HYPERION
"He'll take me seriously huh,I guess I do want to see what makes him so strong". The air tensed as I saw his skin begin to morph, liquid metal began to spew from all his facial cavities. The excess of metal coming out of his body began to form around him, sticking to his body and turning him into massive eleven meter tall metal golem like creature with spiked maces for hands. "You shall pay for making jest of people way beyond your scope of power." The moment he said that,a long metal spear potruded from his chest and shot at a ludicrous speed. I caught the hurled spear,and redirected it,increasing it's momentum.the spear hit Harden at almost inconceivable speed but barely made a dent. "Interesting,an object made of the same material as your body,also moving insanely fast cannot damage you",I commented. "Do you still think you stand a chance,this is my ultimate form,the form that made me worthy of Sir Harlem's grace,a mere teenager cannot hope to fight against me and win." He changed his mace shaped hands to blades and came at me. He was surprisingly mobile for someone in armor that big and that heavy. He swung the blade at my head with deadly force,but I drop stepped before shifting to his head and giving a magically reinforced kick to his neck,he swung the blade at where I was,but I had already shifted again to his back,and lay a devastating punch to his spine,it reverberated through his body,but didn't seem to have any serious effect as he responded by ejecting spines in all directions. "I do believe I've learnt all I can from my fight with you,are you willing to tell me where Harlem is,or better yet call him back here,this phase of the mission was draining and I want it over now". He swung his now flail shaped hand at me,but I evaded. "Don't get cocky because you have lived this long while fighting me",I snarled. "There are two reasons for that;one, you're the first creature with a brain I've fought,and I want to garner some experience while still fighting the not so strong ones,and two,I want something from you. But,you have satisfied my first curiosity as best as you can,so I guess I can get my second goal from you by force". I immediately shifted to the back of his head and shot a beam that vaporised a large chunk of the suit. "Now come out,or I'm taking the lower part and prying you out,"I threatened. He remoulded the top part of the metal armor I had vaporised and attempted to strike me with the flail,but I shifted to his back and shot a wide range beam that vaporised the legs of the iron suit,it also seemed to have cut of part of his actual legs. I then formed several thin beams of light that cut up the entirety of his metal armor,and he dropped helplessly to the ground. I walked up to him and squatted so we were face to face. "Now,you can't run and will probably bleed to death if left unchecked. Can you tell me where I can find Harlem",I asked deadpan. "You have been lucky enough to be blessed with immense strength,but do not get full of yourself,we are a legion,too much for you or anyone to pursue and succeed,go down this path and the wings of yours will be clipped by the higher beings",he replied. "Well, I'll be sure to thank my stars you're not one of the higher beings",I said as I grabbed his neck. He mumbled something before I sensed a build up in his magical energy. I leapt backwards immediately before his body exploded into a multitude of giant metal spikes.
"Wow,they certainly did have some spunk in them", Ida said as she walked up to me. "Well done,I can tell you have grown more tactical in combat from the early days",I commented. "I don't even know how to take that,but nevermind. Is the Harden guy buried under that?", she asked. "No,he is all that,it was suicide. He turned his waning life force into magical energy to try and engulf me in that spell,but he probably didn't predict that I would sense it. And that is another reason why proper magical literacy is necessary",I stated. 'It's not about magical literacy, you just have a monstrous reaction speed. But that's beside the point,if he's dead, doesn't that mean we couldn't get any useful intel here and this whole mission was a bust?",she asked. "Well it would normally mean that,but I did manage to get this from his body before he died",I said as I showed her a courier I had managed to get off of Harden. I shushed Ida as she was about to speak and turned on the courier. "Sir Harlem,there seems to be some issues concerning the payout of gold from the orians,and I need you to come and give us your orders",I said in a voice similar to Harden's into the courier. "Your imitative abilities never cease to amaze me, but do we know if he'll buy it?",Ida asked. "Well I sure hope so but only time will tell". So we sat at the ravens base waiting for the the eighth unkind 'Harlem' to show up.
After about twenty minutes of waiting,a tall man walked through the already busted down gate. "What in the name of Seidon happened...",he couldn't complete his sentence as he noticed us. Harlem was nothing as I had expected. He was a very tall man with long gray hair going down his back in a single braid. He wore an over the top tuxedo and had a nerdy face that opposed the gruff persona I had associated with anyone in this kind of business,his magical energy was also something to scoff at,all through just a disappointing specimen. He also seemed to be a coward as he turned around and tried to flee after analysing us for a while. I shifted near him and grabbed him by his braid. "Where do you think you're going Harlem,I need something from you",I stated. "You've already ransacked this area, this is where all wealth that belongs to me is. I have nothing to give again",he replied in a quaky voice. "Is this a bit,there is no way someone this puny is a big deal in an organisation of ruthless humans,how does Harden even bootlick someone like you?,I asked. "I had a mission in his hometown where me and some of my henchmen took over the already established syndicate there. Our main goal was to scout some strong enough combatants in the area,so we didn't bother with the inhabitants,and he thought we had saved him and his people,and he had become a devout pawn to me ever since",he narrated. "Also spews answers like a faucet,just untasteful for a gangster",I thought inwardly. "Please, I'm just a tactical aid, that's how I got this far,I have no combat ability. I was sent here because it was far out and they thought it wouldn't draw the attention of any formidable opposition. I'll tell you all I know, just please spare me. "Perfect,I replied. Now,it seems as though you are a rather inconsequential member of the ravens and that title was just for naught,so can you tell me who drafted you here?",I asked. "The unkind,there are eight of us including me,but the true members who are incharge of the operation and are directly below our master start from the fifth. They are monsters of unfathomable power who operate only in the eight cities hidden in plain sight from the octad",he concluded. "So number six and seven are pushovers like you?",I asked. "No,they are also formidable, it's just that the first five are special and have more power. We are more like upperclass henchmen",he replied. "Well, what is the name of the fifth unkind?",I asked. His name is...,a rune appeared on Harlem's chest,and the mystical sound was soon followed by the sound of metal spikes protruding from Harlem's body until he was completely impaled by several spikes that came out of his body. "Suicide again?",Ida asked. "No,he was cooperative throughout, and I didn't sense that he was lying. This was probably someone else's spell cast on him that was triggered by rune magic". "Rune magic, we're dealing with people who can use rune magic?". "Yeah,it was a programmed spell to activate if he was ever compromised. So I'm guessing someone among the six bosses can use metal rune magic. This shows we are going to need less interrogating and more detectiving. Great God has this gotten more interesting.