Counterpart

Chapter Twenty

"I cannot believe the stuff you and your pupil went through so far." Marx straightened the bowler on his head. "Do you think he'll fit out well for the military?"

"I certainly hope so." Magnus said. Damn. His new 'partner' for this investigation was really growing attached. Magnus told him details of the past few weeks he would have sworn to keep secret before. But the boy was just dying to know every speck of information he could pry away-fitting for a future detective. "He's learning remarkably fast at both labia and aibal. I'm starting to wonder if that's another side effect of manipulating both spectrums." He shied away from letting anyone know Rin now shares the same room as what the corrupted once had-their unease of him is concerning enough now as it is. It's been a week since speaking with Wilbur's family and finding out more details on their suspect. "Think this new lead will prove fruitful?"

Marx rubbed his chin. "It is near another one of Wilbur's family members, correct?"

Magnus nodded. "I doubt there is any real connection, though." It was getting harder to make such a claim. Their suspect hasn't been following any patterns expected by those corrupted. Sticking close to it's former family members might as well be another brick in the wall for this one. His heart skipped a beat at the thought. Only then, that would go to show corrupted mages are more than husks of their past selves. That can't be...

"...I think this one might be genuine. And Magnus, I heard you're not a killer. That's fine and all, but what if we come across that mage?"

He waved away Marx' concern. "I don't kill people. But corrupted mages and akuma, all the time."

"Oh. Right. If you don't mind me asking: why not?"

Magnus sighed. They were still quite a distance away from their lead. "Because two decades back, I was a thief." He grinned at Marx' reaction. "I'm being serious. Money was tight at the time, and I was dying to get my hands on a good blade. So when I saw one collecting dust inside an old man's house, I knew I had to take a shot at it."

Marx still couldn't hide the shock from his face. "Well? Did you get it?"

"I got about halfway through the house when the owner came out of nowhere. He had a crossbow aimed at my chest. He gave me a chance to explain myself, then yelled at me to get off his property before he changed his mind on not getting law enforcement involved. Should he have, I'd have lost any chance at the military." They walked in silence for a moment. "...Anyone can change. Never forget that."

The two finally made it to their destination: a small cafe tucked in between the row of shops and inns along the street. A small, elderly man stood at the entrance, rubbing the sweat from his hands onto his clean white apron. "Uhh, excuse me. Are you the...?"

"We're an investigate team, here to help with your issue." Marx said. "You reported finding aibal on your property?"

"I-yes. In the cellar. Downstairs. I-I didn't notice too much of it before running back up to raise an alarm."

"Good work." Magnus strained to hide his disappointment. If he really did just catch a glimpse, odds are he mistook something else entirely for aibal. The city's growing paranoia far from helped the team finding promising leads. "We'll take a look, and let you know what we find."

While the interior was kept tidy and inviting, the stairs down to the basement was anything but. Magnus opted to bring out his spirit rather than taking a candle with them as they crept down.

Marx grimaced as they reached the bottom. "I can see why that owner didn't want to spend too long down here. This place stinks."

"This place is definitely falling short of the government's regulations." Vegetables were overflowing every barrel to the point of some falling to the floor.

Marx let out a yelp as a rat scurried in between them. "That's it. I'm filing a report when we're through with here."

"If only we had time to worry about such a thing." Magnus rounded the last corner before his heart stopped. Black mist was seeping out of a large mass of aibal. "I'll be damned. Our friend was right."

The two stared at the churning substance for a moment. "...Okay. What now?"

"Get a search party to-" Magnus turned to leave, the stone itself felt like it shifted at his movement. He froze.

"...Magnus?"

The ground collapsed.

For a moment, Magnus was helplessly disoriented as the seconds ticked by of their freefall. He commanded his spirit by his side just as his feet made contact with the stone below, helping to dampen the blow.

Marx let out a yelp of pain as he landed just beside him. "Are you alright!?"

He just let out a grunt as he slowly sat up. "No...my ankle..."

Shit. Magnus leaned in to examine it, only for his concern to turn to their new surroundings. That floor gave way to a massive cave, it's walls caked in a churning red and crimson glowing mass. What the hell is this? "I'm going to scout out this...place. Make sure you're alright, and keep your guard up."

Magnus glanced to him for a response, but his gaze was already transfixed on the terrain around them. "...The monarch's castle could fit in a place like this..."

"Yeah, no kidding." He frowned. "This is bad. Every miner in kluna would have stumbled across a place like this before."

"What are you saying?"

Magnus' mind flashed back to the assault on Evendal's southern village, when akuma seemed to appear from out of nowhere. 'they rose up from the ground and started the attack.' Could those claims really have held some truth to them? "...Something's wrong with this cave, more than all the aibal in this place."

"And it's not like we have a way outta here." Marx said as he looked up at the dark hole they fell from.

"Stay safe. I'll come back to check on you soon." He unclipped his longsword from his belt.

Marx raised up his hand. "Oh, I don't-"

"Take it. This will serve you far better than just your fists against an akuma, should one appear."

Magnus took a deep breath as he inched his way further into the cave. If this really is the method akuma are using to spontaneously appear, they very well could be flooding this place. Is that how our mage is jumping around as well? If it is, he'd still likely need a considerable amount of intelligence to pull something like this off.

Magnus soon realized having his spirit summoned did next to nothing to illuminate the area- every surface was practically glowing in the hellish substance. Could a single mage have done this, or is aibal evolving somehow?

Tunnels branched off all around what seemed to be the main cavity of the entire cave. Red and yellow organ-like structures pulsated like a heart, just thinking of what their purpose may be sent shivers down his spine. I don't doubt things can turn south down here for us incredibly quickly. How long will it take before backup arrives? Hours? We can't-

Part of the far rock face burst to pieces, sending an ear-piercing bang throughout the cavern. Both Magnus' and his dragon braced themselves. A flash of black substance flew from the source of the blast, sending another part of the cave breaking down, flooding the place in light.

Magnus crept towards the new opening, finally dashing towards the light once he was sure that strange force was gone. He ran up to the massive chunk of the cave that fell to his level, it's smooth curves donned in vibrant color. The hell? He turned back to the blinding light, squinting as he tried to make out what part of kluna just fell victim to the cave-in.

The new opening didn't give way to the open sky, but rather the inside of a building of sorts. Figures rushed over to the cavity, all staring back down at Magnus. His breath caught in his lungs as he locked eyes with one of them. Rin.