The Red Spider Lily [Job/Adrastos]

Job:

It was a breathtaking moment when Noir saw the magnificent Morihana's main temple, she would proceeded to reach the entrance of the temple with her liger as she looked around. She saw a lot of people gathering there, but she couldn't tell why they were here... Noir assumed that they might not have the same goals like her because it seemed they were wishing for something. The girl would keep walking alongside her companion though until someone with a rather unique traits approached her. He looked like a human but with fox ears... and he was wearing this priest garb as well, so Noir assumed that he might be the member of the temple.

It didn't took long for Noir to know that her assumption was right though, the fox eared man introduced himself as the mid ranking priest of Morihana Clan. He even offered to give her a tour of the grounds, which Noir accepted right away since she was curious about it anyways. The girl really wanted to ask the man about his fox ears but it would be weird if she just asked it out of the blue... not only that, it would feel like she was being rude and inconsiderate. So she decided to stop being curious about the ear and to just enjoy the tour given by the priest. Although she wondered if the ear would be as fluffy as Kuzunoha's ears though....

WC: 242/1000

After finally reaching the main temple of Morihana, Adrastos noticed a familiar face: Noir. Why did they always stumble into each other? The frequency was beginning to be all too common lately. Was she following him? Was he following her? Adrastos wasn’t making any conscious effort to be near Noir, so why was this happening? The dark king sighed and followed in silence, listening to the tour guide as he rattled on about the history of the area and the clan. The information was boring. Nothing he cared about that he couldn’t find out for himself. Eventually, the dark king got tired of the guide and tapped the young magician on the shoulder.

“Why are you here?”

WC: 117/1,000

After climbing a dozen or so steps, the time has come for the young assassin to fill his role, his true purpose within Morihana. Tourism.

He stepped abrasively into the temple; but, unlike the forest, decided to use his wits for once. His eyes quickly dart about the main hall to identify all its current residence, and apply a mental X to anything with furry ears or tails which includes the— wait, what is that thing? A tiger? A lion? A lion tiger? A Tigon? Khalik wasn't quite sure.

Well, moderately impressed by and wary of Noir's pet— along with being one of two who lacked any questionable physical traits, this duo seemed his best fit.

On deft feet, Khalik made his way to unite with his fellow outsiders. He wouldn't outright join shoulder to shoulder with either of them, but trail three steps behind to make his inclusion more organic.

WC: 154/1000

The tour was amazing and Noir loved every second of the explanation the priest gave, well, she always loved hearing stories, especially story about the area and the clan itself. Although she wouldn't show it on her face, her eyes would be sparkling with excitement, couldn't wait to know more about it. She might ask the priest if they have a library so she could try and read their history more, to have a deep understanding about the origin of the clans. Not only that, they might have a story about how some of these people has beast like features, the magician was just so curious about it. She wondered if it was just a genetic mutation...? A life magic infused to ones body? Or just a play on mixing life magic, putting both beast and human's feature together. As she made my mind to satisfy her curiosity, she would make sure to ask to the priest if there was any library in the temple and if she could freely enter the library to read some of their books.

Noir was not really sure about it, but she really thought that Morihana Clan sounded very familiar on her ears. But she could have sworn that the moment she heard about some of Kina Clans from several merchants on the street, it was her first time hearing about it. Her memory wouldnt betray her... but what if she just got a little bit older and her eidetic memory gotten weaker...? Oh well, Noir wouldnt try to give this matter a lot of thoughts, she should just enjoy the tour given by this fox eared priest. She would also take another glance to Haku, who seemed to enjoy the walk. Well, the liger had never been really upset about a lot of things and he mostly had fun enjoying new things as well, so Noir was very glad about that.

The liger would stiffened a little bit though as they walked and he would notice that someone was getting closer to them, but he would be worried if he just attacked... he wouldnt want Noir to scold him because he was being careless. However just as he wanted to let out a growl to notify his master, the man managed to tap Noir on her shoulder, as if trying to get her attention.

Surprised to hear the familiar voice, the magician would turn her back to see... Adrastos... "Why...are you here...?" She would be very surprised to answer and would just repeated his question, pointing it back to him. Did he followed her here...? But she didn't see him before... and he wouldn't just sneaking and stalk her as well, it was not like him... or was he...? Well, she didn't know. But, she wondered if Fate was trying to tell her something from this... stumble, which happened pretty often...

But Noir would notice something else behind Adrastos, she would tilt her head to the side, just enough so Adrastos wouldnt be blocking her line of sight. She would notice there was a person, someone who she didn't know, kind of trailing behind them. "Haku, go check on him. But dont hurt him." She would command her liger. Haku would suddenly run towards Khalik, growling fiercely to show some domination before standing right in front of the man, staring at him with a rather offensive way. "Who are you?" Noir would ask from afar, her voice would be a little bit loud enough for the man to hear her.

WC: 837/1000

The dark king smirked. “Answering my question with the same question?” He shook his head. “Curiosity,” he simply replied as his hand fell to his sword. Even though Adrastos wasn’t listening, he could hear the priest prattle on like a fly buzzing in his ears. Could he kill him? It wouldn’t be much of a challenge to behead the fox-eared man without any effort, but he felt another fly behind him. Or thought he did. His suspicions were only confirmed with Noir’s liger reacted and Noir told it to check on the stranger whilst not hurting him.

Adrastos noticed the tour guide stopped, probably ending the tour. He’d take this time to look at the new person that was following them. The young man was shorter than Adrastos by at least half afoot, but nothing was interesting about this kid. Adrastos watched Noir handle the boy, feeling it unnecessary to step in. Still… The idea of at least cutting off an arm wasn’t too bad. But was it worth that much effort? “I don’t care who he is… Why the following?”

Then again, did Adrastos even care about that? He’d ponder in silence until the priest opened his mouth, “Please, on behalf of the Morihana, show me your skills to prove your worth.” He’d take a fighting stance with his staff and look at them with determination and high expectations. The dark king stared the priest dead in the eyes, unsheathing the Blade of Ascension and Niut. “Prove my worth? To a worm?” The dark king infused his blade with magoi and leaped at the priest. He flew as fast as a fanalis on land and sliced two of the priest’s vital arteries in his arms with ease as he passed by. Adrastos flung the blood off his blades and towered over the now kneeling man as he began to bleed out. “I can heal you if I wanted to, but you might bleed out before then…” Adrastos sheathed his blades and kneeled next to the bleeding man. He just watched for what seemed like minutes, witnessing the color drain from his face and his blood turning into a puddle beneath their very feet. The dark king was in his own little world. Perhaps Adrastos should have punctured the priest's lungs to drown in his blood… Adrastos would make a mental note of that for next time.

Though it felt like minutes to Adrastos, only seconds passed, allowing the dark king to tend to the man’s wounds. He didn’t care if this man lived or died. At the very least he could make it look like he tried to save the priest. Then dig up his corpse later to experiment on or use as decorations for his headquarters. Adrastos wrapped a tourniquet around each limb to cut off the blood circulation so there’d be some time to stop the bleeding and stitch him up. He raised both arms above the man’s head and applied pressure to the wounds by tearing off pieces of his kimono. After applying pressure, Adrastos gave the priest some anesthetic to drink. The effect would take a few moments to activate, but there was no worry. The wounds were elevated and covered. Once the priest looked numbed, Adrastos grabbed the needle and thread from his bag and began to stitch the wound tightly together, repeating the process with the other laceration immediately after. Then he wrapped bandages around the wounds tightly, but not so tight as to cause discomfort. Why did he still play the role of a doctor? Such acts of kindness were draining even if he didn’t care and just put on a mask. It was so much easier to kill people, but… having others be indebted to him was probably a better advantage than just walking over a road of cadavers. “I spared your life on a whim,” Adrastos growled, obviously not pleased with his decision, “but don’t make the mistake again thinking you have what it takes to test my skills. You’re just the dirt I walk on every day.”

With that, Adrastos wiped some of the wet blood from his hands on his kimono. The stains were still embedded into the pores of the dark king’s skin and now painted his dark blue kimono. “I think he’s done with the tour unless he wants to test you in his condition,” Adrastos shrugged. “If he does, then that’s on him if he dies.”

OOC: 2 basic attacks landed using A-Tier swords. -20 magoi for function
MAGOI: 460/480
WC: 857

Items:

Well, this certainly did not pan out as he hoped. It seems like these fine folks were rather aware of their surrounding which was terrible news. However, its better these things be learned right from the gate rather than when he attempts to do something less savory.

"Easy there— easy there now," Khalik was quick to step back from the snarling beast of complicated origins. He held both hands up in a peaceful gesture of surrender. His palms held no skin and beneath his cloak only a lowly dagger hung from his waist.

"No need for hostility on Sacred Grounds.This is Sacred Grounds, right?" He tilted his head to address the priest, prior to the very— very unfortunate events soon to befall him. With a heavy sigh, as if his words had not meant anything this past hour, he gave a wearisome, "Indeed,' to the youth's question.

"See— so, let's all settle down for a moment and relax. The name's Khalik and I come from backwater country. I was curious about the Morihana, so I was looking for a tour guide for this marvelous temple, and this just happened to seem like the tourist group. So, I thought I'd follow— terrible habit I know, but it seemed rude to interrupt such critical information."

Silence seemed to fall shortly after, and after a measly second or two— the priest made his intents clear.

A "test" of sorts was set to begin— administered by the same priest who now lies in a bloody heap. For Solomon's sake the priest's opening dialogue took longer than his "test."

Khalik couldn't help but to spew his spit in disbelief like a fabled geyser. Screw hostility, this tall fellow was jumping straight to murder. While Khalik never held himself to the title of a Master in his craft— he certainly considered himself an excellent assassin. However, before Adrastos' display he was nothing but insignificant in the face of such incredible prowess. There was no wasted movement in his strike, every step was perfectly optimized to close the gap and deliver a killing blow. Two in fact which spoke for his inhuman speed which, in turn, spoke for his unparalleled accuracy. Even among a master assassin, to strike two major arteries in one fell swoop— in a blink of an eye— was a challenging task. Yet, this fellow, he performed such a feat like he was taking out the trash.

Let him not fail to recall that the girl whose pet was growling at his throat just a moment ago was an acquaintance, at the very least, to this fellow. In which case both her and this oversize kitten could have his throat in three seconds top. In what conceivable way did he feel like his life wasn't threatened by just by being within a 5 mile radius of these two.

Still, Khalik couldn't help but revel before such a sight— an anxious grin of glee took place its place on its lips. It seems his decision to join the Morihana on a whim was already paying off.

Now, its common practice to keep one's mouth shut after witnessing a dominating display from a mightier-than-thou fellow like Adrastos. Sadly, Khalik's brain rejects all manor of traditions— and has even gone so far as to override his survival instincts with the need for quips.

"My, how benevolent you are, sir. Truly a God of higher principles and morals."

WC: 738/1000

Noir would look straight to the man's eyes as she approached him, judging the man's word as she peered into the window of his soul. "...okay." The black haired magician would say before she commanded Haku to stop letting out his intimidation aura.  However the man in front of her looked weird… as if he was surprised and taken aback of something. She...she left the priest alone with Adrastos… what could be possibly happening… she would ask herself although she was a little bit scared to find out because it was definitely not a good kind of guess.

The moment the golden eyed girl turned her back and looked at what she found out, she would find that the priest was now down. With a horror on her eyes, although her expression would remain stoic, Noir ran towards the silver haired man. "What did you do…?" She asked, hesitant to know the answer. But it seemed Adrastos was fixing the man up at the moment, however… how did the priest's get the wound… She would immediately infuse her staff with magoi and casted her healing spell, whispering the name softly, "Dia." It would be powered up a little, capable to heal the injury that the fox eared priest had.

Upon receiving the healing magic that would be strong enough to heal his wound, the priest's body would tremble, he couldn't lift his face up to look at the silver haired man nor let out a sound for now. But he should do his task… "I have seen your strength…" He said, implying that all of them had passed the test, but he would look away from the silver haired man, afraid of getting attacked again.

With a sigh, Noir would look at the tall man  beside her, "What are you planning…? Why did you attack him…?" Then she would look at the stranger, although he shouldn't have to be worried anymore because Haku wouldn't attack him for now, "...and you, my name is Noir… What's your name?"


WC : 1000+/1000
Magoi : 500/540

Skills:

Adrastos raised a brow. “I gave him what he wanted: a small taste of my skills.” He looked at his blood-stained fingers, inspecting his nails as if there was nothing wrong. “He’s too feeble to be wanting to test me, so I decided to teach him a lesson.” He glanced at Noir. “That’s all.” The dark king didn’t understand why Noir was so confused. If she had been paying more attention to her surroundings, she’d know what was going on. He didn’t know why she wasn’t being aware, but it wasn’t his concern. There was nothing that needed to be explained to a former student. The fact that his former student suspected this was all premeditated was interesting, to say the least. It’s not like he went around thinking about all the ways to kill every single person he came across. All the time. Adrastos just wanted answers to this mysterious clan, and he was going to get them.

The boy that introduced himself as Khalik… He was a weird one. Adrastos didn’t peg the kid as someone wise per se, but he didn’t think he was a fool to approach after witnessing what he just saw. However, the words Khallik uttered were just as weird as his personality. Adrastos? A god? Well, maybe to this worm, but he wasn’t at that level. Yet. The dark king was unsure of how to respond as he looked down at the boy, his eyes cold daggers as they stared. Adrastos could kill him so easily, and a little part of the silver-haired man wanted to see his blood flow. Although no such action occurred to satisfy this new urge.

Adrastos placed his hands in his pockets. “Careful kid,” he warned, “vipers don’t like to be approached so casually.” He began to walk away from the duo. “You’ll get poisoned if you’re not vigilant.” Glancing behind him, Adrastos offered a small smirk. “And don’t you worry, Noir, I still remember that conversation we had at the river. The offer still stands!”



MAGOI: 460/480
WC: 1195/1000

Careless? Was that how the young assassin carried himself? Is that how he planned to carry his title? Surely not, but he certainly act the way Adrastos meant— a fool without sense, and a tad true it was. However, it was what is was, an act. Within the creases and folds of his expressions, an anxious tide had rolled over his heart which now beat against its ivory cage for freedom. Indeed, it was an act, for a silent scream ruptured from within with every fiber of his existence.

Khalik was mortified.

Though he laughed, an uncertainty has crept into his word. "Hehehe,I suppose that's what they call self-consciousness," his decision to pick the reptilian creature did not pass over empty ears. After all, the treacherous snakes were but the perfect creature for the silver-haired man to compare himself to.

"So... cold-blooded that one sure is," bad manors plagued Khalik's tongue, however, it seems incapable of free speech; evident in his sweaty attempt at small talk.

Yes, in an ironic twist, Khalik was mortified not of the Silver-haired fellow which could bleed and gut him faster than it took to blink, but of the healer left over.

Twisted magician of damned beckoning— an unfathomable dark omen. The stories of the Curse of I-Sabbah lays heavy on the mind, for an appearance of a magician in equivalent of 13 Black Cats walking under a latter among shattered mirror shards.

Yes, an abhorrent development. One which will surely grow when the young assassin realizes that the healer was not the only magician in the ranks of Morihana.

"Oh, apologies, you asked my name... Khalik. The names Khalik," and with this he forfeit his soul to oblivion. Much like one never gifts the fairy their name; it was I-Sabbah superstition which dictated the same mentality.

WC: 1000+/1000