"Juana, stop." The girl froze mid motion at the man's words. "Can't you tell that man is a member of the Mercenary Mages? Just look at the pendant on his necklace." The man said. Rulo clicked his tongue and tucked his necklace back under his shirt. Juana, the girl in the white rabbit mask, lowered her weapon and took a few steps back.
"If you know about us then you must not be some second rate organization." Rulo said then muttered under his breath. "Especially with people like that at your disposal." Sol heard Rulo mutter. He looked back and forth between the two assailants.
"That is correct. My group has been anticipating your arrival for quite a while." The man said. He walked over to Sol and stopped swinging his chain back and forth. Sol watched as he licked his exposed lips and twirled his chain, flincking his wrist. The weighted side of his chain shot forth and wrapped Sol up. He felt the weight of Rulo's presence disappear behind him.
Sol looked up and Rulo had jumped, avoiding the chain. Before he could land, however, the girl was at his throat, pinning him to the ground. Rulo smirked at Sol with a look of overwhelming confidence. In that moment he could have sworn that Rulo looked like he was excited to face a good challenge. Then the look dropped off his face.
Juana pulled Rulo to his feet, holding his arms behind his back. She forced Rulo across the way and made him stand next to Sol. The two in white bunny masks nodded at one another and pulled their captives down the alley.
**********
From a short distance away a person with magenta maroon hair looked down at the two being dragged away. Their deep hunter green eyes were filled with worry. Hyrion watched the scene unfold practically bitting their nails in anticipation. "He's their kid I'm sure he'll be fine. Right?" Hyrion thought, watching the two get dragged out of sight.
**********
"The boss knows what to do with brats like you." Juana whispered in Rulo's ear. They were dragged through many back alleyways in the shady parts of town. Then when they reached a building that was dilapidated with a mostly crumbling exterior they stopped. The building still had its windows Sol noted as they were pushed through the door.
They were pushed into a large room that was mostly empty save for piles of collapsed roof pieces. Sol was pulled into the center of the room, followed by Rulo. Sol glanced around and felt like they were being watched.
"How many of you are there?" Rulo asked the one with a blade to his throat. She laughed cruelly as she walked away. She made a large sweeping arm movement out towards the rest of the room.
"We have enough to take care of a few wanna be thugs for hire, like you!" As Juana did this dozens of people started appearing all around the room. Rulo looked back towards the door. "Blocked by two Meatheads. Looks like we're trapped for now." Rulo thought and crossed his now freed arms across his chest.
"You can't just kill us though, can you? How long will we have to wait?" Rulo said. Juana made a tsk sound as she glared at Rulo. Then she glanced at the man who seemed to be her superior. He shook his head at her. Flicking his wrist again he spun Sol around and freed him.
"You'll be waiting here until the boss arrives." He said giving an intimidating look to the two of them. Sol rubbed his forearms where the chain was rubbing against them.
When the two had been waiting for almost 30 minutes a cloaked figure appeared in the doorway. They were flanked by two taller people also in black cloaks. The leader stepped through, pulling the hood down to reveal a black tortoise mask. The person wearing the mask had long hair that spiked up uncontrollably tucked behind it. The mask itself had silver lining around each scale. The bottom half of his face was visible like with all the other members. A smirk was evident on his face.
"I can't believe I served as leader long enough to witness the day that our group would capture a Merc Mage like you." The leaders rough voice said, echoing across the desolate room. Rulo nudged Sol and leaned over like he was gonna whisper something to him. A knife flew in-between the two before he could say anything. Sol recoiled back as quickly as he could and Rulo just let out a 'tsk' sound.
"I just wanted to liven up the mood damnit." Rulo said. He looked totally annoyed and glared at the leader. Sol followed his gaze. The leader still had his hand extended from when he threw the knife and was shaking his head a little. He crossed the arm he'd thrown with under his other. He shook his head and placed the opposite hand on his head in disappointment.
"Come now, did you really think I would let you share secrets right in front of me?" He wagged his finger in a condescending manner. "I'm not so much of an idiot that I'd allow you to plan your escape right in front of me. I didn't get this far in life by being a fool." He said, getting more condescending with each word. Rulo rolled his eyes and started mocking the guy in his head. Then he narrowed his eyes at the guy who has been annoying him since he got there. "I'd better figure out what he really wants. Maybe who he's working with too." Rulo thought still annoyed. He was mostly in disbelief that a guy like this could be behind an organization that boldly stole from nobles.
"So, why drag us all the way here? If you wanted to stop us from defeating you, you could have just had us killed in the alleyway. What exactly do you want?" Rulo asked. The smirk dropped off the leaders face and he dramatically sighed.
"I need you to witness the dawning of a new era. An era were nobles are ruled over and no longer using the populous like disposable pawns! A world were magic users are held in esteem over everyone else! The true world order will prevail!" He said, spreading his arms wide. Then he let out an evil cakle so hard that he started doubling over.
"Well, we're getting paid to stop you so I don't think that'll be happening today." Rulo said with a touch of defiance in his tone. He uncrossed his arms and put his hands up, getting ready to fight. Sol mimiced the action but looked skeptical about their chances of winning. "There are so many people here. Is he really that confident in us?" Sol thought.
"Tsk. Some people never listen." The man in the turtle mask said with a disappointed look on his face. At least the visible half of it anyways. "Get them you fools!" He shouted pointing towards the two of them. A few members of the group charged at them both. One pulled out a curved sickle like blade and swung it at Rulo's throat. Rulo elegantly ducked backwards into a backflip and kicked his attacker in the chin. Sol heard a crunch sound as Rulo's kick landed and cringed at the groutesque noise.
"Woah!" Sol said as he stumbled forward narrowly avoiding the swords that was swinging at the back of his head. Rulo was in the middle of gut punching the first guy who had attacked him and looked over at Sol just in time to witness this happen. He shook his head. Another person attacked him and he punched them in the jaw. The sound of metal connecting with bone rang out in the room.
Rulo continued to flawlessly fight the enemies while still taking the time to check in on Sol. Sol the entire fight was just dodging. In all honesty he was dodging almost perfectly. He'd hardly gotten grazed at all, but, he wasn't fighting back. Rulo started getting angry and punched the person who had most recently attacked him through the roof with an uppercut.
"Sol! Attack Gods damnit! How the hell are we supposed to win if you don't fight?!" Rulo yelled while pointing at Sol. Sol shrunk back a little and put up his hands in an apologetic manner. Before Sol could reply their enemies made use of the fact that Rulo had a lapse in attention and attacked him from behind. They tackled him to the ground and Sol watched on in horror. He froze in place, face going pale. "What do I do? I haven't been in a real fight, ever. Father always said it was bad manners to fight so I never did. But Rulo, he's in danger! What do I do!" Sol thought. His mind was racing a mile a minute and he hardly seemed like he was breathing.
Rulo started struggling under his attackers. One of them pulled a blade out and put it to his throat. They licked their lips and started applying pressure. Rulo sucked in a nervous breath. "Stop struggling, you Mercenary impersonator. You couldn't win here if you had a thousand lives." The one with the blade said. Rulo looked up at Sol with pleading eyes. Sol started shaking his head.
"Just hit them! Do whatever you have to-" Rulo shouted still pinned to the ground. Sol only heard the first sentence. Even as Rulo continued to shout at him. "Just. Hit them. Just hit them. Justhitthem. I- I can do that." Sol thought. He pulled his fist back and rushed forward.
"Hah, you think your puny little fist could really do anything to me?" The one with a knife said as Sol charged towards him. Then Sol lifted his gaze and she saw the roaring amber color in his eyes. Like a never ending fire that would consume everything. Her hands shook with fear and she turned to slit Rulo's throat. Before she could Sol made contact with her body. He hit her square in her sternum with such force that her ribs made a crunching noise. She coughed up blood before being shot violently backwards. She flew through the wall behind her and into the wall of the next crumbling building.
Sol looked down at the hand that had just hit one of the members of the criminal organization with. Her blood had sprayed across his arm. He looked down at it in both horror and something else. He didn't have time to question what he was feeling though. He turned to the other three who were still holding Rulo down. Sol kicked one across across the arms he was using to hold Rulo down with. Another crack echoed through the room followed by the scream of the guy who and been hit. He stumbled backwards and cowered in fear of Sol.
Sol however didn't stop. He spun to the next person and kicked her in her chest. She tumbled backwards and rolled like a wheel until she hit the wall. She coughed up blood and her chest was just barely rising and falling. Sol turned to the final person who had long since let go of Rulo and was now backing away in horror. He started shaking his head no. Sol still didn't stop.
In fact after defeating each of the previous individuals his skin had begun to glow from the inside again. He kicked the man in the side of his jaw and his head snapped around in a disturbing fashion. He flopped to the ground with his head turned the wrong way. He was dead. Sol spun on his heel and turned to Rulo, assessing his condition. He had only sustained a small scratch on his cheek after all that commotion.
Rulo stood with Sol's help and looked down at the man who just had his neck snapped. He turned to look at Sol who was clenching and unclenching his bloodied fist. "Has this kid ever been in a fight before? What the hell was that?! Most people who are that hesitant to even throw a punch definitely wouldn't be able to stomach killing someone. Even if it might have been on accident." Rulo thought. He saw Sol in a whole new light now. A smile started to play on Rulo's lips as he thought about how fun it would be to face someone who was clearly a born killer like Sol. He covered the growing smile and looked away. Now wasn't the time for such thoughts. He was done testing Sol and they were still surrounded by enemies. Albeit enemies that were now regarding Sol as the more dangerous of the two.
"Hey, you still got energy, Sunshine?" Rulo asked Sol. A crazed smile broke out on Sol's face before quickly disappearing and he nodded. "We really are cut from the same crooked cloth." Rulo thought. What Rulo didn't know was that Sol's mother had used the very same nickname for him when he was a child and as much as Sol tried to pretend that he was alright, he wasn't. Watching his parents die in front of him at such a young age had planted a seed of insanity inside of him. Nobody, not even he knew when it would sprout and show off his twisted side.
"Alright then. Let's put these fuckers in the ground!" Rulo said. His coral pink eyes started to glow and pulse with energy. He dropped his left hand completely and raised his right one as if to strike someome right in front of him. He pulled back and his eyes crackled sending coral pink sparks arcing around his body. His pencil straight hair stood up perfectly defiying gravity. The sparks gathered around his fist making a dancing show of pink lightning on the metal plate of his glove.
"Hey boss, I know this guy. He's been called the Hell Spawn of Lightning! The Destroyer of Criminals. But he's mostly known as-" Bu-boom! The sound that rang out almost deafened anyone close to it as Rulo shot his fist forward. His signature coral pink lightning shot forth hitting the guy who had been speaking. The sparks arched in such a way that it looked like a jagged piece of coral. Then they fizzled out into nothing. Leaving behind a sizling black outline, scorched into the earth.
The leader of the The Hare and Turtle gang looked mortified beyond belief. "This man. He's better known by titles like the Thunder Clap, Lightning Psycho or the Gods Gentle Smite than the ones that idiot was saying! But there is one nickname of his that is more well known than anything else! The Oceans Thunder Bringer!" He thought legs quaking in fear. "Not to mention whatever the fuck is wrong with the other one! Their both absolutely crazy! When we were told of this job we weren't told that The Ocean Bringer would be here! I gotta get out of here!" He thought, panic fully setting in. He motioned to the two who were standing right next to him and they all ran out the door while Sol and Rulo were distracted.