A Personal Favor [Garret/Train]

In his old man guise, Azix entered the Grumptoes' safehouse within the poor district of Reim. With long, unkempt, white hair and a matching beard Azix's true appearance was hidden. An eye patch covered his left eye, hiding the thick purple clouds that floated in it. He kept his Staff of Refractions within a frayed grey cloak that hung from his shoulders. It had been a few months since he had last seen the Grumptoes and he was curious to see how they had been. Lavicus sat behind a desk looking over some sheets of paper. He looked up in surprise to see Azix.

“Hello, it has been a while since I last saw you.” Lavicus smiled at Azix.

Azix pulled up a chair and sat down, “It has been a while. I had an interesting adventure while I was gone, how have things been?” He returned the smile as he relaxed back into the chair.

Lavicus set the papers he had been looking at down and folded his fingers together. His tone became serious, “Well, we've lost several members. The money stopped coming in, so only a few stuck around. They were the most dedicated anyway, they seem to enjoy spying. They have nothing better to do anyway.”

Azix realized with all that had happened, he had forgotten to secure funds for the Grumptoes' operations before he had left. He dropped a sack of money on the desk and gave Lavicus an apologetic look. “I'm sorry for not leaving payment, I had to leave in a rush. That is what I have currently, I will get you more.” He leaned back and thought a moment. “It is good to weed out those not fully dedicated though. Have those who left caused any trouble?”

Lavicus seemed thankful at the money and he began counting it as he shook his head at Azix's question. “Not at all, they just didn't want to waste time without getting paid. I've kept an eye on them.” Lavicus gave Azix a weird look. “There has been a gang going around lately, kidnapping young girls in the slums. I bring it up because my sister was taken.”

Azix recognized the pain in the teen's eyes, “I'm sorry to hear that. Who are they? Do you know where she is kept?”

Lavicus sighed, “They call themselves the Street Ninjas, but we've had a hard time finding a base of operations. The past two nights they've been hitting a nearby district.” He pulled out a map and pointed to the location.

Azix thought it over, he had an idea that might lure the Street Ninjas out, but it hinged on being in the right place at the right time. He couldn't let Lavicus down again, especially with something so important. Plus, it was crucial to have the teen continue to look up to Azix. “Let me see what I can do for you. I will try my best to get information if I can. Also, I plan on training the squad soon. There is much for you to learn and my departure could have been disastrous if things had gone bad. Listening to secrets is dangerous work and I should prepare you more.”

Lavicus nodded and a weight seemed to shift off his shoulders. “Thank you, Xenos, that means a lot that you would help me. Also, that was actually something I was going to ask. With the recent events, the others and I felt we could be doing more to help.”

Azix stood up and headed for the door, pausing as his hand touched the knob. "Thank you for all your work, Lavicus. I abandoned you and while at the time, it was out of my control, I feel bad for it." With that he departed into the night, thinking of his plan.

Azix crouched at the corner of the city wall in the bushes. There were several bricks pulled out where he stuffed the old man's guise. He pulled off the wig and fake beard, rubbing his lips as the gum peeled off. He covered the bricks back up, taking care not to make noise. He looked through the bushes and seeing no one around, stepped out from behind them. He wrapped his face up in a long cloth, keeping his eyes free to see. His eye patch stayed on under the cloth, not wanting anyone to take note of it. He followed the road to the district Lavicus had pointed out, sticking to the shadows the moon cast.

When he arrived, he found a small park where he could hide in a tree and overlook the area, while staying hidden. He climbed up on a branch and slid his staff from his belt as he sat down. He saw a ball a few meters away on the ground and decided it would suit his purposes. His plan was to modify a spell he hadn't ever really used, Phantasm Redirection. He normally could make an illusion of himself, but he had learned a lot since he had created the spell.

With learning of strength magic and how it worked to solidify his shadow magic spell, he wanted to see if he could do the same with illusions. If it worked, then he could create illusions that would feel real to the touch and wouldn't warp or bend. Azix aimed his staff at the ground near the ball and began forming an image in his head. He called the Rukh around him and asked them to bend the light around the area to produce an image of a little girl. As he sharpened the picture in his head, he continued to command the Rukh to bend certain areas to match.

When the girl seemed realistic, Azix began commanding the Rukh to alter the forces around the illusion, solidifying the illusion. It took several minutes for him to feel happy with the illusion to test it with the ball. Controlling the illusion through his staff, Azix had the little girl pick up the ball. It took several tries for her to grip it properly. It was clumsy work managing it, but he continued to calibrate how he manipulated the magoi.

After half an hour, he had her bouncing the ball and chasing it around. It was eerie hearing no sounds from the girl, but Azix didn't mind. If it served its purpose, then that's all that mattered. Besides, it was fun using his illusion to bounce a ball, however childish it seemed.

He heard footsteps and his eyes began scanning his surroundings. He noticed a group of three men approaching the ball playing girl. Azix smirked as he watched, the men were dressed in black and each carried rope and short swords on them. He made the girl drop the ball and stare at the men.

One of the men stepped closer with a smile on his face, “Hey little girl, your mother said to come with us. She's hurt, you should hurry.” When the little girl shook her head, he put on a sad look, “Don't you care about your mother?”

In reply the girl shook her head, as at the same time Azix dropped down from the tree. He landed with a soft thud and stepped next to the girl. He put his free hand on the hilt of Deviant, sheathed at his hip. ”Well, well, what have we here?” Azix chortled.

The men pulled out their short swords, the one in front shouted, “You shouldn't be here. If you leave now, we won't harm you. Don't be stupid!”

Azix chuckled and pointed his staff at the man, Rukh floated to his staff as he commanded them to form Fragments of Light above his staff. They flew towards the men, two burning each except the one in front. While they were distracted with the fragments, Azix began commanding the Rukh to from a black mass of shadows at the tip of his staff. Azix sent Kage Youshiki towards the three men's feet.


A large seal lined in dark purple light formed underneath the men and they looked down in shock. The Street Ninja in front recovered first and started running towards Azix. Fifteen tendrils arose from the seal and began winding around each other forming three large hands that sped towards each man to bind him. The two men were quickly snatched, but the other running towards Azix was allowed to get close. Azix unsheathed his sword and blocked the man's strike, before grabbing him with the last tendril.

Azix let out a sadistic laugh as they cried out trying to escape. ”You appear to be in the grip of justice. I want to know where you take the girls.” To emphasize his words he sent magoi into the fists, making them squeeze tight to lightly crush their body.

Trained:

used:

One of the men cried out, ”We won't tell the likes of you!”

Azix clucked his tongue and sent another wave of magoi through the streams, crushing them with the shadow fists again. He dissolved the spell of the little girl, it had served its purpose. The men were going to be stubborn, he admired their spirit although it was imposing a barrier in his way. He needed the information they had and he planned on getting it. ”That is an issue, I simply need to know. How about we play a game? Pick a number one through ten, whoever is closest wins.”

”Ha! What do we win?” The man closest to Azix chuckled. It seemed the man didn't understand the situation.

”Your life, of course.” Azix said with his head cocked to the side. ”If you don't choose, I will choose for you.”

The other two men gulped, but the man in front seemed unphased. “Fine, we'll play along. Three.”

“Ten.”

”Six.”

Azix smiled before walking around the man in front to his two friends. ”It appears you are a winner, my boy.” Azix approached each of the two friends and stabbed them in the stomach through the shadow fist's fingers violently several times. Bound, they were defenseless from his attacks as they tore through skin. Azix made sure to twist as he stabbed, causing more damage. When they were either unconscious from the pain or dead, Azix didn't care which, he let the fists release them. Azix had killed them behind the remaining man, letting him hear his friend's whimpers in pain.

”So,” Azix said as he walked around and stared into the man's eyes. ”What is your answer now? I want to know where you take the girls and your base of operations.”

The man spit on Azix, ”How about we fight and if you win, I'll tell you?” The man grinned at Azix.

With a smile under his mask, Azix nodded and released the man from his grip. ”Deal.” Azix had wanted to try out a new spell anyway. Something dark inside him had triggered when he had started using his shadow magic and another idea had come unbidden to him. Instead of sending out the shadows, he wanted to utilize the shadows around himself.

The man fell to the ground, cast a dark scowl at Azix and stood up, raising his sword. They stared at each other and began pacing around in a circle. Azix held his Staff of Refraction in his left hand and Deviant in his right, tip pointed forward at the ready, fresh blood ran in rivulets down the sharp edge. He began whispering commands to the Rukh, visualizing a pair of two meter long tendrils on each side of him. Magoi began to unwind from the ground, forming two shadow tendrils at his side, twitching as they became solid.

The man hadn't given Azix much time and had started to charge forward as the tendrils began forming. Still concentrating on the spell, Azix moved enough to let the man's blade cut his arm, preventing a more serious wound. He took a deep breath and ignored the pain to use the opportunity to his advantage. The tendrils finished forming as the man finished cutting Azix and they pierced under the man's ribs as Azix slashed downward at the man's shoulder.

The man reacted by bringing his sword up to redirect the attack, but failed to move in time for the tendrils that stabbed into his sides. He grunted with the pain and swiped with his sword at the two tendrils. They blade hit a solid surface but with the pressure the man put on them, they each shattered after a moment.

[619/1000]

”Tsk.” Azix didn't appreciate his spell being shattered, but he continued feeding magoi into the spell to reform the tendrils. Makihige seemed an appropriate name for this shadow spell. He was able to successfully sustain the spell though the tendrils were now one and a seven tenths of a meter long and he wasn't able to sustain Kage Youshiki any longer. That was unfortunate, but he didn't have time to think about it as the Street Ninja started in at Azix again. The man was bleeding, but he put up a fight.

The man threw another slash towards Azix and he turned his body to take the slash on his other arm, while stabbing at the man's stomach. Meanwhile, he commanded the two tendrils to pierce into the man's groin. The man pulled back to dodge the blade at his stomach, but didn't notice the tendrils and he cried out at the shadows ripped through the fabric of his pants. One of the tendrils stabbed into the man's soft upper thigh and the other caught into his genitals. A scream pierced the night air as the pain filled the man up from his stomach, causing him to fall into the tendril as his legs gave out.

Azix used the chance to point his blade at the man's throat, ”Yield and tell me what you know.” Azix sounded a little crazed, matching the look in his eye. Later, if he reflected on it, he would notice a pattern forming as he used shadow magic. Something deep within his subconscious, some violent persona was forming with each use.

The man's face seemed strained at the pressure on his genitals and his voice squeaked as he talked, ”There's a warehouse with a manticore out front several blocks over. That's where we operate, a man named Alexander leads us. We take the girls there, but after that he takes them to different slavers in town. There's no telling where they each go.”

It seemed like the man had told him all he knew, now there was no use for the man. He could have him run back and tell the others that Xenos was coming, or he could finish him off and deal with them later. It seemed wiser to leave no witnesses so Azix aimed his staff at the man. He cast Bright Beam at the man, a wide beam of bright light hit the man dealing second degree burns to his body. He quickly followed up by casting Piercing Light, a narrow beam of focused light towards the man's throat, dealing more second degree burns. Taking further precautions, gleefully, he hacked at the man's neck several times before leaving the body. He stuck to the shadows and hurried along, before anyone could check out the screams and bright flashes of light.

Trained:

Used:

Garret was under quite a bit of pressure. He had received a promotion with his return to the Intelligence force after his imprisonment; Spymaster for the continent. It was quite a bit of work, though he was glad to have Lieutenant Acius as a staff officer. The man was a genius when it came to logistics, and kept very well-filed reports within their base of operations. Garret had been reading through various case files, which were series of reports that were interconnected, catching up on the profiles of the agents on this continent, as well as information on targets, contacts and safe houses. While perusing these documents, he consistently came across strange interrogation reports, filed under the same agent name; Agent Maximus.

These reports differed from the others in method of execution. He had a general distaste, understandably so, for the traditional means of torture as an interrogation tool. This man, however, used something different. A series of mental attacks and physical readings of a subject seemed to be the method of execution behind these reports. After reading through enough, he called Acius into the room.

Acius entered and bowed to Garret, who bowed every so slightly less to Acius in return, as he had a higher station than the other man. "Did you need something, Garret?"

Garret slid the most recent case file he had been reading over to Lieutenant Acius, open to Maximus' page. "I note an interesting method this man uses in his work. I see that he primarily works on targets that have been brought back here, to headquarters. I need him brought in, so I can speak to him."

Acius bowed to Garret again, leaving the room. The Lieutenant would send one of the younger agents out to inform Maximus of his summons, while continuing his other briefings and mulling over various logistical reports.


Not too long after Garret had sent the summons, a knock was made upon the door. Garret had long since put away the files, and was simply staring at a map of their operations within this continent. There were markers of different colors showing different types of operations pinned to the thing. "You may enter." Garret said, watching for who would come in.

A middle-aged man who had obvious features from Zou appeared. He bowed deeply to Garret, and Garret returned a shallower bow. "Maximus, sir, reporting in."

"I see. Maximus, take a seat at the table across from me, I would like to discuss your reports." Garret's tone showed no anger or hostility; it was a conversational voice he was using.

Maximus sat at the table as Garret went through a case file and grabbed a report from it before sitting across from Maximus. He slid the report to the man and watched him.

The man glanced at the report, but took care to mainly focus on Garret. "So, you would like to know how it works?"

Garret frowned. He hadn't mentioned why he wanted to discuss the reports, but he supposed that was an easy enough connection to make. "Yes. Your method is certainly strange. I can recognize emotion, and maybe infer how they feel, but how do you get so much detail?"

Maximus nodded. "Cold reading." He intoned. "It's a series of techniques used to understand what another is saying, and has a varying degree of success. Facial expressions, tone of voice, body language. These are all factors that play a role in this ability that seems like you are reading minds." Maximus explained the ways it worked, giving examples of how a person might look and act under certain circumstances.

"It is not a skill you can simply 'pick up', if that is what you are intending. It is most effective with years of experience behind it. It is an accumulation of trial by error.

If you want to start practicing, I would suggest starting with sound. The tone of voice, the inflection on certain words, well, they are the easiest for us to detect without being trained." Maximus explained to Garret how he could learn a lot from sound; these audio queues could potentially give him quite a bit of information on a person. How exhausted a person was, what gender they were, their current general mental state. Of course, determining these things, Maximus explained, required experience and reference points and wasn't possible right off the bat.

"Interesting. Maybe I will watch you at work one of these days in the future, in order to see how it looks." Garret was pensive about the whole thing. The ability to cold read would be invaluable, but the man before him had tons of experience that he couldn't make up for quite so easily. Standing up, Garret dismissed Maximus and allowed his mind to wander freely. Sound... Audio clues. Garret rolled the thoughts about. Garret took Kuroi Shimo, the wand, and began to twirl it on his hand as he let the ideas swirl through his mind.

He thought on what he could do at that moment; Garret was equipped with martial arts, and the ability to cast spells. His training in martial arts followed similar principles to what Maximus was speaking about with body language; you must watch the 'tells' of an attack in order to determine how to block it. If one tries to look at the attack itself, they would likely be unable to determine that the attack was even coming at them.

While the training in martial arts gave him that frame of reference, his training with spell craft gave him a conduit. As Maximus had mentioned, Garret wasn't trained in the recognition and breakdown of various audio clues beyond the most basic of basics, however the Rukh itself was the flow of life and fate. It had experience and control that was beyond what Garret could fathom. It was this knowledge that he sought, listening to the Rukh. A command appeared into his mind, and Garret spoke. "Oto wa hakaru." The Rukh reacted quickly. Garret saw strange things. He saw the movement of sound, understood it's speed and trajectories. He was immediately aware of things he never realized; the sound of heartbeats nearby, of breathing and walking. Even sounds from beyond the walls. The Rukh carried the information to him, informing him of these various things. He closed his eyes and could see his position from a bird's eye view, his own heartbeat and sound. There were white lines that outlined the scene in his mind, as if he were a series of polygons. The room itself was also outlined in a similar way, the thickness of the walls were apparent to him. He realized he could see these things because sound was traveling through them at different rates, and this equated into the senses that the Rukh supplied to him. Garret opened his eyes and moved his hands slowly, watching as it created a fluid motion of transparent afterimages and showing the movements of the sound...

OOC: 1165/1000 word count for Sound Sphere.

As Azix ran, his thoughts drifted to the encounter a few minutes before. He remembered the sick glee he experienced as he toyed with those men. It seemed as if using the shadow magic warped his mind and it disturbed him that he derived such pleasure from it. Did the years he spent in the Zou court being ridiculed and tormented taint his mind? Two throbs of pain distracted him from his thoughts as the high of combat began to wear off.

He noticed a few people passing a crossroads up ahead and he slowed down to a walk, sticking to the harsh shadows cast by the moonlight. Azix let out a deep breath, exhaling his worries and focused on the task at hand. He had obtained information that would help with finding Lavicus' sister, if she could still be found. He chided himself mentally, as he remembered he didn't have a description or name of the girl. It was closer to the Grumptoes safe house than it was to the wall for his Old Man Guise. He also still was hidden under his black clothes, including his face hidden by the cloth he wrapped around keeping his eyes uncovered.

There was a Grumptoes guard sitting by the door, one he recognized from his original five. "Octovius. Glad to see you."

The brown haired boy looked up with a suspicious gaze. His eyes sized Azix up, but he didn't recognize the magician. "Who is asking?" A hint of a veiled threat oozed from his tone.

The boy's eyes seemed to have gotten colder since Azix had last seen him. It was surprising to see that the past few months had changed the boy. Azix gave a soft chuckle, "Xenos."

Octovius' eyes grew wide, "Lavicus was right, you are back." The awe quickly vanished, replaced by the cold exterior. "You left us in a bad spot, but I heard you got caught up in something. Are you well?"

Azix nodded, "I am well and I hope you are too. I'm sorry for abandoning you, I truly am, I'm going to make up for it though."

Octovius grunted as Azix opened the door and stepped inside. Lavicus sat behind his desk and cast a puzzled expression towards Azix. "Xenos, again~ With information this time. There's a warehouse with a manticore statue out front, do you know it?"

Lavicus took a moment to think and pulled out the map from earlier. He traced his finger over the map and stopped near a plaza. "Should I put eyes and ears on the place?" Lavicus flicked his gaze up to Azix as he asked the question.

The Magician shook his head, "I'll take care of that. What is your sister's name and can you give me a description?"

There was a momentary glimpse of pain in Lavicus' eye at the mention of his sister and he turned his gaze away from Azix. "Sophie. She's six years old with blonde hair. She has a scar on her elbow in the shape of a beak from falling on a fence post."

Azix walked over and put a hand on the teen's shoulder. "I'll do my best to find her, have faith." After a moment, Azix turned and departed having obtained the information he needed. Lavicus let him leave in silence, reflecting on his memories.

---

He arrived at the street the Street Ninja hideout was on and pulled out his staff. It was early in the morning, the dark just beginning to soften. He planned on scoping the place out before hitting it later the next day. Preparation and the possibility of obtaining Garret's assistance on an Operation reminded him of the fun times before Li Cao. So much had happened that they hadn't had a chance to do any espionage work.

With the shadows starting to fade, Azix had nothing to hide in. If the dungeon had taught Azix anything, it was that his usual combo of invisibility was too obvious. Creating shadows by sucking out the light around an area, while camouflaging himself slightly was less efficient than a full invisibility spell. Azix called the Rukh to him and issued a series of commands to cast the poorly named, Cloak of Shadows, seeing as it hardly made him invisible.

The result of the spell was that anyone who looked at Azix, especially in front of a complex background, would see a slight distortion that barely provided camouflage. In front of a non-complex background, the camouflage served a bit better, but it wasn't what Azix wanted. Azix wanted to vanish and if he could, make others vanish with him, thinking of the uses that could be served on an operation with Garret.

He moved down the street sticking to the shadows, spotting the manticore statue in the distance. He watched as the light magic around him blended his surrounding around him. After finding a place to stop, Azix thought about the commands he could issue to the Rukh to more effectively vanish from sight. He spent the next hour creeping down the street intermittently after adjusting the camouflage. The surroundings as they were distorted around himself began to hide him better, which helped because people began walking down the street to start work at the various buildings.

About fifty meters from the building, Azix paused to visualize the effect he wanted. He listened to the Rukh as he adjusted the camouflage, their whispering led him to an epiphany of how to obtain full invisibility. The easiest way instead of smearing what was immediately around him, over his body, he could bend light to reflect back what was directly behind each point of his body.

By the sun began peeking over the horizon, Azix felt confident in his experiment. Taking a deep breath, he relaxed and held the mental image of him being totally invisible in his head. "Vanish." The Rukh were commanded to bend the light around his body, reflecting the light around each side of him. No matter where someone would look, they would essentially be looking through him if it worked. He spent several minutes fine-tuning the look before stepping out of an alley to test it out.

People passed by him without seeming to notice him and he a small smile crept on his mouth. It had taken a dungeon to motivate him to improve his invisibility, but it had done the job. Just in case, Azix snuck behind a man and rapped him on the shoulder, stepping back in case he reflexively swung. The man shouted and turned around but his eyes seemed to glaze over Azix. "Perfect~" He hummed under his breath.

He spent some time walking around the warehouse and scoping out where guards were inconspicuously hiding. With the general outline of the building and the common hiding points, Azix had what he needed. He made his way down the street a few blocks before dissolving the spell. He heard a gasp behind him as he turned into an alley, following the bends in the narrow path onto a busier road and getting lost in the crowd.

Trained:

Used:

OOC: After the events of 'A Personal Favor II'.

---

Azix meandered through the streets, taking a long winding path to the Grumptoes Safehouse. He had just left Serene's establishment where he had gotten leads for where Lavicus' sister, Sophie, could be. Staring at the stars glittering in the sky, Azix had a strange urge to be closer to them. The urge gave him a strange thought, what if he could fly?

Seeing strength magic used in its most basic form and having an affinity towards strength magic helped inspire Azix. The Instructor had performed a few strength magic spells that Azix could recall. The one that was ingrained in his head, was one that the Instructor had used to increase the gravity around the orange magician to increase his endurance. Azix believed the opposite would be possible, manipulating gravity to reduce the influence around one's body.

Taking a chance, Azix found a shadowy corner to test his theory. With staff in hand, Azix whispered to the Rukh, asking them for guidance. After a few moments, Azix caught a command to distort gravity. Azix commanded the Rukh to control the force of gravity, they responded by fluttering to his staff with flickers of black light. Azix used the magoi to alter gravity around him, lessening its affect, and he slowly began to levitate several inches off the ground.

With the image of him moving upwards, Azix let magoi trickle into the spell. He slowly accelerated upwards with a smile on his face. The sensation of even slowly flying excited him, provided him the sense of freedom. He changed the image in his head to one of him moving forward, whispering to the Rukh to push him forward. A meter off the ground, Azix began to float forward at one meter per second through an alley. The magician was glad that no one was around to see him, the sight would certainly raise an eyebrow or two.

When he began to approach an intersection of narrow roads, Azix whispered a command to the Rukh, asking them to pull his force back, to slow him down. He wanted to test if pulling would work in a similar fashion to pushing, hoping it would be more balanced than an opposing force pushing against him. Magoi trickled from his staff and slowed his forward movement to a crawl as he reached the intersection. Wanting to turn to the right, Azix commanded the Rukh to turn him ninety degrees clockwise.

When he was facing the correct direction, Azix gave the push command, forcing him forward to his one meter per second speed. He continued flying a few meters above the grounds for several minutes through the alleys. When he was comfortable with his control, Azix looked up to the sky and pushed himself towards the heavens. The city slowly began to appear smaller underneath him, while the stars seemed to shimmer brighter in the night sky.

He hovered a hundred meters above the city for a few minutes, enjoying the breeze brush against his body. The view of the city was beautiful, even the slums seemed to have their own homey feel from this high up. When he noticed the strain of using a new spell was starting to wear on him, Azix began to descended, commanding the Rukh to pull him back down.

He landed with no one around, which the magician appreciated. Azix did not want to create a scene, but the impulse to fly had overridden the logical part of his brain. Releasing the spell, Azix turned to his destination of the Grumptoes Safehouse. It was time to inform Lavicus of what he had learned.

---

[603/500 word count]

Training:

Azix rounded a corner to see Lavicus walking from the safe-house, deep in thought. Seeing the teen, troubled with worry over his sister and the stresses of leadership pained Azix. He swept up beside Lavicus silently, "It is a good night to walk, good for clearing the mind."

Lavicus jumped before tensing up, but when he recognized Azix he relaxed. "You are like the wind Xenos." He let out a sigh, "Do you have orders?"

Azix brushed off the question, understanding that it was not the time to bother the man with orders. "I hear that the Street Ninjas have had a collapse of leadership. Apparently, it is not healthy to pick children off Remano's streets." He met the surprised look on Lavicus' face with a smile in his eye.

Lavicus ran his fingers through his hair and chuckled, "I guess not. How did you manage it?"

Azix shrugged his shoulders as he looked up at the stars, "It would do me no good to reveal all my tricks, Lavicus. Sadly, Sophie has yet to be found. It might do be no good to say don't worry, but I have a better idea of where she could be. I plan to keep my promise to find her and bring her back."

Silence lapsed between the two as they continued walking aimlessly, Azix and Lavicus content with just the company. Azix took the time to analyze Lavicus as the boy thought to himself. With the worry that was written in the corner of Lavicus' eyes, Azix noted that it would be best if he shouldered more of the operations. Leadership was taking a toll on the Grumptoes Captain, it would be best if Azix guided Lavicus rather than let him learn to swim. Azix had misjudged the size of the operation, but he still believed Lavicus had potential.

Lavicus broke the silence, "You mentioned that you would be training us soon?" When Azix nodded in confirmation Lavicus gave a slight smile, "Good, we need it. I think it would help if we went on a mission again."

Azix had to agree with the idea. "The experience would be beneficial and I could point out improvements. When do the five of you meet up again?"

"The others should be back in an hour," Lavicus said after checking the position of the moon in the sky. "Leo and Octovius managed to find work at two separate taverns, where they can keep tabs. The work is mostly cleaning or sometimes serving, but it turns profit and rumors. Tyrion has been tracking a really bad man, he likes the flesh of children." Lavicus let out a shudder of disgust at the thought. "Jacques is partnered with him, they watch out for each other. I worry about their safety sometimes..."

Azix understood Lavicus' disgust, the perversion of the rapist sickened him too. Remano wouldn't miss a monster like that removed from existence. "Hearing that, I worry as well. If you would request your lieutenants to be at the safehouse at midday, I want to meet with them. First, I have something I need to do."

Lavicus raised a brow, "We will wait for you. What are you thinking?"

Azix chuckled and gave a slight bow to Lavicus as he walked away. "Many things, Captain, many things."

After his talk with Lavicus, Azix made his way to the Zou safe-house he shared with a few other operatives. He had a plan to deal with the rapist, but it hinged on Azix's ability to enhance his illusions in a new way. It would be best if it was in a location away from prying eyes and the safe-house was perfect for that. Out in the farmlands, homes were spaced between fields and the farmers did not stay out late.

It was still dark when Azix arrived, the moon hovering brightly over the house. Picking a spot by the stream nearby, Azix sat down and began his meditative breathing. Pushing away the stresses of the day, he cleared his mind to the rhythm of his breath. As he relaxed, his thoughts began to subside, quieting his mind which allowed him to hear his heart beating in his chest. The peaceful state of mind he slipped into was what he required.

When he felt he was ready, Azix began to reflect on his illusions. With the recent combination of Strength and Light magic to create solid illusions, ones that could be poked and prodded to feel real, it allowed Azix more possibilities. Phantasm's Redirection was the spell he had recently tweaked to combine the two magics, but it lacked the ability to create sounds. An observant person would realize that and take advantage of that. Azix had an idea to work around that, but it would require some practice.

Using the power of imagination, Azix drew an image of an average man in his mind. He took time to envision the small details; facial hair, posture, eye color, skin tone, and several others. As the image formed, he added in small touches like blinking and breathing, making the portrait seem as realistic as possible. The orange magician was creating a work of art within the tablet of his mind. Seeing the spell in his mind helped Azix manipulate magoi to perfect it, something he assumed all magicians utilized.

Holding the image in his mind, Azix began whispering to the Rukh as they gathered around him. The fluttering Rukh listened to his commands, urging them to form into magoi through his staff. Form. Bend. Twist. Reflect. Refract. A stream of magoi danced to his will as the commands escaped from his lips, pooling in front of him. Slowly the magoi molded into the image in Azix's mind, taking on the shape of the man. With care Azix manipulated the image until it was an accurate representation.

Push. Pull. Solidify. The Rukh flickered with a black light as they obeyed the magician's commands, their magoi encompassing the image of the man. Azix guided the magoi to form a solid shell around the image, akin to skin, so that the illusion would not distort when touched. When he was sure it was solidified, Azix tested it by touching the spell. A smile curled on his lips as he took a moment to feel impressed at his work. The moment was short lived, Azix wanted to twist reality and that still required some more practice.

Standing up, Azix directed the illusion closer to him with a nudge of his staff. He checked to make sure the illusion was the same height as the magician and was pleased to note it was. Now, Azix had to test the next part of the spell, forming it over a person. While the illusion didn't make noise, living people could and if they wore it like a disguise, it might trick someone.

Azix took a deep breath, imagining in his mind the illusion sliding over him, noting the areas he would have to adjust the strength magic to allow it to form over a person. When he thought he had it ready, Azix adjusted the flow of magoi to direct the illusion over him. He took it slow, guiding it with care to accurately perform the maneuver. It fit firmly around him and he adjusted the areas around his mouth and nose to allow him to breath freely.

Azix took a few steps to stand over the stream, holding the illusion to himself with direction from his staff, to look at the reflection. He was pleased to see that the disguise seemed realistic, though it was dark out. He would have taken more pride, but he still wasn't finished. There were five Grumptoes and this was only a single illusion. Azix wondered at how he would micromanage so many illusions, but that was skipping a step.

The sun was beginning to peek out over the horizon as his belly let out a loud grumble. Azix needed nourishment before he continued practicing. He went inside, maintaining the illusion around himself to eat. It would be a good test to see if he could eat and hold the illusion. He was limited to one hand, because he had to wield the staff in order to maintain the connection to the spell. It took a while to cook up a couple eggs and eat it, but he was able to do so. Thankfully no one was awake to see the strange man cooking and eating awkwardly.

After breaking fast, Azix went back outside and slid the illusion off of himself. The rest of the morning was spent envisioning four more illusions. Each one was formed next to the other and each were tested to make sure they had a solid shell around them that wouldn't distort the image. When he was satisfied with them, he took time to slide each one on and off, practicing his control over the strength magic parts of the spell.

An hour before midday, Azix stopped practicing and headed back into town. He had to meet with the Grumptoes and put his plan into action. He felt confident that he could control the spell, but it was time to test it in the field. That would make or break the spell.

---

[996/1000 words]

Azix walked behind five embarrassed boys through the streets of Remano. Their embarrassment was hid behind the illusions of five young girls, smiling as they strolled through the city. Azix hid behind his Vanish spell, keeping an eye on the surroundings. They were in search of the rapist, Sibeum Triber, baiting him out. Tyrion and Jacques had been stalking the man for a month and had only been spotted once, according to their report. They knew some of the areas Sibeum liked to hunt his prey, so they stuck to those areas. If they didn't manage to draw him out soon, they also knew where his house was, but Sibeum didn't always sleep there.

Azix guided the Grumptoes along with a whisper as he scanned the crowds behind him. They had been wandering for the past hour without any luck, the drain of holding the illusions and managing them with the boys movement wearing on him. Managing the invisibility was also tricky, but he was more skilled with manipulating the light around him. To his surprise, he spotted Sibeum as two men parted from the crowd in front of him. Quickly, he turned his head to locate the nearest side street and directed the boys to turn.

Sibeum lagged behind a few moments before following along behind and Azix grinned. He led the Grumptoes and the following rapist past several houses towards an empty lot. It would be tempting bate for Sibeum, a red haired man with disheveled hair and blackened teeth. Azix whispered to the boys to giggle and to use the prop. On his way to the Grumptoes Safe-house, Azix purchased a wine skin that they could use. As they passed it between them and took sips of water, they giggled like naughty girls that had stolen their parents alcohol.

The girls sat down in front of a tree in the lot and chatted amongst themselves in whispers in between chugs from the wine skin. Sibeum moved past the group and turned down a street. A moment later, Azix saw him peek around the wall, staring at the girls. "Continue the act, I'll be right back."

The girl with brown hair in pigtails, with a pink bow holding them together, gave a subtle nod before giggling at a joke. Azix suppressed a chuckle towards Lavicus underneath the illusion and turned his attention to Sibeum. Still invisible, Azix sneaked to the side of the red haired man and stood, watching him for a moment. The man was practically salivating at the thought of touching those children. With an irritated flick of his staff, Azix shed the illusions from the boys and sent them towards Sibeum quickly.

Sibeum let out a cry as he saw the five illusions of young girls run towards him, so fast they seemed to blur and stop in front of him. Accusatory glares looked up at him with judgement shimmering in their eyes. The pervert gulped and turned to run to see Azix standing behind him. The Vanish spell had been dropped and Sibeum took one look at the ninja-garbed magician and started to bolt.

The solid illusions tackled into Sibeum, dealing a series of blunt strikes before they dissolved. The force of the blows knocked Sibeum off balance, but he quickly caught his footing and took off. 'The chase', Azix thought to himself, 'is on...'

The orange magician chased after him, staff raised up, whispering commands for his next spell, Bright Beam. At the tip of his staff, a bright orange light formed into a 10 meter diameter beam, which was sent towards Sibeum's back. The heat of the laser beam burned through his clothes and skin, dealing second degree burns. Hearing a howl of pain, Azix knew the attack had met its mark.

Azix found the man writhing on the ground, cursing the orange magician. With a flourish, Azix unsheathed Deviant and sent a flurry of stabs to the man's back. When Sibeum rolled over, Azix thrust the blade several more times towards the man's heart. His anger, disgust and stress were sent into the attacks, delivering the man justice and Azix stress relief. When he was finished, Azix let out a deep breath and wiped his blade upon the man's clothes before sheathing his sword.

Lavicus and the others quickly approached from behind. Lavicus looked down at Sibeum's corpse and gave Azix an approving look, "Thank you. You keep your word and look out for us."

Octovius cleared his throat and looked at the ground, "I apologize, Xenos. I thought poorly of you since you left, but I was wrong. When you cleared out the Street Ninjas, I saw. You kept your word and are looking for Sophie. I thought you had meant to abandon us."

With a calm expression on his face, Azix nodded, accepting the apology. Internally, his thoughts were racing, Octovius had seen Garret and that could be troublesome. Yet, it had eased Octovius' fears and affirmed his trust in his leader. Azix couldn't fault the man for spying on him, so he ignored it, instead he ruffled the boy's hair. "I'm glad you see me in a better light now. You were right that I abandoned you and that was something I don't expect to be forgiveness for. Instead, let us move forward and correct injustices. Next time though, please don't follow me. I distance you from the dangerous parts for a reason. Now, let us leave this dead body."

It was odd that no one was around, but Azix didn't want to risk it again. He had been too rash and could have been spotted, but Sibeum needed to die. Azix and his Grumptoes Squad, split up to make their way back to the safehouse, making sure not to be followed.

---

[1000+/1000 words]

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