DAMION

"OF COURSE I'M REAL!!" He shouted.

Alloy moved back when she realized that the grey in her vision began disappearing. The smell of the swamp, however terrible, became bearable.

"I can see better again." She mentioned. The man then went to sit down on a patch of grass that wasn't mushy or squishy as he looked down in thought. Alloy looked at him, she got an idea as she began walking.

"What if I help you??" She asked.

"What??"

"You want to beat your brother, right?? What if I help you do that?? For him to be able to send people to you means that he could be a popular person. Is he strong??"

"He…" they heard a voice from behind them. Their eyes were opened wide as they saw Otto struggle to get up from the attack he received earlier.

"He is much stronger than that Damion over there." He said, fully up and pissed to his bulging veins from his head.

"DAMION!!" Alloy gasped. "THAT'S YOUR NAME!!" She ecstatically shouted as they both stood up, bracing themselves for another fight.

"Spire sent you a message, brat. He said if you make it out of this swamp, find him on Tavira Island, he'll send you to your parents personally."

Damion's teeth grit as Alloy's brightened face changed the moment she heard him finish his sentence.

"Damion…" she said, her eyes, mood, and the atmosphere around her changing into a darker sensation. Damion noticed it and gained a chill down his spine.

"Join me… I'll take him down for you."

"Huh??" He asked. "I can take care of Otto myself…" He said as he took out the guns he had taken, the slimy one that he immediately doubted its efficiency, and the other one from one of Otto's men.

"I don't mean Otto." Alloy said. Damion's mouth gaped open due to his shock. His words were immediately spoken by Otto, who heard Alloy loud and clear.

"YOU??!! Take down Spire??!!" He bellowed and laughed.

"Spire is a very strong person, we took this job because we fear him, not because we were hired. All we get from this is his word to never see us again!!"

"Damion…" Alloy ignored Otto's words. She was more persistent after she heard what Spire's message was. To her, she wanted to find Ivy, someone more precious to her than a friend, she couldn't sit back as a brother wanted to hurt his own.

"If Spire was out of the way, there's nothing else you'd have to do, is there??" She asked, sure of the truth in her words. Otto was enraged as his words being ignored so he summoned a bunch of vines that traveled together straight toward her. He saw them go through her and let out a smile before he heard a sharp slashing sound, the vines were cut into pieces, falling down and slightly sinking in the moss-infested ground.

Alloy looked at Otto with a sharp gaze that slightly startled him as she held a near-squatted stance with both her swords wielded on her arms before getting up and looking at a startled Damion.

"Let's start a journey together!!" She said with a smile right before she slashed another vine sent by Otto.

'Who the hell is this girl??!!' Damion thought. 'How can she be carefree and promise to fight someone for someone she just met??!!'

He watched Alloy jump around as Otto sent more vines, some that helped block her direct attacks when she got closer to him. He then decided on what to do.

"If you can help me beat Spire…" He began. Alloy landed from her attack as she watched him finish his statement.

"I'll join your guild then." Damion finished.

"YAY!! I GOT MY FIRST MEMBER!!" She said before she quickly escaped a vine that was shot toward her.

"Tsk." Damion clicked. "I said I'd join after we deal with my brother!!"

"I know… it's a promise!!" She shouted in her excitement.

"Now… to deal with Otto first."

"I'll help." He said.

"Thanks."

The two of them stood side by side, Alloy's fluctuating katana stayed true to their shape, solidifying themselves as they made sure it was Otto their blades were reflecting. Damion readied the pistol he stole from one of Otto's men. He cocked it, ready to take him down with his new friend. Alloy lunged first with both swords in the air as they landed on Otto. He held his right arm up, summoning vines to layer over them to block Alloy's strike. Her swords began sparking against the blocking vines with the loud crash that occurred.

'How hard are these vines??!!' She thought. She saw him smile as he swung his left arm at her face, she held up her left sword to block, the impact threw her to a tree that her back met first. She coughed as she fell down, crouching. Damion was aiming the gun he stole as Otto threw a bunch of vines toward him. He managed to move a bit swiftly before two of them swept him quite literally off his feet and threw him to another tree as well. Alloy got up, ignoring the mushy ground and charged once again.

Her blades gleamed at the slight reflection they got from the little spots of sunlight that managed to penetrate the thicket of trees in the swamp. Otto glanced at her coming toward her from his right side and he got ready for it. He threw seeds into the ground that she managed to notice and jumped back. The seeds sunk into the moss-covered ground and he took a slight crouching position as he chanted his move.

"(蔓の鎧) Tsuru no Yoroi — Vine Armor!!"

Instantly a bunch of thin vines sprouted from the positions the seeds were in and they immediately bound his body with them, his head, his torso, his arms and legs too. He now looked like a green-colored fully armored tank of a man ready to destroy whatever was in its way.

"What the hell is that??!!" Damion asked, both his and Alloy's mouths wide open.

"This is the difference between your power and mine." He bellowed. "And you…" he said, pointing at Alloy. "You won't leave this swamp alive!!" He cracked his neck and noticed the look on her face. Her mouth was no longer gaping, it had her teeth gritting and she was filled with anger.

"What is it, girl?? Are you scared for your life??" He taunted. Little did he know what her eyes forced her to see in the image he had become. Flashes of the past week flooded her eyes. She saw the thorned kareki that attacked her home, her father's loyal subjects, her friend… and that was enough. Her eyes glanced at Otto, sharper than they already were, he felt their impact head on. Moving back one step before remembering what was happening.

"Why are you looking at me like that??" He asked. A clear bead of sweat ran through his unseen face.

Alloy couldn't hear it, she couldn't hear anything, her ears rang with anger she could drive elsewhere because of that night. Suddenly, she heard the sound of a gunshot fill the air. Damion startled the both of them, bringing them back to the present.

"I'm sorry, Damion…" she said, steadying herself in front of a reminder of the past.

"What's got you distracted??" He asked as he walked toward her, sure that what he saw was a clear intent to kill. Alloy eyed Otto's new form from the ground up and gripped her right sword to get ready. She heard the slight clang of her bracelet and it brought her back to the present fully.

"He looks like… something I'm trying to forget… for now…" she said, bottling up her feelings as she stood next to him.

"Sorry…" she added.

"Don't mind it." He said. The both of them looked him directly where they thought his eyes were within the mask that covered his face. He made two steps to the right, facing them.

"Finally, I can kill you now." He declared. His voice muffled by the mask.