Akira was tasked with the job of taking the conman to the Rune Knights headquarters. 'What a drag...' she muttered as she clasped the cuffs onto the man and hoisted him off the floor. The entire journey to the headquarters, he filled her ears with annoying pleading. Trying to get her to be merciful because technically he'd returned the money to Batra. 'That's what you got caught for, you can't expect me to believe it is your only crime...'  she muttered, hoping it'd shut him up. It didn't of course, it only made him swear it was the only time he pulled something like this. She ignored him and added 'Looks like I'll be getting that badge you so wanted to see, I'll show you when you're behind bars.' she chuckled to herself.

Upon reaching the Rune Knight's Crocus office, she was glad to get rid of the whiny conman, who was taken into custody by some officers on duty. Following that she went on to complete some paperwork to retrieve this badge thing. She held the badge in her hand. Staring at her distorted reflection in the pristine metal that adorned it, the navy blue leather. 'So this makes it official huh?' she said softly to herself, sighing. Now, time to wait for Tsuru to join her and then maybe they'd find some more information about the rumors.

A very worried looking lanky man, was waiting on the benches, he'd stop every Rune Knight he laid eyes on and all of them reacted similarly, by laughing and brushing off his concerns, only to walk away. Akira was intrigued to find out what the guy wanted, wondering if he had some intel that the junior's here didn't believe... Nonetheless, she was too lazy to approach him herself. S  was sure Tsuru would, when he got here anyway...

306/4275

Haru walked back to the headquarters as quickly as possible after giving Batra his money. He hoped Akira had gotten her badge and the two can get to the actual investigation. Even with the badge, the security at the gates did a thorough check before letting him in and they seemed extremely tense. Haru wanted to ask them if they knew anything, but remembered the other guard’s warning; so, he kept quiet. Once inside, he made his way towards the registration desk. If Akira was to get her badge, that’s where she would be. On the way, he saw an old meek man stand on the side of the corridor and stop every Rune Knight he laid his eyes on. Haru was still quite far from him and he saw the man stop a bearded Rune Knight and plead something. The Rune Knight didn’t utter a single word; he laughed, brushed him off and kept walking. Haru couldn’t believe his eyes. This was the Rune Knight HQ and people were so irresponsible and lethargic towards the commoners? He couldn’t have it. He rushed to the pleading man and tried to calm him down. “Sir, please calm down. Tell me what’s wrong,” he said.

The old man’s eyes widened in surprise and relief. “Oh thank god! Someone is willing to listen to me. Please! You must help. My master is missing. He has been gone for more than two days and we don’t have any information on where he is,” the old man said. The bearded Rune Knight who had walked past, came back to give Haru free advice. “Kid! Are you new here? Listen to me. His master is the noble, Ser Jackson. Man is a player. Keeps going missing once in a while, only to return with a mistress who he will get bored of in a week. Don’t waste your time and go do something useful,” he said, before leaving. Haru turned to the old man, who began sobbing hearing those comments. “Is this true?” Haru asked. The old man nodded, but spoke up loudly all of a sudden. “It is true he has many mistresses. But he has never left the town without telling me. Never!” he said, and his sob turned to wails. All the crying had attracted quite the attention, and Haru looked around awkwardly. He spotted Akira a few feet away and looked at her pleadingly. After being with him for so long, she was sure to know what would follow.

417/3600

Having spotted Tsuru, she sighed, she'd gotten quite comfortable on the bench and now she had to get up and move towards him. He didn't make a bee-line for her. As she had expected, he went to aid that lanky fellow. She lurked about, with a disinterested look on her face, while she naturally eavesdropped on the conversation. So he'd lost his master, this meant they were going to be looking for some noble, only those guys had people calling them master. Her interest in the task waned some more. But when the Rune Knight who had just left the lanky man before, made the effort to return to him and Tsuru to shed some more light on the character of this noble, Akira's mild concern plummeted to depths, beyond retrieval.

Tsuru still wanted to help... He turned to her with his trademark puppy-dog face, compelling her to roll her eyes, mechanically. She was a little surprised and had made the mistake of hoping he'd be a little more reserved with someone who was so flippant with their marriage. But maybe Tsuru wasn't the judgemental sort. Interesting. In all fairness, she wasn't big on marital rules either she just rarely felt the need to go out of the way to aid people, especially not the rich sleazy kinds. Nonetheless, to humor her partner, she strolled towards them. 'Seriously though, maybe he's with this lanky fellow's relative... or something and so didn't tell him?' she asked, mockingly trying to be soft enough so that it was only for her partner's ears, as Akira attempted to dissuade the healer. But maybe just her look of disregard was enough to make the lanky man wail.

No... He'd heard her. 'In that case, all the more reason we find him...' he said his eyes widening at the possibility as he pleaded for them to reconsider. She just raised her eyebrow, this noble had to be pretty shitty to have this guy so easily take her suggestion... She just waited for Tsuru's final decision, it was easier leaving such things to him. Akira had a feeling she knew they'd be on their way to find this noble soon.

699/4275

As his partner walked up to him with a resigned expression, Haru tried to console the wailing old ma. “Come on! Stop crying already. Look… My partner is coming. She and I will find your master, okay?” he said, again committing to something before asking her. As much as he hated Akira’s pessimism, even he couldn’t help but wonder if her theory was right this time around. He turned to the old man and asked as tactfully as possible. “Umm… Mister… Er… You have a daughter or someone young in your family that your master showed interest in?” he asked, hoping the man doesn’t get violent. Lucky for the duo, he didn’t. Instead, he pondered for a moment and then shook his head half sad, half relieved. “No! The master was very kind and decent with my family’s women,” he said. “But you never know with him,” he added. Haru shook his head in disbelief.

“Alright! Go back home. We’ll see what we can do and contact you if we find any reliable information,” he said to the man, convincing him to leave the HQ and not bother any more of the Rune Knights. Of course, he didn’t say that just to get rid of him; he actually planned to go search for the noble. The old man gave Haru a picture of the noble before leaving. “Looks like we are looking for a handsome blonde,” he said, handing the picture to Akira. “Who knows? Maybe this is related to that mysterious attack? They always go for the nobility,” he added, trying to convince Akira not to dismiss the mission.

687/3600

She witnessed the discussion between Tsuru and the man, it was hilarious to see him defend his master and yet show such distrust towards the noble at the same time. The only annoyance was his cranky tone. Akira didn't really care to say much, she let Tsuru handle the interaction. But her partner dismissed the man with reassurances, the lanky guy just thanked him profusely and was out of sight, probably eager to go back to his home and count the women of the household nonetheless.

By the time Aki realized that Tsuru only had the man's picture it was too late. 'I'm guessing you don't plan on actually following through?' she assumed but asked because her assumption felt a little unlikely, given everything she knew about Tsuru and all their previous interactions and missions. 'Wait a minute...' she said after he responded in a way that tore through her assumption. 'Then why the hell did you settle for only a picture? We could have used him for getting a better lead?' she complained.

Rolling her eyes she snatched the picture out of her partner's hand. 'At least he's notorious, the whole town seems to know of his... inclinations.' She said, wondering if the wife knew too and just stuck around because he was a piece of royalty, in which case it was on her and she couldn't really empathize. 'Someone would have probably seen him.' she groaned. Trotting on out of the headquarters with Tsuru at her heels.

918/4275

Haru scratched his head and grinned when his partner asked why he sent the old man away before getting more information. “Well… The guy didn’t seem to be in any shape to give us more information anyway,” he said, trying to cover up for his error. However, he was sure Akira would catch on to his silly attempt. He was worried she might use that as an excuse to skip searching for the noble, but was relieved when Akira chose to let it go and look for other leads. “Let’s try the- Er...” he started, but stopped midway. He wanted to say ‘brothels’, but realized Akira was much younger than him. So, he chose to pick a different location to investigate. “Yeah… The jewellery shop. It’s highly likely he showered women with pretty things, considering he is rich,” Haru said, following Akira as she made her way out of the HQ.

If she agreed with his strategy, Haru would ask the gate guard the location of the most famous jewellery shop in town and begin walking towards it. “I’m sure we will find him,” he said, more to himself than to Akira, worried that they might be wasting their time. When they reached the shop, Haru, would open the door and let Akira enter first, before following.

The place was huge. With walls and pillars covered with mirrors, Haru saw nothing but shiny stuff no matter where he turned. A young and beautiful redhead invited them in. “Welcome!” she said. Looking at Akira first, and then at Haru, she gave a knowing smile and eagerly took them towards one side of the shop. “You two look so lovely together. We got the best thing here for couples. Come take a look. And you are lucky you came today. It is our owner’s birthday and he had put up fifty percent discount on every piece… Including the latest stock,” she said, her eyes gleaming with the prospect of luring the two into buying expensive jewellery. Haru’s face flushed. He was usually quick at denying things, but this time, all he could come up with was “Er…”

1042/3600

'Right.' is all she mustered as a response to his excuse. She wondered what he was going to suggest before it seemed like his thought was stolen away. Akira's frowned deepened. 'What? Where?' she prodded, her eyes glancing at his face earnestly. When he suggested the jewelry shop, she was wondering why he hesitated. His logic was sound though, so she just muttered her agreement. 'Right, that is likely...' she nodded, surprised at Tsuru's knack for coming up with a rather eloquent solution, especially considering it required him to analyze the alleged mechanics of this lost noble's vice.

He stopped by the large gates to ask about the shop. The familiar Rune Knight franchise brought back memories of Baska, although this gatekeeper was sure way friendlier than the one in that town. Once Tsuru had collected the information, she followed his lead, reminiscing about how far they'd come, despite assuming the rival stance, it was safe to say the two had grown on each other. Just to test her theory of his tolerance, she plucked out her cigarette lit it and mostly chewed on the butt.

Upon finally reaching the grandiose shop, Akira stretched. 'Glittery stones worth millions, what a waste...' she said as they made their way through. They were greeted by a woman who seemed really eager to her his wares, she wondered if there was a chance she was a con artist too like the guy she'd caught earlier. Then he went on to label them a couple... What! Not another guy. She cleared her throat. But decided not to confirm or deny the statement this time, it just... didn't need to be done? She just didn't feel strongly enough to fight the assumption, maybe it was laziness. 'We're looking for this... guy.' she said offering the picture, while she avoided her partner's eyes briefly, she wasn't sure why. The woman's face soured. 'Oh! that sleazebag! He had the nerve to buy a pretty bracelet from me, next day I saw it on my sister's hand!' she exclaimed. 'It was worse than seeing handcuffs I tell you!' she added dramatically.

Akira suppressed her grin. 'Any idea where he might be now?' she asked, now clearing her throat like Tsuru. 'My sources said he was buying a really expensive painting from the famous Galleria Tour, they're on display in the Artisan's building for... another day I think?' she said scratching her head. 'Why do you ask?' she asked curiously, betraying her gossip-monger instincts. When Akira didn't respond but dully thanked her, and made her way out, waiting for Tsuru to follow, who had kept to himself mostly, maybe he'd thank the manager better than she had... Was he upset that woman thought the Rune Knight's were together? Did he want to hit on her or something? Aki wondered, somehow that thought irked her.

1393/4275

With the lady going on and on about the two Rune Knights being together and how lovely it would be if they bought matching jewellery, Haru’s face was becoming as red as his hair. The young man froze and completely blanked out. He turned to see Akira’s reaction and was slightly disappointed that it had no effect on her. She was neither upset nor embarrassed; instead, she went on with the quest. At least, her interruption meant the woman stopped trying to sell them shiny things. Haru just tip-toed around the shop, eyeing the beautiful rings and bracelets while Akira did all the job. It was funny because it was usually Haru who did the talking while Akira lurked around. For once, it was the opposite and the boy was grateful. He probably wouldn’t have been able to say a word anyway.

As he was lost admiring the beauty and expert craftmanship on some of the displayed jewels, Haru had completely lost track of the conversation between Akira and the store manager. It wasn’t until he heard the main door open that he realized his partner was already on the way out. He quickly turned to the manager and bowed slightly. “Thank you for your time,” he said, wondering if she gave any useful information at all. “Are you really going to leave without buying the lady anything?” the manager asked, making it sound like blasphemy. Haru blinked and almost fell for it, but then he realized he didn’t have enough money to buy anything in there even if he wanted to. So, he had no choice but to leave.

Once outside, he caught up to Akira and asked for the essentials she gleaned out of the jewellery lady. When she tells him, he would walk towards the gallery with rejuvenated energy.

1344/3600

'He was seen last scouting for paintings for some woman.' she said, finally looking up at him and noticing the gentle flush on his skin. 'You o-' she shook her head. 'Nevermind.' she muttered. 'This noble better have some information... Otherwise, this is such an awkward request.' Momentarily after leaving the jewelry shop, the girl paused to get some information about the exact location of this Artisan building. The slightly inebriated man offered her the directions. 'I don't exactly trust him, but I guess I'll just have to confirm with another.' she explained.

The dropping sun cast long shadows. The girl spotted a lady in the distance... Within a fenced area. Akira hoisted her arms over the grill, as she spoke to the lady who was sweeping dry leaves from her courtyard garden. 'Miss you're going the right way, it is the next left... But I must tell you, it'll probably be closed by now.' she warned. Aki just smiled and nodded, thanking the lady before she continued on, which was uncharacteristic of the girl.

It felt like something awkward had grown between the Rune Knight duo. Usually, she found the silence comforting, but today it gnawed at her. 'Guess the drunk man didn't lead us astray.' She said, redundantly and then tried to bury the feeling, ignore it somehow and stick to the work, for the time being. Upon taking the next left, they found themselves in front of a tall building. Just a few lights dotted the edifice. A watchman dozed in his little cabin, it made Akira scoff. 'Mind waking that guy up and showing him the picture?' she asked, giving the photo back to her partner. 'Ask him if the place is still open for business or not too...'

Having shirked the responsibility of having to interact with yet another person, she allowed herself to succumb to the blurry thoughts in her head. They didn't make much sense, just a cloud of mixed emotions. In her slightly lost state, she ended up accidentally taking a real puff of her cigarette, immediately bursting into a fit of coughing and sputtering.

1746/4275

After getting directions from the drunk lad, the walk towards their destination was very silent. Usually, Haru had one thing or another to say, but that day, even he was lost in thoughts. He had too many things in his head; from the horrific rumours, to the lost nobility, and then his weird unexplainable feelings towards the idea of a romantic relationship with Akira. Sometimes, the young redhead missed the days he had a month ago, when he woke up on a shore without a single memory. He was confused and wished he knew who he was; however, he was truly happy. No memories meant he had nothing to worry about. Now that he had accumulated memories and was developing relationships, the usual human inconsistencies started to surface.

Lost in thought, the boy almost bumped into Akira when she stopped to ask the lady for directions. Apparently, they had been going the right way; Haru was relieved. For some reason, watching the big ball of fire slowly slide down to give way for the twinkling stars pulled him back to reality; it reminded him that time stops for no one and he must not waste the present worrying. With that thought filling his head, the boy was back to his old self quickly. His trademark grin reappeared and his slow monotonous walk got peppier. He readily agreed to go talk to the sleeping guard and took the picture from Akira. He hadn’t taken even two steps when he heard his partner cough and he quickly turned back to see if she was okay. “Hey… Are you okay?” he asked, looking at her through the thick smoke she just breathed out. As the smoke cleared out, her crunched up face came into view. He smiled at her with an amused look, wondering how come someone who smoked practically the entire day was gagging over a little puff. After confirming that she was okay, he would give her a short laugh, shake his head and walk towards the guard.

The cough had stirred up the guard, but he simply groaned and went back to sleep. Haru approached him and cleared his throat loudly to wake him up. When that didn’t work, he tapped the man’s shoulder. And when even that didn’t work, he knelt beside the guy, put his mouth extremely close to the sleeping guard’s ears and screamed at the top of his voice. “LOOK IT’S A UNICORN!” Haru hated those who shirked off their duty and he felt no guilt doing this. Although, he probably ruined his chances of getting any information out of this guy. When the guard woke up with a start and fell of his chair, the redhead Rune Knight simply dangled the picture in front of his face and spoke with a bored expression. “Seen this guy around?” Akira was definitely rubbing off on Haru and she would probably need to come save the situation.

1833/3600

His face came into view as she bucked while coughing. 'Yeah... yeah I'm fine.' she said, between a few more episodes of sputters. She waved him away after heaving a few long breaths to stop the ashy feeling in her throat from getting the better of her. If this wasn't the best way to ward people of, she'd never touch another cigarette in her life. It was nice of her partner to stick around while she caught her breath, but she continued waving Trsuru away and relentlessly reassuring the guy that she was fine.

Finally, as she truly was back to normal, he left her to bother with the guard, his tactics now... had induced a fit of giggles. She chortled away, shamelessly, grabbing onto her belly. 'Unicorn...' she echoed. 'Classic Tsuru... Thinking of pretty magical beings, even while being an annoying piece of crap.' she said playfully, trying hard to recover for the second time. Finally, her laughter subsided, and she whined about having stitches in her side. Since Tsuru had annoyed the guard, he probably wouldn't cooperate, but Akira didn't have time for that. It was time to play the bad cop.

She sauntered over to his cabin. 'Spit out anything you know about the man.' she said flashing her freshly minted badge. 'Or we'll report you were sleeping on the job and dreaming of unicorns.' mentioning unicorns almost broke her controlled facade, she cracked a smile and hoped it could pass off as wicked. The guard groaned. 'Other than his habits which the whole town knows off... Nothing.' he said, with a sour face. 'Think harder, has he been around here?' Akira snapped at the man.

'Umm... Oh yeah! A day or two ago... He came in, almost at closing time, I think he had plans for some shady deals with one of the artists.' He explained rubbing the back of his head. Akira went onto ask about what time the noble left. 'Er... I didn't see him leave. never left... But I... I was at the end of my shift.' he said, with too much hesitance. 'Or you were sleeping and missed him getting out! You lil nitwit.' Aki admonished. A sixteen year old trying to pull this on a disgruntled man sure appeared funny. 'Well whatever, we need you to unlock the doors for us, so we can investigate inside... or else...' she warned menacingly.

He scurried of off his chair and lead them to the main door of the building.  'It is closed to the public now, only a few artists working, can only be opened from the inside unless you have one of these...' he explained, showing off his set of keys.

2195/4275

For a moment, Haru himself couldn’t believe what he had done. But the most fearsome part was that he liked it and was laughing along with Akira. The guard gave him a nasty look, especially because he was annoyed at the fact that he was humiliated in front of a girl. Haru simply stared back at him with a smirk. He had finally learnt when and when not to treat people nicely. Thanks to Akira stepping in, he didn’t have to threaten the guy into giving the information too.

Showing the badge and threatening to reveal his sleep schedule did the trick. The duo was inside the campus with the guard dangling the inner door’s keys in front of them. “We’ll take that, thank you!” Haru said, extending his hand and gesturing the guard to hand over the keys. The man hesitated for a moment, but when he saw Haru cock his head and raise his eyebrows, he caved and gave the keys. The redhead let out a snort of laughter, shook his head, and walked up to the door.

Unfortunately, however, his little joke on the guard had alerted the ‘artists’ inside. They saw the two Rune Knights approach the door through the first floor windows and prepared themselves. Haru opened the door and found nothing but pitch-darkness ahead. “This is unnatural. The sun has not set completely yet. And with these many glass windows, it shouldn’t be this dark in here,” he said, holding a hand out to stop Akira from entering. “Be careful. I don’t think there are just artists in there,” he said, stepping into the building carefully and trying to find the switch board on the wall next to them. After few seconds, he felt the bumps of the switchboard and he pressed every button he found. He could see the lights come on, but the light they emitted immediately was sucked into the darkness, making it completely dark again. That was confirmation enough that there was magic involved in there. “Did you see that?” he asked Akira, turning to see if she was still safe.

2184/3600

This darkness was unnatural, Tsuru had hit the hammer on the nail with that description. 'Shh...' she beseeched softly, being noisy was just going to attract the assailants straight to them. She covered her eyes and uncovered them, giving her a medium to be able to see through the darkness. 'Shhhh...' the sound from her lips was more earnest this time, in response to him stating that he doubted the presence of innocent artists. She saw nothing around them, but she did see 3 people above them... No four. The noble was the fourth she noticed. He was tied to a chair... Two out of the three stood outside a door the room and the last was in the room with the tied up sleazebag, leaning against the door. She froze, in fear... While she was ashamed of it, these guys didn't look like the kinds the Rune Knight duo should be messing with, plus they were outnumbered, and this was no normal rescue mission.

'Shit Tsuru.' she hissed, but meanwhile, he had gone ahead and flicked some buttons, to try and illuminate the room. That was exactly what they were expecting. 'No don-' but before she could warn him again, the light flashed in her eyes, destroying her lens. 'No no no... There is something very very wrong going on here.' she said, her voice a little shaky, a small squeak escaping through her whispers. Before she had the chance to explain, a soft swoosh sound from above attracted her attention. 'We're done for.' she whispered and on cue, three figures fell from above them, landing gracefully between the Rune Knights. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, which happened fairly fast, she noticed more things. They were in a triangular formation, one of them faced Akira while the other two stared down at Tsuru, at an angle.  The one facing Akira was a woman, she is the one who taunted first. 'Well well well, what have we here? For your sake, we hope you've just come to try to steal some worthless painting or something.' the woman cooed.

Akira gulped and risked glancing at Tsuru, between the people. If they had a chance, they'd have to stick together. She considered using Disperse but it was her trump card, should they end up captured and tied too... She wracked her brain for something better. Her targets... they were all so close together. In a split second, she made a decision holding out a hand in front of her and wobbling it in a jittery manner. They couldn't see her disk in all the darkness, but it worked, they all tripped and bumped into each other, she used the distraction to shove through them and reach Tsuru's side. 'Noble, above us.' she said instinctively and regretted it the moment she uttered the information. Had she kept it from him, maybe they'd find a way to leave unscathed, now she knew he'd stay here and fight...

2690/4275

Haru had no idea why he was being shushed, but he believed Akira had a plan. After all, darkness was her forte. He saw her look around in the darkness, like it made sense to her. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the dark lens glazing over her eyes and guessed that enabled her to see things in darkness. The news she gave him was not good; he had never seen her panic before and her reactions to what she was seeing only made him more anxious than he already was. He wanted to hiss and ask for more information, but did not want her shush him again. So, he kept quiet.

To make things worse, his attempt at switching on the lights backfired and destroyed Akira’s lens. She really needs to talk to me about her abilities if we hope to do things together, he thought to himself, but decided not to have that argument right then. Every time his partner spoke, she only made it clear that they were in deep trouble, but did not give any more information. Haru’s anxiety peaked and he was about to yell, taunting their opponents to show themselves. But before he could, he felt a sudden rush of air, indicating that someone had dashed past him. And just as he thought, in the blink of an eye, three people had appeared between him and Akira.

It appeared the trio had mistaken them to be common burglars and Haru wasn’t sure if he should play along or deny it. If these people were genuinely guarding the precious paintings, he thought it would be wise to clarify their position. But then, he wondered why they would hope they were here to steal paintings. His puzzlement was quickly resolved by Akira’s intel. The noble was here, and these guys were his captors. “Stand down! We are Rune Knights and we are here to rescue Ser Jackson. If you come quietly, I will personally request for least punishment,” he said. After all, he was still Haru and that straightforward optimism wasn’t going disappear. Haru was naïve enough to think his partner’s tripping technique would keep them down forever. The instant the three kidnappers bumped into each other, they all turned into a misty darkness and vanished into the darkness. “Hey! Come back here,” Haru yelled, chasing after the dark mist into the pitch-black building. A loud cackle echoed across the dark hallways as he groped in the dark, trying to follow the voice.

2600/3600

Akira couldn't resist the urge to slam her face into her palm. 'Tsuru! They're not just going to-' but it was useless, as they tripped over each other, they simply vanished into the darkness. Instinctively Akira pulled out her dagger and held it close. Her heartbeat skyrocketed, it'd be a miracle if they made it out of here alive. Her healer wasn't of much help, his brave face despite his aversion to darkness was commendable, but just that wasn't going to get them out of here. In desperation, she covered her eyes, breathing in order to concentrate, to procure her lenses again. Upon uncovering them, she noticed a dark... spirit. Like form right next to wildly chasing Tsuru.

She rubbed her hands together furiously to procure the Chain Kunai.  She flung the made weapon, missing her partner's face by inches. The kunai caused the shadow to dissipate a shriek followed the assault. The weapon went onto embedded itself into the wall where the shadow had been a second ago, the chain that extended in front of the healer prevented him from continuing this silly wild goose chase. Luckily for them, the woman's deception didn't last anymore and Aki could see that it was really only her. The darkness accumulated in a heap near the entrance... Out of earshot. 'Wait.' she ordered. On the wall, she noticed a map of the building, she paused momentarily to memorize most of it. 'OK, I have a plan.' she said. Hoping she'd be able to relay it before the woman recovered, unfortunately not entirely.

'Ok I can see and you can't, so I'm going to guide you ok?' she said earnestly, not really waiting for him to respond. As she took him by the hand and began sprinting towards the flight of stairs. But the darkness streaked through them, materializing in front of them, blocking their way. Akira whispered her plan into Tsuru's ears. 'Ok, I'm going to use a beam and try to get her... Meanwhile, I need you to conjure that flying cloud I've seen you practice, under our feet. We float towards the roof, and you get us through it, right to Jackson. We'll use the cloud to get him outta here... and then we can handle her, just one... okay?' she spoke very softly, to ensure the woman couldn't eavesdrop... with the best-controlled voice she could muster. The woman just smirked, sensing their conversation. 'Plot all you want, girl, neither of you are getting out of here alive.' the woman said derisively, just then Akira cast her beam and yelled 'NOW!' hoping it'd spur her partner into action as the woman attempted tumbling out of the way, only to trip on the stairs.

3143/4275

Haru had not thought about what he was doing when he stepped into the darkness. Once he was completely engulfed by the black, his fear kicked in and he began to panic. All he had was Akira’s voice among the darkness and the sinister echoing laughter. He heard a whooshing sound go past him and he stopped in his tracks, heeding his partner’s advice. Thankfully, he listened to her; if not he would have tripped on the chain and fallen face flat. He stood there waiting for further instructions. After all, she was the one who could see. His panic dropped to controllable levels when he heard Akira say she had a plan. He simply nodded and didn’t utter a word. It was weird to feel his head move but not see any change in the environment.

The next moment, he was dragged along by Akira and he followed without question; that is until they came to a halt all of a sudden. Haru reckoned that meant their predator is close by, blocking their way. He listened carefully to Akira’s plan and was surprised she knew about his new technique. When did she see me? He wanted to ask, but realized it wasn’t the right time or place. So, again, he simply nodded and readied himself to conjure the cloud. He put his palms together and waited for his partner’s signal. And when she said ‘now’, he pointed both his palms under them and created a three-meter-wide cloud that ascended slowly. He was yet to fully master the technique, and so, the climb was wobbly and the cloud’s density towards the edges was not high enough to withstand a person. He turned to a general direction of where he thought Akira would be and warned her. “Don’t go too far from the centre,” he said. In about ten seconds, the cloud had reached its maximum height, and it was now time to get directions from Akira. “Where now?” he asked. With him being unable to see, it would be impossible to follow general directions like ‘left’ and ‘right’. “Stand in front of me and give me precise clock angles. I cannot see anything and I don’t want to drive us into a pillar or wall,” he said.

2977/3600

She teetered on the cloud, to avoid losing balance. 'Right.' she whispered, heeding his word and huddling in the center of the cloud near him. This was his creation, nothing to mess around with. She wobbled to place herself in front of him. 'Straight up... No angles' she reminded, keeping a wary eye out for the woman stirring underneath them  'Can you change the density of the roof so we can just go through it?' she asked... Hoping that he could accomplish something like that. Lucky for them, he could... It wasn't too big but the cloud floated through. Change it! change it back to normal! she exclaimed, now louder, the urgency in her voice rather compelling.

With her lense still active, she could see the woman, support herself to an upstanding position again. 'Ok... In a bit, she's going to be outside, the door which is at your... er...' she struggled to explain it using clock terms as she stepped off the cloud. 'I think 9 o'clock... fair warning.' she said, just to keep her partner on his toes. 'I'm going to free Jackson, 6 o'clock.' she explained, further, rubbing her temples as she planned for the rescue. She scrambled towards the noble an expletive escaped her lips. 'He's unconscious...' the man moaned a single word... A name. 'Benjamin...'  Akira didn't pay much mind to it. 'Ok, I've freed him. We get him on to your cloud and outta the window at our 4 o'clock'.' she said, breathily. Supporting the unconscious man's weight and dragging him onto the cloud. 'Take the cloud out... carefully, I think you should sort of be able to see the frame...' she said. As their opponent gathered their bearings and slowly crept up the first flight of stairs.

Akira gulped, but she felt better with a plan. Once Tsuru had worked with his cloud, she reached out to him and clasped her hand against his arm, guiding him again, towards the wall accompanying the door. 'I think we're doing rather well. We have an advantage...' Akira whispered frantically. 'I can see through walls and she can't. The moment she comes up, I need you to change the density of the wall  so I can throw a few Kunais her way, she won't know what hit her.' Akira said, rubbing her hands together to generate her weapons. 'No one suspects attacks through walls...' she finished sighing and maneuvering his arm so it lay on the wall she wanted to attack through. 'Go.' she said, tapping him gently.

3565/4275

Akira’s knowledge of Haru’s capabilities was astonishing to the scarlet-haired teen. He wondered if she followed him during his training without him knowing. He wondered why she wouldn’t train with him if she was so interested. Making a mental note to ask her that later, he put his palms together again and placed one hand on the ceiling; he then reduced its density drastically and created a two-meter-wide hole that they can pass through. Once the two were on the upper level, he squeezed the cloud through the small hole and immediately clenched his fist, closing the hole.

He listened carefully to Akira’s directions and tried to cope. It was difficult, considering he had never been this long in the dark before; especially not with someone chasing him. He kept his back towards the direction where his partner said the opponent will come through, while steering the cloud towards the opposite direction, towards their rescue target. Once the noble was freed and pulled onto the cloud, Haru began moving the cloud towards 4’o clock. When Akira mentioned the window, Haru squinted his eyes hard and saw an extremely faint light towards that direction; something that he could have easily missed had it not been mentioned. He flew the cloud towards the faint light.

So far the plan had gone on without a hitch, but the captor was not going to let up. She was extremely pissed that two pesky Rune Knights were able to knock her down, not once, but twice. “I’m gonna get you two,” she yelled in a sing-song voice as she made her way up. Her voice echoed all over again, making it impossible for Haru to determine where she was going to come from. But no matter; he knew his partner can see her and he believed she would warn him when necessary.

Half-way towards the window, Akira explained the next plan of action. Haru figured the enemy must be real close for her to choose to attack instead of making a run for it. Since he was completely in the dark here, both literally and figuratively, he simply followed Akira’s instructions. She wanted him to do the Phase spell again on a nearby wall so that she can ambush the enemy. He nodded and created the hole where she guided his hand to. “It’s ready,” he whispered.

Akira’s attacks through the wall would truly take the dark lady by surprise. When her chain kunai hit and penetrated the woman, she screamed in pain, but quickly caught on to what was happening. “You little shits. So, you and your attacks can go through walls, eh?” she said, holding onto the chain. “But now thanks to your chain, I know where you are,” she said, laughing. She then immediately created a dark spear and sent it straight towards where the two Rune Knights were. Haru, hearing her threat, reacted quickly. Clapping his palms together, he created a Shockshield in front of the hole he formed in the wall. “You can attack through that shield, but she can’t,” he muttered to Akira. And just as he said that, the spear hit the shield and disintegrated immediately.

3505/3600

Things were almost on track, she forgot one integral detail though. Her chain kunais, had a chain, giving their assailant their exact location. Now Akira only had to find a way to make this useful, she couldn't risk relaying her plan to Tsuru because she wasn't sure how his density magic worked and whether the lady would be able to hear them through the modified wall. She didn't rise to the woman's bait, though the girl was compelled to respond by taunting, she didn't. If this was a dark vs dark duel, it was going to have to be a battle of wits.

Tsuru made things easier by placing the shield in front of the duo. She nodded to display her gratitude, her mistake was sort of accounted for. She quickly wrought another plan, surprising herself with her wits under pressure... severe pressure. She cast another disk under the woman, holding out one hand and sharply turned it so the woman was launched towards them, while she simultaneously tugged on the chain kunai that had pierced the target.

The woman came stumbling through the wall, as Akira cast her dark sphere, which billowed and bludgeoned the woman's face back towards the wall, but she didn't want the woman to escape back out of the room entirely. 'The wall... Make it normal!' she yelled just as the woman flung back towards it after hitting the dark sphere. The woman's limbs were still on the outside. The idea was to have the woman concuss her head on the normal wall, and then get stuck in it, so Akira could simply render her unconscious... or worse with just a flurry of physical attacks. She clenched her fist, stirring her darkness to aid her in building some strength, feeling it rage inside her and flow into her muscles.

3869/4275

The healer was glad he took the precaution and put up the shield. While he couldn’t see the spear soar towards them, he heard it crash against his shield before it disintegrated with a loud crushing noise. Thanks to all the darkness, Haru couldn’t see Akira’s nod; but he wasn’t expecting any expression gratitude in the middle of a battle. While his eyes failed him, his ears picked up the slack and he began to hear even the slightest noise. The dark chain’s soft clanking was one such thing. When that was followed by their enemy’s yelp, he knew what Akira had done. Another thud and he had to wonder if the woman hit a wall or if Akira punched her. Nevertheless, he was happy so long as his partner was unharmed.

When he heard her yell, he quickly clenched his fist and the wall’s density went back to normal and he heard a loud scream. What?! Their enemy was losing her strength and the darkness around them began to recede, leaving way for the setting sun’s red glow seep in through the windows. Haru’s eyes widened at the scene in front of him. He gulped, realizing what he had done. When he practiced this technique, he never realized the offensive potential it had and now that he had seen it, it scared him. He saw their attacker embedded inside the wall, with just her limbs and head sticking outside. As much as he hated to have done harm, he knew if the two hadn’t done anything, that woman would have killed them both. Nevertheless, he wished it hadn’t gotten this violent; especially because of him.

He watched as Akira got ready to end the fight. “Don’t think you have won yet,” the captured woman said through gritted teeth and began to break out of the wall. Realizing the implications, Haru frowned and touched Akira’s leg. He coursed his magic through her, increasing her muscle density drastically, giving her a huge boost in strength. “Just don’t kill her,” he said, anger very apparent in his voice and face. Even though he said that, he couldn’t help but turn away and shut his eyes tightly to avoid looking at the violence.

When the woman is knocked out, Haru would then steer his cloud out through the window and under a tree. He turned his attention to the unconscious noble and began healing him. From the looks of it, the man had been tortured and beaten to a pulp. His wounds seemed much more severe than anything that Haru had healed before. Still, he had to try and so, he began. After a long and tiring fifteen minutes, he finally managed to stabilize the nobility’s vitals. Tired after using so much of his magic in such a short time, he sat next to his patient and panted heavily. “He should be fine,” he said breathily, turning towards his partner.

3992/3600
-Exit-

4387/4275
~~Exit~~