With the brief time that he had indulged himself in Sentinel Syndicate's information network as a... well, how could it best be called? An intern? With how much he was given, it almost felt too easy, like he was more of a deadbeat than an intern. He hadn't yet been able to really expand his reach as a scout since the old days of Fairy Tail; though admittedly, things were a lot more relaxed back then. For one, he didn't have the country wanting his head on a pike back then, just the people in his immediate vicinity. Everything was on such a smaller scale back then, to the point where even two years ago felt like a faraway land of dreams and ambitions. Now, like any youth forced to grow into adulthood, those dreams and ambitions would die one by one. Fairy Tail, Penumbral Guard, his own inner desire for heroism... at the end of it all, none of it amounted to a single thing.

Well, there was one thing for the moment. With renewed vigor, learning of the potential for Morrigan's revival to accept HER fullest powers on Earthland once more, Tomoe was more eager than ever to press on. In the process of doing so, he'd scrapped together bits about Joshua Graham - former member of Penumbral Guard, and before that...

"The Sentinel Syndicate itself, eh? Shiiiit. Well, there ain't no time like the present, I guess."

After discovering that, as rumor had it, a man matching his description was last seen within Sieghart Mountains, the mad cultist ventured forth for the opportunity to be reunited with his old comrade. No matter how brief, Joshua was still a true ally of Penumbral Guard and a man of great interest to Tomoe for the undead aura that Mr. Graham gave off. Moreover, a holy man. Somebody who believed in Illumin, if even just in his past.

That's why he's gotta go, too., Tomoe thought, resolving himself to the fact that all who once bore the mark of Penumbral Guard would need to meet their ends eventually.

Tomoe would make his way through the dense and rocky terrain of the Sieghart Mountains on a winding path. He knew he could fly, but allowed the soil to instead grace the presence of his boots as he trudged in search of Joshua. The Joyan had all of his gear out, and so anybody who would see him would see a man in dark leather armor, a black plague doctor's mask, and a golden bow in his hands. He wore his full equipment, naturally, though a lot of it would be hidden by the external bits, including the Soul Ether embedded in his chest underneath his armor and clothes. As such, he'd be on the lookout for anybody who would happen to come within vision of him on the winding mountain road.

The road itself was 10 meters in width with Tomoe himself being 8 meters away from the edge leading down to a steep drop below, and trailed endlessly on a slope as it spiraled, with there always being 30 meters of vision straight ahead or behind at any given time before the corner of the mountain would wind and block it out. As Tomoe was soundless, nobody in front of or behind him on the path would be able to detect him based purely on hearing. Also due to his soundless nature, he would more easily hear the movements of others; not so much so that he would have supernatural hearing, but he could allow himself to pay greater attention to anybody his sight didn't catch. Even like this, though, he wouldn't allow himself to rely on that fact, taking looks all around him on a constant basis.

Gonna find you, ya son of a bitch., Tomoe thought to himself, his expression not able to be determined from underneath his mask.

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The mountain was well known to Joshua. It had been his training ground when he worked for the syndicate. He knew every inch of land and knew every path in and out. He had spent the months after Penumbral Guards destruction to study it after he had snapped out of his drunken wallowing. He had stolen, beaten, paid for  and sold himself to obtain enough death traps and weaponry to take down an entire army. 


Every inch of the mountain was his. Every inch of the mountain was remade and remodeled to turn it into the grave for Tomoe and Gunter. Joshua had seeded the information of his whereabouts with old syndicate networks, he knew the syndicate would eventually come, but he didnt care. So long as he killed Tomoe dead he didnt care what happened. Joshua felt the sensory traps go off and he rushed from the cave he was staying in. He grabbed the first of the high impact explosive tipped Lance's he has bought and put the rest next to him for ease of use. 


He knew exactly where tomoe was now and hed kill him on the spot. One lance after another was thrown, propelled by magical runes at the back of the weapon like a missile. He threw ten all together and then went to grab the sniper rifle he had. He pressed a magical rune on the cave entrance to activate all the other spell traps and automatic sentry magics he had purchased. Hed run out of mana and probably die from it depending on how many activate at once, but he didnt care. 


"I'll make sure your corpse is never found Tomoe. I'll make you suffer for what you've done." Inside the cave were pictures of every guild member he had lost. Every face that died and burned in Penumbral Guard stared on silently as Joshua prepared to destroy Tomoe.

Tomoe had tripped some kind of alarm, though he knew that in advance, of course. Due to his Soul Ether, he could see anything unseen, so it would be a simple matter to know when he would spring a trap. Knowing this, he would be on the lookout for some kind of attack or response to his entry. Eventually, he would see a projectile come charging his way from a cave entrance up above, and with his bow out already, he wouldn't even need to move. Simply casting through the bow meant he could forsake any casting motions a normal mage would require, all to cast one simple spell in an instant in front of him.

"It was a valiant attempt, I'll give ya that.", Tomoe muttered just as a void of darkness formed above him suddenly, as if ripping through time and space itself.

The lances that descended towards Tomoe would find themselves assimilated into the void, disappearing into a black hole from which nothing would return without his permission. Regardless of how much time and effort it took to obtain such an armory, no amount of artificially created crap could stand up to the judgment of the cosmos, and thus all of the lances would disappear into the void.

"Gotta say though, bud, ya kinda fucked up. Should've brought more than this. At least double."

With that, Tomoe would fly up to the cave entrance where the spears were launched from using Lesser Meteor cast through his bow. Upon seeing his former comrade Joshua surrounded by traps lingering at the entrance, of which his Soul Ether could detect, the cultist cracked a dry, passionless smile. It was amusing in the sort of way that an angry untrained puppy would bite their master with the naivete of an infant.

Another hole like the previous void would open up at the mouth of the cave, of which Tomoe stood away from to be away from the blast, only this whole was one of pure blinding light. Once again there were no motions, as it was cast through his bow.

"Survive this and consider that your debt paid for raising a hand to me. Even your Lich powers are gonna need to work overtime on this one.", Tomoe stated plainly as the ten explosive lances that were sucked into his Black Hole spell, were now being shot forth towards Joshua inside the cave with the conjuring of his White Hole spell.

The lances firing back at their original buyer, Mr. Graham, would also trigger all of the cave's traps along the way. Tomoe knew to expect a boom, and so would hover away from the cave before any of the explosions would begin. The lances would also be imbued with White Hole's light magic, coming back even stronger than when they went in.

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Joshua couldnt help but smile as his Lance's met their opponent. The spell would get the first before the ever ready Joshua yelled 'Bang', causing the other 9 lanced to explode in a chain. The hunter smiled even wider as the black smoke from the explosions lingered. He leveled the sniper rifle and fired three shots, the first aiming for a small rock, which had a magical seal on it. 


It might appear as a trap, but it was in fact a switch. The mana bullet slammed into the seal activating it as Joshua felt the mana drain of its effect taking in. The ropes holding the artificial ground up turned to dust. Joshua had spent every last jewel he had borrowed stolen and sold to get on these traps, but the biggest one was non magical... at least at the moment. But as soon as the ground opened up, the magical seal 50 feet down and 25 meters wide activated. The gravity magic would attempt to force tomoe into the hole. 


The spell drained a huge amount of mana from joshua, causing him to cough up blood. But he didnt care as the secondary stage of the trap activated and the thousands of explosive magical charges began to glow. 


"ITS TIME TO DIE TOMOE!" joshua yelled loudly and activated the explosives by yelling 'Bang' again. The explosion would rock the mountain like a proper mining bomb, Joshua panted his eyes and nose and ears bleeding from the mana drain. He struggled to stand as he forced a bottle of strange liquid down his throat, liquid ethernano from lacrimal stones. He didnt care if it killed him, if it gave him enough power to actually kill tomoe... then he didnt care. 


He felt the charge of energy and jumped down the hill, sliding down its side. Hed check and put a few more bullets in the bastards body.

Tomoe would dodge and weave to avoid the various projectiles blasted his way and the explosions going off. His would-be assassin had stocked up as if this were its own fortress of destruction, stocking a platoon's worth in explosives to kill the one person it was all meant for. But at the same time... the fact that it was all meant for a single person was its greatest flaw. It only accounted for the abilities of one person, and so it was doomed from the start. Some abilities were the kind that Tomoe simply chose not to divulge or publicly display until necessary. As he felt gravity pull him down after weaving in midair through all the explosions and shots, it was just such a time. Tomoe would smirk as he was forced down."Ambitious. Resourceful. Expensive. Good stuff.", Tomoe muttered as he was once more forced into another trap.

Joshua's own stamina clearly couldn't hold out, and thus the mad cultist knew he only needed to endure a little bit more before the armory would reach its limits or the man behind it all would. Tomoe knew this, and thought that it was all very unfortunate that he'd need to burst this hunter's bubble.

Just as Mr. Graham gave the word to blast away at Tomoe's location, trapped as it seemed, the Joyan would cast another motionless spell through his bow just before the explosives went off. In that moment as the mountain erupted and shards flew everywhere, blasting a chunk out of the grand structure in a moment of desperation, Tomoe Tanaka ceased to exist. He ceased to exist, but not because he was blown into so many pieces as to be unrecognizable; rather, he disappeared because he decided that he didn't feel like being caught in such a deadly trap, and thus decided that he didn't want to play that game anymore.

Avoiding all of the explosions by ceasing to exist and reforming somewhere else, he would avoid any more bullets that Joshua would send his way. Where was Tomoe, exactly, after all the madness was said and done and more and more traps of great magnitude had been exhausted?

Why, right behind Joshua after he had retreated, of course. With his bow aimed at Joshua's head, ready to avoid more traps with his magic, he hovered a meter off the ground from behind Joshua, two meters away horizontally. "Don't you think it's time to end this?", Tomoe would sigh, seeing Joshua kill himself without the cultist firing a single arrow at him.

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The smoking crater was empty as Joshua turned to look at tomoe. Not a scratch on him, not a single one. The fire died downnforna moment in Joshua's heart, he had failed. Months of prep, and for nothing. But Tomoe spoke Joshua gritted his teeth. How dare tomoe speak to him as if he hadn't killed their family. The guild had taken them both in. 


"End this? THERES IS NO END TO THIS YOU ASSHOLE!" He threw the sniper rifle in anger into the crater. He panted the ethernano in his body fading. "You were part of the guild Tomoe. You brought me into it yourself! You saved my life!" Hos eyes told the truth that he was truely heart broken by what happened. "I could try to beat your ass... but I'm sure we both know how that will go." The last bits of Joshua's mana began to fade as he walked toward Tomoe as if willingly wanting to die. 


But at the last moment, he smiled using his own mana covered finger he stabbed himself in the heart. "All these months... Every day I added a bit more.... and now it's time for us both to die!" As the last dredge of mana left Joshua's body, the final trap ignited as a small rune glowed inside Joshua's chest, before expanding into a massive, immensely large spell circle. Joshua fell backwards with a smile on his dying face, hes done it. No way Tomoe could escape, and hed simply revive. 


An explosion of mana rocked the moutsin even more. It tore a  massive crater into the land, despite leaving Joshua's body intact thanks to.his death aura.

Joshua's words would fall on deaf ears, unfortunately. Regardless of the man's pain, emotions would not win the day - that was a lesson that Tomoe himself had learned over time, through experience, and by seeing the cards life had dealt to others. As Joshua impaled his own chest with mana and spoke his last breath, a magic circle appearing and encroaching upon the ground, Tomoe's eyes widened from underneath his mask. Still holding his bow, Tomoe would cast a spell through the weapon rather than fire an arrow. The spell would require no motions as usual, and would act as an attempt to get away from the suicide attack. Instantly, just as the explosion would start to trigger, Tomoe had already disappeared. Instead, the mad cultist would appear 40 meters backwards within less than a blink, successfully avoiding what seemed to be the final trap that Joshua had in store; at the very least, it was the most explosive.

"Well damn, dude, that could've been dangerous there for a sec. Shit, if I was Gunter, I'd even be poppin' out a smoke right about now. Almost saw the pearly white gates or somethin'.", the maniac would mutter to himself as he beheld the spectacle.

Tomoe would now find himself 42 meters away from the blast zone, with Joshua in the center of a crater. The Joyan prided himself as a master of evasion, so in a battle of endurance, he was confident in being the victor. Regardless, he couldn't think of any other such encounter like this, against someone so filled with primal rage, desperation, and... foolishness. Was this what Illumin taught its followers? Something like that was inexcusable. For a deity to toss their followers to the side like pawns? It all simply justified to Tomoe so much more that he had made the right choice in siding with the proper deity.

That was when an idea sprang into the crimson cutthroat's mind, something sinister. It was simply a passing thought, but Tomoe couldn't help but consider it regardless. As he closed the distance between him and Joshua, on guard the entire time in case those pesky Lich powers of his would spring to mind, Tomoe would think of the potential that Joshua could have as a pawn. Was it something that would help HER...? From the fact that there were no whispers denying his thoughts as he moved closer and closer towards Joshua, he had to assume that at the very least his goddess didn't oppose it.

"You, uh... still alive over there? Ain't dead yet? On a scale from one to ten, how fucked are you? I ain't gonna apologize for what happened to Penumbral Guard or the many victims that were set ablaze, impaled or pissed on... but y'know, I do still like to check in on all the surviving members. I may not write to ya, but I still care for your safety!", Tomoe chimed in through the silence, undamaged from the desperate murder attempts that Joshua had made up to this point, and willing to avoid more if it seemed to be the case with an arrow drawn and pointed towards Joshua's head.

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Joshua lay there, his body seemingly dead, slowly recovering from The chared state it was in. The death aura was working over time to fix his body. But Joshuas spirit was not with his body. He was floating in a strangeness he could not explain. His eyes couldn't comprehend what he was seeing at first. But soon he found himself in a dazzling throne room. The walls hurt to look at they were so bright.

"Is.... is this it? Did I actually die?" Joshua questioned aloud, but his words did not leave his mouth. He approached the central throne of the room but stopped as he saw the dried and desiccated corpse dressed in royal yellow cloth.

Joshua didn't realize, but his nose began to bleed as he viewed the corpse. It was strange. Despite it being dead Joshua was sure he heard a heartbeat. Was that his own? No...the sound was coming from the ground itself. He approached the throne more, his soul unable to resist the draw of curiosity. But as he reached out to touch the corpse, the corpse moved and spoke to him directly by moving its mouth.

But all Joshia could do was scream and throw himself to the ground. He hadn't heard words, he had been bombarded with images, sensations, and other such sensory things that informed his world.

The corpse spoke again, repeating what it said as Joshua rolled on the ground screaming as his mind felt like it was on fire. He wasnt thinking any more, he was in to much pain to form conscious thought. The hunter got to his hands and knees and bashed his head against the ground desperate to make the pain stop.

But it was the third time the corpse spoke, Joshua stopped moving. His eyes moving so fast and rapidly it was like he was on drugs. But there was understanding in those eyes. He lifted his head and stared at the figure before him. It lifted its hand and pointed back to the entrance of the throne room. Joshua nodded and stood slowly and shakily. He made his way back to the door as cracks appeared in his psyche self. Trails of darkness and tendrils escaped his dying soul before consuming it. Transforming it into something inhuman.

The thing that had been Joshua regained control of its body and its eyes shot open, each pupil seemed normal, but Tomoe could tell because of the Soul Ether that what ever had come back was not Joshua. Its soul, if thats what it could be called, was like inky black tar devoid of color or life. It sprang up with a spinning kick to get Tomoe away from it.

The thing that was Joshua looked up at the sky. It held up its hands as if letting the air touch his basicly naked body, his clothing had been destroyed for the most part by his last explosion.

It turned to look at Tomoe if it addressed him and would laugh. The laugh wasn't natural, it was as if what ever was controlling Joshuas body had never had Vocal Cord before.

Tomoe was an archer, but that didn't mean he had suddenly lost all sense of the warrior spirit he once held within him. He had trained his whole life as a swordsman and as a martial artist in Joya and eventually made it his main method of income in Fiore, and all of those years were not lost just because he held a bow. Rather, the mentality of a close-ranged combatant could be switched on instantaneously if his bow stopped being useful, and he knew this was such a time in this brief exchange. As the weird... thing that was and was not Joshua attempted a kick at him, Tomoe would duck to the side and away, avoiding the blow and allowing this freak to do what he would to retreat; after all, it was his own funeral if he wanted to play a ranged battle.

Before the mad cultist was a being not of this realm. Was it still Joshua? No. It was more akin to an avatar for something else entirely. Tomoe as a man of good nature and enduring faith, but even he knew such a thing had to be stopped. No such evil or villainy could be allowed to roam free unchecked. Thus, as the creature laughed in an eldritch manner, Tomoe would fire a shot from his bow after backing up to 10 meters away. The arrow would blast out at 30 m/s, aiming for the core of Joshua's being, attempting to rip apart the freak's torso with a shattering shot. Joshua's body was already breaking down, so despite all of the showmanship and evil laughs like this were an exorcism, the Joyan knew that it wouldn't take much more to end this fight.

"A tough little fucker, ain't ya? Just bite the dirt already.", Tomoe grumbled, annoyed at the resilience of this man, to the point he would even summon forth some other entity for one last attempt at victory.

His gaze focused like a true sniper, Tomoe would await to see what this thing would do next, not letting his guard down but also not tolerating its existence; he had seen hell itself already, and this in comparison would not shake him. SHE would guide him to the new world, and a world like that had no place for violent and awful beings such as this. There would be no tolerance for such abominable barbarians in the future he wanted to bring.

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The thing that had taken over joshua was blasted into Crater that had been made. The arrow had struck true on the creatures arm and the force carried it into the pit. It lay there for a moment, quiet, lifeless. Its body was still healing thanks to the death aura. Its mind still consuming Joshuas memories and making them its own. It soon finished however and slowly stood up. It made no hostile movement or attempt anything besides looking at Tomoe.

It would point to its mouth to indicate it wished to speak. If Tomoe would allow it to, it would speak roughly at first, but very quickly it would advance to a almost normal speech pattern.

"You need not continue fighting. The Entity known as Joshua is dead. This one has completely taken over his body and mind." It slicked back the hair, a mess that easily was fixed by the movement. "This one has no name, so it..." the creature paused as if looking for a word. "Apologizes for not giving one."

The creature did an imitation of putting its hands up, it knew this meant surrender from the memories of Joshuas time as a bounty hunter. "This one comes in search of the Queen. The Queen in Black is needed in her Majesties Court. The vessel formerly known as 'Joshua'" the creature said the name with disgust. "Did not know anything of the Queen in Black. Yet this one senses... that you do. You are touched by the same hand as this one."

Invasion used for December. :)

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The King, who is currently in Sieghart and has been for a while, searching for his friends and never able to find them. As he wanders the mountain scape, he can see massive explosions and loud booms in the distance. Out of his curiosity, of course, a King would be more than interested in such fireworks. He made his way to what seemed to be a massive crater, seeing a warrior of quite prowess, absolutely butchering some red haired... woman? It was hard to tell from this distance. The King watched the battle unfold, the power of these mages. Now The King did not know any of these people, but his money was on the archer. He wasn't a fan of mages, because he viewed magic users as pussies. Cowards who were not able to punch. But he knew in his current weakened form that he was weaker than any mage he could come across at this point.

He knew that he was weaker than a babe, so he could not judge them too harshly. He had to be a fair King. As he watched the battle come to what seemed to be its climax, and he saw tendrils and disgusting oozes climbing out of this, perhaps woman's, face and ass and orifices and some such. He would then hear this abomination speak of Joshua. "Ah, it's a man I see. My mistake." The King would say to himself. And as this thing would go on and talk to this warrior, this archer, that's when he would hear it. This one word that he knew, no matter how powerful this mage was, he had just ended up on the shit list. For he referred to himself as a majesty, in reference to some queen serving.

The King, who was 25 meters out, would come out from behind the mountains and approach these individuals. He would walk up to these two individuals while saying "I'm sorry for getting in the way of your guys' fight, didn't mean to be that rude. You got me a tad bit curious about this 'majesty' thing you were talking about."

The King would casually wave to these individuals, almost seeming like a bit of comical relief. Unbeknownst to The King that the archer was in fact one of the men that freed him from his prison, he would simply not recognize the man in his current form and be as courteous as The King normally was. The King would get up to 3 meters in between Tomoe and Joshua, and would then say "You guys can keep going, don't let me stop you, I was just slightly curious about the 'majesty' thing."

"What the fuck?", Tomoe spoke aloud as Joshua began returning to his feet after a direct hit, ready to blast the thing into the crater again at a moment's notice.

The mad cultist wasn't dicking around at this point; he knew that this bastard would keep getting up, but that didn't mean he'd give up on putting him down again and again. However, he would pause briefly while readying his next arrow upon seeing this twisted creature make its pathetic attempts at speech. Tomoe would take in all the amazing things this man had to say, and all the wondrous tales he spun of this 'Queen in Black'. Truly amazing what psychedelics could do to a person. Peering into the milky abyss of the cosmos certainly was a hell of a thing, wasn't it? Better than the best drugs on the planet.

Yes, indeed, for what fool would honestly believe such drivel? Well and truly, this man's mind was unraveling. Only dirty, shit-eating rodents would ever indulge such fantasies. The more he listened, the more angered Tomoe would become. What this ingrate spoke of, this evolutionary dead-end, this waste of intellect, was nothing. There was no substance to it, only pure stupidity. How arrogant to assume that someone could ever claim to be above HER? SHE was not some court jester for a higher power, and such arrogance could not be permitted to continue if HER new world is to be brought to life.

"I'll teach you the path to a true utopia, bit by bit. We'll start with your fucking tongue, leech.", Tomoe would state plainly as if he were a professor teaching some new formula to his students, commanding authority as he readied his bow.

He would take no notice of the lich who looked like Odin yet didn't act like him. In this instance, he didn't matter. The thing possessing Joshua's body had surrendered? That meant less than a mongrel's ball-sack in this instant. He would need to learn, slowly, what the truth was.

An instant after finishing his sentence, Tomoe had let loose another arrow, again traveling at 30 m/s. This one, however, would then expand to be 8 meters in diameter and morph into a flaming meteor to hurtle towards the possessed Joshua without slowing down and maintaining its 30 m/s travel, the projectile growing to easily eclipse the man's entire body. Meanwhile, the Burning Shot that had previously pierced Joshua's body before was still encroaching its scorching punishment across his body, which would surely halt his regeneration with vengeful flames.

During this, Tomoe would only acknowledge the lich if it looked like he were to intercept any of this or otherwise make any moves to advance. Outsiders would only be acknowledged after this other cur had been properly destroyed.

"I'm going to dismantle you. I will shut your vile, whore mouth and teach you the proper way to use your goddamn tongue, boy, or else you'll lose it before long."

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The Thing smiled and watched on as the strange undead creature approached. He was about to answer his question when Tomoe launched his second attack. But the Thing held no fear of death. It looked up at the dazzling attack and was in awe of it. It opened its arms and embraced the orb of fire. The twin attacks scorching his body at the same as the fireball dissappear. The figure stood shakily, but still standing. Its eyes had boiled and reformed already.

"This one....gives thanks." It croaked out between burned lips and scorched lungs. All of which struggled to rebuild but they did and would until he regained his basic body shape. "You misunderstand...Tomoe." it had pulled the name from joshuas memories.

It shakily walked forward, its legs still healing. But by the time it got within melee range it had fully regained its base form. It knelt infront of Tomoe. "You misunderstand this ones words. The queen is not subservient. The Queen in Black is an equal to my lord, he would have no other beside him. This one has been sent to offer the Queen his majesties courtly comforts."

The thing would then wait. Motionless, Inhumanly so. If it was breathing it did not need much air. Its "soul" was stabilizing, and becoming more normalized. But even then it still was colorless. Untouched by emotions of life.

"Equals? Pffft."

Tomoe chuckled at the notion. SHE had an equal? No, no, no, this fool was drunk on something. There were no equals, for SHE was infinite and perfect. Anyone or anything that claimed to be an equal to his goddess was deranged, plain and simple. Yet, Tomoe had already fired two arrows and the thing had kept moving. Truly a marvel of regenerative powers, and yet... very flawed in its making, for some reason. Tomoe knew that if he gave it everything he had, he could see to this court jester's eradication, but the last statement of his goddess possessing an equal amused him. A funny joke would save this thing's life this day.

"Pffffthahahahahahaha! You're a funny little clown, y'know that? Ahahaha! You ignoramus! Pfffffft!", Tomoe laughed from his gut, on guard still in case this was some kind of ploy to get him to lower his defenses or otherwise kill him from laughter.

The mad cultist would look before his inferior with upturned features and a more upright demeanor than moments prior. "Stand up, pick yourself up off that ground. A court jester ain't any fun once they've gotten all dirty and stinky. Head high, and embrace the role of a fool. My goddess is equal to none, but if you know of HER, then that tells me that you know all kinds of things. I'll let you live for now, realizing this. And when the time comes, I will accompany HER to your god's tea party and laugh just like this, warmth in my heart, knowing that HER generosity is boundless to allow any to assume themselves HER equal.", Tomoe would explain, ending by gesturing for the thing to rise to its feet once again while keeping a joyous expression on his face.

Fiore really did bring all kinds, didn't it? Even buffoons that were daring enough to claim that the one and supreme goddess is equal to a mere king. Even a god-king couldn't compare in either power nor wisdom to HER. There were no equals, and for someone to claim such so fervently brought warmth to this Joyan's heart. Warmth the way one might look upon a growling puppy attempting to appear powerful, and praise how cute the idea of a menacing puppy is. In truth, that's all this being's superior was: a puppy.

Tomoe would then turn to the lich that looked like Odin, and raise a hand in gesture to come closer to them. "Uh, Odin? You seem... different. What's goin' on there? You sure do look... a lot weaker.", Tomoe would state plainly, noting that this lich's dark aura was so weak that Tomoe wasn't even slightly inconvenienced by his presence, unlike the Odin he had met during the raid of Penumbral Guard.

The creature stood as it was commanded. It did so in an i human way, too smooth, too...perfect. It would listen as Tomoe spoke. It was obvious he knew where or at least who the Queen in Black was, yet he would not answer the creatures plea. It did not get angry, it just smiled.

It turned to listen to what ever the Lich seemingly known as odin and tomoe said. Once they were done speaking the creature would speak to the lich. It explained what it could about the King in Yellow. But it would apologize as it could not give better information without using its native language. I asked for forgiveness and apologized all while smiling. The creature then turned away. Its smile gone.

"Something... hm.... forgive this one. But it must leave. This one promises to keep from being discovered. We will meet again." It then walked away shakily as it made its way toward oak. Something was drawing it there. It was like a magnetic force drawing the creature toward it like a moth to a flame. Had the creature found something new? This feeling... it was similar to the call of its king. He would discover what it was.

Exit

The King would look at this disgusting parasite, who was supposed to explain about this so-called majesty and/or king, but unfortunately he simply walked away while saying that he would deal with it and talk about it at a later day. This kind of pissed off Xavier a tad, but he did not stop this... how you say it? Coward from leaving. King would simply say "Alright. Bye cunt." He would then look at the archer and say "These guys these days, talking about kings and gods, and yet the moment they're asked about their delusions, they run away and never really answer."

The last time he says to Josh before he leaves is "Tell your king to keep my throne warm, and the next time I see him, your yellow king will be face-first in yellow snow when I get my body back." He would then turn to the archer and say "Also, who the fuck is Odin? The name's Xavier King. Don't mind my weak form, it was forced upon me by some cunty nobles. I was actually out here looking for the two guys that rescued me, so that I could thank them. Thought it'd only be fair."

Xavier would then give the general description of those two individuals and ask if he's seen them, while also saying they were apparently from this guild called Fairy Tail or something like that, but he didn't bother checking there long because the place is a crater.

The King would listen to any response that this archer would give. He would also think back to the dungeon he was in and his unfortunate time being forced to become a lich by some nobles for pissing in their cereal or something.

Tomoe would let the weird riff-raff that Joshua had become off the hook. He had to admit to curiosity as to where this man's delusions would take him, not convinced that such an unremarkable man would be home to so many foreign powers without explanation or reason. He would let the baffling specimen go for now, letting him loose from his cage to explore the world anew. Whatever discoveries he'd come to, or perhaps even a painful death awaiting him unceremoniously, would be up to him. As for Tomoe, he'd merely allow the man to do as he wished until it grew annoying, boring, or otherwise interfered with Tomoe's own goals.

Rama's Bow would find itself disappearing from the hands of its wielder, Tomoe digging his hands into his pants' pockets with a shrug. "Talk later, I guess. An' don't go around talkin' this shit to just anyone, y'hear? It's liable to get ya killed reeeeeeal easy.", Tomoe would blurt out, imparting one last piece of advice to the exiting Joshua.

With that, the cultist's head would then turn back to see the lich again, who looked like Odin but wasn't, and had the name of Xavier King. Vaguely, ever so vaguely, Tomoe could recall 'saving' such a man in the past. A vile and unruly lich that his old self would've enjoyed hanging around with, but not the kind of dullard he'd devote time to anymore. Yet, why did he now have such a specific difference in appearance? Frankly, Tomoe didn't quite care enough to investigate further.

"You realize how hard it is to find two specific dudes you're lookin' for? Out here in the mountains? And from Fairy Tail? Shit, man, that place is a home for dumpster divers and squatters more than it is for light mages right now. They might've just left the guild already, for all anyone knows.", Tomoe spoke with skepticism in his voice, trying to carry the idea that just wandering and expecting to find two specific, random joes was insanity.

In truth, Tomoe had no idea who this duo he was looking for was. A tall Joyan guy dressed in rags, and a white-robed dude in glasses? Well, in all honesty, this particular cultist had no idea who they were. Chances are, those people are already phantoms of a past that should no longer exist anyway. Weak, stupid, insignificant little dots on an infinitely vast map, that in truth knew nothing of the world.

"Chances are they're already dead 'n gone. Sorry, dude. Probably killed 'em when I blasted Fairy Tail apart and shredded through their low-ranking members. They probably died quick though, for what it's worth, unless they were one of the ones that was forced to writhe in the flames or got set to pikes.", Tomoe answered, sincerity in his voice, knowing that he wasn't lying - the Joyan who had freed Xavier really did die there, and Aegis had already might as well be dead to the world.

"You have yourself a good one, though. I wouldn't worry about those guys, wherever they are, if they're even alive.", Tomoe continued, then walked away after giving the man a wave goodbye; or he would, but he turned on his heel one last time for a final word. "Oh, and do be careful showin' that face of yours around the wrong places, yeah? Even if you don't know Odin, other people do. That look'll put you in a world of hurt if ya start dickin' around, so don't dick around."

Finally, Tomoe would make his exit, heading off to file a report to his guild about the mountain being blown apart and some random lunatic running around with Odin's face. What started as a simple hunting mission turned into something really stupid, really quickly, in the cultist's own personal opinion.

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- EXIT -