The heads were bled out and washed, inside a sack that could barely contain them. He was already in the gates and galloping towards the adventurers guild, smile wide on his face. His armor’s details were pressed in from the giant tree, making his helmet look like a pug’s messed up face. He put the cloak’s hood over his face when he realized how he looked, wishing that the armor’s repair feature was a bit faster. His nose was still scrunched up uncomfortably, but at least it wasn’t as annoying as the beginning.

He jumped off the horse the moment he made it to the guild, unsummoning it and running inside. “Hey, Anne! You won’t believe what I found in the forest!” He shouted, gathering the gazes of the other people inside. He looked at the counters and didn’t find her, all the girls there looking at him with pitying looks. He smiled awkwardly as he skulked towards a random lady’s counter. With curly amber hair and an oval face. Her arms were crossed with a smirk on her face. “I’m sorry your little girlfriend isn’t here, Mr. knight. She had the day off so you’ll have to settle for little old me. ”

He was thankful that he had the hood on, hiding the features of his face and helmet, less ammo for them to throw at him. He scratched the back of his head and lowered his head, “Sorry about that, the rest of you are just as good at your job, I’m sure… uh.” He was only digging himself a bigger grave, considering the lady at the counter’s grin was only getting wider. He decided to cut the chatter and drop the giant bulging sack on the counter. “Six ogres, I found them in the forest for some reason. I’m going to be honest, I was lucky to get out alive.” He lied.

Her face went pale at the words, reaching towards the sack and opening it in a rush. “No… they aren’t supposed to be anywhere near the area. Are you sure they were in the forest? This is a giant emergency, lying about this could get you in serious trouble.” A shiver went up Derb’s spine. This wasn’t that serious, was it? “Honest, I’m pretty sure you can find the bodies still on the forest floor.” She didn’t seem to be listening as she wrote down on a scroll, rushing to the other workers and telling them the news. He was left at the counter, without anyone to give him precious coins.

Eventually, a small lady ran up to him, with dimpled dark skin and green eyes. “I’m sorry about the wait. Could you please take out the heads while I jot down the number?” He took them out and placed them all at the counter. With a glow, she whispered a spell as she held every head, before taking them aside and placing them in a large box. “Thank you for your cooperation, That will be 3 gold and 33 silver, is that alright with you?” She was a lot calmer than the others for some reason, especially considering her age. He then realized he wasn’t answering her, “Yes, thank you.” He rushed out, not even considering the fact that there was no copper and too many gold pieces.

She handed him an embellished leather pouch with the money, probably worth a few silver in and of itself. Before he could ask she spoke first. “The pouch is for those who are deemed important enough. Inside is also your new badge, ‘common’ rank. The rewards will only get better as you rank up so work to reach higher and higher.” She gave him a patient gaze, almost creepy with the running workers behind her. Even the adventurers seemed to be getting a little worked up. He took the pouch and nodded in affirmation, making sure to get the hell out of there as fast as he could.

He summoned Mist again and got on her back, galloping back to the inn as fast as he could. Once he made it to his room he summoned the five goblins. They landed a bit more gracefully this time, most didn’t hit their head on the way down, at least. “Line up, I'm giving you four silver each so don’t be too annoying.” He watched as the precious 36 silver dwindled to 16, the goblins each taking a share of their kill. He thanked Connor and Jack for taking down the other two, if not then these idiots would have cost him almost 3 gold.

The goblins were ecstatic, growling and mumbling in a way he couldn’t understand, showing off their silver to the others, who did the same. He smiled at the way they valued their coin, he’d make sure to take them to what they wanted to buy. “So, what do you guys want to spend the coin on, still want the cloaks?” The five all turned to him, hesitation clear on their mind. Second walked forward, the coins pushed deep into one of his pockets. “We… want the coin.” Derb, an idiot, didn’t get what they meant.

“Like… you want to get them changed to copper? I can do tha-” The goblin shook his head furiously. “We want to save up! We want the coin!” The others nodded enthusiastically. Even Third, the calmest one held the money close as if it’d be taken from him. Derb sighed disappointedly. He expected them to waste it gloriously and lavishly, why were goblins being more financially responsible than him… “Fine, just tell me if you want to spend it on anything, ok?” The goblins nodded, turning to each other to brag about how they killed the ogre.

He tuned them out, no longer enthusiastic about the rest of the day. He wanted them to buy cool little cloaks or something, or maybe another sword or knife. He wanted them to get sad about not being able to afford something, and then get excited when he offered to help. He slumped onto the bed laying down and letting the fatigue rush into him. He looked at the goblins who were reenacting the scene in the forest. Third, the poor soul was acting as the ogre, second and fourth chasing him around and trying to climb on top of him.

He closed his eyes, the sound of the goblins fading away into a nice dark sleep.

___

Today was the day he finally had time to experiment. Money was in his pocket and time was on his side. He knew exactly what he was going to do today. The failed experiment that he did a few days ago had been put on the backside for a bit while he made money. It just wasn’t efficient to blow up his armor and repair it while he was hunting. God forbid he’d use it on his sword, it was still as sharp as ever but he was sure that was because of durability and not some fancy magic. If he broke his sword he’d probably be murdered by Deitre.

He’d spent time theorizing what went wrong while on hunts though, specifically his use of barriers to control the mana while it entered his armor. The armor looked ruined and bloated when he was done, as if it’d taken too much mana too fast. He was sure the dark mana wouldn’t hurt him, the aftermath of the explosion didn’t instantly kill him, after all. He was in the middle of the plains, behind the forest and hidden from the town. It felt a bit malicious to be doing dark magic in a place as suspicious as this but he assumed anyone close enough would be seen by Connor. The incubus soaring through the skies, looking for bystanders.

He took off his armor, setting it down in the middle of the ritual circle he placed on the floor, a star of salt speckled with gold. He was sure that this ritual would be much stronger than the mana-only ones. He thought about going without rituals unlike last time, but the danger was too great. He was planning to do the whole armor set anyways, and the ritual circle was much larger too, so he was sure that it wouldn’t explode this time… He latched the pieces together and sat down in front of the ritual, beginning the gathering of dark mana.

It was going a lot faster now that he wasn’t on a trotting horse, the mana pooling around him as he hurriedly transformed the mana inside him into dark mana. The ball went from violet, to purple, to a dark black. He made sure not to make it as unstable as before, placing small rituals around it before it started destabilizing. The ball spun faster and faster as he inched it closer to the center of the main ritual. Quickly he took out a dagger and slashed the palm of his hand, linking the armor with himself.

The mana poured into the main ritual just before the dark orb broke through the smaller ones. The explosion was intense, but the ritual blocked the mana from leaving. He forced what he could into the armor, focusing on the chest plate and pumping in as much as he could. He didn’t need to try too hard, like lightning the dark mana poured into the armor as if it hated the air. The sound of armor transforming into something else sounded like a plane taking off. He could see dark veins spreading through the chest plate, connecting to the limbs and head like a malicious disease.

He didn’t stop for a good ten minutes, the armor molding and forming into something completely different. There were no details from its original form, but it didn’t look stretched or deformed. It was just a completely smooth and black surface, two eye holes in the middle of a perfectly oval helmet. The dark mana dissipated as he released the circle, blowing away in the wind like ash. He went to pick up the armor, a million thoughts running through his head. What if the complete transformation ruined the enchants? What if he couldn’t fit in the armor? The biggest worry in his head was haunting him the most, though.

Did he just insert a soul into the armor? He could feel the link between the gauntlet and his soul before, but it was faint, barely noticeable. The link between him and the armor was on the same level as the goblins now, pulsing and beating with life. He sat down and meditated to check the soul, relieved to find it looking like an exact copy of his own. He didn’t use a living soul, it was just the remnant mana of his. He picked up one of the gauntlets and put it on, for a second the gauntlet felt uncomfortable and clunky, but the blood that came from his hand seeped into it, turning it back into the normal armor from before.

He was surprised, he expected it to have a different look, or at least have some form of weapon. He didn’t expect it to just mold back into place. He tried the same thing on every other piece of armor, to the same effect. There didn’t even seem to be a noticeable effect, only a constant, slight drain on his mana. He didn’t get anywhere until he infused it further with dark mana, the effect was insane. Instead of lacing the gauntlet in dark wispy mana uncontrolled to him, he could instead force insane amounts of mana to different parts of the gauntlet. He focused the mana into the fingertips until it dripped dark mana like poison.

When he tried spreading it around his arm the whole thing was enveloped in a black film of swirling mana, moving with the armor rather than around it. He tried it with the rest of the armor, pouring half his mana into it. The surface of the armor swirled and pulsed with a dark purple film, becoming a deep black when he focused all of it on the arm. The mana consumption didn’t change, the stored mana in the gauntlets not affecting it. He tried pouring it out of the tip of his finger, to insane effects. Unlike when he formed it midair through nothing, the dark orb formed to the same level within seconds. It only took one arm as well.

He aimed his finger towards a tree in the distance, about twenty feet away. He released it just as it began to become unstable, the ball lurching forward… around three feet. He jumped back just before it hit the ground, the orb exploding into a 7 foot, dome-like shape, disintegrating all organic matter in the area. All that remained was an ashy-looking circular patch of dirt, a jarring sight in the middle of the beautiful field. He decided to try again, creating the orb on his remaining charged arm, focusing on the finger again. Instead of just pointing like an idiot he instead… sort of flicked it. Like he’d seen some of the magic users with their wands.

It worked, flinging itself inaccurately towards the forest and hitting a tree about twenty-five feet away. The part of the trees hit by the magic instantly rotted and faded away, causing multiple trees to fall down. He was amazed by the effects, finally something that he could use from far away! Two shots used half his mana, though, and the effects weren’t something too impressive either… He cleaned his mind from depressing thoughts. He had something he could shoot someone with, that alone was a cause for celebration.

If he had that when he fought the fire sword-wielding maniac Salem he’d have finished him off without feeling like a well-done brisket. There were probably also many different uses to the armor, like making him stronger too. All in all this little experimentation project worked out pretty well. He meditated for a while to regain his mana and then set off back to town, calling Connor back to him. The incubus flew alongside Derb while he rode back to town, telling him what he saw. “No humans… demons everywhere… scary...” The demon said while rubbing its shoulders, clearly spooked.

Derb nodded, the poor incubus was almost burned to death the last time he’d fought with the ogres, they had to be… more careful… “Connor, when you were talking about the ogres, was one of them able to use magic?” Connor shook his head, shuddering when he remembered the event. “No, evil fire breath monster, it was very sca-” The incubus’ hand was taken and he was pulled onto the horse, without warning. “Mist! Can you take us to the last place we went to in the forest? We might have seriously messed up.” The horse didn’t respond, instantly turning and rushing into the forest with reckless abandon.

He clutched the horse with a hand as it dodged and weaved past the trees, grabbing Connor so he also wouldn’t fall off. A few minutes later the horse slowed down, stopping completely when it saw the corpses. Or what was left of them. Derb jumped down and ran towards the remnants of ogres. The scene was grisly, blood was covering the entire scene, as if the bodies were flung around while they were being torn apart. He could see the limbs thrown aside, the chests of the monsters left with a giant hole in their chest.

Whatever had come here, they didn’t come without a reason.