Edmund stood by the gate as everyone gathered around. They were mostly there, except for a few individuals, such as Sir Monette, who were staying behind to watch over the children and non-combatants. "Alright," he began, "I apologize for the short notice, but, as you all know, there has recently been a mass murder at a local church where they were having a Mana Holy Day event. As a local guild who's attempting to at least have some nobility, it's our job to stop this."

Caius and Edgar were both present, standing within the ranks of everone else looking at Edmund, although those two seemed the most discontented to listen. Edgar looked like he was about to say something, but Caius placed a hand on the knight's shoulder to calm him down. "I'm ready to go if everyone else is," the witchhunter said. "the victim that came made it sound like there was only one person. How much trouble could he give trained men?"

Gustav is present as he always is to any gathering of the Legio. And as always Gustav has no idea what is going on. Things seem more than a bit urgent, however. This in mind, the knight kept himself ready to move as one with the rest of his group.

"I found a good spot!" Dio slowly jogged up the path. "It's kind of a pain to get to, but it's the closest landing spot I could find." He looked around at the gathered members. "I have to run back now, don't I?"

Balbadorf was going over the situation in his head, one ordinary person wouldn't be capable of such atrocities,"We've met plenty of people who have shown extraordinary abilities Caius. Lets not underestiamte the killer."

Zendra looked to Caius then shook her head, "He does not sound like a stable man. Do not underestimate what a single person is capable of. Especially a crazed one."

Caius seemed unworried at the comments and shrugged. With no questions to satisfy, they all left at a quick pace and made their way down the road. The group approached a large building. Edmund was the first to look around, his hand clutching his staff. Every single one of the corpses, mostly matango, but a good bit of others around the area seemed to have been visitors of other races. He looked at Caius, who was examining things more closely.

"Sword wounds," he said. "I was thinking that this would have been a more magical effort, but... all of this looks like it was done through pure melee. Other than that one guy who exploded, it seems like this isn't a witch at all."

Edgar had both of his swords in hand as he walked past them all. "I do not like how casually you said 'that one guy who exploded,' Caius. You remind me of someone I once knew. He was only about getting the job done. These are people you're talking about."

Caius shrugged as he took a swig from his gourd, making sure to not leave his face exposed for too long. "Yeah yeah. Victims are victims. If you get too attached, you lose focus." "Similar to drinking?" "Shut your mouth."

Gustav stares down at the corpses. These bodies were... odd things. They looked monstrous to Gustav. Though, he had seen some in that town he had met Kimen in. Everyone else seemed to accept these... creatures. The wounds also seemed particularly normal, considering what he had seen so far of this group. But keeping this place in mind, Gustav prepaired for oddities abound.

Zendra knelt down by one of the corpses, examining the body worldlessly. A lot of things could be told about the killer from the bodies he left, and the woman wanted to know what they might be walking into before hand.

Balbadorf looked at the mushroom folk scattered around the courtyard, not a single survivor. Whoever could do this to a group of innocent people were sick in the head. Hearing the two knights arguing, he moved to intervene, "Enough you two, whether we all agree or not is irrelevant we are a team."

Dio bent down to examine one of the corpses, having decided to not go back to his vanship. "Mhmm... Yes, I can confirm that he's dead. Looks like a fatal sword wound, obviously." He stands up and looks around, pulling out his suicide pistol and holding it beside him. "So, we have the bodies and that exploded guy, so where is our killer?"

Caius was taken aback by Balbadorf's comment, surprised that somebody cared. Edgar, however, nodded in agreement. "True. Bickering isn't going to get us anywhere. I don't see any sign that indicates that the killer left, so, we need to stay on our toes. If what our messanger said is true, there's only one of them, and one person doing all of this is a terrifying prospect."

As Zendra examined the corpses closer, more things became apparent. The swings seemed clean, but the angles were all unusual, as if the attacker was able to make accurate cuts in a wild, unpredictable format. No single wound seemed to match another. Footprints around seemed to indicate that the attacker stepped heavily judging by the way they dragged their feet.

Edmund approached the door and turned around. "Let me know when you're all ready to enter. I'd prefer not to split up in this situation."

Dio shrugged and held up the pistol. "I'm ready now."

Balbadorf looked at the curch for alternate means of entrance, finding none he nodded toward Edmund.

Gustav takes his time now to examine the church the Legio found themselves outside of. He felt a small sense of trepidation when it came to this mission. Something here seemed like it could go horribly wrong at any moment. "Wenn wir in gehen?"

"He is wearing or carrying something heavy." She said, looking from the footprints to the wounds, "Also he seemed to be attacking wildly. But why?" The woman stood up, one brow raised as if something was confusing her. "And why do this when you can just make them explode? What are chances that there is a second person involved here?" Zendra asked.

Edgar nodded to Edmund that he was ready to go. However, Caius was more interested in what Zendra had to say. "I was originally wondering that too, but nobody else brought it up. I mean, none of these wounds seem to be magical in nature, but, the first victim had no wounds at all that looked like this." He rubbed his head. "Wait, didn't that first guy have some weird snake tatoo? I don't see anything like that here."

"Did he, I didn't notice." Balbadorf was going over the details in head over and over, but he couldn't remember anything abut the messenger.

Gustav's scabbard rattles as he draws his ruined blade from it. His shield follows, rendering the knight ready for combat. As soon as people finish talking about things which must be horribly important.

Zendra stared down at the body she was standing next to. "It could be someone was trying to get rid of the fist victim before they reached help. Or someone was trying to suggest something to us with the first victim. The scene matches what the first victim described. If anyone else has thoughts on what might be going on, I would like to hear them." She made a point to look at caius first as she said this.

"I would not put aside the thought that there may be co-conspirators, I speak from experience by saying its much easier to handle crowds with magic. Judging by the wounds the sword isn't any larger than a claymore at most." Balbadorf spoke up looming over a corpse.

"The guy also said something about the killer talking crazy about becoming a demon or something." Caius shook his head. "I don't like this. There's too many unanswered questions, but we're not going to get anywhere standing around." He began to walk and signaled to the others to go inside.

Inside the Church, long hallways stained with blood went left and right. Abandoned concession stands of punch and cookies could be seen scattered near the parts of the hallway with more windows. Down the left Hallway, there seemed to be more bodies along the walls, all with similar cuts to the ones outside, and a door leading to the courtyard. The right hallway lead to the chapel with the doors closed. Bloodstains look as if several bodies had been dragged in there.

Gustav takes in the scene with a quickness. Reaching out with a mailed fist, Gustav taps on Caius' shoulder, before pointing to the right, and the bloodstains taht had trailed that way. "Jemand konnte dort leben."

Balbadorf loooked down both paths, "I'll see if I can find any survivors to the left." Balbadorf didn't wait to see if anyone would follow him, time was of the essence.

Dio gleefully rubbed his hands together and grabbed some of the abandoned cookies, only to groan in dissappointment when he bit into one. "Damn, stale." He threw the remains of the cookie away and wiped his hands on his robe. "I think I'll head right, then."

Zendra looked down the right path. Someone was moving the bodies, but why? Without a word she nodded and started off in that direction.

Edgar and Edmund began to head left with most of the group. Caius nodded towards Gustav and jerked his head towards the left. "I'm going to head with Balbadorf so he's not alone. I don't think that being alone is a good idea in this situation." With that, Balbadorf and Caius headed towards the courtyard.

As the group approached the double doors to the chapel, voices and muttering could be heard inside. Edgar looked at Edmund staying behind the rest of the group and nodded. He pushed the doors open, swords in hand. There, a few cowering people were seen hiding behind the pews. Two people, both dressed in volunteer t-shirts, seemed to be trying to calm everyone down.

Both of the volunteers seemed to be perfectly fine wound wise, though their clothing was entirely covered by blood. As they turned towards the open door, many of the others hid, while those two hushed them to be quiet nodded at the adventurers.

One spoke first, an odd shimmer appearing across his comforting golden eyes. "You all aren't here to hurt them," he said as a fact. He turned to everyone to make sure that they were still calm. "Sorry for the paranoia. Roche and I weren't exactly expecting this to happen." He sighed, slowly. "But, it always happens doesn't it? They have a right to be scared."

"Well, we're here to help. What happened, exactly?" Dio peers around the room, not seeing any crazed demon killer person. "Also, you should get new cookies. Those ones out there are kind of stale."

Gustav nods to the people in the room, everyone appeared to be safe here, for the most part. But... one of their number was missing. "Ich will den anderen Weg gehen, und finden unsere fehlenden Mann" To facilitate understanding him, Gustav points at himself, and back in the direction not traveled.

Standing up, Roche sighed as the matango he was doing his best to save didn't make it, "It was a massacre, a kid with pink hair just wandered into the area and started cutting down people left and right, he was moving so erraticly talking to himself."

The two men were covered in blood however they did not fit what she had picked up from the killer from the victims outside. They were too tall, and were not walking with enough weight. Zendra scowled, "He is not them." she said, then turned around to follow the other path.

"Missing man?" the other one said. He shook his head. "" They way he spoke was... odd... but strangely familiar, as though everyone could understand him.

"We wouldn't mind help. If you guys don't know anything else." Edmund looked dissatisfied as he spoke, eyeing the one with a strange way of talking. "What's your name?"

"" he said. He looked back at Zendra leaving. ""

Dio shrugs. "I'll go back her up, I guess." He turns and hurries after Zendra, trying to catch up to her before she runs into anything.

"Father Roche." He said as he went to check on another matango.

Gustav takes a long look at Elie for a few moments, before turning and moving. "Er wird nach dem Wohl der Menschen beurteilt werden." With this, Gustav follows Zendra.

Elie nodded. "" The man went back to the victims . ""

Crona was standing in the center of the courtyard, rubbing his arm. He shuddered as he heard the doors behind him open, and slowly turned his head around. "Are you here to kill me," he asked sadly. "I don't know... I never fought adventurers before and I'm not sure I know how to deal with them." He turned around, looking at his feet and still seeming incredibally nervous. "I don't know if I can though..."

Crona's eyes looked back and forth as if he was hearing a voice, and nodded through paranoia. "Are you sure it's okay? They're different than the others." He shuddered and backed away from the group, looking straight at them. "I wouldn't do it, if I were you. My blood is black, y'know."

Balbadorf looked at the small child in disbelief, he couldn't believe a kid could do all of this. He prayed zendra was right in taht someone else was pulling the strings, "Thats interesting, my blood is fire, what's your name?" Balbadorf kept both arms at his side, trying to put the kid at ease by not to seem hostile in any way.

"I never heard of fire blood... I'm not sure i know how to deal with somebody like that..." Crona looked up at Balbadorf with a look of curiosity. "You're not going to try to kill me?"

Caius was growing tense. He remained with his sword sheathed as Balbadorf was attempting diplomacy with Crona and nodded as Zendra followed after them. He held out his arm so that she didn't do anything threatening.

Crona was worried as he saw the woman enter. "She's a girl... I don't know how to deal with girls either..." "What do you mean, punk?" Crona clutched his head as a voice was heard by the three, his back seemingly exploding in a fountain a black blood. Crona, however, appeared fine despite the psychlogical trauma he was suffering.

"You eat them, swallow their souls, like the others! You need to make me a demon!" The fountain formed into a huge black muscular creature, protruding from Crona's back, it's waist connecting to the Crona. "KILL THEM!"

Crona looked at them with tears in his eyes. "Sorry!" he said with a terrified voice. He reaches up, and the black monster morphed into a large black sword that Crona picked up and held with his hand. "I wonder what it would have been like if you were my friend..."

Balbadorf stood still anticipating a strike, "We can still find out. You don't have to do this, I won't hurt you." He said hoping he wouldn't have to hurt the kid.

For the duration of the conversation she had been content in following Caius' signal to abstain from doing anything, however with the sword drawn she found it difficult not to do anything. She glanced at Caius. He and Balbadorf had arrived first she had to go on their judgment of the situation. Zendra watched for any sign to move, even if it was just one of them drawing their blade.

"I can't!" the child shouted, pointing the sword at Balbadorf. He seemed to slide forward and make a wild slash at him, who barely dodged out of the way, still attempting pacifism. "If I don't get more souls then I can't become a demon, and then she'll punish me again, and I don't know if I can handle being punished again!"

Caius was extremely nervous at this point, but Balbadorf appeared to have a plan. The others in the group showed up as well to the spectical of the small teenager trying to hack apart the war veteran. Elie followed behind them all, leaving Roche behind. Out of all of them, he was the one that seemed the most worried about how the group would react.

Dio tilts his head as he regards the boy. "Who is she, exactly?" He doesn't take aim with his pistol, though his grip on it tightens.

Balbadorf raised his arm in order to block another swing if necessary, "Who'll punish you Crona, I can help you, I can protect you."

Balbadorf raised his arm in order to block another swing if necessary, "Who'll punish you Crona, I can help you, I can protect you."

Gustav stares at the group, and then the encounter. The child fighting Balbadorf looked... sickly almost. But their work with the sword was sloppy. Obviously the damage they had dealt up until now had been due to no one else being armed, or having combat experience. Gustav's sword scrapes against it's scabbard as it is sheathed, leaving the Knight holding his shield still. Balbadorf had the fight in hand, rushing in would only serve to confuse. But his shield was ready all the same.

Zendra clentched her spear but made no move simply because Caius had not wanted her to. And there was no immediate threat to her or anyone else that would make her consider ignoring this fact. Still she was ready to move at a moments notice.

Crona shouted at Balbadorf as he kept swinging. "Why aren't you trying to hit me! It's not fair!" Crona backed up a bit and looked at everyone. "You're trying to talk to me and I don't know how to deal with people who try to talk to me!"

Bright red lips appeared on the sword and began to shout at Crona again. "What are you doing? Do you want your mother to lock you in your room again! I'M NOT GOING BACK!" Crona looked down at the sword, and responded: "But he's not like the others, I don't know what I'm supposed to do about someone who wants to talk to me."

"Crona we can help you, can you tell us where your mother is?" Balbadorf remained still, his voice calm and sincere.

Dio shrugged helplessly. "You got this one, Balbadorf."

Gustav raises an unseen eyebrow. The girl's weapon had grown a mouth. This would suggest it to be anything other than natural. "Das Schwert spricht. Ist sie eine Hexe, oder ist es ein Damon Schwert?"

"You will not be locked in your room." If simply talking to the kid was what made him hold back then Zendra saw no harm in joining in. "That man, Balbadorf, will not allow that. You should have no fear of this despite what your weapon says."

Crona stared at Balbadorf, looking terrified. "But if I told you, wouldn't she get angry?" "Of course she would you idiot!" The sword shouted. "Do you know what it's like being fused to a punk like you? Every day you're whining about something else that scares you. You're the most annoying kid on the damn planet! If only Lady Medusa used me for somebody DECENT!"

Elie grabbed Gustav's shoulder. "" As Elie spoke, Crona pointed behind them. On the roof one figure could be seen resting casually on a broomstick.

"Soul protect, OFF!" a booming command could be heard. The woman on the broomstick flew down to where they could see her, wearing what appeared to be a black sleeveless jumpsuit with a hood. Her blonde hair was tied in a knot hanging underneath her face. "You're being a bad child, Crona, listening to these people. Eat their souls, or mommy will be angry."

"Oh, so this lady is the Big Bad, then. Interesting..." Dio looks at his pistol. "Should we uh... Should we have an intense discussion? I think we should do that."

Gustav turns his gaze to the woman on the broomstick. "Nun scheint diese Frau, eine Hexe zu sein." Gustav's hand drops to his pommel, waiting for some kind of signal from someone that they should, in fact, be attacking this woman.

"Crona, you remind me a lot of myself, there is good inside of you." Balbadorf started walking towards Crona slowly arms open offering the confused child comfort.

So then this woman was the one making the child do these things. She was driving him with fear, and that sword was not helping matters. Zendra looked at the boy, then looked at the woman feeling quite a bit disgusted by the matter. "Caius, I do not care about mother's anger. She seems to be at the center of the problem. What do you advise for this situation?"

"What do you THINK the plan is?" Caius drew his sword and immediately ran straight towards the witch. Lady Medusa however seemed unimpressed. She laughed at the witchunter and shouted command words: "Vector plate!" An arrow on the ground appeared beneath Caius, pointing at a wall. Caius, not being familiar with the magic, was immediately launched in that direction, away from her.

Crona didn't know how to respond to Balbadorf. However, the demon sword did. "No! This is MY idiot, you can't have him!" As Balbadorf wrapped his arms around Crona, the sword impaled him through his stomach. Balbadorf fell limp to the ground, Crona with him. The sword disappeared as Crona hugged the man and began to cry.

Gustav draws his sword once more. One of their own had fallen. A child was a killer, and a woman on a broomstick was shouting magic words. But; it was still time to do what he could. Steel in hand, Gustav himself charges the witch, attempting to move around the magical plate on the ground that had ended Caius' charge short.

"Well, I'd just hate to shoot and make a mess of things. Terrible for the janitors, you know." Dio took aim and unloaded the entire clip of the pistol at the witch, then began reloading the revolver with an irritated grumble.

Zendra rushed at their new target, following behind Caius. This woman was likely the one who made the first victim they encountered explode, so she was expecting her to be dangerous with the magic she possessed. Also with the broom, she had an advantage. Zendra cursed the fact that she had once again neglected to bring a bow with her however the spear wasn't her only weapon. Once within a more reasonable range, she threw her spear at her target, then reached down to her waist, drawing a short sword.

Elie runs immediately out towards Balbadorf and Crona. "I didn't mean to!" Crona said through their tears, "Ragnarok is just a big bully, and I... I..." Elie nodded at Crona, pulling the body away from him. The older man's eyes began to glow as he whispered over Balbadorf. He looked back at Crona. "Don't worry, Crona. Nothing ever seems to go my way, either."

"Vector arrow!" An arrow from Medusa seemed to slither from behind her and slice through Zendra's spear as she threw it. However, being much harder to hit, a bullet from Dio knicked her in her shoulder. She dropped below herself onto another vector plate, pointing at Gustav. She was immediately launched at the knight, her feet pointed at his face for a high speed kick to knock him down.

Gustav stares blankly at the sudden feet in his field of view, and with a horrible noise the Knight is slammed onto his back. Through care of armor (what little it recieves), the helmet somehow keeps hold onto the knight's head, though the man underneath is knocked for a loop, both from the impact and the bell-like noise his helmet gives off after being struck.

Dio continued to reload, though he jumped off to the side to get out of the way of the witch as she runs over Gustav. "Ooh, that didn't sound good."

Edgar finally joins the battle, charging at the now grounded Medusa. Medusa gives a grim smile at his attempt, and points to him with an outstretched hand. "Vector Plate!" Edgar quickly found himself launched in another direction. Straight at Zendra. The two were knocked back to the ground.

Edmund carefully observed the way that Medusa was casting magic, trying to get a feel for how she manipulated the battlefield. It was almost... mathematic. "If you all could get her to cast one more spell, I might be able to turn the tables here," he said. He stood back from the group and continued staring intently.

Gustav quickly recovers from his fall, looking around while stil on the ground to spot the witch. Who was literally right next to him. Without even attempting to stand, Gustav lashes out with his blade, attempting to drop the witch down at her knees. The action is a bit awkward, however, old plate being restrictive when not standing and in proper positions.

"Oh, finally." Dio finished reloading and took aim at the witch again, firing three shots.

Zendra saw Edgar flying towards her and made an attempted to get out of the way only to find that her reaction this time was a little too slow. Edgar collided with Zendra's shoulder knocking her over as he shot on by. she scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could, cursing her luck.

Elie stood up and patted Crona on his back. "He'll be okay." With that, Crona looked back down at Balbadorf, who began to cough up blood, the hole in his chest gone. "Sometimes, all we need in life is a little miracle. God offers them to us. I just help him out a bit sometimes. And, so do people like Balbadorf."

Medusa flew up into the air, an arrow from her back pointed at the ground. However, despite her physical body avoiding Gustav's blow, the arrow itself did not, leaving her to fall to the ground once more, though gracefully, as if she had planned it. She balled her hand into a fist as an arrow swirled around it and began to spin. "Vector Drill!" She threw it downwards towards Gustav's chest...

...but only her fist connected with the bare metal, as if she was entirely cut off from her mana. Edmund smiled at her with a sinister grin, and pointed. "Vector Plate!" he shouted, and an arrow appeared below her, launching her back into a wall. "Now's your chance everyone. Full assault!"

Gustav is in no shape to do anything involving a 'full assault', given that the knight still has to get up. Which he begins to do, albiet slowly and with several grunts.

Dio unloads the other three shots at Medusa. "Take that!"

Now on her feet again Zendra resumed her charge as the woman shot past her, her feet carrying her quickly over the ground, the gap between herself and the woman closing as shots rang out. When she reached her she attacked, thrusting the blade at the woman's chest.

Balbadorf coughed himeself into consciousness his saliva clearing of blood after a moment. "You alright Crona." he looked up at the kid hovering over him.

Crona nodded, peacefully. "Useless!" Ragnarok the demon sword's familiar voice could be heard, but this time it sounded... tinier. "You big baby!" A cartoonish black doll, roughly the size of a beach ball, popped up from Crona's back and began hitting Crona in the head, but obviously having no effect. "Look what you did, you jerk! Now I'm tiny!" Crona was too distracted by Balbadorf's revival to care.

As Medusa got back onto her feet, she placed her hand on a wall as several bullets hit her in the chest. A black snake tattoo slithering off of her arm. "A parting gift..." she said, the snake slithered off as Medusa was impaled by Zendra's spear. The witch bursted out laughing as her body split apart into various arrows in every direction, which fell to the ground in a rain of blood.

Caius regained conciousness, and he and Edgar returned to their feet, obviously somewhat embarassed. However, Caius looked at the red rain and held out his arms, points his face to the sky as if to catch it. "This... looks like victory."

Balbadorf raised a hand to pat the small ragnarok on the head, "Quit picking on him you little runt." He smiled up at Crona assuring the child he would be alright.

Gustav sighs as he finishes getting up only to be doused in blood. "Nie etwas einfach mit euch. Und sicher, lassen Sie uns nicht bieten, anderen zu helfen." Sheathing his sword once more, Gustav sighs. "Nein, ich kann nicht klagen. Fur so viel, wie Sie die Menschen nicht verstehen, es ist nicht passend."

"I should invest in a different pistol." Dio grumbles as reloads the pistol, ignoring the blood raining down. "Maybe one of those modern ones with a clip instead of a revolver... Wait, shit. WAshing these is going to suck." He frowns at his formerly-white robes.

Zendra resheathed her sword, her expression neutral even as the blood rained down on her, splattering her white hair with red. She turned to the others, looking them over one by one to assess the damage they might have taken during this ordeal.

Roche entered the courtyard looking sullen, "I'm afraid that none of them made it." He looked around at the blood on the ground asking, "What did I miss?"

Elie was caught off guard by the statement. "But they! I..." He rubbed his neck. "I...shouldn't be surprised." he sighed in defeat and walked over next to his friend.

As the blood stopped, Crona got back up, pulling Balbadorf's arm over his shoulder to give the man support. Caius adjusted himself to appear less savage in the carnage. "Well if that's that, I think we should be off. Mission complete. Witch dead."

Edgar shook his head. "Yes, but there was still quite a bit of carnage. I'm not okay with this, esspecially since it has happened so closely."

"Roche and I will make sure that they all recieve proper buriels." Elie said without hesitation. "You all just take care of Crona. He needs guidence to adjust and... well..." he looked off at a nearby puddle of the blood. "...You did sort of... kill his mother... in front of him."

Edmund nodded. "He shall be accepted with open arms, as will you two. I just hope that we can prevent something like this happening again."

Balbadorf began to stand up, "Don't worry, I'll keep him safe." He stood on shaky legs, putting a reassuring hand on Crona's shoulder.

Roche patted Elie on the back, "I'm sorry friend, their wounds were to severe, they went in the name of the Lord I assure you."

"I'll help with the burials. This is no small task for only two to take alone." Zendra was used to burying bodies. She had done quite a bit of it after the plague until she realized that taking on the task alone was impossible. It had taken someone else in fact, to point this out to her. One person who just happened upon her by luck.

Edgar nodded at Zendra. "Knights have been trained in such religious functions. I'll lend a hand where I can. If it comes down to it, physical labor also isn't out of the question. I can handle it."

Caius shrugged. "I'm not religious," he said, albeit halfheartedly. "You all do what you want. I'm going to head back with the others."

with that, four of them stayed behind as Edmund lead the rest back towards the guildhall. If this was their fist hard earned victory, some couldn't help but wonder what the costs would be of others.