Blood and Sound (Open)

Sometimes, even a Wilderness Survivor needed to come into town to buy a few things, such as needle and thread for clothing repairs or new water skins since the last one was eaten by a wild bear. Those kinds of simple things. Even people who lived off of the land nearly exclusively needed civilization to make life bearable, which was why Aro SonofNone was here in the Six for the day. The Six was mostly ignored by the Magic Council, and while collectively was large, individually each village was fairly average to small. That made it easier to blend in, and for a Wanted Dark Mage that was perfect. With his cloak drawn around him, he made his way to the market.

Cursing his poor fortune that lost him the water skins, he managed to make it into the market square without anyone noticing him. After all, his crimes had been mostly in the town of Cedar rather than anywhere near here. It had also been years since he killed a man for his cloak and scared a lady half to death with his bloody appearance and profession of love. Maybe the Rune Knights weren't looking for him any more. Anyways, he made his way into the Market when he saw and heard a commotion. People were crowding around a stage, with an ugly man standing on top shouting something. Something about Vetala. It wasn't a name that Aro recognized, but it might have already been something that he had dealt with in the past. He'd been living off of the land for years after all.

Arriving at the back of the stage, Aro was just in time to see Virginia strut up to the top and rip the paper from the man's hand. The teenager said that she'd take care of them and mentioned the rewards. Aro... liked rewards. He was getting a bit low on cash, which was something that even Wilderness men needed. He usually got his cash from robbing unwary travelers, but maybe an honest job spent killing things brutally was more for him. Honest work could be fun sometimes, right? It'd give him the opportunity to test some of his Air Make Magic and grow more talented at it. He was still starting to get the hang of it, especially since his Arcane book that he'd stolen was so convoluted.

Pushing his way through the crowd, he uncloaked himself right next to the stage. "God Slayer or not, I can take down more of the beasts than you can, freaking Light Mage. To cull beasts you have to know beasts. Where would you even start looking for them, hmm?" With his skills at tracking and hunting, Aro would definitely be well suited to finding the beasts before Virginia if it came down to it, and he was fast so he could potentially get there first. A head start would be a great advantage over her, especially if she had to wait until the beasts attacked the demon man's livestock before she started her hunting. What did she have that would be advantageous to her?

OOC: This is your thread that you started, so I won't intrude details and will just follow your lead.

When Virginia approached Aro, she must have seen that she was a foot shorter than him. Aro towered over her, and when she made her taunt about being raised by a great Elder, the Dark Mage just laughed. "You may have been raised by an Elder, but I was raised by no fool. I raised myself." Aro saw that as a great achievement. He had taught himself to read, mostly, he'd taught himself how to live off of the land and survive, and he'd taught himself how to use Magic. He didn't need any Dragon or Demon or God to teach him how to fight, he'd teach himself and he'd do just fine. He'd done fine already, and he'd continue to survive and prosper... if he could keep a hold of those stupid water skins.

Virginia took off after insulting him saying he'd cheat and jack up his kill count. "Just because I choose not to follow the silly laws of the Magic Council doesn't mean that I am a coward. No, I'd record my kills by bringing each severed head. But if you're going to make us do this together, then you'll just have to watch me kill far more than you." Aro kept right up beside her effortlessly, since he could run much faster but was matching her speed. They took off into the Wilderness, bantering back and forth apparently. While they were opponents in this challenge, there didn't seem to be an open and seething hostility like their should be between a Light and Dark mage. No, just the fire of competition burning between them. That's all that was there now, and most likely all there would be once they arrived at the Vetala

The trip to the farm was unbearable as the teenager grumpily refused to strike up conversation. What, was she so weak of heart and of stamina that she couldn't talk while running? Probably not since she kept up the run for nearly three hours, so she must just be a poor sport, Aro figured. So eventually he stopped talking, even after repeated attempts to start up a little banter or conversation. The Dark Mage rarely saw another sentient being, much less talked with one, so he tried to savor the moment but only ended up feeling sour and remembering why he didn't usually talk to people or go looking for someone to be with. He hated people.

They got to the area of the forest that the Vetala were hiding and hunting in when Virginia stopped, planted her feet, and closed her eyes. She was doing some sort of Magic, but it wasn't anything that Aro could pick up on. It didn't take long for whatever she did to receive a reaction, but in the meantime Aro wasn't just standing around. He was making sure that he knew the entire combat arena from bottom to top. While his Trapping wasn't excellent yet, his Tracking and general Hunting was refined. He spent the few minutes looking at every tree, every rock, and each change in terrain. During the blood bath he would never trip, never be ambushed from behind a tree, and never be caught off guard by improvised weaponry like a rock. At least, that was the plan.

When the Vetala arrived to Virginia's Sonic Summon, she responded quickly, kicking it in the face which apparently slew it instantly. Aro had to laugh at that. "If a young girl can kill these things in one blow, then that farmer must not be worth more than the cattle he raises. Ha!" Responding to her echolocation, more Vetala started to come out from behind the trees looking for food. Virginia may have gotten the first Kill, but Aro wasn't about to let her get them all. He also planted his feet, squatted slightly, and waved his hands around in the air like a kung fu artist or something.

With his hands looking like he was about to Karate Chop something, Virginia would notice shimmering Wind pouring out of his hands like water, forming a thick layer around his feet and hands. "Airborne Killer Mode: Air Make Boots and Claws!" The two Spells were cast, giving Aro boots of Wind and large Claws of the same substance. Now he could walk on air and could carve through flesh. The man pushed off of the ground with his boots, launching himself forwards towards two charging Vetala in a medium sized arc. He caught them both with his claws plunging into their faces and he landed firmly on the ground again, slamming both of the backs of their heads into solid rock below.

Normally the claw wouldn't have lethal penetration depths even in the face, but supported by momentum and with the increased impact damage to the back of the skull, Aro had killed two of them in one attack. He maintained his spells while keeping eyes and ears out for more beasts. While Virginia had the advantage in being able to sense them more effectively, from their first attacks Aro had shown a bit more raw damaging power. And he wasn't even done demonstrating his repertoire of spells. He still had another one if he needed to use it, but these beasts seemed too easy to need it. Would this job even be a challenge?