The bright rays of the sun shone down on Seighart Mountain's golden stained dirt and sands. Slight winds kicked up some dust in the area, a slight annoyance for some people, and a  daily thing for others who were used to it. The heat bore down on Juni but it didn't bother her too much, her attire made sure of that. Here she waited at the entrance of the Dawncliff Mine for her new guild master, dressed down in a white and black tank top, some short shorts, and black shoes with gold trim. This was her everyday sort of wear and from her understand it was probably a better fit of clothes for the job.

While she waited she wondered what the rest of the guild was like. The last guild she was in was very short-lived. Each member had their own goals and they never truly came together for much. The last she remembered of them they won a tournament and basically disbanded right after that. Now that she thought about it that whole thing was lucky on a lot of their part, her opponent didn't even show up. She found herself giving a short chuckle, leaning up against the wall to the entrance of the mines.

WC: 214/2500

Mist lingered around the white haired guild master, Kon as he watched from the clouds above. The people beneath him like ants tolling away with their menial duties. His own role to supervise and manage the many thousands who served him both within his guild and those under its heel. Even now there were disputes amongst the common folk those working in the mines once more discontent with their living standards. Once more he would have to present his case, this time with a new recruit, Juni. Much like the other new candidates to the syndicate he knew little about her. Preferably he would have known more about his members but he didn’t always have the luxury of spending days at a time mulling over the abilities of each member. Perhaps today the unknown talents of Juni will be revealed to him.

The mine where the two would meet was both vertically and horizontally distant to mage. This great gap was rapidly closed as he drew back towards the center of the floating island to which he stood upon before dashing off towards the edge launching himself into its general direction. Wind howling in his ears as he rocketed down towards the rocky mountain terrain, his clothes flapping chaotically, hair growing an icey crown as he approached the ground. Landing with one knee to the ground, rising tentatively as his ears popped from the sudden change in pressure. “Interesting…” He commented idly looking around at nothing in particular.

249/2500

Juni figured she wouldn't have to wait long for Kon and even if she did she really didn't care all that much. She had for the most part been stuck in her own head, different scenarios of different what if's kept her busy and mentally in a loop that entertained her enough to where she wouldn't care if he didn't show up at all. Fortunately, he did show up and she had only waited about five minutes if that. Once the white-haired man came into view she kicked herself from off the wall which she had been leaning on. Her crimson orbs scanned the man that had landed not too far from her. He looked very pale to her, she didn't know if it was the trick of the light but she could see something like a sort of mist coming from him.

She wouldn't question him on his ethereal look because honestly, she didn't care all that much once the initial eye-full wore off. It would have been smart for her to ask if he was the man she was looking for but the description she was given for the man was so spot on that he couldn't have been anyone else. Approaching him but still leaving ample space between the two, Juni stood in the white-haired man's eyesight. She smiled, a natural reaction to at least establish some friendly groundwork. She could only hope he would take this gesture as she meant it. Waving her hand over to him she figured that since there were really not that many others around except for a few miners who had been giving her dirty looks ever since she arrived. They hadn't said anything to her which was good for them because she was already ready to kill someone today so she hopped they played it cool and not tried to overstep any boundaries between her and themselves.

" That was a pretty smooth entrance ya made coming down from the sky like that. Hey, are you Kon? You look like you'd be him. I'm suppose to be doing some work with you today. But if you aren't Kon, that's fine. I won't bother you. " She was confident in her approach and there was no reason why she shouldn't have been. At this point in her life, nothing was about to cause her to be submissive anymore, she wasn't the little lost duckling that she had been when she first arrived to Fiore. Now she was a whole changed being, anyone who would even remotely remember her from her first days on Fiore wouldn't even be able to recognize her now. As she stood waiting for the man to answer she could have sworn she felt the temperature getting cooler around her. She didn't think too much on it but it was a strange feeling to have in the middle of the hot and dry desert-like conditions of Seighart Mountains. Honestly, she hoped that this man was, in fact, Kon because she already planned on working this sort of thing alone once they got inside.

She figured she would be covering more ground that way and she didn't wanna be pinned next to the man who was her new guild master. She really didn't care about who he was, she wasn't interested in getting to know him even if she would be working under him in his guild. Juni only wanted to know one person. she felt she only had time to devote to one person, and right now she was only here because of that one person. But alas she had to put on a good front in order to not be on this man's bad side. That meant that she had to at the very least be corporative as much as possible until this job was done and over with. Luckily this job was very simple. All they had to do was go down in those mines, look for an area that looked like it could earn their employer the most profit, and report that information back to him. The only problems they would possibly run into was maybe the mine collapsing on them or some angry miners not wanting anyone to profit off of their mines which might as well be those men's livelihood. For as much as this job would be paying only one of these was a real concern to Juni as she very much didn't have anything to deal with having a god damned mine falling on her head and having to go through a possibly slow death with no one being able to reach and save her. Had she been thinking about something like that know a shudder would go over her body but luckily her mind didn't wander that far into the consequences of this job.

WC: 1047 (833)/2500

Before him stood a scantily clad woman, innocent in appearance, utterly inappropriate for the climate and the task at hand. Behind this veil of eye candy, kon could see and even smell much more to her. A hidden power radiated from her oozing out as a dark hue only he could see, blended with the distinct blessing gifted by Illumin. She was both a Nephilim and a darkness user, how unusual. Who was he to question what was normal or not, just his appearance alone was unlike any other. His body was made mostly of metal, hair whiter than snow, skin even paler. It was because of these many oddities that the Agatha's mask was worn so frequently, both to conceal his identity and to just interact with the community at large without backlash. “Indeed, I am Kon, but for the time being please call me Konyo, we’re dealing with some particularly nasty Miners, whom I’ve dealt with in the past, I need to find out how they are behaving to those of a more timid deposition.”

Removing the mysterious enchanted porcelain mask from his left pocket, he draped it over his face, merging the magical piece into flesh manipulating bone and skin. Howling in pain as his form shifted, height, body, even sex altered into something new. Even his clothes and equipment were not immune to this transformation changing from his white workers clothes to a stylish white coat, thighs topped with thigh-high boots and a poof on his head. Changing appearances were always disorientating, but transitioning from male to female just felt wrong and took longer to achieve and much more to purge.

Admittedly he was also doing this in part to test the new recruit, how would she respond to a man who could shift his appearance in moments. Done both out of curiosity and entertainment, seeing how people reacted to his abilities, too many he came off god-like, but he sensed she would likely find the change in poor taste or mediocre in general. Striking up a conversation between the two as he motioned towards the mine leading the way, Kon probed. “So Juni was it?, Tell me about yourself, couldn’t help but notice you’re a Nephilim, sorry force of habit.” Apologizing as he tapped were his golden orb typically was, replaced by a crimson eye.

Whether this new guild member responded or not, he would continue in his fragile-looking frame. Crowds of Miners grew as they left the mine, nicknamed the abyss from its high fatality rate and number of miners that go missing in the maze-like mine every year. Pushing through the hardy men like butter with his right hand slinging his left carefully to avoid touching anything around him, he reached the coordinator of the mine itself.

His appearance might have changed but his voice hadn’t, still with its distinct Boscoi tone albeit more feminine, softer, retaining his authoritative annunciations. “We heard there was trouble with the mines, we’re here to help where you need us.” Said with the assumption he was still being accompanied by the new recruit otherwise he’d just mention himself, even introducing him in the meantime. The coordinator spitting at his feet. “Sure, give us a message, this is no place for women, heavy equipment, dangerous terrain, just look at your clothes.” Highlighting their inappropriate clothes, he did have a point, she was in short shorts of all things, meanwhile, he was wearing a poof of all things.

840/2500

7700/7800

Spells:

She had the right person, this was a good thing because it was the first step in getting this mission done. She couldn't very well get on with it alone so having spotted her guild master in one shot was a godsend, especially since she was just guessing based on a description she was given by a man who had the capacity to kill kids. Now that she had found her partner she was ready to go and hoped conversation between the two would be non-existent. It was wishful thinking on her part she had to admit because of course being a new recruit to the guild and never having met the guild-master before he would, of course, want to know who she was or what she was about. Alright, Konyo it is, and hey don't worry if they get out of hand I'll take care of those bad attitudes quick, fast, in a hurry. Making a gun motion with her fingers she smiled at the man before giving a little " pew pew " sound. She wasn't about to let some miners bitch her out, not today and not any day of ever. Juni figured with introductions out of the way the two would be heading on out to do their job but not before she witnessed this man place a mask on his face and for what seemed like too long of a time, turn into a whole woman right before her eyes.

Now throughout her life, she's seen many different things so not a lot phased her. Juni's crimson orbs took in the transformation of Konyo and she could only wonder why he couldn't, excuse me, She. Why she couldn't do this change on her own time. Juni had gone through enough transformations that this little act didn't bother her in the slightest and all she really wondered was if Konyo was done yet. Juni had to admit the woman who was previously a man cleaned up pretty well. Neat trick. Let's get this over with then. Letting Konyo lead the way she realized her hopes of a quiet quest wasn't going to happen. By some magic item, Konyo knew about her being a Nephilim. It wasn't something Juni really bother to hide but she really never had any reason to flex the fact that she was a Nephilim to start with. Oh, yea. Uh, nothing much to say. Just a simple girl tryna make a name in this world and get strong enough to protect myself and all that. Ya know the usual. You'll have to be really specific with what you wanna know because I guarantee you won't get much out me otherwise. It was true because she hadn't really socialized with others she never really knew what to say to that age-old question " tell me about yourself " What did people wanna know anyway? Her favorite color? when did she learn to talk? how many licks did it take to get to the center of a lollipop?

When the two reached the coordinator Juni stayed quiet and let Konyo do all the talking. The coordinator, on the other hand, was being real disrespectful and commented on some real sexist shit about them being women and all and how it was dangerous in the mines, even being disgusting and spitting in their presence. Juni did not like that. Did this man not have any respect? With the quickness, Juni pointed her finger at the man's left thigh. A dark magic circle formed right in front of her finger and a dark bullet sped out and hit the man where she pointed, but not before she let out a healthy dose of her power, causing fear to settled over those weaker than she was. I'm gonna be frank with ya old-timer. I don't like the way you are talking to us and I don't care for your rude ass comments. So at this point you are either gonna do what boss lady here says or I'm gonna shoot and kill every miner here. Are we clear on that or do I have to shoot out the other thigh? The coordinator was basically crippled as his eyes welled up with tears and his pained voice cried out when her magic bullet pierced his flesh. This was going to go a whole lot smoother if they just did what they needed them to do, she wasn't about to just play nice with this shit head. Alright Konyo...Take it from here and I'll follow. The other miners were to scared one by her oppressive Nephilim ability and two by her display of violence against the coordinator. This would be a easy job now that the rest knew their place

2075/2100 mana:

WC: 1,879 (832)/ 2500

Actively taking his transformation into a woman in her stride, Kon scoffed at her almost eager response to the slight problem indicative by her display of finger guns. Perhaps this was her main method of casting magic, only time would tell. Fixing up his clothes and elongated hair, braiding the purple hair quickly, leaving stray hairs to fly through the rushed pattern. As he made himself presentable, he retorted somewhat muffled by his hair. “I appreciate the help, I really do, but I don’t think we’ll be having too many problems with the miners…” At least that’s what he had hoped leading up to getting to the mine itself. The conversation on Juni’s end during the walk to mine had been mixed, lacking much in overall information and came off even snarky at times. To be fair though he didn’t give her much to apart from the types who are you which is never a great way to start a dialogue.

Things only really started to get off when the coordinator began to offend his partner, Kon was well aware of the sexism involved in the industry but not to the extent while he was annoyed that his subordinates behaved in this manner. The effect of sexism was stronger for Juni as she was truly a woman, while Kon was only one through the manipulation of magic temporarily, at this that was what he believed. With blood spilled and enraged Juni, things become quite intense very quickly. With a long deep breath, closing his right eye to collect his thoughts and calm down the situation as Juni rushed the miners with threats. Fortunately, in all her wisdom, she decided to hand over the fragile and tense situation to him. Both a blessing and a curse for the guild master turned woman.

“Great…” Gritting his teeth about what was about to happen, raising his golden fist previously concealed by his clothes, reminding them all of who they served. “You all showed that you have not learned, I came here with my companion, Juni, to see how you behave and it is just shameful.” Looking down at the spit pooled at Kon’s feet, he grabbed the coordinator by the collar from Juni’s grasps, dragging him across the gravel-covered soil as his co-workers watched. Out of fear the men remained silent, knowing just who wielded the golden gauntlet, looking down in shame as he thrust the disrespecting underling headfirst into the saliva rubbing it across his cheek. “See, do you enjoy being treated like crap?, Do I need to get my ship here again?” Reminding them in an instant about what happened the last time they disobeyed him.

Following the coordinator, other miners lost their Stoney facade with many falling to their knees while the others burst into tears. Realizing his mistake the coordinator sniffled a response begging for mercy. “Please….please don’t!” With a bubble of snot growing from his nose. “I’m sorry, forgive me!” Pressing down higher once more briefly, he released his grasp of the man and rose his clothes somehow unscathed by the dust and filth around them. “Right onto the important part, heard there was a problem in the mines?, A terrifying beast perhaps?, A Necromancer that’s taken refuge in the darky depths?, Flesh-eating Misama?, Soul eating spirits?”

Fear for the wellbeing of their families turned to their own safety as Kon ran off a series of unknown potential dangers. Done both out of amusement and to remind them of why they needed the syndicate, Kon continued giving more options before delivering the true reason for their presence outside of testing the men’s resolve and behavior to women. Demons, they were here to clear out demons that had been corrupting the area and stopping miners from getting ores. Hell-raising, blood-crazed demons, hungry for human flesh and growing in power. Even his companion was likely unaware of their true purpose. With an offhand remark, the Guild Master motioned to his new guildmate and headed to the mine. “It’s time to fight some demons, hope you don’t mind getting your hands dirty.” Entering the darkness with an evil grin, ready for action.


1,553/2500

7600/7800

Spells:

Juni was very impressed with the level of control and power that Konyo had displayed towards these miners. She was even a little jealous and she hoped one day she too could make men bow to her in fear like that. The thought of it near caused her to salivate but she kept her cool and just nodded her head and gave a little smile at her new guild master. For the most part, she kept quiet and let the woman speak. Juni was here to do a job and so she just waited until an order was given, or at least something that said they could go in and do their damn jobs. As she continued to listen she could feel her face twist up at the mention of demons. She had thought they were wiped out or sent back to their realm, something like that. It had been a long while since she heard of them but it wasn't our of the realm of possibilities that some were still hiding around being a menace in the world.

Demons..And here I thought I was done with them and their shitty kind. Oh, I don't mind getting my hands dirty, they might as well be stained black with how many of those damned things I've put down in my life. Chuckling lightly she would walk inside of the mines, an idea striking her as she did so. Let's split up. More work will get done that way so we can report our findings to the employer. She remembered at the end of the day the quest was to find sections of the mine that were the most profitable. It would have been easy an easy job, but ya know demons were around fucking that up.

Juni didn't wait for a response as she headed deeper into the mine, following the lights of lacrima powered orbs in the dark cavern. At some point, she came to a fork in the area and took left and then she came to another fork and took a right, and as she continued down the man twists and turns she started to see less and less of the lights cause her to take on of the glowing orbs herself so she could at least see. It took her maybe ten minutes to run into a sound that was clearly inhuman. It was a deep guttering noise and as she got closer she kept her fingers pointed forward until she saw a green-skinned, red-eyed, two-headed creature that was clearly a demon.

The four eyes met her own and she started shooting off her gun, the bullets being faster than the creature could move. As it died it let out another sound, this one way louder than the last and very high pitched. As the sound faded two more demons came from the same area and she found herself running towards them and shooting off more bullets. One of the demons dodge out of her line of fire, only getting grazed but the other one took a bullet full-on and was blasted back into the area it came from. The demon who had dodged her bullet ran up the wall until it was above her and dropped down on top of her causing Juni to drop the glowing orb she had. The demon on top of her pinned one of her arms down but before he could grab the other she shot off two bullets into its head.

With that thing dead and gone she searched grabbed the glowing orb that lit her way and ran into the area where she blasted the last demon she saw. Luckily for her, it was dead but the area it died in was beautiful under the glow of the light as its walls were filled with gems. With that, she was satisfied she was done her job and made her way back to the entrance. She would wait there for Konyo and report to him what she found and then she would go off and report to the employer about what she found. When all was said and done it was a very good day...Besides some miners getting shot the quest was completed and she covered in demon blood went to an inn to get a nice shower.

1475/2075:

WC:2614 (735)/2500
- exit -

Horrified or impressed by Kon’s ability to control the miners with just the show of his gauntlet, he couldn’t tell. The woman, Juni was still a mystery to him and likely would remain so even after doing this request which seemed like a fairly intimate venture. That was doubtedly obvious as was Juni’s response both vocal and emotionally towards Kon’s mention of demon lurking in the darky depths of the mines. Even going as far to enter into a tirade about her displeasure towards the race and violent past. Kon too had a similar history, stopping many demonic incursions through Fiore and beyond. It seemed Juni didn’t want to remain with her new guild master instead choosing to enter the mine without any prior knowledge of its inner workings. Kon could respect her decision of independence and desire to be alone but at the same he resented it as he was looking to develop a repore between them.

Sighing in his new form, Kon spoke further with the contractor before entering the mine shortly after. The dark mine enveloped the mage concealing his appearance as he went deeper into the black vacuum. While he was not overly afraid of the dark, he didn’t enjoy it, feeling wrapped and entombed in it. He was only able to offset this discomfort thanks to his Golden Millenium Eye and a nearby torch which he took from its source. He’d replace it later by for now it would be critical for him to find these blasted demons that they were contacted about. The rocky soil beneath him shattered with each step causing dust to rise up tickling his nose and making his right eye water. “Ahhh shit…” He swore rubbing his face in the process.

An eerie feeling grew as he went deeper into the artificial cave noticing the occasional pieces of human remains. The important thing about these deaths weren’t about who they even were but rather who or what had caused them in the first place. Crouching down to look at the fresh remains, clear signs of a struggle could be seen, nails split, bruises across their body, deep gashes throughout the bodies. Perhaps the most peculiar observation he made was a clear, defined Y patterned carving across the limbless and headless torsos made more interesting by the fact they were stitched haphazardly back into place.

Placing down his torch next to him, he drew up close to one of the torsos and pulled at the stitches out of curiosity. A face, whoever did this put the head of the person into their body, going as far as to remove the innards. “Demons...Do you have no morals…?” Thinking to himself as he wiped off the various bodily fluids that landed on him as he opened the remains. Distant voices speaking an otherworldly tongue tied to the Abyssian plane. It was the demons. Slowly dragging his fingers towards his torch, he clutched the metal shaft ready to hurl it at the first thing he saw.

Curiously it seemed he would be left waiting as the voices merely came and went at a periodic rate as though they were pacing or even patrolling. “Odd...Why would Demons need to patrol?” Resigning himself to being the cause rather than the response of the conflict, Kon rose up with a single leap, lifting off the air a meter or so, causing his skirt to lift at the same time. Pushing it down growing uncomfortable in this form, Kon rushed towards his task; slaughtering every single blasted demon in the mine itself.

Pushing off with a determined step, Kon leaped at the closest beast, monstrous in size and appearance. With an evil grin, the frost mage brought down a powerful punch onto the demon’s head, sending it across the hall onto an adjacent demon’s stomach. Like a powerful golden cannon ball it sent the struck demon flying towards the cave wall. The residual force was enough to turn the second demon into nothing but chunks of gore.

Almost comical in outcome, Kon could only laugh as he stood atop the headless corpse while demonic blood coated the surrounding area and himself while carnage fell from the sky like confetti. Those two were surely not the cause of this entire affair, more would be needed, not just a greater quantity but also smarter ones were around. Hopefully his new comrade hadn’t bitten off more than she could chew in her own path to completing their shared goal. End of the day for Kon, there would be a culling of Sentinel Syndicate numbers with her loss or a noticeable achievement of a potential rising star within the organization.

Further searching into the mine revealed that Kon’s assumptions were correct there were other demons in the area, one of which Juni had clearly killed with what means he didn’t know outside of it being some form of powerful magic. Impressed with the precision and powerful that a single bolt or bullet had caused, a smile grew upon his face, almost happy with the arrival of such a powerful figure. Whether she would remain in their group was hard to judge given Kon’s limited grasp on the guild member base.

Satisfied with the outcome, Kon made his way out of the mine bringing his other senses into the forefront in particular his improving sense of smell becoming revolted by the demonic remains that clung to him which could be compared to toxic sludge. His own reputation with the miner was enough to create a great divide between him and the men, but the stench given off furthered the distance that the men gave him. Covering their noses in disgust, holding nothing back including their own lunches in some cases, Kon tried to leave as soon as possible. Removing the stench would be his first goal, after that returning to his original form or so he thought...

2,553/2500

[Exit]