Gears of Time

Ever since the industrial era, a looming darkness has haunted humanity in it's finest creations. From the telegram to the steamboat, this dark force has strangely been inhabiting inanimate objects for nearly a hundred years. What ever the force was, no one has seen or heard from it since WW1. But recently, it has been reported that whatever this being is, it has stirred up trouble in Europe, and has fled to America. Out of all the places, what better than to flee to the one and only place that was industrious. Steel City, otherwise known as Pittsburgh. Reports have speculated of a living machine made of gears and bolts, ravaging the back alleys and hiding in the sewers with a form of dark magic. The DWMA classified this being as a potential kishin egg, yet Destiny verified it as their next target. Alex is one his way to this monster to claim his prize.

This became an ideal mission for Alex, his ability to hunt kishin eggs had given him some advantages. But if he was going to do this, he needed help. Currently, he had no idea who would help him considering how everyone was so busy. All his weapons were missing as well so that was out of the question. Yet Alex relied on the DWMA for too long, since no one could answer his call for help, he needed a more resourceful person to help. It looked like he had t turn over to the help of a witch, maybe. To Alex, it should be easy since his blood is half witch, then again the other half is meister blood so it could probably complicate things.

Alex aimlessly walked through the outskirts of Death City, heading out to find a witch who could help him. His soul was acting as a beacon, testing itself to see if other witches could find him. But It would most likely be useless since witches are crafty and smart.

The shadows of a nearby building darkened as a black form moved out of it. Ebony the Warlock. The shadows ran off of his black-robed body like water as his red-robed brother followed him through the darkness. Ebony's head, covered in three identical white masks, twisted to the left mask as a shark snapping sound came from him. His brother in his own red longer mask stayed nearby. The two of them had felt a slight beacon from someone and, seeing the Kishin Egg with their shadows, decided to approach the person responsible.

Slowly, they made their way out into the open streets as they approached the man. "Greetings, Meister." Ebony started, curious to see his reaction. "What brings you to this dangerous place. Don't you know there's a powerful Kishin Egg nearby?"

"What's it to you? Why are you so curious with me?" Alex had replied. The two of them seemed a bit off to Alex. Who where they and why were they curious for his safety? Are they witches? "Yeah, I know it's nearby. I'm going there to claim it." Ivory was growing more impatient. "Immortal! I WANT FOOD!" He yelled inside his head. Ivory only said so since he caught sight of the warlock. But Destiny just bonked Ivory on the head and giggled. "Calm yourself, Ivory. Let the young man decide what to do." At least Alex had Destiny in company with him. The two souls inside of him were curious as to what Alex will do.

A slight tension filled the air as Ebony waited for a moment. Then, he finally reponded, "Right. Good luck with that, meister." While his brother, Archeron, started to move forward in silence, the shadows below Ebony darkened in a fleeting moment of indecision. This meister wasn't ordinary if he thought he could defeat that thing by himself. Then, as oddly as he arrived, Ebony turned around and began to slowly walk off twords where the Kishin Egg was.

Alex was then thinking to himself, "Maybe he knows where the kishin egg is at. Best to follow him." And as so, Destiny agreed with him very much but advised him to tread carefully. "Please be careful, Ironsmith. This warlock seems different from the rest." Alex wasn't so sure on who this warlock was, he couldn't be trusted. All that was known was that this being could lead the way to his destination, or lead him to certain death, or both. So Alex had to remain hidden from the shadows, since they were fond of darkness. They only was to stray from darkness is to hide among the light.

Without turning around ot changing his direction, Ebony began to talk to the meister as he followed him with Archeron following close by to his left. "This Kishin Egg is a danger to my associate's plan as well as my own. It must be stopped." Suddenly his tone grew harsher as he revealed more of his plan.... "Tell me, meister, do you think you can keep the beast distracted long enough for me to kill it? I anticipate it will break your spine before I can finish attacking from safety."

"You have no idea who your talking to. I will aid you only if I can claim the soul. Got it?" Alex said with great seriousness. He wasn't going to waste anymore time, he needed to be straight forward if the man was going to help him.

"Trust me, meister, I have enough strength to take down a being like this by myself. And I wish to study this particular Kishin's soul in the chance that my plan ends up in a specific worst-case scenario. But, if you're already here, then I doubt you're going to just call off your hunt just because it suits my plans, will you, meister?"

Ebony's head twisted to the left to his other mask as a snapping sound echoed out from his neck. Dispite not seeing through his actual eyes, his behaviour stayed the same and he continued along the path. "It's close. I hope you're ready, meister. Are you prepared to fight or die?"

Alex stopped. "I said, I need the soul. I don't give a rats ass about your studies, I need that fucking soul to live, whether you like it or not." This had tempted the meister/witch, making him a bit more angry than usual. Destiny caught sight of this and tried to calm his soul down, yet it wasn't working. Ivory was encouraging Alex to get mad.

"You're not any ordinary meister, are you?" Ebony mentioned, content with the information. Assuming he wasn't joking around, the meister either had some form of curse on him, or he was concerned about some group killing him if he failed. Weighing what he knew, the first seemed more likely. Archeron suddenly moved between Ebony and the man, waiting for the order to attack. But Ebony decided against trying to fight the meister. At least, not today. Their target was too dangerous to take on while wounded.

"Tell me, meister. How do you know needing a kishin soul to live isn't a fabrication?"

Alex sighed, he was hoping they wouldn't ask that. Not to show he was lying, but because he didn't want Ivory and Destiny to be known. "I'm half witch. I need the soul to live because of an impending curse upon me. Once a month, I must claim a kishin egg soul, if I don't well then I die. If I was lying, you'd already know the truth, which you do." Destiny was really hoping that she and Ivory wouldn't be shown, otherwise it would be pure chaos. But Alex was sure to hide their existence whether it mattered or not.

A curse that links someone's survival to hunting Kishin Eggs? Intresting.... But of no use to my current plans. Ebony turned his body twords the direction he was walking. "It's close that way...." He mentioned, standing still for a few moments. "Well, what are you waiting for? You need to kill the Kishin to live. Time is ticking away, meister!"

Well, at least he understood Alex's problem. It was life or death if he wanted to kill this monster and claim what he needs. So he walked on with Ebony. While they walked, an inanimate object moved in the background, gears clanking and metal bending. The very ground trembled at it's metal feet along with giant mechanical arms raising from the ground. From the appearance of this monstrosity, it was a giant metal being consisting of gears, bolts, and iron bars that is held together by dark magic. It stood at least 40 yards tall, almost half the length of a football field. This rusty yet gigantic marvel has shown it's presence in front of the three, revealing it's soul as a kishin egg.

"Well, we found it." Alex said in great curiosity.

"It's a bit bigger than I expected." Ebony mentioned as Archeron ran off to the left, dissapearing in the darkness. "Don't dissapoint me, meister.... I'll give you an opening and then you can deal with the rest. That IS what you're here for, isn't it?" Slowly, the Warlock raised his glove-covered arm as the shadows below the Kishin Egg darkened. Then, obeying Ebony's command, a giant black fist emerged from the shadows, trying to punch the Kishin with supprising force!

"The bigger they are... the larger their darkness...."

The giant metal machine had taken the excessive force, knocking it back onto the ground. However, this had not dealt serious damage as it was dissembling itself into the tiniest parts and reassembling itself together again in a different form. This was going to be quite difficult considering it can change into different forms. It had moved towards Ebony and went to try and hit him, while Alex had swiftly moved to the side, attempting to flank it.

As soon as the golem rears back, the fist dissapears. Then, it got up and tried to attack him.

"Why didn't you attack!" Quickly, Ebony twisted his head around one mask. Suddenly, a series of black spikes shot up from his shadow to form a makeshift shield while he grabbed his cloak and pulled it in front of him. The cape hardened into a second layer of defense.... Special Black Blood that hardens on impact.

Meanwhile, Archeron came in from the side, landing on the back of the Kishin while he grabbed it with his arms. Silently, Archeron's nightmare energy was being forced into the Kishin Egg's soul, forcing it to grow tired. With enough time, it would make the Kishin to go to sleep and become vulnerable to attacks.

The kishin egg weakens, lowering itself to the ground. As it does, weak points reveal weakened and rusted gears and sprockets, just waiting to be picked off. When the opening is seen, a figure high above the kishin descends as it shows that Alex is falling from the sky. How he ended up there was unknown but Alex could plainly see these weak points from his position. He pulls out his handguns that hold explosive rounds, making them a dual devastation. And knowing how much of a crack-shot Alex was, his accuracy was precise and could not be beaten. Bullets fly down from above, hitting the weak points, excessively damaging the kishin along with the explosive impact of the bullets suppressing it. This was going to be too easy.

Archeron summoned a twisted black spear that he stabbed through one of the Kishin's weakened gears, forcing even more of his energy through the abomination. Red flashes of light could be seen faintly swerving around from his body into the Kishin Egg's. The being's movements would now be visably more sluggish than they had been before.

Then, Ebony's head twisted one mask over again with a solid snapping noise. The shadows below the Kishin Egg formed several tendrils that all attempted to wrap around it's arms and legs, binding it to the ground. "What a pitiful beast...." The black robed Warlock muttered. "It's hard to believe it was ever human."

The kishin egg was immobile, it was paralyzed for a killing blow. Alex had stood atop of it, looking at the twisted gears and torn apart metal. "It was never human, it's just a forgery implanted with a kishin egg soul." Alex said. He aimed his gun towards the metal beast's head, or what appeared to be a head. The meister could sense the soul within the top of the monstrosity so he knew he could finish it. His gun was still loaded with another magazine of explosive rounds, which was enough to rip apart the head. Alex had emptied his magazine into the head of the beast to eradicate it's power.

After so, the beast had stopped moving, it's energy had dissipated. But they killed it so quickly? Ebony and Archeron must be that powerful to beat such a monster. Alex was just starting to admire the two warlocks. He walked to the remains of the head and grabbed the kishin egg soul. "Thanks for the assist."

"Such a useless battle...." Ebony mutter while his head snapped around so he was looking out of the central mask. The pounds of wreckage piled up in front of him. "Without the ability to assimilate machines on it's own, the soul is useless to my reaserch. I should have waited for you to normally stop this thing and used my time for other matters. Ah, well... a Warlock's work is never done...."

Archeron floated in the air, moving back to Ebony's side. "I probably should kill you, as well. You pose just as much danger to his plans as the Kishin Egg did...." The black robed warlock mentioned, as if it wasn't that big of a deal. "I've saved your life today, meister. But make no mistake that next time we meet, I will be forced to destroy you. Have fun with the coming war!"

After finishing, Ebony started to move twords a nearby building to dissapear through the shadows.

"Coming war? Funny, I don't do wars." Alex said to himself. Well, with the whole mysterious floating monster of a warlock and the death of a forged kishin egg, something was going n. Who could posses the power to make other kishin eggs, anyway? Alex was going to have a long chat with Ivory and Destiny, concerning of this matter. But alongside with that, Alex now has claimed his second kishin egg soul, and has bought himself another month to live.

End of Thread