The quiet beast grazed the land, in it’s natural habitat, it was the best. Beyond that, the beast had to have a spiritual strength, Erebus always wondered if he made the right choices in life but his ego didn’t allow him to feel sorry for his decisions, so long as the bigger picture was still clear. Nowadays, his name was running around faster than he was. The Summon Rogue was as much a household name in Oak, as the King himself.

Throwing his armor over his tunic on sling, Erebus walked through the spring afternoon towards the haunted church, he’s been here for this mission so many times it almost felt like recreational slaughter of the undead... and he was fine with that.

Approaching the building, Erebus walks inside. If his allies are not there, he will just turn around and stare out until they get here. His crimson eyes, seemed brighter today, perhaps his fat bank account was beginning to feed his interest. One hand slid through his pink hair, pushing it back into it’s spiked form. He was rather fortunate this bandit season, pathetic royals would never get over on criminal lords like Erebus, Odin, or Caius. Such things were nothing shy of a dreary dream, like the Pablo Escobar of this shit— they wore their mantles with pride.

Ikanbi, and Sia— the rather talented duo Erebus found himself assisting were assigned this mission as well. He had already done this in past times so he could expect they were capable teammates, perhaps it would be easier even with their mystery accomplice, should he be strong after all.

The Nightmare’s Sword parched him against the door frame, staring at his sharp black fingernails. His hand flipped over extending them, aware how claw-like they really seemed. Without formality disputing things, he awaits their introductions in patience...

Another day, another play date with Sia and Erebus, though Ikanbi had it on good authority from Kuva that they would be joined by one other individual as they dealt with the spirits beneath the church. The last week had been most fruitful, a lovely, wonderful little situation has finally presented itself and the Hunting Party had been brought back together again after such a long time apart. Ikanbi was glad to see Erebus, as she always was, for the man had been nothing but lovely to her and the daughters of darkness as they had conspired for bigger and better things thus far.

Her attire today was surprisingly a little different than what she typically would wear. Today, Ikanbi showed quite a lot of skin, much like Sia, in fact, it was very obvious that the two were working together, for their outfits today had been coordinated and they matched perfectly. When Ikanbi and Sia set out on the streets, they moved as a unit. "Sounds like we're gonna go round up some ghosts again Sia. What do the spirits have to say about that?" Ikanbi asked her in Fioran. Whilst Sia talked, Ikanbi nibbled lightly on a loaf of bread Kuva had left for her when she had departed earlier in the morning. She wasn't sure what Kuva was up to today, but perhaps Erebus would be able to tell her.

"When are you gonna shag Erebus, Sia?" Ikanbi suddenly asked, and laughed as Sia choked on her drink. "What? I see the way you look at him," she continued with a grin. "He's not bad looking, I see what you see. I'd probably smash it too to be honest with you." Ikanbi decided to stop teasing Sia about it and changed the subject as they drew closer towards Erebus' designated meeting location. "Oioi, Hello dear." Ikanbi said as they drew closer, and extended her closed fist to fist bump the rogue playfully. "You ever wonder if any of these ghosts are the result of Eternal Nightmare activities?" She asked him with a light chuckle.


347/1500

With a long yawn and a stretch, Sia arose from her slumber of the night, and was delighted with the dreams the spirits had given to her, for the witch was truly in need of direction. Direction, a reflection of her purpose to guide and aid Ikanbi and Kuva through this hellish domain they found themselves in. She rolled over and saw a note Kuva had left for her by the side table. Of course she had already set out for the day, Sia thought to herself. She read the note and smiled. She would get to see Erebus today. She would get to see Erebus today. Sia rose out of bed and decided on what to wear, staring over at Ikanbi as she slept and decided not to wake her just yet.

Instead, Sia went for a nice quiet walk by herself for a bit, for she was not up quite as early as Kuva, but it was still dark out none the less, and she did so enjoy the nice and peaceful quiet that that brought into the town. Eventually, she did make her way back to the Inn, and she had gently shook Ikanbi's arm to wake her. The two had then gotten dressed, with matching outfits that revealed quit a bit of their skin. Their midriffs were exposed, their hair was up in ribbons, and there wasn't much left to the imagination when it came to their legs. It was hot outside today, and they wore incredibly light clothing, though it was notably blacker than Sia's usual black dress.

Sia walked with Ikanbi towards their assignment, and to Ikanbi's first question she answered, "They told me the ghosts will never truly leave no matter what we do until they have fulfilled their vengent duties as, well, ghosts. We only irritate them until they disappear just to come back later anyway." As for the second question, she didn't answer at all to begin with and instead turned a rather lovely shade of pink. "Knock it off. If it happens it happens." Was all she said on the matter, though had to admit that Erebus did look quite lovely standing there when the two of them arrived. "H-Hi."

370/1500

After the last girl would speak— be it Sia or Ikanbi’s comment. Erebus would have a sudden flush of extreme mood. The intensity was that of a inner outburst, as if the steam in his body had been growing for days and then suddenly.

Erebus had a brief breakdown, a completely different version of him was there.

Erebus wasn’t even particularly busy at the moment. However. When he looks up to make eye contact with Ikanbi and Sia. Their happy nature’s seem to boil him up inside, their lack of respect at his awe inspiring power, their paths chosen— being so safe.

It was also a fair amount of social depravity going on within his mind, all of a sudden— he wasn’t running alone amidst his head, people wanted him to help them. Why? Paranoia? Anger. Inner turmoil was brewing rapidly and from wherever it came— the chemicals were frying the happiness out of his body, and replacing it with carnage and lust, with— darkness.

Their bodies were nearly fully exposed, both girls being hyper-sexualized in their womanly forms, on top of their outfit coordinations did something for Erebus. He couldn’t help but let his irises pay extra special attention to Sia’s body; but Ikanbi’s injected friendliness too was so hard to tame himself around. The Rogue hadn’t exactly looked at either of them objectively, he didn’t do it for anyone very often— not at least did he notice it was causing him a mood swing, not until this very moment itself, did the urge to take the peace from their mind, flood his over...

With Ikanbi standing two feet forward to cover Sia and extend her hand, Erebus reads both their body language instantly and the reflexes that equipped him for War took over. It wasn’t hard to tell from how she stood and spoke; Sia was the shy type, Ikanbi was a real hunter and Erebus was both a man— and the Hunted.

Both women were fascinating specimens of the opposite sex and perhaps for a dead moment, Erebus completely throws his task of Ghost Hunting out the window, to test a social construct between the girls and himself and incite the same fear that had ruined the image he once was before he had become Nightmare’s Sword.

Instead of meeting Ikanbi’s fist to bump it playfully, Erebus raised his hand slowly to hers, then thrusts it upward at her neck with a swiftness— at her neck he clenches and raised her frame from the ground, choking her and forcing his dialogue to be interpreted and obeyed. The action would be almost instant as she expected him to bump her on the fist and had already built a trust in this man, an untreated trust. For a split second, sheer carnal desire constrains Erebus to lose control of his humanity and act outside his mortal coil as he can only think like the monster, the beast, that he is.

In some darker, perhaps even warping tone to his words, one that is devoid of wonder but dripping of its usual charm. His words ran thick & dense, carrying with them the threat of a life much different than what they might have perceived they were living. He pressed his lips, tucking the bottom under his teeth, heat from his body ran hot, like a warm fire, from Courpsemourn.

“I said I’d train your sister— my debt ends there. I didn’t say you wouldn’t have to earn your own place in my life, that goes to both of you. I will take everything from your life, if you ever hope to betray me I will strip everything from you. Starting with Kuvakiri’s protection.” Erebus looks at both females— glancing between just once, his eyes dilated as if something within churned a hostility to his person.

“I am losing my patience with you girls— if I was half the ally you think I am, tell me why I shouldn’t strip you both naked and zip tie you at the bottom of the cave with the demons to have their ways upon your pitiful flesh.” Erebus slowly and rather seductively moves his index finger, a black sharpened fingernail would trace a heart around Ikanbi's belly button before trailing to her panty line and stopping. He then thrusts her forward and away from his person, as if to create the symbol he had degraded her to nothing but an object to sate his emotions.

“From here out— I think you both know you’ve been warned who I am, done your research, so without further warning to your mental sanity and physical safety, I find it no longer necessary to protect either of you like Kuva... But.” Erebus would dust his cloak off and/or react if not interrupted. He also would’ve been able to react while he’d spoken should they have attempted some sort of resistance on his threat.

“For as long as I train your sister— I own her. As long as I own her. I own all of you, and I will collect if you don’t choose to change your perspective of me now. Do you understand? Your situation is black with evil, your world is under duress— dire, and grave in my hands. I am no demon, little more than a man, but for you. You should worship me as your devil. I don’t have friends. I have assets.” Erebus pauses with a  smile, calmly and fully coming down to his normal pedigree after his words close, his tone returning to it’s charmful disposition. “And of course, so do you.” The way he’d carry on next was simple. He simply wouldn’t push any further violence. However— his actions told himself that the God Blood was making his nature augment, from survivalist to domination. There was a euphoric high in his body, like the universe was finally feeling the birth of it’s black hole sun.  

It was an evolution— he was transcending mankind, and now? His unholy mercy was right in front of two girls— who perhaps thought he was their friend only a few moments before. Part of life was realizing where you make error, and expect things to be sweet. In a strange way or lesson of awakening, Erebus was refining their mentality even now— through his own demented tough love.

”Anyhow, let’s begin our Ghost Hunt now?” His voice of venom suggested, now looking to them with little more than that of a disappointed father, they’d likely be trying to figure out what we wrong, if he had to guess. This would only make them closer and thus, within his hands even deeper.

1135 WC
1448/1500

The two of them had walked up to Erebus but everything but and including good intentions, and the way they were operating was most stoic. Still, as they inched closer there was always the sneaking suspicion and idea. A dark thought, planted into both Ikanbi and Sia's brains, and Ikanbi knew it too existed within the field for Kuva and Erebus. A lust. A primal desire. A tease, a begging of wrath. The lust for war, to split ones opponent's anew with rife and horrible acts. A vile, twisted, perversion of what could be in the world. This was a path of life Ikanbi, Sia, and Kuva were all quite familiar with. People could turn or be turned at any moment. Everyone they had ever met could be a snake. It was important to recognize, and see them for what they were. Ikanbi always trusted a snake to bite her.

It came without warning, but it was not a surprise. The moment Erebus' shoulder and hand moved at all she brought her palms upwards, and the entirity of her body became coated in a thin layer of arcane magic as a glyph soared about her hands. It coated her, wrapping around every conceivable part of her and provided the only protection she had in the moment and though she continued to sustain the spell, she immediately relaxed, knowing it truly wouldn't help her and that she had done i entirely out of reflex.

Ikanbi saw the world through Khalfani's eyes. She laughed, immediately, directly into Erebus' face as he lifted her from the ground. She did not resist further, she did not swing her arms up to fight back, she merely made immediate, direct eye contact with him as he hoisted her up, then, after a moment of processing, began to speak in an incredibly deep, perfect male voice as her feline cat ears twitched. "It will be years before you ever scare me, pretty boy." She said confidently, and didn't particularly care whether or not it irritated him further, her face revealing nothing but a hearty smile as Erebus rambled on and she interjected her own banter back at him in between breathes. "Sorry, it's just never going to happen, you'll have to do better than just being fast and talking my ear off." She continued and from the corner of her eye she noticed that the display from Erebus had, in fact, rubbed Sia quite the right way with it. She was at a loss for words, truly too stunned to speak, as it would turn out.

Still, there was merit to the actions and words the came out of the Rogue's mouth. His point was made, and it was quite solid. Ikanbi never broke her eye contact though, her smile continuing the entire time he had spoken to her and kept her off from the ground. Eventually, she rolled her eyes and looked Erebus up and down. "I wonder what Khalfani would say if he knew you manhandled the mother of his children" She said casually, continuing with her incredibly bored tone which emanated with absolutely no fear from her vocal cords and diaphragm. "Of course, what he doesn't know won't hurt him." She said slyly and made a display of licking her own lips and batting her eyelashes at him. "It's been a while since I've done things to a hot-headed little white boy." She made a kissy face at him and noticed immediately that the gesture annoyed an distressed Sia.

"You can put me down when you're ready to stop being a little bitch." She said finally, bring her hands upwards and adjusting Erebus' shirt casually. "I don't know what you're trying to accomplish here, but you'll never be as scary as a real vampire or demon." She tsked at him loudly and shook her head. "Nice try though." It was a good laugh to her, she could barely contain herself.



Finally, she was set down, and never thought of the words Erebus' had spoken to her again. Her, Sia, and Kuva, they already knew what they were getting into working with Erebus. A snake was a snake, and so were they. It didn't matter, in the long run, the objective was the same. The purge was coming, and whether or not Erebus wanted to be involved, he had already set horrible, horrendous, acidic wheels into motion.

Ikanbi withdrew her knife and stabbed Erebus in the leg with it lightly, just poking him with it, not really breaking his flesh. "See, I can be a dumbass too." She said playfully as they walked into the basement together finally.

After a moment, she did consider something else. "Erebus...are you tainted by pact magic? Does it do things to your blood and make you boil without hesitation like it does for us?" She looked into his eyes again pointedly when she asked. "It's fine, Sia has spells of ridiculousness too, she's actually a little scarier than Kuva anyway." She said with a shrug.

Now, finally, Ikanbi could see the right side of Erebus, the side she knew would be there inevitably, and eventually, and test his mettle on how exactly he intended to present himself. She giggled again, still fearless, and poked Sia with her knife as well, though much harder, to intentionally annoy her. She did it again, surprised that Sia had done nothing to stop her. "Hello, are you there?" She had asked her, trying to snap Sia back into focus on reality and the current situation. It was hopeless, everything Erebus did made Sia ecstatic.

Ikanbi let out a long Sigh and looked back and forth between the two of them as they continued towards the ghosts they were meant to hunt. "You two are really made for each other, not gonna lie." She said finally. It was true. Ikanbi was more of a hippie in a way, and though Sia was shy around Erebus, it was, Ikanbi knew, mostly because Sia wanted to rip his clothes off just as Erebus had just threatened, and do horrible, unspeakable acts with him that were both violent and lewd in ways that made Ikanbi's skin crawl. "Sia is the one that likes getting fifty shades of fucked up anyway." She said with a laugh, ignoring the splendid shade of red which had come out of Sia's face as she said it.

Ikanbi brandished her knife and threw it through a ghost watching it stick into a wall nearby. She went over and retrieved it, then threw it through a ghost so that it continued and traveled directly towards Erebus. It wouldn't do much for damage, but would surely irritate him if he didn't do something to move out of the way. "I am playing chess, and Kuva, Sia, and the rest of them are just pieces. I fear nothing, and no one. I can't. It was removed from me already." She said, and, Sia and Erebus would find, notably, that she never, ever lost her composure through the entire display and conversation with Erebus. Never once did she show fear, never once did she make eye contact.

If the snake was going to turn on her today, he would have to do so knowing that Ikanbi would never, ever, fear him or his words in any capacity. He had no power over her. "If Kuva is in Eternal Nightmare, you should consider half of each of us to be much the same." A smile crossed her face again, and she flipped her knife in her hand whilst staring between Erebus, Sia, and the rest of the ghosts.


Name: A Very Basic Ward
Rank: D
Mana Cost: 25
Requirements: Hunter Magic
Type: Defensive
Element: Arcane
Range: 5 Meters
Cooldown: 1 Posts
Duration: Sustain
Effect: The user will bring their palm upwards and form a magic glyph on one either one of their arms, one of their legs, their head, or their torso, and causing a defensive layer of grey arcane magic to encompass her entire body for every post they sustain the spell with a D-Rank Level of Defense.

1633/1500

When Erebus moved violently in Ikanbi's direction, Sia was no where near prepared to deal with such a situation, but took her knife from her pouch and immediately stabbed him in the back from behind. "Let her go." She said confidently, but immediately changed her tone with she found her knife doing so pitifully against his gear that it accomplished nothing short of nothing whatsoever, so she merely pulled the knife away, instead examining his armor for a moment in awe and admiration. "Fascinating," she said. She had never had a knife fail to pierce someone's armor before.

It was enlightening to learn a little more about Erebus today. She had identified him as a snake immediately, as had Ikanbi and Kuva before her, but a snake never bothered with dark witch anyway. People were unpredictable, sporadic, chaotic, and toxic. Of course Erebus was too, just as truly as the rest of them in the little Hunting Party that was slowly and surely coming together one piece at a time. Her mouth fell open in a dangerous mixture of being both turned on and horror struck. She was nervous. Nervous not for her life, but for the life of Ikanbi, and even marginally for Erebus, truthfully. "I don't think you want to deal with the repercussions that befall you if you hurt my friend, Erebus." Sia finally said, her words filled with malice. "People like you are impulsive and stupid, and doing something like that to Ikanbi will have repercussions to you whether you intended it or not." She whistled.

"You're a bold one for sure, and an idiot at that." She continued, and left Erebus alone with Ikanbi, making her way down to the target area by herself without them, leaving the two of them to have their pathetic show of trying to put Ikanbi in her place. Sia knew it wouldn't matter. Out of the three of them, Sia knew that Ikanbi truly feared absolutely nothing. Not Erebus, not Sia, not Kuva, not Odin, not Kon, noone. Ikanbi was, a tried, and true hunter, and Sia foresaw through the spirits visions on many occasions before that Ikanbi was going to change the world with her unique neutral view on the world. She had to admire it, her absolutely unwavering resolve and inability to be feared by anything. For Ikanbi, Sia knew fear was a foreign word. It had to meaning to her, it had no power over her. Things happened around Ikanbi and she smiled, fixed it, and moved on as though it had never happened. It was an admirable trait, something Sia wished she was capable of, but she headed further into the basement knowing there was nothing else to be done for Ikanbi if Erebus truly wanted to kill her.

She shoved the thought from her mind and imagined her summons in her mind's eye, and finally materialized with great effort a spider made entirely out of water, forming from a glyph several paces from her as it splashed upwards and launched itself towards the nearest ghost as Sia instructed it to to do. She began to sing, a sad, melancholic song which guided the Summon to do her bidding. "The long nights of spirits and wilds with wrathful souls do linger, find them in water and test them with your stinger," she sang sadly in Fioran and the summon obeyed. It darted forwards, piercing through the ghost with its two legs and walking along the wall behind it upwards, scurrying about onto the ceiling and eyeing the rest of the room from above as Sia stood below doing much the same. More ghosts had come out and about, if Ikanbi and Erebus didn't finish their little chat soon, she would wind up dealing with the entire populace of the ghosts herself, she imagined.

Another ghost groaned and made its presence known to Sia and the summon. Sia continued her singing, gesturing towards the ghost with her hand, "long have the dead stayed to far, send them on the the death yard," she had sang and the spider sprang into action just as quickly. Her hand came together and pointed separately at the ghost, the spider dropped from the ceiling and stabbed through the ghost with its own flesh, the magical water piercing into the ghost and disrupting its presence in the world until it dispersed for the time being. "I am not sure I can properly dispel these spirits without the right relics with which to do so." She said to her spider familiar, "But we can make them temporarily go away in the mean time." Another ghost appeared, and another round of maneuvering from Sia and her spider. She commanded the spider with gestures, it caught her commands using its many, many eyes. She was silent as the spider, and it descended again from the wall, unleashing its magical water presence into the ghost until it could no longer sustain its ethereal form in the material plane and vanished.

She wondered whether or not Ikanbi and Erebus would be joining them, and whether Ikanbi was dead yet and if she would be soon to follow. In the end, she supposed it wouldn't matter. Inevitably, Ikanbi, Sia, and Kuva would each become more powerful when they died, and if Erebus chose to haphazardly unleash armageddon on the world, she certainly wouldn't say no to a one way ticket to salvation.

Their plan was coming together, and death by any means was not a deterring factor and it would not stop them. The Hunting Party had already gotten back together, and there would be nothing, not even Erebus killing the three of them, that would stop their plans from coming together and boiling into full fruition. As the thought crossed her mind another ghost entered the fray and Sia summoned her six tendrilled squid octopus from a glyph, sending her arm and water glyph along their  intended paths as the water summon spouted upwards from the ground behind the ghost and slapped directly through it with a tentacle slam.

It was nice to have magic again, truly, and she smiled at her companions. "It is nice to work with you both again." She said to the two of them as Erebus and Ikanbi finally joined the two of them. "Did you have a good little chat?" She asked the two of them loudly, visibly eyeing Erebus up and down with what could only be both lust and concern. She batted at Ikanbi's shoulder with her off-hand as Ikanbi poked her with her knife. "Your fearless resolve never ceased to amaze me, Ikanbi of the Desert." She said to her teammate finally. "As for you, I hope you will at least attempt to be more well behaved. The wrath you will incur from Kuva's sleeping demons are far worse than anything you could have ever imagined. I look forward to hearing what she and Khalfani do to you when they learned you even considered threatening Ikanbi in the first place." She said pointedly with a nervous laugh that followed. She brought her hands together, and pointed with her index fingers on each at separate targets. "Kill." Was all she said, and both the spider and the octopus moved in synchronized unison, one crawling along the ceiling as the other crawled across the floor, whizzing past Ikanbi and Erebus to deal with more ghosts that had made themselves present.

This show went on for some time, the fiveish of them dealing with various different ghosts before finally, the area was visibly and inspectually clear of the ghost's threat.




1640/1500

Sia rushes Erebus though his focus was maintained on Ikanbi and their game. Being notably favored for her approach as opposed to the dark skinned girl’s, that respect she’s shown alone, kept her from catching her own neck up between his finger and held off the ground, as Erebus obviously had the full ability to do anything he wanted against these two. Had he been a more evil man, they would have surely faced an inhuman wrath. It should reach their senses before long though that what he said was for good reason.

Erebus was no stranger to betrayers in his time, and this was his standalone moment to regulate the actions of women— the most uncontrollable variable of them all was the female sex. Snake or not, you learned how to be an apex predator when tested in a jungle full of monsters. Erebus simply moved with the currents, he was the predator and engaging him with the respect of such was crucial to begging for his assistance in life. He was no joker, he was very much serious about his words.

“Your fear is not important to me Ikanbi. You grow more foolish with every word you emit, realize that the world is bigger than the little desert your Prince calls home. In the West, I am the answer.” Erebus said, with all acknowledgement for Odin as superior. This was still Erebus’ home court, he was the hero of this region. The name of royalty, even if linked to his old friend, would never quell the War God that lives in his blood now.

After Erebus had fully unwinded his wording and fully said his conversations, that’s when Ikanbi got her courage together to stab his leg. Though, as she claimed to feel no fear, he too did feel the effect he’d had on her. She was on edge and needed to show she would offend his role, perhaps she not afraid but Erebus was far from trivial or unintelligent like these girls thought, they were certainly awake to the ‘Erebus’ the rest of the world deemed him to be. Which was enough to warrant they fully understood he’d see through any malice they truly contended him with later. The pretend fist bump, as he figured it, had indeed shown him that Ikanbi’s real feelings are much different than the ones she outwardly produced to begin with. Erebus wouldn’t let this memory slide now, but he did like the spunk.

He needed to not say anything further, though he chuckled at the mention of his nephew. “I didn’t know you fancied Khal.” Erebus kicked the dagger from her hand when she scrambled to stab his thigh after being thrown to the floor “I never said you were a dumbass. But yes,” lightly shoving her body off course would have her falling before she could reach her mark. Trolling the woman just out of reach, he followed Sia and laughed— heading into the darkness. It was perplexing, as his usual charm was back and it was if they were all fine again, and the mere moment before was that of a mental fallacy.

The mention of a pact made Erebus pause. “What is Pact Magic—“ he asked half-intrigued.

Erebus was not stupid though he was a non-magic specialist before two years ago. The powers he’d attained felt as though they came to him, not that he sought them out with greed. Erebus played a chaotic force that always maintained the opportunity to bite you in the back, but those powers were blessings. Odin, was the first to tell you he himself was blessed with his power by HER. So nothing really ever made sense to Erebus and for a long time, he stopped asking questions.

Erebus would slice and move like a blur through the dim light, dancing around and fighting. He noted Sia’s use of her summons again— good. She would need her powers. Little more is said from Erebus as he responds and reacts to things. Should Sia or Ikanbi say more, he’d digest it before eventually obscuring his form and their trace of him would be lost in the catacombs, he sought to find out more about whatever they had to tell him on ‘Pacts’ and other-wisely, attempt to get back home where he was to assume a training session with Kuvakiri.

Because of Erebus rage, he provokes more chaos from the spirits. Netting his bounty just a little higher when all was said and done.

-End and Exit-