Shadows and Nightmares *Mission*

The town felt quiet. Many of the people in the city had vanished within the previous month. However, the city wasn't without it's share of change. Wooden planks were painstakingly attatched to the tops of buildings in the city forming seemingly random areas cloaked in more shadows than others. Near the middle of town, in one of the allyways, a staircase going underground stood seemingly unguarded. It was there, down the stairs, that the DWMA had reported the lair of Rufus was suppost to be. But, now that Rufus was dead, it was still up to someone to brave the darkness and find out about the people who had made him what he was and sent him to destroy the academy.

The silence that had descended upon this place still remained intact as the cloaked figure slowly made her way down the abandoned street. She had made sure that each step was taken with deliberate care so not to break the haunted atmosphere. However, she guessed that would change soon enough. Lowering the hood that had covered her face with shadow, Caligo raised her head slightly and looked with narrowed eyes at the entrance of the alleyway. The dark weapon had heard the stories of the the warlock Rufus living down there before he was killed. Apparently, this place had been relatively quiet until people started to disappear again. Cali suspected the worst.

Glancing left and right briefly just be sure, Cali took a step forwards the way she usually would when walking, and instantly the silence that had settled here shattered into pieces as the thud of her boot kicked up some dust. Something was definitely wrong. No longer caring about the quietness of her footsteps, she carefully approached the corner of the building and rounded it to face towards the partially concealed staircase. Reaching into her inside pocket, Cali fumbled around for a second before randomly drawing one of her playing cards to consult before going any further. The Joker. The grin on the picture's face held no comfort for her, and as she looked up again Cali slipped it back into her pocket, before mentally readying herself for whatever lay ahead.

The shadows of the staircase seem to flicker slightly as the Dark Weapon stares at them. Followed by the feeling that she was being watched. There was no doubt that a Warlock was down there, she would have to either go down or try to eventually draw him out.

Draw him out or charge in head first? Well, neither of those sounded particularly appealing to Cali. Going in would be a stupid move, the warlock could just blast her the second she stepped in through the door, and if this guy was as smart as she thought he was Caligo doubted he would be tempted outside just by her shouting insults at him. Maybe some sort of bait? Some souls would hopefully do the trick, but where could she find some? Caligo had no problem with killing humans, it just seemed like all of them in this area had been abducted or left when they had the chance.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Cali weighed up her choices. Wait around for ages, or walk into a trap. The girl realized it would probably have to be the latter, and decided there would be no point in delaying the inevitable. She wouldn't go down that easily anyway, and besides, she spent pretty much all of her youth and young teenage years working with a witch. She knew a thing or two about them, and with this knowledge tried to inspire some confidence in herself as she began to make her descent down the staircase, and into whatever darkness lay beyond.

At the end of the staircase, in the darkness, was a hallway that lead into a large square room. Stone pillars are spread around the area in formation. Through the darkness, there seems to be an empty throne at the opposite side of the room with an unusually smooth flat wall behind it. After a moment, a white round mask with only 2 eye holes and a beak-like shape as features appeared on a black-robed body sitting in the throne, blending in with the shadows around it. The darkness seemed to flicker with some minor strain, trying to pinpoint exactly where the intruder was.

Cali only managed to take a brief look at her surroundings before a blob of white appeared opposite her, standing out against the stone and darkness. Wasting no time gawking at it, she quickly preceded to head to the nearest pillar and took cover against it, making sure she wasn't in sight of that thing. The dark weapon hoped that she was fast enough getting here and had avoided it's gaze, as she was slightly concerned what awaited her if she had already been spotted.

Waiting for a few seconds, she cautiously peered around the corner of her makeshift cover and squinted to try and get a good look at the other end of the room. Caligo was pretty certain there were no other doors down here, only pillars, a throne and that seemingly metaphysical being. There had to be something else down here. She just needed a better look at the room, but creature was impeding her process. It would fall before her, in time. But for now, she would wait in case it did anything else.

The outline of the Warlock became more clear as he began speaking. "Oh, so there you are." He simply said, getting up from his throne. "Greetings, guest. I am Ebony, owl Warlock and master of shadows. And I can only assume you're from Reaver, aren't you?" The darkness seemed to pulse slightly as he tried to use it to get a better look at the woman. "No, you seem too normal-looking to be from Reaver. Those psychopaths were always easy to spot.... Ah well, I shouldn't be too hard on them. After all, they did give me an oppertunity to mold Rufus into a good weapon."

The shadows faded slightly around the throne, revealing a red-robed Warlock that had been standing on top of it. He seemed to be wearing a mask that looked like a straight beak that covered his entire head in a slick shell.

"That..." Ebony continued, motioning to the person cloathed in red in the darkness. "That would be my brother. As much as I'd like to talk or reason with you, I suppose there's no point, is there? All you know is that I'm going to cause havok and that you need to stop me. But a nice chat would be good for once. You'd be supprised how boring it can get when the only person around is a mute maddened shell of his former self. So, what will it be?"

Cali let out a sigh as she realized that either she wasn't fast enough, or the warlock could see through  her cover, and it was at that moment she expected him to start throwing magic at her. Yet...nothing deadly started flying towards her. All she received was polite conversation, and Cali stepped out from behind her pillar with her eyes narrowed slightly. Just because he was trying to sound nice didn't mean she would lower her guard. None the less, she would play along.

Leaning against her previous hiding spot with her arms crossed, she looked the two warlocks up and down as the first one spoke. They looked similar, almost, just a few differences between the two of them. Turning her attention back to Ebony as he finished speaking, in her usual style remained silent for a few seconds before replying "To be honest, I'm not really sure what to say. I expected resistance the second I entered, but apparently not" Caligo paused for a moment to pull out one of her cards again. The six of clubs, and began to spin it around idly with her fingers before speaking up again "I suppose that if you're willing to talk, we could try and reason with each other. After all, I don't really like to associated myself with the DWMA if I can help it, so I'm not out here because of orders" Of course, he would need to pull out something good in order for her not to try and ram her blade through that mask of his, but if he could offer her something that benefited her more than his soul as well as his brothers, then so be it.

Ebony's head unnaturally spun around with a grousome snapping sound to a second identical white mask. "Intresting... very intresting.... If you're not here on orders, then it begs the question. Why did you come here to this town after I spent so much trouble clearing out? Surely, you know most witches and magic-users would immediatly try and kill you. Or... is that perhaps what you seek? To die? Or maybe just to come close enough to death to be stronger?"

The red-robed Warlock silently floated down to the floor and walked between Ebony and where the woman was, even though they could just barely make out her location.

As Cali continued to look at the duo, she began to notice something odd. As he spoke to her she picked up how lost he seemed to act, how the red-robed one began walking between them, but without focusing on her. She paused for a bit longer, musing this information over with her head tilted slightly. Could...could they not see her very well? Or was she just looking at an illusion? Whatever the answer was, Caligo didn't break her own facade "Take an educated guess. What did you think I came here for in the first place? To just have a pleasant chat with you?" A smirk appeared on her face for a second as she spoke "I came here to take your soul. The only reason why I haven't attacked you yet is because instead of trying to kill me on sight, you tried to speak to me in a non-violent manner. However, taking your soul is the goal I'm ultimately aiming for, unless you can sway my mind"

Ebony shrugged. "Such a lively assassin. Verry well.... If it's a fight you want....." With a quick motion, Ebony pressed something hidden in his hand. Suddenly, the smooth wall behind him whirred with a mechanical noise before producing an increadibly bright light that covered the entire formally pitch-black room! The pillars each casted a gigantic harsh shadow as Archeron's own shadow went right over the intruder's body.

"You shall suffer an eternal nightmare!" Ebony screached. Archeron's shadow suddenly began forming a series of black arms from the darkness moving across the ground at a high speed from him to the opponent, attempting to grab her.

Cali raised her arm to block the white light from shining into her eyes as Ebony began his assault, yet instead shifting herself into some sort of defensive position all the girl did was smile ever so slightly "Nightmares? Nightmares are my tools of destruction" With that, she lowered her arm again as her phase blade faded back into sight, the air it humming ever so slightly. As the first move against her was made, Caligo's eyes shot from left to right as she saw the incoming arms and readied herself.

She guessed that due to the speed of which the arms were racing towards her, making them change direction suddenly would be difficult process. All this would require was a bit of timing. Cali waited as they became closer, and just before they were upon her she leapt to the right and out of the way. Not wasting anymore time, she swiftly brought down her blade and sliced through the point where she had just been standing, the point where they all overlapped and severed them "You're going to have to try harder than that" Caligo remarked and began to walk forwards, closing in on her target.

"Oh believe me, weapon, I havn't even begun to start." Ebony began with an eger tone. He didn't turn to face her when she started walking forward, but he knew exactly where she was. "The next one will be more difficult to avoid. Are you ready, Archeron?" In response to his voice, the red-robed warlock flung his arm back as his robe flew open, shrinking into a pair of thin wings coming off of his collar. Under the robes, he wore an outfit that looked like a modified straightjacket with 3 buckels going across his cheast. Then, a black twisted small spear appeared in his hand.

"Good, good.... Lets see if your nightmares can match ours!"

Archeron shot straight at the weapon with a supprising ammount of speed as he quickly spun his spear around, then tried to slash horizontally at the woman with his weapon. Meanwhile, Ebony swung his arm up. In response, another series of arms came from the weapon's shadow, attampting to extend twords her and grab her legs once again.

Again, Cali realized she would have to try and dodge this. Dodge and parry until an opening presented itself to her. However, she only had a certain amount of skill and stamina, and if the fight dragged on for to long things would get bad for her real fast. Readying herself again, Caligo leapt backwards to dodge Archeron's spear, and quickly followed it up by pivoting around on the spot in order to dodge the first outstretched arm. Yet when the second one came, she barely had enough time to move fully out of the way, and although she made sure it didn't grab her leg it continued to sail right towards her and tripped the dark weapon up.

"Pity... I thought you would be more direct. Oh well, you'll have to fight back sometime, won't you?" As soon as she stumbles to the side, her shadow moves with her. But the hands don't seem to be moving with her shadow. When the shadow moves, the hands that were in the area where the shadow no longer existed instantly dissapear. Now that she was closer to one of the pillars to her right, the shadow from the structure formed a new set of multiple arms that shot at her side.

"Now, Archeron!" The black-robed Warlock barked as his brother rushed at the weapon's front, swinging and spinning his spear wildly in a flurry of attacks meant more to keep her distracted than to actually try and hit her.

Cali let out a small hiss of annoyance when she hit into the pillar, but was glad it was there to stop her from falling over. That would have been horrible. Blocking out the warlock's taunts, she turned to face towards Archeron, stood sideways and brought up her blade in a more defensive manner. Swinging her blade up deflect two of his many blows, she shifted her right foot backwards until it had a firm grip on the pillar and continued blocking attacks. Calgio knew she just had to wait for the right opening.

But she hadn't forgotten about Ebony, oh no, she knew his shadow arms were speeding forwards and would be on top of her any second. However, in the midst of Archeron's fury she saw the opportunity present itself to her quite nicely, and the dark weapon smiled. As the mad warlock brought down short spear horizontally, she quickly brought up her blade and parried his attack with a sadistic chuckle. Not wasting anymore time, Cali followed that up by using the pillar as her anchor, and she pushed herself off of it using the foot she had positioned there earlier. Lunging forwards with surprising speed, the shadowy arms that were aimed for her missed their target and crossed the space where she once was. Without missing a beat, the dark weapon slid her fear blade down in stabbing motion, her target Archeon's head. Hopefully, she would have caught him way off guard and he wouldn't have time to block or dodge this fatal blow.

Archeron let go of the weapon as soon as the woman parried it to the side. Then, keeping the expressionless eyes formed onto the mask pointed at her, he prepared for her attack. As soon as she brought her blade down, Archeron blocked with both of his arms. It was a risky tactic that could have killed him, but his body showed no fear as it happened. For a brief moment, his own magical energy, in such low quantities it was invisible, moved into the woman's arms. Then, Archeron silently slipped out of the grapple, moving to her left and floating several feet away from her.

She wouldn't feel the effects of his magic yet, his nightmare aura.... But, if exposed to it in high enough doses, people have been known to become slower, more tired, then eventually fall asleep to a horrific nightmare. Any more exposure than that and the victem could end up fighting just to keep their sanity while Archeron toys with their mind in the way he saw fit.

Without breathing a word, Archeron started charging up more energy. Red streams of light visably flowing across his body in random patterns.

Cali let another annoyed hiss as he blocked her attack and threw her off to the left. For a second she felt the urge to smile when she noticed his dropped weapon, but quickly dismissed that thought. Just because she hadn't seen Archeron use any magic yet didn't mean he couldn't use any, and her thoughts were confirmed as he began to glow red. This guy was obviously preparing to use something big; she'd have to finish him off soon, and quick.

Striding towards him as she did earlier, the dark weapon brought her hands up again in a defensive manner, and as soon as she was within range began to throw a punch at the warlock but instead at the last second stopped herself and lashed out with her blade, using it in a slicing motion. Now she had one more move in mind to complete her little set, and Cali had to admit it was a rather dirty trick. However, right now hopefully it would at the very least break his concentration. Shifting her leg forward slightly again, she sharply brought up her knee to try and hit the mad warlock in a particularly vital spot.

Archeron tried to get away, but ended failing to dodge the entire length of the blade. The deep wound across his cheast bled red as he kept going and unleashed a potent wave of his nightmare Aura at the woman, forcing her back before she could knee him in the groin. Visions of red vultures wearing his mask seemed to appear, watching her from behind specific pillars but having no shadow of their own. With an odd pant, Archeron finally flew back to his brother.

"You're a lot tougher than I thought you would be, weapon." Ebony mentioned as his head twisted around a mask with a sharp snapping sound. "You look a little worn out. Do you feel tired from all the time you spent jumping around? Perhaps you should stop and take a break. Relax for a moment as Archeron invades your mind and forces you to sleep. It's a shame you're a meister, though. You would have made a perfect Kishin for my final plan!"

"Uh, I just want to point out you contradicted yourself in that sentence" Caligo pointed out in a rather calm tone for the situation at hand, and at the same time idly brushed off some dust that had gotten onto her trench coat earlier. Admittedly, the feeling of Archeron's magic was beginning to weigh on her mind, but the thought of ramming her blade through his ugly maw to shut the warlock up was currently more than enough to keep her going. For now, at least.

Just like before, Cali made no attempt to sprint forwards and attack. Instead, approached them in the way she did earlier; by walking casually towards her targets. This wasn't because she was totally sure of her abilities to such a degree she felt overconfident, and neither was it some sort of defensive tactic to lure her opponent into a false sense of security. It was just because she saw no reason to run at the moment. Undoubtedly if she rushed they would trip her up or catch her off guard some how, so walking would suffice to now. Needless to say, however, she was keeping a close eye on her surroundings anyway. Specifically the vultures that lurked behind her, there was no knowing what they might do.

(OoC: Sorry, didn't catch that, lol)

Ebony kept talking, stalling for time as Archeron's magic slowly wore his opponent down. "Ever the cleaver one, aren't you? Not rushing into the situation, taking advantage of your surroundings, even taking time to try and learn about your opponent before the fight."

Archeron's focus seemed to tighten, causing slight physical pressure around the weapon's head from the magic he left on her.

"Let me tell you a story...." Ebony continued. "The story of how my brother became the mentally twisted puppet that he is today. Does that sound fine, weapon? I've been eger to find someone to tell it too and company is limited when you're responsible for so much death in the world."

(Ooc: It's fine, idm XD)

Cali continued to stride towards them both, her cautious glance dancing between the two warlocks and the vultures. This guy really liked the sound of his own voice, it seemed. She really couldn't care less about what insults or comments he was throwing off at her at the moment, but playing games with her opponents like this was something she did each and every time "Go on then, tell me" Caligo replied and flexed her bladed wrist as she got closer and closer. She was still a little weary about what other effects the magic that had been embedded in her at the touch of Archeron had, and the increase of pressure on her head confirmed her suspicions"Enlighten me"

As she carried on her walk waiting for the mad warlock to begin his story, she fished around in her pocket briefly and produced another card to spin as she moved towards them. Looking down at her chosen card, the dark weapon smirked suddenly and shoved the little playing card into her right pocket. Oh, how she loved the random hand of fate so much. Looking back up at them, her face held the little smirk as she locked eyes with Ebony again.

"It began at a young age. Both of us had began to reserch new techniques, new skills we could obtain through our magic. I obtained my shadow magic but Archeron was less gifted. I couldn't do anything to help him, he was just born inferior. Born to be a much lesser Warlock.... To make up for it, he studied Kishin and Madness extensively, desperate for a higher source of power than the one he was born with."

Archeron paced in front of Ebony in silence as his brother continued.

"He learned about a method to mimic a Kishin's wavelength, as experimental as it was, through a book our mother had kept sealed away in the attic. And, desperate for power, desperate to experiment, he left to try it out. About a year later I finally started to worry about my dearest brother, whatever could have happened to him?" A smile crossed Ebony's face benieth his mask, invisible to the world. "The madness was too much for him. He lit half a town on fire before running into the flames to try and burn himself to death only barely managing to survive before being thrown into an asylum. Some might have been content to learn of this and let their sibling rot away from their own mistake, but I took it as a new beginning for him. I murdered everyone there, both staff and patient, except for Archeron. Then, I took the wild chance and bound our minds together...."

Archeron suddenly pointed his spear at the intruder as they got too close for his comfort.

"I can feel his energy, the strength his stablized madness gives him... it's increadible. Almost overwhelming to the un-trained mind, but as much of a shame as it is I'm forced to hold my brother's madness back in case he would try to burn himself again. I wouldn't want to lose such a... valuble piece in my game so early, after all! Wouldn't that just be horrible?"

Cali slowed to a stop when Archeron pointed his spear at her and gave him a slight look of disbelief. As if that alone would be enough to deter her away whilst his brother continued to reminisce about the past. Letting out a little chuckle, she turned her attention towards Ebony again once he had finished speaking "Oh, I don't know. Letting him incinerate himself would be amusing" She replied and took another step forwards again, just to play Archeron and his rather sudden and jerky reactions. Remaining still for a bit longer, her eyes darted between the two warlocks before her mind decided on whom she would drive her blade through first.

She could put up with Ebony's monologuing and such, but Archeron seemed like a much more enjoyable opponent. Plus, she was already pretty close to him so hopefully that would give her the advantage. Heh, not likely, but it was worth a shot anyway. Sliding one foot forward, she suddenly kicked herself off and dashed towards Archeron, who was already fairly close to her. Yet instead of bringing up her blade in a position ready to stab or slash him, instead she readied herself to for a counter, waiting for him to strike first.

Archeron prepared to block her attack as the intruder moved forward. Then, without warning, the screen that had been providing light to the entire area went off, leaving everyone in pitch darkness as shadows surrounded Ebony to hide him from view.

"Even a little freedom can be powerful. You have been marked by Archeron. My powers come from darkness. Now, I shall loosen my brother's restraints and show you what we can truely accomplish together!"