"There is no documented mention of any kingdom or place with that name." Professor Phil Doyle said as he examined the jewelry box that Archer gave him. After leaving the dungeon Archer took his prize and headed straight to Phil Doyle for some information.
"Is that normal?" Acher asked as he checked his phone, he had sent the picture of the markings to Pepper Korn and was currently reading the replies. Archer's assumption of it being old was right. Apparently, the magic runes carved into the stone were thousands of years old and only revealed themselves today.
"It's not unheard of. Some towers and dungeons lead into an entirely different reality and world, you likely entered one of those. Or at least you looked through the memories of one." Phil said as he shook the box, "No way of opening it yet?"
"I'm sure you could smash it open, won't be easy, but no key was given to me. That's not normal is it?"
"Hmm. You likely need to go further into the dungeon to unlock it then."
"Well I guess it will be a treasure lost to time then." Archer said giving a helpless shrug.
"No progression means you won't last in this school very long."
"I will progress, just very slowly."
"Then keep the box. Who knows? You might unlock a legendary item." Phil said handing him back the jewel box.
"By the way…" Archer trailed off a bit playing with a thought.
"Yes? Has something happened with Miss Lilac?"
"No, not her. It involves a pair of siblings, the Bents."
"I don't know much about them." Phil said frowning as he tried to recall those names.
"I don't think they're anything special in the eyes of well, mostly everyone. But let's just say I got curious with them."
"So why are you bringing them up?"
"I want permission to investigate them on my own free time. Gives me something to do while watching over the demon issue." Archer said.
"Archer." Phil said with a small chuckle, "It's high school. Feel free to do what interests you on your own time."
"Thank you sir." Archer said giving a salute before bowing.
"What a weird kid." Phil muttered as he went back to working.
***
Over the next two hours, throughout the entire academy, Archer prowled around out of sight and out of mind from everybody. Lurking around corners, snooping in the shadows, hidden among the trees, he listened to gossip. Listening for two things, one any additional information on the Bents.
What he gathered was not much, aside from folks finding issues with Rosaline's lack of combat abilities and Dominic's attitude problems. But he did hear an interesting tidbit from people who knew of Dominic back in middle school mentioned an attitude change, confirming what Julia said in the past.
But more interestingly, he learned how the siblings were able to be in the same year, they were half siblings. With a bit of research he then discovered that the fact that Rosaline's birth was the result of an affair, which landed her as an afterthought for most of the family. Dominic, however, was always there to support her. So why the sudden change?
A few more rumours hinted that Dominic had recently been disowned by his parents. That would explain the obsession with making money during the dungeon hunts, also Dominic's change in personality. But would a parent be that cruel to a child they loved for years that quickly? To leave them with nothing at all?
Archer doubted that to be the case, likely something else was afoot to cause such a need for money. The two bents lived together, so Archer could quickly search through their place for some info. His plan changed when he noticed Rosaline was outside of the school gates talking to someone with a hat and sunglasses with their hood pulled up, along with three other students, all E and F-ranks.
Staring at them through an upper-story window, he watched as they talked. A few of their backs were facing him so he could only piece out part of the conversation. They were talking about something to do with getting money on some job. The job will take place on Wednesday night.
I need to keep note on that. Archer thought as he left the window view and went down the stairs. By the time he made it out of school and out the front gate, the group Rosaline was a part of had already dispersed and left.
Shrugging and deciding to follow up on it more tomorrow, he walked his way back home. Halfway back he saw a police car racing down the road sirens blaring, followed by two more. Archer paused and thought for a moment. He still hadn't actually gotten any of his gear yet, keeping his identity a secret would be difficult without his costume. Especially if he's in his school uniform.
Archer then proceeded to follow the path of the police cars. He could always just be an observer after all. It wasn't long before he caught up with the police. He saw half a dozen police cars and an ambulance parked around an office building. From the entrance being funneled out were several office workers.
Nearby was a news reporter reporting on the situation. She wore a green double-breasted trench with a name tag across her heart. Her bright and cheery eyes stood in stark contrast to the current situation of scared and injured victims.
"This is Channel Siren's on-field reporter Cassy Teresa. A fight between several superhumans had broken out and wound up inside a local office building that housed twenty staff members." Cassy the blonde and blue-eyed reporter, said with a dazzling smile as a crowd gathered over the commotion.
In fact Archer noticed that some people were more focused on ogling her. But it didn't deter her as she continued, "From witness accounts it appears that one man started a fight with a local gang of supers. There has already been one confirmed dead and two have been sent to the ICU in critical condition. The remaining are still fighting inside, it seems that little care has been given to the civilians."
Seemingly to emphasize her point, another office worker was getting carried out of the building while unconscious and bleeding from a heavily bandaged head. Archer staring at the blood trail that the man was leaving behind decided that he needed to get a closer look at things.
Disappearing into the crowd, he found himself at the back of the building. Giving a quick look around and seeing nobody or cameras in the area, he entered through a fire escape while hiding his bag to the side. Inside he realized that the power had cut out, whether that was on purpose or an accident from whatever brawl occurred earlier, Archer was going to capitalize on it.
Walking through the back halls he stopped when he saw a storage room. Peering into it he saw several rolls of paper towels and toilet paper. Eh, why not? Archer said as he walked into the storage room.
Elsewhere inside the building one of the criminals by now was running for his life. He held a death grip on his illegal energy blaster as he blindly stumbled through the dark hallways. This was ridiculous, the Blackwater gang was sent into a tailspin after some weirdo broke into their hideout and began to wreak havoc.
At least two of his crew were dead. He had no idea where the boss was and right now he was more focused on escaping than anything. Join up with whoever else makes it then plan what to do next.
As the criminal turned the corner he ran into, well, what looked to be a mummy. In the darkness he made out a humanoid form wrapped completely in white and staring at him, head tilted, staring at him.
"What the-" The criminal exclaimed as he went to point his energy blaster at the… mummy. But with a quick motion the mummy snatched the weapon from his hands and bent the thing.
Archer, currently in a makeshift mummy outfit made of toilet paper and paper towels, grabbed the criminal by the collar and then dragged him along as he moved towards the front of the building. As he walked he could feel the criminal uselessly trying to break his grip.
"Come on! Let me go! There's a madman on the other side! We're both going to die, you freak!" He tried to beg Archer.
Archer ignored him as he made it past the halls and finally was in the main office room. The normally neatly arranged desks, computers, and chairs were all destroyed and scattered everywhere. A single half-broken fluorescent light was the only source of light, as the blinds were all drawn. In the center of the room were several bodies strewn across the floor with a man in an old, damaged jacket strangling another man in the middle of it all as another hand held a bloody sword.
"Boss!" The bandit cried out in panic. Archer quickly deduced that the man being strangled was this man's boss. Also looking around he counted five others on the floor that wore similar gang colours. Also looking at them he could notice the slight rise and fall of three of them indicating breathing. The other two were extremely still, dead, he assumed.
Archer gave an annoyed exhale as he noticed two more bodies on the ground of office workers that were also clearly dead, bodies mutilated from collateral damage. Quickly letting go of the man he dragged along, he surged forward. With a quick front push kick Archer struck the aggressor.
The man with the sword was able to react in time, letting go of the gang leader to block the kick to the midsection and avoiding the worst of the damage from Archer's kick. But that was fine with Archer, it was a push kick, and all it needed to do was send his opponent backwards.
And send him backwards he did, the man with the sword went sliding backwards, back just gently hitting the wall as he stopped himself in time. Now with the light directly hitting his front, Archer was able to see more details of this stranger.
He was a tall, broad-shouldered man, as big as Zach and that shabby jacket couldn't hide his muscular frame. He had black hair with long bangs that covered part of his face, but through the mess Archer could still see his eyes. They were cold, nearly lifeless if not for the slightest flame of wild rage behind them. In his right hand was a one-handed sword, a Jian with a black and silver handle, to be specific.
"Who the hell are you?" The man growled out as if Archer's very presence offended everything he stood for.
Archer debating whether or not he should speak out, decided to hold off for now, he gave a small, helpless shrug. Which looked rather comedic considering he was essentially in a terrible Halloween costume.
"Useless bastard." The man grunted as he blitzed forward.
Archer immediately had to throw the gang leader, who was barely conscious, backwards into the criminal he caught as the sword came swinging down on him. In the nick of time too as where Archer had to move back a step in order to throw the gang member now had a blade curving through the floor.
The blade was insanely sharp and sliced through the ground like it was warm butter, then it came at Archer with a follow-up swing, and then another one after that. Ducking and weaving around the strikes, Archer realized a couple of things. First, this guy had some good sword skills, he must have trained for a number of years. Second was this guy didn't just have technique, he had insane power behind it as well.
Archer figured that with his opponent so adept at the sword, he was definitely not going to win the fight at a distance. He needed to close in, so Archer decided to bait the man to overcommit.
As Archer leaned his head forwards, quite literally sticking out his neck. He did wonder while doing so whether or not this blade was strong enough to cut off his head or not. He was fairly confident he could take it, but there was always a chance that he was wrong.
Thankfully he didn't need to find out as such a tantalizing opportunity to cut the head off an opponent was too good to pass up. The man gave an extra little windup to swing at Archer, too much of a tell. Archer was able to duck under the swing and close in, close enough to wrap his arms around his opponent and proceed to throw him with an over-the-head belly-to-belly suplex.
The difference in height between the two worked wonders for Archer as the man smashed face first into the floor and through the tiling and straight into the ground underneath. Satisfied with his attack, Archer released his grip and stood himself up only to be mildly disappointed to see that his opponent was unearthing himself, ready to keep fighting.
Okay, so he is really tough. I don't think slugging it with him will be very good right now. He thought as he had to back away as another blade swing came his way. I need to make sure he doesn't kill everyone else.
Quickly leaping over to the nearest injured person, he grabbed them with one hand and a computer with the other. Throwing the computer backwards it smashed through both the office wall and the outside building walls.
As the computer smashed through the wall and in front of the crowd gathered outside all cried out in shock seeing a wall smashed open. What was better for Archer to hear was that the police began to go into action. Good. Now he probably won't go around killing people. I hope. He thought as he chucked the guy through the opening as gently as possible.
Then for the next minute Archer ran around the room, dancing around the blade trying to avoid getting hit while grabbing everyone and throwing them outside. All into the arms of the unwilling police who began to gather. Archer threw them all gently enough not to cause injuries, though he did likely knock the wind out of a few people. But they were powered humans, they could take this force, even with their injuries.
By the time he got to the gang leader, his tricks became evident. Now the man in black began to swing not just at Archer but also at the gang leader. Archer's troubles just doubled as he was now playing keep-away with this maniac.
Archer briefly considered dropping the gang leader. Judging by the tattoos, Archer was able to tell that he was the leader of the Blackwater gang. A local group of your classic scum of murderers and drug dealers. Still, letting someone who goes around killing anything in their path without regard for anyone do what they want was not a smart idea.
Archer thought for a moment, this guy, while rather extreme, was not stupid. He attacked a gang's hideout, which meant he needed to figure out where they were. It also meant that he tried to keep it relatively subtle until the fighting broke out. So Archer bet that he probably wouldn't keep fighting once everyone was out in the public.
So contorting the gang leader into a ball, he then charged forward with him. Leaping forward he flew through the air at the man like a spear. Such an obvious attack allowed the man to leap over Archer and slash straight down across his back.
Archer stifled a grunt of pain through gritted teeth as he rolled back onto the ground. It hurt, but failed to pierce through skin. Well, I've confirmed that I could take it. He thought as he was now able to throw the man out of the building. The man on the other hand, for the first time showed shock on his face. How the hell did his blade fail to pierce him?
"Damn bastard." The man cursed as he realized he fell for Archer's diversion, "Police custody huh?" He grumbled.
Archer gave another over-the-top shrug and response the man's blade glowed red. With one powerful swing, a massive burst of red energy came shooting towards Archer. Barely ducking in time the blast annihilated a quarter of the building, and now everyone outside could see them.
"Tsk." The man clicked his tongue in annoyance as now the greater public was going to get involved. Even more so when he noticed flying over three registered superheroes.
"Oh look. The heroes are here." Archer said, speaking in a lower tone than usual and with an accent, looking back briefly.
"Next time I'm going to kill you." The man said as he slinked back towards the fire escape.
Good job Archer. You saved some criminals. Archer poked fun at himself as he rubbed his back that still stung from the blow. Now to get out of here. He thought as he hid behind some rubble.
By the time heroes arrived, they found no one alive in the rubble and began to help gather up the criminals and figure out what happened. Archer took this time to remove his cleaning supplies disguise and returned back down the street and walked back home. He was glad his jacket was off when he fought, else there would've been a massive slash in it.
As he walked back he briefly checked the news on his phone, where he saw the reporter Cassy give a report of the situation. She mentioned something about two strange vigilantes, a swordsman in black who had been rumoured to be around the city the last couple weeks and a new one, the 'White Mummy'.
Archer was shocked that he already got another alias. The people here sure do like giving supers names. She continued to describe a couple of random theories that were made. Satisfied that at least there were no immediate connections with him, he pocketed his phone again and headed home.
Returning back home he gave a quick report of the situation that occurred and begged for his equipment to finally be processed already. However both Zoe and Phil simply replied for him to wait and be patient. Archer decided to do what he did best then and find some work to do.
***
"Sariel! Sariel! Where are you going?" Mariel, the pink-haired and green-dressed fairy-like goddess hissed at her twin sister.
Sariel, the green-haired and pink-dressed fairy-like goddess had nearly sneaked from Mariel's sight without her knowing. Barely catching her she was now trying to make sure she didn't do anything stupid.
"Following Gadreel, something happened with Irwin." Sariel said hastily as she followed behind Gadreel, the de facto leader of the pantheon.
"Doesn't sound like our business."
"I don't think she minds."
"That's not the point." Mariel said as they saw Gadreel stop in front of a locked door. Without even knocking, she smashed the door open and stormed inside.
"I don't think I've ever seen her like that." Mariel said looking at it in disbelief.
"Still not curious?" Sariel said gleaming at her sister.
"Okay… maybe we can listen in for a bit." Mariel said as they quickly pressed themselves up to the wall outside where Gadreel entered.
"Oh, Gadreel. Good to see you." Irwin a man with long hair tied in a ponytail and dressed in business casual, said casually looking up from a chessboard that he was playing against himself with.
"What do you think you're doing?" Gadreel seethed.
"Whatever could you mean?" He said playing coy.
"I mean who the hell gave you permission to give Ryker back his memories?"
"Ah, that. Yeijeh did." Irwin said shrugging.
"She did what?"
"We're desperate, and besides, it's not the first time."
"It's not the first time, which is exactly why we stopped resetting him."
"No. You stopped, others continued." Irwin corrected.
"What?"
"What's the expression? Break a few eggs to make an omelette? Or something like that." Irwin said shrugging, "This reaction was why you've never been told before."
"The two times I was aware of him remembering his past life caused him to go mad."
"Mad, but effective, he dealt with a lot of issues. Afterwards we experimented on giving him bits and pieces of his memories over the last few tries. So this time we decided to go all out on him and give back his memories along with a couple of gifts."
"What do you mean memories? How much of it?" Gadreel demanded.
"All of it. Deaths included. It has proven to make him better in the past. Despite the… issues that can occur."
"You know how much senseless destruction occurs from this? I should throw you into imprisonment for this." She threatened.
"You can't, I'm not the only one who agreed to this. Go ahead and hold a meeting, others will defend me." Irwin said coolly, "Besides we may as well try everything as you said right?"
"What about the consequences?"
"They will be minimalized and handled. If it gets out of hand I will be punished appropriately." Irwin promised looking at her calmly.
"It better." She said before storming out of the room, completely ignoring the twins.
"Did you hear that?" Mariel asked.
"We need to figure out who this new guy is." Sariel said adamantly.