Brane leaned back in his swivel chair and let out a loud sigh.
" Why did I sign up for this shit?" He murmured to himself.
He had originally thought recruiting Dante would be easy but with the appearance of his mother, it had now become a thorn up his ass. Eleanor was a mysterious and powerful entity, a being he couldn't comprehend. She could easily beat all seven directors with a wave of her hand. Brane had had no choice but to accept her absurd terms for Dante's recruitment. If only....
Just then the doors to his office swung open, disrupting his solitude. He glanced at the entity who had the audacity to interrupt his quiet time. It was Chrome, Izalea's partner.
" What is it Chrome?"Brane asked in a tired voice.
" We're under attack!" Chrome blurted out in between breaths.
" Who's attacking?"he asked, a bit calmly.
" Demons!"
" We are in the Shadowfell Realm. It's impossible!" Brane frowned.
" Well they're here sir!"
" Assemble the Arcana Guard. Eliminate all demons in the building. I'll handle those outside."
" Yessir!"
After Chrome hurried out, Brane gave a long stretch and stood up. His eyes glowed in a white hue and he disappeared in a white mist.
**************************
Izalea laughed as she looked at the awe on Dante's face when she introduced the Delta Paladins. He looked like a child who was seeing Superman in real life.
" Chill out Dante, we're not gods!"
" That's for sure" he muttered, looking at the white haired boy.
" Oh that's Maru. He's just a bit mature for his age." Izalea said, noticing the look.
" No kidding!" Dante exclaimed.
Maru kicked him in the shin, making him wince in pain.
" Maru!" the four paladins reprimanded.
Maru just shrugged with an emotionless face.
" Don't mind him. I'm William, the Paladin of light." The blonde one smiled at him.
" I'm Thalia and she's Pearl. We're the Fire and Earth Paladins respectively." The red haired girl quipped. Dante nodded.
" What's he?" Dante asked William, glancing at Maru.
" Oh he's the Paladin of the Wind"
That explains why he was floating in mid air." Dante murmured.
" Enough with the introductions. Let's get to business." Maru groaned.
" Sure. Let's go." Izalea nodded and opened a portal.
" Let's go amigo."
The six paladins entered the portal not noticing the dark ball of matter that followed them.
****************************
Brane looked at the demons in front of him a smiled wickedly. Most of the demons had humanoid forms since they had evolved over hundreds of years but their obsidian eyes betrayed their origin. A particular bulky demon caught his eye. It seemed to be the leader of the group since it stood before all of them radiating authority. The demons stood at the bottom of the huge flight of stairs that led to the Daris subdivision headquarters. Brane slowly descended down the stairs with his hands in his pockets, making the leader of the demons laugh.
" Where's your guard, Illusion Master?" he taunted.
" They'd only get in the way Chronox." Brane said calmly.
" Oh really? And how do you know my name?" Chronox bellowed.
" Well you know mine. Let's get to it, shall we?" Brane smirked.
Chronox was about to say something when he realized Brane wasn't in front of him.
Just then cries of pain filled his ears. Alarmed, he turned to find his demons being slaughtered by Brane's bare hands. The man was moving at an insane speed, ripping the the throats of the demons with his hands like it was nothing. Chronox' eyes widened with shock as they witnessed the one sided slaughter. He started to walk back slowly, hoping to run, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
" They don't call me the illusion master for nothing, Chronox." Brane said.
Chronox immediately broke free of Brane's grasp and brought out two daggers.
" I'll kill you!"he screamed and charged at Brane.
Brane dodged all his attacks with ease, but didn't counter. Instead he kept his hands in his pockets. Chronox was good with his daggers but Brane was better with his illusions. Chronox' attacks started to get sluggish after a while and that was when Brane made his move. He managed to land a kick on the demon's legs making it kneel slightly... With that advantage, he slapped Chronox right in the face. After that, two punches followed and Chronox fell down, unconscious.
" Bastard" Brane muttered.
"Pick him up and detain him" he ordered Chrome who had been watching his fight for a while.
" We have a problem, sir", Chrome said with a crestfallen tone.
" What?" Brane asked, fearing the worst.
" The Dark Hold has been stolen from our archives."
" What the fuck?!"