Dublin, Ireland

The Kishin's Death Scythe Alphonse RavenClaw

Alphonse fell to his knees. His eyes wide and shaking. Sweat dripped from his body and suddenly he was overwhelmed by a burst of emotions that had been shrouded in the mist of madness that coated his soul for so long. The crimson in his eyes drained away turning to a darker less potent red. The color of dried blood. He looked up at Hadrian. A single tear fell from his cheek and dampened the ground beneath him.

Then it started to come up. Down from his belly, his truest intentions in their most purest form rose through his throat as he shouted the words with wild conviction of someone with something to protect. "I want to save him!"

Alphonse rose from where he kneeled. His charismatic expression wiped away by the face of an innocent boy standing up to a tyrant. Like David and Goliath. He regained his composure. "He wanted me to convince you to engage the world. So, that your power...war drive would mix with the madness and compel people to engage in more chaos. He predicted that it would combine and create a new level of madness that he could use for his Ascension." Alphonse paused then began to speak again. "But he doesn't understand your power. This feeling...is the exact opposite of the madness wavelength." He reached out to accept the ball of light in Hadrian's palm. He held and gazed at it grudgingly. "It can destroy him."

Alphonse bowed his head. "Lord Hadrian, lesser god of War, bestow upon me your power. In exchange, I'll give you my life."

Eden snorted "Hadrian is no lesser god ya dingbat." Cut short by a cough by Osmond she curtsied as well as she could in jeans. Her hands started to itch, and she rubbed them on her thighs to suppress the itching. As she hunched her shoulders she felt one of gashes she'd gotten training with the twins crack open. Grumbling about ruined silk she reached into her mind and found no madness, and swore softly. She felt the sticky blood start to clot her shirt to her back and inwardly swore at herself for letting all of her madness go when she hadn't realized she still needed some to fuel her healing. Trying to hide her actions she tugged at the back hem of her shirt, trying to dislodge the silk from the wound so it could heal without the fabric while frantically searching her mental plane for a drop of madness to speed the healing, or at least cause it to scab over. The more she felt the warmth of her blood oozing down her back she more she itched, and the more she itched the more she fidgeted, and the more she fidgeted the bigger the split got. She mentally kicked herself for going with out a bandage, but vanity had won out because the bandage would have shown through the shirt, and she'd assumed that she'd keep her madness stores, and glumly looked at her boot and the smudge of black madness on the toe.

Eden quickly raises her hand in the air "I call the Yogi!" Walking over to Jvala and preforming the wai perfectly and bowing to the proper height. She quickly rattles off her greeting to him in fluent Hindi "मुझे में ईश्वर के स्वागत में आप ईश्वर की भावना के साथ करता है मुझे इसी भावना के साथ आप. मेरा नाम है' लाॅडर्स" "Namaste. The God in me greets the God in you, The Spirit in me meets the same Spirit in you. My name is Eden" She turns and smiles wide at Hadrian, only to see him frown and point to the other one. Eden feels the pit of her stomach drop. "No? That one?" Pointing to Craneo she gulps and sighs. She walks to the foot of Hadiran's throne and hugs both of the twins a quick good bye and walks over to Craneo and stares up at him, and smiles winningly up at him. "My name is Eden. Its nice to meet you."

The Kishin's Death Scythe Alphonse Ravenclaw

Alphonse watched with a blank expression and somber eyes as she moved into place before the larger being. His foot steps were mere taps as he walked over towards the other thinner being. His eyes started at Jvala's feet and rose meeting his eyes. He showed no signs of intimidation, but aura of new found resolution filled his form. Alphonse threw a fist across his chest. Showing respect the way they did in his country. As he returned the fist to his side, that very arm burst in blazing embers transforming into a long crimson curved blade. "Now, grovel at my feet."

Eden covered her eyes with her hand "Oh Gods Alphonse. You're such an idiot." Turning from Craneo, she walks over to him and smacks him on the back of the head with enough force to tip him over. "Respect you dingbat, he isn't going to grovel, he's already dead. A SERVANT of the God you're trying to impress. RESPECT him. God you're such a loser." Bowing to Jvala "I'm sorry. He just doesn't know any better. Please don't kill him....yet....."

Turning she returns to Craneo and gazes up at him, "I don't like you......you're creepy"

The Kishin's DeathScythe Alphonse Ravenclaw

Alphonse facial expression wasn't disturbed when he was hit. Once Eden was back in place, he lifted his scythe arm and swung it creating a small gust of wind that blew her skirt up revealing her panties. "Peppermint pattern." He folded his arms. "You know striped make your body look wider." He spat without looking at her. Then straightened his back looked his opponent in the eyes. "Now, Vanish."

Hadrian leaned back in his chair as he watched the four interact with a strange smile, "I see, this should be fun. Enough talk. Shepherd, in order to prove your worth as my envoy, I must also test you along with this newcomer. Depending on how you fair against your opponent, I will determine your right to remain with the Hounds. So then, the opponents have been set. Hounds, I believe it is time to begin the warsong," With that the twins vanished from their master's side and appeared in a higher level of the cave, standing behind two large drums, holding sticks with strange carvings along them. With his servants in place, Hadrian smiled again as he turned back to see the pairs face one another, "now then... begin!" With the call, the twins began playing an intense melody that would fill each warrior with a sense of dread and excitement as the rhythm flowed through their bodies down to their very cores.

Craneo looked to the young girl with a grin as he licked his chops with a hungry stare, "Funny, I like you. I think you look absolutely delicious!" The large man cocked his head from one side to the other, causing his neck to crack loudly. As he popped his neck, Craneo would pop the metal skull gloves in the same manner, causing them to make a similar sound as the main neck. As Craneo finished popping and getting loose, he would lean down to be eye to eye with his opponent as the sound of the drums resonated throughout the cavern, "Well then, I think it's dinnertime!" As he shouted the last word, Craneo's forehead would make heavy contact with Eden's, spreading a sickening crack over the music of Hadrian's personal guard.

Meanwhile, Jvala would be apraising his opponent with a kind yet mocking smirk as he listened to his opponent speak, "You speak to your opponents and your competitors with such disrespect. I do not intend to fight you, I am indeed bound by my vows to never kill another living thing." After seeing the seriousness in his opponents face and the confident manner in which he spoke, Jvala stroked his beard in contemplation, "Vanish? I think that is a prime idea," with that the old man snapped his fingers as he took one step towards his opponent. With the sound of the snap and the single step, Jvala, Eden, the cave, everything faded from Alphonse's sight, and yet everything could still be heard. Jvala stood perfectly still as he observed his opponent, "You see, you carry yourself as though you are the master of this territory, but I am here to teach you that in this world, this cave, nay this very perimeter of my choosing, you are subject to the whims of others. Did you not find it strange that a pacifist would be called into the service of a wargod?" Jvala smiled as he took a deep breath, and with the sound of the fading exhale, the world fell silent upon Alphonse's deafened ears. The old man lowered onto his haunches as he observed his opponent, waiting to see what would be the next move.

The Kishin's Death Scythe Alphonse RavenClaw

"So, you're not even going to try and kill me, huh?" Alphonse replied obnoxiously. "Well, this has lost a little of its flare." He stood still his eyes tracing the darkness from one end to the next. Alphonse tried to calculate was Jvala was trying to achieve by plunging him into the cage of nothing. Was he trying to break Alphonse? Cause him to drop to his knees and beg for the world back? That wouldn't happen. If there was anything Alphonse had become close with it was...isolation.

Over half a year ago when Alphonse was first chained up in the dungeons of Aro von Friedhof's stone laboratory, he'd spent days on end trapped in a cold rom void of light. His chains would only allow to travel a couple of inches away from the wall. The only light he received was when Ravel Leen would enter the room to shove souls down his throat behind her was the malicious glow emanating from Aro von Friedhof's eyes. It was like that for days until the time when his very on mental stability finally...

....snapped.

Aro and his band of witches departed from the laboratory on a concourse to conquer Laviatria. They were gone for weeks without a word. Alone he sat broken, waiting for the day the dungeon door would swing open and the devil's eyes would smile back at him mockingly. Though that day never seemed like it would come. Without a window to the outside world to signal each days beginning and another's end. He began to count the endless seconds which turned into minutes which stretched into hours which he became lost in. His body so deprived of nutrients, lacked the energy to move. He would sit slumped against the wall. His unkempt hair hung over his filthy face. When he finally became unconscious he didn't even notice. The darkness was all the same to him by that point.

"Is this the best a pacifist has to offer an offspring of darkness? You," he spoke his next words with absolution. "...can not break me!" He crossed his arms, both palms wide open in opposite directions. "Soul Menace:" He uncrossed his arms in a single swift motion. "Edge of Darkness!" A multitude of black boxes would appear all around Alphonse in a 3 meter radius. He couldn't see Jvala, but Alphonse was still aware of his feet on solid ground. He prayed that they were still in the cave and that he'd caught the pacifist in one of his cages. Alphonse's hands continued to dance summoning more boxes. Then finally he decided to do it. He reached an open palm out and said "Extinguish", he closed his palm. Each of the cages would explodes in burst of flames, leaving nothing...but thin slivers of smoke.

Jvala smiled as Alphonse spoke, "Well then, you think I am here to break you? Now why would I want to do something as savage as that? No no, I am here to teach you a few lessons. I am your test, Craneo is hers, learn well." Jvala's words would echoe in the young man's head, piercing the silence with the kind voice. As the young man threw the dark boxes, Jvalla would fall to the ground, laying flat in order to dodge the blind assault. As the boxes exploded the old man couldn't help but laugh as he looked down his body at his opponent, "Blind assaults are only good for the religious, they pray more often. As he spoke, Jvalla would roll to his feet and carefully walk to the young man, moving as new boxes appeared, "How about we stop the wild shots shall we? It does you no good to waste energy if you do not know how to detect your opponent. Next Step," Jvalla's right index finger would touch Alphonse's forehead, bringing on a stinging sensation throughout the young man's body, "Weakness of the Starving Soldier. Feel the loss that all who have been robbed of their being in war." As the man's voice faded from Alphonse's mind, his body would erupt in a searing pain, his stomach felt as though it had been gashed open and sucked empty of all things. His throat was dry and raw. The very weight of his body on his feet would feel too great a burden to continue.

Jvalla looked into the boy's face for his reaction, and then sighed once more, "And now, the final stage, Breaking the bond to the world you know. Black Nirvanna...." The old man's voice felt hollow now in Alphonse's head as the pain subsided, but no other feeling returned. Alphonse would be aware of only himself, locked within his body without any movement. No sight, no sound, no feeling, only nothingness. Jvalla would slowly catch Alphonse as his body fell limp into his arms, and lower him to the ground. Jvalla would lean to the young man and place his hand on the young man's forehead, "This is the ending result of the Path of the Kishin. Take this time to sense yourself, your convictions. Destruction untill there is nothing left but yourself. Take in this sensation, and ask yourself if this is how you wish to exist. If you cannot come to terms with this feeling, you will die here. If you manage to acknowledge your fate on your current path, you will continue to live and I will free you." The old man's voice was soft as he sat cross-legged next to the boy.

Meanwhile, Hadrian looked to Jvalla with a slight smirk, "Do you feel he will become aware, old friend?" With that Jvalla looked to the giant with a grave face, "I am afraid I cannot answer that for you Lord Hadrian. That is something only he can answer." As he spoke, Jvalla would nod to the comotose body next to him.

Eden's head spun as Craneo's head connected with hers, blinking back confusion she skipped out of range and over to the weapons wall, grabbing two scimitars she swung them around in lazy arcs, getting the weight of them right, and watched her opponent, waiting for him to strike again. Craneo grinned as he watched his opponent arm herself, "Well now, the prey looks to defend itself. Good good, that just means the fight will be that much more fun and more rewarding in the end when I consume you." As he spoke, the skull gloves would lock their faces on Eden and shift from side to side as a cobra would move while watching a snake charmer.

"I'm no one's prey. And I'm no one's food. I'm just here to protect what's precious to me." Edens eyes searched Craneo's face, and slowly started to circle him about a body and a half length away, waiting for the proper moment to strike, an opening. She could feel her inner self draining away, leaving a peaceful white noise. She liked the white noise, when she fought the twins she got the white noise so she didnt have to worry about hurting them, though she seriously doubted anyone would spill a tear if she hurt Craneo.

Craneo slipped out a grooked grin at the girl's words and chuckled, "Oh how unaware you are of the situation you're in. I fully plan on taking you, flesh, bone, and soul untill your strength becomes part of my own. I don't know why you're so worried about me eating you, you've been in the jowels of something far worse than me already and you probably didn't even know it. Now let us begin," At these words Craneo dashed forward swinging a wild right hook. Eden silently, and deliberately stepped out of the way, dodging his wild attack with ease. "Don't bore me with your idle threats and idiotic theories" As his arm extended Eden saw a flash of flesh and plunged her scimitar into the exposed flesh of his arm and cut through to the bone. Ripping to blade back out she danced out of reach again.

Craneo grinned as he felt the blade strike home, "Oh really? What if I were to tell you your precious Death sees you as nothing more than a building of his strength? At least I give you enough respect to tell you I am devouring you instead of lying to you and telling you it is to preserve some silly ideal of good and evil. HAHAHAHAHAA!" The cackling man dashed again towards her, delivering a rather hard rabbit punch to her knuckle to knock one of the blades out of her hands, "Trust me little appetizer, I'm a noble one compared to your dear Lord Death and his machinations. Even something as base as I can see his tyranny." As he spoke, Craneo's face would draw near to Edens where she could see the truth in his words. Eden smiled sadly up at Craneo "I don't care if he uses me or not. I don't care if i'm protecting his ideal. Because of him I have a purpose, a place to be weird, and two friends. I don't care if i'm a pawn, a building block for his tyranny, I belong and fit in. I'm fine with that" As his face drew closer Eden thrust upwards and sunk the scimatar up through his jaw and into his skull, using all her stregnth she twisted the blade and snapped it off.

Craneo grinned as his eyes rolled back into his head, the two skull gloves lifted his hands to the same height as his head and began swaying in place as they gazed into Eden's eyes, "He is right you know, Death intends to betray you." One skull spoke and retreated slightly for the other to sidle near her ear in a calm manner, "It was not Death that brought you and the Hounds together," With that it leaned in to whisper in her ear, "that was Lord Hadrian." The heads would continue this exchange of speaking head from one to the other as they conversed, "Hadrian intends to end the tyranny, to bring about true balance in the world and place the power in the hands of the masses." "Hadrian looks to give power to the powerless, something that Death only gives in empty promises."

Eden watched the heads with a raised eyebrow and backed up to the wall and replaced her broken and missing scimitars with a shield and a short sword. "I don't really care who brought us together. I'm here to help them out. Death is inevitable, like paying taxes. Everyone dies. its the cycle of life. If i can help move it along, all the happier I am. Even Hadrian, the god of War, knows it all ends with Death. Balance is only possible in an Utopia, and I'm not one for peace myself"

The skulls let out a simultaneous hissing chuckle, "Is that the lie that Death has everyone believe? My dear, look at usssss....We live outsssssiide of Death'sssss clutchesssss." "In ancient timessssss, Heroesss were granted immortality through the memoriesssss of thosssse around them. We merely offer you the ssssame chance we were, to sssseee falssse godsss fall and Truth reign assss it shhhhould alwaysss have." Eden touched her chin, and looked thoughtful "No one dies in memory, true. But those who are forgotten...." shrugs "I'd rather die peacefully, and stay dead than be at the beck and call of someone else." The skulls nodded, "Truly sssspoken young one, but no matter what sssside you placcce yourself, you will be ssssomeone'sss ssservant. Hadrian alowssss you to act on your own accord. You ssssay you'd rather die peacccefully, but we have ssssseeeen the othersssssiiiide, it isssss nothing that one would hope for."

Eden smiled coolly "If Hadrian wanted to speak with me, he should speak himself instead of using hand puppets. On the subject of death, you dont know what I hope for, so I'll ignore that" The skulls replied "Hadrian sssspeaks of hisss own accord. We are but the guardiansss of hissss word. Now, Recccceive our gift to you!" With that, the two skulls converged on Eden's forehead, driving in a point of light into the center of her skull. Upon impact, the light would spread throughout her mind, a sense of warmth would fill in the gaps left behind by the madness. Within her mind would sit the War-god as a goat anthromorph. His horns were dressed in gold, his fur appearing pure white. The shining creature leaned in to look into her eyes with his burning ruby orbs, "You wished to speak with me, well then, here we are. Ask your questions, the time is now to ask." The creature's voice was soft and calming as it addressed her. Eden gazed at the glowing figure nonplussed "I'm here for the twins, I dont really have any questions, besides will they stop freaking out now? I thought you were a sheep by the way. Am I their Shepard now?"

The being leaned backwards, sitting within a concentration of the whiteness around them, "You will be the Shepherd if you choose to be. It is the route of the Mercenary to choose something simply because others want you to. I look to avoid this concept of forcing anyone to do things for my cause, the twins have chosen their path. The only one who can determine your path is you." Eden heaved a shrug "I dont really care what side I'm on, as long as I have the twins with me. I'll be your Shepherd. One side is as good as the other I guess." The creature smiled as it stood, "That's the ticket," With that the creature shifted into a man with long hair and a scruffy beard dressed in old robes carrying a pure white shepherd's crook, "I believe this belongs to you now. As does this," As the being spoke, his soft hand reached behind Eden's head and pulled forward over the air, creating a white hood that shaded over her eyes, "I will not force you to take on all the powers and responsibilities of your position just yet, I will hold on to this until the time is right. Now then, let us return, I'm sure the twins' arms are tired from playing those drums eh?" The wargod's demeanor had shifted since his entrance into Eden's mind. This being was a mix of the War-god and the original Shepherd. As the man winked and turned to walk away, Eden's vision would return and she would be standing before Craneo who smiled with folded arms and a look of mild approval. The blade she had driven into him had faded and the gash across his arm looked as if it had never been there.

Nodding slightly to Craneo, she skips over to the twins, pulling them away from the drums and hugging them to her. "Y'all ready to go?"

The Kishin's Death Scythe Alphonse Ravenclaw

Alphonse sat up off the floor as strength resurged through his body. He no longer felt sluggish and fatigued. He no longer had the starving hunger of soldier stranded by war. He was no longer in purgatory. He'd accomplished his task. Or at least that's what was suggested by his sudden return to life. He saw the annoying girl embrace Hadrian's twin dogs. Did she complete her task already? He suddenly became irritated with the thought that she'd finished before him. He looked up at Hadrian and Jvala. "Am I done?"

The Kishin's Death Scythe Alphonse Ravenclaw

Outside Alphonse looked his new 'comrades' over. Though thats what they were supposed to be he didn't plan on being too close to him, but he realized something was in the palm of his hand. He lifted it up and opened it. Sitting in it was a leaf shaped stoned with an emerald encrusted at the center. "The emblem of nature." Alphonse didn't understand exactly what this meant. Had Hadrian given this to him as part of their deal? Alphonse's wings burst from his back. no longer demon like, but sleek and black feathers. He took a last look at the DWMA students and without saying a word, he took off.

Eden hugged her boys to her and glared after the raven. Looking over at the snickering Desmond "What?" "Eden my dear, when we lived in New Orleans we used to do a bit of 'slight of hand' on occasion...what he has there in his hand is a fake emblem. If Hadrian had something like that in his possession I'm pretty sure he would have entrusted it to our family, or just destroyed it completely out of boredom. I'm glad he took the bait though. Very glad he didn't notice it when I slipped it in his pocket." Eden suppressed a satisfied grin and bonked him lightly on the head "bad puppy bad....no cookie for you." Osmond and Desmond let out barks of laughter and the three of them walked arm in arm laughing back up to the house where the twins family was waiting, and their real mission was about to begin.

The twins smiled as they walked back up he mountain with their meister, "Ya know Eden," Desmond said with a smile, "I'm suprized, I didn't think it would take that long to be honest. Feels like forever." The twins continued on, walking up the final stairs, finding Jonas making his way up the stairs himself. Osmond looked confused as the old man turned back with a look of shock, "Grandah, why are you just now going back to the house?"

The old man stepped back, bracing himself against the cliffside, "Boys! Eden! What happened? You were just going in and now you're out? Bah, what am I saying, I'm just glad you three are safe." With that he pulled the three in for a warm embrace. Leaving the embrace, Jonas looked back at the three with a bright smile, "I'm not going to lie, I was worried you four wouldn't come back alive. Speaking of which," The old man looked behind the three, "Where exactly did that other fella go? The little vampire lad?"

Osmond smiled and waved away the question, "I wouldn't worry about him, he's on our side, though we have alot to discuss back home and unfortunately not alot of time to really discuss all of it. Shall we go back and see the folks? I don't know about you two, but I'm starving!" The twins began laughing as they heard their stomachs growl ferociously, "Des, it looks like you could go for the same eh? How about you Eden?" With that the four made their way up, Jonas looking back every now and again, "And Eden, while you three are here, I can teach you some of the techniques passed down from our family, I know you may have learned some of the basics, but I have a few more things to teach you three before you're done."

As the four made their way to the top of the mountain, they were greeted with the sight of all the rams, from the oldest to the youngest, staring at them, creating a feel of awe as the rams stared in respect of the new arrivals.