Kent sat down in his forge. The coals were cold and Kent had nothing to make. Instead he focused on a desk in front of him, with his holy book open and a page next to it filled with footnotes and scribbles of anything to do with damnation and redemption. He didn't know if it was getting worse, but it sure felt like it. 'Don't you ever get tired, Hunter?' Kent scoffed, "Not as often as you'd think."

Lucass paused for a second as he stopped just before entering Kent's forge. Who was he talking to..? Perhaps Kent's just had a long day. Lucass shook his head slightly as he stepped inside. "Hey..Kent? I was wondering if I could talk to you about something..really, I should be talking to Oboyo about this but he seems to be in a meeting with our allies right now."

Kent immediately turned the paper on his desk over to its blank side and closed his book before turning around. He recognized Lucass's voice easily. "I'm generally not anywhere close to a higher up in this place, but I can hear you out." Kent picked up his book and put it back into its pouch. "What do you need?"

Lucass nodded lightly and stepped closer so he wouldn't have to speak so loudly. "Well..doing what I do, I see everyone come and go all day. I've reached a point where I even know some people's patterns. And one of those people have formed an unusual one lately..and I'm a little worried about her."

Kent noticed Lucass wanting to speak quiter and raised an eyebrow. It seemed like something he didn't want too many people to know. "Alright, I hear ya so far... and what? You want me to go spy on them or something?" He shook his head. "I've never really been known for my... subtlety."

Lucass shook his head. "No, no..it's nothing like that. It's Lym. She's been going out late at night and returning just before sunrise. On top of that, the streets of Shrike aren't very safe at night and..well..she's a girl. Her order doesn't train people to fight..then again, she and Lionel never knew anything ABOUT their order. I tried to go after her the first time, but she ignored me and kept going."

Lucass paused to take a breath and to think back to the evening it started. "She seemed to be going towards the robotics district, and this was three nights ago. I'm sure she's just found some way to cope with what's happened, but..it's dangerous for her out there alone. I was wondering if you could see if she goes again tonight and keep her safe? Maybe talk some sense into her, since she didn't listen to me."

As soon as he heard 'robotics district' Kent seemed to freeze up. He had more than enough memories of exactly what happened there with Lym and Lionel. Lucass didn't need to say any more to convince Kent that he should go with her. "I already failed her once, Lucass," Kent said, "I won't let her get hurt anymore. I'll go with her tonight, don't worry."

Lucass' concerned facial expression changed at Kent's agreement to follow Lym and keep her safe. "Thanks Kent. She usually leaves around eleven. I've got to get back to my duties, so I guess I'll see you later." The boy proceeded towards the forge's entrance before turning back around to add one more thing. "Oh, by the way..thanks for keeping my secret from Kimen. But I guess I've got to spill the beans at some point..that I.." Lucass stopped to swallow some spit.
"..am 316. I mean, at least eight people know about it. Kimen will find out about it sooner or later. I just want to be the one to say it."

Kent was a little caught off guard by what Lucass said. Less of that he wasn't expecting a thank you, but more that he didn't even know it was a secret in the first place. Luckily he hadn't mentioned it to Kimen beforehand. "Uhh... Yeah. No problem, Lucass. You're welcome." He gave off an almost sincere smile before going back to his things. He needed to probably find a place to put his notes while he left the forge alone.

Some time later...

Right on cue, Lucass watched as Lym walked out of the western hallway and out of the manor's main entrance. He almost wanted to go after her, but the matter was in Kent's hands now. He pitied any thug on the streets who would dare to mug him.

Kent was waiting out by the main gate to the manor as he saw the doors open. He smiled. Right on schedual. He waited for Lym to get closer before he spoke. "Something up, Lym? A few people have noticed you going out by yourself and I was wondering if you needed some company."

Lym continued on past Kent, softly whispering "No." without even facing him. With that, she picked up her pace and started to run out the front gate in the direction of the robotics district.

"I'm afraid you misunderstood the question. I'm accompanying you." Kent pulled up his hood and followed after her. He kept a decent distance, but he never let her get out of sight. Enough distance to be polite at least, as polite as you can be when you were told to not do exactly what you were doing.

One would expect the girl to turn around and scream at Kent to go away, but she continued on as if unaware that he was even following her. Eventually, she arrived just outside of Nakajima Robotics. Of course, the business would be closed at that time of night and robot guards would be on patrol nearby..but something was different. No patrols anywhere and the building itself seemed to be somewhat luminescent. Lym had no trouble walking up to the front door and letting herself in.

Kent was needless to say confused at Lym's actions of entering the abandoned building, but followed anyway. If it was abandoned it was that way for a reason. Kent picked up the pace as he followed her inside. He knew that while he wanted to keep some distance, inside the factory if he tried to do that he'd lose sight of her rather quickly.

Kent would find that, rather than the clean and orderly interior that one would expect to see out of the business, the building's insides resembled the exact state in which Kent found it last time. The door slammed shut behind him, and were Kent to attempt to open it, he'd find that it wouldn't be locked..but rather, the door itself would seem to be just a decoration affixed to the wall. The sound of Lym's feet walking up the stairs to the second floor could be heard.

Kent didn't spend too much time focusing on the door. Instead, he turned on his heels right after Lym. 'Familiar, Hunter?' The demon seemed to reflect off of every wall Kent looked at. "Unfortunately. Now, can you shut up for a moment? This is a bit more important to me than your ramblings, Dolor."

Bodies and rubble decorated the second floor, posing no threat to Lym's advance through them and into the same room Kent entered the last time. As she entered, the door slammed shut behind her, locking in place. The elevator nearby as powerless, and of the four other rooms available, two appeared to be simply decorations as well with no means of entering.

Kent slammed against the door that Lym entered. Stuck. "Perfect." Kent stepped back abit and tried to force it down again with no luck. He could try burning it, but Kent wanted to avoid as much damage as he could. Instead he leaned down to look at the bodies. Maybe he could find a way to identify a few.

The bodies seemed to have been decaying for a while, a rotten smell rose up from their carcasses. They were clearly employees of Nakajima Robotics, though the means of death aren't immediately clear. One guy might have been shot and another was missing his head. No means of opening the door were present upon them, but two open doors on the floor remained available for investigation.

Of course. This wasn't helpful at all. Kent wasn't even able to find some keys on them. No matter. He stood up and entered one of the first rooms he saw open. Sure he had nobody he was looking for in there, but, hopefully he could figure out what was going on in at least one of the rooms.

In the left room sat a computer terminal, somehow powered in the otherwise powerless facility. On its screen was a lengthy question with several options to pick from as an answer. "Four horses were grazing in the yard when a knight approached and asked which one ate his carrot. One of them is lying.
"Buttercup didn't eat it!" said Neighbill. "I didn't eat it either!" said Applesauce. "Neighbill isn't helping this situation!" said Buttercup. "I like swords." said Glueball. Which of the horses ate the carrot?

Kent was generally good at puzzles, but this one seemed to be different than the others. It was less meant to be a real riddle, and more of just seemed a way to pass time. Kent went to the panel and clicked the option for Buttercup. If Neighbill was lying then the others would have been true, esspecially since Buttercup seemed to be trying to get blamed herself.

A soft 'Ding!' sound escaped from the terminal, indicating that the correct answer was chosen. The sound of something unlocking could be heard from the other room nearby.

Kent immediately left the room to go across the hall where the other room was, inspecting the click. It seemed like an odd puzzel for a robotics company, but at least it was one way to get through things.

Inside the other room, Kent would find more bodies piled up on the ground, the a powerful stench rising up from the mess of maggots invading their remains. A large, exposed safe on the wall seemed to be partially open with a key hiding inside.

Kent didn't spend too much time in that room. What he did do was take the key and immediately run back to the door Lym locked behind them. Kent was NOT going to let her get too far. He promised both himself and Lucass that he would keep her safe, and a morgue was not exactly the best place for him to complete that goal with.

Kent would find that the key belonged to the door's lock, allowing him entry into the control room. Inside, he would find Lym sitting a chair, speaking to the wall. "..Yes Lionel..he's one of us now. Master Rhakaska will be so happy to know that another one has joined our order. We even performed the severance on Oboyo's little brother, but he wasn't possessed.."

Kent closed the door behind him, observing the scene for awhile. "Lym..." He said, softly, "Lym... Lionel's not here anymore... I... I know that might be my fault, but... it's time to move on Lym." Kent didn't truely believe in moving on like that, but this was unhealthy. And did he hear her say something about possession? Ghost or demons, that was almost never a good thing.

"NO! He's right here! Don't you see him? Lionel's right here, and we're talking about A.J.!" screamed Lym, staring hatefully into Kent's eyes. "Don't listen to him Lionel! He's just mad that I asked Father Roche to join us instead of him!"

Kent was caught off guard by the scream. "Wait, what about Roche? I... I haven't seen you two talking much." Kent's confusion was growing. "And I don't see Lionel. I was there when he died. He died saving you, remember Lym? And who is this order you're a part of! The PDF is still back at the manor, it isn't here! You're standing alone in a room Lym, please see that..."

Lym shrieked again and held her hands to her ears, bowing her head down to look away from Kent. "Shut up shut up shut up! Lionel's not dead! Why don't you believe me?! TELL HIM YOURSELF!" With that, the walls opened up and two Sniper Joe units emerged from them, their single red eyes analyzing kent. They held their shields up and moved a little closer.

Kent drew his shield off his back and threw it at the first robot, hoping that the bladed edge would disable it and he'd only have to focus on one. Kent drew his sword and ran for the second robot, holding his sword with both hands, ready to try to cleave it in half. Not the most effective stragedy, but it was straighforward enough. "Dammit Lym, you're not like this! Don't you remember anything?"

Kent's shield meets the shield of Sniper Joe A, clashing into its metal and falling harmlessly on the floor. While Sniper Joe B hid behind its shield to protect itself from Kent's onslaught, Sniper Joe A slid its shield to its back and held its buster arm out, firing a few shots towards him!

Kent heard the shots beig fired and immediately fell to the floor. It was a trick he learned from Drunkan Boxing. If it was going to take too long to fall saftely, just fall straight down onto the floor. Kent then used his possition to try to kick the robot's shield down, so it could take damage from the first one's attack.

With its shield briefly out of the way, Sniper Joe B fell backwards as Sniper Joe A's blasts make contact with its exterior. During the fall, the pin on one of Sniper Joe B's grenades came loose. Following a specific attack protocol, Sniper Joe A retrieved its shield and waited for another opportunity to shoot at Kent, despite being sprawled on the floor. Wily developed robots had very detailed programming to follow, after all.

Kent smiled. He quickly picked up the fallen grenade and threw it at the remaining robot, "The problem with magic is that it always backfires," Kent smiled, and before he waited to see the eplosion, picked up Sniper Joe B's shield to use for cover from it. He knew the encased fireballs had the tendency to toss shrapnel everywhere, and he didn't want to get injured by them, even if the flames couldn't.

The force of the explosion forced Sniper Joe A, slamming into the wall nearby and going offline. Sniper Joe B, while damaged, proceeded to rise up and hold its buster arm out towards Kent. Lym shrieked loudly as she ducked in cover, causing Sniper Joe B to pause and lose its balance for a second before regaining its composure. It lowered its arm and reached for a few more grenades, staring at Kent with its one eye. "..KABOOM! Hehehehe! Aren't explosions just GREAT?!"

Kent's eyes widened. He recognized that voice. "No." He said it in a cold harsh voice, low enough that even the dead could hear him. Kent's sword thrust upward, straight through the metal arm of the robot, and he proceeded to kick the robot off of him. "Remember me?" Kent got back up to his feet and held his sword, ready to cleave it in half.

Falling back, the robot drops one of the grenades before laughing maniacally at Kent. "Hehehe! Of course I do! YOU KILLED ME!..NOT! But you did kill my explosive little host! That lab was going to be the light of a new dawn! KABOOOOM SHRIKE! Yehehehehe!" With that, the sniper joe pulled the pin on the other grenade it was carrying.

Kent looked at the grenade and smiled. "Let it blow," he said, "Fire can only hurt me so much. And once you're out of that little robot, I think that you'll be just vulnerable for me, to KILL YOU!" He glared, and mockingly shouted, "Oh, explosive! Hilarious!"

The robot continued to laugh hysterically as the grenade exploded, shredding its body into bits. The ghost then rose up out of it, resembling a fat man wearing a full body bomb suit and a pair of roller blades. "Isn't it?! Laugh, and grow fat! Your body should be plenty of fun to play with! I was just getting bored of little Lymmie, hehehe!"

Kent held his hands and arms in front of his face, leaving most of the force to his his armored frame, but they cut up his bare hands, forcing him to drop his sword. He looked at the ghost in front of him. So this is what evil looked like. Kent backed up a bit, finally seeing the face of the true killer. "You... you killed a child... and then you had the odacity to possess their best friend?" Kent had to clutch his face to try to hide his rage.

As his hands met his eyes he could see his blood on them. That gave him an idea. He looked back up at the monster. "Do you remember... what you said? DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT YOU SAID? 'Explosions! Hilarious!'" Kent pulled a match out of his tenderbox and lit it. "'IT'S FUCKING HYSTERICAL, REALLY!'" Kent winced as he set his own blood on fire, igniting it into a black flame. Hellfire. The corruption that ran through Kent's veins.

He jumped at the ghost, the hellfire in his palms letting him hold the ghost's throat. Kent glared at him with pure hatred. "IS IT FUNNY NOW!?" Kent shouted at the monster, "IS IT FUCKING FUNNY NOW!? TELL ME I'M HILARIOUS! YOUR SOUL WON'T SURVIVE LONG ENOUGH TO TELL ANYONE ELSE, EVER AGAIN!" The ghost began screaming uncontrollably, and with Kent, strangling it in rage, its very being was burned out of existance, leaving only a small pile of ash behind.

Kent closed his hands to extinguish the flame. He looked down. His Veins had completely become corrupted black. He picked up his sword and looked into it like a mirror. Luckily his face was still mostly normal, the fire was only there long enough to crawl up his lower neck. He'd need to find a way to cover that up as well. He wouldn't be able to stand to look at Kimen if they found out. Of course, Kimen wasn't the only person he needed to worry about at the moment.

Kent turned his head to see Lym, still hiding behind cover. He walked over quitely, realising just what she's seen. Hesitantly, he held out his ashen hand for her to pull herself up with. "I'm sorry you had to go through this. We're worried about you back at the manor." He just hoped Lym would still be able to trust him after seeing that.

Lym tried to control her breathing, pausing for a bit before reaching out for Kent's hand. She could process the fact that he just saved her, but not much more beyond that. "O-okay.." She didn't have the mind to express gratitude or anything else. She only knew one thing for certain: the place they were in was..wrong. Unnatural. And they needed to leave. Now.

Kent pulled her up to her feet. "We need to get out of here. It's a straight enough walk, just down the stairs and across a hallway. Do you think you can manage that, Lym?" Kent said, softly, "I'll be by your side every step of the way. Nothing else is going to get nearly that close to you." With a single tear, he added the words, "I promise."

"Y-yeah..thank you." said Lym, sticking close to Kent. Everything about the building wasn't right. It was exactly as if nothing had changed since the day Lionel died, but that made no sense. Nakajima Robotics was a thriving company and they even issued an apology to the Paranormal Deliverance Force. Why was it that the place seemed that way?

Kent made sure Lym was by his side as he began to walk down the stairs. "Do you remember much from the past few days, Lym? Lucass said he has seen you wandering off for a few nights. I'm wondering how much you know." He felt kind of pathetic in the situation. He wasn't very skilled with how possession worked.

"Sort of..I can tell..that I was under some control. Any normal person would..be completely unaware of it. Master Rhakashka never finished..self control lessons with us, but..I could see what that spirit was doing. But the worst part is..this building..I think -I- created it." said Lym in between breaths. She was clearly terrified, yet in a reasonable enough state of mind to piece together what was going on.

Kent kept walking towards the main enterance. "Can you... create something like this? I never heard of something like that happening." Well, he had, he just didn't know almost any of the details. "Have you ever created something like this before, Lym?" They kept walking slowly as they continued thair conversation.

Lym shook her head. "No, I haven't..but no matter how much I think about it, I'm the one who did it. The ghost's partial possession..it knew about me, and the powers of my order. I see why my order is so secretive now..I still don't understand everything about it, but..the good that we do..is fueled by a very dark and twisted power, if placed in the wrong hands. I remember being taught that over and over again."

Lym tried to push it open a few times, but to no avail. "You see? It traps you in here..keeping the state of this massacre suspended in memory, attracting living souls inside to add to its torment. Can you imagine what it would be like if more people came and died in here, with no where for their spirits to go?" She stopped and concentrated on the door for a moment. If she really did create the building..she could unseal it.

Kent, out of all the things he could consider doing, pulled out a cigar and began to smoke. "Do what you need to do, Lym." Kent leaned against a wall and cross his arms, trying to tuck his hands under his arms to hid his scarrs. "What did you say the name of your order was? Maybe Kimen or someone can help us find a book on it to learn more."

"That's the thing..I don't know." After enough focus and desire to open the door, imagination soon became reality as the door shifted in place, becoming like a real one once again. With that, she pushed it open and headed out, taking a deep breath. "It..it worked! I guess..it's true, then...oh god..what am I, Kent? How did this happen?"

Kent got up off the wall. He really wanted to say 'a witch,' but he felt like he owed it to the kid to be accepting. Kent followed her closely out the door and looked straight ahead. "I don't know what's going on, but we'll figure it out. I know you may not trust me that much, Lym, but I'm going to make sure things are alright. Or, at least find you someone to talk to who can know more about it." He tried to sound joking, "I'm... not the best with magic, myself."

With Kent and Lym out of the building, its ghostly aura gradually disappeared, lights that seemed to have already been on casted illumination into the darkness nearby. Before Lym could say anything else, she and Kent were halted by a robot patrol. "ATTENTION CUSTOMER. NAKAJIMA ROBOTICS IS CURRENTLY CLOSED. PLEASE COME BACK ANY TIME DURING BUSINESS HOURS FROM DRYAD'S DAY TO JINN'S DAY. THANK YOU AND HAVE A GOOD EVENING." The robot repeated this message until both were off of the company's property

Kent and Lym continues walking for awhile until they got near the main gate to the manor. "I'm going to head back to the forge, Lym, unless you need something else." He raised an eyebrow as he put out his cigar. "Do you think you'll be okay? Father Roche will probably be more than happy to heal you up a bit if you're injured."

"Yeah..I'm fine..I just might do that. He's a good man..he needs to know..what little truths I've discovered." Lym started to head into the manor before she turned back towards Kent. "Thank you, Kent..you're a real hero."

Kent was about to leave before that last comment. "I umm..." He didn't know how to respond to that. He's lived so long being told everything he's done has been wrong, that he almost stopped listening to others who commented on him. "...Thanks Lym. I... I needed to hear that." He nodded to Lym, wished he good night and went back to the forge, feeling a little prouder of himself.