William and Birse looked at each other. One felt fear and anger building up, the other simply watched on in amusement with a condescending glare.

Birse:"So, to what do I owe this rude entry? King William?" He grabs a goblet of wine from his desk and takes a sip.

William:"You very well know why.." William expression grew into a wide sneer "Prince Zeaxar HellBorn" Around his arm grows a blade of mana, he grabs the blade with his other hand, injuring himself.

Zeaxar throws a fit of coughing as he spits out the wine, which turns into loud laughter:"Well well well! Injuring your self to undo my Illusion? Never thought of that before!" The demon stares on in amusement as the ant he once saw grew into a clever rat.

Zeaxar gets up from the bed, facing William. The two women behind him leap out, transforming into succubi with long talons, they lash out at William.

William:"Erza!"

Erza raises both arms, they grow into black smoke pinning the demons to the walls. Zeaxar is unfazed and starts walking forward, the smoke ripping in front of him.

Erza struggles:"I cannot hold him down master."

William looks at her:"Take the other two out of here."

Erza nods and pulls the two succubi into the window, shadows rushing out behind them as Erza herself flies out. A loud dragon's roar.

Zeaxar:"So it's just me and you now, think you stand a chance kid?"

William:"No, in truth I do not."

Zeaxar's amusement grows into a wide mad grin "So what is the point of all this then? Your army may kill most of these useless shits but once I head out, the battle is as good as over."

William:"My army? You seem to misunderstand. I don't lead those forces, the Magi Alliance does. They simply gave me a ride here."

Zeaxar's amused expression turns into annoyance:"You dare lie to my face?"

William:"I'm not lieing, my only affiliation with this attack is me knowing the commanders and that is it."

Zeaxar:"Oh, so you deny having a hand in all this. Very well but tell me, why should I not kill you where you stand? I do not need a reason to do so."

William:"Because, I've sent multiple messengers to your father, King Kerxes HellBorn. If I do not contact their agency back at Heaven's Gaze the information of your standing as Birse BlackHand will leak to him. I wonder how the royal selection will go after that? Your brothers would be very appreciative of me.You do want to take over after your father don't you?"

Zeaxar's anger is very obvious on his face:"You.." He raises a hand, eight shadowy figures appear around William with blades of pure darkness aimed at him. "What do you want."

William is delighted, he's got this man at his finger tips:"I propose a deal, I keep the information about your...Shadowy life under tabs."

Zeaxar grows impatient:"And?"

William:"And you keep out of my way, you shall not lay a single hand on me or anybody I ever come in contact with. You will have nobody follow me or my companions."

Zeaxar's expression is dumbfounded:"Boy...I'm quite literally the richest on this continent, I own legions of mercenaries and diplomatic power on par with a king. And that is all you ask for?" He starts to laugh hysterically.

William's grin grows wider:"I'm not done talking." Zeaxar stops laughing "Lastly, you will hand over command of the EA mercenaries to me."

Zeaxar sits back down, he expected something like that. He ponders on it for a bit:(These shits are the largest group under my command...Though they only number half the military power of all the rest put together..Hmm) He looks at William, looking for signs of faltering "You think you can earn the respect needed to lead these morans? Be my guest. Their commander is right out there." he says with an amused smirk.

A loud crash is heard outside the room followed by a howl.

Zeaxar:"Also, how'd you find out?"

William:"Your identity? It was no simple task fortunately for you. I knew there was no way you weren't inside the garden to be able to summon your shadows, which I concluded weren't illusions due to what you did to the barrier with the chair. As you might now know, I have the ability to sense and differentiate mana signatures. When ever someone uses magic they leave traces behind them, I followed those traces and then questions the guards to match the pattern of movement with the guests. Then I matched the other mana signatures of each guest as they left. That left me with three guests that left before I could match them, as none of those I matched came up positive. The last three were you and two of the ambassadors, The avian and the dwarf. I knew Dark elemental magic was not very powerful for dwarves, avians and weremen which is why I was suspicious in the first place."

Zeaxar:"I see, my mistake for choosing that mask then."

William:"If you had chosen to take a demonic, orcish or dark elf. I would never had been able to even think of investigating your identity."

Zeaxar sighs:"Indeed. Oh and remember boy, if word ever gets out to my father. You'll be the first to lose their head." Him and his shadows disappear in a explosion of black mist.

William grins:"Guess it's time to find out why he was talking about respect." He turns for the door.

----------------------------------

Loke and Yorick are having a hard time with this Werewolf.

Yorick:"Damn furball keeps leaping from wall to fucking wall! Keep him still!" He roll dodges as a poleaxe lands where he stood.

Loke:"You think its easy casting while on the move damnit!?" He's hit by the butt of the pole and sent flying down the corridor.

Kurt:"Stand still you thin fucks! I'ma carve my claws into you soon enough!" he howls loudly, stunning them both.

Yorick sees the Werewolf comming down on him with his poleaxe, he dodge rolls to the side next to the room. Kurt leaps forward holding his poleaxe ready to bash it down again, but yorick rolls into the room. Kurt grabs hold of the wall, destroying part of it and turning his leap into the room. Yorick drops his swords and runs under the werewolf, grabbing him by the waste trying to keep him still.

Kurt looks down at the puny elf, enraged:"And what do you think your doing?" He muses to himself as the elf is open for kurt to cut him down.

Suddenly a seal appears around them both, runes spinning in a circle around them. Green ethereal chains flow out of the seal, binding the werewolf.

Yorick lets go and takes a couple steps back, grabbing his blades and sheathing them :"Took you long enough."

Loke comes walking into the room:"Strong sealing spells take time to cast dear old friend."

Kurt:"Strong? Don't make me laugh" His form changes, looking like a human with wolf ears and tail.The chains are too slow to rebind his smaller form, he kicks Loke into the wall and gets ready to pounce on Yorick. The door behind Yorick opens, revealing William walking out.

Kurt notices that there is no one else inside the room, he takes a couple seconds to sniff for his client's scent:"Where is BlackHand?" he growls at the William.

William:"He left, your services were no longer needed by him. I'm now your commander."

Kurt is taken aback: (Why would Zeaxar do that?) "Even if that sly bastard sold us off, you don't seem to understand how things work around here. To take command of our group BlackHand had to defeat me and my lieutenants on his own, which he did. A runt like you couldn't even take me on." he growls at him again.

William:"Then I shall take this test, Loke, Yorick. Tell the others to retreat."

Yorick:"We're not leaving without Birse's head! That was the deal, after you've spoken with him he was ours to do as we wish."

William:"He's already left, what ever plan you had to kill him should apparently have had some way to hold him within the fortress."

Yorick closes his eyes, sensing his surroundings:"That son of bitch...Loke, I'm leaving. The others need to know."

Loke:"Will you give him chase?"

Yorick nods and leaves the room at great speed.

Kurt looks confused:"Wait wait, so Birse actually sold us off? The hells!?"

William:"Yeap, you should tell your men to back off as well. He isn't your client anymore and there is no need for more bloodshed."

Kurt glares at William in annoyance, He'd lost his best paying client who was also his old friend. (Ohh...when I find him...) he clenched his fist: "Cover your ears."

Loke and William cover their ears, half confused. Kurt takes Werewolf form again, and howls with all his might, the very ground shakes at his roar like howl.

-----------------------

Outside the battle had come to a stand still as the mercenaries set lines of defence by the gate, erecting barriers against the barrage from the Sparts. The lieutenants had gotten everyone organised but their air force was losing badly. Suddenly the large dragon grew out of the main building again, roaring and flying around the city. A couple minutes after that an Elf jumped out of a window and scaled down onto the roof of another building, a wyvern landed to pick him up. The wyvern flew around the invading forces, as they started to retreat back. A loud howl is heard from the building, signalling the battle was over, the mercenaries started to relax their weapons. The dragon riders grabbed hold of the rangers and their spirit beasts flying them back up the hill, the larger drakes grabbing to the Sparts on the ground as very angry dwarves shook their fists in the air and swore loudly, only to fall back in their seat feeling sick. The battle was over, neither side won. Down the street came walking their commander Kurt, they fell in line behind the lieutenants. Two others walked behind him.

Kurt:"Jax, Report." A tall drakeling stepped forward.

Jax:"The enemy has retreaded, we've had several losses in air power and some militia. All the trolls are dead."

Kurt:"Fucking crazy ass dwarfs and their contraptions" He looks around at the many buildings that were grounded from the artillery."Seyl, get the men to start repairs on the gate. Jax start the reconstruction of the damn buildings. Karl...Recover the equipment from the trolls. BlackHand has run off, the mixxed invaders agreed to dismiss their attack. Everyone is dismissed, get to work." barked commands at his lieutenants. "We will hold a meeting once everyone has their job going, I want all lieutenants there by nine that is."

The mercenaries reluctantly did as told, being still confused at this attack. Rumours started flying around that BlackHand had finally pissed off the Magi Alliance and other whispers joined it. After the lieutenants had set everyone to reconstruction they headed for the main building where Kurt, Loke and William waited for them in the meeting room. Every one sat down as Kurt started to explain the situation.

Seyl:"So that cunt finally threw us into the dirt." the dark elf slammed her hand on the table "I refuse to follow some random runt who could pay enough to amuse that fucker, employer or not!" The rest of the lieutenants agreed with nods and their own two cents.

Kurt:"Calm down, you all know the drill. He may have bought the guild rights but he still has to prove himself." He looks at William "You brave enough for the challenge?"

William stands up:"Heh, bring it on."

The lieutenants gaze at the human, obviously insulted. But Kurt simply laughs in amusement.

Kurt:"Alright then, you've got till tomorrow morning to run with your tail between your legs boy. Tomorrow we'll be waiting at the arena, I'll send someone to fetch you. Everyone back to their stations!"

The meeting is adjourned, the lieutenants head back out to watch over the repairs. Kurt sends William and Loke with a mercenary to one of the empty barrack's bunk rooms. They settle down on the bunks, getting ready for some rest.

William:"Well didn't expect them to take it so well."

Loke snorts:"Boy you've surprised me a multitude of times now, are you sure you can take them?"

William seems to be in deep thought:"What do you reckon is their ability rank?"

Loke puts his chin on his fists, thinking:"The lieutenants I do not know, but the Werewolf? As far as I could tell he's around royal E. He would have had an easier time killing Yorick in close quarters if he was a C."

William:"How much difference is there between royal ranks?"

Loke:"A large one. Unlike the previous ranks Royal E and upwards is like the scale all over again, two royal E still will have problems against a C. Are you sure you don't want to leave now? We got what we wanted didn't we?"

William gives a short laugh:"You need to be more ambitious Loke!, even though I never had much myself. Having control of this group will aid me in my goal greatly."

Loke sighs:"You'll do it even if I strongly begged you not to. Well I'll take my leave for the night, sleep well." Loke gets off his chair and heads out of the room "It's been ages since I lived in a barracks" he muses to himself as he left.

-----------------------------

The next morning William is woken by a knock on the door, a mercenary had come for them. He puts on his clothes and gets out, finding Loke and a very annoyed imp staring up at him.

Imp:"Well, I must say I'm surprised you haven't run off yet." he chuckles. "Follow me, this is gonna be a blast."

They follow the imp out of the barracks and to the other side of the fort city, to a large building with a lot of mercenaries entering. Once inside they found themselves surrounded by stands full of mercenaries, the building was an arena. Spanning about thirty meters wide, the arena's ground was sand with a fence on the edge with some space to walk around it. On the other side of the arena Kurt and his lieutenants were waiting for him.

Imp:"Boss said once you enter the arena its on, No rules and you can use what ever weapon you wish. No dwarven shit tho.You'll first be taking on the lieutenants all together and then the Boss. Got that?"

William:"Yeah, I got it."

The imp snorts and flies up to the stands.

Loke:"You sure about this? You might get killed."

William nods:(Arryn, It's time.) He had been talking to her using their bond.

Arryn:(Don't get killed...)

Loke raises a brow:"You talking with her I presume?"

William:"Yeah, I'm going."

Loke:"That the Gods watch over you, not that you want them to." He smiles.

William enters the arena.

---

Author: Let's do this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwi1p2q6wqc

---

The second his feet hit the sand, the lieutenants clenched their weapons and rushed at him. There were three of them, Jax the drakeling with his dual axes, Seyl the darkelf with her bow and Karl the Orc with his... bare knuckles? They attacked in unison, Jax swinging both is axes from the left, Karl punching from the right, Seyl shooting three arrows from the middle. All three attacks gained their own aura, Jax's green, Seyl's blue and Karl's red. William's eyes flared up, blue and purple aura engulfed him as a rush of mana surged around him, pushing back his attackers. The arrows pierced through his shock wave, aiming for his head, shoulder and chest. With insane speed he dodged to the side, clenching his fist as he punched Karl in the gut and sent him spiralling into the wall beneath the stands. Jax backs up next to Seyl, William beams a grin at them. Jax takes the bait, he rushes fort and spirals in front of William slashing the ground sending a wall of sand between them. He jumps and lands his axes down. Gone, William leaped up the second the wall of sand was made. He comes back down crashing his fist into Jax's head, sending him face first into the ground. Seyl starts to panic and circles William, loosing arrows. William rushes after her, dodging the arrows.He cuts her off, but she athletically leaps over him and lands behind him dagger in hand. He rolls forward dodging her stab. She wields her bow again sending fort another four arrows, William dodges them except for one that scars his left cheek. Seyl smirks insultingly, losing her bow and quiver re wielding her dagger and a short sword. A series of slashes and stabs from Seyl followed by dodges and side steps from William later, grabs a hold of her sword hand and throws her in the air. She spins around in mid air ready to land but William is faster. He leaps after her and higher, kicking her hard in the chest. She is sent flying to the other side of the arena, landing next to Kurt unconscious. William lands and faces Kurt, breathing heavily.

---

Author: Cliff hangerss!!!!!

Chill the fuck down I'm just kidding.

Battle music: https://youtu.be/aWxBrI0g1kE?t=21s

:D

---

Kurt looked at his beaten subordinates:"Weak fucks" he takes a couple steps towards William, his form growing into a large Werewolf "Guess its my turn."

William wastes no time, mana surges to his arms forming blades as he rushes to the werewolf. Kurt sidesteps, punching William in the gut. William coughs blood as he retreats back, he needs to rethink his attack plan. Kurt had other ideas though, he rushes fort with massive power claws out to slash the man in front of him to pieces. William meets the werewolf's charge with his own, his grey eye flaring brighter. They clash, hand to hand trying to wrestle the other backwards as a shock wave sends sand flying all around them, Kurt snarling at William's face. They both back off, Kurt's right arm is shrouded in black smoke that grows into a large black and red war hammer. Kurt leaps, crashing down his hammer as William dodge rolls to the side. The hammer hits send up a pillar of sand, William takes this chance to attack engulfing his legs in mana as he kicks the Werewolf in the back. Kurt is growls painfully and grabs William's leg with his free arm, throwing him into the ground and raising his hammer once more. Kurt howls as his hammer comes crashing down again with another pillar of sand, twice the size of the last one. As the sand cleared, Kurt is seen holding his hammer trying to push it down. William stopped the hammer with both his hands, the raw mana surrounding them visible. William falls back again, holding his left shoulder. Kurt lets his hammer drop to his side, out of breath.

Kurt:"Lets end this, pipsqueek"

William:"Yeah, let's"

William's eyes shine bright purple, his hair wild with the pressure he's amassing. He opens his arms wide, Kurt raises his hammer for one last strike. The sand shifts beneath them as suddenly a mass of stone bashes into Kurt sending him flying out of the arena and into the side of the main building. William falls to his knees, breathing heavily.

---

Author: Hope you've enjoyed, I'm really proud of the battle :D. Bet none of you expected the comical ending to it xD, read the tags damit :P