HP: The Arcane Thief

"Now tell me! What happened to Axel Hunt?Where is the Pri—"

Would Axel let this fatglob Karlock reveal all his secrets? Fat chance.

Before the biomaton could finish that sentence, it was pulverized by yet another knife throw from Axel.

"Oops! My bad," said Axel, even as Estris ran to Kyrin to give her the antidote.

"What in the Deepest reaches trench are you— *Bang*" This time, two of the Biomatons spoke them time, so as to not get interrupted.

'Keep your mouth shut!' Another throw, and both their heads were blown off. This time, they even put up a shield, but that didn't mean much to Axel who was actually using a lot of his strength right now, almost on the verge of panic.

'Fuck… why can't this bastard just keep his mouth shut?!' Axel was in a critical situation. If Karlock somehow finds out the boy in Kyrin's team is actually the Axel Hunt he is looking for, then it is over. The more Karlock talks about this subject, the more likely Axel is to be exposed.

"Axel Hunt? Karlock, what do you mean by that?!" Sure enough, Kyrin quickly picked up on the strange words of Karlock and her eyes narrowed, turning towards Axel.

"Don't play dumb, Kyrin," several thousand automatons spoke up this time, so he wouldn't get interrupted in the middle. Axel clicked his tongue. He can't silence these many at once. 'Why does this guy have to talk so much?'

Karlock laughed. "No need to fool me, Kyrin. You must already know about Axel Hunt, the boy who was the reason for their dispatch in the first place. After all, I know that you killed those two. And you wouldn't kill them without proper interrogation. You were in the same area as well."

???

Kyrin, Estris, and Willis, who already knew Axel's real name, all turned to look at Axel, confusion written on their faces. Axel Hunt… the reason why the Seventh and the Eighth were dispatched? How…? Why…? Is he talking about the same Axel Hunt?

But Axel shook his head at them in warning. Thankfully, they took the hint, saving him the trouble of using silencing or restraining magic on them. The only good thing was, the insensible Sylthia was completely oblivious right now, otherwise her reaction would have definitely given Axel away.

Thankfully, Karlock continued talking, not noticing anything suspicious. "It's really a pity. To think they didn't even get the chance to escape… it seems that you're still hiding your true power."

Theron and Nerio were really powerful. With their combined power, they could even take down enemies much stronger than them. And Kyrin managed to kill both of them alone. It seems that Kyrin's powers cannot be underestimated.

"But, as I said, I'm not scared of you, Kyrin Tenebrous. Because you're already weakened due to the poison, and I've had tremendous upgrades in the last decade," said Karlock as something began to change in the formation of Automatons.

They all began coming close together, and their bodies began taking specific shapes. Few simply turned into blocks or pipes while few compressed together to form very specific structures.

"What is he doing?" Asked Sylthia.

"Nothing good for us, I presume. We have to stop him," said Estris, taking out a different kind of gun as she began shooting, this one generating a tremendous power. Kyrin had taken the antidote, but she still hadn't fully recovered just yet. That's why, the rest of the team has to fight now.

"Agreed." Willis raised his hands, and hands formed out of magic manifested in the air, which began to pummel the machines.

"I've already recovered." said Sylthia as she summoned a wind force that had enough power to blow up skyscrapers.

Axel's and Akiko's jaws dropped at the sheer amount of fire power these people had. Axel's weakness was his magic power, and even Akiko, who had more magic power than him, couldn't casually make attacks of this magnitude yet.

But…

*Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

Everything was blocked very easily this time. A collective forcefield had been erected in front of a whole group of automatons, this one powerful enough to block all attacks very easily.

A mixture of gross fleshy sounds and ringing metallic sounds could be heard coming from behind the forcefield.

"Khekhekhekhekhe… have you heard of 'Strength in Unity'?" Echoed Karlock's voice, which was louder than ever. Dust from their attack was covering the forcefield, beyond which, they could see a huge silhouette rising up, casting a shadow on them. As the dust cleared, they saw that, beyond the shield stood a colossal giant, the size of a 20 story building.

"Fuck…" Kyrin murmured, looking up. They were too late, getting distracted over Karlock's words. The whole army of biomatons have come together to form one single entity, having the combined might of all of the whole army.

Imagine just one forcefield. With one decent attack, any one of them would be able to break through it. Now, imagine it getting double layered. Now, it could present some difficulty. They would have to increase the power, but it should still be fine. But now, imagine it getting layered hundreds of thousands of times.

Is it something that one person can ever break through?

"Tenebrous! I will give you one last chance. Tell me, where is Axel Hunt? Is he still alive?" Asked Karlock, as the Colossal Biomaton prepared to attack.

Sylthia did not know about Axel's real name. But the rest of the people present had awkward expressions on their faces.

You want to know where Axel is?

Dude… how to say it? The guy is standing right in front of you.

Fortunately, even though they had no idea why the Organization would be looking for Axel, they had enough common sense to know that this was not something to be revealed to Karlock.

Axel was an Ally. Karlock was an enemy. They would have to have a few screws loose if they give him any information he asked for, let alone the information about their ally.

"Eat shit, you piece of shit!" Said Kyrin, attacking the Giant abomination. But once again, her darkness was completely blocked by the barrier.

"Khekhekhekhe! So be it. I'll first kill everyone else, then bring you to my lab for interrogation."

The giant raised its hand and pointed it towards their group. The matter of its body quickly gathered on its arm, extending it forward to make a huge blaster.

"Oh… hell."

"What… is that?"

"Boss… your orders?"

Everyone lost it when they saw the huge size of the blaster. When even small blasters were so powerful, how powerful is this thing going to be?

*Zoom* *Zoom*

A huge amount of Energy began gathering in the giant muzzle.

Seeing it, Kyrin had already realized: There is no defending against this.

"We need to evade."

*zoom….zoom….zoom…zoomzooomzoomzomBOOOOOOOOM*

In the last moment, everyone felt a huge push, launching them all far away. Using her darkness, Kyrin has pushed everyone as far away as possible, while sinking into the shadows herself. Because… there was no other option.

*#$%^&#$%^&&^%$@#$%^&^%$*

A huge explosion took place, shaking their ear drums. Emerging far away from the area, Kyrin looks back in shock. Everything within a 20 meter radius had been completely wiped out.

What… is up with this power?

When did this bastard become this strong?

If she hadn't pushed everyone away, their whole team could have been wiped out just now.

'This… is getting dangerous.' Until now, Kyrin had never seen Karlock as a serious opponent. But now, it seems that she has to change her evaluation.

Amidst the stunned silence, Karlock's maddened laughter rang out. "Khekhekhekhekhekhe! This is my first time actually trying it out. Isn't this amazing? I have used up a lot of livestock to power up my automatons over the years. Now I will make their sacrifice worth it by capturing the Legendary Kyrin Tenebrous."

That was the difference. Karlock's relic did not give him any direct combat power. It just gave him the ability to freely manipulate organic matter and technology. But, due to his madness and strange obsession with 'creating art', he had turned it into something deadly.

He had prepared his army over the years, personally making each and every automaton with great attention to detail. And each one of them was then programmed to merge together to form a single unit of grotesque mass of bio-machinery.

It could use all that combined power which had been gathered over the years in one go.

So now, ignoring his geeky need to talk about everything in detail, he had definitely turned into an existence that warranted a significant threat.

Pitch black darkness began spreading everywhere from the point where Kyrin stood.

Kyrin was now pissed. She did not like this situation. She Not one bit. She did not like it when she was not the one in control. And right now, EVERYTHING is going out of control!

'How low. Psychos like this guy are now threatening the team, and…'

Her gaze turned towards Axel, who had landed safely far away. 'The bastard is hiding even more secrets!'

90% percent of Kyrin's frustration was because of Axel. That trickster has been fooling her from day one. The first time she met him at Hogwarts, she hadn't thought much of him, just an unusual case. He just stood out from the rest because unlike the rest, she couldn't see the limit of his talent for some reason.

When her stealth classes ended at Hogwarts, she returned to Japan without thinking much of the guy. But then she found out that he had actually managed to befriend her Aki!

How is that surprising? Because Akiko has never had friends. Despite Kyrins best attempts to persuade her otherwise, all the girl ever did was training. So, at the time, Kyrin just thought that a little friendship would do her god daughter some good. She even ignored the rumors speculating on Axel and Akiko being more than just regular friends because, come on, that was impossible. If all rumors were to be trusted, then the rumours of her being a cougar and molesting her students would also be true.

Then she saw the guy's matches and got a surprise. Huh, so he has lightning Affinity and is also somehow more athletic than ninjas.

Combined with his Stealth talent and his good looks, perhaps she should recruit him after all. He could be useful as a pawn in a few years if she grooms him well.

Then, she had to return home due to war, but surprise surprise, who does she find already here? Axel muthercking Hunt, having a perfect disguise that managed to fool even her! It was at that time that she came to find out that, fuck, the reason she can't see his limits is not because of some glitch, but the guy is actually deliberately hiding it!

And if he was still hiding more, then what was the limit? Could he actually be hiding even more secrets?

She decided to find out. But the fucker use Aki and Blackmail to force her to sign a contract that prevented her from doing so.

She thought… alright, it couldn't be much anyway, could it? He was only 13. What more could he be hiding?

The result?

The result is this, where her curiosity has increased to the point of torture, but he still hasn't run out of his secrets.

Oh how she regrets signing that contract. How she regrets letting Akiko form a connection with him, thus becoming his shield.

She found out that he might actually be able to contend against even her! At 13! And she still hasn't found his limit!

Now, for some reason, Kraken is after this guy to.

Kyrin glared at Axel.

…Landing far away from the blast area, Axel stood up and dusted his clothes. But then, he stiffened, feeling an intense gaze on himself.

With arcane eyes, he found Kyrin glaring at him from far away.

"When this is over, we're going to have words." Her voice echoed in his head.

Axel sighed. Lady, could you please leave me alone and mind your own business?