A gentle breeze flowed through the trees. The leaves rustled in the wind as the inhabitants of the forest lived out their daily lives, unaware of the presence right above them.
High up in the air, two people were seemingly standing in the air. They wore formal white robes adorned with golden symbols. On their sleeves and chest was a golden cross, showing they were part of the Order of Light.
The pair existed out of a man with a clean-shaven face, paired with sharp eyes and constantly furrowed brows. His extremely serious look scared off most people, but it was his aura that kept everyone back. The sky could fall down, and his expression wouldn't change in the slightest. His jet-black hair was combed back. Scars covered his hands and face, a seasoned veteran by all accounts.
His companion was the complete opposite, a woman with pink hair tied in two ponytails, and a loose demeanor. Her fair skin was clean and looked very soft, almost model-like. She had the body many women yearned for, but perhaps not the mind.
"What are we meant to do again?", the woman asked with a sense of carelessness. While her companion stood straight in the sky, she was hanging upside down, almost playing in the air.
The man simply sighed before answering, "How many times do I have to tell you? Why did they pair us together?", displaying his annoyance at her presence, he didn't care in the slightest if she heard.
Their composition didn't make any sense, the man was objective-driven while the woman looked like she was on a pick-nick. "I'm asking purely because you're so boring, c'mon tell me a joke!"
"This inspection is the joke.", the woman didn't even look surprised but had a rebuttal. "Then it's not a good one, you haven't made me laugh for the entire journey."
"Just shut up and look for our destination.", the man wasn't pleased to be paired with the happy-go-lucky woman, especially since he, rather they, had a mission.
'Why were we even sent out for such a low-level mission? I guess the Order wants us to be around the country as a show of power, but that doesn't seem to be all of it. Did they receive instructions from Her? Are we showing Frigus that we aren't afraid of a confrontation?
The Bloom family apparently had one of their descendants stationed here, but he or she could just be in seclusion somewhere.', the man had some questions about their mission, but he was pulled out of his internal debate when the woman interrupted him. "Noir, I can see the mansion!"
The mansion in question looked long abandoned, it had been a long time since any human visited it. The building was covered in cobwebs, it looked foreboding enough, yet the pair didn't even hesitate.
"Great, let's get this over with, I don't want to waste any more time than necessary. It looks infested with monsters, clean them up, Violet."
"You got it, boss man!", saluting him while standing upside down, she quickly ran up/down to the ground.
"Don't call me that. Either use my name or don't say anything.", Noir didn't even have the energy to loudly rebuke her.
Violet walked down before performing a perfect front flip, landing on her feet, and between a bunch of spider-looking monsters. "Applause Noir!", raising her hands high in the sky, she didn't even look at the spiders as she expected a response from Noir, who could only groan at the sight.
"Ooh, they look so cute. Hey Noir, do they need to die? They look adorable."
The spiders didn't move to attack or run away, she was using her aura so precisely that every monster was being forced to stand still while not damaging the surrounding terrain. "Kill them, Violet, I don't have time for games."
"Okay!", she placed her right arm above her head like a soldier would before using her aura to crush every single of the spiders in an instant. They didn't even have the time to scream or retaliate, they were dead before they could even process it.
"Aaaw, they look even cuter now that they look like pancakes, right?", she pointed at a mess of green blood and spider legs. The disgusting pile of corpses didn't bother both of them, they had seen their share of dead bodies. Violet was crouched down poking the corpses with a stick she got from who knows where.
"The distress signal that was sent from the nearby baron was that this mansion got overtaken by monsters. Seems they were correct, for once.", Noir felt a very small hint of relief knowing they didn't waste their time coming here.
"Isn't it strange?", the woman didn't care about completing this mission, she wanted to have fun, yet something was bothering her. "These little babies don't hunt for humans like this, right?", she had grabbed two of the legs and used them as antennas on her head.
Noir had no problem completely ignoring her acts as he assessed the situation.
"You're correct, Rank 0 Steel Spiders stay underground and hunt for other cave-dwellers or an occasional boar or two, but the nearest cave is at least a few hours away. This doesn't make much sense, someone had to have lured them or forced them here."
"Can you not feel any disturbances?", Violet asked with her playful demeanor. Noir had a very special spot in the Order. He was the only one allowed to use dark magic, because of this he could sense dark energy in the surroundings a lot better than the average mage. "Hmm, I can feel something over in that direction, but I can't exactly pinpoint what it is."
"Then let's go! I want to explore this forest!", throwing the legs away, she quickly ran towards the woods with a skip in her step.
"We're not here for a hike Violet, please take this a bit more seriously."
Noir had a special talent, he was very sensitive to dark magic, so he could feel where it was used at one point. Flying through the forest they quickly arrived at a site that looked like a mine.
The mine wasn't important, but a bit further was a spot in the woods. There didn't seem to be anything special at first glance, but Noir could feel that Dark magic was used some time ago. "Hmm, it seems that there was a dark mage here."
"Could it be from that Bloom family? They always avoid any kind of questioning or inspections, so I wouldn't be surprised.", Violet was a laid-back person, but she was still part of the Order, rules were meant to be followed. Any violation needed to be corrected, and she was more than happy to educate anyone in need of a lesson.
"Could be, but the amount and density of darkness are too small, a true dark mage wouldn't be using so little. This is a fledgling dark mage."
"Oh? Is there a new one?", Violet had a confused look on her face, "Then that means I get to teach another one right, right?", her teachings were known within the order, it was a widespread rumor that every 'student' visiting her lessons never returned.
'I really should prevent any further missions with her.'
"I don't know, depends on what this person was trying to do. For now, let's continue, I can feel a spike of dark further ahead."
"Okido!", they continued with their flight, the man taking a standing position while the woman started to swim in the air. Once they reached the next site, a lot became clear in an instant.
The ground, trees, and surrounding life were drained like the energy had been sucked out of it. Leaving behind a spot of death, nature was trying to retake the lost ground, but there weren't any nutrients left to regrow anything.
The area was devoid of life, and the atmosphere was depressing. Even Violet who was happy-go-lucky most of the time didn't have a smile on her face anymore. "This is still a bit low leveled, but the intent has gotten a lot stronger. This is a special kind of fledgling, the technique of draining the life force isn't used by many factions.", Noir was crouching down on the ground, inspecting the remains.
"Isn't this from the flower family?"
"You mean the Bloom family? That's definitely a good assumption, they and a few other families are suspected of using such a technique. Considering there are signs of a starting dark mage, it seems that the descendant that was stationed here had other plans than protecting the mansion."
"So we need to talk to mister flower and visit their garden?"
"Indeed we need to have a serious talk with them.", Noir said while his eyes focussed and a hint of killing intent flashed.