Silcia walked silently as she moved around trees, through the forest near Sanctuary. She had decided to take them down a bit of a longer path just to avoid any unnecessary contact with people, and to be less likely discovered. “We should be there soon, if my memory serves. But it might be hard to even tell when we enter since there isn’t any indication anymore since you guys went and destroyed everything.” Silcia commented, before glancing back as she walked. “Thank you guys for that by the way. I was getting tired of that bastard doing all this horrid stuff, so seeing his death and the castle being destroyed was the most satisfying thing for me.” Silcia commented, trying to make small talk with Saria, who was focused on listening, but also looking around as they walked. “You’re welcome. Honestly, I just followed orders. I didn’t even want to fight just because it isn’t my specialty, but Maxwell wanted everyone involved, and I guess it helped. Even though Ornstein ended up having to fight alone when it came down to it. Kind of pathetic when I look back at it, Drazernon was way out of our league and we barely managed to scrape by.” Saria commented with a sigh as they made it to the edge of the forest, in the distance was the remains of what once was Drazernon’s castle, shambles and pieces everywhere. Saria looked at it in awe, as she didn’t really get to see the damage after the fight as they went home almost immediately, and seeing the destruction before he made her stare in shock. “Huh, it’s a little worse then when I was last here. I came to see if there was anything worth keeping and it wasn’t this bad, someone had to have been digging and searching.” Silcia said as she walked towards the castle, Saria looked up to a small hill and saw a stone placed like a grave. Silcia noticed Saria walking towards it. “Woah, that is not where we are going!” Silcia said trying to stop her as Saria moved on ahead still, Silcia groaning to herself as she followed her up, realizing her sister wasn’t going to stop until she got her way. Saria climbed up the small hill slowly and as she approached, it became more and more clear that it was a burial site, with only one grave, and it was completely dug up and vandalized. Silcia finally caught up and gasped seeing that as she went to look, Saria noticing the stone read “Drazernon Xavier Adams, King of the realm, cut down for his own good. A father of many, just not good.” which made Saria examine it more, as Silcia stared into the grave with a distraught look. “Fuck… I hated the guy but… someone would really violate a grave and steal his body, and for what? Hatred, revenge?” Silcia said as she fell to her knees and looked in at the open coffin, Saria realized that despite her anger and hatred, she made her father a place to rest, and someone ruined even that. Saria grunted a bit in frustration as she looked around for even a clue to figure out who did this. “He was evil, but didn’t deserve this. His reign was over, why ruin his resting place when he can’t harm anyone anymore?” Saria asked as she noticed a small piece of paper stuck to the gravestone. She carefully grabbed it. She gently examined it and started reading what was on it. “Assassin, I will be using code names of sorts when giving you guys letters, because there is no certainty these won’t be found and incriminate everyone involved. Your task before getting around to killing your targets is to find the body of Drazernon and retrieve it for me. Once you do, bring it to the place we met and I will do the rest. Do not let yourself get caught and dispose of this letter as soon as your task is complete. The body of this bastard is crucial to our next step and we can’t get far without it. Do not fail me. The noble will be waiting for you at the gates when you get ready to start killing. We will talk again soon. Signed, the demon in the shadows.” Saria read it to Silcia, as Silcia cleaned up the grave a bit just to have some respect still, as she looked over and sighed. “The demon in the shadows? The hell does that mean?” she asked as she looked at the letter in her sisters hand and thought for a second, recognizing the hand writing. “Hmm. I may be crazy but that’s Alucard’s writing I think. I can know for sure when we examine the wreckage and see if anything of his survived, but that looks like the writing of the man who once served us.” Silcia stated as she took the letter for Saria to carry instead, putting it in her bag. Saria nodded and watched her before speaking once more. “Kind of foolish of them to dispose of it at the grave, there was no thought put into this I feel.” She commented as she followed Silcia down the hill once again and towards the castle. From a nearby tree, Mar listened and thought to himself, aloud. “I wonder, if that really is Alucard’s writing, why does he want the dead body of Drazernon? That is just a little weird.” He said but continued to follow the other two silently as he wanted to do some searching of his own in the remains of the castle. The trio soon arrived and noticed there was little left to the imagination by looking at the castle as it was almost entirely destroyed, a couple of stray demons and animals wandering nearby as Silcia watched. “Seems the decay happening more is caused by these things wandering around, but why did they choose here?” She asked curiously as Saria started walking into the rubble, starting to answer her question. “Maybe because of the aura this place gives off? When we fought Drazernon he did transform into this demonic looking beast when he got desperate, so maybe they were pulled here by the lingering energy of his transformation. Just a guess.” Saria stated as Silcia nodded, feeling it was a likely possibility as she followed her in, watching carefully for anything that could potentially collapse above them. Saria walked slowly and cautiously to not attract the attention of the lingering demons around them as they didn’t want a fight unless it was unavoidable. Mar watched from the entryway and grunted a little as the overwhelming aura Saria mentioned was getting to his head as he walked in carefully, heading in another direction from them and looking around, hiding around corners to avoid the creatures, getting a look at a few, they were almost like deformed humans, some limping, some having blood around their body, some were completely unrecognizable, their faces being so messed up. Mar was a bit surprised to see this, considering what they have faced up until now. Mar carefully crept around them, and made sure to watch the floor, somewhat dragging his feet to avoid hitting and stepping on anything due to how dark it was since the sun had set finally. The demons didn’t change much when the night hit, some growled, some started moving their heads around as if surveying the area, like they were on patrol. Mar was a bit uneasy by this as he walked, his heart slightly racing as he peeked around a corner. Inside a room, he gasped and hid behind the corner and listened, as he saw Logan standing by an altar, Drazernon’s body placed beside it as Logan examined the altar. “Interesting, to think someone like Drazernon, a demon king, had a place like this. I wonder why the altar managed to stay intact though, you would think it would fall apart like the rest of the place. Maybe it’s special?” Logan spoke to himself and glanced at the body. “To bad you’re just a soulless shell right now, I’d ask you personally, but it seems you won't be answering any questions, huh?” Logan said as he stared at the body, as if expecting something before he just shrugged, and was about to pick up the body once more, before stopping and looking around, his ear twitching as the wolf gently sniffed the air. “Hmm, that isn’t the scent of a demon. Three people are in the castle. Guess Alucard will have to wait until I can get out of here with the body, but for now, I guess it is time to start hunting those around me, to make my life easier.” He smirked as he took his bow and before Mar knew it, an arrow flew right over his head, barely grazing the hair on his head as he gasped and fell back, moving away. “Heh, think i couldn’t sense you, jackal? Go ahead, run, I enjoy a hunt.” He laughed sadistically as he started walking towards Mar’s location, causing the jackal to quickly run away and unfortunately attract the attention of the demons, that started going into red alert. Saria and Silcia gasped when the demons turned more hostile and started making their way towards the altar, the pair looking at one another in worry as they followed them silently. Mar grunted a bit and leapt up to try and jump through a hole in the roof, from the debris leaving an opening. Logan smirked when he saw that and shot an arrow that struck his left leg, causing Mar to shout in pain and nearly let go before managing to pull himself up and grunting as he kneeled and grabbed the arrow in his leg. He grit his teeth in pain and yanked it out, making him yell in pain as he tried standing and started limping towards an exit, he wasn’t prepared to fight so he didn’t immediately jump to action. Mar looked around for a moment and found a somewhat worn dagger on the floor next to some old cloth, which he figured was better than nothing as he took the worn out cloth, wrapping it around his wounded leg, watching it absorb the blood. “It won’t last long, so I need to hurry up and get out of here before they find me.” He told himself as he held the dagger close and started walking out of the room with a limp, his left leg dragging behind him a bit. Logan chuckled as he slowly walked through the halls, the demons ignoring him as he started his hunt for Mar, Saria and Silcia watching him from the shadows as Silcia growled angrily. “The fuck is this guy?” She asked Saria as she pulled out a staff from her bag, one that was folded over. She undid the security on it and it opened up to be kind of like a bo staff, ready to be used in battle. “I have no clue who he is, but he is clearly a threat, so we need to be cautious.” Saria said and pulled out her knife and carefully wrote a symbol on the blade with her blood, after pricking her finger. “Also, don’t go telling Marz I borrowed one of his weapons. I couldn’t get my sword from my room and this was easier to hide. Got it?” Silcia asked, Saria nodding as she was ready now, standing with her knife ready to fight. The pair walked out and Logan’s ear twitched as he looked around in the dark. “So, the other two have shown themselves. Humans…” He thought before he steadied his gaze. “No, a human and an anthro. I can’t read you weirdly enough.” He said before pulling the bow back after loading an arrow. “Doesn’t matter, this place will be your end, and so I will not have to worry about looks since your time ends now.” He said with certainty before he fired the arrow, Saria quickly dropping to the ground to avoid it as Silcia swung the staff around, in a semi unsafe manner, which caught Logan off guard as he knew he’d need to keep his distance. “Heh, smart, both of you, more than that jackal. Going to need to work harder to win this fight.” He smirked wickedly, as he fired another, which barely grazed the skin on Saria’s arm. “You’re quite interesting to me human, you have a similar presence that Drazernon has, yet you aren’t the same species. Why is that, if you don’t mind sharing?” He chuckled and fired another, as they seemed to be at a slight standstill. Silcia started approaching him, growling in anger. “You, you’re the ‘assassin’ who was sent to defile his grave, weren’t you?!” She shouted as she charged him and swung the staff, smacking him in the side before he realized what was happening, as he gasped and stumbled, swinging his bow to strike her enough to get some space, before being smacked in the chin with the staff as he used the force and momentum to backflip and land away from her, holding his chin and spitting some blood before firing a rapid fire bow at her, almost invisible to the eye as she dove to the side and ran at him, Saria now doing the same as she swung the knife at him, aiming for the head as she barely missed, scratching his cheek as he grunted and elbowed her hard, making her jump a little and grunt as she folded over some and clutched her stomach, as Silcia charged and swung the staff once more, a bit more forceful as Logan yelled and went flying into the nearby bookcase as he shook his head and stood to catch his bearings once more. “Damn you two are annoying.” He said as he pulled out a dagger and threw it as Saria, striking her shoulder as she grunted, gripping it in pain as the wound started to bleed, as she dropped her knife. Silcia gasped “Saria!” She shouted before she charged at Logan once again, who managed to leap up and land on a chandelier, and aim. He grunted as the chandelier swung but he took his shoot and struck Silcia in the right arm, before smirking. “A hunter never misses his mark.” He said as he readied another shot directed at Saria, before a voice echoed out. “You may never miss a mark, but you sure as hell suck at killing your mark.” As a dagger flew by and hit Logan in the stomach, causing him to grunt and fall back, falling from the chandelier and hitting the ground hard, as Mar walked out from a doorway and rushed to Saria. “Are you okay?” He asked, as he removed the knife and used a new cloth he managed to find on her wound, wrapping it into place. “Of course I’m fine, but what are you doing here?” Saria asked, realizing it was Mar standing before her. “Dad is gonna know you’re gone and freak out.” She stated as Mar winced, but shook his head. “And what about you, if both of his daughters are missing he might go hysteric?” Mar said as Logan groaned and got up, Silcia getting ready to attack again, her demeanor changing as she wiped some blood off her lip, having licked the wound a little from her right arm, and smirked wickedly. “You might not know this, but you’ve awakened something you don’t want to see.” She said before snapping the staff in half and charging at Logan, who watched in wide eyed shock as he quickly blocked her attacks and noticed that snapping the staff caused her to now have two sharp edged weapons, which wasn’t good for him as he kept blocking and avoiding the sharp edges. “Heh, this is more like it. I didn’t think you of all people could turn into a blood lusting person if you tasted blood, I am going to have to remember this.” He laughed and kept blocking and took a few swings of another dagger whenever he got an opening, the duo at a constant stand still as Mar watched, helping Saria as she groaned. Saria gently pushed Mar. “Help her, I will be alright. If she fails he will take us all out one by one.” She said, getting a nod from Mar as he gently helped her sit and then ran at Logan, throwing a quick punch at him, watching as he managed to catch his hand and smirk as he twisted it around and threw him at Silcia, making the two grunt as they fell to the ground, Mar landing atop Silcia as Logan backpedalled, looking around before realizing he was in a doorway, and smirking as he quickly spun around and kicked high, knocking a stone loose in the frame as it collapsed between them, separating them from him. “Wish I could stay, really I do. But I have a job to do, and that body ain’t gonna deliver itself. Next time we meet though, I will make sure to kill each and every one of you.” Logan smirked, as Silcia growled and lunged at the pile of rubble that blocked the doorway. “Get back here you piece of SHIT! We aren’t done with you!” She shouted, before Mar gently grabbed her arm and pulled her back, causing her to fall to her knee and groan in pain. “Damn, why did it have to wear off now?” She asked and wiped her face clean of the sweat and blood, slowly coming down as she looked at Saria, suddenly very gentle as she tried to help her stand. “You okay?” She asked, Saria breathing heavily but smiling at the help as she nodded, grateful for Silcia being there. “Yes, I am. Thank you.” She said as Mar looked around, gently feeling the walls. “Guys, we should get out of here, it seems none of us found what we really wanted. We should go home before Maxwell pulls his fur out in worry when three of his siblings are missing.” Mar said as he led them through the dark, Silcia grunting a little as she was tired from the fight. “Shit, after all of that we didn’t even find what we wanted. Thankfully I have the note still, but without anything to cross reference, there is no telling if this is really Alucard’s note or not. But at least we know who the assassin is, but we barely got a good look at him.” She pointed out due to the darkness of the room. “Oh, I did, I saw what he looked like. I can mostly see in the dark minus a few specific situations. But for now let’s just get home and not worry about that.” He said as he limped ahead of them, the trio making their way out of the castle, thankfully undetected. Logan panted and chuckled as he returned to the body, seeing Alucard there waiting for him. “Get distracted by some pests Logan?” He asked curiously, a bit annoyed as he found Drazernon’s body lying on the floor. “I managed to do some work in one of the in between cities, and I find you here chasing unnecessary prey, explain yourself.” “Drax’s kids, all three of them. A jackal, a human, and one I couldn’t properly identify. One shared a presence that Drazernon did, so I know they’re related. I figured it better to wipe out some of the enemy forces, but wasn’t expecting them to easily overcome a fight. They’re still inexperienced I think.” He made a guess, as Alucard turned and looked him dead in the eye, knowing who he meant. “Silcia. She was the human I believe, if she shared an aura with Drazernon. She is not inexperienced, she was a general in Drazernon’s army, seems you’re just barely stronger than she is, but we need to keep it that way.” Alucard said with a familiar, cold voice, one that sent a shiver down most spines, but Logan just smirked and retrieved the body. “So, what’s your deal with Drazernon, you a former servant, family member?” He asked, as he started walking, Alucard glaring as he passed, speaking harsher than normal. “Just a man who wants revenge on this bastard for getting me killed. I will explain soon enough.” He said as he let Logan leave, before walking through a portal and heading out once more, to their meeting spot. - After some training, and being informed by Maxwell they would remain on standby for the time, Lynx made his way out of the training hall and started walking towards his father's chamber, having something he wished to discuss with the man, the yellow furred panther sighing as he coughed a little once again. “Standby? Why would we wait for something like this? If we have a lead we should take it. Especially since they know Silcia was leaving town with such a strange person. His Majesty must really be onto something, or just utterly foolish to believe it is fine to wait for this.” Lynx said as he approached the door to his father's chamber and knocked, hearing some movement from his father's room as the door swung open. Out walked Raigh, annoyed as he glanced at the kid before just walking off, Lynx walking in seeing his father writing on a piece of paper in frustration. “Quite the nerve of that Raigh, acting all high mighty all because he is the king’s advisor. I am not crazy for suggesting we wait.” Verius said as he noticed his son and smiled. “Ah, Lynx, Hello my son, what brings you by?” He asked as he turned his chair around and looked to the younger panther, Lynx now looking curiously at his father, before sighing. “Well, I was going to ask about your thoughts on King Drax telling us to standby instead of pursuing Silcia, but give what you were just muttering, it was your idea to begin with.” Lynx said as he wasn’t on board with the idea as he watched his dad, Verius giving a sigh seeing as his own son didn’t want to go along with the idea as well which was annoying to him but he figured he could at least work things out with his son. “Listen son, I know that all of you wish to rush into battle or want to figure out what this new demonic enemy is all about, but you need to take into account a few things, the big one being, you are our kids, you are my son, and maxwell and the others are Drax’s kids. Yes, we have a duty to protect the people around us, but we don’t want to do something that risks our kids lives, especially since this new demon has powers we have yet to see or understand. You get that right?” Verius asked gently as he watched his son gaze to the side a little bit as he thought, he was hearing what his father was saying but sighed softly, before coughing slightly and looking at him. “You guys want to protect us, but you know the only people who can protect the people of this kingdom are us, because we’ve already faced demons, and an army or two. What you guys are doing isn’t protecting anyone, it’s being cowardly.” Lynx said in anger, clenching his fist a bit as he looked at his father. “If you guys really cared about our safety, you wouldn’t have sent us to face Drazernon, but you did.” Lynx said in anger as he turned and started to leave, Verius standing to stop him. “Lynx!” He said in surprise while his son just angrily left the room in a hurry, Verius following after him. They didn’t get far before Verius stopped and saw Lynx coughing and hunched over on the ground in pain, a little blood coming from his mouth as Verius knelt near him. “Lynx? What’s going on?” He asked as Lynx tried to push away, his emotions and thoughts clouding what he was doing, But Verius held him close as he stood up, holding his son who was groaning weakly as he was rushed to the medical ward. Nomad was there tending to the patients, one of which being Leblanc who was still recovering but seemed to be almost fully back to her full health after her fight with Inferno. They looked over seeing Verius rushing in in a panic, Nomad noticing Lynx and hurrying over to take the boy. “What is going on?” She asked as Verius looked in panic at his son. “I don’t know, he was coughing some in my room, then he ran out and I found him hunched over and in pain. I have no idea why he is coughing out blood. Can you figure it out?” He asked his closest friend, as the feline nodded and started to place Lynx in a medical bed and started having the nurses do what they could, Verius looking on in worry. Melody walked in hearing the commotion and saw Verius’s look, walking over to him, gently getting his attention. “Hey, why don’t we go and take a rest elsewhere while they help him, don’t want you to have a panic attack before he gets better.” She said gently, motioning out of the room, which didn’t really help him relax, but he nodded and followed still, just to get his mind off what just happened, following Melody out and back to the main area of the castle, into the dining hall. He noticed she seemed to have gotten familiar with the area with her time here. “Take a seat and I will be right back.” She told him gently, walking towards the kitchen as he took a seat at the table, looking around as he tried to keep himself calm. After what felt like forever, Melody soon returned with a couple of cups and a teapot, smiling gently as she served him a cup, sitting across him gently and taking her own cup. “So you’re Verius correct?” She smiled at him, watching him gently nod as he took a sniff of the tea to get the smell, sighing softly as he liked the smell, taking a gentle sip from the cup as she watched. “My name is Melody, you know me as Leblanc’s ally, but I have been working to get a good name with the rest of the castle since we are a part of the army now. What about you and your son, why don’t you tell me about yourself?” She asked him, which got a surprised look from Verius, as he set his cup down and looked. “Well, myself and Lynx, my son, are family friends, I am a duke actually. I was a childhood friend of Nomad’s, known her since we were little, and Drax a little after that. I was originally planning to become the head knight of the kingdom, but that was taken by Duke Arakazu, the father of the current head knight, Ornstein Arakazu, you’ve probably seen him. I trained hard to give the duke a run for his money, but at every step, he was always better. Nomad still wanted me around, so she offered me the title of duke, to watch over a nearby city, which unfortunately has since been destroyed by demons presumably summoned by Drazernon. Thanks to that, my son and I live here now.” He said, giving a little backstory about himself, Melody listening well with a smile. “Oh, well that is quite the story, I can tell you are a skilled fighter since Lynx quite clearly learned that from someone. But Duke Arakazu must have been something special to be that good. What ever happened to him? I noticed Ornstein never really talks about his family.” She inquired curiously, as Verius gave a heavy sigh, sadly looking down. “When Ornstein was a little boy, about four or five, Duke Arakazu was called to take a mission, clear out a bandit camp. These bandits weren’t your ordinary bandits though. That day, Queen Nomad learned that Duke Arakazu had two sons, and the elder son…” Verius sighed softly as he looked at his cup and took another drink, before Melody refilled it for him. After another drink he sighed and looked at her. “The elder son was the leader of the bandits, and he was quite skilled in magic. Duke Arakazu… Went alone to face Jericho, his son. Ornstein wasn’t any wiser at the time, but a week later, he still hadn’t returned, and we received a mysterious note, addressed to Ornstein from Jericho, one we never showed him. Jericho killed his father, without remorse.” Verius said gently, thinking back to that day. “When Ornstein got older we told him, when he finally took his father's role as a head knight. He still doesn’t know of the letter, or of his brother's name, he just knows he has one, and he swore revenge on his brother.” Verius said as he finally finished his second cup of tea, sitting back. “A family torn apart by difference in view, a person cut down so soon. Poor Ornstein, he’s such a sweet guy, having to grow up without a father. What of his mother?” Melody asked as Verius thought, realizing he never did touch on that, before looking at her once more. “His mother was never known. Duke Arakazu was very secretive on the matter but what we do know is she ditched them a few days after Ornstein was born, leaving the boy with his father. The fact he manages to smile through everything his life has been, Ornstein really is a good kid, and one someone can learn from. That’s why I didn’t want to send out kids against that demon, I don’t want to be like Duke Arakazu, and lose one son to a difference of view, but I also don’t want Lynx to either survive and I die, or vice versa. I don’t want people to suffer that type of fate, and if I could have, Ornstein would’ve been saved to.” He said, as if blaming himself for everything up until now, which Melody noticed and spoke softly. “This isn’t your fault. You’re a father, so you want what is best for your son. I personally agree with the standby order, we don’t know anything about that demon people keep talking about, so why risk it when we barely have any information?” She asked, as Verius nodded in understanding, the two seemingly coming to an understanding, and a mutual respect. “I think we will get along just fine Verius.” Melody smiled warmly, she had more questions, but for now she wanted to leave it at that, the two spent the time finishing the rest of the tea off, making small friendly talk.