Job:

The setting eas all too familiar to the young man. The one who hired them had done what those like him had done before, offered jewels for service to empower themselves. Not only was the man seeking to gain more power in the sense of wealth, but control as well. It was the way of moving up in the upper sections of society. He'd imagine his grandfather doing much of the same at one point or time. It made him wonder if he would be doing well if he was back home taking the reins from his father for the company. Which road would he bring the name Shi down, and what was the path he would have set the company on? He could not answer, perhaps part of him wished to seek these answers but for now, he knew he only wanted to grow stronger, push his name to become more well known, and lay the groundwork for the legend he would become. He was already furthering himself down this path. Knuckles had given up the way of the sword and started using an Axe, and powerful weapon he had come across and trained with before moving this way in search of ways to increase his fame, or rather Infamy. His reputation was growing, though not as fast as he liked. Though with his new weapon he figured it would not take long for the wonders he would soon show to spread like floodwaters did downhill.

WC: 248

Dawncliff Mine, yet another location within Northern Fiore that was close to Sleeping Calamity's headquarter's; Orchidia. The current location of sand and mountains was a hard contrast to the overgrown greenery that meshed into the solid as well as crumbling buildings of their town. Jikan had no idea how she found herself selected to go out on this mission with Knux, but here she was. Hired by some well off rich individual to go to this mine site, ordered to go into the mine and find a untouched attractive spot to claim for mining. At least they were not tasked with actually working in the mind though, the pay was definitely worth it even though it would be extremely easy for a magic user or warrior of Knux's strength. They would have to be careful though, there was common word that the mine were profitable but had many locations inside that were loose and unsafe. Specially deeper inside, an annoyin' fact given that that would probably be the most untouched areas.

A hard knock life was what these men and woman lived. Putting their bodies on the line to bring income home to their families and their own livelihood. Some not having any other choice, some finding it the best way to make the money they wanted. She saw it many times throughout her life traveling, and people who choice to do this type of action day in and day out held a level of her respect.

Wc: 250

Walking along the woman Knuckles sighed as boredom started to settle in already.  The caves reminded him much of the ones he blew up back in Baska. Though the type of rock in the walls was different, likely due to the change of climate.  The pair walked deeper into the cave system, the longer they walked the more he questioned how far down they would have to go to find the untapped resources within. The walls they walked past had chips and cuts through them as someone or rather many of people had chipped away at the rich minerals within the walls.  The Daemon looked into them sucking in the details of the marks. The patterns seemed different than that of those he had seen in Baska, these looked like random and often unsuccessful strikes. "It looks like these walls have been picked clean, though I would say they have only been done so by people with greed in their hearts.  Though they lacked the skill to do so properly.  I have seen proper mining before but this is not it. "

As they two pushed on the sounds of metal meeting rock could be heard further down the cave, someone was currently at work trying to find the minerals for their selves. If the stones or whatever was within the walls were valuable perhaps he should pick up a pickax and chip away to his fortune too.  Though he'd wager if the minerals were the good this cave would have been under the control of the government.

WC:257
TWC:505

Jikan walked on the right side of Knux, her eyes straight forward and her hands relaxed on her side. Her hands folded cross sided over one another under her brown cloak she wore today over her Reinforced Leather Cuirass armor. A decision that was partially beneficial and a detriment to her. The light brown cloak that matched her attire held her heat in the night, making her warmer, and at times it would absorb less heat during the day cooling her with its shade under. However, it would also hold heat the sun and if she got enough she would get slightly sweaty, that issue would probably come up in the cave with things being condensed.

She noted Knux's sigh, but left it at that. She just focused on their walk. Deeper they went, more and more of the cave system being given to them. Each one being a piece of the map to their goal, but it was a process. Time and time again they found spots already used to their limit, the exposed walls having nothing left to give. Jikan's feet stopped as Knux began to talk, "everyone has greed in their hearts Knux. Some display it as a need to provide for family and community, other display at being goal oriented, and others falling to their animistic need for resources and power. No matter the goal, greed is a common factor. They did an ask job in collecting it though, damaged some of the value". She stuck her hand out and rubbed the damaged walls at the last part, pieces remained in the wall, but small in number and no real value present in them, at least to the employer. It would be nice if Jikan and Knux could pocket some extra cash.

The sound of metal strike soon came within the distance of their ears, Jikan turned her body towards the sound, she thought she might even hear a few voices there as well. But more important to her, the walls began to look less touched. Looking at Knux then nodding her head in the direction towards the sound, Jikan began to walk towards it. Eventually they would come upon a boy, one that did not look older than a young teen with an axe in his hand going at the wall. But then it appeared two older men were coming up by him, and they did not look happy at all.

Wc: 411
Twc: 651

Knuckles stopped and joined Jikan in her closer look into the walls as she ran a hand over it. He lowered his head and closed his eyes as he pressed his back to the wall listening as she spoke on greed. She had a fair point, but he had been speaking on fool's greed. There was greed in ambition in all forms as she had stated, though this greed was out for a quick buck. In Knuckles' opinion, the raw mineral was worth some money, but the real value came when it was refined, and that's what most of these fools did not know to take into account.  They likely would not even be able to refine the mineral they were poorly extracting.   "Hm, I would admit your words to strike true, but sadly their greed blinds them. Many fall for greed's tricks, some would likely say I among them giving what I gave for my powers. "  He smirked lifting his head as the sound of a pickaxe bounced off the wall repeatedly, then voice muttering yet still echoed by the cave walls.

Knuckles followed behind Jikan until he matched her pace walking along her left putting her to his right once more.  Soon the outline of a small boy came into focus,  as they kept up their march two men took place within the scene too. They looked as if they had better days, Knuckles moved his head slightly to look at Jikan, he wondered if she would be empathic to the kid, he rather hoped not. It should have been a simple walk-through, marking, reporting, and getting paid.   Knuckles lowered his right hand allow it to fall to the hammer on the small of his back.  Feeling the hitting within his palm Knuckles lifted it fuck it buckle that held it there, and lifted it up to his shoulder resting it upon his armor.

It was simply for preparation and show, he wanted it to know he would not miss the chance to slam his new hammer into their skulls and let the bones crush between the skin the wrapped it tightly, the Demon within pleased to read his mind, Knuckles had even thought of a way to kill the boy if needed. He was truly becoming more corrupt. He could not recall a time before this where he would have even considered this child a possible threat or ways to kill them, but here he was ready to let the hammer sail through the dark cave like a missile and pummel the child to death.  It had become what it had become there was no use in denying it, he could only hold out as long as he could.

"Good evening Gentlemen, and boy. How are things ahead? I was told the cave became a dangerous place the further you go in. This was of course his attempt in trying to save the kids life, he was eager to see how this would go.

WC:497
TWC:1002

Powers? Oh yea...apparently he is a Daemon now. Or perhaps he always was and was just able to hide it from her in their interactions? She must be getting sloppy. Her upbringing and training should have made her able to see from the man's appearance and feel of his mana that he was otherworldly. It felt...old to be around one and not have the common denominator among them to be combat and destruction of one another. He was in her guild, and by default somewhat an teammate to cooperate with. She could feel the...malific Presence oozing from him, it was heavy like a nasty stench that was the result of not bathing for weeks. It felt like it could cause a chill down her spine, but, she did not feel scared or fearful of Knux strangely.

Oh yet another fun aspect of her Sleeping Calamity alliance. "Yeah...about that...when and how did that happen?", she attempted to be relaxed when asking this question. Phrasing it more of a curiosity than anything else from her. Jikan had been wanting to ask Knux this question for awhile now. When Jikan and Knux met briefly, and in a way of words; exchanged perspectives of fighting styles, the man did not give her any vibes that he was other than a human male.

Her question would have to wait to be answered another day though. In short time there were making their way to their next location. Knux quickly moving from behind her pace to catching up and falling in line to her left. His helmet, armor, and helmet shining nice today, reflecting the few bright stones in their path as they walked. It was miraculous of how Knux took care of his equipment, taking a beating in combat over the time that she had know him and in short time after, removing the dents and scratches on it and making it look good as new, as if it was never used at all. With each step they heard the clicking louder as they closed in on the sound of axe hitting stone. In a short amount of time they saw the boy at work, with two men reaching the same spot as the boy not much before Jikan and Knux.

They all looked like shit, bodies wore down from life and harsh labor. Their clothing held smudges, dust, and dirt on their body in various places. Patches of fabric missing on their clothes to reveal the undergarments they wore. They had bad days, and unfortunately this day would be one of them because this spot, looked like the perfect spot to mark, and it looked like it had barely touched, the only one seeming to have done anything to it was the young boy before it right now.

Jikan was aware of Knux's look, it was common by now that the lady was about doing work because money was always needed at the end of the day, but she had some solid lines that pissed her off to cross, and she would attempt at any chance to avoid it. It had not come up yet in discussion or missions, yet, but Jikan felt that Knux could feel that she would have an issue with harming the child. That may have been something that would cause a mess with Knux as she noticed the red haired man lower his right hand to his right side where his new weapon, his mysterious square hammer. He was getting ready to do something if needed.

However, it appeared that the two men had not noticed the two Sleeping Calamity members as they entered, nor did the boy because his attention was quickly drawn to them as they began to get into a heated situation.

"I thought we told you to not be here freak. We know about you and we don't trust you. We warned you but you just did not listen huh?!".


"What are you talking about, I just want to do some work and get some--".

The child's words were cut short with not care or time wasted. As one man stood before the boy and spoke, his axe still down by his side while the other man broke up into a wide swing. Slashing with the tip of his axe , hitting the boy's mouth and knocking a good amount of teeth out of his mouth while a stream of blood began to ooze out from the blow, the boy dropping to his knees against the wall, dropping his tool as he covered his mouth using both of his hands.

Only after the fact did the three present before them acknowledged their presence, Knux's words coming out in the middle of their actions. A jolt from the men as they did not expect anyone to be present so far within the cave, and knew that the situation did not look good from an outside perspective.


"Uh, hold up, it is not what it looks like--", Jikan had no desire to hear the excuse the man said, her anger flared as flowed around her like it was her mana as she lunged forward with her legs, kicking the man that was talking away with her right leg as she swung her left hand out and smashed the man that attacked with the pickace's head into the stone wall. Crushing his head in an instant. Her eyes turned back to see if the boy was okay. But soon found that the beging was not a mere boy at all. Their appearance shifted as they body broke down, showing their true form. They appeared now as a man, some type of creature, one that Jikan had never seen before. A skin tone that was pale, white as snow, a slender bodies with limbs slightly longer what would be for a normal humanoid body. Large colorless eyes circled by thick black rings. The man Jikan kicked growned as he layed in the background, Jikan dropped her hand from the dead man's head and turned towards the humanoid being.

"Ay th-thank you".

However, Jikan did not come to the being to aid him, she came to end him, in one swift motion she grabbed him by his head using her hands and lifted him up into the air. Bringing his head to her eye level so that she could look him in his eyes. Keeping contact and slowly, she squeezed, his veins bulged, his eyes strained before his head popped in a nasty mess before she let her hands release his body.


Wc: 1109
Twc: 1,760

As the pair approached Jikan wasted little to no time moving towards one of the two men who had approached the boy, more so towards the one who had struck the child with the pickaxe. Since he was ready, Knuckles fed mana into his armor using the spell within it to keep up with Jikan's movements. Drawing his hammer fully he struck the other miner center mass in the chest allowing a loud audible pop of ribs and surrounding bones to buckle and pop from the locations they typically rested within. The man would die slowly as blood would surely fill his lungs and throat, it would be slow and painful but death nonetheless. Knuckles turned back around to watch as Jikan and the boy started to have a conversation, though in those moments the boy showed his true form, something that Knuckles had never seen nor heard of. It did, however, seemed this was a Target for Jikan perhaps on her personal mission.  Jikan made quick work of that creature's head too before Knuckles even started to walk towards her. As he approached his hammer would soon find its self back in the holster-like area on the small of his back. He was glad to not have to draw his shield, he was starting to rethink carrying one or at least a better quality one as this one kept breaking down on him forcing him to have it repaired or replaced often. He knew if he wanted something that would last he would have to indeed pony u and pay a good amount of jewels for it as he had done with the hammer.


He knelt down looking at the stranger creature, it had the ability to change the body feature it had into different things. How many well Knuckles had no idea but maybe the woman with him had. He thought it best to give her a moment to calm before he would ask. Well, that was interesting. You know for a moment there I thought you might have scolded me for killing this child, but then you went ahead and did it yourself. He turned his head and slightly twisted his body looking at the other man whose head she had crushed.  After a careful study, he looked back up towards her before standing to his feet.  Knuckles now looked down to her before chuckling lightly.

"I mean I sort of get why you destroyed that man there, but you saved this thing, then kill it too. Why even harm these men if that was your intent? Better question what in the nine hells is this thing and why were you looking for it?  

After he asked a few questions he would await her answers if she gave them, he would listen with interest if she was to answer his questions, and if not, then he would do what he planned after she would answer which was turn around and walk deeper into the cave once more. Though as he took a few steps some of the rock face ceilings began to allow dirt to fall before a large section fell slightly in front of him. A loud thud would echo throughout the cavern walls as it blocked his path. Tilting his head he looked up as he waved his hand in front of his face trying to clear the air in front of him before he would take in a new breath. It was done in hopes to prevent a cough to rise in his throat but it was too late for that. He pulled his hammer free once more and gave the boulder a nice slam splitting it into two different parts. The rounded sides would the shack as they parted enough for the two to pass one by one.

It was probably the force of slamming that guy's head into the wall that did it. With a shrug, he deemed the area safe and pushed through.  Perhaps another twenty or thirty minutes would pass before they reached their destination. It was dark but the Daemon was able to see, there were no markings on the walls here and no sign of others. Knuckles smiled as he pulled out the map given to him and pulled a pen out writing a single X onto the paper.  With their job done he looked to Jikan with a smile and walked back towards the entrance where Fang awaited his return to fly him back to the man who hired them.  When all was said and done, the man seemed overjoyed by the quickness of their journey and paid them the wages they had agreed to.  He left out any mentions of a fight and left Jikan to disclose that if she so chose to.  With money in hand, Knuckles was ready to search for something else to do, and fill his pockets greater.

WC: 817
TWC:1819