Days prior, Tomoe had happened upon a map of sorts in Hosenka that caught his eye. If one looked hard enough, they would find that Hosenka was a veritable cesspool of degeneracy and thuggery. Beneath its exterior as a town to celebrate Joya in all its 'greatness', it was a refuge for the jaded and the downtrodden. Only true cynics or crooks could stay in such a place for months, let alone years, while being fully aware of all the seedy activity within its streets. Through it all, however, that polished turd of a city did have its uses. Tomoe had gained connections from his time running gangs into the ground and taking bribes from others. Those connections led him to some rather shifty merchants, who eventually allowed him to get some treasure map for a dirt cheap price.

Well, regardless...

Tomoe scratched the back of his head, sighing in disappointment in himself. Maybe he'd given in to his adventurous side too much this time, having even gone so far as to use his Instant Transmission spell to get to Magnolia to confirm the map's legitimacy even faster. He'd even dragged Masami along to the town, purely on impulse. Then again, he'd been acting on impulse a lot more lately... for better or for worse, anyway. What was the point of life if not to follow one's heart at all times, though?

"I'm gonna kill that guy if he sent me on a wild goose chase.", Tomoe muttered as he moved into Magnolia's East Forest, thinking about the scrawny and unshaven peddler that had handed him this map almost for free with a toothy, impish grin.

It was a breezy afternoon, cooling down as Summer was beginning to pass, and Tomoe couldn't be happier for it. Such breezes brought him relief and gave him tingles as it brushed his hair around. Though he discarded these thoughts for the moment, as the true objective was to venture forth. He'd gone to Fairy Tail for a brief few minutes, but left after overhearing that a group of their mages were out in the East Forest in search of a mysterious treasure. That sounded right up Tomoe's alley, and it was at that point that he first ignored the first hint that his journey for this treasure would start within the hall of Fairy Tail; it technically did, after all. He just didn't stay there for terribly long.

His first goal would be to find the fairies that had wandered into this forest, and question them as to how their search was coming along. If nothing else, Tomoe knew that Fairy Tail mages were notorious for their determination and recklessness, and that no self-respecting mage from that guild would ever back down from something like the promise of treasure. They might even do most of the work for him, if he was lucky.

After a while of wandering, Tomoe had found the first sign that he was on the right track. He'd mostly stuck to trails well traveled, and by doing so he eventually came across some tracks that seemed recent. He'd grown accustomed to hunting criminals, beasts and other dark forces, but fairies? That was a new one. The little fairy mages were on their adventure and had probably been at the point Tomoe was currently at, no more than an hour prior - or so he assumed. Given the directions that the footprints went in, three separate pairs, they had come from the bushes and off the beaten path and then converged onto it at this point and onward.

"That certainly makes things easier for me.", Tomoe muttered, his eyes keeping focused on the tracks while occasionally looking up to see further ahead and also to potentially keep on the lookout for potential threats.

Fairy Tail, after all, was a light guild. Some of them would certainly take their way about things once they'd found out who Tomoe was, and act upon it. With his bounty, there was little doubt that a fan club in his honor would form soon with the intent of taking his head. The idea of being hunted was more annoying than worrying, as his life would probably become more hectic soon enough now that he'd started adventuring on his own without the shackles of a guild. He was a man of God now. Or perhaps, more aptly, the servant of a Goddess was more appropriate. The Dark Goddess was the only true ruler of Earthland, and all others were fake. He would cast out the last vestiges of his humanity soon and become one of HER loyal soldiers.

On task, on task...!

Tomoe slapped himself lightly to keep on task. There was more at hand than simply fawning over his savior. Before he could continue his quest to become HER perfect worshiper, he would first need to find some stray fairies and ask their assistance in finding the promised treasure of this forest. He eventually came to a small clearing, where he saw three individuals standing next to a comically oversized tree in the center.

One of the individuals was kneeling in front of the tree on one knee, her eyes closed and with her right hand extended forward to touch it. Extending forth from the tree and brushing back and forth against her hand and going up to her wrist, were tendril-like branches that seemed to poke and prod at her. The entire process felt... wrong. Tomoe felt dirty just looking at it, so he decided it was time to alert this trio to his presence. He stepped out into the clearing, and even though his movement was soundless as he walked, he figured keeping up the element of surprise in such a situation would prove pointless. He could easily attack them right now, catching them off guard by rushing at them once he entered within 15 meters of them. Instead, though, he'd rather not jump to anything like that immediately. His intentions weren't pure, it simply wasn't the right time yet.

Ahem.

"Hey there, fairies. How's it goin'? Havin' a good time with that tree? What's goin' on in this neck of the woods?"

Tomoe waved a hand in greeting nonchalantly as he approached. He was about 5 meters away from them by the time the two that were overseeing the tree girl's ritual had turned around. The tree girl continued her... tree touching, but her brow noticeably furrowed once hearing Tomoe's voice. Despite everything with her weird tree ritual, she was still connected to her surroundings and could hear things in her immediate vicinity. That was something the Joyan would take note of, just in case. The two that were 'guarding' her looked at Tomoe with caution, not expecting another traveler to just pass by, but they didn't immediately begin to try anything.

Tomoe stopped at his 5 meter distance, raising both his hands up defensively but calmly. "Hey, hey, hey. What's with those looks? I ain't here for any trouble."

"Who told you we were Fairy Tail mages? Did you follow us out here?", one of the two guardian mages spoke, a fellow of average height and build with glasses and wearing black robes and a pointed wizard hat with flame markings on it.

"Wait... isn't that the new bounty that got posted recently? Heard he entered town, and his face has been all over.", the other guardian spoke up while looking at the dark-robed wizard; this one was taller, about 6'2", had long black hair that streaked down to the middle of his back, and wore no shirt.

Tomoe took a slight step back, sighing in disappointment that he'd already been discovered. He'd try a bit longer to see about trying to settle things in a civil manner, but he had his doubts about that now.

The dark-robed mage and the muscular mage each took a step forward, while the tree mage still knelt down by the tree behind them. They were blocking the woman from view as they advanced, eyeballing Tomoe suspiciously. The Joyan could only shrug and take a step back. This wasn't how he wanted his first interaction to go, but alas, this was how it was. He shifted his gaze back and forth between the two Fairy Tail wizards. The black-robed one was the first to do something other than move his feet. His left hand was covered in a magical light, and all of a sudden an oaken staff appeared in his hands with a red gem shoddily bandaged around at the top. The crimson cutthroat's eyes were drawn briefly to the origin point of the light on his hand, a ring similar in design to his own.

"A Pocket Dimension Ring, huh?"

Tomoe took a step back when he saw a magic circle appear at the tip of the staff, which was now being pointed in his direction. A roaring flame shot forth as a focused beam, but that in and of itself was the spell's main flaw: it was a beam. It was only about 0.5 meters in diameter as it shot forth, and Tomoe was already prepared to sidestep a projectile by the time he saw a magic circle, so it was only a matter of course that he evaded the beam without issue. Fighting without the use of magic for most of his life, Tomoe had long since grown accustomed to his inherent disadvantage as a close range fighter.

"Twit! Get him now!", the fire mage exclaimed, preparing another fire spell at the same time.

Clearly they were accustomed to coordinating in this sort of way, because the muscly man that was apparently named 'Twit' was already moving towards Tomoe with his hands up like a boxer going in for a finishing combination. The man stopped his assault at the 5 meter mark and awaited to see what would happen next, upon seeing a similar magic light to the fire mage's from a moment earlier, appear around Tomoe. The difference being that Tomoe's light shone much brighter, as more than a single object was being retrieved from his own ring.

A moment later, Tomoe was shrouded in scarlet leather armor with a black cloak like shade itself draped around him, and a sheathed sword in his hands. The Joyan took notice of his two opponents, as well as the mysterious third who was continuing her tree ritual, and decided on the proper way to go about fighting these opponents. He looked at the muscular Twit first.

Twit's muscle mass began to grow in size, as did his own height. Over the course of 5 seconds, the fire mage still charging some kind of spell in the background about 10 meters back, Tomoe watched as Twit grew from a normal human height of 6'2", to about 9'0". His hands became claws, his legs and feet became like those of an eagle's, his flesh became scaly, and his own face reshaped to look... squid-like? All this, with the scales that began encrusting him turning a light pink in color to overtake his flesh entirely.

"Grrrrrr... Me Twit! Me destroy!", Twit boomed like a raging animal, his voice carrying such a presence that the trees that surrounded the clearing they were in shook and swayed not from the breeze, but from the monster's voice.

It was at this point, as Tomoe was taken aback somewhat by the monster's form, that the fire mage shot forth a blast of fire towards him. It was a giant sphere of fire, and in his shock, Tomoe simply took the blast directly. His armor took the brunt of it and held strong, but it was hot nonetheless. Not only had Twit transformed physically, but it seemed like the drawback for such a thing was a mental transformation too - that being, one that seemed to trade in his mental power for physical. Well, if that hodgepodge of creatures that now made up his body could be considered 'physical power', anyway. Tomoe shot an annoyed glare at the fire mage, but decided that Twit would be the bigger threat; quite literally, in fact.

"That creature is so... so..."

The fire mage looked smug, knowing that his opponent had already given in to despair at the sight of the chimera before him. It would be a rich day for this Fairy Tail trio sharing in the swordsman's bounty.

"...He's so hideous. An affront to every god that's ever been forced to watch over Earthland. I'll put him out of his misery, don't worry. Then we'll get back to talking things out, ya little fire bug.", Tomoe piped up, his resolve never having truly faded, and looking at the caster in the back with his own level of disdain that shook the so-called 'fire bug' right out of his smug state.

"I'll take 'im out and then come put you in a crater before long. Just wait for it, pal. Gotta take out this abomination freakazoid supreme first.", Tomoe stated plainly, raising his sheathed sword to signal the start of his all-out brawl with the pink chimera.

To call it an all-out brawl would be an offense to all great warriors in history, of course. The exchange would not have lasted for very long, probably amounting to no more than three seconds. Tomoe stepped forward to confront the behemoth, who moved in at the same moment. On second one, Tomoe's eyes turned into fiery spheres as chain-like markings wrapped around him. On second two, those chains broke while he swung his sheathed sword towards the beast's stomach. In the third second, Tomoe narrowly dodged the giant's first overhead smash while sidestepping to land his own blow. There was an audible cracking, the sword breaking straight through the scales without any issue and nailing the soft flesh underneath. Even beyond that, the sound of bones snapping could be heard. Twit was already staggering in pain, but Tomoe double-tapped with a second smack to the same exposed crack in the chimera's scales with his sword, and the light in Twit's eyes darkened and vanished. He fell to the ground, unconscious and biting dirt as his form slowly fell apart and shrunk to reveal his human self once again. The flesh where he was struck in chimera form was bruised black and blue in human form, and it was clear that something internal was seriously damaged.

"Alright, so now that he's gone nighty-night, we can finish up, yeah?", Tomoe said calmly and without worry, turning back towards the flame mage who was stunned at the exchange that had ended in three seconds.

Tomoe began walking towards the annoying supporting fire wizard, who was in turn taking steps back until he tripped slightly, his back hitting the tree that the third comrade was still touching. He looked down at her, still in some kind of prayer with the tree, and then towards Tomoe who was now 5 meters from the duo. However, the Joyan stopped once he noticed a change in the dynamic of the fight.

"Pruniq, it's okay. We'll beat Mr. Tomoe Tanaka, hand him in to the bounty office, and heal Twit back at the guild. It'll be all in a day's work for the Treasure Trio of Fairy Tail.", the tree lady spoke, revealing the fire mage's name as she rose to her feet and turned around to meet Tomoe's gaze for the first time.

The woman's eyes gave rise to something unlike anything Tomoe had seen in Fairy Tail mages of the past - the uncaring dim glare of somebody who cared not for her comrades, but for victory. Her own teammate, who now lay behind Tomoe and probably puking over himself from internal damage, was not something she was concerned about at all. Her scarlet hair ran messily down her humble brown robes, and her grey eyes were the sort of things one might expect to see from a corpse sooner than a living person. Even when she looked at the fire mage named Pruniq to reassure him with a 'warm' smile, it was obvious that it was nothing but a facade and that the person she was reassuring was not Pruniq, but a puppet on a string. But most importantly...

"Well, if ya really wanna keep this fight goin', we will. Don't need to be so formal, when I'm about to toss your corpses in a pile of sticks to use as kindling."

Tomoe raised his sheathed sword towards the pair, but felt something odd about it... for a moment, it felt as if the sword was loosening from its scabbard. It didn't do so when he had withdrawn it with the intent of attacking Pruniq, so was she somebody the sword considered worthy of its steel? That was a dangerous thought. If that were true, the Joyan would keep wary of her above all else. Her whole nature act was already weird, but her uncaring attitude despite being a light guild member was suspicious as well.

"The trees tell me many things about you. I had originally been using them to try to pinpoint the location of the treasure in this forest, but once I had obtained the knowledge of the treasure's whereabouts, they insisted on keeping me longer to tell me about you. You have many sins to answer for, Mr. Tanaka. Or should I say, the Bloody Barber? You did go by that at one point, did you not?", the woman spoke with such certainty and conviction, that when combined with the implications of what she knew about him, it was a no-brainer as to what the ronin would do next.

Tomoe lunged forward with his sword still sheathed in hand, preparing to take a swing at her. As things were, she shouldn't be allowed to continue living.

The last thing Tomoe expected in his mission to cut down a loudmouth who knew too much, was self-sacrifice. Just before Tomoe swung his blade, Pruniq had stepped in the way in front of her with his staff held out to block. Tomoe, not being the kind to care about murdering multiple people in a single attack, committed to his swing and kept going. The wood of the scabbard was driven home against Pruniq's head, and the sound of his skull inside could be heard rattling around and cracking like a fragile yet expensive vase cracking open on hardwood floor. The staff itself was pathetic as a defense, and offered no protection or degradation from the strike at all, snapping like the twig it truly was. He fell limp, and as pieces of the staff fell apart in the air, Tomoe grasped at the ruby that was used as its magical core and pocketing it.

He had the chance to do this because by the time that he had struck down Pruniq, the tree woman had vanished. In that split second in which no part of her could be seen when Pruniq stepped in front, she had somehow managed to slink away. However, it probably wasn't as effective of an escape as she hoped but rather a desperate one, as after a quick scan of the area with his eyes, he saw her figure running deeper north from the central tree of the clearing that Tomoe now stood at. Her long red hair was unmistakable amidst all the greenery, anyway.

Without another thought or even a prayer for the dead, he moved away from the corpse-to-be that was Twit and the already-dead-for-real body that was Pruniq and his damaged skull, and towards the weird tree lady.

"Just my luck. I go on a simple treasure hunt, fight some guildies, and then all of a sudden there's some serious stuff at stake. God dammit."

Tomoe broke into a sprint, aiming to catch up with the woman quickly. Who knows? Maybe she'd even lead him to the treasure, with a long enough pursuit. That, and silencing her so that she can't speak of his deeds any longer, would be just what he needed to get rid of the stress that was now building and fit to burst out of his chest.

As the forest got darker and darker through the blanket that was the trees above, two shadows could be seen racing through. It wasn't a race, exactly, but to outsiders they might see two figures dashing as if to claim first place at an all-out sprinting event. Perhaps that wasn't entirely inaccurate, with them both racing for the treasure that could make their dreams come true; or something like that, anyway. Eventually, the figure that was rushing ahead, somehow maintaining distance from her pursuer, continued to do so with fierce animosity. She moved like a feral beast among the plants, bushes and ferns. Eventually, she came to a halt. She turned on her heel to face Tomoe, who stopped 10 meters away from her with his sword in hand.

"Who are you? Whoever you are, you're clearly worthy enough to make me do... this!"

Tomoe, with one motion, released the sword from its scabbard and pointed the fine steel in her direction. He'd tie the scabbard on his back once again and keep his eyes trained on her: an opponent worthy enough for Musashi to be unsheathed. Her eyes trailed the heroic weapon disguised as a rather unremarkable looking blade, and then met Tomoe's once again.

"I'm Lepra, of Fairy Tail. I can bond with trees and nature, and my specialty is using leaves on the wind to hear their secrets. I know many things about you, Murakumo swordsman."

Tomoe rushed her once again. That was always his plan and it worked more often than not, yet once again, his sword met air. She had been pulled backwards by vines sprouting from nearby trees, and was now ascended far above him in the air, held tight by the vines. She looked down with disdain.

"Though you have blown my cover now. I'll need to inform Fairy Tail of the infamous Tomoe Tanaka, a cultist by trade and a fake in his own right. Then to dispose of my papers... we'll meet another time, Mr. Tanaka. Look forward to it."

Lepra vanished from sight behind the trees at a blinding speed, and in front of Tomoe's feet was a mysterious safe...

Tomoe had lots to think about, but more importantly, the treasure was now before him. Or so he assumed. It was just a steel brick, after all, wasn't it? Someone knew his secrets. Lepra, was it? She'd need to be executed before long. She was clearly someone bigger than Fairy Tail itself. From her words, not even a dedicated member, only in it for her own gain. What kind of person would infiltrate Fairy Tail of all places? And how did she know him so well? None of it made sense.

Ah, well. I'll get to it when I get to it., Tomoe thought to himself, hand to chin in thought before dismissing it as something to take care of after dinner or whatever; he was no longer the master of a light guild, and thus he didn't need to worry as much about his cultist status being revealed.

After all, he would become the avatar of hatred, given enough time. The world couldn't handle its current despair, terror and curses directed all over. Tomoe would become a hero and save the world, just not in the way he thought originally. He would kill the guilty, sacrifice them for HER sake, and become a savior in his own way. The traditional path of a hero wasn't for him, but his intentions were the same as when he was apart from HER influence. He was unafraid to admit that he wanted to save people now, but his methods are those that others simply wouldn't understand.

"And it all starts with whatever is in here."

There was a code, and after a few tries, Tomoe unlocked it successfully. Whatever the treasure was, it would be valuable, certainly. He swung the vault door aside, and inside was...

"OH GOD!"

Tomoe fell backwards, money pouring out of the safe and to his feet; jewels, and a lot of them. Something so simple wasn't what he was expecting, admittedly, but regardless it was something that would assist him in his journey. After counting it all out, it came out to be an even and exact 1,000,000 Jewels. He'd use this money for more than mere drinking money, his ambitions renewed. All that was left was to sever the ties that kept him as the person he once was. He'd toss and turn in bed night after night, awoken by nightmares of who he was months ago, rejecting HER in a way he didn't realize. He would need to make up for that version of him, to appease HER and prove that he was dedicated. But how...?

Suddenly, Tomoe's eyes brightened as if he'd arrived at a conclusion so simple, and yet so enlightening. That would probably be enough to prove his devotion. As HER greatest champion, yes... that would be enough to once more set him back on the right path towards the new world. Towards justice. Towards a perfect world where everybody knew peace and love with HER blessing and power.

"Soon, very soon, I'll prove myself to you once again."

---

Claiming 1,000,000 Jewels from Safe Game instead of a Unique custom

- EXIT -