Clear The Temple [Job][Yakuroro/Diego]

Job Info:

Stretching their legs, Diego and Trixie made their way to the Black Temple. It was still a surprise at how large Trixie had grown on their training, she was now longer than he was tall and her tail had lengthened as well. Diego had heard that a small festival was taking place at the Black Temple and was curious to see the festivities. He remembered the priest he had talked to his last visit there, after battling the desert crocodile.

The temple was a buzz with activity, there were people dancing and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. As Diego stood in the crowd at the side of the temple, he noticed the priest he had met before walking to him with two monks in tow. He wondered how the priest had spotted him before he realized that the crowd had edged away from the large tiger. He waved at the priest, "Hello! I didn't expect to see you."

The priest smiled, "Nor was I." He pointed to the monks behind him, "As luck would have it, I was just meeting with these men here as they told me some troubling news." He paused and looked to the monks. They were staring in obvious fascination at Trixie and seem impressed with her size. They nodded to the priest and he turned back to Diego, "I was telling them about the work you did for me with the crocodile. Rather, I was telling them how impressive it was that Trixie here dragged both you and the crocodile back to the temple to finish the job."

One of the monks stepped forward and bowed in greeting, "Lovely tiger you have there." He smiled before handing Diego a sheet of paper.

The paper had a scribbled note hastily written that asked for help at the Temple Of Anubis' Second Sons, bandits had overran the temple and were stealing priceless treasures. Diego raised an eyebrow as he looked up, "Temple of-" He was cut off by the stricken look on the priest and monk's faces.

The monk snatched the note from Diego's hands and hid it within his voluminous robes, "We shouldn't speak that aloud." The smile returned to his face, "This is an urgent matter, would you be willing to assist us?"

Diego looked at Trixie sitting at his side and pet her head, "I wouldn't mind assisting you gentlemen. Where would I find this place?" Diego was given a crudely drawn map and the monk briefly whispered instructions in his ear. He looked the map over again, committing the features to his memories and looked up, but the priest and monks had already started walking back to the temple. Diego led Trixie out of the city and towards the Temple.

[458/1,000 words]

It had been some time since the giant blue haired madoushi from the north had arrived in Heliohapt. Yakuroro was already finding himself acclimated to the hot dry air as he was already fond of Balbadd's warm climate, but this did not make his body sweat any less in response to the harsh sun light beaming down upon the entire country. The Imuchakk fought to survive the heat of the day as he sat upon his flying carpet and enjoyed the cool breeze it's movements created as he flew through the air. Akatetsu, the chimeric companion Yakuroro traveled with, was seated next to his adoptive father peering over the edge of the jade carpet to watch the landscape fly past beneath them.

The pair were flying a couple dozen meters above ground north of Heliohapt's capital. They were heading northwest towards the rocky terrain bordering Reim's Western Front where rumors claimed an ancient sect of monks hid. Little was known about the mysterious brotherhood or what kind of archaic secrets they kept. However one beggar Yakuroro had paid for information was convinced that there was indeed some sort of secret group out there. He'd claimed to have seen weekly shipments of water and monthly shipments of food depart Heliohapt's northern gates in the mornings and return emptied out only just shortly after noon. Such shipments were too small and returned too soon to have been trade missions to Reim and were too big to be supplies for Heliohaptan outposts.

Curious to meet these secretive men, Yakuroro set out with his Bonehead to see if they could even be found. To his surprise however, someone else had found the temple and it's protector's first. Smoke rose from the craggy maze of rock and earth in the distance far too deep into the rocky terrain to be seen on foot. However the Imuchakk's vantage point from the skies allowed him to see the plume of black billowing upwards between a ravine.

Yakuroro flew towards the sign of danger and trouble with haste to find his worst fears realized. There was indeed a hidden temple carved into the face of the rock, however just outside were a group of bandits teasing a poor monk by locking him up in a stockade. Before the man's eyes, the bandits had gathered many a scroll and tome from the temple and stacked them into a pile in front of the weary soul before setting years of priceless knowledge ablaze.

Tears streamed down the old monk's face as he watched the legacy of his forebearers be reduced ashes. Even if he held all the true secrets of his brotherhood in his mind, it did not soften the pain his heart felt to see years of labor vanish with the wind. The bandits on the other hand took great pleasure in this torture and one watched him the entire time whereas the other three had since gone back to their posts on watch.

From the cliff above Yakuroro gazed down upon the group and tried to grasp the situation. It seemed like those who lived off other's misfortune had struck once again. Yaku was beginning to think that fate really had ordained him some great task of fixing the world since his objectives always seemed to lead towards crossing paths with this kind of filth. But instead of charging in blindly the magician would wait and watch for an opening to strike at these fiends hiding in human flesh.

~581/1000 Word Count~

Trixie was now big enough that Diego was able to ride her, as he was doing now. They sun cast their shadows in long streaks against the desert surface. From the crudely drawn map it seemed they should be nearing an oasis that served as a landmark. Diego took a swig from a canteen and reached down to pour some in Trixie's mouth. She stopped walking long enough to reach around and sip from the stream of water.

After another twenty minutes of walking, they came over the rise of a dune, and saw a small oasis below. A traveling merchant had taken a break, watering his camel by the small pond. He seemed surprised to see a large tiger carrying a boy and waved cautiously, "Hello there! Safe travels I hope."

Diego smiled amiably and waved back before dismounting. "Hello! My travels have been safe so far." He appraised the man a moment, "We'll just be passing through after we eat." He pulled a small bundle of dried meats from his sack and began splitting it up with Trixie. He took a bite and pointed to the camel, "Where you heading?"

The merchant wiped the sweat from his brow and pointed in the direction Diego had come, "Off to Heliohapt to sell these goods. Hopefully, I can reach it before dark."

"Ah, we just came from there. We're off to do a job for the Black Temple." Diego and Trixie finished eating in silence as the merchant went back to his thoughts. When they were done, they started heading north-west for the next landmark. The land was starting to get rockier and rise in elevation. In the distance, small mountains could be seen stretching towards the heavens. Diego walked next to Trixie, not wanting to add his weight after she ate, in case it upset her stomach. He could still outrun her when he moved at top speed, so it wasn't like he needed to burden her.

They continued for a few more hours, watching the sun sink lower in the sky as it passed overhead. They passed the remains of an ancient city and the mountains loomed closer. When Diego checked the map, it seemed like they were nearly there. The heat was starting to get unbearable and Diego splashed water from his canteen on his brow to cool himself off.

They came to a stop where two massive cliffs rose above them and the path led down through the valley below. Ahead they could see black smoke coming from the valley around a bend. Approaching cautiously, they moved from cover to cover as they got closer. Diego thought the way the rock walls were layered was pretty and ran his fingers across the rough surface. He remembered that he had a job to do and put his focus back on that.

They made their way to a large rock near the front of the Temple without being spotted. They could hear the voices of four people talking excitedly. Diego careful peeked around the rock and saw three men near the entrance watching guard up the temple steps. Near the bottom another man stood watch over an elderly monk, judging by his garb, that was chained to the ground near some crates. There were many valuable possessions strewn about the base of the stairs and there were wagons nearby ready to be loaded. It seemed they had got here in time to prevent the theft of what he thought were valuable and rare treasures.

Diego told Trixie to wait behind the rock and strode forward from behind the rock. As he approached, the man guarding the monk looked over and pointed a finger at Diego. "Hey! Who is that guy?" the man asked the monk. When the monk shook his head, he walked towards Diego, "Do you have business here?"

Diego smiled at the man, "I was told there was a temple here." He pointed behind the man to the temple carved into the face of the cliff, "I assume this is the place."

The man chortled, "Oh yes, this is the place." His face grew serious as he drew his blade, "Now, what are you doing here?"

Diego felt the man's glee to inflict violence upon his person and his face hardened, "I was hired to take care of some bandits that were reported here. From your manner, I feel safe in saying that you and your friends would be those bandits." He let out a low whistle, which would be a signal to Trixie, but the man wouldn't realize that. "Is there any way to resolve this peacefully?" he asked as Trixie came around the rock, ready to pounce.

The man still hadn't seen the tiger and he waved to his buddies at the top of the stairs, "This guy thinks he can take us on." He laughed as he imagined running his blade through Diego. Done with pretty words he moved towards Diego sending a horizontal slash towards Diego's face. During that time, Trixie leaped from her position to the side of the man, wielding a blade at her master. She let out a roar as she got closer, landing three meters from the man, with her head low to the ground, ready to strike.

[1,000+/1,000] [110/120 stamina]

Quick-Dash:

"You take the carpet Tetsu...there's my chance." Yakuroro said with a grin as he watched Diego's reckless gambit. At first the boy and his beast were hard to recognize at a distance but the voice that shouted and proclaimed royal pirates were present removed any doubt. There was no one else it could have belonged to than the vengeance seeking youth he'd met on his first day in Heliohapt. The large Imuchakk decided to back Diego up by taking on the three bandits whom had yet to begin moving his way. With staff in hand, Yakuroro bellowed a laugh as he shouted the name of his spell, "Deep Blue!" sending a string of commands to the rukh driving them to gather a large amount of water from the atmosphere. Yakururo would be surrounded in a large sphere of water as he fell which would crash into the ground with a mighty splash. The ball of water began to spread outwards but suddenly pulled inwards upon itself to reshape into a perfect sphere. Only the Bandit challenging Madam Trixie would be safe from the orb of water leaving three of his companions to suffer being sucked up into the drink.

At the center of this spell was the Imuchakk, robes flowing open without the magic carpet to keep them closed showing the tattoo upon Yakuroro's chest. It covered a branding which marked him as a "demon" in his home village. The bandits would not understand the significance behind this cultural mark of stigma, but they would experience the fear which drove Yakuroro's tribe to mark him. Yakuroro knew his attack would not kill the men, but he had no problem breaking their bodies as he guided his hands to aim for two of the bandits. The men were trying to swim out of the water but they would not be fast enough to escape the massive small ocean Yakuroro had dropped upon them. Two powerful currents would form in the water where Yaku's hands were willing them and these spiralling torrents rushed into their targets. Both bandits would be sucked up by the currents and carried into the hard rock walls of the ravine with crushing B-tier force.

The last of the three guppies caught in Yakuroro's ocean was now screaming a gargled bubble filled shout of terror as he spotted the tall Imuchakk at the center of the waters and saw him like some king of giant sea demon. Without the slightest bit of mercy, the madoushi pointed his staff at the man and muttered his second spell, "Bubble Burst..." as magoi gathered densely nearby. The spell would flow from the tip of Yakuroro's unicorn horn staff and through the water towards the bandit before giving its commands for the rukh to create a giant cavitation bubble. A sudden burst of heat and force would deal D-tier damage to the final bandit and send him flying out of the Deep Blue where he would land on the fire he had started before along with just enough water to douse the flames.

Yakuroro then guided the giant sphere of water away from the temple and let it splash free where the excess waters would not reach himself or anyone else nearby. Akatetsu descended from above when Yakuroro ended his spells and dropped in front of his Imucakk parent growling joyful congratulations. "Gyao, Gyao!" Akatetsu wove his hands and hopped up and down on the carpet not realizing that losing contact with it would cancel it's flight affect. Yakuroro only just barely caught his son in one hand before he fell to the floor and chuckled as the other hand snatched the flying carpet from the air so he could will it around his waist closing his robes once more. A slight blush dusted the large man's cheeks from embarrassment of his body being seen by the monk. But this was quickly pushed to the back of Yakuroro's mind as he ran to free the old man whilst looking back to see how Diego and Madam Trixie had fared.

~1000+/1000 Word Count~
Magoi: 180/250

Spoiler:

The bandit shook in fear as Madam Trixie landed in front of him with a scowl on her face. The large tiger gave a throaty roar and swung her claws towards the bandit, missing him as he leaped back. He seemed to control with fear and swung his sword in a horizontal arc towards her. Seeing his blade move towards her, she ducked her head moved to his side. As he turned and prepared another slash, Trixie swung again, extending her claws slashing at his arm. As she swung, she felt a strange sensation and a jolt of bio-electricity traveled down her leg and into her extended claws. The jolt propelled her claws forward and into the bandit's side. A flash of light flickered as her claws released the bio-electricity in an arc into his wounds.

The bandit cried out and collapsed onto his left knee as his right leg buckled from under him. Trixie leaped forward and with her front right claw, slashed at his face. The blow broke through muscle and bone, knocking him away. She spun around, ready to attack again, but the bandit no more fight left in him. She ignored him and looked for Diego.

Diego hasn't sure which was more impressive. Yakuroro's sudden appearance with a huge sphere of water and obvious skill with magic or Trixie's stunning strike. This was the third time she had shown signs of producing electricity and it was still strange to him. His chest swelled with pride as she dispatched the bandit by herself, before he could do anything. Immediate danger gone, he made sure Trixie was alright and they walked up to Yakuroro who was assisting an older monk. "Well met, Yakuroro! That was an impressive feat you accomplished." When Trixie whined, he chuckled and looked down at her, "You were doubly impressive, Trix." Looking back up, "Thank you for helping. I do have to ask, what are you doing here?"


[100/120 Stamina] [323/250 Words: Training]

Stunning Strike:

Part Two Job:

The Imuchakk had already set Akatetsu down and was now breaking the lock on the stockade allowing the elderly monk to stand to his feet. "T-Thank you for your help..." He sounded intimidated by the huge beast of a man standing over him but there was also a definite sound of gratitude in the tones of his voice. After seeing Diego and Trixie approach triumphant Yakuroro smiled warmly down at the monk and nodded. When Diego asked what the Imuchakk was doing there he responded by looking towards the monk and pointing at him, "I was looking for this guy. I heard rumors of an ancient group that met in secret around here. That's you, isn't it?" The monk sighed and looked to the temple entrance. "Yes, we guard the temple and her secrets...but it is still in danger! There are more of them inside and I fear my brothers are trapped in with them. There is no telling what kind of debauchery those mongrels are inflicting upon the glory of Anubis....Please, you must help us!"

It was an upsetting bit of news as Yakuroro would have hoped to find the temple and it's secret bearers unmolested. But on the bright side, this would make them indebted to him. There would be no more secrets once the sly Imuchakk had finished here. "I'll help save your brothers, but I've got a condition. You must answer all of my questions truthfully when we are done here...there are some things I want to know. Do we have a deal?"  "Gyao~?" Akatetsu growled as if to repeat Yakuroro's offer. The Monk seemed to be be hesitant to accept, but a single glance at the ash pile of his ancestor's knowledge and efforts was all it took to steel his resolve on an answer. "Very well, I shall lay all our secrets bare. But only if you KILL every last one of those infidels..."

A frown came over the magician's face replacing his usual smile, but he did not decline. "Consider it done." Akatetsu who had seemed to be standing proud of Yakuroro's accomplishments suddenly looked to his father in surprise, "G...Gyao?" The giant placed a hand on Akatetsu's head giving him a reassuring pat and met eyes with the beast to convey they he knew was he was doing. The small beast nodded trustingly and watched Yakuroro to see how he proceeded. Yakuroro then turned to Diego and Madam Trixie and gave them a stoic look, "I have a mission to gather information and as you can see I've been conscripted to take on some very dirty work to reach my goal. You might want to sit this one out..." Concerned already for Diego's depravity flags, he would prefer not to involve the boy if at all possible...

~469/1500 Word Count~
Magoi: 180/250

Diego shook his head and gave Yakuroro a stern look of determination, "I have a job here as well. I was hired by the Black Temple to clear this place of bandits. I made a promise. What kind of man would I be if I backed down now?" He didn't feel right about killing someone and didn't plan to, his job was to remove the threat, not kill them. Yakuroro was the one who agreed to kill them for knowledge, and Diego believed that was his cross to bear alone. Unless there was a serious threat to his life, Diego would avoid murder. He wasn't sure how he felt about someone who would commit murder for knowledge, but he waited to pass judgement, since he knew Yakuroro and didn't see him as a monster.

Trixie had been walking towards the temple, ahead of the group, eager to see what was inside. Diego saw her climbing the temple stairs and he looked at Yakuroro, "Seems us men are standing around talking while a girl is beating us to the fight." He gave Yakuroro a big smile and took off after her.

He caught up with her and they walked through massive stone pillars before coming across two giant stone doors. Voices drifted through the open doors and they cautiously walked through. There was a large antechamber with more crates of treasures and books as well as six heavily armed men standing around. They stopped their laughing when Trixie and Diego walked in. There were four bandits with whips and swords like the ones outside, but behind them, were two large men with large swords and circular shields strapped to their wrists.

The men looked between the boy and tiger, the gears turning in their head as they realized that these two must have taken out the guards out front. One of the larger men with a shield bellowed, "What? How did you get past Jacob and his men?"

Diego smirked and shrugged his shoulders, "They took a bath. Don't worry, I am sure they are clean now." He pointed at the men, "I have been ordered to remove you from the temple. I would ask you do so peacefully, but I will fight you if I have to."

The large men laughed to themselves as the one who spoke before waved his hand, ordering the men to deal with Diego and his tiger. "We're not afraid of one boy and a tiger. At least we'll have dinner."

Diego's eyes raged in fury at the man's comment and got into a fighting position, with Trixie ready at his side.

[437/1500]

Yakuroro's eyes watched Diego and Trixie carefully as he gauged their response. There was a clear sense of duty behind his motivations and a careful hesitation in regards to Yakuroro's promise to take lives. Even if the Blue magician had no intentions of actually killing anyone today, he would still be making it LOOK like he was going to. Exposing the boy and his feline friend to such a sight was a dangerous risk in many ways. Not only would it likely affect their opinion of Yakuroro and reveal some of his true power, but it would also carry the prospect of traumatizing the youth. The only thing Yakuroro could think of to mitigate these risks was to tell Diego of his Djinn Powers, something the King Candidate was not yet willing to do. As the boy made a joke and ran after Trixie whom had already begun curiously climbing the steps to the temple entrance, Yakuroro watched with worried eyes and lingered behind a bit. "Gyaoooo..." Seeing his father figure's concern, Akatetsu tugged on the Imuchakk's robes lightly and looked up at Yakuroro with a face covered in his own concern.

"Sorry Tetsu, I'm making you worry aren't I? Everything is going to be fine..." Yakuroro smiled down at the chimera before turning his attention to the old man. "I'll kill the bandits, but I'll also be taking custody of their corpses. I assume that wont affect our deal?" The elderly monk seemed a bit disappointed the Imuchakk added the stipulation to their contract. Apparently he had some kind of cruel revenge in mind which would not be possible without the bodies of the intruders but simply removing them from his temple was far more important. "As you wish, just go make them pay for this desecration..." Yakuroro bowed his head and then looked around the ravine. He spotted a wheeled cart which was used by the bandits to hold all the goods and spoils of their trade and pointed towards it. "Tetsu, you stay outside and start gathering the bodies of the bandits we already defeated. Put them in that cart and wait for me outside. Okay?" The orange lizard-like beast appeared saddened by the prospect of being stuck waiting outside, but he also knew that it was a job Yakuroro was counting on him for. "Gyao!" The beast made a little salute and then began running towards the cart to start growling orders to the oxen that led it.

With that taken care of, Yakuroro finally began walking towards the temple entrance and disappeared into its dark hallways. Once he was inside there was a long hall leading deep into the earth with a light at the end. Yakuroro could see the silhouettes of Diego and Trixie as they stood at the mouth of the hall where it opened up into a torch-lit chamber. While he was still far enough away to mutter without being heard and too deep within the darkness for his form to be discernable as anything more than a pair of gleaming eyes in the distance, Yakuroro began to invoke his Djinn with a chant. "O' Djinn of Mischief and Deceit! Let my will bend reality and grant me the power to fool even the wise. Dwell in my body and let your power be unleashed..."


A brief flash of greenish-orange light would shine behind Diego before turning to a deep shade of purple which faded away into obscure darkness as Yakuroro activated Marx Canvas allowing him to create a wall of shadows between himself and the other end of the tunnel as he flew closer to the exit. None would be able to see the monstrous form he now bore, clad in armor and ghostly flame with 6 demonic eyes peering from the shade-like pyre burning silently where a head should be.

"What was that!?" One of the bandits asked as he noticed the strange light behind Diego. His fellow brigand standing next to him laughed as he approached the tiger and her friend with his whip in hand at the ready and a grin upon his face, "What's it matter? If this kid brought help then that's just one more toy to play with right? Hey kid, which parts of your kitten are more juicy? The thighs? How about a LEG!?" As the bandit shouted he lept forward and snapped his whip through the air aiming to wrap Trixie's leg to bind her for three posts. The three other bandit guards closed in around the big cat and all attempted to do the same. None had noticed that the boy with her was a Fanalis just yet so their only concern was capturing the beast he had brought along with him. Three more whips would lash out to bind the big cats legs one by one until she was completely unable to move. The two Bandit Commanders then approached, both snickering as they prepared to slaughter Trixie while she was pinned down with whips.

Diego could have helped Trixie free by defeating one or two of the bandits, but their numbers were simply too great for the boy to handle on his own. Thankfully, before any blood could be spilt, a shout would steal everyone's attention. "HOLD IT! Stop right there you scum who would defile the resting place of the god of death!" The Imuchakk Yakuroro stepped out from behind a pillar and pointed his staff towards the bandit group. This was merely an illusion courtesy of Marx Canvas, but it was solid and sounded about as real as anyone else in the room. The King Yakuroro was now only a few steps behind Diego still hidden behind a wall of shadow which was see-through on the Djinn clad magician's side. The Fanalis and perhaps his beast would be the only ones with hearing keen enough to catch the muttered spell Yakuroro cast next, "Marx Replication..."

Yakuroro pointed a sole finger at Madam Trixie and scanned her form with light causing her to glow softly with a greenish-orange light. Meanwhile, the fake Yakuroro stealing everyone's attention pretended to cast a spell. "Hear me of lord of decay and king of lost souls! Take my power and use it to smite the fools who would insult your greatness! Undead soul!" The illusions of Marx Canvas would accompany all this shouting with an disturbing pale blue smoke swirling around the caster that shaped itself into a large number of skulls. These illusory heads would chatter their teeth making the echo of bone resound throughout the chamber as they flew through the air and centered around Madam Trixie. This smoke would cover up the REAL spell at work as one by one clones of Madam Trixie began to form inside the smoke only to pounce outwards. Yakuroro's illusions made these clones appear to be skeletal in nature with blue flames burning where fur and flesh should be.

The cloned Trixies would surround the bandits four on each side giving them each a taste of their own medicine. Creepy voices of old men and women would sound from the "undead tigers" prodding the bandit's fear, "How does it feeeeel to be surrounded?" "You must know our paaaaaain~" More chattering of bones would sound as the beast clones pounced on their targets dealing D-tier cuts and bites. Each of the four bandits surrounding Trixie would receive C-tier damage in total however this would be enough to make them give up on holding their whips. Madam Trixie was now free, but there were still the two Bandit Commander's to deal with as no cloned tigers had targeted them. "You brat! Just what the hell have you done!?" One of them shouted as the other stepped forwards aiming to cut Madam Trixie with his sword, "It doesn't matter, it's all magic in the end. If we kill the animal or the mage the other ones should disappear! You take the magic caster!" He shouted as his blade came falling down for a vertical slash for the tiger's face. The other commander then nodded and turned to begin running for "Yakuroro" or rather the illusion of him at the back of the chamber.

~1500+/1500 Word Count~
Magoi: 130/250

Spoiler:

The bandits continued to taunt Diego as they approached, ""What's it matter? If this kid brought help then that's just one more toy to play with right? Hey kid, which parts of your kitten are more juicy? The thighs? How about a LEG!?" The one who spoke snapped his whip at Trixie's leg binding her.

Blood boiling, Diego took a deep breath and tried to keep a level head. He was out numbered and Yakuroro hadn't seemed to follow him inside. The other bandits latched their whips around Trixie's other legs and pulled her to the ground. Hearing her whimper, he started to move when he heard Yakuroro shout.

"HOLD IT! Stop right there you scum who would defile the resting place of the god of death!" The giant blue-haired man walked out from behind a pillar, pointing a staff that was nearly as large as the man towards the bandits. Diego thought the staff impressive, the spiral design etched into what appeared to be bone was visually pleasing to his eye, but that thought would quickly pass as he thought of what to do next.

Yakuroro loudly proclaimed, "Hear me of lord of decay and king of lost souls! Take my power and use it to smite the fools who would insult your greatness! Undead soul!" Diego swore he heard someone whisper behind him as the Imuchakk spoke, but his attention was elsewhere. He noticed Trixie glow a soft greenish-orange hued light during the man's speech.

Pale blue smoke swirled around Yakuroro that formed into skulls. Trixie whined as the sound of chattering teeth echoed off the old sandstone walls eerily. The skulls swarmed around her, completely covering her, and Diego was about to ask what Yakuroro was doing when skeletal tigers burning with blue fire began leaping from the smoke. For every bandit holding a whip, there were four creepy, flaming skeleton tigers surrounding them. The thing that creeped Diego out the most were their ghastly moans and cries. The four bandits were tackled down, freeing Trixie. Fangs bared and rage in her eyes, she started running towards the two bandits left standing.

"You brat! Just what the hell have you done!?" One of the two larger bandits shouted as he ready his blade. "It doesn't matter, it's all magic in the end. If we kill the animal or the mage the other ones should disappear! You take the magic caster!" While he shouted he slashed towards Trixie with a vertical slash. With a Quick-Dash she dodged his blade, moving to the right, keeping about a five meter radius as she leaped behind the bandit.

Now it was teamwork time, Diego started running forward, giving Trixie a whistle. Hearing the command for a pincer attack, she started running forward as well, effectively approaching the bandit at two angles. Diego would be prepare to deliver a running kick aimed at the bandit's head if he turned away from him, otherwise he'd feint an attack before backing up. The Madam however, would be prepared to Mangle, a 15 m/s^2 leap that would deal C-Tier damage, the bandit if he turned away from her, likewise feinting an attack if he pursued her instead. While not as large as Yakuroro, he was still threatening, especially with his sword, so they were playing it defensively.

[990/1,500 words] [70/120 stam]

Abilities:

The many skull tigers assaulting the bandits were simply too much for any one of the men to handle. Their weapons were strong enough to obliterate the illusions with a single blow and each one only dealt small scratches with their attacks. But the specters could move at 20m/s constantly and were simply too fast for the men to hit. By the time they prepared to attack one beast, another was swiftly pouncing on them from another angle. The four guards were mangled into submission until each was left in the fetal position as a bloody clawed mess. With their quarry down, the tigers then turned their attention towards their summoner who was now dancing back and forth at 15m/s dodging sword slashes from the bandit commander like it was child's play. Normally the Imuchakk could never be so nimble, but this was an illusion and moved at speeds set by the laws of Marax's magic and not those of nature. The Yakuroro image made one final back stepping dodge before ten of the twenty Trixie clones dove into the commander with force destroying themselves in the process. They could have simply attacked the man rather than destroy themselves, however Yakuroro deemed he would only need 10 remaining to watch over the young Diego and his battle.

The chattering and voices of the damned stopped as the illusion covered clones moved to circle Diego, Trixie, and the Bandit Commander. The pack of underworldly cats would simply observe the battle for now unless it was determined they would be needed. But from the looks of the way the youth's foot smashing into the older human's face as he tried to follow Trixie's movements made it seem as though no such assistance would be required. Stunned from the blow, the commander didn't even see the large feline pounce resulting a surprised scream of pain from the sharp fangs and powerful jaws that closed around his sword arm. The commander fell to the ground moaning in pain joining all his comrades in defeat. The skull tigers vanished into smoke and the Yakuroro near the back of the chamber could no longer be seen. Instead he was now near the entrance as the Imuchakk disengaged his Djinn Equip and returned to looking normal...at least by Imuchakk standards.

"Good work Diego, Trixie! Move away from the bodies, I'll move them outside with my magic. They should look badly wounded enough that the Monk should agree to hold his end of my bargain with him." The magician then rose his staff and gathered water from the atmosphere before releasing it as a powerful water current. Yakuroro guided this like a powerful firehose and smiled without a care as he pushed the bandit's groaning bodies into a pile. For a brief moment he would point the hose blast of water away from them and spoke in a cheerful tone to the group. "Okaaaaay~ I've promised to kill every last one of you to avenge the temple's gods. The Monk outside specifically requested that I scalp your leaders alive after slowly cutting off their manhoods~ But you see, he agreed that I just had to take your lives in order to get what I want. So if you all don't stop groaning I'll be unable to sneak you out quietly and I'll have our tiger friend here take care of those special requests." The Imuchakk held a hand to his ear for a listen as the commanders hushed their goons and the whole pile went silent.

"Glad you all understand!" and with that, Yakuroro sprayed the rest of them down the dark hall way back to open air where Akatetsu would be waiting to stack them into the cart. "Diego, could you see if Trixie can find our monk friend's brothers? I didn't see them in this chamber and I'm sure her keen nose would be of great help." Who was Yaku to be giving orders? The strange man who seemingly summoned the undead monsters in a wrathful frenzy. That's who. Sure, the Imuchakk had asked the question nicely and went so far as to compliment Madam Trixie's skills. But more importantly, he'd spared lives where others may have taken them. If Diego mentioned anything about how Yakuroro was lying to meet his end of the deal the Imuchakk would simply turn his head so one side of his face was facing the boy before winking with a smirk on his face.

Magoi: 85/250

Spoiler:

Diego and Trixie finished off the large bandit and looked around. It looked like Yakuroro had finished the rest off while they were distracted. Diego was impressed that the pincer attack had worked so effectively, he thought the bandit would have at least have tried to attack one of them. He bent down to give Trixie a kiss on her head and some well deserved skritches behind her ears. He was glad to see that Yakuroro didn't kill the bandits, instead using water magic to sweep them out of the temple. When the Imuchakk praised Diego and Trixie, they beamed, happy that someone as strong as Yakuroro thought they did a good job.

"You were amazing Yakuroro, sometime you should tell me how you became such a strong warrior." Diego was truly impressed with the Imuchakk and any reservations he had about him were now gone. It seemed that there were some monks still missing according to Yakuroro so Diego turned to Trixie, "Hey Trix, do you smell anyone else?"

Trixie put her nose to the ground and started sniffing around. She came to a door and with a soft "mew~" scratched at the door. Diego opened it, seeing a large tunnel leading into darkness beyond. Trixie moved in front of him and Diego followed her. The ceiling was kind of low and Diego had keep his head down as they walked. They walked for several minutes before they saw dim, flickering lights at the end.

They came out of the tunnel and paused in amazement. The tunnel opened up into a giant cavern within the mountain, small stone huts at varying elevations were carved directly into the rock as well as the paths leading to them. Each hut had a torch burning, casting flickering shadows throughout the cavern. Trixie led Diego down some steps to a nearby hut with more crates in front. Diego quietly opened the door and spotted several monks tied up in the middle of the small room. The monks looked up in terror as Trixie pranced up before chewing on each of their ropes. Diego helped her and soon they were free.

One of the monks bowed, "Thank you, young man, we've been down here for several hours." A look crossed his face, "I've never seen you before, how did you find us?"

Diego waved off the thanks, "I was happy to help, no thanks is needed." He smiled, "We actually heard from the Black Temple that you needed help. We came as quick as we could, luckily we had some help." Remembering Yakuroro, he paused, "I should let the Elder know that I found you. Excuse me, please." The monks nodded, thanking him again before he headed back into the tunnel.

Diego hoped the Imuchakk hadn't asked his questions to the Elder monk yet, the young boy was interested to know what Yakuroro was searching for. Fate had led them to cross paths again and his curiosity was piqued. He liked the blue-haired giant, but he knew next to nothing about the man, besides the fact that he wouldn't waste life needlessly, something that he respected. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, Diego picked up his step. Trixie pushed him as well, eager to get out of the cramped tunnel.

[1,500+/1,500 words]

The Imuchakk had gone outside the temple to help Akatetsu load the "corpses" and let the Elder know that you boy who had helped him clear the temple was busy searching for his brothers. Yakuroro had Akatetsu guide the cart with all he bandits out of the ravine before turning to help the older monk into the temple. The blue magician was tactful enough to not ask about their deal until he had caught up to Diego. "Have you found them?" He would ask before letting the elder use his body as a crutch while he hobbled his way down the tunnel past Diego. After a brief reunion of dust covered monks, Yakuroro coughed and brought up the matter of their agreement. "Now then, I've done my part. Time for you to make good on your own. Does this temple have any knowledge of the Toran civilization? I'm looking for remnants and ruins as well as places to study their language."

The men of the temple looked back and forth between each other and a bit of muttering was exchanged. The tone of things told the Imuchakk the nature of their reply before it was even mentioned. "We know of the Toran, but this temple holds no knowledge of where to find their remains. We worship the deity known as Anubi-" The elder was cut off by Yakuroro raising his hand and sighing, "In that case you can keep your secrets. I am only interested in the Toran. Thank you for your time. I'm sorry I could not arrive sooner to stop the bandits from attacking you in the first place." Yaku's tone was cheerful enough but in truth he felt frustration towards having made no progress on his quest. With a warm smile, the Imuchakk bowed and took his leave offering to give Diego and Trixie a ride on his magic carpet back to the capital.