(Jason's POV)
"Oi!!" I heard one of the cloaked cultists say, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
I shrugged, "Nothing, just looking around." I said
"Those marks." Another one said, "Those girls are from Mermaid Heel! They must've been hired to take us out!!"
They all aimed their magic staves at us.
"Whoa!" I said raising my arms in the air, "What do you think yer doing? We don't want any trouble!"
They began to charge their staves, "Oh yea?" One of them said, "Too bad!"
"Heh." I chuckled, "Too bad indeed."
In an instant, I aimed The Last Word at them from the hip and opened fire. I watched as several of them were hit and sent flying back.
"W-What the fuck?!" A cultist exclaimed, "A magic gun?! When the hell did he draw it?!"
I smiled, "I'm quite the quick draw, huh?" I said as I fan-fired my hand-cannon, "Eat this, fuckers!!"
I sent a barrage of bullets at them, hitting plenty of them as blood exploded from their bodies.
I watched as they fired magic projectiles back at us, trying to retaliate.
"What kind of crazy shit is this?!" I heard Sasha yell
"Get to cover!" Milliana commanded
I jumped towards the crowd as I dodged and deflected magic projectiles, they were nothing to worry about.
As I got there, they were suddenly sent flying via a massive shockwave from behind. I felt a somewhat high magic power from where the shockwave came from.
"What?" I said as I stopped
"Aggh!!" a cultist yelled out in pain, "She's here!! That woman is here!!!"
All of the cultists began to scatter as another shockwave sent some of them flying away, this time it caused a massive cloud of dust.
I narrowed my eyes to see a long black ribbon shoot out from the cloud of dust and immediately coil around the leg of a cultist who tried to run past me. The poor bastard didn't stand a chance, he was flung backward and against the wall of a brick building that was next to the outpost's wall.
"Dammit!!" I heard a cultist say, "Today's not a good day to be in this damned cult!!"
I looked at him, "You don't say." I said before aiming at him and opening fire
The bullet hit him in the chest and he widened his eyes before losing consciousness. My rounds were non-lethal, so I wasn't killing them. As badly as I wanted to kill some cultists, I'm under a no-killing rule enforced by Mavis.
I felt the magic power rising as I turned to see a figure emerge from the cloud dust.
I widened my eyes to see who it was, recognizing her immediately.
"You!" I said, "You're Heine Lunacy!"
Heine stood there with ribbons in her hands, she was wearing her usual black skin-tight outfit as she had a scarf that covered the bottom of her face.
"And you..." She said with a serious glare, "You're him....Jason....."
I couldn't believe my eyes, Heine was here and well. I figured that since Irene was taken away, her and Juliette would've somehow been deactivated or something; being swords with personalities and all. But here she is, standing and conscious.
I gave her a slight smirk, "Fancy seeing you here." I said
She pointed her closed fist at me, clenching one of her ribbons, "Do not speak to me, bastard." She said, "You are the reason My Lady is missing. Tell me, Jason! Where is Lady Irene!!"
"Oh." I said, "You're looking for Irene? Well, what do you know! So am I!"
"Lies." She said, "Unlike you, I've been searching for her since the War ended. I doubt you're suddenly looking for her."
I sighed, "Well." I said as I aimed my gun to my side, "I am."
I opened fire at a cultist that was trying to scurry away, hitting him in the leg and dropping him to the ground.
"Jason-san?" MIlliana called, "Who is this woman?"
"Oh." I said turning to the Mermaid Heel girls, "This here is Heine Lunacy, she's a member of Alvarez. Or was, I don't know. Wait, Heine, are you still in Alvarez? I heard some high-level members defected. Was that you?"
"W-What?" Milliana said as she walked up to me, "Alvarez?!"
I looked at Heine with a slight smile.
Heine was still giving me a serious glare, "Alvarez is no longer the great empire that it was." She said, "Ever since His Majesty and Lady Irene disappeared and we were transported back to Alakitashia, Invel attempted to lead the armies but failed. I left to search for My Lady. Now tell me, Jason, where is she?!"
I patted my jacket's pocket, "Oh, well.." I said, "The answer to that question is right here, Heine. I just happened to find it right before this fiasco. I mean, I'm kinda disappointed there was no fight."
"I should've known that was your mechanical abomination patrolling your skies." Heine said, "Hand over whatever it is you're keeping. Then I'll undo my spell on it."
I raised my eyebrow, "You disabled Steel Haze?" I said, "Felicity!"
"Sir." Felicity said through the badge on my coat, "Steel Haze is still functional and patrolling the skies. It appears to be under some visual impairment spell, preventing it from detecting enemies. I'm working on undoing it. My apologies."
"Shit." I said, "Every time you upgrade your sensors on these mechs, there's some bullshit happening again, Felicity...."
"I know. I am terribly sorry. But it won't take long to disable the spell..." She said, "And it's done. Steel Haze is on its way to your position."
"Good." I said as I looked at Heine, "Well guess negotiation isn't in your favor, is it? I mean I don't need my AC to convince you not to fight. If you wanna fight, we can fight. It won't end for you."
Heine lowered her fist, "Tch." She said, "What do I have to do to obtain that information?"
I shrugged, "You tell me." I said, "I am glad you don't wish to fight. I kinda don't want to ruin that nice figure of yours."
She raised her eyebrow, "Pardon me?"
I walked over to her, "What do you know of these cultists?" I asked
She shrugged, "They're not the ones I was looking for." She said, "But apparently they're in tandem with the ones that have flame-markings on their black cloaks. They work with some enigmatic group of zealots, from what I heard."
I stopped right in front of her, "I see." I said, "Say. You really want to know where we can find Irene?"
"Yes." She said, "To find My Lady is my purpose. I must find her, so she can bring Juliette back....."
"Hm..." I said looking at her
She had a nice body, not gonna lie. Not too buxom, but not too petite, just right in the middle. It was turning me on. I was slowly degrading into a horny bastard the way things were going.
"What is it?" She asked
I looked back to where the girls were at, they were busy finishing off what little was left of the cultists.
"Tell you what." I said, "I'll give you this information. But first you must do something for me. It is completely your choice."
"Okay." She said, "I am at your mercy."
I looked back at her with a smile, "Oh?" I said, "Well, let's see how you like this....."
"Let me fuck you, then."