. It was probably still not smart to say what she thought, so she kept her lips pressed on each other and walked a little towards the middle of the room. It was but a small hall, like a broom closet but a little bigger, no next door. All there was that her bright red eyes could spot was a gaping hole in the ground with a ladder that seemed to be very long, she couldn't even imagine the old man to climb down on this, perhaps that's why it was here. "Well let's get out of here." she said in a sing-a-song voice, which would be marked as sarcasm if only you knew her well. She placed her first foot on one of the wooden steps and the next and lowered herself in the whole. She wondered how to get Victoire down in a second and looked up, "Vic, stand on my shoulders." She wasn't sure if it was the best idea but having her jump down wasn't smart either.

Thankfully, Nastasya herself didn't say anything as the Bishop and Odin conversed, which made is so much easier to appease the bishop and get on with what they had come here to do. After all, they weren't here on business, instead they were here simply passing through to get to the catacombs, that was where the fun would begin. Nastasya walked to the door first, along with Victoire, and opened its wooden frame, revealing a tiny room, barely large enough for a man to fit inside. As Odin looked on, Nastasya began to descend the steps of the ladder that no doubt went down to the catacombs. With Odin's vision, he hadn't been able to spot the ladder itself, but there was a clear difference in the darkness of the floor and the gaping abyss of the passageway that led down underground. She spoke with a kind of singing voice that was clearly sarcasm, but it was quiet enough that the bishop did not notice, as the vampire began climbing down the ladder. She then asked for Victoire to stand on her shoulders, something that was a rather strange choice of ways to get the fox down, but ultimately probably the easiest. The hole itself was far too tight for the fox to fall past Nastasya, and so it was completely dependant on whether or not Odin's partner could handle the weight. Regardless of whether she could or not, her companion got on her shoulders, and the two continued down. Waiting a few moments for her to disappear out of vision, to avoid kicking her as he would be quicker, Odin put his foot on the first rung, and began to make his way down.

It took a few minutes to reach the bottom, and once he did Odin noticed that there was no light present. Nastasya would be able to see without issue, but the dark mage would not without aid, and this time he didn't have the power of fire to create a light for himself. Instead, he had to pick up two rocks he felt on the floor, and moved to what he assumed was a wall. Feeling a torch sconce, Odin took the stones, and struck one against the other, creating a spark that caught onto the wooden torch instantly, giving him a small torch with which to see. There was nothing wrong with the darkness, Odin wasn't afraid of it, but he knew the perils it could sometimes hold, and he'd rather not give them any kind of advantage. Besides, light created shadows, and shadows granted him power. He did, however, make a mental note to create a spell later down the line that would let him see, or somehow detect, movement when his vision wasn't able to locate the enemy. There would be many times that would come in handy, and he wouldn't always be able to rely on a nearby wooden torch and stones he found on the ground. Today he was lucky, but it gave him new ideas. After his thought process concluded, and with his sight retuned, Odin looked around to see where Nastasya had ended up in relation to him, and if she had gone off in the distance by herself or not. It was likely not, as Victoire would probably not be able to see where he was going either, requiring the light that Odin had just built for himself.

1738

There was no other way but to climb down with Victoire on her shoulders, definitely not the best idea and she rather had had a route that would simply go down with normal stairs or circle around like it was a normal pathway that slowly descended but of course not. When Victoire was sure that she could jump, her companion did and Nastasya herself followed quickly. It surely was a lot cleaner down here than she remembered from Oak, she hunched down when she was away from the ladder to see more. There was no dirty slime on the ground, right here there were barely any footsteps or dust at all. It seemed that the Bishop used the catacombs far more often than normal people would. Perhaps there were more things to say about Dahlia than the surface would show, but she wouldn't be very sure about that. It would only take a matter of time before she and Odin would probably figure out more about Dahlia than if they had not visited these catacombs.

She heard Victoire walk back towards the ladder, which would mean that Odin had finished using the ladder and she stood up to turn around and noticed the looks of the walls, old and cracked, with some rusty water lines that kept dripping, great functioning church and all. Apparently the bishop had not been able to fix that. Suddenly she had to close her eyes a little, as she had not been paying attention to what he was doing, she had not noticed that Odin made fire with a wooden torch. Her red eyes quickly changed to the light and she gave a smile before turning around back to the still dark end of the tunnel, "I bet he is hiding something, this place is taken much care off, no dirt, no footprints, no mud, nothing. I am very curious."

As Nastasya spoke, Odin noticed that she was actually right. The walls, the stone flooring, it was surprisingly clean and without dust. Whether it was Santos himself, or perhaps priests that he sent down here, one thing was clear. Santos used this place for more than just the storing of the recently deceased. While it was true that Odin hadn't really spoken to the Bishop much, only have completed a few tasks for him in terms of silencing the usurpers, he had gotten a measure of the man. He didn't do anything out of goodwill: everything was a plot to further his own advances, and consolidate his power in Dahlia. Which meant one thing to Odin, and probably to his partner too. If this place was kept clean, it was not to keep the dead happy and well rested. Only the Bishop and the priests came down here usually, so why had Santos let Odin and Nastasya, two known creatures of darkness and evil-doers, enter the catacombs. What had been his play for allowing the two people, potentially two of the only people that could incriminate him in his shady dealings, to enter a dark chasm that he had left clean. The faint smell of blood and death answered Odin's questions, as he motioned to Nastasya to follow him.

Odin would wander for some time, following the scent of death that Nastasya too no doubt could detect. It was overpowering, but it was different from normal. A normal dead person gave off a rotting smell, showing signs of decomposition and decay, perhaps maybe some indication of how they had died, but usually no more than that. A person killed by a vampire was left with nothing but flesh and bone, all blood sucked out of them, and that gave off the simply smell of blood. Pure, metallic blood. This was none of those things. If anything, this smell was closer to one who was perhaps killed by an animal. A human killed by a bear or wolf usually gave off a mixture of the two smells, with clear extras thrown in the mix. The smell of blood was always prominent, but it was joined by faeces, the smell of innards, more than just simply blood. It was much more disgusting to behold without a doubt, and it was the smell that Odin and potentially Nastasya were currently making their way towards the origin of.

As they walked, Odin noticed the walls change slightly. They were darker, not clean and covered in more blood and gore than the previous walls. Not only was this a new extension to the otherwise standard catacombs, but a great many people had died here, in various different, but horrific ways, and each had been torn apart. Santos had made a point of keeping the area around the catacomb's entrance clean and free from any dirt, but here he either didn't care, or was too scared to clean. As they reached the true origin, everything clicked into place and everything made sense.

Santos occasionally allowed people to enter the catacombs, or perhaps he threw his enemies down. Either way, they would make their way though the darkness, following whatever their senses could pick on, that being this smell. Not recognising the smell, they would simply follow it, and by the time they realised what they were smelling, or why the walls were getting wetter, it would be far too late. This wasn't a catacomb, it was an execution chamber which was why, as Odin turned to enter the chamber itself, he locked eyes with a feral werewolf, one that looked permanently trapped in its wolf form as it gnawed on the bones of whoever the last unfortunate had been to wind up down here. Holding the torch in one hand, it being the only thing to let him properly see beyond a small cylinder of light that came down from a grate linked to the surface, only one sentence escaped Odin's lips as he prepared to fight the beast, trusting that his partner and her companion would not be far behind, and would be able to keep up and aid him in this fight.

"I'm going to kill that damned Bishop one day, and it is not going to be quick."

2462

While she was looking at the other end of the tunnel, something that she couldn't even see with her great night vision, she wondered what could be hidden there, "You met the Bishop as well? I mean he wasn't surprised to see someone like you and I think you have that element of surprise written all over you." She looked towards Odin and narrowing her eyes a little because of the light, but she was already used to it. It wasn't that the idea of visiting the catacombs came from the Bishop, they had obviously not talked about it as she had barely spoken with the Bishop, she hadn't even spoken with him at all as she had only met his priests, she had seen him once but that was it. She wondered if the Bishop was rather happy with their idea of visiting the catacombs, well kept and respectful or so for the dead. She turned her eyes back to the path in front of her but followed Odin when he motioned her to follow him.

She looked at Victoire from time to time who walked beside her but her companion felt and probably smelt it as well, there was the smell of dead and old blood but it didn't smell disgusting. Her companion seemed to take careful steps, one step behind Nastasya so she had her own shield. Nas didn't care, she understood very well that her ninetails had this way of thinking, they had been together for a long time and mostly Vic didn't complain but there were things she didn't like and that were these catacombs as well. Nastasya would have to admit that it gave her an eerie feeling but she wasn't sure what it was, she would just see and shut her mouth for now, as if Odin knew the answers, she would have the better vision even with him in front of her.

She stopped for a second when she noticed that the walls were far more darker than they had been, at first this old creamy yellow colour that had been the mixture of the bone structure of the walls, the rusty patches and so on, she wiped her right index finger over the wall and stared at it, it was old blood, disgusting, even she thought so. She had noticed slightly that Odin had walked on but Victoire was waiting on her as she cleaned her finger by brushing it on her black jeans, that's when she heard something and she turned to look aside. Her long red hair framing her face as she noticed that Odin wasn't in sight, which was strange. So she quickly took the steps to round the corner that would have gone unnoticed if she didn't have the right sight.

Her glowing red eyes turned larger as she noticed the wolf and the light and everything around it, "Of course, the only thread to him to spill his secrets are we. Great." she whispered with a lot of sarcasm put in the last word, "I look forward to sit and watch." she said while she moved her right hand up to her mouth and she bit in the top of her right middle finger. The blood slowly started to twirl out of the little wound she made, bobbling into a hammer, a dagger, and after that shifting into an arrow before remaining in a little unshaped blob of blood.

Just what Odin needed today, the only thing that could possibly make his day more interesting, a day that had already resulted in Odin re-encountering one of his oldest and closest guild mates. This was going to be the last time he wandered into any catacombs, because for god's sake it was never a simple adventure down here. The last two times had resulted in slime creatures, and then a damn manticore, a creature that barely had any reason to exist in the world, let alone be trapped in some catacombs in oak town. And now, of all things, Odin had been sent down to the catacombs once more, not realising that he was being offered up as a damn sacrifice to a hungry lycan in the hopes of silencing him from a corrupt priest, who's only links to shady dealings were the two mages now facing off against his beast. Nastasya joined him, and instantly clocked on to the situation, as Odin expected her too. Santos had simply gone and betrayed the two of them, and now they had to fight a feral beast. His partner bit into herself, forming blood that she could use in her magic, but Odin had no need of such things, instead deciding to use the magical powers already available to him.

He had thrown his torch onto the ground in front of him, which had created many shadows around the lycan, as well as everyone casting their own shadow's, which allowed a great deal of versatility. As the lycan began to move towards the two mages, Odin flicked his hands up into the air, and then brought them down again, as if a conductor working with his orchestra, but it would echo the symphony of the lycan's destruction, as both motions were triggers for his spells. From the rise, two whips of darkness formed from Odin's arms, crashing down into the lycan's back, as the secondary spell was activated to finish the job. The wolf's back had been broken by the crushing force of the two whips that came down upon it but now, from either side of the creature, two waves were fast approaching.

The shadows created by the torch on the walls, had been the perfect source of darkness, and given Odin the ability to form his spells from wherever he desired, and these waves packed a punch. They were razor sharp, and came at the beast from locations where he had no way to detect them. The interesting thing about shadows when fighting one such as this lycan was the simple fact that one was unable to detect shadows through their noses: the detection mechanism that lycans prided themselves on. They could only see, and potentially hear, the darkness, but not dodge it. Not at this speed, and not from hsi blind spots. The battle was over. Together, slicing into the lycan from either side, the waves completely dismembered the beast, leaving two bloody chunks where one beast had been, before it had even been given the chance to do anything.

The next few hours would be a mess of locating an exit, but both Odin and Nastasya would make their way out, and then bid each other farewell. They both had plans to head north, back towards Oak town, so they had plans to travel together, and raze hell. If this beast was anything to go by, hell wouldn't pack much of a punch.

3046/3000

-Exit-

It was good that they had a torch, apart from the fact that Victoire and Odin could see better, it seemed to blind the lycan who had only a tiny bit of light coming from the place above him, she had no time to look what it was in general. Her blood that was like a bubble on the right side of her face was still changing shapes but she simply watched Odin first and see what his new magic would do, she was simply as curious as that.

She couldn't help but smile a little and cross her arms in front of her chest as she simply watched, this would be more fun to watch if it was the bishop but it was a good start. To think that the idiot believed that the two of them would be silenced by just a mere Lycan. She almost felt offended if she cared about it a bit more, it was also that she didn't like Lycans in general but she simply watched and enjoyed this show. Letting the blood blob change into a dagger and let it disappear by throwing it into one of the bloody parts with the movement of her two fingers. It was just to get rid of the spell, "I already look forward to the time that you get the bishop." she muttered as she stared at the bloody chunks, "I don't mind to pay a drink after this." Because that had originally be the plan, now they only had had one enemy but still, it wasn't that big of a deal.

It took what felt like hours before they finally found an exit. She took a deep breath when the cold breeze from outside passed her face and she was glad to have left this stupid catacombs, "The ones in Oak were more fun back then." but it was alright, they were different than now and this Bishop had made a mistake to make them his enemy, "I wish we could see his face when he noticed we aren't dead." was the last thing she said before agreeing to move back up to Oak in a couple of days and she would prepare for that, and headed back to her apartment with Victoire.



Exit.