Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"I'll take on the scaly one, you can deal with the other two," Remarked Hart, as he focused his attention on Raven.

"What? You're in no position to give orders, I'm the one who-...hey, don't ignore me!" Snapped Ferd, as Hart teleported towards Raven, grabbed his arm before he could react and teleported the both of them to a different area in the village a few kilometers away, near an abandoned building.

Raven hesitated for a moment, before slashing his claws at Hart, who swiftly let him go and teleported a few meters away.

"There shouldn't be any people around here, so I don't have to worry about collateral damage. Now, then...," Muttered Hart, before teleporting behind Raven and slashing at his back.

Raven quickly unleashed a powerful flap of his wings the instant he sensed Hart behind him, narrowly zipping up over the swing of the blade before starting to fly away.

He then abruptly halted and flew back as fast as he could as Hart teleported in front of him in midair and swung his sword at Raven's chest, the tip of the blade grazing Raven and inflicting a shallow cut across his scales, drawing out a couple of trickles of blood.

He then quickly raised his blade up defensively as Raven fired out beams from his eyes, holding back so that even if they did hit, they wouldn't do much damage.

Hart teleported away as the beams struck his blade, before suddenly teleporting above Raven and swinging his sword straight down towards the top of his head.

Raven quickly raised his right arm up while simultaneously flying back, the blade slicing into his forearm before hitting the bone and sliding off as Raven zipped back before the blade could cut off his arm, a sense of clarity returning to his mind as his rage subsided, along with the power boost he'd gained.

"Wait, what was I-...strange, I remember everything that happened fairly clearly, but it feels weirdly hazy, like a dream or something. It's like I was moving unconsciously despite being conscious. What the hell happened to me?" Wondered Raven, as he slowly and steadily healed the deep gash across his right forearm.

He then quickly swooped down as Hart teleported to his left and slashed at his side, narrowly evading the blade before losing sight of Hart as he teleported again.

Raven looked around frantically, right as Hart reappeared right in front of him and unleashed a powerful thrust of his blade straight towards the middle of Raven's torso.

Raven quickly twisted his body across, gritting his teeth as the blade sliced across his right side, before he reached out to try and grab Hart, who was quick to react and teleport away before Raven could grab hold of him.

"This is bad...the fact that he isn't a target aside, I...I don't want to fight him. But he's strong, and his attacks are relentless," Raven thought to himself, narrowly evading as Hart teleported behind him and slashed at his back, a sharp gasp of pain escaping Raven's lips as the slash inflicted a shallow gash across his mid-back.

He tried to grab Hart's leg with his tail, but Hart was quick to teleport away once again, avoiding Raven's grasp.

"How strange...you seem to be moving a lot slower than before," Frowned Hart, before taking a defensive stand as Raven swung open his jaws and began charging up an intense, swirling mass of purple flames.

"Good, he isn't moving...he probably plans to teleport the instant I fire this at him. He likely thinks that if he teleports before I fire it, I might be able to react in time when he reappears, adjust my aim and hit him. But by waiting for me to launch it before making his move, he'll have a clear opening to strike. Alright, this should be enough...," Raven thought to himself, before suddenly lowering his head slightly and blasting out the fireball at the ground a couple meters in front of him, while simultaneously raising his right foot and driving it down towards the ground below.

"What the...!?" Blurted out Hart in surprise as the fireball erupted across the ground in front of Raven, right as several deafening crashes rang out as he repeatedly stomped on the ground, the ground shaking violently as a thick cloud of dust rose up from behind the flames.

Hart quickly teleported up into the air, above and ahead of the flames, before grimacing as he spotted a hole in the ground where Raven had been standing, leading down into the village's sewers.

Hart briefly considered following after him, before deciding against it, surmising that it would be too much of a risk.

"Damn it, he got away...well, this sucks, those Noble pricks aren't going to let me live this down anytime soon," He sighed to himself in exasperation, as he teleported back down to the ground.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the village, in the moments after Hart teleported Raven away...

"Raven! Shit, what do we do!?" Exclaimed Celia in alarm.

"We have no idea where he was taken to, so we have no choice but to hope he can handle himself...we need to focus on the matter at hand," Responded Tacitus, before the two of them swiftly scattered as Ferd swung his chain towards them, coating the weapon in lightning, before grimacing as the lightning suddenly faded.

"I see, a type of Irregular Magic that negates other forms of Magic...but it's little more than a parlor trick, Commoners, that won't be enough to stop me," Remarked Ferd, before he shot towards Tacitus, who manifested a large axe from the ring on his finger, swinging it across as Ferd whipped his chain towards him.

Tacitus sprang back as the chain closed in on him, before swinging his axe across at the blade at the end of the chain, a sharp clang echoing out as he deflected it away.

Ferd began to chase after him, before halting and jumping back as Celia took aim and unleashed a rapid explosive projectile towards him, which erupted fiercely as it struck the spot on the top of the building where Ferd had been standing.

Ferd then unleashed a rapid bolt of lightning towards Celia, before Tacitus shot forward, the lightning bolt disappearing before Celia unleashed a barrage of small, rapid explosive projectiles at Ferd, who raced across swiftly to evade them, a chain of explosions erupting one after the other as the projectiles peppered the top of the building, cracks spreading out upon impact.

"It's futile...you're powerful for a pair of Commoners, but it's only a matter of time before you fall to me," He declared, as he swung his chain across to blow away the dust kicked up by Celia's explosions.

"Are we sure this guy isn't a target?" Inquired Celia with a frown, as she regrouped with Tacitus, the pair backing away to maintain a distance away from the range of the chain whip.

"Aster's the one who assessed the Knights in this village, so you'll have to ask him. Whatever his reasons were for deeming him not to be a target, regardless, there's no point in us continuing this fight," Replied Tacitus, as he nodded towards the street, several Knights coming into sight, approaching rapidly, before he added, "Create an opening with an explosion, we'll use that to teleport out of the village."

"Huh? But what about Raven?"

"We have no idea where he is, and we're in no position to go searching the village blindly. Do it."

"This ends now, Commoners, there's no escape-...," Began Ferd, before trailing off and racing away as Celia rapidly charged up and unleashed a large explosive sphere at him, before firing off a barrage of smaller explosives at the Knights approaching from below.

Cries of alarm rang out as her projectiles erupted intensely, before she and Tacitus took out their Teleport Spell Cards and pointed them in the direction of the forest, running their Mana through the Cards and teleporting ahead.

In the blink of an eye, they found themselves surrounded by greenery, back in Pearl Forest. Celia walked over towards a nearby tree and plopped down onto the grass with a strained sigh, leaning against the tree.

"Well, that could've gone better. We didn't get any information out of the Inquisitors, Raven's missing and the Knights now know your face too, so you'll probably be sketched on a wanted poster soon," She surmised with a huff.

"Yeah, that went pretty poorly, what a waste of effort it turned out to be," Nodded Tacitus with a sigh.

"So, what do we do now? We can't leave without Raven," Responded Celia with a frown.

"I wasn't planning on it. We'll have to wait, maybe an hour or two, for things to die down in the village. As it stands right now, the Knights are sure to be on high alert. We have to consider the possibility that he's been killed, but there's a chance he was captured instead...if so, we'll have to find and rescue him, the village isn't that big, so-...," Began Tacitus, before trailing off as a rustling echoed out from the bushes behind them.

"Hey, don't just assume I got defeated, have a little faith in me," Came Raven's voice, as he emerged from the bushes with a weary look on his face, droplets of water dripping down from his hair.

"Raven! You're okay!" Grinned Celia with a relieved look on her face.

"Yeah, somehow...I escaped into the sewers and found my way out. I then came across a lake and took a dip to wash off the sewage, and then picked up on your scents and came here," He explained, before shaking his head, drops of water flying out and splattering across the grass.

"That explains why you're so thoroughly soaked. Hope you don't catch a cold...though I suppose it could've been a lot worse," Replied Celia with a wry smile.

"It's too bad we didn't learn anything, but at least we're all okay. Although, we may have learnt something about your powers, Raven...your Aura intensified with your rage, which resulted in your attacks being a lot more powerful. What's more, you were able to use Level 3 Recovery Spells...none of the Spells you've currently mastered are capable of regrowing limbs, how did you do that?" Inquired Tacitus, as Celia fired off tiny explosions above Raven's head to try and help dry his hair.

"I...I don't know. It was a strange experience...I remember everything that happened, but it was almost like my body was moving on its own. And while the memories are fairly clear, I only vaguely remember exactly what it felt like, the increased intensity of my attacks and the sensation of my Mana when I regrew my arm. After I got out of the village, I tried to replicate that sensation, but I couldn't. I don't know, it's hard to explain," He shook his head with a grimace, uncertain as to how to put the experience into words.

"From what I remember, your Aura pressure started steadily spiking in intensity, the pace at which it was intensifying was smooth and consistent...and then, that pace suddenly got a bit unsteady, before the pressure stopped intensifying altogether," Recalled Aura thoughtfully.

"Yeah, it felt like...I don't know, like my rage was creeping into my mind and taking over. I felt like I was about to black out if I'd given into it any further...I barely managed to resist and restrain it at the end there, and I remember it being really hard to think clearly, I had to strain to keep myself in check. But after Hart showed up, my rage started to subside since I didn't want to fight him, and before long, I could think clearly again. While I was fighting him, towards the end, he said that I seemed a lot slower," Remarked Raven with a grimace.

"I see...if I had to guess, I'd say giving into your rage is a shortcut to unleashing your full potential. But evidently, it has a clear downside, you become driven by that rage, unable to think calmly. If you hadn't resisted the full brunt of your rage, I have a feeling that that would have ended badly for all of us," Surmised Tacitus warily.

"Damn it...even though I managed to avoid fully losing control, or whatever would've happened if I'd given into my rage entirely, I still messed up. I killed all those Inquisitors, I should have tried to keep at least one or two of them alive to question. But more than that, I...this was the first time that I've killed people, at least consciously, and yet, I...I feel strangely calm about it..."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. From what I saw, most of those Inquisitors likely wouldn't have had the answers you were looking for. They were confused when they saw you, they didn't seem to know about you. As for the last one, the one with the scar on his hand, he clearly had no intention of cooperating. And even if he did, once those Knights showed up, making our escape along with a captive in tow would have been next to impossible. Nothing to do but cut our losses for today and hope we do better next time," Remarked Tacitus, placing a hand on Raven's shoulder, who had a frustrated look on his face.

"Yeah, he's right...worrying about what we could've done differently won't accomplish anything, what's done is done. Let's go back to the hideout and regroup with the others once they get back from Garnet City," Suggested Celia with a comforting smile, as she patted the side of his arm.

"I guess you're right...there's a chance that the Knights or Inquisitors might come after us, so we shouldn't linger around here. Let's go back," Nodded Raven as his shoulders slumped slightly, clenching his fists bitterly...